Diodorus Siculus — Library of History · urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0060.tlg001 · Greek: Βιβλιοθήκη Ἱστορική — Perseus tlg0060 (Bekker; Bks 11–17 ed. Oldfather/Loeb), Bks 1–5 · 11–20 · English: Library of History — trans. C. H. Oldfather (Loeb, 1933) — ToposText / LacusCurtius (public domain)
— Book 1 —
§ 1.arg
τάδε ἔνεστιν ἐν τῇ πρώτῃ τῶν Διοδώρου βίβλων. προοίμιον τῆς ὅλης πραγματείας. περὶ τῶν παρʼ Αἰγυπτίοις λεγομένων περὶ τῆς τοῦ κόσμου γενέσεως. περὶ τῶν ὅσοι πόλεις ἔκτισαν κατʼ Αἴγυπτον. περὶ τῶν πρώτων γενομένων ἀνθρώπων καὶ τοῦ παλαιοτάτου βίου. περὶ τῆς τῶν ἀθανάτων τιμῆς καὶ τῆς τῶν ναῶν κατασκευῆς. περὶ τῆς τοποθεσίας τῆς κατʼ Αἴγυπτον χώρας καὶ τῶν περὶ τὸν Νεῖλον ποταμὸν παραδοξολογουμένων, τῆς τε τούτου πληρώσεως τὰς αἰτίας καὶ τῶν ἱστορικῶν καὶ φιλοσόφων ἀποφάσεις. περὶ τῶν πρώτων γενομένων κατʼ Αἴγυπτον βασιλέων καὶ τῶν κατὰ μέρος αὐτῶν πράξεων. περὶ κατασκευῶν τῶν πυραμίδων τῶν ἀναγραφομένων ἐν τοῖς ἑπτὰ θαυμαζομένοις ἔργοις. περὶ τῶν νόμων καὶ τῶν δικαστηρίων. περὶ τῶν ἀφιερωμένων ζῴων παρʼ Αἰγυπτίοις. περὶ τῶν νομίμων τῶν περὶ τοὺς τετελευτηκότας παρʼ αἰγυπτίοις γενομένων. περὶ τῶν Ἑλλήνων ὅσοι τῶν ἐπὶ παιδείᾳ θαυμαζομένων παραβαλόντες εἰς Αἴγυπτον καὶ πολλὰ τῶν χρησίμων μαθόντες μετήνεγκαν εἰς τὴν Ἑλλάδα.
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§ 1.1
τοῖς τὰς κοινὰς ἱστορίας πραγματευσαμένοις μεγάλας χάριτας ἀπονέμειν δίκαιον πάντας ἀνθρώπους, ὅτι τοῖς ἰδίοις πόνοις ὠφελῆσαι τὸν κοινὸν βίον ἐφιλοτιμήθησαν· ἀκίνδυνον γὰρ διδασκαλίαν τοῦ συμφέροντος εἰσηγησάμενοι καλλίστην ἐμπειρίαν διὰ τῆς πραγματείας ταύτης περιποιοῦσι τοῖς ἀναγινώσκουσιν. ἡ μὲν γὰρ ἐκ τῆς πείρας ἑκάστου μάθησις μετὰ πολλῶν πόνων καὶ κινδύνων ποιεῖ τῶν χρησίμων ἕκαστα διαγινώσκειν, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο τῶν ἡρώων ὁ πολυπειρότατος μετὰ μεγάλων ἀτυχημάτων πολλῶν ἀνθρώπων ἴδεν ἄστεα καὶ νόον ἔγνω· ἡ δὲ διὰ τῆς ἱστορίας περιγινομένη σύνεσις τῶν ἀλλοτρίων ἀποτευγμάτων τε καὶ κατορθωμάτων ἀπείρατον κακῶν ἔχει τήν διδασκαλίαν. ἔπειτα πάντας ἀνθρώπους, μετέχοντας μὲν τῆς πρὸς ἀλλήλους συγγενείας, τόποις δὲ καὶ χρόνοις διεστηκότας, ἐφιλοτιμήθησαν ὑπὸ μίαν καὶ τὴν αὐτὴν σύνταξιν ἀγαγεῖν, ὥσπερ τινὲς ὑπουργοὶ τῆς θείας προνοίας γενηθέντες. ἐκείνη τε γὰρ τὴν τῶν ὁρωμένων ἄστρων διακόσμησιν καὶ τὰς ἀνθρώπων φύσεις εἰς κοινὴν ἀναλογίαν συνθεῖσα κυκλεῖ συνεχῶς ἅπαντα τὸν αἰῶνα, τὸ ἐπιβάλλον ἑκάστοις ἐκ τῆς πεπρωμένης μερίζουσα, οἵ τε τὰς κοινὰς τῆς οἰκουμένης πράξεις καθάπερ μιᾶς πόλεως ἀναγράψαντες ἕνα λόγον καὶ κοινὸν χρηματιστήριον τῶν συντετελεσμένων ἀπέδειξαν τὰς ἑαυτῶν πραγματείας. καλὸν γὰρ τὸ δύνασθαι τοῖς τῶν ἄλλων ἀγνοήμασι πρὸς διόρθωσιν χρῆσθαι παραδείγμασι, καὶ πρὸς τὰ συγκυροῦντα ποικίλως κατὰ τὸν βίον ἔχειν μὴ ζήτησιν τῶν πραττομένων, ἀλλὰ μίμησιν τῶν ἐπιτετευγμένων. καὶ γὰρ τοὺς πρεσβυτάτους ταῖς ἡλικίαις ἅπαντες τῶν νεωτέρων προκρίνουσιν ἐν ταῖς συμβουλίαις διὰ τὴν ἐκ τοῦ χρόνου περιγεγενημένην αὐτοῖς ἐμπειρίαν· ἧς τοσοῦτον ὑπερέχειν συμβέβηκε τὴν ἐκ τῆς ἱστορίας μάθησιν ὅσον καὶ τῷ πλήθει τῶν πραγμάτων προτεροῦσαν αὐτὴν ἐπεγνώκαμεν. διὸ καὶ πρὸς ἁπάσας τὰς τοῦ βίου περιστάσεις χρησιμωτάτην ἄν τις εἶναι νομίσειε τὴν ταύτης ἀνάληψιν. τοῖς μὲν γὰρ νεωτέροις τὴν τῶν γεγηρακότων περιποιεῖ σύνεσιν, τοῖς δὲ πρεσβυτέροις πολλαπλασιάζει τὴν ὑπάρχουσαν ἐμπειρίαν, καὶ τοὺς μὲν ἰδιώτας ἀξίους ἡγεμονίας κατασκευάζει, τοὺς δʼ ἡγεμόνας τῷ διὰ τῆς δόξης ἀθανατισμῷ προτρέπεται τοῖς καλλίστοις τῶν ἔργων ἐπιχειρεῖν, χωρὶς δὲ τούτων τοὺς μὲν στρατιώτας τοῖς μετὰ τὴν τελευτὴν ἐπαίνοις ἑτοιμοτέρους κατασκευάζει πρὸς τοὺς ὑπὲρ τῆς πατρίδος κινδύνους, τοὺς δὲ πονηροὺς τῶν ἀνθρώπων ταῖς αἰωνίοις βλασφημίαις ἀποτρέπει τῆς ἐπὶ τὴν κακίαν ὁρμῆς.
It is fitting that all men should ever accord great gratitude to those writers who have composed universal histories, since they have aspired to help by their individual labours human society as a whole; for by offering a schooling, which entails no danger, in what is advantageous they prove their readers, through such a presentation of events, with a most excellent kind of experience. 2 For although the learning which is acquired by experience in each separate case, with all the attendant toils and dangers, does indeed enable a man to discern in each instance where utility lies — and this is the reason why the most widely experienced of our heroes suffered great misfortunes before he Of many men the cities saw and learned Their thoughts;— yet the understanding of the failures and successes of other men, which is acquired by the study of history, affords a schooling that is free from actual experience of ills. 3 Furthermore, it has been the aspiration of these writers to marshal all men, who, although united one to another by their kinship, are yet separated by space and time, into one and the same orderly body. And such historians have therein shown themselves to be, as it were, ministers of Divine Providence. For just as Providence, having brought the orderly arrangement of the visible stars and the natures of men together into one common relationship, continually directs their courses through all eternity, apportioning to each that which falls to it by the direction of fate, so likewise the historians, in recording the common affairs of the inhabited world as though they were those of a single state, have made of their treatises a single reckoning of past events and a common clearing-house of knowledge concerning them. 4 For it is an excellent thing to be able to use the ignorant mistakes of others as warning examples for the correction of error, and, when we confront the varied vicissitudes of life, instead of having to investigate what is being done now, to be able to imitate the successes which have been achieved in the past. Certainly all men prefer in their counsels the oldest men to those who are younger, because of the experience which has accrued to the former through the lapse of time; be it is a fact that such experience is in so far surpassed by the understanding which is gained from history, as history excels, we know, in the multitude of facts at its disposal. For this reason one may hold that the acquisition of a knowledge of history is of the greatest utility for every conceivable circumstance of life. 5 For it endows the young with the wisdom of the aged, while for the old it multiplies the experience which they already possess; citizens in private station it qualifies for leadership, and the leaders it incites, through the immortality of the glory which it confers, to undertake the noblest deeds; soldiers, again, it makes more ready to face dangers in defence of their country because of the public encomiums which they will receive after death, and wicked men it turns aside from their impulse towards evil through the everlasting opprobrium to which it will condemn them.
§ 1.2
καθόλου δὲ διὰ τὴν ἐκ ταύτης ἐπʼ ἀγαθῷ μνήμην οἱ μὲν κτίσται πόλεων γενέσθαι προεκλήθησαν, οἱ δὲ νόμους εἰσηγήσασθαι περιέχοντας τῷ κοινῷ βίω τὴν ἀσφάλειαν, πολλοὶ δʼ ἐπιστήμας καὶ τέχνας ἐξευρεῖν ἐφιλοτιμήθησαν πρὸς εὐεργεσίαν τοῦ γένους τῶν ἀνθρώπων. ἐξ ἁπάντων δὲ συμπληρουμένης τῆς εὐδαιμονίας, ἀποδοτέον τῶν ἐπαίνων τὸ πρωτεῖον τῇ τούτων μάλιστʼ αἰτίᾳ ἱστορίᾳ. ἡγητέον γὰρ εἶναι ταύτην φύλακα μὲν τῆς τῶν ἀξιολόγων ἀρετῆς, μάρτυρα δὲ τῆς τῶν φαύλων κακίας, εὐεργέτιν δὲ τοῦ κοινοῦ γένους τῶν ἀνθρώπων. εἰ γὰρ ἡ τῶν ἐν ᾅδου μυθολογία τὴν ὑπόθεσιν πεπλασμένην ἔχουσα πολλὰ συμβάλλεται τοῖς ἀνθρώποις πρὸς εὐσέβειαν καὶ δικαιοσύνην, πόσῳ μᾶλλον ὑποληπτέον τὴν προφῆτιν τῆς ἀληθείας ἱστορίαν, τῆς ὅλης φιλοσοφίας οἱονεὶ μητρόπολιν οὖσαν, ἐπισκευάσαι δύνασθαι τὰ ἤθη μᾶλλον πρὸς καλοκἀγαθίαν; πάντες γὰρ ἄνθρωποι διὰ τὴν τῆς φύσεως ἀσθένειαν βιοῦσι μὲν ἀκαριαῖόν τι μέρος τοῦ παντὸς αἰῶνος, τετελευτήκασι δὲ πάντα τὸν ὕστερον χρόνον, καὶ τοῖς μὲν ἐν τῷ ζῆν μηδὲν ἀξιόλογον πράξασιν ἅμα ταῖς τῶν σωμάτων τελευταῖς συναποθνήσκει καὶ τὰ ἄλλα πάντα τὰ κατὰ τὸν βίον, τοῖς δὲ διʼ ἀρετὴν περιποιησαμένοις δόξαν αἱ πράξεις ἅπαντα τὸν αἰῶνα μνημονεύονται, διαβοώμεναι τῷ θειοτάτῳ τῆς ἱστορίας στόματι. καλὸν δʼ, οἶμαι, τοῖς εὖ φρονοῦσι θνητῶν πόνων ἀντικαταλλάξασθαι τὴν ἀθάνατον εὐφημίαν. Ἡρακλῆς μὲν γὰρ ὁμολογεῖται πάντα τὸν γενόμενον αὐτῷ κατʼ ἀνθρώπους χρόνον ὑπομεῖναι μεγάλους καὶ συνεχεῖς πόνους καὶ κινδύνους ἑκουσίως, ἵνα τὸ γένος τῶν ἀνθρώπων εὐεργετήσας τύχῃ τῆς ἀθανασίας· τῶν δὲ ἄλλων ἀγαθῶν ἀνδρῶν οἱ μὲν ἡρωικῶν, οἱ δὲ ἰσοθέων τιμῶν ἔτυχον, πάντες δὲ μεγάλων ἐπαίνων ἠξιώθησαν, τὰς ἀρετὰς αὐτῶν τῆς ἱστορίας ἀπαθανατιζούσης. τὰ μὲν γὰρ ἄλλα μνημεῖα διαμένει χρόνον ὀλίγον, ὑπὸ πολλῶν ἀναιρούμενα περιστάσεων, ἡ δὲ τῆς ἱστορίας δύναμις ἐπὶ πᾶσαν τὴν οἰκουμένην διήκουσα τὸν πάντα τἄλλα λυμαινόμενον χρόνον ἔχει φύλακα τῆς αἰωνίου παραδόσεως τοῖς ἐπιγινομένοις. συμβάλλεται δʼ αὕτη καὶ πρὸς λόγου δύναμιν, οὗ κάλλιον ἕτερον οὐκ ἄν τις ῥᾳδίως εὕροι. τούτῳ γὰρ οἱ μὲν Ἕλληνες τῶν βαρβάρων, οἱ δὲ πεπαιδευμένοι τῶν ἀπαιδεύτων προέχουσι, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις διὰ μόνου τούτου δυνατόν ἐστιν ἕνα τῶν πολλῶν περιγενέσθαι· καθόλου δὲ φαίνεται πᾶν τὸ προτεθὲν τοιοῦτον ὁποῖον ἄν ἡ τοῦ λέγοντος δύναμις παραστήσῃ, καὶ τοὺς ἀγαθοὺς ἄνδρας ἀξίους λόγου προσαγορεύομεν, ὡς τοῦτο τὸ πρωτεῖον τῆς ἀρετῆς περιπεποιημένους. εἰς πλείω δὲ μέρη τούτου διῃρημένου, συμβαίνει τὴν μὲν ποιητικὴν τέρπειν μᾶλλον ἤπερ ὠφελεῖν, τὴν δὲ νομοθεσίαν κολάζειν, οὐ διδάσκειν, παραπλησίως δὲ καὶ τἄλλα μέρη τὰ μὲν μηδὲν συμβάλλεσθαι πρὸς εὐδαιμονίαν, τὰ δὲ μεμιγμένην ἔχειν τῷ συμφέροντι τὴν βλάβην, ἔνια δὲ κατεψεῦσθαι τῆς ἀληθείας, μόνην δὲ τὴν ἱστορίαν, συμφωνούντων ἐν αὐτῇ τῶν λόγων τοῖς ἔργοις, ἅπαντα τἄλλα χρήσιμα τῇ γραφῇ περιειληφέναι. ὁρᾶσθαι γὰρ αὐτὴν προτρεπομένην ἐπὶ δικαιοσύνην, κατηγοροῦσαν τῶν φαύλων, ἐγκωμιάζουσαν τοὺς ἀγαθούς, τὸ σύνολον ἐμπειρίαν μεγίστην περιποιοῦσαν τοῖς ἐντυγχάνουσι.
In general, then, it is because of that commemoration of goodly deeds which history accords men that some of them have be induced to become the founders of cities, that others have been led to introduce laws which encompass man's social life with security, and that many have aspired to discover new sciences and arts in order to benefit the race of men. And since complete happiness can be attained only through the combination of all these activities, the foremost meed of praise must be awarded to that which more than any other thing is the cause of them, that is, to history. 2 For we must look upon it as constituting the guardian of the high achievements of illustrious men, the witness which testifies to the evil deeds of the wicked, and the benefactor of the entire human race. For if it be true that the myths which are related about Hades, in spite of the fact that their subject-matter is fictitious, contribute greatly to fostering piety and justice among men, how much more must we assume that history, the prophetess of truth, she who is, as it were, the mother-city of philosophy as a whole, is still more potent to equip men's characters for noble living! 3 For all men, by reason of the frailty of our nature, live but an infinitesimal portion of eternity and are dead throughout all subsequent time; and while in the case of those who in their lifetime have done nothing worthy of note, everything which has pertained to them in life also perishes when their bodies die, yet in the case of those who by their virtue have achieved fame, their deeds are remembered for evermore, since they are heralded abroad by history's voice most divine. Now it is an excellent thing, methinks, as all men of understanding must agree, to receive in exchange for mortal labours an immortal fame. In the case of Heracles, for instance, it is generally agreed that during the whole time which he spent among men he submitted to great and continuous labours and perils willingly, in order that he might confer benefits upon the race of men and thereby gain immortality; and likewise in the case of other great and good men, some have attained to heroic honours and others to honours equal to the divine, and all have been thought to be worthy of great praise, since history immortalizes their achievements. 5 For whereas all other memorials abide but a brief time, yet the power of history, which extends over the whole inhabited world, possesses in time, which brings ruin upon all things else, a custodian which ensures its perpetual transmission to posterity. History also contributes to the power of speech, and a nobler thing than that may not easily be found. 6 For it is this that makes the Greeks superior to the barbarians, and the educated to the uneducated, and, furthermore, it is by means of speech alone that one man is able to gain ascendancy over the many; and, in general, the impression made by every measure that is proposed corresponds to the power of the speaker who presents it, and we describe great and human men as "worthy of speech," as though therein they had won the highest prize of excellence. 7 And when speech is resolved into its several kinds, we find that, whereas poetry is more pleasing than profitable, and codes of law punish but do not instruct, and similarly, all the other kinds either contribute nothing to happiness or else contain a harmful element mingled with the beneficial, while some of them actually pervert the truth, history alone, since in it word and fact are in perfect agreement, embraces in its narration all the other qualities as well as that are useful; 8 for it is ever to be seen urging men to justice, denouncing those who are evil, lauding the good, laying up, in a word, for its readers a mighty store of experience.
§ 1.3
διὸ καὶ θεωροῦντες ἡμεῖς δικαίας ἀποδοχῆς τυγχάνοντας τοὺς ταύτην πραγματευσαμένους προήχθημεν ἐπὶ τὸν ὅμοιον τῆς ὑποθέσεως ζῆλον. ἐπιστήσαντες δὲ τὸν νοῦν τοῖς πρὸ ἡμῶν συγγραφεῦσιν ἀπεδεξάμεθα μὲν ὡς ἔνι μάλιστα τὴν προαίρεσιν αὐτῶν, οὐ μὴν ἐξειργάσθαι πρὸς τὸ συμφέρον καὶ τὸ δυνατὸν τὰς πραγματείας αὐτῶν ὑπελάβομεν. κειμένης γὰρ τοῖς ἀναγινώσκουσι τῆς ὠφελείας ἐν τῷ πλείστας καὶ ποικιλωτάτας περιστάσεις λαμβάνειν, οἱ πλεῖστοι μὲν ἑνὸς ἔθνους ἢ μιᾶς πόλεως αὐτοτελεῖς πολέμους ἀνέγραψαν, ὀλίγοι δʼ ἀπὸ τῶν ἀρχαίων χρόνων ἀρξάμενοι τὰς κοινὰς πράξεις ἐπεχείρησαν ἀναγράφειν μέχρι τῶν καθʼ αὑτοὺς καιρῶν, καὶ τούτων οἱ μὲν τοὺς οἰκείους χρόνους ἑκάστοις οὐ παρέζευξαν, οἱ δὲ τὰς τῶν βαρβάρων πράξεις ὑπερέβησαν, ἔτι δʼ οἱ μὲν τὰς παλαιὰς μυθολογίας διὰ τὴν δυσχέρειαν τῆς πραγματείας ἀπεδοκίμασαν, οἱ δὲ τὴν ὑπόστασιν τῆς ἐπιβολῆς οὐ συνετέλεσαν, μεσολαβηθέντες τὸν βίον ὑπὸ τῆς πεπρωμένης. τῶν δὲ τὴν ἐπιβολὴν ταύτης τῆς πραγματείας πεποιημένων οὐδεὶς προεβίβασε τὴν ἱστορίαν κατωτέρω τῶν Μακεδονικῶν καιρῶν· οἱ μὲν γὰρ εἰς τὰς Φιλίππου πράξεις, οἱ δʼ εἰς τὰς Ἀλεξάνδρου, τινὲς δʼ εἰς τοὺς διαδόχους ἢ τοὺς ἐπιγόνους κατέστρεψαν τὰς συντάξεις· πολλῶν δὲ καὶ μεγάλων τῶν μετὰ ταῦτα πράξεων ἀπολελειμμένων μέχρι τοῦ καθʼ ἡμᾶς βίου τῶν ἱστοριογράφων οὐδεὶς ἐπεβάλετο αὐτὰς μιᾶς συντάξεως περιγραφῇ πραγματεύσασθαι διὰ τὸ μέγεθος τῆς ὑποθέσεως. διὸ καὶ ἐρριμμένων τῶν τε χρόνων καὶ τῶν πράξεων ἐν πλείοσι πραγματείαις καὶ διαφόροις συγγραφεῦσι δυσπερίληπτος ἡ τούτων ἀνάληψις γίνεται καὶ δυσμνημόνευτος. ἐξετάσαντες οὖν τὰς ἑκάστου τούτων διαθέσεις ἐκρίναμεν ὑπόθεσιν ἱστορικὴν πραγματεύσασθαι τὴν πλεῖστα μὲν ὠφελῆσαι δυναμένην, ἐλάχιστα δὲ τοὺς ἀναγινώσκοντας ἐνοχλήσουσαν. εἰ γάρ τις τὰς εἰς μνήμην παραδεδομένας τοῦ σύμπαντος κόσμου πράξεις, ὥσπερ τινὸς μιᾶς πόλεως, ἀρξάμενος ἀπὸ τῶν ἀρχαιοτάτων χρόνων ἀναγράψαι κατὰ τὸ δυνατὸν μέχρι τῶν καθʼ αὑτὸν καιρῶν, πόνον μὲν ἂν πολὺν ὑπομείναι δῆλον ὅτι, πραγματείαν δὲ πασῶν εὐχρηστοτάτην συντάξαιτο τοῖς φιλαναγνωστοῦσιν. ἐξέσται γὰρ ἐκ ταύτης ἕκαστον πρὸς τὴν ἰδίαν ὑπόστασιν ἑτοίμως λαμβάνειν τὸ χρήσιμον, ὥσπερ ἐκ μεγάλης ἀρυόμενον πηγῆς. τοῖς μὲν γὰρ ἐπιβαλλομένοις διεξιέναι τὰς τῶν τοσούτων συγγραφέων ἱστορίας πρῶτον μὲν οὐ ῥᾴδιον εὐπορῆσαι τῶν εἰς τὴν χρείαν πιπτουσῶν βίβλων, ἔπειτα διὰ τὴν ἀνωμαλίαν καὶ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν συνταγμάτων δυσκατάληπτος γίνεται τελέως καὶ δυσέφικτος ἡ τῶν πεπραγμένων ἀνάληψις· ἡ δʼ ἐν μιᾶς συντάξεως περιγραφῇ πραγματεία τὸ τῶν πράξεων εἰρόμενον ἔχουσα τὴν μὲν ἀνάγνωσιν ἑτοίμην παρέχεται, τὴν δʼ ἀνάληψιν ἔχει παντελῶς εὐπαρακολούθητον. καθόλου δὲ τῶν ἄλλων τοσοῦτον ὑπερέχειν ταύτην ἡγητέον ὅσῳ χρησιμώτερόν ἐστι τὸ πᾶν τοῦ μέρους καὶ τὸ συνεχὲς τοῦ διερρηγμένου, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις τὸ διηκριβωμένον τοῖς χρόνοις τοῦ μηδὲ γινωσκομένου τίσιν ἐπράχθη καιροῖς.
Consequently we, observing that writers of history are accorded a merited approbation, were led to feel a like enthusiasm for the subject. But when we turned our attention to the historians before our time, although we approved their purpose without reservation, yet we were far from feeling that their treatises had been composed so as to contribute to human welfare as much as might have been the case. 2 For although the profit which history affords its readers lies in its embracing a vast number and variety of circumstances, yet most writers have recorded no more than isolated wars waged by a single nation or a single state, and but few have undertaken, beginning with the earliest times and coming down to their own day, to record the events connected with all peoples; and of the latter, some have not attached to the several events their own proper dates, and others have passed over the deeds of barbarian peoples; and some, again, have rejected the ancient legends because of the difficulties involved in their treatment, while others have failed to complete the plan to which they had set their hand, their lives having been cut short by fate. And of those who have undertaken this account of all peoples not one has continued his history beyond the Macedonian period. 3 For while some have closed their accounts with the deeds of Philip, others with those of Alexander, and some with the Diadochi or the Epigoni, yet, despite the number and importance of the events subsequent to these and extending even to our own lifetime which have been left neglected, no historian has essayed to treat of them within the compass of a single narrative, because of the magnitude of the undertaking. 4 For this reason, since both the dates of the events and the events themselves lie scattered about in numerous treatises and in divers authors, the knowledge of them becomes difficult for the mind to encompass and for the memory to retain. Consequently, after we had examined the composition of each of these authors' works, we resolved to write a history after a plan which might yield to its readers the greatest benefit and at the same time incommode them the least. 6 For if a man should begin with the most ancient times and record to the best of his ability the affairs of the entire world down to his own day, so far as they have been handed down to memory, as though they were the affairs of some single city, he would obviously have to undertake an immense labour, yet he would have composed a treatise of the utmost value to those who are studiously inclined. 7 For from such a treatise every man will be able readily to take what is of use for his special purpose, drawing as it were from a great fountain. 8 The reason for this is that, in the first place, it is not easy for those who propose to go through the writings of so many historians to procure the books which come to be needed, and, in the second place, that, because the works vary so widely and are so numerous, the recovery of past events becomes extremely difficult of comprehension and of attainment; whereas, on the other hand, the treatise which keeps within the limits of a single narrative and contains a connected account of events facilitates the reading and contains such recovery of the past in a form that is perfectly easy to follow. In general, a history of this nature must be held to surpass all others to the same degree as the whole is more useful than the part and continuity than discontinuity, and, again, as an event whose date has been accurately determined is more useful than one of which it is not known in what period it happened.
§ 1.4
διόπερ ἡμεῖς ὁρῶντες ταύτην τὴν ὑπόθεσιν χρησιμωτάτην μὲν οὖσαν, πολλοῦ δὲ πόνου καὶ χρόνου προσδεομένην, τριάκοντα μὲν ἔτη περὶ αὐτὴν ἐπραγματεύθημεν, μετὰ δὲ πολλῆς κακοπαθείας καὶ κινδύνων ἐπήλθομεν πολλὴν τῆς τε Ἀσίας καὶ τῆς Εὐρώπης, ἵνα τῶν ἀναγκαιοτάτων καὶ πλείστων μερῶν αὐτόπται γενηθῶμεν· πολλὰ γὰρ παρὰ τὰς ἀγνοίας τῶν τόπων διήμαρτον οὐχ οἱ τυχόντες τῶν συγγραφέων, ἀλλά τινες καὶ τῶν τῇ δόξῃ πεπρωτευκότων. ἀφορμῇ δὲ πρὸς τὴν ἐπιβολὴν ταύτην ἐχρησάμεθα μάλιστα μὲν τῇ πρὸς τὴν πραγματείαν ἐπιθυμίᾳ, διʼ ἣν πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις τὸ δοκοῦν ἄπορον εἶναι τυγχάνει συντελείας, ἔπειτα καὶ τῇ ἐν Ῥώμῃ χορηγίᾳ τῶν πρὸς τὴν ὑποκειμένην ὑπόθεσιν ἀνηκόντων. ἡ γὰρ ταύτης τῆς πόλεως ὑπεροχή, διατείνουσα τῇ δυνάμει πρὸς τὰ πέρατα τῆς οἰκουμένης, ἑτοιμοτάτας καὶ πλείστας ἡμῖν ἀφορμὰς παρέσχετο παρεπιδημήσασιν ἐν αὐτῇ πλείω χρόνον. ἡμεῖς γὰρ ἐξ Ἀγυρίου τῆς Σικελίας ὄντες, καὶ διὰ τὴν ἐπιμιξίαν τοῖς ἐν τῇ νήσῳ πολλὴν ἐμπειρίαν τῆς Ῥωμαίων διαλέκτου περιπεποιμένοι, πάσας τὰς τῆς ἡγεμονίας ταύτης πράξεις ἀκριβῶς ἀνελάβομεν ἐκ τῶν παρʼ ἐκείνοις ὑπομνημάτων ἐκ πολλῶν χρόνων τετηρημένων. πεποιήμεθα δὲ τὴν ἀρχὴν τῆς ἱστορίας ἀπὸ τῶν μυθολογουμένων παρʼ Ἕλλησί τε καὶ βαρβάροις, ἐξετάσαντες τὰ παρʼ ἑκάστοις ἱστορούμενα κατὰ τοὺς ἀρχαίους χρόνους, ἐφʼ ὅσον ἡμῖν δύναμις. ἐπεὶ δʼ ἡ μὲν ὑπόθεσις ἔχει τέλος, αἱ βίβλοι δὲ μέχρι τοῦ νῦν ἀνέκδοτοι τυγχάνουσιν οὖσαι, βούλομαι βραχέα προδιορίσαι περὶ ὅλης τῆς πραγματείας. τῶν γὰρ βίβλων ἡμῖν ἓξ μὲν αἱ πρῶται περιέχουσι τὰς πρὸ τῶν Τρωικῶν πράξεις καὶ μυθολογίας, καὶ τούτων αἱ μὲν προηγούμεναι τρεῖς τὰς βαρβαρικάς, αἱ δʼ ἑξῆς σχεδὸν τὰς τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἀρχαιολογίας· ἐν δὲ ταῖς μετὰ ταύτας ἕνδεκα τὰς ἀπὸ τῶν Τρωικῶν κοινὰς πράξεις ἀναγεγράφαμεν ἕως τῆς Ἀλεξάνδρου τελευτῆς· ἐν δὲ ταῖς ἑξῆς εἴκοσι καὶ τρισὶ βίβλοις τὰς λοιπὰς ἁπάσας κατετάξαμεν μέχρι τῆς ἀρχῆς τοῦ συστάντος πολέμου Ῥωμαίοις πρὸς Κελτούς, καθʼ ὃν ἡγούμενος Γάιος Ἰούλιος Καῖσαρ ὁ διὰ τὰς πράξεις προσαγορευθεὶς θεὸς κατεπολέμησε μὲν τὰ πλεῖστα καὶ μαχιμώτατα τῶν Κελτῶν ἔθνη, προεβίβασε δὲ τὴν ἡγεμονίαν τῆς Ῥώμης μέχρι τῶν Βρεττανικῶν νήσων· τούτου δʼ αἱ πρῶται πράξεις ἐπετελέσθησαν ὀλυμπιάδος τῆς ἑκατοστῆς καὶ ὀγδοηκοστῆς κατὰ τὸ πρῶτον ἔτος ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος Ἀθήνησιν Ἡρώδου.
And so we, appreciating that an undertaking of this nature, while most useful, would yet require much labour and time, have been engaged upon it for thirty years, and with much hardship and many dangers we have visited a large portion of both Asia and Europe that we might see with our own eyes all the most important regions and as many others as possible; for many errors have been committed through ignorance of the sites, not only by the common run of historians, but even by some of the highest reputation. 2 As for the resources which have availed us in this undertaking, they have been, first and foremost, that enthusiasm for the work which enables every man to bring to completion the task which seems impossible, and, in the second place, the abundant supply which Rome affords of the materials pertaining to the proposed study. 3 For the supremacy of this city, a supremacy so powerful that it extends to the bounds of the inhabited world, has provided us in the course of our long residence there with copious resources in the most accessible form. 4 For since the city of our origin was Agyrium in Sicily, and by reason of our contact with the Romans in that island we had gained a wide acquaintance with their language, we have acquired an accurate knowledge of all the events connected with this empire from the records which have been carefully preserved among them over a long period of time. 5 Now we have begun our history with the legends of both Greeks and barbarians, after having first investigated to the best of our ability the accounts which each people records of its earliest times. Since my undertaking is now completed, although the volumes are as yet unpublished, I wish to present a brief preliminary outline of the work as a whole. Our first six Books embrace the events and legends previous to the Trojan War, the first three setting forth the antiquities of the barbarians, and the next three almost exclusively those of the Greeks; in the following eleven we have written a universal history of events from the Trojan War to the death of Alexander; 7 and in the succeeding twenty-three Books we have given an orderly account of all subsequent events down to the beginning of the war between the Romans and the Celts, in the course of which the commander, Gaius Julius Caesar, who has been deified because of his deeds, subdued the most numerous and most warlike tribes of the Celts, and advanced the Roman Empire as far as the British Isles. The first events of this war occurred in the first year of the One Hundred and Eightieth Olympiad, when Herodes was archon [60/59 BCE] at Athens.
§ 1.5
τῶν δὲ χρόνων τούτων περιειλημμένων ἐν ταύτῃ τῇ πραγματείᾳ τοὺς μὲν πρὸ τῶν Τρωικῶν οὐ διοριζόμεθα βεβαίως διὰ τὸ μηδὲν παράπηγμα παρειληφέναι περὶ τούτων πιστευόμενον, ἀπὸ δὲ τῶν Τρωικῶν ἀκολούθως Ἀπολλοδώρῳ τῷ Ἀθηναίῳ τίθεμεν ὀγδοήκοντʼ ἔτη πρὸς τὴν κάθοδον τῶν Ἡρακλειδῶν, ἀπὸ δὲ ταύτης ἐπὶ τὴν πρώτην ὀλυμπιάδα δυσὶ λείποντα τῶν τριακοσίων καὶ τριάκοντα, συλλογιζόμενοι τοὺς χρόνους ἀπὸ τῶν ἐν Λακεδαίμονι βασιλευσάντων, ἀπὸ δὲ τῆς πρώτης ὀλυμπιάδος εἰς τὴν ἀρχὴν τοῦ Κελτικοῦ πολέμου, ἣν τελευτὴν πεπονήμεθα τῆς ἱστορίας, ἑπτακόσια καὶ τριάκοντα· ὥστε τὴν ὅλην πραγματείαν ἡμῶν τετταράκοντα βίβλων οὖσαν περιέχειν ἔτη δυσὶ λείποντα τῶν χιλίων ἑκατὸν τετταράκοντα χωρὶς τῶν χρόνων τῶν περιεχόντων τὰς πρὸ τῶν Τρωικῶν πράξεις. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἀκριβῶς προδιωρισάμεθα, βουλόμενοι τοὺς μὲν ἀναγινώσκοντας εἰς ἔννοιαν ἀγαγεῖν τῆς ὅλης προθέσεως, τοὺς δὲ διασκευάζειν εἰωθότας τὰς βίβλους ἀποτρέψαι τοῦ λυμαίνεσθαι τὰς ἀλλοτρίας πραγματείας. ἡμῖν δὲ παρʼ ὅλην τὴν ἱστορίαν τὰ μὲν γραφέντα καλῶς μὴ μετεχέτω φθόνου, τὰ δὲ ἀγνοηθέντα τυγχανέτω διορθώσεως ὑπὸ τῶν δυνατωτέρων. διεληλυθότες δὲ ὑπὲρ ὧν προῃρούμεθα, τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν τῆς γραφῆς βεβαιοῦν ἐγχειρήσομεν. περὶ μὲν οὖν θεῶν τίνας ἐννοίας ἔσχον οἱ πρῶτοι
As for the periods included in this work, we do not attempt to fix with any strictness the limits of those before the Trojan War, because no trustworthy chronological table covering them has come into our hands: but from the Trojan War we follow Apollodorus of Athens in setting the interval from then to the Return of the Heracleidae as eighty years, from then to the First Olympiad three hundred and twenty-eight years, reckoning the dates by the reigns of the kings of Lacedaemon, and from the First Olympiad to the beginning of the Celtic war, which we have made the end of our history, seven hundred and thirty years; so that our whole treatise of forty Books embraces eleven hundred and thirty-eight years, exclusive of the periods which embrace the events before the Trojan War. We have given at the outset this precise outline, since we desire to inform our readers about the project as a whole, and at the same time to deter those who are accustomed to make their books by compilation, from mutilating works of which they are not the authors. And throughout our entire history it is to be hoped that what we have done well may not be the object of envy, and that the matters wherein our knowledge is defective may receive correction at the hands of more able historians. Now that we have set forth the plan and purpose of our undertaking we shall attempt to make good our promise of such a treatise.
§ 1.6
καταδείξαντες τιμᾶν τὸ θεῖον, καὶ τῶν μυθολογουμένων περὶ ἑκάστου τῶν ἀθανάτων, τὰ μὲν πολλὰ συντάξασθαι παρήσομεν κατʼ ἰδίαν διὰ τὸ τὴν ὑπόθεσιν ταύτην πολλοῦ λόγου προσδεῖσθαι, ὅσα δʼ ἂν ταῖς προκειμέναις ἱστορίαις οἰκεῖα δόξωμεν ὑπάρχειν, παραθήσομεν ἐν κεφαλαίοις, ἵνα μηδὲν τῶν ἀκοῆς ἀξίων ἐπιζητῆται. περὶ δὲ τοῦ γένους τῶν ἁπάντων ἀνθρώπων καὶ τῶν πραχθέντων ἐν τοῖς γνωριζομένοις μέρεσι τῆς οἰκουμένης, ὡς ἂν ἐνδέχηται περὶ τῶν οὕτω παλαιῶν, ἀκριβῶς ἀναγράψομεν ἀπὸ τῶν ἀρχαιοτάτων χρόνων ἀρξάμενοι. περὶ τῆς πρώτης τοίνυν γενέσεως τῶν ἀνθρώπων διτταὶ γεγόνασιν ἀποφάσεις παρὰ τοῖς νομιμωτάτοις τῶν τε φυσιολόγων καὶ τῶν ἱστορικῶν· οἱ μὲν γὰρ αὐτῶν ἀγέννητον καὶ ἄφθαρτον ὑποστησάμενοι τὸν κόσμον, ἀπεφήναντο καὶ τὸ γένος τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐξ αἰῶνος ὑπάρχειν, μηδέποτε τῆς αὐτῶν τεκνώσεως ἀρχὴν ἐσχηκυίας· οἱ δὲ γεννητὸν καὶ φθαρτὸν εἶναι νομίσαντες ἔφησαν ὁμοίως ἐκείνῳ τοὺς ἀνθρώπους τυχεῖν τῆς πρώτης γενέσεως ὡρισμένοις χρόνοις.
Concerning the various conceptions of the gods formed by those who were the first to introduce the worship of the deity, and concerning the myths which are told about each of the immortals, although we shall refrain from setting forth the most part in detail, since such a procedure would require a long account, yet whatever on these subjects we may feel to be pertinent to the several parts of our proposed history we shall present in a summary fashion, that nothing which is worth hearing may be found missing. 2 Concerning, however, every race of men, and all events that have taken place in the known parts of the inhabited world, we shall give an accurate account, so far as that is possible in the case of things that happened so long ago, beginning with the earliest times. 3 Now as regards the first origin of mankind two opinions have arisen among the best authorities both on nature and on history. One group, which takes the position that the universe did not come into being and will not decay, has declared that the race of men also has existed from eternity, there having never been a time when men were first begotten; the other group, however, which hold that the universe came into being and will decay, has declared that, like it, men had their first origin at a definite time.
§ 1.7
κατὰ γὰρ τὴν ἐξ ἀρχῆς τῶν ὅλων σύστασιν μίαν ἔχειν ἰδέαν οὐρανόν τε καὶ γῆν, μεμιγμένης αὐτῶν τῆς φύσεως· μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα διαστάντων τῶν σωμάτων ἀπʼ ἀλλήλων, τὸν μὲν κόσμον περιλαβεῖν ἅπασαν τὴν ὁρωμένην ἐν αὐτῷ σύνταξιν, τὸν δʼ ἀέρα κινήσεως τυχεῖν συνεχοῦς, καὶ τὸ μὲν πυρῶδες αὐτοῦ πρὸς τοὺς μετεωροτάτους τόπους συνδραμεῖν, ἀνωφεροῦς οὔσης τῆς τοιαύτης φύσεως διὰ τὴν κουφότητα· ἀφʼ ἧς αἰτίας τὸν μὲν ἥλιον καὶ τὸ λοιπὸν πλῆθος τῶν ἄστρων ἐναποληφθῆναι τῇ πάσῃ δίνῃ· τὸ δὲ ἰλυῶδες καὶ θολερὸν μετὰ τῆς τῶν ὑγρῶν συγκρίσεως ἐπὶ ταὐτὸ καταστῆναι διὰ τὸ βάρος· εἰλούμενον δʼ ἐν ἑαυτῷ συνεχῶς καὶ συστρεφόμενον ἐκ μὲν τῶν ὑγρῶν τὴν θάλατταν, ἐκ δὲ τῶν στερεμνιωτέρων ποιῆσαι τὴν γῆν πηλώδη καὶ παντελῶς ἁπαλήν. ταύτην δὲ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον τοῦ περὶ τὸν ἥλιον πυρὸς καταλάμψαντος πῆξιν λαβεῖν, ἔπειτα διὰ τὴν θερμασίαν ἀναζυμουμένης τῆς ἐπιφανείας συνοιδῆσαί τινα τῶν ὑγρῶν κατὰ πολλοὺς τόπους, καὶ γενέσθαι περὶ αὐτὰ σηπεδόνας ὑμέσι λεπτοῖς περιεχομένας· ὅπερ ἐν τοῖς ἕλεσι καὶ τοῖς λιμνάζουσι τῶν τόπων ἔτι καὶ νῦν ὁρᾶσθαι γινόμενον, ἐπειδὰν τῆς χώρας κατεψυγμένης ἄφνω διάπυρος ὁ ἀὴρ γένηται, μὴ λαβὼν τὴν μεταβολὴν ἐκ τοῦ κατʼ ὀλίγον. ζωογονουμένων δὲ τῶν ὑγρῶν διὰ τῆς θερμασίας τὸν εἰρημένον τρόπον τὰς μὲν νύκτας λαμβάνειν αὐτίκα τὴν τροφὴν ἐκ τῆς πιπτούσης ἀπὸ τοῦ περιέχοντος ὁμίχλης, τὰς δʼ ἡμέρας ὑπὸ τοῦ καύματος στερεοῦσθαι· τὸ δʼ ἔσχατον τῶν κυοφορουμένων τὴν τελείαν αὔξησιν λαβόντων, καὶ τῶν ὑμένων διακαυθέντων τε καὶ περιρραγέντων, ἀναφυῆναι παντοδαποὺς τύπους ζῴων. τούτων δὲ τὰ μὲν πλείστης θερμασίας κεκοινωνηκότα πρὸς τοὺς μετεώρους τόπους ἀπελθεῖν γενόμενα πτηνά, τὰ δὲ γεώδους ἀντεχόμενα συγκρίσεως ἐν τῇ τῶν ἑρπετῶν καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν ἐπιγείων τάξει καταριθμηθῆναι, τὰ δὲ φύσεως ὑγρᾶς μάλιστα μετειληφότα πρὸς τὸν ὁμογενῆ τόπον συνδραμεῖν, ὀνομασθέντα πλωτά, τὴν δὲ γῆν ἀεὶ μᾶλλον στερεουμένην ὑπό τε τοῦ περὶ τὸν ἥλιον πυρὸς καὶ τῶν πνευμάτων τὸ τελευταῖον μηκέτι δύνασθαι μηδὲν τῶν μειζόνων ζωογονεῖν, ἀλλʼ ἐκ τῆς πρὸς ἄλληλα μίξεως ἕκαστα γεννᾶσθαι τῶν ἐμψύχων, ἔοικε δὲ περὶ τῆς τῶν ὅλων φύσεως οὐδʼ Εὐριπίδης διαφωνεῖν τοῖς προειρημένοις, μαθητὴς ὢν Ἀναξαγόρου τοῦ φυσικοῦ· ἐν γὰρ τῇ Μελανίππῃ τίθησιν οὕτως, ὡς οὐρανός τε γαῖά τʼ ἦν μορφὴ μία· ἐπεὶ δʼ ἐχωρίσθησαν ἀλλήλων δίχα, τίκτουσι πάντα κἀνέδωκαν εἰς φάος, δένδρη, πετηνά, θῆρας, οὕς θʼ ἅλμη τρέφει, γένος τε θνητῶν.
When in the beginning, as their account runs, the universe was being formed, both heaven and earth were indistinguishable in appearance, since their elements were intermingled: then, when their bodies separated from one another, the universe took on in all its parts the ordered form in which it is now seen; the air set up a continual motion, and the fiery element in it gathered into the highest regions, since anything of such a nature moves upward by reason of its lightness (and it is for this reason that the sun and the multitude of other stars became involved in the universal whirl); while all that was mud-like and thick and contained an admixture of moisture sank because of its weight into one place; 2 and as this continually turned about upon itself and became compressed, out of the wet it formed the sea, and out of what was firmer, the land, which was like potter's clay and entirely soft. 3 But as the sun's fire shone upon the land, it first of all became firm, and then, since its surface was in a ferment because of the warmth, portions of the wet swelled up in masses in many places, and in these pustules covered with delicate membranes made their appearance. Such a phenomenon can be seen even yet in swamps and marshy places whenever, the ground having become cold, the air suddenly and without any gradual change becomes intensely warm. 4 And while the wet was being impregnated with life by reason of the warmth in the manner described, by night the living things forthwith received their nourishment from the mist that fell from the enveloping air, and by day were made solid by the intense heat; and finally, when the embryos had attained their full development and the membranes had been thoroughly heated and broken open, there was produced every form of animal life. 5 Of these, such as had partaken of the most warmth set off to the higher regions, having become winged, and such as retained an earthy consistency came to be numbered in the class of creeping things and of the other land animals, while those whose composition partook the most of the wet element gathered into the region congenial to them, receiving the name of water animals. 6 And since the earth constantly grew more solid through the action of the sun's fire and of the winds, it was finally no longer able to generate any of the larger animals, but each kind of living creatures was now begotten by breeding with one another. And apparently Euripides also, who was a pupil of Anaxagoras the natural philosopher, is not opposed to this account of the nature of the universe, for in his Melanippe he writes as follows: 'Tis thus that the heav'n and earth were once one form; But since the two were sundered each from each, They now beget and bring to life all things, The trees and birds, the beasts, the spawn of sea, And race of mortals.
§ 1.8
καὶ περὶ μὲν τῆς πρώτης τῶν ὅλων γενέσεως τοιαῦτα παρειλήφαμεν, τοὺς δὲ ἐξ ἀρχῆς γεννηθέντας τῶν ἀνθρώπων φασὶν ἐν ἀτάκτῳ καὶ θηριώδει βίῳ καθεστῶτας σποράδην ἐπὶ τὰς νομὰς ἐξιέναι, καὶ προσφέρεσθαι τῆς τε βοτάνης τὴν προσηνεστάτην καὶ τοὺς αὐτομάτους ἀπὸ τῶν δένδρων καρπούς. καὶ πολεμουμένους μὲν ὑπὸ τῶν θηρίων ἀλλήλοις βοηθεῖν ὑπὸ τοῦ συμφέροντος διδασκομένους, ἀθροιζομένους δὲ διὰ τὸν φόβον ἐπιγινώσκειν ἐκ τοῦ κατὰ μικρὸν τοὺς ἀλλήλων τύπους. τῆς φωνῆς δʼ ἀσήμου καὶ συγκεχυμένης οὔσης ἐκ τοῦ κατʼ ὀλίγον διαρθροῦν τὰς λέξεις, καὶ πρὸς ἀλλήλους τιθέντας σύμβολα περὶ ἑκάστου τῶν ὑποκειμένων γνώριμον σφίσιν αὐτοῖς ποιῆσαι τὴν περὶ ἁπάντων ἑρμηνείαν. τοιούτων δὲ συστημάτων γινομένων καθʼ ἅπασαν τὴν οἰκουμένην, οὐχ ὁμόφωνον πάντας ἔχειν τὴν διάλεκτον, ἑκάστων ὡς ἔτυχε συνταξάντων τὰς λέξεις· διὸ καὶ παντοίους τε ὑπάρξαι χαρακτῆρας διαλέκτων καὶ τὰ πρῶτα γενόμενα συστήματα τῶν ἁπάντων ἐθνῶν ἀρχέγονα γενέσθαι. τοὺς οὖν πρώτους τῶν ἀνθρώπων μηδενὸς τῶν πρὸς βίον χρησίμων εὑρημένου ἐπιπόνως διάγειν, γυμνοὺς μὲν ἐσθῆτος ὄντας, οἰκήσεως δὲ καὶ πυρὸς ἀήθεις, τροφῆς δʼ ἡμέρου παντελῶς ἀνεννοήτους. καὶ γὰρ τὴν συγκομιδὴν τῆς ἀγρίας τροφῆς ἀγνοοῦντας μηδεμίαν τῶν καρπῶν εἰς τὰς ἐνδείας ποιεῖσθαι παράθεσιν· διὸ καὶ πολλοὺς αὐτῶν ἀπάλλυσθαι κατὰ τοὺς χειμῶνας διά τε τὸ ψῦχος καὶ τὴν σπάνιν τῆς τροφῆς, ἐκ δὲ τοῦ κατʼ ὀλίγον ὑπὸ τῆς πείρας διδασκομένους εἴς τε τὰ σπήλαια καταφεύγειν ἐν τῷ χειμῶνι καὶ τῶν καρπῶν τοὺς φυλάττεσθαι δυναμένους ἀποτίθεσθαι. γνωσθέντος δὲ τοῦ πυρὸς καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν χρησίμων κατὰ μικρὸν καὶ τὰς τέχνας εὑρεθῆναι καὶ τἄλλα τὰ δυνάμενα τὸν κοινὸν βίον ὠφελῆσαι. καθόλου γὰρ πάντων τὴν χρείαν αὐτὴν διδάσκαλον γενέσθαι τοῖς ἀνθρώποις, ὑφηγουμένην οἰκείως τὴν ἑκάστου μάθησιν εὐφυεῖ ζῴῳ καὶ συνεργοὺς ἔχοντι πρὸς ἅπαντα χεῖρας καὶ λόγον καὶ ψυχῆς ἀγχίνοιαν. καὶ περὶ μὲν τῆς πρώτης γενέσεως τῶν ἀνθρώπων καὶ τοῦ παλαιοτάτου βίου τοῖς ῥηθεῖσιν
Concerning the first generation of the universe this is the account which we have received. But the first men to be born, he says, led an undisciplined and bestial life, setting out one by one to secure their sustenance and taking for their food both the tenderest herbs and the fruits of wild trees. Then, 2 since they were attacked by the wild beasts, they came to each other's aid, being instructed by expediency, and when gathered together in this way by reason of their fear, they gradually came to recognize their mutual characteristics. 3 And though the sounds which they made were at first unintelligible and indistinct, yet gradually they came to give articulation to their speech, and by agreeing with one another upon symbols for each thing which presented itself to them, made known among themselves the significance which was to be attached to each term. 4 But since groups of this kind arose over every part of the inhabited world, not all men had the same language, inasmuch as every group organized the elements of its speech by mere chance. This is the explanation of the present existence of every conceivable kind of language, and, furthermore, out of these first groups to be formed came all the original nations of the world. Now the first men, since none of the things useful for life had yet been discovered, led a wretched existence, having no clothing to cover them, knowing not the use of dwelling and fire, and also being totally ignorant of cultivated food. 6 For since they also even neglected the harvesting of the wild food, they laid by no store of its fruits against their needs; consequently large numbers of them perished in the winters because of the cold and the lack of food. 7 Little by little, however, experience taught them both to take to the caves in winter and to store such fruits as could be preserved. 8 And when they had become acquainted with fire and other useful things, the arts also and whatever else is capable of furthering man's social life were gradually discovered. 9 Indeed, speaking generally, in all things it was necessity itself that became man's teacher, supplying in appropriate fashion instruction in every matter to a creature which was well endowed by nature and had, as its assistants for every purpose, hands and speech and sagacity of mind. 10 And as regards the first origin of men and their earliest manner of life we shall be satisfied with what has been said, since we would keep due proportion in our account.
§ 1.9
ἀρκεσθησόμεθα, στοχαζόμενοι τῆς συμμετρίας, περὶ δὲ τῶν πράξεων τῶν παραδεδομένων μὲν εἰς μνήμην, γενομένων δὲ ἐν τοῖς γνωριζομένοις τόποις τῆς οἰκουμένης, διεξιέναι πειρασόμεθα. τοὺς μὲν οὖν πρώτους ὑπάρξαντας βασιλεῖς οὔτʼ αὐτοὶ λέγειν ἔχομεν οὔτε τῶν ἱστορικῶν τοῖς ἐπαγγελλομένοις εἰδέναι συγκατατιθέμεθα· ἀδύνατον γὰρ τὴν εὕρεσιν τῶν γραμμάτων οὕτως εἶναι παλαιὰν ὥστε τοῖς πρώτοις βασιλεῦσιν ἡλικιώτιδα γενέσθαι· εἰ δέ τις καὶ τοῦτο συγχωρήσαι, τό γε τῶν ἱστοριογράφων γένος παντελῶς φαίνεται νεωστὶ τῷ κοινῷ βίῳ συνεσταμένον. περὶ δὲ τῆς τοῦ γένους ἀρχαιότητος οὐ μόνον ἀμφισβητοῦσιν Ἕλληνες, ἀλλὰ καὶ πολλοὶ τῶν βαρβάρων, ἑαυτοὺς αὐτόχθονας λέγοντες καὶ πρώτους τῶν ἁπάντων ἀνθρώπων εὑρετὰς γενέσθαι τῶν ἐν τῷ βίῳ χρησίμων, καὶ τὰς γενομένας παρʼ αὐτοῖς πράξεις ἐκ πλείστων χρόνων ἀναγραφῆς ἠξιῶσθαι. ἡμεῖς δὲ περὶ μὲν τῆς ἑκάστων παλαιότητος τἀκριβὲς καὶ τίνων προτερεῖ τὰ ἔθνη τῶν ἄλλων τοῖς χρόνοις καὶ πόσοις ἔτεσιν οὐκ ἂν διορισαίμεθα, τὰ δὲ λεγόμενα παρʼ ἑκάστοις περὶ τῆς ἀρχαιότητος καὶ τῶν παλαιῶν πράξεων ἐν κεφαλαίοις ἀναγράψομεν, στοχαζόμενοι τῆς συμμετρίας. περὶ πρώτων δὲ τῶν βαρβάρων διέξιμεν, οὐκ ἀρχαιοτέρους αὐτοὺς ἡγούμενοι τῶν Ἑλλήνων, καθάπερ Ἔφορος εἴρηκεν, ἀλλὰ προδιελθεῖν βουλόμενοι τὰ πλεῖστα τῶν περὶ αὐτούς, ὅπως ἀρξάμενοι τῶν παρὰ τοῖς Ἕλλησιν ἱστορουμένων μηδεμίαν ἐν ταῖς ἀρχαιολογίαις ἑτερογενῆ πρᾶξιν παρεμβάλωμεν. ἐπεὶ δὲ κατὰ τὴν Αἴγυπτον θεῶν τε γενέσεις ὑπάρξαι μυθολογοῦνται, αἵ τε τῶν ἄστρων ἀρχαιόταται παρατηρήσεις εὑρῆσθαι λέγονται, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις πράξεις ἀξιόλογοι καὶ πολλαὶ μεγάλων ἀνδρῶν ἱστοροῦνται, ποιησόμεθα τῆς ἱστορίας τὴν ἀρχὴν διὰ τῶν κατʼ Αἴγυπτον πραχθέντων.
But as regards all the events which have been handed down to memory and took place in the known regions of the inhabited world, we shall now undertake to give a full account of them. 2 Now as to who were the first kings we are in no position to speak on our own authority, nor do we give assent to those historians who profess to know; for it is impossible that the discovery of writing was of so early a date as to have been contemporary with the first kings. But if a man should concede even this last point, it still seems evident that writers of history are as a class a quite recent appearance in the life of mankind. 3 Again, with respect to the antiquity of the human race, not only do Greeks put forth their claims but many of the barbarians as well, all holding that it is they who were autochthonous and the first of all men to discover the things which are of use in life, and that it was the events in their own history which were the earliest to have been held worthy of record. 4 So far as we are concerned, however, we shall not make the attempt to determine with precision the antiquity of each nation or what is the race whose nations are prior in point of time to the rest and by how many years, but we shall record summarily, keeping due proportion in our account, what each nation has to say concerning its antiquity and the early events in its history. 5 The first peoples which we shall discuss will be the barbarians, not that we consider them to be earlier than the Greeks, as Ephorus has said, but because we wish to set forth most of the facts about them at the outset, in order that we may not, by beginning with the various accounts given by the Greeks, have to interpolate in the different narrations of their early history any event connected with another people. 6 And since Egypt is the country where mythology places the origin of the gods, where the earliest observations of the stars are said to have been made, and where, furthermore, many noteworthy deeds of great men are recorded, we shall begin our history with the events connected with Egypt.
§ 1.10
φασὶ τοίνυν Αἰγύπτιοι κατὰ τὴν ἐξ ἀρχῆς τῶν ὅλων γένεσιν πρώτους ἀνθρώπους γενέσθαι κατὰ τὴν Αἴγυπτον διά τε τὴν εὐκρασίαν τῆς χώρας καὶ διὰ τὴν φύσιν τοῦ Νείλου. τοῦτον γὰρ πολύγονον ὄντα καὶ τὰς τροφὰς αὐτοφυεῖς παρεχόμενον ῥᾳδίως ἐκτρέφειν τὰ ζωογονηθέντα· τήν τε γὰρ τοῦ καλάμου ῥίζαν καὶ τὸν λωτόν, ἔτι δὲ τὸν Αἰγύπτιον κύαμον καὶ τὸ καλούμενον κορσαῖον καὶ πολλὰ τοιαῦθʼ ἕτερα τροφὴν ἑτοίμην παρέχεσθαι τῷ γένει τῶν ἀνθρώπων. τῆς δʼ ἐξ ἀρχῆς παρʼ αὐτοῖς ζωογονίας τεκμήριον πειρῶνται φέρειν τὸ καὶ νῦν ἔτι τὴν ἐν Θηβαΐδι χώραν κατά τινας καιροὺς τοσούτους καὶ τηλικούτους μῦς γεννᾶν ὥστε τοὺς ἰδόντας τὸ γινόμενον ἐκπλήττεσθαι· ἐνίους γὰρ αὐτῶν ἕως μὲν τοῦ στήθους καὶ τῶν ἐμπροσθίων ποδῶν διατετυπῶσθαι καὶ κίνησιν λαμβάνειν, τὸ δὲ λοιπὸν τοῦ σώματος ἔχειν ἀδιατύπωτον, μενούσης ἔτι κατὰ φύσιν τῆς βώλου. ἐκ τούτου δʼ εἶναι φανερὸν ὅτι κατὰ τὴν ἐξ ἀρχῆς τοῦ κόσμου σύστασιν τῆς γῆς εὐκράτου καθεστώσης μάλιστʼ ἂν ἔσχε τὴν γένεσιν τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἡ κατʼ Αἴγυπτον χώρα· καὶ γὰρ νῦν, οὐδαμοῦ τῆς ἄλλης γῆς φυούσης οὐδὲν τῶν τοιούτων, ἐν μόνῃ ταύτῃ θεωρεῖσθαί τινα τῶν ἐμψύχων παραδόξως ζωογονούμενα. καθόλου δὲ λέγουσιν, εἴτε κατὰ τὸν ἐπὶ Δευκαλίωνος γενόμενον κατακλυσμὸν ἐφθάρη τὰ πλεῖστα τῶν ζῴων, εἰκὸς μάλιστα διασεσῶσθαι τοὺς κατὰ τὴν Αἴγυπτον ὑπὸ τὴν μεσημβρίαν κατοικοῦντας, ὡς ἂν τῆς χώρας αὐτῶν οὔσης ἀνόμβρου κατὰ τὸ πλεῖστον, εἴτε, καθάπερ τινές φασι, παντελοῦς γενομένης τῶν ἐμψύχων φθορᾶς ἡ γῆ πάλιν ἐξ ἀρχῆς καινὰς ἤνεγκε τῶν ζῴων φύσεις, ὅμως καὶ κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν λόγον πρέπειν τὴν ἀρχηγὸν τῶν ἐμψύχων γένεσιν προσάπτειν ταύτῃ τῇ χώρᾳ. τῆς γὰρ παρὰ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἐπομβρίας τῷ παρʼ ἑαυτοῖς γινομένῳ καύματι μιγείσης εἰκὸς εὐκρατότατον γενέσθαι τὸν ἀέρα πρὸς τὴν ἐξ ἀρχῆς τῶν πάντων ζωογονίαν. καὶ γὰρ ἐν τοῖς καθʼ ἡμᾶς ἔτι χρόνοις κατὰ τὴν ἐπίκλυστον Αἴγυπτον ἐν τοῖς ὀψίμοις τῶν ὑδάτων φανερῶς ὁρᾶσθαι γεννωμένας φύσεις ἐμψύχων· ὅταν γὰρ τοῦ ποταμοῦ τὴν ἀναχώρησιν ποιουμένου τὴν πρώτην τῆς ἰλύος ὁ ἥλιος διαξηράνῃ, φασὶ συνίστασθαι ζῷα, τινὰ μὲν εἰς τέλος ἀπηρτισμένα, τινὰ δὲ ἡμιτελῆ καὶ πρὸς αὐτῇ συμφυῆ τῇ γῇ.
Now the Egyptians have an account like this: When in the beginning the universe came into being, men first came into existence in Egypt, both because of the favourable climate of the land and because of the nature of the Nile. For this stream, since it produces much life and provides a spontaneous supply of food, easily supports whatever living things have been engendered; for both the root of the reed and the lotus, as well as the Egyptian bean and corsaeon, as it is called, and many other similar plants, supply the race of men with nourishment all ready for use. 2 As proof that animal life appeared first of all in their land they would offer the fact that even at the present day the soil of the Thebaid at certain times generates mice in such numbers and of such size as to astonish all who have witnessed the phenomenon; for some of them are fully formed as far as the breast and front feet and are able to move, while the rest of the body is unformed, the clod of earth still retaining its natural character. 3 And from this fact it is manifest that, when the world was first taking shape, the land of Egypt could better than any other have been the place where mankind came into being because of the well-tempered nature of its soil; for even at the present time, while the soil of no other country generates any such things, in it alone certain living creatures may be seen coming into being in a marvellous fashion. In general, he says that if in the flood which occurred in the time of Deucalion most living things were destroyed, it is probable that the inhabitants of southern Egypt survived rather than any others, since their country is rainless for the most part; or if, as some maintain, the destruction of living things was complete and the earth then brought forth again new forms of animals, nevertheless, even on such a supposition the first genesis of living things fittingly attaches to this country. 5 For when the moisture from the abundant rains, which fell among other peoples, was mingled with the intense heat which prevails in Egypt itself, it is reasonable to suppose that the air became very well tempered for the first generation of all living things. 6 Indeed, even in our day during the inundations of Egypt the generation of forms of animal life can clearly be seen taking place in the pools which remain the longest; 7 for, whenever the river has begun to recede and the sun has thoroughly dried the surface of the slime, living animals, he says, take shape, some of them fully formed, but some only half so and still actually united with the very earth.
§ 1.11
τοὺς δʼ οὖν κατʼ Αἴγυπτον ἀνθρώπους τὸ παλαιὸν γενομένους, ἀναβλέψαντας εἰς τὸν κόσμον καὶ τὴν τῶν ὅλων φύσιν καταπλαγέντας τε καὶ θαυμάσαντας, ὑπολαβεῖν εἶναι δύο θεοὺς ἀιδίους τε καὶ πρώτους, τόν τε ἥλιον καὶ τὴν σελήνην, ὧν τὸν μὲν Ὄσιριν, τὴν δὲ Ἶσιν ὀνομάσαι, ἀπό τινος ἐτύμου τεθείσης ἑκατέρας τῆς προσηγορίας ταύτης. μεθερμηνευομένων γὰρ τούτων εἰς τὸν Ἑλληνικὸν τῆς διαλέκτου τρόπον εἶναι τὸν μὲν Ὄσιριν πολυόφθαλμον, εἰκότως· πανταχῇ γὰρ ἐπιβάλλοντα τὰς ἀκτῖνας ὥσπερ ὀφθαλμοῖς πολλοῖς βλέπειν ἅπασαν γῆν καὶ θάλατταν. καὶ τὸν ποιητὴν δὲ λέγειν σύμφωνα τούτοις ἠέλιός θʼ, ὃς πάντʼ ἐφορᾷ καὶ πάντʼ ἐπακούει. τῶν δὲ παρʼ Ἕλλησι παλαιῶν μυθολόγων τινὲς τὸν Ὄσιριν Διόνυσον προσονομάζουσι καὶ Σείριον παρωνύμως· ὧν Εὔμολπος μὲν ἐν τοῖς Βακχικοῖς ἔπεσί φησιν ἀστροφαῆ Διόνυσον ἐν ἀκτίνεσσι πυρωπόν, Ὀρφεὺς δὲ τούνεκά μιν καλέουσι Φάνητά τε καὶ Διόνυσον. φασὶ δέ τινες καὶ τὸ ἔναμμα αὐτῷ τὸ τῆς νεβρίδος ἀπὸ τῆς τῶν ἄστρων ποικιλίας περιῆφθαι. τὴν δὲ Ἶσιν μεθερμηνευομένην εἶναι παλαιάν, τεθειμένης τῆς προσηγορίας ἀπὸ τῆς ἀιδίου καὶ παλαιᾶς γενέσεως. κέρατα δʼ αὐτῇ ἐπιτιθέασιν ἀπό τε τῆς ὄψεως ἣν ἔχουσα φαίνεται καθʼ ὃν ἂν χρόνον ὑπάρχῃ μηνοειδής, καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς καθιερωμένης αὐτῇ βοὸς παρʼ Αἰγυπτίοις. τούτους δὲ τοὺς θεοὺς ὑφίστανται τὸν σύμπαντα κόσμον διοικεῖν τρέφοντάς τε καὶ αὔξοντας πάντα τριμερέσιν ὥραις ἀοράτῳ κινήσει τὴν περίοδον ἀπαρτιζούσαις, τῇ τε ἐαρινῇ καὶ θερινῇ καὶ χειμερινῇ· ταύτας δʼ ἐναντιωτάτην ἀλλήλαις τὴν φύσιν ἐχούσας ἀπαρτίζειν τὸν ἐνιαυτὸν ἀρίστῃ συμφωνίᾳ· φύσιν δὲ συμβάλλεσθαι πλείστην εἰς τὴν τῶν ἁπάντων ζωογονίαν τῶν θεῶν τούτων τὸν μὲν πυρώδους καὶ πνεύματος, τὴν δὲ ὑγροῦ καὶ ξηροῦ, κοινῇ δʼ ἀμφοτέρους ἀέρος· καὶ διὰ τούτων πάντα γεννᾶσθαι καὶ τρέφεσθαι. διὸ καὶ τὸ μὲν ἅπαν σῶμα τῆς τῶν ὅλων φύσεως ἐξ ἡλίου καὶ σελήνης ἀπαρτίζεσθαι, τὰ δὲ τούτων μέρη πέντε τὰ προειρημένα, τό τε πνεῦμα καὶ τὸ πῦρ καὶ τὸ ξηρόν, ἔτι δὲ τὸ ὑγρὸν καὶ τὸ τελευταῖον τὸ ἀερῶδες, ὥσπερ ἐπʼ ἀνθρώπου κεφαλὴν καὶ χεῖρας καὶ πόδας καὶ τἄλλα μέρη καταριθμοῦμεν, τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον τὸ σῶμα τοῦ κόσμου συγκεῖσθαι πᾶν ἐκ τῶν προειρημένων.
Now the men of Egypt, he says, when ages ago they came into existence, as they looked up at the firmament and were struck with both awe and wonder at the nature of the universe, conceived that two gods were both eternal and first, namely, the sun and the moon, whom they called respectively Osiris and Isis, these appellations having in each case been based upon a certain meaning in them. 2 For when the names are translated into Greek Osiris means "many-eyed," and properly so; for in shedding his rays in every direction he surveys with many eyes, as it were, all land and sea. And the words of the poet are also in agreement with this conception when he says: The sun, who sees all things and hears all things. And of the ancient Greek writers of mythology some give to Osiris the name Dionysus or, with a slight change in form, Sirius. One of them, Eumolpus, in his Bacchic Hymn speaks of Our Dionysus, shining like a star, With fiery eye in ev'ry ray; while Orpheus says: And this is why men call him Shining One And Dionysus. Some say that Osiris is also represented with the cloak of fawnskin about his shoulders as imitating the sky spangled with the stars. As for Isis, when translated the word means "ancient," the name having been given her because her birth was from everlasting and ancient. And they put horns on her head both because of the appearance which she has to the eye when the moon is crescent-shaped, and because among the Egyptians a cow is held sacred to her. These two gods, they hold, regulate the entire universe, giving both nourishment and increase to all things by means of a system of three seasons which complete the full cycle through an unobservable movement, these being spring and summer and winter; and these seasons, though in nature most opposed to one another, complete the cycle of the year in the fullest harmony. Moreover, practically all the physical matter which is essential to the generation of all things is furnished by these gods, the sun contributing the fiery element and the spirit, the moon the wet and the dry, and both together the air; and it is through these elements that all things are engendered and nourished. 6 And so it is out of the sun and moon that the whole physical body of the universe is made complete; and as for the five parts just named of these bodies — the spirit, the fire, the dry, as well as the wet, and, lastly, the air-like — just as in the case of a man we enumerate head and hands and feet and the other parts, so in the same way the body of the universe is composed in its entirety of these parts.
§ 1.12
τούτων δʼ ἕκαστον θεὸν νομίσαι καὶ προσηγορίαν ἰδίαν ἑκάστῳ θεῖναι κατὰ τὸ οἰκεῖον τοὺς πρώτους διαλέκτῳ χρησαμένους διηρθρωμένῃ τῶν κατʼ Αἴγυπτον ἀνθρώπων. τὸ μὲν οὖν πνεῦμα Δία προσαγορεῦσαι μεθερμηνευομένης τῆς λέξεως, ὃν αἴτιον ὄντα τοῦ ψυχικοῦ τοῖς ζῴοις ἐνόμισαν ὑπάρχειν πάντων οἱονεί τινα πατέρα. συμφωνεῖν δὲ τούτοις φασὶ καὶ τὸν ἐπιφανέστατον τῶν παρʼ Ἕλλησι ποιητῶν ἐπὶ τοῦ θεοῦ τούτου λέγοντα πατὴρ ἀνδρῶν τε θεῶν τε. τὸ δὲ πῦρ μεθερμηνευόμενον Ἥφαιστον ὀνομάσαι, νομίσαντας μέγαν εἶναι θεὸν καὶ πολλὰ συμβάλλεσθαι πᾶσιν εἰς γένεσίν τε καὶ τελείαν αὔξησιν. τὴν δὲ γῆν ὥσπερ ἀγγεῖόν τι τῶν φυομένων ὑπολαμβάνοντας μητέρα προσαγορεῦσαι· καὶ τοὺς Ἕλληνας δὲ ταύτην παραπλησίως Δήμητραν καλεῖν, βραχὺ μετατεθείσης διὰ τὸν χρόνον τῆς λέξεως· τὸ γὰρ παλαιὸν ὀνομάζεσθαι γῆν μητέρα, καθάπερ καὶ τὸν Ὀρφέα προσμαρτυρεῖν λέγοντα γῆ μήτηρ πάντων, Δημήτηρ πλουτοδότειρα. τὸ δʼ ὑγρὸν ὀνομάσαι λέγουσι τοὺς παλαιοὺς Ὠκεάνην, ὃ μεθερμηνευόμενον μὲν εἶναι τροφὴν μητέρα, παρʼ ἐνίοις δὲ τῶν Ἑλλήνων Ὠκεανὸν ὑπάρχειν ὑπειλῆφθαι, περὶ οὗ καὶ τὸν ποιητὴν λέγειν ὠκεανόν τε θεῶν γένεσιν καὶ μητέρα Τηθύν. οἱ γὰρ Αἰγύπτιοι νομίζουσιν Ὠκεανὸν εἶναι τὸν παρʼ αὐτοῖς ποταμὸν Νεῖλον, πρὸς ᾧ καὶ τὰς τῶν θεῶν γενέσεις ὑπάρξαι· τῆς γὰρ πάσης οἰκουμένης κατὰ μόνην τὴν Αἴγυπτον εἶναι πόλεις πολλὰς ὑπὸ τῶν ἀρχαίων θεῶν ἐκτισμένας, οἷον Διός, Ἡλίου, Ἑρμοῦ, Ἀπόλλωνος, Πανός, Εἰλειθυίας, ἄλλων πλειόνων. τὸν δʼ ἀέρα προσαγορεῦσαί φασιν Ἀθηνᾶν μεθερμηνευομένης τῆς λέξεως, καὶ Διὸς θυγατέρα νομίσαι ταύτην, καὶ παρθένον ὑποστήσασθαι διά τε τὸ ἄφθορον εἶναι φύσει τὸν ἀέρα καὶ τὸν ἀκρότατον ἐπέχειν τόπον τοῦ σύμπαντος κόσμου· διόπερ ἐκ τῆς κορυφῆς τοῦ Διὸς μυθολογηθῆναι ταύτην γενέσθαι. ὠνομάσθαι δὲ αὐτὴν Τριτογένειαν ἀπὸ τοῦ τρὶς μεταβάλλειν αὐτῆς τὴν φύσιν κατʼ ἐνιαυτόν, ἔαρος καὶ θέρους καὶ χειμῶνος. λέγεσθαι δʼ αὐτὴν καὶ Γλαυκῶπιν, οὐχ ὥσπερ ἔνιοι τῶν Ἑλλήνων ὑπέλαβον, ἀπὸ τοῦ τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ἔχειν γλαυκούς· τοῦτο μὲν γὰρ εὔηθες ὑπάρχειν· ἀλλʼ ἀπὸ τοῦ τὸν ἀέρα τὴν πρόσοψιν ἔχειν ἔγγλαυκον. φασὶ δὲ τοὺς πέντε θεοὺς τοὺς προειρημένους πᾶσαν τὴν οἰκουμένην ἐπιπορεύεσθαι, φανταζομένους τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἐν ἱερῶν ζῴων μορφαῖς, ἔστι δʼ ὅτε εἰς ἀνθρώπων ἰδέας ἤ τινων ἄλλων μεταβάλλοντας· καὶ τοῦτο μὴ μυθῶδες ὑπάρχειν, ἀλλὰ δυνατόν, εἴπερ οὗτοι πρὸς ἀλήθειάν εἰσιν οἱ πάντα γεννῶντες. καὶ τὸν ποιητὴν δὲ εἰς Αἴγυπτον παραβαλόντα καὶ μετασχόντα παρὰ τῶν ἱερέων τῶν τοιούτων λόγων θεῖναί που κατὰ τὴν ποίησιν τὸ προειρημένον ὡς γινόμενον, καί τε θεοὶ ξείνοισιν ἐοικότες ἀλλοδαποῖσι παντοῖοι τελέθοντες ἐπιστρωφῶσι πόληας, ἀνθρώπων ὕβριν τε καὶ εὐνομίην ἐσορῶντες. περὶ μὲν οὖν τῶν ἐν οὐρανῷ θεῶν καὶ γένεσιν ἀίδιον ἐσχηκότων τοσαῦτα λέγουσιν Αἰγύπτιοι.
Each of these parts they regard as a god and to each of them the first men in Egypt to use articulate speech gave a distinct name appropriate to its nature. 2 Now the spirit they called, as we translate their expression, Zeus, and since he was the source of the spirit of life in animals they considered him to be in a sense the father of all things. And they say that the most renowned of the Greek poets also agrees with this when he speaks of this god as The father of men and of gods. The fire they called Hephaestus, as it is translated, holding him to be a great god and one who contributes much both to the birth and full development of all things. 4 The earth, again, they looked upon as a kind of vessel which holds all growing things and so gave it the name "mother"; and in like manner the Greeks also call it Demeter, the word having been slightly changed in the course of time; for in olden times they called her Ge Meter (Earth Mother), to which Orpheus bears witness when he speaks of Earth the Mother of all, Demeter giver of wealth. And the wet, according to them, was called by the men of old Oceane, which, when translated, means Fostering-mother, though some of the Greeks have taken it to be Oceanus, in connection with whom the poet also speaks of Oceanus source of gods and mother Tethys. For the Egyptians consider Oceanus to be their river Nile, on which also their gods were born; since, they say, Egypt is the only country in the whole inhabited world where there are many cities which were founded by the first gods, such as Zeus, Helius, Hermes, Apollo, Pan, Eileithyia, and many more. The air, they say, they called Athena, as the name is translated, and they considered her to be the daughter of Zeus and conceived of her as a virgin, because of fact that the air is by its nature uncorrupted and occupies the highest part of the entire universe; for the latter reason also the myth arose that she was born from the head of Zeus. Another name given her was Tritogeneia (Thrice-born), because her nature changes three times in the course of the year, in the spring, summer, and winter. They add that she is also called Glaucopis (Blue-eyed), not because she has blue eyes, as some Greeks have held — a silly explanation, indeed — but because the air has a bluish cast. These five deities, they say, visit all the inhabited world, revealing themselves to men in the form of sacred animals, and at times even appearing in the guise of men or in other shapes; nor is this a fabulous thing, but possible, if these are in very truth the gods who give life to all things. 10 And also the poet, who visited Egypt and became acquainted with such accounts as these from the lips of the priests, in some place in his writings sets forth as actual fact what has been said: The gods, in strangers' form from alien lands, Frequent the cities of men in ev'ry guise, Observing their insolence and lawful ways. Now so far as the celestial gods are concerned whose genesis is from eternity, this is the account given by the Egyptians.
§ 1.13
ἄλλους δʼ ἐκ τούτων ἐπιγείους γενέσθαι φασίν, ὑπάρξαντας μὲν θνητούς, διὰ δὲ σύνεσιν καὶ κοινὴν ἀνθρώπων εὐεργεσίαν τετευχότας τῆς ἀθανασίας, ὧν ἐνίους καὶ βασιλεῖς γεγονέναι κατὰ τὴν Αἴγυπτον. μεθερμηνευομένων δʼ αὐτῶν τινὰς μὲν ὁμωνύμους ὑπάρχειν τοῖς οὐρανίοις, τινὰς δʼ ἰδίαν ἐσχηκέναι προσηγορίαν, Ἥλιόν τε καὶ Κρόνον καὶ Ῥέαν, ἔτι δὲ Δία τὸν ὑπό τινων Ἄμμωνα προσαγορευόμενον, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις Ἥραν καὶ Ἥφαιστον, ἔτι δʼ Ἑστίαν καὶ τελευταῖον Ἑρμῆν. καὶ πρῶτον μὲν Ἥλιον βασιλεῦσαι τῶν κατʼ Αἴγυπτον, ὁμώνυμον ὄντα τῷ κατʼ οὐρανὸν ἄστρῳ. ἔνιοι δὲ τῶν ἱερέων φασὶ πρῶτον Ἥφαιστον βασιλεῦσαι, πυρὸς εὑρετὴν γενόμενον καὶ διὰ τὴν εὐχρηστίαν ταύτην τυχόντα τῆς ἡγεμονίας· γενομένου γὰρ ἐν τοῖς ὄρεσι κεραυνοβόλου δένδρου καὶ τῆς πλησίον ὕλης καομένης προσελθόντα τὸν Ἥφαιστον κατὰ τὴν χειμέριον ὥραν ἡσθῆναι διαφερόντως ἐπὶ τῇ θερμασίᾳ, λήγοντος δὲ τοῦ πυρὸς ἀεὶ τῆς ὕλης ἐπιβάλλειν, καὶ τούτῳ τῷ τρόπῳ διατηροῦντα τὸ πῦρ προκαλεῖσθαι τοὺς ἄλλους ἀνθρώπους πρὸς τὴν ἐξ αὐτοῦ γινομένην εὐχρηστίαν. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τὸν Κρόνον ἄρξαι, καὶ γήμαντα τὴν ἀδελφὴν Ῥέαν γεννῆσαι κατὰ μέν τινας τῶν μυθολόγων Ὄσιριν καὶ Ἶσιν, κατὰ δὲ τοὺς πλείστους Δία τε καὶ Ἥραν, οὓς διʼ ἀρετὴν βασιλεῦσαι τοῦ σύμπαντος κόσμου. ἐκ δὲ τούτων γενέσθαι πέντε θεούς, καθʼ ἑκάστην τῶν ἐπαγομένων παρʼ Αἰγυπτίοις πένθʼ ἡμερῶν ἑνὸς γεννηθέντος· ὀνόματα δὲ ὑπάρξαι τοῖς τεκνωθεῖσιν Ὄσιριν καὶ Ἶσιν, ἔτι δὲ Τυφῶνα καὶ Ἀπόλλωνα καὶ Ἀφροδίτην· καὶ τὸν μὲν Ὄσιριν μεθερμηνευόμενον εἶναι Διόνυσον, τὴν δὲ Ἶσιν ἔγγιστά πως Δήμητραν. ταύτην δὲ γήμαντα τὸν Ὄσιριν καὶ τὴν βασιλείαν διαδεξάμενον πολλὰ πρᾶξαι πρὸς εὐεργεσίαν τοῦ κοινοῦ βίου.
And besides these there are other gods, they say, who were terrestrial, having once been mortals, but who, by reason of their sagacity and the good services which they rendered to all men, attained immortality, some of them having even been kings in Egypt. 2 Their names, when translated, are in some cases the same as those of the celestial gods, while others have a distinct appellation, such as Helius, Cronus, and Rhea, and also the Zeus who is called Ammon by some, and besides these Hera and Hephaestus, also Hestia, and, finally, Hermes. Helius was the first king of the Egyptians, his name being the same as that of the heavenly star. 3 Some of the priests, however, say that Hephaestus was their first king, since he was the discoverer of fire and received the rule because of this service to mankind; for once, when a tree on the mountains had been struck by lightning and the forest near by was ablaze, Hephaestus went up to it, for it was winter-time, and greatly enjoyed the heat; as the fire died down he kept adding fuel to it, and while keeping the fire going in this way he invited the rest of mankind to enjoy the advantage which came from it. 4 Then Cronus became the ruler, and upon marrying his sister Rhea he begat Osiris and Isis, according to some writers of mythology, but, according to the majority, Zeus and Hera, whose high achievements gave them dominion over the entire universe. From these last were sprung five gods, one born on each of the five days which the Egyptians intercalate; the names of these children were Osiris and Isis, and also Typhon, Apollo, and Aphrodite; 5 and Osiris when translated is Dionysus, and Isis is more similar to Demeter than to any other goddess; and after Osiris married Isis and succeeded to the kingship he did many things of service to the social life of man.
§ 1.14
πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ παῦσαι τῆς ἀλληλοφαγίας τὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων γένος, εὑρούσης μὲν Ἴσιδος τόν τε τοῦ πυροῦ καὶ τῆς κριθῆς καρπόν, φυόμενον μὲν ὡς ἔτυχε κατὰ τὴν χώραν μετὰ τῆς ἄλλης βοτάνης, ἀγνοούμενον δὲ ὑπὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων, τοῦ δὲ Ὀσίριδος ἐπινοησαμένου καὶ τὴν τούτων κατεργασίαν τῶν καρπῶν, ἡδέως μεταθέσθαι πάντας τὴν τροφὴν διά τε τὴν ἡδονὴν τῆς φύσεως τῶν εὑρεθέντων καὶ διὰ τὸ φαίνεσθαι συμφέρον ὑπάρχειν ἀπέχεσθαι τῆς κατʼ ἀλλήλων ὠμότητος. μαρτύριον δὲ φέρουσι τῆς εὑρέσεως τῶν εἰρημένων καρπῶν τὸ τηρούμενον παρʼ αὐτοῖς ἐξ ἀρχαίων νόμιμον· ἔτι γὰρ καὶ νῦν κατὰ τὸν θερισμὸν τοὺς πρώτους ἀμηθέντας στάχυς θέντας τοὺς ἀνθρώπους κόπτεσθαι πλησίον τοῦ δράγματος καὶ τὴν Ἶσιν ἀνακαλεῖσθαι, καὶ τοῦτο πράττειν τιμὴν ἀπονέμοντας τῇ θεῷ τῶν εὑρημένων κατὰ τὸν ἐξ ἀρχῆς τῆς εὑρέσεως καιρόν. παρʼ ἐνίαις δὲ τῶν πόλεων καὶ τοῖς Ἰσείοις ἐν τῇ πομπῇ μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων φέρεσθαι καὶ πυθμένας πυρῶν καὶ κριθῶν, ἀπομνημόνευμα τῶν ἐξ ἀρχῆς τῇ θεῷ φιλοτέχνως εὑρεθέντων. θεῖναι δέ φασι καὶ νόμους τὴν Ἶσιν, καθʼ οὓς ἀλλήλοις διδόναι τοὺς ἀνθρώπους τὸ δίκαιον καὶ τῆς ἀθέσμου βίας. καὶ ὕβρεως παύσασθαι διὰ τὸν ἀπὸ τῆς τιμωρίας φόβον· διὸ καὶ τοὺς παλαιοὺς Ἕλληνας τὴν Δήμητραν θεσμοφόρον ὀνομάζειν, ὡς τῶν νόμων πρῶτον ὑπὸ ταύτης τεθειμένων.
Osiris was the first, they record, to make mankind give up cannibalism; for after Isis had discovered the fruit of both wheat and barley which grew wild over the land along with the other plants but was still unknown to man, and Osiris had also devised the cultivation of these fruits, all men were glad to change their food, both because of the pleasing nature of the newly-discovered grains and because it seemed to their advantage to refrain from their butchery of one another. 2 As proof of the discovery of these fruits they offer the following ancient custom which they still observe: Even yet at harvest time the people make a dedication of the first heads of the grain to be cut, and standing beside the sheaf beat themselves and call upon Isis, by this act rendering honour to the goddess for the fruits which she discovered, at the season when she first did this. 3 Moreover in some cities, during the Festival of Isis as well, stalks of wheat and barley are carried among the other objects in the procession, as a memorial of what the goddess so ingeniously discovered at the beginning. Isis also established laws, they say, in accordance with which the people regularly dispense justice to one another and are led to refrain through fear of punishment from illegal violence and insolence; 4 and it is for this reason also that the early Greeks gave Demeter the name Thesmophorus, acknowledging in this way that she had first established their laws.
§ 1.15
κτίσαι δέ φασι τοὺς περὶ τὸν Ὄσιριν πόλιν ἐν τῇ Θηβαΐδι τῇ κατʼ Αἴγυπτον ἑκατόμπυλον, ἣν ἐκείνους μὲν ἐπώνυμον ποιῆσαι τῆς μητρός, τοὺς δὲ μεταγενεστέρους αὐτὴν ὀνομάζειν Διὸς πόλιν, ἐνίους δὲ Θήβας. ἀμφισβητεῖται δʼ ἡ κτίσις τῆς πόλεως ταύτης οὐ μόνον παρὰ τοῖς συγγραφεῦσιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ παρʼ αὐτοῖς τοῖς κατʼ Αἴγυπτον ἱερεῦσι· πολλοὶ γὰρ ἱστοροῦσιν οὐχ ὑπὸ τῶν περὶ τὸν Ὄσιριν κτισθῆναι τὰς Θήβας, ἀλλὰ πολλοῖς ὕστερον ἔτεσιν ὑπό τινος βασιλέως, περὶ οὗ τὰ κατὰ μέρος ἐν τοῖς οἰκείοις χρόνοις ἀναγράψομεν. ἱδρύσασθαι δὲ καὶ ἱερὸν τῶν γονέων Διός τε καὶ Ἥρας ἀξιόλογον τῷ τε μεγέθει καὶ τῇ λοιπῇ πολυτελείᾳ, καὶ ναοὺς χρυσοῦς δύο Διός, τὸν μὲν μείζονα τοῦ οὐρανίου, τὸν δὲ ἐλάττονα τοῦ βεβασιλευκότος καὶ πατρὸς αὐτῶν, ὅν τινες Ἄμμωνα καλοῦσι. κατασκευάσαι δὲ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων θεῶν τῶν προειρημένων ναοὺς χρυσοῦς, ὧν ἑκάστῳ τιμὰς ἀπονεῖμαι καὶ καταστῆσαι τοὺς ἐπιμελομένους ἱερεῖς. προτιμᾶσθαι δὲ παρὰ τῷ Ὀσίριδι καὶ τῇ Ἴσιδι τοὺς τὰς τέχνας ἀνευρίσκοντας ἢ μεθοδεύοντάς τι τῶν χρησίμων· διόπερ ἐν τῇ Θηβαΐδι χαλκουργείων εὑρεθέντων καὶ χρυσείων ὅπλα τε κατασκευάσασθαι, δι’ ὧν τὰ θηρία κτείνοντας καὶ τὴν γῆν ἐργαζομένους φιλοτίμως ἐξημερῶσαι τὴν χώραν, ἀγάλματά τε καὶ χρυσοῦς ναοὺς κατασκευάσασθαι τῶν θεῶν διαπρεπεῖς. γενέσθαι δὲ καὶ φιλογέωργον τὸν Ὄσιριν, καὶ τραφῆναι μὲν τῆς εὐδαίμονος Ἀραβίας ἐν Νύσῃ πλησίον Αἰγύπτου Διὸς ὄντα παῖδα, καὶ τὴν προσηγορίαν ἔχειν παρὰ τοῖς Ἕλλησιν ἀπό τε τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ τοῦ τόπου Διόνυσον ὀνομασθέντα. μεμνῆσθαι δὲ τῆς Νύσης καὶ τὸν ποιητὴν ἐν τοῖς ὕμνοις, ὅτι περὶ τὴν Αἴγυπτον γέγονεν, ἐν οἷς λέγει ἔστι δέ τις Νύση, ὕπατον ὄρος ἀνθέον ὕλῃ, τηλοῦ Φοινίκης, σχεδὸν Αἰγύπτοιο ῥοάων. εὑρετὴν δʼ αὐτὸν γενέσθαι φασὶ τῆς ἀμπέλου περὶ τὴν Νῦσαν, καὶ τὴν κατεργασίαν τοῦ ταύτης καρποῦ προσεπινοήσαντα πρῶτον οἴνῳ χρήσασθαι, καὶ διδάξαι τοὺς ἄλλους ἀνθρώπους τήν τε φυτείαν τῆς ἀμπέλου καὶ τὴν χρῆσιν τοῦ οἴνου καὶ τὴν συγκομιδὴν αὐτοῦ καὶ τήρησιν. τιμᾶσθαι δʼ ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ μάλιστα πάντων τὸν Ἑρμῆν, διαφόρῳ φύσει κεχορηγημένον πρὸς ἐπίνοιαν τῶν δυναμένων ὠφελῆσαι τὸν κοινὸν βίον.
Osiris, they say, founded in the Egyptian Thebaid a city with a hundred gates, which the men of his day named after his mother, though later generations called it Diospolis, and some named it Thebes. 2 There is no agreement, however, as to when this city was founded, not only among the historians, but even among the priests of Egypt themselves; for many writers say that Thebes was not founded by Osiris, but many years later by a certain king of whom we shall give a detailed account in connection with his period. 3 Osiris, they add, also built a sanctuary to his parents, Zeus and Hera, which was famous both for its size and its costliness in general, and two golden temples to Zeus, the larger one to him as god of heaven, the smaller one to him as former king and father of the Egyptians, in which role he is called by some Ammon. 4 He also made golden chapels for the rest of the gods mentioned above, allotting honours to each of them and appointing priests to have charge over these. Special esteem at the court of Osiris and Isis was also accorded to those who should invent any of the arts or devise any useful process; 5 consequently, since copper and gold mines had been discovered in the Thebaid, they fashioned implements with which they killed the wild beasts and worked the soil, and thus in eager rivalry brought the country under cultivation, and they made images of the gods and magnificent golden chapels for their worship. Osiris, they say, was also interested in agriculture and was reared in Nysa, a city of Arabia Felix near Egypt, being a son of Zeus; and the name which he bears among the Greeks is derived both from his father and from the birthplace, since he is called Dionysus. 7 Mention is also made of Nysa by the poet in his Hymns, to the effect that it was in the vicinity of Egypt, when he says: There is a certain Nysa, mountain high, With forests thick, in Phoenice afar, Close to Aegyptus' streams. And the discovery of the vine, they say, was made by him near Nysa, and that, having further devised the proper treatment of its fruit, he was the first to drink wine and taught mankind at large the culture of the vine and the use of wine, as well as the way to harvest the grape and to store wine. 9 The one most highly honoured by him was Hermes, who was endowed with unusual ingenuity for devising things capable of improving the social life of man.
§ 1.16
ὑπὸ γὰρ τούτου πρῶτον μὲν τήν τε κοινὴν διάλεκτον διαρθρωθῆναι καὶ πολλὰ τῶν ἀνωνύμων τυχεῖν προσηγορία, τήν τε εὕρεσιν τῶν γραμμάτων γενέσθαι καὶ τὰ περὶ τὰς τῶν θεῶν τιμὰς καὶ θυσίας διαταχθῆναι· περί τε τῆς τῶν ἄστρων τάξεως καὶ περὶ τῆς τῶν φθόγγων ἁρμονίας καὶ φύσεως τοῦτον πρῶτον γενέσθαι παρατηρητήν, καὶ παλαίστρας εὑρετὴν ὑπάρξαι, καὶ τῆς εὐρυθμίας καὶ τῆς περὶ τὸ σῶμα πρεπούσης πλάσεως ἐπιμεληθῆναι. λύραν τε νευρίνην ποιῆσαι τρίχορδον, μιμησάμενον τὰς κατʼ ἐνιαυτὸν ὥρας· τρεῖς γὰρ αὐτὸν ὑποστήσασθαι φθόγγους, ὀξὺν καὶ βαρὺν καὶ μέσον, ὀξὺν μὲν ἀπὸ τοῦ θέρους, βαρὺν δὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ χειμῶνος, μέσον δὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἔαρος. καὶ τοὺς Ἕλληνας διδάξαι τοῦτον τὰ περὶ τὴν ἑρμηνείαν, ὑπὲρ ὧν Ἑρμῆν αὐτὸν ὠνομάσθαι. καθόλου δὲ τοὺς περὶ τὸν Ὄσιριν τοῦτον ἔχοντας ἱερογραμματέα ἅπαντʼ αὐτῷ προσανακοινοῦσθαι καὶ μάλιστα χρῆσθαι τῇ τούτου συμβουλίᾳ. καὶ τῆς ἐλαίας δὲ τὸ φυτὸν αὐτὸν εὑρεῖν, ἀλλʼ οὐκ Ἀθηνᾶν, ὥσπερ Ἕλληνές φασι.
It was by Hermes, for instance, according to them, that the common language of mankind was first further articulated, and that many objects which were still nameless received an appellation, that the alphabet was invented, and that ordinances regarding the honours and offerings due to the gods were duly established; he was the first also to observe the orderly arrangement of the stars and the harmony of the musical sounds and their nature, to establish a wrestling school, and to give thought to the rhythmical movement of the human body and its proper development. He also made a lyre and gave it three strings, imitating the seasons of the year; for he adopted three tones, a high, a low, and a medium; the high from the summer, the low from the winter, and the medium from the spring. 2 The Greeks also were taught by him how to expound (hermeneia) their thoughts, and it was for this reason that he was given the name Hermes. In a word, Osiris, taking him for his priestly scribe, communicated with him on every matter and used his counsel above that of all others. The olive tree also, they claim, was his discovery, not Athena's, as the Greeks say.
§ 1.17
τὸν δὲ Ὄσιριν λέγουσιν, ὥσπερ εὐεργετικὸν ὄντα καὶ φιλόδοξον, στρατόπεδον μέγα συστήσασθαι, διανοούμενον ἐπελθεῖν ἅπασαν τὴν οἰκουμένην καὶ διδάξαι τὸ γένος τῶν ἀνθρώπων τήν τε τῆς ἀμπέλου φυτείαν καὶ τὸν σπόρον τοῦ τε πυρίνου καὶ κριθίνου καρποῦ· ὑπολαμβάνειν γὰρ αὐτὸν ὅτι παύσας τῆς ἀγριότητος τοὺς ἀνθρώπους καὶ διαίτης ἡμέρου μεταλαβεῖν ποιήσας τιμῶν ἀθανάτων τεύξεται διὰ τὸ μέγεθος τῆς εὐεργεσίας. ὅπερ δὴ καὶ γενέσθαι· οὐ μόνον γὰρ τοὺς κατʼ ἐκείνους τοὺς χρόνους τυχόντας τῆς δωρεᾶς ταύτης, ἀλλὰ καὶ πάντας τοὺς μετὰ ταῦτα ἐπιγενομένους διὰ τὴν ἐν ταῖς εὑρεθείσαις τροφαῖς χάριτα τοὺς εἰσηγησαμένους ὡς ἐπιφανεστάτους θεοὺς τετιμηκέναι. τὸν δʼ οὖν Ὄσιρίν φασι τὰ κατὰ τὴν Αἴγυπτον καταστήσαντα καὶ τὴν τῶν ὅλων ἡγεμονίαν Ἴσιδι τῇ γυναικὶ παραδόντα, ταύτῃ μὲν παρακαταστῆσαι σύμβουλον τὸν Ἑρμῆν διὰ τὸ φρονήσει τοῦτον διαφέρειν τῶν ἄλλων φίλων, καὶ στρατηγὸν μὲν ἀπολιπεῖν ἁπάσης τῆς ὑφʼ αὑτὸν χώρας Ἡρακλέα γένει τε προσήκοντα καὶ θαυμαζόμενον ἐπʼ ἀνδρείᾳ τε καὶ σώματος ῥώμῃ, ἐπιμελητὰς δὲ τάξαι τῶν μὲν πρὸς Φοινίκην κεκλιμένων μερῶν καὶ τῶν ἐπὶ θαλάττῃ τόπων Βούσιριν, τῶν δὲ κατὰ τὴν Αἰθιοπίαν καὶ Λιβύην Ἀνταῖον, αὐτὸν δʼ ἐκ τῆς Αἰγύπτου μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως ἀναζεῦξαι πρὸς τὴν στρατείαν, ἔχοντα μεθʼ αὑτοῦ καὶ τὸν ἀδελφόν, ὃν οἱ Ἕλληνες Ἀπόλλωνα καλοῦσιν. εὑρετὴν δὲ καὶ τοῦτόν φασι γενέσθαι τοῦ φυτοῦ τῆς δάφνης, ἣν καὶ περιτιθέασι τούτῳ τῷ θεῷ μάλιστα πάντες ἄνθρωποι. τοῦ δὲ κιττοῦ τὴν εὕρεσιν ἀνατιθέασιν Ὀσίριδι, καὶ καθιεροῦσιν αὐτὸν τούτῳ τῷ θεῷ, καθάπερ καὶ οἱ Ἕλληνες Διονύσῳ. καὶ κατὰ τὴν Αἰγυπτίων μὲν διάλεκτον ὀνομάζεσθαί φασι τὸν κιττὸν φυτὸν Ὀσίριδος, προκεκρίσθαι δὲ τῆς ἀμπέλου τοῦτον πρὸς τὴν ἀφιέρωσιν διὰ τὸ τὴν μὲν φυλλορροεῖν, τὸν δὲ πάντα τὸν χρόνον ἀειθαλῆ διαμένειν· ὅπερ τοὺς παλαιοὺς καὶ ἐφʼ ἑτέρων φυτῶν ἀεὶ θαλλόντων πεποιηκέναι, τῇ μὲν Ἀφροδίτῃ τὴν μυρσίνην, τῷ δʼ Ἀπόλλωνι τὴν δάφνην προσάψαντας.
Of Osiris they say that, being of a beneficent turn of mind, and eager for glory, he gathered together a great army, with the intention of visiting all the inhabited earth and teaching the race of men how to cultivate the vine and sow wheat and barley; 2 for he supposed that if he made men give up their savagery and adopt a gentle manner of life he would receive immortal honours because of the magnitude of his benefactions. And this did in fact take place, since not only the men of his time who received his gift, but all succeeding generations as well, because of the delight which they take in the foods which were discovered, have honoured those who introduced them as gods most illustrious. Now after Osiris had established the affairs of Egypt and turned the supreme power over to Isis his wife, they say that he placed Hermes at her side as counsellor because his prudence raised him above the king's other friends, and as general of all the land under his sway he left Heracles, who was both his kinsman and renowned for his valour and physical strength, while as governors he appointed Busiris over those parts of Egypt which lie towards Phoenicia and border upon the sea and Antaeus over those adjoining Ethiopia and Libya; then he himself left Egypt with his army to make his campaign, taking in his company also his brother, whom the Greeks call Apollo. 4 And it was Apollo, they say, who discovered the laurel, a garland of which all men place about the head of this god above all others. The discovery of ivy is also attributed to Osiris by the Egyptians and made sacred to this god, just as the Greeks also do in the case of Dionysus. 5 And in the Egyptian language, they say, the ivy is called the "plant of Osiris" and for purposes of dedication is preferred to the vine, since the latter sheds its leaves while the former ever remains green; the same rule, moreover, the ancients have followed in the case of other plants also which are perennially green, ascribing, for instance, the myrtle to Aphrodite and the laurel to Apollo.
§ 1.18
τῷ δʼ οὖν Ὀσίριδι συνεστρατεῦσθαι δύο λέγουσιν υἱοὺς Ἄνουβίν τε καὶ Μακεδόνα, διαφέροντας ἀνδρείᾳ. ἀμφοτέρους δὲ χρήσασθαι τοῖς ἐπισημοτάτοις ὅπλοις ἀπό τινων ζῴων οὐκ ἀνοικείων τῇ περὶ αὐτοὺς εὐτολμίᾳ· τὸν μὲν γὰρ Ἄνουβιν περιθέσθαι κυνῆν, τὸν δὲ Μακεδόνα λύκου προτομήν· ἀφʼ ἧς αἰτίας καὶ τὰ ζῷα ταῦτα τιμηθῆναι παρὰ τοῖς Αἰγυπτίοις. παραλαβεῖν δʼ ἐπὶ τὴν στρατείαν καὶ τὸν Πᾶνα, διαφερόντως ὑπὸ τῶν Αἰγυπτίων τιμώμενον· τούτῳ γὰρ τοὺς ἐγχωρίους οὐ μόνον ἀγάλματα πεποιηκέναι κατὰ πᾶν ἱερόν, ἀλλὰ καὶ πόλιν ἐπώνυμον κατὰ τὴν Θηβαΐδα, καλουμένην μὲν ὑπὸ τῶν ἐγχωρίων Χεμμώ, μεθερμηνευομένην δὲ Πανὸς πόλιν. συνέπεσθαι δὲ καὶ τῆς γεωργίας ἐμπειρίαν ἔχοντας, τῆς μὲν περὶ τὴν ἄμπελον φυτείας Μάρωνα, τοῦ δὲ κατὰ τὸν σῖτον σπόρου καὶ τῆς ὅλης συγκομιδῆς Τριπτόλεμον. πάντων δʼ εὐτρεπῶν γενομένων τὸν Ὄσιριν, εὐξάμενον τοῖς θεοῖς θρέψειν τὴν κόμην μέχρι ἂν εἰς Αἴγυπτον ἀνακάμψῃ, τὴν πορείαν ποιεῖσθαι διʼ Αἰθιοπίας· διʼ ἣν αἰτίαν μέχρι τῶν νεωτέρων χρόνων ἐνισχῦσαι τὸ περὶ τῆς κόμης νόμιμον παρʼ Αἰγυπτίοις, καὶ τοὺς ποιουμένους τὰς ἀποδημίας μέχρι τῆς εἰς οἶκον ἀνακομιδῆς κομοτροφεῖν. ὄντι δʼ αὐτῷ περὶ τὴν Αἰθιοπίαν ἀχθῆναι λέγουσι πρὸς αὐτὸν τὸ τῶν Σατύρων γένος, οὕς φασιν ἐπὶ τῆς ὀσφύος ἔχειν κόμας. εἶναι γὰρ τὸν Ὄσιριν φιλογέλωτά τε καὶ χαίροντα μουσικῇ καὶ χοροῖς· διὸ καὶ περιάγεσθαι πλῆθος μουσουργῶν, ἐν οἷς παρθένους ἐννέα δυναμένας ᾅδειν καὶ κατὰ τὰ ἄλλα πεπαιδευμένας, τὰς παρὰ τοῖς Ἕλλησιν ὀνομαζομένας Μούσας· τούτων δʼ ἡγεῖσθαι τὸν Ἀπόλλωνα λέγουσιν, ἀφʼ οὗ καὶ Μουσηγέτην αὐτὸν ὠνομάσθαι. τούς τε Σατύρους πρὸς ὄρχησιν καὶ μελῳδίαν καὶ πᾶσαν ἄνεσιν καὶ παιδιὰν ὄντας εὐθέτους παραληφθῆναι πρὸς τὴν στρατείαν· οὐ γὰρ πολεμικὸν εἶναι τὸν Ὄσιριν οὐδὲ παρατάξεις συνίστασθαι καὶ κινδύνους, ἅτε παντὸς ἔθνους ὡς θεὸν ἀποδεχομένου διὰ τὰς εὐεργεσίας. κατὰ δὲ τὴν Αἰθιοπίαν διδάξαντα τοὺς ἀνθρώπους τὰ περὶ τὴν γεωργίαν καὶ πόλεις ἀξιολόγους κτίσαντα καταλιπεῖν τοὺς ἐπιμελησομένους τῆς χώρας καὶ φόρους πραξομένους.
Now Osiris was accompanied on his campaign, as the Egyptian account goes, by his two sons Anubis and Macedon, who were distinguished for their valour. Both of them carried the most notable accoutrements of war, taken from certain animals whose character was not unlike the boldness of the men, Anubis wearing a dog's skin and Macedon the fore-parts of a wolf; and it is for this reason that these animals are held in honour among the Egyptians. 2 He also took Pan along on his campaign, who is held in special honour by the Egyptians; for the inhabitants of the land have not only set up statues of him at every sanctuary but have also named a city after him in the Thebaid, called by the natives Chemmo, which when translated means City of Pan. In his company were also men who were experienced in agriculture, such as Maron in the cultivation of the vine, and Triptolemus in the sowing of grain and in every step in the harvesting of it. 3 And when all his preparations had been completed Osiris made a vow to the gods that he would let his hair grow until his return to Egypt and then made his way through Ethiopia; and this is the reason why this custom with regard to their hair was observed among the Egyptians until recent times, and why those who journeyed abroad let their hair grow until their return home. While he was in Ethiopia, their account continues, the Satyr people were brought to him, who, they say, have hair upon their loins. For Osiris was laughter-loving and fond of music and the dance; consequently he took with him a multitude of musicians, among whom were nine maidens who could sing and were trained in the other arts, these maidens being those who among the Greeks are called the Muses; and their leader (hegetes), as the account goes, was Apollo, who was for that reason also given the name Musegetes. 5 As for the Satyrs, they were taken along in the campaign because they were proficient in dancing and singing and every kind of relaxation and pastime; for Osiris was not warlike, nor did he have to organize pitched battles or engagements, since every people received him as a god because of his benefactions. 6 In Ethiopia he instructed the inhabitants in agriculture and founded some notable cities, and then left behind him men to govern the country and collect the tribute.
§ 1.19
τούτων δʼ ὄντων περὶ ταῦτα, τὸν Νεῖλόν φασι κατὰ τὴν τοῦ σειρίου ἄστρου ἐπιτολήν, ἐν ᾧ καιρῷ μάλιστα εἴωθε πληροῦσθαι, ῥαγέντα κατακλύσαι πολλὴν τῆς Αἰγύπτου, καὶ μάλιστα τοῦτο τὸ μέρος ἐπελθεῖν οὗ Προμηθεὺς εἶχε τὴν ἐπιμέλειαν· διαφθαρέντων δὲ σχεδὸν ἁπάντων τῶν κατὰ ταύτην τὴν χώραν τὸν Προμηθέα διὰ τὴν λύπην κινδυνεύειν ἐκλιπεῖν τὸν βίον ἑκουσίως. διὰ δὲ τὴν ὀξύτητα καὶ τὴν βίαν τοῦ κατενεχθέντος ῥεύματος τὸν μὲν ποταμὸν Ἀετὸν ὀνομασθῆναι, τὸν δʼ Ἡρακλέα, μεγαλεπίβολον ὄντα καὶ τὴν ἀνδρείαν ἐζηλωκότα, τό τε γενόμενον ἔκρηγμα ταχέως ἐμφράξαι καὶ τὸν ποταμὸν ἐπὶ τὴν προϋπάρξασαν ῥύσιν ἀποστρέψαι. διὸ καὶ τῶν παρʼ Ἕλλησι ποιητῶν τινας εἰς μῦθον ἀγαγεῖν τὸ πραχθέν, ὡς Ἡρακλέους τὸν ἀετὸν ἀνῃρηκότος τὸν τὸ τοῦ Προμηθέως ἧπαρ ἐσθίοντα. τὸν δὲ ποταμὸν ἀρχαιότατον μὲν ὄνομα σχεῖν Ὠκεάνην, ὅς ἐστιν ἑλληνιστὶ Ὠκεανός· ἔπειτα διὰ τὸ γενόμενον ἔκρηγμά φασιν Ἀετὸν ὀνομασθῆναι, ὕστερον δʼ Αἴγυπτον ἀπὸ τοῦ βασιλεύσαντος τῆς χώρας προσαγορευθῆναι· μαρτυρεῖν δὲ καὶ τὸν ποιητὴν λέγοντα στῆσα δʼ ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ ποταμῷ νέας ἀμφιελίσσας. κατὰ γὰρ τὴν καλουμένην Θῶνιν ἐμβάλλοντος εἰς θάλατταν τοῦ ποταμοῦ, τοῦτον τὸν τόπον ἐμπόριον εἶναι τὸ παλαιὸν τῆς Αἰγύπτου· τελευταίας δὲ τυχεῖν αὐτὸν ἧς νῦν ἔχει προσηγορίας ἀπὸ τοῦ βασιλεύσαντος Νειλέως. τὸν δʼ οὖν Ὄσιριν παραγενόμενον ἐπὶ τοὺς τῆς Αἰθιοπίας ὅρους τὸν ποταμὸν ἐξ ἀμφοτέρων τῶν μερῶν χώμασιν ἀναλαβεῖν, ὥστε κατὰ τὴν πλήρωσιν αὐτοῦ τὴν χώραν μὴ λιμνάζειν παρὰ τὸ συμφέρον, ἀλλὰ διά τινων κατεσκευασμένων θυρῶν εἰσαφίεσθαι τὸ ῥεῦμα πρᾴως καθʼ ὅσον ἂν ᾖ χρεία. ἔπειτα ποιήσασθαι τὴν πορείαν διʼ Ἀραβίας παρὰ τὴν Ἐρυθρὰν θάλατταν ἕως Ἰνδῶν καὶ τοῦ πέρατος τῆς οἰκουμένης. κτίσαι δὲ καὶ πόλεις οὐκ ὀλίγας ἐν Ἰνδοῖς, ἐν αἷς καὶ Νῦσαν ὀνομάσαι, βουλόμενον μνημεῖον ἀπολιπεῖν ἐκείνης καθʼ ἣν ἐτράφη κατʼ Αἴγυπτον. φυτεῦσαι δὲ καὶ κιττὸν ἐν τῇ παρʼ Ἰνδοῖς Νύσῃ, καὶ διαμένειν τοῦτο τὸ φυτὸν ἐν ἐκείνῳ μόνῳ τῷ τόπῳ τῶν τε κατὰ τὴν Ἰνδικὴν καὶ τὴν ὅμορον χώραν. πολλὰ δὲ καὶ ἄλλα σημεῖα τῆς ἑαυτοῦ παρουσίας ἀπολελοιπέναι κατʼ ἐκείνην τὴν χώραν, διʼ ὧν προαχθέντας τοὺς μεταγενεστέρους τῶν Ἰνδῶν ἀμφισβητῆσαι τοῦ θεοῦ, λέγοντας Ἰνδὸν εἶναι τὸ γένος.
While Osiris and his army were thus employed, the Nile, they say, at the time of the rising of Sirius, which is the season when the river is usually at flood, breaking out of its banks inundated a large section of Egypt and covered especially that part where Prometheus was governor; and since practically everything in this district was destroyed, Prometheus was so grieved that he was on the point of quitting life wilfully. 2 Because its water sweeps down so swiftly and with such violence the river was given the name Aetus; but Heracles, being ever intent upon great enterprises and eager for the reputation of a manly spirit, speedily stopped the flood at its breach and turned the river back into its former course. 3 Consequently certain of the Greek poets worked the incident into a myth, to the effect that Heracles had killed the eagle which was devouring the liver of Prometheus. 4 The river in the earliest period bore the name Oceane, which in Greek is Oceanus; then because of this flood, they say, it was called Aetus, and still later it was known as Aegyptus after a former king of the land. And the poet also adds his testimony to this when he writes: On the river Aegyptus my curved ships I stayed. For it is at Thonis, as it is called, which in early times was the trading-port of Egypt, that the river empties into the sea. Its last name and that which the river now bears it received from the former king Nileus. Now when Osiris arrived at the borders of Ethiopia, he curbed the river by dykes on both banks, so that at flood-time it might not form stagnant pools over the land to its detriment, but that the flood-water might be let upon the countryside, in a gentle flow as it might be needed, through gates which he had built. 6 After this he continued his march through Arabia along the shore of the Red Sea as far as India and the limits of the inhabited world. 7 He also founded not a few cities in India, one of which he named Nysa, wishing to leave there a memorial of that city in Egypt where he had been reared. He also planted ivy in the Indian Nysa, and throughout India and those countries which border upon it the plant to this day is still to be found only in this region. 8 And many other signs of his stay he left in that country, which have led the Indians of a later time to lay claim to the god and say that he was by birth a native of India.
§ 1.20
γενέσθαι δὲ καὶ περὶ τὴν τῶν ἐλεφάντων θήραν, καὶ στήλας πανταχοῦ καταλιπεῖν τῆς ἰδίας στρατείας. ἐπελθεῖν δὲ καὶ τἄλλα τὰ κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν ἔθνη, καὶ περαιωθῆναι κατὰ τὸν Ἑλλήσποντον εἰς τὴν Εὐρώπην. καὶ κατὰ μὲν τὴν Θρᾴκην Λυκοῦργον τὸν βασιλέα τῶν βαρβάρων ἐναντιούμενον τοῖς ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ πραττομένοις ἀποκτεῖναι, Μάρωνα δὲ γηραιὸν ἤδη καθεστῶτα καταλιπεῖν ἐπιμελητὴν τῶν ἐν ταύτῃ τῇ χώρᾳ φυτευομένων, καὶ κτίστην αὐτὸν ποιῆσαι τῆς ἐπωνύμου πόλεως, ἣν ὀνομάσαι Μαρώνειαν. καὶ Μακεδόνα μὲν τὸν υἱὸν ἀπολιπεῖν βασιλέα τῆς ἀπʼ ἐκείνου προσαγορευθείσης Μακεδονίας, Τριπτολέμῳ δʼ ἐπιτρέψαι τὰς κατὰ τὴν Ἀττικὴν γεωργίας. τέλος δὲ τὸν Ὄσιριν πᾶσαν τὴν οἰκουμένην ἐπελθόντα τὸν κοινὸν βίον τοῖς ἡμερωτάτοις καρποῖς εὐεργετῆσαι. εἰ δέ τις χώρα τὸ φυτὸν τῆς ἀμπέλου μὴ προσδέχοιτο, διδάξαι τὸ ἐκ τῆς κριθῆς κατασκευαζόμενον πόμα, λειπόμενον οὐ πολὺ τῆς περὶ τὸν οἶνον εὐωδίας τε καὶ δυνάμεως. ἐπανελθόντα δʼ εἰς τὴν Αἴγυπτον συναποκομίσαι δῶρά τε πανταχόθεν τὰ κράτιστα καὶ διὰ τὸ μέγεθος τῶν εὐεργεσιῶν συμπεφωνημένην λαβεῖν παρὰ πᾶσι τὴν ἀθανασίαν καὶ τὴν ἴσην τοῖς οὐρανίοις τιμήν. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτʼ ἐξ ἀνθρώπων εἰς θεοὺς μεταστάντα τυχεῖν ὑπὸ Ἴσιδος καὶ Ἑρμοῦ θυσιῶν καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν ἐπιφανεστάτων τιμῶν. τούτους δὲ καὶ τελετὰς καταδεῖξαι καὶ πολλὰ μυστικῶς εἰσηγήσασθαι, μεγαλύνοντας τοῦ θεοῦ τὴν δύναμιν.
Osiris also took an interest in hunting elephants, and everywhere left behind him inscribed pillars telling of his campaign. And he visited all the other nations of Asia as well and crossed into Europe at the Hellespont. 2 In Thrace he slew Lycurgus, the king of the barbarians, who opposed his undertaking, and Maron, who was now old, he left there to supervise the culture of the plants which he introduced into that land and caused him to found a city to bear his name, which he called Maroneia. 3 Macedon his son, moreover, he left as king of Macedonia, which was named after him, while to Triptolemus he assigned the care of agriculture in Attica. Finally, Osiris in this way visited all the inhabited world and advanced community life by the introduction of the fruits which are most easily cultivated. 4 And if any country did not admit of the growing of vine he introduced the drink prepared from barley, which is little inferior to wine in aroma and strength. 5 On his return to Egypt he brought with him the very greatest presents from every quarter and by reason of the magnitude of his benefactions received the gift of immortality with the approval of all men and honour equal to that offered to the gods of heaven. 6 After this he passed from the midst of men into the company of the gods and received from Isis and Hermes sacrifices and every other highest honour. These also instituted rites for him and introduced many things of a mystic nature, magnifying in this way the power of the god.
§ 1.21
τῶν δʼ ἱερέων περὶ τῆς Ὀσίριδος τελευτῆς ἐξ ἀρχαίων ἐν ἀπορρήτοις παρειληφότων, τῷ χρόνῳ ποτὲ συνέβη διά τινων εἰς τοὺς πολλοὺς ἐξενεχθῆναι τὸ σιωπώμενον. φασὶ γὰρ νομίμως βασιλεύοντα τῆς Αἰγύπτου τὸν Ὄσιριν ὑπὸ Τυφῶνος ἀναιρεθῆναι τἀδελφοῦ, βιαίου καὶ ἀσεβοῦς ὄντος· ὃν διελόντα τὸ σῶμα τοῦ φονευθέντος εἰς ἓξ καὶ εἴκοσι μέρη δοῦναι τῶν συνεπιθεμένων ἑκάστῳ μερίδα, βουλόμενον πάντας μετασχεῖν τοῦ μύσους, καὶ διὰ τούτου νομίζοντα συναγωνιστὰς ἕξειν καὶ φύλακας τῆς βασιλείας βεβαίους. τὴν δὲ Ἶσιν ἀδελφὴν οὖσαν Ὀσίριδος καὶ γυναῖκα μετελθεῖν τὸν φόνον, συναγωνιζομένου τοῦ παιδὸς αὐτῆς Ὥρου· ἀνελοῦσαν δὲ τὸν τυφῶνα καὶ τοὺς συμπράξαντας βασιλεῦσαι τῆς Αἰγύπτου. γενέσθαι δὲ τὴν μάχην παρὰ τὸν ποταμὸν πλησίον τῆς νῦν Ἀνταίου κώμης καλουμένης, ἣν κεῖσθαι μὲν λέγουσιν ἐν τῷ κατὰ τὴν Ἀραβίαν μέρει, τὴν προσηγορίαν δʼ ἔχειν ἀπὸ τοῦ κολασθέντος ὑφʼ Ἡρακλέους Ἀνταίου, τοῦ κατὰ τὴν Ὀσίριδος ἡλικίαν γενομένου. τὴν δʼ οὖν Ἶσιν πάντα τὰ μέρη τοῦ σώματος πλὴν τῶν αἰδοίων ἀνευρεῖν· βουλομένην δὲ τὴν τἀνδρὸς ταφὴν ἄδηλον ποιῆσαι καὶ τιμωμένην παρὰ πᾶσι τοῖς τὴν Αἴγυπτον κατοικοῦσι, συντελέσαι τὸ δόξαν τοιῷδέ τινι τρόπῳ. ἑκάστῳ τῶν μερῶν περιπλάσαι λέγουσιν αὐτὴν τύπον ἀνθρωποειδῆ, παραπλήσιον Ὀσίριδι τὸ μέγεθος, ἐξ ἀρωμάτων καὶ κηροῦ· εἰσκαλεσαμένην δὲ κατὰ γένη τῶν ἱερέων ἐξορκίσαι πάντας μηδενὶ δηλώσειν τὴν δοθησομένην αὐτοῖς πίστιν, κατʼ ἰδίαν δʼ ἑκάστοις εἰπεῖν ὅτι μόνοις ἐκείνοις παρατίθεται τὴν τοῦ σώματος ταφήν, καὶ τῶν εὐεργεσιῶν ὑπομνήσασαν παρακαλέσαι θάψαντας ἐν τοῖς ἰδίοις τόποις τὸ σῶμα τιμᾶν ὡς θεὸν τὸν Ὄσιριν, καθιερῶσαι δὲ καὶ τῶν γινομένων παρʼ αὐτοῖς ζῴων ἓν ὁποῖον ἂν βουληθῶσι, καὶ τοῦτʼ ἐν μὲν τῷ ζῆν τιμᾶν, καθάπερ καὶ πρότερον τὸν Ὄσιριν, μετὰ δὲ τὴν τελευτὴν τῆς ὁμοίας ἐκείνῳ κηδείας ἀξιοῦν. βουλομένην δὲ τὴν Ἶσιν καὶ τῷ λυσιτελεῖ προτρέψασθαι τοὺς ἱερεῖς ἐπὶ τὰς προειρημένας τιμάς, τὸ τρίτον μέρος τῆς χώρας αὐτοῖς δοῦναι πρὸς τὰς τῶν θεῶν θεραπείας τε καὶ λειτουργίας. τοὺς δʼ ἱερεῖς λέγεται, μνημονεύοντας τῶν Ὀσίριδος εὐεργεσιῶν καὶ τῇ παρακαλούσῃ βουλομένους χαρίζεσθαι, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις τῷ λυσιτελεῖ προκληθέντας, πάντα πρᾶξαι κατὰ τὴν Ἴσιδος ὑποθήκην. διὸ καὶ μέχρι τοῦ νῦν ἑκάστους τῶν ἱερέων ὑπολαμβάνειν παρʼ ἑαυτοῖς τεθάφθαι τὸν Ὄσιριν, καὶ τά τε ἐξ ἀρχῆς καθιερωθέντα ζῷα τιμᾶν, καὶ τελευτησάντων αὐτῶν ἐν ταῖς ταφαῖς ἀνανεοῦσθαι τὸ τοῦ Ὀσίριδος πένθος. τοὺς δὲ ταύρους τοὺς ἱερούς, τόν τε ὀνομαζόμενον Ἆπιν καὶ τὸν Μνεῦιν, Ὀσίριδι καθιερωθῆναι, καὶ τούτους σέβεσθαι καθάπερ θεοὺς κοινῇ καταδειχθῆναι πᾶσιν Αἰγυπτίοις· ταῦτα γὰρ τὰ ζῷα τοῖς εὑροῦσι τὸν τοῦ σίτου καρπὸν συνεργῆσαι μάλιστα πρός τε τὸν σπόρον καὶ τὰς κοινὰς ἁπάντων ἐκ τῆς γεωργίας ὠφελείας.
Although the priests of Osiris had from the earliest times received the account of his death as a matter not to be divulged, in the course of years it came about that through some of their number this hidden knowledge was published to the many. 2 This is the story as they give it: When Osiris was ruling over Egypt as its lawful king, he was murdered by his brother Typhon, a violent and impious man; Typhon then divided the body of the slain man into twenty-six piecesa and gave one portion to each of the band of murderers, since he wanted all of them to share in the pollution and felt that in this way he would have in them steadfast supporters and defenders of his rule. 3 But Isis, the sister and wife of Osiris, avenged his murder with the aid of her son Horus, and after slaying Typhon and his accomplices became queen over Egypt. 4 The struggle between them took place on the banks of the Nile near the village now known as Antaeus, which, they say, lies on the Arabian side of the river and derives its name from that of Antaeus, a contemporary of Osiris, who was punished by Heracles. 5 Now Isis recovered all the pieces of the body except the privates, and wishing that the burial-place of her husband should remain secret and yet be honoured by all the inhabitants of Egypt, she fulfilled her purpose in somewhat the following manner. Over each piece of the body, as the account goes, she fashioned out of spices and wax a human figure about the size of Osiris; 6 then summoning the priests group by group, she required all of them an oath that they would reveal to no one the trust which she was going to confide to them, and taking each group of them apart privately she said that she was consigning to them alone the burial of the body, and after reminding them of the benefactions of Osiris she exhorted them to bury his body in their own district and pay honours to him as to a god, and to consecrate to him also some one that they might choose of the animals native to their district, pay it while living the honours which they had formerly rendered to Osiris, and upon its death accord it the same kind of funeral as they had given to him. 7 And since Isis wished to induce the priests to render these honours by the incentive of their own profit also, she gave them the third part of the country to defray the cost of the worship and service of the gods. 8 And the priests, it is said, being mindful of the benefactions of Osiris and eager to please the queen who was petitioning them, and incited as well by their own profit, did everything just as Isis had suggested. 9 It is for this reason that even to this day each group of priests supposes that Osiris lies buried in their district, pays honours to the animals which were originally consecrated to him, and, when these die, renews in the funeral rites for them the mourning for Osiris. 10 The consecration to Osiris, however, of the sacred bulls, which are given the names Apis and Mnevis, and worship of them as gods were introduced generally among all the Egyptians, 11 since these animals had, more than any others, rendered aid to those who discovered the fruit of the grain, in connection with both the sowing of the seed and with every agricultural labour from which mankind profits.
§ 1.22
τὴν δὲ Ἶσίν φασι μετὰ τὴν Ὀσίριδος τελευτὴν ὀμόσαι μηδενὸς ἀνδρὸς ἔτι συνουσίαν προσδέξεσθαι, διατελέσαι δὲ τὸν λοιπὸν τοῦ βίου χρόνον βασιλεύουσαν νομιμώτατα καὶ ταῖς εἰς τοὺς ἀρχομένους εὐεργεσίαις ἅπαντας ὑπερβαλλομένην. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ ταύτην μεταστᾶσαν ἐξ ἀνθρώπων τυχεῖν ἀθανάτων τιμῶν καὶ ταφῆναι κατὰ τὴν Μέμφιν, ὅπου δείκνυται μέχρι τοῦ νῦν ὁ σηκός, ὑπάρχων ἐν τῷ τεμένει τοῦ Ἡφαίστου. ἔνιοι δέ φασιν οὐκ ἐν Μέμφει κεῖσθαι τὰ σώματα τούτων τῶν θεῶν, ἀλλʼ ἐπὶ τῶν ὅρων τῆς Αἰθιοπίας καὶ τῆς Αἰγύπτου κατὰ τὴν ἐν τῷ Νείλῳ νῆσον, κειμένην μὲν πρὸς ταῖς καλουμέναις Φίλαις, ἔχουσαν δὲ προσηγορίαν ἀπὸ τοῦ συμβεβηκότος ἱεροῦ πεδίου. σημεῖα δὲ τούτου δεικνύουσιν ἐν τῇ νήσῳ ταύτῃ διαμένοντα τόν τε τάφον τὸν κατεσκευασμένον Ὀσίριδι, κοινῇ τιμώμενον ὑπὸ τῶν κατʼ Αἴγυπτον ἱερέων, καὶ τὰς περὶ τοῦτον κειμένας ἑξήκοντα καὶ τριακοσίας χοάς· ταύτας γὰρ καθʼ ἑκάστην ἡμέραν γάλακτος πληροῦν τοὺς πρὸς τούτοις ταχθέντας ἱερεῖς, καὶ θρηνεῖν ἀνακαλουμένους τὰ τῶν θεῶν ὀνόματα. διὰ ταύτην δὲ τὴν αἰτίαν καὶ τὴν νῆσον ταύτην ἄβατον εἶναι τοῖς παριοῦσι. καὶ πάντας τοὺς τὴν Θηβαΐδα κατοικοῦντας, ἥπερ ἐστὶν ἀρχαιοτάτη τῆς Αἰγύπτου, μέγιστον ὅρκον κρίνειν, ὅταν τις τὸν Ὄσιριν τὸν ἐν Φίλαις κείμενον ὀμόσῃ. τὰ μὲν οὖν ἀνευρεθέντα τοῦ Ὀσίριδος μέρη ταφῆς ἀξιωθῆναί φασι τὸν εἰρημένον τρόπον, τὸ δὲ αἰδοῖον ὑπὸ μὲν Τυφῶνος εἰς τὸν ποταμὸν ῥιφῆναι λέγουσι διὰ τὸ μηδένα τῶν συνεργησάντων αὐτὸ λαβεῖν βουληθῆναι, ὑπὸ δὲ τῆς Ἴσιδος οὐδὲν ἧττον τῶν ἄλλων ἀξιωθῆναι τιμῶν ἰσοθέων· ἔν τε γὰρ τοῖς ἱεροῖς εἴδωλον αὐτοῦ κατασκευάσασαν τιμᾶν καταδεῖξαι καὶ κατὰ τὰς τελετὰς καὶ τὰς θυσίας τὰς τῷ θεῷ τούτῳ γινομένας ἐντιμότατον ποιῆσαι καὶ πλείστου σεβασμοῦ τυγχάνειν. διὸ καὶ τοὺς Ἕλληνας, ἐξ Αἰγύπτου παρειληφότας τὰ περὶ τοὺς ὀργιασμοὺς καὶ τὰς Διονυσιακὰς ἑορτάς, τιμᾶν τοῦτο τὸ μόριον ἔν τε τοῖς μυστηρίοις καὶ ταῖς τοῦ θεοῦ τούτου τελεταῖς τε καὶ θυσίαις, ὀνομάζοντας αὐτὸ φαλλόν.
Isis, they say, after the death of Osiris took a vow never to marry another man, and passed the remainder of her life reigning over the land with complete respect for the law and surpassing all sovereigns in benefactions to her subjects. 2 And like her husband she also, when she passed from among men, received immortal honours and was buried near Memphis, where her shrine is pointed out to this day in the sacred precinct of Hephaestus. 3 According to some writers, however, the bodies of these two gods rest, not in Memphis, but on the border between Egypt and Ethiopia, on the island in the Nile which lies near the city which is called Philae, but is referred to because of this burial as the Holy Field. 4 In proof of this they point to remains which still survive on this island, both to the tomb constructed for Osiris, which is honoured in common by all the priests of Egypt, and to the three hundred and sixty libation bowls which are placed around it; 5 for the priests appointed over these bowls fill them each day with milk, singing all the while a dirge in which they call upon the names of these gods. 6 It is for this reason that travellers are not allowed to set foot on this island. And all the inhabitants of the Thebaid, which is the oldest portion of Egypt, hold it to be the strongest oath when a man swears "by Osiris who lieth in Philae." Now the parts of the body of Osiris which were found were honoured with burial, they say, in the manner described above, but the privates, according to them, were thrown by Typhon into the Nile because no one of his accomplices was willing to take them. Yet Isis thought them as worthy of divine honours as the other parts, for, fashioning a likeness of them, she set it up in the sanctuaries, commanded that it be honoured, and made it the object of the highest regard and reverence in the rites and sacrifices accorded to the god. 7 Consequently the Greeks too, inasmuch as they received from Egypt the celebrations of the orgies and the festivals connected with Dionysus, honour this member in both the mysteries and the initiatory rites and sacrifices of this god, giving it the name "phallus."
§ 1.23
εἶναι δὲ ἔτη φασὶν ἀπὸ Ὀσίριδος καὶ Ἴσιδος ἕως τῆς Ἀλεξάνδρου βασιλείας τοῦ κτίσαντος ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ τὴν ἐπώνυμον αὐτοῦ πόλιν πλείω τῶν μυρίων, ὡς δʼ ἔνιοι γράφουσι, βραχὺ λείποντα τῶν δισμυρίων καὶ τρισχιλίων. τοὺς δὲ λέγοντας ἐν Θήβαις τῆς Βοιωτίας γεγονέναι τὸν θεὸν ἐκ Σεμέλης καὶ Διός φασι σχεδιάζειν. Ὀρφέα γὰρ εἰς Αἴγυπτον παραβαλόντα καὶ μετασχόντα τῆς τελετῆς καὶ τῶν Διονυσιακῶν μυστηρίων μεταλαβεῖν, τοῖς δὲ Καδμείοις φίλον ὄντα καὶ τιμώμενον ὑπʼ αὐτῶν μεταθεῖναι τοῦ θεοῦ τὴν γένεσιν ἐκείνοις χαριζόμενον· τοὺς δʼ ὄχλους τὰ μὲν διὰ τὴν ἄγνοιαν, τὰ δὲ διὰ τὸ βούλεσθαι τὸν θεὸν Ἕλληνα νομίζεσθαι, προσδέξασθαι προσηνῶς τὰς τελετὰς καὶ τὰ μυστήρια. ἀφορμὰς δʼ ἔχειν τὸν Ὀρφέα πρὸς τὴν μετάθεσιν τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ γενέσεώς τε καὶ τελετῆς τοιαύτας. Κάδμον ἐκ Θηβῶν ὄντα τῶν Αἰγυπτίων γεννῆσαι σὺν ἄλλοις τέκνοις καὶ Σεμέλην, ταύτην δὲ ὑφʼ ὅτου δήποτε φθαρεῖσαν ἔγκυον γενέσθαι, καὶ τεκεῖν ἑπτὰ μηνῶν διελθόντων βρέφος τὴν ὄψιν οἷόνπερ οἱ κατʼ Αἴγυπτον τὸν Ὄσιριν γεγονέναι νομίζουσι· ζωογονεῖσθαι δʼ οὐκ εἰωθέναι τὸ τοιοῦτον, εἴτε τῶν θεῶν μὴ βουλομένων εἴτε τῆς φύσεως μὴ συγχωρούσης. Κάδμον δʼ αἰσθόμενον τὸ γεγονός, καὶ χρησμὸν ἔχοντα διατηρεῖν τὰ τῶν πατέρων νόμιμα, χρυσῶσαί τε τὸ βρέφος καὶ τὰς καθηκούσας αὐτῷ ποιήσασθαι θυσίας, ὡς ἐπιφανείας τινὸς κατʼ ἀνθρώπους Ὀσίριδος γεγενημένης. ἀνάψαι δὲ καὶ τὴν γένεσιν εἰς Δία, σεμνύνοντα τὸν Ὄσιριν καὶ τῆς φθαρείσης τὴν διαβολὴν ἀφαιρούμενον· διὸ καὶ παρὰ τοῖς Ἕλλησιν ἐκδοθῆναι λόγον ὡς ἡ Κάδμου Σεμέλη τέτοκεν ἐκ Διὸς Ὄσιριν. ἐν δὲ τοῖς ὕστερον χρόνοις Ὀρφέα, μεγάλην ἔχοντα δόξαν παρὰ τοῖς Ἕλλησιν ἐπὶ μελῳδίᾳ καὶ τελεταῖς καὶ θεολογίαις, ἐπιξενωθῆναι τοῖς Καδμείοις καὶ διαφερόντως ἐν ταῖς Θήβαις τιμηθῆναι. μετεσχηκότα δὲ τῶν παρʼ Αἰγυπτίοις θεολογουμένων μετενεγκεῖν τὴν Ὀσίριδος τοῦ παλαιοῦ γένεσιν ἐπὶ τοὺς νεωτέρους χρόνους, χαριζόμενον δὲ τοῖς Καδμείοις ἐνστήσασθαι καινὴν τελετήν, καθʼ ἣν παραδοῦναι τοῖς μυουμένοις ἐκ Σεμέλης καὶ Διὸς γεγεννῆσθαι τὸν Διόνυσον. τοὺς δʼ ἀνθρώπους τὰ μὲν διὰ τὴν ἄγνοιαν ἐξαπατωμένους, τὰ δὲ διὰ τὴν Ὀρφέως ἀξιοπιστίαν καὶ δόξαν ἐν τοῖς τοιούτοις προσέχοντας, τὸ δὲ μέγιστον ἡδέως προσδεχομένους τὸν θεὸν Ἕλληνα νομιζόμενον, καθάπερ προείρηται, χρήσασθαι ταῖς τελεταῖς. ἔπειτα παραλαβόντων τῶν μυθογράφων καὶ ποιητῶν τὸ γένος, ἐμπεπλῆσθαι τὰ θέατρα, καὶ τοῖς ἐπιγινομένοις ἰσχυρὰν πίστιν καὶ ἀμετάθετον γενέσθαι. καθόλου δέ φασι τοὺς Ἕλληνας ἐξιδιάζεσθαι τοὺς ἐπιφανεστάτους ἥρωάς τε καὶ θεούς, ἔτι δʼ ἀποικίας τὰς παρʼ ἑαυτῶν.
The number of years from Osiris and Isis, they say, to the reign of Alexander, who founded the city which bears his name in Egypt, is over ten thousand, but, according to other writers, a little less than twenty-three thousand. 2 And those who say that the god was born of Semele and Zeus in Boeotian Thebes are, according to the priests, simply inventing the tale. For they say that Orpheus, upon visiting Egypt and participating in the initiation and mysteries of Dionysus, adopted them and as a favour to the descendants of Cadmus, since he was kindly disposed to them and received honours at their hands, transferred the birth of the god to Thebes; and the common people, partly out of ignorance and partly out of their desire to have the god thought to be a Greek, eagerly accepted his initiatory rites and mysteries. 3 What led Orpheus to transfer the birth and rites of the god, they say, was something like this. Cadmus, who was a citizen of Egyptian Thebes, begat several children, of whom one was Semele; she was violated by an unknown person, became pregnant, and after seven months gave birth to a child whose appearance was such as the Egyptians hold had been that of Osiris. Now such a child is not usually brought into the world alive, either because it is contrary to the will of the gods or because the law of nature does not admit of it. 5 But when Cadmus found out what had taken place, having at the same time a reply from an oracle commanding him to observe the laws of his fathers, he both gilded the infant and paid it the appropriate sacrifices, on the ground that there had been a sort of epiphany of Osiris among men. 6 The fatherhood of the child he attributed to Zeus, in this way magnifying Osiris and averting slander from his violated daughter; and this is the reason why the tale was given out among the Greeks to the effect that Semele, the daughter of Cadmus, was the mother of Osiris by Zeus. Now at a later time Orpheus, who was held in high regard among the Greeks for his singing, initiatory rites, and instructions on things divine, was entertained as a guest by the descendants of Cadmus and accorded unusual honours in Thebes. 7 And since he had become conversant with the teachings of the Egyptians about the gods, he transferred the birth of the ancient Osiris to more recent times, and, out of regard for the descendants of Cadmus, instituted a new initiation, in the ritual of which the initiates were given the account that Dionysus had been born of Semele and Zeus. And the people observed these initiatory rites, partly because they were deceived through their ignorance, partly because they were attracted to them by the trustworthiness of Orpheus and his reputation in such matters, and most of all because they were glad to receive the god as a Greek, which, as has been said, is what he was considered to be. 8 Later, after the writers of myths and poets had taken over this account of his ancestry, the theatres became filled with it and among following generations faith in the story grew stubborn and immutable. In general, they say, the Greeks appropriate to themselves the most renowned of both Egyptian heroes and gods, and so also the colonies sent out by them.
§ 1.24
καὶ γὰρ Ἡρακλέα τὸ γένος Αἰγύπτιον ὄντα, διʼ ἀνδρείαν ἐπελθεῖν πολλὴν τῆς οἰκουμένης, καὶ τὴν ἐπὶ τῆς Λιβύης θέσθαι στήλην· ὑπὲρ οὗ πειρῶνται τὰς ἀποδείξεις παρὰ τῶν Ἑλλήνων λαμβάνειν. ὁμολογουμένου γὰρ ὄντος παρὰ πᾶσιν ὅτι τοῖς Ὀλυμπίοις θεοῖς Ἡρακλῆς συνηγωνίσατο τὸν πρὸς τοὺς γίγαντας πόλεμον, φασὶ τῇ γῇ μηδαμῶς ἁρμόττειν γεγεννηκέναι τοὺς γίγαντας κατὰ τὴν ἡλικίαν ἣν οἱ Ἕλληνές φασιν Ἡρακλέα γεγενῆσθαι, γενεᾷ πρότερον τῶν Τρωικῶν, ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον, ὡς αὐτοὶ λέγουσι, κατὰ τὴν ἐξ ἀρχῆς γένεσιν τῶν ἀνθρώπων· ἀπʼ ἐκείνης μὲν γὰρ παρʼ Αἰγυπτίοις ἔτη καταριθμεῖσθαι πλείω τῶν μυρίων, ἀπὸ δὲ τῶν Τρωικῶν ἐλάττω τῶν χιλίων καὶ διακοσίων. ὁμοίως δὲ τό τε ῥόπαλον καὶ τὴν λεοντῆν τῷ παλαιῷ πρέπειν Ἡρακλεῖ διὰ τὸ κατʼ ἐκείνους τοὺς χρόνους μήπω τῶν ὅπλων εὑρημένων τοὺς ἀνθρώπους τοῖς μὲν ξύλοις ἀμύνεσθαι τοὺς ἀντιταττομένους, ταῖς δὲ δοραῖς τῶν θηρίων σκεπαστηρίοις ὅπλοις χρῆσθαι. καὶ Διὸς μὲν υἱὸν αὐτὸν ἀναγορεύουσι, μητρὸς δὲ ἧς ἐστιν οὔ φασι γινώσκειν. τὸν δʼ ἐξ Ἀλκμήνης γενόμενον ὕστερον πλείοσιν ἔτεσιν ἢ μυρίοις, Ἀλκαῖον ἐκ γενετῆς καλούμενον, ὕστερον Ἡρακλέα μετονομασθῆναι, οὐχ ὅτι διʼ Ἥραν ἔσχε κλέος, ὥς φησιν ὁ Μᾶτρις, ἀλλʼ ὅτι τὴν αὐτὴν ἐζηλωκὼς προαίρεσιν Ἡρακλεῖ τῷ παλαιῷ τὴν ἐκείνου δόξαν ἅμα καὶ προσηγορίαν ἐκληρονόμησε. συμφωνεῖν δὲ τοῖς ὑφʼ ἑαυτῶν λεγομένοις καὶ τὴν παρὰ τοῖς Ἕλλησιν ἐκ πολλῶν χρόνων παραδεδομένην φήμην, ὅτι καθαρὰν τὴν γῆν τῶν θηρίων ἐποίησεν Ἡρακλῆς· ὅπερ μηδαμῶς ἁρμόττειν τῷ γεγονότι σχεδὸν κατὰ τοὺς Τρωικοὺς χρόνους, ὅτε τὰ πλεῖστα μέρη τῆς οἰκουμένης ἐξημέρωτο γεωργίαις καὶ πόλεσι καὶ πλήθει τῶν κατοικούντων τὴν χώραν πανταχοῦ. μᾶλλον οὖν πρέπειν τῷ γεγονότι κατὰ τοὺς ἀρχαίους χρόνους τὴν ἡμέρωσιν τῆς χώρας, κατισχυομένων ἔτι τῶν ἀνθρώπων ὑπὸ τοῦ πλήθους τῶν θηρίων, καὶ μάλιστα κατὰ τὴν Αἴγυπτον καὶ τὴν ὑπερκειμένην χώραν μέχρι τοῦ νῦν ἔρημον οὖσαν καὶ θηριώδη. εἰκὸς γὰρ ταύτης ὡς πατρίδος προνοηθέντα τὸν Ἡρακλέα, καὶ καθαρὰν τὴν γῆν τῶν θηρίων ποιήσαντα, παραδοῦναι τοῖς γεωργοῖς τὴν χώραν, καὶ διὰ τὴν εὐεργεσίαν τυχεῖν ἰσοθέου τιμῆς. φασὶ δὲ καὶ τὸν Περσέα γεγονέναι κατʼ Αἴγυπτον, καὶ τῆς Ἴσιδος τὴν γένεσιν ὑπὸ τῶν Ἑλλήνων εἰς Ἄργος μεταφέρεσθαι, μυθολογούντων τὴν Ἰὼ τὴν εἰς βοὸς τύπον μεταμορφωθεῖσαν.
Heracles, for instance, was by birth an Egyptian, who by virtue of his manly vigour visited a large part of the inhabited world and set up his pillar in Libya; 2 and their proofs of this assertion they endeavour to draw from the Greeks themselves. For inasmuch as it is generally accepted that Heracles fought on the side of the Olympian gods in their war against the Giants, they say that it in no way accords with the age of the earth for the Giants to have been born in the period when, as the Greeks, Heracles lived, which was a generation before the Trojan War, but rather at the time, as their own account gives it, when mankind first appeared on the earth; for from the latter time to the present the Egyptians reckon more than ten thousand years, but from the Trojan War less than twelve hundred. 3 Likewise, both the club and the lion's skin are appropriate to their ancient Heracles, because in those days arms had not yet been invented, and men defended themselves against their enemies with clubs of wood and used the hides of animals for defensive armour. They also designate him as the son of Zeus, but about the identity of his mother they say that they know nothing. 4 The son of Alcmene, who was born more than ten thousand years later and was called Alcaeus at birth, in later life became known instead as Heracles, not because he gained glory (kleos) by the aid of Hera, as Matris says, but because, having avowed the same principles as the ancient Heracles, he inherited that one's fame and name as well. The account of the Egyptians agrees also with the tradition which has been handed down among the Greeks since very early times, to the effect that Heracles cleared the earth of wild beasts, a story which is in no way suitable for man who lived in approximately the period of the Trojan War, when most parts of the inhabited world had already been reclaimed from their wild state by agriculture and cities and the multitude of men settled everywhere over the land. 6 Accordingly this reclamation of the land suits better a man who lived in early times, when men were still held in subjection by the vast numbers of wild beasts, a state of affairs which was especially true in the case of Egypt, the upper part of which is to this day desert and infested with wild beasts. 7 Indeed it is reasonable to suppose that the first concern of Heracles was for this country as his birthplace, and that, after he had cleared the land of wild beasts, he presented it to the peasants, and for this benefaction was accorded divine honours. 8 And they say that Perseus also was born in Egypt, and that the origin of Isis is transferred by the Greeks to Argos in the myth which tells of that Io who was changed into a heifer.
§ 1.25
καθόλου δὲ πολλή τίς ἐστι διαφωνία περὶ τούτων τῶν θεῶν. τὴν αὐτὴν γὰρ οἱ μὲν Ἶσιν, οἱ δὲ Δήμητραν, οἱ δὲ Θεσμοφόρον, οἱ δὲ Σελήνην, οἱ δὲ Ἥραν, οἱ δὲ πάσαις ταῖς προσηγορίαις ὀνομάζουσι. τὸν δὲ Ὄσιριν οἱ μὲν Σάραπιν, οἱ δὲ Διόνυσον, οἱ δὲ Πλούτωνα, οἱ δὲ Ἄμμωνα, τινὲς δὲ Δία, πολλοὶ δὲ Πᾶνα τὸν αὐτὸν νενομίκασι· λέγουσι δέ τινες Σάραπιν εἶναι τὸν παρὰ τοῖς Ἕλλησι Πλούτωνα ὀνομαζόμενον. φασὶ δʼ Αἰγύπτιοι τὴν Ἶσιν φαρμάκων τε πολλῶν πρὸς ὑγίειαν εὑρέτιν γεγονέναι καὶ τῆς ἰατρικῆς ἐπιστήμης μεγάλην ἔχειν ἐμπειρίαν· διὸ καὶ τυχοῦσαν τῆς ἀθανασίας ἐπὶ ταῖς θεραπείαις τῶν ἀνθρώπων μάλιστα χαίρειν, καὶ κατὰ τοὺς ὕπνους τοῖς ἀξιοῦσι διδόναι βοηθήματα, φανερῶς ἐπιδεικνυμένην τήν τε ἰδίαν ἐπιφάνειαν καὶ τὸ πρὸς τοὺς δεομένους τῶν ἀνθρώπων εὐεργετικόν. ἀποδείξεις δὲ τούτων φασὶ φέρειν ἑαυτοὺς οὐ μυθολογίας ὁμοίως τοῖς Ἕλλησιν, ἀλλὰ πράξεις ἐναργεῖς· πᾶσαν γὰρ σχεδὸν τὴν οἰκουμένην μαρτυρεῖν ἑαυτοῖς, εἰς τὰς ταύτης τιμὰς φιλοτιμουμένην διὰ τὴν ἐν ταῖς θεραπείαις ἐπιφάνειαν. κατὰ γὰρ τοὺς ὕπνους ἐφισταμένην διδόναι τοῖς κάμνουσι βοηθήματα πρὸς τὰς νόσους, καὶ τοὺς ὑπακούσαντας αὐτῇ παραδόξως ὑγιάζεσθαι· καὶ πολλοὺς μὲν ὑπὸ τῶν ἰατρῶν διὰ τὴν δυσκολίαν τοῦ νοσήματος ἀπελπισθέντας ὑπὸ ταύτης σώζεσθαι, συχνοὺς δὲ παντελῶς πηρωθέντας τὰς ὁράσεις ἤ τινα τῶν ἄλλων μερῶν τοῦ σώματος, ὅταν πρὸς ταύτην τὴν θεὸν καταφύγωσιν, εἰς τὴν προϋπάρξασαν ἀποκαθίστασθαι τάξιν. εὑρεῖν δʼ αὐτὴν καὶ τὸ τῆς ἀθανασίας φάρμακον, διʼ οὗ τὸν υἱὸν Ὧρον, ὑπὸ τῶν Τιτάνων ἐπιβουλευθέντα καὶ νεκρὸν εὑρεθέντα καθʼ ὕδατος, μὴ μόνον ἀναστῆσαι, δοῦσαν τὴν ψυχήν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῆς ἀθανασίας ποιῆσαι μεταλαβεῖν. δοκεῖ δʼ ὕστατος τῶν θεῶν οὗτος βασιλεῦσαι μετὰ τὴν τοῦ πατρὸς Ὀσίριδος ἐξ ἀνθρώπων μετάστασιν. τὸν δὲ Ὧρον μεθερμηνευόμενόν φασιν Ἀπόλλωνα ὑπάρχειν, καὶ τήν τε ἰατρικὴν καὶ τὴν μαντικὴν ὑπὸ τῆς μητρὸς Ἴσιδος διδαχθέντα διὰ τῶν χρησμῶν καὶ τῶν θεραπειῶν εὐεργετεῖν τὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων γένος.
In general, there is great disagreement over these gods. For the same goddess is called by some Isis, by others Demeter, by others Thesmophorus, by others Selene, by others Hera, while still others apply to her all these names. 2 Osiris has been given the name Sarapis by some, Dionysus by others, Pluto by others, by others, Zeus by some, and many have considered Pan to be the same god; and some say that Sarapis is the god whom the Greeks call Pluto. As for Isis, the Egyptians say that she was the discoverer of many health-giving drugs and was greatly versed in the science of healing; 3 consequently, now that she has attained immortality, she finds her greatest delight in the healing of mankind and gives aid in their slee to those who call upon her, plainly manifesting both her very presence and her beneficence towards men who ask her help. 4 In proof of this, as they say, they advance not legends, as the Greeks do, but manifest facts; for practically the entire inhabited world is their witness, in that it eagerly contributes to the honours of Isis because she manifests herself in healings. 5 For standing above the sick in their sleep she gives them aid for their diseases and works remarkable cures upon such as submit themselves to her; and many who have been despaired of by their physicians because of the difficult nature of their malady are restored to health by her, while numbers who have altogether lost the use of their eyes or of some other part of their body, whenever they turn for help to this goddess, are restored to their previous condition. 6 Furthermore, she discovered also the drug which gives immortality, by means of which she not only raised from the dead her son Horus, who had been the object of plots on the part of Titans and had been found dead under the water, giving him his soul again, but also made him immortal. 7 And it appears that Horus was the last of the gods to be king after his father Osiris departed from among men. Moreover, they say that the name Horus, when translated, is Apollo, and that, having been instructed by his mother Isis in both medicine and divination, he is now a benefactor of the race of men through his oracular responses and his healings.
§ 1.26
οἱ δʼ ἱερεῖς τῶν Αἰγυπτίων τὸν χρόνον ἀπὸ τῆς Ἡλίου βασιλείας συλλογιζόμενοι μέχρι τῆς Ἀλεξάνδρου διαβάσεως εἰς τὴν Ἀσίαν φασὶν ὑπάρχειν ἐτῶν μάλιστά πως δισμυρίων καὶ τρισχιλίων. μυθολογοῦσι δὲ καὶ τῶν θεῶν τοὺς μὲν ἀρχαιοτάτους βασιλεῦσαι πλείω τῶν χιλίων καὶ διακοσίων ἐτῶν, τοὺς δὲ μεταγενεστέρους οὐκ ἐλάττω τῶν τριακοσίων. ἀπίστου δʼ ὄντος τοῦ πλήθους τῶν ἐτῶν, ἐπιχειροῦσί τινες λέγειν ὅτι τὸ παλαιόν, οὔπω τῆς περὶ τὸν ἥλιον κινήσεως ἐπεγνωσμένης, συνέβαινε κατὰ τὴν τῆς σελήνης περίοδον ἄγεσθαι τὸν ἐνιαυτόν. διόπερ τῶν ἐτῶν τριακονθημέρων ὄντων οὐκ ἀδύνατον εἶναι βεβιωκέναι τινὰς ἔτη χίλια καὶ διακόσια· καὶ γὰρ νῦν δωδεκαμήνων ὄντων τῶν ἐνιαυτῶν οὐκ ὀλίγους ὑπὲρ ἑκατὸν ἔτη ζῆν. παραπλήσια δὲ λέγουσι καὶ περὶ τῶν τριακόσια ἔτη δοκούντων ἄρξαι· κατʼ ἐκείνους γὰρ τοὺς χρόνους τὸν ἐνιαυτὸν ἀπαρτίζεσθαι τέτταρσι μησὶ τοῖς γινομένοις κατὰ τὰς ἑκάστων τῶν χρόνων ὥρας, οἷον ἔαρος, θέρους, χειμῶνος· ἀφʼ ἧς αἰτίας καὶ παρʼ ἐνίοις τῶν Ἑλλήνων τοὺς ἐνιαυτοὺς ὥρους καλεῖσθαι καὶ τὰς κατʼ ἔτος ἀναγραφὰς ὡρογραφίας προσαγορεύεσθαι. οἱ δʼ οὖν Αἰγύπτιοι μυθολογοῦσι κατὰ τὴν Ἴσιδος ἡλικίαν γεγονέναι τινὰς πολυσωμάτους τοὺς ὑπὸ μὲν τῶν Ἑλλήνων ὀνομαζομένους γίγαντας, ὑφʼ ἑαυτῶν δὲ διακοσμουμένους τερατωδῶς ἐπὶ τῶν ἱερῶν καὶ τυπτομένους ὑπὸ τῶν περὶ τὸν Ὄσιριν. ἔνιοι μὲν οὖν αὐτοὺς γηγενεῖς φασιν ὑπάρξαι, προσφάτου τῆς τῶν ζῴων γενέσεως ἐκ τῆς γῆς ὑπαρχούσης, ἔνιοι δὲ λέγουσι σώματος ῥώμῃ διενεγκόντας καὶ πολλὰς ἐπιτελεσαμένους ἀπὸ τοῦ συμβεβηκότος μυθολογηθῆναι πολυσωμάτους. συμφωνεῖται δὲ παρὰ τοῖς πλείστοις ὅτι τοῖς περὶ τὸν Δία καὶ τὸν Ὄσιριν θεοῖς πόλεμον ἐνστησάμενοι πάντες ἀνῃρέ- θησαν.
The priests of the Egyptians, reckoning the time from the reign of Helius to the crossing of Alexander into Asia, say that it was in round numbers twenty-three thousand years. 2 And, as their legends say, the most ancient of the gods ruled more than twelve hundred years and the later ones not less than three hundred. 3 But since this great number of years surpasses belief, some men would maintain that in early times, before the movement of the sun had as yet been recognized, it was customary to reckon the year by the lunar cycle. 4 Consequently, since the year consisted of thirty days, it was not impossible that some men lived twelve hundred years; for in our own time, when our year consists of twelve months, not a few men live over one hundred years. 5 A similar explanation they also give regarding those who are supposed to have reigned for three hundred years; for at their time, namely, the year was composed of the four months which comprise the seasons of each year, that is, spring, summer, and winter; and it is for this reason that among some of the Greeks the years are called "seasons" (horoi) and that their yearly records are given the name "horographs." Furthermore, the Egyptians relate in their myths that in the time of Isis there were certain creatures of many bodies, who are called by the Greeks Giants, but by themselves . . ., these being the men who are represented on their sanctuaries in monstrous form and as being cudgelled by Osiris. 7 Now some say that they were born of the earth at the time when the genesis of living things from the earth was still recent, while some hold that they were only men of unusual physical strength who achieved many deeds and for this reason were described in the myths as of many bodies. 8 But it is generally agreed that when they stirred up war against Zeus and Osiris they were all destroyed.
§ 1.27
νομοθετῆσαι δέ φασι τοὺς Αἰγυπτίους παρὰ τὸ κοινὸν ἔθος τῶν ἀνθρώπων γαμεῖν ἀδελφὰς διὰ τὸ γεγονὸς ἐν τούτοις τῆς Ἴσιδος ἐπίτευγμα· ταύτην γὰρ συνοικήσασαν Ὀσίριδι τῷ ἀδελφῷ, καὶ ἀποθανόντος ὀμόσασαν οὐδενὸς ἔτι συνουσίαν ἀνδρὸς προσδέξεσθαι, μετελθεῖν τόν τε φόνον τἀνδρὸς καὶ διατελέσαι βασιλεύουσαν νομιμώτατα, καὶ τὸ σύνολον πλείστων καὶ μεγίστων ἀγαθῶν αἰτίαν γενέσθαι πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις. διὰ δὴ ταύτας τὰς αἰτίας καταδειχθῆναι μείζονος ἐξουσίας καὶ τιμῆς τυγχάνειν τὴν βασίλισσαν τοῦ βασιλέως, καὶ παρὰ τοῖς ἰδιώταις κυριεύειν τὴν γυναῖκα τἀνδρός, ἐν τῇ τῆς προικὸς συγγραφῇ προσομολογούντων τῶν γαμούντων ἅπαντα πειθαρχήσειν τῇ γαμουμένῃ. οὐκ ἀγνοῶ δὲ διότι τινὲς τῶν συγγραφέων ἀποφαίνονται τοὺς τάφους τῶν θεῶν τούτων ὑπάρχειν ἐν Νύσῃ τῆς Ἀραβίας, ἀφʼ ἧς καὶ Νυσαῖον τὸν Διόνυσον ὠνομάσθαι. εἶναι δὲ καὶ στήλην ἑκατέρου τῶν θεῶν ἐπιγεγραμμένην τοῖς ἱεροῖς γράμμασιν. ἐπὶ μὲν οὖν τῆς Ἴσιδος ἐπιγεγράφθαι “ἐγὼ Ἶσίς εἰμι ἡ βασίλισσα πάσης χώρας, ἡ παιδευθεῖσα ὑπὸ Ἑρμοῦ, καὶ ὅσα ἐγὼ ἐνομοθέτησα, οὐδεὶς αὐτὰ δύναται λῦσαι. ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ τοῦ νεωτάτου Κρόνου θεοῦ θυγάτηρ πρεσβυτάτη· ἐγώ εἰμι γυνὴ καὶ ἀδελφὴ Ὀσίριδος βασιλέως· ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ πρώτη καρπὸν ἀνθρώποις εὑροῦσα· ἐγώ εἰμι μήτηρ Ὥρου τοῦ βασιλέως· ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ἐν τῷ ἄστρῳ τῷ ἐν τῷ κυνὶ ἐπιτέλλουσα· ἐμοὶ Βούβαστος ἡ πόλις ᾠκοδομήθη. χαῖρε χαῖρε Αἴγυπτε ἡ θρέψασά με.” ἐπὶ δὲ τῆς Ὀσίριδος ἐπιγεγράφθαι λέγεται “πατὴρ μέν ἐστί μοι Κρόνος νεώτατος θεῶν ἁπάντων, εἰμὶ δὲ Ὄσιρις ὁ βασιλεύς, ὁ στρατεύσας ἐπὶ πᾶσαν χώραν ἕως εἰς τοὺς ἀοικήτους τόπους τῶν Ἰνδῶν καὶ τοὺς πρὸς ἄρκτον κεκλιμένους, μέχρι Ἴστρου ποταμοῦ πηγῶν, καὶ πάλιν ἐπὶ τἄλλα μέρη ἕως ὠκεανοῦ. εἰμὶ δὲ υἱὸς Κρόνου πρεσβύτατος, καὶ βλαστὸς ἐκ καλοῦ τε καὶ εὐγενοῦς ᾠοῦ σπέρμα συγγενὲς ἐγεννήθην ἡμέρας. καὶ οὐκ ἔστι τόπος τῆς οἰκουμένης εἰς ὃν ἐγὼ οὐκ ἀφῖγμαι, διαδοὺς πᾶσιν ὧν ἐγὼ εὑρετὴς ἐγενόμην.” τοσαῦτα τῶν γεγραμμένων ἐν ταῖς στήλαις φασὶ δύνασθαι ἀναγνῶναι, τὰ δʼ ἄλλα ὄντα πλείω κατεφθάρθαι διὰ τὸν χρόνον. τὰ μὲν οὖν περὶ τῆς ταφῆς τῶν θεῶν τούτων διαφωνεῖται παρὰ τοῖς πλείστοις διὰ τὸ τοὺς ἱερεῖς ἐν ἀπορρήτοις παρειληφότας τὴν περὶ τούτων ἀκρίβειαν μὴ βούλεσθαι τἀληθὲς ἐκφέρειν εἰς τοὺς πολλούς, ὡς ἂν καὶ κινδύνων ἐπικειμένων τοῖς τἀπόρρητα περὶ τῶν θεῶν τούτων μηνύσασιν εἰς τοὺς ὄχλους.
The Egyptians also made a law, they say, contrary to the general custom of mankind, permitting men to marry their sisters, this being due to the success attained by Isis in this respect; for she had married her brother Osiris, and upon his death, having taken a vow never to marry another man, she both avenged the murder of her husband and reigned all her days over the land with complete respect for the laws, and, in a word, became the cause of more and greater blessings to all men than any other. 2 It is for these reasons, in fact, that it was ordained that the queen should have greater power and honour than the king and that among private persons the wife should enjoy authority over her husband, the husbands agreeing in the marriage contract that they will be obedient in all things to their wives. Now I am not unaware that some historians give the following account of Isis and Osiris: The tombs of these gods lie in Nysa in Arabia, and for this reason Dionysus is also called Nysaeus. And in that place there stands also a stele of each of the gods bearing an inscription in hieroglyphs. 4 On the stele of Isis it runs: "I am Isis, the queen of every land, she who was instructed of Hermes, and whatsoever laws I have established, these can no man make void. I am the eldest daughter of the youngest god Cronus; I am the wife and sister of the king Osiris; I am she who first discovered fruits for mankind; I am the mother of Horus the king; I am she who riseth in the star that is in the Constellation of the Dog; by me was the city of Bubastus built. Farewell, farewell, O Egypt that nurtured me." 5 And on the stele of Osiris the inscription is said to run: "My father is Cronus, the youngest of all the gods, and I am Osiris the king, who campaigned over every country as far as the uninhabited regions of India and the lands to the north, even to the sources of the river Ister, and again to the remaining parts of the world as far as Oceanus. I am the eldest son of Cronus, and being sprung from a fair and noble egg I was begotten a seed of kindred birth to Day. There is no region of the inhabited world to which I have not come, dispensing to all men the things of which I was the discoverer." 6 So much of the inscriptions on the stelae can be read, they say, but the rest of the writing, which was of greater extent, has been destroyed by time. However this may be, varying accounts of the burial of these gods are found in most writers by reason of the fact that the priests, having received the exact facts about these matters as a secret not to be divulged, are unwilling to give out the truth to the public, on the ground that perils overhang any men who disclose to the common crowd the secret knowledge about these gods.
§ 1.28
οἱ δʼ οὖν Αἰγύπτιοί φασι καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα ἀποικίας πλείστας ἐξ Αἰγύπτου κατὰ πᾶσαν διασπαρῆναι τὴν οἰκουμένην. εἰς Βαβυλῶνα μὲν γὰρ ἀγαγεῖν ἀποίκους Βῆλον τὸν νομιζόμενον Ποσειδῶνος εἶναι καὶ Λιβύης· ὃν παρὰ τὸν Εὐφράτην ποταμὸν καθιδρυθέντα τούς τε ἱερεῖς καταστήσασθαι παραπλησίως τοῖς κατʼ Αἴγυπτον ἀτελεῖς καὶ πάσης λειτουργίας ἀπολελυμένους, οὓς Βαβυλώνιοι καλοῦσι Χαλδαίους, τάς τε παρατηρήσεις τῶν ἄστρων τούτους ποιεῖσθαι, μιμουμένους τοὺς παρʼ Αἰγυπτίοις ἱερεῖς καὶ φυσικούς, ἔτι δὲ ἀστρολόγους. λέγουσι δὲ καὶ τοὺς περὶ τὸν Δαναὸν ὁρμηθέντας ὁμοίως ἐκεῖθεν συνοικίσαι τὴν ἀρχαιοτάτην σχεδὸν τῶν παρʼ Ἕλλησι πόλεων Ἄργος, τό τε τῶν Κόλχων ἔθνος ἐν τῷ Πόντῳ καὶ τὸ τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἀνὰ μέσον Ἀραβίας καὶ Συρίας οἰκίσαι τινὰς ὁρμηθέντας παρʼ ἑαυτῶν· διὸ καὶ παρὰ τοῖς γένεσι τούτοις ἐκ παλαιοῦ παραδεδόσθαι τὸ περιτέμνειν τοὺς γεννωμένους παῖδας, ἐξ Αἰγύπτου μετενηνεγμένου τοῦ νομίμου. καὶ τοὺς Ἀθηναίους δέ φασιν ἀποίκους εἶναι Σαϊτῶν τῶν ἐξ Αἰγύπτου, καὶ πειρῶνται τῆς οἰκειότητος ταύτης φέρειν ἀποδείξεις· παρὰ μόνοις γὰρ τῶν Ἑλλήνων τὴν πόλιν ἄστυ καλεῖσθαι, μετενηνεγμένης τῆς προσηγορίας ἀπὸ τοῦ παρʼ αὐτοῖς Ἄστεος. ἔτι δὲ τὴν πολιτείαν τὴν αὐτὴν ἐσχηκέναι τάξιν καὶ διαίρεσιν τῇ παρʼ Αἰγυπτίοις, εἰς τρία μέρη διανεμηθείσῃ· καὶ πρώτην μὲν ὑπάρξαι μερίδα τοὺς εὐπατρίδας καλουμένους, οἵτινες ἱεροποιοὶ ὑπῆρχον ἐν παιδείᾳ μάλιστα διατετριφότες καὶ τῆς μεγίστης ἠξιωμένοι τιμῆς παραπλησίως τοῖς κατʼ Αἴγυπτον ἱερεῦσι· δευτέραν δὲ τάξιν γενέσθαι τὴν τῶν γεωμόρων τῶν ὀφειλόντων ὅπλα κεκτῆσθαι καὶ πολεμεῖν ὑπὲρ τῆς πόλεως ὁμοίως τοῖς κατʼ Αἴγυπτον ὀνομαζομένοις γεωργοῖς καὶ τοὺς μαχίμους παρεχομένοις· τελευταίαν δὲ μερίδα καταριθμηθῆναι τὴν τῶν δημιουργῶν τῶν τὰς βαναύσους τέχνας μεταχειριζομένων καὶ λειτουργίας τελούντων τὰς ἀναγκαιοτάτας, τὸ παραπλήσιον ποιούσης τῆς τάξεως ταύτης παρʼ Αἰγυπτίους. γεγονέναι δὲ καὶ τῶν ἡγεμόνων τινὰς Αἰγυπτίους παρὰ τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις· τὸν γὰρ Πέτην τὸν πατέρα Μενεσθέως τοῦ στρατεύσαντος εἰς Τροίαν φανερῶς Αἰγύπτιον ὑπάρξαντα τυχεῖν ὕστερον Ἀθήνησι πολιτείας τε καὶ βασιλείας. διφυοῦς δʼ αὐτοῦ γεγονότος, τοὺς μὲν Ἀθηναίους μὴ δύνασθαι κατὰ τὴν ἰδίαν ὑπόστασιν ἀποδοῦναι περὶ τῆς φύσεως ταύτης τὰς ἀληθεῖς αἰτίας, ἐν μέσῳ κειμένου πᾶσιν ὅτι δυοῖν πολιτειῶν μετασχών, Ἑλληνικῆς καὶ βαρβάρου, διφυὴς ἐνομίσθη, τὸ μὲν ἔχων μέρος θηρίου, τὸ δὲ ἀνθρώπου.
Now the Egyptians say that also after these events a great number of colonies were spread from Egypt over all the inhabited world. To Babylon, for instance, colonists were led by Belus, who was held to be the son of Poseidon and Libya; and after establishing himself on the Euphrates river he appointed priests, called Chaldaeans by the Babylonians, who were exempt from taxation and free from every kind of service to the state, as are the priests of Egypt; and they also make observations of the stars, following the example of the Egyptian priests, physicists, and astrologers. 2 They say also that those who set forth with Danaus, likewise from Egypt, settled what is practically the oldest city in Greece, Argos, and that the nation of the Colchi in Pontus and that of the Jews, which lies between Arabia and Syria, were founded as colonies by certain emigrants from their country; 3 and this is the reason why it is a long-established institution among these two peoples to circumcise their male children, the custom having been brought over from Egypt. 4 Even the Athenians, they say, are colonists from Sais in Egypt, and they undertake to offer proofs of such a relationship; for the Athenians are the only Greeks who call their city "Asty," a name brought over from the city Asty in Egypt. Furthermore, their body politic had the same classification and division of the people as found in Egypt, where the citizens have been divided into three orders: 5 the first Athenian class consisted of the "eupatrids," as they were called, being those who were such as had received the best education and were held worthy of the highest honour, as is the case with the priests of Egypt; the second was that of the "geomoroi," who were expected to possess arms and to serve in defence of the state, like those in Egypt who are known as husbandmen and supply the warriors; and the last class was reckoned to be that of the "demiurgoi," who practise the mechanical arts and render only the most menial services to the state, this class among the Egyptians having a similar function. Moreover, certain of the rulers of Athens were originally Egyptians, they say. Petes, for instance, the father of that Menestheus who took part in the expedition against Troy, having clearly been an Egyptian, later obtained citizenship at Athens and the kingship. . . . 7 He was of double form, and yet the Athenians are unable from their own point of view to give the true explanation of this nature of his, although it is patent to all that it was because of his double citizenship, Greek and barbarian, that he was held to be of double form, that is, part animal and part man.
§ 1.29
ὁμοίως δὲ τούτῳ καὶ τὸν Ἐρεχθέα λέγουσι τὸ γένος Αἰγύπτιον ὄντα βασιλεῦσαι τῶν Ἀθηνῶν, τοιαύτας τινὰς φέροντες ἀποδείξεις· γενομένων γὰρ ὁμολογουμένως αὐχμῶν μεγάλων κατὰ πᾶσαν σχεδὸν τὴν οἰκουμένην πλὴν Αἰγύπτου διὰ τὴν ἰδιότητα τῆς χώρας, καὶ φθορᾶς ἐπιγενομένης τῶν τε καρπῶν καὶ πλήθους ἀνθρώπων, ἐξ Αἰγύπτου τὸν Ἐρεχθέα κομίσαι διὰ τὴν συγγένειαν σίτου πλῆθος εἰς τὰς Ἀθήνας· ἀνθʼ ὧν τοὺς εὖ παθόντας βασιλέα καταστῆσαι τὸν εὐεργέτην. τοῦτον δὲ παραλαβόντα τὴν ἡγεμονίαν καταδεῖξαι τὰς τελετὰς τῆς Δήμητρος ἐν Ἐλευσῖνι καὶ τὰ μυστήρια ποιῆσαι, μετενεγκόντα τὸ περὶ τούτων νόμιμον ἐξ Αἰγύπτου. καὶ τῆς θεοῦ δὲ παρουσίαν εἰς τὴν Ἀττικὴν γεγονυῖαν κατὰ τούτους τοὺς χρόνους παραδεδόσθαι κατὰ λόγον, ὡς ἂν τῶν ἐπωνύμων ταύτης καρπῶν τότε κομισθέντων εἰς τὰς Ἀθήνας, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο δόξαι πάλιν ἐξ ἀρχῆς τὴν εὕρεσιν γεγονέναι τοῦ σπέρματος, δωρησαμένης τῆς Δήμητρος. ὁμολογεῖν δὲ καὶ τοὺς Ἀθηναίους ὅτι βασιλεύοντος Ἐρεχθέως καὶ τῶν καρπῶν διὰ τὴν ἀνομβρίαν προηφανισμένων ἡ τῆς Δήμητρος ἐγένετο παρουσία πρὸς αὐτοὺς καὶ ἡ δωρεὰ τοῦ σίτου. πρὸς δὲ τούτοις αἱ τελεταὶ καὶ τὰ μυστήρια ταύτης τῆς θεοῦ τότε κατεδείχθησαν ἐν Ἐλευσῖνι. τά τε περὶ τὰς θυσίας καὶ τὰς ἀρχαιότητας ὡσαύτως ἔχειν Ἀθηναίους καὶ τοὺς Αἰγυπτίους· τοὺς μὲν γὰρ Εὐμολπίδας ἀπὸ τῶν κατʼ Αἴγυπτον ἱερέων μετενηνέχθαι, τοὺς δὲ Κήρυκας ἀπὸ τῶν παστοφόρων. τήν τε Ἶσιν μόνους τῶν Ἑλλήνων ὀμνύειν, καὶ ταῖς ἰδέαις καὶ τοῖς ἤθεσιν ὁμοιοτάτους εἶναι τοῖς Αἰγυπτίοις. πολλὰ δὲ καὶ ἄλλα τούτοις παραπλήσια λέγοντες φιλοτιμότερον ἤπερ ἀληθινώτερον, ὥς γʼ ἐμοὶ φαίνεται, τῆς ἀποικίας ταύτης ἀμφισβητοῦσι διὰ τὴν δόξαν τῆς πόλεως. καθόλου δὲ πλείστας ἀποικίας Αἰγύπτιοί φασιν ἐκπέμψαι τοὺς ἑαυτῶν προγόνους ἐπὶ πολλὰ μέρη τῆς οἰκουμένης διά τε τὴν ὑπεροχὴν τῶν βασιλευσάντων παρʼ αὐτοῖς καὶ διὰ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῆς πολυανθρωπίας· ὑπὲρ ὧν μήτε ἀποδείξεως φερομένης μηδεμιᾶς ἀκριβοῦς μήτε συγγραφέως ἀξιοπίστου μαρτυροῦντος, οὐκ ἐκρίναμεν ὑπάρχειν τὰ λεγόμενα γραφῆς ἄξια. καὶ περὶ μὲν τῶν θεολογουμένων παρʼ Αἰγυπτίοις τοσαῦθʼ ἡμῖν εἰρήσθω, στοχαζομένοις τῆς συμμετρίας· περὶ δὲ τῆς χώρας καὶ τοῦ Νείλου καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν ἀκοῆς ἀξίων ἐν κεφαλαίοις ἕκαστα διεξιέναι πειρασόμεθα.
In the same way, they continue, Erechtheus also, who was by birth an Egyptian, became king of Athens, and in proof of this they offer the following considerations. Once when there was a great drought, as is generally agreed, which extended over practically all the inhabited earth except Egypt because of the peculiar character of that country, and there followed a destruction both of crops and of men in great numbers, Erechtheus, through his racial connection with Egypt, brought from there to Athens a great supply of grain, and in return those who had enjoyed this aid made their benefactor king. 2 After he had secured the throne he instituted the initiatory rites of Demeter in Eleusis and established the mysteries, transferring their ritual from Egypt. And the tradition that an advent of the goddess into Attica also took place at that time is reasonable, since it was then that the fruits which are named after her were brought to Athens, and this is why it was thought that the discovery of the seed had been made again, as though Demeter had bestowed the gift. 3 And the Athenians on their part agree that it was in the reign of Erechtheus, when a lack of rain had wiped out the crops, that Demeter came to them with the gift of grain. Furthermore, the initiatory rites and mysteries of this goddess were instituted at Eleusis at that time. 4 And their sacrifices as well as their ancient ceremonies are observed by the Athenians in the same way as by the Egyptians; for the Eumolpidae were derived from the priests of Egypt and the Ceryces from the pastophoroi. They are also the only Greeks who swear by Isis, and they closely resemble the Egyptians in both their appearance and manners. 5 By many other statements like these, spoken more out of a love for glory than with regard for the truth, as I see the matter, they claim Athens as a colony of theirs because of the fame of that city. In general, the Egyptians say that their ancestors sent forth numerous colonies to many parts of the inhabited world, the pre-eminence of their former kings and their excessive population; 6 but since they offer no precise proof whatsoever for these statements, and since no historian worthy of credence testifies in their support, we have not thought that their accounts merited recording. So far as the ideas of the Egyptians about the gods are concerned, let what we have said suffice, since we are aiming at due proportion in our account, but with regard to the land, the Nile, and everything else worth hearing about we shall endeavour, in each case, to give the several facts in summary.
§ 1.30
ἡ γὰρ Αἴγυπτος κεῖται μὲν μάλιστά πως κατὰ μεσημβρίαν, ὀχυρότητι δὲ φυσικῇ καὶ κάλλει χώρας οὐκ ὀλίγῳ δοκεῖ προέχειν τῶν εἰς βασιλείαν ἀφωρισμένων τόπων. ἀπὸ μὲν γὰρ τῆς δύσεως ὠχύρωκεν αὐτὴν ἡ ἔρημος καὶ θηριώδης τῆς Λιβύης, ἐπὶ πολὺ μὲν παρεκτείνουσα, διὰ δὲ τὴν ἀνυδρίαν καὶ τὴν σπάνιν τῆς ἁπάσης τροφῆς ἔχουσα τὴν διέξοδον οὐ μόνον ἐπίπονον, ἀλλὰ καὶ παντελῶς ἐπικίνδυνον· ἐκ δὲ τῶν πρὸς νότον μερῶν οἵ τε καταράκται τοῦ Νείλου καὶ τῶν ὀρῶν τὰ συνορίζοντα τούτοις· ἀπὸ γὰρ τῆς Τρωγλοδυτικῆς καὶ τῶν ἐσχάτων τῆς Αἰθιοπίας μερῶν ἐντὸς σταδίων πεντακισχιλίων καὶ πεντακοσίων οὔτε πλεῦσαι διὰ τοῦ ποταμοῦ ῥᾴδιον οὔτε πεζῇ πορευθῆναι μὴ τυχόντα βασιλικῆς ἢ παντελῶς μεγάλης τινὸς χορηγίας. τῶν δὲ πρὸς τὴν ἀνατολὴν νευόντων μερῶν τὰ μὲν ὁ ποταμὸς ὠχύρωκε, τὰ δʼ ἔρημος περιέχει καὶ πεδία τελματώδη τὰ προσαγορευόμενα Βάραθρα. ἔστι γὰρ ἀνὰ μέσον τῆς Κοίλης Συρίας καὶ τῆς Αἰγύπτου λίμνη τῷ μὲν πλάτει στενὴ παντελῶς, τῷ δὲ βάθει θαυμάσιος, τὸ δὲ μῆκος ἐπὶ διακοσίους παρήκουσα σταδίους, ἣ προσαγορεύεται μὲν Σερβωνίς, τοῖς δʼ ἀπείροις τῶν προσπελαζόντων ἀνελπίστους ἐπιφέρει κινδύνους. στενοῦ γὰρ τοῦ ῥεύματος ὄντος καὶ ταινίᾳ παραπλησίου, θινῶν τε μεγάλων πάντῃ περικεχυμένων, ἐπειδὰν νότοι συνεχεῖς πνεύσωσιν, ἐπισείεται πλῆθος ἅμμου. αὕτη δὲ τὸ μὲν ὕδωρ κατὰ τὴν ἐπιφάνειαν ἄσημον ποιεῖ, τὸν δὲ τῆς λίμνης τύπον συμφυῆ τῇ χέρσῳ καὶ κατὰ πᾶν ἀδιάγνωστον. διὸ καὶ πολλοὶ τῶν ἀγνοούντων τὴν ἰδιότητα τοῦ τόπου μετὰ στρατευμάτων ὅλων ἠφανίσθησαν τῆς ὑποκειμένης ὁδοῦ διαμαρτόντες. ἡ μὲν γὰρ ἅμμος ἐκ τοῦ κατʼ ὀλίγον πατουμένη τὴν ἔνδοσιν λαμβάνει, καὶ τοὺς ἐπιβάλλοντας ὥσπερ προνοίᾳ τινὶ πονηρᾷ παρακρούεται, μέχρι ἂν ὅτου λαβόντες ὑπόνοιαν τοῦ συμβησομένου βοηθήσωσιν ἑαυτοῖς, οὐκ οὔσης ἔτι φυγῆς οὐδὲ σωτηρίας. ὁ γὰρ ὑπὸ τοῦ τέλματος καταπινόμενος οὔτε νήχεσθαι δύναται, παραιρουμένης τῆς ἰλύος τὴν τοῦ σώματος κίνησιν, οὔτʼ ἐκβῆναι κατισχύει, μηδὲν ἔχων στερέμνιον εἰς ἐπίβασιν· μεμιγμένης γὰρ τῆς ἅμμου τοῖς ὑγροῖς, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο τῆς ἑκατέρων φύσεως ἠλλοιωμένης, συμβαίνει τὸν τόπον μήτε πορευτὸν εἶναι μήτε πλωτόν. διόπερ οἱ τοῖς μέρεσι τούτοις ἐπιβάλλοντες φερόμενοι πρὸς τὸν βυθὸν οὐδεμίαν ἀντίληψιν βοηθείας ἔχουσι, συγκατολισθανούσης τῆς ἅμμου τῆς παρὰ τὰ χείλη. τὰ μὲν οὖν προειρημένα πεδία τοιαύτην ἔχοντα τὴν φύσιν οἰκείας ἔτυχε προσηγορίας, ὀνομασθέντα Βάραθρα.
[tr. Booth] And now we shall endeavour to treat distinctly of the country itself, and the river Nile, and other things worthy of remark. The land of Egypt almost lies wholly to the south, and is naturally fortified, and the most pleasant country of any of the kingdoms round about it. For on the west it is defended by the deserts of Libya, full of wild beasts, running out a vast way in length; where the passage is both difficult, and extremely hazardous, through want of water and other provision. On the south it is environed with the cataracts of the Nile, and the mountains adjoining. For from the country of the Troglodites, and the higher parts of Ethiopia, for the space of five thousand and five hundred furlongs, there is no passing either by land or water, without such a measure of provision as a king himself could only be furnished with. Those parts towards the east, are partly secured by the river, and partly surrounded by the deserts and by the marshes called the Barathra. For there is a lake between Coele-Syria and Egypt, very narrow, but exceeding deep, even to a wonder, two hundred furlongs in length, called Serbon: if any through ignorance approach it, they are lost irrecoverably; for the channel being very narrow, like a swadlingband, and compassed round with vast heaps of sand, great quantities of it are cast into the lake, by the continued southern winds, which so cover the surface of the water, and make it to the view so like unto dry land, that it cannot possibly be distinguished; and therefore many, unacquainted with the nature of the place, by missing their way, have been there swallowed up, together with whole armies. For the sand being trod upon, sinks down and gives way by degrees, and like a malicious cheat, deludes and decoys them that come upon it, till too late, when they see the mischief they are likely to fall into, they begin to support and help one another, but without any possibility either of returning back, or escaping certain ruin; for, sinking into the gulf, they are neither able to swim (the mud preventing all motion of the body) nor in a capacity to wade out, having nothing firm to support them for that purpose; for sand and water being mixed together, the nature of both is thereby so changed, that there is neither fording, nor passing over it by boats. Being brought therefore to this pass, without the least possibility of help to be afforded them, they go together with the sand to the bottom of the gulf, at the very brink of the bog; and so the place, agreeable to its nature, is called Barathrum.
§ 1.31
ἡμεῖς δʼ ἐπεὶ τὰ περὶ τῶν ἀπὸ τῆς χέρσου τριῶν μερῶν τῶν ὀχυρούντων τὴν Αἴγυπτον διήλθομεν, προσθήσομεν τοῖς εἰρημένοις τὸ λειπόμενον. ἡ τετάρτη τοίνυν πλευρὰ πᾶσα σχεδὸν ἀλιμένῳ θαλάττῃ προσκλυζομένη προβέβληται τὸ Αἰγύπτιον πέλαγος, ὃ τὸν μὲν παράπλουν ἔχει μακρότατον, τὴν δʼ ἀπόβασιν τὴν ἐπὶ τὴν χώραν δυσπροσόρμιστον· ἀπὸ γὰρ Παραιτονίου τῆς Λιβύης ἕως Ἰόπης τῆς ἐν τῇ Κοίλῃ Συρίᾳ, ὄντος τοῦ παράπλου σταδίων σχεδὸν πεντακισχιλίων, οὐκ ἔστιν εὑρεῖν ἀσφαλῆ λιμένα πλὴν τοῦ Φάρου. χωρὶς δὲ τούτων ταινία παρʼ ὅλην σχεδὸν τὴν Αἴγυπτον παρήκει τοῖς ἀπείροις τῶν προσπλεόντων ἀθεώρητος· διόπερ οἱ τὸν ἐκ πελάγους κίνδυνον ἐκπεφευγέναι νομίζοντες, καὶ διὰ τὴν ἄγνοιαν ἄσμενοι πρὸς τὴν γῆν καταπλέοντες, ἐξαίφνης ἐποκελλόντων τῶν σκαφῶν ἀνελπίστως ναυαγοῦσιν· ἔνιοι δὲ διὰ τὴν ταπεινότητα τῆς χώρας οὐ δυνάμενοι προϊδέσθαι τὴν γῆν λανθάνουσιν ἑαυτοὺς ἐκπίπτοντες οἱ μὲν εἰς ἑλώδεις καὶ λιμνάζοντας τόπους, οἱ δʼ εἰς χώραν ἔρημον. ἡ μὲν οὖν Αἴγυπτος πανταχόθεν φυσικῶς ὠχύρωται τὸν εἰρημένον τρόπον, τῷ δὲ σχήματι παραμήκης οὖσα δισχιλίων μὲν σταδίων ἔχει τὴν παραθαλάττιον πλευράν, εἰς μεσόγειον δʼ ἀνήκει σχεδὸν ἐπὶ σταδίους ἑξακισχιλίους. πολυανθρωπίᾳ δὲ τὸ μὲν παλαιὸν πολὺ προέσχε πάντων τῶν γνωριζομένων τόπων κατὰ τὴν οἰκουμένην, καὶ καθʼ ἡμᾶς δὲ οὐδενὸς τῶν ἄλλων δοκεῖ λείπεσθαι· ἐπὶ μὲν γὰρ τῶν ἀρχαίων χρόνων ἔσχε κώμας ἀξιολόγους καὶ πόλεις πλείους τῶν μυρίων καὶ ὀκτακισχιλίων, ὡς ἐν ταῖς ἱεραῖς ἀναγραφαῖς ὁρᾶν ἔστι κατακεχωρισμένον, ἐπὶ δὲ Πτολεμαίου τοῦ Λάγου πλείους τῶν τρισμυρίων ἠριθμήθησαν, ὧν τὸ πλῆθος διαμεμένηκεν ἕως τῶν καθʼ ἡμᾶς χρόνων. τοῦ δὲ σύμπαντος λαοῦ τὸ μὲν παλαιόν φασι γεγονέναι περὶ ἑπτακοσίας μυριάδας, καὶ καθʼ ἡμᾶς δὲ οὐκ ἐλάττους εἶναι τριακοσίων. διὸ καὶ τοὺς ἀρχαίους βασιλεῖς ἱστοροῦσι κατὰ τὴν Αἴγυπτον ἔργα μεγάλα καὶ θαυμαστὰ διὰ τῆς πολυχειρίας κατασκευάσαντας ἀθάνατα τῆς ἑαυτῶν δόξης ἀπολιπεῖν ὑπομνήματα. ἀλλὰ περὶ μὲν τούτων τὰ κατὰ μέρος μικρὸν ὕστερον ἀναγράψομεν, περὶ δὲ τῆς τοῦ ποταμοῦ φύσεως καὶ τῶν κατὰ τὴν χώραν ἰδιωμάτων νῦν διέξιμεν.
Having spoken of the three boundaries of Egypt, by which it is distinguished from the rest of the continent, we now proceed to the next. The fourth side is nearly surrounded with a vast sea, without any harbours, being a very long and tedious voyage, and very difficult to find any place of landing. For from Parcetonium in Africa, to Joppa in Coele Syria, for the space almost of five thousand furlongs, there is not one safe harbour to be found, except Pharus. Then again all along the coasts of Egypt, the sea is full of rocks and sands, not discernible by mariners unacquainted with the places; so that when they look upon themselves as safe, and to have escaped the danger of the seas, and make with great joy to land (wanting skill to steer aright) they are on a sudden and unexpectedly shipwrecked. Others inconsiderately, because they cannot see the land, in regard it lies so low, are carried either into the bogs, or to the deserts. And in this manner is Egypt naturally guarded on every side. It is of a long form or shape; that part that lies along to the sea coast stretches forth itself in length two thousand furlongs; but to the south it runs almost six thousand furlongs. It was antiently the most populous country in the world, and at this day not inferior to any. It was formerly full of famous towns, and had in it above eighteen thousand cities, as is to be seen registered in their sacred records: and in the time of Ptolemy Lagus, there were reckoned above three thousand, which remain still to this day. Once they say in a general account taken of all the inhabitants, they amounted to seven millions; and at this time are not less than three millions of people. And therefore they say that their kings by the help of such a multitude, left behind them in their great and wonderful works, eternal monuments of their state and grandeur; which we shall by and by distinctly treat of; but at present we shall speak of the nature of the Nile, and of the property of the soil.
§ 1.32
ὁ γὰρ Νεῖλος φέρεται μὲν ἀπὸ μεσημβρίας ἐπὶ τὴν ἄρκτον, τὰς πηγὰς ἔχων ἐκ τόπων ἀοράτων, οἳ κεῖνται τῆς ἐσχάτης Αἰθιοπίας κατὰ τὴν ἔρημον, ἀπροσίτου τῆς χώρας οὔσης διὰ τὴν τοῦ καύματος ὑπερβολήν. μέγιστος δʼ ὢν τῶν ἁπάντων ποταμῶν καὶ πλείστην γῆν διεξιὼν καμπὰς ποιεῖται μεγάλας, ποτὲ μὲν ἐπὶ τὴν ἀνατολὴν καὶ τὴν Ἀραβίαν ἐπιστρέφων, ποτὲ δʼ ἐπὶ τὴν δύσιν καὶ τὴν Λιβύην ἐκκλίνων% φέρεται γὰρ ἀπὸ τῶν Αἰθιοπικῶν ὀρῶν μέχρι τῆς εἰς θάλατταν ἐκβολῆς στάδια μάλιστά πως μύρια καὶ δισχίλια σὺν αἷς ποιεῖται καμπαῖς. κατὰ δὲ τοὺς ὑποκάτω τόπους συστέλλεται τοῖς ὄγκοις ἀεὶ μᾶλλον, ἀποσπωμένου τοῦ ῥεύματος ἐπʼ ἀμφοτέρας τὰς ἠπείρους. τῶν δʼ ἀποσχιζομένων μερῶν τὸ μὲν εἰς τὴν Λιβύην ἐκκλῖνον ὑφʼ ἅμμου καταπίνεται τὸ βάθος ἐχούσης ἄπιστον, τὸ δʼ εἰς τὴν Ἀραβίαν ἐναντίως εἰσχεόμενον εἰς τέλματα παμμεγέθη καὶ λίμνας ἐκτρέπεται μεγάλας καὶ περιοικουμένας γένεσι πολλοῖς. εἰς δὲ τὴν Αἴγυπτον ἐμβάλλει τῇ μὲν δέκα σταδίων, τῇ δʼ ἔλαττον τούτων, οὐκ ἐπʼ εὐθείας φερόμενος, ἀλλὰ καμπὰς παντοίας ποιούμενος· ποτὲ μὲν γὰρ ἑλίττεται πρὸς τὴν ἕω, ποτὲ δὲ πρὸς τὴν ἑσπέραν, ἔστι δʼ ὅτε πρὸς τὴν μεσημβρίαν, εἰς τοὐπίσω λαμβάνων τὴν παλίρροιαν. ὄρη γὰρ ἐξ ἑκατέρου μέρους τοῦ ποταμοῦ παρήκει, πολλὴν μὲν τῆς παραποταμίας ἐπέχοντα, διειλημμένα δὲ φάραγξι καὶ κρημνοῖς στενοπόροις, οἷς ἐμπῖπτον τὸ ῥεῦμα παλισσυτεῖ διὰ τῆς πεδιάδος, καὶ πρὸς τὴν μεσημβρίαν ἐφʼ ἱκανὸν τόπον ἐνεχθὲν πάλιν ἐπὶ τὴν κατὰ φύσιν φορὰν ἀποκαθίσταται. τηλικαύτην δʼ ἔχων ὑπεροχὴν ἐν πᾶσιν ὁ ποταμὸς οὗτος μόνος τῶν ἄλλων ἄνευ βίας καὶ κυματώδους ὁρμῆς τὴν ῥύσιν ποιεῖται, πλὴν ἐν τοῖς καλουμένοις καταράκταις. τόπος γάρ τίς ἐστι μήκει μὲν ὡς δέκα σταδίων, κατάντης δὲ καὶ κρημνοῖς συγκλειόμενος εἰς στενὴν ἐντομήν, ἅπας δὲ τραχὺς καὶ φαραγγώδης, ἔτι δὲ πέτρους ἔχων πυκνοὺς καὶ μεγάλους ἐοικότας σκοπέλοις· τοῦ δὲ ῥεύματος περὶ τούτους σχιζομένου βιαιότερον καὶ πολλάκις διὰ τὰς ἐγκοπὰς ἀνακλωμένου πρὸς ἐναντίαν τὴν καταφορὰν συνίστανται δῖναι θαυμασταί· πᾶς δʼ ὁ μεσάζων τόπος ὑπὸ τῆς παλιρροίας ἀφροῦ τε πληροῦται καὶ τοῖς προσιοῦσι μεγάλην παρέχεται κατάπληξιν· καὶ γὰρ ἡ καταφορὰ τοῦ ποταμοῦ οὕτως ἐστὶν ὀξεῖα καὶ βίαιος ὥστε δοκεῖν μηδὲν βέλους διαφέρειν. κατὰ δὲ τὴν πλήρωσιν τοῦ Νείλου, τῶν σκοπέλων κατακλυζομένων καὶ παντὸς τοῦ τραχύνοντος τόπου τῷ πλήθει τοῦ ῥεύματος καλυπτομένου, καταπλέουσι μέν τινες κατὰ τοῦ καταράκτου λαμβάνοντες ἐναντίους τοὺς ἀνέμους, ἀναπλεῦσαι δὲ οὐδεὶς δύναται, νικώσης τῆς τοῦ ποταμοῦ βίας πᾶσαν ἐπίνοιαν ἀνθρωπίνην. καταράκται μὲν οὖν εἰσι τοιοῦτοι πλείους, μέγιστος δʼ ὁ πρὸς τοῖς μεθορίοις τῆς Αἰθιοπίας τε καὶ τῆς Αἰγύπτου.
The Nile runs from the south towards the north from spring-heads hitherto unknown, for they are in the utmost borders of Ethiopia, where, by reason of the vast deserts, and extremity of heat, there is no coming. It is the greatest of all other rivers, and runs through many countries, and therefore has many large turnings and windings, sometimes making its way to the east and Arabia, and then again to the west and Libya. For it runs down from the mountains of Ethiopia, till it empties itself into the sea, at least twelve thousand furlongs, accounting the several windings it makes in the way. In its course it makes many islands; amongst many others in Ethiopia, one remarkable for its greatness, called Meroe, two-and-twenty furlongs broad. But, in the lower places, its swelling waves grow narrower, and the current divides itself into two channels towards the continents that lie on either side the island. One of the currents bends towards Africa, and is at length swallowed up in a bed of sand of an incredible depth: the other makes its course towards Arabia, on the other side, and falls into deep guts and vast bogs, inhabited round by divers nations; entering at last into Egypt, it keeps no direct course, but turns and winds here and there in some places ten furlongs in breadth, in others less, sometimes running towards the east, then to the west, and sometimes back again to the south. For mountains stand on both sides the river, and take up a large tract of ground; and the river, forcing itself with great violence against strait and narrow precipices, the water is driven back, and flows over the neighbouring fields; and after it has run a considerable way towards the south, it returns at length to its natural course. And though this river is thus remarkable above all others, yet this is especially observable in it, that its stream runs calm and smooth, without any violent surges, or tempestuous waves, except at the cataracts; a place of ten furlongs being so called, running down in a precipice, in a strait and narrow passage amongst steep rocks; the whole is a rugged shelvy gulf, where there lie many great stones, like huge rocks. The water dashing violently against these rocks, is beaten back, and rebounds the contrary way, by which are made wonderful whirlpools, and by the repeated influx, the whole place is covered with froth and foam, to the no small amazement of the beholders: for the river there runs down with as quick and violent a current, as an arrow out of a bow. Sometimes it happens that (these rocks, and the whole gulf being covered with the vast quantity of the waters of the Nile) some ships, driven with contrary winds, are hurried down the cataract, but there is no possibility of sailing up against it, the force of the stream baffling all the art of man. There are many cataracts of this kind, but the greatest is that in the confines of Ethiopia and Egypt.
§ 1.33
περιείληφε δʼ ὁ ποταμὸς καὶ νήσους ἐν αὑτῷ, κατὰ μὲν τὴν Αἰθιοπίαν ἄλλας τε πλείους καὶ μίαν εὐμεγέθη, τὴν ὀνομαζομένην Μερόην, ἐν ᾗ καὶ πόλις ἐστὶν ἀξιόλογος ὁμώνυμος τῇ νήσῳ, κτίσαντος αὐτὴν Καμβύσου καὶ θεμένου τὴν προσηγορίαν ἀπὸ τῆς μητρὸς αὐτοῦ Μερόης. ταύτην δὲ τῷ μὲν σχήματί φασιν ὑπάρχειν θυρεῷ παραπλησίαν, τῷ δὲ μεγέθει πολὺ προέχειν τῶν ἄλλων νήσων τῶν ἐν τούτοις τοῖς τόποις· τὸ μὲν γὰρ μῆκος αὐτῆς εἶναι λέγουσι σταδίων τρισχιλίων, τὸ δὲ πλάτος χιλίων. ἔχειν δʼ αὐτὴν καὶ πόλεις οὐκ ὀλίγας, ὧν ἐπιφανεστάτην ὑπάρχειν τὴν Μερόην. παρήκειν δὲ τῆς νήσου τὸν περικλυζόμενον πάντα τόπον ἀπὸ μὲν τῆς Λιβύης θῖνας ἔχοντας ἅμμου μέγεθος ἀέριον, ἀπὸ δὲ τῆς Ἀραβίας κρημνοὺς κατερρωγότας. ὑπάρχειν δʼ ἐν αὐτῇ καὶ μέταλλα χρυσοῦ τε καὶ ἀργύρου καὶ σιδήρου καὶ χαλκοῦ· πρὸς δὲ τούτοις ἔχειν πλῆθος ἐβένου, λίθων τε πολυτελῶν γένη παντοδαπά. καθόλου δὲ τοσαύτας νήσους ποιεῖν τὸν ποταμὸν ὥστε τοὺς ἀκούοντας μὴ ῥᾳδίως πιστεῦσαι· χωρὶς γὰρ τῶν περικλυζομένων τόπων ἐν τῷ καλουμένῳ Δέλτα τὰς ἄλλας εἶναι νήσους πλείους τῶν ἑπτακοσίων, ὧν τὰς μὲν ὑπὸ Αἰθιόπων ἐπαντλουμένας γεωργεῖσθαι κέγχρῳ, τὰς δὲ πλήρεις ὑπάρχειν ὄφεων καὶ κυνοκεφάλων καὶ ἄλλων θηρίων παντοδαπῶν, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἀπροσίτους εἶναι τοῖς ἀνθρώποις. ὁ δʼ οὖν Νεῖλος κατὰ τὴν Αἴγυπτον εἰς πλείω μέρη σχιζόμενος ποιεῖ τὸ καλούμενον ἀπὸ τοῦ σχήματος Δέλτα. τούτου δὲ τὰς μὲν πλευρὰς καταγράφει τὰ τελευταῖα τῶν ῥευμάτων, τὴν δὲ βάσιν ἀναπληροῖ τὸ δεχόμενον πέλαγος τὰς ἐκβολὰς τοῦ ποταμοῦ. ἐξίησι δʼ εἰς τὴν θάλατταν ἑπτὰ στόμασιν, ὧν τὸ μὲν πρὸς ἕω κεκλιμένον καὶ πρῶτον καλεῖται Πηλουσιακόν, τὸ δὲ δεύτερον Τανιτικόν, εἶτα Μενδήσιον καὶ Φατνιτικὸν καὶ Σεβεννυτικόν, ἔτι δὲ Βολβίτινον, καὶ τελευταῖον Κανωβικόν, ὅ τινες Ἡρακλεωτικὸν ὀνομάζουσιν. ἔστι δὲ καὶ ἕτερα στόματα χειροποίητα, περὶ ὧν οὐδὲν κατεπείγει γράφειν. ἐφʼ ἑκάστῳ δὲ πόλις τετείχισται διαιρουμένη τῷ ποταμῷ καὶ καθʼ ἑκάτερον μέρος τῆς ἐκβολῆς ζεύγμασι καὶ φυλακαῖς εὐκαίροις διειλημμένη. ἀπὸ δὲ τοῦ Πηλουσιακοῦ στόματος διῶρύξ ἐστι χειροποίητος εἰς τὸν Ἀράβιον κόλπον καὶ τὴν Ἐρυθρὰν θάλατταν. ταύτην δʼ ἐπεβάλετο πρῶτος κατασκευάζειν Νεκῶς ὁ Ψαμμητίχου, μετὰ δὲ τοῦτον Δαρεῖος ὁ Πέρσης, καὶ προκόψας τοῖς ἔργοις ἕως τινὸς τὸ τελευταῖον εἴασεν αὐτὴν ἀσυντέλεστον· ἐδιδάχθη γὰρ ὑπό τινων ὅτι διορύξας τὸν ἰσθμὸν αἴτιος ἔσται τοῦ κατακλυσθῆναι τὴν Αἴγυπτον· μετεωροτέραν γὰρ ἀπεδείκνυον ὑπάρχειν τῆς Αἰγύπτου τὴν Ἐρυθρὰν θάλατταν. ὕστερον δὲ ὁ δεύτερος Πτολεμαῖος συνετέλεσεν αὐτήν, καὶ κατὰ τὸν ἐπικαιρότατον τόπον ἐμηχανήσατό τι φιλότεχνον διάφραγμα. τοῦτο δʼ ἐξήνοιγεν, ὁπότε βούλοιτο διαπλεῦσαι, καὶ ταχέως πάλιν συνέκλειεν, εὐστόχως ἐκλαμβανομένης τῆς χρείας. ὁ δὲ διὰ τῆς διώρυχος ταύτης ῥέων ποταμὸς ὀνομάζεται μὲν ἀπὸ τοῦ κατασκευάσαντος Πτολεμαῖος, ἐπὶ δὲ τῆς ἐκβολῆς πόλιν ἔχει τὴν προσαγορευομένην Ἀρσινόην.
How the river Nile makes several islands near Ethiopia (amongst which Meroe is the chief) is before declared. In this island is a famous city of the same name, which Cambyses built, and called it after the name of his mother Meroe. This island is said to be of the shape of a shield, and for greatness exceeding all the rest of the islands in those parts, being three thousand furlongs in length, and a thousand in breadth, having in it many cities, of which Meroe is the noblest. The island is surrounded towards the coasts of Libya with vast heaps of sand, all along close to the river, and towards Arabia run along steep rocky mountains. It is said there are in it mines of gold, silver, iron, and brass, a great number of ebony trees, and all sorts of precious stones. To conclude, there are so many islands made by this river, that it is scarcely credible. For besides those islands in that part of Egypt called Delta, there are (they say) seven hundred, some of which the Ethiopians inhabit, and sow with millet; others are so pestered with serpents, baboons, and all kinds of hurtful beasts, that it is dangerous to come into them. The river Nile, parting itself into several channels in Egypt, makes that part called Delta, so called from the shape resembling that Greek letter. The two sides of this Delta are fashioned by the two extreme branches of the river; the foot of this letter is the sea, where the seven mouths of the Nile disgorge themselves. For there are seven places called mouths, through which it empties itself into the ocean. The first, lying to the most eastward channel, is at Pelusium, called Pelusaicum; the second Taniticum; the third Mendisium; the fourth Phatniticum; the fifth Sebenyticum; the sixth Bolbitinum, and the last Canopicum or Herculeum, as some call it. There are some other mouths made by art, of which it is not material to write. At every of the mouths is a city built on either side of the river, defended with strong guards and bridges on each bank. From Pelusaicum as far as to the Arabian Gulf, and the Red Sea, is a canal cut out. Necos the son of Psameticus, was the first that began this work, and after him Darius the Persian carried it on, but left it unfinished, being told by some that if be cut it through the isthmus, all Egypt would be drowned, for that the Red Sea lay higher than Egypt. The last attempt was made by Ptolemy the second, who cut a sluice across the isthmus in a more convenient place, which he opened when he had a mind to sail down that way, and then presently after shut up again; which contrivance proved very useful and serviceable. The river which runs through this cut is called Ptolemy, after the name of the maker. Where it falls into the sea, there is a city built called Arsinoe.
§ 1.34
τὸ δʼ οὖν Δέλτα τῇ Σικελίᾳ τῷ σχήματι παραπλήσιον ὑπάρχον τῶν μὲν πλευρῶν ἑκατέραν ἔχει σταδίων ἑπτακοσίων καὶ πεντήκοντα, τὴν δὲ βάσιν θαλάττῃ προσκλυζομένην σταδίων χιλίων καὶ τριακοσίων. ἡ δὲ νῆσος αὕτη πολλαῖς διώρυξι χειροποιήτοις διείληπται καὶ χώραν περιέχει καλλίστην τῆς Αἰγύπτου. ποταμόχωστος γὰρ οὖσα καὶ κατάρρυτος πολλοὺς καὶ παντοδαποὺς ἐκφέρει καρπούς, τοῦ μὲν ποταμοῦ διὰ τὴν κατʼ ἔτος ἀνάβασιν νεαρὰν ἰλὺν ἀεὶ καταχέοντος, τῶν δʼ ἀνθρώπων ῥᾳδίως ἅπασαν ἀρδευόντων διά τινος μηχανῆς, ἣν ἐπενόησε μὲν Ἀρχιμήδης ὁ Συρακόσιος, ὀνομάζεται δὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ σχήματος κοχλίας. πραεῖαν δὲ τοῦ Νείλου τὴν ῥύσιν ποιουμένου, καὶ γῆν πολλὴν καὶ παντοδαπὴν καταφέροντος, ἔτι δὲ κατὰ τοὺς κοίλους τόπους λιμνάζοντος, ἕλη γίνεται πάμφορα. ῥίζαι γὰρ ἐν αὐτοῖς φύονται παντοδαπαὶ τῇ γεύσει καὶ καρπῶν καὶ καυλῶν ἰδιάζουσαι φύσεις, πολλὰ συμβαλλόμεναι τοῖς ἀπόροις τῶν ἀνθρώπων καὶ τοῖς ἀσθενέσι πρὸς αὐτάρκειαν. οὐ γὰρ μόνον τροφὰς παρέχονται ποικίλας καὶ πᾶσι τοῖς δεομένοις ἑτοίμας καὶ δαψιλεῖς, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν εἰς τὸ ζῆν ἀναγκαίων οὐκ ὀλίγα φέρουσι βοηθήματα· λωτός τε γὰρ φύεται πολύς, ἐξ οὗ κατασκευάζουσιν ἄρτους οἱ κατʼ Αἴγυπτον δυναμένους ἐκπληροῦν τὴν φυσικὴν τοῦ σώματος ἔνδειαν, τό τε κιβώριον δαψιλέστατον ὑπάρχον φέρει τὸν καλούμενον Αἰγύπτιον κύαμον. ἔστι δὲ καὶ δένδρων γένη πλείονα, καὶ τούτων αἱ μὲν ὀνομαζόμεναι περσαῖαι καρπὸν διάφορον ἔχουσι τῇ γλυκύτητι, μετενεχθέντος ἐξ Αἰθιοπίας ὑπὸ Περσῶν τοῦ φυτοῦ καθʼ ὃν καιρὸν Καμβύσης ἐκράτησεν ἐκείνων τῶν τόπων· τῶν δὲ συκαμίνων αἱ μὲν τὸν τῶν μόρων καρπὸν φέρουσιν, αἱ δὲ τὸν τοῖς σύκοις ἐμφερῆ, καὶ παρʼ ὅλον σχεδὸν τὸν ἐνιαυτὸν αὐτοῦ φυομένου συμβαίνει τοὺς ἀπόρους καταφυγὴν ἑτοίμην ἔχειν τῆς ἐνδείας. τὰ δὲ βάτα καλούμενα μυξάρια συνάγεται μὲν κατὰ τὴν ἀποχώρησιν τοῦ ποταμοῦ, διὰ δὲ τὴν γλυκύτητα τῆς φύσεως αὐτῶν ἐν τραγήματος μέρει καταναλίσκεται. κατασκευάζουσι δὲ καὶ ἐκ τῶν κριθῶν Αἰγύπτιοι πόμα λειπόμενον οὐ πολὺ τῆς περὶ τὸν οἶνον εὐωδίας, ὃ καλοῦσι ζῦθος. χρῶνται δὲ καὶ πρὸς τὴν τῶν λύχνων καῦσιν ἐπιχέοντες ἀντʼ ἐλαίου τὸ ἀποθλιβόμενον ἔκ τινος φυτοῦ, προσαγορευόμενον δὲ κίκι. πολλὰ δὲ καὶ ἄλλα τὰ δυνάμενα τὰς ἀναγκαίας χρείας παρέχεσθαι τοῖς ἀνθρώποις δαψιλῆ φύεται κατὰ τὴν Αἴγυπτον. ὑπὲρ ὧν μακρὸν ἂν εἴη γράφειν.
The Delta is of the shape of Sicily: both sides are seven hundred and fifty furlongs in length, and the foot which lies along the sea coast, is thirteen hundred furlongs. This island has in it many dikes and sluices cut by art, and is the most sweet and pleasantest part of Egypt; for being enriched and watered by the river, it produces all sorts of grain and other fruits; and by the yearly overflowing of the river, the face of the ground is still continually renewed, and the inhabitants have an easy way to water it by means of a certain engine, invented by Archimedes the Syracusan, which from its form is called Choclia. And whereas the Nile flows gently over it, it brings along with it much soil, which resting in low and hollow grounds, makes very rich marshes. For in these places grow roots of several tastes and savours, and fruits and herbs of a singular nature and quality, which are very useful both to the poor, and those that are sick; for they do not only afford plentifully in every place things for food, but all other things necessary and useful for the life of man. There grows in great plenty Lotus, of which the Egyptians make bread for the nourishment of man's body. Here is likewise produced in plenty Ciborium, called the Egyptian bean. Here are divers sorts of trees, amongst which those called Persica, whose fruit is of wonderful sweetness: this plant was brought out of Ethiopia by the Persians, when Cambyses conquered these places. The sycamore (or Egyptian fig-tree); some of them bear mulberries, others a fruit like unto figs, and bear all the year long; so that a man may satisfy his hunger at any time. After the falling of the waters of the river, they gather the fruits called Bates, which, for their sweet and delightful taste, are at entertainments served up at last course as delicious desserts. The Egyptians make a drink of barley, called Zythus, for smell and sweetness of taste not much inferior to wine. They make a liquor like oil for the feeding of their lamps, of the juice of a plant which they call Cici. There are many other plants which grow in Egypt of admirable use, which would be too tedious here to enumerate.
§ 1.35
θηρία δʼ ὁ Νεῖλος τρέφει πολλὰ μὲν καὶ ἄλλα ταῖς ἰδέαις ἐξηλλαγμένα, δύο δὲ διάφορα, τόν τε κροκόδειλον καὶ τὸν καλούμενον ἵππον. τούτων δʼ ὁ μὲν κροκόδειλος ἐξ ἐλαχίστου γίνεται μέγιστος, ὡς ἂν ᾠὰ μὲν τοῦ ζῴου τούτου τίκτοντος τοῖς χηνείοις παραπλήσια, τοῦ δὲ γεννηθέντος αὐξομένου μέχρι πηχῶν ἑκκαίδεκα. καὶ μακρόβιον μέν ἐστιν ὡς κατʼ ἄνθρωπον, γλῶτταν δὲ οὐκ ἔχει. τὸ δὲ σῶμα θαυμαστῶς ὑπὸ τῆς φύσεως ὠχύρωται· τὸ μὲν γὰρ δέρμα αὐτοῦ πᾶν φολιδωτόν ἐστι καὶ τῇ σκληρότητι διάφορον, ὀδόντες δʼ ἐξ ἀμφοτέρων τῶν μερῶν ὑπάρχουσι πολλοί, δύο δὲ οἱ χαυλιόδοντες πολὺ τῷ μεγέθει τῶν ἄλλων διαλλάττοντες. σαρκοφαγεῖ δʼ οὐ μόνον ἀνθρώπους, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ζῴων τὰ προσπελάζοντα τῷ ποταμῷ. καὶ τὰ μὲν δήγματα ποιεῖ ἁδρὰ καὶ χαλεπά, τοῖς δʼ ὄνυξι δεινῶς σπαράττει, καὶ τὸ διαιρεθὲν τῆς σαρκὸς παντελῶς ἀπεργάζεται δυσίατον. ἐθηρεύετο δὲ ταῦτα τὰ ζῷα τὸ μὲν παλαιὸν ὑπὸ τῶν Αἰγυπτίων ἀγκίστροις ἔχουσιν ἐπιδεδελεασμένας ὑείας σάρκας, ὕστερον δὲ ποτὲ μὲν δικτύοις παχέσιν ὡσπερεί τινες ἰχθῦς, ποτὲ δʼ ἐμβολίοις σιδηροῖς ἐκ τῶν ἀκάτων τυπτόμενα συνεχῶς εἰς τὴν κεφαλήν. πλῆθος δʼ αὐτῶν ἀμύθητόν ἐστι κατά τε τὸν ποταμὸν καὶ τὰς παρακειμένας λίμνας, ὡς ἂν πολυγόνων τε ὄντων καὶ σπανίως ὑπὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἀναιρουμένων· τῶν μὲν γὰρ ἐγχωρίων τοῖς πλείστοις νόμιμόν ἐστιν ὡς θεὸν σέβεσθαι τὸν κροκόδειλον, τοῖς δʼ ἀλλοφύλοις ἀλυσιτελής ἐστιν ἡ θήρα παντελῶς, οὐκ οὔσης ἐδωδίμου τῆς σαρκός. ἀλλʼ ὅμως τοῦ πλήθους τούτου φυομένου κατὰ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἡ φύσις κατεσκεύασε μέγα βοήθημα· ὁ γὰρ καλούμενος ἰχνεύμων, παραπλήσιος ὢν μικρῷ κυνί, περιέρχεται τὰ τῶν κροκοδείλων ᾠὰ συντρίβων, τίκτοντος τοῦ ζῴου παρὰ τὸν ποταμόν, καὶ τὸ θαυμασιώτατον, οὔτε κατεσθίων οὔτε ὠφελούμενος οὐδὲν διατελεῖ φυσικήν τινα χρείαν καὶ κατηναγκασμένην ἐνεργῶν εἰς ἀνθρώπων εὐεργεσίαν. ὁ δὲ καλούμενος ἵππος τῷ μεγέθει μέν ἐστιν οὐκ ἐλάττων πηχῶν πέντε, τετράπους δʼ ὢν καὶ δίχηλος παραπλησίως τοῖς βουσὶ τοὺς χαυλιόδοντας ἔχει μείζους τῶν ἀγρίων ὑῶν, τρεῖς ἐξ ἀμφοτέρων τῶν μερῶν, ὦτα δὲ καὶ κέρκον καὶ φωνὴν ἵππῳ παρεμφερῆ, τὸ δʼ ὅλον κύτος τοῦ σώματος οὐκ ἀνόμοιον ἐλέφαντι, καὶ δέρμα πάντων σχεδὸν τῶν θηρίων ἰσχυρότατον. ποτάμιον γὰρ ὑπάρχον καὶ χερσαῖον τὰς μὲν ἡμέρας ἐν τοῖς ὕδασι ποιεῖ γυμναζόμενον κατὰ βάθους, τὰς δὲ νύκτας ἐπὶ τῆς χώρας κατανέμεται τόν τε σῖτον καὶ τὸν χόρτον, ὥστε εἰ πολύτεκνον ἦν τοῦτο τὸ ζῷον καὶ κατʼ ἐνιαυτὸν ἔτικτεν, ἐλυμαίνετʼ ἂν ὁλοσχερῶς τὰς γεωργίας τὰς κατʼ Αἴγυπτον. ἁλίσκεται δὲ καὶ τοῦτο πολυχειρίᾳ τῶν τυπτόντων τοῖς σιδηροῖς ἐμβολίοις· ὅπου γὰρ ἂν φανῇ, συνάγουσιν ἐπʼ αὐτὸ πλοῖα, καὶ περιστάντες κατατραυματίζουσιν ὥσπερ τισὶ κοπεῦσιν ἐπὶ σιδηροῖς ἀγκίστροις, εἶθʼ ἑνὶ τῶν ἐμπαγέντων ἐνάπτοντες ἀρχὰς στυππίνας ἀφιᾶσι, μέχρι ἂν ὅτου παραλυθῇ γενόμενον ἔξαιμον. τὴν μὲν οὖν σάρκα σκληρὰν ἔχει καὶ δύσπεπτον, τῶν δʼ ἔντοσθεν οὐδὲν ἐδώδιμον, οὔτε σπλάγχνον οὔτʼ ἐγκοίλιον.
The river Nile breeds many creatures of several forms and shapes, amongst which, two are especially remarkable, the crocodile and the horse, as they are called: amongst these, the crocodile of the least creature becomes the greatest; for it lays an egg much of the bigness of that of a goose, and after the young is hatched, it grows to the length of sixteen cubits, and lives to the age of a man: it wants a tongue, but has a body naturally armed in a wonderful manner. For its skin is covered all over with scales of an extraordinary hardness; many sharp teeth are ranged on both sides its jaws, and two of them are much bigger than the rest. This monster does not only devour men, but other creatures that come near the river. His bites are sharp and destructive, and with his claws he tears his prey cruelly in pieces, and what wounds he makes, no medicine or application can heal. The Egyptians formerly caught these monsters with hooks, baited with raw flesh; but of later times, they have used to take them with strong nets like fishes: sometimes they strike them on the head with forks of iron, and so kill them. There is an infinite multitude of these creatures in the river and the neighbouring pools, in regard they are great breeders, and are seldom killed: for the crocodile is adored as a god by some of the inhabitants; and for strangers to hunt and destroy them is to no purpose, for their flesh is not eatable. But nature has provided relief against the increase of this destructive monster; for the ichneumon, as it is called (of the bigness of a little dog), running up and down near the water side, breaks all the eggs laid by this beast, wherever he finds them; and that which is most to be admired is, that he does this not for food or any other advantage, but out of a natural instinct for the mere benefit of mankind. The beast called the River Horse, is five cubits long, four-footed, and clovenhoofed like to an ox. He has three teeth or tushes on either side his jaw, appearing outwards larger than those of a wild boar; as to his ears, tail, and his neighing, he is like a horse. The whole bulk of his body is not much unlike an elephant; his skin is firmer and thicker almost than any other beast. He lives both on land and in water; in the day time he lies at the bottom of the river, and in the night time comes to land, and feeds upon grass and corn. If this beast were so fruitful as to bring forth young every year, he would undo the husbandman, and destroy a great part of the corn of Egypt. He is likewise by the help of many hands often caught, being struck with instruments of iron; for, when he is found, they hem him round with their boats, and those on board wound him with forked instruments of iron, cast at him like so many darts; and having strong ropes to the irons, they fix them in him; they let him go till he loses his blood, and he then dies. His flesh is extraordinary hard, and of ill digestion. There is nothing in his inner parts that can be eaten, neither his bowels, nor any other of his entrails.
§ 1.36
χωρὶς δὲ τῶν εἰρημένων θηρίων ὁ Νεῖλος ἔχει παντοῖα γένη ἰχθύων καὶ κατὰ τὸ πλῆθος ἄπιστα· τοῖς γὰρ ἐγχωρίοις οὐ μόνον ἐκ τῶν προσφάτως ἁλισκομένων παρέχεται δαψιλῆ τὴν ἀπόλαυσιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ πλῆθος εἰς ταριχείαν ἀνίησιν ἀνέκλειπτον. καθόλου δὲ ταῖς εἰς ἀνθρώπους εὐεργεσίαις ὑπερβάλλει πάντας τοὺς κατὰ τὴν οἰκουμένην ποταμούς. τῆς γὰρ πληρώσεως τὴν ἀρχὴν ἀπὸ θερινῶν τροπῶν ποιούμενος αὔξεται μὲν μέχρι τῆς ἰσημερίας τῆς μετοπωρινῆς, ἐπάγων δʼ ἀεὶ νέαν ἰλὺν βρέχει τὴν γῆν ὁμοίως τήν τε ἀργὴν καὶ σπόριμον καὶ φυτεύσιμον τοσοῦτον χρόνον ὅσον ἂν οἱ γεωργοῦντες τὴν χώραν ἐθελήσωσι. τοῦ γὰρ ὕδατος πραέως φερομένου ῥᾳδίως ἀποτρέπουσιν αὐτὸν μικροῖς χώμασι, καὶ πάλιν ἐπάγουσιν εὐχερῶς ταῦτα διαιροῦντες, ὅταν δόξῃ συμφέρειν. καθόλου δὲ τοσαύτην τοῖς μὲν ἔργοις εὐκοπίαν παρέχεται, τοῖς δʼ ἀνθρώποις λυσιτέλειαν, ὥστε τοὺς μὲν πλείστους τῶν γεωργῶν τοῖς ἀναξηραινομένοις τῆς γῆς τόποις ἐφισταμένους καὶ τὸ σπέρμα βάλλοντας ἐπάγειν τὰ βοσκήματα, καὶ τούτοις συμπατήσαντας μετὰ τέτταρας ἢ πέντε μῆνας ἀπαντᾶν ἐπὶ τὸν θερισμόν, ἐνίους δὲ κούφοις ἀρότροις ἐπαγαγόντας βραχέως τὴν ἐπιφάνειαν τῆς βεβρεγμένης χώρας σωροὺς ἀναιρεῖσθαι τῶν καρπῶν χωρὶς δαπάνης πολλῆς καὶ κακοπαθείας. ὅλως γὰρ πᾶσα γεωργία παρὰ μὲν τοῖς ἄλλοις ἔθνεσι μετὰ μεγάλων ἀναλωμάτων καὶ ταλαιπωριῶν διοικεῖται, παρὰ δʼ Αἰγυπτίοις μόνοις ἐλαχίστοις δαπανήμασι καὶ πόνοις συγκομίζεται. ἥ τε ἀμπελόφυτος ὁμοίως ἀρδευομένη δαψίλειαν οἴνου τοῖς ἐγχωρίοις παρασκευάζει. οἱ δὲ χερσεύειν ἐάσαντες τὴν χώραν τὴν ἐπικεκλυσμένην καὶ τοῖς ποιμνίοις ἀνέντες μηλόβοτον διὰ τὸ πλῆθος τῆς νομῆς δὶς τεκόντα καὶ δὶς ἀποκαρέντα τὰ πρόβατα καρποῦνται. τὸ δὲ γινόμενον περὶ τὴν ἀνάβασιν τοῦ Νείλου τοῖς μὲν ἰδοῦσι θαυμαστὸν φαίνεται, τοῖς δʼ ἀκούσασι παντελῶς ἄπιστον. τῶν γὰρ ἄλλων ποταμῶν ἁπάντων περὶ τὰς θερινὰς τροπὰς ἐλαττουμένων καὶ κατὰ τὸν ἑξῆς χρόνον τοῦ θέρους ἀεὶ μᾶλλον ταπεινουμένων, οὗτος μόνος τότε τὴν ἀρχὴν λαβὼν τῆς πληρώσεως ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον αὔξεται καθʼ ἡμέραν ὥστε τὸ τελευταῖον πᾶσαν σχεδὸν ἐπικλύζειν τὴν Αἴγυπτον. ὡσαύτως δὲ πάλιν εἰς τοὐναντίον μεταβαλὼν τὸν ἴσον χρόνον καθʼ ἡμέραν ἐκ τοῦ κατʼ ὀλίγον ταπεινοῦται, μέχρι ἂν εἰς τὴν προϋπάρξασαν ἀφίκηται τάξιν. καὶ τῆς μὲν χώρας οὔσης πεδιάδος, τῶν δὲ πόλεων καὶ τῶν κωμῶν, ἔτι δὲ τῶν ἀγροικιῶν κειμένων ἐπὶ χειροποιήτων χωμάτων, ἡ πρόσοψις ὁμοία γίνεται ταῖς Κυκλάσι νήσοις. τῶν δὲ χερσαίων θηρίων τὰ πολλὰ μὲν ὑπὸ τοῦ ποταμοῦ περιληφθέντα διαφθείρεται βαπτιζόμενα, τινὰ δʼ εἰς τοὺς μετεωροτέρους ἐκφεύγοντα τόπους διασώζεται, τὰ δὲ βοσκήματα κατὰ τὸν τῆς ἀναβάσεως χρόνον ἐν ταῖς κώμαις καὶ ταῖς ἀγροικίαις διατρέφεται, προπαρασκευαζομένης αὐτοῖς τῆς τροφῆς. οἱ δʼ ὄχλοι πάντα τὸν τῆς πληρώσεως χρόνον ἀπολελυμένοι τῶν ἔργων εἰς ἄνεσιν τρέπονται, συνεχῶς ἑστιώμενοι καὶ πάντων τῶν πρὸς ἡδονὴν ἀνηκόντων ἀνεμποδίστως ἀπολαύοντες. διὰ δὲ τὴν ἀγωνίαν τὴν ἐκ τῆς ἀναβάσεως τοῦ ποταμοῦ γινομένην κατεσκεύασται Νειλοσκοπεῖον ὑπὸ τῶν βασιλέων ἐν τῇ Μέμφει· ἐν τούτῳ δὲ τὴν ἀνάβασιν ἀκριβῶς ἐκμετροῦντες οἱ τὴν τούτου διοίκησιν ἔχοντες ἐξαποστέλλουσιν εἰς τὰς πόλεις ἐπιστολάς, διασαφοῦντες πόσους πήχεις ἢ δακτύλους ἀναβέβηκεν ὁ ποταμὸς καὶ πότε τὴν ἀρχὴν πεποίηται τῆς ἐλαττώσεως. διὰ δὲ τοῦ τοιούτου τρόπου τῆς μὲν ἀγωνίας ἀπολύεται πᾶς ὁ λαός, πυθόμενος τὴν τῆς αὐξήσεως εἰς τοὐναντίον μεταβολήν, τὸ δὲ πλῆθος τῶν ἐσομένων καρπῶν εὐθὺς ἅπαντες προεπεγνώκασιν, ἐκ πολλῶν χρόνων τῆς παρατηρήσεως ταύτης παρὰ τοῖς Αἰγυπτίοις ἀκριβῶς ἀναγεγραμμένης.
Besides these before mentioned, the Nile abounds with multitudes of all sorts of fish: not only such as are taken fresh to supply the inhabitant's at hand, but an innumerable number likewise which they salt to send abroad. To conclude, no river in the world is more beneficial and serviceable to mankind than the Nile. Its inundation begins at the summer solstice, and increases till the equinoctial in autumn; during which time, he brings in along with him new soil, and waters as well the tilled and improved ground, as that which lies waste and untilled, as long as it pleases the husbandman; for the water flowing gently and by degrees, they easily divert its course, by casting up small banks of earth; and then, by opening a passage for it, as easily turn it over their land again, if they see it needful. It is so very advantageous to the inhabitants, and done with so little pains, that most of the country people turn in their cattle into the sowed ground to eat, and tread down the corn, and four or five months after, they reap it. Some lightly run over the surface of the earth with a plow, after the water is fallen, and gain a mighty crop without any great cost or pains: but husbandry amongst all other nations, is very laborious and chargeable, only the Egyptians gather their fruits with little cost or labour. That part of the country likewise where vines are planted, after this watering by the Nile, yields a most plentiful vintage. The fields that after the inundation are pastured by their flocks, yield them this advantage, that the sheep yean twice in a year, and are shorn as often. This increase of the Nile is wonderful to beholders, and altogether incredible to them that only hear the report; for when other rivers about the solstice fall and grow lower all summer long, this begins to increase, and continues to rise every day, till it comes to that height that it overflows almost all Egypt; and on the contrary, in the same manner, in the winter solstice, it falls by degrees till it wholly returns into its proper channel. And in regard the land of Egypt lies low and champaign; the towns, cities, and country villages, that are built upon rising ground, (cast up by art), look like the islands of the Cyclades. Many of the cattle sometimes are by the river intercepted, and so are drowned; but those that fly to the higher grounds are preserved. During the time of the inundation, the cattle are kept in the country towns and small cottages, where they have food and fodder before laid up and prepared for them. But the common people, now at liberty from all employments in the field, indulge themselves in idleness, feasting every day, and giving themselves up to all sorts of sports and pleasures. Yet out of fear of the inundation, a watch-tower is built in Memphis, by the kings of Egypt, where those who are employed to take care of this concern, observing to what height the river rises, send letters from one city to another, acquainting them how many cubits and fingers the river rises, and when it begins to decrease; and so the people, coming to understand the fall of the waters, are freed from their fears, and all presently have a foresight what plenty of corn they are like to have; and this observation has been registered from time to time by the Egyptians for many generations.
§ 1.37
μεγάλης δʼ οὔσης ἀπορίας περὶ τῆς τοῦ ποταμοῦ πληρώσεως, ἐπικεχειρήκασι πολλοὶ τῶν τε φιλοσόφων καὶ τῶν ἱστορικῶν ἀποδιδόναι τὰς ταύτης αἰτίας, περὶ ὧν ἐν κεφαλαίοις ἐροῦμεν, ἵνα μήτε μακρὰς ποιώμεθα τὰς παρεκβάσεις μήτε ἄγραφον τὸ παρὰ πᾶσιν ἐπιζητούμενον ἀπολείπωμεν. ὅλως γὰρ ὑπὲρ τῆς ἀναβάσεως τοῦ Νείλου καὶ τῶν πηγῶν, ἔτι δὲ τῆς εἰς θάλατταν ἐκβολῆς καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ὧν ἔχει διαφορῶν παρὰ τοὺς ἄλλους ποταμούς, μέγιστος ὢν τῶν κατὰ τὴν οἰκουμένην, τινὲς μὲν τῶν συγγραφέων ἁπλῶς οὐκ ἐτόλμησαν οὐδὲν εἰπεῖν, καίπερ εἰωθότες μηκύνειν ἐνίοτε περὶ χειμάρρου τοῦ τυχόντος, τινὲς δʼ ἐπιβαλόμενοι λέγειν περὶ τῶν ἐπιζητουμένων πολὺ τῆς ἀληθείας διήμαρτον. οἱ μὲν γὰρ περὶ τὸν Ἑλλάνικον καὶ Κάδμον, ἔτι δʼ Ἑκαταῖον, καὶ πάντες οἱ τοιοῦτοι, παλαιοὶ παντάπασιν ὄντες, εἰς τὰς μυθώδεις ἀποφάσεις ἀπέκλιναν· Ἡρόδοτος δὲ ὁ πολυπράγμων, εἰ καί τις ἄλλος, γεγονὼς καὶ πολλῆς ἱστορίας ἔμπειρος ἐπικεχείρηκε μὲν περὶ τούτων ἀποδιδόναι λόγον, ἠκολουθηκὼς δὲ ἀντιλεγομέναις ὑπονοίαις εὑρίσκεται· Ξενοφῶν δὲ καὶ Θουκυδίδης, ἐπαινούμενοι κατὰ τὴν ἀλήθειαν τῶν ἱστοριῶν, ἀπέσχοντο τελέως κατὰ τὴν γραφὴν τῶν τόπων τῶν κατʼ Αἴγυπτον· οἱ δὲ περὶ τὸν Ἔφορον καὶ Θεόπομπον μάλιστα πάντων εἰς ταῦτʼ ἐπιταθέντες ἥκιστα τῆς ἀληθείας ἐπέτυχον. καὶ διεσφάλησαν οὗτοι πάντες οὐ διὰ τὴν ἀμέλειαν, ἀλλὰ διὰ τὴν τῆς χώρας ἰδιότητα. ἀπὸ γὰρ τῶν ἀρχαίων χρόνων ἄχρι Πτολεμαίου τοῦ Φιλαδέλφου προσαγορευθέντος οὐχ ὅπως τινὲς τῶν Ἑλλήνων ὑπερέβαλον εἰς Αἰθιοπίαν, ἀλλʼ οὐδὲ μέχρι τῶν ὅρων τῆς Αἰγύπτου προσανέβησαν· οὕτως ἄξενα πάντα ἦν τὰ περὶ τοὺς τόπους τούτους καὶ παντελῶς ἐπικίνδυνα· τοῦ δὲ προειρημένου βασιλέως μεθʼ Ἑλληνικῆς δυνάμεως εἰς Αἰθιοπίαν πρώτου στρατεύσαντος ἐπεγνώσθη τὰ κατὰ τὴν χώραν ταύτην ἀκριβέστερον ἀπὸ τούτων τῶν χρόνων. τῆς μὲν οὖν τῶν προτέρων συγγραφέων ἀγνοίας τοιαύτας τὰς αἰτίας συνέβη γενέσθαι· τὰς δὲ πηγὰς τοῦ Νείλου, καὶ τὸν τόπον ἐξ οὗ λαμβάνει τὴν ἀρχὴν τοῦ ῥεύματος, ἑορακέναι μὲν μέχρι τῶνδε τῶν ἱστοριῶν γραφομένων οὐδεὶς εἴρηκεν οὐδʼ ἀκοὴν ἀπεφήνατο παρὰ τῶν ἑορακέναι διαβεβαιουμένων. διὸ καὶ τοῦ πράγματος εἰς ὑπόνοιαν καὶ καταστοχασμὸν πιθανὸν καταντῶντος, οἱ μὲν κατʼ Αἴγυπτον ἱερεῖς ἀπὸ τοῦ περιρρέοντος τὴν οἰκουμένην ὠκεανοῦ φασιν αὐτὸν τὴν σύστασιν λαμβάνειν, ὑγιὲς μὲν οὐδὲν λέγοντες, ἀπορίᾳ δὲ τὴν ἀπορίαν λύοντες καὶ λόγον φέροντες εἰς πίστιν αὐτὸν πολλῆς πίστεως προσδεόμενον· τῶν δὲ Τρωγλοδυτῶν οἱ μεταναστάντες ἐκ τῶν ἄνω τόπων διὰ καῦμα, προσαγορευόμενοι δὲ Βόλγιοι, λέγουσιν ἐμφάσεις τινὰς εἶναι περὶ τοὺς τόπους ἐκείνους, ἐξ ὧν ἄν τις συλλογίσαιτο διότι πολλῶν πηγῶν εἰς ἕνα τόπον ἀθροιζομένων συνίσταται τὸ ῥεῦμα τοῦ Νείλου· διὸ καὶ πολυγονώτατον αὐτὸν ὑπάρχειν πάντων τῶν γνωριζομένων ποταμῶν. οἱ δὲ περιοικοῦντες τὴν νῆσον τὴν ὀνομαζομένην Μερόην, οἷς καὶ μάλιστʼ ἄν τις συγκατάθοιτο, τῆς μὲν κατὰ τὸ πιθανὸν εὑρησιλογίας πολὺ κεχωρισμένοις, τῶν δὲ τόπων τῶν ζητουμένων ἔγγιστα κειμένοις, τοσοῦτον ἀπέχουσι τοῦ λέγειν τι περὶ τούτων ἀκριβῶς ὥστε καὶ τὸν ποταμὸν Ἀστάπουν προσηγορεύκασιν, ὅπερ ἐστὶ μεθερμηνευόμενον εἰς τὴν Ἑλλήνων διάλεκτον ἐκ τοῦ σκότους ὕδωρ. οὗτοι μὲν οὖν τῷ Νείλῳ τῆς ἐν τοῖς τόποις ἀθεωρησίας καὶ τῆς ἰδίας ἀγνοίας οἰκείαν ἔταξαν προσηγορίαν· ἡμῖν δʼ ἀληθέστατος εἶναι δοκεῖ λόγος ὁ πλεῖστον ἀπέχων τοῦ προσποιήματος. οὐκ ἀγνοῶ δὲ ὅτι τὴν πρὸς τὴν ἕω τοῦ ποταμοῦ τούτου καὶ τὴν πρὸς ἑσπέραν Λιβύην ἀφορίζων Ἡρόδοτος ἀνατίθησι Λίβυσι τοῖς ὀνομαζομένοις Νασαμῶσι τὴν ἀκριβῆ θεωρίαν τοῦ ῥείθρου, καί φησιν ἔκ τινος λίμνης λαμβάνοντα τὴν ἀρχὴν τὸν Νεῖλον φέρεσθαι διὰ χώρας Αἰθιοπικῆς ἀμυθήτου· οὐ μὴν αὐτόθεν οὔτε τοῖς εἰποῦσι Λίβυσιν, εἴπερ καὶ πρὸς ἀλήθειαν εἰρήκασιν, οὔτε τῷ συγγραφεῖ προσεκτέον ἀναπόδεικτα λέγοντι.
There are great controversies concerning the reasons of the overflowing of the Nile, and many, both philosophers and historians, have endeavoured to declare the causes of it, which we shall distinctly relate, neither making too long a digression, nor omitting that which is so much banded and controverted. Of the increase and springheads of the Nile, and of its emptying itself at length into the Sea, and other properties peculiar to this river above all others, though it be the greatest in the world, yet some authors have not dared to say the least thing: some who have attempted to give their reasons, have been very wide from the mark. For as for Hellanicus, Cadmus, Hecataeus, and such like ancient authors, they have told little but frothy stories, and mere fables. Herodotus, above all other writers, very industrious, and well acquainted with general history, made it his business to find out the causes of these things; but what he says is, notwithstanding, very doubtful, and some things seem to be repugnant and contradictory one to another. Thucydides and Xenophon, who have the reputation of faithful historians, never so much as touch upon the description of any place in Egypt. But Ephorus and Theopompus, though they are very earnest in this matter, yet they have not in the least discovered the truth. But it was through ignorance of the places, and not through negligence, that they were all led into error. For anciently, none of the Grecians, till the time of Ptolemy Philadelphus, ever went into Ethiopia, or so much as to the utmost bounds of Egypt. For those places were never frequented by travellers, they were so hazardous, till that king marched with a Grecian army into those parts, and so made a more perfect discovery of the country. No writer hitherto has pretended that he himself ever saw, or heard of any one else that affirmed, he had seen the springheads of the Nile: all, therefore, amounting to no more than opinion and conjecture, the priests of Egypt affirm that it comes from the ocean, which flows round the whole earth. But nothing that they say is upon any solid grounds, and they resolve doubts by things that are more doubtful; and to prove what they say, they bring arguments that have need to be proved themselves. But the Troglodites (otherwise called Molgii), whom the scorching heat forced to remove from the higher parts into those lower places, say, that there are some signs, whence a man may rationally conclude, that the river Nile rises from streams which run from many fountains or spring-heads, and meet at last in one channel, and therefore to be the most fruitful and richest river of any that is known in the world. The inhabitants of the Isle of Meroe (who are most to be credited upon this account), are far from inventing so much as any probable arguments; and though they live near to the place in controversy, are so far from giving any certain account of this matter, that they call the Nile, Astapus; which, in the Greek language, signifies water that issues out of a place of darkness; so that they give a name to the river, to denote their ignorance of the place from whence it springs. But that seems the truest reason to me, that looks to be furthest from fiction and studied contrivance. Yet I am not ignorant, that Herodotus who bounds Libya both on the east and west, with this river, ascribes the exact knowledge of it to the Africans, called Nasamones, and says, that the Nile rises from a certain lake, and runs through a large tract of ground, down all along through Ethiopia: but, neither are the sayings of the Africans in this behalf, (as not altogether agreeable to truth), nor the affirmation of the writer, (who proves not what he says), to be of absolute credit.
§ 1.38
ἐπειδὴ δὲ περὶ τῶν πηγῶν καὶ τῆς ῥύσεως αὐτοῦ διεληλύθαμεν, πειρασόμεθα τὰς αἰτίας ἀποδιδόναι τῆς πληρώσεως. Θαλῆς μὲν οὖν, εἷς τῶν ἑπτὰ σοφῶν ὀνομαζόμενος, φησὶ τοὺς ἐτησίας ἀντιπνέοντας ταῖς ἐκβολαῖς τοῦ ποταμοῦ κωλύειν εἰς θάλατταν προχεῖσθαι τὸ ῥεῦμα, καὶ διὰ τοῦτʼ αὐτὸν πληρούμενον ἐπικλύζειν ταπεινὴν οὖσαν καὶ πεδιάδα τὴν Αἴγυπτον. τοῦ δὲ λόγου τούτου, καίπερ εἶναι δοκοῦντος πιθανοῦ, ῥᾴδιον ἐξελέγξαι τὸ ψεῦδος. εἰ γὰρ ἦν ἀληθὲς τὸ προειρημένον, οἱ ποταμοὶ πάντες ἂν οἱ τοῖς ἐτησίαις ἐναντίας τὰς ἐκβολὰς ἔχοντες ἐποιοῦντο τὴν ὁμοίαν ἀνάβασιν· οὗ μηδαμοῦ τῆς οἰκουμένης συμβαίνοντος ζητητέον ἑτέραν αἰτίαν ἀληθινὴν τῆς πληρώσεως. Ἀναξαγόρας δʼ ὁ φυσικὸς ἀπεφήνατο τῆς ἀναβάσεως αἰτίαν εἶναι τὴν τηκομένην χιόνα κατὰ τὴν Αἰθιοπίαν, ᾧ καὶ ὁ ποιητὴς Εὐριπίδης μαθητὴς ὢν ἠκολούθηκε· λέγει γοῦν Νείλου λιπὼν κάλλιστον ἐκ γαίας ὕδωρ, ὃς ἐκ μελαμβρότοιο πληροῦται ῥοὰς Αἰθιοπίδος γῆς, ἡνίκʼ ἂν τακῇ χιών. καὶ ταύτην δὲ τὴν ἀπόφασιν οὐ πολλῆς ἀντιρρήσεως δεῖσθαι συμβέβηκε, φανεροῦ πᾶσιν ὄντος ὅτι διὰ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῶν καυμάτων ἀδύνατον χιόνα πίπτειν περὶ τὴν Αἰθιοπίαν· καθόλου γὰρ περὶ τοὺς τόπους τούτους οὔτε πάγος οὔτε ψῦχος οὔθʼ ὅλως χειμῶνος ἔμφασις γίνεται, καὶ μάλιστα περὶ τὴν ἀνάβασιν τοῦ Νείλου. εἰ δέ τις καὶ συγχωρήσαι χιόνος εἶναι πλῆθος ἐν τοῖς ὑπὲρ Αἰθιοπίαν τόποις, ὅμως ἐλέγχεται τὸ ψεῦδος τῆς ἀποφάσεως· πᾶς γὰρ ποταμὸς ἀπὸ χιόνος ῥέων ὁμολογουμένως αὔρας ἀναδίδωσι ψυχρὰς καὶ τὸν ἀέρα παχύνει· περὶ δὲ τὸν Νεῖλον μόνον τῶν ποταμῶν οὔτε νέφους ὑποστάσεις ὑπάρχουσιν οὔτʼ αὖραι ψυχραὶ γίνονται οὔθʼ ὁ ἀὴρ παχύνεται. Ἡρόδοτος δέ φησι τὸν Νεῖλον εἶναι μὲν φύσει τηλικοῦτον ἡλίκος γίνεται κατὰ τὴν πλήρωσιν, ἐν δὲ τῷ χειμῶνι τὸν ἥλιον κατὰ τὴν Λιβύην φερόμενον ἐπισπᾶσθαι πρὸς ἑαυτὸν πολλὴν ὑγρασίαν ἐκ τοῦ Νείλου, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο περὶ τοὺς καιροὺς τούτους παρὰ φύσιν ἐλάττονα γίνεσθαι τὸν ποταμόν· τοῦ δὲ θέρους ἐπιστάντος ἀποχωροῦντα τῇ φορᾷ τὸν ἥλιον πρὸς τὰς ἄρκτους ἀναξηραίνειν καὶ ταπεινοῦν τούς τε περὶ τὴν Ἑλλάδα ποταμοὺς καὶ τοὺς κατὰ τὴν ἄλλην χώραν τὴν ὁμοίως ἐκείνῃ κειμένην. οὐκέτʼ οὖν εἶναι παράδοξον τὸ γινόμενον περὶ τὸν Νεῖλον· οὐ γὰρ ἐν τοῖς καύμασιν αὔξεσθαι, κατὰ τὸν χειμῶνα δὲ ταπεινοῦσθαι διὰ τὴν προειρημένην αἰτίαν. ῥητέον οὖν καὶ πρὸς τοῦτον ὅτι καθῆκον ἦν, ὥσπερ ἀπὸ τοῦ Νείλου τὴν ὑγρασίαν ὁ ἥλιος ἐφʼ ἑαυτὸν ἐπισπᾶται κατὰ τοὺς τοῦ χειμῶνος καιρούς, οὕτω καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν κατὰ τὴν Λιβύην ὄντων ποταμῶν ἀναλαμβάνειν τι τῶν ὑγρῶν καὶ ταπεινοῦν τὰ φερόμενα ῥεύματα. ἐπεὶ δʼ οὐδαμοῦ τῆς Λιβύης οὐδὲν τοιοῦτον γινόμενον θεωρεῖται, περιφανῶς ὁ συγγραφεὺς σχεδιάζων εὑρίσκεται· καὶ γὰρ οἱ περὶ τὴν Ἑλλάδα ποταμοὶ τὴν αὔξησιν ἐν τῷ χειμῶνι λαμβάνουσιν οὐ διὰ τὸ μακρότερον ἀφίστασθαι τὸν ἥλιον, ἀλλὰ διὰ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν γινομένων ὄμβρων.
But enough concerning the spring-heads and course of the Nile: let us now venture to treat of the causes of the risings of this river. Thales, who is reckoned one of the seven wise men of Greece, is of opinion, that the Etesian winds that beat fiercely upon the mouth of the river, give a check and stop to the current, and so hinder it from falling into the sea, upon which the river swelling, and its channel filled with water, at length overflows the country of Egypt, which lies flat and low. Though this seems a plausible reason, yet it may be easily disproved: for if it were true what he says, then all the rivers which run into the sea against the Etesian winds, would overflow in like manner; which being never known in any other part of the world, some other reason, and more agreeable to truth, must of necessity be sought for. Anaxagoras the philosopher, ascribes the cause to the melting of the snow in Ethiopia, whom the poet Euripides (who was his scholar) follows, saying thus: The pleasant streams of th' river Nile forsakes, Which flowing from the Negro's parched land. Swells big when th' melting snow to th' river takes, Comes falling down, and overflows the strand. Neither is it any hard task to confute this opinion, since it is apparent to all, that by reason of the parching heats, there is no snow in Ethiopia at that time of the year. For in these countries there is not the least sign either of frost, cold, or any other effect of winter, especially at the time of the overflowing of the Nile; and suppose there be abundance of snow in the higher parts of Ethiopia, yet what is affirmed, is certainly false; for every river that is swelled with snow, fumes up in cold fogs, and thickens the air; but about the Nile only, above all other rivers, neither mists gather, nor are there any cold breezes, nor is the air gross and thick. Herodotus says, that the Nile is such in its own nature, as it seems to be in the time of its increase; for that in winter, when the sun moves to the south, and runs its daily course directly over Africa, it exhales so much water out of the Nile, that it decreases against nature; and in summer, when the sun returns to the north, the rivers of Greece, and the rivers of all other northern countries, fall and decrease; and therefore, that it is not so strange for the Nile about summer time to increase, and in winter to fall and grow lower. But to this it may be answered, that if the sun exhale so much moisture out of the Nile in winter time, it would do the like in other rivers in Africa, and so they must fall as well as the Nile, which no where happens throughout all Africa; and therefore, this author's reason is frivolous; for the rivers of Greece rise not in the winter, by reason of the remoteness of the sun, but by reason of the great rains that fall at that time.
§ 1.39
Δημόκριτος δʼ ὁ Ἀβδηρίτης φησὶν οὐ τὸν περὶ τὴν μεσημβρίαν τόπον χιονίζεσθαι, καθάπερ εἴρηκεν Εὐριπίδης καὶ Ἀναξαγόρας, ἀλλὰ τὸν περὶ τὰς ἄρκτους, καὶ τοῦτο ἐμφανὲς εἶναι πᾶσι. τὸ δὲ πλῆθος τῆς σωρευομένης χιόνος ἐν τοῖς βορείοις μέρεσι περὶ μὲν τὰς τροπὰς μένειν πεπηγός, ἐν δὲ τῷ θέρει διαλυομένων ὑπὸ τῆς θερμασίας τῶν πάγων πολλὴν τηκεδόνα γίνεσθαι, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο πολλὰ γεννᾶσθαι καὶ παχέα νέφη περὶ τοὺς μετεωροτέρους τῶν τόπων, δαψιλοῦς τῆς ἀναθυμιάσεως πρὸς τὸ ὕψος αἰρομένης. ταῦτα δʼ ὑπὸ τῶν ἐτησίων ἐλαύνεσθαι, μέχρι ἂν ὅτου προσπέσῃ τοῖς μεγίστοις ὄρεσι τῶν κατὰ τὴν οἰκουμένην, ἅ φησιν εἶναι περὶ τὴν Αἰθιοπίαν· ἔπειτα πρὸς τούτοις οὖσιν ὑψηλοῖς βιαίως θραυόμενα παμμεγέθεις ὄμβρους γεννᾶν, ἐξ ὧν πληροῦσθαι τὸν ποταμὸν μάλιστα κατὰ τὴν τῶν ἐτησίων ὥραν. ῥᾴδιον δὲ καὶ τοῦτον ἐξελέγξαι τοὺς χρόνους τῆς αὐξήσεως ἀκριβῶς ἐξετάζοντα· ὁ γὰρ Νεῖλος ἄρχεται μὲν πληροῦσθαι κατὰ τὰς θερινὰς τροπάς, οὔπω τῶν ἐτησίων πνεόντων, λήγει δʼ ὕστερον ἰσημερίας φθινοπωρινῆς, πάλαι προπεπαυμένων τῶν εἰρημένων ἀνέμων. ὅταν οὖν ἡ τῆς πείρας ἀκρίβεια κατισχύῃ τὴν τῶν λόγων πιθανότητα, τὴν μὲν ἐπίνοιαν τἀνδρὸς ἀποδεκτέον, τὴν δὲ πίστιν τοῖς ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ λεγομένοις οὐ δοτέον. παρίημι γὰρ καὶ διότι τοὺς ἐτησίας ἰδεῖν ἔστιν οὐδέν τι μᾶλλον ἀπὸ τῆς ἄρκτου πνέοντας ἤπερ τῆς ἑσπέρας· οὐ βορέαι γὰρ οὐδʼ ἀπαρκτίαι μόνοι, ἀλλὰ καὶ οἱ πνέοντες ἀπὸ θερινῆς δύσεως ἀργέσται κοινωνοῦσι τῆς τῶν ἐτησίων προσηγορίας. τό τε λέγειν ὡς μέγιστα συμβαίνει τῶν ὀρῶν ὑπάρχειν τὰ περὶ τὴν Αἰθιοπίαν οὐ μόνον ἀναπόδεικτόν ἐστιν, ἀλλʼ οὐδὲ τὴν πίστιν ἔχει διὰ τῆς ἐναργείας συγχωρουμένην. Ἔφορος δὲ καινοτάτην αἰτίαν εἰσφέρων πιθανολογεῖν μὲν πειρᾶται, τῆς δʼ ἀληθείας οὐδαμῶς ἐπιτυγχάνων θεωρεῖται. φησὶ γὰρ τὴν Αἴγυπτον ἅπασαν οὖσαν ποταμόχωστον καὶ χαύνην, ἔτι δὲ κισηρώδη τὴν φύσιν, ῥαγάδας τε μεγάλας καὶ διηνεκεῖς ἔχειν, διὰ δὲ τούτων εἰς ἑαυτὴν ἀναλαμβάνειν ὑγροῦ πλῆθος, καὶ κατὰ μὲν τὴν χειμερινὴν ὥραν συνέχειν ἐν ἑαυτῇ τοῦτο, κατὰ δὲ τὴν θερινὴν ὥσπερ ἱδρῶτάς τινας ἐξ αὑτῆς πανταχόθεν ἀνιέναι, καὶ διὰ τούτων πληροῦν τὸν ποταμόν. ὁ δὲ συγγραφεὺς οὗτος οὐ μόνον ἡμῖν φαίνεται μὴ τεθεαμένος τὴν φύσιν τῶν κατὰ τὴν Αἴγυπτον τόπων, ἀλλὰ μηδὲ παρὰ τῶν εἰδότων τὰ κατὰ τὴν χώραν ταύτην ἐπιμελῶς πεπυσμένος. πρῶτον μὲν γάρ, εἴπερ ἐξ αὐτῆς τῆς Αἰγύπτου ὁ Νεῖλος τὴν αὔξησιν ἐλάμβανεν, οὐκ ἂν ἐν τοῖς ἀνωτέρω μέρεσιν ἐπληροῦτο, διὰ τε πετρώδους καὶ στερεᾶς χώρας φερόμενος· νῦν δὲ πλείω τῶν ἑξακισχιλίων σταδίων διὰ τῆς Αἰθιοπίας ῥέων τὴν πλήρωσιν ἔχει πρὶν ἢ ψαῦσαι τῆς Αἰγύπτου. ἔπειτʼ εἰ μὲν τὸ ῥεῦμα τοῦ Νείλου ταπεινότερον ἦν τῶν κατὰ τὴν ποταμόχωστον γῆν ἀραιωμάτων, ἐπιπολαίους ἂν εἶναι τὰς ῥαγάδας συνέβαινε, καθʼ ἃς ἀδύνατον ἦν διαμένειν τοσοῦτο πλῆθος ὕδατος· εἰ δʼ ὑψηλότερον τόπον ἐπεῖχεν ὁ ποταμὸς τῶν ἀραιωμάτων, ἀδύνατον ἦν ἐκ τῶν ταπεινοτέρων κοιλωμάτων εἰς τὴν ὑψηλοτέραν ἐπιφάνειαν τὴν τῶν ὑγρῶν σύρρυσιν γίνεσθαι. καθόλου δὲ τίς ἂν δυνατὸν ἡγήσαιτο τοὺς ἐκ τῶν κατὰ τὴν γῆν ἀραιωμάτων ἱδρῶτας τοσαύτην αὔξησιν τοῦ ποταμοῦ ποιεῖν ὥστε ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ σχεδὸν πᾶσαν τὴν Αἴγυπτον ἐπικλύζεσθαι; ἀφίημι γὰρ καὶ τὸ ψεῦδος τῆς τε ποταμοχώστου γῆς καὶ τῶν ἐν τοῖς ἀραιώμασι τηρουμένων ὑδάτων, ἐμφανῶν ὄντων τῶν ἐν τούτοις ἐλέγχων. ὁ μὲν γὰρ Μαίανδρος ποταμὸς κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν πολλὴν χώραν πεποίηκε ποταμόχωστον, ἐν ᾗ τῶν συμβαινόντων περὶ τὴν ἀναπλήρωσιν τοῦ Νείλου τὸ σύνολον οὐδὲν θεωρεῖται γινόμενον. ὁμοίως δὲ τούτῳ περὶ μὲν τὴν Ἀκαρνανίαν ὁ καλούμενος Ἀχελῷος ποταμός, περὶ δὲ τὴν Βοιωτίαν ὁ Κηφισὸς φερόμενος ἐκ τῶν Φωκέων προσκέχωκεν οὐκ ὀλίγην χώραν, ἐφʼ ὧν ἀμφοτέρων ἐλέγχεται φανερῶς τὸ ψεῦδος τοῦ συγγραφέως. ἀλλὰ γὰρ οὐκ ἄν τις παρʼ Ἐφόρῳ ζητήσειεν ἐκ παντὸς τρόπου τἀκριβές, ὁρῶναὐτὸν ἐν πολλοῖς ὠλιγωρηκότα τῆς ἀληθείας.
Democritus the Abderite says, that the northern countries, and not those towards the south, (as Anaxagoras and Euripides say), are subject to snow; for that it is clear and evident to everybody, that in the northern parts, drifts and heaps of snow lie congealed at the time of the winter solstice; but in summer, the ice being melted by the heat of the sun, the land becomes very wet, which causes many thick mists to appear upon the hills, from the vapours rising from the earth. These vapours, he says, are driven about by the Etesian winds, till they fall upon the highest mountains, which are, (as he affirms, in Ethiopia), and by the violent impression they make upon the tops of these mountains, great storms and showers of rain are occasioned, which, about the time of the Etesian winds, cause the river to rise. But if any will diligently observe the time and season of the year when this falls out, he may easily answer this argument; for the Nile begins to swell at the time of the summer solstice, when there are no Etesian winds; and after the autumnal equinox, when those winds are past, it falls again. Inasmuch, therefore, as certain experience to the contrary, answers all arguments, be they ever so probable, the man's diligence and ingenuity is to be commended; but his affirmations and opinions are by no means to be relied upon. And I wave this, that it is evident that the Etesian winds come as often from the west, as from the north. For not only the north-east winds, called Aparctie, but those of the north-west, called Argeste, go under the name of the Etesian winds. And whereas he affirms, that the greatest mountains are in Ethiopia, as it wants proof; so likewise, all grounds for credit and belief, as is evident from the thing itself. Ephorus, who gives the last account of the thing, endeavours to ascertain the reason, but seems not to find out the truth. The whole land of Egypt (says he) is cast up from the river, and the soil is of a loose and spongy nature, and has in it many large cliffs and hollow places, wherein are abundance of water, which in the winter time is frozen up, and in the summer issues out on every side, like sweat from the pores, which occasions the river Nile to rise. This writer does not only betray his own ignorance of the nature of places in Egypt, that he never saw them himself, but likewise, that he never was rightly informed by any that was acquainted with them. For if the overflowing of the Nile should proceed from Egypt itself, it could not flow above the land of Egypt, where it passes through rock and mountainous places. For, as it takes its course through Ethiopia for above the space of six thousand furlongs, it is at its full height before ever it reach Egypt; and therefore, if the river Nile lie lower than the caverns of congested earth, those clefts and hollow places must be above, towards the superficies of the earth, in which it is impossible so much water should be contained. And if the river lie higher than those spongy caverns, it is not possible that from hollow places, much lower than the river, the water should rise higher than the river. Lastly, who can imagine that waters issuing out of holes and hollow parts of the earth, should raise the river to such a height, as to overflow almost all the land of Egypt? But I let pass this vain imagination of casting up the soil, and lodging of waters in the bowels of the earth, being so easily to be confuted. The river Meander hath cast up a great tract of land in Asia, whereas, at the time of the rising of the Nile, nothing of that kind in the least can be seen. In the same manner the river Achelous in Acarnania, and Cephisos in Boeotia, which runs down from Phocis, have cast up great quantities of earth, by both which the writer is convicted of falsity: and indeed no man is to expect any certainty from Ephorus, who may be palpably discerned not to make it his business in many things to declare the truth.
§ 1.40
τῶν δʼ ἐν Μέμφει τινὲς φιλοσόφων ἐπεχείρησαν αἰτίαν φέρειν τῆς πληρώσεως ἀνεξέλεγκτον μᾶλλον ἢ πιθανήν, ᾗ πολλοὶ συγκατατέθεινται. διαιρούμενοι γὰρ τὴν γῆν εἰς τρία μέρη φασὶν ὑπάρχειν ἓν μὲν τὸ κατὰ τὴν ἡμετέραν οἰκουμένην, ἕτερον δὲ τὸ τούτοις τοῖς τόποις ἀντιπεπονθὸς ταῖς ὥραις, τὸ δὲ τρίτον μεταξὺ μὲν κεῖσθαι τούτων, ὑπάρχειν δὲ διὰ καῦμα ἀοίκητον. εἰ μὲν οὖν ὁ Νεῖλος ἀνέβαινε κατὰ τὸν τοῦ χειμῶνος καιρόν, δῆλον ἂν ὑπῆρχεν ὡς ἐκ τῆς καθʼ ἡμᾶς ζώνης λαμβάνει τὴν ἐπίρρυσιν διὰ τὸ περὶ τούτους τοὺς καιροὺς μάλιστα γίνεσθαι παρʼ ἡμῖν τὰς ἐπομβρίας· ἐπεὶ δὲ τοὐναντίον περὶ τὸ θέρος πληροῦται, πιθανὸν εἶναι κατὰ τοὺς ἀντικειμένους τόπους γεννᾶσθαι τοὺς χειμῶνας, καὶ τὸ πλεονάζον τῶν κατʼ ἐκείνους τοὺς τόπους ὑδάτων εἰς τὴν καθʼ ἡμᾶς οἰκουμένην φέρεσθαι. διὸ καὶ πρὸς τὰς πηγὰς τοῦ Νείλου μηδένα δύνασθαι παρελθεῖν, ὡς ἂν ἐκ τῆς ἐναντίας ζώνης διὰ τῆς ἀοικήτου φερομένου τοῦ ποταμοῦ. μαρτυρεῖν δὲ τούτοις καὶ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῆς γλυκύτητος τοῦ κατὰ τὸν Νεῖλον ὕδατος· διὰ γὰρ τῆς κατακεκαυμένης αὐτὸν ῥέοντα καθέψεσθαι, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο γλυκύτατον εἶναι πάντων τῶν ποταμῶν, ἅτε φύσει τοῦ πυρώδους πᾶν τὸ ὑγρὸν ἀπογλυκαίνοντος. οὗτος δʼ ὁ λόγος ἔχει μέν τινα φανερὰν καὶ πρόχειρον ἀντίρρησιν, ὅτι παντελῶς ἀδύνατον εἶναι δοκεῖ ποταμὸν ἐκ τῆς ἀντικειμένης οἰκουμένης εἰς τὴν ἡμετέραν ἀναφέρεσθαι, καὶ μάλιστʼ εἴ τις ὑπόθοιτο σφαιροειδῆ τὴν γῆν ὑπάρχειν. καὶ γὰρ ἐάν τις τοῖς λόγοις κατατολμήσας βιάζηται τὴν ἐνάργειαν, ἥ γε φύσις τῶν πραγμάτων οὐδαμῶς συγχωρήσει. καθόλου μὲν γὰρ ἀνεξέλεγκτον ἀπόφασιν εἰσηγούμενοι, καὶ τὴν ἀοίκητον χώραν μεταξὺ τιθέμενοι, ταύτῃ διαφεύξεσθαι τοὺς ἀκριβεῖς ἐλέγχους νομίζουσι· δίκαιον δὲ τοὺς περί τινων διαβεβαιουμένους ἢ τὴν ἐνάργειαν παρέχεσθαι μαρτυροῦσαν ἢ τὰς ἀποδείξεις λαμβάνειν ἐξ ἀρχῆς συγκεχωρημένας. πῶς δὲ μόνος ὁ Νεῖλος ἐξ ἐκείνης τῆς οἰκουμένης φέρεται πρὸς τοὺς καθʼ ἡμᾶς τόπους; εἰκὸς γὰρ εἶναι καὶ ἑτέρους ποταμούς, καθάπερ καὶ παρʼ ἡμῖν. ἥ τε τῆς περὶ τὸ ὕδωρ γλυκύτητος αἰτία παντελῶς ἄλογος. εἰ γὰρ καθεψόμενος ὑπὸ τῶν καυμάτων ὁ ποταμὸς ἐγλυκαίνετο, πολύγονος οὐκ ἂν ἦν οὐδὲ ποικίλας ἰχθύων καὶ θηρίων ἰδέας εἶχε· πᾶν γὰρ ὕδωρ ὑπὸ τῆς πυρώδους φύσεως ἀλλοιωθὲν ἀλλοτριώτατόν ἐστι ζωογονίας. διόπερ τῇ παρεισαγομένῃ καθεψήσει τῆς φύσεως τοῦ Νείλου παντάπασιν ἐναντιουμένης ψευδεῖς τὰς εἰρημένας αἰτίας τῆς πληρώσεως ἡγητέον.
The philosophers indeed in Memphis have urged strong reasons for the increase of the Nile, which are hard to be confuted; and though they are improbable, yet many agree to them. For they divide the earth into three parts, one of which is that wherein we inhabit; another quite contrary to these places in the seasons of the year; the third lying between these two, which they say is uninhabitable by reason of the scorching heat of the sun; and therefore, if the Nile should overflow in the winter time, it would be clear and evident, that its source would arise out of our zone, because then we have the most rain: but on the contrary, being that it rises in summer, it is very probable that in the country opposite to us it is winter time, where then there is much rain, and that those floods of water are brought down thence to us: and therefore that none can ever find out the head-springs of the Nile, because the river has its course through the opposite zone; which is uninhabited. And the exceeding sweetness of the water, they say, is the confirmation of this opinion; for passing through the torrid zone, the water is boiled, and therefore this river is sweeter than any other in the world; for heat does naturally dulcorate water. But this reason is easily refuted; for it is plainly impossible that the river should rise to that height, and come down to us from the opposite zone; especially if it be granted that the earth is round. But if any yet shall be so obstinate as to affirm it is so as the philosophers have said, I must in short say, it is against, and contrary to the laws of nature. For, as they hold opinions which in the nature of the things can hardly be disproved, and place an inhabitable part of the world between us and them that are opposite to us, they conclude, that by this device, they have made it impossible, and out of the reach of the wit of man to confute them. But it is but just and equal, that those who affirm any thing positively, should prove what they say, either by good authority or strength of reason. How comes it about that only the river Nile should come down to us from the other opposite zone? Have we not other rivers that this maybe as well applied to? As to the causes alleged for the sweetness of the water, they are absurd: for if the water be boiled with the parching heat, and thereupon becomes sweet, it would have no productive quality, either of fish or other kinds of creatures and beasts: for all water whose nature is changed by fire, is altogether incapable to breed any living thing; and therefore as the nature of the Nile contradicts this decoction and boiling of the water, we conclude that the causes alleged of its increase are false.
§ 1.41
Οἰνοπίδης δὲ ὁ Χῖός φησι κατὰ μὲν τὴν θερινὴν ὥραν τὰ ὕδατα κατὰ τὴν γῆν εἶναι ψυχρά, τοῦ δὲ χειμῶνος τοὐναντίον θερμά, καὶ τοῦτο εὔδηλον ἐπὶ τῶν βαθέων φρεάτων γίνεσθαι· κατὰ μὲν γὰρ τὴν ἀκμὴν τοῦ χειμῶνος ἥκιστα τὸ ὕδωρ ἐν αὐτοῖς ὑπάρχειν ψυχρόν, κατὰ δὲ τὰ μέγιστα καύματα ψυχρότατον ἐξ αὐτῶν ὑγρὸν ἀναφέρεσθαι. διὸ καὶ τὸν Νεῖλον εὐλόγως κατὰ μὲν τὸν χειμῶνα μικρὸν εἶναι καὶ συστέλλεσθαι, διὰ τὸ τὴν μὲν κατὰ γῆν θερμασίαν τὸ πολὺ τῆς ὑγρᾶς οὐσίας ἀναλίσκειν, ὄμβρους δὲ κατὰ τὴν Αἴγυπτον μὴ γίνεσθαι· κατὰ δὲ τὸ θέρος μηκέτι τῆς κατὰ γῆν ἀπαναλώσεως γινομένης ἐν τοῖς κατὰ βάθος τόποις πληροῦσθαι τὴν κατὰ φύσιν αὐτοῦ ῥύσιν ἀνεμποδίστως. ῥητέον δὲ καὶ πρὸς τοῦτον ὅτι πολλοὶ ποταμοὶ τῶν κατὰ τὴν Λιβύην ὁμοίως μὲν κείμενοι τοῖς στόμασι, παραπλησίους δὲ τὰς ῥύσεις ποιούμενοι, τὴν ἀνάβασιν οὐκ ἔχουσιν ἀνάλογον τῷ Νείλῳ· τοὐναντίον γὰρ ἐν μὲν τῷ χειμῶνι πληρούμενοι, κατὰ δὲ τὸ θέρος λήγοντες ἐλέγχουσι τὸ ψεῦδος τοῦ πειρωμένου τοῖς πιθανοῖς καταμάχεσθαι τὴν ἀλήθειαν. ἔγγιστα δὲ τῇ ἀληθείᾳ προσελήλυθεν Ἀγαθαρχίδης ὁ Κνίδιος. φησὶ γὰρ κατʼ ἐνιαυτὸν ἐν τοῖς κατὰ τὴν Αἰθιοπίαν ὄρεσι γίνεσθαι συνεχεῖς ὄμβρους ἀπὸ θερινῶν τροπῶν μέχρι τῆς μετοπωρινῆς ἰσημερίας· εὐλόγως οὖν τὸν Νεῖλον ἐν μὲν τῷ χειμῶνι συστέλλεσθαι, τὴν κατὰ φύσιν ἔχοντα ῥύσιν ἀπὸ μόνων τῶν πηγῶν, κατὰ δὲ τὸ θέρος διὰ τοὺς ἐκχεομένους ὄμβρους λαμβάνειν τὴν αὔξησιν. εἰ δὲ τὰς αἰτίας μηδεὶς ἀποδοῦναι δύναται μέχρι τοῦ νῦν τῆς τῶν ὑδάτων γενέσεως, οὐ προσήκειν ἀθετεῖσθαι τὴν ἰδίαν ἀπόφασιν· πολλὰ γὰρ τὴν φύσιν ἐναντίως φέρειν, ὧν τὰς αἰτίας οὐκ ἐφικτὸν ἀνθρώποις ἀκριβῶς ἐξευρεῖν. μαρτυρεῖν δὲ τοῖς ὑφʼ ἑαυτοῦ λεγομένοις καὶ τὸ γινόμενον περί τινας τόπους τῆς Ἀσίας· πρὸς μὲν γὰρ τοῖς ὅροις τῆς Σκυθίας τοῖς πρὸς τὸ Καυκάσιον ὄρος συνάπτουσι, παρεληλυθότος ἤδη τοῦ χειμῶνος, καθʼ ἕκαστον ἔτος νιφετοὺς ἐξαισίους γίνεσθαι συνεχῶς ἐπὶ πολλὰς ἡμέρας, ἐν δὲ τοῖς πρὸς βορρᾶν ἐστραμμένοις μέρεσι τῆς Ἰνδικῆς ὡρισμένοις καιροῖς καὶ χάλαζαν ἄπιστον τὸ μέγεθος καὶ τὸ πλῆθος καταράττειν, καὶ περὶ μὲν τὸν Ὑδάσπην ποταμὸν ἀρχομένου θέρους συνεχεῖς ὄμβρους γίνεσθαι, κατὰ δὲ τὴν Αἰθιοπίαν μεθʼ ἡμέρας τινὰς ταὐτὸ συμβαίνειν, καὶ ταύτην τὴν περίστασιν κυκλουμένην ἀεὶ τοὺς συνεχεῖς τόπους χειμάζειν. οὐδὲν οὖν εἶναι παράδοξον εἰ καὶ κατὰ τὴν Αἰθιοπίαν τὴν κειμένην ὑπὲρ Αἰγύπτου συνεχεῖς ἐν τοῖς ὄρεσιν ὄμβροι καταράττοντες ἐν τῷ θέρει πληροῦσι τὸν ποταμόν, ἄλλως τε καὶ τῆς ἐναργείας αὐτῆς μαρτυρουμένης ὑπὸ τῶν περὶ τοὺς τόπους οἰκούντων βαρβάρων. εἰ δὲ τοῖς παρʼ ἡμῖν γινομένοις ἐναντίαν ἔχει τὰ λεγόμενα φύσιν, οὐ διὰ τοῦτʼ ἀπιστητέον· καὶ γὰρ τὸν νότον παρʼ ἡμῖν μὲν εἶναι χειμέριον, περὶ δὲ τὴν Αἰθιοπίαν αἴθριον ὑπάρχειν, καὶ τὰς βορείους πνοὰς περὶ μὲν τὴν Εὐρώπην εὐτόνους εἶναι, κατʼ ἐκείνην δὲ τὴν χώραν βληχρὰς καὶ ἀτόνους καὶ παντελῶς ἀσθενεῖς. καὶ περὶ μὲν τῆς πληρώσεως τοῦ Νείλου, δυνάμενοι ποικιλώτερον ἀντειπεῖν πρὸς ἅπαντας, ἀρκεσθησόμεθα τοῖς εἰρημένοις, ἵνα μὴ τὴν ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἡμῖν προκειμένην συντομίαν ὑπερβαίνωμεν. ἐπεὶ δὲ τὴν βίβλον ταύτην διὰ τὸ μέγεθος εἰς δύο μέρη διῃρήκαμεν, στοχαζόμενοι τῆς συμμετρίας, τὴν πρώτην μερίδα τῶν ἱστορουμένων αὐτοῦ περιγράψομεν, τὰ δὲ συνεχῆ τῶν κατὰ τὴν Αἴγυπτον ἱστορουμένων ἐν τῇ δευτέρᾳ κατατάξομεν, ἀρχὴν ποιησάμενοι τὴν ἀπαγγελίαν τῶν γενομένων βασιλέων τῆς Αἰγύπτου καὶ τοῦ παλαιοτάτου βίου παρʼ Αἰγυπτίοις.
The opinion of Oinopides of Chios is this: the waters (says he) that are under the earth in summer time, are cold, and warm in the winter, as we see by experience in deep wells; for in a sharp winter they are the least cold, but in summer they are the coldest of any other time; and therefore, saith he, there is good reason that the Nile in the winter should grow low and contracted, because the heat in the bowels of the earth exhales much of the water, which cannot be supplied, in regard no rains fall in Egypt. But in summer time, when the waters that lie deep in the earth are no longer exhaled, then the channel of the river, according to the order of nature, fills without any obstruction. But to this it may be answered, that many rivers in Africa, whose mouths lie parallel with this river, and run the like course, yet overflow not like the Nile. For on the contrary they rise in winter, and fall in summer, which clearly evinces his falsity, who endeavours with a shew of reason to oppose the truth. But to the true cause, Agatharchides of Cnidus comes nearest. For he says, that in the mountainous parts of Ethiopia, there are yearly continual rains from the summer solstice to the equinox in autumn, and therefore there is just cause for the Nile to below in the winter, which then flows only from its own natural spring-heads, and to overflow in summer through the abundance of rains. And though none hitherto have been able to give a reason for these inundations, yet he says his opinion is not altogether to be rejected; for there are many things that are contrary to the rules of nature, for which none are able to give any substantial reason. That which happens in some parts of Asia, he says, gives some confirmation to his opinion. For in the confines of Scythia, near Mount Caucasus, after the winter is over, he affirms, that abundance of snow falls every year for many days together: and that in the northern parts of India, at certain times, there falls abundance of hail, and of an incredible bigness: and that near the river Hydaspes, in summer time, it rains continually; and the same happens in Ethiopia for many days together; and that this disorder of the air whirling about, occasions many storms of rain in places near adjoining; and that therefore it is no wonder if the mountainous parts of Ethiopia, which lies much higher than Egypt, are soaked with continual rains, wherewith the river being filled, overflows; especially since the natural inhabitants of the place affirm, that thus it is in their country. And though these things now related, are in their nature contrary to those in our own climate, yet we are not for that reason to disbelieve them. For with us the south wind is cloudy and boisterous, whereas in Ethiopia it is calm and clear; and that the north winds in Europe are fierce and violent, but in those regions low and almost insensible.
§ 1.42
τῆς πρώτης τῶν Διοδώρου βίβλων διὰ τὸ μέγεθος εἰς δύο βίβλους διῃρημένης ἡ πρώτη μὲν περιέχει προοίμιον περὶ ὅλης τῆς πραγματείας καὶ τὰ λεγόμενα παρʼ Αἰγυπτίοις περὶ τῆς τοῦ κόσμου γενέσεως καὶ τῆς τῶν ὅλων ἐξ ἀρχῆς συστάσεως, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις περὶ τῶν θεῶν, ὅσοι πόλεις ἔκτισαν κατʼ Αἴγυπτον ἐπωνύμους ἑαυτῶν ποιήσαντες, περί τε τῶν πρώτων γενομένων ἀνθρώπων καὶ τοῦ παλαιοτάτου βίου, τῆς τε τῶν ἀθανάτων τιμῆς καὶ τῆς τῶν ναῶν κατασκευῆς, ἑξῆς δὲ περὶ τῆς τοποθεσίας τῆς κατʼ Αἴγυπτον χώρας καὶ τῶν περὶ τὸν Νεῖλον ποταμὸν παραδοξολογουμένων, τῆς τε τούτου πληρώσεως τὰς αἰτίας καὶ τῶν ἱστορικῶν καὶ φιλοσόφων ἀποφάσεις, ἔτι δὲ τὰς πρὸς ἕκαστον τῶν συγγραφέων ἀντιρρήσεις· ἐν ταύτῃ δὲ τῇ βίβλῳ τὰ συνεχῆ τοῖς προειρημένοις διέξιμεν. ἀρχόμεθα δὲ ἀπὸ τῶν γενομένων πρώτων κατʼ Αἴγυπτον βασιλέων, καὶ τὰς κατὰ μέρος αὐτῶν πράξεις ἐκθησόμεθα μέχρι Ἀμάσιδος τοῦ βασιλέως, προεκθέμενοι κεφαλαιωδῶς τὴν ἀρχαιοτάτην ἀγωγὴν τῶν κατʼ Αἴγυπτον.
The First Book of Diodorus being divided because of its length into two volumes, the first contains the preface of the whole treatise and the accounts given by the Egyptians of the genesis of the world and the first forming of the universe; then he tells of the gods who founded cities in Egypt and named them after themselves, of the first men and the earliest manner of life, of the honour paid to the immortals and the building of their temples to them, then of the topography of Egypt and the marvels related about the river Nile, and also of the causes of its flooding and the opinions thereupon of the historians and the philosophers as well as the refutation of each writer. 2 In this volume we shall discuss the topics which come next in order after the foregoing. We shall begin with the first kings of Egypt and set forth their individual deeds down to King Amasis, after we have first described in summary fashion the most ancient manner of life in Egypt.
§ 1.43
βίῳ γὰρ τὸ παλαιὸν Αἰγυπτίους φασὶ χρῆσθαι τὸ μὲν ἀρχαιότατον πόαν ἐσθίοντας καὶ τῶν ἐν τοῖς ἕλεσι γινομένων τοὺς καυλοὺς καὶ τὰς ῥίζας, πεῖραν διὰ τῆς γεύσεως ἑκάστου λαμβάνοντας, πρώτην δὲ καὶ μάλιστα προσενέγκασθαι τὴν ὀνομαζομένην ἄγρωστιν διὰ τὸ καὶ τῇ γλυκύτητι διάφορον εἶναι καὶ τὴν τροφὴν ἀρκοῦσαν παρέχεσθαι τοῖς σώμασι τῶν ἀνθρώπων· καὶ γὰρ τοῖς κτήνεσι ταύτην θεωρεῖσθαι προσηνῆ καὶ ταχὺ τοὺς ὄγκους αὐτῶν προσανατρέφειν. διὸ καὶ τῆς εὐχρηστίας τῆς περὶ τὴν βοτάνην ταύτην μνημονεύοντας τοὺς ἀνθρώπους μέχρι τοῦ νῦν, ὅταν πρὸς θεοὺς βαδίζωσι, τῇ χειρὶ ταύτης λαμβάνοντας προσεύχεσθαι· οἴονται γὰρ τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἕλειον καὶ λιμνῶδες εἶναι ζῷον, ἀπό τε τῆς λειότητος τεκμαιρόμενοι καὶ τῆς φυσικῆς ποιότητος, ἔτι δὲ τοῦ προσδεῖσθαι τροφῆς τῆς ὑγρᾶς μᾶλλον ἢ τῆς ξηρᾶς. δευτέραν δὲ λέγουσιν ἔχειν διαγωγὴν τοὺς Αἰγυπτίους τὴν τῶν ἰχθύων βρῶσιν, πολλὴν δαψίλειαν παρεχομένου τοῦ ποταμοῦ, καὶ μάλισθʼ ὅτε μετὰ τὴν ἀνάβασιν ταπεινούμενος ἀναξηραίνοιτο. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τῶν βοσκημάτων ἔνια σαρκοφαγεῖν, καὶ ταῖς δοραῖς τῶν κατεσθιομένων ἐσθῆσι χρῆσθαι, καὶ τὰς οἰκήσεις ἐκ τῶν καλάμων κατασκευάζεσθαι. ἴχνη δὲ τούτων διαμένειν παρὰ τοῖς νομεῦσι τοῖς κατʼ Αἴγυπτον, οὓς ἅπαντάς φασι μέχρι τοῦ νῦν μηδεμίαν ἄλλην οἴκησιν ἢ τὴν ἐκ τῶν καλάμων ἔχειν, δοκιμάζοντας ἀρκεῖσθαι ταύτῃ. πολλοὺς δὲ χρόνους τούτῳ τῷ βίῳ διεξαγαγόντας τὸ τελευταῖον ἐπὶ τοὺς ἐδωδίμους μεταβῆναι καρπούς, ὧν εἶναι καὶ τὸν ἐκ τοῦ λωτοῦ γινόμενον ἄρτον. καὶ τούτων τὴν εὕρεσιν οἱ μὲν εἰς τὴν Ἶσιν ἀναφέρουσιν, οἱ δʼ εἴς τινα τῶν παλαιῶν βασιλέων τὸν ὀνομαζόμενον Μηνᾶν. οἱ δʼ ἱερεῖς εὑρετὴν τῶν μὲν παιδειῶν καὶ τῶν τεχνῶν μυθολογοῦσι τὸν Ἑρμῆν γεγονέναι, τῶν δʼ εἰς τὸν βίον ἀναγκαίων τοὺς βασιλεῖς· διὸ καὶ τὸ παλαιὸν παραδίδοσθαι τὰς βασιλείας μὴ τοῖς ἐκγόνοις τῶν ἀρξάντων, ἀλλὰ τοῖς πλεῖστα καὶ μέγιστα τὸ πλῆθος εὐεργετοῦσιν, εἴτε προκαλουμένων τῶν ἀνθρώπων τοὺς ἐφʼ ἑαυτῶν βασιλεῖς ἐπὶ τὴν κοινὴν εὐεργεσίαν, εἴτε καὶ κατʼ ἀλήθειαν ἐν ταῖς ἱεραῖς ἀναγραφαῖς οὕτω παρειληφότων.
As for their means of living in primitive times, the Egyptians, they say, in the earliest period got their food from herbs and the stalks and roots of the plants which grew in the marshes, making trial of each one of them by tasting it, and the first one eaten by them and the most favoured was that called Agrostis, because it excelled the others in sweetness and supplied sufficient nutriment for the human body; 2 for they observed that this plant was attractive to the cattle and quickly increased their bulk. Because of this fact the natives, in remembrance of the usefulness of this plant, to this day, when approaching the gods, hold some of it in their hands as they pray to them; for they believe that man is a creature of swamp and marsh, basing this conclusion on the smoothness of his skin and his physical constitution, as well as on the fact that he requires a wet rather than a dry diet. 3 A second way by which the Egyptians subsisted was, they say, by the eating of fish, of which the river provided a great abundance, especially at the time when it receded after its flood and dried up. 4 They also ate the flesh of some of the pasturing animals, using for clothing the skins of the beasts that were eaten, and their dwellings they built out of reeds. And traces of these customs still remain among the herdsmen of Egypt, all of whom, they say, have no other dwelling up to this time than one of reeds, considering that with this they are well enough provided for. 5 After subsisting in this manner over a long period of time they finally turned to the edible fruits of the earth, among which may be included the bread made from the lotus. The discovery of these is attributed by some to Isis, but by others to one of their early kings called Menas. 6 The priests, however, have the story that the discoverer of the branches of learning and of the arts was Hermes, but that it was their kings who discovered such things as are necessary for existence; and that this was the reason why the kingship in early times was bestowed, not upon the sons of their former rulers, but upon such as conferred the greatest and most numerous benefits upon the peoples, whether it be that the inhabitants in this way sought to provoke their kings to useful service for the benefit of all, or that they have in very truth received an account to this effect in their sacred writings.
§ 1.44
μυθολογοῦσι δʼ αὐτῶν τινες τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἄρξαι τῆς Αἰγύπτου θεοὺς καὶ ἥρωας ἔτη βραχὺ λείποντα τῶν μυρίων καὶ ὀκτακισχιλίων, καὶ θεῶν ἔσχατον βασιλεῦσαι τὸν Ἴσιδος Ὧρον· ὑπʼ ἀνθρώπων δὲ τὴν χώραν βεβασιλεῦσθαί φασιν ἀπὸ Μοίριδος ἔτη βραχὺ λείποντα τῶν πεντακισχιλίων μέχρι τῆς ἑκατοστῆς καὶ ὀγδοηκοστῆς ὀλυμπιάδος, καθʼ ἣν ἡμεῖς μὲν παρεβάλομεν εἰς Αἴγυπτον, ἐβασίλευε δὲ Πτολεμαῖος ὁ νέος Διόνυσος χρηματίζων. τούτων δὲ τὰ μὲν πλεῖστα κατασχεῖν τὴν ἀρχὴν ἐγχωρίους βασιλεῖς, ὀλίγα δὲ Αἰθίοπας καὶ Πέρσας καὶ Μακεδόνας. Αἰθίοκας μὲν οὖν ἄρξαι τέτταρας, οὐ κατὰ τὸ ἑξῆς, ἀλλʼ ἐκ διαστήματος, ἔτη τὰ πάντα βραχὺ λείποντα τῶν ἓξ καὶ τριάκοντα· Πέρσας δʼ ἡγήσασθαι Καμβύσου τοῦ βασιλέως τοῖς ὅπλοις καταστρεψαμένου τὸ ἔθνος πέντε πρὸς τοῖς ἑκατὸν καὶ τριάκοντα ἔτεσι σὺν ταῖς τῶν Αἰγυπτίων ἀποστάσεσιν, ἃς ἐποιήσαντο φέρειν οὐ δυνάμενοι τὴν τραχύτητα τῆς ἐπιστασίας καὶ τὴν εἰς τοὺς ἐγχωρίους θεοὺς ἀσέβειαν. ἐσχάτους δὲ Μακεδόνας ἄρξαι καὶ τοὺς ἀπὸ Μακεδόνων ἓξ ἔτη πρὸς τοῖς διακοσίοις καὶ ἑβδομήκοντα. τοὺς δὲ λοιποὺς χρόνους ἅπαντας διατελέσαι βασιλεύοντας τῆς χώρας ἐγχωρίους, ἄνδρας μὲν ἑβδομήκοντα πρὸς τοῖς τετρακοσίοις, γυναῖκας δὲ πέντε· περὶ ὧν ἁπάντων οἱ μὲν ἱερεῖς εἶχον ἀναγραφὰς ἐν ταῖς ἱεραῖς βίβλοις ἐκ παλαιῶν χρόνων ἀεὶ τοῖς διαδόχοις παραδεδομένας, ὁπηλίκος ἕκαστος τῶν βασιλευσάντων ἐγένετο τῷ μεγέθει καὶ ὁποῖός τις τῇ φύσει καὶ τὰ κατὰ τοὺς ἰδίους χρόνους ἑκάστῳ πραχθέντα· ἡμῖν δὲ περὶ ἑκάστου τὰ κατὰ μέρος μακρὸν ἂν εἴη καὶ περίεργον γράφειν, ὡς ἂν τῶν πλείστων ἀχρήστων περιειλημμένων. διόπερ τῶν ἀξίων ἱστορίας τὰ κυριώτατα συντόμως διεξιέναι πειρασόμεθα.
Some of them give the story that at first gods and heroes ruled Egypt for a little less than eighteen thousand years, the last of the gods to rule being Horus, the son of Isis; and mortals have been kings over their country, they say, for a little less than five thousand years down to the One Hundred and Eightieth Olympiad, the time when we visited Egypt and the king was Ptolemy, who took the name of The New Dionysus. 2 For most of this period the rule was held by native kings, and for a small part of it by Ethiopians, Persians, and Macedonians. Near four Ethiopians held the throne, not consecutively but with intervals between, for a little less than thirty-six years in all; 3 and the Persians, after their king Cambyses had subdued the nation by arms, ruled for one hundred and thirty-five years, including the periods of revolt on the part of the Egyptians which they raised because they were unable to endure the harshness of their dominion and their lack of respect for the native gods. 4 Last of all the Macedonians and their dynasty held rule for two hundred and seventy-six years. For the rest of the time all the kings of the land were natives, four hundred and seventy of them being men and five women. About all of them the priests had records which were regularly handed down in their sacred books to each successive priest from early times, giving the stature of each of the former kings, a description of his character, and what he had done during his reign; as for us, however, it would be a long task to write of each of them severally, and superfluous also, seeing that most of the material included is of no profit. 5 Consequently we shall undertake to recount briefly only the most important of the facts which deserve a place in history.
§ 1.45
μετὰ τοὺς θεοὺς τοίνυν πρῶτόν φασι βασιλεῦσαι τῆς Αἰγύπτου Μηνᾶν, καὶ καταδεῖξαι τοῖς λαοῖς θεούς τε σέβεσθαι καὶ θυσίας ἐπιτελεῖν, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις παρατίθεσθαι τραπέζας καὶ κλίνας καὶ στρωμνῇ πολυτελεῖ χρῆσθαι, καὶ τὸ σύνολον τρυφὴν καὶ πολυτελῆ βίον εἰσηγήσασθαι. διὸ καὶ πολλαῖς ὕστερον γενεαῖς βασιλεύοντα Τνέφαχθον τὸν Βοκχόριδος τοῦ σοφοῦ πατέρα λέγουσιν εἰς τὴν Ἀραβίαν στρατεύσαντα, τῶν ἐπιτηδείων αὐτὸν διά τε τὴν ἐρημίαν καὶ τὰς δυσχωρίας ἐκλιπόντων, ἀναγκασθῆναι μίαν ἡμέραν ἐνδεᾶ γενόμενον χρήσασθαι διαίτῃ παντελῶς εὐτελεῖ παρά τισι τῶν τυχόντων ἰδιωτῶν, ἡσθέντα δὲ καθʼ ὑπερβολὴν καταγνῶναι τῆς τρυφῆς καὶ τῷ καταδείξαντι τὴν πολυτέλειαν ἐξ ἀρχῆς βασιλεῖ καταρᾶσθαι· οὕτω δʼ ἐγκάρδιον αὐτῷ τὴν μεταβολὴν γενέσθαι τὴν περὶ τὴν βρῶσιν καὶ πόσιν καὶ κοίτην ὥστε τὴν κατάραν ἀναγράψαι τοῖς ἱεροῖς γράμμασιν εἰς τὸν τοῦ Διὸς ναὸν ἐν Θήβαις· ὃ δὴ δοκεῖ μάλιστα αἴτιον γενέσθαι τοῦ μὴ διαμεῖναι τὴν δόξαν τοῦ Μηνᾶ καὶ τὰς τιμὰς εἰς τοὺς ὕστερον χρόνους. ἑξῆς δʼ ἄρξαι λέγεται τοῦ προειρημένου βασιλέως τοὺς ἀπογόνους δύο πρὸς τοῖς πεντήκοντα τοὺς ἅπαντας ἔτη πλείω τῶν χιλίων καὶ τετταράκοντα· ἐφʼ ὧν μηδὲν ἄξιον ἀναγραφῆς γενέσθαι. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα κατασταθέντος βασιλέως Βουσίριδος καὶ τῶν τούτου πάλιν ἐκγόνων ὀκτώ, τὸν τελευταῖον ὁμώνυμον ὄντα τῷ πρώτῳ φασὶ κτίσαι τὴν ὑπὸ μὲν τῶν Αἰγυπτίων καλουμένην Διὸς πόλιν τὴν μεγάλην, ὑπὸ δὲ τῶν Ἑλλήνων Θήβας. τὸν μὲν οὖν περίβολον αὐτὸν ὑποστήσασθαι σταδίων ἑκατὸν καὶ τετταράκοντα, οἰκοδομήμασι δὲ μεγάλοις καὶ ναοῖς ἐκπρεπέσι καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἀναθήμασι κοσμῆσαι θαυμαστῶς· ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τὰς τῶν ἰδιωτῶν οἰκίας, ἃς μὲν τετρωρόφους, ἃς δὲ πεντωρόφους κατασκευάσαι, καὶ καθόλου τὴν πόλιν εὐδαιμονεστάτην οὐ μόνον τῶν κατʼ Αἴγυπτον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων πασῶν ποιῆσαι. διὰ δὲ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῆς περὶ αὐτὴν εὐπορίας τε καὶ δυνάμεως εἰς πάντα τόπον τῆς φήμης διαδεδομένης ἐπιμεμνῆσθαι καὶ τὸν ποιητὴν αὐτῆς φασιν ἐν οἷς λέγει οὐδʼ ὅσα Θήβας Αἰγυπτίας, ὅθι πλεῖστα δόμοις ἔνι κτήματα κεῖται, αἵθʼ ἑκατόμπυλοί εἰσι, διηκόσιοι δʼ ἀνʼ ἑκάστην ἀνέρες ἐξοιχνεῦσι σὺν ἵπποισιν καὶ ὄχεσφιν. ἔνιοι δέ φασιν οὐ πύλας ἑκατὸν ἐσχηκέναι τὴν πόλιν, ἀλλὰ πολλὰ καὶ μεγάλα προπύλαια τῶν ἱερῶν, ἀφʼ ὧν ἑκατόμπυλον ὠνομάσθαι, καθαπερεὶ πολύπυλον. δισμύρια δʼ ἅρματα πρὸς ἀλήθειαν ἐξ αὐτῆς εἰς τοὺς πολέμους ἐκπορεύεσθαι· τοὺς γὰρ ἱππῶνας ἑκατὸν γεγονέναι κατὰ τὴν παραποταμίαν τὴν ἀπὸ Μέμφεως ἄχρι Θηβῶν τῶν κατὰ τὴν Λιβύην, ἑκάστου δεχομένου ἀνὰ διακοσίους ἵππους, ὧν ἔτι νῦν τὰ θεμέλια δείκνυσθαι.
After the gods the first king of Egypt, according to the priests, was Menas, who taught the people to worship gods and offer sacrifices, and also to supply themselves with tables and couches and to use costly bedding, and, in a word, introduced luxury and an extravagant manner of life. 2 For this reason when, many generations later, Tnephachthus, the father of Bocchoris the wise, was king and, while on a campaign in Arabia, ran short of supplies because the country was desert and rough, we are told that he was obliged to go without food for one day and then to live on quite simple fare at the home of some ordinary folk in private station, and that he, enjoying the experience exceedingly, denounced luxury and pronounced a curse on the king who had first taught the people their extravagant way of living; and so deeply did he take to heart the change which had taken place in the people's habits of eating, drinking, and sleeping, that he inscribed his curse in hieroglyphs on the temple of Zeus in Thebes; and this, in fact, appears to be the chief reason why the fame of Menas and his honours did not persist into later ages. 3 And it is said that the descendants of this king, fifty-two in number all told, ruled in unbroken succession more than a thousand and forty years, but that in their reigns nothing occurred that was worthy of record. Subsequently, when Busiris became king and his descendants in turn, eight in name, the last of the line, who bore the same name as the first, founded, they say, the city which the Egyptians call Diospolis the Great, though the Greeks call it Thebes. Now the circuit of it he made one hundred and forty stades, and he adorned it in marvellous fashion with great buildings and remarkable temples and dedicatory monuments of every other kind; 5 in the same way he caused the houses of private citizens to be constructed in some cases four stories high, in others five, and in general made it the most prosperous city, not only of Egypt, but of the whole world. 6 And since, by reason of the city's pre-eminent wealth and power, its fame has been spread abroad to every region, even the poet, we are told, has mentioned it when he says: Nay, not for all the wealth Of Thebes in Egypt, where in ev'ry hall There lieth treasure vast; a hundred are Her gates, and warriors by each issue forth Two hundred, each of them with car and steeds. Some, however, tell us that it was not one hundred "gates" (pylai) which the city had, but rather many great propylaea of its sanctuaries, and that it was from these that the title "hundred-gated" was given it, that is, "having many gateways." Yet twenty thousand chariots did in truth, we are told, pass out from it to war; for there were once scattered along the river from Memphis to the Thebes which is over against Libya one hundred post-stations, each one having accommodation for two hundred horses, whose foundations are pointed out even to this day.
§ 1.46
οὐ μόνον δὲ τοῦτον τὸν βασιλέα παρειλήφαμεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν ὕστερον ἀρξάντων πολλοὺς εἰς τὴν αὔξησιν τῆς πόλεως πεφιλοτιμῆσθαι. ἀναθήμασί τε γὰρ πολλοῖς καὶ μεγάλοις ἀργυροῖς καὶ χρυσοῖς, ἔτι δʼ ἐλεφαντίνοις, καὶ κολοττικῶν ἀνδριάντων πλήθει, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις κατασκευαῖς μονολίθων ὀβελίσκων μηδεμίαν τῶν ὑπὸ τὸν ἥλιον οὕτω κεκοσμῆσθαι. τεττάρων γὰρ ἱερῶν κατασκευασθέντων τό τε κάλλος καὶ τὸ μέγεθος θαυμαστὸν εἶναι τὸ παλαιότατον, τρισκαίδεκα μὲν σταδίων τὴν περίμετρον, πέντε δὲ καὶ τετταράκοντα πηχῶν τὸ ὕψος, εἴκοσι δὲ καὶ τεττάρων ποδῶν τὸ πλάτος τῶν τοίχων. ἀκόλουθον δὲ τῇ μεγαλοπρεπείᾳ ταύτῃ καὶ τὸν ἐν αὐτῷ κόσμον τῶν ἀναθημάτων γενέσθαι, τῇ τε δαπάνῃ θαυμαστὸν καὶ τῇ χειρουργίᾳ περιττῶς εἰργασμένον. τὰς μὲν οὖν οἰκοδομὰς διαμεμενηκέναι μέχρι τῶν νεωτέρων χρόνων, τὸν δʼ ἄργυρον καὶ χρυσὸν καὶ τὴν διʼ ἐλέφαντος καὶ λιθείας πολυτέλειαν ὑπὸ Περσῶν σεσυλῆσθαι καθʼ οὓς καιροὺς ἐνέπρησε τὰ κατʼ Αἴγυπτον ἱερὰ Καμβύσης· ὅτε δή φασι τοὺς Πέρσας μετενεγκόντας τὴν εὐπορίαν ταύτην εἰς τὴν Ἀσίαν καὶ τεχνίτας ἐξ Αἰγύπτου παραλαβόντας κατασκευάσαι τὰ περιβόητα βασίλεια τά τε ἐν Περσεπόλει καὶ τὰ ἐν Σούσοις καὶ τὰ ἐν Μηδίᾳ. τοσοῦτο δὲ πλῆθος χρημάτων ἀποφαίνουσι γεγονέναι τότε κατʼ Αἴγυπτον ὥστε τῶν κατὰ τὴν σύλησιν ἀπολειμμάτων κατακαυθέντων τὰ συναχθέντα κατὰ μικρὸν εὑρεθῆναι χρυσίου μὲν πλείω τῶν τριακοσίων ταλάντων, ἀργυρίου δʼ οὐκ ἐλάττω τῶν δισχιλίων καὶ τριακοσίων ταλάντων. εἶναι δέ φασι καὶ τάφους ἐνταῦθα τῶν ἀρχαίων βασιλέων θαυμαστοὺς καὶ τῶν μεταγενεστέρων τοῖς εἰς τὰ παραπλήσια φιλοτιμουμένοις ὑπερβολὴν οὐκ ἀπολείποντας. οἱ μὲν οὖν ἱερεῖς ἐκ τῶν ἀναγραφῶν ἔφασαν εὑρίσκειν ἑπτὰ πρὸς τοῖς τετταράκοντα τάφους βασιλικούς· εἰς δὲ Πτολεμαῖον τὸν Λάγου διαμεῖναί φασιν ἑπτακαίδεκα μόνον, ὧν τὰ πολλὰ κατέφθαρτο καθʼ οὓς χρόνους παρεβάλομεν ἡμεῖς εἰς ἐκείνους τοὺς τόπους, ἐπὶ τῆς ἑκατοστῆς καὶ ὀγδοηκοστῆς ὀλυμπιάδος. οὐ μόνον δʼ οἱ κατʼ Αἴγυπτον ἱερεῖς ἐκ τῶν ἀναγραφῶν ἱστοροῦσιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ πολλοὶ τῶν Ἑλλήνων τῶν παραβαλόντων μὲν εἰς τὰς Θήβας ἐπὶ Πτολεμαίου τοῦ Λάγου, συνταξαμένων δὲ τὰς Αἰγυπτιακὰς ἱστορίας, ὧν ἐστι καὶ Ἑκαταῖος, συμφωνοῦσι τοῖς ὑφʼ ἡμῶν εἰρημένοις.
Not only this king, we have been informed, but also many of the later rulers devoted their attention to the development of the city. For no city under the sun has ever been so adorned by votive offerings, made of silver and gold and ivory, in such number and of such size, by such a multitude of colossal statues, and, finally, by obelisks made of single blocks of stone. 2 Of four sanctuaries erected there the oldest is a source of wonder for both its beauty and size, having a circuit of thirteen stades, a height of forty-five cubits, and walls twenty-four feet thick. 3 In keeping with this magnificence was also the embellishment of the votive offerings in it, marvellous for the money spent and exquisitely wrought as to workmanship. 4 Now the buildings survived down to rather recent times, but the silver and gold and costly works of ivory and rare stone were carried off by the Persians when Cambyses burned the sanctuaries of Egypt; and it was at this time, they say, that the Persians, by transferring all this wealth to Asia and taking artisans along from Egypt, constructed their famous palaces in Persepolis and Susa and throughout Media. 5 So great was the wealth of Egypt at that period, they declare, that from the remnants left in the course of the sack and after the burning the treasure which was collected little by little was found to be worth more than three hundred talents of gold and no less than two thousand three hundred talents of silver. 6 There are also in this city, they say, remarkable tombs of the early kings and of their successors, which leave to those who aspire to similar magnificence no opportunity to outdo them. Now the priests said that in their records they find forty-seven tombs of kings; but down to the time of Ptolemy son of Lagus, they say, only fifteen remained, most of which had been destroyed at the time we visited those regions, in the One Hundred and Eightieth Olympiad. 8 Not only do the priests of Egypt give these facts from their records, but many also of the Greeks who visited Thebes in the time of Ptolemy son of Lagus and composed histories of Egypt, one of whom was Hecataeus, agree with what we have said.
§ 1.47
ἀπὸ γὰρ τῶν πρώτων τάφων, ἐν οἷς παραδέδοται τὰς παλλακίδας τοῦ Διὸς τεθάφθαι, δέκα σταδίων φησὶν ὑπάρξαι βασιλέως μνῆμα τοῦ προσαγορευθέντος Ὀσυμανδύου. τούτου δὲ κατὰ μὲν τὴν εἴσοδον ὑπάρχειν πυλῶνα λίθου ποικίλου, τὸ μὲν μῆκος δίπλεθρον, τὸ δʼ ὕψος τετταράκοντα καὶ πέντε πηχῶν· διελθόντι δʼ αὐτὸν εἶναι λίθινον περίστυλον τετράγωνον, ἑκάστης πλευρᾶς οὔσης τεττάρων πλέθρων· ὑπηρεῖσθαι δʼ ἀντὶ τῶν κιόνων ζῴδια πηχῶν ἑκκαίδεκα μονόλιθα, τὸν τύπον εἰς τὸν ἀρχαῖον τρόπον εἰργασμένα· τὴν ὀροφήν τε πᾶσαν ἐπὶ πλάτος δυοῖν ὀργυιῶν ὑπάρχειν μονόλιθον, ἀστέρας ἐν κυανῷ καταπεποικιλμένην· ἑξῆς δὲ τοῦ περιστύλου τούτου πάλιν ἑτέραν εἴσοδον καὶ πυλῶνα τὰ μὲν ἄλλα παραπλήσιον τῷ προειρημένῳ, γλυφαῖς δὲ παντοίαις περιττότερον εἰργασμένον· παρὰ δὲ τὴν εἴσοδον ἀνδριάντας εἶναι τρεῖς ἐξ ἑνὸς τοὺς πάντας λίθου μέλανος τοῦ Συηνίτου, καὶ τούτων ἕνα μὲν καθήμενον ὑπάρχειν μέγιστον πάντων τῶν κατʼ Αἴγυπτον, οὗ τὸν πόδα μετρούμενον ὑπερβάλλειν τοὺς ἑπτὰ πήχεις, ἑτέρους δὲ δύο πρὸς τοῖς γόνασι, τὸν μὲν ἐκ δεξιῶν, τὸν δὲ ἐξ εὐωνύμων, θυγατρὸς καὶ μητρός, τῷ μεγέθει λειπομένους τοῦ προειρημένου. τὸ δʼ ἔργον τοῦτο μὴ μόνον εἶναι κατὰ τὸ μέγεθος ἀποδοχῆς ἄξιον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῇ τέχνῃ θαυμαστὸν καὶ τῇ τοῦ λίθου φύσει διαφέρον, ὡς ἂν ἐν τηλικούτῳ μεγέθει μήτε διαφυάδος μήτε κηλῖδος μηδεμιᾶς θεωρουμένης. ἐπιγεγράφθαι δʼ ἐπʼ αὐτοῦ “βασιλεὺς βασιλέων Ὀσυμανδύας εἰμί. εἰ δέ τις εἰδέναι βούλεται πηλίκος εἰμὶ καὶ ποῦ κεῖμαι, νικάτω τι τῶν ἐμῶν ἔργων.” εἶναι δὲ καὶ ἄλλην εἰκόνα τῆς μητρὸς αὐτοῦ καθʼ αὑτὴν πηχῶν εἴκοσι μονόλιθον, ἔχουσαν δὲ τρεῖς βασιλείας ἐπὶ τῆς κεφαλῆς, ἃς διασημαίνειν ὅτι καὶ θυγάτηρ καὶ γυνὴ καὶ μήτηρ βασιλέως ὑπῆρξε. μετὰ δὲ τὸν πυλῶνα περίστυλον εἶναι τοῦ προτέρου ἀξιολογώτερον, ἐν ᾧ γλυφὰς ὑπάρχειν παντοίας δηλούσας τὸν πόλεμον τὸν γενόμενον αὐτῷ πρὸς τοὺς ἐν τοῖς Βάκτροις ἀποστάντας· ἐφʼ οὓς ἐστρατεῦσθαι πεζῶν μὲν τετταράκοντα μυριάσιν, ἱππεῦσι δὲ δισμυρίοις, εἰς τέτταρα μέρη διῃρημένης τῆς πάσης στρατιᾶς, ὧν ἁπάντων υἱοὺς τοῦ βασιλέως ἐσχηκέναι τὴν ἡγεμονίαν.
Ten stades from the first tombs, he says, in which, according to tradition, are buried the concubines of Zeus, stands a monument of the king known as Osymandyas. At its entrance there is a pylon, constructed of variegated stone, two plethra in breadth and forty-five cubits high; 2 passing through this one enters a rectangular peristyle, built of stone, four plethra long on each side; it is supported, in place of pillars, by monolithic figures sixteen cubits high, wrought in the ancient manner as to shape; and the entire ceiling, which is two fathoms wide, consists of a single stone, which is highly decorated with stars on a blue field. Beyond this peristyle there is yet another entrance and pylon, in every respect like the one mentioned before, save that it is more richly wrought with every manner of relief; 3 beside the entrance are three statues, each of a single block of black stone from Syene, of which one, that is seated, is the largest of any in Egypt, the foot measuring over seven cubits, while the other two at the knees of this, the one on the right and the other on the left, daughter and mother respectively, are smaller than the one first mentioned. 4 And it is not merely for its size that this work merits approbation, but it is also marvellous by reason of its artistic quality and excellent because of the nature of the stone, since in a block of so great a size there is not a single crack or blemish to be seen. The inscription upon it runs: "King of Kings am I, Osymandyas. If anyone would know how great I am and where I lie, let him surpass one of my works." 5 There is also another statue of his mother standing alone, a monolith twenty cubits high, and it has three diadems on its head, signifying that she was both daughter and wife and mother of a king. Beyond the pylon, he says, there is a peristyle more remarkable than the former one; in it there are all manner of reliefs depicting the war which the king waged against those Bactrians who had revolted; against these he had made a campaign with four hundred thousand foot-soldiers and twenty thousand cavalry, the whole army having been divided into four divisions, all of which were under the command of sons of the king.
§ 1.48
καὶ κατὰ μὲν τὸν πρῶτον τῶν τοίχων τὸν βασιλέα κατεσκευάσθαι πολιορκοῦντα τεῖχος ὑπὸ ποταμοῦ περίρρυτον καὶ προκινδυνεύοντα πρός τινας ἀντιτεταγμένους μετὰ λέοντος, συναγωνιζομένου τοῦ θηρίου καταπληκτικῶς· ὑπὲρ οὗ τῶν ἐξηγουμένων οἱ μὲν ἔφασαν πρὸς ἀλήθειαν χειροήθη λέοντα τρεφόμενον ὑπὸ τοῦ βασιλέως συγκινδυνεύειν αὐτῷ κατὰ τὰς μάχας καὶ τροπὴν ποιεῖν τῶν ἐναντίων διὰ τὴν ἀλκήν, τινὲς δʼ ἱστόρουν ὅτι καθʼ ὑπερβολὴν ἀνδρεῖος ὢν καὶ φορτικῶς ἑαυτὸν ἐγκωμιάζειν βουλόμενος, διὰ τῆς τοῦ λέοντος εἰκόνος τὴν διάθεσιν ἑαυτοῦ τῆς ψυχῆς ἐσήμαινεν. ἐν δὲ τῷ δευτέρῳ τοίχῳ τοὺς αἰχμαλώτους ὑπὸ τοῦ βασιλέως ἀγομένους εἰργάσθαι τά τε αἰδοῖα καὶ τὰς χεῖρας οὐκ ἔχοντας, διʼ ὧν δοκεῖν δηλοῦσθαι διότι ταῖς ψυχαῖς ἄνανδροι καὶ κατὰ τὰς ἐν τοῖς δεινοῖς ἐνεργείας ἄχειρες ἦσαν. τὸν δὲ τρίτον ἔχειν γλυφὰς παντοίας καὶ διαπρεπεῖς γραφάς, διʼ ὧν δηλοῦσθαι βουθυσίας τοῦ βασιλέως καὶ θρίαμβον ἀπὸ τοῦ πολέμου καταγόμενον. κατὰ δὲ μέσον τὸν περίστυλον ὑπαίθριον βωμὸν ᾠκοδομῆσθαι τοῦ καλλίστου λίθου τῇ τε χειρουργίᾳ διάφορον καὶ τῷ μεγέθει θαυμαστόν. κατὰ δὲ τὸν τελευταῖον τοῖχον ὑπάρχειν ἀνδριάντας καθημένους δύο μονολίθους ἑπτὰ καὶ εἴκοσι πηχῶν, παρʼ οὓς εἰσόδους τρεῖς ἐκ τοῦ περιστύλου κατεσκευάσθαι, καθʼ ἃς οἶκον ὑπάρχειν ὑπόστυλον, ᾠδείου τρόπον κατεσκευασμένον, ἑκάστην πλευρὰν ἔχοντα δίπλεθρον. ἐν τούτῳ δʼ εἶναι πλῆθος ἀνδριάντων ξυλίνων, διασημαῖνον τοὺς τὰς ἀμφισβητήσεις ἔχοντας καὶ προσβλέποντας τοῖς τὰς δίκας κρίνουσι· τούτους δʼ ἐφʼ ἑνὸς τῶν τοίχων ἐγγεγλύφθαι τριάκοντα τὸν ἀριθμόν, καὶ κατὰ τὸ μέσον τὸν ἀρχιδικαστήν, ἔχοντα τὴν ἀλήθειαν ἐξηρτημένην ἐκ τοῦ τραχήλου καὶ τοῦς ὀφθαλμοὺς ἐπιμύοντα, καὶ βιβλίων αὐτῷ παρακείμενον πλῆθος· ταύτας δὲ τὰς εἰκόνας ἐνδείκνυσθαι διὰ τοῦ σχήματος ὅτι τοὺς μὲν δικαστὰς οὐδὲν δεῖ λαμβάνειν, τὸν ἀρχιδικαστὴν δὲ πρὸς μόνην βλέπειν τὴν ἀλήθειαν.
On the first wall the king, he says, is represented in the act of besieging a walled city which is surrounded by a river, and of leading the attack against opposing troops; he is accompanied by a lion, which is aiding him with terrifying effect. Of those who have explained the scene some have said that in very truth a tame lion which the king kept accompanied him in the perils of battle and put the enemy to rout by his fierce onset; but others have maintained that the king, who was exceedingly brave and desirous of praising himself in a vulgar way, was trying to portray his own bold spirit in the figure of a lion. 2 On the second wall, he adds, are wrought the captives as they are being led away by the king; they are without their privates and their hands, which apparently signifies that they were effeminate in spirit and had no hands when it came to the dread business of warfare. 3 The third wall carries every manner of relief and excellent paintings, which portray the king performing a sacrifice of oxen and celebrating a triumph after the war. 4 In the centre of the peristyle there had been constructed of the most beautiful stone an altar, open to the sky, both excellent in its workmanship and marvellous because of its size. 5 By the last wall are two monolithic seated statues, twentyseven cubits high, beside which are set three entrances from the peristyle; and by way of these entrances one comes into a hall whose roof was supported by pillars, constructed in the style of an odeum, and measuring two plethra on each side. 6 In this hall there are many wooden statues representing parties in litigation, whose eyes are fixed upon the judges who decide their cases; and these, in turn, are shown in relief on one of the walls, to the number of thirty and without any hands, and in their midst the chief justice, with a figure of Truth hanging from his neck and holding his eyes closed, and at his side a great number of books. And these figures show by their attitude that the judges shall receive no gift and that the chief justice shall have his eyes upon the truth alone.
§ 1.49
ἑξῆς δʼ ὑπάρχειν περίπατον οἴκων παντοδαπῶν πλήρη, καθʼ οὓς παντοῖα γένη βρωτῶν κατεσκευάσθαι τῶν πρὸς ἀπόλαυσιν ἡδίστων. καθʼ ὃν δὴ γλυφαῖς ἐντυχεῖν εἶναι καὶ χρώμασιν ἐπηνθισμένον τὸν βασιλέα, φέροντα τῷ θεῷ χρυσὸν καὶ ἄργυρον, ὃν ἐξ ἁπάσης ἐλάμβανε τῆς Αἰγύπτου κατʼ ἐνιαυτὸν ἐκ τῶν ἀργυρείων καὶ χρυσείων μετάλλων· ὑπογεγράφθαι δὲ καὶ τὸ πλῆθος, ὃ συγκεφαλαιούμενον εἰς ἀργυρίου λόγον εἶναι μνῶν τρισχιλίας καὶ διακοσίας μυριάδας. ἑξῆς δʼ ὑπάρχειν τὴν ἱερὰν βιβλιοθήκην, ἐφʼ ἧς ἐπιγεγράφθαι Ψυχῆς ἰατρεῖον, συνεχεῖς δὲ ταύτῃ τῶν κατʼ Αἴγυπτον θεῶν ἁπάντων εἰκόνας, τοῦ βασιλέως ὁμοίως δωροφοροῦντος ἃ προσῆκον ἦν ἑκάστοις, καθάπερ ἐνδεικνυμένου πρός τε τὸν Ὄσιριν καὶ τοὺς κάτω παρέδρους ὅτι τὸν βίον ἐξετέλεσεν εὐσεβῶν καὶ δικαιοπραγῶν πρός τε ἀνθρώπους καὶ θεούς. ὁμότοιχον δὲ τῇ βιβλιοθήκῃ κατεσκευάσθαι περιττῶς οἶκον εἰκοσίκλινον, ἔχοντα τοῦ τε Διὸς καὶ τῆς Ἥρας, ἔτι δὲ τοῦ βασιλέως εἰκόνας, ἐν ᾧ δοκεῖν καὶ τὸ σῶμα τοῦ βασιλέως ἐντεθάφθαι. κύκλῳ δὲ τούτου πλῆθος οἰκημάτων κατεσκευάσθαι γραφὴν ἐχόντων ἐκπρεπῆ πάντων τῶν καθιερωμένων ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ ζῴων· ἀνάβασίν τε διʼ αὐτῶν εἶναι πρὸς ὅλον τὸν τάφον· ἣν διελθοῦσιν ὑπάρχειν ἐπὶ τοῦ μνήματος κύκλον χρυσοῦν τριακοσίων καὶ ἑξήκοντα καὶ πέντε πηχῶν τὴν περίμετρον, τὸ δὲ πάχος πηχυαῖον· ἐπιγεγράφθαι δὲ καὶ διῃρῆσθαι καθʼ ἕκαστον πῆχυν τὰς ἡμέρας τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ, παραγεγραμμένων τῶν κατὰ φύσιν γινομένων τοῖς ἄστροις ἀνατολῶν τε καὶ δύσεων καὶ τῶν διὰ ταύτας ἐπιτελουμένων ἐπισημασιῶν κατὰ τοὺς Αἰγυπτίους ἀστρολόγους. τοῦτον δὲ τὸν κύκλον ὑπὸ Καμβύσου καὶ Περσῶν ἔφασαν σεσυλῆσθαι καθʼ οὓς χρόνους ἐκράτησεν Αἰγύπτου. τὸν μὲν οὖν Ὀσυμανδύου τοῦ βασιλέως τάφον τοιοῦτον γενέσθαι φασίν, ὃς οὐ μόνον δοκεῖ τῇ κατὰ τὴν δαπάνην χορηγίᾳ πολὺ τῶν ἄλλων διενεγκεῖν,
Next to these courts, he says, is an ambulatory crowded with buildings of every kind, in which there are representations of the foods that are sweetest to the taste, of every variety. 2 Here are to be found reliefs in which the king, adorned in colours, is represented as offering to the god the gold and silver which he received each year from the silver and gold mines of all Egypt; and an inscription below gives also the total amount, which, summed up according to its value in silver, is thirty-two million minas. 3 Next comes the sacred library, which bears the inscription "Healing-place of the Soul," and contiguous to this building are statues of all the gods of Egypt, to each of whom the king in like manner makes the offering appropriate to him, as though he were submitting proof before Osiris and his assessors in the underworld that to the end of his days he had lived a life of piety and justice towards both men and gods. 4 Next to the library and separated from it by a party wall is an exquisitely constructed hall, which contains a table with couches for twenty and statues of Zeus and Hera as well as of the king; here, it would seem, the body of the king is also buried. 5 In a circle about this building are many chambers which contain excellent paintings of all the animals which are held sacred in Egypt. There is an ascent leading through these chambers to the tomb as a whole. At the top of this ascent there is a circular border of gold crowning the monument, three hundred and sixty-five cubits in circumference and one cubit thick; upon this the days of the year are inscribed, one in each cubit of length, and by each day the risings and settings of the stars as nature ordains them and the signs indicating the effects which the Egyptian astrologers hold that they produce. This border, they said, had been plundered by Cambyses and the Persians when he conquered Egypt. Such, they say, was the tomb of Osymandyas the king, which is considered far to have excelled all others, not only in the amount of money lavished upon it, but also in the ingenuity shown by the artificers.
§ 1.50
ἀλλὰ καὶ τῇ τῶν τεχνιτῶν ἐπινοίᾳ. οἱ δὲ Θηβαῖοί φασιν ἑαυτοὺς ἀρχαιοτάτους εἶναι πάντων ἀνθρώπων καὶ παρʼ ἑαυτοῖς πρώτοις φιλοσοφίαν τε εὑρῆσθαι καὶ τὴν ἐπʼ ἀκριβὲς ἀστρολογίαν, ἅμα καὶ τῆς χώρας αὐτοῖς συνεργούσης πρὸς τὸ τηλαυγέστερον ὁρᾶν τὰς ἐπιτολάς τε καὶ δύσεις τῶν ἄστρων. ἰδίως δὲ καὶ τὰ περὶ τοὺς μῆνας αὐτοῖς καὶ τοὺς ἐνιαυτοὺς διατετάχθαι. τὰς γὰρ ἡμέρας οὐκ ἄγουσι κατὰ σελήνην, ἀλλὰ κατὰ τὸν ἥλιον, τριακονθημέρους μὲν τιθέμενοι τοὺς μῆνας, πέντε δʼ ἡμέρας καὶ τέταρτον τοῖς δώδεκα μησὶν ἐπάγουσι, καὶ τούτῳ τῷ τρόπῳ τὸν ἐνιαύσιον κύκλον ἀναπληροῦσιν. ἐμβολίμους δὲ μῆνας οὐκ ἄγουσιν οὐδʼ ἡμέρας ὑφαιροῦσι, καθάπερ οἱ πλεῖστοι τῶν Ἑλλήνων. περὶ δὲ τῶν ἐκλείψεων ἡλίου τε καὶ σελήνης ἀκριβῶς ἐπεσκέφθαι δοκοῦσι, καὶ προρρήσεις περὶ τούτων ποιοῦνται, πάντα τὰ κατὰ μέρος γινόμενα προλέγοντες ἀδιαπτώτως. τῶν δὲ τούτου τοῦ βασιλέως ἀπογόνων ὄγδοος ὁ ἀπὸ τοῦ πατρὸς προσαγορευθεὶς Οὐχορεὺς ἔκτισε πόλιν Μέμφιν, ἐπιφανεστάτην τῶν κατʼ Αἴγυπτον. ἐξελέξατο μὲν γὰρ τόπον ἐπικαιρότατον ἁπάσης τῆς χώρας, ὅπου σχιζόμενος ὁ Νεῖλος εἰς πλείονα μέρη ποιεῖ τὸ καλούμενον ἀπὸ τοῦ σχήματος Δέλτα· διὸ καὶ συνέβη τὴν πόλιν εὐκαίρως κειμένην ἐπὶ τῶν κλείθρων εἶναι κυριεύουσαν τῶν εἰς τὴν ἄνω χώραν ἀναπλεόντων. τὸ μὲν οὖν περίβολον τῆς πόλεως ἐποίησε σταδίων ἑκατὸν καὶ πεντήκοντα, τὴν δʼ ὀχυρότητα καὶ τὴν εὐχρηστίαν θαυμαστήν, τοιῷδέ τινι τρόπῳ κατασκευάσας. ῥέοντος γὰρ τοῦ Νείλου περὶ τὴν πόλιν καὶ κατὰ τὰς ἀναβάσεις ἐπικλύζοντος, ἀπὸ μὲν τοῦ νότου προεβάλετο χῶμα παμμέγεθες, πρὸς μὲν τὴν πλήρωσιν τοῦ ποταμοῦ προβλήματος, πρὸς δὲ τοὺς ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς πολεμίους ἀκροπόλεως ἔχον τάξιν· ἐκ δὲ τῶν ἄλλων μερῶν πανταχόθεν ὤρυξε λίμνην μεγάλην καὶ βαθεῖαν, ἣ τὸ σφοδρὸν τοῦ ποταμοῦ δεχομένη καὶ πάντα τὸν περὶ τὴν πόλιν τόπον πληροῦσα, πλὴν ᾗ τὸ χῶμα κατεσκεύαστο, θαυμαστὴν ἐποίει τὴν ὀχυρότητα. οὕτω δὲ καλῶς ὁ κτίσας αὐτὴν ἐστοχάσατο τῆς τῶν τόπων εὐκαιρίας ὥστε τοὺς ἑξῆς βασιλεῖς σχεδὸν ἅπαντας καταλιπόντας τὰς Θήβας τά τε βασίλεια καὶ τὴν οἴκησιν ἐν ταύτῃ ποιεῖσθαι. διόπερ ἀπὸ τούτων τῶν χρόνων ἤρξατο ταπεινοῦσθαι μὲν τὰ περὶ τὰς Θήβας, αὔξεσθαι δὲ τὰ περὶ τὴν Μέμφιν, ἕως Ἀλεξάνδρου τοῦ βασιλέως· τούτου γὰρ ἐπὶ θαλάττῃ τὴν ἐπώνυμον αὐτῷ πόλιν οἰκίσαντος οἱ κατὰ τὸ ἑξῆς βασιλεύσαντες τῆς Αἰγύπτου πάντες ἐφιλοτιμήθησαν εἰς τὴν ταύτης αὔξησιν. οἱ μὲν γὰρ βασιλείοις μεγαλοπρεπέσιν, οἱ δὲ νεωρίοις καὶ λιμέσιν, οἱ δʼ ἑτέροις ἀναθήμασι καὶ κατασκευάσμασιν ἀξιολόγοις ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον ἐκόσμησαν αὐτὴν ὥστε παρὰ τοῖς πλείστοις πρώτην ἢ δευτέραν ἀριθμεῖσθαι τῶν κατὰ τὴν οἰκουμένην πόλεων. ἀλλὰ περὶ μὲν ταύτης τὰ κατὰ μέρος ἐν τοῖς ἰδίοις χρόνοις ἀναγράψομεν.
The Thebans say that they are the earliest of all men and the first people among whom philosophy and the exact science of the stars were discovered, since their country enables them to observe more distinctly than others the rising and settings of the stars. 2 Peculiar to them also is their ordering of the months and years. For they do not reckon the days by the moon, but by the sun, making their month of thirty days, and they add five and a quarter days to the twelve months and in this way fill out the cycle of the year. But they do not intercalate months or subtract days, as most of the Greeks do. They appear to have made careful observations of the eclipses both of the sun and of the moon, and predict them, foretelling without error all the events which actually occur. Of the descendants of this king, the eighth, known as Uchoreus, founded Memphis, the most renowned city of Egypt. For he chose the most favourable spot in all the land, where the Nile divides into several branches to form the "Delta," as it is called from its shape; and the result was that the city, excellently situated as it was at the gates of the Delta, continually controlled the commerce passing into upper Egypt. 4 Now he gave the city a circumference of one hundred and fifty stades, and made it remarkably strong and adapted to its purpose by works of the following nature. 5 Since the Nile flowed around the city and covered it at the time of inundation, he threw out a huge mound of earth on the south to serve as a barrier against the swelling of the river and also as a citadel against the attacks of enemies by land; and all around the other sides he dug a large and deep lake, which, by taking up the force of the river and occupying all the space about the city except where the mound had been thrown up, gave it remarkable strength. 6 And so happily did the founder of the city reckon upon the suitableness of the site that practically all subsequent kings left Thebes and established both their palaces and official residences here. Consequently from this time Thebes began to wane and Memphis to increase, until the time of Alexander the king; for after he had founded the city on the sea which bears his name, all the kings of Egypt after him concentrated their interest on the development of it. 7 Some adorned it with magnificent palaces, some with docks and harbours, and others with further notable dedications and buildings, to such an extent that it is generally reckoned the first or second city of the inhabited world. But a detailed description of this city we shall set forth in the appropriate period.
§ 1.51
ὁ δὲ τὴν Μέμφιν κτίσας μετὰ τὴν τοῦ χώματος καὶ τῆς λίμνης κατασκευὴν ᾠκοδόμησε βασίλεια τῶν μὲν παρὰ τοῖς ἄλλοις οὐ λειπόμενα, τῆς δὲ τῶν προβασιλευσάντων μεγαλοψυχίας καὶ φιλοκαλίας οὐκ ἄξια. οἱ γὰρ ἐγχώριοι τὸν μὲν ἐν τῷ ζῆν χρόνον εὐτελῆ παντελῶς εἶναι νομίζουσι, τὸν δὲ μετὰ τὴν τελευτὴν διʼ ἀρετὴν μνημονευθησόμενον περὶ πλείστου ποιοῦνται, καὶ τὰς μὲν τῶν ζώντων οἰκήσεις καταλύσεις ὀνομάζουσιν, ὡς ὀλίγον χρόνον ἐν ταύταις οἰκούντων ἡμῶν, τοὺς δὲ τῶν τετελευτηκότων τάφους ἀιδίους οἴκους προσαγορεύουσιν, ὡς ἐν ᾅδου διατελούντων τὸν ἄπειρον αἰῶνα· διόπερ τῶν μὲν κατὰ τὰς οἰκίας κατασκευῶν ἧττον φροντίζουσι, περὶ δὲ τὰς ταφὰς ὑπερβολὴν οὐκ ἀπολείπουσι φιλοτιμίας. τὴν δὲ προειρημένην πόλιν ὀνομασθῆναί τινές φασιν ἀπὸ τῆς θυγατρὸς τοῦ κτίσαντος αὐτὴν βασιλέως. ταύτης δὲ μυθολογοῦσιν ἐρασθῆναι τὸν ποταμὸν Νεῖλον ὁμοιωθέντα ταύρῳ, καὶ γεννῆσαι τὸν ἐπʼ ἀρετῇ θαυμασθέντα παρὰ τοῖς ἐγχωρίοις Αἴγυπτον, ἀφʼ οὗ καὶ τὴν σύμπασαν χώραν τυχεῖν τῆς προσηγορίας. διαδεξάμενον γὰρ τοῦτον τὴν ἡγεμονίαν γενέσθαι βασιλέα φιλάνθρωπον καὶ δίκαιον καὶ καθόλου σπουδαῖον ἐν πᾶσι· διὸ καὶ μεγάλης ἀποδοχῆς ἀξιούμενον ὑπὸ πάντων διὰ τὴν εὔνοιαν τυχεῖν τῆς προειρημένης τιμῆς. μετὰ δὲ τὸν προειρημένον βασιλέα δώδεκα γενεαῖς ὕστερον διαδεξάμενος τὴν κατʼ Αἴγυπτον ἡγεμονίαν Μοῖρις ἐν μὲν τῇ Μέμφει κατεσκεύασε τὰ βόρεια προπύλαια, τῇ μεγαλοπρεπείᾳ πολὺ τῶν ἄλλων ὑπερέχοντα, ἐπάνω δὲ τῆς πόλεως ἀπὸ δέκα σχοίνων λίμνην ὤρυξε τῇ μὲν εὐχρηστίᾳ θαυμαστήν, τῷ δὲ μεγέθει τῶν ἔργων ἄπιστον· τὴν μὲν γὰρ περίμετρον αὐτῆς φασιν ὑπάρχειν σταδίων τρισχιλίων καὶ ἑξακοσίων, τὸ δὲ βάθος ἐν τοῖς πλείστοις μέρεσιν ὀργυιῶν πεντήκοντα· ὥστε τίς οὐκ ἂν ἀναλογιζόμενος τὸ μέγεθος τοῦ κατασκευάσματος εἰκότως ζητήσαι πόσαι μυριάδες ἀνδρῶν ἐν πόσοις ἔτεσι τοῦτο συνετέλεσαν; τὴν δὲ χρείαν τὴν ἐκ ταύτης καὶ κοινωφελίαν τοῖς τὴν Αἴγυπτον οἰκοῦσιν, ἔτι δὲ τὴν τοῦ βασιλέως ἐπίνοιαν, οὐκ ἄν τις ἐπαινέσειε τῆς ἀληθείας ἀξίως.
The founder of Memphis, after constructing the mound and the lake, erected a palace, which, while not inferior to those of other nations, yet was no match for the grandeur of design and love of the beautiful shown by the kings who preceded him. 2 For the inhabitants of Egypt consider the period of this life to be of no account whatever, but place the greatest value on the time after death when they will be remembered for their virtue, and while they give the name of "lodgings" to the dwellings of the living, thus intimating that we dwell in them but a brief time, they call the tombs of the dead "eternal homes," since the dead spend endless eternity in Hades; consequently they give less thought to the furnishings of their houses, but on the manner of their burials they do not forgo any excess of zeal. The aforementioned city was named, according to some, after the daughter of the king who founded it. They tell the story that she was loved by the river Nile, who had assumed the form of a bull, and gave birth to Egyptus, a man famous among the natives for his virtue, from whom the entire land received its name. 4 For upon succeeding to the throne he showed himself to be a kindly king, just, and, in a word, upright in all matters and so, since he was held by all to merit great approbation because of his goodwill, he received the honour mentioned. Twelve generations after the king just named, Moeris succeeded to the throne of Egypt and built in Memphis itself the north propylaea, which far surpasses the others in magnificence, while ten schoeni above the city he excavated a lake which was remarkable for its utility and an undertaking of incredible magnitude. 6 For its circumference, they say, is three thousand six hundred stades and its depth in most parts fifty fathoms; what man, accordingly, in trying to estimate the magnitude of the work, would not reasonably inquire how many myriads of men labouring for how many years were required for its completion? 7 And as for the utility of this lake and its contribution to the welfare of all the inhabitants of Egypt, as well as for the ingenuity of the king, no man may praise them highly enough to do justice to the truth.
§ 1.52
ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ὁ μὲν Νεῖλος οὐχ ὡρισμένας ἐποιεῖτο τὰς ἀναβάσεις, ἡ δὲ χώρα τὴν εὐκαρπίαν παρεσκεύαζεν ἀπὸ τῆς ἐκείνου συμμετρίας, εἰς ὑποδοχὴν τοῦ πλεονάζοντος ὕδατος ὤρυξε τὴν λίμνην, ὅπως μήτε διὰ τὸ πλῆθος τῆς ῥύσεως ἐπικλύζων ἀκαίρως τὴν χώραν ἕλη καὶ λίμνας κατασκευάζῃ, μήτʼ ἐλάττω τοῦ συμφέροντος τὴν πλήρωσιν ποιούμενος τῇ λειψυδρίᾳ τοὺς καρποὺς λυμαίνηται. καὶ διώρυχα μὲν ἐκ τοῦ ποταμοῦ κατεσκεύασεν εἰς τὴν λίμνην ὀγδοήκοντα μὲν σταδίων τὸ μῆκος, τρίπλεθρον δὲ τὸ πλάτος· διὰ δὲ ταύτης ποτὲ μὲν δεχόμενος τὸν ποταμόν, ποτὲ δʼ ἀποστρέφων, παρείχετο τοῖς γεωργοῖς τὴν τῶν ὑδάτων εὐκαιρίαν, ἀνοιγομένου τοῦ στόματος καὶ πάλιν κλειομένου φιλοτέχνως καὶ πολυδαπάνως· οὐκ ἐλάττω γὰρ τῶν πεντήκοντα ταλάντων δαπανᾶν ἦν ἀνάγκη τὸν ἀνοῖξαι βουλόμενον ἢ κλεῖσαι τὸ προειρημένον κατασκεύασμα διαμεμένηκε δʼ ἡ λίμνη τὴν εὐχρηστίαν παρεχομένη τοῖς κατʼ Αἴγυπτον ἕως τῶν καθʼ ἡμᾶς χρόνων, καὶ τὴν προσηγορίαν ἀπὸ τοῦ κατασκευάσαντος ἔχει, καλουμένη μέχρι τοῦ νῦν Μοίριδος λίμνη. ὁ δʼ οὖν βασιλεὺς ὀρύττων ταύτην κατέλιπεν ἐν μέσῃ τόπον, ἐν ᾧ τάφον ᾠκοδόμησε καὶ δύο πυραμίδας, τὴν μὲν ἑαυτοῦ, τὴν δὲ τῆς γυναικός, σταδιαίας τὸ ὕψος, ἐφʼ ὧν ἐπέστησεν εἰκόνας λιθίνας καθημένας ἐπὶ θρόνου, νομίζων διὰ τούτων τῶν ἔργων ἀθάνατον ἑαυτοῦ καταλείψειν τὴν ἐπʼ ἀγαθῷ μνήμην. τὴν δʼ ἐκ τῆς λίμνης ἀπὸ τῶν ἰχθύων γινομένην πρόσοδον ἔδωκε τῇ γυναικὶ πρὸς μύρα καὶ τὸν ἄλλον καλλωπισμόν, φερούσης τῆς θήρας ἀργυρίου τάλαντον ἑκάστης ἡμέρας· εἴκοσι γὰρ καὶ δύο γένη τῶν κατʼ αὐτήν φασιν ἰχθύων εἶναι, καὶ τοσοῦτον αὐτῶν ἁλίσκεσθαι πλῆθος ὥστε τοὺς προσκαρτεροῦντας ταῖς ταριχείαις ὄντας παμπληθεῖς δυσχερῶς περιγίνεσθαι τῶν ἔργων. περὶ μὲν οὖν Μοίριδος τοσαῦθʼ ἱστοροῦσιν Αἰγύπτιοι.
For since the Nile did not rise to a fixed height every year and yet the fruitfulness of the country depended on the constancy of the flood-level, he excavated the lake to receive the excess water, in order that the river might not, by an excessive volume of flow, immoderately flood the land and form marshes and pools, nor, by failing to rise to the proper height, ruin the harvests by the lack of water. 2 He also dug a canal, eighty stades long and three plethra wide, from the river to the lake, and by this canal, sometimes turning the river into the lake and sometimes shutting it off again, he furnished the farmers with an opportune supply of water, opening and closing the entrance by a skilful device and yet at considerable expense; for it cost no less than fifty talents if a man wanted to open or close this work. 3 The lake has continued to serve well the needs of the Egyptians down to our time, and bears the name of its builder, being called to this day the Lake of Moeris. 4 Now the king in excavating it left a spot in the centre, where he built a tomb and two pyramids, a stade in height, one for himself and the other for his wife, on the tops of which he placed stone statues seated upon thrones, thinking that by these monuments he would leave behind him an imperishable commemoration of his good deeds. 5 The income accruing from the fish taken from the lake he gave to his wife for her unguents and general embellishment, the value of the catch amounting to a talent of silver daily; 6 for there are twenty-two different kinds of fish in the lake, they say, and they are caught in such abundance that the people engaged in salting them, though exceedingly many, can scarcely keep up with their task. Now this is the account which the Egyptians give of Moeris.
§ 1.53
Σεσόωσιν δέ φασιν ὕστερον ἑπτὰ γενεαῖς βασιλέα γενόμενον ἐπιφανεστάτας καὶ μεγίστας τῶν πρὸ αὐτοῦ πράξεις ἐπιτελέσασθαι. ἐπεὶ δὲ περὶ τούτου τοῦ βασιλέως οὐ μόνον οἱ συγγραφεῖς οἱ παρὰ τοῖς Ἕλλησι διαπεφωνήκασι πρὸς ἀλλήλους, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν κατʼ Αἴγυπτον οἵ τε ἱερεῖς καὶ οἱ διὰ τῆς ᾠδῆς αὐτὸν ἐγκωμιάζοντες οὐχ ὁμολογούμενα λέγουσιν, ἡμεῖς πειρασόμεθα τὰ πιθανώτατα καὶ τοῖς ὑπάρχουσιν ἔτι κατὰ τὴν χώραν σημείοις τὰ μάλιστα συμφωνοῦντα διελθεῖν. γεννηθέντος γὰρ τοῦ Σεσοώσιος ἐποίησεν ὁ πατὴρ αὐτοῦ μεγαλοπρεπές τι καὶ βασιλικόν· τοὺς γὰρ κατὰ τὴν αὐτὴν ἡμέραν γεννηθέντας παῖδας ἐξ ὅλης τῆς Αἰγύπτου συναγαγὼν καὶ τροφοὺς καὶ τοὺς ἐπιμελησομένους ἐπιστήσας τὴν αὐτὴν ἀγωγὴν καὶ παιδείαν ὥρισε τοῖς πᾶσιν, ὑπολαμβάνων τοὺς μάλιστα συντραφέντας καὶ τῆς αὐτῆς παρρησίας κεκοινωνηκότας εὐνουστάτους καὶ συναγωνιστὰς ἐν τοῖς πολέμοις ἀρίστους ἔσεσθαι. πάντα δὲ δαψιλῶς χορηγήσας διεπόνησε τοὺς παῖδας ἐν γυμνασίοις συνεχέσι καὶ πόνοις· οὐδενὶ γὰρ αὐτῶν ἐξῆν προσενέγκασθαι τροφήν, εἰ μὴ πρότερον δράμοι σταδίους ἑκατὸν καὶ ὀγδοήκοντα. διὸ καὶ πάντες ἀνδρωθέντες ὑπῆρξαν ἀθληταὶ μὲν τοῖς σώμασιν εὔρωστοι, ἡγεμονικοὶ δὲ καὶ καρτερικοὶ ταῖς ψυχαῖς διὰ τὴν τῶν ἀρίστων ἐπιτηδευμάτων ἀγωγήν. τὸ μὲν οὖν πρῶτον ὁ Σεσόωσις ἀποσταλεὶς ὑπὸ τοῦ πατρὸς μετὰ δυνάμεως εἰς τὴν Ἀραβίαν, συστρατευομένων καὶ τῶν συντρόφων, περί τε τὰς θήρας διεπονήθη καὶ ταῖς ἀνυδρίαις καὶ σπανοσιτίαις ἐγκαρτερήσας κατεστρέψατο τὸ ἔθνος ἅπαν τὸ τῶν Ἀράβων, ἀδούλωτον τὸν πρὸ τοῦ χρόνον γεγονός· ἔπειτα εἰς τοὺς πρὸς τὴν ἑσπέραν τόπους ἀποσταλεὶς τὴν πλείστην τῆς Λιβύης ὑπήκοον ἐποιήσατο, παντελῶς νέος ὢν τὴν ἡλικίαν. τοῦ δὲ πατρὸς τελευτήσαντος διαδεξάμενος τὴν βασιλείαν καὶ ταῖς προκατεργασθείσαις πράξεσι μετεωρισθείς, ἐπεβάλετο τὴν οἰκουμένην κατακτήσασθαι. ἔνιοι δὲ λέγουσιν αὐτὸν ὑπὸ τῆς ἰδίας θυγατρὸς Ἀθύρτιος παρακληθῆναι πρὸς τὴν τῶν ὅλων δυναστείαν, ἣν οἱ μὲν συνέσει πολὺ τῶν ἄλλων διαφέρουσάν φασι διδάξαι τὸν πατέρα ῥᾳδίως ἂν ἐσομένην τὴν στρατείαν, οἱ δὲ μαντικῇ χρωμένην καὶ τὸ μέλλον ἔσεσθαι προγινώσκουσαν ἔκ τε τῆς θυτικῆς καὶ τῆς ἐγκοιμήσεως τῆς ἐν τοῖς ἱεροῖς, ἔτι δὲ τῶν κατὰ τὸν οὐρανὸν γινομένων σημείων. γεγράφασι δέ τινες καὶ διότι κατὰ τὴν γένεσιν τοῦ Σεσοώσιος ὁ πατὴρ αὐτοῦ καθʼ ὕπνον δόξαι τὸν Ἥφαιστον αὐτῷ λέγειν ὅτι πάσης τῆς οἰκουμένης ὁ γεννηθεὶς παῖς κρατήσει. διὰ ταύτην οὖν τὴν αἰτίαν τὸν μὲν πατέρα τοὺς ἡλικιώτας τοῦ προειρημένου ἀθροῖσαι καὶ βασιλικῆς ἀγωγῆς ἀξιῶσαι, προκατασκευαζόμενον εἰς τὴν τῶν ὅλων ἐπίθεσιν, αὐτὸν δʼ ἀνδρωθέντα καὶ τῇ τοῦ θεοῦ προρρήσει πιστεύσαντα κατενεχθῆναι πρὸς τὴν εἰρημένην στρατείαν.
Sesoosis, they say, who became king seven generations later, performed more renowned and greater deeds than did any of his predecessors. And since, with regard to this king, not only are the Greek writers at variance with one another but also among the Egyptians the priests and the poets who sing his praises give conflicting stories, we for our part shall endeavour to give the most probable account and that which most nearly agrees with the monuments still standing in the land. 2 Now at the birth of Sesoosis his father did a thing worthy of a great man and a king: Gathering together from over all Egypt the male children which had been born on the same day and assigning them nurses and guardians, he prescribed the same training and education for them all, on the theory that those who had been reared in the closest companionship and had enjoyed the same frank relationship would be most loyal and as fellow-combatants in the wars most brave. 3 He amply provided for their every need and then trained the youths by unremitting exercises and hardships; for no one of them was allowed to have anything to eat unless he had first run one hundred and eighty stades. 4 Consequently upon attaining to manhood they were all veritable athletes of robustness of body, and in spirit qualified for leadership and endurance because of the training which they had received in the most excellent pursuits. First of all Sesoosis, his companions also accompanying him, was sent by his father with an army into Arabia, where he was subjected to the laborious training of hunting wild animals and, after hardening himself to the privations of thirst and hunger, conquered the entire nation of the Arabs, which had never been enslaved before his day; 6 and then, on being sent to the regions to the west, he subdued the larger part of Libya, though in years still no more than a youth. 7 And when he ascended the throne upon the death of his father, being filled with confidence by reason of his earlier exploits he undertook to conquer the inhabited earth. 8 There are those who say that he was urged to acquire empire over the whole world by his own daughter Athyrtis, who, according to some, was far more intelligent than any of her day and showed her father that the campaign would be an easy one, while according to others she had the gift of prophecy and knew beforehand, by means both of sacrifices and the practice of sleeping in sanctuaries, as well as from the signs which appear in the heavens, what would take place in the future. 9 Some have also written that, at the birth of Sesoosis, his father had thought that Hephaestus had appeared to him in a dream and told him that the son who had been born would rule over the whole civilized world; 10 and that for this reason, therefore, his father collected the children of the same age as his son and granted them a royal training, thus preparing them beforehand for an attack upon the whole world, and that his son, upon attaining manhood, trusting in the prediction of the god was led to undertake this campaign.
§ 1.54
πρὸς δὲ ταύτην τὴν ἐπιβολὴν πρῶτον μὲν τὴν πρὸς αὐτὸν εὔνοιαν κατεσκεύασε πᾶσι τοῖς κατʼ Αἴγυπτον, ἡγούμενος δεῖν τοὺς μὲν συστρατεύοντας ἑτοίμως ὑπὲρ τῶν ἡγουμένων ἀποθνήσκειν, τοὺς δʼ ἀπολειπομένους ἐπὶ τῶν πατρίδων μηδὲν νεωτερίζειν, εἰ μέλλει τὴν προαίρεσιν ἐπὶ τέλος ἄξειν. διὸ καὶ πάντας ἐκ τῶν ἐνδεχομένων εὐηργέτει, τοὺς μὲν χρημάτων δωρεαῖς ἐκθεραπεύων, τοὺς δὲ χώρας δόσει, τινὰς δὲ τιμωρίας ἀπολύσει, πάντας δὲ ταῖς ὁμιλίαις καὶ τῇ τῶν τρόπων ἐπιεικείᾳ προσήγετο· τῶν τε γὰρ βασιλικῶν ἐγκλημάτων ἅπαντας ἀθῴους ἀφῆκε καὶ τοὺς πρὸς ἀργύριον συγκεκλειμένους ἀπέλυσε τοῦ χρέους, ὄντος πολλοῦ πλήθους ἀνθρώπων ἐν ταῖς φυλακαῖς. τὴν δὲ χώραν ἅπασαν εἰς ἓξ καὶ τριάκοντα μέρη διελών, ἃ καλοῦσιν Αἰγύπτιοι νομούς, ἐπέστησεν ἅπασι νομάρχας τοὺς ἐπιμελησομένους τῶν τε προσόδων τῶν βασιλικῶν καὶ διοικήσοντας ἅπαντα τὰ κατὰ τὰς ἰδίας μερίδας. ἐπελέξατο δὲ καὶ τούτων τῶν ἀνδρῶν τοὺς ταῖς ῥώμαις διαφέροντας καὶ συνεστήσατο στρατόπεδον ἄξιον τοῦ μεγέθους τῆς ἐπιβολῆς· κατέγραψε γὰρ πεζῶν μὲν ἑξήκοντα μυριάδας, ἱππεῖς δὲ δισμυρίους καὶ τετρακισχιλίους, ζεύγη δὲ πολεμιστήρια δισμύρια καὶ ἑπτακισχίλια. ἐπὶ δὲ τὰς κατὰ μέρος ἡγεμονίας τῶν στρατιωτῶν ἔταξε τοὺς συντρόφους, ἐνηθληκότας μὲν ἤδη τοῖς πολέμοις, ἀρετὴν δʼ ἐζηλωκότας ἐκ παίδων, εὔνοιαν δὲ ἀδελφικὴν ἔχοντας πρός τε τὸν βασιλέα καὶ πρὸς ἀλλήλους, ὄντας τὸν ἀριθμὸν πλείους τῶν χιλίων καὶ ἑπτακοσίων. πᾶσι δὲ τοῖς προειρημένοις κατεκληρούχησε τὴν ἀρίστην τὴς χώρας, ὅπως ἔχοντες ἱκανὰς προσόδους καὶ μηδενὸς ἐνδεεῖς ὄντες ἀσκῶσι τὰ περὶ τοὺς πολέμους.
In preparation for this undertaking he first of all confirmed the goodwill of all the Egyptians towards himself, feeling it to be necessary, if he were to bring his plan to a successful end, that his soldiers on the campaign should be ready to die for their leaders, and that those left behind in their native lands should not rise in revolt. 2 He therefore showed kindnesses to everyone by all means at his disposal, winning over some by presents of money, others by gifts of land, and others by remission of penalties, and the entire people he attached to himself by his friendly intercourse and kindly ways; for he set free unharmed everyone who was held for some crime against the king and cancelled the obligations of those who were in prison for debt, there being a great multitude in the gaols. 3 And dividing the entire land into thirty-six parts which the Egyptians call nomes, he set over each a nomarch, who should superintend the collection of the royal revenues and administer all the affairs of his division. 4 He then chose out the strongest of the men and formed an army worthy of the greatness of his undertaking; for he enlisted six hundred thousand footsoldiers, twenty-four thousand cavalry, and twenty-seven thousand war chariots. 5 In command of the several divisions of his troops he set his companions, who were by this time inured to warfare, had striven for a reputation for valour from their youth, and cherished with a brotherly love both their king and one another, the number of them being over seventeen hundred. 6 And upon all these commanders he bestowed allotments of the best land in Egypt, in order that, enjoying sufficient income and lacking nothing, they might sedulously practise the art of war.
§ 1.55
κατασκευάσας δὲ τὴν δύναμιν ἐστράτευσεν ἐπὶ πρώτους Αἰθίοπας τοὺς πρὸς τῇ μεσημβρίᾳ κατοικοῦντας, καὶ καταπολεμήσας ἠνάγκασε τὸ ἔθνος φόρους τελεῖν ἔβενον καὶ χρυσὸν καὶ τῶν ἐλεφάντων τοὺς ὀδόντας. ἔπειτʼ εἰς μὲν τὴν Ἐρυθρὰν θάλατταν ἀπέστειλε στόλον νεῶν τετρακοσίων, πρῶτος τῶν ἐγχωρίων μακρὰ σκάφη ναυπηγησάμενος, καὶ τάς τε νήσους τὰς ἐν τοῖς τόποις κατεκτήσατο καὶ τῆς ἠπείρου τὰ παρὰ θάλατταν μέρη κατεστρέψατο μέχρι τῆς Ἰνδικῆς· αὐτὸς δὲ μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως πεζῇ τὴν πορείαν ποιησάμενος κατεστρέψατο πᾶσαν τὴν Ἀσίαν. οὐ μόνον γὰρ τὴν ὕστερον ὑπʼ Ἀλεξάνδρου τοῦ Μακεδόνος κατακτηθεῖσαν χώραν ἐπῆλθεν, ἀλλὰ καί τινα τῶν ἐθνῶν ὧν ἐκεῖνος οὐ παρέβαλεν εἰς τὴν χώραν. καὶ γὰρ τὸν Γάγγην ποταμὸν διέβη καὶ τὴν Ἰνδικὴν ἐπῆλθε πᾶσαν ἕως ὠκεανοῦ καὶ τὰ τῶν Σκυθῶν ἔθνη μέχρι Τανάιδος ποταμοῦ τοῦ διορίζοντος τὴν Εὐρώπην ἀπὸ τῆς Ἀσίας· ὅτε δή φασι τῶν Αἰγυπτίων τινὰς καταλειφθέντας περὶ τὴν Μαιῶτιν λίμνην συστήσασθαι τὸ τῶν Κόλχων ἔθνος. ὅτι δὲ τοῦτο τὸ γένος Αἰγυπτιακόν ἐστι σημεῖον εἶναι τὸ περιτέμνεσθαι τοὺς ἀνθρώπους παραπλησίως τοῖς κατʼ Αἴγυπτον, διαμένοντος τοῦ νομίμου παρὰ τοῖς ἀποίκοις, καθάπερ καὶ παρὰ τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τὴν λοιπὴν Ἀσίαν ἅπασαν ὑπήκοον ἐποιήσατο καὶ τῶν Κυκλάδων νήσων τὰς πλείους. διαβὰς δʼ εἰς τὴν Εὐρώπην καὶ διεξιὼν ἅπασαν τὴν Θρᾴκην ἐκινδύνευσεν ἀποβαλεῖν τὴν δύναμιν διὰ σπάνιν τροφῆς καὶ τόπων δυσχωρίας. διόπερ ὅρια τῆς στρατείας ποιησάμενος ἐν τῇ Θρᾴκῃ, στήλας κατεσκεύασεν ἐν πολλοῖς τόποις τῶν ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ κατακτηθέντων· αὗται δὲ τὴν ἐπιγραφὴν εἶχον Αἰγυπτίοις γράμμασι τοῖς ἱεροῖς λεγομένοις, “τήνδε τὴν χώραν ὅπλοις κατεστρέψατο τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ βασιλεὺς βασιλέων καὶ δεσπότης δεσποτῶν Σεσόωσισ” . τὴν δὲ στήλην κατεσκεύασεν ἔχουσαν αἰδοῖον ἐν μὲν τοῖς μαχίμοις ἔθνεσιν ἀνδρός, ἐν δὲ τοῖς ἀγεννέσι καὶ δειλοῖς γυναικός, ἀπὸ τοῦ κυριωτέρου μέρους τὴν διάθεσιν τῆς ἑκάστων ψυχῆς φανερωτάτην τοῖς ἐπιγινομένοις ἔσεσθαι νομίζων. ἐν ἐνίοις δὲ τόποις καὶ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ κατεσκεύασεν εἰκόνα λιθίνην, τόξα καὶ λόγχην ἔχουσαν, τῷ μεγέθει τέτταρσι παλαισταῖς μείζονα τῶν τεττάρων πηχῶν, ἡλίκος ὢν καὶ αὐτὸς ἐτύγχανεν. ἐπιεικῶς δὲ προσενεχθεὶς ἅπασι τοῖς ὑποτεταγμένοις καὶ συντελέσας τὴν στρατείαν ἐν ἔτεσιν ἐννέα, τοῖς μὲν ἔθνεσι κατὰ δύναμιν προσέταξε δωροφορεῖν κατʼ ἐνιαυτὸν εἰς Αἴγυπτον, αὐτὸς δʼ ἀθροίσας αἰχμαλώτων τε καὶ τῶν ἄλλων λαφύρων πλῆθος ἀνυπέρβλητον ἐπανῆλθεν εἰς τὴν πατρίδα, μεγίστας πράξεις τῶν πρὸ αὐτοῦ κατειργασμένος. καὶ τὰ μὲν ἱερὰ πάντα τὰ κατʼ Αἴγυπτον ἀναθήμασιν ἀξιολόγοις καὶ σκύλοις ἐκόσμησε, τῶν δὲ στρατιωτῶν τοὺς ἀνδραγαθήσαντας δωρεαῖς κατὰ τὴν ἀξίαν ἐτίμησε. καθόλου δὲ ἀπὸ ταύτης τῆς στρατείας οὐ μόνον ἡ συνανδραγαθήσασα δύναμις μεγάλην εὐπορίαν κτησαμένη τὴν ἐπάνοδον ἐποιήσατο λαμπράν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν Αἴγυπτον ἅπασαν συνέβη παντοίας ὠφελείας ἐμπλησθῆναι.
After he had made ready his army he marched first of all against the Ethiopians who dwell south of Egypt, and after conquering them he forced that people to pay a tribute in ebony, gold and the tusks of elephants. 2 Then he sent out a fleet of four hundred ships into the Red Sea, being the first Egyptian to build warships, and not only took possession of the islands in those waters, but also subdued the coast of the mainland as far as India, while he himself made his way by land with his army and subdued all Asia. 3 Not only did he, in fact, visit the territory which was afterwards won by Alexander of Macedon, but also certain peoples into whose country Alexander did not cross. 4 For he even passed over the river Ganges and visited all of India as far as the ocean, as well as the tribes of the Scythians as far as the river Tanais, which divides Europe from Asia; and it was at this time, they say, that some of the Egyptians, having been left behind near the Lake Maeotis, founded the nation of the Colchi. 5 And the proof which they offer of the Egyptian origin of this nation is the fact that the Colchi practise circumcision even as the Egyptians do, the custom continuing among the colonists sent out from Egypt as it also did in the case of the Jews. In the same way he brought all the rest of Asia into subjection as well as most of the Cyclades islands. And after he had crossed into Europe and was on his way through the whole length of Thrace he nearly lost his army through lack of food and the difficult nature of the land. 7 Consequently he fixed the limits of his expedition in Thrace, and set up stelae in many parts of the regions which he had acquired; and these carried the following inscription in the Egyptian writing which is called "sacred": "This land the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Sesoosis, subdued with his own arms." 8 And he fashioned the stele with a representation, in case the enemy people were warlike, of the privy parts of a man, but in case they were abject and cowardly, of those of a woman, holding that the quality of the spirit of each people would be set forth most clearly to succeeding generations by the dominant member of the body. 9 And in some places he also erected a stone statue of himself, armed with bow and arrows and a spear, in height four cubits and four palms, which was indeed his own stature. 10 He dealt gently with all conquered peoples and, after concluding his campaign in nine years, commanded the nations to bring presents each year to Egypt according to their ability, while he himself, assembling a multitude of captives which has never been surpassed and a mass of other booty, returned to his country, having accomplished the greatest deeds of any king of Egypt to his day. 11 All the sanctuaries of Egypt, moreover, he adorned with notable votive offerings and spoils, and honoured with gifts according to his merits every soldier who had distinguished himself for bravery. 12 And in general, as a result of this campaign not only did the army, which had bravely shared in the deeds of the king and had gathered great wealth, make a brilliant homeward journey, but it also came to pass that all Egypt was filled to overflowing with benefits of every kind.
§ 1.56
ὁ δὲ Σεσόωσις ἀποστήσας τὰ πλήθη ἀπὸ τῶν πολεμικῶν ἔργων τοῖς μὲν συνανδραγαθήσασι συνεχώρησε τὴν ῥᾳστώνην καὶ τὴν ἀπόλαυσιν τῶν κατακτηθέντων ἀγαθῶν, αὐτὸς δὲ φιλόδοξος ὢν καὶ τῆς εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα μνήμης ὀρεγόμενος κατεσκεύασεν ἔργα μεγάλα καὶ θαυμαστὰ ταῖς ἐπινοίαις καὶ ταῖς χορηγίαις, ἑαυτῷ μὲν ἀθάνατον περιποιοῦντα δόξαν, τοῖς δʼ Αἰγυπτίοις τὴν εἰς ἅπαντα τὸν χρόνον ἀσφάλειαν μετὰ ῥᾳστώνης. πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ ἀπὸ θεῶν ἀρξάμενος ᾠκοδόμησεν ἐν πάσαις ταῖς κατʼ Αἴγυπτον πόλεσιν ἱερὸν θεοῦ τοῦ μάλιστα παρʼ ἑκάστοις τιμωμένου. πρὸς δὲ τὰς ἐργασίας τῶν μὲν Αἰγυπτίων οὐδένα παρέλαβε, διʼ αὐτῶν δὲ τῶν αἰχμαλώτων ἅπαντα κατεσκεύασε· διόπερ ἐπὶ πᾶσι τοῖς ἱεροῖς ἐπέγραψεν ὡς οὐδεὶς ἐγχώριος εἰς αὐτὰ μεμόχθηκε. λέγεται δὲ τῶν αἰχμαλώτων τοὺς ἐκ τῆς Βαβυλωνίας ἁλόντας ἀποστῆναι τοῦ βασιλέως, μὴ δυναμένους φέρειν τὰς ἐν τοῖς ἔργοις ταλαιπωρίας· οὓς καταλαβομένους παρὰ τὸν ποταμὸν χωρίον καρτερὸν διαπολεμεῖν τοῖς Αἰγυπτίοις καὶ τὴν σύνεγγυς χώραν καταφθείρειν, τέλος δὲ δοθείσης ἀδείας αὐτοῖς κατοικῆσαι τὸν τόπον, ὃν καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς πατρίδος Βαβυλῶνα προσαγορεῦσαι. δι’ αἰτίας δὲ παραπλησίους φασὶν ὠνομάσθαι καὶ τὴν Τροίαν τὴν ἔτι καὶ νῦν οὖσαν παρὰ τὸν Νεῖλον· τὸν μὲν γὰρ Μενέλαον ἐξ Ἰλίου πλέοντα μετὰ πολλῶν αἰχμαλώτων παραβαλεῖν εἰς Αἴγυπτον, τοὺς δὲ Τρῶας ἀποστάντας αὐτοῦ καταλαβέσθαι τινὰ τόπον καὶ διαπολεμῆσαι μέχρι ὅτου συγχωρηθείσης αὐτοῖς τῆς ἀσφαλείας ἔκτισαν πόλιν, ἣν ὁμώνυμον αὐτοὺς ποιῆσαι τῇ πατρίδι. οὐκ ἀγνοῶ δʼ ὅτι περὶ τῶν εἰρημένων πόλεων Κτησίας ὁ Κνίδιος διαφόρως ἱστόρησε, φήσας τῶν μετὰ Σεμιράμιδος παραβαλόντων εἰς Αἴγυπτόν τινας ἐκτικέναι ταύτας, ἀπὸ τῶν ἰδίων πατρίδων θεμένους τὴν προσηγορίαν. περὶ δὲ τούτων τὸ μὲν ἀληθὲς ἐκθέσθαι μετὰ ἀκριβείας οὐ ῥᾴδιον, τὸ δʼ ἀναγραφῆς ἀξιῶσαι τὰ διαφωνούμενα παρὰ τοῖς συγγραφεῦσιν ἀναγκαῖον, ὅπως ἀκέραιος ἡ περὶ τῆς ἀληθείας κρίσις ἀπολείπηται. τοῖς ἀναγινώσκουσιν.
Sesoosis now relieved his peoples of the labours of war and granted to the comrades who had bravely shared in his deeds a care-free life in the enjoyment of the good things which they had won, while he himself, being ambitious for glory and intent upon everlasting fame, constructed works which were great and marvellous in their conception as well as in the lavishness with which their cost was provided, winning in this way immortal glory for himself and for the Egyptians security combined with ease for all time. 2 For beginning with the gods first, he built in each city of Egypt a sanctuary to the god who was held in special reverence by its inhabitants. On these labours he used no Egyptians, but constructed them all by the hands of his captives alone; and for this reason he placed an inscription on every sanctuary that no native had toiled upon it. 3 And it is said that the captives brought from Babylonia revolted from the king, being unable to endure the hardships entailed by his works; and they, seizing a strong position on the banks of the river, maintained a warfare against the Egyptians and ravaged the neighbouring territory, but finally, on being granted an amnesty, they established a colony on the spot, which they also named Babylon after their native land. 4 For a similar reason, they say, the city of Troia likewise, which even to this day exists on the bank of the Nile, received its name: for Menelaus, on his voyage from Ilium with a great number of captives, crossed over into Egypt; and the Trojans, revolting from him, seized a certain place and maintained a warfare until he granted them safety and freedom, whereupon they founded a city, to which they gave the name of their native land. 5 I am not unaware that regarding the cities named above Ctesias of Cnidus has given a different account, saying that some of those who had come into Egypt with Semiramis founded them, calling them after their native lands. 6 But on such matters as these it is not easy to set forth the precise truth, and yet the disagreements among historians must be considered worthy of record, in order that the reader may be able to decide upon the truth without prejudice.
§ 1.57
ὁ δʼ οὖν Σεσόωσις χώματα πολλὰ καὶ μεγάλα κατασκευάσας τὰς πόλεις εἰς ταῦτα μετῴκισεν, ὅσαι μὴ φυσικῶς τὸ ἔδαφος ἐτύγχανον ἐπηρμένον ἔχουσαι, ὅπως κατὰ τὰς πληρώσεις τοῦ ποταμοῦ καταφυγὰς ἔχωσιν ἀκινδύνους οἵ τε ἄνθρωποι καὶ τὰ κτήνη. κατὰ πᾶσαν δὲ τὴν χώραν τὴν ἀπὸ Μέμφεως ἐπὶ θάλατταν ὤρυξε πυκνὰς ἐκ τοῦ ποταμοῦ διώρυχας, ἵνα τὰς μὲν συγκομιδὰς τῶν καρπῶν ποιῶνται συντόμως καὶ ῥᾳδίως, ταῖς δὲ πρὸς ἀλλήλους τῶν λαῶν ἐπιμιξίαις καὶ πᾶσι τοῖς τόποις ὑπάρχῃ ῥᾳστώνη καὶ πάντων τῶν πρὸς ἀπόλαυσιν πολλὴ δαψίλεια· τὸ δὲ μέγιστον, πρὸς τὰς τῶν πολεμίων ἐφόδους ὀχυρὰν καὶ δυσέμβολον ἐποίησε τὴν χώραν· τὸν γὰρ πρὸ τοῦ χρόνον ἡ κρατίστη τῆς Αἰγύπτου πᾶσα σχεδὸν ἱππάσιμος οὖσα καὶ ταῖς συνωρίσιν εὔβατος ἀπʼ ἐκείνου τοῦ χρόνου διὰ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν ἐκ τοῦ ποταμοῦ διωρύχων δυσεφοδωτάτη γέγονεν. ἐτείχισε δὲ καὶ τὴν πρὸς ἀνατολὰς νεύουσαν πλευρὰν τῆς Αἰγύπτου πρὸς τὰς ἀπὸ τῆς Συρίας καὶ τῆς Ἀραβίας ἐμβολὰς ἀπὸ Πηλουσίου μέχρι Ἡλιουπόλεως διὰ τῆς ἐρήμου, τὸ μῆκος ἐπὶ σταδίους χιλίους καὶ πεντακοσίους. ἐναυπηγήσατο δὲ καὶ πλοῖον κέδρινον τὸ μὲν μῆκος πηχῶν διακοσίων καὶ ὀγδοήκοντα, τὴν δʼ ἐπιφάνειαν ἔχον τὴν μὲν ἔξωθεν ἐπίχρυσον, τὴν δʼ ἔνδοθεν κατηργυρωμένην· καὶ τοῦτο μὲν ἀνέθηκε τῷ θεῷ τῷ μάλιστα ἐν Θήβαις τιμωμένῳ, δύο τε λιθίνους ὀβελίσκους ἐκ τοῦ σκληροῦ λίθου πηχῶν τὸ ὕψος εἴκοσι πρὸς τοῖς ἑκατόν, ἐφʼ ὧν ἐπέγραψε τό τε μέγεθος τῆς δυνάμεως καὶ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν προσόδων καὶ τὸν ἀριθμὸν τῶν καταπολεμηθέντων ἐθνῶν· ἐν Μέμφει δʼ ἐν τῷ τοῦ Ἡφαίστου ἱερῷ μονολίθους εἰκόνας ἑαυτοῦ τε καὶ τῆς γυναικὸς τὸ ὕψος τριάκοντα πηχῶν, τῶν δʼ υἱῶν εἴκοσι πηχῶν, διὰ σύμπτωμα τοιόνδε. ἐκ τῆς μεγάλης στρατείας ἀνακάμψαντος εἰς Αἴγυπτον τοῦ Σεσοώσιος καὶ διατρίβοντος περὶ τὸ Πηλούσιον, ἑστιῶν αὐτὸν ὁ ἀδελφὸς μετὰ τῆς γυναικὸς καὶ τῶν τέκνων ἐπιβουλὴν συνεστήσατο· ἀναπαυσαμένων γὰρ αὐτῶν ἀπὸ τῆς μέθης, ἔχων καλάμου ξηροῦ πλῆθος ἐκ χρόνου παρεσκευασμένον, καὶ τοῦτο νυκτὸς τῇ σκηνῇ περιθείς, ἐνέπρησεν. ἄφνω δὲ τοῦ πυρὸς ἐκλάμψαντος οἱ μὲν ἐπὶ τῆς θεραπείας τοῦ βασιλέως τεταγμένοι παρεβοήθουν ἀγεννῶς ὡς ἂν οἰνωμένοι, ὁ δὲ Σεσόωσις ἀμφοτέρας τὰς χεῖρας ἀνατείνας καὶ ὑπὲρ τῆς σωτηρίας τῶν τε παίδων καὶ τῆς γυναικὸς τοῖς θεοῖς εὐξάμενος διεξέπεσε διὰ τῆς φλογός. σωθεὶς δὲ παραδόξως τοὺς ἄλλους θεοὺς ἐτίμησεν ἀναθήμασι, καθότι προείρηται, πάντων δὲ μάλιστα τὸν Ἥφαιστον, ὡς ὑπὸ τούτου τετευχὼς τῆς σωτηρίας.
Now Sesoosis threw up many great mounds of earth and moved to them such cities as happened to be situated on ground that was not naturally elevated, in order that at the time of the flooding of the river both the inhabitants and their herds might have a safe place of retreat. 2 And over the entire land from Memphis to the sea he dug frequent canals leading from the river, his purpose being that the people might carry out the harvesting of their crops quickly and easily, and that, through the constant intercourse of the peasants with one another, every district might enjoy both an easy livelihood and a great abundance of all things which minister to man's enjoyment. The greatest result of this work, however, was that he made the country secure and difficult of access against attacks by enemies; 3 for practically all the best part of Egypt, which before this time had been easy of passage for horses and carts, has from that time on been very difficult for an enemy to invade by reason of the great number of canals leading from the river. 4 He also fortified with a wall the side of Egypt which faces east, as a defence against inroads from Syria and Arabia; the wall extended through the desert from Pelusium to Heliopolis, and its length was some fifteen hundred stades. 5 Moreover, he also built a ship of cedar wood, which was two hundred and eighty cubits long and plated on the exterior with gold and on the interior with silver. This ship he presented as a votive offering to the god who is held in special reverence in Thebes, as well as two obelisks of hard stone one hundred and twenty cubits high, upon which he inscribed the magnitude of his army, the multitude of his revenues, and the number of the peoples he had subdued; also in Memphis in the sanctuary of Hephaestus he dedicated monolithic statues of himself and of his wife, thirty cubits high, and of his sons, twenty cubits high, the occasion of their erection being as follows. 6 When Sesoosis had returned to Egypt after his great campaign and was tarrying at Pelusium, his brother, who was entertaining Sesoosis and his wife and children, plotted against them; for when they had fallen asleep after the drinking he piled great quantities of dry rushes, which he had kept in readiness for some time, around the tent in the night and set them afire. 7 When the fire suddenly blazed up, those who had been assigned to wait upon the king came to his aid in a churlish fashion, as would men heavy with wine, but Sesoosis, raising both hands to the heavens with a prayer to the gods for the preservation of his children and wife, dashed out safe through the flames. 8 For this unexpected escape he honoured the rest of the gods with votive offerings, as stated above, and Hephaestus most of all, on the ground that it was by his intervention that he had been saved.
§ 1.58
πολλῶν δὲ καὶ μεγάλων περὶ τὸν Σεσόωσιν ὑπαρξάντων δοκεῖ μεγαλοπρεπέστατον αὐτῷ γεγονέναι τὸ συντελούμενον ἐν ταῖς ἐξόδοις περὶ τοὺς ἡγεμόνας. τῶν γὰρ καταπεπολεμημένων ἐθνῶν οἵ τε τὰς συγκεχωρημένας βασιλείας ἔχοντες καὶ τῶν ἄλλων οἱ τὰς μεγίστας ἡγεμονίας παρειληφότες ἀπήντων εἰς Αἴγυπτον ἐν τακτοῖς χρόνοις φέροντες δῶρα· οὓς ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐκδεχόμενος ἐν μὲν τοῖς ἄλλοις ἐτίμα καὶ διαφερόντως προῆγεν, ὁπότε δὲ πρὸς ἱερὸν ἢ πόλιν προσιέναι μέλλοι, τοὺς ἵππους ἀπὸ τοῦ τεθρίππου λύων ὑπεζεύγνυεν ἀντὶ τούτων κατὰ τέτταρας τούς τε βασιλεῖς καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους ἡγεμόνας, ἐνδεικνύμενος, ὡς ᾤετο, πᾶσιν ὅτι τοὺς τῶν ἄλλων κρατίστους καὶ διʼ ἀρετὴν ἐπιφανεστάτους καταπολεμήσας εἰς ἅμιλλαν ἀρετῆς οὐκ ἔχει τὸν δυνάμενον συγκριθῆναι. δοκεῖ δʼ οὗτος ὁ βασιλεὺς πάντας τοὺς πώποτε γενομένους ἐν ἐξουσίαις ὑπερβεβηκέναι ταῖς τε πολεμικαῖς πράξεσι καὶ τῷ μεγέθει καὶ τῷ πλήθει τῶν τε ἀναθημάτων καὶ τῶν ἔργων τῶν κατεσκευασμένων κατʼ Αἴγυπτον. ἔτη δὲ τρία πρὸς τοῖς τριάκοντα βασιλεύσας ἐκ προαιρέσεως ἐξέλιπε τὸν βίον, ὑπολιπόντων αὐτὸν τῶν ὀμμάτων· καὶ τοῦτο πράξας οὐ μόνον παρὰ τοῖς ἱερεῦσιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ παρὰ τοῖς ἄλλοις Αἰγυπτίοις ἐθαυμάσθη, δόξας τῇ μεγαλοψυχίᾳ τῶν πεπραγμένων ἀκόλουθον πεποιῆσθαι τὴν τοῦ βίου καταστροφήν. ἐπὶ τοσοῦτο δʼ ἴσχυσε καὶ διέτεινε τοῖς χρόνοις ἠ δόξα τούτου τοῦ βασιλέως ὥστε τῆς Αἰγύπτου πολλαῖς γενεαῖς ὕστερον πεσούσης ὑπὸ τὴν ἐξουσίαν τῶν Περσῶν, καὶ Δαρείου τοῦ Ξέρξου πατρὸς σπουδάσαντος ἐν Μέμφει τὴν ἰδίαν εἰκόνα στῆσαι πρὸ τῆς Σεσοώσιος, ὁ μὲν ἀρχιερεὺς ἀντεῖπε λόγου προτεθέντος ἐν ἐκκλησίᾳ τῶν ἱερέων, ἀποφηνάμενος ὡς οὔπω Δαρεῖος ὑπερβέβηκε τὰς Σεσοώσιος πράξεις, ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς οὐχ ὅπως ἠγανάκτησεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὐναντίον ἡσθεὶς ἐπὶ τῇ παρρησίᾳ σπουδάσειν ἔφησεν ὅπως κατὰ μηδὲν ἐκείνου λειφθείη βιώσας τὸν ἴσον χρόνον, καὶ παρεκάλει συγκρίνειν τὰς ἡλικιώτιδας πράξεις· τοῦτον γὰρ δικαιότατον ἔλεγχον εἶναι τῆς ἀρετῆς. περὶ μὲν οὖν Σεσοώσιος ἀρκεσθησόμεθα τοῖς λόγοις τοῖς ῥηθεῖσιν.
Although many great deeds have been credited to Sesoosis, his magnificence seems best to have been shown in the treatment which he accorded to the foreign potentates when he went forth from his palace. 2 The kings whom he had allowed to continue their rule over the peoples which he had subdued and all others who had received from him the most important positions of command would present themselves in Egypt at specified times, bringing him gifts, and the king would welcome them and in all other matters show them honour and special preferment; but whenever he intended to visit a temple or city he would remove the horses from his four-horse chariot and in their place yoke the kings and other potentates, taking them four at a time, in this way showing to all men, as he thought, that, having conquered the mightiest of other kings and those most renowned for their excellence, he now had no one who could compete with him for the prize of excellence. 3 This king is thought to have surpassed all former rulers in power and military exploits, and also in the magnitude and number of the votive offerings and public works which he built in Egypt. And after a reign of thirty-three years he deliberately took his own life, his eyesight having failed him; and this act won for him the admiration not only of the priests of Egypt but of the other inhabitants as well, for it was thought that he had caused the end of his life to comport with the loftiness of spirit shown in his achievements. So great became the fame of this king and so enduring through the ages that when, many generations later, Egypt fell under the power of the Persians and Darius, the father of Xerxes, was bent upon placing a statue of himself in Memphis before that of Sesoosis, the chief priest opposed it in a speech which he made in an assembly of the priests, to the effect that Darius had not yet surpassed the deeds of Sesoosis; and the king was far from being angered, but, on the contrary, being pleased at his frankness of speech, said that he would strive not to be found behind that ruler in any point when he had attained his years, and asked them to base their judgment upon the deeds of each at the same age, for that was the fairest test of their excellence. As regards Sesoosis, then, we shall rest content with what has been said.
§ 1.59
ὁ δʼ υἱὸς αὐτοῦ διαδεξάμενος τὴν βασιλείαν καὶ τὴν τοῦ πατρὸς προσηγορίαν ἑαυτῷ περιθέμενος πρᾶξιν μὲν πολεμικὴν ἢ μνήμης ἀξίαν οὐδʼ ἡντινοῦν συνετελέσατο, συμπτώματι δὲ περιέπεσεν ἰδιάζοντι. ἐστερήθη μὲν γὰρ τῆς ὁράσεως εἴτε διὰ τὴν πρὸς τὸν πατέρα τῆς φύσεως κοινωνίαν εἴθʼ, ὥς τινες μυθολογοῦσι, διὰ τὴν εἰς τὸν ποταμὸν ἀσέβειαν, ἐν ᾧ χειμαζόμενός ποτε τὸ φερόμενον ῥεῦμα κατηκόντισε· διὰ δὲ τὴν ἀτυχίαν ἀναγκασθεὶς καταφυγεῖν ἐπὶ τὴν τῶν θεῶν βοήθειαν, ἐπὶ χρόνους ἱκανοὺς πλείσταις θυσίαις καὶ τιμαῖς τὸ θεῖον ἐξιλασκόμενος λασκόμενος οὐδεμιᾶς ἐτύγχανε πολυωρίας· τῷ δεκάτῳ δʼ ἔτει μαντείας αὐτῷ γενομένης τιμῆσαί τε τὸν θεὸν τὸν ἐν Ἡλιουπόλει καὶ γυναικὸς οὔρῳ νίζεσθαι τὸ πρόσωπον ἥτις ἑτέρου πεῖραν ἀνδρὸς οὐκ εἴληφε, τῶν μὲν γυναικῶν ἀπὸ τῆς ἰδίας ἀρξάμενος καὶ πολλὰς ἐξετάσας οὐδεμίαν εὗρεν ἀδιάφθορον πλὴν κηπουροῦ τινος, ἣν ὑγιὴς γενόμενος ἔγημε· τὰς δʼ ἄλλας ζώσας ἐν κώμῃ τινὶ κατέκαυσεν, ἣν Αἰγύπτιοι διὰ τὸ σύμπτωμα τοῦτο προσηγόρευσαν ἱερὰν βῶλον· τῷ δʼ ἐν Ἡλιουπόλει θεῷ τὰς χάριτας ἀπονέμων τῆς εὐεργεσίας κατὰ τὸν χρησμὸν ὀβελίσκους ἀνέθηκε δύο μονολίθους, τὸ μὲν πλάτος ὀκτώ, τὸ δὲ μῆκος πηχῶν ἑκατόν.
But his son, succeeding to the throne and assuming his father's appellation, did not accomplish a single thing in war or otherwise worthy of mention, though he did have a singular experience. 2 He lost his sight, either because he shared in his father's bodily constitution or, as some fictitiously relate, because of his impiety towards the river, since once when caught in a storm upon it he had hurled a spear into the rushing current. Forced by this ill fortune to turn to the gods for aid, he strove over a long period to propitiate the deity by numerous sacrifices and honours, but received no consideration. 3 But in the tenth year an oracular command was given to him to do honour to the god in Heliopolis and bathe his face in the urine of a woman who had never known any other man than her husband. Thereupon he began with his own wife and made trial of many, but found not one that was chaste save a certain gardener's wife, whom he married as soon as he was recovered. All the other women he burned alive in a certain village to which the Egyptians because of this incident gave the name Holy Field; 4 and to the god in Heliopolis, out of gratitude for his benefaction, he dedicated, in accordance with the injunction of the oracle, two monolithic obelisks, eight cubits wide and one hundred high.
§ 1.60
μετὰ δὲ τοῦτον τὸν βασιλέα συχνοὶ τῶν διαδεξαμένων τὴν ἀρχήν τινες οὐδὲν ἔπραξαν ἀναγραφῆς ἄξιον. πολλαῖς δʼ ὕστερον γενεαῖς Ἄμασις γενόμενος βασιλεὺς ἦρχε τῶν ὄχλων βιαιότερον· πολλοὺς μὲν γὰρ παρὰ τὸ δίκαιον ἐτιμωρεῖτο, συχνοὺς δὲ τῶν οὐσιῶν ἐστέρισκε, πᾶσι δʼ ὑπεροπτικῶς καὶ κατὰ πᾶν ὑπερηφάνως προσεφέρετο. μέχρι μὲν οὖν τινος οἱ πάσχοντες ἐκαρτέρουν, οὐ δυνάμενοι κατʼ οὐδένα τρόπον ἀμύνασθαι τοὺς πλέον ἰσχύοντας· ἐπεὶ δʼ Ἀκτισάνης ὁ τῶν Αἰθιόπων βασιλεὺς ἐστράτευσεν ἐπʼ αὐτόν, τότε τοῦ μίσους καιρὸν λαβόντος ἀπέστησαν οἱ πλεῖστοι. διόπερ ῥᾳδίως αὐτοῦ χειρωθέντος ἡ μὲν Αἴγυπτος ἔπεσεν ὑπὸ τὴν τῶν Αἰθιόπων βασιλείαν, ὁ δʼ Ἀκτισάνης ἀνθρωπίνως ἐνέγκας τὴν εὐτυχίαν ἐπιεικῶς προσεφέρετο τοῖς ὑποτεταγμένοις· ὅτε δὴ καὶ συνετέλεσεν ἴδιόν τι περὶ τοὺς λῃστάς, οὔτε θανατώσας τοὺς ἐνόχους οὔτε ὁλοσχερῶς ἀφεὶς ἀτιμωρήτους· συναγαγὼν γὰρ ἐξ ἁπάσης τῆς χώρας τοὺς ἐν ἐγκλήμασιν ὄντας κακουργίας, καὶ τὴν διάγνωσιν αὐτῶν δικαιοτάτην ποιησάμενος, ἤθροισεν ἅπαντας τοὺς καταδεδικασμένους, ἀποτεμὼν δʼ αὐτῶν τοὺς μυκτῆρας κατῴκισεν ἐν τοῖς ἐσχάτοις τῆς ἐρήμου χώρας, κτίσας πόλιν τὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ συμπτώματος τῶν οἰκητόρων Ῥινοκόλουρα προσαγορευθεῖσαν. αὕτη δὲ κειμένη πρὸς τοῖς μεθορίοις τῆς Αἰγύπτου καὶ Συρίας οὐ μακρὰν τοῦ παρήκοντος αἰγιαλοῦ πάντων σχεδὸν τῶν πρὸς ἀνθρωπίνην δίαιταν ἀνηκόντων ἐστέρηται· περιέχει μὲν γὰρ αὐτὴν χώρα πλήρης ἁλμυρίδος ἐντὸς δὲ τοῦ τείχους ὀλίγον ἐστὶν ὕδωρ ἐν φρέασι, καὶ τοῦτο διεφθαρμένον καὶ παντελῶς τῇ γεύσει πικρόν. κατῴκισε δʼ αὐτοὺς εἰς ταύτην τὴν χώραν, ὅπως μήτε τοὺς ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἐπιτηδευθέντας βίους διατηροῦντες λυμαίνωνται τοὺς μηδὲν ἀδικοῦντας, μήτε κατὰ τὰς πρὸς τοὺς ἄλλους ἐπιμιξίας ἀγνοούμενοι λανθάνωσιν. ἀλλʼ ὅμως ἐκριφέντες εἰς χώραν ἔρημον καὶ πάντων σχεδὸν τῶν χρησίμων ἄπορον ἐπενόησαν βίον οἰκεῖον τῆς περὶ αὐτοὺς ἐνδείας, ἀναγκαζούσης τῆς φύσεως πρὸς τὴν ἀπορίαν πάντα μηχανᾶσθαι. καλάμην γὰρ κείροντες ἐκ τῆς ὁμόρου χώρας, καὶ ταύτην σχίζοντες, λίνα παραμήκη κατεσκεύαζον, ταῦτα δὲ παρὰ τὸν αἰγιαλὸν ἐπὶ πολλοὺς σταδίους ἱστάντες τὰς θήρας τῶν ὀρτύγων ἐποιοῦντο· φέρονται γὰρ οὗτοι κατʼ ἀγέλας μείζονας ἐκ τοῦ πελάγους· οὓς θηρεύοντες ἤθροιζον πλῆθος ἱκανὸν εἰς διατροφὴν ἑαυτοῖς.
After this king a long line of successors on the throne accomplished no deed worth recording. But Amasis, who became king many generations later, ruled the masses of the people with great harshness; many he punished unjustly, great numbers he deprived of their possessions, and towards all his conduct was without exception contemptuous and arrogant. 2 Now for a time his victims bore up under this, being unable in any way to protect themselves against those of greater power; but when Actisanes, the king of the Ethiopians, led an army against Amasis, their hatred seized the opportunity and most of the Egyptians revolted. 3 As a consequence, since he was easily overcome, Egypt fell under the rule of the Ethiopians. But Actisanes carried his good fortune as a man should and conducted himself in a kindly manner towards his subjects. 4 For instance, he had his own manner of dealing with thieves, neither putting to death such as were liable to that punishment, nor letting them go with no punishment at all; 5 for after he had gathered together out of the whole land those who were charged with some crime and had held a thoroughly fair examination of their cases, he took all who had been judged guilty, and, cutting off their noses, settled them in a colony on the edge of the desert, founding the city which was called Rhinocolura after the lot of its inhabitants. This city, which lies on the border between Egypt and Syria not far from the sea-coast, is wanting in practically everything which is necessary for man's existence; 7 for it is surrounded by land which is full of brine, while within the walls there is but a small supply of water from wells, and this is impure and very bitter to the taste. 8 But he settled them in this country in order that, in case they continued to practise their original manner of life, they might not prey upon innocent people, and also that they might not pass unrecognized as they mingled with the rest of mankind. 9 And yet, despite the fact that they had been cast out into a desert country which lacked practically every useful thing, they contrived a way of living appropriate to the dearth about them, since nature forced them to devise every possible means to combat their destitution. 10 For instance, by cutting down reeds in the neighbourhood and splitting them, they made long nets, which they set up along the beach for a distance of many stades and hunted quails; for these are driven in large coveys from the open sea, and in hunting them they caught a sufficient number to provide themselves with food.
§ 1.61
τοῦ δὲ βασιλέως τούτου τελευτήσαντος ἀνεκτήσαντο τὴν ἀρχὴν Αἰγύπτιοι, καὶ κατέστησαν ἐγχώριον βασιλέα Μένδην, ὅν τινες Μάρρον προσονομάζουσιν. οὗτος δὲ πολεμικὴν μὲν πρᾶξιν οὐδʼ ἡντινοῦν ἐπετελέσατο, τάφον δʼ αὑτῷ κατεσκεύασε τὸν ὀνομαζόμενον λαβύρινθον, οὐχ οὕτω κατὰ τὸ μέγεθος τῶν ἔργων θαυμαστὸν ὡς πρὸς τὴν φιλοτεχνίαν δυσμίμητον· ὁ γὰρ εἰσελθὼν εἰς αὐτὸν οὐ δύναται ῥᾳδίως τὴν ἔξοδον εὑρεῖν, ἐὰν μὴ τύχῃ τινὸς ὁδηγοῦ παντελῶς ἐμπείρου. φασὶ δέ τινες καὶ τὸν Δαίδαλον εἰς Αἴγυπτον παραβαλόντα καὶ θαυμάσαντα τὴν ἐν τοῖς ἔργοις τέχνην κατασκευάσαι τῷ βασιλεύοντι τῆς Κρήτης Μίνῳ λαβύρινθον ὅμοιον τῷ κατʼ Αἴγυπτον, ἐν ᾧ γενέσθαι μυθολογοῦσι τὸν λεγόμενον Μινώταυρον. ἀλλʼ ὁ μὲν κατὰ τὴν Κρήτην ἠφανίσθη τελέως, εἴτε δυνάστου τινὸς κατασκάψαντος εἴτε τοῦ χρόνου τοὖργον λυμηναμένου· ὁ δὲ κατʼ Αἴγυπτον ἀκέραιον τὴν ὅλην κατασκευὴν τετήρηκε μέχρι τοῦ καθʼ ἡμᾶς βίου.
After the death of this king the Egyptians regained the control of their government and placed on the throne a native king, Mendes, whom some call Marrus. 2 So far as war is concerned this ruler did not accomplish anything at all, but he did build himself a tomb known as the Labyrinth, which was not so remarkable for its size as it was impossible to imitate in respect to its ingenious design; for a man who enters it cannot easily find his way out, unless he gets a guide who is thoroughly acquainted with the structure. 3 And some say that Daedalus, visiting Egypt and admiring the skill shown in the building, also constructed for Minos, the king of Crete, a labyrinth like the one in Egypt, in which was kept, as the myth relates, the beast called Minotaur. 4 However, the labyrinth in Crete has entirely disappeared, whether it be that some ruler razed it to the ground or that time effaced the work, but the one in Egypt has stood intact in its entire structure down to our lifetime.
§ 1.62
μετὰ δὲ τὴν τοῦ βασιλέως τούτου τελευτὴν ἐπὶ γενεὰς πέντε γενομένης ἀναρχίας τῶν ἀδόξων τις ᾑρέθη βασιλεύς, ὃν Αἰγύπτιοι μὲν ὀνομάζουσι Κέτηνα, παρὰ δὲ τοῖς Ἕλλησιν εἶναι δοκεῖ Πρωνεὺς ὁ κατὰ τὸν Ἰλιακὸν γεγονὼς πόλεμον. τούτου δὲ παραδεδομένου τῶν τε πνευμάτων ἔχειν ἐμπειρίαν καὶ τὴν μορφὴν μεταβάλλειν ὁτὲ μὲν εἰς ζῴων τύπους, ὁτὲ δὲ εἰς δένδρον ἢ πῦρ ἤ τι τῶν ἄλλων, ὁμολογούμενα τούτοις συμβαίνει καὶ τοὺς ἱερεῖς λέγειν περὶ αὐτοῦ. ἐκ μὲν γὰρ τῆς μετὰ τῶν ἀστρολόγων συμβιώσεως, ἣν ἐποιεῖτο συνεχῶς, ἐμπειρίαν ἐσχηκέναι τὸν βασιλέα τῶν τοιούτων, ἐκ δὲ τοῦ νομίμου τοῦ παραδεδομένου τοῖς βασιλεῦσι τὸ περὶ τὰς μεταβολὰς τῆς ἰδέας μυθολογηθῆναι παρὰ τοῖς Ἕλλησιν. ἐν ἔθει γὰρ εἶναι τοῖς κατʼ Αἴγυπτον δυνάσταις περιτίθεσθαι περὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν λεόντων καὶ ταύρων καὶ δρακόντων προτομάς, σημεῖα τῆς ἀρχῆς· καὶ ποτὲ μὲν δένδρα, ποτὲ δὲ πῦρ, ἔστι δʼ ὅτε καὶ θυμιαμάτων εὐωδῶν ἔχειν ἐπὶ τῆς κεφαλῆς οὐκ ὀλίγα, καὶ διὰ τούτων ἅμα μὲν ἑαυτοὺς εἰς εὐπρέπειαν κοσμεῖν, ἅμα δὲ τοὺς ἄλλους εἰς κατάπληξιν ἄγειν καὶ δεισιδαίμονα διάθεσιν. μετὰ δὲ τὴν Πρωτέως τελευτὴν διαδεξάμενος τὴν βασιλείαν ὁ υἱὸς Ῥέμφις διετέλεσε πάντα τὸν τοῦ ζῆν χρόνον ἐπιμελόμενος τῶν προσόδων καὶ σωρεύων πανταχόθεν τὸν πλοῦτον, διὰ δὲ μικροψυχίαν καὶ φιλαργυρίαν ἤθους οὔτε εἰς ἀναθήματα θεῶν οὔτʼ εἰς εὐεργεσίαν ἀνθρώπων οὐδὲν ἀνήλωσε. διὸ καὶ γενόμενος οὐ βασιλεὺς ἀλλʼ οἰκονόμος ἀγαθὸς ἀντὶ τῆς ἐπʼ ἀρετῇ δόξης ἀπέλιπε πλεῖστα χρήματα τῶν πρὸ αὐτοῦ βασιλευσάντων· ἀργύρου γὰρ καὶ χρυσοῦ παραδέδοται συναγαγεῖν αὐτὸν εἰς τετταράκοντα μυριάδας ταλάντων.
After the death of this king there were no rulers for five generations, and then a man of obscure origin was chosen king, whom the Egyptians call Cetes but who among the Greeks is thought to be that Proteus who lived at the time of the war about Ilium. 2 Some tradition records that this Proteus was experienced in the knowledge of the winds and that he would change his body, sometimes into the form of different animals, sometimes into a tree or fire or something else, and it so happens that the account which the priests give of Cetes is in agreement with that tradition. 3 For, according to the priests, from the close association which the king constantly maintained with the astrologers, he had gained experience in such matters, and from a custom which has been passed down among the kings of Egypt has arisen the myths current among the Greeks about the way Proteus changed his shape. 4 For it was a practice among the rulers of Egypt to wear upon their heads the forepart of a lion, or bull, or snake as symbols of their rule; at times also trees or fire, and in some cases they even carried on their heads large bunches of fragrant herbs for incense, these last serving to enhance their comeliness and at the same time to fill all other men with fear and religious awe. On the death of Proteus his son Remphis succeeded to the throne. This ruler spent his whole life looking after the revenues and amassing riches from every source, and because of his niggardly and miserly character spent nothing either on votive offerings to the gods or on benefactions to the inhabitants. Consequently, since he had been not so much a king as only an efficient steward, in the place of a fame based upon virtue he left a treasure larger than that of any king before him; for according to tradition he amassed some four hundred thousand talents of silver and gold.
§ 1.63
τούτου δὲ τελευτήσαντος ἐπὶ γενεὰς ἑπτὰ διεδέξαντο τὴν ἀρχὴν βασιλεῖς ἀργοὶ παντελῶς καὶ πρὸς ἄνεσιν καὶ τρυφὴν ἅπαντα πράττοντες. διόπερ ἐν ταῖς ἱεραῖς ἀναγραφαῖς οὐδὲν αὐτῶν ἔργον πολυτελὲς οὐδὲ πρᾶξις ἱστορίας ἀξία παραδέδοται πλὴν ἑνὸς Νειλέως, ἀφʼ οὗ συμβαίνει τὸν ποταμὸν ὀνομασθῆναι Νεῖλον, τὸ πρὸ τοῦ καλούμενον Αἴγυπτον· οὗτος δὲ πλείστας εὐκαίρους διώρυχας κατασκευάσας καὶ πολλὰ περὶ τὴν εὐχρηστίαν τοῦ Νείλου φιλοτιμηθεὶς αἴτιος κατέστη τῷ ποταμῷ ταύτης τῆς προσηγορίας. ὄγδοος δὲ βασιλεὺς γενόμενος Χέμμις ὁ Μεμφίτης ἦρξε μὲν ἔτη πεντήκοντα, κατεσκεύασε δὲ τὴν μεγίστην τῶν τριῶν πυραμίδων τῶν ἐν τοῖς ἑπτὰ τοῖς ἐπιφανεστάτοις ἔργοις ἀριθμουμένων. αὗται δὲ κείμεναι κατὰ τὴν Λιβύην τῆς Μέμφεως ἀπέχουσι σταδίους ἑκατὸν καὶ εἴκοσι, τοῦ δὲ Νείλου πέντε πρὸς τοῖς τετταράκοντα, τῷ δὲ μεγέθει τῶν ἔργων καὶ τῇ κατὰ τὴν χειρουργίαν τέχνῃ θαυμαστήν τινα κατάπληξιν παρέχονται τοῖς θεωμένοις. ἡ μὲν γὰρ μεγίστη τετράπλευρος οὖσα τῷ σχήματι τὴν ἐπὶ τῆς βάσεως πλευρὰν ἑκάστην ἔχει πλέθρων ἑπτά, τὸ δʼ ὕψος πλέον τῶν ἓξ πλέθρων· συναγωγὴν δʼ ἐκ τοῦ κατʼ ὀλίγον λαμβάνουσα μέχρι τῆς κορυφῆς ἑκάστην πλευρὰν ποιεῖ πηχῶν ἕξ. πᾶσα δὲ στερεοῦ λίθου κατεσκεύασται, τὴν μὲν ἐργασίαν ἔχοντος δυσχερῆ, τὴν δὲ διαμονὴν αἰώνιον· οὐκ ἐλαττόνων γὰρ ἢ χιλίων ἐτῶν, ὥς φασι, διεληλυθότων εἰς τὸν καθʼ ἡμᾶς βίον, ὡς δὲ ἔνιοι γράφουσι, πλειόνων ἢ τρισχιλίων καὶ τετρακοσίων, διαμένουσι μέχρι τοῦ νῦν οἱ λίθοι τὴν ἐξ ἀρχῆς σύνθεσιν καὶ τὴν ὅλην κατασκευὴν ἄσηπτον διαφυλάττοντες. λέγεται δὲ τὸν μὲν λίθον ἐκ τῆς Ἀραβίας ἀπὸ πολλοῦ διαστήματος κομισθῆναι, τὴν δὲ κατασκευὴν διὰ χωμάτων γενέσθαι, μήπω τῶν μηχανῶν εὑρημένων κατʼ ἐκείνους τοὺς χρόνους· καὶ %5τὸ θαυμασιώτατον, τηλικούτων ἔργων κατεσκευασμένων καὶ τοῦ περιέχοντος τόπου παντὸς ἁμμώδους ὄντος οὐδὲν ἴχνος οὔτε τοῦ χώματος οὔτε τῆς τῶν λίθων ξεστουργίας ἀπολείπεσθαι, ὥστε δοκεῖν μὴ κατʼ ὀλίγον ὑπʼ ἀνθρώπων ἐργασίας, ἀλλὰ συλλήβδην ὥσπερ %5ὑπὸ θεοῦ τινος τὸ κατασκεύασμα τεθῆναι πᾶν εἰς τὴν περιέχουσαν ἅμμον. ἐπιχειροῦσι δέ τινες τῶν Αἰγυπτίων τερατολογεῖν ὑπὲρ τούτων, λέγοντες ὡς ἐξ ἁλῶν%5 καὶ νίτρου τῶν χωμάτων γεγονότων ἐπαφεθεὶς ὁ ποταμὸς ἔτηξεν αὐτὰ καὶ παντελῶς ἠφάνισεν ἄνευ τῆς χειροποιήτου πραγματείας. οὐ μὴν καὶ τἀληθὲς οὕτως ἔχει, διὰ δὲ τῆς πολυχειρίας τῆς τὰ χώματα βαλούσης πάλιν τὸ πᾶν ἔργον εἰς τὴν προϋπάρχουσαν ἀποκατεστάθη τάξιν· τριάκοντα μὲν γὰρ καὶ ἓξ μυριάδες ἀνδρῶν, ὥς φασι, ταῖς τῶν ἔργων λειτουργίαις προσήδρευσαν, τὸ δὲ πᾶν κατασκεύασμα τέλος ἔσχε μόγις ἐτῶν εἴκοσι διελθόντων
After Remphis died, kings succeeded to the throne for seven generations who were confirmed sluggards and devoted only to indulgence and luxury. Consequently, in the priestly records, no costly building of theirs nor any deed worthy of historical record is handed down in connection with them, except in the case of one ruler, Nileus, from whom the river came to be named the Nile, though formerly called Aegyptus. This ruler constructed a very great number of canals at opportune places and in many ways showed himself eager to increase the usefulness of the Nile, and therefore became the cause of the present appellation of the river. The eighth king, Chemmis of Memphis, ruled fifty years and constructed the largest of the three pyramids, which are numbered among the seven wonders of the world. 3 These pyramids, which are situated on the side of Egypt which is towards Libya, are one hundred and twenty stades from Memphis and forty-five from the Nile, and by the immensity of their structures and the skill shown in their execution they fill the beholder with wonder and astonishment. 4 For the largest is in the form of a square and has a base length on each side of seven plethra and a height of over six plethra; it also gradually tapers to the top, where each side is six cubits long. 5 The entire construction is of hard stone, which is difficult to work but lasts for ever; for though no fewer than a thousand years have elapsed, as they say, to our lifetime, or, as some writers have it, more than three thousand four hundred, the stones remain to this day still preserving their original position and the entire structure undecayed. 6 It is said that the stone was conveyed over a great distance from Arabia and that the construction was effected by means of mounds, since cranes had not yet been invented at that time; 7 and the most remarkable thing in the account is that, though the constructions were on such a great scale and the country round about them consists of nothing but sand, not a trace remains either of any mound or of the dressing of the stones, so that they do not have the appearance of being the slow handiwork of men but look like a sudden creation, as though they had been made by some god and set down bodily in the surrounding sand. 8 Certain Egyptians would make a marvel out of these things, saying that, inasmuch as the mounds were built of salt and saltpetre, when the river was let in it melted them down and completely effaced them without the intervention of man's hand. 9 However, there is not a word of truth in this, but the entire material for the mounds, raised as they were by the labour of many hands, was returned by the same means to the place from which it came; for three hundred and sixty thousand men, as they say, were employed on the undertaking, and the whole structure was scarcely completed in twenty years.
§ 1.64
τελευτήσαντος δὲ τοῦ βασιλέως τούτου διεδέξατο τὴν ἀρχὴν ὁ ἀδελφὸς Κεφρὴν καὶ ἦρξεν ἔτη ἓξ πρὸς τοῖς πεντήκοντα· ἔνιοι δέ φασιν οὐκ ἀδελφόν, ἀλλʼ υἱὸν παραλαβεῖν τὴν ἀρχήν, ὀνομαζόμενον Χαβρύην. συμφωνεῖται δὲ παρὰ πᾶσιν ὅτι ζηλώσας ὁ διαδεξάμενος τὴν τοῦ προβασιλεύσαντος προαίρεσιν κατεσκεύασε τὴν δευτέραν πυραμίδα, τῇ μὲν κατὰ τὴν χειρουργίαν τέχνῃ παραπλησίαν τῇ προειρημένῃ, τῷ δὲ μεγέθει πολὺ λειπομένην, ὡς ἂν τῆς ἐν τῇ βάσει πλευρᾶς ἑκάστης οὔσης σταδιαίας, ἐπιγέγραπται δʼ ἐπὶ τῆς μείζονος τὸ πλῆθος τῶν ἀναλωθέντων χρημάτων, ὡς εἰς λάχανα καὶ συρμαίαν τοῖς ἐργάταις μηνύεται διὰ τῆς γραφῆς. τάλαντα δεδαπανῆσθαι πλείω τῶν χιλίων καὶ ἑξακοσίων. ἡ δʼ ἐλάττων ἀνεπίγραφος μέν ἐστιν, ἀνάβασιν δʼ ἔχει διὰ μιᾶς τῶν πλευρῶν ἐγκεκολαμμένην. τῶν δὲ βασιλέων τῶν κατασκευασάντων αὐτὰς ἑαυτοῖς τάφους συνέβη μηδέτερον αὐτῶν ταῖς πυραμίσιν ἐνταφῆναι· τὰ γὰρ πλήθη διά τε ταλαιπωρίαν τὴν ἐν τοῖς ἔργοις καὶ διὰ τὸ τούτους τοὺς βασιλεῖς ὠμὰ καὶ βίαια πολλὰ πρᾶξαι διʼ ὀργῆς εἶχε τοὺς αἰτίους, καὶ τὰ σώματα ἠπείλει διασπάσειν καὶ μεθʼ ὕβρεως ἐκρίψειν ἐκ τῶν τάφων· διὸ καὶ τελευτῶν ἑκάτερος ἐνετείλατο τοῖς προσήκουσιν ἐν ἀσήμῳ τόπῳ καὶ λάθρᾳ θάψαι τὸ σῶμα. μετὰ δὲ τούτους ἐγένετο βασιλεὺς Μυκερῖνος, ὅν τινες Μεγχερῖνον ὀνομάζουσιν, υἱὸς ὢν τοῦ ποιήσαντος τὴν προτέραν πυραμίδα. οὗτος δʼ ἐπιβαλόμενος τρίτην κατασκευάζειν, πρότερον ἐτελεύτησε πρὶν ἢ τὸ πᾶν ἔργον λαβεῖν συντέλειαν. τῆς μὲν γὰρ βάσεως ἑκάστην πλευρὰν ὑπεστήσατο πλέθρων τριῶν, τοὺς δὲ τοίχους ἐπὶ μὲν πεντεκαίδεκα δόμους κατεσκεύασεν ἐκ μέλανος λίθου τῷ Θηβαϊκῷ παραπλησίου, τὸ δὲ λοιπὸν ἀνεπλήρωσεν ἐκ λίθων ὁμοίων ταῖς ἄλλαις πυραμίσιν. τῷ δὲ μεγέθει λειπόμενον τοῦτο τὸ ἔργον τῶν προειρημένων τῇ κατὰ τὴν χειρουργίαν τέχνῃ πολὺ διαλλάττει καὶ τῇ τοῦ λίθου πολυτελείᾳ· ἐπιγέγραπται δὲ κατὰ τὴν βόρειον αὐτῆς πλευρὰν ὁ κατασκευάσας αὐτὴν Μυκερῖνος. τοῦτον δέ φασι μισήσαντα τὴν τῶν προβασιλευσάντων ὠμότητα ζηλῶσαι βίον ἐπιεικῆ καὶ πρὸς τοὺς ἀρχομένους εὐεργετικόν, καὶ ποιεῖν αὐτὸν συνεχῶς ἄλλα τε πλείω διʼ ὧν ἦν μάλιστα ἐκκαλέσασθαι τὴν τοῦ πλήθους πρὸς αὐτὸν εὔνοιαν, καὶ κατὰ τοὺς χρηματισμοὺς ἀναλίσκειν χρημάτων πλῆθος, διδόντα δωρεὰς τῶν ἐπιεικῶν τοῖς δοκοῦσιν ἐν ταῖς κρίσεσι μὴ κατὰ τρόπον ἀπαλλάττειν. εἰσὶ δὲ καὶ ἄλλαι τρεῖς πυραμίδες, ὧν ἑκάστη μὲν πλευρὰ πλεθριαία ὑπάρχει, τὸ δʼ ὅλον ἔργον παραπλήσιον τῇ κατασκευῇ ταῖς ἄλλαις πλὴν τοῦ μεγέθους· ταύτας δέ φασι τοὺς προειρημένους τρεῖς βασιλεῖς ταῖς ἰδίαις κατασκευάσαι γυναιξίν. ὁμολογεῖται δὲ ταῦτα τὰ ἔργα πολὺ προέχειν τῶν κατʼ Αἴγυπτον οὐ μόνον τῷ βάρει τῶν κατασκευασμάτων καὶ ταῖς δαπάναις, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῇ φιλοτεχνίᾳ τῶν ἐργασαμένων. καί φασι δεῖν θαυμάζειν μᾶλλον τοὺς ἀρχιτέκτονας τῶν ἔργων ἢ τοὺς βασιλεῖς τοὺς παρασχομένους τὰς εἰς ταῦτα χορηγίας· τοὺς μὲν γὰρ ταῖς ἰδίαις ψυχαῖς καὶ ταῖς φιλοτιμίαις, τοὺς δὲ τῷ κληρονομηθέντι πλούτῳ καὶ ταῖς ἀλλοτρίαις κακουχίαις ἐπὶ τέλος ἀγαγεῖν τὴν προαίρεσιν. περὶ δὲ τῶν πυραμίδων οὐδὲν ὅλως οὔτε παρὰ τοῖς ἐγχωρίοις οὔτε παρὰ τοῖς συγγραφεῦσι συμφωνεῖται· οἱ μὲν γὰρ τοὺς προειρημένους βασιλεῖς κατασκευάσαι φασὶν αὐτάς, οἱ δὲ ἑτέρους τινάς· οἷον τὴν μὲν μεγίστην ποιῆσαι λέγουσιν Ἀρμαῖον, τὴν δὲ δευτέραν Ἄμωσιν, τὴν δὲ τρίτην Ἰναρῶν. ταύτην δʼ ἔνιοι λέγουσι Ῥοδώπιδος τάφον εἶναι τῆς ἑταίρας, ἧς φασι τῶν νομαρχῶν τινας ἐραστὰς γενομένους διὰ φιλοστοργίαν ἐπιτελέσαι κοινῇ τὸ κατασκεύασμα.
Upon the death of this king his brother Cephren succeeded to the throne and ruled fifty-six years; but some say that it was not the brother of Chemmis, but his son, named Chabryes, who took the throne. 2 All writers, however, agree that it was the next ruler who, emulating the example of his predecessor, built the second pyramid, which was the equal of the one just mentioned in the skill displayed in its execution but far behind it in size, since its base length on each side is only a stade. 3 And an inscription on the larger pyramid gives the sum of money expended on it, since the writing sets forth that on vegetables and purgatives for the workmen there were paid out over sixteen hundred talents. 4 The smaller bears no inscription but has steps cut into one side. And though the two kings built the pyramids to serve as their tombs, in the event neither of them was buried in them; 5 for the multitudes, because of the hardships which they had endured in the building of them and the many cruel and violent acts of these kings, were filled with anger against those who had caused their sufferings and openly threatened to tear their bodies asunder and cast them in despite out of the tombs. 6 Consequently each ruler when dying enjoined upon his kinsmen to bury his body secretly in an unmarked place. After these rulers Mycerinus, to whom some give the name Mencherinus, a son of the builder of the first pyramid, became king. 7 He undertook the construction of a third pyramid, but died before the entire structure had been completed. The base length of each side he made three plethra, and for fifteen courses he built the walls of black stone like that found about Thebes, but the rest of it he filled out with stone like that found in the other pyramids. 8 In size this structure falls behind those mentioned above, but far surpasses them in the skill displayed in its execution and the great cost of the stone; and on the north side of the pyramid is an inscription stating that its builder was Mycerinus. 9 This ruler, they say, out of indignation at the cruelty of his predecessors aspired to live an honourable life and one devoted to the welfare of his subjects; and he continually did many other things which might best help to evoke the goodwill of the people towards himself, and more especially, when he gave audiences, he spent a great amount of money, giving presents to such honest men as he thought had not fared in the courts of law as they deserved. There are also three more pyramids, each of which is one plethrum long on each side and in general construction is like the others save in size; and these pyramids, they say, were built by the three kings named above for their wives. It is generally agreed that these monuments far surpass all other constructions in Egypt, not only in their massiveness and cost but also in the skill displayed by their builders. 12 And they say that the architects of the monuments are more deserving of admiration than the kings who furnished the means for their execution; for in bringing their plans to completion the former called upon their individual souls and their zeal for honour, but the latter only used the wealth which they had inherited and the grievous toil of other men. 13 But with regard to the pyramids there is no complete agreement among either the inhabitants of the country or the historians; for according to some the kings mentioned above were the builders, according to others they were different kings; for instance, it is said that Armaeus built the largest, Amosis the second, and Inaros the third. 14 And this last pyramid, some say, is the tomb of the courtesan Rhodopis, for some of the nomarchs became her lovers, as the account goes, and out of their passion for her carried the building through to completion as a joint undertaking.
§ 1.65
μετὰ δὲ τοὺς προειρημένους βασιλεῖς διεδέξατο τὴν ἀρχὴν Βόκχορις, τῷ μὲν σώματι παντελῶς εὐκαταφρόνητος, ἀγχινοίᾳ δὲ πολὺ διαφέρων τῶν προβασιλευσάντων. πολλοῖς δʼ ὕστερον χρόνοις ἐβασίλευσε τῆς Αἰγύπτου Σαβάκων, τὸ μὲν γένος ὢν Αἰθίοψ, εὐσεβείᾳ δὲ καὶ χρηστότητι πολὺ διαφέρων τῶν πρὸ αὐτοῦ. τῆς μὲν οὖν ἐπιεικείας αὐτοῦ λάβοι τις ἂν τεκμήριον τὸ τῶν νομίμων προστίμων ἆραι τὸ μέγιστον, λέγω δὲ τὴν τοῦ ζῆν στέρησιν· ἀντὶ γὰρ τοῦ θανάτου τοὺς καταδικασθέντας ἠνάγκαζε λειτουργεῖν ταῖς πόλεσι δεδεμένους, καὶ διὰ τούτων πολλὰ μὲν χώματα κατεσκεύαζεν, οὐκ ὀλίγας δὲ διώρυχας ὤρυττεν εὐκαίρους· ὑπελάμβανε γὰρ τοῖς μὲν κολαζομένοις τὸ τῆς τιμωρίας ἀπότομον ἠλαττωκέναι, ταῖς δὲ πόλεσιν ἀντὶ προστίμων ἀνωφελῶν μεγάλην εὐχρηστίαν περιπεποιηκέναι. τὴν δὲ τῆς εὐσεβείας ὑπερβολὴν συλλογίσαιτʼ ἄν τις ἐκ τῆς κατὰ τὸν ὄνειρον φαντασίας καὶ τῆς κατὰ τὴν ἀρχὴν ἀποθέσεως. ἔδοξε μὲν γὰρ κατὰ τὸν ὕπνον λέγειν αὐτῷ τὸν ἐν Θήβαις θεὸν ὅτι βασιλεύειν οὐ δυνήσεται τῆς Αἰγύπτου μακαρίως οὐδὲ πολὺν χρόνον, ἐὰν μὴ τοὺς ἱερεῖς ἅπαντας διατεμὼν διὰ μέσων αὐτῶν διέλθῃ μετὰ τῆς θεραπείας. πολλάκις δὲ τούτου γινομένου μεταπεμψάμενος πανταχόθεν τοὺς ἱερεῖς ἔφη λυπεῖν τὸν θεὸν ἐν τῇ χώρᾳ μένων· οὐ γὰρ ἂν αὐτῷ τοιαῦτα προστάττειν κατὰ τὸν ὕπνον. ἀπελθὼν οὖν βούλεσθαι καθαρὸς παντὸς μύσους ἀποδοῦναι τὸ ζῆν τῇ πεπρωμένῃ μᾶλλον ἢ λυπῶν τὸν κύριον καὶ μιάνας ἀσεβεῖ φόνῳ τὸν ἴδιον βίον ἄρχειν τῆς Αἰγύπτου· καὶ πέρας τοῖς ἐγχωρίοις ἀποδοὺς τὴν βασιλείαν ἐπανῆλθεν εἰς τὴν Αἰθιοπίαν.
After the kings mentioned above Bocchoris succeeded to the throne, a man who was altogether contemptible in personal appearance but in sagacity far surpassed all former kings. 2 Much later Egypt was ruled by Sabaco, who was by birth an Ethiopian and yet in piety and uprightness far surpassed his predecessors. 3 A proof of his goodness may be found in his abolition of the severest one of the customary penalties (I refer to the taking of life); 4 for instead of executing the condemned he put them in chains at forced labour for the cities, and by their services constructed many dykes and dug out not a few well-placed canals; for he held that in this way he had reduced for those who were being chastised the severity of their punishment, while for the cities he had procured, in exchange for useless penalties, something of great utility. 5 And the excessiveness of his piety may be inferred from a vision which he had in a dream and his consequent abdication of the throne. 6 For he thought that the god of Thebes told him while he slept that he would not be able to reign over Egypt in happiness or for any great length of time, unless he should cut the bodies of all the priests in twain and accompanied by his retinue pass through the very midst of them. 7 And when this dream came again and again, he summoned the priests from all over the land and told them that by his presence in the country he was offending the god; for were that not the case such a command would not be given to him in his sleep. 8 And so he would rather, he continued, departing pure of all defilement from the land, deliver his life to destiny than offend the Lord, stain his own life by an impious slaughter, and reign over Egypt. And in the end he returned the kingdom to the Egyptians and retired again to Ethiopia.
§ 1.66
ἀναρχίας δὲ γενομένης κατὰ τὴν Αἴγυπτον ἐπʼ ἔτη δύο, καὶ τῶν ὄχλων εἰς ταραχὰς καὶ φόνους ἐμφυλίους τρεπομένων, ἐποιήσαντο συνωμοσίαν οἱ μέγιστοι τῶν ἡγεμόνων δώδεκα· συνεδρεύσαντες δὲ ἐν Μέμφει καὶ συνθήκας γραψάμενοι περὶ τῆς πρὸς ἀλλήλους ὁμονοίας καὶ πίστεως ἀνέδειξαν ἑαυτοὺς βασιλεῖς. ἐπʼ ἔτη δὲ πεντεκαίδεκα κατὰ τοὺς ὅρκους καὶ τὰς ὁμολογίας ἄρξαντες καὶ τὴν πρὸς ἀλλήλους ὁμόνοιαν διατηρήσαντες, ἐπεβάλοντο κατασκευάσαι κοινὸν ἑαυτῶν τάφον, ἵνα καθάπερ ἐν τῷ ζῆν εὐνοοῦντες ἀλλήλοις τῶν ἴσων ἐτύγχανον τιμῶν, οὕτω καὶ μετὰ τὴν τελευτὴν ἐν ἑνὶ τόπῳ τῶν σωμάτων κειμένων τὸ κατασκευασθὲν μνῆμα κοινῇ περιέχῃ τὴν τῶν ἐνταφέντων δόξαν. εἰς ταύτην δὲ τὴν ἐπιβολὴν φιλοκαλοῦντες ἔσπευσαν ὑπερβαλέσθαι τῷ μεγέθει τῶν ἔργων ἅπαντας τοὺς πρὸ αὑτῶν. ἐκλεξάμενοι γὰρ τόπον παρὰ τὸν εἴσπλουν τὸν εἰς τὴν Μοίριδος λίμνην ἐν τῇ Λιβύῃ κατεσκεύαζον τὸν τάφον ἐκ τῶν καλλίστων λίθων, καὶ τῷ μὲν σχήματι τετράγωνον ὑπεστήσαντο, τῷ δὲ μεγέθει σταδιαίαν ἑκάστην πλευράν, ταῖς δὲ γλυφαῖς καὶ ταῖς ἄλλαις χειρουργίαις ὑπερβολὴν οὐκ ἀπέλιπον τοῖς ἐπιγινομένοις. εἰσελθόντι μὲν γὰρ τὸν περίβολον οἶκος ἦν περίστυλος, ἑκάστης πλευρᾶς ἐκ τετταράκοντα κιόνων ἀναπληρουμένης, καὶ τούτου μονόλιθος ἦν ὀροφή, φάτναις διαγεγλυμμένη καὶ γραφαῖς διαφόροις πεποικιλμένη. εἶχε δὲ τῆς πατρίδος τῆς ἑκάστου τῶν βασιλέων ὑπομνήματα καὶ τῶν ἱερῶν καὶ θυσιῶν τῶν ἐν αὐτῇ ταῖς καλλίσταις γραφαῖς φιλοτέχνως δεδημιουργημένα. καθόλου δὲ τοιαύτην τῇ πολυτελείᾳ καὶ τηλικαύτην τῷ μεγέθει τὴν ὑπόστασιν τοῦ τάφου λέγεται ποιήσασθαι τοὺς βασιλεῖς, ὥστʼ εἰ μὴ πρὸ τοῦ συντελέσαι τὴν ἐπιβολὴν κατελύθησαν, μηδεμίαν ἂν ὑπερβολὴν ἑτέροις πρὸς κατασκευὴν ἔργων ἀπολιπεῖν. ἀρξάντων δὲ τούτων τῆς Αἰγύπτου πεντεκαίδεκα ἔτη συνέβη τὴν βασιλείαν εἰς ἕνα περιστῆναι διὰ τοιαύτας αἰτίας. Ψαμμήτιχος ὁ Σαΐτης, εἷς ὢν τῶν δώδεκα βασιλέων καὶ τῶν παρὰ θάλατταν μερῶν κυριεύων, παρείχετο φορτία πᾶσι τοῖς ἐμπόροις, μάλιστα δὲ τοῖς τε Φοίνιξι καὶ τοῖς Ἕλλησι· διὰ δὲ τοῦ τοιούτου τρόπου τά τε ἐκ τῆς ἰδίας χώρας λυσιτελῶς διατιθέμενος καὶ τῶν παρὰ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἔθνεσι φυομένων μεταλαμβάνων, οὐ μόνον εὐπορίαν εἶχε μεγάλην ἀλλὰ καὶ φιλίαν πρὸς ἔθνη καὶ δυνάστας. διὰ δὲ ταῦτά φασι φθονήσαντας αὐτῷ τοὺς ἄλλους βασιλεῖς πόλεμον ἐξενεγκεῖν. ἔνιοι δὲ τῶν ἀρχαίων συγγραφέων μυθολογοῦσι χρησμὸν γενέσθαι τοῖς ἡγεμόσιν, ὃς ἂν αὐτῶν ἐκ χαλκῆς φιάλης πρῶτος ἐν Μέμφει σπείσῃ τῷ θεῷ, κρατήσειν αὐτὸν πάσης τῆς Αἰγύπτου· τὸν δὲ Ψαμμήτιχον, ἐξενέγκαντος ἐκ τοῦ ἱεροῦ τῶν ἱερέων τινὸς φιάλας δώδεκα χρυσᾶς, περιελόμενον τὴν περικεφαλαίαν σπεῖσαι. ὑπιδομένους οὖν τοὺς συνάρχοντας τὸ πραχθὲν ἀποκτεῖναι μὲν αὐτὸν μὴ βουληθῆναι, φυγαδεῦσαι δὲ καὶ προστάξαι διατρίβειν ἐν τοῖς ἕλεσι τοῖς παρὰ θάλατταν. εἴτε δὴ διὰ ταύτην τὴν αἰτίαν εἴτε διὰ τὸν φθόνον, καθότι προείρηται, γενομένης τῆς διαφορᾶς, ὁ μὲν Ψαμμήτιχος ἔκ τε τῆς Καρίας καὶ τῆς Ἰωνίας μισθοφόρους μεταπεμψάμενος ἐνίκησε παρατάξει περὶ πόλιν τὴν ὀνομαζομένην Μώμεμφιν, τῶν δʼ ἀντιταξαμένων βασιλέων οἱ μὲν κατὰ τὴν μάχην ἀνῃρέθησαν, οἱ δʼ εἰς Λιβύην ἐκδιωχθέντες οὐκέτι περὶ τῆς ἀρχῆς ἴσχυσαν ἀμφισβητῆσαι.
There being no head of the government in Egypt for two years, and the masses betaking themselves to tumults and the killing of one another, the twelve most important leaders formed a solemn league among themselves, and after they had met together for counsel in Memphis and had drawn up agreements setting forth their mutual goodwill and loyalty they proclaimed themselves kings. 2 After they had reigned in accordance with their oaths and promises and had maintained their mutual concord for a period of fifteen years, they set about to construct a common tomb for themselves, their thought being that, just as in their lifetime they had cherished a cordial regard for one another and enjoyed equal honours, so also after their death their bodies would all rest in one place and the memorial which they had erected would hold in one embrace the glory of those buried within. 3 Being full of zeal for this undertaking they eagerly strove to surpass all preceding rulers in the magnitude of their structure. For selecting a site at the entrance to Lake Moeris in Libya they constructed their tomb of the finest stone, and they made it in form a square but in magnitude a stade in length on each side; and in the carvings and, indeed, in all the workmanship they left nothing wherein succeeding rulers could excel them. 4 For as a man passed through the enclosing wall he found himself in a court surrounded by columns, forty on each side, and the roof of the court consisted of a single stone, which was worked into coffers and adorned with excellent paintings. 5 This court also contained memorials of the native district of each king and of the temples and sacrificial rites therein, artistically portrayed in most beautiful paintings. 6 And in general, the kings are said to have made the plan of their tomb on such an expensive and enormous scale that, had they not died before the execution of their purpose, they would have left no possibility for others to surpass them, so far as the construction of monuments is concerned. After these kings had reigned over Egypt for fifteen years it came to pass that the sovereignty devolved upon one man for the following reasons. 8 Psammetichus of Sais, who was one of the twelve kings and in charge of the regions lying along the sea, furnished wares for all merchants and especially for the Phoenicians and the Greeks; 9 and since in this manner he disposed of the products of his own district at a profit and exchanged them for those of other peoples, he was not only possessed of great wealth but also enjoyed friendly relations with peoples and rulers. 10 And this was the reason, they say, why the other kings became envious and opened war against him. Some of the early historians, however, tell this fanciful story: The generals had received an oracle to the effect that the first one of their number to pour a libation from a bronze bowl to the god in Memphis should rule over all Egypt, and when one of the priests brought out of the temple eleven golden bowls, Psammetichus took off his helmet and poured the libation from it. 11 Now his colleagues, although suspecting his act, were not yet ready to put him to death, but drove him instead from public life, with orders that he should spend his days in the marshes along the sea. 12 Whether they fell out for this reason or because of the envy which, as mentioned above, they felt towards him, at any rate Psammetichus, calling mercenaries from Caria and Ionia, overcame the others in a pitched battle near the city called Momemphis, and of the kings who opposed him some were slain in the battle and some were driven out into Libya and were no longer able to dispute with him for the throne.
§ 1.67
τῆς δʼ ὅλης βασιλείας κυριεύσας ὁ Ψαμμήτιχος τῷ μὲν ἐν Μέμφει θεῷ τὸ πρὸς ἕω προπύλαιον κατεσκεύασε καὶ τῷ ναῷ τὸν περίβολον, κολοττοὺς ὑποστήσας ἀντὶ τῶν κιόνων δωδεκαπήχεις· τοῖς δὲ μισθοφόροις χωρὶς τῶν ὡμολογημένων συντάξεων δωρεάς τε ἀξιολόγους ἀπένειμε καὶ τὰ καλούμενα στρατόπεδα τόπον οἰκεῖν ἔδωκε καὶ χώραν πολλὴν κατεκληρούχησε μικρὸν ἐπάνω τοῦ Πηλουσιακοῦ στόματος· οὓς ἐντεῦθεν Ἄμασις ὕστερον πολλοῖς ἔτεσι βασιλεύσας ἀνέστησε καὶ κατῴκισεν εἰς Μέμφιν. διὰ δὲ τῶν μισθοφόρων κατωρθωκὼς τὴν βασιλείαν ὁ Ψαμμήτιχος τούτοις τὸ λοιπὸν μάλιστʼ ἐνεπίστευε τὰ κατὰ τὴν ἀρχὴν καὶ διετέλεσε ξενοτροφῶν μεγάλας δυνάμεις. στρατεύσαντος δʼ εἰς τὴν Συρίαν αὐτοῦ καὶ κατὰ τὰς παρατάξεις τοὺς μὲν μισθοφόρους προτιμῶντος καὶ τάττοντος εἰς τὰ δεξιὰ μέρη, τοὺς δʼ ἐγχωρίους ἀτιμότερον ἄγοντος καὶ τὸν εὐώνυμον τόπον ἀπονέμοντος τῆς φάλαγγος, οἱ μὲν Αἰγύπτιοι διὰ τὴν ὕβριν παροξυνθέντες καὶ γενόμενοι τὸ πλῆθος πλείους τῶν εἴκοσι μυριάδων ἀπέστησαν καὶ προῆγον ἐπʼ Αἰθιοπίας, κεκρικότες ἰδίαν χώραν ἑαυτοῖς κατακτᾶσθαι· ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἔπεμψέ τινας τῶν ἡγεμόνων τοὺς ἀπολογησομένους ὑπὲρ τῆς ἀτιμίας, ὡς δʼ οὐ προσεῖχον αὐτοῖς, αὐτὸς μετὰ τῶν φίλων ἐδίωξε πλοίοις. προαγόντων δʼ αὐτῶν παρὰ τὸν Νεῖλον καὶ τοὺς ὅρους ὑπερβαλλόντων τῆς Αἰγύπτου, ἐδεῖτο μετανοῆσαι καὶ τῶν τε ἱερῶν καὶ τῶν πατρίδων, ἔτι δὲ καὶ γυναικῶν καὶ τέκνων ὑπεμίμνησκεν. οἱ δʼ ἅμα πάντες ἀναβοήσαντες καὶ τοῖς κοντοῖς τὰς ἀσπίδας πατάξαντες ἔφασαν, ἕως ἂν κυριεύωσι τῶν ὅπλων, ῥᾳδίως εὑρήσειν πατρίδας· ἀναστειλάμενοι δὲ τοὺς χιτῶνας καὶ τὰ γεννητικὰ μέρη τοῦ σώματος δείξαντες οὔτε γυναικῶν οὔτε τέκνων ἀπορήσειν ἔφασαν ταῦτʼ ἔχοντες. τοιαύτῃ δὲ μεγαλοψυχίᾳ χρησάμενοι καὶ καταφρονήσαντες τῶν παρὰ τοῖς ἄλλοις μεγίστων εἶναι δοκούντων, κατελάβοντο μὲν τῆς Αἰθιοπίας τὴν κρατίστην, κατακληρουχήσαντες δὲ πολλὴν χώραν ἐν ταύτῃ κατῴκησαν. ὁ δὲ Ψαμμήτιχος ἐπὶ μὲν τούτοις οὐ μετρίως ἐλυπήθη, τὰ δὲ κατὰ τὴν Αἴγυπτον διατάξας καὶ τῶν προσόδων ἐπιμελόμενος πρός τε Ἀθηναίους καί τινας τῶν ἄλλων Ἑλλήνων συμμαχίαν ἐποιήσατο. εὐηργέτει δὲ καὶ τῶν ξένων τοὺς ἐθελοντὴν εἰς τὴν Αἴγυπτον ἀποδημοῦντας, καὶ φιλέλλην ὢν διαφερόντως τοὺς υἱοὺς τὴν Ἑλληνικὴν ἐδίδαξε παιδείαν· καθόλου δὲ πρῶτος τῶν κατʼ Αἴγυπτον βασιλέων ἀνέῳξε τοῖς ἄλλοις ἔθνεσι τὰ κατὰ τὴν ἄλλην χώραν ἐμπόρια καὶ πολλὴν ἀσφάλειαν τοῖς καταπλέουσι ξένοις παρείχετο. οἱ μὲν γὰρ πρὸ τούτου δυναστεύσαντες ἄβατον ἐποίουν τοῖς ξένοις τὴν Αἴγυπτον, τοὺς μὲν φονεύοντες, τοὺς δὲ καταδουλούμενοι τῶν καταπλεόντων. καὶ γὰρ ἡ περὶ τὸν Βούσιριν ἀσέβεια διὰ τὴν τῶν ἐγχωρίων ἀξενίαν διεβοήθη παρὰ τοῖς Ἕλλησιν, οὐκ οὖσα μὲν πρὸς ἀλήθειαν, διὰ δὲ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῆς ἀνομίας εἰς μύθου πλάσμα καταχωρισθεῖσα.
After Psammetichus had established his authority over the entire kingdom he built for the god in Memphis the east propylon and the enclosure about the temple, supporting it with colossi twelve cubits high in place of pillars; and among the mercenaries he distributed notable gifts over and above their promised pay, gave them the region called The Camps to dwell in, and apportioned to them much land in the region lying a little up the river from the Pelusiac mouth; they being subsequently removed thence by Amasis, who reigned many years later, and settled by him in Memphis. 2 And since Psammetichus had established his rule with the aid of the mercenaries, he henceforth entrusted these before others with the administration of his empire and regularly maintained large mercenary forces. 3 Once in connection with a campaign in Syria, when he was giving the mercenaries a more honourable place in his order of battle by putting them on the right wing and showing the native troops less honour by assigning them the position on the left wing of the phalanx, the Egyptians, angered by this slight and being over two hundred thousand strong, revolted and set out for Ethiopia, having determined to win for themselves a country of their own. 4 The king at first sent some of his generals to make excuse for the dishonour done to them, but since no heed was paid to these he set out in person after them by boat, accompanied by his friends. 5 And when they still continued their march along the Nile and were about to cross the boundary of Egypt, he besought them to change their purpose and reminded them of their temples, their homeland, and of their wives and children. 6 But they, all crying aloud and striking their spears against their shields, declared that so long as they had weapons in their hands they would easily find homelands; and lifting their garments and pointing to their genitals they said that so long as they had those they would never be in want either of wives or of children. 7 After such a display of high courage and of utter disdain for what among other men is regarded as of the greatest consequence, they seized the best part of Ethiopia, and after apportioning much land among themselves they made their home there. Although Psammetichus was greatly grieved over these things, he put in order the affairs of Egypt, looked after the royal revenues, and then formed alliances with both Athens and certain other Greek states. 9 He also regularly treated with kindness any foreigners who sojourned in Egypt of their own free will, and was so great an admirer of the Hellenes that he gave his sons a Greek education; and, speaking generally, he was the first Egyptian king to open to other nations the trading-places throughout the rest of Egypt and to offer a large measure of security to strangers from across the seas. 10 For his predecessors in power had consistently closed Egypt to strangers, either killing or enslaving any who touched its shores. 11 Indeed, it was because of the objection to strangers on the part of the people that the impiety of Busiris became a byword among the Greeks, although this impiety was not actually such as it was described, but was made into a fictitious myth because of the exceptional disrespect of the Egyptians for ordinary customs.
§ 1.68
μετὰ δὲ Ψαμμήτιχον ὕστερον τέτταρσι γενεαῖς Ἀπρίης ἐβασίλευσεν ἔτη δυσὶ πλείω τῶν εἴκοσι. στρατεύσας δὲ δυνάμεσιν ἁδραῖς πεζαῖς τε καὶ ναυτικαῖς ἐπὶ Κύπρον καὶ Φοινίκην Σιδῶνα μὲν κατὰ κράτος εἷλε, τὰς δʼ ἄλλας τὰς ἐν τῇ Φοινίκῃ πόλεις καταπληξάμενος προσηγάγετο· ἐνίκησε δὲ καὶ ναυμαχίᾳ μεγάλῃ Φοίνικάς τε καὶ Κυπρίους, καὶ λαφύρων ἀθροίσας πλῆθος ἐπανῆλθεν εἰς Αἴγυπτον. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα δύναμιν πέμψας ἁδρὰν τῶν ὁμοεθνῶν ἐπὶ Κυρήνην καὶ Βάρκην, καὶ τὸ πλεῖστον αὐτῆς ἀποβαλών, ἀλλοτρίους ἔσχε τοὺς διασωθέντας· ὑπολαβόντες γὰρ αὐτὸν ἐπʼ ἀπωλείᾳ συντάξαι τὴν στρατείαν, ὅπως ἀσφαλέστερον ἄρχῃ τῶν λοιπῶν Αἰγυπτίων, ἀπέστησαν. ἀποσταλεὶς δὲ πρὸς τούτους ὑπὸ τοῦ βασιλέως Ἄμασις, ἀνὴρ ἐμφανὴς Αἰγύπτιος, τῶν μὲν ῥηθέντων ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ πρὸς ὁμόνοιαν ἐντολῶν ἠμέλησε, τοὐναντίον δʼ ἐκείνους προτρεψάμενος εἰς ἀλλοτριότητα συναπέστη καὶ βασιλεὺς αὐτὸς ᾑρέθη. μετʼ οὐ πολὺν δὲ χρόνον καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἐγχωρίων ἁπάντων συνεπιθεμένων, ὁ βασιλεὺς διαπορούμενος ἠναγκάσθη καταφυγεῖν ἐπὶ τοὺς μισθοφόρους, ὄντας εἰς τρισμυρίους. γενομένης οὖν παρατάξεως περὶ τὴν Μάρειαν κώμην, καὶ τῶν Αἰγυπτίων τῇ μάχῃ κρατησάντων, ὁ μὲν Ἀπρίης ζωγρηθεὶς ἀνήχθη καὶ στραγγαλισθεὶς ἐτελεύτησεν, Ἄμασις δὲ διατάξας τὰ κατὰ τὴν βασιλείαν ὥς ποτʼ ἔδοξεν αὐτῷ συμφέρειν, ἦρχε νομίμως τῶν Αἰγυπτίων καὶ μεγάλης ἐτύγχανεν ἀποδοχῆς. κατεστρέψατο δὲ καὶ τὰς ἐν Κύπρῳ πόλεις καὶ πολλὰ τῶν ἱερῶν ἐκόσμησεν ἀναθήμασιν ἀξιολόγοις. βασιλεύσας δʼ ἔτη πέντε πρὸς τοῖς πεντήκοντα κατέστρεψε τὸν βίον καθʼ ὃν χρόνον Καμβύσης ὁ τῶν Περσῶν βασιλεὺς ἐστράτευσεν ἐπὶ τὴν Αἴγυπτον, κατὰ τὸ τρίτον ἔτος τῆς ἑξηκοστῆς καὶ τρίτης ὀλυμπιάδος, ἣν ἐνίκα στάδιον Παρμενίδης Καμαριναῖος.
Four generations after Psammetichus, Apries was king for twenty-two years. He made a campaign with strong land and sea forces against Cyprus and Phoenicia, took Sidon by storm, and so terrified the other cities of Phoenicia that he secured their submission; he also defeated the Phoenicians and Cyprians in a great sea-battle and returned to Egypt with much booty. 2 After this he sent a strong native force against Cyrene and Barce and, when the larger part of it was lost, the survivors became estranged from him; for they felt that he had organized the expedition with a view to its destruction in order that his rule over the rest of the Egyptians might be more secure, and so they revolted. 3 The man sent by the king to treat with them, one Amasis, a prominent Egyptian, paid no attention to the orders given him to effect a reconciliation, but, on the contrary, increased their estrangement, joined their revolt, and was himself chosen king. 4 When a little later all the rest of the native Egyptians also went over to Amasis, the king was in such straits that he was forced to flee for safety to the mercenaries, who numbered some thirty thousand men. 5 A pitched battle accordingly took place near the village of Maria and the Egyptians prevailed in the struggle; Apries fell alive into the hands of the enemy and was strangled to death, and Amasis, arranging the affairs of the kingdom in whatever manner seemed to him best, ruled over the Egyptians in accordance with the laws and was held in great favour. 6 He also reduced the cities of Cyprus and adorned many temples with noteworthy votive offerings. After a reign of fifty-five years he ended his days at the time when Cambyses, the king of the Persians, attacked Egypt, in the third year of the Sixty-third Olympiad, that in which Parmenides of Camarina won the "stadion."[525 BCE]
§ 1.69
ἐπεὶ δὲ τὰς τῶν ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ βασιλέων πράξεις ἀπὸ τῶν ἀρχαιοτάτων χρόνων διεληλύθαμεν ἀρκοῦντως μέχρι τῆς Ἀμάσιδος τελευτῆς, τὰς λοιπὰς ἀναγράψομεν ἐν τοῖς οἰκείοις χρόνοις· περὶ δὲ τῶν νομίμων τῶν κατʼ Αἴγυπτον νῦν διέξιμεν ἐν κεφαλαίοις τά τε παραδοξότατα καὶ τὰ μάλιστα ὠφελῆσαι δυνάμενα τοὺς ἀναγινώσκοντας. πολλὰ γὰρ τῶν παλαιῶν ἐθῶν τῶν γενομένων παρʼ Αἰγυπτίοις οὐ μόνον παρὰ τοῖς ἐγχωρίοις ἀποδοχῆς ἔτυχεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ παρὰ τοῖς Ἕλλησιν οὐ μετρίως ἐθαυμάσθη· διόπερ οἱ μέγιστοι τῶν ἐν παιδείᾳ δοξασθέντων ἐφιλοτιμήθησαν εἰς Αἴγυπτον παραβαλεῖν, ἵνα μετάσχωσι τῶν τε νόμων καὶ τῶν ἐπιτηδευμάτων ὡς ἀξιολόγων ὄντων. καίπερ γὰρ τῆς χώρας τὸ παλαιὸν δυσεπιβάτου τοῖς ξένοις οὔσης διὰ τὰς προειρημένας αἰτίας, ὅμως ἔσπευσαν εἰς αὐτὴν παραβαλεῖν τῶν μὲν ἀρχαιοτάτων Ὀρφεὺς καὶ ὁ ποιητὴς Ὅμηρος, τῶν δὲ μεταγενεστέρων ἄλλοι τε πλείους καὶ Πυθαγόρας ὁ Σάμιος, ἔτι δὲ Σόλων ὁ νομοθέτης. λέγουσι τοίνυν Αἰγύπτιοι παρʼ αὑτοῖς τήν τε τῶν γραμμάτων εὕρεσιν γενέσθαι καὶ τὴν τῶν ἄστρων παρατήρησιν, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις τά τε κατὰ τὴν γεωμετρίαν θεωρήματα καὶ τῶν τεχνῶν τὰς πλείστας εὑρεθῆναι, νόμους τε τοὺς ἀρίστους τεθῆναι. καὶ τούτων μεγίστην ἀπόδειξίν φασιν εἶναι τὸ τῆς Αἰγύπτου πλείω τῶν ἑπτακοσίων καὶ τετρακισχιλίων ἐτῶν βασιλεῦσαι τοὺς πλείους ἐγγενεῖς καὶ τὴν χώραν εὐδαιμονεστάτην ὑπάρξαι τῆς ἁπάσης οἰκουμένης· ταῦτα γὰρ οὐκ ἄν ποτε γενέσθαι μὴ οὐ τῶν ἀνθρώπων χρωμένων κρατίστοις ἔθεσι καὶ νόμοις καὶ τοῖς κατὰ πᾶσαν παιδείαν ἐπιτηδεύμασιν. ὅσα μὲν οὖν Ἡρόδοτος καί τινες τῶν τὰς Αἰγυπτίων πράξεις συνταξαμένων ἐσχεδιάκασιν, ἑκουσίως προκρίναντες τῆς ἀληθείας τὸ παραδοξολογεῖν καὶ μύθους πλάττειν ψυχαγωγίας ἕνεκα, παρήσομεν, αὐτὰ δὲ τὰ παρὰ τοῖς ἱερεῦσι τοῖς κατʼ Αἴγυπτον ἐν ταῖς ἀναγραφαῖς γεγραμμένα φιλοτίμως ἐξητακότες ἐκθησόμεθα.
Now that we have discussed sufficiently the deeds of the kings of Egypt from the very earliest times down to the death of Amasis, we shall record the other events in their proper chronological setting; 2 but at this point we shall give a summary account of the customs of Egypt, both those which are especially strange and those which can be of most value to our readers. For many of the customs obtained in ancient days among the Egyptians have not only been accepted by the present inhabitants but have aroused no little admiration among the Greeks; 3 and for that reason those men who have won the greatest repute in intellectual things have been eager to visit Egypt in order to acquaint themselves with its laws and institutions, which they considered to be worthy of note. 4 For despite the fact that for the reasons mentioned above strangers found it difficult in early times to enter the country, it was nevertheless eagerly visited by Orpheus and the poet Homer in the earliest times and in later times by many others, such as Pythagoras of Samos and Solon the lawgiver. 5 Now it is maintained by the Egyptians that it was they who first discovered writing and the observation of the stars, who also discovered the basic principles of geometry and most of the arts, and established the best laws. 6 And the best proof of all this, they say, lies in the fact that Egypt for more than four thousand seven hundred years was ruled over by kings of whom the majority were native Egyptians, and that the land was the most prosperous of the whole inhabited world; for these things could never have been true of any people which did not enjoy most excellent customs and laws and the institutions which promote culture of every kind. 7 Now as for the stories invented by Herodotus and certain writers on Egyptian affairs, who deliberately preferred to the truth the telling of marvellous tales and the invention of myths for the delectation of their readers, these we shall omit, and we shall set forth only what appears in the written records of the priests of Egypt and has passed our careful scrutiny.
§ 1.70
πρῶτον μὲν τοίνυν οἱ βασιλεῖς αὐτῶν βίον εἶχον οὐχ ὅμοιον τοῖς ἄλλοις τοῖς ἐν μοναρχικαῖς ἐξουσίαις οὖσι καὶ πάντα πράττουσι κατὰ τὴν ἑαυτῶν προαίρεσιν ἀνυπευθύνως, ἀλλʼ ἦν ἅπαντα τεταγμένα νόμων ἐπιταγαῖς, οὐ μόνον τὰ περὶ τοὺς χρηματισμούς, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ περὶ τὴν καθʼ ἡμέραν διαγωγὴν καὶ δίαιταν. περὶ μὲν γὰρ τὴν θεραπείαν αὐτῶν οὐδεὶς ἦν οὔτʼ ἀργυρώνητος οὔτʼ οἰκογενὴς δοῦλος, ἀλλὰ τῶν ἐπιφανεστάτων ἱερέων υἱοὶ πάντες, ὑπὲρ εἴκοσι μὲν ἔτη γεγονότες, πεπαιδευμένοι δὲ κάλλιστα τῶν ὁμοεθνῶν, ἵνα τοὺς ἐπιμελησομένους τοῦ σώματος καὶ πᾶσαν ἡμέραν καὶ νύκτα προσεδρεύοντας ὁ βασιλεὺς ἔχων ἀρίστους μηδὲν ἐπιτηδεύῃ φαῦλον· οὐδεὶς γὰρ ἐπὶ πλέον κακίας προβαίνει δυνάστης, ἐὰν μὴ τοὺς ὑπηρετήσοντας ἔχῃ ταῖς ἐπιθυμίαις. διατεταγμέναι δʼ ἦσαν αἵ τε τῆς ἡμέρας καὶ τῆς νυκτὸς ὧραι, καθʼ ἃς ἐκ παντὸς τρόπου καθῆκον ἦν τὸν βασιλέα πράττειν τὸ συντεταγμένον, οὐ τὸ δεδογμένον ἑαυτῷ. ἕωθεν μὲν γὰρ ἐγερθέντα λαβεῖν αὐτὸν ἔδει πρῶτον τὰς πανταχόθεν ἀπεσταλμένας ἐπιστολάς, ἵνα δύνηται πάντα κατὰ τρόπον χρηματίζειν καὶ πράττειν, εἰδὼς ἀκριβῶς ἕκαστα τῶν κατὰ τὴν βασιλείαν συντελουμένων· ἔπειτα λουσάμενον καὶ τοῖς τῆς ἀρχῆς συσσήμοις μετʼ ἐσθῆτος λαμπρᾶς κοσμήσαντα τὸ σῶμα θῦσαι τοῖς θεοῖς. τῷ τε βωμῷ προσαχθέντων τῶν θυμάτων ἔθος ἦν τὸν ἀρχιερέα στάντα πλησίον τοῦ βασιλέως εὔχεσθαι μεγάλῃ τῇ φωνῇ, περιεστῶτος τοῦ πλήθους τῶν Αἰγυπτίων, δοῦναι τήν τε ὑγίειαν καὶ τἄλλα ἀγαθὰ πάντα τῷ βασιλεῖ διατηροῦντι τὰ πρὸς τοὺς ὑποτεταγμένους δίκαια. ἀνθομολογεῖσθαι δʼ ἦν ἀναγκαῖον καὶ τὰς κατὰ μέρος ἀρετὰς αὐτοῦ, λέγοντα διότι πρός τε τοὺς θεοὺς εὐσεβῶς καὶ πρὸς τοὺς ἀνθρώπους ἡμερώτατα διάκειται· ἐγκρατής τε γάρ ἐστι καὶ δίκαιος καὶ μεγαλόψυχος, ἔτι δʼ ἀψευδὴς καὶ μεταδοτικὸς τῶν ἀγαθῶν καὶ καθόλου πάσης ἐπιθυμίας κρείττων, καὶ τὰς μὲν τιμωρίας ἐλάττους τῆς ἀξίας ἐπιτιθεὶς τοῖς ἁμαρτήμασι, τὰς δὲ χάριτας μείζονας τῆς εὐεργεσίας ἀποδιδοὺς τοῖς εὐεργετήσασι. πολλὰ δὲ καὶ ἄλλα παραπλήσια τούτοις διελθὼν ὁ κατευχόμενος τὸ τελευταῖον ὑπὲρ τῶν ἀγνοουμένων ἀρὰν ἐποιεῖτο, τὸν μὲν βασιλέα τῶν ἐγκλημάτων ἐξαιρούμενος, εἰς δὲ τοὺς ὑπηρετοῦντας καὶ διδάξαντας τὰ φαῦλα καὶ τὴν βλάβην καὶ τὴν τιμωρίαν ἀξιῶν ἀποσκῆψαι. ταῦτα δʼ ἔπραττεν ἅμα μὲν εἰς δεισιδαιμονίαν καὶ θεοφιλῆ βίον τὸν βασιλέα προτρεπόμενος, ἅμα δὲ καὶ κατὰ τρόπον ζῆν ἐθίζων οὐ διὰ πικρᾶς νουθετήσεως, ἀλλὰ διʼ ἐπαίνων κεχαρισμένων καὶ πρὸς ἀρετὴν μάλιστʼ ἀνηκόντων. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τοῦ βασιλέως ἱεροσκοπησαμένου μόσχῳ καὶ καλλιερήσαντος, ὁ μὲν ἱερογραμματεὺς παρανεγίνωσκέ τινας συμβουλίας συμφερούσας καὶ πράξεις ἐκ τῶν ἱερῶν βίβλων τῶν ἐπιφανεστάτων ἀνδρῶν, ὅπως ὁ τῶν ὅλων τὴν ἡγεμονίαν ἔχων τὰς καλλίστας προαιρέσεις τῇ διανοίᾳ θεωρήσας οὕτω πρὸς τὴν τεταγμένην τῶν κατὰ μέρος τρέπηται διοίκησιν. οὐ γὰρ μόνον τοῦ χρηματίζειν ἢ κρίνειν ἦν καιρὸς ὡρισμένος, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῦ περιπατῆσαι καὶ λούσασθαι καὶ κοιμηθῆναι μετὰ τῆς γυναικὸς καὶ καθόλου τῶν κατὰ τὸν βίον πραττομένων ἁπάντων. τροφαῖς δʼ ἔθος ἦν αὐτοῖς ἁπαλαῖς χρῆσθαι, κρέα μὲν μόσχων καὶ χηνῶν μόνων προσφερομένους, οἴνου δὲ τακτόν τι μέτρον πίνοντας μὴ δυνάμενον πλησμονὴν ἄκαιρον ἢ μέθην περιποιῆσαι. καθόλου δὲ τὰ περὶ τὴν δίαιταν οὕτως ὑπῆρχε συμμέτρως διατεταγμένα ὥστε δοκεῖν μὴ νομοθέτην, ἀλλὰ τὸν ἄριστον τῶν ἰατρῶν συντεταχέναι τῆς ὑγιείας στοχαζόμενον.
In the first place, then, the life which the kings of the Egyptians lived was not like that of other men who enjoy autocratic power and do in all matters exactly as they please without being held to account, but all their acts were regulated by prescriptions set forth in laws, not only their administrative acts, but also those that had to do with the way in which they spent their time from day to day, and with the food which they ate. 2 In the matter of their servants, for instance, not one was a slave, such as had been acquired by purchase or born in the home, but all were sons of the most distinguished priests, over twenty years old and the best educated of their fellow-countrymen, in order that the king, by virtue of his having the noblest men to care for his person and to attend him throughout both day and night, might follow no low practices; for no ruler advances far along the road of evil until he has those about him who will minister to his passions. 3 And the hours of both the day and night were laid out according to a plan, and at the specified hours it was absolutely required of the king that he should do what the laws stipulated and not what he thought best. 4 For instance, in the morning, as soon as he was awake, he first of all had to receive the letters which had been sent from all sides, the purpose being that he might be able to despatch all administrative business and perform every act properly, being thus accurately informed about everything that was being done throughout his kingdom. Then, after he had bathed and bedecked his body with rich garments and the insignia of his office, he had to sacrifice to the gods. When the victims had been brought to the altar it was the custom for the high priest to stand near the king, with the common people of Egypt gathered around, and pray in a loud voice that health and all the other good things of life be given the king if he maintains justice towards his subjects. 6 And an open confession had also to be made of each and every virtue of the king, the priest saying that towards the gods he was piously disposed and towards men most kindly; for he was self-controlled and just and magnanimous, truthful, and generous with his possessions, and, in a word, superior to every desire, and that he punished crimes less severely than they deserved and rendered to his benefactors a gratitude exceeding the benefaction. 7 And after reciting much more in a similar vein he concluded his prayer with a curse concerning things done in error, exempting the king from all blame therefor and asking that both the evil consequences and the punishment should fall upon those who served him and had taught him evil things. 8 All this he would do, partly to lead the king to fear the gods and live a life pleasing to them, and partly to accustom him to a proper manner of conduct, not by sharp admonitions, but through praises that were agreeable and most conductive to virtue. 9 After this, when the king had performed the divination from the entrails of a calf and had found the omens good, the sacred scribe read before the assemblage from out of the sacred books some of the edifying counsels and deeds of their most distinguished men, in order that he who held the supreme leadership should first contemplate in his mind the most excellent general principles and then turn to the prescribed administration of the several functions. 10 For there was a set time not only for his holding audiences or rendering judgments, but even for his taking a walk, bathing, and sleeping with his wife, and, in a word, for every act of his life. 11 And it was the custom for the kings to partake of delicate food, eating no other meat than veal and duck, and drinking only a prescribed amount of wine, which was not enough to make them unreasonably surfeited or drunken. 12 And, speaking generally, their whole diet was ordered with such continence that it had the appearance of having been drawn up, not by a lawgiver, but by the most skilled of their physicians, with only their health in view.
§ 1.71
παραδόξου δʼ εἶναι δοκοῦντος τοῦ μὴ πᾶσαν ἔχειν ἐξουσίαν τὸν βασιλέα τῆς καθʼ ἡμέραν τροφῆς, πολλῷ θαυμασιώτερον ἦν τὸ μήτε δικάζειν μήτε χρηματίζειν τὸ τυχὸν αὐτοῖς ἐξεῖναι, μηδὲ τιμωρήσασθαι μηδένα διʼ ὕβριν ἢ διὰ θυμὸν ἤ τινα ἄλλην αἰτίαν ἄδικον, ἀλλὰ καθάπερ οἱ περὶ ἑκάστων κείμενοι νόμοι προσέταττον. ταῦτα δὲ κατὰ τὸ ἔθος πράττοντες οὐχ ὅπως ἠγανάκτουν ἢ προσέκοπτον ταῖς ψυχαῖς, ἀλλὰ τοὐναντίον ἡγοῦντο ἑαυτοὺς ζῆν βίον μακαριώτατον· τοὺς μὲν γὰρ ἄλλους ἀνθρώπους ἐνόμιζον ἀλογίστως τοῖς φυσικοῖς πάθεσι χαριζομένους πολλὰ πράττειν τῶν φερόντων βλάβας ἢ κινδύνους, καὶ πολλάκις ἐνίους εἰδότας ὅτι μέλλουσιν ἁμαρτάνειν μηδὲν ἧττον πράττειν τὰ φαῦλα, κατισχυομένους ὑπʼ ἔρωτος ἢ μίσους ἤ τινος ἑτέρου πάθους, ἑαυτοὺς δʼ ἐζηλωκότας βίον τὸν ὑπὸ τῶν φρονιμωτάτων ἀνδρῶν προκεκριμένον ἐλαχίστοις περιπίπτειν ἀγνοήμασι. τοιαύτῃ δὲ χρωμένων τῶν βασιλέων δικαιοσύνῃ πρὸς ὑποτεταγμένους, τὰ πλήθη ταῖς εἰς τοὺς ἡγουμένους εὐνοίαις πᾶσαν συγγενικὴν φιλοστοργίαν ὑπερεβάλλετο οὐ γὰρ μόνον τὸ σύστημα τῶν ἱερέων, ἀλλὰ καὶ συλλήβδην ἅπαντες οἱ κατʼ Αἴγυπτον οὐχ οὕτω γυναικῶν καὶ τέκνων καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν ὑπαρχόντων αὐτοῖς ἀγαθῶν ἐφρόντιζον ὡς τῆς τῶν βασιλέων ἀσφαλείας. τοιγαροῦν πλεῖστον μὲν χρόνον τῶν μνημονευομένων βασιλέων πολιτικὴν κατάστασιν ἐτήρησαν, εὐδαιμονέστατον δὲ βίον ἔχοντες διετέλεσαν, ἕως ἔμεινεν ἡ προειρημένη τῶν νόμων σύνταξις, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις ἐθνῶν τε πλείστων ἐπεκράτησαν καὶ μεγίστους πλούτους ἔσχον, καὶ τὰς μὲν χώρας ἔργοις καὶ κατασκευάσμασιν ἀνυπερβλήτοις, τὰς δὲ πόλεις ἀναθήμασι πολυτελέσι καὶ παντοίοις ἐκόσμησαν.
Strange as it may appear that the king did not have the entire control of his daily fare, far more remarkable still was the fact that kings were not allowed to render any legal decision or transact any business at random or to punish anyone through malice or in anger or for any other unjust reason, but only in accordance with the established laws relative to each offence. 2 And in following the dictates of custom in these matters, so far were they from being indignant or taking offence in their souls, that, on the contrary, they actually held that they led a most happy life; 3 for they believed that all other men, in thoughtlessly following their natural passions, commit many acts which bring them injuries and perils, and that oftentimes some who realize that they are about to commit a sin nevertheless do base acts when overpowered by love or hatred or some other passion, while they, on the other hand, by virtue of their having cultivated a manner of life which had been chosen before all others by the most prudent of all men, fell into the fewest mistakes. 4 And since the kings followed so righteous a course in dealing with their subjects, the people manifested a goodwill towards their rulers which surpassed even the affection they had for their own kinsmen; for not only the order of the priests but, in short, all the inhabitants of Egypt were less concerned for their wives and children and their other cherished possessions than for the safety of their kings. 5 Consequently, during most of the time covered by the reigns of the kings of whom we have a record, they maintained an orderly civil government and continued to enjoy a most felicitous life, so long as the system of laws described was in force; and, more than that, they conquered more nations and achieved greater wealth than any other people, and adorned their lands with monuments and buildings never to be surpassed, and their cities with costly dedications of every description.
§ 1.72
καὶ τὰ μετὰ τὴν τελευτὴν δὲ γινόμενα τῶν βασιλέων παρὰ τοῖς Αἰγυπτίοις οὐ μικρὰν ἀπόδειξιν εἶχε τῆς τοῦ πλήθους εὐνοίας εἰς τοὺς ἡγουμένους· εἰς ἀνεπαίσθητον γὰρ χάριν ἡ τιμὴ τιθεμένη μαρτυρίαν ἀνόθευτον περιεῖχε τῆς ἀληθείας. ὁπότε γὰρ ἐκλείποι τις τὸν βίον τῶν βασιλέων, πάντες οἱ κατὰ τὴν Αἴγυπτον κοινὸν ἀνῃροῦντο πένθος, καὶ τὰς μὲν ἐσθῆτας κατερρήττοντο, τὰ δʼ ἱερὰ συνέκλειον καὶ τὰς θυσίας ἐπεῖχον καὶ τὰς ἑορτὰς οὐκ ἦγον ἐφʼ ἡμέρας ἑβδομήκοντα καὶ δύο· καταπεπλασμένοι δὲ τὰς κεφαλὰς πηλῷ καὶ περιεζωσμένοι σινδόνας ὑποκάτω τῶν μαστῶν ὁμοίως ἄνδρες καὶ γυναῖκες περιῇσαν ἀθροισθέντες κατὰ διακοσίους ἢ τριακοσίους, καὶ τὸν μὲν θρῆνον ἐν ῥυθμῷ μετʼ ᾠδῆς ποιούμενοι δὶς τῆς ἡμέρας ἐτίμων ἐγκωμίοις, ἀνακαλούμενοι τὴν ἀρετὴν τοῦ τετελευτηκότος, τροφὴν δʼ οὔτε τὴν ἀπὸ τῶν ἐμψύχων οὔτε τὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ πυροῦ προσεφέροντο, τοῦ τε οἴνου καὶ πάσης πολυτελείας ἀπείχοντο. οὐδεὶς δʼ ἂν οὔτε λουτροῖς οὔτʼ ἀλείμμασιν οὔτε στρωμναῖς προείλετο χρῆσθαι, οὐ μὴν οὐδὲ πρὸς τὰ ἀφροδίσια προσελθεῖν ἂν ἐτόλμησεν, ἀλλὰ καθάπερ ἀγαπητοῦ τέκνου τελευτήσαντος ἕκαστος περιώδυνος γινόμενος ἐπένθει τὰς εἰρημένας ἡμέρας. ἐν δὲ τούτῳ τῷ χρόνῳ τὰ πρὸς ταφὴν λαμπρῶς παρεσκευασμένοι, καὶ τῇ τελευταίᾳ τῶν ἡμερῶν θέντες τὴν τὸ σῶμα ἔχουσαν λάρνακα πρὸ τῆς εἰς τὸν τάφον εἰσόδου, προετίθεσαν κατὰ νόμον τῷ τετελευτηκότι κριτήριον τῶν ἐν τῷ βίῳ πραχθέντων. δοθείσης δʼ ἐξουσίας τῷ βουλομένῳ κατηγορεῖν, οἱ μὲν ἱερεῖς ἐνεκωμίαζον ἕκαστα τῶν καλῶς αὐτῷ πραχθέντων διεξιόντες, αἰ δὲ πρὸς τὴν ἐκφορὰν συνηγμέναι μυριάδες τῶν ὄχλων ἀκούουσαι συνεπευφήμουν, εἰ τύχοι καλῶς βεβιωκώς, εἰ δὲ μή, τοὐναντίον ἐθορύβουν. καὶ πολλοὶ τῶν βασιλέων διὰ τὴν τοῦ πλήθους ἐναντίωσιν ἀπεστερήθησαν τῆς ἐμφανοῦς καὶ νομίμου ταφῆς· διὸ καὶ συνέβαινε τοὺς τὴν βασιλείαν διαδεχομένους μὴ μόνον διὰ τὰς ἄρτι ῥηθείσας αἰτίας δικαιοπραγεῖν, ἀλλὰ καὶ διὰ τὸν φόβον τῆς μετὰ τὴν τελευτὴν ἐσομένης ὕβρεώς τε τοῦ σώματος καὶ βλασφημίας εἰς ἅπαντα τὸν αἰῶνα. τῶν μὲν οὖν περὶ τοὺς ἀρχαίους βασιλεῖς νομίμων τὰ μέγιστα ταῦτʼ ἔστιν.
Again, the Egyptian ceremonies which followed upon the death of a king afforded no small proof of the goodwill of the people towards their rulers; for the fact that the honour which they paid was to one who was insensible of it constituted an authentic testimony to its sincerity. 2 For when any king died all the inhabitants of Egypt united in mourning for him, rending their garments, closing the temples, stopping the sacrifices, and celebrating no festivals for seventy-two days; and plastering their heads with mud and wrapping strips of linen cloth below their breasts, women as well as men went about in groups of two or three hundred, and twice each day, reciting the dirge in a rhythmic chant, they sang the praises of the deceased, recalling his virtues; nor would they eat the flesh of any living thing or food prepared from wheat, and they abstained from wine and luxury of any sort. 3 And no one would ever have seen fit to make use of baths or unguents or soft bedding, nay more, would not even have dared to indulge in sexual pleasures, but every Egyptian grieved and mourned during those seventy-two days as if it were his own beloved child that had died. 4 But during this interval they had made splendid preparations for the burial, and on the last day, placing the coffin containing the body before the entrance to the tomb, they set up, as custom prescribed, a tribunal to sit in judgment upon the deeds done by the deceased during his life. 5 And when permission had been given to anyone who so wished to lay complaint against him, the priests praised all his noble deeds one after another, and the common people who had gathered in myriads to the funeral, listening to them, shouted their approval if the king had led a worthy life, 6 but if he had not, they raised a clamour of protest. And in fact many kings have been deprived of the public burial customarily accorded them because of the opposition of the people; the result was, consequently, that the successive kings practised justice, not merely for the reasons just mentioned, but also because of their fear of the despite which would be shown their body after death and of eternal obloquy. Of the customs, then, touching the early kings these are the most important.
§ 1.73
τῆς Αἰγύπτου δὲ πάσης εἰς πλείω μέρη διῃρημένης, ὧν ἕκαστον κατὰ τὴν Ἑλληνικὴν διάλεκτον ὀνομάζεται νομός, ἐφʼ ἑκάστῳ τέτακται νομάρχης ὁ τὴν ἁπάντων ἔχων ἐπιμέλειάν τε καὶ φροντίδα. τῆς δὲ χώρας ἁπάσης εἰς τρία μέρη διῃρημένης τὴν μὲν πρώτην ἔχει μερίδα τὸ σύστημα τῶν ἱερέων, μεγίστης ἐντροπῆς τυγχάνον παρὰ τοῖς ἐγχωρίοις διά τε τὴν εἰς τοὺς θεοὺς ἐπιμέλειαν καὶ διὰ τὸ πλείστην σύνεσιν τοὺς ἄνδρας τούτους ἐκ παιδείας εἰσφέρεσθαι. ἐκ δὲ τούτων τῶν προσόδων τάς τε θυσίας ἁπάσας τὰς κατʼ Αἴγυπτον συντελοῦσι καὶ τοὺς ὑπηρέτας τρέφουσι καὶ ταῖς ἰδίαις χρείαις χορηγοῦσιν· οὔτε γὰρ τὰς τῶν θεῶν τιμὰς ᾤοντο δεῖν ἀλλάττειν, ἀλλʼ ὑπό τε τῶν αὐτῶν ἀεὶ καὶ παραπλησίως συντελεῖσθαι, οὔτε τοὺς πάντων προβουλευομένους ἐνδεεῖς εἶναι τῶν ἀναγκαίων. καθόλου γὰρ περὶ τῶν μεγίστων οὗτοι προβουλευόμενοι συνδιατρίβουσι τῷ βασιλεῖ, τῶν μὲν συνεργοί, τῶν δὲ εἰσηγηταὶ καὶ διδάσκαλοι γινόμενοι, καὶ διὰ μὲν τῆς ἀστρολογίας καὶ τῆς ἱεροσκοπίας τὰ μέλλοντα προσημαίνοντες, ἐκ δὲ τῶν ἐν ταῖς ἱεραῖς βίβλοις ἀναγεγραμμένων πράξεων τὰς ὠφελῆσαι δυναμένας παραναγινώσκοντες. οὐ γάρ, ὥσπερ παρὰ τοῖς Ἕλλησιν, εἷς ἀνὴρ ἢ μία γυνὴ τὴν ἱερωσύνην παρείληφεν, ἀλλὰ πολλοὶ περὶ τὰς τῶν θεῶν θυσίας καὶ τιμὰς διατρίβουσι, καὶ τοῖς ἐκγόνοις τὴν ὁμοίαν τοῦ βίου προαίρεσιν παραδιδόασιν. εἰσὶ δὲ οὗτοι πάντων τε ἀτελεῖς καὶ δευτερεύοντες μετὰ τὸν βασιλέα ταῖς τε δόξαις καὶ ταῖς ἐξουσίαις. τὴν δὲ δευτέραν μοῖραν οἱ βασιλεῖς παρειλήφασιν εἰς προσόδους, ἀφʼ ὧν εἴς τε τοὺς πολέμους χορηγοῦσι καὶ τὴν περὶ αὑτοὺς λαμπρότητα διαφυλάττουσι, καὶ τοὺς μὲν ἀνδραγαθήσαντας δωρεαῖς κατὰ τὴν ἀξίαν τιμῶσι, τοὺς δʼ ἰδιώτας διὰ τὴν ἐκ τούτων εὐπορίαν οὐ βαπτίζουσι ταῖς εἰσφοραῖς. τὴν δὲ μερίδα τὴν τελευταίαν ἔχουσιν οἱ μάχιμοι καλούμενοι καὶ πρὸς τὰς λειτουργίας τὰς εἰς τὴν στρατείαν ὑπακούοντες, ἵνʼ οἱ κινδυνεύοντες εὐνούστατοι τῇ χώρᾳ διὰ τὴν κληρουχίαν ὄντες προθύμως ἐπιδέχωνται τὰ συμβαίνοντα κατὰ τοὺς πολέμους δεινά. ἄτοπον γὰρ ἦν τὴν μὲν τῶν ἁπάντων σωτηρίαν τούτοις ἐπιτρέπειν, ὑπὲρ οὗ δὲ ἀγωνιοῦνται μηδὲν αὐτοῖς ὑπάρχειν κατὰ τὴν χώραν σπουδῆς ἄξιον· τὸ δὲ μέγιστον, εὐπορουμένους αὐτοὺς ῥᾳδίως τεκνοποιήσειν, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο τὴν πολυανθρωπίαν κατασκευάσειν, ὥστε μὴ προσδεῖσθαι ξενικῆς δυνάμεως τὴν χώραν. ὁμοίως δʼ οὗτοι τὴν τάξιν ταύτην ἐκ προγόνων διαδεχόμενοι ταῖς μὲν τῶν πατέρων ἀνδραγαθίαις προτρέπονται πρὸς τὴν ἀνδρείαν, ἐκ παίδων δὲ ζηλωταὶ γινόμενοι τῶν πολεμικῶν ἔργων ἀνίκητοι ταῖς τόλμαις καὶ ταῖς ἐμπειρίαις ἀποβαίνουσιν.
And since Egypt as a whole is divided into several parts which in Greek are called nomes, over each of these a nomarch is appointed who is charged with both the oversight and care of all its affairs. 2 Furthermore, the entire country is divided into three parts, the first of which is held by the order of the priests, which is accorded the greatest veneration by the inhabitants both because these men have charge of the worship of the gods and because by virtue of their education they bring to bear a higher intelligence than others. 3 With the income from these holdings of land they perform all the sacrifices throughout Egypt, maintain their assistants, and minister to their own needs; for it has always been held that the honours paid to the gods should never be changed, but should ever be performed by the same men and in the same manner, and that those who deliberate on behalf of all should not lack the necessities of life. 4 For, speaking generally, the priests are the first to deliberate upon the most important matters and are always at the king's side, sometimes as his assistants, sometimes to propose measures and give instructions, and they also, by their knowledge of astrology and of divination, forecast future events, and read to the king, out of the record of acts preserved in their sacred books, those which can be of assistance. 5 For it is not the case with the Egyptians as it is with the Greeks, that a single man or a single woman takes over the priesthood, but many are engaged in the sacrifices and honours paid the gods and pass on to their descendants the same rule of life. They also pay no taxes of any kind, and in repute and in power are second after the king. The second part of the country has been taken over by the kings for their revenues, out of which they pay the cost of their wars, support the splendour of their court, and reward with fitting gifts any who have distinguished themselves; and they do not swamp the private citizens by taxation, since their income from these revenues gives them a great plenty. The last part is held by the warriors, as they are called, who are subject to call for all military duties, the purpose being that those who hazard their lives may be most loyal to the country because of such allotment of land and thus may eagerly face the perils of war. 8 For it would be absurd to entrust the safety of the entire nation to these men and yet have them possess in the country no property to fight for valuable enough to arouse their ardour. But the most important consideration is the fact that, if they are well-to-do, they will readily beget children and thus so increase the population that the country will not need to call in any mercenary troops. 9 And since their calling, like that of the priests, is hereditary, the warriors are incited to bravery by the distinguished records of their fathers and, inasmuch as they become zealous students of warfare from their boyhood up, they turn out to be invincible by reason of their daring and skill.
§ 1.74
ἔστι δʼ ἕτερα συντάγματα τῆς πολιτείας τρία, τό τε τῶν νομέων καὶ τὸ τῶν γεωργῶν, ἔτι δὲ τὸ τῶν τεχνιτῶν. οἱ μὲν οὖν γεωργοὶ μικροῦ τινος τὴν καρποφόρον γῆν τὴν παρὰ τοῦ βασιλέως καὶ τῶν ἱερέων καὶ τῶν μαχίμων μισθούμενοι διατελοῦσι τὸν πάντα χρόνον περὶ τὴν ἐργασίαν ὄντες τῆς χώρας· ἐκ νηπίου δὲ συντρεφόμενοι ταῖς γεωργικαῖς ἐπιμελείαις πολὺ προέχουσι τῶν παρὰ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἔθνεσι γεωργῶν ταῖς ἐμπειρίαις· καὶ γὰρ τὴν τῆς γῆς φύσιν καὶ τὴν τῶν ὑδάτων ἐπίρρυσιν, ἔτι δὲ τοὺς καιροὺς τοῦ τε σπόρου καὶ τοῦ θερισμοῦ καὶ τῆς ἄλλης τῶν καρπῶν συγκομιδῆς ἀκριβέστατα πάντων γινώσκουσι, τὰ μὲν ἐκ τῆς τῶν προγόνων παρατηρήσεως μαθόντες, τὰ δʼ ἐκ τῆς ἰδίας πείρας διδαχθέντες. ὁ δʼ αὐτὸς λόγος ἐστὶ καὶ περὶ τῶν νομέων, οἳ τὴν τῶν θρεμμάτων ἐπιμέλειαν ἐκ πατέρων ὥσπερ κληρονομίας νόμῳ παραλαμβάνοντες ἐν βίῳ κτηνοτρόφῳ διατελοῦσι πάντα τὸν τοῦ ζῆν χρόνον, καὶ πολλὰ μὲν παρὰ τῶν προγόνων πρὸς θεραπείαν καὶ διατροφὴν ἀρίστην τῶν βοσκομένων παρειλήφασιν, οὐκ ὀλίγα δʼ αὐτοὶ διὰ τὸν εἰς ταῦτα ζῆλον προσευρίσκουσι, καὶ τὸ θαυμασιώτατον, διὰ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῆς εἰς ταῦτα σπουδῆς οἵ τε ὀρνιθοτρόφοι καὶ οἱ χηνοβοσκοὶ χωρὶς τῆς παρὰ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἀνθρώποις ἐκ φύσεως συντελουμένης γενέσεως τῶν εἰρημένων ζῴων αὐτοὶ διὰ τῆς ἰδίας φιλοτεχνίας ἀμύθητον πλῆθος ὀρνέων ἀθροίζουσιν· οὐ γὰρ ἐπῳάζουσι διὰ τῶν ὀρνίθων, ἀλλʼ αὐτοὶ παραδόξως χειρουργοῦντες τῇ συνέσει καὶ φιλοτεχνίᾳ τῆς φυσικῆς ἐνεργείας οὐκ ἀπολείπονται. ἀλλὰ μὴν καὶ τὰς τέχνας ἰδεῖν ἔστι παρὰ τοῖς Αἰγυπτίοις μάλιστα διαπεπονημένας καὶ πρὸς τὸ καθῆκον τέλος διηκριβωμένας· παρὰ μόνοις γὰρ τούτοις οἱ δημιουργοὶ πάντες οὔτʼ ἐργασίας ἄλλης οὔτε πολιτικῆς τάξεως μεταλαμβάνειν ἐῶνται πλὴν τῆς ἐκ τῶν νόμων ὡρισμένης καὶ παρὰ τῶν γονέων παραδεδομένης, ὥστε μήτε διδασκάλου φθόνον μήτε πολιτικοὺς περισπασμοὺς μήτʼ ἄλλο μηδὲν ἐμποδίζειν αὐτῶν τὴν εἰς ταῦτα σπουδήν. παρὰ μὲν γὰρ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἰδεῖν ἔστι τοὺς τεχνίτας περὶ πολλὰ τῇ διανοίᾳ περισπωμένους καὶ διὰ τὴν πλεονεξίαν μὴ μένοντας τὸ παράπαν ἐπὶ τῆς ἰδίας ἐργασίας· οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἐφάπτονται γεωργίας, οἱ δʼ ἐμπορίας κοινωνοῦσιν, οἱ δὲ δυοῖν ἢ τριῶν τεχνῶν ἀντέχονται, πλεῖστοι δʼ ἐν ταῖς δημοκρατουμέναις πόλεσιν εἰς τὰς ἐκκλησίας σνντρέχοντες τὴν μὲν πολιτείαν λυμαίνονται, τὸ δὲ λυσιτελὲς περιποιοῦνται παρὰ τῶν μισθοδοτούντων· παρὰ δὲ τοῖς Αἰγυπτίοις, εἴ τις τῶν τεχνιτῶν μετάσχοι τῆς πολιτείας ἢ τέχνας πλείους ἐργάζοιτο, μεγάλαις περιπίπτει τιμωρίαις. τὴν μὲν οὖν διαίρεσιν τῆς πολιτείας καὶ τὴν τῆς ἰδίας τάξεως ἐπιμέλειαν διὰ προγόνων τοιαύτην ἔσχον οἱ τὸ παλαιὸν τὴν Αἴγυπτον κατοικοῦντες.
There are three other classes of free citizens, namely, the herdsmen, the husbandmen, and the artisans. Now the husbandmen rent on moderate terms the arable land held by the king and the priests and the warriors, and spend their entire time in tilling the soil; and since from very infancy they are brought up in connection with the various tasks of farming, they are far more experienced in such matters than the husbandmen of any other nation; 2 for of all mankind they acquire the most exact knowledge of the nature of the soil, the use of water in irrigation, the times of sowing and reaping, and the harvesting of crops in general, some details of which they have learned from the observations of their ancestors and others in the school of their own experience. 3 And what has been said applies equally well to the herdsmen, who receive the care of animals from their fathers as if by a law of inheritance, and follow a pastoral life all the days of their existence. 4 They have received, it is true, much from their ancestors relative to the best care and feeding of grazing animals, but to this they add not a little by reason of their own interest in such matters; and the most astonishing fact is that, by reason of their unusual application to such matters, the men who have charge of poultry and geese, in addition to producing them in the natural way known to all mankind, raise them by their own hands, by virtue of a skill peculiar to them, in numbers beyond telling; 5 for they do not use the birds for hatching the eggs, but, in effecting this themselves artificially by their own wit and skill in an astounding manner, they are not surpassed by the operations of nature. Furthermore, one may see that the crafts also among the Egyptians are very diligently cultivated and brought to their proper development; for they are the only people where all the craftsmen are forbidden to follow any other occupation or belong to any other class of citizens than those stipulated by the laws and handed down to them from their parents, the result being that neither ill-will towards a teacher nor political distractions nor any other thing interferes with their interest in their work. 7 For whereas among all other peoples it can be observed that the artisans are distracted in mind by many things, and through the desire to advance themselves do not stick exclusively to their own occupation; for some try their hands at agriculture, some dabble in trade, and some cling to two or three crafts, and in states having a democratic form of government vast numbers of them, trooping to the meetings of the Assembly, ruin the work of the government, while they make a profit for themselves at the expense of others who pay them their wage, yet among the Egyptians if any artisan should take part in public affairs or pursue several crafts he is severely punished. Such, then, were the divisions of the citizens, maintained by the early inhabitants of Egypt, and their devotion to their own class which they inherited from their ancestors.
§ 1.75
περὶ δὲ τὰς κρίσεις οὐ τὴν τυχοῦσαν ἐποιοῦντο σπουδήν, ἡγούμενοι τὰς ἐν τοῖς δικαστηρίοις ἀποφάσεις μεγίστην ῥοπὴν τῷ κοινῷ βίῳ φέρειν πρὸς ἀμφότερα. δῆλον γὰρ ἦν ὅτι τῶν μὲν παρανομούντων κολαζομένων, τῶν δʼ ἀδικουμένων βοηθείας τυγχανόντων, ἀρίστη διόρθωσις ἔσται τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων· εἰ δʼ ὁ φόβος ὁ γινόμενος ἐκ τῶν κρίσεων τοῖς παρανομοῦσιν ἀνατρέποιτο χρήμασιν ἢ χάρισιν, ἐσομένην ἑώρων τοῦ κοινοῦ βίου σύγχυσιν. διόπερ ἐκ τῶν ἐπιφανεστάτων πόλεων τοὺς ἀρίστους ἄνδρας ἀποδεικνύντες δικαστὰς κοινοὺς οὐκ ἀπετύγχανον τῆς προαιρέσεως. ἐξ Ἡλίου γὰρ πόλεως καὶ Θηβῶν καὶ Μέμφεως δέκα δικαστὰς ἐξ ἑκάστης προέκρινον· καὶ τοῦτο τὸ συνέδριον οὐκ ἐδόκει λείπεσθαι τῶν Ἀθήνησιν Ἀρεοπαγιτῶν ἢ τῶν παρὰ Λακεδαιμονίοις γερόντων. ἐπεὶ δὲ συνέλθοιεν οἱ τριάκοντα, ἐπέκρινον ἐξ ἑαυτῶν ἕνα τὸν ἄριστον, καὶ τοῦτον μὲν ἀρχιδικαστὴν καθίσταντο, εἰς δὲ τὸ τούτου τόπον ἀπέστελλεν ἡ πόλις ἕτερον δικαστήν. συντάξεις δὲ τῶν ἀναγκαίων παρὰ τοῦ βασιλέως τοῖς μὲν δικασταῖς ἱκαναὶ πρὸς διατροφὴν ἐχορηγοῦντο, τῷ δʼ ἀρχιδικαστῇ πολλαπλάσιοι. ἐφόρει δʼ οὗτος περὶ τὸν τράχηλον ἐκ χρυσῆς ἁλύσεως ἠρτημένον ζῴδιον τῶν πολυτελῶν λίθων, ὃ προσηγόρευον ἀλήθειαν. τῶν δʼ ἀμφισβητήσεων ἤρχοντο ἐπειδὰν τὴν τῆς ἀληθείας εἰκόνα ὁ ἀρχιδικαστὴς πρόσθοιτο. τῶν δὲ πάντων νόμων ἐν βιβλίοις ὀκτὼ γεγραμμένων, καὶ τούτων παρακειμένων τοῖς δικασταῖς, ἔθος ἦν τὸν μὲν κατήγορον γράψαι καθʼ ἓν ὧν ἐνεκάλει καὶ πῶς γέγονε καὶ τὴν ἀξίαν τοῦ ἀδικήματος ἢ τῆς βλάβης, τὸν ἀπολογούμενον δὲ λαβόντα τὸ χρηματισθὲν ὑπὸ τῶν ἀντιδίκων ἀντιγράψαι πρὸς ἕκαστον ὡς οὐκ ἔπραξεν ἢ πράξας οὐκ ἠδίκησεν ἢ ἀδικήσας ἐλάττονος ζημίας ἄξιός ἐστι τυχεῖν. ἔπειτα νόμιμον ἦν τὸν κατήγορον ἀντιγράψαι καὶ πάλιν τὸν ἀπολογούμενον ἀντιθεῖναι. ἀμφοτέρων δὲ τῶν ἀντιδίκων τὰ γεγραμμένα δὶς τοῖς δικασταῖς δόντων, τὸ τηνικαῦτʼ ἔδει τοὺς μὲν τριάκοντα τὰς γνώμας ἐν ἀλλήλοις ἀποφαίνεσθαι, τὸν ἀρχιδικαστὴν δὲ τὸ ζῴδιον τῆς ἀληθείας προστίθεσθαι τῇ ἑτέρᾳ τῶν ἀμφισβητήσεων.
In their administration of justice the Egyptians also showed no merely casual interest, holding that the decisions of the courts exercise the greatest influence upon community life, and this in each of their two aspects. 2 For it was evident to them that if the offenders against the law should be punished and the injured parties should be afforded succour there would be an ideal correction of wrongdoing; but if, on the other hand, the fear which wrongdoers have of the judgments of the courts should be brought to naught by bribery or favour, they saw that the break-up of community life would follow. 3 Consequently, by appointing the best men from the most important cities as judges over the whole land they did not fall short of the end which they had in mind. For from Heliopolis and Thebes and Memphis they used to choose ten judges from each, and this court was regarded as in no way inferior to that composed of the Areopagites at Athens or of the Elders at Sparta. 4 And when the thirty assembled they chose the best one of their number and made him chief justice, and in his stead the city sent another judge. Allowances to provide for their needs were supplied by the king, to the judges sufficient for their maintenance, and many times as much to the chief justice. 5 The latter regularly wore suspended from his neck by a golden chain a small image made of precious stones, which they called Truth; the hearings of the pleas commenced whenever the chief justice put on the image of Truth. 6 The entire body of the laws was written down in eight volumes which lay before the judges, and the custom was that the accuser should present in writing the particulars of his complaint, namely, the charge, how the thing happened, and the amount of injury or damage done, whereupon the defendant would take the document submitted by his opponents in the suit and reply in writing to each charge, to the effect either that he did not commit the deed, or, if he did, that he was not guilty of wrongdoing, or, if he was guilty of wrongdoing, that he should receive a lighter penalty. 7 After that, the law required that the accuser should reply to this in writing and that the defendant should offer a rebuttal. And after both parties had twice presented their statements in writing to the judges, it was the duty of the thirty at once to declare their opinions among themselves and of the chief justice to place the image of Truth upon one or the other of the two pleas which had been presented.
§ 1.76
τούτῳ δὲ τῷ τρόπῳ τὰς κρίσεις πάσας συντελεῖν τοὺς Αἰγυπτίους, νομίζοντας ἐκ μὲν τοῦ λέγειν τοὺς συνηγόρους πολλὰ τοῖς δικαίοις ἐπισκοτήσειν· καὶ γὰρ τὰς τέχνας τῶν ῥητόρων καὶ τὴν τῆς ὑποκρίσεως γοητείαν καὶ τὰ τῶν κινδυνευόντων δάκρυα πολλοὺς προτρέπεσθαι παρορᾶν τὸ τῶν νόμων ἀπότομον καὶ τὴν τῆς ἀληθείας ἀκρίβειαν· θεωρεῖσθαι γοῦν τοὺς ἐπαινουμένους ἐν τῷ κρίνειν πολλάκις ἢ διʼ ἀπάτην ἢ διὰ ψυχαγωγίαν ἢ διὰ τὸ πρὸς τὸν ἔλεον πάθος συνεκφερομένους τῇ δυνάμει τῶν συνηγορούντων· ἐκ δὲ τοῦ γράφειν τὰ δίκαια τοὺς ἀντιδίκους ᾤοντο τὰς κρίσεις ἀκριβεῖς ἔσεσθαι, γυμνῶν τῶν πραγμάτων θεωρουμένων. οὕτω γὰρ ἂν μάλιστα μήτε τοὺς εὐφυεῖς τῶν βραδυτέρων πλεονεκτήσειν μήτε τοὺς ἐνηθληκότας τῶν ἀπείρων μήτε τοὺς ψεύστας καὶ τολμηροὺς τῶν φιλαλήθων καὶ κατεσταλμένων τοῖς ἤθεσι, πάντας δʼ ἐπʼ ἴσης τεύξεσθαι τῶν δικαίων, ἱκανὸν χρόνον ἐκ τῶν νόμων λαμβανόντων τῶν μὲν ἀντιδίκων ἐξετάσαι τὰ παρʼ ἀλλήλων, τῶν δὲ δικαστῶν συγκρῖναι τὰ παρʼ ἀμφοτέρων.
This was the manner, as their account goes, in which the Egyptians conducted all court proceedings, since they believed that if the advocates were allowed to speak they would greatly becloud the justice of a case; for they knew that the clever devices of orators, the cunning witchery of their delivery, and the tears of the accused would influence many to overlook the severity of the laws and the strictness of truth; 2 at any rate they were aware that men who are highly respected as judges are often carried away by the eloquence of the advocates, either because they are deceived, or because they are won over by the speaker's charm, or because the emotion of pity has been aroused in them; but by having the parties to a suit present their pleas in writing, it was their opinion that the judgments would be strict, only the bare facts being taken into account. 3 For in that case there would be the least chance that gifted speakers would have an advantage over the slower, or the well-practised over the inexperienced, or the audacious liars over those who were truth-loving and restrained in character, but all would get their just dues on an equal footing, since by the provision of the laws ample time is taken, on the one hand by the disputants for the examination of the arguments of the other side, and, on the other hand, by the judges for the comparison of the allegations of both parties.
§ 1.77
ἐπεὶ δὲ τῆς νομοθεσίας ἐμνήσθημεν, οὐκ ἀνοίκειον εἶναι τῆς ὑποκειμένης ἱστορίας νομίζομεν ἐκθέσθαι τῶν νόμων ὅσοι παρὰ τοῖς Αἰγυπτίοις παλαιότητι διήνεγκαν ἢ παρηλλαγμένην τάξιν ἔσχον ἢ τὸ σύνολον ὠφέλειαν τοῖς φιλαναγνωστοῦσι δύνανται παρασχέσθαι. πρῶτον μὲν οὖν κατὰ τῶν ἐπιόρκων θάνατος ἦν παρʼ αὐτοῖς τὸ πρόστιμον, ὡς δύο τὰ μέγιστα ποιούντων ἀνομήματα, θεούς τε ἀσεβούντων καὶ τὴν μεγίστην τῶν παρʼ ἀνθρώποις πίστιν ἀνατρεπόντων. ἔπειτα εἴ τις ἐν ὁδῷ κατὰ τὴν χώραν ἰδὼν φονευόμενον ἄνθρωπον ἢ τὸ καθόλου βίαιόν τι πάσχοντα μὴ ῥύσαιτο δυνατὸς ὤν, θανάτῳ περιπεσεῖν ὤφειλεν· εἰ δὲ πρὸς ἀλήθειαν διὰ τὸ ἀδύνατον μὴ κατισχύσαι βοηθῆσαι, μηνῦσαί γε πάντως ὤφειλε τοὺς λῃστὰς καὶ ἐπεξιέναι τὴν παρανομίαν· τὸν δὲ ταῦτα μὴ πράξαντα κατὰ τὸν νόμον ἔδει μαστιγοῦσθαι τεταγμένας πληγὰς καὶ πάσης εἴργεσθαι τροφῆς ἐπὶ τρεῖς ἡμέρας. οἱ δὲ ψευδῶς τινων κατηγορήσαντες ὤφειλον τοῦτο παθεῖν ὃ τοῖς συκοφαντηθεῖσιν ἐτέτακτο πρόστιμον, εἴπερ ἔτυχον καταδικασθέντες. προσετέτακτο δὲ καὶ πᾶσι τοῖς Αἰγυπτίοις ἀπογράφεσθαι πρὸς τοὺς ἄρχοντας ἀπὸ τίνων ἕκαστος πορίζεται τὸν βίον, καὶ τὸν ἐν τούτοις ψευσάμενον ἢ πόρον ἄδικον ἐπιτελοῦντα θανάτῳ περιπίπτειν ἦν ἀναγκαῖον. λέγεται δὲ τοῦτον τὸν νόμον ὑπὸ Σόλωνος παραβαλόντος εἰς Αἴγυπτον εἰς τὰς Ἀθήνας μετενεχθῆναι. εἰ δέ τις ἑκουσίως ἀποκτείναι τὸν ἐλεύθερον ἢ τὸν δοῦλον, ἀποθνήσκειν τοῦτον οἱ νόμοι προσέταττον, ἅμα μὲν βουλόμενοι μὴ ταῖς διαφοραῖς τῆς τύχης, ἀλλὰ ταῖς τῶν πράξεων ἐπιβολαῖς εἴργεσθαι πάντας ἀπὸ τῶν φαύλων, ἅμα δὲ διὰ τῆς τῶν δούλων φροντίδος ἐθίζοντες τοὺς ἀνθρώπους πολὺ μᾶλλον εἰς τοὺς ἐλευθέρους μηδὲν ὅλως ἐξαμαρτάνειν. καὶ κατὰ μὲν τῶν γονέων τῶν ἀποκτεινάντων τὰ τέκνα θάνατον μὲν οὐχ ὥρισαν, ἡμέρας δὲ τρεῖς καὶ νύκτας ἴσας συνεχῶς ἦν ἀναγκαῖον περιειληφότας τὸν νεκρὸν ὑπομένειν φυλακῆς παρεδρευούσης δημοσίας· οὐ γὰρ δίκαιον ὑπελήφθη τὸ τοῦ βίου στερίσκειν τοὺς τὸν βίον τοῖς παισὶ δεδωκότας, νουθετήσει δὲ μᾶλλον λύπην ἐχούσῃ καὶ μεταμέλειαν ἀποτρέπειν τῶν τοιούτων ἐγχειρημάτων· κατὰ δὲ τῶν τέκνων τῶν γονεῖς φονευσάντων τιμωρίαν ἐξηλλαγμένην ἔθηκαν· ἔδει γὰρ τοὺς καταδικασθέντας ἐπὶ τούτοις καλάμοις ὀξέσι δακτυλιαῖα μέρη τοῦ σώματος κατατμηθέντας ἐπʼ ἀκάνθαις κατακάεσθαι ζῶντας· μέγιστον τῶν ἐν ἀνθρώποις ἀδικημάτων κρίνοντες τὸ βιαίως τὸ ζῆν ἀφαιρεῖσθαι τῶν τὴν ζωὴν αὐτοῖς δεδωκότων. τῶν δὲ γυναικῶν τῶν καταδικασθεισῶν θανάτῳ τὰς ἐγκύους μὴ θανατοῦσθαι πρὶν ἂν τέκωσι. καὶ τοῦτο τὸ νόμιμον πολλοὶ καὶ τῶν Ἑλλήνων κατέδειξαν, ἡγούμενοι παντελῶς ἄδικον εἶναι τὸ μηδὲν ἀδικῆσαν τῷ ἀδικήσαντι τῆς αὐτῆς μετέχειν τιμωρίας, καὶ παρανομήματος ἑνὸς γενομένου παρὰ δυοῖν λαμβάνειν τὸ πρόστιμον, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις κατὰ προαίρεσιν πονηρὰν συντελεσθέντος τοῦ ἀδικήματος τὸ μηδεμίαν πω σύνεσιν ἔχον ὑπὸ τὴν ὁμοίαν ἄγειν κόλασιν, τὸ δὲ πάντων μέγιστον, ὅτι ταῖς κυούσαις ἰδίᾳ τῆς αἰτίας ἐπενηνεγμένης οὐδαμῶς προσήκει τὸ κοινὸν πατρὸς καὶ μητρὸς τέκνον ἀναιρεῖσθαι· ἐπʼ ἴσης γὰρ ἄν τις φαύλους διαλάβοι κριτὰς τούς τε τὸν ἔνοχον τῷ φόνῳ σώζοντας καὶ τοὺς τὸ μηδὲν ὅλως ἀδικῆσαν συναναιροῦντας. τῶν μὲν οὖν φονικῶν νόμων οἱ μάλιστα δοκοῦντες ἐπιτετεῦχθαι τοιοῦτοί τινες ἦσαν.
Since we have spoken of their legislation, we feel that it will not be foreign to the plan of our history to present such laws of the Egyptians as were especially old or took on an extraordinary form, or, in general, can be of help to lovers of reading. 2 Now in the first place, their penalty for perjurers was death, on the ground that such men are guilty of the two greatest transgressions — being impious towards the gods and overthrowing the mightiest pledge known among men. 3 Again, if a man, walking on a road in Egypt, saw a person being killed or, in a word, suffering any kind of violence and did not come to his aid if able to do so, he had to die; and if he was truly prevented from aiding the person because of inability, he was in any case required to lodge information against the bandits and to bring an act against their lawless act; and in case he failed to do this as the law required, it was required that he be scourged with a fixed number of stripes and be deprived of every kind of food for three days. 4 Those who brought false accusations against others had to suffer the penalty that would have been meted out to the accused persons had they been adjudged guilty. 5 All Egyptians were also severally required to submit to the magistrates a written declaration of the sources of their livelihood, and any man making a false declaration or gaining an unlawful means of livelihood had to pay the death penalty. And it is said that Solon, after his visit to Egypt, brought this law to Athens. 6 If anyone intentionally killed a free man or a slave the laws enjoined that he be put to death; for they, in the first place, wished that it should not be through the accidental differences in men's condition in life but through the principles governing their actions that all men should be restrained from evil deeds, and, on the other hand, they sought to accustom mankind, through such consideration for slaves, to refrain all the more from committing any offence whatever against freemen. In the case of parents who had slain their children, though the laws did not prescribe death, yet the offenders had to hold the dead body in their arms for three successive days and nights, under the surveillance of a state guard; for it was not considered just to deprive of life those who had given life to their children, but rather by a warning which brought with it pain and repentance to turn them from such deeds. 8 But for children who had killed their parents they reserved an extraordinary punishment; for it was required that those found guilty of this crime should have pieces of flesh about the size of a finger cut out of their bodies with sharp reeds and then be put on a bed of thorns and burned alive; for they held that to take by violence the life of those who had given them life was the greatest crime possible to man. 9 Pregnant women who had been condemned to death were not executed until they had been delivered. The same law has also been enacted by many Greek states, since they held it entirely unjust that the innocent should suffer the same punishment as the guilty, that a penalty should be exacted of two for only one transgression, and, further, that, since the crime had been actuated by an evil intention, a being as yet without intelligence should receive the same correction, and, what is the most important consideration, that in view of the fact that the guilty had been laid at the door of the pregnant mother it was by no means proper that the child, who belongs to the father as well as to the mother, should be despatched; 10 for a man may properly consider judges who spare the life of a murderer to be no worse than other judges who destroy that which is guilty of no crime whatsoever. Now of the laws dealing with murder these are those which are thought to have been the most successful.
§ 1.78
τῶν δʼ ἄλλων ὁ μὲν περὶ τῶν πολέμων κείμενος κατὰ τῶν τὴν τάξιν λιπόντων ἢ τὸ παραγγελθὲν ὑπὸ τῶν ἡγεμόνων μὴ ποιούντων ἔταττε πρόστιμον οὐ θάνατον, ἀλλὰ τὴν ἐσχάτην ἀτιμίαν· εἰ δʼ ὕστερον ταῖς ἀνδραγαθίαις ὑπερβάλοιντο τὰς ἀτιμίας, εἰς τὴν προϋπάρξασαν παρρησίαν ἀποκαθίστα, ἅμα μὲν τοῦ νομοθέτου δεινοτέραν τιμωρίαν ποιοῦντος τὴν ἀτιμίαν ἢ τὸν θάνατον, ἵνα τὸ μέγιστον τῶν κακῶν ἐθίσῃ πάντας κρίνειν τὴν αἰσχύνην, ἅμα δὲ τοὺς μὲν θανατωθέντας ἡγεῖτο μηδὲν ὠφελήσειν τὸν κοινὸν βίον, τοὺς δὲ ἀτιμωθέντας ἀγαθῶν πολλῶν αἰτίους ἔσεσθαι διὰ τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν τῆς παρρησίας. καὶ τῶν μὲν τὰ ἀπόρρητα τοῖς πολεμίοις ἀπαγγειλάντων ἐπέταττεν ὁ νόμος ἐκτέμνεσθαι τὴν γλῶτταν, τῶν δὲ τὸ νόμισμα παρακοπτόντων ἢ μέτρα καὶ σταθμὰ παραποιούντων ἢ παραγλυφόντων τὰς σφραγῖδας, ἔτι δὲ τῶν γραμματέων τῶν ψευδεῖς χρηματισμοὺς γραφόντων ἢ ἀφαιρούντων τι τῶν ἐγγεγραμμένων, καὶ τῶν τὰς ψευδεῖς συγγραφὰς ἐπιφερόντων, ἀμφοτέρας ἐκέλευσεν ἀποκόπτεσθαι τὰς χεῖρας, ὅπως οἷς ἕκαστος μέρεσι τοῦ σώματος παρενόμησεν, εἰς ταῦτα κολαζόμενος αὐτὸς μὲν μέχρι τελευτῆς ἀνίατον ἔχῃ τὴν συμφοράν, τοὺς δʼ ἄλλους διὰ τῆς ἰδίας τιμωρίας νουθετῶν ἀποτρέπῃ τῶν ὁμοίων τι πράττειν. πικροὶ δὲ καὶ περὶ τῶν γυναικῶν νόμοι παρʼ αὐτοῖς ὑπῆρχον. τοῦ μὲν γὰρ βιασαμένου γυναῖκα ἐλευθέραν προσέταξαν ἀποκόπτεσθαι τὰ αἰδοῖα, νομίσαντες τὸν τοιοῦτον μιᾷ πράξει παρανόμῳ τρία τὰ μέγιστα τῶν κακῶν ἐνηργηκέναι, τὴν ὕβριν καὶ τὴν φθορὰν καὶ τὴν τῶν τέκνων σύγχυσιν· εἰ δέ τις πείσας μοιχεύσαι, τὸν μὲν ἄνδρα ῥάβδοις χιλίας πληγὰς λαμβάνειν ἐκέλευον, τῆς δὲ γυναικὸς τὴν ῥῖνα κολοβοῦσθαι, ὑπολαμβάνοντες δεῖν τῆς πρὸς ἀσυγχώρητον ἀκρασίαν καλλωπιζομένης ἀφαιρεθῆναι τὰ μάλιστα κοσμοῦντα τὴν εὐπρέπειαν.
Among their other laws one, which concerned military affairs, made the punishment of deserters or of any who disobeyed the command of their leaders, not death, but the uttermost disgrace; 2 but if later on such men wiped out their disgrace by a display of manly courage, they were restored to their former freedom of speech. Thus the lawgiver at the same time made disgrace a more terrible punishment than death, in order to accustom all the people to consider dishonour the greatest of evils, and he also believed that, while dead men would never be of value to society, men who had been disgraced would do many a good deed through their desire to regain freedom of speech. In the case of those who had disclosed military secrets to the enemy the law prescribed that their tongues should be cut out, while in the case of counterfeiters or falsifiers of measures and weights or imitators of seals, and of official scribes who made false entries or erased items, and of any who adduced false documents, it ordered that both their hands should be cut off, to the end that the offender, being punished in respect of those members of his body that were the instruments of his wrongdoing, should himself keep until death his irreparable misfortune, and at the same time, by serving as a warning example to others, should turn them from the commission of similar offences. Severe also were their laws touching women. For if a man had violated a free married woman, they stipulated that he be emasculated, considering that such a person by a single unlawful act had been guilty of the three greatest crimes, assault, abduction, and confusion of offspring; 5 but if a man committed adultery with the woman's consent, the laws ordered that the man should receive a thousand blows with the rod, and that the woman should have her nose cut off, on the ground that a woman who tricks herself out with an eye to forbidden licence should be deprived of that which contributes most to a woman's comeliness.
§ 1.79
τοὺς δὲ περὶ τῶν συμβολαίων νόμους Βοκχόριδος εἶναί φασι. προστάττουσι δὲ τοὺς μὲν ἀσύγγραφα δανεισαμένους, ἂν μὴ φάσκωσιν ὀφείλειν, ὀμόσαντας ἀπολύεσθαι τοῦ δανείου, πρῶτον μὲν ὅπως ἐν μεγάλῳ τιθέμενοι τοὺς ὅρκους δεισιδαιμονῶσι· προδήλου γὰρ ὄντος ὅτι τῷ πολλάκις ὀμόσαντι συμβήσεται τὴν πίστιν ἀποβαλεῖν, ἵνα τῆς εὐχρηστίας μὴ στερηθῇ, περὶ πλείστου πᾶς τις ἄξει τὸ μὴ καταντᾶν ἐπὶ τὸν ὅρκον· ἔπειθʼ ὑπελάμβανεν ὁ νομοθέτης τὴν ὅλην πίστιν ἐν τῇ καλοκἀγαθίᾳ ποιήσας προτρέψεσθαι πάντας σπουδαίους εἶναι τοῖς ἤθεσιν, ἵνα μὴ πίστεως ἀνάξιοι διαβληθῶσι· πρὸς δὲ τούτοις ἄδικον ἔκρινεν εἶναι τοὺς χωρὶς ὅρκου πιστευθέντας περὶ τῶν αὐτῶν συμβολαίων ὀμόσαντας μὴ τυγχάνειν πίστεως. τοὺς δὲ μετὰ συγγραφῆς δανείσαντας ἐκώλυε διὰ τοῦ τόκου τὸ κεφάλαιον πλέον ποιεῖν ἢ διπλάσιον. τῶν δὲ ὀφειλόντων τὴν ἔκπραξιν τῶν δανείων ἐκ τῆς οὐσίας μόνον ἐποιήσατο, τὸ δὲ σῶμα κατʼ οὐδένα τρόπον εἴασεν ὑπάρχειν ἀγώγιμον, ἡγούμενος δεῖν εἶναι τὰς μὲν κτήσεις τῶν ἐργασαμένων ἢ παρὰ κυρίου τινὸς ἐν δωρεαῖς λαβόντων, τὰ δὲ σώματα τῶν πόλεων, ἵνα τὰς καθηκούσας λειτουργίας ἔχωσιν αἱ πόλεις καὶ κατὰ πόλεμον καὶ κατʼ εἰρήνην· ἄτοπον γὰρ τὸ στρατιώτην εἰς τὸν ὑπὲρ τῆς πατρίδος προϊόντα κίνδυνον, εἰ τύχοι, πρὸς δάνειον ὑπὸ τοῦ πιστεύσαντος ἀπάγεσθαι, καὶ τῆς τῶν ἰδιωτῶν πλεονεξίας ἕνεκα κινδυνεύειν τὴν κοινὴν ἁπάντων σωτηρίαν. δοκεῖ δὲ καὶ τοῦτον τὸν νόμον ὁ Σόλων εἰς τὰς Ἀθήνας μετενεγκεῖν, ὃν ὠνόμασε σεισάχθειαν, ἀπολύσας τοὺς πολίτας ἅπαντας τῶν ἐπὶ τοῖς σώμασι πεπιστευμένων δανείων. μέμφονται δέ τινες οὐκ ἀλόγως τοῖς πλείστοις τῶν παρὰ τοῖς Ἕλλησι νομοθετῶν, οἵτινες ὅπλα μὲν καὶ ἄροτρον καὶ ἄλλα τῶν ἀναγκαιοτάτων ἐκώλυσαν ἐνέχυρα λαμβάνεσθαι πρὸς δάνειον, τοὺς δὲ τούτοις χρησομένους συνεχώρησαν ἀγωγίμους εἶναι.
Their laws governing contracts they attribute to Bocchoris. These prescribe that men who had borrowed money without signing a bond, if they denied the indebtedness, might take an oath to that effect and be cleared of the obligation. The purpose, was, in the first place, that men might stand in awe of the gods by attributing great importance to oaths, 2 for, since it is manifest that the man who has repeatedly taken such an oath will in the end lose the confidence which others had in him, everyone will consider it a matter of the utmost concern not to have recourse to the oath lest he forfeit his credit. In the second place, the lawgiver assumed that by basing confidence entirely upon a man's sense of honour he would incite all men to be virtuous in character, in order that they might not be talked about as being unworthy of confidence; and, furthermore, he held it to be unjust that men who had been trusted with a loan without an oath should not be trusted when they gave their oath regarding the same transaction. And whoever lent money along with a written bond was forbidden to do more than double the principal from interest. In the case of debtors the lawgiver ruled that the repayment of loans could be exacted only from a man's estate, and under no condition did he allow the debtor's person to be subject to seizure, holding that whereas property should belong to those who had amassed it or had received it from some earlier holder by way of a gift, the bodies of citizens should belong to the state, to the end that the state might avail itself of the services which its citizens owed it, in times of both war and peace. For it would be absurd, he felt, that a soldier, at the moment perhaps when he was setting forth to fight for his fatherland, should be haled to prison by his creditor for an unpaid loan, and that the greed of private citizens should in this way endanger the safety of all. 4 And it appears that Solon took this law also to Athens, calling it a "disburdenment," when he absolved all the citizens of the loans, secured by their persons, which they owed. 5 But certain individuals find fault, and not without reason, with the majority of the Greek lawgivers, who forbade the taking of weapons and ploughs and other quite indispensable things as security for loans, but nevertheless allowed the men who would use these implements to be subject to imprisonments.
§ 1.80
ὑπῆρχε δὲ καὶ περὶ τῶν κλεπτῶν νόμος παρʼ Αἰγυπτίοις ἰδιώτατος. ἐκέλευε γὰρ τοὺς μὲν βουλομένους ἔχειν ταύτην τὴν ἐργασίαν ἀπογράφεσθαι πρὸς τὸν ἀρχίφωρα, καὶ τὸ κλαπὲν ὁμολόγως ἀναφέρειν παραχρῆμα πρὸς ἐκεῖνον, τοὺς δὲ ἀπολέσαντας παραπλησίως ἀπογράφειν αὐτῷ καθʼ ἕκαστον τῶν ἀπολωλότων, προστιθέντας τόν τε τόπον καὶ τὴν ἡμέραν καὶ τὴν ὥραν καθʼ ἣν ἀπώλεσεν. τούτῳ δὲ τῷ τρόπῳ πάντων ἑτοίμως εὑρισκομένων, ἔδει τὸν ἀπολέσαντα τὸ τέταρτον μέρος τῆς ἀξίας δόντα κτήσασθαι τὰ ἑαυτοῦ μόνα. ἀδυνάτου γὰρ ὄντος τοῦ πάντας ἀποστῆσαι τῆς κλοπῆς εὗρε πόρον ὁ νομοθέτης διʼ οὗ πᾶν τὸ ἀπολόμενον σωθήσεται μικρῶν διδομένων λύτρων. γαμοῦσι δὲ παρʼ Αἰγυπτίοις οἱ μὲν ἱερεῖς μίαν, τῶν δʼ ἄλλων ὅσας ἂν ἕκαστος προαιρῆται· καὶ τὰ γεννώμενα πάντα τρέφουσιν ἐξ ἀνάγκης ἕνεκα τῆς πολυανθρωπίας, ὡς ταύτης μέγιστα συμβαλλομένης πρὸς εὐδαιμονίαν χώρας τε καὶ πόλεων, νόθον δʼ οὐδένα τῶν γεννηθέντων νομίζουσιν, οὐδʼ ἂν ἐξ ἀργυρωνήτου μητρὸς γεννηθῇ· καθόλου γὰρ ὑπειλήφασι τὸν πατέρα μόνον αἴτιον εἶναι τῆς γενέσεως, τὴν δὲ μητέρα τροφὴν καὶ χώραν μόνον παρέχεσθαι τῷ βρέφει, καὶ τῶν δένδρων ἄρρενα μὲν καλοῦσι τὰ καρποφόρα, θήλεα δὲ τὰ μὴ φέροντα τοὺς καρπούς, ἐναντίως τοῖς Ἕλλησι. τρέφουσι δὲ τὰ παιδία μετά τινος εὐχερείας ἀδαπάνου καὶ παντελῶς ἀπίστου· ἑψήματα γὰρ αὐτοῖς χορηγοῦσιν ἔκ τινος εὐτελείας ἑτοίμης γινόμενα, καὶ τῶν ἐκ τῆς βύβλου πυθμένων τοὺς δυναμένους εἰς τὸ πῦρ ἐγκρύβεσθαι, καὶ τῶν ῥιζῶν καὶ τῶν καυλῶν τῶν ἑλείων τὰ μὲν ὠμά, τὰ δʼ ἕψοντες, τὰ δʼ ὀπτῶντες, διδόασιν. ἀνυποδήτων δὲ καὶ γυμνῶν τῶν πλείστων τρεφομένων διὰ τὴν εὐκρασίαν τῶν τόπων, τὴν πᾶσαν δαπάνην οἱ γονεῖς, ἄχρι ἂν εἰς ἡλικίαν ἔλθῃ τὸ τέκνον, οὐ πλείω ποιοῦσι δραχμῶν εἴκοσι. διʼ ἃς αἰτίας μάλιστα τὴν Αἴγυπτον συμβαίνει πολυανθρωπίᾳ διαφέρειν, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο πλείστας ἔχειν μεγάλων ἔργων κατασκευάς.
The Egyptian law dealing with thieves was also a very peculiar one. For it bade any who chose to follow this occupation to enter their names with the Chief of the Thieves and by agreement to bring to him immediately the stolen articles, while any who had been robbed filed with him in like manner a list of all the missing articles, stating the place, the day, and the hour of the loss. 2 And since by this method all lost articles were readily found, the owner who had lost anything had only to pay onefourth of its value in order to recover just what belonged to him. For as it was impossible to keep all mankind from stealing, the lawgiver devised a scheme whereby every article lost would be recovered upon payment of a small ransom. In accordance with the marriage-customs of the Egyptians the priests have but one wife, but any other man takes as many as he may determine; and the Egyptians are required to raise all their children in order to increase the population, on the ground that large numbers are the greatest factor in increasing the prosperity of both country and cities. Nor do they hold any child a bastard, even though he was born of a slave mother; 4 for they have taken the general position that the father is the sole author of procreation and that the mother only supplies the fetus with nourishment and a place to live, and they call the trees which bear fruit "male" and those which do not "female," exactly opposite to the Greek usage. 5 They feed their children in a sort of happy-go-lucky fashion that in its inexpensiveness quite surpasses belief; for they serve them with stews made of any stuff that is ready to hand and cheap, and give them such stalks of the byblos plant as can be roasted in the coals, and the roots and stems of marsh plants, either raw or boiled or baked. 6 And since most of the children are reared without shoes or clothing because of the mildness of the climate of the country, the entire expense incurred by the parents of a child until it comes to maturity is not more than twenty drachmas. These are the leading reasons why Egypt has such an extraordinarily large population, and it is because of this fact that she possesses a vast number of great monuments.
§ 1.81
παιδεύουσι δὲ τοὺς υἱοὺς οἱ μὲν ἱερεῖς γράμματα διττά, τά τε ἱερὰ καλούμενα καὶ τὰ κοινοτέραν ἔχοντα τὴν μάθησιν. γεωμετρίαν δὲ καὶ τὴν ἀριθμητικὴν ἐπὶ πλέον ἐκπονοῦσιν. ὁ μὲν γὰρ ποταμὸς κατʼ ἐνιαυτὸν ποικίλως μετασχηματίζων τὴν χώραν πολλὰς καὶ παντοίας ἀμφισβητήσεις ποιεῖ περὶ τῶν ὅρων τοῖς γειτνιῶσι, ταύτας δʼ οὐ ῥᾴδιον ἀκριβῶς ἐξελέγξαι μὴ γεωμέτρου τὴν ἀλήθειαν ἐκ τῆς ἐμπειρίας μεθοδεύσαντος. ἡ δʼ ἀριθμητικὴ πρός τε τὰς κατὰ τὸν βίον οἰκονομίας αὐτοῖς χρησιμεύει καὶ πρὸς τὰ γεωμετρίας θεωρήματα, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις οὐκ ὀλίγα συμβάλλεται καὶ τοῖς τὰ περὶ τὴν ἀστρολογίαν ἐκπονοῦσιν. ἐπιμελοῦς γὰρ, εἰ καὶ παρά τισιν ἄλλοις, καὶ παρʼ Αἰγυπτίοις παρατηρήσεως τυγχάνουσιν αἱ τῶν ἄστρων τάξεις τε καὶ κινήσεις· καὶ τὰς μὲν περὶ ἑκάστων ἀναγραφὰς ἐξ ἐτῶν ἀπίστων τῷ πλήθει φυλάττουσιν, ἐκ παλαιῶν χρόνων ἐζηλωμένης παρʼ αὐτοῖς τῆς περὶ ταῦτα σπουδῆς, τὰς δὲ τῶν πλανήτων ἀστέρων κινήσεις καὶ περιόδους καὶ στηριγμούς, ἔτι δὲ τὰς ἑκάστου δυνάμεις πρὸς τὰς τῶν ζῴων γενέσεις, τίνων εἰσὶν ἀγαθῶν ἢ κακῶν ἀπεργαστικαί, φιλοτιμότατα παρατετηρήκασι. καὶ πολλάκις μὲν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις τῶν αὐτοῖς μελλόντων ἀπαντήσεσθαι κατὰ τὸν βίον προλέγοντες ἐπιτυγχάνουσιν, οὐκ ὀλιγάκις δὲ καρπῶν φθορὰς ἢ τοὐναντίον πολυκαρπίας, ἔτι δὲ νόσους κοινὰς ἀνθρώποις ἢ βοσκήμασιν ἐσομένας προσημαίνουσι, σεισμούς τε καὶ κατακλυσμοὺς καὶ κομητῶν ἀστέρων ἐπιτολὰς καὶ πάντα τὰ τοῖς πολλοῖς ἀδύνατον ἔχειν δοκοῦντα τὴν ἐπίγνωσιν, ἐκ πολλοῦ χρόνου παρατηρήσεως γεγενημένης, προγινώσκουσι. φασὶ δὲ καὶ τοὺς ἐν Βαβυλῶνι Χαλδαίους, ἀποίκους Αἰγυπτίων ὄντας, τὴν δόξαν ἔχειν τὴν περὶ τῆς ἀστρολογίας παρὰ τῶν ἱερέων μαθόντας τῶν Αἰγυπτίων. τὸ δʼ ἄλλο πλῆθος τῶν Αἰγυπτίων ἐκ παίδων μανθάνει παρὰ τῶν πατέρων ἢ συγγενῶν τὰς περὶ ἕκαστον βίον ἐπιτηδεύσεις, καθάπερ προειρήκαμεν. γράμματα δʼ ἐπʼ ὀλίγον διδάσκουσιν οὐχ ἅπαντες, ἀλλʼ οἱ τὰς τέχνας μεταχειριζόμενοι μάλιστα. παλαίστραν δὲ καὶ μουσικὴν οὐ νόμιμόν ἐστι παρʼ αὐτοῖς μανθάνειν· ὑπολαμβάνουσι γὰρ ἐκ μὲν τῶν καθʼ ἡμέραν ἐν τῇ παλαίστρᾳ γυμνασίων τοὺς νέους οὐχ ὑγίειαν ἕξειν, ἀλλὰ ῥώμην ὀλιγοχρόνιον καὶ παντελῶς ἐπικίνδυνον, τὴν δὲ μουσικὴν νομίζουσιν οὐ μόνον ἄχρηστον ὑπάρχειν, ἀλλὰ καὶ βλαβεράν, ὡς ἂν ἐκθηλύνουσαν τὰς τῶν ἀκουόντων ψυχάς.
In the education of their sons the priests teach them two kinds of writing, that which is called "sacred" and that which is used in the more general instruction. Geometry and arithmetic are given special attention. 2 For the river, by changing the face of the country each year in manifold ways, gives rise to many and varied disputes between neighbours over their boundary lines, and these disputes cannot be easily tested out with any exactness unless a geometer works out the truth scientifically by the application of his experience. 3 And arithmetic is serviceable with reference to the business affairs connected with making a living and also in applying the principles of geometry, and likewise is of no small assistance to students of astrology as well. 4 For the positions and arrangements of the stars as well as their motions have always been the subject of careful observation among the Egyptians, if anywhere in the world; they have preserved to this day the records concerning each of these stars over an incredible number of years, this subject of study having been zealously preserved among them from ancient times, and they have also observed with the utmost avidity the motions and orbits and stoppings of the planets, as well as the influences of each one on the generation of all living things — the good or the evil effects, namely, of which they are the cause. 5 And while they are often successful in predicting to men the events which are going to befall them in the course of their lives, not infrequently they foretell destructions of the crops or, on the other hand, abundant yields, and pestilences that are to attack men or beasts, and as a result of their long observations they have prior knowledge of earthquakes and floods, of the risings of the comets, and of all things which the ordinary man looks upon as beyond all finding out. 6 And according to them the Chaldaeans of Babylon, being colonists from Egypt, enjoy the fame which they have for their astrology because they learned that science from the priests of Egypt. As to the general mass of the Egyptians, they are instructed from their childhood by their fathers or kinsmen in the practices proper to each manner of life as previously described by us; but as for reading and writing, the Egyptians at large give their children only a superficial instruction in them, and not all do this, but for the most part only those who are engaged in the crafts. In wrestling and music, however, it is not customary among them to receive any instruction at all; for they hold that from the daily exercises in wrestling their young men will gain, not health, but a vigour that is only temporary and in fact quite dangerous, while they consider music to be not only useless but even harmful, since it makes the spirits of the listeners effeminate.
§ 1.82
τὰς δὲ νόσους προκαταλαμβανόμενοι θεραπεύουσι τὰ σώματα κλυσμοῖς καὶ νηστείαις καὶ ἐμέτοις, ἐνίοτε μὲν καθʼ ἑκάστην ἡμέραν, ἐνίοτε δὲ τρεῖς ἢ τέτταρας ἡμέρας διαλείποντες. φασὶ γὰρ πάσης τροφῆς ἀναδοθείσης τὸ πλέον εἶναι περιττόν, ἀφʼ οὗ γεννᾶσθαι τὰς νόσους· ὥστε τὴν προειρημένην θεραπείαν ἀναιροῦσαν τὰς ἀρχὰς τῆς νόσου μάλιστʼ ἂν παρασκευάσαι τὴν ὑγίειαν. κατὰ δὲ τὰς στρατείας καὶ τὰς ἐπὶ τῆς χώρας ἐκδημίας θεραπεύονται πάντες οὐδένα μισθὸν ἰδίᾳ διδόντες· οἱ γὰρ ἰατροὶ τὰς μὲν τροφὰς ἐκ τοῦ κοινοῦ λαμβάνουσι, τὰς δὲ θεραπείας προσάγουσι κατὰ νόμον ἔγγραφον, ὑπὸ πολλῶν καὶ δεδοξασμένων ἰατρῶν ἀρχαίων συγγεγραμμένον. κἂν τοῖς ἐκ τῆς ἱερᾶς βίβλου νόμοις ἀναγινωσκομένοις ἀκολουθήσαντες ἀδυνατήσωσι σῶσαι τὸν κάμνοντα, ἀθῷοι παντὸς ἐγκλήματος ἀπολύονται, ἐὰν δέ τι παρὰ τὰ γεγραμμένα ποιήσωσι, θανάτου κρίσιν ὑπομένουσιν, ἡγουμένου τοῦ νομοθέτου τῆς ἐκ πολλῶν χρόνων παρατετηρημένης θεραπείας καὶ συντεταγμένης ὑπὸ τῶν ἀρίστων τεχνιτῶν ὀλίγους ἂν γενέσθαι συνετωτέρους.
In order to prevent sicknesses they look after the health of their bodies by means of drenches, fastings, and emetics, sometimes every day and sometimes at intervals of three or four days. 2 For they say that the larger part of the food taken into the body is superfluous and that it is from this superfluous part that diseases are engendered; consequently the treatment just mentioned, by removing the beginnings of disease, would be most likely to produce health. 3 On their military campaigns and their journeys in the country they all receive treatment without the payment of any private fee; for the physicians draw their support from public funds and administer their treatments in accordance with a written law which was composed in ancient times by many famous physicians. If they follow the rules of this law as they read them in the sacred book and yet are unable to save their patient, they are absolved from any charge and go unpunished; but if they go contrary to the law's prescriptions in any respect, they must submit to a trial with death as the penalty, the lawgiver holding that but few physicians would ever show themselves wiser than the mode of treatment which had been closely followed for a long period and had been originally prescribed by the ablest practitioners.
§ 1.83
περὶ δὲ τῶν ἀφιερωμένων ζῴων κατʼ Αἴγυπτον εἰκότως φαίνεται πολλοῖς παράδοξον τὸ γινόμενον καὶ ζητήσεως ἄξιον. σέβονται γὰρ ἔνια τῶν ζῴων Αἰγύπτιοι καθʼ ὑπερβολὴν οὐ ζῶντα μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τελευτήσαντα, οἷον αἰλούρους καὶ τοὺς ἰχνεύμονας καὶ κύνας, ἔτι δʼ ἱέρακας καὶ τὰς καλουμένας παρʼ αὐτοῖς ἴβεις, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις τούς τε λύκους καὶ τοὺς κροκοδείλους καὶ ἕτερα τοιαῦτα πλείω, περὶ ὧν τὰς αἰτίας ἀποδιδόναι πειρασόμεθα, βραχέα πρότερον ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν διελθόντες. πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ ἑκάστῳ γένει τῶν σεβασμοῦ τυγχανόντων ζῴων ἀφιέρωται χώρα φέρουσα πρόσοδον ἀρκοῦσαν εἰς ἐπιμέλειαν καὶ τροφὴν αὐτῶν· ποιοῦνται δὲ καὶ θεοῖς τισιν εὐχὰς ὑπὲρ τῶν παίδων οἱ κατʼ Αἴγυπτον τῶν ἐκ τῆς νόσου σωθέντων· ξυρήσαντες γὰρ τὰς τρίχας καὶ πρὸς ἀργύριον ἢ χρυσίον στήσαντες διδόασι τὸ νόμισμα τοῖς ἐπιμελομένοις τῶν προειρημένων ζῴων. οἱ δὲ τοῖς μὲν ἱέραξι κρέα κατατέμνοντες καὶ προσκαλούμενοι μεγάλῃ τῇ φωνῇ πετομένοις ἀναρρίπτουσι, μέχρι ἂν δέξωνται, τοῖς δʼ αἰλούροις καὶ τοῖς ἰχνεύμοσι καταθρύπτοντες τοὺς ἄρτους εἰς γάλα καὶ ποππύζοντες παρατιθέασιν ἢ τῶν ἰχθύων τῶν ἐκ τοῦ Νείλου κατατέμνοντες ὠμῶς σιτίζουσιν· ὡσαύτως δὲ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ζῴων ἑκάστῳ γένει τὴν ἁρμόζουσαν τροφὴν χορηγοῦσι. τὰς δὲ γινομένας περὶ ταῦτα λειτουργίας οὐχ οἷον ἐκκλίνουσιν ἢ τοῖς ὄχλοις γενέσθαι καταφανεῖς ἐπαισχύνονται, τοὐναντίον δʼ ὡς περὶ τὰς μεγίστας τῶν θεῶν γινόμενοι τιμὰς σεμνύνονται καὶ μετὰ σημείων ἰδίων περιέρχονται τὰς πόλεις καὶ τὴν χώραν. πόρρωθεν δʼ ὄντες φανεροὶ τίνων ζῴων ἔχουσι τὴν ἐπιμέλειαν, ὑπὸ τῶν ἀπαντώντων προσκυνοῦνται καὶ τιμῶνται. ὅταν δʼ ἀποθάνῃ τι τῶν εἰρημένων, σινδόνι κατακαλύψαντες καὶ μετʼ οἰμωγῆς τὰ στήθη καταπληξάμενοι φέρουσιν εἰς τὰς ταριχείας· ἔπειτα θεραπευθέντων αὐτῶν κεδρίᾳ καὶ τοῖς δυναμένοις εὐωδίαν παρέχεσθαι καὶ πολυχρόνιον τοῦ σώματος τήρησιν θάπτουσιν ἐν ἱεραῖς θήκαις. ὃς δʼ ἂν τούτων τι τῶν ζῴων ἑκὼν διαφθείρῃ, θανάτῳ περιπίπτει, πλὴν ἐὰν αἴλουρον ἢ τὴν ἶβιν ἀποκτείνῃ· ταῦτα δὲ ἐάν τε ἑκὼν ἐάν τε ἄκων ἀποκτείνῃ, πάντως θανάτῳ περιπίπτει, τῶν ὄχλων συντρεχόντων καὶ τὸν πράξαντα δεινότατα διατιθέντων, καὶ τοῦτʼ ἐνίοτε πραττόντων ἄνευ κρίσεως. διὰ δὲ τὸν ἐπὶ τούτοις φόβον οἱ θεασάμενοι τεθνηκός τι τούτων τῶν ζῴων ἀποστάντες μακρὰν βοῶσιν ὀδυρόμενοί τε καὶ μαρτυρόμενοι κατειλῆφθαι αὐτὸ τετελευτηκός. οὕτω δʼ ἐν ταῖς τῶν ὄχλων ψυχαῖς ἐντέτηκεν ἡ πρὸς τὰ ζῷα ταῦτα δεισιδαιμονία καὶ τοῖς πάθεσιν ἀμεταθέτως ἕκαστος διάκειται πρὸς τὴν τούτων τιμήν, ὥστε καὶ καθʼ ὃν χρόνον Πτολεμαῖος μὲν ὁ βασιλεὺς ὑπὸ Ῥωμαίων οὔπω προσηγόρευτο φίλος, οἱ δʼ ὄχλοι πᾶσαν εἰσεφέροντο σπουδὴν ἐκθεραπεύοντες τοὺς παρεπιδημοῦντας τῶν ἀπὸ τῆς Ἰταλίας καὶ σπεύδοντες μηδεμίαν ἀφορμὴν ἐγκλήματος ἢ πολέμου δοῦναι διὰ τὸν φόβον, ἀποκτείναντος Ῥωμαίου τινὸς αἴλουρον, καὶ τοῦ πλήθους συνδραμόντος ἐπὶ τὴν οἰκίαν τοῦ πράξαντος, οὔθʼ οἱ πεμφθέντες ὑπὸ τοῦ βασιλέως ἄρχοντες ἐπὶ τὴν παραίτησιν οὔθʼ ὁ κοινὸς ἀπὸ τῆς Ῥώμης φόβος ἴσχυσεν ἐξελέσθαι τῆς τιμωρίας τὸν ἄνθρωπον, καίπερ ἀκουσίως τοῦτο πεπραχότα· καὶ τοῦτʼ οὐκ ἐξ ἀκοῆς ἡμεῖς ἱστοροῦμεν, ἀλλʼ αὐτοὶ κατὰ τὴν γεγενημένην ἡμῖν ἐπιδημίαν κατʼ Αἴγυπτον ἑορακότες.
As regards the consecration of animals in Egypt, the practice naturally appears to many to be extraordinary and worthy of investigation. For the Egyptian venerate certain animals exceedingly, not only during their lifetime but even after their death, such as cats, ichneumons and dogs, and, again, hawks and the birds which they call "ibis," as well as wolves and crocodiles and a number of other animals of that kind, and the reasons for such worship we shall undertake to set forth, after we have first spoken briefly about the animals themselves. In the first place, for each kind of animal that is accorded this worship there has been consecrated a portion of land which returns a revenue sufficient for their care and sustenance; moreover, the Egyptians make vows to certain gods on behalf of their children who have been delivered from an illness, in which case they shave off their hair and weigh it against silver or gold, and then give the money to the attendants of the animals mentioned. 3 These cut up flesh for the hawks and calling them with a loud cry toss it up to them, as they swoop by, until they catch it, while for the cats and ichneumons they break up bread into milk and calling them with a clucking sound set it before them, or else they cut up fish caught in the Nile and feed the flesh to them raw; and in like manner each of the other kinds of animals is provided with the appropriate food. 4 And as for the various services which these animals require, the Egyptians not only do not try to avoid them or feel ashamed to be seen by the crowds as they perform them, but on the contrary, in the belief that they are engaged in the most serious rites of divine worship, they assume airs of importance, and wearing special insignia make the rounds of the cities and the countryside. And since it can be seen from afar in the service of what animals they engaged, all who meet them fall down before them and render them honour. When one of these animals dies they wrap it in fine linen and then, wailing and beating their breasts, carry it off to be embalmed; and after it has been treated with cedar oil and such spices as have the quality of imparting a pleasant odour and of preserving the body for a long time, they lay it away in a consecrated tomb. 6 And whoever intentionally kills one of these animals is put to death, unless it be a cat or an ibis that he kills; but if he kills one of these, whether intentionally or unintentionally, he is certainly put to death, for the common people gather in crowds and deal with the perpetrator most cruelly, sometimes doing this without waiting for a trial. 7 And because of their fear of such a punishment any who have caught sight of one of these animals lying dead withdraw to a great distance and shout with lamentations and protestations that they found the animal already dead. 8 So deeply implanted also in the hearts of the common people is their superstitious regard for these animals and so unalterable are the emotions cherished by every man regarding the honour due to them that once, at the time when Ptolemy their king had not as yet been given by the Romans the appellation of "friend" and the people were exercising all zeal in courting the favour of the embassy from Italy which was then visiting Egypt and, in their fear, were intent upon giving no cause for complaint or war, when one of the Romans killed a cat and the multitude rushed in a crowd to his house, neither the officials sent by the king to beg the man off nor the fear of Rome which all the people felt were enough to save the man from punishment, even though his act had been an accident. 9 And this incident we relate, not from hearsay, but we saw it with our own eyes on the occasion of the visit we made to Egypt.
§ 1.84
ἀπίστων δὲ φαινομένων πολλοῖς τῶν εἰρημένων καὶ μύθοις παραπλησίων πολλῷ παραδοξότερα φανήσεται τὰ μετὰ ταῦτα ῥηθησόμενα. λιμῷ γάρ ποτε πιεζομένων τῶν κατʼ Αἴγυπτόν φασι πολλοὺς ἀλλήλων μὲν ἅψασθαι διὰ τὴν ἔνδειαν, τῶν δʼ ἀφιερωμένων ζῴων τὸ παράπαν μηδʼ αἰτίαν σχεῖν μηδένα προσενηνέχθαι. ἀλλὰ μήν γε καὶ καθʼ ἣν ἂν οἰκίαν εὑρεθῇ κύων τετελευτηκώς, ξυρῶνται πάντες οἱ κατʼ οἶκον ὄντες ὅλον τὸ σῶμα καὶ ποιοῦνται πένθος, καὶ τὸ τούτου θαυμασιώτερον, ἐὰν οἶνος ἢ σῖτος ἤ τι τῶν πρὸς τὸν βίον ἀναγκαίων τυγχάνῃ κείμενον ἐν τοῖς οἰκήμασιν οὗ τὸ ζῆν ἐξέλιπέ τι τῶν θηρίων, οὐκ ἂν ἔτι χρήσασθαι πρὸς οὐδὲν αὐτοῖς ὑπομείνειαν. κἂν ἐν ἄλλῃ χώρᾳ που στρατευόμενοι τύχωσι, λυτρούμενοι τοὺς αἰλούρους καὶ τοὺς ἱέρακας κατάγουσιν εἰς Αἴγυπτον· καὶ τοῦτο πράττουσιν ἐνίοτε τῶν ἐφοδίων αὐτοὺς ὑπολιπόντων. τὰ δὲ γινόμενα περὶ τὸν Ἆπιν τὸν ἐν Μέμφει ποικίλον καὶ τὸν Μνεῦιν τὸν ἐν Ἡλιουπόλει καὶ τὰ περὶ τὸν τράγον τὸν ἐν Μένδητι, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις τὸν κροκόδειλον τὸν κατὰ τὴν Μοίριδος λίμνην καὶ τὸν λέοντα τὸν τρεφόμενον ἐν τῇ καλουμένῃ Λεόντων πόλει, καὶ πολλὰ τοιαῦθʼ ἕτερα, διηγήσασθαι μὲν εὐχερές, ἀπαγγείλαντα δὲ πιστευθῆναι παρὰ τοῖς μὴ τεθεαμένοις δύσκολον. ταῦτα γὰρ ἐν ἱεροῖς μὲν περιβόλοις τρέφεται, θεραπεύουσι δʼ αὐτὰ πολλοὶ τῶν ἀξιολόγων ἀνδρῶν τροφὰς διδόντες τὰς πολυτελεστάτας· σεμίδαλιν γὰρ ἢ χόνδρον ἕψοντες ἐν γάλακτι καὶ πέμματα παντοδαπὰ μέλιτι φυρῶντες, καὶ κρέα χήνεια τὰ μὲν ἕψοντες, τὰ δʼ ὀπτῶντες ἀνεκλείπτως χορηγοῦσι, τοῖς δʼ ὠμοφάγοις πολλὰ τῶν ὀρνέων θηρεύοντες παραβάλλουσι, καὶ τὸ καθόλου μεγάλην εἰσφέρονται σπουδὴν εἰς τὴν πολυτέλειαν τῆς τροφῆς. λουτροῖς τε χλιαροῖς χρώμενοι καὶ μύροις τοῖς κρατίστοις ἀλείφοντες καὶ παντοδαπὰς εὐωδίας θυμιῶντες οὐ διαλείπουσι, στρωμνάς τε τὰς πολυτελεστάτας καὶ κόσμον εὐπρεπῆ χορηγοῦσι, καὶ τῶν συνουσιῶν ὅπως τυγχάνῃ κατὰ φύσιν φροντίδα ποιοῦνται τὴν μεγίστην, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις ὁμοφύλους θηλείας ἑκάστῳ τῶν ζῴων τὰς εὐειδεστάτας συντρέφουσιν, ἃς παλλακίδας προσαγορεύουσι καὶ θεραπεύουσι ταῖς μεγίσταις δαπάναις καὶ λειτουργίαις. ἐὰν δὲ τελευτήσῃ τι, πενθοῦσι μὲν ἴσα τοῖς ἀγαπητῶν τέκνων στερομένοις, θάπτουσι δὲ οὐ κατὰ τὴν ἑαυτῶν δύναμιν, ἀλλὰ πολὺ τὴν ἀξίαν τῆς ἑαυτῶν οὐσίας ὑπερβάλλοντες. μετὰ γὰρ τὴν Ἀλεξάνδρου τελευτήν, Πτολεμαίου τοῦ Λάγου παρειληφότος ἄρτι τὴν Αἴγυπτον, ἔτυχεν ἐν Μέμφει τελευτήσας ὁ Ἆπις γήρᾳ· ὁ δὲ τὴν ἐπιμέλειαν ἔχων αὐτοῦ τήν τε ἡτοιμασμένην χορηγίαν, οὖσαν πάνυ πολλήν, εἰς ταφὴν ἅπασαν ἐδαπάνησε καὶ παρὰ τοῦ Πτολεμαίου πεντήκοντα ἀργυρίου τάλαντα προσεδανείσατο. καὶ καθʼ ἡμᾶς δὲ τινες τῶν τὰ ζῷα ταῦτα τρεφόντων εἰς τὰς ταφὰς αὐτῶν οὐκ ἔλαττον τῶν ἑκατὸν ταλάντων δεδαπανήκασιν.
But if what has been said seems to many incredible and like a fanciful tale, what is to follow will appear far more extraordinary. Once, they say, when the inhabitants of Egypt were being hard pressed by a famine, many in their need laid hands upon their fellows, yet not a single man was even accused of having partaken of the sacred animals. 2 Furthermore, whenever a dog is found dead in any house, every inmate of it shaves his entire body and goes into mourning, and what is more astonishing than this, if any wine or grain or any other thing necessary to life happens to be stored in the building where one of these animals has expired, they would never think of using it thereafter for any purpose. 3 And if they happen to be making a military expedition in another country, they ransom the captive cats and hawks and bring them back to Egypt, and this they do sometimes even when their supply of money for the journey is running short. 4 As for ceremonies connected with the Apis of Memphis, the Mnevis of Heliopolis and the goat of Mendes, as well as with the crocodile of the Lake of Moeris, the lion kept in Leontopolis), as it is called, and many other ceremonies like them, they could easily be described, but the writer would scarcely be believed by any who had not actually witnessed them. 5 For these animals are kept in sacred enclosures and cared for by many men of distinction who offer them the most expensive fare; for they provide, with unfailing regularity, the finest wheaten flour or wheat-groats seethed in milk, every kind of sweetmeat made with honey, and the meat of ducks, either boiled or baked, while for the carnivorous animals birds are caught and thrown to them in abundance, and, in general, great care is given that they have an expensive fare. 6 They are continually bathing the animals in warm water, anointing them with the most precious ointments, and burning before them every kind of fragrant incense; they furnish them with the most expensive coverlets and with splendid jewellery, and exercise the greatest care that they shall enjoy sexual intercourse according to the demands of nature; furthermore, with every animal they keep the most beautiful females of the same genus, which they call his concubines and attend to at the cost of heavy expense and assiduous service. 7 When any animal dies they mourn for it as deeply as do those who have lost a beloved child, and bury it in a manner not in keeping with their ability but going far beyond the value of their estates. 8 For instance, after the death of Alexander and just subsequently to the taking over of Egypt by Ptolemy the son of Lagus, it happened that the Apis in Memphis died of old age; and the man who was charged with the care of him spent on his burial not only the whole of the very large sum which had been provided for the animal's maintenance, but also borrowed in addition fifty talents of silver from Ptolemy. And even in our own day some of the keepers of these animals have spent on their burial not less than one hundred talents.
§ 1.85
προσθετέον δὲ τοῖς εἰρημένοις τὰ λειπόμενα τῶν γινομένων περὶ τὸν ἱερὸν ταῦρον τὸν ὀνομαζόμενον Ἆπιν. ὅταν γὰρ τελευτήσας ταφῇ μεγαλοπρεπῶς, ζητοῦσιν οἱ περὶ ταῦτʼ ὄντες ἱερεῖς μόσχον ἔχοντα κατὰ τὸ σῶμα παράσημα τὰ παραπλήσια τῷ προϋπάρξαντι· ὅταν δʼ εὑρεθῇ, τὰ μὲν πλήθη τοῦ πένθους ἀπολύεται, τῶν δʼ ἱερέων οἷς ἐστιν ἐπιμελὲς ἄγουσι τὸν μόσχον τὸ μὲν πρῶτον εἰς Νείλου πόλιν, ἐν ᾗ τρέφουσιν αὐτὸν ἐφʼ ἡμέρας τετταράκοντα, ἔπειτʼ εἰς θαλαμηγὸν ναῦν οἴκημα κεχρυσωμένον ἔχουσαν ἐμβιβάσαντες ὡς θεὸν ἀνάγουσιν εἰς Μέμφιν εἰς τὸ τοῦ Ἡφαίστου τέμενος. ἐν δὲ ταῖς προειρημέναις τετταράκονθʼ ἡμέραις μόνον ὁρῶσιν αὐτὸν αἱ γυναῖκες κατὰ πρόσωπον ἱστάμεναι καὶ δεικνύουσιν ἀνασυράμεναι τὰ ἑαυτῶν γεννητικὰ μόρια, τὸν δʼ ἄλλον χρόνον ἅπαντα κεκωλυμένον ἐστὶν εἰς ὄψιν αὐτὰς ἔρχεσθαι τούτῳ τῷ θεῷ. τῆς δὲ τοῦ βοὸς τούτου τιμῆς αἰτίαν ἔνιοι φέρουσι λέγοντες ὅτι τελευτήσαντος Ὀσίριδος εἰς τοῦτον ἡ ψυχὴ μετέστη, καὶ διὰ ταῦτα διατελεῖ μέχρι τοῦ νῦν ἀεὶ κατὰ τὰς ἀναδείξεις αὐτοῦ μεθισταμένη πρὸς τοὺς μεταγενεστέρους· ἔνιοι δὲ λέγουσι τελευτήσαντος Ὀσίριδος ὑπὸ Τυφῶνος τὰ μέλη συναγαγοῦσαν τὴν Ἶσιν εἰς βοῦν ξυλίνην ἐμβαλεῖν βύσσινα περιβεβλημένην, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο καὶ τὴν πόλιν ὀνομασθῆναι Βούσιριν. πολλὰ δὲ καὶ ἄλλα μυθολογοῦσι περὶ τοῦ Ἄπιδος, ὑπὲρ ὧν μακρὸν ἡγούμεθα τὰ καθʼ ἕκαστον διεξιέναι.
There should be added to what has been said what still remains to be told concerning the ceremonies connected with the sacred bull called Apis. After he has died and has received a magnificent burial, the priests who are charged with this duty seek out a young bull which has on its body markings similar to those of its predecessor; 2 and when it has been found the people cease their mourning and the priests who have the care of it first take the young bull to Nilopolis, where it is kept forty days, and then, putting it on a state barge fitted out with a gilded cabin, conduct it as a god to the sanctuary of Hephaestus at Memphis. 3 During these forty days only women may look at it; these stand facing it and pulling up their garments show their genitals, but henceforth they are forever prevented from coming into the presence of this god. 4 Some explain the origin of the honour accorded this bull in this way, saying that at the death of Osiris his soul passed into this animal, and therefore up to this day has always passed into its successors at the times of the manifestation of Osiris; 5 but some say that when Osiris died at the hands of Typhon Isis collected the members of his body and put them in an ox (bous), made of wood covered over with fine linen, and because of this the city was called Bousiris. Many other stories are told about the Apis, but we feel that it would be a long task to recount all the details regarding them.
§ 1.86
πάντα δὲ θαυμάσια καὶ μείζω πίστεως ἐπιτελοῦντες οἱ κατʼ Αἴγυπτον εἰς τὰ τιμώμενα ζῷα πολλὴν ἀπορίαν παρέχονται τοῖς τὰς αἰτίας τούτων ζητοῦσιν. οἱ μὲν οὖν ἱερεῖς αὐτῶν ἀπόρρητόν τι δόγμα περὶ τούτων ἔχουσιν, ὃ προειρήκαμεν ἐν τοῖς θεολογουμένοις ὑπʼ αὐτῶν, οἱ δὲ πολλοὶ τῶν Αἰγυπτίων τρεῖς αἰτίας ταύτας ἀποδιδόασιν, ὧν τὴν μὲν πρώτην μυθώδη παντελῶς καὶ τῆς ἀρχαϊκῆς ἁπλότητος οἰκείαν. φασὶ γὰρ τοὺς ἐξ ἀρχῆς γενομένους θεούς, ὀλίγους ὄντας καὶ κατισχυομένους ὑπὸ τοῦ πλήθους καὶ τῆς ἀνομίας τῶν γηγενῶν ἀνθρώπων, ὁμοιωθῆναί τισι ζῴοις, καὶ διὰ τοῦ τοιούτου τρόπου διαφυγεῖν τὴν ὠμότητα καὶ βίαν αὐτῶν· ὕστερον δὲ τῶν κατὰ τὸν κόσμον πάντων κρατήσαντας, καὶ τοῖς αἰτίοις τῆς ἐξ ἀρχῆς σωτηρίας χάριν ἀποδιδόντας, ἀφιερῶσαι τὰς φύσεις αὐτῶν οἷς ἀφωμοιώθησαν, καὶ καταδεῖξαι τοῖς ἀνθρώποις τὸ τρέφειν μὲν ζῶντα πολυτελῶς, θάπτειν δὲ τελευτήσαντα. δευτέραν δὲ λέγουσιν αἰτίαν, ὅτι τὸ παλαιὸν οἱ κατʼ Αἴγυπτον διὰ τὴν ἀταξίαν τὴν ἐν τῷ στρατοπέδῳ πολλαῖς μάχαις ὑπὸ τῶν πλησιοχώρων ἡττηθέντες ἐπενόησαν σύνθημα φορεῖν ἐπὶ τῶν ταγμάτων. φασὶν οὖν κατασκευάσαντας εἰκόνας τῶν ζῴων ἃ νῦν τιμῶσι, καὶ πήξαντας ἐπὶ σαυνίων, φορεῖν τοὺς ἡγεμόνας, καὶ διὰ τούτου τοῦ τρόπου γνωρίζειν ἕκαστον ἧς εἴη συντάξεως· μεγάλα δὲ συμβαλλομένης αὐτοῖς τῆς διὰ τούτων εὐταξίας πρὸς τὴν νίκην, δόξαι τῆς σωτηρίας αἴτια γεγονέναι τὰ ζῷα· χάριν οὖν αὐτοῖς τοὺς ἀνθρώπους ἀποδοῦναι βουλομένους εἰς ἔθος κατατάξαι τῶν εἰκασθέντων τότε μηδὲν κτείνειν, ἀλλὰ σεβομένους ἀπονέμειν τὴν προειρημένην ἐπιμέλειαν καὶ τιμήν.
Since all the practices of the Egyptians in their worship of animals are astonishing and beyond belief, they occasion much difficulty for those who would seek out their origins and causes. 2 Now their priests have on this subject a teaching which may not be divulged, as we have already stated in connection with their accounts of the gods, but the majority of the Egyptians give the following three causes, the first of which belongs entirely to the realm of fable and is in keeping with the simplicity of primitive times. 3 They say, namely, that the gods who came into existence in the beginning, being few in number and overpowered by the multitude and the lawlessness of earth-born men, took on the forms of certain animals, and in this way saved themselves from the savagery and violence of mankind; but afterwards, when they had established their power over all things in the universe, out of gratitude to the animals which had been responsible for their salvation at the outset, they made sacred those kinds whose form they had assumed, and instructed mankind to maintain them in a costly fashion while living and to bury them at death. The second cause which they give is this — that the early Egyptians, after having been defeated by their neighbours in many battles because of the lack of order in their army, conceived the idea of carrying standards before the several divisions. 5 Consequently, they say, the commanders fashioned figures of the animals which they now worship and carried them fixed on lances, and by this device every man knew where his place was in the array. And since the good order resulting therefrom greatly contributed to victory, they thought that the animals had been responsible for their deliverance; and so the people, wishing to show their gratitude to them, established the custom of not killing any one of the animals whose likeness had been fashioned at that time, but of rendering to them, as objects of worship, the care and honour which we have previously described.
§ 1.87
τρίτην δʼ αἰτίαν φέρουσι τῆς ἀμφισβητήσεως τῶν ζῴων τὴν χρείαν, ἣν ἕκαστον αὐτῶν προσφέρεται πρὸς τὴν ὠφέλειαν τοῦ κοινοῦ βίου καὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων. τὴν μὲν γὰρ θήλειαν βοῦν ἐργάτας τίκτειν καὶ τὴν ἐλαφρὰν τῆς γῆς ἀροῦν, τὰ δὲ πρόβατα δὶς μὲν τίκτειν καὶ τοῖς ἐρίοις τὴν σκέπην ἅμα καὶ τὴν εὐσχημοσύνην περιποιεῖν, τῷ δὲ γάλακτι καὶ τῷ τυρῷ τροφὰς παρέχεσθαι προσηνεῖς ἅμα καὶ δαψιλεῖς. τὸν δὲ κύνα πρός τε τὰς θήρας εἶναι χρήσιμον καὶ πρὸς τὴν φυλακήν· διόπερ τὸν θεὸν τὸν παρʼ αὐτοῖς καλούμενον Ἄνουβιν παρεισάγουσι κυνὸς ἔχοντα κεφαλήν, ἐμφαίνοντες ὅτι σωματοφύλαξ ἦν τῶν περὶ τὸν Ὄσιριν καὶ τὴν Ἶσιν. ἔνιοι δέ φασι τῆς Ἴσιδος προηγουμένους τοὺς κύνας καθʼ ὃν καιρὸν ἐζήτει τὸν Ὄσιριν, τά τε θηρία καὶ τοὺς ἀπαντῶντας ἀπείργειν, ἔτι δʼ εὐνοϊκῶς διακειμένους συζητεῖν ὠρυομένους· διὸ καὶ τοῖς Ἰσείοις προπορεύεσθαι τοὺς κύνας κατὰ τὴν πομπήν, τῶν καταδειξάντων τοῦτο τὸ νόμιμον σημαινόντων τὴν παλαιὰν τοῦ ζῴου χάριν. καὶ τὸν μὲν αἴλουρον πρός τε τὰς ἀσπίδας θανάσιμα δακνούσας εὔθετον ὑπάρχειν καὶ τἄλλα δάκετα τῶν ἑρπετῶν, τὸν δʼ ἰχνεύμονα τῶν κροκοδείλων παρατηροῦντα τοὺς γόνους τὰ καταληφθέντα τῶν ᾠῶν συντρίβειν, καὶ ταῦτʼ ἐπιμελῶς καὶ φιλοτίμως ἐνεργεῖν μηδὲν ὠφελούμενον. τοῦτο δʼ εἰ μὴ συνέβαινε γίνεσθαι, διὰ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν γεννωμένων θηρίων ἄβατον ἂν γενέσθαι τὸν ποταμόν. ἀπόλλυσθαι δὲ καὶ τοὺς κροκοδείλους αὐτοὺς ὑπὸ τοῦ προειρημένου ζῴου παραδόξως καὶ παντελῶς ἀπιστουμένῃ μεθόδῳ· τοὺς γὰρ ἰχνεύμονας κυλιομένους ἐν τῷ πηλῷ χασκόντων αὐτῶν καθʼ ὃν ἂν χρόνον ἐπὶ τῆς χέρσου καθεύδωσιν εἰσπηδᾶν διὰ τοῦ στόματος εἰς μέσον τὸ σῶμα· ἔπειτα συντόμως τὴν κοιλίαν διαφαγόντας αὐτοὺς μὲν ἀκινδύνως ἐξιέναι, τοὺς δὲ τοῦτο παθόντας νεκροὺς ποιεῖν παραχρῆμα. τῶν δʼ ὀρνέων τὴν μὲν ἶβιν χρησίμην ὑπάρχειν πρός τε τοὺς ὄφεις καὶ τὰς ἀκρίδας καὶ τὰς κάμπας, τὸν δʼ ἱέρακα πρὸς τοὺς σκορπίους καὶ κεράστας καὶ τὰ μικρὰ τῶν δακέτων θηρίων τὰ μάλιστα τοὺς ἀνθρώπους ἀναιροῦντα. ἔνιοι δὲ λέγουσι τιμᾶσθαι τὸ ζῷον τοῦτο διὰ τὸ τοὺς μάντεις οἰωνοῖς τοῖς ἱέραξι χρωμένους προλέγειν τὰ μέλλοντα τοῖς Αἰγυπτίοις. τινὲς δέ φασιν ἐν τοῖς ἀρχαίοις χρόνοις ἱέρακα βιβλίον ἐνεγκεῖν εἰς Θήβας τοῖς ἱερεῦσι φοινικῷ ῥάμματι περιειλημένον, ἔχον γεγραμμένας τὰς τῶν θεῶν θεραπείας τε καὶ τιμάς· διὸ καὶ τοὺς ἱερογραμματεῖς φορεῖν φοινικοῦν ῥάμμα καὶ πτερὸν ἱέρακος ἐπὶ τῆς κεφαλῆς. τὸν δʼ ἀετὸν Θηβαῖοι τιμῶσι διὰ τὸ βασιλικὸν εἶναι δοκεῖν τοῦτο τὸ ζῷον καὶ τοῦ Διὸς ἄξιον.
The third cause which they adduce in connection with the dispute in question is the service which each one of these animals renders for the benefit of community life and of mankind. 2 The cow, for example, bears workers and ploughs the lighter soil; the sheep lamb twice in the year and provide by their wool both protection for the body and its decorous covering, while by their milk and cheese they furnish food that is both appetizing and abundant. Again, the dog is useful both for the hunt and for man's protection, and this is why they represent the god whom they call Anubis with a dog's head, showing in this way that he was the bodyguard of Osiris and Isis. 3 There are some, however, who explain that dogs guided Isis during her search for Osiris and protected her from wild beasts and wayfarers, and that they helped her in her search, because of the affection they bore for her, by baying; and this is the reason why at the Festival of Isis the procession is led by dogs, those who introduced the rite showing forth in this way the kindly service rendered by this animal of old. 4 The cat is likewise useful against asps with their deadly bite and the other reptiles that sting, while the ichneumon keeps a look-out for the newly-laid seed of the crocodile and crushes the eggs left by the female, doing this carefully and zealously even though it receives no benefit from the act. 5 Were this not done, the river would have become impassable because of the multitude of beasts that would be born. And the crocodiles themselves are also killed by this animal in an astonishing and quite incredible manner; for the ichneumons roll themselves over and over in the mud, and when the crocodiles go to sleep on the land with their mouths open they jump down their mouths into the centre of their body; then, rapidly gnawing through the bowels, they get out unscathed themselves and at the same time kill their victims instantly. 6 And of the sacred birds the ibis is useful as a protector against the snakes, the locusts, and the caterpillars, and the hawk against the scorpions, horned serpents, and the small animals of noxious bite which cause the greatest destruction of men. 7 But some maintain that the hawk is honoured because it is used as a bird of omen by the soothsayers in predicting to the Egyptians events which are to come. 8 Others, however, say that in primitive times a hawk brought to the priests in Thebes a book wrapped about with a purple band, which contained written directions concerning the worship of gods and the honours due to them; and it is for this reason, they add, that the sacred scribes wear on their heads a purple band and the wing of a hawk. 9 The eagle also is honoured by the Thebans because it is believed to be a royal animal and worthy of Zeus.
§ 1.88
τὸν δὲ τράγον ἀπεθέωσαν, καθάπερ καὶ παρὰ τοῖς Ἕλλησι τετιμῆσθαι λέγουσι τὸν Πρίαπον, διὰ τὸ γεννητικὸν μόριον· τὸ μὲν γὰρ ζῷον εἶναι τοῦτο κατωφερέστατον πρὸς τὰς συνουσίας, τὸ δὲ μόριον τοῦ σώματος τὸ τῆς γενέσεως αἴτιον τιμᾶσθαι προσηκόντως, ὡς ἂν ὑπάρχον ἀρχέγονον τῆς τῶν ζῴων φύσεως. καθόλου δὲ τὸ αἰδοῖον οὐκ Αἰγυπτίους μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων οὐκ ὀλίγους καθιερωκέναι κατὰ τὰς τελετάς, ὡς αἴτιον τῆς τῶν ζῴων γενέσεως· τούς τε ἱερεῖς τοὺς παραλαβόντας τὰς πατρικὰς ἱερωσύνας κατʼ Αἴγυπτον τούτῳ τῷ θεῷ πρῶτον μυεῖσθαι. καὶ τοὺς Πᾶνας δὲ καὶ τοὺς Σατύρους φασὶν ἕνεκα τῆς αὐτῆς αἰτίας τιμᾶσθαι παρʼ ἀνθρώποις· διὸ καὶ τὰς εἰκόνας αὐτῶν ἀνατιθέναι τοὺς πλείστους ἐν τοῖς ἱεροῖς ἐντεταμένας καὶ τῇ τοῦ τράγου φύσει παραπλησίας· τὸ γὰρ ζῷον τοῦτο παραδεδόσθαι πρὸς τὰς συνουσίας ὑπάρχειν ἐνεργέστατον· ἐκείνοις οὖν διὰ ταύτης τῆς ἐμφάσεως χάριν ἀποδιδόναι περὶ τῆς πολυτεκνίας τῆς ἑαυτῶν. τοὺς δὲ ταύρους τοὺς ἱερούς, λέγω δὲ τόν τε Ἆπιν καὶ τὸν Μνεῦιν, τιμᾶσθαι παραπλησίως τοῖς θεοῖς, Ὀσίριδος καταδείξαντος, ἅμα μὲν διὰ τὴν τῆς γεωργίας χρείαν, ἅμα δὲ καὶ διὰ τὸ τῶν εὑρόντων τοὺς καρποὺς τὴν δόξαν ταῖς τούτων ἐργασίαις παραδόσιμον γεγονέναι τοῖς μεταγενεστέροις εἰς ἅπαντα τὸν αἰῶνα. τοὺς δὲ πυρροὺς βοῦς συγχωρηθῆναι θύειν διὰ τὸ δοκεῖν τοιοῦτον τῷ χρώματι γεγονέναι Τυφῶνα τὸν ἐπιβουλεύσαντα μὲν Ὀσίριδι, τυχόντα δὲ τιμωρίας ὑπὸ τῆς Ἴσιδος διὰ τὸν τἀνδρὸς φόνον. καὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων δὲ τοὺς ὁμοχρωμάτους τῷ Τυφῶνι τὸ παλαιὸν ὑπὸ τῶν βασιλέων φασὶ θύεσθαι πρὸς τῷ τάφῳ τῷ Ὀσίριδος· τῶν μὲν οὖν Αἰγυπτίων ὀλίγους τινὰς εὑρίσκεσθαι πυρρούς, τῶν δὲ ξένων τοὺς πλείους· διὸ καὶ περὶ τῆς Βουσίριδος ξενοκτονίας παρὰ τοῖς Ἕλλησιν ἐνισχῦσαι τὸν μῦθον, οὐ τοῦ βασιλέως ὀνομαζομένου Βουσίριδος, ἀλλὰ τοῦ Ὀσίριδος τάφου ταύτην ἔχοντος τὴν προσηγορίαν κατὰ τὴν τῶν ἐγχωρίων διάλεκτον. τοὺς δὲ λύκους τιμᾶσθαι λέγουσι διὰ τὴν πρὸς τοὺς κύνας τῆς φύσεως ὁμοιότητα· βραχὺ γὰρ διαλάττοντας αὐτοὺς ταῖς φύσεσι ταῖς ἐπιμιξίαις ζωογονεῖν ἐξ ἀλλήλων. φέρουσι δʼ Αἰγύπτιοι καὶ ἄλλην αἰτίαν τῆς τοῦ ζῴου τούτου τιμῆς μυθικωτέραν· τὸ γὰρ παλαιόν φασι τῆς Ἴσιδος μετὰ τοῦ παιδὸς Ὥρου μελλούσης διαγωνίζεσθαι πρὸς Τυφῶνα παραγενέσθαι βοηθὸν ἐξ ᾅδου τὸν Ὄσιριν τῷ τέκνῳ καὶ τῇ γυναικὶ λύκῳ τὴν ὄψιν ὁμοιωθέντα· ἀναιρεθέντος οὖν τοῦ Τυφῶνος τοὺς κρατήσαντας καταδεῖξαι τιμᾶν τὸ ζῷον οὗ τῆς ὄψεως ἐπιφανείσης τὸ νικᾶν ἐπηκολούθησεν. ἔνιοι δὲ λέγουσι, τῶν Αἰθιόπων στρατευσάντων ἐπὶ τὴν Αἴγυπτον, ἀθροισθείσας παμπληθεῖς ἀγέλας λύκων ἐκδιῶξαι τοὺς ἐπελθόντας ἐκ τῆς χώρας ὑπὲρ πόλιν τὴν ὀνομαζομένην Ἐλεφαντίνην· διὸ καὶ τόν τε νομὸν ἐκεῖνον Λυκοπολίτην ὀνομασθῆναι καὶ τὰ ζῷα τὰ προειρημένα τυχεῖν τῆς τιμῆς.
They have deified the goat, just as the Greeks are said to have honoured Priapus, because of the generative member; for this animal has a very great propensity for copulation, and it is fitting that honour be shown to that member of the body which is the cause of generation, being, as it were, the primal author of all animal life. 2 And, in general, not only the Egyptians but not a few other peoples as well have in the rites they observe treated the male member as sacred, on the ground that it is the cause of the generation of all creatures; and the priests in Egypt who have inherited their priestly offices from their fathers are initiated first into the mysteries of this god. 3 And both the Pans and the Satyrs, they say, are worshipped by men for the same reason; and this is why most peoples set up in their sacred places statues of them showing the phallus erect and resembling a goat's in nature, since according to tradition this animal is most efficient in copulation; consequently, by representing these creatures in such fashion, the dedicants are returning thanks to them for their own numerous offspring. The sacred bulls — I refer to the Apis and the Mnevis — are honoured like the gods, as Osiris commanded, both because of their use in farming and also because the fame of those who discovered the fruits of the earth is handed down by the labours of these animals to succeeding generations for all time. Red oxen, however, may be sacrificed, because it is thought that this was the colour of Typhon, who plotted against Osiris and was then punished by Isis for the death of her husband. 5 Men also, if they were of the same colour as Typhon, were sacrificed, they say, in ancient times by the kings at the tomb of Osiris; however, only a few Egyptians are now found red in colour, and but the majority of such are non-Egyptians, and this is why the story spread among the Greeks of the slaying of foreigners by Busiris, although Busiris was not the name of the king but of the tomb of Osiris, which is called that in the language of the land. The wolves are honoured, they say, because their nature is so much like that of dogs, for the natures of these two animals are little different from each other and hence offspring is produced by their interbreeding. But the Egyptians offer another explanation for the honour accorded this animal, although it pertains more to the realm of myth; for they say that in early times when Isis, aided by her son Horus, was about to commence her struggle with Typhon, Osiris came from Hades to help his son and his wife, having taken on the guise of wolf; and so, upon the death of Typhon, his conquerors commanded men to honour the animal upon whose appearance victory followed. 7 But some say that once, when the Ethiopians had marched against Egypt, a great number of bands of wolves (lykoi) gathered together and drove the invaders out of the country, pursuing them beyond the city named Elephantine; and therefore that nome was given the name Lycopolite and these animals were granted the honour in question.
§ 1.89
λείπεται δʼ ἡμῖν εἰπεῖν περὶ τῆς τῶν κροκοδείλων ἀποθεώσεως, ὑπὲρ ἧς οἱ πλεῖστοι διαποροῦσι πῶς τῶν θηρίων τούτων σαρκοφαγούντων τοὺς ἀνθρώπους ἐνομοθετήθη τιμᾶν ἴσα θεοῖς τοὺς τὰ δεινότατα διατιθέντας. φασὶν οὖν τῆς χώρας τὴν ὀχυρότητα παρέχεσθαι μὴ μόνον τὸν ποταμόν, ἀλλὰ καὶ πολὺ μᾶλλον τοὺς ἐν αὐτῷ κροκοδείλους· διὸ καὶ τοὺς λῃστὰς τούς τε ἀπὸ τῆς Ἀραβίας καὶ Λιβύης μὴ τολμᾶν διανήχεσθαι τὸν Νεῖλον, φοβουμένους τὸ πλῆθος τῶν θηρίων· τοῦτο δʼ οὐκ ἄν ποτε γενέσθαι πολεμουμένων τῶν ζῴων καὶ διὰ τῶν σαγηνευόντων ἄρδην ἀναιρεθέντων. ἔστι δὲ καὶ ἄλλος λόγος ἱστορούμενος περὶ τῶν θηρίων τούτων. φασὶ γάρ τινες τῶν ἀρχαίων τινὰ βασιλέων, τὸν προσαγορευόμενον Μηνᾶν, διωκόμενον ὑπὸ τῶν ἰδίων κυνῶν καταφυγεῖν εἰς τὴν Μοίριδος καλουμένην λίμνην, ἔπειθʼ ὑπὸ κροκοδείλου παραδόξως ἀναληφθέντα εἰς τὸ πέραν ἀπενεχθῆναι. τῆς δὲ σωτηρίας χάριν ἀποδιδόναι βουλόμενον τῷ ζῴῳ πόλιν κτίσαι πλησίον ὀνομάσαντα Κροκοδείλων· καταδεῖξαι δὲ καὶ τοῖς ἐγχωρίοις ὡς θεοὺς τιμᾶν ταῦτα τὰ ζῷα καὶ τὴν λίμνην αὐτοῖς εἰς τροφὴν ἀναθεῖναι· ἐνταῦθα δὲ καὶ τὸν τάφον ἑαυτῷ κατασκευάσαι πυραμίδα τετράπλευρον ἐπιστήσαντα, καὶ τὸν θαυμαζόμενον παρὰ πολλοῖς λαβύρινθον οἰκοδομῆσαι. παραπλήσια δὲ καὶ περὶ τῶν ἄλλων λέγουσιν, ὑπὲρ ὧν τὰ καθʼ ἕκαστον μακρὸν ἂν εἴη γράφειν. ὅτι γὰρ τῆς ὠφελείας ἕνεκα τῆς εἰς τὸν βίον οὕτως ἑαυτοὺς εἰθίκασι, φανερὸν εἶναι πᾶσιν ἐκ τοῦ πολλὰ τῶν ἐδωδίμων παρʼ αὐτοῖς ἐνίους μὴ προσφέρεσθαι. τινὰς μὲν γὰρ φακῶν, τινὰς δὲ κυάμων, ἐνίους δὲ τυρῶν ἢ κρομμύων ἤ τινων ἄλλων βρωμάτων τὸ παράπαν μὴ γεύεσθαι, πολλῶν ὑπαρχόντων κατὰ τὴν Αἴγυπτον, δῆλον ποιοῦντας διότι διδακτέον ἐστὶν ἑαυτοὺς τῶν χρησίμων ἀπέχεσθαι, καὶ διότι πάντων πάντα ἐσθιόντων οὐδὲν ἂν ἐξήρκεσε τῶν ἀναλισκομένων. καὶ ἑτέρας δʼ αἰτίας φέροντές τινές φασιν ἐπὶ τῶν παλαιῶν βασιλέων πολλάκις ἀφισταμένου τοῦ πλήθους καὶ συμφρονοῦντος κατὰ τῶν ἡγουμένων, τῶν βασιλέων τινὰ συνέσει διαφέροντα διελέσθαι μὲν τὴν χώραν εἰς πλείω μέρη, καθʼ ἕκαστον δʼ αὐτῶν καταδεῖξαι τοῖς ἐγχωρίοις σέβεσθαί τι ζῷον ἢ τροφῆς τινος μὴ γεύεσθαι, ὅπως ἑκάστων τὸ μὲν παρʼ αὐτοῖς τιμώμενον σεβομένων, τῶν δὲ παρὰ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἀφιερωμένων καταφρονούντων, μηδέποτε ὁμονοῆσαι δύνωνται πάντες οἱ κατʼ Αἴγυπτον. καὶ τοῦτο ἐκ τῶν ἀποτελεσμάτων φανερὸν εἶναι· πάντας γὰρ τοὺς πλησιοχώρους πρὸς ἀλλήλους διαφέρεσθαι, προσκόπτοντας ταῖς εἰς τὰ προειρημένα παρανομίαις.
It remains for us to speak of the deification of crocodiles, a subject regarding which most men are entirely at a loss to explain how, when these beasts eat the flesh of men, it ever became the law to honour like the gods creatures of the most revolting habits. 2 Their reply is, that the security of the country is ensured, not only by the river, but to a much greater degree by the crocodiles in it; that for this reason the robbers that infest both Arabia and Libya do not dare to swim across the Nile, because they fear the beasts, whose number is very great; and that this would never have been the case if war were continually being waged against the animals and they had been utterly destroyed by hunters dragging the river with nets. 3 But still another account is given of these beasts. For some say that once one of the early kings whose name was Menas, being pursued by his own dogs, came in his flight to the Lake of Moeris, as it is called, where, strange as it may seem, a crocodile took him on his back and carried him to the other side. Wishing to show his gratitude to the beast for saving him, he founded a city near the place and named it City of the Crocodiles; and he commanded the natives of the region to worship these animals as gods and dedicated the lake to them for their sustenance; and in that place he also constructed his own tomb, erecting a pyramid with four sides, and built the Labyrinth which is admired by many. A similar diversity of customs exists, according to their accounts, with regard to everything else, but it would be a long task to set forth the details concerning them. That they have adopted these customs for themselves because of the advantage accruing therefrom to their life is clear to all from the fact that there are those among them who will not touch many particular kinds of food. Some, for instance, abstain entirely from lentils, others from beans, and some from cheese or onions or certain other foods, there being many kinds of food in Egypt, showing in this way that men must be taught to deny themselves things that are useful, and that if all ate of everything the supply of no article of consumption would hold out. 5 But some adduce other causes and say that, since under the early kings the multitude were often revolting and conspiring against their rulers, one of the kings who was especially wise divided the land into a number of parts and commanded the inhabitants of each to revere a certain animal or else not to eat a certain food, his thought being that, with each group of people revering what was honoured among themselves but despising what was sacred to all the rest, all the inhabitants of Egypt would never be able to be of one mind. 6 And this purpose, they declare, is clear from the results; for every group of people is at odds with its neighbours, being offended at their violations of the customs mentioned above.
§ 1.90
φέρουσι δὲ καί τινες τοιαύτην αἰτίαν τῆς τῶν ζῴων ἀφιερώσεως. συναγομένων γὰρ ἐν ἀρχῇ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐκ τοῦ θηριώδους βίου, τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἀλλήλους κατεσθίειν καὶ πολεμεῖν, ἀεὶ τοῦ πλέον δυναμένου τὸν ἀσθενέστερον κατισχύοντος· μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τοὺς τῇ ῥώμῃ λειπομένους ὑπὸ τοῦ συμφέροντος διδαχθέντας ἀθροίζεσθαι καὶ ποιῆσαι σημεῖον ἑαυτοῖς ἐκ τῶν ὕστερον καθιερωθέντων ζῴων· πρὸς δὲ τοῦτο τὸ σημεῖον τῶν ἀεὶ δεδιότων συντρεχόντων, οὐκ εὐκαταφρόνητον τοῖς ἐπιτιθεμένοις γίνεσθαι τὸ σύστημα· τὸ δʼ αὐτὸ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ποιούντων διαστῆναι μὲν τὰ πλήθη κατὰ συστήματα, τὸ δὲ ζῷον τὸ τῆς ἀσφαλείας ἑκάστοις γενόμενον αἴτιον τιμῶν τυχεῖν ἰσοθέων, ὡς τὰ μέγιστʼ εὐηργετηκός· διόπερ ἄχρι τῶν νῦν χρόνων τὰ τῶν Αἰγυπτίων ἔθνη διεστηκότα τιμᾶν τὰ παρʼ ἑαυτοῖς ἐξ ἀρχῆς τῶν ζῴων καθιερωθέντα. καθόλου δέ φασι τοὺς Αἰγυπτίους ὑπὲρ τοὺς ἄλλους ἀνθρώπους εὐχαρίστως διακεῖσθαι πρὸς πᾶν τὸ εὐεργετοῦν, νομίζοντας μεγίστην ἐπικουρίαν εἶναι τῷ βίῳ τὴν ἀμοιβὴν τῆς πρὸς τοὺς εὐεργέτας χάριτος· δῆλον γὰρ εἶναι διότι πάντες πρὸς εὐεργεσίαν ὁρμήσουσι τούτων μάλιστα παρʼ οἷς ἄν ὁρῶσι κάλλιστα θησαυρισθησομένας τὰς χάριτας. διὰ δὲ τὰς αὐτὰς αἰτίας δοκοῦσιν Αἰγύπτιοι τοὺς ἑαυτῶν βασιλεῖς προσκυνεῖν τε καὶ τιμᾶν ὡς πρὸς ἀλήθειαν ὄντας θεούς, ἅμα μὲν οὐκ ἄνευ δαιμονίου τινὸς προνοίας νομίζοντες αὐτοὺς τετευχέναι τῆς τῶν ὅλων ἐξουσίας, ἅμα δὲ τοὺς βουλομένους τε καὶ δυναμένους τὰ μέγιστʼ εὐεργετεῖν ἡγούμενοι θείας μετέχειν φύσεως. περὶ μὲν οὖν τῶν ἀφιερωμένων ζῴων εἰ καὶ πεπλεονάκαμεν, ἀλλʼ οὖν γε τὰ μάλιστα θαυμαζόμενα τῶν παρʼ Αἰγυπτίοις νόμιμα διευκρινήκαμεν.
Some advance some such reason as the following for their deification of the animals. When men, they say, first ceased living like the beasts and gathered into groups, at the outset they kept devouring each other and warring among themselves, the more powerful ever prevailing over the weaker; but later those who were deficient in strength, taught by expediency, grouped together and took for the device upon their standard one of the animals which was later made sacred; then, when those who were from time to time in fear flocked to this symbol, an organized body was formed which was not to be despised by any who attacked it. 2 And when everybody else did the same thing, the whole people came to be divided into organized bodies, and in the case of each the animal which had been responsible for its safety was accorded honours like those belonging to the gods, as having rendered to them the greatest service possible; and this is why to this day the several groups of the Egyptians differ from each other in that each group honours the animals which it originally made sacred. In general, they say, the Egyptians surpass all other peoples in showing gratitude for every benefaction, since they hold that the return of gratitude to benefactors is a very great resource in life; for it is clear that all men will want to bestow their benefactions preferably upon those who they see will most honourably treasure up the favours they bestow. 3 And it is apparently on these grounds that the Egyptians prostrate themselves before their kings and honour them as being in truth very gods, holding, on the one hand, that it was not without the influence of some divine providence that these men have attained to the supreme power, and feeling, also, that such as have the will and the strength to confer the greatest benefactions share in the divine nature. Now if we have dwelt over-long on the topic of the sacred animals, we have at least thoroughly considered those customs of the Egyptians that men most marvel at.
§ 1.91
οὐχ ἥκιστα δʼ ἄν τις πυθόμενος τὰ περὶ τοὺς τετελευτηκότας νόμιμα τῶν Αἰγυπτίων θαυμάσαι τὴν ἰδιότητα τῶν ἐθῶν. ὅταν γάρ τις ἀποθάνῃ παρʼ αὐτοῖς, οἱ μὲν συγγενεῖς καὶ φίλοι πάντες καταπλαττόμενοι πηλῷ τὰς κεφαλὰς περιέρχονται τὴν πόλιν θρηνοῦντες, ἕως ἂν ταφῆς τύχῃ τὸ σῶμα. οὐ μὴν οὔτε λουτρῶν οὔτε οἴνου οὔτε τῆς ἄλλης τροφῆς ἀξιολόγου μεταλαμβάνουσιν, οὔτε ἐσθῆτας λαμπρὰς περιβάλλονται. τῶν δὲ ταφῶν τρεῖς ὑπάρχουσι τάξεις, ἥ τε πολυτελεστάτη καὶ μέση καὶ ταπεινοτάτη. κατὰ μὲν οὖν τὴν πρώτην ἀναλίσκεσθαί φασιν ἀργυρίου τάλαντον, κατὰ δὲ τὴν δευτέραν μνᾶς εἴκοσι, κατὰ δὲ τὴν ἐσχάτην παντελῶς ὀλίγον τι δαπάνημα γίνεσθαι λέγουσιν. οἱ μὲν οὖν τὰ σώματα θεραπεύοντές εἰσι τεχνῖται, τὴν ἐπιστήμην ταύτην ἐκ γένους παρειληφότες· οὗτοι δὲ γραφὴν ἑκάστου τῶν εἰς τὰς ταφὰς δαπανωμένων τοῖς οἰκείοις τῶν τελευτησάντων προσενέγκαντες ἐπερωτῶσι τίνα τρόπον βούλονται τὴν θεραπείαν γενέσθαι τοῦ σώματος. διομολογησάμενοι δὲ περὶ πάντων καὶ τὸν νεκρὸν παραλαβόντες, τοῖς τεταγμένοις ἐπὶ τὴν κατειθισμένην ἐπιμέλειαν τὸ σῶμα παραδιδόασι. καὶ πρῶτος μὲν ὁ γραμματεὺς λεγόμενος τεθέντος χαμαὶ τοῦ σώματος ἐπὶ τὴν λαγόνα περιγράφει τὴν εὐώνυμον ὅσον δεῖ διατεμεῖν· ἔπειτα δʼ ὁ λεγόμενος παρασχίστης λίθον ἔχων Αἰθιοπικὸν καὶ διατεμὼν ὡς ὁ νόμος κελεύει τὴν σάρκα, παραχρῆμα φεύγει δρόμῳ, διωκόντων τῶν συμπαρόντων καὶ λίθοις βαλλόντων, ἔτι δὲ καταρωμένων καὶ καθαπερεὶ τὸ μύσος εἰς ἐκεῖνον τρεπόντων· ὑπολαμβάνουσι γὰρ μισητὸν εἶναι πάντα τὸν ὁμοφύλῳ σώματι βίαν προσφέροντα καὶ τραύματα ποιοῦντα καὶ καθόλου τι κακὸν ἀπεργαζόμενον. οἱ ταριχευταὶ δὲ καλούμενοι πάσης μὲν τιμῆς καὶ πολυωρίας ἀξιοῦνται, τοῖς τε ἱερεῦσι συνόντες καὶ τὰς εἰς ἱερὸν εἰσόδους ἀκωλύτως ὡς καθαροὶ ποιοῦνται· πρὸς δὲ τὴν θεραπείαν τοῦ παρεσχισμένου σώματος ἀθροισθέντων αὐτῶν εἷς καθίησι τὴν χεῖρα διὰ τῆς τοῦ νεκροῦ τομῆς εἰς τὸν θώρακα καὶ πάντα ἐξαιρεῖ χωρὶς νεφρῶν καὶ καρδίας, ἕτερος δὲ καθαίρει τῶν ἐγκοιλίων ἕκαστον κλύζων οἴνῳ φοινικείῳ καὶ θυμιάμασι. καθόλου δὲ πᾶν τὸ σῶμα τὸ μὲν πρῶτον κεδρίᾳ καί τισιν ἄλλοις ἐπιμελείας ἀξιοῦσιν ἐφʼ ἡμέρας πλείους τῶν τριάκοντα, ἔπειτα σμύρνῃ καὶ κιναμώμῳ καὶ τοῖς δυναμένοις μὴ μόνον πολυχρόνιον τήρησιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν εὐωδίαν παρέχεσθαι· θεραπεύσαντες δὲ παραδιδόασι τοῖς συγγενέσι τοῦ τετελευτηκότος οὕτως ἕκαστον τῶν τοῦ σώματος μελῶν ἀκέραιον τετηρημένον ὥστε καὶ τὰς ἐπὶ τοῖς βλεφάροις καὶ ταῖς ὀφρύσι τρίχας διαμένειν καὶ τὴν ὅλην πρόσοψιν τοῦ %5σώματος ἀπαράλλακτον εἶναι καὶ τὸν τῆς μορφῆς τύπον γνωρίζεσθαι· διὸ καὶ πολλοὶ τῶν Αἰγυπτίων ἐν οἰκήμασι πολυτελέσι φυλάττοντες τὰ σώματα τῶν προγόνων, κατʼ ὄψιν ὁρῶσι τοὺς γενεαῖς πολλαῖς τῆς ἑαυτῶν γενέσεως προτετελευτηκότας, ὥστε ἑκάστων τά τε μεγέθη καὶ τὰς περιοχὰς τῶν σωμάτων, ἔτι δὲ τοὺς τῆς ὄψεως χαρακτῆρας ὁρωμένους παράδοξον ψυχαγωγίαν παρέχεσθαι καθάπερ συμβεβιωκότας τοῖς θεωμένοις.
But not least will a man marvel at the peculiarity of the customs of the Egyptians when he learns of their usages with respect to the dead. For whenever anyone dies among them, all his relatives and friends, plastering their heads with mud, roam about the city lamenting, until the body receives burial. Nay more, during that time they indulge in neither baths, nor wine, nor in any other food worth mentioning, nor do they put on bright clothing. 2 There are three classes of burial, the most expensive, the medium, and the most humble. And if the first is used the cost, they say, is a talent of silver, if the second, twenty minae, and if the last, the expense is, they say, very little indeed. 3 Now the men who treat the bodies are skilled artisans who have received this professional knowledge as a family tradition; and these lay before the relatives of the deceased a price-list of every item connected with the burial, and ask them in what manner they wish the body to be treated. 4 When an agreement has been reached on every detail and they have taken the body, they turn it over to men who have been assigned to the service and have become inured to it. The first is the scribe, as he is called, who, when the body has been laid on the ground, circumscribes on the left flank the extent of the incision; then the one called the slitter cuts the flesh, as the law commands, with an Ethiopian stone and at once takes to flight on the run, while those present set out after him, pelting him with stones, heaping curses on him, and trying, as it were, to turn the profanation on his head; for in their eyes everyone is an object of general hatred who applies violence to the body of a man of the same tribe or wounds him or, in general, does him any harm. The men called embalmers, however, are considered worthy of every honour and consideration, associating with the priests and even coming and going in the temples without hindrance, as being undefiled. When they have gathered to treat the body after it has been slit open, one of them thrusts his hand through the opening in the corpse into the trunk and extracts everything but the kidneys and heart, and another one cleanses each of the viscera, washing them in palm wine and spices. 6 And in general, they carefully dress the whole body for over thirty days, first with cedar oil and certain other preparations, and then with myrrh, cinnamon, and such spices as have the faculty not only of preserving it for a long time but also of giving it a fragrant odour. And after treating the body they return it to the relatives of the deceased, every member of it having been so preserved intact that even the hair on the eyelids and brows remains, the entire appearance of the body is unchanged, and the cast of its shape is recognizable. 7 This explains why many Egyptians keep the bodies of their ancestors in costly chambers and gaze face to face upon those who died many generations before their own birth, so that, as they look upon the stature and proportions and the features of the countenance of each, they experience a strange enjoyment, as though they had lived with those on whom they gaze.
§ 1.92
τοῦ δὲ μέλλοντος θάπτεσθαι σώματος οἱ συγγενεῖς προλέγουσι τὴν ἡμέραν τῆς ταφῆς τοῖς τε δικασταῖς καὶ τοῖς συγγενέσιν, ἔτι δὲ φίλοις τοῦ τετελευτηκότος, καὶ διαβεβαιοῦνται ὅτι διαβαίνειν μέλλει τὴν λίμνην, λέγοντες τοὔνομα τοῦ μετηλλαχότος. ἔπειτα παραγενομένων δικαστῶν δυσὶ πλειόνων τῶν τετταράκοντα, καὶ καθισάντων ἐπί τινος ἡμικυκλίου κατεσκευασμένου πέραν τῆς λίμνης, ἡ μὲν βᾶρις καθέλκεται, κατεσκευασμένη πρότερον ὑπὸ τῶν ταύτην ἐχόντων τὴν ἐπιμέλειαν, ἐφέστηκε δὲ ταύτῃ ὁ πορθμεύς, ὃν Αἰγύπτιοι κατὰ τὴν ἰδίαν διάλεκτον ὀνομάζουσι χάρωνα. διὸ καί φασιν Ὀρφέα τὸ παλαιὸν εἰς Αἴγυπτον παραβαλόντα καὶ θεασάμενον τοῦτο τὸ νόμιμον, μυθοποιῆσαι τὰ καθʼ ᾅδου, τὰ μὲν μιμησάμενον, τὰ δʼ αὐτὸν ἰδίᾳ πλασάμενον· ὑπὲρ οὗ τὰ κατὰ μέρος μικρὸν ὕστερον ἀναγράψομεν. οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ τῆς βάρεως εἰς τὴν λίμνην καθελκυσθείσης, πρὶν ἢ τὴν λάρνακα τὴν τὸν νεκρὸν ἔχουσαν εἰς αὐτὴν τίθεσθαι, τῷ βουλομένῳ κατηγορεῖν ὁ νόμος ἐξουσίαν δίδωσιν. ἐὰν μὲν οὖν τις παρελθὼν ἐγκαλέσῃ καὶ δείξῃ βεβιωκότα κακῶς, οἱ μὲν κριταὶ τὰς γνώμας πᾶσιν ἀποφαίνονται, τὸ δὲ σῶμα εἴργεται τῆς εἰθισμένης ταφῆς· ἐὰν δʼ ὁ ἐγκαλέσας δόξῃ μὴ δικαίως κατηγορεῖν, μεγάλοις περιπίπτει προστίμοις. ὅταν δὲ μηδεὶς ὑπακούσῃ κατήγορος ἢ παρελθὼν γνωσθῇ συκοφάντης ὑπάρχειν, οἱ μὲν συγγενεῖς ἀποθέμενοι τὸ πένθος ἐγκωμιάζουσι τὸν τετελευτηκότα, καὶ περὶ μὲν τοῦ γένους οὐδὲν λέγουσιν, ὥσπερ παρὰ τοῖς Ἕλλησιν, ὑπολαμβάνοντες ἅπαντας ὁμοίως εὐγενεῖς εἶναι τοὺς κατʼ Αἴγυπτον, τὴν δʼ ἐκ παιδὸς ἀγωγὴν καὶ παιδείαν διελθόντες, πάλιν ἀνδρὸς γεγονότος τὴν εὐσέβειαν καὶ δικαιοσύνην, ἔτι δὲ τὴν ἐγκράτειαν καὶ τὰς ἄλλας ἀρετὰς αὐτοῦ διεξέρχονται, καὶ παρακαλοῦσι τοὺς κάτω θεοὺς δέξασθαι σύνοικον τοῖς εὐσεβέσι· τὸ δὲ πλῆθος ἐπευφημεῖ καὶ ἀποσεμνύνει τὴν δόξαν τοῦ τετελευτηκότος, ὡς τὸν αἰῶνα διατρίβειν μέλλοντος καθʼ ᾅδου μετὰ τῶν εὐσεβῶν. τὸ δὲ σῶμα τιθέασιν οἱ μὲν ἰδίους ἔχοντες τάφους ἐν ταῖς ἀποδεδειγμέναις θήκαις, οἷς δʼ οὐχ ὑπάρχουσι τάφων κτήσεις, καινὸν οἴκημα ποιοῦσι κατὰ τὴν ἰδίαν οἰκίαν, καὶ πρὸς τὸν ἀσφαλέστατον τῶν τοίχων ὀρθὴν ἱστᾶσι τὴν λάρνακα. καὶ τοὺς κωλυομένους δὲ διὰ τὰς κατηγορίας ἢ πρὸς δάνειον ὑποθήκας θάπτεσθαι τιθέασι κατὰ τὴν ἰδίαν οἰκίαν· οὓς ὕστερον ἐνίοτε παίδων παῖδες εὐπορήσαντες καὶ τῶν τε συμβολαίων καὶ τῶν ἐγκλημάτων ἀπολύσαντες μεγαλοπρεποῦς ταφῆς ἀξιοῦσι.
When the body is ready to be buried the family announces the day of interment to the judges and to the relatives and friends of the deceased, and solemnly affirms that he who has just passed away — giving his name — "is about to cross the lake." 2 Then, when the judges, forty-two in number, have assembled and have taken seats in a hemicycle which has been built across the lake, the baris is launched, which has been prepared in advance by men especially engaged in that service, and which is in the charge of the boatman whom the Egyptians in their language charon. 3 For this reason they insist that Orpheus, having visited Egypt in ancient times and witnessed this custom, merely invented his account of Hades, in part reproducing this practice and in part inventing on his own account; but this point we shall discuss more fully a little later. 4 At any rate, after the baris has been launched into the lake but before the coffin containing the body is set in it, the law gives permission to anyone who wishes to arraign the dead person. Now if anyone presents himself and makes a charge, and shows that the dead man had led an evil life, the judges announce the decision to all and the body is denied the customary burial; but if it shall appear that the accuser has made an unjust charge he is severely punished. 5 When no accuser appears or the one who presents himself is discovered to be a slanderer, the relatives put their mourning aside and laud the deceased. And of his ancestry, indeed, they say nothing, as the Greeks do, since they hold that all Egyptians are equally well born, but after recounting his training and education from childhood, they describe his righteousness and justice after he attained to manhood, also his self-control and his other virtues, and call upon the gods of the lower world to receive him into the company of the righteous; and the multitude shouts its assent and extorts the glory of the deceased, as of one who is about to spend eternity in Hades among the righteous. 6 Those who have private sepulchres lay the body in a vault reserved for it, but those who possess none construct a new chamber in their own home, and stand the coffin upright against the firmest wall. Any also who are forbidden burial because of the accusations brought against them or because their bodies have been made security for a loan they lay away in their own homes; and it sometimes happens that their sons's sons, when they have become prosperous and paid off the debt or cleared them of the charges, give them later a magnificent funeral.
§ 1.93
σεμνότατον δὲ διείληπται παρʼ Αἰγυπτίοις τὸ τοὺς γονεῖς ἢ τοὺς προγόνους φανῆναι περιττότερον τετιμηκότας εἰς τὴν αἰώνιον οἴκησιν μεταστάντας. νόμιμον δʼ ἐστὶ παρʼ αὐτοῖς καὶ τὸ διδόναι τὰ σώματα τῶν τετελευτηκότων γονέων εἰς ὑποθήκην δανείου· τοῖς δὲ μὴ λυσαμένοις ὄνειδός τε τὸ μέγιστον ἀκολουθεῖ καὶ μετὰ τὴν τελευτὴν στέρησις ταφῆς. θαυμάσαι δʼ ἄν τις προσηκόντως τοὺς ταῦτα διατάξαντας, ὅτι τὴν ἐπιείκειαν καὶ τὴν σπουδαιότητα τῶν ἠθῶν οὐκ ἐκ τῆς τῶν ζώντων ὁμιλίας μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῆς τῶν τετελευτηκότων ταφῆς καὶ θεραπείας ἐφʼ ὅσον ἦν ἐνδεχόμενον τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἐνοικειοῦν ἐφιλοτιμήθησαν. οἱ μὲν γὰρ Ἕλληνες μύθοις πεπλασμένοις καὶ φήμαις διαβεβλημέναις τὴν περὶ τούτων πίστιν παρέδωκαν, τήν τε τῶν εὐσεβῶν τιμὴν καὶ τὴν τῶν πονηρῶν τιμωρίαν· τοιγαροῦν οὐχ οἷον ἰσχῦσαι δύναται ταῦτα προτρέψασθαι τοὺς ἀνθρώπους ἐπὶ τὸν ἄριστον βίον, ἀλλὰ τοὐναντίον ὑπὸ τῶν φαύλων χλευαζόμενα πολλῆς καταφρονήσεως τυγχάνουσι· παρὰ δὲ τοῖς Αἰγυπτίοις οὐ μυθώδους, ἀλλʼ ὁρατῆς τοῖς μὲν πονηροῖς τῆς κολάσεως, τοῖς δʼ ἀγαθοῖς τῆς τιμῆς οὔσης, καθʼ ἑκάστην ἡμέραν ἀμφότεροι τῶν ἑαυτοῖς προσηκόντων ὑπομιμνήσκονται, καὶ διὰ τούτου τοῦ τρόπου ἡ μεγίστη καὶ συμφορωτάτη διόρθωσις γίνεται τῶν ἠθῶν. κρατίστους δʼ, οἶμαι, τῶν νόμων ἡγητέον οὐκ ἐξ ὧν εὐπορωτάτους, ἀλλʼ ἐξ ὧν ἐπιεικεστάτους τοῖς ἤθεσι καὶ πολιτικωτάτους συμβήσεται γενέσθαι τοὺς ἀνθρώπους.
It is a most sacred duty, in the eyes of the Egyptians, that they should be seen to honour their parents or ancestors all the more after they have passed to their eternal home. Another custom of theirs is to put up the bodies of their deceased parents as security for a loan; and failure to repay such debts is attended with the deepest disgrace as well as with deprivation of burial at death. 2 And a person may well admire the men who established these customs, because they strove to inculcate in the inhabitants, as far as was possible, virtuousness and excellence of character, by means not only of their converse with the living but also of their burial and affectionate care of the dead. 3 For the Greeks have handed down their beliefs in such matters — in the honour paid to the righteous and the punishment of the wicked — by means of fanciful tales and discredited legends; consequently these accounts not only cannot avail to spur their people on to the best life, but, on the contrary, being scoffed at by worthless men, are received with contempt. 4 But among the Egyptians, since these matters do not belong to the realm of myth but men see with their own eyes that punishment is meted out to the wicked and honour to the good, every day of their lives both the wicked and the good are reminded of their obligations and in this way the greatest and most profitable amendment of men's characters is effected. And the best laws, in my opinion, must be held to be, not those by which men become most prosperous, but those by which they become most virtuous in character and best fitted for citizenship.
§ 1.94
ῥητέον δʼ ἡμῖν καὶ περὶ τῶν γενομένων νομοθετῶν κατʼ Αἴγυπτον τῶν οὕτως ἐξηλλαγμένα καὶ παράδοξα νόμιμα καταδειξάντων. μετὰ γὰρ τὴν παλαιὰν τοῦ κατʼ Αἴγυπτον βίου κατάστασιν, τὴν μυθολογουμένην γεγονέναι ἐπί τε τῶν θεῶν καὶ τῶν ἡρώων, πεῖσαί φασι πρῶτον ἐγγράπτοις νόμοις χρήσασθαι τὰ πλήθη τὸν Μνεύην, ἄνδρα καὶ τῇ ψυχῇ μέγαν καὶ τῷ βίῳ κοινότατον τῶν μνημονευομένων. προσποιηθῆναι δʼ αὐτῷ τὸν Ἑρμῆν δεδωκέναι τούτους, ὡς μεγάλων ἀγαθῶν αἰτίους ἐσομένους, καθάπερ παρʼ Ἕλλησι ποιῆσαί φασιν ἐν μὲν τῇ Κρήτῃ Μίνωα, παρὰ δὲ Λακεδαιμονίοις Λυκοῦργον, τὸν μὲν παρὰ Διός, τὸν δὲ παρʼ Ἀπόλλωνος φήσαντα τούτους παρειληφέναι. καὶ παρʼ ἑτέροις δὲ πλείοσιν ἔθνεσι παραδέδοται τοῦτο τὸ γένος τῆς ἐπινοίας ὑπάρξαι καὶ πολλῶν ἀγαθῶν αἴτιον γενέσθαι τοῖς πεισθεῖσι· παρὰ μὲν γὰρ τοῖς Ἀριανοῖς Ζαθραύστην ἱστοροῦσι τὸν ἀγαθὸν δαίμονα προσποιήσασθαι τοὺς νόμους αὐτῷ διδόναι, παρὰ δὲ τοῖς ὀνομαζομένοις Γέταις τοῖς ἀπαθανατίζουσι Ζάλμοξιν ὡσαύτως τὴν κοινὴν Ἑστίαν, παρὰ δὲ τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις Μωυσῆν τὸν Ἰαὼ ἐπικαλούμενον θεόν, εἴτε θαυμαστὴν καὶ θείαν ὅλως ἔννοιαν εἶναι κρίναντας τὴν μέλλουσαν ὠφελήσειν ἀνθρώπων πλῆθος, εἴτε καὶ πρὸς τὴν ὑπεροχὴν καὶ δύναμιν τῶν εὑρεῖν λεγομένων τοὺς νόμους ἀποβλέψαντα τὸν ὄχλον μᾶλλον ὑπακούσεσθαι διαλαβόντας. δεύτερον δὲ νομοθέτην Αἰγύπτιοί φασι γενέσθαι Σάσυχιν, ἄνδρα συνέσει διαφέροντα. τοῦτον δὲ πρὸς τοῖς ὑπάρχουσι νόμοις ἄλλα τε προσθεῖναι καὶ τὰ περὶ τὴν τῶν θεῶν τιμὴν ἐπιμελέστατα διατάξαι, εὑρετὴν δὲ καὶ γεωμετρίας γενέσθαι καὶ τὴν περὶ τῶν ἄστρων θεωρίαν τε καὶ παρατήρησιν διδάξαι τοὺς ἐγχωρίους. τρίτον δὲ λέγουσι Σεσόωσιν τὸν βασιλέα μὴ μόνον τὰς πολεμικὰς πράξεις ἐπιφανεστάτας κατεργάσασθαι τῶν κατʼ Αἴγυπτον, ἀλλὰ καὶ περὶ τὸ μάχιμον ἔθνος νομοθεσίαν συστήσασθαι, καὶ τὰ ἀκόλουθα τὰ περὶ τὴν στρατείαν σύμπαντα διακοσμῆσαι. τέταρτον δὲ νομοθέτην φασὶ γενέσθαι Βόκχοριν τὸν βασιλέα, σοφόν τινα καὶ πανουργίᾳ διαφέροντα. τοῦτον οὖν διατάξαι τὰ περὶ τοὺς βασιλεῖς ἅπαντα καὶ τὰ περὶ τῶν συμβολαίων ἐξακριβῶσαι· γενέσθαι δʼ αὐτὸν καὶ περὶ τὰς κρίσεις οὕτω συνετὸν ὥστε πολλὰ τῶν ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ διαγνωσθέντων διὰ τὴν περιττότητα μνημονεύεσθαι μέχρι τῶν καθʼ ἡμᾶς χρόνων. λέγουσι δʼ αὐτὸν ὑπάρξαι τῷ μὲν σώματι παντελῶς ἀσθενῆ, τῷ δὲ τρόπῳ πάντων φιλοχρηματώτατον.
We must speak also of the lawgivers who have arisen in Egypt and who instituted customs unusual and strange. After the establishment of settled life in Egypt in early times, which took place, according to the mythical account, in the period of the gods and heroes, the first, they say, to persuade the multitudes to use written laws was Mneves, a man not only great of soul but also in his life the most public-spirited of all lawgivers whose names are recorded. According to the tradition he claimed that Hermes had given the laws to him, with the assurance that they would be the cause of great blessings, just as among the Greeks, they say, Minos did in Crete and Lycurgus among the Lacedaemonians, the former saying that he received his laws from Zeus and the latter his from Apollo. 2 Also among several other peoples tradition says that this kind of a device was used and was the cause of much good to such as believed it. Thus it is recorded that among the Arians Zathraustes claimed that the Good Spirit gave him his laws, among the people known as the Getae who represent themselves to be immortal Zalmoxis asserted the same of their common goddess Hestia, and among the Jews Moyses referred his laws to the god who is invoked as Iao. They all did this either because they believed that a conception which would help humanity was marvellous and wholly divine, or because they held that the common crowd would be more likely to obey the laws if their gaze were directed towards the majesty and power of those to whom their laws were ascribed.c A second lawgiver, according to the Egyptians, was Sasychis, a man of unusual understanding. He made sundry additions to the existing laws and, in particular, laid down with the greatest precision the rites to be used in honouring the gods, and he was the inventor of geometry and taught his countrymen both to speculate about the stars and to observe them. 4 A third one, they tell us, was the king Sesoosis, who not only performed the most renowned deeds in war of any king of Egypt but also organized the rules governing the warrior class and, in conformity with these, set in order all the regulations that have to do with military campaigns. 5 A fourth lawgiver, they say, was the king Bocchoris, a wise sort of a man and conspicuous for his craftiness. He drew up all the regulations which governed the kings and gave precision to the laws on contracts; and so wise was he in his judicial decisions as well, that many of his judgments are remembered for their excellence even to our day. And they add that he was very weak in body, and that by disposition he was the most avaricious of all their kings.
§ 1.95
μετὰ δὲ τοῦτον προσελθεῖν λέγουσι τοῖς νόμοις Ἄμασιν τὸν βασιλέα, ὃν ἱστοροῦσι τὰ περὶ τοὺς νομάρχας διατάξαι καὶ τὰ περὶ τὴν σύμπασαν οἰκονομίαν τῆς Αἰγύπτου. παραδέδοται δὲ συνετός τε γεγονέναι καθʼ ὑπερβολὴν καὶ τὸν τρόπον ἐπιεικὴς καὶ δίκαιος· ὧν ἕνεκα καὶ τοὺς Αἰγυπτίους αὐτῷ περιτεθεικέναι τὴν ἀρχὴν οὐκ ὄντι γένους βασιλικοῦ. φασὶ δὲ καὶ τοὺς Ἠλείους, σπουδάζοντας περὶ τὸν Ὀλυμπικὸν ἀγῶνα, πρεσβευτὰς ἀποστεῖλαι πρὸς αὐτὸν ἐρωτήσοντας πῶς ἂν γένοιτο δικαιότατος· τὸν δʼ εἰπεῖν, ἐὰν μηδεὶς Ἠλεῖος ἀγωνίζηται. Πολυκράτους δὲ τοῦ Σαμίων δυνάστου συντεθειμένου πρὸς αὐτὸν φιλίαν, καὶ βιαίως προσφερομένου τοῖς τε πολίταις καὶ τοῖς εἰς Σάμον καταπλέουσι ξένοις, τὸ μὲν πρῶτον λέγεται πρεσβευτὰς ἀποστείλαντα παρακαλεῖν αὐτὸν ἐπὶ τὴν μετριότητα· οὐ προσέχοντος δʼ αὐτοῦ τοῖς λόγοις ἐπιστολὴν γράψαι τὴν φιλίαν καὶ τὴν ξενίαν τὴν πρὸς αὐτὸν διαλυόμενον· οὐ γὰρ βούλεσθαι λυπηθῆναι συντόμως ἑαυτόν, ἀκριβῶς εἰδότα διότι πλησίον ἐστὶν αὐτῷ τὸ κακῶς παθεῖν οὕτω προεστηκότι τῆς τυραννίδος. θαυμασθῆναι δʼ αὐτόν φασι παρὰ τοῖς Ἕλλησι διά τε τὴν ἐπιείκειαν καὶ διὰ τὸ τῷ Πολυκράτει ταχέως ἀποβῆναι τὰ ῥηθέντα. ἕκτον δὲ λέγεται τὸν Ξέρξου πατέρα Δαρεῖον τοῖς νόμοις ἐπιστῆναι τοῖς τῶν Αἰγυπτίων· μισήσαντα γὰρ τὴν παρανομίαν τὴν εἰς τὰ κατʼ Αἴγυπτον ἱερὰ γενομένην ὑπὸ Καμβύσου τοῦ προβασιλεύσαντος ζηλῶσαι βίον ἐπιεικῆ καὶ φιλόθεον. ὁμιλῆσαι μὲν γὰρ αὐτοῖς τοῖς ἱερεῦσι τοῖς ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ καὶ μεταλαβεῖν αὐτὸν τῆς τε θεολογίας καὶ τῶν ἐν ταῖς ἱεραῖς βίβλοις ἀναγεγραμμένων πράξεων· ἐκ δὲ τούτων ἱστορήσαντα τήν τε μεγαλοψυχίαν τῶν ἀρχαίων βασιλέων καὶ τὴν εἰς τοὺς ἀρχομένους εὔνοιαν μιμήσασθαι τὸν ἐκείνων βίον, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο τηλικαύτης τυχεῖν τιμῆς ὥσθʼ ὑπὸ τῶν Αἰγυπτίων ζῶντα μὲν θεὸν προσαγορεύεσθαι μόνον τῶν ἁπάντων βασιλέων, τελευτήσαντα δὲ τιμῶν τυχεῖν ἴσων τοῖς τὸ παλαιὸν νομιμώτατα βασιλεύσασι κατʼ Αἴγυπτον. τὴν μὲν οὖν κοινὴν νομοθεσίαν συντελεσθῆναί φασιν ὑπὸ τῶν εἰρημένων ἀνδρῶν, καὶ δόξης τυχεῖν τῆς διαδεδομένης παρὰ τοῖς ἄλλοις· ἐν δὲ τοῖς ὕστερον χρόνοις πολλὰ τῶν καλῶς ἔχειν δοκούντων νομίμων φασὶ κινηθῆναι, Μακεδόνων ἐπικρατησάντων καὶ καταλυσάντων εἰς τέλος τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν ἐγχωρίων.
After Bocchoris, they say, their king Amasis gave attention to the laws, who, according to their accounts, drew up the rules governing the nomarchs and the entire administration of Egypt. And tradition describes him as exceedingly wise and in disposition virtuous and just, for which reasons the Egyptians invested him with the kingship, although he was not of the royal line. 2 They say also that the citizens of Elis, when they were giving their attention to the Olympic Games, sent an embassy to him to ask how they could be conducted with the greatest fairness, and that he replied, "Provided no man of Elis participates." 3 And though Polycrates, the ruler of the Samians, had been on terms of friendship with him, when he began oppressing both citizens and such foreigners as put in at Samos, it is said that Amasis at first sent an embassy to him and urged him to moderation; and when no attention was paid to this, he wrote a letter in which he broke up the relations of friendship and hospitality that had existed between them; for he did not wish, as he said, to be plunged into grief in a short while, knowing right well as he did that misfortune is near at hand for the ruler who maintains a tyranny in such fashion. And he was admired, they say, among the Greeks both because of his virtuous character and because his words to Polycrates were speedily fulfilled. A sixth man to concern himself with the laws of the Egyptians, it is said, was Darius the father of Xerxes; for he was incensed at the lawlessness which his predecessor, Cambyses, had shown in the treatment of the sanctuaries of Egypt, and aspired to live a life of virtue and of piety towards the gods. 5 Indeed he associated with the priests of Egypt themselves, and took part with them in the study of theology and of the events recorded in their sacred books; and when he learned from these books about the greatness of soul of the ancient kings and about their goodwill towards their subjects he imitated their manner of life. For this reason he was the object of such great honour that he alone of all the kings was addressed as a god by the Egyptians in his lifetime, while at his death he was accorded equal honours with the ancient kings of Egypt who had ruled in strictest accord with the laws. The system, then, of law used throughout the land was the work, they say, of the men just named, and gained a renown that spread among other peoples everywhere; but in later times, they say, many institutions which were regarded as good were changed, after the Macedonians had conquered and destroyed once and for all the kingship of the native line.
§ 1.96
τούτων δʼ ἡμῖν διευκρινημένων ῥητέον ὅσοι τῶν παρʼ Ἕλλησι δεδοξασμένων ἐπὶ συνέσει καὶ παιδείᾳ παρέβαλον εἰς Αἴγυπτον ἐν τοῖς ἀρχαίοις χρόνοις, ἵνα τῶν ἐνταῦθα νομίμων καὶ τῆς παιδείας μετάσχωσιν. οἱ γὰρ ἱερεῖς τῶν Αἰγυπτίων ἱστοροῦσιν ἐκ τῶν ἀναγραφῶν τῶν ἐν ταῖς ἱεραῖς βίβλοις παραβαλεῖν πρὸς ἑαυτοὺς τὸ παλαιὸν Ὀρφέα τε καὶ Μουσαῖον καὶ Μελάμποδα καὶ Δαίδαλον, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις Ὅμηρόν τε τὸν ποιητὴν καὶ Λυκοῦργον τὸν Σπαρτιάτην, ἔτι δὲ Σόλωνα τὸν Ἀθηναῖον καὶ Πλάτωνα τὸν φιλόσοφον, ἐλθεῖν δὲ καὶ Πυθαγόραν τὸν Σάμιον καὶ τὸν μαθηματικὸν Εὔδοξον, ἔτι δὲ Δημόκριτον τὸν Ἀβδηρίτην καὶ Οἰνοπίδην τὸν Χῖον. πάντων δὲ τούτων σημεῖα δεικνύουσι τῶν μὲν εἰκόνας, τῶν δὲ τόπων ἢ κατασκευασμάτων ὁμωνύμους προσηγορίας, ἔκ τε τῆς ἑκάστῳ ζηλωθείσης παιδείας ἀποδείξεις φέρουσι, συνιστάντες ἐξ Αἰγύπτου μετενηνέχθαι πάντα διʼ ὧν παρὰ τοῖς Ἕλλησιν ἐθαυμάσθησαν. Ὀρφέα μὲν γὰρ τῶν μυστικῶν τελετῶν τὰ πλεῖστα καὶ τὰ περὶ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ πλάνην ὀργιαζόμενα καὶ τὴν τῶν ἐν ᾅδου μυθοποιίαν ἀπενέγκασθαι. τὴν μὲν γὰρ Ὀσίριδος τελετὴν τῇ Διονύσου τὴν αὐτὴν εἶναι, τὴν δὲ τῆς Ἴσιδος τῇ τῆς Δήμητρος ὁμοιοτάτην ὑπάρχειν, τῶν ὀνομάτων μόνων ἐνηλλαγμένων· τὰς δὲ τῶν ἀσεβῶν ἐν ᾅδου τιμωρίας καὶ τοὺς τῶν εὐσεβῶν λειμῶνας καὶ τὰς παρὰ τοῖς πολλοῖς εἰδωλοποιίας ἀναπεπλασμένας παρεισαγαγεῖν μιμησάμενον τὰ γινόμενα περὶ τὰς ταφὰς τὰς κατʼ Αἴγυπτον. τὸν μὲν γὰρ ψυχοπομπὸν Ἑρμῆν κατὰ τὸ παλαιὸν νόμιμον παρʼ Αἰγυπτίοις ἀναγαγόντα τὸ τοῦ Ἄπιδος σῶμα μέχρι τινὸς παραδιδόναι τῷ περικειμένῳ τὴν τοῦ Κερβέρου προτομήν. τοῦ δʼ Ὀρφέως τοῦτο καταδείξαντος παρὰ τοῖς Ἕλλησι τὸν Ὅμηρον ἀκολούθως τούτῳ θεῖναι κατὰ τὴν ποίησιν Ἑρμῆς δὲ ψυχὰς Κυλλήνιος ἐξεκαλεῖτο ἀνδρῶν μνηστήρων, ἔχε δὲ ῥάβδον μετὰ χερσίν. εἶτα πάλιν ὑποβάντα λέγειν πὰρ δʼ ἴσαν Ὠκεανοῦ τε ῥοὰς καὶ Λευκάδα πέτρην, ἠδὲ παρʼ Ἠελίοιο πύλας καὶ δῆμον Ὀνείρων ἤισαν· αἶψα δʼ ἵκοντο κατʼ ἀσφοδελὸν λειμῶνα, ἔνθα τε ναίουσι ψυχαί, εἴδωλα καμόντων. ὠκεανὸν μὲν οὖν καλεῖν τὸν ποταμὸν διὰ τὸ τοὺς Αἰγυπτίους κατὰ τὴν ἰδίαν διάλεκτον Ὠκεανὸν λέγειν τὸν Νεῖλον, Ἡλίου δὲ πύλας τὴν πόλιν τὴν τῶν Ἡλιοπολιτῶν, λειμῶνα δʼ ὀνομάζειν, τὴν μυθολογουμένην οἴκησιν τῶν μετηλλαχότων, τὸν παρὰ τὴν λίμνην τόπον τὴν καλουμένην μὲν Ἀχερουσίαν, πλησίον δὲ οὖσαν τῆς Μέμφεως, ὄντων περὶ αὐτὴν λειμώνων καλλίστων, ἕλους καὶ λωτοῦ καὶ καλάμου. ἀκολούθως δʼ εἰρῆσθαι καὶ τὸ κατοικεῖν τοὺς τελευτήσαντας ἐν τούτοις τοῖς τόποις διὰ τὸ τὰς τῶν Αἰγυπτίων ταφὰς τὰς πλείστας καὶ μεγίστας ἐνταῦθα γίνεσθαι, διαπορθμευομένων μὲν τῶν νεκρῶν διά τε τοῦ ποταμοῦ καὶ τῆς Ἀχερουσίας λίμνης, τιθεμένων δὲ τῶν σωμάτων εἰς τὰς ἐνταῦθα κειμένας θήκας. συμφωνεῖν δὲ καὶ τἄλλα τὰ παρὰ τοῖς Ἕλλησι καθʼ ᾅδου μυθολογούμενα τοῖς ἔτι νῦν γινομένοις κατʼ Αἴγυπτον· τὸ μὲν γὰρ διακομίζον τὰ σώματα πλοῖον βᾶριν καλεῖσθαι, τὸ δʼ ἐπίβαθρον νόμισμα τὸν ὀβολὸν τῷ πορθμεῖ δίδοσθαι, καλουμένῳ κατὰ τὴν ἐγχώριον διάλεκτον χάρωνι. εἶναι δὲ λέγουσι πλησίον τῶν τόπων τούτων καὶ σκοτίας Ἑκάτης ἱερὸν καὶ πύλας Κωκυτοῦ καὶ Λήθης διειλημμένας χαλκοῖς ὀχεῦσιν. ὑπάρχειν δὲ καὶ ἄλλας πύλας Ἀληθείας, καὶ πλησίον τούτων εἴδωλον ἀκέφαλον ἑστάναι Δίκης.
But now that we have examined these matters, we must enumerate what Greeks, who have won fame for their wisdom and learning, visited Egypt in ancient times, in order to become acquainted with its customs and learning. 2 For the priests of Egypt recount from the records of their sacred books that they were visited in early times by Orpheus, Musaeus, Melampus, and Daedalus, also by the poet Homer and Lycurgus of Sparta, later by Solon of Athens and the philosopher Plato, and that there also came Pythagoras of Samos and the mathematician Eudoxus, as well as Democritus of Abdera and Oenopides of Chios. 3 As evidence for the visits of all these men they point in some cases to their statues and in others to places or buildings which bear their names, and they offer proofs from the branch of learning which each one of these men pursued, arguing that all the things for which they were admired among the Greeks were transferred from Egypt. Orpheus, for instance, brought from Egypt most of his mystic ceremonies, the orgiastic rites that accompanied his wanderings, and his fabulous account of his experiences in Hades. 5 For the rite of Osiris is the same as that of Dionysus and that of Isis very similar to that of Demeter, the names alone having been interchanged; and the punishments in Hades of the unrighteous, the Fields of the Righteous, and the fantastic conceptions, current among the many, which are figments of the imagination — all these were introduced by Orpheus in imitation of the Egyptian funeral customs. 6 Hermes, for instance, the Conductor of Souls, according to the ancient Egyptian custom, brings up the body of the Apis to a certain point and then gives it over to one who wears the mask of Cerberus. And after Orpheus had introduced this notion among the Greeks, Homer followed it when he wrote: Cyllenian Hermes then did summon forth The suitors's souls, holding his wand in hand. And again a little further on he says: They passed Oceanus' streams, the Gleaming Rock, The Portals of the Sun, the Land of Dreams; And now they reached the Meadow of Asphodel, Where dwell the Souls, the shades of men outworn. Now he calls the river "Oceanus" because in their language the Egyptians speak of the Nile as Oceanus; the "Portals of the Sun" (Heliopulai) is his name for the city of Heliopolis; and "Meadows," the mythical dwelling of the dead, is his term for the place near the lake which is called Acherousia, which is near Memphis, and around it are fairest meadows, of a marsh-land and lotus and reeds. The same explanation also serves for the statement that the dwelling of the dead is in these regions, since the most and the largest tombs of the Egyptians are situated there, the dead being ferried across both the river and Lake Acherousia and their bodies laid in the vaults situated there. The other myths about Hades, current among the Greeks, also agree with the customs which are practised even now in Egypt. For the boat which receives the bodies is called baris, and the passenger's fee is given to the boatman, who in the Egyptian tongue is called charon. 9 And near these regions, they say, are also the "Shades," which is a temple of Hecate, and "portals" of Cocytus and Lethe, which are covered at intervals with bands of bronze. There are, moreover, other portals, namely, those of Truth, and near them stands a headless statue of Justice.
§ 1.97
πολλὰ δὲ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν μεμυθοποιημένων διαμένειν παρʼ Αἰγυπτίοις, διατηρουμένης ἔτι τῆς προσηγορίας καὶ τῆς ἐν τῷ πράττειν ἐνεργείας. ἐν μὲν γὰρ Ἀκανθῶν πόλει, πέραν τοῦ Νείλου κατὰ τὴν Λιβύην ἀπὸ σταδίων ἑκατὸν καὶ εἴκοσι τῆς Μέμφεως, πίθον εἶναι τετρημένον, εἰς ὃν τῶν ἱερέων ἑξήκοντα καὶ τριακοσίους καθʼ ἑκάστην ἡμέραν ὕδωρ φέρειν εἰς αὐτὸν ἐκ τοῦ Νείλου· τὴν δὲ περὶ τὸν Ὄκνον μυθοποιίαν δείκνυσθαι πλησίον κατά τινα πανήγυριν συντελουμένην, πλέκοντος μὲν ἑνὸς ἀνδρὸς ἀρχὴν σχοινίου μακράν, πολλῶν δʼ ἐκ τῶν ὀπίσω λυόντων τὸ πλεκόμενον. Μελάμποδα δέ φασι μετενεγκεῖν ἐξ Αἰγύπτου τὰ Διονύσῳ νομιζόμενα τελεῖσθαι παρὰ τοῖς Ἕλλησι καὶ τὰ περὶ Κρόνου μυθολογούμενα καὶ τὰ περὶ τῆς Τιτανομαχίας καὶ τὸ σύνολον τὴν περὶ τὰ πάθη τῶν θεῶν ἱστορίαν. τὸν δὲ Δαίδαλον λέγουσιν ἀπομιμήσασθαι τὴν τοῦ λαβυρίνθου πλοκὴν τοῦ διαμένοντος μὲν μέχρι τοῦ νῦν καιροῦ, οἰκοδομηθέντος δέ, ὡς μέν τινές φασιν, ὑπὸ Μένδητος, ὡς δʼ ἔνιοι λέγουσιν, ὑπὸ Μάρρου τοῦ βασιλέως, πολλοῖς ἔτεσι πρότερον τῆς Μίνω βασιλείας. τόν τε ῥυθμὸν τῶν ἀρχαίων κατʼ Αἴγυπτον ἀνδριάντων τὸν αὐτὸν εἶναι τοῖς ὑπὸ Δαιδάλου κατασκευασθεῖσι παρὰ τοῖς Ἕλλησι. τὸ δὲ κάλλιστον πρόπυλον ἐν Μέμφει τοῦ Ἡφαιστείου Δαίδαλον ἀρχιτεκτονῆσαι, καὶ θαυμασθέντα τυχεῖν εἰκόνος ξυλίνης κατὰ τὸ προειρημένον ἱερὸν ταῖς ἰδίαις χερσὶ δεδημιουργημένης, πέρας δὲ διὰ τὴν εὐφυΐαν ἀξιωθέντα μεγάλης δόξης καὶ πολλὰ προσεξευρόντα τυχεῖν ἰσοθέων τιμῶν· κατὰ γὰρ μίαν τῶν πρὸς τῇ Μέμφει νήσων ἔτι καὶ νῦν ἱερὸν εἶναι Δαιδάλου τιμώμενον ὑπὸ τῶν ἐγχωρίων. τῆς δʼ Ὁμήρου παρουσίας ἄλλα τε σημεῖα φέρουσι καὶ μάλιστα τὴν τῆς Ἑλένης γενομένην παρὰ Μενελάῳ Τηλεμάχου φαρμακείαν καὶ λήθην τῶν συμβεβηκότων κακῶν. τὸ γὰρ νηπενθὲς φάρμακον, ὃ λαβεῖν φησιν ὁ ποιητὴς τὴν Ἑλένην ἐκ τῶν Αἰγυπτίων Θηβῶν παρὰ Πολυδάμνης τῆς Θῶνος γυναικός, ἀκριβῶς ἐξητακὼς φαίνεται· ἔτι γὰρ καὶ νῦν τὰς ἐν ταύτῃ γυναῖκας τῇ προειρημένῃ δυνάμει χρῆσθαι λέγουσι, καὶ παρὰ μόναις ταῖς Διοσπολίτισιν ἐκ παλαιῶν χρόνων ὀργῆς καὶ λύπης φάρμακον εὑρῆσθαί φασι· τὰς δὲ Θήβας καὶ Διὸς πόλιν τὴν αὐτὴν ὑπάρχειν. τήν τε Ἀφροδίτην ὀνομάζεσθαι παρὰ τοῖς ἐγχωρίοις χρυσῆν ἐκ παλαιᾶς παραδόσεως, καὶ πεδίον εἶναι καλούμενον χρυσῆς Ἀφροδίτης περὶ τὴν ὀνομαζομένην Μώμεμφιν. τά τε περὶ τὸν Δία καὶ τὴν Ἥραν μυθολογούμενα περὶ τῆς συνουσίας καὶ τὴν εἰς Αἰθιοπίαν ἐκδημίαν ἐκεῖθεν αὐτὸν μετενεγκεῖν· κατʼ ἐνιαυτὸν γὰρ παρὰ τοῖς Αἰγυπτίοις τὸν νεὼν τοῦ Διὸς περαιοῦσθαι τὸν ποταμὸν εἰς τὴν Λιβύην, καὶ μεθʼ ἡμέρας τινὰς πάλιν ἐπιστρέφειν, ὡς ἐξ Αἰθιοπίας τοῦ θεοῦ παρόντος· τήν τε συνουσίαν τῶν θεῶν τούτων, ἐν ταῖς πανηγύρεσι τῶν ναῶν ἀνακομιζομένων ἀμφοτέρων εἰς ὄρος ἄνθεσι παντοίοις ὑπὸ τῶν ἱερέων κατεστρωμένον.
Many other things as well, of which mythology tells, are still to be found among the Egyptians, the name being still preserved and the customs actually being practised. 2 In the city of Acanthi, for instance, across the Nile in the direction of Libya one hundred and twenty stades from Memphis, there is a perforated jar to which three hundred and sixty priests, one each day, bring water from the Nile; 3 and not far from there the actual performance of the myth of Ocnus is to be seen in one of their festivals, where a single man is weaving at one end of a long rope and many others beyond him are unravelling it. 4 Melampus also, they say, brought from Egypt the rites which the Greeks celebrate in the name of Dionysus, the myths about Cronus and the War with the Titans, and, in a word, the account of the things which happened to the gods. 5 Daedalus, they relate, copied the maze of the Labyrinth which stands to our day and was built, according to some, by Mendes, but according to others, by king Marrus, many years before the reign of Minos. 6 And the proportions of the ancient statues of Egypt are the same as in those made by Daedalus among the Greeks. The very beautiful propylon of the temple of Hephaestus in Memphis was also built by Daedalus, who became an object of admiration and was granted a statue of himself in wood, which was made by his own hands and set up in this temple; furthermore, he was accorded great fame because of his genius and, after making many discoveries, was granted divine honours; for on one of the islands off Memphis there stands even to this day a temple of Daedalus, which is honoured by the people of that region. And as proof of the presence of Homer in Egypt they adduce various pieces of evidence, and especially the healing drink which brings forgetfulness of all past evils, which was given by Helen to Telemachus in the home of Menelaus. For it is manifest that the poet had acquired exact knowledge of the "nepenthic" drug which he says Helen brought from Egyptian Thebes, given her by Polydamna the wife of Thon; for, they allege, even to this day the women of this city use this powerful remedy, and in ancient times, they say, a drug to cure anger and sorrow was discovered exclusively among the women of Diospolis; but Thebes and Diospolis, they add, are the same city. 8 Again, Aphrodite is called "golden" by the natives in accordance with an old tradition, and near the city which is called Momemphis there is a plain "of golden Aphrodite." 9 Likewise, the myths which are related about the dalliance of Zeus and Hera and of their journey to Ethiopia he also got from Egypt; for each year among the Egyptians the shrine of Zeus is carried across the river into Libya and then brought back some days later, as if the god were arriving from Ethiopia; and as for the dalliance of these deities, in their festal gatherings the priests carry the shrines of both to an elevation that has been strewn with flowers of every description.
§ 1.98
καὶ Λυκοῦργον δὲ καὶ Πλάτωνα καὶ Σόλωνα πολλὰ τῶν ἐξ Αἰγύπτου νομίμων εἰς τὰς ἑαυτῶν κατατάξαι νομοθεσίας. Πυθαγόραν τε τὰ κατὰ τὸν ἱερὸν λόγον καὶ τὰ κατὰ γεωμετρίαν θεωρήματα καὶ τὰ περὶ τοὺς ἀριθμούς, ἔτι δὲ τὴν εἰς πᾶν ζῷον τῆς ψυχῆς μεταβολὴν μαθεῖν παρʼ Αἰγυπτίων. ὑπολαμβάνουσι δὲ καὶ Δημόκριτον παρʼ αὐτοῖς ἔτη διατρῖψαι πέντε καὶ πολλὰ διδαχθῆναι τῶν κατὰ τὴν ἀστρολογίαν. τόν τε Οἰνοπίδην ὁμοίως συνδιατρίψαντα τοῖς ἱερεῦσι καὶ ἀστρολόγοις μαθεῖν ἄλλα τε καὶ μάλιστα τὸν ἡλιακὸν κύκλον ὡς λοξὴν μὲν ἔχει τὴν πορείαν, ἐναντίαν δὲ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἄστροις τὴν φορὰν ποιεῖται. παραπλησίως δὲ καὶ τὸν Εὔδοξον ἀστρολογήσαντα παρʼ αὐτοῖς καὶ πολλὰ τῶν χρησίμων εἰς τοὺς Ἕλληνας ἐκδόντα τυχεῖν ἀξιολόγου δόξης. τῶν τε ἀγαλματοποιῶν τῶν παλαιῶν τοὺς μάλιστα διωνομασμένους διατετριφέναι παρʼ αὐτοῖς Τηλεκλέα καὶ Θεόδωρον, τοὺς Ῥοίκου μὲν υἱούς, κατασκευάσαντας δὲ τοῖς Σαμίοις τὸ τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνος τοῦ Πυθίου ξόανον. τοῦ γὰρ ἀγάλματος ἐν Σάμῳ μὲν ὑπὸ Τηλεκλέους ἱστορεῖται τὸ ἥμισυ δημιουργηθῆναι, κατὰ δὲ τὴν Ἔφεσον ὑπὸ τἀδελφοῦ Θεοδώρου τὸ ἕτερον μέρος συντελεσθῆναι· συντεθέντα δὲ πρὸς ἄλληλα τὰ μέρη συμφωνεῖν οὕτως ὥστε δοκεῖν ὑφʼ ἑνὸς τὸ πᾶν ἔργον συντετελέσθαι. τοῦτο δὲ τὸ γένος τῆς ἐργασίας παρὰ μὲν τοῖς Ἕλλησι μηδαμῶς ἐπιτηδεύεσθαι, παρὰ δὲ τοῖς Αἰγυπτίοις μάλιστα συντελεῖσθαι. παρʼ ἐκείνοις γὰρ οὐκ ἀπὸ τῆς κατὰ τὴν ὅρασιν φαντασίας τὴν συμμετρίαν τῶν ἀγαλμάτων κρίνεσθαι, καθάπερ παρὰ τοῖς Ἕλλησιν, ἀλλʼ ἐπειδὰν τοὺς λίθους κατακλίνωσι καὶ μερίσαντες κατεργάσωνται, τὸ τηνικαῦτα τὸ ἀνάλογον ἀπὸ τῶν ἐλαχίστων ἐπὶ τὰ μέγιστα λαμβάνεσθαι· τοῦ γὰρ παντὸς σώματος τὴν κατασκυὴν εἰς ἓν καὶ εἴκοσι μέρη καὶ προσέτι τέταρτον διαιρουμένους τὴν ὅλην ἀποδιδόναι συμμετρίαν τοῦ ζῴου. διόπερ ὅταν περὶ τοῦ μεγέθους οἱ τεχνῖται πρὸς ἀλλήλους σύνθωνται, χωρισθέντες ἀπʼ ἀλλήλων σύμφωνα κατασκευάζουσι τὰ μεγέθη τῶν ἔργων οὕτως ἀκριβῶς ὥστε ἔκπληξιν παρέχειν τὴν ἰδιότητα τῆς πραγματείας αὐτῶν. τὸ δʼ ἐν τῇ Σάμῳ ξόανον συμφώνως τῇ τῶν Αἰγυπτίων φιλοτεχνίᾳ κατὰ τὴν κορυφὴν διχοτομούμενον διορίζειν τοῦ ζῴου τὸ μέσον μέχρι τῶν αἰδοίων, ἰσάζον ὁμοίως ἑαυτῷ πάντοθεν· εἶναι δʼ αὐτὸ λέγουσι κατὰ τὸ πλεῖστον παρεμφερὲς τοῖς Αἰγυπτίοις, ὡς ἂν τὰς μὲν χεῖρας ἔχον παρατεταμένας, τὰ δὲ σκέλη διαβεβηκότα. περὶ μὲν οὖν τῶν κατʼ Αἴγυπτον ἱστορουμένων καὶ μνήμης ἀξίων ἀρκεῖ τὰ ῤηθέντα· ἡμεῖς δὲ κατὰ τὴν ἐν ἀρχῇ τῆς βίβλου πρόθεσιν τὰς ἑξῆς πράξεις καὶ μυθολογίας ἐν τῇ μετὰ ταύτην διέξιμεν, ἀρχὴν ποιησάμενοι τὰ κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν τοῖς Ἀσσυρίοις πραχθέντα.
Lycurgus also and Plato and Solon, they say, incorporated many Egyptian customs into their own legislation. 2 And Pythagoras learned from Egyptians his teachings about the gods, his geometrical propositions and theory of numbers, as well as the transmigration of the soul into every living thing. 3 Democritus also, as they assert, spent five years among them and was instructed in many matters relating to astrology. Oenopides likewise passed some time with the priests and astrologers and learned among other things about the orbit of the sun, that it has an oblique course and moves in a direction opposite to that of the other stars. 4 Like the others, Eudoxus studied astrology with them and acquired a notable fame for the great amount of useful knowledge which he disseminated among the Greeks. Also of the ancient sculptors the most renowned sojourned among them, namely, Telecles and Theodorus, the sons of Rhoecus, who executed for the people of Samos the wooden statue of the Pythian Apollo. 6 For one half of the statue, as the account is given, was worked by Telecles in Samos, and the other half was finished by his brother Theodorus at Ephesus; and when the two parts were brought together they fitted so perfectly that the whole work had the appearance of having been done by one man. This method of working is practised nowhere among the Greeks, but is followed generally among the Egyptians. 7 For with them the symmetrical proportions of the statues are not fixed in accordance with the appearance they present to the artist's eye, as is done among the Greeks, but as soon as they lay out the stones and, after apportioning them, are ready to work on them, at that stage they take the proportions, from the smallest parts to the largest; 8 for, dividing the structure of the entire body into twenty-one parts and one-fourth in addition, they express in this way the complete figure in its symmetrical proportions. Consequently, so soon as the artisans agree as to the size of the statue, they separate and proceed to turn out the various sizes assigned to them, in the same way that they correspond, and they do it so accurately that the peculiarity of their system excites amazement. 9 And the wooden statue in Samos, in conformity with the ingenious method of the Egyptians, was cut into two parts from the top of the head down to the private parts and the statue was divided in the middle, each part exactly matching the other at every point. And they say that this statue is for the most part rather similar to those of Egypt, as having the arms stretched stiffly down the sides and the legs separated in a stride. Now regarding Egypt, the events which history records and the things that deserve to be mentioned, this account is sufficient; and we shall present in the next Book, in keeping with our profession at the beginning of this Book, the events and legendary accounts next in order, beginning with the part played by the Assyrians in Asia.
— Book 2 —
§ 2.arg
τάδε ἔνεστιν ἐν τῇ δευτέρᾳ τῶν Διοδώρου βίβλων. περὶ Νίνου τοῦ πρώτου βασιλεύσαντος κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν καὶ τῶν ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ πραχθέντων. περὶ τῆς Σεμιράμιδος γενέσεως καὶ τῆς περὶ αὐτὴν αὐξήσεως. ὡς Νίνος ὁ βασιλεὺς ἔγημε τὴν Σεμίραμιν διὰ τὴν ἀρετὴν αὐτῆς. ὡς Σεμίραμις τελευτήσαντος Νίνου διαδεξαμένη τὴν βασιλείαν πολλὰς καὶ μεγάλας πράξεις ἐπετελέσατο. κτίσις Βαβυλῶνος καὶ τῆς κατʼ αὐτὴν κατασκευῆς ἀπαγγελία. περὶ τοῦ κρεμαστοῦ λεγομένου κήπου καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν κατὰ τὴν Βαβυλωνίαν παραδόξων. στρατεία Σεμιράμιδος εἰς Αἴγυπτον καὶ Αἰθιοπίαν, ἔτι δὲ τὴν Ἰνδικήν. περὶ τῶν ἀπογόνων ταύτης καὶ τῶν βασιλευσάντων κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν καὶ τῆς κατʼ αὐτοὺς τρυφῆς τε καὶ ῥᾳθυμίας. ὡς ἔσχατος Σαρδανάπαλλος ὁ βασιλεὺς διὰ τρυφὴν ἀπέβαλε τὴν ἀρχὴν ὑπὸ Ἀρβάκου τοῦ Μήδου. περὶ τῶν Χαλδαίων καὶ τῆς παρατηρήσεως τῶν ἄστρων. περὶ τῶν βασιλέων τῶν κατὰ τὴν Μηδίαν καὶ τῆς περὶ τούτων διαφωνίας παρὰ τοῖς ἱστοριογράφοις. περὶ τοποθεσίας τῆς Ἰνδικῆς καὶ τῶν κατὰ τὴν χώραν φυομένων καὶ τῶν παρʼ Ἰνδοῖς νομίμων. περὶ Σκυθῶν καὶ Ἀμαζόνων καὶ Ὑπερβορέων. περὶ τῆς Ἀραβίας καὶ τῶν κατʼ αὐτὴν φυομένων καὶ μυθολογουμένων. περὶ τῶν νήσων τῶν ἐν τῇ μεσημβρίᾳ κατὰ τὸν ὠκεανὸν εὑρεθεισῶν.
—
§ 2.1
ἡ μὲν πρὸ ταύτης βίβλος τῆς ὅλης συντάξεως οὖσα πρώτη περιέχει τὰς κατʼ Αἴγυπτον πράξεις· ἐν αἷς ὑπάρχει τά τε περὶ τῶν θεῶν παρʼ Αἰγυπτίοις μυθολογούμενα καὶ περὶ τῆς τοῦ Νείλου φύσεως καὶ τἄλλα τὰ περὶ τοῦ ποταμοῦ τούτου παραδοξολογούμενα, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις περί τε τῆς κατʼ Αἴγυπτον χώρας καὶ τῶν ἀρχαίων βασιλέων τὰ ὑφʼ ἑκάστου πραχθέντα. ἑξῆς δὲ κατετάχθησαν αἱ κατασκευαὶ τῶν πυραμίδων τῶν ἀναγραφομένων ἐν τοῖς ἑπτὰ θαυμαζομένοις ἔργοις. ἔπειτα διήλθομεν περὶ τῶν νόμων καὶ τῶν δικαστηρίων, ἔτι δὲ τῶν ἀφιερωμένων ζῴων παρʼ Αἰγυπτίοις τὰ θαυμαζόμενα, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις τὰ περὶ τῶν τετελευτηκότων νόμιμα, καὶ τῶν Ἑλλήνων ὅσοι τῶν ἐπὶ παιδείᾳ θαυμαζομένων παραβαλόντες εἰς Αἴγυπτον καὶ πολλὰ τῶν χρησίμων μαθόντες μετήνεγκαν εἰς τὴν Ἑλλάδα. ἐν ταύτῃ δʼ ἀναγράψομεν τὰς κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν γενομένας πράξεις ἐν τοῖς ἀρχαίοις χρόνοις, τὴν ἀρχὴν ἀπὸ τῆς τῶν Ἀσσυρίων ἡγεμονίας ποιησάμενοι. τὸ παλαιὸν τοίνυν κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν ὑπῆρχον ἐγχώριοι βασιλεῖς, ὧν οὔτε πρᾶξις ἐπίσημος οὔτε ὄνομα μνημονεύεται. πρῶτος δὲ τῶν εἰς ἱστορίαν καὶ μνήμην παραδεδομένων ἡμῖν Νίνος ὁ βασιλεὺς τῶν Ἀσσυρίων μεγάλας πράξεις ἐπετελέσατο· περὶ οὗ τὰ κατὰ μέρος ἀναγράφειν πειρασόμεθα. γενόμενος γὰρ φύσει πολεμικὸς καὶ ζηλωτὴς τῆς ἀρετῆς καθώπλισε τῶν νέων τοὺς κρατίστους· γυμνάσας δʼ αὐτοὺς πλείονα χρόνον συνήθεις ἐποίησε πάσῃ κακοπαθείᾳ καὶ πολεμικοῖς κινδύνοις. συστησάμενος οὖν στρατόπεδον ἀξιόλογον συμμαχίαν ἐποιήσατο πρὸς Ἀριαῖον τὸν βασιλέα τῆς Ἀραβίας, ἣ κατʼ ἐκείνους τοὺς χρόνους ἐδόκει πλήθειν ἀλκίμων ἀνδρῶν. ἔστι δὲ καὶ καθόλου τοῦτο τὸ ἔθνος φιλελεύθερον καὶ κατʼ οὐδένα τρόπον προσδεχόμενον ἔπηλυν ἡγεμόνα· διόπερ οὔθʼ οἱ τῶν Περσῶν βασιλεῖς ὕστερον οὔθʼ οἱ τῶν Μακεδόνων, καίπερ πλεῖστον ἰσχύσαντες, ἠδυνήθησαν τοῦτο τὸ ἔθνος καταδουλώσασθαι. καθόλου γὰρ ἡ Ἀραβία δυσπολέμητός ἐστι ξενικαῖς δυνάμεσι διὰ τὸ τὴν μὲν ἔρημον αὐτῆς εἶναι, τὴν δὲ ἄνυδρον καὶ διειλημμένην φρέασι κεκρυμμένοις καὶ μόνοις τοῖς ἐγχωρίοις γνωριζομένοις. ὁ δʼ οὖν τῶν Ἀσσυρίων βασιλεὺς Νίνος τὸν δυναστεύοντα τῶν Ἀράβων παραλαβὼν ἐστράτευσε μετὰ πολλῆς δυνάμεως ἐπὶ Βαβυλωνίους κατοικοῦντας ὅμορον χώραν· κατʼ ἐκείνους δὲ τοὺς χρόνους ἡ μὲν νῦν οὖσα Βαβυλὼν οὐκ ἦν ἐκτισμένη, κατὰ δὲ τὴν Βαβυλωνίαν ὑπῆρχον ἄλλαι πόλεις ἀξιόλογοι· ῥᾳδίως δὲ χειρωσάμενος τοὺς ἐγχωρίους διὰ τὸ τῶν ἐν τοῖς πολέμοις κινδύνων ἀπείρως ἔχειν, τούτοις μὲν ἔταξε τελεῖν κατʼ ἐνιαυτὸν ὡρισμένους φόρους, τὸν δὲ βασιλέα τῶν καταπολεμηθέντων λαβὼν μετὰ τῶν τέκνων αἰχμάλωτον ἀπέκτεινε. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα πολλοῖς πλήθεσιν εἰς τὴν Ἀρμενίαν ἐμβαλὼν καί τινας τῶν πόλεων ἀναστάτους ποιήσας κατεπλήξατο τοὺς ἐγχωρίους· διόπερ ὁ βασιλεὺς αὐτῶν Βαρζάνης, ὁρῶν αὑτὸν οὐκ ἀξιόμαχον ὄντα, μετὰ πολλῶν δώρων ἀπήντησε καὶ πᾶν ἔφησε ποιήσειν τὸ προσταττόμενον. ὁ δὲ Νίνος μεγαλοψύχως αὐτῷ χρησάμενος τῆς τε Ἀρμενίας συνεχώρησεν ἄρχειν καὶ φίλον ὄντα πέμπειν στρατιὰν καὶ τὴν χορηγίαν τῷ σφετέρῳ στρατοπέδῳ. ἀεὶ δὲ μᾶλλον αὐξόμενος ἐστράτευσεν εἰς τὴν Μηδίαν. ὁ δὲ ταύτης βασιλεὺς Φάρνος παραταξάμενος ἀξιολόγῳ δυνάμει καὶ λειφθείς, τῶν τε στρατιωτῶν τοὺς πλείους ἀπέβαλε καὶ αὐτὸς μετὰ τέκνων ἑπτὰ καὶ γυναικὸς αἰχμάλωτος ληφθεὶς ἀνεσταυρώθη.
Book 2 The preceding Book, being the first of the whole work, embraces the facts which concern Egypt, among which are included both the myths related by the Egyptians about their gods and about the nature of the Nile, and the other marvels which are told about this river, as well as a description of the land of Egypt and the acts of each of their ancient kings. Next in order came the structures known as the pyramids, which are listed among the seven wonders of the world. 2 After that we discussed such matters connected with the laws and the courts of law, and also with the animals which are considered sacred among the Egyptians, as excite admiration and wonder, also their customs with respect to the dead, and then named such Greeks as were noted for their learning, who, upon visiting Egypt and being instructed in many useful things, thereupon transferred them to Greece. 3 And in this present Book we shall set forth the events which took place in Asia in the ancient period, beginning with the time when the Assyrians were the dominant power. In the earliest age, then, the kings of Asia were native-born, and in connection with them no memory is preserved of either a notable deed or a personal name. The first to be handed down by tradition to history and memory for us as one who achieved great deeds is Ninus, king of the Assyrians, and of him we shall now endeavour to give a detailed account. For being by nature a warlike man and emulous of valour, he supplied the strongest of the young men with arms, and by training them for a considerable time he accustomed them to every hardship and all the dangers of war. 5 And when now he had collected a notable army, he formed an alliance with Ariaeus, the king of Arabia, a country which in those times seems to have abounded in brave men. Now, in general, this nation is one which loves freedom and under no circumstances submits to a foreign ruler; consequently neither the kings of the Persians at a later time nor those of the Macedonians, though the most powerful of their day, were ever able to enslave this nation. 6 For Arabia is, in general, a difficult country for a foreign army to campaign in, part of it being desert and part of it waterless and supplied at intervals with wells which are hidden and known only to the natives. 7 Ninus, however, the king of the Assyrians, taking along the ruler of the Arabians as an ally, made a campaign with a great army against the Babylonians whose country bordered upon his — in those times the present city of Babylon had not yet been founded, but there were other notable cities in Babylonia — and after easily subduing the inhabitants of that region because of their inexperience in the dangers of war, he laid upon them the yearly payment of fixed tributes, but the king of the conquered, whom he took captive along with his children, he put to death. 8 Then, invading Armenia in great force and laying waste some of its cities, he struck terror into the inhabitants; consequently their king Barzanes, realizing that he was no match for him in battle, met him with many presents and announced that he would obey his every command. 9 But Ninus treated him with great magnanimity, and agreed that he should not only continue to rule over Armenia but should also, as his friend, furnish a contingent and supplies for the Assyrian army. And as his power continually increased, he made a campaign against Media. 10 And the king of this country, Pharnus, meeting him in battle with a formidable force, was defeated, and he both lost the larger part of his soldiers, and himself, being taken captive along with his seven sons and wife, was crucified.
§ 2.2
οὕτω δὲ τῶν πραγμάτων τῷ Νίνῳ προχωρούντων δεινὴν ἐπιθυμίαν ἔσχε τοῦ καταστρέψασθαι τὴν Ἀσίαν ἅπασαν τὴν ἐντὸς Τανάιδος καὶ Νείλου· ὡς ἐπίπαν γὰρ τοῖς εὐτυχοῦσιν ἡ τῶν πραγμάτων εὔροια τὴν τοῦ πλείονος ἐπιθυμίαν παρίστησι. διόπερ τῆς μὲν Μηδίας σατράπην ἕνα τῶν περὶ αὑτὸν φίλων κατέστησεν, αὐτὸς δʼ ἐπῄει τὰ κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν ἔθνη καταστρεφόμενος, καὶ χρόνον ἑπτακαιδεκαετῆ καταναλώσας πλὴν Ἰνδῶν καὶ Βακτριανῶν τῶν ἄλλων ἁπάντων κύριος ἐγένετο. τὰς μὲν οὖν καθʼ ἕκαστα μάχας ἢ τὸν ἀριθμὸν ἁπάντων τῶν καταπολεμηθέντων οὐδεὶς τῶν συγγραφέων ἀνέγραψε, τὰ δʼ ἐπισημότατα τῶν ἐθνῶν ἀκολούθως Κτησίᾳ τῷ Κνιδίῳ πειρασόμεθα συντόμως ἐπιδραμεῖν. κατεστρέψατο μὲν γὰρ τῆς παραθαλαττίου καὶ τῆς συνεχοῦς χώρας τήν τε Αἴγυπτον καὶ Φοινίκην, ἔτι δὲ Κοίλην Συρίαν καὶ Κιλικίαν καὶ Παμφυλίαν καὶ Λυκίαν, πρὸς δὲ ταύταις τήν τε Καρίαν καὶ Φρυγίαν καὶ Μυσίαν καὶ Λυδίαν, προσηγάγετο δὲ τήν τε Τρῳάδα καὶ τὴν ἐφʼ Ἑλλησπόντῳ Φρυγίαν καὶ Προποντίδα καὶ Βιθυνίαν καὶ Καππαδοκίαν καὶ τὰ κατὰ τὸν Πόντον ἔθνη βάρβαρα κατοικοῦντα μέχρι Τανάιδος, ἐκυρίευσε δὲ τῆς τε Καδουσίων χώρας καὶ Ταπύρων, ἔτι δʼ Ὑρκανίων καὶ Δραγγῶν, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις Δερβίκων καὶ Καρμανίων καὶ Χωρομναίων, ἔτι δὲ Βορκανίων καὶ Παρθυαίων, ἐπῆλθε δὲ καὶ τὴν Περσίδα καὶ τὴν Σουσιανὴν καὶ τὴν καλουμένην Κασπιανήν, εἰς ἥν εἰσιν εἰσβολαὶ στεναὶ παντελῶς, διὸ καὶ προσαγορεύονται Κάσπιαι πύλαι. πολλὰ δὲ καὶ ἄλλα τῶν ἐλαττόνων ἐθνῶν προσηγάγετο, περὶ ὧν μακρὸν ἂν εἴη λέγειν. τῆς δὲ Βακτριανῆς οὔσης δυσεισβόλου καὶ πλήθη μαχίμων ἀνδρῶν ἐχούσης, ἐπειδὴ πολλὰ πονήσας ἄπρακτος ἐγένετο, τὸν μὲν πρὸς Βακτριανοὺς πόλεμον εἰς ἕτερον ἀνεβάλετο καιρόν, τὰς δὲ δυνάμεις ἀναγαγὼν εἰς τὴν Ἀσσυρίαν ἐξελέξατο τόπον εὔθετον εἰς πόλεως μεγάλης κτίσιν.
Since the undertakings of Ninus were prospering in this way, he was seized with a powerful desire to subdue all of Asia that lies between the Tanais and the Nile; for, as a general thing, when men enjoy good fortune, the steady current of their success prompts in them the desire for more. Consequently he made one of his friends satrap of Media, while he himself set about the task of subduing the nations of Asia, and within a period of seventeen years he became master of them all except the Indians and Bactrians. 2 Now no historian has recorded the battles with each nation or the number of all the peoples conquered, but we shall undertake to run over briefly the most important nations, as given in the account of Ctesias of Cnidus. Of the lands which lie on the sea and of the others which border on these, Ninus subdued Egypt and Phoenicia, then Coele-Syria, Cilicia, Pamphylia, and Lycia, and also Caria, Phrygia, and Lydia; moreover, he brought under his sway the Troad, Phrygia on the Hellespont, Propontis, Bithynia, Cappadocia, and all the barbarian nations who inhabit the shores of the Pontus as far as the Tanais; he also made himself lord of the lands of the Cadusii, Tapyri, Hyrcanii, Drangi, of the Derbici, Carmanii, Choromnaei, and of the Borcanii, and Parthyaei; and he invaded both Persis and Susiana and Caspiana, as it is called, which is entered by exceedingly narrow passes, known for that reason as the Caspian Gates. 4 Many other lesser nations he also brought under his rule, about whom it would be a long task to speak. But since Bactriana was difficult to invade and contained multitudes of warlike men, after much toil and labour in vain he deferred to a later time the war against the Bactriani, and leading his forces back into Assyria selected a place excellently situated for the founding of a great city.
§ 2.3
ἐπιφανεστάτας γὰρ πράξεις τῶν πρὸ αὐτοῦ κατειργασμένος ἔσπευδε τηλικαύτην κτίσαι τὸ μέγεθος πόλιν ὥστε μὴ μόνον αὐτὴν εἶναι μεγίστην τῶν τότε οὐσῶν κατὰ πᾶσαν τὴν οἰκουμένην, ἀλλὰ μηδὲ τῶν μεταγενεστέρων ἕτερον ἐπιβαλόμενον ῥᾳδίως ἂν ὑπερθέσθαι. τὸν μὲν οὖν τῶν Ἀράβων βασιλέα τιμήσας δώροις καὶ λαφύροις μεγαλοπρεπέσιν ἀπέλυσε μετὰ τῆς ἰδίας στρατιᾶς εἰς τὴν οἰκείαν, αὐτὸς δὲ τὰς πανταχόθεν δυνάμεις καὶ παρασκευὰς πάντων τῶν ἐπιτηδείων ἀθροίσας παρὰ τὸν Εὐφράτην ποταμὸν ἔκτισε πόλιν εὖ τετειχισμένην, ἑτερόμηκες αὐτῆς ὑποστησάμενος τὸ σχῆμα. εἶχε δὲ τῶν μὲν μακροτέρων πλευρῶν ἑκατέραν ἡ πόλις ἑκατὸν καὶ πεντήκοντα σταδίων, τῶν δὲ βραχυτέρων ἐνενήκοντα. διὸ καὶ τοῦ σύμπαντος περιβόλου συσταθέντος ἐκ σταδίων τετρακοσίων καὶ ὀγδοήκοντα τῆς ἐλπίδος οὐ διεψεύσθη· τηλικαύτην γὰρ πόλιν οὐδεὶς ὕστερον ἔκτισε κατά τε τὸ μέγεθος τοῦ περιβόλου καὶ τὴν περὶ τὸ τεῖχος μεγαλοπρέπειαν. τὸ μὲν γὰρ ὕψος εἶχε τὸ τεῖχος ποδῶν ἑκατόν, τὸ δὲ πλάτος τρισὶν ἅρμασιν ἱππάσιμον ἦν· οἱ δὲ σύμπαντες πύργοι τὸν μὲν ἀριθμὸν ἦσαν χίλιοι καὶ πεντακόσιοι, τὸ δʼ ὕψος εἶχον ποδῶν διακοσίων. κατῴκισε δʼ εἰς αὐτὴν τῶν μὲν Ἀσσυρίων τοὺς πλείστους καὶ δυνατωτάτους, ἀπὸ δὲ τῶν ἄλλων ἐθνῶν τοὺς βουλομένους. καὶ τὴν μὲν πόλιν ὠνόμασεν ἀφʼ ἑαυτοῦ Νίνον, τοῖς δὲ κατοικισθεῖσι πολλὴν τῆς ὁμόρου χώρας προσώρισεν.
For having accomplished deeds more notable than those of any king before him, he was eager to found a city of such magnitude, that not only would it be the largest of any which then existed in the whole inhabited world, but also that no other ruler of a later time should, if he undertook such a task, find it easy to surpass him. 2 Accordingly, after honouring the king of the Arabians with gifts and rich spoils from his wars, he dismissed him and his contingent to return to their own country and then, gathering his forces from every quarter and all the necessary material, he founded on the Euphrates river a city which was well fortified with walls, giving it the form of a rectangle. The longer sides of the city were each one hundred and fifty stades in length, and the shorter ninety. 3 And so, since the total circuit comprised four hundred and eighty stades, he was not disappointed in his hope, since a city its equal, in respect to either the length of its circuit or the magnificence of its walls, was never founded by any man after his time. For the wall had a height of one hundred feet and its width was sufficient for three chariots abreast to drive upon; and the sum total of its towers was one thousand five hundred, and their height was two hundred feet. 4 He settled in it both Assyrians, who constituted the majority of the population and had the greatest power, and any who wished to come from all other nations. And to the city he gave his own name, Ninus, and he included within the territory of its colonists a large part of the neighbouring country.
§ 2.4
ἐπεὶ δὲ μετὰ τὴν κτίσιν ταύτην ὁ Νίνος ἐστράτευσεν ἐπὶ τὴν Βακτριανήν, ἐν ᾗ Σεμίραμιν ἔγημε τὴν ἐπιφανεστάτην ἁπασῶν τῶν γυναικῶν ὧν παρειλήφαμεν, ἀναγκαῖόν ἐστι περὶ αὐτῆς προειπεῖν πῶς ἐκ ταπεινῆς τύχης εἰς τηλικαύτην προήχθη δόξαν. κατὰ τὴν Συρίαν τοίνυν ἔστι πόλις Ἀσκάλων, καὶ ταύτης οὐκ ἄπωθεν λίμνη μεγάλη καὶ βαθεῖα πλήρης ἰχθύων. παρὰ δὲ ταύτην ὑπάρχει τέμενος θεᾶς ἐπιφανοῦς, ἣν ὀνομάζουσιν οἱ Σύροι Δερκετοῦν· αὕτη δὲ τὸ μὲν πρόσωπον ἔχει γυναικός, τὸ δʼ ἄλλο σῶμα πᾶν ἰχθύος διά τινας τοιαύτας αἰτίας. μυθολογοῦσιν οἱ λογιώτατοι τῶν ἐγχωρίων τὴν Ἀφροδίτην προσκόψασαν τῇ προειρημένῃ θεᾷ δεινὸν ἐμβαλεῖν ἔρωτα νεανίσκου τινὸς τῶν θυόντων οὐκ ἀειδοῦς· τὴν δὲ Δερκετοῦν μιγεῖσαν τῷ Σύρῳ γεννῆσαι μὲν θυγατέρα, καταισχυνθεῖσαν δʼ ἐπὶ τοῖς ἡμαρτημένοις τὸν μὲν νεανίσκον ἀφανίσαι, τὸ δὲ παιδίον εἴς τινας ἐρήμους καὶ πετρώδεις τόπους ἐκθεῖναι· ἑαυτὴν δὲ διὰ τὴν αἰσχύνην καὶ λύπην ῥίψασαν εἰς τὴν λίμνην μετασχηματισθῆναι τὸν τοῦ σώματος τύπον εἰς ἰχθῦν· διὸ καὶ τοὺς Σύρους μέχρι τοῦ νῦν ἀπέχεσθαι τούτου τοῦ ζῴου καὶ τιμᾶν τοὺς ἰχθῦς ὡς θεούς. περὶ δὲ τὸν τόπον ὅπου τὸ βρέφος ἐξετέθη πλήθους περιστερῶν ἐννεοττεύοντος παραδόξως καὶ δαιμονίως ὑπὸ τούτων τὸ παιδίον διατρέφεσθαι· τὰς μὲν γὰρ ταῖς πτέρυξι περιεχούσας τὸ σῶμα τοῦ βρέφους πανταχόθεν θάλπειν, τὰς δʼ ἐκ τῶν σύνεγγυς ἐπαύλεων, ὁπότε τηρήσειαν τούς τε βουκόλους καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους νομεῖς ἀπόντας, ἐν τῷ στόματι φερούσας γάλα διατρέφειν παρασταζούσας ἀνὰ μέσον τῶν χειλῶν. ἐνιαυσίου δὲ τοῦ παιδίου γενομένου καὶ στερεωτέρας τροφῆς προσδεομένου, τὰς περιστερὰς ἀποκνιζούσας ἀπὸ τῶν τυρῶν παρέχεσθαι τροφὴν ἀρκοῦσαν. τοὺς δὲ νομεῖς ἐπανιόντας καὶ θεωροῦντας περιβεβρωμένους τοὺς τυροὺς θαυμάσαι τὸ παράδοξον· παρατηρήσαντας οὖν καὶ μαθόντας τὴν αἰτίαν εὑρεῖν τὸ βρέφος, διαφέρον τῲ κάλλει. εὐθὺς οὖν αὐτὸ κομίσαντας εἰς τὴν ἔπαυλιν δωρήσασθαι τῷ προεστηκότι τῶν βασιλικῶν κτηνῶν, ὄνομα Σίμμᾳ· καὶ τοῦτον ἄτεκνον ὄντα τὸ παιδίον τρέφειν ὡς θυγάτριον μετὰ πάσης ἐπιμελείας, ὄνομα θέμενον Σεμίραμιν, ὅπερ ἐστὶ κατὰ τὴν τῶν Σύρων διάλεκτον παρωνομασμένον ἀπὸ τῶν περιστερῶν, ἃς ἀπʼ ἐκείνων τῶν χρόνων οἱ κατὰ Συρίαν ἅπαντες διετέλεσαν ὡς θεὰς τιμῶντες.
Since after the founding of this city Ninus made a campaign against Bactriana, where he married Semiramis, the most renowned of all women of whom we have any record, it is necessary first of all to tell how she rose from a lowly fortune to such fame. Now there is in Syria a city known as Ascalon, and not far from it a large and deep lake, full of fish. On its shore is a precinct of a famous goddess whom the Syrians call Derceto; and this goddess has the head of a woman but all the rest of her body is that of a fish, the reason being something like this. 3 The story as given by the most learned of the inhabitants of the region is as follows: Aphrodite, being offended with this goddess, inspired in her a violent passion for a certain handsome youth among her votaries; and Derceto gave herself to the Syrian and bore a daughter, but then, filled with shame of her sinful deed, she killed the youth and exposed the child in a rocky desert region, while as for herself, from shame and grief she threw herself into the lake and was changed as to the form of her body into a fish; and it is for this reason that the Syrians to this day abstain from this animal and honour their fish as gods. 4 But about the region where the babe was exposed a great multitude of doves had their nests, and by them the child was nurtured in an astounding and miraculous manner; for some of the doves kept the body of the babe warm on all sides by covering it with their wings, while others, when they observed that the cowherds and other keepers were absent from the nearby steadings, brought milk therefrom in their beaks and fed the babe by putting it drop by drop between its lips. 5 And when the child was a year old and in need of more solid nourishment, the doves, pecking off bits from the cheeses, supplied it with sufficient nourishment. Now when the keepers returned and saw that the cheeses had been nibbled about the edges, they were astonished at the strange happening; they accordingly kept a look-out, and on discovering the cause found the infant, which was of surpassing beauty. 6 At once, then, bringing it to their steadings they turned it over to the keeper of the royal herds, whose name was Simmas; and Simmas, being childless, gave every care to the rearing of the girl, as his own daughter, and called her Semiramis, a name slightly altered from the word which, in the language of the Syrians, means "doves," birds which since that time all the inhabitants of Syria have continued to honour as goddesses.
§ 2.5
τὰ μὲν οὖν κατὰ τὴν γένεσιν τῆς Σεμιράμιδος μυθολογούμενα σχεδὸν ταῦτʼ ἔστιν. ἤδη δʼ αὐτῆς ἡλικίαν ἐχούσης γάμου καὶ τῷ κάλλει πολὺ τὰς ἄλλας παρθένους διαφερούσης, ἀπεστάλη παρὰ βασιλέως ὕπαρχος ἐπισκεψόμενος τὰ βασιλικὰ κτήνη· οὗτος δʼ ἐκαλεῖτο μὲν Ὄννης, πρῶτος δʼ ἦν τῶν ἐκ τοῦ βασιλικοῦ συνεδρίου καὶ τῆς Συρίας ἁπάσης ἀποδεδειγμένος ὕπαρχος. ὃς καταλύσας παρὰ τῷ Σίμμᾳ καὶ θεωρήσας τὴν Σεμίραμιν ἐθηρεύθη τῷ κάλλει· διὸ καὶ τοῦ Σίμμα καταδεηθεὶς αὑτῷ δοῦναι τὴν παρθένον εἰς γάμον ἔννομον, ἀπήγαγεν αὐτὴν εἰς Νίνον, καὶ γήμας ἐγέννησε δύο παῖδας, Ὑαπάτην καὶ Ὑδάσπην. τῆς δὲ Σεμιράμιδος ἐχούσης καὶ τἄλλα ἀκόλουθα τῇ περὶ τὴν ὄψιν εὐπρεπείᾳ, συνέβαινε τὸν ἄνδρα τελέως ὑπʼ αὐτῆς δεδουλῶσθαι, καὶ μηδὲν ἄνευ τῆς ἐκείνης γνώμης πράττοντα κατευστοχεῖν ἐν πᾶσι. καθʼ ὃν δὴ χρόνον ὁ βασιλεύς, ἐπειδὴ τὰ περὶ τὴν κτίσιν τῆς ὁμωνύμου πόλεως συνετέλεσε, στρατεύειν ἐπὶ Βακτριανοὺς ἐπεχείρησεν. εἰδὼς δὲ τά τε πλήθη καὶ τὴν ἀλκὴν τῶν ἀνδρῶν, ἔτι δὲ τὴν χώραν ἔχουσαν πολλοὺς τόπους ἀπροσίτους διὰ τὴν ὀχυρότητα, κατέλεξεν ἐξ ἁπάντων τῶν ὑπʼ αὐτὸν ἐθνῶν στρατιωτῶν πλῆθος· ἐπεὶ γὰρ τῆς πρότερον στρατείας ἀποτετευχὼς ἦν, ἔσπευδε πολλαπλασίονι παραγενέσθαι δυνάμει πρὸς τὴν Βακτριανήν. συναχθείσης δὲ τῆς στρατιᾶς πανταχόθεν ἠριθμήθησαν, ὡς Κτησίας ἐν ταῖς ἱστορίαις ἀναγέγραφε, πεζῶν μὲν ἑκατὸν ἑβδομήκοντα μυριάδες, ἱππέων δὲ μιᾷ πλείους τῶν εἴκοσι μυριάδων, ἅρματα δὲ δρεπανηφόρα μικρὸν ἀπολείποντα τῶν μυρίων ἑξακοσίων. ἔστι μὲν οὖν ἄπιστον τοῖς αὐτόθεν ἀκούσασι τὸ πλῆθος τῆς στρατιᾶς, οὐ μὴν ἀδύνατόν γε φανήσεται τοῖς ἀναθεωροῦσι τὸ τῆς Ἀσίας μέγεθος καὶ τὰ πλήθη τῶν κατοικούντων αὐτὴν ἐθνῶν. εἰ γάρ τις ἀφεὶς τὴν ἐπὶ Σκύθας Δαρείου στρατείαν μετὰ ὀγδοήκοντα μυριάδων καὶ τὴν Ξέρξου διάβασιν ἐπὶ τὴν Ἑλλάδα τοῖς ἀναριθμήτοις πλήθεσι, τὰς ἐχθὲς καὶ πρῴην συντελεσθείσας πράξεις ἐπὶ τῆς Εὐρώπης σκέψαιτο, τάχιον ἂν πιστὸν ἡγήσαιτο τὸ ῥηθέν. κατὰ μὲν οὖν τὴν Σικελίαν ὁ Διονύσιος ἐκ μιᾶς τῆς τῶν Συρακοσίων πόλεως ἐξήγαγεν ἐπὶ τὰς στρατείας πεζῶν μὲν δώδεκα μυριάδας, ἱππεῖς δὲ μυρίους καὶ δισχιλίους, ναῦς δὲ μακρὰς ἐξ ἑνὸς λιμένος τετρακοσίας, ὧν ἦσαν ἔνιαι τετρήρεις καὶ πεντήρεις· Ῥωμαῖοι δὲ μικρὸν πρὸ τῶν Ἀννιβαϊκῶν καιρῶν, προορώμενοι τὸ μέγεθος τοῦ πολέμου, κατέγραψαν τοὺς κατὰ τὴν Ἰταλίαν ἐπιτηδείους εἰς τὴν στρατείαν πολίτας τε καὶ συμμάχους, ὧν ὁ σύμπας ἀριθμὸς μικρὸν ἀπέλιπε τῶν ἑκατὸν μυριάδων· καίτοι γʼ ἕνεκα πλήθους ἀνθρώπων τὴν Ἰταλίαν ὅλην οὐκ ἄν τις συγκρίνειε πρὸς ἓν ἔθνος τῶν κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἡμῖν εἰρήσθω πρὸς τοὺς ἐκ τῆς νῦν περὶ τὰς πόλεις οὔσης ἐρημίας τεκμαιρομένους τὴν παλαιὰν τῶν ἐθνῶν πολυανθρωπίαν.
Such, then, is in substance the story that is told about the birth of Semiramis. And when she had already come to the age of marriage and far surpassed all the other maidens in beauty, an officer was sent from the king's court to inspect the royal herds; his name was Onnes, and he stood first among the members of the king's council and had been appointed governor over all Syria. He stopped with Simmas, and on seeing Semiramis was captivated by her beauty; consequently he earnestly entreated Simmas to give him the maiden in lawful marriage and took her off to Ninus, where he married her and begat two sons, Hyapates and Hydaspes. 2 And since the other qualities of Semiramis were in keeping with the beauty of her countenance, it turned out that her husband became completely enslaved by her, and since he would do nothing without her advice he prospered in everything. It was at just this time that the king, now that he had completed the founding of the city which bore his name, undertook his campaign against the Bactrians. And since he was well aware of the great number and the valour of these men, and realized that the country had many places which because of their strength could not be approached by an enemy, he enrolled a great host of soldiers from all the negotiations under his sway; for as he had come off badly in his earlier campaign, he was resolved on appearing before Bactriana with a force many times as large as theirs. 4 Accordingly, after the army had been assembled from every source, it numbered, as Ctesias has stated in his history, one million seven hundred thousand foot-soldiers, two hundred and ten thousand cavalry, and slightly less than ten thousand six hundred scythe-bearing chariots. Now at first hearing the great size of the army is incredible, but it will not seem at all impossible to any who consider the great extent of Asia and the vast numbers of the peoples who inhabit it. For if a man, disregarding the campaign of Darius against the Scythians with eight hundred thousand men and the crossing made by Xerxes against Greece with a host beyond number, should consider the events which have taken place in Europe only yesterday or the day before, he would the more quickly come to regard the statement as credible. 6 In Sicily, for instance, Dionysius led forth on his campaigns from the single city of the Syracusans one hundred and twenty thousand foot-soldiers and twelve thousand cavalry, and from a single harbour four hundred warships, some of which were quadriremes and quinqueremes; 7 and the Romans, a little before the time of Hannibal, foreseeing the magnitude of the war, enrolled all the men in Italy who were fit for military service, both citizens and allies, and the total sum of them fell only a little short of one million; and yet as regards the number of inhabitants a man would not compare all Italy with a single one of the nations of Asia. Let these facts, then, be a sufficient reply on our part to those who try to estimate the populations of the nations of Asia in ancient times on the strength of inferences drawn from the desolation which at the present time prevails in its cities.
§ 2.6
ὁ δʼ οὖν Νίνος μετὰ τοσαύτης δυνάμεως στρατεύσας εἰς τὴν Βακτριανὴν ἠναγκάζετο, δυσειδβόλων τῶν τόπων καὶ στενῶν ὄντων, κατὰ μέρος ἄγειν τὴν δύναμιν. ἡ γὰρ Βακτριανὴ χώρα πολλαῖς καὶ μεγάλαις οἰκουμένη πόλεσι μίαν μὲν εἶχεν ἐπιφανεστάτην, ἐν ᾗ συνέβαινεν εἶναι καὶ τὰ βασίλεια· αὕτη δʼ ἐκαλεῖτο μὲν Βάκτρα, μεγέθει δὲ καὶ τῇ κατὰ τὴν ἀκρόπολιν ὀχυρότητι πολὺ πασῶν διέφερε. βασιλεύων δʼ αὐτῆς Ὀξυάρτης κατέγραψεν ἅπαντας τοὺς ἐν ἡλικίᾳ στρατείας ὄντας, οἳ τὸν ἀριθμὸν ἠθροίσθησαν εἰς τετταράκοντα μυριάδας. ἀναλαβὼν οὖν τὴν δύναμιν καὶ τοῖς πολεμίοις ἀπαντήσας περὶ τὰς εἰσβολάς, εἴασε μέρος τῆς τοῦ Νίνου στρατιᾶς εἰσβαλεῖν· ἐπεὶ δʼ ἔδοξεν ἱκανὸν ἀποβεβηκέναι τῶν πολεμίων πλῆθος εἰς τὸ πεδίον, ἐξέταξε τὴν ἰδίαν δύναμιν. γενομένης δὲ μάχης ἰσχυρᾶς οἱ Βακτριανοὶ τοὺς Ἀσσυρίους τρεψάμενοι καὶ τὸν διωγμὸν μέχρι τῶν ὑπερκειμένων ὀρῶν ποιησάμενοι διέφθειραν τῶν πολεμίων εἰς δέκα μυριάδας. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα πάσης τῆς δυνάμεως εἰσβαλούσης, κρατούμενοι τοῖς πλήθεσι κατὰ πόλεις ἀπεχώρησαν, ἕκαστοι ταῖς ἰδίαις πατρίσι βοηθήσοντες. τὰς μὲν οὖν ἄλλας ὁ Νίνος ἐχειρώσατο ῥᾳδίως, τὰ δὲ Βάκτρα διά τε τὴν ὀχυρότητα καὶ τὴν ἐν αὐτῇ παρασκευὴν ἠδυνάτει κατὰ κράτος ἑλεῖν. πολυχρονίου δὲ τῆς πολιορκίας γινομένης, ὁ τῆς Σεμιράμιδος ἀνήρ, ἐρωτικῶς ἔχων πρὸς τὴν γυναῖκα καὶ συστρατευόμενος τῷ βασιλεῖ, μετεπέμψατο τὴν ἄνθρωπον. ἡ δὲ συνέσει καὶ τόλμῃ καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις τοῖς πρὸς ἐπιφάνειαν συντείνουσι κεχορηγημένη καιρὸν ἔλαβεν ἐπιδείξασθαι τὴν ἰδίαν ἀρετήν. πρῶτον μὲν οὖν πολλῶν ἡμερῶν ὁδὸν μέλλουσα διαπορεύεσθαι στολὴν ἐπραγματεύσατο διʼ ἧς οὐκ ἦν διαγνῶναι τὸν περιβεβλημένον πότερον ἀνήρ ἐστιν ἢ γυνή. αὕτη δʼ ἦν εὔχρηστος αὐτῇ πρός τε τὰς ἐν τοῖς καύμασιν ὁδοιπορίας εἰς τὸ διατηρῆσαι τὸν τοῦ σώματος χρῶτα καὶ πρὸς τὰς ἐν τῷ πράττειν ὃ βούλοιτο χρείας, εὐκίνητος οὖσα καὶ νεανική, καὶ τὸ σύνολον τοσαύτη τις ἐπῆν αὐτῇ χάρις ὥσθʼ ὕστερον Μήδους ἡγησαμένους τῆς Ἀσίας φορεῖν τὴν Σεμιράμιδος στολήν, καὶ μετὰ ταῦθʼ ὁμοίως Πέρσας. παραγενομένη δʼ εἰς τὴν Βακτριανὴν καὶ κατασκεψαμένη τὰ περὶ τὴν πολιορκίαν, ἑώρα κατὰ μὲν τὰ πεδία καὶ τοὺς εὐεφόδους τῶν τόπων προσβολὰς γινομένας, πρὸς δὲ τὴν ἀκρόπολιν οὐδένα προσιόντα διὰ τὴν ὀχυρότητα, καὶ τοὺς ἔνδον ἀπολελοιπότας τὰς ἐνταῦθα φυλακὰς καὶ παραβοηθοῦντας τοῖς ἐπὶ τῶν κάτω τειχῶν κινδυνεύουσι. διόπερ παραλαβοῦσα τῶν στρατιωτῶν τοὺς πετροβατεῖν εἰωθότας, καὶ μετὰ τούτων διά τινος χαλεπῆς φάραγγος προσαναβᾶσα, κατελάβετο μέρος τῆς ἀκροπόλεως καὶ τοῖς πολιορκοῦσι τὸ κατὰ τὸ πεδίον τεῖχος ἐσήμηνεν. οἱ δʼ ἔνδον ἐπὶ τῇ καταλήψει τῆς ἄκρας καταπλαγέντες ἐξέλιπον τὰ τείχη καὶ τὴν σωτηρίαν ἀπέγνωσαν. τοῦτον δὲ τὸν τρόπον ἁλούσης τῆς πόλεως ὁ βασιλεὺς θαυμάσας τὴν ἀρετὴν τῆς γυναικὸς τὸ μὲν πρῶτον μεγάλαις δωρεαῖς αὐτὴν ἐτίμησε, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα διὰ τὸ κάλλος τῆς ἀνθρώπου σχὼν ἐρωτικῶς ἐπεχείρησε τὸν ἄνδρα πείθειν ἑκουσίως αὐτῷ παραχωρῆσαι, ἐπαγγειλάμενος ἀντὶ ταύτης τῆς χάριτος αὐτῷ συνοικιεῖν τὴν ἰδίαν θυγατέρα Σωσάνην. δυσχερῶς δʼ αὐτοῦ φέροντος, ἠπείλησεν ἐκκόψειν τὰς ὁράσεις μὴ προχείρως ὑπηρετοῦντος τοῖς προστάγμασιν. ὁ δὲ Ὄννης ἅμα μὲν τὰς τοῦ βασιλέως ἀπειλὰς δείσας, ἅμα δὲ διὰ τὸν ἔρωτα περιπεσὼν λύττῃ τινὶ καὶ μανίᾳ, βρόχον ἑαυτῷ περιθεὶς ἀνεκρέμασε. Σεμίραμις μὲν οὖν διὰ τοιαύτας αἰτίας εἰς βασιλικὸν ἦλθε πρόσχημα.
Now Ninus in his campaign against Bactriana with so large a force was compelled, because access to the country was difficult and passes were narrow, to advance his army in divisions. 2 For the country of Bactriana, though there were many large cities for the people to dwell in, had one which was the most famous, this being the city containing the royal palace; it was called Bactra, and in size and in the strength of its acropolis was by far the first of them all. The king of the country, Oxyartes, had enrolled all the men of military age, and they had been gathered to the number of four hundred thousand. 3 So taking this force with him and meeting the enemy at the passes, he allowed a division of the army of Ninus to enter the country; and when he thought that a sufficient number of the enemy had debouched into the plain he drew out his own forces in battle-order. A fierce struggle then ensued in which the Bactrians put the Assyrians to flight, and pursuing them as far as the mountains which overlooked the field, killed about one hundred thousand of the enemy. 4 But later, when the whole Assyrian force entered their country, the Bactrians, overpowered by the multitude of them, withdrew city by city, each group intending to defend its own homeland. And so Ninus easily subdued all the other cities, but Bactra, because of its strength and the equipment for war which it contained, he was unable to take by storm. But when the siege was proving a long affair the husband of Semiramis, who was enamoured of his wife and was making the campaign with the king, sent for the woman. And she, endowed as she was with understanding, daring, and all the other qualities which contribute to distinction, seized the opportunity to display her native ability. 6 First of all, then, since she was about to set out upon a journey of many days, she devised a garb which made it impossible to distinguish whether the wearer of it was a man or a woman. This dress was well adapted to her needs, as regards both her travelling in the heat, for protecting the colour of her skin, and her convenience in doing whatever she might wish to do, since it was quite pliable and suitable to a young person, and, in a word was so attractive that in later times the Medes, who were then dominant in Asia, always wore the garb of Semiramis, as did the Persians after them. 7 Now when Semiramis arrived in Bactriana and observed the progress of the siege, she noted that it was on the plains and at positions which were easily assailed that attacks were being made, but that no one ever assaulted the acropolis because of its strong position, and that its defender had left their posts there and were coming to aid of those who were hard pressed on the walls below. 8 Consequently, taking with her such soldiers as were accustomed to clambering up rocky heights, and making her way with them up through a certain difficult ravine, she seized a part of the acropolis and gave a signal to those who were besieging the wall down in the plain. Thereupon the defenders of the city, struck with terror at the seizure of the height, left the walls and abandoned all hope of saving themselves. When the city had been taken in this way, the king, marvelling at the ability of the woman, at first honoured her with great gifts, and later, becoming infatuated with her because of her beauty, tried to persuade her husband to yield her to him of his own accord, offering in return for this favour to give him his own daughter Sosane to wife. 10 But when the man took his offer with ill grace, Ninus threatened to put out his eyes unless he at once accede to his commands. And Onnes, partly out of fear of the king's threats and partly out of his passion for his wife, fell into a kind of frenzy and madness, put a rope about his neck, and hanged himself. Such, then, were the circumstances whereby Semiramis attained the position of queen.
§ 2.7
ὁ δὲ Νίνος τούς τε ἐν Βάκτροις παρέλαβε θησαυρούς, ἔχοντας πολὺν ἄργυρόν τε καὶ χρυσόν, καὶ τὰ κατὰ τὴν Βακτριανὴν καταστήσας ἀπέλυσε τὰς δυνάμεις. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα γεννήσας ἐκ Σεμιράμιδος υἱὸν Νινύαν ἐτελεύτησε, τὴν γυναῖκα ἀπολιπὼν βασίλισσαν. τὸν δὲ Νίνον ἡ Σεμίραμις ἔθαψεν ἐν τοῖς βασιλείοις, καὶ κατεσκεύασεν ἐπʼ αὐτῷ χῶμα παμμέγεθες, οὗ τὸ μὲν ὕψος ἦν ἐννέα σταδίων, τὸ δʼ εὖρος, ὥς φησι Κτησίας, δέκα. διὸ καὶ τῆς πόλεως παρὰ τὸν Εὐφράτην ἐν πεδίῳ κειμένης ἀπὸ πολλῶν σταδίων ἐφαίνετο τὸ χῶμα καθαπερεί τις ἀκρόπολις· ὃ καὶ μέχρι τοῦ νῦν φασι διαμένειν, καίπερ τῆς Νίνου κατεσκαμμένης ὑπὸ Μήδων, ὅτε κατέλυσαν τὴν Ἀσσυρίων βασιλείαν. ἡ δὲ Σεμίραμις, οὖσα φύσει μεγαλεπίβολος καὶ φιλοτιμουμένη τῇ δόξῃ τὸν βεβασιλευκότα πρὸ αὐτῆς ὑπερθέσθαι, πόλιν μὲν ἐπεβάλετο κτίζειν ἐν τῇ Βαβυλωνίᾳ, ἐπιλεξαμένη δὲ τοὺς πανταχόθεν ἀρχιτέκτονας καὶ τεχνίτας, ἔτι δὲ τὴν ἄλλην χορηγίαν παρασκευασαμένη, συνήγαγεν ἐξ ἁπάσης τῆς βασιλείας πρὸς τὴν τῶν ἔργων συντέλειαν ἀνδρῶν μυριάδας διακοσίας. ἀπολαβοῦσα δὲ τὸν Εὐφράτην ποταμὸν εἰς μέσον περιεβάλετο τεῖχος τῇ πόλει σταδίων ἑξήκοντα καὶ τριακοσίων, διειλημμένον πύργοις πυκνοῖς καὶ μεγάλοις, ὥς φησι Κτησίας ὁ Κνίδιος, ὡς δὲ Κλείταρχος καὶ τῶν ὕστερον μετʼ Ἀλεξάνδρου διαβάντων εἰς τὴν Ἀσίαν τινὲς ἀνέγραψαν, τριακοσίων ἑξήκοντα πέντε σταδίων· καὶ προστιθέασιν ὅτι τῶν ἴσων ἡμερῶν εἰς τὸν ἐνιαυτὸν οὐσῶν ἐφιλοτιμήθη τὸν ἴσον ἀριθμὸν τῶν σταδίων ὑποστήσασθαι. ὀπτὰς δὲ πλίνθους εἰς ἄσφαλτον ἐνδησαμένη τεῖχος κατεσκεύασε τὸ μὲν ὕψος, ὡς μὲν Κτησίας φησί, πεντήκοντα ὀργυιῶν, ὡς δʼ ἔνιοι τῶν νεωτέρων ἔγραψαν, πηχῶν πεντήκοντα, τὸ δὲ πλάτος πλέον ἢ δυσὶν ἅρμασιν ἱππάσιμον· πύργους δὲ τὸν μὲν ἀριθμὸν διακοσίους καὶ πεντήκοντα, τὸ δʼ ὕψος καὶ πλάτος ἐξ ἀναλόγου τῷ βάρει τῶν κατὰ τὸ τεῖχος ἔργων. οὐ χρὴ δὲ θαυμάζειν εἰ τηλικούτου τὸ μέγεθος τοῦ περιβόλου καθεστῶτος ὀλίγους πύργους κατεσκεύασεν· ἐπὶ πολὺν γὰρ τόπον τῆς πόλεως ἕλεσι περιεχομένης, κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν τόπον οὐκ ἔδοξεν αὐτῇ πύργους οἰκοδομεῖν, τῆς φύσεως τῶν ἑλῶν ἱκανὴν παρεχομένης ὀχυρότητα. ἀνὰ μέσον δὲ τῶν οἰκιῶν καὶ τῶν τειχῶν ὁδὸς πάντῃ κατελέλειπτο δίπλεθρος.
Ninus secured the treasures of Bactra, which contained a great amount of both gold and silver, and after settling the affairs of Bactriana disbanded his forces. After this he begat by Semiramis a son Ninyas, and then died, leaving his wife as queen. Semiramis buried Ninus in the precinct of the palace and erected over his tomb a very large mound, nine stades high and ten wide, as Ctesias says. 2 Consequently, since the city lay on a plain along the Euphrates, the mound was visible for a distance of many stades, like an acropolis; and this mound stands, they say, even to this day, though Ninus was razed to the ground by the Medes when they destroyed the empire of the Assyrians. Semiramis, whose nature made her eager for great exploits and ambitious to surpass the fame of her predecessor on the throne, set her mind upon founding a city in Babylonia, and after securing the architects of all the world and skilled artisans and making all the other necessary preparations, she gathered together from her entire kingdom two million men to complete the work. 3 Taking the Euphrates river into the centre she threw about the city a wall with great towers set at frequent intervals, the wall being three hundred and sixty stades in circumference, as Ctesias of Cnidus says, but according to the account of Cleitarchus and certain of those who at a later time crossed into Asia with Alexander, three hundred and sixty-five stades; and these latter add that it was her desire to make the number of stades the same as the days in the year. 4 Making baked bricks fast in bitumen she built a wall with a height, as Ctesias says, of fifty fathoms, but, as some later writers have recorded, of fifty cubits, and wide enough for more than two chariots abreast to drive upon; and the towers numbered two hundred and fifty, their height and width corresponding to the massive scale of the wall. 5 Now it need occasion no wonder that, considering the great length of the circuit wall, Semiramis constructed a small number of towers; for since over a long distance the city was surrounded by swamps, she decided not to build towers along that space, the swamps offering a sufficient natural defence. And all along between the dwellings and the walls a road was left two plethra wide.
§ 2.8
πρὸς δὲ τὴν ὀξύτητα τῆς τούτων οἰκοδομίας ἑκάστῳ τῶν φίλων στάδιον διεμέτρησε, δοῦσα τὴν ἱκανὴν εἰς τοῦτο χορηγίαν καὶ διακελευσαμένη τέλος ἐπιθεῖναι τοῖς ἔργοις ἐν ἐνιαυτῷ. ὧν ποιησάντων τὸ προσταχθὲν μετὰ πολλῆς σπουδῆς, τούτων μὲν ἀπεδέξατο τὴν φιλοτιμίαν, αὐτὴ δὲ κατὰ τὸ στενώτατον μέρος τοῦ ποταμοῦ γέφυραν σταδίων πέντε τὸ μῆκος κατεσκεύασεν, εἰς βυθὸν φιλοτέχνως καθεῖσα τοὺς κίονας, οἳ διεστήκεσαν ἀπʼ ἀλλήλων πόδας δώδεκα. τοὺς δὲ συνερειδομένους λίθους τόρμοις σιδηροῖς διελάμβανε, καὶ τὰς τούτων ἁρμονίας ἐπλήρου μόλιβδον ἐντήκουσα. τοῖς δὲ κίοσι πρὸ τῶν τὸ ῥεῦμα δεχομένων πλευρῶν γωνίας προκατεσκεύασεν ἐχούσας τὴν ἀπορροὴν περιφερῆ καὶ συνδεδεμένην κατʼ ὀλίγον ἕως τοῦ κατὰ τὸν κίονα πλάτους, ὅπως αἱ μὲν περὶ τὰς γωνίας ὀξύτητες τέμνωσι τὴν καταφορὰν τοῦ ῥεύματος, αἱ δὲ περιφέρειαι τῇ τούτου βίᾳ συνείκουσαι πραΰνωσι τὴν σφοδρότητα τοῦ ποταμοῦ. ἡ μὲν οὖν γέφυρα, κεδρίναις καὶ κυπαριττίναις δοκοῖς, ἔτι δὲ φοινίκων στελέχεσιν ὑπερμεγέθεσι κατεστεγασμένη καὶ τριάκοντα ποδῶν οὖσα τὸ πλάτος, οὐδενὸς ἐδόκει τῶν Σεμιράμιδος ἔργων τῇ φιλοτεχνίᾳ λείπεσθαι. ἐξ ἑκατέρου δὲ μέρους τοῦ ποταμοῦ κρηπῖδα πολυτελῆ κατεσκεύασε παραπλησίαν κατὰ τὸ πλάτος τοῖς τείχεσιν ἐπὶ σταδίους ἑκατὸν ἑξήκοντα. ᾠκοδόμησε δὲ καὶ βασίλεια διπλᾶ παρʼ αὐτὸν τὸν ποταμὸν ἐξ ἑκατέρου μέρους τῆς γεφύρας, ἐξ ὧν ἅμʼ ἔμελλε τήν τε πόλιν ἅπασαν κατοπτεύσειν καὶ καθαπερεὶ τὰς κλεῖς ἕξειν τῶν ἐπικαιροτάτων τῆς πόλεως τόπων. τοῦ δʼ Εὐφράτου διὰ μέσης τῆς Βαβυλῶνος ῥέοντος καὶ πρὸς μεσημβρίαν καταφερομένου, τῶν βασιλείων τὰ μὲν πρὸς ἀνατολὴν ἔνευε, τὰ δὲ πρὸς δύσιν, ἀμφότερα δὲ πολυτελῶς κατεσκεύαστο. τοῦ μὲν γὰρ εἰς τὸ πρὸς ἑσπέραν κειμένου μέρους ἐποίησε τὸν πρῶτον περίβολον ἑξήκοντα σταδίων, ὑψηλοῖς καὶ πολυτελέσι τείχεσιν ὠχυρωμένον, ἐξ ὀπτῆς πλίνθου. ἕτερον δʼ ἐντὸς τούτου κυκλοτερῆ κατεσκεύασε, καθʼ ὃν ἐν ὠμαῖς ἔτι ταῖς πλίνθοις διετετύπωτο θηρία παντοδαπὰ τῇ τῶν χρωμάτων φιλοτεχνίᾳ τὴν ἀλήθειαν ἀπομιμούμενα· οὗτος δʼ ὁ περίβολος ἦν τὸ μὲν μῆκος σταδίων τετταράκοντα, τὸ δὲ πλάτος ἐπὶ τριακοσίας πλίνθους, τὸ δʼ ὕψος, ὡς Κτησίας φησίν, ὀργυιῶν πεντήκοντα· τῶν δὲ πύργων ὑπῆρχε τὸ ὕψος ὀργυιῶν ἑβδομήκοντα. κατεσκεύασε δὲ καὶ τρίτον ἐνδοτέρω περίβολον, ὃς περιεῖχεν ἀκρόπολιν, ἧς ἡ μὲν περίμετρος ἦν σταδίων εἴκοσι, τὸ δὲ ὕψος καὶ πλάτος τῆς οἰκοδομίας ὑπεραῖρον τοῦ μέσου τείχους τὴν κατασκευήν. ἐνῆσαν δʼ ἔν τε τοῖς πύργοις καὶ τείχεσι ζῷα παντοδαπὰ φιλοτέχνως τοῖς τε χρώμασι καὶ τοῖς τῶν τύπων ἀπομιμήμασι κατεσκευασμένα· τὸ δʼ ὅλον ἐπεποίητο κυνήγιον παντοίων θηρίων ὑπάρχον πλῆρες, ὧν ἦσαν τὰ μεγέθη πλέον ἢ πηχῶν τεττάρων. κατεσκεύαστο δʼ ἐν αὐτοῖς καὶ ἡ Σεμίραμις ἀφʼ ἵππου πάρδαλιν ἀκοντίζουσα, καὶ πλησίον αὐτῆς ὁ ἀνὴρ Νίνος παίων ἐκ χειρὸς λέοντα λόγχῃ. ἐπέστησε δὲ καὶ πύλας τριττάς, ἐφʼ ὧν ὑπῆρχον διτταὶ χαλκαῖ διὰ μηχανῆς ἀνοιγόμεναι. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν τὰ βασίλεια καὶ τῷ μεγέθει καὶ ταῖς κατασκευαῖς πολὺ προεῖχε τῶν ὄντων ἐπὶ θάτερα μέρη τοῦ ποταμοῦ. ἐκεῖνα γὰρ εἶχε τὸν μὲν περίβολον τοῦ τείχους τριάκοντα σταδίων ἐξ ὀπτῆς πλίνθου, ἀντὶ δὲ τῆς περὶ τὰ ζῷα φιλοτεχνίας χαλκᾶς εἰκόνας Νίνου καὶ Σεμιράμιδος καὶ τῶν ὑπάρχων, ἔτι δὲ Διός, ὃν καλοῦσιν οἱ Βαβυλώνιοι Βῆλον· ἐνῆσαν δὲ καὶ παρατάξεις καὶ κυνήγια παντοδαπά, ποικίλην ψυχαγωγίαν παρεχόμενα τοῖς θεωμένοις.
In order to expedite the building of these constructions she apportioned a stade to each of her friends, furnishing sufficient material for their task and directing them to complete their work within a year. 2 And when they had finished these assignments with great speed she gratefully accepted their zeal, but she took for herself the construction of a bridge five stades long at the narrowest point of the river, skilfully sinking the piers, which stood twelve feet apart, into its bed. And the stones, which were set firmly together, she bonded with iron cramps, and the joints of the cramps she filled by pouring in lead. Again, before the piers on the side which would receive the current she constructed cutwaters whose sides were rounded to turn off the water and which gradually diminished to the width of the pier, in order that the sharp points of the cutwaters might divide the impetus of the stream, while the rounded sides, yielding to its force, might soften the violence of the river. 3 This bridge, then, floored as it was with beams of cedar and cypress and with palm logs of exceptional size and having a width of thirty feet, is considered to have been inferior in technical skill to none of the works of Semiramis. And on each side of the river she built an expensive quay of about the same width as the walls and one hundred and sixty stades long. Semiramis also built two palaces on the very banks of the river, one at each end of the bridge, her intention being that from them she might be able both to look down over the entire city and to hold the keys, as it were, to its most important sections. 4 And since the Euphrates river passed through the centre of Babylon and flowed in a southerly direction, one palace faced the rising and the other the setting sun, and both had been constructed on a lavish scale. For in the case of the one which faced west she made the length of its first or outer circuit wall sixty stades, fortifying it with lofty walls, which had been built at great cost and were of burned brick. And within this she built a second, circular in form, in the bricks of which, before they were baked, wild animals of every kind had been engraved, and by the ingenious use of colours these figures reproduced the actual appearance of the animals themselves; 5 this circuit wall had a length of forty stades, a width of three hundred bricks, and a height, as Ctesias says, of fifty fathoms; the height of the towers, however, was seventy fathoms. 6 And she built within these two yet a third circuit wall, which enclosed an acropolis whose circumference was twenty stades in length, but the height and width of the structure surpassed the dimensions of the middle circuit wall. On both the towers and the walls there were again animals of every kind, ingeniously executed by the use of colours as well as by the realistic imitation of the several types; and the whole had been made to represent a hunt, complete in every detail, of all sorts of wild animals, and their size was more than four cubits. Among the animals, moreover, Semiramis had also been portrayed, on horseback and in the act of hurling a javelin at a leopard, and nearby was her husband Ninus, in the act of thrusting his spear into a lion at close quarters. 7 In this wall she also set triple gates, two of which were of bronze and were opened by a mechanical device. Now this palace far surpassed in both size and details of execution the one on the other bank of the river. For the circuit wall of the latter, made of burned brick, was only thirty stades long, and instead of the ingenious portrayal of animals it had bronze statues of Ninus and Semiramis and their officers, and one also of Zeus, whom the Babylonians call Belus; and on it were also portrayed both battle-scenes and hunts of every kind, which filled those who gazed thereon with varied emotions of pleasure.
§ 2.9
μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τῆς Βαβυλωνίας ἐκλεξαμένη τὸν ταπεινότατον τόπον ἐποίησε δεξαμενὴν τετράγωνον, ἧς ἦν ἑκάστη πλευρὰ σταδίων τριακοσίων, ἐξ ὀπτῆς πλίνθου καὶ ἀσφάλτου κατεσκευασμένην καὶ τὸ βάθος ἔχουσαν ποδῶν τριάκοντα καὶ πέντε. εἰς ταύτην δʼ ἀποστρέψασα τὸν ποταμὸν κατεσκεύασεν ἐκ τῶν ἐπὶ τάδε βασιλείων εἰς θάτερα διώρυχα· ἐξ ὀπτῆς δὲ πλίνθου συνοικοδομήσασα τὰς καμάρας ἐξ ἑκατέρου μέρους ἀσφάλτῳ κατέχρισεν ἡψημένῃ, μέχρι οὗ τὸ πάχος τοῦ χρίσματος ἐποίησε πηχῶν τεττάρων. τῆς δὲ διώρυχος ὑπῆρχον οἱ μὲν τοῖχοι τὸ πλάτος ἐπὶ πλίνθους εἴκοσι, τὸ δʼ ὕψος χωρὶς τῆς καμφθείσης ψαλίδος ποδῶν δώδεκα, τὸ δὲ πλάτος ποδῶν πεντεκαίδεκα. ἐν ἡμέραις δʼ ἑπτὰ κατασκευασθείσης αὐτῆς ἀποκατέστησε τὸν ποταμὸν ἐπὶ τὴν προϋπάρχουσαν ῥύσιν, ὥστε τοῦ ῥεύματος ἐπάνω τῆς διώρυχος φερομένου δύνασθαι τὴν Σεμίραμιν ἐκ τῶν πέραν βασιλείων ἐπὶ θάτερα διαπορεύεσθαι μὴ διαβαίνουσαν τὸν ποταμόν. ἐπέστησε δὲ καὶ πύλας τῇ διώρυχι χαλκᾶς ἐφʼ ἑκάτερον μέρος, αἳ διέμειναν μέχρι τῆς τῶν Περσῶν βασιλείας. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ἐν μέσῃ τῇ πόλει κατεσκεύασεν ἱερὸν Διός, %5ὃν καλοῦσιν οἱ Βαβυλώνιοι, καθάπερ εἰρήκαμεν, Βῆλον. περὶ τούτου δὲ τῶν συγγραφέων διαφωνούντων, καὶ τοῦ κατασκευάσματος διὰ τὸν χρόνον καταπεπτωκότος, οὐκ ἔστιν ἀποφήνασθαι τἀκριβές. ὁμολογεῖται δʼ ὑψηλὸν γεγενῆσθαι καθʼ ὑπερβολήν, καὶ τοὺς Χαλδαίους ἐν αὐτῷ τὰς τῶν ἄστρων πεποιῆσθαι παρατηρήσεις, ἀκριβῶς θεωρουμένων τῶν τʼ ἀνατολῶν καὶ δύσεων διὰ τὸ τοῦ κατασκευάσματος ὕψος. τῆς δʼ ὅλης οἰκοδομίας ἐξ ἀσφάλτου %5καὶ πλίνθου πεφιλοτεχνημένης πολυτελῶς, ἐπʼ ἄκρας τῆς ἀναβάσεως τρία κατεσκεύασεν ἀγάλματα χρυσᾶ σφυρήλατα, Διός, Ἥρας, Ῥέας. τούτων δὲ τὸ μὲν τοῦ Διὸς ἑστηκὸς ἦν καὶ διαβεβηκός, ὑπάρχον δὲ ποδῶν τετταράκοντα τὸ μῆκος σταθμὸν εἶχε χιλίων ταλάντων Βαβυλωνίων· τὸ δὲ τῆς Ῥέας ἐπὶ δίφρου καθήμενον χρυσοῦ τὸν ἴσον σταθμὸν εἶχε τῷ προειρημένῳ· ἐπὶ δὲ τῶν γονάτων αὐτῆς εἱστήκεσαν λέοντες δύο, καὶ πλησίον ὄφεις ὑπερμεγέθεις ἀργυροῖ, τριάκοντα ταλάντων ἕκαστος ἔχων τὸ βάρος. τὸ δὲ τῆς Ἥρας ἑστηκὸς ἦν ἄγαλμα, σταθμὸν ἔχον ταλάντων ὀκτακοσίων, καὶ τῇ μὲν δεξιᾷ χειρὶ κατεῖχε τῆς κεφαλῆς ὄφιν, τῇ δʼ ἀριστερᾷ σκῆπτρον λιθοκόλλητον. τούτοις δὲ πᾶσι κοινὴ παρέκειτο τράπεζα χρυσῆ σφυρήλατος, τὸ μὲν μῆκος ποδῶν τετταράκοντα, τὸ δʼ εὖρος πεντεκαίδεκα, σταθμὸν ἔχουσα ταλάντων πεντακοσίων. ἐπὶ δὲ ταύτης ἐπέκειντο δύο καρχήσια, σταθμὸν ἔχοντα τριάκοντα ταλάντων. ἦσαν δὲ καὶ θυμιατήρια τὸν μὲν ἀριθμὸν ἴσα, τὸν δὲ σταθμὸν ἑκάτερον ταλάντων τριακοσίων· ὑπῆρχον δὲ καὶ κρατῆρες χρυσοῖ τρεῖς, ὧν ὁ μὲν τοῦ Διὸς εἷλκε τάλαντα Βαβυλώνια χίλια καὶ διακόσια, τῶν δʼ ἄλλων ἑκάτερος ἑξακόσια. ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν οἱ τῶν Περσῶν βασιλεῖς ὕστερον ἐσύλησαν· τῶν δὲ βασιλείων καὶ τῶν ἄλλων κατασκευασμάτων ὁ χρόνος τὰ μὲν ὁλοσχερῶς ἠφάνισε, τὰ δʼ ἐλυμήνατο· καὶ γὰρ αὐτῆς τῆς Βαβυλῶνος νῦν βραχύ τι μέρος οἰκεῖται, τὸ δὲ πλεῖστον ἐντὸς τείχους γεωργεῖται.
After this Semiramis picked out the lowest spot in Babylonia and built a square reservoir, which was three hundred stades long on each side; it was constructed of baked brick and bitumen, and had a depth of thirtyfive feet. 2 Then, diverting the river into it, she built an underground passage-way from one palace to the other; and making it of burned brick, she coated the vaulted chambers on both sides with hot bitumen until she had made the thickness of this coating four cubits. The side walls of the passage-way were twenty bricks thick and twelve feet high, exclusive of the barrel-vault, and the width of the passage-way was fifteen feet. 3 And after this construction had been finished in only seven days she let the river back again into its old channel, and so, since the stream flowed above the passage-way, Semiramis was able to go across from one palace to the other without passing over the river. At each end of the passage-way she also set bronze gates which stood until the time of the Persian rule. After this she built in the centre of the city a temple of Zeus whom, as we have said, the Babylonians call Belus. Now since with regard to this temple the historians are at variance, and since time has caused the structure to fall into ruins, it is impossible to give the exact facts concerning it. But all agree that it was exceedingly high, and that in it the Chaldaeans made their observations of the stars, whose risings and settings could be accurately observed by reason of the height of the structure. 5 Now the entire building was ingeniously constructed at great expense of bitumen and brick, and at the top of the ascent Semiramis set up three statues of hammered gold, of Zeus, Hera, and Rhea. Of these statues that of Zeus represented him erect and striding forward, and, being forty feet high, weighed a thousand Babylonian talents; that of Rhea showed her seated on a golden throne and was of the same weight as that of Zeus; and at her knees stood two lions, while near by were huge serpents of silver, each one weighing thirty talents. 6 The statue of Hera was also standing, weighing eight hundred talents, and in her right hand she held a snake by the head and in her left a sceptre studded with precious stones. 7 A table for all three statues, made of hammered gold, stood before them, forty feet long, fifteen wide, and weighing five hundred talents. Upon it rested two drinking-cups, weighing thirty talents. 8 And there were censers as well, also two in number but weighing each three hundred talents, and also three gold mixing bowls, of which the one belonging to Zeus weighed twelve hundred Babylonian talents and the other two six hundred each. 9 But all these were later carried off as spoil by the kings of the Persians, while as for the palaces and the other buildings, time has either entirely effaced them or left them in ruins; and in fact of Babylon itself but a small part is inhabited at this time, and most of the area within its walls is given over to agriculture.
§ 2.10
ὑπῆρχε δὲ καὶ ὁ κρεμαστὸς καλούμενος κῆπος παρὰ τὴν ἀκρόπολιν, οὐ Σεμιράμιδος, ἀλλά τινος ὕστερον Σύρου βασιλέως κατασκευάσαντος χάριν γυναικὸς παλλακῆς· ταύτην γάρ φασιν οὖσαν τὸ γένος Περσίδα καὶ τοὺς ἐν τοῖς ὄρεσι λειμῶνας ἐπιζητοῦσαν ἀξιῶσαι τὸν βασιλέα μιμήσασθαι διὰ τῆς τοῦ φυτουργείου φιλοτεχνίας τὴν τῆς Περσίδος χώρας ἰδιότητα. ἔστι δʼ ὁ παράδεισος τὴν μὲν πλευρὰν ἑκάστην παρεκτείνων εἰς τέτταρα πλέθρα, τὴν δὲ πρόσβασιν ὀρεινὴν καὶ τὰς οἰκοδομίας ἄλλας ἐξ ἄλλων ἔχων, ὥστε τὴν πρόσοψιν εἶναι θεατροειδῆ. ὑπὸ δὲ ταῖς κατεσκευασμέναις ἀναβάσεσιν ᾠκοδόμηντο σύριγγες, ἅπαν μὲν ὑποδεχόμεναι τὸ τοῦ φυτουργείου βάρος, ἀλλήλων δʼ ἐκ τοῦ κατʼ ὀλίγον ἀεὶ μικρὸν ὑπερέχουσαι κατὰ τὴν πρόσβασιν· ἡ δʼ ἀνωτάτω σῦριγξ οὖσα πεντήκοντα πηχῶν τὸ ὕψος εἶχεν ἐπʼ αὐτῇ τοῦ παραδείσου τὴν ἀνωτάτην ἐπιφάνειαν συνεξισουμένην τῷ περιβόλῳ τῶν ἐπάλξεων. ἔπειθʼ οἱ μὲν τοῖχοι πολυτελῶς κατεσκευασμένοι τὸ πάχος εἶχον ποδῶν εἴκοσι δύο, τῶν δὲ διεξόδων ἑκάστη τὸ πλάτος δέκα. τὰς δʼ ὀροφὰς κατεστέγαζον λίθιναι δοκοί, τὸ μὲν μῆκος σὺν ταῖς ἐπιβολαῖς ἔχουσαι ποδῶν ἑκκαίδεκα, τὸ δὲ πλάτος τεττάρων. τὸ δʼ ἐπὶ ταῖς δοκοῖς ὀρόφωμα πρῶτον μὲν εἶχεν ὑπεστρωμένον κάλαμον μετὰ πολλῆς ἀσφάλτου, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα πλίνθον ὀπτὴν διπλῆν ἐν γύψῳ δεδεμένην, τρίτην δʼ ἐπιβολὴν ἐδέχετο μολιβᾶς στέγας πρὸς τὸ μὴ διικνεῖσθαι κατὰ βάθος τὴν ἐκ τοῦ χώματος νοτίδα. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτοις ἐσεσώρευτο γῆς ἱκανὸν βάθος, ἀρκοῦν ταῖς τῶν μεγίστων δένδρων ῥίζαις· τὸ δʼ ἔδαφος ἐξωμαλισμένον πλῆρες ἦν παντοδαπῶν δένδρων τῶν δυναμένων κατά τε τὸ μέγεθος καὶ τὴν ἄλλην χάριν τοὺς θεωμένους ψυχαγωγῆσαι. αἱ δὲ σύριγγες τὰ φῶτα δεχόμεναι ταῖς δι’ ἀλλήλων ὑπεροχαῖς πολλὰς καὶ παντοδαπὰς εἶχον διαίτας βασιλικάς· μία δʼ ἦν ἐκ τῆς ἀνωτάτης ἐπιφανείας διατομὰς ἔχουσα καὶ πρὸς τὰς ἐπαντλήσεις τῶν ὑδάτων ὄργανα, διʼ ὧν ἀνεσπᾶτο πλῆθος ὕδατος ἐκ τοῦ ποταμοῦ, μηδενὸς τῶν ἔξωθεν τὸ γινόμενον συνιδεῖν δυναμένου. οὗτος μὲν οὖν ὁ παράδεισος, ὡς προεῖπον, ὕστερον κατεσκευάσθη.
There was also, because the acropolis, the Hanging Garden, as it is called, which was built, not by Semiramis, but by a later Syrian king to please one of his concubines; for she, they say, being a Persian by race and longing for the meadows of her mountains, asked the king to imitate, through the artifice of a planted garden, the distinctive landscape of Persia. 2 The park extended four plethra on each side, and since the approach to the garden sloped like a hillside and the several parts of the structure rose from one another tier on tier, the appearance of the whole resembled that of a theatre. 3 When the ascending terraces had been built, there had been constructed beneath them galleries which carried the entire weight of the planted garden and rose little by little one above the other along the approach; and the uppermost gallery, which was fifty cubits high, bore the highest surface of the park, which was made level with the circuit wall of the battlements of the city. 4 Furthermore, the walls, which had been constructed at great expense, were twenty-two feet thick, while the passage-way between each two walls was ten feet wide. The roofs of the galleries were covered over with beams of stone sixteen feet long, inclusive of the overlap, and four feet wide. 5 The roof above these beams had first a layer of reeds laid in great quantities of bitumen, over this two courses of baked brick bonded by cement, and as a third layer a covering of lead, to the end that the moisture from the soil might not penetrate beneath. On all this again earth had been piled to a depth sufficient for the roots of the largest trees; and the ground, which was levelled off, was thickly planted with trees of every kind that, by their great size or any other charm, could give pleasure to beholder. 6 And since the galleries, each projecting beyond another, all received the light, they contained many royal lodgings of every description; and there was one gallery which contained openings leading from the topmost surface and machines for supplying the garden with water, the machines raising the water in great abundance from the river, although no one outside could see it being done. Now this park, as I have said, was a later construction.
§ 2.11
ἡ δὲ Σεμίραμις ἔκτισε καὶ ἄλλας πόλεις παρὰ τὸν ποταμὸν τόν τε Εὐφράτην καὶ τὸν Τίγριν, ἐν αἷς ἐμπόρια κατεσκεύασε τοῖς φορτία διακομίζουσιν ἐκ τῆς Μηδίας καὶ Παραιτακηνῆς καὶ πάσης τῆς σύνεγγυς χώρας. μετὰ γὰρ τὸν Νεῖλον καὶ Γάγγην ὄντες ἐπισημότατοι σχεδὸν τῶν κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν ποταμῶν Εὐφράτης καὶ Τίγρις τὰς μὲν πηγὰς ἔχουσιν ἐκ τῶν Ἀρμενίων ὀρῶν, διεστήκασι δʼ ἀπʼ ἀλλήλων σταδίους δισχιλίους καὶ πεντακοσίους· ἐνεχθέντες δὲ διὰ Μηδίας καὶ Παραιτακηνῆς ἐμβάλλουσιν εἰς τὴν Μεσοποταμίαν, ἣν ἀπολαμβάνοντες εἰς μέσον αἴτιοι κατέστησαν τῇ χώρᾳ ταύτης τῆς προσηγορίας· μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τὴν Βαβυλωνίαν διελθόντες εἰς τὴν Ἐρυθρὰν ἐξερεύγονται θάλατταν. μεγάλοι δʼ ὄντες καὶ συχνὴν χώραν διαπορευόμενοι πολλὰς ἀφορμὰς παρέχονται τοῖς ἐμπορικῇ χρωμένοις ἐργασίᾳ· διὸ καὶ συμβαίνει τοὺς παραποταμίους τόπους πλήρεις ὑπάρχειν ἐμπορίων εὐδαιμόνων καὶ μεγάλα συμβαλλομένων πρὸς τὴν τῆς Βαβυλωνίας ἐπιφάνειαν. ἡ δὲ Σεμίραμις ἐκ τῶν Ἀρμενίων ὀρῶν λίθον ἔτεμε τὸ μὲν μῆκος ποδῶν ἑκατὸν καὶ τριάκοντα, τὸ δὲ πλάτος καὶ πάχος εἴκοσι καὶ πέντε· τοῦτον δὲ πολλοῖς πλήθεσι ζευγῶν ὀρεικῶν τε καὶ βοεικῶν καταγαγοῦσα πρὸς τὸν ποταμὸν ἐπεβίβασεν ἐπὶ τὴν σχεδίαν· ἐπὶ ταύτης δὲ παρακομίσασα κατὰ τοῦ ῥεύματος μέχρι τῆς Βαβυλωνίας ἔστησεν αὐτὸν παρὰ τὴν ἐπισημοτάτην ὁδόν, παράδοξον θέαμα τοῖς παριοῦσιν· ὅν τινες ὀνομάζουσιν ἀπὸ τοῦ σχήματος ὀβελίσκον, ὃν ἐν τοῖς ἑπτὰ τοῖς κατονομαζομένοις ἔργοις καταριθμοῦσι.
Semiramis founded other cities also along the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, in which she established trading-places for the merchants who brought goods from Media, Paraetacene, and all the neighbouring region. For the Euphrates and Tigris, the most notable, one may say, of all the rivers of Asia after the Nile and Ganges, have their sources in the mountains of Armenia and are two thousand five hundred stades apart at their origin, 2 and after flowing through Media and Paraetacene they enter Mesopotamia, which they enclose between them, thus giving this name to the country. After this they pass through Babylonia and empty into the Red Sea. 3 Moreover, since they are great streams and traverse a spacious territory they offer many advantages to men who follow a merchant trade; and it is due to this fact that the regions along their banks are filled with prosperous trading-places which contribute greatly to the fame of Babylonia. Semiramis quarried out a stone from the mountains of Armenia which was one hundred and thirty feet long and twenty-five feet wide and thick; 5 and this she hauled by means of many multitudes of yokes of mules and oxen to the river and there loaded it on a raft, on which she brought it down the stream to Babylonia; she then set it up beside the most famous street, an astonishing sight to all who passed by. And this stone is called by some an obelisk from its shape, and they number it among the seven wonders of the world.
§ 2.12
πολλῶν δὲ καὶ παραδόξων ὄντων θεαμάτων κατὰ τὴν Βαβυλωνίαν οὐχ ἥκιστα θαυμάζεται καὶ τὸ πλῆθος τῆς ἐν αὐτῇ γεννωμένης ἀσφάλτου· τοσοῦτον γάρ ἐστιν ὥστε μὴ μόνον ταῖς τοσαύταις καὶ τηλικαύταις οἰκοδομίαις διαρκεῖν, ἀλλὰ καὶ συλλεγόμενον τὸν λαὸν ἐπὶ τὸν τόπον ἀφειδῶς ἀρύεσθαι καὶ ξηραίνοντα κάειν ἀντὶ ξύλων. ἀναριθμήτων δὲ τὸ πλῆθος ἀνθρώπων ἀρυομένων καθάπερ ἔκ τινος πηγῆς μεγάλης ἀκέραιον διαμένει τὸ πλήρωμα. ἔστι δὲ καὶ πλησίον τῆς πηγῆς ταύτης ἀνάδοσις τῷ μὲν μεγέθει βραχεῖα, δύναμιν δὲ θαυμάσιον ἔχουσα. προβάλλει γὰρ ἀτμὸν θειώδη καὶ βαρύν, ᾧ τὸ προσελθὸν ζῷον ἅπαν ἀποθνήσκει, περιπῖπτον ὀξείᾳ καὶ παραδόξῳ τελευτῇ· πνεύματος γὰρ κατοχῇ χρόνον ὑπομεῖναν διαφθείρεται, καθάπερ κωλυομένης τῆς τοῦ πνεύματος ἐκφορᾶς ὑπὸ τῆς προσπεσούσης ταῖς ἀναπνοαῖς δυνάμεως· εὐθὺς δὲ διοιδεῖ καὶ πίμπραται τὸ σῶμα, μάλιστα τοὺς περὶ τὸν πνεύμονα τόπους. ἔστι δὲ καὶ πέραν τοῦ ποταμοῦ λίμνη στερεὸν ἔχουσα τὸν περὶ αὑτὴν τύπον, εἰς ἣν ὅταν τις ἐμβῇ τῶν ἀπείρων, ὀλίγον μὲν νήχεται χρόνον, προϊὼν δʼ εἰς τὸ μέσον καθάπερ ὑπό τινος βίας κατασπᾶται· ἑαυτῷ δὲ βοηθῶν καὶ πάλιν ἀναστρέψαι προαιρούμενος ἀντέχεται μὲν τῆς ἐκβάσεως, ἀντισπωμένῳ δʼ ὑπό τινος ἔοικε· καὶ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἀπονεκροῦται τοὺς πόδας, εἶτα τὰ σκέλη μέχρι τῆς ὀσφύος, τὸ δὲ τελευταῖον ὅλον τὸ σῶμα νάρκῃ κρατηθεὶς φέρεται πρὸς βυθόν, καὶ μετʼ ὀλίγον τετελευτηκὼς ἀναβάλλεται. περὶ μὲν οὖν τῶν ἐν τῇ Βαβυλωνίᾳ θαυμαζομένων ἀρκείτω τὰ ῥηθέντα.
Although the sights to be seen in Babylonia are many and singular, not the least wonderful is the enormous amount of bitumen which the country produces; so great is the supply of this that it not only suffices for their buildings, which are numerous and large, but the common people also, gathering at the place, draw it out without any restriction, and drying it burn it in place of wood. 2 And countless as is the multitude of men who draw it out, the amount remains undiminished, as if derived from some immense source. Moreover, near this source there is a vent-hole, of no great size but of remarkable potency. For it emits a heavy sulphurous vapour which brings death to all living creatures that approach it, and they meet with an end swift and strange; for after being subjected for a time to the retention of the breath they are killed, as though the expulsion of the breath were being prevented by the force which has attacked the processes of respiration; and immediately the body swells and blows up, particularly in the region about the lungs. 3 And there is also across the river a lake whose edge offers solid footing, and if any man, unacquainted with it, enters it he swims for a short time, but as he advances towards the centre he is dragged down as though by a certain force; and when he begins to help himself and makes up his mind to turn back to shore again, though he struggles to extricate himself, it appears as if he were being hauled back by something else; and he becomes benumbed, first in his feet, then in his legs as far as the groin, and finally, overcome by numbness in his whole body, he is carried to the bottom, and a little later is cast up dead. Now concerning the wonders of Babylonia let what has been said suffice.
§ 2.13
ἡ δὲ Σεμίραμις ἐπειδὴ τοῖς ἔργοις ἐπέθηκε πέρας, ἀνέζευξεν ἐπὶ Μηδίας μετὰ πολλῆς δυνάμεως· καταντήσασα δὲ πρὸς ὄρος τὸ καλούμενον Βαγίστανον πλησίον αὐτοῦ κατεστρατοπέδευσε, καὶ κατεσκεύασε παράδεισον, ὃς τὴν μὲν περίμετρον ἦν δώδεκα σταδίων, ἐν πεδίῳ δὲ κείμενος εἶχε πηγὴν μεγάλην, ἐξ ἧς ἀρδεύεσθαι συνέβαινε τὸ φυτουργεῖον. τὸ δὲ Βαγίστανον ὄρος ἐστὶ μὲν ἱερὸν Διός, ἐκ δὲ τοῦ παρὰ τὸν παράδεισον μέρους ἀποτομάδας ἔχει πέτρας εἰς ὕψος ἀνατεινούσας ἑπτακαίδεκα σταδίους. οὗ τὸ κατώτατον μέρος καταξύσασα τὴν ἰδίαν ἐνεχάραξεν εἰκόνα, δορυφόρους αὑτῇ παραστήσασα ἑκατόν. ἐπέγραψε δὲ καὶ Συρίοις γράμμασιν εἰς τὴν πέτραν ὅτι Σεμίραμις τοῖς σάγμασι τοῖς τῶν ἀκολουθούντων ὑποζυγίων ἀπὸ τοῦ πεδίου χώσασα τὸν προειρημένον κρημνὸν διὰ τούτων εἰς τὴν ἀκρώρειαν προσανέβη. ἐντεῦθεν δʼ ἀναζεύξασα καὶ παραγενομένη πρὸς Χαύονα πόλιν τῆς Μηδίας κατενόησεν ἔν τινι μετεώρῳ πεδίῳ πέτραν τῷ τε ὕψει καὶ τῷ μεγέθει καταπληκτικήν. ἐνταῦθʼ οὖν ἕτερον παράδεισον ὑπερμεγέθη κατεσκεύασεν, ἐν μέσῳ τὴν πέτραν ἀπολαβοῦσα, καθʼ ἣν οἰκοδομήματα πολυτελῆ πρὸς τρυφὴν ἐποίησεν, ἐξ ὧν τά τε κατὰ τὸν παράδεισον ἀπεθεώρει φυτουργεῖα καὶ πᾶσαν τὴν στρατιὰν παρεμβεβληκυῖαν ἐν τῷ πεδίῳ. ἐν τούτῳ δὲ τῷ τόπῳ συχνὸν ἐνδιατρίψασα χρόνον καὶ πάντων τῶν εἰς τρυφὴν ἀνηκόντων ἀπολαύσασα, γῆμαι μὲν νομίμως οὐκ ἠθέλησεν, εὐλαβουμένη μήποτε στερηθῇ τῆς ἀρχῆς, ἐπιλεγομένη δὲ τῶν στρατιωτῶν τοὺς εὐπρεπείᾳ διαφέροντας τούτοις ἐμίσγετο, καὶ πάντας τοὺς αὐτῇ πλησιάσαντας ἠφάνιζε. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ἐπʼ Ἐκβατάνων τὴν πορείαν ποιησαμένη παρεγένετο πρὸς ὄρος τὸ Ζαρκαῖον καλούμενον· τοῦτο δʼ ἐπὶ πολλοὺς παρῆκον σταδίους καὶ πλῆρες ὂν κρημνῶν καὶ φαράγγων μακρὰν εἶχε τὴν περίοδον. ἐφιλοτιμεῖτο οὖν ἅμα μὲν μνημεῖον ἀθάνατον ἑαυτῆς ἀπολιπεῖν, ἅμα δὲ σύντομον ποιήσασθαι τὴν ὁδόν· διόπερ τούς τε κρημνοὺς κατακόψασα καὶ τοὺς κοίλους τόπους χώσασα σύντομον καὶ πολυτελῆ κατεσκεύασεν ὁδόν, ἣ μέχρι τοῦ νῦν Σεμιράμιδος καλεῖται. παραγενηθεῖσα δʼ εἰς Ἐκβάτανα, πόλιν ἐν πεδίῳ κειμένην, κατεσκεύασεν ἐν αὐτῇ πολυτελῆ βασίλεια καὶ τὴν ἄλλην ἐπιμέλειαν ἐποιήσατο τοῦ τόπου περιττοτέραν. ἀνύδρου γὰρ οὔσης τῆς πόλεως καὶ μηδαμοῦ σύνεγγυς ὑπαρχούσης πηγῆς, ἐποίησεν αὐτὴν πᾶσαν κατάρρυτον, ἐπαγαγοῦσα πλεῖστον καὶ κάλλιστον ὕδωρ μετὰ πολλῆς κακοπαθείας τε καὶ δαπάνης. τῶν γὰρ Ἐκβατάνων ὡς δώδεκα σταδίους ἀπέχον ἔστιν ὄρος ὃ καλεῖται μὲν Ὀρόντης, τῇ δὲ τραχύτητι καὶ τῷ πρὸς ὕψος ἀνατείνοντι μεγέθει διάφορον, ὡς ἂν τὴν πρόσβασιν ἔχον ὄρθιον ἕως τῆς ἀκρωρείας σταδίων εἴκοσι πέντε. ἐκ θατέρου δὲ μέρους οὔσης λίμνης μεγάλης εἰς ποταμὸν ἐκβαλλούσης, διέσκαψε τὸ προειρημένον ὄρος κατὰ τὴν ῥίζαν. ἦν δʼ ἡ διῶρυξ τὸ μὲν πλάτος ποδῶν πεντεκαίδεκα, τὸ δʼ ὕψος τετταράκοντα· διʼ ἧς ἐπαγαγοῦσα τὸν ἐκ τῆς λίμνης ποταμὸν ἐπλήρωσε τὴν πόλιν ὕδατος. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἐποίησεν ἐν τῇ Μηδίᾳ.
After Semiramis had made an end of her building operations she set forth in the direction of Media with a great force. And when she had arrived at the mountain known as Bagistanus, she encamped near it and laid out a park, which had a circumference of twelve stades and, being situated in the plain, contained a great spring by means of which her plantings could be irrigated. 2 The Bagistanus mountain is sacred to Zeus and on the side facing the park has sheer cliffs which rise to a height of seventeen stades. The lowest part of these she smoothed off and engraved thereon a likeness of herself with a hundred spearmen at her side. And she also put this inscription on the cliff in Syrian letters: "Semiramis, with the pack-saddles of the beasts of burden in her army, built up a mound from the plain and thereby climbed this precipice, even to this very ridge." Setting forth from that place and arriving at the city of Chauon in Media, she noticed on a certain high plateau a rock both of striking height and mass. Accordingly, she laid out there another park of great size, putting the rock in the middle of it, and on the rock she erected, to satisfy her taste for luxury, some very costly buildings from which she used to look down both upon her plantings in the park and on the whole army encamped on the plain. 4 In this place she passed a long time and enjoyed to the full every device that contributed to luxury; she was unwilling, however, to contract a lawful marriage, being afraid that she might be deprived of her supreme position, but choosing out the most handsome of the soldiers she consorted with them and then made away with all who had lain with her. After this she advanced in the direction of Ecbatana and arrived at the mountain called Zarcaeus; and since this extended many stades and was full of cliffs and chasms it rendered the journey round a long one. And so she became ambitious both to leave an immortal monument of herself and at the same time to shorten her way; consequently she cut through the cliffs, filled up the low places, and thus at great expense built a short road, which to this day is called the road of Semiramis. 6 Upon arriving at Ecbatana, a city which lies in the plain, she built in it an expensive palace and in every other way gave rather exceptional attention to the region. For since the city had no water supply and there was no spring in its vicinity, she made the whole of it well watered by bringing to it with much hardship and expense an abundance of the purest water. 7 For at a distance from Ecbatana of about twelve stades is a mountain, which is called Orontes and is unusual for its ruggedness and enormous height, since the ascent, straight to its summit, is twenty-five stades. And since a great lake, which emptied into a river, lay on the other side, she made a cutting through the base of this mountain. 8 The tunnel was fifteen feet wide and forty feet high; and through it she brought in the river which flowed from the lake, and filled the city with water. Now this is what she did in Media.
§ 2.14
μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ἐπῆλθε τήν τε Περσίδα καὶ τὴν ἄλλην χώραν ἅπασαν ἧς ἐπῆρχε κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν. πανταχοῦ δὲ τὰ μὲν ὄρη καὶ τὰς ἀπορρῶγας πέτρας διακόπτουσα κατεσκεύασεν ὁδοὺς πολυτελεῖς, ἐν δὲ τοῖς πεδίοις ἐποίει χώματα, ποτὲ μὲν τάφους κατασκευάζουσα τοῖς τελευτῶσι τῶν ἡγεμόνων, ποτὲ δὲ πόλεις ἐν τοῖς ἀναστήμασι κατοικίζουσα. εἰώθει δὲ καὶ κατὰ τὰς στρατοπεδείας μικρὰ χώματα κατασκευάζειν, ἐφʼ ὧν καθιστᾶσα τὴν ἰδίαν σκηνὴν ἅπασαν κατώπτευε τὴν παρεμβολήν· διὸ καὶ πολλὰ κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν μέχρι τοῦ νῦν διαμένει τῶν ὑπʼ ἐκείνης κατασκευασθέντων καὶ καλεῖται Σεμιράμιδος ἔργα. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τήν τε Αἴγυπτον πᾶσαν ἐπῆλθε καὶ τῆς Λιβύης τὰ πλεῖστα καταστρεψαμένη παρῆλθεν εἰς Ἄμμωνα, χρησομένη τῷ θεῷ περὶ τῆς ἰδίας τελευτῆς. λέγεται δʼ αὐτῇ γενέσθαι λόγιον ἐξ ἀνθρώπων ἀφανισθήσεσθαι καὶ κατὰ κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν παρʼ ἐνίοις τῶν ἐθνῶν ἀθανάτου τεύξεσθαι τιμῆς· ὅπερ ἔσεσθαι καθʼ ὃν ἂν χρόνον ὁ υἱὸς αὐτῇ Νινύας ἐπιβουλεύσῃ. ἀπὸ δὲ τούτων γενομένη τῆς Αἰθιοπίας ἐπῆλθε τὰ πλεῖστα καταστρεφομένη καὶ τὰ κατὰ τὴν χώραν θεωμένη παράδοξα. εἶναι γὰρ ἐν αὐτῇ φασι λίμνην τετράγωνον, τὴν μὲν περίμετρον ἔχουσαν ποδῶν ὡς ἑκατὸν ἑξήκοντα, τὸ δʼ ὕδωρ τῇ μὲν χρόᾳ παραπλήσιον κινναβάρει, τὴν δʼ ὀσμὴν καθʼ ὑπερβολὴν ἡδεῖαν, οὐκ ἀνόμοιον οἴνῳ παλαιῷ· δύναμιν δʼ ἔχειν παράδοξον· τὸν γὰρ πιόντα φασὶν εἰς μανίαν ἐμπίπτειν καὶ πάνθʼ ἃ πρότερον διέλαθεν ἁμαρτήσας ἑαυτοῦ κατηγορεῖν. τοῖς μὲν οὖν ταῦτα λέγουσιν οὐκ ἄν τις ῥᾳδίως συγκατάθοιτο.
After this she visited Persis and every other country over which she ruled throughout Asia. Everywhere she cut through the mountains and the precipitous cliffs and constructed expensive roads, while on the plains she made mounds, sometimes constructing them as tombs for those of her generals who died, and sometimes founding cities on their tops. 2 And it was also her custom, whenever she made camp, to build little mounds, upon which setting her tent she could look down upon all the encampment. As a consequence many of the works she built throughout Asia remain to this day and are called Works of Semiramis. After this she visited all Egypt, and after subduing most of Libya she went also to the oracle of Ammon to inquire of the god regarding her own end. And the account runs that the answer was given her that she would disappear from among men and receive undying honour among some of the peoples of Asia, and that this would take place when her son Ninyas should conspire against her. 4 Then upon her return from these regions she visited most of Ethiopia, subduing it as she went and inspecting the wonders of the land. For in that country, they say, there is a lake, square in form, with a perimeter of some hundred and sixty feet, and its water is like cinnabar in colour and the odour of it is exceedingly sweet, not unlike that of old wine; moreover, it has a remarkable power; for whoever has drunk of it, they say, falls into a frenzy and accuses himself of every sin which he had formerly committed in secret. However, a man may not readily agree with those who tell such things.
§ 2.15
ταφὰς δὲ τῶν τελευτησάντων ἰδίως οἱ κατὰ τὴν Αἰθιοπίαν ποιοῦνται· ταριχεύσαντες γὰρ τὰ σώματα καὶ περιχέαντες αὐτοῖς πολλὴν ὕελον ἱστᾶσιν ἐπὶ στήλης, ὥστε τοῖς παριοῦσι φαίνεσθαι διὰ τῆς ὑέλου τὸ τοῦ τετελευτηκότος σῶμα, καθάπερ Ἡρόδοτος εἴρηκε. Κτησίας δʼ ὁ Κνίδιος ἀποφαινόμενος τοῦτον σχεδιάζειν, αὐτός φησι τὸ μὲν σῶμα ταριχεύεσθαι, τὴν μέντοι γε ὕελον μὴ περιχεῖσθαι γυμνοῖς τοῖς σώμασι· κατακαυθήσεσθαι γὰρ ταῦτα καὶ λυμανθέντα τελέως τὴν ὁμοιότητα μὴ δυνήσεσθαι διατηρεῖν. διὸ καὶ χρυσῆν εἰκόνα κατασκευάζεσθαι κοίλην, εἰς ἣν ἐντεθέντος τοῦ νεκροῦ περὶ τὴν εἰκόνα χεῖσθαι τὴν ὕελον· τοῦ δὲ κατασκευάσματος τεθέντος ἐπὶ τὸν τάφον διὰ τῆς ὑέλου φανῆναι τὸν χρυσὸν ἀφωμοιωμένον τῷ τετελευτηκότι. τοὺς μὲν οὖν πλουσίους αὐτῶν οὕτω θάπτεσθαί φησι, τοὺς δʼ ἐλάττονας καταλιπόντας οὐσίας ἀργυρᾶς τυγχάνειν εἰκόνος, τοὺς δὲ πένητας κεραμίνης· τὴν δὲ ὕελον πᾶσιν ἐξαρκεῖν διὰ τὸ πλείστην γεννᾶσθαι κατὰ τὴν Αἰθιοπίαν καὶ τελέως παρὰ τοῖς ἐγχωρίοις ἐπιπολάζειν. περὶ δὲ τῶν νομίμων τῶν παρὰ τοῖς Αἰθίοψι καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν γινομένων ἐν τῇ τούτων χώρᾳ τὰ κυριώτατα καὶ μνήμης ἄξια μικρὸν ὕστερον ἀναγράψομεν, ὅταν καὶ τὰς παλαιὰς αὐτῶν πράξεις καὶ μυθολογίας διεξίωμεν.
In the burial of their dead the inhabitants of Ethiopia follow customs peculiar to themselves; for after they have embalmed the body and have poured a heavy coat of glass over it they stand it on a pillar, so that the body of the dead man is visible through the glass to those who pass by. This is the statement of Herodotus. 2 But Ctesias of Cnidus, declaring that Herodotus is inventing a tale, gives for his part this account. The body is indeed embalmed, but glass is not poured about the naked bodies, for they would be burned and so completely disfigured that they could no longer preserve their likeness. 3 For this reason they fashion a hollow statue of gold and when the corpse has been put into this they pour the glass over the statue, and the figure, prepared in this way, is then placed at the tomb, and the gold, fashioned as it is to resemble the deceased, is seen through the glass. 4 Now the rich among them are buried in this wise, he says, but those who leave a smaller estate receive a silver statue, and the poor one made of earthenware; as for the glass, there is enough of it for everyone, since it occurs in great abundance in Ethiopia and is quite current among the inhabitants. 5 With regard to the custom prevailing among the Ethiopians and the other features of their country we shall a little later set forth those that are the most important and deserving of record, at which time we shall also recount their early deeds and their mythology.
§ 2.16
ἡ δὲ Σεμίραμις καταστήσασα τά τε κατὰ τὴν Αἰθιοπίαν καὶ τὴν Αἴγυπτον ἐπανῆλθε μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως εἰς Βάκτρα τῆς Ἀσίας. ἔχουσα δὲ δυνάμεις μεγάλας καὶ πολυχρόνιον εἰρήνην ἄγουσα φιλοτίμως ἔσχε πρᾶξαί τι λαμπρὸν κατὰ πόλεμον. πυνθανομένη δὲ τὸ τῶν Ἰνδῶν ἔθνος μέγιστον εἶναι τῶν κατὰ τὴν οἰκουμένην καὶ πλείστην τε καὶ καλλίστην χώραν νέμεσθαι, διενοεῖτο στρατεύειν εἰς τὴν Ἰνδικήν, ἧς ἐβασίλευε μὲν Σταβροβάτης κατʼ ἐκείνους τοὺς χρόνους, στρατιωτῶν δʼ εἶχεν ἀναρίθμητον πλῆθος· ὑπῆρχον δʼ αὐτῷ καὶ ἐλέφαντες πολλοὶ καθʼ ὑπερβολὴν λαμπρῶς κεκοσμημένοι τοῖς εἰς τὸν πόλεμον καταπληκτικοῖς. ἡ γὰρ Ἰνδικὴ χώρα διάφορος οὖσα τῷ κάλλει καὶ πολλοῖς διειλημμένη ποταμοῖς ἀρδεύεταί τε πολλαχοῦ καὶ διττοὺς καθʼ ἕκαστον ἐνιαυτὸν ἐκφέρει καρπούς· διὸ καὶ τῶν πρὸς τὸ ζῆν ἐπιτηδείων τοσοῦτον ἔχει πλῆθος ὥστε διὰ παντὸς ἄφθονον ἀπόλαυσιν τοῖς ἐγχωρίοις παρέχεσθαι. λέγεται δὲ μηδέποτε κατʼ αὐτὴν γεγονέναι σιτοδείαν ἢ φθορὰν καρπῶν διὰ τὴν εὐκρασίαν τῶν τόπων. ἔχει δὲ καὶ τῶν ἐλεφάντων ἄπιστον πλῆθος, οἳ ταῖς τε ἀλκαῖς καὶ ταῖς τοῦ σώματος ῥώμαις πολὺ προέχουσι τῶν ἐν τῇ Λιβύῃ γινομένων, ὁμοίως δὲ χρυσόν, ἄργυρον, σίδηρον, χαλκόν· πρὸς δὲ τούτοις λίθων παντοίων καὶ πολυτελῶν ἔστιν ἐν αὐτῇ πλῆθος, ἔτι δὲ τῶν ἄλλων ἁπάντων σχεδὸν τῶν πρὸς τρυφὴν καὶ πλοῦτον διατεινόντων. ὑπὲρ ὧν τὰ κατὰ μέρος ἡ Σεμίραμις ἀκούσασα προήχθη μηδὲν προαδικηθεῖσα τὸν πρὸς Ἰνδοὺς ἐξενεγκεῖν πόλεμον. ὁρῶσα δʼ αὑτὴν μεγάλων καθʼ ὑπερβολὴν προσδεομένην δυνάμεων, ἐξέπεμψεν ἀγγέλους εἰς ἁπάσας τὰς σατραπείας, διακελευσαμένη τοῖς ἐπάρχοις καταγράφειν τῶν νέων τοὺς ἀρίστους, δοῦσα τὸν ἀριθμὸν κατὰ τὰ μεγέθη τῶν ἐθνῶν· προσέταξε δὲ πᾶσι κατασκευάζειν καινὰς πανοπλίας καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἅπασι λαμπρῶς παραγίνεσθαι κεκοσμημένους μετὰ τρίτον ἔτος εἰς Βάκτρα. μετεπέμψατο δὲ καὶ ναυπηγοὺς ἔκ τε Φοινίκης καὶ Συρίας καὶ Κύπρου καὶ τῆς ἄλλης τῆς παραθαλαττίου χώρας, οἷς ἄφθονον ὕλην μεταγαγοῦσα διεκελεύσατο κατασκευάζειν ποτάμια πλοῖα διαιρετά. ὁ γὰρ Ἰνδὸς ποταμός, μέγιστος ὢν τῶν περὶ τοὺς τόπους καὶ τὴν βασιλείαν αὐτῆς ὁρίζων, πολλῶν προσεδεῖτο πλοίων πρός τε τὴν διάβασιν καὶ πρὸς τὸ τοὺς Ἰνδοὺς ἀπὸ τούτων ἀμύνασθαι· περὶ δὲ τὸν ποταμὸν οὐκ οὔσης ὕλης ἀναγκαῖον ἦν ἐκ τῆς Βακτριανῆς πεζῇ παρακομίζεσθαι τὰ πλοῖα. θεωροῦσα δʼ ἡ Σεμίραμις ἑαυτὴν ἐν τῇ τῶν ἐλεφάντων χρείᾳ πολὺ λειπομένην, ἐπενοήσατό τινα κατασκευάζειν εἴδωλα τούτων τῶν ζῴων, ἐλπίζουσα καταπλήξεσθαι τοὺς Ἰνδοὺς διὰ τὸ νομίζειν αὐτοὺς μηδʼ εἶναι τὸ σύνολον ἐλέφαντας ἐκτὸς τῶν κατὰ τὴν Ἰνδικήν. ἐπιλέξασα δὲ βοῶν μελάνων τριάκοντα μυριάδας τὰ μὲν κρέα τοῖς τεχνίταις καὶ τοῖς πρὸς τὴν τῶν κατασκευασμάτων ὑπηρεσίαν τεταγμένοις διένειμε, τὰς δὲ βύρσας συρράπτουσα καὶ χόρτου πληροῦσα κατεσκεύασεν εἴδωλα, κατὰ πᾶν ἀπομιμουμένη τὴν τῶν ζῴων τούτων φύσιν. ἕκαστον δὲ τούτων εἶχεν ἐντὸς ἄνδρα τὸν ἐπιμελησόμενον καὶ κάμηλον, ὑφʼ οὗ φερόμενον φαντασίαν τοῖς πόρρωθεν ὁρῶσιν ἀληθινοῦ θηρίου παρείχετο. οἱ δὲ ταῦτα κατασκευάζοντες αὐτῇ τεχνῖται προσεκαρτέρουν τοῖς ἔργοις ἔν τινι περιβόλῳ περιῳκοδομημένῳ καὶ πύλας ἔχοντι τηρουμένας ἐπιμελῶς, ὥστε μηδένα μήτε τῶν ἔσωθεν ἐξιέναι τεχνιτῶν μήτε τῶν ἔξωθεν εἰσιέναι πρὸς αὐτούς. τοῦτο δʼ ἐποίησεν, ὅπως μηδεὶς τῶν ἔξωθεν ἴδῃ τὸ γινόμενον μηδὲ διαπέσῃ φήμη πρὸς Ἰνδοὺς περὶ τούτων.
But after Semiramis had put in order the affairs of Ethiopia and Egypt she returned with her force to Bactra in Asia. And since she had great forces and had been at peace for some time she became eager to achieve some brilliant exploit in war. 2 And when she was informed that the Indian nation was the largest one in the world and likewise possessed both the most extensive and the fairest country, she purposed to make a campaign into India. Stabrobates at that time was king of the country and had a multitude of soldiers without number; and many elephants were also at his disposal, fitted out in an exceedingly splendid fashion with such things as would strike terror in war. 3 For India is a land of unusual beauty, and since it is traversed by many rivers it is supplied with water over its whole area and yields two harvests each year; consequently it has such an abundance of the necessities of life that at all times it favours its inhabitants with a bounteous enjoyment of them. And it is said that because of the favourable climate in those parts the country has never experienced a famine or a destruction of crops. 4 It also has an unbelievable number of elephants, which both in courage and in strength of body far surpass those of Libya, and likewise gold, silver, iron, and copper; furthermore, within its borders are to be found great quantities of precious stones of every kind and of practically all other things which contribute to luxury and wealth. When Semiramis had received a detailed account of these facts she was led to begin her war against the Indians, although she had been done no injury by them. 5 And realizing that she needed an exceedingly great force in addition to what she had she despatched messengers to all the satrapies, commanding the governors to enrol the bravest of the young men and setting their quota in accordance with the size of each nation; and she further ordered them all to make new suits of armour and to be at hand, brilliantly equipped in every other respect, at Bactra on the third year thereafter. 6 She also summoned shipwrights from Phoenicia, Syria, Cyprus, and the rest of the lands along the sea, and shipping thither an abundance of timber she ordered them to build river boats which could be taken to pieces. 7 For the Indus river, by reason of its being the largest in that region and the boundary of her kingdom, required many boats, some for the passage across and others from which to defend the former from the Indians; and since there was no timber near the river the boats had to be brought from Bactriana by land. Observing that she was greatly inferior because of her lack of elephants, Semiramis conceived the plan of making dummies like these animals, in the hope that the Indians would be struck with terror because of their belief that no elephants ever existed at all apart from those found in India. 9 Accordingly she chose out three hundred thousand black oxen and distributed their meat among her artisans and the men who had been assigned to the task of making the figures, but the hides she sewed together and stuffed with straw, and thus made dummies, copying in every detail the natural appearance of these animals. Each dummy had within it a man to take care of it and a camel and, when it was moved by the latter, to those who saw it from a distance it looked like an actual animal. 10 And the artisans who were engaged in making these dummies for her worked at their task in a certain court which had been surrounded by a wall and had gates which were carefully guarded, so that no worker within could pass out no one from outside could come in to them. This she did in order that no one from the outside might see what was taking place and that no report about the dummies might escape to the Indians.
§ 2.17
ἐπεὶ δʼ αἵ τε νῆες καὶ τὰ θηρία κατεσκευάσθησαν ἐν τοῖς δυσὶν ἔτεσι, τῷ τρίτῳ μετεπέμψατο τὰς πανταχόθεν δυνάμεις εἰς τὴν Βακτριανήν. τὸ δὲ πλῆθος τῆς ἀθροισθείσης στρατιᾶς ἦν, ὡς Κτησίας ὁ Κνίδιος ἀνέγραψε, πεζῶν μὲν τριακόσιαι μυριάδες, ἱππέων δὲ εἴκοσι μυριάδες, ἁρμάτων δὲ δέκα μυριάδες. ὑπῆρχον δὲ καὶ ἄνδρες ἐπὶ καμήλων ὀχούμενοι, μαχαίρας τετραπήχεις ἔχοντες, τὸν ἀριθμὸν ἴσοι τοῖς ἅρμασι. ναῦς δὲ ποταμίας κατεσκεύασε διαιρετὰς δισχιλίας, αἷς παρεσκευάσατο καμήλους τὰς πεζῇ παρακομιζούσας τὰ σκάφη. ἐφόρουν δὲ καὶ τὰ τῶν ἐλεφάντων εἴδωλα κάμηλοι, καθότι προείρηται· πρὸς δʼ αὐτὰς τοὺς ἵππους οἱ στρατιῶται συνάγοντες συνήθεις ἐποίουν τοῦ μὴ φοβεῖσθαι τὴν ἀγριότητα τῶν θηρίων. τὸ παραπλήσιον δὲ πολλοῖς ἔτεσιν ὕστερον ἔπραξε Περσεὺς ὁ τῶν Μακεδόνων βασιλεύς, ὅτε πρὸς Ῥωμαίους ἔμελλε διακινδυνεύειν ἔχοντας ἐκ Λιβύης ἐλέφαντας. ἀλλʼ οὔτʼ ἐκείνῳ ῥοπὴν ἐνεγκεῖν εἰς τὸν πόλεμον συνέβη τὴν περὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα σπουδὴν καὶ φιλοτεχνίαν οὔτε Σεμιράμιδι· περὶ ὧν ἀκριβέστερον ὁ προϊὼν λόγος δηλώσει. ὁ δὲ τῶν Ἰνδῶν βασιλεὺς Σταβροβάτης πυνθανόμενος τά τε μεγέθη τῶν ὀνομαζομένων δυνάμεων καὶ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῆς εἰς τὸν πόλεμον παρασκευῆς, ἔσπευδεν ἐν ἅπασιν ὑπερθέσθαι τὴν Σεμίραμιν. καὶ πρῶτον μὲν ἐκ τοῦ καλάμου κατεσκεύασε πλοῖα ποτάμια τετρακισχίλια· ἡ γὰρ Ἰνδικὴ παρά τε τοὺς ποταμοὺς καὶ τοὺς ἑλώδεις τόπους φέρει καλάμου πλῆθος, οὗ τὸ πάχος οὐκ ἂν ῥᾳδίως ἄνθρωπος περιλάβοι· λέγεται δὲ καὶ τὰς ἐκ τούτων κατασκευαζομένας ναῦς διαφόρους κατὰ τὴν χρείαν ὑπάρχειν, οὔσης ἀσήπτου ταύτης τῆς ὕλης. ποιησάμενος δὲ καὶ τῆς τῶν ὅπλων κατασκευῆς πολλὴν ἐπιμέλειαν καὶ πᾶσαν ἐπελθὼν τὴν Ἰνδικὴν ἤθροισε δύναμιν πολὺ μείζονα τῆς Σεμιράμιδι συναχθείσης. ποιησάμενος δὲ καὶ τῶν ἀγρίων ἐλεφάντων θήραν καὶ πολλαπλασιάσας τοὺς προϋπάρχοντας, ἐκόσμησεν ἅπαντας τοῖς εἰς τὸν πόλεμον καταπληκτικοῖς λαμπρῶς· διὸ %5καὶ συνέβαινε κατὰ τὴν ἔφοδον αὐτῶν διά τε τὸ πλῆθος καὶ τὴν ἐπὶ τῶν θωρακίων κατασκευὴν ἀνυπόστατον %5ἀνθρωπίνῃ φύσει φαίνεσθαι τὴν ἐπιφάνειαν.
When the boats and the beasts had been prepared in the two allotted years, on the third she summoned her forces from everywhere to Bactriana. And the multitude of the army which was assembled, as Ctesias of Cnidus has recorded, was three million foot-soldiers, two hundred thousand cavalry, and one hundred thousand chariots. 2 There were also men mounted on camels, carrying swords four cubits long, as many in number as the chariots. And river boats which could be taken apart she built to the number of two thousand, and she had collected camels to carry the vessels overland. Camels also bore the dummies of the elephants, as has been mentioned; and the soldiers, by bringing their horses up to these camels, accustomed them not to fear the savage nature of the beasts. 3 A similar thing was also done many years later by Perseus, the king of the Macedonians, before his decisive conflict with the Romans who had elephants from Libya. But neither in his case did it turn out that the zeal and ingenuity displayed in such matters had any effect on the conflict, nor in that of Semiramis, as will be shown more precisely in our further account. When Stabrobates, the king of the Indians, heard of the immensity of the forces mentioned and of the exceedingly great preparations which had been made for the war, he was anxious to surpass Semiramis in every respect. 5 First of all, then, he made four thousand river boats out of reeds; for along its rivers and marshy places India produces a great abundance of reeds, so large in diameter that a man cannot easily put his arms about them; and it is said, furthermore, that ships built of these are exceedingly serviceable, since this wood does not rot. 6 Moreover, he gave great care to the preparation of his arms and by visiting all India gathered a far greater force than that which had been collected by Semiramis. 7 Furthermore, holding a hunt of the wild elephants and multiplying many times the number already at his disposal, he fitted them all out splendidly with such things as would strike terror in war; 8 and the consequence was that when they advanced to the attack the multitude of them as well as the towers upon their backs made them appear like a thing beyond the power of human nature to understand.
§ 2.18
ἐπεὶ δʼ αὐτῷ πάντα τὰ πρὸς τὸν πόλεμον κατεσκεύαστο, πρὸς τὴν Σεμίραμιν καθʼ ὁδὸν οὖσαν ἀπέστειλεν ἀγγέλους, ἐγκαλῶν ὅτι προκατάρχεται τοῦ πολέμου μηδὲν ἀδικηθεῖσα· πολλὰ δὲ καὶ ἄρρητα κατʼ αὐτῆς ὡς ἑταίρας βλασφημήσας διὰ τῶν γραμμάτων καὶ θεοὺς ἐπιμαρτυράμενος, ἠπείλει καταπολεμήσας αὐτὴν σταυρῷ προσηλώσειν. ἡ δὲ Σεμίραμις ἀναγνοῦσα τὴν ἐπιστολὴν καὶ καταγελάσασα τῶν γεγραμμένων, διὰ τῶν ἔργων ἔφησε τὸν Ἰνδὸν πειράσεσθαι τῆς περὶ αὐτὴν ἀρετῆς. ἐπεὶ δὲ προάγουσα μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως ἐπὶ τὸν Ἰνδὸν ποταμὸν παρεγενήθη, κατέλαβε τὰ τῶν πολεμίων πλοῖα πρὸς μάχην ἕτοιμα. διόπερ καὶ αὐτὴ καταρτίσασα ταχέως τὰς ναῦς καὶ πληρώσασα τῶν κρατίστων ἐπιβατῶν συνεστήσατο κατὰ τὸν ποταμὸν ναυμαχίαν, συμφιλοτιμουμένων καὶ τῶν παρεμβεβληκότων παρὰ τὸ ῥεῖθρον πεζῶν. ἐπὶ πολὺν δὲ χρόνον τοῦ κινδύνου παρατείνοντος καὶ προθύμως ἑκατέρων ἀγωνισαμένων, τὸ τελευταῖον ἡ Σεμίραμις ἐνίκησε καὶ διέφθειρε τῶν πλοίων περὶ χίλια, συνέλαβε δʼ αἰχμαλώτους μαλώτους οὐκ ὀλίγους. ἐπαρθεῖσα δὲ τῇ νίκῃ τὰς ἐν τῷ ποταμῷ νήσους καὶ πόλεις ἐξηνδραποδίσατο, καὶ συνήγαγεν αἰχμαλώτων σωμάτων ὑπὲρ τὰς δέκα μυριάδας. μετὰ δὲ ταῦθʼ ὁ μὲν τῶν Ἰνδῶν βασιλεὺς ἀπήγαγε τὴν δύναμιν ἀπὸ τοῦ ποταμοῦ, προσποιούμενος μὲν ἀναχωρεῖν διὰ φόβον, τῇ δʼ ἀληθείᾳ βουλόμενος τοὺς πολεμίους προτρέψασθαι διαβῆναι τὸν ποταμόν. ἡ δὲ Σεμίραμις, κατὰ νοῦν αὐτῇ τῶν πραγμάτων προχωρούντων, ἔζευξε τὸν ποταμὸν κατασκευάσασα πολυτελῆ καὶ μεγάλην γέφυραν, διʼ ἧς ἅπασαν διακομίσασα τὴν δύναμιν ἐπὶ μὲν τοῦ ζεύγματος φυλακὴν κατέλιπεν ἀνδρῶν ἑξακισμυρίων, τῇ δʼ ἄλλῃ στρατιᾷ προῆγεν ἐπιδιώκουσα τοὺς Ἰνδούς, προηγουμένων τῶν εἰδώλων, ὅπως οἱ τῷν πολεμίων κατάσκοποι τῷ βασιλεῖ ἀπαγγείλωσι τὸ πλῆθος τῶν παρʼ αὐτῇ θηρίων. οὐ διεψεύσθη δὲ κατά γε τοῦτο τῆς ἐλπίδος, ἀλλὰ τῶν ἐπὶ κατασκοπὴν ἐκπεμφθέντων τοῖς Ἰνδοῖς ἀπαγγελλόντων τὸ πλῆθος τῶν παρὰ τοῖς πολεμίοις ἐλεφάντων, ἅπαντες διηποροῦντο πόθεν αὐτῇ συνακολουθεῖ τοσοῦτο πλῆθος θηρίων. οὐ μὴν ἔμεινέ γε τὸ ψεῦδος πλείω χρόνον κρυπτόμενον· τῶν γὰρ παρὰ τῇ Σεμιράμιδι στρατευομένων τινὲς κατελήφθησαν νυκτὸς ἐν τῇ στρατοπεδείᾳ ῥᾳθυμοῦντες τὰ περὶ τὰς φυλακάς· φοβηθέντες δὲ τὴν ἐπακολουθοῦσαν τιμωρίαν ηὐτομόλησαν πρὸς τοὺς πολεμίους καὶ τὴν κατὰ τοὺς ἐλέφαντας πλάνην ἀπήγγειλαν. ἐφʼ οἷς θαρρήσας ὁ τῶν Ἰνδῶν βασιλεὺς καὶ τῇ δυνάμει διαγγείλας τὰ περὶ τῶν εἰδώλων, ἐπέστρεψεν ἐπὶ τοὺς Ἀσσυρίους διατάξας τὴν δύναμιν.
When he had made all his preparations for the war he despatched messengers to Semiramis, who was already on the road, accusing her of being the aggressor in the war although she had been injured in no respect; then, in the course of his letter, after saying many slanderous things against her as being a strumpet and calling upon the gods as witnesses, he threatened her with crucifixion when he had defeated her. 2 Semiramis, however, on reading his letter dismissed his statements with laughter and remarked, "It will be in deeds that the Indian will make trial of my valour." And when her advance brought her with her force to the Indus river she found the boats of the enemy ready for battle. 3 Consequently she on her side, hastily putting together her boats and manning them with her best marines, joined battle on the river, while the foot-soldiers which were drawn up along the banks also participated eagerly in the contest. 4 The struggle raged for a long time and both sides fought spiritedly, but finally Semiramis was victorious and destroyed about a thousand of the boats, taking also not a few men prisoners. 5 Elated now by her victory, she reduced to slavery the islands in the river and the cities on them and gathered in more than one hundred thousand captives. After these events the king of the Indians withdrew his force from the river, giving the appearance of retreating in fear but actually with the intention of enticing the enemy to cross the river. 6 Thereupon Semiramis, now that her undertakings were prosperous as she wished, spanned the river with a costly and large bridge, by means of which she got all her forces across; and then she left sixty thousand men to guard the pontoon bridge, while with the rest of her army she advanced in pursuit of the Indians, the dummy elephants leading the way in order that the king's spies might report to the king the multitude of these animals in her army. 7 Nor was she deceived in this hope; on the contrary, when those who had been despatched to spy her out reported to the Indians the multitude of elephants among the enemy, they were all at a loss to discover from where such a multitude of beasts as accompanied her could have come. 8 However, the deception did not remain a secret for long; for some of Semiramis' troops were caught neglecting their night watches in the camp, and these, in fear of the consequent punishment, deserted to the enemy and pointed out to them their mistake regarding the nature of the elephants. Encouraged by this information, the king of the Indians, after informing his army about the dummies, set his forces in array and turned about to face the Assyrians.
§ 2.19
τὸ δʼ αὐτὸ καὶ τῆς Σεμιράμιδος ἐπιτελούσης, ὡς ἤγγισαν ἀλλήλοις τὰ στρατόπεδα, Σταβροβάτης ὁ τῶν Ἰνδῶν βασιλεὺς προαπέστειλε πολὺ πρὸ τῆς φάλαγγος τοὺς ἱππεῖς μετὰ τῶν ἁρμάτων. δεξαμένης δὲ τῆς βασιλίσσης εὐρώστως τὴν ἔφοδον τῶν ἱππέων, καὶ τῶν κατεσκευασμένων ἐλεφάντων πρὸ τῆς φάλαγγος ἐν ἴσοις διαστήμασι τεταγμένων, συνέβαινε πτύρεσθαι τοὺς τῶν Ἰνδῶν ἵππους. τὰ γὰρ εἴδωλα πόρρωθεν μὲν ὁμοίαν εἶχε τὴν πρόσοψιν τοῖς ἀληθινοῖς θηρίοις, οἷς συνήθεις ὄντες οἱ τῶν Ἰνδῶν ἵπποι τεθαρρηκότως προσίππευον· τοῖς δʼ ἐγγίσασιν ἥ τε ὀσμὴ προσέβαλλεν ἀσυνήθης καὶ τἄλλα διαφορὰν ἔχοντα πάντα παμμεγέθη ἃ τοὺς ἵππους ὁλοσχερῶς συνετάραττε. διὸ καὶ τῶν Ἰνδῶν οἱ μὲν ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν ἔπιπτον, οἱ δὲ τῶν ζῴων ἀπειθούντων τοῖς χαλινοῖς ὡς ἐτύγχανεν εἰς τοὺς πολεμίους ἐξέπιπτον μετὰ τῶν κομιζόντων αὐτοὺς ἵππων. ἡ δὲ Σεμίραμις μετὰ στρατιωτῶν ἐπιλέκτων μαχομένη καὶ τῷ προτερήματι δεξιῶς χρησαμένη τοὺς Ἰνδοὺς ἐτρέψατο. ὧν φυγόντων πρὸς τὴν φάλαγγα Σταβροβάτης ὁ βασιλεὺς οὐ καταπλαγεὶς ἐπήγαγε τὰς τῶν πεζῶν τάξεις, προηγουμένων τῶν ἐλεφάντων, αὐτὸς δʼ ἐπὶ τοῦ δεξιοῦ κέρατος τεταγμένος καὶ τὴν μάχην ἐπὶ τοῦ κρατίστου θηρίου ποιούμενος ἐπήγαγε καταπληκτικῶς ἐπὶ τὴν βασίλισσαν κατʼ αὐτὸν τυχικῶς τεταγμένην. τὸ δʼ αὐτὸ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἐλεφάντων ποιησάντων ἡ μετὰ τῆς Σεμιράμιδος δύναμις βραχὺν ὑπέστη χρόνον τὴν τῶν θηρίων ἔφοδον· τὰ γὰρ ζῷα διάφορα ταῖς ἀλκαῖς ὄντα καὶ ταῖς ἰδίαις ῥώμαις πεποιθότα πάντα τὸν ὑφιστάμενον ῥᾳδίως ἀνῄρει. διόπερ πολὺς καὶ παντοῖος ἐγίνετο φόνος, τῶν μὲν ὑπὸ τοὺς πόδας ὑποπιπτόντων, τῶν δὲ τοῖς ὀδοῦσιν ἀνασχιζομένων, ἐνίων δὲ ταῖς προβοσκίσιν ἀναρριπτουμένων. συχνοῦ δὲ πλήθους νεκρῶν σωρευομένου καὶ τοῦ κινδύνου τοῖς ὁρῶσι δεινὴν ἔκπληξιν καὶ φόβον παριστάντος, οὐδεὶς ἔτι μένειν ἐπὶ τῆς τάξεως ἐτόλμα. τραπέντος οὖν τοῦ πλήθους παντὸς ὁ βασιλεὺς τῶν Ἰνδῶν ἐπʼ αὐτὴν ἐβιάζετο τὴν Σεμίραμιν. καὶ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἐπʼ ἐκείνην τοξεύσας ἔτυχε τοῦ βραχίονος, ἔπειτʼ ἀκοντίσας διήλασε διὰ τοῦ νώτου τῆς βασιλίσσης, πλαγίας ἐνεχθείσης τῆς πληγῆς· διόπερ οὐδὲν παθοῦσα δεινὸν ἡ Σεμίραμις ταχέως ἀφίππευσε, πολὺ λειπομένου κατὰ τὸ τάχος τοῦ διώκοντος θηρίου. πάντων δὲ φευγόντων ἐπὶ τὴν σχεδίαν, τοσούτου πλήθους εἰς ἕνα καὶ στενὸν βιαζομένου τόπον οἱ μὲν τῆς βασιλίσσης ὑπʼ ἀλλήλων ἀπέθνησκον συμπατούμενοι καὶ φυρόμενοι παρὰ φύσιν ἀναμὶξ ἱππεῖς τε καὶ πεζοί, τῶν δὲ Ἰνδῶν ἐπικειμένων ὠσμὸς ἐγίνετο βίαιος ἐπὶ τῆς γεφύρας διὰ τὸν φόβον, ὥστε πολλοὺς ἐξωθουμένους ἐφʼ ἑκάτερα μέρη τῆς γεφύρας ἐμπίπτειν εἰς τὸν ποταμόν. ἡ δὲ Σεμίραμις, ἐπειδὴ τὸ πλεῖστον μέρος τῶν ἀπὸ τῆς μάχης διασωζομένων διὰ τὸν ποταμὸν ἔτυχε τῆς ἀσφαλείας, ἀπέκοψε τοὺς συνέχοντας δεσμοὺς τὴν γέφυραν· ὧν λυθέντων ἡ μὲν σχεδία κατὰ πολλὰ διαιρεθεῖσα μέρη καὶ συχνοὺς ἐφʼ ἑαυτῆς ἔχουσα τῶν διωκόντων Ἰνδῶν ὑπὸ τῆς τοῦ ῥεύματος σφοδρότητος ὡς ἔτυχε κατηνέχθη, καὶ πολλοὺς μὲν τῶν Ἰνδῶν διέφθειρε, τῇ δὲ Σεμιράμιδι πολλὴν ἀσφάλειαν παρεσκεύασε, κωλύσασα τὴν τῶν πολεμίων ἐπʼ αὐτὴν διάβασιν. μετὰ δὲ ταῦθʼ ὁ μὲν τῶν Ἰνδῶν βασιλεύς, διοσημιῶν αὐτῷ γενομένων καὶ τῶν μάντεων ἀποφαινομένων σημαίνεσθαι τὸν ποταμὸν μὴ διαβαίνειν, ἡσυχίαν ἔσχεν, ἡ δὲ Σεμίραμις ἀλλαγὴν ποιησαμένη τῶν αἰχμαλώτων ἐπανῆλθεν εἰς Βάκτρα, δύο μέρη τῆς δυνάμεως ἀποβεβληκυῖα.
Semiramis likewise marshalled her forces, and as the two armies neared each other Stabrobates, the king of the Indians, despatched his cavalry and chariots far in advance of the main body. 2 But the queen stoutly withstood the attack of the cavalry, and since the elephants which she had fabricated had been stationed at equal intervals in front of the main body of troops, it came about that the horses of the Indians shied at them. 3 For whereas at a distance the dummies looked like the actual animals with which the horses of the Indians were acquainted and therefore charged upon them boldly enough, yet on nearer contact the odour which reached the horses was unfamiliar, and then the other differences, which taken all together were very great, threw them into utter confusion. Consequently some of the Indians were thrown to the ground, while others, whence their horses would not obey the rein, were carried with their mounts pell-mell into the midst of the enemy. 4 Then Semiramis, who was in the battle with a select band of soldiers, made skilful use of her advantage and put the Indians to flight. But although these fled towards the battle-line, King Stabrobates, undismayed, advanced the ranks of his foot-soldiers, keeping the elephants in front, while he himself, taking his position on the right wing and fighting from the most powerful of the beasts, charged in terrifying fashion upon the queen, whom chance had placed opposite him. 5 And since the rest of the elephants followed his example, the army of Semiramis withstood but a short time the attack of the beasts; for the animals, by virtue of their extraordinary courage and the confidence which they felt in their power, easily destroyed everyone who tried to withstand them 6 Consequently there was a great slaughter, which was effected in various ways, some being trampled beneath their feet, others ripped up by their tusks, and a number tossed into the air by their trunks. And since a great multitude of corpses lay piled one upon the other and the danger aroused terrible consternation and fear in those who witnessed the sight, not a man had the courage to hold his position any longer. Now when the entire multitude turned in flight the king of the Indians pressed his attack upon Semiramis herself. And first he let fly an arrow and struck her on the arm, and then with his javelin he pierced the back of the queen, but only with a glancing blow; and since for this reason Semiramis was not seriously injured she rode swiftly away, the pursuing beast being much inferior in speed. 8 But since all were fleeing to the pontoon bridge and so great a multitude was forcing its way into a single narrow space, some of the queen's soldiers perished by being trampled upon by one another and by cavalry and foot-soldiers being thrown together in unnatural confusion, and when the Indians pressed hard upon them a violent crowding took place on the bridge because their terror, so that many were pushed to either side of the bridge and fell into the river. 9 As for Semiramis, when the largest part of the survivors of the battle had found safety by putting the river behind them, she cut the fastenings which held the bridge together; and when these were loosened the pontoon bridge, having been broken apart at many points and bearing great numbers of pursuing Indians, was carried down in haphazard fashion by the violence of the current and caused the death of many of the Indians, but for Semiramis it was the means of complete safety, the enemy now being prevented from crossing over against her. 10 After these events the king of the Indians remained inactive, since heavenly omens appeared to him which his seers interpreted to mean that he must not cross the river, and Semiramis, after exchanging prisoners, made her way back to Bactra with the loss of two-thirds of her force.
§ 2.20
μετὰ δέ τινα χρόνον ὑπὸ Νινύου τοῦ οἱοῦ διʼ εὐνούχου τινὸς ἐπιβουλευθεῖσα, καὶ τὸ παρʼ Ἄμμωνος λόγιον ἀνανεωσαμένη, τὸν ἐπιβουλεύσαντα κακὸν οὐδὲν εἰργάσατο, τοὐναντίον δὲ τὴν βασιλείαν αὐτῷ παραδοῦσα καὶ τοῖς ὑπάρχοις ἀκούειν ἐκείνου προστάξασα, ταχέως ἠφάνισεν ἑαυτήν, ὡς εἰς θεοὺς κατὰ τὸν χρησμὸν μεταστησομένη. ἔνιοι δὲ μυθολογοῦντές φασιν αὐτὴν γενέσθαι περιστεράν, καὶ πολλῶν ὀρνέων εἰς τὴν οἰκίαν καταπετασθέντων μετʼ ἐκείνων ἐκπετασθῆναι· διὸ καὶ τοὺς Ἀσσυρίους τὴν περιστερὰν τιμᾶν ὡς θεόν, ἀπαθανατίζοντας τὴν Σεμίραμιν. αὕτη μὲν οὖν βασιλεύσασα τῆς Ἀσίας ἁπάσης πλὴν Ἰνδῶν ἐτελεύτησε τὸν προειρημένον τρόπον, βιώσασα μὲν ἔτη ἑξήκοντα δύο, βασιλεύσασα δὲ δύο πρὸς τοῖς τετταράκοντα. Κτησίας μὲν οὖν ὁ Κνίδιος περὶ Σεμιράμιδος τοιαῦθʼ ἱστόρηκεν· Ἀθήναιος δὲ καί τινες τῶν ἄλλων συγγραφέων φασὶν αὐτὴν ἑταίραν γεγονέναι εὐπρεπῆ, καὶ διὰ τὸ κάλλος ἐρωτικῶς ἔχειν αὐτῆς τὸν βασιλέα τῶν Ἀσσυρίων. τὸ μὲν οὖν πρῶτον μετρίας αὐτὴν ἀποδοχῆς τυγχάνειν ἐν τοῖς βασιλείοις, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα γνησίαν ἀναγορευθεῖσαν γυναῖκα πεῖσαι τὸν βασιλέα πένθʼ ἡμέρας αὐτῇ παραχωρῆσαι τῆς βασιλείας. τὴν δὲ Σεμίραμιν ἀναλαβοῦσαν τό τε σκῆπτρον καὶ τὴν βασίλειον στολὴν κατὰ μὲν τὴν πρώτην ἡμέραν εὐωχίαν ποιῆσαι καὶ μεγαλοπρεπῆ δεῖπνα, ἐν οἷς τοὺς τῶν δυνάμεων ἡγεμόνας καὶ πάντας τοὺς ἐπιφανεστάτους πεῖσαι συμπράττειν ἑαυτῇ· τῇ δʼ ὑστεραίᾳ τοῦ τε πλήθους καὶ τῶν ἀξιολογωτάτων ἀνδρῶν ὡς βασίλισσαν θεραπευόντων τὸν μὲν ἄνδρα καταβαλεῖν εἰς τὴν εἱρκτήν, αὐτὴν δὲ φύσει μεγαλεπίβολον οὖσαν καὶ τολμηρὰν κατασχεῖν τὴν ἀρχήν, καὶ μέχρι γήρως βασιλεύσασαν πολλὰ καὶ μεγάλα κατεργάσασθαι. περὶ μὲν οὖν τῶν κατὰ τὴν Σεμίραμιν τοιαύτας ἀντιλογίας εἶναι συμβαίνει παρὰ τοῖς συγγραφεῦσι.
Some time later her son Ninyas conspired against her through the agency of a certain eunuch; and remembering the prophecy given her by Ammon, she did not punish the conspirator, but, on the contrary, after turning the kingdom over to him and commanding the governors to obey him, she at once disappeared, as if she were going to be translated to the gods as the oracle had predicted. 2 Some, making a myth of it, say that she turned into a dove and flew off in the company of many birds which alighted on her dwelling, and this, they say, is the reason why the Assyrians worship the dove as a god, thus deifying Semiramis. Be that as it may, this woman, after having been queen over all Asia with the exception of India, passed away in the manner mentioned above, having lived sixty-two years and having reigned forty-two. Such, then, is the account that Ctesias of Cnidus has given about Semiramis; but Athenaeus and certain other historians say that she was a comely courtesan and because of her beauty was loved by the king of the Assyrians. 4 Now at first she was accorded only a moderate acceptance in the palace, but later, when she had been proclaimed a lawful wife, she persuaded the king to yield the royal prerogatives to her for a period of five days. 5 And Semiramis, upon receiving the sceptre and the regal garb, on the first day held high festival and gave a magnificent banquet, at which she persuaded the commanders of the military forces and all the greatest dignitaries to co-operate with her; and on the second day, while the people and the most notable citizens were paying her their respects as queen, she arrested her husband and put him in prison; and since she was by nature a woman of great designs and bold as well, she seized the throne and remaining queen until old age accomplished many great things. Such, then, are the conflicting accounts which may be found in the historians regarding the career of Semiramis.
§ 2.21
μετὰ δὲ τὸν ταύτης θάνατον Νινύας ὁ Νίνου καὶ Σεμιράμιδος υἱὸς παραλαβὼν τὴν ἀρχὴν ἦρχεν εἰρηνικῶς, τὸ φιλοπόλεμον καὶ κεκινδυνευμένον τῆς μητρὸς οὐδαμῶς ζηλώσας. πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ ἐν τοῖς βασιλείοις τὸν ἅπαντα χρόνον διέτριβεν, ὑπʼ οὐδενὸς ὁρώμενος πλὴν τῶν παλλακίδων καὶ τῶν περὶ αὐτὸν εὐνούχων, ἐζήλου δὲ τρυφὴν καὶ ῥᾳθυμίαν καὶ τὸ μηδέποτε κακοπαθεῖν μηδὲ μεριμνᾶν, ὑπολαμβάνων βασιλείας εὐδαίμονος εἶναι τέλος τὸ πάσαις χρῆσθαι ταῖς ἡδοναῖς ἀνεπικωλύτως. πρὸς δὲ τὴν ἀσφάλειαν τῆς ἀρχῆς καὶ τὸν κατὰ τῶν ἀρχομένων γινόμενον φόβον κατʼ ἐνιαυτὸν μετεπέμπετο στρατιωτῶν ἀριθμὸν ὡρισμένον καὶ στρατηγὸν ἀπὸ ἔθνους ἑκάστου, καὶ τὸ μὲν ἐκ πάντων ἀθροισθὲν στράτευμα ἐκτὸς τῆς πόλεως συνεῖχεν, ἑκάστου τῶν ἐθνῶν τὸν εὐνούστατον τῶν περὶ αὑτὸν ἀποδεικνύων ἡγεμόνα· τοῦ δʼ ἐνιαυτοῦ διελθόντος μετεπέμπετο πάλιν ἀπὸ τῶν ἐθνῶν τοὺς ἴσους στρατιώτας, καὶ τοὺς προτέρους ἀπέλυεν εἰς τὰς πατρίδας. οὗ συντελουμένου συνέβαινε τοὺς ὑπὸ τὴν βασιλείαν τεταγμένους ἅπαντας καταπεπλῆχθαι, θεωροῦντας ἀεὶ μεγάλας δυνάμεις ἐν ὑπαίθρῳ στρατοπεδευομένας καὶ τοῖς ἀφισταμένοις ἢ μὴ πειθαρχοῦσιν ἑτοίμην οὖσαν τιμωρίαν. τὰς δὲ κατʼ ἐνιαυτὸν ἀλλαγὰς τῶν στρατιωτῶν ἐπενόησεν, ἵνα πρὶν ἢ καλῶς γνωσθῆναι τοὺς στρατηγοὺς καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους ἅπαντας ὑπʼ ἀλλήλων, ἕκαστος εἰς τὴν ἰδίαν διαχωρίζηται πατρίδα· ὁ γὰρ πολὺς χρόνος τῆς στρατείας ἐμπειρίαν τε τῶν κατὰ τὸν πόλεμον καὶ φρόνημα τοῖς ἡγεμόσι περιτίθησι, καὶ τὸ πλεῖστον ἀφορμὰς παρέχεται μεγάλας πρὸς ἀπόστασιν καὶ συνωμοσίαν κατὰ τῶν ἡγουμένων. τὸ δὲ μηδʼ ὑφʼ ἑνὸς τῶν ἔξωθεν θεωρεῖσθαι τῆς μὲν περὶ αὐτὸν τρυφῆς ἄγνοιαν παρείχετο πᾶσι, καθάπερ δὲ θεὸν ἀόρατον διὰ τὸν φόβον ἕκαστος οὐδὲ λόγῳ βλασφημεῖν ἐτόλμα. στρατηγοὺς δὲ καὶ σατράπας καὶ διοικητάς, ἔτι δὲ δικαστὰς καθʼ ἕκαστον ἔθνος ἀποδείξας καὶ τἄλλα πάντα διατάξας ὥς ποτʼ ἔδοξεν αὐτῷ συμφέρειν, τὸν τοῦ ζῆν χρόνον κατέμεινεν ἐν τῇ Νίνῳ. παραπλησίως δὲ τούτῳ καὶ οἱ λοιποὶ βασιλεῖς, παῖς παρὰ πατρὸς διαδεχόμενος τὴν ἀρχήν, ἐπὶ γενεὰς τριάκοντα ἐβασίλευσαν μέχρι Σαρδαναπάλλου· ἐπὶ τούτου γὰρ ἡ τῶν Ἀσσυρίων ἡγεμονία μετέπεσεν εἰς Μήδους, ἔτη διαμείνασα πλείω τῶν χιλίων καὶ τριακοσίων ἔτι δʼ ἑξήκοντα, καθάπερ φησὶ Κτησίας ὁ Κνίδιος ἐν τῇ δευτέρᾳ βίβλῳ.
After her death Ninyas, the son of Ninus and Semiramis, succeeded to the throne and had a peaceful reign, since he in no wise emulated his mother's fondness for war and her adventurous spirit. 2 For in the first place, he spent all his time in the palace, seen by no one but his concubines and the eunuchs who attended him, and devoted his life to luxury and idleness and the consistent avoidance of any suffering or anxiety, holding the end and aim of a happy reign to be the enjoyment of every kind of pleasure without restraint. 3 Moreover, having in view the safety of his crown and the fear he felt with reference to his subjects, he used to summon each year a fixed number of soldiers and a general from each nation and to keep the army, 4 which had been gathered in this way from all his subject peoples, outside his capital, appointing as commander of each nation one of the most trustworthy men in his service; and at the end of the year he would summon from his peoples a second equal number of soldiers and dismiss the former to their countries. 5 The result of this device was that all those subject to his rule were filled with awe, seeing at all times a great host encamped in the open and punishment ready to fall on any who rebelled or would not yield obedience. 6 This annual change of the soldiers was devised by him in order that, before the generals and all the other commanders of the army should become well acquainted with each other, every man of them would have been separated from the rest and have gone back to his own country; for long service in the field both gives the commanders experience in the arts of war and fills them with arrogance, and, above all, it offers great opportunities for rebellion and for plotting against their rulers. 7 And the fact that he was seen by no one outside the palace made everyone ignorant of the luxury of his manner of life, and through their fear of him, as of an unseen god, each man dared not show disrespect of him even in word. So by appointing generals, satraps, financial officers, and judges for each nation and arranging all other matters as he felt at any time to be to his advantage, he remained for his lifetime in the city of Ninus. The rest of the kings also followed his example, son succeeding father upon the throne, and reigned for thirty generations down to Sardanapallus; for it was under this ruler that the Empire of the Assyrians fell to the Medes, after it had lasted more than thirteen hundred years, as Ctesias of Cnidus says in his Second Book.
§ 2.22
τὰ δʼ ὀνόματα πάντα τῶν βασιλέων καὶ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν ἐτῶν ὧν ἕκαστος ἐβασίλευσεν οὐ κατεπείγει γράφειν διὰ τὸ μηδὲν ὑπʼ αὐτῶν πεπρᾶχθαι μνήμης ἄξιον. μόνη γὰρ τέτευχεν ἀναγραφῆς ἡ πεμφθεῖσα συμμαχία τοῖς Τρωσὶν ὑπʼ Ἀσσυρίων, ἧς ἐστρατήγει Μέμνων ὁ Τιθωνοῦ. Τευτάμου γὰρ βασιλεύοντος τῆς Ἀσίας, ὃς ἦν εἰκοστὸς ἀπὸ Νινύου τοῦ Σεμιράμιδος, φασὶ τοὺς μετʼ Ἀγαμέμνονος Ἕλληνας ἐπὶ Τροίαν στρατεῦσαι, τὴν ἡγεμονίαν ἐχόντων τῆς Ἀσίας τῶν Ἀσσυρίων ἔτη πλείω τῶν χιλίων. καὶ τὸν μὲν Πρίαμον βαρυνόμενον τῷ πολέμῳ καὶ βασιλεύοντα τῆς Τρῳάδος, ὑπήκοον δʼ ὄντα τῷ βασιλεῖ τῶν Ἀσσυρίων, πέμψαι πρὸς αὐτὸν πρεσβευτὰς περὶ βοηθείας· τὸν δὲ Τεύταμον μυρίους μὲν Αἰθίοπας, ἄλλους δὲ τοσούτους Σουσιανοὺς σὺν ἅρμασι διακοσίοις ἐξαποστεῖλαι, στρατηγὸν ἐπικαταστήσαντα Μέμνονα τὸν Τιθωνοῦ. καὶ τὸν μὲν Τιθωνόν, κατʼ ἐκείνους τοὺς χρόνους τῆς Περσίδος ὄντα στρατηγόν, εὐδοκιμεῖν παρὰ τῷ βασιλεῖ μάλιστα τῶν καθεσταμένων ἐπάρχων, τὸν δὲ Μέμνονα τὴν ἡλικίαν ἀκμάζοντα διαφέρειν ἀνδρείᾳ τε καὶ ψυχῆς λαμπρότητι. οἰκοδομῆσαι δʼ αὐτὸν ἐπὶ τῆς ἄκρας τὰ ἐν Σούσοις βασίλεια τὰ διαμείναντα μέχρι τῆς Περσῶν ἡγεμονίας, κληθέντα δʼ ἀπʼ ἐκείνου Μεμνόνεια· κατασκευάσαι δὲ καὶ διὰ τῆς χώρας λεωφόρον ὁδὸν τὴν μέχρι τῶν νῦν χρόνων ὀνομαζομένην Μεμνόνειαν. ἀμφισβητοῦσι δὲ καὶ οἱ περὶ τὴν Αἴγυπτον Αἰθίοπες, λέγοντες ἐν ἐκείνοις τοῖς τόποις γεγονέναι τὸν ἄνδρα τοῦτον, καὶ βασίλεια παλαιὰ δεικνύουσιν, ἃ μέχρι τοῦ νῦν ὀνομάζεσθαί φασι Μεμνόνεια. οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ τοῖς Τρωσὶ λέγεται βοηθῆσαι τὸν Μέμνονα μετὰ δισμυρίων μὲν πεζῶν, ἁρμάτων δὲ διακοσίων· ὃν θαυμασθῆναί τε διʼ ἀνδρείαν καὶ πολλοὺς ἀνελεῖν ἐν ταῖς μάχαις τῶν Ἑλλήνων, τὸ δὲ τελευταῖον ὑπὸ Θετταλῶν ἐνεδρευθέντα κατασφαγῆναι· τοῦ δὲ σώματος τοὺς Αἰθίοπας ἐγκρατεῖς γενομένους κατακαῦσαί τε τὸν νεκρὸν καὶ τὰ ὀστᾶ πρὸς Τιθωνὸν ἀποκομίσαι. περὶ μὲν οὖν Μέμνονος τοιαῦτʼ ἐν ταῖς βασιλικαῖς ἀναγραφαῖς ἱστορεῖσθαί φασιν οἱ βάρβαροι.
There is no special need of giving all the names of the kings and the number of years which each of them reigned because nothing was done by them which merits mentioning. For the only event which has been recorded is the despatch by the Assyrians to the Trojans of an allied force, which was under the command of Memnon the son of Tithonus. 2 For when Teutamus, they say, was ruler of Asia, being the twentieth in succession from Ninyas the son of Semiramis, the Greeks made an expedition against Troy with Agamemnon, at a time when the Assyrians had controlled Asia for more than a thousand years. And Priam, who was king of the Troad and a vassal of the king of the Assyrians, being hard pressed by the war, sent an embassy to the king requesting aid; and Teutamus despatched ten thousand Ethiopians and a like number of the men of Susiana along with two hundred chariots, having appointed as general Memnon the son of Tithonus. 3 Now Tithonus, who was at that time general of Persis, was the most highly esteemed of the governors at the king's court, and Memnon, who was in the bloom of manhood, was distinguished both for his bravery and for his nobility of spirit. He also built the palace in the upper city of Susa which stood until the time of the Persian Empire and was called after him Memnonian; moreover, he constructed through the country a public highway which bears the name Memnonian to this time. 4 But the Ethiopians who border upon Egypt dispute this, maintaining that this man was a native of their country, and they point out an ancient palace which to this day, they say, bears the name Memnonian. 5 At any rate, the account runs that Memnon went to the aid of the Trojans with twenty thousand foot-soldiers and two hundred chariots; and he was admired for his bravery and slew many Greeks in the fighting, but was finally ambushed by the Thessalians and slain; whereupon the Ethiopians recovered his body, burned the corpse, and took the bones back to Tithonus. Such is the account concerning Memnon that is given in the royal records, according to what the barbarians say.
§ 2.23
Σαρδανάπαλλος δέ, τριακοστὸς μὲν ὢν ἀπὸ Νίνου τοῦ συστησαμένου τὴν ἡγεμονίαν, ἔσχατος δὲ γενόμενος Ἀσσυρίων βασιλεύς, ὑπερῆρεν ἅπαντας τοὺς πρὸ αὐτοῦ τρυφῇ καὶ ῥᾳθυμίᾳ. χωρὶς γὰρ τοῦ μηδʼ ὑφʼ ἑνὸς τῶν ἔξωθεν ὁρᾶσθαι βίον ἔζησε γυναικός, καὶ διαιτώμενος μὲν μετὰ τῶν παλλακίδων, πορφύραν δὲ καὶ τὰ μαλακώτατα τῶν ἐρίων ταλασιουργῶν, στολὴν μὲν γυναικείαν ἐνεδεδύκει, τὸ δὲ πρόσωπον καὶ πᾶν τὸ σῶμα ψιμυθίοις καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις τοῖς τῶν ἑταιρῶν ἐπιτηδεύμασιν ἁπαλώτερον πάσης γυναικὸς τρυφερᾶς κατεσκεύαστο. ἐπετήδευσε δὲ καὶ τὴν φωνὴν ἔχειν γυναικώδη καὶ κατὰ τοὺς πότους οὐ μόνον ποτῶν καὶ βρωτῶν τῶν δυναμένων μάλιστα τὰς ἡδονὰς παρέχεσθαι συνεχῶς ἀπολαύειν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰς ἀφροδισιακὰς τέρψεις μεταδιώκειν ἀνδρὸς ἅμα καὶ γυναικός· ἐχρῆτο γὰρ ταῖς ἐπʼ ἀμφότερα συνουσίαις ἀνέδην, τῆς ἐκ τῆς πράξεως αἰσχύνης οὐδὲν ὅλως φροντίζων. ἐπὶ τοσοῦτο δὲ προήχθη τρυφῆς καὶ τῆς αἰσχίστης ἡδονῆς καὶ ἀκρασίας ὥστʼ ἐπικήδειον εἰς αὑτὸν ποιῆσαι καὶ παραγγεῖλαι τοῖς διαδόχοις τῆς ἀρχῆς μετὰ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ τελευτὴν ἐπὶ τὸν τάφον ἐπιγράψαι τὸ συγγραφὲν μὲν ὑπʼ ἐκείνου βαρβαρικῶς, μεθερμηνευθὲν δὲ ὕστερον ὑπό τινος Ἕλληνος, εὖ εἰδὼς ὅτι θνητὸς ἔφυς, σὸν θυμὸν ἄεξε τερπόμενος θαλίῃσι· θανόντι σοι οὔτις ὄνησις. καὶ γὰρ ἐγὼ σποδός εἰμι, Νίνου μεγάλης βασιλεύσας. ταῦτʼ ἔχω ὅσσʼ ἔφαγον καὶ ἐφύβρισα καὶ μετʼ ἔρωτος τέρπνʼ ἔπαθον, τὰ δὲ πολλὰ καὶ ὄλβια κεῖνα λέλειπται. τοιοῦτος δʼ ὢν τὸν τρόπον οὐ μόνον αὐτὸς αἰσχρῶς κατέστρεψε τὸν βίον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν Ἀσσυρίων ἡγεμονίαν ἄρδην ἀνέτρεψε, πολυχρονιωτάτην γενομένην τῶν μνημονευομένων.
Sardanapallus, the thirtieth in succession from Ninus, who founded the empire, and the last king of the Assyrians, outdid all his predecessors in luxury and sluggishness. For not to mention the fact that he was not seen by any man residing outside the palace, he lived the life of a woman, and spending his days in the company of his concubines and spinning purple garments and working the softest of wool, he had assumed the feminine garb and so covered his face and indeed his entire body with whitening cosmetics and the other unguents used by courtesans, that he rendered it more delicate than that of any luxury-loving woman. 2 He also took care to make even his voice to be like a woman's, and at his carousals not only to indulge regularly in those drinks and viands which could offer the greatest pleasure, but also to pursue the delights of love with men as well as women; for he practised sexual indulgence of both kinds without restraint, showing not the least concern for the disgrace attending such conduct. 3 To such an excess did he go of luxury and of the most shameless sensual pleasure and in temperance, that he composed a funeral dirge for himself and commanded his successors upon the throne to inscribe it upon his tomb after his death; it was composed by him in a foreign language but was afterwards translated by a Greek as follows: Knowing full well that thou wert mortal born, Thy heart lift up, take thy delight in feast; When dead no pleasure more is thine. Thus I, Who once o'er mighty Ninus ruled, am naught But dust. Yet these are mine which gave me joy In life — the food I ate, my wantonness, And love's delights. But all those other things Men deem felicities are left behind. Because he was a man of this character, not only did he end his own life in a disgraceful manner, but he caused the total destruction of the Assyrian Empire, which had endured longer than any other known to history.
§ 2.24
Ἀρβάκης γάρ τις, Μῆδος μὲν τὸ γένος, ἀνδρείᾳ δὲ καὶ ψυχῆς λαμπρότητι διαφέρων, ἐστρατήγει Μήδων τῶν κατʼ ἐνιαυτὸν ἐκπεμπομένων εἰς τὴν Νίνον. κατὰ δὲ τὴν στρατείαν γενόμενος συνήθης τῷ στρατηγῷ τῶν Βαβυλωνίων, ὑπʼ ἐκείνου παρεκλήθη καταλῦσαι τὴν τῶν Ἀσσυρίων ἡγεμονίαν. ἦν δʼ οὗτος ὄνομα μὲν Βέλεσυς, τῶν δʼ ἱερέων ἐπισημότατος, οὓς Βαβυλώνιοι καλοῦσι Χαλδαίους. ἐμπειρίαν οὖν ἔχων μεγίστην ἀστρολογίας τε καὶ μαντικῆς προέλεγε τοῖς πολλοῖς τὸ ἀποβησόμενον ἀδιαπτώτως· διὸ καὶ θαυμαζόμενος ἐπὶ τούτοις τῷ στρατηγῷ τῶν Μήδων ὄντι φίλῳ προεῖπεν ὅτι πάντως αὐτὸν δεῖ βασιλεῦσαι πάσης τῆς χώρας ἧς ἄρχει Σαρδανάπαλλος. ὁ δʼ Ἀρβάκης ἐπαινέσας τὸν ἄνδρα, τούτῳ μὲν ἐπηγγείλατο δώσειν σατραπείαν τῆς Βαβυλωνίας, τῆς πράξεως ἐπὶ τέλος ἐλθούσης, αὐτὸς δὲ καθαπερεί τινος θεοῦ φωνῇ μετεωρισθεὶς τοῖς τε ἡγεμόσι τῶν ἄλλων ἐθνῶν συνίστατο καὶ πρὸς τὰς ἑστιάσεις καὶ κοινὰς ὁμιλίας ἐκτενῶς ἅπαντας παρελάμβανε, φιλίαν κατασκευάζων πρὸς ἕκαστον. ἐφιλοτιμήθη δὲ καὶ τὸν βασιλέα κατʼ ὄψιν ἰδεῖν καὶ τὸν τούτου βίον ὅλον κατασκέψασθαι. διόπερ δούς τινι τῶν εὐνούχων χρυσῆν φιάλην εἰσήχθη πρὸς τὸν Σαρδανάπαλλον, καὶ τήν τε τρυφὴν αὐτοῦ καὶ τὸν γυναικώδη τῶν ἐπιτηδευμάτων ζῆλον ἀκριβῶς κατανοήσας κατεφρόνησε μὲν τοῦ βασιλέως ὡς οὐδενὸς ἀξίου, προήχθη δὲ πολὺ μᾶλλον ἀντέχεσθαι τῶν δοθεισῶν ἐλπίδων ὑπὸ τοῦ Χαλδαίου. τέλος δὲ συνωμοσίαν ἐποιήσατο πρὸς τὸν Βέλεσυν, ὥστε αὐτὸν μὲν Μήδους ἀποστῆσαι καὶ Πέρσας, ἐκεῖνον δὲ πεῖσαι Βαβυλωνίους κοινωνῆσαι τῆς πράξεως καὶ τὸν τῶν Ἀράβων ἡγεμόνα φίλον ὄντα προσλαβέσθαι πρὸς τὴν τῶν ὅλων ἐπίθεσιν. ὡς δʼ ὁ ἐνιαύσιος τῆς στρατείας διεληλύθει χρόνος, διαδοχῆς δʼ ἑτέρας ἐλθούσης ἀπελύθησαν οἱ πρότεροι κατὰ τὸ ἔθος εἰς τὰς πατρίδας, ἐνταῦθα ὁ Ἀρβάκης ἔπεισε τοὺς μὲν Μήδους ἐπιθέσθαι τῇ βασιλείᾳ, Πέρσας δʼ ἐπʼ ἐλευθερίᾳ κοινωνῆσαι τῆς συνωμοσίας. παραπλησίως δὲ καὶ ὁ Βέλεσυς τούς τε Βαβυλωνίους ἔπεισεν ἀντέχεσθαι τῆς ἐλευθερίας, καὶ πρεσβεύσας εἰς Ἀραβίαν παρεστήσατο τὸν ἡγούμενον τῶν ἐγχωρίων, ὄντα φίλον αὐτοῦ καὶ ξένον, μετασχεῖν τῆς ἐπιθέσεως. τοῦ δʼ ἐνιαυσίου χρόνου διελθόντος πάντες οὗτοι πλῆθος στρατιωτῶν συναγαγόντες ἧκον πανδημεὶ πρὸς τὴν Νίνον, τῷ μὲν λόγῳ διαδοχὴν ἄγοντες, ὡς ἦν σύνηθες, τῇ δʼ ἀληθείᾳ καταλύσοντες τὴν τῶν Ἀσσυρίων ἡγεμονίαν. ἀθροισθέντων οὖν τῶν προειρημένων τεττάρων ἐθνῶν εἰς ἕνα τόπον, ὁ μὲν σύμπας αὐτῶν ἀριθμὸς ὑπῆρχεν εἰς τετταράκοντα μυριάδας, εἰς μίαν δὲ παρεμβολὴν συνελθόντες ἐβουλεύοντο κοινῇ περὶ τοῦ συμφέροντος.
The facts are these: A certain Arbaces, a Mede by race, and conspicuous for his bravery and nobility of spirit, was the general of the contingent of Medes which was sent each year to Ninus. And having made the acquaintance during this service of the general of the Babylonians, he was urged by him to overthrow the empire of the Assyrians. 2 Now this man's name was Belesys, and he was the most distinguished of those priests whom the Babylonians call Chaldaeans. And since as a consequence he had the fullest experience of astrology and divination, he was wont to foretell the future unerringly to the people in general; therefore, being greatly admired for this gift, he also predicted to the general of the Medes, who was his friend, that it was certainly fated for him to be king over all the territory which was then held by Sardanapallus. 3 Arbaces, commending the man, promised to give him the satrapy of Babylonia when the affair should be consummated, and for his part, like a man elated by a message from some god, both entered into a league with the commanders of the other nations and assiduously invited them all to banquets and social gatherings, establishing thereby a friendship with each of them. 4 He was resolved also to see the king face to face and to observe his whole manner of life. Consequently he gave one of the eunuchs a golden bowl as a present and gained admittance to Sardanapallus; and when he had observed at close hand both his luxuriousness and his love of effeminate pursuits and practices, he despised the king as worthy of no consideration and was led all the more to cling to the hopes which had been held out to him by the Chaldaean. 5 And the conclusion of the matter was that he formed a conspiracy with Belesys, whereby he should himself move the Medes and Persians to revolt while the latter should persuade the Babylonians to join the undertaking and should secure the help of the commander of the Arabs, who was his friend, for the attempt to secure the supreme control. When the year's time of their service in the king's army had passed and, another force having arrived to replace them, the relieved men had been dismissed as usual to their homes, thereupon Arbaces persuaded the Medes to attack the Assyrian kingdom and the Persians to join in the conspiracy, on the condition of receiving their freedom. Belesys too in similar fashion both persuaded the Babylonians to strike for their freedom, and sending an embassy to Arabia, won over the commander of the people of that country, a friend of his who exchanged hospitality with him, to join in the attack. 7 And after a year's time all these leaders gathered a multitude of soldiers and came with all their forces to Ninus, ostensibly bringing up replacements, as was the custom, but in fact with the intention of destroying the empire of the Assyrians. 8 Now when these four nations had gathered into one place the whole number of them amounted to four hundred thousand men, and when they had assembled into one camp they took counsel together concerning the best plan to pursue.
§ 2.25
Σαρδανάπαλλος δὲ γνοὺς τὴν ἀπόστασιν εὐθὺς ἐξήγαγεν ἐπʼ αὐτοὺς τὰς ἀπὸ τῶν ἄλλων ἐθνῶν δυνάμεις. καὶ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον γενομένης ἐν τῷ πεδίῳ παρατάξεως ἐλείφθησαν οἱ τὴν ἀπόστασιν ποιησάμενοι, καὶ πολλοὺς ἀποβαλόντες συνεδιώχθησαν εἰς ὄρος ἀπέχον τῆς Νίνου σταδίους ἑβδομήκοντα· μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα πάλιν καταβάντων αὐτῶν εἰς τὸ πεδίον καὶ πρὸς μάχην παρασκευαζομένων, ὁ μὲν Σαρδανάπαλλος ἀντιτάξας τὴν ἰδίαν στρατιὰν προαπέστειλε πρὸς τὸ τῶν πολεμίων στρατόπεδον τοὺς κηρύξοντας διότι Σαρδανάπαλλος τοῖς μὲν ἀνελοῦσιν Ἀρβάκην τὸν Μῆδον δώσει χρυσίου διακόσια τάλαντα, τοῖς δὲ ζῶντα παραδοῦσι χρήματα μὲν δωρήσεται δὶς τοσαῦτα, τῆς δὲ Μηδίας ὕπαρχον καταστήσει. παραπλησίως δʼ ἐπηγγείλατο δώσειν δωρεὰς τοῖς Βέλεσυν τὸν Βαβυλώνιον ἀνελοῦσιν ἢ ζωγρήσασιν. οὐδενὸς δὲ προσέχοντος τοῖς κηρύγμασι, συνῆψε μάχην, καὶ πολλοὺς μὲν ἐφόνευσε τῶν ἀποστατῶν, τὸ δʼ ἄλλο πλῆθος συνεδίωξεν εἰς τὴν ἐν τοῖς ὄρεσι παρεμβολήν. οἱ δὲ περὶ τὸν Ἀρβάκην διὰ τὰς ἥττας ἀθυμοῦντες συνήγαγον τῶν φίλων συνέδριον καὶ προέθηκαν βουλὴν τί δέοι πράττειν. οἱ πλεῖστοι μὲν οὖν ἔφασαν δεῖν εἰς τὰς πατρίδας ἀπιέναι καὶ τόπους ὀχυροὺς καταλαμβάνεσθαι καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν εἰς τὸν πόλεμον χρησίμων τὴν ἐνδεχομένην παρασκευὴν ποιεῖσθαι· Βέλεσυς δʼ ὁ Βαβυλώνιος, φήσας τοὺς θεοὺς αὐτοῖς σημαίνειν μετὰ πόνων καὶ κακοπαθείας ἐπὶ τέλος ἄξειν τὴν προαίρεσιν, καὶ τἄλλα παρακαλέσας ἐνδεχομένως, ἔπεισεν ἅπαντας ὑπομένειν τοὺς κινδύνους. γενομένης οὖν τρίτης παρατάξεως πάλιν ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐνίκησε, καὶ τῆς τε παρεμβολῆς τῶν ἀποστατῶν ἐκυρίευσε καὶ τοὺς ἡττηθέντας ἐδίωξε μέχρι τῶν ὅρων τῆς Βαβυλωνίας· συνέβη δὲ καὶ τὸν Ἀρβάκην αὐτὸν λαμπρότατα κινδυνεύσαντα καὶ πολλοὺς ἀνελόντα τῶν Ἀσσυρίων γενέσθαι τραυματίαν. τηλικούτων δʼ ἐλαττωμάτων κατὰ τὸ συνεχὲς γινομένων τοῖς ἀφεστηκόσιν, οἱ τὰς ἡγεμονίας ἔχοντες ἀπελπίσαντες περὶ τῆς νίκης παρεσκευάζοντο διαχωρίζεσθαι πρὸς τοὺς οἰκείους ἕκαστοι τόπους. ὁ δὲ Βέλεσυς ἐν ὑπαίθρῳ τὴν νύκτα διηγρυπνηκὼς καὶ περὶ τὴν τῶν ἄστρων παρατήρησιν φιλοτιμηθείς, ἔφησε τοῖς ἀπηλπικόσι τὰ πράγματα, ἂν πένθʼ ἡμέρας ἀναμείνωσιν, αὐτομάτην ἥξειν βοήθειαν καὶ μεταβολὴν ἔσεσθαι τῶν ὅλων παμμεγέθη εἰς τοὐναντίον· ταῦτα γὰρ ὁρᾶν διὰ τῆς τῶν ἄστρων ἐμπειρίας προσημαίνοντας αὐτοῖς τοὺς θεούς. καὶ παρεκάλει ταύτας τὰς ἡμέρας μείναντας πεῖραν λαβεῖν τῆς ἰδίας τέχνης καὶ τῆς τῶν θεῶν εὐεργεσίας.
As for Sardanapallus, so soon as he became aware of the revolt, he led forth against the rebels the contingents which had come from the rest of the nations. And at first, when battle was joined on the plain, those who were making the revolt were defeated, and after heavy losses were pursued to a mountain which was seventy stades distant from Ninus; 2 but afterwards, when they came down again into the plain and were preparing for battle, Sardanapallus marshalled his army against them and despatched heralds to the camp of the enemy to make this proclamation: "Sardanapallus will give two hundred talents of gold to anyone who slays Arbaces the Mede, and will make a present of twice that amount to anyone who delivers him up alive and will also appoint him governor over Media." 3 Likewise he promised to reward any who would either slay Belesys the Babylonian or take him alive. But since no man paid any attention to the proclamation, he joined battle, slew many of the rebels, and pursued the remainder of the multitude into their encampment in the mountains. Arbaces, having lost heart because of these defeats, now convened a meeting of his friends and called upon them to consider what should be done. 5 Now the majority said that they should retire to their respective countries, seize strong positions, and so far as possible prepare there whatever else would be useful for the war; but Belesys the Babylonian, by maintaining that the gods were promising them by signs that with labours and hardship they would bring their enterprise to a successful end, and encouraging them in every other way as much as he could, persuaded them all to remain to face further perils. 6 So there was a third battle, and again the king was victorious, captured the camp of the rebels, and pursued the defeated foe as far as the boundaries of Babylonia; and it also happened that Arbaces himself, who had fought most brilliantly and had slain many Assyrians, was wounded. 7 And now that the rebels had suffered defeats so decisive following one upon the other, their commanders, abandoning all hope of victory, were preparing to disperse each to his own country. 8 But Belesys, who had passed a sleepless night in the open and had devoted himself to the observation of the stars, said to those who had lost hope in their cause, "If you will wait five days help will come of its own accord, and there will be a mighty change to the opposite in the whole situation; for from my long study of the stars I see the gods foretelling this to us." And he appealed to them to wait that many days and test his own skill and the good will of the gods.
§ 2.26
μετακληθέντων οὖν πάντων πάλιν καὶ τὸν ὡρισμένον χρόνον ἀναμεινάντων, ἧκέ τις ἀπαγγέλλων διότι δύναμις ἐκ τῆς Βακτριανῆς ἀπεσταλμένη τῷ βασιλεῖ πλησίον ἐστὶ πορευομένη κατὰ σπουδήν. ἔδοξεν οὖν τοῖς περὶ τὸν Ἀρβάκην ἀπαντῆσαι τοῖς στρατηγοῖς τὴν ταχίστην ἀναλαβόντας τῶν στρατιωτῶν τοὺς κρατίστους καὶ μάλιστʼ εὐζώνους, ὅπως, ἂν μὴ διὰ τῶν λόγων τοὺς Βακτριανοὺς δύνωνται πεῖσαι συναποστῆναι, τοῖς ὅπλοις βιάσωνται μετασχεῖν τῶν αὐτῶν ἐλπίδων. τέλος δὲ πρὸς τὴν ἐλευθερίαν ἀσμένως ὑπακουσάντων τὸ μὲν πρῶτον τῶν ἡγεμόνων, ἔπειτα καὶ τῆς ὅλης δυνάμεως, πάντες ἐν ταὐτῷ κατεστρατοπέδευσαν. ὅτε δὴ συνέβη τὸν βασιλέα τῶν Ἀσσυρίων τὴν μὲν ἀπόστασιν τῶν Βακτριανῶν ἀγνοοῦντα, ταῖς δὲ προγεγενημέναις εὐημερίαις μετεωρισθέντα, τραπῆναι πρὸς ἄνεσιν, καὶ τοῖς στρατιώταις διαδοῦναι πρὸς εὐωχίαν ἱερεῖα καὶ πλῆθος οἴνου τε καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἐπιτηδείων. διόπερ τῆς δυνάμεως ἁπάσης ἑστιωμένης, οἱ περὶ τὸν Ἀρβάκην παρά τινων αὐτομόλων πυθόμενοι τὴν ἐν τῇ παρεμβολῇ τῶν πολεμίων ῥᾳθυμίαν καὶ μέθην, νυκτὸς ἀπροσδοκήτως τὴν ἐπίθεσιν ἐποιήσαντο. προσπεσόντες δὲ συντεταγμένοι μὲν ἀσυντάκτοις, ἕτοιμοι δʼ ἀπαρασκεύοις, τῆς τε παρεμβολῆς ἐκράτησαν καὶ τῶν στρατιωτῶν πολλοὺς ἀνελόντες τοὺς ἄλλους μέχρι τῆς πόλεως κατεδίωξαν. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ὁ μὲν βασιλεὺς Γαλαιμένην τὸν ἀδελφὸν τῆς γυναικὸς ἀποδείξας στρατηγόν, αὐτὸς τῶν κατὰ τὴν πόλιν ἐπιμέλειαν ἐποιεῖτο· οἱ δʼ ἀποστάται κατὰ τὸ πεδίον τὸ πρὸ τῆς πόλεως παραταξάμενοι δυσὶ μάχαις ἐνίκησαν τοὺς Ἀσσυρίους, καὶ τόν τε Γαλαιμένην ἀνεῖλον καὶ τῶν ἀντιταξαμένων τοὺς μὲν ἐν τῇ φυγῇ κατέσφαξαν, τοὺς δʼ ἀποκλεισθέντας τῆς εἰς τὴν πόλιν ἐπανόδου καὶ συναναγκασθέντας ἑαυτοὺς ῥιπτεῖν εἰς τὸν Εὐφράτην ποταμὸν πλὴν ὀλίγων ἅπαντας ἀνεῖλον. τοσοῦτο δὲ πλῆθος ἦν τῶν φονευθέντων ὥστε τὸ φερόμενον ῥεῦμα κραθὲν αἵματι τὴν χρόαν ἐφʼ ἱκανὸν τόπον μεταβαλεῖν. ἔπειτα τοῦ βασιλέως συγκλεισθέντος εἰς πολιορκίαν πολλὰ τῶν ἐθνῶν ἀφίστατο, ἑκάστου πρὸς τὴν ἐλευθερίαν αὐτομολοῦντος. ὁ δὲ Σαρδανάπαλλος ὁρῶν τὴν ὅλην βασιλείαν ἐν τοῖς μεγίστοις οὖσαν κινδύνοις, τοὺς μὲν υἱοὺς τρεῖς ὄντας καὶ θυγατέρας δύο μετὰ πολλῶν χρημάτων εἰς Παφλαγονίαν ἀπέστειλε πρὸς Κότταν τὸν ἔπαρχον, ὄντα τῶν ἀρχομένων εὐνούστατον, αὐτὸς δὲ βιβλιαφόρους ἀποστείλας πρὸς ἅπαντας τοὺς ὑπʼ αὐτὸν τεταγμένους μετεπέμπετο δυνάμεις καὶ τὰ πρὸς τὴν πολιορκίαν παρεσκευάζετο. ἦν δʼ αὐτῷ λόγιον παραδεδομένον ἐκ προγόνων ὅτι τὴν Νίνον οὐδεὶς ἑλεῖ κατὰ κράτος, ἐὰν μὴ πρότερον ὁ ποταμὸς τῇ πόλει γένηται πολέμιος. ὑπολαμβάνων οὖν τοῦτο μηδέποτε ἔσεσθαι, ταῖς ἐλπίσι ἀντεῖχε, διανοούμενος ὑπομένειν τὴν πολιορκίαν καὶ τὰ παρὰ τῶν ὑποτεταγμένων ἀποσταλησόμενα στρατόπεδα προσδέχεσθαι.
So after they had all been called back and had waited the stipulated time, there came a messenger with the news that a force which had been despatched from Bactriana to the king was near at hand, advancing with all speed. 2 Arbaces, accordingly, decided to go to meet their generals by the shortest route, taking along the best and most agile of his troops, so that, in case they should be unable to persuade the Bactrians by arguments to join in the revolt, they might resort to arms to force them to share with them in the same hopes. 3 But the outcome was that the new-comers gladly listened to the call to freedom, first the commanders and then the entire force, and they all encamped in the same place. It happened at this very time that the king of the Assyrians, who was unaware of the defection of the Bactrians and had become elated over his past successes, turned to indulgence and divided among his soldiers for a feast animals and great quantities of both wine and all other provisions. Consequently, since the whole army was carousing, Arbaces, learning from some deserters of the relaxation and drunkenness in the camp of the enemy, made his attack upon it unexpectedly in the night. 5 And as it was an assault of organized men upon disorganized and of ready men upon unprepared, they won possession of the camp, and after slaying many of the soldiers pursued the rest of them as far as the city. 6 After this the king named for the chief command Galaemenes, his wife's brother, and gave his own attention to the affairs within the city. But the rebels, drawing up their forces in the plain before the city, overcame the Assyrians in two battles, and they not only slew Galaemenes, but of the opposing forces they cut down some in their flight, while others, who had been shut out from entering the city and forced to leap into the Euphrates river, they destroyed almost to a man. 7 So great was the multitude of the slain that the water of the stream, mingled with the blood, was changed in colour over a considerable distance. Furthermore, now that the king was shut up in the city and besieged there, many of the nations revolted, going over in each case to the side of liberty. Sardanapallus, realizing that his entire kingdom was in the greatest danger, sent his three sons and two daughters together with much of his treasure to Paphlagonia to the governor Cotta, who was the most loyal of his subjects, while he himself, despatching letter-carriers to all his subjects, summoned forces and made preparations for the siege. 9 Now there was a prophecy which had come down to him from his ancestors: "No enemy will ever take Ninus by storm unless the river shall first become the city's enemy." Assuming, therefore, that this would never be, he held out in hope, his thought being to endure the siege and await the troops which would be sent from his subjects.
§ 2.27
οἱ δʼ ἀποστάται τοῖς προτερήμασιν ἐπαρθέντες προσέκειντο μὲν τῇ πολιορκίᾳ, διὰ δὲ τὴν ὀχυρότητα τῶν τειχῶν οὐδὲν ἠδύναντο βλάψαι τοὺς ἐν τῇ πόλει· πετροβόλοι γὰρ ἢ χελῶναι χωστρίδες ἢ κριοὶ πρὸς ἀνατροπὴν μεμηχανημένοι τειχῶν οὔπω κατʼ ἐκείνους τοὺς καιροὺς εὕρηντο. τῶν δʼ ἐπιτηδείων ἁπάντων οἱ κατὰ τὴν πόλιν πολλὴν εἶχον δαψίλειαν, προνενοημένου τοῦ βασιλέως τούτου τοῦ μέρους. διὸ καὶ χρονιζούσης τῆς πολιορκίας ἐπʼ ἔτη μὲν δύο προσέκειντο προσβολὰς ποιούμενοι τοῖς τείχεσι καὶ τῆς ἐπὶ τὴν χώραν ἐξόδου τοὺς ἐκ τῆς πόλεως εἴργοντες· τῷ τρίτῳ δʼ ἔτει συνεχῶς ὄμβρων μεγάλων καταρραγέντων συνέβη τὸν Εὐφράτην μέγαν γενόμενον κατακλύσαι τε μέρος τῆς πόλεως καὶ καταβαλεῖν τὸ τεῖχος ἐπὶ σταδίους εἴκοσιν. ἐνταῦθα ὁ βασιλεὺς νομίσας τετελέσθαι τὸν χρησμὸν καὶ τῇ πόλει τὸν ποταμὸν γεγονέναι φανερῶς πολέμιον, ἀπέγνω τὴν σωτηρίαν. ἵνα δὲ μὴ τοῖς πολεμίοις ὑποχείριος γένηται, πυρὰν ἐν τοῖς βασιλείοις κατεσκεύασεν ὑπερμεγέθη, καὶ τόν τε χρυσὸν καὶ τὸν ἄργυρον ἅπαντα, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις τὴν βασιλικὴν ἐσθῆτα πᾶσαν ἐπὶ ταύτην ἐσώρευσε, τὰς δὲ παλλακίδας καὶ τοὺς εὐνούχους συγκλείσας εἰς τὸν ἐν μέσῃ τῇ πυρᾷ κατεσκευασμένον οἶκον ἅμα τούτοις ἅπασιν ἑαυτόν τε καὶ τὰ βασίλεια κατέκαυσεν. οἱ δʼ ἀποστάται πυθόμενοι τὴν ἀπώλειαν τὴν Σαρδαναπάλλου, τῆς μὲν πόλεως ἐκράτησαν εἰσπεσόντες κατὰ τὸ πεπτωκὸς μέρος τοῦ τείχους, τὸν δʼ Ἀρβάκην ἐνδύσαντες τὴν βασιλικὴν στολὴν προσηγόρευσαν βασιλέα, καὶ τὴν τῶν ὅλων ἐξουσίαν ἐπέτρεψαν.
The rebels, elated at their successes, pressed the siege, but because of the strength of the walls they were unable to do any harm to the men in the city; for neither engines for throwing stones, nor shelters for sappers, nor battering-rams devised to overthrow walls had as yet been invented at that time. Moreover, the inhabitants of the city had a great abundance of all provisions, since the king had taken thought on that score. Consequently the siege dragged on, and for two years they pressed their attack, making assaults on the walls and preventing inhabitants of the city from going out into the country; but in the third year, after there had been heavy and continuous rains, it came to pass that the Euphrates, running very full, both inundated a portion of the city and broke down the walls for a distance of twenty stades. 2 At this the king, believing that the oracle had been fulfilled and that the river had plainly become the city's enemy, abandoned hope of saving himself. And in order that he might not fall into the hands of the enemy, he built an enormous pyre in his palace, heaped upon it all his gold and silver as well as every article of the royal wardrobe, and then, shutting his concubines and eunuchs in the room which had been built in the middle of the pyre, he consigned both them and himself and his palace to the flames. 3 The rebels, on learning of the death of Sardanapallus, took the city by forcing an entrance where the wall had fallen, and clothing Arbaces in the royal garb saluted him as king and put in his hands the supreme authority.
§ 2.28
ἔνθα δὴ τοῦ βασιλέως τοῖς συναγωνισαμένοις στρατηγοῖς δωρεάς τε διαδόντος κατὰ τὴν ἀξίαν καὶ σατράπας ἐθνῶν καθιστάντος, προσελθὼν αὐτῷ Βέλεσυς ὁ Βαβυλώνιος, ὁ προειπὼν ὅτι βασιλεὺς ἔσται τῆς Ἀσίας, τῆς τε εὐεργεσίας ὑπέμνησε καὶ τὴν Βαβυλῶνος ἀρχὴν ἠξίου δοῦναι, καθάπερ ἐξ ἀρχῆς ὑπέσχετο. ἀπεφαίνετο δὲ καὶ κατὰ τοὺς κινδύνους ἑαυτὸν εὐχὴν πεποιῆσθαι τῷ Βήλῳ Σαρδαναπάλλου κρατηθέντος καὶ τῶν βασιλείων ἐμπυρισθέντων ἀποκομιεῖν τὴν σποδὸν τὴν ἐκ τούτων εἰς Βαβυλῶνα, καὶ πλησίον τοῦ τεμένους τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ τοῦ ποταμοῦ καταθέμενον χῶμα κατασκευάσειν τὸ παρεξόμενον τοῖς κατὰ τὸν Εὐφράτην πλέουσιν ἀθάνατον ὑπόμνημα τοῦ καταλύσαντος τὴν Ἀσσυρίων ἀρχήν. τοῦτο δʼ ᾐτεῖτο πυθόμενος παρά τινος εὐνούχου τὰ περὶ τὸν ἄργυρον καὶ χρυσόν, ὃν διαδράντα καὶ πρὸς αὐτὸν αὐτομολήσαντα κατέκρυψεν. ὁ δʼ Ἀρβάκης τούτων οὐδὲν εἰδὼς διὰ τὸ πάντας τοὺς ἐν τοῖς βασιλείοις συγκατακαῆναι τῷ βασιλεῖ, τήν τε σποδὸν ἀποκομίσαι καὶ τὴν Βαβυλῶνα ἔχειν ἀτελῆ συνεχώρησεν. εἶθʼ ὁ μὲν Βέλεσυς πλοῖα παραστησάμενος μετὰ τῆς σποδοῦ τὸ πλεῖστον τοῦ τε ἀργύρου καὶ τοῦ χρυσοῦ συντόμως ἀπέστειλεν εἰς Βαβυλῶνα· ὁ δὲ βασιλεύς, μηνυθείσης αὐτῷ τῆς πράξεως αὐτοφώρου, δικαστὰς ἀπέδειξε τοὺς συναγωνισαμένους στρατηγούς. τοῦ πράξαντος δʼ ὁμολογοῦντος ἀδικεῖν, τὸ μὲν δικαστήριον αὐτοῦ θάνατον κατέγνω, ὁ δὲ βασιλεύς, μεγαλόψυχος ὢν καὶ τὴν ἀρχὴν τῆς ἡγεμονίας βουλόμενος ἐπιεικῆ παρέχεσθαι, τῶν τε κινδύνων ἀπέλυσε τὸν Βέλεσυν καὶ τὸν ἀποκεκομισμένον ἄργυρον καὶ χρυσὸν ἔχειν συνεχώρησεν· ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τὴν ἐξ ἀρχῆς δοθεῖσαν ἐξουσίαν τῆς Βαβυλῶνος οὐκ ἀφείλετο, φήσας μείζονας εἶναι τὰς ἐξ αὐτοῦ προγεγενημένας εὐεργεσίας τῶν ὕστερον ἀδικημάτων. διαβοηθείσης δὲ τῆς ἐπιεικείας οὐ τὴν τυχοῦσαν εὔνοιαν ἅμα καὶ δόξαν παρὰ τῶν ἐθνῶν ἀπηνέγκατο, πάντων κρινόντων ἄξιον εἶναι τῆς βασιλείας τὸν οὕτω προσενεχθέντα τοῖς ἀδικήσασιν. ὁ δʼ οὖν Ἀρβάκης τοῖς κατὰ τὴν πόλιν ἐπιεικῶς προσενεχθεὶς αὐτοὺς μὲν κατὰ κώμας διῴκισε, τὰς ἰδίας κτήσεις ἑκάστοις ἀποδούς, τὴν δὲ πόλιν εἰς ἔδαφος κατέσκαψεν. ἔπειτα τόν τε ἄργυρον καὶ χρυσὸν τὸν ἐκ τῆς πυρᾶς ὑπολειφθέντα πολλῶν ὄντα ταλάντων ἀπεκόμισε τῆς Μηδίας εἰς Ἐκβάτανα. ἡ μὲν οὖν ἡγεμονία τῶν Ἀσσυρίων ἀπὸ Νίνου διαμείνασα τριάκοντα μὲν γενεάς, ἔτη δὲ πλείω τῶν χιλίων καὶ τριακοσίων, ὑπὸ Μήδων κατελύθη τὸν προειρημένον τρόπον.
Thereupon, after the new king had distributed among the generals who had aided him in the struggle gifts corresponding to their several deserts, and as he was appointing satraps over the nations, Belesys the Babylonian, who had foretold to Arbaces that he would be king of Asia, coming to him, reminded him of his good services, and asked that he be given the governorship of Babylonia, as had been promised at the outset. 2 He also explained that when their cause was endangered he had made a vow to Belus that, if Sardanapallus were defeated and his palace went up in flames, he would bring its ashes to Babylon, and depositing them near the river and the sacred precinct of the god he would construct a mound which, for all who sailed down the Euphrates, would stand as an eternal memorial of the man who had overthrown the rule of the Assyrians. 3 This request he made because he had learned from a certain eunuch, who had made his escape and come to Belesys and was kept hidden by him, of the facts regarding the silver and gold. 4 Now since Arbaces knew nothing of this, by reason of the fact that all the inmates of the palace had been burned along with the king, he allowed him both to carry the ashes away and to hold be able without the payment of tribute. Thereupon Belesys procured boats and at once sent off to Babylon along with the ashes practically all the silver and gold; and the king, having been informed of the act which Belesys had been caught perpetrating, appointed as judges the generals who had served with him in the war. 5 And when the accused acknowledged his guilt, the court sentenced him to death, but the king, being a magnanimous man and wishing to make his rule at the outset known for clemency, both freed Belesys from the danger threatening him and allowed him to keep the silver and gold which he had carried off; likewise, he did not even take from him the governorship over Babylon which had originally been given to him, saying that his former services were greater than his subsequent misdeeds. 6 When this act of clemency was noised about, he won no ordinary loyalty on the part of his subjects as well as renown among the nations, all judging that a man who had conducted himself in this wise towards wrongdoers was worthy of the kingship. 7 Arbaces, however, showing clemency towards the inhabitants of the city, settled them in villages and returned to each man his personal possessions, but the city he levelled to the ground. Then the silver and gold, amounting to many talents, which had been left in the pyre, he collected and took off to Ecbatana in Media. So the empire of the Assyrians, which had endured from the time of Ninus through thirty generations, for more than one thousand three hundred years, was destroyed by the Medes in the manner described above.
§ 2.29
ἡμῖν δʼ οὐκ ἀνάρμοστον εἶναι δοκεῖ περὶ τῶν ἐν Βαβυλῶνι Χαλδαίων καὶ τῆς ἀρχαιότητος αὐτῶν βραχέα διελθεῖν, ἵνα μηδὲν παραλίπωμεν τῶν ἀξίων μνήμης. Χαλδαῖοι τοίνυν τῶν ἀρχαιοτάτων ὄντες Βαβυλωνίων τῇ μὲν διαιρέσει τῆς πολιτείας παραπλησίαν ἔχουσι τάξιν τοῖς κατʼ Αἴγυπτον ἱερεῦσι· πρὸς γὰρ τῇ θεραπείᾳ τῶν θεῶν τεταγμένοι πάντα τὸν τοῦ ζῆν χρόνον φιλοσοφοῦσι, μεγίστην δόξαν ἔχοντες ἐν ἀστρολογίᾳ. ἀντέχονται δʼ ἐπὶ πολὺ καὶ μαντικῆς, ποιούμενοι προρρήσεις περὶ τῶν μελλόντων, καὶ τῶν μὲν καθαρμοῖς, τῶν δὲ θυσίαις, τῶν δʼ ἄλλαις τισὶν ἐπῳδαῖς ἀποτροπὰς κακῶν καὶ τελειώσεις ἀγαθῶν πειρῶνται πορίζειν. ἐμπειρίαν δʼ ἔχουσι καὶ τῆς διὰ τῶν οἰωνῶν μαντικῆς, ἐνυπνίων τε καὶ τεράτων ἐξηγήσεις ἀποφαίνονται. οὐκ ἀσόφως δὲ ποιοῦνται καὶ τὰ περὶ τὴν ἱεροσκοπίαν ἄκρως ἐπιτυγχάνειν νομίζοντες. τὴν δὲ τούτων μάθησιν ἁπάντων οὐχ ὁμοίαν ποιοῦνται τοῖς τὰ τοιαῦτʼ ἐπιτηδεύουσι τῶν Ἑλλήνων. παρὰ μὲν γὰρ τοῖς Χαλδαίοις ἐκ γένους ἡ τούτων φιλοσοφία παραδέδοται, καὶ παῖς παρὰ πατρὸς διαδέχεται, τῶν ἄλλων λειτουργιῶν πασῶν ἀπολελυμένος. διὸ καὶ γονεῖς ἔχοντες διδασκάλους ἅμα μὲν ἀφθόνως ἅπαντα μανθάνουσιν, ἅμα δὲ τοῖς παραγγελλομένοις προσέχουσι πιστεύοντες βεβαιότερον. ἔπειτʼ εὐθὺς ἐκ παίδων συντρεφόμενοι τοῖς μαθήμασι μεγάλην ἕξιν περιποιοῦνται διά τε τὸ τῆς ἡλικίας εὐδίδακτον καὶ διὰ τὸ πλῆθος τοῦ προσκαρτερουμένου χρόνου. παρὰ δὲ τοῖς Ἕλλησιν ὁ πολλοῖς ἀπαρασκεύως προσιὼν ὀψέ ποτε τῆς φιλοσοφίας ἅπτεται, καὶ μέχρι τινὸς φιλοπονήσας ἀπῆλθε περισπασθεὶς ὑπὸ βιωτικῆς χρείας· ὀλίγοι δέ τινες ἐπὶ φιλοσοφίαν ἀποδύντες ἐργολαβίας ἕνεκεν παραμένουσιν ἐν τῷ μαθήματι, καινοτομοῦντες ἀεὶ περὶ τῶν μεγίστων δογμάτων καὶ τοῖς πρὸ αὐτῶν οὐκ ἀκολουθοῦντες. τοιγαροῦν οἱ μὲν βάρβαροι διαμένοντες ἐπὶ τῶν αὐτῶν ἀεὶ βεβαίως ἕκαστα λαμβάνουσιν, οἱ δʼ Ἕλληνες τοῦ κατὰ τὴν ἐργολαβίαν κέρδους στοχαζόμενοι καινὰς αἱρέσεις κτίζουσι, καὶ περὶ τῶν μεγίστων θεωρημάτων ἀλλήλοις ἀντιδοξοῦντες διχονοεῖν ποιοῦσι τοὺς μανθάνοντας καὶ τὰς ψυχὰς αὐτῶν πλανᾶσθαι, τὸν πάντα βίον ἐν αἰώρᾳ γινομένας καὶ μηδὲν ὅλως πιστεῦσαι δυναμένας βεβαίως· τὰς γοῦν ἐπιφανεστάτας αἱρέσεις τῶν φιλοσόφων εἴ τις ἀκριβῶς ἐξετάζοι, πλεῖστον ὅσον εὑρήσει διαφερούσας ἀλλήλων καὶ περὶ τῶν μεγίστων δοξῶν ἐναντία δοξαζούσας.
But to us it seems not inappropriate to speak briefly of the Chaldaeans of Babylon and of their antiquity, that we may omit nothing which is worthy of record. 2 Now the Chaldaeans, belonging as they do to the most ancient inhabitants of Babylonia, have about the same position among the divisions of the state as that occupied by the priests of Egypt; for being assigned to the service of the gods they spend their entire life in study, their greatest renown being in the field of astrology. But they occupy themselves largely with soothsaying as well, making predictions about future events, and in some cases by purifications, in others by sacrifices, and in others by some other charms they attempt to effect the averting of evil things and the fulfilment of the good. 3 They are also skilled in soothsaying by the flight of birds, and they give out interpretations of both dreams and portents. They also show marked ability in making divinations from the observation of the entrails of animals, deeming that in this branch they are eminently successful. The training which they receive in all these matters is not the same as that of the Greeks who follow such practices. 4 For among the Chaldaeans the scientific study of these subjects is passed down in the family, and son takes it over from father, being relieved of all other services in the state. Since, therefore, they have their parents for teachers, they not only are taught everything ungrudgingly but also at the same time they give heed to the precepts of their teachers with a most unwavering trust. Furthermore, since they are bred in these teachings from childhood up, they attain a great skill in them, both because of the ease with which youth is taught and because of the great amount of time which is devoted to this study. Among the Greeks, on the contrary, the student who takes up a large number of subjects without preparation turns to the higher studies only quite late, and then, after labouring upon them to some extent, gives them up, being distracted by the necessity of earning a livelihood; and but a few here and there really strip for the higher studies and continue in the pursuit of them as profit-making business, and these are always trying to make innovations in connection with the most important doctrines instead of following in the path of their predecessors. 6 The result of this is that the barbarians, by sticking to the same things always, keep a firm hold on every detail, while the Greeks, on the other hand, aiming at the profit to be made out of the business, keep founding new schools and, wrangling with each other over the most important matters of speculation, bring it about that their pupils hold conflicting views, and that their minds, vacillating throughout their lives and unable to believe at all with firm conviction, simply wander in confusion. It is at any rate true that, if a man were to examine carefully the most famous schools of the philosophers, he would find them differing from one another to the uttermost degree and maintaining opposite opinions regarding the most fundamental tenets.
§ 2.30
οἱ δʼ οὖν Χαλδαῖοι τὴν μὲν τοῦ κόσμου φύσιν ἀίδιόν φασιν εἶναι καὶ μήτε ἐξ ἀρχῆς γένεσιν ἐσχηκέναι μήθʼ ὕστερον φθορὰν ἐπιδέξεσθαι, τὴν δὲ τῶν ὅλων τάξιν τε καὶ διακόσμησιν θείᾳ τινὶ προνοίᾳ γεγονέναι, καὶ νῦν ἕκαστα τῶν ἐν οὐρανῷ γινομένων οὐχ ὡς ἔτυχεν οὐδʼ αὐτομάτως ἀλλʼ ὡρισμένῃ τινὶ καὶ βεβαίως κεκυρωμένῃ θεῶν κρίσει συντελεῖσθαι. τῶν δʼ ἄστρων πολυχρονίους παρατηρήσεις πεποιημένοι, καὶ τὰς ἑκάστου κινήσεις τε καὶ δυνάμεις ἀκριβέστατα πάντων ἀνθρώπων ἐπεγνωκότες, πολλὰ τῶν μελλόντων συμβαίνειν προλέγουσι τοῖς ἀνθρώποις. μεγίστην δέ φασιν εἶναι θεωρίαν καὶ δύναμιν περὶ τοὺς πέντε ἀστέρας τοὺς πλάνητας καλουμένους, οὓς ἐκεῖνοι κοινῇ μὲν ἑρμηνεῖς ὀνομάζουσιν, ἰδίᾳ δὲ τὸν ὑπὸ τῶν Ἑλλήνων Κρόνον ὀνομαζόμενον, ἐπιφανέστατον δὲ καὶ πλεῖστα καὶ μέγιστα προσημαίνοντα, καλοῦσιν ἡλίου· τοὺς δʼ ἄλλους τέτταρας ὁμοίως τοῖς παρʼ ἡμῖν ἀστρολόγοις ὀνομάζουσιν, Ἄρεος, Ἀφροδίτης, Ἑρμοῦ, Διός. διὰ τοῦτο δʼ αὐτοὺς ἑρμηνεῖς καλοῦσιν, ὅτι τῶν ἄλλων ἀστέρων ἀπλανῶν ὄντων καὶ τεταγμένῃ πορείᾳ μίαν περιφορὰν ἐχόντων οὗτοι μόνοι πορείαν ἰδίαν ποιούμενοι τὰ μέλλοντα γίνεσθαι δεικνύουσιν, ἑρμηνεύοντες τοῖς ἀνθρώποις τὴν τῶν θεῶν ἔννοιαν. τὰ μὲν γὰρ διὰ τῆς ἀνατολῆς, τὰ δὲ διὰ τῆς δύσεως, τινὰ δὲ διὰ τῆς χρόας προσημαίνειν φασὶν αὐτοὺς τοῖς προσέχειν ἀκριβῶς βουληθεῖσι· ποτὲ μὲν γὰρ πνευμάτων μεγέθη δηλοῦν αὐτούς, ποτὲ δὲ ὄμβρων ἢ καυμάτων ὑπερβολάς, ἔστι δὲ ὅτε κομητῶν ἀστέρων ἐπιτολάς, ἔτι δὲ ἡλίου τε καὶ σελήνης ἐκλείψεις, καὶ σεισμούς, καὶ τὸ σύνολον πάσας τὰς ἐκ τοῦ περιέχοντος γεννωμένας περιστάσεις ὠφελίμους τε καὶ βλαβερὰς οὐ μόνον ἔθνεσιν ἢ τόποις, ἀλλὰ καὶ βασιλεῦσι καὶ τοῖς τυχοῦσιν ἰδιώταις. ὑπὸ δὲ τὴν τούτων φορὰν λέγουσι τετάχθαι τριάκοντα ἀστέρας, οὓς προσαγορεύουσι βουλαίους θεούς· τούτων δὲ τοὺς μὲν ἡμίσεις τοὺς ὑπὲρ γῆν τόπους ἐφορᾶν, τοὺς δʼ ἡμίσεις τοὺς ὑπὸ τὴν γῆν, τὰ κατʼ ἀνθρώπους ἐπισκοποῦντας ἅμα καὶ τὰ κατὰ τὸν οὐρανὸν συμβαίνοντα· διὰ δʼ ἡμερῶν δέκα πέμπεσθαι τῶν μὲν ἄνω πρὸς τοὺς κάτω καθάπερ ἄγγελον ἕνα τῶν ἀστέρων, τῶν δʼ ὑπὸ γῆν πρὸς τοὺς ἄνω πάλιν ὁμοίως ἕνα, καὶ ταύτην ἔχειν αὐτοὺς φορὰν ὡρισμένην καὶ περιόδῳ κεκυρωμένην αἰωνίῳ. τῶν θεῶν δὲ τούτων κυρίους εἶναί φασι δώδεκα τὸν ἀριθμόν, ὧν ἑκάστῳ μῆνα καὶ τῶν δώδεκα λεγομένων ζῳδίων ἓν προσνέμουσι. διὰ δὲ τούτων φασὶ ποιεῖσθαι τὴν πορείαν τόν τε ἥλιον καὶ τὴν σελήνην καὶ πέντε τοὺς πλάνητας ἀστέρας, τοῦ μὲν ἡλίου τὸν ἴδιον κύκλον ἐν ἐνιαυτῷ τελοῦντος, τῆς δὲ σελήνης ἐν μηνὶ τὴν ἰδίαν περίοδον διαπορευομένης.
Now, as the Chaldaeans say, the world is by its nature eternal, and neither had a first beginning nor will at a later time suffer destruction; furthermore, both the disposition and the orderly arrangement of the universe have come about by virtue of a divine providence, and today whatever takes place in the heavens is in every instance brought to pass, not at haphazard nor by virtue of any spontaneous action, but by some fixed and firmly determined divine decision. 2 And since they have observed the stars over a long period of time and have noted both the movements and the influences of each of them with greater precision than any other men, they foretell to mankind many things that will take place in the future. 3 But above all in importance, they say, is the study of the influence of the five stars known as planets, which they call "Interpreters" when speaking of them as a group, but if referring to them singly, the one named Cronus by the Greeks, which is the most conspicuous and presages more events and such as are of greater importance than the others, they call the star of Helius, whereas the other four they designate as the stars of Ares, Aphrodite, Hermes, and Zeus, as do our astrologers. 4 The reason why they call them "Interpreters" is that whereas all the other stars are fixed and follow a singular circuit in a regular course, these alone, by virtue of following each its own course, point out future events, thus interpreting to mankind the design of the gods. For sometimes by their risings, sometimes by their settings, and again by their colour, the Chaldaeans say, they give signs of coming events to such as are willing to observe them closely; 5 for at one time they show forth mighty storms of winds, at another excessive rains or heat, at times the appearance of comets, also eclipses of both sun and moon, and earthquakes, and in a word all the conditions which owe their origin to the atmosphere and work both benefits and harm, not only to whole peoples or regions, but also to kings and to persons of private station. Under the course in which these planets move are situated, according to them, thirty stars, which they designate as "counselling gods"; of these one half oversee the regions above the earth and the other half those beneath the earth, having under their purview the affairs of mankind and likewise those of the heavens; and every ten days one of the stars above is sent as a messenger, so to speak, to the stars below, and again in like manner one of the stars below the earth to those above, and this movement of theirs is fixed and determined by means of an orbit which is unchanging for ever. 7 Twelve of these gods, they say, hold chief authority, and to each of these the Chaldaeans assign a month and one of the signs of the zodiac, as they are called. And through the midst of these signs, they say, both the sun and moon and the five planets make their course, the sun completing his cycle in a year and the moon traversing her circuit in a month.
§ 2.31
τῶν δὲ πλανήτων ἴδιον ἕκαστον ἔχειν δρόμον καὶ διηλλαγμένως καὶ ποικίλως χρῆσθαι τοῖς τάχεσι καὶ τῇ τῶν χρόνων διαιρέσει. πλεῖστα δὲ πρὸς τὰς γενέσεις τῶν ἀνθρώπων συμβάλλεσθαι τούτους τοὺς ἀστέρας ἀγαθά τε καὶ κακά· διὰ δὲ τῆς τούτων φύσεώς τε καὶ θεωρίας μάλιστα γινώσκειν τὰ συμβαίνοντα τοῖς ἀνθρώποις. πεποιῆσθαι δέ φασι προρρήσεις ἄλλοις τε βασιλεῦσιν οὐκ ὀλίγοις καὶ τῷ καταπολεμήσαντι Δαρεῖον Ἀλεξάνδρῳ καὶ τοῖς μετὰ ταῦτα βασιλεύσασιν Ἀντιγόνῳ τε καὶ Σελεύκῳ τῷ Νικάτορι, ἐν ἅπασι δὲ τοῖς ῥηθεῖσιν εὐστοχηκέναι δοκοῦσιν· ὑπὲρ ὧν ἡμεῖς τὰ κατὰ μέρος ἐν οἰκειοτέροις ἀναγράψομεν καιροῖς. προλέγουσι δὲ καὶ τοῖς ἰδιώταις τὰ μέλλοντα συμβαίνειν οὕτως εὐστόχως ὥστε τοὺς πειραθέντας θαυμάζειν τὸ γινόμενον καὶ μεῖζον ἢ κατʼ ἄνθρωπον ἡγεῖσθαι. μετὰ δὲ τὸν ζῳδιακὸν κύκλον εἴκοσι καὶ τέτταρας ἀφορίζουσιν ἀστέρας, ὧν τοὺς μὲν ἡμίσεις ἐν τοῖς βορείοις μέρεσι, τοὺς δʼ ἡμίσεις ἐν τοῖς νοτίοις τετάχθαι φασί, καὶ τούτων τοὺς μὲν ὁρωμένους τῶν ζώντων εἶναι καταριθμοῦσι, τοὺς δʼ ἀφανεῖς τοῖς τετελευτηκόσι προσωρίσθαι νομίζουσιν, οὓς δικαστὰς τῶν ὅλων προσαγορεύουσιν. ὑπὸ πάντα δὲ τὰ προειρημένα τὴν σελήνην φέρεσθαι λέγουσιν, ἔγγιστα μὲν τῆς γῆς οὖσαν διὰ τὴν βαρύτητα, διαπορευομένην δʼ ἐν ἐλαχίστῳ χρόνῳ τὸν ἑαυτῆς δρόμον, οὐ διὰ τὴν ὀξύτητα τῆς φορᾶς, ἀλλὰ διὰ τὴν βραχύτητα τοῦ κύκλου. ὅτι δὲ τὸ φῶς ἀλλότριον ἔχει καὶ διότι τὰς ἐκλείψεις ποιεῖται διὰ τὸ σκίασμα τῆς γῆς παραπλήσια λέγουσι τοῖς Ἕλλησι. περὶ δὲ τῆς κατὰ τὸν ἥλιον ἐκλείψεως ἀσθενεστάτας ἀποδείξεις φέροντες οὐ τολμῶσι προλέγειν οὐδʼ ἀκριβῶς ὑπὲρ ταύτης περιγράφειν τοὺς χρόνους. περὶ δὲ τῆς γῆς ἰδιωτάτας ἀποφάσεις ποιοῦνται, λέγοντες ὑπάρχειν αὐτὴν σκαφοειδῆ καὶ κοίλην, καὶ πολλὰς καὶ πιθανὰς ἀποδείξεις εὐποροῦσι περί τε ταύτης καὶ περὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν κατὰ τὸν κόσμον· ὑπὲρ ὧν τὰ κατὰ μέρος διεξιέναι τῆς ὑποκειμένης ἱστορίας ἀλλότριον εἶναι νομίζομεν. τοῦτο μέντοι γε διαβεβαιώσαιτʼ ἄν τις προσηκόντως ὅτι Χαλδαῖοι μεγίστην ἕξιν ἐν ἀστρολογίᾳ τῶν ἁπάντων ἀνθρώπων ἔχουσι καὶ διότι πλείστην ἐπιμέλειαν ἐποιήσαντο ταύτης τῆς θεωρίας. περὶ δὲ τοῦ πλήθους τῶν ἐτῶν, ἐν οἷς φασι τὴν θεωρίαν τῶν κατὰ τὸν κόσμον πεποιῆσθαι τὸ σύστημα τῶν Χαλδαίων, οὐκ ἄν τις ῥᾳδίως πιστεύσειεν· ἐτῶν γὰρ ἑπτὰ καὶ τετταράκοντα μυριάδας καὶ τρεῖς ἐπὶ ταύταις χιλιάδας εἰς τὴν Ἀλεξάνδρου διάβασιν γεγονέναι καταριθμοῦσιν, ἀφʼ ὅτου τὸ παλαιὸν ἤρξαντο τῶν ἄστρων τὰς παρατηρήσεις ποιεῖσθαι. καὶ περὶ μὲν Χαλδαίων ἀρκεσθησόμεθα τοῖς ῥηθεῖσιν, ἵνα μὴ μακρότερον ἀποπλανώμεθα τῆς οἰκείας ἱστορίας· περὶ δὲ τῆς Ἀσσυρίων βασιλείας ὡς ὑπὸ Μήδων κατελύθη προειρηκότες ἐπάνιμεν ὅθεν ἐξέβημεν.
Each of the planets, according to them, has its own particular course, and its velocities and periods of time are subject to change and variation. These stars it is which exert the greatest influence for both good and evil upon the nativity of men; and it is chiefly from the nature of these planets and the study of them that they know what is in store for mankind. 2 And they have made predictions, they say, not only to numerous other kings, but also to Alexander, who defeated Darius, and to Antigonus and Seleucus Nicator who afterwards became kings, and in all their prophecies they are thought to have hit the truth. But of these things we shall write in detail on a more appropriate occasion. 3 Moreover, they also foretell to men in private station what will befall them, and with such accuracy that those who have made trial of them marvel at the feat and believe that it transcends the power of man. Beyond the circle of the zodiac they designate twenty-four other stars, of which one half, they say, are situated in the northern parts and one half in the southern, and of these those which are visible they assign to the world of the living, allow those which are invisible they regard as being adjacent to the dead, and so they call them "Judges of the Universe." 5 And under all the stars hitherto mentioned the moon, according to them, takes her way, being nearest the earth because of her weight and completing her course in a very brief period of time, not by reason of her great velocity, but because her orbit is so short. 6 They also agree with the Greeks in saying that her light is reflected and that her eclipses are due to the shadow of the earth. Regarding the eclipse of the sun, however, they offer the weakest kind of explanation, and do not presume to predict it or to define the times of its occurrence with any precision. 7 Again, in connection with the earth they make assertions entirely peculiar to themselves, saying that it is shaped like a boat and hollow, and they offer many plausible arguments about both the earth and all other bodies in the firmament, a full discussion of which we feel would be alien to our history. 8 This point, however, a man may fittingly maintain, that the Chaldaeans have of all men the greatest grasp of astrology, and that they bestowed the greatest diligence upon the study of it. 9 But as to the number of years which, according to their statements, the order of the Chaldaeans has spent on the study of the bodies of the universe, a man can scarcely believe them; for they reckon that, down to Alexander's crossing over into Asia, it has been four hundred and seventy-three thousand years, since they began in early times to make their observations of the stars. So far as the Chaldaeans are concerned we shall be satisfied with what has been said, that we may not wander too far from the matter proper to our history; and now that we have given an account of the destruction of the kingdom of the Assyrians by the Medes we shall return to the point at which we digressed.
§ 2.32
ἐπεὶ δὲ διαφωνοῦσιν οἱ παλαιότατοι τῶν συγγραφέων περὶ τῆς μεγίστης τῶν Μήδων ἡγεμονίας, οἰκεῖον εἶναι διαλαμβάνομεν τοῖς φιλαλήθως τὰς πράξεις ἱστορεῖν βουλομένοις τὴν διαφορὰν τῶν ἱστοριογράφων παρʼ ἄλληλα θεῖναι. Ἡρόδοτος μὲν οὖν κατὰ Ξέρξην γεγονὼς τοῖς χρόνοις φησὶν Ἀσσυρίους ἔτη πεντακόσια πρότερον τῆς Ἀσίας ἄρξαντας ὑπὸ Μήδων καταλυθῆναι, ἔπειτα βασιλέα μὲν μηδένα γενέσθαι τὸν ἀμφισβητήσοντα τῶν ὅλων ἐπὶ πολλὰς γενεάς, τὰς δὲ πόλεις καθʼ ἑαυτὰς ταττομένας διοικεῖσθαι δημοκρατικῶς· τὸ δὲ τελευταῖον πολλῶν ἐτῶν διελθόντων αἱρεθῆναι βασιλέα παρὰ τοῖς Μήδοις ἄνδρα δικαιοσύνῃ διάφορον, ὄνομα Κυαξάρην. τοῦτον δὲ πρῶτον ἐπιχειρῆσαι προσάγεσθαι τοὺς πλησιοχώρους, καὶ τοῖς Μήδοις ἀρχηγὸν γενέσθαι τῆς τῶν ὅλων ἡγεμονίας· ἔπειτα τοὺς ἐκγόνους ἀεὶ προσκατακτωμένους πολλὴν τῆς ὁμόρου χώρας αὐξῆσαι τὴν βασιλείαν μέχρι Ἀστυάγους τοῦ καταπολεμηθέντος ὑπὸ Κύρου καὶ Περσῶν. περὶ ὧν νῦν ἡμεῖς τὰ κεφάλαια προειρηκότες τὰ κατὰ μέρος ὕστερον ἀκριβῶς ἀναγράψομεν, ἐπειδὰν ἐπὶ τοὺς οἰκείους χρόνους ἐπιβάλωμεν· κατὰ γὰρ τὸ δεύτερον ἔτος τῆς ἑπτακαιδεκάτης ὀλυμπιάδος ᾑρέθη βασιλεὺς ὑπὸ Μήδων Κυαξάρης καθʼ Ἡρόδοτον. Κτησίας δὲ ὁ Κνίδιος τοῖς μὲν χρόνοις ὑπῆρξε κατὰ τὴν Κύρου στρατείαν ἐπὶ Ἀρταξέρξην τὸν ἀδελφόν, γενόμενος δʼ αἰχμάλωτος, καὶ διὰ τὴν ἰατρικὴν ἐπιστήμην ἀναληφθεὶς ὑπὸ τοῦ βασιλέως, ἑπτακαίδεκα ἔτη διετέλεσε τιμώμενος ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ. οὗτος οὖν φησιν ἐκ τῶν βασιλικῶν διφθερῶν, ἐν αἷς οἱ Πέρσαι τὰς παλαιὰς πράξεις κατά τινα νόμον εἶχον συντεταγμένας, πολυπραγμονῆσαι τὰ καθʼ ἕκαστον καὶ συνταξάμενος τὴν ἱστορίαν εἰς τοὺς Ἕλληνας ἐξενεγκεῖν. φησὶν οὖν μετὰ τὴν κατάλυσιν τῆς Ἀσσυρίων ἡγεμονίας Μήδους προστῆναι τῆς Ἀσίας Ἀρβάκου βασιλεύοντος τοῦ Σαρδανάπαλλον καταπολεμήσαντος, καθότι προείρηται. τούτου δʼ ἄρξαντος ἔτη δυσὶ λείποντα τῶν τριάκοντα διαδέξασθαι τὴν βασιλείαν τὸν υἱὸν Μαυδάκην, ὃν ἄρξαι τῆς Ἀσίας ἔτη πεντήκοντα. μετὰ δὲ τοῦτον τριάκοντα μὲν ἔτη βασιλεῦσαι Σώσαρμον, πεντήκοντα δὲ Ἀρτύκαν, δύο δὲ πρὸς τοῖς εἴκοσι τὸν προσαγορευόμενον Ἀρβιάνην, τετταράκοντα δὲ Ἀρταῖον.
Since the earliest writers of history are at variance concerning the mighty empire of the Medes, we feel that it is incumbent upon those who would write the history of events with a love for truth to set forth side by side the different accounts of the historians. 2 Now Herodotus, who lived in the time of Xerxes, gives this account: After the Assyrians had ruled Asia for five hundred years they were conquered by the Medes, and thereafter no king arose for many generations to lay claim to supreme power, but the city-states, enjoying a regimen of their own, were administered in a democratic fashion; finally, however, after many years a man distinguished for his justice, named Cyaxares, was chosen king among the Medes. 3 He was the first to try to attach to himself the neighbouring peoples and became for the Medes the founder of their universal empire; and after him his descendants extended the kingdom by continually adding a great deal of the adjoining country, until the reign of Astyages worth was conquered by Cyrus and the Persians. We have for the present given only the most important of these events in summary and shall later give a detailed account of them one by one when we come to the periods in which they fall; for it was in the second year of the Seventeenth Olympiad, according to Herodotus, that Cyaxares was chosen king by the Medes. Ctesias of Cnidus, on the other hand, lived during the time when Cyrus made his expedition against Artaxerxes his brother, and having been made prisoner and then retained by Artaxerxes because of his medical knowledge, he enjoyed a position of honour with him for seventeen years. Now Ctesias says that from the royal records, in which the Persians in accordance with a certain law of theirs kept an account of their ancient affairs, he carefully investigated the facts about each king, and when he had composed his history he published it to the Greeks. 5 This, then, is his account: After the destruction of the Assyrian Empire the Medes were the chief power in Asia under their king Arbaces, who conquered Sardanapallus, as has been told before. 6 And when he had reigned twenty-eight years his son Maudaces succeeded to the throne and reigned over Asia fifty years. After him Sosarmus ruled for thirty years, Artycas for fifty, the king known as Arbianes for twenty-two, and Artaeus for forty years.
§ 2.33
ἐπὶ δὲ τούτου συστῆναι μέγαν πόλεμον τοῖς Μήδοις πρὸς Καδουσίους διὰ τοιαύτας αἰτίας. Παρσώνδην τὸν Πέρσην, θαυμαζόμενον ἐπʼ ἀνδρείᾳ καὶ συνέσει καὶ ταῖς ἄλλαις ἀρεταῖς, φίλον τε ὑπάρξαι τῷ βασιλεῖ καὶ μέγιστον ἰσχῦσαι τῶν μετεχόντων τοῦ βασιλικοῦ συνεδρίου. τοῦτον δʼ ὑπὸ τοῦ βασιλέως ἔν τινι κρίσει λυπηθέντα φυγεῖν μετὰ πεζῶν μὲν τρισχιλίων, ἱππέων δὲ χιλίων εἰς Καδουσίους, παρʼ οἷς ἦν ἐκδεδομένος τὴν ἰδίαν ἀδελφὴν τῷ μάλιστα δυναστεύοντι κατὰ τούτους τοὺς τόπους. γενόμενον δʼ ἀποστάτην καὶ πείσαντα τὸ σύμπαν ἔθνος ἀντέχεσθαι τῆς ἐλευθερίας, αἱρεθῆναι στρατηγὸν διὰ τὴν ἀνδρείαν. ἔπειτα πυνθανόμενον ἀθροιζομένην ἐπʼ αὐτὸν μεγάλην δύναμιν, καθοπλίσαι τοὺς Καδουσίους πανδημεί, καὶ καταστρατοπεδεῦσαι πρὸς ταῖς εἰς τὴν χώραν εἰσβολαῖς ἔχοντα τοὺς σύμπαντας οὐκ ἐλάττους εἴκοσι μυριάδων. τοῦ δὲ βασιλέως Ἀρταίου στρατεύσαντος ἐπʼ αὐτὸν μυριάσιν ὀγδοήκοντα μάχῃ κρατῆσαι καὶ πλείους μὲν τῶν πεντακισμυρίων ἀνελεῖν, τὴν δʼ ἄλλην δύναμιν ἐκβαλεῖν ἐκ τῆς Καδουσίων χώρας. διὸ καὶ παρὰ τοῖς ἐγχωρίοις θαυμαζόμενον αἱρεθῆναί τε βασιλέα καὶ τὴν Μηδίαν συνεχῶς λεηλατεῖν καὶ πάντα τόπον καταφθείρειν. μεγάλης δὲ δόξης τυχόντα, καὶ γήρᾳ μέλλοντα καταστρέφειν τὸν βίον, ἀρὰν θέσθαι παραστησάμενον τὸν διαδεχόμενον τὴν ἀρχήν, ὅπως μηδέποτε διαλύσωνται τὴν ἔχθραν Καδούσιοι πρὸς Μήδους· εἰ δὲ σύνθοιντο ὁμολογίας, ἐξώλεις γενέσθαι τούς τε ἀπὸ τοῦ γένους αὐτοῦ καὶ Καδουσίους ἅπαντας. διὰ δὴ ταύτας τὰς αἰτίας ἀεὶ πολεμικῶς ἐσχηκέναι Καδουσίους πρὸς Μήδους, καὶ μηδέποτε τοῖς τούτων βασιλεῦσιν ὑπηκόους γεγονέναι, μέχρι οὗ Κῦρος εἰς Πέρσας μετέστησε τὴν ἡγεμονίαν.
During the reign of Artaeus a great war broke out between the Medes and the Cadusii, for the following reasons. Parsondes, a Persian, a man renowned for his valour and intelligence and every other virtue, was both a friend of the king's and the most influential of the members of the royal council. 2 Feeling himself aggrieved by the king in a certain decision, he fled with three thousand foot-soldiers and a thousand horsemen to the Cadusii, to one of whom, the most influential man in those parts, he had given his sister in marriage. 3 And now that he had become a rebel, he persuaded the entire people to vindicate their freedom and was chosen general because of his valour. Then, learning that a great force was being gathered against him, he armed the whole nation of the Cadusii and pitched his camp before the passes leading into the country, having a force of no less than two hundred thousand men all told. 4 And although the king Artaeus advanced against him with eight hundred thousand soldiers, Parsondes defeated him in battle and slew more than fifty thousand of his followers, and drove the rest of the army out of the country of the Cadusii. And for this exploit he was so admired by the people of the land that he was chosen king, and he plundered Media without ceasing and laid waste every district of the country. 5 And after he had attained great fame and was about to die of old age, he called to his side his successor to the throne and required of him an oath that the Cadusii should never put an end to their enmity towards the Medes, adding that, if peace were ever made with them, it meant the destruction of his line and of the whole race of the Cadusii. 6 These, then, were the reasons why the Cadusii were always inveterate enemies of the Medes, and had never been subjected to the Median kings up to the time when Cyrus transferred the Empire of the Medes to the Persians.
§ 2.34
τῶν δὲ Μήδων βασιλεῦσαι μετὰ τὴν Ἀρταίου τελευτὴν Ἀρτύνην μὲν ἔτη δύο πρὸς τοῖς εἴκοσι, Ἀστιβάραν δὲ τετταράκοντα. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτου Πάρθους ἀποστάντας Μήδων Σάκαις τήν τε χώραν καὶ τὴν πόλιν ἐγχειρίσαι· διόπερ συστάντος πολέμου τοῖς Σάκαις πρὸς Μήδους ἐπʼ ἔτη πλείω γενέσθαι τε μάχας οὐκ ὀλίγας καὶ συχνῶν παρʼ ἀμφοτέροις ἀναιρεθέντων τὸ τελευταῖον εἰρήνην αὐτοὺς ἐπὶ τοῖσδε συνθέσθαι, Πάρθους μὲν ὑπὸ Μήδους τετάχθαι, τῶν δὲ προϋπαρχόντων ἑκατέρους κυριεύσαντας φίλους εἶναι καὶ συμμάχους ἀλήλοις εἰς τὸν ἅπαντα χρόνον. βασιλεῦσαι δὲ τότε τῶν Σακῶν γυναῖκα τὰ κατὰ πόλεμον ἐζηλωκυῖαν καὶ τόλμῃ τε καὶ πράξει πολὺ διαφέρουσαν τῶν ἐν Σάκαις γυναικῶν, ὄνομα Ζαρίναν. καθόλου μὲν οὖν τὸ ἔθνος τοῦτο γυναῖκας ἀλκίμους ἔχειν καὶ κοινωνούσας τοῖς ἀνδράσι τῶν ἐν τοῖς πολέμοις κινδύνων, ταύτην δὲ λέγεται τῷ τε κάλλει γενέσθαι πασῶν ἐκπρεπεστάτην καὶ ταῖς ἐπιβολαῖς καὶ τοῖς κατὰ μέρος ἐγχειρήμασι θαυμαστήν. τῶν μὲν γὰρ πλησιοχώρων βαρβάρων τοὺς ἐπηρμένους τῷ θράσει καὶ καταδουλουμένους τὸ ἔθνος τῶν Σακῶν καταπολεμῆσαι, τῆς δὲ χώρας πολλὴν ἐξημερῶσαι, καὶ πόλεις οὐκ ὀλίγας κτίσαι, καὶ τὸ σύνολον εὐδαιμονέστερον τὸν βίον τῶν ὁμοεθνῶν ποιῆσαι. διὸ καὶ τοὺς ἐγχωρίους μετὰ τὴν τελευτὴν αὐτῆς χάριν ἀποδιδόντας τῶν εὐεργεσιῶν καὶ τῆς ἀρετῆς μνημονεύοντας τάφον οἰκοδομῆσαι πολὺ τῶν ὄντων παρʼ αὐτοῖς ὑπερέχοντα· ὑποστησαμένους γὰρ πυραμίδα τρίγωνον τριῶν μὲν σταδίων ἑκάστην πλευρὰν αὐτῆς κατασκευάσαι τὸ μῆκος, τὸ δʼ ὕψος σταδιαῖον, εἰς ὀξὺ συνηγμένης τῆς κορυφῆς· ἐπιστῆσαι δὲ τῷ τάφῳ καὶ χρυσῆν εἰκόνα κολοττικήν, καὶ τιμὰς ἡρωικὰς ἀπονεῖμαι, καὶ τἄλλα πάντα μεγαλοπρεπέστερα ποιεῖν τῶν τοῖς προγόνοις αὐτῆς συγχωρηθέντων. Ἀστιβάρα δὲ τοῦ βασιλέως τῶν Μήδων ἐν Ἐκβατάνοις γήρᾳ τελευτήσαντος τὴν ἀρχὴν Ἀσπάνδαν τὸν υἱὸν διαδέξασθαι, τὸν ὑπὸ τῶν Ἑλλήνων Ἀστυάγην καλούμενον. τούτου δʼ ὑπὸ Κύρου τοῦ Πέρσου καταπολεμηθέντος μεταπεσεῖν τὴν βασιλείαν εἰς Πέρσας, περὶ ὧν ἡμεῖς τὰ κατὰ μέρος ἐν τοῖς ἰδίοις χρόνοις ἀκριβῶς ἀναγράψομεν. περὶ μὲν οὖν τῆς Ἀσσυρίων καὶ Μήδων βασιλείας καὶ τῆς τῶν συγγραφέων διαφωνίας ἱκανῶς εἰρῆσθαι νομίζομεν· περὶ δὲ τῆς Ἰνδικῆς καὶ τῶν ἐν αὐτῇ μυθολογουμένων ἐν μέρει διέξιμεν.
After the death of Artaeus, Ctesias continues, Artynes ruled over the Medes for twenty-two years, and Astibaras for forty. During the reign of the latter the Parthians revolted from the Medes and entrusted both their country and their city to the hands of the Sacae. 2 This led to a war between the Sacae and the Medes, which lasted many years, and after no small number of battles and the loss of many lives on both sides, they finally agreed to peace on the following terms, that the Parthians should be subject to the Medes, but that both peoples should retain their former possessions and be friends and allies for ever. At that time the Sacae were ruled by a woman named Zarina, who was devoted to warfare and was in daring and efficiency by far the foremost of the women of the Sacae. Now this people, in general, have courageous women who share with their husbands the dangers of war, but she, it is said, was the most conspicuous of them all for her beauty and remarkable as well in respect to both her designs and whatever she undertook. 4 For she subdued such of the neighbouring barbarian peoples as had become proud because of their boldness and were trying to enslave the people of the Sacae, and into much of her own realm she introduced civilized life, founded not a few cities, and, in a word, made the life of her people happier. 5 Consequently her countrymen after her death, in gratitude for her benefactions and in remembrance of her virtues, built her a tomb which was far the largest of any in their land; for they erected a triangular pyramid, making the length of each side three stades and the height one stade, and bringing it to a point at the top; and on the tomb they also placed a colossal gilded statue of her and accorded her the honours belonging to heroes, and all the other honours they bestowed upon her were more magnificent than those which had fallen to the lot of her ancestors. When, Ctesias continues, Astibaras, the king of the Medes, died of old age in Ecbatana, his son Aspandas, whom the Greeks call Astyages, succeeded to the throne. And when he had been defeated by Cyrus the Persian, the kingdom passed to the Persians. Of them we shall give a detailed and exact account at the proper time. Concerning the kingdoms of the Assyrians and of the Medes, and concerning the disagreement in the accounts of the historians, we consider that enough has been said; now we shall discuss India and then, in turn, recount the legends of that land.
§ 2.35
ἡ τοίνυν Ἰνδικὴ τετράπλευρος οὖσα τῷ σχήματι, τὴν μὲν πρὸς ἀνατολὰς νεύουσαν πλευρὰν καὶ τὴν πρὸς μεσημβρίαν ἡ μεγάλη περιέχει θάλαττα, τὴν δὲ πρὸς τὰς ἄρκτους τὸ Ἠμωδὸν ὄρος διείργει τῆς Σκυθίας, ἣν κατοικοῦσι τῶν Σκυθῶν οἱ προσαγορευόμενοι Σάκαι· τὴν δὲ τετάρτην τὴν πρὸς δύσιν ἐστραμμένην διείληφεν ὁ Ἰνδὸς προσαγορευόμενος ποταμός, μέγιστος ὢν τῶν πάντων μετὰ τὸν Νεῖλον. τὸ δὲ μέγεθος τῆς ὅλης Ἰνδικῆς φασιν ὑπάρχειν ἀπὸ μὲν ἀνατολῶν πρὸς δύσιν δισμυρίων ὀκτακισχιλίων σταδίων, ἀπὸ δὲ τῶν ἄρκτων πρὸς μεσημβρίαν τρισμυρίων δισχιλίων. τηλικαύτη δʼ οὖσα τὸ μέγεθος δοκεῖ τοῦ κόσμου μάλιστα περιέχειν τὸν τῶν θερινῶν τροπῶν κύκλον, καὶ πολλαχῇ μὲν ἐπʼ ἄκρας τῆς Ἰνδικῆς ἰδεῖν ἔστιν ἀσκίους ὄντας τοὺς γνώμονας, νυκτὸς δὲ τὰς ἄρκτους ἀθεωρήτους· ἐν δὲ τοῖς ἐσχάτοις οὐδʼ αὐτὸν τὸν ἀρκτοῦρον φαίνεσθαι· καθʼ ὃν δὴ τόπον φασὶ καὶ τὰς σκιὰς κεκλίσθαι πρὸς μεσημβρίαν. ἡ δʼ οὖν Ἰνδικὴ πολλὰ μὲν ὄρη καὶ μεγάλα ἔχει δένδρεσι παντοδαποῖς καρπίμοις πλήθοντα, πολλὰ δὲ πεδία καὶ μεγάλα καρποφόρα, τῷ μὲν κάλλει διάφορα, ποταμῶν δὲ πλήθεσι διαρρεόμενα. τὰ πολλὰ δὲ τῆς χώρας ἀρδεύεται, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο διττοὺς ἔχει τοὺς κατʼ ἔτος καρπούς· ζῴων τε παντοδαπῶν γέμει διαφόρων τοῖς μεγέθεσι καὶ ταῖς ἀλκαῖς, τῶν μὲν χερσαίων, τῶν δὲ καὶ πτηνῶν. καὶ πλείστους δὲ καὶ μεγίστους ἐλέφαντας ἐκτρέφει, χορηγοῦσα τὰς τροφὰς ἀφθόνους, δι’ ἃς ταῖς ῥώμαις τὰ θηρία ταῦτα πολὺ προέχει τῶν κατὰ τὴν Λιβύην γεννωμένων· διὸ καὶ πολλῶν θηρευομένων ὐπὸ τῶν Ἰνδῶν καὶ πρὸς τοὺς πολεμικοὺς ἀγῶνας κατασκευαζομένων μεγάλας συμβαίνει ῥοπὰς γίνεσθαι πρὸς τὴν νίκην.
Now India is four-sided in shape and the side which faces east and that which faces south are embraced by the Great Sea, while that which faces north is separated by the Emodus range of mountains from that part of Scythia which is inhabited by the Scythians known as the Sacae; and the fourth side, which is turned towards the west, is marked off by the river known as the Indus, which is the largest of all streams after the Nile. 2 As for its magnitude, India as a whole, they say, extends from east to west twenty-eight thousand stades, and from north to south thirty-two thousand. And because it is of such magnitude, it is believed to take in a great extent of the sun's course in summer than any other part of the world, and in many places at the Cape of India the gnomons of sundials may be seen which do not cast a shadow, while at night the Bears are not visible; in the most southerly parts not even Arcturus can be seen, and indeed in that region, they say, the shadows fall towards the south. Now India has many lofty mountains that abound in fruit trees of every variety, and many large and fertile plains, which are remarkable for their beauty and are supplied with water by a multitude of rivers. The larger part of the country is well watered and for this reason yields two crops each year; and it abounds in all kinds of animals, remarkable for their great size and strength, land animals as well as birds. 4 It also breeds elephants both in the greatest numbers and of the largest size, providing them with sustenance in abundance, and it is because of this food that the elephants of this land are much more powerful than those produced in Libya; consequently large numbers of them are made captive by the Indians and trained for warfare, and it is found that they play a great part in turning the scale to victory.
§ 2.36
ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τοὺς ἀνθρώπους ἡ πολυκαρπία τρέφουσα τοῖς τε ἀναστήμασι τῶν σωμάτων καὶ τοῖς ὄγκοις ὑπερφέροντας κατασκευάζει· εἶναι δʼ αὐτοὺς συμβαίνει καὶ πρὸς τὰς τέχνας ἐπιστήμονας, ὡς ἂν ἀέρα μὲν ἕλκοντας καθαρόν, ὕδωρ δὲ λεπτομερέστατον πίνοντας. ἡ δὲ γῆ πάμφορος οὖσα τοῖς ἡμέροις καρποῖς ἔχει καὶ φλέβας καταγείους πολλῶν καὶ παντοδαπῶν μετάλλων· γίνεται γὰρ ἐν αὐτῇ πολὺς μὲν ἄργυρος καὶ χρυσός, οὐκ ὀλίγος δὲ χαλκὸς καὶ σίδηρος, ἔτι δὲ καττίτερος καὶ τἄλλα τὰ πρὸς κόσμον τε καὶ χρείαν καὶ πολεμικὴν παρασκευὴν ἀνήκοντα. χωρὶς δὲ τῶν δημητριακῶν καρπῶν φύεται κατὰ τὴν Ἰνδικὴν πολλὴ μὲν κέγχρος, ἀρδευομένη τῇ τῶν ποταμίων ναμάτων δαψιλείᾳ, πολὺ δʼ ὄσπριον καὶ διάφορον, ἔτι δʼ ὄρυζα καὶ ὁ προσαγορευόμενος βόσπορος, καὶ μετὰ ταῦτʼ ἄλλα πολλὰ τῶν πρὸς διατροφὴν χρησίμων· καὶ τούτων τὰ πολλὰ ὑπάρχει αὐτοφυῆ. οὐκ ὀλίγους δὲ καὶ ἄλλους ἐδωδίμους καρποὺς φέρει δυναμένους τρέφειν ζῷα, περὶ ὧν μακρὸν ἂν εἴη γράφειν. διὸ καί φασι μηδέποτε τὴν Ἰνδικὴν ἐπισχεῖν λιμὸν ἢ καθόλου σπάνιν τῶν πρὸς τροφὴν ἥμερον ἀνηκόντων. διττῶν γὰρ ὄμβρων ἐν αὐτῇ γινομένων καθʼ ἕκαστον ἔτος, τοῦ μὲν χειμερινοῦ, καθὰ παρὰ τοῖς ἄλλοις, ὁ σπόρος τῶν πυρίνων γίνεται καρπῶν, τοῦ δʼ ἑτέρου κατὰ τὴν θερινὴν τροπὴν καθʼ ἣν σπείρεσθαι συμβαίνει τὴν ὄρυζαν καὶ τὸν βόσπορον, ἔτι δὲ σήσαμον καὶ κέγχρον· κατὰ δὲ τὸ πλεῖστον ἀμφοτέροις τοῖς καρποῖς οἱ κατὰ τὴν Ἰνδικὴν ἐπιτυγχάνουσι, πάντων δέ, τελεσφορουμένων θατέρου τῶν καρπῶν, οὐκ ἀποτυγχάνουσιν. οἵ τε αὐτοματίζοντες καρποὶ καὶ αἱ κατὰ τοὺς ἑλώδεις τόπους φυόμεναι ῥίζαι διάφοροι ταῖς γλυκύτησιν οὖσαι πολλὴν παρέχονται τοῖς ἀνθρώποις δαψίλειαν· πάντα γὰρ σχεδὸν τὰ κατὰ τὴν χώραν πεδία γλυκεῖαν ἔχει τὴν ἀπὸ τῶν ποταμῶν ἰκμάδα καὶ τὴν ἀπὸ τῶν ὄμβρων τῶν ἐν τῷ θέρει γινομένων κατʼ ἐνιαυτὸν κυκλικῇ τινι περιόδῳ παραδόξως εἰωθότων γίνεσθαι δαψίλειαν, χλιαρῶν πιπτόντων ὑδάτων ἐκ τοῦ περιέχοντος ἀέρος, καὶ τὰς ἐν τοῖς ἕλεσι ῥίζας ἕψοντος τοῦ καύματος, καὶ μάλιστα τῶν μεγάλων καλάμων. συμβάλλονται δὲ παρὰ τοῖς Ἰνδοῖς καὶ τὰ νόμιμα πρὸς τὸ μηδέποτε ἔνδειαν τροφῆς παρʼ αὐτοῖς εἶναι· παρὰ μὲν γὰρ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἀνθρώποις οἱ πολέμιοι καταφθείροντες τὴν χώραν ἀγεώργητον κατασκευάζουσι, παρὰ δὲ τούτοις τῶν γεωργῶν ἱερῶν καὶ ἀσύλων ἐωμένων, οἱ πλησίον τῶν παρατάξεων γεωργοῦντες ἀνεπαίσθητοι τῶν κινδύνων εἰσίν. ἀμφότεροι γὰρ οἱ πολεμοῦντες ἀλλήλους μὲν ἀποκτείνουσιν ἐν ταῖς μάχαις, τοὺς δὲ περὶ τὴν γεωργίαν ὄντας ἐῶσιν ἀβλαβεῖς, ὡς κοινοὺς ὄντας ἁπάντων εὐεργέτας, τάς τε χώρας τῶν ἀντιπολεμούντων οὔτʼ ἐμπυρίζουσιν οὔτε δενδροτομοῦσιν.
The same is true of the inhabitants also, the abundant supply of food making them of unusual height and bulk of body; and another result is that they are skilled in the arts, since they breathe a pure air and drink water of the finest quality. 2 And the earth, in addition to producing every fruit which admits of cultivation, also contains rich underground veins of every kind of ore; for there are found in it much silver and gold, not a little copper and iron, and tin also and whatever else is suitable for adornment, necessity, and the trappings of war. 3 In addition to the grain of Demeter there grows throughout India much millet, which is irrigated by the abundance of running water supplied by the rivers, pulse in large quantities and of superior quality, rice also and the plant called bosporos, and in addition to these many more plants which are useful for food; and most of these are native to the country. It also yields not a few other edible fruits, that are able to sustain animal life, but to write about them would be a long task. This is the reason, they say, why a famine has never visited India or, in general, any scarcity of what is suitable for gentle fare. For since there are two rainy seasons in the country each year, during the winter rains the sowing is made of the wheat crop as among other peoples, while in the second, which comes at the summer solstice, it is the general practice to plant the rice and bosporos, as well as sesame and millet; and in most years the Indians are successful in both crops, and they never lose everything, since the fruit of one or the other sowing comes to maturity. 5 The fruits also which flourish wild and the roots which grow in the marshy places, by reason of their remarkable sweetness, provide the people with a great abundance of food. For practically all the plains of India enjoy the sweet moisture from the rivers and from the rains which come with astonishing regularity, in a kind of fixed cycle, every year in the summer, since warm showers fall in abundance from the enveloping atmosphere and the heat ripens the roots in the marshes, especially those of the tall reeds. 6 Furthermore, the customs of the Indians contribute towards there never being any lack of food among them; for whereas in the case of all the rest of mankind their enemies ravage the land and cause it to remain uncultivated, yet among the Indians the workers of the soil are let alone as sacred and inviolable, and such of them as labour near the battle-lines have no feeling of the dangers. 7 For although both parties to the war kill one another in their hostilities, yet they leave uninjured those who are engaged in tilling the soil, considering that they are the common benefactors of all, nor do they burn the lands of their opponents or cut down their orchards.
§ 2.37
ἔχει δὲ καὶ ποταμοὺς ἡ χώρα τῶν Ἰνδῶν πολλοὺς καὶ μεγάλους πλωτούς, οἳ τὰς πηγὰς ἔχοντες ἐν τοῖς ὄρεσι τοῖς πρὸς τὰς ἄρκτους κεκλιμένοις φέρονται διὰ τῆς πεδιάδος, ὧν οὐκ ὀλίγοι συμμίσγοντες ἀλλήλοις ἐμβάλλουσιν εἰς ποταμὸν τὸν ὀνομαζόμενον Γάγγην. οὗτος δὲ τὸ πλάτος γινόμενος σταδίων τριάκοντα φέρεται μὲν ἀπὸ τῆς ἄρκτου πρὸς μεσημβρίαν, ἐξερεύγεται δʼ εἰς τὸν ὠκεανόν, ἀπολαμβάνων εἰς τὸ πρὸς ἕω μέρος τὸ ἔθνος τὸ τῶν Γανδαριδῶν, πλείστους ἔχον καὶ μεγίστους ἐλέφαντας. διὸ καὶ τῆς χώρας ταύτης οὐδεὶς πώποτε βασιλεὺς ἔπηλυς ἐκράτησε, πάντων τῶν ἀλλοεθνῶν φοβουμένων τό τε πλῆθος καὶ τὴν ἀλκὴν τῶν θηρίων. καὶ γὰρ Ἀλέξανδρος ὁ Μακεδὼν ἁπάσης τῆς Ἀσίας κρατήσας μόνους τοὺς Γανδαρίδας οὐκ ἐπολέμησε· καταντήσας γὰρ ἐπὶ τὸν Γάγγην ποταμὸν μετὰ πάσης τῆς δυνάμεως, καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους Ἰνδοὺς καταπολεμήσας, ὡς ἐπύθετο τοὺς Γανδαρίδας ἔχειν τετρακισχιλίους ἐλέφαντας πολεμικῶς κεκοσμημένους, ἀπέγνω τὴν ἐπʼ αὐτοὺς στρατείαν. ὁ δὲ παραπλήσιος τῷ Γάγγῃ ποταμός, προσαγορευόμενος δὲ Ἰνδός, ἄρχεται μὲν ὁμοίως ἀπὸ τῶν ἄρκτων, ἐμβάλλων δὲ εἰς τὸν ὠκεανὸν ἀφορίζει τὴν Ἰνδικήν· πολλὴν δὲ διεξιὼν πεδιάδα χώραν δέχεται ποταμοὺς οὐκ ὀλίγους πλωτούς, ἐπιφανεστάτους δʼ Ὕπανιν καὶ Ὑδάσπην καὶ Ἀκεσῖνον. χωρὶς δὲ τούτων ἄλλο πλῆθος ποταμῶν παντοδαπῶν διαρρεῖ καὶ ποιεῖ κατάφυτον πολλοῖς κηπεύμασι καὶ καρποῖς παντοδαποῖς τὴν χώραν. τοῦ δὲ κατὰ τοὺς ποταμοὺς πλήθους καὶ τῆς τῶν ὑδάτων ὑπερβολῆς αἰτίαν φέρουσιν οἱ παρʼ αὐτοῖς φιλόσοφοι καὶ φυσικοὶ τοιαύτην· τῆς Ἰνδικῆς φασι τὰς περικειμένας χώρας, τήν τε Σκυθῶν καὶ Βακτριανῶν, ἔτι δὲ καὶ τῶν Ἀριανῶν, ὑψηλοτέρας εἶναι τῆς Ἰνδικῆς, ὥστʼ εὐλόγως εἰς τὴν ὑποκειμένην χώραν πανταχόθεν συρρεούσας τὰς λιβάδας ἐκ τοῦ κατʼ ὀλίγον ποιεῖν τοὺς τόπους καθύγρους καὶ γεννᾶν ποταμῶν πλῆθος. ἴδιον δέ τι συμβαίνει περί τινα τῶν κατὰ τὴν Ἰνδικὴν ποταμῶν τὸν ὀνομαζόμενον Σίλλαν, ῥέοντα δʼ ἔκ τινος ὁμωνύμου κρήνης· ἐπὶ γὰρ τούτου μόνου τῶν ἁπάντων ποταμῶν οὐδὲν τῶν ἐμβαλλομένων εἰς αὐτὸν ἐπιπλεῖ, πάντα δʼ εἰς τὸν βυθὸν καταδύεται παραδόξως.
The land of the Indians has also many large navigable rivers which have their sources in the mountains lying to the north and then flow through the level country; and not a few of these unite and empty into the river known as the Ganges. 2 This river, which is thirty stades in width, flows from north to south and empties into the ocean, forming the boundary towards the east of the tribe of the Gandaridae, which possesses the greatest number of elephants and the largest in size. 3 Consequently no foreign king has ever subdued this country, all alien nations being fearful of both the multitude and the strength of the beasts. In fact even Alexander of Macedon, although he had subdued all Asia, refrained from making war upon the Gandaridae alone of all peoples; for when he had arrived at the Ganges river with his entire army, after his conquest of the rest of the Indians, upon learning that the Gandaridae had four thousand elephants equipped for war he gave up his campaign against them. The river which is nearly the equal of the Ganges and is called the Indus rises like the Ganges in the north, but as it empties into the ocean forms a boundary of India; and in its course through an expanse of level plain it receives not a few navigable rivers, the most notable being the Hypanis, Hydaspes, and Acesinus. 5 And in addition to these three rivers a vast number of others of every description traverse the country and bring it about that the land is planted in many gardens and crops of every description. Now for the multitude of rivers and the exceptional supply of water the philosophers and students of nature among them advance the following cause: 6 The countries which surround India, they say, such as Scythia, Bactria, and Ariana, are higher than India, and so it is reasonable to assume that the waters which come together from every side into the country lying below them, gradually cause the regions to become soaked and to generate a multitude of rivers. 7 And a peculiar thing happens in the case of one of the rivers of India, known as the Silla, which flows from a spring of the same name; for it is the only river in the world possessing the characteristic that nothing cast into it floats, but that everything, strange to say, sinks to the bottom.
§ 2.38
τὴν δʼ ὅλην Ἰνδικὴν οὖσαν ὑπερμεγέθη λέγεται κατοικεῖν ἔθνη πολλὰ καὶ παντοδαπά, καὶ τούτων μηδὲν ἔχειν τὴν ἐξ ἀρχῆς γένεσιν ἔπηλυν, ἀλλὰ πάντα δοκεῖν ὑπάρχειν αὐτόχθονα, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις μήτε ξενικὴν ἀποικίαν προσδέχεσθαι πώποτε μήτʼ εἰς ἀλλοεθνεῖς ἀπεσταλκέναι. μυθολογοῦσι δὲ τοὺς ἀρχαιοτάτους ἀνθρώπους τροφαῖς μὲν κεχρῆσθαι τοῖς αὐτομάτως φυομένοις ἐκ τῆς γῆς καρποῖς, ἐσθῆσι δὲ ταῖς δοραῖς τῶν ἐγχωρίων ζῴων, καθάπερ καὶ παρʼ Ἕλλησιν. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τῶν τεχνῶν τὰς εὑρέσεις καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν πρὸς βίον χρησίμων ἐκ τοῦ κατʼ ὀλίγον γενέσθαι, τῆς χρείας αὐτῆς ὑφηγουμένης εὐφυεῖ ζῴῳ καὶ συνεργοὺς ἔχοντι πρὸς ἅπαντα χεῖρας καὶ λόγον καὶ ψυχῆς ἀγχίνοιαν. μυθολογοῦσι δὲ παρὰ τοῖς Ἰνδοῖς οἱ λογιώτατοι, περὶ οὗ καθῆκον ἂν εἴη συντόμως διελθεῖν. φασὶ γὰρ ἐν τοῖς ἀρχαιοτάτοις χρόνοις, παρʼ αὐτοῖς ἔτι τῶν ἀνθρώπων κωμηδὸν οἰκούντων, παραγενέσθαι τὸν Διόνυσον ἐκ τῶν πρὸς ἑσπέραν τόπων ἔχοντα δύναμιν ἀξιόλογον· ἐπελθεῖν δὲ τὴν Ἰνδικὴν ἅπασαν, μηδεμιᾶς οὔσης ἀξιολόγου πόλεως τῆς δυναμένης ἀντιτάξασθαι. ἐπιγενομένων δὲ καυμάτων μεγάλων, καὶ τῶν τοῦ Διονύσου στρατιωτῶν λοιμικῇ νόσῳ διαφθειρομένων, συνέσει διαφέροντα τὸν ἡγεμόνα τοῦτον ἀπαγαγεῖν τὸ στρατόπεδον ἐκ τῶν πεδινῶν τόπων εἰς τὴν ὀρεινήν· ἐν ταύτῃ δὲ πνεόντων ψυχρῶν ἀνέμων καὶ τῶν ναματιαίων ὑδάτων καθαρῶν ῥεόντων πρὸς αὐταῖς ταῖς πηγαῖς, ἀπαλλαγῆναι τῆς νόσου τὸ στρατόπεδον. ὀνομάζεσθαι δὲ τῆς ὀρεινῆς τὸν τόπον τοῦτον Μηρόν, καθʼ ὃν ὁ Διόνυσος ἐξέτρεψε τὰς δυνάμεις ἐκ τῆς νόσου· ἀφʼ οὗ δὴ καὶ τοὺς Ἕλληνας περὶ τοῦ θεοῦ τούτου παραδεδωκέναι τοῖς μεταγενεστέροις τεθράφθαι τὸν Διόνυσον ἐν μηρῷ. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τῆς παραθέσεως τῶν καρπῶν ἐπιμεληθέντα μεταδιδόναι τοῖς Ἰνδοῖς, καὶ τὴν εὕρεσιν τοῦ οἴνου καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν εἰς τὸν βίον χρησίμων παραδοῦναι. πρὸς δὲ τούτοις πόλεών τε ἀξιολόγων γενηθῆναι κτίστην, μεταγαγόντα τὰς κώμας εἰς τοὺς εὐθέτους τόπους, τιμᾶν τε καταδεῖξαι τὸ θεῖον καὶ νόμους εἰσηγήσασθαι καὶ δικαστήρια, καθόλου δὲ πολλῶν καὶ καλῶν ἔργων εἰσηγητὴν γενόμενον θεὸν νομισθῆναι καὶ τυχεῖν ἀθανάτων τιμῶν. ἱστοροῦσι δʼ αὐτὸν καὶ γυναικῶν πλῆθος μετὰ τοῦ στρατοπέδου περιάγεσθαι, καὶ κατὰ τὰς ἐν τοῖς πολέμοις παρατάξεις τυμπάνοις καὶ κυμβάλοις κεχρῆσθαι, μήπω σάλπιγγος εὑρημένης. βασιλεύσαντα δὲ πάσης τῆς Ἰνδικῆς ἔτη δύο πρὸς τοῖς πεντήκοντα γήρᾳ τελευτῆσαι. διαδεξαμένους δὲ τοὺς υἱοὺς αὐτοῦ τὴν ἡγεμονίαν ἀεὶ τοῖς ἀφʼ ἑαυτῶν ἀπολιπεῖν τὴν ἀρχήν· τὸ δὲ τελευταῖον πολλαῖς γενεαῖς ὕστερον καταλυθείσης τῆς ἡγεμονίας δημοκρατηθῆναι τὰς πόλεις.
Now India as a whole, being of a vast extent, is inhabited, as we are told, by many other peoples of every description, and not one of them had its first origin in a foreign land, but all of them are thought to be autochthonous; it never receives any colony from abroad nor has it ever sent one to any other people. 2 According to their myths the earliest human beings used for food the fruits of the earth which grew wild, and for clothing the skins of the native animals, as was done by the Greeks. Similarly too the discovery of the several arts and of all other things which are useful for life was made gradually, necessity itself showing the way to a creature which was well endowed by nature and had, as its assistants for every purpose, hands and speech and sagacity of mind. The most learned men among the Indians recount a myth which it may be appropriate to set forth in brief form. This, then, is what they say: In the earliest times, when the inhabitants of their land were still dwelling in scattered clan-villages, Dionysus came to them from the regions to the west of them with a notable army; and he traversed all India, since there was as yet no notable city which would have been able to oppose him. 4 But when an oppressive heat came and the soldiers of Dionysus were being consumed by a pestilential sickness, this leader, who was conspicuous for his wisdom, led his army out of the plains into the hillcountry; here, where cool breezes blew and the spring waters flowed pure at their very sources, the army got rid of its sickness. The name of this region of the hill-country, where Dionysus relieved his forces of the sickness, is Meros; and it is because of this fact that the Greeks have handed down to posterity in their account of this god the story that Dionysus was nourished in a thigh (meros). After this he took in hand the storing of the fruits and shared this knowledge with the Indians, and he communicated to them the discovery of wine and of all the other things useful for life. Furthermore, he became the founder of notable cities by gathering the villages together in wellsituated regions, and he both taught them to honour the deity and introduced laws and courts; and, in brief, since he had been the introducer of many good works he was regarded as a god and received immortal honours. 6 They also recount that he carried along with his army a great number of women, and that when he joined battle in his wars he used the sounds of drums and cymbals, since the trumpet had not yet been discovered. And after he had reigned over all India for fifty-two years he died of old age. His sons, who succeeded to the sovereignty, passed the rule on successively to their descendants; but finally, many generations later, their sovereignty was dissolved and the cities received a democratic form of government.
§ 2.39
περὶ μὲν οὖν τοῦ Διονύσου καὶ τῶν ἀπογόνων αὐτοῦ τοιαῦτα μυθολογοῦσιν οἱ τὴν ὀρεινὴν τῆς Ἰνδικῆς κατοικοῦντες. τόν τε Ἡρακλέα φασὶ παρ αὑτοῖς γεγενῆσθαι, καὶ παραπλησίως τοῖς Ἕλλησι τό τε ῥόπαλον καὶ τὴν λεοντῆν αὐτῷ προσάπτουσι. τῇ δὲ τοῦ σώματος ῥώμῃ καὶ ἀλκῇ πολλῷ τῶν ἄλλων ἀνθρώπων διενεγκεῖν, καὶ καθαρὰν ποιῆσαι τῶν θηρίων γῆν τε καὶ θάλατταν. γήμαντα δὲ πλείους γυναῖκας υἱοὺς μὲν πολλούς, θυγατέρα δὲ μίαν γεννῆσαι, καὶ τούτων ἐνηλίκων γενομένων πᾶσαν τὴν Ἰνδικὴν διελόμενον εἰς ἴσας τοῖς τέκνοις μερίδας, ἅπαντας τοὺς υἱοὺς ἀποδεῖξαι βασιλέας, μίαν δὲ θυγατέρα θρέψαντα καὶ ταύτην βασίλισσαν ἀποδεῖξαι. κτίστην τε πόλεων οὐκ ὀλίγων γενέσθαι, καὶ τούτων τὴν ἐπιφανεστάτην καὶ μεγίστην προσαγορεῦσαι Παλίβοθρα. κατασκευάσαι δʼ ἐν αὐτῇ καὶ βασίλεια πολυτελῆ καὶ πλῆθος οἰκητόρων καθιδρῦσαι· τήν τε πόλιν ὀχυρῶσαι τάφροις ἀξιολόγοις ποταμίοις ὕδασι πληρουμέναις. καὶ τὸν μὲν Ἡρακλέα τὴν ἐξ ἀνθρώπων μετάστασιν ποιησάμενον ἀθανάτου τυχεῖν τιμῆς, τοὺς δʼ ἀπογόνους αὐτοῦ βασιλεύσαντας ἐπὶ πολλὰς γενεὰς καὶ πράξεις ἀξιολόγους μεταχειρισαμένους μήτε στρατείαν ὑπερόριον ποιήσασθαι μήτε ἀποικίαν εἰς ἀλλοεθνεῖς ἀποστεῖλαι. ὕστερον δὲ πολλοῖς ἔτεσι τὰς πλείστας μὲν τῶν πόλεων δημοκρατηθῆναι, τινῶν δʼ ἐθνῶν τὰς βασιλείας διαμεῖναι μέχρι τῆς Ἀλεξάνδρου διαβάσεως· νομίμων δʼ ὄντων παρὰ τοῖς Ἰνδοῖς ἐνίων ἐξηλλαγμένων θαυμασιώτατον ἄν τις ἡγήσαιτο τὸ καταδειχθὲν ὑπὸ τῶν ἀρχαίων παρʼ αὐτοῖς φιλοσόφων· νενομοθέτηται γὰρ παρʼ αὐτοῖς δοῦλον μὲν μηδένα εἶναι τὸ παράπαν, ἐλευθέρους δʼ ὑπάρχοντας τὴν ἰσότητα τιμᾶν ἐν πᾶσι. τοὺς γὰρ μαθόντας μήθʼ ὑπερέχειν μήθʼ ὑποπίπτειν ἄλλοις κράτιστον ἕξειν βίον πρὸς ἁπάσας τὰς περιστάσεις· εὔηθες γὰρ εἶναι νόμους μὲν ἐπʼ ἴσης τιθέναι πᾶσι, τὰς δʼ οὐσίας ἀνωμάλους κατασκευάζειν.
As for Dionysus, then, and his descendants, such is the myth as it is related by the inhabitants of the hill-country of India. And with regard to Heracles they say that he was born among them and they assign to him, in common with the Greeks, both the club and the lion's skin. 2 Moreover, as their account tells us, he was far superior to all other men in strength of body and in courage, and cleared both land and sea of their wild beasts. And marrying several wives, he begot many sons, but only one daughter; and when his sons attained to manhood, dividing all India into as many parts as he had male children, he appointed all his sons kings, and rearing his single daughter he appointed her also a queen. 3 Likewise, he became the founder of not a few cities, the most renowned and largest of which he called Palibothra. In this city he also constructed a costly palace and settled a multitude of inhabitants, and he fortified it with remarkable ditches which were filled with water from the river. 4 And when Heracles passed from among men he received immortal honour, but his descendants, though they held the kingship during many generations and accomplished notable deeds, made no campaign beyond their own frontiers and despatched no colony to any other people. But many years later most of the cities had received a democratic form of government, although among certain tribes the kingship endured until the time when Alexander crossed over into Asia. As for the customs of the Indians which are peculiar to them, a man may consider one which was drawn up by their ancient wise men to be the most worthy of admiration; for the law has ordained that under no circumstances shall anyone among them be a slave, but that all shall be free and respect the principle of equality in all persons. For those, they think, who have learned neither to domineer over others nor to subject themselves to others will enjoy a manner of life best suited to all circumstances; since it is silly to make laws on the basis of equality for all persons, and yet to establish inequalities in social intercourse.
§ 2.40
τὸ δὲ πᾶν πλῆθος τῶν Ἰνδῶν εἰς ἑπτὰ μέρη διῄρηται, ὧν ἐστι τὸ μὲν πρῶτον σύστημα φιλοσόφων, πλήθει μὲν τῶν ἄλλων μερῶν λειπόμενον, τῇ δʼ ἐπιφανείᾳ πάντων πρωτεῦον. ἀλειτούργητοι γὰρ ὄντες οἱ φιλόσοφοι πάσης ὑπουργίας οὔθʼ ἑτέρων κυριεύουσιν οὔθʼ ὑφʼ ἑτέρων δεσπόζονται. παραλαμβάνονται δʼ ὑπὸ μὲν τῶν ἰδιωτῶν εἴς τε τὰς ἐν τῷ βίῳ θυσίας καὶ εἰς τὰς τῶν τετελευτηκότων ἐπιμελείας, ὡς θεοῖς γεγονότες προσφιλέστατοι καὶ περὶ τῶν ἐν ᾅδου μάλιστʼ ἐμπείρως ἔχοντες, ταύτης τε τῆς ὑπουργίας δῶρά τε καὶ τιμὰς λαμβάνουσιν ἀξιολόγους· τῷ δὲ κοινῷ τῶν Ἰνδῶν μεγάλας παρέχονται χρείας παραλαμβανόμενοι μὲν κατὰ τὸ νέον ἔτος ἐπὶ τὴν μεγάλην σύνοδον, προλέγοντες δὲ τοῖς πλήθεσι περὶ αὐχμῶν καὶ ἐπομβρίας, ἔτι δʼ ἀνέμων εὐπνοίας καὶ νόσων καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν δυναμένων τοὺς ἀκούοντας ὠφελῆσαι. τὰ μέλλοντα γὰρ προακούσαντες οἵ τε πολλοὶ καὶ ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐκπληροῦσιν ἀεὶ τὸ μέλλον ἐκλείπειν καὶ προκατασκευάζουσιν ἀεί τι τῶν χρησίμων. ὁ δʼ ἀποτυχὼν τῶν φιλοσόφων ἐν ταῖς προρρήσεσιν ἄλλην μὲν οὐδεμίαν ἀναδέχεται τιμωρίαν ἢ βλασφημίαν, ἄφωνος δὲ διατελεῖ τὸν λοιπὸν βίον. δεύτερον δʼ ἐστὶ μέρος τὸ τῶν γεωργῶν, οἳ τῷ πλήθει τῶν ἄλλων πολὺ προέχειν δοκοῦσιν. οὗτοι δὲ πολέμων καὶ τῆς ἄλλης λειτουργίας ἀφειμένοι περὶ τὰς γεωργίας ἀσχολοῦνται· καὶ οὐδεὶς ἂν πολέμιος περιτυχὼν γεωργῷ κατὰ τὴν χώραν ἀδικήσειεν ἄν, ἀλλʼ ὡς κοινοὺς εὐεργέτας ἡγούμενοι πάσης ἀδικίας ἀπέχονται. διόπερ ἀδιάφθορος ἡ χώρα διαμένουσα καὶ καρποῖς βρίθουσα πολλὴν ἀπόλαυσιν παρέχεται τῶν ἐπιτηδείων τοῖς ἀνθρώποις. βιοῦσι δʼ ἐπὶ τῆς χώρας μετὰ τέκνων καὶ γυναικῶν οἱ γεωργοί, καὶ τῆς εἰς τὴν πόλιν καταβάσεως παντελῶς ἀφεστήκασι. τῆς δὲ χώρας μισθοὺς τελοῦσι τῷ βασιλεῖ διὰ τὸ πᾶσαν τὴν Ἰνδικὴν βασιλικὴν εἶναι, ἰδιώτῃ δὲ μηδενὶ γῆν ἐξεῖναι κεκτῆσθαι· χωρὶς δὲ τῆς μισθώσεως τετάρτην εἰς τὸ βασιλικὸν τελοῦσι. τρίτον δʼ ἐστὶ φῦλον τὸ τῶν βουκόλων καὶ ποιμένων καὶ καθόλου πάντων τῶν νομέων, οἳ πόλιν μὲν ἢ κώμην οὐκ οἰκοῦσι, σκηνίτῃ δὲ βίῳ χρῶνται, οἱ δʼ αὐτοὶ καὶ κυνηγοῦντες καθαρὰν ποιοῦσι τὴν χώραν ὀρνέων τε καὶ θηρίων. εἰς ταῦτα δʼ ἀσκοῦντες καὶ φιλοτεχνοῦντες ἐξημεροῦσι τὴν Ἰνδικήν, πλήθουσαν πολλῶν καὶ παντοδαπῶν θηρίων τε καὶ ὀρνέων τῶν κατεσθιόντων τὰ σπέρματα τῶν γεωργῶν.
The whole multitude of the Indians is divided into seven castes, the first of which is formed of the order of the philosophers, which in number is smaller than the rest of the castes, but in dignity ranks first. For being exempt from any service to the state the philosophers are neither the masters nor the servants of the others. 2 But they are called upon by the private citizens both to offer the sacrifices which are required in their lifetime and to perform the rites for the dead, as having proved themselves to be most dear to the gods and as being especially experienced in the matters that relate to the underworld, and for this service they receive both notable gifts and honours. Moreover, they furnish great services to the whole body of the Indians, since they are invited at the beginning of the year to the Great Synod and foretell to the multitude droughts and rains, as well as the favourable blowing of winds, and epidemics, and whatever else can be of aid to their auditors. 3 For both the common folk and the king, by learning in advance what is going to take place, store up from time to time that of which there will be a shortage and prepare beforehand from time to time anything that will be needed. And the philosopher who has erred in his predictions is subjected to no other punishment than obloquy and keeps silence for the remainder of his life. The second caste is that of the farmers, who, it would appear, are far more numerous than the rest. These, being exempt from war duties and every other service to the state, devote their entire time to labour in the fields; and no enemy, coming upon a farmer in the country, would think of doing him injury, but they look upon the farmers as common benefactors and therefore refrain from every injury to them. 5 Consequently the land, remaining as it does unravaged and being laden with fruits, provides the inhabitants with a great supply of provisions. And the farmers spend their lives upon the land with their children and wives and refrain entirely from coming down into the city. For the land they pay rent to the kind, since all India is royal land and no man of private station is permitted to possess any ground; and apart from the rental they pay a fourth part into the royal treasury. The third division is that of the neatherds and shepherds, and, in general, of all the herdsmen who do not dwell in a city or village but spend their lives in tents; and these men are also hunters and rid the country of both birds and wild beasts. And since they are practised in this calling and follow it with zest they are bringing India under cultivation, although it still abounds in many wild beasts and birds of every kind, which eat up the seeds sown by the farmers.
§ 2.41
τέταρτον δʼ ἐστὶ μέρος τὸ τῶν τεχνιτῶν· καὶ τούτων οἱ μέν εἰσιν ὁπλοποιοί, οἱ δὲ τοῖς γεωργοῖς ἤ τισιν ἄλλοις τὰ χρήσιμα πρὸς ὑπηρεσίαν κατασκευάζουσιν. οὗτοι δʼ οὐ μόνον ἀτελεῖς εἰσιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ σιτομετρίαν ἐκ τοῦ βασιλικοῦ λαμβάνουσι. πέμπτον δὲ τὸ στρατιωτικόν, εἰς τοὺς πολέμους εὐθετοῦν, τῷ μὲν πλήθει δεύτερον, ἀνέσει δὲ καὶ παιδιᾷ πλείστῃ χρώμενον ἐν ταῖς εἰρήναις. τρέφεται δʼ ἐκ τοῦ βασιλικοῦ πᾶν τὸ πλῆθος τῶν στρατιωτῶν καὶ τῶν πολεμιστῶν ἵππων τε καὶ ἐλεφάντων. ἕκτον δʼ ἐστὶ τὸ τῶν ἐφόρων· οὗτοι δὲ πολυπραγμονοῦντες πάντα καὶ ἐφορῶντες τὰ κατὰ τὴν Ἰνδικὴν ἀπαγγέλλουσι τοῖς βασιλεῦσιν, ἐὰν δʼ ἡ πόλις αὐτῶν ἀβασίλευτος ᾖ, τοῖς ἄρχουσιν. ἕβδομον δʼ ἐστὶ μέρος τὸ βουλεῦον μὲν καὶ συνεδρεῦον τοῖς ὑπὲρ τῶν κοινῶν βουλευομένοις, πλήθει μὲν ἐλάχιστον, εὐγενείᾳ δὲ καὶ φρονήσει μάλιστα θαυμαζόμενον· ἐκ τούτων γὰρ οἵ τε σύμβουλοι τοῖς βασιλεῦσίν εἰσιν οἵ τε διοικηταὶ τῶν κοινῶν καὶ οἱ δικασταὶ τῶν ἀμφισβητουμένων, καὶ καθόλου τοὺς ἡγεμόνας καὶ τοὺς ἄρχοντας ἐκ τούτων ἔχουσι. τὰ μὲν οὖν μέρη τῆς διῃρημένης πολιτείας παρʼ Ἰνδοῖς σχεδὸν ταῦτʼ ἔστιν· οὐκ ἔξεστι δὲ γαμεῖν ἐξ ἄλλου γένους ἢ προαιρέσεις ἢ τέχνας μεταχειρίζεσθαι, οἷον στρατιώτην ὄντα γεωργεῖν ἢ τεχνίτην ὄντα φιλοσοφεῖν.
The fourth caste is that of the artisans; of these some are armourers and some fabricate for the farmers or certain others the things useful for the services they perform. And they are not only exempt from paying taxes but they even receive rations from the royal treasury. The fifth caste is that of the military, which is at hand in case of war; they are second in point of number and indulge to the fullest in relaxation and pastimes in the periods of peace. And the maintenance of the whole multitude of the soldiers and of the horses and elephants for use in war is met out of the royal treasury. The sixth caste is that of the inspectors. These men inquire into and inspect everything that is going on throughout India, and report back to the kings or, in case the state to which they are attached has no king, to the magistrates. The seventh caste is that of the deliberators and chancellors, whose concern is with the decisions which affect the common welfare. In point of number this group is the smallest, but in nobility of birth and wisdom the most worthy of admiration; for from their body are drawn the advisers for the kings and the administrators of the affairs of state and the judges of disputes, and, speaking generally, they take their leaders and magistrates from among these men. Such in general terms are the groups into which the body politic of the Indians is divided. Furthermore, no one is allowed to marry a person of another caste or to follow another calling or trade, as, for instance, that one who is a soldier should become a farmer, or an artisan should become a philosopher.
§ 2.42
ἔχει δʼ ἡ τῶν Ἰνδῶν χώρα πλείστους καὶ μεγίστους ἐλέφαντας, ἀλκῇ τε καὶ μεγέθει πολὺ διαφέροντας. ὀχεύεται δὲ τοῦτο τὸ ζῷον οὐχ ὥσπερ τινές φασιν, ἐξηλλαγμένως, ἀλλʼ ὁμοίως ἵπποις καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις τετράποσι ζῴοις· κυοῦσι δὲ τοὺς μὲν ἐλαχίστους μῆνας ἑκκαίδεκα, τοὺς δὲ πλείστους ὀκτωκαίδεκα. τίκτουσι δὲ καθάπερ ἵπποι κατὰ τὸ πλεῖστον ἕν, καὶ τρέφουσι τὸ γεννηθὲν αἱ μητέρες ἐπʼ ἔτη ἕξ. ζῶσι δʼ οἱ πλεῖστοι καθάπερ ὁ μακροβιώτατος ἄνθρωπος, οἱ δὲ μάλιστα γηράσαντες ἔτη διακόσια. εἰσὶ δὲ παρʼ Ἰνδοῖς καὶ ἐπὶ τοὺς ξένους ἄρχοντες τεταγμένοι καὶ φροντίζοντες ὅπως μηδεὶς ξένος ἀδικῆται· τοῖς δʼ ἀρρωστοῦσι τῶν ξένων ἰατροὺς εἰσάγουσι καὶ τὴν ἄλλην ἐπιμέλειαν ποιοῦνται, καὶ τελευτήσαντας θάπτουσιν, ἔτι δὲ τὰ καταλειφθέντα χρήματα τοῖς προσήκουσιν ἀποδιδόασιν. οἵ τε δικασταὶ τὰς κρίσεις παρʼ αὐτοῖς ἀκριβῶς διαγινώσκουσι, καὶ πικρῶς τοῖς ἁμαρτάνουσι προσφέρονται. περὶ μὲν οὖν τῆς Ἰνδικῆς καὶ τῶν κατʼ αὐτὴν ἀρχαιολογουμένων ἀρκεσθησόμεθα τοῖς ῥηθεῖσιν.
The country of the Indians also possesses a vast number of enormous elephants, which far surpass all others both in strength and size. Nor does this animal cover the female in a peculiar manner, as some say, but in the same way as horses and all other four-footed beasts; and their period of gestation is in some cases sixteen months at the least and in other cases eighteen months at the most. 2 They bring forth, like horses, but one young for the most part, and the females suckle their young for six years. The span of life for most of them is about that of men who attain the greatest age, though some which have reached the highest age have lived two hundred years. There are among the Indians also magistrates appointed for foreigners who take care that no foreigner shall be wronged; moreover, should any foreigner fall sick they bring him a physician and care for him in every other way, and if he dies they bury him and even turn over such property as he has to his relatives. 4 Again, their judges examine accurately matters of dispute and proceed rigorously against such as are guilty of wrongdoing. As for India, then, and its antiquities we shall be satisfied with what has been said.
§ 2.43
περὶ δὲ τῶν Σκυθῶν τῶν οἰκούντων τὴν ὅμορον χώραν ἐν μέρει διέξιμεν. οὗτοι γὰρ τὸ μὲν ἐξ ἀρχῆς ὀλίγην ἐνέμοντο χώραν, ὕστερον δὲ κατʼ ὀλίγον αὐξηθέντες διὰ τὰς ἀλκὰς καὶ τὴν ἀνδρείαν πολλὴν μὲν κατεκτήσαντο χώραν, τὸ δʼ ἔθνος εἰς μεγάλην ἡγεμονίαν καὶ δόξαν προήγαγον. τὸ μὲν οὖν πρῶτον παρὰ τὸν Ἀράξην ποταμὸν ὀλίγοι κατῴκουν παντελῶς καὶ διὰ τὴν ἀδοξίαν καταφρονούμενοι· ἕνα δὲ τῶν ἀρχαίων ἔχοντες βασιλέα φιλοπόλεμον καὶ διαφέροντα στρατηγίᾳ προσεκτήσαντο χώραν, τῆς μὲν ὀρεινῆς ἕως πρὸς τὸν Καύκασον, τῆς δὲ πεδινῆς τὰ παρὰ τὸν ὠκεανὸν καὶ τὴν Μαιῶτιν λίμνην καὶ τὴν ἄλλην χώραν ἕως Τανάιδος ποταμοῦ. ὕστερον δὲ μυθολογοῦσι Σκύθαι παρʼ αὑτοῖς γενέσθαι γηγενῆ παρθένον· ταύτην δʼ ἔχειν τὰ μὲν ἄνω μέρη τοῦ σώματος μέχρι τῆς ζώνης γυναικεῖα, τὰ δὲ κατώτερα ἐχίδνης. ταύτῃ δὲ Δία μιγέντα γεννῆσαι παῖδα Σκύθην ὄνομα. τοῦτον δὲ γενόμενον ἐπιφανέστατον τῶν πρὸ αὐτοῦ τοὺς λαοὺς ἀφʼ ἑαυτοῦ Σκύθας προσαγορεῦσαι. τῶν δὲ ἀπογόνων τούτου τοῦ βασιλέως ἀδελφοὺς δύο γενέσθαι διαφόρους ἀρετῇ, καὶ τὸν μὲν Πάλον, τὸν δὲ Νάπην ὠνομάσθαι. τούτων δʼ ἐπιφανεῖς πράξεις κατεργασαμένων καὶ διελομένων τὴν βασιλείαν, ἀφʼ ἑκατέρου τοὺς λαοὺς τοὺς μὲν Πάλους, τοὺς δὲ Νάπας προσαγορευθῆναι. μετὰ δέ τινας χρόνους τοὺς ἀπογόνους τούτων τῶν βασιλέων ἀνδρείᾳ καὶ στρατηγίᾳ διενεγκόντας πολλὴν μὲν πέραν τοῦ Τανάιδος ποταμοῦ χώραν καταστρέψασθαι μέχρι τῆς Θρᾴκης, ἐπὶ δὲ θάτερα μέρη στρατεύσαντας διατεῖναι τῇ δυνάμει μέχρι τοῦ κατʼ Αἴγυπτον Νείλου. πολλὰ δὲ καὶ μεγάλα τῶν ἀνὰ μέσον τούτων ἐθνῶν καταδουλωσαμένους προβιβάσαι τὴν ἡγεμονίαν τῶν Σκυθῶν τῇ μὲν ἐπὶ τὸν πρὸς ἀνατολὰς ὠκεανόν, τῇ δʼ ἐπὶ τὴν Κασπίαν θάλατταν καὶ Μαιῶτιν λίμνην· ηὐξήθη γὰρ ἐπὶ πολὺ τοῦτο τὸ ἔθνος καὶ βασιλεῖς ἔσχεν ἀξιολόγους, ἀφʼ ὧν τοὺς μὲν Σάκας προσαγορευθῆναι, τοὺς δὲ Μασσαγέτας, τινὰς δʼ Ἀριμασπούς, καὶ τούτοις ὁμοίως ἄλλους πλείονας. ὑπὸ δὲ τούτων τῶν βασιλέων πολλὰ μὲν καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν καταπολεμηθέντων ἐθνῶν μετῳκίσθαι, δύο δὲ μεγίστας ἀποικίας γενέσθαι, τὴν μὲν ἐκ τῶν Ἀσσυρίων μετασταθεῖσαν εἰς τὴν μεταξὺ χώραν τῆς τε Παφλαγονίας καὶ τοῦ Πόντου, τὴν δʼ ἐκ τῆς Μηδίας παρὰ τὸν Τάναϊν καθιδρυθεῖσαν, ἧς τοὺς λαοὺς Σαυρομάτας ὀνομασθῆναι. τούτους δʼ ὕστερον πολλοῖς ἔτεσιν αὐξηθέντας πορθῆσαι πολλὴν τῆς Σκυθίας, καὶ τοὺς καταπολεμηθέντας ἄρδην ἀναιροῦντας ἔρημον ποιῆσαι τὸ πλεῖστον μέρος τῆς χώρας.
But now, in turn, we shall discuss the Scythians who inhabit the country bordering upon India. This people originally possessed little territory, but later, as they gradually increased in power, they seized much territory by reason of their deeds of might and their bravery and advanced their nation to great leadership and renown. 2 At first, then, they dwelt on the Araxes river, altogether few in number and despised because of their lack of renown; but since one of their early kings was warlike and of unusual skill as a general they acquired territory, in the mountains as far as the Caucasus, and in the steppes along the ocean and Lake Maeotis and the rest of that country as far as the Tanais river. At a later time, as the Scythians recount the myth, there was born among them a maiden sprung from the earth; the upper parts of her body as far as her waist were those of a woman, but the lower parts were those of a snake. With her Zeus lay begat a son whose name was Scythes. This son became more famous than any who had preceded him and called the folk Scythians after his own name. Now among the descendants of this king there were two brothers who were distinguished for their valour, the one named Palus and the other Napes. 4 And since these two performed renowned deeds and divided the kingship between them, some of the people were called Pali after one of them and some Napae after the other. But some time later the descendants of these kings, because of their unusual valour and skill as generals, subdued much of the territory beyond the Tanais river as far as Thrace, and advancing with their armies to the other side they extended their power as far as the Nile in Egypt. 5 And after enslaving many great peoples which lay between the Thracians and the Egyptians they advanced the empire of the Scythians on the one side as far as the ocean to the east, and on the other side to the Caspian Sea and Lake Maeotis; for this people increased to great strength and had notable kings, one of whom gave his name to the Sacae, another to the Massagetae, another to the Arimaspi, and several other tribes received their names in like manner. 6 It was by these kings that many of the conquered peoples were removed to other homes, and two of these became very great colonies: the one was composed of Assyrians and was removed to the land between Paphlagonia and Pontus, and the other was drawn from Media and planted along the Tanais, its people receiving the name Sauromatae. 7 Many years later this people became powerful and ravaged a large part of Scythia, and destroying utterly all whom they subdued they turned most of the land into a desert.
§ 2.44
μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ἀναρχίας γενομένης κατὰ τὴν Σκυθίαν, ἐβασίλευσαν γυναῖκες ἀλκῇ διαφέρουσαι. ἐν τούτοις γὰρ τοῖς ἔθνεσιν αἱ γυναῖκες ἀλκῇ διαφέρουσαι. γυμνάζονται πρὸς πόλεμον παραπλησίως τοῖς ἀνδράσι καὶ ταῖς ἀνδρείαις οὐδὲν λείπονται τῶν ἀνδρῶν. διὸ καὶ γυναικῶν ἐπιφανῶν πολλαὶ καὶ μεγάλαι πράξεις ἐπετελέσθησαν οὐ μόνον κατὰ τὴν Σκυθίαν, ἀλλὰ καὶ κατὰ τὴν ὅμορον ταύτης χώραν. Κύρου μὲν γὰρ τοῦ Περσῶν βασιλέως πλεῖστον ἰσχύσαντος τῶν καθʼ αὑτὸν καὶ στρατεύσαντος ἀξιολόγοις δυνάμεσιν εἰς τὴν Σκυθίαν, ἡ βασίλισσα τῶν Σκυθῶν τό τε στρατόπεδον τῶν Περσῶν κατέκοψε καὶ τὸν Κῦρον αἰχμάλωτον γενόμενον ἀνεσταύρωσε· τό τε συσταθὲν ἔθνος τῶν Ἀμαζόνων τοσοῦτον ἀνδρείᾳ διήνεγκεν ὥστε μὴ μόνον πολλὴν χώραν ὅμορον καταδραμεῖν, ἀλλὰ καὶ πολλὴν τῆς Εὐρώπης καὶ τῆς Ἀσίας καταστρέψασθαι. ἡμεῖς δʼ ἐπειδὴ περὶ τῶν Ἀμαζονίδων ἐμνήσθημεν, οὐκ ἀνοίκειον εἶναι νομίζομεν διελθεῖν περὶ αὐτῶν, εἰ καὶ διὰ τὴν παραδοξολογίαν μύθοις ὅμοια φανήσεται τὰ ῥηθέντα.
After these events there came in Scythia a period of revolutions, in which the sovereigns were women endowed with exceptional valour. For among these peoples the women train for war just as do the men and in acts of manly valour are in no wise inferior to the men. Consequently distinguished women have been the authors of many great deeds, not in Scythia alone, but also in the territory bordering upon it. 2 For instance, when Cyrus the king of the Persians, the mightiest ruler of his day, made a campaign with a vast army into Scythia, the queen of the Scythians not only cut the army of the Persians to pieces but she even took Cyrus prisoner and crucified him; and the nation of the Amazons, after it was once organized, was so distinguished for its manly prowess that it not only overran much of the neighbouring territory but even subdued a large part of Europe and Asia. 3 But for our part, since we have mentioned the Amazons, we feel that it is not foreign to our purpose to discuss them, even though what we shall say will be so marvellous that it will resemble a tale from mythology.
§ 2.45
παρὰ τὸν Θερμώδοντα τοίνυν ποταμὸν ἔθνους κρατοῦντος γυναικοκρατουμένου, καὶ τῶν γυναικῶν ὁμοίως τοῖς ἀνδράσι τὰς πολεμικὰς χρείας μεταχειριζομένων, φασὶ μίαν ἐξ αὐτῶν βασιλικὴν ἐξουσίαν ἔχουσαν ἀλκῇ καὶ ῥώμῃ διενεγκεῖν· συστησαμένην δὲ γυναικῶν στρατόπεδον γυμνάσαι τε τοῦτο καί τινας τῶν ὁμόρων καταπολεμῆσαι. αὐξομένης δὲ τῆς περὶ αὐτὴν ἀρετῆς τε καὶ δόξης συνεχῶς ἐπὶ τὰ πλησιόχωρα τῶν ἐθνῶν στρατεύειν, καὶ τῆς τύχης εὐροούσης φρονήματος ἐμπίμπλασθαι, καὶ θυγατέρα μὲν Ἄρεος αὑτὴν προσαγορεῦσαι, τοῖς δʼ ἀνδράσι προσνεῖμαι τὰς ταλασιουργίας καὶ τὰς τῶν γυναικῶν κατʼ οἴκους ἐργασίας. νόμους τε καταδεῖξαι, διʼ ὧν τὰς μὲν γυναῖκας ἐπὶ τοὺς πολεμικοὺς ἀγῶνας προάγειν, τοῖς δʼ ἀνδράσι ταπείνωσιν καὶ δουλείαν περιάπτειν. τῶν δὲ γεννωμένων τοὺς μὲν ἄρρενας ἐπήρουν τά τε σκέλη καὶ τοὺς βραχίονας, ἀχρήστους κατασκευάζοντες πρὸς τὰς πολεμικὰς χρείας, τῶν δὲ θηλυτερῶν τὸν δεξιὸν μαστὸν ἐπέκαον, ἵνα μὴ κατὰ τὰς ἀκμὰς τῶν σωμάτων ἐπαιρόμενος ἐνοχλῇ· ἀφʼ ἧς αἰτίας συμβῆναι τὸ ἔθνος τῶν Ἀμαζόνων ταύτης τυχεῖν τῆς προσηγορίας. καθόλου δὲ διαφέρουσαν αὐτὴν συνέσει καὶ στρατηγίᾳ πόλιν μὲν κτίσαι μεγάλην παρὰ τὰς ἐκβολὰς τοῦ Θερμώδοντος ποταμοῦ, τοὔνομα Θεμίσκυραν, καὶ βασίλεια κατασκευάσαι περιβόητα, κατὰ δὲ τὰς στρατείας ἐπιμελομένην πολὺ τῆς εὐταξίας τὸ μὲν πρῶτον καταπολεμῆσαι πάντας τοὺς ὁμόρους μέχρι τοῦ Τανάιδος ποταμοῦ. καὶ ταύτην μέν φασι ταύτας τὰς πράξεις ἐπιτελεσαμένην καὶ κατά τινα μάχην λαμπρῶς ἀγωνισαμένην ἡρωικῶς τελευτῆσαι τὸν βίον.
Now in the country along the Thermodon river, as the account goes, the sovereignty was in the hands of a people among whom the women held the supreme power, and its women performed the services of war just as did the men. Of these women one, who possessed the royal authority, was remarkable for her prowess in war and her bodily strength, and gathering together an army of women she drilled it in the use of arms and subdued in war some of the neighbouring peoples. 2 And since her valour and fame increased, she made war upon people after people of neighbouring lands, and as the tide of her fortune continued favourable, she was so filled with pride that she gave herself the appellation of Daughter of Ares; but to the men she assigned the spinning of wool and such other domestic duties as belong to women. Laws were also established by her, by virtue of which she led forth the women to the contests of war, but upon the men she fastened humiliation and slavery. 3 And as for their children, they mutilated both the legs and the arms of the males, incapacitating them in this way for the demands of war, and in the case of the females they seared the right breast that it might not project when their bodies matured and be in the way; and it is for this reason that the nation of the Amazons received the appellation it bears. 4 In general, this queen was remarkable for her intelligence and ability as a general, and she founded a great city named Themiscyra at the mouth of the Thermodon river and built there a famous palace; furthermore, in her campaigns she devoted much attention to military discipline and at the outset subdued all her neighbours as far as the Tanais river. 5 And this queen, they say, accomplished the deeds which have been mentioned, and fighting brilliantly in a certain battle she ended her life heroically.
§ 2.46
διαδεξαμένην δὲ τὴν ταύτης θυγατέρα τὴν βασιλείαν ζηλῶσαι μὲν τὴν ἀρετὴν τῆς μητρός, ὑπερβαλέσθαι δὲ ταῖς κατὰ μέρος πράξεσι. τὰς μὲν γὰρ παρθένους ἀπὸ τῆς πρώτης ἡλικίας ἔν τε ταῖς θήραις γυμνάζειν καὶ καθʼ ἡμέραν ἀσκεῖν τὰ πρὸς πόλεμον ἀνήκοντα, καταδεῖξαι δὲ καὶ θυσίας μεγαλοπρεπεῖς Ἄρει τε καὶ Ἀρτέμιδι τῇ προσαγορευομένῃ Ταυροπόλῳ· στρατεύσασαν δʼ εἰς τὴν πέραν τοῦ Τανάιδος ποταμοῦ χώραν καταπολεμῆσαι πάντα τὰ ἔθνη τὰ συνεχῆ μέχρι τῆς Θρᾴκης· ἀνακάμψασαν δὲ μετὰ πολλῶν λαφύρων εἰς τὴν οἰκείαν ναοὺς μεγαλοπρεπεῖς κατασκευάσαι τῶν προειρημένων θεῶν, καὶ τῶν ὑποτεταγμένων ἐπιεικῶς ἄρχουσαν ἀποδοχῆς τυγχάνειν τῆς μεγίστης. στρατεῦσαι δὲ καὶ ἐπὶ θάτερα μέρη, καὶ πολλὴν τῆς Ἀσίας κατακτήσασθαι, καὶ διατεῖναι τῇ δυνάμει μέχρι τῆς Συρίας. μετὰ δὲ τὴν ταύτης τελευτὴν ἀεὶ τὰς προσηκούσας τῷ γένει διαδεχομένας τὴν βασιλείαν ἄρξαι μὲν ἐπιφανῶς, αὐξῆσαι δὲ τὸ ἔθνος τῶν Ἀμαζονίδων δυνάμει τε καὶ δόξῃ. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα πολλαῖς γενεαῖς ὕστερον, διαβεβοημένης κατὰ πᾶσαν τὴν οἰκουμένην τῆς περὶ αὐτὰς ἀρετῆς, Ἡρακλέα φασὶ τὸν ἐξ Ἀλκμήνης καὶ Διὸς ἆθλον λαβεῖν παρʼ Εὐρυσθέως τὸν Ἱππολύτης τῆς Ἀμαζόνος ζωστῆρα. διόπερ στρατεῦσαι μὲν αὐτόν, παρατάξει δὲ μεγάλῃ νικήσαντα τό τε στρατόπεδον τῶν Ἀμαζόνων κατακόψαι καὶ τὴν Ἱππολύτην μετὰ τοῦ ζωστῆρος ζωγρήσαντα τὸ ἔθνος τοῦτο τελέως συντρῖψαι. διόπερ τοὺς περιοικοῦντας βαρβάρους τῆς μὲν ἀσθενείας αὐτῶν καταφρονήσαντας, τῶν δὲ καθʼ ἑαυτοὺς μνησικακήσαντας, πολεμῆσαι συνεχῶς τὸ ἔθνος ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον ὥστε μηδʼ ὄνομα τοῦ γένους τῶν Ἀμαζονίδων ἀπολιπεῖν. μετὰ γὰρ τὴν Ἡρακλέους στρατείαν ὀλίγοις ὕστερον ἔτεσι κατὰ τὸν Τρωικὸν πόλεμόν φασι Πενθεσίλειαν τὴν βασιλεύουσαν τῶν ὑπολελειμμένων Ἀμαζονίδων, Ἄρεος μὲν οὖσαν θυγατέρα, φόνον δʼ ἐμφύλιον ἐπιτελεσαμένην, φυγεῖν ἐκ τῆς πατρίδος διὰ τὸ μύσος. συμμαχήσασαν δὲ τοῖς Τρωσὶ μετὰ τὴν Ἕκτορος τελευτὴν πολλοὺς ἀνελεῖν τῶν Ἑλλήνων, ἀριστεύσασαν δʼ αὐτὴν ἐν τῇ παρατάξει καταστρέψαι τὸν βίον ἡρωικῶς ὑπʼ Ἀχιλλέως ἀναιρεθεῖσαν. τῶν μὲν οὖν Ἀμαζονίδων ἐσχάτην ταύτην λέγουσιν ἀνδρείᾳ διενεγκεῖν, καὶ τὸ λοιπὸν ἀεὶ τὸ ἔθνος ταπεινούμενον ἀσθενῆσαι παντελῶς· διὸ καὶ κατὰ τοὺς νεωτέρους καιρούς, ἐπειδάν τινες περὶ τῆς αὐτῶν ἀνδρείας διεξίωσι, μύθους ἡγοῦνται πεπλασμένους τὰς περὶ τῶν Ἀμαζονίδων ἀρχαιολογίας.
The daughter of this queen, the account continues, on succeeding to the throne emulated the excellence of her mother, and even surpassed her in some particular deeds. For instance, she exercised in the chase the maidens from their earliest girlhood and drilled them daily in the arts of war, and she also established magnificent festivals both to Ares and to the Artemis who is called Tauropolus. 2 Then she campaigned against the territory lying beyond the Tanais and subdued all the peoples one after another as far as Thrace; and returning to her native land with much booty she built magnificent shrines to the deities mentioned above, and by reason of her kindly rule over her subjects received from them the greatest approbation. She also campaigned on the other side and subdued a large part of Asia and extended her power as far as Syria. After the death of this queen, as their account continues, women of her family, succeeding to the queenship from time to time, ruled with distinction and advanced the nation of the Amazons in both power and fame. And many generations after these events, when the excellence of these women had been noised abroad through the whole inhabited world, they say that Heracles, the son of Alcmene and Zeus, was assigned by Eurystheus the Labour of securing the girdle of Hippolyte the Amazon. 4 Consequently he embarked on this campaign, and coming off victorious in a great battle he not only cut to pieces the army of the Amazons but also, after taking captive Hippolyte together with her girdle, completely crushed this nation. Consequently the neighbouring barbarians, despising the weakness of this people and remembering against them their past injuries, waged continuous wars against the nation to such a degree that they left in existence not even the name of the race of the Amazons. 5 For a few years after the campaign of Heracles against them, they say, during the time of the Trojan War, Penthesileia, the queen of the surviving Amazons, who was a daughter of Ares and had slain one of her kindred, fled from her native land because of the sacrilege. And fighting as an ally of the Trojans after the death of Hector she slew many of the Greeks, and after gaining distinction in the struggle she ended her life heroically at the hands of Achilles. 6 Now they say that Penthesileia was the last of the Amazons to win distinction for bravery and that for the future the race diminished more and more and then lost all its strength; consequently in later times, whenever any writers recount their prowess, men consider the ancient stories about the Amazons to be fictitious tales.
§ 2.47
ἡμεῖς δʼ ἐπεὶ τὰ πρὸς ἄρκτους κεκλιμένα μέρη τῆς Ἀσίας ἠξιώσαμεν ἀναγραφῆς, οὐκ ἀνοίκειον εἶναι νομίζομεν τὰ περὶ τῶν Ὑπερβορέων μυθολογούμενα διελθεῖν. τῶν γὰρ τὰς παλαιὰς μυθολογίας ἀναγεγραφότων Ἑκαταῖος καί τινες ἕτεροί φασιν ἐν τοῖς ἀντιπέρας τῆς Κελτικῆς τόποις κατὰ τὸν ὠκεανὸν εἶναι νῆσον οὐκ ἐλάττω τῆς Σικελίας. ταύτην ὑπάρχειν μὲν κατὰ τὰς ἄρκτους, κατοικεῖσθαι δὲ ὑπὸ τῶν ὀνομαζομένων Ὑπερβορέων ἀπὸ τοῦ πορρωτέρω κεῖσθαι τῆς βορείου πνοῆς· οὖσαν δʼ αὐτὴν εὔγειόν τε καὶ πάμφορον, ἔτι δʼ εὐκρασίᾳ διαφέρουσαν, διττοὺς κατʼ ἔτος ἐκφέρειν καρπούς. μυθολογοῦσι δʼ ἐν αὐτῇ τὴν Λητὼ γεγονέναι· διὸ καὶ τὸν Ἀπόλλω μάλιστα τῶν ἄλλων θεῶν παρʼ αὐτοῖς τιμᾶσθαι· εἶναι δʼ αὐτοὺς ὥσπερ ἱερεῖς τινας Ἀπόλλωνος διὰ τὸ τὸν θεὸν τοῦτον καθʼ ἡμέραν ὑπʼ αὐτῶν ὑμνεῖσθαι μετʼ ᾠδῆς συνεχῶς καὶ τιμᾶσθαι διαφερόντως. ὑπάρχειν δὲ καὶ κατὰ τὴν νῆσον τέμενός τε Ἀπόλλωνος μεγαλοπρεπὲς καὶ ναὸν ἀξιόλογον ἀναθήμασι πολλοῖς κεκοσμημένον, σφαιροειδῆ τῷ σχήματι. καὶ πόλιν μὲν ὑπάρχειν ἱερὰν τοῦ θεοῦ τούτου, τῶν δὲ κατοικούντων αὐτὴν τοὺς πλείστους εἶναι κιθαριστάς, καὶ συνεχῶς ἐν τῷ ναῷ κιθαρίζοντας ὕμνους λέγειν τῷ θεῷ μετʼ ᾠδῆς, ἀποσεμνύνοντας αὐτοῦ τὰς πράξεις. ἔχειν δὲ τοὺς Ὑπερβορέους ἰδίαν τινὰ διάλεκτον, καὶ πρὸς τοὺς Ἕλληνας οἰκειότατα διακεῖσθαι, καὶ μάλιστα πρὸς τοὺς Ἀθηναίους καὶ Δηλίους, ἐκ παλαιῶν χρόνων παρειληφότας τὴν εὔνοιαν ταύτην. καὶ τῶν Ἑλλήνων τινὰς μυθολογοῦσι παραβαλεῖν εἰς Ὑπερβορέους, καὶ ἀναθήματα πολυτελῆ καταλιπεῖν γράμμασιν Ἑλληνικοῖς ἐπιγεγραμμένα. ὡσαύτως δὲ καὶ ἐκ τῶν Ὑπερβορέων Ἄβαριν εἰς τὴν Ἑλλάδα καταντήσαντα τὸ παλαιὸν ἀνασῶσαι τὴν πρὸς Δηλίους εὔνοιάν τε καὶ συγγένειαν. φασὶ δὲ καὶ τὴν σελήνην ἐκ ταύτης τῆς νήσου φαίνεσθαι παντελῶς ὀλίγον ἀπέχουσαν τῆς γῆς καί τινας ἐξοχὰς γεώδεις ἔχουσαν ἐν αὐτῇ φανεράς. λέγεται δὲ καὶ τὸν θεὸν δι’ ἐτῶν ἐννεακαίδεκα καταντᾶν εἰς τὴν νῆσον, ἐν οἷς αἱ τῶν ἄστρων ἀποκαταστάσεις ἐπὶ τέλος ἄγονται· καὶ διὰ τοῦτο τὸν ἐννεακαιδεκαετῆ χρόνον ὑπὸ τῶν Ἑλλήνων Μέτωνος ἐνιαυτὸν ὀνομάζεσθαι. κατὰ δὲ τὴν ἐπιφάνειαν ταύτην τὸν θεὸν κιθαρίζειν τε καὶ χορεύειν συνεχῶς τὰς νύκτας ἀπὸ ἰσημερίας ἐαρινῆς ἕως πλειάδος ἀνατολῆς ἐπὶ τοῖς ἰδίοις εὐημερήμασι τερπόμενον. βασιλεύειν δὲ τῆς πόλεως ταύτης καὶ τοῦ τεμένους ἐπάρχειν τοὺς ὀνομαζομένους Βορεάδας, ἀπογόνους ὄντας Βορέου, καὶ κατὰ γένος ἀεὶ διαδέχεσθαι τὰς ἀρχάς.
Now for our part, since we have seen fit to make mention of the regions of Asia which lie to the north, we feel that it will not be foreign to our purpose to discuss the legendary accounts of the Hyperboreans. Of those who have written about the ancient myths, Hecataeus and certain others say that in the regions beyond the land of the Celts there lies in the ocean an island no smaller than Sicily. This island, the account continues, is situated in the north and is inhabited by the Hyperboreans, who are called by that name because their home is beyond the point whence the north wind (Boreas) blows; and the island is both fertile and productive of every crop, and since it has an unusually temperate climate it produces two harvests each year. 2 Moreover, the following legend is told concerning it: Leto was born on this island, and for that reason Apollo is honoured among them above all other gods; and the inhabitants are looked upon as priests of Apollo, after a manner, since daily they praise this god continuously in song and honour him exceedingly. And there is also on the island both a magnificent sacred precinct of Apollo and a notable temple which is adorned with many votive offerings and is spherical in shape. 3 Furthermore, a city is there which is sacred to this god, and the majority of its inhabitants are players on the cithara; and these continually play on this instrument in the temple and sing hymns of praise to the god, glorifying his deeds. The Hyperboreans also have a language, we informed, which is peculiar to them, and are most friendly disposed towards the Greeks, and especially towards the Athenians and the Delians, who have inherited this good-will from most ancient times. The myth also relates that certain Greeks visited the Hyperboreans and left behind them there costly votive offerings bearing inscriptions in Greek letters. 5 And in the same way Abaris, a Hyperborean, came to Greece in ancient times and renewed the good-will and kinship of his people to the Delians. They say also that the moon, as viewed from this island, appears to be but a little distance from the earth and to have upon it prominences, like those of the earth, which are visible to the eye. 6 The account is also given that the god visits the island every nineteen years, the period in which the return of the stars to the same place in the heavens is accomplished; and for this reason the nineteen-year period is called by the Greeks the "year of Meton." At the time of this appearance of the god he both plays on the cithara and dances continuously the night through from the vernal equinox until the rising of the Pleiades, expressing in this manner his delight in his successes. And the kings of this city and the supervisors of the sacred precinct are called Boreadae, since they are descendants of Boreas, and the succession to these positions is always kept in their family.
§ 2.48
τούτων δʼ ἡμῖν διευκρινημένων μεταβιβάσομεν τὸν λόγον ἐπὶ τὰ ἕτερα μέρη τῆς Ἀσίας τὰ μὴ τετευχότα τῆς ἀναγραφῆς, καὶ μάλιστα τὰ κατὰ τὴν Ἀραβίαν. αὕτη γὰρ κεῖται μὲν μεταξὺ Συρίας καὶ τῆς Αἰγύπτου, πολλοῖς δὲ καὶ παντοδαποῖς ἔθνεσι διείληπται. τὰ μὲν οὖν πρὸς τὴν ἕω μέρη κατοικοῦσιν Ἄραβες οὓς ὀνομάζουσι Ναβαταίους, νεμόμενοι χώραν τὴν μὲν ἔρημον, τὴν δὲ ἄνυδρον, ὀλίγην δὲ καρποφόρον. ἔχουσι δὲ βίον λῃστρικόν, καὶ πολλὴν τῆς ὁμόρου χώρας κατατρέχοντες λῃστεύουσιν, ὄντες δύσμαχοι κατὰ τοὺς πολέμους. κατὰ γὰρ τὴν ἄνυδρον χώραν λεγομένην κατεσκευακότες εὔκαιρα φρέατα, καὶ ταῦτα πεποιηκότες τοῖς ἀλλοεθνέσιν ἄγνωστα, συμφεύγουσιν εἰς τὴν χώραν ταύτην ἀκινδύνως. αὐτοὶ μὲν γὰρ εἰδότες τὰ κατακεκρυμμένα τῶν ὑδάτων, καὶ ταῦτʼ ἀνοίγοντες, χρῶνται δαψιλέσι ποτοῖς· οἱ δὲ τούτους ἐπιδιώκοντες ἀλλοεθνεῖς σπανίζοντες τῆς ὑδρείας διὰ τὴν ἄγνοιαν τῶν φρεάτῶν, οἱ μὲν ἀπόλλυνται διὰ τὴν σπάνιν τῶν ὑδάτων, οἱ δὲ πολλὰ κακοπαθήσαντες μόγις εἰς τὴν οἰκείαν σώζονται. διόπερ οἱ ταύτην τὴν χώραν κατοικοῦντες Ἄραβες, ὄντες δυσκαταπολέμητοι, διατελοῦσιν ἀδούλωτοι, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις ἔπηλυν μὲν ἡγεμόνα τὸ παράπαν οὐ προσδέχονται, διατελοῦσι δὲ τὴν ἐλευθερίαν διαφυλάττοντες ἀσάλευτον. διόπερ οὔτʼ Ἀσσύριοι τὸ παλαιὸν οὔθʼ οἱ Μήδων καὶ Περσῶν, ἔτι δὲ Μακεδόνων βασιλεῖς ἠδυνήθησαν αὐτοὺς καταδουλώσασθαι, πολλὰς μὲν καὶ μεγάλας δυνάμεις ἐπʼ αὐτοὺς ἀγαγόντες, οὐδέποτε δὲ τὰς ἐπιβολὰς συντελέσαντες. ἔστι δʼ ἐν τῇ χώρᾳ τῶν Ναβαταίων καὶ πέτρα καθʼ ὑπερβολὴν ὀχυρά, μίαν ἀνάβασιν ἔχουσα, διʼ ἧς κατʼ ὀλίγους ἀναβαίνοντες ἀποτίθενται τὰς ἀποσκευάς· λίμνη τε μεγάλη φέρουσα πολλὴν ἄσφαλτον, ἐξ ἧς λαμβάνουσιν οὐκ ὀλίγας προσόδους. αὕτη δʼ ἔχει τὸ μὲν μῆκος σταδίων ὡς πεντακοσίων, τὸ δὲ πλάτος ὡς ἑξήκοντα, τὸ δʼ ὕδωρ δυσῶδες καὶ διάπικρον, ὥστε μὴ δύνασθαι μήτʼ ἰχθῦν τρέφειν μήτʼ ἄλλο τῶν καθʼ ὕδατος εἰωθότων ζῴων εἶναι. ἐμβαλλόντων δʼ εἰς αὐτὴν ποταμῶν μεγάλων τῇ γλυκύτητι διαφόρων, τούτων μὲν περιγίνεται κατὰ τὴν δυσωδίαν, ἐξ αὑτῆς δὲ μέσης κατʼ ἐνιαυτὸν ἐκφυσᾷ ἀσφάλτου μέγεθος ποτὲ μὲν μεῖζον ἢ τρίπλεθρον, ἔστι δʼ ὅτε δυοῖν πλέθρων· ἐφʼ ᾧ δὴ συνήθως οἱ περιοικοῦντες βάρβαροι τὸ μὲν μεῖζον καλοῦσι ταῦρον, τὸ δʼ ἔλαττον μόσχον ἐπονομάζουσιν. ἐπιπλεούσης δὲ τῆς ἀσφάλτου πελαγίας ὁ τύπος φαίνεται τοῖς μὲν ἐξ ἀποστήματος θεωροῦσιν οἱονεὶ νῆσος. τὴν δʼ ἔκπτωσιν τῆς ἀσφάλτου συμβαίνει φανερὰν γίνεσθαι τοῖς ἀνθρώποις πρὸ ἡμερῶν εἴκοσι δύο· κύκλῳ γὰρ τῆς λίμνης ἐπὶ πολλοὺς σταδίους ὀσμὴ προσπίπτει μετὰ πνεύματος, καὶ πᾶς ὁ περὶ τὸν τόπον ἄργυρός τε καὶ χρυσὸς καὶ χαλκὸς ἀποβάλλει τὴν ἰδιότητα τοῦ χρώματος. ἀλλʼ αὕτη μὲν ἀποκαθίσταται πάλιν, ἐπειδὰν ἀναφυσηθῆναι συμβῇ πᾶσαν τὴν ἄσφαλτον· ὁ δὲ πλησίον τόπος ἔμπυρος ὢν καὶ δυσώδης ποιεῖ τὰ σώματα τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐπίνοσα καὶ παντελῶς ὀλιγοχρόνια. ἀγαθὴ δʼ ἐστὶ φοινικόφυτος ὅσην αὐτῆς συμβαίνει ποταμοῖς διειλῆφθαι χρησίμοις ἢ πηγαῖς δυναμέναις ἀρδεύειν. γίνεται δὲ περὶ τοὺς τόπους τούτους ἐν αὐλῶνί τινι καὶ τὸ καλούμενον βάλσαμον, ἐξ οὗ πρόσοδον ἁδρὰν λαμβάνουσιν, οὐδαμοῦ μὲν τῆς ἄλλης οἰκουμένης εὑρισκομένου τοῦ φυτοῦ τούτου, τῆς δʼ ἐξ αὐτοῦ χρείας εἰς φάρμακα τοῖς ἰατροῖς καθʼ ὑπερβολὴν εὐθετούσης.
But now that we have examined these matters we shall turn our account to the other parts of Asia which have not yet been described, and more especially to Arabia. This land is situated between Syria and Egypt, and is divided among many peoples of diverse characteristics. Now the eastern parts are inhabited by Arabs, who bear the name of Nabataeans and range over a country which is partly desert and partly waterless, though a small section of it is fruitful. 2 And they lead a life of brigandage, and overrunning a large part of the neighbouring territory they pillage it, being difficult to overcome in war. For in the waterless region, as it is called, they have dug wells at convenient intervals and have kept the knowledge of them hidden from the peoples of all other nations, and so they retreat in a body into this region out of danger. 3 For since they themselves know about the places of hidden water and open them up, they have for their use drinking water in abundance; but such other peoples as pursue them, being in want of a watering-place by reason of their ignorance of the wells, in some cases perish because of the lack of water and in other cases regain their native land in safety only with difficulty and after suffering many ills. 4 Consequently the Arabs who inhabit this country, being difficult to overcome in war, remain always unenslaved; furthermore, they never at any time accept a man of another country as their over-lord and continuous to maintain their liberty unimpaired. 5 Consequently neither the Assyrians of old, nor the kings of the Medes and Persians, nor yet those of the Macedonians have been able to enslave them, and although they led many great forces against them, they never brought their attempts to a successful conclusion. There is also in the land of the Nabataeans a rock, which is exceedingly strong since it has but one approach, and using this ascent they mount it a few at a time and thus store their possessions in safety. And a large lake is also there which produces asphalt in abundance, and from it they derive not a little revenue. 7 It has a length of about five hundred stades and a width of about sixty, and its water is so ill-smelling and so very bitter that it cannot support fish or any of the other animals which commonly live in water. And although great rivers of remarkable sweetness empty into it, the lake gets the better of them by reason of its evil smell, and from its centre it spouts forth once a year a great mass of asphalt, which sometimes extends for more than three plethra, and sometimes for only two; and when this occurs the barbarians who live about the lake usually call the larger flow a "bull" and to the smaller one they give the name "calf." 8 Since the asphalt floats on the surface of the lake, to those who view it from a distance it takes the appearance of an island. And the fact is that the emission of the asphalt is made known to the natives twenty days before it takes place; for to a distance of many stades around the lake the odour, borne on the wind, assails them, and every piece of silver and gold and brass in the locality loses it characteristic lustre. But this returns again as soon as all the asphalt has been spouted forth; and the region round about, by reason of its being exposed to fire and to the evil odours, renders the bodies of the inhabitants susceptible to disease and makes the people very short-lived. 9 Yet the land is good for the growing of palms, wherever it happens to be traversed by rivers with usable water or to be supplied with springs which can irrigate it. And there is also found in these regions in a certain valley the balsam tree, as it is called, from which they receive a substantial revenue, since this tree is found nowhere else in the inhabited world and the use of it for medicinal purposes is most highly valued by physicians.
§ 2.49
ἡ δʼ ἐχομένη τῆς ἀνύδρου καὶ ἐρήμου χώρας Ἀραβία τοσοῦτο διαφέρει ταύτης ὥστε διὰ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν ἐν αὐτῇ φυομένων καρπῶν τε καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἀγαθῶν εὐδαίμονα Ἀραβίαν προσαγορευθῆναι. κάλαμον μὲν γὰρ καὶ σχοῖνον καὶ τὴν ἄλλην ὕλην τὴν ἀρωματίζουσαν πολλὴν φέρει καὶ καθόλου παντοδαπὰς φύλλων εὐωδίας, καὶ τῶν ἀποσταζόντων δακρύων ὀσμαῖς ποικίλαις διείληπται· τήν τε γὰρ σμύρναν καὶ τὸν προσφιλέστατον τοῖς θεοῖς εἴς τε τὴν οἰκουμένην ἅπασαν διαπόμπιμον λιβανωτὸν αἱ ταύτης ἐσχατιαὶ φέρουσι. τοῦ δὲ κόστου καὶ κασίας, ἔτι δὲ κιναμώμου καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν τοιούτων χόρτοι καὶ θάμνοι βαθεῖαι τοσαῦται πεφύκασιν ὥστε τὰ παρὰ τοῖς ἄλλοις σπανίως ἐπὶ βωμοὺς θεῶν τιθέμενα παρʼ ἐκείνοις καὶ κλιβάνων ὑπάρχειν ἐκκαύματα, καὶ τὰ παρὰ τοῖς ἄλλοις μικρῷ δείγματι ὑπάρχοντα παρʼ ἐκείνοις στιβάδας οἰκετικὰς ἐπὶ τῶν οἰκιῶν παρέχεσθαι. τό τε καλούμενον κινάμωμον διάφορον χρείαν παρεχόμενον καὶ ῥητίνη καὶ τερέβινθος ἄπλατος εὐώδης φύεται περὶ τοὺς τόπους. ἐν δὲ τοῖς ὄρεσιν οὐ μόνον ἐλάτη καὶ πεύκη φύεται δαψιλής, ἀλλὰ καὶ κέδρος καὶ ἄρκευθος ἄπλατος καὶ τὸ καλούμενον βόρατον. πολλαὶ δὲ καὶ ἄλλαι φύσεις εὐώδεις καρποφοροῦσαι τὰς ἀπορροίας καὶ προσπνεύσεις ἔχουσι τοῖς ἐγγίσασι προσηνεστάτας. καὶ γὰρ αὐτὸ τὸ τῆς γῆς ἔχει τι φυσικὸν ἔνατμον καὶ θυμιάμασιν ἡδέσιν ἐοικός. διὸ καὶ κατά τινας τόπους τῆς Ἀραβίας ὀρυττομένης τῆς γῆς εὑρίσκονται φλέβες εὐώδεις, ὧν μεταλλευομένων ἐξαίσιοι τὸ μέγεθος λατομίαι γίνονται· ἐκ δὲ τούτων τὰς οἰκίας συλλέγοντες κατασκευάζουσιν, αἷς ὅταν ἐκ τοῦ περιέχοντος προσπέσωσι ψεκάδες, τὸ διατηκόμενον ὑπὸ τῆς ἰκμάδος δυρρεῖ εἰς τὰς ἁρμογὰς τῶν λίθων, καὶ πηγνύμενον συμφυεῖς ἀπεργάζεται τοίχους.
That part of Arabia which borders upon the waterless and desert country is so different from it that, because both of the multitude of fruits which grow therein and of its other good things, it has been called Arabia Felix. 2 For the reed and the rush and every other growth that has a spicy scent are produced in great abundance, as is also, speaking generally, every kind of fragrant substance which is derived from leaves, and the land is distinguished in its several parts by the varied odours of the gums which drip from them; for myrrh and that frankincense which is most dear to the gods and is exported throughout the entire inhabited world are produced in the farthest parts of this land. 3 And kostos and cassia and cinnamon and all other plants of this nature grow there in fields and thickets of such depth that what all other peoples sparingly place upon the altars of the gods is actually used by them as fuel under their pots, and what is found among all other peoples in small specimens there supplies material for the mattresses of the servants in their homes. Moreover, the cinnamon, as it is called, which is exceptionally useful, and resin of the pine, and the terebinth, are produced in these regions in great abundance and of sweet odour. 4 And in the mountains grow not only silver fir and pine in abundance, but also cedar and the Phoenician cedar in abundance and boraton, as it is called. There are also many other kinds of fruit-bearing plants of sweet odour, which yield sap and fragrances most pleasing to such as approach them. Indeed the very earth itself is by its nature full of a vapour which is like sweet incense. 5 Consequently, in certain regions of Arabia, when the earth is dug up, there are discovered veins of sweet odour, in the working of which quarries of extraordinary magnitude are formed; and from these they gather stones and build their houses. And as for their houses, whenever rain drops from the enveloping atmosphere, that part which is melted down by the moisture flows into the joints of the stones and hardening there makes the walls solid throughout.
§ 2.50
μεταλλεύεται δὲ κατὰ τὴν Ἀραβίαν καὶ ὁ προσαγορευόμενος ἄπυρος χρυσός, οὐχ ὥσπερ παρὰ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἐκ ψηγμάτων καθεψόμενος, ἀλλʼ εὐθὺς ὀρυττόμενος εὑρίσκεται τὸ μέγεθος καρύοις κασταναϊκοῖς παραπλήσιος, τὴν δὲ χρόαν οὕτω φλογώδης ὥστε τοὺς ἐντιμοτάτους λίθους ὑπὸ τῶν τεχνιτῶν ἐνδεθέντας ποιεῖν τὰ κάλλιστα τῶν κοσμημάτων. θρεμμάτων τε παντοδαπῶν τοσοῦτο κατʼ αὐτὴν ὑπάρχει πλῆθος ὥστε ἔθνη πολλὰ νομάδα βίον ᾑρημένα δύνασθαι καλῶς διατρέφεσθαι, σίτου μὲν μὴ προσδεόμενα, τῇ δʼ ἀπὸ τούτων δαψιλείᾳ χορηγούμενα. θηρίων τε πλῆθος ἀλκίμων ἡ προσορίζουσα τῇ Συρίᾳ τρέφει· καὶ γὰρ λέοντας καὶ παρδάλεις ἐν αὐτῇ πολλῷ πλείονας καὶ μείζους καὶ ταῖς ἀλκαῖς διαφόρους πεφυκέναι ἤπερ ἐν τῇ Λιβύῃ συμβέβηκε· πρὸς δὲ τούτοις οἱ καλούμενοι Βαβυλώνιοι τίγρεις. φέρει δὲ καὶ ζῷα διφυῆ καὶ μεμιγμένα ταῖς ἰδέαις, ὧν αἱ μὲν ὀνομαζόμεναι στρουθοκάμηλοι περιειλήφασι τοῖς τύποις μίγματα χηνῶν καὶ καμήλων ἀκολούθως τῇ προσηγορίᾳ. τὸ μὲν γὰρ μέγεθος ἔχουσι νεογενεῖ καμήλῳ παραπλήσιον, τὰς δὲ κεφαλὰς πεφρικυίας θριξὶ λεπταῖς, τοὺς δʼ ὀφθαλμοὺς μεγάλους καὶ κατὰ τὴν χρόαν μέλανας, ἀπαραλλάκτους κατὰ τὸν τύπον καὶ τὸ χρῶμα τοῖς τῶν καμήλων. μακροτράχηλον δʼ ὑπάρχον ῥύγχος ἔχει βραχὺ παντελῶς καὶ εἰς ὀξὺ συνηγμένον. ἐπτέρωται δὲ ταρσοῖς μαλακοῖς καὶ τετριχωμένοις, καὶ δυσὶ σκέλεσι στηριζόμενον καὶ ποσὶ διχήλοις χερσαῖον ἅμα φαίνεται καὶ πτηνόν. διὰ δὲ τὸ βάρος οὐ δυνάμενον ἐξᾶραι καὶ πέτεσθαι κατὰ τῆς γῆς ὠκέως ἀκροβατεῖ, καὶ διωκόμενον ὑπὸ τῶν ἱππέων τοῖς ποσὶ τοὺς ὑποπίπτοντας λίθους οὕτως εὐτόνως ἀποσφενδονᾷ πρὸς τοὺς διώκοντας ὥστε πολλάκις καρτεραῖς πληγαῖς αὐτοὺς περιπίπτειν. ἐπειδὰν δὲ περικατάληπτον ᾖ, τὴν κεφαλὴν εἴς τινα θάμνον ἢ τοιαύτην σκέπην ἀποκρύπτεται, οὐχ, ὡς οἴονταί τινες, ἀφροσύνῃ καὶ νωθρότητι ψυχῆς διὰ τὸ μὴ βλέπειν ἑτέρους μηδʼ αὐτὸ βλέπεσθαι διαλαμβάνον ὑφʼ ἑτέρων, ἀλλὰ διὰ τὸ τοῦ σώματος ἔχειν τοῦτο τὸ μέρος ἀσθενέστατον σκέπην αὑτῷ πρὸς σωτηρίαν περιποιεῖ· ἀγαθὴ γὰρ ἡ φύσις διδάσκαλος ἅπασι τοῖς ζῴοις πρὸς διατήρησιν οὐ μόνον ἑαυτῶν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν γεννωμένων, διὰ τῆς συγγενοῦς φιλοζωίας τὰς διαδοχὰς εἰς ἀΐδιον ἄγουσα διαμονῆς κύκλον.
There is also mined in Arabia the gold called "fireless," which is not smelted from ores, as is done among all other peoples, but is dug out directly from the earth; it is found in nuggets about the size of chestnuts, and is so fiery-red in colour that when it is used by artisans as a setting for the most precious gems it makes the fairest of adornments. There is also in the land such a multitude of herds that many tribes which have chosen a nomad life are able to fare right well, experiencing no want of grain but being provided for in abundance by their herds. That part of the country which borders upon Syria breeds a multitude of fierce wild beasts; for the lions and leopards there are far more numerous and larger and superior in ferocity as compared with those of Libya, and in addition to these there are the Babylonian tigers, as they are called. 3 And it produces animals which are of double form and mingled in their natures, to which belong the struthocameli, which, as their name implies, embrace in their form the compound of a bird and of a camel. For in size they are like a newly-born camel, but their heads bristle with fine hair, and their eyes are large and black, indistinguishable in general appearance and colour from those of the camel. 4 It is also long-necked and has a beak which is very short and contracted to a sharp point. And since it his wings with feathers which are covered with a fine hair, and is supported upon two legs and on feet with cloven hoofs, it has the appearance of a land animal as well as of a bird. 5 But being unable by reason of its weight to raise itself in the air and to fly, it swiftly skims over the land, and when pursued by hunters on horseback with its feet it hurls stones as from a sling upon its pursuers, and with such force that they often receive severe wounds. 6 And whenever it is overtaken and surrounded, it hides its head in a bush or some such shelter, not, as some men suppose, because of its folly and stupidity of spirit, as if it thought that since it could not see the others it could not itself be seen by others either, but because its head is the weakest part of its body it seeks a shelter for it in order to save its life; 7 for Nature is an excellent instructor of all animals for the preservation not only of their own lives but also of their offspring, since by planting in them an innate love of life she leads successive generations into an eternal cycle of continued existence.
§ 2.51
αἱ δὲ καλούμεναι καμηλοπαρδάλεις τὴν μὲν μίξιν ἀμφοτέρων ἔχουσι τῶν ἐν τῇ προσηγορίᾳ περιειλημμένων ζῴων. τῷ μὲν γὰρ μεγέθει μικρότεραι τῶν καμήλων εἰσὶ καὶ βραχυτραχηλότεραι, τὴν δὲ κεφαλὴν καὶ τὴν τῶν ὀμμάτων διάθεσιν παρδάλει παρεμφερεῖς διατετύπωνται· τὸ δὲ κατὰ τὴν ῥάχιν κύρτωμα παρεμφερὲς ἔχουσαι καμήλῳ, τῷ χρώματι καὶ τῇ τριχώσει παρδάλεσιν ἐοίκασιν· ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τὴν οὐρὰν μακρὰν ἔχουσαι τὴν τοῦ θηρίου φύσιν ἀποτυποῦνται. γίνονται δὲ καὶ τραγέλαφοι καὶ βούβαλοι καὶ ἄλλα πλείω γένη δίμορφα ζῴων καὶ τὴν σύνθεσιν ἐκ τῶν πλεῖστον τὴν φύσιν κεχωρισμένων ἔχοντα, περὶ ὧν τὰ κατὰ μέρος μακρὸν ἂν εἴη γράφειν. δοκεῖ γὰρ ἡ συνεγγίζουσα χώρα τῇ μεσημβρίᾳ τὴν ἀφʼ ἡλίου δύναμιν ζωτικωτάτην οὖσαν πολλὴν ἐμπνεῖσθαι, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο πολλῶν καὶ ποικίλων, ἔτι δὲ καλῶν ζῴων φύσεις γεννᾶν. διὰ δὲ τὰς αὐτὰς αἰτίας κατὰ μὲν τὴν Αἴγυπτον τούς τε κροκοδείλους φύεσθαι καὶ τοὺς ποταμίους ἵππους, κατὰ δὲ τὴν Αἰθιοπίαν καὶ τὴν τῆς Λιβύης ἔρημον ἐλεφάντων τε πλῆθος καὶ παντοδαπῶν ὄφεών τε καὶ τῶν ἄλλων θηρίων καὶ δρακόντων ἐξηλλαγμένων τοῖς τε μεγέθεσι καὶ ταῖς ἀλκαῖς, ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τοὺς περὶ τὴν Ἰνδικὴν ἐλέφαντας, ὑπερβάλλοντας τοῖς τε ὄγκοις καὶ πλήθεσιν, ἔτι δὲ ταῖς ἀλκαῖς.
The camelopards, as they are called, represent the mixing of the two animals which are included in the name given to it. For in size they are smaller than the camel and have shorter necks, but in the head and the arrangement of the eyes they are formed very much like a leopard; and although they have a hump on the back like the camel, yet with respect to colour and hair they are like leopards; likewise in the possession of a long tail they imitate the nature of this wild beast. 2 There are also bred tragelaphoi (goat-stags) and bubali and many other varieties of animals which are of double form and combine in one body the natures of creatures most widely different, about all of which it would be a long task to write in detail. 3 For it would seem that the land which lies to the south breathes in a great deal of the sun's strength, which is the greatest source of life, and that, for that reason, it generates breeds of beautiful animals in great number and of varied colour; 4 and that for the same reason there are produced in Egypt both the crocodiles and the river-horses, in Ethiopia and in the desert of Libya a multitude of elephants and of reptiles of every variety and of all other wild beasts and of serpents, which differ from one another in size and ferocity, and likewise in India the elephants of exceptional bulk and number and ferocity.
§ 2.52
οὐ μόνον δʼ ἐν ταύταις ταῖς χώραις ζῷα γεννᾶται ταῖς ἰδέαις ἐξηλλαγμένα διὰ τὴν ἀφʼ ἡλίου συνεργίαν καὶ δύναμιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ λίθων παντοίων ἐκφύσεις διάφοροι ταῖς χρόαις καὶ ταῖς λαμπρότησι διαφανεῖς. τοὺς γὰρ κρυστάλλους λίθους ἔχειν τὴν σύστασιν ἐξ ὕδατος καθαροῦ παγέντος οὐχ ὑπὸ ψύχους, ἀλλʼ ὑπὸ θείου πυρὸς δυνάμεως, δι’ ἣν ἀσήπτους μὲν αὐτοὺς διαμένειν, βαφῆναι δὲ πολυμόρφως ἀναθυμιάσει πνεύματος. σμαράγδους γὰρ καὶ τὰ καλούμενα βηρύλλια κατὰ τὰς ἐν τοῖς χαλκουργείοις μεταλλείας γινόμενα διὰ τὴν ἀπὸ τῶν θείων βαφὴν καὶ σύνδεσιν συγχρῴζεσθαι, τοὺς δὲ χρυσολίθους ὑπὸ καπνώδους ἀναθυμιάσεως ἡλίου θερμότητι φυομένους λέγουσι τυγχάνειν τούτου τοῦ χρώματος. διὸ καὶ τοὺς ὀνομαζομένους ψευδοχρύσους κατασκευάζεσθαι διὰ τοῦ θνητοῦ καὶ ὑπʼ ἀνθρώπων γεγονότος πυρὸς βαπτομένων τῶν κρυστάλλων. τὰς δὲ τῶν ἀνθράκων φύσεις φωτὸς δύναμιν ἐμπιληθεῖσαν τῇ πήξει φασὶν ἀποτελεῖν τῷ μᾶλλον καὶ ἧττον τὰς ἐν αὐτοῖς διαφοράς. παραπλησίως δὲ καὶ τὰς τῶν ὀρνέων μορφὰς ἐπιχρῴζεσθαι, τὰς μὲν ὁλοπορφύρους φαινομένας, τὰς δὲ κατὰ μέρος παντοίαις χρόαις διειλημμένας· τὰ μὲν γὰρ φλόγινα, τὰ δὲ κροκώδη, τινὰ δὲ σμαραγδίζοντα, πολλὰ δὲ χρυσοειδῆ φαίνεσθαι κατὰ τὰς πρὸς τὸ φῶς ἐγκλίσεις αὐτῶν, καὶ καθόλου πολυειδεῖς καὶ δυσερμηνεύτους ἀποτελεῖσθαι χρόας· ὅπερ καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς κατʼ οὐρανὸν ἴριδος ὁρᾶσθαι γινόμενον ὑπὸ τοῦ περὶ τὸν ἥλιον φωτός. ἐκ δὲ τούτων τοὺς φυσιολόγους συλλογιζομένους ἀποφαίνεσθαι διότι καὶ τὴν ἄνωθεν τῆς τῶν προειρημένων ἐκφύσεως ποικιλίαν ἔβαψεν ὁ συγγενὴς θερμασία, συνεργήσαντος ἡλίου τοῦ ζωοποιοῦντος τὰς ἑκάστων μορφάς. καθόλου δὲ καὶ τῆς περὶ τὰ ἄνθη διαφορᾶς τῆς χρόας καὶ τῆς τῆς γῆς ποικιλίας τοῦτον ὑπάρχειν αἴτιον καὶ δημιουργόν· οὗ τὴν φυσικὴν ἐνέργειαν τὰς θνητὰς τέχνας μιμησαμένας βάπτειν ἕκαστα καὶ ποικίλλειν, μαθητρίας γενομένας τῆς φύσεως. τὰ μὲν γὰρ χρώματα τὸ φῶς ἀπεργάζεσθαι, τὰς δὲ ὀσμὰς τῶν καρπῶν καὶ τὰς ἰδιότητας τῶν χυλῶν, ἔτι δὲ τὰ μεγέθη τῶν ζῴων καὶ τὰς ἑκάστου διαθέσεις, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις τὰς τῆς γῆς ἰδιότητας, γεννᾶν τὴν περὶ τὸν ἥλιον θερμασίαν, εἰς πολυτραφῆ χώραν καὶ γόνιμον ὕδωρ ἐνθάλπουσαν καὶ δημιουργὸν γινομένην τῆς ἑκάστου φύσεως. διόπερ οὔτε ἡ Παρία λύγδος οὔτʼ ἄλλη θαυμαζομένη πέτρα τοῖς Ἀραβίοις λίθοις ἐξισωθῆναι δύναται, ὧν λαμπροτάτη μὲν ἡ λευκότης, βαρύτατος δὲ ὁ σταθμός, ἡ δὲ λειότης ὑπερβολὴν ἑτέροις οὐκ ἀπολείπουσα. αἰτία δὲ τῆς χώρας τῆς κατὰ μέρος ἰδιότητος, καθάπερ προεῖπον, ἡ περὶ τὸν ἥλιον δύναμις, θερμασίᾳ μὲν πήξασα, ξηρότητι δὲ πιλήσασα, φέγγει δὲ λαμπρύνασα.
In these countries are generated not only animals which differ from one another in form because of the helpful influence and strength of the sun, but also outcroppings of every kind of precious stone which are unusual in colour and resplendent in brilliancy. 2 For the rock-crystals, so we are informed, are composed of pure water which has been hardened, not by the action of cold, but by the influence of a divine fire, and for this reason they are never subject to corruption and take on many hues when they are breathed upon. 3 For instance smaragdi and beryllia, as they are called, which are found in the shafts of the copper mines, receive their colour by having been dipped and bound together in a bath of sulphur, and the chrysoliths, they say, which are produced by a smoky exhalation due to the heat of the sun, thereby get the colour they have. 4 For this reason what is called "false gold," we are told, is fabricated by mortal fire, made by man, by dipping the rock crystals into it. And as for the natural qualities of the dark-red stones, it is the influence of the light, as it is compressed to a greater or less degree in them when they are hardening, which, they say, accounts for their differences. 5 In like manner, it is reported, the different kinds of birds get their colouring, some kinds appearing to the eye as pure red, other kinds marked with colours of every variety one after the other; for some birds are flaming red in appearance, others saffron yellow, some emerald green, and many of the colour of gold when they turn towards the light, and, in brief, hues are produced in great variety and difficult to describe; and this same thing can be seen taking place in the case of the rainbow in the heavens by reason of the light of the sun. 6 And it is from these facts that the students of nature draw their arguments when they affirm that the variety of colouring that is put forth by the things which we have mentioned above was caused by the heat coincident with their creation which dyed them, the sun, which is the source of life, assisting in the production of each several kind. 7 And it is generally true, they continue, that of the differences in the hues of the flowers and of the varied colours of the earth the sun is the cause and creator; and the arts of mortal men, imitating the working of the sun in the physical world, impart colouring and varied hues to every object, having been instructed in this by nature. 8 For the colours, they continue, are produced by the light, and likewise the odours of the fruits and the distinctive quality of their juices, the different sizes of the animals and their several forms, and the peculiarities which the earth shows, all are generated by the heat of the sun which imparts its warmth to a fertile land and to water endowed with the generative power and thus becomes the creator of each separate thing as it is. 9 Consequently, neither white marble of Paros nor any other stone which men admire can be compared with the precious stones of Arabia, since their whiteness is most brilliant, their weight the heaviest, and their smoothness leaves no room for other stones to surpass them. And the cause of the peculiar nature of the several parts of the country is, as I have told, the influence of the sun, which has hardened it by its heat, compressed it by its dryness, and made it resplendent by its light.
§ 2.53
διὸ καὶ τὸ τῶν ὀρνέων γένος πλείστης θερμασίας κεκοινωνηκὸς ἐγένετο διὰ μὲν τὴν κουφότητα πτηνόν, διὰ δὲ τὴν ἀφʼ ἡλίου συνεργίαν ποικίλον, καὶ μάλιστα κατὰ τὰς προκειμένας ἡλίῳ χώρας. ἡ μὲν γὰρ Βαβυλωνία ταώνων ἐκτρέφει πλῆθος παντοίαις χρόαις ἐπηνθισμένων, αἱ δὲ τῆς Συρίας ἐσχατιαὶ ψιττακοὺς καὶ πορφυρίωνας καὶ μελεαγρίδας καὶ ἄλλας ζῴων ἰδίας φύσεις τοῖς χρώμασι καὶ ποικίλας συγκρίσεις. ὁ δʼ αὐτὸς λόγος καὶ κατὰ τὰς ἄλλας χώρας τῆς γῆς τὰς κατὰ τὴν ὁμοίαν κρᾶσιν κειμένας, λέγω δʼ Ἰνδικὴν καὶ τὴν Ἐρυθρὰν θάλατταν, ἔτι δὲ Αἰθιοπίαν καί τινα μέρη τῆς Λιβύης. ἀλλὰ τῆς μὲν πρὸς ἀνατολὰς κεκλιμένης πιοτέρας οὔσης εὐγενέστερα καὶ μείζονα φύεται ζῷα· τῆς δʼ ἄλλης ἀεὶ κατὰ τὸν τῆς ἀρετῆς λόγον ἕκαστα ταῖς διαθέσεσι γεννᾶται. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τῶν δένδρων οἱ φοίνικες κατὰ μὲν τὴν Λιβύην αὐχμηροὺς καὶ μικροὺς ἐκφέρουσι καρπούς, τῆς δὲ Συρίας κατὰ μὲν τὴν Κοίλην οἱ καρυωτοὶ προσαγορευόμενοι γεννῶνται, διάφοροι κατά τε τὴν γλυκύτητα καὶ τὸ μέγεθος, ἔτι δὲ τοὺς χυμούς. τούτων δὲ πολλῷ μείζους κατὰ τὴν Ἀραβίαν καὶ τὴν Βαβυλωνίαν ὁρᾶν ἔστι γινομένους, κατὰ μὲν τὸ μέγεθος ἓξ δακτύλων ὄντας, τῇ δὲ χρόᾳ τοὺς μὲν μηλίνους, τοὺς δὲ φοινικοῦς, ἐνίους δὲ πορφυρίζοντας· ὥσθʼ ὑπʼ αὐτῶν ἅμα καὶ τὴν ὄψιν τέρπεσθαι καὶ τὴν γεῦσιν ψυχαγωγεῖσθαι. τὰ δὲ στελέχη τῶν φοινίκων τὸ μὲν μῆκος ἀέριον ἔχει, τὴν δὲ περιφέρειαν ψιλὴν πανταχόθεν μέχρι τῆς κορυφῆς. ἀκρόκομα δʼ ὄντα διαφόρους ἔχει τὰς ἀπὸ τῆς κόμης διαθέσεις· τὰ μὲν γὰρ πάντῃ τοὺς ῥάδικας ἔχει περικεχυμένους, καὶ κατὰ μέσον ἔκ τινος περιρραγέντος φλοιοῦ βοτρυώδη καρπὸν ἀνίησι, τὰ δὲ ἐφʼ ἓν μέρος ἔχοντα κεκλιμένας τὰς ἐπὶ τῆς κορυφῆς κόμας σχηματισμὸν ἀποτελεῖ λαμπάδος ἀπαιθυσσομένης, ἔνια δʼ ἐπʼ ἀμφότερα τὰ μέρη περικλώμενα καὶ διπλῇ τῇ καταθέσει τῶν κλάδων ἀμφίχαιτα γινόμενα γραφικὴν ἀποτελεῖ τὴν πρόσοψιν.
Hence it is that the race of birds also, having received the most warmth, became flying creatures because of their lightness, and of varied colour because of the influence of the sun, this being especially true in the lands which lie close to the sun. 2 Babylonia, for instance, produces a multitude of peacocks which have blossomed out with colours of every kind, and the farthest parts of Syria produce parrots and purple coots and guinea-fowls and other kinds of animals of distinctive colouring and of every combination of hues. 3 And the same reasoning applies also to all the other countries of the earth which lie in a similar climate, such as India and the Red Sea and Ethiopia and certain parts of Libya. 4 But the eastern part, being more fertile, breeds nobler and larger animals; and as for the rest of Libya, each animal is produced in form and characteristics corresponding to the quality of the soil. Likewise as regards trees, the palms of Libya bear dry and small fruit, but in Coele-Syria dates called caryoti are produced which excel as to both sweetness and size and also as to their juices. 6 But dates much larger than these can be seen growing in Arabia and Babylonia, six fingers in size and in colour either yellow like the quince, or dark red, or in some cases tending to purple, so that at the same time they both delight the eye and gratify the taste. 7 The trunk of the palm stretches high in the air and its surface is smooth all over as far as its crown. But though they all have a tuft of foliage at the top, yet the arrangement of the foliage varies; for in some cases the fronds spread out in a complete circle and from the centre the trunk sends up, as if from out its broken bark, the fruit in a cluster like grapes, in other cases the foliage at the crown droops down on only one side so that it produces the appearance of a lamp from which the flame flares out, and occasionally they have their fronds bent down on both sides and by this double arrangement of the branches show a crown of foliage all about the trunk, thus presenting a picturesque appearance.
§ 2.54
τῆς δʼ ὅλης Ἀραβίας τὴν μὲν ἐπὶ μεσημβρίαν νεύουσαν εὐδαίμονα προσαγορεύουσι, τὴν δʼ ἐνδοτέρω κειμένην νέμεται πλῆθος Ἀράβων νομάδων καὶ σκηνίτην βίον ᾑρημένων. οὗτοι δὲ θρεμματοτροφοῦντες ἀγέλας μεγάλας βοσκημάτων ἐναυλίζονται πεδίοις ἀμετρήτοις. ἡ δʼ ἀνὰ μέσον ταύτης τε καὶ τῆς εὐδαίμονος Ἀραβίας ἔρημος καὶ ἄνυδρός ἐστι, καθάπερ προείρηται· τὰ δὲ πρὸς δυσμὰς μέρη κεκλιμένα τῆς Ἀραβίας διείληπται πεδίοις ἁμμώδεσιν ἀερίοις τὸ μέγεθος, διʼ ὧν οἱ τὰς ὁδοιπορίας ποιούμενοι καθάπερ οἱ ἐν τοῖς πελάγεσι πρὸς τὰς ἀπὸ τῶν ἄρκτων σημασίας τὴν διέξοδον ποιοῦνται. τὸ δʼ ὑπολειπόμενον μέρος τῆς Ἀραβίας τὸ πρὸς τὴν Συρίαν κεκλιμένον πλήθει γεωργῶν καὶ παντοδαπῶν ἐμπόρων, οἳ διὰ τὰς τῶν φορτίων εὐκαίρους ἀντιδόσεις τὰ παρʼ ἀμφοτέροις σπανίζοντα πρὸς δαψίλειαν τῶν χρησίμων διορθοῦνται. ἡ δὲ παρὰ τὸν ὠκεανὸν Ἀραβία κεῖται μὲν ὑπεράνω τῆς εὐδαίμονος, ποταμοῖς δὲ πολλοῖς καὶ μεγάλοις διειλημμένη πολλοὺς ποιεῖ τόπους λιμνάζοντας καὶ μεγάλων ἑλῶν περιμέτρους. τοῖς δʼ ἐκ τῶν ποταμῶν ἐπακτοῖς ὕδασι καὶ τοῖς ἐκ τῶν θερινῶν ὄμβρων γινομένοις ἀρδεύοντες πολλὴν χώραν, καὶ διπλοῦς καρποὺς λαμβάνουσι. τρέφει δὲ ὁ τόπος οὗτος ἐλεφάντων ἀγέλας καὶ ἄλλα ζῷα κητώδη χερσαῖα θηρία καὶ δίμορφα, ταῖς ἰδέαις ἐξηλλαγμένα· πρὸς δὲ τούτοις θρεμμάτων παντοδαπῶν πλήθει, καὶ μάλιστα βοῶν καὶ προβάτων τῶν τὰς μεγάλας καὶ παχείας ἐχόντων οὐράς. πλεῖστα δὲ καὶ διαφορώτατα γένη καμήλων τρέφει, τῶν τε ψιλῶν καὶ δασέων καὶ διπλοῦν ἀνατετακότων τὸ κατὰ τὴν ῥάχιν κύρτωμα καὶ διὰ τοῦτο διτύλων ὀνομαζομένων, ὧν αἱ μὲν γάλα παρεχόμεναι καὶ κρεοφαγούμεναι πολλὴν παρέχονται τοῖς ἐγχωρίοις δαψίλειαν, αἱ δὲ πρὸς νωτοφορίαν ἠσκημέναι πυρῶν μὲν ἀνὰ δέκα μεδίμνους νωτοφοροῦσιν, ἀνθρώπους δὲ κατακειμένους ἐπὶ κλίνης πέντε βαστάζουσιν· αἱ δὲ ἀνάκωλοι καὶ λαγαραὶ ταῖς συστάσεσι δρομάδες εἰσί, καὶ διατείνουσι πλεῖστον ὁδοῦ μῆκος, καὶ μάλιστα πρὸς τὰς διὰ τῆς ἀνύδρου καὶ ἐρήμου συντελουμένας ὁδοιπορίας. αἱ δʼ αὐταὶ καὶ κατὰ τοὺς πολέμους εἰς τὰς μάχας ἔχουσαι τοξότας ἄγονται δύο ἀντικαθημένους ἀλλήλοις ἀντινώτους· τούτων δὲ ὁ μὲν τοὺς κατὰ πρόσωπον ἀπαντῶντας, ὁ δὲ τοὺς ἐπιδιώκοντας ἀμύνεται. περὶ μὲν οὖν τῆς Ἀραβίας καὶ τῶν ἐν αὐτῇ φυομένων εἰ καὶ πεπλεονάκαμεν, ἀλλʼ οὖν πολλὰ τοῖς φιλαναγνωστοῦσι πρὸς φιληκοΐαν ἀπηγγέλκαμεν.
That part of Arabia as a whole which lies to the south is called Felix, but the interior part is ranged over by a multitude of Arabians who are nomads and have chosen a tent life. These raise great flocks of animals and make their camps in plains of immeasurable extent. 2 The region which lies between this part and Arabia Felix is desert and waterless, as has been stated; and the parts of Arabia which lie to the west are broken by sandy deserts spacious as the air in magnitude, through which those who journey must, even as voyagers upon the seas, direct their course by indications obtained from the Bears. 3 The remaining part of Arabia, which lies towards Syria, contains a multitude of farmers and merchants of every kind, who by a seasonable exchange of merchandise make good the lack of certain wares in both countries by supplying useful things which they possess in abundance. 4 That Arabia which lies along the ocean is situated above Arabia Felix, and since it is traversed by many great rivers, many regions in it are converted into stagnant pools and into vast stretches of great swamps. 5 And with the water which is brought to them from the rivers and that which comes with the summer rains they irrigate a large part of the country and get two crops yearly. This region also breeds herds of elephants and other monstrous land animals, and animals of double shape which have developed peculiar forms; and in addition to these it abounds in domestic animals of every kind, especially in cattle and in the sheep with large and fat tails. This land also breeds camels in very great numbers and of most different kinds, both the hairless and the shaggy, and those which have two humps, one behind the other, along their spines and hence are called dituloi. Some of these provide milk and are eaten for meat, and so provide the inhabitants with a great abundance of this food, and others, which are trained to carry burdens on their backs, can carry some ten medimni of wheat and bear up five men lying outstretched upon a couch. Others which have short legs and are slender in build are dromedaries and can go at full stretch a day's journey of a very great distance, especially in the trips which they make through the waterless and desert region. 7 And also in their wars the same animals carry into battle two bowmen who ride back to back to each other, one of them keeping off enemies who come on them from in front, the other those who pursue in the rear. With regard, then, to Arabia and the products of that land, even if we have written at too great length, we have at any rate reported many things to delight lovers of reading.
§ 2.55
περὶ δὲ τῆς κατὰ τὸν ὠκεανὸν εὑρεθείσης νήσου κατὰ τὴν μεσημβρίαν καὶ τῶν κατʼ αὐτὴν παραδοξολογουμένων πειρασόμεθα συντόμως διελθεῖν, προεκθέμενοι τὰς αἰτίας τῆς εὑρέσεως ἀκριβῶς. Ἰαμβοῦλος ἦν ἐκ παίδων παιδείαν ἐζηλωκώς, μετὰ δὲ τὴν τοῦ πατρὸς τελευτὴν ὄντος ἐμπόρου καὶ αὐτὸς ἔδωκεν ἑαυτὸν ἐπὶ τὴν ἐμπορίαν· ἀναβαίνων δὲ διὰ τῆς Ἀραβίας ἐπὶ τὴν ἀρωματοφόρον ὑπό τινων λῃστῶν συνελήφθη μετὰ τῶν συνοδοιπόρων. τὸ μὲν οὖν πρῶτον μετά τινος τῶν συνεαλωκότων ἀπεδείχθη νομεύς, ὕστερον δʼ ὑπό τινων Αἰθιόπων μετὰ τοῦ συνόντος λῃστευθεὶς ἀπήχθη πρὸς τὴν παραθαλάττιον τῆς Αἰθιοπίας. οὗτοι δὲ συνηρπάγησαν εἰς καθαρμὸν τῆς χώρας, ὄντες ἀλλοεθνεῖς. νόμιμον γὰρ ἦν τοῖς τῇδε κατοικοῦσιν Αἰθίοψι παραδεδομένον ἐκ παλαιῶν χρόνων, χρησμοῖς θεῶν κεκυρωμένον, διὰ γενεῶν μὲν εἴκοσιν, ἐτῶν δʼ ἑξακοσίων, τῆς γενεᾶς ἀριθμουμένης τριακονταετοῦς· τοῦ δὲ καθαρμοῦ γινομένου δυσὶν ἀνθρώποις ἦν αὐτοῖς πλοιάριον κατεσκευασμένον τῷ μεγέθει σύμμετρον, τούς τʼ ἐν τῇ θαλάττῃ χειμῶνας ἀναφέρειν ἰσχῦον καὶ ῥᾳδίως ὑπὸ δυοῖν ἀνθρώπων ὑπηρετεῖσθαι δυνάμενον· εἰς δὲ τοῦτο τροφὴν δυσὶν ἀνθρώποις ἱκανὴν εἰς ἓξ μῆνας ἐνθέμενοι, καὶ τοὺς ἄνδρας ἐμβιβάσαντες, προσέταττον ἀνάγεσθαι κατὰ τὸν χρησμόν. πλεῖν δὲ διεκελεύοντο πρὸς τὴν μεσημβρίαν· ἥξειν γὰρ αὐτοὺς εἰς νῆσον εὐδαίμονα καὶ ἐπιεικεῖς ἀνθρώπους, παρʼ οἷς μακαρίως ζήσεσθαι. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τὸ ἑαυτῶν ἔθνος ἔφασαν, ἐὰν μὲν οἱ πεμφθέντες εἰς τὴν νῆσον διασωθῶσιν, ἑξακοσίων ἐτῶν εἰρήνης καὶ βίου κατὰ πᾶν εὐδαίμονος ἀπολαύσειν· εἰ δὲ καταπλαγέντες τὸ μῆκος τοῦ πελάγους εἰς τοὐπίσω ποιήσονται τὸν πλοῦν, ὡς ἀσεβεῖς καὶ λυμεῶνας ὅλου τοῦ ἔθνους τιμωρίαις περιπεσεῖσθαι ταῖς μεγίσταις. τοὺς μὲν οὖν Αἰθίοπάς φασι μεγάλην πανήγυριν ἀγαγεῖν παρὰ τὴν θάλατταν, καὶ θυσίας μεγαλοπρεπεῖς ἐπιτελέσαντας καταστέψαι τοὺς σκεψομένους καὶ καθαρμὸν ποιησομένους τοῦ ἔθνους ἐξαποστεῖλαι. τούτους δὲ πλεύσαντας πέλαγος μέγα καὶ χειμασθέντας ἐν μησὶ τέτταρσι προσενεχθῆναι τῇ προσημανθείσῃ νήσῳ, στρογγύλῃ μὲν ὑπαρχούσῃ τῷ σχήματι, τὴν δὲ περίμετρον ἐχούσῃ σταδίων ὡς πεντακισχιλίων.
But with regard to the island which has been discovered in the ocean to the south and the marvellous tales told concerning it, we shall now endeavour to give a brief account, after we have first set forth accurately the causes which led to its discovery. 2 There was a certain Iambulus who from his boyhood up had been devoted to the pursuit of education, and after the death of his father, who had been a merchant, he also gave himself to that calling; and while journeying inland to the spicebearing region of Arabia he and his companions on the trip were taken captive by some robbers. Now at first he and one of his fellow-captives were appointed to be herdsmen, but later he and his companion were made captive by certain Ethiopians and led off to the coast of Ethiopia. 3 They were kidnapped in order that, being of an alien people, they might effect the purification of the land. For among the Ethiopians who lived in that place there was a custom, which had been handed down from ancient times, and had been ratified by oracles of the gods, over a period of twenty generations or six hundred years, the generation being reckoned at thirty years; and at the time when the purification by means of the two men was to take place, a boat had been built for them sufficient in size and strong enough to withstand the storms at sea, one which could easily be manned by two men; and then loading it with food enough to maintain two men for six months and putting them on board they commanded them to set out to sea as the oracle had ordered. 4 Furthermore, they commanded them to steer towards the south; for, they were told, they would come to a happy island and to men of honourable character, and among them they would lead a blessed existence. And in like manner, they stated, their own people, in case the men whom they sent forth should arrive safely at the island, would enjoy peace and a happy life in every respect throughout six hundred years; but if, dismayed at the extent of the sea, they should turn back on their course they would, as impious men and destroyers of the entire nation, suffer the severest penalties. 5 Accordingly, the Ethiopians, they say, held a great festal assembly by the sea, and after offering costly sacrifices they crowned with flowers the men who were to seek out the island and effect the purification of the nation and then sent them forth. 6 And these men, after having sailed over a vast sea and been tossed about four months by storms, were carried to the island about which they had been informed beforehand; it was round in shape and had a circumference of about five thousand stades.
§ 2.56
ἤδη δʼ αὐτῶν ἐγγιζόντων τῇ νήσῳ τῶν ἐγχωρίων τινὰς ἀπαντήσαντας καταγαγεῖν τὸ σκάφος· τοὺς δὲ κατὰ τὴν νῆσον συνδραμόντας θαυμάζειν μὲν τὸν τῶν ξένων κατάπλουν, προσενεχθῆναι δὲ αὐτοῖς ἐπιεικῶς καὶ μεταδιδόναι τῶν παρʼ αὐτοῖς χρησίμων. εἶναι δὲ τοὺς τὴν νῆσον οἰκοῦντας ταῖς τε τῶν σωμάτων ἰδιότησι καὶ ταῖς ἀγωγαῖς πολὺ διαλλάττοντας τῶν κατὰ τὴν ἡμετέραν οἰκουμένην· πάντας μὲν γὰρ παραπλησίους εἶναι τοῖς ἀναπλάσμασι τῶν σωμάτων, καὶ κατὰ τὸ μέγεθος ὑπεράγειν τοὺς τέτταρας πήχεις, τὰ δὲ ὀστᾶ τοῦ σώματος ἔχειν ἐπὶ ποσὸν καμπτόμενα καὶ πάλιν ἀποκαθιστάμενα παραπλησίως τοῖς νευρώδεσι τόποις. εἶναι δὲ τοῖς σώμασιν ἁπαλοὺς μὲν καθʼ ὑπερβολήν, εὐτονωτέρους δὲ πολὺ τῶν παρʼ ἡμῖν· δραξαμένων γὰρ αὐτῶν ταῖς χερσὶν ὁδηποτοῦν μηδένα δύνασθαι τὸ τοῖς δακτύλοις περιληφθὲν ἐκτρέψαι. τρίχας δʼ ἁπλῶς μηδαμῇ τοῦ σώματος ἔχειν πλὴν ἐν τῇ κεφαλῇ καὶ ὀφρύσι καὶ βλεφάροις, ἔτι δὲ καὶ πώγωνι, τὰ δὲ ἄλλα μέρη τοῦ σώματος οὕτω λεῖα ὥστε μηδὲ τὸν ἐλάχιστον χνοῦν ἐν τῷ σώματι φαίνεσθαι. εἶναι δὲ καὶ τῷ κάλλει διαπρεπεῖς καὶ ταῖς ἄλλαις περιγραφαῖς τοῦ σώματος εὐρύθμους. καὶ τὰ μὲν τῆς ἀκοῆς τρήματα πολὺ τῶν παρʼ ἡμῖν ἔχειν εὐρυχωρέστερα, καὶ καθάπερ ἐπιγλωττίδας αὐτοῖς ἐκπεφυκέναι. ἴδιον δέ τι καὶ περὶ τὴν γλῶτταν αὐτοὺς ἔχειν, τὸ μὲν φυσικῶς αὐτοῖς συγγεγενημένον, τὸ δʼ ἐξ ἐπινοίας φιλοτεχνούμενον· δίπτυχον μὲν γὰρ αὐτοὺς ἔχειν τὴν γλῶτταν ἐπὶ ποσόν, τὰ δʼ ἐνδοτέρω προσδιαιρεῖν, ὥστε διπλῆν αὐτὴν γίνεσθαι μέχρι τῆς ῥίζης. διὸ καὶ ποικιλωτάτους αὐτοὺς εἶναι καὶ ταῖς φωναῖς οὐ μόνον πᾶσαν ἀνθρωπίνην καὶ διηρθρωμένην διάλεκτον μιμουμένους, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰς τῶν ὀρνέων πολυφωνίας, καὶ καθόλου πᾶσαν ἤχου ἰδιότητα προΐεσθαι· τὸ δὲ πάντων παραδοξότατον, ἅμα πρὸς δύο τῶν ἐντυγχανόντων λαλεῖν ἐντελῶς, ἀποκρινομένους τε καὶ ταῖς ὑποκειμέναις περιστάσεσιν οἰκείως ὁμιλοῦντας· τῇ μὲν γὰρ ἑτέρᾳ πτυχὶ πρὸς τὸν ἕνα, τῇ δʼ ἄλλῃ πάλιν ὁμοίως πρὸς τὸν ἕτερον διαλέγεσθαι. εὐκρατότατον δʼ εἶναι τὸν ἀέρα παρʼ αὐτοῖς, ὡς ἂν κατὰ τὸν ἰσημερινὸν οἰκοῦντας, καὶ μήθʼ ὑπὸ καύματος μήθʼ ὑπὸ ψύχους ἐνοχλουμένους. καὶ τὰς ὀπώρας δὲ παρʼ αὐτοῖς παρʼ ὅλον τὸν ἐνιαυτὸν ἀκμάζειν, ὥσπερ καὶ ὁ ποιητής φησιν ὄχνη ἐπʼ ὄχνῃ γηράσκει, μῆλον δʼ ἐπὶ μήλῳ, αὐτὰρ ἐπὶ σταφυλῇ σταφυλή, σῦκον δʼ ἐπὶ σύκῳ. εἶναι δὲ διὰ παντὸς παρʼ αὐτοῖς τὴν ἡμέραν ἴσην τῇ νυκτί, καὶ κατὰ τὸ μέσον τῆς ἡμέρας μὴ γίνεσθαι παρʼ αὐτοῖς σκιὰν μηδενὸς διὰ τὸ κατὰ κορυφὴν εἶναι τὸν ἥλιον.
But when they were now drawing near to the island, the account proceeds, some of the natives met them and drew their boat to land; and the inhabitants of the island, thronging together, were astonished at the arrival of the strangers, but they treated them honourably and shared with them the necessities of life which their country afforded. 2 The dwellers upon this island differ greatly both in the characteristics of their bodies and in their manners from the men in our part of the inhabited world; for they are all nearly alike in the shape of their bodies and are over four cubits in height, but the bones of the body have the ability to bend to a certain extent and then straighten out again, like the sinewy parts. 3 They are also exceedingly tender in respect to their bodies and yet more vigorous than is the case among us; for when they have seized any object in their hands no man can extract it from the grasp of their fingers. There is absolutely no hair on any part of their bodies except on the head, eyebrows and eyelids, and on the chin, but the other parts of the body are so smooth that not even the least down can be seen on them. 4 They are also remarkably beautiful and well-proportioned in the outline of the body. The openings of their ears are much more spacious than ours and growths have developed that serve as valves, so to speak, to close them. 5 And they have a peculiarity in regard to the tongue, partly the work of nature and congenital with them and partly intentionally brought about by artifice; among them, namely, the tongue is double for a certain distance, but they divide the inner portions still further, with the result that it becomes a double tongue as far as the base. 6 Consequently they are very versatile as to the sounds they can utter, since they imitate not only every articulate language used by man but also the varied chatterings of the birds, and, in general, they reproduce any peculiarity of sounds. And the most remarkable thing of all is that at one and the same time they can converse perfectly with two persons who fall in with them, both answering questions and discoursing pertinently on the circumstances of the moment; for with one division of the tongue they can converse with the one person, and likewise with the other talk with the second. Their climate is most temperate, we are told, considering that they live at the equator, and they suffer neither from heat nor from cold. Moreover, the fruits in their island ripen throughout the entire year, even as the poet writes, Here pear on pear grows old, and apple close On apple, yea, and clustered grapes on grapes, And fig on fig. And with them the day is always the same length as the night, and at midday no shadow is cast of any object because the sun is in the zenith.
§ 2.57
βιοῦν δʼ αὐτοὺς κατὰ συγγενείας καὶ συστήματα, συνηγμένων τῶν οἰκείων οὐ πλειόνων ἢ τετρακοσίων· τούτους δʼ ἐν τοῖς λειμῶσι διαζῆν, πολλὰ τῆς χώρας ἐχούσης πρὸς διατροφήν· διὰ γὰρ τὴν ἀρετὴν τῆς νήσου καὶ τὴν εὐκρασίαν τοῦ ἀέρος γεννᾶσθαι τροφὰς αὐτομάτους πλείους τῶν ἱκανῶν. φύεσθαι γὰρ παρʼ αὐτοῖς κάλαμον πολύν, φέροντα καρπὸν δαψιλῆ, παρεμφερῆ τοῖς λευκοῖς ὀρόβοις. τοῦτον οὖν συναγαγόντες βρέχουσιν ἐν ὕδατι θερμῷ, μέχρι ἂν τὸ μέγεθος σχῶσιν ὡς ᾠοῦ περιστερᾶς· ἔπειτα συνθλάσαντες καὶ τρίψαντες ἐμπείρως ταῖς χερσὶ διαπλάττουσιν ἄρτους, οὓς ὀπτήσαντες σιτοῦνται διαφόρους ὄντας τῇ γλυκύτητι. εἶναι δὲ καὶ πηγὰς ὑδάτων δαψιλεῖς, τὰς μὲν θερμῶν εἰς λουτρὰ καὶ κόπων ἀφαίρεσιν εὐθέτους, τὰς δὲ ψυχρῶν τῇ γλυκύτητι διαφόρους καὶ πρὸς ὑγίειαν συνεργεῖν δυναμένας. ὑπάρχειν δὲ παρʼ αὐτοῖς καὶ παιδείας πάσης ἐπιμέλειαν, μάλιστα δὲ ἀστρολογίας· γράμμασί τε αὐτοὺς χρῆσθαι κατὰ μὲν τὴν δύναμιν τῶν σημαινόντων εἴκοσι καὶ ὀκτὼ τὸν ἀριθμόν, κατὰ δὲ τοὺς χαρακτῆρας ἑπτά, ὧν ἕκαστον τετραχῶς μετασχηματίζεσθαι. γράφουσι δὲ τοὺς στίχους οὐκ εἰς τὸ πλάγιον ἐκτείνοντες, ὥσπερ ἡμεῖς, ἀλλʼ ἄνωθεν κάτω καταγράφοντες εἰς ὀρθόν. πολυχρονίους δʼ εἶναι τοὺς ἀνθρώπους καθʼ ὑπερβολήν, ὡς ἂν ἄχρι τῶν πεντήκοντα καὶ ἑκατὸν ἐτῶν ζῶντας καὶ γινομένους ἀνόσους κατὰ τὸ πλεῖστον. τὸν δὲ πηρωθέντα ἢ καθόλου τι ἐλάττωμα ἔχοντα ἐν τῷ σώματι μεθιστάνειν ἑαυτὸν ἐκ τοῦ ζῆν ἀναγκάζουσι κατά τινα νόμον ἀπότομον. νόμιμον δʼ αὐτοῖς ἐστι ζῆν ἄχρι ἐτῶν ὡρισμένων, καὶ τὸν χρόνον τοῦτον ἐκπληρώσαντας ἑκουσίως μεταλλάττειν ἐξηλλαγμένῳ θανάτῳ· φύεσθαι γὰρ παρʼ αὐτοῖς ἰδιοφυῆ βοτάνην, ἐφʼ ἧς ὅταν τις κοιμηθῇ, λεληθότως καὶ προσηνῶς εἰς ὕπνον κατενεχθεὶς ἀποθνήσκει.
These islanders, they go on to say, live in groups which are based on kinship and on political organizations, no more than four hundred kinsmen being gathered together in this way; and the members spend their time in the meadows, the land supplying them with many things for sustenance; for by reason of the fertility of the island and the mildness of the climate, food-stuffs are produced of themselves in greater quantity than is sufficient for their needs. 2 For instance, a reed grows there in abundance, and bears a fruit in great plenty that is very similar to the white vetch. Now when they have gathered this they steep it in warm water until it has become the size of a pigeon's egg; then after they have crushed it and rubbed it skilfully with their hands, they mould it into loaves, which are baked and eaten, and they are of surprising sweetness. 3 There are also in the island, they say, abundant springs of water, the warm springs serving well for bathing and the relief of fatigue, the cold excelling in sweetness and possessing the power to contribute to good health. Moreover, the inhabitants give attention to every branch of learning and especially to astrology; 4 and they use letters which, according to the value of the sounds they represent, are twenty-eight in number, but the characters are only seven, each one of which can be formed in four different ways. Nor do they write their lines horizontally, as we do, but from the top to the bottom perpendicularly. And the inhabitants, they tell us, are extremely long-lived, living even to the age of one hundred and fifty years, and experiencing for the most part no illness. 5 Anyone also among them who has become crippled or suffers, in general, from any physical infirmity is forced by them, in accordance with an inexorable law, to remove himself from life. And there is also a law among them that they should live only for a stipulated number of years, and that at the completion of this period they should make away with themselves of their own accord, by a strange manner of death; for there grows among them a plant of a peculiar nature, and whenever a man lies down upon it, imperceptibly and gently he falls asleep and dies.
§ 2.58
γυναῖκας δὲ μὴ γαμεῖν, ἀλλὰ κοινὰς ἔχειν, καὶ τοὺς γεννηθέντας παῖδας ὡς κοινοὺς τρέφοντας ἐπʼ ἴσης ἀγαπᾶν· νηπίων δʼ ὄντων αὐτῶν πολλάκις τὰς τρεφούσας διαλλάττειν τὰ βρέφη, ὅπως μηδʼ αἱ μητέρες ἐπιγινώσκωσι τοὺς ἰδίους. διόπερ μηδεμιᾶς παρʼ αὐτοῖς γινομένης φιλοτιμίας ἀστασιάστους καὶ τὴν ὁμόνοιαν περὶ πλείστου ποιουμένους διατελεῖν. εἶναι δὲ παρʼ αὐτοῖς καὶ ζῷα, μικρὰ μὲν τοῖς μεγέθεσι, παράδοξα δὲ τῇ φύσει τοῦ σώματος καὶ τῇ δυνάμει τοῦ αἵματος· εἶναι γὰρ αὐτὰ τῷ σχήματι στρογγύλα καὶ παρεμφερέστατα ταῖς χελώναις, τὴν δʼ ἐπιφάνειαν δυσὶ γραμμαῖς μηλίναις κεχιασμένα, ἐφʼ ἑκάστης δὲ ἄκρας ἔχειν ὀφθαλμὸν καὶ στόμα· διὸ καὶ τέτταρσιν ὄμμασι βλέποντα καὶ τοῖς ἴσοις στόμασι χρώμενα εἰς ἕνα φάρυγα συνάγειν τὰ σιτία, καὶ διὰ τούτου καταπινομένης τῆς τροφῆς εἰς μίαν κοιλίαν συρρεῖν ἅπαντα· ὁμοίως δὲ τὰ σπλάγχνα καὶ τἄλλα τὰ ἐντὸς πάντα ἔχειν μοναχά. πόδας δὲ ὑποκεῖσθαι κύκλῳ τῆς περιφερείας πολλούς, διʼ ὧν δύνασθαι πορεύεσθαι πρὸς ὃ ἂν μέρος βούληται. τὸ δʼ αἷμα τούτου τοῦ ζῴου θαυμάσιον ἔχειν δύναμιν· πᾶν γὰρ τὸ διατμηθὲν ἔμπνουν σῶμα κολλᾶν παραχρῆμα, κἂν ἀποκοπεῖσα χεὶρ ἢ ὅμοιον εἰπεῖν τύχῃ, διʼ αὐτοῦ κολλᾶσθαι προσφάτου τῆς τομῆς οὔσης, καὶ τἄλλα δὲ μέρη τοῦ σώματος, ὅσα μὴ κυρίοις τόποις καὶ συνέχουσι τὸ ζῆν κατέχεται. ἕκαστον δὲ τῶν συστημάτων τρέφειν ὄρνεον εὐμέγεθες ἰδιάζον τῇ φύσει, καὶ διὰ τούτου πειράζεται τὰ νήπια τῶν βρεφῶν ποίας τινὰς ἔχει τὰς τῆς ψυχῆς διαθέσεις· ἀναλαμβάνουσι γὰρ αὐτὰ ἐπὶ τὰ ζῷα, καὶ τούτων πετομένων τὰ μὲν τὴν διὰ τοῦ ἀέρος φορὰν ὑπομένοντα τρέφουσι, τὰ δὲ περιναύτια γινόμενα καὶ θάμβους πληρούμενα ῥίπτουσιν, ὡς οὔτε πολυχρόνια καθεστῶτα οὔτε τοῖς ἄλλοις τοῖς τῆς ψυχῆς λήμασιν ἀξιόλογα. ἑκάστου δὲ συστήματος ὁ πρεσβύτερος ἀεὶ τὴν ἡγεμονίαν ἔχει, καθάπερ τις βασιλεύς, καὶ τούτῳ πάντες πείθονται· ὅταν δʼ ὁ πρῶτος τελέσας τὰ ἑκατὸν καὶ πεντήκοντα ἔτη κατὰ τὸν νόμον ἀπαλλάξῃ ἑαυτὸν τοῦ ζῆν, ὁ μετὰ τοῦτον πρεσβύτατος διαδέχεται τὴν ἡγεμονίαν. ἡ δὲ περὶ τὴν νῆσον θάλαττα, ῥοώδης οὖσα καὶ μεγάλας ἀμπώτεις καὶ πλημύρας ποιουμένη, γλυκεῖα τὴν γεῦσιν καθέστηκε. τῶν δὲ παρʼ ἡμῖν ἄστρων τὰς ἄρκτους καὶ πολλὰ τῶν καθʼ ἡμᾶς καθόλου μὴ φαίνεσθαι. ἑπτὰ δʼ ἦσαν αὗται νῆσοι παραπλήσιαι μὲν τοῖς μεγέθεσι, σύμμετρον δʼ ἀλλήλων διεστηκυῖαι, πᾶσαι δὲ τοῖς αὐτοῖς ἔθεσι καὶ νόμοις χρώμεναι.
They do not marry, we are told, but possess their children in common, and maintaining the children who are born as if they belonged to all, they love them equally; and while the children are infants those who suckle the babes often change them around in order that not even the mothers may know their own offspring. Consequently, since there is no rivalry among them, they never experience civil disorders and they never cease placing the highest value upon internal harmony. There are also animals among them, we are told, which are small in size but the object of wonder by reason of the nature of their bodies and the potency of their blood; for they are round in form and very similar to tortoises, but they are marked on the surface by two diagonal yellow stripes, at each end of which they have an eye and a mouth; 3 consequently, though seeing with four eyes and using as many mouths, yet it gathers its food into one gullet, and down this its nourishment is swallowed and all flows together into one stomach; and in like manner its other organs and all its inner parts are single. It also has beneath it all around its body many feet, by means of which it can move in whatever direction it pleases. 4 And the blood of this animal, they say, has a marvellous potency; for it immediately glues on to its place any living member that has been severed; even if a hand or the like should happen to have been cut off, by the use of this blood it is glued on again, provided that the cut is fresh, and the same thing is true of such other parts of the body as are not connected with the regions which are vital and sustain the person's life. 5 Each group of the inhabitants also keeps a bird of great size and of a nature peculiar to itself, by means of which a test is made of the infant children to learn what their spiritual disposition is; for they place them upon the birds, and such of them as are able to endure the flight through the air as the birds take wing they rear, but such as become nauseated and filled with consternation they cast out, as not likely either to live many years and being, besides, of no account because of their dispositions. In each group the oldest man regularly exercises the leadership, just as if he were a kind of king, and is obeyed by all the members; and when the first such ruler makes an end of his life in accordance with the law upon the completion of his one hundred and fiftieth year, the next oldest succeeds to the leadership. 7 The sea about the island has strong currents and is subject to great flooding and ebbing of the tides and is sweet in taste. And as for the stars of our heavens, the Bears and many more, we are informed, are not visible at all. The number of these islands was seven, and they are very much the same in size and at about equal distances from one another, and all follow the same customs and laws.
§ 2.59
πάντες δʼ οἱ κατοικοῦντες ἐν αὐταῖς, καίπερ δαψιλεῖς ἔχοντες πάντων χορηγίας αὐτοφυεῖς, ὅμως οὐκ ἀνέδην χρῶνται ταῖς ἀπολαύσεσιν, ἀλλὰ τὴν λιτότητα διώκουσι καὶ τὴν ἀρκοῦσαν τροφὴν προσφέρονται· κρέα δὲ καὶ τἄλλα πάντα ὀπτὰ καὶ ἐξ ὕδατος ἑφθὰ σκευάζουσι· τῶν δʼ ἄλλων τῶν τοῖς μαγείροις πεφιλοτεχνημένων χυμῶν καὶ τῆς κατὰ τὰς ἀρτύσεις ποικιλίας ἀνεπινόητοι παντελῶς εἰσι. σέβονται δὲ θεοὺς τὸ περιέχον πάντα καὶ ἥλιον καὶ καθόλου πάντα τὰ οὐράνια. ἰχθύων δὲ παντοδαπῶν πλῆθος ἁλιεύοντες ποικίλως καὶ τῶν πτηνῶν οὐκ ὀλίγα θηρεύουσι. γίνεται δὲ παρʼ αὐτοῖς ἀκροδρύων τε πλῆθος αὐτομάτων, καὶ ἐλαῖαι φύονται καὶ ἄμπελοι, ἐξ ὧν ἔλαιόν τε ποιοῦσι δαψιλὲς καὶ οἶνον. ὄφεις τε τοῖς μεγέθεσι διαφέροντας, οὐδὲν δὲ ἀδικοῦντας τοὺς ἀνθρώπους, ἐδώδιμον ἔχειν τὴν σάρκα καὶ γλυκύτητι διαφέρουσαν. ἐσθῆτας δὲ αὐτοὺς κατασκευάζειν ἔκ τινων καλάμων ἐχόντων ἐν τῷ μέσῳ χνοῦν λαμπρὸν καὶ μαλακόν, ὃν συνάγοντας καὶ τοῖς θαλαττίοις ὀστρέοις συγκεκομμένοις μίσγοντας θαυμαστὰ κατασκευάζειν ἱμάτια πορφυρᾶ. ζῴων δὲ παρηλλαγμένας φύσεις καὶ διὰ τὸ παράδοξον ἀπιστουμένας. πάντα δὲ παρʼ αὐτοῖς ὡρισμένην ἔχειν τάξιν τὰ κατὰ τὴν δίαιταν, οὐχ ἅμα πάντων τὰς τροφὰς καὶ τὰς αὐτὰς λαμβανόντων· διατετάχθαι δʼ ἐπί τινας ὡρισμένας ἡμέρας ποτὲ μὲν ἰχθύων βρῶσιν, ποτὲ δὲ ὀρνέων, ἔστι δʼ ὅτε χερσαίων, ἐνίοτε δὲ ἐλαιῶν καὶ τῶν λιτοτάτων προσοψημάτων. ἐναλλὰξ δὲ αὐτοὺς τοὺς μὲν ἀλλήλοις διακονεῖν, τοὺς δὲ ἁλιεύειν, τοὺς δὲ περὶ τὰς τέχνας εἶναι, ἄλλους δὲ περὶ ἄλλα τῶν χρησίμων ἀσχολεῖσθαι, τοὺς δʼ ἐκ περιόδου κυκλικῆς λειτουργεῖν, πλὴν τῶν ἤδη γεγηρακότων. ἔν τε ταῖς ἑορταῖς καὶ ταῖς εὐωχίαις λέγεσθαί τε καὶ ᾅδεσθαι παρʼ αὐτοῖς εἰς τοὺς θεοὺς ὕμνους καὶ ἐγκώμια, μάλιστα δὲ εἰς τὸν ἥλιον, οὗ τάς τε νήσους καὶ ἑαυτοὺς προσαγορεύουσι. θάπτουσι δὲ τοὺς τελευτήσαντας ὅταν ἄμπωτις γένηται καταχωννύντες εἰς τὴν ἅμμον, ὥστε κατὰ τὴν πλημυρίδα τὸν τόπον ἐπιχώννυσθαι. τοὺς δὲ καλάμους, ἐξ ὧν ὁ καρπὸς τῆς τροφῆς γίνεται, φασὶ σπιθαμιαίους ὄντας τὸ πάχος κατὰ τὰς τῆς σελήνης ἀναπληρώσεις ἀναπληροῦσθαι, καὶ πάλιν κατὰ τὰς ἐλαττώσεις ἀνὰ λόγον ταπεινοῦσθαι. τὸ δὲ τῶν θερμῶν πηγῶν ὕδωρ γλυκὺ καὶ ὑγιεινὸν ὂν διαφυλάττει τὴν θερμασίαν, καὶ οὐδέποτε ψύχεται, ἐὰν μὴ ψυχρὸν ὕδωρ ἢ οἶνος συμμίσγηται.
Although all the inhabitants enjoy an abundant provision of everything from what grows of itself in these islands, yet they do not indulge in the enjoyment of this abundance without restraint, but they practise simplicity and take for their food only what suffices for their needs. Meat and whatever else is roasted or boiled in water are prepared by them, but all the other dishes ingeniously concocted by professional cooks, such as sauces and the various kinds of seasonings, they have no notion whatsoever. 2 And they worship as gods that which encompasses all things and the sun, and, in general, all the heavenly bodies. Fishes of every kind in great numbers are caught by them by sundry devices and not a few birds. 3 There is also found among them an abundance of fruit trees growing wild, and olive trees and vines grow there, from which they make both olive oil and wine in abundance. Snakes also, we are told, which are of immense size and yet do no harm to the inhabitants, have a meat which is edible and exceedingly sweet. 4 And their clothing they make themselves from a certain reed which contains in the centre a downy substance that is bright to the eye and soft, which they gather and mingle with crushed seashells and thus make remarkable garments of a purple hue. As for the animals of the islands, their natures are peculiar and so amazing as to defy credence. All the details of their diet, we are told, follow a prescribed arrangement, since they do not all take their food at the same time nor is it always the same; but it has been ordained that on certain fixed days they shall eat at one time fish, at another time fowl, sometimes the flesh of land animals, and sometimes olives and the most simple side-dishes. 6 They also take turns in ministering to the needs of one another, some of them fishing, others working at the crafts, others occupying themselves in other useful tasks, and still others, with the exception of those who have come to old age, performing the services of the group in a definite cycle. 7 And at the festivals and feasts which are held among them, there are both pronounced and sung in honour of the gods hymns and spoken laudations, and especially in honour of the sun, after whom they name both the islands and themselves. They inter their dead at the time when the tide is at the ebb, burying them in the sand along the beach, the result being that at flood-tide the place has fresh sand heaped upon it. The reeds, they say, from which the fruit for their nourishment is derived, being a span in thickness increase at the times of full-moon and again decrease proportionately as it wanes. 9 And the water of the warm springs, being sweet and health-giving, maintains its heat and never becomes cold, save when it is mixed with cold water or wine.
§ 2.60
ἑπτὰ δʼ ἔτη μείναντας παρʼ αὐτοῖς τοὺς περὶ τὸν Ἰαμβοῦλον ἐκβληθῆναι ἄκοντας, ὡς κακούργους καὶ πονηροῖς ἐθισμοῖς συντεθραμμένους. πάλιν οὖν τὸ πλοιάριον κατασκευάσαντας συναναγκασθῆναι τὸν χωρισμὸν ποιήσασθαι, καὶ τροφὴν ἐνθεμένους πλεῦσαι πλέον ἢ τέτταρας μῆνας· ἐκπεσεῖν δὲ κατὰ τὴν Ἰνδικὴν εἰς ἅμμους καὶ τεναγώδεις τόπους· καὶ τὸν μὲν ἕτερον αὐτῶν ὑπὸ τοῦ κλύδωνος διαφθαρῆναι, τὸν δὲ Ἰαμβοῦλον πρός τινα κώμην προσενεχθέντα ὑπὸ τῶν ἐγχωρίων ἀναχθῆναι πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα εἰς πόλιν Παλίβοθρα, πολλῶν ἡμερῶν ὁδὸν ἀπέχουσαν τῆς θαλάττης. ὄντος δὲ φιλέλληνος τοῦ βασιλέως καὶ παιδείας ἀντεχομένου, μεγάλης αὐτὸν ἀποδοχῆς καταξιῶσαι· τὸ δὲ τελευταῖον μετά τινος ἀσφαλείας τὸ μὲν πρῶτον εἰς τὴν Περσίδα διελθεῖν, ὕστερον δὲ εἰς τὴν Ἑλλάδα διασωθῆναι. ὁ δὲ Ἰαμβοῦλος οὗτος ταῦτά τε ἀναγραφῆς ἠξίωσε καὶ περὶ τῶν κατὰ τὴν Ἰνδικὴν οὐκ ὀλίγα συνετάξατο τῶν ἀγνοουμένων παρὰ τοῖς ἄλλοις. ἡμεῖς δὲ τὴν ἐν ἀρχῇ τῆς βίβλου γεγενημένην ἐπαγγελίαν τετελεκότες αὐτοῦ περιγράψομεν τήνδε τὴν βίβλον.
After remaining among this people for seven years, the account continues, Iambulus and his companion were ejected against their will, as being malefactors and as having been educated to evil habits. Consequently, after they had again fitted out their little boat they were compelled to take their leave, and when they had stored up provisions in it they continued their voyage for more than four months. Then they were shipwrecked upon a sandy and marshy region of India; 2 and his companion lost his life in the surf, but Iambulus, having found his way to a certain village, was then brought by the natives into the presence of the king at Palibothra, a city which was distant a journey of many days from the sea. 3 And since the king was friendly to the Greeks and devoted to learning he considered Iambulus worthy of cordial welcome; and at length, upon receiving a permission of safe-conduct, he passed over first of all into Persia and later arrived safe in Greece. Now Iambulus felt that these matters deserved to be written down, and he added to his account not a few facts about India, facts of which all other men were ignorant at that time. But for our part, since we have fulfilled the promise made at the beginning of this Book, we shall bring it to a conclusion at this point.
— Book 3 —
§ 3.arg
τάδε ἔνεστιν ἐν τῇ τρίτῃ. τῶν Διοδώρου βίβλων. περὶ Αἰθιόπων τῶν ὑπὲρ τῆς Λιβύης καὶ τῶν παρʼ αὐτοῖς ἀρχαιολογουμένων. περὶ τῶν χρυσείων μετάλλων τῶν ἐν ταῖς ἐσχατιαῖς τῆς Αἰγύπτου καὶ τῆς κατασκευῆς τοῦ χρυσοῦ. περὶ τῶν κατοικούντων ἐθνῶν τὴν παράλιον τὴν παρὰ τὸν Ἀραβικὸν κόλπον καὶ καθόλου πᾶσαν τὴν παρὰ τὸν ὠκεανὸν μέχρι τῆς Ἰνδικῆς. ἐν δὲ τούτοις δηλοῦται τὰ κατὰ μέρος ἔθνη τίσι νομίμοις χρῆται καὶ παρὰ τίνας αἰτίας πολλὰ παρʼ αὐτοῖς ἱστορεῖται παντελῶς ἐξηλλαγμένα καὶ διὰ τὸ παράδοξον ἀπιστούμενα. περὶ τῶν κατὰ τὴν Λιβύην ἀρχαιολογουμένων καὶ περὶ Γοργόνων καὶ Ἀμαζονίδων καὶ Ἄμμωνος καὶ Ἄτλαντος ἱστορουμένων. περὶ τῶν κατὰ τὴν Νῦσαν μυθολογουμένων, ἐν οἷς ἐστι καὶ περὶ Τιτάνων καὶ Διονύσου καὶ μητρὸς θεῶν.
—
§ 3.1
τῶν πρὸ ταύτης βίβλων δυοῖν οὐσῶν ἡ μὲν πρώτη περιέχει τὰς κατὰ τὴν Αἴγυπτον πράξεις τῶν ἀρχαίων βασιλέων καὶ τὰ μυθολογούμενα περὶ τῶν παρʼ Αἰγυπτίοις θεῶν, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις περὶ τοῦ Νείλου καὶ τῶν ἐν αὐτῇ φυομένων καρπῶν τε καὶ παντοδαπῶν ζῴων, περί τε τῆς τοποθεσίας τῆς οὔσης Αἰγύπτου καὶ τῶν νομίμων τῶν παρὰ τοῖς ἐγχωρίοις καὶ τῶν δικαστηρίων, ἡ δὲ δευτέρα τὰς κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν καὶ τὰς ἐν τοῖς ἀρχαίοις συντελεσθείσας πράξεις ὑπὸ τῶν Ἀσσυρίων, ἐν αἷς ἐστιν ἥ τε Σεμιράμιδος γένεσις καὶ αὔξησις, καθʼ ἣν ἔκτισε μὲν Βαβυλῶνα καὶ πολλὰς ἄλλας πόλεις, ἐστράτευσε δὲ ἐπὶ τὴν Ἰνδικὴν μεγάλαις δυνάμεσιν· ἑξῆς δὲ περὶ τῶν Χαλδαίων καὶ τῆς παρʼ αὐτοῖς τῶν ἄστρων παρατηρήσεως, καὶ περὶ τῆς Ἀραβίας καὶ τῶν ἐν αὐτῇ παραδόξων, περί τε τῆς Σκυθῶν βασιλείας, καὶ περὶ Ἀμαζόνων, καὶ τὸ τελευταῖον περὶ τῶν Ὑπερβορέων. ἐν δὲ ταύτῃ τὰ συνεχῆ τοῖς προϊστορημένοις προστιθέντες διέξιμεν περὶ Αἰθιόπων καὶ τῶν Λιβύων καὶ τῶν ὀνομαζομένων Ἀτλαντίων.
Book III Of the two preceding Books the First embraces the deeds in Egypt of the early kings and the accounts, as found in their myths, of the gods of the Egyptians; there is also a discussion of the Nile and of the products of the land, and also of its animals, which are of every kind, and a description of the topography of Egypt, of the customs prevailing among its inhabitants, and of its courts of law. 2 The Second Book embraces the deeds performed by the Assyrians in Asia in early times, connected with which are both the birth and the rise to power of Semiramis, in the course of which she founded Babylon and many other cities and made a campaign against India with great forces; and after this is an account of the Chaldaeans and of their practice of observing the stars, of Arabia and the marvels of that land, of the kingdom of the Scythians, of the Amazons, and finally of the Hyperboreans. In this present Book we shall add the matters which are connected with what I have already narrated, 3 and shall describe the Ethiopians and the Libyans and the people known as the Atlantians.
§ 3.2
Αἰθίοπας τοίνυν ἱστοροῦσι πρώτους ἀνθρώπων ἁπάντων γεγονέναι, καὶ τὰς ἀποδείξεις τούτων ἐμφανεῖς εἶναί φασιν. ὅτι μὲν γὰρ οὐκ ἐπήλυδες ἐλθόντες, ἀλλʼ ἐγγενεῖς ὄντες τῆς χώρας δικαίως αὐτόχθονες ὀνομάζονται, σχεδὸν παρὰ πᾶσι συμφωνεῖσθαι· ὅτι δὲ τοὺς ὑπὸ τὴν μεσημβρίαν οἰκοῦντας πιθανόν ἐστι πρώτους ὑπὸ τῆς γῆς ἐζωογονῆσθαι, προφανὲς ὑπάρχειν ἅπασι· τῆς γὰρ περὶ τὸν ἥλιον θερμασίας ἀναξηραινούσης τὴν γῆν ὑγρὰν οὖσαν ἔτι δὲ κατὰ τὴν τῶν ὅλων γένεσιν καὶ ζωογονούσης, εἰκὸς εἶναι τὸν ἐγγυτάτω τόπον ὄντα τοῦ ἡλίου πρῶτον ἐνεγκεῖν φύσεις ἐμψύχους. φασὶ δὲ παρʼ αὐτοῖς πρώτοις καταδειχθῆναι θεοὺς τιμᾶν καὶ θυσίας ἐπιτελεῖν καὶ πομπὰς καὶ πανηγύρεις καὶ τἄλλα διʼ ὧν ἄνθρωποι τὸ θεῖον τιμῶσι· διὸ καὶ τὴν παρʼ αὐτοῖς εὐσέβειαν διαβεβοῆσθαι παρὰ πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις, καὶ δοκεῖν τὰς παρʼ Αἰθίοψι θυσίας μάλιστʼ εἶναι τῷ δαιμονίῳ κεχαρισμένας. μάρτυρα δὲ τούτων παρέχονται τὸν πρεσβύτατον σχεδὸν καὶ μάλιστα τῶν ποιητῶν θαυμαζόμενον παρʼ Ἕλλησι· τοῦτον γὰρ κατὰ τὴν Ἰλιάδα παρεισάγειν τόν τε Δία καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους μετʼ αὐτοῦ θεοὺς ἀποδημοῦντας εἰς Αἰθιοπίαν πρός τε τὰς θυσίας τὰς ἀπονεμομένας αὐτοῖς κατʼ ἔτος καὶ εὐωχίαν κοινὴν παρὰ τοῖς Αἰθίοψι, Ζεὺς γὰρ ἐς ὠκεανὸν μετʼ ἀμύμονας Αἰθιοπῆας χθιζὸς ἔβη μετὰ δαῖτα, θεοὶ δʼ ἅμα πάντες ἕποντο. λέγουσι δὲ καὶ τῆς εἰς τὸ θεῖον εὐσεβείας φανερῶς αὐτοὺς κομίζεσθαι τὰς χάριτας, μηδέποτε δεσποτείας ἐπήλυδος πεῖραν λαβόντας· ἐξ αἰῶνος γὰρ ἐν ἐλευθερίᾳ μεμενηκέναι καὶ τῇ πρὸς ἀλλήλους ὁμονοίᾳ, πολλῶν μὲν καὶ δυνατῶν ἐστρατευκότων ἐπʼ αὐτούς,
Now the Ethiopians, as historians relate, were the first of all men and the proofs of this statement, they say, are manifest. For that they did not come into their land as immigrants from abroad but were natives of it and so justly bear the name of "autochthones" is, they maintain, conceded by practically all men; furthermore, that those who dwell beneath the noonday sun were, in all likelihood, the first to be generated by the earth, is clear to all; since, inasmuch as it was the warmth of the sun which, at the generation of the universe, dried up the earth when it was still wet and impregnated it with life, it is reasonable to suppose that the region which was nearest the sun was the first to bring forth living creatures. 2 And they say that they were the first to be taught to honour the gods and to hold sacrifices and processions and festivals and the other rites by which men honour the deity; and that in consequence their piety has been published abroad among all men, and it is generally held that the sacrifices practised among the Ethiopians are those which are the most pleasing to heaven. 3 As witness to this they call upon the poet who is perhaps the oldest and certainly the most venerated among the Greeks; for in the Iliad he represents both Zeus and the rest of the gods with him as absent on a visit to Ethiopia to share in the sacrifices and the banquet which were given annually by the Ethiopians for all the gods together: For Zeus had yesterday to Ocean's bounds Set forth to feast with Ethiop's faultless men, And he was followed there by all the gods. And they state that, by reason of their piety towards the deity, they manifestly enjoy the favour of the gods, inasmuch as they have never experienced the rule of an invader from abroad; for from all time they have enjoyed a state of freedom and of peace one with another, and although many and powerful rulers have made war upon them, not one of these has succeeded in his undertaking.
§ 3.3
μηδενὸς δὲ τῆς ἐπιβολῆς καθικομένου. Καμβύσην μὲν γὰρ μεγάλῃ δυνάμει στρατεύσαντα τήν τε στρατιὰν ἀποβαλεῖν ἅπασαν καὶ αὐτὸν τοῖς ὅλοις κινδυνεῦσαι· Σεμίραμιν δέ, τῷ μεγέθει τῶν ἐπιβολῶν καὶ πράξεων διωνομασμένην, ἐπὶ βραχὺ τῆς Αἰθιοπίας προελθοῦσαν ἀπογνῶναι τὴν ἐπὶ τὸ σύμπαν ἔθνος στρατείαν· τούς τε περὶ Ἡρακλέα καὶ Διόνυσον ἐπιόντας ἅπασαν τὴν οἰκουμένην μόνους τοὺς Αἰθίοπας τοὺς ὑπὲρ Αἰγύπτου μὴ καταπολεμῆσαι διά τε τὴν εὐσέβειαν τῶν ἀνδρῶν καὶ τὸ δυσκράτητον τῆς ἐπιβολῆς. φασὶ δὲ καὶ τοὺς Αἰγυπτίους ἑαυτῶν ἀποίκους ὑπάρχειν, Ὀσίριδος ἡγησαμένου τῆς ἀποικίας. καθόλου γὰρ τὴν νῦν οὖσαν Αἴγυπτον λέγουσιν οὐ χώραν, ἀλλὰ θάλατταν γεγονέναι κατὰ τὴν ἐξ ἀρχῆς τοῦ κόσμου σύστασιν· ὕστερον μέντοι τοῦ Νείλου κατὰ τὰς ἀναβάσεις τὴν ἐκ τῆς Αἰθιοπίας ἰλὺν καταφέροντος ἐκ τοῦ κατʼ ὀλίγον προσχωσθῆναι. ὅτι δʼ ἐστὶν αὐτῶν ἡ χώρα πᾶσα ποταμόχωστος ἐναργεστάτην ἔχειν ἀπόδειξιν τὴν γινομένην κατὰ τὰς ἐκβολὰς τοῦ Νείλου· καθʼ ἕκαστον γὰρ ἔτος ἀεὶ νέας ἰλύος ἀθροιζομένης πρὸς τὰ στόματα τοῦ ποταμοῦ καθορᾶται τὸ μὲν πέλαγος ἐξωθούμενον τοῖς προσχώμασιν, ἡ δὲ χώρα τὴν αὔξησιν λαμβάνουσα. τὰ δὲ πλεῖστα τῶν νομίμων τοῖς Αἰγυπτίοις ὑπάρχειν Αἰθιοπικά, τηρουμένης τῆς παλαιᾶς συνηθείας παρὰ τοῖς ἀποικισθεῖσι. τό τε γὰρ τοὺς βασιλεῖς θεοὺς νομίζειν καὶ τὸ περὶ τὰς ταφὰς μάλιστα σπουδάζειν καὶ πολλὰ τοιαῦθʼ ἕτερα πράττειν Αἰθιόπων ὑπάρχειν ἐπιτηδεύματα, τάς τε τῶν ἀγαλμάτων ἰδέας καὶ τοὺς τῶν γραμμάτων τύπους Αἰθιοπικοὺς ὑπάρχειν· διττῶν γὰρ Αἰγυπτίοις ὄντων γραμμάτων, τὰ μὲν δημώδη προσαγορευόμενα πάντας μανθάνειν, τὰ δʼ ἱερὰ καλούμενα παρὰ μὲν τοῖς Αἰγυπτίοις μόνους γινώσκειν τοὺς ἱερεῖς παρὰ τῶν πατέρων ἐν ἀπορρήτοις μανθάνοντας, παρὰ δὲ τοῖς Αἰθίοψιν ἅπαντας τούτοις χρῆσθαι τοῖς τύποις. τά τε συστήματα τῶν ἱερέων παραπλησίαν ἔχειν τάξιν παρʼ ἀμφοτέροις τοῖς ἔθνεσι· καθαρεύειν γὰρ ἅπαντας τοὺς περὶ τὴν τῶν θεῶν θεραπείαν ὄντας, ὁμοίως ἐξυρημένους καὶ τὰς στολὰς τὰς αὐτὰς ἔχοντας καὶ τὸν τοῦ σκήπτρου τύπον ἀροτροειδῆ καθεστῶτα, ὃν ἔχοντας τοὺς βασιλεῖς χρῆσθαι πίλοις μακροῖς ἐπὶ τοῦ πέρατος ὀμφαλὸν ἔχουσι καὶ περιεσπειραμένοις ὄφεσιν, οὓς καλοῦσιν ἀσπίδας· τοῦτο δὲ τὸ παράσημον ἔοικε συνεμφαίνειν ὅτι τοὺς ἐπιθέσθαι τολμήσοντας τῷ βασιλεῖ συμβήσεται θανατηφόροις περιπεσεῖν δήγμασι. πολλὰ δὲ καὶ ἄλλα λέγουσι περὶ τῆς αὑτῶν ἀρχαιότητος καὶ τῆς τῶν Αἰγυπτίων ἀποικίας, περὶ ὧν οὐδὲν κατεπείγει γράφειν.
Cambyses, for instance, they say, who made war upon them with a great force, both lost all his army and was himself exposed to the greatest peril; Semiramis also, who through the magnitude of her undertakings and achievements has become renowned, after advancing a short distance into Ethiopia gave up her campaign against the whole nation; and Heracles and Dionysus, although they visited all the inhabited earth, failed to subdue the Ethiopians alone who dwell above Egypt, both because of the piety of these men and because of the insurmountable difficulties involved in the attempt. They say also that the Egyptians are colonists sent out by the Ethiopians, Osiris having been the leader of the colony. 2 For, speaking generally, what is now Egypt, they maintain, was not land but sea when in the beginning the universe was being formed; afterwards, however, as the Nile during the times of its inundation carried down the mud from Ethiopia, land was gradually built up from the deposit. Also the statement that all the land of the Egyptians is alluvial silt deposited by the river receives the clearest proof, in their opinion, from what takes place at the outlets of the Nile; 3 for as each year new mud is continually gathered together at the mouths of the river, the sea is observed being thrust back by the deposited silt and the land receiving the increase. And the larger part of the customs of the Egyptians are, they hold, Ethiopian, the colonists still preserving their ancient manners. 4 For instance, the belief that their kings are gods, the very special attention which they pay to their burials, and many other matters of a similar nature are Ethiopian practices, while the shapes of their statues and the forms of their letters are Ethiopian; 5 for of the two kinds of writing which the Egyptians have, that which is known as "popular" (demotic) is learned by everyone, while that which is called "sacred" is understood only by the priests of the Egyptians, who learn it from their fathers as one of the things which are not divulged, but among the Ethiopians everyone uses these forms of letters. 6 Furthermore, the orders of the priests, they maintain, have much the same position among both peoples; for all are clean who are engaged in the service of the gods, keeping themselves shaven, like the Egyptian priests, and having the same dress and form of staff, which is shaped like a plough and is carried by their kings, who wear high felt hats which end in a knob at the top and are circled by the serpents which they call asps; and this symbol appears to carry the thought that it will be the lot of those who shall dare to attack the king to encounter death-carrying stings. 7 Many other things are also told by them concerning their own antiquity and the colony which they sent out that became the Egyptians, but about this there is no special need of our writing anything.
§ 3.4
περὶ δὲ τῶν Αἰθιοπικῶν γραμμάτων τῶν παρʼ Αἰγυπτίοις καλουμένων ἱερογλυφικῶν ῥητέον, ἵνα μηδὲν παραλίπωμεν τῶν ἀρχαιολογουμένων. συμβέβηκε τοίνυν τοὺς μὲν τύπους ὑπάρχειν αὐτῶν ὁμοίους ζῴοις παντοδαποῖς καὶ ἀκρωτηρίοις ἀνθρώπων, ἔτι δʼ ὀργάνοις, καὶ μάλιστα τεκτονικοῖς· οὐ γὰρ ἐκ τῆς τῶν συλλαβῶν συνθέσεως ἡ γραμματικὴ παρʼ αὐτοῖς τὸν ὑποκείμενον λόγον ἀποδίδωσιν, ἀλλʼ ἐξ ἐμφάσεως τῶν μεταγραφομένων καὶ μεταφορᾶς μνήμῃ συνηθλημένης. γράφουσι γὰρ ἱέρακα καὶ κροκόδειλον, ἔτι δʼ ὄφιν καὶ τῶν ἐκ τοῦ σώματος τῶν ἀνθρώπων ὀφθαλμὸν καὶ χεῖρα καὶ πρόσωπον καὶ ἕτερα τοιαῦτα. ὁ μὲν οὖν ἱέραξ αὐτοῖς σημαίνει πάντα τὰ ὀξέως γινόμενα, διὰ τὸ τὸ ζῷον τοῦτο τῶν πτηνῶν σχεδὸν ὑπάρχειν ὀξύτατον. μεταφέρεταί τε ὁ λόγος ταῖς οἰκείαις μεταφοραῖς εἰς πάντα τὰ ὀξέα καὶ τὰ τούτοις οἰκεῖα παραπλησίως τοῖς εἰρημένοις. ὁ δὲ κροκόδειλος σημαντικός ἐστι πάσης κακίας, ὁ δὲ ὀφθαλμὸς δίκης τηρητὴς καὶ παντὸς τοῦ σώματος φύλαξ. τῶν δʼ ἀκρωτηρίων ἡ μὲν δεξιὰ τοὺς δακτύλους ἐκτεταμένους ἔχουσα σημαίνει βίου πορισμόν, ἡ δʼ εὐώνυμος συνηγμένη τήρησιν καὶ φυλακὴν χρημάτων. ὁ δʼ αὐτὸς λόγος καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἄλλων τύπων τῶν ἐκ τοῦ σώματος καὶ τῶν ὀργανικῶν καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἁπάντων· ταῖς γὰρ ἐν ἑκάστοις ἐνούσαις ἐμφάσεσι συνακολουθοῦντες, καὶ μελέτῃ πολυχρονίῳ καὶ μνήμῃ γυμνάζοντες τὰς ψυχάς, ἑκτικῶς ἕκαστα τῶν γεγραμμένων ἀναγινώσκουσι.
We must now speak about the Ethiopian writing which is called hieroglyphic among the Egyptians, in order that we may omit nothing in our discussion of their antiquities. Now it is found that the forms of their letters take the shape of animals of every kind, and of the members of the human body, and of implements and especially carpenters' tools; for their writing does not express the intended concept by means of syllables joined one to another, but by means of the significance of the objects which have been copied and by its figurative meaning which has been impressed upon the memory by practice. 2 For instance, they draw the picture of a hawk, a crocodile, a snake, and of the members of the human body — an eye, a hand, a face, and the like. Now the hawk signifies to them everything which happens swiftly, since this animal is practically the swiftest of winged creatures. And the concept portrayed is then transferred, by the appropriate metaphorical transfer, to all swift things and to everything to which swiftness is appropriate, very much as if they had been named. 3 And the crocodile is a symbol of all that is evil, and the eye is the warder of justice and the guardian of the entire body. And as for the members of the body, the right hand with fingers extended signifies a procuring of livelihood, and the left with the fingers closed, a keeping and guarding of property. 4 The same way of reasoning applies also to the remaining characters, which represent parts of the body and implements and all other things; for by paying close attention to the significance which is inherent in each object and by training their minds through drill and exercise of the memory over a long period, they read from habit everything which has been written.
§ 3.5
τῶν δὲ παρʼ Αἰθίοψι νομίμων οὐκ ὀλίγα δοκεῖ πολὺ τῶν παρὰ τοῖς ἄλλοις διαφέρειν, καὶ μάλιστα τὰ περὶ τὴν αἵρεσιν τῶν βασιλέων. οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἱερεῖς ἐξ αὑτῶν τοὺς ἀρίστους προκρίνουσιν, ἐκ δὲ τῶν καταλεχθέντων, ὃν ἂν ὁ θεὸς κωμάζων κατά τινα συνήθειαν περιφερόμενος λάβῃ, τοῦτον τὸ πλῆθος αἱρεῖται βασιλέα· εὐθὺς δὲ καὶ προσκυνεῖ καὶ τιμᾷ καθάπερ θεόν, ὡς ὑπὸ τῆς τοῦ δαιμονίου προνοίας ἐγκεχειρισμένης αὐτῷ τῆς ἀρχῆς. ὁ δʼ αἱρεθεὶς διαίτῃ τε χρῆται τῇ τεταγμένῃ κατὰ τοὺς νόμους καὶ τἄλλα πράττει κατὰ τὸ πάτριον ἔθος, οὔτʼ εὐεργεσίαν οὔτε τιμωρίαν ἀπονέμων οὐδενὶ παρὰ τὸ δεδογμένον ἐξ ἀρχῆς παρʼ αὐτοῖς νόμιμον. ἔθος δʼ αὐτοῖς ἐστι μηδένα τῶν ὑποτεταγμένων θανάτῳ περιβάλλειν, μηδʼ ἂν καταδικασθεὶς ἐπὶ θανάτῳ τις φανῇ τιμωρίας ἄξιος, ἀλλὰ πέμπειν τῶν ὑπηρετῶν τινα σημεῖον ἔχοντα θανάτου πρὸς τὸν παρανενομηκότα· οὗτος δʼ ἰδὼν τὸ σύσσημον, καὶ παραχρῆμα εἰς τὴν ἰδίαν οἰκίαν ἀπελθών, ἑαυτὸν ἐκ τοῦ ζῆν μεθίστησι. φεύγειν δʼ ἐκ τῆς ἰδίας χώρας εἰς τὴν ὅμορον καὶ τῇ μεταστάσει τῆς πατρίδος λύειν τὴν τιμωρίαν, καθάπερ παρὰ τοῖς Ἕλλησιν, οὐδαμῶς συγκεχώρηται. διὸ καί φασί τινα, τοῦ θανατηφόρου σημείου πρὸς αὐτὸν ἀποσταλέντος ὑπὸ τοῦ βασιλέως, ἐπιβαλέσθαι μὲν ἐκ τῆς Αἰθιοπίας φεύγειν, αἰσθομένης δὲ τῆς μητρὸς καὶ τῇ ζώνῃ τὸν τράχηλον αὐτοῦ σφιγγούσης, ταύτῃ μηδὲ καθʼ ἕνα τρόπον τολμῆσαι προσενεγκεῖν τὰς χεῖρας, αὐτὸν δʼ ἀγχόμενον καρτερῆσαι μέχρι τῆς τελευτῆς, ἵνα μὴ τοῖς
As for the customs of the Ethiopians, not a few of them are thought to differ greatly from those of the rest of mankind, this being especially true of those which concern the selection of their kings. The priests, for instance, first choose out the noblest men from their own number, and whichever one from this group the god may select, as he is borne about in a procession in accordance with a certain practice of theirs, him the multitude take for their king; and straightway it both worships and honours him like a god, believing that the sovereignty has been entrusted to him by Divine Providence. 2 And the king who has been thus chosen both follows a regimen which has been fixed in accordance with the laws and performs all his other deeds in accordance with the ancestral custom, according neither favour nor punishment to anyone contrary to the usage which has been approved among them from the beginning. It is also a custom of theirs that the king shall put no one of his subjects to death, not even if a man shall have been condemned to death and is considered deserving of punishment, but that he shall send to the transgressor one of his attendants bearing a token of death; and the guilty person, on seeing the warning, immediately retires to his home and removes himself from life. Moreover, for a man to flee from his own into a neighbouring country and thus by moving away from his native land to pay the penalty of his transgression, as is the custom among the Greeks, is permissible under no circumstances. 3 Consequently, they say, when a man to whom the token of death had been sent by the king once undertook to flee from Ethiopia, and his mother, on learning of this, bound his neck about with her girdle, he dared not so much as raise his hands against her in any way but submitted to be strangled until he died, that he might not leave a greater disgrace to his kinsmen.
§ 3.6
συγγενέσιν ὀνείδη καταλίπῃ μείζω. πάντων δʼ ἐστὶ παραδοξότατον τὸ γινόμενον περὶ τὴν τελευτὴν τῶν βασιλέων. κατὰ γὰρ τὴν Μερόην οἱ περὶ τὰς τῶν θεῶν θεραπείας τε καὶ τιμὰς διατρίβοντες ἱερεῖς, μεγίστην καὶ κυριωτάτην τάξιν ἔχοντες, ἐπειδὰν ἐπὶ νοῦν αὐτοῖς ἔλθῃ, πέμπουσιν ἄγγελον πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα, κελεύοντες ἀποθνήσκειν. τοὺς γὰρ θεοὺς αὐτοῖς ταῦτα κεχρηματικέναι, καὶ δεῖν τὸ πρόσταγμα τῶν ἀθανάτων ὑπὸ θνητῆς φύσεως μηδαμῶς παροραθῆναι. καὶ ἑτέρους δʼ ἐπιφθέγγονται λόγους, οἵους ἂν ἁπλῇ διανοίᾳ προσδέξαιτο φύσις ἀρχαίᾳ μὲν καὶ δυσεξαλείπτῳ συνηθείᾳ συντεθραμμένη, λόγον δʼ οὐκ ἔχουσα τὸν ἐναντιωσόμενον τοῖς οὐκ ἀναγκαίως προσταττομένοις. κατὰ μὲν οὖν τοὺς ἐπάνω χρόνους ὑπήκουον οἱ βασιλεῖς τοῖς ἱερεῦσιν, οὐχ ὅπλοις οὐδὲ βίᾳ κρατηθέντες, ἀλλʼ ὑπʼ αὐτῆς τῆς δεισιδαιμονίας τοὺς λογισμοὺς κατισχυόμενοι· κατὰ δὲ τὸν δεύτερον Πτολεμαῖον ὁ βασιλεὺς τῶν Αἰθιόπων Ἐργαμένης, μετεσχηκὼς Ἑλληνικῆς ἀγωγῆς καὶ φιλοσοφήσας, πρῶτος ἐθάρρησε καταφρονῆσαι τοῦ προστάγματος. λαβὼν γὰρ φρόνημα τῆς βασιλείας ἄξιον παρῆλθε μετὰ τῶν στρατιωτῶν εἰς τὸ ἄβατον, οὗ συνέβαινεν εἶναι τὸν χρυσοῦν ναὸν τῶν Αἰθιόπων, καὶ τοὺς μὲν ἱερεῖς ἀπέσφαξε, τὸ δὲ ἔθος τοῦτο καταλύσας διωρθώσατο πρὸς τὴν ἑαυτοῦ προαίρεσιν.
Of all their customs the most astonishing is that which obtains in connection with the death of their kings. For the priests at Meroe who spend their time in the worship of the gods and the rites which do them honour, being the greatest and most powerful order, whenever the idea comes to them, dispatch a messenger to the king with orders that he die. 2 For the gods, they add, have revealed this to them, and it must be that the command of the immortals should in no wise be disregarded by one of mortal frame. And this order they accompany with other arguments, such as are accepted by a simple-minded nature, which has been bred in a custom that is both ancient and difficult to eradicate and which knows no argument that can be set in opposition to commands enforced by no compulsion. 3 Now in former times the kings would obey the priests, having been overcome, not by arms nor by force, but because their reasoning powers had been put under a constraint by their very superstition; but during the reign of the second Ptolemy the king of the Ethiopians, Ergamenes, who had had a Greek education and had studied philosophy, was the first to have the courage to disdain the command. 4 For assuming a spirit which became the position of a king he entered with his soldiers into the unapproachable place where stood, as it turned out, the golden shrine of the Ethiopians, put the priests to the sword, and after abolishing this custom thereafter ordered affairs after his own will.
§ 3.7
τὸ δὲ περὶ τοὺς φίλους τοῦ βασιλέως νόμιμον, καίπερ ὂν παράδοξον, διαμένειν ἔφασαν ἕως τῶν καθʼ ἡμᾶς χρόνων. ἔθος γὰρ ὑπάρχειν λέγουσι τοῖς Αἰθίοψιν, ἐπὰν ὁ βασιλεὺς μέρος τι τοῦ σώματος πηρωθῇ διʼ ἡνδηποτοῦν αἰτίαν, ἅπαντας τοὺς συνήθεις συναποβάλλειν τοῦτο κατὰ προαίρεσιν· αἰσχρὸν γὰρ ὑπολαμβάνειν τοῦ βασιλέως πεπηρωμένου τὸ σκέλος ἀρτίποδας εἶναι τοὺς φίλους, καὶ μὴ πάντας ἐν ταῖς ἐξόδοις συνέπεσθαι χωλοὺς ὁμοίως· ἄτοπον γὰρ εἶναι τὸ συμπενθεῖν μὲν καὶ τὸ συλλυπεῖσθαι καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ὁμοίως ἀγαθῶν ἁπάντων τε καὶ κακῶν κοινωνεῖν τὴν βεβαίαν φιλίαν, τῆς δʼ εἰς τὸ σῶμα λύπης ἄμοιρον γίνεσθαι. φασὶ δὲ σύνηθες εἶναι καὶ τὸ συντελευτᾶν ἑκουσίως τοὺς ἑταίρους τοῖς βασιλεῦσι, καὶ τοῦτον εἶναι τὸν θάνατον ἔνδοξον καὶ φιλίας ἀληθινῆς μάρτυρα. διόπερ μὴ ῥᾳδίως ἐπιβουλὴν γίνεσθαι παρὰ τοῖς Αἰθίοψι κατὰ τοῦ βασιλέως, ὡς ἂν τῶν φίλων ἁπάντων ἐπʼ ἴσης προνοουμένων τῆς τʼ ἐκείνου καὶ τῆς ἰδίας ἀσφαλείας. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν τὰ νόμιμα παρὰ τοῖς Αἰθίοψίν ἐστι τοῖς τὴν μητρόπολιν αὐτῶν οἰκοῦσι καὶ νεμομένοις τήν τε νῆσον τὴν Μερόην καὶ τὴν χώραν τὴν πλησίον Αἰγύπτου.
As for the custom touching the friends of the king, strange as it is, it persists, they said, down to our own time. For the Ethiopians have the custom, they say, that if their king has been maimed in some part of his body through any cause whatever, all his companions suffer the same loss of their own choice; because they consider that it would be a disgraceful thing if, when the king had been maimed in his leg, his friends should be sound of limb, and if in their goings forth from the palace they should not all follow the king limping as he did; 2 for it would be strange that steadfast friendship should share sorrow and grief and bear equally all other things both good and evil, but should have no part in the suffering of the body. They say also that it is customary for the comrades of the kings even to die with them of their own accord and that such a death is an honourable one and a proof of true friendship. 3 And it is for this reason, they add, that a conspiracy against the king is not easily raised among the Ethiopians, all his friends being equally concerned both for his safety and their own. These, then, are the customs which prevail among the Ethiopians who dwell in their capital and those who inhabit both the island of Meroe and the land adjoining Egypt.
§ 3.8
ἔστι δὲ καὶ ἄλλα γένη τῶν Αἰθιόπων παμπληθῆ, τὰ μὲν ἐξ ἀμφοτέρων τῶν μερῶν τὴν παραποτάμιον τοῦ Νείλου κατοικοῦντα καὶ τὰς ἐν τῷ ποταμῷ νήσους, τὰ δὲ τὴν ὅμορον τῆς Ἀραβίας νεμόμενα, τὰ δʼ ἐν τοῖς μεσογείοις τῆς Λιβύης καθιδρυμένα. οἱ πλεῖστοι δὲ τούτων καὶ μάλισθʼ οἱ παρὰ τὸν ποταμὸν οἰκοῦντες ταῖς μὲν χρόαις εἰσὶ μέλανες, ταῖς δὲ ἰδέαις σιμοί, τοῖς δὲ τριχώμασιν οὖλοι. καὶ ταῖς μὲν ψυχαῖς παντελῶς ὑπάρχουσιν ἄγριοι καὶ τὸ θηριῶδες ἐμφαίνοντες, οὐχ οὕτω δὲ τοῖς θυμοῖς ὡς τοῖς ἐπιτηδεύμασιν· αὐχμηροὶ γὰρ ὄντες τοῖς ὅλοις σώμασι τοὺς μὲν ὄνυχας ἐπὶ πολὺ παρηγμένους ἔχουσι τοῖς θηρίοις παραπλησίως, τῆς δὲ πρὸς ἀλλήλους φιλανθρωπίας πλεῖστον ὅσον ἀφεστήκασι· καὶ τὴν μὲν φωνὴν ὀξεῖαν προβάλλοντες, τῶν δὲ παρὰ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἐπιτηδευομένων εἰς βίον ἥμερον οὐδʼ ὁτιοῦν ἔχοντες, μεγάλην ποιοῦσι πρὸς τὰ καθʼ ἡμᾶς ἔθη τὴν διαφοράν. καθοπλίζονται δʼ αὐτῶν οἱ μὲν ἀσπίσιν ὠμοβοΐναις καὶ μικροῖς δόρασιν, οἱ δὲ ἀκοντίοις ἀναγκύλοις, ἐνίοτε δὲ ξυλίνοις τόξοις τετραπήχεσιν, οἷς τοξεύουσι μὲν τῷ ποδὶ προσβαίνοντες, ἀναλωθέντων δὲ τῶν οἰστῶν σκυτάλαις ξυλίναις διαγωνίζονται. καθοπλίζουσι δὲ καὶ τὰς γυναῖκας, ὁρίζοντες αὐταῖς τεταγμένην ἡλικίαν, ὧν ταῖς πλείσταις νόμιμόν ἐστι χαλκοῦν κρίκον φέρειν ἐν τῷ χείλει τοῦ στόματος. ἐσθῆτι δέ τινες μὲν αὐτῶν ἁπλῶς οὐ χρῶνται, γυμνῆτα βίον ἔχοντες διʼ αἰῶνος καὶ πρὸς μόνα τὰ καύματα ποριζόμενοι βοήθειαν αὐτουργὸν ἐκ τοῦ παραπεσόντος· τινὲς δὲ τῶν προβάτων τὰς οὐρὰς ἀποκόπτοντες ἐκ τῶν ὄπισθεν καλύπτουσι διὰ τούτων τὰ ἰσχία, καθάπερ αἰδῶ ταύτην προβαλλόμενοι· ἔνιοι δὲ χρῶνται ταῖς δοραῖς τῶν κτηνῶν, εἰσὶ δʼ οἳ περιζώμασι μέχρι μέσου τὸ σῶμα καλύπτουσιν, ἐκ τῶν τριχῶν πλέκοντες, ὡς ἂν τῶν παρʼ αὐτοῖς προβάτων ὄντων μὴ φερόντων ἔρια διὰ τὴν ἰδιότητα τῆς χώρας. τροφῇ δὲ χρῶνται τινὲς μὲν λαμβάνοντες τὸν γεννώμενον ἐν τοῖς ὕδασι καρπόν, ὃς αὐτοφυὴς ἀνατέλλει περί τε τὰς λίμνας καὶ τοὺς ἑλώδεις τόπους, τινὲς δὲ τῆς ἁπαλωτάτης ὕλης τοὺς ἀκρεμόνας περικλῶντες, οἷς καὶ τὰ σώματα σκιάζοντες περὶ τὰς μεσημβρίας καταψύχουσιν, ἔνιοι δὲ σπείροντες σήσαμον καὶ λωτόν, εἰσὶ δʼ οἳ ταῖς ῥίζαις τῶν καλάμων ταῖς ἁπαλωτάταις διατρεφόμενοι. οὐκ ὀλίγοι δʼ αὐτῶν καὶ ταῖς τοξείαις ἐνηθληκότες τῶν πτηνῶν εὐστόχως πολλὰ τοξεύουσι, διʼ ὧν τὴν τῆς φύσεως ἔνδειαν ἀναπληροῦσιν· οἱ πλεῖστοι δὲ τοῖς ἀπὸ τῶν βοσκημάτων κρέασι καὶ γάλακτι καὶ τυρῷ τὸν πάντα βίον διαζῶσι.
But there are also a great many other tribes of the Ethiopians, some of them dwelling in the land lying on both banks of the Nile and on the islands in the river, others inhabiting the neighbouring country of Arabia, and still others residing in the interior of Libya. 2 The majority of them, and especially those who dwell along the river, are black in colour and have flat noses and woolly hair. As for their spirit they are entirely savage and display the nature of a wild beast, not so much, however, in their temper as in their ways of living; for they are squalid all over their bodies, they keep their nails very long like the wild beasts, and are as far removed as possible from human kindness to one another; 3 and speaking as they do with a shrill voice and cultivating none of the practices of civilized life as these are found among the rest of mankind, they present a striking contrast when considered in the light of our own customs. As for their arms, some of them use shields of raw ox-hide and short spears, others javelins without a slinging-thong and sometimes bows of wood, four cubits in length, with which they shoot by putting their foot against them, and after their arrows are exhausted they finish the fight with wooden clubs. They also arm their women, setting an age limit for their service, and most of these observe the custom of wearing a bronze ring in the lip. 5 As for clothing, certain of them wear none whatsoever, going naked all their life long and making for themselves of whatever comes to hand a rude protection from the heat alone; others, cutting off the tails and the ends of the hides of their sheep, cover their loins with them, putting the tail before them to screen, after a manner, the shameful part; and some make use of the skins of their domestic animals, while there are those who cover their bodies as far as the waist with shirts, which they weave of hair, since their sheep do not produce wool by reason of the peculiar nature of the land. 6 For food some gather the fruits which are generated in their waters and which grow wild in both the lakes and marshy places, certain of them pluck off the foliage of a very tender kind of tree, with which they also cover their bodies in the midday and cool them in this way, some sow sesame and lotus, and there are those who are nourished by the most tender roots of the reeds. Not a few of them are also well trained in the use of the bow and bring down with good aim many birds, with which they satisfy their physical needs; but the greater number live for their entire life on the meat and milk and cheese of their herds.
§ 3.9
περὶ δὲ θεῶν οἱ μὲν ἀνώτερον Μερόης οἰκοῦντες ἐννοίας ἔχουσι διττάς. ὑπολαμβάνουσι γὰρ τοὺς μὲν αὐτῶν αἰώνιον ἔχειν καὶ ἄφθαρτον τὴν φύσιν, οἷον ἥλιον καὶ σελήνην καὶ τὸν σύμπαντα κόσμον, τοὺς δὲ νομίζουσι θνητῆς φύσεως κεκοινωνηκέναι καὶ διʼ ἀρετὴν καὶ κοινὴν εἰς ἀνθρώπους εὐεργεσίαν τετευχέναι τιμῶν ἀθανάτων· τήν τε γὰρ Ἶσιν καὶ τὸν Πᾶνα, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις Ἡρακλέα καὶ Δία σέβονται, μάλιστα νομίζοντες ὑπὸ τούτων εὐηργετῆσθαι τὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων γένος. ὀλίγοι δὲ τῶν Αἰθιόπων καθόλου θεοὺς οὐ νομίζουσιν εἶναι· διὸ καὶ τὸν ἥλιον ὡς πολεμιώτατον ὄντα κατὰ τὰς ἀνατολὰς βλασφημήσαντες φεύγουσι πρὸς τοὺς ἑλώδεις τῶν τόπων. παρηλλαγμένοις δʼ ἔθεσι χρῶνται καὶ περὶ τοὺς παρʼ αὐτοῖς τελευτῶντας· οἱ μὲν γὰρ εἰς τὸν ποταμὸν βάλλοντες ἀφιᾶσιν, ἀρίστην ἡγούμενοι ταφὴν ταύτην, οἱ δὲ περιχέαντες ὕελον ἐν ταῖς οἰκίαις φυλάττοντες νομίζουσι δεῖν μήτε τῶν τελευτώντων ἀγνοεῖσθαι τὰς ὄψεις τοῖς συγγενέσι μήτʼ ἐπιλανθάνεσθαι τοὺς προσήκοντας τῷ γένει τῶν προσῳκειωμένων, ἔνιοι δʼ εἰς ὀστρακίνας σοροὺς ἐμβάλλοντες κατορύττουσι κύκλῳ τῶν ἱερῶν, καὶ τὸν ἐπὶ τούτοις γινόμενον ὅρκον μέγιστον ἡγοῦνται. τὰς δὲ βασιλείας ἐγχειρίζουσιν οἱ μὲν τοῖς εὐπρεπεστάτοις, τύχης ἡγούμενοι δῶρα ἀμφότερα, τήν τε μοναρχίαν καὶ τὴν εὐπρέπειαν, οἱ δὲ τοῖς ἐπιμελεστάτοις κτηνοτρόφοις παραδιδόασι τὴν ἀρχήν, ὡς μόνους ἄριστα τῶν ὑποτεταγμένων φροντιοῦντας ἔνιοι δὲ τοῖς πλουσιωτάτοις τοῦτο τὸ τίμιον ἀπονέμουσιν, ἡγούμενοι μόνους αὐτοὺς ἐπικουρεῖν τοῖς ὄχλοις δύνασθαι διὰ τὴν ἑτοιμότητα τῆς εὐπορίας, εἰσὶ δʼ οἳ τοὺς ἀνδρείᾳ διαφέροντας αἱροῦνται βασιλεῖς, κρίνοντες τοὺς ἐν πολέμῳ πλεῖστον δυναμένους ἀξίους εἶναι μόνους τυγχάνειν τῶν πρωτείων.
With regard to the gods, the Ethiopians who dwell above Meroe entertain two opinions: they believe that some of them, such as the sun and the moon and the universe as a whole, have a nature which is eternal and imperishable, but others of them, they think, share a mortal nature and have come to receive immortal honours because of their virtue and the benefactions which they have bestowed upon all mankind; 2 for instance, they revere Isis and Pan, and also Heracles and Zeus, considering that these deities in particular have been benefactors of the race of men. But a few of the Ethiopians do not believe in the existence of any gods at all; consequently at the rising of the sun they utter imprecations against it as being most hostile to them, and flee to the marshes of those parts. Different also from those of other peoples are the customs they observe with respect to their dead; for some dispose of them by casting them into the river, thinking this to be the best burial; others, after pouring glass about the bodies, keep them in their houses, since they feel that the countenances of the dead should not be unknown to their kinsmen and that those who are united by ties of blood should not forget their near relations; and some put them in coffins made of baked clay and bury them in the ground in a ring about their temples, and they consider that the oath taken by them is the strongest possible. The kingship some of them bestow upon the most comely, believing both supreme power and comeliness to be gifts of fortune, while others entrust the rule to the most careful keepers of cattle, as being the only men who would give the best thought to their subjects; some assign this honour to the wealthiest, since they feel that these alone can come to the aid of the masses because they have the means ready at hand; and there are those who choose for their kings men of unusual valour, judging that the most efficient in war are alone worthy to receive the meed of honour.
§ 3.10
τῆς δὲ παρὰ τὸν Νεῖλον χώρας τῆς ἐν τῇ Λιβύῃ κειμένης ἐστί τι μέρος τῷ κάλλει διαφέρον· τροφάς τε γὰρ φέρει δαψιλεῖς καὶ ποικίλας, καὶ πρὸς τὰς τῶν καυμάτων ὑπερβολὰς ἔχει βοηθείας εὐθέτους τὰς ἐν τοῖς ἕλεσι καταφυγάς· διὸ καὶ περιμάχητος οὗτος ὁ τόπος γίνεται τοῖς τε Λίβυσι καὶ τοῖς Αἰθίοψι, καὶ πρὸς ἀλλήλους ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ πολεμοῦντες διατελοῦσι. φοιτᾷ δʼ εἰς αὐτὸν καὶ πλῆθος ἐλεφάντων ἐκ τῆς ἄνω χώρας, ὡς μὲν ἔνιοι λέγουσι, διὰ τὴν δαψίλειαν καὶ τὴν ἡδονὴν τῆς νομῆς· ἕλη γὰρ θαυμαστὰ παρεκτείνεται τοῖς χείλεσι τοῦ ποταμοῦ, πολλῆς καὶ παντοίας ἐν αὐτοῖς φυομένης τροφῆς. διόπερ ὅταν γεύσωνται τοῦ θρύου καὶ τοῦ καλάμου, διὰ τὴν γλυκύτητα τῆς τροφῆς μένει καὶ τὴν τῶν ἀνθρώπων δίαιταν καταφθείρει· διʼ ἣν αἰτίαν καταναγκάζονται φεύγειν εἰς τούτους τοὺς τόπους, ὄντες νομάδες καὶ σκηνῖται, τὸ σύνολον τῷ συμφέροντι τὰς πατρίδας ὁρίζοντες. αἱ δʼ ἀγέλαι τῶν εἰρημένων θηρίων τὴν μεσόγειον χώραν ἐκλείπουσι διὰ σπάνιν τροφῆς, ἅτε συντόμως τῶν φυομένων ἐν τῇ γῇ πάντων αὐαινομένων· διὰ γὰρ τὴν τοῦ καύματος ὑπερβολὴν καὶ τὴν λειψυδρίαν τῶν πηγαίων καὶ ποταμίων ὑδάτων σκληρὰς καὶ σπανίους συμβαίνει γίνεσθαι τὰς τροφάς. ὡς δέ τινές φασιν, ὄφεις θαυμαστοὶ γίνονται τό τε μέγεθος καὶ τὸ πλῆθος κατὰ τὴν θηριώδη καλουμένην χώραν· οὗτοι δὲ περὶ τὰς συστάσεις τῶν ὑδάτων ἐπιτίθενται τοῖς ἐλέφασι, καὶ τραπέντες εἰς ἀλκὴν περιπλέκονται ταῖς σπείραις εἰς τὰ σκέλη, καὶ πέρας ἕως τούτου συνέχουσι βιαζόμενοι καὶ σφίγγοντες τοῖς δεσμοῖς ἕως ἂν ἀφρίσαντα τὰ θηρία πέσῃ διὰ τὸ βάρος. ἔπειτʼ ἀθροιζόμενοι τὸ πεσὸν σαρκοφαγοῦσι, ῥᾳδίως ἐπικρατοῦντες διὰ τὴν δυσκινησίαν τοῦ ζῴου. ἀπολειπομένου δʼ ἀπορήματος, διὰ τίνʼ αἰτίαν οὐ συνέπονται τοῖς ἐλέφασιν εἰς τὴν προειρημένην παραποταμίαν διώκοντες τὰς συνήθεις τροφάς, φασὶ τοὺς τηλικούτους ὄφεις τὴν μὲν ἐπίπεδον τῆς χώρας φεύγειν, περὶ δὲ τὴν ὑπώρειαν ἐν ταῖς φάραγξι ταῖς εἰς τὸ μῆκος ἀνηκούσαις καὶ τοῖς σπηλαίοις τοῖς τὸ βάθος ἔχουσι συνεχῶς ἐναυλίζεσθαι· διόπερ τοὺς συμφέροντας καὶ συνήθεις τόπους μηδαμῶς ἐκλείπειν, αὐτοδιδάκτου πρὸς τὰ τοιαῦτα τῆς φύσεως οὔσης ἅπασι τοῖς ζῴοις. περὶ μὲν οὖν Αἰθιόπων καὶ τῆς χώρας αὐτῶν τοσαῦτα λέγομεν.
In that part of the country which lies along the Nile in Libya there is a section which is remarkable for its beauty; for it bears food in great abundance and of every variety and provides convenient places of retreat in its marshes where one finds protection against the excessive heat; consequently this region is a bone of contention between the Libyans and the Ethiopians, who wage unceasing warfare with each other for its possession. 2 It is also a gathering-place for a multitude of elephants from the country lying above it because, as some say, the pasturage is abundant and sweet; for marvellous marshes stretch along the banks of the river and in them grows food in great plenty and of every kind. 3 Consequently, whenever they taste of the rush and the reed, they remain there because of the sweetness of the food and destroy the means of subsistence of the human beings; and because of this the inhabitants are compelled to flee from these regions, and to live as nomads and dwellers in tents — in a word, to fix the bounds of their country by their advantage. 4 The herds of the wild beasts which we have mentioned leave the interior of the country because of the lack of food, since every growing thing in the ground quickly dries up; for as a result of the excessive heat and the lack of water from springs and rivers it comes to pass that the plants for food are rough and scanty. There are also, as some say, in the country of the wild beasts, as it is called, serpents which are marvellous for their size and multitude; these attack the elephants at the water-holes, pit their strength against them, and winding themselves in coils about their legs continue squeezing them tighter and tighter in their bands until at last the beasts, covered with foam, fall to the ground from their weight. Thereupon the serpents gather and devour the flesh of the fallen elephant, overcoming the beast with ease because it moves only with difficulty. 6 But since it still remains a puzzle why, in pursuit of their accustomed food, they do not follow the elephants into the region along the river, which I have mentioned, they say that the serpents of such great size avoid the level part of the country and continually make their homes at the foot of mountains in ravines which are suitable to their length and in deep caves; consequently they never leave the regions which are suitable to them and to which they are accustomed, Nature herself being the instructor of all the animals in such matters. As for the Ethiopians, then, and their land, this is as much as we have to say.
§ 3.11
περὶ δὲ τῶν συγγραφέων ἡμῖν διοριστέον, ὅτι πολλοὶ συγγεγράφασι περί τε τῆς Αἰγύπτου καὶ τῆς Αἰθιοπίας, ὧν οἱ μὲν ψευδεῖ φήμῃ πεπιστευκότες, οἱ δὲ παρʼ ἑαυτῶν πολλὰ τῆς ψυχαγωγίας ἕνεκα πεπλακότες, δικαίως ἂν ἀπιστοῖντο. Ἀγαθαρχίδης μὲν γὰρ ὁ Κνίδιος ἐν τῇ δευτέρᾳ βίβλῳ τῶν περὶ τὴν Ἀσίαν, καὶ ὁ τὰς γεωγραφίας συνταξάμενος Ἀρτεμίδωρος ὁ Ἐφέσιος κατὰ τὴν ὀγδόην βίβλον, καὶ τινες ἕτεροι τῶν ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ κατοικούντων, ἱστορηκότες τὰ πλεῖστα τῶν προειρημένων ἐν πᾶσι σχεδὸν ἐπιτυγχάνουσι. καὶ γὰρ ἡμεῖς καθʼ ὃν καιρὸν παρεβάλομεν εἰς Αἴγυπτον, πολλοῖς μὲν τῶν ἱερέων ἐνετύχομεν, οὐκ ὀλίγοις δὲ καὶ πρεσβευταῖς ἀπὸ τῆς Αἰθιοπίας παροῦσιν εἰς λόγους ἀφικόμεθα· παρʼ ὧν ἀκριβῶς ἕκαστα πυθόμενοι, καὶ τοὺς λόγους τῶν ἱστορικῶν ἐξελέγξαντες, τοῖς μάλιστα συμφωνοῦσιν ἀκόλουθον τὴν ἀναγραφὴν πεποιήμεθα. περὶ μὲν οὖν Αἰθιόπων τῶν πρὸς τῇ δύσει κατοικούντων ἀρκεσθησόμεθα τοῖς ῥηθεῖσι, περὶ δὲ τῶν κατὰ τὴν μεσημβρίαν καὶ τὴν Ἐρυθρὰν θάλατταν κειμένων ἐν μέρει διέξιμεν. δοκεῖ δʼ ἡμῖν ἁρμόττειν προδιελθεῖν περὶ τῆς τοῦ χρυσοῦ κατασκευῆς τῆς ἐν τούτοις τοῖς τόποις γινομένης.
Concerning the historians, we must distinguish among them, to the effect that many have composed works on both Egypt and Ethiopia, of whom some have given credence to false report and others have invented many tales out of their own minds for the delectation of their readers, and so may justly be distrusted. 2 For example, Agatharchides of Cnidus in the second Book of his work on Asia, and the compiler of geographies, Artemidorus of Ephesus, in his eighth Book, and certain others whose homes were in Egypt, have recounted most of what I have set forth above and are, on the contrary, accurate in all they have written. 3 Since, to bear witness ourselves, during the time of our visit to Egypt, we associated with many of its priests and conversed with not a few ambassadors from Ethiopia as well who were then in Egypt; and after inquiring carefully of them about each matter and testing the stories of the historians, we have composed our account so as to accord with the opinions on which they most fully agree. Now as for the Ethiopians who dwell in the west, we shall be satisfied with what has been said, and we shall discuss in turn the peoples who live to the South and about the Red Sea. However, we feel that it is appropriate first to tell of the working of the gold as it is carried on in these regions.
§ 3.12
περὶ γὰρ τὰς ἐσχατιὰς τῆς Αἰγύπτου καὶ τῆς ὁμορούσης Ἀραβίας τε καὶ Αἰθιοπίας τόπος ἐστὶν ἔχων μέταλλα πολλὰ καὶ μεγάλα χρυσοῦ, συναγομένου πολλοῦ πολλῇ κακοπαθείᾳ τε καὶ δαπάνῃ. τῆς γὰρ γῆς μελαίνης οὔσης τῇ φύσει καὶ διαφυὰς καὶ φλέβας ἐχούσης μαρμάρου τῇ λευκότητι διαφερούσας καὶ πάσας τὰς περιλαμπομένας φύσεις ὑπερβαλλούσας τῇ λαμπρότητι, οἱ προσεδρεύοντες τοῖς μεταλλικοῖς ἔργοις τῷ πλήθει τῶν ἐργαζομένων κατασκευάζουσι τὸν χρυσόν. οἱ γὰρ βασιλεῖς τῆς Αἰγύπτου τοὺς ἐπὶ κακουργίᾳ καταδικασθέντας καὶ τοὺς κατὰ πόλεμον αἰχμαλωτισθέντας, ἔτι δὲ τοὺς ἀδίκοις διαβολαῖς περιπεσόντας καὶ διὰ θυμὸν εἰς φυλακὰς παραδεδομένους, ποτὲ μὲν αὐτούς, ποτὲ δὲ καὶ μετὰ πάσης συγγενείας ἀθροίσαντες παραδιδόασι πρὸς τὴν τοῦ χρυσοῦ μεταλλείαν, ἅμα μὲν τιμωρίαν λαμβάνοντες παρὰ τῶν καταγνωσθέντων, ἅμα δὲ διὰ τῶν ἐργαζομένων μεγάλας προσόδους λαμβάνοντες. οἱ δὲ παραδοθέντες, πολλοὶ μὲν τὸ πλῆθος ὄντες, πάντες δὲ πέδαις δεδεμένοι, προσκαρτεροῦσι τοῖς ἔργοις συνεχῶς καὶ μεθʼ ἡμέραν καὶ δι’ ὅλης τῆς νυκτός, ἀνάπαυσιν μὲν οὐδεμίαν λαμβάνοντες, δρασμοῦ δὲ παντὸς φιλοτίμως εἰργόμενοι· φυλακαὶ γὰρ ἐκ στρατιωτῶν βαρβάρων καὶ ταῖς διαλέκτοις διαφόροις χρωμένων ἐφεστήκασιν, ὥστε μηδένα δύνασθαι διʼ ὁμιλίας ἢ φιλανθρώπου τινὸς ἐντεύξεως φθεῖραί τινα τῶν ἐπιστατούντων. τῆς δὲ τὸν χρυσὸν ἐχούσης γῆς τὴν μὲν σκληροτάτην πυρὶ πολλῷ καύσαντες καὶ ποιήσαντες χαύνην προσάγουσι τὴν διὰ τῶν χειρῶν κατεργασίαν· τὴν δὲ ἀνειμένην πέτραν καὶ μετρίῳ πόνῳ δυναμένην ὑπείκειν λατομικῷ σιδήρῳ καταπονοῦσι μυριάδες ἀκληρούντων ἀνθρώπων. καὶ τῆς μὲν ὅλης πραγματείας ὁ τὸν λίθον διακρίνων τεχνίτης καθηγεῖται καὶ τοῖς ἐργαζομένοις ὑποδείκνυσι· τῶν δὲ πρὸς τὴν ἀτυχίαν ταύτην ἀποδειχθέντων οἱ μὲν σώματος ῥώμῃ διαφέροντες τυπίσι σιδηραῖς τὴν μαρμαρίζουσαν πέτραν κόπτουσιν, οὐ τέχνην τοῖς ἔργοις, ἀλλὰ βίαν προσάγοντες, ὑπονόμους δὲ διακόπτοντες, οὐκ ἐπʼ εὐθείας, ἀλλʼ ὡς ἂν ἡ διάφυσις ᾖ τῆς ἀποστιλβούσης πέτρας. οὗτοι μὲν οὖν διὰ τὰς ἐν ταῖς διώρυξι καμπὰς καὶ σκολιότητας ἐν σκότει διατρίβοντες λύχνους ἐπὶ τῶν μετώπων πεπραγματευμένους περιφέρουσι· πολλαχῶς δὲ πρὸς τὰς τῆς πέτρας ἰδιότητας μετασχηματίζοντες τὰ σώματα καταβάλλουσιν εἰς ἔδαφος τὰ λατομούμενα θραύματα· καὶ τοῦτο ἀδιαλείπτως ἐνεργοῦσι πρὸς ἐπιστάτου βαρύτητα καὶ πληγάς.
At the extremity of Egypt and in the contiguous territory of both Arabia and Ethiopia there lies a region which contains many large gold mines, where the gold is secured in great quantities with much suffering and at great expense. For the earth is naturally black and contains seams and veins of a marble which is unusually white and in brilliancy surpasses everything else which shines brightly by its nature, and here the overseers of the labour in the mines work recover the gold with the aid of a multitude of workers. 2 For the kings of Egypt gather together and condemn to the mining of the gold such as have been found guilty of some crime and captives of war, as well as those who have been accused unjustly and thrown into prison because of their anger, and not only such persons but occasionally all their relatives as well, by this means not only inflicting punishment upon those found guilty but also securing at the same time great revenues from their labours. 3 And those who have been condemned in this way — and they are a great multitude and are all bound in chains — work at their task unceasingly both by day and throughout the entire night, enjoying no respite and being carefully cut off from any means of escape; since guards of foreign soldiers who speak a language different from theirs stand watch over them, so that not a man, either by conversation or by some contact of a friendly nature, is able to corrupt one of his keepers. 4 The gold-bearing earth which is hardest they first burn with a hot fire, and when they have crumbled it in this way they continue the working of it by hand; and the soft rock which can yield to moderate effort is crushed with a sledge by myriads of unfortunate wretches. 5 And the entire operations are in charge of a skilled worker who distinguishes the stone and points it out to the labourers; and of those who are assigned to this unfortunate task the physically strongest break the quartz-rock with iron hammers, applying no skill to the task, but only force, and cutting tunnels through the stone, not in a straight line but wherever the seam of gleaming rock may lead. 6 Now these men, working in darkness as they do because of the bending and winding of the passages, carry lamps bound on their foreheads; and since much of the time they change the position of their bodies to follow the particular character of the stone they throw the blocks, as they cut them out, on the ground; and at this task they labour without ceasing beneath the sternness and blows of an overseer.
§ 3.13
οἱ δὲ ἄνηβοι παῖδες εἰσδυόμενοι διὰ τῶν ὑπονόμων εἰς τὰ κεκοιλωμένα τῆς πέτρας ἀναβάλλουσιν ἐπιπόνως τὴν ῥιπτουμένην κατὰ μικρὸν πέτραν καὶ πρὸς τὸν ἐκτὸς τοῦ στομίου τόπον εἰς ὕπαιθρον ἀποκομίζουσιν. οἱ δʼ ὑπὲρ ἔτη τριάκοντα παρὰ τούτων λαμβάνοντες ὡρισμένον μέτρον τοῦ λατομήματος ἐν ὅλμοις λιθίνοις τύπτουσι σιδηροῖς ὑπέροις, ἄχρι ἂν ὀρόβου τὸ μέγεθος κατεργάσωνται. παρὰ δὲ τούτων τὸν ὀροβίτην λίθον αἱ γυναῖκες καὶ οἱ πρεσβύτεροι τῶν ἀνδρῶν ἐκδέχονται, καὶ μύλων ἑξῆς πλειόνων ὄντων ἐπὶ τούτους ἐπιβάλλουσι, καὶ παραστάντες ἀνὰ τρεῖς ἢ δύο πρὸς τὴν κώπην ἀλήθουσιν, ἕως ἂν εἰς σεμιδάλεως τρόπον τὸ δοθὲν μέτρον κατεργάσωνται. προσούσης δʼ ἅπασιν ἀθεραπευσίας σώματος καὶ τῆς τὴν αἰδῶ περιστελλούσης ἐσθῆτος μὴ προσούσης, οὐκ ἔστιν ὃς ἰδὼν οὐκ ἂν ἐλεήσειε τοὺς ἀκληροῦντας διὰ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῆς ταλαιπωρίας. οὐ γὰρ τυγχάνει συγγνώμης οὐδʼ ἀνέσεως ἁπλῶς οὐκ ἄρρωστος, οὐ πεπηρωμένος, οὐ γεγηρακώς, οὐ γυναικὸς ἀσθένεια, πάντες δὲ πληγαῖς ἀναγκάζονται προσκαρτερεῖν τοῖς ἔργοις, μέχρι ἂν κακουχούμενοι τελευτήσωσιν ἐν ταῖς ἀνάγκαις. διόπερ οἱ δυστυχεῖς φοβερώτερον ἀεὶ τὸ μέλλον τοῦ παρόντος ἡγοῦνται διὰ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῆς τιμωρίας, ποθεινότερον δὲ τοῦ ζῆν τὸν θάνατον προσδέχονται.
The boys there who have not yet come to maturity, entering through the tunnels into the galleries formed by the removal of the rock, laboriously gather up the rock as it is cast down piece by piece and carry it out into the open to the place outside the entrance. Then those who are above thirty years of age take this quarried stone from them and with iron pestles pound a specified amount of it in stone mortars, until they have worked it down to the size of a vetch. 2 Thereupon the women and older men receive from them the rock of this size and cast it into mills of which a number stand there in a row, and taking their places in groups of two or three at the spoke or handle of each mill they grind it until they have worked down the amount given them to the consistency of the finest flour. And since no opportunity is afforded any of them to care for his body and they have no garment to cover their shame, no man can look upon unfortunate wretches without feeling pity for them because of the exceeding hardships they suffer. 3 For no leniency or respite of any kind is given to any man who is sick, or maimed, or aged, or in the case of a woman for her weakness, but all without exception are compelled by blows to persevere in their labours, until through ill-treatment they die in the midst of their tortures. Consequently the poor unfortunates believe, because their punishment is so excessively severe, that the future will always be more terrible than the present and therefore look forward to death as more to be desired than life.
§ 3.14
τὸ δὲ τελευταῖον οἱ τεχνῖται παραλαβόντες τὸν ἀληλεσμένον λίθον πρὸς τὴν ὅλην ἄγουσι συντέλειαν· ἐπὶ γὰρ πλατείας σανίδος μικρὸν ἐγκεκλιμένης τρίβουσι τὴν κατειργασμένην μάρμαρον ὕδωρ ἐπιχέοντες· εἶτα τὸ μὲν γεῶδες αὐτῆς ἐκτηκόμενον διὰ τῶν ὑγρῶν καταρρεῖ κατὰ τὴν τῆς σανίδος ἔγκλισιν, τὸ δὲ χρυσίον ἔχον ἐπὶ τοῦ ξύλου παραμένει διὰ τὸ βάρος. πολλάκις δὲ τοῦτο ποιοῦντες, τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ταῖς χερσὶν ἐλαφρῶς τρίβουσι, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα σπόγγοις ἀραιοῖς κούφως ἐπιθλίβοντες τὸ χαῦνον καὶ γεῶδες διὰ τούτων ἀναλαμβάνουσι, μέχρι ἂν ὅτου καθαρὸν γένηται τὸ ψῆγμα τοῦ χρυσοῦ. τὸ δὲ τελευταῖον ἄλλοι τεχνῖται παραλαμβάνοντες μέτρῳ καὶ σταθμῷ τὸ συνηγμένον εἰς κεραμεοῦς χύτρους ἐμβάλλουσι· μίξαντες δὲ κατὰ τὸ πλῆθος ἀνάλογον μολίβδου βῶλον καὶ χόνδρους ἁλῶν, ἔτι δὲ βραχὺ καττιτέρου, καὶ κρίθινον πίτυρον προσεμβάλλουσιν· ἁρμοστὸν δʼ ἐπίθημα ποιήσαντες καὶ πηλῷ φιλοπόνως περιχρίσαντες ὀπτῶσιν ἐν καμίνῳ πέντε ἡμέρας καὶ νύκτας ἴσας ἀδιαλείπτως· ἔπειτα ἐάσαντες ψυχθῆναι τῶν μὲν ἄλλων οὐδὲν εὑρίσκουσιν ἐν τοῖς ἀγγείοις, τὸν δὲ χρυσὸν καθαρὸν λαμβάνουσιν ὀλίγης ἀπουσίας γεγενημένης. ἡ μὲν οὖν ἐργασία τοῦ χρυσοῦ περὶ τὰς ἐσχατιὰς τῆς Αἰγύπτου γινομένη μετὰ τοσούτων καὶ τηλικούτων πόνων συντελεῖται· αὐτὴ γὰρ ἡ φύσις, οἶμαι, ποιεῖ πρόδηλον ὡς ὁ χρυσὸς γένεσιν μὲν ἐπίπονον ἔχει, φυλακὴν δὲ χαλεπήν, σπουδὴν δὲ μεγίστην, χρῆσιν δὲ ἀνὰ μέσον ἡδονῆς τε καὶ λύπης. ἡ μὲν οὖν τῶν μετάλλων τούτων εὕρεσις ἀρχαία παντελῶς ἐστιν, ὡς ἂν ὑπὸ τῶν παλαιῶν βασιλέων καταδειχθεῖσα. περὶ δὲ τῶν ἐθνῶν τούτων τῶν κατοικούντων τήν τε παράλιον τοῦ Ἀραβίου κόλπου καὶ Τρωγλοδυτικήν, ἔτι δʼ Αἰθιοπίαν τὴν πρὸς μεσημβρίαν καὶ νότον, πειρασόμεθα διεξιέναι.
In the last steps the skilled workmen receive the stone which has been ground to powder and take it off for its complete and final working; for they rub the marble which has been worked down upon a broad board which is slightly inclined, pouring water over it all the while; whereupon the earthy matter in it, melted away by the action of the water, runs down the inclined board, while that which contains the gold remains on the wood because of its weight. 2 And repeating this a number of times, they first of all rub it gently with their hands, and then lightly pressing it with sponges of loose texture they remove in this way whatever is porous and earthy, until there remains only the pure gold-dust. 3 Then at last other skilled workmen take what has been recovered and put it by fixed measure and weight into earthen jars, mixing with it a lump of lead proportionate to the mass, lumps of salt and a little tin, and adding thereto barley bran; thereupon they put on it a close-fitting lid, and smearing it over carefully with mud they bake it in a kiln for five successive days and as many nights; 4 and at the end of this period, when they have let the jars cool off, of the other matter they find no remains in the jars, but the gold they recover in pure form, there being but little waste. This working of the gold, as it is carried on at the farthermost borders of Egypt, is effected through all the extensive labours here described; 5 for Nature herself, in my opinion, makes it clear that whereas the production of gold is laborious, the guarding of it is difficult, the zest for it is very great, and that its use is half-way between pleasure and pain. Now the discovery of these mines is very ancient, having been made by the early kings. 6 But we shall undertake to discuss the peoples which inhabit the coast of the Arabian Gulf and that of the Trogodytes and the part of Ethiopia that faces the noon-day sun and the south wind.
§ 3.15
περὶ πρώτων δὲ τῶν Ἰχθυοφάγων ἐροῦμεν τῶν κατοικούντων τὴν παράλιον τὴν ἀπὸ Καρμανίας καὶ Γεδρωσίας ἕως τῶν ἐσχάτων τοῦ μυχοῦ τοῦ κατὰ τὸν Ἀράβιον κόλπον ἱδρυμένου, ὃς εἰς τὴν μεσόγειον ἀνήκων ἄπιστον διάστημα δυσὶν ἠπείροις περικλείεται πρὸς τὸν ἔκπλουν, τῇ μὲν ὑπὸ τῆς εὐδαίμονος Ἀραβίας, τῇ δʼ ὑπὸ τῆς Τρωγλοδυτικῆς. τούτων δὲ τῶν βαρβάρων τινὲς μὲν γυμνοὶ τὸ παράπαν βιοῦντες κοινὰς ἔχουσι τὰς γυναῖκας καὶ τὰ τέκνα παραπλησίως ταῖς τῶν θρεμμάτων ἀγέλαις, ἡδονῆς δὲ καὶ πόνου τὴν φυσικὴν μόνον ἀντίληψιν ποιολύμενοι τῶν αἰσχρῶν καὶ καλῶν οὐδεμίαν λαμβάνουσιν ἔννοιαν. τὰς δὲ οἰκήσεις ἔχουσιν οὐκ ἄπωθεν τῆς θαλάττης παρὰ τὰς ῥαχίας, καθʼ ἅς εἰσιν οὐ μόνον βαθεῖαι κοιλάδες, ἀλλὰ καὶ φάραγγες ἀνώμαλοι καὶ στενοὶ παντελῶς αὐλῶνες σκολιαῖς ἐκτροπαῖς ὑπὸ τῆς φύσεως διειλημμένοι. τούτων δὲ τῇ χρείᾳ τῶν ἐγχωρίων πεφυκότων ἁρμοζόντως, τὰς ἐκτροπὰς καὶ διεξόδους συγκεχώκασι λίθοις μεγάλοις, διʼ ὧν ὥσπερ δικτύων τὴν θήραν τῶν ἰχθύων ποιοῦνται. ὅταν γὰρ ἡ πλημυρὶς τῆς θαλάττης λάττης ἐπὶ τὴν χέρσον φέρηται λάβρως, ὃ ποιεῖ δὶς τῆς ἡμέρας περὶ τρίτην καὶ ἐνάτην μάλιστά πως ὥραν, ἡ μὲν θάλαττα πᾶσαν τὴν ῥαχίαν ἐπικλύζουσα καλύπτει, καὶ λάβρῳ καὶ πολλῷ κύματι συναποκομίζει πρὸς τὴν χέρσον ἄπιστον πλῆθος παντοίων ἰχθύων, οἳ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἐν τῇ παραλίῳ μένουσι, νομῆς χάριν πλανώμενοι περὶ τὰς ὑποδύσεις καὶ τὰ κοιλώματα· ἐπὰν δʼ ὁ τῆς ἀμπώτεως ἔλθῃ χρόνος, τὸ μὲν ὑγρὸν ἐκ τοῦ κατʼ ὀλίγον διὰ τῶν κεχωσμένων λίθων καὶ φαράγγων ἀπορρεῖ, οἱ δʼ ἰχθῦς ἐν τοῖς κοιλώμασι καταλείπονται. κατὰ δὲ τοῦτον τὸν καιρὸν τὸ πλῆθος τῶν ἐγχωρίων μετὰ τέκνων καὶ γυναικῶν εἰς τὰς ῥαχίας ἀθροίζεται καθάπερ ἀφʼ ἑνὸς κελεύσματος. σχιζομένων δὲ τῶν βαρβάρων εἰς τὰ κατὰ μέρος συστήματα, πρὸς τοὺς ἰδίους ἕκαστοι τόπους μετὰ βοῆς ἐξαισίου φέρονται, καθάπερ αἰφνιδίου τινὸς κυνηγίας ἐμπεπτωκυίας. εἶθʼ αἱ μὲν γυναῖκες μετὰ τῶν παίδων τοὺς ἐλάττονας τῶν ἰχθύων καὶ πλησίον ὄντας τῆς χέρσου συλλαμβάνουσαι ῥίπτουσιν ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν, οἱ δὲ τοῖς σώμασιν ἀκμάζοντες προσφέρουσι τὰς χεῖρας τοῖς διὰ τὸ μέγεθος δυσκαταγωνίστοις· ἐκπίπτουσι γὰρ ἐκ τοῦ πελάγους ὑπερμεγέθεις οὐ μόνον σκορπίοι καὶ μύραιναι καὶ κύνες, ἀλλὰ καὶ φῶκαι καὶ πολλὰ τοιαῦτα ξένα καὶ ταῖς ὄψεσι καὶ ταῖς προσηγορίαις· ταῦτα δὲ τὰ θηρία καταμάχονται τεχνικῆς μὲν ὅπλων κατασκευῆς οὐδὲν ἔχοντες, κέρασι δὲ αἰγῶν ὀξέσι κατακεντοῦντες καὶ ταῖς ἀπορρῶξι πέτραις ἐπιτέμνοντες· πάντα γὰρ ἡ χρεία διδάσκει τὴν φύσιν, οἰκείως τοῖς ὑποκειμένοις καιροῖς ἁρμοζομένην πρὸς τὴν ἐκ τῆς ἐλπίδος εὐχρηστίαν.
The first people we shall mention are the Ichthyophagi who inhabit the coast which extends from Carmania and Gedrosia to the farthest limits of the arm of the sea which is found at the Arabian Gulf, which extends inland an unbelievable distance and is enclosed at its mouth by two continents, on the one side by Arabia Felix and on the other by the land of the Trogodytes. 2 As for these barbarians, certain of them go about entirely naked and have the women and children in common like their flocks and herds, and since they recognize only the physical perception of pleasure and pain they take no thought of things which are disgraceful and those which are honourable. 3 They have their dwellings not far from the sea along the rocky shores, where there are not only deep valleys but also jagged ravines and very narrow channels which Nature has divided by means of winding side-branches. These branches being by their nature suited to their need, the natives close up the passages and outlets with heaps of great stones, and by means of these, as if with nets, they carry on the catching of the fish. 4 For whenever the flood-tide of the sea sweeps violently over the land, which happens twice daily and usually about the third and ninth hour, the sea covers in its flood all the rocky shore and together with the huge and violent billow carries to the land an incredible multitude of fish of every kind, which at first remain along the coast, wandering in search of food among the sheltered spots and hollow places; but whenever the time of ebb comes, the water flows off little by little through the heaps of rocks and ravines, but the fish are left behind in the hollow places. 5 At this moment the multitude of the natives with their children and women gather, as if at a single word of command, at the rocky shores. And the barbarians, dividing into several companies, rush in bands each to its respective place with a hideous shouting, as if they had come unexpectedly upon some prey. 6 Thereupon the women and children, seizing the smaller fish which are near the shore, throw them on the land, and the men of bodily vigour lay hands upon the fish which are hard to overcome because of their size; for there are driven out of the deep creatures of enormous size, not only sea-scorpions and sea-eels and dogfish, but also seals and many other kinds which are strange both in appearance and in name. 7 These animals they subdue without the assistance of any skilful device of weapons but by piercing them through with sharp goathorns and by gashing them with the jagged rocks; for necessity teaches Nature everything, as Nature, in her own fashion, by seizing upon the opportunities which lie at hand adapts herself to their hoped-for utilization.
§ 3.16
ἐπειδὰν δʼ ἀθροίσωσιν ἰχθύων παντοδαπῶν πλῆθος, μεταφέρουσι τοὺς ληφθέντας καὶ πάντας ὀπτῶσιν ἐπὶ τῶν πετρῶν τῶν ἐγκεκλιμένων πρὸς μεσημβρίαν. διαπύρων δʼ οὐσῶν διὰ τὴν τοῦ καύματος ὑπερβολήν, βραχὺν ἐάσαντες χρόνον στρέφουσι, κἄπειτα τῆς οὐρᾶς λαμβανόμενοι σείουσι τὸν ὅλον ὄγκον. καὶ αἱ μὲν σάρκες θρυπτόμεναι διὰ τὴν θερμασίαν ἀποπίπτουσιν, αἱ δʼ ἄκανθαι ῥιπτούμεναι πρὸς ἕνα τόπον μέγαν σωρὸν ἀποτελοῦσιν, ἀθροιζόμεναι χρείας ἕνεκεν περὶ ἧς μικρὸν ὕστερον ἐροῦμεν. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τὰς μὲν σάρκας ἐπί τινος λεωπετρίας κατατιθέμενοι πατοῦσιν ἐπιμελῶς ἐφʼ ἱκανὸν χρόνον καὶ καταμίσγουσι τὸν τοῦ παλιούρου καρπόν· τούτου γὰρ συναναχρωσθέντος τὸ πᾶν γίνεται χρῆμα κολλῶδες· καὶ δοκεῖ τοῦτο καθάπερ ἡδύσματος παρʼ αὐτοῖς ἔχειν τάξιν. τὸ δὲ τελευταῖον τὸ καλῶς πατηθὲν εἰς πλινθίδας παραμήκεις τυποῦντες τιθέασιν εἰς τὸν ἥλιον· ἃς συμμέτρως ξηρανθείσας καθίσαντες κατευωχοῦνται, οὐ μὴν πρὸς μέτρον ἢ σταθμὸν ἐσθίοντες, ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὴν ἰδίαν ἑκάστου βούλησιν, τὴν φυσικὴν ὄρεξιν ἔχοντες τῆς ἀπολαύσεως περιγραφήν· ἀνεκλείπτοις γὰρ καὶ διὰ παντὸς ἑτοίμοις χρῶνται ταμιεύμασιν, ὡς ἂν τοῦ Ποσειδῶνος τὸ τῆς Δήμητρος ἔργον μετειληφότος. ἐνίοτε δὲ τηλικοῦτον ἐκ τοῦ πελάγους εἰς τὴν χέρσον κυλινδεῖται κῦμα καὶ τὰς ῥαχίας ἐφʼ ἡμέρας πολλὰς κατακλύζει λάβρον, ὥστε μηδένα δύνασθαι τοῖς τόποις προσεγγίζειν. διόπερ κατὰ τούτους τοὺς καιροὺς σπανίζοντες τροφῆς τὸ μὲν πρῶτον τοὺς κόγχους συλλέγουσι, τηλικούτους τὸ μέγεθος ὧν εὑρίσκονταί τινες τετραμναῖοι· τὰ μὲν γὰρ κύτη συντρίβουσι λίθους εὐμεγέθεις ἐμβάλλοντες, τὴν δʼ ἐντὸς σάρκα κατεσθίουσιν σθίουσιν ὠμήν, τῆς γεύσεως οὔσης παρεμφεροῦς τοῖς ὀστρέοις. ἐπὰν δὲ διὰ τὴν συνέχειαν τῶν πνευμάτων ἐπὶ πλείονα χρόνον πλήθειν συμβαίνῃ τὸν ὠκεανόν, καὶ τὴν εἰωθυῖαν θήραν τῶν ἰχθύων ἐκκλείσῃ τὸ τῆς περιστάσεως ἀδύνατον, ἐπὶ τοὺς κόγχους, ὡς εἴρηται, τρέπονται. εἰ δὲ ἡ ἐκ τῶν κόγχων τροφὴ σπανίζει, καταφεύγουσιν ἐπὶ τὸν τῶν ἀκανθῶν σωρόν· ἐκ τούτου γὰρ ἐκλέγοντες τὰς ἐγχύλους καὶ προσφάτους τῶν ἀκανθῶν διαιροῦσι κατʼ ἄρθρον, καὶ τὰς μὲν αὐτόθεν τοῖς ὀδοῦσι κατεργάζονται, τὰς δὲ σκληρὰς λίθοις θραύοντες καὶ προϋπεργαζόμενοι κατεσθίουσι, παραπλησίαν διάθεσιν ἔχοντες τοῖς φωλεύουσι τῶν θηρίων.
Whenever they have collected a multitude of all kinds of fish they carry off their catch and bake the whole of it upon the rocks which are inclined towards the south. And since these stones are red-hot because of the very great heat, they leave the fish there for only a short time and then turn them over, and then, picking them up bodily by the tail, they shake them. 2 And the meat, which has become tender by reason of the warmth, falls away, but backbones are cast into a single spot and form a great heap, being collected for a certain use of which we shall speak a little later. Then placing the meat upon a smooth stone they carefully tread upon it for a sufficient length of time and mix with it the fruit of the Christ's thorn; 3 for when this has been thoroughly worked into the meat the whole of it becomes a glutinous mass, and it would appear that this takes the place among them of a relish. Finally, when this has been well trodden, they mould it into little oblong bricks and place them in the sun; and after these have become thoroughly dry they sit down and feast upon them, eating not according to any measure or weight but according to every man's own wish, inasmuch as they make their physical desire the bounds of their indulgence. 4 For they have at all times stores which are unfailing and ready for use, as though Poseidon had assumed the task of Demeter. But at times a tidal wave of such size rolls in from the sea upon the land, a violent wave that for many days submerges the rocky shores, that no one can approach those regions. 5 Consequently, being short of food at such times, they at first gather the mussels, which are of so great a size that some of them are found that weigh four minas; that is, they break their shells by throwing huge stones at them and then eat the meat raw, its taste resembling somewhat that of oysters. 6 And whenever it comes to pass that the ocean is high for a considerable period because of the continued winds, and the impossibility of coping with that state of affairs prevents them from making their usual catch of fish, they turn, as has been said, to the mussels. But if the food from the mussels fails them, they have recourse to the heap of backbones; 7 that is, they select from this heap such backbones as are succulent and fresh and take them apart joint by joint, and then they grind some at once with their teeth, though the hard ones they first crush with rocks and thus prepare them before they eat them, their level of life being much the same as that of the wild beasts which make their homes in dens.
§ 3.17
τῆς μὲν οὖν ξηρᾶς τροφῆς τὸν εἰρημένον τρόπον εὐποροῦσι, τῆς δʼ ὑγρᾶς παράδοξον ἔχουσι καὶ παντελῶς ἀπιστουμένην τὴν χρῆσιν. ταῖς μὲν γὰρ θήραις προσκαρτεροῦσιν ἐφʼ ἡμέρας τέτταρας, εὐωχούμενοι πανδημεὶ μεθʼ ἱλαρότητος καὶ ταῖς ἀνάρθροις ᾠδαῖς ἀλλήλους ψυχαγωγοῦντες· πρὸς δὲ τούτοις ἐπιμίσγονται τότε ταῖς γυναιξὶν αἷς ἂν τύχωσι παιδοποιίας ἕνεκα, πάσης ἀσχολίας ἀπολελυμένοι διὰ τὴν εὐκοπίαν καὶ τὴν ἑτοιμότητα τῆς τροφῆς. τῇ δὲ πέμπτῃ πρὸς τὴν ὑπώρειαν ἐπείγονται πανδημεὶ ποτοῦ χάριν, ἔνθα συρρύσεις ὑδάτων γλυκέων εἰσί, πρὸς αἷς οἱ νομάδες τὰς ἀγέλας τῶν θρεμμάτων ποτίζουσιν. ἡ δὲ ὁδοιπορία τούτων παραπλήσιος γίνεται ταῖς ἀγέλαις τῶν βοῶν, πάντων φωνὴν ἀφιέντων οὐκ ἔναρθρον, ἀλλʼ ἦχον μόνον ἀποτελοῦσαν. τῶν δὲ τέκνων τὰ μὲν νήπια παντελῶς αἱ μητέρες ἐν ταῖς ἀγκάλαις φέρουσι, τὰ δὲ κεχωρισμένα τοῦ γάλακτος οἱ πατέρες, τὰ δʼ ὑπὲρ πενταετῆ χρόνον ὄντα προάγει μετὰ τῶν γονέων σὺν παιδιᾷ, πεπληρωμένα χαρᾶς, ὡς ἂν πρὸς τὴν ἡδίστην ἀπόλαυσιν ὁρμώμενα. ἡ γὰρ φύσις αὐτῶν ἀδιάστροφος οὖσα τὴν ἀναπλήρωσιν τῆς ἐνδείας ἡγεῖται μέγιστον ἀγαθόν, οὐδὲν τῶν ἐπεισάκτων ἡδέων ἐπιζητοῦσα. ὅταν δὲ ταῖς τῶν νομάδων ποτίστραις ἐγγίσωσι καὶ τοῦ ποτοῦ πληρωθῶσι τὰς κοιλίας, ἐπανέρχονται, μόγις βαδίζοντες διὰ τὸ βάρος. κἀκείνην μὲν τὴν ἡμέραν οὐδενὸς γεύονται, κεῖται δʼ ἕκαστος ὑπεργέμων καὶ δύσπνους καὶ τὸ σύνολον παρεμφερὴς τῷ μεθύοντι. τῇ δʼ ἑξῆς ἐπὶ τὴν ἀπὸ τῶν ἰχθύων πάλιν τροφὴν ἀνακάμπτουσι· καὶ τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον ἡ δίαιτα κυκλεῖται παρʼ αὐτοῖς πάντα τὸν τοῦ ζῆν χρόνον. οἱ μὲν οὖν τὴν παράλιον τὴν ἐντὸς τῶν στενῶν κατοικοῦντες οὕτω βιοῦσι, νόσοις μὲν διὰ τὴν ἁπλότητα τῆς τροφῆς σπανίως περιπίπτοντες, ὀλιγοχρονιώτεροι δὲ πολὺ τῶν παρʼ ἡμῖν ὄντες.
Now as for dry food they get an abundance of it in the manner described, but their use of wet food is astonishing and quite incredible. For they devote themselves assiduously for four days to the sea-food they have caught, the whole tribe feasting upon it merrily while entertaining one another with inarticulate songs; and furthermore, they lie at this time with any women they happen to meet in order to beget children, being relieved of every concern because their food is easily secured and ready at hand. 2 But on the fifth day the whole tribe hurries off in search of drink to the foothills of the mountains, where there are springs of sweet water at which the pastoral folk water their flocks and herds. 3 And their journey thither is like that of herds of cattle, all of them uttering a cry which produces, not articulate speech, but merely a confused roaring. As for their children, the women carry the babies continually in their arms, but the fathers do this after they have been separated from their milk, while those above five years of age lead the way accompanied by their parents, playing as they go and full of joy, as though they were setting out for pleasure of the sweetest kind. 4 For the nature of this people, being as yet unperverted, considers the satisfying of their need to be the greatest possible good, desiring in addition none of the imported pleasures. And so soon as they arrive at the watering-places of the pastoral folk and have their bellies filled with the water, they return, scarcely able to move because of the weight of it. 5 On that day they taste no food, but everyone lies gorged and scarcely able to breathe, quite like a drunken man. The next day, however, they turn again to the eating of the fish; and their way of living follows a cycle after this fashion throughout their lives. Now the inhabitants of the coast inside the Straits lead the kind of life which has been described, and by reason of the simplicity of their food they rarely are subject to attacks of disease, although they are far shorter-lived than the inhabitants of our part of the world.
§ 3.18
τοῖς δὲ τὴν ἐκτὸς τοῦ κόλπου παράλιον νεμομένοις πολλῷ τούτων παραδοξότερον εἶναι τὸν βίον συμβέβηκεν, ὡς ἂν ἄδιψον ἐχόντων καὶ ἀπαθῆ τὴν φύσιν. ἀπὸ γὰρ τῶν οἰκουμένων τόπων εἰς τὴν ἔρημον ὑπὸ τῆς τύχης ἐκτετοπισμένοι τῆς μὲν ἀπὸ τῶν ἰχθύων ἄγρας εὐποροῦσιν, ὑγρὰν δὲ τροφὴν οὐκ ἐπιζητοῦσι. προσφερόμενοι γὰρ τὸν ἰχθῦν ἔγχυλον, μικρὰν ἔχοντα τῶν ὠμῶν τὴν παραλλαγήν, οὐχ οἷον ὑγρὰν τροφὴν ἐπιζητοῦσιν, ἀλλʼ οὐδʼ ἔννοιαν ἔχουσι ποτοῦ. στέργουσι δὲ τὴν ἐξ ἀρχῆς δίαιταν ὑπὸ τῆς τύχης αὐτοῖς προσκληρωθεῖσαν, εὐδαιμονίαν ἡγούμενοι τὴν ἐκ τῆς ἐνδείας αὐτοῦ τοῦ λυποῦντος ὑπεξαίρεσιν. τὸ δὲ πάντων παραδοξότατον, ἀπαθείᾳ τοσοῦτον ὑπερβάλλουσι πάντας ὥστε μὴ ῥᾳδίως πιστευθῆναι τὸν λόγον. καίτοι γε πολλοὶ τῶν ἀπʼ Αἰγύπτου πλεόντων διὰ τῆς Ἐρυθρᾶς θαλάττης ἔμποροι μέχρι τοῦ νῦν, πολλάκις προσπεπλευκότες πρὸς τὴν τῶν Ἰχθυοφάγων χώραν, ἐξηγοῦνται σύμφωνα τοῖς ὑφʼ ἡμῶν εἰρημένοις περὶ τῶν ἀπαθῶν ἀνθρώπων. καὶ ὁ τρίτος δὲ Πτολεμαῖος, ὁ φιλοτιμηθεὶς περὶ τὴν θήραν τῶν ἐλεφάντων τῶν περὶ τὴν χώραν ταύτην ὄντων, ἐξέπεμψεν ἕνα τῶν φίλων, ὄνομα Σιμμίαν, κατασκεψόμενον τὴν χώραν· οὗτος δὲ μετὰ τῆς ἁρμοττούσης χορηγίας ἀποσταλεὶς ἀκριβῶς, ὥς φησιν Ἀγαθαρχίδης ὁ Κνίδιος ἱστοριογράφος, ἐξήτασε τὰ κατὰ τὴν παραλίαν ἔθνη. φησὶν οὖν τὸ τῶν ἀπαθῶν Αἰθιόπων ἔθνος τὸ σύνολον ποτῷ μὴ χρῆσθαι, μηδὲ τὴν φύσιν αὐτῶν ἐπιζητεῖν διὰ τὰς προειρημένας αἰτίας. καθόλου δʼ ἀποφαίνεται μήτʼ εἰς σύλλογον ἔρχεσθαι πρὸς τοὺς ἀλλοεθνεῖς, μήτε τὸ ξένον τῆς ὄψεως τῶν προσπλεόντων κινεῖν τοὺς ἐγχωρίους, ἀλλʼ ἐμβλέποντας ἀτενῶς ἀπαθεῖς ἔχειν καὶ ἀκινήτους τὰς αἰσθήσεις, ὡς ἂν μηδενὸς παρόντος. οὔτε γὰρ ξίφος σπασαμένου τινὸς καὶ καταφέροντος ὑπεξέφυγον, οὔθʼ ὕβριν οὐδὲ πληγὰς ὑπομένοντες ἠρεθίζοντο, τό τε πλῆθος οὐ συνηγανάκτει τοῖς πάσχουσιν, ἀλλʼ ἐνίοτε τέκνων ἢ γυναικῶν σφαττομένων ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς ἀπαθεῖς ταῖς διαθέσεσιν ἔμενον, οὐδεμίαν ἔμφασιν ὀργῆς ἢ πάλιν ἐλέου διδόντες. καθόλου δὲ τοῖς ἐκπληκτικωτάτοις δεινοῖς περιπίπτοντες ἠρεμαῖοι διέμενον, βλέποντες μὲν ἀτενῶς εἰς τὰ συντελούμενα, ταῖς δὲ κεφαλαῖς παρʼ ἕκαστα διανεύοντες. διὸ καί φασιν αὐτοὺς διαλέκτῳ μὲν μὴ χρῆσθαι, μιμητικῇ δὲ δηλώσει διὰ τῶν χειρῶν διασημαίνειν ἕκαστα τῶν πρὸς τὴν χρείαν ἀνηκόντων. καὶ τὸ πάντων θαυμασιώτατον, φῶκαι τοῖς γένεσι τούτοις συνδιατρίβουσαι θήραν ποιοῦνται τῶν ἰχθύων καθʼ αὑτὰς παραπλησίως ἀνθρώποις. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ περὶ τὰς κοίτας καὶ τὴν τῶν γεννηθέντων ἀσφάλειαν μεγίστῃ πίστει τὰ γένη χρῆσθαι ταῦτα πρὸς ἄλληλα· χωρὶς γὰρ ἀδικήματος ἀλλοφύλοις ζῴοις ἡ συναναστροφὴ γίνεται μετʼ εἰρήνης καὶ πάσης εὐλαβείας. οὗτος μὲν οὖν ὁ βίος, καίπερ ὢν παράδοξος, ἐκ παλαιῶν χρόνων τετήρηται τοῖς γένεσι τούτοις, εἴτε ἐθισμῷ διὰ τὸν χρόνον εἴτε ἀναγκαίᾳ χρείᾳ διὰ τὸ κατεπεῖγον ἡρμοσμένος.
But as for the inhabitants of the coast outside the gulf, we find that their life is far more astonishing than that of the people just described, it being as though their nature never suffers from thirst and is insensible to pain. For although they have been banished by fortune from the inhabited regions into the desert, they fare quite well from their catch of the fish, but wet food they do not require. 2 For since they eat the fish while it is yet juicy and not far removed from the raw state, they are so far from requiring wet food that they have not even a notion of drinking. And they are content with that food which was originally allotted to them by fortune, considering that the mere elimination of that pain which arises from want (of food) is happiness. But the most surprising thing of all is, that in lack of sensibility they surpass all men, and to such a degree that what is recounted of them is scarcely credible. And yet many merchants of Egypt, who sail, as is their practice, through the Red Sea down to this day and have often sailed as far as the land of the Ichthyophagi, agree in their accounts with what we have said about the human beings who are insensible to pain. 4 The third Ptolemy also, who was passionately fond of hunting the elephants which are found in that region, sent one of his friends named Simmias to spy out the land; and he, setting out with suitable supplies, made, as the historian Agatharchides of Cnidus asserts, a thorough investigation of the nations lying along the coast. Now he says that the nation of the "insensible" Ethiopians makes no use whatsoever of drink and that their nature does not require it for the reasons given above. 5 And as a general thing, he relates, they have no intercourse with other nations nor does the foreign appearance of people who approach their shores have any effect upon the natives, but looking at them intently they show no emotion and their expressions remain unaltered, as if there were no one present. Indeed when a man drew his sword and brandished it at them they did not turn to flight, nor, if they were subjected to insult or even to blows, would they show irritation, and the majority were not moved to anger in sympathy with the victims of such treatment; on the contrary, when at times children or women were butchered before their eyes they remained "insensible" in their attitudes, displaying no sign of anger or, on the other hand, of pity. 6 In short, they remained unmoved in the face of the most appalling horrors, looking steadfastly at what was taking place and nodding their heads at each incident. Consequently, they say, they speak no language, but by movements of the hands which describe each object they point out everything they need. 7 And the most marvellous fact of all is that seals live with these tribes and catch the fish for themselves in a manner similar to that employed by the human beings. Likewise with respect to their lairs and the safety of their offspring these two kinds of beings place the greatest faith in one another; for the association with animals of a different species continues without any wrongdoing and with peace and complete observance of propriety. Now this manner of life, strange as it is, has been observed by these tribes from very early times, whether it has been fashioned by habit over the long space of time or by a need imposed by necessity because of stress of circumstances.
§ 3.19
οἰκήσεσι δὲ τὰ ἔθνη οὐχ ὁμοίαις χρῆται, πρὸς δὲ τὰς τῆς περιστάσεως ἰδιότητας διηλλαγμέναις ἐμβιοῦσι. τινὲς μὲν γὰρ ἐν σπηλαίοις κατοικοῦσι κεκλιμένοις μάλιστα πρὸς τὰς ἄρκτους, ἐν οἷς καταψύχουσιν ἑαυτοὺς διά τε τὸ βάθος τῆς σκιᾶς καὶ διὰ τὰς περιπνεούσας αὔρας· τὰ μὲν γὰρ πρὸς μεσημβρίαν νεύοντα, τοῖς ἴπνοις παραπλησίαν ἔχοντα τὴν θερμασίαν, ἀπρόσιτα τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἐστὶ δια τὴν τοῦ καύματος ὑπερβολήν. οἱ δὲ τῶν πρὸς ἄρκτον νευόντων σπηλαίων σπανίζοντες ἀθροίζουσι τὰς πλευρὰς τῶν ἐκ τοῦ πελάγους ἐκπιπτόντων κητῶν· τῆς δὲ τούτων δαψιλείας πολλῆς οὔσης, καταπλέξαντες ἐξ ἑκατέρου μέρους κύρτας πρὸς ἀλλήλας νενευκυίας, τῷ προσφάτῳ φύκει ταύτας διαπλέκουσι. σκεπαζομένης οὖν τῆς καμάρας, ἐν ταύτῃ τὸ βαρύτατον τοῦ καύματος ἀναπαύονται, τῆς κατὰ φύσιν χρείας αὐτοδίδακτον τέχνην ὑφηγουμένης. τρίτος δὲ τρόπος ἐστὶ τοῖς Ἰχθυοφάγοις τῆς σκηνώσεως τοιοῦτος. ἐλαῖαι φύονται πάνυ πολλαὶ περὶ τοὺς τόπους τούτους, τὰ μὲν περὶ τὴν ῥίζαν ἔχουσαι προσκλυζόμενα τῇ θαλάττῃ, πυκναὶ δὲ τοῖς φυλλώμασι, τὸν δὲ καρπὸν ὅμοιον ἔχουσαι τῷ κασταναϊκῷ καρύῳ. ταύτας ἀλλήλαις συμπλέκοντες καὶ συνεχῆ σκιὰν ποιοῦντες ἰδιαζούσαις σκηναῖς ἐμβιοῦσιν· ἅμα γὰρ ἐν γῇ καὶ θαλάττῃ διατρίβοντες ἐπιτερπῶς διεξάγουσι, τὸν μὲν ἥλιον φεύγοντες τῇ διὰ τῶν ἀκρεμόνων σκιᾷ, τὸ δὲ φυσικὸν περὶ τοὺς τόπους καῦμα τῇ συνεχεῖ τοῦ κύματος προσκλύσει διορθούμενοι, ταῖς δὲ περιπνοαῖς τῶν εὐκαίρων ἀνέμων εἰς ῥᾳστώνην ἄγοντες τὰ σώματα. ῥητέον δʼ ἡμῖν καὶ περὶ τοῦ τετάρτου μέρους τῆς σκηνώσεως. ἐκ γὰρ τοῦ παντὸς αἰῶνος σεσώρευται τοῦ μνίου φόρτος ἄπλατος, ὄρει παρεμφερής· οὗτος ὑπὸ τῆς συνεχοῦς τοῦ κύματος πληγῆς πεπιλημένος τὴν φύσιν ἔχει στερέμνιον καὶ συμπεπλεγμένην ἅμμῳ. ἐν τούτοις οὖν τοῖς ἀναστήμασιν ὑπονόμους ἀνδρομήκεις ὀρύττοντες, τὸν μὲν κατὰ κορυφὴν τόπον ἐῶσι στέγην, κάτωθεν δʼ αὐλῶνας παραμήκεις καὶ πρὸς ἀλλήλους συντετρημένους κατασκευάζουσιν. ἐν δὲ τούτοις ἀναψύχοντες ἑαυτοὺς ἀλύπους κατασκευάζουσι, καὶ κατὰ τὰς ἐπικλύσεις τῶν κυμάτων ἐκπηδῶντες περὶ τὴν θήραν τῶν ἰχθύων ἀσχολοῦνται· ὅταν δὲ ἄμπωτις γένηται, κατευωχησόμενοι τὰ ληφθέντα συμφεύγουσι πάλιν εἰς τοὺς προειρημένους αὐλῶνας. τοὺς δὲ τελευτήσαντας θάπτουσι κατὰ μὲν τὸν τῆς ἀμπώτεως καιρὸν ἐῶντες ἐρριμμένους, ὅταν δʼ ἡ πλημυρὶς ἐπέλθῃ, ῥίπτουσιν εἰς τὴν θάλατταν τὰ σώματα. διὸ καὶ τὴν ἰδίαν ταφὴν τροφὴν τῶν ἰχθύων ποιούμενοι κυκλούμενον ἰδιοτρόπως τὸν βίον ἔχουσι παρʼ ὅλον τὸν αἰῶνα.
As for their dwelling-places, those used by these tribes are not all similar, but they inhabit homes modified to suit the peculiar nature of their surroundings. For instance, certain of them make their home in caves which open preferably towards the north and in which they cool themselves, thanks to the deep shade and also to the breezes which blow about them; since those which face the south, having as they do a temperature like that of an oven, cannot be approached by human beings because of the excessive heat. 2 But others who can find no caves facing the north collect the ribs of the whales which are cast up by the sea; and then, since there is a great abundance of these ribs, they interweave them from either side, the curve outwards and leaning towards each other, and then weave fresh seaweed through them. Accordingly, when this vaulted structure is covered over, in it they gain relief from the heat when it is most intense, the necessity imposed by Nature suggesting to them a skill in which they were self-taught. A third method by which the Ichthyophagi find a dwelling for themselves is as follows. Olive trees grow about these regions in very great numbers and their roots are washed by the sea, but they bear thick foliage and a fruit which resembles the sweet chestnut. 4 These trees they interlace, forming in this way a continuous shade, and live in tents of this peculiar kind; for passing their days as they do on land and in the water at the same time, they lead a pleasurable life, since they avoid the sun by means of the shade cast by the branches and offset the natural heat of the regions with the continual washing of the waves against them, giving their bodies comfort and ease by the pleasant breezes which blow about them. We must speak also about the fourth kind of habitation. 5 From time immemorial there has been heaped up a quantity of seaweed of tremendous proportions, resembling a mountain, and this has been so compacted by the unceasing pounding of the waves that it has become hard and intermingled with sand. Accordingly, the natives dig in these heaps tunnels the height of a man, leaving the upper portion for a roof, and in the lower part they construct passage-ways connected with each other by borings. As they cool themselves in these tunnels they free themselves from all troubles, and leaping forth from them at the times when the waves pour over the shore they busy themselves with the catching of the fish; then, when the ebb-tide sets in, they flee back together into these same passage-ways to feast upon their catch. 6 Their dead, moreover, they "bury" by leaving the bodies just as they are cast out at the ebb of the tide, and then when the flood-tide sets in they cast the bodies into the sea. Consequently, by making their own interment a nutriment of the fish, they have a life which follows in singular fashion a continuous cycle throughout all eternity.
§ 3.20
ἓν δὲ γένος τῶν Ἰχθυοφάγων τοιαύτας ἔχει τὰς οἰκήσεις ὥστε πολλὴν ἀπορίαν παρέχεσθαι τοῖς τὰ τοιαῦτα φιλοτιμουμένοις ζητεῖν· ἐν γὰρ ἀποκρήμνοις φάραγξι καθίδρυνταί τινες, εἰς ἃς ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἦν ἀδύνατον παραβάλλειν τοὺς ἀνθρώπους, ἄνωθεν μὲν ἐπεχούσης πέτρας ὑψηλῆς καὶ πανταχόθεν ἀποτόμου, ἐκ πλαγίων δὲ κρημνῶν ἀπροσίτων ὑφαιρουμένων τὰς παρόδους, τὴν δὲ λοιπὴν πλευρὰν τοῦ πελάγους ὁρίζοντος, ὃ πεζῇ μὲν διελθεῖν ἀδύνατον, σχεδίαις δὲ οὐ χρῶνται τὸ παράπαν, πλοίων τε τῶν παρʼ ἡμῖν ὑπάρχουσιν ἀνεννόητοι. τοιαύτης δὲ ἀπορίας περὶ αὐτοὺς οὔσης, ὑπολείπεται λέγειν αὐτόχθονας αὐτοὺς ὑπάρχειν, ἀρχὴν μὲν τοῦ πρώτου γένους μηδεμίαν ἐσχηκότας, ἀεὶ δʼ ἐξ αἰῶνος γεγονότας, καθάπερ ἔνιοι τῶν φυσιολόγων περὶ πάντων τῶν φυσιολογουμένων ἀπεφήναντο. ἀλλὰ γὰρ περὶ μὲν τῶν τοιούτων ἀνεφίκτου τῆς ἐπινοίας ἡμῖν οὔσης οὐδὲν κωλύει τοὺς τὰ πλεῖστα ἀποφηναμένους ἐλάχιστα γινώσκειν, ὡς ἂν τῆς ἐν τοῖς λόγοις πιθανότητος τὴν μὲν ἀκοὴν πειθούσης, τὴν δʼ ἀλήθειαν οὐδαμῶς εὑρισκούσης.
One tribe of the Ichthyophagi has dwellings so peculiar that they constitute a great puzzle to men who take a pride in investigating such matters; for certain of them make their home among precipitous crags which these men could not possibly have approached at the outset, since from above there overhangs a lofty rock, sheer at every point, while on the sides unapproachable cliffs shut off entrance, and on the remaining face the sea hems them in, which cannot be passed through on foot, and they do not use rafts at all, while of boats such as we have they have no notion. 2 Such being the puzzle concerning them, the only solution left to us is that they are autochthonous, and that they experienced no beginning of the race they originally sprang from, but existed always from the beginning of time, as certain natural philosophers have declared to be true of all the phenomena of nature. 3 But since the knowledge of such matters is unattainable by us, nothing prevents those who have the most to say about them from knowing the least, inasmuch as, while plausibility may persuade the hearing, it by no means discovers the truth.
§ 3.21
ῥητέον δʼ ἡμῖν καὶ περὶ τῶν καλουμένων Χελωνοφάγων, ὃν τρόπον ἔχουσι τὴν ὅλην διάθεσιν τοῦ βίου. νῆσοι γάρ εἰσι κατὰ τὸν ὠκεανὸν πλησίον τῆς γῆς κείμεναι, πολλαὶ μὲν τὸ πλῆθος, μικραὶ δὲ τοῖς μεγέθεσι καὶ ταπειναί, καρπὸν δὲ οὔθʼ ἥμερον οὔτʼ ἄγριον ἔχουσαι. ἐν ταύταις διὰ τὴν πυκνότητα κῦμα μὲν οὐ γίνεται, τοῦ κλύδωνος θραυομένου περὶ τὰς ἄκρας τῶν νήσων, χελωνῶν δὲ θαλαττίων πλῆθος ἐνδιατρίβει περὶ τοὺς τόπους τούτους, πανταχόθεν καταφεῦγον πρὸς τὴν ἐκ τῆς γαλήνης σκέπην. αὗται δὲ τὰς μὲν νύκτας ἐν βυθῷ διατρίβουσιν ἀσχολούμεναι περὶ τὴν νομήν, τὰς δʼ ἡμέρας εἰς τὴν ἀνὰ μέσον τῶν νήσων θάλατταν φοιτῶσαι κοιμῶνται μετέωροι τοῖς κύτεσι πρὸς τὸν ἥλιον, παρεμφερῆ τὴν πρόσοψιν ποιοῦσαι ταῖς κατεστραμμέναις ἀκάτοις· ἐξαίσιοι γὰρ τοῖς μεγέθεσιν ὑπάρχουσι καὶ τῶν ἐλαχίστων ἁλιάδων οὐκ ἐλάττους. οἱ δὲ τὰς νήσους κατοικοῦντες βάρβαροι κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν καιρὸν ἠρέμα προσνήχονται ταῖς χελώναις· πρὸς ἑκάτερον δὲ μέρος πλησιάσαντες, οἱ μὲν πιέζουσιν, οἱ δʼ ἐξαίρουσιν, ἕως ἂν ὕπτιον γένηται τὸ ζῷον. ἔπειθʼ οἱ μὲν ἐξ ἑκατέρου μέρους οἰακίζουσι τὸν ὅλον ὄγκον, ἵνα μὴ στραφὲν τὸ ζῷον καὶ νηξάμενον τῷ τῆς φύσεως βοηθήματι φύγῃ κατὰ βάθους, εἷς δʼ ἔχων μέρμιθα μακρὰν καὶ δήσας τῆς οὐρᾶς νήχεται πρὸς τὴν γῆν καὶ προσέλκεται μετάγων τὸ ζῷον ἐπὶ τὴν χέρσον, συμπαρακομιζομένων τῶν ἐξ ἀρχῆς τὴν ἐπίθεσιν πεποιημένων. ὅταν δʼ εἰς τὴν νῆσον ἐκκομίσωσι, τὰ μὲν ἐντὸς πάντα βραχὺν χρόνον ἐν ἡλίῳ παροπτήσαντες κατευωχοῦνται, τοῖς δὲ κύτεσιν οὖσι σκαφοειδέσι χρῶνται πρός τε τὸν εἰς τὴν ἤπειρον διάπλουν, ὃν ποιοῦνται τῆς ὑδρείας ἕνεκεν, καὶ πρὸς τὰς σκηνώσεις, τιθέντες πρηνεῖς ἐφʼ ὑψηλῶν τόπων, ὥστε δοκεῖν τούτοις τὴν φύσιν δεδωρῆσθαι μιᾷ χάριτι πολλὰς χρείας· τὴν γὰρ αὐτὴν αὐτοῖς εἶναι τροφήν, ἀγγεῖον, οἰκίαν, ναῦν. οὐ μακρὰν δὲ τούτων διεστῶτες νέμονται τὴν παράλιον βάρβαροι βίον ἀνώμαλον ἔχοντες. διατρέφονται γὰρ ἀπὸ τῶν ἐκπιπτόντων εἰς τὴν χέρσον κητῶν, ποτὲ μὲν δαψίλειαν τροφῆς ἔχοντες διὰ τὰ μεγέθη τῶν εὑρισκομένων θηρίων, ποτὲ δὲ διαλειμμάτων γινομένων κακῶς ἀπαλλάττουσιν ὑπὸ τῆς ἐνδείας· καθʼ ὃν δὴ χρόνον ἀναγκάζονται κατεργάζεσθαι διὰ τὴν σπάνιν τῶν ἀρχαίων ὀστῶν χόνδρους καὶ τὰς ἄκρας τῶν πλευρῶν ἐκφύσεις. τῶν μὲν οὖν Ἰχθυοφάγων τὰ γένη τοσαῦτʼ ἐστὶ καὶ τοιούτοις χρῶνται βίοις, ὡς ἐν κεφαλαίοις εἰπεῖν.
We must speak also about the Chelonophagi, as they are called, and the nature of their entire manner of life. There are islands in the ocean, which lie near the land, many in number, but small in size and low-lying, and bearing no food either cultivated or wild. Because these islands are so near to one another no waves occur among them, since the surf breaks upon the outermost islands, and so a great multitude of sea-turtles tarry in these regions, resorting thither from all directions to gain the protection afforded by the calm. 2 These animals spend the nights in deep water busied with their search for food, but during the days they resort to the sea which lies between the islands and sleep on the surface with their upper shells towards the sun, giving to the eye an appearance like that of overturned boats; for they are of extraordinary magnitude and not smaller than the smallest fishing skiffs. 3 And the barbarians who inhabit the islands seize the occasion and swim quietly out to the turtles; and when they have come near the turtle on both sides, those on the one side push down upon it while those on the other side lift it up, until the animal is turned over on its back. 4 Then the men, taking hold on both sides, steer the entire bulk of the creature, to prevent it from turning over and making its escape into the deep water by swimming with the means with which Nature has endowed it, and one man with a long rope, fastening it to its tail, swims towards the land, and drawing the turtle along after him he hauls it to the land, those who had first attacked it assisting him in bringing it in. 5 And when they have got the turtles upon the shore of their island, all the inside meat they bake slightly for a short time in the sun and then feast upon it, but the upper shells, which are shaped like a boat, they use both for sailing over to the mainland, as they do in order to get water, and for their dwellings, by setting them right side up on elevations, so that it would appear that Nature, by a single act of favour, had bestowed upon these peoples the satisfaction of many needs; for the same gift constitutes for them food, vessel, house and ship. Not far distant from these people the coast is inhabited by barbarians who lead an irregular life. For they depend for their food upon the whales which are cast up by the land, at times enjoying an abundance of food because of the great size of the beasts which they discover, but at times, when interruptions of the supply occur, they suffer greatly from the shortage; and when the latter is the case they are forced by the scarcity of food to gnaw the cartilages of old bones and the parts which grow from the ends of the ribs. As for the Ichthyophagi, then this is the number of their tribes and such, speaking summarily, are the ways in which they live.
§ 3.22
ἡ δὲ κατὰ τὴν Βαβυλωνίαν παράλιος συνάπτει μὲν ἡμέρῳ καὶ καταφύτῳ χώρᾳ, τοσοῦτο δέ ἐστι πλῆθος τῶν ἰχθύων τοῖς ἐγχωρίοις ὥστε τοὺς ἀναλίσκοντας μὴ δύνασθαι ῥᾳδίως περιγενέσθαι τῆς δαψιλείας. παρὰ γὰρ τοὺς αἰγιαλοὺς ἱστᾶσι καλάμους πυκνοὺς καὶ πρὸς ἀλλήλους διαπεπλεγμένους, ὥστε τὴν πρόσοψιν ὁμοίαν εἶναι δικτύῳ παρὰ θάλατταν ἑστηκότι. κατὰ δὲ πᾶν τὸ ἔργον ὑπάρχουσι πυκναὶ θύραι, τῇ μὲν πλοκῇ ταρσώδεις, τὰς στροφὰς δʼ ἔχουσαι πρὸς τὰς εἰς ἑκάτερα τὰ μέρη κινήσεις εὐλύτους. ταύτας ὁ κλύδων φερόμενος μὲν εἰς τὴν γῆν κατὰ τὸν τῆς πλημυρίδος καιρὸν ἀνοίγει, παλισσυτῶν δὲ κατὰ τὴν ἄμπωτιν ἀποκλείει. διόπερ συμβαίνει καθʼ ἑκάστην ἡμέραν πλημυρούσης μὲν τῆς θαλάττης ἐκ βυθοῦ τοὺς ἰχθῦς συνεκφερομένους διὰ τῶν θυρῶν παρεισπίπτειν, ἀναχωρούσης δὲ μὴ δύνασθαι τοῖς ὑγροῖς συνδιαρρεῖν διὰ τῆς τῶν καλάμων πλοκῆς. διὸ καὶ παρὰ τὸν ὠκεανὸν ἐνίοτε σωροὺς ἰχθύων σπαιρόντων ὁρᾶν ἔστι γινομένους, οὓς ἀναλεγόμενοι συνεχῶς οἱ πρὸς τούτοις τεταγμένοι δαψιλεῖς ἀπολαύσεις ἔχουσι καὶ μεγάλας προσόδους. ἔνιοι δὲ τῶν περὶ τοὺς τόπους διατριβόντων, πεδιάδος τε καὶ ταπεινῆς τῆς χώρας ὑπαρχούσης, τάφρους ὀρύττουσιν ἀπὸ θαλάττης εὐρείας ἐπὶ πολλοὺς σταδίους μέχρι ἰδίων ἐπαύλεων, ῥαβδωτὰς δὲ θύρας ἐπʼ ἄκρας αὐτὰς ἐπιστήσαντες ἀναβαινούσης μὲν τῆς πλημυρίδος ἀνοίγουσιν, εἰς δὲ τοὐναντίον μεταπιπτούσης κλείουσιν. εἶτα τῆς μὲν θαλάττης διὰ τῶν τῆς θύρας ἀραιωμάτων ἀπορρεούσης, τῶν δʼ ἰχθύων ἀποληφθέντων ἐν ταῖς τάφροις, ταμιεύονται καὶ λαμβάνουσιν ὅσους ἂν προαιρῶνται καὶ καθʼ ὃν ἂν χρόνον βούλωνται.
But the coast of Babylonia borders on a land which is civilized and well planted and there is such a multitude of fish for the natives that the men who catch them are unable readily to keep ahead of the abundance of them. 2 For along the beaches they set reeds close to one another and interwoven, so that their appearance is like that of a net which has been set up along the edge of the sea. And throughout the entire construction there are doors which are fixed close together and resemble basket-work in the way they are woven, but are furnished with hinges that easily yield to movements of the water in either direction. These doors are opened by the waves as they roll towards the shore at the time of flood-tide, and are closed at ebb-tide as they surge back. 3 Consequently it comes about that every day, when the sea is at flood-tide, the fish are carried in from the deep water with the tide and pass inside through the doors, but when the sea recedes they are unable to pass with the water through the interwoven reeds. As a result it is possible at times to see beside the ocean heaps being formed of gasping fish, which are being picked up unceasingly by those who have been appointed to this work, who have from their catch subsistence in abundance as well as large revenues. 4 And some of the inhabitants of these parts, because the country is both like a plain and lowlying, dig wide ditches leading from the sea over a distance of many stades to their private estates, and setting wicker gates at their openings they open these when the flood-tide is coming inland and close them when the tide changes to the opposite direction. Then, inasmuch as the sea pours out through the interstices of the gate but the fish are held back in the ditches, they have a controlled store of fish and can take of them as many as they choose and at whatever time they please.
§ 3.23
διεληλυθότες δὲ περὶ τῶν παροικούντων τὴν ἀπὸ τῆς Βαβυλωνίας παράλιον ἕως Ἀραβίου κόλπου, περὶ τῶν ἑξῆς τούτοις ἐθνῶν διέξιμεν. κατὰ γὰρ τὴν Αἰθιοπίαν τὴν ὑπὲρ Αἰγύπτου παρὰ τὸν Ἄσαν καλούμενον ποταμὸν παροικεῖ τὸ τῶν Ῥιζοφάγων ἔθνος. ἐκ γὰρ τῶν πλησιοχώρων τὰς ῥίζας τῶν καλάμων ὀρύττοντες οἱ βάρβαροι πλύνουσι φιλοτίμως· ποιήσαντες δὲ καθαρὰς κόπτουσι λίθοις, μέχρι ἂν γένηται τὸ ἔργον λεῖον καὶ κολλῶδες· ἔπειτα περιπλάσαντες χειροπληθιαίους ὄγκους ἐν ἡλίῳ παροπτῶσι, καὶ ταύτῃ χρώμενοι τροφῇ πάντα τὸν βίον διατελοῦσιν. ἀνεκλείπτους δʼ ἔχοντες τὰς τῆς τροφῆς ταύτης δαψιλείας, καὶ πρὸς ἀλλήλους ἀεὶ εἰρήνην ἄγοντες, ὑπὸ πλήθους λεόντων πολεμοῦνται· ἐμπύρου γὰρ τοῦ πέριξ ἀέρος ὄντος ἐκ τῆς ἐρήμου πρὸς αὐτοὺς φοιτῶσι λέοντες σκιᾶς ἕνεκεν, οἱ δὲ καὶ θήρας τῶν ἐλαττόνων θηρίων. διόπερ τοὺς ἐκ τῶν τελμάτων ἐξιόντας τῶν Αἰθιόπων ὑπὸ τούτων τῶν θηρίων ἀναλίσκεσθαι συμβαίνει· ἀδυνατοῦσι γὰρ ὑφίστασθαι τὰς ἀλκὰς τῶν λεόντων, ὡς ἂν μηδεμίαν βοήθειαν ὅπλων ἔχοντες, καὶ πέρας ἄρδην ἂν αὐτῶν διεφθάρη τὸ γένος, εἰ μὴ ἡ φύσις τι αὐτοῖς αὐτόματον ἐποίησε βοήθημα. ὑπὸ γὰρ τὴν ἀνατολὴν τοῦ κυνὸς παραδόξως μηδεμιᾶς γινομένης νηνεμίας περὶ τοὺς τόπους τοσοῦτο πλῆθος ἀθροίζεται κωνώπων, ὑπερέχον δυνάμει τοὺς γνωριζομένους, ὥστε τοὺς μὲν ἀνθρώπους καταφυγόντας εἰς τὰς ἑλώδεις λίμνας μηδὲν πάσχειν, τοὺς δὲ λέοντας πάντας φεύγειν ἐκ τῶν τόπων, ἅμα μὲν ὑπὸ τοῦ δηγμοῦ κακουχουμένους, ἅμα δὲ τὸν ἀπὸ τῆς φωνῆς ἦχον καταπεπληγμένους.
Now that we have discussed the peoples who dwell on the coast from Babylonia to the Arabian Gulf, we shall describe the nations who live next to them. For in the Ethiopia which lies above Egypt there dwells beside the river Asa the nation of the Rhizophagi. For the barbarians here dig up the roots of the reeds which grow in the neighbouring marshes and then thoroughly wash them; and after they have made them clean they crush them with stones until the stuff is without lumps and glutinous; and then, moulding it into balls as large as can be held in the hand, they bake it in the sun and on this as their food they live all their life long. 2 Enjoying as they do the unfailing abundance of this food and living ever at peace with one another, they are nevertheless preyed upon by a multitude of lions; for since the air about them is fiery hot, lions come out of the desert to them in search of shade and in some cases in pursuit of the smaller animals. Consequently it comes to pass that when the Ethiopians come out of the marshy lands they are eaten by these beasts; for they are unable to withstand the might of the lions, since they have no help in the form of weapons, and indeed in the end the race of them would have been utterly destroyed had not Nature provided them with an aid which acts entirely of itself. 3 For at the time of the rising of the dog-star, whenever a calm unexpectedly comes on, there swarms to these regions such a multitude of mosquitoes, surpassing in vigour those that are known to us, that while the human beings find refuge in the marshy pools and suffer no hurt, all the lions flee from those regions, since they not only suffer from their stings but are at the same time terrified by the sound of their humming.
§ 3.24
ἑπόμενοι δὲ τούτοις εἰσὶν οἵ τε Ὑλοφάγοι καὶ οἱ Σπερματοφάγοι καλούμενοι. τούτων δʼ οἱ μὲν ὑπὸ τὴν θερείαν τὸν πίπτοντα καρπὸν ἀπὸ τῶν δένδρων ὄντα πολὺν ἀθροίζοντες ἀπόνως διατρέφονται, κατὰ δὲ τὸν ἄλλον καιρὸν τῆς βοτάνης τῆς ἐν ταῖς σκιαζομέναις συναγκείαις φυομένης προσφέρονται τὴν προσηνεστάτην· στερεὰ γὰρ οὖσα τὴν φύσιν, καὶ καυλὸν ἔχουσα παραπλήσιον ταῖς λεγομέναις βουνιάσιν, ἐκπληροῖ τὴν τῆς ἀναγκαίας τροφῆς ἔνδειαν. οἱ δὲ Ὑλοφάγοι μετὰ τέκνων καὶ γυναικῶν ἐπὶ τὰς νομὰς ἐξιόντες ἀναβαίνουσιν ἐπὶ τὰ δένδρα καὶ τοὺς ἁπαλοὺς τῶν ἀκρεμόνων προσφέρονται. τοιαύτην δʼ ἐκ τῆς συνεχοῦς μελέτης τὴν ἐπʼ ἄκρους τοὺς κλάδους ἀναδρομὴν ποιοῦνται πάντες ὥστε ἄπιστον εἶναι τὸ γινόμενον· καὶ γὰρ μεταπηδῶσιν ἀφʼ ἑτέρου ἐφʼ ἕτερον δένδρον ὁμοίως τοῖς ὀρνέοις, καὶ τὰς ἀναβάσεις ἐπὶ τῶν λεπτοτάτων κλάδων ποιοῦνται χωρὶς κινδύνων. ἰσχνότητι γὰρ σώματος καὶ κουφότητι διαφέροντες, ἐπειδὰν τοῖς ποσὶ σφάλλωνται, ταῖς χερσὶν ἀντιλαμβάνονται· κἂν τύχωσι πεσόντες ἀφʼ ὕψους, οὐδὲν πάσχουσι διὰ τὴν κουφότητα· καὶ πάντα δὲ κλάδον ἔγχυλον τοῖς ὀδοῦσι κατεργαζόμενοι πέττουσιν εὐκόπως ταῖς κοιλίαις. οὗτοι δʼ ἀεὶ βιοῦσι γυμνοὶ μὲν ἐσθῆτος, κοιναῖς δὲ χρώμενοι γυναιξὶν ἀκολούθως καὶ τοὺς γεννηθέντας παῖδας κοινοὺς ἡγοῦνται. διαπολεμοῦσι δὲ πρὸς ἀλλήλους περὶ τῶν τόπων ῥάβδοις ὡπλισμένοι, καὶ ταύταις ἀμυνόμενοι τοὺς ἐναντίους διασπῶσι τοὺς χειρωθέντας. τελευτῶσι δʼ αὐτῶν οἱ πλεῖστοι λιμῷ καταπονηθέντες, ὅταν τῶν ὀμμάτων ἀπογλαυκωθέντων τὸ σῶμα στερηθῇ τῆς ἀναγκαίας ἐκ ταύτης τῆς αἰσθήσεως χρείας.
Next to these people are the Hylophagi and the Spermatophagi, as they are called. The latter gather the fruit as it falls in great abundance from the trees in the summer season and so find their nourishment without labour, but during the rest of the year they subsist upon the most tender part of the plant which grows in the shady glens; for this plant, being naturally stiff and having a stem like the bounias, as we call it, supplies the lack of the necessary food. 2 The Hylophagi, however, setting out with children and wives in search of food, climb the trees and subsist off the tender branches. And this climbing of theirs even to the topmost branches they perform so well as a result of their continued practice that a man can scarcely believe what they do; indeed they leap from one tree to another like birds and make their way up the weakest branches without experiencing dangers. 3 For being in body unusually slender and light, whenever their feet slip they catch hold instead with their hands, and if they happen to fall from a height they suffer no hurt by reason of their light weight; and every juicy branch they chew so thoroughly with their teeth that their stomachs easily digest them. 4 These men go naked all their life, and since they consort with their women in common they likewise look upon their offspring as the common children of all. They fight with one another for the possession of certain places, arming themselves with clubs, with which they also keep off enemies, and they dismember whomsoever they have overcome. Most of them die from becoming exhausted by hunger, when cataracts form upon their eyes and the body is deprived of the necessary use of this organ of sense.
§ 3.25
τὴν δὲ ἑξῆς χώραν τῶν Αἰθιόπων ἐπέχουσιν οἱ καλούμενοι Κυνηγοί, σύμμετροι μὲν κατὰ τὸ πλῆθος, βίον δʼ οἰκεῖον ἔχοντες τῇ προσηγορίᾳ. θηριώδους γὰρ οὔσης τῆς χώρας καὶ παντελῶς λυπρᾶς, ἔτι δὲ ὑδάτων ῥύσεις ναματιαίων ἐχούσης ὀλίγας, καθεύδουσι μὲν ἐπὶ τῶν δένδρων διὰ τὸν ἀπὸ τῶν θηρίων φόβον, ὑπὸ δὲ τὴν ἑωθινὴν πρὸς τὰς συρρύσεις τῶν ὑδάτων μεθʼ ὅπλων φοιτῶντες ἑαυτοὺς ἀποκρύβουσιν εἰς τὴν ὕλην καὶ σκοπεύουσιν ἐπὶ τῶν δένδρων. κατὰ δὲ τὸν τοῦ καύματος καιρόν, ἐρχομένων βοῶν τε ἀγρίων καὶ παρδάλεων καὶ τῶν ἄλλων θηρίων πλήθους πρὸς τὸ ποτόν, ταῦτα μὲν διὰ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τοῦ τε καύματος καὶ δίψους λάβρως προσφέρεται τὸ ὑγρόν, μέχρι ἂν ἐμπλησθῇ, οἱ δʼ Αἰθίοπες, γενομένων αὐτῶν βαρέων καὶ δυσκινήτων, καταπηδῶντες ἀπὸ τῶν δένδρων καὶ χρώμενοι ξύλοις πεπυρακτωμένοις καὶ λίθοις, ἔτι δὲ τοξεύμασι, ῥᾳδίως καταπονοῦσι. κατὰ δὲ συστήματα ταύταις χρώμενοι ταῖς κυνηγίαις σαρκοφαγοῦσι τὰ ληφθέντα, καὶ σπανίως μὲν ὑπὸ τῶν ἀλκιμωτάτων ζῴων αὐτοὶ διαφθείρονται, τὰ δὲ πολλὰ δόλῳ τὴν ἐκ βίας ὑπεροχὴν χειροῦνται. ἐὰν δέ ποτε τῶν κυνηγουμένων ζῴων σπανίζωσι, τὰς δορὰς τῶν πρότερον εἰλημμένων βρέξαντες ἐπιτιθέασιν ἐπὶ πῦρ ἁπαλόν· σποδίσαντες δὲ τὰς τρίχας τὰ δέρματα διαιροῦσι, καὶ κατεσθίοντες βεβιασμένως ἀναπληροῦσι τὴν ἔνδειαν. τοὺς δὲ ἀνήβους παῖδας γυμνάζουσιν ἐπὶ σκοπὸν βάλλειν, καὶ μόνοις διδόασι τροφὴν τοῖς ἐπιτυχοῦσι. διὸ καὶ θαυμαστοὶ ταῖς εὐστοχίαις ἄνδρες γίνονται, κάλλιστα διδασκόμενοι ταῖς τοῦ λιμοῦ πληγαῖς.
The next part of the country of the Ethiopians is occupied by the Cynegi, as they are called, who are moderate in number and lead a life in keeping with their name. For since their country is infested by wild beasts and is utterly worthless, and has few streams of spring water, they sleep in the trees from fear of the wild beasts, but early in the morning, repairing with their weapons to the pools of water, they secrete themselves in the woods and keep watch from their positions in the trees. 2 And at the time when the heat becomes intense, wild oxen and leopards and a multitude of every other kind of beast come to drink, and because of the excessive heat and their great thirst they greedily quaff the water until they are gorged, whereupon the Ethiopians, the animals having become sluggish and scarcely able to move, leap down from the trees, and by the use of clubs hardened in the fire and of stones and arrows easily kill them. 3 They hunt in this way in companies and feed upon the flesh of their prey, and although now and then they are themselves slain by the strongest animals, yet for the most part they master by their cunning the superior strength of the beasts. 4 And if at any time they find lack of animals in their hunt they soak the skins of some which they had taken at former times and then hold them over a low fire; and when they have singed off the hair they divide the hides among themselves, and on such fare as has been forced upon them they satisfy their want. Their boys they train in shooting at a mark and give food only to those who hit it. Consequently, when they come to manhood, they are marvellously skilled in marksmanship, being most excellently instructed by the pangs of hunger.
§ 3.26
ταύτης δὲ τῆς χώρας εἰς τὰ πρὸς δυσμὰς μέρη πολὺ διεστηκότες Αἰθίοπες ὑπάρχουσιν Ἐλεφαντομάχοι κυνηγοί. νεμόμενοι γὰρ δρυμώδεις καὶ πυκνοὺς τοῖς δένδρεσι τόπους παρατηροῦσι τῶν ἐλεφάντων τὰς εἰσόδους καὶ τὰς ἐκτροπάς, σκοπὰς ἀπὸ τῶν ὑψηλοτάτων δένδρων ποιούμενοι· καὶ ταῖς μὲν ἀγέλαις αὐτῶν οὐκ ἐπιτίθενται διὰ τὸ μηδεμίαν ἐλπίδα ἔχειν κατορθώσεως, τοῖς δὲ καθʼ ἕνα πορευομένοις ἐπιβάλλουσι τὰς χεῖρας, παραδόξοις ἐγχειροῦντες τολμήμασιν. ὅταν γὰρ τὸ ζῷον διεξιὸν γένηται κατὰ τὸ δένδρον ἐν ᾧ συμβαίνει τὸν σκοπεύοντα κεκρύφθαι, ἅμα τῷ παραλλάττειν τὸν τόπον ταῖς μὲν χερσὶν ἐδράξατο τῆς οὐρᾶς, τοῖς δὲ ποσὶν ἀντέβη πρὸς τὸν ἀριστερὸν μηρόν· ἔχων δʼ ἐκ τῶν ὤμων ἐξηρτημένον πέλεκυν, κοῦφον μὲν πρὸς τὴν ἀπὸ τῆς μιᾶς χειρὸς πληγήν, ὀξὺν δὲ καθʼ ὑπερβολήν, τοῦτον λαβόμενος ἐν τῇ δεξιᾷ χειρὶ νευροκοπεῖ τὴν δεξιὰν ἰγνύν, πυκνὰς καταφέρων πληγὰς καὶ διὰ τῆς ἀριστερᾶς χειρὸς οἰακίζων τὸ ἴδιον σῶμα. παράδοξον δὲ ὀξύτητα τοῖς ἔργοις προσφέρουσιν, ὡς ἂν ἄθλου τῆς ἰδίας ψυχῆς ἑκάστῳ προκειμένου· ἢ γὰρ χειρώσασθαι τὸ ζῷον ἢ τελευτᾶν αὐτὸν λείπεται, τῆς περιστάσεως οὐκ ἐπιδεχομένης ἕτερον ἀποτέλεσμα. τὸ δὲ νευροκοπηθὲν ζῷον ποτὲ μὲν διὰ τὴν δυσκινησίαν ἀδυνατοῦν στρέφεσθαι καὶ συνεγκλινόμενον ἐπὶ τὸν πεπονθότα τόπον πίπτει καὶ τὸν Αἰθίοπα συναπόλλυσι, ποτὲ δὲ πρὸς πέτραν ἢ δένδρον ἀποθλῖψαν τὸν ἄνθρωπον τῷ βάρει πιέζει μέχρι ἂν ἀποκτείνῃ. ἔνιοι δὲ τῶν ἐλεφάντων περιαλγεῖς γινόμενοι τοῦ μὲν ἀμύνεσθαι τὸν ἐπιβουλεύσαντα μακρὰν ἀφεστήκασι, τὴν δὲ φυγὴν διὰ τοῦ πεδίου ποιοῦνται, μέχρι ἂν οὗ συνεχῶς προβεβηκὼς ὁ τύπτων εἰς τὸν αὐτὸν τόπον τῷ πελέκει διακόψας τὰ νεῦρα ποιήσῃ πάρετον τὸ ζῷον. ὅταν δὲ τὸ ζῷον πέσῃ, συντρέχουσι κατὰ συστήματα, καὶ ζῶντος ἔτι τέμνοντες τὰς σάρκας ἐκ τῶν ὄπισθεν μερῶν εὐωχοῦνται.
Far distant from this country towards the parts to the west are Ethiopians known as Elephant-fighters, hunters also. For dwelling as they do in regions close together, they carefully observe the places where the elephants enter and their favourite resorts, watching them from the tallest trees; and when they are in herds they do not set upon them, since they would have no hope of success, but they lay hands on them as they go about singly, attacking them in an astonishingly daring manner. 2 For as the beast in its wandering comes near the tree in which the watcher happens to be hidden, the moment it is passing the spot he seizes its tail with his hands and plants his feet against its left flank; he has hanging from his shoulders an axe, light enough to that a blow may be struck with one hand and yet exceedingly sharp, and seizing this in his right hand he hamstrings the elephant's right leg, raining blows upon it and maintaining the position of his own body with his left hand. And they bring an astonishing swiftness to bear upon the task, since there is a contest between the two of them for their very lives; for all that is left to the hunter is either to get the better of the animal or to die himself, the situation not admitting another conclusion. 3 As for the beast which has been hamstrung, sometimes being unable to turn about because it is hard for it to move and sinking down on the place where it has been hurt, it falls to the ground and causes the death of the Ethiopian along with its own, and sometimes squeezing the man against a rock or tree it crushes him with its weight until it has killed him. 4 In some cases, however, the elephant in the extremity of its suffering is far from thinking of turning on its attacker, but flees across the plain until the man who has set his feet upon it, striking on the same place with his axe, has severed the tendons and paralysed the beast. And as soon as the beast has fallen they run together in companies, and cutting the flesh off the hindquarters of the elephant while it is still alive they hold a feast.
§ 3.27
ἔνιοι δὲ τῶν πλησίον κατοικούντων χωρὶς κινδύνων θηρεύουσι τοὺς ἐλέφαντας τέχνῃ τῆς βίας περιγινόμενοι. εἴωθε γὰρ τοῦτο τὸ ζῷον, ἐπειδὰν ἀπὸ τῆς νομῆς πληρωθῇ, πρὸς ὕπνον καταφέρεσθαι, διαφορὰν ἐχούσης τῆς περὶ αὐτὸ διαθέσεως πρὸς τὰ λοιπὰ τῶν τετραπόδων· οὐ γὰρ δύναται τοῖς γόνασι πρὸς τὴν γῆν συγκαθιέναι τὸν ὅλον ὄγκον, ἀλλὰ πρὸς δένδρον ἀνακλιθὲν ποιεῖται τὴν διὰ τῶν ὕπνων ἀνάπαυσιν. διόπερ τὸ δένδρον διὰ τὴν γινομένην πρὸς αὐτὸ πλεονάκις πρόσκλισιν τοῦ ζῴου τετριμμένον τέ ἐστι καὶ ῥύπου πλῆρες, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις ὁ περὶ αὐτὸ τόπος ἴχνη τε ἔχει καὶ σημεῖα πολλά, διʼ ὧν οἱ τὰ τοιαῦτα ἐρευνῶντες Αἰθίοπες γνωρίζουσι τὰς τῶν ἐλεφάντων κοίτας. ὅταν οὖν ἐπιτύχωσι τοιούτῳ δένδρῳ, πρίζουσιν αὐτὸ παρὰ τὴν γῆν, μέχρι ἂν ὀλίγην ἔτι τὴν ῥοπὴν ἔχῃ πρὸς τὴν πτῶσιν· εἶθʼ οὗτοι μὲν τὰ σημεῖα τῆς ἰδίας παρουσίας ἀφανίσαντες ταχέως ἀπαλλάττονται, φθάνοντες τὴν ἔφοδον τοῦ ζῴου, ὁ δʼ ἐλέφας πρὸς τὴν ἑσπέραν ἐμπλησθεὶς τῆς τροφῆς ἐπὶ τὴν συνήθη καταντᾷ κοίτην. κατακλιθεὶς δὲ ἀθρόῳ τῷ βάρει παραχρῆμα μετὰ τῆς τοῦ δένδρου φορᾶς ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν καταφέρεται, πεσὼν δʼ ὕπτιος μένει τὴν νύκτα κείμενος διὰ τὸ τὴν τοῦ σώματος φύσιν ἀδημιούργητον εἶναι πρὸς ἀνάστασιν. οἱ δὲ πρίσαντες τὸ δένδρον Αἰθίοπες ἅμʼ ἡμέρᾳ καταντῶσι, καὶ χωρὶς κινδύνων ἀποκτείναντες τὸ ζῷον σκηνοποιοῦνται περὶ τὸν τόπον καὶ παραμένουσι μέχρι ἂν τὸ πεπτωκὸς ἀναλώσωσι.
But some of the natives who dwell near by hunt the elephants without exposing themselves to dangers, overcoming their strength by cunning. For it is the habit of this animal, whenever it has had its fill of grazing, to lie down to sleep, the manner in which it does this being different from that of all other four-footed animals; 2 for it cannot bring its whole bulk to the ground by bending its knees, but leans against a tree and thus gets the rest which comes from sleep.a Consequently the tree, by reason of the frequent leaning against it by the animal, becomes both rubbed and covered with mud, and the place about it, furthermore, shows both tracks and many signs, whereby the Ethiopians who search for such traces discover where the elephants take their rest. 3 Accordingly, when they come upon such a tree, they saw it near the ground until it requires only a little push to make it fall; thereupon, after removing the traces of their own presence, they quickly depart in anticipation of the approach of the animal, and towards evening the elephant, filled with food, comes to his accustomed haunt. But as soon as he leans against the tree with his entire weight he at once rolls to the ground along with the tree, and after his fall he remains there lying on his back the night through, since the nature of his body is not fashioned for rising. 4 Then the Ethiopians who have sawn the tree gather at dawn, and when they have slain the beast without danger to themselves they pitch their tents at the place and remain there until they have consumed the fallen animal.
§ 3.28
τούτων δὲ τῶν γενῶν τὰ μὲν πρὸς ἑσπέραν μέρη κατοικοῦσιν Αἰθίοπες οἱ προσαγορευόμενοι Σιμοί, τὰ δὲ πρὸς μεσημβρίαν κεκλιμένα νέμεται τὸ τῶν Στρουθοφάγων γένος. ἔστι γὰρ παρʼ αὐτοῖς ὀρνέου τι γένος μεμιγμένην ἔχον τὴν φύσιν τῷ χερσαίῳ ζῴῳ, διʼ ἣν τῆς συνθέτου τέτευχε προσηγορίας. τοῦτο δὲ μεγέθει μὲν οὐ λείπεται τῆς μεγίστης ἐλάφου, τὸν δὲ αὐχένα μακρὸν ἔχον καὶ περιφερεῖς τὰς πλευρὰς καὶ πτερωτὰς ὑπὸ τῆς φύσεως δεδημιούργηται. καὶ κεφάλιον μὲν ἀσθενὲς ἔχει καὶ μικρόν, μηροῖς δὲ καὶ κώλοις ὑπάρχει καρτερώτατον, διχήλου τῆς βάσεως οὔσης. τοῦτο πέτεσθαι μὲν μετέωρον οὐ δύναται διὰ τὸ βάρος, τρέχει δὲ πάντων ὠκύτατον, μικρὸν ἄκροις τοῖς ποσὶ τῆς γῆς ἐπιψαῦον· μάλιστα δʼ ὅταν κατʼ ἀνέμου πνοὰς ἐξαίρῃ τὰς πτέρυγας, ὑπεξάγει καθαπερεί τις ναῦς ἱστιοδρομοῦσα· τοὺς δὲ διώκοντας ἀμύνεται διὰ τῶν ποδῶν ἀποσφενδονῶν παραδόξως λίθους χειροπληθιαίους. ὅταν δʼ ἐν νηνεμίᾳ διώκηται, ταχὺ συνιδρουσῶν τῶν πτερύγων ἀδυνατεῖ χρήσασθαι τοῖς τῆς φύσεως προτερήμασι, καὶ ῥᾳδίως καταλαμβανόμενον ἁλίσκεται. τούτων δὲ τῶν ζῴων ἀμυθήτων ὄντων τῷ πλήθει κατὰ τὴν χώραν, οἱ βάρβαροι παντοδαπὰς μηχανὰς ἐπινοοῦσι κατʼ αὐτῶν τῆς θήρας· ῥᾳδίως δὲ πολλῶν ἁλισκομένων ταῖς μὲν σαρξὶ χρῶνται πρὸς διατροφήν, ταῖς δὲ δοραῖς πρὸς ἐσθῆτα καὶ στρωμνήν. ὑπὸ δὲ τῶν Σιμῶν ὀνομαζομένων Αἰθιόπων πολεμούμενοι διακινδυνεύουσι πρὸς τοὺς ἐπιτιθεμένους, ὅπλοις ἀμυντηρίοις χρώμενοι τοῖς τῶν ὀρύγων κέρασι· ταῦτα δὲ μεγάλα καὶ τμητικὰ καθεστῶτα μεγάλην παρέχεται χρείαν, δαψιλείας οὔσης κατὰ τὴν χώραν διὰ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν ἐχόντων αὐτὰ ζῴων.
The parts west of these tribes are inhabited by Ethiopians who are called Simi, but those towards the south are held by the tribe of the Struthophagi. 2 For there is found among them a kind of bird having a nature which is mingled with that of the land animal, and this explains the compound name it bears. This animal is not inferior in size to the largest deer and has been fashioned by Nature with a long neck and a round body, which is covered with feathers. Its head is weak and small, but it has powerful thighs and legs and its foot is cloven. 3 It is unable to fly in the air because of its weight, but it runs more swiftly than any other animal, barely touching the earth with the tips of its feet; and especially when it raises its wings adown the blasts of the wind it makes off like a ship under full sail; and it defends itself against its pursuers by means of its feet, hurling, as if from a sling, in an astonishing manner, stones as large as can be held in the hand. 4 But when it is pursued at a time of calm, its wings quickly collapse, it is unable to make use of the advantages given it by nature, and being easily overtaken it is made captive. 5 And since these animals abound in the land in multitude beyond telling, the barbarians devise every manner of scheme whereby to take them; moreover, since they are easily caught in large numbers, their meat is used for food and their skins for clothing and bedding. 6 But being constantly warred upon by the Ethiopians known as "Simi," they are in daily peril from their attackers, and they use as defensive weapons the horns of gazelles; these horns, being large and sharp, are of great service and are found in abundance throughout the land by reason of the multitude of the animals which carry them.
§ 3.29
βραχὺ δὲ τούτων ἀπέχοντες Ἀκριδοφάγοι κατοικοῦσι τὰ συνορίζοντα πρὸς τὴν ἔρημον, ἄνθρωποι μικρότεροι μὲν τῶν ἄλλων, ἰσχνοὶ δὲ τοῖς ὄγκοις, μέλανες δὲ καθʼ ὑπερβολήν. κατὰ γὰρ τὴν ἐαρινὴν ὥραν παρʼ αὐτοῖς ζέφυροι καὶ λίβες παμμεγέθεις ἐκριπτοῦσιν ἐκ τῆς ἐρήμου πλῆθος ἀκρίδων ἀμύθητον, τοῖς τε μεγέθεσι διαλλάττον καὶ τῇ χρόᾳ τοῦ πτερώματος εἰδεχθὲς καὶ ῥυπαρόν. ἐκ τούτου δαψιλεῖς τροφὰς ἔχουσιν ἅπαντα τὸν βίον, ἰδιοτρόπως αὐτῶν ποιούμενοι τὴν θήραν. παρὰ γὰρ τὴν χώραν αὐτῶν ἐπὶ πολλοὺς σταδίους παρήκει χαράδρα βάθος ἔχουσα καὶ πλάτος ἀξιόλογον· ταύτην πληροῦσιν ἀγρίας ὕλης, οὔσης ἀφθόνου κατὰ τὴν χώραν· ἔπειθʼ ὅταν τῶν προειρημένων ἀνέμων πνεόντων προσφέρηται τὰ νέφη τῶν ἀκρίδων, καταδιελόμενοι πάντα τὸν τῆς χαράδρας τόπον πυροῦσι τὸν ἐν αὐτῇ χόρτον. ἐγειρομένου δὲ καπνοῦ πολλοῦ καὶ δριμέος, αἱ μὲν ἀκρίδες ὑπερπετόμεναι τὴν χαράδραν, καὶ διὰ τὴν τοῦ καπνοῦ δριμύτητα πνιγόμεναι, καταπίπτουσιν ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν ὀλίγον διαπετασθεῖσαι τόπον, τῆς δὲ τούτων ἀπωλείας ἐπὶ πλείονας ἡμέρας γινομένης μεγάλοι διανίστανται σωροί· καὶ τῆς χώρας ἐχούσης ἁλμυρίδα πολλήν, πάντες προσφέρουσι ταύτην ἀθρόοις τοῖς σωροῖς, καὶ διατήξαντες οἰκείως ποιοῦσι τήν τε γεῦσιν πρόσφορον καὶ τὸν ἀποθησαυρισμὸν ἄσηπτον καὶ πολυχρόνιον. ἡ μὲν οὖν διατροφὴ τούτοις παραχρῆμα καὶ τὸν ὕστερον χρόνον ἀπὸ τούτων τῶν ζῴων ὑπάρχει· οὔτε γὰρ κτηνοτροφοῦσιν οὔτε θαλάττης ἐγγὺς οἰκοῦσιν οὔτε ἄλλης ἐπικουρίας οὐδεμιᾶς τυγχάνουσι· τοῖς δὲ σώμασιν ὄντες κοῦφοι καὶ τοῖς ποσὶν ὀξύτατοι βραχύβιοι παντελῶς εἰσιν, ὡς ἂν τῶν πολυχρονιωτάτων παρʼ αὐτοῖς οὐχ ὑπερβαλλόντων ἔτη τετταράκοντα. τὸ δὲ τοῦ βίου τέλος οὐ μόνον παράδοξον ἔχουσιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ πάντων ἀκληρότατον. ὅταν γὰρ πλησιάζῃ τὸ γῆρας, ἐμφύονται τοῖς σώμασι πτερωτοὶ φθεῖρες οὐ μόνον διάφοροι τοῖς εἴδεσιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ταῖς ἰδέαις ἄγριοι καὶ παντελῶς εἰδεχθεῖς. ἀρξάμενον δὲ τὸ κακὸν ἀπὸ τῆς γαστρὸς καὶ τοῦ θώρακος ἐπινέμεται πάντα τὸν ὄγκον ἐν ὀλίγῳ χρόνῳ. ὁ δὲ πάσχων τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ὡς ὑπὸ ψώρας τινὸς ἐρεθιζόμενος μετρίως ὀδαξᾶσθαι φιλοτιμεῖται, μεμιγμένην ἔχοντος τοῦ πάθους ἀλγηδόσι τὴν χαράν· μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ἀεὶ μᾶλλον τῶν ἐγγενομένων θηρίων εἰς τὴν ἐπιφάνειαν ἐκπιπτόντων συνεκχεῖται πλῆθος ἰχῶρος λεπτοῦ, τὴν δριμύτητα παντελῶς ἔχοντος ἀνυπομόνητον. διόπερ ὁ συνεχόμενος τῷ πάθει βιαιότερον ἀμύττει τοῖς ὄνυξι, στεναγμοὺς μεγάλους προϊέμενος. κατὰ δὲ τὰς τῶν χειρῶν ἐξελκώσεις τοσοῦτο πλῆθος ἐκπίπτει τῶν ἑρπετῶν ὥστε μηδὲν ἀνύειν τοὺς ἀπολέγοντας, ὡς ἂν ἄλλων ἐπʼ ἄλλοις ἐκφαινομένων καθάπερ ἔκ τινος ἀγγείου πολλαχῶς κατατετρημένου. οὗτοι μὲν οὖν εἰς τοιαύτην διάλυσιν τοῦ σώματος καταστρέφουσι τὸν βίον δυστυχῶς, εἴτε διὰ τὴν ἰδιότητα τῆς τροφῆς εἴτε διὰ τὸν ἀέρα τοιαύτης τυγχάνοντες περιπετείας.
A short distance from this tribe on the edge of the desert dwell the Acridophagi, men who are smaller than the rest, lean of body, and exceeding dark. For among them in the spring season strong west and south-west winds drive out of the desert a multitude beyond telling of locusts, of great and unusual size and with wings of an ugly, dirty colour. From these locusts they have food in abundance all their life long, catching them in a manner peculiar to themselves. For along the border of their land over many stades there extends a ravine of considerable depth and width; this they fill with wood from the forests, which is found in plenty in their land; and then, when the winds blow which we have mentioned and the clouds of the locusts approach, they divide among themselves the whole extent of the ravine and set fire to the brush in it. 3 And since a great volume of pungent smoke rises, the locusts, as they fly over the ravine, are choked by the pungency of the smoke and fall to the ground after they have flown through it only a short space, and as the destruction of them continues over several days, great heaps of them are raised up; moreover, since the land contains a great amount of brine, all the people bring this to the heaps, after they have been gathered together, soak them to an appropriate degree with the brine and thus both give the locusts a palatable taste and make their storage free from rot and lasting for a long time. 4 Accordingly, the food of this people, at the moment and thereafter, consists of these animals; for they possess no herds nor do they live near the sea nor do they have at hand any other resources; and light in body and very swift of foot as they are, they are also altogether short-lived, the oldest among them not exceeding forty years of age. As for the manner in which they end their lives, not only is it astounding but extremely pitiful. For when old age draws near there breed in their bodies winged lice, which not only have an unusual form but are also savage and altogether loathsome in aspect. 6 The affliction begins on the belly and the breast and in a short time spreads over the whole body. And the person so affected is at first irritated by a kind of itching and insists on scratching himself a bit, the disease at this point offering a satisfaction combined with pain; but after this stage the animals, which have been continuously engendered more and more in the body, break out to the surface and there is a heavy discharge of a thin humour, the sting of which is quite unbearable. 7 Consequently the man who is in the grip of the disease lacerates himself with his nails the more violently, groaning and moaning deeply. And as his hands tear at his body, such a multitude of the vermin pours forth that those who try to pick them off accomplish nothing, since they issue forth one after another, as from a kind of vessel that is pierced throughout with holes. And so these wretches end their lives in a dissolution of the body after this manner, a miserable fate, meeting with such a sudden reversal of fortune either by reason of the peculiar character of their food or because of the climate.
§ 3.30
τῷ δὲ ἔθνει τούτῳ χώρα παρήκει κατὰ τὸ μέγεθος πολλὴ καὶ κατὰ τὰς τῆς νομῆς ποικιλίας ἀγαθή· ἔρημος δʼ ἐστὶ καὶ παντελῶς ἄβατος, οὐκ ἀπʼ ἀρχῆς σπανίζουσα τοῦ γένους τῶν ἀνθρώπων, ἀλλʼ ἐν τοῖς ὕστερον χρόνοις ἔκ τινος ἐπομβρίας ἀκαίρου πλῆθος φαλαγγίων καὶ σκορπίων ἐξενέγκασα. τοσοῦτο γὰρ ἱστοροῦσιν ἐπιπολάσαι τῶν εἰρημένων θηρίων πλῆθος ὥστε τοὺς κατοικοῦντας ἀνθρώπους τὸ μὲν πρῶτον πανδημεὶ κτείνειν πᾶν τὸ τῇ φύσει πολέμιον, ἀπεριγενήτου δὲ τοῦ πλήθους ὄντος καὶ τῶν δηγμάτων ὀξεῖς τοῖς πληγεῖσι τοὺς θανάτους ἐπιφερόντων, ἀπογνόντας τὴν πάτριον γῆν τε καὶ δίαιταν φυγεῖν ἐκ τῶν τόπων. οὐ χρὴ δὲ θαυμάζειν οὐδὲ ἀπιστεῖν τοῖς λεγομένοις, πολλὰ τούτων παραδοξότερα κατὰ πᾶσαν τὴν οἰκουμένην γεγονότα διὰ τῆς ἀληθοῦς ἱστορίας παρειληφότας. περὶ γὰρ τὴν Ἰταλίαν μυῶν πλῆθος ἀρουραίων ἐγγεννηθὲν τοῖς πεδίοις ἐξέβαλέ τινας ἐκ τῆς πατρίου χώρας, κατὰ δὲ τὴν Μηδίαν ἐπιπολάσαντες ἀμύθητοι στρουθοὶ καὶ τὰ σπέρματα τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἀφανίζοντες ἠνάγκασαν εἰς ἑτερογενεῖς τόπους μεταστῆναι, τοὺς δὲ καλουμένους Αὐταριάτας βάτραχοι τὴν ἀρχέγονον σύστασιν ἐν τοῖς νέφεσι λαμβάνοντες καὶ πίπτοντες ἀντὶ τῆς συνήθους ψεκάδος ἐβιάσαντο τὰς πατρίδας καταλιπεῖν καὶ καταφυγεῖν εἰς τοῦτον τὸν τόπον ἐν ᾧ νῦν καθίδρυνται. καὶ μὴν τίς οὐχ ἱστόρησεν Ἡρακλεῖ τῶν ὑπὲρ τῆς ἀθανασίας ἄθλων συντελεσθέντων ἕνα καταριθμούμενον καθʼ ὃν ἐξήλασεν ἐκ τῆς Στυμφαλίδος λίμνης τὸ πλῆθος τῶν ἐπιπολασάντων ὀρνίθων ἐν αὐτῇ; ἀνάστατοι δὲ κατὰ τὴν Λιβύην πόλεις τινὲς ἐγένοντο πλήθους λεόντων ἐπελθόντος ἐκ τῆς ἐρήμου. Ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἡμῖν εἰρήσθω πρὸς τοὺς ἀπιστως διὰ τὸ παράδοξον πρὸς τὰς ἱστορίας διακειμένους· πάλιν δʼ ἐπὶ τ ὰσυνεχῆ τοῖς προειρημένοις μεταβησόμεθα.
Along the borders of this people there stretches a country great in size and rich in its varied pasturage; but it is without inhabitants and altogether impossible for man to enter; not that it has from the first never known the race of men, but in later times, as a result of an unseasonable abundance of rain, it brought forth a multitude of venomous spiders and scorpions. 2 For, as historians relate, so great a multitude of these animals came to abound that, although at the outset the human beings dwelling there united in killing the natural enemy, yet, because the multitude of them was not to be overcome and their bites brought swift death to their victims, they renounced both their ancestral land and mode of life and fled from these regions. Nor is there any occasion to be surprised at this statement or to distrust it, since we have learned through trustworthy history of many things more astonishing than this which have taken place throughout all the inhabited world. 3 In Italy, for instance, such a multitude of field-mice was generated in the plains that they drove certain people out of their native country; in Media birds, which came to abound beyond telling and made away with the seeds sown by the inhabitants, compelled them to remove into regions held by another people; and in the case of the Autariatae, as they are called, frogs were originally generated in the clouds, and when they fell upon the people in place of the customary rain, they forced them to leave their native homes and to flee for safety to the place where they now dwell. 4 And who indeed has not read in history, in connection with the Labours which Heracles performed in order to win his immortality, the account of the one Labour in the course of which he drove out of the Stymphalian Lake the multitude of birds which had come to abound in it? Moreover, in Libya certain cities have become depopulated because a multitude of lions came out of the desert against them. Let these instances, then, suffice in reply to those who adopt a sceptical attitude towards histories because they recount what is astonishing; and now we shall in turn pass on to what follows the subjects we have been treating.
§ 3.31
τὰς δʼ ἐσχατιὰς τῶν πρὸς μεσημβρίαν μερῶν κατοικοῦσιν ἄνδρες ὑπὸ μὲν τῶν Ἑλλήνων καλούμενοι Κυναμολγοί, κατὰ δὲ τὴν τῶν πλησιοχώρων βαρβάρων διάλεκτον Ἄγριοι. οὗτοι δὲ πώγωνας μὲν φέρουσι παμμεγέθεις, κυνῶν δὲ τρέφουσιν ἀγρίων ἀγέλας πρὸς τὴν τοῦ βίου χρείαν εὐθέτους. ἀπὸ γὰρ τῶν πρώτων τροπῶν τῶν θερινῶν μέχρι μέσου χειμῶνος Ἰνδικοὶ βόες ἀμύθητοι τὸ πλῆθος ἐπιφοιτῶσιν αὐτῶν τὴν χώραν, ἀδήλου τῆς αἰτίας οὔσης· οὐδεὶς γὰρ οἶδεν εἴθʼ ὑπὸ ζῴων πολλῶν καὶ σαρκοφάγων πολεμούμενοι φεύγουσιν, εἴτε διʼ ἔνδειαν τροφῆς ἐκλείποντες τοὺς οἰκείους τόπους εἴτε διʼ ἄλλην περιπέτειαν, ἣν ἡ μὲν πάντα τὰ παράδοξα γεννῶσα φύσις κατασκευάζει, τὸ δὲ τῶν ἀνθρώπων γένος ἀδυνατεῖ τῷ νῷ συνιδεῖν. οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ τοῦ πλήθους οὐ κατισχύοντες διʼ ἑαυτῶν περιγενέσθαι τοὺς κύνας ἐπαφιᾶσι, καὶ μετὰ τούτων ποιούμενοι τὴν θήραν πολλὰ πάνυ τῶν ζῴων χειροῦνται· τῶν δὲ ληφθέντων ἃ μὲν πρόσφατα κατεσθίουσιν, ἃ δὲ εἰς ἅλας συντιθέντες ἀποθησαυρίζουσι. πολλὰ δὲ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ζῴων διὰ τῆς τῶν κυνῶν ἀλκῆς θηρεύοντες ἀπὸ κρεοφαγίας τὸν βίον ἔχουσι. τὰ μὲν οὖν τελευταῖα γένη τῶν πρὸς μεσημβρίαν οἰκούντων ἐν μορφαῖς ἀνθρώπων τὸν βίον ἔχει θηριώδη· λείπεται δὲ διελθεῖν ὑπὲρ δύο ἐθνῶν, τῶν τε Αἰθιόπων καὶ τῶν Τρωγλοδυτῶν. ἀλλὰ περὶ μὲν Αἰθιόπων ἀναγεγράφαμεν ἐν ἄλλοις, περὶ δὲ τῶν Τρωγλοδυτῶν νῦν ἐροῦμεν.
The borders of the parts to the south are inhabited by men whom the Greeks call "Cynamolgi," but who are known in the language of the barbarians who live near them as Agrii. They wear great beards and maintain packs of savage dogs which serve to meet the needs of their life. 2 For from the time of the beginning of the summer solstice until mid-winter, Indian cattle, in a multitude beyond telling, resort to their country, the reason for this being uncertain; for no man knows whether they are in flight because they are being attacked by a great number of carnivorous beasts, or because they are leaving their own regions by reason of a lack of food, or because of some other reversal of fortune which Nature, that engenders all astonishing things, devises, but which the mind of the race of men cannot comprehend. 3 However, since they have not the strength of themselves to get the better of the multitude of the cattle, they let the dogs loose on them, and hunting them by means of the dogs they overcome a very great number of the animals; and as for the beasts which they have taken, some of them they eat while fresh and some they pack down with salt and store up. Many also of the other animals they hunt, thanks to the courage of their dogs, and so maintain themselves by the eating of flesh. Now the most distant tribes of those peoples who live to the south have indeed the forms of men but their life is that of the beasts; however, it remains for us to discuss two peoples, the Ethiopians and the Trogodytes. But about the Ethiopians we have written in other connections, and so we shall now speak of the Trogodytes.
§ 3.32
οἱ τοίνυν Τρωγλοδύται προσαγορεύονται μὲν ὑπὸ τῶν Ἑλλήνων Νομάδες, βίον δʼ ἔχοντες ἀπὸ θρεμμάτων νομαδικὸν κατὰ συστήματα τυραννοῦνται, καὶ μετὰ τῶν τέκνων τὰς γυναῖκας ἔχουσι κοινὰς πλὴν μιᾶς τῆς τοῦ τυράννου· τὸν δὲ ταύτῃ πλησιάσαντα πρόστιμον ὁ δυνάστης πράττεται τεταγμένον ἀριθμὸν προβάτων. κατὰ δὲ τὸν τῶν ἐτησίων καιρὸν γινομένων παρʼ αὐτοῖς ὄμβρων μεγάλων, ἀφʼ αἵματος καὶ γάλακτος διατρέφονται, μίσγοντες ταῦτα καὶ βραχὺν χρόνον ἑψήσαντες. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα διὰ τὴν τῶν καυμάτων ὑπερβολὴν τῆς νομῆς ξηραινομένης καταφεύγουσιν εἰς τοὺς ἑλώδεις τόπους, καὶ περὶ τῆς τῆς χώρας νομῆς πρὸς ἀλλήλους διαμάχονται. τῶν δὲ βοσκημάτων τὰ πρεσβύτερα καὶ νοσεῖν ἀρχόμενα καταναλίσκοντες ἀπὸ τούτων τὸν ἅπαντα χρόνον διατρέφονται. διόπερ τὴν τῶν γονέων προσηγορίαν ἀνθρώπων μὲν οὐδενὶ προσάπτουσι, ταύρῳ δὲ καὶ βοῒ καὶ πάλιν κριῷ καὶ προβάτῳ· τούτων δὲ τοὺς μὲν πατέρας, τὰς δὲ μητέρας καλοῦσι διὰ τὸ πορίζεσθαι τὰς ἐφημέρους τροφὰς ἀεὶ παρὰ τούτων, ἀλλὰ μὴ παρὰ τῶν γεγεννηκότων. ποτῷ δʼ οἱ μὲν ἰδιῶται συγχρῶνται παλιούρων βρέγματι, τοῖς δὲ δυνάσταις ἀπό τινος ἄνθους κατασκευάζεται πόμα παραπλήσιον τῷ χειρίστῳ παρʼ ἡμῖν γλεύκει. ταῖς δὲ ἀγέλαις τῶν θρεμμάτων ἐπακολουθοῦντες ἄλλην ἐξ ἄλλης χώραν ἐπιπορεύονται, φεύγοντες τὸ τοῖς αὐτοῖς τόποις ἐνδιατρίβειν. καὶ γυμνοὶ μέν εἰσι πάντες τὰ σώματα πλὴν τῶν ἰσχίων, ἃ δέρμασι σκεπάζουσι· τὰ δʼ αἰδοῖα πάντες οἱ Τρωγλοδύται παραπλησίως τοῖς Αἰγυπτίοις περιτέμνονται πλὴν τῶν ἀπὸ τοῦ συμπτώματος ὀνομαζομένων κολοβῶν· οὗτοι γὰρ μόνοι τὴν ἐντὸς τῶν στενῶν νεμόμενοι χώραν ἐκ νηπίου ξυροῖς ἀποτέμνονται πᾶν τὸ τοῖς ἄλλοις μέρος περιτομῆς τυγχάνον.
The Trogodytes, we may state, are called Nomads by the Greeks, and living as they do a nomadic life off their flocks, each group of them has its tyrant, and their women, like their children, they hold in common, with the single exception of the wife of the tyrant; but if any man goes in to this woman the ruler exacts of him a fine of a specified number of sheep. 2 At the time of the etesian winds, when there are heavy rains in their country, they live off blood and milk which they mix together and seethe for a short while. But after this season the pasturage is withered by the excessive heat, and they retreat into the marshy places and fight with each other for the pasturage of the land. 3 They eat the older animals of the flocks and such as are growing sick and maintain themselves on them at all times. Consequently they give the name of parents to no human being, but rather to a bull and a cow, and also to a ram and a sheep; these they call their fathers or their mothers, by reason of the fact that they ever secure their daily food from them, and not from those who had begotten them. And as a drink the common people make use of juice from the plant Christ's-thorn, but for the rulers there is prepared from a certain flower a beverage like the vilest of our sweet new wines. Following after their herds and flocks they move about from one land of the another, avoiding any stay in the same regions. 4 And they are all naked as to their bodies except for the loins, which they cover with skins; moreover, all the Trogodytes are circumcised like the Egyptians with the exception of those who, because of what they have experienced, are called "colobi"; for these alone of all who live inside the Straits have in infancy all that part cut completely off with the razor which among other peoples merely suffers circumcision.
§ 3.33
ὁπλισμὸν δʼ ἔχουσι τῶν Τρωγλοδυτῶν οἱ μὲν ὀνομαζόμενοι Μεγάβαροι κυκλοτερεῖς ὠμοβοΐνας ἀσπίδας καὶ ῥόπαλον τύλους ἔχον περισιδήρους, οἱ δὲ ἄλλοι τόξα καὶ λόγχας. ταφαὶ δὲ παντελῶς ἐξηλλαγμέναι ἐπιχωριάζουσι· τοῖς γὰρ τῶν παλιούρων λύγοις δήσαντες τῶν τετελευτηκότων τὰ σώματα προσάπτουσι τὸν αὐχένα τοῖς σκέλεσι, θέντες δὲ τὸν νεκρὸν ἐπί τινος ἀναστήματος βάλλουσι λίθοις χειροπληθέσι γελῶντες, μέχρι ἂν ὅτου τοῖς λίθοις περιχώσαντες ἀποκρύψωσι τὰ σώματα· τὸ δὲ τελευταῖον αἰγὸς κέρας ἐπιθέντες ἀπολύονται, συμπάθειαν οὐδεμίαν λαμβάνοντες. πολεμοῦσι δὲ πρὸς ἀλλήλους οὐχ ὁμοίως τοῖς Ἕλλησιν ὑπὲρ γῆς ἤ τινων ἄλλων ἐγκλημάτων, ἀλλʼ ὑπὲρ τῆς ἐπιγινομένης ἀεὶ νομῆς. ἐν δὲ ταῖς φιλονεικίαις τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἀλλήλους τοῖς λίθοις βάλλουσι, μέχρι ἄν τινες τρωθῶσι, καὶ τὸ λοιπὸν ἐπὶ τὸν τῶν τόξων ἀγῶνα καταντῶσι. πολλοὶ δὲ ἐν ἀκαρεῖ χρόνῳ τελευτῶσιν, ὡς ἂν εὐστόχως μὲν βαλλόντων διὰ τὴν ἐν τούτοις ἄθλησιν, τὸν δὲ σκοπὸν ἐχόντων γυμνὸν τῶν σκεπαστηρίων ὅπλων. διαλύουσι δὲ τὴν μάχην τῶν γυναικῶν αἱ πρεσβύτεραι, προαλλόμεναι μὲν εἰς τὸ μέσον, ἐντροπῆς δὲ τυγχάνουσαι· νόμιμον γάρ ἐστιν αὐτοῖς ταύτας κατὰ μηδένα τῶν τρόπων τύπτειν, ὅθεν ἅμα τῷ φανῆναι παύονται τοῦ τοξεύειν. οἱ δὲ διὰ τὸ γῆρας οὐ δυνάμενοι ταῖς ποίμναις ἀκολουθεῖν βοὸς οὐρᾷ τὸν αὐχένα περισφίγξαντες ἑαυτῶν ἀπολύονται τοῦ ζῆν προθύμως· τοῦ δὲ τὸν θάνατον ἀναβαλλομένου τὴν ἐξουσίαν ὁ βουλόμενος ἔχει τὸν δεσμὸν ὡς ἐπʼ εὐνοίᾳ περιθεῖναι καὶ μετὰ νουθετήσεως στερῆσαι τοῦ ζῆν. ὁμοίως δὲ νόμιμον αὐτοῖς ἐστι τοὺς πηρωθέντας ἢ νόσοις δυσιάτοις συνεχομένους ἐξάγειν ἐκ τοῦ ζῆν· μέγιστον γὰρ τῶν κακῶν ἡγοῦνται τὸ φιλοψυχεῖν τὸν μηδὲν ἄξιον τοῦ ζῆν πράττειν δυνάμενον. διὸ καὶ πάντας μὲν ἰδεῖν ἔστι τοὺς Τρωγλοδύτας ἀρτίους μὲν τοῖς σώμασιν, ἰσχύοντας δʼ ἔτι ταῖς ἡλικίαις, ὡς ἂν μηδενὸς ὑπερβάλλοντος τὰ ἑξήκοντα ἔτη. καὶ περὶ μὲν τῶν Τρωγλοδυτῶν ἱκανῶς εἰρήκαμεν· εἰ δέ τις τῶν ἀναγινωσκόντεν διὰ τὸν ξενισμὸν καὶ τὸ παράδοξον τῶν ἀναγεγραμμένων βίων ἀπιστήσει ταῖς ἱστορίαις, θεὶς πρὸ τῆς διανοίας παρʼ ἄλληλα τόν τε περὶ τὴν Σκυθίαν ἀέρα καὶ τὸν περὶ τὴν Τρωγλοδυτικήν, καὶ τὰς ἑκατέρων διαφορὰς ἰδών, οὐκ ἀπιστήσει τοῖς ἱστορημένοις.
As for the arms of the Trogodytes, those who bear the name of Megabari have round shields covered with raw ox-hide and a club with iron knobs, but the rest of them have bows and arrows and lances. Again, the burials practised by them differ entirely from all others; 2 for after binding the bodies of the dead with withes of Christ's-thorn they tie the neck to the legs, and then placing the corpse upon a mound they cast at it stones as large as can be held in the hand, making merry the while, until they have built up a heap of stones and have hidden the bodies from sight; and finally they set up a goat's horn on the heap and separate, having shown no fellow-feeling for the dead. 3 And they fight with one another, not, as the Greeks do, for possession of land or because of some alleged misdeeds, but for pasturage as it comes up at one time and another. In their quarrels they at first hurl stones at each other, until some are wounded, and the rest of the time they resort to the struggle with bows and arrows. And it is but a moment before many are dead, since they are accurate shooters by reason of their practice in archery and the object at which they are aiming is bare of protective armour. 4 The fighting is terminated by the older women, who rush into the fray and offer themselves as a protection to the fighters, and are the object of respect; for it is a custom with these people that they shall in no wise strike one of these women, and so at their appearance they cease shooting. 5 Those who can no longer accompany the flocks by reason of old age bind the tail of an ox about their own necks and so put an end to their lives of their own free will; and if a man postpones his death, anyone who wishes has the authority to fasten the noose about his neck, as an act of good-will, and, after admonishing the man, to take his life. 6 Likewise it is a custom of theirs to remove from life those who have become maimed or are in the grip of incurable diseases; for they consider it to be the greatest disgrace for a man to cling to life when he is unable to accomplish anything worth living for. Consequently, a man can see every Trogodyte sound in body and of vigorous age, since no one of them lives beyond sixty years. But we have said enough about the Trogodytes; and if anyone of our readers shall distrust our histories because of what is strange and astonishing in the different manners of life which we have described, when he has considered and compared the climate of Scythia and that of the Trogodyte country and has observed the differences between them, he will not distrust what has been here related.
§ 3.34
τοσαύτη γὰρ παραλλαγὴ τῶν παρʼ ἡμῖν ἀέρων πρὸς τοὺς ἱστορημένους ὥστε τὴν κατὰ μέρος διαφορὰν ἄπιστον εἶναι. ὅπου μὲν γὰρ διὰ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τοῦ ψύχους πήγνυνται μὲν οἱ μέγιστοι ποταμοί, στέγοντος τοῦ κρυστάλλου διαβάσεις στρατοπέδων καὶ ἁμαξῶν καταγόμων ἐφόδους, πήγνυται δὲ ὁ οἶνος καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ τῶν χυμῶν ὥστε μαχαίραις ἀποτέμνεσθαι, καὶ τὰ τούτων θαυμασιώτερα, τὰ μὲν ἀκρωτήρια τῶν ἀνθρώπων τῆς ἐσθῆτος παρατριβούσης περιρρεῖ, τὰ δὲ ὄμματα ἀμαυροῦται, τὸ δὲ πῦρ ἀλεωρὰν οὐ ποιεῖ, καὶ χαλκοῖ μὲν ἀνδριάντες ῥήγνυνται, κατὰ δέ τινας καιροὺς διὰ τὴν πυκνότητα τῶν νεφῶν οὔτε ἀστραπὴν οὔτε βροντὴν γίνεσθαι περὶ τοὺς τόπους φασί· πολλὰ δὲ καὶ ἄλλα τούτων παραδοξότερα συντελεῖται, τοῖς μὲν ἀγνοοῦσιν ἄπιστα, τοῖς δὲ πεῖραν εἰληφόσιν ἀνυπομόνητα. περὶ δὲ τὰς ἐσχατιὰς τῆς Αἰγύπτου καὶ Τρωγλοδυτικῆς διὰ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῆς ἀφʼ ἡλίου θερμασίας κατὰ τὸν τῆς μεσημβρίας καιρὸν οὐδὲ συνορᾶν ἀλλήλους οἱ παρεστῶτες δύνανται διὰ τὴν παχύτητα τῆς περὶ τὸν ἀέρα πυκνώσεως, χωρὶς δὲ ὑποδέσεως πάντες ἀδυνατοῦσι βαδίζειν, ὡς ἂν τοῖς ἀνυποδήτοις παραχρῆμα φλυκτίδων γινομένων. κατὰ δὲ τὸ ποτόν, ἐὰν μὴ τὴν ἔνδειαν ἑτοίμως ἀφαιρῆται, ταχέως τελευτῶσιν, ὡς ἂν τῆς θερμασίας τὴν τῶν ὑγρῶν ἐν τῷ σώματι φύσιν ὀξέως ἀναλισκούσης. πρὸς δὲ τούτοις, ὅταν τις εἰς χαλκοῦν ἀγγεῖον ἐμβαλὼν τῶν ἐδωδίμων ὁδηποτοῦν μεθʼ ὕδατος εἰς τὸν ἥλιον θῇ, ταχέως ἕψεται χωρὶς πυρὸς καὶ ξύλων. ἀλλʼ ὅμως οἱ κατοικοῦντες ἀμφοτέρας τὰς εἰρημένας χώρας οὐχ οἷον φεύγειν βούλονται τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῶν συμβαινόντων αὐτοῖς κακῶν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὐναντίον ἑκουσίως προΐενται τὸ ζῆν ἕνεκα τοῦ μὴ βιασθῆναι διαίτης ἑτέρας καὶ βίου πειραθῆναι. οὕτως αὐτοφυὲς ἔχει τι φίλτρον πᾶσα συνήθης χώρα, καὶ περιγίνεται τῆς ἐκ τῶν ἀέρων κακοπαθείας ὁ χρόνος ὁ τὴν ἐκ νηπίου παραλαβὼν ἡλικίαν. τὰς δὲ τηλικαύτας ἐπʼ ἀμφότερα διαφορὰς οὐ πολὺ διορίζει τόπου διάστημα. ἀπὸ γὰρ τῆς Μαιώτιδος λίμνης, ᾗ προσοικοῦσί τινες τῶν Σκυθῶν ἐν πάγει καὶ ψύχεσιν ὑπερβάλλουσι καθιδρυμένοι, πολλοὶ τῶν πλοϊζομένων οὐριοδρομούσαις ναυσὶ φορτίσιν εἰς μὲν Ῥόδον δεκαταῖοι καταπεπλεύκασιν, ἐξ ἧς εἰς Ἀλεξάνδρειαν τεταρταῖοι καταντῶσιν, ἐκ δὲ ταύτης κατὰ τὸν Νεῖλον πλέοντες πολλοὶ δεκαταῖοι κατηντήκασιν εἰς Αἰθιοπίαν, ὥστε ἀπὸ τῶν κατεψυγμένων μερῶν τῆς οἰκουμένης ἐπὶ τὰ θερμότατα μέρη μὴ πλέον εἴκοσι καὶ τεττάρων ἡμερῶν εἶναι τὸν πλοῦν τοῖς κατὰ τὸ συνεχὲς κομιζομένοις. διόπερ τῆς διαφορᾶς τῆς τῶν ἀέρων ἐν ὀλίγῳ διαστήματι μεγάλης οὔσης οὐδὲν παράδοξον καὶ τὴν δίαιταν καὶ τοὺς βίους, ἔτι δὲ τὰ σώματα πολὺ διαλλάττειν τῶν παρʼ ἡμῖν.
So great, for instance, is the contrast between our climate and the climates which we have described that the difference, when considered in detail, surpasses belief. 2 For example, there are countries where, because of the excessive cold, the greatest rivers are frozen over, the ice sustaining the crossing of armies and the passage of heavily laden wagons, the wine and all other juices freeze so that they must be cut with knives, yea, what is more wonderful still, the extremities of human beings fall off when rubbed by the clothing, their eyes are blinded, fire furnishes no protection, even bronze statues are cracked open, and at certain seasons, they say, the clouds are so thick that in those regions there is neither lightning nor thunder; and many other things, more astonishing than these, come to pass, which are unbelievable to such as are ignorant of them, but cannot be endured by any who have actually experienced them. 3 But on the farthermost bounds of Egypt and the Trogodyte country, because of the excessive heat from the sun at midday, men who are standing side by side are unable even to see one another by reason of the thickness of the air as it is condensed, and no one can walk about without foot-gear, since blisters appear at once on any who go barefoot. 4 And as for drink, unless it is ready to hand to satisfy the need of it, they speedily perish, since the heat swiftly exhausts the natural moistures in the body. Moreover, whenever any man puts any food into a bronze vessel along with water and sets it in the sun, it quickly boils without fire or wood. 5 Nevertheless, the inhabitants of both the lands which we have mentioned, far from desiring to escape from the excessive evils which befall them, actually, on the contrary, give up their lives of their own accord simply to avoid being compelled to make trial of a different fare and manner of life. 6 Thus it is that every country to which a man has grown accustomed holds a kind of spell of its own over him, and the length of time which he has spent there from infancy overcomes the hardship which he suffers from its climate. 7 And yet countries so different in both ways are separated by no great interval of space. For from Lake Maeotis, near which certain Scythians dwell, living in the midst of frost and excessive cold, many sailors of merchant vessels, running before a favourable wind, have made Rhodes in ten days, from which they have reached Alexandria in four, and from that city many men, sailing by way of the Nile, have reached Ethiopia in ten, so that from the cold parts of the inhabited world to its warmest parts the sailing time is not more than twenty-four days, if the journey is made without a break. 8 Consequently, the difference in climates in a slight interval being so great, it is nothing surprising that both the fare and the manners of life as well as the bodies of the inhabitants should be very different from such as prevail among us.
§ 3.35
ἐπεὶ δὲ τῶν ἐθνῶν καὶ βίων τὰ κεφάλαια τῶν δοκούντων εἶναι παραδόξων διεληλύθαμεν, περὶ τῶν ὄντων θηρίων τῶν κατὰ τὰς ὑποκειμένας χώρας ἐν μέρει διέξιμεν. ἔστι γὰρ ζῷον ὃ καλεῖται μὲν ἀπὸ τοῦ συμβεβηκότος ῥινόκερως, ἀλκῇ δὲ καὶ βίᾳ παραπλήσιον ὂν ἐλέφαντι, τῷ δὲ ὕψει ταπεινότερον, τὴν μὲν δορὰν ἰσχυροτάτην ἔχει, τὴν δὲ χρόαν πυξοειδῆ. ἐπὶ δʼ ἄκρων τῶν μυκτήρων φέρει κέρας τῷ τύπῳ σιμόν, τῇ δὲ στερεότητι σιδήρῳ παρεμφερές. τοῦτο περὶ τῆς νομῆς ἀεὶ διαφερόμενον ἐλέφαντι τὸ μὲν κέρας πρός τινα τῶν πετρῶν θήγει, συμπεσὸν δʼ εἰς μάχην τῷ προειρημένῳ θηρίῳ καὶ ὑποδῦνον ὑπὸ τὴν κοιλίαν ἀναρρήττει τῷ κέρατι καθάπερ ξίφει τὴν σάρκα. τῷ δὲ τοιούτῳ τρόπῳ τῆς μάχης χρώμενον ἔξαιμα ποιεῖ τὰ θηρία καὶ πολλὰ διαφθείρει. ὅταν δὲ ὁ ἐλέφας φθάσας τὴν ὑπὸ τὴν κοιλίαν ὑπόδυσιν τῇ προβοσκίδι προκαταλάβηται τὸν ῥινόκερων, περιγίνεται ῥᾳδίως τύπτων τοῖς ὀδοῦσι καὶ τῇ βίᾳ πλέον ἰσχύων. αἱ δὲ σφίγγες γίνονται μὲν περί τε τὴν Τρωγλοδυτικὴν καὶ τὴν Αἰθιοπίαν, ταῖς δὲ μορφαῖς ὑπάρχουσιν οὐκ ἀνόμοιοι ταῖς γραφομέναις, μόνον δὲ ταῖς δασύτησι διαλλάττουσι, τὰς δὲ ψυχὰς ἡμέρους ἔχουσαι καὶ πανούργους ἐπὶ πλέον καὶ διδασκαλίαν μεθοδικὴν ἐπιδέχονται. οἱ δʼ ὀνομαζόμενοι κυνοκέφαλοι τοῖς μὲν σώμασιν ἀνθρώποις δυσειδέσι παρεμφερεῖς εἰσι, ταῖς δὲ φωναῖς μυγμοὺς ἀνθρωπίνους προΐενται. ἀγριώτατα δὲ ταῦτα τὰ ζῷα καὶ παντελῶς ἀτιθάσευτα καθεστῶτα τὴν ἀπὸ τῶν ὀφρύων πρόσοψιν αὐστηροτέραν ἔχει. ταῖς δὲ θηλείαις ἰδιώτατον συμβαίνει τὸ τὴν μήτραν ἐκτὸς τοῦ σώματος φέρειν πάντα τὸν χρόνον. ὁ δὲ λεγόμενος κῆπος ὠνόμασται μὲν ἀπὸ τῆς περὶ τὸν ὄγκον ὅλον ὡραίας καὶ προσηνοῦς ἡλικίας, τὸ δὲ πρόσωπον ἔχων ὅμοιον λέοντι τὸ λοιπὸν σῶμα φέρει πάνθηρι παραπλήσιον, πλὴν τοῦ μεγέθους, ὃ παρισοῦται δορκάδι. πάντων δὲ τῶν εἰρημένων ζῴων ὁ σαρκοφάγος ταῦρος ἀγριώτατός ἐστι καὶ παντελῶς δυσκαταμάχητος. τῷ μὲν γὰρ ὄγκῳ τοῦτο μεῖζόν ἐστι τῶν ἡμέρων ταύρων, ὀξύτητι δὲ ποδῶν οὐ λειπόμενον ἵππου, τῷ στόματι δὲ διεστηκὸς ἄχρι τῶν ὤτων. τὸ δὲ χρῶμα πυρρὸν ἔχει καθʼ ὑπερβολήν, καὶ τὰ μὲν ὄμματα γλαυκότερα λέοντος καὶ τὰς νύκτας ἀστράπτοντα, τὰ δὲ κέρατα φύσεως ἰδιοτρόπου κοινωνοῦντα· τὸν μὲν γὰρ ἄλλον χρόνον αὐτὰ κινεῖ παραπλησίως τοῖς ὠσί, κατὰ δὲ τὰς μάχας ἵστησιν ἀραρότως. τὴν δὲ τῆς τριχὸς ἐπαγωγὴν ἔχει τοῖς ἄλλοις ζῴοις ἐναντίαν. ἔστι δὲ τὸ θηρίον ἀλκῇ τε καὶ δυνάμει διάφορον, ὡς ἂν ἐπιτιθέμενον τοῖς ἀλκιμωτάτοις τῶν ζῴων καὶ τὴν τροφὴν ἔχον ἐκ τῆς τῶν χειρωθέντων σαρκοφαγίας. διαφθείρει δὲ καὶ τὰς ποίμνας τῶν ἐγχωρίων, καὶ καταπληκτικῶς ἀγωνίζεται πρὸς ὅλα συστήματα τῶν ποιμένων καὶ κυνῶν ἀγέλας. λέγεται δὲ καὶ τὸ δέρμα ἄτρωτον ἔχειν· πολλῶν γοῦν ἐπιβεβλημένων λαβεῖν ὑποχείριον μηδένα κατισχυκέναι. τὸ δʼ εἰς ὄρυγμα πεσὸν ἢ διʼ ἄλλης ἀπάτης χειρωθὲν ὑπὸ τοῦ θυμοῦ γίνεται περιπνιγές, καὶ τῆς ἐλευθερίας οὐδαμῶς ἀλλάττεται τὴν ἐν τῷ τιθασεύεσθαι φιλανθρωπίαν. διόπερ εἰκότως οἱ Τρωγλοδύται τοῦτο τὸ θηρίον κράτιστον κρίνουσιν, ὡς ἂν τῆς φύσεως αὐτῷ δεδωρημένης ἀλκὴν μὲν λέοντος, ἵππου δὲ τάχος, ῥώμην δὲ ταύρου, τῆς δὲ πάντων κρατίστης σιδήρου φύσεως οὐχ ἡττώμενον. ὁ δὲ λεγόμενος παρʼ Αἰθίοψι κροκόττας μεμιγμένην μὲν ἔχει φύσιν κυνὸς καὶ λύκου, τὴν δʼ ἀγριότητα φοβερωτέραν ἀμφοτέρων, τοῖς δὲ ὀδοῦσι πάντων ὑπεράγει· πᾶν γὰρ ὀστῶν μέγεθος συντρίβει ῥᾳδίως. καὶ τὸ καταποθὲν διὰ τῆς κοιλίας πέττει παραδόξως· τοῦτο δὲ τὸ ζῷον τῶν ψευδῶς παραδοξολογούντων ἱστοροῦντες ἔνιοι μιμεῖσθαι τὴν τῶν ἀνθρώπων διάλεκτον ἡμᾶς μὲν οὐ πείθουσιν.
And now that we have discussed the principal facts concerning the nations and the manners of life which men consider astonishing, we shall speak in turn of the wild animals of the countries which we are considering. 2 There is an animal, for instance, which is called, from its characteristic, rhinoceros; in courage and strength it is similar to the elephant but not so high, and it has the toughest hide known and a colour like box-wood. At the tip of its nostrils it carries a horn which may be described as snub and in hardness is like iron. 3 Since it is ever contesting with the elephant about pasturage it sharpens its horn on stones, and when it opens the fight with this animal it slips under its belly and rips open the flesh with its horn as with a sword. By adopting this kind of fighting it drains the blood of the beasts and kills many of them. But if the elephant has avoided the attempt of the rhinoceros to get under his belly and has seized it beforehand with his trunk, he easily overcomes it by goring it with its tusks and making use of its superior strength. There are also sphinxes in both the Trogodyte country and Ethiopia, and in shape they are not unlike those depicted in art save that they are more shaggy of hair, and since they have dispositions that are gentle and rather inclined towards cunning they yield also to systematic training. The animals which bear the name cynocephali are in body like misshapen men, and they make a sound like the whimpering of human beings. These animals are very wild and quite untamable, and their eyebrows give them a rather surly expression. A most peculiar characteristic of the female is that it carries the womb on the outside of its body during its entire existence. The animal called the cepus has received its name from the beautiful and pleasing grace which characterizes its entire body, and it has a head like that of a lion, but the rest of its body is like that of a panther, save in respect to its size, in which it resembles a gazelle. But of all the animals named the carnivorous bull is the wildest and altogether the hardest to overcome. For in bulk he is larger than the domestic bulls, in swiftness of foot he is not inferior to a horse, and his mouth open clear back to the ears. His colour is a fiery red, his eyes are more piercing than those of a lion and shine at night, and his horns enjoy a distinctive property; for at all other times he moves them like his ears, but when fighting he holds them rigid. The direction of growth of his hair is contrary to that of all other animals. 8 He is, again, a remarkable beast in both boldness and strength, since he attacks the boldest animals and finds his food in devouring the flesh of his victims. He also destroys the flocks of the inhabitants and engages in terrible combats with whole bands of the shepherds and packs of dogs. 9 Rumour has it that their skin cannot be pierced; at any rate, though many men have tried to capture them, no man has ever brought one under subjection. If he has fallen into a pit or been captured by some other ruse he becomes choked with rage, and in no case does he ever exchange his freedom for the care which men would accord to him in domestication. It is with reason, therefore, that the Trogodytes hold this wild beast to be the strongest of all, since Nature has endowed it with the prowess of a lion, the speed of a horse, and the might of a bull, and since it is not subdued by the native strength of iron which is the greatest known. The animal which the Ethiopians call the crocottas has a nature which is a mixture of that of a dog and that of a wolf, but in ferocity it is more to be feared than either of them, and with respect to its teeth it surpasses all animals; for every bone, no matter how huge in size, it easily crushes, and whatever it has gulped down its stomach digests in an astonishing manner. And among those who recount marvellous lies about this beast there are some who relate that it imitates the speech of men, but for our part they do not win our credence.
§ 3.36
ὄφεων δὲ γένη παντοδαπὰ καὶ τοῖς μεγέθεσιν ἄπιστα θεωρεῖσθαί φασιν οἱ τὴν πλησίον τῆς ἐρήμου καὶ θηριώδους κατοικοῦντες. ἑκατὸν γὰρ πηχῶν τὸ μῆκος ἑορακέναι τινὲς ἀποφαινόμενοι δικαίως ἂν οὐχ ὑφʼ ἡμῶν μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὑπὸ τῶν ἄλλων ἁπάντων ψευδολογεῖν ὑποληφθείησαν· προστιθέασι γὰρ τῷ διαπιστουμένῳ πολλῷ παραδοξότερα, λέγοντες ὅτι τῆς χώρας οὔσης πεδιάδος, ὅταν τὰ μέγιστα τῶν θηρίων περισπειραθῇ, ποιεῖ ταῖς ἐγκυκλωθείσαις ἐπʼ ἀλλήλαις σπείραις ἀναστήματα πόρρωθεν φαινόμενα λόφῳ παραπλήσια. τῷ μὲν οὖν μεγέθει τῶν ῥλθέντων θηρίων οὐκ ἄν τις ῥᾳδίως συγκατάθοιτο· περὶ δὲ τῶν μεγίστων θηρίων τῶν εἰς ὄψιν ἐληλυθότων καὶ κομισθέντων ἔν τισιν ἀγγείοις εὐθέτοις εἰς τὴν Ἀλεξάνδρειαν ποιησόμεθα τὴν ἀναγραφήν, προστιθέντες καὶ τῆς θήρας τὴν κατὰ μέρος οἰκονομίαν. ὁ γὰρ δεύτερος Πτολεμαῖος, περί τε τὴν τῶν ἐλεφάντων κυνηγίαν φιλοτιμηθεὶς καὶ τοῖς τὰς παραδόξους θήρας τῶν ἀλκιμωτάτων ζῴων ποιουμένοις μεγάλας ἀπονέμων δωρεάς, πολλὰ δὲ χρήματα δαπανήσας εἰς ταύτην τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν, ἐλέφαντάς τε συχνοὺς πολεμιστὰς περιεποιήσατο καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ζῴων ἀθεωρήτους καὶ παραδόξους φύσεις ἐποίησεν εἰς γνῶσιν ἐλθεῖν τοῖς Ἕλλησι. διὸ καί τινες τῶν κυνηγῶν, ὁρῶντες τὴν τοῦ βασιλέως μεγαλοψυχίαν ἐν ταῖς δωρεαῖς, συστραφέντες εἰς ἱκανὸν πλῆθος ἔκριναν παραβαλέσθαι ταῖς ψυχαῖς, καὶ τῶν μεγάλων ὄφεων ἕνα θηρεύσαντες ἀνακομίσαι ζῶντα εἰς τὴν Ἀλεξάνδρειαν πρὸς τὸν Πτολεμαῖον. μεγάλης δʼ οὔσης καὶ παραδόξου τῆς ἐπιβολῆς, ἡ τύχη συνεργήσασα ταῖς ἐπινοίαις αὐτῶν καὶ τὸ τέλος οἰκεῖον περιεποίησε τῆς πράξεως. σκοπεύσαντες γὰρ ἕνα τῶν ὄφεων τριάκοντα πηχῶν διατρίβοντα περὶ τὰς συστάσεις τῶν ὑδάτων, τὸν μὲν ἄλλον χρόνον ἀκίνητον τοῦ σώματος τὸ κύκλωμα τηροῦντα, κατὰ δὲ τὰς ἐπιφανείας τῶν διὰ τὴν δίψαν ζῴων φοιτώντων ἐπὶ τὸν τόπον ἄφνω διανιστάμενον, καὶ τῷ μὲν στόματι διαρπάζοντα, τῷ δὲ σπειράματι καταπλέκοντα τὸν ὄγκον τῶν φανέντων ζῴων, ὥστε μηδενὶ τρόπῳ δύνασθαι τὸ παραπεσὸν ἐκφυγεῖν —, προμήκους οὖν ὄντος τοῦ ζῴου καὶ νωθροῦ τὴν φύσιν ἐλπίσαντες βρόχοις καὶ σειραῖς κυριεύσειν, τὸ μὲν πρῶτον παρῆσαν ἐπʼ αὐτὸ τεθαρρηκότες, ἔχοντες ἐξηρτυμένα πάντα τὰ πρὸς τὴν χρείαν, ὡς δʼ ἐπλησίαζον, ἀεὶ μᾶλλον ἐξεπλήττοντο τῷ δέει, θεωροῦντες ὄμμα πυρωπὸν καὶ λιχμωμένην πάντῃ τὴν γλῶτταν, ἔτι δὲ τῇ τραχύτητι τῶν φολίδων ἐν τῇ διὰ τῆς ὕλης πορείᾳ καὶ παρατρίψει ψόφον ἐξαίσιον κατασκευάζοντα, τὸ μέγεθός τε τῶν ὀδόντων ὑπερφυὲς καὶ στόματος ἀγρίαν πρόσοψιν καὶ κυκλώματος ἀνάστημα παράδοξον. διόπερ τῷ φόβῳ τὰ χρώματα τῶν προσώπων ἀποβεβληκότες δειλῶς ἐπέβαλον τοὺς βρόχους ἀπὸ τῆς οὐρᾶς· τὸ δὲ θηρίον ἅμα τῷ προσάψασθαι τοῦ σώματος τὸν κάλων ἐπεστράφη μετὰ πολλοῦ φυσήματος καταπληκτικῶς, καὶ τὸν μὲν πρῶτον ἁρπάζει τῷ στόματι μετεωρισθὲν ὑπὲρ τῆς κεφαλῆς, καὶ τὰς σάρκας ἔτι ζῶντος κατεσιτεῖτο, τὸν δὲ δεύτερον φεύγοντα τῇ σπείρᾳ πόρρωθεν ἐπεσπάσατο, καὶ περιειληθὲν ἔσφιγγε τὴν κοιλ ίαν τῷ δεσμῷ· οἱ δὲ λοιποὶ πάντες ἐκπλαγέντες διὰ τῆς φυγῆς τὴν σωτηρίαν ἐπορίσαντο.
As for snakes, those peoples which dwell near the country which is desert and infested by beasts say that there is every kind of them, of a magnitude surpassing belief. For when certain writers state that they have seen some one hundred cubits long, it may justly be assumed, not only by us but by everybody else, that they are telling a falsehood; indeed they add to this tale, which is utterly distrusted, things far more astonishing, when they say that, since the country is flat like a plain, whenever the largest of these beasts coil themselves up, they make, by the coils which have been wound in circles and rest one upon another, elevations which seen from a distance resemble a hill. 2 Now a man may not readily agree as to the magnitude of the beasts of which we have just spoken; but we shall describe the largest beasts which have actually been seen and were brought to Alexandria in certain well-made receptacles, and shall add a detailed description of the manner in which they were captured. The second Ptolemy, who was passionately fond of the hunting of elephants and gave great rewards to those who succeeded in capturing against odds the most valiant of these beasts, expending on this hobby great sums of money, not only collected great herds of war-elephants, but also brought to the knowledge of the Greeks other kinds of animals which had never before been seen and were objects of amazement. 4 Consequently certain of the hunters, observing the princely generosity of the king in the matter of the rewards he gave, rounding up a considerable number decided to hazard their lives and to capture one of the huge snakes and bring it alive to Ptolemy at Alexandria. 5 Great and astonishing as was the undertaking, fortune aided their designs and crowned their attempt with the success which it deserved. For they spied one of the snakes, thirty cubits long, as it loitered near the pools in which the water collects; here it maintained for most of the time its coiled body motionless, but at the appearance of an animal which came down to the spot to quench its thirst it would suddenly uncoil itself, seize the animal in its jaws, and so entwine in its coil the body of the creature which had come into view that it could in no wise escape its doom. And so, since the beast was long and slender and sluggish in nature, hoping that they could master it with nooses and ropes, they approached it with confidence the first time, having ready to hand everything which they might need; 6 but as they drew near it they constantly grew more and more terrified as they gazed upon its fiery eye and its tongue darting out in every direction, caught the hideous sound made by the roughness of its scales as it made its way through the trees and brushed against them, and noted the extraordinary size of its teeth, and the astonishing height of its heap of coils. 7 Consequently, after they had driven the colour from their cheeks through fear, with cowardly trembling they cast the nooses about its tail; but the beast, the moment the rope touched its body, whirled around with so mighty a hissing as to frighten them out of their wits, and raising itself into the air above the head of the foremost man it seized him in its mouth and ate his flesh while he still lived, and the second it caught from a distance with a coil as it fled, drew him to itself, and winding itself about him began squeezing his belly with its tightening bond; and as for all the rest, stricken with terror they sought their safety in flight.
§ 3.37
οὐ μὴν ἀπέγνωσαν τὴν θήραν, ὑπερβαλλούσης τῆς ἀπὸ τοῦ βασιλέως χάριτος καὶ δωρεᾶς τοὺς ἀπὸ τῆς πείρας ἐγνωσμένους κινδύνους, φιλοτεχνίᾳ δὲ καὶ δόλῳ τὸ τῇ βίᾳ δυσκαταγώνιστον ἐχειρώσαντο, τοιάνδε τινὰ μηχανὴν πορισάμενοι. κατεσκεύασαν ἀπὸ σχοίνου πυκνῆς περιφερὲς πλόκανον, τῷ μὲν τύπῳ τοῖς κύρτοις ἐμφερές, τῷ δὲ μεγέθει καὶ τῇ διαλήψει τῆς χώρας δυνάμενον δέξασθαι τὸν ὄγκον τοῦ θηρίου. κατοπτεύσαντες οὖν τὸν φωλεὸν αὐτοῦ καὶ τὴν ὥραν τῆς τε ἐπὶ τὴν νομὴν ἐξόδου καὶ πάλιν τῆς ἐπανόδου, ὡς τάχισθʼ ὥρμησεν ἐπὶ τὴν ἄγραν τὴν συνήθη τῶν ἑτερογενῶν ζῴων, τὸ μὲν προϋπάρχον τοῦ φωλεοῦ στόμα λίθοις εὐμεγέθεσι καὶ γῇ συνῳκοδόμησαν, τὸν δὲ πλησίον τῆς λόχμης τόπον ὑπόνομον ποιήσαντες καὶ τὸ πλόκανον εἰς αὐτὸν ἐνθέντες ἐναντίον ἐποίησαν τὸ στόμιον, ὥστε ἐξ ἑτοίμου τῷ θηρίῳ τὴν εἴσοδον ὑπάρχειν. κατὰ δὲ τὴν ἐπάνοδον τοῦ ζῴου παρεσκευασμένοι τοξότας καὶ σφενδονήτας, ἔτι δὲ ἱππεῖς πολλούς, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις σαλπικτὰς καὶ τὴν ἄλλην ἅπασαν χορηγίαν, ἅμα δὲ τῷ προσπελάζειν τὸ μὲν θηρίον μετεωρότερον τῶν ἱππέων ἐξῆρε τὸν αὐχένα, οἱ δʼ ἐπὶ τὴν θήραν ἠθροισμένοι προσεγγίσαι μὲν οὐκ ἐτόλμων, νενουθετημένοι ταῖς προγεγενημέναις συμφοραῖς, πόρρωθεν δὲ πολλαῖς χερσὶν ἐφʼ ἕνα καὶ μέγαν σκοπὸν βάλλοντες ἐτύγχανον, καὶ τῇ τε τῶν ἱππέων ἐπιφανείᾳ καὶ πλήθει κυνῶν ἀλκίμων, ἔτι δὲ τῷ διὰ τῶν σαλπίγγων ἤχῳ, κατέπληττον τὸ ζῷον. διόπερ ὑποχωροῦντος αὐτοῦ πρὸς τὴν οἰκείαν λόχμην τοσοῦτον ἐπεδίωκον ὥστε μὴ παροξύνειν ἐπὶ πλέον. ὡς δὲ τῆς ἐνῳκοδομημένης φάραγγος ἤγγισεν, ἀθρόως ψόφον μὲν πολὺν διὰ τῶν ὅπλων ἐποίησαν, ταραχὴν δὲ καὶ φόβον διὰ τῆς τῶν ὄχλων ἐπιφανείας καὶ σαλπίγγων. τὸ δὲ θηρίον τὴν μὲν εἴσοδον οὐχ ηὕρισκε, τὴν δὲ τῶν κυνηγῶν ὁρμὴν καταπληττόμενον κατέφυγεν εἰς τὸ πλησίον κατεσκευασμένον στόμιον. πιμπλαμένου δὲ τοῦ πλοκάνου τῇ διαλύσει τῆς σπείρας, ἔφθασαν τῶν κυνηγῶν τινες προσιπτάμενοι, καὶ πρὸ τοῦ στραφῆναι τὸν ὄφιν ἐπὶ τὴν ἔξοδον κατελάβοντο δεσμοῖς τὸ στόμιον πρόμηκες ὂν καὶ πεφιλοτεχνημένον πρὸς ταύτην τὴν ὀξύτητα· ἐξελκύσαντες δὲ τὸ πλόκανον καὶ φάλαγγας ὑποθέντες μετέωρον ἐξῆραν. τὸ δὲ θηρίον ἀπειλημμένον ἐν ἀπεστενωμένῳ τόπῳ παρὰ φύσιν συριγμὸν ἐξαίσιον ἠφίει καὶ τοῖς ὀδοῦσι τὴν περιέχουσαν σχοῖνον κατέσπα, πάντῃ δὲ διασειόμενον προσδοκίαν ἐποίησε τοῖς φέρουσιν ὡς ἐκπηδῆσον ἐκ τοῦ περιέχοντος αὐτὸ φιλοτεχνήματος. διὸ καὶ καταπλαγέντες ἔθεσαν ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν τὸν ὄφιν, καὶ τοὺς περὶ τὴν οὐρὰν τόπους κατακεντοῦντες ἀντιπεριέσπων τοῦ θηρίου τὸν ἀπὸ τῶν ὀδόντων σπαραγμὸν ἐπὶ τὴν αἴσθησιν τῶν ἀλγούντων μερῶν. ἀπενέγκαντες δʼ εἰς τὴν Ἀλεξάνδρειαν ἐδωρήσαντο τῷ βασιλεῖ, παράδοξον θέαμα καὶ τοῖς ἀκούσασιν ἀπιστούμενον. τῇ δʼ ἐνδείᾳ τῆς τροφῆς καταπονήσαντες τὴν ἀλκὴν τοῦ θηρίου τιθασὸν ἐκ τοῦ κατʼ ὀλίγον ἐποίησαν, ὥστε θαυμαστὴν αὐτοῦ γενέσθαι τὴν ἐξημέρωσιν. ὁ δὲ Πτολεμαῖος τοῖς μὲν κυνηγοῖς τὰς ἀξίας ἀπένειμε δωρεάς, τὸν δʼ ὄφιν ἔτρεφε τετιθασευμένον καὶ τοῖς εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν παραβάλλουσι ξένοις μέγιστον παρεχόμενον καὶ παραδοξότατον θέαμα. διόπερ τηλικούτου μεγέθους ὄφεως εἰς ὄψιν κοινὴν κατηντηκότος οὐκ ἄξιον ἀπιστεῖν τοῖς Αἰθίοψιν οὐδὲ μῦθον ὑπολαμβάνειν τὸ θρυλούμενον ὑπʼ αὐτῶν. ἀποφαίνονται γὰρ ὁρᾶσθαι κατὰ τὴν χώραν αὐτῶν ὄφεις τηλικούτους τὸ μέγεθος ὥστε μὴ μόνον βοῦς τε καὶ ταύρους καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ζῴων τὰ τηλικαῦτα τοῖς ὄγκοις ἀναλίσκειν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῖς ἐλέφασιν εἰς ἀλκὴν συνίστασθαι, καὶ διὰ μὲν τῆς σπείρας ἐμπλεκομένους τοῖς σκέλεσιν ἐμποδίζειν τὴν κατὰ φύσιν κίνησιν, τὸν δʼ αὐχένα μετεωρίσαντας ὑπὲρ τὴν προβοσκίδα τὴν κεφαλὴν ἐναντίαν ποιεῖν τοῖς τῶν ἐλεφάντων ὄμμασι, διὰ δὲ τοῦ πυρωποῦ τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν ἀστραπῇ παραπλησίας τὰς λαμπηδόνας προβάλλοντας ἀποτυφλοῦν τὴν ὅρασιν, καὶ σφήλαντας ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν σαρκοφαγεῖν τὰ χειρωθέντα τῶν ζῴων. Διευκρινηκότες δʼ ἀρκούντως τὰ περὶ τὴν Αἰθιοπίαν
Nevertheless, the hunters did not give up their attempt to capture the beast, the favour expected of the king and his reward outweighing the dangers which they had come to know full well as the result of their experiment, and by ingenuity and craft they did subdue that which was by force well-nigh invincible, devising a kind of contrivance like the following:— They fashioned a circular thing woven of reeds closely set together, in general shape resembling a fisherman's creel and in size and capacity capable of holding the bulk of the beast. 2 Then, when they had reconnoitred its hole and observed the time when it went forth to feed and returned again, so soon as it had set out to prey upon the other animals, as was its custom, they stopped the opening of its old hole with large stones and earth, and digging an underground cavity near its lair they set the woven net in it and placed the mouth of the net opposite the opening, so that it was in this way all ready for the beast to enter. 3 Against the return of the animal they had made ready archers and slingers and many horsemen, as well as trumpeters and all the other apparatus needed, and as the beast drew near it raised its neck in air higher than the horsemen. Now the company of men who had assembled for the hunt did not dare to draw near it, being warned by the mishaps which had befallen them on the former occasion, but shooting at it from afar, and with many hands aiming at a single target, and a large one at that, they kept hitting it, and when the horsemen appeared and the multitude of bold fighting-dogs, and then again when the trumpets blared, they got the animal terrified. Consequently, when it retreated to its accustomed lair, they closed in upon it, but only so far as not to arouse it still more. 4 And when it came near the opening which had been stopped up, the whole throng, acting together, raised a mighty din with their arms and thus increased its confusion and fear because of the crowds which put in their appearance and of the trumpets. But the beast could not find the opening and so, terrified at the advance of the hunters, fled for refuge into the mouth of the net which had been prepared near by. 5 And when the woven net began to be filled up as the snake uncoiled itself, some of the hunters anticipated its movements by leaping forward, and before the snake could turn about to face the entrance they closed and fastened with ropes the mouth, which was long and had been shrewdly devised with such swiftness of operation in mind; then they hauled out the woven net and putting rollers under it drew it up into the air. 6 But the beast, enclosed as it was in a straitened place, kept sending forth an unnatural and terrible hissing and tried to pull down with its teeth the reeds which enveloped it, and by twisting itself in every direction created the expectation in the minds of the men who were carrying it that it would leap out of the contrivance which enveloped it. Consequently, in terror, they set the snake down on the ground, and by jabbing it about tail they diverted the attention of the beast from its work of tearing with its teeth to its sensation of pain in the parts which hurt. When they had brought the snake to Alexandria they presented it to the king, an astonishing sight which those cannot credit who have merely heard the tale. And by depriving the beast of its food they wore down its spirit and little by little tamed it, so that the domestication of it became a thing of wonder. 8 As for Ptolemy, he distributed among the hunters the merited rewards, and kept and fed the snake, which had now been tamed and afforded the greatest and most astonishing sight for the strangers who visited his kingdom. 9 Consequently, in view of the fact that a snake of so great a size has been exposed to the public gaze, it is not fair to doubt the word of the Ethiopians or to assume that the report which they circulated far and wide was a mere fiction. For they state that there are to be seen in their country snakes so great in size that they not only eat both oxen and bulls and other animals of equal bulk, but even join issue in battle with the elephants, and by intertwining their coil about the elephants' legs they prevent the natural movement of them and by rearing their necks above their trunks they put their heads directly opposite the eyes of the elephants, and sending forth, by reason of the fiery nature of their eyes, brilliant flashes like lightning, they first blind their sight and then throw them to the ground and devour of the flesh of their conquered foes.
§ 3.38
καὶ Τρωγλοδυτικὴν καὶ τὴν ταύταις συνάπτουσαν μέχρι τῆς διὰ καῦμα ἀοικήτου, πρὸς δὲ ταύταις περὶ τῆς παραλίας τῆς παρὰ τὴν Ἐρυθρὰν θάλατταν καὶ τὸ Ἀτλαντικὸν πέλαγος τὸ πρὸς μεσημβρίαν κεκλιμένον, περὶ τοῦ καταλελειμμένου μέρους, λέγω δὲ τοῦ Ἀραβίου κόλπου, ποιησόμεθα τὴν ἀναγραφήν, τὰ μὲν ἐκ τῶν ἐν Ἀλεξανδρείᾳ βασιλικῶν ὑπομνημάτων ἐξειληφότες, τὰ δὲ παρὰ τῶν αὐτοπτῶν πεπυσμένοι. τοῦτο γὰρ τὸ μέρος τῆς οἰκουμένης καὶ τὸ περὶ τὰς Βρεττανικὰς νήσους καὶ τὴν ἄρκτον ἥκιστα πέπτωκεν ὑπὸ τὴν κοινὴν ἀνθρώπων ἐπίγνωσιν. ἀλλὰ περὶ μὲν τῶν πρὸς ἄρκτον κεκλιμένων μερῶν τῆς οἰκουμένης τῶν συναπτόντων τῇ διὰ ψῦχος ἀοικήτῳ διέξιμεν, ὅταν τὰς Γαΐου Καίσαρος πράξεις ἀναγράφωμεν· οὗτος γὰρ τὴν Ῥωμαίων ἡγεμονίαν εἰς ἐκεῖνα τὰ μέρη πορρωτάτω προβιβάσας πάντα τὸν πρότερον ἀγνοούμενον τόπον ἐποίησε πεσεῖν εἰς σύνταξιν ἱστορίας· ὁ δὲ προσαγορευόμενος Ἀράβιος κόλπος ἀνεστόμωται μὲν εἰς τὸν κατὰ μεσημβρίαν κείμενον ὠκεανόν, τῷ μήκει δʼ ἐπὶ πολλοὺς πάνυ παρήκων σταδίους τὸν μυχὸν ἔχει περιοριζόμενον ταῖς ἐσχατιαῖς τῆς Ἀραβίας καὶ Τρωγλοδυτικῆς. εὖρος δὲ κατὰ μὲν τὸ στόμα καὶ τὸν μυχὸν ὑπάρχει περὶ ἑκκαίδεκα σταδίους, ἀπὸ δὲ Πανόρμου λιμένος πρὸς τὴν ἀντιπέρας ἤπειρον μακρᾶς νεὼς διωγμὸν ἡμερήσιον. τὸ δὲ μέγιστόν ἐστι διάστημα κατὰ τὸ Τύρκαιον ὄρος καὶ Μακαρίαν νῆσον πελαγίαν, ὡς ἂν τῶν ἠπείρων οὐχ ὁρωμένων ἀπʼ ἀλλήλων. ἀπὸ δὲ τούτου τὸ πλάτος ἀεὶ μᾶλλον συγκλείεται καὶ τὴν συναγωγὴν ἔχει μέχρι τοῦ στόματος. ὁ δὲ παράπλους αὐτοῦ κατὰ πολλοὺς τόπους ἔχει νήσους μακράς, στενοὺς μὲν διαδρόμους ἐχούσας, ῥοῦν δὲ πολὺν καὶ σφοδρόν. ἡ μὲν οὖν κεφαλαιώδης τοῦ κόλπου τούτου θέσις ὑπάρχει τοιαύτη. ἡμεῖς δʼ ἀπὸ τῶν ἐσχάτων τούτου τοῦ μυχοῦ τόπων ἀρξάμενοι τὸν ἐφʼ ἑκάτερα τὰ μέρη παράπλουν τῶν ἠπείρων καὶ τὰς ἀξιολογωτάτας κατʼ αὐτὰς ἰδιότητας διέξιμεν· πρῶτον δὲ ληψόμεθα τὸ δεξιὸν μέρος, οὗ τὴν παραλίαν τῶν Τρωγλοδυτῶν ἔθνη νέμεται μέχρι τῆς ἐρήμου.
But now that we have examined with sufficient care Ethiopia and the Trogodyte country and the territory adjoining them, as far as the region which is uninhabited because of the excessive heat, and, beside these, the coast of the Red Sea and the Atlantic which stretches towards the south, we shall give an account of the part which still remains — and I refer to the Arabian Gulf — drawing in part upon the royal records preserved in Alexandria, and in part upon what we have learned from men who have seen it with their own eyes. 2 For this section of the inhabited world and that about the British Isles and the far north have by no means come to be included in the common knowledge of men. But as for the parts of the inhabited world which lie to the far north and border on the area which is uninhabited because of the cold, we shall discuss them when we record the deeds of Gaius Caesar; 3 for he it was who extended the Roman Empire the farthest into those parts and brought it about that all the area which had formerly been unknown came to be included in a narrative of history; 4 but the Arabian Gulf, as it is called, opens into the ocean which lies to the south, and its innermost recess, which stretches over a distance of very many stades in length, is enclosed by the farthermost borders of Arabia and the Trogodyte country. Its width at the mouth and at the innermost recess is about sixteen stades, but from the harbour of Panormus to the opposite mainland is a day's run for a warship. And its greatest width is at the Tyrcaeus mountain and Macaria, an island out at sea, the mainlands there being out of sight of each other. But from this point the width steadily decreases more and more and continually tapers as far as the entrance. 5 And as a man sails along the coast he comes in many places upon long islands with narrow passages between them, where the current rises full and strong. Such, then, is the setting, in general terms, of this gulf. But for our part, we shall make our beginning with the farthest regions of the innermost recess and then sail along its two sides past the mainlands, in connection with which we shall describe what is peculiar to them and most deserving of discussion; and first of all we shall take the right side, the coast of which is inhabited by tribes of the Trogodytes as far inland as the desert.
§ 3.39
ἀπὸ πόλεως τοίνυν Ἀρσινόης κομιζομένοις παρὰ τὴν δεξιὰν ἤπειρον ἐκπίπτει κατὰ πολλοὺς τόπους ἐκ πέτρας εἰς θάλατταν ὕδατα πολλά, πικρᾶς ἁλμυρίδος ἔχοντα γεῦσιν. παραδραμόντι δὲ τὰς πηγὰς ταύτας ὑπέρκειται μεγάλου πεδίου μιλτώδη χρόαν ἔχον ὄρος καὶ τὴν ὅρασιν τῶν ἐπὶ πλέον ἀτενιζόντων εἰς αὐτὸ λυμαινόμενον. ὑπὸ δὲ τὰς ἐσχατιὰς τῆς ὑπωρείας κεῖται λιμὴν σκολιὸν ἔχων τὸν εἴσπλουν, ἐπώνυμος Ἀφροδίτης. ὑπέρκεινται δὲ τούτου νῆσοι τρεῖς, ὧν δύο μὲν πλήρεις εἰσὶν ἐλαιῶν καὶ σύσκιοι, μία δὲ λειπομένη τῷ πλήθει τῶν προειρημένων δένδρων, πλῆθος δʼ ἔχουσα τῶν ὀνομαζομένων μελεαγρίδων. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα κόλπος ἐστὶν εὐμεγέθης ὁ καλούμενος Ἀκάθαρτος, καὶ πρὸς αὐτῷ βαθεῖα καθʼ ὑπερβολὴν χερρόνησος, ἧς κατὰ τὸν αὐχένα στενὸν ὄντα διακομίζουσι τὰ σκάφη πρὸς τὴν ἀντιπέρας θάλατταν. παρακομισθέντι δὲ τοὺς τόπους τούτους κεῖται νῆσος πελαγία μὲν τῷ διαστήματι, τὸ δὲ μῆκος εἰς ὀγδοήκοντα σταδίους παρεκτείνουσα, καλουμένη δὲ Ὀφιώδης, ἣ τὸ μὲν παλαιὸν ὑπῆρχε πλήρης παντοδαπῶν καὶ φοβερῶν ἑρπετῶν, ἀφʼ ὧν καὶ ταύτης ἔτυχε τῆς προσηγορίας, ἐν δὲ τοῖς μεταγενεστέροις χρόνοις ὑπὸ τῶν κατὰ τὴν Ἀλεξάνδρειαν βασιλέων οὕτως ἐξημερώθη φιλοτίμως ὥστε μηδὲν ἔτι κατʼ αὐτὴν ὁρᾶσθαι τῶν προϋπαρξάντων ζῴων. οὐ παραλειπτέον δʼ ἡμῖν οὐδὲ τὴν αἰτίαν τῆς περὶ τὴν ἡμέρωσιν φιλοτιμίας. εὑρίσκεται γὰρ ἐν τῇ νήσῳ ταύτῃ τὸ καλούμενον τοπάζιον, ὅπερ ἐστὶ λίθος διαφαινόμενος ἐπιτερπής, ὑάλῳ παρεμφερὴς καὶ θαυμαστὴν ἔγχρυσον πρόσοψιν παρεχόμενος. διόπερ ἀνεπίβατος τοῖς ἄλλοις τηρεῖται, θανατουμένου παντὸς τοῦ προσπλεύσαντος ὑπὸ τῶν καθεσταμένων ἐπʼ αὐτῆς φυλάκων. οὗτοι δὲ τὸν ἀριθμὸν ὄντες ὀλίγοι βίον ἔχουσιν ἀτυχῆ. ἵνα μὲν γὰρ μηδεὶς λίθος διακλαπῇ, πλοῖον οὐκ ἀπολείπεται τὸ παράπαν ἐν τῇ νήσῳ· οἱ δὲ παραπλέοντες αὐτὴν διὰ τὸν ἀπὸ τοῦ βασιλέως φόβον πόρρωθεν παραθέουσι· τροφαὶ δὲ αἱ μὲν παρακομιζόμεναι ταχέως ἐκλείπουσιν, ἕτεραι δʼ ἐγχώριοι τὸ σύνολον οὐχ ὑπάρχουσι. διόπερ ὅταν τῶν σιτίων ὀλίγα καταλείπηται, κάθηνται πάντες οἱ κατὰ τὴν κώμην προσδεχόμενοι τὸν τῶν κομιζόντων τὰς τροφὰς κατάπλουν· ὧν βραδυνόντων εἰς τὰς ἐσχάτας ἐλπίδας συστέλλονται. ὁ δὲ προειρημένος λίθος φυόμενος ἐν ταῖς πέτραις τὴν μὲν ἡμέραν διὰ τὸ πνῖγος οὐχ ὁρᾶται, κρατούμενος ὑπὸ τοῦ περὶ τὸν ἥλιον φέγγους, τῆς δὲ νυκτὸς ἐπιγινομένης ἐν σκότει διαλάμπει καὶ πόρρωθεν δῆλός ἐστιν ἐν ᾧ ποτʼ ἂν ᾖ τόπῳ. οἱ δὲ νησοφύλακες κλήρῳ διῃρημένοι τοὺς τόπους ἐφεδρεύουσι, καὶ τῷ φανέντι λίθῳ περιτιθέασι σημείου χάριν ἄγγος τηλικοῦτον ἡλίκον ἂν ᾖ τὸ μέγεθος τοῦ στίλβοντος λίθου· τῆς δʼ ἡμέρας περιιόντες περιτέμνουσι τὸν σημειωθέντα τόπον τῆς πέτρας, καὶ παραδιδόασι τοῖς διὰ τῆς τέχνης δυναμένοις ἐκλεαίνειν τὸ παραδοθὲν οἰκείως.
In the course of the journey, then, from the city of Arsinoe along the right mainland, in many places numerous streams, which have a bitter salty taste, drop from the cliffs into the sea. And after a man has passed these waters, above a great plain there towers a mountain whose colour is like ruddle and blinds the sight of any who gaze steadfastly upon it for some time. Moreover, at the edge of the skirts of the mountain there lies a harbour, known as Aphrodite's Harbour, which has a winding entrance. 2 Above this harbour are situated three islands, two of which abound in olive trees and are thickly shaded, while one falls short of the other two in respect of the number of these trees but contains a multitude of the birds called Meleagrides. 3 Next there is a very large gulf which is called Acathartus, and by it is an exceedingly long peninsula, over the narrow neck of which men transport their ships to the opposite sea. 4 And as a man coasts along these regions he comes to an island which lies at a distance out in the open sea and stretches for a length of eighty stades; the name of it is Ophiodes and it was formerly full of fearful serpents of every variety, which was in fact the reason why it received this name, but in later times the kings at Alexandria have laboured so diligently on the reclaiming of it that not one of the animals which were formerly there is any longer to be seen on the island. However, we should not pass over the reason why the kings showed diligence in the reclamation of the island. For there is found on it the topaz, as it is called, which is a pleasing transparent stone, similar to glass, and of a marvellous golden hue. 6 Consequently no unauthorized person may set foot upon the island and it is closely guarded, every man who has approached it being put to death by the guards who are stationed there. And the latter are few in number and lead a miserable existence. For in order to prevent any stone being stolen, not a single boat is left on the island; furthermore, any who sail by pass along it at a distance because of their fear of the king; and the provisions which are brought to it are quickly exhausted and there are absolutely no other provisions in the land. 7 Consequently, whenever only a little food is left, all the inhabitants of the village sit down and await the arrival of the ship of those who are bringing the provisions, and when these are delayed they are reduced to their last hopes. 8 And the stone we have mentioned, being found in the rock, is not discernible during the day because of the stifling heat, since it is overcome by the brilliance of the sun, but when night falls it shines in the dark and is visible from afar, in whatever place it may be. 9 The guards on the island divide these places by lot among themselves and stand watch over them, and when the stone shines they put around it, to mark the place, a vessel corresponding in size to the chunk of stone which gives out the light; and when day comes and they go their rounds they cut out the area which has been so marked and turn it over to men who are able by reason of their craftsmanship to polish it properly.
§ 3.40
παραπλεύσαντι δὲ τούτους τοὺς τόπους πολλὰ μὲν Ἰχθυοφάγων ἔθνη κατοικεῖ τὴν παράλιον, πολλοὶ δὲ νομάδες Τρωγλοδύται. πρὸς δὲ τούτοις ὄρη παντοῖα ταῖς ἰδιότησιν ὑπάρχει μέχρι λιμένος τοῦ προσαγορευθέντος σωτηρίας, ὃς ἔτυχε τῆς ὀνομασίας ταύτης ἀπὸ τῶν πρώτων πλευσάντων Ἑλλήνων καὶ διασωθέντων. ἀπὸ δὲ τούτων τῶν μερῶν ἄρχεται συναγωγὴν λαμβάνειν ὁ κόλπος καὶ τὴν ἐπιστροφὴν ἐπὶ τὰ κατὰ τὴν Ἀραβίαν μέρη ποιεῖσθαι. καὶ τὴν φύσιν δὲ τῆς χώρας καὶ θαλάττης ἀλλοίαν εἶναι συμβέβηκε διὰ τὴν ἰδιότητα τῶν τόπων· ἥ τε γὰρ ἤπειρος ταπεινὴ καθορᾶται, μηδαμόθεν ἀναστήματος ὑπερκειμένου, ἥ τε θάλαττα τεναγώδης οὖσα τὸ βάθος οὐ πλέον εὑρίσκεται τριῶν ὀργυιῶν, καὶ τῇ χρόᾳ παντελῶς ὑπάρχει χλωρά. τοῦτο δʼ αὐτῇ φασι συμβαίνειν οὐ διὰ τὸ τὴν τῶν ὑγρῶν φύσιν εἶναι τοιαύτην, ἀλλὰ διὰ τὸ πλῆθος τοῦ διαφαινομένου καθʼ ὕδατος μνίου καὶ φύκους. ταῖς μὲν οὖν ἐπικώποις τῶν νεῶν εὔθετός ἐστιν ὁ τόπος, κλύδωνα μὲν οὐκ ἐκ πολλοῦ κυλίων διαστήματος, θήραν δʼ ἰχθύων ἄπλατον παρεχόμενος· αἱ δὲ τοὺς ἐλέφαντας διάγουσαι, διὰ τὰ βάρη βαθύπλοι καθεστῶσαι καὶ ταῖς κατασκευαῖς ἐμβριθεῖς, μεγάλους καὶ δεινοὺς ἐπιφέρουσι κινδύνους τοῖς ἐν αὐταῖς πλέουσι. διάρσει γὰρ ἱστίων θέουσαι καὶ διὰ τὴν τῶν πνευμάτων βίαν πολλάκις νυκτὸς ὠθούμεναι, ὁτὲ μὲν πέτραις προσπεσοῦσαι ναυαγοῦσι, ποτὲ δʼ εἰς τεναγώδεις ἰσθμοὺς ἐμπίπτουσιν· οἱ δὲ ναῦται παρακαταβῆναι μὲν ἀδυνατοῦσι διὰ τὸ πλέον εἶναι τὸ βάθος ἀνδρομήκους, διὰ δὲ τῶν κοντῶν τῷ σκάφει βοηθοῦντες ὅταν μηδὲν ἀνύωσιν, ἐκβάλλουσιν ἅπαντα πλὴν τῆς τροφῆς· οὐδʼ οὕτω δὲ τῆς ἀποστροφῆς τυγχάνοντες εἰς μεγάλην ἀπορίαν ἐμπίπτουσι διὰ τὸ μήτε νῆσον μήτʼ ἄκραν ἠπείρου μήτε ναῦν ἑτέραν πλησίον ὑπάρχουσαν ὁρᾶσθαι· ἄξενοι γὰρ παντελῶς οἱ τόποι καὶ σπανίους ἔχοντες τοὺς ναυσὶ διακομιζομένους. χωρὶς δὲ τούτων τῶν κακῶν ὁ κλύδων ἐν ἀκαρεῖ χρόνῳ τῷ κύτει τῆς νεὼς τοσοῦτο πλῆθος ἅμμου προσβάλλει καὶ συσσωρεύει παραδόξως ὥστε τὸν κύκλῳ τόπον περιχώννυσθαι καὶ τὸ σκάφος ὥσπερ ἐπίτηδες ἐνδεσμεύεσθαι τῇ χέρσῳ. οἱ δὲ τούτῳ τῷ συμπτώματι περιπεσόντες τὸ μὲν πρῶτον μετρίως ὀδύρονται πρὸς κωφὴν ἐρημίαν, οὐ παντελῶς μὲν ἀπεγνωκότες εἰς τέλος τὴν σωτηρίαν· πολλάκις γὰρ τοῖς τοιούτοις ἐπιφανεὶς ὁ τῆς πλημυρίδος κλύδων ἐξῆρεν εἰς ὕψος, καὶ τοὺς ἐσχάτως κινδυνεύοντας ὡσπερεὶ θεὸς ἐπιφανεὶς διεφύλαξεν· ὅταν δὲ ἀπὸ μὲν τῶν θεῶν ἡ προειρημένη μὴ παρακολουθήσῃ βοήθεια, τὰ δὲ τῆς τροφῆς λίπῃ, τοὺς μὲν ἀσθενεστέρους οἱ κατισχύοντες ἐκβάλλουσιν εἰς θάλατταν, ὅπως τοῖς ὀλίγοις τὰ λειπόμενα τῶν ἀναγκαίων πλείονας ἡμέρας ἀντέχῃ, πέρας δὲ πάσας τὰς ἐλπίδας ἐξαλείψαντες ἀπόλλυνται πολὺ χεῖρον τῶν προαποθανόντων· οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἐν ἀκαρεῖ χρόνῳ τὸ πνεῦμα τῇ δούσῃ φύσει πάλιν ἀπέδωκαν, οἱ δʼ εἰς πολλὰς ταλαιπωρίας καταμερίσαντες τὸν θάνατον πολυχρονίους τὰς συμφορὰς ἔχοντες τῆς τοῦ βίου καταστροφῆς τυγχάνουσι. τὰ δὲ σκάφη ταῦτα τῶν ἐπιβατῶν οἰκτρῶς στερηθέντα, καθάπερ τινὰ κενοτάφια, διαμένει πολὺν χρόνον πανταχόθεν περιχωννύμενα, τοὺς δʼ ἱστοὺς καὶ τὰς κεραίας μετεώρους ἔχοντα πόρρωθεν τοὺς ὁρῶντας εἰς οἶκτον καὶ συμπάθειαν ἄγει τῶν ἀπολωλότων πρόσταγμα γάρ ἐστι βασιλέως ἐᾶν τὰ τοιαῦτα συμπτώματα τοῖς πλέουσι διασημαίνειν τοὺς τὸν ὄλεθρον περιποιοῦντας τόπους. παρὰ δὲ τοῖς πλησίον κατοικοῦσιν Ἰχθυοφάγοις παραδέδοται λόγος, ἐκ προγόνων ἔχων φυλαττομένην τὴν φήμην, ὅτι μεγάλης τινὸς γενομένης ἀμπώτεως ἐγεώθη τοῦ κόλπου πᾶς ὁ τόπος ὁ τὴν χλωρὰν ἔχων τοῦ τύπου πρόσοψιν, μεταπεσούσης τῆς θαλάττης εἰς τἀναντία μέρη, καὶ φανείσης τῆς ἐπὶ τῷ βυθῷ χέρσου πάλιν ἐπελθοῦσαν ἐξαίσιον πλήμην ἀποκαταστῆσαι τὸν πόρον εἰς τὴν προϋπάρχουσαν τάξιν.
After sailing past these regions one finds that the coast is inhabited by many nations of Ichthyophagi and many nomadic Trogodytes. Then there appear mountains of all manner of peculiarities until one comes to the Harbour of Soteria, as it is called, which gained this name from the first Greek sailors who found safety there. 2 From this region onwards the gulf begins to become contracted and to curve toward Arabia. And here it is found that the nature of the country and of the sea has altered by reason of the peculiar characteristic of the region; 3 for the mainland appears to be low as seen from the sea, no elevation rising above it, and the sea, which runs to shoals, is found to have a depth of no more than three fathoms, while in colour it is altogether green. The reason for this is, they say, not because the water is naturally of that colour, but because of the mass of seaweed and tangle which shows from under water. 4 For ships, then, which are equipped with oars the place is suitable enough, since it rolls along no wave from a great distance and affords, furthermore, fishing in the greatest abundance; but the ships which carry the elephants, being of deep draft because of their weight and heavy by reason of their equipment, bring upon their crews great and terrible dangers. 5 For running as they do under full sail and often times being driven during the night before the force of the winds, sometimes they will strike against rocks and be wrecked or sometimes run aground on slightly submerged spits. The sailors are unable to go over the sides of the ship because the water is deeper than a man's height, and when in their efforts to rescue their vessel by means of their punting-poles they accomplish nothing, they jettison everything except their provisions; but if even by this course they do not succeed in effecting an escape, they fall into great perplexity by reason of the fact that they can make out neither an island nor a promontory nor another ship near at hand; — for the region is altogether inhospitable and only at rare intervals do men cross it in ships. 6 And to add to these evils the waves within a moment's time cast up such a mass of sand against the body of the ship and heap it up in so incredible a fashion that it soon piles up a mound round about the place and binds the vessel, as if of set purpose, to the solid land. Now the men who have suffered this mishap, at the outset bewail their lot with moderation in the face of a deaf wilderness, having as yet not entirely abandoned hope of ultimate salvation; for oftentimes the swell of the flood-tide has intervened for men in such a plight and raised the ship aloft, and suddenly appearing, as might a deus ex machina, has brought succour to men in the extremity of peril. But when such god-sent aid has not been vouchsafed to them and their food fails, then the strong cast the weaker into the sea in order that for the few left the remaining necessities of life may last a greater number of days. But finally, when they have blotted out of their minds all their hopes, these perish by a more miserable fate than those who had died before; for whereas the latter in a moment's time returned to Nature the spirit which she had given them, these parcelled out their death into many separate hardships before they finally, suffering long-protracted tortures, were granted the end of life. 8 As for the ships which have been stripped of their crews in this pitiable fashion, there they remain for many years, like a group of cenotaphs, embedded on every side in a heap of sand, their masts and yard-arms si standing aloft, and they move those who behold them from afar to pity and sympathy for the men who have perished. For it is the king's command to leave in place such evidences of disasters that they may give notice to sailors of the region which works to their destruction. 9 And among the Ichthyophagi who dwell near by has been handed down a tale which has preserved the account received from their forefathers, that once, when there was a great receding of the sea, the entire area of the gulf which has what may be roughly described as the green appearance became land, and that, after the sea had receded to the opposite parts and the solid ground in the depths of it had emerged to view, a mighty flood came back upon it again and returned the body of water to its former place.
§ 3.41
ἀπὸ δὲ τούτων τῶν τόπων τὸν μὲν ἀπὸ Πτολεμαΐδος παράπλουν ἕως τῶν Ταύρων ἀκρωτηρίων προειρήκαμεν, ὅτε Πτολεμαίου τὴν τῶν ἐλεφάντων θήραν ἀπηγγείλαμεν· ἀπὸ δὲ τῶν Ταύρων ἐπιστρέφει μὲν ἡ παράλιος πρὸς τὰς ἀνατολάς, κατὰ δὲ τὴν θερινὴν τροπὴν αἱ σκιαὶ πίπτουσι πρὸς μεσημβρίαν ἐναντίως ταῖς παρʼ ἡμῖν ἄχρι πρὸς ὥραν δευτέραν. ἔχει δὲ καὶ ποταμοὺς ἡ χώρα, ῥέοντας ἐκ τῶν ὀρῶν τῶν προσαγορευομένων Ψεβαίων. διείληπται δὲ καὶ πεδίοις μεγάλοις φέρουσι μαλάχης καὶ καρδάμου καὶ φοίνικος ἄπιστα μεγέθη· ἐκφέρει δὲ καὶ καρποὺς παντοίους, τὴν μὲν γεῦσιν ἔχοντας νωθράν, ἀγνοουμένους δὲ παρʼ ἡμῖν. ἡ δὲ πρὸς τὴν μεσόγειον ἀνατείνουσα πλήρης ἐστὶν ἐλεφάντων καὶ ταύρων ἀγρίων καὶ λεόντων καὶ πολλῶν ἄλλων παντοδαπῶν θηρίων ἀλκίμων. ὁ δὲ πόρος νήσοις διείληπται καρπὸν μὲν οὐδένα φερούσαις ἥμερον, ἐκτρεφούσαις δʼ ὀρνέων ἴδια γένη καὶ ταῖς προσόψεσι θαυμαστά. ἡ δʼ ἑξῆς θάλαττα βαθεῖα παντελῶς ἐστι, καὶ κήτη φέρει παντοδαπὰ παράδοξα τοῖς μεγέθεσιν, οὐ μέντοι λυποῦντα τοὺς ἀνθρώπους, ἐὰν μή τις ἀκουσίως αὐτῶν ταῖς λοφιαῖς περιπέσῃ· οὐ δύνανται γὰρ διώκειν τοὺς πλέοντας, ὡς ἂν κατὰ τὴν ἐκ τῆς θαλάττης ἄρσιν ἀμαυρουμένων αὐτοῖς τῶν ὀμμάτων ὑπὸ τοῦ κατὰ τὸν ἥλιον φέγγους. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν τὰ μέρη τῆς Τρωγλοδυτικῆς ἔσχατα γνωρίζεται, περιγραφόμενα ταῖς ἄκραις ἃς ὀνομάζουσι Ψεβαίας.
The voyage along the coast, as one leaves these regions, from Ptolemais as far as the Promontories of the Tauri we have already mentioned, when we told of Ptolemy's hunting of the elephants; and from the Tauri the coast swings to the east, and at the time of the summer solstice the shadows fall to the south, opposite to what is true with us, at about the second hour of the day. 2 The country also has rivers, which flow from the Psebaean mountains, as they are called. Moreover, it is checkered by great plains as well, which bear mallows, cress, and palms, all of unbelievable size; and it also brings forth fruits of every description, which have an insipid taste and are unknown among us. 3 That part which stretches towards the interior is full of elephants and wild bulls and lions and many other powerful wild beasts of every description. The passage by sea is broken up by islands which, though they bear no cultivated fruit, support varieties of birds which are peculiar to them and marvellous to look upon. 4 After this place the sea is quite deep and produces all kinds of seamonsters of astonishing size, which, however, offer no harm to men unless one by accident falls upon their back-fins; for they are unable to pursue the sailors, since when they rise from the sea their eyes are blinded by the brilliance of the sun. These, then, are the farthest known parts of the Trogodyte country, and are circumscribed by the ranges which go by the name of Psebaean.
§ 3.42
τὸ δʼ ἄλλο μέρος τῆς ἀντιπέρας παραλίου τὸ προσκεκλιμένον Ἀραβίᾳ πάλιν ἀναλαβόντες ἀπὸ τοῦ μυχοῦ διέξιμεν. οὗτος γὰρ ὀνομάζεται Ποσείδειον, ἱδρυσαμένου Ποσειδῶνι πελαγίῳ βωμὸν Ἀρίστωνος τοῦ πεμφθέντος ὑπὸ Πτολεμαίου πρὸς κατασκοπὴν τῆς ἕως ὠκεανοῦ παρηκούσης Ἀραβίας. ἑξῆς δὲ τοῦ μυχοῦ τόπος ἐστὶ παραθαλάττιος ὁ τιμώμενος ὑπὸ τῶν ἐγχωρίων διαφερόντως διὰ τὴν εὐχρηστίαν τὴν ἐξ αὐτοῦ. οὗτος δʼ ὀνομάζεται μὲν Φοινικών, ἔχει δὲ πλῆθος τούτου τοῦ φυτοῦ πολύκαρπον καθʼ ὑπερβολὴν καὶ πρὸς ἀπόλαυσιν καὶ τρυφὴν διαφέρον. πᾶσα δʼ ἡ σύνεγγυς χώρα σπανίζει ναματιαίων ὑδάτων καὶ διὰ τὴν πρὸς μεσημβρίαν ἔγκλισιν ἔμπυρος ὑπάρχει· διὸ καὶ τὸν κατάφυτον τόπον, ἐν ἀπανθρωποτάτοις ὄντα μέρεσι καὶ χορηγοῦντα τὰς τροφάς, εἰκότως οἱ βάρβαροι καθιερώκασι. καὶ γὰρ ὕδατος οὐκ ὀλίγαι πηγαὶ καὶ λιβάδες ἐκπίπτουσιν ἐν αὐτῷ, ψυχρότητι χιόνος οὐδὲν λειπόμεναι· αὗται δʼ ἐφʼ ἑκάτερα τὰ μέρη τὰ κατὰ τὴν γῆν χλοερὰ ποιοῦσι καὶ παντελῶς ἐπιτερπῆ τὸν τόπον. ἔστι δὲ καὶ βωμὸς ἐκ στερεοῦ λίθου παλαιὸς τοῖς χρόνοις, ἐπιγραφὴν ἔχων ἀρχαίοις γράμμασιν ἀγνώστοις. ἐπιμέλονται δὲ τοῦ τεμένους ἀνὴρ καὶ γυνή, διὰ βίου τὴν ἱερωσύνην ἔχοντες. μακρόβιοι δʼ εἰσὶν οἱ τῇδε κατοικοῦντες, καὶ τὰς κοίτας ἐπὶ τῶν δένδρων ἔχουσι διὰ τὸν ἀπὸ τῶν θηρίων φόβον. παραπλεύσαντι δὲ τὸν Φοινικῶνα πρὸς ἀκρωτηρίῳ τῆς ἠπείρου νῆσός ἐστιν ἀπὸ τῶν ἐναυλιζομένων ἐν αὐτῇ ζῴων Φωκῶν νῆσος ὀνομαζομένη· τοσοῦτο γὰρ πλῆθος τῶν θηρίων τούτων ἐνδιατρίβει τοῖς τόποις ὥστε θαυμάζειν τοὺς ἰδόντας. τὸ δὲ προκείμενον ἀκρωτήριον τῆς νήσου κεῖται κατὰ τὴν καλουμένην Πέτραν καὶ τὴν Παλαιστίνην τῆς Ἀραβίας· εἰς γὰρ ταύτην τόν τε λίβανον καὶ τἄλλα φορτία τὰ πρὸς εὐωδίαν ἀνήκοντα κατάγουσιν, ὡς λόγος, ἐκ τῆς ἄνω λεγομένης Ἀραβίας οἵ τε Γερραῖοι καὶ Μιναῖοι.
But we shall now take up the other side, namely, the opposite shore which forms the coast of Arabia, and shall describe it, beginning with the innermost recess. This bears the name Poseideion, since an altar was erected here to Poseidon Pelagius by that Ariston who was dispatched by Ptolemy to investigate the coast of Arabia as far as the ocean. Directly after the innermost recess is a region along the sea which is especially honoured by the natives because of the advantage which accrues from it to them. It is called the Palm-grove and contains a multitude of trees of this kind which are exceedingly fruitful and contribute in an unusual degree to enjoyment and luxury. 3 But all the country round about is lacking in springs of water and is fiery hot because it slopes to the south; accordingly, it was a natural thing that the barbarians made sacred the place which was full of trees and, lying as it did in the midst of a region utterly desolate, supplied their food. And indeed not a few springs and streams of water gush forth there, which do not yield to snow in coldness; and these make the land on both sides of them green and altogether pleasing. 4 Moreover, an altar is there built of hard stone and very old in years, bearing an inscription in ancient letters of an unknown tongue. The oversight of the sacred precinct is in the care of a man and a woman who hold the sacred office for life. The inhabitants of the place are long-lived and have their beds in the trees because of their fear of the wild beasts. After sailing past the Palm-grove one comes to an island off a promontory of the mainland which bears the name Island of Phocae from the animals which make their home there; for so great a multitude of these beasts spend their time in these regions as to astonish those who behold them. And the promontory which stretches out in front of the island lies over against Petra, as it is called, and Palestine; for to this country, as it is reported, both the Gerrhaeans and Minaeans convey from Upper Arabia, as it is called, both the frankincense and the other aromatic wares.
§ 3.43
τὴν δʼ ἑξῆς παραθαλάττιον τὸ μὲν παλαιὸν ἐνέμοντο Μαρανῖται, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Γαρινδανεῖς, ὄντες πλησιόχωροι. τὴν δὲ χώραν κατέσχον τοιῷδέ τινι τρόπῳ· ἐν τῷ πρόσθεν λεχθέντι Φοινικῶνι συντελουμένης πανηγύρεως πενταετηρικῆς ἐφοίτων πανταχόθεν οἱ περίοικοι, καμήλων εὖ τεθραμμένων ἑκατόμβας τοῖς ἐν τῷ τεμένει θεοῖς θύσοντες, ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τῶν ὑδάτων τῶν ἐξ αὐτοῦ κομιοῦντες εἰς τὰς πατρίδας διὰ τὸ παραδίδοσθαι τοῦτο τὸ ποτὸν παρασκευάζειν τοῖς προσενεγκαμένοις τὴν ὑγίειαν. διὰ δὴ ταύτας τὰς αἰτίας τῶν Μαρανιτῶν καταντησάντων εἰς τὴν πανήγυριν, οἱ Γαρινδανεῖς τοὺς μὲν ἀπολελειμμένους ἐν τῇ χώρᾳ κατασφάξαντες, τοὺς δʼ ἐκ τῆς πανηγύρεως ἐπανιόντας ἐνεδρεύσαντες διέφθειραν, ἐρημώσαντες δὲ τὴν χώραν τῶν οἰκητόρων κατεκληρούχησαν πεδία καρποφόρα καὶ νομὰς τοῖς κτήνεσι δαψιλεῖς ἐκτρέφοντα. αὕτη δʼ ἡ παράλιος λιμένας μὲν ὀλίγους ἔχει, διείληπται δʼ ὄρεσι πυκνοῖς καὶ μεγάλοις, ἐξ ὧν παντοίας ποικιλίας χρωμάτων ἔχουσα θαυμαστὴν παρέχεται θέαν τοῖς παραπλέουσι. παραπλεύσαντι δὲ ταύτην τὴν χώραν ἐκδέχεται κόλπος Λαιανίτης, περιοικούμενος πολλαῖς κώμαις Ἀράβων τῶν προσαγορευομένων Ναβαταίων. οὗτοι δὲ πολλὴν μὲν τῆς παραλίου νέμονται, οὐκ ὀλίγην δὲ καὶ τῆς εἰς μεσόγειον ἀνηκούσης χώρας, τόν τε λαὸν ἀμύθητον ἔχοντες καὶ θρεμμάτων ἀγέλας ἀπίστους τοῖς πλήθεσιν. οἳ τὸ μὲν παλαιὸν ἐξῆγον δικαιοσύνῃ χρώμενοι καὶ ταῖς ἀπὸ τῶν θρεμμάτων τροφαῖς ἀρκούμενοι, ὕστερον δὲ τῶν ἀπὸ τῆς Ἀλεξανδρείας βασιλέων πλωτὸν τοῖς ἐμπόροις ποιησάντων τὸν πόρον τοῖς τε ναυαγοῦσιν ἐπετίθεντο καὶ λῃστρικὰ σκάφη κατασκευάζοντες ἐλῄστευον τοὺς πλέοντας, μιμούμενοι τὰς ἀγριότητας καὶ παρανομίας τῶν ἐν τῷ Πόντῳ Ταύρων· μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ληφθέντες ὑπὸ τετρηρικῶν σκαφῶν πελάγιοι προσηκόντως ἐκολάσθησαν. μετὰ δὲ τούτους τοὺς τόπους ὑπάρχει χώρα πεδιὰς κατάρρυτος, ἐκτρέφουσα διὰ τὰς πάντῃ διαρρεούσας πηγὰς ἄγρωστιν καὶ μηδίκην, ἔτι δὲ λωτὸν ἀνδρομήκη. διὰ δὲ τὸ πλῆθος καὶ τὴν ἀρετὴν τῆς νομῆς οὐ μόνον κτηνῶν παντοδαπῶν ἀμύθητον ἐκτρέφει πλῆθος, ἀλλὰ καὶ καμήλους ἀγρίας, ἔτι δʼ ἐλάφους καὶ δορκάδας. πρὸς δὲ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν ἐντρεφομένων ζῴων φοιτῶσιν ἐκ τῆς ἐρήμου λεόντων καὶ λύκων καὶ παρδάλεων ἀγέλαι, πρὸς ἃς οἱ κτηνοτροφοῦντες ἀναγκάζονται καὶ μεθʼ ἡμέραν καὶ νύκτωρ θηριομαχεῖν ὑπὲρ τῶν θρεμμάτων· οὕτω τὸ τῆς χώρας εὐτύχημα τοῖς κατοικοῦσιν ἀτυχίας αἴτιον γίνεται διὰ τὸ τὴν φύσιν ὡς ἐπίπαν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις μετὰ τῶν ἀγαθῶν διδόναι τὰ βλάπτοντα.
The coast which comes next was originally inhabited by the Maranitae, and then by the Garindanes who were their neighbours. The latter secured the country somewhat in this fashion: In the abovementioned Palm-grove a festival was celebrated every four years, to which the neighbouring peoples thronged from all sides, both to sacrifice to the gods of the sacred precinct hecatombs of well-fed camels and also to carry back to their native lands some of the water of this place, since the tradition prevailed that this drink gave health to such as partook of it. 2 When for these reasons, then, the Maranitae gathered to the festival, the Garindanes, putting to the sword those who had been left behind in the country, and lying in ambush for those who were returning from the festival, utterly destroyed the tribe, and after stripping the country of its inhabitants they divided among themselves the plains, which were fruitful and supplied abundant pasture for their herds and flocks. 3 This coast has few harbours and is divided by many large mountains, by reason of which it shows every shade of colour and affords a marvellous spectacle to those who sail past it. After one has sailed past this country the Laeanites Gulf comes next, about which are many inhabited villages of Arabs who are known as Nabataeans. This tribe occupies a large part of the coast and not a little of the country which stretches inland, and it has a people numerous beyond telling and flocks and herds in multitude beyond belief. 5 Now in ancient times these men observed justice and were content with the food which they received from their flocks, but later, after the kings in Alexandria had made the ways of the sea navigable for the merchants, these Arabs not only attacked the shipwrecked, but fitting out pirate ships preyed upon the voyagers, imitating in their practices the savage and lawless ways of the Tauri of the Pontus; some time afterward, however, they were caught on the high seas by some quadriremes and punished as they deserved. Beyond these regions there is a level and well-watered stretch of land which produces, by reason of springs which flow through its whole extent, dog's-tooth grass, lucerne, and lotus as tall as a man. And because of the abundance and excellent quality of the pasturage, not only does it support every manner of flocks and herds in multitude beyond telling, but also wild camels, deer, and gazelles. 7 And against the multitude of animals which are nourished in that place there gather in from the desert bands of lions and wolves and leopards, against which the herdsmen must perforce battle both day and night to protect their charges; and in this way the land's good fortune becomes a cause of misfortune for its inhabitants, seeing that it is generally Nature's way to dispense to men along with good things what is hurtful as well.
§ 3.44
παραπλεύσαντι δὲ τὰ πεδία ταῦτα κόλπος ἐκδέχεται παράδοξον ἔχων τὴν φύσιν. συννεύει μὲν γὰρ εἰς τὸν μυχὸν τῆς χώρας, τῷ μήκει δʼ ἐπὶ σταδίους πεντακοσίους παρεκτείνεται, περικλειόμενος δὲ κρημνοῖς θαυμασίοις τὸ μέγεθος σκολιὸν καὶ δυσέξιτον ἔχει τὸ στόμα· ἁλιτενοῦς γὰρ πέτρας τὸν εἴσπλουν διαλαμβανούσης οὔτʼ εἰσπλεῦσαι δυνατόν ἐστιν εἰς τὸν κόλπον οὔτʼ ἐκπλεῦσαι. κατὰ δὲ τὰς τοῦ ῥοῦ προσπτώσεις καὶ τὰς τῶν ἀνέμων μεταβολὰς ὁ κλύδων προσπίπτων τῇ ῥαχίᾳ καχλάζει καὶ τραχύνεται πάντῃ περὶ τὴν παρήκουσαν πέτραν. οἱ δὲ τὴν κατὰ τὸν κόλπον χώραν νεμόμενοι, Βανιζομενεῖς ὀνομαζόμενοι, τὰς τροφὰς ἔχουσι κυνηγοῦντες καὶ σαρκοφαγοῦντες τὰ χερσαῖα ζῷα. ἱερὸν δʼ ἁγιώτατον ἵδρυται, τιμώμενον ὑπὸ πάντων Ἀράβων περιττότερον. ἑξῆς δὲ τῇ προειρημένῃ παραλίᾳ νῆσοι τρεῖς ἐπίκεινται, λιμένας ποιοῦσαι πλείους. καὶ τούτων τὴν μὲν πρώτην ἱστοροῦσιν ὑπάρχειν ἱερὰν Ἴσιδος, ἔρημον οὖσαν, παλαιῶν δʼ οἰκιῶν ἔχειν λιθίνας ὑποστάθμας καὶ στήλας γράμμασι βαρβαρικοῖς κεχαραγμένας· ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τὰς ἄλλας ἐρήμους ὑπάρχειν· πάσας δʼ ἐλαίαις καταπεφυτεῦσθαι διαφόροις τῶν παρʼ ἡμῖν. μετὰ δὲ τὰς νήσους ταύτας αἰγιαλὸς παρήκει κρημνώδης καὶ δυσπαράπλους ἐπὶ σταδίους ὡς χιλίους· οὔτε γὰρ λιμὴν οὔτε σάλος ἐπʼ ἀγκύρας ὑπόκειται τοῖς ναυτίλοις, οὐ χηλὴ δυναμένη τοῖς ἀπορουμένοις τῶν πλεόντων τὴν ἀναγκαίαν ὑπόδυσιν παρασχέσθαι. ὄρος δὲ ταύτῃ παράκειται κατὰ μὲν τὴν κορυφὴν πέτρας ἀποτομάδας ἔχον καὶ τοῖς ὕψεσι καταπληκτικάς, ὑπὸ δὲ τὰς ῥίζας σπιλάδας ὀξείας καὶ πυκνὰς ἐνθαλάττους καὶ κατόπιν αὐτῶν φάραγγας ὑποβεβρωμένας καὶ σκολιάς. συντετρημένων δʼ αὐτῶν πρὸς ἀλλήλας, καὶ τῆς θαλάττης βάθος ἐχούσης, ὁ κλύδων ποτὲ μὲν εἰσπίπτων, ποτὲ δὲ παλισσυτῶν βρόμῳ μεγάλῳ παραπλήσιον ἦχον ἐξίησι. τοῦ δὲ κλύδωνος τὸ μὲν πρὸς μεγάλας πέτρας προσαραττόμενον εἰς ὕψος ἵσταται καὶ τὸν ἀφρὸν θαυμαστὸν τὸ πλῆθος κατασκευάζει, τὸ δὲ καταπινόμενον κοιλώμασι σπασμὸν καταπληκτικὸν παρέχει, ὥστε τοὺς ἀκουσίως ἐγγίσαντας τοῖς τόποις διὰ τὸ δέος οἱονεὶ προαποθνήσκειν. ταύτην μὲν οὖν τὴν παράλιον ἔχουσιν Ἄραβες οἱ καλούμενοι Θαμουδηνοί· τὴν δʼ ἑξῆς ἐπέχει κόλπος εὐμεγέθης, ἐπικειμένων αὐτῷ νήσων σποράδων, τὴν πρόσοψιν ἐχουσῶν ὁμοίαν ταῖς καλουμέναις Ἐχινάσι νήσοις. ἐκδέχονται δὲ ταύτην τὴν παράλιον ἀέριοι θῖνες ἅμμου κατά τε τὸ μῆκος καὶ τὸ πλάτος, μέλανες τὴν χρόαν. μετὰ δὲ τούτους ὁρᾶται χερρόνησος καὶ λιμὴν κάλλιστος τῶν εἰς ἱστορίαν πεπτωκότων, ὀνομαζόμενος Χαρμούθας. ὑπὸ γὰρ χηλὴν ἐξαίσιον κεκλιμένην πρὸς ζέφυρον κόλπος ἐστὶν οὐ μόνον κατὰ τὴν ἰδέαν θαυμαστός, ἀλλὰ καὶ κατὰ τὴν εὐχρηστίαν πολὺ τοὺς ἄλλους ὑπερέχων· παρήκει γὰρ αὐτὸν ὄρος συνηρεφές, κυκλούμενον πανταχόθεν ἐπὶ σταδίους ἑκατόν, εἴσπλουν δʼ ἔχει δίπλεθρον, ναυσὶ δισχιλίαις ἄκλυστον λιμένα παρεχόμενος. χωρὶς δὲ τούτων εὔυδρος τʼ ἐστὶ καθʼ ὑπερβολήν, ποταμοῦ μείζονος εἰς αὐτὸν ἐμβάλλοντος, καὶ κατὰ μέσον ἔχει νῆσον εὔυδρον καὶ δυναμένην ἔχειν κηπεύματα. καθόλου δʼ ἐμφερέστατός ἐστι τῷ κατὰ τὴν Καρχηδόνα λιμένι, προσαγορευομένῳ δὲ Κώθωνι, περὶ οὗ τὰς κατὰ μέρος εὐχρηστίας ἐν τοῖς οἰκείοις χρόνοις πειρασόμεθα διελθεῖν. ἰχθύων δὲ πλῆθος ἐκ τῆς μεγάλης θαλάττης εἰς αὐτὸν ἀθροίζεται διά τε τὴν νηνεμίαν καὶ τὴν γλυκύτητα τῶν εἰς αὐτὸν ῥεόντων ὑδάτων.
Next after these plains as one skirts the coast comes a gulf of extraordinary nature. It runs, namely, to a point deep into the land, extends in length a distance of some five hundred stades, and shut in as it is by crags which are of wondrous size, its mouth is winding and hard to get out of; for a rock which extends into the sea obstructs its entrance and so it is impossible for a ship either to sail into or out of the gulf. 2 Furthermore, at times when the current rushes in and there are frequent shiftings of the winds, the surf, beating upon the rocky beach, roars and rages all about the projecting rock. The inhabitants of the land about the gulf, who are known as Banizomenes, find their food by hunting the land animals and eating their meat. And a temple has been set up there, which is very holy and exceedingly revered by all Arabians. Next there are three islands which lie off the coast just described and provide numerous harbours. The first of these, history relates, is sacred to Isis and is uninhabited, and on it are stone foundations of ancient dwellings and stelae which are inscribed with letters in a barbarian tongue; the other two islands are likewise uninhabited and all three are covered thick with olive trees which differ from those we have. 4 Beyond these islands there extends for about a thousand stades a coast which is precipitous and difficult for ships to sail past; for there is neither harbour beneath the cliffs nor roadstead where sailors may anchor, and no natural breakwater which affords shelter in emergency for mariners in distress. And parallel to the coast here runs a mountain range at whose summit are rocks which are sheer and of a terrifying height, and at its base are sharp undersea ledges in many places and behind them are ravines which are eaten away underneath and turn this way and that. 5 And since these ravines are connected by passages with one another and the sea is deep, the surf, as it at one time rushes in and at another time retreats, gives forth a sound resembling a mighty crash of thunder. At one place the surf, as it breaks upon huge rocks, rocks leaps on high and causes an astonishing mass of foam, at another it is swallowed up within the caverns and creates such a terrifying agitation of the waters that men who unwittingly draw near these places are so frightened that they die, as it were, a first death. This coast, then, is inhabited by Arabs who are called Thamudeni; but the coast next to it is bounded by a very large gulf, off which lie scattered islands which are in appearance very much like the islands called the Echinades. After this coast there come sand dunes, of infinite extent in both length and width and black in colour. 7 Beyond them a neck of land is to be seen and a harbour, the fairest of any which have come to be included in history, called Charmuthas. For behind an extraordinary natural breakwater which slants towards the west there lies a gulf which not only is marvellous in its form but far surpasses all others in the advantages it offers; for a thickly wooded mountain stretches along it, enclosing it on all sides in a ring one hundred stades long; its entrance is two plethra wide, and it provides a harbour undisturbed by the waves sufficient for two thousand vessels. 8 Furthermore, it is exceptionally well supplied with water, since a river, larger than ordinary, empties into it, and it contains in its centre an island which is abundantly watered and capable of supporting gardens. In general, it resembles most closely the harbour of Carthage, which is known as Cothon, of the advantages of which we shall endeavour to give a detailed discussion in connection with the appropriate time. And a multitude of fish gather from the open sea into the harbour both because of the calm which prevails there and because of the sweetness of the waters which flow into it.
§ 3.45
παραπλεύσαντι δὲ τοὺς τόπους τούτους ὄρη πέντε διεστηκότα ἀλλήλων εἰς ὕψος ἀνατείνει, συναγομένας ἔχοντα τὰς κορυφὰς εἰς πετρώδη μαστόν, παραπλήσιον φαντασίαν ἀποτελοῦντα ταῖς κατʼ Αἴγυπτον πυραμίσιν. ἑξῆς δʼ ἐστὶ κόλπος κυκλοτερὴς μεγάλοις ἀκρωτηρίοις περιεχόμενος, οὗ κατὰ μέσην τὴν διάμετρον ἀνέστηκε λόφος τραπεζοειδής, ἐφʼ οὗ τρεῖς ναοὶ θαυμαστοὶ τοῖς ὕψεσιν ᾠκοδόμηνται θεῶν, ἀγνοουμένων μὲν ὑπὸ τῶν Ἑλλήνων, τιμωμένων δʼ ὑπὸ τῶν ἐγχωρίων διαφερόντως. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα αἰγιαλὸς παρήκει κάθυγρος, ναματιαίοις καὶ γλυκέσι ῥείθροις διειλημμένος· καθʼ ὅν ἐστιν ὄρος ὀνομαζόμενον μὲν Χαβῖνον, δρυμοῖς δὲ παντοδαποῖς πεπυκνωμένον. τὴν δὲ χέρσον τὴν ἐχομένην τῆς ὀρεινῆς νέμονται τῶν Ἀράβων οἱ καλούμενοι Δέβαι. οὗτοι δὲ καμηλοτροφοῦντες πρὸς ἅπαντα χρῶνται τὰ μέγιστα τῶν κατὰ τὸν βίον τῇ τοῦ ζῴου τούτου χρείᾳ· πρὸς μὲν γὰρ τοὺς πολεμίους ἀπὸ τούτων μάχονται, τὰς δὲ κομιδὰς τῶν φορτίων ἐπὶ τούτων νωτοφοροῦντες ῥᾳδίως ἅπαντα συντελοῦσι, τὸ δὲ γάλα πίνοντες ἀπὸ τούτων διατρέφονται, καὶ τὴν ὅλην χώραν περιπολοῦσιν ἐπὶ τῶν δρομάδων καμήλων. κατὰ δὲ μέσην τὴν χώραν αὐτῶν φέρεται ποταμὸς τοσοῦτο χρυσοῦ καταφέρων ψῆγμα φαινόμενον ὥστε κατὰ τὰς ἐκβολὰς τὴν ἰλὺν ἀποφέρεσθαι περιστίλβουσαν. οἱ δʼ ἐγχώριοι τῆς μὲν ἐργασίας τῆς τοῦ χρυσοῦ παντελῶς εἰσιν ἄπειροι, φιλόξενοι δʼ ὑπάρχουσιν, οὐ πρὸς πάντας τοὺς ἀφικνουμένους, ἀλλὰ πρὸς μόνους τοὺς ἀπὸ Βοιωτίας καὶ Πελοποννήσου διά τινα παλαιὰν ἀφʼ Ἡρακλέους οἰκειότητα πρὸς τὸ ἔθνος, ἣν μυθικῶς ἑαυτοὺς παρειληφέναι παρὰ τῶν προγόνων ἱστοροῦσιν. ἡ δʼ ἑξῆς χώρα κατοικεῖται μὲν ὑπὸ Ἀράβων Ἀλιλαίων καὶ Γασανδῶν, οὐκ ἔμπυρος οὖσα καθάπερ αἱ πλησίον, ἀλλὰ μαλακαῖς καὶ δασείαις νεφέλαις πολλάκις κατεχομένη· ἐκ δὲ τούτων ὑετοὶ γίνονται καὶ χειμῶνες εὔκαιροι καὶ ποιοῦντες τὴν θερινὴν ὥραν εὔκρατον. ἥ τε χώρα πάμφορός ἐστι καὶ διάφορος κατὰ τὴν ἀρετήν, οὐ μέντοι τυγχάνει τῆς ἐνδεχομένης ἐπιμελείας διὰ τὴν τῶν λαῶν ἀπειρίαν. τὸν δὲ χρυσὸν εὑρίσκοντες ἐν τοῖς φυσικοῖς ὑπονόμοις τῆς γῆς συνάγουσι πολύν, οὐ τὸν ἐκ τοῦ ψήγματος συντηκόμενον, ἀλλὰ τὸν αὐτοφυῆ καὶ καλούμενον ἀπὸ τοῦ συμβεβηκότος ἄπυρον. κατὰ δὲ τὸ μέγεθος ἐλάχιστος μὲν εὑρίσκεται παραπλήσιος πυρῆνι, μέγιστος δὲ οὐ πολὺ λειπόμενος βασιλικοῦ καρύου. φοροῦσι δʼ αὐτὸν περί τε τοὺς καρποὺς τῶν χειρῶν καὶ περὶ τοὺς τραχήλους, τετρημένον ἐναλλὰξ λίθοις διαφανέσι. καὶ τούτου μὲν τοῦ γένους ἐπιπολάζοντος παρʼ αὐτοῖς, χαλκοῦ δὲ καὶ σιδήρου σπανίζοντος, ἐπʼ ἴσης ἀλλάττονται ταῦτα τὰ φορτία πρὸς τοὺς ἐμπόρους.
After these places, as a man skirts the coast, five mountains rise on high separated one from another, and their peaks taper into breastshaped tips of stone which give them an appearance like that of the pyramids of Egypt. 2 Then comes a circular gulf guarded on every side by great promontories, and midway on a line drawn across it rises a trapezium-shaped hill on which three temples, remarkable for their height, have been erected to gods, which indeed are unknown to the Greeks, but are accorded unusual honour by the natives. 3 After this there is a stretch of dank coast, traversed at intervals by streams of sweet water from springs; on it there is a mountain which bears the name Chabinus and is heavily covered with thickets of every kind of tree. The land which adjoins the mountainous country is inhabited by the Arabs known as Debae. 4 They are breeders of camels and make use of the services of this animal in connection with the most important needs of their life; for instance, they fight against their enemies from their backs, employ them for the conveyance of their wares and thus easily accomplish all their business, drink their milk and in this way get their food from them, and traverse their entire country riding upon their racing camels. 5 And down the centre of their country runs a river which carries down such an amount of what is gold dust to all appearance that the mud glitters all over as it is carried out at its mouth. The natives of the region are entirely without experience in the working of the gold, but they are hospitable to strangers, not, however, to everyone who arrives among them, but only to Boeotians and Peloponnesians, the reason for this being the ancient friendship shown by Heracles for the tribe, a friendship which, they relate, has come down to them in the form of a myth as a heritage from their ancestors. The land which comes next is inhabited by Alilaei and Gasandi, Arab peoples, and is not fiery hot, like the neighbouring territories, but is often overspread by mild and thick clouds, from which come heavy showers and timely storms that make the summer season temperate. The land produces everything and is exceptionally fertile, but it does not receive the cultivation of which it would admit because of the lack of experience of the folk. 7 Gold they discover in underground galleries which have been formed by nature and gather in abundance not that which has been fused into a mass out of gold-dust, but the virgin gold, which is called, from its condition when found, "unfired" gold. And as for size the smallest nugget found is about as large as the stone offruit, and the largest not much smaller than a royal nut. 8 This gold they wear about both their wrists and necks, perforating it and alternating it with transparent stones. And since this precious metal abounds in their land, whereas there is a scarcity of copper and iron, they exchange it with merchants for equal parts of the latter wares.
§ 3.46
μετὰ δὲ τούτους ὑπάρχουσιν οἱ ὀνομαζόμενοι Κάρβαι, καὶ μετὰ τούτους Σαβαῖοι, πολυανθρωπότατοι τῶν Ἀραβικῶν ἐθνῶν ὄντες. νέμονται δὲ τὴν εὐδαίμονα λεγομένην Ἀραβίαν, φέρουσαν τὰ πλεῖστα τῶν παρʼ ἡμῖν ἀγαθῶν καὶ θρεμμάτων παντοδαπῶν ἐκτρέφουσαν πλῆθος ἀμύθητον. εὐωδία τε αὐτὴν πᾶσαν ἐπέχει φυσικὴ διὰ τὸ πάντα σχεδὸν τὰ ταῖς ὀσμαῖς πρωτεύοντα φύεσθαι κατὰ τὴν χώραν ἀνέκλειπτα. κατὰ μὲν γὰρ τὴν παράλιον φύεται τὸ καλούμενον βάλσαμον καὶ κασία καὶ πόα τις ἄλλη ἰδιάζουσαν φύσιν ἔχουσα· αὕτη δὲ πρόσφατος μὲν οὖσα τοῖς ὄμμασι προσηνεστάτην παρέχεται τέρψιν, ἐγχρονισθεῖσα δὲ συντόμως γίνεται ἐξίτηλος. κατὰ δὲ τὴν μεσόγειον ὑπάρχουσι δρυμοὶ συνηρεφεῖς, καθʼ οὕς ἐστι δένδρα μεγάλα λιβανωτοῦ καὶ σμύρνης, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις φοίνικος καὶ καλάμου καὶ κιναμώμου καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν τούτοις ὁμοίαν ἐχόντων τὴν εὐωδίαν· οὐδὲ γὰρ ἐξαριθμήσασθαι δυνατὸν τὰς ἑκάστων ἰδιότητάς τε καὶ φύσεις διὰ τὸ πλῆθος καὶ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῆς ἐκ πάντων ἀθροιζομένης ὀσμῆς. θεία γάρ τις φαίνεται καὶ λόγου κρείττων ἡ προσπίπτουσα καὶ κινοῦσα τὰς ἑκάστων αἰσθήσεις εὐωδία. καὶ γὰρ τοὺς παραπλέοντας, καίπερ πολὺ τῆς χέρσου κεχωρισμένους, οὐκ ἀμοίρους ποιεῖ τῆς τοιαύτης ἀπολαύσεως· κατὰ γὰρ τὴν θερινὴν ὥραν, ὅταν ἄνεμος ἀπόγειος γένηται, συμβαίνει τὰς ἀπὸ τῶν σμυρνοφόρων δένδρων καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν τοιούτων ἀποπνεομένας εὐωδίας διικνεῖσθαι πρὸς τὰ πλησίον μέρη τῆς θαλάττης· οὐ γὰρ ὥσπερ παρʼ ἡμῖν ἀποκειμένην καὶ παλαιὰν ἔχει τὴν τῶν ἀρωμάτων φύσιν, ἀλλὰ τὴν ἀκμάζουσαν ἐν ἄνθει νεαρὰν δύναμιν καὶ διικνουμένην πρὸς τὰ λεπτομερέστατα τῆς αἰσθήσεως. κομιζούσης γὰρ τῆς αὔρας τὴν ἀπόρροιαν τῶν εὐωδεστάτων, προσπίπτει τοῖς προσπλέουσι τὴν παράλιον προσηνὲς καὶ πολύ, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις ὑγιεινὸν καὶ παρηλλαγμένον ἐκ τῶν ἀρίστων μῖγμα, οὔτε γὰρ τετμημένου τοῦ καρποῦ καὶ τὴν ἰδίαν ἀκμὴν ἐκπεπνευκότος, οὔτε τὴν ἀπόθεσιν ἔχοντος ἐν ἑτερογενέσιν ἀγγείοις, ἀλλʼ ἀπʼ αὐτῆς τῆς νεαρωτάτης ὥρας καὶ τὸν βλαστὸν ἀκέραιον παρεχομένης τῆς θείας φύσεως, ὥστε τοὺς μεταλαμβάνοντας τῆς ἰδιότητος δοκεῖν ἀπολαύειν τῆς μυθολογουμένης ἀμβροσίας διὰ τὸ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῆς εὐωδίας μηδεμίαν ἑτέραν εὑρίσκειν οἰκείαν προσηγορίαν.
Beyond this people are the Carbae, as they are called, and beyond these the Sabaeans, who are the most numerous of the tribes of the Arabians. They inhabit that part of the country known as Arabia the Blest, which produces most of the things which are held dear among us and nurtures flocks and herds of every kind in multitude beyond telling. And a natural sweet odour pervades the entire land because practically all the things which excel in fragrance grow there unceasingly. 2 Along the coast, for instance, grow balsam, as called, and cassia and a certain other herb possessing a nature peculiar to itself; for when fresh it is most pleasing and delightful to the eye, but when kept for a time it suddenly fades to nothing. 3 And throughout the interior of land there are thick forests, in which are great trees which yield frankincense and myrrh, as well as palms and reeds, cinnamon trees and every other kind which possesses a sweet odour as these have; for it is impossible to enumerate both the peculiar properties and natures of each one severally because of the great volume and the exceptional richness of the fragrance as it is gathered from each and all. 4 For a divine thing and beyond the power of words to describe seems the fragrance which greets the nostrils and stirs the senses of everyone. Indeed, even though those who sail along this coast may be far from the land, that does not deprive them of a portion of the enjoyment which this fragrance affords; for in the summer season, when the wind is blowing off shore, one finds that the sweet odours exhaled by the myrrhbearing and other aromatic trees penetrate to the near-by parts of the sea; and the reason is that the essence of the sweet-smelling herbs is not, as with us, kept laid away until it has become old and stale, but its potency is in the full bloom of its strength and fresh, and penetrates to the most delicate parts of the sense of smell. 5 And since the breeze carries the emanation of the most fragrant plants, to the voyagers who approach the coast there is wafted a blending of perfumes, delightful and potent, and healthful withal and exotic, composed as it is of the best of them, seeing that the product of the trees has not been minced into bits and so has exhaled its own special strength, nor yet lies stored away in vessels made of a different substance, but taken at the very prime of its freshness and while its divine nature keeps the shoot pure and undefiled. Consequently those who partake of the unique fragrance feel that they are enjoying the ambrosia of which the myths relate, being unable, because of the superlative sweetness of the perfume, to find any other name that would be fitting and worthy of it.
§ 3.47
οὐ μὴν ὀλόκληρον καὶ χωρὶς φθόνου τὴν εὐδαιμονίαν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἡ τύχη περιέθηκεν, ἀλλὰ τοῖς τηλικούτοις δωρήμασι παρέζευξε τὸ βλάπτον καὶ νουθετῆσον τοὺς διὰ τὴν συνέχειαν τῶν ἀγαθῶν εἰωθότας καταφρονεῖν τῶν θεῶν. κατὰ γὰρ τοὺς εὐωδεστάτους δρυμοὺς ὄφεων ὑπάρχει πλῆθος, οἳ τὸ μὲν χρῶμα φοινικοῦν ἔχουσι, μῆκος δὲ σπιθαμῆς, δήγματα δὲ ποιοῦνται παντελῶς ἀνίατα· δάκνουσι δὲ προσπηδῶντες καὶ ἁλλόμενοι πρὸς ὕψος αἱμάττουσι τὸν χρῶτα. ἴδιον δέ τι παρὰ τοῖς ἐγχωρίοις συμβαίνει περὶ τοὺς ἠσθενηκότας ὑπὸ μακρᾶς νόσου τὰ σώματα. διαπνεομένου γὰρ τοῦ σώματος ὑπʼ ἀκράτου καὶ τμητικῆς φύσεως, καὶ τῆς συγκρίσεως τῶν ὄγκων εἰς ἀραίωμα συναγομένης, ἔκλυσις ἐπακολουθεῖ δυσβοήθητος· διόπερ τοῖς τοιούτοις ἄσφαλτον παραθυμιῶσι καὶ τράγου πώγωνα, ταῖς ἐναντίαις φύσεσι καταμαχόμενοι τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῆς εὐωδίας. τὸ γὰρ καλὸν ποσότητι μὲν καὶ τάξει μετρούμενον ὠφελεῖ καὶ τέρπει τοὺς ἀνθρώπους, ἀναλογίας δὲ καὶ καθήκοντος καιροῦ διαμαρτὸν ἀνόνητον ἔχει τὴν δωρεάν. τοῦ δʼ ἔθνους τούτου μητρόπολίς ἐστιν ἣν καλοῦσι Σαβάς, ἐπʼ ὄρους ᾠκισμένη. βασιλέας δʼ ἐκ γένους ἔχει τοὺς διαδεχομένους, οἷς τὰ πλήθη τιμὰς ἀπονέμει μεμιγμένας ἀγαθοῖς καὶ κακοῖς. μακάριον μὲν γὰρ βίον ἔχειν δοκοῦσιν, ὅτι πᾶσιν ἐπιτάττοντες οὐδένα λόγον ὑπέχουσι τῶν πραττομένων· ἀτυχεῖς δὲ νομίζονται καθʼ ὅσον οὐκ ἔξεστιν αὐτοῖς οὐδέποτε ἐξελθεῖν ἐκ τῶν βασιλείων, εἰ δὲ μή, γίνονται λιθόλευστοι ὑπὸ τῶν ὄχλων κατά τινα χρησμὸν ἀρχαῖον. τοῦτο δὲ τὸ ἔθνος οὐ μόνον τῶν πλησιοχώρων Ἀράβων, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἀνθρώπων διαφέρει πλούτῳ καὶ ταῖς ἄλλαις ταῖς κατὰ μέρος πολυτελείαις. ἐν γὰρ ταῖς τῶν φορτίων ἀλλαγαῖς καὶ πράσεσιν ὄγκοις ἐλαχίστοις πλείστην ἀποφέρονται τιμὴν ἁπάντων ἀνθρώπων τῶν ἀργυρικῆς ἀμείψεως ἕνεκα τὰς ἐμπορίας ποιουμένων. διόπερ ἐξ αἰῶνος ἀπορθήτων αὐτῶν γεγενημένων διὰ τὸν ἐκτοπισμόν, καὶ χρυσοῦ τε καὶ ἀργύρου πλήθους ἐπικεκλυκότος παρʼ αὐτοῖς, καὶ μάλιστʼ ἐν Σαβαῖς, ἐν ᾗ τὰ βασίλεια κεῖται, τορεύματα μὲν ἀργυρᾶ τε καὶ χρυσᾶ παντοδαπῶν ἐκπωμάτων ἔχουσι, κλίνας δὲ καὶ τρίποδας ἀργυρόποδας, καὶ τὴν ἄλλην κατασκευὴν ἄπιστον τῇ πολυτελείᾳ, κιόνων τε ἁδρῶν περίστυλα, τὰ μὲν ἐπίχρυσα, τὰ δʼ ἀργυροειδεῖς τύπους ἐπὶ τῶν κιονοκράνων ἔχοντα. τὰς δʼ ὀροφὰς καὶ θύρας χρυσαῖς φιάλαις λιθοκολλήτοις καὶ πυκναῖς διειληφότες ἅπασαν τὴν τῶν οἰκιῶν κατὰ μέρος οἰκοδομίαν πεποίηνται θαυμαστὴν ταῖς πολυτελείαις· τὰ μὲν γὰρ ἐξ ἀργύρου καὶ χρυσοῦ, τὰ δʼ ἐξ ἐλέφαντος καὶ τῶν διαπρεπεστάτων λίθων, ἔτι δὲ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν τιμιωτάτων παρʼ ἀνθρώποις, κατεσκευάκασιν. ἀλλὰ γὰρ οὗτοι μὲν ἐκ πολλῶν χρόνων τὴν εὐδαιμονίαν ἀσάλευτον ἔσχον διὰ τὸ παντελῶς ἀπεξενῶσθαι τῶν διὰ τὴν ἰδίαν πλεονεξίαν ἕρμαιον ἡγουμένων τὸν ἀλλότριον πλοῦτον. ἡ δὲ κατὰ τούτους θάλαττα λευκὴ φαίνεται τὴν χρόαν, ὥσθʼ ἅμα θαυμάζειν τὸ παράδοξον καὶ τὴν αἰτίαν τοῦ συμβαίνοντος ἐπιζητεῖν. νῆσοι δʼ εὐδαίμονες πλησίον ὑπάρχουσιν, ἔχουσαι πόλεις ἀτειχίστους, ἐν αἷς τὰ βοσκήματα πάντα λευκὴν ἔχει τὴν χρόαν, καὶ τοῖς θήλεσιν αὐτῶν οὐκ ἐπιφύεται τὸ καθόλου κέρας. εἰς ταύτας δʼ ἔμποροι πάντοθεν καταπλέουσι, μάλιστα δʼ ἐκ Ποτάνας, ἣν Ἀλέξανδρος ᾤκισε παρὰ τὸν Ἰνδὸν ποταμόν, ναύσταθμον ἔχειν βουλόμενος τῆς παρὰ τὸν ὠκεανὸν παραλίου. περὶ μὲν οὖν τῆς χώρας καὶ τῶν ἐν αὐτῇ κατοικούντων ἀρκεσθησόμεθα τοῖς εἰρημένοις.
Nevertheless, fortune has not invested the inhabitants of this land with a felicity which is perfect and leaves no room for envy, but with such great gifts she has coupled what is harmful and may serve as a warning to such men as are wont to despise the gods because of the unbroken succession of their blessings. 2 For in the most fragrant forests is a multitude of snakes, the colour of which is dark-red, their length a span, and their bites altogether incurable; they bite by leaping upon their victim, and as they spring on high they leave a stain of blood upon his skin. 3 And there is also something peculiar to the natives which happens in the case of those whose bodies have become weakened by a protracted illness. For when the body has become permeated by an undiluted and pungent substance and the combination of foreign bodies settles in a porous area, an enfeebled condition ensues which is difficult to cure: consequently at the side of men afflicted in this way they burn asphalt and the beard of a goat, combatting the excessively sweet odour by that from substances of the opposite nature. Indeed the good, when it is measured out in respect of quantity and order, is for human beings an aid and delight, but when it fails of due proportion and proper time the gift which it bestows is unprofitable. The chief city of this tribe is called by them Sabae and is built upon a mountain. The kings of this city succeed to the throne by descent and the people accord to them honours mingled with good and ill. For though they have the appearance of leading a happy life, in that they impose commands upon all and are not accountable for their deeds, yet they are considered unfortunate, inasmuch as it is unlawful for them ever to leave the palace, and if they do so they are stoned to death, in accordance with a certain ancient oracle, by the common crowd. 5 This tribe surpasses not only the neighbouring Arabs but also all other men in wealth and in their several extravagancies besides. For in the exchange and sale of their wares they, of all men who carry on trade for the sake of the silver they receive in exchange, obtain the highest price in return for things of the smallest weight. 6 Consequently, since they have never for ages suffered the ravages of war because of their secluded position, and since an abundance of both gold and silver abounds in the country, especially in Sabae, where the royal palace is situated, they have embossed goblets of every description, made of silver and gold, couches and tripods with silver feet, and every other furnishing of incredible costliness, and halls encircled by large columns, some of them gilded, and others having silver figures on the capitals. 7 Their ceilings and doors they have partitioned by means of panels and coffers made of gold, set with precious stones and placed close together, and have thus made the structure of their houses in every part marvellous for its costliness; for some parts they have constructed of silver and gold, others of ivory and that most showy precious stones or of whatever else men esteem most highly. 8 For the fact is that these people have enjoyed their felicity unshaken since ages past because they have been entire strangers to those whose own covetousness leads them to feel that another man's wealth is their own godsend. The sea in these parts looks to be white in colour, so that the beholder marvels at the surprising phenomenon and at the same time seeks for its cause. 9 And there are prosperous islands near by, containing unwalled cities, all the herds of which are white in colour, while no female has any horn whatsoever. These islands are visited by sailors from every part and especially from Potana, the city which Alexander founded on the Indus river, when he wished to have a naval station on the shore of the ocean. Now as regards Arabia the Blest and its inhabitants we shall be satisfied with what has been said.
§ 3.48
περὶ δὲ τῶν κατὰ τὸν οὐρανὸν ὁρωμένων παραδόξων ἐν τοῖς τόποις οὐ παραλειπτέον. θαυμασιώτατον μέν ἐστι τὸ περὶ τὴν ἄρκτον ἱστορούμενον καὶ πλείστην ἀπορίαν παρεχόμενον τοῖς πλοϊζομένοις· ἀπὸ γὰρ μηνὸς ὃν καλοῦσιν Ἀθηναῖοι μαιμακτηριῶνα τῶν ἑπτὰ τῶν κατὰ τὴν ἄρκτον ἀστέρων οὐδένα φασὶν ὁρᾶσθαι μέχρι τῆς πρώτης φυλακῆς, τῷ δὲ ποσειδεῶνι μέχρι δευτέρας, καὶ κατὰ τοὺς ἑξῆς ἐκ τοῦ κατʼ ὀλίγον πλοϊζομένοις ἀθεωρήτους ὑπάρχειν. τῶν δʼ ἄλλων τοὺς ὀνομαζομένους πλάνητας τοὺς μὲν μείζονας τῶν παρʼ ἡμῖν, ἑτέρους δὲ μηδὲ τὰς ὁμοίας ἀνατολὰς καὶ δύσεις ποιεῖσθαι· τὸν δʼ ἥλιον οὐχ ὥσπερ παρʼ ἡμῖν βραχὺ πρὸ τῆς ἰδίας ἀνατολῆς προαποστέλλειν τὸ φῶς, ἀλλʼ ἔτι νυκτὸς οὔσης σκοταίου παραδόξως ἄφνω φανέντα ἐκλάμπειν. διὸ καὶ μηδέποθʼ ἡμέραν μὲν ἐν ἐκείνοις τοῖς τόποις γίνεσθαι πρὶν ὁραθῆναι τὸν ἥλιον, ἐκ μέσου δὲ τοῦ πελάγους φασὶν ἀναφαινόμενον αὐτὸν ὁρᾶσθαι μὲν ἄνθρακι παραπλήσιον τῷ πυρωδεστάτῳ, σπινθῆρας δʼ ἀφʼ ἑαυτοῦ μεγάλους ἀπορρίπτειν, καὶ τῷ τύπῳ μὴ κωνοειδῆ φαίνεσθαι, καθάπερ ἡμεῖς δοξάζομεν, ἀλλὰ κίονι τὸν τύπον ἔχειν ἐμφερῆ, μικρὸν ἐμβριθεστέραν ἔχοντι τὴν ἀπὸ τῆς κεφαλῆς ἐπιφάνειαν, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις μήτʼ αὐγὴν ποιεῖν μήτʼ ἀκτῖνας βάλλειν ἄχρι πρώτης ὥρας, φαινομένου πυρὸς ἀλαμποῦς ἐν σκότει· δευτέρας δʼ ἀρχομένης ἀσπιδοειδῆ γίνεσθαι καὶ τὸ φῶς βάλλειν ἀπότομον καὶ πυρῶδες καθʼ ὑπερβολήν. κατὰ δὲ τὴν δύσιν ἐναντία γίνεσθαι συμπτώματα περὶ αὐτόν· δοκεῖν γὰρ τοῖς ὁρῶσι καιναῖς ἀκτῖσι φωτίζειν τὸν κόσμον οὐκ ἔλαττον ὡρῶν δυοῖν, ὡς δʼ Ἀγαθαρχίδης ὁ Κνίδιος ἀνέγραψε, τριῶν. τοῦτον δὲ τὸν καιρὸν ἥδιστον τοῖς ἐγχωρίοις φαίνεσθαι, ταπεινουμένου τοῦ καύματος διὰ τὴν δύσιν τοῦ ἡλίου. τῶν δʼ ἀνέμων ζέφυροι μὲν καὶ λίβες, ἔτι δʼ ἀργέσται καὶ εὖροι, πνέουσι καθάπερ καὶ παρὰ τοῖς ἄλλοις· νότοι δὲ κατὰ μὲν Αἰθιοπίαν οὔτε πνέουσιν οὔτε γνωρίζονται τὸ σύνολον, κατὰ δὲ τὴν Τρωγλοδυτικὴν καὶ τὴν Ἀραβίαν θερμοὶ γίνονται καθʼ ὑπερβολήν, ὥστε καὶ τὰς ὕλας ἐκπυροῦν καὶ τῶν καταφευγόντων εἰς τὰς ἐν ταῖς καλύβαις σκιὰς ἐκλύειν τὰ σώματα. ὁ δὲ βορέας δικαίως ἂν ἄριστος νομίζοιτο, διικνούμενος εἰς πάντα τόπον τῆς οἰκουμένης καὶ διαμένων ψυχρός.
But we must not omit to mention the strange phenomena which are seen in the heavens in these regions. The most marvellous is that which, according to accounts we have, has to do with the constellation of the Great Bear and occasions the greatest perplexity among navigators. What they relate is that, beginning with the month which the Athenians call Maemacterion, not one of the seven stars of the Great Bear is seen until the first watch, in Poseideon none until second, and in the following months they gradually drop out of the sight of navigators. 2 As for the other heavenly bodies, the planets, as they are called, are, in the case of some, larger than they appear with us, and in the case of others their risings and settings are also not the same; and the sun does not, as with us, send forth its light shortly in advance of its actual rising, but while the darkness of night still continues, it suddenly and contrary to all expectation appears and sends forth its light. 3 Because of this there is no daylight in those regions before the sun has become visible, and when out of the midst of the sea, as they say, it comes into view, it resembles a fiery red ball of charcoal which discharges huge sparks, and its shape does not look like a cone, as is the impression we have of it, but it has the shape of a column which has the appearance of being slightly thicker at the top; and furthermore it does not shine or send out rays before the first hour, appearing as a fire that gives forth no light in the darkness; but at the beginning of the second hour it takes on the form of a round shield and sends forth a light which is exceptionally bright and fiery. 4 But at its setting the opposite manifestations take place with respect to it; for it seems to observers to be lighting up the whole universe with a strange kind of ray for not less than two or, as Agatharchides of Cnidus has recorded, for three hours. And in the opinion of the natives this is the most pleasant period, when the heat is steadily lessening because of the setting of the sun. As regards the winds, the west, the south-west, also the northwest and the east blow as in the other parts of the world; but in Ethiopia the south winds neither blow nor are known at all, although in the Trogodyte country and Arabia they so exceptionally hot that they set the forests on fire and cause the bodies of those who take refuge in the shade of their huts to collapse through weakness. The north wind, however, may justly be considered the most favourable of all, since it reaches into every region of the inhabited earth and is ever cool.
§ 3.49
τούτων δʼ ἡμῖν διευκρινημένων οἰκεῖον ἂν εἴη διελθεῖν περὶ τῶν Λιβύων τῶν πλησίον Αἰγύπτου κατοικούντων καὶ τῆς ὁμόρου χώρας. τὰ γὰρ περὶ Κυρήνην καὶ τὰς Σύρτεις, ἔτι δὲ τὴν μεσόγειον τῆς κατὰ τοὺς τόπους τούτους χέρσου, κατοικεῖ τέτταρα γένη Λιβύων· ὧν οἱ μὲν ὀνομαζόμενοι Νασαμῶνες νέμονται τὰ νεύοντα μέρη πρὸς νότον, οἱ δʼ Αὐσχῖσαι τὰ πρὸς τὴν δύσιν, οἱ δὲ Μαρμαρίδαι κατοικοῦσι τὴν μεταξὺ ταινίαν Αἰγύπτου καὶ Κυρήνης, μετέχοντες καὶ τῆς παραλίου, οἱ δὲ Μάκαι πολυανθρωπίᾳ τῶν ὁμοεθνῶν προέχοντες νέμονται τοὺς τόπους τοὺς περὶ τὴν Σύρτιν. τῶν δὲ προειρημένων Λιβύων γεωργοὶ μέν εἰσιν οἷς ὑπάρχει χώρα δυναμένη καρπὸν φέρειν δαψιλῆ, νομάδες δʼ ὅσοι τῶν κτηνῶν τὴν ἐπιμέλειαν ποιούμενοι τὰς τροφὰς ἔχουσιν ἀπὸ τούτων· ἀμφότερα δὲ τὰ γένη ταῦτα βασιλέας ἔχει καὶ βίον οὐ παντελῶς ἄγριον οὐδʼ ἀνθρωπίνης ἡμερότητος ἐξηλλαγμένον. τὸ δὲ τρίτον γένος οὔτε βασιλέως ὑπακοῦον οὔτε τοῦ δικαίου λόγον οὐδʼ ἔννοιαν ἔχον ἀεὶ λῃστεύει, ἀπροσδοκήτως δὲ τὰς ἐμβολὰς ἐκ τῆς ἐρήμου ποιούμενον ἁρπάζει τὰ παρατυχόντα, καὶ ταχέως ἀνακάμπτει πρὸς τὸν αὐτὸν τόπον. πάντες δʼ οἱ Λίβυες οὗτοι θηριώδη βίον ἔχουσιν, ὑπαίθριοι διαμένοντες καὶ τὸ τῶν ἐπιτηδευμάτων ἄγριον ἐζηλωκότες· οὔτε γὰρ ἡμέρου διαίτης οὔτʼ ἐσθῆτος μετέχουσιν, ἀλλὰ δοραῖς αἰγῶν σκεπάζουσι τὰ σώματα. τοῖς δὲ δυνάσταις αὐτῶν πόλεις μὲν τὸ σύνολον οὐχ ὑπάρχουσι, πύργοι δὲ πλησίον τῶν ὑδάτων, εἰς οὓς ἀποτίθενται τὰ πλεονάζοντα τῆς ὠφελείας. τοὺς δʼ ὑποτεταγμένους λαοὺς κατʼ ἐνιαυτὸν ἐξορκίζουσι πειθαρχήσειν· καὶ τῶν μὲν ὑπακουσάντων ὡς συμμάχων φροντίζουσι, τῶν δὲ μὴ προσεχόντων θάνατον καταγνόντες ὡς λῃσταῖς πολεμοῦσιν. ὁ δʼ ὁπλισμὸς αὐτῶν ἐστιν οἰκεῖος τῆς τε χώρας καὶ τῶν ἐπιτηδευμάτων· κοῦφοι γὰρ ὄντες τοῖς σώμασι καὶ χώραν οἰκοῦντες κατὰ τὸ πλεῖστον πεδιάδα, πρὸς τοὺς κινδύνους ὁρμῶσι λόγχας ἔχοντες τρεῖς καὶ λίθους ἐν ἄγγεσι σκυτίνοις· ξίφος δʼ οὐ φοροῦσιν οὐδὲ κράνος οὐδʼ ὅπλον οὐδὲν ἕτερον, στοχαζόμενοι τοῦ προτερεῖν ταῖς εὐκινησίαις ἐν τοῖς διωγμοῖς καὶ πάλιν ἐν ταῖς ἀποχωρήσεσι. διόπερ εὔθετοι πρὸς δρόμον εἰσὶ καὶ λιθοβολίαν, διαπεπονηκότες τῇ μελέτῃ καὶ τῇ συνηθείᾳ τὰ τῆς φύσεως προτερήματα. καθόλου δὲ πρὸς τοὺς ἀλλοφύλους οὔτε τὸ δίκαιον οὔτε τὴν πίστιν κατʼ οὐδένα τρόπον διατηροῦσιν.
But now that we have examined these matters, it will be appropriate to discuss the Libyans who dwell near Egypt and the country which borders upon them. The parts about Cyrene and the Syrtes as well as the interior of the mainland in these regions are inhabited by four tribes of Libyans; of these the Nasamones, as they are called, dwell in the parts to the south, the Auschisae in those to the west, the Marmaridae occupy the narrow strip between Egypt and Cyrene and come down to the coast, and the Macae, who are more numerous than their fellow Libyans, dwell in the regions about the Syrtis. 2 Now of the Libyans whom we have just mentioned those are farmers who possess land which is able to produce abundant crops, while those are nomads who get their sustenance from the flocks and herds which they maintain; and both of these groups have kings and lead a life which is not entirely savage or different from that of civilized men. The third group, however, obeying no king and taking no account or even thought of justice, makes robbery its constant practice, and attacking unexpectedly from out of the desert it seizes whatever it has happened upon and quickly withdraws to the place from which it had set out. 3 All the Libyans of this third group lead a life like that of the wild beasts, spending their days under the open sky and practising the savage in their mode of life; for they have nothing to do with civilized food or clothing, but cover their bodies with the skins of goats. Their leaders have no cities whatsoever, but only towers near the sources of water, and into these they bring and store away the excess of their booty. Of the peoples who are their subjects they annually exact an oath of obedience to their authority, and to any who have submitted to them they extend their protection as being allies, and such as take no heed of them they first condemn to death and then make war upon them as robbers. 4 Their weapons are appropriate to both the country and their mode of life; for since they are light of body and inhabit a country which is for the most part a level plain, they face the dangers which beset them armed with three spears and stones in leather bags; and they carry neither sword nor helmet nor any other armour, since their aim is to excel in agility both in pursuit and again in withdrawal. 5 Consequently they are expert in running and hurling stones, having brought to full development by practice and habit the advantages accorded them by nature. And, speaking generally, they observe neither justice nor good faith in any respect in dealing with peoples of alien race.
§ 3.50
τῆς δὲ χώρας ἡ μὲν ὅμορος τῇ Κυρήνῃ γεώδης ἐστὶ καὶ πολλοὺς φέρουσα καρπούς· οὐ μόνον γὰρ ὑπάρχει σιτοφόρος, ἀλλὰ καὶ πολλὴν ἄμπελον, ἔτι δʼ ἐλαίαν ἔχει καὶ τὴν ἀγρίαν ὕλην καὶ ποταμοὺς εὐχρηστίαν παρεχομένους· ἡ δʼ ὑπὲρ τὸ νότιον μέρος ὑπερτείνουσα, καθʼ ἣν τὸ νίτρον φύεσθαι συμβέβηκεν, ἄσπορος οὖσα καὶ σπανίζουσα ναματιαίων ὑδάτων, τὴν πρόσοψιν ἔχει πελάγει παρεμφερῆ· οὐδεμίαν δὲ παρεχομένη ποικιλίαν κατὰ τὴν ἰδέαν ἐρήμῳ γῇ περιέχεται, τῆς ὑπερκειμένης ἐρήμου δυσέξιτον ἐχούσης τὸ πέρας. διόπερ οὐδʼ ὄρνεον ἰδεῖν ἔστιν, οὐ τετράπουν ἐν αὐτῇ ζῷον πλὴν δορκάδος καὶ βοός, οὐ μὴν οὔτε φυτὸν οὔτʼ ἄλλο τῶν δυναμένων ψυχαγωγῆσαι τὴν ὅρασιν, ὡς ἂν τῆς εἰς μεσόγειον ἀνηκούσης γῆς ἐχούσης ἐπὶ τὸ μῆκος ἀθρόους θῖνας. ἐφʼ ὅσον δὲ σπανίζει τῶν πρὸς ἥμερον βίον ἀνηκόντων, ἐπὶ τοσοῦτο πλήθει παντοίων ταῖς ἰδέαις καὶ τοῖς μεγέθεσιν ὄφεων, μάλιστα δὲ τῶν τοιούτων οὓς προσαγορεύουσι κεράστας, οἳ τὰ μὲν δήγματα θανατηφόρα ποιοῦνται, τὴν δὲ χρόαν ἅμμῳ παραπλησίαν ἔχουσι· διόπερ ἐξωμοιωμένων αὐτῶν κατὰ τὴν πρόσοψιν τοῖς ὑποκειμένοις ἐδάφεσιν ὀλίγοι μὲν ἐπιγινώσκουσιν, οἱ πολλοὶ δʼ ἀγνοοῦντες πατοῦσι καὶ κινδύνοις περιπίπτουσιν ἀπροσδοκήτοις. λέγεται δὲ τούτους τὸ παλαιὸν ἐπελθόντας ποτὲ πολλὴν τῆς Αἰγύπτου ποιῆσαι τὴν ὑποκειμένην χώραν ἀοίκητον. γίνεται δέ τι θαυμάσιον περί τε ταύτην τὴν χώραν καὶ τὴν χέρσον καὶ τὴν ἐπέκεινα τῆς Σύρτεως Λιβύην. περὶ γάρ τινας καιροὺς καὶ μάλιστα κατὰ τὰς νηνεμίας συστάσεις ὁρῶνται κατὰ τὸν ἀέρα παντοίων ζῴων ἰδέας ἐμφαίνουσαι· τούτων δʼ αἱ μὲν ἠρεμοῦσιν, αἱ δὲ κίνησιν λαμβάνουσι, καὶ ποτὲ μὲν ὑποφεύγουσι, ποτὲ δὲ διώκουσι, πᾶσαι δὲ τὸ μέγεθος ἄπλατον ἔχουσαι θαυμαστὴν κατάπληξιν καὶ ταραχὴν παρασκευάζουσι τοῖς ἀπείροις. αἱ γὰρ ἐπιδιώκουσαι τοὺς ἀνθρώπους ἐπειδὰν καταλάβωσι, περιχέονται τοῖς σώμασι ψυχραὶ καὶ παλμώδεις, ὥστε τοὺς μὲν ξένους ἀσυνήθεις ὄντας διὰ τὸ δέος ἐκπεπλῆχθαι, τοὺς δʼ ἐγχωρίους πολλάκις συγκεκυρηκότας τοῖς τοιούτοις καταφρονεῖν τοῦ συμβαίνοντος.
That part of the country which lies near the city of Cyrene has a deep soil and bears products of many kinds; for not only does it produce wheat, but it also possesses large vineyards and olive orchards and native forests, and rivers which are of great utility; but the area which extends beyond its southern border where nitre is found, being uncultivated and lacking springs of water, is in appearance like a sea; and in addition to its showing no variety of landscape it is surrounded by desert land, the desert which lies beyond ending in a region from which egress is difficult. 2 Consequently not even a bird is to be seen there nor any four-footed animal except the gazelle and the ox, nor indeed any plant or anything that delights the eye, since the land which stretches into the interior contains nearly continuous dunes throughout its length. And greatly as it is lacking in the things which pertain to civilized life, to the same degree does it abound in snakes of every manner of appearance and size, and especially in those which men call cerastes, the stings of which are mortal and their colour is like sand; 3 and since for this reason they look like the ground on which they lie, few men discern them and the greater number tread on them unwittingly and meet with unexpected perils. Moreover, the account runs that in ancient times these snakes once invaded a large part of that section of Egypt which lies below this desert and rendered it uninhabitable. And both in this arid land and in Libya which lies beyond the Syrtis there takes place a marvellous thing. For at certain times, and especially when there is no wind, shapes are seen gathering in the sky which assume the forms of animals of every kind; and some of these remain fixed, but others begin to move, sometimes retreating before a man and at other times pursuing him, and in every case, since they are of monstrous size, they strike such as have never experienced them with wondrous dismay and terror. 5 For when the shape which are pursuing overtake the persons they envelop their bodies, causing a chilling and shivering sensation, so that strangers who are unfamiliar with them are overcome with fear, although the natives, who have often met with such things, pay no attention to the phenomenon.
§ 3.51
παραδόξου δʼ εἶναι δοκοῦντος τοῦ πράγματος καὶ μύθῳ πεπλασμένῳ παραπλησίου, πειρῶνταί τινες τῶν φυσικῶν αἰτίας ἀποδιδόναι τοῦ γινομένου τοιαύτας. ἀνέμους φασὶ κατὰ τὴν χώραν τοὺς μὲν τὸ σύνολον μὴ πνεῖν, τοὺς δὲ παντελῶς εἶναι βληχροὺς καὶ κωφούς· ὑπάρχειν δὲ καὶ περὶ τὸν ἀέρα πολλάκις ἠρεμίαν καὶ θαυμαστὴν ἀκινησίαν διὰ τὸ μήτε νάπας μήτε συσκίους αὐλῶνας παρακεῖσθαι πλησίον μήτε λόφων ὑπάρχειν ἀναστήματα· ποταμῶν τε μεγάλων σπανίζειν τοὺς τόπους, καὶ καθόλου τὴν σύνεγγυς χώραν ἅπασαν ἄκαρπον οὖσαν μηδεμίαν ἔχειν ἀναθυμίασιν· ἐξ ὧν ἁπάντων εἰωθέναι γεννᾶσθαί τινας ἀρχὰς καὶ συστάσεις πνευμάτων. διόπερ συμπνιγοῦς περιστάσεως τὴν χέρσον ἐπεχούσης, ὅπερ ὁρῶμεν ἐπὶ τῶν νεφῶν ἐνίοτε συμβαῖνον ἐν ταῖς νοτίαις ἡμέραις, τυπουμένων ἰδεῶν παντοδαπῶν, τοῦτο γίνεσθαι καὶ περὶ τὴν Λιβύην, πολλαχῶς μορφουμένου τοῦ συμπίπτοντος ἀέρος· ὃν ταῖς μὲν ἀσθενέσι καὶ βληχραῖς αὔραις ὀχεῖσθαι μετεωριζόμενον καὶ παλμοὺς ποιοῦντα καὶ συγκρούοντα συστήμασιν ἑτέροις ὁμοίοις, νηνεμίας δʼ ἐπιλαμβανούσης καθίστασθαι πρὸς τὴν γῆν, βαρὺν ὄντα καὶ τετυπωμένον ὡς ἔτυχεν· ἔπειτα μηδενὸς ὄντος τοῦ συγχέοντος προσπελάζειν τοῖς αὐτομάτως περιτυγχάνουσι τῶν ζῴων. τὰς δʼ ἐφʼ ἑκάτερα κινήσεις αὐτῶν φασι προαίρεσιν μὲν μηδεμίαν ἐμφαίνειν· ἐν ἀψύχῳ γὰρ ἀδύνατον ὑπάρχειν φυγὴν ἑκούσιον ἢ δίωξιν· τὰ μέντοι ζῷα λεληθότως αἴτια τῆς μεταρσίας κινήσεως γίνεσθαι· προσιόντων μὲν γὰρ αὐτῶν τὸν ὑποκείμενον ἀέρα μετὰ βίας ἀναστέλλειν, καὶ διὰ τοῦθʼ ὑποχωρεῖν τὸ συνεστηκὸς εἴδωλον καὶ ποιεῖν τὴν ἔμφασιν ὑποφεύγοντος· τοῖς δʼ ἀναχωροῦσι κατὰ τοὐναντίον ἐπακολουθεῖν, ἀντεστραμμένης τῆς αἰτίας, ὡς ἂν τοῦ κενοῦ καὶ τῆς ἀραιώσεως ἐπισπωμένης. διόπερ ἐοικέναι διώκοντι τοὺς ὑποχωροῦντας· ἕλκεσθαι γὰρ αὐτὸ καὶ προπίπτεὶν εἰς τὸ πρόσθεν ἄθρουν ὑπὸ τῆς πάλιν ῥύμης· τοὺς δʼ ὑποφεύγοντας, ὅταν ἐπιστραφῶσιν ἢ μένωσιν, εὐλόγως ὑπὸ τοῦ συνακολουθοῦντος εἰδώλου ψαύεσθαι τοῖς ὄγκοις· τοῦτο δὲ κατὰ τὴν πρὸς τὸ στερέμνιον πρόσπτωσιν περιθρύβεσθαι, καὶ πανταχόθεν προσχεόμενον καταψύχειν τὰ σώματα τῶν περιτυγχανόντων.
Now incredible though this effect may seem and like a fanciful tale, yet certain physical philosophers attempt to set forth the causes of it somewhat as follows: 2 The winds, they say, either blow in this land not at all or else are altogether sluggish and without vigour; and often there prevails in the air a calm and wondrous lack of movement, because of the fact that neither wooded vales nor thickly-shaded glens lie near it nor are there any elevations that make hills; furthermore, these regions lack large rivers and, in general, the whole territory round about, being barren of plants, gives forth no vapour. Yet it is all these things which are wont, they explain, to generate beginnings, as it were, and gatherings of air-currents. 3 Consequently, when so stifling an atmosphere extends over the arid land the phenomenon which we observe taking place now and then with respect to the clouds on humid days, when every kind of shape is formed, occurs likewise in Libya, they tell us, the air as it condenses assuming manifold shapes. Now this air is driven along by the weak and sluggish breezes, rising aloft and making quivering motions and impinging upon other bodies of similar character, but when a calm succeeds, it then descends towards the earth by reason of its weight and in the shape which it may chance to have assumed, whereupon, there being nothing to dissipate it, the air clings to such living creatures as accidentally come to be in the way. 4 As for the movements which these shapes make in both directions, these, they say, indicate no volition on their part, since it is impossible that voluntary flight or pursuit should reside in a soulless thing. And yet the living creatures are, unknown to themselves, responsible for this movement through the air; for, if they advance, they push up by their violent motion the air which lies beneath them, and this is the reason why the image which has been formed retreats before them and gives the impression of fleeing; whereas if the living creatures withdraw, they follow in the opposite direction, the cause having been reversed, since that which is empty and rarefied draws the shapes towards itself. 5 Consequently it has the appearance of pursuing men who withdraw before it, for the image is drawn to the empty space and rushes forward in a mass under the influence of the backward motion of the living creature; and as for those who flee, it is quite reasonable that, whether they turn about or stand still, their bodies should feel the light touch of the image which follows them; and this is broken in pieces as it strikes upon the solid object, and as it pours itself out in all directions it chills the bodies of all with whom it comes in contact.
§ 3.52
τούτων δʼ ἡμῖν διευκρινημένων οἰκεῖον ἂν εἴη τοῖς προειρημένοις τόποις διελθεῖν τὰ περὶ τὰς Ἀμαζόνας ἱστορούμενα τὰς γενομένας τὸ παλαιὸν κατὰ τὴν Λιβύην. οἱ πολλοὶ μὲν γὰρ ὑπειλήφασι τὰς περὶ τὸν Θερμώδοντα ποταμὸν ἐν τῷ Πόντῳ λεγομένας κατῳκηκέναι μόνας ὑπάρξαι· τὸ δʼ ἀληθὲς οὐχ οὕτως ἔχει, διὰ τὸ πολὺ προτερεῖν τοῖς χρόνοις τὰς κατὰ Λιβύην καὶ πράξεις ἀξιολόγους ἐπιτελέσασθαι. οὐκ ἀγνοοῦμεν δὲ διότι πολλοῖς τῶν ἀναγινωσκόντων ἀνήκοος φανεῖται καὶ ξένη παντελῶς ἡ περὶ τούτων ἱστορία· ἠφανισμένου γὰρ ὁλοσχερῶς τοῦ γένους τῶν Ἀμαζονίδων τούτων πολλαῖς γενεαῖς πρότερον τῶν Τρωικῶν, τῶν δὲ περὶ τὸν Θερμώδοντα ποταμὸν γυναικῶν ἠκμακυιῶν μικρὸν πρὸ τούτων τῶν χρόνων, οὐκ ἀλόγως αἱ μεταγενέστεραι καὶ μᾶλλον γνωριζόμεναι τὴν δόξαν κεκληρονομήκασι τὴν τῶν παλαιῶν καὶ παντελῶς ἀγνοουμένων διὰ τὸν χρόνον ὑπὸ τῶν πλείστων. οὐ μὴν ἀλλʼ ἡμεῖς εὑρίσκοντες πολλοὺς μὲν τῶν ἀρχαίων ποιητῶν τε καὶ συγγραφέων, οὐκ ὀλίγους δὲ καὶ τῶν μεταγενεστέρων μνήμην πεποιημένους αὐτῶν, ἀναγράφειν τὰς πράξεις πειρασόμεθα ἐν κεφαλαίοις ἀκολούθως Διονυσίῳ τῷ συντεταγμένῳ τὰ περὶ τοὺς Ἀργοναύτας καὶ τὸν Διόνυσον καὶ ἕτερα πολλὰ τῶν ἐν τοῖς παλαιοτάτοις χρόνοις πραχθέντων. γέγονε μὲν οὖν πλείω γένη γυναικῶν κατὰ τὴν Λιβύην μάχιμα καὶ τεθαυμασμένα μεγάλως ἐπʼ ἀνδρείᾳ· τό τε γὰρ τῶν Γοργόνων ἔθνος, ἐφʼ ὃ λέγεται τὸν Περσέα στρατεῦσαι, παρειλήφαμεν ἀλκῇ διαφέρον· τὸ γὰρ τὸν Διὸς μὲν υἱόν, τῶν δὲ καθʼ ἑαυτὸν Ἑλλήνων ἄριστον, τελέσαι μέγιστον ἆθλον τὴν ἐπὶ ταύτας στρατείαν τεκμήριον ἄν τις λάβοι τῆς περὶ τὰς προειρημένας γυναῖκας ὑπεροχῆς τε καὶ δυνάμεως· ἥ τε τῶν νῦν μελλουσῶν ἱστορεῖσθαι ἀνδρεία παράδοξον ἔχει τὴν ὑπεροχὴν πρὸς τὰς καθʼ ἡμᾶς φύσεις τῶν γυναικῶν συγκρινομένη.
But now that we have examined these matters it will be fitting, in connection with the regions we have mentioned, to discuss the account which history records of the Amazons who were in Libya in ancient times. For the majority of mankind believe that the only Amazons were those who are reported to have dwelt in the neighbourhood of the Thermodon river on the Pontus; but the truth is otherwise, since the Amazons of Libya were much earlier in point of time and accomplished notable deeds. 2 Now we are not unaware that to many who read this account the history of this people will appear to be a thing unheard of and entirely strange; for since the race of these Amazons disappeared entirely many generations before the Trojan War, whereas the women about the Thermodon river were in their full vigour a little before that time, it is not without reason that the later people, who were also better known, should have inherited the fame of the earlier, who are entirely unknown to most men because of the lapse of time. 3 For our part, however, since we find that many early poets and historians, and not a few of the later ones as well, have made mention of them, we shall endeavour to recount their deeds in summary, following the account of Dionysius, who composed a narrative about the Argonauts and Dionysus, and also about many other things which took place in the most ancient times. Now there have been in Libya a number of races of women who were warlike and greatly admired for their manly vigour; for instance, tradition tells us of the race of the Gorgons, against whom, as the account is given, Perseus made war, a race distinguished for its valour; for the fact that it was the son of Zeus, the mightiest Greek of his day, who accomplished the campaign against these women, and that this was his greatest Labour may be taken by any man as proof of both the preeminence and the power of the women we have mentioned. Furthermore, the manly prowess of those of whom we are now about to write presupposes an amazing pre-eminence when compared with the nature of the women of our day.
§ 3.53
φασὶ γὰρ ὑπάρξαι τῆς Λιβύης ἐν τοῖς πρὸς ἑσπέραν μέρεσιν ἐπὶ τοῖς πέρασι τῆς οἰκουμένης ἔθνος γυναικοκρατούμενον καὶ βίον ἐζηλωκὸς οὐχ ὅμοιον τῷ παρʼ ἡμῖν. ταῖς μὲν γὰρ γυναιξὶν ἔθος εἶναι διαπονεῖν τὰ κατὰ πόλεμον, καὶ χρόνους ὡρισμένους ὀφείλειν στρατεύεσθαι, διατηρουμένης τῆς παρθενίας· διελθόντων δὲ τῶν ἐτῶν τῶν τῆς στρατείας προσιέναι μὲν τοῖς ἀνδράσι παιδοποιίας ἕνεκα, τὰς δʼ ἀρχὰς καὶ τὰ κοινὰ διοικεῖν ταύτας ἅπαντα. τοὺς δʼ ἄνδρας ὁμοίως ταῖς παρʼ ἡμῖν γαμεταῖς τὸν κατοικίδιον ἔχειν βίον, ὑπηρετοῦντας τοῖς ὑπὸ τῶν συνοικουσῶν προσταττομένοις· μὴ μετέχειν δʼ αὐτοὺς μήτε στρατείας μήτʼ ἀρχῆς μήτʼ ἄλλης τινὸς ἐν τοῖς κοινοῖς παρρησίας, ἐξ ἧς ἔμελλον φρονηματισθέντες ἐπιθήσεσθαι ταῖς γυναιξί. κατὰ δὲ τὰς γενέσεις τῶν τέκνων τὰ μὲν βρέφη παραδίδοσθαι τοῖς ἀνδράσι, καὶ τούτους διατρέφειν αὐτὰ γάλακτι καὶ ἄλλοις τισὶν ἑψήμασιν οἰκείως ταῖς τῶν νηπίων ἡλικίαις· εἰ δὲ τύχοι θῆλυ γεννηθέν, ἐπικάεσθαι αὐτοῦ τοὺς μαστούς, ἵνα μὴ μετεωρίζωνται κατὰ τοὺς τῆς ἀκμῆς χρόνους· ἐμπόδιον γὰρ οὐ τὸ τυχὸν εἶναι δοκεῖν πρὸς τὰς στρατείας τοὺς ἐξέχοντας τοῦ σώματος μαστούς· διὸ καὶ τούτων αὐτὰς ἀπεστερημένας ὑπὸ τῶν Ἑλλήνων Ἀμαζόνας προσαγορεύεσθαι. μυθολογοῦσι δʼ αὐτὰς ᾠκηκέναι νῆσον τὴν ἀπὸ μὲν τοῦ πρὸς δυσμὰς ὑπάρχειν αὐτὴν Ἑσπέραν προσαγορευθεῖσαν, κειμένην δʼ ἐν τῇ Τριτωνίδι λίμνῃ. ταύτην δὲ πλησίον ὑπάρχειν τοῦ περιέχοντος τὴν γῆν ὠκεανοῦ, προσηγορεῦσθαι δʼ ἀπό τινος ἐμβάλλοντος εἰς αὐτὴν ποταμοῦ Τρίτωνος· κεῖσθαι δὲ τὴν λίμνην ταύτην πλησίον Αἰθιοπίας καὶ τοῦ παρὰ τὸν ὠκεανὸν ὄρους, ὃ μέγιστον μὲν ὑπάρχειν τῶν ἐν τοῖς τόποις καὶ προπεπτωκὸς εἰς τὸν ὠκεανόν, ὀνομάζεσθαι δʼ ὑπὸ τῶν Ἑλλήνων Ἄτλαντα. τὴν δὲ προειρημένην νῆσον ὑπάρχειν μὲν εὐμεγέθη καὶ πλήρη καρπίμων δένδρων παντοδαπῶν, ἀφʼ ὧν πορίζεσθαι τὰς τροφὰς τοὺς ἐγχωρίους. ἔχειν δʼ αὐτὴν καὶ κτηνῶν πλῆθος, αἰγῶν καὶ προβάτων, ἐξ ὧν γάλα καὶ κρέα πρὸς διατροφὴν ὑπάρχειν τοῖς κεκτημένοις σίτῳ δὲ τὸ σύνολον μὴ χρῆσθαι τὸ ἔθνος διὰ τὸ μήπω τοῦ καρποῦ τούτου τὴν χρείαν εὑρεθῆναι παρʼ αὐτοῖς. τὰς δʼ οὖν Ἀμαζόνας ἀλκῇ διαφερούσας καὶ πρὸς πόλεμον ὡρμημένας τὸ μὲν πρῶτον τὰς ἐν τῇ νήσῳ. πόλεις καταστρέφεσθαι πλὴν τῆς ὀνομαζομένης Μήνης, ἱερᾶς δʼ εἶναι νομιζομένης, ἣν κατοικεῖσθαι μὲν ὑπʼ Αἰθιόπων Ἰχθυοφάγων, ἔχειν δὲ πυρὸς ἐκφυσήματα μεγάλα καὶ λίθων πολυτελῶν πλῆθος τῶν ὀνομαζομένων παρʼ Ἕλλησιν ἀνθράκων καὶ σαρδίων καὶ σμαράγδων, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα πολλοὺς τῶν πλησιοχώρων Λιβύων καὶ νομάδων καταπολεμῆσαι, καὶ κτίσαι πόλιν μεγάλην ἐντὸς τῆς Τριτωνίδος λίμνης, ἣν ἀπὸ τοῦ σχήματος ὀνομάσαι Χερρόνησον.
We are told, namely, that there was once on the western parts of Libya, on the bounds of the inhabited world, a race which was ruled by women and followed a manner of life unlike that which prevails among us. For it was the custom among them that the women should practise the arts of war and be required to serve in the army for a fixed period, during which time they maintained their virginity; then, when the years of their service in the field had expired, they went in to the men for the procreation of children, but they kept in their hands the administration of the magistracies and of all the affairs of the state. 2 The men, however, like our married women, spent their days about the house, carrying out the orders which were given them by their wives; and they took no part in military campaigns or in office or in the exercise of free citizenship in the affairs of the community by virtue of which they might become presumptuous and rise up against the women. 3 When their children were born the babies were turned over to the men, who brought them up on milk and such cooked foods as were appropriate to the age of the infants; and if it happened that a girl was born, its breasts were seared that they might not develop at the time of maturity; for they thought that the breasts, as they stood out from the body, were no small hindrance in warfare; and in fact it is because they have been deprived of their breasts that they are called by the Greeks Amazons. As mythology relates, their home was on an island which, because it was in the west, was called Hespera, and it lay in the marsh Tritonis. This marsh was near the ocean which surrounds the earth and received its name from a certain river Triton which emptied into it; and this marsh was also near Ethiopia and that mountain by the shore of the ocean which is the highest of those in the vicinity and impinges upon the ocean and is called by the Greeks Atlas. 5 The island mentioned above was of great size and full of fruit-bearing trees of every kind, from which the natives secured their food. It contained also a multitude of flocks and herds, namely, of goats and sheep, from which possessors received milk and meat for their sustenance; but grain the nation used not at all because the use of this fruit of the earth had not yet been discovered among them. The Amazons, then, the account continues, being a race superior in valour and eager for war, first of all subdued all the cities on the island except the one called Mene, which was considered to be sacred and was inhabited by Ethiopian Ichthyophagi, and was also subject to great eruptions of fire and possessed a multitude of the precious stones which the Greeks call anthrax, sardion, and smaragdos; and after this they subdued many of the neighbouring Libyans and nomad tribes, and founded within the marsh Tritonis a great city which they named Cherronesus after its shape.
§ 3.54
ἐκ δὲ ταύτης ὁρμωμένας ἐγχειρῆσαι μεγάλαις ἐπιβολαῖς, ὁρμῆς αὐταῖς ἐμπεσούσης ἐπελθεῖν πολλὰ μέρη τῆς οἰκουμένης. ἐπὶ πρώτους δʼ αὐτὰς στρατεῦσαι λέγεται τοὺς Ἀτλαντίους, ἄνδρας ἡμερωτάτους τῶν ἐν τοῖς τόποις ἐκείνοις καὶ χώραν νεμομένους εὐδαίμονα καὶ πόλεις μεγάλας· παρʼ οἷς δὴ μυθολογεῖσθαί φασι τὴν τῶν θεῶν γένεσιν ὑπάρξαι πρὸς τοῖς κατὰ τὸν ὠκεανὸν τόποις, συμφώνως τοῖς παρʼ Ἕλλησι μυθολόγοις, περὶ ὧν τὰ κατὰ μέρος μικρὸν ὕστερον διέξιμεν. τῶν οὖν Ἀμαζόνων λέγεται βασιλεύουσαν Μύριναν συστήσασθαι στρατόπεδον πεζῶν μὲν τρισμυρίων, ἱππέων δὲ τρισχιλίων, ζηλουμένης παρʼ αὐταῖς περιττότερον ἐν τοῖς πολέμοις τῆς ἀπὸ τῶν ἱππέων χρείας. ὅπλοις δὲ χρῆσθαι σκεπαστηρίοις ὄφεων μεγάλων δοραῖς, ἐχούσης τῆς Λιβύης ταῦτα τὰ ζῷα τοῖς μεγέθεσιν ἄπιστα, ἀμυντηρίοις δὲ τοῖς ξίφεσι καὶ ταῖς λόγχαις, ἔτι δὲ τόξοις, οἷς μὴ μόνον ἐξ ἐναντίας βάλλειν, ἀλλὰ καὶ κατὰ τὰς φυγὰς τοὺς ἐπιδιώκοντας εἰς τοὐπίσω τοξεύειν εὐστόχως. ἐμβαλούσας δʼ αὐτὰς εἰς τὴν τῶν Ἀτλαντίων χώραν τοὺς μὲν τὴν Κέρνην καλουμένην οἰκοῦντας παρατάξει νικῆσαι, καὶ συνεισπεσούσας τοῖς φεύγουσιν ἐντὸς τῶν τειχῶν κυριεῦσαι τῆς πόλεως· βουλομένας δὲ τῷ φόβῳ καταπλήξασθαι τοὺς περιοίκους ὠμῶς προσενεχθῆναι τοῖς ἁλοῦσι, καὶ τοὺς μὲν ἄνδρας ἡβηδὸν ἀποσφάξαι, τέκνα δὲ καὶ γυναῖκας ἐξανδραποδισαμένας κατασκάψαι τὴν πόλιν. τῆς δὲ περὶ τοὺς Κερναίους συμφορᾶς διαδοθείσης εἰς τοὺς ὁμοεθνεῖς, λέγεται τοὺς μὲν Ἀτλαντίους καταπλαγέντας δι’ ὁμολογίας παραδοῦναι τὰς πόλεις καὶ πᾶν τὸ προσταχθὲν ποιήσειν ἐπαγγείλασθαι, τὴν δὲ βασίλισσαν Μύριναν ἐπιεικῶς αὐτοῖς προσενεχθεῖσαν φιλίαν τε συνθέσθαι καὶ πόλιν ἀντὶ τῆς κατασκαφείσης ὁμώνυμον ἑαυτῆς κτίσαι· κατοικίσαι δʼ εἰς αὐτὴν τούς τε αἰχμαλώτους καὶ τῶν ἐγχωρίων τὸν βουλόμενον. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τῶν Ἀτλαντίων δῶρά τε μεγαλοπρεπῆ δόντων αὐτῇ καὶ τιμὰς ἀξιολόγους κοινῇ ψηφισαμένων, ἀποδέξασθαί τε τὴν φιλανθρωπίαν αὐτῶν καὶ προσεπαγγείλασθαι τὸ ἔθνος εὐεργετήσειν. τῶν δʼ ἐγχωρίων πεπολεμημένων πολλάκις ὑπὸ τῶν ὀνομαζομένων Γοργόνων, οὐσῶν πλησιοχώρων, καὶ τὸ σύνολον ἔφεδρον ἐχόντων τοῦτο τὸ ἔθνος, φασὶν ἀξιωθεῖσαν τὴν Μύριναν ὑπὸ τῶν Ἀτλαντίων ἐμβαλεῖν εἰς τὴν χώραν τῶν προειρημένων. ἀντιταξαμένων δὲ τῶν Γοργόνων γενέσθαι καρτερὰν μάχην, καὶ τὰς Ἀμαζόνας ἐπὶ τοῦ προτερήματος γενομένας ἀνελεῖν μὲν τῶν ἀντιταχθεισῶν παμπληθεῖς, ζωγρῆσαι δʼ οὐκ ἐλάττους τρισχιλίων· τῶν δʼ ἄλλων εἴς τινα δρυμώδη τόπον συμφυγουσῶν ἐπιβαλέσθαι μὲν τὴν Μύριναν ἐμπρῆσαι τὴν ὕλην, σπεύδουσαν ἄρδην ἀνελεῖν τὸ ἔθνος, οὐ δυνηθεῖσαν δὲ κρατῆσαι τῆς ἐπιβολῆς ἐπανελθεῖν ἐπὶ τοὺς ὅρους τῆς χώρας.
Setting out from the city of Cherronesus, the account continues, the Amazons embarked upon great ventures, a longing having come over them to invade many part of the inhabited world. The first people against whom they advanced, according to the tale, was the Atlantians, the most civilized men among the inhabitants of those regions, who dwelt in a prosperous country and possessed great cities; it was among them, we are told, that mythology places the birth of the gods, in the regions which lie along the shore of the ocean, in this respect agreeing with those among the Greeks who relate legends, and about this we shall speak in detail a little later. Now the queen of the Amazons, Myrina, collected, it is said, an army of thirty thousand foot-soldiers and three thousand cavalry, since they favoured to an unusual degree the use of cavalry in their wars. 3 For protective devices they used the skins of large snakes, since Libya contains such animals of incredible size, and for offensive weapons, swords and lances; they also used bows and arrows, with which they struck not only when facing the enemy but also when in flight, by shooting backwards at their pursuers with good effect. 4 Upon entering the land of the Atlantians they defeated in a pitched battle the inhabitants of the city of Cerne, as it is called, and making their way inside the walls along with the fleeing enemy, they got the city into their hands; and desiring to strike terror into the neighbouring peoples they treated the captives savagely, put to the sword the men from the youth upward, led into slavery the children and women, and razed the city. 5 But when the terrible fate of the inhabitants of Cerne became known among their fellow tribesmen, it is related that the Atlantians, struck with terror, surrendered their cities on terms of capitulation and announced that they would do whatever should be commanded them, and that the queen Myrina, bearing herself honourably towards the Atlantians, both established friendship with them and founded a city to bear her name in place of the city which had been razed; and in it she settled both the captives and any native who so desired. 6 Whereupon the Atlantians presented her with magnificent presents and by public decree voted to her notable honours, and she in return accepted their courtesy and in addition promised that she would show kindness to their nation. 7 And since the natives were often being warred upon by the Gorgons, as they were named, a folk which resided upon their borders, and in general had that people lying in wait to injure them, Myrina, they say, was asked by the Atlantians to invade the land of the afore-mentioned Gorgons. But when the Gorgons drew up their forces to resist them a mighty battle took place in which the Amazons, gaining the upper hand, slew great numbers of their opponents and took no fewer than three thousand prisoners; and since the rest had fled for refuge into a certain wooded region, Myrina undertook to set fire to the timber, being eager to destroy the race utterly, but when she found that she was unable to succeed in her attempt she retired to the borders of her country.
§ 3.55
τῶν δʼ Ἀμαζόνων νυκτὸς τὰ περὶ τὰς φυλακὰς ῥᾳθυμουσῶν διὰ τὴν εὐημερίαν, ἐπιθεμένας τὰς αἰχμαλωτίδας, σπασαμένας τὰ ξίφη τῶν δοκουσῶν κεκρατηκέναι πολλὰς ἀνελεῖν· τέλος δὲ τοῦ πλήθους αὐτὰς πανταχόθεν περιχυθέντος εὐγενῶς μαχομένας ἁπάσας κατακοπῆναι. τὴν δὲ Μύριναν θάψασαν τὰς ἀναιρεθείσας τῶν συστρατευουσῶν ἐν τρισὶ πυραῖς χωμάτων μεγάλων ἐπιστῆσαι τάφους τρεῖς, οὓς μέχρι τοῦ νῦν Ἀμαζόνων σωροὺς ὀνομάζεσθαι. τὰς δὲ Γοργόνας ἐν τοῖς ὕστερον χρόνοις αὐξηθείσας πάλιν ὑπὸ Περσέως τοῦ Διὸς καταπολεμηθῆναι, καθʼ ὃν καιρὸν ἐβασίλευεν αὐτῶν Μέδουσα· τὸ δὲ τελευταῖον ὑφʼ Ἡρακλέους ἄρδην ἀναιρεθῆναι ταύτας τε καὶ τὸ τῶν Ἀμαζόνων ἔθνος, καθʼ ὃν καιρὸν τοὺς πρὸς ἑσπέραν τόπους ἐπελθὼν ἔθετο τὰς ἐπὶ τῆς Λιβύης στήλας, δεινὸν ἡγούμενος, εἰ προελόμενος τὸ γένος κοινῇ τῶν ἀνθρώπων εὐεργετεῖν περιόψεταί τινα τῶν ἐθνῶν γυναικοκρατούμενα. λέγεται δὲ καὶ τὴν Τριτωνίδα λίμνην σεισμῶν γενομένων ἀφανισθῆναι, ῥαγέντων αὐτῆς τῶν πρὸς τὸν ὠκεανὸν μερῶν κεκλιμένων. τὴν δὲ Μύρινάν φασι τῆς τε Λιβύης τὴν πλείστην ἐπελθεῖν, καὶ παραβαλοῦσαν εἰς Αἴγυπτον πρὸς μὲν Ὧρον τὸν Ἴσιδος βασιλεύοντα τότε τῆς Αἰγύπτου φιλίαν συνθέσθαι, πρὸς δʼ Ἄραβας διαπολεμήσασαν καὶ πολλοὺς αὐτῶν ἀνελοῦσαν, τὴν μὲν Συρίαν καταστρέψασθαι, τῶν δὲ Κιλίκων ἀπαντησάντων αὐτῇ μετὰ δώρων καὶ τὸ κελευόμενον ποιήσειν ὁμολογούντων, ἐλευθέρους ἀφεῖναι τοὺς ἑκουσίως προσχωρήσαντας, οὓς ἀπὸ ταύτης τῆς αἰτίας μέχρι τοῦ νῦν Ἐλευθεροκίλικας καλεῖσθαι. καταπολεμῆσαι δʼ αὐτὴν καὶ τὰ περὶ τὸν Ταῦρον ἔθνη, διάφορα ταῖς ἀλκαῖς ὄντα, καὶ διὰ Φρυγίας τῆς μεγάλης ἐπὶ θάλατταν καταβῆναι· ἑξῆς δὲ τὴν παραθαλάττιον χώραν προσαγαγομένην ὅρους θέσθαι τῆς στρατείας τὸν Κάικον ποταμόν. τῆς δὲ δορικτήτου χώρας ἐκλεξαμένην τοὺς εὐθέτους τόπους εἰς πόλεων κτίσεις οἰκοδομῆσαι πλείους πόλεις, καὶ τούτων ὁμώνυμον μίαν ἑαυτῇ κτίσαι, τὰς δʼ ἄλλας ἀπὸ τῶν τὰς ἡγεμονίας τὰς μεγίστας ἐχουσῶν, Κύμην, Πιτάναν, Πριήνην. ταύτας μὲν οὖν οἰκίσαι παρὰ θάλατταν, ἄλλας δὲ πλείους ἐν τοῖς πρὸς μεσόγειον ἀνήκουσι τόποις. κατασχεῖν δʼ αὐτὴν καὶ τῶν νήσων τινάς, καὶ μάλιστα τὴν Λέσβον, ἐν ᾗ κτίσαι πόλιν Μυτιλήνην ὁμώνυμον τῇ μετεχούσῃ τῆς στρατείας ἀδελφῇ. ἔπειτα καὶ τῶν ἄλλων νήσων τινὰς καταστρεφομένην χειμασθῆναι, καὶ ποιησαμένην τῇ μητρὶ τῶν θεῶν εὐχὰς ὑπὲρ τῆς σωτηρίας προσενεχθῆναι νήσῳ τινὶ τῶν ἐρήμων· ταύτην δὲ κατά τινα ἐν τοῖς ὀνείροις φαντασίαν καθιερῶσαι τῇ προειρημένῃ θεῷ καὶ βωμοὺς ἱδρύσασθαι καὶ θυσίας μεγαλοπρεπεῖς ἐπιτελέσαι· ὀνομάσαι δʼ αὐτὴν Σαμοθρᾴκην, ὅπερ εἶναι μεθερμηνευόμενον εἰς τὴν Ἑλληνικὴν διάλεκτον ἱερὰν νῆσον· ἔνιοι δὲ τῶν ἱστορικῶν λέγουσι τὸ πρὸ τοῦ Σάμον αὐτὴν καλουμένην ὑπὸ τῶν κατοικούντων ἐν αὐτῇ ποτε Θρᾳκῶν Σαμοθρᾴκην ὀνομασθῆναι. οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ τῶν Ἀμαζόνων ἐπανελθουσῶν εἰς τὴν ἤπειρον μυθολογοῦσι τὴν μητέρα τῶν θεῶν εὐαρεστηθεῖσαν τῇ νήσῳ ἄλλους τέ τινας ἐν αὐτῇ κατοικίσαι καὶ τοὺς ἑαυτῆς υἱοὺς τοὺς ὀνομαζομένους Κορύβαντας· ἐξ οὗ δʼ εἰσὶ πατρὸς ἐν ἀπορρήτῳ κατὰ τὴν τελετὴν παραδίδοσθαι· καταδεῖξαι δὲ καὶ τὰ νῦν ἐν αὐτῇ συντελούμενα μυστήρια καὶ τὸ τέμενος ἄσυλον νομοθετῆσαι. περὶ δὲ τούτους τοὺς χρόνους Μόψον τὸν Θρᾷκα, φυγάδα γενόμενον ὑπὸ Λυκούργου τοῦ βασιλέως τῶν Θρᾳκῶν, ἐμβαλεῖν εἰς τὴν χώραν τῶν Ἀμαζόνων μετὰ στρατιᾶς τῆς συνεκπεσούσης αὐτῷ· συστρατεῦσαι δὲ καὶ Σίπυλον τῷ Μόψῳ τὸν Σκύθην, πεφυγαδευμένον ὁμοίως ἐκ τῆς ὁμόρου τῇ Θρᾴκῃ Σκυθίας. γενομένης δὲ παρατάξεως, καὶ τῶν περὶ τὸν Σίπυλον καὶ Μόψον προτερησάντων, τήν τε βασίλισσαν τῶν Ἀμαζόνων Μύριναν ἀναιρεθῆναι καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τὰς πλείους. τοῦ δὲ χρόνου προβαίνοντος, καὶ κατὰ τὰς μάχας ἀεὶ τῶν Θρᾳκῶν ἐπικρατούντων, τὸ τελευταῖον τὰς περιλειφθείσας τῶν Ἀμαζόνων ἀνακάμψαι πάλιν εἰς Λιβύην. καὶ τὴν μὲν στρατείαν τῶν ἀπὸ Λιβύης Ἀμαζόνων μυθολογοῦσι τοιοῦτο λαβεῖν τὸ πέρας.
Now as the Amazons, they go on to say, relaxed their watch during the night because of their success, the captive women, falling upon them and drawing the swords of those who thought they were conquerors, slew many of them; in the end, however, the multitude poured in about them from every side and the prisoners fighting bravely were butchered one and all. 2 Myrina accorded a funeral to her fallen comrades on three pyres and raised up three great heaps of earth as tombs, which are called to this day "Amazon Mounds." 3 But the Gorgons, grown strong again in later days, were subdued a second time by Perseus, the son of Zeus, when Medusa was queen over them; and in the end both they and the race of the Amazons were entirely destroyed by Heracles, when he visited the regions to the west and set up his Pillars in Libya, since he felt that it would ill accord with his resolve to be the benefactor of the whole race of mankind if he should suffer any nations to be under the rule of women. The story is also told that the marsh disappeared from sight in the course of an earthquake, when those parts of it which lay towards the ocean were torn asunder. As for Myrina, the account continues, she visited the larger part of Libya, and passing over into Egypt she struck a treaty of friendship with Horus, the son of Isis, who was king of Egypt at that time, and then, after making war to the end upon the Arabians and slaying many of them, she subdued Syria; but when the Cilicians came out with presents to meet her and agreed to obey her commands, she left those free who yielded to her of their free will and for this reason these are called to this day the "Free Cilicians." 5 She also conquered in war the races in the region of the Taurus, peoples of outstanding courage, and descended through Greater Phrygia to the sea; and then she won over the land lying along the coast and fixed the bounds of her campaign at the Caicus River. 6 And selecting in the territory which she had won by arms sites well suited for the founding of cities, she built a considerable number of them and founded one which bore her own name, but the others she named after the women who held the most important commands, such as Cyme, Pitana, and Priene. These, then, are the cities she settled along the sea, but others, and a larger number, she planted in the regions stretching towards the interior. She seized also some of the islands, and Lesbos in particular, on which she founded the city of Mitylene, which was named after her sister who took part in the campaign. 8 After that, while subduing some of the rest of the islands, she was caught in a storm, and after she had offered up prayers for her safety to the Mother of the Gods, she was carried to one of the uninhabited islands; this island, in obedience to a vision which she beheld in her dreams, she made sacred to this goddess, and set up altars there and offered magnificent sacrifices. She also gave it the name of Samothrace, which means, when translated into Greek, "sacred island," although some historians say that it was formerly called Samos and was then given the name of Samothrace by Thracians who at one time dwelt on it. 9 However, after the Amazons had returned to the continent, the myth relates, the Mother of the Gods, well pleased with the island, settled in it certain other people, and also her own sons, who are known by the name of Corybantes — who their father was is handed down in their rites as a matter not to be divulged; and she established the mysteries which are now celebrated on the island and ordained by law that the sacred area should enjoy the right of sanctuary. In these times, they go on to say, Mopsus the Thracian, who had been exiled by Lycurgus, the king of the Thracians, invaded the land of the Amazons with an army composed of fellow-exiles, and with Mopsus on the campaign was also Sipylus the Scythian, who had likewise been exiled from that part of Scythia which borders upon Thrace. 11 There was a pitched battle, Sipylus and Mopsus gained the upper hand, and Myrina, the queen of the Amazons, and the larger part of the rest of her army were slain. In the course of the years, as the Thracians continued to be victorious in their battles, the surviving Amazons finally withdrew again into Libya. And such was the end, as the myth relates, of the campaign which the Amazons of Libya made.
§ 3.56
ἡμεῖς δʼ ἐπειδὴ περὶ τῶν Ἀτλαντίων ἐμνήσθημεν, οὐκ ἀνοίκειον ἡγούμεθα διελθεῖν τὰ μυθολογούμενα παρʼ αὐτοῖς περὶ τῆς τῶν θεῶν γενέσεως, διὰ τὸ μὴ πολὺ διαλλάττειν αὐτὰ τῶν μυθολογουμένων παρʼ Ἕλλησιν. οἱ τοίνυν Ἀτλάντιοι τοὺς παρὰ τὸν ὠκεανὸν τόπους κατοικοῦντες καὶ χώραν εὐδαίμονα νεμόμενοι πολλῷ μὲν εὐσεβείᾳ καὶ φιλανθρωπίᾳ τῇ πρὸς τοὺς ξένους δοκοῦσι διαφέρειν τῶν πλησιοχώρων, τὴν δὲ γένεσιν τῶν θεῶν παρʼ αὑτοῖς γενέσθαι φασί. συμφωνεῖν δὲ τοῖς λεγομένοις ὑπʼ αὐτῶν καὶ τὸν ἐπιφανέστατον τῶν παρʼ Ἕλλησι ποιητῶν ἐν οἷς παρεισάγει τὴν Ἥραν λέγουσαν εἶμι γὰρ ὀψομένη πολυφόρβου πείρατα γαίης, Ὠκεανόν τε θεῶν γένεσιν καὶ μητέρα Τηθύν. μυθολογοῦσι δὲ πρῶτον παρʼ αὑτοῖς Οὐρανὸν βασιλεῦσαι καὶ τοὺς ἀνθρώπους σποράδην οἰκοῦντας συναγαγεῖν εἰς πόλεως περίβολον, καὶ τῆς μὲν ἀνομίας καὶ τοῦ θηριώδους βίου παῦσαι τοὺς ὑπακούοντας, εὑρόντα τὰς τῶν ἡμέρων καρπῶν χρείας καὶ παραθέσεις καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν χρησίμων οὐκ ὀλίγα· κατακτήσασθαι δʼ αὐτὸν καὶ τῆς οἰκουμένης τὴν πλείστην, καὶ μάλιστα τοὺς πρὸς τὴν ἑσπέραν καὶ τὴν ἄρκτον τόπους. τῶν δὲ ἄστρων γενόμενον ἐπιμελῆ παρατηρητὴν πολλὰ προλέγειν τῶν κατὰ τὸν κόσμον μελλόντων γίνεσθαι· εἰσηγήσασθαι δὲ τοῖς ὄχλοις τὸν μὲν ἐνιαυτὸν ἐνιαυτὸν ἀπὸ τῆς τοῦ ἡλίου κινήσεως, τοὺς δὲ μῆνας ἀπὸ τῆς σελήνης, καὶ τὰς κατʼ ἔτος ἕκαστον ὥρας διδάξαι. διὸ καὶ τοὺς πολλούς, ἀγνοοῦντας μὲν τὴν τῶν ἄστρων αἰώνιον τάξιν, θαυμάζοντας δὲ τὰ γινόμενα κατὰ τὰς προρρήσεις, ὑπολαβεῖν τὸν τούτων εἰσηγητὴν θείας μετέχειν φύσεως, μετὰ δὲ τὴν ἐξ ἀνθρώπων αὐτοῦ μετάστασιν διά τε τὰς εὐεργεσίας καὶ τὴν τῶν ἄστρων ἐπίγνωσιν ἀθανάτους τιμὰς ἀπονεῖμαι· μεταγαγεῖν δʼ αὐτοῦ τὴν προσηγορίαν ἐπὶ τὸν κόσμον, ἅμα μὲν τῷ δοκεῖν οἰκείως ἐσχηκέναι πρὸς τὰς τῶν ἄστρων ἐπιτολάς τε καὶ δύσεις καὶ τἄλλα τὰ γινόμενα περὶ τὸν κόσμον, ἅμα δὲ τῷ μεγέθει τῶν τιμῶν ὑπερβάλλειν τὰς εὐεργεσίας, καὶ πρὸς τὸν αἰῶνα βασιλέα τῶν ὅλων αὐτὸν ἀναγορεύσαντας.
But since we have made mention of the Atlantians, we believe that it will not be inappropriate in this place to recount what their myths relate about the genesis of the gods, in view of the fact that it does not differ greatly from the myths of the Greeks. 2 Now the Atlantians, dwelling as they do in the regions on the edge of the ocean and inhabiting a fertile territory, are reputed far to excel their neighbours in reverence towards the gods and the humanity they showed in their dealings with strangers, and the gods, they say, were born among them. And their account, they maintain, is in agreement with that of the most renowned of the Greek poets when he represents Hera as saying: For I go to see the ends of the bountiful earth, Oceanus source of the gods and Tethys divine Their mother. This is the account given in their myth: Their first king was Uranus, and he gathered the human beings, who dwelt in scattered habitations, within the shelter of a walled city and caused his subjects to cease from their lawless ways and their bestial manner of living, discovering for them the uses of cultivated fruits, how to store them up, and not a few other things which are of benefit to man; and he also subdued the larger part of the inhabited earth, in particular the regions to the west and the north. 4 And since he was a careful observer of the stars he foretold many things which would take place throughout the world; and for the common people he introduced the year on the basis of the movement of the sun and the months on that of the moon, and instructed them in the seasons which recur year after year. 5 Consequently the masses of the people, being ignorant of the eternal arrangement of the stars and marvelling at the events which were taking place as he had predicted, conceived that the man who taught such things partook of the nature of the gods, and after he had passed from among men they accorded him immortal honours, both because of his benefactions and because of his knowledge of the stars and then they transferred his name to the firmament of heaven, both because they thought that he had been so intimately acquainted with the risings and the settings of the stars and with whatever else took place in the firmament, and because they would surpass his benefactions by the magnitude of the honours which they would show him, in that for all subsequent time they proclaimed him to be the king of the universe.
§ 3.57
οὐρανοῦ δὲ μυθολογοῦσι γενέσθαι παῖδας ἐκ πλειόνων γυναικῶν πέντε πρὸς τοῖς τετταράκοντα, καὶ τούτων ὀκτωκαίδεκα λέγουσιν ὑπάρχειν ἐκ Τιταίας ὄνομα μὲν ἴδιον ἔχοντας ἑκάστους, κοινῇ δὲ πάντας ἀπὸ τῆς μητρὸς ὀνομαζομένους Τιτᾶνας. τὴν δὲ Τιταίαν, σώφρονα οὖσαν καὶ πολλῶν ἀγαθῶν αἰτίαν γενομένην τοῖς λαοῖς, ἀποθεωθῆναι μετὰ τὴν τελευτὴν ὑπὸ τῶν εὖ παθόντων Γῆν μετονομασθεῖσαν. γενέσθαι δʼ αὐτῷ καὶ θυγατέρας, ὧν εἶναι δύο τὰς πρεσβυτάτας πολὺ τῶν ἄλλων ἐπιφανεστάτας, τήν τε καλουμένην Βασίλειαν καὶ Ῥέαν τὴν ὑπʼ ἐνίων Πανδώραν ὀνομασθεῖσαν. τούτων δὲ τὴν μὲν Βασίλειαν, πρεσβυτάτην οὖσαν καὶ σωφροσύνῃ τε καὶ συνέσει πολὺ τῶν ἄλλων διαφέρουσαν, ἐκθρέψαι πάντας τοὺς ἀδελφοὺς κοινῇ μητρὸς εὔνοιαν παρεχομένην· διὸ καὶ μεγάλην μητέρα προσαγορευθῆναι· μετὰ δὲ τὴν τοῦ πατρὸς ἐξ ἀνθρώπων εἰς θεοὺς μετάστασιν, συγχωρούντων τῶν ὄχλων καὶ τῶν ἀδελφῶν, διαδέξασθαι τὴν βασιλείαν παρθένον οὖσαν ἔτι καὶ διὰ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῆς σωφροσύνης οὐδενὶ συνοικῆσαι βουληθεῖσαν. ὕστερον δὲ βουλομένην διαδόχους τῆς βασιλείας ἀπολιπεῖν υἱούς, Ὑπερίονι συνοικῆσαι τῶν ἀδελφῶν ἑνί, πρὸς ὃν οἰκειότατα διέκειτο. γενομένων δʼ αὐτῇ δύο τέκνων, Ἡλίου καὶ Σελήνης, καὶ θαυμαζομένων ἐπί τε τῷ κάλλει καὶ τῇ σωφροσύνῃ, φασὶ τοὺς ἀδελφοὺς ταύτῃ μὲν ἐπʼ εὐτεκνίᾳ φθονοῦντας, τὸν δʼ Ὑπερίονα φοβηθέντας μήποτε τὴν βασιλείαν εἰς αὑτὸν περισπάσῃ, πρᾶξιν ἐπιτελέσασθαι παντελῶς ἀνόσιον· συνωμοσίαν γὰρ ποιησαμένους τὸν μὲν Ὑπερίονα κατασφάξαι, τὸν δʼ Ἥλιον ὄντα παῖδα τὴν ἡλικίαν ἐμβαλόντας εἰς τὸν Ἠριδανὸν ποταμὸν ἀποπνῖξαι· καταφανοῦς δὲ γενομένης τῆς ἀτυχίας, τὴν μὲν Σελήνην φιλάδελφον οὖσαν καθʼ ὑπερβολὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ τέγους ἑαυτὴν ῥῖψαι, τὴν δὲ μητέρα ζητοῦσαν τὸ σῶμα παρὰ τὸν ποταμὸν σύγκοπον γενέσθαι, καὶ κατενεχθεῖσαν εἰς ὕπνον ἰδεῖν ὄψιν, καθʼ ἣν ἔδοξεν ἐπιστάντα τὸν Ἥλιον παρακαλεῖν αὐτὴν μὴ θρηνεῖν τὸν τῶν τέκνων θάνατον· τοὺς μὲν γὰρ Τιτᾶνας τεύξεσθαι τῆς προσηκούσης τιμωρίας, ἑαυτὸν δὲ καὶ τὴν ἀδελφὴν εἰς ἀθανάτους φύσεις μετασχηματισθήσεσθαι θείᾳ τινὶ προνοίᾳ· ὀνομασθήσεσθαι γὰρ ὑπὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἥλιον μὲν τὸ πρότερον ἐν οὐρανῷ πῦρ ἱερὸν καλούμενον, σελήνην δὲ τὴν μήνην προσαγορευομένην. διεγερθεῖσαν δὲ καὶ τοῖς ὄχλοις τόν τε ὄνειρον καὶ τὰ περὶ αὑτὴν ἀτυχήματα διελθοῦσαν ἀξιῶσαι τοῖς μὲν τετελευτηκόσιν ἀπονεῖμαι τιμὰς ἰσοθέους, τοῦ δʼ αὐτῆς σώματος μηκέτι μηδένα θιγεῖν. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ἐμμανῆ γενομένην καὶ τῶν τῆς θυγατρὸς παιγνίων τὰ δυνάμενα ψόφον ἐπιτελεῖν ἁρπάσασαν πλανᾶσθαι κατὰ τὴν χώραν, λελυμένην μὲν τὰς τρίχας, τῷ δὲ διὰ τῶν τυμπάνων καὶ κυμβάλων ψόφῳ ἐνθεάζουσαν, ὥστε καταπλήττεσθαι πλήττεσθαι τοὺς ὁρῶντας. πάντων δὲ τὸ περὶ αὐτὴν πάθος ἐλεούντων, καί τινων ἀντεχομένων τοῦ σώματος, ἐπιγενέσθαι πλῆθος ὄμβρου καὶ συνεχεῖς κεραυνῶν πτώσεις· ἐνταῦθα δὲ τὴν μὲν Βασίλειαν ἀφανῆ γενέσθαι, τοὺς δʼ ὄχλους θαυμάσαντας τὴν περιπέτειαν τὸν μὲν Ἥλιον καὶ τὴν Σελήνην τῇ προσηγορίᾳ καὶ ταῖς τιμαῖς μεταγαγεῖν ἐπὶ τὰ κατʼ οὐρανὸν ἄστρα, τὴν δὲ μητέρα τούτων θεόν τε νομίσαι καὶ βωμοὺς ἱδρύσασθαι, καὶ ταῖς διὰ τῶν τυμπάνων καὶ κυμβάλων ἐνεργείαις καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἅπασιν ἀπομιμουμένους τὰ περὶ αὐτὴν συμβάντα θυσίας καὶ τὰς ἄλλας τιμὰς ἀπονεῖμαι.
To Uranus, the myth continues, were born forty-five sons from a number of wives, and, of these, eighteen, it is said, were by Titaea, each of them bearing a distinct name, but all of them as a group were called, after their mother, Titans. 2 Titaea, because she was prudent and had brought about many good deeds for the peoples, was deified after her death by those whom she had helped and her name was changed to Ge. To Uranus were also born daughters, the two eldest of whom were by far the most renowned above all the others and were called Basileia and Rhea, whom some also named Pandora. 3 Of these daughters Basileia, who was the eldest and far excelled the others in both prudence and understanding, reared all her brothers, showing them collectively a mother's kindness; consequently she was given the appellation of "Great Mother"; and after her father had been translated from among men into the circle of the gods, with the approval of the masses and of her brothers she succeeded to the royal dignity, though she was still a maiden and because of her exceedingly great chastity had been unwilling to unite in marriage with any man. But later, because of her desire to leave sons who should succeed to the throne, she united in marriage with Hyperion, one of her brothers, for whom she had the greatest affection. 4 And when there were born to her two children, Helius and Selene, who were greatly admired for both their beauty and their chastity, the brothers of Basileia, they say, being envious of her because of her happy issue of children and fearing that Hyperion would divert the royal power to himself, committed an utterly impious deed; 5 for entering into a conspiracy among themselves they put Hyperion to the sword, and casting Helius, who was still in years a child, into the Eridanus river, drowned him. When this crime came to light, Selene, who loved her brother very greatly, threw herself down from the roof, but as for his mother, while seeking his body along the river, her strength left her and falling into a swoon she beheld a vision in which she thought that Helius stood over her and urged her not to mourn the death of her children; for, he said, the Titans would meet the punishment which they deserve, while he and his sister would be transformed, by some divine providence, into immortal natures, since that which had formerly been called the "holy fire" in the heavens would be called by men Helius ("the sun") and that addressed as "mene" would be called Selene ("the moon"). 6 When she was aroused from the swoon she recounted to the common crowd both the dream and the misfortunes which had befallen her, asking that they render to the dead honours like those accorded to the gods and asserting that no man should thereafter touch her body. 7 And after this she became frenzied, and seizing such of her daughter's playthings as could make a noise, she began to wander over the land, with her hair hanging free, inspired by the noise of the kettledrums and cymbals, so that those who saw her were struck with astonishment. 8 And all men were filled with pity at her misfortune and some were clinging to her body, when there came a mighty storm and continuous crashes of thunder and lightning; and in the midst of this Basileia passed from sight, whereupon the crowds of people, amazed at this reversal of fortune, transferred the names and the honours of Helius and Selene to the stars of the sky, and as for their mother, they considered her to be a goddess and erected altars to her, and imitating the incidents of her life by the pounding of the kettledrums and the clash of the cymbals they rendered unto her in this way sacrifices and all other honours.
§ 3.58
παραδέδοται δὲ τῆς θεοῦ ταύτης καὶ κατὰ τὴν Φρυγίαν γένεσις. οἱ γὰρ ἐγχώριοι μυθολογοῦσι τὸ παλαιὸν γενέσθαι βασιλέα Φρυγίας καὶ Λυδίας Μῄονα· γήμαντα δὲ Δινδύμην γεννῆσαι μὲν παιδίον θῆλυ, τρέφειν δʼ αὐτὸ μὴ βουλόμενον εἰς ὄρος ἐκθεῖναι τὸ προσαγορευόμενον Κύβελον. ἐνταῦθα τῷ παιδίῳ κατά τινα θείαν πρόνοιαν τάς τε παρδάλεις καί τινα τῶν ἄλλων τῶν ἀλκῇ διαφερόντων θηρίων παρέχεσθαι τὴν θηλὴν καὶ διατρέφειν, γύναια δὲ τινα περὶ τὸν τόπον ποιμαίνοντα κατιδεῖν τὸ γινόμενον, καὶ θαυμάσαντα τὴν περιπέτειαν ἀνελέσθαι τὸ βρέφος, καὶ προσαγορεῦσαι Κυβέλην ἀπὸ τοῦ τόπου. αὐξομένην δὲ τὴν παῖδα τῷ τε κάλλει καὶ σωφροσύνῃ διενεγκεῖν, ἔτι δὲ συνέσει γενέσθαι θαυμαστήν· τήν τε γὰρ πολυκάλαμον σύριγγα πρώτην ἐπινοῆσαι καὶ πρὸς τὰς παιδιὰς καὶ χορείας εὑρεῖν κύμβαλα καὶ τύμπανα, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις καθαρμοὺς τῶν νοσούντων κτηνῶν τε καὶ νηπίων παίδων εἰσηγήσασθαι· διὸ καὶ τῶν βρεφῶν ταῖς ἐπῳδαῖς σωζομένων καὶ τῶν πλείστων ὑπʼ αὐτῆς ἐναγκαλιζομένων, διὰ τὴν εἰς ταῦτα σπουδὴν καὶ φιλοστοργίαν ὑπὸ πάντων αὐτὴν ὀρείαν μητέρα προσαγορευθῆναι. συναναστρέφεσθαι δʼ αὐτῇ καὶ φιλίαν ἔχειν ἐπὶ πλέον φασὶ Μαρσύαν τὸν Φρύγα, θαυμαζόμενον ἐπὶ συνέσει καὶ σωφροσύνῃ· καὶ τῆς μὲν συνέσεως τεκμήριον λαμβάνουσι τὸ μιμήσασθαι τοὺς φθόγγους τῆς πολυκαλάμου σύριγγος καὶ μετενεγκεῖν ἐπὶ τοὺς αὐλοὺς τὴν ὅλην ἁρμονίαν, τῆς δὲ σωφροσύνης σημεῖον εἶναί φασι τὸ μέχρι τῆς τελευτῆς ἀπείρατον γενέσθαι τῶν ἀφροδισίων. τὴν οὖν Κυβέλην εἰς ἀκμὴν ἡλικίας ἐλθοῦσαν ἀγαπῆσαι τῶν ἐγχωρίων τινὰ νεανίσκον τὸν προσαγορευόμενον μὲν Ἄττιν, ὕστερον δʼ ἐπικληθέντα Πάπαν· συνελθοῦσαν δʼ εἰς ὁμιλίαν αὐτῷ λάθρᾳ καὶ γενομένην ἔγκυον ἐπιγνωσθῆναι κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν καιρὸν ὑπὸ τῶν γονέων.
However, an account is handed down also that this goddess was born in Phrygia. For the natives of that country have the following myth: In ancient times Meion became king of Phrygia and Lydia; and marrying Dindyme he begat an infant daughter, but being unwilling to rear her he exposed her on the mountain which was called Cybelus. There, in accordance with some divine providence, both the leopards and some of the other especially ferocious wild beasts offered their nipples to the child and so gave it nourishment, 2 and some women who were tending the flocks in that place witnessed the happening, and being astonished at the strange event took up the babe and called her Cybele after the name of the place. The child, as she grew up, excelled in both beauty and virtue and also came to be admired for her intelligence; for she was the first to devise the pipe of many reeds and to invent cymbals and kettledrums with which to accompany the games and the dance, and in addition she taught how to heal the sicknesses of both flocks and little children by means of rites of purification; 3 in consequence, since the babes were saved from death by her spells and were generally taken up in her arms, her devotion to them and affection for them led all the people to speak of her as the "mother of the mountain." The man who associated with her and loved her more than anyone else, they say, was Marsyas the physician, who was admired for his intelligence and chastity; and a proof of his intelligence they find in the fact that he imitated the sounds made by the pipe of many reeds and carried all its notes over into the flute, and as an indication of his chastity they cite his abstinence from sexual pleasures until the day of his death. Now Cybele, the myth records, having arrived at full womanhood, came to love a certain native youth who was known as Attis, but at a later time received the appellation Papas; with him she consorted secretly and became with child, and at about the same time her parents recognized her as their child.
§ 3.59
διόπερ ἀναχθείσης αὐτῆς εἰς τὰ βασίλεια, καὶ τοῦ πατρὸς τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ὡς παρθένον προσδεξαμένου, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα γνόντος τὴν φθοράν, καὶ τὰς τε τροφοὺς καὶ τὸν Ἄττιν ἀνελόντος καὶ τὰ σώματα ἐκρίψαντος ἄταφα, φασὶ τὴν Κυβέλην διὰ τὴν πρὸς τὸ μειράκιον φιλοστοργίαν καὶ τὴν ἐπὶ ταῖς τροφοῖς λύπην ἐμμανῆ γενομένην εἰς τὴν χώραν ἐκπηδῆσαι. καὶ ταύτην μὲν ὀλολύζουσαν καὶ τυμπανίζουσαν μόνην ἐπιέναι πᾶσαν χώραν, λελυμένην τὰς τρίχας, τὸν δὲ Μαρσύαν ἐλεοῦντα τὸ πάθος ἑκουσίως αὐτῇ συνακολουθεῖν καὶ συμπλανᾶσθαι διὰ τὴν προϋπάρχουσαν φιλίαν. παραγενομένους δʼ αὐτοὺς πρὸς Διόνυσον εἰς τὴν Νῦσαν καταλαβεῖν τὸν Ἀπόλλω τυγχάνοντα μεγάλης ἀποδοχῆς διὰ τὴν κιθάραν, ἣν Ἑρμῆν εὑρεῖν φασιν, Ἀπόλλωνα δὲ πρῶτον αὐτῇ κατὰ τρόπον χρῆσθαι· ἐρίζοντος δὲ τοῦ Μαρσύου πρὸς τὸν Ἀπόλλω περὶ τῆς τέχνης, καὶ τῶν Νυσαίων ἀποδειχθέντων δικαστῶν, τὸν μὲν Ἀπόλλωνα πρῶτον κιθαρίσαι ψιλήν, τὸν δὲ Μαρσύαν ἐπιβαλόντα τοῖς αὐλοῖς καταπλῆξαι τὰς ἀκοὰς τῷ ξενίζοντι, καὶ διὰ τὴν εὐμέλειαν δόξαι πολὺ προέχειν τοῦ προηγωνισμένου. συντεθειμένων δʼ αὐτῶν παρʼ ἄλληλα τοῖς δικασταῖς ἐπιδείκνυσθαι τὴν τέχνην, τὸν μὲν Ἀπόλλωνά φασιν ἐπιβαλεῖν τὸ δεύτερον ἁρμόττουσαν τῷ μέλει τῆς κιθάρας ᾠδήν, καθʼ ἣν ὑπερβαλέσθαι τὴν προϋπάρξασαν τῶν αὐλῶν ἀποδοχήν· τὸν δὲ πρότερον ἀγανακτήσαντα διδάσκειν τοὺς ἀκροατὰς ὅτι παρὰ πᾶν τὸ δίκαιον αὐτὸς ἐλαττοῦται· δεῖν γὰρ γίνεσθαι τέχνης σύγκρισιν, οὐ φωνῆς, καθʼ ἣν προσήκει τὴν ἁρμονίαν καὶ τὸ μέλος ἐξετάζεσθαι τῆς κιθάρας καὶ τῶν αὐλῶν· καὶ πρὸς τούτοις ἄδικον εἶναι δύο τέχνας ἅμα πρὸς μίαν συγκρίνεσθαι. τὸν δὲ Ἀπόλλω μυθολογοῦσιν εἰπεῖν ὡς οὐδὲν αὐτὸν πλεονεκτοίη· καὶ γὰρ τὸν Μαρσύαν τὸ παραπλήσιον αὐτῷ ποιεῖν, εἰς τοὺς αὐλοὺς ἐμφυσῶντα· δεῖν οὖν ἢ τὴν ἐξουσίαν ταύτην ἴσην ἀμφοτέροις δίδοσθαι τῆς κράσεως, ἢ μηδέτερον τῷ στόματι διαγωνιζόμενον διὰ μόνων τῶν χειρῶν ἐνδείκνυσθαι τὴν ἰδίαν τέχνην. ἐπικρινάντων δὲ τῶν ἀκροατῶν τὸν Ἀπόλλω δικαιότερα λέγειν, συγκριθῆναι πάλιν τὰς τέχνας, καὶ τὸν μὲν Μαρσύαν λειφθῆναι, τὸν δʼ Ἀπόλλω διὰ τὴν ἔριν πικρότερον χρησάμενον ἐκδεῖραι ζῶντα τὸν ἡττηθέντα. ταχὺ δὲ μεταμεληθέντα καὶ βαρέως ἐπὶ τοῖς ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ πραχθεῖσιν ἐνέγκαντα τῆς κιθάρας ἐκρῆξαι τὰς χορδὰς καὶ τὴν εὑρημένην ἁρμονίαν ἀφανίσαι. ταύτης δʼ ὕστερον Μούσας μὲν ἀνευρεῖν τὴν μέσην, Λίνον δὲ τὴν λίχανον, Ὀρφέα δὲ καὶ Θαμύραν ὑπάτην καὶ παρυπάτην. τὸν δʼ Ἀπόλλω φασὶν εἰς τὸ ἄντρον τοῦ Διονύσου τήν τε κιθάραν καὶ τοὺς αὐλοὺς ἀναθέντα, καὶ τῆς Κυβέλης ἐρασθέντα, συμπλανηθῆναι ταύτῃ μέχρι τῶν Ὑπερβορέων. κατὰ δὲ τὴν Φρυγίαν ἐμπεσούσης νόσου τοῖς ἀνθρώποις καὶ τῆς γῆς ἀκάρπου γενομένης, ἐπερωτησάντων τῶν ἀτυχούντων τὸν θεὸν περὶ τῆς τῶν κακῶν ἀπαλλαγῆς προστάξαι φασὶν αὐτοῖς θάψαι τὸ Ἄττιδος σῶμα καὶ τιμᾶν τὴν Κυβέλην ὡς θεόν. διόπερ τοὺς Φρύγας ἠφανισμένου τοῦ σώματος διὰ τὸν χρόνον εἴδωλον κατασκευάσαι τοῦ μειρακίου, πρὸς ᾧ θρηνοῦντας ταῖς οἰκείαις τιμαῖς τοῦ πάθους ἐξιλάσκεσθαι τὴν τοῦ παρανομηθέντος μῆνιν· ὅπερ μέχρι τοῦ καθʼ ἡμᾶς βίου ποιοῦντας αὐτοὺς διατελεῖν. τῆς δὲ Κυβέλης τὸ παλαιὸν βωμοὺς ἰδρυσαμένους θυσίας ἐπιτελεἴν κατʼ ἔτος· ὕστερον δʼ ἐν Πισινοῦντι τῆς Φρυγίας κατασκευάσαι νεὼν πολυτελῆ καὶ τιμὰς καὶ θυσίας καταδεῖξαι μεγαλοπρεπεστάτας, Μίδου τοῦ βασιλέως εἰς ταῦτα συμφιλοκαλήσαντος· τῷ δʼ ἀγάλματι τῆς θεοῦ παραστῆσαι παρδάλεις καὶ λέοντας διὰ τὸ δοκεῖν ὑπὸ τούτων πρῶτον τραφῆναι. περὶ μὲν οὖν μητρὸς θεῶν τοιαῦτα μυθολογεῖται παρά τε τοῖς Φρυξὶ καὶ τοῖς Ἀτλαντίοις τοῖς παρὰ τὸν ὠκεανὸν οἰκοῦσιν.
Consequently she was brought up into the palace, and her father welcomed her at the outset under the impression that she was a virgin, but later, when he learned of her seduction, he put to death her nurses and Attis as well and cast their bodies forth to lie unburied; whereupon Cybele, they say, because of her love for the youth and grief over the nurses, became frenzied and rushed out of the palace into the countryside. And crying aloud and beating upon a kettledrum she visited every country alone, with hair hanging free, and Marsyas, out of pity for her plight, voluntarily followed her and accompanied her in her wanderings because of the love which he had formerly borne her. 2 When they came to Dionysus in the city of Nysa they found there Apollo, who was being accorded high favour because of the lyre, which, they say, Hermes invented, though Apollo was the first to play it fittingly; and when Marsyas strove with Apollo in a contest of skill and the Nysaeans had been appointed judges, the first time Apollo played upon the lyre without accompanying it with his voice, while Marsyas, striking up upon his pipes, amazed the ears of his hearers by their strange music and in their opinion far excelled, by reason of his melody, the first contestant. 3 But since they had agreed to take turn about in displaying their skill to the judges, Apollo, they say, added, this second time, his voice in harmony with the music of the lyre, whereby he gained greater approval than that which had formerly been accorded to the pipes. Marsyas, however, was enraged and tried to prove to the hearers that he was losing the contest in defiance of every principle of justice; for, he argued, it should be a comparison of skill and not of voice, and only by such a test was it possible to judge between the harmony and music of the lyre and of the pipes; and furthermore, it was unjust that two skills should be compared in combination against but one. Apollo, however, as the myth relates, replied that he was in no sense taking any unfair advantage of the other; 4 in fact, when Marsyas blew into his pipes he was doing almost the same thing as himself; consequently the rule should be made either that they should both be accorded this equal privilege of combining their skills, or that neither of them should use his mouth in the contest but should display his special skill by the use only of his hands. 5 When the hearers decided that Apollo presented the more just argument, their skills were again compared; Marsyas was defeated, and Apollo, who had become somewhat embittered by the quarrel, flayed the defeated man alive. But quickly repenting and being distressed at what he had done, he broke the strings of the lyre and destroyed the harmony of sounds which he had discovered. 6 The harmony of the strings, however, was rediscovered, when the Muses added later the middle string, Linus the string struck with the forefinger, and Orpheus and Thamyras the lowest string and the one next to it. And Apollo, they say, laid away both the lyre and the pipes as a votive offering in the cave of Dionysus, and becoming enamoured of Cybele joined in her wanderings as far as the land of the Hyperboreans. But, the myth goes on to say, a pestilence fell upon human beings throughout Phrygia and the land ceased to bear fruit, and when the unfortunate people inquired of the god how they might rid themselves of their ills he commanded them, it is said, to bury the body of Attis and to honour Cybele as a goddess. Consequently the physicians, since the body had disappeared in the course of time, made an image of the youth, before which they sang dirges and by means of honours in keeping with his suffering propitiated the wrath of him who had been wronged; and these rites they continue to perform down to our own lifetime. 8 As for Cybele, in ancient times they erected altars and performed sacrifices to her yearly; and later they built for her a costly temple in Pisinus of Phrygia, and established honours and sacrifices of the greatest magnificence, Midas their king taking part in all these works out of his devotion to beauty; and beside the statue of the goddess they set up panthers and lions, since it was the common opinion that she had first been nursed by these animals. Such, then, are the myths which are told about Mother of the God both among the Phrygians and by the Atlantians who dwell on the coast of the ocean.
§ 3.60
μετὰ δὲ τὴν Ὑπερίονος τελευτὴν μυθολογοῦσι τοὺς υἱοὺς τοῦ Οὐρανοῦ διελέσθαι τὴν βασιλείαν, ὧν ὑπάρχειν ἐπιφανεστάτους Ἄτλαντα καὶ Κρόνον. τούτων δὲ τὸν μὲν Ἄτλαντα λαχεῖν τοὺς παρὰ τὸν ὠκεανὸν τόπους, καὶ τούς τε λαοὺς Ἀτλαντίους ὀνομάσαι καὶ τὸ μέγιστον τῶν κατὰ τὴν χώραν ὀρῶν ὁμοίως Ἄτλαντα προσαγορεῦσαι. φασὶ δʼ αὐτὸν τὰ περὶ τὴν ἀστρολογίαν ἐξακριβῶσαι. καὶ τὸν σφαιρικὸν λόγον εἰς ἀνθρώπους πρῶτον ἐξενεγεῖν· ἀφʼ ἧς αἰτίας δόξαι τὸν σύμπαντα κόσμον ἐπὶ τῶν Ἄτλαντος ὤμων ὀχεῖσθαι, τοῦ μύθου τὴν τῆς σφαίρας εὕρεσιν καὶ καταγραφὴν αἰνιττομένου. γενέσθαι δʼ αὐτῷ πλείους υἱούς, ὧν ἕνα διενεγκεῖν εὐσεβείᾳ καὶ τῇ πρὸς τοὺς ἀρχομένους δικαιοσύνῃ καὶ φιλανθρωπίᾳ, τὸν προσαγορευόμενον Ἕσπερον. τοῦτον δʼ ἐπὶ τὴν κορυφὴν τοῦ Ἄτλαντος ὄρους ἀναβαίνοντα καὶ τὰς τῶν ἄστρων παρατηρήσεις ποιούμενον ἐξαίφνης ὑπὸ πνευμάτων συναρπαγέντα μεγάλων ἄφαντον γενέσθαι· διὰ δὲ τὴν ἀρετὴν αὐτοῦ τὸ πάθος τὰ πλήθη ἐλεήσαντα τιμὰς ἀθανάτους ἀπονεῖμαι καὶ τὸν ἐπιφανέστατον τῶν κατὰ τὸν οὐρανὸν ἀστέρων ὁμωνύμως ἐκείνῳ προσαγορεῦσαι. ὑπάρξαι δʼ Ἄτλαντι καὶ θυγατέρας ἑπτά, τὰς κοινῶς μὲν ἀπὸ τοῦ πατρὸς καλουμένας Ἀτλαντίδας, ἰδίᾳ δʼ ἑκάστην ὀνομαζομένην Μαῖαν, Ἠλέκτραν, Ταϋγέτην, Στερόπην, Μερόπην, Ἁλκυόνην, καὶ τελευταίαν Κελαινώ. ταύτας δὲ μιγείσας τοῖς ἐπιφανεστάτοις ἥρωσι καὶ θεοῖς ἀρχηγοὺς καταστῆναι τοῦ πλείστου γένους τῶν ἀνθρώπων, τεκούσας τοὺς διʼ ἀρετὴν θεοὺς καὶ ἥρωας ὀνομασθέντας, οἷον τὴν πρεσβυτάτην Μαῖαν Διὶ μιγεῖσαν Ἑρμῆν τεκνῶσαι, πολλῶν εὑρετὴν γενόμενον τοῖς ἀνθρώποις· παραπλησίως δὲ καὶ τὰς ἄλλας Ἀτλαντίδας γεννῆσαι παῖδας ἐπιφανεῖς, ὧν τοὺς μὲν ἐθνῶν, τοὺς δὲ πόλεων γενέσθαι κτίστας. διόπερ οὐ μόνον παρʼ ἐνίοις τῶν βαρβάρων, ἀλλὰ καὶ παρὰ τοῖς Ἕλλησι τοὺς πλείστους τῶν ἀρχαιοτάτων ἡρώων εἰς ταύτας ἀναφέρειν τὸ γένος. ὑπάρξαι δʼ αὐτὰς καὶ σώφρονας διαφερόντως, καὶ μετὰ τὴν τελευτὴν τυχεῖν ἀθανάτου τιμῆς παρʼ ἀνθρώποις καὶ καθιδρυθείσας ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ καὶ τῇ τῶν Πλειάδων προσηγορίᾳ περιληφθείσας. ἐκλήθησαν δὲ αἱ Ἀτλαντίδες καὶ νύμφαι διὰ τὸ τοὺς ἐγχωρίους κοινῇ τὰς γυναῖκας νύμφας προσαγορεύειν.
After the death of Hyperion, the myth relates, the kingdom was divided among the sons of Uranus, the most renowned of whom were Atlas and Cronus. Of these sons Atlas received as his part the regions on the coast of the ocean, and he not only gave the name of Atlantians to his peoples but likewise called the greatest mountain in the land Atlas. 2 They also say that he perfected the science of astrology and was the first to publish to mankind the doctrine of the sphere; and it was for this reason that the idea was held that the entire heavens were supported upon the shoulders of Atlas, the myth darkly hinting in this way at his discovery and description of the sphere. There were born to him a number of sons, one of whom was distinguished above the others for his piety, justice to his subjects, and love of mankind, his name being Hesperus. 3 This king, having once climbed to the peak of Mount Atlas, was suddenly snatched away by mighty winds while he was making his observations of the stars, and never was seen again; and because of the virtuous life he had lived and their pity for his sad fate the multitudes accorded to him immortal honours and called the brightest of the stars of heaven after him. Atlas, the myth goes on to relate, also had seven daughters, who as a group were called Atlantides after their father, but their individual names were Maea, Electra, Taygete, Sterope, Merope, Halcyone, and the last Celaeno. These daughters lay with the most renowned heroes and gods and thus became the first ancestors of the larger part of the race of human beings, giving birth to those who, because of their high achievements, came to be called gods and heroes; Maea the eldest, for instance, lay with Zeus and bore Hermes, who was the discoverer of many things for the use of mankind; similarly the other Atlantides also gave birth to renowned children, who became the founders in some instances of nations in other cases of cities. 5 Consequently, not only among certain barbarians but among the Greeks as well, the great majority of the most ancient heroes trace their descent back to the Atlantides. These daughters were also distinguished for their chastity and after their death attained to immortal honour among men, by whom they were both enthroned in the heavens and endowed with the appellation of Pleiades. The Atlantides were also called "nymphs" because the natives of that land addressed their women by the common appellation of "nymph."
§ 3.61
Κρόνον δὲ μυθολογοῦσιν, ἀδελφὸν μὲν Ἄτλαντος ὄντα, διαφέροντα δʼ ἀσεβείᾳ καὶ πλεονεξίᾳ, γῆμαι τὴν ἀδελφὴν Ῥέαν, ἐξ ἧς γεννῆσαι Δία τὸν Ὀλύμπιον ὕστερον ἐπικληθέντα. γεγονέναι δὲ καὶ ἕτερον Δία, τὸν ἀδελφὸν μὲν Οὐρανοῦ, τῆς δὲ Κρήτης βασιλεύσαντα, τῇ δόξῃ πολὺ λειπόμενον τοῦ μεταγενεστέρου. τοῦτον μὲν οὖν βασιλεῦσαι τοῦ σύμπαντος κόσμου, τὸν δὲ προγενέστερον, δυναστεύοντα τῆς προειρημένης νήσου, δέκα παῖδας γεννῆσαι τοὺς ὀνομασθέντας Κούρητας· προσαγορεῦσαι δὲ καὶ τὴν νῆσον ἀπὸ τῆς γυναικὸς Ἰδαίαν, ἐν ᾗ καὶ τελευτήσαντα ταφῆναι, δεικνυμένου τοῦ τὴν ταφὴν δεξαμένου τόπου μέχρι τῶν καθʼ ἡμᾶς χρόνων. οὐ μὴν οἵ γε Κρῆτες ὁμολογούμενα τούτοις μυθολογοῦσι, περὶ ὧν ἡμεῖς ἐν τοῖς περὶ Κρήτης τὰ κατὰ μέρος ἀναγράψομεν· δυναστεῦσαι δέ φασι τὸν Κρόνον κατὰ Σικελίαν καὶ Λιβύην, ἔτι δὲ τὴν Ἰταλίαν, καὶ τὸ σύνολον ἐν τοῖς πρὸς ἑσπέραν τόποις συστήσασθαι τὴν βασιλείαν· παρὰ πᾶσι δὲ φρουραῖς διακατέχειν τὰς ἀκροπόλεις καὶ τοὺς ὀχυροὺς τῶν τόπων τούτων· ἀφʼ οὗ δὴ μέχρι τοῦ νῦν χρόνου κατά τε τὴν Σικελίαν καὶ τὰ πρὸς ἑσπέραν νεύοντα μέρη πολλοὺς τῶν ὑψηλῶν τόπων ἀπʼ ἐκείνου Κρόνια προσαγορεύεσθαι. Κρόνου δὲ γενόμενον υἱὸν Δία τὸν ἐναντίον τῷ πατρὶ βίον ζηλῶσαι, καὶ παρεχόμενον ἑαυτὸν πᾶσιν ἐπιεικῆ καὶ φιλάνθρωπον ὑπὸ τοῦ πλήθους πατέρα προσαγορευθῆναι. διαδέξασθαι δʼ αὐτόν φασι τὴν βασιλείαν οἱ μὲν ἑκουσίως τοῦ πατρὸς παραχωρήσαντος, οἱ δʼ ὑπὸ τῶν ὄχλων αἱρεθέντα διὰ τὸ μῖσος τὸ πρὸς τὸν πατέρα· ἐπιστρατεύσαντος δʼ ἐπʼ αὐτὸν τοῦ Κρόνου μετὰ τῶν Τιτάνων κρατῆσαι τῇ μάχῃ τὸν Δία, καὶ κύριον γενόμενον τῶν ὅλων ἐπελθεῖν ἅπασαν τὴν οἰκουμένην, εὐεργετοῦντα τὸ γένος τῶν ἀνθρώπων. διενεγκεῖν δʼ αὐτὸν καὶ σώματος ῥώμῃ καὶ ταῖς ἄλλαις ἁπάσαις ἀρεταῖς, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ταχὺ κύριον γενέσθαι τοῦ σύμπαντος κόσμου. καθόλου δʼ αὐτὸν τὴν ἅπασαν σπουδὴν ἔχειν εἰς κόλασιν μὲν τῶν ἀσεβῶν καὶ πονηρῶν, εὐεργεσίαν δὲ τῶν ὄχλων. ἀνθʼ ὧν μετὰ τὴν ἐξ ἀνθρώπων μετάστασιν ὀνομασθῆναι μὲν Ζῆνα διὰ τὸ δοκεῖν τοῦ καλῶς ζῆν αἴτιον γενέσθαι τοῖς ἀνθρώποις, καθιδρυθῆναι δʼ ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ τῇ τῶν εὖ παθόντων τιμῇ, πάντων προθύμως ἀναγορευόντων θεὸν καὶ κύριον εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα τοῦ σύμπαντος κόσμου. τῶν μὲν οὖν παρὰ τοῖς Ἀτλαντίοις θεολογουμένων τὰ κεφάλαια ταῦτʼ ἔστιν.
Cronus, the brother of Atlas, the myth continues, who was a man notorious for his impiety and greed, married his sister Rhea, by whom he begat that Zeus who was later called "the Olympian." But there had been also another Zeus, the brother of Uranus and a king of Crete, who, however, was far less famous than the Zeus who was born at a later time. 2 Now the latter was king over the entire world, whereas the earlier Zeus, who was lord of the above-mentioned island, begat ten sons who were given the name of Curetes; and the island he named after his wife Idaea, and on it he died and was buried, and the place which received his grave is pointed out to our day. 3 The Cretans, however, have a myth which does not agree with the story given above, and we shall give a detailed account of it when we speak of Crete. Cronus, they say, was lord of Sicily and Libya, and Italy as well, and, in a word, established his kingdom over the regions to the west; and everywhere he occupied with garrisons the commanding hills and the strongholds of the regions, this being the reason why both throughout Sicily and the parts which incline towards the west many of the lofty places are called to this day after him "Cronia." Zeus, however, the son of Cronus, emulated a manner of life the opposite of that led by his father, and since he showed himself honourable and friendly to all, the masses addressed him as "father." As for his succession to the kingly power, some say that his father yielded it to him of his own accord, but others state that he was chosen as king by the masses because of the hatred they bore towards his father, and that when Cronus made war against him with the aid of the Titans, Zeus overcame him in battle, and on gaining supreme power visited all the inhabited world, conferring benefactions upon the race of men. 5 He was pre-eminent also in bodily strength and in all the other qualities of virtue and for this reason quickly became master of the entire world. And in general he showed all zeal to punish impious and wicked men and to show kindness to the masses. 6 In return for all this, after he had passed from among men he was given the name of Zen, because he was the cause of right "living" among men, and those who had received his favours showed him honour by enthroning him in the heavens, all men eagerly acclaiming him as god and lord for ever of the whole universe. These, then, are in summary the facts regarding the teachings of the Atlantians about the gods.
§ 3.62
ἡμεῖς δʼ ἐπεὶ προειρήκαμεν ἐν τοῖς Αἰγυπτιακοῖς περὶ τῆς τοῦ Διονύσου γενέσεως καὶ τῶν ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ πραχθέντων ἀκολούθως ταῖς ἐγχωρίοις ἱστορίαις, οἰκεῖον εἶναι διαλαμβάνομεν προσθεῖναι τὰ μυθολογούμενα περὶ τοῦ θεοῦ τούτου παρὰ τοῖς Ἕλλησι. τῶν δὲ παλαιῶν μυθογράφων καὶ ποιητῶν περὶ Διονύσου γεγραφότων ἀλλήλοις ἀσύμφωνα καὶ πολλοὺς καὶ τερατώδεις λόγους καταβεβλημένων, δυσχερές ἐστιν ὑπὲρ τῆς γενέσεως τοῦ θεοῦ τούτου καὶ τῶν πράξεων καθαρῶς εἰπεῖν. οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἕνα Διόνυσον, οἱ δὲ τρεῖς γεγονέναι παραδεδώκασιν, εἰσὶ δʼ οἱ γένεσιν μὲν τούτου ἀνθρωπόμορφον μὴ γεγονέναι τὸ παράπαν ἀποφαινόμενοι, τὴν δὲ τοῦ οἴνου δόσιν Διόνυσον εἶναι νομίζοντες. διόπερ ἡμεῖς τῶν παρʼ ἑκάστοις λεγομένων τὰ κεφάλαια πειρασόμεθα συντόμως ἐπιδραμεῖν. οἱ τοίνυν φυσιολογοῦντες περὶ τοῦ θεοῦ τούτου καὶ τὸν ἀπὸ τῆς ἀμπέλου καρπὸν Διόνυσον ὀνομάζοντές φασι τὴν γῆν αὐτομάτως μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων φυτῶν ἐνεγκεῖν τὴν ἄμπελον, ἀλλʼ οὐκ ἐξ ἀρχῆς ὑπό τινος εὑρετοῦ φυτευθῆναι. τεκμήριον δʼ εἶναι τούτου τὸ μέχρι τοῦ νῦν ἐν πολλοῖς τόποις ἀγρίας ἀμπέλους φύεσθαι, καὶ καρποφορεῖν αὐτὰς παραπλησίως ταῖς ὑπὸ τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης ἐμπειρίας χειρουργουμέναις. διμήτορα δὲ τὸν Διόνυσον ὑπὸ τῶν παλαιῶν ὠνομάσθαι, μιᾶς μὲν καὶ πρώτης γενέσεως ἀριθμουμένης ὅταν τὸ φυτὸν εἰς τὴν γῆν τεθὲν λαμβάνῃ τὴν αὔξησιν, δευτέρας δʼ ὅταν βρίθῃ καὶ τοὺς βότρυς πεπαίνῃ, ὥστε τὴν μὲν ἐκ γῆς, τὴν δʼ ἐκ τῆς ἀμπέλου γένεσιν τοῦ θεοῦ νομίζεσθαι. παραδεδωκότων δὲ τῶν μυθογράφων καὶ τρίτην γένεσιν, καθʼ ἥν φασι τὸν θεὸν ἐκ Διὸς καὶ Δήμητρος τεκνωθέντα διασπασθῆναι μὲν ὑπὸ τῶν γηγενῶν καὶ καθεψηθῆναι, πάλιν δʼ ὑπὸ τῆς Δήμητρος τῶν μελῶν συναρμοσθέντων ἐξ ἀρχῆς νέον γεννηθῆναι, εἰς φυσικάς τινας αἰτίας μετάγουσι τοὺς τοιούτους λόγους. Διὸς μὲν γὰρ καὶ Δήμητρος αὐτὸν λέγεσθαι διὰ τὸ τὴν ἄμπελον ἔκ τε γῆς καὶ ὄμβρων λαμβάνουσαν τὴν αὔξησιν καρποφορεῖν τὸν ἐκ τοῦ βότρυος ἀποθλιβόμενον οἶνον· τὸ δʼ ὑπὸ τῶν γηγενῶν νέον ὄντα διασπασθῆναι δηλοῦν τὴν ὑπὸ τῶν γεωργῶν συγκομιδὴν τῶν καρπῶν, διὰ τὸ τοὺς ἀνθρώπους τὴν γῆν Δήμητραν νομίζειν· τὴν δὲ καθέψησιν τῶν μελῶν μεμυθοποιῆσθαι διὰ τὸ τοὺς πλείστους ἕψειν τὸν οἶνον καὶ μίσγοντας εὐωδεστέραν αὐτοῦ καὶ βελτίονα τὴν φύσιν κατασκευάζειν· τὸ δὲ τὰ ὑπὸ τῶν γηγενῶν λυμανθέντα τῶν μελῶν ἁρμοσθέντα πάλιν ἐπὶ τὴν προγεγενημένην φύσιν ἀποκαθίστασθαι παρεμφαίνειν ὅτι πάλιν ἡ γῆ τὴν τρυγηθεῖσαν ἄμπελον καὶ τμηθεῖσαν ταῖς κατʼ ἔτος ὥραις εἰς τὴν προϋπάρξασαν ἐν τῷ καρποφορεῖν ἀκμὴν ἀποκαθίστησι. καθόλου γὰρ ὑπὸ τῶν ἀρχαίων ποιητῶν καὶ μυθογράφων τὴν Δήμητραν γῆν μητέρα προσαγορεύεσθαι. σύμφωνα δὲ τούτοις εἶναι τά τε δηλούμενα διὰ τῶν Ὀρφικῶν ποιημάτων καὶ τὰ παρεισαγόμενα κατὰ τὰς τελετάς, περὶ ὧν οὐ θέμις τοῖς ἀμυήτοις ἱστορεῖν τὰ κατὰ μέρος. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τὴν ἐκ Σεμέλης γένεσιν εἰς φυσικὰς ἀρχὰς ἀνάγουσιν, ἀποφαινόμενοι Θυώνην ὑπὸ τῶν ἀρχαίων τὴν γῆν ὠνομάσθαι, καὶ τεθεῖσθαι τὴν προσηγορίαν καὶ Σεμέλην μὲν ἀπὸ τοῦ σεμνὴν εἶναι τῆς θεοῦ ταύτης τὴν ἐπιμέλειαν καὶ τιμήν, Θυώνην δʼ ἀπὸ τῶν θυομένων αὐτῇ θυσιῶν καὶ θυηλῶν. δὶς δʼ αὐτοῦ τὴν γένεσιν ἐκ Διὸς παραδεδόσθαι διὰ τὸ δοκεῖν μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων ἐν τῷ κατὰ τὸν Δευκαλίωνα κατακλυσμῷ φθαρῆναι καὶ τούτους τοὺς καρπούς, καὶ μετὰ τὴν ἐπομβρίαν πάλιν ἀναφύντων ὡσπερεὶ δευτέραν ἐπιφάνειαν ταύτην ὑπάρξαι τοῦ θεοῦ παρʼ ἀνθρώποις, καθʼ ἣν ἐκ τοῦ Διὸς μηροῦ γενέσθαι πάλιν τὸν θεὸν τοῦτον μεμυθοποιῆσθαι. οἱ μὲν οὖν τὴν χρείαν καὶ δύναμιν τοῦ κατὰ τὸν οἶνον εὑρήματος ἀποφαινόμενοι Διόνυσον ὑπάρχειν τοιαῦτα περὶ αὐτοῦ μυθολογοῦσι.
But since we have previously made mention, in connection with our discussion of Egypt, of the birth of Dionysus and of his deeds as they are preserved in the local histories of that country, we are of the opinion that it is appropriate in this place to add the myths about this god which are current among the Greeks. 2 But since the early composers of myths and the early poets who have written about Dionysus do not agree with one another and have committed to writing many monstrous tales, it is a difficult undertaking to give a clear account of the birth and deeds of this god. For some have handed down the story that there was but one Dionysus, others that there were three, and there are those who state that there was never any birth of him in human form whatsoever, and think that the word Dionysus means only "the gift of wine" (oinou dosis). 3 For this reason we shall endeavour to run over briefly only the main facts as they are given by each writer. Those authors, then, who use the phenomena of nature to explain this god and call the fruit of the vine "Dionysus" speak like this: "The earth brought forth of itself the vine at the same time with the other plants and it was not originally planted by some man who discovered it. 4 And they allege as proof of this fact that to this day vines grow wild in many regions and bear fruit quite similar to that of plants which are tended by the experienced hand of man. Furthermore, the early men have given Dionysus the name of "Dimetor," reckoning it as a single and first birth when the plant is set in the ground and begins to grow, and as a second birth when it becomes laden with fruit and ripens its clusters, the god, therefore, being considered as having been born once from the earth and again from the vine. 6 And though the writers of myths have handed down the account of a third birth as well, at which, as they say, the Sons of Gaia tore to pieces the god, who was a son of Zeus and Demeter, and boiled him, but his members were brought together again by Demeter and he experienced a new birth as if for the first time, such accounts as this they trace back to certain causes found in nature. 7 For he is considered to be the son of Zeus and Demeter, they hold, by reason of the fact that the vine gets its growth both from the earth and from rains and so bears as its fruit the wine which is pressed out from the clusters of grapes; and the statement that he was torn to pieces, while yet a youth, by the "earth-born" signifies the harvesting of the fruit by the labourers, and the boiling of his members has been worked into a myth by reason of the fact that most men boil the wine and then mix it, thereby improving its natural aroma and quality. Again, the account of his members, which the "earth-born" treated with despite, being brought together again and restored to their former natural state, shows forth that the vine, which has been stripped of its fruit and pruned at the yearly seasons, is restored by the earth to the high level of fruitfulness which it had before. For, in general, the ancient poets and writers of myths spoke of Demeter as Ge Meter (Earth Mother). 8 And with these stories the teachings agree which are set forth in the Orphic poems and are introduced into their rites, but it is not lawful to recount them in detail to the uninitiated. In the same manner the account that Dionysus was born of Semele they trace back to natural beginnings, offering the explanation that Thuone was the name which the ancients gave to the earth, and that this goddess received the appellation Semele because the worship and honour paid to her was dignified (semne), and she was called Thuone because of the sacrifices (thusiai) and burnt offerings (thuelai) which were offered (thuomenai) to her. 10 Furthermore, the tradition that Dionysus was born twice of Zeus arises from the belief that these fruits also perished in common with all other plants in the flood at the time of Deucalion, and that when they sprang up again after the Deluge it was as if there had been a second epiphany of the god among men, and so the myth was created that the god had been born again from the thigh of Zeus. However this may be, those who explain the name Dionysus as signifying the use and importance of the discovery of wine recount such a myth regarding him.
§ 3.63
τῶν δὲ μυθογράφων οἱ σωματοειδῆ τὸν θεὸν παρεισάγοντες τὴν μὲν εὕρεσιν τῆς ἀμπέλου καὶ φυτείαν καὶ πᾶσαν τὴν περὶ τὸν οἶνον πραγματείαν συμφώνως αὐτῷ προσάπτουσι, περὶ δὲ τοῦ πλείους γεγονέναι Διονύσους ἀμφισβητοῦσιν. ἔνιοι μὲν γὰρ ἕνα καὶ τὸν αὐτὸν ἀποφαίνονται γενέσθαι τόν τε καταδείξαντα τὰ κατὰ τὰς οἰνοποιίας καὶ συγκομιδὰς τῶν ξυλίνων καλουμένων καρπῶν καὶ τὸν στρατευσάμενον ἐπὶ πᾶσαν τὴν οἰκουμένην, ἔτι δὲ τὸν τὰ μυστήρια καὶ τελετὰς καὶ βακχείας εἰσηγησάμενον· ἔνιοι δέ, καθάπερ προεῖπον, τρεῖς ὑποστησάμενοι γεγονέναι κατὰ διεστηκότας χρόνους, ἑκάστῳ προσάπτουσιν ἰδίας πράξεις· καί φασι τὸν μὲν ἀρχαιότατον Ἰνδὸν γεγονέναι, καὶ τῆς χώρας αὐτομάτως διὰ τὴν εὐκρασίαν φερούσης πολλὴν ἄμπελον πρῶτον τοῦτον ἀποθλῖψαι βότρυας καὶ τὴν χρείαν τῆς περὶ τὸν οἶνον φύσεως ἐπινοῆσαι, ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τῶν σύκων καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἀκροδρύων τὴν καθήκουσαν ἐπιμέλειαν ποιήσασθαι, καὶ καθόλου τὰ πρὸς τὴν συγκομιδὴν καὶ παράθεσιν τούτων τῶν καρπῶν ἐπινοῆσαι. τὸν αὐτὸν δὲ καὶ καταπώγωνα λέγουσι γενέσθαι διὰ τὸ τοῖς Ἰνδοῖς νόμιμον εἶναι μέχρι τῆς τελευτῆς ἐπιμελῶς ὑποτρέφειν τοὺς πώγωνας. τὸν δʼ οὖν Διόνυσον ἐπελθόντα μετὰ στρατοπέδου πᾶσαν τὴν οἰκουμένην διδάξαι τήν τε φυτείαν τῆς ἀμπέλου καὶ τὴν ἐν ταῖς ληνοῖς ἀπόθλιψιν τῶν βοτρύων· ἀφʼ οὗ Ληναῖον αὐτὸν ὀνομασθῆναι. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων εὑρημάτων μεταδόντα πᾶσι τυχεῖν αὐτὸν μετὰ τὴν ἐξ ἀνθρώπων μετάστασιν ἀθανάτου τιμῆς παρὰ τοῖς εὖ παθοῦσιν. δείκνυσθαι δὲ παρʼ Ἰνδοῖς μέχρι τοῦ νῦν τόν τε τόπον ἐν ᾧ συνέβη γενέσθαι τὸν θεὸν καὶ προσηγορίας πόλεων ἀπʼ αὐτοῦ κατὰ τὴν τῶν ἐγχωρίων διάλεκτον· καὶ πολλὰ ἕτερα διαμένειν ἀξιόλογα τεκμήρια τῆς παρʼ Ἰνδοῖς γενέσεως, περὶ ὧν μακρὸν ἂν εἴη γράφειν.
Those mythographers, however, who represent the god as having a human form ascribe to him, with one accord, the discovery and cultivation of the vine and all the operations of the making of wine, although they disagree on whether there was a single Dionysus or several. 2 Some, for instance, who assert that he who taught how to make wine and to gather "the fruits of the trees," as they are called, he who led an army over all the inhabited world, and he who introduced the mysteries and rites and Bacchic revelries were one and the same person; but there are others, as I have said, who conceive that there were three persons, at separate periods, and to each of these they ascribe deeds which were peculiarly his own. This, then, is their account: The most ancient Dionysus was an Indian, and since his country, because of the excellent climate, produced the vine in abundance without cultivation, he was the first to press out the clusters of grapes and to devise the use of wine as a natural product, likewise to give the proper care to the figs and other fruits which grow upon trees, and, speaking generally, to devise whatever pertains to the harvesting and storing of these fruits. The same Dionysus is, furthermore, said to have worn a long beard, the reason for the report being that it is the custom among the Indians to give great care, until their death, to the raising of a beard. 4 Now this Dionysus visited with an army all the inhabited world and gave instruction both as to the culture of the vine and the crushing of the clusters in the wine-vats (lenoi), which is the reason why the god was named Lenaeus. Likewise, he allowed all people to share in his other discoveries, and when he passed from among men he received immortal honour at the hands of those who had received his benefactions. 5 Furthermore, there are pointed out among the Indians even to this day the place where it came to pass that the god was born, as well as cities which bear his name in the language of the natives; and many other notable testimonials to his birth among the Indians still survive, but it would be a long task to write of them.
§ 3.64
δεύτερον δὲ μυθολογοῦσι γενέσθαι Διόνυσον ἐκ Διὸς καὶ Φερσεφόνης, ὡς δέ τινες, ἐκ Δήμητρος. τοῦτον δὲ παρεισάγουσι πρῶτον βοῦς ὑπʼ ἄροτρον ζεῦξαι, τὸ πρὸ τοῦ ταῖς χερσὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων τὴν γῆν κατεργαζομένων. πολλὰ δὲ καὶ ἄλλα φιλοτέχνως ἐπινοῆσαι τῶν πρὸς τὴν γεωργίαν χρησίμων, διʼ ὧν ἀπολυθῆναι τοὺς ὄχλους τῆς πολλῆς κακοπαθείας· ἀνθʼ ὧν τοὺς εὖ παθόντας ἀπονεῖμαι τιμὰς ἰσοθέους αὐτῷ καὶ θυσίας, προθύμως ἁπάντων ἀνθρώπων διὰ τὸ μέγεθος τῆς εὐεργεσίας ἀπονειμάντων τὴν ἀθανασίαν. παράσημον δʼ αὐτῷ ποιῆσαι κέρατα τοὺς κατασκευάζοντας τὰς γραφὰς ἢ τοὺς ἀνδριάντας, ἅμα μὲν δηλοῦντας ἑτέραν Διονύσου φύσιν, ἅμα δὲ ἀπὸ τῆς περὶ τὸ ἄροτρον εὑρέσεως ἐμφαίνοντας τὸ μέγεθος τῆς ἐπινοηθείσης τοῖς γεωργοῖς εὐχρηστίας. τρίτον δὲ γενέσθαι Διόνυσόν φασιν ἐν Θήβαις ταῖς Βοιωτίαις ἐκ Διὸς καὶ Σεμέλης τῆς Κάδμου. μυθολογοῦσι γὰρ ἐρασθέντα Δία μιγῆναι πλεονάκις αὐτῇ διὰ τὸ κάλλος, τὴν δʼ Ἥραν ζηλοτυποῦσαν καὶ βουλομένην τιμωρίᾳ περιβαλεῖν τὴν ἄνθρωπον, ὁμοιωθῆναι μέν τινι τῶν ἀποδοχῆς τυγχανουσῶν παρʼ αὐτῇ γυναικῶν, παρακρούσασθαι δὲ τὴν Σεμέλην· εἰπεῖν γὰρ πρὸς αὐτὴν ὅτι καθῆκον ἦν τὸν Δία μετὰ τῆς αὐτῆς ἐπιφανείας τε καὶ τιμῆς ποιεῖσθαι τὴν ὁμιλίαν ᾗπερ χρᾶται κατὰ τὴν πρὸς τὴν Ἥραν συμπεριφοράν. διὸ καὶ τὸν μὲν Δία, τῆς Σεμέλης ἀξιούσης τυγχάνειν τῶν ἴσων Ἥρᾳ τιμῶν, παραγενέσθαι μετὰ βροντῶν καὶ κεραυνῶν, τὴν δὲ Σεμέλην οὐχ ὑπομείνασαν τὸ μέγεθος τῆς περιστάσεως τελευτῆσαι καὶ τὸ βρέφος ἐκτρῶσαι πρὸ τοῦ καθήκοντος χρόνου. καὶ τοῦτο μὲν τὸν Δία ταχέως εἰς τὸν ἑαυτοῦ μηρὸν ἐγκρύψαι· μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τοῦ κατὰ φύσιν τῆς γενέσεως χρόνου τὴν λελείαν αὔξησιν ποιήσαντος ἀπενεγκεῖν τὸ βρέφος εἰς Νῦσαν τῆς Ἀραβίας. ἐνταῦθα δʼ ὑπὸ νυμφῶν τραφέντα τὸν παῖδα προσαγορευθῆναι μὲν ἀπὸ τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ τοῦ τόπου Διόνυσον, γενόμενον δὲ τῷ κάλλει διάφορον τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἐν χορείαις καὶ γυναικῶν θιάσοις καὶ παντοδαπῇ τρυφῇ καὶ παιδιᾷ διατελεῖν· μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα στρατόπεδον ἐκ τῶν γυναικῶν συναγαγόντα καὶ θύρσοις καθοπλίσαντα στρατείαν ἐπὶ πᾶσαν ποιήσασθαι τὴν οἰκουμένην. καταδεῖξαι δὲ καὶ τὰ περὶ τὰς τελετὰς καὶ μεταδοῦναι τῶν μυστηρίων τοῖς εὐσεβέσι τῶν ἀνθρώπων καὶ δίκαιον βίον ἀσκοῦσι, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις πανταχοῦ πανηγύρεις ἄγειν καὶ μουσικοὺς ἀγῶνας συντελεῖν, καὶ τὸ σύνολον συλλύοντα τὰ νείκη τῶν ἐθνῶν καὶ πόλεων ἀντὶ τῶν στάσεων καὶ τῶν πολέμων ὁμόνοιαν καὶ πολλὴν εἰρήνην κατασκευάζειν.
The second Dionysus, the writers of myths relate, was born to Zeus by Persephone, though some say it was Demeter. He is represented by them as the first man to have yoked oxen to the plough, human beings before that time having prepared the ground by hand. Many other things also, which are useful for agriculture, were skilfully devised by him, whereby the masses were relieved of their great distress; 2 and in return for this those whom he had benefited accorded to him honours and sacrifices like those offered to the gods, since all men were eager, because of the magnitude of his service to them, to accord to him immortality. And as a special symbol and token the painters and sculptors represented him with horns, at the same time making manifest thereby the other nature of Dionysus and also showing forth the magnitude of the service which he had devised for the farmers by his invention of the plough. The third Dionysus, they say, was born in Boeotian Thebes of Zeus and Semele, the daughter of Cadmus. The myth runs as follows: Zeus had become enamoured of Semele and often, lured by her beauty, had consorted with her, but Hera, being jealous and anxious to punish the girl, assumed the form of one of the women who was an intimate of Semele's and led her on to her ruin; 4 for she suggested to her that Zeus should lie with her while having the same majesty and honour in his outward appearance as when he took Hera to his arms. Consequently Zeus, at the request of Semele that she be shown the same honours as Hera, appeared to her accompanied by thunder and lightning, but Semele, unable to endure the majesty of his grandeur, died and brought forth the babe before the appointed time. 5 This babe Zeus quickly took and hid in his thigh, and afterwards, when the period which nature prescribed for the child's birth had completed its growth, he brought it to Nysa in Arabia. 6 There the boy was reared by nymphs and was given the name Dionysus after his father (Dios) and after the place (Nysa); and since he grew to be of unusual beauty he at first spent his time at dances and with bands of women and in every kind of luxury and amusement, and after that, forming the women into an army and arming them with thyrsi, he made a campaign over all the inhabited world. 7 He also instructed all men who were pious and cultivated a life of justice in the knowledge of his rites and initiated them into his mysteries, and, furthermore, in every place he held great festive assemblages and celebrated musical contests; and, in a word, he composed the quarrels between the nations and cities and created concord and deep peace where there had existed civil strifes and wars.
§ 3.65
διαβοηθείσης δὲ κατὰ πάντα τόπον τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ παρουσίας, καὶ διότι πᾶσιν ἐπιεικῶς προσφερόμενος πολλὰ συμβάλλεται πρὸς τὴν ἐξημέρωσιν τοῦ κοινοῦ βίου, πανδημεὶ συναντᾶν αὐτῷ καὶ προσδέχεσθαι μετὰ πολλῆς χαρᾶς. ὀλίγων δʼ ὄντων τῶν διʼ ὑπερηφανίαν καὶ ἀσέβειαν καταφρονούντων καὶ φασκόντων τὰς μὲν βάκχας διʼ ἀκρασίαν αὐτὸν περιάγεσθαι, τὰς δὲ τελετὰς καὶ τὰ μυστήρια φθορᾶς ἕνεκα τῶν ἀλλοτρίων γυναικῶν καταδεικνύειν, κολάζεσθαι τοὺς τοιούτους ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ παραχρῆμα. ἐνίοτε γὰρ τῇ τῆς θείας φύσεως ὑπεροχῇ χρώμενον τιμωρεῖσθαι τοὺς ἀσεβεῖς, ποτὲ μὲν αὐτοῖς ἐμβάλλοντα μανίαν, ποτὲ δὲ ταῖς τῶν γυναικῶν χερσὶ ζῶντας διαμελίζοντα· ἐνίοτε δὲ καὶ διὰ τῆς στρατηγικῆς ἐπινοίας παραδόξως ἀναιρεῖν τοὺς ἐναντιοπραγοῦντας. ἀναδιδόναι γὰρ ταῖς βάκχαις ἀντὶ τῶν θύρσων λόγχας τῷ κιττῷ κεκαλυμμένας τὴν ἀκμὴν τοῦ σιδήρου· διὸ καὶ τῶν βασιλέων διὰ τὴν ἄγνοιαν καταφρονούντων ὡς ἂν γυναικῶν, καὶ διὰ τοῦτʼ ἀπαρασκεύων ὄντων, ἀνελπίστως ἐπιτιθέμενον κατακοντίζειν. τῶν δὲ κολασθέντων ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ φασιν ἐπιφανεστάτους εἶναι Πενθέα μὲν παρὰ τοῖς Ἕλλησι, Μύρρανον δὲ τὸν βασιλέα παρʼ Ἰνδοῖς, Λυκοῦργον δὲ παρὰ τοῖς Θρᾳξί. μυθολογοῦσι γὰρ τὸν Διόνυσον ἐκ τῆς Ἀσίας μέλλοντα τὴν δύναμιν διαβιβάζειν εἰς τὴν Εὐρώπην, συνθέσθαι φιλίαν πρὸς Λυκοῦργον τὸν Θρᾴκης βασιλέα τῆς ἐφʼ Ἑλλησπόντῳ· διαβιβάσαντος δὲ αὐτοῦ πρώτας τὰς βάκχας ὡς εἰς φιλίαν χώραν, τὸν μὲν Λυκοῦργον παραγγεῖλαι τοῖς στρατιώταις νυκτὸς ἐπιθέσθαι καὶ τόν τε Διόνυσον καὶ τὰς μαινάδας πάσας ἀνελεῖν, τὸν δὲ Διόνυσον παρά τινος τῶν ἐγχωρίων, ὃς ἐκαλεῖτο Χάροψ, μαθόντα τὴν ἐπιβουλὴν καταπλαγῆναι διὰ τὸ τὴν δύναμιν ἐν τῷ πέραν εἶναι, παντελῶς δʼ ὀλίγους αὐτῷ τῶν φίλων συνδιαβεβηκέναι. διόπερ λάθρᾳ τούτου διαπλεύσαντος πρὸς τὸ σφέτερον στρατόπεδον, τὸν μὲν Λυκοῦργόν φασιν ἐπιθέμενον ταῖς μαινάσιν ἐν τῷ καλουμένῳ Νυσίῳ πάσας ἀποκτεῖναι, τὸν δὲ Διόνυσον περαιώσαντα τὰς δυνάμεις μάχῃ κρατῆσαι τῶν Θρᾳκῶν, καὶ τὸν Λυκοῦργον ζωγρήσαντα τυφλῶσαί τε καὶ πᾶσαν αἰκίαν εἰσενεγκάμενον ἀνασταυρῶσαι. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τῷ μὲν Χάροπι χάριν ἀποδιδόντα τῆς εὐεργεσίας παραδοῦναι τὴν τῶν Θρᾳκῶν βασιλείαν καὶ διδάξαι τὰ κατὰ τὰς τελετὰς ὄργια· Χάροπος δʼ υἱὸν γενόμενον Οἴαγρον παραλαβεῖν τήν τε βασιλείαν καὶ τὰς ἐν τοῖς μυστηρίοις παραδεδομένας τελετάς, ἃς ὕστερον Ὀρφέα τὸν Οἰάγρου μαθόντα παρὰ τοῦ πατρός, καὶ φύσει καὶ παιδείᾳ τῶν ἁπάντων διενεγκόντα, πολλὰ μεταθεῖναι τῶν ἐν τοῖς ὀργίοις· διὸ καὶ τὰς ὑπὸ τοῦ Διονύσου γενομένας τελετὰς Ὀρφικὰς προσαγορευθῆναι. τῶν δὲ ποιητῶν τινες, ὧν ἐστι καὶ Ἀντίμαχος, ἀποφαίνονται τὸν Λυκοῦργον οὐ Θρᾴκης, ἀλλὰ τῆς Ἀραβίας γεγονέναι βασιλέα, καὶ τῷ τε Διονύσῳ καὶ ταῖς βάκχαις τὴν ἐπίθεσιν ἐν τῇ κατὰ τὴν Ἀραβίαν Νύσῃ πεποιῆσθαι. τὸν δʼ οὖν Διόνυσόν φασι κολάσαντα μὲν τοὺς ἀσεβεῖς, ἐπιεικῶς δὲ προσενεχθέντα τοῖς ἄλλοις ἀνθρώποις, ἐκ τῆς Ἰνδικῆς ἐπʼ ἐλέφαντος τὴν εἰς Θήβας ἐπάνοδον ποιήσασθαι. τριετοῦς δὲ διαγεγενημένου τοῦ σύμπαντος χρόνου, φασὶ τοὺς Ἕλληνας ἀπὸ ταύτης τῆς αἰτίας ἄγειν τὰς τριετηρίδας. μυθολογοῦσι δʼ αὐτὸν καὶ λαφύρων ἠθροικότα πλῆθος ὡς ἂν ἀπὸ τηλικαύτης στρατείας, πρῶτον τῶν ἁπάντων καταγαγεῖν θρίαμβον εἰς τὴν πατρίδα.
Now since the presence of the god, the myth goes on to say, became noised abroad in every region, and the report spread that he was treating all men honourably and contributing greatly to the refinement of man's social life, the whole populace everywhere thronged to meet him and welcomed him with great joy. 2 There were a few, however, who, out of disdain and impiety, looked down upon him and kept saying that he was leading the Bacchantes about with him because of his incontinence and was introducing the rites and the mysteries that he might thereby seduce the wives of other men, but such persons were punished by him right speedily. 3 For in some cases he made use of the superior power which attended his divine nature and punished the impious, either striking them with madness or causing them while still living to be torn limb from limb by the hands of the women; in other cases he destroyed such as opposed him by a military device which took them by surprise. For he distributed to the women, instead of the thyrsi, lances whose tips of iron were covered with ivy leaves; consequently, when the kings in their ignorance and for this reason were unprepared, he attacked them when they did not expect it and slew them with the spears. 4 Among those who were punished by him, the most renowned, they say, were Pentheus among the Greeks, Myrrhanus the king of the Indians, and Lycurgus among the Thracians. For the myth relates that when Dionysus was on the point of leading his force over from Asia into Europe, he concluded a treaty of friendship with Lycurgus, who was king of that part of Thrace which lies upon the Hellespont. Now when he had led the first of the Bacchantes over into a friendly land, as he thought, Lycurgus issued orders to his soldiers to fall upon them by night and to slay both Dionysus and all the Maenads, and Dionysus, learning of the plot from a man of the country who was called Charops, was struck with dismay, because his army was on the other side of the Hellespont and only a mere handful of his friends had crossed over with him. 5 Consequently he sailed across secretly to his army, and then Lycurgus, they say, falling upon the Maenads in the city known as Nysium, slew them all, but Dionysus, bringing his forces over, conquered the Thracians in a battle, and taking Lycurgus alive put out his eyes and inflicted upon him every kind of outrage, and then crucified him. 6 Thereupon, out of gratitude to Charops for the aid the man had rendered him, Dionysus made over to him the kingdom of the Thracians and instructed him in the secret rites connected with the initiations; and Oeagrus, the son of Charops, then took over both the kingdom and the initiatory rites which were handed down in the mysteries, the rites which afterwards Orpheus, the son of Oeagrus, who was the superior of all men in natural gifts and education, learned from his father; Orpheus also made many changes in the practices and for that reason the rites which had been established by Dionysus were also called "Orphic." But some of the poets, one of whom is Antimachus, state that Lycurgus was king, not of Thrace, but of Arabia, and that the attack upon Dionysus and the Bacchantes was made at the Nysa which is in Arabia. However this may be, Dionysus, they say, punished the impious but treated all other men honourably, and then made his return journey from India to Thebes upon an elephant. 8 The entire time consumed in the journey was three years, and it is for this reason, they say, that the Greeks hold his festival every other year.a The myth also relates that he gathered a great mass of booty, such as would result from such a campaign, and that he was the first of all men to make his return to his native country in a triumph.
§ 3.66
αὗται μὲν οὖν αἱ γενέσεις συμφωνοῦνται μάλιστα παρὰ τοῖς παλαιοῖς· ἀμφισβητοῦσι δὲ καὶ πόλεις οὐκ ὀλίγαι Ἑλληνίδες τῆς τούτου τεκνώσεως· καὶ γὰρ Ἠλεῖοι καὶ Νάξιοι, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις οἱ τὰς Ἐλευθερὰς οἰκοῦντες καὶ Τήιοι καὶ πλείους ἕτεροι παρʼ ἑαυτοῖς ἀποφαίνονται τεκνωθῆναι. καὶ Τήιοι μὲν τεκμήριον φέρουσι τῆς παρʼ αὐτοῖς γενέσεως τοῦ θεοῦ τὸ μέχρι τοῦ νῦν τεταγμένοις χρόνοις ἐν τῇ πόλει πηγὴν αὐτομάτως ἐκ τῆς γῆς οἴνου ῥεῖν εὐωδίᾳ διαφέροντος· τῶν δʼ ἄλλων οἱ μὲν ἱερὰν Διονύσου δεικνύουσι τὴν χώραν, οἱ δὲ ναοὺς καὶ τεμένη διαφερόντως ἐκ παλαιῶν χρόνων αὐτῷ καθιδρυμένα. καθόλου δʼ ἐν πολλοῖς τόποις τῆς οἰκουμένης ἀπολελοιπότος τοῦ θεοῦ σημεῖα τῆς ἰδίας εὐεργεσίας ἅμα καὶ παρουσίας, οὐδὲν παράδοξον ἑκάστους νομίζειν οἰκειότητά τινα γεγονέναι τῷ Διονύσῳ πρὸς τὴν ἑαυτῶν πόλιν τε καὶ χώραν. μαρτυρεῖ δὲ τοῖς ὑφʼ ἡμῶν λεγομένοις καὶ ὁ ποιητὴς ἐν τοῖς ὕμνοις, λέγων περὶ τῶν ἀμφισβητούντων τῆς τούτου γενέσεως καὶ ἅμα τεκνωθῆναι παρεισάγων αὐτὸν ἐν τῇ κατὰ τὴν Ἀραβίαν Νύσῃ, οἱ μὲν γὰρ Δρακάνῳ δʼ, οἱ δʼ Ἰκάρῳ ἠνεμοέσσῃ φάσʼ, οἱ δʼ ἐν Νάξῳ, δῖον γένος, εἰραφιῶτα, οἱ δέ σʼ ἐπʼ Ἀλφειῷ ποταμῷ βαθυδινήεντι κυσαμένην Σεμέλην τεκέειν Διὶ τερπικεραύνῳ, ἄλλοι δʼ ἐν Θήβῃσιν, ἄναξ, σε λέγουσι γενέσθαι, ψευδόμενοι· σὲ δʼ ἔτικτε πατὴρ ἀνδρῶν τε θεῶν τε πολλὸν ἀπʼ ἀνθρώπων κρύπτων λευκώλενον Ἥρην. ἔστι δέ τις Νύση, ὕπατον ὄρος, ἀνθέον ὕλῃ, τηλοῦ Φοινίκης, σχεδὸν Αἰγύπτοιο ῥοάων. οὐκ ἀγνοῶ δʼ ὅτι καὶ τῶν τὴν Λιβύην νεμομένων οἱ παρὰ τὸν ὠκεανὸν οἰκοῦντες ἀμφισβητοῦσι τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ γενέσεως, καὶ τῆν Νῦσαν καὶ τἄλλα τὰ περὶ αὐτοῦ μυθολογούμενα παρʼ ἑαυτοῖς δεικνύουσι γεγενημένα, καὶ πολλὰ τεκμήρια τούτων μέχρι τοῦ καθʼ ἡμᾶς βίου διαμένειν κατὰ τὴν χώραν φασί· πρὸς δὲ τούτοις ὅτι πολλοὶ τῶν παλαιῶν παρʼ Ἕλλησι μυθογράφων καὶ ποιητῶν συμφωνούμενα τούτοις ἱστοροῦσι καὶ τῶν μεταγενεστέρων συγγραφέων οὐκ ὀλίγοι. διόπερ, ἵνα μηδὲν παραλίπωμεν τῶν ἱστορημένων περὶ Διονύσου, διέξιμεν ἐν κεφαλαίοις τὰ παρὰ τοῖς Λίβυσι λεγόμενα καὶ τῶν Ἑλληνικῶν συγγραφέων ὅσοι τούτοις σύμφωνα γεγράφασι καὶ Διονυσίῳ τῷ συνταξαμένῳ τὰς παλαιὰς μυθοποιίας. οὗτος γὰρ τά τε περὶ τὸν Διόνυσον καὶ τὰς Ἀμαζόνας, ἔτι δὲ τοὺς Ἀργοναύτας καὶ τὰ κατὰ τὸν Ἰλιακὸν πόλεμον πραχθέντα καὶ πόλλʼ ἕτερα συντέτακται, παρατιθεὶς τὰ ποιήματα τῶν ἀρχαίων, τῶν τε μυθολόγων καὶ τῶν ποιητῶν.
Now these accounts of the birth of Dionysus are generally agreed upon by the ancient writers; but rival claims are raised by not a few Greek cities to having been the place of his birth. The peoples of Elis and Naxos, for instance, and the inhabitants of Eleutherae and Teos and several other peoples, state that he was born in their cities. 2 The Teans advance as proof that the god was born among them the fact that, even to this day, at fixed times in their city a fountain of wine, of unusually sweet fragrance, flows of its own accord from the earth; and as for the peoples of the other cities, they in some cases point out a plot of land which is sacred to Dionysus, in other cases shrines and sacred precincts which have been consecrated to him from ancient times. 3 But, speaking generally, since the god has left behind him in many places over the inhabited world evidences of his personal favour and presence, it is not surprising that in each case the people should think that Dionysus had had a peculiar relationship to both their city and country. And testimony to our opinion is also offered by the poet in his Hymns, when he speaks of those who lay claim to the birthplace of Dionysus and, in that connection, represents him as being born in the Nysa which is in Arabia: Some Dracanum, wind-swept Icarus some, Some Naxos, Zeus-born one, or Alpheius' stream Deep-eddied, call the spot where Semele Bore thee, Eiraphiotes, unto Zeus Who takes delight in thunder; others still Would place thy birth, O Lord, in Thebes. 'Tis false; The sire of men and gods brought thee to light, Unknown to white-armed Hera, far from men. There is a certain Nysa, mountain high, With forests thick, in Phoenice afar, Close to Aegyptus' streams. I am not unaware that also those inhabitants of Libya who dwell on the shore of the ocean lay claim to the birthplace of the god, and point out that Nysa and all the stories which the myths record are found among themselves, and many witnesses to this statement, they say, remain in the land down to our own lifetime; and I also know that many of the ancient Greek writers of myths and poets, and not a few of the later historians as well, agree with this in their accounts. 5 Consequently, in order not to omit anything which history records about Dionysus, we shall present in summary what is told by the Libyans and those Greek historians whose writings are in accord with these and with that Dionysius who composed an account out of the ancient fabulous tales. 6 For this writer has composed an account of Dionysus and the Amazons, as well as of the Argonauts and the events connected with the Trojan War and many other matters, in which he cites the versions of the ancient writers, both the composers of myths and the poets.
§ 3.67
φησὶ τοίνυν παρʼ Ἕλλησι πρῶτον εὑρετὴν γενέσθαι Λίνον ῥυθμῶν καὶ μέλους, ἔτι δὲ Κάδμου κομίσαντος ἐκ Φοινίκης τὰ καλούμενα γράμματα πρῶτον εἰς τὴν Ἑλληνικὴν μεταθεῖναι διάλεκτον, καὶ τὰς προσηγορίας ἑκάστῳ τάξαι καὶ τοὺς χαρακτῆρας διατυπῶσαι. κοινῇ μὲν οὖν τὰ γράμματα Φοινίκεια κληθῆναι διὰ τὸ παρὰ τοὺς Ἕλληνας ἐκ Φοινίκων μετενεχθῆναι, ἰδίᾳ δὲ τῶν Πελασγῶν πρώτων χρησαμένων τοῖς μετατεθεῖσι χαρακτῆρσι Πελασγικὰ προσαγορευθῆναι. τὸν δὲ Λίνον ἐπὶ ποιητικῇ καὶ μελῳδίᾳ θαυμασθέντα μαθητὰς σχεῖν πολλούς, ἐπιφανεστάτους δὲ τρεῖς, Ἡρακλέα, Θαμύραν, Ὀρφέα. τούτων δὲ τὸν μὲν Ἡρακλέα κιθαρίζειν μανθάνοντα διὰ τὴν τῆς ψυχῆς βραδυτῆτα μὴ δύνασθαι δέξασθαι τὴν μάθησιν, ἔπειθʼ ὑπὸ τοῦ Λίνου πληγαῖς ἐπιτιμηθέντα διοργισθῆναι καὶ τῇ κιθάρᾳ τὸν διδάσκαλον πατάξαντα ἀποκτεῖναι, Θαμύραν δὲ φύσει διαφόρῳ κεχορηγημένον ἐκπονῆσαι τὰ περὶ τὴν μουσικήν, καὶ κατὰ τὴν ἐν τῷ μελῳδεῖν ὑπεροχὴν φάσκειν ἑαυτὸν τῶν Μουσῶν ἐμμελέστερον ᾅδειν. διὸ καὶ τὰς θεὰς αὐτῷ χολωθείσας τήν τε μουσικὴν ἀφελέσθαι καὶ πηρῶσαι τὸν ἄνδρα, καθάπερ καὶ τὸν Ὅμηρον τούτοις προσμαρτυρεῖν λέγοντα ἔνθα τε Μοῦσαι ἀντόμεναι Θάμυριν τὸν Θρήικα παῦσαν ἀοιδῆς, καὶ ἔτι αἱ δὲ χολωσάμεναι πηρὸν θέσαν, αὐτὰρ ἀοιδὴν θεσπεσίην ἀφέλοντο καὶ ἐκλέλαθον κιθαριστύν. περὶ δὲ Ὀρφέως τοῦ τρίτου μαθητοῦ τὰ κατὰ μέρος ἀναγράψομεν, ὅταν τὰς πράξεις αὐτοῦ διεξίωμεν. τὸν δʼ οὖν Λίνον φασὶ τοῖς Πελασγικοῖς γράμμασι συνταξάμενον τὰς τοῦ πρώτου Διονύσου πράξεις καὶ τὰς ἄλλας μυθολογίας ἀπολιπεῖν ἐν τοῖς ὑπομνήμασιν. ὁμοίως δὲ τούτοις χρήσασθαι τοῖς Πελασγικοῖς γράμμασι τὸν Ὀρφέα καὶ Προναπίδην τὸν Ὁμήρου διδάσκαλον, εὐφυῆ γεγονότα μελοποιόν· πρὸς δὲ τούτοις Θυμοίτην τὸν Θυμοίτου τοῦ Λαομέδοντος, κατὰ τὴν ἡλικίαν γεγονότα τὴν Ὀρφέως, πλανηθῆναι κατὰ πολλοὺς τόπους τῆς οἰκουμένης, καὶ παραβαλεῖν τῆς Λιβύης εἰς τὴν πρὸς ἑσπέραν χώραν ἕως ὠκεανοῦ· θεάσασθαι δὲ καὶ τὴν Νῦσαν, ἐν ᾗ μυθολογοῦσιν οἱ ἐγχώριοι ἀρχαῖοι τραφῆναι τὸν Διόνυσον, καὶ τὰς κατὰ μέρος τοῦ θεοῦ τούτου πράξεις μαθόντα παρὰ τῶν Νυσαέων συντάξασθαι τὴν Φρυγίαν ὀνομαζομένην ποίησιν, ἀρχαϊκοῖς τῇ τε διαλέκτῳ καὶ τοῖς γράμμασι χρησάμενον.
This, then, is the account of Dionysius: Among the Greeks Linus was the first to discover the different rhythms and song, and when Cadmus brought from Phoenicia the letters, as they are called, Linus was again the first to transfer them into the Greek language, to give a name to each character, and to fix its shape. Now the letters, as a group, are called "Phoenician" because they were brought to the Greeks from the Phoenicians, but as single letters the Pelasgians were the first to make use of the transferred characters and so they were called "Pelasgic." 2 Linus also, who was admired because of his poetry and singing, had many pupils and three of greatest renown, Heracles, Thamyras, and Orpheus. Of these three Heracles, who was learning to play the lyre, was unable to appreciate what was taught him because of his sluggishness of soul, and once when he had been punished with rods by Linus he became violently angry and killed his teacher with a blow of the lyre. 3 Thamyras, however, who possessed unusual natural ability, perfected the art of music and claimed that in the excellence of song his voice was more beautiful than the voices of the Muses. Whereupon the goddesses, angered at him, took from him his gift of music and maimed the man, even as Homer also bears witness when he writes: There met the Muses Thamyris of Thrace And made an end of his song; and again: But him, enraged, they maimed, and from him took The gift of song divine and made him quite Forget his harping. About Orpheus, the third pupil, we shall give a detailed account when we come to treat of his deeds. Now Linus, they say, composed an account in the Pelasgic letters of the deeds of the first Dionysus and of the other mythical legends and left them among his memoirs. 5 And in the same manner use was made of these Pelasgic letters by Orpheus and Pronapides who was the teacher of Homer and a gifted writer of songs; and also by Thymoetes, the son of Thymoetes, the son of Laomedon, who lived at the same time as Orpheus, wandered over many regions of the inhabited world, and penetrated to the western part of Libya as far as the ocean. He also visited Nysa, where the ancient natives of the city relate that Dionysus was reared there, and, after he had learned from the Nysaeans of the deeds of this god one and all, he composed the "Phrygian poem," as it is called, wherein he made use of the archaic manner both of speech and of letters.
§ 3.68
φησὶ δʼ οὖν Ἄμμωνα βασιλεύοντα τοῦ μέρους τῆς Λιβύης Οὐρανοῦ γῆμαι θυγατέρα τὴν προσαγορευομένην Ῥέαν, ἀδελφὴν οὖσαν Κρόνου τε καὶ τῶν ἄλλων Τιτάνων. ἐπιόντα δὲ τὴν βασιλείαν εὑρεῖν πλησίον τῶν Κεραυνίων καλουμένων ὀρῶν παρθένον τῷ κάλλει διαφέρουσαν Ἀμάλθειαν ὄνομα. ἐρασθέντα δʼ αὐτῆς καὶ πλησιάσαντα γεννῆσαι παῖδα τῷ τε κάλλει καὶ τῇ ῥώμῃ θαυμαστόν, καὶ τὴν μὲν Ἀμάλθειαν ἀποδεῖξαι κυρίαν τοῦ σύνεγγυς τόπου παντός, ὄντος τῷ σχήματι παραπλησίου κέρατι βοός, ἀφʼ ἧς αἰτίας Ἑσπέρου κέρας προσαγορευθῆναι· διὰ δὲ τὴν ἀρετὴν τῆς χώρας εἶναι πλήρη παντοδαπῆς ἀμπέλου καὶ τῶν ἄλλων δένδρων τῶν ἡμέρους φερόντων καρπούς. τῆς δὲ προειρημένης γυναικὸς τὴν δυναστείαν παραλαβούσης, ἀπὸ ταύτης τὴν χώραν Ἀμαλθείας κέρας ὀνομασθῆναι· διὸ καὶ τοὺς μεταγενεστέρους ἀνθρώπους διὰ τὴν προειρημένην αἰτίαν τὴν κρατίστην γῆν καὶ παντοδαποῖς καρποῖς πλήθουσαν ὡσαύτως Ἀμαλθείας κέρας προσαγορεύειν. τὸν δʼ οὖν Ἄμμωνα φοβούμενον τὴν τῆς Ῥέας ζηλοτυπίαν κρύψαι τὸ γεγονός, καὶ τὸν παῖδα λάθρᾳ μετενεγκεῖν εἴς τινα πόλιν Νῦσαν, μακρὰν ἀπʼ ἐκείνων τῶν τόπων ἀπηρτημένην. κεῖσθαι δὲ ταύτην ἔν τινι νήσῳ περιεχομένῃ μὲν ὑπὸ τοῦ Τρίτωνος ποταμοῦ, περικρήμνῳ δὲ καὶ καθʼ ἕνα τόπον ἐχούσῃ στενὰς εἰσβολάς, ἃς ὠνομάσθαι πύλας Νυσίας. εἶναι δʼ ἐν αὐτῇ χώραν εὐδαίμονα λειμῶσί τε μαλακοῖς διειλημμένην καὶ πηγαίοις ὕδασιν ἀρδευομένην δαψιλέσι, δένδρα τε καρποφόρα παντοῖα καὶ πολλὴν ἄμπελον αὐτοφυῆ, καὶ ταύτης τὴν πλείστην ἀναδενδράδα. ὑπάρχειν δὲ καὶ πάντα τὸν τόπον εὔπνουν, ἔτι δὲ καθʼ ὑπερβολὴν ὑγιεινόν· καὶ διὰ τοῦτο τοὺς ἐν αὐτῷ κατοικοῦντας μακροβιωτάτους ὑπάρχειν τῶν πλησιοχώρων. εἶναι δὲ τῆς νήσου τὴν μὲν πρώτην εἰσβολὴν αὐλωνοειδῆ, σύσκιον ὑψηλοῖς καὶ πυκνοῖς δένδρεσιν, ὥστε τὸν ἥλιον μὴ παντάπασι διαλάμπειν διὰ τὴν συνάγκειαν, αὐγὴν δὲ μόνην ὁρᾶσθαι φωτός.
Dionysius, then, continues his account as follows: Ammon, the king of that part of Libya, married a daughter of Uranus who was called Rhea and was a sister of Cronus and the other Titans. And once when Ammon was going about his kingdom, near the Ceraunian Mountains, as they are called, he came upon a maiden of unusual beauty whose name was Amaltheia. 2 And becoming enamoured of her he lay with the maiden and begat a son of marvellous beauty as well as bodily vigour, and Amaltheia herself he appointed mistress of all the region round about, which was shaped like the horn of a bull and for this reason was known as Hesperoukeras; and the region, because of the excellent quality of the land, abounds in every variety of the vine and all other trees which bear cultivated fruits. 3 When the woman whom we have just mentioned took over the supreme power the country was named after her Amaltheias Keras; consequently the men of later times, for the reason which we have just given, likewise call any especially fertile bit of ground which abounds in fruits of every kind "Amaltheia's Horn." Now Ammon, fearing the jealousy of Rhea, concealed the affair and brought the boy secretly to a certain city called Nysa, which was at a great distance from those parts. 5 This city lies on a certain island which is surrounded by the river Triton and is precipitous on all sides save at one place where there is a narrow pass which bears the name "Nysaean Gates." The land of the island is rich, is traversed at intervals by pleasant meadows and watered by abundant streams from springs, and possesses every kind of fruit-bearing tree and the wild vine in abundance, which for the most part grows up trees. 6 The whole region, moreover, has a fresh and pure air and is furthermore exceedingly healthful; and for this reason its inhabitants are the longest lived of any in those parts. The entrance into the island is like a glen at its beginning, being thickly shaded by lofty trees growing close together, so that the sun never shines at all through the close-set branches but only the radiance of its light may be seen.
§ 3.69
πάντῃ δὲ κατὰ τὰς παρόδους προχεῖσθαι πηγὰς ὑδάτων τῇ γλυκύτητι διαφόρων, ὥστε τὸν τόπον εἶναι τοῖς βουλομένοις ἐνδιατρῖψαι προσηνέστατον. ἑξῆς δʼ ὑπάρχειν ἄντρον τῷ μὲν σχήματι κυκλοτερές, τῷ δὲ μεγέθει καὶ τῷ κάλλει θαυμαστόν. ὑπερκεῖσθαι γὰρ αὐτοῦ πανταχῇ κρημνὸν πρὸς ὕψος ἐξαίσιον, πέτρας ἔχοντα τοῖς χρώμασι διαφόρους· ἐναλλὰξ γὰρ ἀποστίλβειν τὰς μὲν θαλαττίᾳ πορφύρᾳ τὴν χρόαν ἐχούσας παραπλήσιον, τὰς δὲ κυανῷ, τινὰς δʼ ἄλλαις φύσεσι περιλαμπομέναις, ὥστε μηδὲν εἶναι χρῶμα τῶν ἑωραμένων παρʼ ἀνθρώποις περὶ τὸν τόπον ἀθεώρητον. πρὸ δὲ τῆς εἰσόδου πεφυκέναι δένδρα θαυμαστά, τὰ μὲν κάρπιμα, τὰ δὲ ἀειθαλῆ, πρὸς αὐτὴν μόνον τὴν ἀπὸ τῆς θέας τέρψιν ὑπὸ τῆς φύσεως δεδημιουργημένα· ἐν δὲ τούτοις ἐννεοττεύειν ὄρνεα παντοδαπὰ ταῖς φύσεσιν, ἃ τὴν χρόαν ἔχειν ἐπιτερπῆ καὶ τὴν μελῳδίαν προσηνεστάτην. διὸ καὶ πάντα τὸν τόπον ὑπάρχειν μὴ μόνον θεοπρεπῆ κατὰ τὴν πρόσοψιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ κατὰ τὸν ἦχον, ὡς ἂν τῆς αὐτοδιδάκτου γλυκυφωνίας νικώσης τὴν ἐναρμόνιον τῆς τέχνης μελῳδίαν. διελθόντι δὲ τὴν εἴσοδον θεωρεῖσθαι μὲν ἄντρον ἀναπεπταμένον καὶ τῇ κατὰ τὸν ἥλιον αὐγῇ περιλαμπόμενον, ἄνθη δὲ παντοδαπὰ πεφυκότα, καὶ μάλιστα τήν τε κασίαν καὶ τἄλλα τὰ δυνάμενα διʼ ἐνιαυτῶν διαφυλάττειν τὴν εὐωδίαν· ὁρᾶσθαι δὲ καὶ νυμφῶν εὐνὰς ἐν αὐτῷ πλείους ἐξ ἀνθῶν παντοδαπῶν, οὐ χειροποιήτους, ἀλλʼ ὑπʼ αὐτῆς τῆς φύσεως ἀνειμένας θεοπρεπῶς. κατὰ πάντα δὲ τὸν τῆς περιφερείας κύκλον οὔτʼ ἄνθος οὔτε φύλλον πεπτωκὸς ὁρᾶσθαι. διὸ καὶ τοῖς θεωμένοις οὐ μόνον ἐπιτερπῆ φαίνεσθαι τὴν πρόσοψιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν εὐωδίαν προσηνεστάτην.
Everywhere along the lanes, the account continues, springs of water gush forth of exceeding sweetness, making the place most pleasant to those who desire to tarry there. Further in there is a cave, circular in shape and of marvellous size and beauty. For above and all about it rises a crag of immense height, formed of rocks of different colours; for the rocks lie in bands and send forth a bright gleam, some like that purple which comes from the sea, some bluish and others like every other kind of brilliant hue, the result being that there is not a colour to be seen among men which is not visible in that place. 2 Before the entrance grow marvellous trees, some fruit-bearing, others evergreen, and all of them fashioned by nature for no other end than to delight the eye; and in them nest every kind of bird of pleasing colour and most charming song. Consequently the whole place is meet for a god, not merely in its aspect but in its sound as well, since the sweet tones which nature teaches are always superior to the song which is devised by art. 3 When one has passed the entrance the cave is seen to widen out and to be lighted all about by the rays of the sun, and all kinds of flowering plants grow there, especially the cassia and every other kind which has the power to preserve its fragrance throughout the year; and in it are also to be seen several couches of nymphs, formed of every manner of flower, made not by hand but by the light touch of Nature herself, in manner meet for a god. 4 Moreover, throughout the whole place round about not a flower or leaf is to be seen which has fallen. Consequently those who gaze upon this spot find not only its aspect delightful but also its fragrance most pleasant.
§ 3.70
εἰς τοῦτο οὖν τὸ ἄντρον τὸν Ἄμμωνα παραγενόμενον παραθέσθαι τὸν παῖδα καὶ παραδοῦναι τρέφειν Νύσῃ, μιᾷ τῶν Ἀρισταίου θυγατέρων· ἐπιστάτην δʼ αὐτοῦ τάξαι τὸν Ἀρισταῖον, ἄνδρα συνέσει καὶ σωφροσύνῃ καὶ πάσῃ παιδείᾳ διαφέροντα. πρὸς δὲ τὰς ἀπὸ τῆς μητρυιᾶς Ῥέας ἐπιβουλὰς φύλακα τοῦ παιδὸς καταστῆσαι τὴν Ἀθηνᾶν, μικρὸν πρὸ τούτων τῶν χρόνων γηγενῆ φανεῖσαν ἐπὶ τοῦ Τρίτωνος ποταμοῦ, διʼ ὃν Τριτωνίδα προσηγορεῦσθαι. μυθολογοῦσι δὲ τὴν θεὸν ταύτην ἑλομένην τὸν πάντα χρόνον τὴν παρθενίαν σωφροσύνῃ τε διενεγκεῖν καὶ τὰς πλείστας τῶν τεχνῶν ἐξευρεῖν, ἀγχίνουν οὖσαν καθʼ ὑπερβολήν· ζηλῶσαι δὲ καὶ τὰ κατὰ τὸν πόλεμον, ἀλκῇ δὲ καὶ ῥώμῃ διαφέρουσαν ἄλλα τε πολλὰ πρᾶξαι μνήμης ἄξια καὶ τὴν Αἰγίδα προσαγορευομένην ἀνελεῖν, θηρίον τι καταπληκτικὸν καὶ παντελῶς δυσκαταγώνιστον· γηγενὲς γὰρ ὑπάρχον καὶ φυσικῶς ἐκ τοῦ στόματος ἄπλατον ἐκβάλλον φλόγα τὸ μὲν πρῶτον φανῆναι περὶ τὴν Φρυγίαν, καὶ κατακαῦσαι τὴν χώραν, ἣν μέχρι τοῦ νῦν κατακεκαυμένην Φρυγίαν ὀνομάζεσθαι· ἔπειτʼ ἐπελθεῖν τὰ περὶ τὸν Ταῦρον ὄρη συνεχῶς, καὶ κατακαῦσαι τοὺς ἑξῆς δρυμοὺς μέχρι τῆς Ἰνδικῆς. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα πάλιν ἐπὶ θάλατταν τὴν ἐπάνοδον ποιησάμενον περὶ μὲν τὴν Φοινίκην ἐμπρῆσαι τοὺς κατὰ τὸν Λίβανον δρυμούς, καὶ διʼ Αἰγύπτου πορευθὲν ἐπὶ τῆς Λιβύης διελθεῖν τοὺς περὶ τὴν ἑσπέραν τόπους, καὶ τὸ τελευταῖον εἰς τοὺς περὶ τὰ Κεραύνια δρυμοὺς ἐγκατασκῆψαι. ἐπιφλεγομένης δὲ τῆς χώρας πάντῃ, καὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων τῶν μὲν ἀπολλυμένων, τῶν δὲ διὰ τὸν φόβον ἐκλειπόντων τὰς πατρίδας καὶ μακρὰν ἐκτοπιζομένων, τὴν Ἀθηνᾶν φασι τὰ μὲν συνέσει τὰ δʼ ἀλκῇ καὶ ῥώμῃ περιγενομένην ἀνελεῖν τὸ θηρίον, καὶ τὴν δορὰν αὐτοῦ περιαψαμένην φορεῖν τῷ στήθει, ἅμα μὲν σκέπης ἕνεκα καὶ τῆς φυλακῆς τοῦ σώματος πρὸς τοὺς ὕστερον κινδύνους, ἅμα δʼ ἀρετῆς ὑπόμνημα καὶ δικαίας δόξης. τὴν δὲ μητέρα τοῦ θηρίου γῆν ὀργισθεῖσαν ἀνεῖναι τοὺς ὀνομαζομένους γίγαντας ἀντιπάλους τοῖς θεοῖς, οὓς ὕστερον ὑπὸ Διὸς ἀναιρεθῆναι, συναγωνιζομένης Ἀθηνᾶς καὶ Διονύσου μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων θεῶν. οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ τὸν Διόνυσον ἐν τῇ Νύσῃ τρεφόμενον καὶ μετέχοντα τῶν καλλίστων ἐπιτηδευμάτων μὴ μόνον γενέσθαι τῷ κάλλει καὶ τῇ ῥώμῃ διάφορον, ἀλλὰ καὶ φιλότεχνον καὶ πρὸς πᾶν τὸ χρήσιμον εὑρετικόν. ἐπινοῆσαι γὰρ αὐτὸν ἔτι παῖδα τὴν ἡλικίαν ὄντα τοῦ μὲν οἴνου τὴν φύσιν τε καὶ χρείαν, ἀποθλίψαντα βότρυς τῆς αὐτοφυοῦς ἀμπέλου, τῶν δʼ ὡραίων τὰ δυνάμενα μὲν ξηραίνεσθαι καὶ πρὸς ἀποθησαυρισμὸν ὄντα χρήσιμα, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα καὶ τὰς ἑκάστων κατὰ τρόπον φυτείας εὑρεῖν, καὶ βουληθῆναι τῷ γένει τῶν ἀνθρώπων μεταδοῦναι τῶν ἰδίων εὑρημάτων, ἐλπίσαντα διὰ τὸ μέγεθος τῆς εὐεργεσίας ἀθανάτων τεύξεσθαι τιμῶν.
Now to this cave, the account runs, Ammon came and brought the child and gave him into the care of Nysa, one of the daughters of Aristaeus; and he appointed Aristaeus to be the guardian of the child, he being a man who excelled in understanding, and in self-control, and in all learning. 2 The duty of protecting the boy against the plottings of his stepmother Rhea he assigned to Athena, who a short while before had been born of the earth and had been found beside the river Triton, from which she had been called Tritonis. 3 And according to the myth this goddess, choosing to spend all her days in maidenhood, excelled in virtue and invented most of the crafts, since she was exceedingly ready of wit; she cultivated also the arts of war, and since she excelled in courage and in bodily strength she performed many other deeds worthy of memory and slew the Aegis, as it was called, a certain frightful monster which was a difficult antagonist to overcome. 4 For it was sprung from the earth and in accordance with its nature breathed forth terrible flames of fire from its mouth, and its first appearance it made about Phrygia and burned up the land, which to this day is called "Burned Phrygia"; and after that it ravaged unceasingly the lands about the Taurus mountains and burned up the forests extending from that region as far as India. Thereupon, returning again towards the sea round about Phoenicia, it sent up in flames the forests on Mt. Lebanon, and making its way through Egypt it passed over Libya to the regions of the west and at the end of its wanderings fell upon the forests about Ceraunia. 5 And since the country round about was going up in flames and the inhabitants in some cases were being destroyed and in others were leaving their native countries in their terror and removing to distant regions, Athena, they say, overcoming the monster partly through her intelligence and partly through her courage and bodily strength, slew it, and covering her breast with its hide bore this about with her, both as a covering and protection for her body against later dangers, and as a memorial of her valour and of her well-merited fame. 6 Ge (Earth), however, the mother of the monster, was enraged and sent up the Giants, as they are called, to fight against the gods; but they were destroyed at a later time by Zeus, Athena and Dionysus and the rest of the gods taking part in the conflict on the side of Zeus. Dionysus, however, being reared according to the account in Nysa and instructed in the best pursuits, became not only conspicuous for his beauty and bodily strength, but skilful also in the arts and quick to make every useful invention. 8 For while still a boy he discovered both the nature and use of wine, in that he pressed out the clusters of grapes of the vine while it still grew wild, and such ripe fruits as could be dried and stored away to advantage, and how each one of them should be planted and cared for was likewise a discovery of his; also it was his desire to share the discoveries which he had made with the race of men, in the hope that by reason of the magnitude of his benefactions he would be accorded immortal honours.
§ 3.71
τῆς δὲ περὶ αὐτὸν ἀρετῆς τε καὶ δόξης διαδιδομένης, λέγεται τὴν Ῥέαν ὀργισθεῖσαν Ἄμμωνι φιλοτιμηθῆναι λαβεῖν ὑποχείριον τὸν Διόνυσον· οὐ δυναμένην δὲ κρατῆσαι τῆς ἐπιβολῆς τὸν μὲν Ἄμμωνα καταλιπεῖν, ἀπαλλαγεῖσαν δὲ πρὸς τοὺς ἀδελφοὺς Τιτᾶνας συνοικῆσαι Κρόνῳ τῷ ἀδελφῷ· τοῦτον δʼ ὑπὸ τῆς Ῥέας πεισθέντα στρατεῦσαι μετὰ τῶν Τιτάνων ἐπʼ Ἄμμωνα, καὶ γενομένης παρατάξεως τὸν μὲν Κρόνον ἐπὶ τοῦ προτερήματος ὑπάρξαι, τὸν δʼ Ἄμμωνα σιτοδείᾳ πιεζόμενον φυγεῖν εἰς Κρήτην, καὶ γήμαντα τῶν τότε βασιλευόντων Κουρήτων ἑνὸς θυγατέρα Κρήτην δυναστεῦσαί τε τῶν τόπων καὶ τὸ πρὸ τοῦ τὴν νῆσον Ἰδαίαν καλουμένην ἀπὸ τῆς γυναικὸς ὀνομάσαι Κρήτην. τὸν δὲ Κρόνον μυθολογοῦσι κρατήσαντα τῶν Ἀμμωνίων τόπων τούτων μὲν ἄρχειν πικρῶς, ἐπὶ δὲ τὴν Νῦσαν καὶ τὸν Διόνυσον στρατεῦσαι μετὰ πολλῆ δυνάμεως. τὸν δὲ Διόνυσον πυθόμενον τά τε τοῦ πατρὸς ἐλαττώματα καὶ τὴν τῶν Τιτάνων ἐπʼ αὐτὸν συνδρομήν, ἀθροῖσαι στρατιώτας ἐκ τῆς Νύσης, ὧν εἶναι συντρόφους διακοσίους, διαφόρους τῇ τε ἀλκῇ καὶ τῇ πρὸς αὐτὸν εὐνοίᾳ· προσλαβέσθαι δὲ καὶ τῶν πλησιοχώρων τούς τε Λίβυας καὶ τὰς Ἀμαζόνας, περὶ ὧν προειρήκαμεν ὅτι δοκοῦσιν ἀλκῇ διενεγκεῖν, καὶ πρῶτον μὲν στρατείαν ὑπερόριον στείλασθαι, πολλὴν δὲ τῆς οἰκουμένης τοῖς ὅπλοις καταστρέψασθαι. μάλιστα δʼ αὐτάς φασι παρορμῆσαι πρὸς τὴν συμμαχίαν Ἀθηνᾶν διὰ τὸν ὅμοιον τῆς προαιρέσεως ζῆλον, ὡς ἂν τῶν Ἀμαζόνων ἀντεχομένων ἐπὶ πολὺ τῆς ἀνδρείας καὶ παρθενίας. διῃρημένης δὲ τῆς δυνάμεως, καὶ τῶν μὲν ἀνδρῶν στρατηγοῦντος Διονύσου, τῶν δὲ γυναικῶν τὴν ἡγεμονίαν ἐχούσης Ἀθηνᾶς, προσπεσόντας μετὰ τῆς στρατιᾶς τοῖς Τιτᾶσι συνάψαι μάχην. γενομένης δὲ παρατάξεως ἰσχυρᾶς, καὶ πολλῶν παρʼ ἀμφοτέροις πεσόντων, τρωθῆναι μὲν τὸν Κρόνον, ἐπικρατῆσαι δὲ τὸν Διόνυσον ἀριστεύσαντα κατὰ τὴν μάχην. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τοὺς μὲν Τιτᾶνας φυγεῖν εἰς τοὺς κατακτηθέντας ὑπὸ τῶν περὶ τὸν Ἄμμωνα τόπους, τὸν δὲ Διόνυσον ἀθροίσαντα πλῆθος αἰχμαλώτων ἐπανελθεῖν εἰς τὴν Νῦσαν. ἐνταῦθα δὲ τὴν δύναμιν περιστήσαντα καθωπλισμένην τοῖς ἁλοῦσι κατηγορίαν ποιήσασθαι τῶν Τιτάνων, καὶ πᾶσαν ὑπόνοιαν καταλιπεῖν ὡς μέλλοντα κατακόπτειν τοὺς αἰχμαλώτους. ἀπολύσαντος δʼ αὐτοῦς τῶν ἐγκλημάτων καὶ τὴν ἐξουσίαν δόντος εἴτε συστρατεύειν εἴτε ἀπιέναι βούλοιντο, πάντας ἑλέσθαι συστρατεύειν· διὰ δὲ τὸ παράδοξον τῆς σωτηρίας προσκυνεῖν αὐτοὺς ὡς θεόν. τὸν δὲ Διόνυσον παράγοντα καθʼ ἕνα τῶν αἰχμαλώτων καὶ διδόντα σπονδὴν οἴνου πάντας ἐξορκῶσαι συστρατεύσειν ἀδόλως καὶ μέχρι τελευτῆς βεβαίως διαγωνιεῖσθαι· διὸ καὶ τούτων πρώτων ὑποσπόνδων ὀνομασθέντων τοὺς μεταγενεστέρους ἀπομιμουμένους τὰ τότε πραχθέντα τὰς ἐν τοῖς πολέμοις διαλύσεις σπονδὰς προσαγορεύειν.
When the valour and fame of Dionysus became spread abroad, Rhea, it is said, angered at Ammon, strongly desired to get Dionysus into her power; but being unable to carry out her design she forsook Ammon and, departing to her brothers, the Titans, married Cronus her brother. 2 Cronus, then, upon the solicitation of Rhea, made war with the aid of the Titans upon Ammon, and in the pitched battle which followed Cronus gained the upper hand, whereas Ammon, who was hard pressed by lack of supplies, fled to Crete, and marrying there Crete, the daughter of one of the Curetes who were the kings at that time, gained the sovereignty over those regions, and to the island, which before that time had been called Idaea, he gave the name Crete after his wife. 3 As for Cronus, the myth relates, after his victory he ruled harshly over these regions which had formerly been Ammon's, and set out with a great force against Nysa and Dionysus. Now Dionysus, on learning both of the reverses suffered by his father and of the uprising of the Titans against himself, gathered soldiers from Nysa, two hundred of whom were foster-brothers of his and were distinguished for their courage and their loyalty to him; and to these he added from neighbouring peoples both the Libyans and the Amazons, regarding the latter of whom we have already observedb that it is reputed that they were distinguished for their courage and first of all campaigned beyond the borders of their country and subdued with arms a large part of the inhabited world. 4 These women, they say, were urged on to the alliance especially by Athena, because their zeal for their ideal of life was like her own, seeing that the Amazons clung tenaciously to manly courage and virginity. The force was divided into two parts, the men having Dionysus as their general and the women being under the command of Athena, and coming with their army upon the Titans they joined battle. The struggle having proved sharp and many having fallen on both sides, Cronus finally was wounded and victory lay with Dionysus, who had distinguished himself in the battle. 5 Thereupon the Titans fled to the regions which had once been possessed by Ammon, and Dionysus gathered up a multitude of captives and returned to Nysa. Here, drawing up his force in arms about the prisoners, he brought a formal accusation against the Titans and gave them every reason to suspect that he was going to execute the captives. But when he got them free from the charges and allowed them to make their choice either to join him in his campaign or to go scot free, they all chose to join him, and because their lives had been spared contrary to their expectation they venerated him like a god. 6 Dionysus, then, taking the captives singly and giving them a libation (sponde) of wine, required of all of them an oath that they would join in the campaign without treachery and fight manfully until death; consequently, these captives being the first to be designated as "freed under a truce" (hypospondoi), men of later times, imitating the ceremony which had been performed at that time, speak of the truces in wars as spondai.
§ 3.72
τοῦ δʼ οὖν Διονύσου μέλλοντος στρατεύειν ἐπὶ τὸν Κρόνον καὶ τῆς δυνάμεως ἐκ τῆς Νύσης ἐξιούσης, μυθολογοῦσιν Ἀρισταῖον τὸν ἐπιστάτην αὐτοῦ θυσίαν τε παραστῆσαι καὶ πρῶτον ἀνθρώπων ὡς θεῷ θῦσαι. συστρατεῦσαι δέ φασι καὶ τῶν Νυσαίων τοὺς εὐγενεστάτους, οὓς ὀνομάζεσθαι Σειληνούς. πρῶτον γὰρ τῶν ἁπάντων βασιλεῦσαί φασι τῆς Νύσης Σειληνόν, οὗ τὸ γένος ὅθεν ἦν ὑπὸ πάντων ἀγνοεῖσθαι διὰ τὴν ἀρχαιότητα. ἔχοντος δʼ αὐτοῦ κατὰ τὴν ὀσφῦν οὐράν, διατελέσαι καὶ τοὺς ἐκγόνους τὸ παράσημον τοῦτο φοροῦντας διὰ τὴν τῆς φύσεως κοινωνίαν. τὸν δʼ οὖν Διόνυσον ἀναζεύξαντα μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως, καὶ διελθόντα πολλὴν μὲν ἄνυδρον χώραν, οὐκ ὀλίγην δʼ ἔρημον καὶ θηριώδη, καταστρατοπεδεῦσαι περὶ πόλιν Λιβυκὴν τὴν ὀνομαζομένην Ζάβιρναν. πρὸς δὲ ταύτῃ γηγενὲς ὑπάρχον θηρίον καὶ πολλοὺς ἀναλίσκον τῶν ἐγχωρίων, τὴν ὀνομαζομένην Κάμπην, ἀνελεῖν καὶ μεγάλης τυχεῖν δόξης ἐπʼ ἀνδρείᾳ παρὰ τοῖς ἐγχωρίοις. ποιῆσαι δʼ αὐτὸν καὶ χῶμα παμμέγεθες ἐπὶ τῷ φονευθέντι θηρίῳ, βουλόμενον ἀθάνατον ἀπολιπεῖν ὑπόμνημα τῆς ἰδίας ἀρετῆς, τὸ καὶ διαμεῖναν μέχρι τῶν νεωτέρων χρόνων. ἔπειτα τὸν μὲν Διόνυσον προάγειν πρὸς τοὺς Τιτᾶνας, εὐτάκτως ποιούμενον τὰς ὁδοιπορίας καὶ πᾶσι τοῖς ἐγχωρίοις φιλανθρώπως προσφερόμενον καὶ τὸ σύνολον ἑαυτὸν ἀποφαινόμενον στρατεύειν ἐπὶ κολάσει μὲν τῶν ἀσεβῶν, εὐεργεσίᾳ δὲ τοῦ κοινοῦ γένους τῶν ἀνθρώπων. τοὺς δὲ Λίβυας θαυμάζοντας τὴν εὐταξίαν καὶ τὸ τῆς ψυχῆς μεγαλοπρεπές, τροφάς τε παρέχεσθαι τοῖς ἀνθρώποις δαψιλεῖς καὶ συστρατεύειν προθυμότατα. συνεγγιζούσης δὲ τῆς δυνάμεως τῇ πόλει τῶν Ἀμμωνίων, τὸν Κρόνον πρὸ τοῦ τείχους παρατάξει λειφθέντα τὴν μὲν πόλιν νυκτὸς ἐμπρῆσαι, σπεύδοντα εἰς τέλος καταφθεῖραι τοῦ Διονύσου τὰ πατρῷα βασίλεια, αὐτὸν δʼ ἀναλαβόντα τὴν γυναῖκα Ῥέαν καί τινας τῶν συνηγωνισμένων φίλων λαθεῖν ἐκ τῆς πόλεως διαδράντα. οὐ μὴν τόν γε Διόνυσον ὁμοίαν ἔχειν τούτῳ προαίρεσιν· λαβόντα γὰρ τόν τε Κρόνον καὶ τὴν Ῥέαν αἰχμαλώτους οὐ μόνον ἀφεῖναι τῶν ἐγκλημάτων διὰ τὴν συγγένειαν, ἀλλὰ καὶ παρακαλέσαι τὸν λοιπὸν χρόνον γονέων ἔχειν πρὸς αὐτὸν εὔνοιάν τε καὶ τάξιν καὶ συζῆν τιμωμένους ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ μάλιστα πάντων. τὴν μὲν οὖν Ῥέαν διατελέσαι πάντα τὸν βίον ὡς υἱὸν ἀγαπῶσαν, τὸν δὲ Κρόνον ὕπουλον ἔχειν τὴν εὔνοιαν. γενέσθαι δʼ αὐτοῖς περὶ τούτους τοὺς χρόνους υἱόν, ὃν προσαγορευθῆναι Δία, τιμηθῆναι δὲ μεγάλως ὑπὸ τοῦ Διονύσου, καὶ διʼ ἀρετὴν ἐν τοῖς ὕστερον χρόνοις γενέσθαι πάντων βασιλέα.
Now when Dionysus was on the point of setting out against Cronus and his force was already passing out of Nysa, his guardian Aristaeus, the myth relates, offered a sacrifice and so was the first man to sacrifice to him as to a god. And companions of his on the campaign, they say, were also the most nobly born of the Nysaeans, those, namely, who bear the name Seileni. 2 For the first man of all, they say, to be king of Nysa was Seilenus, but his ancestry was unknown to all men because of its antiquity. This man had a tail at the lower part of his back and his descendants also regularly carried this distinguishing mark because of their participation in his nature. Dionysus, then, set out with his army, and after passing through a great extent of waterless land, no small portion of which was desert and infested with wild beasts, he encamped beside a city of Libya named Zabirna. 3 Near this city an earth-born monster called Campe, which was destroying many of the natives, was slain by him, whereby he won great fame among the natives for valour. Over the monster which he had killed he also erected an enormous mound, wishing to leave behind him an immortal memorial of his personal bravery, and this mound remained until comparatively recent times. 4 Then Dionysus advanced against the Titans, maintaining strict discipline on his journeyings, treating all the inhabitants kindly, and, in a word, making it clear that his campaign was for the purpose of punishing the impious and of conferring benefits upon the entire human race. The Libyans, admiring his strict discipline and high-mindedness, provided his followers with supplies in abundance and joined in the campaign with the greatest eagerness. As the army approached the city of the Ammonians, Cronus, who had been defeated in a pitched battle before the walls, set fire to the city in the night, intending to destroy utterly the ancestral palace of Dionysus, and himself taking with him his wife Rhea and some of his friends who had aided him in the struggle, he stole unobserved out of the city. Dionysus, however, showed no such a temper as this; for though he took both Cronus and Rhea captive, not only did he waive the charges against them because of his kinship to them, but he entreated them for the future to maintain both the good-will and the position of parents towards him and to live in a common home with him, held in honour above all others. 6 Rhea, accordingly, loved him like a son for all the rest of her life, but the good-will of Cronus was a pretence. And about this time there was born to both of these a son who was called Zeus, and he was honoured greatly by Dionysus and at a later time, because of his high achievements, was made king over all.
§ 3.73
τῶν δὲ Λιβύων εἰρηκότων αὐτῷ πρὸ τῆς μάχης ὅτι καθʼ ὃν καιρὸν ἐξέπεσεν ἐκ τῆς βασιλείας Ἄμμων, τοῖς ἐγχωρίοις προειρηκὼς εἴη τεταγμένοις χρόνοις ἥξειν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ Διόνυσον, καὶ τήν τε πατρῴαν ἀνακτήσεσθαι βασιλείαν καὶ πάσης τῆς οἰκουμένης κυριεύσαντα θεὸν νομισθήσεσθαι, ὑπολαβὼν ἀληθῆ γεγονέναι μάντιν τό τε χρηστήριον ἱδρύσατο τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ τὴν πόλιν οἰκοδομήσας τιμὰς ὥρισεν ὡς θεῷ καὶ τοὺς ἐπιμελησομένους τοῦ μαντείου κατέστησε. παραδεδόσθαι δὲ τὸν Ἄμμωνα ἔχειν κριοῦ κεφαλὴν τετυπωμένην, παράσημον ἐσχηκότος αὐτοῦ τὸ κράνος κατὰ τὰς στρατείας. εἰσὶ δʼ οἱ μυθολογοῦντες αὐτῷ πρὸς ἀλήθειαν γενέσθαι καθʼ ἑκάτερον μέρος τῶν κροτάφων κεράτια· διὸ καὶ τὸν Διόνυσον, υἱὸν αὐτοῦ γεγονότα, τὴν ὁμοίαν ἔχειν πρόσοψιν, καὶ τοῖς ἐπιγινομένοις τῶν ἀνθρώπων παραδεδόσθαι τὸν θεὸν τοῦτον γεγονότα κερατίαν. μετὰ δʼ οὖν τὴν τῆς πόλεως οἰκοδομίαν καὶ τὴν περὶ τὸ χρηστήριον κατάστασιν πρῶτόν φασι τὸν Διόνυσον χρήσασθαι τῷ θεῷ περὶ τῆς στρατείας, καὶ λαβεῖν παρὰ τοῦ πατρὸς χρησμὸν ὅτι τοὺς ἀνθρώπους εὐεργετῶν τεύξεται τῆς ἀθανασίας. διὸ καὶ μετεωρισθέντα τῇ ψυχῇ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἐπὶ τὴν Αἴγυπτον στρατεῦσαι, καὶ τῆς χώρας καταστῆσαι βασιλέα Δία τὸν Κρόνου καὶ Ῥέας, παῖδα τὴν ἡλικίαν ὄντα. παρακαταστῆσαι δʼ αὐτῷ καὶ ἐπιστάτην Ὄλυμπον, ἀφʼ οὗ τὸν Δία παιδευθέντα καὶ πρωτεύσαντα κατʼ ἀρετὴν Ὀλύμπιον προσαγορευθῆναι. τὸν δʼ οὖν Διόνυσον λέγεται διδάξαι τοὺς Αἰγυπτίους τήν τε τῆς ἀμπέλου φυτείαν καὶ τὴν χρῆσιν καὶ τὴν παράθεσιν τοῦ τε οἴνου καὶ τῶν ἀκροδρύων καὶ τῶν ἄλλων καρπῶν. πάντῃ δὲ διαδιδομένης περὶ αὐτοῦ φήμης ἀγαθῆς μηδένα καθάπερ πρὸς πολέμιον ἀντιτάττεσθαι, πάντας δὲ προθύμως ὑπακούοντας ἐπαίνοις καὶ θυσίαις ὡς θεὸν τιμᾶν. τῷ δʼ αὐτῷ τρόπῳ φασὶν ἐπελθεῖν τὴν οἰκουμένην, ἐξημεροῦντα μὲν τὴν χώραν ταῖς φυτείαις, εὐεργετοῦντα δὲ τοὺς λαοὺς μεγάλαις τιμαῖς καὶ χάρισι πρὸς τὸν αἰῶνα. διὸ καὶ πάντας τοὺς ἀνθρώπους ἐν ταῖς πρὸς τοὺς ἄλλους θεοὺς τιμαῖς οὐχ ὁμοίαν ἔχοντας προαίρεσιν ἀλλήλοις σχεδὸν ἐπὶ μόνου τοῦ Διονύσου συμφωνουμένην ἀποδεικνύειν μαρτυρίαν τῆς ἀθανασίας· οὐδένα γὰρ οὔθʼ Ἑλλήνων οὔτε βαρβάρων ἄμοιρον εἶναι τῆς τούτου δωρεᾶς καὶ χάριτος, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς ἀπηγριωμένην ἔχοντας χώραν ἢ πρὸς φυτείαν ἀμπέλου παντελῶς ἀπηλλοτριωμένην μαθεῖν τὸ κατασκευαζόμενον ἐκ τῶν κριθῶν πόμα βραχὺ λειπόμενον τῆς περὶ τὸν οἶνον εὐωδίας. τὸν δʼ οὖν Διόνυσόν φασι τὴν κατάβασιν ἐκ τῆς Ἰνδικῆς ἐπὶ τὴν θάλατταν ποιησάμενον καταλαβεῖν ἅπαντας τοὺς Τιτᾶνας ἠθροικότας δυνάμεις καὶ διαβεβηκότας εἰς Κρήτην ἐπʼ Ἄμμωνα. προσβεβοηθηκότος δὲ καὶ τοῦ Διὸς ἐκ τῆς Αἰγύπτου τοῖς περὶ τὸν Ἄμμωνα, καὶ πολέμου μεγάλου συνεστῶτος ἐν τῇ νήσῳ, ταχέως καὶ τοὺς περὶ τὸν Διόνυσον καὶ τὴν Ἀθηνᾶν καί τινας τῶν ἄλλων θεῶν νομισθέντων συνδραμεῖν εἰς Κρήτην. γενομένης δὲ παρατάξεως μεγάλης ἐπικρατῆσαι τοὺς περὶ τὸν Διόνυσον καὶ πάντας ἀνελεῖν τοὺς Τιτᾶνας. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Ἄμμωνος καὶ Διονύσου μεταστάντων ἐκ τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης φύσεως εἰς τὴν ἀθανασίαν, τὸν Δία φασὶ βασιλεῦσαι τοῦ σύμπαντος κόσμου, κεκολασμένων τῶν Τιτάνων, καὶ μηδενὸς ὄντος τοῦ τολμήσοντος δι’ ἀσέβειαν ἀμφισβητῆσαι τῆς ἀρχῆς.
Since the Libyans had said to Dionysus before the battle that, at the time when Ammon had been driven from the kingdom, he had prophesied to the inhabitants that at an appointed time his son Dionysus would come, and that he would recover his father's kingdom and, after becoming master of all the inhabited world, would be looked upon as a god, Dionysus, believing him to have been a true prophet, established there the oracle of his father, rebuilt the city and ordained honours to him as to a god, and appointed men to have charge of the oracle. Tradition also has recorded that the head of Ammon was shaped like that of a ram, since as his device he had worn a helmet of that form in his campaigns. 2 But there are some writers of myths who recount that in very truth there were little horns on both sides of his temples and that therefore Dionysus also, being Ammon's son, had the same aspect as his father and so the tradition has been handed down to succeeding generations of mankind that this god had horns. However this may be, after Dionysus had built the city and established the oracle he first of all, they say, inquired of the god with regard to his expedition, and he received from his father the reply that, if he showed himself a benefactor of mankind, he would receive the reward of immortality. 4 Consequently, elated in spirit at this prophecy, he first of all directed his campaign against Egypt and as king of the country he set up Zeus, the son of Cronus and Rhea, though he was still but a boy in years. And at his side as guardian he placed Olympus, by whom Zeus had been instructed and after whom he came to be called "Olympian," when he had attained pre-eminence in high achievements. 5 As for Dionysus, he taught the Egyptians, it is said, both the cultivation of the vine and how to use and to store both wine and the fruits which are gathered from trees, as well as all others. And since a good report of him was spread abroad everywhere, no man opposed him as if he were an enemy, but all rendered him eager obedience and honoured him like a god with panegyrics and sacrifices. 6 In like manner as in Egypt, they say, he visited the inhabited world, bringing the land under cultivation by means of the plantings which he made and conferring benefactions upon the people for all time by bestowing upon them great and valuable gifts. For this reason it comes about that, although not all men are of one belief with one another concerning the honours which they accord to the other gods, in the case of Dionysus alone we may almost say that they are in complete agreement in testifying to his immortality; for there is no man among Greeks or barbarians who does not share in the gift and favour which this god dispenses, nay, even those who possess a country which has become a wilderness or altogether unsuited to the cultivation of the vine learned from him how to prepared from barley a drink which is little inferior to wine in aroma. Now Dionysus, they say, as he was marching out of India to the sea, learned that all the Titans had assembled their united forces together and had crossed over to Crete to attack Ammon. Already Zeus had passed over from Egypt to the aid of Ammon and a great war had arisen on the island, and forthwith Dionysus and Athena and certain others who had been considered to be gods rushed over in a body to Crete. 8 In a great battle which followed Dionysus was victorious and slew all the Titans. And when after this Ammon and Dionysus exchanged their mortal nature for immortality, Zeus, they say, became king of the entire world, since the Titans had been punished and there was no one whose impiety would make him bold enough to dispute with him for the supreme power.
§ 3.74
τὸν μὲν οὖν πρῶτον Διόνυσον ἐξ Ἄμμωνος καὶ Ἀμαλθείας γενόμενον τοιαύτας οἱ Λίβυες ἱστοροῦσιν ἐπιτελέσασθαι πράξεις· τὸν δὲ δεύτερόν φασιν ἐξ Ἰοῦς τῆς Ἰνάχου Διὶ γενόμενον βασιλεῦσαι μὲν τῆς Αἰγύπτου, καταδεῖξαι δὲ τὰς τελετάς· τελευταῖον δὲ τὸν ἐκ Διὸς καὶ Σεμέλης τεκνωθέντα παρὰ τοῖς Ἕλλησι ζηλωτὴν γενέσθαι τῶν προτέρων. τὰς δʼ ἀμφοτέρων προαιρέσεις μιμησάμενον στρατεῦσαι μὲν ἐπὶ πᾶσαν τὴν οἰκουμένην, στήλας δʼ οὐκ ὀλίγας ἀπολιπεῖν τῶν ὅρων τῆς στρατείας· καὶ τὴν μὲν χώραν ἐξημεροῦν ταῖς φυτείαις, στρατιώτιδας δʼ ἐπιλέξασθαι γυναῖκας, καθάπερ καὶ ὁ παλαιὸς τὰς Ἀμαζόνας. ἐνεργῆσαι δʼ ἐπὶ πλέον καὶ τὰ περὶ τοὺς ὀργιασμούς, καὶ τελετὰς ἃς μὲν μεταθεῖναι πρὸς τὸ κρεῖττον, ἃς δʼ ἐπινοῆσαι. διὰ δὲ τὸ πλῆθος τοῦ χρόνου τῶν προτέρων εὑρετῶν ἀγνοηθέντων ὑπὸ τῶν πολλῶν, τοῦτον κληρονομῆσαι τὴν τῶν προγενεστέρων προαίρεσίν τε καὶ δόξαν. οὐκ ἐπὶ τούτου δὲ μόνου συμβῆναι τὸ προειρημένον, ἀλλὰ καὶ μετὰ ταῦτʼ ἐφʼ Ἡρακλέους. δυοῖν γὰρ ὄντων τῶν προγενεστέρων τῶν τὴν αὐτὴν ἐσχηκότων προσηγορίαν, τὸν μὲν ἀρχαιότατον Ἡρακλέα μυθολογεῖσθαι γεγονέναι παρʼ Αἰγυπτίοις, καὶ πολλὴν τῆς οἰκουμένης τοῖς ὅπλοις καταστρεψάμενον θέσθαι τὴν ἐπὶ τῆς Λιβύης στήλην, τὸν δὲ δεύτερον ἐκ Κρήτης ἕνα τῶν Ἰδαίων ὄντα Δακτύλων καὶ γενόμενον γόητα καὶ στρατηγικὸν συστήσασθαι τὸν Ὀλυμπικὸν ἀγῶνα· τὸν δὲ τελευταῖον μικρὸν πρὸ τῶν Τρωικῶν ἐξ Ἀλκμήνης καὶ Διὸς τεκνωθέντα πολλὴν ἐπελθεῖν τῆς οἰκουμένης, ὑπηρετοῦντα τοῖς Εὐρυσθέως προστάγμασιν. ἐπιτυχόντα δὲ πᾶσι τοῖς ἄθλοις θέσθαι μὲν καὶ στήλην τὴν ἐπὶ τῆς Εὐρώπης, διὰ δὲ τὴν ὁμωνυμίαν καὶ τὴν τῆς προαιρέσεως ὁμοιότητα χρόνων ἐπιγενομένων τελευτήσαντα κληρονομῆσαι τὰς τῶν ἀρχαιοτέρων πράξεις, ὡς ἑνὸς Ἡρακλέους γεγονότος ἐν παντὶ τῷ πρότερον αἰῶνι. ὑπὲρ δὲ τοῦ πλείους Διονύσους γεγονέναι σὺν ἄλλαις ἀποδείξεσι πειρῶνται φέρειν τὴν ἐκ τῆς Τιτανομαχίας· συμφωνουμένου γὰρ παρὰ πᾶσιν ὅτι Διόνυσος τῷ Διὶ συνηγωνίσατο τὸν πρὸς τοὺς Τιτᾶνας πόλεμον, οὐδαμῶς πρέπειν φασὶ τὴν τῶν Τιτάνων γενεὰν τιθέναι κατὰ τοὺς τῆς Σεμέλης χρόνους οὐδὲ Κάδμον τὸν Ἀγήνορος ἀποφαίνεσθαι πρεσβύτερον εἶναι τῶν Ὀλυμπίων θεῶν. οἱ μὲν οὖν Λίβυες περὶ Διονύσου τοιαῦτα μυθολογοῦσιν· ἡμεῖς δὲ τὴν ἐν ἀρχῇ πρόθεσιν τετελεκότες αὐτοῦ περιγράψομεν τὴν τρίτην βίβλον.
As for the first Dionysus, the son of Ammon and Amaltheia, these, then, are the deeds he accomplished as the Libyans recount the history of them; the second Dionysus, as men say, who was born to Zeus by Io, the daughter of Inachus, became king of Egypt and appointed the initiatory rites of that land; and the third and last was sprung from Zeus and Semele and became, among the Greeks, the rival of the first two. 2 Imitating the principles of both the others he led an army over all the inhabited world and left behind him not a few pillars to mark the bounds of his campaign; the land he also brought under cultivation by means of the plantings which he made, and he selected women to be his soldiers, as the ancient Dionysus had done in the case of the Amazons. He went beyond the others in developing the orgiastic practices, and as regards the rites of initiation, he improved some of them, and others he introduced for the first time. 3 But since in the long passage of time the former discoverers had become unknown to the majority of men, this last Dionysus fell heir to both the plan of life and the fame of his predecessors of the same name. And this Dionysus is not the only one to whom has happened that which we have related, but in later times Heracles likewise experienced the same fortune. 4 For there had been two persons of an earlier period who had borne the same name, the most ancient Heracles who, according to the myths, had been born in Egypt, had subdued with arms a large part of the inhabited world, and had set up the pillar which is in Libya, and the second, who was one of the Idaean Dactyls of Crete and a wizard with some knowledge of generalship, was the founder of the Olympic Games; but third and last, who was born of Alcmene and Zeus a short time before the Trojan War, visited a large part of the inhabited world while he was serving Eurystheus and carrying out his commands. 5 And after he had successfully completed all the Labours he also set up the pillar which is in Europe, but because he bore the same name as the other two and pursued the same plan of life as did they, in the course of time and upon his death he inherited the exploits of the more ancient persons of the name, as if there had been in all the previous ages but one Heracles. To support the view that there were several of the name Dionysus the effort is made to cite, along with the other proofs, the battle waged against the Titans. For since all men agree that Dionysus fought on the side of Zeus in his war against the Titans, it will not do at all, they argue, to date the generations of the Titans in the time when Semele lived or to declare that Cadmus, the son of Agenor, was older than the gods of Olympus. Such, then, is the myth which the Libyans recount concerning Dionysus; but for our part, now that we have brought to an end the plan which we announced at the beginning, we shall close the third Book at this point.
— Book 4 —
§ 4.arg
τάδε ἔνεστιν ἐν τῇ τετάρτῃ τῶν Διοδώρου βίβλων. προοίμιον περὶ τῶν μυθολογουμένων παρὰ τοῖς ἱστοριογράφοις. περὶ Διονύσου καὶ Πριάπου καὶ Ἑρμαφροδίτου καὶ Μουσῶν. περὶ Ἡρακλέους καὶ τῶν δώδεκα ἄθλων καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν πραχθέντων ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ μέχρι τῆς ἀποθεώσεως. περὶ τῶν Ἀργοναυτῶν καὶ Μηδείας καὶ τῶν Πελίου θυγατέρων. περὶ τῶν ἀπογόνων τοῦ Ἡρακλέους. περὶ Θησέως καὶ τῶν ἄθλων αὐτοῦ. περὶ τῶν ἑπτὰ ἐπὶ Θήβας. περὶ τῶν ἐπιγόνων τῶν ἑπτὰ ἐπὶ Θήβας. περὶ Νηλέως καὶ τῶν ἀπογόνων αὐτοῦ. περὶ Λαπιθῶν καὶ Κενταύρων. περὶ Ἀσκληπιοῦ καὶ τῶν ἀπογόνων αὐτοῦ. περὶ τῶν Ἀσωποῦ θυγατέρων καὶ τῶν Αἰακῷ γενομένων υἱῶν. περὶ Πέλοπος καὶ Ταντάλου καὶ Οἰνομάου καὶ Νιόβης. περὶ Δαρδάνου καὶ τῶν ἀπογόνων αὐτοῦ μέχρι Πριάμου. περὶ Δαιδάλου καὶ Μινωταύρου καὶ τῆς Μίνω στρατείας ἐπὶ Κώκαλον τὸν βασιλέα. περὶ Ἀρισταίου καὶ Δάφνιδος καὶ Ἔρυκος, ἔτι δὲ Ὠρίωνος.
—
§ 4.1
οὐκ ἀγνοῶ μὲν ὅτι τοῖς τὰς παλαιὰς μυθολογίας συνταττομένοις συμβαίνει κατὰ τὴν γραφὴν ἐν πολλοῖς ἐλαττοῦσθαι. ἡ μὲν γὰρ τῶν ἀναγραφομένων ἀρχαιότης δυσεύρετος οὖσα πολλὴν ἀπορίαν παρέχεται τοῖς γράφουσιν, ἡ δὲ τῶν χρόνων ἀπαγγελία τὸν ἀκριβέστατον ἔλεγχον οὐ προσδεχομένη καταφρονεῖν ποιεῖ τῆς ἱστορίας τοὺς ἀναγινώσκοντας· πρὸς δὲ τούτοις ἡ ποικιλία καὶ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν γενεαλογουμένων ἡρώων τε καὶ ἡμιθέων καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἀνδρῶν δυσέφικτον ἔχει τὴν ἀπαγγελίαν· τὸ δὲ μέγιστον καὶ πάντων ἀτοπώτατον, ὅτι συμβαίνει τοὺς ἀναγεγραφότας τὰς ἀρχαιοτάτας πράξεις τε καὶ μυθολογίας ἀσυμφώνους εἶναι πρὸς ἀλλήλους. διόπερ τῶν μεταγενεστέρων ἱστοριογράφων οἱ πρωτεύοντες τῇ δόξῃ τῆς μὲν ἀρχαίας μυθολογίας ἀπέστησαν διὰ τὴν δυσχέρειαν, τὰς δὲ νεωτέρας πράξεις ἀναγράφειν ἐπεχείρησαν. Ἔφορος μὲν γὰρ ὁ Κυμαῖος, Ἰσοκράτους ὢν μαθητής, ὑποστησάμενος γράφειν τὰς κοινὰς πράξεις, τὰς μὲν παλαιὰς μυθολογίας ὑπερέβη, τὰ δʼ ἀπὸ τῆς Ἡρακλειδῶν καθόδου πραχθέντα συνταξάμενος ταύτην ἀρχὴν ἐποιήσατο τῆς ἱστορίας. ὁμοίως δὲ τούτῳ Καλλισθένης καὶ Θεόπομπος, κατὰ τὴν αὐτὴν ἡλικίαν γεγονότες, ἀπέστησαν τῶν παλαιῶν μύθων. ἡμεῖς δὲ τὴν ἐναντίαν τούτοις κρίσιν ἔχοντες, καὶ τὸν ἐκ τῆς ἀναγραφῆς πόνον ὑποστάντες, τὴν πᾶσαν ἐπιμέλειαν ἐποιησάμεθα τῆς ἀρχαιολογίας. μέγισται γὰρ καὶ πλεῖσται συνετελέσθησαν πράξεις ὑπὸ τῶν ἡρώων τε καὶ ἡμιθέων καὶ πολλῶν ἄλλων ἀνδρῶν ἀγαθῶν· ὧν διὰ τὰς κοινὰς εὐεργεσίας οἱ μεταγενέστεροι τοὺς μὲν ἰσοθέοις, τοὺς δʼ ἡρωικαῖς θυσίαις ἐτίμησαν, πάντας δʼ ὁ τῆς ἱστορίας λόγος τοῖς καθήκουσιν ἐπαίνοις εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα καθύμνησεν. ἐν μὲν οὖν ταῖς πρὸ ταύτης βίβλοις τρισὶν ἀνεγράψαμεν τὰς παρὰ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἔθνεσι μυθολογουμένας πράξεις καὶ τὰ περὶ θεῶν παρʼ αὐτοῖς ἱστορούμενα, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις τὰς τοποθεσίας τῆς παρʼ ἑκάστοις χώρας καὶ τὰ φυόμενα παρʼ αὐτοῖς θηρία καὶ τἄλλα ζῷα καὶ καθόλου πάντα τὰ μνήμης %5ἄξια καὶ παραδοξολογούμενα διεξιόντες, ἐν ταύτῃ δὲ τὰ παρὰ τοῖς Ἕλλησιν ἱστορούμενα κατὰ τοὺς ἀρχαίους χρόνους περὶ τῶν ἐπιφανεστάτων ἡρώων τε καὶ ἡμιθέων καὶ καθόλου τῶν κατὰ πόλεμον ἀξιόλογόν τι κατειργασμένων, ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τῶν ἐν εἰρήνῃ τι χρήσιμον πρὸς τὸν κοινὸν βίον εὑρόντων ἢ νομοθετησάντων. ποιησόμεθα δὲ τὴν ἀρχὴν ἀπὸ Διονύσου διὰ τὸ καὶ παλαιὸν εἶναι σφόδρα τοῦτον καὶ μεγίστας εὐεργεσίας κατατεθεῖσθαι τῷ γένει τῶν ἀνθρώπων. εἴρηται μὲν οὖν ἡμῖν ἐν ταῖς προειρημέναις βίβλοις ὅτι τινὲς τῶν βαρβάρων ἀντιποιοῦνται τῆς γενέσεως τοῦ θεοῦ τούτου. Αἰγύπτιοι μὲν γὰρ τὸν παρʼ αὑτοῖς θεὸν Ὄσιριν ὀνομαζόμενόν φασιν εἶναι τὸν παρʼ Ἕλλησι Διόνυσον καλούμενον. τοῦτον δὲ μυθολογοῦσιν ἐπελθεῖν ἅπασαν τὴν οἰκουμένην, εὑρετὴν γενόμενον τοῦ οἴνου, καὶ τὴν φυτείαν διδάξαι τῆς ἀμπέλου τοὺς ἀνθρώπους, καὶ διὰ ταύτην τὴν εὐεργεσίαν τυχεῖν συμφωνουμένης ἀθανασίας. ὁμοίως δὲ τοὺς Ἰνδοὺς τὸν θεὸν τοῦτον παρʼ ἑαυτοῖς ἀποφαίνεσθαι γεγονέναι, καὶ τὰ περὶ τὴν φυτείαν τῆς ἀμπέλου φιλοτεχνήσαντα μεταδοῦναι τῆς τοῦ οἴνου χρήσεως τοῖς %5κατὰ τὴν οἰκουμένην ἀνθρώποις. ἡμεῖς δὲ τὰ κατὰ μέρος περὶ τούτων εἰρηκότες νῦν τὰ παρὰ τοῖς Ἕλλησι λεγόμενα περὶ τοῦ θεοῦ τούτου διέξιμεν.
I am not unaware of the fact that those who compile the narratives of ancient mythology labour under many disadvantages in their composition. For, in the first place, the antiquity of the events they have to record, since it makes record difficult, is a cause of much perplexity to those who would compose an account of them; and again, inasmuch as any pronouncement they may make of the dates of events does not admit of the strictest kind of proof or disproof, a feeling of contempt for the narration is aroused in the mind of those who read it; furthermore, the variety and the multitude of the heroes, demi-gods, and men in general whose genealogies must be set down make their recital a difficult thing to achieve; but the greatest and most disconcerting obstacle of all consists in the fact that those who have recorded the deeds and myths of the earliest times are in disagreement among themselves. 2 For these reasons the writers of greatest reputation among the later historians have stood aloof from the narration of the ancient mythology because of its difficulty, and have undertaken to record only the more recent events. Ephorus of Cyme, for instance, a pupil of Isocrates, when he undertook to write his universal history, passed over the tales of the old mythology and commenced his history with a narration of the events which took place after the Return of the Heracleidae. Likewise Callisthenes and Theopompus, who were contemporaries of Ephorus, held aloof from the old myths. 4 We, however, holding the opposite opinion to theirs, have shouldered the labour which such a record involves and have expended all the care within our power upon the ancient legends. For very great and most numerous deeds have been performed by the heroes and demi-gods and by many good men likewise, who, because of the benefits they conferred which have been shared by all men, have been honoured by succeeding generations with sacrifices which in some cases are like those offered to the gods, in other cases like such as are paid to heroes, and of one and all the appropriate praises have been sung by the voice of history for all time. Now in the three preceding Books we have recorded the deeds of mythological times which are found among other nations and what their histories relate about the gods, also the topography of the land in every case and the wild beasts and other animals which are found among them, and, speaking generally, we have described everything which was worthy of mention and was marvellous to relate; and in the present Book we shall set forth what the Greeks in their histories of the ancient periods tell about their most renowned heroes and demi-gods and, in general, about all who have performed any notable exploit in war, and likewise about such also as in time of peace have made some useful discovery or enacted some good law contributing to man's social life. 6 And we shall begin with Dionysus because he not only belongs to a very ancient time but also conferred very great benefactions upon the race of men. We have stated in the previous Books that certain barbarian peoples claim for themselves the birthplace of this god. The Egyptians, for example, say that the god who among them bears the name Osiris is the one whom the Greeks call Dionysus. 7 And this god, as their myths relate, visited all the inhabited world, was the discoverer of wine, taught mankind how to cultivate the vine, and because of this benefaction of his received the gift of immortality with the approval of all. But the Indians likewise declare that this god was born among them, and that after he had ingeniously discovered how to cultivate the vine he shared the benefit which wine imparts with human beings throughout the inhabited world. But for our part, since we have spoken of these matters in detail, we shall at this point recount what the Greeks have to say about this god.
§ 4.2
Κάδμον μὲν γάρ φασι τὸν Ἀγήνορος ἐκ Φοινίκης ὑπὸ τοῦ βασιλέως ἀποσταλῆναι πρὸς ζήτησιν τῆς Εὐρώπης, ἐντολὰς λαβόντα ἢ τὴν παρθένον ἀγαγεῖν ἢ μὴ ἀνακάμπτειν εἰς τὴν Φοινίκην. ἐπελθόντα δὲ πολλὴν χώραν, καὶ μὴ δυνάμενον ἀνευρεῖν, ἀπογνῶναι τὴν εἰς οἶκον ἀνακομιδήν· καταντήσαντα δʼ εἰς τὴν Βοιωτίαν κατὰ τὸν παραδεδομένον χρησμὸν κτίσαι τὰς Θήβας. ἐνταῦθα δὲ κατοικήσαντα γῆμαι μὲν Ἁρμονίαν τὴν Ἀφροδίτης, γεννῆσαι δʼ ἐξ αὐτῆς Σεμέλην %5καὶ Ἰνὼ καὶ Αὐτονόην καὶ Ἀγαύην, ἔτι δὲ Πολύδωρον. τῇ δὲ Σεμέλῃ διὰ τὸ κάλλος Δία μιγέντα καὶ μεθʼ ἡσυχίας ποιούμενον τὰς ὁμιλίας δόξαι καταφρονεῖν αὐτῆς· διόπερ ὑπʼ αὐτῆς παρακληθῆναι τὰς ἐπιπλοκὰς ὁμοίας ποιεῖσθαι ταῖς πρὸς τὴν Ἥραν συμπεριφοραῖς. τὸν μὲν οὖν Δία παραγενόμενον θεοπρεπῶς μετὰ βροντῶν καὶ ἀστραπῶν ἐπιφανῶς ποιεῖσθαι τὴν συνουσίαν· τὴν δὲ Σεμέλην ἔγκυον οὖσαν καὶ τὸ μέγεθος τῆς περιστάσεως οὐκ ἐνέγκασαν τὸ μὲν βρέφος ἐκτρῶσαι, ὑπὸ δὲ τοῦ πυρὸς αὐτὴν τελευτῆσαι. ἔπειτα τὸ παιδίον ἀναλαβόντα τὸν Δία παραδοῦναι τῷ Ἑρμῇ, καὶ προστάξαι τοῦτο μὲν ἀποκομίσαι πρὸς τὸ ἄντρον τὸ ἐν τῇ Νύσῃ, κείμενον μεταξὺ Φοινίκης καὶ Νείλου, ταῖς δὲ νύμφαις παραδοῦναι τρέφειν καὶ μετὰ πολλῆς σπουδῆς ἐπιμέλειαν αὐτοῦ ποιεῖσθαι τὴν ἀρίστην. διὸ καὶ τραφέντα τὸν Διόνυσον ἐν τῇ Νύσῃ τυχεῖν τῆς προσηγορίας ταύτης ἀπὸ Διὸς καὶ Νύσης. καὶ τὸν Ὅμηρον δὲ τούτοις μαρτυρῆσαι ἐν τοῖς ὕμνοις ἐν οἷς λέγει ἔστι δέ τις Νύση, ὕπατον ὄρος, ἀνθέον ὕλη, τηλοῦ Φοινίκης, σχεδὸν Αἰγύπτοιο ῥοάων. τραφέντα δʼ αὐτὸν ὑπὸ τῶν νυμφῶν ἐν τῇ Νύσῃ φασὶν εὑρετήν τε τοῦ οἴνου γενέσθαι καὶ τὴν φυτείαν διδάξαι τῆς ἀμπέλου τοὺς ἀνθρώπους. ἐπιόντα δὲ σχεδὸν ὅλην τὴν οἰκουμένην πολλὴν χώραν ἐξημερῶσαι, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο τυχεῖν παρὰ πᾶσι μεγίστων τιμῶν. εὑρεῖν δʼ αὐτὸν καὶ τὸ ἐκ τῆς κριθῆς κατασκευαζόμενον πόμα, τὸ προσαγορευόμενον μὲν ὑπʼ ἐνίων ζῦθος, οὐ πολὺ δὲ λειπόμενον τῆς περὶ τὸν οἶνον εὐωδίας. τοῦτο δὲ διδάξαι τοὺς χώραν ἔχοντας μὴ δυναμένην ἐπιδέχεσθαι τὴν τῆς ἀμπέλου φυτείαν. περιάγεσθαι δʼ αὐτὸν καὶ στρατόπεδον οὐ μόνον ἀνδρῶν, ἀλλὰ καὶ γυναικῶν, καὶ τοὺς ἀδίκους καὶ ἀσεβεῖς τῶν ἀνθρώπων κολάζειν. καὶ κατὰ μὲν τὴν Βοιωτίαν ἀποδιδόντα τῇ πατρίδι χάριτας ἐλευθερῶσαι πάσας τὰς πόλεις, καὶ κτίσαι πόλιν ἐπώνυμον τῆς αὐτονομίας, ἣν Ἐλευθερὰς προσαγορεῦσαι.
The Greek account of Dionysus runs like this: Cadmus, the son of Agenor, was sent forth from Phoenicia by the king to seek out Europe, under orders either to bring him the maiden or never to come back to Phoenicia. After Cadmus had traversed a wide territory without being able to find her, he despaired of ever returning to his home; and when he had arrived in Boeotia, in obedience to the oracle which he had received he founded the city of Thebes. Here he made his home and marrying Harmonia, the daughter of Aphrodite, he begat by her Semele, Ino, Autonoe, Agave, and Polydorus. 2 Semele was loved by Zeus because of her beauty, but since he had his intercourse with her secretly and without speech she thought that the god despised her; consequently she made the request of him that he come to her embraces in the same manner as in his approaches to Hera. Accordingly, Zeus visited her in a way befitting a god, accompanied by thunder and lightning, revealing himself to her as he embraced her; but Semele, who was pregnant and unable to endure the majesty of the divine presence, brought forth the babe untimely and was herself slain by the fire. Thereupon Zeus, taking up the child, handed it over to the care of Hermes, and ordered him to take it to the cave in Nysa, which lay between Phoenicia and the Nile, where he should deliver it to the nymphs that they should rear it and with great solicitude bestow upon it the best of care. 4 Consequently, since Dionysus was reared in Nysa, he received the name he bears from Zeus and Nysa. 5 And Homer bears witness to this in his Hymns, when he says: There is a certain Nysa, mountain high, With forests thick, in Phoenice afar, Close to Egyptus' streams. After he had received his rearing by the nymphs in Nysa, they say, he made the discovery of wine and taught mankind how to cultivate the vine. And as he visited the inhabited world almost in its entirety, he brought much land under cultivation and in return for this received most high honours at the hands of all men. He also discovered the drink made out of barley and called by some zythos, the bouquet of which is not much inferior to that of wine. The preparation of this drink he taught to those peoples whose country was unsuited to the cultivation of the vine. 6 He also led about with himself an army composed not only of men but of women as well, and punished such men as were unjust and impious. In Boeotia, out of gratitude to the land of his birth, he freed all the cities and founded a city whose name signified independence, which he called Eleutherae.
§ 4.3
στρατεύσαντα δʼ εἰς τὴν Ἰνδικὴν τριετεῖ χρόνῳ τὴν ἐπάνοδον εἰς τὴν Βοιωτίαν ποιήσασθαι, κομίζοντα μὲν λαφύρων ἀξιόλογον πλῆθος, καταγαγεῖν δὲ πρῶτον τῶν ἁπάντων θρίαμβον ἐπʼ ἐλέφαντος Ἰνδικοῦ. καὶ τοὺς μὲν Βοιωτοὺς καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους Ἕλληνας καὶ Θρᾷκας ἀπομνημονεύοντας τῆς κατὰ τὴν Ἰνδικὴν στρατείας καταδεῖξαι τὰς τριετηρίδας θυσίας Διονύσῳ, καὶ τὸν θεὸν νομίζειν κατὰ τὸν χρόνον τοῦτον ποιεῖσθαι τὰς παρὰ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἐπιφανείας. διὸ καὶ παρὰ πολλαῖς τῶν Ἑλληνίδων πόλεων διὰ τριῶν ἐτῶν βακχεῖά τε γυναικῶν ἀθροίζεσθαι, καὶ ταῖς παρθένοις νόμιμον εἶναι θυρσοφορεῖν καὶ συνενθουσιάζειν εὐαζούσαις καὶ τιμώσαις τὸν θεόν· τὰς δὲ γυναῖκας κατὰ συστήματα θυσιάζειν τῷ θεῷ καὶ βακχεύειν καὶ καθόλου τὴν παρουσίαν ὑμνεῖν τοῦ Διονύσου, μιμουμένας τὰς ἱστορουμένας τὸ παλαιὸν παρεδρεύειν τῷ θεῷ μαινάδας. κολάσαι δʼ αὐτὸν πολλοὺς μὲν καὶ ἄλλους κατὰ πᾶσαν τὴν οἰκουμένην τοὺς δοκοῦντας ἀσεβεῖν, ἐπιφανεστάτους δὲ Πενθέα καὶ Λυκοῦργον. τῆς δὲ κατὰ τὸν οἶνον εὑρέσεως καὶ δωρεᾶς κεχαρισμένης τοῖς ἀνθρώποις καθʼ ὑπερβολὴν διά τε τὴν ἡδονὴν τὴν ἐκ τοῦ ποτοῦ καὶ διὰ τὸ τοῖς σώμασιν εὐτονωτέρους γίνεσθαι τοὺς τὸν οἶνον πίνοντας, φασὶν ἐπὶ τὸ δεῖπνον, ὅταν ἄκρατος οἶνος ἐπιδιδῶται, προσεπιλέγειν ἀγαθοῦ δαίμονος· ὅταν δὲ μετὰ τὸ δεῖπνον διδῶται κεκραμένος ὕδατι, Διὸς σωτῆρος ἐπιφωνεῖν. τὸν γὰρ οἶνον ἄκρατον μὲν πινόμενον μανιώδεις διαθέσεις ἀποτελεῖν, τοῦ δʼ ἀπὸ Διὸς ὄμβρου μιγέντος τὴν μὲν τέρψιν καὶ τὴν ἡδονὴν μένειν, τὸ δὲ τῆς μανίας καὶ παραλύσεως βλάπτον διορθοῦσθαι. καθόλου δὲ μυθολογοῦσι τῶν θεῶν μεγίστης ἀποδοχῆς τυγχάνειν παρʼ ἀνθρώποις τοὺς ταῖς εὐεργεσίαις ὑπερβαλομένους κατὰ τὴν εὕρεσιν τῶν ἀγαθῶν Διόνυσόν τε καὶ Δήμητραν, τὸν μὲν τοῦ προσηνεστάτου ποτοῦ γενόμενον εὑρετήν, τὴν δὲ τῆς ξηρᾶς τροφῆς τὴν κρατίστην παραδοῦσαν τῷ γένει τῶν ἀνθρώπων.
Then he made a campaign into India, whence he returned to Boeotia in the third year, bringing with him a notable quantity of booty, and he was the first man ever to celebrate a triumph seated on an Indian elephant. 2 And the Boeotians and other Greeks and the Thracians, in memory of the campaign in India, have established sacrifices every other year to Dionysus, and believe that at that time the god reveals himself to human beings. Consequently in many Greek cities every other year Bacchic bands of women gather, and it is lawful for the maidens to carry the thyrsus and to join in the frenzied revelry, crying out "Euai!" and honouring the god; while the matrons, forming in groups, offer sacrifices to the god and celebrate his mysteries and, in general, extol with hymns the presence of Dionysus, in this manner acting the part of the Maenads who, as history records, were of old the companions of the god. 4 He also punished here and there throughout all the inhabited world many men who were thought to be impious, the most renowned among the number being Pentheus and Lycurgus. And since the discovery of wine and the gift of it to human beings were the source of such great satisfaction to them, both because of the pleasure which derives from the drinking of it and because of the greater vigour which comes to the bodies of those who partake of it, it is the custom, they say, when unmixed wine is served during a meal to greet it with the words, "To the Good Deity!" but when the cup is passed around after the meal diluted with water, to cry out, "To Zeus Saviour!" For the drinking of unmixed wine results in a state of madness, but when it is mixed with the rain from Zeus the delight and pleasure continue, but the ill effect of madness and stupor is avoided. And, in general, the myths relate that the gods who receive the greatest approval at the hands of human beings are those who excelled in their benefactions by reason of their discovery of good things, namely, Dionysus and Demeter, the former because he was the discoverer of the most pleasing drink, the latter because she gave to the race of men the most excellent of the dry foods.
§ 4.4
μυθολογοῦσι δέ τινες καὶ ἕτερον Διόνυσον γεγονέναι πολὺ τοῖς χρόνοις προτεροῦντα τούτου. φασὶ γὰρ ἐκ Διὸς καὶ Φερσεφόνης Διόνυσον γενέσθαι τὸν ὑπό τινων Σαβάζιον ὀνομαζόμενον, οὗ τήν τε γένεσιν καὶ τὰς θυσίας καὶ τιμὰς νυκτερινὰς καὶ κρυφίους παρεισάγουσι διὰ τὴν αἰσχύνην τὴν ἐκ τῆς συνουσίας ἐπακολουθοῦσαν. λέγουσι δʼ αὐτὸν ἀγχινοίᾳ διενεγκεῖν, καὶ πρῶτον ἐπιχειρῆσαι βοῦς ζευγνύειν καὶ διὰ τούτων τὸν σπόρον τῶν καρπῶν ἐπιτελεῖν· ἀφʼ οὗ δὴ καὶ κερατίαν αὐτὸν παρεισάγουσι. καὶ τὸν μὲν ἐκ Σεμέλης γενόμενον ἐν τοῖς νεωτέροις χρόνοις φασὶ τῷ σώματι γενέσθαι τρυφερὸν καὶ παντελῶς ἁπαλόν, εὐπρεπείᾳ δὲ πολὺ τῶν ἄλλων διενεγκεῖν καὶ πρὸς τὰς ἀφροδισιακὰς ἡδονὰς εὐκατάφορον γεγονέναι, κατὰ δὲ τὰς στρατείας γυναικῶν πλῆθος περιάγεσθαι καθωπλισμένων λόγχαις τεθυρσωμέναις. φασὶ δὲ καὶ τὰς Μούσας αὐτῷ συναποδημεῖν, παρθένους οὔσας καὶ πεπαιδευμένας διαφερόντως· ταύτας δὲ διά τε τῆς μελῳδίας καὶ τῶν ὀρχήσεων, ἔτι δὲ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν ἐν παιδείᾳ καλῶν ψυχαγωγεῖν τὸν θεόν. φασὶ δὲ καὶ παιδαγωγὸν καὶ τροφέα συνέπεσθαι κατὰ τὰς στρατείας αὐτῷ Σειληνόν, εἰσηγητὴν καὶ διδάσκαλον γινόμενον τῶν καλλίστων ἐπιτηδευμάτων, καὶ μεγάλα συμβάλλεσθαι τῷ Διονύσῳ πρὸς ἀρετήν τε καὶ δόξαν. καὶ κατὰ μὲν τὰς ἐν τοῖς πολέμοις μάχας ὅπλοις αὐτὸν πολεμικοῖς κεκοσμῆσθαι καὶ δοραῖς παρδάλεων, κατὰ δὲ τὰς ἐν εἰρήνῃ πανηγύρεις καὶ ἑορτὰς ἐσθῆσιν ἀνθειναῖς καὶ κατὰ τὴν μαλακότητα τρυφεραῖς χρῆσθαι. πρὸς δὲ τὰς ἐκ τοῦ πλεονάζοντος οἴνου κεφαλαλγίας τοῖς πίνουσι γινομένας διαδεδέσθαι λέγουσιν αὐτὸν μίτρᾳ τὴν κεφαλήν, ἀφʼ ἧς αἰτίας καὶ μιτρηφόρον ὀναμάζεσθαι· ἀπὸ δὲ ταύτης τῆς μίτρας ὕστερον παρὰ τοῖς βασιλεῦσι καταδειχθῆναι τὸ διάδημά φασι. διμήτορα δʼ αὐτὸν προσαγορευθῆναι λέγουσι διὰ τὸ πατρὸς μὲν ἑνὸς ὑπάρξαι τοὺς δύο Διονύσους, μητέρων δὲ δυοῖν. κεκληρονομηκέναι δὲ τὸν νεώτερον καὶ τὰς τοῦ προγενεστέρου πράξεις· διόπερ τοὺς μεταγενεστέρους ἀνθρώπους, ἀγνοοῦντας μὲν τἀληθές, πλανηθέντας δὲ διὰ τὴν ὁμωνυμίαν, ἕνα γεγονέναι νομίσαι Διόνυσον. τὸν δὲ νάρθηκα προσάπτουσιν αὐτῷ διά τινας τοιαύτας αἰτίας. κατὰ τὴν ἐξ ἀρχῆς εὕρεσιν τοῦ οἴνου μήπω τῆς τοῦ ὕδατος κράσεως εὑρημένης ἄκρατον πίνειν τὸν οἶνον· κατὰ δὲ τὰς τῶν φίλων συναναστροφὰς καὶ εὐωχίας τοὺς συνεορτάζοντας δαψιλῆ τὸν ἄκρατον ἐμφορησαμένους μανιώδεις γίνεσθαι, καὶ ταῖς βακτηρίαις ξυλίναις χρωμένους ταύταις ἀλλήλους τύπτειν. διὸ καὶ τινῶν μὲν τραυματιζομένων, τινῶν δὲ καὶ τελευτώντων ἐκ τῶν καιρίων τραυμάτων, προσκόψαντα τὸν Διόνυσον ταῖς τοιαύταις περιστάσεσι τὸ μὲν ἀποστῆσαι τοῦ πίνειν δαψιλῆ τὸν ἄκρατον ἀποδοκιμάσαι διὰ τὴν ἡδονὴν τοῦ ποτοῦ, καταδεῖξαι δὲ νάρθηξι χρῆσθαι καὶ μὴ ξυλίναις βακτηρίαις.
Some writers of myths, however, relate that there was a second Dionysus who was much earlier in time than the one we have just mentioned. For according to them there was born of Zeus and Persephone a Dionysus who is called by some Sabazius and whose birth and sacrifices and honours are celebrated at night and in secret, because of the disgrace resulting from the intercourse of the sexes. 2 They state also that he excelled in sagacity and was the first to attempt the yoking of oxen and by their aid to effect the sowing of the seed, this being the reason why they also represent him as wearing a horn. But the Dionysus who was born of Semele in more recent times, they say, was a man who was effeminate in body and altogether delicate; in beauty, however, he far excelled all other men and was addicted to indulgence in the delights of love, and on his campaigns he led about with himself a multitude of women who were armed with lances which were shaped like thyrsi. They say also that when he went abroad he was accompanied by the Muses, who were maidens that had received an unusually excellent education, and that by their songs and dancing and other talents in which they had been instructed these maidens delighted the heart of the god. They also add that he was accompanied on his campaigns by a personal attendant and caretaker, Seilenus, who was his adviser and instructor in the most excellent pursuits and contributed greatly to the high achievements and fame of Dionysus. 4 And in the battles which took place during his wars he arrayed himself in arms suitable for war and in the skins of panthers, but in assemblages and at festive gatherings in time of peace he wore garments which were bright-coloured and luxurious in their effeminacy. Furthermore, in order to ward off the headaches which every man gets from drinking too much wine he bound about his head, they report, a band (mitra), which was the reason for his receiving the name Mitrephorus; and it was this head-band, they say, that in later times led to the introduction of the diadem for kings. He was also called Dimetor, they relate, because the two Dionysi were born of one father, but of two mothers. The younger one also inherited the deeds of the older, and so the men of later times, being unaware of the truth and being deceived because of the identity of their names thought there had been but one Dionysus. 6 The narthex is also associated with Dionysus for the following reason. When wine was first discovered, the mixing of water with it had not as yet been devised and the wine was drunk unmixed; but when friends gathered together and enjoyed good cheer, the revellers, filling themselves to abundance with the unmixed wine, became like madmen and used their wooden staves to strike one another. 7 Consequently, since some of them were wounded and some died of wounds inflicted in vital spots, Dionysus was offended at such happenings, and though he did not decide that they should refrain from drinking the unmixed wine in abundance, because the drink gave such pleasure, he ordered them hereafter to carry a narthex and not a wooden staff.
§ 4.5
ἐπωνυμίας δʼ αὐτῷ τοὺς ἀνθρώπους πολλὰς προσάψαι, τὰς ἀφορμὰς ἀπὸ τῶν περὶ αὐτὸν ἐπιτηδευμάτων λαβόντας. βακχεῖον μὲν γὰρ ἀπὸ τῶν συνεπομένων βακχῶν ὀνομάσαι, Ληναῖον δὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ πατῆσαι τὰς σταφυλὰς ἐν ληνῷ, Βρόμιον δʼ ἀπὸ τοῦ κατὰ τὴν γένεσιν αὐτοῦ γενομένου βρόμου· ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ πυριγενῆ διὰ τὴν ὁμοίαν αἰτίαν ὠνομάσθαι. θρίαμβον δʼ αὐτὸν ὀνομασθῆναί φασιν ἀπὸ τοῦ πρῶτον τῶν μνημονευομένων καταγαγεῖν ἀπὸ τῆς στρατείας θρίαμβον εἰς τὴν πατρίδα, τὴν ἐξ Ἰνδῶν ποιησάμενον ἐπάνοδον μετὰ πολλῶν λαφύρων. παραπλησίως δὲ καὶ τὰς λοιπὰς προσηγορίας ἐπιθετικὰς αὐτῷ γεγενῆσθαι, περὶ ὧν μακρὸν ἂν εἴη λέγειν καὶ τῆς ὑποκειμένης ἱστορίας ἀνοίκειον. δίμορφον δʼ αὐτὸν δοκεῖν ὑπάρχειν διὰ τὸ δύο Διονύσους γεγονέναι, τὸν μὲν παλαιὸν καταπώγωνα διὰ τὸ τοὺς ἀρχαίους πάντας πωγωνοτροφεῖν, τὸν δὲ νεώτερον ὡραῖον καὶ τρυφερὸν καὶ νέον, καθότι προείρηται. ἔνιοι δὲ λέγουσιν ὅτι τῶν μεθυόντων διττὰς διαθέσεις ἐχόντων, καὶ τῶν μὲν ἱλαρῶν, τῶν δὲ ὀργίλων γινομένων, δίμορφον ὠνομάσθαι τὸν θεόν. καὶ Σατύρους δέ φασιν αὐτὸν περιάγεσθαι, καὶ τούτους ἐν ταῖς ὀρχήσεσι καὶ ταῖς τραγῳδίαις τέρψιν καὶ πολλὴν ἡδονὴν παρέχεσθαι τῷ θεῷ. καθόλου δὲ τὰς μὲν Μούσας τοῖς ἐκ τῆς παιδείας ἀγαθοῖς ὠφελούσας τε καὶ τερπούσας, τοὺς δὲ Σατύρους τοῖς πρὸς γέλωτα συνεργοῦσιν ἐπιτηδεύμασι χρωμένους, παρασκευάζειν τῷ Διονύσῳ τὸν εὐδαίμονα καὶ κεχαρισμένον βίον. καθόλου δὲ τοῦτον τῶν θυμελικῶν ἀγώνων φασὶν εὑρετὴν γενέσθαι, καὶ θέατρα καταδεῖξαι, καὶ μουσικῶν ἀκροαμάτων σύστημα ποιήσασθαι· πρὸς δὲ τούτοις ἀλειτουργήτους ποιῆσαι καὶ τοὺς ἐν ταῖς στρατείαις μεταχειριζομένους τι τῆς μουσικῆς ἐπιστήμης· ἀφʼ ὧν τοὺς μεταγενεστέρους μουσικὰς συνόδους συστήσασθαι τῶν περὶ τὸν Διόνυσον τεχνιτῶν, καὶ ἀτελεῖς ποιῆσαι τοὺς τὰ τοιαῦτα ἐπιτηδεύοντας. καὶ περὶ μὲν Διονύσου καὶ τῶν περὶ αὐτοῦ μυθολογουμένων ἀρκεσθησόμεθα τοῖς ῥηθεῖσι στοχαζόμενοι τῆς συμμετρίας.
Many epithets, so we are informed, have been given him by men, who have found the occasions from which they arose in the practices and customs which have become associated with him. So, for instance, he has been called Baccheius from Bacchic bands of women who accompanied him, Lenaeus from the custom of treading the clusters of grapes in a winetub (lenos), and Bromius from the thunder (bromos) which attended his birth; likewise for a similar reason he has been called Pyrigenes ("Born-of Fire"). 2 Thriambus is a name that has been given him, they say, because he was the first of those of whom we have a record to have celebrated a triumph (thriambos) upon entering his native land after his campaign, this having been done when he returned from India with great booty. It is on a similar basis that the other appellations or epithets have been given to him, but we feel that it would be a long task to tell of them and inappropriate to the history which we are writing. He was thought to have two forms, men say, because there were two Dionysi, the ancient one having a long beard because all men in early times wore long beards, the younger one being youthful and effeminate and young, as we have mentioned before. Certain writers say, however, that it was because men who become drunk get into two states, being either joyous or sullen, that the god has been called "two-formed." Satyrs also, it is reported, were carried about by him in his company and afforded the god greatest delight and pleasure in connection with their dancings and their goat-songs. 4 And, in general, the Muses who bestowed benefits and delights through the advantages which their education gave them, and the Satyrs by the use of the devices which contribute to mirth, made the life of Dionysus happy and agreeable. There is general agreement also, they say, that he was the inventor of thymelic contests, and that he introduced places where the spectators could witness the shows and organized musical concerts; furthermore, he freed from any forced contribution to the state those who had cultivated any sort of musical skill during his campaigns, and it is for these reasons that later generations have formed musical associations of the artists of Dionysus and have relieved of taxes the followers of this profession. As for Dionysus and the myths which are related about him we shall rest content with what has been said, since we are aiming at due proportion in our account.
§ 4.6
περὶ δὲ Πριάπου καὶ τῶν μυθολογουμένων περὶ αὐτοῦ νῦν διέξιμεν, οἰκεῖον ὁρῶντες τὸν περὶ τούτου λόγον ταῖς Διονυσιακαῖς ἱστορίαις. μυθολογοῦσιν οὖν οἱ παλαιοὶ τὸν Πρίαπον υἱὸν μὲν εἶναι Διονύσου καὶ Ἀφροδίτης, πιθανῶς τὴν γένεσιν ταύτην ἐξηγούμενοι· τοὺς γὰρ οἰνωθέντας φυσικῶς ἐντετάσθαι πρὸς τὰς ἀφροδισιακὰς ἡδονάς. τινὲς δέ φασι τὸ αἰδοῖον τῶν ἀνθρώπων τοὺς παλαιοὺς μυθωδῶς ὀνομάζειν βουλομένους Πρίαπον προσαγορεῦσαι. ἔνιοι δὲ λέγουσι τὸ γεννητικὸν μόριον, αἴτιον ὑπάρχον τῆς γενέσεως τῶν ἀνθρώπων καὶ διαμονῆς εἰς ἅπαντα τὸν αἰῶνα, τυχεῖν τῆς ἀθανάτου τιμῆς. οἱ δʼ Αἰγύπτιοι περὶ τοῦ Πριάπου μυθολογοῦντές φασι τὸ παλαιὸν τοὺς Τιτᾶνας ἐπιβουλεύσαντας Ὀσίριδι τοῦτον μὲν ἀνελεῖν, τὸ δὲ σῶμα αὐτοῦ διελόντας εἰς ἴσας μερίδας ἑαυτοῖς καὶ λαβόντας ἀπενεγκεῖν ἐκ τῆς οἰκείας λαθραίως, μόνον δὲ τὸ αἰδοῖον εἰς τὸν ποταμὸν ῥῖψαι διὰ τὸ μηδένα βούλεσθαι τοῦτο ἀνελέσθαι. τὴν δὲ Ἶσιν τὸν φόνον τοῦ ἀνδρὸς ἀναζητοῦσαν, καὶ τοὺς μὲν Τιτᾶνας ἀνελοῦσαν, τὰ δὲ τοῦ σώματος μέρη περιπλάσασαν εἰς ἀνθρώπου τύπον, ταῦτα μὲν δοῦναι θάψαι τοῖς ἱερεῦσι καὶ τιμᾶν προστάξαι ὡς θεὸν τὸν Ὄσιριν, τὸ δὲ αἰδοῖον μόνον οὐ δυναμένην ἀνευρεῖν καταδεῖξαι τιμᾶν ὡς θεὸν καὶ ἀναθεῖναι κατὰ τὸ ἱερὸν ἐντεταμένον. περὶ μὲν οὖν τῆς γενέσεως τοῦ Πριάπου καὶ τῆς τιμῆς τοιαῦτα μυθολογεῖται παρὰ τοῖς παλαιοῖς τῶν Αἰγυπτίων. τοῦτον δὲ τὸν θεὸν τινὲς μὲν Ἰθύφαλλον ὀνομάζουσι, τινὲς δὲ Τύχωνα. τὰς δὲ τιμὰς οὐ μόνον κατὰ πόλιν ἀπονέμουσιν αὐτῷ ἐν τοῖς ἱεροῖς, ἀλλὰ καὶ κατὰ τὰς ἀγροικίας ὀπωροφύλακα τῶν ἀμπελώνων ἀποδεικνύντες καὶ τῶν κήπων, ἔτι δὲ πρὸς τοὺς βασκαίνοντάς τι τῶν καλῶν τοῦτον κολαστὴν παρεισάγοντες. ἔν τε ταῖς τελεταῖς οὐ μόνον ταῖς Διονυσιακαῖς, ἀλλὰ καὶ ταῖς ἄλλαις σχεδὸν ἁπάσαις οὗτος ὁ θεὸς τυγχάνει τινὸς τιμῆς, μετὰ γέλωτος καὶ παιδιᾶς παρεισαγόμενος ἐν ταῖς θυσίαις. παραπλησίως δὲ τῷ Πριάπῳ τινὲς μυθολογοῦσι γεγενῆσθαι τὸν ὀνομαζόμενον Ἑρμαφρόδιτον, ὃν ἐξ Ἑρμοῦ καὶ Ἀφροδίτης γεννηθέντα τυχεῖν τῆς ἐξ ἀμφοτέρων τῶν γονέων συντεθείσης προσηγορίας. τοῦτον δʼ οἱ μέν φασιν εἶναι θεὸν καὶ κατά τινας χρόνους φαίνεσθαι παρʼ ἀνθρώποις, καὶ γεννᾶσθαι τὴν τοῦ σώματος φύσιν ἔχοντα μεμιγμένην ἐξ ἀνδρὸς καὶ γυναικός· καὶ τὴν μὲν εὐπρέπειαν καὶ μαλακότητα τοῦ σώματος ἔχειν γυναικὶ παρεμφερῆ, τὸ δʼ ἀρρενωπὸν καὶ δραστικὸν ἀνδρὸς ἔχειν τὰ δὲ φυσικὰ μόρια συγγεννᾶσθαι τούτῳ καὶ γυναικὸς καὶ ἀνδρός· ἔνιοι δὲ τὰ τοιαῦτα γένη ταῖς φύσεσιν ἀποφαίνονται τέρατα ὑπάρχειν, καὶ γεννώμενα σπανίως προσημαντικὰ γίνεσθαι ποτὲ μὲν κακῶν ποτὲ δʼ ἀγαθῶν. καὶ περὶ μὲν τῶν τοιούτων ἅλις ἡμῖν ἐχέτω.
We shall at this point discuss Priapus and the myths related about him, realizing that an account of him is appropriate in connection with the history of Dionysus. Now the ancients record in their myths that Priapus was the son of Dionysus and Aphrodite and they present a plausible argument for this lineage; for men when under the influence of wine find the members of their bodies tense and inclined to the pleasures of love. 2 But certain writers say that when the ancients wished to speak in their myths of the sexual organ of males they called it Priapus. Some, however, relate that the generative member, since it is the cause of the reproduction of human beings and of their continued existence through all time, became the object of immortal honour. But Egyptians in their myths about Priapus say that in ancient times the Titans formed a conspiracy against Osiris and slew him, and then, taking his body and dividing it into equal parts among themselves, they slipped them secretly out of the house, but this organ alone they threw into the river, since no one of them was willing to take it with him. But Isis tracked down the murder of her husband, and after slaying the Titans and fashioning the several pieces of his body into the shape of a human figure, she gave them to the priests with orders that they pay Osiris the honours of a god, but since the only member she was unable to recover was the organ of sex she commanded them to pay to it the honours of a god and to set it up in their temples in an erect position. Now this is the myth about the birth of Priapus and the honour paid to him, as it is given by the ancient Egyptians. 4 This god is also called by some Ithyphallus, by others Tychon. Honours are accorded him not only in the city, in the temples, but also throughout the countryside, where men set up his statue to watch over their vineyards and gardens, and introduce him as one who punishes any who cast a spell over some fair thing which they possess. And in the sacred rites, not only of Dionysus but of practically all other gods as well, this god receives honour to some extent, being introduced in the sacrifices to the accompaniment of laughter and sport. A birth like that of Priapus is ascribed by some writers of myths to Hermaphroditus, as he has been called, who was born of Hermes and Aphrodite and received a name which is a combination of those of both his parents. Some say that this Hermaphroditus is a god and appears at certain times among men, and that he is born with a physical body which is a combination of that of a man and that of a woman, in that he has a body which is beautiful and delicate like that of a woman, but has the masculine quality and vigour of a man. But there are some who declare that such creatures of two sexes are monstrosities, and coming rarely into the world as they do have the quality of presaging the future, sometimes for evil and sometimes for good. But let this be enough for us on such matters.
§ 4.7
περὶ δὲ τῶν Μουσῶν, ἐπειδήπερ ἐμνήσθημεν ἐν ταῖς τοῦ Διονύσου πράξεσιν, οἰκεῖον ἂν εἴη διελθεῖν ἐν κεφαλαίοις. ταύτας γὰρ οἱ πλεῖστοι τῶν μυθογράφων καὶ μάλιστα δεδοκιμασμένοι φασὶ θυγατέρας εἶναι Διὸς καὶ Μνημοσύνης· ὀλίγοι δὲ τῶν ποιητῶν, ἐν οἷς ἐστι καὶ Ἀλκμάν, θυγατέρας ἀποφαίνονται Οὐρανοῦ καὶ Γῆς. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ κατὰ τὸν ἀριθμὸν διαφωνοῦσιν· οἱ μὲν γὰρ τρεῖς λέγουσιν, οἱ δʼ ἐννέα, καὶ κεκράτηκεν ὁ τῶν ἐννέα ἀριθμὸς ὑπὸ τῶν ἐπιφανεστάτων ἀνδρῶν βεβαιούμενος, λέγω δὲ Ὁμήρου τε καὶ Ἡσιόδου καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν τοιούτων. Ὅμηρος μὲν γὰρ λέγει Μοῦσαι δʼ ἐννέα πᾶσαι ἀμειβόμεναι ὀπὶ καλῇ· Ησίοδος δὲ καὶ τὰ ὀνόματα αὐτῶν ἀποφαίνεται λέγων Κλειώ τʼ Εὐτέρπη τε Θάλειά τε Μελπομένη τε Τερψιχόρη τʼ Ἐρατώ τε Πολύμνιά τʼ Οὐρανίη τε Καλλιόπη θʼ, ἥ σφεων προφερεστάτη ἐστὶν ἁπασέων. τούτων δʼ ἑκάστῃ προσάπτουσι τὰς οἰκείας διαθέσεις τῶν περὶ μουσικὴν ἐπιτηδευμάτων, οἷον ποιητικήν, μελῳδίαν, ὀρχήσεις καὶ χορείας, ἀστρολογίαν τε καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ τῶν ἐπιτηδευμάτων. παρθένους δʼ αὐτὰς οἱ πλεῖστοι γεγονέναι μυθολογοῦσι διὰ τὸ τὰς κατὰ τὴν παιδείαν ἀρετὰς ἀφθόρους δοκεῖν εἶναι. Μούσας δʼ αὐτὰς ὠνομάσθαι ἀπὸ τοῦ μυεῖν τοὺς ἀνθρώπους, τοῦτο δʼ ἐστὶν ἀπὸ τοῦ διδάσκειν τὰ καλὰ καὶ συμφέροντα καὶ ὑπὸ τῶν ἀπαιδεύτων ἀγνοούμενα. ἑκάστῃ δὲ προσηγορίᾳ τὸν οἰκεῖον λόγον ἀπονέμοντές φασιν ὠνομάσθαι τὴν μὲν Κλειὼ διὰ τὸ τὸν ἐκ τῆς ποιήσεως τῶν ἐγκωμιαζομένων ἔπαινον μέγα κλέος περιποιεῖν τοῖς ἐπαινουμένοις, Εὐτέρπην δʼ ἀπὸ τοῦ τέρπειν τοὺς ἀκροωμένους τοῖς ἀπὸ τῆς παιδείας ἀγαθοῖς, Θάλειαν δʼ ἀπὸ τοῦ θάλλειν ἐπὶ πολλοὺς χρόνους τοὺς διὰ τῶν ποιημάτων ἐγκωμιαζομένους, Μελπομένην δʼ ἀπὸ τῆς μελῳδίας, διʼ ἧς τοὺς ἀκούοντας ψυχαγωγεῖσθαι, Τερψιχόρην δʼ ἀπὸ τοῦ τέρπειν τοὺς ἀκροατὰς τοῖς ἐκ παιδείας περιγινομένοις ἀγαθοῖς, Ἐρατὼ δʼ ἀπὸ τοῦ τοὺς παιδευθέντας ποθεινοὺς καὶ ἐπεράστους ἀποτελεῖν, Πολύμνιαν δʼ ἀπὸ τοῦ διὰ πολλῆς ὑμνήσεως ἐπιφανεῖς κατασκευάζειν τοὺς διὰ τῶν ποιημάτων ἀπαθανατιζομένους τῇ δόξῃ, Οὐρανίαν δʼ ἀπὸ τοῦ τοὺς παιδευθέντας ὑπʼ αὐτῆς ἐξαίρεσθαι πρὸς οὐρανόν· τῇ γὰρ δόξῃ καὶ τοῖς φρονήμασι μετεωρίζεσθαι τὰς ψυχὰς εἰς ὕψος οὐράνιον· Καλλιόπην δʼ ἀπὸ τοῦ καλὴν ὄπα προΐεσθαι, τοῦτο δʼ ἐστὶ τῇ εὐεπείᾳ διάφορον οὖσαν ἀποδοχῆς τυγχάνειν ὑπο τῶν ἀκουόντων. τούτων δʼ ἡμῖν ἀρκούντως εἰρημένων μεταβιβάσομεν τὸν λόγον ἐπὶ τὰς Ἡρακλέους πράξεις.
As for the Muses, since we have referred to them in connection with the deeds of Dionysus, it may be appropriate to give the facts about them in summary. For the majority of the writers of myths and those who enjoy the greatest reputation say that they were daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne; but a few poets, among whose number is Alcman, state that they were daughters of Uranus and Ge. 2 Writers similarly disagree also concerning the number of the Muses; for some say that they are three, and others that they are nine, but the number nine has prevailed since it rests upon the authority of the most distinguished men, such as Homer and Hesiod and others like them. Homer, for instance, writes: The Muses, nine in all, replying each To each with voices sweet; and Hesiod even gives their names when he writes: Cleio, Euterpe, and Thaleia, Melpomene, Terpsichore and Erato, and Polymnia, Urania, Calliope too, of them all the most comely. To each of the Muses men assign her special aptitude for one of the branches of the liberal arts, such as poetry, song, pantomimic dancing, the round dance with music, the study of the stars, and the other liberal arts. They are also believed to be virgins, as most writers of myths say, because men consider that the high attainment which is reached through education is pure and uncontaminated. 4 Men have given the Muses their name from the word muein, which signifies the teaching of those things which are noble and expedient and are not known by the uneducated. For the name of each Muse, they say, men have found a reason appropriate to her: Cleio is so named because the praise which poets sing in their encomia bestows great glory (kleos) upon those who are praised; Euterpe, because she gives to those who hear her sing delight (terpein) in the blessings which education bestows; Thaleia, because men whose praises have been sung in poems flourish (thallein) through long periods of time; Melpomene, from the chanting (melodia) by which she charms the souls of her listeners; Terpsichore, because she delights (terpein) her disciples with the good things which come from education; Erato, because she makes those who are instructed by her men who are desired and worthy to be loved; Polymnia, because by her great (polle) praises (humnesis) she bring distinction to writers whose works have won for them immortal fame; Urania, because men who have been instructed of her she raises aloft to heaven (ouranos), for it is a fact that imagination and the power of thought lift men's souls to heavenly heights; Calliope, because of her beautiful (kale) voice (ops), that is, by reason of the exceeding beauty of her language she wins the approbation of her auditors. But since we have spoken sufficiently on these matters we shall turn our discussion to the deeds of Heracles.
§ 4.8
οὐκ ἀγνοῶ δʼ ὅτι πολλὰ δύσχρηστα συμβαίνει τοῖς ἱστοροῦσι τὰς παλαιὰς μυθολογίας, καὶ μάλιστα τὰς περὶ Ἡρακλέους. τῷ μὲν γὰρ μεγέθει τῶν κατεργασθέντων ὁμολογουμένως οὗτος παραδέδοται πάντας τοὺς ἐξ αἰῶνος ὑπερᾶραι τῇ μνήμῃ παραδοθέντας· δυσέφικτον οὖν ἐστι τὸ κατὰ τὴν ἀξίαν ἕκαστον τῶν πραχθέντων ἀπαγγεῖλαι καὶ τὸν λόγον ἐξισῶσαι τοῖς τηλικούτοις ἔργοις, οἷς διὰ τὸ μέγεθος ἔπαθλον ἦν ἡ ἀθανασία. διὰ δὲ τὴν παλαιότητα καὶ τὸ παράδοξον τῶν ἱστορουμένων παρὰ πολλοῖς ἀπιστουμένων τῶν μύθων, ἀναγκαῖον ἢ παραλιπόντας τὰ μέγιστα τῶν πραχθέντων καθαιρεῖν τι τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ δόξης ἢ πάντα διεξιόντας τὴν ἱστορίαν ποιεῖν ἀπιστουμένην. ἔνιοι γὰρ τῶν ἀναγινωσκόντων οὐ δικαίᾳ χρώμενοι κρίσει τἀκριβὲς ἐπιζητοῦσιν ἐν ταῖς ἀρχαίαις μυθολογίαις ἐπʼ ἴσης τοῖς πραττομένοις ἐν τοῖς καθʼ ἡμᾶς χρόνοις, καὶ τὰ δισταζόμενα τῶν ἔργων διὰ τὸ μέγεθος ἐκ τοῦ καθʼ αὑτοὺς βίου τεκμαιρόμενοι, τὴν Ἡρακλέους δύναμιν ἐκ τῆς ἀσθενείας τῶν νῦν ἀνθρώπων θεωροῦσιν, ὥστε διὰ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τοῦ μεγέθους τῶν ἔργων ἀπιστεῖσθαι τὴν γραφήν. καθόλου μὲν γὰρ ἐν ταῖς μυθολογουμέναις ἱστορίαις οὐκ ἐκ παντὸς τρόπου πικρῶς τὴν ἀλήθειαν ἐξεταστέον. καὶ γὰρ ἐν τοῖς θεάτροις, πεπεισμένοι μήτε Κενταύρους διφυεῖς ἐξ ἑτερογενῶν σωμάτων ὑπάρξαι μήτε Γηρυόνην τρισώματον, ὅμως προσδεχόμεθα τὰς τοιαύτας μυθολογίας, καὶ ταῖς ἐπισημασίαις συναύξομεν τὴν τοῦ θεοῦ τιμήν. καὶ γὰρ ἄτοπον Ἡρακλέα μὲν ἔτι κατʼ ἀνθρώπους ὄντα τοῖς ἰδίοις πόνοις ἐξημερῶσαι τὴν οἰκουμένην, τοὺς δʼ ἀνθρώπους ἐπιλαθομένους τῆς κοινῆς εὐεργεσίας συκοφαντεῖν τὸν ἐπὶ τοῖς καλλίστοις ἔργοις ἔπαινον, καὶ τοὺς μὲν προγόνους διὰ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῆς ἀρετῆς ὁμολογουμένην αὐτῷ συγχωρῆσαι τὴν ἀθανασίαν, ἡμᾶς δὲ πρὸς τὸν θεὸν μηδὲ τὴν πατροπαράδοτον εὐσέβειαν διαφυλάττειν. ἀλλὰ γὰρ τῶν τοιούτων λόγων ἀφέμενοι διέξιμεν αὐτοῦ τὰς πράξεις ἀπʼ ἀρχῆς ἀκολούθως τοῖς παλαιοτάτοις τῶν ποιητῶν τε καὶ μυθολόγων.
I am not unaware that many difficulties beset those who undertake to give an account of the ancient myths, and especially is this true with respect to the myths about Heracles. For as regards the magnitude of the deeds which he accomplished it is generally agreed that Heracles has been handed down as one who surpassed all men of whom memory from the beginning of time has brought down an account; consequently it is a difficult attainment to report each one of his deeds in a worthy manner and to present a record which shall be on a level with labours so great, the magnitude of which won for him the prize of immortality. 2 Furthermore, since in the eyes of many men the very early age and astonishing nature of the facts which are related make the myths incredible, a writer is under the necessity either of omitting the greatest deeds and so detracting somewhat from the fame of the god, or of recounting them all and in so doing making the history of them incredible. For some readers set up an unfair standard and require in the accounts of the ancient myths the same exactness as in the events of our own time, and using their own life as a standard they pass judgment on those deeds the magnitude of which throw them open to doubt, and estimate the might of Heracles by the weakness of the men of our day, with the result that the exceeding magnitude of his deeds makes the account of them incredible. 4 For, speaking generally, when the histories of myths are concerned, a man should by no means scrutinize the truth with so sharp an eye. In the theatres, for instance, though we are persuaded there have existed no Centaurs who are composed of two different kinds of bodies nor any Geryones with three bodies, we yet look with favour upon such products of the myth as these, and by our applause we enhance the honour of the god. And strange it would be that Heracles, while yet among mortal men, should by his own labours have brought under cultivation the inhabited world, and that human beings should nevertheless forget the benefactions which he rendered them generally and slander the commendation he receives for the noblest deeds, and strange that our ancestors should have unanimously accorded immortality to him because of his exceedingly great attainments, and that we should nevertheless fail to cherish and maintain for the god the pious devotion which has been handed down to us from our fathers. However, we shall leave such considerations and relate his deeds from the beginning, basing our account on those of the most ancient poets and writers of myths.
§ 4.9
τῆς Ἀκρισίου τοίνυν Δανάης καὶ Διός φασι γενέσθαι Περσέα· τούτῳ δὲ μιγεῖσαν τὴν Κηφέως Ἀνδρομέδαν Ἠλεκτρύωνα γεννῆσαι, ἔπειτα τούτῳ τὴν Πέλοπος Εὐρυδίκην συνοικήσασαν Ἀλκμήνην τεκνῶσαι, καὶ ταύτῃ Δία μιγέντα διʼ ἀπάτης Ἡρακλέα γεννῆσαι. τὴν μὲν οὖν ὅλην τοῦ γένους ῥίζαν ἀπʼ ἀμφοτέρων τῶν γονέων εἰς τὸν μέγιστον τῶν θεῶν ἀναφέρειν λέγεται τὸν εἰρημένον τρόπον. τὴν δὲ γεγενημένην περὶ αὐτὸν ἀρετὴν οὐκ ἐν ταῖς πράξεσι θεωρηθῆναι μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ πρὸ τῆς γενέσεως γινώσκεσθαι. τὸν γὰρ Δία μισγόμενον Ἀλκμήνῃ τριπλασίαν τὴν νύκτα ποιῆσαι, καὶ τῷ πλήθει τοῦ πρὸς τὴν παιδοποιίαν ἀναλωθέντος χρόνου προσημῆναι τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῆς τοῦ γεννηθησομένου ῥώμης. καθόλου δὲ τὴν ὁμιλίαν ταύτην οὐκ ἐρωτικῆς ἐπιθυμίας ἕνεκα ποιήσασθαι, καθάπερ ἐπὶ τῶν ἄλλων γυναικῶν, ἀλλὰ τὸ πλέον τῆς παιδοποιίας χάριν. διὸ καὶ βουλόμενον τὴν ἐπιπλοκὴν νόμιμον ποιήσασθαι βιάσασθαι μὲν μὴ βουληθῆναι, πεῖσαι δʼ οὐδαμῶς ἐλπίζειν διὰ τὴν σωφροσύνην· τὴν ἀπάτην οὖν προκρίναντα διὰ ταύτης παρακρούσασθαι τὴν Ἀλκμήνην, Ἀμφιτρύωνι κατὰ πᾶν ὁμοιωθέντα. διελθόντος δὲ τοῦ κατὰ φύσιν χρόνου ταῖς ἐγκύοις, τὸν μὲν Δία πρὸς τὴν Ἡρακλέους γένεσιν ἐνεχθέντα τῇ διανοίᾳ προειπεῖν παρόντων ἁπάντων τῶν θεῶν ὅτι τὸν κατʼ ἐκείνην τὴν ἡμέραν Περσειδῶν γεννώμενον ποιήσει βασιλέα, τὴν δʼ Ἥραν ζηλοτυποῦσαν καὶ συνεργὸν ἔχουσαν Εἰλείθυιαν τὴν θυγατέρα, τῆς μὲν Ἀλκμήνης παρακατασχεῖν τὰς ὠδῖνας, τὸν δʼ Εὐρυσθέα πρὸ τοῦ καθήκοντος χρόνου πρὸς τὸ φῶς ἀγαγεῖν. τὸν δὲ Δία καταστρατηγηθέντα βουληθῆναι τήν τε ὑπόσχεσιν βεβαιῶσαι καὶ τῆς Ἡρακλέους ἐπιφανείας προνοηθῆναι· διό φασιν αὐτὸν τὴν μὲν Ἥραν πεῖσαι συγχωρῆσαι βασιλέα μὲν ὑπάρξαι κατὰ τὴν ἰδίαν ὑπόσχεσιν Εὐρυσθέα, τὸν δʼ Ἡρακλέα τεταγμένον ὑπὸ τὸν Εὐρυσθέα τελέσαι δώδεκα ἄθλους οὓς ἂν ὁ Εὐρυσθεὺς προστάξῃ, καὶ τοῦτο πράξαντα τυχεῖν τῆς ἀθανασίας. Ἀλκμήνη δὲ τεκοῦσα καὶ φοβηθεῖσα τὴν τῆς Ἥρας ζηλοτυπίαν, ἐξέθηκε τὸ βρέφος εἰς τὸν τόπον ὃς νῦν ἀπʼ ἐκείνου καλεῖται πεδίον Ἡράκλειον. καθʼ ὃν δὴ χρόνον Ἀθηνᾶ μετὰ τῆς Ἥρας προσιοῦσα, καὶ θαυμάσασα τοῦ παιδίου τὴν φύσιν, συνέπεισε τὴν Ἥραν ὑποσχεῖν τὴν θηλήν. τοῦ δὲ παιδὸς ὑπὲρ τὴν ἡλικίαν βιαιότερον ἐπισπασαμένου τὴν θηλήν, ἡ μὲν Ἥρα διαλγήσασα τὸ βρέφος ἔρριψεν, Ἀθηνᾶ δὲ κομίσασα αὐτὸ πρὸς τὴν μητέρα τρέφειν παρεκελεύσατο. θαυμάσαι δʼ ἄν τις εἰκότως τὸ τῆς περιπετείας παράδοξον· ἡ μὲν γὰρ στέργειν ὀφείλουσα μήτηρ τὸ ἴδιον τέκνον ἀπώλλυεν, ἡ δὲ μητρυιᾶς ἔχουσα μῖσος διʼ ἄγνοιαν ἔσωζε τὸ τῇ φύσει πολέμιον.
This, then, is the story as it has been given us: Perseus was the son of Danae, the daughter of Acrisius, and Zeus. Now Andromeda, the daughter of Cepheus, lay with him and bore Electryon, and then Eurydice, the daughter of Pelops, married him and gave birth to Alcmene, who in turn was wooed by Zeus, who deceived her, and bore Heracles. 2 Consequently the sources of his descent, in their entirety, lead back, as is claimed, through both his parents to the greatest of the gods, in the manner we have shown. The prowess which was found in him was not only to be seen in his deeds, but was also recognized even before his birth. For when Zeus lay with Alcmene he made the night three times its normal length and by the magnitude of the time expended on the procreation he presaged the exceptional might of the child which would be begotten. And, in general, he did not effect this union from the desire of love, as he did in the case of other women, but rather only for the sake of procreation. Consequently, desiring to give legality to his embraces, he did not choose to offer violence to Alcmene, and yet he could not hope to persuade her because of her chastity; and so, deciding to use deception, he deceived Alcmene by assuming in every respect the shape of Amphitryon. 4 When the natural time of pregnancy had passed, Zeus, whose mind was fixed upon the birth of Heracles, announced in advance in the presence of all the gods that it was his intention to make the child who should be born that day king over the descendants of Perseus; whereupon Hera, who was filled with jealousy, using as her helper Eileithyia her daughter, checked the birth-pains of Alcmene and brought Eurystheus forth to the light before his full time. Zeus, however, though he had been outgeneralled, wished both to fulfill his promise and to take thought for the future fame of Heracles; consequently, they say, he persuaded Hera to agree that Eurystheus should be king as he had promised, but that Heracles should serve Eurystheus and perform twelve Labours, these to be whatever Eurystheus should prescribe, and that after he had done so he should receive the gift of immortality. 6 After Alcmene had brought forth the babe, fearful of Hera's jealousy she exposed it at a place which to this time is called after him the Field of Heracles. Now at this very time Athena, approaching the spot in the company of Hera and being amazed at the natural vigour of the child, persuaded Hera to offer it the breast. But when the boy tugged upon her breast with greater violence than would be expected at his age, Hera was unable to endure the pain and cast the babe from her, whereupon Athena took it to its mother and urged her to rear it. 7 And anyone may well be surprised at the unexpected turn of the affair; for the mother whose duty it was to love her own offspring was trying to destroy it, while she who cherished towards it a stepmother's hatred, in ignorance saved the life of one who was her natural enemy.
§ 4.10
μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ἡ μὲν Ἥρα δύο δράκοντας ἀπέστειλε τοὺς ἀναλώσοντας τὸ βρέφος, ὁ δὲ παῖς οὐ καταπλαγεὶς ἑκατέρᾳ τῶν χειρῶν τὸν αὐχένα σφίγξας ἀπέπνιξε τοὺς δράκοντας. διόπερ Ἀργεῖοι πυθόμενοι τὸ γεγονὸς Ἡρακλέα προσηγόρευσαν, ὅτι δι’ Ἥραν ἔσχε κλέος, Ἀλκαῖον πρότερον καλούμενον. τοῖς μὲν οὖν ἄλλοις οἱ γονεῖς τοὔνομα περιτιθέασι, τούτῳ δὲ μόνῳ ἡ ἀρετὴ τὴν προσηγορίαν ἔθετο. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ὁ μὲν Ἀμφιτρύων φυγαδευθεὶς ἐκ Τίρυνθος μετῴκησεν εἰς Θήβας· ὁ δʼ Ἡρακλῆς τραφεὶς καὶ παιδευθεὶς καὶ μάλιστʼ ἐν τοῖς γυμνασίοις διαπονηθεὶς ἐγένετο ῥώμῃ τε σώματος πολὺ προέχων τῶν ἄλλων ἁπάντων καὶ ψυχῆς λαμπρότητι περιβόητος, ὅς γε τὴν ἡλικίαν ἔφηβος ὤν πρῶτον μὲν ἠλευθέρωσε τὰς Θήβας, ἀποδιδοὺς ὡς πατρίδι τὰς προσηκούσας χάριτας. ὑποτεταγμένων γὰρ τῶν Θηβαίων Ἐργίνῳ τῷ βασιλεῖ τῶν Μινυῶν, καὶ κατʼ ἐνιαυτὸν ὡρισμένους φόρους τελούντων, οὐ καταπλαγεὶς τὴν τῶν δεδουλωμένων ὑπεροχὴν ἐτόλμησε πρᾶξιν ἐπιτελέσαι περιβόητον· τοὺς γὰρ παραγενομένους τῶν Μινυῶν ἐπὶ τὴν ἀπαίτησιν τῶν δασμῶν καὶ μεθʼ ὕβρεως εἰσπραττομένους ἀκρωτηριάσας ἐξέβαλεν ἐκ τῆς πόλεως. Ἐργίνου δʼ ἐξαιτοῦντος τὸν αἴτιον, Κρέων βασιλεύων τῶν Θηβαίων, καταπλαγεὶς τὸ βάρος τῆς ἐξουσίας, ἕτοιμος ἦν ἐκδιδόναι τὸν αἴτιον τῶν ἐγκλημάτων. ὁ δʼ Ἡρακλῆς πείσας τοὺς ἡλικιώτας ἐλευθεροῦν τὴν πατρίδα, κατέσπασεν ἐκ τῶν ναῶν τὰς προσηλωμένας πανοπλίας, ἃς οἱ πρόγονοι σκῦλα τοῖς θεοῖς ἦσαν ἀνατεθεικότες· οὐ γὰρ ἦν εὑρεῖν κατὰ τὴν πόλιν ἰδιωτικὸν ὅπλον διὰ τὸ τοὺς Μινύας παρωπλικέναι τὴν πόλιν, ἵνα μηδεμίαν λαμβάνωσιν οἱ κατὰ τὰς Θήβας ἀποστάσεως ἔννοιαν. ὁ δʼ Ἡρακλῆς πυθόμενος Ἐργῖνον τὸν βασιλέα τῶν Μινυῶν προσάγειν τῇ πόλει μετὰ στρατιωτῶν, ἀπαντήσας αὐτῷ κατά τινα στενοχωρίαν, καὶ τὸ μέγεθος τῆς τῶν πολεμίων δυνάμεως ἄχρηστον ποιήσας, αὐτόν τε τὸν Ἐργῖνον ἀνεῖλε καὶ τοὺς μετʼ αὐτοῦ σχεδὸν ἅπαντας ἀπέκτεινεν. ἄφνω δὲ προσπεσὼν τῇ πόλει τῶν Ὀρχομενίων καὶ παρεισπεσὼν ἐντὸς τῶν πυλῶν τά τε βασίλεια τῶν Μινυῶν ἐνέπρησε καὶ τὴν πόλιν κατέσκαψε. περιβοήτου δὲ τῆς πράξεως γενομένης καθʼ ὅλην τὴν Ἑλλάδα καὶ πάντων θαυμαζόντων τὸ παράδοξον, ὁ μὲν βασιλεὺς Κρέων θαυμάσας τὴν ἀρετὴν τοῦ νεανίσκου τήν τε θυγατέρα Μεγάραν συνῴκισεν αὐτῷ καὶ καθάπερ υἱῷ γνησίῳ τὰ κατὰ τὴν πόλιν ἐπέτρεψεν, Εὐρυσθεὺς δʼ ὁ τὴν βασιλείαν ἔχων τῆς Ἀργείας ὑποπτεύσας τὴν Ἡρακλέους αὔξησιν μετεπέμπετό τε αὐτὸν καὶ προσέταττε τελεῖν ἄθλους. οὐχ ὑπακούοντος δὲ τοῦ Ἡρακλέους, Ζεὺς μὲν ἀπέστειλε διακελευόμενος ὑπουργεῖν Εὐρυσθεῖ, Ἡρακλῆς δὲ παρελθὼν εἰς Δελφοὺς καὶ περὶ τούτων ἐπερωτήσας τὸν θεόν, ἔλαβε χρησμὸν τὸν δηλοῦντα διότι τοῖς θεοῖς δέδοκται δώδεκα ἄθλους τελέσαι προστάττοντος Εὐρυσθέως, καὶ τοῦτο πράξαντα τεύξεσθαι τῆς ἀθανασίας.
After this Hera sent two serpents to destroy the babe, but the boy, instead of being terrified, gripped the neck of a serpent in each hand and strangled them both. Consequently the inhabitants of Argos, on learning of what had taken place, gave him the name Heracles because he had gained glory (kleos) by the aid of Hera, although he had formerly been called Alcaeus. Other children are given their names by their parents, this one alone gained his name by his valour. 2 After this time Amphitryon was banished from Tiryns and changed his residence to Thebes; and Heracles, in his rearing and education and especially in the thorough instruction which he received in physical exercises, came to be the first by far in bodily strength among all the rest and famed for nobility of spirit. Indeed, while he was still a youth in age he first of all restored the freedom of Thebes, returning in this way to the city, as though it were the place of his birth, the gratitude which he owed it. For though the Thebans had been made subject to Erginus, the king of the Minyans, and were paying him a fixed yearly tribute, Heracles was not dismayed at the superior power of these overlords but had the courage to accomplish a deed of fame. Indeed, when the agents of the Minyans appeared to require the tribute and were insolent in their exactions, Heracles mutilated them and then expelled them from the city. 4 Erginus then demanded that the guilty party be handed over to him, and Creon, the king of the Thebans, dismayed at the great power of Erginus, was prepared to deliver the man who was responsible for the crime complained of. Heracles, however, persuading the young men of his age to strike for the freedom of their fatherland, took out of the temples the suits of armour which had been affixed to their walls, dedicated to the gods by their forefathers as spoil from their wars; for there was not to be found in the city any arms in the hands of a private citizen, the Minyans having stripped the city of its arms in order that the inhabitants of Thebes might not entertain any thought of revolting from them. And when Heracles learned that Erginus, the king of the Minyans, was advancing with troops against the city he went out to meet him in a certain narrow place, whereby he rendered the multitude of the hostile force of no avail, killed Erginus himself, and slew practically all the men who had accompanied him. Then appearing unawares before the city of the Orchomenians and slipping in at their gates he both burned the palace of the Minyans and razed the city to the ground. 6 After this deed had been noised about throughout the whole of Greece and all men were filled with wonder at the unexpected happening, Creon the king, admiring the high achievement of the young man, united his daughter Megara in marriage to him and entrusted him with the affairs of the city as though he were his lawful son; but Eurystheus, who was ruler of Argolis, viewing with suspicion the growing power of Heracles, summoned him to his side and commanded him to perform Labours. 7 And when Heracles ignored the summons Zeus despatched word to him to enter the service of Eurystheus; whereupon Heracles journeyed to Delphi, and on inquiring of the god regarding the matter he received a reply which stated that the gods had decided that he should perform twelve Labours at the command of Eurystheus and that upon their conclusion he should receive the gift of immortality.
§ 4.11
τούτων δὲ πραχθέντων ὁ μὲν Ἡρακλῆς ἐνέπεσεν εἰς ἀθυμίαν οὐ τὴν τυχοῦσαν· τό τε γὰρ τῷ ταπεινοτέρῳ δουλεύειν οὐδαμῶς ἄξιον ἔκρινε τῆς ἰδίας ἀρετῆς, τό τε τῷ Διὶ καὶ πατρὶ μὴ πείθεσθαι καὶ ἀσύμφορον ἐφαίνετο καὶ ἀδύνατον. εἰς πολλὴν οὖν ἀμηχανίαν ἐμπίπτοντος αὐτοῦ, Ἥρα μὲν ἔπεμψεν αὐτῷ λύτταν· ὁ δὲ τῇ ψυχῇ δυσφορῶν εἰς μανίαν ἐνέπεσε. τοῦ πάθους δʼ αὐξομένου τῶν φρενῶν ἐκτὸς γενόμενος τὸν μὲν Ἰόλαον ἐπεβάλετο κτείνειν, ἐκείνου δὲ φυγόντος καὶ τῶν παίδων τῶν ἐκ Μεγάρας πλησίον διατριβόντων, τούτους ὡς πολεμίους κατετόξευσε. μόγις δὲ τῆς μανίας ἀπολυθείς, καὶ ἐπιγνοὺς τὴν ἰδίαν ἄγνοιαν, περιαλγὴς ἦν ἐπὶ τῷ μεγέθει τῆς συμφορᾶς. πάντων δʼ αὐτῷ συλλυπουμένων καὶ συμπενθούντων, ἐπὶ πολὺν χρόνον κατὰ τὴν οἰκίαν ἡσύχαζεν, ἐκκλίνων τὰς τῶν ἀνθρώπων ὁμιλίας τε καὶ ἀπαντήσεις· τέλος δὲ τοῦ χρόνου τὸ πάθος πραΰναντος κρίνας ὑπομένειν τοὺς κινδύνους παρεγένετο πρὸς Εὐρυσθέα. καὶ πρῶτον μὲν ἔλαβεν ἆθλον ἀποκτεῖναι τὸν ἐν Νεμέᾳ λέοντα. οὗτος δὲ μεγέθει μὲν ὑπερφυὴς ἦν, ἄτρωτος δὲ ὢν σιδήρῳ καὶ χαλκῷ καὶ λίθῳ τῆς κατὰ χεῖρα βιαζομένης προσεδεῖτο ἀνάγκης. διέτριβε δὲ μάλιστα μεταξὺ Μυκηνῶν καὶ Νεμέας περὶ ὄρος τὸ καλούμενον ἀπὸ τοῦ συμβεβηκότος Τρητόν· εἶχε γὰρ περὶ τὴν ῥίζαν διώρυχα διηνεκῆ, καθʼ ἣν εἰώθει φωλεύειν τὸ θηρίον. ὁ δʼ Ἡρακλῆς καταντήσας ἐπὶ τὸν τόπον προσέβαλεν αὐτῷ, καὶ τοῦ θηρίου συμφυγόντος εἰς τὴν διώρυχα συνακολουθῶν αὐτῷ καὶ τὸ ἕτερον τῶν στομίων ἐμφράξας συνεπλάκη, καὶ τὸν αὐχένα σφίγξας τοῖς βραχίοσιν ἀπέπνιξε. τὴν δὲ δορὰν αὐτοῦ περιθέμενος, καὶ διὰ τὸ μέγεθος ἅπαν τὸ ἴδιον σῶμα περιλαβών, εἶχε σκεπαστήριον τῶν μετὰ ταῦτα κινδύνων. δεύτερον δʼ ἔλαβεν ἆθλον ἀποκτεῖναι τὴν Λερναίαν ὕδραν, ἧς ἐξ ἑνὸς σώματος ἑκατὸν αὐχένες ἔχοντες κεφαλὰς ὄφεων διετετύπωντο. τούτων δʼ εἰ μία διαφθαρείη, διπλασίας ὁ τμηθεὶς ἀνίει τόπος· δι’ ἣν αἰτίαν ἀήττητος ὑπάρχειν διείληπτο, καὶ κατὰ λόγον· τὸ γὰρ χειρωθὲν αὐτῆς μέρος διπλάσιον ἀπεδίδου βοήθημα. πρὸς δὲ τὴν δυστραπέλειαν ταύτην ἐπινοήσας τι φιλοτέχνημα προσέταξεν Ἰολάῳ λαμπάδι καομένῃ τὸ ἀποτμηθὲν μέρος ἐπικάειν, ἵνα τὴν ῥύσιν ἐπίσχῃ τοῦ αἵματος. οὕτως οὖν χειρωσάμενος τὸ ζῷον εἰς τὴν χολὴν ἀπέβαπτε τὰς ἀκίδας, ἵνα τὸ βληθὲν βέλος ἔχῃ τὴν ἐκ τῆς ἀκίδος πληγὴν ἀνίατον.
At such a turn of affairs Heracles fell into despondency of no ordinary kind; for he felt that servitude to an inferior was a thing which his high achievements did not deserve, and yet he saw that it would be hurtful to himself and impossible not to obey Zeus, who was his father as well. While he was thus greatly at a loss, Hera sent upon him a frenzy, and in his vexation of soul he fell into a madness. As the affliction grew on him he lost his mind and tried to slay Iolaus, and when Iolaus made his escape but his own children by Megara were near by, he shot his bow and killed them under the impression that they were enemies of his. 2 When he finally recovered from his madness and recognized the mistake he had made through a misapprehension, he was plunged in grief over the magnitude of the calamity. And while all extended him sympathy and joined in his grief, for a long whole he stayed inactive at home, avoiding any association or meeting with men; at last, however, time assuaged his grief, and making up his mind to undergo the dangers he made his appearance at the court of Eurystheus. The first Labour which he undertook was the slaying of the lion in Nemea. This was a beast of enormous size, which could not be wounded by iron or bronze or stone and required the compulsion of the human hand for his subduing. It passed the larger part of its time between Mycenae and Nemea, in the neighbourhood of a mountain which was called Tretus from a peculiarity which it possessed; for it had a cleft at its base which extended clean through it and in which the beast was accustomed to lurk. 4 Heracles came to the region and attacked the lion, and when the beast retreated into the cleft, after closing up the other opening he followed in after it and grappled with it, and winding his arms about its neck choked it to death. The skin of the lion he put about himself, and since he could cover his whole body with it because of its great size, he had in it a protection against the perils which were to follow. The second Labour which he undertook was the slaying of the Lernaean hydra, springing from whose single body were fashioned a hundred necks, each bearing the head of a serpent. And when one head was cut off, the place where it was severed put forth two others; for this reason it was considered to be invincible, and with good reason, since the part of it which was subdued sent forth a two-fold assistance in its place. 6 Against a thing so difficult to manage as this Heracles devised an ingenious scheme and commanded Iolaus to sear with a burning brand the part which had been severed, in order to check the flow of the blood. So when he had subdued the animal by this means he dipped the heads of his arrows in the venom, in order that when the missile should be shot the wound which the point made might be incurable.
§ 4.12
τρίτον δὲ πρόσταγμα ἔλαβεν ἐνεγκεῖν τὸν Ἐρυμάνθιον κάπρον ζῶντα, ὃς διέτριβεν ἐν τῇ Λαμπείᾳ τῆς Ἀρκαδίας. ἐδόκει δὲ τὸ πρόσταγμα τοῦτο πολλὴν ἔχειν δυσχέρειαν· ἔδει γὰρ τὸν ἀγωνιζόμενον τοιούτῳ θηρίῳ τοσαύτην ἔχειν περιουσίαν ὥστε ἐπʼ αὐτῆς τῆς μάχης ἀκριβῶς στοχάσασθαι τοῦ καιροῦ. ἔτι μὲν γὰρ ἰσχύοντα ἀφεὶς αὐτὸν ἀπὸ τῶν ὀδόντων ἂν ἐκινδύνευσε, πλέον δὲ τοῦ δέοντος καταπολεμήσας ἀπέκτεινεν, ὥστε τὸν ἆθλον ὑπάρχειν ἀσυντέλεστον. ὅμως δὲ κατὰ τὴν μάχην ταμιευσάμενος ἀκριβῶς τὴν συμμετρίαν ἀπήνεγκε τὸν κάπρον ζῶντα πρὸς Εὐρυσθέα· ὃν ἰδὼν ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐπὶ τῶν ὤμων φέροντα, καὶ φοβηθείς, ἔκρυψεν ἑαυτὸν εἰς χαλκοῦν πίθον. ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις Ἡρακλῆς κατηγωνίσατο τοὺς ὀνομαζομένους Κενταύρους διὰ τοιαύτας αἰτίας. Φόλος ἦν Κένταυρος, ἀφʼ οὗ συνέβη τὸ πλησίον ὄρος Φολόην ὀνομασθῆναι· οὗτος ξενίοις δεχόμενος Ἡρακλέα τὸν κατακεχωσμένον οἴνου πίθον ἀνέῳξε. τοῦτον γὰρ μυθολογοῦσι τὸ παλαιὸν Διόνυσον παρατεθεῖσθαί τινι Κενταύρῳ, καὶ προστάξαι τότε ἀνοῖξαι ὅταν Ἡρακλῆς παραγένηται. διόπερ ὕστερον τέτταρσι γενεαῖς ἐπιξενωθέντος αὐτοῦ μνησθῆναι τὸν Φόλον τῆς Διονύσου παραγγελίας. ἀνοιχθέντος οὖν τοῦ πίθου, καὶ τῆς εὐωδίας διὰ τὴν παλαιότητα καὶ δύναμιν τοῦ οἴνου προσπεσούσης τοῖς πλησίον οἰκοῦσι Κενταύροις, συνέβη διοιστρηθῆναι τούτους· διὸ καὶ προσπεσόντες ἀθρόοι τῇ οἰκήσει τοῦ Φόλου καταπληκτικῶς ὥρμησαν πρὸς ἁρπαγήν. ὁ μὲν οὖν Φόλος φοβηθεὶς ἔκρυψεν ἑαυτόν, ὁ δʼ Ἡρακλῆς παραδόξως συνεπλάκη τοῖς βιαζομένοις· ἔδει γὰρ διαγωνίζεσθαι πρὸς τοὺς ἀπὸ μὲν μητρὸς ὄντας θεούς, τὸ δὲ τάχος ἔχοντας ἵππων, ῥώμῃ δὲ δισωμάτους θῆρας, ἐμπειρίαν δὲ καὶ σύνεσιν ἔχοντας ἀνδρῶν. τῶν δὲ Κενταύρων οἱ μὲν πεύκας αὐτορρίζους ἔχοντες ἐπῇσαν, οἱ δὲ πέτρας μεγάλας, τινὲς δὲ λαμπάδας ἡμμένας, ἕτεροι δὲ βουφόνους πελέκεις. ὁ δʼ ἀκαταπλήκτως ὑποστὰς ἀξίαν τῶν προκατειργασμένων συνεστήσατο μάχην. συνηγωνίζετο δʼ αὐτοῖς ἡ μήτηρ Νεφέλη πολὺν ὄμβρον ἐκχέουσα, διʼ οὗ τοὺς μὲν τετρασκελεῖς οὐκ ἔβλαπτε, τῷ δὲ δυσὶν ἠρεισμένῳ σκέλεσι τὴν βάσιν ὀλισθηρὰν κατεσκεύαζεν. ἀλλʼ ὅμως τοὺς τοιούτοις προτερήμασι πλεονεκτοῦντας Ἡρακλῆς παραδόξως κατηγωνίσατο, καὶ τοὺς μὲν πλείστους ἀπέκτεινε, τοὺς δʼ ὑπολειφθέντας φυγεῖν ἠνάγκασε. τῶν δʼ ἀναιρεθέντων Κενταύρων ὑπῆρχον ἐπιφανέστατοι Δάφνις καὶ Ἀργεῖος καὶ Ἀμφίων, ἔτι δὲ Ἱπποτίων καὶ Ὄρειος καὶ Ἰσοπλὴς καὶ Μελαγχαίτης, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις Θηρεὺς καὶ Δούπων καὶ Φρίξος. τῶν δὲ διαφυγόντων τὸν κίνδυνον ὕστερον ἕκαστος τιμωρίας ἠξιώθη· ὅμαδος μὲν γὰρ ἐν Ἀρκαδίᾳ τὴν Εὐρυσθέως ἀδελφὺν Ἀλκυόνην βιαζόμενος ἀνῃρέθη. ἐφʼ ᾧ συνέβη θαυμασθῆναι τὸν Ἡρακλέα διαφερόντως· τὸν μὲν γὰρ ἐχθρὸν κατʼ ἰδίαν ἐμίσησε, τὴν δʼ ὑβριζομένην ἐλεῶν ἐπιεικείᾳ διαφέρειν ὑπελάμβανεν. ἴδιον δέ τι συνέβη καὶ περὶ τὸν Ἡρακλέους φίλον τὸν ὀνομαζόμενον Φόλον. οὗτος γὰρ διὰ τὴν συγγένειαν θάπτων τοὺς πεπτωκότας Κενταύρους, καὶ βέλος ἔκ τινος ἐξαιρῶν, ὑπὸ τῆς ἀκίδος ἐπλήγη, καὶ τὸ τραῦμα ἔχων ἀνίατον ἐτελεύτησεν. ὃν Ἡρακλῆς μεγαλοπρεπῶς θάψας ὑπὸ τὸ ὄρος ἔθηκεν, ὃ στήλης ἐνδόξου γέγονε κρεῖττον· Φολόη γὰρ ὀνομαζόμενον διὰ τῆς ἐπωνυμίας μηνύει τὸν ταφέντα καὶ οὐ διʼ ἐπιγραφῆς. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ Χείρωνα τὸν ἐπὶ τῇ ἰατρικῇ θαυμαζόμενον ἀκουσίως τόξου βολῇ διέφθειρε. καὶ περὶ μὲν τῶν Κενταύρων ἱκανῶς ἡμῖν εἰρήσθω.
The third Command which he received was the bringing back alive of the Erymanthian boar which lived on Mount Lampeia in Arcadia. This Command was thought to be exceedingly difficult, since it required of the man who fought such a beast that he possess such a superiority over it as to catch precisely the proper moment in the very heat of the encounter. For should he let it loose while it still retained its strength he would be in danger from its tushes, and should he attack it more violently than was proper, then he would have killed it and so the Labour would remain unfulfilled. 2 However, when it came to the struggle he kept so careful an eye on the proper balance that he brought back the boar alive to Eurystheus; and when the king saw him carrying the boar on his shoulders, he was terrified and hid himself in a bronze vessel. About the time that Heracles was performing these Labours, there was a struggle between him and the Centaurs, as they are called, the reason being as follows. Pholus was a Centaur, from whom the neighbouring mountain came to be called Pholoe, and receiving Heracles with the courtesies due to a guest he opened for him a jar of wine which had been buried in the earth. This jar, the writers of myths relate, had of old been left with a certain Centaur by Dionysus, who had given him orders only to open it when Heracles should come to that place. And so, four generations after that time, when Heracles was being entertained as a guest, Pholus recalled the orders of Dionysus. 4 Now when the jar had been opened and the sweet odour of the wine, because of its great age and strength, came to the Centaurs dwelling near there, it came to pass that they were driven mad; consequently they rushed in a body to the dwelling of Pholus and set about plundering him of the wine in a terrifying manner. At this Pholus hid himself in fear, but Heracles, to their surprise, grappled with those who were employing such violence. He had indeed to struggle with beings who were gods on their mother's side, who possessed the swiftness of horses, who had the strength of two bodies, and enjoyed in addition the experience and wisdom of men. The Centaurs advanced upon him, some with pine trees which they had plucked up together with the roots, others with great rocks, some with burning firebrands, and still others with axes such as are used to slaughter oxen. 6 But he withstood them without sign of fear and maintained a battle which was worthy of his former exploits. The Centaurs were aided in their struggle by their mother Nephele, who sent down a heavy rain, by which she gave no trouble to those who had four legs, but for him who was supported upon two made the footing slippery. Despite all this Heracles maintained an astonishing struggle with those who enjoyed such advantages as these, slew the larger part of them, and forced the survivors to flee. 7 Of the Centaurs which were killed the most renowned were Daphnis, Argeius, Amphion, also Hippotion, Oreius, Isoples, Melanchaetes, and Thereus, Doupon, and Phrixus. As for those who escaped the peril by flight, every one of them later received a fitting punishment: Homadus, for instance, was killed in Arcadia when he was attempting to violate Alcyone, the sister of Eurystheus. And for this feat it came to pass that Heracles was marvelled at exceedingly; for though he had private grounds for hating his enemy, yet because he pitied her who was being outraged, he determined to be superior to others in humanity. 8 A peculiar thing also happened in the case of him who was called Pholus, the friend of Heracles. While he was burying the fallen Centaurs, since they were his kindred, and was extracting an arrow from one of them, he was wounded by the barb, and since the wound could not be healed he came to his death. Heracles gave him a magnificent funeral and buried him at the foot of the mountain, which serves better than a gravestone to preserve his glory; for Pholoe makes known the identity of the buried man by bearing his name and no inscription is needed. Likewise Heracles unwittingly by a shot from his bow killed the Centaur Cheiron, who was admired for his knowledge of healing. But as for the Centaurs let what we have said suffice.
§ 4.13
μετὰ δὲ ταῦτʼ ἔλαβε πρόσταγμα τὴν χρυσόκερων μὲν οὖσαν ἔλαφον, τάχει δὲ διαφέρουσαν, ἀγαγεῖν. τοῦτον δὲ τὸν ἆθλον συντελῶν τὴν ἐπίνοιαν ἔσχεν οὐκ ἀχρηστοτέραν τῆς κατὰ τὸ σῶμα ῥώμης. οἱ μὲν γάρ φασιν αὐτὴν ἄρκυσιν ἑλεῖν, οἱ δὲ διὰ τῆς στιβείας χειρώσασθαι καθεύδουσαν, τινὲς δὲ συνεχεῖ διωγμῷ καταπονῆσαι· πλὴν ἄνευ βίας καὶ κινδύνων διὰ τῆς κατὰ τὴν ψυχὴν ἀγχινοίας τὸν ἆθλον τοῦτον κατειργάσατο. ὁ δʼ Ἡρακλῆς πρόσταγμα λαβὼν τὰς ἐκ τῆς Στυμφαλίδος λίμνης ὄρνιθας ἐξελάσαι, τέχνῃ καὶ ἐπινοίᾳ ῥᾳδίως συνετέλεσε τὸν ἆθλον. ἐπεπόλασε γάρ, ὡς ἔοικεν, ὀρνίθων πλῆθος ἀμύθητον, καὶ τοὺς ἐν τῇ πλησίον χώρᾳ καρποὺς ἐλυμαίνετο. βίᾳ μὲν οὖν ἀδύνατον ἦν χειρώσασθαι τὰ ζῷα διὰ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τοῦ πλήθους, φιλοτέχνου δʼ ἐπινοίας ἡ πρᾶξις προσεδεῖτο. διόπερ κατασκευάσας χαλκῆν πλαταγήν, καὶ διὰ ταύτης ἐξαίσιον κατασκευάζων ψόφον, ἐξεφόβει τὰ ζῷα, καὶ πέρας τῇ συνεχείᾳ τοῦ κρότου ῥᾳδίως ἐκπολιορκήσας καθαρὰν ἐποίησε τὴν λίμνην. τελέσας δὲ καὶ τοῦτον τὸν ἆθλον ἔλαβε παρʼ Εὐρυσθέως πρόσταγμα τὴν αὐλὴν τὴν Αὐγέου καθᾶραι μηδενὸς βοηθοῦντος· αὕτη δʼ ἐκ πολλῶν χρόνων ἠθροισμένην κόπρον εἶχεν ἄπλατον, ἣν ὕβρεως ἕνεκεν Εὐρυσθεὺς προσέταξε καθᾶραι. ὁ δʼ Ἡρακλῆς τὸ μὲν τοῖς ὤμοις ἐξενεγκεῖν ταύτην ἀπεδοκίμασεν, ἐκκλίνων τὴν ἐκ τῆς ὕβρεως αἰσχύνην· ἐπαγαγὼν δὲ τὸν Ἀλφειὸν καλούμενον ποταμὸν ἐπὶ τὴν αὐλήν, καὶ διὰ τοῦ ῥεύματος ἐκκαθάρας αὐτήν, χωρὶς ὕβρεως συνετέλεσε τὸν ἆθλον ἐν ἡμέρᾳ μιᾷ. διὸ καὶ θαυμάσαι τις ἂν τὴν ἐπίνοιαν· τὸ γὰρ ὑπερήφανον τοῦ προστάγματος χωρὶς αἰσχύνης ἐπετέλεσεν, οὐδὲν ὑπομείνας ἀνάξιον τῆς ἀθανασίας. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα λαβὼν ἆθλον τὸν ἐκ Κρήτης ταῦρον ἀγαγεῖν, οὗ Πασιφάην ἐρασθῆναί φασι, πλεύσας εἰς τὴν νῆσον, καὶ Μίνω τὸν βασιλέα συνεργὸν λαβών, ἤγαγεν αὐτὸν εἰς Πελοπόννησον, τὸ τηλικοῦτον πέλαγος ἐπʼ αὐτῷ ναυστοληθείς.
The next Command which Heracles received was the bringing back of the hart which had golden horns and excelled in swiftness of foot. In the performance of this Labour his sagacity stood him in not less stead than his strength of body. For some say that he captured it by the use of nets, others that he tracked it down and mastered it while it was asleep, and some that he wore it out by running it down. One thing is certain, that he accomplished this Labour by sagacity of mind, without the use of force and without running any perils. 2 Heracles then received a Command to drive the birds out of the Stymphalian Lake, and he easily accomplished the Labour by means of a device of art and by ingenuity. The lake abounded, it would appear, with a multitude of birds without telling, which destroyed the fruits of the country roundabout. Now it was not possible to master the animals by force because of the exceptional multitude of them, and so the deed called for ingenuity in cleverly discovering some device. Consequently he fashioned a bronze rattle whereby he made a terrible noise and frightened the animals away, and furthermore, by maintaining a continual din, he easily forced them to abandon their siege of the place and cleansed the lake of them. Upon the performance of this Labour he received a Command from Eurystheus to cleanse the stables of Augeas, and to do this without the assistance of any other man. These stables contained an enormous mass of dung which had accumulated over a great period, and it was a spirit of insult which induced Eurystheus to lay upon him the command to clean out this dung. Heracles declined as unworthy of him to carry this out upon his shoulders, in order to avoid the disgrace which would follow upon the insulting command; and so, turning the course of the Alpheius river, as it is called, into the stables and cleansing them by means of the stream, he accomplished Labour in a single day, and without suffering any insult. Surely, then, we may well marvel at the ingenuity of Heracles; for he accomplished the ignoble task involved in the Command without incurring any disgrace or submitting to something which would render him unworthy of immortality. 4 The next Labour which Heracles undertook was to bring back from Crete the bull of which, they say, Pasiphae had been enamoured, and sailing to the island he secured the aid of Minos the king and brought it back to Peloponnesus, having voyaged upon its back over so wide an expanse of sea.
§ 4.14
τελέσας δὲ τοῦτον τὸν ἆθλον τὸν Ὀλυμπικὸν ἀγῶνα συνεστήσατο, κάλλιστον τῶν τόπων πρὸς τηλικαύτην πανήγυριν προκρίνας τὸ παρὰ τὸν Ἀλφειὸν ποταμὸν πεδίον, ἐν ᾧ τὸν ἀγῶνα τοῦτον τῷ Διὶ τῷ πατρίῳ καθιέρωσε. στεφανίτην δʼ αὐτὸν ἐποίησεν, ὅτι καὶ αὐτὸς εὐηργέτησε τὸ γένος τῶν ἀνθρώπων οὐδένα λαβὼν μισθόν. τὰ δʼ ἀθλήματα πάντα αὐτὸς ἀδηρίτως ἐνίκησε, μηδενὸς τολμήσαντος αὐτῷ συγκριθῆναι διὰ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῆς ἀρετῆς, καίπερ τῶν ἀθλημάτων ἐναντίων ἀλλήλοις ὄντων· τὸν γὰρ πύκτην ἢ παγκρατιαστὴν τοῦ σταδιέως δύσκολον περιγενέσθαι, καὶ πάλιν τὸν ἐν τοῖς κούφοις ἀθλήμασι πρωτεύοντα καταγωνίσασθαι τοὺς ἐν τοῖς βαρέσιν ὑπερέχοντας δυσχερὲς κατανοῆσαι. διόπερ εἰκότως ἐγένετο τιμιώτατος ἁπάντων τῶν ἀγώνων οὗτος, τὴν ἀρχὴν ἀπʼ ἀγαθοῦ λαβών. οὐκ ἄξιον δὲ παραλιπεῖν οὐδὲ τὰς ὑπὸ τῶν θεῶν αὐτῷ δοθείσας δωρεὰς διὰ τὴν ἀρετήν. ἀπὸ γὰρ τῶν πολέμων τραπέντος αὐτοῦ πρὸς ἀνέσεις τε καὶ πανηγύρεις, ἔτι δʼ ἑορτὰς καὶ ἀγῶνας, ἐτίμησαν αὐτὸν δωρεαῖς οἰκείαις ἕκαστος τῶν θεῶν, Ἀθηνᾶ μὲν πέπλῳ, Ἥφαιστος δὲ ῥοπάλῳ καὶ θώρακι· καὶ πρὸς ἀλλήλους ἐφιλοτιμήθησαν οἱ προειρημένοι θεοὶ κατὰ τὰς τέχνας, τῆς μὲν πρὸς εἰρηνικὴν ἀπόλαυσιν καὶ τέρψιν, τοῦ δὲ πρὸς τὴν τῶν πολεμικῶν κινδύνων ἀσφάλειαν. τῶν δʼ ἄλλων Ποσειδῶν μὲν ἵππους ἐδωρήσατο, Ἑρμῆς δὲ ξίφος, Ἀπόλλων δὲ τόξον τε ἔδωκε καὶ τοξεύειν ἐδίδαξε, Δημήτηρ δὲ πρὸς τὸν καθαρμὸν τοῦ Κενταύρων φόνου τὰ μικρὰ μυστήρια συνεστήσατο, τὸν Ἡρακλέα τιμῶσα. ἴδιον δέ τι συνέβη καὶ κατὰ τὴν γένεσιν τοῦ θεοῦ τούτου συντελεσθῆναι. Ζεὺς γὰρ πρώτῃ μὲν ἐμίγη γυναικὶ θνητῇ Νιόβῃ τῇ Φορωνέως, ἐσχάτῃ δʼ Ἀλκμήνῃ· ταύτην δʼ ἀπὸ Νιόβης ἑκκαιδεκάτην οἱ μυθογράφοι γενεαλογοῦσιν· ὥστε τοῦ γεννᾶν ἀνθρώπους ἐκ μὲν τῶν ταύτης ταύτης προγόνων ἤρξατο, εἰς αὐτὴν δὲ ταύτην κατέληξεν· ἐν ταύτῃ γὰρ τὰς πρὸς θνητὴν ὁμιλίας κατέλυσε, καὶ κατὰ τοὺς ὕστερον χρόνους οὐδένα τούτων γεννήσειν ἄξιον ἐλπίζων οὐκ ἐβουλήθη τοῖς κρείττοσιν ἐπεισάγειν τὰ χείρω.
After the performance of this Labour Heracles established the Olympic Games, having selected for so great a festival the most beautiful of places, which was the plain lying along the banks of the Alpheius river, where he dedicated these Games to Zeus the Father. And he stipulated that the prize in them should be only a crown, since he himself had conferred benefits upon the race of men without receiving any monetary reward. 2 All the contests were won by him without opposition by anyone else, since no one was bold enough to contend with him because of his exceeding prowess. And yet the contests are very different one from another, since it is hard for a boxer or one who enters for the "Pankration" to defeat a man who runs the "stadion," and equally difficult for the man who wins first place in the light contests to wear down those who excel in the heavy. Consequently it was fitting that of all Games the Olympic should be the one most honoured, since they were instituted by a noble man. 3 It would also not be right to overlook the gifts which were bestowed upon Heracles by the gods because of his high achievements. For instance, when he returned from the wars to devote himself to both relaxations and festivals, as well as to feasts and contests, each one of the gods honoured him with appropriate gifts; Athena with a robe, Hephaestus with a war-club and coat of mail, these two gods vying with one another in accordance with the arts they practised, the one with an eye to the enjoyment and delight afforded in times of peace, the other looking to his safety amid the perils of war. As for the other gods, Poseidon presented him with horses, Hermes with a sword, Apollo gave him a bow and arrows and taught him their use, and Demeter instituted the Lesser Mysteries in honour of Heracles, that she might purify him of the guilt he had incurred in the slaughter of the Centaurs. 4 A peculiar thing also came to pass in connection with the birth of this god. The first mortal woman, for instance, with whom Zeus lay was Niobe, the daughter of Phoroneus, and the last was Alcmene, who, as the writers of myths state in their genealogies, was the sixteenth lineal descendant from Niobe. It appears, then, that Zeus began to beget human beings with the ancestors of Alcmene and ceased with her; that is, he stopped with her his intercourse with mortal women since he had no hope that he would beget in after times one who would be worthy of his former children and was unwilling to have the better followed by the worse.
§ 4.15
μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τῶν περὶ τὴν Παλλήνην γιγάντων ἑλομένων τὸν πρὸς τοὺς ἀθανάτους πόλεμον, Ἡρακλῆς τοῖς θεοῖς συναγωνισάμενος καὶ πολλοὺς ἀνελὼν τῶν γηγενῶν ἀποδοχῆς ἔτυχε τῆς μεγίστης. Ζεὺς γὰρ τοὺς μὲν συναγωνισαμένους τῶν θεῶν μόνους ὠνόμασεν Ὀλυμπίους, ἵνα τῇ ταύτης τιμῇ ὁ ἀγαθὸς κοσμηθεὶς ἐπωνυμίᾳ διαφέρῃ τοῦ χείρονος· ἠξίωσε δὲ ταύτης τῆς προσηγορίας τῶν ἐκ θνητῶν γυναικῶν γενομένων Διόνυσον καὶ Ἡρακλέα, οὐ μόνον ὅτι πατρὸς ἦσαν Διός, ἀλλὰ διότι καὶ τὴν προαίρεσιν ὁμοίαν ἔσχον, εὐεργετήσαντες μεγάλα τὸν βίον τῶν ἀνθρώπων. Ζεὺς δέ, Προμηθέως παραδόντος τὸ πῦρ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις, δεσμοῖς κατελάβετο καὶ παρέστησεν ἀετὸν τὸν ἐσθίοντα τὸ ἧπαρ αὐτοῦ. Ἡρακλῆς δʼ ὁρῶν τῆς τιμωρίας αὐτὸν τυγχάνοντα διὰ τὴν τῶν ἀνθρώπων εὐεργεσίαν, τὸν μὲν ἀετὸν κατετόξευσε, τὸν δὲ Δία πείσας λῆξαι τῆς ὀργῆς ἔσωσε τὸν κοινὸν εὐεργέτην. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ἔλαβεν ἆθλον ἀγαγεῖν τὰς Διομήδους τοῦ Θρᾳκὸς ἵππους. αὗται δὲ χαλκᾶς μὲν φάτνας εἶχον διὰ τὴν ἀγριότητα, ἁλύσεσι δὲ σιδηραῖς διὰ τὴν ἰσχὺν ἐδεσμεύοντο, τροφὴν δʼ ἐλάμβανον οὐ τὴν ἐκ γῆς φυομένην, ἀλλὰ τὰ τῶν ξένων μέλη διαιρούμεναι τροφὴν εἶχον τὴν συμφορὰν τῶν ἀκληρούντων. ταύτας ὁ Ἡρακλῆς βουλόμενος χειρώσασθαι τὸν κύριον Διομήδην παρέβαλε, καὶ ταῖς τοῦ παρανομεῖν διδάξαντος σαρξὶν ἐκπληρώσας τὴν ἔνδειαν τῶν ζῴων εὐπειθεῖς ἔσχεν. Εὐρυσθεὺς δʼ ἀχθεισῶν πρὸς αὐτὸν τῶν ἵππων ταύτας μὲν ἱερὰς ἐποίησεν Ἥρας, ὧν τὴν ἐπιγονὴν συνέβη διαμεῖναι μέχρι τῆς Ἀλεξάνδρου τοῦ Μακεδόνος βασιλείας. τοῦτον δὲ τὸν ἆθλον ἐπιτελέσας μετʼ Ἰάσονος συνεξέπλευσε συστρατεύσων ἐπὶ τὸ χρυσόμαλλον δέρος εἰς Κόλχους. ἀλλὰ περὶ μὲν τούτων ἐν τῇ τῶν Ἀργοναυτῶν στρατείᾳ τὰ κατὰ μέρος διέξιμεν.
After this, when the Giants about Pallene chose to begin the war against the immortals, Heracles fought on the side of the gods, and slaying many of the Sons of Earth he received the highest approbation. For Zeus gave the name of "Olympian" only to those gods who had fought by his side, in order that the courageous, by being adorned by so honourable a title, might be distinguished by this designation from the coward; and of those who were born of mortal women he considered only Dionysus and Heracles worthy of this name, not only because they had Zeus for their father, but also because they had avowed the same plan of life as he and conferred great benefits upon the life of men. 2 And Zeus, when Prometheus had taken fire and given it to men, put him in chains and set an eagle at his side which devoured his liver. But when Heracles saw him suffering such punishment because of the benefit which he had conferred upon men, he killed the eagle with an arrow, and then persuading Zeus to cease from his anger he rescued him who had been the benefactor of all. The next Labour which Heracles undertook was the bringing back of the horses of Diomedes, the Thracian. The feeding-troughs of these horses were of brass because the steeds were so savage, and they were fastened by iron chains because of their strength, and the food they ate was not the natural produce of the soil but they tore apart the limbs of strangers and so got their food from the ill lot of hapless men. Heracles, in order to control them, threw to them their master Diomedes, and when he had satisfied the hunger of the animals by means of the flesh of the man who had taught them to violate human law in this fashion, he had them under his control. 4 And when the horses were brought to Eurystheus he consecrated them to Hera, and in fact their breed continued down to the reign of Alexander of Macedon. When this Labour was finished Heracles sailed forth with Jason as a member of the expedition to the Colchi to get the Golden Fleece. But we shall give a detailed account of these matters in connection with the expedition of the Argonauts.
§ 4.16
Ἡρακλῆς δὲ λαβὼν πρόσταγμα τὸν Ἱππολύτης τῆς Ἀμαζόνος ἐνεγκεῖν ζωστῆρα, τὴν ἐπὶ τὰς Ἀμαζόνας στρατείαν ἐποιήσατο. πλεύσας οὖν εἰς τὸν Εὔξεινον ἀπʼ ἐκείνου κληθέντα Πόντον, καὶ καταπλεύσας ἐπὶ τὰς ἐκβολὰς τοῦ Θερμώδοντος ποταμοῦ, πλησίον Θεμισκύρας πόλεως κατεστρατοπέδευσεν, ἐν ᾗ τὰ βασίλεια τῶν Ἀμαζόνων ὑπῆρχε. καὶ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ᾔτει παρʼ αὐτῶν τὸν προστεταγμένον ζωστῆρα· ὡς δʼ οὐχ ὑπήκουον, συνῆψε μάχην αὐταῖς. τὸ μὲν οὖν ἄλλο πλῆθος αὐτῶν ἀντετάχθη τοῖς πολλοῖς, αἱ δὲ τιμιώταται κατʼ αὐτὸν ταχθεῖσαι τὸν Ἡρακλέα μάχην καρτερὰν συνεστήσαντο. πρώτη μὲν γὰρ αὐτῷ συνάψασα μάχην Ἄελλα, καὶ διὰ τὸ τάχος ταύτης τετευχυῖα τῆς προσηγορίας, ὀξύτερον εὗρεν αὑτῆς τὸν ἀντιταχθέντα. δευτέρα δὲ Φιλιππὶς εὐθὺς ἐκ τῆς πρώτης συστάσεως καιρίῳ πληγῇ περιπεσοῦσα διεφθάρη. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Προθόῃ συνῆψε μάχην, ἣν ἐκ προκλήσεως ἔφασαν ἑπτάκις νενικηκέναι τὸν ἀντιταξάμενον. πεσούσης δὲ καὶ ταύτης, τετάρτην ἐχειρώσατο τὴν ὀνομαζομένην Ἐρίβοιαν. αὕτη δὲ διὰ τὴν ἐν τοῖς πολεμικοῖς ἀγῶσιν ἀνδραγαθίαν καυχωμένη μηδενὸς χρείαν ἔχειν βοηθοῦ, ψευδῆ τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν ἔσχε κρείττονι περιπεσοῦσα. μετὰ δὲ ταύτας Κελαινὼ καὶ Εὐρυβία καὶ Φοίβη, τῆς Ἀρτέμιδος οὖσαι συγκυνηγοὶ καὶ διὰ παντὸς εὐστόχως ἀκοντίζουσαι, τὸν ἕνα στόχον οὐκ ἔτρωσαν, ἀλλʼ ἑαυταῖς συνασπίζουσαι τότε πᾶσαι κατεκόπησαν. μετὰ δὲ ταύτας Δηιάνειραν καὶ Ἀστερίαν καὶ Μάρπην, ἔτι δὲ Τέκμησσαν καὶ Ἀλκίππην ἐχειρώσατο. αὕτη δʼ ὀμόσασα παρθένος διαμενεῖν τὸν μὲν ὅρκον ἐφύλαξε, τὸ δὲ ζῆν οὐ διετήρησεν. ἡ δὲ τὴν στρατηγίαν ἔχουσα τῶν Ἀμαζόνων Μελανίππη καὶ θαυμαζομένη μάλιστα διʼ ἀνδρείαν ἀπέβαλε τὴν ἡγεμονίαν. Ἡρακλῆς δὲ τὰς ἐπιφανεστάτας τῶν Ἀμαζονίδων ἀνελὼν καὶ τὸ λοιπὸν πλῆθος φυγεῖν συναναγκάσας, κατέκοψε τὰς πλείστας, ὥστε παντελῶς τὸ ἔθνος αὐτῶν συντριβῆναι. τῶν δʼ αἰχμαλωτίδων Ἀντιόπην μὲν ἐδωρήσατο Θησεῖ, Μελανίππην δʼ ἀπελύτρωσεν ἀντιλαβὼν τὸν ζωστῆρα.
Heracles then received a Command to bring back the girdle of Hippolyte the Amazon and so made the expedition against the Amazons. Accordingly he sailed into the Pontus, which was named by him Euxeinus, and continuing to the mouth of the Thermodon River he encamped near the city of Themiscyra, in which was situated the palace of the Amazons. 2 And first of all he demanded of them the girdle which he had been commanded to get; but when they would pay no heed to him, he joined battle with them. Now the general mass of the Amazons were arrayed against the main body of the followers of Heracles, but the most honoured of the women were drawn up opposite Heracles himself and put up a stubborn battle. The first, for instance, to join battle with him was Aella, who had been given this name because of her swiftness, but she found her opponent more agile than herself. The second, Philippis, encountering a mortal blow at the very first conflict, was slain. Then he joined battle with Prothoe, who, they said, had been victorious seven times over the opponents whom she had challenged to battle. When she fell, the fourth whom he overcame was known as Eriboea. She had boasted that because of the manly bravery which she displayed in contests of war she had no need of anyone to help her, but she found her claim was false when she encountered her better. The next, Celaeno, Eurybia, and Phoebe, who were companions of Artemis in the hunt and whose spears found their mark invariably, did not even graze the single target, but in that fight they were one and all cut down as they stood shoulder to shoulder with each other. After them Deianeira, Asteria and Marpe, and Tecmessa and Alcippe were overcome. The last-named had taken a vow to remain a maiden, and the vow she kept, but her life she could not preserve. The commander of the Amazons, Melanippe, who was also greatly admired for her manly courage, now lost her supremacy. 4 And Heracles, after thus killing the most renowned of the Amazons, and forcing the remaining multitude to turn in flight, cut down the greater number of them, so that the race of them was utterly exterminated. As for the captives, he gave Antiope as a gift to Theseus and set Melanippe free, accepting her girdle as her ransom.
§ 4.17
Εὐρυσθέως δὲ προστάξαντος ἆθλον δέκατον τὰς Γηρυόνου βοῦς ἀγαγεῖν, ἃς νέμεσθαι συνέβαινε τῆς Ἰβηρίας ἐν τοῖς πρὸς τὸν ὠκεανὸν κεκλιμένοις μέρεσιν, Ἡρακλῆς θεωρῶν τὸν πόνον τοῦτον μεγάλης προσδεόμενον παρασκευῆς καὶ κακοπαθείας, συνεστήσατο στόλον ἀξιόλογον καὶ πλῆθος στρατιωτῶν ἀξιόχρεων ἐπὶ ταύτην τὴν στρατείαν. διεβεβόητο γὰρ κατὰ πᾶσαν τὴν οἰκουμένην ὅτι Χρυσάωρ ὁ λαβὼν ἀπὸ τοῦ πλούτου τὴν προσηγορίαν βασιλεύει μὲν ἁπάσης Ἰβηρίας, τρεῖς δʼ ἔχει συναγωνιστὰς υἱούς, διαφέροντας ταῖς τε ῥώμαις τῶν σώματων καὶ ταῖς ἐν τοῖς πολεμικοῖς ἀγῶσιν ἀνδραγαθίαις, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις ὅτι τῶν υἱῶν ἕκαστος μεγάλας ἔχει δυνάμεις συνεστώσας ἐξ ἐθνῶν μαχίμων· ὧν δὴ χάριν ὁ μὲν Εὐρυσθεὺς νομίζων δυσέφικτον εἶναι τὴν ἐπὶ τούτους στρατείαν, προσετετάχει τὸν προειρημένον ἆθλον. ὁ δʼ Ἡρακλῆς ἀκολούθως ταῖς προκατειργασμέναις πράξεσι τεθαρρηκότως ὑπέστη τοὺς κινδύνους. καὶ τὰς μὲν δυνάμεις ἤθροισεν εἰς Κρήτην, κεκρικὼς ἐκ ταύτης ποιεῖσθαι τὴν ὁρμήν· σφόδρα γὰρ εὐφυῶς ἡ νῆσος αὕτη κεῖται πρὸς τὰς ἐφʼ ὅλην τὴν οἰκουμένην στρατείας. πρὸ δὲ τῆς ἀναγωγῆς τιμηθεὶς ὑπὸ τῶν ἐγχωρίων μεγαλοπρεπῶς, καὶ βουλόμενος τοῖς Κρησὶ χαρίσασθαι, καθαρὰν ἐποίησε τὴν νῆσον τῶν θηρίων. διόπερ ἐν τοῖς ὕστερον χρόνοις οὐδὲν ἔτι τῶν ἀγρίων ζῴων ὑπῆρχεν ἐν τῇ νήσῳ, οἷον ἄρκτων, λύκων, ὄφεων ἢ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν τοιούτων. ταῦτα δʼ ἔπραξεν ἀποσεμνύνων τὴν νῆσον, ἐν ᾗ μυθολογοῦσι καὶ γενέσθαι καὶ τραφῆναι τὸν Δία. ποιησάμενος οὖν τὸν ἐκ ταύτης πλοῦν κατῆρεν εἰς τὴν Λιβύην, καὶ πρῶτον μὲν Ἀνταῖον τὸν ῥώμῃ σώματος καὶ παλαίστρας ἐμπειρίᾳ διαβεβοημένον καὶ τοὺς ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ καταπαλαισθέντας ξένους ἀποκτείναντα προκαλεσάμενος εἰς μάχην καὶ συμπλακεὶς διέφθειρεν. ἀκολούθως δὲ τούτοις τὴν μὲν Λιβύην πλήθουσαν ἀγρίων ζῴων, πολλὰ τῶν κατὰ τὴν ἔρημον χώραν χειρωσάμενος, ἐξημέρωσεν, ὥστε καὶ γεωργίαις καὶ ταῖς ἄλλαις φυτείαις ταῖς τοὺς καρποὺς παρασκευαζούσαις πληρωθῆναι πολλὴν μὲν ἀμπελόφυτον χώραν, πολλὴν δʼ ἐλαιοφόρον· καθόλου δὲ τὴν Λιβύην διὰ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν κατὰ τὴν χώραν θηρίων ἀοίκητον πρότερον οὖσαν ἐξημερώσας ἐποίησε μηδεμιᾶς χώρας εὐδαιμονίᾳ λείπεσθαι. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τοὺς παρανομοῦντας ἀνθρώπους ἢ δυνάστας ὑπερηφάνους ἀποκτείνας τὰς πόλεις ἐποίησεν εὐδαίμονας. μυθολογοῦσι δʼ αὐτὸν διὰ τοῦτο μισῆσαι καὶ πολεμῆσαι τὸ γένος τῶν ἀγρίων θηρίων καὶ παρανόμων ἀνδρῶν, ὅτι παιδὶ μὲν ὄντι νηπίῳ συνέβη τοὺς ὄφεις ἐπιβούλους αὐτῷ γενέσθαι, ἀνδρωθέντι δὲ πεσεῖν ὑπʼ ἐξουσίαν ὑπερηφάνου καὶ ἀδίκου μονάρχου τοῦ τοὺς ἄθλους προστάττοντος.
Eurystheus then enjoined upon him as a tenth Labour the bringing back of the cattle of Geryones, which pastured in the parts of Iberia which slope towards the ocean. And Heracles, realizing that this task called for preparation on a large scale and involved great hardships, gathered a notable armament and a multitude of soldiers such as would be adequate for this expedition. 2 For it had been noised abroad throughout all the inhabited world that Chrysaor, who received this appellation because of his wealth, was king over the whole of Iberia, and that he had three sons to fight at his side, who excelled in both strength of body and the deeds of courage which they displayed in contests of war; it was known, furthermore, that each of these sons had at his disposal great forces which were recruited from warlike tribes. It was because of these reports that Eurystheus, thinking any expedition against these men would be too difficult to succeed, had assigned to Heracles the Labour just described. But Heracles met the perils with the same bold spirit which he had displayed in the deeds which he had performed up to this time. His forces he gathered and brought to Crete, having decided to make his departure from that place; for this island is especially well situated for expeditions against any part of the inhabited world. Before his departure he was magnificently honoured by the natives, and wishing to show his gratitude to the Cretans he cleansed the island of the wild beasts which infested it. And this is the reason why in later times not a single wild animal, such as a bear, or wolf, or serpent, or any similar beast, was to be found on the island. This deed he accomplished for the glory of the island, which, the myths relate, was both the birthplace and the early home of Zeus. 4 Setting sail, then, from Crete, Heracles put in at Libya, and first of all he challenged to a fight Antaeus, whose fame was noised abroad because of his strength of body and his skill in wrestling, and because he was wont to put to death all strangers whom he had defeated in wrestling, and grappling with him Heracles slew the giant. Following up this great deed he subdued Libya, which was full of wild animals, and large parts of the adjoining desert, and brought it all under cultivation, so that the whole land was filled with ploughed fields and such plantings in general as bear fruit, much of it being devoted to vineyards and much to olive orchards; and, speaking generally, Libya, which before that time had been uninhabitable because of the multitude of the wild beasts which infested the whole land, was brought under cultivation by him and made inferior to no other country in point of prosperity. He likewise punished with death such men as defied the law or arrogant rulers and gave prosperity to the cities. And the myths relate that he hated every kind of wild beast and lawless men and warred upon them because of the Greek that it had been his lot that while yet an infant the serpents made an attempt on his life, and that when he came to man's estate he became subject to the power of an arrogant and unjust despot who laid upon him these Labours.
§ 4.18
μετὰ δὲ τὸν Ἀνταίου θάνατον παρελθὼν εἰς Αἴγυπτον ἀνεῖλε Βούσιριν τὸν βασιλέα ξενοκτονοῦντα τοὺς παρεπιδημοῦντας. διεξιὼν δὲ τὴν ἄνυδρον τῆς Λιβύης, καὶ περιτυχὼν χώρᾳ καταρρύτῳ καὶ καρποφόρῳ, πόλιν ἔκτισε θαυμαστὴν τῷ μεγέθει, τὴν ὀνομαζομένην Ἑκατόμπυλον, ᾗ ἔθετο τὴν προσηγορίαν ἀπὸ τοῦ πλήθους τῶν κατʼ αὐτὴν πυλῶν. διαμεμένηκε δὲ ἡ ταύτης τῆς πόλεως εὐδαιμονία μέχρι τῶν νεωτέρων καιρῶν, ἐν οἷς Καρχηδόνιοι δυνάμεσιν ἀξιολόγοις καὶ στρατηγοῖς ἀγαθοῖς στρατεύσαντες ἐπʼ αὐτὴν κύριοι κατέστησαν. ὁ δʼ Ἡρακλῆς πολλὴν τῆς Λιβύης ἐπελθὼν παρῆλθεν ἐπὶ τὸν πρὸς Γαδείροις ὠκεανόν, καὶ στήλας ἔθετο καθʼ ἑκατέραν τῶν ἠπείρων. συμπαραπλέοντος δὲ τοῦ στόλου διαβὰς εἰς τὴν Ἰβηρίαν, καὶ καταλαβὼν τοὺς Χρυσάορος υἱοὺς τρισὶ δυνάμεσι μεγάλαις κατεστρατοπεδευκότας ἐκ διαστήματος, πάντας τοὺς ἡγεμόνας ἐκ προκλήσεως ἀνελὼν καὶ τὴν Ἰβηρίαν χειρωσάμενος ἀπήλασε τὰς διωνομασμένας τῶν βοῶν ἀγέλας. διεξιὼν δὲ τὴν τῶν Ἰβήρων χώραν, καὶ τιμηθεὶς ὑπό τινος τῶν ἐγχωρίων βασιλέως, ἀνδρὸς εὐσεβείᾳ καὶ δικαιοσύνῃ διαφέροντος, κατέλιπε μέρος τῶν βοῶν ἐν δωρεαῖς τῷ βασιλεῖ. ὁ δὲ λαβὼν ἁπάσας καθιέρωσεν Ἡρακλεῖ, καὶ κατʼ ἐνιαυτὸν ἐκ τούτων ἔθυεν αὐτῷ τὸν καλλιστεύοντα τῶν ταύρων· τὰς δὲ βοῦς τηρουμένας συνέβη ἱερὰς διαμεῖναι κατὰ τὴν Ἰβηρίαν μέχρι τῶν καθʼ ἡμᾶς καιρῶν. ἡμεῖς δʼ ἐπεὶ περὶ τῶν Ἡρακλέους στηλῶν ἐμνήσθημεν, οἰκεῖον εἶναι νομίζομεν περὶ αὐτῶν διελθεῖν. Ἡρακλῆς γὰρ παραβαλὼν εἰς τὰς ἄκρας τῶν ἠπείρων τὰς παρὰ τὸν ὠκεανὸν κειμένας τῆς τε Λιβύης καὶ τῆς Εὐρώπης ἔγνω τῆς στρατείας θέσθαι στήλας ταύτας. βουλόμενος δʼ ἀείμνηστον ἔργον ἐπʼ αὐτῷ συντελέσαι, φασὶ τὰς ἄκρας ἀμφοτέρας ἐπὶ πολὺ προχῶσαι· διὸ καὶ πρότερον διεστηκυίας ἀπʼ ἀλλήλων πολὺ διάστημα, συναγαγεῖν τὸν πόρον εἰς στενόν, ὅπως ἁλιτενοῦς καὶ στενοῦ γενομένου κωλύηται τὰ μεγάλα κήτη διεκπίπτειν ἐκ τοῦ ὠκεανοῦ πρὸς τὴν ἐντὸς θάλατταν, ἅμα δὲ καὶ διὰ τὸ μέγεθος τῶν ἔργων μένῃ ἀείμνηστος ἡ δόξα τοῦ κατασκευάσαντος· ὡς δέ τινές φασι, τοὐναντίον τῶν ἠπείρων ἀμφοτέρων συνεζευγμένων διασκάψαι ταύτας, καὶ τὸν πόρον ἀνοίξαντα ποιῆσαι τὸν ὠκεανὸν μίσγεσθαι τῇ καθʼ ἡμᾶς θαλάττῃ. ἀλλὰ περὶ μὲν τούτων ἐξέσται σκοπεῖν ὡς ἂν ἕκαστος ἑαυτὸν πείθῃ. τὸ παραπλήσιον δὲ τούτοις ἔπραξε πρότερον κατὰ τὴν Ἑλλάδα. περὶ μὲν γὰρ τὰ καλούμενα Τέμπη τῆς πεδιάδος χώρας ἐπὶ πολὺν τόπον λιμναζούσης διέσκαψε τὸν συνεχῆ τόπον, καὶ κατὰ τῆς διώρυχος δεξάμενος ἅπαν τὸ κατὰ τὴν λίμνην ὕδωρ ἐποίησε τὰ πεδία φανῆναι τὰ κατὰ τὴν Θετταλίαν παρὰ τὸν Πηνειὸν ποταμόν· ἐν δὲ τῇ Βοιωτίᾳ τοὐναντίον ἐμφράξας τὸ περὶ τὸν Μινύειον Ὀρχομενὸν ῥεῖθρον ἐποίησε λιμνάζειν· τὴν χώραν καὶ φθαρῆναι τὰ κατʼ αὐτὴν ἅπαντα. ἀλλὰ τὰ μὲν κατὰ τὴν Θετταλίαν ἔπραξεν εὐεργετῶν τοὺς Ἕλληνας, τὰ δὲ κατὰ τὴν Βοιωτίαν τιμωρίαν λαμβάνων παρὰ τῶν τὴν Μινυάδα κατοικούντων διὰ τὴν τῶν Θηβαίων καταδούλωσιν.
After Heracles had slain Antaeus he passed into Egypt and put to death Busiris, the king of the land, who made it his practice to kill the strangers who visited that country. Then he made his way through the waterless part of Libya, and coming upon a land which was well watered and fruitful he founded a city of marvellous size, which was called Hecatompylon, giving it this name because of the multitude of its gates. And the prosperity of this city continued until comparatively recent times, when the Carthaginians made an expedition against it with notable forces under the command of able generals and made themselves its masters. 2 And after Heracles had visited a large part of Libya he arrived at the ocean near Gadeira, where he set up pillars on each of the two continents. His fleet accompanied him along the coast and on it he crossed over into Iberia. And finding there the sons of Chrysaor encamped at some distance from one another with three great armies, he challenged each of the leaders to single combat and slew them all, and then after subduing Iberia he drove off the celebrated herds of cattle. He then traversed the country of the Iberians, and since he had received honours at the hands of a certain king of the natives, a man who excelled in piety and justice, he left with the king a portion of the cattle as a present. The king accepted them, but dedicated them all to Heracles and made it his practice each year to sacrifice to Heracles the fairest bull of the herd; and it came to pass that the kine are still maintained in Iberia and continue to be sacred to Heracles down to our own time. 4 But since we have mentioned the pillars of Heracles, we deem it to be appropriate to set forth the facts concerning them. When Heracles arrived at the farthest points of the continents of Libya and Europe which lie upon the ocean, he decided to set up these pillars to commemorate his campaign. And since he wished to leave upon the ocean a monument which would be had in everlasting remembrance, he built out both the promontories, they say, to a great distance; consequently, whereas before that time a great space had stood between them, he now narrowed the passage, in order that by making it shallow and narrow he might prevent the great sea-monsters from passing out of the ocean into the inner sea, and that at the same time the fame of their builder might be held in everlasting remembrance by reason of the magnitude of the structures. Some authorities, however, say just the opposite, namely, that the two continents were originally joined and that he cut a passage between them, and that by opening the passage he brought it about that the ocean was mingled with our sea. On this question, however, it will be possible for every man to think as he may please. 6 A thing very much like this he had already done in Greece. For instance, in the region which is called Tempe, where the country is like a plain and was largely covered with marshes, he cut a channel through the territory which bordered on it, and carrying off through this ditch all the water of the marsh he caused the plains to appear which are now in Thessaly along the Peneius river. 7 But in Boeotia he did just the opposite and damming the stream which flowed near the Minyan city of Orchomenus he turned the country into a lake and caused the ruin of that whole region. But what he did in Thessaly was to confer a benefit upon the Greeks, whereas in Boeotia he was exacting punishment from those who dwelt in Minyan territory, because they had enslaved the Thebans.
§ 4.19
ὁ δʼ Ἡρακλῆς τῶν μὲν Ἰβήρων παρέδωκε τὴν βασιλείαν τοῖς ἀρίστοις τῶν ἐγχωρίων, αὐτὸς δʼ ἀναλαβὼν τὴν δύναμιν καὶ καταντήσας εἰς τὴν Κελτικὴν καὶ πᾶσαν ἐπελθὼν κατέλυσε μὲν τὰς συνήθεις παρανομίας καὶ ξενοκτονίας, πολλοῦ δὲ πλήθους ἀνθρώπων ἐξ ἅπαντος ἔθνους ἑκουσίως συστρατεύοντος ἔκτισε πόλιν εὐμεγέθη τὴν ὀνομασθεῖσαν ἀπὸ τῆς κατὰ τὴν στρατείαν ἄλης Ἀλησίαν. πολλοὺς δὲ καὶ τῶν ἐγχωρίων ἀνέμιξεν εἰς τὴν πόλιν· ὧν ἐπικρατησάντων τῷ πλήθει πάντας τοὺς ἐνοικοῦντας ἐκβαρβαρωθῆναι συνέβη. οἱ δὲ Κελτοὶ μέχρι τῶνδε τῶν καιρῶν τιμῶσι ταύτην τὴν πόλιν, ὡς ἁπάσης τῆς Κελτικῆς οὖσαν ἑστίαν καὶ μητρόπολιν. διέμεινε δʼ αὕτη πάντα τὸν ἀφʼ Ἡρακλέους χρόνον ἐλευθέρα καὶ ἀπόρθητος μέχρι τοῦ καθʼ ἡμᾶς χρόνου· τὸ δὲ τελευταῖον ὑπὸ Γαΐου Καίσαρος τοῦ διὰ τὸ μέγεθος τῶν πράξεων θεοῦ προσαγορευθέντος ἐκ βίας ἁλοῦσα συνηναγκάσθη μετὰ πάντων τῶν ἄλλων Κελτῶν ὑποταγῆναι Ῥωμαίοις. ὁ δʼ Ἡρακλῆς τὴν ἐκ τῆς Κελτικῆς πορείαν ἐπὶ τὴν Ἰταλίαν ποιούμενος, καὶ διεξιὼν τὴν ὀρεινὴν τὴν κατὰ τὰς Ἄλπεις, ὡδοποίησε τὴν τραχύτητα τῆς ὁδοῦ καὶ τὸ δύσβατον, ὥστε δύνασθαι στρατοπέδοις καὶ ταῖς τῶν ὑποζυγίων ἀποσκευαῖς βάσιμον εἶναι. τῶν δὲ τὴν ὀρεινὴν ταύτην κατοικούντων βαρβάρων εἰωθότων τὰ διεξιόντα τῶν στρατοπέδων περικόπτειν καὶ λῃστεύειν ἐν ταῖς δυσχωρίαις, χειρωσάμενος ἅπαντας καὶ τοὺς ἡγεμόνας τῆς παρανομίας ἀνελὼν ἐποίησεν ἀσφαλῆ τοῖς μεταγενεστέροις τὴν ὁδοιπορίαν. διελθὼν δὲ τὰς Ἄλπεις καὶ τῆς νῦν καλουμένης Γαλατίας τὴν πεδιάδα διεξιὼν ἐποιήσατο τὴν πορείαν διὰ τῆς Λιγυστικῆς.
Heracles, then, delivered over the kingdom of the Iberians to the noblest men among the natives and, on his part, took his army and passing into Celtica and traversing the length and breadth of it he put an end to the lawlessness and murdering of strangers to which the people had become addicted; and since a great multitude men from every tribe flocked to his army of their own accord, he founded a great city which was named Alesia after the "wandering" (ale) on his campaign. 2 But he also mingled among the citizens of the city many natives, and since these surpassed the others in multitude, it came to pass that the inhabitants as a whole were barbarized. The Celts up to the present time hold this city in honour, looking upon it as the hearth and mother-city of all Celtica. And for the entire period from the days of Heracles this city remained free and was never sacked until our own time; but at last Gaius Caesar, who has been pronounced a god because of the magnitude of his deeds, took it by storm and made it and the other Celts subjects of the Romans. Heracles then made his way from Celtica to Italy, and as he traversed the mountain pass through the Alps he made a highway out of the route, which was rough and almost impassable, with the result that it can now be crossed by armies and baggage-trains. 4 The barbarians who had inhabited this mountain region had been accustomed to butcher and to plunder such armies as passed through when they came to the difficult portions of the way, but he subdued them all, slew those that were the leaders in lawlessness of this kind, and made the journey safe for succeeding generations. And after crossing the Alps he passed through the level plain of what is now called Galatia and made his way through Liguria.
§ 4.20
οἱ δὲ ταύτην τὴν χώραν οἰκοῦντες Λίγυες νέμονται γῆν τραχεῖαν καὶ παντελῶς λυπράν· τῶν δʼ ἐγχωρίων ταῖς ἐργασίαις καὶ ταῖς τῆς κακοπαθειας ὑπερβολαῖς φέρει καρποὺς πρὸς βίαν ὀλίγους. διὸ καὶ τοῖς ὄγκοις εἰσὶ συνεσταλμένοι καὶ διὰ τὴν συνεχῆ γυμνασίαν εὔτονοι· τῆς γὰρ κατὰ τὴν τρυφὴν ῥᾳστώνης πολὺ κεχωρισμένοι ἐλαφροὶ μὲν ταῖς εὐκινησίαις εἰσίν, ἐν δὲ τοῖς πολεμικοῖς ἀγῶσι ταῖς ἀλκαῖς διάφοροι. καθόλου δὲ τῶν πλησιοχώρων τὸ πονεῖν συνεχῶς ἠσκηκότων, καὶ τῆς χώρας πολλῆς ἐργασίας προσδεομένης, εἰθίκασι τὰς γυναῖκας τῶν κακοπαθειῶν τῶν ἐν ταῖς ἐργασίαις κοινωνοὺς ποιεῖσθαι. μισθοῦ δὲ παρʼ ἀλλήλοις ἐργαζομένων τῶν τε ἀνδρῶν καὶ τῶν γυναικῶν, ἴδιόν τι καὶ παράδοξον καθʼ ἡμᾶς συνέβη περὶ μίαν γυναῖκα γενέσθαι. ἔγκυος γὰρ οὖσα καὶ μετὰ τῶν ἀνδρῶν ἐργαζομένη μισθοῦ, μεταξὺ συνεχομένη ταῖς ὠδῖσιν ἀπῆλθεν εἴς τινας θάμνους ἀθορύβως· ἐν οἷς τεκοῦσα, καὶ τὸ παιδίον φύλλοις ἐνειλήσασα, τοῦτο μὲν ἀπέκρυψεν, αὐτὴ δὲ συμμίξασα τοῖς ἐργαζομένοις τὴν αὐτὴν ἐκείνοις ὑπέμεινε κακοπάθειαν, οὐδὲν δηλώσασα περὶ τοῦ συμβεβηκότος. τοῦ βρέφους δὲ κλαυθμυριζομένου, καὶ τῆς πράξεως φανερᾶς γενομένης, ὁ μὲν ἐφεστηκὼς οὐδαμῶς ἠδύνατο πεῖσαι παύσασθαι τῶν ἔργων· ἡ δʼ οὐ πρότερον ἀπέστη τῆς κακοπαθείας, ἕως ὁ μισθωσάμενος ἐλεήσας καὶ τὸν μισθὸν ἀποδοὺς ἀπέλυσε τῶν ἔργων.
The Ligurians who dwell in this land possess a soil which is stony and altogether wretched, and, in return for the labours and exceedingly great hardships of the natives, produces only scanty crops which are wrung from it. Consequently the inhabitants are of small bulk and are kept vigorous by their constant exercise; for since they are far removed from the care-free life which accompanies luxury, they are light in their movements and excel in vigour when it comes to contests of war. 2 In general, the inhabitants of the region round about are inured to continuous work, and since the land requires much labour for its cultivation, the Ligurians have become accustomed to require the women to share in the hardships which the cultivation involves. And since both the men and the women work side by side for hire, it came to pass that a strange and surprising thing took place in our day in connection with a certain woman. She was with child, and while working for hire in company with the men she was seized by the labour-pains in the midst of her work and quietly withdrew into a thicket; here she gave birth to the child, and then, after covering it with leaves, she hid the babe there and herself rejoined the labourers, continuing to endure the same hardship as that in which they were engaged and giving no hint of what had happened. And when the babe wailed and the occurrence became known, the overseer could in no wise persuade her to stop her work; and indeed she did not desist from the hardship until her employer took pity upon her, paid her the wages due her, and set her free from work.
§ 4.21
Ἡρακλῆς δὲ διελθὼν τήν τε τῶν Λιγύων καὶ τὴν τῶν Τυρρηνῶν χώραν, καταντήσας πρὸς τὸν Τίβεριν ποταμὸν κατεστρατοπέδευσεν οὗ νῦν ἡ Ῥώμη ἐστίν. ἀλλʼ αὕτη μὲν πολλαῖς γενεαῖς ὕστερον ὑπὸ Ῥωμύλου τοῦ Ἄρεος ἐκτίσθη, τότε δέ τινες τῶν ἐγχωρίων κατῴκουν ἐν τῷ νῦν καλουμένῳ Παλατίῳ, μικρὰν παντελῶς πόλιν οἰκοῦντες. ἐν ταύτῃ δὲ τῶν ἐπιφανῶν ὄντες ἀνδρῶν Κάκιος καὶ Πινάριος ἐδέξαντο τὸν Ἡρακλέα ξενίοις ἀξιολόγοις καὶ δωρεαῖς κεχαρισμέναις ἐτίμησαν· καὶ τούτων τῶν ἀνδρῶν ὑπομνήματα μέχρι τῶνδε τῶν καιρῶν διαμένει κατὰ τὴν Ῥώμην. τῶν γὰρ νῦν εὐγενῶν ἀνδρῶν τὸ τῶν Πιναρίων ὀνομαζομένων γένος διαμένει παρὰ τοῖς Ῥωμαίοις, ὡς ὑπάρχον ἀρχαιότατον, τοῦ δὲ Κακίου ἐν τῷ Παλατίῳ κατάβασίς ἐστιν ἔχουσα λιθίνην κλίμακα τὴν ὀνομαζομένην ἀπʼ ἐκείνου Κακίαν, οὖσαν πλησίον τῆς τότε γενομένης οἰκίας τοῦ Κακίου. ὁ δʼ οὖν Ἡρακλῆς ἀποδεξάμενος τὴν εὔνοιαν τῶν τὸ Παλάτιον οἰκούντων, προεῖπεν αὐτοῖς ὅτι μετὰ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ μετάστασιν εἰς θεοὺς τοῖς εὐξαμένοις ἐκδεκατεύσειν Ἡρακλεῖ τὴν οὐσίαν συμβήσεται τὸν βίον εὐδαιμονέστερον ἔχειν. ὃ καὶ συνέβη κατὰ τοὺς ὕστερον χρόνους διαμεῖναι μέχρι τῶν καθʼ ἡμᾶς χρόνων· πολλοὺς γὰρ τῶν Ῥωμαίων οὐ μόνον τῶν συμμέτρους οὐσίας κεκτημένων, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν μεγαλοπλούτων τινὰς εὐξαμένους ἐκδεκατεύσειν Ἡρακλεῖ, καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα γενομένους εὐδαίμονας, ἐκδεκατεῦσαι τὰς οὐσίας οὔσας ταλάντων τετρακισχιλίων. Λεύκολλος γὰρ ὁ τῶν καθʼ αὑτὸν Ῥωμαίων σχεδόν τι πλουσιώτατος ὢν διατιμησάμενος τὴν ἰδίαν οὐσίαν κατέθυσε τῷ θεῷ πᾶσαν τὴν δεκάτην, εὐωχίας ποιῶν συνεχεῖς καὶ πολυδαπάνους. κατεσκεύασαν δὲ καὶ Ῥωμαῖοι τούτῳ τῷ θεῷ παρὰ τὸν Τίβεριν ἱερὸν ἀξιόλογον, ἐν ᾧ νομίζουσι συντελεῖν τὰς ἐκ τῆς δεκάτης θυσίας. ὁ δʼ οὖν Ἡρακλῆς ἀπὸ τοῦ Τιβέρεως ἀναζεύξας, καὶ διεξιὼν τὴν παράλιον τῆς νῦν Ἰταλίας ὀνομαζομένης, κατήντησεν εἰς τὸ Κυμαῖον πεδίον, ἐν ᾧ μυθολογοῦσιν ἄνδρας γενέσθαι ταῖς τε ῥώμαις προέχοντας καὶ ἐπὶ παρανομίᾳ διωνομασμένους, οὓς ὀνομάζεσθαι γίγαντας. ὠνομάσθαι δὲ καὶ τὸ πεδίον τοῦτο Φλεγραῖον ἀπὸ τοῦ λόφου τοῦ τὸ παλαιὸν ἐκφυσῶντος ἄπλατον πῦρ παραπλησίως τῇ κατὰ τὴν Σικελίαν Αἴτνῃ· καλεῖται δὲ νῦν ὁ λόφος Οὐεσουούιος, ἔχων πολλὰ σημεῖα τοῦ κεκαῦσθαι κατὰ τοὺς ἀρχαίους χρόνους. τοὺς δʼ οὖν γίγαντας πυθομένους τὴν Ἡρακλέους παρουσίαν ἀθροισθῆναι πάντας καὶ παρατάξασθαι τῷ προειρημένῳ. θαυμαστῆς δὲ γενομένης μάχης κατά τε τὴν ῥώμην καὶ τὴν ἀλκὴν τῶν γιγάντων, φασὶ τὸν Ἡρακλέα, συμμαχούντων αὐτῷ τῶν θεῶν, κρατῆσαι τῇ μάχῃ, καὶ τοὺς πλείστους ἀνελόντα τὴν χώραν ἐξημερῶσαι. μυθολογοῦνται δʼ οἱ γίγαντες γηγενεῖς γεγονέναι διὰ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τοῦ κατὰ τὸ σῶμα μεγέθους. καὶ περὶ μὲν τῶν ἐν Φλέγρᾳ φονευθέντων γιγάντων τοιαῦτα μυθολογοῦσί τινες, οἷς καὶ Τίμαιος ὁ συγγραφεὺς ἠκολούθησεν.
After Heracles had passed through the lands of the Ligurians and of the Tyrrhenians he came to the river Tiber and pitched his camp at the site where Rome now stands. But this city was founded many generations afterwards by Romulus, the son of Ares, and at this time certain people of the vicinity had their homes on the Palatine Hill, as it is now called, and formed an altogether inconsiderable city. 2 Here some of the notable men, among them Cacius and Pinarius, welcomed Heracles with marked acts of hospitality and honoured him with pleasing gifts; and memorials of these men abide in Rome to the present day. For, of the nobles of our time, the gens which bears the name Pinarii still exists among the Romans, being regarded as very ancient, and as for Cacius, there is a passage on the Palatine which leads downward, furnished with a stairway of stone, and is called after him the "Steps of Cacius,"29 and it lies near the original house of Cacius. Now Heracles received with favour the good-will shown him by the dwellers on the Palatine and foretold to them that, after he had passed into the circle of the gods, it would come to pass that whatever men should make a vow to dedicate to Heracles a tithe of their goods would lead a more happy and prosperous life. And in fact this custom did arise in later times and has persisted to our own day; 4 for many Romans, and not only those of moderate fortunes but some even of great wealth, who have taken a vow to dedicate a tenth to Heracles and have thereafter become happy and prosperous, have presented him with a tenth of their possessions, which came to four thousand talents. Lucullus, for instance, who was perhaps the wealthiest Roman of his day, had his estate appraised and then offered a full tenth of it to the god, thus providing continuous feastings and expensive ones withal. Furthermore, the Romans have built to this god a notable temple on the bank of the Tiber, with the purpose of performing in it the sacrifices from the proceeds of the tithe. Heracles then moved on from the Tiber, and as he passed down the coast of what now bears the name of Italy he came to the Cumaean Plain. Here, the myths relate, there were men of outstanding strength the fame of whom had gone abroad for lawlessness and they were called Giants. This plain was called Phlegraean ("fiery") from the mountain which of old spouted forth a huge fire as Aetna did in Sicily; at this time, however, the mountain is called Vesuvius and shows many signs of the fire which once raged in those ancient times. 6 Now the Giants, according to the account, on learning that Heracles was at hand, gathered in full force and drew themselves up in battle-order against him. The struggle which took place was a wonderful one, in view of both the strength and the courage of the Giants, but Heracles, they say, with the help of the gods who fought on his side, gained the upper hand in the battle, slew most of the Giants, and brought the land under cultivation. 7 The myths record that the Giants were sons of the earth because of the exceedingly great size of their bodies. With regard, then, to the Giants who were slain in Phlegra, this is the account of certain writers of myths, who have been followed by the historian Timaeus also.
§ 4.22
ὁ δʼ Ἡρακλῆς ἐκ τοῦ Φλεγραίου πεδίου κατελθὼν ἐπὶ τὴν θάλατταν κατεσκεύασεν ἔργα περὶ τὴν Ἄορνον ὀνομαζομένην λίμνην, ἱερὰν δὲ Φερσεφόνης νομιζομένην. κεῖται μὲν οὖν ἡ λίμνη μεταξὺ Μισηνοῦ καὶ Δικαιαρχείων, πλησίον τῶν θερμῶν ὑδάτων, ἔχει δὲ τὴν μὲν περίμετρον ὡς πέντε σταδίων, τὸ δὲ βάθος ἄπιστον· ἔχουσα γὰρ ὕδωρ καθαρώτατον φαίνεται τῇ χρόᾳ κυανοῦν διὰ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τοῦ βάθους. μυθολογοῦσι δὲ τὸ μὲν παλαιὸν γεγενῆσθαι νεκυομαντεῖον πρὸς αὐτῇ, ὃ τοῖς ὕστερον χρόνοις καταλελύσθαι φασίν. ἀναπεπταμένης δὲ τῆς λίμνης εἰς τὴν θάλατταν, τὸν Ἡρακλέα λέγεται τὸν μὲν ἔκρουν ἐγχῶσαι, τὴν δʼ ὁδὸν τὴν νῦν οὖσαν παρὰ θάλατταν κατασκευάσαι, τὴν ἀπʼ ἐκείνου καλουμένην Ἡρακλείαν. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἔπραξε περὶ ἐκείνους τοὺς τόπους. ἐντεῦθεν δʼ ἀναζεύξας κατήντησε τῆς Ποσειδωνιατῶν χώρας πρός τινα πέτραν, πρὸς ᾗ μυθολογοῦσιν ἴδιόν τι γενέσθαι καὶ παράδοξον. τῶν γὰρ ἐγχωρίων τινὰ κυνηγὸν ἐν τοῖς κατὰ τὴν θήραν ἀνδραγαθήμασι διωνομασμένον ἐν μὲν τοῖς ἔμπροσθεν χρόνοις εἰωθέναι τῶν ληφθέντων θηρίων τὰς κεφαλὰς καὶ τοὺς πόδας ἀνατιθέναι τῇ Ἀρτέμιδι καὶ προσηλοῦν τοῖς δένδρεσι, τότε δʼ οὖν ὑπερφυῆ κάπρον χειρωσάμενον καὶ τῆς θεοῦ καταφρονήσαντα εἰπεῖν ὅτι τὴν κεφαλὴν τοῦ θηρίου ἑαυτῷ ἀνατίθησι, καὶ τοῖς λόγοις ἀκολούθως ἔκ τινος δένδρου κρεμάσαι ταύτην, αὐτὸν δέ, καυματώδους περιστάσεως οὔσης, κατὰ μεσημβρίαν εἰς ὕπνον τραπῆναι· καθʼ ὃν δὴ χρόνον τοῦ δεσμοῦ λυθέντος αὐτομάτως πεσεῖν τὴν κεφαλὴν ἐπὶ τὸν κοιμώμενον καὶ διαφθεῖραι. ἀλλὰ γὰρ οὐκ ἄν τις θαυμάσειε τὸ γεγονός, ὅτι τῆς θεᾶς ταύτης πολλαὶ περιστάσεις μνημονεύονται περιέχουσαι τὴν κατὰ τῶν ἀσεβῶν τιμωρίαν. τῷ δʼ Ἡρακλεῖ διὰ τὴν εὐσέβειαν τοὐναντίον συνέβη γενέσθαι. καταντήσαντος γὰρ αὐτοῦ πρὸς τὰ μεθόρια τῆς Ῥηγίνης καὶ Λοκρίδος, καὶ διὰ τὸν ἐκ τῆς ὁδοιπορίας κόπον ἀναπαυομένου, φασὶν ὑπὸ τῶν τεττίγων αὐτὸν ἐνοχλούμενον εὔξασθαι τοῖς θεοῖς ἀφανεῖς γενέσθαι τοὺς ἐνοχλοῦντας αὐτόν· καὶ διὰ τοῦτο, τῶν θεῶν βεβαιωσάντων τὴν εὐχήν, μὴ μόνον κατὰ τὸ παρὸν ἀφανεῖς γενέσθαι τούτους, ἀλλὰ καὶ κατὰ τὸν ὕστερον χρόνον ἅπαντα μηδένα τέττιγα φαίνεσθαι κατὰ τὴν χώραν. ὁ δʼ Ἡρακλῆς καταντήσας ἐπὶ τὸν πορθμὸν κατὰ τὸ στενώτατον τῆς θαλάττης τὰς μὲν βοῦς ἐπεραίωσεν εἰς τὴν Σικελίαν, αὐτὸς δὲ ταύρου κέρως λαβόμενος διενήξατο τὸν πόρον, ὄντος τοῦ διαστήματος σταδίων τριῶν καὶ δέκα, ὡς Τίμαιός φησι.
From the Phlegraean Plain Heracles went down to the sea, where he constructed works about the lake which bears the name Lake of Avernus and is held sacred to Persephone. Now this lake lies between Misenum and Dicaearchia near the hot waters, and is about five stades in circumference and of incredible depth; for its water is very pure and has to the eye a dark blue colour because of its very great depth. 2 And the myths record that in ancient times there had been on its shores an oracle of the dead which, they say, was destroyed in later days. Lake Avernus once had an opening into the sea, but Heracles is said to have filled up the outlet and constructed the road which runs at this time along the sea and is called after him the "Way of Heracles." These, then, are the deeds of Heracles in the regions mentioned above. And moving on from there he came to a certain rock in the country of the people of Poseidonia, where the myths relate that a peculiar and marvellous thing once took place. There was, that is, among the natives of the region a certain hunter, the fame of whom had gone abroad because of his brave exploits in hunting. On former occasions it had been his practice to dedicate to Artemis the heads and feet of the animals he secured and to nail them to the trees, but once, when he had overpowered a huge wild boar, he said, as though in contempt of the goddess, "The head of the beast I dedicate to myself," and bearing out this words he hung the head on a tree, and then, the atmosphere being very warm, at midday he fell asleep. And while he was thus asleep the thong broke, and the head fell down of itself upon the sleeper and killed him. 4 And in truth there is no reason why anyone should marvel at this happening, for many actual occurrences are recorded which illustrate the vengeance this goddess takes upon the impious. But in the case of Heracles his piety was such that the opposite happened to him. For when he had arrived at the border between Rhegine and Locris and lay down to rest after his wearying journey, they say that he was disturbed by the crickets and that he prayed to the gods that the creatures which were disturbing him might disappear; whereupon the gods granted his petition, and not only did his prayer cause the insects to disappear for the moment, but in all later times as well not a cricket has ever been seen in the land. 6 When Heracles arrived at the strait where the sea is narrowest, he had the cattle taken over into Sicily, but as for himself, he took hold of the horn of a bull and swam across the passage, the distance between the shores being thirteen stades, as Timaeus says.
§ 4.23
μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα βουλόμενος ἐγκυκλωθῆναι πᾶσαν Σικελίαν, ἐποιεῖτο τὴν πορείαν ἀπὸ τῆς Πελωριάδος ἐπὶ τὸν Ἔρυκα. διεξιόντος δʼ αὐτοῦ τὴν παράλιον τῆς νήσου, μυθολογοῦσι τὰς Νύμφας ἀνεῖναι θερμὰ λουτρὰ πρὸς τὴν ἀνάπαυσιν τῆς κατὰ τὴν ὁδοιπορίαν αὐτῷ γενομένης κακοπαθείας. τούτων δʼ ὄντων διττῶν, τὰ μὲν Ἱμεραῖα, τὰ δʼ Ἐγεσταῖα προσαγορεύεται, τὴν ὀνομασίαν ἔχοντα ταύτην ἀπὸ τῶν τόπων. τοῦ δʼ Ἡρακλέους πλησιάσαντος τοῖς κατὰ τὸν Ἔρυκα τόποις, προεκαλέσατο αὐτὸν Ἔρυξ εἰς πάλην, υἱὸς μὲν ὢν Ἀφροδίτης καὶ Βούτα τοῦ τότε βασιλεύοντος τῶν τόπων. γενομένης δὲ τῆς φιλοτιμίας μετὰ προστίμου, καὶ τοῦ μὲν Ἔρυκος διδόντος τὴν χώραν, τοῦ δʼ Ἡρακλέους τὰς βοῦς, τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἀγανακτεῖν τὸν Ἔρυκα, διότι πολὺ λείπονται τῆς ἀξίας αἱ βόες, συγκρινομένης τῆς χώρας πρὸς αὐτάς· πρὸς ταῦτα δὲ τοῦ Ἡρακλέους ἀποφαινομένου διότι, ταύτας ἂν ἀποβάλῃ, στερήσεται τῆς ἀθανασίας, εὐδοκήσας ὁ Ἔρυξ τῇ συνθήκῃ καὶ παλαίσας ἐλείφθη καὶ τὴν χώραν ἀπέβαλεν. ὁ δʼ Ἡρακλῆς τὴν μὲν χώραν παρέθετο τοῖς ἐγχωρίοις, συγχωρήσας αὐτοῖς λαμβάνειν τοὺς καρπούς, μέχρι ἄν τις τῶν ἐκγόνων αὐτοῦ παραγενόμενος ἀπαιτήσῃ· ὅπερ καὶ συνέβη γενέσθαι. πολλαῖς γὰρ ὕστερον γενεαῖς Δωριεὺς ὁ Λακεδαιμόνιος καταντήσας εἰς τὴν Σικελίαν καὶ τὴν χώραν ἀπολαβὼν ἔκτισε πόλιν Ἡράκλειαν. ταχὺ δʼ αὐτῆς αὐξομένης, οἱ Καρχηδόνιοι φθονήσαντες ἅμα καὶ φοβηθέντες μήποτε πλέον ἰσχύσασα τῆς Καρχηδόνος ἀφέληται τῶν Φοινίκων τὴν ἡγεμονίαν, στρατεύσαντες ἐπʼ αὐτὴν μεγάλαις δυνάμεσι καὶ κατὰ κράτος ἑλόντες κατέσκαψαν. ἀλλὰ περὶ μὲν τούτων τὰ κατὰ μέρος ἐν τοῖς οἰκείοις χρόνοις ἀναγράψομεν. τότε δʼ ὁ Ἡρακλῆς ἐγκυκλούμενος τὴν Σικελίαν, καταντήσας εἰς τὴν νῦν οὖσαν τῶν Συρακοσίων πόλιν καὶ πυθόμενος τὰ μυθολογούμενα κατὰ τὴν τῆς Κόρης ἁρπαγήν, ἔθυσέ τε ταῖς θεαῖς μεγαλοπρεπῶς καὶ εἰς τὴν Κυάνην τὸν καλλιστεύοντα τῶν ταύρων καθαγίσας κατέδειξε θύειν τοὺς ἐγχωρίους κατʼ ἐνιαυτὸν τῇ Κόρῃ καὶ πρὸς τῇ Κυάνῃ λαμπρῶς ἄγειν πανήγυρίν τε καὶ θυσίαν. αὐτὸς δὲ μετὰ τῶν βοῶν διὰ τῆς μεσογείου διεξιών, καὶ τῶν ἐγχωρίων Σικανῶν μεγάλαις δυνάμεσιν ἀντιταξαμένων, ἐνίκησεν ἐπιφανεῖ παρατάξει καὶ πολλοὺς ἀπέκτεινεν, ἐν οἷς μυθολογοῦσί τινες καὶ στρατηγοὺς ἐπιφανεῖς γεγενῆσθαι τοὺς μέχρι τοῦ νῦν ἡρωικῆς τιμῆς τυγχάνοντας, Λεύκασπιν καὶ Πεδιακράτην καὶ Βουφόναν καὶ Γλυχάταν, ἔτι δὲ Βυταίαν καὶ Κρυτίδαν.
Upon his arrival in Sicily Heracles desired to make the circuit of the entire island and so set out from Pelorias in the direction of Eryx. While passing along the coast of the island, the myths relate, the Nymphs caused warm baths to gush forth so that he might refresh himself after the toil sustained in his journeying. There are two of these, called respectively Himeraea and Egestaea, each of them having its name from the place where the baths are. 2 As Heracles approached the region of Eryx, he was challenged to a wrestling match by Eryx, who was the son of Aphrodite and Butas, who was then king of that country. The contest of the rivals carried with it a penalty, whereby Eryx was to surrender his land and Heracles the cattle. Now at first Eryx was displeased at such terms, maintaining that the cattle were of far less value as compared with the land; but when Heracles in answer to his arguments showed that if he lost the cattle he would likewise lose his immortality, Eryx agreed to the terms, and wrestling with him was defeated and lost his land. Heracles turned the land over to the natives of the region, agreeing with them that they should gather the fruits of it until one of his descendants should appear among them and demand it back; and this actually came to pass. For in fact many generations later Dorieus the Lacedemonian came to Sicily, and taking back the land founded the city of Heracleia. Since the city grew rapidly, the Carthaginians, being jealous of it and also afraid that it would grow stronger than Carthage and take from the Phoenicians their sovereignty, came up against it with a great army, took it by storm, and razed it to the ground. But this affair we shall discuss in detail in connection with the period in which it falls. 4 While Heracles was making the circuit of Sicily at this time he came to the city which is now Syracuse, and on learning what the myth relates about the Rape of Core he offered sacrifices to the goddesses on a magnificent scale, and after dedicating to her the fairest bull of his herd and casting it in the spring Cyane he commanded the natives to sacrifice each year to Core and to conduct at Cyane a festive gathering and a sacrifice in splendid fashion. He then passed with his cattle through the interior of the island, and when the native Sicani opposed him in great force, he overcame them in a notable battle and slew many of their number, among whom, certain writers of myths relate, were also some distinguished generals who receive the honours accorded to heroes even to this day, such as Leucaspis, Pediacrates, Buphonas, Glychatas, Bytaeas, and Crytidas.
§ 4.24
μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα διελθὼν τὸ Λεοντῖνον πεδίον, τὸ μὲν κάλλος τῆς χώρας ἐθαύμασε, πρὸς δὲ τοὺς τιμῶντας αὐτὸν οἰκείως διατιθέμενος ἀπέλιπε παρʼ αὐτοῖς ἀθάνατα μνημεῖα τῆς ἑαυτοῦ παρουσίας. ἴδιον δέ τι συνέβη γενέσθαι περὶ τὴν πόλιν τῶν Ἀγυριναίων. ἐν ταύτῃ γὰρ τιμηθεὶς ἐπʼ ἴσης τοῖς Ὀλυμπίοις θεοῖς πανηγύρεσι καὶ θυσίαις λαμπραῖς, καίπερ κατὰ τοὺς ἔμπροσθεν χρόνους οὐδεμίαν θυσίαν προσδεχόμενος, τότε πρώτως συνευδόκησε, τοῦ δαιμονίου τὴν ἀθανασίαν αὐτῷ προσημαίνοντος. ὁδοῦ γὰρ οὔσης οὐκ ἄπωθεν τῆς πόλεως πετρώδους, αἱ βόες τὰ ἴχνη καθάπερ ἐπὶ κηροῦ τινος ἀπετυποῦντο. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ αὐτῷ τῷ Ἡρακλεῖ τούτου συμβαίνοντος, καὶ τοῦ ἄθλου δεκάτου τελουμένου, νομίσας ἤδη τι λαμβάνειν τῆς ἀθανασίας, προσεδέχετο τὰς τελουμένας ὑπὸ τῶν ἐγχωρίων κατʼ ἐνιαυτὸν θυσίας. διόπερ τοῖς εὐδοκουμένοις τὰς χάριτας ἀποδιδούς, πρὸ μὲν τῆς πόλεως κατεσκεύασε λίμνην, ἔχουσαν τὸν περίβολον σταδίων τεττάρων, ἣν ἐπώνυμον αὐτῷ καλεῖσθαι προσέταξεν· ὡσαύτως δὲ καὶ τῶν βοῶν τοῖς ἀποτυπωθεῖσιν ἴχνεσι τὴν ἐφʼ ἑαυτοῦ προσηγορίαν ἐπιθείς, τέμενος κατεσκεύασεν ἥρωι Γηρυόνῃ, ὃ μέχρι τοῦ νῦν τιμᾶται παρὰ τοῖς ἐγχωρίοις. Ἰολάου τε τοῦ ἀδελφιδοῦ συστρατεύοντος τέμενος ἀξιόλογον ἐποίησε, καὶ τιμὰς καὶ θυσίας κατέδειξεν αὐτῷ γίνεσθαι κατʼ ἐνιαυτὸν τὰς μέχρι τοῦ νῦν τηρουμένας· πάντες γὰρ οἱ κατὰ ταύτην τὴν πόλιν οἰκοῦντες ἐκ γενετῆς τὰς κόμας ἱερὰς Ἰολάῳ τρέφουσι, μέχρι ἂν ὅτου θυσίαις μεγαλοπρεπέσι καλλιερήσαντες τὸν θεὸν ἵλεων κατασκευάσωσι. τοσαύτη δʼ ἐστὶν ἁγνεία καὶ σεμνότης περὶ τὸ τέμενος ὥστε τοὺς μὴ τελοῦντας τὰς εἰθισμένας θυσίας παῖδας ἀφώνους γίνεσθαι καὶ τοῖς τετελευτηκόσιν ὁμοίους. ἀλλʼ οὗτοι μέν, ὅταν εὔξηταί τις ἀποδώσειν τὴν θυσίαν καὶ ἐνέχυρον τῆς θυσίας ἀναδείξῃ τῷ θεῷ, παραχρῆμα ἀποκαθίστασθαί φασι τοὺς τῇ προειρημένῃ νόσῳ κατεχομένους. οἱ δʼ οὖν ἐγχώριοι τούτοις ἀκολούθως τὴν μὲν πύλην, πρὸς ᾗ τὰς ἀπαντήσεις καὶ θυσίας τῷ θεῷ παρέστησαν, Ἡρακλείαν προσηγόρευσαν, ἀγῶνα δὲ γυμνικὸν καὶ ἱππικὸν καθʼ ἕκαστον ἔτος μετὰ πάσης προθυμίας ποιοῦσι. πανδήμου δὲ τῆς ἀποδοχῆς ἐλευθέρων τε καὶ δούλων γινομένης, κατέδειξαν καὶ τοὺς οἰκέτας ἰδίᾳ τιμῶντας τὸν θεὸν θιάσους τε συνάγειν καὶ συνιόντας εὐωχίας τε καὶ θυσίας τῷ θεῷ συντελεῖν. ὁ δʼ Ἡρακλῆς μετὰ τῶν βοῶν περαιωθεὶς εἰς τὴν Ἰταλίαν προῆγε διὰ τῆς παραλίας, καὶ Λακίνιον μὲν κλέπτοντα τῶν βοῶν ἀνεῖλε, Κρότωνα δὲ ἀκουσίως ἀποκτείνας ἔθαψε μεγαλοπρεπῶς καὶ τάφον αὐτοῦ κατεσκεύασε· προεῖπε δὲ καὶ τοῖς ἐγχωρίοις ὅτι καὶ κατὰ τοὺς ὕστερον χρόνους ἔσται πόλις ἐπίσημος ὁμώνυμος τῷ τετελευτηκότι.
After this Heracles, as he passed through the plain of Leontini, marvelled at the beauty of the land, and to show his affection for the men who honoured him he left behind him there imperishable memorials of his presence. And it came to pass that a peculiar thing took place near the city of Agyrium. Here he was honoured on equal terms with the Olympian gods by festivals and splendid sacrifices, and though before this time he had accepted no sacrifice, he then gave his consent for the first time, since the deity was giving intimations to him of his coming immortality. 2 For instance, there was a road not far from the city which was all of rock, and yet the cattle left their tracks in it as if in a waxy substance. Since, then, this same thing happened in the case of Heracles as well and his tenth Labour was likewise coming to an end, he considered that he was already to a degree participating in immortality and so accepted the annual sacrifices which were offered him by the people of the city. Consequently, as a mark of his gratitude to the people who had found favour with him, he built before the city a lake, four stades in circumference, which he ordained should be called by his name; and he likewise gave his name to the moulds of the tracks which the cattle had left in the rock and dedicated to the hero Geryones a sacred precinct which is honoured to this day by the people of that region. 4 To Iolaus, his nephew, who was his companion on the expedition, he likewise dedicated a notable sacred precinct, and ordained that annual honours and sacrifices will be offered to him, as is done even to this day; for all the inhabitants of this city let the hair of their heads grow from their birth in honour of Iolaus, until they have obtained good omens in costly sacrifices and have rendered the god propitious. And such a holiness and majesty pervade the sacred precinct that the boys who fail to perform the customary rites lose their power of speech and become like dead men. But so soon as anyone of them who is suffering from this malady takes a vow that he will pay the sacrifice and vouchsafes to the god a pledge to that effect, at once, they say, he is restored to health. 6 Now the inhabitants, in pursuance of these rites, call the gate, at which they come into the presence of the god and offer him these sacrifices, "The Heracleian," and every year with the utmost zeal they hold games which include gymnastic contests and horse-races. And since the whole populace, both free men and slaves, united in approbation of the god they have commanded their servants, as they do honour to him apart from the rest, to gather in bands and when they come together to hold banquets and perform sacrifices to the god. 7 Heracles then crossed over into Italy with the cattle and proceeded along the coast; there he slew Lacinius as he was attempting to steal some of the cattle, and to Croton, whom he killed by accident, he accorded a magnificent funeral and erected for him a tomb; and he foretold to the natives of the place that also in after times a famous city would arise would should bear the name of the man who had died.
§ 4.25
αὐτὸς δʼ ἐγκυκλωθεὶς τὸν Ἀδρίαν καὶ πεζῇ περιελθὼν τὸν προειρημένον κόλπον κατήντησεν εἰς τὴν Ἤπειρον, ἐξ ἧς πορευθεὶς εἰς τὴν Πελοπόννησον, καὶ τετελεκὼς τὸν δέκατον ἆθλον, ἔλαβε πρόσταγμα παρʼ Εὐρυσθέως τὸν ἐξ ᾅδου Κέρβερον πρὸς τὸ φῶς ἀγαγεῖν. πρὸς δὲ τοῦτον τὸν ἆθλον ὑπολαβὼν συνοίσειν αὑτῷ, παρῆλθεν εἰς τὰς Ἀθήνας καὶ μετέσχε τῶν ἐν Ἐλευσῖνι μυστηρίων, Μουσαίου τοῦ Ὀρφέως υἱοῦ τότε προεστηκότος τῆς τελετῆς. ἐπεὶ δʼ Ὀρφέως ἐμνήσθημεν, οὐκ ἀνοίκειόν ἐστι παρεκβάντας βραχέα περὶ αὐτοῦ διελθεῖν. οὗτος γὰρ ἦν υἱὸς μὲν Οἰάγρου, Θρᾷξ δὲ τὸ γένος, παιδείᾳ δὲ καὶ μελῳδίᾳ καὶ ποιήσει πολὺ προέχων τῶν μνημονευομένων· καὶ γὰρ ποίημα συνετάξατο θαυμαζόμενον καὶ τῇ κατὰ τὴν ᾠδὴν εὐμελείᾳ διαφέρον. ἐπὶ τοσοῦτο δὲ προέβη τῇ δόξῃ ὥστε δοκεῖν τῇ μελῳδίᾳ θέλγειν τά τε θηρία καὶ τὰ δένδρα. περὶ δὲ παιδείαν ἀσχοληθεὶς καὶ τὰ περὶ τῆς θεολογίας μυθολογούμενα μαθών, ἀπεδήμησε μὲν εἰς Αἴγυπτον, κἀκεῖ πολλὰ προσεπιμαθὼν μέγιστος ἐγένετο τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἔν τε ταῖς θεολογίαις καὶ ταῖς τελεταῖς καὶ ποιήμασι καὶ μελῳδίαις. συνεστρατεύσατο δὲ καὶ τοῖς Ἀργοναύταις, καὶ διὰ τὸν ἔρωτα τὸν πρὸς τὴν γυναῖκα καταβῆναι μὲν εἰς ᾅδου παραδόξως ἐτόλμησε, τὴν δὲ Φερσεφόνην διὰ τῆς εὐμελείας ψυχαγωγήσας ἔπεισε συνεργῆσαι ταῖς ἐπιθυμίαις καὶ συγχωρῆσαι τὴν γυναῖκα αὐτοῦ τετελευτηκυῖαν ἀναγαγεῖν ἐξ ᾅδου παραπλησίως τῷ Διονύσῳ· καὶ γὰρ ἐκεῖνον μυθολογοῦσιν ἀναγαγεῖν τὴν μητέρα Σεμέλην ἐξ ᾅδου, καὶ μεταδόντα τῆς ἀθανασίας Θυώνην μετονομάσαι. ἡμεῖς δʼ ἐπεὶ περὶ Ὀρφέως διεληλύθαμεν, μεταβησόμεθα πάλιν ἐπὶ τὸν Ἡρακλέα.
But when Heracles had made the circuit of the Adriatic, and had journeyed around the gulf on foot, he came to Epirus, whence he made his way to Peloponnesus. And now that he had performed the tenth Labour he received a Command from Eurystheus to bring Cerberus up from Hades to the light of day. And assuming that it would be to his advantage for the accomplishment of this Labour, he went to Athens and took part in the Eleusinian Mysteries, Musaeus, the son of Orpheus, being at that time in charge of the initiatory rites. 2 Since we have mentioned Orpheus it will not be inappropriate for us in passing to speak briefly about him. He was the son of Oiagrus, a Thracian by birth, and in culture and song-music and poesy he far surpassed all men of whom we have a record; for he composed a poem which was an object of wonder and excelled in its melody when it was sung. And his fame grew to such a degree that men believed that with his music he held a spell over both the wild beasts and the trees. And after he had devoted his entire time to his education and had learned whatever the myths had to say about the gods, he journeyed to Egypt, where he further increased his knowledge and so became the greatest man among the Greeks both for his knowledge of the gods and for their rites, as well as for his poems and songs. 4 He also took part in the expedition of the Argonauts, and because of the love he held for his wife he dared the amazing deed of descending into Hades, where he entranced Persephone by his melodious song and persuaded her to assist him in his desires and to allow him to bring up his dead wife from Hades, in this exploit resembling Dionysus; for the myths relate that Dionysus brought up his mother Semele from Hades, and that, sharing with her his own immortality, he changed her name to Thyone. But now that we have discussed Orpheus, we shall return to Heracles.
§ 4.26
οὗτος γὰρ κατὰ τοὺς παραδεδομένους μύθους καταβὰς εἰς τοὺς καθʼ ᾅδου τόπους, καὶ προσδεχθεὶς ὑπὸ τῆς Φερσεφόνης ὡς ἂν ἀδελφός, Θησέα μὲν ἀνήγαγεν ἐκ δεσμῶν μετὰ Πειρίθου, χαρισαμένης τῆς Κόρης, τὸν δὲ κύνα παραλαβὼν δεδεμένον παραδόξως ἀπήγαγε καὶ φανερὸν κατέστησεν ἀνθρώποις. τελευταῖον δʼ ἆθλον λαβὼν ἐνεγκεῖν τὰ τῶν Ἑσπερίδων χρυσᾶ μῆλα, πάλιν ἔπλευσεν εἰς τὴν Λιβύην. περὶ δὲ τῶν μήλων τούτων διαπεφωνήκασιν οἱ μυθογράφοι, καὶ τινὲς μέν φασιν ἔν τισι κήποις τῶν Ἑσπερίδων ὑπάρξαι κατὰ τὴν Λιβύην μῆλα χρυσᾶ, τηρούμενα συνεχῶς ὑπό τινος δράκοντος φοβερωτάτου, τινὲς δὲ λέγουσι ποίμνας προβάτων κάλλει διαφερούσας κεκτῆσθαι τὰς Ἑσπερίδας, χρυσᾶ δὲ μῆλα ἀπὸ τοῦ κάλλους ὠνομάσθαι ποιητικῶς, ὥσπερ καὶ τὴν Ἀφροδίτην χρυσῆν καλεῖσθαι διὰ τὴν εὐπρέπειαν. ἔνιοι δὲ λέγουσιν ὅτι τὰ πρόβατα τὴν χρόαν ἰδιάζουσαν ἔχοντα καὶ παρόμοιον χρυσῷ τετευχέναι ταύτης τῆς προσηγορίας, Δράκοντα δὲ τῶν ποιμνῶν ἐπιμελητὴν καθεσταμένον, καὶ ῥώμῃ σώματος καὶ ἀλκῇ διαφέροντα, τηρεῖν τὰ πρόβατα καὶ τοὺς λῃστεύειν αὐτὰ τολμῶντας ἀποκτείνειν. ἀλλὰ περὶ μὲν τούτων ἐξέσται διαλαμβάνειν ὡς ἂν ἕκαστος ἑαυτὸν πείθῃ. ὁ δʼ Ἡρακλῆς τὸν φύλακα τῶν μήλων ἀνελών, καὶ ταῦτα ἀποκομίσας πρὸς Εὐρυσθέα, καὶ τοὺς ἄθλους ἀποτετελεκώς, προσεδέχετο τῆς ἀθανασίας τεύξεσθαι, καθάπερ ὁ Ἀπόλλων ἔχρησεν.
Heracles, then, according to the myths which have come down to us, descended into the realm of Hades, and being welcomed like a brother by Persephone brought Theseus and Peirithous back to the upper world after freeing them from their bonds. This he accomplished by the favour of Persephone, and receiving the dog Cerberus in chains he carried him away to the amazement of all and exhibited him to men. 2 The last Labour which Heracles undertook was the bringing back of the golden apples of the Hesperides, and so he again sailed to Libya. With regard to these apples there is disagreement among the writers of myths, and some say that there were golden apples in certain gardens of the Hesperides in Libya, where they were guarded without ceasing by a most formidable dragon, whereas others assert that the Hesperides possessed flocks of sheep which excelled in beauty and were therefore called for their beauty, as the poets might do, "golden apples," just as Aphrodite is called "golden" because of her loveliness. There are some, however, who say that it was because the sheep had a peculiar colour like gold that they got this designation, and that Dracon ("dragon") was the name of the shepherd of the sheep, a man who excelled in strength of body and courage, who guarded the sheep and slew any who might dare to carry them off. But with regard to such matters it will be every man's privilege to form such opinions as accord with his own belief. 4 At any rate Heracles slew the guardian of the apples, and after he had duly brought them to Eurystheus and had in this wise finished his Labours he waited to receive the gift of immortality, even as Apollo had prophesied to him.
§ 4.27
ἡμῖν δʼ οὐ παραλειπτέον τὰ περὶ Ἄτλαντος μυθολογούμενα καὶ τὰ περὶ τοῦ γένους τῶν Ἑσπερίδων. κατὰ γὰρ τὴν Ἑσπερῖτιν ὀνομαζομένην χώραν φασὶν ἀδελφοὺς δύο γενέσθαι δόξῃ διωνομασμένους, Ἕσπερον καὶ Ἄτλαντα. τούτους δὲ κεκτῆσθαι πρόβατα τῷ μὲν κάλλει διάφορα, τῇ δὲ χρόᾳ ξανθὰ καὶ χρυσοειδῆ· ἀφʼ ἧς αἰτίας τοὺς ποιητὰς τὰ πρόβατα μῆλα καλοῦντας ὀνομάσαι χρυσᾶ μῆλα. τὸν μὲν οὖν Ἕσπερον θυγατέρα γεννήσαντα τὴν ὀνομαζομένην Ἑσπερίδα συνοικίσαι τἀδελφῷ, ἀφʼ ἧς τὴν χώραν Ἑσπερῖτιν ὀνομασθῆναι· τὸν δʼ Ἄτλαντα ἐκ ταύτης ἑπτὰ γεννῆσαι θυγατέρας, ἃς ἀπὸ μὲν τοῦ πατρὸς Ἀτλαντίδας, ἀπὸ δὲ τῆς μητρὸς Ἑσπερίδας ὀνομασθῆναι. τούτων δὲ τῶν Ἀτλαντίδων κάλλει καὶ σωφροσύνῃ διαφερουσῶν, λέγουσι Βούσιριν τὸν βασιλέα τῶν Αἰγυπτίων ἐπιθυμῆσαι τῶν παρθένων ἐγκρατῆ γενέσθαι· διὸ καὶ λῃστὰς ἐπʼ αὐτὰς κατὰ θάλατταν ἀποστείλαντα διακελεύσασθαι τὰς κόρας ἁρπάσαι καὶ διακομίσαι πρὸς ἑαυτόν. κατὰ δὲ τοῦτον τὸν καιρὸν τὸν Ἡρακλέα τελοῦντα τὸν ὕστατον ἆθλον Ἀνταῖον μὲν ἀνελεῖν ἐν τῇ Λιβύῃ τὸν συναναγκάζοντα τοὺς ξένους διαπαλαίειν, Βούσιριν δὲ κατὰ τὴν Αἴγυπτον τῷ Διὶ καλλιερεῖν σφαγιάζοντα τοὺς παρεπιδημοῦντας ξένους τῆς προσηκούσης τιμωρίας καταξιῶσαι. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ἀνὰ τὸν Νεῖλον πλεύσαντα εἰς τὴν Αἰθιοπίαν τὸν βασιλεύοντα τῶν Αἰθιόπων Ἠμαθίωνα κατάρχοντα μάχης ἀποκτεῖναι, τὸ δʼ ὕστατον ἐπάνελθεῖν πάλιν ἐπὶ τὸν ἆθλον. τοὺς δὲ λῃστὰς ἐν κήπῳ τινὶ παιζούσας τὰς κόρας συναρπάσαι, καὶ ταχὺ φυγόντας εἰς τὰς ναῦς ἀποπλεῖν. τούτοις δʼ ἐπί τινος ἀκτῆς δειπνοποιουμένοις ἐπιστάντα τὸν Ηρακλέα, καὶ παρὰ τῶν παρθένων μαθόντα τὸ συμβεβηκός, τοὺς μὲν λῃστὰς ἅπαντας ἀποκτεῖναι, τὰς δὲ κόρας ἀποκομίσαι πρὸς Ἄτλαντα τὸν πατέρα· ἀνθʼ ὧν τὸν Ἄτλαντα χάριν τῆς εὐεργεσίας ἀποδιδόντα μὴ μόνον δοῦναι τὰ πρὸς τὸν ἆθλον καθήκοντα προθύμως, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ κατὰ τὴν ἀστρολογίαν ἀφθόνως διδάξαι. περιττότερον γὰρ αὐτὸν τὰ κατὰ τὴν ἀστρολογίαν ἐκπεπονηκότα καὶ τὴν τῶν ἄστρων σφαῖραν φιλοτέχνως εὑρόντα ἔχειν ὑπόληψιν ὡς τὸν κόσμον ὅλον ἐπὶ τῶν ὤμων φοροῦντα. παραπλησίως δὲ καὶ τοῦ Ἡρακλέους ἐξενέγκαντος εἰς τοὺς Ἕλληνας τὸν σφαιρικὸν λόγον, δόξης μεγάλης τυχεῖν, ὡς διαδεδεγμένον τὸν Ἀτλαντικὸν κόσμον, αἰνιττομένων τῶν ἀνθρώπων τὸ γεγονός.
But we must not fail to mention what the myths relate about Atlas and about the race of the Hesperides. The account runs like this: In the country known as Hesperitis there were two brothers whose fame was known abroad, Hesperus and Atlas. These brothers possessed flocks of sheep which excelled in beauty and were in colour of a golden yellow, this being the reason why the poets, in speaking of these sheep as mela, called them golden mela. 2 Now Hesperus begat a daughter named Hesperis, whom he gave in marriage to his brother and after whom the land was given the name Hesperitis; and Atlas begat by her seven daughters, who were named after their father Atlantides, and after their mother, Hesperides. And since these Atlantides excelled in beauty and chastity, Busiris the king of the Egyptians, the account says, was seized with desire to get the maidens into his power; and consequently he dispatched pirates by sea with orders to seize the girls and deliver them into his hands. About this time Heracles, while engaged in the performance of his last Labour, slew in Libya Antaeus, who was compelling all strangers to wrestle with him, and upon Busiris in Egypt, who was sacrificing to Zeus the strangers who visited his country, he inflicted the punishment which he deserved. After this Heracles sailed up the Nile into Ethiopia, where he slew Emathion, the king of the Ethiopians, who made battle with him unprovoked, and then returned to the completion of his last Labour. 4 Meanwhile the pirates had seized the girls while they were playing in a certain garden and carried them off, and fleeing swiftly to their ships had sailed away with them. Heracles came upon the pirates as they were taking their meal on a certain strand, and learning from the maidens what had taken place he slew the pirates to a man and brought the girls back to Atlas their father; and in return Atlas was so grateful to Heracles for his kindly deed that he not only gladly gave him such assistance as his Labour called for, but he also instructed him quite freely in the knowledge of astrology. For Atlas had worked out the science of astrology to a degree surpassing others and had ingeniously discovered the spherical nature of the stars, and for that reason was generally believed to be bearing the entire firmament upon his shoulders. Similarly in the case of Heracles, when he had brought to the Greeks the doctrine of the sphere, he gained great fame, as if he had taken over the burden of the firmament which Atlas had borne, since men intimated in this enigmatic way what had actually taken place.
§ 4.28
τοῦ δʼ Ἡρακλέους περὶ ταῦτʼ ὄντος φασὶ τὰς ὑπολειφθείσας Ἀμαζόνας περὶ τὸν Θερμώδοντα ποταμὸν ἀθροισθείσας πανδημεὶ σπεῦσαι τοὺς Ἕλληνας ἀμύνασθαι περὶ ὧν Ἡρακλῆς στρατεύσας διειργάσατο. διαφορώτατα δὲ τοὺς Ἀθηναίους ἐφιλοτιμοῦντο διὰ τὸ τὸν Θησέα καταδεδουλῶσθαι τὴν ἡγεμόνα τῶν Ἀμαζόνων Ἀντιόπην, ὡς δʼ ἔνιοι γράφουσιν, Ἱππολύτην. συστρατευσάντων δὲ τῶν Σκυθῶν θῶν ταῖς Ἀμαζόσι συνέβη δύναμιν ἀξιόλογον ἀθροισθῆναι, μεθʼ ἧς αἱ προηγούμεναι τῶν Ἀμαζονίδων περαιωθεῖσαι τὸν Κιμμέριον Βόσπορον προῆγον διὰ τῆς Θρᾴκης. τέλος δὲ πολλὴν τῆς Εὐρώπης ἐπελθοῦσαι κατήντησαν εἰς τὴν Ἀττικήν, καὶ κατεστρατοπέδευσαν ὅπου νῦν ἐστι τὸ καλούμενον ἀπʼ ἐκείνων Ἀμαζονεῖον. Θησεὺς δὲ πυθόμενος τὴν τῶν Ἀμαζόνων ἔφοδον ἐβοήθει ταῖς πολιτικαῖς δυνάμεσιν, ἔχων μεθʼ ἑαυτοῦ τὴν Ἀμαζονίδα Ἀντιόπην, ἐξ ἧς ἦν πεπαιδοποιημένος υἱὸν Ἱππόλυτον. συνάψας δὲ μάχην ταῖς Ἀμαζόσι, καὶ τῶν Ἀθηναίων ὑπερεχόντων ταῖς ἀνδραγαθίαις, ἐνίκησαν οἱ περὶ τὸν Θησέα, καὶ τῶν ἀντιταχθεισῶν Ἀμαζονίδων ἃς μὲν κατέκοψαν, ἃς δʼ ἐκ τῆς Ἀττικῆς ἐξέβαλον. συνέβη δὲ καὶ τὴν Ἀντιόπην συναγωνισαμένην τἀνδρὶ Θησεῖ, καὶ κατὰ τὴν μάχην ἀριστεύουσαν, ἡρωικῶς καταστρέψαι τὸν βίον. αἱ δʼ ὑπολειφθεῖσαι τῶν Ἀμαζόνων ἀπογνοῦσαι τὴν πατρῴαν γῆν, ἐπανῆλθον μετὰ τῶν Σκυθῶν εἰς τὴν Σκυθίαν καὶ μετʼ ἐκείνων κατῴκησαν. ἡμεῖς δʼ ἀρκούντως περὶ τούτων διεληλυθότες ἐπάνιμεν πάλιν ἐπὶ τὰς Ἡρακλέους πράξεις.
While Heracles was busied with the matters just described, the Amazons, they say, of whom there were some still left in the region of the Thermodon river, gathered in a body and set out to get revenge upon the Greeks for what Heracles had done in his campaign against them. They were especially eager to punish the Athenians because Theseus had made a slave of Antiope, the leader of the Amazons, or, as others write, of Hippolyte. 2 The Scythians had joined forces with the Amazons, and so it came about that a notable army had been assembled, with which the leaders of the Amazons crossed the Cimmerian Bosporus and advanced through Thrace. Finally they traversed a large part of Europe and came to Attica, where they pitched their camp in what is at present called after them "the Amazoneum." When Theseus learned of the oncoming of the Amazons he came to the aid of the forces of his citizens, bringing with him the Amazon Antiope, by whom he already had a son Hippolytus. Theseus joined battle with the Amazons, and since the Athenians surpassed them in bravery, he gained the victory, and of the Amazons who opposed him, some he slew at the time and the rest he drove out of Attica. 4 And it came to pass that Antiope, who was fighting at the side of her husband Theseus, distinguished herself in the battle and died fighting heroically. The Amazons who survived renounced their ancestral soil, and returned with the Scythians into Scythia and made their homes among that people. But we have spoken enough about the Amazons, and shall return to the deeds of Heracles.
§ 4.29
Τετελεκότος γὰρ αὐτοῦ τοὺς ἄθλους, καὶ τοῦ θεοῦ χρήσαντος συμφέρειν πρὸ τῆς εἰς θεοὺς μεταλλαγῆς ἀποικίαν εἰς Σαρδὼ πέμψαι καὶ τοὺς ἐκ τῶν Θεσπιάδων αὐτῷ γενομένους υἱοὺς ἡγεμόνας ποιῆσαι ταύτης, ἔκρινε τὸν ἀδελφιδοῦν Ἰόλαον ἐκπέμψαι μετὰ τῶν παίδων διὰ τὸ παντελῶς νέους εἷναι. ἀναγκαῖον δʼ ἡμῖν φαίνεται προδιελθεῖν περὶ τῆς γενέσεως τῶν παίδων, ἵνα τὸν περὶ τῆς ἀποικίας λόγον καθαρώτερον ἐκθέσθαι δυνηθῶμεν. Θέσπιος ἦν ἀνὴρ τὸ γένος ἐπιφανὴς ἐκ τῶν Ἀθηνῶν, υἱὸς Ἐρεχθέως, βασιλεύων δὲ τῆς ὁμωνύμου χώρας ἐγέννησεν ἐκ πλειόνων γυναικῶν θυγατέρας πεντήκοντα. Ἡρακλέους δʼ ἔτι παιδὸς ὄντος τὴν ἡλικίαν, καὶ ῥώμῃ σώματος ὑπερφυοῦς ὄντος, ἐφιλοτιμήθη τὰς θυγατέρας ἐκ τούτου τεκνοποιήσασθαι. διὸ καλέσας αὐτὸν ἐπί τινα θυσίαν καὶ λαμπρῶς ἑστιάσας, ἀπέστειλε κατὰ μίαν τῶν θυγατέρων· αἷς ἀπάσαις μιγεὶς καὶ ποιήσας ἐγκύους ἐγένετο πατὴρ υἱῶν πεντήκοντα. ὧν λαβόντων τὴν κοινὴν προσηγορίαν ἀπὸ τῶν Θεσπιάδων, καὶ γενομένων ἐνηλίκων, ἔκρινεν ἐκπέμπειν τούτους εἰς τὴν ἀποικίαν τὴν εἰς Σαρδόνα κατὰ τὸν χρησμόν. ἡγουμένου δὲ τοῦ στόλου παντὸς Ἰολάου, καὶ συνεστρατευμένου σχεδὸν ἁπάσας τὰς στρατείας, ἐπέτρεψεν αὐτῷ τὰ περὶ τοὺς Θεσπιάδας καὶ τὴν ἀποικίαν τῶν δὲ πεντήκοντα παίδων δύο μὲν κατέμειναν ἐν ταῖς Θήβαις, ὧν τοὺς ἀπογόνους φασὶ μέχρι τοῦ νῦν τιμᾶσθαι, ἑπτὰ δʼ ἐν Θεσπιαῖς, οὓς ὀνομάζουσι δημούχους, ὧν καὶ τοὺς ἀπογόνους ἡγήσασθαί φασι τῆς πόλεως μέχρι τῶν νεωτέρων καιρῶν. τοὺς δὲ λοιποὺς ἅπαντας Ἰόλαος ἀναλαβὼν καὶ πολλοὺς ἄλλους τοὺς βουλομένους κοινωνεῖν τῆς ἀποικίας, ἔπλευσεν εἰς τὴν Σαρδόνα. κρατήσας δὲ μάχῃ τῶν ἐγχωρίων, κατεκληρούχησε τὸ κάλλιστον τῆς νήσου, καὶ μάλιστα τὴν πεδιάδα χώραν, ἣν μέχρι τοῦ νῦν καλεῖσθαι Ἰολαεῖον. ἐξημερώσας δὲ τὴν χώραν καὶ καταφυτεύσας δένδρεσι καρπίμοις κατεσκεύασε περιμάχητον ἐπὶ τοσοῦτο γὰρ ἡ νῆσος διωνομάσθη τῇ τῶν καρπῶν ἀφθονίᾳ ὥστε Καρχηδονίους ὕστερον αὐξηθέντας ἐπιθυμῆσαι τῆς νήσου, καὶ πολλοὺς ἀγῶνας καὶ κινδύνους ὑπὲρ αὐτῆς ἀναδέξασθαι. ἀλλὰ περὶ μὲν τούτων ἐν τοῖς οἰκείοις χρόνοις ἀναγράψομεν.
After Heracles had performed his Labours, the god revealed to him that it would be well if, before he passed into the company of the gods, he should despatch a colony to Sardinia and make the sons who had been born to him by the daughters of Thespius the leaders of the settlement, and so he decided to send his nephew Iolaus with the boys, since they were still quite young. 2 Now it seems to us indispensable that we should speak first of the birth of the boys, in order that we may be able to set forth more clearly what is to be said about the colony. Thespius was by birth a distinguished man of Athens and son of Erechtheus, and he was king of the land which bears his name and begot by his wives, of whom he had a great number, fifty daughters. And when Heracles was still a boy, but already of extraordinary strength of body, the king strongly desired that his daughters should be bear children by him. Consequently he invited Heracles to a sacrifice, and after entertaining him in brilliant fashion he sent his daughters one by one in to him; and Heracles lay with them all, brought them all with child, and so became the father of fifty sons. These sons all took the same name after the daughters of Thespius, and when they had arrived at manhood Heracles decided to send them to Sardinia to found a colony, as the oracle had commanded. 4 And since the expedition was under the general command of Iolaus, who had accompanied Heracles on practically all of his campaigns, the latter entrusted him with the care of the Thespiadae and the planting of the colony. Of the fifty boys, two continued to dwell in Thebes, their descendants, they say, being honoured even to the present day, and seven in Thespiae, where they are called demouchi, and where their descendants, they say, were the chief men of the city until recent times. All the other Thespiadae and many more who wished to join in the founding of the colony Iolaus took with him and sailed away to Sardinia. Here he overcame the natives in battle and divided the fairest part of the island into allotments, especially the land which was a level plain and is called to this day Iolaeium. 6 When he had brought the land under cultivation and planted it with fruit-bearing trees he made of the island an object of contention; for instance, it gained such fame for the abundance of its fruits that at a later time the Carthaginians, when they had grown powerful, desired the island and faced many struggles and perils for possession of it. But we shall write of these matters in connection with the period to which they belong.
§ 4.30
τότε δʼ ὁ Ἰόλαος καταστήσας τὰ περὶ τὴν ἀποικίαν, καὶ τὸν Δαίδαλον ἐκ τῆς Σικελίας μεταπεμψάμενος, κατεσκεύασεν ἔργα πολλὰ καὶ μεγάλα μέχρι τῶν νῦν καιρῶν διαμένοντα καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ κατασκευάσαντος Δαιδάλεια καλούμενα. ᾠκοδόμησε δὲ καὶ γυμνάσια μεγάλα τε καὶ πολυτελῆ, καὶ δικαστήρια κατέστησε καὶ τἄλλα τὰ πρὸς τὴν εὐδαιμονίαν συντείνοντα. ὠνόμασε δὲ καὶ τοὺς λαοὺς Ἰολαείους, ἀφʼ ἑαυτοῦ θέμενος τὴν προσηγορίαν, συγχωρησάντων τῶν Θεσπιαδῶν, καὶ δόντων αὐτῷ τοῦτο τὸ γέρας καθαπερεί τινι πατρί. διὰ γὰρ τὴν πρὸς αὐτοὺς σπουδὴν ἐπὶ τοσοῦτʼ εὐνοίας προήχθησαν ὥστʼ ἐπώνυμον αὐτῷ περιθεῖναι τὴν τοῦ γονέως προσηγορίαν· διόπερ ἐν τοῖς ὕστερον χρόνοις οἱ τὰς θυσίας τελοῦντες τούτῳ τῷ θεῷ προσαγορεύουσιν αὐτὸν Ἰόλαον πατέρα, καθάπερ οἱ Πέρσαι τὸν Κῦρον. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ὁ μὲν Ἰόλαος ἐπανιὼν εἰς τὴν Ἑλλάδα, καὶ προσπλεύσας τῇ Σικελίᾳ, οὐκ ὀλίγον χρόνον διέτριψεν ἐν τῇ νήσῳ. καθʼ ὃν δὴ χρόνον καί τινες τῶν συναποδημούντων αὐτῷ διὰ τὸ κάλλος τῆς χώρας κατέμειναν ἐν τῇ Σικελίᾳ, καὶ τοῖς Σικανοῖς καταμιγέντες ἐν ταύτῃ κατῴκησαν, τιμώμενοι διαφερόντως ὑπὸ τῶν ἐγχωρίων. ὁ δʼ Ἰόλαος μεγάλης ἀποδοχῆς τυγχάνων καὶ πολλοὺς εὐεργετῶν ἐν πολλαῖς τῶν πόλεων ἐτιμήθη τεμένεσι καὶ τιμαῖς ἡρωικαῖς. ἴδιον δέ τι καὶ παράδοξον συνέβη γενέσθαι κατὰ τὴν ἀποικίαν ταύτην· ὁ μὲν γὰρ θεὸς ἔχρησεν αὐτοῖς ὅτι πάντες οἱ τῆς ἀποικίας ταύτης μετασχόντες καὶ οἱ τούτων ἔκγονοι διατελέσουσιν ἅπαντα τὸν αἰῶνα διαμένοντες ἐλεύθεροι, τὸ δʼ ἀποτέλεσμα τούτων ἀκολούθως τῷ χρησμῷ διέμεινε μέχρι τῶν καθʼ ἡμᾶς καιρῶν. οἱ μὲν γὰρ λαοὶ διὰ τὸ πλῆθος τοῦ χρόνου, πλειόνων τῶν βαρβάρων ὄντων τῶν μετεσχηκότων τῆς ἀποικίας, ἐξεβαρβαρώθησαν, καὶ μεταστάντες εἰς τὴν ὀρεινὴν ἐν ταῖς δυσχωρίαις κατῴκησαν, ἐθίσαντες δʼ ἑαυτοὺς τρέφεσθαι γάλακτι καὶ κρέασι καὶ πολλὰς ἀγέλας κτηνῶν τρέφοντες οὐκ ἐπεδέοντο σίτου· κατασκευάσαντες δʼ οἰκήσεις ἑαυτοῖς καταγείους καὶ τὴν τοῦ βίου διεξαγωγὴν ἐν τοῖς ὀρύγμασι ποιούμενοι τοὺς ἐκ τῶν πολέμων κινδύνους ἐξέφυγον. διὸ καὶ πρότερον μὲν Καρχηδόνιοι, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Ῥωμαῖοι πολλάκις πολεμήσαντες τούτοις τῆς προθέσεως διήμαρτον. καὶ περὶ μὲν Ἰολάου καὶ Θεσπιαδῶν, ἔτι δὲ τῆς ἀποικίας τῆς εἰς Σαρδόνα γενομένης ἀρκεσθησόμεθα τοῖς ῥηθεῖσι, περὶ δʼ Ἡρακλέους τὰ συνεχῆ τοῖς προειρημένοις προσθήσομεν.
At the time we are considering, Iolaus established the colony, and summoning Daedalus from Sicily he built through him many great works which stand to this day and are called "Daedaleia" after their builder. He also had large and expensive gymnasia constructed and established courts of justice and the other institutions which contribute to the prosperity of a state. 2 Furthermore, Iolaus named the folk of the colony Iolaeis, calling them after himself, the Thespiadae consenting to this and granting to him this honour as to a father. In fact his regard for them led them to entertain such a kindly feeling towards him that they bestowed upon him as a title the appellation usually given to the progenitor of a people; consequently those who in later times off sacrifices to this god address him as "Father Iolaus," as the Persians do when they address Cyrus. After this Iolaus, on his return to Greece, sailed over to Sicily and spent a considerable time on that island. And at this time several of those who were visiting the island in his company remained in Sicily because of the beauty of the land, and uniting with the Sicani they settled in the island, being especially honoured by the natives. Iolaus also received a great welcome, and since he conferred benefits upon many men he was honoured in many of the cities with sacred precincts and with such distinctions as are accorded to heroes. 4 And a peculiar and astonishing thing came to pass in connection with this colony in Sardinia. For the god had told them in an oracle that all who joined in this colony and their descendants should continually remain free men for evermore, and the event in their case has continued to be in harmony with the oracle even to our own times. For the people of the colony in the long course of time came to be barbarized, since the barbarians who took part in the colony above them outnumbered them, and so they removed into the mountainous part of the island and made their home in the rough and barren regions and there, accustoming themselves to live on milk and meat and raising large flocks and herds, they had no need of grain. They also built themselves underground dwellings, and by spending their lives in such dug-out homes they avoided the perils which wars entail. 6 As a consequence both the Carthaginians in former days and the Romans later, despite the many wars which they waged with this people, did not attain their design. As regards Iolaus, then, and the Thespiadae and the colony which was sent to Sardinia, we shall rest satisfied with what has been said, and we shall continue the story of Heracles from the point at which our account left off.
§ 4.31
τελέσας γὰρ τοὺς ἄθλους τὴν μὲν ἑαυτοῦ γυναῖκα Μεγάραν συνῴκισεν Ἰολάῳ, διὰ τὴν περὶ τὰ τέκνα συμφορὰν ὑποπτευσάμενος τὴν ἐξ ἐκείνης παιδοποιίαν, ἑτέραν δʼ ἐζήτει πρὸς τέκνων γένεσιν ἀνύποπτον. διόπερ ἐμνήστευσεν Ἰόλην τὴν Εὐρύτου τοῦ δυναστεύσαντος Οἰχαλίας. ὁ δʼ Εὔρυτος διὰ τὴν ἐκ τῆς Μεγάρας γενομένην ἀτυχίαν εὐλαβηθείς, ἀπεκρίθη βουλεύσεσθαι περὶ τοῦ γάμου. ὁ δʼ ἀποτυχὼν τῆς μνηστείας διὰ τὴν ἀτιμίαν ἐξήλασε τὰς ἵππους τοῦ Εὐρύτου. Ἰφίτου δὲ τοῦ Εὐρύτου τὸ γεγονὸς ὑποπτεύσαντος καὶ παραγενομένου κατὰ ζήτησιν τῶν ἵππων εἰς Τίρυνθα, τοῦτον μὲν ἀναβιβάσας ὁ Ἡρακλῆς ἐπί τινα πύργον ὑψηλὸν ἐκέλευσεν ἀφορᾶν μή που νεμόμεναι τυγχάνουσιν· οὐ δυναμένου δὲ κατανοῆσαι τοῦ Ἰφίτου, φήσας αὐτὸν ψευδῶς κατῃτιᾶσθαι τὴν κλοπὴν κατεκρήμνισεν ἀπὸ τοῦ πύργου. διὰ δὲ τὸν τούτου θάνατον Ἡρακλῆς νοσήσας παρῆλθεν εἰς Πύλον πρὸς Νηλέα, καὶ παρεκάλεσεν αὐτὸν καθᾶραι τὸν φόνον. ὁ μὲν οὖν Νηλεὺς βουλευσάμενος μετὰ τῶν υἱῶν ἔλαβε πάντας πλὴν Νέστορος τοῦ νεωτάτου συγκαταινοῦντας μὴ προσδέξασθαι τὸν καθαρμόν· ὁ δʼ Ἡρακλῆς τότε μὲν παρελθὼν πρὸς Δηίφοβον τὸν Ἱππολύτου καὶ πείσας αὐτὸν ἐκαθάρθη, οὐ δυνάμενος δʼ ἀπολυθῆναι τῆς νόσου ἐπηρώτησε τὸν Ἀπόλλω περὶ τῆς θεραπείας. τούτου δὲ χρήσαντος ὅτι ῥᾷον οὕτως ἀπολυθήσεται τῆς νόσου, εἰ πραθεὶς δικαίως τὴν ἑαυτοῦ τιμὴν ἀποδοίη τοῖς Ἰφίτου παισίν, ἀναγκαζόμενος πείθεσθαι ὑπὸ τῆς νόσου τῷ χρησμῷ μετά τινων φίλων ἔπλευσεν εἰς τὴν Ἀσίαν. ἐκεῖ δʼ ὑπομείνας ἑκουσίως ὑπό τινος τῶν φίλων ἐπράθη, καὶ παρθένου δοῦλος ἐγένετο Ὀμφάλης τῆς Ἰαρδάνου, βασιλευούσης τῶν τότε Μαιόνων, νῦν δὲ Λυδῶν ὀνομαζομένων. καὶ τὴν μὲν τιμὴν ὁ ἀποδόμενος τὸν Ἡρακλέα τοῖς Ἰφίτου παισὶν ἀπέδωκε κατὰ τὸν χρησμόν, ὁ δʼ Ἡρακλῆς ὑγιασθεὶς καὶ δουλεύων τῇ Ὀμφάλῃ τοὺς κατὰ τὴν χώραν λῃστεύοντας ἐκόλασε. τοὺς μὲν γὰρ ὀνομαζομένους Κέρκωπας, λῃστεύοντας καὶ πολλὰ κακὰ διεργαζομένους, οὓς μὲν ἀπέκτεινεν, οὓς δὲ ζωγρήσας δεδεμένους παρέδωκε τῇ Ὀμφάλῃ· Συλέα δὲ τοὺς παριόντας ξένους συναρπάζοντα καὶ τοὺς ἀμπελῶνας σκάπτειν ἀναγκάζοντα τῷ σκαφείῳ πατάξας ἀπέκτεινεν· Ἰτώνων δὲ λεηλατούντων πολλὴν τῆς ὑπὸ Ὀμφάλῃ χώρας, τήν τε λείαν ἀφείλετο καὶ τὴν πόλιν, ἐξ ἧς ἐποιοῦντο τὴν ὁρμήν, ἐκπορθήσας ἐξηνδραποδίσατο καὶ κατέσκαψεν. ἡ δʼ Ὀμφάλη ἀποδεχομένη τὴν ἀνδρείαν τὴν Ἡρακλέους, καὶ πυθομένη τίς ἐστι καὶ τίνων, ἐθαύμασε τὴν ἀρετήν, ἐλεύθερον δʼ ἀφεῖσα καὶ συνοικήσασα αὐτῷ Λάμον ἐγέννησε. προϋπῆρχε δὲ τῷ Ἡρακλεῖ κατὰ τὸν τῆς δουλείας καιρὸν ἐκ δούλης υἱὸς Κλεόδαιος.
After Heracles had completed his Labours he gave his own wife Megara in marriage to Iolaus, being apprehensive of begetting any children by her because of the calamity which had befallen their other offspring, and sought another wife by whom he might have children without apprehension. Consequently he wooed Iole, the daughter of Eurytus who was ruler of Oichalia. 2 But Eurytus was hesitant because of the ill fortune which had come in the case of Megara and replied that he would deliberate concerning the marriage. Since Heracles had met with a refusal to his suit, because of the dishonour which had been shown him he now drove off the mares of Eurytus. But Iphitus, the son of Eurytus, harboured suspicions of what had been done and came to Tiryns in search of the horses, whereupon Heracles, taking him up on a lofty tower of the castle, asked him to see were they were by chance grazing anywhere; and when Iphitus was unable to discover them, he claimed that Iphitus had falsely accused him of the theft and threw him down headlong from the tower. 4 Because of his murder of Iphitus Heracles was attacked by a disease, and coming to Neleus at Pylus he besought him to purify him of the blood-guilt. Thereupon Neleus took counsel with his sons and found that all of them, with the exception of Nestor who was the youngest, agreed in advising him that he should not undertake the rite of purification. Heracles then went to Deiphobus, the son of Hippolytus, and prevailing upon him was given the rite of purification, but being still unable to rid himself of the disease he inquired of Apollo how to heal it. Apollo gave him the answer that he would easily rid himself of the disease if he should be sold as a slave and honourably pay over the purchase price of himself to the sons of Iphitus, and so, being now under constraint to obey the oracle, he sailed over to Asia in company with some of his friends. There he willingly submitted to be sold by one of his friends and became the slave of Omphale, the daughter of Iardanus, who was still unmarried and was queen of the people who were called at that time Maeonians, but now Lydians. 6 The man who had sold Heracles paid over the purchase price to the sons of Iphitus, as the oracle had commanded, and Heracles, healed now of the disease and serving Omphale as her slave, began to mete out punishment upon the robbers who infested the land. 7 As for the Cercopes, for instance, as they are called, who were robbing and committing many evil acts, some of them he put to death and others he took captive and delivered in chains to Omphale. Syleus, who was seizing any strangers who passed by and was forcing to hoe his vineyards, he slew by a blow with his own hoe; and from the Itoni, who had been plundering a large part of the land of Omphale, he took away their booty, and the city which they had made the base of their raids he sacked, and enslaving its inhabitants razed it to the ground. 8 Omphale was pleased with the courage Heracles displayed, and on learning who he was and who had been his parents she marvelled at his valour, set him free, and marrying him bore him Lamus. Already before this, while he was yet a slave, there had been born to Heracles by a slave a son Cleodaeus.
§ 4.32
μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ἐπανελθὼν εἰς Πελοπόννησον ἐστράτευσεν εἰς Ἴλιον, ἐγκαλῶν Λαομέδοντι τῷ βασιλεῖ. οὗτος γὰρ Ἡρακλέους στρατεύοντος μετὰ Ἰάσονος ἐπὶ τὸ χρυσόμαλλον δέρος, καὶ τὸ κῆτος ἀνελόντος, ἀπεστέρησε τῶν ὡμολογημένων ἵππων, περὶ ὧν ἐν τοῖς Ἀργοναύτοις τὰ κατὰ μέρος μικρὸν ὕστερον διέξιμεν. καὶ τότε μὲν διὰ τὴν μετʼ Ἰάσονος στρατείαν ἀσχοληθείς, ὕστερον δὲ λαβὼν καιρὸν ἐπὶ τὴν Τροίαν ἐστράτευσεν, ὡς μέν τινές φασι, ναυσὶ μακραῖς ὀκτωκαίδεκα, ὡς δὲ Ὅμηρος γέγραφεν, ἓξ ταῖς ἁπάσαις, ἐν οἷς παρεισάγει τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ Τληπόλεμον λέγοντα ἀλλʼ οἷόν τινά φασι βίην Ἡρακληείην εἶναι, ἐμὸν πατέρα θρασυμέμνονα, θυμολέοντα, ὅς ποτε δεῦρʼ ἐλθὼν ἕνεχʼ ἵππων Λαομέδοντος ἓξ οἴῃς σὺν νηυσὶ καὶ ἀνδράσι παυροτέροισιν Ἰλίου ἐξαλάπαξε πόλιν, χήρωσε δʼ ἀγυιάς. ὁ δʼ οὖν Ἡρακλῆς καταπλεύσας εἰς τὴν Τρῳάδα αὐτὸς μὲν μετὰ τῶν ἀρίστων προῆγεν ἐπὶ τὴν πόλιν, ἐπὶ δὲ τῶν νεῶν ἀπέλιπεν ἡγεμόνα τὸν Ἀμφιαράου υἱὸν Οἰκλέα. Λαομέδων δʼ ἀπροσδοκήτου τῆς παρουσίας τῶν πολεμίων γενομένης δύναμιν ἀξιόλογον συναγαγεῖν ἐξεκλείσθη διὰ τὴν ὀξύτητα τῶν καιρῶν, ἀθροίσας δʼ ὅσους ἐδύνατο, μετὰ τούτων ἦλθεν ἐπὶ τὰς ναῦς, ἐλπίζων, εἰ ταύτας ἐμπρήσειε, τέλος ἐπιθήσειν τῷ πολέμῳ. τοῦ δὲ Οἰκλέους ἀπαντήσαντος, ὁ μὲν στρατηγὸς Οἰκλῆς ἔπεσεν, οἱ δὲ λοιποὶ συνδιωχθέντες εἰς τὰς ναῦς ἔφθασαν ἀναπλεύσαντες ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς. Λαομέδων δʼ ἐπανελθὼν καὶ πρὸς τῇ πόλει τοῖς μεθʼ Ἡρακλέους συμβαλὼν αὐτός τε ἔπεσε καὶ τῶν συναγωνιζομένων οἱ πλείους· Ἡρακλῆς δὲ τὴν πόλιν ἑλὼν κατὰ κράτος καὶ πολλοὺς ἐν χειρῶν νόμῳ κατασφάξας, Πριάμῳ τὴν βασιλείαν ἀπέδωκε τῶν Ἰλιαδῶν διὰ τὴν δικαιοσύνην· οὗτος γὰρ μόνος τῶν υἱῶν τοῦ Λαομέδοντος ἐναντιούμενος τῷ πατρὶ τὰς ἵππους ἀποδοῦναι συνεβούλευσεν τῷ Ἡρακλεῖ κατὰ τὰς ἐπαγγελίας. ὁ δʼ Ἡρακλῆς ἐστεφάνωσε Τελαμῶνα ἀριστείοις, δοὺς αὐτῷ τὴν Λαομέδοντος θυγατέρα Ἡσιόνην· οὗτος γὰρ κατὰ τὴν πολιορκίαν πρῶτος βιασάμενος εἰσέπεσεν εἰς τὴν πόλιν, Ἡρακλέους προσβαλόντος κατὰ τὸ καρτερώτατον μέρος τοῦ τείχους τῆς ἀκροπόλεως.
After this Heracles, returning to Peloponnesus, made war against Ilium, since he had a ground of complaint against its king, Laomedon. For when Heracles was on the expedition with Jason to get the Golden Fleece and had slain the sea-monster, Laomedon had withheld from him the mares which he had agreed to give him and of which we shall give a detailed account a little later in connection with the Argonauts. 2 At that time Heracles had not had the leisure, since he was engaged upon the expedition of Jason, but later he found an opportunity and made war upon Troy with eighteen ships of war, as some say, but, as Homer writes, with six in all, when he introduces Heracles' son Tlepolemus as saying: Aye, what a man, they say, was Heracles In might, my father he, steadfast, with heart Of lion, who once came here to carry off The mares of King Laomedon, with but Six ships and scantier men, yet sacked he then The city of proud Ilium, and made Her streets bereft. When Heracles, then, had landed on the coast of the Troad, he advanced in person with his select troops against the city and left in command of the ships Oicles, the son of Amphiaraus. And since the presence of the enemy had not been expected, it proved impossible for Laomedon, on account of the exigencies of the moment, to collect a passable army, but gathering as many soldiers as he could he advanced with them against the ships, in the hope that if he could burn them he could bring an end to the war. Oicles came out to meet him, but when he, the general, fell, the rest succeeded in making good their flight to the ships and in putting out to sea from the land. 4 Laomedon then withdrew and joining combat with the troops of Heracles near the city he was slain himself and most of the soldiers with him. Heracles then took the city by storm and after slaughtering many of its inhabitants in the action he gave the kingdom of the Iliadae to Priam because of his sense of justice; for Priam was the only one of the sons of Laomedon who had opposed his father and had counselled him to give the mares back to Heracles, as he had promised to do. And Heracles crowned Telamon with the meed of valour by bestowing upon him Hesione the daughter of Laomedon, for in the siege he had been the first to force his way into the city, while Heracles was assaulting the strongest section of the wall of the acropolis.
§ 4.33
μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Ἡρακλῆς μὲν ἐπανελθὼν εἰς Πελοπόννησον ἐστράτευσεν ἐπʼ Αὐγέαν διὰ τὴν ἀποστέρησιν τοῦ μισθοῦ· γενομένης δὲ μάχης πρὸς τοὺς Ἠλείους, τότε μὲν ἄπρακτος ἐπανῆλθεν εἰς Ὤλενον πρὸς Δεξαμενόν· τῆς δὲ τούτου θυγατρὸς Ἱππολύτης συνοικιζομένης Ἀζᾶνι, συνδειπνῶν Ἡρακλῆς καὶ θεασάμενος ἐν τοῖς γάμοις ὑβρίζοντα τὸν Κένταυρον Εὐρυτίωνα καὶ τὴν Ἱππολύτην βιαζόμενον, ἀπέκτεινεν. εἰς Τίρυνθα δὲ Ἡρακλέους ἐπανελθόντος, Εὐρυσθεὺς αἰτιασάμενος αὐτὸν ἐπιβουλεύειν τῇ βασιλείᾳ προσέταξεν ἀπελθεῖν ἐκ Τίρυνθος αὐτόν τε καὶ τὴν Ἀλκμήνην καὶ Ἰφικλέα καὶ Ἰόλαον. διόπερ ἀναγκασθεὶς ἔφυγε μετὰ τούτων καὶ κατῴκησε τῆς Ἀρκαδίας ἐν Φενεῷ. ἐντεῦθεν δὲ ὁρμώμενος, καὶ πυθόμενος ἐξ Ἤλιδος πομπὴν ἀποστέλλεσθαι Ποσειδῶνι εἰς Ἰσθμόν, καὶ ταύτης ἀφηγεῖσθαι Εὔρυτον τὸν Αὐγέου, προσπεσὼν ἄφνω τὸν Εὔρυτον ἀπέκτεινε περὶ Κλεωνάς, ἔνθα νῦν ἐστιν ἱερὸν Ἡρακλέους. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα στρατεύσας ἐπὶ τὴν Ἦλιν τόν τε βασιλέα ἐφόνευσεν Αὐγέαν, καὶ τὴν πόλιν ἑλὼν κατὰ κράτος Φυλέα τὸν Αὐγέου μετεπέμψατο, καὶ τούτῳ τὴν βασιλείαν παρέδωκεν· ἦν γὰρ ὑπὸ τοῦ πατρὸς πεφυγαδευμένος καθʼ ὃν καιρὸν δικαστὴς γενόμενος τῷ πατρὶ πρὸς Ἡρακλέα περὶ τοῦ μισθοῦ τὸ νίκημα ἀπέδωκεν Ἡρακλεῖ. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Ἱπποκόων μὲν ἐφυγάδευσεν ἐκ τῆς Σπάρτης τὸν ἀδελφὸν Τυνδάρεων, Οἰωνὸν δὲ τὸν Λικυμνίου φίλον ὄντα Ἡρακλέους οἱ υἱοὶ τοῦ Ἱπποκόωντος εἴκοσι τὸν ἀριθμὸν ὄντες ἀπέκτειναν· ἐφʼ οἷς ἀγανακτήσας Ἡρακλῆς ἐστράτευσεν ἐπʼ αὐτούς· μεγάλῃ δὲ μάχῃ νικήσας παμπληθεῖς ἀπέκτεινε. τὴν δὲ Σπάρτην ἑλὼν κατὰ κράτος, κατήγαγεν ἐπὶ τὴν βασιλείαν Τυνδάρεων τὸν πατέρα τῶν Διοσκόρων, καὶ τὴν βασιλείαν ὡς δορίκτητον Τυνδάρεῳ παρέθετο, προστάξας τοῖς ἀφʼ ἑαυτοῦ γενομένοις φυλάττειν. ἔπεσον δʼ ἐν τῇ μάχῃ τῶν μὲν μεθʼ Ἡρακλέους ὀλίγοι παντελῶς, ἐν οἷς ἦσαν ἐπιφανεῖς ἄνδρες Ἴφικλος καὶ Κηφεὺς καὶ Κηφέως υἱοὶ τὸν ἀριθμὸν ὄντες ἑπτακαίδεκα· τρεῖς γὰρ ἀπὸ τῶν εἴκοσι μόνον διεσώθησαν· τῶν δʼ ἐναντίων αὐτός τε ὁ Ἱπποκόων καὶ μετʼ αὐτοῦ δέκα μὲν υἱοί, τῶν δʼ ἄλλων Σπαρτιατῶν παμπληθεῖς. ἀπὸ δὲ ταύτης τῆς στρατείας ἐπανιὼν εἰς τὴν Ἀρκαδίαν, καὶ καταλύσας παρὰ Ἄλεῳ τῷ βασιλεῖ, τῇ θυγατρὶ τούτου λάθρᾳ μιγεὶς Αὔγῃ καὶ ταύτην ποιήσας ἔγκυον εἰς Στύμφαλον ἐπανῆλθεν. Ἄλεως δʼ ἀγνοῶν τὸ πεπραγμένον, ὡς ὁ τῆς γαστρὸς ὄγκος ἐμήνυσε τὴν φθοράν, ἐζήτει τὸν φθείραντα. τῆς δʼ Αὔγης ἀποφαινομένης ὅτι βιάσαιτο αὐτὴν Ἡρακλῆς, ἀπιστήσας τοῖς ὑπὸ ταύτης λεγομένοις ταύτην μὲν παρέδωκε Ναυπλίῳ φίλῳ καθεστῶτι, καὶ προσέταξε καταποντίσαι. Αὔγη δʼ ἀπαγομένη εἰς Ναυπλίαν, καὶ γενομένη κατὰ τὸ Παρθένιον ὄρος, ὑπὸ τῶν ὠδίνων καταβαρουμένη παρῆλθεν εἰς τὴν πλησίον ὕλην ὡς ἐπί τινα χρείαν ἀναγκαίαν· τεκοῦσα δὲ παιδίον ἄρρεν ἀπέλιπε τὸ βρέφος εἴς τινας θάμνους κρύψασα. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Αὔγη μὲν ἀπηλλάγη πρὸς τὸν Ναύπλιον, καὶ καταντήσασα τῆς Ἀργείας εἰς τὸν ἐν Ναυπλίᾳ λιμένα παραδόξου σωτηρίας ἔτυχεν· ὁ γὰρ Ναύπλιος καταποντίσαι μὲν αὐτὴν κατὰ τὰς ἐντολὰς οὐκ ἔκρινε, ξένοις δέ τισι Καρσὶν ἀναγομένοις εἰς τὴν Ἀσίαν δωρήσασθαι· οὗτοι δʼ ἀπαγαγόντες εἰς τὴν Ἀσίαν ἀπέδοντο τὴν Αὔγην τῷ βασιλεῖ τῆς Μυσίας Τεύθραντι. τὸ δʼ ἀπολειφθὲν ἐν τῷ Παρθενίῳ βρέφος ὑπὸ τῆς Αὔγης βουκόλοι τινὲς Κορύθου τοῦ βασιλέως εὑρόντες ὑπό τινος ἐλάφου τῷ μαστῷ τρεφόμενον, ἐδωρήσαντο τῷ δεσπότῃ. ὁ δὲ Κόρυθος παραλαβὼν τὸ παιδίον ἀσμένως ὡς ἴδιον υἱὸν ἔτρεφε, προσαγορεύσας Τήλεφον ὰπὸ τῆς τρεφούσης ἐλάφου. Τήλεφος δʼ ἀνδρωθεὶς καὶ τὴν μητέρα μαθεῖν σπεύδων, παρῆλθεν εἰς Δελφούς, καὶ χρησμὸν ἔλαβε πλεῖν εἰς τὴν Μυσίαν πρὸς Τεύθραντα τὸν βασιλέα. ἀνευρὼν δὲ τὴν μητέρα, καὶ γνωσθεὶς τίνος ἦν πατρός, ἀποδοχῆς ἐτύγχανε τῆς μεγίστης. ὁ δὲ Τεύθρας ἄπαις ὢν ἀρρένων παίδων τὴν θυγατέρα Ἀργιόπην συνῴκισε τῷ Τηλέφῳ, καὶ διάδοχον ἀπέδειξε τῆς βασιλείας.
After this Heracles returned to Peloponnesus and set out against Augeas, since the latter had defrauded him of his reward. It came to a battle between him and the Eleans, but on this occasion he had no success and so returned to Olenus to Dexamenus. The latter's daughter Hippolyte was being joined in marriage to Azan, and when Heracles, as he sat at the wedding feast, observed the Centaur Eurytion acting in an insulting manner towards Hippolyte and endeavouring to do violence to her, he slew him. 2 When Heracles returned to Tiryns, Eurystheus charged him with plotting to seize the kingdom and commanded that he and Alcmene and Iphicles and Iolaus should depart from Tiryns. Consequently he was forced to go into exile along with these just mentioned and made his dwelling in Pheneus in Arcadia. This city he took for his headquarters, and learning once that a sacred procession had been sent forth from Elis to the Isthmus in honour of Poseidon and that Eurytus, the son of Augeas, was at the head of it, he fell unexpectedly upon Eurytus and killed him near Kleonai, where a temple of Heracles still stands. 4 After this he made war upon Elis and slew Augeas its king, and taking the city by storm he recalled Phyleus, the son of Augeas, and gave the kingdom into his hands; for the son had been exiled by his father at the time when he had served as arbitrator between his father and Heracles in the matter of the reward and had given the decision to Heracles. After this Hippocoon exiled from Sparta his brother Tyndareus, and the sons of Hippocoon, twenty in number, put to death Oionus who was the son of Licymnius and a friend of Heracles; whereupon Heracles was angered and set out against them, and being victorious in a great battle he made a slaughter of every man of them. Then, taking Sparta by storm he restored Tyndareus, who was the father of the Dioscori, to his kingdom and bestowed upon him the kingdom on the ground that it was his by right of war, commanding him to keep it safe for Heracles' own descendants. 6 There fell in the battle but a very few of the comrades of Heracles, though among them were famous men, such as Iphiclus and Cepheus and seventeen sons of Cepheus, since only three of his twenty sons came out alive; whereas of the opponents Hippocoon himself fell, and ten sons along with him, and vast numbers of the rest of the Spartans. 7 From this campaign Heracles returned into Arcadia, and as he stopped at the home of Aleos the king he lay secretly with his daughter Auge, brought her with child, and went back to Stymphalus. 8 Aleos was ignorant of what had taken place, but when the bulk of the child in the womb betrayed the violation of his daughter he inquired who had violated her. And when Auge disclosed that it was Heracles who had done violence to her, he would not believe what she had said, but gave her into the hands of Nauplius his friend with orders to drown her in the sea. 9 But as Auge was being led off to Nauplia and was near Mount Parthenium, she felt herself overcome by the birth-pains and withdrew into a near-by thicket as if to perform a certain necessary act; here she gave birth to a male child, and hiding the babe in some bushes she left it there. After doing this Auge went back to Nauplius, and when she had arrived at the harbour of Nauplia in Argolis she was saved from death in an unexpected manner. 10 Nauplius, that is, decided not to drown her, as he had been ordered, but to make a gift of her to some Carians who were setting out for Asia; and these men took Auge to Asia and gave her to Teuthras the king of Mysia. 11 As for the babe that had been left on Parthenium by Auge, certain herdsmen belonging to Corythus the king came upon it as it was getting its food from the teat of a hind and brought it as a gift to their master. Corythus received the child gladly, raised him as if he were his own son, and named him Telephus after the hind (elaphos) which had suckled it. After Telephus had come to manhood, being seized with the desire to learn who his mother was, he went to Delphi and received the reply to sail to Mysia to Teuthras the king. 12 Here he discovered his mother, and when it was known who his father was he received the heartiest welcome. And since Teuthras had no male children he joined his daughter Argiope in marriage to Telephus and named him his successor to the kingdom.
§ 4.34
Ἡρακλῆς δὲ μετὰ τὴν ἐν Φενεῷ κατοίκησιν ἔτει πέμπτῳ, δυσφορῶν ἐπὶ τῷ τετελευτηκέναι Οἰωνὸν τὸν Λικυμνίου καὶ Ἴφικλον τὸν ἀδελφόν, ἀπῆλθεν ἑκουσίως ἐξ Ἀρκαδίας καὶ πάσης Πελοποννήσου. συναπελθόντων δʼ αὐτῷ πολλῶν ἐκ τῆς Ἀρκαδίας, ἀπῆλθε τῆς Αἰτωλίας εἰς Καλυδῶνα κἀκεῖ κατῴκησεν. οὐκ ὄντων δʼ αὐτῷ παίδων γνησίων οὐδὲ γαμετῆς γυναικός, ἔγημε Δηιάνειραν τὴν Οἰνέως, τετελευτηκότος ἤδη Μελεάγρου. οὐκ ἀνοίκειον δʼ εἶναι νομίζομεν βραχὺ παρεκβάντας ἡμᾶς ἀπαγγεῖλαι τὴν περὶ τὸν Μελέαγρον περιπέτειαν. Οἰνεὺς γάρ, γενομένης εὐκαρπίας αὐτῷ τοῦ σίτου, τοῖς μὲν ἄλλοις θεοῖς ἐτέλεσε θυσίας, μόνης δὲ τῆς Ἀρτέμιδος ὠλιγώρησεν· δι’ ἣν αἰτίαν ἡ θεὸς αὐτῷ μηνίσασα τὸν διαβεβοημένον Καλυδώνιον ὗν ἀνῆκεν, ὑπερφυῆ τὸ μέγεθος. οὗτος δὲ τὴν σύνεγγυς χώραν καταφθείρων τὰς κτήσεις ἐλυμαίνετο· διόπερ Μελέαγρος ὁ Οἰνέως, τὴν μὲν ἡλικίαν μάλιστα ἀκμάζων, ῥώμῃ δὲ καὶ ἀνδρείᾳ διαφέρων, παρέλαβε πολλοὺς τῶν ἀρίστων ἐπὶ τὴν τούτου κυνηγίαν. πρώτου δὲ Μελεάγρου τὸ θηρίον ἀκοντίσαντος, ὁμολογούμενον αὐτῷ τὸ πρωτεῖον συνεχωρήθη· τοῦτο δʼ ἦν ἡ δορὰ τοῦ ζῴου. μετεχούσης δὲ τῆς κυνηγίας Ἀταλάντης τῆς Σχοινέως, ἐρασθεὶς αὐτῆς ὁ Μελέαγρος παρεχώρησε τῆς δορᾶς καὶ τοῦ κατὰ τὴν ἀριστείαν ἐπαίνου. ἐπὶ δὲ τοῖς πραχθεῖσιν οἱ Θεστίου παῖδες συγκυνηγοῦντες ἠγανάκτησαν, ὅτι ξένην γυναῖκα προετίμησεν αὐτῶν, παραπέμψας τὴν οἰκειότητα. διόπερ ἀκυροῦντες τοῦ Μελεάγρου τὴν δωρεὰν ἐνήδρευσαν Ἀταλάντῃ, καὶ κατὰ τὴν εἰς Ἀρκαδίαν ἐπάνοδον ἐπιθέμενοι τὴν δορὰν ἀφείλοντο. Μελέαγρος δὲ διά τε τὸν πρὸς τὴν Ἀταλάντην ἔρωτα καὶ διὰ τὴν ἀτιμίαν παροξυνθείς, ἐβοήθησε τῇ Ἀταλάντῃ. καὶ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον παρεκάλει τοὺς ἡρπακότας ἀποδοῦναι τῇ γυναικὶ τὸ δοθὲν ἀριστεῖον· ὡς δʼ οὐ προσεῖχον, ἀπέκτεινεν αὐτούς, ὄντας τῆς Ἀλθαίας ἀδελφούς. διόπερ ἡ μὲν Ἀλθαία γενομένη περιαλγὴς ἐπὶ τῇ τῶν ὁμαίμων ἀναιρέσει ἀρὰς ἔθετο, καθʼ ἃς ἠξίωσεν ἀποθανεῖν Μελέαγρον· καὶ τοὺς ἀθανάτους ὑπακούσαντας ἐπενεγκεῖν αὐτῷ τὴν τοῦ βίου καταστροφήν. ἔνιοι δὲ μυθολογοῦσιν ὅτι κατὰ τὴν Μελεάγρου γένεσιν τῇ Ἀλθαίᾳ τὰς Μοίρας καθʼ ὕπνον ἐπιστάσας εἰπεῖν ὅτι τότε τελευτήσει Μελέαγρος ὁ υἱὸς αὐτῆς, ὅταν ὁ δαλὸς κατακαυθῇ. διόπερ τεκοῦσαν, καὶ νομίσασαν ἐν τῇ τοῦ δαλοῦ φυλακῇ τὴν σωτηρίαν τοῦ τέκνου κεῖσθαι, τὸν δαλὸν ἐπιμελῶς τηρεῖν. ὕστερον δʼ ἐπὶ τῷ φόνῳ τῶν ἀδελφῶν παροξυνθεῖσαν κατακαῦσαι τὸν δαλὸν καὶ τῷ Μελεάγρῳ τῆς τελευτῆς αἰτίαν καταστῆναι· ἀεὶ δὲ μᾶλλον ἐπὶ τοῖς πεπραγμένοις λυπουμένην τὸ τέλος ἀγχόνῃ τὸν βίον καταστρέψαι.
In the fifth year after Heracles had changed his residence to Pheneus, being grieved over the death of Oionus, the son of Licymnius, and of Iphiclus his brother, he removed of his free will from Arcadia and all Peloponnesus. There withdrew with him a great many people of Arcadia and he went to Calydon in Aitolia and made his home there. And since he had neither legitimate children nor a lawful wife, he married Deianeira, the daughter of Oineus, Meleager being now dead. In this connection it would not, in our opinion, be inappropriate for us to digress briefly and to speak of the reversal of fortune which befell Meleager. 2 The facts are these: Once when Oineus had an excellent crop of grain, he offered sacrifices to the other gods, but neglected Artemis alone; and angered at him for this the goddess sent forth against him the famous Calydonian Boar, a creature of enormous size. This animal harried the neighbouring land and damaged the farms; whereupon Meleager, the son of Oineus, being then in the bloom of youth and excelling in strength and in courage, took along with himself many of the bravest men and set out to hunt the beast. Meleager was the first to plunge his javelin into it and by general agreement was accorded the reward of valour, which consisted of the skin of the animal. 4 But Atalante, the daughter of Schoeneus, participated in the hunt, and since Meleager was enamoured of her, he relinquished in her favour the skin and the praise for the greatest bravery. The sons of Thestius, however, who had also joined in the hunt, were angered at what he had done, since he had honoured a stranger woman above them and set kinship aside. Consequently, setting at naught the award which Meleager had made, they lay in wait for Atalante, and falling upon her as she returned to Arcadia took from her the skin. Meleager, however, was deeply incensed both because of the love which he bore Atalante and because of the dishonour shown her, and espoused the cause of Atalante. And first of all he urged the robbers to return to the woman the meed of valour which he had given her; and when they paid no heed to him he slew them, although they were brothers of Althaea. Consequently Althaea, overcome with anguish at the slaying of the men of her own blood, uttered a curse in which she demanded the death of Meleager; and the immortals, so the account runs, gave heed to her and made an end of his life. 6 But certain writers of myths give the following account: — At the time of the birth of Meleager the Fates stood over Althaea in her sleep and said to her that her son Meleager would die at the moment when the brand in the fire had been consumed. Consequently, when she had given birth, she believed that the safety of her child depended upon the preservation of the brand and so she guarded the brand with every care. 7 Afterward, however, being deeply incensed at the murder of her brothers, she burned the brand and so made herself the cause of the death of Meleager; but as time went on she grieved more and more over what she had done and finally made an end of her life by hanging.
§ 4.35
ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις Ἱππόνουν ἐν Ὠλένῳ πρὸς τὴν θυγατέρα Περίβοιαν, φάσκουσαν αὑτὴν ἐξ Ἄρεος ὑπάρχειν ἔγκυον, διενεχθέντα πέμψαι ταύτην εἰς Αἰτωλίαν πρὸς Οἰνέα καὶ παρακελεύσασθαι ταύτην ἀφανίσαι τὴν ταχίστην. ὁ δʼ Οἰνεὺς ἀπολωλεκὼς προσφάτως υἱὸν καὶ γυναῖκα, τὸ μὲν ἀποκτεῖναι τὴν Περίβοιαν ἀπέγνω, γήμας δʼ αὐτὴν ἐγέννησεν υἱὸν Τυδέα. τὰ μὲν οὖν περὶ Μελέαγρον καὶ Ἀλθαίαν, ἔτι δʼ Οἰνέα τοιαύτης ἔτυχε διεξόδου. Ἡρακλῆς δὲ τοῖς Καλυδωνίοις βουλόμενος χαρίσασθαι τὸν Ἀχελῷον ποταμὸν ἀπέστρεψε, καὶ ῥύσιν ἄλλην κατασκευάσας ἀπέλαβε χώραν πολλὴν καὶ πάμφορον, ἀρδευομένην ὑπὸ τοῦ προειρημένου ῥείθρου. διὸ καὶ τῶν ποιητῶν τινας μυθοποιῆσαι τὸ πραχθέν· παρεισήγαγον γὰρ τὸν Ἡρακλέα πρὸς τὸν Ἀχελῷον συνάψαι μάχην, ὡμοιωμένου τοῦ ποταμοῦ ταύρῳ, κατὰ δὲ τὴν συμπλοκὴν θάτερον τῶν κεράτων κλάσαντα δωρήσασθαι τοῖς Αἰτωλοῖς, ὃ προσαγορεῦσαι κέρας Ἀμαλθείας. ἐν ᾧ πλάττουσι πλῆθος ὑπάρχειν πάσης ὀπωρινῆς ὥρας, βοτρύων τε καὶ μήλων καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν τοιούτων, αἰνιττομένων τῶν ποιητῶν κέρας μὲν τοῦ Ἀχελῴου τὸ διὰ τῆς διώρυχος φερόμενον ῥεῖθρον, τὰ δὲ μῆλα καὶ τὰς ῥόας καὶ τοὺς βότρυς δηλοῦν τὴν καρποφόρον χώραν τὴν ὑπὸ τοῦ ποταμοῦ ἀρδευομένην καὶ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν καρποφορούντων φυτῶν· Ἀμαλθείας δʼ εἶναι κέρας οἱονεί τινος ἀμαλακιστίας, δι’ ἧς τὴν εὐτονίαν τοῦ κατασκευάσαντος δηλοῦσθαι.
At the time that these things were taking place, the myth continues, Hipponous in Olenus, angered at his daughter Periboea because she claimed that she was with child by Ares, sent her away into Aitolia to Oineus with orders for him to do away with him at the first opportunity. 2 Oineus, however, who had recently lost son and wife, was unwilling to slay Periboea, but married her instead and begat a son Tydeus. Such, then, is the way the story runs of Meleager and Althaea and Oineus. But Heracles, desiring to do a service to the Calydonians, diverted the river Achelous, and making another bed for it he recovered a large amount of fruitful land which was now irrigated by this stream. 4 Consequently certain poets, as we are told, have made this deed into a myth; for they have introduced Heracles as joining battle with Achelous, the river assuming the form of a bull, and as breaking off in the struggle one of his horns, which he gave to the Aitolians. This they call the "Horn of Amaltheia," and represent it as filled with a great quantity of every kind of autumn fruit, such as grapes and apples and the like, the poets signifying in this obscure manner by the horn of Achelous the stream which ran through the canal, and by the apples and pomegranates and grapes the fruitful land which was watered by the river and the multitude of its fruitbearing plants. Moreover, they say that the phrase "Amaltheia's Horn" is used as of a quality incapable of being softened (a-malakistia), whereby is indicated the tense vigour of the man who built the work.
§ 4.36
Ἡρακλῆς δὲ τοῖς Καλυδωνίοις συστρατεύσας ἐπὶ Θεσπρωτοὺς πόλιν τε Ἐφύραν κατὰ κράτος εἷλε καὶ Φυλέα τὸν βασιλέα τῶν Θεσπρωτῶν ἀπέκτεινε. λαβὼν δὲ αἰχμάλωτον τὴν θυγατέρα τοῦ Φυλέως ἐπεμίγη ταύτῃ καὶ ἐτέκνωσε Τληπόλεμον. μετὰ δὲ τὸν Δηιανείρας γάμον τρισὶν ὕστερον ἔτεσι δειπνῶν παρʼ Οἰνεῖ, διακονοῦντος Εὐρυνόμου τοῦ Ἀρχιτέλους υἱοῦ, παιδὸς τὴν ἡλικίαν, ἁμαρτάνοντος δʼ ἐν τῷ διακονεῖν, πατάξας κονδύλῳ, καὶ βαρυτέρας τῆς πληγῆς γενομένης, ἀπέκτεινεν ἀκουσίως τὸν παῖδα. περιαλγὴς δὲ γενόμενος ἐπὶ τῷ πάθει πάλιν ἐκ τῆς Καλυδῶνος ἑκουσίως ἔφυγε μετὰ τῆς γυναικὸς Δηιανείρας καὶ Ὕλλου τοῦ ἐκ ταύτης, παιδὸς ὄντος τὴν ἡλικίαν. ἐπεὶ δὲ πορευόμενος ἦλθε πρὸς τὸν Εὐηνὸν ποταμὸν, κατέλαβε Νέσσον τὸν Κένταυρον μισθοῦ διαβιβάζοντα τὸν ποταμόν. οὗτος δὲ πρώτην διαβιβάσας τὴν Δηιάνειραν, καὶ διὰ τὸ κάλλος ἐρασθείς, ἐπεχείρησε βιάσασθαι ταύτην. ἐπιβοωμένης δʼ αὐτῆς τὸν ἄνδρα, ὁ μὲν Ἡρακλῆς ἐτόξευσε τὸν Κένταυρον, ὁ δὲ Νέσσος μεταξὺ μισγόμενος, καὶ διὰ τὴν ὀξύτητα τῆς πληγῆς εὐθὺς ἀποθνήσκων, ἔφησε τῇ Δηιανείρᾳ δώσειν φίλτρον, ὅπως μηδεμιᾷ τῶν ἄλλων γυναικῶν Ἡρακλῆς θελήσῃ πλησιάσαι. παρεκελεύσατο οὖν λαβοῦσαν τὸν ἐξ αὑτοῦ πεσόντα γόνον, καὶ τούτῳ προσμίξασαν ἔλαιον καὶ τὸ ἀπὸ τῆς ἀκίδος ἀποστάζον αἷμα, χρῖσαι τὸν χιτῶνα τοῦ Ἡρακλέους. οὗτος μὲν οὖν ταύτην τὴν ὑποθήκην δοὺς τῇ Δηιανείρᾳ παραχρῆμα ἐξέπνευσεν. ἡ δὲ κατὰ τὴν γενομένην ὑπὸ τοῦ Νέσσου παραγγελίαν εἰς ἄγγος ἀναλαβοῦσα τὸν γόνον, καὶ τὴν ἀκίδα βάψασα, λάθρᾳ τοῦ Ἡρακλέους ἐφύλαττεν. ὁ δὲ διαβὰς τὸν ποταμὸν κατήντησε πρὸς Κήυκα τὸν τῆς Τραχῖνος βασιλέα, καὶ μετὰ τούτου κατῴκησεν, ἔχων τοὺς ἀεὶ συστρατεύοντας τῶν Ἀρκάδων.
Heracles took the field with the Calydonians against the Thesprotians, captured the city of Ephyra by storm, and slew Phyleus the king of the Thesprotians. 2 And taking prisoner the daughter of Phyleus he lay with her and begat Tlepolemus. Three years after his marriage to Deianeira Heracles was dining in the home of Oineus and Eurynomus, the son of Architeles, who was still a lad in years, was serving him, and when the boy made some slip in the service Heracles gave him a blow with his fist, and striking him too hard he unintentionally killed the lad. Overcome with grief at this misfortune he went again into voluntary exile from Calydonia along with his wife Deianeira and Hyllus, his son by her, who was still a boy in years. And when in his journeying he arrived at the Euenus river he found there the Centaur Nessus who was conveying travellers across the river for a fee. 4 Nessus carried Deianeira carry first, and becoming enamoured of her because of her beauty he tried to assault her. But when she called to her husband for help Heracles shot the Centaur with an arrow, and Nessus, struck even while he was having intercourse with her and because of the sharpness of the blow being at once on the point of death, told Deianeira that he would give her a lovecharm to the end that Heracles should never desire to approach any other woman. He urged her, accordingly, to take the seed which had fallen from him and, mixing it with olive oil and the blood which was dripping from the barb of the arrow, to anoint with this the shirt of Heracles. This counsel, then, Nessus gave Deianeira and at once breathed his last. And she put the seed, as Nessus had enjoined upon her, into a jar and dipped in it the barb of the arrow and kept it all unknown to Heracles. And he, after crossing the river, came to Ceyx, the king of Trachis, and made his dwelling with him, having with him the Arcadians who always accompanied him on his campaigns.
§ 4.37
μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Φύλαντος τοῦ Δρυόπων βασιλέως δόξαντος εἰς τὸ ἐν Δελφοῖς ἱερὸν παρανενομηκέναι, στρατεύσας μετὰ Μηλιέων τόν τε βασιλέα τῶν Δρυόπων ἀνεῖλε καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους ἐκ τῆς χώρας ἐξαναστήσας Μηλιεῦσι παρέδωκε τὴν χώραν· τὴν δὲ Φύλαντος θυγατέρα λαβὼν αἰχμάλωτον καὶ μιγεὶς αὐτῇ υἱὸν Ἀντίοχον ἐγέννησεν. ἐτέκνωσε δὲ καὶ ἐκ τῆς Δηιανείρας νεωτέρους τοῦ Ὕλλου υἱοὺς δύο, Γληνέα καὶ Ὁδίτην. τῶν δʼ ἐκπεσόντων Δρυόπων οἱ μὲν εἰς τὴν Εὔβοιαν καταντήσαντες ἔκτισαν πόλιν Κάρυστον, οἱ δʼ εἰς Κύπρον τὴν νῆσον πλεύσαντες καὶ τοῖς ἐγχωρίοις ἀναμιχθέντες ἐνταῦθα κατῴκησαν, οἱ δὲ λοιποὶ τῶν Δρυόπων καταφυγόντες ἐπὶ τὸν Εὐρυσθέα βοηθείας ἔτυχον διὰ τὴν ἔχθραν τὴν πρὸς Ἡρακλέα· τούτου γὰρ αὐτοῖς συνεργοῦντος τρεῖς πόλεις ᾤκισαν ἐν Πελοποννήσῳ, Ἀσίνην καὶ Ἑρμιόνην, ἔτι δʼ Ἠιόνα. μετὰ δὲ τὴν Δρυόπων ἀνάστασιν, πολέμου συνεστῶτος τοῖς Δωριεῦσι τοῖς τὴν Ἑστιαιῶτιν καλουμένην οἰκοῦσιν, ὧν ἐβασίλευεν Αἰγίμιος, καὶ τοῖς Λαπίθαις τοῖς περὶ τὸν Ὄλυμπον ἱδρυμένοις, ὧν ἐδυνάστευε Κόρωνος ὁ Καινέως, ὑπερεχόντων δὲ τῶν Λαπιθῶν πολὺ ταῖς δυνάμεσιν, οἱ Δωριεῖς κατέφυγον ἐπὶ τὸν Ἡρακλέα, καὶ σύμμαχον αὐτὸν ἐκάλεσαν ἐπὶ τρίτῳ μέρει τῆς Δωρίδος χώρας καὶ τῆς βασιλείας· πείσαντες δὲ κοινῇ τὴν ἐπὶ τοὺς Λαπίθας στρατείαν ἐποιήσαντο. ὁ δʼ Ἡρακλῆς ἔχων ἀεὶ τοὺς μεθʼ ἑαυτοῦ στρατεύσαντας Ἀρκάδας, καὶ μετὰ τούτων χειρωσάμενος τοὺς Λαπίθας, αὐτόν τε τὸν βασιλέα Κόρωνον ἀνεῖλε καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τοὺς πλείστους κατακόψας ἠνάγκασεν ἐκχωρῆσαι τῆς ἀμφισβητησίμου χώρας. τούτων δὲ πραχθέντων, Αἰγιμίῳ μὲν τὸ ἐπιβάλλον τῆς χώρας τρίτον μέρος παρέθετο καὶ παρεκελεύσατο φυλάττειν τοῖς ἀπʼ αὐτοῦ· ἐπανιὼν δʼ εἰς Τραχῖνα, καὶ προκληθεὶς ὑπὸ Κύκνου τοῦ Ἄρεος, τοῦτον μὲν ἀπέκτεινεν, ἐκ δὲ τῆς Ἰτώνου πορευόμενος καὶ διὰ τῆς Πελασγιώτιδος γῆς βαδίζων Ὀρμενίῳ τῷ βασιλεῖ συνέμιξεν, οὗ τὴν θυγατέρα ἐμνήστευεν Ἀστυδάμειαν· οὐ προσέχοντος δʼ αὐτοῦ διὰ τὸ ἔχειν αὐτὸν γαμετὴν Δηιάνειραν τὴν Οἰνέως, στρατεύσας ἐπʼ αὐτὸν τήν τε πόλιν εἷλε καὶ τὸν ἀπειθοῦντα βασιλέα ἀπέκτεινε, τὴν δʼ Ἀστυδάμειαν αἰχμάλωτον λαβών, καὶ μιγεὶς αὐτῇ, Κτήσιππον υἱὸν ἐγέννησε. ταῦτα δὲ διαπραξάμενος ἐστράτευσεν εἰς τὴν Οἰχαλίαν ἐπὶ τοὺς Εὐρύτου παῖδας, ὅτι τὴν Ἰόλην μνηστεύσας ἀπέτυχε· συναγωνιζομένων δʼ αὐτῷ τῶν Ἀρκάδων, τήν τε πόλιν εἷλε καὶ τοὺς Εὐρύτου παῖδας ἀπέκτεινε, Τοξέα καὶ Μολίονα καὶ Κλυτίον. λαβὼν δὲ καὶ τὴν Ἰόλην αἰχμάλωτον ἀπῆλθε τῆς Εὐβοίας ἐπὶ τὸ ἀκρωτήριον τὸ καλούμενον Κηναῖον.
After this, when Phylas, the king of the Dryopes, had in the eyes of men committed an act of impiety against the temple of Delphi, Heracles took the field against him in company with the inhabitants of Melis, slew the king of the Dryopes, drove the rest of them out of the land, and gave it to the people of Melis; and the daughter of Phylas he took captive and lying with her begat a son Antiochus. By Deianeira he became the father of two sons, younger than Hyllus, Gleneus and Hodites. 2 Of the Dryopes who had been driven from their land some passed over into Euboea and founded there the city Carystus, others sailed to the island of Cyprus, where they mixed with the natives of the island and made their home, while the rest of the Dryopes took refuge with Eurystheus and won his aid because of the enmity which he bore to Heracles; and with the aid of Eurystheus they founded three cities in Peloponnesus, Asine, Hermione, and Eion. After the removal of the Dryopes from their land a war arose between the Dorieis who inhabit the land called Hestiaeotis, whose king was Aegimius, and the Lapithae dwelling about Mount Olympus, whose king was Coronus, the son of Caeneus. And since the Lapithae greatly excelled in the number of their forces, the Dorieis turned to Heracles for aid and implored him to join with them, promising him a third part of the land of Doris and of the kingship, and when they had won him over they made common cause in the campaign against the Lapithae. Heracles had with him the Arcadians who accompanied him on his campaigns, and mastering the Lapithae with their aid he slew king Coronus himself, and massacring most of the rest he compelled them to withdraw from the land which was in dispute. 4 After accomplishing these deeds he entrusted to Aegimius the third part of the land, which was his share, with orders that he keep it in trust in favour of Heracles' descendants. He now returned to Trachis, and upon being challenged to combat by Cycnus, the son of Ares, he slew the man; and as he was leaving the territory of Itonus and was making his way through Pelasgiotis he fell in with Ormenius the king and asked of him the hand of his daughter Astydameia. When Ormenius refused him because he already had for lawful wife Deianeira, the daughter of Oineus, Heracles took the field against him, captured his city, and slew the king who would not obey him, and taking captive Astydameia he lay with her and begat a son Ctesippus. After finishing this exploit he set out to Oichalia to take the field against the sons of Eurytus because he had been refused in his suit for the hand of Iole. The Arcadians again fought on his side and he captured the city and slew the sons of Eurytus, who were Toxeus, Molion, and Clytius. And taking Iole captive he departed from Euboea to the promontory which is called Kenaion.
§ 4.38
ἐνταῦθα δὲ θυσίαν ἐπιτελῶν ἀπέστειλε Λίχαν τὸν ὑπηρέτην εἰς Τραχῖνα πρὸς τὴν γυναῖκα Δηιάνειραν· τούτῳ δὲ προστεταγμένον ἦν αἰτῆσαι χιτῶνα καὶ ἱμάτιον, οἷς εἰώθει χρῆσθαι πρὸς τὰς θυσίας. ἡ δὲ Δηιάνειρα πυθομένη τοῦ Λίχα τὴν πρὸς Ἰόλην φιλοστοργίαν καὶ βουλομένη πλέον ἑαυτὴν ἀγαπᾶσθαι, τὸν χιτῶνα ἔχρισε τῷ παρὰ τοῦ Κενταύρου δεδομένῳ πρὸς ἀπώλειαν φίλτρῳ. ὁ μὲν οὖν Λίχας ἀγνοῶν περὶ τούτων ἀπήνεγκε τὴν ἐσθῆτα πρὸς τὴν θυσίαν· ὁ δʼ Ἡρακλῆς ἐνδὺς τὸν κεχριμένον χιτῶνα, καὶ κατʼ ὀλίγον τῆς τοῦ σηπτικοῦ φαρμάκου δυνάμεως ἐνεργούσης, περιέπεσε συμφορᾷ τῇ μεγίστῃ. τῆς γὰρ ἀκίδος τὸν ἐκ τῆς ἐχίδνης ἰὸν ἀνειληφυίας, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο τοῦ χιτῶνος διὰ τὴν θερμασίαν τὴν σάρκα τοῦ σώματος λυμαινομένου, περιαλγὴς γενόμενος ὁ Ἡρακλῆς τὸν μὲν διακονήσαντα Λίχαν ἀπέκτεινε, τὸ δὲ στρατόπεδον ἀπολύσας ἐπανῆλθεν εἰς τὴν Τραχῖνα. ἀεὶ δὲ μᾶλλον τῇ νόσῳ βαρυνόμενος αὐτὸς μὲν ἀπέστειλεν εἰς Δελφοὺς Λικύμνιον καὶ Ἰόλαον ἐπερωτήσοντας τὸν Ἀπόλλωνα τί χρὴ περὶ τῆς νόσου πράττειν, Δηιάνειρα δὲ τὸ μέγεθος τῆς Ἡρακλέους συμφορᾶς καταπεπληγμένη, καὶ συνειδυῖα ἑαυτῇ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν, ἀγχόνῃ τὸν βίον κατέστρεψεν. ὁ δὲ θεὸς ἔχρησε κομισθῆναι τὸν Ἡρακλέα μετὰ τῆς πολεμικῆς διασκευῆς εἰς τὴν Οἴτην, κατασκευάσαι δὲ πλησίον αὐτοῦ πυρὰν εὐμεγέθη· περὶ δὲ τῶν λοιπῶν ἔφησε Διὶ μελήσειν. τῶν δὲ περὶ τὸν Ἰόλαον ποιησάντων τὰ προστεταγμένα καὶ ἐκ διαστήματος ἀποθεωρούντων τὸ ἀποβησόμενον, ὁ μὲν Ἡρακλῆς ἀπογνοὺς τὰ καθʼ ἑαυτόν, καὶ παρελθὼν εἰς τὴν πυράν, παρεκάλει τὸν ἀεὶ προσιόντα ὑφάψαι τὴν πυράν. οὐδενὸς δὲ τολμῶντος ὑπακοῦσαι μόνος Φιλοκτήτης ἐπείσθη· λαβὼν δὲ τῆς ὑπουργίας χάριν τὴν τῶν τόξων δωρεὰν ἧψε τὴν πυράν. εὐθὺς δὲ καὶ κεραυνῶν ἐκ τοῦ περιέχοντος πεσόντων, ἡ πυρὰ πᾶσα κατεφλέχθη. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα οἱ μὲν περὶ τὸν Ἰόλαον ἐλθόντες ἐπὶ τὴν ὀστολογίαν, καὶ μηδὲν ὅλως ὀστοῦν εὑρόντες, ὑπέλαβον τὸν Ἡρακλέα τοῖς χρησμοῖς ἀκολούθως ἐξ ἀνθρώπων εἰς θεοὺς μεθεστάσθαι·
At Kenaion Heracles, wishing to perform a sacrifice, dispatched his attendant Lichas to Deianeira his wife, commanding him to ask her for the shirt and robe which he customarily wore in the celebration of sacrifices. But when Deianeira learned from Lichas of the love which Heracles had for Iole, she wished him to have a greater affection for herself and so anointed the shirt with the love-charm which had been given her by the Centaur, whose intention was to bring about the death of Heracles. 2 Lichas, then, in ignorance of these matters, brought back the garments for the sacrifice; and Heracles put on the shirt which had been anointed, and as the strength of the toxic drug began slowly to work he met with the most terrible calamity. For the arrow's barb had carried the poison of the adder, and when the shirt for this reason, as it became heated, attacked the flesh of the body, Heracles was seized with such anguish that he slew Lichas, who had been his servant, and then, disbanding his army, returned to Trachis. As Heracles continued to suffer more and more from his malady he dispatched Licymnius and Iolaus to Delphi to inquire of Apollo what he must do to heal the malady, but Deianeira was so stricken by the magnitude of Heracles' misfortune that, being conscious of her error, she ended her life by hanging herself. The god gave the reply that Heracles should be taken, and with him his armour and weapons of war, unto Oite and that they should build a huge pyre near him; what remained to be done, he said, would rest with Zeus. 4 Now when Iolaus had carried out these orders and had withdrawn to a distance to see what would take place, Heracles, having abandoned hope for himself, ascended the pyre and asked each one who came up to him to put torch to the pyre. And when no one had the courage to obey him Philoctetes alone was prevailed upon; and he, having received in return for his compliance the gift of the bow and arrows of Heracles, lighted the pyre. And immediately lightning also fell from the heavens and the pyre was wholly consumed. After this, when the companions of Iolaus came to gather up the bones of Heracles and found not a single bone anywhere, they assumed that, in accordance with the words of the oracle, he had passed from among men into the company of the gods.
§ 4.39
διόπερ ὡς ἥρωι ποιήσαντες ἁγισμοὺς καὶ χώματα κατασκευάσαντες ἀπηλλάγησαν εἰς Τραχῖνα. μετὰ δὲ τούτους Μενοίτιος ὁ Ἄκτορος υἱός, φίλος ὢν Ἡρακλεῖ, κάπρον καὶ ταῦρον καὶ κριὸν θύσας ὡς ἥρωι κατέδειξε κατʼ ἐνιαυτὸν ἐν Ὀποῦντι θύειν καὶ τιμᾶν ὡς ἥρωα τὸν Ἡρακλέα. τὸ παραπλήσιον δὲ καὶ τῶν Θηβαίων ποιησάντων, Ἀθηναῖοι πρῶτοι τῶν ἄλλων ὡς θεὸν ἐτίμησαν θυσίαις τὸν Ἡρακλέα, καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἀνθρώποις παράδειγμα τὴν ἑαυτῶν εἰς τὸν θεὸν εὐσέβειαν ἀποδείξαντες προετρέψαντο τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἅπαντας Ἕλληνας, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα καὶ τοὺς κατὰ τὴν οἰκουμένην ἀνθρώπους ἅπαντας ὡς θεὸν τιμᾶν τὸν Ἡρακλέα. προσθετέον δʼ ἡμῖν τοῖς εἰρημένοις ὅτι μετὰ τὴν ἀποθέωσιν αὐτοῦ Ζεὺς Ἥραν μὲν ἔπεισεν υἱοποιήσασθαι τὸν Ἡρακλέα καὶ τὸ λοιπὸν εἰς τὸν ἅπαντα χρόνον μητρὸς εὔνοιαν παρέχεσθαι, τὴν δὲ τέκνωσιν γενέσθαι φασὶ τοιαύτην· τὴν Ἥραν ἀναβᾶσαν ἐπὶ κλίνην καὶ τὸν Ἡρακλέα προσλαβομένην πρὸς τὸ σῶμα διὰ τῶν ἐνδυμάτων ἀφεῖναι πρὸς τὴν γῆν, μιμουμένην τὴν ἀληθινὴν γένεσιν· ὅπερ μέχρι τοῦ νῦν ποιεῖν τοὺς βαρβάρους ὅταν θετὸν υἱὸν ποιεῖσθαι βούλωνται. τὴν δʼ Ἥραν μετὰ τὴν τέκνωσιν μυθολογοῦσι συνοικίσαι τὴν Ἥβην τῷ Ἡρακλεῖ, περὶ ἧς καὶ τὸν ποιητὴν τεθεικέναι κατὰ τὴν Νεκυίαν εἴδωλον, αὐτὸς δὲ μετʼ ἀθανάτοισι θεοῖσι τέρπεται ἐν θαλίαις καὶ ἔχει καλλίσφυρον Ἥβην. τὸν δʼ οὖν Ἡρακλέα λέγουσι καταλεγόμενον ὑπὸ τοῦ Διὸς εἰς τοὺς δώδεκα θεοὺς μὴ προσδέξασθαι τὴν τιμὴν ταύτην· ἀδύνατον γὰρ ἦν τοῦτον καταλεχθῆναι μὴ πρότερον ἑνὸς τῶν δώδεκα θεῶν ἐκβληθέντος· ἄτοπον οὖν εἶναι προσδέξασθαι τιμὴν ἑτέρῳ θεῷ φέρουσαν ἀτιμίαν. περὶ μὲν οὖν Ἡρακλέους εἰ καὶ πεπλεονάκαμεν, ἀλλʼ οὖν οὐδὲν τῶν μυθολογουμένων περὶ αὐτοῦ
These men, therefore, performed the offerings to the dead as to a hero, and after throwing up a great mound of earth returned to Trachis. Following their example Menoetius, the son of Actor and a friend of Heracles, sacrificed a boar and a bull and a ram to him as to a hero and commanded that each year in Opus Heracles should receive the sacrifices and honours of a hero. Much the same thing was likewise done by the Thebans, but the Athenians were the first of all other men to honour Heracles with sacrifices like as to a god, and by holding up as an example for all other men to follow their own reverence for the god they induced the Greeks first of all, and after them all men throughout the inhabited world, to honour Heracles as a god. 2 We should add to what has been said about Heracles, that after his apotheosis Zeus persuaded Hera to adopt him as her son and henceforth for all time to cherish him with a mother's love, and this adoption, they say, took place in the following manner. Hera lay upon a bed, and drawing Heracles close to her body then let him fall through her garments to the ground, imitating in this way the actual birth; and this ceremony is observed to this day by the barbarians whenever they wish to adopt a son. Hera, the myths relate, after she had adopted Heracles in this fashion, joined him in marriage to Hebe, regarding whom the poet speaks in the "Necyia": I saw the shade of Heracles, but for Himself he takes delight of feasts among Th' immortal gods and for his wife he hath The shapely-ankled Hebe. 4 They report of Heracles further that Zeus enrolled him among the twelve gods but that he would not accept this honour; for it was impossible for him thus to be enrolled unless one of the twelve gods were first cast out; hence in his eyes it would be monstrous for him to accept an honour which involved depriving another god of his honour. Now on the subject of Heracles if we have dwelt over-long, we have at least omitted nothing from the myths which are related concerning him.
§ 4.40
παραλελοίπαμεν. περὶ δὲ τῶν Ἀργοναυτῶν, ἐπειδὴ τούτοις Ἡρακλῆς συνεστράτευσεν, οἰκεῖον ἂν εἴη διελθεῖν περὶ αὐτῶν. Ἰάσονα γενέσθαι λέγουσιν υἱὸν μὲν Αἴσονος, ἀδελφιδοῦν δὲ Πελίου τοῦ Θετταλῶν βασιλέως, ῥώμῃ δὲ σώματος καὶ ψυχῆς λαμπρότητι διενέγκαντα τῶν ἡλικιωτῶν ἐπιθυμῆσαί τι πρᾶξαι μνήμης ἄξιον. ὁρῶντα δὲ τῶν πρὸ αὐτοῦ Περσέα καὶ τινας ἄλλους διὰ τὰς ὑπερορίους στρατείας καὶ τὸ παράβολον τῶν ἄθλων δόξης ἀειμνήστου τετευχότας, ζηλῶσαι τὰς προαιρέσεις αὐτῶν. διὸ καὶ τὴν ἐπιβολὴν ἀνακοινωσάμενον τῷ βασιλεῖ ταχέως λαβεῖν αὐτὸν συγκάταινον, οὐχ οὕτω τοῦ Πελίου σπεύδοντος προαγαγεῖν εἰς ἐπιφάνειαν τὸν νεανίσκον ὡς ἐλπίζοντος ἐν ταῖς παραβόλοις στρατείαις διαφθαρήσεσθαι· αὐτὸν μὲν γὰρ ἐκ φύσεως ἐστερῆσθαι παίδων ἀρρένων, τὸν δʼ ἀδελφὸν εὐλαβεῖσθαι μήποτε συνεργὸν ἔχων τὸν υἱὸν ἐπίθηται τῇ βασιλείᾳ. κρύπτοντα δὲ τὴν ὑποψίαν ταύτην, καὶ τὰ πρὸς τὴν στρατείαν χρήσιμα χορηγήσειν ἐπαγγειλάμενον, παρακαλεῖν ἆθλον τελέσαι στειλάμενον τὸν πλοῦν εἰς Κόλχους ἐπὶ τὸ διαβεβοημένον τοῦ κριοῦ δέρος χρυσόμαλλον. τὸν δὲ Πόντον κατʼ ἐκείνους τοὺς χρόνους περιοικούμενον ὑπὸ ἐθνῶν βαρβάρων καὶ παντελῶς ἀγρίων ἄξενον προσαγορεύεσθαι, ξενοκτονούντων τῶν ἐγχωρίων τοὺς καταπλέοντας. Ἰάσονα δὲ δόξης ὀρεγόμενον καὶ τὸν ἆθλον δυσέφικτον μέν, οὐ κατὰ πᾶν δʼ ἀδύνατον κρίνοντα, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο μᾶλλον αὐτὸν ἐπιφανέστερον ἔσεσθαι διαλαμβάνοντα, παρασκευάσασθαι τὰ πρὸς τὴν ἐπιβολήν.
As for the Argonauts, since Heracles joined them in their campaign, it may be appropriate to speak of them in this connection. This is the account which is given: — Jason was the son of and the nephew through his father of Pelias, the king of the Thessalians, and excelling as he did above those of his years in strength of body and nobility of spirit he was eager to accomplish a deed worthy of memory. 2 And since he observed that of the men of former times Perseus and certain others had gained glory which was held in everlasting remembrance from the campaigns which they had waged in foreign lands and the hazard attending the labours they had performed, he was eager to follow the examples they had set. As a consequence he revealed his undertaking to the king and quickly received his approval. It was not so much that Pelias was eager to bring distinction to the youth that he hoped that in the hazardous expeditions he would lose his life; for he himself had been deprived by nature of any male children and was fearful that his brother, with his son to aid him, would make an attempt upon the kingdom. Hiding, however, this suspicion and promising to supply everything which would be needed for the expedition, he urged Jason to undertake an exploit by sailing to Colchis after the renowned golden-fleeced skin of the ram. 4 The Pontus at that time was inhabited on all its shores by nations which were barbarous and altogether fierce and was called "Axenos," since the natives were in the habit of slaying the strangers who landed on its shores. Jason, who was eager for glory, recognizing that the labour was difficult of accomplishment and yet not altogether impossible, and concluding that for this very reason the greater renown would attach to himself, made ready everything needed for the undertaking.
§ 4.41
καὶ πρῶτον μὲν περὶ τὸ Πήλιον ναυπηγήσασθαι σκάφος, πολὺ τῷ μεγέθει καὶ τῇ λοιπῇ κατασκευῇ τὴν τότε συνήθειαν ὑπερβάλλον, διὰ τὸ σχεδίαις πλεῖν τοὺς τότε ἀνθρώπους καὶ μικροῖς παντελῶς ἀκατίοις. διὸ καὶ τῶν ἰδόντων αὐτὸ τότε καταπληττομένων, καὶ τῆς φήμης διαδοθείσης κατὰ τὴν Ἑλλάδα περί τε τοῦ ἄθλου καὶ τῆς κατὰ τὴν ναυπηγίαν ἐπιβολῆς, οὐκ ὀλίγους τῶν ἐν ὑπεροχαῖς νεανίσκων ἐπιθυμῆσαι μετασχεῖν τῆς στρατείας. Ἰάσονα δὲ καθελκύσαντα τὸ σκάφος καὶ κοσμήσαντα πᾶσι τοῖς ἀνήκουσι πρὸς ἔκπληξιν λαμπρῶς, ἐκλέξαι τῶν ὀρεγομένων τῆς αὐτῆς προαιρέσεως τοὺς ἐπιφανεστάτους ἀριστεῖς, ὥστε σὺν αὐτῷ τοὺς ἅπαντας εἶναι πεντήκοντα καὶ τέτταρας. τούτων δʼ ὑπάρχειν ἐνδοξοτάτους Κάστορα καὶ Πολυδεύκην, ἔτι δʼ Ἡρακλέα καὶ Τελαμῶνα, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις Ὀρφέα καὶ τὴν Σχοινέως Ἀταλάντην, ἔτι δὲ τοὺς Θεσπίου παῖδας καὶ αὐτὸν τὸν στελλόμενον τὸν πλοῦν ἐπὶ τὴν Κολχίδα. τὴν δὲ ναῦν Ἀργὼ προσαγορευθῆναι κατὰ μέν τινας τῶν μυθογράφων ἀπὸ τοῦ τὸ σκάφος ἀρχιτεκτονήσαντος Ἄργου καὶ συμπλεύσαντος ἕνεκα τοῦ θεραπεύειν ἀεὶ τὰ πονοῦντα μέρη τῆς νεώς, ὡς δʼ ἔνιοι λέγουσιν ἀπὸ τῆς περὶ τὸ τάχος ὑπερβολῆς, ὡς ἂν τῶν ἀρχαίων ἀργὸν τὸ ταχὺ προσαγορευόντων. τοὺς δʼ οὖν ἀριστεῖς συνελθόντας ἑλέσθαι σφῶν αὐτῶν στρατηγὸν Ἡρακλέα,
First of all, in the vicinity of Mount Pelion he built a ship which far surpassed in its size and in its equipment in general any vessel known in those days, since the men of that time put to sea on rafts or in very small boats. Consequently those who saw the ship at the time were greatly astonished, and when the report was noised about throughout Greece both of the exploit of the enterprise of building the ship, no small number of the youths of prominence were eager to take part in the expedition. 2 Jason, then, after he had launched the ship and fitted it out in brilliant fashion with everything which would astonish the mind, picked out the most renowned chieftains from those who were eager to share his plan, with the result that the whole number of those in his company amounted to fifty-four. Of these the most famous were Castor and Polydeuces, Heracles and Telamon, Orpheus and Atalante the daughter of Schoeneus, and the sons of Thespius, and the leader himself who was setting out on the voyage to Colchis. The vessel was called Argo after Argus, as some writers of myths record, who was the master-builder of the ship and went along on the voyage in order to repair the parts of the vessel as they were strained from time to time, but, as some say, after its exceeding great swiftness, since the ancients called what is swift Argos. Now after the chieftains had gathered together they chose Heracles to be their general, preferring him because of his courage.
§ 4.42
προκρίναντας κατʼ ἀνδρείαν. ἔπειτʼ ἐκ τῆς Ἰωλκοῦ τὸν ἔκπλουν ποιησαμένους, καὶ παραλλάξαντας τόν τε Ἄθω καὶ Σαμοθρᾴκην, χειμῶνι περιπεσεῖν, καὶ προσενεχθῆναι τῆς Τρῳάδος πρὸς Σίγειον. ἐνταῦθα δʼ αὐτῶν τὴν ἀπόβασιν ποιησαμένων, εὑρεθῆναί φασι παρθένον δεδεμένην παρὰ τὸν αἰγιαλὸν διὰ τοιαύτας αἰτίας. λέγεται τὸν Ποσειδῶνα διὰ τὴν μυθολογουμένην τῶν Τρωικῶν τειχῶν κατασκευὴν μηνίσαντα Λαομέδοντι τῷ βασιλεῖ κῆτος ἀνεῖναι ἐκ τοῦ πελάγους πρὸς τὴν χώραν· ὑπὸ δὲ τούτου τούς τε παρὰ τὸν αἰγιαλὸν διατρίβοντας καὶ τοὺς γεωργοῦντας τὴν παραθαλάττιον παραδόξως συναρπάζεσθαι· πρὸς δὲ τούτοις λοιμὸν ἐμπεσεῖν εἰς τὰ πλήθη καὶ καρπῶν παντελῆ φθοράν, ὥστε πάντας ἐκπλήττεσθαι τὸ μέγεθος τῆς περιστάσεως. διὸ καὶ συντρεχόντων τῶν ὄχλων εἰς ἐκκλησίαν καὶ ζητούντων ἀπαλλαγὴν τῶν ἀτυχημάτων, λέγεται τὸν βασιλέα πέμψαι πρὸς τὸν Ἀπόλλω τοὺς ἐπερωτήσοντας περὶ τῶν συμβεβηκότων. ἐκπεσόντος οὖν χρησμοῦ μῆνιν ὑπάρχειν Ποσειδῶνος, καὶ τότε ταύτην λήξειν ὅταν οἱ Τρῶες τὸ λαχὸν τῶν τέκνων ἑκουσίως παραδῶσι βορὰν τῷ κήτει, φασὶν ἁπάντων εἰς τὸν κλῆρον ἐμβαινόντων ἐπανελθεῖν εἰς Ἡσιόνην τὴν τοῦ βασιλέως θυγατέρα· διόπερ τὸν Λαομέδοντα συναναγκασθέντα παραδοῦναι τὴν παρθένον καὶ δεσμοῖς καταλαβόμενον ἀπολιπεῖν παρὰ τὸν αἰγιαλόν. ἐνταῦθα δὲ τὸν μὲν Ἡρακλέα μετὰ τῶν Ἀργοναυτῶν τὴν ἀπόβασιν ποιησάμενον, καὶ μαθόντα παρὰ τῆς κόρης τὴν περιπέτειαν, ἀναρρῆξαι μὲν τοὺς περὶ τὸ σῶμα δεσμούς, ἀναβάντα δʼ εἰς τὴν πόλιν ἐπαγγείλασθαι τῷ βασιλεῖ διαφθερεῖν τὸ κῆτος. τοῦ δὲ Λαομέδοντος ἀποδεξαμένου τὸν λόγον καὶ δωρεὰν δώσειν ἐπαγγειλαμένου τὰς ἀνικήτους ἵππους, φασὶ τὸ μὲν κῆτος ὑφʼ Ἡρακλέους ἀναιρεθῆναι, τῇ δʼ Ἡσιόνῃ δοθῆναι τὴν ἐξουσίαν εἴτε βούλοιτο μετὰ τοῦ σώσαντος ἀπελθεῖν εἴτε μετὰ τῶν γονέων καταμένειν ἐν τῇ πατρίδι. τὴν μὲν οὖν κόρην ἑλέσθαι τὸν μετὰ τοῦ ξένου βίον, οὐ μόνον τὴν εὐεργεσίαν τῆς συγγενείας προκρίνασαν, ἀλλὰ καὶ φοβουμένην μὴ πάλιν φανέντος κήτους πρὸς τὴν ὁμοίαν ὑπὸ τῶν πολιτῶν ἐκτεθῇ τιμωρίαν. τὸν δʼ Ἡρακλέα δώροις καὶ τοῖς προσήκουσι ξενίοις λαμπρῶς τιμηθέντα τὴν Ἡσιόνην καὶ τὰς ἵππους παραθέσθαι τῷ Λαομέδοντι, συνταξάμενον μετὰ τὴν ἐκ Κόλχων ἐπάνοδον ἀπολήψεσθαι, αὐτὸν δʼ ἀναχθῆναι μετὰ τῶν Ἀργοναυτῶν κατὰ σπουδὴν ἐπὶ τὸν προκείμενον ἆθλον.
After they had sailed from Iolcus, the account continues, and had gone past Athos and Samothrace, they encountered a storm and were carried to Sigeium in the Troad. When they disembarked there, it is said, they discovered a maiden bound in chains upon the shore, the reason for it being as follows. 2 Poseidon, as the story runs, became angry with Laomedon the king of Troy in connection with the building of its walls, according to the mythical story, and sent forth from the sea a monster to ravage the land. By this monster those who made their living by the seashore and the farmers who tilled the land contiguous to the sea were being surprised and carried off. Furthermore, a pestilence fell upon the people and a total destruction of their crops, so that all the inhabitants were at their wits' end because of the magnitude of what had befallen them. Consequently the common crowd gathered together into an assembly and sought for a deliverance from their misfortunes, and the king, it is said, dispatched a mission to Apollo to inquire of the god respecting what had befallen them. When the oracle, then, became known, which told that the cause was the anger of Poseidon and that only then would it cease when the Trojans should of their free will select by lot one of their children and deliver him to the monster for his food, although all the children submitted to the lot, it fell upon the king's daughter Hesione. 4 Consequently Laomedon was constrained by necessity to deliver the maiden and to leave her, bound in chains, upon the shore. Here Heracles, when he had disembarked with the Argonauts and learned from the girl of her sudden change of fortune, rent asunder the chains which were about her body and going up to the city made an offer to the king to slay the monster. 6 When Laomedon accepted the proposal and promised to give him as his reward his invincible mares, Heracles, they say, did slay the monster and Hesione was given the choice either to leave her home with her saviour or to remain in her native land with her parents. The girl, then, chose to spend her life with the stranger, not merely because she preferred the benefaction she had received to the ties of kinship, but also because she feared that a monster might again appear and she be exposed by citizens to the same fate as that from which she had just escaped. 7 As for Heracles, after he had been splendidly honoured with gifts and the appropriate tokens of hospitality, he left Hesione and the mares in keeping with Laomedon, having arranged that after he had returned from Colchis, he should receive them again; he then set sail with all haste in the company of the Argonauts to accomplish the labour which lay before them.
§ 4.43
ἐπιγενομένου δὲ μεγάλου χειμῶνος, καὶ τῶν ἀριστέων ἀπογινωσκόντων τὴν σωτηρίαν, φασὶν Ὀρφέα, τῆς τελετῆς μόνον τῶν συμπλεόντων μετεσχηκότα, ποιήσασθαι τοῖς Σαμόθρᾳξι τὰς ὑπὲρ τῆς σωτηρίας εὐχάς. εὐθὺς δὲ τοῦ πνεύματος ἐνδόντος, καὶ δυοῖν ἀστέρων ἐπὶ τὰς τῶν Διοσκόρων κεφαλὰς ἐπιπεσόντων, ἅπαντας μὲν ἐκπλαγῆναι τὸ παράδοξον, ὑπολαβεῖν δὲ θεῶν προνοίᾳ τῶν κινδύνων ἑαυτοὺς ἀπηλλάχθαι. διὸ καὶ τοῖς ἐπιγινομένοις παραδοσίμου γεγενημένης τῆς περιπετείας, ἀεὶ τοὺς χειμαζομένους τῶν πλεόντων εὐχὰς μὲν τίθεσθαι τοῖς Σαμόθρᾳξι, τὰς δὲ τῶν ἀστέρων παρουσίας ἀναπέμπειν εἰς τὴν τῶν Διοσκόρων ἐπιφάνειαν. οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ τότε λήξαντος τοῦ χειμῶνος ἀποβῆναι μὲν τοὺς ἀριστεῖς τῆς Θρᾴκης εἰς τὴν ὑπὸ Φινέως βασιλευομένην χώραν, περιπεσεῖν δὲ δυσὶ νεανίσκοις ἐπὶ τιμωρίᾳ διωρυγμένοις καὶ μάστιξι πληγὰς συνεχεῖς λαμβάνουσι· τούτους δʼ ὑπάρχειν Φινέως υἱοὺς καὶ Κλεοπάτρας, ἥν φασιν ἐξ Ὠρειθυίας τῆς Ἐρεχθέως γεννηθῆναι καὶ Βορέου, διὰ δὲ μητρυιᾶς τόλμαν καὶ διαβολὰς ψευδεῖς τυγχάνοντας ὑπὸ τοῦ πατρὸς ἀδίκως τῆς προειρημένης τιμωρίας· τὸν γὰρ Φινέα γεγαμηκότα Ἰδαίαν τὴν Δαρδάνου τοῦ Σκυθῶν βασιλέως θυγατέρα, καὶ διὰ τὸν πρὸς αὐτὴν ἔρωτα πάντα χαριζόμενον, πιστεῦσαι διότι τῇ μητρυιᾷ βίαν ἐφʼ ὕβρει προσήγαγον οἱ πρόγονοι, βουλόμενοι τῇ μητρὶ χαρίζεσθαι. τῶν δὲ περὶ τὸν Ἡρακλέα παραδόξως ἐπιφανέντων, φασὶ τοὺς μὲν ἐν ταῖς ἀνάγκαις ὄντας ἐπικαλέσασθαι καθάπερ θεοὺς τοὺς ἀριστεῖς, καὶ τὰς αἰτίας δηλώσαντας τῆς τοῦ πατρὸς παρανομίας δεῖσθαι τῶν ἀτυχημάτων αὐτοὺς ἐξελέσθαι.
But there came on a great storm and the chieftains had given up hope of being saved, when Orpheus, they say, who was the only one on shipboard who had ever been initiated in the mysteries of the deities of Samothrace, offered to these deities the prayers for their salvation. 2 And immediately the wind died down and two stars fell over the heads of the Dioscori, and the whole company was amazed at the marvel which had taken place and concluded that they had been rescued from their perils by an act of Providence of the gods. For this reason, the story of this reversal of fortune for the Argonauts has been handed down to succeeding generations, and sailors when caught in storms always direct their prayers to the deities of Samothrace and attribute the appearance of the two stars to the epiphany of the Dioscori. At that time, however, the tale continues, when the storm had abated, the chieftains landed in Thrace on the country which was ruled by Phineus. Here they came upon two youths who by way of punishment had been shut within a burial vault where they were being subjected to continual blows of the whip; these were sons of Phineus and Cleopatra, who men said was born of Oreithyia, the daughter of Erechtheus, and Boreas, and had unjustly been subjected to such a punishment because of the unscrupulousness and lying accusations of their mother-in law. 4 For Phineus had married Idaea, the daughter of Dardanus the king of the Scythians, and yielding to her every desire out of his love for her he had believed her charge that his sons by an earlier marriage had insolently offered violence to their mother-in law out of a desire to please their mother. And when Heracles and his friends unexpectedly appeared, the youths who were suffering these tortures, they say, made supplication to the chieftains as they would to gods, and setting forth the causes of their father's unlawful conduct implored that they be delivered from their unfortunate lot.
§ 4.44
τὸν δὲ Φινέα πικρῶς ἀπαντήσαντα τοῖς ξένοις παραγγεῖλαι μηδὲν τῶν καθʼ ἑαυτὸν πολυπραγμονεῖν· μηδένα γὰρ πατέρα λαβεῖν παρʼ υἱῶν ἑκουσίως τιμωρίαν, εἰ μὴ τῷ μεγέθει τῶν ἀδικημάτων ὑπέρθοιντο τὴν φυσικὴν τῶν γονέων εἰς τέκνα φιλοστοργίαν. ἐνταῦθα συμπλέοντας τοῖς περὶ τὸν Ἡρακλέα τοὺς ἐπικαλουμένους μὲν Βορεάδας, ἀδελφοὺς δʼ ὄντας Κλεοπάτρας, λέγεται διὰ τὴν συγγένειαν πρώτους ὁρμῆσαι πρὸς τὴν βοήθειαν, καὶ τοὺς μὲν περικειμένους τοῖς νεανίσκοις δεσμοὺς περιρρῆξαι, τοὺς δʼ ἐναντιουμένους τῶν βαρβάρων ἀποκτεῖναι. ὁρμήσαντος δὲ τοῦ Φινέως πρὸς μάχην, καὶ τοῦ πλήθους τῶν Θρᾳκῶν συνδραμόντος, φασὶ τὸν Ἡρακλέα πάντων ἄριστα διαγωνισάμενον αὐτόν τε τὸν Φινέα καὶ τῶν ἄλλων οὐκ ὀλίγους ἀνελεῖν, τὸ δὲ τελευταῖν, τὸ δὲ τελευταῖον κρατήσαντα τῶν βασιλείων τὴν μὲν Κλεοπάτραν ἐκ τὴς φυλακῆς προαγαγεῖν, τοῖς δε Φινείδαις ἀποκαταστῆσαι τὴν πατρῴαν ἀρχήν· βουλομένων δʼ αὐτῶν τὴν μητρυιὰν μετʼ αἰκίας ἀποκτεῖναι, πεῖσαι τῆς μὲν τιμωρίας ταύτης ἀποστῆναι, πρὸς δὲ τὸν πατέρα πέμψαντας εἰς τὴν Σκυθίαν ἐκεῖνον παρακαλέσαι τῶν εἰς αὐτοὺς ἀνομημάτων λαβεῖν κόλασιν. οὗ γενηθέντος τὸν μὲν Σκύθην τῆς θυγατρὸς καταγνῶναι θάνατον, τοὺς δʼ ἐκ τῆς Κλεοπάτρας υἱοὺς ἀπενέγκασθαι παρὰ τοῖς Θρᾳξὶ δόξαν ἐπιεικείας. οὐκ ἀγνοῶ δὲ διότι τινὲς τῶν μυθογράφων τυφλωθῆναί φασι τοὺς Φινείδας ὑπὸ τοῦ πατρός, καὶ τὸν Φινέα τῆς ὁμοίας τυχεῖν συμφορᾶς ὑπὸ Βορέου. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τὸν Ἡρακλέα τινὲς παραδεδώκασι πρὸς ὑδρείαν ἐξελθόντα κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν ὑπὸ τῶν Ἀργοναυτῶν ἐπὶ τῆς χώρας ἀπολειφθῆναι. καθόλου δὲ τοὺς παλαιοὺς μύθους οὐχ ἁπλῆν οὐδὲ συμπεφωνημένην ἱστορίαν ἔχειν συμβέβηκε· διόπερ οὐ χρὴ θαυμάζειν, ἐάν τινα τῶν ἀρχαιολογουμένων μὴ συμφώνως ἅπασι τοῖς ποιηταῖς καὶ συγγραφεῦσι συγκρίνωμεν. οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς Φινείδας λέγεται τὴν βασιλείαν παραδόντας τῇ μητρὶ Κλεοπάτρᾳ συστρατεῦσαι τοῖς ἀριστεῦσιν. ἀναχθέντας δʼ αὐτοὺς ἐκ τῆς Θρᾴκης καὶ κομισθέντας εἰς τὸν Πόντον προσχεῖν τῇ Ταυρικῇ, τὴν ἀγριότητα τῶν ἐγχωρίων ἀγνοοῦντας· νόμιμον γὰρ εἶναι τοῖς τὴν χώραν ταύτην οἰκοῦσι βαρβάροις θύειν Ἀρτέμιδι Ταυροπόλῳ τοὺς καταπλέοντας ξένους· παρʼ οἷς φασι τὴν Ἰφιγένειαν ἐν τοῖς ὕστερον χρόνοις ἱέρειαν τῆς εἰρημένης θεοῦ κατασταθεῖσαν θύειν τοὺς ἁλισκομένους.
Phineus, however, the account continues, met the strangers with bitter words and ordered them not to busy themselves with his affairs; for no father, he said, exacts punishment of his sons of his free will, unless they have overcome, by the magnitude of their crimes, the natural love which parents bear towards their children. 2 Thereupon the young men, who were known as Boreadae and were of the company which sailed with Heracles, since they were brothers of Cleopatra, and because of their kinship with the young men, were the first, it is said, to rush to their aid, and they tore apart the chains which encircled them and slew such barbarians as offered resistance. And when Phineus hastened to join battle with them and the Thracian multitude ran together, Heracles, they say, who performed the mightiest deeds of them all, slew Phineus himself and no small number of the rest, and finally capturing the royal palace led Cleopatra forth from out the prison, and restored to the sons of Phineus their ancestral rule. But when the sons wished to put their stepmother to death under torture, Heracles persuaded them to renounce such a vengeance, and so the sons, sending her to her father in Scythia, urged that she be punished for her wicked treatment of them. 4 And this was done; the Scythian condemned his daughter to death, and the sons of Cleopatra gained in this way among the Thracians a reputation for equitable dealing. I am not unaware that certain writers of myths say that the sons of Phineus were blinded by their father and that Phineus suffered the like fate at the hands of Boreas. Likewise certain writers have passed down the account that Heracles, when he went ashore once in Asia to get water, was left behind in the country by the Argonauts. But, as a general thing, we find that the ancient myths do not give us a simple and consistent story; 6 consequently it would occasion no surprise if we find, when we put the ancient accounts together, that in some details they are not in agreement with those given by every poet and historian. At any rate, according to these ancient accounts, the sons of Phineus turned over the kingdom to their mother Cleopatra and joined with the chieftains in the expedition. 7 And after they had set sail from Thrace and had entered the Pontus, they put in at the Tauric Chersonese, being ignorant of the savage ways of the native people. For it is customary among the barbarians who inhabit this land to sacrifice to Artemis Tauropolus the strangers who put in there, and it is among them, they say, that at a later time Iphigeneia became a priestess of this goddess and sacrificed to her those who were taken captive.
§ 4.45
ἐπιζητούσης δὲ τῆς ἱστορίας τὰς τῆς ξενοκτονίας αἰτίας, ἀναγκαῖον βραχέα διελθεῖν, ἄλλως τε καὶ τῆς παρεκβάσεως οἰκείας ἐσομένης ταῖς τῶν Ἀργοναυτῶν πράξεσι. φασὶ γὰρ Ἡλίου δύο γενέσθαι παῖδας, Αἰήτην τε καὶ Πέρσην· τούτων δὲ τὸν μὲν Αἰήτην βασιλεῦσαι τῆς Κολχίδος, τὸν δʼ ἕτερον τῆς Ταυρικῆς, ἀμφοτέρους δὲ διενεγκεῖν ὠμότητι. καὶ Πέρσου μὲν Ἑκάτην γενέσθαι θυγατέρα, τόλμῃ καὶ παρανομίᾳ προέχουσαν τοῦ πατρός· φιλοκύνηγον δʼ οὖσαν ἐν ταῖς ἀποτυχίαις ἀνθρώπους ἀντὶ τῶν θηρίων κατατοξεύειν. φιλότεχνον δʼ εἰς φαρμάκων θανασίμων συνθέσεις γενομένην τὸ καλούμενον ἀκόνιτον ἐξευρεῖν, καὶ τῆς ἑκάστου δυνάμεως πεῖραν λαμβάνειν μίσγουσαν ταῖς διδομέναις τοῖς ξένοις τροφαῖς. ἐμπειρίαν δὲ μεγάλην ἐν τούτοις ἔχουσαν πρῶτον μὲν τὸν πατέρα φαρμάκῳ διαφθεῖραι καὶ διαδέξασθαι τὴν βασιλείαν, ἔπειτʼ Ἀρτέμιδος ἱερὸν ἱδρυσαμένην καὶ τοὺς καταπλέοντας ξένους θύεσθαι τῇ θεῷ καταδείξασαν ἐπʼ ὠμότητι διονομασθῆναι. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα συνοικήσασαν Αἰήτῃ γεννῆσαι δύο θυγατέρας, Κίρκην τε καὶ Μήδειαν, ἔτι δʼ υἱὸν Αἰγιαλέα. καὶ τὴν μὲν Κίρκην εἰς φαρμάκων παντοδαπῶν ἐπίνοιαν ἐκτραπεῖσαν ἐξευρεῖν ῥιζῶν παντοίας φύσεις καὶ δυνάμεις ἀπιστουμένας· οὐκ ὀλίγα μὲν γὰρ ὑπὸ τῆς μητρὸς Ἑκάτης διδαχθῆναι, πολὺ δὲ πλείω διὰ τῆς ἰδίας ἐπιμελείας ἐξευροῦσαν μηδεμίαν ὑπερβολὴν ἀπολιπεῖν ἑτέρᾳ πρὸς ἐπίνοιαν φαρμακείας. δοθῆναι δʼ αὐτὴν εἰς γάμον τῷ βασιλεῖ τῶν Σαρματῶν, οὓς ἔνιοι Σκύθας προσαγορεύουσι. καὶ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον τὸν ἄνδρα φαρμάκοις ἀνελεῖν, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τὴν βασιλείαν διαδεξαμένην πολλὰ κατὰ τῶν ἀρχομένων ὠμὰ πρᾶξαι καὶ βίαια. διόπερ ἐκπεσοῦσαν τῆς βασιλείας κατὰ μέν τινας τῶν μυθογράφων φυγεῖν ἐπὶ τὸν ὠκεανόν, καὶ νῆσον ἔρημον καταλαβομένην ἐνταῦθα μετὰ τῶν συμφυγουσῶν γυναικῶν καθιδρυθῆναι, κατὰ δέ τινας τῶν ἱστορικῶν ἐκλιποῦσαν τὸν Πόντον κατοικῆσαι τῆς Ἰταλίας ἀκρωτήριον τὸ μέχρι τοῦ νῦν ἀπʼ ἐκείνης Κίρκαιον ὀνομαζόμενον.
Since it is the task of history to inquire into the reasons for this slaying of strangers, we must discuss these reasons briefly, especially since the digression on this subject will be appropriate in connection with the deeds of the Argonauts. We are told, that is, that Helius had two sons, Aeetes and Perses, Aeetes being king of Colchis and the other king of the Tauric Chersonese, and that both of them were exceedingly cruel. 2 And Perses had a daughter Hecate, who surpassed her father in boldness and lawlessness; she was also fond of hunting, and with she had no luck she would turn her arrows upon human beings instead of the beasts. Being likewise ingenious in the mixing of deadly poisons she discovered the drug called aconite and tried out the strength of each poison by mixing it in the food given to the strangers. 4 And since she possessed great experience in such matters she first of all poisoned her father and so succeeded to the throne, and then, founding a temple of Artemis and commanding that strangers who landed there should be sacrificed to the goddess, she became known far and wide for her cruelty. After this she married Aeetes and bore two daughters, Circe and Medea, and a son Aegialeus. 6 Although Circe also, it is said, devoted herself to the devising of all kinds of drugs and discovered roots of all manner of natures and potencies such as are difficult to credit, yet, notwithstanding that she was taught by her mother Hecate about not a few drugs, she discovered by her own study a far greater number, so that she left to the other woman no superiority whatever in the matter of devising uses of drugs. 7 She was given in marriage to the king of the Sarmatians, whom some call Scythians, and first she poisoned her husband and after that, succeeding to the throne, she committed many cruel and violent acts against her subjects. 8 For this reason she was deposed from her throne and, according to some writers of myths, fled to the ocean, where she seized a desert island, and there established herself with the women who had fled with her, though according to some historians she left the Pontus and settled in Italy on a promontory which to this day bears after her the name Circaion.
§ 4.46
τὴν δὲ Μήδειαν ἱστοροῦσι μαθεῖν παρά τε τῆς μητρὸς καὶ τῆς ἀδελφῆς ἁπάσας τὰς τῶν φαρμάκων δυνάμεις, προαιρέσει δʼ ἐναντιωτάτῃ χρῆσθαι· διατελεῖν γὰρ τοὺς καταπλέοντας τῶν ξένων ἐξαιρουμένην ἐκ τῶν κινδύνων, καὶ ποτὲ μὲν παρὰ τοῦ πατρὸς αἰτεῖσθαι δεήσει καὶ χάριτι τὴν τῶν μελλόντων ἀπόλλυσθαι σωτηρίαν, ποτὲ δʼ αὐτὴν ἐκ τῆς φυλακῆς ἀφιεῖσαν προνοεῖσθαι τῆς τῶν ἀτυχούντων ἀσφαλείας· τὸν γὰρ Αἰήτην τὰ μὲν διὰ τὴν ἰδίαν ὠμότητα, τὰ δʼ ὑπὸ τῆς γυναικὸς Ἑκάτης πεισθέντα, προσδέξασθαι τὸ τῆς ξενοκτονίας νόμιμον. ἀντιπραττούσης δὲ τῆς Μηδείας ἀεὶ μᾶλλον τῇ προαιρέσει τῶν γονέων, φασὶ τὸν Αἰήτην ὑποπτεύσαντα τὴν ἐκ τῆς θυγατρὸς ἐπιβουλὴν εἰς ἐλευθέραν αὐτὴν ἀποθέσθαι φυλακήν· τὴν δὲ Μήδειαν διαδρᾶσαν καταφυγεῖν εἴς τι τέμενος Ἡλίου κείμενον παρὰ θάλατταν. καθʼ ὃν δὴ χρόνον τοὺς Ἀργοναύτας ἀπὸ τῆς Ταυρικῆς κομισθέντας νυκτὸς καταπλεῦσαι τῆς Κολχίδος εἰς τὸ προειρημένον τέμενος. ἔνθα δὴ περιτυχόντας τῇ Μηδείᾳ πλανωμένῃ παρὰ τὸν αἰγιαλόν, καὶ μαθόντας παρʼ αὐτῆς τὸ τῆς ξενοκτονίας νόμιμον, ἀποδέξασθαι μὲν τὴν ἡμερότητα τῆς παρθένου, δηλώσαντας δʼ αὐτῇ τὴν ἑαυτῶν ἐπιβολὴν πάλιν παρʼ ἐκείνης μαθεῖν τὸν ὑπάρχοντα αὐτῇ κίνδυνον ἀπὸ τοῦ πατρὸς διὰ τὴν πρὸς τοὺς ξένους εὐσέβειαν. κοινοῦ δὲ τοῦ συμφέροντος φανέντος, τὴν μὲν Μήδειαν ἐπαγγείλασθαι συνεργήσειν αὐτοῖς μέχρι ἂν συντελέσωσι τὸν προκείμενον ἆθλον, τὸν δʼ Ἰάσονα διὰ τῶν ὅρκων δοῦναι πίστεις ὅτι γήμας αὐτὴν ἕξει σύμβιον ἅπαντα τὸν τοῦ ζῆν χρόνον. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τοὺς Ἀργοναύτας ἀπολιπόντας φυλακὰς τῆς νεώς, νυκτὸς ὁρμῆσαι μετὰ τῆς Μηδείας ἐπὶ τὸ χρυσόμαλλον δέρος· περὶ οὗ τὰ κατὰ μέρος οἰκεῖον ἂν εἴη διελθεῖν, ἵνα μηδὲν τῶν ἀνηκόντων εἰς τὴν ὑποκειμένην ἱστορίαν ἀγνοῆται.
Concerning Medea this story is related: — From her mother and sister she learned all the powers which drugs possess, but her purpose in using them was exactly the opposite. For she made a practice of rescuing from their perils the strangers who came to their shores, sometimes demanding from her father by entreaty and coaxing that the lives be spared of those who were to die, and sometimes herself releasing from prison and then devising plans for the safety of the unfortunate men. For Aeetes, partly because of his own natural cruelty and partly because he was under the influence of his wife Hecate, had given his approval to the custom of slaying strangers. 2 But since Medea as time went on opposed the purpose of her parents more and more, Aeetes, they say, suspecting his daughter of plotting against him consigned her to free custody; Medea, however, made her escape and fled for refuge to a sacred precinct of Helius on the shore of the sea. This happened at the very time when the Argonauts arrived from the Tauric Chersonese and landed by night in Colchis at the precinct. There they came upon Medea, as she wandered along the shore, and learning from her of the custom of slaying strangers they praised the maiden for her kindly spirit, and then, revealing to her their own project, they learned in turn from her of the danger which threatened her from her father because of the reverence which she showed to strangers. 4 Since they now recognized that it was to their mutual advantage, Medea promised to co-operate with them until they should perform the labour which lay before them, while Jason gave her his pledge under oath that he would marry her and keep her as his life's companion as long as he lived. After this the Argonauts left guards to watch the ship and set off by night with Medea to get the Golden Fleece, concerning which it may be proper for us to give a detailed account, in order that nothing which belongs to the history which we have undertaken may remain unknown.
§ 4.47
Φρίξον τὸν Ἀθάμαντος μυθολογοῦσι διὰ τὰς ἀπὸ τῆς μητρυιᾶς ἐπιβουλὰς ἀναλαβόντα τὴν ἀδελφὴν Ἕλλην φυγεῖν ἐκ τῆς Ἑλλάδος. περαιουμένων δʼ αὐτῶν κατά τινα θεῶν πρόνοιαν ἐκ τῆς Εὐρώπης εἰς τὴν Ἀσίαν ἐπὶ κριοῦ χρυσομάλλου, τὴν μὲν παρθένον ἀποπεσεῖν εἰς τὴν θάλατταν, ἣν ἀπʼ ἐκείνης Ἑλλήσποντον ὀνομασθῆναι, τὸν δὲ Φρίξον εἰς τὸν Πόντον πορευθέντα καταχθῆναι μὲν πρὸς τὴν Κολχίδα, κατὰ δέ τι λόγιον θύσαντα τὸν κριὸν ἀναθεῖναι τὸ δέρος εἰς τὸ τοῦ Ἄρεος ἱερόν. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα βασιλεύοντος τῆς Κολχίδος Αἰήτου χρησμὸν ἐκπεσεῖν ὅτι τότε καταστρέψει τὸν βίον ὅταν ξένοι καταπλεύσαντες τὸ χρυσόμαλλον δέρος ἀπενέγκωσι. διὰ δὴ ταύτας τὰς αἰτίας καὶ διὰ τὴν ἰδίαν ὠμότητα καταδεῖξαι θύειν τοὺς ξένους, ἵνα διαδοθείσης τῆς φήμης εἰς ἅπαντα τόπον περὶ τῆς Κόλχων ἀγριότητος μηδεὶς τῶν ξένων ἐπιβῆναι τολμήσῃ τῆς χώρας. περιβαλεῖν δὲ καὶ τῷ τεμένει τεῖχος καὶ φύλακας πολλοὺς ἐπιστῆσαι τῶν ἐκ τῆς Ταυρικῆς· ἀφʼ ὧν καὶ τερατώδεις παρὰ τοῖς Ἕλλησι πλασθῆναι μύθους. διαβεβοῆσθαι γὰρ ὅτι πυρίπνοοι ταῦροι περὶ τὸ τέμενος ὑπῆρχον, δράκων δʼ ἄυπνος ἐτήρει τὸ δέρος, ἀπὸ μὲν τῶν Ταύρων μετενεχθείσης τῆς ὁμωνυμίας ἐπὶ τὴν τῶν βοῶν ἰσχύν, ἀπὸ δὲ τῆς κατὰ τὴν ξενοκτονίαν ὠμότητος πυρπνεῖν τοὺς ταύρους μυθολογηθέντος· παραπλησίως δὲ τοῦ τηροῦντος τὸ τέμενος Δράκοντος ὀνομαζομένου, μετενηνοχέναι τοὺς ποιητὰς ἐπὶ τὸ τερατῶδες καὶ καταπληκτικὸν τοῦ ζῴου. τῆς ὁμοίας δὲ μυθολογίας ἔχεσθαι καὶ τὰ περὶ τοῦ Φρίξου λεγόμενα. διαπλεῦσαι γὰρ αὐτόν φασιν οἱ μὲν ἐπὶ νεὼς προτομὴν ἐπὶ τῆς πρῴρας ἐχούσης κριοῦ, καὶ τὴν Ἕλλην δυσφοροῦσαν ἐπὶ τῇ ναυτίᾳ, καὶ διὰ τοῦτʼ ἐπὶ τοῦ τοίχου τῆς νεὼς ἐκκύπτουσαν, εἰς τὴν θάλατταν προπεσεῖν. ἔνιοι δέ φασι τὸν βασιλέα τῶν Σκυθῶν, ὄντα γαμβρὸν Αἰήτου, παρὰ τοῖς Κόλχοις ἐπιδημῆσαι καθʼ ὃν καιρὸν ἁλῶναι συνέβη τὸν Φρίξον μετὰ τοῦ παιδαγωγοῦ, ἐρωτικῶς δὲ σχόντα τοῦ παιδὸς λαβεῖν αὐτὸν ἐν δωρεᾷ παρʼ Αἰήτου, καὶ καθάπερ υἱὸν γνήσιον ἀγαπήσαντα καταλιπεῖν αὐτῷ τὴν βασιλείαν. τὸν δὲ παιδαγωγὸν ὀνομαζόμενον Κριὸν τυθῆναι τοῖς θεοῖς, καὶ τοῦ σώματος ἐκδαρέντος προσηλωθῆναι τῷ νεῷ τὸ δέρμα κατά τι νόμιμον. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Αἰήτῃ γενομένου χρησμοῦ, καθʼ ὃν ἐσημαίνετο τότε τελευτήσειν αὐτὸν ὅταν ξένοι καταπλεύσαντες τὸ τοῦ Κριοῦ δέρος ἀπενέγκωσι, τὸν βασιλέα φασὶ τειχίσαι τὸ τέμενος καὶ φρουρὰν ἐγκαταστῆσαι, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις χρυσῶσαι τὸ δέρος, ἵνα διὰ τὴν ἐπιφάνειαν ὐπὸ τῶν στρατιωτῶν ἐπιμελεστάτης ἀξιωθῇ φυλακῆς. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἐξέσται τοὺς ἀναγινώσκοντας κρίνειν πρὸς τὰς ἰδίας ἑκάστου προαιρέσεις.
Phrixus, the son of Athamas, the myths relate, because of his stepmother's plots against him, took his sister Helle and fled with her from Greece. And while they were making the passage from Europe to Asia, as a kind of Providence of the gods directed, on the back of a ram, whose fleece was of gold, the maiden fell into the sea, which was named after her Hellespont, but Phrixus continued on into the Pontus and was carried to Colchis, where, as some oracle had commanded, he sacrificed the ram and hung up its fleece as a dedicatory offering in the temple of Ares. 2 After this, while Aeetes was king of Colchis, an oracle became known, to the effect that he was to come to the end of his life whenever strangers should land there and carry off the Golden Fleece. For this reason and because of his own cruelty as well, Aeetes ordained that strangers should be offered up in sacrifice, in order that, the report of the cruelty of the Colchi having been spread abroad to every part of the world, no stranger should have the courage to set foot on the land. He also threw a wall about the precinct and stationed there many guardians, these being men of the Tauric Chersonese, and it is because of these guards that the Greeks invented monstrous myths. For instance, the report was spread abroad that there were firebreathing bulls (tauroi) round about the precinct and that a sleepless dragon (drakon) guarded the fleece, the identity of the names having led to the transfer from the men who were Taurians to the cattle because of their strength and the cruelty shown in the murder of strangers having been made into the myth of the bulls breathing fire; and similarly the name of the guardian who watched over the sacred precinct, which was Dracon, has been transferred by the poets to the monstrous and fear-inspiring beast, the dragon. 4 Also the account of Phrixus underwent a similar working into a myth. For, as some men say, he made his voyage upon a ship which bore the head of a ram upon its bow, and Helle, being troubled with seasickness, while leaning far over the side of the boat for this reason, fell into the sea. Some say, however, that the king of the Scythians, who was a son-in law of Aeetes, was visiting among the Colchi at the very time when, as it happened, Phrixus and his attendant were taken captive, and conceiving a passion for the boy he received him from Aeetes as a gift, loved him like a son of his own loins, and left his kingdom to him. The attendant, however, whose name was Crius (ram), was sacrificed to the gods, and when his body had been flayed the skin was nailed up on the temple, in keeping with a certain custom. 6 And when later an oracle was delivered to Aeetes to the effect that he was to die whenever strangers would sail to his land and carry off the skin of Crius, the king, they say, built a wall about the precinct and stationed a guard over it; furthermore, he gilded the skin in order that by reason of its brilliant appearance the soldiers should consider it worthy of the most careful guarding. As for these matters, however, it rests with my readers to judge each in accordance with his own predilections.
§ 4.48
τὴν δὲ Μήδειαν ἱστοροῦσι καθηγήσασθαι τοῖς Ἀργοναύταις πρὸς τὸ τοῦ Ἄρεος τέμενος, ἀπέχον ἑβδομήκοντα σταδίους ἀπὸ τῆς πόλεως, ἣν καλεῖσθαι μὲν Σύβαριν, ἔχειν δὲ τὰ βασίλεια τῶν Κόλχων. προσελθοῦσαν δὲ ταῖς πύλαις κεκλειμέναις νυκτὸς τῇ Ταυρικῇ διαλέκτῳ προσφωνῆσαι τοὺς φρουρούς. τῶν δὲ στρατιωτῶν ἀνοιξάντων προθύμως ὡς ἂν βασιλέως θυγατρί, φασὶ τοὺς Ἀργοναύτας εἰσπεσόντας ἐσπασμένοις τοῖς ξίφεσι πολλοὺς μὲν φονεῦσαι τῶν βαρβάρων, τοὺς δʼ ἄλλους διὰ τὸ παράδοξον καταπληξαμένους ἐκβαλεῖν ἐκ τοῦ τεμένους, καὶ τὸ δέρος ἀναλαβόντας πρὸς τὴν ναῦν ἐπείγεσθαι κατὰ σπουδήν. παραπλησίως δὲ τούτοις καὶ τὴν Μήδειαν ἐν τῷ τεμένει τὸν μυθολογούμενον ἄυπνον δράκοντα περιεσπειραμένον τὸ δέρος τοῖς φαρμάκοις ἀποκτεῖναι, καὶ μετὰ Ἰάσονος τὴν ἐπὶ θάλατταν κατάβασιν ποιήσασθαι. τῶν δὲ διαφυγόντων Ταύρων ἀπαγγειλάντων τῷ βασιλεῖ τὴν γενομένην ἐπίθεσιν, φασὶ τὸν Αἰήτην μετὰ τῶν περὶ αὐτὸν στρατιωτῶν διώξαντα τοὺς Ἕλληνας καταλαβεῖν πλησίον τῆς θαλάττης· ἐξ ἐφόδου δὲ συνάψαντα μάχην ἀνελεῖν ἕνα τῶν Ἀργοναυτῶν Ἴφιτον τὸν Εὐρυσθέως ἀδελφὸν τοῦ τοὺς ἄθλους Ἡρακλεῖ προστάξαντος, ἔπειτα τοῖς ἄλλοις τῷ πλήθει τῶν συναγωνιζομένων περιχυθέντα καὶ βιαιότερον ἐγκείμενον ὑπὸ Μελεάγρου φονευθῆναι. ἔνθα δὴ πεσόντος τοῦ βασιλέως καὶ τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἐπαρθέντῶν, τραπῆναι πρὸς φυγὴν τοὺς Κόλχους, καὶ κατὰ τὸν διωγμὸν τοὺς πλείστους αὐτῶν ἀναιρεθῆναι. γενέσθαι δὲ καὶ τῶν ἀριστέων τραυματίαν Ἰάσονα καὶ Λαέρτην, ἔτι δʼ Ἀταλάντην καὶ τοὺς Θεσπιάδας προσαγορευομένους. τούτους μὲν οὖν φασιν ὑπὸ τῆς Μηδείας ἐν ὀλίγαις ἡμέραις ῥίζαις καὶ βοτάναις τισὶ θεραπευθῆναι, τοὺς δʼ Ἀργοναύτας ἐπισιτισαμένους ἐκπλεῦσαι, καὶ μέσον ἤδη τὸ Ποντικὸν πέλαγος ἔχοντας περιπεσεῖν χειμῶνι παντελῶς ἐπικινδύνῳ. τοῦ δʼ Ὀρφέως, καθάπερ καὶ πρότερον, εὐχὰς ποιησαμένου τοῖς Σαμόθρᾳξι, λῆξαι μὲν τοὺς ἀνέμους, φανῆναι δὲ πλησίον τῆς νεὼς τὸν προσαγορευόμενον θαλάττιον Γλαῦκον. τοῦτον δʼ ἐπὶ δύο νύκτας καὶ δύο ἡμέρας συνεχῶς τῇ νηὶ συμπλεύσαντα προειπεῖν μὲν Ἡρακλεῖ περὶ τῶν ἄθλων καὶ τῆς ἀθανασίας, τοῖς δὲ Τυνδαρίδαις, ὅτι προσαγορευθήσονται μὲν Διόσκοροι, τιμῆς δʼ ἰσοθέου τεύξονται παρὰ πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις. καθόλου δʼ ἐξ ὀνόματος προσφωνήσαντα πάντας τοὺς Ἀργοναύτας εἰπεῖν ὡς διὰ τὰς Ὀρφέως εὐχὰς θεῶν προνοίᾳ φανεὶς αὐτοῖς σημαίνει τὰ μέλλοντα γενήσεσθαι· συμβουλεύειν οὖν αὐτοῖς, ὅταν τῆς γῆς ἅψωνται, τὰς εὐχὰς ἀποδοῦναι τοῖς θεοῖς, διʼ οὓς τετεύχασι δὶς ἤδη τῆς σωτηρίας.
Medea, we are told, led the way for the Argonauts to the sacred precinct of Ares, which was seventy stades distant from the city which was called Sybaris and contained the palace of the rulers of the Colchi. And approaching the gates, which were kept closed at night, she addressed the guards in the Tauric speech. 2 And when the soldiers readily opened the gates to her as being the king's daughter, the Argonauts, they say, rushing in with drawn swords slew many of the barbarians and drove the rest, who were struck with terror by the unexpected happening, out of the precinct, and then, taking with them the fleece, made for the ship with all speed. Medea likewise, assisting the Argonauts, slew with poisons the dragon which, according to the myths, never slept as it lay coiled about the fleece in the precinct, and made her way with Jason down to the sea. 4 The Tauri who had escaped by flight reported to the king the attack which had been made upon them, and Aeetes, they say, took with him the soldiers who guarded his person, set out in pursuit of the Greeks, and came upon them near the sea. Joining battle on the first contact with them, he slew one of the Argonauts, Iphitus, the brother of that Eurystheus who had the Labours upon Heracles, but soon, when he enveloped the rest of them with the multitude of his followers and pressed too hotly into the fray, he was slain by Meleager. The moment the king fell, the Greeks took courage, and the Colchi turned in flight and the larger part of them were slain in the pursuit. There were wounded among the chieftains Jason, Laertes, Atalante, and the sons of Thespius, as they are called. However they were all healed in a few days, they say, by Medea by means of roots and certain herbs, and the Argonauts, after securing provisions for themselves, set out to sea, and they had already reached the middle of the Pontic sea when they ran into a storm which put them in the greatest peril. 6 But when Orpheus, as on the former occasion, offered up prayers to the deities of Samothrace, the winds ceased and there appeared near the ship Glaucus the Sea-god, as he is called. The god accompanied the ship in its voyage without ceasing for two days and nights and foretold to Heracles his Labours and immortality, and to the Tyndaridae that they should be called Dioscouri ("Sons of Zeus") and receive at the hands of all mankind honour like that offered to the gods. 7 And, in general, he addressed all the Argonauts by name and told them that because of the prayers of Orpheus he had appeared in accordance with a Providence of the gods and was showing forth to them what was destined to take place; and he counselled them, accordingly, that so soon as they touched land they should pay their vows to the gods through the intervention of whom they had twice already been saved.
§ 4.49
ἔπειτα τὸν μὲν Γλαῦκον δῦναι πάλιν εἰς τὸ πέλαγος, τοὺς δʼ Ἀργοναύτας κατὰ στόμα τοῦ Πόντου γενομένους προσπλεῦσαι τῇ γῇ, βασιλεύοντος τότε τῆς χώρας Βύζαντος, ἀφʼ οὗ καὶ τὴν πόλιν τῶν Βυζαντίων ὠνομάσθαι. ἐνταῦθα δὲ βωμοὺς ἱδρυσαμένους καὶ τοῖς θεοῖς τὰς εὐχὰς ἀποδόντας καθιερῶσαι τὸν τόπον τὸν ἔτι καὶ νῦν τιμώμενον ὑπὸ τῶν παραπλεόντων. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ἀναχθέντας, καὶ διαπλεύσαντας τήν τε Προποντίδα καὶ τὸν Ἑλλήσποντον, προσενεχθῆναι τῇ Τρῳάδι. ἐνταῦθα δʼ Ἡρακλέους πέμψαντος εἰς τὴν πόλιν Ἴφικλόν τε τὸν ἀδελφὸν καὶ Τελαμῶνα τάς τε ἵππους καὶ τὴν Ἡσιόνην ἀπαιτήσοντας, λέγεται τὸν Λαομέδοντα τοὺς μὲν πρεσβευτὰς εἰς φυλακὴν ἀποθέσθαι, τοῖς δʼ ἄλλοις Ἀργοναύταις διʼ ἐνέδρας βουλεῦσαι θάνατον· καὶ τοὺς μὲν ἄλλους υἱοὺς ἔχειν τῇ πράξει συνεργούς, Πρίαμον δὲ μόνον ἐναντιοπραγοῦντα· τοῦτον γὰρ ἀποφήνασθαι δεῖν τὰ πρὸς τοὺς ξένους δίκαια τηρεῖν, καὶ τήν τε ἀδελφὴν καὶ τὰς ὡμολογημένας ἵππους ἀποδιδόναι. οὐδενὸς δʼ αὐτῷ προσέχοντος, φασὶν εἰς τὴν φυλακὴν δύο ξίφη παρενέγκαντα λάθρᾳ δοῦναι τοῖς περὶ τὸν Τελαμῶνα, καὶ τὴν τοῦ πατρὸς προαίρεσιν ἐξηγησάμενον αἴτιον γενέσθαι τῆς σωτηρίας αὐτοῖς. εὐθὺς γὰρ τοὺς περὶ τὸν Τελαμῶνα φονεῦσαι μὲν τῶν φυλάκων τοὺς ἀντεχομένους, φυγόντας δʼ ἐπὶ θάλατταν ἀπαγγεῖλαι τὰ κατὰ μέρος τοῖς Ἀργοναύταις. διόπερ τούτους μὲν ἑτοίμους γενομένους πρὸς μάχην ἀπαντῆσαι τοῖς ἐκ τῆς πόλεως ἐκχεομένοις μετὰ τοῦ βασιλέως· γενομένης δὲ μάχης ἰσχυρᾶς, καὶ τῶν ἀριστέων διὰ τὰς ἀρετὰς ἐπικρατούντων, μυθολογοῦσι τὸν Ἡρακλέα πάντων ἄριστα διαγωνίσασθαι· τόν τε γὰρ Λαομέδοντα φονεῦσαι, καὶ τῆς πόλεως ἐξ ἐφόδου κρατήσαντα κολάσαι μὲν τοὺς μετασχόντας τῷ βασιλεῖ τῆς ἐπιβουλῆς, Πριάμῳ δὲ διὰ τὴν δικαιοσύνην παραδοῦναι τὴν βασιλείαν, καὶ φιλίαν συνθέμενον ἐκπλεῦσαι μετὰ τῶν Ἀργοναυτῶν. ἔνιοι δὲ τῶν ἀρχαίων ποιητῶν παραδεδώκασιν οὐ μετὰ τῶν Ἀργοναυτῶν, ἀλλʼ ἰδίᾳ στρατεύσαντα τὸν Ἡρακλέα ναυσὶν ἓξ ἕνεκα τῶν ἵππων ἑλεῖν τὴν Τροίαν· προσμαρτυρεῖν δὲ τούτοις καὶ Ὅμηρον ἐν τοῖσδε τοῖς ἔπεσιν, ἀλλʼ οἷόν τινά φασι βίην Ἡρακληείην εἶναι, ἐμὸν πατέρα θρασυμέμνονα, θυμολέοντα, ὅς ποτε δεῦρʼ ἐλθὼν ἕνεχʼ ἵππων Λαομέδοντος ἓξ οἴῃς σὺν νηυσὶ καὶ ἀνδράσι παυροτέροισιν Ἰλίου ἐξαλάπαξε πόλιν, χήρωσε δʼ ἀγυιάς. τοὺς δʼ Ἀργοναύτας φασὶν ἐκ τῆς Τρῳάδος ἀναχθέντας εἰς Σαμοθρᾴκην κομισθῆναι, καὶ τοῖς μεγάλοις θεοῖς τὰς εὐχὰς ἀποδόντας πάλιν ἀναθεῖναι τὰς φιάλας εἰς τὸ τέμενος τὰς ἔτι καὶ νῦν διαμενούσας.
After this, the account continues, Glaucus sank back beneath the deep, and the Argonauts, arriving at the mouth of the Pontus, put in to the land, the king of the country being at that time Byzas, after whom the city of Byzantium was named. 2 There they set up altars, and when they had paid their vows to the gods they sanctified the place, which is even to this day held in honour by the sailors who pass by. After this they put out to sea, and after sailing through the Propontis and Hellespont they landed at the Troad. Here, when Heracles dispatched to the city his brother Iphiclus and Telamon to demand back both the mares and Hesione, Laomedon, it is said, threw the ambassadors into prison and planned to lay an ambush for the other Argonauts and encompass their death. He had the rest of his sons as willing aids in the deed, but Priam alone opposed it; for he declared that Laomedon should observe justice in his dealings with the strangers and should deliver to them both his sister and the mares which had been promised. 4 But when no one paid any heed to Priam, he brought two swords to the prison, they say, and gave them secretly to Telamon and his companions, and by disclosing the plan of his father he became the cause of their deliverance. For immediately Telamon and his companions slew such of the guards as offered resistance, and fleeing to the sea gave the Argonauts a full account of what had happened. Accordingly, these got ready for battle and went out to meet the forces which were pouring out of the city with the king. 6 There was a sharp battle, but their courage gave the chieftains the upper hand, and Heracles, the myths report, performed the bravest feats of them all; for he slew Laomedon, and taking the city at the first assault he punished those who were parties with the king to the plot, but to Priam, because of the spirit of justice he had shown, he gave the kingship, entered into a league of friendship with him, and then sailed away in company with the Argonauts. 7 But certain of the ancient poets have handed down the account that Heracles took Troy, not with the aid of the Argonauts, but on a campaign of his own with six ships, in order to get the mares; and Homer also adds his witness to this version in the following lines: Aye, what a man, they say, was Heracles In might, my father he, steadfast, with heart Of lion, who once came here to carry off The mares of King Laomedon, with but Six ships and scantier men, yet sacked he then The city of proud Ilium, and made Her streets bereft. 8 But the Argonauts, they say, set forth from the road and arrived at Samothrace, where they again paid their vows to the great gods and dedicated in the sacred precinct the bowls which are preserved there even to this day.
§ 4.50
τῆς δὲ τῶν ἀριστέων ἀνακομιδῆς ἀγνοουμένης ἔτι κατὰ τὴν Θετταλίαν, φασὶ προσπεσεῖν φήμην ὅτι πάντες οἱ μετὰ Ἰάσονος στρατεύσαντες ἐν τοῖς κατὰ τὸν Πόντον τόποις ἀπολώλασι. διόπερ τὸν Πελίαν καιρὸν ἔχειν ὑπολαμβάνοντα τοὺς ἐφέδρους τῆς βασιλείας πάντας ἄρδην ἀνελεῖν, τὸν μὲν πατέρα τὸν Ἰάσονος ἀναγκάσαι πιεῖν αἷμα ταύρου, τὸν δʼ ἀδελφὸν Πρόμαχον, παῖδα τὴν ἡλικίαν ὄντα, φονεῦσαι. Ἀμφινόμην δὲ τὴν μητέρα μέλλουσαν ἀναιρεῖσθαί φασιν ἔπανδρον καὶ μνήμης ἀξίαν ἐπιτελέσασθαι πρᾶξιν· καταφυγοῦσαν γὰρ ἐπὶ τὴν ἑστίαν τοῦ βασιλέως καὶ καταρασαμένην παθεῖν αὐτὸν ἄξια τῶν ἀσεβημάτων, ξίφει πατάξασαν ἑαυτῆς τὸ στῆθος ἡρωικῶς καταστρέψαι τὸν βίον. τὸν δὲ Πελίαν τούτῳ τῷ τρόπῳ πᾶσαν τὴν Ἰάσονος συγγένειαν. ἄρδην ἀνελόντα ταχὺ τὴν προσήκουσαν τοῖς ἀσεβήμασι κομίσασθαι τιμωρίαν. τὸν γάρ Ἰάσονα καταπλεύσαντα νυκτὸς τῆς Θετταλίας εἰς ὅρμον οὐ μακρὰν μὲν τῆς Ἰωλκοῦ κείμενον, ἀθεώρητον δὲ τοῖς ἐκ τῆς πόλεως, μαθεῖν παρά τινος τῶν κατὰ τὴν χώραν τὰ γενόμενα περὶ τοὺς συγγενεῖς ἀτυχήματα. πάντων δὲ τῶν ἀριστέων ἑτοίμων ὄντων βοηθεῖν τῷ Ἰάσονι καὶ πάντα κίνδυνον ἀναδέχεσθαι, περὶ τῆς ἐπιθέσεως ἐμπεσεῖν αὐτοῖς ἀμφισβήτησιν· τοὺς μὲν γὰρ συμβουλεύειν παραχρῆμα βιασαμένους εἰς τὴν πόλιν ἀπροσδοκήτως ἐπιθέσθαι τῷ βασιλεῖ, τινὰς δʼ ἀποφαίνεσθαι δεῖν στρατιώτας ἀπὸ τῆς ἰδίας πατρίδος ἕκαστον συλλέξαντα κοινὸν ἄρασθαι πόλεμον· ἀδύνατον γὰρ εἶναι πεντήκοντα καὶ τρισὶν ἀνδράσι περιγενέσθαι βασιλέως δύναμιν ἔχοντος καὶ πόλεις ἀξιολόγους. τοιαύτης δʼ οὔσης ἐν αὐτοῖς ἀπορίας, λέγεται τὴν Μήδειαν ἐπαγγείλασθαι δι’ ἑαυτῆς τόν τε Πελίαν ἀποκτενεῖν δόλῳ καὶ τὰ βασίλεια παραδώσειν τοῖς ἀριστεῦσιν ἀκινδύνως. ἐνταῦθα πάντων θαυμασάντων τὸν λόγον καὶ τὸν τρόπον τῆς ἐπιβουλῆς μαθεῖν ζητούντων, εἰπεῖν ὅτι κομίζει μεθʼ ἑαυτῆς πολλὰς καὶ παραδόξους δυνάμεις φαρμάκων εὑρημένας ὑπό τε τῆς μητρὸς Ἑκάτης καὶ τῆς ἀδελφῆς Κίρκης· καὶ ταύταις μὲν μηδέποτε χρῆσθαι πρότερον πρὸς ἀπώλειαν ἀνθρώπων, νυνὶ δὲ διʼ αὐτῶν ἀμυνεῖσθαι ῥᾳδίως τοὺς ἀξίους τιμωρίας. προειποῦσαν δὲ τοῖς ἀριστεῦσι τὰ κατὰ μέρος τῆς ἐπιθέσεως, ἐκ τῶν βασιλείων αὐτοῖς ἐπαγγείλασθαι σημανεῖν τῆς μὲν ἡμέρας καπνῷ, τῆς δὲ νυκτὸς πυρί, πρὸς τὴν ὑπερκειμένην τῆς θαλάττης σκοπήν.
While the return of the chieftains was as yet not known in Thessaly, a rumour, they say, went the rounds there that all the companions of Jason in the expedition had perished in the region of Pontus. Consequently Pelias, thinking that an occasion was now come to do away with all who were waiting for the throne, forced the father of Jason to drink the blood of a bull, and murdered his brother Promachus, who was still a mere lad in years. 2 But Amphinome, his mother, they say, when on the point of being slain, performed a manly deed and one worthy of mention; for fleeing to the hearth of the king she pronounced a curse against him, to the effect that he might suffer the fate which his impious deeds merited, and then, striking her own breast with a sword, she ended her life heroically. But as for Pelias, when he had utterly destroyed in this fashion all the relatives of Jason, he speedily received the punishment befitting his impious deeds. For Jason, who had sailed that night into a road-stead which lay not far from Iolcus and yet was not in sight of the dwellers in the city, learned from one of the country-folk of the misfortunes which had befallen his kinsmen. 4 Now all the chieftains stood ready to lend Jason their aid and to face any peril on his behalf, but they fell into dispute over how they should make the attack; some, for instance, advised that they force their way at once into the city and fall upon the king while he was not expecting them, but certain others declared that each one of them should gather soldiers from his own birthplace and then raise a general war; since it was impossible, they maintained, for fifty-three men to overcome a king who controlled an army and important cities. While they were in this perplexity Medea, it is said, promised to slay Pelias all alone by means of cunning to deliver to the chieftains the royal palace without their running any risk. 6 And when they all expressed astonishment at her statement and sought to learn what sort of a scheme she had in mind, she said that she had brought with her many drugs of marvellous potency which had been discovered by her mother Hecate and by her sister Circe; and though before this time she had never used them to destroy human beings, on this occasion she would by means of them easily wreak vengeance upon men who were deserving of punishment. 7 Then, after disclosing beforehand to the chieftains the detailed plans of the attack she would make, she promised them that she would give them a signal from the palace during the day by means of smoke, during the night by fire, in the direction of the look-out which stood high above the sea.
§ 4.51
αὐτὴν δὲ κατασκευάσασαν Ἀρτέμιδος εἴδωλον κοῖλον, εἰς μὲν τοῦτο παντοδαπὰς φύσεις φαρμάκων κατακρύψαι, ἑαυτῆς δὲ τὰς μὲν τρίχας δυνάμεσί τισι χρίσασαν ποιῆσαι πολιάς, τὸ δὲ πρόσωπον καὶ τὸ σῶμα ῥυτίδων πλῆρες, ὥστε τοὺς ἰδόντας δοκεῖν εἶναί τινα παντελῶς πρεσβῦτιν· τὸ δὲ τελευταῖον ἀναλαβοῦσαν τὴν θεὸν διεσκευασμένην καταπληκτικῶς εἰς ὄχλων δεισιδαιμονίαν, εἰς τὴν πόλιν εἰσβαλεῖν ἅμʼ ἡμέρᾳ. ἐνθεαζούσης δʼ αὐτῆς, καὶ τοῦ πλήθους κατὰ τὰς ὁδοὺς συντρέχοντος, παραγγέλλειν πᾶσι δέχεσθαι τὴν θεὸν εὐσεβῶς· παρεῖναι γὰρ αὐτὴν ἐξ Ὑπερβορέων ἐπʼ ἀγαθῷ δαίμονι τῇ τε πόλει πάσῃ καὶ τῷ βασιλεῖ. πάντων δὲ προσκυνούντων καὶ τιμώντων τὴν θεὸν θυσίαις, καὶ τὸ σύνολον τῆς πόλεως ἁπάσης συνενθεαζούσης, εἰσβαλεῖν τὴν Μήδειαν εἰς τὰ βασίλεια, καὶ τόν τε Πελίαν εἰς δεισιδαίμονα διάθεσιν ἐμβαλεῖν καὶ τὰς θυγατέρας αὐτοῦ διὰ τῆς τερατείας εἰς τοιαύτην κατάπληξιν ἀγαγεῖν ὥστε πιστεῦσαι διότι πάρεστιν ἡ θεὸς εὐδαίμονα ποιήσουσα τὸν οἶκον τοῦ βασιλέως· ἀπεφαίνετο γὰρ ἐπὶ δρακόντων ὀχουμένην τὴν Ἄρτεμιν διʼ ἀέρος ὑπερπετασθῆναι πολλὰ μέρη τῆς οἰκουμένης, καὶ πρὸς καθίδρυσιν ἑαυτῆς καὶ τιμὰς αἰωνίους ἐκλελέχθαι τὸν εὐσεβέστατον ἁπάντων τῶν βασιλέων· προστεταχέναι δʼ αὐτῇ καὶ τὸ γῆρας ἀφελοῦσαν τὸ Πελίου διά τινων δυνάμεων νέον παντελῶς ποιῆσαι τὸ σῶμα καὶ πολλὰ ἕτερα πρὸς μακάριον καὶ θεοφιλῆ βίον δωρήσασθαι. ἐκπληττομένου δὲ τοῦ βασιλέως τὸ παράδοξον τῶν λόγων, ἐπαγγείλασθαι τὴν Μήδειαν παραχρῆμα ἐπὶ τοῦ σώματος ἑαυτῆς τὰς τούτων πίστεις παρέξεσθαι. εἰποῦσαν γὰρ μιᾷ τῶν Πελίου θυγατέρων καθαρὸν ἐνεγκεῖν ὕδωρ, καὶ τῆς παρθένου τὸ ῥηθὲν εὐθὺς ἐπὶ τέλος ἀγαγούσης, φασὶν εἰς οἰκίσκον τινὰ συγκλείσασαν ἑαυτὴν καὶ περινιψαμένην τὸ σῶμα πᾶν ἀποκλύσασθαι τὰς τῶν φαρμάκων δυνάμεις· ἀποκατασταθεῖσαν δʼ εἰς τὴν προϋπάρχουσαν διάθεσιν καὶ φανεῖσαν τῷ βασιλεῖ καταπλήξασθαι τοὺς ὁρῶντας, καὶ δόξαι τινὶ θεῶν προνοίᾳ μετηλλαχέναι τὸ γῆρας εἰς παρθένου νεότητα καὶ κάλλος περίβλεπτον. ποιῆσαι δʼ αὐτὴν καὶ διά τινων φαρμάκων εἴδωλα φαντασθῆναι τῶν δρακόντων, ἐφʼ ὧν ἀποφαίνεσθαι τὴν θεὸν κομισθεῖσαν διʼ ἀέρος ἐξ Ὑπερβορέων ἐπιξενωθῆναι τῷ Πελίᾳ. τῶν δʼ ἐνεργημάτων ὑπὲρ τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην φύσιν φανέντων, καὶ τοῦ βασιλέως μεγάλης ἀποδοχῆς ἀξιοῦντος τὴν Μήδειαν καὶ τὸ σύνολον πιστεύσαντος ἀληθῆ λέγειν, φασὶν αὐτὴν κατὰ μόνας ἐντυχοῦσαν τῷ Πελίᾳ παρακαλέσαι ταῖς θυγατράσι διακελεύσασθαι συνεργεῖν καὶ πράττειν ἅπερ ἂν αὐταῖς προστάττῃ· προσήκειν γὰρ τῷ τοῦ βασιλέως σώματι μὴ δουλικαῖς χερσίν, ἀλλὰ ταῖς τῶν τέκνων θεραπευθέντα τυχεῖν τῆς παρὰ θεῶν εὐεργεσίας. διόπερ τοῦ Πελίου ταῖς θυγατράσι διαρρήδην εἰπόντος πάντα πράττειν ὅσα ἂν ἡ Μήδεια προστάττῃ περὶ τὸ σῶμα τοῦ πατρός, τὰς μὲν παρθένους ἑτοίμους οὔσας τὸ κελευόμενον ἐπιτελεῖν,
Then Medea, the tale goes on, fashioning a hollow image of Artemis secreted in it drugs of diverse natures, and as for herself, she anointed her hair with certain potent ointments and made it grey, and filled her face and body so full of wrinkles that all who looked upon her thought that she was surely an old woman. And finally, taking with her the statue of the goddess which had been so made as to strike with terror the superstitious populace and move it to fear of the gods, at daybreak she entered the city. 2 She acted like one inspired, and as the multitude rushed together along the streets she summoned the whole people to receive the goddess with reverence, telling them that the goddess had come to them from the Hyperboreans to bring good luck to both the whole city and the king. And while all the inhabitants were rendering obeisance to the goddess and honouring her with sacrifices, and the whole city, in a word, was, along with Medea herself, acting like people inspired, she entered the palace, and there she threw Pelias into such a state of superstitious fear and, by her magic arts, so terrified his daughters that they believed that the goddess was actually there in person to bring prosperity to the house of the king. 4 For she declared that Artemis, riding through the air upon a chariot drawn by dragons, had flown in the air over many parts of the inhabited earth and had chosen out the realm of the most pious king in all the world for the establishment of her own worship and for honours which should be for ever and ever; and that the goddess had commanded her not only to divest Pelias, by means of certain powers which she possessed, of his old age and make his body entirely young, but also to bestow upon him many other gifts, to the end that his life should be blessed and pleasing to the gods. The king was filled with amazement at these astonishing proposals, but Medea, we are informed, promised him that then and there, in the case of her own body, she would furnish the proof of what she had said. Then she told one of the daughters of Pelias to bring pure water, and when the maiden at once carried out her request, she shut herself up, they say, in a small chamber and washing thoroughly her whole body she made it clean of the potent influences of the drugs. Being restored, then, to her former condition, and showing herself to the king, she amazed those who gazed upon her, and they thought that a kind of Providence of the gods had transformed her old age into a maiden's youth and striking beauty. 6 Also, by means of certain drugs, Medea caused shapes of the dragons to appear, which she declared had brought the goddess through the air from the Hyperboreans to make her stay with Pelias. And since the deeds which Medea had performed appeared to be too great for mortal nature, and the king saw fit to regard her with great approval and, in a word, believed that she was telling the truth, she now, they say, in private conversation with Pelias urged him to order his daughters to co-operate with her and to do whatever she might command them; for it was fitting, she said, that the king's body should receive the favour which the gods were according to him through the hands, not of servants, but of his own children. 7 Consequently Pelias gave explicit directions to his daughters to do everything that Medea might command them with respect to the body of their father, and the maidens were quite ready to carry out her orders.
§ 4.52
τὴν δὲ Μήδειαν νυκτὸς ἐπιγενομένης καὶ τοῦ Πελίου πρὸς ὕπνον τραπέντος λέγειν ὡς ἀναγκαῖον ἐν λέβητι καθεψῆσαι τὸ σῶμα τοῦ Πελίου. προσάντως δὲ τῶν παρθένων δεξαμένων τὸν λόγον, ἑτέραν αὐτὴν ἐπινοῆσαι πίστιν τῶν ὑπʼ αὐτῆς λεγομένων· τρεφομένου γὰρ κριοῦ πολυετοῦς κατὰ τὴν οἰκίαν, ἐπαγγείλασθαι ταῖς κόραις τοῦτον πρότερον καθεψήσειν καὶ ποιήσειν ἀπʼ ἀρχῆς ἄρνα. συγκαταθεμένων δʼ αὐτῶν, μυθολογοῦσι τὴν Μήδειαν κατὰ μέλη διελοῦσαν τὸ σῶμα τοῦ κριοῦ καθεψῆσαι, καὶ διά τινων φαρμάκων παρακρουσαμένην ἐξελεῖν ἐκ τοῦ λέβητος ἀρνὸς εἴδωλον. ἐνταῦθα τῶν παρθένων καταπλαγεισῶν, καὶ πίστεις τῆς ἐπαγγελίας ἡγησαμένων ἐνδεχομένας ἔχειν, ὑπουργῆσαι τοῖς προστάγμασι. καὶ τὰς μὲν ἄλλας ἁπάσας τὸν πατέρα τυπτούσας ἀποκτεῖναι, μόνην δʼ Ἄλκηστιν διʼ εὐσεβείας ὑπερβολὴν ἀποσχέσθαι τοῦ γεννήσαντος. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τὴν Μήδειάν φασι τοῦ μὲν τὸ σῶμα κατακόπτειν ἢ καθέψειν ἀποστῆναι, προσποιησαμένην δὲ δεῖν πρότερον εὐχὰς ποιήσασθαι τῇ σελήνῃ, τὰς μὲν παρθένους ἀναβιβάσαι μετὰ λαμπάδων ἐπὶ τὸ μετεωρότατον τέγος τῶν βασιλείων, αὐτὴν δὲ τῇ Κολχίδι διαλέκτῳ κατευχήν τινα μακρὰν διερχομένην ἐγχρονίζειν, ἀναστροφὴν διδοῦσαν τοῖς μέλλουσι ποιεῖσθαι τὴν ἐπίθεσιν. διὸ καὶ τοὺς Ἀργοναύτας ἀπὸ τῆς σκοπῆς καταμαθόντας τὸ πῦρ, καὶ νομίσαντας συντετελέσθαι τὴν ἀναίρεσιν τοῦ βασιλέως, ὁρμῆσαι δρόμῳ πρὸς τὴν πόλιν, παρεισελθόντας δʼ ἐντὸς τοῦ τείχους ἐσπασμένοις τοῖς ξίφεσιν εἰς τὰ βασίλεια καταντῆσαι καὶ τοὺς ἐναντιουμένους τῶν φυλάκων ἀνελεῖν. τὰς δὲ τοῦ Πελίου θυγατέρας ἄρτι καταβεβηκυίας ἀπὸ τοῦ τέγους πρὸς τὴν καθέψησιν, καὶ παραδόξως ἐν τοῖς βασιλείοις ἰδούσας τόν τε Ἰάσονα καὶ τοὺς ἀριστεῖς, περιαλγεῖς ἐπὶ τῇ συμφορᾷ γενέσθαι· οὔτε γὰρ ἀμύνασθαι τὴν Μήδειαν εἶχον ἐξουσίαν οὔτε τὸ πραχθὲν αὐταῖς μύσος διʼ ἀπάτην διορθώσασθαι. διόπερ ταύτας μὲν ὁρμῆσαι λέγεται στερίσκειν αὑτὰς τοῦ ζῆν, τὸν δʼ Ἰάσονα κατελεήσαντα τὰ πάθη παρακατασχεῖν αὐτάς, καὶ θαρρεῖν παρακαλέσαντα δεικνύειν ὡς ἐκ κακίας μὲν οὐδὲν ἥμαρτον, ἀκουσίως δὲ διʼ ἀπάτην ἠτύχησαν.
Medea then, the story relates, when night had come and Pelias had fallen asleep, informed the daughters that it was required that the body of Pelias be boiled in a cauldron. But when the maidens received the proposal with hostility, she devised a second proof that what she said could be believed. For there was a ram full of years which was kept in their home, and she announced to the maidens that she would first boil it and thus make it into a lamb again. 2 When they agreed to this, we are told that Medea severed it apart limb by limb, boiled the ram's body, and then, working a deception by means of certain drugs, she drew out of the cauldron an image which looked like a lamb. Thereupon the maidens were astounded, and were so convinced that they had received all possible proofs that she could do what she was promising that they carried out her orders. All the rest of them beat their father to death, but Alcestis alone, because of her great piety, would not lay hands upon him who had begotten her. After Pelias had been slain in this way, Medea, they say, took no part in cutting the body to pieces or in boiling it, but pretending that she must first offer prayers to the moon, she caused the maidens to ascend with lamps to the highest part of the roof of the palace, while she herself took much time repeating a long prayer in the Colchian speech, thus affording an interval to those who were to make the attack. 4 Consequently the Argonauts, when from their look-out they made out the fire, believing that the slaying of the king had been accomplished, hastened to the city on the run, and passing inside the walls entered the palace with drawn swords and slew such guards as offered opposition. The daughters of Pelias, who had only at that moment descended from the roof to attend to the boiling of their father, when they saw to their surprise both Jason and the chieftains in the palace, were filled with dismay at how had befallen them; for it was not within their power to avenge themselves on Medea, nor could they by deceit make amends for the abominable act which they had done. Consequently the daughters, it is related, were about to make an end of their lives, but Jason, taking pity upon their distress, restrained them, and exhorting them to be of good courage, showed them that it was not from evil design that they had done wrong but it was against their will and because of deception that they had suffered this misfortune.
§ 4.53
καθόλου δὲ πᾶσι τοῖς συγγενέσιν ἐπαγγειλάμενον ἐπιεικῶς καὶ μεγαλοψύχως προσενεχθήσεσθαι, συναγαγεῖν εἰς ἐκκλησίαν τὰ πλήθη. ἀπολογησάμενον δὲ περὶ τῶν πεπραγμένων, καὶ διδάξαντα διότι τοὺς προαδικήσαντας ἠμύνατο, τιμωρίαν ἐλάττονα λαβὼν ὧν αὐτὸς πέπονθεν, Ἀκάστῳ μὲν τῷ Πελίου τὴν πατρῴαν βασιλείαν παραδοῦναι, τῶν δὲ τοῦ βασιλέως θυγατέρων ἀξιῶσαι αὐτὸν φροντίδα ποιήσασθαι. καὶ πέρας συντελέσαι τὴν ὑπόσχεσιν αὐτόν φασι μετά τινα χρόνον συνοικίσαντα πάσας τοῖς ἐπιφανεστάτοις. Ἄλκηστιν μὲν γὰρ τὴν πρεσβυτάτην ἐκδοῦναι πρὸς γάμον Ἀδμήτῳ τῷ Φέρητος Θετταλῷ, Ἀμφινόμην δὲ Ἀνδραίμονι Λεοντέως ἀδελφῷ, Εὐάδνην δὲ Κάνῃ τῷ Κεφάλου, Φωκέων τότε βασιλεύοντι. ταῦτα μὲν αὐτὸν ὕστερον πρᾶξαι, τότε δὲ μετὰ τῶν ἀριστέων εἰς Ἰσθμὸν τὸν ἐν Πελοποννήσῳ πλεύσαντα θυσίαν ἐπιτελέσαι τῷ Ποσειδῶνι καὶ καθιερῶσαι τὴν Ἀργὼ τῷ θεῷ. ἀποδοχῆς δὲ μεγάλης τυγχάνοντα παρὰ τῷ βασιλεῖ τῶν Κορινθίων Κρέοντι μετασχεῖν τῆς πολιτείας καὶ τὸν λοιπὸν χρόνον ἐν τῇ Κορίνθῳ κατοικῆσαι. μελλόντων δὲ τῶν Ἀργοναυτῶν εἰς τὰς πατρίδας διαχωρίζεσθαι, φασὶ τὸν Ἡρακλέα συμβουλεῦσαι τοῖς ἀριστεῦσι πρὸς τὰ παράδοξα τῆς τύχης ἀλλήλοις ὅρκους δοῦναι συμμαχήσειν, ἐάν τις βοηθείας προσδεηθῇ· ἐκλέξασθαι δὲ καὶ τῆς Ἑλλάδος τὸν ἐπιφανέστατον τόπον εἰς ἀγώνων θέσιν καὶ πανήγυριν κοινήν, καὶ καθιερῶσαι τὸν ἀγῶνα τῷ μεγίστῳ τῶν θεῶν Διὶ Ὀλυμπίῳ. συνομοσάντων δὲ τῶν ἀριστέων περὶ τῆς συμμαχίας, καὶ τὴν διάταξιν τῶν ἀγώνων ἐπιτρεψάντων Ἡρακλεῖ, φασὶ τοῦτον τὸν τόπον προκρῖναι πρὸς τὴν πανήγυριν τῆς τῶν Ἠλείων χώρας τὸν παρὰ τὸν Ἀλφειόν. διὸ καὶ τὴν παραποταμίαν καθιερώσαντα τῷ μεγίστῳ τῶν θεῶν, Ὀλυμπίαν ἀπʼ ἐκείνου προσαγορεῦσαι. ὑποστησάμενον δʼ ἱππικὸν ἀγῶνα καὶ γυμνικόν, τά τε περὶ τῶν ἄθλων διατάξαι καὶ θεωροὺς ἀποστεῖλαι τοὺς ταῖς πόλεσι προεροῦντας τὴν θέαν τῶν ἀγώνων. διὰ δὲ τὴν παρὰ τοῖς Ἀργοναύταις γενομένην ἀποδοχὴν αὐτοῦ κατὰ τὴν στρατείαν οὐ μετρίως δοξασθέντος, προσγενέσθαι τὴν ἐκ τῆς Ὀλυμπικῆς πανηγύρεως δόξαν, ὥστε πάντων τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἐπιφανέστατον ὑπάρχειν καὶ παρὰ ταῖς πλείσταις πόλεσι γνωσθέντα πολλοὺς ἔχειν ἐπιθυμητὰς τῆς φιλίας, οὓς προθύμους εἶναι μετασχεῖν παντὸς κινδύνου. ταχὺ δʼ ἐπʼ ἀνδρείᾳ καὶ στρατηγίᾳ θαυμασθέντα στρατόπεδόν τε κράτιστον συστήσασθαι καὶ πᾶσαν ἐπελθεῖν τὴν οἰκουμένην εὐεργετοῦντα τὸ γένος τῶν ἀνθρώπων· ἀνθʼ ὧν τυχεῖν αὐτὸν συμφωνουμένης ἀθανασίας. τοὺς δὲ ποιητὰς διὰ τὴν συνήθη τερατολογίαν μυθολογῆσαι μόνον τὸν Ἡρακλέα καὶ γυμνὸν ὅπλων τελέσαι τοὺς τεθρυλημένους ἄθλους.
Jason now, we are informed, promising all his kindred in general that he would conduct himself honourably and magnanimously, summoned the people to an assembly. And after defending himself for what he had done and explaining that he had only taken vengeance on men who had wronged him first, inflicting a less severe punishment on them than the evils he himself had suffered, he bestowed upon Acastus, the son of Pelias, the ancestral kingdom, and as for the daughters of the king, he said that he considered it right that he himself should assume the responsibility for them. 2 And ultimately he fulfilled his promise, they say, by joining them all in marriage after a time to the most renowned men. Alcestis, for instance, the eldest he gave in marriage to Admetus of Thessaly, the son of Pheres, Amphinome to Andraemon, the brother of Leonteus, Euadne to Canes, who was the son of Cephalus and king at that time of the Phocians. These marriages he arranged at a later period; but at the time in question, sailing together with the chieftains to the Isthmus of Peloponnesus, he performed a sacrifice to Poseidon and also dedicated to the god the ship Argo. And since he received a great welcome at the court of Creon, the king of the Corinthians, he became a citizen of that city and spent the rest of his days in Corinth. 4 When the Argonauts were on the point of separating and departing to their native lands, Heracles, they say, proposed to the chieftains that, in view of the unexpected turns fortune takes, they should exchange oaths among one another to fight at the side of anyone of their number who should call for aid; and that, furthermore, they should choose out the most excellent place in Greece, there to institute games and a festival for the whole race, and should dedicate the games to the greatest of the gods, Olympian Zeus. After the chieftains had taken their oath concerning the alliance and had entrusted Heracles with the management of the games, he, they say, picked the place for the festival on the bank of the Alpheius river in the land of the Eleans. Accordingly, this place besides the river he made sacred to the greatest of the gods and called it Olympia after his appellation. When he had instituted horse-races and gymnastic contests, he fixed the rules governing the events and then dispatched sacred commissioners to announce to the cities the spectacle of the games. 6 And although Heracles had won no moderate degree of fame because of the high esteem in which he was held by the Argonauts throughout their expedition, to this was now added the glory of having founded the festival at Olympia, so that he was the most renowned man among all the Greeks and, known as he was in almost every state, there were many who sought his friendship and who were eager to share with him in every danger. 7 And since he was an object of admiration because of his bravery and his skill as a general, he gathered a most powerful army and visited all the inhabited world, conferring his benefactions upon the race of men, and it was in return for these that with general approval he received the gift of immortality. But the poets, following their custom of giving a tale of wonder, have recounted the myth that Heracles, single-handed and without the aid of armed forces, performed the Labours which are on the lips of all.
§ 4.54
ἀλλὰ περὶ μὲν τοῦ θεοῦ τούτου τὰ μυθολογούμενα πάντα διήλθομεν, νυνὶ δὲ προσθετέον ἡμῖν καὶ ὑπὲρ Ἰάσονος τὸν ὑπολειπόμενον λόγον. φασὶ γὰρ αὐτὸν ἐν Κορίνθῳ κατοικοῦντα καὶ συμβιώσαντα δεκαετῆ χρόνον Μηδείᾳ γεννῆσαι παῖδας ἐξ αὐτῆς, τοὺς μὲν πρεσβυτάτους δύο διδύμους Θετταλόν τε καὶ Ἀλκιμένην, τὸν δὲ τρίτον πολὺ νεώτερον τούτων Τίσανδρον. τοῦτον μὲν οὖν τὸν χρόνον ἱστοροῦσιν ἀποδοχῆς ἀξιωθῆναι τὴν Μήδειαν ὑπὸ τοῦ ἀνδρὸς διὰ τὸ μὴ μόνον κάλλει διαφέρειν αὐτήν, ἀλλὰ καὶ σωφροσύνῃ καὶ ταῖς ἄλλαις ἀρεταῖς κεκοσμῆσθαι· μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ἀεὶ μᾶλλον τοῦ χρόνου τὴν φυσικὴν εὐπρέπειαν ἀφαιρουμένου, λέγεται τὸν Ἰάσονα Γλαύκης ἐρασθέντα τῆς Κρέοντος θυγατρὸς μνηστεῦσαι τὴν παρθένον. συγκαταθεμένου δὲ τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ τάξαντος ἡμέραν τοῖς γάμοις, τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἐπιβαλέσθαι φασὶν αὐτὸν πείθειν τὴν Μήδειαν ἑκουσίως παραχωρῆσαι τῆς συμβιώσεως· βούλεσθαι γὰρ αὐτὸν γαμεῖν οὐκ ἀποδοκιμάσαντα τὴν πρὸς αὐτὴν ὁμιλίαν, ἀλλὰ τοῖς τέκνοις σπεύδοντα συγγενῆ τὸν τοῦ βασιλέως οἶκον ποιῆσαι. ἀγανακτούσης δὲ τῆς γυναικὸς καὶ θεοὺς μαρτυρομένης τοὺς ἐπόπτας γενομένους τῶν ὅρκων, φασὶ τὸν Ἰάσονα καταφρονήσαντα τῶν ὅρκων γῆμαι τὴν τοῦ βασιλέως θυγατέρα. τὴν δὲ Μήδειαν ἐξελαυνομένην ἐκ τῆς πόλεως, καὶ μίαν ἡμέραν παρὰ τοῦ Κρέοντος λαβοῦσαν εἰς τὴν τῆς φυγῆς παρασκευήν, εἰς μὲν τὰ βασίλεια νυκτὸς εἰσελθεῖν ἀλλοιώσασαν τοῖς φαρμάκοις τὴν αὑτῆς ὄψιν, καὶ τὴν οἰκίαν ὑφάψαι, ῥίζιόν τι προσθεῖσαν, εὑρημένον μὲν ὑπὸ Κίρκης τῆς ἀδελφῆς, δύναμιν δʼ ἔχον, ἐπὰν ἐξαφθῇ, δυσκατάσβεστον. ἄφνω δὲ φλεγομένων τῶν βασιλείων, τὸν μὲν Ἰάσονα ταχέως ἐκπηδῆσαι, τὴν δὲ Γλαύκην καὶ τὸν Κρέοντα τοῦ πυρὸς περικαταλαβόντος διαφθαρῆναι. τινὲς δὲ τῶν συγγραφέων φασὶ τοὺς μὲν υἱοὺς τῆς Μηδείας δῶρα κομίσαι τῇ νύμφῃ φαρμάκοις κεχριμένα, τὴν δὲ Γλαύκην δεξαμένην καὶ τῷ σώματι περιθεμένην αὐτήν τε συμφορᾷ περιπεσεῖν καὶ τὸν πατέρα βοηθοῦντα καὶ τοῦ σώματος ἁψάμενον τελευτῆσαι. τὴν δὲ Μήδειαν ἐπιτυχοῦσαν τοῖς πρώτοις ἐγχειρήμασιν οὐκ ἀποστῆναι τῆς Ἰάσονος τιμωρίας. ἐπὶ τοσοῦτο γὰρ προελθεῖν αὐτὴν ὀργῆς ἅμα καὶ ζηλοτυπίας, ἔτι δʼ ὠμότητος, ὥστʼ ἐπεὶ διέφυγε τὸν μετὰ τῆς νύμφης κίνδυνον, τῇ σφαγῇ τῶν κοινῶν τέκνων ἐμβαλεῖν αὐτὸν εἰς τὰς μεγίστας συμφοράς· πλὴν γὰρ ἑνὸς τοῦ διαφυγόντος τοὺς ἄλλους υἱοὺς ἀποσφάξαι καὶ τὰ σώματα τούτων ἐν τῷ τῆς Ἥρας τεμένει θάψαι καὶ μετὰ τῶν πιστοτάτων θεραπαινίδων ἔτι νυκτὸς μέσης φυγεῖν ἐκ τῆς Κορίνθου, καὶ διεκπεσεῖν εἰς Θήβας πρὸς Ἡρακλέα· τοῦτον γὰρ μεσίτην γεγονότα τῶν ὁμολογιῶν ἐν Κόλχοις ἐπηγγέλθαι βοηθήσειν αὐτῇ παρασπονδουμένῃ.
But we have now recounted all the myths which are told about this god, and at this time must add what remains to be said about Jason. The account runs like this: — Jason made his home in Corinth and living with Medea as his wife for ten years he begat children by her, the two oldest, Thessalus and Alcimenes, being twins, and the third, Tisandrus, being much younger than the other two. 2 Now during this period, we are informed, Medea was highly approved by her husband, because she not only excelled in beauty but was adorned with modesty and every other virtue; but afterward, as time more and more diminished her natural comeliness, Jason, it is said, became enamoured of Glauce, Creon's daughter, and sought the maiden's hand in marriage. After her father had given his consent and had set a day for the marriage, Jason, they say, at first tried to persuade Medea to withdraw from their wedlock of her free-will; for, he told her, he desired to marry the maiden, not because he felt his relations with Medea were beneath him, but because he was eager to establish a kinship between the king's house and his children. 4 But when his wife was angered and called upon the gods who had been the witnesses of their vows, they say that Jason, disdaining the vows, married the daughter of the king. Thereupon Medea was driven out of the city, and being allowed by Creon but one day to make the preparations for her exile, she entered the palace by night, having altered her appearance by means of drugs, and set fire to the building by applying to it a little root which had been discovered by her sister Circe and had the property that when it was kindled it was hard to put out. Now when the palace suddenly burst into flames, Jason quickly made his way out of it, but as for Glauce and Creon, the fire hemmed them in on all sides and they were consumed by it. 6 Certain historians, however, say that the sons of Medea brought to the bride gifts which had been anointed with poisons, and that when Glauce took them and put them about her body both she herself met her end and her father, when he ran to help her and embraced her body, likewise perished. 7 Although Medea had been successful in her first undertakings, yet she did not refrain, so we are told, from taking her revenge upon Jason. For she had come to such a state of rage and jealousy, yes, even of savageness, that, since he had escaped from the peril which threatened him at the same time as his bride, she determined, by the murder of the children of them both, to plunge him into the deepest misfortunes; for, except for the one son who made his escape with her, she slew the other sons and in company with her most faithful maids fled in the dead of night from Corinth and made her way safely to Heracles in Thebes. Her reason for doing so was that Heracles had acted as a mediator in connection with the agreements which had been entered into in the land of the Colchians and had promised to come to her aid if she should ever find them violated.
§ 4.55
ἐν τοσούτῳ δὲ τὸν μὲν Ἰάσονα στερηθέντα τέκνων καὶ γυναικὸς δόξαι πᾶσι δίκαια πεπονθέναι· διὸ καὶ μὴ δυνάμενον ἐνεγκεῖν τὸ μέγεθος τῆς συμφορᾶς ἐκ τοῦ ζῆν ἑαυτὸν μεταστῆσαι. τοὺς δὲ Κορινθίους ἐκπεπλῆχθαι μὲν τὴν δεινότητα τῆς περιπετείας, μάλιστα δʼ ἀπορεῖν περὶ τῆς ταφῆς τῶν παίδων. διόπερ ἀποστειλάντων αὐτῶν Πυθώδε τοὺς ἐπερωτήσοντας τὸν θεὸν ὅπως χρηστέον ἐστὶ τοῖς σώμασι τῶν παίδων, προστάξαι τὴν Πυθίαν ἐν τῷ τεμένει τῆς Ἥρας αὐτοὺς θάψαι καὶ τιμῶν ἡρωικῶν αὐτοὺς ἀξιοῦν. ποιησάντων δὲ τῶν Κορινθίων τὸ προσταχθέν, φασὶ Θετταλὸν μὲν τὸν διαφυγόντα τὸν ἀπὸ τῆς μητρὸς φόνον ἐν Κορίνθῳ τραφέντα μετὰ ταῦτα ἐπανελθεῖν εἰς Ἰωλκόν, οὖσαν Ἰάσονος πατρίδα· ἐν ᾗ καταλαβόντα προσφάτως Ἄκαστον τὸν Πελίου τετελευτηκότα παραλαβεῖν κατὰ γένος προσήκουσαν τὴν βασιλείαν, καὶ τοὺς ὑφʼ ἑαυτὸν τεταγμένους ἀφʼ ἑαυτοῦ προσαγορεῦσαι Θετταλούς. οὐκ ἀγνοῶ δὲ διότι περὶ τῆς τῶν Θετταλῶν προσηγορίας οὐ ταύτην μόνην τὴν ἱστορίαν, ἀλλὰ καὶ διαφώνους ἑτέρας παραδεδόσθαι συμβέβηκε, περὶ ὧν ἐν οἰκειοτέροις μνησθησόμεθα καιροῖς. τὴν δʼ οὖν Μήδειαν ἐν Θήβαις φασὶ καταλαβοῦσαν Ἡρακλέα μανικῷ πάθει συνεχόμενον καὶ τοὺς υἱοὺς ἀπεκταγκότα, φαρμάκοις αὐτὸν ἰάσασθαι. τοῦ δʼ Εὐρυσθέως ἐπικειμένου τοῖς προστάγμασιν, ἀπογνοῦσαν τὴν κατὰ τὸ παρὸν ἐκ τούτου βοήθειαν καταφυγεῖν εἰς Ἀθήνας πρὸς Αἰγέα τὸν Πανδίονος. ἐνταῦθα δʼ οἱ μέν φασιν αὐτὴν Αἰγεῖ συνοικήσασαν γεννῆσαι Μῆδον τὸν ὕστερον Μηδίας βασιλεύσαντα, τινὲς δʼ ἱστοροῦσιν ὑφʼ Ἱππότου τοῦ Κρέοντος ἐξαιτουμένην τυχεῖν κρίσεως καὶ τῶν ἐγκλημάτων ἀπολυθῆναι. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Θησέως ἐπανελθόντος ἐκ Τροιζῆνος εἰς τὰς Ἀθήνας, ἐγκληθεῖσαν ἐπὶ φαρμακείᾳ φυγεῖν ἐκ τῆς πόλεως· δόντος δʼ Αἰγέως τοὺς παραπέμψοντας εἰς ἣν βούλοιτο χώραν, εἰς τὴν Φοινίκην κομισθῆναι. ἐντεῦθεν δʼ εἰς τοὺς ἄνω τόπους τῆς Ἀσίας ἀναβᾶσαν συνοικῆσαί τινι τῶν ἐπιφανῶν βασιλέων, ἐξ οὗ γεννῆσαι παῖδα Μῆδον· καὶ τὸν παῖδα μετὰ τὴν τοῦ πατρὸς τελευτὴν διαδεξάμενον τὴν βασιλείαν θαυμασθῆναί τε κατὰ τὴν ἀνδρείαν καὶ τοὺς λαοὺς ἀφʼ ἑαυτοῦ Μήδους ὀνομάσαι.
Meanwhile, they go on to say, in the opinion of everyone Jason, in losing children and wife, had suffered only what was just; consequently, being unable to endure the magnitude of the affliction, he put an end to his life. The Corinthians were greatly distressed at such a terrible reversal of fortune and were especially perplexed about the burial of the children. Accordingly, they dispatched messengers to Pytho to inquire of the god what should be done with the bodies of the children, and the Pythian priestess commanded them to bury the children in the sacred precinct of Hera and to pay them the honours which are accorded to heroes. 2 After the Corinthians had performed this command, Thessalus, they say, who had escaped being murdered by his mother, was reared as a youth in Corinth and then removed to Iolcus, which was the native land of Jason; and finding on his arrival that Acastus, the son of Pelias, had recently died, he took over the throne which belonged to him by inheritance and called the people who were subject to himself Thessalians after his own name. I am not unaware that this is not the only explanation given of the name the Thessalians bear, but the fact is that the other accounts which have been handed down to us are likewise at variance with one another, and concerning these we shall speak on a more appropriate occasion. 4 Now as for Medea, he says, on finding upon her arrival in Thebes that Heracles was possessed of a frenzy of madness and had slain his sons, she restored him to health by means of drugs. But since Eurystheus was pressing Heracles with his commands, she despaired of receiving any aid from him at the moment and sought refuge in Athens with Aegeus, the son of Pandion. Here, as some say, she married Aegeus and gave birth to Medus, who was later king of Media, but certain writers give the account that, when her person was demanded by Hippotes, the son of Creon, she was granted a trial and cleared of the charges he raised against her. 6 After this, when Theseus returned to Athens from Troezen, a charge of poisoning was brought against her and she was exiled from the city; but by the gift of Aegeus she received an escort to go with her to whatever country she might wish and she came to Phoenicia. 7 From there she journeyed into the interior regions of Asia and married a certain king of renown, to whom she bore a son Medus; and the son, succeeding to the throne after the death of the father, was greatly admired for his courage and named the people Medes after himself.
§ 4.56
καθόλου δὲ διὰ τὴν τῶν τραγῳδῶν τερατείαν ποικίλη τις διάθεσις καὶ διάφορος ἱστορία περὶ Μηδείας ἐξενήνεκται, καί τινες χαρίζεσθαι βουλόμενοι τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις φασὶν αὐτὴν ἀναλαβοῦσαν τὸν ἐξ Αἰγέως Μῆδον εἰς Κόλχους διασωθῆναι· κατὰ δὲ τοῦτον τὸν χρόνον Αἰήτην ἐκ τῆς βασιλείας ὑπὸ τἀδελφοῦ Πέρσου βιαίως ἐκπεπτωκότα τὴν ἀρχὴν ἀνακτήσασθαι, Μήδου τοῦ Μηδείας ἀνελόντος τὸν Πέρσην· μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα δυνάμεως ἐγκρατῆ γενόμενον τὸν Μῆδον πολλὴν ἐπελθεῖν τῆς ὑπὲρ τὸν Πόντον Ἀσίας, καὶ κατασχεῖν τὴν ἀπʼ ἐκείνου Μηδίαν προσαγορευθεῖσαν. ἀλλὰ γὰρ τὸ πάσας τὰς ἀποφάσεις τῶν περὶ τῆς Μηδείας μυθολογησάντων ἀναγράφειν οὐκ ἀναγκαῖον ἅμα καὶ μακρὸν εἶναι κρίνοντες τὰ καταλειπόμενα τῆς περὶ τῶν Ἀργοναυτῶν ἱστορίας προσθήσομεν. οὐκ ὀλίγοι γὰρ τῶν τε ἀρχαίων συγγραφέων καὶ τῶν μεταγενεστέρων, ὧν ἐστι καὶ Τίμαιος, φασὶ τοὺς Ἀργοναύτας μετὰ τὴν τοῦ δέρους ἁρπαγὴν πυθομένους ὑπʼ Αἰήτου προκατειλῆφθαι ναυσὶ τὸ στόμα τοῦ Πόντου, πρᾶξιν ἐπιτελέσασθαι παράδοξον καὶ μνήμης ἀξίαν. ἀναπλεύσαντας γὰρ αὐτοὺς διὰ τοῦ Τανάιδος ποταμοῦ ἐπὶ τὰς πηγάς, καὶ κατὰ τόπον τινὰ τὴν ναῦν διελκύσαντας, καθʼ ἑτέρου πάλιν ποταμοῦ τὴν ῥύσιν ἔχοντος εἰς τὸν ὠκεανὸν καταπλεῦσαι πρὸς τὴν θάλατταν, ἀπὸ δὲ τῶν ἄρκτων ἐπὶ τὴν δύσιν κομισθῆναι τὴν γῆν ἔχοντας ἐξ εὐωνύμων, καὶ πλησίον γινομένους Γαδείρων εἰς τὴν καθʼ ἡμᾶς θάλατταν εἰσπλεῦσαι. ἀποδείξεις δὲ τούτων φέρουσι, δεικνύντες τοὺς παρὰ τὸν ὠκεανὸν κατοικοῦντας Κελτοὺς σεβομένους μάλιστα τῶν θεῶν τοὺς Διοσκόρους· παραδόσιμον γὰρ αὐτοὺς ἔχειν ἐκ παλαιῶν χρόνων τὴν τούτων τῶν θεῶν παρουσίαν ἐκ τοῦ ὠκεανοῦ γεγενημένην. εἶναι δὲ καὶ τὴν παρὰ τὸν ὠκεανὸν χώραν οὐκ ὀλίγας ἔχουσαν προσηγορίας ἀπό τε τῶν Ἀργοναυτῶν καὶ τῶν Διοσκόρων. παραπλησίως δὲ καὶ τὴν ἐντὸς Γαδείρων ἤπειρον ἔχειν ἐμφανῆ σημεῖα τῆς τούτων ἀνακομιδῆς. περὶ μὲν γὰρ τὴν Τυρρηνίαν καταπλεύσαντας αὐτοὺς εἰς νῆσον τὴν ὀνομαζομένην Αἰθάλειαν τὸν ἐν αὐτῇ λιμένα, κάλλιστον ὄντα τῶν ἐν ἐκείνοις τοῖς τόποις, Ἀργῷον ἀπὸ τῆς νεὼς προσαγορεῦσαι, καὶ μέχρι τῶνδε τῶν χρόνων διαμένειν αὐτοῦ τὴν προσηγορίαν. παραπλησίως δὲ τοῖς εἰρημένοις κατὰ μὲν τὴν Τυρρηνίαν ἀπὸ σταδίων ὀκτακοσίων τῆς Ῥώμης ὀνομάσαι λιμένα Τελαμῶνα, κατὰ δὲ Φορμίας τῆς Ἰταλίας Αἰήτην τὸν νῦν Καιήτην προσαγορευόμενον. πρὸς δὲ τούτοις ὑπʼ ἀνέμων αὐτοὺς ἐκριφέντας εἰς τὰς Σύρτεις, καὶ μαθόντας παρὰ Τρίτωνος τοῦ τότε βασιλεύοντος τῆς Λιβύης τὴν ἰδιότητα τῆς θαλάττης, καὶ τὸν κίνδυνον ἐκφυγόντας, δωρήσασθαι χαλκοῦν τρίποδα τὸν ἀρχαίοις μὲν κεχαραγμένον γράμμασι, μέχρι δὲ τῶν νεωτέρων χρόνων διαμείναντα παρὰ τοῖς Εὐεσπερίτας. οὐ παραλειπτέον δʼ ἡμῖν ἀνεξέλεγκτον τὴν ἱστορίαν τῶν ἀποφηναμένων τοὺς Ἀργοναύτας ἀνὰ τὸν Ἴστρον πλεύσαντας μέχρι τῶν πηγῶν κατενεχθῆναι διὰ τῆς ἀντιπροσώπου ῥύσεως πρὸς τὸν Ἀδριατικὸν κόλπον. τούτους γὰρ ὁ χρόνος ἤλεγξεν ὑπολαβοντας τὸν ἐν τῷ Πόντῳ πλείοσι στόμασιν ἐξερευγόμενον Ἴστρον καὶ τὸν εἰς τὸν Ἀδρίαν ἐκβάλλοντα τὴν ῥύσιν ἔχειν ἀπὸ τῶν αὐτῶν τόπων. Ῥωμαίων γὰρ καταπολεμησάντων τὸ τῶν Ἴστρων ἔθνος, εὑρέθη τὰς πηγὰς ἔχων ὁ ποταμὸς ἀπὸ τετταράκοντα σταδίων τῆς θαλάττης. ἀλλὰ γὰρ τοῖς συγγραφεῦσιν αἰτίαν τῆς πλάνης φασὶ γενέσθαι τὴν ὁμωνυμίαν τῶν ποταμῶν.
Speaking generally, it is because of the desire of the tragic poets for the marvellous that so varied and inconsistent an account of Medea has been given out; and some indeed, in their desire to win favour with the Athenians, say that she took that Medus whom she bore to Aegeus and got off safe to Colchis; and at that time Aeetes, who had been forcibly driven from the throne by his brother Perses, had regained his kingdom, Medus, Medea's son, having slain Perses; and that afterwards Medus, securing the command of an army, advanced over a large part of Asia which lies above the Pontus and secured possession of Media, which has been named after this Medus. 2 But since in our judgment it is unnecessary and would be tedious to record all the assertions which the writers of myths have made about Medea, we shall add only those items which have been passed over concerning the history of the Argonauts. Not a few both of the ancient historians and of the later ones as well, one of whom is Timaeus, say that the Argonauts, after the seizure of the fleece, learning that the mouth of the Pontus had already been blockaded by the fleet of Aeetes, performed an amazing exploit which is worthy of mention. They sailed, that is to say, up the Tanais river as far as its sources, and at a certain place they hauled the ship overland, and following in turn another river which flows into the ocean they sailed down it to the sea; then they made their course from the north to the west, keeping the land on their left, and when they had arrived near Gadeira (Cadiz) they sailed into our sea. 4 And the writers even offer proofs of these things, pointing out that the Celts who dwell along the ocean venerate the Dioscori above any of the gods, since they have a tradition handed down from ancient times that these gods appeared among them coming from the ocean. Moreover, the country which skirts the ocean bears, they say, not a few names which are derived from the Argonauts and the Dioscori. And likewise the continent this side of Gadeira contains visible tokens of the return voyage of the Argonauts. So, for example, as they sailed about the Tyrrhenian sea, when they put in at an island called Aethaleia they named its harbour, which is the fairest of any in those regions, Argoon after their ship, and such has remained its name to this day. 6 In like manner to what we have just narrated a harbour in Etruria eight hundred stades from Rome was named by them Telamon, and also at Phormia in Italy the harbour Aeetes, which is now known as Caeetes. Furthermore, when they were driven by winds to the Syrtes and had learned from Triton, who was king of Libya at that time, of the peculiar nature of the sea there, upon escaping safe out of the peril they presented him with the bronze tripod which was inscribed with ancient characters and stood until rather recent times among the people of Euhesperis. 7 We must not leave unrefuted the account of those who state that the Argonauts sailed up the Ister river as far as its sources and then, by its arm which flows in the opposite direction, descended to the Adriatic Gulf. 8 For time has refuted those who assumed that the Ister which empties by several mouths into the Pontus and the Ister which issues into the Adriatic flow from the same regions. As a matter of fact, when the Romans subdued the nation of the Istrians it was discovered that the latter river has its sources only forty stades from the sea. But the cause of the error on the part of the historians was, they say, the identity in name of the two rivers.
§ 4.57
ἡμῖν δʼ ἀρκούντως ἐξειργασμένοις τὴν περὶ τῶν Ἀργοναυτῶν ἱστορίαν καὶ τὰ ὑφʼ Ἡρακλέους πραχθέντα οἰκεῖον ἂν εἴη κατὰ τὴν γενομένην ἐπαγγελίαν ἀναγράψαι τὰς τῶν υἱῶν αὐτοῦ πράξεις. μετὰ τὴν Ἡρακλέους τοίνυν ἀποθέωσιν οἱ παῖδες αὐτοῦ κατῴκουν ἐν Τραχῖνι παρὰ Κήυκι τῷ βασιλεῖ. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Ὕλλου καί τινων ἑτέρων ἀνδρωθέντων, Εὐρυσθεὺς φοβηθεὶς μὴ πάντων ἐνηλίκων γενομένων ἐκπέσῃ τῆς ἐν Μυκήναις βασιλείας, ἔγνω τοὺς Ἡρακλείδας ἐξ ὅλης τῆς Ἑλλάδος φυγαδεῦσαι. διὸ Κήυκι μὲν τῷ βασιλεῖ προηγόρευσε τούς τε Ἡρακλείδας καὶ τοὺς Λικυμνίου παῖδας ἐκβαλεῖν, ἔτι δὲ Ἰόλαον καὶ τὸ σύστημα τῶν Ἀρκάδων τῶν Ἡρακλεῖ συνεστρατευκότων, ἢ ταῦτα μὴ ποιοῦντα πόλεμον ἀναδέξασθαι. οἱ δʼ Ἡρακλεῖδαι καὶ οἱ μετʼ αὐτῶν θεωροῦντες αὑτοὺς οὐκ ἀξιομάχους ὄντας Εὐρυσθεῖ πολεμεῖν, ἔγνωσαν ἑκουσίως φεύγειν ἐκ τῆς Τραχῖνος· ἐπιόντες δὲ τῶν ἄλλων πόλεων τὰς ἀξιολογωτάτας ἐδέοντο δέξασθαι σφᾶς αὐτοὺς συνοίκους. μηδεμιᾶς δὲ τολμώσης ὐποδέξασθαι, μόνοι τῶν ἄλλων Ἀθηναῖοι διὰ τὴν ἔμφυτον παρʼ αὐτοῖς ἐπιείκειαν προσεδέξαντο τοὺς Ἡρακλείδας· κατῴκισαν δὲ αὐτοὺς μετὰ τῶν συμφυγόντων εἰς Τρικόρυθον πόλιν, ἥτις ἐστὶ μία τῆς ὀνομαζομένης τετραπόλεως. μετὰ δέ τινα χρόνον ἁπάντων τῶν Ἡρακλέους παίδων ἠνδρωμένων, καὶ φρονήματος ἐμφυομένου τοῖς νεανίσκοις διὰ τὴν ἀφʼ Ἡρακλέους δόξαν, ὑφορώμενος αὐτῶν τὴν αὔξησιν Εὐρυσθεὺς ἐστράτευσεν ἐπʼ αὐτοὺς μετὰ πολλῆς δυνάμεως. οἱ δʼ Ἡρακλεῖδαι, βοηθούντων αὐτοῖς τῶν Ἀθηναίων, προστησάμενοι τὸν Ἡρακλέους ἀδελφιδοῦν Ἰόλαον, καὶ τούτῳ τε καὶ Θησεῖ καὶ Ὕλλῳ τὴν στρατηγίαν παραδόντες, ἐνίκησαν παρατάξει τὸν Εὐρυσθέα. κατὰ δὲ τὴν μάχην πλεῖστοι μὲν τῶν μετʼ Εὐρυσθέως κατεκόπησαν, αὐτὸς δʼ ὁ Εὐρυσθεύς, τοῦ ἅρματος κατὰ τὴν φυγὴν συντριβέντος, ὑπὸ Ὕλλου τοῦ Ἡρακλέους ἀνῃρέθη· ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ οἱ υἱοὶ τοῦ Εὐρυσθέως πάντες κατὰ τὴν μάχην ἐτελεύτησαν.
Since we have sufficiently elaborated the history of the Argonauts and the deeds accomplished by Heracles, it may be appropriate also to record, in accordance with the promise we made, the deeds of his sons. 2 Now after the deification of Heracles his sons made their home in Trachis at the court of Ceyx the king. But later, when Hyllus and some of the others had attained to manhood, Eurystheus, being afraid lest, after they had all come of age, he might be driven from his kingdom at Mycenae, decided to send the Heracleidae into exile from the whole of Greece. Consequently he served notice upon Ceyx, the king, to banish both the Heracleidae and the sons of Licymnius, and Iolaus as well and the band of Arcadians who had served with Heracles on his campaigns, adding that, if he should fail to do these things, he must submit to war. 4 But the Heracleidae and their friends, perceiving that they were of themselves not sufficient in number to carry on a war against Eurystheus, decided to leave Trachis of their own free will, and going about among the most important of the other cities they asked them to receive them as fellow-townsmen. When no other city had the courage to take them in, the Athenians alone of all, such being their inborn sense of justice, extended a welcome to the sons of Heracles, and they settled them and their companions in the flight in the city of Tricorythus, which is one of the cities of what is called the Tetrapolis. And after some time, when all the sons of Heracles had attained to manhood and a spirit of pride sprang up in the young men because of the glory of descent from Heracles, Eurystheus, viewing with suspicion their growing power, came up against them with a great army. 6 But the Heracleidae, who had the aid of the Athenians, chose as their leader Iolaus, the nephew of Heracles, and after entrusting to him and Theseus and Hyllus the direction of the war, they defeated Eurystheus in a pitched battle. In the course of the battle the larger part of the army of Eurystheus was slain and Eurystheus himself, when his chariot was wrecked in the flight, was killed by Hyllus, the son of Heracles; likewise the sons of Eurystheus perished in the battle to a man.
§ 4.58
μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα οἱ μὲν Ἡρακλεῖδαι πάντες περιβοήτῳ μάχῃ νενικηκότες τὸν Εὐρυσθέα, καὶ διὰ τὴν εὐημερίαν συμμάχων εὐπορήσαντες, ἐστράτευσαν ἐπὶ τὴν Πελοπόννησον Ὕλλου στρατηγοῦντος. Ἀτρεὺς δὲ μετὰ τὴν Εὐρυσθέως τελευτὴν καταλαβόμενος τὴν ἐν Μυκήναις βασιλείαν, καὶ προσλαβόμενος συμμάχους Τεγεάτας καί τινας ἄλλους, ἀπήντησε τοῖς Ἡρακλείδαις. κατὰ δὲ τὸν Ἰσθμὸν τῶν στρατοπέδων ἀθροισθέντων, Ὕλλος μὲν ὁ Ἡρακλέους εἰς μονομαχίαν προεκαλέσατο τῶν πολεμίων τὸν βουλόμενον, ὁμολογίας θέμενος τοιαύτας, εἰ μὲν Ὕλλος νικήσαι τὸν ἀντιταχθέντα, παραλαβεῖν Ἡρακλείδας τὴν Εὐρυσθέως βασιλείαν, εἰ δʼ Ὕλλος λειφθείη, μὴ κατιέναι τοὺς Ἡρακλείδας εἰς Πελοπόννησον ἐντὸς ἐτῶν πεντήκοντα. καταβάντος δʼ εἰς τὴν πρόκλησιν Ἐχέμου τοῦ βασιλέως τῶν Τεγεατῶν, καὶ τῆς μονομαχίας γενομένης, ὁ μὲν Ὕλλος ἀνῃρέθη, οἱ δʼ Ἡρακλεῖδαι κατὰ τὰς ὁμολογίας ἀπέστησαν τῆς καθόδου καὶ τὴν εἰς Τρικόρυθον ἐπάνοδον ἐποιήσαντο. μετὰ δέ τινας χρόνους Λικύμνιος μὲν μετὰ τῶν παίδων καὶ Τληπολέμου τοῦ Ἡρακλέους, ἑκουσίως τῶν Ἀργείων αὐτοὺς προσδεξαμένων, ἐν Ἀργει κατῴκησαν, οἱ δʼ ἄλλοι πάντες ἐν Τρικορύθῳ κατῴκησαν· ὡς δʼ ὁ πεντηκονταετὴς χρόνος διῆλθε, κατῆλθον εἰς Πελοπόννησον· ὧν τὰς πράξεις ἀναγράψομεν, ὅταν εἰς ἐκείνους τοὺς χρόνους παραγενηθῶμεν. Ἀλκμήνη δʼ εἰς Θήβας καταντήσασα, καὶ μετὰ ταῦτʼ ἄφαντος γενομένη, τιμῶν ἰσοθέων ἔτυχε παρὰ τοῖς Θηβαίοις. τοὺς δʼ ἄλλους Ἡρακλείδας φασὶν ἐλθόντας παρʼ Αἰγίμιον τὸν Δώρου τὴν πατρῴαν τῆς χώρας παρακαταθήκην ἀπαιτήσαντας μετὰ Δωριέων κατοικῆσαι. Τληπόλεμον δὲ τὸν Ἡρακλέους ἐν Ἄργει κατοικοῦντα λέγουσιν ἀνελεῖν Λικύμνιον τὸν Ἠλεκτρύωνος ἐρίσαντα περί τινων, διὰ δὲ τὸν φόνον τοῦτον ἐξ Ἄργους φυγόντα εἰς Ῥόδον μετοικῆσαι· τὴν δὲ νῆσον ταύτην τότε κατῴκουν Ἕλληνες οἱ ὑπὸ Τριόπα τοῦ Φόρβαντος κατοικισθέντες. τὸν δʼ οὖν Τληπόλεμον κοινῇ μετὰ τῶν ἐγχωρίων τριμερῆ ποιῆσαι τὴν Ῥόδον, καὶ τρεῖς ἐν αὐτῇ καταστῆσαι πόλεις, Λίνδον, Ἰήλυσον, Κάμειρον· βασιλεῦσαι δʼ αὐτὸν πάντων τῶν Ῥοδίων διὰ τὴν τοῦ πατρὸς Ἡρακλέους δόξαν, καὶ κατὰ τοὺς ὕστερον χρόνους μετʼ Ἀγαμέμνονος ἐπὶ τὴν Τροίαν στρατεῦσαι.
After these events all the Heracleidae, now that they had conquered Eurystheus in a battle whose fame was noised abroad and were well supplied with allies because of their success, embarked upon a campaign against Peloponnesus with Hyllus as their commander. 2 Atreus, after the death of Eurystheus, had taken over the kingship in Mycenae, and having added to his forces the Tegeatans and certain other peoples as allies, he went forth to meet the Heracleidae. When the two armies were assembled at the Isthmus, Hyllus, Heracles' son, challenged to single combat any one of the enemy who would face him, on the agreement that, if Hyllus should conquer his opponent, the Heracleidae should receive the kingdom of Eurystheus, but that, if Hyllus were defeated, the Heracleidae would not return to Peloponnesus for a period of fifty years. 4 Echemus, the king of the Tegeatans, came out to meet the challenge, and in the single combat which followed Hyllus was slain and the Heracleidae gave up, as they had promised, their effort to return and made their way back to Tricorythus. Some time later Licymnius and his sons and Tlepolemus, the son of Heracles, made their home in Argos, the Argives admitting them to citizenship of their own accord; but all the rest who had made their homes in Tricorythus, when the fifty-year period had expired, returned to Peloponnesus. Their deeds we shall record when we have come to those times. 6 Alcmene returned to Thebes, and when some time later she vanished from sight she received divine honours at the hands of the Thebans. The rest of the Heracleidae, they say, came to Aegimius, the son of Dorus, and demanding back the land which their father had entrusted to him made their home among the Dorians. 7 But Tlepolemus, the son of Heracles, while he dwelt in Argos, slew Licymnius, the son of Electryon, we are told, in a quarrel over a certain matter, and being exiled from Argos because of this murder changed his residence to Rhodes. This island was inhabited at that time by Greeks who had been planted there by Triopas, the son of Phorbas. 8 Accordingly, Tlepolemus, acting with the common consent of the natives, divided Rhodes into three parts and founded there three cities, Lindus, Ialysus, and Cameirus; and he became king over all the Rhodians, because of the fame of his father Heracles, and in later times took part with Agamemnon in the war against Troy.
§ 4.59
ἐπεὶ δὲ περὶ Ἡρακλέους καὶ τῶν ἀπογόνων αὐτοῦ διήλθομεν, οἰκεῖον ἂν εἴη περὶ Θησέως εἰπεῖν διὰ τὸ τοῦτον ζηλωτὴν γενέσθαι τῶν Ἡρακλέους ἄθλων. Θησεὺς τοίνυν γεγονὼς Αἴθρας τῆς Πιτθέως καὶ Ποσειδῶνος, τραφεὶς ἐν Τροιζῆνι παρὰ Πιτθεῖ τῷ μητροπάτορι, καὶ τὰ μυθολογούμενα σύμβολα ἀνῃρημένος τὰ ὑπὸ Αἰγέως ὑπό τινι πέτρᾳ τεθειμένα, κατήντησεν εἰς τὰς Ἀθήνας. διεξιὼν δʼ, ὥς φασι, τὴν παραθαλάττιον, καὶ ζηλωτὴς ὢν τῆς Ἡρακλέους ἀρετῆς, ἐπεβάλετο τελεῖν ἄθλους περιέχοντας ἀποδοχήν τε καὶ δόξαν. πρῶτον μὲν οὖν ἀνεῖλε τὸν ὀνομαζόμενον Κορυνήτην, χρώμενον τῇ προσαγορευομένῃ κορύνῃ, ὅπερ ἦν ὅπλον ἀμυντήριον, καὶ τοὺς παριόντας ἀποκτείνοντα, δεύτερον δὲ τὸν ἐν Ἰσθμῷ κατοικοῦντα Σίνιν. οὗτος γὰρ δύο πίτυς κάμπτων, καὶ πρὸς ἑκατέραν τὸν ἕνα βραχίονα προσδεσμεύων, ἄφνω τὰς πίτυς ἠφίει· διόπερ τῶν σωμάτων διὰ τὴν βίαν ἀποσπωμένων συνέβαινε τοὺς ἀτυχοῦντας μετὰ μεγάλης τιμωρίας τελευτᾶν. τρίτον δὲ τὴν ἐν Κρομμυῶνι ὑπάρχουσαν ὗν ἀγρίαν, διαφέρουσαν ἀλκῇ τε καὶ μεγέθει καὶ πολλοὺς ἀνθρώπους ἀναιροῦσαν, ἀπέκτεινεν. ἐκόλασε δὲ καὶ Σκείρωνα τὸν οἰκοῦντα τῆς Μεγαρίδος τὰς ὀνομαζομένας ἀπʼ ἐκείνου Σκειρωνίδας πέτρας· οὗτος γὰρ εἰώθει τοὺς παριόντας ἀναγκάζειν ἀπονίπτειν ἑαυτὸν ἐπί τινος ἀποκρήμνου τόπου, λακτίσματι δʼ ἄφνω τύπτων περιεκύλιε κατὰ τῶν κρημνῶν εἰς θάλατταν κατὰ τὴν ὀνομαζομένην Χελώνην. ἀνεῖλε δὲ καὶ περὶ τὴν Ἐλευσῖνα Κερκυόνα τὸν διαπαλαίοντα τοῖς παριοῦσι καὶ τὸν ἡττηθέντα διαφθείροντα. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τὸν ὀνομαζόμενον Προκρούστην ἀπέκτεινε, τὸν οἰκοῦντα ἐν τῷ λεγομένῳ Κορυδαλλῷ τῆς Ἀττικῆς· οὗτος δὲ τοὺς παριόντας ὁδοιπόρους ἠνάγκαζεν ἐπί τινος κλίνης ἀναπίπτειν, καὶ τῶν μὲν μακροτέρων τὰ ὑπερέχοντα μέρη τοῦ σώματος ἀπέκοπτε, τῶν δʼ ἐλαττόνων τοὺς πόδας προέκρουεν, ἀφʼ οὗπερ Προκρούστης ὠνομάσθη. κατορθώσας δὲ τὰ προειρημένα κατήντησεν εἰς τὰς Ἀθήνας, καὶ τὸν Αἰγέα διὰ τῶν συμβόλων ἀνεγνώρισε. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τὸν ἐν Μαραθῶνι ταῦρον, ὃν Ἡρακλῆς τελῶν ἆθλον ἐκ Κρήτης ἀπήγαγεν εἰς Πελοπόννησον, συμπλακεὶς καὶ κρατήσας τοῦ ζῴου ἀπήγαγεν εἰς τὰς Ἀθήνας· τοῦτον δʼ Αἰγεὺς παραλαβὼν ἔθυσεν Ἀπόλλωνι.
But since we have set forth the facts concerning Heracles and his descendants, it will be appropriate in this connexion to speak of Theseus, since he emulated the Labours of Heracles. Theseus, then, was born of Aethra, the daughter of Pittheus, and Poseidon, and was reared in Troezen at the home of Pittheus, his mother's father, and after he had found and taken up the tokens which, as the myths relate, had been placed by Aegeus beneath a certain rock, he came to Athens. And taking the road along the coast, as men say, since he emulated the high achievements of Heracles, he set about performing Labours which would bring him both approbation and fame. 2 The first, then, whom he slew was he who was called Corynetes, who carried a coryne, as it was called, or club, which was the weapon with which he fought, and with it killed any who passed by, and the second was Sinis who made his home on the Isthmus. Sinis, it should be explained, used to bend over two pines, fasten one arm to each of them, and then suddenly release the pines, the result being that bodies were pulled asunder by the force of the pines and the unfortunate victims met a death of great vengeance. 4 For his third deed he slew the wild sow which had its haunts about Crommyon, a beast which excelled in both ferocity and size and was killing many human beings. Then he punished Sceiron who made his home in the rocks of Megaris which are called after him the Sceironian Rocks. This man, namely, made it his practice to compel those who passed by to wash his feet at a precipitous place, and then, suddenly giving them a kick, he would roll them down the crags into the sea at a place called Chelone. And near Eleusis he slew Cercyon, who wrestled with those who passed by and killed whomever he could defeat. After this he put to death Procrustes, as he was called, who dwelt in what was known as Corydallus in Attica; this man compelled the travellers who passed by to lie down upon a bed, and if any were too long for the bed he cut off the parts of their body which protruded, while in the case of such as were too short for it he stretched (prokrouein) their legs, this being the reason why he was given the name Procrustes. 6 After successfully accomplishing the deeds which we have mentioned, Theseus came to Athens and by means of the tokens caused Aegeus to recognize him. Then he grappled with the Marathonian bull which Heracles in the performance of one of his Labours had brought from Crete to the Peloponnesus, and mastering the animal he brought it to Athens; this bull Aegeus received from him and sacrificed to Apollo.
§ 4.60
λείπεται δʼ ἡμῖν εἰπεῖν περὶ Μινωταύρου τοῦ ἀναιρεθέντος ὑπὸ Θησέως, ἵνα συντελέσωμεν τὰς τοῦ Θησέως πράξεις. ἀναγκαῖον δʼ ἐστὶ προσαναδραμόντας τοῖς χρόνοις τὰ συμπεπλεγμένα τούτοις διελθεῖν, ἵνα σαφὴς ἡ σύμπασα γένηται διήγησις. Τέκταμος ὁ Δώρου τοῦ Ἕλληνος τοῦ Δευκαλίωνος εἰς Κρήτην πλεύσας μετὰ Αἰολέων καὶ Πελασγῶν ἐβασίλευσε τῆς νήσου, γήμας δὲ τὴν Κρηθέως θυγατέρα ἐγέννησεν Ἀστέριον. οὗ βασιλεύοντος ἐν Κρήτῃ Ζεύς, ὥς φασιν, Εὐρώπην ἁρπάσας ἐκ Φοινίκης καὶ διακομίσας εἰς Κρήτην ἐπὶ ταύρου, μιγεὶς τρεῖς υἱοὺς ἐγέννησε, Μίνω καὶ Ῥαδάμανθυν καὶ Σαρπηδόνα. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τὴν Εὐρώπην Ἀστέριος ὁ βασιλεὺς τῆς Κρήτης ἔγημεν· ἄπαις δʼ ὢν τοὺς τοῦ Διὸς παῖδας υἱοποιησάμενος διαδόχους τῆς βασιλείας ἀπέλιπε. τούτων δὲ Ῥαδάμανθυς μὲν τοῖς Κρησὶν ἐνομοθέτησε, Μίνως δὲ διαδεξάμενος τὴν βασιλείαν καὶ γήμας Ἰτώνην τὴν Λυκτίου Λύκαστον ἐγέννησεν, ὃς διαδεξάμενος τὴν ἀρχὴν καὶ γήμας Ἴδην τὴν Κορύβαντος ἐγέννησε Μίνωα τὸν δεύτερον, ὅν τινες Διὸς υἱὸν ἀναγράφουσιν. οὗτος πρῶτος Ἑλλήνων ναυτικὴν δύναμιν ἀξιόλογον συστησάμενος ἐθαλαττοκράτησε. γήμας δὲ Πασιφάην τὴν Ἡλίου καὶ Κρήτης ἐγέννησε Δευκαλίωνα καὶ Κατρέα καὶ Ἀνδρόγεων καὶ Ἀριάδνην, καὶ ἕτερα τέκνα ἔσχε πλείονα νόθα. τῶν δὲ Μίνωος υἱῶν Ἀνδρόγεως μὲν εἰς τὰς Ἀθήνας κατήντησε Παναθηναίων συντελουμένων, Αἰγέως βασιλεύοντος, ἐν δὲ τοῖς ἀγῶσι νικήσας τοὺς ἀθλητὰς ἅπαντας συνήθης ἐγένετο τοῖς Πάλλαντος παισίν. ἐνταῦθʼ ὁ μὲν Αἰγεὺς ὑποπτεύσας τὴν Ἀνδρόγεω φιλίαν, μήποθʼ ὁ Μίνως βοηθήσας τοῖς υἱοῖς τοῦ Πάλλαντος ἀφέληται τὴν ἀρχήν, ἐπεβούλευσε τῷ Ἀνδρόγεῳ. βαδίζοντος οὖν αὐτοῦ εἰς τὰς Θήβας ἐπί τινα θεωρίαν, ἐδολοφόνησεν αὐτὸν διά τινων ἐγχωρίων περὶ Οἰνόην τῆς Ἀττικῆς.
It remains for us now to speak of the Minotaur which was slain by Theseus, in order that we may complete our account of the deeds of Theseus. But we must revert to earlier times and set forth the facts which are interwoven with this performance, in order that the whole narrative may be clear. 2 Tectamus, the son of Dorus, the son of Hellen, the son of Deucalion, sailed to Crete with Aeolians and Pelasgians and became king of the island, and marrying the daughter of Cretheus he begat Asteirus. And during the time when he was king in Crete Zeus, as they say, carried off Europe from Phoenicia, and carrying her across to Crete upon the back of a bull, he lay with her there and begat three sons, Minos, Rhadamanthys, and Sarpedon. After this Asterius, the king of Crete, took Europe to wife; and since he was without children by her he adopted the sons of Zeus and left them at his death to succeed to the kingdom. As for these children, Rhadamanthys gave the Cretans their laws, and Minos, succeeding to the throne and marrying Itone, the daughter of Lyctius, begat Lycastus, who in turn succeeded to the supreme power and marrying Ide, the daughter of Corybas, begat the second Minos, who, as some writers record, was the son of Zeus. This Minos was the first Greek to create a powerful naval force and to become master of the sea. 4 And marrying Pasiphae, the daughter of Helius and Crete, he begat Deucalion and Catreus and Androgeos and Ariadne and had other, natural, children more in number than these. As for the sons of Minos, Androgeos came to Athens at the time of the Panathenaic festival, while Aegeus was king, and defeating all the contestants in the games he became a close friend of the sons of Pallas. Thereupon Aegeus, viewing with suspicion the friendship which Androgeos had formed, since he feared that Minos might lend his aid to the sons of Pallas and take from him the supreme power, plotted against the life of Androgeos. Consequently, when the latter was on his way to Thebes in order to attend a festival there, Aegeus caused him to be treacherously slain by certain natives of the region in the neighbourhood of Oinoe in Attica.
§ 4.61
Μίνως δὲ πυθόμενος τὴν κατὰ τὸν υἱὸν συμφοράν, ἧκεν εἰς τὰς Ἀθήνας δίκας αἰτῶν τοῦ Ἀνδρόγεω φόνου. οὐδενὸς δʼ αὐτῷ προσέχοντος, πρὸς μὲν Ἀθηναίους πόλεμον συνεστήσατο, ἀρὰς δὲ ἐποιήσατο τῷ Διὶ γενέσθαι κατὰ τὴν πόλιν τῶν Ἀθηναίων αὐχμὸν καὶ λιμόν. ταχὺ δὲ περὶ τὴν Ἀττικὴν καὶ τὴν Ἑλλάδα γενομένων αὐχμῶν καὶ φθαρέντων τῶν καρπῶν, συνελθόντες οἱ τῶν πόλεων ἡγεμόνες ἐπηρώτησαν τὸν θεὸν πῶς ἂν δύναιντο τῶν κακῶν ἀπαλλαγῆναι. ὁ δʼ ἔχρησεν ἐλθεῖν αὐτοὺς πρὸς Αἰακὸν τὸν Διὸς καὶ Αἰγίνης τῆς Ἀσωποῦ θυγατρός, καὶ κελεύειν ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν εὐχὰς ποιήσασθαι. ὧν πραξάντων τὸ προσταχθέν, ὁ μὲν Αἰακὸς ἐπετέλεσε τὰς εὐχάς, καὶ ὁ αὐχμὸς παρὰ μὲν τοῖς ἄλλοις Ἕλλησιν ἐπαύσατο, παρὰ δὲ τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις μόνοις διέμεινεν· οὗ δὴ χάριν ἠναγκάσθησαν οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι τὸν θεὸν ἐπερωτῆσαι περὶ τῆς τῶν κακῶν ἀπαλλαγῆς. εἶθʼ ὁ μὲν θεὸς ἔχρησεν, ἐὰν τοῦ Ἀνδρόγεω φόνου τῷ Μίνῳ δίκας δῶσιν ἃς ἂν ἐκεῖνος δικάσῃ· ὑπακουσάντων δὲ τῷ θεῷ τῶν Ἀθηναίων, προσέταξεν αὐτοῖς ὁ Μίνως διδόναι κόρους ἑπτὰ καὶ τὰς ἴσας κόρας διʼ ἐτῶν ἐννέα βορὰν τῷ Μινωταύρῳ ὅσον ἂν χρόνον ζῇ τὸ τέρας. δόντων δʼ αὐτῶν, ἀπηλλάγησαν τῶν κακῶν οἱ κατὰ τὴν Ἀττικήν, καὶ ὁ Μίνως πολεμῶν ἐπαύσατο τὰς Ἀθήνας. διελθόντων δὲ ἐτῶν ἐννέα πάλιν ὁ Μίνως ἦλθεν εἰς τὴν Ἀττικὴν μετὰ μεγάλου στόλου, καὶ τοὺς δὶς ἑπτὰ κόρους ἀπαιτήσας ἔλαβε. μελλόντων δʼ ἐκπλεῖν τῶν περὶ τὸν Θησέα, ὁ Αἰγεὺς συνέθετο πρὸς τὸν κυβερνήτην καὶ προσέταξεν αὐτῷ, ἐὰν μὲν ὁ Θησεὺς νικήσῃ τὸν Μινώταυρον, καταπλεῖν αὐτοὺς λευκοῖς ἱστίοις, ἐὰν δὲ ἀπόληται, μέλασι, καθάπερ καὶ πρότερον ποιεῖν εἰώθεσαν. καταπλευσάντων δʼ αὐτῶν εἰς Κρήτην Ἀριάδνη μὲν ἡ θυγάτηρ τοῦ Μίνωος ἠράσθη τοῦ Θησέως εὐπρεπείᾳ διαφέροντος, Θησεὺς δʼ εἰς λόγους ἐλθὼν αὐτῇ καὶ ταύτην συνεργὸν λαβών, τόν τε Μινώταυρον ἀπέκτεινε καὶ τὴν ἔξοδον τὴν τοῦ λαβυρίνθου παρʼ αὐτῆς μαθὼν διεσώθη. ἀνακομιζόμενος δʼ εἰς τὴν πατρίδα καὶ κλέψας τὴν Ἀριάδνην ἔλαθεν ἐκπλεύσας νυκτός, καὶ κατῆρεν εἰς νῆσον τὴν τότε μὲν Δίαν, νῦν δὲ Νάξον προσαγορευομένην. καθʼ ὃν δὴ χρόνον μυθολογοῦσι Διόνυσον ἐπιφανέντα, καὶ διὰ τὸ κάλλος τῆς Ἀριάδνης ἀφελόμενον τοῦ Θησέως τὴν παρθένον, ἔχειν αὐτὴν ὡς γυναῖκα γαμετὴν ἀγαπωμένην διαφερόντως. μετὰ γοῦν τὴν τελευτὴν αὐτῆς διὰ τὴν φιλοστοργίαν ἀθανάτων καταξιῶσαι τιμῶν, καταστερίσαντα τὸν ἐν οὐρανῷ στέφανον Ἀριάδνης. τοὺς δὲ περὶ τὸν Θησέα φασὶ διὰ τὴν ἁρπαγὴν τῆς κόρης δυσφοροῦντας ἰσχυρῶς, καὶ διὰ τὴν λύπην ἐπιλαθομένους τῆς Αἰγέως παραγγελίας, τοῖς μέλασιν ἱστίοις καταπλεῖν εἰς τὴν Ἀττικήν. Αἰγέα δὲ θεασάμενον τὸν κατάπλουν, καὶ δόξαντα τεθνηκέναι τὸν υἱόν, ἡρωικὴν ἅμα πρᾶξιν καὶ συμφορὰν ἐπιτελέσασθαι· ἀναβάντα γὰρ εἰς τὴν ἀκρόπολιν, καὶ διὰ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῆς λύπης προσκόψαντα τῷ ζῆν, ἑαυτὸν κατακρημνίσαι. μετὰ δὲ τὴν Αἰγέως τελευτὴν Θησεὺς διαδεξάμενος τὴν βασιλείαν ἦρχε τοῦ πλήθους νομίμως καὶ πολλὰ πρὸς αὔξησιν τῆς πατρίδος ἔπραξεν. ἐπιφανέστατον δὲ συνετελέσθη τὸ τοὺς δήμους, ὄντας μικροὺς μὲν τοῖς μεγέθεσι, πολλοὺς δὲ τὸν ἀριθμόν, μεταγαγεῖν εἰς τὰς Ἀθήνας· ἀπὸ γὰρ τούτων τῶν χρόνων Ἀθηναῖοι διὰ τὸ βάρος τῆς πόλεως φρονήματος ἐνεπίμπλαντο καὶ τῆς τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἡγεμονίας ὠρέχθησαν. ἡμεῖς δὲ περὶ τούτων ἀρκούντως διεληλυθότες τὰ λειπόμενα τῶν περὶ Θησέα γενομένων ἀναγράψομεν.
Minos, when he learned of the fate which had befallen his son, came to Athens and demanded satisfaction for the murder of Androgeos. And when no one paid any attention to him, he declared war against the Athenians and uttered imprecations to Zeus, calling down drought and famine throughout the state of the Athenians. And when drought quickly prevailed about Attica and Greece and the crops were destroyed, the heads of the communities gathered together and inquired of the god what steps they could take to rid themselves of their present evils. The god made answer to them that they should go to Aeacus, the son of Zeus and Aigina, the daughter of Asopus, and ask him to offer up prayers on their behalf. 2 And when they had done as they had been commanded, among the rest of the Greeks, the drought was broken, but among the Athenians alone it continued; wherefore the Athenians were compelled to make inquiry of the god how they might be rid of their present evils. Thereupon the god made answer that they could do so if they would render to Minos such satisfaction for the murder of Androgeos as he might demand. The Athenians obeyed the order of the god, and Minos commanded them that they should give seven youths and as many maidens every nine years to the Minotaur for him to devour, for as long a time as the monster should live. And when the Athenians gave them, the inhabitants of Attica were rid of their evils and Minos ceased warring on Athens. At the expiration of nine years Minos came again to Attica accompanied by a great fleet and demanded and received the fourteen young people. 4 Now Theseus was one of those who were to set forth, and Aegeus made the agreement with the captain of the vessel that, if Theseus should overcome the Minotaur, they should sail back with their sails white, but if he died, they should be black, just as they had been accustomed to do on the previous occasion. When they had landed in Crete, Ariadne, the daughter of Minos, became enamoured of Theseus, who was unusually handsome, and Theseus, after conversing with her and securing her assistance, both slew the Minotaur and got safely away, since he had learned from her the way out of the labyrinth. In making his way back to his native land he carried off Ariadne and sailed out unobserved during the night, after which he put in at the island which at that time was called Dia, but is now called Naxos. At this same time, the myths relate, Dionysus showed himself on the island, and because of the beauty of Ariadne he took the maiden away from Theseus and kept her as his lawful wife, loving her exceedingly. Indeed, after her death he considered her worthy of immortal honours because of the affection he had for her, and placed among the stars of heaven the "Crown of Ariadne." 6 But Theseus, they say, being vexed exceedingly because the maiden had been taken from him, and forgetting because of his grief the command of Aegeus, came to port in Attica with the black sails. 7 And of Aegeus, we are told, witnessing the return of the ship and thinking that his son was dead, performed an act which was at the same time heroic and a calamity; for he ascended the Acropolis and then, because he was disgusted with life by reason of his excessive grief, cast himself down from the height. 8 After Aegeus had died, Theseus, succeeding to the kingship, ruled over the masses in accordance with the laws and performed many deeds which contributed to the aggrandisement of his native land. The most notable thing which he accomplished was the incorporation of the demes, which were small in size but many in number, into the city of Athens; 9 since from that time on the Athenians were filled with pride by reason of the importance of their state and aspired to the leadership of the Greeks. But for our part, now that we have set forth these facts at sufficient length, we shall record what remains to be said about Theseus.
§ 4.62
Δευκαλίων ὁ πρεσβύτατος τῶν Μίνωος παίδων, δυναστεύων τῆς Κρήτης καὶ ποιησάμενος πρὸς Ἀθηναίους συμμαχίαν, συνῴκισε τὴν ἰδίαν ἀδελφὴν Φαίδραν Θησεῖ. μετὰ δὲ τὸν γάμον Ἱππόλυτον μὲν τὸν ἐκ τῆς Ἀμαζονίδος γενόμενον υἱὸν ἔπεμψεν εἰς Τροιζῆνα τρέφεσθαι παρὰ τοῖς Αἴθρας ἀδελφοῖς, ἐκ δὲ Φαίδρας Ἀκάμαντα καὶ Δημοφῶντα ἐγέννησε. μικρὸν δʼ ὕστερον Ἱππολύτου ἐπανελθόντος εἰς τὰς Ἀθήνας πρὸς τὰ μυστήρια, Φαίδρα διὰ τὸ κάλλος ἐρασθεῖσα αὐτοῦ τότε μὲν ἀπελθόντος εἰς Τροιζῆνα ἱδρύσατο ἱερὸν Ἀφροδίτης παρὰ τὴν ἀκρόπολιν, ὅθεν ἦν καθορᾶν τὴν Τροιζῆνα, ὕστερον δὲ παρὰ τῷ Πιτθεῖ μετὰ τοῦ Θησέως καταλύσασα ἠξίου τὸν Ἱππόλυτον μιγῆναι αὐτῇ. ἀντειπόντος δʼ ἐκείνου φασὶ τὴν Φαίδραν ἀγανακτῆσαι, καὶ ἐπανελθοῦσαν εἰς τὰς Ἀθήνας εἰπεῖν τῷ Θησεῖ διότι ἐπεβάλετο Ἱππόλυτος αὐτῇ μιγῆναι. Θησέως δὲ διστάζοντος περὶ τῆς διαβολῆς, καὶ τὸν Ἱππόλυτον μεταπεμπομένου πρὸς τὸν ἔλεγχον, Φαίδρα μὲν φοβηθεῖσα τὸν ἐξετασμὸν ἀνεκρέμασεν ἑαυτήν, Ἱππόλυτος δʼ ἁρματηλατῶν, ὡς ἤκουσε τὰ περὶ τῆς διαβολῆς, συνεχύθη τὴν ψυχήν, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο τῶν ἵππων ταραχθέντων καὶ ἐπισπασαμένων αὐτὸν ταῖς ἡνίαις, συνέβη τὸν μὲν δίφρον συντριβῆναι, τὸ δὲ μειράκιον ἐμπλακὲν τοῖς ἱμᾶσιν ἑλκυσθῆναι καὶ τελευτῆσαι. Ἱππόλυτος μὲν οὖν διὰ σωφροσύνην τὸν βίον καταστρέψας παρὰ Τροιζηνίοις ἔτυχεν ἰσοθέων τιμῶν, Θησεὺς δὲ μετὰ ταῦτα καταστασιασθεὶς καὶ φυγὼν ἐκ τῆς πατρίδος ἐπὶ τῆς ξένης ἐτελεύτησεν. οἱ δʼ Ἀθηναῖοι μεταμεληθέντες τά τε ὀστᾶ μετήνεγκαν καὶ τιμαῖς ἰσοθέοις ἐτίμησαν αὐτόν, καὶ τέμενος ἄσυλον ἐποίησαν ἐν ταῖς Ἀθήναις τὸ προσαγορευόμενον ἀπʼ ἐκείνου Θησεῖον.
Deucalion, the eldest of the sons of Minos, while he was ruler of Crete, formed an alliance with the Athenians and united his own sister Phaedra in marriage to Theseus. After the marriage Theseus sent his son Hippolytus, who had been born to him by the Amazon, to Troezen to be reared among the brothers of Aethra, and by Phaedra he begat Acamas and Demophon. 2 A short time after this Hippolytus returned to Athens for the celebration of the mysteries, and Phaedra, becoming enamoured of him because of his beauty, at that time, after he had returned to Troezen, erected a temple of Aphrodite beside the acropolis at the place whence one can look across and see Troezen, but at a later time, when she was stopping together with Theseus at the home of Pittheus, she asked Hippolytus to lie with her. Upon his refusal to do so Phaedra, they say, was vexed, and on her return to Athens she told Theseus that Hippolytus had proposed lying with her. And since Theseus had his doubts about the accusation, he sent for Hippolytus in order to put him to the test, whereupon Phaedra, fearing the result of the examination, hanged herself; as for Hippolytus, who was driving a chariot when he heard of the accusation, he was so distraught in spirit that the horses got out of control and ran away with him, and in the event the chariot was smashed to bits and the youth, becoming entangled in the leathern thongs, was dragged along till he died. 4 Hippolytus, then, since he had ended his life because of his chastity, received at the hands of the Troezenians honours equal to those offered to the gods, but Theseus, when after these happenings he was overpowered by a rival faction and banished from his native land, met his death on foreign soil. The Athenians, however, repenting of what they had done, brought back his bones and accorded him honours equal to those offered to the gods, and they set aside in Athens a sacred precinct which enjoyed the right of sanctuary and was called after him the Theseum.
§ 4.63
ἡμεῖς δʼ ἐπεὶ τὸν περὶ Θησέως λόγον ἀποδεδώκαμεν, ἐν μέρει διέξιμεν περί τε τῆς κατὰ τὴν Ἑλένην ἁρπαγῆς καὶ τῆς μνηστείας Φερσεφόνης ὑπὸ Πειρίθου· αὗται γὰρ αἱ πράξεις συμπεπλεγμέναι ταῖς Θησέως εἰσί. Πειρίθους γὰρ ὁ Ἰξίονος, ἀποθανούσης αὐτοῦ τῆς γυναικὸς Ἱπποδαμείας καὶ καταλιπούσης υἱὸν Πολυποίτην, παρῆλθεν εἰς τὰς Ἀθήνας πρὸς Θησέα. καταλαβὼν δὲ τετελευτηκυῖαν τὴν γυναῖκα τοῦ Θησέως Φαίδραν ἔπεισεν αὐτὸν ἁρπάσαι τὴν Λήδας καὶ Διὸς Ἑλένην, δεκαετῆ μὲν τὴν ἡλικίαν οὖσαν, εὐπρεπείᾳ δὲ πασῶν διαφέρουσαν. παραγενόμενοι δʼ εἰς Λακεδαίμονα μετὰ πλειόνων, καὶ καιρὸν εὔθετον λαβόντες, ἥρπασαν τὴν Ἑλένην κοινῇ καὶ ἀπήγαγον εἰς τὰς Ἀθήνας. ἔπειτα πρὸς ἀλλήλους ὁμολογίας ἔθεντο διακληρώσασθαι, καὶ τὸν μὲν λαχόντα γῆμαι τὴν Ἑλένην, τῷ δʼ ἑτέρῳ συμπρᾶξαι περὶ ἑτέρας γυναικός, ὑπομένοντα πάντα κίνδυνον. περὶ δὲ τούτων δόντες ἀλλήλοις ὅρκους ἔλαχον, καὶ συνέβη τῷ κλήρῳ λαχεῖν Θησέα. οὗτος μὲν οὖν κύριος κατέστη τῆς παρθένου τὸν τρόπον τοῦτον· τῶν δʼ Ἀθηναίων ἀγανακτούντων ἐπὶ τῷ γεγονότι, φοβηθεὶς ὁ Θησεὺς ὑπεξέθετο τὴν Ἑλένην εἰς Ἄφιδναν, μίαν τῶν Ἀττικῶν πόλεων. παρακατέστησε δʼ αὐτῇ τὴν μητέρα Αἴθραν καὶ τῶν ἄλλων φίλων τοὺς ἀρίστους, φύλακας τῆς παρθένου. Πειρίθου δὲ κρίναντος μνηστεῦσαι Φερσεφόνην καὶ παρακαλοῦντος συναποδημῆσαι, τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ὁ Θησεὺς μετέπειθεν ἀποτρέπων τῆς πράξεως αὐτὸν διὰ τὴν ἀσέβειαν· τοῦ δὲ Πειρίθου βιαζομένου συνηναγκάσθη διὰ τοὺς ὅρκους ὁ Θησεὺς μετασχεῖν τῆς πράξεως. καὶ πέρας καταβάντων αὐτῶν εἰς τοὺς καθʼ ᾅδου τόπους, συνέβη διὰ τὴν ἀσέβειαν ἀμφοτέρους δεθῆναι, καὶ Θησέα μὲν ὕστερον διὰ τὴν Ἡρακλέους χάριν ἀπολυθῆναι, Πειρίθουν δὲ διὰ τὴν ἀσέβειαν ἐν ᾅδου διατελεῖν τιμωρίας αἰωνίου τυγχάνοντα· ἔνιοι δὲ τῶν μυθογράφων φασὶν ἀμφοτέρους μὴ τυχεῖν τοῦ νόστου. καθʼ ὃν δὴ χρόνον λέγουσι τοὺς ἀδελφοὺς τῆς Ἑλένης Διοσκόρους στρατεύσαντας ἐπὶ τὴν Ἄφιδναν καὶ τὴν πόλιν ἑλόντας ταύτην μὲν κατασκάψαι, τὴν δʼ Ἑλένην ἀπαγαγεῖν εἰς Λακεδαίμονα παρθένον οὖσαν, καὶ μετʼ αὐτῆς δούλην τὴν μητέρα Θησέως Αἴθραν.
Since we have duly set forth the story of Theseus, we shall discuss in turn the rape of Helen and the wooing of Persephone by Peirithous; for these deeds are interwoven with the affairs of Theseus. Peirithous, we are told, the son of Ixion, when his wife Hippodameia died leaving behind her a son Polypoetes, came to visit Theseus at Athens. 2 And finding on his arrival that Phaedra, the wife of Theseus, was dead, he persuaded him to seize and carry off Helen, the daughter of Leda and Zeus, who was only ten years of age, but excelled all women in beauty. When they arrived in Lacedemon with a number of companions and had found a favourable occasion, they assisted each other in seizing Helen and carrying her off to Athens. Thereupon they agreed among themselves to cast lots, and the one who had drawn the lot was to marry Helen and aid the other in getting another woman as wife, and in so doing to endure any danger. When they had exchanged oaths to this effect they cast lots, and it turned out that by the lot Theseus won her. Theseus, then, got the maiden for his own in the manner we have described; but since the Athenians were displeased at what had taken place, Theseus in fear of them got Helen off safely to Aphidna, one of the cities of Attica. With her he stationed his mother Aethra and the bravest men among his friends to serve as guardians of the maiden. 4 Peirithous now decided to seek the hand of Persephone in marriage, and when he asked Theseus to make the journey with him Theseus at first endeavoured to dissuade him and to turn him away from such a deed as being impious; but since Peirithous firmly insisted upon it Theseus was bound by the oaths to join with him in the deed. And when they had at last made their way below to the regions of Hades, it came to pass that because of the impiety of their act they were both put in chains, and although Theseus was later let go by reason of the favour with which Heracles regarded him, Peirithous because of the impiety remained in Hades, enduring everlasting punishment; but some writers of myths say that both of them never returned. While this was taking place, they say that Helen's brothers, the Dioscori, came up in arms against Aphidna, and taking the city razed it to the ground, and that they brought back Helen, who was still a virgin, to Lacedemon and along with her, to serve as a slave, Aethra, the mother of Theseus.
§ 4.64
ἡμεῖς δὲ περὶ τούτων ἀρκούντως εἰρηκότες τὰ περὶ τῶν ἑπτὰ ἐπὶ Θήβας ἱστορήσομεν, ἀναλαβόντες τὰς ἐξ ἀρχῆς αἰτίας τοῦ πολέμου. Λάιος ὁ Θηβῶν βασιλεὺς γήμας Ἰοκάστην τὴν Κρέοντος, καὶ χρόνον ἱκανὸν ἄπαις ὤν, ἐπηρώτησε τὸν θεὸν περὶ τέκνων γενέσεως. τῆς δὲ Πυθίας δούσης χρησμὸν αὐτῷ μὴ συμφέρειν γενέσθαι τέκνα ʽτὸν γὰρ ἐξ αὐτοῦ τεκνωθέντα παῖδα πατροκτόνον ἔσεσθαι καὶ πᾶσαν τὴν οἰκίαν πληρώσειν μεγάλων ἀτυχημάτωνʼ, ἐπιλαθόμενος τοῦ χρησμοῦ καὶ γεννήσας υἱόν, ἐξέθηκε τὸ βρέφος διαπερονήσας αὐτοῦ τὰ σφυρὰ σιδήρῳ· διʼ ἣν αἰτίαν Οἰδίπους ὕστερον ὠνομάσθη. οἱ δʼ οἰκέται λαβόντες τὸ παιδίον ἐκθεῖναι μὲν οὐκ ἠθέλησαν, ἐδωρήσαντο δὲ τῇ Πολύβου γυναικί, οὐ δυναμένῃ γεννῆσαι παῖδας. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ἀνδρωθέντος τοῦ παιδός, ὁ μὲν Λάιος ἔκρινεν ἐπερωτῆσαι τὸν θεὸν περὶ τοῦ βρέφους τοῦ ἐκτεθέντος, ὁ δὲ Οἰδίπους μαθὼν παρά τινος τὴν καθʼ ἑαυτὸν ὑποβολήν, ἐπεχείρησεν ἐπερωτῆσαι τὴν Πυθίαν περὶ τῶν κατʼ ἀλήθειαν γονέων. κατὰ δὲ τὴν Φωκίδα τούτων ἀλλήλοις ἀπαντησάντων, ὁ μὲν Λάιος ὑπερηφάνως ἐκχωρεῖν τῆς ὁδοῦ προσέταττεν, ὁ δʼ Οἰδίπους ὀργισθεὶς ἀπέκτεινε τὸν Λάιον, ἀγνοῶν ὅτι πατὴρ ἦν αὐτοῦ. καθʼ ὃν δὴ χρόνον μυθολογοῦσι σφίγγα, δίμορφον θηρίον, παραγενομένην εἰς τὰς Θήβας αἴνιγμα προτιθέναι τῷ δυναμένῳ λῦσαι, καὶ πολλοὺς ὑπʼ αὐτῆς διʼ ἀπορίαν ἀναιρεῖσθαι. προτιθεμένου δὲ ἐπάθλου φιλανθρώπου τῷ λύσαντι γαμεῖν τὴν Ἰοκάστην καὶ βασιλεύειν τῶν Θηβῶν, ἄλλον μὲν μηδένα δύνασθαι γνῶναι τὸ προτεθειμένον, μόνον δὲ Οἰδίπουν λῦσαι τὸ αἴνιγμα. ἦν δὲ τὸ προτεθὲν ὑπὸ τῆς σφιγγός, τί ἐστι τὸ αὐτὸ δίπουν, τρίπουν, τετράπουν. ἀπορουμένων δὲ τῶν ἄλλων ὁ Οἰδίπους ἀπεφήνατο ἄνθρωπον εἶναι τὸ προβληθέν· νήπιον μὲν γὰρ αὐτὸν ὑπάρχοντα τετράπουν εἶναι, αὐξήσαντα δὲ δίπουν, γηράσαντα δὲ τρίπουν, βακτηρίᾳ χρώμενον διὰ τὴν ἀσθένειαν. ἐνταῦθα τὴν μὲν σφίγγα κατὰ τὸν μυθολογούμενον χρησμὸν ἑαυτὴν κατακρημνίσαι, τὸν δʼ Οἰδίπουν γήμαντα τὴν ἀγνοουμένην ὑφʼ ἑαυτοῦ μητέρα γεννῆσαι δύο μὲν υἱοὺς Ἐτεοκλέα καὶ Πολυνείκην, δύο δὲ θυγατέρας Ἀντιγόνην καὶ Ἰσμήνην.
Since we have spoken on these matters at sufficient length, we shall now give the account of The Seven against Thebes, taking up the original causes of the war. Laius, the king of Thebes, married Jocaste, the daughter of Creon, and since he was childless for some time he inquired of the god regarding his begetting of children. The Pythian priestess made reply that it would not be to his interest that children should be born to him, since the son who should be begotten of him would be the murderer of his father and would bring great misfortunes upon all the house; but Laius forgot the oracle and begat a son, and he exposed the babe after he had pierced its ankles through with a piece of iron, this being the reason why it was later given the name Oidipus. 2 But the household slaves who took the infant were unwilling to expose it, and gave it as a present to the wife of Polybus, since she could bear no children. Later, after the boy had attained to manhood, Laius, decided to inquire of the god regarding the babe which had been exposed, and Oidipus likewise, having learned from someone of the substitution which had been made in his case, set about to inquire of the Pythian priestess who were his true parents. In Phocis these two met face to face, and when Laius in a disdainful manner ordered Oidipus to make way for him, the latter in anger slew Laius, not knowing that he was his father. At this very time, the myths go on to say, a Sphinx, a beast of double form, had come to Thebes and was propounding a riddle to anyone who might be able to solve it, and many were being slain by her because of their inability to do so. And although a generous reward was offered to the man who should solve it, that he should marry Jocaste and be king of Thebes, yet no man was able to comprehend what was propounded except Oidipus, who alone solved the riddle. What had been propounded by the Sphinx was this: What is it that is at the same time a biped, a triped, and a quadruped? 4 And while all the rest were perplexed, Oidipus declared that the animal proposed in the riddle was "man," since as an infant he is a quadruped, when grown a biped, and in old age a triped, using, because of his infirmity, a staff. At this answer the Sphinx, in accordance with the oracle which the myth recounts, threw herself down a precipice, and Oidipus then married the woman who, unknown to himself, was his mother, and begat two sons, Eteocles and Polyneices, and two daughters, Antigone and Ismene.
§ 4.65
τῶν δʼ υἱῶν ἀνδρωθέντων, καὶ τῶν περὶ τὴν οἰκίαν ἀσεβημάτων γνωσθέντων, τὸν μὲν Οἰδίπουν ὑπὸ τῶν υἱῶν ἔνδον μένειν ἀναγκασθῆναι διὰ τὴν αἰσχύνην, τοὺς δὲ νεανίσκους παραλαβόντας τὴν ἀρχὴν ὁμολογίας θέσθαι πρὸς ἀλλήλους παρʼ ἐνιαυτὸν ἄρχειν. πρεσβυτέρου δʼ ὄντος Ἐτεοκλέους, τοῦτον πρῶτον ἄρξαι, καὶ διελθόντος τοῦ χρόνου μὴ βούλεσθαι παραδιδόναι τὴν βασιλείαν. τὸν δὲ Πολυνείκην κατὰ τὰς ὁμολογίας ἀπαιτεῖν τὴν ἀρχήν· τοῦ δʼ ἀδελφοῦ μὴ ὑπακούοντος φυγεῖν εἰς Ἄργος πρὸς Ἄδραστον τὸν βασιλέα. καθʼ ὃν δὴ χρόνον φασὶ Τυδέα τὸν Οἰνέως ἐν Καλυδῶνι τοὺς ἀνεψιοὺς ἀνελόντα Ἀλκάθουν καὶ Λυκωπέα φυγεῖν ἐκ τῆς Αἰτωλίας εἰς Ἄργος. Ἄδραστον δʼ ἀμφοτέρους ὑποδεξάμενον φιλοφρόνως κατά τι λόγιον συνοικίσαι τὰς θυγατέρας αὐτοῖς, Ἀργείαν μὲν Πολυνείκει, Δηιπύλην δὲ Τυδεῖ. εὐδοκιμούντων δὲ τῶν νεανίσκων καὶ μεγάλης ἀποδοχῆς ὑπὸ τοῦ βασιλέως τυγχανόντων, φασὶ τὸν Αδραστον χαριζόμενον αὐτοῖς ἐπαγγείλασθαι κατάξειν ἀμφοτέρους εἰς τὰς πατρίδας. κρίναντος δʼ αὐτοῦ πρῶτον καταγαγεῖν τὸν Πολυνείκην, ἄγγελον εἰς τὰς Θήβας ἀποστεῖλαι Τυδέα πρὸς Ἐτεοκλέα περὶ τῆς καθόδου. ἐνταῦθά φασι τὸν μὲν Τυδέα ἐνεδρευθέντα κατὰ τὴν ὁδὸν ὑπὸ Ἐτεοκλέους πεντήκοντα ἀνδράσιν ἅπαντας ἀνελεῖν καὶ παραδόξως εἰς τὸ Ἄργος διασωθῆναι, τὸν δʼ Ἄδραστον πυθόμενον τὰ συμβάντα παρασκευάσασθαι τὰ πρὸς τὴν στρατείαν, πείσαντα μετασχεῖν τοῦ πολέμου Καπανέα τε καὶ Ἱππομέδοντα καὶ Παρθενοπαῖον τὸν Ἀταλάντης τῆς Σχοινέως. τοὺς δὲ περὶ τὸν Πολυνείκην ἐπιβαλέσθαι πείθειν Ἀμφιάραον τὸν μάντιν συστρατεύειν αὐτοῖς ἐπὶ τὰς Θήβας· τοῦ δὲ προγινώσκοντος ὡς ἀπολεῖται συστρατεύσας αὐτοῖς, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο μὴ συγχωροῦντος, Πολυνείκην φασὶ τὸν χρυσοῦν ὅρμον, ὃν Ἀφροδίτην μυθολογοῦσιν Ἁρμονίᾳ δωρήσασθαι, δοῦναι τῇ γυναικὶ τῇ Ἀμφιαράου, ὅπως τὸν ἄνδρα πείσῃ συμμαχῆσαι. καθʼ ὃν δὴ χρόνον Ἀμφιαράου πρὸς Ἄδραστον στασιάζοντος περὶ τῆς βασιλείας, ὁμολογίας θέσθαι πρὸς ἀλλήλους, καθʼ ἃς ἐπέτρεπον κρῖναι περὶ τῶν ἀμφισβητουμένων Ἐριφύλην, γυναῖκα μὲν οὖσαν Ἀμφιαράου, ἀδελφὴν δʼ Ἀδράστου. τῆς δὲ τὸ νίκημα περιθείσης Ἀδράστῳ καὶ περὶ τῆς ἐπὶ Θήβας στρατείας ἀποφηναμένης δεῖν στρατεύειν, ὁ μὲν Ἀμφιάραος δόξας ὑπὸ τῆς γυναικὸς προδεδόσθαι συστρατεύσειν μὲν ὡμολόγησεν, ἐντολὰς δὲ ἔδωκεν Ἀλκμαίωνι τῷ υἱῷ μετὰ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ τελευτὴν ἀνελεῖν τὴν Ἐριφύλην. οὗτος μὲν οὖν ὕστερον κατὰ τὰς τοῦ πατρὸς ἐντολὰς ἀνεῖλε τὴν μητέρα, καὶ διὰ τὴν συνείδησιν τοῦ μύσους εἰς μανίαν περιέστη· οἱ δὲ περὶ τὸν Ἄδραστον καὶ Πολυνείκην καὶ Τυδέα προσλαβόμενοι τέτταρας ἡγεμόνας, Ἀμφιάραόν τε καὶ Καπανέα καὶ Ἱππομέδοντα, ἔτι δὲ Παρθενοπαῖον τὸν Ἀταλάντης τῆς Σχοινέως, ἐστράτευσαν ἐπὶ τὰς Θήβας, ἔχοντες δύναμιν ἀξιόλογον. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Ἐτεοκλῆς μὲν καὶ Πολυνείκης ἀλλήλους ἀνεῖλον, Καπανεὺς δὲ βιαζόμενος καὶ διὰ κλίμακος ἀναβαίνων ἐπὶ τὸ τεῖχος ἐτελεύτησεν, Ἀμφιάραος δὲ χανούσης τῆς γῆς ἐμπεσὼν εἰς τὸ χάσμα μετὰ τοῦ ἅρματος ἄφαντος ἐγένετο. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἡγεμόνων ἀπολομένων πλὴν Ἀδράστου, καὶ πολλῶν στρατιωτῶν πεσόντων, οἱ μὲν Θηβαῖοι τὴν ἀναίρεσιν τῶν νεκρῶν οὐ συνεχώρησαν, ὁ δʼ Ἄδραστος καταλιπὼν ἀτάφους τοὺς τετελευτηκότας ἐπανῆλθεν εἰς Ἄργος. ἀτάφων δὲ μενόντων τῶν ὑπὸ τὴν Καδμείαν πεπτωκότων σωμάτων, καὶ μηδενὸς τολμῶντος θάπτειν, Ἀθηναῖοι διαφέροντες τῶν ἄλλων χρηστότητι πάντας τοὺς ὑπὸ τὴν Καδμείαν πεπτωκότας ἔθαψαν.
When the sons had attained to manhood, they go on to say, and the impious deeds of the family became known, Oidipus, because of the disgrace, was compelled by his sons to remain always in retirement, and the young men, taking over the throne, agreed together that they should reign in alternate years. Eteocles, being the elder, was the first to reign, and upon the termination of the period he did not wish to give over the kingship. 2 But Polyneices demanded of him the throne as they had agreed, and when his brother would not comply with his demand he fled to Argos to king Adrastus. At the same time that this was taking place Tydeus, they say, the son of Oineus, who had slain his cousins Alcathous and Lycopeus in Calydon, fled from Aitolia to Argos. Adrastus received both the fugitives kindly, and in obedience to a certain oracle joined his daughters in marriage to them, Argeia to Polyneices, and Deipyle to Tydeus. And since the young men were held in high esteem and enjoyed the king's favour to a great degree, Adrastus, they say, as a mark of his good-will promised to restore both Polyneices and Tydeus to their native lands. 4 And having decided to restore Polyneices first, he sent Tydeus as an envoy to Eteocles in Thebes to negotiate the return. But while Tydeus was on his way thither, we are told, he was set upon from ambush by fifty men sent by Eteocles, but he slew every man of them and got through to Argos, to the astonishment of all, whereupon Adrastus, when he learned what had taken place, made preparations for the consequent campaign against Eteocles, having persuaded Capaneus and Hippomedon and Parthenopaeus, the son of Atalante, the daughter of Schoeneus, to be his allies in the war. Polyneices also endeavoured to persuade the seer Amphiaraus to take part with him in the campaign against Thebes; and when the latter, because he knew in advance that he would perish if he should take part in the campaign, would not for that reason consent to do so, Polyneices, they say, gave the golden necklace which, as the myth relates, had once been given by Aphrodite as a present to Harmonia, to the wife of Amphiaraus, in order that she might persuade her husband to join the others as their ally. 6 At the time in question Amphiaraus, we are told, was at variance with Adrastus, striving for the kingship, and the two came to an agreement among themselves whereby they committed the decision of the matter at issue between them to Eriphyle, the wife of Amphiaraus and sister of Adrastus. When Eriphyle awarded the victory to Adrastus and, with regard to the campaign against Thebes, gave it as her opinion that it should be undertaken, Amphiaraus, believing that his wife had betrayed him, did agree to take part in the campaign, but left orders with his son Alcmaeon that after his death he should slay Eriphyle. 7 Alcmaeon, therefore, at a later time slew his mother according to his father's injunction, and because he was conscious of the pollution he had incurred he was driven to madness. But Adrastus and Polyneices and Tydeus, adding to their number four leaders, Amphiaraus, Capaneus, Hippomedon, and Parthenopaeus, the son of Atalante the daughter of Schoeneus, set out against Thebes, accompanied by a notable army. 8 After this Eteocles and Polyneices slew each other, Capaneus died while impetuously ascending the wall by a scaling-ladder, and as for Amphiaraus, the earth opened and he together with his chariot fell into the opening and disappeared from sight. 9 When the rest of the leaders, with the exception of Adrastus, had likewise perished and many soldiers had fallen, the Thebans refused to allow the removal of the dead and so Adrastus left them unburied and returned to Argos. So the bodies of those who had fallen at the foot of the Cadmeia remained unburied and no one had the courage to inter them, but the Athenians, who excelled all others in uprightness, honoured with funeral rites all who had fallen at the foot of the Cadmeia.
§ 4.66
οἱ μὲν οὖν ἑπτὰ ἐπὶ Θήβας τοιοῦτον τὸ πέρας ἔσχον. οἱ δὲ τούτων παῖδες, ἐπίγονοι δʼ ὀνομασθέντες, τὸν τῶν πατέρων θάνατον ἐπεξιόντες ἔγνωσαν στρατεύειν κοινῇ ἐπὶ τὰς Θήβας, λαβόντες χρησμὸν παρʼ Ἀπόλλωνος πολεμεῖν τὴν προειρημένην πόλιν στρατηγὸν ἔχοντας Ἀλκμαίωνα τὸν Ἀμφιαράου. ὁ δʼ Ἀλκμαίων αἱρεθεὶς ὑπʼ αὐτῶν στρατηγὸς ἐπηρώτησε τὸν θεὸν περὶ τῆς ἐπὶ τὰς Θήβας στρατείας καὶ περὶ τῆς Ἐριφύλης τῆς μητρὸς κολάσεως. τοῦ δʼ Ἀπόλλωνος χρήσαντος ἀμφότερα τὰ προειρημένα πρᾶξαι διὰ τὸ μὴ μόνον τὸν χρυσοῦν ὅρμον δέξασθαι κατὰ τῆς ἀπωλείας τοῦ πατρός, ἀλλὰ καὶ πέπλον λαβεῖν αὐτὴν κατὰ τῆς τοῦ υἱοῦ τελευτῆς· Ἀφροδίτης γάρ, ὥς φασι, τὸ παλαιὸν δωρησαμένης Ἁρμονίᾳ τῇ Κάδμου τόν τε ὅρμον καὶ πέπλον, ἀμφότερα ταῦτα προσδέξασθαι τὴν Ἐριφύλην, τὸν μὲν ὅρμον παρὰ Πολυνείκους λαβοῦσαν, τὸν δὲ πέπλον παρὰ τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ Πολυνείκους Θερσάνδρου, ὅπως πείσῃ τὸν υἱὸν στρατεύειν ἐπὶ τὰς Θήβας· ὁ δʼ οὖν Ἀλκμαίων οὐ μόνον ἀθροίσας ἐξ Ἄργους στρατιώτας, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐκ τῶν πλησίον πόλεων, ἀξιολόγῳ δυνάμει ἐστράτευσεν ἐπὶ τὰς Θήβας. ἀντιταχθέντων δὲ τῶν Θηβαίων ἐγένετο μάχη καρτερά, καθʼ ἣν ἐνίκησαν οἱ περὶ τὸν Ἀλκμαίωνα· οἱ δὲ Θηβαῖοι λειφθέντες τῇ μάχῃ καὶ πολλοὺς τῶν πολιτῶν ἀποβαλόντες συνετρίβησαν ταῖς ἐλπίσιν. οὐκ ὄντες δʼ ἀξιόμαχοι σύμβουλον ἔλαβον Τειρεσίαν τὸν μάντιν, ὃς ἐκέλευσε φυγεῖν ἐκ τῆς πόλεως· μόνως γὰρ οὕτω σωθήσεσθαι. οἱ μὲν οὖν Καδμεῖοι κατὰ τὴν τοῦ μάντεως ὑποθήκην ἐξέλιπον τὴν πόλιν, καὶ νυκτὸς συνέφυγον εἴς τι χωρίον τῆς Βοιωτίας ὀνομαζόμενον Τιλφωσσαῖον. ἔπειθʼ οἱ μὲν ἐπίγονοι τὴν πόλιν ἑλόντες διήρπασαν, καὶ τῆς Τειρεσίου θυγατρὸς Δάφνης ἐγκρατεῖς γενόμενοι ταύτην ἀνέθεσαν εἰς Δελφοὺς κατά τινα εὐχὴν ἀκροθίνιον τῷ θεῷ. αὕτη δὲ τὴν μαντικὴν οὐχ ἧττον τοῦ πατρὸς εἰδυῖα, πολὺ μᾶλλον ἐν τοῖς Δελφοῖς διατρίψασα τὴν τέχνην ἐπηύξησε· φύσει δὲ θαυμαστῇ κεχορηγημένη χρησμοὺς ἔγραψε παντοδαπούς, διαφόρους ταῖς κατασκευαῖς· παρʼ ἧς φασι καὶ τὸν ποιητὴν Ὅμηρον πολλὰ τῶν ἐπῶν σφετερισάμενον κοσμῆσαι τὴν ἰδίαν ποίησιν. ἐνθεαζούσης δʼ αὐτῆς πολλάκις καὶ χρησμοὺς ἀποφαινομένης, φασὶν ἐπικληθῆναι Σίβυλλαν· τὸ γὰρ ἐνθεάζειν κατὰ γλῶττανὑπάρχειν σιβυλλαίνειν.
As for The Seven against Thebes, such, then, was the outcome of their campaign. But their sons, who were known as Epigoni, being intent upon avenging the death of their fathers, decided to make common cause in a campaign against Thebes, having received an oracle from Apollo that they should make war upon this city, and with Alcmaeon, the son of Amphiaraus, as their supreme commander. 2 Alcmaeon, after they had chosen him to be their commander, inquired of the god concerning the campaign against Thebes and also concerning the punishment of his mother Eriphyle. And Apollo replied that he should perform both these deeds, not only because Eriphyle had accepted the golden necklace in return for working the destruction of his father, but also because she had received a robe as a reward for securing the death of her son. For Aphrodite, as we are told, in ancient times had given both the necklace and a robe as presents to Harmonia, the daughter of Cadmus, and Eriphyle had accepted both of them, receiving the necklace from Polyneices and the robe from Thersandrus, the son of Polyneices, who had given it to her in order to induce her to persuade her son to make the campaign against Thebes. Alcmaeon, accordingly, gathered soldiers, not only from Argos but from the neighbouring cities as well, and so had a notable army as he set out on the campaign against Thebes. 4 The Thebans drew themselves up against him and a mighty battle took place in which Alcmaeon and his allies were victorious; and the Thebans, since they had been worsted in the battle and had lost many of their citizens, found their hopes shattered. And since they were not strong enough to offer further resistance, they consulted the seer Teiresias, who advised them to flee from the city, for only in this way, he said, could they save their lives. Consequently the Cadmeans left the city, as the seer had counselled them to do, and gathered for refuge by month in a place in Boeotia called Tilphossaion. Thereupon the Epigoni took the city and sacked it, and capturing Daphne, the daughter of Teiresias, they dedicated her, in accordance with a certain vow, to the service of the temple at Delphi as an offering to the god of the first-fruits of the booty. 6 This maiden possessed no less knowledge of prophecy than her father, and in the course of her stay at Delphi she developed her skill to a far greater degree; moreover, by virtue of the employment of a marvellous natural gift, she also wrote oracular responses of every sort, excelling in their composition; and indeed it was from her poetry, they say, that the poet Homer took many verses which he appropriated as his own and with them adorned his own poesy. And since she was often like one inspired when she delivered oracles, they say that she was also called Sibylla, for to be inspired in one's tongue is expressed by the word sibyllainein.
§ 4.67
οἱ δʼ ἐπίγονοι τὴν στρατείαν ἐπιφανῆ πεποιημένοι μετὰ πολλῶν λαφύρων ἀνέκαμψαν εἰς τὰς πατρίδας. τῶν δὲ Καδμείων τῶν συμφυγόντων εἰς τὸ Τιλφωσσαῖον Τειρεσίας μὲν ἐτελεύτησεν, ὃν θάψαντες λαμπρῶς οἱ Καδμεῖοι τιμαῖς ἰσοθέοις ἐτίμησαν· αὐτοὶ δὲ μεταναστάντες ἐκ τῆς πόλεως ἐπὶ Δωριεῖς ἐστράτευσαν, καὶ μάχῃ νικήσαντες τοὺς ἐγχωρίους ἐκείνους μὲν ἐξέβαλον ἐκ τῶν πατρίδων, αὐτοὶ δʼ ἐπί τινας χρόνους κατοικήσαντες, οἱ μὲν ἐν αὐτῇ κατέμειναν, οἱ δʼ ἐπανῆλθον εἰς τὰς Θήβας, Κρέοντος τοῦ Μενοικέως βασιλεύοντος. οἱ δʼ ἐκ τῶν πατρίδων ἐξελαθέντες ὕστερόν τισι χρόνοις κατῆλθον εἰς τὴν Δωρίδα καὶ κατῴκησαν ἐν Ἐρινεῷ καὶ Κυτινίῳ καὶ Βοιῷ. πρὸ δὲ τούτων τῶν χρόνων Βοιωτὸς ὁ Ἄρνης καὶ Ποσειδῶνος καταντήσας εἰς τὴν τότε μὲν Αἰολίδα, νῦν δὲ Θετταλίαν καλουμένην, τοὺς μεθʼ ἑαυτοῦ Βοιωτοὺς ὠνόμασε. περὶ δὲ τῶν Αἰολέων τούτων ἀναγκαῖον προσαναδραμόντας τοῖς χρόνοις τὰ κατὰ μέρος ἐκθέσθαι. ἐν τοῖς ἔμπροσθεν χρόνοις τῶν Αἰόλου τοῦ Ἕλληνος τοῦ Δευκαλίωνος υἱῶν οἱ μὲν ἄλλοι κατῴκησαν ἐν τοῖς προειρημένοις τόποις, Μίμας δὲ μείνας ἐβασίλευσε τῆς Αἰολίδος. Μίμαντος δὲ Ἱππότης γενόμενος ἐκ Μελανίππης ἐτέκνωσεν Αἴολον· τούτου δʼ Ἄρνη γενομένη θυγάτηρ Βοιωτὸν ἐκ Ποσειδῶνος ἐγέννησεν. αἰόλος δʼ ἀπιστῶν εἰ Ποσειδῶνι ἐμίγη καὶ τῇ φθορᾷ μεμφόμενος, παρέδωκε τὴν Ἄρνην Μεταποντίῳ ξένῳ κατὰ τύχην παρεπιδημοῦντι, προστάξας ἀπάγειν εἰς Μεταπόντιον. τούτου δὲ πράξαντος τὸ προσταχθέν, ἡ Ἄρνη τρεφομένη ἐν Μεταποντίῳ ἐγέννησεν Αἴολον καὶ Βοιωτόν, οὓς ὁ Μεταπόντιος, ἄπαις ὤν, κατά τινα χρησμὸν υἱοποιήσατο. οὗτοι δʼ ἀνδρωθέντες, στάσεως γενομένης ἐν τῷ Μεταποντίῳ, βίᾳ κατέσχον τὴν βασιλείαν. ὕστερον δὲ τῆς Ἄρνης διενεχθείσης πρὸς Αὐτολύτην τὴν γυναῖκα τοῦ Μεταποντίου, βοηθοῦντες τῇ μητρὶ τὴν Αὐτολύτην ἀνεῖλον. δεινῶς δὲ φέροντος τοῦ Μεταποντίου τὸ συμβεβηκός, πλοῖα παρασκευασάμενοι καὶ τὴν Ἄρνην ἀναλαβόντες ἐξέπλευσαν μετὰ πολλῶν φίλων. αἰόλος μὲν οὖν τὰς ἐν τῷ Τυρρηνικῷ πελάγει καλουμένας ἀπʼ αὐτοῦ νήσους Αἰολίδας κατέσχε, καὶ πόλιν ἔκτισε τὴν ὀνομαζομένην ἀπʼ αὐτοῦ Λιπάραν· Βοιωτὸς δὲ πλεύσας πρὸς Αἰόλον τὸν τῆς Ἄρνης πατέρα, καὶ τεκνωθεὶς ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ, παρέλαβε τῆς Αἰολίδος τὴν βασιλείαν· καὶ τὴν μὲν χώραν ἀπὸ τῆς μητρὸς Ἄρνην, τοὺς δὲ λαοὺς ἀφʼ ἑαυτοῦ Βοιωτοὺς ὠνόμασε. Βοιωτοῦ δὲ Ἴτωνος γενόμενος ἐτέκνωσεν υἱοὺς τέτταρας, Ἱππάλκιμον καὶ Ἠλεκτρύωνα, ἔτι δʼ Ἀρχίλυκον καὶ Ἀλεγήνορα. τούτων δʼ Ἱππάλκιμος μὲν ἐγέννησε Πηνέλεων, Ἠλεκτρύων δὲ Λήιτον, Ἀλεγήνωρ δὲ Κλονίον, Ἀρχίλυκος δὲ Προθοήνορα καὶ Ἀρκεσίλαον τοὺς ἐπὶ Τροίαν στρατευσαμένους ἡγεμόνας τῶν ἁπάντων Βοιωτῶν.
The Epigoni, after they had made their campaign renowned, returned to their native lands, bearing with them great booty. Of the Cadmeans who fled in a body to Tilphossaion, Teiresias died there, and the Cadmeans buried him in state and accorded him honours equal to those offered to the gods; but as for themselves, they left the city and marched against the Dorians; and having conquered them in battle they drove out of their native lands the inhabitants of that country and they themselves settled there for some time, some of them remaining there permanently and others returning to Thebes when Creon, the son of Menoeceus, was king. But those who had been expelled from their native lands returned at some later period to Doris and made their homes in Erineus, Cytinium, and Boeum. 2 Before the period in which these things took place, Boeotus, the son of Arne and Poseidon, came into the land which was then called Aeolis but is now called Thessaly, and gave to his followers the name of Boeotians. But concerning these inhabitants of Aeolis, we must revert to earlier times and give a detailed account of them. In the times before that which we are discussing the rest of the sons of Aeolus, who was the son of Hellen, who was the son of Deucalion, settled in the regions we have mentioned, but Mimas remained behind and ruled as king of Aeolis. Hippotes, who was born of Mimas, begat Aeolus by Melanippe, and Arne, who was the daughter of Aeolus, bore Boeotus by Poseidon. 4 But Aeolus, not believing that it was Poseidon who had lain with Arne and holding her to blame for her downfall, handed her over to a stranger from Metapontium who happened to be sojourning there at the time, with orders to carry her off to Metapontium. And after the stranger had done as he was ordered, Arne, while living in Metapontium, gave birth to Aeolus and Boeotus, whom the Metapontian, being childless, in obedience to a certain oracle adopted as his own sons. When the boys had attained to manhood, a civil discord arose in Metapontium and they seized the kingship by violence. Later, however, a quarrel took place between Arne and Autolyte, the wife of the Metapontian, and the young men took the side of their mother and slew Autolyte. But the Metapontian was indignant at this deed, and so they got boats ready and taking Arne with them set out to sea accompanied by many friends. 6 Now Aeolus took possession of the islands in the Tyrrhenian sea which are called after him "Aeolian" and founded a city to which he gave the name Lipara;19 but Boeotus sailed home to Aeolus, the father of Arne, by whom he was adopted and in succession to him he took over the kingship of Aeolis; and the land he named Arne after his mother, but the inhabitants Boeotians after himself. 7 And Itonus, the son of Boeotus, begat four sons, Hippalcimus, Electryon, Archilycus, and Alegenor. Of these sons Hippalcimus begat Penelos, Electryon begat Leitus, Alegenor begat Clonius, and Archilycus begat Prothoenor and Arcesilaus, who were the leaders of all the Boeotians in the expedition against Troy.
§ 4.68
τούτων δʼ ἡμῖν διευκρινημένων, πειρασόμεθα διελθεῖν περὶ Σαλμωνέως καὶ Τυροῦς καὶ τῶν ἀπογόνων ἕως Νέστορος τοῦ στρατεύσαντος ἐπὶ Τροίαν. Σαλμωνεὺς γὰρ ἦν υἱὸς Αἰόλου τοῦ Ἕλληνος τοῦ Δευκαλίωνος· οὗτος δʼ ἐκ τῆς Αἰολίδος ὁρμηθεὶς μετὰ πλειόνων Αἰολέων ᾤκισε τῆς Ἠλείας παρὰ τὸν Ἀλφειὸν ποταμὸν πόλιν καὶ ἐκάλεσεν ἀφʼ ἑαυτοῦ Σαλμωνίαν. γήμας δʼ Ἀλκιδίκην τὴν Ἀλέου ἐγέννησε θυγατέρα τὴν προσαγορευθεῖσαν Τυρώ, κάλλει διαφέρουσαν. τῆς δὲ γυναικὸς Ἀλκιδίκης ἀποθανούσης ἐπέγημε τὴν ὀνομαζομένην Σιδηρώ· αὕτη δὲ χαλεπῶς διετέθη πρὸς τὴν Τυρώ, ὡς ἂν μητρυιά. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Σαλμωνεύς, ὑβριστὴς ὢν καὶ ἀσεβής, ὑπὸ μὲν τῶν ὑποτεταγμένων ἐμισήθη, ὑπὸ δὲ Διὸς διὰ τὴν ἀσέβειαν ἐκεραυνώθη. τῇ δὲ Τυροῖ, παρθένῳ κατʼ ἐκείνους τοὺς χρόνους οὔσῃ, Ποσειδῶν μιγεὶς παῖδας ἐγέννησε Πελίαν καὶ Νηλέα. ἡ δὲ Τυρὼ συνοικήσασα Κρηθεῖ ἐτέκνωσεν Ἀμυθάονα καὶ Φέρητα καὶ Αἴσονα. Κρηθέως δὲ τελευτήσαντος ἐστασίασαν περὶ τῆς βασιλείας Πελίας τε καὶ Νηλεύς· τούτων δὲ Πελίας μὲν Ἰωλκοῦ καὶ τῶν πλησίον χωρίων ἐβασίλευσε, Νηλεὺς δὲ παραλαβὼν Μελάμποδα καὶ Βίαντα τοὺς Ἀμυθάονος καὶ Ἀγλαΐας υἱοὺς καί τινας ἄλλους τῶν Ἀχαιῶν καὶ Φθιωτῶν καὶ τῶν Αἰολέων ἐστράτευσεν εἰς Πελοπόννησον. καὶ Μελάμπους μὲν μάντις ὢν τὰς Ἀργείας γυναῖκας μανείσας διὰ τὴν Διονύσου μῆνιν ἐθεράπευσεν, ἀντὶ δὲ ταύτης τῆς εὐεργεσίας χάριν ἔλαβε παρὰ τοῦ βασιλέως τῶν Ἀργείων Ἀναξαγόρου τοῦ Μεγαπένθους τὰ δύο μέρη τῆς βασιλείας· κατοικήσας δʼ ἐν Ἄργει κοινὴν ἐποιήσατο τὴν βασιλείαν Βίαντι τῷ ἀδελφῷ. γήμας δὲ Ἰφιάνειραν τὴν Μεγαπένθους ἐτέκνωσεν Ἀντιφάτην καὶ Μαντώ, ἔτι δὲ Βίαντα καὶ Προνόην· Ἀντιφάτου δὲ καὶ Ζευξίππης τῆς Ἱπποκόωντος Οἰκλῆς καὶ Ἀμφάλκης ὑπῆρξαν, Οἰκλέους δὲ καὶ Ὑπερμνήστρας τῆς Θεσπίου Ἰφιάνειρα καὶ Πολύβοια καὶ Ἀμφιάραος ἐγένοντο. Μελάμπους μὲν οὖν καὶ Βίας καὶ οἱ ἀπʼ ἐκείνων οὕτω τῆς ἐν Ἄργει βασιλείας μετέσχον, Νηλεὺς δὲ μετὰ τῶν συνακολουθησάντων παραγενόμενος εἰς Μεσσήνην πόλιν ἔκτισε Πύλον, δόντων αὐτῷ τῶν ἐγχωρίων. ταύτης δὲ βασιλεύων καὶ γήμας Χλῶριν τὴν Ἀμφίονος τοῦ Θηβαίου, παῖδας ἐγέννησε δώδεκα, ὧν ἦν πρεσβύτατος μὲν Περικλύμενος, νεώτατος δὲ Νέστωρ ὁ ἐπὶ Τροίαν στρατεύσας. περὶ μὲν οὖν τῶν Νέστορος προγόνων ἀρκεσθησόμεθα τοῖς ῥηθεῖσι, στοχαζόμενοι τῆς συμμετρίας,
Now that we have examined these matters we shall endeavour to set forth the facts concerning Salmoneus and Tyro and their descendants as far as Nestor, who took part in the campaign against Troy. Salmoneus was a son of Aeolus, who was the son of Hellen, who was the son of Deucalion, and setting out from Aeolis with a number of Aeolians he founded a city in Eleia on the banks of the river Alpheius and called it Salmonia after his own name. And marrying Alcidice, the daughter of Aleus, he begat by her a daughter, her who was given the name Tyro, a maiden of surpassing beauty. 2 When his wife Alcidice died Salmoneus took for a second wife Sidero, as she was called, who treated Tyro unkindly, as a step-mother would. Afterwards Salmoneus, being an overbearing man and impious, came to be hated by his subjects and because of his impiety was slain by Zeus with a bolt of lightning. As for Tyro, who was still a virgin when this took place, Poseidon lay with her and begat two sons, Pelias and Neleus. Then Tyro married Cretheus and bore Amythaon and Pheres and Aeson. But at the death of Cretheus a strife over the kingship arose between Pelias and Neleus. Of these two Pelias came to be king over Iolcus and the neighbouring districts, but Neleus, taking with him Melampous and Bias, the sons of Amythaon and Aglaia, and certain other Achaeans of Phthiotis and Aeolians, made a campaign into the Peloponnesus. 4 Melampous, who was a seer, healed the women of Argos of the madness which the wrath of Dionysus had brought upon them, and in return for this benefaction he received from the king of the Argives, Anaxagoras the son of Megapenthes, two-thirds of the kingdom; and he made his home in Argos and shared the kingship with Bias his brother. And marrying Iphianeira, the daughter of Megapenthes, he begat Antiphates and Manto, and also Bias and Pronoe; and of Antiphates and of Zeuxippe, the daughter of Hippocoon, the children were Oicles and Amphalces, and to Oicles and Hypermnestra, the daughter of Thespius, were born Iphianeira, Polyboea, and Amphiaraus. 6 Now Melampous and Bias and their descendants shared in the kingship in Argos, as we have stated, but Neleus, when he had arrived in Messene together with his companions, founded the city of Pylus, the natives of the region giving him the site. And while king of this city he married Chloris, the daughter of Amphion the Theban, and begat twelve sons, the oldest of whom was Periclymenus and the youngest the Nestor who engaged in the expedition against Troy. As regards the ancestors of Nestor, then, we shall be satisfied with what has been said, since we are aiming at due proportion in our account.
§ 4.69
περὶ δὲ τῶν Λαπιθῶν καὶ Κενταύρων ἐν μέρει διέξιμεν. Ὠκεανοῦ καὶ Τηθύος κατὰ τοὺς μύθους παῖδες ἐγένοντο πλείους ποταμῶν ἐπώνυμοι, ἐν οἷς καὶ Πηνειός, ἀφʼ οὗ συνέβη τὸν ἐν Θετταλίᾳ Πηνειὸν ὀνομασθῆναι. οὗτος δὲ μιγεὶς νύμφῃ τῇ προσαγορευομένῃ Κρεούσῃ παῖδας ἐγέννησεν Ὑψέα καὶ Στίλβην, ᾗ μιγεὶς Ἀπόλλων Λαπίθην καὶ Κένταυρον ἐγέννησε. καὶ τούτων Λαπίθης μὲν κατοικῶν περὶ τὸν Πηνειὸν ποταμὸν ἐβασίλευσε τῶν τόπων τούτων, γήμας δὲ Ὀρσινόμην τὴν Εὐρυνόμου ἐγέννησεν υἱοὺς δύο, Φόρβαντα καὶ Περίφαντα. οὗτοι μὲν οὖν ἐνταῦθα ἐβασίλευσαν, οἱ δὲ σύμπαντες λαοὶ ἀπὸ Λαπίθου Λαπίθαι προσηγορεύθησαν. τῶν δʼ υἱῶν τῶν Λαπίθου Φόρβας μὲν εἰς Ὤλενον παρῆλθεν, ἐξ ἧς μεταπεμψάμενος αὐτὸν Ἀλέκτωρ ὁ τῆς Ἠλείας βασιλεὺς βοηθόν, φοβούμενος τὴν Πέλοπος δυναστείαν, τῆς ἐν Ἤλιδι βασιλείας μετέδωκεν· ἐκ δὲ Φόρβαντος ὑπῆρξαν υἱοὶ δύο, Αἰγεὺς καὶ Ἄκτωρ, οἱ τὴν Ἠλείων βασιλείαν παραλαβόντες. ὁ δʼ ἕτερος τῶν Λαπίθου παίδων Περίφας γήμας Ἀστυάγυιαν τὴν Ὑψέως ἐγέννησεν ὀκτὼ παῖδας, ὧν ἦν πρεσβύτατος Ἀντίων, ὃς μιγεὶς Περιμήλᾳ τῇ Ἀμυθάονος ἐγέννησεν Ἰξίονα. οὗτος δʼ, ὥς φασιν, ὑποσχόμενος ἕδνα πολλὰ δώσειν Ἠϊονεῖ ἔγημε τὴν Ἠϊονέως θυγατέρα Δίαν, ἐξ ἧς ἐγέννησε Πειρίθουν. ἔπειθʼ ὁ μὲν Ἰξίων οὐκ ἀπέδωκε τὰ ἕδνα τῇ γυναικί, ὁ δʼ Ἠϊονεὺς τὰς ἵππους ἀντὶ τούτων ἠνεχύρασεν. ὁ δʼ Ἰξίων τὸν Ἠϊονέα μετεπέμψατο ἐπαγγελλόμενος πάντα ὑπακούσεσθαι, καὶ τὸν Ἠϊονέα παραγενόμενον ἔβαλεν εἰς βόθρον πυρὸς μεστόν. διὰ δὲ τὸ μέγεθος τῆς παρανομίας μηδένα βούλεσθαι καθᾶραι τὸν φόνον. τέλος δʼ ὑπὸ τοῦ Διὸς κατὰ τοὺς μύθους ἁγνισθείς, ἠράσθη μὲν τῆς Ἥρας καὶ κατετόλμησεν ὑπὲρ συνουσίας λόγους ποιεῖσθαι. ἔπειτα τὸν μὲν Δία εἴδωλον ποιήσαντα τῆς Ἥρας νεφέλην ἐξαποστεῖλαι, τὸν δὲ Ἰξίονα τῇ νεφέλῃ μιγέντα γεννῆσαι τοὺς ὀνομαζομένους Κενταύρους ἀνθρωποφυεῖς. τέλος δὲ μυθολογοῦσι τὸν Ἰξίονα διὰ τὸ μέγεθος τῶν ἡμαρτημένων ὑπὸ Διὸς εἰς τροχὸν ἐνδεθῆναι,
We shall now discuss in turn the Lapiths and Centaurs. To Oceanus and Tethys, so the myths relate, were born a number of sons who gave their names to rivers, and among them was Peneius, from whom the river Peneius in Thessaly later got its name. He lay with the nymph named Creusa and begat as children Hypseus and Stilbe, and with the latter Apollo lay and begat Lapithes and Centaurus. 2 Of these two, Lapithes made his home about the Peneius river and ruled over these regions, and marrying Orsinome, the daughter of Eurynomus, he begat two sons, Phorbas and Periphas. And these sons became kings in this region and all the peoples there were called "Lapiths" after Lapithes. As for the sons of Lapithes, Phorbas went to Olenus, from which city Alector, the king of Eleia, summoned him to come to his aid, since he stood in fear of the overlordship of Pelops, and he gave him a share of the kingship of Elis; and to Phorbas were born two sons, Aegeus and Actor, who received the kingship over the Eleans. The other son of Lapithes, namely, Periphas, married Astyaguia, the daughter of Hypseus, and begat eight sons, the oldest of whom was Antion, who lay with Perimela, the daughter of Amythaon, and begat Ixion. He, the story goes, having promised that he would give many gifts of wooing to Eioneus, married Dia, the daughter of Eioneus, by whom he begat Peirithous. 4 But when afterward Ixion would not pay over the gifts of wooing to his wife, Eioneus took as security for these his mares. Ixion thereupon summoned Eioneus to come to him, assuring that he would comply in every respect, but when Eioneus arrived he cast him into a pit which he had filled with fire. Because of the enormity of this crime no man, we are informed, was willing to purify him of the murder. The myths recount, however, that in the end he was purified by Zeus, but that he became enamoured of Hera and had the temerity to make advances to her. Thereupon, men say, Zeus formed a figure of Hera out of a cloud and sent it to him, and Ixion, lying with the cloud (Nephele) begat the Centaurs, as they are called, which have the shapes of men. But the myths relate that in the end Ixion, because of the enormity of his misdeeds, was bound by Zeus upon a wheel and after death had to suffer punishment for all eternity.
§ 4.70
καὶ τελευτήσαντα τὴν τιμωρίαν ἔχειν αἰώνιον. τοὺς δὲ Κενταύρους τινὲς μέν φασιν ἐν τῷ Πηλίῳ τραφῆναι ὑπὸ Νυμφῶν, ἀνδρωθέντας δὲ καὶ μιγέντας ἵπποις θηλείαις γεννῆσαι τοὺς ὀνομαζομένους διφυεῖς Ἱπποκενταύρους· τινὲς δὲ λέγουσι τοὺς ἐκ Νεφέλης καὶ Ἰξίονος γεννηθέντας Κενταύρους πρώτους ἱππεύειν ἐπιχειρήσαντας Ἱπποκενταύρους ὠνομάσθαι καὶ εἰς πλάσμα μύθου καταταχθῆναι ὡς διφυεῖς ὄντας. φασὶ δὲ τούτους ὡς συγγενεῖς ὑπάρχοντας ἀπαιτῆσαι τὸν Πειρίθουν τὸ μέρος τῆς πατρῴας ἀρχῆς· οὐκ ἀποδιδόντος δὲ τοῦ Πειρίθου πόλεμον ἐξενεγκεῖν πρὸς αὐτόν τε καὶ τοὺς Λαπίθας. ὕστερον δὲ διαλυθέντων αὐτῶν Πειρίθους μὲν γήμας Ἱπποδάμειαν τὴν Βούτου, καὶ καλέσαντος εἰς τοὺς γάμους τόν τε Θησέα καὶ τοὺς Κενταύρους, φασὶ μεθυσθέντας ἐπιβαλέσθαι ταῖς κεκλημέναις γυναιξὶ καὶ βίᾳ μίσγεσθαι, διὰ δὲ τὴν παρανομίαν τόν τε Θησέα καὶ τοὺς Λαπίθας παροξυνθέντας οὐκ ὀλίγους μὲν ἀνελεῖν, τοὺς δὲ λοιποὺς ἐκβαλεῖν ἐκ τῆς πόλεως. διὰ δὲ ταύτην τὴν αἰτίαν τῶν Κενταύρων πανδημεὶ στρατευσάντων ἐπὶ τοὺς Λαπίθας καὶ πολλοὺς ἀνελόντων, τοὺς ὑπολειφθέντας φυγεῖν εἰς Φολόην τῆς Ἀρκαδίας, τέλος δʼ εἰς Μαλέαν ἐκπεσόντας ἐνταῦθα κατοικῆσαι. τοὺς δὲ Κενταύρους μετεωρισθέντας τοῖς προτερήμασι, καὶ ὁρμωμένους ἐκ τῆς Φολόης, λῄζεσθαι τοὺς παριόντας τῶν Ἑλλήνων καὶ πολλοὺς τῶν περιοίκων ἀναιρεῖν.
The Centaurs, according to some writers, were reared by Nymphs on Mt. Pelion, and when they had attained to manhood they consorted with mares and brought into being the Hippocentaurs, as they are called, which are creatures of double form; but others say that it was the Centaurs born of Ixion and Nephele who were called Hippocentaurs, because they were the first to essay the riding of horses, and that they were then made into a fictitious myth, to the effect that they were of double form. 2 We are also told that they demanded of Peirithous, on the ground of kinship, their share of their father's kingdom, and that when Peirithous would not yield it to them they made war on both him and the Lapiths. At a later time, the account goes on to say, when they had made up their differences, Peirithous married Hippodameia, the daughter of Butes, and invited both Theseus and the Centaurs to the wedding. The Centaurs, however, becoming drunken assaulted the female guests and lay with them by violence, whereupon both Theseus and the Lapiths, incensed by such a display of lawlessness, slew not a few of them and drove the rest out of the city. 4 Because of this the Centaurs gathered all their forces, made a campaign against the Lapiths, and slew many of them, the survivors fleeing into Mt. Pholoe in Arcadia and ultimately escaping from there to Cape Malea, where they made their home. And the Centaurs, elated by these successes, made Mt. Pholoe the base of their operations, plundered the Greeks who passed by, and slew many of their neighbours.
§ 4.71
τούτων δʼ ἡμῖν διευκρινημένων πειρασόμεθα διελθεῖν περὶ Ἀσκληπιοῦ καὶ τῶν ἀπογόνων αὐτοῦ. μυθολογοῦσι τοίνυν Ἀσκληπιὸν Ἀπόλλωνος υἱὸν ὑπάρχειν καὶ Κορωνίδος, φύσει δὲ καὶ ἀγχινοίᾳ διενεγκόντα ζηλῶσαι τὴν ἰατρικὴν ἐπιστήμην, καὶ πολλὰ τῶν συντεινόντων πρὸς ὑγίειαν ἀνθρώπων ἐξευρεῖν. ἐπὶ τοσοῦτο δὲ προβῆναι τῇ δόξῃ ὥστε πολλοὺς τῶν ἀπεγνωσμένων ἀρρώστων παραδόξως θεραπεύειν, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο πολλοὺς δοκεῖν τῶν τετελευτηκότων ποιεῖν πάλιν ζῶντας. διὸ καὶ τὸν μὲν Ἅιδην μυθολογοῦσιν ἐγκαλοῦντα τῷ Ἀσκληπιῷ κατηγορίαν αὐτοῦ ποιήσασθαι πρὸς τὸν Δία ὡς τῆς ἐπαρχίας αὐτοῦ ταπεινουμένης· ἐλάττους γὰρ ἀεὶ γίνεσθαι τοὺς τετελευτηκότας, θεραπευομένους ὑπὸ τοῦ Ἀσκληπιοῦ. καὶ τὸν μὲν Δία παροξυνθέντα καὶ κεραυνώσαντα τὸν Ἀσκληπιὸν διαφθεῖραι, τὸν δʼ Ἀπόλλωνα διὰ τὴν ἀναίρεσιν τούτου παροξυνθέντα φονεῦσαι τοὺς τὸν κεραυνὸν τῷ Διὶ κατασκευάσαντας Κύκλωπας· ἐπὶ δὲ τῇ τούτων τελευτῇ παροξυνθέντα τὸν Δία προστάξαι τῷ Ἀπόλλωνι θητεῦσαι παρʼ ἀνθρώπῳ, καὶ ταύτην τιμωρίαν λαβεῖν παρʼ αὐτοῦ τῶν ἐγκλημάτων. Ἀσκληπιοῦ δέ φασι γενομένους υἱοὺς Μαχάονα καὶ Ποδαλείριον, καὶ τὴν τέχνην ἐκπονήσαντας, ἐπὶ Τροίαν συστρατεῦσαι τοῖς περὶ τὸν Ἀγαμέμνονα· κατὰ δὲ τὸν πόλεμον μεγάλας χρείας αὐτοὺς παρασχέσθαι τοῖς Ἕλλησι, θεραπεύοντας ἐμπειρότατα τοὺς τιτρωσκομένους, καὶ διὰ τὰς εὐεργεσίας ταύτας ὑπὸ τῶν Ἑλλήνων μεγάλης τυχεῖν δόξης· ἀτελεῖς δʼ αὐτοὺς ἀφεῖναι τῶν κατὰ τὰς μάχας κινδύνων καὶ τῶν ἄλλων λειτουργιῶν διὰ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῆς ἐν τῷ θεραπεύειν εὐχρηστίας.
Now that we have examined these matters we shall endeavour to set forth the facts concerning Asclepius and his descendants. This, then, is what the myths relate: Asclepius was the son of Apollo and Coronis, and since he excelled in natural ability and sagacity of mind, he devoted himself to the science of healing and made many discoveries which contribute to the health of mankind. And so far did he advance along the road of fame that, to the amazement of all, he healed many sick whose lives had been despaired of, and for this reason it was believed that he had brought back to life many who had died. 2 Consequently, the myth goes on to say, Hades brought accusation against Asclepius, charging him before Zeus of acting to the detriment of his own province, for, he said, the number of the dead was steadily diminishing, now that men were being healed by Asclepius. So Zeus, in indignation, slew Asclepius with his thunderbolt, but Apollo, indignant at the slaying of Asclepius, murdered the Cyclopes who had forged the thunderbolt for Zeus; but at the death of the Cyclopes Zeus was again indignant and laid a command upon Apollo that he should serve as a labourer for a human being and that this should be the punishment he should receive from him for his crimes. 4 To Asclepius, we are told further, sons were born, Machaon and Podaleirius, who also developed the healing art and accompanied Agamemnon in the expedition against Troy. Throughout the course of the war they were of great service to the Greeks, healing most skilfully the wounded, and because of these benefactions they attained to great fame among the Greeks; furthermore, they were granted exemption from the perils of battles and from the other obligations of citizenship, because of the very great service which they offered by their healing. Now as regards Asclepius and his sons we shall be satisfied with what has been said.
§ 4.72
περὶ μὲν οὖν Ἀσκληπιοῦ καὶ τῶν υἱῶν αὐτοῦτοῖς ῥηθεῖσιν ἀρκεσθησόμεθα, περὶ δὲ τῶν Ἀσωποῦ θυγατέρων καὶ τῶν Αἰακῷ γενομένων υἱῶν νῦν διέξιμεν. Ὠκεανοῦ καὶ Τηθύος κατὰ τοὺς μύθους ἐγένοντο παῖδες ἄλλοι τε πλείους ἐπώνυμοι ποταμῶν, ἐν οἷς ὑπάρξαι Πηνειὸν καὶ Ἀσωπόν. Πηνειὸς μὲν οὖν κατοικήσας περὶ τὴν νῦν οὖσαν Θετταλίαν ἐπώνυμον ἑαυτοῦ τὸν προειρημένον ποταμὸν ἐποίησεν· Ἀσωπὸς δʼ ἐν Φλιοῦντι κατοικήσας ἔγημε Μετώπην τὴν Λάδωνος, ἐξ ἧς ἐγένοντο δύο μὲν υἱοί, Πελασγὸς καὶ Ἰσμηνός, θυγατέρες δὲ δώδεκα, Κόρκυρα καὶ Σαλαμίς, ἔτι δʼ Αἴγινα καὶ Πειρήνη καὶ Κλεώνη, πρὸς δὲ ταύταις Θήβη τε καὶ Τάναγρα καὶ Θέσπεια καὶ Ἀσωπίς, ἔτι δὲ Σινώπη, πρὸς δὲ ταύταις Ὀρνία καὶ Χαλκίς. τούτων δʼ Ἰσμηνὸς μὲν εἰς Βοιωτίαν ἐλθὼν κατῴκησε περὶ τὸν ποταμὸν τὸν ἀπʼ ἐκείνου τὴν ὁμωνυμίαν λαβόντα, τῶν δὲ θυγατέρων Σινώπη μὲν ὑπὸ Ἀπόλλωνος ἁρπαγεῖσα ἀπηνέχθη πρὸς τοῦτον τὸν τόπον οὗ νῦν ἐστιν ἡ ἀπʼ ἐκείνης ὀνομασθεῖσα πόλις Σινώπη· ἐκ δὲ ταύτης καὶ Ἀπόλλωνος γενόμενος υἱὸς Σύρος ἐβασίλευσε τῶν ἀπʼ ἐκείνου Σύρων ὀνομασθέντων. Κόρκυρα δʼ ὑπὸ Ποσειδῶνος ἀπηνέχθη εἰς νῆσον τὴν ἀπʼ ἐκείνης Κόρκυραν ὀνομαζομένην· ἐκ ταύτης δὲ καὶ Ποσειδῶνος ἐγένετο Φαίαξ, ἀφʼ οὗ τοὺς Φαίακας συνέβη τυχεῖν ταύτης τῆς προσηγορίας. Φαίακος δʼ ἐγένετο Ἀλκίνοος ὁ τὸν Ὀδυσσέα καταγαγὼν εἰς τὴν Ἰθάκην. Σαλαμὶς δʼ ὑπὸ Ποσειδῶνος ἁρπαγεῖσα ἐκομίσθη εἰς τὴν ἀπʼ αὐτῆς νῆσον Σαλαμῖνα προσαγορευθεῖσαν· αὕτη δὲ μιγεῖσα Ποσειδῶνι Κυχρέα ἐγέννησεν, ὃς βασιλεύσας τῆς νήσου ταύτης καὶ γενόμενος ἐπιφανὴς ἀπέκτεινεν ὄφιν ὑπερφυῆ τὸ μέγεθος καὶ λυμαινόμενον τοὺς ἐγχωρίους. Αἴγινα δʼ ἐκ Φλιοῦντος ὑπὸ Διὸς ἁρπαγεῖσα εἰς νῆσον ἀπεκομίσθη τὴν ἀπʼ ἐκείνης Αἴγιναν ὀνομασθεῖσαν, ἐν ταύτῃ δὲ Διὶ μιγεῖσα ἐτέκνωσεν Αἰακόν, ὃς ἐβασίλευσε τῆς νήσου. τούτου δʼ ἐγένοντο υἱοὶ Πηλεὺς καὶ Τελαμών. τούτων δὲ Πηλεὺς δίσκῳ βαλὼν ἀπέκτεινεν ἀκουσίως Φῶκον ὁμοπάτριον ἀδελφόν, ἐξ ἄλλης δὲ μητρὸς γεγενημένον. διὰ δὲ τὸν φόνον Πηλεὺς ὑπὸ τοῦ πατρὸς φυγαδευθεὶς ἔφυγε τῆς νῦν Θετταλίας καλουμένης εἰς Φθίαν, καὶ καθαρθεὶς ὑπὸ Ἄκτορος τοῦ βασιλέως διεδέξατο τὴν βασιλείαν, ἄπαιδος ὄντος τοῦ Ἄκτορος. ἐκ δὲ Πηλέως καὶ Θέτιδος γενόμενος Ἀχιλλεὺς ἐστράτευσε μετʼ Ἀγαμέμνονος εἰς Τροίαν. Τελαμὼν δὲ φυγὼν ἐξ Αἰγίνης κατήντησεν εἰς Σαλαμῖνα, καὶ γήμας Κυχρέως τοῦ βασιλέως τῶν Σαλαμινίων θυγατέρα Γλαύκην ἐβασίλευσε τῆς νήσου. τῆς δὲ γυναικὸς Γλαύκης ἀποθανούσης ἔγημεν ἐξ Ἀθηνῶν Ἐρίβοιαν τὴν Ἀλκάθου, ἐξ ἧς ἐγέννησεν Αἴαντα τὸν ἐπὶ Τροίαν στρατεύσαντα.
We shall now recount the story of the daughters of Asopus and of the sons who were born to Aeacus. According to the myths there were born to Oceanus and Tethys a number of children who gave their names to rivers, and among their number were Peneius and Asopus. Now Peneius made his home in what is now Thessaly and called after himself the river which bears his name; but Asopus made his home in Phlious, where he married Metope, the daughter of Ladon, to whom were born two sons, Pelagus and Ismenus, and twelve daughters, Corcyra and Salamis, also Aigina, Peirene, and Kleonai, then Thebe, Tanagra, Thespeia, and Asopis, also Sinope, and finally Ornia and Chalcis. 2 One of his sons, Ismenus, came to Boeotia and settled near the river which received its name from him; but as for the daughters, Sinope was seized by Apollo and carried off to the place where now stands the city of Sinope, which was named after her, and to her and Apollo was born a son Syrus, who became king of the Syrians, who were named after him. Corcyra was carried off by Poseidon to the island which was named Corcyra after her; and to her and Poseidon was born Phaeax, from whom the Phaeacians afterwards received the name they bear. 4 To Phaeax was born Alcinous, who brought about the return of Odysseus to Ithaca. Salamis was seized by Poseidon and taken to the island which was named Salamis after her; and she lay with Poseidon and bore Cychreus, who became king of this island and acquired fame by reason of his slaying a snake of huge size which was destroying the inhabitants of the island. Aigina was seized by Zeus and taken off by him from Phlious to the island which was named Aigina after her, and lying with Zeus on this island she gave birth to Aeacus, who became its king. 6 To Aeacus sons were born, Peleus and Telamon. Of these, Peleus, while hurling a discus, accidentally slew Phocus, who was his brother by the same father although born of another mother. Because of this slaying Peleus was banished by his father and fled to Phthia in what is now called Thessaly, where he was purified by Actor the king of the country and succeeded to the kingship, Actor being childless. To Peleus and Thetis was born Achilleus, who accompanied Agamemnon in the expedition against Troy. 7 Telamon, being also a fugitive from Aigina, went to Salamis and marrying Glauce, the daughter of Cychreus, the king of the Salaminians, he became king of the island. When his wife Glauce died he married Eriboea of Athens, the daughter of Alcathus, by whom he begat Ajax, who served in the expedition against Troy.
§ 4.73
τούτων δʼ ἡμῖν διευκρινημένων πειρασόμεθα διελθεῖν περὶ Πέλοπος καὶ Ταντάλου καὶ Οἰνομάου· ἀναγκαῖον δὲ τοῖς χρόνοις προσαναδραμόντας ἡμᾶς ἀπʼ ἀρχῆς ἐν κεφαλαίοις ἅπαντα διελθεῖν. κατὰ γὰρ τὴν Πελοπόννησον ἐν πόλει Πίσῃ Ἄρης Ἁρπίνῃ τῇ Ἀσωποῦ θυγατρὶ μιγεὶς ἐγέννησεν Οἰνόμαον. οὗτος δὲ θυγατέρα μονογενῆ γεννήσας ὠνόμασεν Ἱπποδάμειαν. χρηστηριαζομένῳ δʼ αὐτῷ περὶ τῆς τελευτῆς ἔχρησεν ὁ θεὸς τότε τελευτήσειν αὐτὸν ὅταν ἡ θυγάτηρ Ἱπποδάμεια συνοικήσῃ. εὐλαβούμενον οὖν αὐτὸν περὶ τοῦ γάμου τῆς θυγατρὸς κρῖναι ταύτην παρθένον διαφυλάττειν, ὑπολαμβάνοντα μόνως οὕτως ἐκφεύξεσθαι τὸν κίνδυνον. διόπερ πολλῶν μνηστευομένων τὴν κόρην, ἆθλον προετίθει τοῖς βουλομένοις αὐτὴν γῆμαι τοιοῦτον· ἔδει τὸν μὲν ἡττηθέντα τελευτῆσαι, τὸν δʼ ἐπιτυχόντα γαμεῖν τὴν κόρην. ὑπεστήσατο δʼ ἱπποδρομίαν ἀπὸ τῆς Πίσης μέχρι τοῦ κατὰ Κόρινθον Ἰσθμοῦ πρὸς τὸν βωμὸν τοῦ Ποσειδῶνος, τὴν δʼ ἄφεσιν τῶν ἵππων ἐποίησε τοιαύτην. ὁ μὲν Οἰνόμαος ἔθυε κριὸν τῷ Διί, ὁ δὲ μνηστευόμενος ἐξώρμα τέθριππον ἐλαύνων ἅρμα· ἁγισθέντων δὲ τῶν ἱερῶν, τότε ἄρχεσθαι τοῦ δρόμου τὸν Οἰνόμαον καὶ διώκειν τὸν μνηστῆρα, ἔχοντα δόρυ καὶ ἡνίοχον τὸν Μυρτίλον· εἰ δʼ ἐφίκοιτο καταλαβεῖν τὸ διωκόμενον ἅρμα, τύπτειν τῷ δόρατι καὶ διαφθείρειν τὸν μνηστῆρα. τούτῳ δὲ τῷ τρόπῳ τοὺς ἀεὶ μνηστευομένους καταλαμβάνων διὰ τὴν ὀξύτητα τῶν ἵππων πολλοὺς ἀνῄρει. Πέλοψ δʼ ὁ Ταντάλου καταντήσας εἰς Πῖσαν, καὶ θεασάμενος τὴν Ἱπποδάμειαν, ἐπεθύμησε τοῦ γάμου· φθείρας δὲ τὸν ἡνίοχον τοῦ Οἰνομάου Μυρτίλον, καὶ λαβὼν συνεργὸν πρὸς τὴν νίκην, ἔφθασε παραγενόμενος ἐπὶ τὸν Ἰσθμὸν πρὸς τὸν τοῦ Ποσειδῶνος βωμόν. ὁ δʼ Οἰνόμαος τὸ λόγιον τετελέσθαι νομίζων, καὶ διὰ τὴν λύπην ἀθυμήσας, αὑτὸν ἐκ τοῦ ζῆν μετέστησε. τούτῳ δὲ τῷ τρόπῳ Πέλοψ γήμας τὴν Ἱπποδάμειαν παρέλαβε τὴν ἐν Πίσῃ βασιλείαν, καὶ διὰ τὴν ἀνδρείαν καὶ σύνεσιν ἀεὶ μᾶλλον αὐξόμενος τοὺς πλείστους τῶν κατὰ τὴν Πελοπόννησον οἰκούντων προσηγάγετο, καὶ τὴν χώραν ἀφʼ ἑαυτοῦ Πελοπόννησον προσηγόρευσεν.
Now that we have examined these matters we shall endeavour to set forth the facts concerning Pelops and Tantalus and Oinomaus, but to do so we must revert to earlier times and give in summary the whole story from the beginning. The account runs like this: In the city of Pisa in the Peloponnesus Ares lay with Harpine, the daughter of Asopus, 2 and begat Oinomaus, who, in turn, begat a daughter, an only child, and named her Hippodameia. And once when he consulted an oracle about the end of his life the god replied to him that he should die whenever his daughter Hippodameia should marry. Consequently, we are told, he proceeded cautiously regarding the marriage of his daughter and decided to see that she was kept a virgin, assuming that only in this way could he escape from the danger which her marriage would entail. And so, since there were many suitors for the girl's hand, he proposed a contest for any who wished of the marry her, the conditions being that the defeated suitor must die, but whoever should win would have the girl in marriage. The contest he set was a chariot-race from Pisa to the altar of Poseidon on the Isthmus of Corinth, and the starting of the horses he arranged as follows: 4 Oinomaus was to be sacrificing a ram to Zeus, when the suitor should set out, driving a chariot drawn by four horses; then, when the sacrifice had been completed, Oinomaus was to begin the race and make after the suitor, having a spear and Myrtilus as his driver, and if he should succeed in overtaking the chariot which he was pursuing he was to smite the suitor with the spear and slay him. By employing this method he kept overtaking the suitors as they appeared, his horses being swift, and was slaying them in great numbers. But when Pelops, the son of Tantalus, came to Pisa and looked upon Hippodameia, he set his heart upon marrying her, and by corrupting Myrtilus, the charioteer of Oinomaus, and thus securing his co-operation toward winning the victory, he was the first to arrive at the altar of Poseidon on the Isthmus. 6 And Oinomaus, believing that the oracle had been fulfilled, was so disheartened by grief that he removed himself from life. In this way, then, Pelops got Hippodameia for his wife and succeeded to the sovereignty of Pisa, and increasing steadily in power by reason of his courage and his wisdom, he won over to himself the larger number of those who dwelt in the Peloponnesus and called the land after his own name "Peloponnesus."
§ 4.74
ἐπεὶ δὲ Πέλοπος ἐμνήσθημεν, ἀναγκαῖόν ἐστι καὶ περὶ τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ Ταντάλου διελθεῖν, ἵνα μηδὲν τῶν ἀκοῆς ἀξίων παραλίπωμεν. Τάνταλος Διὸς μὲν ἦν υἱός, πλούτῳ δὲ καὶ δόξῃ διαφέρων κατῴκει τῆς Ἀσίας περὶ τὴν νῦν ὀνομαζομένην Παφλαγονίαν. διὰ δὲ τὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ πατρὸς Διὸς εὐγένειαν, ὥς φασι, φίλος ἐγένετο τῶν θεῶν ἐπὶ πλέον. ὕστερον δὲ τὴν εὐτυχίαν οὐ φέρων ἀνθρωπίνως, καὶ μετασχὼν κοινῆς τραπέζης καὶ πάσης παρρησίας, ἀπήγγελλε τοῖς ἀνθρώποις τὰ παρὰ τοῖς ἀθανάτοις ἀπόρρητα. διʼ ἣν αἰτίαν καὶ ζῶν ἐκολάσθη καὶ τελευτήσας αἰωνίου κατὰ τοὺς μύθους τιμωρίας ἠξιώθη, καταταχθεὶς εἰς τοὺς ἀσεβεῖς. τούτου δʼ ἐγένετο Πέλοψ υἱὸς καὶ Νιόβη θυγάτηρ· αὕτη δʼ ἐγέννησεν υἱοὺς ἑπτὰ καὶ θυγατέρας τὰς ἴσας εὐπρεπείᾳ διαφερούσας. ἐπὶ δὲ τῷ πλήθει τῶν τέκνων μέγα φρυαττομένη πλεονάκις ἐκαυχᾶτο καὶ τῆς Λητοῦς ἑαυτὴν εὐτεκνοτέραν ἀπεφαίνετο. εἶθʼ ἡ μὲν Λητὼ κατὰ τοὺς μύθους χολωσαμένη προσέταξε τῷ μὲν Ἀπόλλωνι κατατοξεῦσαι τοὺς υἱοὺς τῆς Νιόβης, τῇ δʼ Ἀρτέμιδι τὰς θυγατέρας. τούτων δʼ ὑπακουσάντων τῇ μητρὶ καὶ κατὰ τὸν αὐτὸν καιρὸν κατατοξευσάντων τὰ τέκνα τῆς Νιόβης, συνέβη τὴν προειρημένην ὑφʼ ἕνα καιρὸν ὀξέως ἅμα εὔτεκνον καὶ ἄτεκνον γενέσθαι. ἐπεὶ δὲ ὁ Τάνταλος μισηθεὶς ὑπὸ τῶν θεῶν ἐξέπεσεν ἐκ τῆς Παφλαγονίας ὑπὸ Ἴλου τοῦ Τρωός, ἀναγκαῖόν ἐστι καὶ τὰ περὶ τὸν Ἶλον καὶ τοὺς προγόνους αὐτοῦ διελθεῖν.
And since we have made mention of Pelops, we must also relate the story concerning his father Tantalus, in order that we may omit nothing which deserves to be made known. Tantalus was a son of Zeus, and he possessed surpassing wealth and renown, dwelling in that part of Asia which is now called Paphlagonia. And because of his noble descent from Zeus his father he became, as men say, a very especial friend of the gods. 2 At a later time, however, he did not bear as a human being should the good fortune which came to him, and being admitted to the common table of the gods and to all their intimate talk as well, he made known to men happenings among the immortals which were not to be divulged. For this reason he was chastened while yet in this life and after his death, as the myths relate, was condemned to eternal punishment by being rated in Hades among the impious. To him were born a son Pelops and a daughter Niobe, and Niobe became the mother of seven sons and an equal number of daughters, maids of exceeding beauty. And since she gave herself haughty airs over the number of her children, she frequently declared in boastful way that she was more blest in her children than was Leto. At this, so the myths tell us, Leto in anger commanded Apollo to slay with his arrows the sons of Niobe and Artemis the daughters. And when these two hearkened to the command of their mother and slew with their arrows the children of Niobe at the same time, it came to pass that immediately, almost in a single moment, that woman was both blest with children and childless. 4 But since Tantalus, after he had incurred the enmity of the gods, was driven out of Paphlagonia by Ilus, the son of Tros, we must also set forth all that relates to Ilus and his ancestors.
§ 4.75
τῆς Τρῳάδος χώρας πρῶτος ἐβασίλευσε Τεῦκρος, υἱὸς ὢν Σκαμάνδρου τοῦ ποταμοῦ καὶ Ἰδαίας νύμφης, ἀνὴρ ἐπιφανής, καὶ τοὺς λαοὺς ἀφʼ ἑαυτοῦ Τεύκρους προσηγόρευσε. Τεύκρου δʼ ἐγένετο θυγάτηρ Βάτεια· ταύτην δὲ Δάρδανος ὁ Διὸς γήμας, καὶ τὴν βασιλείαν διαδεξάμενος, τοὺς μὲν λαοὺς ἀφʼ ἑαυτοῦ ὠνόμασε Δαρδάνους, πόλιν δʼ οἰκίσας ἐπὶ θαλάττης ὠνόμασεν ἀφʼ ἑαυτοῦ Δάρδανον. τούτου δʼ Ἐριχθόνιος υἱὸς γενόμενος εὐδαιμονίᾳ καὶ πλούτῳ πολὺ διήνεγκε· περὶ οὗ καὶ ὁ ποιητὴς Ὅμηρός φησι, ὃς δὴ ἀφνειότατος γένετο θνητῶν ἀνθρώπων· τοῦ τρισχίλιαι ἵπποι ἕλος κάτα βουκολέοντο. Ἐριχθονίου δʼ υἱὸς γενόμενος Τρὼς τοὺς λαοὺς ὠνόμασεν ἀφʼ ἑαυτοῦ Τρῶας. τούτου δʼ ἐγένοντο τρεῖς υἱοί, Ἶλος, Ἀσσάρακος, Γανυμήδης. Ἶλος μὲν οὖν ᾤκισεν ἐν πεδίῳ πόλιν ἐπιφανεστάτην τῶν ἐν τῇ Τρῳάδι, Ἴλιον ἀφʼ ἑαυτοῦ θέμενος τὴν προσηγορίαν. Ἴλου δὲ γενόμενος υἱὸς Λαομέδων Τιθωνὸν καὶ Πρίαμον ἐγέννησεν· ὧν Τιθωνὸς μὲν στρατεύσας εἰς τὰ πρὸς ἕω μέρη τῆς Ἀσίας καὶ διατείνας ἕως Αἰθιοπίας ἐμυθολογήθη ἐξ Ἠοῦς τεκνῶσαι Μέμνονα τὸν τοῖς Τρωσὶ βοηθήσαντα καὶ ὑπʼ Ἀχιλλέως ἀναιρεθέντα, Πρίαμος δʼ Ἑκάβην γήμας σὺν ἄλλοις πλείοσιν υἱοῖς ἐγέννησεν Ἕκτορα τὸν ἐπισημόντατον γενόμενον ἐν τῷ Τρωικῷ πολέμῳ. Ἀσσάρακος δὲ Δαρδάνων βασιλεύσας Κάπυν ἐγέννησεν, ἐξ οὗ τεκνωθεὶς Ἀγχίσης ἐξ Ἀφροδίτης Αἰνείαν ἐγέννησε τὸν ἐπιφανέστατον τῶν Τρώων. Γανυμήδης δὲ τῶν ἁπάντων εὐπρεπείᾳ διαφέρων ὑπὸ τῶν θεῶν ἀνηρπάγη τῷ Διὶ οἰνοχοεῖν. τούτων δʼ ἡμῖν διευκρινημένων πειρασόμεθα διεξιέναι περὶ Δαιδάλου καὶ Μινωταύρου καὶ τῆς Μίνωος στρατείας εἰς Σικελίαν ἐπὶ Κώκαλον τὸνβασιλέα.
The first to rule as king over the land of Troy was Teucrus, the son of the river-god Scamandrus and a nymph of Mt. Ida;27 he was a distinguished man and caused the people of the land to be called Teucrians, after his own name. To Teucrus was born a daughter Bateia, whom Dardanus, the son of Zeus, married, and when Dardanus succeeded to the throne he called the people of the land Dardanians after his own name, and founding a city on the shore of the sea he called it also Dardanus after himself. 2 To him a son Erichthonius was born, who far excelled in good fortune and in wealth. Of him the poet Homer writes: The wealthiest was he of mortal men; Three thousand mares he had that grazed throughout His marshy pastures. To Erichthonius was born a son Tros, who called the people of the land Trojans, after his own name. To Tros were born three sons, Ilus, Assaracus, and Ganymedes. Ilus founded in a plain a city which was the most renowned among the cities in the road, giving it after himself the name Ilium. 4 And to Ilus was born a son Laomedon, who begat Tithonus and Priam; and Tithonus, after making a campaign against those parts of Asia which lay to the east of him and pushing as far as Ethiopia, begat by Eos, as the myths relate, Memnon, who came to the aid of the Trojans and was slain by Achilleus, whereas Priam married Hecabe and begat, in addition to a number of other sons, Hector, who won very great distinction in the Trojan War. Assaracus became king of the Dardanians and begat Capys, whose son was Anchises, who by Aphrodite begat Aeneas, the most renowned man among the Trojans. And Ganymedes, who excelled all men in beauty, was snatched up by the gods to serve as the cupbearer of Zeus. 6 But now that we have examined these matters we shall endeavour to set forth what relates to Daedalus, the Minotaur, and the expedition of Minos into Sicily against King Cocalus.
§ 4.76
Δαίδαλος ἦν τὸ μὲν γένος Ἀθηναῖος, εἷς τῶν Ἐρεχθειδῶν ὀνομαζόμενος· ἦν γὰρ υἱὸς Μητίονος τοῦ Εὐπαλάμου τοῦ Ἐρεχθέως· φύσει δὲ πολὺ τοὺς ἄλλους ἅπαντας ὑπεραίρων ἐζήλωσε τά τε περὶ τὴν τεκτονικὴν τέχνην καὶ τὴν τῶν ἀγαλμάτων κατασκευὴν καὶ λιθουργίαν. εὑρετὴς δὲ γενόμενος πολλῶν τῶν συνεργούντων εἰς τὴν τέχνην, κατεσκεύασεν ἔργα θαυμαζόμενα κατὰ πολλοὺς τόπους τῆς οἰκουμένης. κατὰ δὲ τὴν τῶν ἀγαλμάτων κατασκευὴν τοσοῦτο τῶν ἁπάντων ἀνθρώπων διήνεγκεν ὥστε τοὺς μεταγενεστέρους μυθολογῆσαι περὶ αὐτοῦ διότι τὰ κατασκευαζόμενα τῶν ἀγαλμάτων ὁμοιότατα τοῖς ἐμψύχοις ὑπάρχει· βλέπειν τε γὰρ αὐτὰ καὶ περιπατεῖν, καὶ καθόλου τηρεῖν τὴν τοῦ ὅλου σώματος διάθεσιν, ὥστε δοκεῖν εἶναι τὸ κατασκευασθὲν ἔμψυχον ζῷον. πρῶτος δʼ ὀμματώσας καὶ διαβεβηκότα τὰ σκέλη ποιήσας, ἔτι δὲ τὰς χεῖρας διατεταμένας ποιῶν, εἰκότως ἐθαυμάζετο παρὰ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις· οἱ γὰρ πρὸ τούτου τεχνῖται κατεσκεύαζον τὰ ἀγάλματα τοῖς μὲν ὄμμασι μεμυκότα, τὰς δὲ χεῖρας ἔχοντα καθειμένας καὶ ταῖς πλευραῖς κεκολλημένας. ὁ δʼ οὖν Δαίδαλος κατὰ τὴν φιλοτεχνίαν θαυμαζόμενος ἔφυγεν ἐκ τῆς πατρίδος, καταδικασθεὶς ἐπὶ φόνῳ διὰ τοιαύτας αἰτίας. τῆς ἀδελφῆς τῆς Δαιδάλου γενόμενος υἱὸς Τάλως ἐπαιδεύετο παρὰ Δαιδάλῳ, παῖς ὢν τὴν ἡλικίαν· εὐφυέστερος δʼ ὢν τοῦ διδασκάλου τόν τε κεραμευτικὸν τροχὸν εὗρε καὶ σιαγόνι περιτυχὼν ὄφεως, καὶ ταύτῃ ξυλήφιον μικρὸν διαπρίσας, ἐμιμήσατο τὴν τραχύτητα τῶν ὀδόντων· διόπερ κατασκευασάμενος ἐκ σιδήρου πρίονα, καὶ διὰ τούτου πρίζων τὴν ἐν τοῖς ἔργοις ξυλίνην ὕλην, ἔδοξεν εὔχρηστον εὑρηκέναι μέγα πρὸς τὴν τεκτονικὴν τέχνην. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τὸν τόρνον εὑρὼν καὶ ἕτερά τινα φιλοτεχνήματα, δόξαν ἀπηνέγκατο μεγάλην. ὁ δὲ Δαίδαλος φθονήσας τῷ παιδί, καὶ νομίζων αὐτὸν πολὺ τῇ δόξῃ προέξειν τοῦ διδασκάλου, τὸν παῖδα ἐδολοφόνησε. θάπτων δʼ αὐτὸν καὶ περικατάληπτος γενόμενος, ἐπηρωτήθη τίνα θάπτει, καὶ ἔφησεν ὄφιν καταχωννύειν. θαυμάσαι δʼ ἄν τις τὸ παράδοξον, ὅτι διὰ τὸ ζῷον ἐξ οὗ τοῦ πρίονος ἐνεθυμήθη τὴν κατασκευήν, διὰ τούτου καὶ τοῦ φόνου τὴν ἐπίγνωσιν συνέβη γενέσθαι. κατηγορηθεὶς δὲ καὶ καταδικασθεὶς ὑπὸ τῶν Ἀρεοπαγιτῶν φόνου, τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἔφυγεν εἰς ἕνα τῶν κατὰ τὴν Ἀττικὴν δήμων, ἐν ᾧ τοὺς κατοικοῦντας ἀπʼ ἐκείνου Δαιδαλίδας ὀνομασθῆναι.
Daedalus was an Athenian by birth and was known as one of the clan named Erechthids, since he was the son of Metion, the son of Eupalamus, the son of Erechtheus. In natural ability he towered far above all other men and cultivated the building art, the making of statues, and the working of stone. He was also the inventor of many devices which contributed to the advancement of his art and built works in many regions of the inhabited world which arouse the wonder of men. 2 In the carving of his statues he so far excelled all other men that later generations invented the story about him that the statues of his making were quite like their living models; they could see, they said, and walk and, in a word, preserved so well the characteristics of the entire body that the beholder thought that the image made by him was a being endowed with life. And since he was the first to represent the open eye and to fashion the legs separated in a stride and the arms and hands as extended, it was a natural thing that he should have received the admiration of mankind; for the artists before his time had carved their statues with the eyes closed and the arms and hands hanging and attached to the sides. 4 But though Daedalus was an object of admiration because of his technical skill, yet he had to flee from his native land, since he had been condemned for murder for the following reason. Talos, a son of the sister of Daedalus, was receiving his education in the home of Daedalus, while he was still a lad in years. But being more gifted than his teacher he invented the potter's wheel, and then, when once he had come by chance upon a jawbone of a snake and with it had sawn through a small piece of wood, he tried to imitate the jaggedness of the serpent's teeth. Consequently he fashioned a saw out of iron, by means of which he would saw the lumber which he used in his work, and for this accomplishment he gained the reputation of having discovered a device which would be of great service to the art of building. He likewise discovered also the tool for describing a circle and certain other cunningly contrived devices whereby he gained for himself great fame. 6 But Daedalus, becoming jealous of the youth and feeling that his fame was going to rise far above that of his teacher, treacherously slew the youth. And being detected in the act of burying him, he was asked what he was burying, whereupon he replied, "I am inhuming a snake." Here a man may well wonder at the strange happening, that the same animal that led to the thought of devising the saw should also have been the means through which the murder came to be discovered. 7 And Daedalus, having been accused and adjudged guilty of murder by the court of the Areopagites, at first fled to one of the demes of Attica, the inhabitants of which, we are told, were named after him Daedalidae.
§ 4.77
μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα διαδρὰς εἰς Κρήτην, καὶ διὰ τὴν ἐν τῇ τέχνῃ δόξαν θαυμαζόμενος, φίλος ἐγένετο Μίνωος τοῦ βασιλέως. κατὰ δὲ τὸν παραδεδομένον μῦθον Πασιφάης τῆς Μίνωος γυναικὸς ἐρασθείσης τοῦ ταύρου, μηχάνημα ποιήσας ὡμοιωμένον βοΐ συνήργησε τῇ Πασιφάῃ πρὸς τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν. μυθολογοῦσι γὰρ πρὸ τούτων τῶν χρόνων Μίνωα κατʼ ἐνιαυτὸν συνήθως καθιεροῦν τὸν κάλλιστον τῶν γινομένων ταύρων τῷ Ποσειδῶνι καὶ θύειν τοῦτον τῷ θεῷ· γενομένου δὲ τότε ταύρου κάλλει διαφέροντος ἕτερον τῶν ἡττόνων ταύρων θῦσαι· τὸν δὲ Ποσειδῶνα μηνίσαντα τῷ Μίνῳ ποιῆσαι τὴν γυναῖκα αὐτοῦ Πασιφάην ἐρασθῆναι τοῦ ταύρου. διὰ δὲ τῆς τούτου φιλοτεχνίας τὴν Πασιφάην μιγεῖσαν τῷ ταύρῳ γεννῆσαι τὸν μυθολογούμενον Μινώταυρον. τοῦτον δέ φασι διφυῆ γεγονέναι, καὶ τὰ μὲν ἀνώτερα μέρη τοῦ σώματος ἄχρι τῶν ὤμων ἔχειν ταύρου, τὰ δὲ λοιπὰ ἀνθρώπου. τῷ δὲ τέρατι τούτῳ πρὸς διατροφὴν λέγεται κατασκευάσαι Δαίδαλον λαβύρινθον, τὰς διεξόδους σκολιὰς ἔχοντα καὶ τοῖς ἀπείροις δυσευρέτους, ἐν ᾧ τρεφόμενον τὸν Μινώταυρον τοὺς ἐξ Ἀθηνῶν ἀποστελλομένους ἑπτὰ κόρους καὶ κόρας ἑπτὰ κατεσθίειν, περὶ ὧν προειρήκαμεν. τὸν οὖν Δαίδαλον πυθόμενον τὴν ἀπειλὴν τοῦ Μίνωος διὰ τὴν κατασκευὴν τῆς βοός φασι φοβηθέντα τὴν ὀργὴν τοῦ βασιλέως ἐκ τῆς Κρήτης ἐκπλεῦσαι, συνεργούσης τῆς Πασιφάης καὶ πλοῖον δούσης πρὸς τὸν ἔκπλουν. μετὰ δὲ τούτου τὸν υἱὸν Ἴκαρον φυγόντα κατενεχθῆναι πρός τινα νῆσον πελαγίαν, πρὸς ἣν τὸν Ἴκαρον παραβόλως ἀποβαίνοντα πεσεῖν εἰς θάλατταν καὶ τελευτῆσαι, ἀφʼ οὗ καὶ τὸ πέλαγος Ἰκάριον ὀνομασθῆναι καὶ τὴν νῆσον Ἰκαρίαν κληθῆναι. τὸν δὲ Δαίδαλον ἐκ τῆς νήσου ταύτης ἐκπλεύσαντα κατενεχθῆναι τῆς Σικελίας πρὸς χώραν ἧς βασιλεύοντα Κώκαλον ἀναλαβεῖν τὸν Δαίδαλον, καὶ διὰ τὴν εὐφυΐαν καὶ δόξαν ποιήσασθαι φίλον ἐπὶ πλέον. τινὲς δὲ μυθολογοῦσι, κατὰ τὴν Κρήτην ἔτι Δαιδάλου διατρίβοντος καὶ ὑπὸ τῆς Πασιφάης κρυπτομένου, Μίνωα μὲν τὸν βασιλέα βουλόμενον τιμωρίας ἀξιῶσαι τὸν Δαίδαλον, καὶ μὴ δυνάμενον εὑρεῖν, τά τε πλοῖα πάντα τὰ κατὰ τὴν νῆσον ἐρευνᾶν καὶ χρημάτων πλῆθος ἐπαγγέλλεσθαι δώσειν τῷ τὸν Δαίδαλον ἀνευρόντι. ἐνταῦθα τὸν Δαίδαλον ἀπογνόντα τὸν διὰ τῶν πλοίων δρασμόν, κατασκευάσαι παραδόξως πτέρυγας πεφιλοτεχνημένας καὶ διὰ κηροῦ θαυμαστῶς ἠσκημένας· ἐπιθέντα δὲ ταύτας τῷ τε τοῦ υἱοῦ σώματι καὶ τῷ ἑαυτοῦ παραδόξως ἐκπετασθῆναι καὶ διαδρᾶναι τὸ πλησίον τῆς Κρήτης νήσου πέλαγος. καὶ τὸν μὲν Ἴκαρον διὰ τὴν νεότητα μετέωρον τὴν πτῆσιν ποιούμενον πεσεῖν εἰς τὸ πέλαγος, τακέντος διὰ τὸν ἥλιον τοῦ συνέχοντος τὰς πτέρυγας κηροῦ, αὐτὸν δὲ παρὰ τὴν θάλατταν πετόμενον καὶ παρʼ ἕκαστον τέγγοντα τὰς πτέρυγας διασωθῆναι παραδόξως εἰς τὴν Σικελίαν. ἀλλὰ περὶ μὲν τούτων εἰ καὶ παράδοξός ἐστιν ὁ μῦθος, ὅμως ἐκρίναμεν μὴ παραλιπεῖν αὐτόν.
Afterwards Daedalus made his escape out of Attica to Crete, where, being admired because of the fame of his art, he became a friend of Minos who was king there. Now according to the myth which has been handed down to us Pasiphae, the wife of Minos, became enamoured of the bull, and Daedalus, by fashioning a contrivance in the shape of a cow, assisted Pasiphae to gratify her passion. 2 In explanation of this the myths offer the following account: Before this time it had been the custom of Minos annually to dedicate to Poseidon the fairest bull born in his herds and to sacrifice it to the god; but at the time in question there was born a bull of extraordinary beauty and he sacrificed another from among those which were inferior, whereupon Poseidon, becoming angry at Minos, caused his wife Pasiphae to become enamoured of the bull. And by means of the ingenuity of Daedalus Pasiphae had intercourse with the bull and gave birth to the Minotaur, famed in the myth. This creature, they say, was of double form, the upper parts of the body as far as the shoulders being those of a bull and the remaining parts those of a man. 4 As a place in which to keep this monstrous thing Daedalus, the story goes, built a labyrinth, the passage-ways of which were so winding that those unfamiliar with them had difficulty in making their way out; in this labyrinth the Minotaur was maintained and here it devoured the seven youths and seven maidens which were sent to it from Athens, as we have already related. But Daedalus, they say, on learning that Minos had made threats against him because he had fashioned the cow, became fearful of the anger of the king and departed from Crete, Pasiphae helping him and providing a vessel for his escape. 6 With him fled also his son Icarus and they put in at a certain island which lay in the open sea. But when Icarus was disembarking onto the island in a reckless manner, he fell into the sea and perished, and in memory of him the sea was named the Icarian and the island was called Icaria. Daedalus, however, sailing away from this island, landed in Sicily near the territory over which Cocalus reigned as king, who courteously received Daedalus and because of his genius and his renown made him his close friend. 7 But certain writers of myths have the following account: Daedalus remained a while longer in Crete, being kept hidden by Pasiphae, and king Minos, desiring to wreak vengeance upon him and yet being unable to find him, caused all the boats which were on the island to be searched and announced that he would give a great sum of money to the man who should discover Daedalus. 8 Thereupon Daedalus, despairing of making his escape by any boat, fashioned with amazing ingenuity wings which were cleverly designed and marvellously fitted together with wax; and fastening these on his son's body and his own he spread them out for flight, to the astonishment of all, and made his escape over the open sea which lies near the island of Crete. 9 As for Icarus, because of the ignorance of youth he made his flight too far aloft and fell into the sea when the wax which held the wings together was melted by the sun, whereas Daedalus, by flying close to the sea and repeatedly wetting the wings, made his way in safety, marvellous to relate, to Sicily. Now as for these matters, even though the myth is a tale of marvel, we none the less have thought it best not to leave it unmentioned.
§ 4.78
Δαίδαλος δὲ παρά τε τῷ Κωκάλῳ καὶ τοῖς Σικανοῖς διέτριψε πλείω χρόνον, θαυμαζόμενος ἐν τῇ κατὰ τὴν τέχνην ὑπερβολῇ. κατεσκεύασε δʼ ἐν τῇ νήσῳ ταύτῃ τινὰ τῶν ἔργων ἃ μέχρι τοῦ νῦν διαμένει. πλησίον μὲν γὰρ τῆς Μεγαρίδος φιλοτέχνως ἐποίησε τὴν ὀνομαζομένην κολυμβήθραν, ἐξ ἧς μέγας ποταμὸς εἰς τὴν πλησίον θάλατταν ἐξερεύγεται καλούμενος Ἀλαβών. κατὰ δὲ τὴν νῦν Ἀκραγαντίνην ἐν τῷ Καμικῷ καλουμένῳ πόλιν ἐπὶ πέτρας οὖσαν πασῶν ὀχυρωτάτην κατεσκεύασε καὶ παντελῶς ἐκ βίας ἀνάλωτον· στενὴν γὰρ καὶ σκολιὰν τὴν ἀνάβασιν αὐτῆς φιλοτεχνήσας ἐποίησε δύνασθαι διὰ τριῶν ἢ τεττάρων ἀνθρώπων φυλάττεσθαι. διόπερ ὁ Κώκαλος ἐν ταύτῃ ποιήσας τὰ βασίλεια καὶ τὰ χρήματα κατατιθέμενος ἀνάλωτον ἔσχεν αὐτὴν διὰ τῆς ἐπινοίας τοῦ τεχνίτου. τρίτον δὲ σπήλαιον κατὰ τὴν Σελινουντίαν χώραν κατεσκεύασεν, ἐν ᾧ τὴν ἀτμίδα τοῦ κατʼ αὐτὴν πυρὸς οὕτως εὐστόχως ἐξέλαβεν ὥστε διὰ τὴν μαλακότητα τῆς θερμασίας ἐξιδροῦν λεληθότως καὶ κατὰ μικρὸν τοὺς ἐνδιατρίβοντας καὶ μετὰ τέρψεως θεραπεύειν τὰ σώματα μηδὲν παρενοχλουμένους ὑπὸ τῆς θερμότητος. κατὰ δὲ τὸν Ἔρυκα πέτρας οὔσης ἀποτομάδος εἰς ὕψος ἐξαίσιον, καὶ τῆς κατὰ τὸ ἱερὸν τῆς Ἀφροδίτης στενοχωρίας ἀναγκαζούσης ἐπὶ τὸ τῆς πέτρας ἀπόκρημνον ποιήσασθαι τὴν οἰκοδομίαν, κατεσκεύασεν ἐπʼ αὐτοῦ τοῦ κρημνοῦ τοῖχον, προβιβάσας παραδόξως τὸ ὑπερκείμενον τοῦ κρημνοῦ. χρυσοῦν τε κριὸν τῇ Ἀφροδίτῃ τῇ Ἐρυκίνῃ φασὶν αὐτὸν φιλοτεχνῆσαι περιττῶς εἰργασμένον καὶ τῷ κατʼ ἀλήθειαν κριῷ ἀπαρεγχειρήτως ὡμοιωμένον. ἄλλα τε πολλά φασιν αὐτὸν φιλοτεχνῆσαι κατὰ τὴν Σικελίαν, ἃ διὰ τὸ πλῆθος τοῦ χρόνου διέφθαρται.
Daedalus spent a considerable time with Cocalus and the Sicani, being greatly admired for his very great skill in his art. And on this island he constructed certain works which stand even to this day. For instance, near Megaris he ingeniously built a kolumbethra, as men have named it, from which a great river, called the Alabon, empties into the sea which is not far distant from it. 2 Also in the present territory of Acragas on the Camicus river, as it is called, he built a city which lay upon a rock and was the strongest of any in Sicily and altogether impregnable to any attack by force; for the ascent to it he made narrow and winding, building it in so ingenious a manner that it could be defended by three or four men. Consequently Cocalus built in this city the royal residence, and storing his treasures there he had them in a city which the inventiveness of its designer had made impregnable. A third construction of his, in the territory of Selinus, was a grotto where he so successfully expelled the steam caused by the fire which burned in it that those who frequented the grotto got into a perspiration imperceptibly because of the gentle action of the heat, and gradually, and actually with pleasure to themselves, they cured the infirmities of their bodies without experiencing any annoyance from the heat. 4 Also at Eryx, where a rock rose sheer to an extraordinary height and the narrow space, where the temple of Aphrodite lay, made it necessary to build it on the precipitous tip of the rock, he constructed a wall upon the very crag, by this means extending in an astonishing manner the overhanging ledge of the crag. Moreover, for the Aphrodite of Mt. Eryx, they say, he ingeniously constructed a golden ram, working it with exceeding care and making it the perfect image of an actual ram. Many other works as well, men say, he ingeniously constructed throughout Sicily, but they have perished because of the long time which has elapsed.
§ 4.79
Μίνως δʼ ὁ τῶν Κρητῶν βασιλεὺς θαλαττοκρατῶν κατʼ ἐκείνους τοὺς χρόνους, καὶ πυθόμενος τὴν Δαιδάλου φυγὴν εἰς Σικελίαν, ἔγνω στρατεύειν ἐπʼ αὐτήν. παρασκευασάμενος δὲ δύναμιν ναυτικὴν ἀξιόλογον ἐξέπλευσεν ἐκ τῆς Κρήτης, καὶ κατῆρε τῆς Ἀκραγαντίνης εἰς τὴν ἀπʼ ἐκείνου Μινῴαν καλουμένην. ἀποβιβάσας δὲ τὴν δύναμιν καὶ πέμψας ἀγγέλους πρὸς Κώκαλον τὸν βασιλέα ἐξῄτει τὸν Δαίδαλον εἰς τιμωρίαν. ὁ δὲ Κώκαλος εἰς σύλλογον προκαλεσάμενος καὶ πάντα ποιήσειν ἐπαγγειλάμενος ἐπὶ τὰ ξένια παρέλαβε τὸν Μίνω. λουμένου δʼ αὐτοῦ, Κώκαλος μὲν παρακατασχὼν πλείονα χρόνον ἐν τῷ θερμῷ τὸν Μίνωα διέφθειρε, καὶ τὸ σῶμα ἀπέδωκε τοῖς Κρησί, πρόφασιν ἐνεγκὼν τοῦ θανάτου διότι κατὰ τὸν λουτρῶνα ὠλίσθηκε καὶ πεσὼν εἰς τὸ θερμὸν ὕδωρ ἐτελεύτησε. μετὰ δὲ ταῦθʼ οἱ μὲν συνεστρατευμένοι τὸ σῶμα τοῦ βασιλέως ἔθαψαν μεγαλοπρεπῶς, καὶ διπλοῦν τάφον οἰκοδομήσαντες κατὰ μὲν τὸν κεκρυμμένον τόπον ἔθεσαν τὰ ὀστᾶ, κατὰ δὲ τὸν ἀνεῳγμένον ἐποίησαν Ἀφροδίτης νεών. οὗτος δʼ ἐπὶ γενεὰς πλείους ἐτιμᾶτο, θυόντων τῶν ἐγχωρίων ὡς Ἀφροδίτης ὄντος τοῦ νεώ· κατὰ δὲ τοὺς νεωτέρους καιροὺς κτισθείσης μὲν τῆς τῶν Ἀκραγαντίνων πόλεως, γνωσθείσης δὲ τῆς τῶν ὀστῶν θέσεως, συνέβη %5τὸν μὲν τάφον καθαιρεθῆναι, τὰ δʼ ὀστᾶ τοῖς Κρησὶν ἀποδοθῆναι, Θήρωνος δυναστεύοντος τῶν Ἀκραγαντίνων. οὐ μὴν ἀλλʼ οἱ κατὰ τὴν Σικελίαν Κρῆτες μετὰ τὴν Μίνωος τελευτὴν ἐστασίασαν διὰ τὴν ἀναρχίαν, τῶν δὲ νεῶν ὑπὸ τῶν περὶ τὸν Κώκαλον Σικανῶν ἐμπυρισθεισῶν τὴν μὲν εἰς τὰς πατρίδας ἐπάνοδον ἀπέγνωσαν, κρίναντες δʼ ἐν τῇ Σικελίᾳ κατοικεῖν, οἱ μὲν ἐνταῦθα πόλιν ᾤκισαν ἣν ἀπὸ τοῦ βασιλέως αὐτῶν Μινῴαν ὠνόμασαν, οἱ δὲ διὰ τῆς μεσογείου πλανηθέντες καὶ καταλαβόμενοι χωρίον ὀχυρὸν ἔκτισαν πόλιν ἣν ἀπὸ τῆς ἐν τῇ πόλει ῥεούσης πηγῆς ὠνόμασαν Ἔγγυον. ὕστερον δὲ μετὰ τὴν τῆς Τροίας ἅλωσιν Μηριόνου τοῦ Κρητὸς προσενεχθέντος τῇ Σικελίᾳ, προσεδέξαντο τοὺς καταπλεύσαντας Κρῆτας διὰ τὴν συγγένειαν καὶ τῆς πολιτείας μετέδοσαν, ὁρμώμενοι δʼ ἐξ ὀχυρᾶς πόλεως καὶ καταπολεμήσαντές τινας τῶν περιοίκων ἱκανὴν κατεκτήσαντο χώραν. ἀεὶ δὲ μᾶλλον αὐξόμενοι, καὶ κατασκευάσαντες ἱερὸν τῶν Μητέρων, διαφόρως ἐτίμων τὰς θεάς, ἀναθήμασι πολλοῖς κοσμοῦντες τὸ ἱερὸν αὐτῶν. ταύτας δʼ ἀφιδρυθῆναί φασιν ἐκ τῆς Κρήτης διὰ τὸ καὶ παρὰ τοῖς Κρησὶ τιμᾶσθαι τὰς θεὰς ταύτας διαφερόντως.
Minos, the king of the Cretans, who was at that time the master of the seas, when he learned that Daedalus had fled to Sicily, decided to make a campaign against that island. After preparing a notable naval force he sailed forth from Crete and landed at a place in the territory of Acragas which was called after him Minoa. Here he disembarked his troops and sending messengers to King Cocalus he demanded Daedalus of him for punishment. 2 But Cocalus invited Minos to a conference, and after promising to meet all his demands he brought him to his home as a guest. And when Minos was bathing Cocalus kept him too long in the hot water and thus slew him; the body he gave back to the Cretans, explaining his death on the ground that he had slipped in the bath and by falling into the hot water had met his end. Thereupon the comrades of Minos buried the body of the king with magnificent ceremonies, and constructing a tomb of two storeys, in the part of it which was hidden underground they placed the bones, and in that which lay open to gaze they made a shrine of Aphrodite. Here Minos received honours over many generations, the inhabitants of the region offering sacrifices there in the belief that the shrine was Aphrodite's; but in more recent times, after the city of the Acragantini had been founded and it became known that the bones had been placed there, it came to pass that the tomb was dismantled and the bones were given back to the Cretans, this being done when Theron was lord over the people of Acragas. However, the Cretans of Sicily, after the death of Minos, fell into factious strife, since they had no ruler, and, since their ships had been burned by the Sicani serving under Cocalus, they gave up any hope they had had of returning to their native land; and deciding to make their home in Sicily, a part of them established on that island a city to which they gave the name Minoa after their king, and others, after wandering about through the interior of the island, seized a place which was naturally strong and founded a city to which they gave the name Engyum after the spring which flowed forth within the city. 6 And at a later time, after the capture of Troy, when Meriones the Cretan came to shore in Sicily, they welcomed, because of their kinship to them, the Cretans who landed with him and shared with them their citizenship; and using as their base a well-fortified city and having subdued certain of the neighbouring peoples, they secured for themselves a fairly large territory. 7 And growing steadily stronger all the while they built a temple to the Mothers and accorded these goddesses unusual honours, adorning their temple with many votive offerings. The cult of these goddesses, so men say, they moved from their home in Crete, since the Cretans also hold these goddesses in special honour.
§ 4.80
μυθολογοῦσι δʼ αὐτὰς τὸ παλαιὸν θρέψαι τὸν Δία λάθρᾳ τοῦ πατρὸς Κρόνου, ἀνθʼ ὧν αὐτὰς εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν ἀναβιβασθῆναι καὶ καταστερισθείσας ἄρκτους προσαγορευθῆναι· περὶ ὧν καὶ τὸν Ἄρατον συμφωνοῦντα τούτοις τεθεικέναι κατὰ τὴν τῶν ἄστρων ποίησιν, ἔμπαλιν εἰς ὤμους τετραμμέναι· εἰ ἐτεόν γε Κρήτηθεν κεῖναί γε Διὸς μεγάλου ἰότητι οὐρανὸν εἰσανέβησαν, ὅ μιν τότε κουρίζοντα Δίκτῳ ἐν εὐώδει ὄρεος σχεδὸν Ἰδαίοιο ἄντρῳ ἐγκατέθεντο καὶ ἔτρεφον εἰς ἐνιαυτόν, Δικταῖοι Κούρητες ὅτε Κρόνον ἐψεύσαντο. οὐκ ἄξιον δὲ παραλιπεῖν τὴν περὶ τὰς θεὰς ἁγνείαν τε καὶ τὴν κατʼ ἀνθρώπους ἐπιφάνειαν. τιμῶσι δʼ αὐτὰς οὐ μόνον οἱ ταύτην τὴν πόλιν οἰκοῦντες, ἀλλὰ καί τινες τῶν ἄλλων περιοίκων θυσίαις τε μεγαλοπρεπέσι καὶ ταῖς ἄλλαις τιμαῖς ἀποσεμνύνουσι τὰς θεάς. ἐνίαις δὲ πόλεσι καὶ πυθόχρηστοι χρησμοὶ προσέταξαν τιμᾶν τὰς θεάς· ἔσεσθαι γὰρ τοῖς τοιούτοις τούς τε τῶν ἰδιωτῶν βίους εὐδαίμονας καὶ τὰς πόλεις εὐθενήσειν. τέλος δὲ προβαινούσης ἐπὶ πολὺ τῆς κατὰ τὰς θεὰς ἐπιφανείας, οἱ μὲν ἐγχώριοι πολλοῖς ἀναθήμασιν ἀργυροῖς καὶ χρυσοῖς διετέλεσαν τιμῶντες ἄχρι τῶνδε τῶν ἱστοριῶν γραφομένων. νεὼν μὲν γὰρ αὐταῖς κατεσκεύασαν οὐ μόνον τῷ μεγέθει διάφορον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῇ πολυτελείᾳ τῇ κατὰ τὴν οἰκοδομίαν θαυμαζόμενον· οὐκ ἔχοντες γὰρ κατὰ τὴν ἰδίαν χώραν λίθον ἀξιόλογον παρὰ τῶν ἀστυγειτόνων Ἀγυριναίων ἤγαγον, τῶν μὲν πόλεων διεστηκυιῶν ὡς ἑκατὸν σταδίους, τῆς δʼ ὁδοῦ διʼ ἧς ἀνάγκη κομίζεσθαι τοὺς λίθους ὑπαρχούσης τραχείας καὶ παντελῶς δυσπορεύτου· δι’ ἣν αἰτίαν κατασκευάσαντες ἁμάξας τετρακύκλους ἑκατὸν ζεύγεσι βοῶν ἐκόμισαν τὸν λίθον. διὰ γὰρ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν ἱερῶν χρημάτων εὐπορούμενοι, τῇ δαψιλείᾳ τῆς εὐπορίας ὑπερεῖδον τῶν ἀναλωμάτων· βραχὺ γὰρ πρὸ ἡμῶν εἶχον αἱ θεαὶ βοῦς μὲν ἱερὰς τρισχιλίας, χώρας δὲ πλῆθος ὥστε λαμβάνειν μεγάλας προσόδους.
The account which the myths preserve of the Mothers runs like this: They nurtured Zeus of old without the knowledge of his father Cronus, in return for which Zeus translated them into the heavens and designated them as a constellation which he named the Bears. 2 And Aratus agrees with this account when he states in his poem on the stars: Turned backwards then upon their shoulders are The Bears; if true it be that they from Crete Into the heavens mounted by the will Of mighty Zeus, for that when he was babe In fragrant Dicton near th' Idaean mount They set him in a cave and nurtured him A year, the while Curetes Dictaean Practised deceit on Cronus. There is no reason why we should omit to mention the sanctity of these goddesses and the renown which they enjoy among mankind. They are honoured, indeed, not only by the inhabitants of this city, but certain of the neighbouring peoples also glorify these goddesses with magnificent sacrifices and every other kind of honour. 4 Some cities were indeed commanded by oracles from the Pythian god to honour the goddesses, being assured that in this way the lives of their private citizens would be blessed with good fortune and their cities would flourish. And in the end the renown of the goddesses advanced to such a degree that the inhabitants of this region have continued to honour them with many votive offerings in silver and gold down to the time of the writing of this history. For instance, a temple was built there for them which not only excels in size but also occasions wonder by reason of the expense incurred in its construction; for since the people had no suitable stone in their own territory they brought it from their neighbours, the inhabitants of Agyrium, though the cities were nearly one hundred stades apart and the road by which they had to transport the blocks were rough and altogether hard to traverse. For this reason they constructed wagons with four wheels and transported the stone by the use of one hundred span of oxen. 6 Indeed, because of the vast quantity of the sacred properties of the temple they were so plentifully supplied with means that, by reason of their abundant prosperity, they took no account of the expense; for only a short time before our day the goddesses possessed three hundred head of sacred cattle and vast holdings of land, so that they were the recipients of great revenues.
§ 4.81
ἡμεῖς δὲ περὶ τούτων ἀρκούντως διεληλυθότες περὶ Ἀρισταίου γράφειν ἐγχειρήσομεν. Ἀρισταῖος γὰρ ἦν υἱὸς μὲν Ἀπόλλωνος καὶ Κυρήνης τῆς Ὑψέως θυγατρὸς τοῦ Πηνειοῦ· περὶ δὲ τῆς γενέσεως αὐτοῦ μυθολογοῦσί τινες οὕτως. Ἀπόλλωνα, περὶ τὸ Πήλιον τρεφομένης κόρης ὄνομα Κυρήνης κάλλει διαφερούσης, ἐρασθῆναι τῆς παρθένου, καὶ μετενεγκεῖν αὐτὴν τῆς Λιβύης εἰς ταύτην τὴν χώραν, ἐν ᾗ κατὰ τοὺς ὕστερον χρόνους τινὰ κτίσαντα πόλιν ἀπʼ ἐκείνης ὀνομάσαι Κυρήνην. τὸν δʼ οὖν Ἀπόλλω κατὰ ταύτην τὴν χώραν ἐκ Κυρήνης γεννήσαντα υἱὸν Ἀρισταῖον τοῦτον μὲν νήπιον ὄντα παραδοῦναι ταῖς Νύμφαις τρέφειν· ταύτας δὲ τῷ παιδὶ τρεῖς ὀνομασίας προσάψαι· καλεῖν γὰρ αὐτὸν Νόμιον, Ἀρισταῖον, Ἀγρέα. τοῦτον δὲ παρὰ τῶν Νυμφῶν μαθόντα τήν τε τοῦ γάλακτος πῆξιν καὶ τὴν κατασκευὴν τῶν σμήνων, ἔτι δὲ τῶν ἐλαιῶν τὴν κατεργασίαν, διδάξαι πρῶτον τοὺς ἀνθρώπους. διὰ δὲ τὴν εὐχρηστίαν τὴν ἐκ τούτων τῶν εὑρημάτων τοὺς εὐεργετηθέντας ἀνθρώπους τιμῆσαι τὸν Ἀρισταῖον ἰσοθέοις τιμαῖς, καθὰ καὶ τὸν Διόνυσον. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτά φασιν αὐτὸν εἰς Βοιωτίαν καταντήσαντα γῆμαι τῶν Κάδμου θυγατέρων Αὐτονόην, ἐξ ἧς φασιν Ἀκτέωνα γενέσθαι τὸν κατὰ τοὺς μύθους ὑπὸ τῶν ἰδίων κυνῶν διασπασθέντα. τὴν δʼ αἰτίαν ἀποδιδόασι τῆς ἀτυχίας οἱ μὲν ὅτι κατὰ τὸ τῆς Ἀρτέμιδος ἱερὸν διὰ τῶν ἀνατιθεμένων ἀκροθινίων ἐκ τῶν κυνηγίων προῃρεῖτο τὸν γάμον κατεργάσασθαι τῆς Ἀρτέμιδος, οἱ δʼ ὅτι τῆς Ἀρτέμιδος αὑτὸν πρωτεύειν ταῖς κυνηγίαις ἀπεφήνατο. οὐκ ἀπίθανον δὲ ἐπʼ ἀμφοτέροις τούτοις μηνῖσαι τὴν θεόν· εἴτε γὰρ τοῖς ἁλισκομένοις πρὸς τὴν ἀκοινώνητον τοῖς γάμοις κατεχρῆτο πρὸς τὸ συντελέσαι τὴν ἰδίαν ἐπιθυμίαν, εἴτε καὶ ταύτης ἐτόλμησεν εἰπεῖν αἱρετώτερον αὑτὸν εἶναι κυνηγόν ᾗ καὶ θεοὶ παρακεχωρήκασι τῆς ἐν τούτοις ἁμίλλης, ὁμολογουμένην καὶ δικαίαν ὀργὴν ἔσχε πρὸς αὐτὸν ἡ θεός. καθόλου δὲ πιθανῶς εἰς τὴν τῶν ἁλισκομένων θηρίων μεταμορφωθεὶς ἰδέαν ὑπὸ τῶν καὶ τἄλλα θηρία χειρουμένων κυνῶν διεφθάρη.
But now that we have discoursed upon these matters at sufficient length, we shall next undertake to write about Aristaeus. Aristaeus was the son of Apollo and Cyrene, the daughter of Hypseus the son of Peneius, and the manner of his birth is given by certain writers of myths as follows: Apollo became enamoured of a maiden by the name of Cyrene, who was reared in the neighbourhood of Mt. Pelion and was of surpassing beauty, and he carried her off from there to that part of the land of Libya where in later times he founded a city and named it, after her, Cyrene. 2 Now Apollo begat by Cyrene in that land a son Aristaeus and gave him while yet a babe into the hands of the Nymphs to nurture, and the latter bestowed upon him three different names, calling him, that is, Nomius, Aristaeus, and Agreus. He learned from the Nymphs how to curdle milk, to make bee-hives, and to cultivate olive-trees, and was the first to instruct men in these matters. And because of the advantage which came to them from these discoveries the men who had received his benefactions rendered to Aristaeus honours equal to those offered to the gods, even as they had done in the case of Dionysus. After this, they say, Aristaeus went to Boeotia, where he married one of the daughters of Cadmus, Autonoe, to whom was born Acteon, who, as the myths relate, was torn to pieces by his own dogs. 4 The reason for this bad turn of fortune of his, as some explain it, was that, presuming upon his dedication to Artemis of the firstfruits of his hunting, he purposed to consummate the marriage with Artemis at the temple of the goddess, but according to others, it was because he represented himself as superior to Artemis in skill as a hunter. But it is not incredible that it was for both these reasons that the goddess became angry; for whether Acteon made an improper use of the spoils of his hunting to satisfy his own desire upon her who has no part in marriage, or whether he was so bold as to assert that as a hunter he was to be preferred above her before whom even gods withdraw from rivalry in the chase, all would agree that the goddess was justified in having become indignant at him. And, speaking generally, we may well believe that, when he had been changed into the form of one of the animals which he was wont to hunt, he was slain by the dogs which were accustomed to prey upon the other wild beasts.
§ 4.82
τὸν δʼ Ἀρισταῖόν φασιμετὰ τὴν Ἀκτέωνος τελευτὴν ἐλθεῖν εἰς τὸ χρηστήριον τοῦ πατρός, καὶ τὸν Ἀπόλλω προειπεῖν αὐτῷ τὴν εἰς Κέων νῆσον μετάβασιν ἐσομένην αὐτοῦ καὶ τὰς ἐσομένας παρὰ τοῖς Κείοις τιμάς. τὸν δὲ πλεῦσαι μὲν εἰς τὴν νῆσον ταύτην, λοιμοῦ δὲ τὴν Ἑλλάδα κατασχόντος ποιήσασθαι τὴν θυσίαν ὑπὲρ ἁπάντων τῶν Ἑλλήνων. γενομένης δὲ τῆς θυσίας κατὰ τὴν τοῦ σειρίου ἄστρου ἐπιτολήν, καθʼ ἣν συνέβαινε πνεῖν τοὺς ἐτησίας, λῆξαι τὰς λοιμικὰς νόσους. τοῦτο δʼ ἄν τις συλλογιζόμενος εἰκότως θαυμάσαι τὸ τῆς περιπετείας ἴδιον· ὁ γὰρ ὑπὸ τῶν κυνῶν ἰδὼν τὸν υἱὸν τετελευτηκότα, οὗτος τῶν κατὰ τὸν οὐρανὸν ἄστρων τὸ τὴν αὐτὴν ἔχον προσηγορίαν καὶ φθείρειν νομιζόμενον τοὺς ἀνθρώπους ἔπαυσε, καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις αἴτιος ἐγένετο τῆς σωτηρίας. λέγουσι δὲ τὸν Ἀρισταῖον ἐκγόνους ἐν τῇ Κέῳ καταλιπόντα, καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα εἰς τὴν Λιβύην ἐπανελθόντα, ἀπὸ τῆς μητρὸς Νύμφης τὴν ἀναγωγὴν ποιησάμενον εἰς τὴν Σαρδὼ νῆσον καταπλεῦσαι. ἐν δὲ ταύτῃ κατοικήσαντα, καὶ τὴν νῆσον διὰ τὸ κάλλος στέρξαντα, φυτεῦσαί τε αὐτὴν καὶ τὸ πρότερον ἐξηγριωμένην ἡμερῶσαι. γεννῆσαι δʼ ἐν αὐτῇ δύο παῖδας, Χάρμον καὶ Καλλίκαρπον. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ἄλλας τε νήσους ἐπελθεῖν καὶ κατὰ τὴν Σικελίαν διατρῖψαί τινα χρόνον, διὰ δὲ τὴν ἀφθονίαν τῶν ἐν τῇ νήσῳ καρπῶν καὶ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν ἐν αὐτῇ βοσκομένων κτηνῶν φιλοτιμηθῆναι τοῖς ἐγχωρίοις ἐνδείξασθαι τὰς ἰδίας εὐεργεσίας. διὸ καὶ παρὰ τοῖς κατὰ τὴν Σικελίαν οἰκοῦσι διαφερόντως φασὶ τιμηθῆναι τὸν Ἀρισταῖον ὡς θεόν, καὶ μάλισθʼ ὑπὸ τῶν συγκομιζόντων τὸν τῆς ἐλαίας καρπόν. τὸ δὲ τελευταῖον μυθολογοῦσιν αὐτὸν εἰς Θρᾴκην παραβαλόντα πρὸς Διόνυσον μετασχεῖν τῶν ὀργίων, καὶ συνδιατρίψαντα τῷ θεῷ πολλὰ μαθεῖν παρʼ αὐτοῦ τῶν χρησίμων· περὶ δὲ τὸ ὄρος τὸ καλούμενον Αἷμον οἰκήσαντά τινα χρόνον ἄφαντον γενέσθαι, καὶ τυχεῖν ἀθανάτων τιμῶν οὐ μόνον ἐνταῦθα παρὰ τοῖς βαρβάροις, ἀλλὰ καὶ παρὰ τοῖς Ἕλλησι.
As for Aristaeus, after the death of Acteon, we are told, he went to the oracle of his father, Apollo, who prophesied to him that he was to change his home to the island of Ceos and told him likewise of the honours which would be his among the Ceans. 2 To this island he sailed, but since a plague prevailed throughout Greece the sacrifice he offered there was on behalf of all the Greeks. And since the sacrifice was made at the time of the rising of the star Sirius, which is the period when the etesian winds customarily blow, the pestilential diseases, we are told, came to an end. Now the man who ponders upon this event may reasonably marvel at the strange turn which fortune took; for the same man who saw his son done to death by the dogs likewise put an end to the influence of that star which, of all the stars of heaven, bears the same name and is thought to bring destruction upon mankind, and by so doing was responsible for saving the lives of the rest. 4 We are further informed that Aristaeus left descendants behind on the island of Ceos and then returned to Libya, from where he set forth with the aid of his mother, a Nymph, and put ashore on the island of Sardinia. Here he made his home, and since he loved the island because of its beauty, he set out plantings in it and brought it under cultivation, whereas formerly it had lain waste. And after this he visited other islands and spent some time in Sicily, where, because of the abundance of the fruits on the island and the multitude of flocks and herds which grazed there, he was eager to display to its inhabitants the benefactions which were his to bestow. Consequently among the inhabitants of Sicily, as men say, Aristaeus received especial honour as a god, in particular by those who harvested the fruit of the olivetree. 6 And finally, as the myths relate, he visited Dionysus in Thrace and was initiated into his secret rites, and during his stay in the company of the god he learned from him much useful knowledge. And after dwelling some time in the neighbourhood of Mount Haemus he never was seen again of men, and became the recipient of immortal honours not only among the barbarians of that region but among the Greeks as well.
§ 4.83
καὶ περὶ μὲν Ἀρισταίου τοῖς ῥηθεῖσιν ἀρκεσθησόμεθα, περὶ δὲ Δάφνιδος καὶ Ἔρυκος πειρασόμεθα διεθεῖν. Ἔρυκά φασιν υἱὸν μὲν γενέσθαι Ἀφροδίτης καὶ Βούτα, βασιλέως τινὸς ἐγχωρίου δόξῃ διαφέροντος· τοῦτον δὲ διὰ τὴν ἀπὸ τῆς μητρὸς εὐγένειαν θαυμασθῆναί τε ὑπὸ τῶν ἐγχωρίων καὶ βασιλεῦσαι μέρους τῆς νήσου. κτίσαι δὲ καὶ πόλιν ἀξιόλογον ὁμώνυμον αὑτῷ, κειμένην ἐπί τινος ὑψηλοῦ τόπου· κατὰ δὲ τὴν ἄκραν τὴν ἐν τῇ πόλει τῆς μητρὸς ἱερὸν ἱδρύσασθαι, καὶ κοσμῆσαι τῇ τε κατασκευῇ τοῦ νεὼ καὶ τῷ πλήθει τῶν ἀναθημάτων. τὴν δὲ θεὸν διά τε τὴν ἀπὸ τῶν ἐγχωρίων εὐσέβειαν καὶ διὰ τὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ τεκνωθέντος υἱοῦ τιμὴν ἀγαπῆσαι περιττότερον τὴν πόλιν· διόπερ αὐτὴν Ἀφροδίτην Ἐρυκίνην ὀνομασθῆναι. θαυμάσαι δʼ ἄν τις εἰκότως ἀναλογισάμενος τὴν περὶ τὸ ἱερὸν τοῦτο γενομένην δόξαν· τὰ μὲν γὰρ ἄλλα τεμένη ἀνθήσαντα ταῖς δόξαις πολλάκις διὰ περιστάσεις τινὰς τεταπείνωται, μόνον δὲ τοῦτο τῶν ἐξ αἰῶνος ἀρχὴν λαβὸν οὐδέποτε διέλιπε τιμώμενον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὐναντίον ἀεὶ διετέλεσε πολλῆς τυγχάνον αὐξήσεως. μετὰ γὰρ τὰς προειρημένας ὑπʼ Ἔρυκος τιμὰς ὕστερον Αἰνείας ὁ Ἀφροδίτης πλέων εἰς Ἰταλίαν καὶ προσορμισθεὶς τῇ νήσῳ πολλοῖς ἀναθήμασι τὸ ἱερόν, ὡς ἂν ἰδίας μητρὸς ὑπάρχον, ἐκόσμησε· μετὰ δὲ τοῦτον ἐπὶ πολλὰς γενεὰς τιμῶντες οἱ Σικανοὶ τὴν θεὸν θυσίαις τε μεγαλοπρεπέσι συνεχῶς καὶ ἀναθήμασιν ἐκόσμουν· μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Καρχηδόνιοι, μέρους τῆς Σικελίας κυριεύσαντες, οὐ διέλιπον τιμῶντες τὴν θεὸν διαφερόντως. τὸ δὲ τελευταῖον Ῥωμαῖοι, πάσης Σικελίας κρατήσαντες, ὑπερεβάλοντο πάντας τοὺς πρὸ αὐτῶν ταῖς εἰς ταύτην τιμαῖς. καὶ τοῦτο εἰκότως ἐποίουν· τὸ γὰρ γένος εἰς ταύτην ἀναπέμποντες, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἐν ταῖς πράξεσιν ἐπιτυχεῖς ὄντες, τὴν αἰτίαν τῆς αὐξήσεως ἠμείβοντο ταῖς προσηκούσαις χάρισι καὶ τιμαῖς. οἱ μὲν γὰρ καταντῶντες εἰς τὴν νῆσον ὕπατοι καὶ στρατηγοὶ καὶ πάντες οἱ μετά τινος ἐξουσίας ἐπιδημοῦντες, ἐπειδὰν εἰς τὸν Ἔρυκα παραβάλωσι, μεγαλοπρεπέσι θυσίαις καὶ τιμαῖς κοσμοῦσι τὸ τέμενος, καὶ τὸ σκυθρωπὸν τῆς ἐξουσίας ἀποθέμενοι μεταβάλλουσιν εἰς παιδιὰς καὶ γυναικῶν ὁμιλίας μετὰ πολλῆς ἱλαρότητος, μόνως οὕτω νομίζοντες κεχαρισμένην τῇ θεῷ ποιήσειν τὴν ἑαυτῶν παρουσίαν· ἥ τε σύγκλητος τῶν Ῥωμαίων εἰς τὰς τῆς θεοῦ τιμὰς φιλοτιμηθεῖσα τὰς μὲν πιστοτάτας τῶν κατὰ τὴν Σικελίαν πόλεων οὔσας ἑπτακαίδεκα χρυσοφορεῖν ἐδογμάτισε τῇ Ἀφροδίτῃ καὶ στρατιώτας διακοσίους τηρεῖν τὸ ἱερόν. καὶ περὶ μὲν Ἐρυκος εἰ καὶ πεπλεονάκαμεν, ἀλλʼ οὖν οἰκείαν πεποιήμεθα τὴν περὶ τῆς θεᾶς
But as regards Aristaeus we shall rest content with what has been said, and we shall next endeavour to set forth what relates to Daphnis and Eryx. This is what is told of them: Eryx was a son of Aphrodite and Butas, a certain native king of Sicily of very great fame, and he was admired by the natives because of his noble birth on his mother's side and became king over a part of the island. He also founded a notable city which bore his name; it was set upon a lofty place, and on the highest point within the city he established a shrine of his mother, which he embellished not only with a beautifully built temple, but also with the multitude of his dedications. 2 The goddess, both because of the reverence which the inhabitants of the region paid to her and because of the honour which she received from the son whom she had borne, displayed an exceptional love for the city, and for this reason she came to be called Erycinian Aphrodite. And a man may well be filled with wonder when he stops to sum up the fame which has gathered about this shrine; all other sanctuaries have indeed enjoyed a flush of fame, but frequently sundry happenings have brought them low, whereas this is the only temple which, founded as it was at the beginning of time, not only has never failed to be the object of veneration but, on the contrary, has as time went on ever continued to enjoy great growth. 4 For after Eryx has bestowed upon it the honours we have described, Aeneas, the son of Aphrodite, when at a later time he was on his way to Italy and came to anchor off the island, embellished the sanctuary, since it was that of his own mother, with many votive offerings; after him the Sicanians paid honour to the goddess for many generations and kept continually embellishing it with both magnificent sacrifices and votive offerings; and after that time the Carthaginians, when they had become the masters of a part of Sicily, never failed to hold the goddess in special honour. And last of all the Romans, when they had subdued all Sicily, surpassed all people who had preceded them in the honours they paid to her. And it was with good reason that they did so, for since they traced back their ancestry to her and for this reason were successful in their undertakings, they were but requiting her who was the cause of their aggrandisement with such expressions of gratitude and honours as they owed to her. 6 The consuls and praetors, for instance, who visit the island and all Romans who sojourn there clothed with any authority, whenever they come to Eryx, embellish the sanctuary with magnificent sacrifices and honours, and laying aside the austerity of their authority, they enter into sports and have conversation with women in a spirit of great gaiety, believing that only in this way will they make their presence there pleasing to the goddess. 7 Indeed the Roman senate has so zealously concerned itself with the honours of the goddess that it has decreed that the seventeen cities of Sicily which are most faithful to Rome shall pay a tax in gold to Aphrodite, and that two hundred soldiers shall serve as a guard of her shrine. Now if we have dwelt over-long on the topic of Eryx, we have at least given an account of the goddess such as was rightly her due.
§ 4.84
ἀπαγγελίαν· νυνὶ δὲ περὶ Δάφνιδος πειρασόμεθα διελθεῖν τὰ μυθολογούμενα. Ἡραῖα γὰρ ὄρη κατὰ τὴν Σικελίαν ἐστίν, ἅ φασι κάλλει τε καὶ φύσει καὶ τόπων ἰδιότησι πρὸς θερινὴν ἄνεσιν καὶ ἀπόλαυσιν εὖ πεφυκέναι. πολλάς τε γὰρ πηγὰς ἔχειν τῇ γλυκύτητι τῶν ὑδάτων διαφόρους καὶ δένδρεσι παντοίοις πεπληρῶσθαι. εἶναι δὲ καὶ δρυῶν μεγάλων πλῆθος, φερουσῶν καρπὸν τῷ μεγέθει διαλλάττοντα, διπλασιάζοντα τῶν ἐν ταῖς ἄλλαις χώραις φυομένων. ἔχειν δὲ καὶ τῶν ἡμέρων καρπῶν αὐτομάτων, ἀμπέλου τε πολλῆς φυομένης καὶ μήλων ἀμυθήτου πλήθους. διὸ καὶ στρατόπεδόν ποτε Καρχηδονίων ὑπὸ λιμοῦ πιεζόμενον διαθρέψαι, παρεχομένων τῶν ὀρῶν πολλαῖς μυριάσι χορηγίας εἰς τροφὴν ἀνέκλειπτον. ἐν ταύτῃ δὲ τῇ χώρᾳ συναγκείας δένδρων οὔσης θεοπρεποῦς καὶ Νύμφαις. ἄλσους ἀνειμένου μυθολογοῦσι γεννηθῆναι τὸν ὀνομαζόμενον Δάφνιν, Ἑρμοῦ μὲν καὶ Νύμφης υἱόν, ἀπὸ δὲ τοῦ πλήθους καὶ τῆς πυκνότητος τῆς φυομένης δάφνης ὠνομάσθαι Δάφνιν. τοῦτον δʼ ὑπὸ Νυμφῶν τραφέντα, καὶ βοῶν ἀγέλας παμπληθεῖς κεκτημένον, τούτων ποιεῖσθαι πολλὴν ἐπιμέλειαν· ἀφʼ ἧς αἰτίας βουκόλον αὐτὸν ὀνομασθῆναι. φύσει δὲ διαφόρῳ πρὸς εὐμέλειαν κεχορηγημένον ἐξευρεῖν τὸ βουκολικὸν ποίημα καὶ μέλος, ὃ μέχρι τοῦ νῦν κατὰ τὴν Σικελίαν τυγχάνει διαμένον ἐν ἀποδοχῇ. μυθολογοῦσι δὲ τὸν Δάφνιν μετὰ τῆς Ἀρτέμιδος κυνηγεῖν ὑπηρετοῦντα τῇ θεῷ κεχαρισμένως, καὶ διὰ τῆς σύριγγος καὶ βουκολικῆς μελῳδίας τέρπειν αὐτὴν διαφερόντως. λέγουσι δʼ αὐτοῦ μίαν τῶν Νυμφῶν ἐρασθεῖσαν προειπεῖν, ἐὰν ἄλλῃ τινὶ πλησιάσῃ, στερήσεσθαι τῆς ὁράσεως· κἀκεῖνον ὑπό τινος θυγατρὸς βασιλέως καταμεθυσθέντα, καὶ πλησιάσαντα αὐτῇ, στερηθῆναι τῆς ὁράσεως κατὰ τὴν γεγενημένην ὑπὸ τῆς Νύμφης πρόρρησιν. καὶ περὶ μὲν Δάφνιδος ἱκανῶς ἡμῖν πάλιν
At this time we shall endeavour to set forth what the myths relate concerning Daphnis. There are in Sicily, namely, the Heraean Mountains, which, men say, are naturally well suited, by reason of the beauty and special character of the region round about, to relaxation and enjoyment in the summer season. For they possess many springs of exceptionally sweet water and are full of trees of every description. On them also is a multitude of great oak-trees which bear fruit of extraordinary size, since it is twice as large as any that grows in other lands. And they possess as well some of the cultivated fruits, which have sprung up of their own accord, since the vine is found there in profusion and tree-fruits in quantities beyond telling. 2 Consequently the area once supported a Carthaginian army when it was facing starvation, the mountains supplying many tens of thousands of soldiers with sources of food for their unfailing sustenance. It was in this region, where there were glens filled with trees and meet for a god and a grove consecrated to the Nymphs, that, as the myths relate, he who was known as Daphnis was born, a son of Hermes and a Nymph, and he, because of the sweet bay (daphne) which grew there in such profusion and so thick, was given the name Daphnis. He was reared by Nymphs, and since he possessed very many herds of cattle and gave great attention to their care, he was for this reason called by the name Bucolus or "Neatherd." And being endowed with an unusual gift of song, he invented the bucolic or pastoral poem and the bucolic song which continues to be so popular throughout Sicily to the present day. 4 The myths add that Daphnis accompanied Artemis in her hunting, serving the goddess in an acceptable manner, and that with his shepherd's pipe and singing of pastoral songs he pleased her exceedingly. The story is also told the one of the Nymphs became enamoured of him and prophesied to him that if he lay with any other woman he would be deprived of his sight; and indeed, when once he had been made drunken by a daughter of a king and had lain with her, he was deprived of his sight in accordance with the prophecy delivered by the Nymph. As for Daphnis, then, let what we have said suffice.
§ 4.85
εἰρήσθω, περὶ δὲ Ὠρίωνος τὰ μυθολογούμενα νῦν διέξιμεν. λέγεται γὰρ τοῦτον σώματος μεγέθει καὶ ῥώμῃ πολὺ τῶν μνημονευομένων ἡρώων ὑπεράγοντα φιλοκύνηγον γενέσθαι καὶ κατασκευάσαι μεγάλα ἔργα διὰ τὴν ἰσχὺν καὶ φιλοδοξίαν. κατὰ μὲν γὰρ τὴν Σικελίαν κατασκευάσαι Ζάγκλῳ τῷ τότε βασιλεύοντι τῆς τότε μὲν ἀπʼ αὐτοῦ Ζάγκλης, νῦν δὲ Μεσσήνης ὀνομαζομένης, ἄλλα τε καὶ τὸν λιμένα προσχώσαντα τὴν ὀνομαζομένην Ἀκτὴν ποιῆσαι. ἐπεὶ δὲ τῆς Μεσσήνης ἐμνήσθημεν, οὐκ ἀνοίκειον προσθεῖναι νομίζομεν τοὶς προκειμένοις τὰς περὶ τὸν πορθμὸν διηγήδεις. φασὶ γὰρ οἱ παλαιοὶ μυθογράφοι τὴν Σικελίαν τὸ πρὸ τοῦ χερρόνησον οὖσαν ὕστερον γενέσθαι νῆσον διὰ τοιαύτας αἰτίας. τὸν ἰσθμὸν κατὰ τὸ στενώτατον ὑπὸ δυοῖν πλευρῶν θαλάττῃ προσκλυζόμενον ἀναρραγῆναι, καὶ τὸν τόπον ἀπὸ τούτου Ῥήγιον ὀνομασθῆναι, καὶ τὴν ὕστερον πολλοῖς ἔτεσι κτισθεῖσαν πόλιν τυχεῖν τῆς ὁμωνύμου προσηγορίας. ἔνιοι δὲ λέγουσι σεισμῶν μεγάλων γενομένων διαρραγῆναι τὸν αὐχένα τῆς ἠπείρου, καὶ γενέσθαι τὸν πορθμὸν διειργούσης τῆς θαλάττης τὴν ἤπειρον ἀπὸ τῆς νήσου. Ἡσίοδος δʼ ὁ ποιητής φησι τοὐναντίον ἀναπεπταμένου τοῦ πελάγους Ὠρίωνα προσχῶσαι τὸ κατὰ τὴν Πελωρίδα κείμενον ἀκρωτήριον, καὶ τὸ τέμενος τοῦ Ποσειδῶνος κατασκευάσαι, τιμώμενον ὑπὸ τῶν ἐγχωρίων διαφερόντως· ταῦτα δὲ διαπραξάμενον εἰς Εὔβοιαν μεταναστῆναι κἀκεῖ κατοικῆσαι· διὰ δὲ τὴν δόξαν ἐν τοῖς κατʼ οὐρανὸν ἄστροις καταριθμηθέντα τυχεῖν ἀθανάτου μνήμης. περὶ οὗ καὶ ὁ ποιητὴς Ὅμηρος ἐν τῇ Νεκυίᾳ μιμνησκόμενός φησι τὸν δὲ μέτʼ Ὠρίωνα πελώριον εἰσενόησα θῆρας ὁμοῦ εἰλεῦντα κατʼ ἀσφοδελὸν λειμῶνα, οὓς αὐτὸς κατέπεφνεν ἐν οἰοπόλοισιν ὄρεσσι, χερσὶν ἔχων ῥόπαλον παγχάλκεον, αἰὲν ἀαγές. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ περὶ τοῦ μεγέθους ἐμφανίζων, καὶ προεκθέμενος τὰ περὶ τοὺς Ἀλῳάδας, ὅτι ἐνναετεῖς ἦσαν τὸ μὲν εὖρος πηχῶν ἐννέα, τὸ δὲ μῆκος τῶν ἴσων ὀργυιῶν, ἐπιφέρει τοὺς δὴ μηκίστους θρέψε ζείδωρος ἄρουρα καὶ πολὺ καλλίστους μετά γε κλυτὸν Ὠρίωνα. ἡμεῖς δὲ κατὰ τὴν ἐν ἀρχῇ πρόθεσιν περὶ τῶν ἡρώων καὶ ἡμιθέων ἀρκούντως εἰρηκότες αὐτοῦ περιγράψομεν τήνδε τὴν βίβλον.
We shall now recount what the myths relate about Orion. The story runs like this: Orion, far surpassing in size and strength of body all the heroes of whom we have record, was a lover of the chase and the builder of mighty works by reason of his great strength and love of glory. In Sicily, for instance, for Zanclus, who was king at that time of the city which was called at that time after him Zancle, but now Messene, he built certain works, and among them he formed the harbour by throwing up a mole and made the Acte, as it is called. 2 And since we have mentioned Messene we think it will not be foreign to our purpose to add to what has been set forth thus far what men have written about the Strait. The ancient mythographers, that is, say that Sicily was originally a peninsula, and that afterward it became an island, the cause being somewhat as follows. The isthmus at its narrowest point was subjected to the dash of the waves of the sea on its two sides and so a gap (rhegma) was made (anarrhegnusthai), and for this reason the spot was named Rhegion, and the city which was founded many years later received the same appellation as the place. 4 Some men say, however, that mighty earthquakes took place and the neck of what was the mainland was broken through, and in this way the Strait was formed, since the sea now separated the mainland from the island. But the poet Hesiod states the very opposite, namely, that when the sea extended itself in between, Orion built out the headland which lies at Peloris and also erected there the sanctuary of Poseidon which is held in special honour by the natives; after he had finished these works he removed to Euboea and made his home there; and then, because of his fame, he was numbered among the stars of heaven and thus won for himself important remembrance. 6 And he is also mentioned by the poet Homer in his "Necuia" when he says: And after him I marked Orion huge, Driving wild beasts together o'er the mead Of asphodel, the beasts that he himself Had slain on lonely hills; and in his hands He held a mace, ever unbroken, all Of bronze. 7 Likewise, to show forth also his great size, whereas he had spoken before of the Aloiadae, that at nine years of age they were nine cubits in breadth and an equal number of fathoms in height, he adds: These were the tallest men that ever earth, Giver of grain, did rear, and goodliest By far, save for Orion, famed abroad. But for our part, since we have spoken, in accordance with the plan which we announced at the beginning, at sufficient length about the heroes and demigods, at this point we shall close the present Book.
— Book 5 —
§ 5.arg
τάδε ἔνεστιν ἐν τῇ πέμπτῃ τῶν Διοδώρου βίβλων. περὶ τῶν μυθολογουμένων κατὰ τὴν Σικελίαν καὶ τοῦ σχήματος καὶ μεγέθους τῆς νήσου. περὶ Δήμητρος καὶ Κόρης καὶ τῆς εὑρέσεως τοῦ πυρίνου καρποῦ. περὶ Λιπάρας καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν Αἰολίδων καλουμένων νήσων. περὶ Μελίτης καὶ Γαύλου καὶ Κερκίνης. περὶ τῆς Αἰθαλίας καὶ Κύρνου καὶ Σαρδόνος. περὶ Πιτυούσσης καὶ τῶν νήσων τῶν Γυμνησίων, ἅς τινες Βαλιαρίδας ὀνομάζουσι. περὶ τῶν ἐν ὠκεανῷ νήσων τῶν πρὸς ἑσπέραν κειμένων. περὶ τῆς Βρεττανικῆς νήσου καὶ τῆς ὀνομαζομένης Βασιλείας καθʼ ἣν τὸ ἤλεκτρον γίνεται. περὶ Γαλατίας καὶ Κελτιβηρίας, ἔτι δʼ Ἰβηρίας καὶ Λιγυστικῆς καὶ Τυρρηνίας, καὶ τῶν ἐν ταύταις κατοικούντων, τίσι χρῶνται νομίμοις. περὶ τῶν κατὰ τὴν μεσημβρίαν ἐν ὠκεανῷ νήσων, τῆς τε Ἱερᾶς ὀνομαζομένης καὶ τῆς Παγχαίας, καὶ τῶν ἐν αὐταῖς ἱστορουμένων. περὶ Σαμοθρᾴκης καὶ τῶν ἐν αὐτῇ μυστηρίων. περὶ Νάξου καὶ Σύμης καὶ Καλύδνης. περὶ Ῥόδου καὶ τῶν κατʼ αὐτὴν μυθολογουμένων. περὶ Χερρονήσου τῆς ἀντιπέραν τῆς Ῥοδίας κειμένης. περὶ Κρήτης καὶ τῶν ἐν αὐτῇ μυθολογουμένων μέχρι τῶν νεωτέρων καιρῶν. περὶ Λέσβου καὶ τῶν εἰς Χίον καὶ Σάμον καὶ Κῶν καὶ Ῥόδον ἀποικιῶν ὑπὸ Μακαρέως. περὶ Τενέδου καὶ τοῦ κατʼ αὐτὴν οἰκισμοῦ καὶ τῶν ὑπὸ Τενεδίων περὶ Τέννου μυθευομένων. περὶ τῶν Κυκλάδων νήσων τῶν ἐλαττόνων καὶ τυχουσῶν οἰκισμοῦ ὑπὸ Μίνωος.
—
§ 5.1
πάντων μὲν τῶν ἐν ταῖς ἀναγραφαῖς χρησίμων προνοητέον τοὺς ἱστορίαν συνταττομένους, μάλιστα δὲ τῆς κατὰ μέρος οἰκονομίας. αὕτη γὰρ οὐ μόνον ἐν τοῖς ἰδιωτικοῖς βίοις πολλὰ συμβάλλεται πρὸς διαμονὴν καὶ αὔξησιν τῆς οὐσίας, ἀλλὰ καὶ κατὰ τὰς ἱστορίας οὐκ ὀλίγα ποιεῖ προτερήματα τοῖς συγγραφεῦσιν. ἔνιοι δὲ καὶ κατὰ τὴν λέξιν καὶ κατὰ τὴν πολυπειρίαν τῶν ἀναγραφομένων πράξεων ἐπαινούμενοι δικαίως, ἐν τῷ κατὰ τὴν οἰκονομίαν χειρισμῷ διήμαρτον, ὥστε τοὺς μὲν πόνους καὶ τὴν ἐπιμέλειαν αὐτῶν ἀποδοχῆς τυγχάνειν παρὰ τοῖς ἀναγινώσκουσι, τὴν δὲ τάξιν τῶν ἀναγεγραμμένων δικαίας τυγχάνειν ἐπιτιμήσεως. Τίμαιος μὲν οὖν μεγίστην πρόνοιαν πεποιημένος τῆς τῶν χρόνων ἀκριβείας καὶ τῆς πολυπειρίας πεφροντικώς, διὰ τὰς ἀκαίρους καὶ μακρὰς ἐπιτιμήσεις εὐλόγως διαβάλλεται, καὶ διὰ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῆς ἐπιτιμήσεως Ἐπιτίμαιος ὑπό τινων ὠνομάσθη. Ἔφορος δὲ τὰς κοινὰς πράξεις ἀναγράφων οὐ μόνον κατὰ τὴν λέξιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ κατὰ τὴν οἰκονομίαν ἐπιτέτευχε· τῶν γὰρ βίβλων ἑκάστην πεποίηκε περιέχειν κατὰ γένος τὰς πράξεις. διόπερ καὶ ἡμεῖς τοῦτο τὸ γένος τοῦ χειρισμοῦ προκρίναντες, κατὰ τὸ δυνατὸν ἀντεχόμεθα ταύτης τῆς προαιρέσεως.
It should be the special care of historians, when they compose their works, to give attention to everything which may be of utility, and especially to the arrangement of the varied material they present. This eye to arrangement, for instance, is not only of great help to persons in the disposition of their private affairs if they would preserve and increase their property, but also, when men come to writing history, it offers them not a few advantages. 2 Some historians indeed, although they are worthy objects of praise in the matter of style and in the breadth of experience derived from the events which they record, have nevertheless fallen short in respect of the way in which they have handled the matter of arrangement, with the result that, whereas the effort and care which they expended receive the approbation of their readers, yet the order which they gave to the material they have recorded is the object of just censure. Timaeus, for example, bestowed, it is true, the greatest attention upon the precision of his chronology and had due regard for the breadth of knowledge gained through experience, but he is criticized with good reason for his untimely and lengthy censures, and because of the excess to which he went in censuring he historian given by some men the name Epitimaeus or Censurer. 4 Ephorus, on the other hand, in the universal history which he composed has achieved success, not alone in the style of his composition, but also as regards the arrangement of his work; for each one of his Books is so constructed as to embrace events which fall under a single topic. Consequently we also have given our preference to this method of handling our material, and, in so far as it is possible, are adhering to this general principle.
§ 5.2
καὶ ταύτην τὴν βίβλον ἐπιγράφοντες νησιωτικὴν ἀκολούθως τῇ γραφῇ περὶ πρώτης τῆς Σικελίας ἐροῦμεν, ἐπεὶ καὶ κρατίστη τῶν νήσων ἐστὶ καὶ τῇ παλαιότητι τῶν μύθολογουμένων πεπρώτευκεν. ἡ γὰρ νῆσος τὸ παλαιὸν ἀπὸ μὲν τοῦ σχήματος Τρινακρία κληθεῖσα, ἀπὸ δὲ τῶν κατοικησάντων αὐτὴν Σικανῶν Σικανία προσαγορευθεῖσα, τὸ τελευταῖον ἀπὸ Σικελῶν τῶν ἐκ τῆς Ἰταλίας πανδημεὶ περαιωθέντων ὠνόμοσται Σικελία. ἔστι δʼ αὐτῆς ἡ περίμετρος σταδίων ὡς τετρακισχιλίων τριακοσίων ἑξήκοντα· τῶν γὰρ τριῶν πλευρῶν ἡ μὲν ἀπὸ τῆς Πελωριάδος ἐπὶ τὸ Λιλύβαιον ὑπάρχει σταδίων χιλίων ἑπτακοσίων, ἡ δʼ ἀπὸ Λιλυβαίου μέχρι Παχύνου τῆς Συρακοσίας χώρας σταδίων χιλίων καὶ πεντακοσίων, ἡ δʼ ἀπολειπομένη σταδίων χιλίων ἑκατὸν τεσσαράκοντα. οἱ ταύτην οὖν κατοικοῦντες Σικελιῶται παρειλήφασι παρὰ τῶν προγόνων, ἀεὶ τῆς φήμης ἐξ αἰῶνος παραδεδομένης τοῖς ἐκγόνοις, ἱερὰν ὑπάρχειν τὴν νῆσον Δήμητρος καὶ Κόρης· ἔνιοι δὲ τῶν ποιητῶν μυθολογοῦσι κατὰ τὸν τοῦ Πλούτωνος καὶ Φερσεφόνης γάμον ὑπὸ Διὸς ἀνακάλυπτρα τῇ νύμφῃ δεδόσθαι ταύτην τὴν νῆσον. τοὺς δὲ κατοικοῦντας αὐτὴν τὸ παλαιὸν Σικανοὺς αὐτόχθονας εἶναί φασιν οἱ νομιμώτατοι τῶν συγγραφέων, καὶ τάς τε προειρημένας θεὰς ἐν ταύτῃ τῇ νήσῳ πρώτως φανῆναι καὶ τὸν τοῦ σίτου καρπὸν ταύτην πρώτην ἀνεῖναι διὰ τὴν ἀρετὴν τῆς χώρας, περὶ ὧν καὶ τὸν ἐπιφανέστατον τῶν ποιητῶν μαρτυρεῖν λέγοντα ἀλλὰ τά γʼ ἄσπαρτα καὶ ἀνήροτα πάντα φύονται πυροὶ καὶ κριθαί, ἠδʼ ἄμπελοι, αἵτε φέρουσιν οἶνον ἐριστάφυλον, καί σφιν Διὸς ὄμβρος ἀέξει. ἔν τε γὰρ τῷ Λεοντίνῳ πεδίῳ καὶ κατὰ πολλοὺς ἄλλους τόπους τῆς Σικελίας μέχρι τοῦ νῦν φύεσθαι τοὺς ἀγρίους ὀνομαζομένους πυρούς. καθόλου δὲ πρὸ τῆς εὑρέσεως τοῦ σίτου ζητουμένου κατὰ ποίαν τῆς οἰκουμένης γῆν πρῶτον ἐφάνησαν οἱ προειρημένοι καρποί, εἰκός ἐστιν ἀποδίδοσθαι τὸ πρωτεῖον τῇ κρατίστῃ χώρᾳ· καὶ τὰς θεὰς δὲ τὰς εὑρούσας ἀκολούθως τοῖς εἰρημένοις ὁρᾶν ἐστι μάλιστα τιμωμένας παρὰ τοῖς Σικελιώταις.
And since we have given this Book the title "On the Islands," in accordance with this heading the first island we shall speak about will be Sicily, since it is both the richest of the islands and holds first place in respect of the great age of the myths related concerning it. The island in ancient times was called, after its shape, Trinacria, then Sicania after the Sicani who made their home there, and finally it has been given the name Sicily after the Siceli who crossed over in a body to it from Italy. 2 Its circumference is some four thousand three hundred and sixty stades; for of its three sides, that extending from Pelorias to Lilybaion is one thousand seven hundred stades, that from Lilybaion to Pachynus in the territory of Syracuse is a thousand five hundred, and the remaining side is one thousand one hundred and forty stades. The Siceliotae who dwell in the island have received the tradition from their ancestors, the report having ever been handed down successively from earliest time by one generation to the next, that the island is sacred to Demeter and Core; although there are certain poets who recount the myth that at the marriage of Pluton and Persephone Zeus gave this island as a wedding present to the bride. 4 That the ancient inhabitants of Sicily, the Sicani, were indigenous, is stated by the best authorities among historians, also that the goddesses we have mentioned first made their appearance on this island, and that it was the first, because of the fertility of the soil, to bring forth the fruit of the corn, facts to which the most renowned of the poets also bears witness when he writes: But all these things grow there for them unsown And e'en untilled, both wheat and barley, yea, And vines, which yield such wine as fine grapes give, And rain of Zeus gives increase unto them. Indeed, in the plain of Leontini, we are told, and throughout many other parts of Sicily the wheat men call "wild" grows even to this day. And, speaking generally, before the corn was discovered, if one were to raise the question, what manner of land it was of the inhabited earth where the fruits we have mentioned appeared for the first time, the meed of honour may reasonably be accorded to the richest land; and in keeping with what we have stated, it is also to be observed that the goddesses who made this discovery are those who receive the highest honours among the Siceliotae.
§ 5.3
καὶ τῆς ἁρπαγῆς τῆς κατὰ τὴν Κόρην ἐν ταύτῃ γενομένης ἀπόδειξιν εἶναι λέγουσι φανερωτάτην ὅτι τὰς διατριβὰς αἱ θεαὶ κατὰ ταύτην τὴν νῆσον ἐποιοῦντο διὰ τὸ στέργεσθαι μάλιστα παρʼ αὐταῖς ταύτην. γενέσθαι δὲ μυθολογοῦσι τὴν ἁρπαγὴν τῆς Κόρης ἐν τοῖς λειμῶσι τοῖς κατὰ τὴν Ἔνναν. ἔστι δʼ ὁ τόπος οὗτος πλησίον μὲν τῆς πόλεως, ἴοις δὲ καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἄνθεσι παντοδαποῖς ἐκπρεπὴς καὶ τῆς θεᾶς ἄξιος. διὰ δὲ τὴν ἀπὸ τῶν φυομένων ἀνθῶν εὐωδίαν λέγεται τοὺς κυνηγεῖν εἰωθότας κύνας μὴ δύνασθαι στιβεύειν, ἐμποδιζομένους τὴν φυσικὴν αἴσθησιν. ἔστι δʼ ὁ προειρημένος λειμὼν ἄνωθεν μὲν ὁμαλὸς καὶ παντελῶς εὔυδρος, κύκλῳ δʼ ὑψηλὸς καὶ πανταχόθεν κρημνοῖς ἀπότομος. δοκεῖ δʼ ἐν μέσῳ κεῖσθαι τῆς ὅλης νήσου, διὸ καὶ Σικελίας ὀμφαλὸς ὑπό τινων προσαγορεύεται. ἔχει δὲ καὶ πλησίον ἄλση καὶ λειμῶνας καὶ περὶ ταῦτα ἕλη, καὶ σπήλαιον εὐμέγεθες, ἔχον χάσμα κατάγειον πρὸς τὴν ἄρκτον νενευκός, δι’ οὗ μυθολογοῦσι τὸν Πλούτωνα μεθʼ ἅρματος ἐπελθόντα ποιήσασθαι τὴν ἁρπαγὴν τῆς Κόρης. τὰ δὲ ἴα καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἀνθῶν τὰ παρεχόμενα τὴν εὐωδίαν παραδόξως διʼ ὅλου τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ παραμένειν θάλλοντα καὶ τὴν ὅλην πρόσοψιν ἀνθηρὰν καὶ ἐπιτερπῆ παρεχόμενα.%5 μυθολογοῦσι δὲ μετὰ τῆς Κόρης τὰς τῆς ὁμοίας παρθενίας ἠξιωμένας Ἀθηνᾶν τε καὶ Ἄρτεμιν συντρεφομένας συνάγειν μετʼ αὐτῆς τὰ ἄνθη καὶ κατασκευάζειν κοινῇ τῷ πατρὶ Διὶ τὸν πέπλον. διὰ δὲ τὰς μετʼ ἀλλήλων διατριβάς τε καὶ ὁμιλίας ἁπάσας στέρξαι τὴν νῆσον ταύτην μάλιστα, καὶ λαχεῖν ἑκάστην αὐτῶν χώραν, τὴν μὲν Ἀθηνᾶν ἐν τοῖς περὶ τὸν Ἱμέραν μέρεσιν, ἐν οἷς τὰς μὲν Νύμφας χαριζομένας Ἀθηνᾷ τὰς τῶν θερμῶν ὑδάτων ἀνεῖναι πηγὰς κατὰ τὴν Ἡρακλέους παρουσίαν, τοὺς δʼ ἐγχωρίους πόλιν αὐτῇ καθιερῶσαι καὶ χώραν τὴν ὀνομαζομένην μέχρι τοῦ νῦν Ἀθήναιον· τὴν δʼ Ἄρτεμιν τὴν ἐν ταῖς Συρακούσαις νῆσον λαβεῖν παρὰ τῶν θεῶν τὴν ἀπʼ ἐκείνης Ὀρτυγίαν ὑπό τε τῶν χρησμῶν καὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ὀνομασθεῖσαν. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ κατὰ τὴν νῆσον ταύτην ἀνεῖναι τὰς Νύμφας ταύτας χαριζομένας τῇ Ἀρτέμιδι μεγίστην πηγὴν τὴν ὀνομαζομένην Ἀρέθουσαν. ταύτην δʼ οὐ μόνον κατὰ τοὺς ἀρχαίους χρόνους ἔχειν μεγάλους καὶ πολλοὺς ἰχθῦς, ἀλλὰ καὶ κατὰ τὴν ἡμετέραν ἡλικίαν διαμένειν συμβαίνει τούτους, ἱεροὺς ὄντας καὶ ἀθίκτους ἀνθρώποις· ἐξ ὧν πολλάκις τινῶν κατὰ τὰς πολεμικὰς περιστάσεις φαγόντων, παραδόξως ἐπεσήμηνε τὸ θεῖον καὶ μεγάλαις συμφοραῖς περιέβαλε τοὺς τολμήσαντας προσενέγκασθαι· περὶ ὧν ἀκριβῶς ἀναγράψομεν ἐν τοῖς οἰκείοις χρόνοις.
Again, the fact that the Rape of Core took place in Sicily is, men say, proof most evident that the goddesses made this island their favourite retreat because it was cherished by them before all others. 2 And the Rape of Core, the myth relates, took place in the meadows in the territory of Enna. The spot lies near the city, a place of striking beauty for its violets and every other kind of flower and worthy of the goddess. And the story is told that, because of the sweet odour of the flowers growing there, trained hunting dogs are unable to hold the trail, because their natural sense of smell is balked.a And the meadow we have mentioned is level in the centre and well watered throughout, but on its periphery it rises high and falls off with precipitous cliffs on every side. And it is conceived of as lying in the very centre of the island, which is the reason why certain writers call it the navel of Sicily. Near to it also are sacred groves, surrounded by marshy flats, and a huge grotto which contains a chasm which leads down into the earth and opens to the north, and through it, the myth relates, Pluton, coming out with his chariot, effected the Rape of Core. And the violets, we are told, and the rest of the flowers which supply the sweet odour continue to bloom, to one's amazement, throughout the entire year, and so the whole aspect of the place is one of flowers and delight. 4 And both Athena and Artemis, the myth goes on to say, who had made the same choice of maidenhood as had Core and were reared together with her, joined with her in gathering the flowers, and all of them together wove the robe for their father Zeus. And because of the time they had spent together and their intimacy they all loved this island above any other, and each one of them received for her portion a territory, Athena receiving hers in the region of Himera, where the Nymphs, to please Athena, caused the springs of warm water to gush forth on the occasion of the visit of Heracles to the island, and the natives consecrated a city to her and a plot of ground which to this day is called Athena's. And Artemis received from the gods the island at Syracuse which was named after her, by both the oracles and men, Ortygia. On this island likewise these Nymphs, to please Artemis, caused a great fountain to gush forth to which was given the name Arethusa. 6 And not only in ancient times did this fountain contain large fish in great numbers, but also in our own day we find these fish still there, considered to be holy and not to be touched by men; and on many occasions, when certain men have eaten them amid stress of war, the deity has shown a striking sign, and has visited with great sufferings such as dared to take them for food. Of these matters we shall give an exact account in connection with the appropriate period of time.
§ 5.4
ὁμοίως δὲ ταῖς προειρημέναις δυσὶ θεαῖς καὶ τὴν Κόρην λαχεῖν τοὺς περὶ τὴν Ἔνναν λειμῶνας· πηγὴν δὲ μεγάλην αὐτῇ καθιερωθῆναι ἐν τῇ Συρακοσίᾳ τὴν ὀνομαζομένην Κυάνην. τὸν γὰρ Πλούτωνα μυθολογοῦσι τὴν ἁρπαγὴν ποιησάμενον ἀποκομίσαι τὴν Κόρην ἐφʼ ἅρματος πλησίον τῶν Συρακουσῶν, καὶ τὴν γῆν ἀναρρήξαντα αὐτὸν μὲν μετὰ τῆς ἁρπαγείσης δῦναι καθʼ ᾅδου, πηγὴν δʼ ἀνεῖναι τὴν ὀνομαζομένην Κυάνην, πρὸς ᾗ κατʼ ἐνιαυτὸν οἱ Συρακόσιοι πανήγυριν ἐπιφανῆ συντελοῦσι, καὶ θύουσιν οἱ μὲν ἰδιῶται τὰ ἐλάττω τῶν ἱερείων, δημοσίᾳ δὲ ταύρους βυθίζουσιν ἐν τῇ λίμνῃ, ταύτην τὴν θυσίαν καταδείξαντος Ἡρακλέους καθʼ ὃν καιρὸν τὰς Γηρυόνου βοῦς ἐλαύνων περιῆλθε πᾶσαν τὴν Σικελίαν. μετὰ δὲ τὴν τῆς Κόρης ἁρπαγὴν μυθολογοῦσι τὴν Δήμητραν μὴ δυναμένην ἀνευρεῖν τὴν θυγατέρα λαμπάδας ἐκ τῶν κατὰ τὴν Αἴτνην κρατήρων ἀναψαμένην ἐπελθεῖν ἐπὶ πολλὰ μέρη τῆς οἰκουμένης, τῶν δʼ ἀνθρώπων τοὺς μάλιστʼ αὐτὴν προσδεξαμένους εὐεργετῆσαι τὸν τῶν πυρῶν καρπὸν ἀντιδωρησαμένην. φιλανθρωπότατα δὲ τῶν Ἀθηναίων ὑποδεξαμένων τὴν θεόν, πρώτοις τούτοις μετὰ τοὺς Σικελιώτας δωρήσασθαι τὸν τῶν πυρῶν καρπόν· ἀνθʼ ὧν ὁ δῆμος οὗτος περιττότερον τῶν ἄλλων ἐτίμησαν τὴν θεὸν θυσίαις τʼ ἐπιφανεστάταις καὶ τοῖς ἐν Ἐλευσῖνι μυστηρίοις, ἃ διὰ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῆς ἀρχαιότητος καὶ ἁγνείας ἐγένετο πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις περιβόητα. παρὰ δὲ τῶν Ἀθηναίων πολλοὶ μεταλαβόντες τῆς ἐκ τοῦ σίτου φιλανθρωπίας, καὶ τοῖς πλησιοχώροις μεταδιδόντες τοῦ σπέρματος, ἐπλήρωσαν πᾶσαν τὴν οἰκουμένην. οἱ δὲ κατὰ τὴν Σικελίαν, διὰ τὴν τῆς Δήμητρος καὶ Κόρης πρὸς αὐτοὺς οἰκειότητα πρῶτοι τῆς εὑρέσεως τοῦ σίτου μεταλαβόντες, ἑκατέρᾳ τῶν θεῶν κατέδειξαν θυσίας καὶ πανηγύρεις, ἐπωνύμους αὐταῖς ποιήσαντες καὶ τῷ χρόνῳ διασημήναντες τὰς δοθείσας δωρεάς. τῆς μὲν γὰρ Κόρης τὴν καταγωγὴν ἐποιήσαντο περὶ τὸν καιρὸν ἐν ᾧ τὸν τοῦ σίτου καρπὸν τελεσιουργεῖσθαι συνέβαινε, καὶ ταύτην τὴν θυσίαν καὶ πανήγυριν μετὰ τοσαύτης ἁγνείας καὶ σπουδῆς ἐπιτελοῦσιν ὅσης εἰκός ἐστι τοὺς τῇ κρατίστῃ δωρεᾷ προκριθέντας τῶν ἄλλων ἀνθρώπων ἀποδιδόναι τὰς χάριτας· τῆς δὲ Δήμητρος τὸν καιρὸν τῆς θυσίας προέκριναν ἐν ᾧ τὴν ἀρχὴν ὁ σπόρος τοῦ σίτου λαμβάνει, ἐπὶ δʼ ἡμέρας δέκα πανήγυριν ἄγουσιν ἐπώνυμον τῆς θεοῦ ταύτης, τῇ τε λαμπρότητι τῆς παρασκευῆς μεγαλοπρεπεστάτην καὶ τῇ διασκευῇ μιμούμενοι τὸν ἀρχαῖον βίον. ἔθος δʼ ἐστὶν αὐτοῖς ἐν ταύταις ταῖς ἡμέραις αἰσχρολογεῖν κατὰ τὰς πρὸς ἀλλήλους ὁμιλίας διὰ τὸ τὴν θεὸν ἐπὶ τῇ τῆς Κόρης ἁρπαγῇ λυπουμένην γελάσαι διὰ τὴν αἰσχρολογίαν.
Like the two goddesses whom we have mentioned Core, we are told, received as her portion the meadows round about Enna; but a great fountain was made sacred to her in the territory of Syracuse and given the name Cyane or "Azure Fount." 2 For the myth relates that it was near Syracuse that Pluton effected the Rape of Core and took her away in his chariot, and that after cleaving the earth asunder he himself descended into Hades, taking along with him the bride whom he had seized, and that he caused the fountain named Cyane to gush forth, near which the Syracusans each year hold a notable festive gathering; and private individuals offer the lesser victims, but when the ceremony is on behalf of the community, bulls are plunged in the pool, this manner of sacrifice having been commanded by Heracles on the occasion when he made the circuit of all Sicily, while driving off the cattle of Geryones. After the Rape of Core, the myth does on to recount, Demeter, being unable to find her daughter, kindled torches in the craters of Mt. Aetna and visited many parts of the inhabited world, and upon the men who received her with the greatest favour she conferred briefs, rewarding them with the gift of the fruit of the wheat. 4 And since a more kindly welcome was extended the goddess by the Athenians than by any other people, they were the first after the Siceliotae to be given the fruit of the wheat; and in return for this gift the citizens of that city in assembly honoured the goddess above all others with the establishment both of most notable sacrifices and of the mysteries of Eleusis, which, by reason of their very great antiquity and sanctity, have come to be famous among all mankind. From the Athenians many peoples received a portion of the gracious gift of the corn, and they in turn, sharing the gift of the seed with their neighbours, in this way caused all the inhabited world to abound with it. And the inhabitants of Sicily, since by reason of the intimate relationship of Demeter and Core with them they were the first to share in the corn after its discovery, instituted to each one of the goddesses sacrifices and festive gatherings, which they named after them, and by the time chosen for these made acknowledgement of the gifts which had been conferred upon them. 6 In the case of Core, for instance, they established the celebration of her return at about the time when the fruit of the corn was found to come to maturity, and they celebrate this sacrifice and festive gathering with such strictness of observance and such zeal as we should reasonably expect those men to show who are returning thanks for having been selected before all mankind for the greatest possible gift; 7 but in the case of Demeter they preferred that time for the sacrifice when the sowing of the corn is first begun, and for a period of ten days they hold a festive gathering which bears the name of this goddess and is most magnificent by reason of the brilliance of their preparation for it, while in the observance of it they imitate the ancient manner of life. And it is their custom during these days to indulge in coarse language as they associate one with another, the reason being that by such coarseness the goddess, grieved though she was at the Rape of Core, burst into laughter.
§ 5.5
περὶ δὲ τῆς κατὰ τὴν Κόρην ἁρπαγῆς, ὅτι γέγονεν ὡς προειρήκαμεν, πολλοὶ τῶν ἀρχαίων συγγραφέων καὶ ποιητῶν μεμαρτυρήκασι. καρκίνος μὲν γὰρ ὁ τῶν τραγῳδιῶν ποιητής, πλεονάκις ἐν ταῖς Συρακούσαις παρεπιδεδημηκὼς καὶ τὴν τῶν ἐγχωρίων τεθεαμένος σπουδὴν περὶ τὰς θυσίας καὶ πανηγύρεις τῆς τε Δήμητρος καὶ Κόρης, κατεχώρισεν ἐν τοῖς ποιήμασι τούσδε τοὺς στίχους· λέγουσι Δήμητρός ποτʼ ἄρρητον κόρην Πλούτωνα κρυφίοις ἁρπάσαι βουλεύμασι, δῦναί τε γαίας εἰς μελαμφαεῖς μυχούς, πόθῳ δὲ μητέρʼ ἠφανισμένης κόρης μαστῆρʼ ἐπελθεῖν πᾶσαν ἐν κύκλῳ χθόνα. καὶ τὴν μὲν Αἰτναίοισι Σικελίαν πάγοις πυρὸς γέμουσαν ῥεύμασιν δυσεμβόλοις πᾶσαν στενάξαι, πένθεσιν δὲ παρθένου σίτων ἄμοιρον διοτρεφὲς φθίνειν γένος. ὅθεν θεὰς τιμῶσιν εἰς τὰ νῦν ἔτι. οὐκ ἄξιον δὲ παραλιπεῖν τῆς θεοῦ ταύτης τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῆς εἰς τοὺς ἀνθρώπους εὐεργεσίας· χωρὶς γὰρ τῆς εὑρέσεως τοῦ σίτου τήν τε κατεργασίαν αὐτοῦ τοὺς ἀνθρώπους ἐδίδαξε καὶ νόμους εἰσηγήσατο καθʼ οὓς δικαιοπραγεῖν εἰθίσθησαν, διʼ ἣν αἰτίαν φασὶν αὐτὴν θεσμοφόρον ἐπονομασθῆναι. τούτων δὲ τῶν εὑρημάτων οὐκ ἄν τις ἑτέραν εὐεργεσίαν εὕροι μείζονα· καὶ γὰρ τὸ ζῆν καὶ τὸ καλῶς ζῆν περιέχουσι. περὶ μὲν οὖν τῶν μυθολογουμένων παρὰ τοῖς Σικελιώταις ἀρκεσθησόμεθα τοῖς ῥηθεῖσιν.
That the Rape of Core took place in the manner we have described is attested by many ancient historians and poets. Carcinus the tragic poet, for instance, who often visited in Syracuse and witnessed the zeal which the inhabitants displayed in the sacrifices and festive gatherings for both Demeter and Core, has the following verses in his writings: Demeter's daughter, her whom none may name, By secret schemings Pluton, men say, stole, And then he dropped into earth's depths, whose light Is darkness. Longing for the vanished girl Her mother searched and visited all lands In turn. And Sicily's land by Aetna's crags Was filled with streams of fire which no man could Approach, and groaned throughout its length; in grief Over the maiden now the folk, beloved Of Zeus, was perishing without the corn. Hence honour they these goddesses e'en now. 2 But we should not omit to mention the very great benefaction which Demeter conferred upon mankind; for beside the fact that she was the discoverer of corn, she also taught mankind how to prepare it for food and introduced laws by obedience to which men became accustomed to the practice of justice, this being the reason, we are told, why she has been given the epithet Thesmophoros or Lawgiver. Surely a benefaction greater than these discoveries of hers one could not find; for they embrace both living and living honourably. However, as for the myths which are current among the Siceliotae, we shall be satisfied with what has been said.
§ 5.6
περὶ δὲ τῶν κατοικησάντων ἐν αὐτῇ πρώτων Σικανῶν, ἐπειδή τινες τῶν συγγραφέων διαφωνοῦσιν, ἀναγκαῖόν ἐστι συντόμως εἰπεῖν. Φίλιστος μὲν γάρ φησιν ἐξ Ἰβηρίας αὐτοὺς ἀποικισθέντας κατοικῆσαι τὴν νῆσον, ἀπό τινος Σικανοῦ ποταμοῦ κατʼ Ἰβηρίαν ὄντος τετευχότας ταύτης τῆς προσηγορίας, Τίμαιος δὲ τὴν ἄγνοιαν τούτου τοῦ συγγραφέως ἐλέγξας ἀκριβῶς ἀποφαίνεται τούτους αὐτόχθονας εἶναι· πολλὰς δʼ αὐτοῦ φέροντος ἀποδείξεις τῆς τούτων ἀρχαιότητος, οὐκ ἀναγκαῖον ἡγούμεθα περὶ τούτων διεξιέναι. οἱ δʼ οὖν Σικανοὶ τὸ παλαιὸν κωμηδὸν ᾤκουν, ἐπὶ τῶν ὀχυρωτάτων λόφων τὰς πόλεις κατασκευάζοντες διὰ τοὺς λῃστάς· οὐ γὰρ ἦσαν ὑπὸ μίαν ἡγεμονίαν βασιλέως τεταγμένοι, κατὰ πόλιν δὲ ἑκάστην εἷς ἦν ὁ δυναστεύων. καὶ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἅπασαν τὴν νῆσον κατῴκουν, καὶ τὴν χώραν ἐργαζόμενοι τὰς τροφὰς εἶχον· ὕστερον δὲ τῆς Αἴτνης ἐν πλείοσι τόποις ἀναφυσήματα πυρὸς ἀνείσης, καὶ πολλοῦ κατὰ τὴν χώραν ῥύακος ἐκχυθέντος, συνέβη φθαρῆναι τῆς γῆς ἐπὶ πολὺν τόπον. ἐπʼ ἔτη δὲ πλείω τοῦ πυρὸς ἐπινεμομένου πολλὴν χώραν, φοβηθέντες τὰ μὲν πρὸς ἕω κεκλιμένα τῆς Σικελίας ἐξέλιπον, εἰς δὲ τὰ πρὸς δυσμὰς νεύοντα μετῴκησαν. τὸ δὲ τελευταῖον πολλαῖς γενεαῖς ὕστερον ἐκ τῆς Ἰταλίας τὸ τῶν Σικελῶν ἔθνος πανδημεὶ περαιωθὲν εἰς τὴν Σικελίαν, τὴν ὑπὸ τῶν Σικανῶν ἐκλειφθεῖσαν χώραν κατῴκησαν. ἀεὶ δὲ τῇ πλεονεξίᾳ προβαινόντων τῶν Σικελῶν, καὶ τὴν ὅμορον πορθούντων, ἐγένοντο πόλεμοι πλεονάκις αὐτοῖς πρὸς τοὺς Σικανούς, ἕως συνθήκας ποιησάμενοι συμφώνους ὅρους ἔθεντο τῆς χώρας· περὶ ὧν τὰ κατὰ μέρος ἐν τοῖς οἰκείοις χρόνοις ἀναγράψομεν. ὕσταται δʼ ἀποικίαι τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἐγένοντο κατὰ τὴν Σικελίαν ἀξιόλογοι καὶ πόλεις παρὰ θάλατταν ἐκτίσθησαν. ἀναμιγνύμενοι δʼ ἀλλήλοις καὶ διὰ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν καταπλεόντων Ἑλλήνων τήν τε διάλεκτον αὐτῶν ἔμαθον καὶ ταῖς ἀγωγαῖς συντραφέντες τὸ τελευταῖον τὴν βάρβαρον διάλεκτον ἅμα καὶ τὴν προσηγορίαν ἠλλάξαντο, Σικελιῶται προσαγορευθέντες.
We must now write briefly about the Sicani who were the first inhabitants of Sicily, in view of the fact that certain historians are not in agreement about this people. Philistus, for instance, says that they removed from Iberia and settled the island, having got the name they bore from a certain river in Iberia named Sicanus, but Timaeus adduces proof of the ignorance of this historian and correctly declares that they were indigenous; and inasmuch as the evidences he offers of the antiquity of this people are many, we think that there is no need for us to recount them. 2 The Sicani, then, originally made their homes in villages, building their settlements upon the strongest hills because of the pirates; for they had not yet been brought under the single rule of a king, but in each settlement there was one man who was lord. And at first they made their home in every part of the island and secured their food by tilling the land; but at a later time, when Aetna sent up volcanic eruptions in an increasing number of places and a great torrent of lava was poured forth over the land, it came to pass that a great stretch of the country was ruined. And since the fire kept consuming a large area of the land during an increasing number of years, in fear they left the eastern parts of Sicily and removed to the western. And last of all, many generations later, the people of the Siceli crossed over in a body from Italy into Sicily and made their home in the land which had been abandoned by the Sicani. 4 And since the Siceli steadily grew more avaricious and kept ravaging the land which bordered on theirs, frequent wars arose between them and the Sicani, until at last they struck covenants and set up boundaries, upon which they had agreed, for the territory. With regard to the Sicani we shall give a detailed account in connection with the appropriate period of time. The colonies of the Greeks — and notable ones they were — were the last to be made in Sicily, and their cities were founded on the sea. All the inhabitants mingled with one another, and since the Greeks came to the island in great numbers, the natives learned their speech, and then, having been brought up in the Greek ways of life, they lost in the end their barbarian speech as well as their name, all of them being called Siceliotae.
§ 5.7
ἡμεῖς δὲ περὶ τούτων ἀρκούντως εἰρηκότες μεταβιβάσομεν τὸν λόγον ἐπὶ τὰς νήσους τὰς ὀνομαζομένας Αἰολίδας. αὗται δʼ εἰσὶ τὸν μὲν ἀριθμὸν ἑπτά, προσηγορίας δʼ ἔχουσι ταύτας, Στρογγύλη καὶ Εὐώνυμος, ἔτι δὲ Διδύμη καὶ Φοινικώδης καὶ Ἐρικώδης, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις Ἱερὰ Ἡφαίστου καὶ Λιπάρα, καθʼ ἣν ὁμώνυμος πόλις καθίδρυται. κεῖνται δʼ αὗται μεταξὺ Σικελίας καὶ Ἰταλίας ἐπʼ εὐθείας ἀπὸ πορθμοῦ καὶ τῆς πρὸς ἕω πρὸς δύσιν. ἀπέχουσι δὲ τῆς Σικελίας ὡς ἑκατὸν πεντήκοντα σταδίους, καὶ τὸ μέγεθός εἰσιν ἀλλήλαις παραπλήσιαι· ἡ δὲ μεγίστη αὐτῶν ἐστι τὴν περίμετρον σταδίων ὡς ἑκατὸν πεντήκοντα. αὗται δὲ πᾶσαι πυρὸς ἐσχήκασιν ἀναφυσήματα μεγάλα, ὧν κρατῆρες οἱ γεγενημένοι καὶ τὰ στόμια μέχρι τοῦ νῦν εἰσι φανερά. ἐν δὲ τῇ Στρογγύλῃ καὶ τῇ Ἱερᾷ μέχρι τοῦ νῦν ἐκ τῶν χασμάτων ἐκπίπτει πνεύματος μέγεθος καὶ βρόμος ἐξαίσιος· ἐκφυσᾶται δὲ καὶ ἅμμος καὶ λίθων διαπύρων πλῆθος, καθάπερ ἔστιν ὁρᾶν καὶ περὶ τὴν Αἴτνην γινόμενον. λέγουσι γάρ τινες ἐκ τούτων τῶν νήσων ὑπονόμους εἶναι κατὰ γῆς μέχρι τῆς Αἴτνης καὶ τοῖς ἐπʼ ἀμφότερα στομίοις συνημμένους· διὸ καὶ κατὰ τὸ πλεῖστον ἐναλλὰξ κάεσθαι τοὺς ἐν ταύταις ταῖς νήσοις κρατῆρας τῶν κατὰ τὴν Αἴτνην. φασὶ δὲ τὰς Αἰόλου νήσους τὸ μὲν παλαιὸν ἐρήμους γεγονέναι, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τὸν ὀνομαζόμενον Λίπαρον, Αὔσονος ὄντα τοῦ βασιλέως υἱόν, ὑπὸ τῶν ἀδελφῶν καταστασιασθῆναι, κυριεύσαντα δὲ νεῶν μακρῶν καὶ στρατιωτῶν ἐκ τῆς Ἰταλίας φυγεῖν εἰς τὴν ἀπὸ τούτου Λιπάραν ὀνομασθεῖσαν· ἐν ταύτῃ δὲ τὴν ἐπώνυμον αὑτοῦ πόλιν κτίσαι, καὶ τὰς ἄλλας νήσους τὰς προειρημένας γεωργῆσαι. τούτου δὲ γεγηρακότος Αιὄλον τὸν Ἱππότου μετά τινων παραβαλόντα εἰς τὴν Λιπάραν τὴν τοῦ Λιπάρου θυγατέρα γῆμαι Κυάνην· καὶ τοὺς λαοὺς κοινῇ μετὰ τῶν ἐγχωρίων πολιτεύεσθαι ποιήσας ἐβασίλευσε τῆς νήσου. τῷ δὲ Λιπάρῳ τῆς Ἰταλίας ἐπιθυμοῦντι συγκατεσκεύασεν αὐτῷ τοὺς περὶ τὸ Σύρρεντον τόπους, ὅπου βασιλεύσας καὶ μεγάλης ἀποδοχῆς τυχὼν ἐτελεύτησε· ταφεὶς δὲ μεγαλοπρεπῶς τιμῶν ἔτυχεν ἡρωικῶν παρὰ τοῖς ἐγχωρίοις. ὁ δʼ Αἰόλος οὗτός ἐστι πρὸς ὃν μυθολογοῦσι τὸν Ὀδυσσέα κατὰ τὴν πλάνην ἀφικέσθαι. γενέσθαι δʼ αὐτόν φασιν εὐσεβῆ καὶ δίκαιον, ἔτι δὲ καὶ πρὸς τοὺς ξένους φιλάνθρωπον· πρὸς δὲ τούτοις τὴν τῶν ἱστίων χρείαν τοῖς ναυτικοῖς ἐπεισηγήσασθαι, καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς τοῦ πυρὸς προσημασίας παρατετηρηκότα προλέγειν τοὺς ἐγχωρίους ἀνέμους εὐστόχως, ἐξ οὗ ταμίαν αὐτὸν εἶναι τῶν ἀνέμων ὁ μῦθος ἀνέδειξε· διὰ δὲ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῆς εὐσεβείας φίλον τῶν θεῶν ὀνομασθῆναι.
But since we have spoken about these matters at sufficient length we shall turn our discussion to the islands known as the Aeolides. These islands are seven in number and bear the following names: Strongyle, Euonymus, Didyme, Phoenicodes, Ericodes, Hiera Hephaestou, and Lipara, on which is situated a city of the same name. 2 They lie between Sicily and Italy in a straight line from the Strait, extending from east to west. They are about one hundred and fifty stades distant from Sicily and are all of about the same size, and the largest one of them is about one hundred and fifty stades in circumference. All of them have experienced great volcanic eruptions, and the resulting craters and openings may be seen to this day. On Strongyle and Hiera even at the present time there are sent forth from the open mouths great exhalations accompanied by an enormous roaring, and sand and a multitude of red-hot stones are erupted, as may also be seen taking place on Aetna. 4 The reason is, as some say, that passages lead under the earth from these islands to Aetna and are connected with the openings at both ends of them, and this is why the craters on these islands usually alternate in activity with those of Aetna. We are told that the islands of Aeolus were uninhabited in ancient times, but that later Liparus, as he was called, the son of Auson the king, was overcome by his brothers who rebelled against him, and securing some warships and soldiers he fled from Italy to the island, which received the name Lipara after him; on it he founded the city which bears his name and brought under cultivation the other islands mentioned before. 6 And when Liparus had already come to old age, Aeolus, the son of Hippotes, came to Lipara with certain companions and married Cyane, the daughter of Liparus; and after he had formed a government in which his followers and the natives shared equally he became king over the island. To Liparus, who had a longing for Italy, Aeolus gave his aid in securing for him the regions about Surrentum, where he became king and, after winning great esteem, ended his days; and after he had been accorded a magnificent funeral he received at the hands of the natives honours equal to those offered to the heroes. 7 This is the Aeolus to whom, the myth relates, Odysseus came in the course of his wanderings. He was, they say, pious and just and kindly as well in his treatment of strangers; furthermore, he introduced sea-farers to the use of sails and had learned, by long observation of what the fire foretold, to predict with accuracy the local winds, this being the reason why the myth has referred to him as the "keeper of the winds";28 and it was because of his very great piety that he was called a friend of the Gods.
§ 5.8
τοῦ δʼ Αἰόλου υἱοὺς γενέσθαι τὸν ἀριθμὸν ἕξ, Ἀστύοχον καὶ Ξοῦθον καὶ Ἀνδροκλέα, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις Φεραίμονα καὶ Ἰόκαστον καὶ Ἀγάθυρνον· πάντας δὲ τούτους διά τε τὴν τοῦ πατρὸς δόξαν καὶ διὰ τὰς ἀρετὰς ἀποδοχῆς μεγάλης τυχεῖν· τούτων δʼ Ἰόκαστος μὲν τῆς Ἰταλίας ἀντεχόμενος ἐβασίλευσε τῆς παραλίας μέχρι τῶν κατὰ τὸ Ῥήγιον τόπων, Φεραίμων δὲ καὶ Ἀνδροκλῆς ἐδυνάστευσαν τῆς Σικελίας ἀπὸ τοῦ πορθμοῦ μέχρι τῶν κατὰ τὸ Λιλύβαιον τόπων. ταύτης δὲ τῆς χώρας τὰ μὲν πρὸς ἕω κεκλιμένα μέρη κατῴκουν Σικελοί, τὰ δὲ πρὸς δυσμὰς Σικανοί. ταῦτα δὲ τὰ ἔθνη πρὸς ἄλληλα διεφέροντο, τοῖς δʼ Αἰόλου παισὶ τοῖς προειρημένοις ἑκουσίως ὑπήκουον διά τε τὴν τοῦ πατρὸς Αἰόλου διαβεβοημένην εὐσέβειαν καὶ διὰ τὴν αὐτῶν ἐκείνων ἐπιείκειαν. ἐβασίλευσε δὲ καὶ Ξοῦθος τῆς περὶ τοὺς Λεοντίνους χώρας, ἥτις ἀπʼ ἐκείνου μέχρι τοῦ νῦν χρόνου Ξουθία προσαγορεύεται. Ἀγάθυρνος δὲ βασιλεύσας τῆς νῦν ὀνομαζομένης Ἀγαθυρνίτιδος χώρας ἔκτισε πόλιν τὴν ἀπʼ αὐτοῦ κληθεῖσαν Ἀγάθυρνον. Ἀστύοχος δὲ τῆς Λιπάρας ἔσχε τὴν ἡγεμονίαν. πάντες δʼ οὗτοι μιμησάμενοι τὴν τοῦ πατρὸς εὐσέβειάν τε καὶ δικαιοσύνην μεγάλης ἐτύγχανον ἀποδοχῆς. ἐπὶ πολλὰς δὲ γενεὰς τῶν ἐκγόνων διαδεχομένων τὰς δυναστείας, τὸ τελευταῖον οἱ ἀπʼ Αἰόλου γεγονότες βασιλεῖς κατὰ τὴν Σικελίαν διελύθησαν.
To Aeolus, we are told, sons were born to the number of six, Astyochus, Xuthus, and Androcles, and Pheraemon, Jocastus, and Agathyrnus, and they every one received great approbation both because of the fame of their father and because of their own high achievements. Of their number Jocastus held fast to Italy and was king of the coast as far as the regions about Rhegium, but Pheraemon and Androcles were lords over Sicily from the Strait as far as the regions about Lilybaion. Of this country the parts to the east were inhabited by Siceli and those to the west by Sicani. 2 These two peoples quarrelled with each other, but they rendered obedience of their own free will to the sons of Aeolus we have mentioned, both because of the piety of their father Aeolus, which was famed afar, and because of the fair-dealing of the sons themselves. Xuthus was king over the land in the neighbourhood of Leontini, which is known after him as Xuthia to this day. Agathyrnus, becoming king of the land now called Agathyrnitis, founded a city which was called after him Agathyrnus; and Astyochus secured the lordship over Lipara. All these men followed the example which their father had set for both piety and justice and hence were accorded great approbation. Their descendants succeeded to their thrones over many generations, but in the end the kings of the house of Aeolus were overthrown throughout Sicily.
§ 5.9
μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα οἱ μὲν Σικελοὶ τοῖς ἀρίστοις τῶν ἀνδρῶν τὰς ἡγεμονίας ἐνεχείριζον, οἱ δὲ Σικανοὶ περὶ τῆς δυναστείας διαφερόμενοι πρὸς ἀλλήλους ἐπολέμουν ἐπὶ πολλοὺς χρόνους. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα πολλοῖς ἔτεσιν ὕστερον, πάλιν τῶν νήσων ἐξερημουμένων ἀεὶ καὶ μᾶλλον, Κνίδιοί τινες καὶ Ῥόδιοι δυσαρεστήσαντες τῇ βαρύτητι τῶν κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν βασιλέων ἔγνωσαν ἀποικίαν ἐκπέμπειν. διόπερ προστησάμενοι σφῶν αὐτῶν ἡγεμόνα Πένταθλον τὸν Κνίδιον, ὃς ἦν ἀναφέρων τὸ γένος εἰς Ἱππότην τὸν ἀφʼ Ἡρακλέους γεγονότα, κατὰ τὴν ὀλυμπιάδα τὴν πεντηκοστήν, ἣν ἐνίκα στάδιον Ἐπιτελίδας Λάκων, οἱ δʼ οὖν περὶ τὸν Πένταθλον πλεύσαντες τῆς Σικελίας εἰς τοὺς κατὰ τὸ Λιλύβαιον τόπους κατέλαβον Ἐγεσταίους καὶ Σελινουντίους διαπολεμοῦντας πρὸς ἀλλήλους. πεισθέντες δὲ τοῖς Σελινουντίοις συμμαχεῖν πολλοὺς ἀπέβαλον κατὰ τὴν μάχην, ἐν οἷς ἦν καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ Πένταθλος. διόπερ οἱ περιλειφθέντες, ἐπειδὴ κατεπολεμήθησαν οἱ Σελινούντιοι, διέγνωσαν ἀπιέναι πάλιν ἐπʼ οἴκου· ἑλόμενοι δʼ ἡγεμόνας τοὺς οἰκείους τοῦ Πεντάθλου Γόργον καὶ Θέστορα καὶ Ἐπιθερσίδην, ἀπέπλεον διὰ τοῦ Τυρρηνικοῦ πελάγους. προσπλευσάντων δʼ αὐτῶν τῇ Λιπάρᾳ καὶ φιλόφρονος ἀποδοχῆς τυχόντων, ἐπείσθησαν κοινῇ μετὰ τῶν ἐγχωρίων κατοικῆσαι τὴν Λιπάραν, ὄντων τῶν ἀπʼ Αἰόλου περιλελειμμένων ὡς πεντακοσίων. ὕστερον δὲ τῶν Τυρρηνῶν λῃστευόντων τὰ κατὰ θάλατταν πολεμούμενοι κατεσκευάσαντο ναυτικόν, καὶ διελόμενοι σφᾶς αὐτοὺς οἱ μὲν ἐγεώργουν τὰς νήσους κοινὰς ποιήσαντες, οἱ δὲ πρὸς τοὺς λῃστὰς ἀντετάττοντο· καὶ τὰς οὐσίας δὲ κοινὰς ποιησάμενοι καὶ ζῶντες κατὰ συσσίτια, διετέλεσαν ἐπί τινας χρόνους κοινωνικῶς βιοῦντες. ὕστερον δὲ τὴν μὲν Λιπάραν, καθʼ ἣν καὶ ἡ πόλις ἦν, διενείμαντο, τὰς δʼ ἄλλας ἐγεώργουν κοινῇ. τὸ δὲ τελευταῖον πάσας τὰς νήσους εἰς εἴκοσι ἔτη διελόμενοι πάλιν κληρουχοῦσιν, ὅταν ὁ χρόνος οὗτος διέλθῃ. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα πολλαῖς ναυμαχίαις ἐνίκησαν τοὺς Τυρρηνούς, καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν λαφύρων πλεονάκις ἀξιολόγους δεκάτας ἀνέθεσαν εἰς Δελφούς.
After this the Siceli put the leadership in each case in the hands of the ablest man, but the Sicani quarrelled over the lordship and warred against each other during a long period of time. But many years later than these events, when the islands again were becoming steadily more destitute of inhabitants, certain men of Cnidus and Rhodes, being aggrieved at the harsh treatment they were receiving at the hands of the kings of Asia, resolved to send out a colony. 2 Consequently, having chosen for their leader Pentathlus of Cnidus — who traced his ancestry back to Hippotes, who was a descendant of Heracles — in the course of the Fiftieth Olympiad, that in which Epitelidas of Sparta won the "stadion,"31 these settlers, then, of the company of Pentathlus sailed to Sicily to the regions about Lilybaion, where they found the inhabitants of Egesta and of Selinus at war with one another. And being persuaded by the men of Selinus to take their side in the war, they suffered heavy losses in the battle, Pentathlus himself being among those who fell. Consequently the survivors, since the men of Selinus had been defeated in the war, decided to return to their homes; and choosing for leaders Gorgus and Thestor and Epithersides, who were relatives of Pentathlus, they sailed off through the Tyrrhenian sea. 4 But when they put in at Lipara and received a kindly reception, they were prevailed upon to make common cause with the inhabitants of Lipara in forming a single community there, since of the colony of Aeolus there remained only about five hundred men. At a later time, because they were being harassed by the Tyrrheni who were carrying on piracy on the sea, they fitted out a fleet, and divided themselves into two bodies, one of which took over the cultivation of the islands which they had made the common property of the community, whereas the other was to fight the pirates; their possessions also they made common property, and living according to the public mess system, they passed their lives in this communistic fashion for some time. At a later time they apportioned among themselves the island of Lipara, where their city also lay, but cultivated the other islands in common. And in the final stage they divided all the islands among themselves for a period of twenty years, and then they cast lots for them again at every expiration of this period. After effecting this organization they defeated the Tyrrhenians in many sea-fights, and from their booty they often made notable dedications of a tenth part, which they sent to Delphi.
§ 5.10
λείπεται δʼ ἡμῖν περὶ τῆς τῶν Λιπαραίων πόλεως τὰς αἰτίας ἀποδοῦναι, διʼ ἃς ἐν τοῖς ὕστερον χρόνοις ἔλαβεν αὔξησιν οὐ μόνον πρὸς εὐδαιμονίαν, ἀλλὰ καὶ πρὸς δόξαν. αὕτη γὰρ λιμέσι τε καλοῖς ὑπὸ τῆς φύσεως κεκόσμηται καὶ θερμοῖς ὕδασι τοῖς διαβεβοημένοις· οὐ μόνον γὰρ πρὸς ὑγίειαν τῶν νοσούντων τὰ κατʼ αὐτὴν λουτρὰ πολλὰ συμβάλλεται, ἀλλὰ καὶ κατὰ τὴν τῶν θερμῶν ὑδάτων ἰδιότητα παρέχεται τέρψιν καὶ ἀπόλαυσιν οὐ τὴν τυχοῦσαν. διόπερ πολλοὶ τῶν κατὰ τὴν Σικελίαν ὑπὸ νόσων ἰδιοτρόπων ἐνοχλούμενοι καταντῶσιν εἰς αὐτήν, καὶ τοῖς λουτροῖς χρώμενοι παραδόξως ὑγιεῖς καθίστανται. ἔχει δʼ ἡ νῆσος αὕτη τὰ διαβεβοημένα μέταλλα τῆς στυπτηρίας, ἐξ ἧς λαμβάνουσιν οἱ Λιπαραῖοι καὶ Ῥωμαῖοι μεγάλας προσόδους. οὐδαμοῦ γὰρ τῆς οἰκουμένης τῆς στυπτηρίας γινομένης καὶ πολλὴν χρείαν παρεχομένης, εἰκότως μονοπώλιον ἔχοντες καὶ τὰς τιμὰς ἀναβιβάζοντες πλῆθος χρημάτων λαμβάνουσιν ἄπιστον· ἐν μόνῃ γὰρ τῇ νήσῳ Μήλῳ φύεται μικρά τις στυπτηρία, μὴ δυναμένη διαρκεῖν πολλαῖς πόλεσιν. ἔστι δὲ καὶ ἡ νῆσος τῶν Λιπαραίων μικρὰ μὲν τὸ μέγεθος, καρποφόρος δὲ ἱκανῶς καὶ τὰ πρὸς ἀνθρώπων τρυφὴν ἔχουσα διαφερόντως· καὶ γὰρ ἰχθύων παντοδαπῶν παρέχεται πλῆθος τοῖς κατοικοῦσι καὶ τῶν ἀκροδρύων τὰ μάλιστα δυνάμενα παρέχεσθαι τὴν ἐκ τῆς ἀπολαύσεως ἡδονήν. καὶ περὶ μὲν Λιπάρας καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν Αἰόλου νήσων καλουμένων ἀρκεσθησόμεθα τοῖς ῥηθεῖσιν.
It remains for us now, as regards the city of the Liparians, to give an explanation of the causes why in later times it grew to a position, not only of prosperity, but even of renown. These, then, are the reasons: The city is adorned by nature with excellent harbours and springs of warm water which are famed far and wide; for not only do the baths there contribute greatly to the healing of the sick, but they also, in keeping with the peculiar property of such warm springs, provide pleasure and enjoyment of no ordinary kind. Consequently many people throughout Sicily who are afflicted by illnesses of a peculiar nature come to the city and by taking the baths regain their health in a marvellous manner. 2 And this island contains the far-famed mines of styptic earth, from which the Liparians and Romans derive great revenues. For since styptic earth is found nowhere else in the inhabited world and is of great usefulness, it stands to reason that, because they enjoy a monopoly of it and can raise the price, they should get an unbelievable amount of money; for on the island of Melos alone is there found a deposit of styptic earth, but a small one, which cannot suffice for many cities. The island of the Liparians is also small in extent but sufficiently fruitful and, so far as the wants of men are concerned, it supports even a high degree of luxury; for it supplies the inhabitants with a multitude of fish of every kind and contains those fruit trees which can offer the most pleasure when one enjoys them. But as regards Lipara and the rest of the islands of Aeolus, as they are called, we shall be satisfied with what has been said.
§ 5.11
μετὰ δὲ τὴν Λιπάραν εἰς τὸ πρὸς δυσμὰς μέρος νῆσός ἐστι πελαγία, μικρὰ μὲν τὸ μέγεθος, ἔρημος δὲ καὶ διά τινα περιπέτειαν Ὀστεώδης ὀνομαζομένη. καθʼ ὃν γὰρ καιρὸν Καρχηδόνιοι πρὸς Συρακοσίους διαπολεμοῦντες πολλοὺς καὶ μεγάλους πολέμους δυνάμεις εἶχον ἀξιολόγους πεζάς τε καὶ ναυτικάς, περὶ δὲ τούτους τοὺς καιροὺς μισθοφόρων ὄντων παρʼ αὐτοῖς πολλῶν καὶ παντοδαπῶν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν, οὗτοι δὲ ταραχώδεις ὄντες καὶ πολλὰς καὶ μεγάλας στάσεις εἰωθότες ποιεῖσθαι, καὶ μάλιστα ὅταν τοὺς μισθοὺς εὐκαίρως μὴ λαμβάνωσιν, ἐχρήσαντο καὶ τότε τῇ συνήθει ῥᾳδιουργίᾳ τε καὶ τόλμῃ. ὄντες γὰρ τὸν ἀριθμὸν ὡς ἑξακισχίλιοι, καὶ τοὺς μισθοὺς οὐκ ἀπολαμβάνοντες, τὸ μὲν πρῶτον συντρέχοντες κατεβόων τῶν στρατηγῶν, ἐκείνων δʼ ἀπορουμένων χρημάτων καὶ πολλάκις ἀναβαλλομένων τὰς ἀποδόσεις, ἠπείλουν τοῖς ὅπλοις ἀμυνεῖσθαι τοὺς Καρχηδονίους, καὶ τὰς χεῖρας προσέφερον τοῖς ἡγεμόσι. τῆς δὲ γερουσίας ἐγκαλούσης καὶ τῆς διαφορᾶς ἀεὶ μᾶλλον ἐκκαομένης, ἡ μὲν γερουσία τοῖς στρατηγοῖς ἐν ἀπορρήτοις προσέταξεν ἀφανίσαι πάντας τοὺς ἐγκαλουμένους· οἱ δὲ λαβόντες τὰς ἐντολάς, καὶ τοὺς μισθοφόρους ἐμβιβάσαντες εἰς τὰς ναῦς, ἐξέπλευσαν ὡς ἐπί τινα πολεμικὴν χρείαν. προσπλεύσαντες δὲ τῇ προειρημένῃ νήσῳ, καὶ πάντας τοὺς μισθοφόρους ἀποβιβάσαντες εἰς αὐτήν, ἀπέπλευσαν καταλιπόντες ἐν αὐτῇ τοὺς ἐγκαλουμένους. οἱ δὲ μισθοφόροι περιαλγεῖς ὄντες τῇ περιστάσει καὶ μὴ δυνάμενοι τοὺς Καρχηδονίους ἀμύνασθαι, λιμῷ διεφθάρησαν. ἐν νήσῳ δὲ μικρᾷ τοσούτων αἰχμαλώτων τελευτησάντων συνέβη τὸν τόπον ὀλίγον ὄντα πληρωθῆναι τῶν ὀστῶν· ἀφʼ ἧς αἰτίας ἡ νῆσος ἔτυχε τῆς προσηγορίας. οἱ μὲν οὖν μισθοφόροι τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον παρανομηθέντες τῆς μεγίστης συμφορᾶς ἔτυχον, ἐνδείᾳ τροφῆς διαφθαρέντες.
Beyond Lipara, toward the west, lies an island in the open sea which is small in extent and uninhabited and bears the name Osteodes because of the following strange occurrence. During the time when the Carthaginians were waging many great wars with the Syracusans they were employing notable forces on both land and sea, and on the occasion in question they had many mercenaries who were gathered from every people; such troops are always trouble-makers and make it their practice to cause many and serious mutinies, especially on occasions when they do not get their pay promptly, and at the time of which we are speaking they practised their accustomed knavishness and audacity. 2 For being in number about six thousand and not receiving their pay, they at first massed together and inveighed against the generals, and since the latter were without funds and time after time kept deferring payment, they threatened that they would take up arms and wreak vengeance upon the Carthaginians, and they even laid violent hands upon the commanders. Though the senate admonished them, the quarrel always blazed forth the more, whereupon the senate gave secret orders to the generals to do away with all the recalcitrants; and the generals then, acting upon the commands, embarked the mercenaries upon ships and sailed off as if upon some mission of war. And putting in at the island we have mentioned they disembarked all the mercenaries upon it and then sailed away, leaving the recalcitrants upon the island. 4 The mercenaries, being in deep distress at the condition in which they found themselves and yet unable to wreak vengeance upon the Carthaginians, perished from hunger. And since it was a small island on which so many confined men died, it came to pass that the place, little as it was, was filled with their bones; and this is the reason why the island received the name it bears. In this way, then, did the mercenaries, who were guilty of crime in the manner we have described, suffer the greatest misfortune, perishing for lack of food.
§ 5.12
ἡμεῖς δʼ ἐπεὶ τὰ περὶ τὰς Αἰολίδας νήσους διήλθομεν, ἐν μέρει τὰς ἐκ θατέρου μέρους νήσους κειμένας ἀναγραφῆς ἀξιώσομεν. τῆς γὰρ Σικελίας ἐκ τοῦ κατὰ μεσημβρίαν μέρους νῆσοι τρεῖς πρόκεινται πελάγιαι, καὶ τούτων ἑκάστη πόλιν ἔχει καὶ λιμένας δυναμένους τοῖς χειμαζομένοις σκάφεσι παρέχεσθαι τὴν ἀσφάλειαν. καὶ πρώτη μέν ἐστιν ἡ προσαγορευομένη Μελίτη, τῶν Συρακουσῶν ἀπέχουσα σταδίους ὡς ὀκτακοσίους, καὶ λιμένας μὲν ἔχει πολλοὺς καὶ διαφόρους ταῖς εὐχρηστίαις, τοὺς δὲ κατοικοῦντας ταῖς οὐσίαις εὐδαίμονας· τεχνίτας τε γὰρ ἔχει παντοδαποὺς ταῖς ἐργασίαις, κρατίστους δὲ τοὺς ὀθόνια ποιοῦντας τῇ τε λεπτότητι καὶ τῇ μαλακότητι διαπρεπῆ, τάς τε οἰκήσεις ἀξιολόγους καὶ κατεσκευασμένας φιλοτίμως γείσσοις καὶ κονιάμασι περιττότερον. ἔστι δʼ ἡ νῆσος αὕτη Φοινίκων ἄποικος, οἳ ταῖς ἐμπορίαις διατείνοντες μέχρι τοῦ κατὰ τὴν δύσιν ὠκεανοῦ καταφυγὴν εἶχον ταύτην, εὐλίμενον οὖσαν καὶ κειμένην πελαγίαν· διʼ ἣν αἰτίαν οἱ κατοικοῦντες αὐτὴν εὐχρηστούμενοι κατὰ πολλὰ διὰ τοὺς ἐμπόρους ταχὺ τοῖς τε βίοις ἀνέδραμον καὶ ταῖς δόξαις ηὐξήθησαν. μετὰ δὲ ταύτην τὴν νῆσόν ἐστιν ἑτέρα τὴν μὲν προσηγορίαν ἔχουσα Γαῦλος, πελαγία δὲ καὶ λιμέσιν εὐκαίροις κεκοσμημένη, Φοινίκων ἄποικος. ἑξῆς δʼ ἐστὶ Κέρκινα, πρὸς τὴν Λιβύην νενευκυῖα, πόλιν ἔχουσα σύμμετρον καὶ λιμένας εὐχρηστοτάτους, οὐ μόνον ταῖς ἐμπόροις, ἀλλὰ καὶ ταῖς μακραῖς ναυσὶν εὐθετοῦντας. ἐπεὶ δὲ περὶ τῶν κατὰ τὴν μεσημβρίαν νήσων εἰρήκαμεν, ἐπάνιμεν πάλιν ἐπὶ τὰς ἑξῆς τῇ Λιπάρᾳ νήσους τὰς κειμένας κατὰ τὸ Τυρρηνικὸν καλούμενον πέλαγος.
But for our part, since we have set forth the facts concerning the islands of the Aeolides, we shall consider it appropriate to make mention in turn of the islands which lie on the other side. For off the south of Sicily three islands lie out in the sea, and each of them possesses a city and harbours which can offer safety to ships which are in stress of weather. 2 The first one is that called Melite, which lies about eight hundred stades from Syracuse, and it possesses many harbours which offer exceptional advantages, and its inhabitants are blest in their possessions; for it has artisans skilled in every manner of craft, the most important being those who weave linen, with is remarkably sheer and soft, and the dwellings on the island are worthy of note, being ambitiously constructed with cornices and finished in stucco with unusual workmanship. This island is a colony planted by the Phoenicians, who, as they extended their trade to the western ocean, found in it a place of safe retreat, since it was well supplied with harbours and lay out in the open sea; and this is the reason why the inhabitants of this island, since they received assistance in many respects through the sea-merchants, shot up quickly in their manner of living and increased in renown. 4 After this island there is a second which bears the name of Gaulus, lying out in the open sea and adorned with well-situated harbours, a Phoenician colony. Next comes Cercina, facing Libya, which has a modest city and most serviceable harbours which have accommodations not only for merchant vessels but even for ships of war. But now that we have spoken of the islands which are to the south of Sicily, we shall turn back to those which follow upon Lipara and lie in the sea which is known as the Tyrrhenian.
§ 5.13
τῆς γὰρ Τυρρηνίας κατὰ τὴν ὀνομαζομένην πόλιν Ποπλώνιον νῆσός ἐστιν, ἣν ὀνομάζουσιν Αἰθάλειαν. αὕτη δὲ τῆς παραλίας ἀπέχουσα σταδίους ὡς ἑκατὸν τὴν μὲν προσηγορίαν εἴληφεν ἀπὸ τοῦ πλήθους τοῦ κατʼ αὐτὴν αἰθάλου. πέτραν γὰρ ἔχει πολλὴν σιδηρῖτιν, ἣν τέμνουσιν ἐπὶ τὴν χωνείαν καὶ κατασκευὴν τοῦ σιδήρου, πολλὴν ἔχοντες τοῦ μετάλλου δαψίλειαν. οἱ γὰρ ταῖς ἐργασίαις προσεδρεύοντες κόπτουσι τὴν πέτραν καὶ τοὺς τμηθέντας λίθους κάουσιν ἔν τισι φιλοτέχνοις καμίνοις· ἐν δὲ ταύταις τῷ πλήθει τοῦ πυρὸς τήκοντες τοὺς λίθους καταμερίζουσιν εἰς μεγέθη σύμμετρα, παραπλήσια ταῖς ἰδέαις μεγάλοις σπόγγοις. ταῦτα συναγοράζοντες ἔμποροι καὶ μεταβαλλόμενοι κομίζουσιν εἴς τε Δικαιάρχειαν καὶ εἰς τἄλλα ἐμπόρια. ταῦτα δὲ τὰ φορτία τινὲς ὠνούμενοι καὶ τεχνιτῶν χαλκέων πλῆθος ἀθροίζοντες κατεργάζονται, καὶ ποιοῦσι σιδήρου πλάσματα παντοδαπὰ. τούτων δὲ τὰ μὲν εἰς ὅπλων τύπους χαλκεύουσι, τὰ δὲ πρὸς δικελλῶν καὶ δρεπάνων καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἐργαλείων εὐθέτους τύπους φιλοτεχνοῦσιν· ὧν κομιζομένων ὑπὸ τῶν ἐμπόρων εἰς πάντα τόπον πολλὰ μέρη τῆς οἰκουμένης μεταλαμβάνει τῆς ἐκ τούτων εὐχρηστίας. μετὰ δὲ τὴν Αἰθάλειαν νῆσός ἐστιν ἀπέχουσα μὲν ταύτης ὡς τριακοσίους σταδίους, ὀνομάζεται δὲ ὑπὸ μὲν τῶν Ἑλλήνων Κύρνος, ὑπὸ δὲ τῶν Ῥωμαίων καὶ τῶν ἐγχωρίων Κόρσικα. αὕτη δʼ ἡ νῆσος εὐπροσόρμιστος οὖσα κάλλιστον ἔχει λιμένα τὸν ὀνομαζόμενον Συρακόσιον. ὑπάρχουσι δʼ ἐν αὐτῇ καὶ πόλεις ἀξιόλογοι δύο, καὶ τούτων ἡ μὲν Κάλαρις, ἡ δὲ Νίκαια προσαγορεύεται. τούτων δὲ τὴν μὲν Κάλαριν Φωκαεῖς ἔκτισαν, καὶ χρόνον τινὰ κατοικήσαντες ὑπὸ Τυρρηνῶν ἐξεβλήθησαν ἐκ τῆς νήσου. τὴν δὲ Νίκαιαν ἔκτισαν Τυρρηνοὶ θαλαττοκρατοῦντες καὶ τὰς κατὰ τὴν Τυρρηνίαν κειμένας νήσους ἰδιοποιούμενοι. ἐπὶ δέ τινας χρόνους τῶν ἐν τῇ Κύρνῳ πόλεων κυριεύοντες ἐλάμβανον παρὰ τῶν ἐγχωρίων φόρους ῥητίνην καὶ κηρὸν καὶ μέλι, φυομένων τούτων δαψιλῶν ἐν τῇ νήσῳ. τὰ δʼ ἀνδράποδα τὰ Κύρνια διαφέρειν δοκεῖ τῶν ἄλλων δούλων εἰς τὰς κατὰ τὸν βίον χρείας, φυσικῆς ταύτης τῆς ἰδιότητος παρακολουθούσης. ἡ δʼ ὅλη νῆσος εὐμεγέθης οὖσα πολλὴν τῆς χώρας ὀρεινὴν ἔχει, πεπυκασμένην δρυμοῖς συνεχέσι καὶ ποταμοῖς διαρρεομένην μικροῖς.
Off the city of Tyrrhenia known as Poplonium there is an island which men call Aethaleia. It is about one hundred stades distant from the coast and received the name it bears from the smoke (aithalos) which lies so thick about it. For the island possesses a great amount of iron-rock, which they quarry in order to melt and cast and thus to secure the iron, and they possess a great abundance of this ore. For those who are engaged in the working of this ore crush the rock and burn the lumps which have thus been broken in certain ingenious furnaces; and in these they smelt the lumps by means of a great fire and form them into pieces of moderate size which are in their appearance like large sponges. 2 These are purchased by merchants in exchange either for money or for goods and are then taken to Dicaearchia or the other trading-stations, where there are men who purchase such cargoes and who, with the aid of a multitude of artisans in metal whom they have collected, work it further and manufacture iron objects of every description. Some of these are worked into the shape of armour, and others are ingeniously fabricated into shapes well suited for two-pronged forks and sickles and other such tools; and these are then carried by merchants to every region and thus many parts of the inhabited world have a share in the usefulness which accrues from them. After Aethaleia there is an island, some three hundred stades distant, which is called Cyrnus by the Greeks, but Corsica by the Romans and those who dwell upon it. This island, being easy to land on, has a most excellent harbour which is called Syracosium. There are also on it two notable cities, the one being known as Calaris and the other as Nicaea. 4 Calaris was founded by Phocaeans, who made their home there for a time and were then driven out of the island by Tyrrhenians; but Nicaea was founded by Tyrrhenians at the time they were masters of the sea and were taking possession of the islands lying off Tyrrhenia. They were lords of the cities of Cyrnus for a considerable period and exacted tribute of the inhabitants in the form of resin, wax, and honey, since these things were found in the island in abundance. Slaves from Cyrnus are reputed to be superior to all others for every service which the life of man demands, nature herself giving them this characteristic. And the entire island, which is of great extent, has mountainous land over much of its area, which is thickly covered with continuous forests and traversed by small rivers.
§ 5.14
οἱ δʼ ἐγχώριοι τροφαῖς μὲν χρῶνται γάλακτι καὶ μέλιτι καὶ κρέασι, δαψιλῶς πάντα ταῦτα παρεχομένης τῆς χώρας, τὰ δὲ πρὸς ἀλλήλους βιοῦσιν ἐπιεικῶς καὶ δικαίως παρὰ πάντας σχεδὸν τοὺς ἄλλους βαρβάρους· τά τε γὰρ κατὰ τὴν ὀρεινὴν ἐν τοῖς δένδρεσιν εὑρισκόμενα κηρία τῶν πρώτων εὑρισκόντων ἐστί, μηδενὸς ἀμφισβητοῦντος, τά τε πρόβατα σημείοις διειλημμένα, κἂν μηδεὶς φυλάττῃ, σώζεται τοῖς κεκτημένοις, ἔν τε ταῖς ἄλλαις ταῖς ἐν τῷ βίῳ κατὰ μέρος οἰκονομίαις θαυμαστῶς προτιμῶσι τὸ δικαιοπραγεῖν. παραδοξότατον δʼ ἐστὶ τὸ παρʼ αὐτοῖς γινόμενον κατὰ τὰς τῶν τέκνων γενέσεις· ὅταν γὰρ ἡ γυνὴ τέκῃ, ταύτης μὲν οὐδεμία γίνεται περὶ τὴν λοχείαν ἐπιμέλεια, ὁ δʼ ἀνὴρ αὐτῆς ἀναπεσὼν ὡς νοσῶν λοχεύεται τακτὰς ἡμέρας, ὡς τοῦ σώματος αὐτῷ κακοπαθοῦντος· φύεται δὲ κατὰ τὴν νῆσον ταύτην καὶ πύξος πλείστη καὶ διάφορος, διʼ ἣν καὶ τὸ μέλι τὸ γινόμενον ἐν ταύτῃ παντελῶς γίνεται πικρόν. κατοικοῦσι δʼ αὐτὴν βάρβαροι, τὴν διάλεκτον ἔχοντες ἐξηλλαγμένην καὶ δυσκατανόητον· τὸν δʼ ἀριθμὸν ὑπάρχουσιν ὑπὲρ τοὺς τρισμυρίους.
The inhabitants of Cyrnus use for their food milk and honey and meat, the land providing all these in abundance, and among themselves they live lives of honour and justice, to a degree surpassing practically all other barbarians. Any honeycomb, for instance, which may be found in the trees on the mountainside belongs to the first man to find it, no one disputing his claim; their cattle are distinguished by brands, and even though no man may watch over them, they are still kept safe for their owners; and in their other ways of living one and all it is astonishing how they reverse uprightness before everything else. 2 But the most amazing thing which takes place among them is connected with the birth of their children; for when the wife is about to give birth she is the object of no concern as regards her delivery, but it is her husband who takes to his bed, as though sick, and he practises couvade for a specified number of days, feigning that his body is in pain. There also grows in this island box-wood in great abundance and of excellent quality, and it is due to it that the honey of the island is altogether bitter. And the island is inhabited by barbarians who have a language which is different from others and hard to understand, and they are in number more than thirty thousand.
§ 5.15
ἐχομένη δὲ ταύτης ἐστὶ νῆσος ἡ προσαγορευομένη Σαρδώ, τῷ μὲν μεγέθει παραπλήσιος τῇ Σικελίᾳ, κατοικουμένη δʼ ὑπὸ βαρβάρων τῶν ὀνομαζομένων Ἰολαείων, οὓς νομίζουσιν ἀπογόνους εἶναι τῶν μετὰ Ἰολάου καὶ τῶν Θεσπιαδῶν κατοικησάντων. κατὰ γὰρ τοὺς χρόνους ἐν οἷς Ἡρακλῆς τοὺς διαβεβοημένους ἄθλους ἐτέλει, παίδων ὄντων αὐτῷ πολλῶν ἐκ τῶν Θεσπίου θυγατέρων, τούτους Ἡρακλῆς κατά τινα χρησμὸν ἐξαπέστειλεν εἰς Σαρδὼ καὶ μετʼ αὐτῶν δύναμιν ἀξιόλογον Ἑλλήνων τε καὶ βαρβάρων ἐπὶ τὴν ἀποικίαν. ταύτης δὲ προεστηκὼς Ἰόλαος ὁ ἀδελφιδοῦς Ἡρακλέους καταλαβόμενος ᾤκισεν ἐν αὐτῇ πόλεις ἀξιολόγους, καὶ τὴν χώραν κατακληρουχήσας τοὺς μὲν λαοὺς προσηγόρευσεν ἀφʼ ἑαυτοῦ Ἰολαείους, κατεσκεύασε δὲ καὶ γυμνάσια καὶ θεῶν ναοὺς καὶ τἄλλα πάντα τὰ πρὸς βίον ἀνθρώπων εὐδαίμονα, ὧν ὑπομνήματα μέχρι τῶνδε τῶν καιρῶν διαμένει· τὰ μὲν γὰρ κάλλιστα πεδία τὴν προσηγορίαν ἀπʼ ἐκείνου λαβόντα Ἰολάεια καλεῖται, τὸ δὲ πλῆθος μέχρι τοῦ νῦν φυλάττει τὴν ἀπὸ Ἰολάου προσηγορίαν. τοῦ δὲ περὶ τῆς ἀποικίας χρησμοῦ περιέχοντος ὅτι τοῖς τῆς ἀποικίας ταύτης κοινωνήσασι διαμενεῖ τὰ τῆς ἐλευθερίας ἅπαντα τὸν αἰῶνα, συνέβη τὸν χρησμὸν παραδόξως μέχρι τοῦ νῦν αὐτονομίαν τοῖς ἐγχωρίοις ἀσάλευτον φυλάξαι. καρχηδόνιοί τε γὰρ ἐπὶ πλέον ἰσχύσαντες καὶ τῆς νήσου κρατήσαντες οὐκ ἠδυνήθησαν τοὺς προκατασχόντας τὴν νῆσον καταδουλώσασθαι, ἀλλʼ οἱ μὲν Ἰολάειοι καταφυγόντες εἰς τὴν ὀρεινὴν καὶ καταγείους οἰκήσεις κατασκευάσαντες ἔτρεφον πολλὰς ἀγέλας βοσκημάτων, ὧν παρεχομένων δαψιλεῖς τροφὰς ἠρκοῦντο προσφερόμενοι γάλα καὶ τυρὸν καὶ κρέα, καὶ τῆς μὲν πεδιάδος γῆς ἐκχωρήσαντες τὴν ἐκ τῆς ἐργασίας κακοπάθειαν ἐξέκλιναν, τὴν δʼ ὀρεινὴν νεμόμενοι καὶ βίον ἔχοντες ἄμοιρον κακοπαθείας ταῖς προειρημέναις τροφαῖς διετέλεσαν χρώμενοι. τῶν δὲ Καρχηδονίων πολλάκις ἀξιολόγοις δυνάμεσι στρατευσάντων ἐπʼ αὐτούς, διὰ τὰς δυσχωρίας καὶ τὴν ἐν τοῖς καταγείοις δυστραπέλειαν διέμειναν ἀδούλωτοι. τὸ δὲ τελευταῖον Ῥωμαίων ἐπικρατούντων καὶ πολλάκις ἐπʼ αὐτοὺς στρατευσάντων, διὰ ταύτας τὰς αἰτίας ἀχείρωτοι πολεμίᾳ δυνάμει διέμειναν. οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ κατὰ τοὺς ἀρχαίους χρόνους Ἰόλαος μὲν συγκατασκευάσας τὰ κατὰ τὴν ἀποικίαν ἐπανῆλθεν εἰς τὴν Ἑλλάδα, οἱ δὲ Θεσπιάδαι τῆς νήσου προεστῶτες ἐπὶ πολλὰς γενεὰς τὸ τελευταῖον ἐξέπεσον εἰς τὴν Ἰταλίαν, καὶ κατῴκησαν ἐν τοῖς κατὰ Κύμην τόποις, τὸ δʼ ἄλλο πλῆθος ἐκβαρβαρωθὲν καὶ προστησάμενον ἐκ τῶν ἐγχωρίων τοὺς ἀρίστους ἡγεμόνας διεφύλαξε τὴν ἐλευθερίαν μέχρι τῶν καθʼ ἡμᾶς χρόνων.
Adjoining Cyrnus is an island which is called Sardinia, and in size it is about the equal of Sicily and is inhabited by barbarians who bear the name of Iolaes and are thought to be descendants of the men who settled there along with Iolaus and the Thespiadae. For at the time when Heracles was accomplishing his famous Labours he had many sons by the daughters of Thespius, and these Heracles dispatched to Sardinia, in accordance with a certain oracle, sending along with them a notable force composed of both Greeks and barbarians, in order to plant a colony. 2 Iolaus, the nephew of Heracles, was in charge of the undertaking, and taking possession of the island he founded in it notable cities, and when he had divided the land into allotments he called the folk of the colony Iolaes after himself; and he also constructed gymnasia and temples to the gods and everything else which contributes to making happy the life of man, memorials of this remaining even to this day; since the fairest plains there derive their name from him and are called "Iolaeia," and the whole body of the people preserve to the present the name which they took from Iolaus. Now the oracle regarding the colony contained also the promise that the participants in this colony should maintain their freedom for all time, and it has indeed come to pass that the oracle, contrary to what one would expect, has preserved autonomy for the natives unshaken to this day. 4 Thus the Carthaginians, though their power extended far and they subdued the island, were not able to enslave its former possessors, but the Iolaes fled for safety to the mountainous part of the island and built underground dwellings, and here they raised many flocks and herds which supplied them with food in abundance, so that they were able to maintain themselves on a diet of milk and cheese and meat; and since they had retired from the plain country, they avoided the hardship which accompanies labour, but ranged over the mountainous part of the island and led a life which had no share in hardship, in that they continued to use the foods mentioned above. And although the Carthaginians made war upon them many times with considerable armies, yet because of the rugged nature of the country and the difficulty of dealing with their dug-out dwellings the people remained unenslaved. Last of all, when the Romans conquered the island and oftentimes made war on them, they remained unsubdued by the troops of an enemy for the reasons we have mentioned. 6 In the early period, however, Iolaus, after helping to establish the affairs of the colony, returned to Greece, but the Thespiadae were the chief men of the island for many generations, until finally they were driven out into Italy, where they settled in the region of Cyme;46 the mass of the colonists who were left behind became barbarized, and choosing the best among the natives to be their chieftains, they have maintained their freedom down to our own day.
§ 5.16
ἡμεῖς δʼ ἀρκούντως εἰρηκότες περὶ τῆς Σαρδόνος διέξιμεν περὶ τῶν ἑξῆς κειμένων νήσων. μετὰ γὰρ τὰς προειρημένας νῆσός ἐστιν ὀνομαζομένη μὲν Πιτυοῦσσα, τὴν δὲ προσηγορίαν ἔχουσα ἀπὸ τοῦ πλήθους τῶν κατʼ αὐτὴν φυομένων πιτύων. πελαγία δʼ οὖσα διέστηκεν ἀπὸ μὲν Ἡρακλέους στηλῶν πλοῦν ἡμερῶν τριῶν καὶ τῶν ἴσων νυκτῶν, ἀπὸ δὲ Λιβύης ἡμέρας καὶ νυκτός, ἀπὸ δʼ Ἰβηρίας μιᾶς ἡμέρας· κατὰ δὲ τὸ μέγεθος παραπλήσιός ἐστι Κορκύρᾳ. κατὰ δὲ τὴν ἀρετὴν οὖσα μετρία τὴν μὲν ἀμπελόφυτον χώραν ὀλίγην ἔχει, τὰς δʼ ἐλαίας ἐμπεφυτευμένας ἐν τοῖς κοτίνοις. τῶν δὲ φυομένων ἐν αὐτῇ καλλιστεύειν φασὶ τὴν μαλακότητα τῶν ἐρίων. διειλημμένη δὲ πεδίοις ἀξιολόγοις καὶ γεωλόφοις πόλιν ἔχει τὴν ὀνομαζομένην Ἔρεσον, ἄποικον Καρχηδονίων. ἔχει δὲ καὶ λιμένας ἀξιολόγους καὶ τειχῶν κατασκευὰς εὐμεγέθεις καὶ οἰκιῶν πλῆθος εὖ κατασκευασμένων. κατοικοῦσι δʼ αὐτὴν βάρβαροι παντοδαποί, πλεῖστοι δὲ Φοίνικες. ὁ δʼ ἀποικισμὸς αὐτῆς γέγονεν ὕστερον ἔτεσιν ἑκατὸν ἑξήκοντα τῆς κατὰ τὴν Καρχηδόνα κτίσεως.
But now that we have spoken about Sardinia at sufficient length we shall discuss the islands in the order in which they lie. After those we have mentioned there comes first an island called Pityussa, the name being due to the multitude of pine-trees (pityes) which grow throughout it. It lies out in the open sea and is distant from the Pillars of Heracles a voyage of three days and as many nights, from Libya a day and a night, and from Iberia one day; and in size it is about as large as Corcyra. 2 The island is only moderately fertile, possessing little land that is suitable for the vine, but it has olive trees which are engrafted upon the wild olive. And of all the products of the island, they say that the softness of its wool stands first in excellence. The island is broken up at intervals by notable plains and highlands and has a city named Eresus, a colony of the Carthaginians. And it also possesses excellent harbours, huge walls, and a multitude of well-constructed houses. Its inhabitants consist of barbarians of every nationality, but Phoenicians preponderate. The date of the founding of the colony falls one hundred and sixty years after the settlement of Carthage.
§ 5.17
ἄλλαι δʼ ὑπάρχουσι νῆσοι κατʼ ἀντικρὺ τῆς Ἰβηρίας, ὑπὸ μὲν τῶν Ἑλλήνων ὀνομαζόμεναι Γυμνήσιαι διὰ τὸ τοὺς ἐνοικοῦντας γυμνοὺς τῆς ἐσθῆτος βιοῦν κατὰ τὴν τοῦ θέρους ὥραν, ὑπὸ δὲ τῶν ἐγχωρίων καὶ τῶν Ῥωμαίων προσαγορεύονται Βαλιαρίδες ἀπὸ τοῦ βάλλειν ταῖς σφενδόναις λίθους μεγάλους κάλλιστα τῶν ἁπάντων ἀνθρώπων. τούτων δʼ ἡ μείζων μεγίστη πασῶν ἐστι μετὰ τὰς ἑπτὰ νήσους, Σικελίαν, Σαρδώ, Κύπρον, Κρήτην, Εὔβοιαν, Κύρνον, Λέσβον, ἀπέχει δὲ τῆς Ἰβηρίας πλοῦν ἡμερήσιον· ἡ δʼ ἐλάττων κέκλιται μὲν πρὸς τὴν ἕω, τρέφει δὲ κτήνη πολλὰ καὶ παντοδαπά, μάλιστα δʼ ἡμιόνους, μεγάλους μὲν τοῖς ἀναστήμασιν, ὑπεράγοντας δὲ ταῖς ῥώμαις. ἀμφότεραι δʼ αἱ νῆσοι χώραν ἔχουσιν ἀγαθὴν καρποφόρον καὶ πλῆθος τῶν κατοικούντων ὑπὲρ τοὺς τρισμυρίους, τῶν δὲ πρὸς τὴν τροφὴν γεννημάτων οἶνον μὲν ὁλοσχερῶς οὐ φέρουσι· διὸ καὶ πάντες εἰσὶν ὑπερβολῇ πρὸς τὸν οἶνον εὐκατάφοροι, διὰ τὸ σπανίζειν παρʼ αὐτοῖς· ἐλαίου δὲ παντελῶς σπανίζοντες κατασκευάζουσιν ἐκ τῆς σχίνου, καὶ μιγνύντες ὑείῳ στέατι τὰ σώματα αὑτῶν ἀλείφουσι τούτῳ. μάλιστα δὲ τῶν ἁπάντων ὄντες φιλογύναι προτιμῶσιν αὐτὰς ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον, ὥστε ὅταν τινὲς γυναῖκες ὑπὸ τῶν προσπλεόντων λῃστῶν ἁλῶσιν, ἀντὶ μιᾶς γυναικὸς τρεῖς ἢ τέτταρας ἄνδρας διδόντες λυτροῦνται. οἰκοῦσι δʼ ὑπὸ ταῖς κοιλάσι πέτραις, καὶ παρὰ τοὺς κρημνοὺς ὀρύγματα κατασκευάζοντες καὶ καθόλου πολλοὺς τόπους ὑπονόμους ποιοῦντες ἐν τούτοις βιοῦσιν, ἅμα τὴν ἐξ αὐτῶν σκέπην καὶ ἀσφάλειαν θηρώμενοι. ἀργυρῷ δὲ καὶ χρυσῷ νομίσματι τὸ παράπαν οὐ χρῶνται, καὶ καθόλου ταῦτα εἰσάγειν εἰς τὴν νῆσον κωλύουσιν· αἰτίαν δὲ ταύτην ἐπιφέρουσιν, ὅτι τὸ παλαιὸν Ἡρακλῆς ἐστράτευσεν ἐπὶ Γηρυόνην, ὄντα Χρυσάορος μὲν υἱόν, πλεῖστον δὲ κεκτημένον ἄργυρόν τε καὶ χρυσόν. ἵνʼ οὖν ἀνεπιβούλευτον ἔχωσι τὴν κτῆσιν, ἀνεπίμικτον ἑαυτοῖς ἐποίησαν τὸν ἐξ ἀργύρου τε καὶ χρυσοῦ πλοῦτον. διόπερ ἀκολούθως ταύτῃ τῇ κρίσει κατὰ τὰς γεγενημένας πάλαι ποτὲ στρατείας παρὰ Καρχηδονίοις τοὺς μισθοὺς οὐκ ἀπεκόμιζον εἰς τὰς πατρίδας, ἀλλʼ ὠνούμενοι γυναῖκας καὶ οἶνον ἅπαντα τὸν μισθὸν εἰς ταῦτα κατεχορήγουν.
There are other islands lying opposite Iberia, which the Greeks call Gymnesiae because the inhabitants go naked (gymnoi) of clothing in the summer time, but which the inhabitants of the islands and the Romans call Baliarides because in the hurling (ballein) of large stones with slings the natives are the most skilful of all men. The larger of these is the largest of all islands after the seven, Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, Crete, Euboea, Cyrnus, and Lesbos, and it is a day's voyage distant from Iberia; the smaller lies more to the east and maintains great droves and flocks of every kind of animal, especially of mules, which stand very high and are exceptionally strong. 2 Both islands have good land which produces fruits, and a multitude of inhabitants numbering more than thirty thousand, but as for their food products they raise no wine whatsoever; consequently the inhabitants are one and all exceedingly addicted to indulgence in wine because of the scarcity of it among them; and they are altogether lacking in olive-oil and therefore prepare an oil from the mastich-tree, which they mix with the fat from pigs, and with this they anoint their bodies. The Baliares are of all men the most fond of women and value them so highly above everything else that, when any of their women are seized by visiting pirates and carried off, they will give as ransom for a single woman three and even four men. Their dwellings they make under hollow rocks, or they dig out holes along the faces of sharp crags, in general putting many parts of them underground, and in these they pass their time, having an eye both to the shelter and to the safety which such homes afford. 4 Silver and gold money is not used by them at all, and as a general practice its importation into the island is prevented, the reason they offer being that of old Heracles made an expedition against Geryones, who was the son of Chrysaor and possessed both silver and gold in abundance. Consequently, in order that their possessions should consist in that against which no one would have designs, they have made wealth in gold and silver alien from themselves. And so, in keeping this decision of theirs, when in early times they served once in the campaigns of the Carthaginians, they did not bring back their pay to their native land but spent it all upon the purchase of women and wine.
§ 5.18
παράδοξον δέ τι καὶ κατὰ τοὺς γάμους νόμιμον παρʼ αὐτοῖς ἐστιν· ἐν γὰρ ταῖς κατὰ τοὺς γάμους εὐωχίαις οἰκείων τε καὶ φίλων κατὰ τὴν ἡλικίαν ὁ πρῶτος ἀεὶ καὶ ὁ δεύτερος καὶ οἱ λοιποὶ κατὰ τὸ ἑξῆς μίσγονται ταῖς νύμφαις ἀνὰ μέρος, ἐσχάτου τοῦ νυμφίου τυγχάνοντος ταύτης τῆς τιμῆς. ἴδιον δέ τι ποιοῦσι καὶ παντελῶς ἐξηλλαγμένον περὶ τὰς τῶν τετελευτηκότων ταφάς· συγκόψαντες γὰρ ξύλοις τὰ μέλη τοῦ σώματος εἰς ἀγγεῖον ἐμβάλλουσι καὶ λίθους δαψιλεῖς ἐπιτιθέασιν. ὁπλισμὸς δʼ ἐστὶν αὐτοῖς τρεῖς σφενδόναι, καὶ τούτων μίαν μὲν περὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν ἔχουσιν, ἄλλην δὲ περὶ τὴν γαστέρα, τρίτην δʼ ἐν ταῖς χερσί. κατὰ δὲ τὰς πολεμικὰς χρείας βάλλουσι λίθους πολὺ μείζους τῶν ἄλλων οὕτως εὐτόνως, ὥστε δοκεῖν τὸ βληθὲν ἀπό τινος καταπέλτου φέρεσθαι· διὸ καὶ κατὰ τὰς τειχομαχίας ἐν ταῖς προσβολαῖς τύπτοντες τοὺς ἐπὶ τῶν ἐπάλξεων ἐφεστῶτας κατατραυματίζουσιν, ἐν δὲ ταῖς παρατάξεσι τούς τε θυρεοὺς καὶ τὰ κράνη καὶ πᾶν σκεπαστήριον ὅπλον συντρίβουσι. κατὰ δὲ τὴν εὐστοχίαν οὕτως ἀκριβεῖς εἰσιν, ὥστε κατὰ τὸ πλεῖστον μὴ ἁμαρτάνειν τοῦ προκειμένου σκοποῦ. αἴτιαι δὲ τούτων αἱ συνεχεῖς ἐκ παίδων μελέται, καθʼ ἃς ὑπὸ τῶν μητέρων ἀναγκάζονται παῖδες ὄντες συνεχῶς σφενδονᾶν· προκειμένου γὰρ σκοποῦ κατά τι ξύλον ἠρτημένου ἄρτου, οὐ πρότερον δίδοται τῷ μελετῶντι φαγεῖν, ἕως ἂν τυχὼν τοῦ ἄρτου συγχωρούμενον λάβῃ παρὰ τῆς μητρὸς καταφαγεῖν τοῦτον.
The Baliares have also an amazing custom which they observe in connection with their marriages; for during their wedding festivities the relatives and friends lie with the bride in turn, the oldest first and then the next oldest and the rest in order, and the last one to enjoy this privilege is the bridegroom. 2 Peculiar also and altogether strange is their practice regarding the burial of the dead; for they dismember the body with wooden knives, and then they place the pieces in a jar and pile upon it a heap of stones. Their equipment for fighting consists of three slings, and of these they keep one around the head, another around the belly, and the third in the hands. In the business of war they hurl much larger stones than do any other slingers, and with such force that the missile seems to have been shot, as it were, from a catapult; consequently, in their assaults upon walled cities, they strike the defenders on the battlements and disable them, and in pitched battles they crush both shields and helmets and every kind of protective armour. 4 And they are so accurate in their aim that in the majority of cases they never miss the target before them. The reason for this is the continual practice which they get from childhood, in that their mothers compel them, while still young boys, to use the sling continually; for there is set up before them as a target a piece of bread fastened to a stake, and the novice is not permitted to eat until he has hit the bread, whereupon he takes it from his mother with her permission and devours it.
§ 5.19
ἐπεὶ δὲ περὶ τῶν ἐντὸς Ἡρακλείων στηλῶν κειμένων νήσων διεληλύθαμεν, περὶ τῶν κατὰ τὸν ὠκεανὸν οὐσῶν διέξιμεν. κατὰ γὰρ τὴν Λιβύην κεῖται μὲν πελαγία νῆσος ἀξιόλογος μὲν τῷ μεγέθει, κειμένη δὲ κατὰ τὸν ὠκεανὸν ἀπέχει πλοῦν ἀπὸ τῆς Λιβύης ἡμερῶν πλειόνων, κεκλιμένη πρὸς τὴν δύσιν. ἔχει δὲ χώραν καρποφόρον, πολλὴν μὲν ὀρεινήν, οὐκ ὀλίγην δὲ πεδιάδα κάλλει διαφέρουσαν. διαρρεομένη γὰρ ποταμοῖς πλωτοῖς ἐκ τούτων ἀρδεύεται, καὶ πολλοὺς μὲν ἔχει παραδείσους καταφύτους παντοίοις δένδρεσι, παμπληθεῖς δὲ κηπείας διειλημμένας ὕδασι γλυκέσιν· ἐπαύλεις τε πολυτελεῖς ταῖς κατασκευαῖς ὑπάρχουσιν ἐν αὐτῇ καὶ κατὰ τὰς κηπείας κατεσκευασμένα κωθωνιστήρια τὴν διάθεσιν ἀνθηρὰν ἔχοντα, ἐν οἷς οἱ κατοικοῦντες κατὰ τὴν θερινὴν ὥραν ἐνδιατρίβουσι, δαψιλῶς τῆς χώρας χορηγούσης τὰ πρὸς τὴν ἀπόλαυσιν καὶ τρυφήν. ἥ τε ὀρεινὴ δρυμοὺς ἔχει πυκνοὺς καὶ μεγάλους καὶ δένδρα παντοδαπὰ καρποφόρα καὶ πρὸς τὰς ἐν τοῖς ὄρεσι διαίτας ἔχοντα συναγκείας καὶ πηγὰς πολλάς. καθόλου δʼ ἡ νῆσος αὕτη κατάρρυτός ἐστι ναματιαίοις καὶ γλυκέσιν ὕδασι, διʼ ὧν οὐ μόνον ἀπόλαυσις ἐπιτερπὴς γίνεται τοῖς ἐμβιοῦσιν ἐν αὐτῇ, ἀλλὰ καὶ πρὸς ὑγίειαν σωμάτων καὶ ῥώμην συμβάλλεται. κυνήγιά τε δαψιλῆ παντοίων ζῴων καὶ θηρίων ὑπάρχει, καὶ τούτων ἐν ταῖς εὐωχίαις εὐποροῦντες οὐδὲν ἐλλιπὲς ἔχουσι τῶν πρὸς τρυφὴν καὶ πολυτέλειαν ἀνηκόντων· καὶ γὰρ ἰχθύων ἔχει πλῆθος ἡ προσκλύζουσα τῇ νήσῳ θάλαττα διὰ τὸ φύσει τὸν ὠκεανὸν πανταχῇ πλήθειν παντοδαπῶν ἰχθύων. καθόλου δʼ ἡ νῆσος αὕτη τὸν περικείμενον ἀέρα παντελῶς εὔκρατον ἔχουσα τὸ πλέον μέρος τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ φέρει πλῆθος ἀκροδρύων καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν ὡραίων, ὥστε δοκεῖν αὐτὴν ὡσεὶ θεῶν τινων, οὐκ ἀνθρώπων ὑπάρχειν ἐμβιωτήριον διὰ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῆς εὐδαιμονίας.
But now that we have discussed what relates to the islands which lie within the Pillars of Heracles, we shall give an account of those which are in the ocean. For there lies out in the deep off Libya an island of considerable size, and situated as it is in the ocean it is distant from Libya a voyage of a number of days to the west. Its land is fruitful, much of it being mountainous and not a little being a level plain of surpassing beauty. 2 Through it flow navigable rivers which are used for irrigation, and the island contains many parks planted with trees of every variety and gardens in great multitudes which are traversed by streams of sweet water; on it also are private villas of costly construction, and throughout the gardens banqueting houses have been constructed in a setting of flowers, and in them the inhabitants pass their time during the summer season, since the land supplies in abundance everything which contributes to enjoyment and luxury. The mountainous part of the island is covered with dense thickets of great extent and with fruit-trees of every variety, and, inviting men to life among the mountains, it has cozy glens and springs in great number. In a word, this island is well supplied with springs of sweet water which not only makes the use of it enjoyable for those who pass their life there but also contribute to the health and vigour of their bodies. 4 There is also excellent hunting of every manner of beast and wild animal, and the inhabitants, being well supplied with this game at their feasts, lack of nothing which pertains to luxury and extravagance; for in fact the sea which washes the shore of the island contains a multitude of fish, since the character of the ocean is such that it abounds throughout its extent with fish of every variety. And, speaking generally, the climate of the island is so altogether mild that it produces in abundance the fruits of the trees and the other seasonal fruits for the larger part of the year, so that it would appear that the island, because of its exceptional felicity, were a dwelling-place of a race of gods and not of men.
§ 5.20
κατὰ μὲν οὖν τοὺς παλαιοὺς χρόνους ἀνεύρετος ἦν διὰ τὸν ἀπὸ τῆς ὅλης οἰκουμένης ἐκτοπισμόν, ὕστερον δʼ εὑρέθη διὰ τοιαύτας αἰτίας. Φοίνικες ἐκ παλαιῶν χρόνων συνεχῶς πλέοντες κατʼ ἐμπορίαν πολλὰς μὲν κατὰ τὴν Λιβύην ἀποικίας ἐποιήσαντο, οὐκ ὀλίγας δὲ καὶ τῆς Εὐρώπης ἐν τοῖς πρὸς δύσιν κεκλιμένοις μέρεσι. τῶν δʼ ἐπιβολῶν αὐτοῖς κατὰ νοῦν προχωρουσῶν, πλούτους μεγάλους ἤθροισαν, καὶ τὴν ἐκτὸς Ἡρακλείων στηλῶν ἐπεβάλοντο πλεῖν, ἣν ὠκεανὸν ὀνομάζουσι. καὶ πρῶτον μὲν ἐπʼ αὐτοῦ τοῦ κατὰ τὰς στήλας πόρου πόλιν ἔκτισαν ἐπὶ τῆς Εὐρώπης, ἣν οὖσαν χερρόνησον προσηγόρευσαν Γάδειρα, ἐν ᾗ τά τε ἄλλα κατεσκεύασαν οἰκείως τοῖς τόποις καὶ ναὸν Ἡρακλέους πολυτελῆ, καὶ θυσίας κατέδειξαν μεγαλοπρεπεῖς τοῖς τῶν Φοινίκων ἔθεσι διοικουμένας. τὸ δʼ ἱερὸν συνέβη τοῦτο καὶ τότε καὶ κατὰ τοὺς νεωτέρους χρόνους τιμᾶσθαι περιττότερον μέχρι τῆς καθʼ ἡμᾶς ἡλικίας. πολλοὶ δὲ καὶ τῶν Ῥωμαίων ἐπιφανεῖς ἄνδρες καὶ μεγάλας πράξεις κατειργασμένοι ἐποιήσαντο μὲν τούτῳ τῷ θεῷ εὐχάς, συνετέλεσαν δʼ αὐτὰς μετὰ τὴν συντέλειαν τῶν κατορθωμάτων. οἱ δʼ οὖν Φοίνικες διὰ τὰς προειρημένας αἰτίας ἐρευνῶντες τὴν ἐκτὸς τῶν στηλῶν παραλίαν καὶ παρὰ τὴν Λιβύην πλέοντες, ὑπʼ ἀνέμων μεγάλων ἀπηνέχθησαν ἐπὶ πολὺν πλοῦν δι’ ὠκεανοῦ. χειμασθέντες δʼ ἐπὶ πολλὰς ἡμέρας προσηνέχθησαν τῇ προειρημένῃ νήσῳ, καὶ τὴν εὐδαιμονίαν αὐτῆς καὶ φύσιν κατοπτεύσαντες ἅπασι γνώριμον ἐποίησαν. διὸ καὶ Τυρρηνῶν θαλαττοκρατούντων καὶ πέμπειν εἰς αὐτὴν ἀποικίαν ἐπιβαλλομένων, διεκώλυσαν αὐτοὺς Καρχηδόνιοι, ἅμα μὲν εὐλαβούμενοι μὴ διὰ τὴν ἀρετὴν τῆς νήσου πολλοὶ τῶν ἐκ τῆς Καρχηδόνος εἰς ἐκείνην μεταστῶσιν, ἅμα δὲ πρὸς τὰ παράλογα τῆς τύχης κατασκευαζόμενοι καταφυγήν, εἴ τι περὶ τὴν Καρχηδόνα ὁλοσχερὲς πταῖσμα συμβαίνοι· δυνήσεσθαι γὰρ αὐτοὺς θαλαττοκρατοῦντας ἀπᾶραι πανοικίους εἰς ἀγνοουμένην ὑπὸ τῶν ὑπερεχόντων νῆσον.
In ancient times this island remained undiscovered because of its distance from the entire inhabited world, but it was discovered at a later period for the following reason. The Phoenicians, who from ancient times on made voyages continually for purposes of trade, planted many colonies throughout Libya and not a few as well in the western parts of Europe. And since their ventures turned out according to their expectations, they amassed great wealth and essayed to voyage beyond the Pillars of Heracles into the sea which men call the ocean. 2 And, first of all, upon the Strait itself by the Pillars they founded a city on the shores of Europe, and since the land formed a peninsula they called the city Gadeira;2 in the city they built many works appropriate to the nature of the region, and among them a costly temple of Heracles, and they instituted magnificent sacrifices which were conducted after the manner of the Phoenicians. And it has come to pass that this shrine has been held in an honour beyond the ordinary, both at the time of its building and in comparatively recent days down even to our own lifetime. Also many Romans, distinguished men who have performed great deeds, have offered vows to this god, and these vows they have performed after the completion of their successes. The Phoenicians, then, while exploring the coast outside the Pillars for the reasons we have stated and while sailing along the shore of Libya, were driven by strong winds a great distance out into the ocean. And after being storm-tossed for many days they were carried ashore on the island we mentioned above, and when they had observed its felicity and nature they caused it to be known to all men. 4 Consequently the Tyrrhenians, at the time when they were masters of the sea, purposed to dispatch a colony to it; but the Carthaginians prevented their doing so, partly out of concern lest many inhabitants of Carthage should remove there because of the excellence of the island, and partly in order to have ready in it a place in which to seek refuge against an incalculable turn of fortune, in case some total disaster should overtake Carthage. For it was their thought that, since they were masters of the sea, they would thus be able to move, households and all, to an island which was unknown to their conquerors.
§ 5.21
ἐπεὶ δὲ περὶ τοῦ κατὰ τὴν Λιβύην ὠκεανοῦ καὶ τῶν ἐν αὐτῷ νήσων διήλθομεν, μεταβιβάσομεν τὸν λόγον ἐπὶ τὴν Εὐρώπην. κατὰ γὰρ τὴν Γαλατίαν τὴν παρωκεανῖτιν κατʼ ἀντικρὺ τῶν Ἑρκυνίων ὀνομαζομένων δρυμῶν ʽμεγίστους γὰρ ὑπάρχειν παρειλήφαμεν τῶν κατὰ τὴν Εὐρώπηνʼ νῆσοι πολλαὶ κατὰ τὸν ὠκεανὸν ὑπάρχουσιν, ὧν ἐστι μεγίστη ἡ Βρεττανικὴ καλουμένη. αὕτη δὲ τὸ μὲν παλαιὸν ἀνεπίμικτος ἐγένετο ξενικαῖς δυνάμεσιν· οὔτε γὰρ Διόνυσον οὔθʼ Ἡρακλέα παρειλήφαμεν οὔτε τῶν ἄλλων ἡρώων ἢ δυναστῶν ἐστρατευμένον ἐπʼ αὐτήν· καθʼ ἡμᾶς δὲ Γάιος Καῖσαρ ὁ διὰ τὰς πράξεις ἐπονομασθεὶς θεὸς πρῶτος τῶν μνημονευομένων ἐχειρώσατο τὴν νῆσον, καὶ τοὺς Βρεττανοὺς καταπολεμήσας ἠνάγκασε τελεῖν ὡρισμένους φόρους. ἀλλὰ περὶ μὲν τούτων τὰς κατὰ μέρος πράξεις ἐν τοῖς οἰκείοις χρόνοις ἀναγράψομεν, περὶ δὲ τῆς νήσου καὶ τοῦ φυομένου κατʼ αὐτὴν καττιτέρου νῦν διέξιμεν. αὕτη γὰρ τῷ σχήματι τρίγωνος οὖσα παραπλησίως τῇ Σικελίᾳ τὰς πλευρὰς οὐκ ἰσοκώλους ἔχει. παρεκτεινούσης δʼ αὐτῆς παρὰ τὴν Εὐρώπην λοξῆς, τὸ μὲν ἐλάχιστον ἀπὸ τῆς ἠπείρου διεστηκὸς ἀκρωτήριον, ὃ καλοῦσι Κάντιον, φασὶν ἀπέχειν ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς σταδίους ὡς ἑκατόν, καθʼ ὃν τόπον ἡ θάλαττα ποιεῖται τὸν ἔκρουν, τὸ δʼ ἕτερον ἀκρωτήριον τὸ καλούμενον Βελέριον ἀπέχειν λέγεται τῆς ἠπείρου πλοῦν ἡμερῶν τεττάρων, τὸ δʼ ὑπολειπόμενον ἀνήκειν μὲν ἱστοροῦσιν εἰς τὸ πέλαγος, ὀνομάζεσθαι δʼ Ὄρκαν. τῶν δὲ πλευρῶν τὴν μὲν ἐλαχίστην εἶναι σταδίων ἑπτακισχιλίων πεντακοσίων, παρήκουσαν παρὰ τὴν Εὐρώπην, τὴν δὲ δευτέραν τὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ πορθμοῦ πρὸς τὴν κορυφὴν ἀνήκουσαν σταδίων μυρίων πεντακισχιλίων, τὴν δὲ λοιπὴν σταδίων δισμυρίων, ὥστε τὴν πᾶσαν εἶναι τῆς νήσου περιφορὰν σταδίων τετρακισμυρίων δισχιλίων πεντακοσίων. κατοικεῖν δέ φασι τὴν Βρεττανικὴν αὐτόχθονα γένη καὶ τὸν παλαιὸν βίον ταῖς ἀγωγαῖς διατηροῦντα. ἅρμασι μὲν γὰρ κατὰ τοὺς πολέμους χρῶνται, καθάπερ οἱ παλαιοὶ τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἥρωες ἐν τῷ Τρωικῷ πολέμῳ κεχρῆσθαι παραδέδονται, καὶ τὰς οἰκήσεις εὐτελεῖς ἔχουσιν, ἐκ τῶν καλάμων ἢ ξύλων κατὰ τὸ πλεῖστον συγκειμένας· τήν τε συναγωγὴν τῶν σιτικῶν καρπῶν ποιοῦνται τοὺς στάχυς αὐτοὺς ἀποτέμνοντες καὶ θησαυρίζοντες εἰς τὰς καταστέγους οἰκήσεις· ἐκ δὲ τούτων τοὺς παλαιοὺς στάχυς καθʼ ἡμέραν τίλλειν, καὶ κατεργαζομένους ἔχειν τὴν τροφήν. τοῖς δʼ ἤθεσιν ἁπλοῦς εἶναι καὶ πολὺ κεχωρισμένους τῆς τῶν νῦν ἀνθρώπων ἀγχινοίας καὶ πονηρίας. τάς τε διαίτας εὐτελεῖς ἔχειν, καὶ τῆς ἐκ τοῦ πλούτου γεννωμένης τρυφῆς πολὺ διαλλάττοντας. εἶναι δὲ καὶ πολυάνθρωπον τὴν νῆσον, καὶ τὴν τοῦ ἀέρος ἔχειν διάθεσιν παντελῶς κατεψυγμένην, ὡς ἂν ὑπʼ αὐτὴν τὴν ἄρκτον κειμένην. βασιλεῖς δὲ καὶ δυνάστας πολλοὺς ἔχειν, καὶ πρὸς ἀλλήλους κατὰ τὸ
But since we have set forth the facts concerning the ocean lying off Libya and its islands, we shall now turn our discussion to Europe. Opposite that part of Gaul which lies on the ocean and directly across from the Hercynian Forest, as it is called, which is the largest of any in Europe of which tradition tells us, there are many islands out in the ocean of which the largest is that known as Britain. 2 In ancient times this island remained unvisited by foreign armies; for neither Dionysus, tradition tells us, nor Heracles, nor any other hero or leader made a campaign against it; in our day, however, Gaius Caesar, who has been called a god because of his deeds, was the first man of whom we have record to have conquered the island, and after subduing the Britons he compelled them to pay fixed tributes. But we shall give a detailed account of the events of this conquest in connection with the appropriate period of time, and at present we shall discuss the island and the tin which is found in it. Britain is triangular in shape, very much as is Sicily, but its sides are not equal. This island stretches obliquely along the coast of Europe, and the point where it is least distant from the mainland, we are told, is the promontory which men call Cantium, and this is about one hundred stades from the land, at the place where the sea has its outlet, whereas the second promontory, known as Belerium, is said to be a voyage of four days from the mainland, and the last, writers tell us, extends out into the open sea and is named Orca. 4 Of the sides of Britain the shortest, which extends along Europe, is seven thousand five hundred stades, the second, from the Strait to the (northern) tip, is fifteen thousand stades, and the last is twenty thousand stades, so that the entire circuit of the island amounts to forty-two thousand five hundred stades. And Britain, we are told, is inhabited by tribes which are autochthonous and preserve in their ways of living the ancient manner of life. They use chariots, for instance, in their wars, even as tradition tells us the old Greek heroes did in the Trojan War, and their dwellings are humble, being built for the most part out of reeds or logs. The method they employ of harvesting their grain crops is to cut off no more than the heads and store them away in roofed granges, and then each day they pick out the ripened heads and grind them, getting in this way their food. 6 As for their habits, they are simple and far removed from the shrewdness and vice which characterize the men of our day. Their way of living is modest, since they are well clear of the luxury which is begotten of wealth. The island is also thickly populated, and its climate is extremely cold, as one would expect, since it actually lies under the Great Bear. It is held by many kings and potentates, who for the most part live at peace among themselves.
§ 5.22
πλεῖστον εἰρηνικῶς διακεῖσθαι. ἀλλὰ περὶ μὲν τῶν κατʼ αὐτὴν νομίμων καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἰδιωμάτων τὰ κατὰ μέρος ἀναγράψομεν ὅταν ἐπὶ τὴν Καίσαρος γενομένην στρατείαν εἰς Βρεττανίαν παραγενηθῶμεν, νῦν δὲ περὶ τοῦ κατʼ αὐτὴν φυομένου καττιτέρου διέξιμεν. τῆς γὰρ Βρεττανικῆς κατὰ τὸ ἀκρωτήριον τὸ καλούμενον Βελέριον οἱ κατοικοῦντες φιλόξενοί τε διαφερόντως εἰσὶ καὶ διὰ τὴν τῶν ξένων ἐμπόρων ἐπιμιξίαν ἐξημερωμένοι τὰς ἀγωγάς. οὗτοι τὸν καττίτερον κατασκευάζουσι φιλοτέχνως ἐργαζόμενοι τὴν φέρουσαν αὐτὸν γῆν. αὕτη δὲ πετρώδης οὖσα διαφυὰς ἔχει γεώδεις, ἐν αἷς τὸν πόρον κατεργαζόμενοι καὶ τήξαντες καθαίρουσιν. ἀποτυποῦντες δʼ εἰς ἀστραγάλων ῥυθμοὺς κομίζουσιν εἴς τινα νῆσον προκειμένην μὲν τῆς Βρεττανικῆς, ὀνομαζομένην δὲ Ἴκτιν· κατὰ γὰρ τὰς ἀμπώτεις ἀναξηραινομένου τοῦ μεταξὺ τόπου ταῖς ἁμάξαις εἰς ταύτην κομίζουσι δαψιλῆ τὸν καττίτερον. ἴδιον δέ τι συμβαίνει περὶ τὰς πλησίον νήσους τὰς μεταξὺ κειμένας τῆς τε Εὐρώπης καὶ τῆς Βρεττανικῆς· κατὰ μὲν γὰρ τὰς πλημυρίδας τοῦ μεταξὺ πόρου πληρουμένου νῆσοι φαίνονται, κατὰ δὲ τὰς ἀμπώτεις ἀπορρεούσης τῆς θαλάττης καὶ πολὺν τόπον ἀναξηραινούσης θεωροῦνται χερρόνησοι. ἐντεῦθεν δʼ οἱ ἔμποροι παρὰ τῶν ἐγχωρίων ὠνοῦνται καὶ διακομίζουσιν εἰς τὴν Γαλατίαν· τὸ δὲ τελευταῖον πεζῇ διὰ τῆς Γαλατίας πορευθέντες ἡμέρας ὡς τριάκοντα κατάγουσιν ἐπὶ τῶν ἵππων τὰ φορτία πρὸς τὴν ἐκβολὴν τοῦ Ῥοδανοῦ ποταμοῦ. περὶ μὲν οὖν τοῦ καττιτέρου τοῖς ῥηθεῖσιν ἀρκεσθησόμεθα,
But we shall give a detailed account of the customs of Britain and of the other features which are peculiar to the island when we come to the campaign which Caesar undertook against it, and at this time we shall discuss the tin which the island produces. The inhabitants of Britain who dwell about the promontory known as Belerium are especially hospitable to strangers and have adopted a civilized manner of life because of their intercourse with merchants of other peoples. They it is who work the tin, treating the bed which bears it in an ingenious manner. 2 This bed, being like rock, contains earthy seams and in them the workers quarry the ore, which they then melt down and cleanse of its impurities. Then they work the tin into pieces the size of knuckle-bones and convey it to an island which lies off Britain and is called Ictis; for at the time of ebb-tide the space between this island and the mainland becomes dry and they can take the tin in large quantities over to the island on their wagons. (And a peculiar thing happens in the case of the neighbouring islands which lie between Europe and Britain, for at flood-tide the passages between them and the mainland run full and they have the appearance of islands, but at ebb-tide the sea recedes and leaves dry a large space, and at that time they look like peninsulas.)20 4 On the island of Ictis the merchants purchase the tin of the natives and carry it from there across the Strait to Galatia or Gaul; and finally, making their way on foot through Gaul for some thirty days, they bring their wares on horseback to the mouth of the river Rhone.
§ 5.23
περὶ δὲ τοῦ καλουμένου ἠλέκτρου νῦν διέξιμεν. τῆς Σκυθίας τῆς ὑπὲρ τὴν Γαλατίαν κατʼ ἀντικρὺ νῆσός ἐστι πελαγία κατὰ τὸν ὠκεανὸν ἡ προσαγορευομένη Βασίλεια. εἰς ταύτην ὁ κλύδων ἐκβάλλει δαψιλὲς τὸ καλούμενον ἤλεκτρον, οὐδαμοῦ δὲ τῆς οἰκουμένης φαινόμενον. περὶ δὲ τούτου πολλοὶ τῶν παλαιῶν ἀνέγραψαν μύθους παντελῶς ἀπιστουμένους καὶ διὰ τῶν ἀποτελεσμάτων ἐλεγχομένους. πολλοὶ γὰρ τῶν τε ποιητῶν καὶ τῶν συγγραφέων φασὶ Φαέθοντα τὸν Ἡλίου μὲν υἱόν, παῖδα δὲ τὴν ἡλικίαν ὄντα, πεῖσαι τὸν πατέρα μίαν ἡμέραν παραχωρῆσαι τοῦ τεθρίππου· συγχωρηθέντος δʼ αὐτῷ τούτου, τὸν μὲν Φαέθοντα ἐλαύνοντα τὸ τέθριππον μὴ δύνασθαι κρατεῖν τῶν ἡνιῶν, τοὺς δʼ ἵππους καταφρονήσαντας τοῦ παιδὸς ἐξενεχθῆναι τοῦ συνήθους δρόμου, καὶ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον κατὰ τὸν οὐρανὸν πλανωμένους ἐκπυρῶσαι τοῦτον καὶ ποιῆσαι τὸν νῦν γαλαξίαν καλούμενον κύκλον, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα πολλὴν τῆς οἰκουμένης ἐπιφλέξαντας οὐκ ὀλίγην κατακάειν χώραν. διὸ καὶ τοῦ Διὸς ἀγανακτήσαντος ἐπὶ τοῖς γεγενημένοις, κεραυνῶσαι μὲν τὸν Φαέθοντα, ἀποκαταστῆσαι δὲ τὸν ἥλιον ἐπὶ τὴν συνήθη πορείαν. τοῦ δὲ Φαέθοντος πεσόντος πρὸς τὰς ἐκβολὰς τοῦ νῦν καλουμένου Πάδου ποταμοῦ, τὸ δὲ παλαιὸν Ἠριδανοῦ προσαγορευομένου, θρηνῆσαι μὲν τὰς ἀδελφὰς αὐτοῦ τὴν τελευτὴν φιλοτιμότατα, διὰ δὲ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῆς λύπης ὑπὸ τῆς φύσεως μετασχηματισθῆναι τὴν φύσιν, γενομένας αἰγείρους. ταύτας δὲ κατʼ ἐνιαυτὸν κατὰ τὴν αὐτὴν ὥραν δάκρυον ἀφιέναι, καὶ τοῦτο πηγνύμενον ἀποτελεῖν τὸ καλούμενον ἤλεκτρον, λαμπρότητι μὲν τῶν ὁμοφυῶν διαφέρον, ἐπιχωριάζον δʼ ἐν ταῖς τῶν νέων τελευταῖς κατὰ τὸ τούτων πένθος. διημαρτηκότων δὲ πάντων τῶν τὸν μῦθον τοῦτον πεπλακότων καὶ διὰ τῶν ἀποτελεσμάτων ἐν τοῖς ὕστερον χρόνοις ἐλεγχομένων, προσεκτέον ταῖς ἀληθιναῖς ἱστορίαις· τὸ γὰρ ἤλεκτρον συνάγεται μὲν ἐν τῇ προειρημένῃ νήσῳ, κομίζεται δʼ ὑπὸ τῶν ἐγχωρίων πρὸς τὴν ἀντιπέρας ἤπειρον, διʼ ἧς φέρεται πρὸς τοὺς καθʼ ἡμᾶς τόπους, καθότι προείρηται.
But as regards the tin of Britain we shall rest content with what has been said, and we shall now discuss the electron, as it is called (amber). Directly opposite the part of Scythia which lies above Galatia there is an island out in the open sea which is called Basileia. On this island the waves of the sea cast up great quantities of what is known as amber, which is to be seen nowhere else in the inhabited world; and about it many of the ancient writers have composed fanciful tales, such as are altogether difficult to credit and have been refuted by later events. 2 For many poets and historians give the story that Phaethon, the son of Helius, while yet a youth, persuaded his father to retire in his favour from his fourhorse chariot for a single day; and when Helius yielded to the request Phaethon, as he drove the chariot, was unable to keep control of the reins, and the horses, making light of the youth, left their accustomed course; and first they turned aside to traverse the heavens, setting it afire and creating what is now called the Milky Way, and after that they brought the scorching rays to many parts of the inhabited earth and burned up not a little land. Consequently Zeus, being indignant because of what had happened, smote Phaethon with a thunderbolt and brought back the sun to its accustomed course. And Phaethon fell to the earth at the mouths of the river which is now known as the Padus (Po), but in ancient times was called the Eridanus, and his sisters vied with each other in bewailing his death and by reason of their exceeding grief underwent a metamorphosis of their nature, becoming poplar trees. 4 And these poplars, at the same season each year, drip tears, and these, when they harden, form what men call amber, which in brilliance excells all else of the same nature and is commonly used in connection with the mourning attending the death of the young. But since the creators of this fictitious tale have one and all erred, and have been refuted by what has transpired at later times, we must give ear to the accounts which are truthful; for the fact is that amber is gathered on the island we have mentioned and is brought by the natives to the opposite continent, and that it is conveyed through the continent to the regions known to us, as we have stated.
§ 5.24
διεληλυθότες δὲ περὶ τῶν νήσων τῶν κειμένων ἐν τοῖς πρὸς δυσμὰς μέρεσιν, οὐκ ἀνοίκειον εἶναι νομίζομεν περὶ τῶν πλησίον τῆς Εὐρώπης ἐθνῶν βραχέα διελθεῖν, ἃ παραλελοίπαμεν ἐν ταῖς πρότερον βίβλοις. τῆς Κελτικῆς τοίνυν τὸ παλαιόν, ὥς φασιν, ἐδυνάστευσεν ἐπιφανὴς ἀνήρ, ᾧ θυγάτηρ ἐγένετο τῷ μεγέθει τοῦ σώματος ὑπερφυής, τῇ δʼ εὐπρεπείᾳ πολὺ διέχουσα τῶν ἄλλων. αὕτη δὲ διά τε τὴν τοῦ σώματος ῥώμην· καὶ τὴν θαυμαζομένην εὐπρέπειαν πεφρονηματισμένη παντὸς τοῦ μνηστεύοντος τὸν γάμον ἀπηρνεῖτο, νομίζουσα μηδένα τούτων ἄξιον ἑαυτῆς εἶναι. κατὰ δὲ τὴν Ἡρακλέους ἐπὶ Γηρυόνην στρατείαν, καταντήσαντος εἰς τὴν Κελτικὴν αὐτοῦ καὶ πόλιν Ἀλησίαν ἐν ταύτῃ κτίσαντος, θεασαμένη τὸν Ἡρακλέα καὶ θαυμάσασα τήν τε ἀρετὴν αὐτοῦ καὶ τὴν τοῦ σώματος ὑπεροχήν, προσεδέξατο τὴν ἐπιπλοκὴν μετὰ πάσης προθυμίας, συγκατανευσάντων καὶ τῶν γονέων. μιγεῖσα δὲ τῷ Ἡρακλεῖ ἐγέννησεν υἱὸν ὀνόματι Γαλάτην, πολὺ προέχοντα τῶν ὁμοεθνῶν ἀρετῇ τε ψυχῆς καὶ ῥώμῃ σώματος. ἀνδρωθεὶς δὲ τὴν ἡλικίαν καὶ διαδεξάμενος τὴν πατρῴαν βασιλείαν, πολλὴν μὲν τῆς προσοριζούσης χώρας κατεκτήσατο, μεγάλας δὲ πράξεις πολεμικὰς συνετέλεσε. περιβόητος δὲ γενόμενος ἐπʼ ἀνδρείᾳ τοὺς ὑφʼ αὑτὸν τεταγμένους ὠνόμασεν ἀφʼ ἑαυτοῦ Γαλάτας· ἀφʼ ὧν ἡ σύμπασα Γαλατία προσηγορεύθη.
Since we have set forth the facts concerning the islands which lie in the western regions, we consider that it will not be foreign to our purpose to discuss briefly the tribes of Europe which lie near them and which we failed to mention in our former Books. Now Celtica was ruled in ancient times, so we are told, by a renowned man who had a daughter who was of unusual stature and far excelled in beauty all the other maidens. But she, because of her strength of body and marvellous comeliness, was so haughty that she kept refusing every man who wooed her in marriage, since she believed that no one of her wooers was worthy of her. 2 Now in the course of his campaign against the Geryones, Heracles visited Celtica and founded there the city of Alesia, and the maiden, on seeing Heracles, wondered at his prowess and his bodily superiority and accepted his embraces with all eagerness, her parents having given their consent. From this union she bore to Heracles a son named Galates, who far surpassed all the youths of the tribe in quality of spirit and strength of body. And when he had attained to man's estate and had succeeded to the throne of his fathers, he subdued a large part of the neighbouring territory and accomplished great feats in war. Becoming renowned for his bravery, he called his subjects Galatae or Gauls after himself, and these in turn gave their name to all of Galatia or Gaul.
§ 5.25
ἐπεὶ δὲ περὶ τῆς τῶν Γαλατῶν προσηγορίας διήλθομεν, καὶ περὶ τῆς χώρας αὐτῶν δέον ἐστὶν εἰπεῖν. ἡ τοίνυν Γαλατία κατοικεῖται μὲν ὑπὸ πολλῶν ἐθνῶν διαφόρων τοῖς μεγέθεσι· τὰ μέγιστα γὰρ αὐτῶν σχεδὸν εἴκοσι μυριάδας ἀνδρῶν ἔχει, τὰ δʼ ἐλάχιστα πέντε μυριάδας, ὧν ἕν ἐστι πρὸς Ῥωμαίους ἔχον συγγένειαν παλαιὰν καὶ φιλίαν τὴν μέχρι τῶν καθʼ ἡμᾶς χρόνων διαμένουσαν. κειμένη δὲ κατὰ τὸ πλεῖστον ὑπὸ τὰς ἄρκτους χειμέριός ἐστι καὶ ψυχρὰ διαφερόντως. κατὰ γὰρ τὴν χειμερινὴν ὥραν ἐν ταῖς συννεφέσιν ἡμέραις ἀντὶ μὲν τῶν ὄμβρων χιόνι πολλῇ νίφεται, κατὰ δὲ τὰς αἰθρίας κρυστάλλῳ καὶ πάγοις ἐξαισίοις πλήθει, διʼ ὧν οἱ ποταμοὶ πηγνύμενοι διὰ τῆς ἰδίας φύσεως γεφυροῦνται· οὐ μόνον γὰρ οἱ τυχόντες ὁδῖται κατʼ ὀλίγους κατὰ τοῦ κρυστάλλου πορευόμενοι διαβαίνουσιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ στρατοπέδων μυριάδες μετὰ σκευοφόρων καὶ ἁμαξῶν γεμουσῶν ἀσφαλῶς περαιοῦνται. πολλῶν δὲ καὶ μεγάλων ποταμῶν ῥεόντων διὰ τῆς Γαλατίας καὶ τοῖς ῥείθροις ποικίλως τὴν πεδιάδα γῆν τεμνόντων, οἱ μὲν ἐκ λιμνῶν ἀβύσσων ῥέουσιν, οἱ δʼ ἐκ τῶν ὀρῶν ἔχουσι τὰς πηγὰς καὶ τὰς ἐπιρροίας· τὴν δʼ ἐκβολὴν οἱ μὲν εἰς τὸν ὠκεανὸν ποιοῦνται, οἱ δʼ εἰς τὴν καθʼ ἡμᾶς θάλατταν. μέγιστος δʼ ἐστὶ τῶν εἰς τὸ καθʼ ἡμᾶς πέλαγος ῥεόντων ὁ Ῥοδανός, τὰς μὲν πηγὰς ἔχων ἐν τοῖς Ἀλπείοις ὄρεσι, πέντε δὲ στόμασιν ἐξερευγόμενος εἰς τὴν θάλατταν. τῶν δʼ εἰς τὸν ὠκεανὸν ῥεόντων μέγιστοι δοκοῦσιν ὑπάρχειν ὅ τε Δανούβιος καὶ ὁ Ῥῆνος, ὃν ἐν τοῖς καθʼ ἡμᾶς χρόνοις Καῖσαρ ὁ κληθεὶς θεὸς ἔζευξε παραδόξως, καὶ περαιώσας πεζῇ τὴν δύναμιν ἐχειρώσατο τοὺς πέραν κατοικοῦντας αὐτοῦ Γαλάτας. πολλοὶ δὲ καὶ ἄλλοι πλωτοὶ ποταμοὶ κατὰ τὴν Κελτικήν εἰσι, περὶ ὧν μακρὸν ἂν εἴη γράφειν. πάντες δὲ σχεδὸν ὑπὸ τοῦ πάγου πηγνύμενοι γεφυροῦσι τὰ ῥεῖθρα, καὶ τοῦ κρυστάλλου διὰ τὴν φυσικὴν λειότητα ποιοῦντος τοὺς διαβαίνοντας ὀλισθάνειν, ἀχύρων ἐπιβαλλομένων ἐπʼ αὐτοὺς ἀσφαλῆ τὴν διάβασιν ἔχουσιν.
Since we have explained the name by which the Gauls are known, we must go on to speak about their land. Gaul is inhabited by many tribes of different size; for the largest number some two hundred thousand men, and the smallest fifty thousand, one of the latter standing on terms of kinship and friendship with the Romans, a relationship which has endured from ancient times down to our own day. 2 And the land, lying as it does for the most part under the Bears, has a wintry climate and is exceedingly cold. For during the winter season on cloudy days snow falls deep in place of rain, and on clear days ice and heavy frost are everywhere and in such abundance that the rivers are frozen over and are bridged by their own waters; for not only can chance travellers, proceeding a few at a time, make their way carry them on the ice, but even armies with their tens of thousands, together with their beasts of burden and heavily laden wagons, cross upon it in safety to the other side. And many large rivers flow through Gaul, and their streams cut this way and that through the level plain, some of them flowing from bottomless lakes and others having their sources and affluents in the mountains, and some of them empty into the ocean and others into our sea. The largest one of those which flow into our waters is the Rhone, which has its sources in the Alps and empties into the sea by five mouths. 4 But of the rivers which flow into the ocean the largest are thought to be the Danube and the Rhine, the latter of which the Caesar who has been called a god spanned with a bridge in our own day with astonishing skill, and leading his army across on foot he subdued the Gauls who lived beyond it. There are also many other navigable rivers in Celtica, but it would be a long task to write about them. And almost all of them become frozen over by the cold and thus bridge their own streams, and since the natural smoothness of the ice makes the crossing slippery for those who pass over, they sprinkle chaff on it and thus have a crossing which is safe.
§ 5.26
ἴδιον δέ τι καὶ παράδοξον συμβαίνει κατὰ τὴν πλείστην τῆς Γαλατίας, περὶ οὗ παραλιπεῖν οὐκ ἄξιον ἡγούμεθα. ἀπὸ γὰρ θερινῆς δύσεως καὶ ἄρκτου πνεῖν εἰώθασιν ἄνεμοι τηλικαύτην ἔχοντες σφοδρότητα καὶ δύναμιν, ὥστε ἀναρπάζειν ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς λίθους χειροπληθιαίους τοῖς μεγέθεσι καὶ τῶν ψηφίδων ἁδρομερῆ κονιορτόν· καθόλου δὲ καταιγίζοντες λάβρως ἁρπάζουσιν ἀπὸ μὲν τῶν ἀνδρῶν τὰ ὅπλα καὶ τὰς ἐσθῆτας, ἀπὸ δὲ τῶν ἵππων τοὺς ἀναβάτας. διὰ δὲ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τοῦ ψύχους διαφθειρομένης τῆς κατὰ τὸν ἀέρα κράσεως οὔτʼ οἶνον οὔτʼ ἔλαιον φέρει· διόπερ τῶν Γαλατῶν οἱ τούτων τῶν καρπῶν στερισκόμενοι πόμα κατασκευάζουσιν ἐκ τῆς κριθῆς τὸ προσαγορευόμενον ζῦθος, καὶ τὰ κηρία πλύνοντες τῷ τούτων ἀποπλύματι χρῶνται. κάτοινοι δʼ ὄντες καθʼ ὑπερβολὴν τὸν εἰσαγόμενον ὑπὸ τῶν ἐμπόρων οἶνον ἄκρατον ἐμφοροῦνται, καὶ διὰ τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν λάβρῳ χρώμενοι τῷ ποτῷ καὶ μεθυσθέντες εἰς ὕπνον ἢ μανιώδεις διαθέσεις τρέπονται. διὸ καὶ πολλοὶ τῶν Ἰταλικῶν ἐμπόρων διὰ τὴν συνήθη φιλαργυρίαν ἕρμαιον ἡγοῦνται τὴν τῶν Γαλατῶν φιλοινίαν. οὗτοι γὰρ διὰ μὲν τῶν πλωτῶν ποταμῶν πλοίοις, διὰ δὲ τῆς πεδιάδος χώρας ἁμάξαις κομίζοντες τὸν οἶνον, ἀντιλαμβάνουσι τιμῆς πλῆθος ἄπιστον· διδόντες γὰρ οἴνου κεράμιον ἀντιλαμβάνουσι παῖδα, τοῦ πόματος διάκονον ἀμειβόμενοι.
A peculiar thing and unexpected takes place over the larger part of Gaul which we think we should not omit to mention. For from the direction of the sun's summer setting and from the north winds are wont to blow with such violence and force that they pick up from the ground rocks as large as can be held in the hand together with a dust composed of coarse gravel; and, generally speaking, when these winds rage violently they tear the weapons out of men's hands and the clothing off their backs and dismount riders from their horses. 2 Furthermore, since temperateness of climate is destroyed by the excessive cold, the land produces neither wine nor oil, and as a consequence those Gauls who are deprived of these fruits make a drink out of barley which they call zythos or beer, and they also drink the water with which they cleanse their honeycombs. The Gauls are exceedingly addicted to the use of wine and fill themselves with the wine which is brought into their country by merchants, drinking it unmixed, and since they partake of this drink without moderation by reason of their craving for it, when they are drunken they fall into a stupor or a state of madness. Consequently many of the Italian traders, induced by the love of money which characterizes them, believe that the love of wine of these Gauls is their own godsend. For these transport the wine on the navigable rivers by means of boats and through the level plain on wagons, and receive for it an incredible price; for in exchange for a jar of wine they receive a slave, getting a servant in return for the drink.
§ 5.27
κατὰ γοῦν τὴν Γαλατίαν ἄργυρος μὲν οὐ γίνεται τὸ σύνολον, χρυσὸς δὲ πολύς, ὃν τοῖς ἐγχωρίοις ἡ φύσις ἄνευ μεταλλείας καὶ κακοπαθείας ὑπουργεῖ. ἡ γὰρ τῶν ποταμῶν ῥύσις σκολιοὺς τοὺς ἀγκῶνας ἔχουσα, καὶ τοῖς τῶν παρακειμένων ὀρῶν ὄχθοις προσαράττουσα καὶ μεγάλους ἀπορρηγνῦσα κολωνούς, πληροῖ χρυσοῦ ψήγματος. τοῦτο δʼ οἱ περὶ τὰς ἐργασίας ἀσχολούμενοι συνάγοντες ἀλήθουσιν ἢ συγκόπτουσι τὰς ἐχούσας τὸ ψῆγμα βώλους, διὰ δὲ τῶν ὑδάτων τῆς φύσεως τὸ γεῶδες πλύναντες παραδιδόασιν ἐν ταῖς καμίνοις εἰς τὴν χωνείαν. τούτῳ δὲ τῷ τρόπῳ σωρεύοντες χρυσοῦ πλῆθος καταχρῶνται πρὸς κόσμον οὐ μόνον αἱ γυναῖκες, ἀλλὰ καὶ οἱ ἄνδρες. περὶ μὲν γὰρ τοὺς καρποὺς καὶ τοὺς βραχίονας ψέλια φοροῦσι, περὶ δὲ τοὺς αὐχένας κρίκους παχεῖς ὁλοχρύσους καὶ δακτυλίους ἀξιολόγους, ἔτι δὲ χρυσοῦς θώρακας. ἴδιον δέ τι καὶ παράδοξον παρὰ τοῖς ἄνω Κελτοῖς ἐστι περὶ τὰ τεμένη τῶν θεῶν γινόμενον· ἐν γὰρ τοῖς ἱεροῖς καὶ τεμένεσιν ἐπὶ τῆς χώρας ἀνειμένοις ἔρριπται πολὺς χρυσὸς ἀνατεθειμένος τοῖς θεοῖς, καὶ τῶν ἐγχωρίων οὐδεὶς ἅπτεται τούτου διὰ τὴν δεισιδαιμονίαν, καίπερ ὄντων τῶν Κελτῶν φιλαργύρων καθʼ ὑπερβολήν.
Throughout Gaul there is found practically no silver, but there is gold in great quantities, which Nature provides for the inhabitants without their having to mine for it or to undergo any hardship. For the rivers, as they course through the country, having as they do sharp bends which turn this way and that and dashing against the mountains which line their banks and bearing off great pieces of them, are full of gold-dust. 2 This is collected by those who occupy themselves in this business, and these men grind or crush the lumps which hold the dust, and after washing out with water the earthy elements in it they give the gold-dust over to be melted in the furnaces. In this manner they amass a great amount of gold, which is used for ornament not only by the women but also by the men. For around their wrists and arms they wear bracelets, around their necks heavy necklaces of solid gold, and huge rings they wear as well, and even corselets of gold. 4 And a peculiar and striking practice is found among the upper Celts, in connection with the sacred precincts of the gods; as for in the temples and precincts made consecrate in their land, a great amount of gold has been deposited as a dedication to the gods, and not a native of the country ever touches it because of religious scruple, although the Celts are an exceedingly covetous people.
§ 5.28
οἱ δὲ Γαλάται τοῖς μὲν σώμασίν εἰσιν εὐμήκεις, ταῖς δὲ σαρξὶ κάθυγροι καὶ λευκοί, ταῖς δὲ κόμαις οὐ μόνον ἐκ φύσεως ξανθοί, ἀλλὰ καὶ διὰ τῆς κατασκευῆς ἐπιτηδεύουσιν αὔξειν τὴν φυσικὴν τῆς χρόας ἰδιότητα. τιτάνου γὰρ ἀποπλύματι σμῶντες τὰς τρίχας συνεχῶς καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν μετώπων ἐπὶ τὴν κορυφὴν καὶ τοὺς τένοντας ἀνασπῶσιν, ὥστε τὴν πρόσοψιν αὐτῶν φαίνεσθαι Σατύροις καὶ Πᾶσιν ἐοικυῖαν· παχύνονται γὰρ αἱ τρίχες ἀπὸ τῆς κατεργασίας, ὥστε μηδὲν τῆς τῶν ἵππων χαίτης διαφέρειν. τὰ δὲ γένεια τινὲς μὲν ξυρῶνται, τινὲς δὲ μετρίως ὑποτρέφουσιν· οἱ δʼ εὐγενεῖς τὰς μὲν παρειὰς ἀπολειαίνουσι, τὰς δʼ ὑπήνας ἀνειμένας ἐῶσιν, ὥστε τὰ στόματα αὐτῶν ἐπικαλύπτεσθαι. διόπερ ἐσθιόντων μὲν αὐτῶν ἐμπλέκονται ταῖς τροφαῖς, πινόντων δὲ καθαπερεὶ διά τινος ἡθμοῦ φέρεται τὸ πόμα. δειπνοῦσι δὲ καθήμενοι πάντες οὐκ ἐπὶ θρόνων, ἀλλʼ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, ὑποστρώμασι χρώμενοι λύκων ἢ κυνῶν δέρμασι. διακονοῦνται δʼ ὑπὸ τῶν νεωτάτων παίδων ἐχόντων ἡλικίαν, ἀρρένων τε καὶ θηλειῶν. πλησίον δʼ αὐτῶν ἐσχάραι κεῖνται γέμουσαι πυρὸς καὶ λέβητας ἔχουσαι καὶ ὀβελοὺς πλήρεις κρεῶν ὁλομερῶν. τοὺς δʼ ἀγαθοὺς ἄνδρας ταῖς καλλίσταις τῶν κρεῶν μοίραις γεραίρουσι, καθάπερ καὶ ὁ ποιητὴς τὸν Αἴαντα παρεισάγει τιμώμενον ὑπὸ τῶν ἀριστέων, ὅτε πρὸς Ἕκτορα μονομαχήσας ἐνίκησε, νώτοισιν δʼ Αἴαντα διηνεκέεσσι γέραιρε. καλοῦσι δὲ καὶ τοὺς ξένους ἐπὶ τὰς εὐωχίας, καὶ μετὰ τὸ δεῖπνον ἐπερωτῶσι, τίνες εἰσὶ καὶ τίνων χρείαν ἔχουσιν. εἰώθασι δὲ καὶ παρὰ τὸ δεῖπνον ἐκ τῶν τυχόντων πρὸς τὴν διὰ τῶν λόγων ἅμιλλαν καταστάντες, ἐκ προκλήσεως μονομαχεῖν πρὸς ἀλλήλους, παρʼ οὐδὲν τιθέμενοι τὴν τοῦ βίου τελευτήν· ἐνισχύει γὰρ παρʼ αὐτοῖς ὁ Πυθαγόρου λόγος, ὅτι τὰς ψυχὰς τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἀθανάτους εἶναι συμβέβηκε καὶ διʼ ἐτῶν ὡρισμένων πάλιν βιοῦν, εἰς ἕτερον σῶμα τῆς ψυχῆς εἰσδυομένης. διὸ καὶ κατὰ τὰς ταφὰς τῶν τετελευτηκότων ἐνίους ἐπιστολὰς γεγραμμένας τοῖς οἰκείοις τετελευτηκόσιν ἐμβάλλειν εἰς τὴν πυράν, ὡς τῶν τετελευτηκότων ἀναγνωσομένων ταύτας.
The Gauls are tall of body, with rippling muscles, and white of skin, and their hair is blond, and not only naturally so, but they also make it their practice by artificial means to increase the distinguishing colour which nature has given it. 2 For they are always washing their hair in lime-water, and they pull it back from the forehead to the top of the head and back to the nape of the neck, with the result that their appearance is like that of Satyrs and Pans, since the treatment of their hair makes it so heavy and coarse that it differs in no respect from the mane of horses. Some of them shave the beard, but others let it grow a little; and the nobles shave their cheeks, but they let the moustache grow until it covers the mouth. Consequently, when they are eating, their moustaches become entangled in the food, and when they are drinking, the beverage passes, as it were, through a kind of a strainer. 4 When they dine they all sit, not upon chairs, but upon the ground, using for cushions the skins of wolves or of dogs. The service at the meals is performed by the youngest children, both male and female, who are of suitable age; and near at hand are their fireplaces heaped with coals, and on them are caldrons and spits holding whole pieces of meat. Brave warriors they reward with the choicest portions of the meat, in the same manner as the poet introduces Ajax as honoured by the chiefs after he returned victorious from his single combat with Hector: To Ajax then were given of the chine Slices, full-length, unto his honour. They invite strangers to their feasts, and do not inquire until after the meal who they are and of what things they stand in need. And it is their custom, even during the course of the meal, to seize upon any trivial matter as an occasion for keen disputation and then to challenge one another to single combat, without any regard for their lives; 6 for the belief of Pythagoras prevails among them, that the souls of men are immortal and that after a prescribed number of years they commence upon a new life, the soul entering into another body. Consequently, we are told, at the funerals of their dead some cast letters upon the pyre which they have written to their deceased kinsmen, as if the dead would be able to read these letters.
§ 5.29
ἐν δὲ ταῖς ὁδοιπορίαις καὶ ταῖς μάχαις χρῶνται συνωρίσιν, ἔχοντος τοῦ ἅρματος ἡνίοχον καὶ παραβάτην. ἀπαντῶντες δὲ τοῖς ἐφιππεύουσιν ἐν τοῖς πολέμοις σαυνιάζουσι τοὺς ἐναντίους, καὶ καταβάντες τὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ ξίφους συνίστανται μάχην. ἔνιοι δʼ αὐτῶν ἐπὶ τοσοῦτο τοῦ θανάτου καταφρονοῦσιν, ὥστε γυμνοὺς καὶ περιεζωσμένους καταβαίνειν εἰς τὸν κίνδυνον. ἐπάγονται δὲ καὶ θεράποντας ἐλευθέρους ἐκ τῶν πενήτων καταλέγοντες, οἷς ἡνιόχοις καὶ παρασπισταῖς χρῶνται κατὰ τὰς μάχας. κατὰ δὲ τὰς παρατάξεις εἰώθασι προάγειν τῆς παρατάξεως καὶ προκαλεῖσθαι τῶν ἀντιτεταγμένων τοὺς ἀρίστους εἰς μονομαχίαν, προανασείοντες τὰ ὅπλα καὶ καταπληττόμενοι τοὺς ἐναντίους. ὅταν δέ τις ὑπακούσῃ πρὸς τὴν μάχην, τάς τε τῶν προγόνων ἀνδραγαθίας ἐξυμνοῦσι καὶ τὰς ἑαυτῶν ἀρετὰς προφέρονται, καὶ τὸν ἀντιταττόμενον ἐξονειδίζουσι καὶ ταπεινοῦσι καὶ τὸ σύνολον τὸ θάρσος τῆς ψυχῆς τοῖς λόγοις προαφαιροῦνται. τῶν δὲ πεσόντων πολεμίων τὰς κεφαλὰς ἀφαιροῦντες περιάπτουσι τοῖς αὐχέσι τῶν ἵππων· τὰ δὲ σκῦλα τοῖς θεράπουσι παραδόντες ᾑμαγμένα λαφυραγωγοῦσιν, ἐπιπαιανίζοντες καὶ ᾅδοντες ὕμνον ἐπινίκιον, καὶ τὰ ἀκροθίνια ταῦτα ταῖς οἰκίαις προσηλοῦσιν ὥσπερ οἱ ἐν κυνηγίοις τισὶ κεχειρωμένοι τὰ θηρία. τῶν δʼ ἐπιφανεστάτων πολεμίων κεδρώσαντες τὰς κεφαλὰς ἐπιμελῶς τηροῦσιν ἐν λάρνακι, καὶ τοῖς ξένοις ἐπιδεικνύουσι σεμνυνόμενοι διότι τῆσδε τῆς κεφαλῆς τῶν προγόνων τις ἢ πατὴρ ἢ καὶ αὐτὸς πολλὰ χρήματα διδόμενα οὐκ ἔλαβε. φασὶ δέ τινας αὐτῶν καυχᾶσθαι διότι χρυσὸν ἀντίσταθμον τῆς κεφαλῆς οὐκ ἐδέξαντο, βάρβαρόν τινα μεγαλοψυχίαν ἐπιδεικνύμενοι· οὐ γὰρ τὸ μὴ πωλεῖν τὰ σύσσημα τῆς ἀρετῆς εὐγενές, ἀλλὰ τὸ πολεμεῖν τὸ ὁμόφυλον τετελευτηκὸς θηριῶδες.
In their journeyings and when they go into battle the Gauls use chariots drawn by two horses, which carry the charioteer and the warrior; and when they encounter cavalry in the fighting they first hurl their javelins at the enemy and then step down from their chariots and join battle with their swords. 2 Certain of them despise death to such a degree that they enter the perils of battle without protective armour and with no more than a girdle about their loins. They bring along to war also their free men to serve them, choosing them out from among the poor, and these attendants they use in battle as charioteers and as shield-bearers. It is also their custom, when they are formed for battle, to step out in front of the line and to challenge the most valiant men from among their opponents to single combat, brandishing their weapons in front of them to terrify their adversaries. And when any man accepts the challenge to battle, they then break forth into a song in praise of the valiant deeds of their ancestors and in boast of their own high achievements, reviling all the while and belittling their opponent, and trying, in a word, by such talk to strip him of his bold spirit before the combat. 4 When their enemies fall they cut off their heads and fasten them about the necks of their horses; and turning over to their attendants the arms of their opponents, all covered with blood, they carry them off as booty, singing a paean over them and striking up a song of victory, and these first-fruits of battle they fasten by nails upon their houses, just as men do, in certain kinds of hunting, with the heads of wild beasts they have mastered. The heads of their most distinguished enemies they embalm in cedar-oil and carefully preserve in a chest, and these they exhibit to strangers, gravely maintaining that in exchange for this head some one of their ancestors, or their father, or the man himself, refused the offer of a great sum of money. And some men among them, we are told, boast that they have not accepted an equal weight of gold for the head they show, displaying a barbarous sort of greatness of soul; for not to sell that which constitutes a witness and proof of one's valour is a noble thing, but to continue to fight against one of our own race, after he is dead, is to descend to the level of beasts.
§ 5.30
ἐσθῆσι δὲ χρῶνται καταπληκτικαῖς, χιτῶσι μὲν βαπτοῖς χρώμασι παντοδαποῖς διηνθισμένοις καὶ ἀναξυρίσιν, ἃς ἐκεῖνοι βράκας προσαγορεύουσιν· ἐπιπορποῦνται δὲ σάγους ῥαβδωτοὺς ἐν μὲν τοῖς χειμῶσι δασεῖς, κατὰ δὲ τὸ θέρος ψιλούς, πλινθίοις πυκνοῖς καὶ πολυανθέσι διειλημμένους. ὅπλοις δὲ χρῶνται θυρεοῖς μὲν ἀνδρομήκεσι, πεποικιλμένοις ἰδιοτρόπως· τινὲς δὲ καὶ ζῴων χαλκῶν ἐξοχὰς ἔχουσιν, οὐ μόνον πρὸς κόσμον, ἀλλὰ καὶ πρὸς ἀσφάλειαν εὖ δεδημιουργημένας. κράνη δὲ χαλκᾶ περιτίθενται μεγάλας ἐξοχὰς ἐξ ἑαυτῶν ἔχοντα καὶ παμμεγέθη φαντασίαν ἐπιφέροντα τοῖς χρωμένοις, ὧν τοῖς μὲν πρόσκειται συμφυῆ κέρατα, τοῖς δὲ ὀρνέων ἢ τετραπόδων ζῴων ἐκτετυπωμέναι προτομαί. σάλπιγγας δʼ ἔχουσιν ἰδιοφυεῖς καὶ βαρβαρικάς· ἐμφυσῶσι γὰρ ταύταις καὶ προβάλλουσιν ἦχον τραχὺν καὶ πολεμικῆς ταραχῆς οἰκεῖον. θώρακας δʼ ἔχουσιν οἱ μὲν σιδηροῦς ἁλυσιδωτούς, οἱ δὲ τοῖς ὑπὸ τῆς φύσεως δεδομένοις ἀρκοῦνται, γυμνοὶ μαχόμενοι. ἀντὶ δὲ τοῦ ξίφους σπάθας ἔχουσι μακρὰς σιδηραῖς ἢ χαλκαῖς ἁλύσεσιν ἐξηρτημένας, παρὰ τὴν δεξιὰν λαγόνα παρατεταμένας. τινὲς δὲ τοὺς χιτῶνας ἐπιχρύσοις ἢ καταργύροις ζωστῆρσι συνέζωνται. προβάλλονται δὲ λόγχας, ἃς ἐκεῖνοι λαγκίας καλοῦσι, πηχυαῖα τῷ μήκει τοῦ σιδήρου καὶ ἔτι μείζω τὰ ἐπιθήματα ἐχούσας, πλάτει δὲ βραχὺ λείποντα διπαλαίστων· τὰ μὲν γὰρ ξίφη τῶν παρʼ ἑτέροις σαυνίων εἰσὶν οὐκ ἐλάττω, τὰ δὲ σαυνία τὰς ἀκμὰς ἔχει τῶν ξιφῶν μείζους. τούτων δὲ τὰ μὲν ἐπʼ εὐθείας κεχάλκευται, τὰ δʼ ἑλικοειδῆ διʼ ὅλων ἀνάκλασιν ἔχει πρὸς τὸ καὶ κατὰ τὴν πληγὴν μὴ μόνον τέμνειν, ἀλλὰ καὶ θραύειν τὰς σάρκας καὶ κατὰ τὴν ἀνακομιδὴν τοῦ δόρατος σπαράττειν τὸ τραῦμα.
The clothing they wear is striking — shirts which have been dyed and embroidered in varied colours, and breeches, which they call in their tongue bracae; and they wear striped coats, fastened by a buckle on the shoulder, heavy for winter wear and light for summer, in which are set checks, close together and of varied hues. 2 For armour they use long shields, as high as a man, which are wrought in a manner peculiar to them, some of them even having the figures of animals embossed on them in bronze, and these are skilfully worked with an eye not only to beauty but also to protection. On their heads they put bronze helmets which have large embossed figures standing out from them and give an appearance of great size to those who wear them; for in some cases horns are attached to the helmet so as to form a single piece, in other cases images of the foreparts of birds or four-footed animals. Their trumpets are of peculiar nature and such as barbarians use, for when they are blown upon they give forth a harsh sound, appropriate to the tumult of war. Some of them have iron cuirasses, chain-wrought, but others are satisfied with the armour which Nature has given them and go into battle naked. In place of the short sword they carry long broad-swords which are hung on chains of iron or bronze and are worn along the right flank. And some of them gather up their shirts with belts plated with gold or silver. 4 The spears they brandish, which they call lanciae, have iron heads a cubit in length and even more, and a little under two palms in breadth; for their swords are not shorter than the javelins of other peoples, and the heads of their javelins are larger than the swords of others. Some of these javelins come from the forge straight, others twist in and out in spiral shapes for their entire length, the purpose being that the thrust may not only cut the flesh, but mangle it as well, and that the withdrawal of the spear may lacerate the wound.
§ 5.31
αὐτοὶ δʼ εἰσὶ τὴν πρόσοψιν καταπληκτικοὶ καὶ ταῖς φωναῖς βαρυηχεῖς καὶ παντελῶς τραχύφωνοι, κατὰ δὲ τὰς ὁμιλίας βραχυλόγοι καὶ αἰνιγματίαι καὶ τὰ πολλὰ αἰνιττόμενοι συνεκδοχικῶς· πολλὰ δὲ λέγοντες ἐν ὑπερβολαῖς ἐπʼ αὐξήσει μὲν ἑαυτῶν, μειώσει δὲ τῶν ἄλλων, ἀπειληταί τε καὶ ἀνατατικοὶ καὶ τετραγῳδημένοι ὑπάρχουσι, ταῖς δὲ διανοίαις ὀξεῖς καὶ πρὸς μάθησιν οὐκ ἀφυεῖς. εἰσὶ δὲ παρʼ αὐτοῖς καὶ ποιηταὶ μελῶν, οὓς βάρδους ὀνομάζουσιν. οὗτοι δὲ μετʼ ὀργάνων ταῖς λύραις ὁμοίων ᾅδοντες οὓς μὲν ὑμνοῦσιν, οὓς δὲ βλασφημοῦσι. φιλόσοφοί τέ τινές εἰσι καὶ θεολόγοι περιττῶς τιμώμενοι, οὓς δρουίδας ὀνομάζουσι. χρῶνται δὲ καὶ μάντεσιν, ἀποδοχῆς μεγάλης ἀξιοῦντες αὐτούς· οὗτοι δὲ διά τε τῆς οἰωνοσκοπίας καὶ διὰ τῆς τῶν ἱερείων θυσίας τὰ μέλλοντα προλέγουσι, καὶ πᾶν τὸ πλῆθος ἔχουσιν ὑπήκοον. μάλιστα δʼ ὅταν περί τινων μεγάλων ἐπισκέπτωνται, παράδοξον καὶ ἄπιστον ἔχουσι νόμιμον· ἄνθρωπον γὰρ κατασπείσαντες τύπτουσι μαχαίρᾳ κατὰ τὸν ὑπὲρ τὸ διάφραγμα τόπον, καὶ πεσόντος τοῦ πληγέντος ἐκ τῆς πτώσεως καὶ τοῦ σπαραγμοῦ τῶν μελῶν, ἔτι δὲ τῆς τοῦ αἵματος ῥύσεως τὸ μέλλον νοοῦσι, παλαιᾷ τινι καὶ πολυχρονίῳ παρατηρήσει περὶ τούτων πεπιστευκότες. ἔθος δʼ αὐτοῖς ἐστι μηδένα θυσίαν ποιεῖν ἄνευ φιλοσόφου· διὰ γὰρ τῶν ἐμπείρων τῆς θείας φύσεως ὡσπερεί τινων ὁμοφώνων τὰ χαριστήρια τοῖς θεοῖς φασι δεῖν προσφέρειν, καὶ διὰ τούτων οἴονται δεῖν τἀγαθὰ αἰτεῖσθαι. οὐ μόνον δʼ ἐν ταῖς εἰρηνικαῖς χρείαις, ἀλλὰ καὶ κατὰ τοὺς πολέμους τούτοις μάλιστα πείθονται καὶ τοῖς μελῳδοῦσι ποιηταῖς, οὐ μόνον οἱ φίλοι, ἀλλὰ καὶ οἱ πολέμιοι· πολλάκις δʼ ἐν ταῖς παρατάξεσι πλησιαζόντων ἀλλήλοις τῶν στρατοπέδων καὶ τοῖς ξίφεσιν ἀνατεταμένοις καὶ ταῖς λόγχαις προβεβλημέναις, εἰς τὸ μέσον οὗτοι προελθόντες παύουσιν αὐτούς, ὥσπερ τινὰ θηρία κατεπᾴσαντες. οὕτω καὶ παρὰ τοῖς ἀγριωτάτοις βαρβάροις ὁ θυμὸς εἴκει τῇ σοφίᾳ καὶ ὁ Ἄρης αἰδεῖται τὰς Μούσας.
The Gauls are terrifying in aspect and their voices are deep and altogether harsh; when they meet together they converse with few words and in riddles, hinting darkly at things for the most part and using one word when they mean another; and they like to talk in superlatives, to the end that they may extol themselves and depreciate all other men. They are also boasters and threateners and are fond of pompous language, and yet they have sharp wits and are not without cleverness at learning. 2 Among them are also to be found lyric poets whom they call Bards. These men sing to the accompaniment of instruments which are like lyres, and their songs may be either of praise or of obloquy. Philosophers, as we may call them, and men learned in religious affairs are unusually honoured among them and are called by them Druids. The Gauls likewise make use of diviners, accounting them worthy of high approbation, and these men foretell the future by means of the flight or cries of birds and of the slaughter of sacred animals, and they have all the multitude subservient to them. They also observe a custom which is especially astonishing and incredible, in case they are taking thought with respect to matters of great concern; for in such cases they devote to death a human being and plunge a dagger into him in the region above the diaphragm, and when the stricken victim has fallen they read the future from the manner of his fall and from the twitching of his limbs, as well as from the gushing of the blood, having learned to place confidence in an ancient and long-continued practice of observing such matters. 4 And it is a custom of theirs that no one should perform a sacrifice without a "philosopher"; for thank-offerings should be rendered to the gods, they say, by the hands of men who are experienced in the nature of the divine, and who speak, as it were, the language of the gods, and it is also through the mediation of such men, they think, that blessings likewise should be sought. Nor is it only in the exigencies of peace, but in their wars as well, that they obey, before all others, these men and their chanting poets, and such obedience is observed not only by their friends but also by their enemies; many times, for instance, when two armies approach each other in battle with swords drawn and spears thrust forward, these men step forth between them and cause them to cease, as though having cast a spell over certain kinds of wild beasts. In this way, even among the wildest barbarians, does passion give place before wisdom, and Ares stands in awe of the Muses.
§ 5.32
χρήσιμον δʼ ἐστὶ διορίσαι τὸ παρὰ πολλοῖς ἀγνοούμενον. τοὺς γὰρ ὑπὲρ Μασσαλίας κατοικοῦντας ἐν τῷ μεσογείῳ καὶ τοὺς παρὰ τὰς Ἄλπεις, ἔτι δὲ τοὺς ἐπὶ τάδε τῶν Πυρηναίων ὀρῶν Κελτοὺς ὀνομάζουσι, τοὺς δʼ ὑπὲρ ταύτης τῆς Κελτικῆς εἰς τὰ πρὸς ἄρκτον νεύοντα μέρη παρά τε τὸν ὠκεανὸν καὶ τὸ Ἑρκύνιον ὄρος καθιδρυμένους καὶ πάντας τοὺς ἑξῆς μέχρι τῆς Σκυθίας Γαλάτας προσαγορεύουσιν· οἱ δὲ Ῥωμαῖοι πάλιν πάντα ταῦτα τὰ ἔθνη συλλήβδην μιᾷ προσηγορίᾳ περιλαμβάνουσιν, ὀνομάζοντες Γαλάτας ἅπαντας. αἱ δὲ γυναῖκες τῶν Γαλατῶν οὐ μόνον τοῖς μεγέθεσι παραπλήσιοι τοῖς ἀνδράσιν εἰσίν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ταῖς ἀλκαῖς ἐνάμιλλοι. τὰ δὲ παιδία παρʼ αὐτοῖς ἐκ γενετῆς ὑπάρχει πολιὰ κατὰ τὸ πλεῖστον· προβαίνοντα δὲ ταῖς ἡλικίαις εἰς τὸ τῶν πατέρων χρῶμα ταῖς χρόαις μετασχηματίζεται. ἀγριωτάτων δʼ ὄντων τῶν ὑπὸ τὰς ἄρκτους κατοικούντων καὶ τῶν τῇ Σκυθίᾳ πλησιοχώρων, φασί τινας ἀνθρώπους ἐσθίειν, ὥσπερ καὶ τῶν Βρεττανῶν τοὺς κατοικοῦντας τὴν ὀνομαζομένην Ἴριν. διαβεβοημένης δὲ τῆς τούτων ἀλκῆς καὶ ἀγριότητος, φασί τινες ἐν τοῖς παλαιοῖς χρόνοις τοὺς τὴν Ἀσίαν ἅπασαν καταδραμόντας, ὀνομαζομένους δὲ Κιμμερίους, τούτους εἶναι, βραχὺ τοῦ χρόνου τὴν λέξιν φθείραντος ἐν τῇ τῶν καλουμένων Κίμβρων προσηγορίᾳ. ζηλοῦσι γὰρ ἐκ παλαιοῦ λῃστεύειν ἐπὶ τὰς ἀλλοτρίας χώρας ἐπερχόμενοι καὶ καταφρονεῖν ἁπάντων. οὗτοι γάρ εἰσιν οἱ τὴν μὲν Ῥώμην ἑλόντες, τὸ δὲ ἱερὸν τὸ ἐν Δελφοῖς συλήσαντες, καὶ πολλὴν μὲν τῆς Εὐρώπης, οὐκ ὀλίγην δὲ καὶ τῆς Ἀσίας φορολογήσαντες, καὶ τῶν καταπολεμηθέντων τὴν χώραν κατοικήσαντες, οἱ διὰ τὴν πρὸς τοὺς Ἕλληνας ἐπιπλοκὴν Ἑλληνογαλάται κληθέντες, τὸ δὲ τελευταῖον πολλὰ καὶ μεγάλα στρατόπεδα Ῥωμαίων συντρίψαντες. ἀκολούθως δὲ τῇ κατʼ αὐτοὺς ἀγριότητι καὶ περὶ τὰς θυσίας ἐκτόπως ἀσεβοῦσι· τοὺς γὰρ κακούργους κατὰ πενταετηρίδα φυλάξαντες ἀνασκολοπίζουσι τοῖς θεοῖς καὶ μετʼ ἄλλων πολλῶν ἀπαρχῶν καθαγίζουσι, πυρὰς παμμεγέθεις κατασκευάζοντες. χρῶνται δὲ καὶ τοῖς αἰχμαλώτοις ὡς ἱερείοις πρὸς τὰς τῶν θεῶν τιμάς. τινὲς δʼ αὐτῶν καὶ τὰ κατὰ πόλεμον ληφθέντα ζῷα μετὰ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἀποκτείνουσιν ἢ κατακάουσιν ἤ τισιν ἄλλαις τιμωρίαις ἀφανίζουσι. γυναῖκας δʼ ἔχοντες εὐειδεῖς ἥκιστα ταύταις προσέχουσιν, ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὰς τῶν ἀρρένων ἐπιπλοκὰς ἐκτόπως λυττῶσιν. εἰώθασι δʼ ἐπὶ δοραῖς θηρίων χαμαὶ καθεύδοντες ἐξ ἀμφοτέρων τῶν μερῶν παρακοίτοις συγκυλίεσθαι. τὸ δὲ πάντων παραδοξότατον, τῆς ἰδίας εὐσχημοσύνης ἀφροντιστοῦντες τὴν τοῦ σώματος ὥραν ἑτέροις εὐκόλως προΐενται, καὶ τοῦτο αἰσχρὸν οὐχ ἡγοῦνται, ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον ὅταν τις αὐτῶν χαριζομένων μὴ προσδέξηται τὴν διδομένην χάριν, ἄτιμον ἡγοῦνται.
And now it will be useful to draw a distinction which is unknown to many: The peoples who dwell in the interior above Massalia, those on the slopes of the Alps, and those on this side the Pyrenees mountains are called Celts, whereas the peoples who are established above this land of Celtica in the parts which stretch to the north, both along the ocean and along the Hercynian Mountain, and all the peoples who come after these, as far as Scythia, are known as Gauls; the Romans, however, include all these nations together under a single name, calling them one and all Gauls. 2 The women of the Gauls are not only like the men in their great stature but they are a match for them in courage as well. Their children are usually born with grayish hair, but as they grow older the colour of their hair changes to that of their parents. The most savage peoples among them are those who dwell beneath the Bears and on the borders of Scythia, and some of these, we are told, eat human beings, even as the Britons do who dwell on Iris, as it is called. 4 And since the valour of these peoples and their savage ways have been famed abroad, some men say that it was they who in ancient times overran all Asia and were called Cimmerians, time having slightly corrupted the word into the name of Cimbrians, as they are now called. For it has been their ambition from old to plunder, invading for this purpose the lands of others, and to regard all men with contempt. For they are the people who captured Rome, who plundered the sanctuary at Delphi, who levied tribute upon a large part of Europe and no small part of Asia, and settled themselves upon the lands of the peoples they had subdued in war, being called in time Greco-Gauls, because they became mixed with the Greeks, and who, as their last accomplishment, have destroyed many large Roman armies. 6 And in pursuance of their savage ways they manifest an outlandish impiety also with respect to their sacrifices; for their criminals they keep prisoner for five years and then impale in honour of the gods, dedicating them together with many other offerings of first-fruits and constructing pyres of great size. Captives also are used by them as victims for their sacrifices in honour of the gods. Certain of them likewise slay, together with the human beings, such animals as are taken in war, or burn them or do away with them in some other vengeful fashion. 7 Although their wives are comely, they have very little to do with them, but rage with lust, in outlandish fashion, for the embraces of males. It is their practice to sleep upon the ground on the skins of wild beasts and to tumble with a catamite on each side. And the most astonishing thing of all is that they feel no concern for their proper dignity, but prostitute to others without a qualm the flower of their bodies; nor do they consider this a disgraceful thing to do, but rather when anyone of them is thus approached and refuses the favour offered him, this they consider an act of dishonour.
§ 5.33
ἡμεῖς δʼ ἀρκούντως περὶ Κελτῶν εἰρηκότες μεταβιβάσομεν τὴν ἱστορίαν ἐπὶ τοὺς πλησιοχώρους τούτοις Κελτίβηρας. οὗτοι γὰρ τὸ παλαιὸν περὶ τῆς χώρας ἀλλήλοις διαπολεμήσαντες, οἵ τε Ἴβηρες καὶ οἱ Κελτοί, καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα διαλυθέντες καὶ τὴν χώραν κοινῇ κατοικήσαντες, ἔτι δʼ ἐπιγαμίας πρὸς ἀλλήλους συνθέμενοι, διὰ τὴν ἐπιμιξίαν ταύτης ἔτυχον τῆς προσηγορίας. δυεῖν δʼ ἐθνῶν ἀλκίμων μιχθέντων καὶ χώρας ὑποκειμένης ἀγαθῆς, συνέβη τοὺς Κελτίβηρας ἐπὶ πολὺ τῇ δόξῃ προελθεῖν, καὶ Ῥωμαίοις πολλοὺς χρόνους ἀντιταξαμένους μόγις καταπολεμηθῆναι. δοκοῦσι δʼ οὗτοι κατὰ τοὺς πολέμους οὐ μόνον ἱππεῖς ἀγαθούς, ἀλλὰ καὶ πεζοὺς παρέχεσθαι διαφόρους ταῖς ἀλκαῖς καὶ ταῖς καρτερίαις. φοροῦσι δʼ οὗτοι σάγους μέλανας τραχεῖς καὶ παραπλήσιον ἔχοντας τὸ ἔριον ταῖς αἰγείαις θριξίν. ὁπλίζονται δέ τινες τῶν Κελτιβήρων Γαλατικοῖς θυρεοῖς κούφοις, τινὲς δὲ κυρτίαις κυκλοτερέσιν ἀσπίδων ἐχούσαις τὰ μεγέθη, καὶ περὶ τὰς κνήμας τριχίνας εἰλοῦσι κνημῖδας, περὶ δὲ τὰς κεφαλὰς κράνη χαλκᾶ περιτίθενται φοινικοῖς ἠσκημένα λόφοις. ξίφη δʼ ἀμφίστομα καὶ σιδήρῳ διαφόρῳ κεχαλκευμένα φοροῦσιν, ἔχοντες σπιθαμιαίας παραξιφίδας, αἷς χρῶνται κατὰ τὰς ἐν ταῖς μάχαις συμπλοκάς. ἴδιον δέ τι παρʼ αὐτοῖς ἐστι περὶ τὴν τῶν ὅπλων καὶ ἀμυντηρίων κατασκευήν· ἐλάσματα γὰρ σιδήρου κατακρύπτουσιν εἰς τὴν γῆν, καὶ ταῦτα ἐῶσι μέχρι ἂν ὅτου διὰ τὸν χρόνον τοῦ ἰοῦ περιφαγόντος τὸ ἀσθενὲς τοῦ σιδήρου καταλειφθῇ τὸ στερεώτατον, ἐξ οὗ κατασκευάζουσι διάφορα ξίφη καὶ τἄλλα τὰ πρὸς πόλεμον ἀνήκοντα. τὸ δʼ οὕτω κατασκευασθὲν ὅπλον πᾶν τὸ ὑποπεσὸν διαιρεῖ, ἀφʼ οὗπερ οὔτε θυρεὸς οὔτε κράνος οὔτε ὀστοῦν ὑπομένει τὴν πληγὴν διὰ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῆς ἀρετῆς τοῦ σιδήρου. διμάχαι δʼ ὄντες, ἐπειδὰν ἀπὸ τῶν ἵππων ἀγωνισάμενοι νικήσωσι, καταπηδῶντες καὶ τὴν τῶν πεζῶν τάξιν μεταλαμβάνοντες θαυμαστὰς ποιοῦνται μάχας. ἴδιον δέ τι καὶ παράδοξον νόμιμον παρʼ αὐτοῖς ἐστιν· ἐπιμελεῖς γὰρ ὄντες καὶ καθάρειοι ταῖς διαίταις ἓν ἔργον ἐπιτηδεύουσι βάναυσον καὶ πολλῆς ἀκαθαρσίας κεκοινωνηκός· παρʼ ἕκαστα γὰρ τὸ σῶμα λοῦσιν οὔρῳ, καὶ τοὺς ὀδόντας παρατρίβοντες ταύτην ἡγοῦνται θεραπείαν εἶναι τοῦ σώματος.
Now that we have spoken at sufficient length about the Celts we shall turn our history to the Celtiberians who are their neighbours. In ancient times these two peoples, namely, the Iberians and the Celts, kept warring among themselves over the land, but when later they arranged their differences and settled upon the land altogether, and when they went further and agreed to intermarriage with each other, because of such intermixture the two peoples received the appellation given above. And since it was two powerful nations that united and the land of theirs was fertile, it came to pass that the Celtiberians advanced far in fame and were subdued by the Romans with difficulty and only after they had faced them in battle over a long period. 2 And this people, it would appear, provide for warfare not only excellent cavalry but also foot-soldiers who excel in prowess and endurance. They wear rough black cloaks, the wool of which resembles the hair of goats. As for their arms, certain of the Celtiberians, carry light shields like those of the Gauls, and certain carry circular wicker shields as large as an aspis, and about their shins and calves they wind greaves made of hair and on their heads they wear bronze helmets adorned with purple crests. The swords they wear are two-edged and wrought of excellent iron, and they also have dirks a span in length which they use in fighting at close quarters. 4 And a peculiar practice is followed by them in the fashioning of their defensive weapons; for they bury plates of iron in the ground and leave them there until in the course of time the rust has eaten out what is weak in the iron and what is left is only the most unyielding, and of this they then fashion excellent swords and such other objects as pertain to war. The weapon which has been fashioned in the manner described cuts through anything which gets in its way, for no shield or helmet or bone can withstand a blow from it, because of the exceptional quality of the iron. Able as they are to fight in two styles, they first carry on the contest on horseback, and when they have defeated the cavalry they dismount, and assuming the role of foot-soldiers they put up marvellous battles. And a peculiar and strange custom obtains among them: Careful and cleanly as they are in their ways of living, they nevertheless observe one practice which is low and partakes of great uncleanness; for they consistently use urine to bathe the body and wash their teeth with it, thinking that in this practice is constituted the care and healing of the body.
§ 5.34
τοῖς δʼ ἤθεσι πρὸς μὲν τοὺς κακούργους καὶ πολεμίους ὑπάρχουσιν ὠμοί, πρὸς δὲ τοὺς ξένους ἐπιεικεῖς καὶ φιλάνθρωποι. τοὺς γὰρ ἐπιδημήσαντας ξένους ἅπαντες ἀξιοῦσι παρʼ αὑτοῖς ποιεῖσθαι τὰς καταλύσεις καὶ πρὸς ἀλλήλους ἁμίλλῶνται περὶ τῆς φιλοξενίας· οἷς δʼ ἂν οἱ ξένοι συνακολουθήσωσι, τούτους ἐπαινοῦσι καὶ θεοφιλεῖς ἡγοῦνται. τροφαῖς δὲ χρῶνται κρέασι παντοδαποῖς καὶ δαψιλέσι καὶ οἰνομέλιτος πόματι, χορηγούσης τῆς χώρας τὸ μὲν μέλι παμπληθές, τὸν δʼ οἶνον παρὰ τῶν ἐπιπλεόντων ἐμπόρων ὠνούμενοι. χαριέστατον δὲ τῶν πλησιοχώρων ἐθνῶν αὐτοῖς ἐστι τὸ τῶν Οὐακκαίων ὀνομαζομένων σύστημα· οὗτοι γὰρ καθʼ ἕκαστον ἔτος διαιρούμενοι τὴν χώραν γεωργοῦσι, καὶ τοὺς καρποὺς κοινοποιούμενοι μεταδιδόασιν ἑκάστῳ τὸ μέρος, καὶ τοῖς νοσφισαμένοις τι γεωργοῖς θάνατον τὸ πρόστιμον τεθείκασι. τῶν δʼ Ἰβήρων ἀλκιμώτατοι μέν εἰσιν οἱ καλούμενοι Λυσιτανοί, φοροῦσι δʼ ἐν τοῖς πολέμοις πέλτας μικρὰς παντελῶς, διαπεπλεγμένας νεύροις καὶ δυναμένας σκέπειν τὸ σῶμα περιττότερον διὰ τὴν στερεότητα· ταύτην δʼ ἐν ταῖς μάχαις μεταφέροντες εὐλύτως ἄλλοτε ἄλλως ἀπὸ τοῦ σώματος διακρούονται φιλοτέχνως πᾶν τὸ φερόμενον ἐπʼ αὐτοὺς βέλος. χρῶνται δὲ καὶ σαυνίοις ὁλοσιδήροις ἀγκιστρώδεσι, φοροῦσι δὲ κράνη καὶ ξίφη παραπλήσια Κελτίβηρσιν. ἀκοντίζουσι δʼ εὐστόχως καὶ μακράν, καὶ καθόλου καρτεροπληγεῖς ὑπάρχουσιν. εὐκίνητοι δʼ ὄντες καὶ κοῦφοι ῥᾳδίως καὶ φεύγουσι καὶ διώκουσι, κατὰ δὲ τὰς ἐν ταῖς συστάσεσι τῶν δεινῶν ὑπομονὰς πολὺ λείπονται τῶν Κελτιβήρων. ἐπιτηδεύουσι δὲ κατὰ μὲν τὴν εἰρήνην ὄρχησίν τινα κούφην καὶ περιέχουσαν πολλὴν εὐτονίαν σκελῶν, ἐν δὲ τοῖς πολέμοις, πρὸς ῥυθμὸν ἐμβαίνουσι καὶ παιᾶνας ᾅδουσιν, ὅταν ἐπίωσι τοῖς ἀντιτεταγμένοις. ἴδιον δέ τι παρὰ τοῖς Ἴβηρσι καὶ μάλιστα παρὰ τοῖς Λυσιτανοῖς ἐπιτηδεύεται· τῶν γὰρ ἀκμαζόντων ταῖς ἡλικίαις οἱ μάλιστα ἀπορώτατοι ταῖς οὐσίαις, ῥώμῃ δὲ σώματος καὶ θράσει διαφέροντες, ἐφοδιάσαντες αὑτοὺς ἀλκῇ καὶ τοῖς ὅπλοις εἰς τὰς ὀρεινὰς δυσχωρίας ἀθροίζονται, συστήματα δὲ ποιήσαντες ἀξιόλογα κατατρέχουσι τὴν Ἰβηρίαν καὶ λῃστεύοντες πλούτους ἀθροίζουσι· καὶ τοῦτο διατελοῦσι πράττοντες μετὰ πάσης καταφρονήσεως· κούφοις γὰρ χρώμενοι καθοπλισμοῖς καὶ παντελῶς ὄντες εὐκίνητοι καὶ ὀξεῖς δυσχειρότατοι τοῖς ἄλλοις εἰσί. καθόλου δὲ τὰς ἐν τοῖς ὄρεσι δυσχωρίας καὶ τραχύτητας ἡγούμενοι πατρίδας εἶναι, εἰς ταύτας καταφεύγουσι, δυσδιεξόδους οὔσας μεγάλοις καὶ βαρέσι στρατοπέδοις. διὸ καὶ Ῥωμαῖοι πολλάκις ἐπʼ αὐτοὺς στρατεύσαντες τῆς μὲν πολλῆς καταφρονήσεως ἀπέστησαν αὐτούς, εἰς τέλος δὲ τὰ λῃστήρια καταλῦσαι πολλάκις φιλοτιμηθέντες οὐκ ἠδυνήθησαν.
As for the customs they follow toward malefactors and enemies the Celtiberians are cruel, but toward strangers they are honourable and humane. Strangers, for instance, who come among them they one and all entreat to stop at their homes and they are rivals one of another in their hospitality, and any among them who are attended by strangers are spoken of with approval and regarded as beloved of the gods. 2 For their food they use meats of every description, of which they enjoy an abundance, since the country supplies them with a great quantity of honey, although the wine they purchase from merchants who sail over the seas to them. Of the tribes neighbouring upon the Celtiberians the most advanced is the people of the Vaccaei, as they are called; for this people each year divides among its members the land which it tills and making the fruits the property of all they measure out his portion to each man, and for any cultivators who have appropriated some part for themselves they have set the penalty as death. 4 The most valiant among the Iberians are those who are known as Lusitanians, who carry in war very small shields which are interwoven with cords of sinew and are able to protect the body unusually well, because they are so tough; and shifting this shield easily as they do in their fighting, now here, now there, they cleverly ward off from their person every blow which comes at them. They also use barbed javelins made entirely of iron, and wear helmets and swords very much like those of the Celtiberians. They hurl the javelin with good effect, even over a long distance, and, in fine, are doughty in dealing their blows. Since they are nimble and wear light arms, they are swift both in flight and in pursuit, but when it comes to enduring the hardships of a stiff fight they are far inferior to the Celtiberians. In time of peace they practise a kind of elfin dance which requires great nimbleness of limb, and in their wars they march into battle with even step and raise a battle-song as they charge upon the foe. 6 And a peculiar practice obtains among the Iberians and particularly among the Lusitanians; for when their young men come to the bloom of their physical strength, those who are the very poorest among them in worldly goods and yet excel in vigour of body and daring equip themselves with no more than valour and arms and gather in the mountain fastnesses, where they form into bands of considerable size and then descend upon Iberia and collect wealth from their pillaging. And this brigandage they continually practise in a spirit of complete disdain; for using as they do light arms and being altogether nimble and swift, they are a most difficult people for other men to subdue. 7 And, speaking generally, they consider the fastnesses and crags of the mountains to be their native land and to these places, which large and heavily equipped armies find hard to traverse, they flee for refuge. Consequently, although the Romans in their frequent campaigns against the Lusitanians rid them of their great spirit of disdain, they were nevertheless unable, often as they eagerly set about it, to put a complete end to their plundering.
§ 5.35
ἐπεὶ δὲ τὰ περὶ τῶν Ἰβήρων διήλθομεν, οὐκ ἀνοίκειον εἶναι διαλαμβάνομεν περὶ τῶν ἐν αὐτῇ μετάλλων ἀργυρείων διελθεῖν· αὕτη γὰρ ἡ χώρα σχεδόν τι πλεῖστον καὶ κάλλιστον ἔχει μεταλλευόμενον ἄργυρον καὶ πολλὰς τοῖς ἐργαζομένοις παρέχεται προσόδους. εἴρηται μὲν οὖν ἡμῖν καὶ ἐν ταῖς πρὸ ταύτης βίβλοις ἐν ταῖς περὶ Ἡρακλέους πράξεσι τὰ κατὰ τὴν Ἰβηρίαν ὄρη τὰ καλούμενα Πυρηναῖα· ταῦτα δὲ καὶ κατὰ τὸ ὕψος καὶ κατὰ τὸ μέγεθος ὑπάρχει διάφορα τῶν ἄλλων· παρήκει γὰρ ἀπὸ τῆς κατὰ τὴν μεσημβρίαν θαλάττης σχεδὸν ἄχρι πρὸς τὸν ὑπὸ τὰς ἄρκτους ὠκεανόν, διείργοντα δὲ τὴν Γαλατίαν καὶ τὴν Ἰβηρίαν, ἔτι δὲ τὴν Κελτιβηρίαν, παρεκτείνει σταδίους ὡς τρισχιλίους. πολλῶν δʼ ὄντων ἐν αὐτοῖς δρυμῶν καὶ πυκνῶν τοῖς δένδρεσι, φασὶν ἐν τοῖς παλαιοῖς χρόνοις ὑπό τινων νομέων ἀφέντων πῦρ κατακαῆναι παντελῶς ἅπασαν τὴν ὀρεινὴν χώραν· διὸ καὶ συχνὰς ἡμέρας συνεχῶς πυρὸς ἐπιφλέγοντος καῆναι τὴν ἐπιφάνειαν τῆς γῆς, καὶ τὰ μὲν ὄρη διὰ τὸ συμβεβηκὸς κληθῆναι Πυρηναῖα, τὴν δʼ ἐπιφάνειαν τῆς κατακεκαυμένης χώρας ἀργύρῳ ῥυῆναι πολλῷ, καὶ χωνευθείσης τῆς φύσεως, ἐξ ἧς ὁ ἄργυρος κατασκευάζεται, ῥύακας γενέσθαι πολλοὺς ἀργύρου καθαροῦ. τῆς δὲ τούτου χρείας ἀγνοουμένης παρὰ τοῖς ἐγχωρίοις, τοὺς Φοίνικας ἐμπορίαις χρωμένους καὶ τὸ γεγονὸς μαθόντας ἀγοράζειν τὸν ἄργυρον μικρᾶς τινος ἀντιδόσεως ἄλλων φορτίων. διὸ δὴ τοὺς Φοίνικας μετακομίζοντας εἴς τε τὴν Ἑλλάδα καὶ τὴν Ἀσίαν καὶ τἄλλα πάντα ἔθνη μεγάλους περιποιήσασθαι πλούτους. ἐπὶ τοσοῦτο δὲ τοὺς ἐμπόρους διατεῖναι τῆς φιλοκερδίας, ὥστε ἐπειδὰν καταγόμων ὄντων τῶν πλοίων περιττεύῃ πολὺς ἄργυρος, ἐκκόπτειν τὸν ἐν ταῖς ἀγκύραις μόλιβδον, καὶ ἐκ τοῦ ἀργύρου τὴν ἐκ τοῦ μολίβδου χρείαν ἀλλάττεσθαι. διόπερ ἐπὶ πολλοὺς χρόνους οἱ Φοίνικες διὰ τῆς τοιαύτης ἐμπορίας ἐπὶ πολὺ λαβόντες αὔξησιν ἀποικίας πολλὰς ἀπέστειλαν, τὰς μὲν εἰς Σικελίαν καὶ τὰς σύνεγγυς ταύτης νήσους, τὰς δʼ εἰς τὴν Λιβύην καὶ Σαρδόνα καὶ τὴν Ἰβηρίαν.
Since we have set forth the facts concerning the Iberians, we think that it will not be foreign to our purpose to discuss the silver mines of the land; for this land possesses, we may venture to say, the most abundant and most excellent known sources of silver, and to the workers of this silver it returns great revenues. 2 Now in the preceding Books which told of the achievements of Heracles we have mentioned the mountains in Iberia which are known as the Pyrenees. Both in height and in size these mountains are found to excel all others; for they stretch from the southern sea practically as far as the northern ocean and extend for some three thousand stades, dividing Gaul from Iberia and Celtiberia. And since they contain many thick and deep forests, in ancient times, we are told, certain herdsmen left a fire and the whole area of the mountains was entirely consumed; and due to this fire, since it raged continuously day after day, the surface of the earth was also burned and the mountains, because of what had taken place, were called the Pyrenees; furthermore, the surface of the burned land ran with much silver and, since the elementary substance out of which the silver is worked was melted down, there were formed many streams of pure silver. 4 Now the natives were ignorant of the use of the silver, and the Phoenicians, as they pursued their commercial enterprises and learned of what had taken place, purchased the silver in exchange for other wares of little if any worth. And this was the reason why the Phoenicians, as they transported this silver to Greece and Asia and to all other peoples, acquired great wealth. So far indeed did the merchants go in their greed that, in case their boats were fully laden and there still remained a great amount of silver, they would hammer the lead off the anchors and have the silver perform the service of the lead. And the result was that the Phoenicians, as in the course of many years they prospered greatly, thanks to commerce of this kind, sent forth many colonies, some to Sicily and its neighbouring islands, and others to Libya, Sardinia, and Iberia.
§ 5.36
ὕστερον δὲ πολλοῖς χρόνοις οἱ μὲν Ἴβηρες μαθόντες τὰ περὶ τὸν ἄργυρον ἰδιώματα κατεσκεύασαν ἀξιόλογα μέταλλα· διόπερ ἄργυρον κάλλιστον καὶ σχεδόν τι πλεῖστον κατασκευάζοντες μεγάλας ἐλάμβανον προσόδους. ὁ δὲ τρόπος τῆς μεταλλείας καὶ τῶν ἔργων τοιοῦτός τίς ἐστι παρὰ τοῖς Ἴβηρσιν. ὄντων χαλκοῦ καὶ χρυσοῦ καὶ ἀργύρου μετάλλων θαυμαστῶν, οἱ μὲν ἐργαζόμενοι τὰ χαλκουργεῖα τὸ τέταρτον μέρος χαλκοῦ καθαροῦ ἐκ τῆς ὀρυττομένης γῆς λαμβάνουσι, τῶν δʼ ἀργυρευόντων τινὲς ἰδιωτῶν ἐν τρισὶν ἡμέραις Εὐβοϊκὸν ἐξαίρουσι τάλαντον· πᾶσα γὰρ ἡ βῶλός ἐστι ψήγματος συμπεπηγότος καὶ ἀπολάμποντος μεστή. διὸ καὶ θαυμάσαι τις ἂν τήν τε τῆς χώρας φύσιν καὶ τὴν φιλοπονίαν τῶν ἐργαζομένων αὐτὴν ἀνθρώπων. τὸ μὲν οὖν πρῶτον οἱ τυχόντες τῶν ἰδιωτῶν προσεκαρτέρουν τοῖς μετάλλοις, καὶ μεγάλους ἀπεφέροντο πλούτους διὰ τὴν ἑτοιμότητα καὶ δαψίλειαν τῆς ἀργυρίτιδος γῆς· ὕστερον δὲ τῶν Ῥωμαίων κρατησάντων τῆς Ἰβηρίας, πλῆθος Ἰταλῶν ἐπεπόλασε τοῖς μετάλλοις, καὶ μεγάλους ἀπεφέροντο πλούτους διὰ τὴν φιλοκερδίαν. ὠνούμενοι γὰρ πλῆθος ἀνδραπόδων παραδιδόασι τοῖς ἐφεστηκόσι ταῖς μεταλλικαῖς ἐργασίαις· οὗτοι δὲ κατὰ πλείονας τόπους ἀνοίξαντες στόμια καὶ κατὰ βάθους ὀρύττοντες τὴν γῆν ἐρευνῶσι τὰς πολυαργύρους καὶ πολυχρύσους πλάκας τῆς γῆς· καταβαίνοντές τε οὐ μόνον εἰς μῆκος, ἀλλὰ καὶ εἰς βάθος παρεκτείνοντες ἐπὶ πολλοὺς σταδίους τὰ ὀρύγματα, καὶ πλαγίας καὶ σκολιὰς διαδύσεις ποικίλως μεταλλουργοῦντες, ἀνάγουσιν ἐκ βυθῶν τὴν τὸ κέρδος αὐτοῖς παρεχομένην βῶλον.
But at a much later time the Iberians, having come to know the peculiar qualities possessed by silver, sunk notable mines, and as a consequence, by working the most excellent and, we may say, the most abundant silver to be found, they received great revenues. The manner, then, in which the Iberians mine and work the silver is in part as follows. 2 The mines being marvellous in their deposits of copper and gold and silver, the workers of the copper mines recover from the earth they dig out a fourth part of pure copper, and among the unskilled workers in silver there are some who will take out a Euboic talent in three days; for all the ore is full of solid silver-dust which gleams forth from it. Consequently a man may well be filled with wonder both at the nature of the region and at the diligence displayed by the men who labour there. Now at first unskilled labourers, whoever might come, carried on the working of the mines, and these men took great wealth away with them, since the silver-bearing earth was convenient at hand and abundant; but at a later time, after the Romans had made themselves masters of Iberia, a multitude of Italians have swarmed to the mines and taken great wealth away with them, such was their greed. 4 For they purchase a multitude of slaves whom they turn over to the overseers of the working of the mines; and these men, opening shafts in a number of places and digging deep into the ground, seek out the seams of earth which are rich in silver and gold; and not only do they go into the ground a great distance, but they also push their diggings many stades in depth and run galleries off at every angle, turning this way and that, in this manner bringing up from the depths the ore which gives them the profit they are seeking.
§ 5.37
μεγάλην δʼ ἔχει παραλλαγὴν τὰ μέταλλα ταῦτα συγκρινόμενα τοῖς κατὰ τὴν Ἀττικήν. ἐκεῖνα μὲν γὰρ οἱ μεταλλεύοντες καὶ πρὸς ταῖς ἐργασίαις μεγάλας προϊέμενοι δαπάνας ἃ μὲν ἤλπισαν ἐνίοτε λαβεῖν οὐκ ἔλαβον, ἃ δʼ εἶχον ἀπέβαλον, ὥστε δοκεῖν αὐτοὺς ὥσπερ αἰνίγματος τρόπον ἀτυχεῖν· οἱ δὲ κατὰ τὴν Σπανίαν μεταλλουργοὶ ταῖς ἐλπίσι μεγάλους σωρεύουσι πλούτους ἐκ τούτων τῶν ἐργασιῶν. τῶν γὰρ πρώτων ἔργων ἐπιτυγχανομένων διὰ τὴν τῆς γῆς εἰς τοῦτο τὸ γένος ἀρετὴν ἀεὶ μᾶλλον εὑρίσκουσι λαμπροτέρας φλέβας, γεμούσας ἀργύρου τε καὶ χρυσοῦ· πᾶσα γὰρ ἡ σύνεγγυς γῆ διαπέπλεκται πολυμερῶς τοῖς ἑλιγμοῖς τῶν ῥάβδων. ἐνίοτε δὲ καὶ κατὰ βάθους ἐμπίπτουσι ποταμοῖς ῥέουσιν ὑπὸ τὴν γῆν, ὧν τῆς βίας περιγίνονται διακόπτοντες τὰς ῥύσεις αὐτῶν τὰς ἐμπιπτούσας τοῖς ὀρύγμασι πλαγίοις. ταῖς γὰρ ἀδιαψεύστοις τοῦ κέρδους προσδοκίαις πιεζόμενοι πρὸς τὸ τέλος ἄγουσι τὰς ἰδίας ἐπιβολάς, καὶ τὸ πάντων παραδοξότατον, ἀπαρύτουσι τὰς ῥύσεις τῶν ὑδάτων τοῖς Αἰγυπτιακοῖς λεγομένοις κοχλίαις, οὓς Ἀρχιμήδης ὁ Συρακόσιος εὗρεν, ὅτε παρέβαλεν εἰς Αἴγυπτον· διὰ δὲ τούτων συνεχῶς ἐκ διαδοχῆς παραδιδόντες μέχρι τοῦ στομίου, τὸν τῶν μετάλλων τόπον ἀναξηραίνουσι καὶ κατασκευάζουσιν εὔθετον πρὸς τὴν τῆς ἐργασίας πραγματείαν. φιλοτέχνου δʼ ὄντος τοῦ ὀργάνου καθʼ ὑπερβολήν, διὰ τῆς τυχούσης ἐργασίας ἄπλατον ὕδωρ ἀναρριπτεῖται παραδόξως, καὶ πᾶν τὸ ποτάμιον ῥεῦμα ῥᾳδίως ἐκ βυθοῦ πρὸς τὴν ἐπιφάνειαν ἐκχεῖται. θαυμάσαι δʼ ἄν τις εἰκότως τοῦ τεχνίτου τὴν ἐπίνοιαν οὐ μόνον ἐν τούτοις, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν ἄλλοις πολλοῖς καὶ μείζοσι, διαβεβοημένοις κατὰ πᾶσαν τὴν οἰκουμένην, περὶ ὧν τὰ κατὰ μέρος ὅταν ἐπὶ τὴν Ἀρχιμήδους ἡλικίαν ἔλθωμεν ἀκριβῶς διέξιμεν.
Great also is the contrast these mines show when they are compared with those of Attica. The men, that is, who work the Attic mines, although they have expended large sums on the undertakings, yet "Now and then, what they hoped to get, they did not get, and what they had, they lost," so that it would appear that they met with misfortune in a kind of riddle; 2 but the exploiters of the mines of Spain, in their hopes, amass great wealth from their undertakings. For their first labours are remunerative, thanks to the excellent quality of the earth for this sort of thing, and they are ever coming upon more splendid veins, rich in both silver and gold; for all the ground in that region is a tangled network of veins which wind in many ways. And now and then, as they go down deep, they come upon flowing subterranean rivers, but they overcome the might of these rivers by diverting the streams which flow in on them by means of channels leading off at an angle. For being urged on as they are by expectations of gain, which indeed do not deceive them, they push each separate undertaking to its conclusion, and what is the most surprising thing of all, they draw out the waters of the streams they encounter by means of what is called by men the Egyptian screw, which was invented by Archimedes of Syracuse at the time of his visit to Egypt; and by the use of such screws they carry the water in successive lifts as far as the entrance, drying up in this way the spot where they are digging and making it well suited to the furtherance of their operations. 4 Since this machine is an exceptionally ingenious device, an enormous amount of water is thrown out, to one's astonishment, by means of a trifling amount of labour, and all the water from such rivers is brought up easily from the depths and poured out on the surface. And a man may well marvel at the inventiveness of the craftsman, in connection not only with this invention but with many other greater ones as well, the fame of which has encompassed the entire inhabited world and of which we shall give a detailed and precise account when we come to the period of Archimedes.
§ 5.38
οἱ δʼ οὖν ταῖς ἐργασίαις τῶν μετάλλων ἐνδιατρίβοντες τοῖς μὲν κυρίοις ἀπίστους τοῖς πλήθεσι προσόδους περιποιοῦσιν, αὐτοὶ δὲ κατὰ γῆς ἐν τοῖς ὀρύγμασι καὶ καθʼ ἡμέραν καὶ νύκτα καταξαινόμενοι τὰ σώματα, πολλοὶ μὲν ἀποθνήσκουσι διὰ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῆς κακοπαθείας· ἄνεσις γὰρ ἢ παῦλα τῶν ἔργων οὐκ ἔστιν αὐτοῖς, ἀλλὰ ταῖς τῶν ἐπιστατῶν πληγαῖς ἀναγκαζόντων ὑπομένειν τὴν δεινότητα τῶν κακῶν ἀτυχῶς προΐενται τὸ ζῆν, τινὲς δὲ ταῖς δυνάμεσι τῶν σωμάτων καὶ ταῖς τῶν ψυχῶν καρτερίαις ὑπομένοντες πολυχρόνοιον ἔχουσι τὴν ταλαιπωρίαν· αἱρετώτερος γὰρ αὐτοῖς ὁ θάνατός ἐστι τοῦ ζῆν διὰ τὸ μέγεθος τῆς ταλαιπωρίας. πολλῶν δʼ ὄντων περὶ τὰς προειρημένας μεταλλείας παραδόξων, οὐχ ἥκιστʼ ἄν τις θαυμάσειε διότι τῶν μεταλλουργείων οὐδὲν πρόσφατον ἔχει τὴν ἀρχήν, πάντα δʼ ὑπὸ τῆς Καρχηδονίων φιλαργυρίας ἀνεῴχθη καθʼ ὃν καιρὸν καὶ τῆς Ἰβηρίας ἐπεκράτουν. ἐκ τούτων γὰρ ἔσχον τὴν ἐπὶ πλέον αὔξησιν, μισθούμενοι τοὺς κρατίστους στρατιώτας καὶ διὰ τούτων πολλοὺς καὶ μεγάλους πολέμους διαπολεμήσαντες. καθόλου γὰρ ἀεὶ Καρχηδόνιοι διεπολέμουν οὔτε πολιτικοῖς στρατιώταις οὔτε τοῖς ἀπὸ τῶν συμμάχων ἀθροιζομένοις πεποιθότες, ἀλλὰ καὶ Ῥωμαίους καὶ Σικελιώτας καὶ τοὺς κατὰ τὴν Λιβύην οἰκοῦντας εἰς τοὺς μεγίστους ἦγον κινδύνους καταπλουτομαχοῦντες ἅπαντας διὰ τὴν ἐκ τῶν μετάλλων γινομένην εὐπορίαν. δεινοὶ γάρ, ὡς ἔοικεν, ὑπῆρξαν οἱ Φοίνικες ἐκ παλαιῶν χρόνων εἰς τὸ κέρδος εὑρεῖν, οἱ δʼ ἀπὸ τῆς Ἰταλίας εἰς τὸ μηδὲν μηδενὶ τῶν ἄλλων καταλιπεῖν. γίνεται δὲ καὶ καττίτερος ἐν πολλοῖς τόποις τῆς Ἰβηρίας, οὐκ ἐξ ἐπιπολῆς εὑρισκόμενος, ὡς ἐν ταῖς ἱστορίαις τινὲς τεθρυλήκασιν, ἀλλʼ ὀρυττόμενος καὶ χωνευόμενος ὁμοίως ἀργύρῳ τε καὶ χρυσῷ. ὑπεράνω γὰρ τῆς τῶν Λυσιτανῶν χώρας ἔστι μέταλλα πολλὰ τοῦ καττιτέρου, κατὰ τὰς προκειμένας τῆς Ἰβηρίας ἐν τῷ ὠκεανῷ νησῖδας τὰς ἀπὸ τοῦ συμβεβηκότος Καττιτερίδας ὠνομασμένας. πολὺς δὲ καὶ ἐκ τῆς Βρεττανικῆς νήσου διακομίζεται πρὸς τὴν κατʼ ἀντικρὺ κειμένην Γαλατίαν, καὶ διὰ τῆς μεσογείου Κελτικῆς ἐφʼ ἵππων ὑπὸ τῶν ἐμπόρων ἄγεται παρά τε τοὺς Μασσαλιώτας καὶ εἰς τὴν ὀνομαζομένην πόλιν Ναρβῶνα· αὕτη δʼ ἐστὶν ἄποικος μὲν Ῥωμαίων, διὰ δὲ τὴν εὐκαιρίαν καὶ τὴν εὐπορίαν μέγιστον ἐμπόριον ἔχουσα τῶν ἐν ἐκείνοις τοῖς τόποις.
But to continue with the mines, the slaves who are engaged in the working of them produce for their masters revenues in sums defying belief, but they themselves wear out their bodies both by day and by night in the diggings under the earth, dying in large numbers because of the exceptional hardships they endure. For no respite or pause is granted them in their labours, but compelled beneath blows of the overseers to endure the severity of their plight, they throw away their lives in this wretched manner, although certain of them who can endure it, by virtue of their bodily strength and their persevering souls, suffer such hardships over a long period; indeed death in their eyes is more to be desired than life, because of the magnitude of the hardships they must bear. 2 And although many are the astounding features connected with the mining just described, a man may wonder not the least at the fact that not one of the mines has a recent beginning, but all of them were opened by the covetousness of the Carthaginians at the time when Iberia was among their possessions. It was from these mines, that is, that they drew their continued growth, hiring the ablest mercenaries to be found and winning with their aid many and great wars. For it is in general true that in their wars the Carthaginians never rested their confidence in soldiers from among their own citizens or gathered from their allies, but that when they subjected the Romans and the Sicilians and the inhabitants of Libya to the greatest perils it was by money, thanks to the abundance of it which they derived from their mines, that they conquered them in every instance. For the Phoenicians, it appears, were from ancient times clever men in making discoveries to their gain, and the Italians are equally clever in leaving no gain to anyone else. 4 Tin also occurs in many regions of Iberia, not found, however, on the surface of the earth, as certain writers continually repeat in their histories, but dug out of the ground and smelted in the same manner as silver and gold. For there are many mines of tin in the country above Lusitania and on the islets which lie off Iberia out in the ocean and are called because of that fact the Cassiterides. And tin is brought in large quantities also from the island of Britain to the opposite Gaul, where it is taken by merchants on horses through the interior of Celtica both to the Massalians and to the city of Narbo, as it is called. This city is a colony of the Romans, and because of its convenient situation it possesses the finest market to be found in those regions.
§ 5.39
ἡμεῖς δʼ ἐπεὶ τὰ κατὰ τοὺς Γαλάτας καὶ τοὺς Κελτίβηρας, ἔτι δʼ Ἴβηρας διήλθομεν, ἐπὶ τοὺς Λίγυας μεταβησόμεθα. οὗτοι γὰρ νέμονται μὲν χώραν τραχεῖαν καὶ παντελῶς λυπράν, τοῖς δὲ πόνοις καὶ ταῖς κατὰ τὴν λειτουργίαν συνεχέσι κακοπαθείαις ἐπίπονόν τινα βίον καὶ ἀτυχῆ ζῶσι. καταδένδρου γὰρ τῆς χώρας οὔσης, οἱ μὲν αὐτῶν ὑλοτομοῦσι δι’ ὅλης τῆς ἡμέρας σιδηροφοροῦντες ἐνεργοὺς πελέκεις καὶ βαρεῖς, οἱ δὲ τὴν γῆν ἐργαζόμενοι τὸ πλέον πέτρας λατομοῦσι διὰ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῆς τραχύτητος· οὐδεμίαν γὰρ βῶλον τοῖς ἐργαλείοις ἀνασπῶσιν ἄνευ λίθου. καὶ τοιαύτην ἔχοντες ἐν τοῖς ἔργοις κακοπάθειαν τῇ συνεχείᾳ περιγίνονται τῆς φύσεως, καὶ πολλὰ μοχθήσαντες ὀλίγους καρποὺς καὶ μόγις λαμβάνουσι. διὰ δὲ τὴν συνέχειαν τῶν γυμνασιῶν καὶ τὸ τῆς τροφῆς ἐλλιπὲς τοῖς σώμασιν ὑπάρχουσιν ἰσχνοὶ καὶ εὔτονοι. πρὸς δὲ τὴν κακοπάθειαν ταύτην συνεργοὺς ἔχουσι τὰς γυναῖκας, εἰθισμένας ἐπʼ ἴσης τοῖς ἀνδράσιν ἐργάζεσθαι. κυνηγίας δὲ ποιοῦνται συνεχεῖς, ἐν αἷς πολλὰ τῶν θηρίων χειρούμενοι τὴν ἐκ τῶν καρπῶν σπάνιν διορθοῦνται. διόπερ ἐμβιοῦντες ὄρεσι χιονοβολουμένοις καὶ τραχύτητας ἀπίστους ὀρειβατεῖν εἰωθότες, εὔτονοι καὶ μυώδεις γίνονται τοῖς σώμασιν. ἔνιοι δὲ διὰ τὴν παρʼ αὐτοῖς σπανοκαρπίαν πίνουσι μὲν ὕδωρ, σαρκοφαγοῦσι δὲ τὰς τῶν ἡμέρων τε καὶ ἀγρίων ζῴων σάρκας καὶ τῶν ἀπὸ τῆς χώρας λαχάνων ἐμπίμπλανται, τὴν χώραν ἔχοντες ἄβατον τοῖς προσφιλεστάτοις τῶν θεῶν Δήμητρι καὶ Διονύσῳ. νυκτερεύουσι δʼ ἐπὶ τῆς χώρας σπανίως μὲν ἔν τισιν εὐτελέσιν ἐπαύλεσιν ἢ καλιαῖς, τὰ δὲ πολλὰ ἐν ταῖς κοίλαις πέτραις καὶ σπηλαίοις αὐτοφυέσι καὶ δυναμένοις σκέπην ἱκανὴν παρέχεσθαι. ἀκολούθως δὲ τούτοις καὶ τἄλλα ποιοῦσι, διαφυλάττοντες τὸν ἀρχαῖον καὶ ἀκατάσκευον βίον. καθόλου δʼ ἐν τοῖς τόποις αἱ μὲν γυναῖκες ἀνδρῶν, οἱ δʼ ἄνδρες θηρίων ἔχουσιν εὐτονίαν καὶ ἀλκήν. πολλάκις γοῦν φασιν ἐν ταῖς στρατείαις τὸν μέγιστον τῶν Γαλατῶν ὑπὸ Λίγυος ἰσχνοῦ παντελῶς ἐκ προκλήσεως μονομαχήσαντα ἀνῃρῆσθαι. ὁπλισμὸν δʼ ἔχουσιν οἱ Λίγυες ἐλαφρότερον τῶν Ῥωμαίων τῇ κατασκευῇ· σκεπάζει γὰρ αὐτοὺς παραμήκης θυρεὸς εἰς τὸν Γαλατικὸν ῥυθμὸν δεδημιουργημένος καὶ χιτὼν συνειλημμένος ζωστῆρι, καὶ περιτίθενται θηρίων δορὰς καὶ ξίφος σύμμετρον· τινὲς δʼ αὐτῶν διὰ τὴν ἐπιμιξίαν τῆς Ῥωμαίων πολιτείας μετεσχημάτισαν τὸν ὁπλισμόν, ἐξομοιοῦντες ἑαυτοὺς τοῖς ἡγουμένοις. θρασεῖς δʼ εἰσὶ καὶ γενναῖοι οὐ μόνον εἰς πόλεμον, ἀλλὰ καὶ πρὸς τὰς ἐν τῷ βίῳ περιστάσεις τὰς ἐχούσας δεινότητας. ἐμπορευόμενοι γὰρ πλέουσι τὸ Σαρδόνιον καὶ τὸ Λιβυκὸν πέλαγος, ἑτοίμως ἑαυτοὺς ῥιπτοῦντες εἰς ἀβοηθήτους κινδύνους· σκάφεσι γὰρ χρώμενοι τῶν σχεδιῶν εὐτελεστέροις καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις τοῖς κατὰ ναῦν χρησίμοις ἥκιστα κατεσκευασμένοις ὑπομένουσι τὰς ἐκ τῶν χειμώνων φοβερωτάτας περιστάσεις καταπληκτικῶς.
Since we have discussed the Gauls, the Celtiberians, and the Iberians, we shall pass on to the Ligurians. The Ligurians inhabit a land which is stony and altogether wretched, and the life they live is, by reason of the toils and the continuous hardships they endure in their labour, a grievous one and unfortunate. 2 For the land being thickly wooded, some of them fell the wood the whole day long, equipped with efficient and heavy axes, and others, whose task it is to prepare the ground, do in fact for the larger part quarry out rocks by reason of the exceeding stoniness of the land; for their tools never dig up a clod without a stone. Since their labour entails such hardship as this, it is only by perseverance that they surmount Nature and that after many distresses they gather scanty harvests, and no more. By reason of their continued physical activity and minimum of nourishment the Ligurians are slender and vigorous of body. To aid them in their hardships they have their women, who have become accustomed to labour on an equal basis with the men. They are continually hunting, whereby they get abundant game and compensate in this way for the lack of the fruits of the field. Consequently, spending their lives as they do on snow-covered mountains, where they are used to traversing unbelievably rugged places, they become vigorous and muscular of body. 4 Some of the Ligurians, because of the lack among them of the fruits of the earth, drink nothing but water, and they eat the flesh of both domestic and wild animals and fill themselves with the green things which grow in the land, the land they possess being untrodden by the most kindly of the gods, namely, Demeter and Dionysus. The nights the Ligurians spend in the fields, rarely in a kind of crude shanty or hut, more often in the hollows of rocks and natural caves which may offer them sufficient protection. 6 In pursuance of these habits they have also other practices wherein they preserve the manner of life which is primitive and lacking in implements. Speaking generally, in these regions the women possess the vigour and might of men, and the men those of wild beasts. Indeed, they say that often times in campaigns the mightiest warrior among the Gauls has been challenged to single combat by a quite slender Ligurian and slain. 7 The weapons of the Ligurians are lighter in their structure than those of the Romans; for their protection is a long shield, worked in the Gallic fashion, and a shirt gathered in with a belt, and about them they throw the skins of wild animals and carry a sword of moderate size; but some of them, now that they have been incorporated in the Roman state, have changed the type of their weapons, adapting themselves to their rulers. 8 And they are venturesome and of noble spirit, not only in war, but in those circumstances of life which offer terrifying hardships or perils. As traders, for instance, they sail over the Sardinian and Libyan seas, readily casting themselves into dangers from which there is no succour; for although the vessels they use are more cheaply fashioned than make-shift boats and their equipment is the minimum of that usual on ships, yet to one's astonishment and terror they will face the most fearful conditions which storms create.
§ 5.40
λείπεται δʼ ἡμῖν εἰπεῖν περὶ τῶν Τυρρηνῶν. οὗτοι γὰρ τὸ μὲν παλαιὸν ἀνδρείᾳ διενεγκόντες χώραν πολλὴν κατεκτήσαντο καὶ πόλεις ἀξιολόγους καὶ πολλὰς ἔκτισαν. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ ναυτικαῖς δυνάμεσιν ἰσχύσαντες καὶ πολλοὺς χρόνους θαλαττοκρατήσαντες τὸ μὲν παρὰ τὴν Ἰταλίαν πέλαγος ἀφʼ ἑαυτῶν ἐποίησαν Τυρρηνικὸν προσαγορευθῆναι, τὰ δὲ κατὰ τὰς πεζὰς δυνάμεις ἐκπονήσαντες τήν τε σάλπιγγα λεγομένην ἐξεῦρον, εὐχρηστοτάτην μὲν εἰς τοὺς πολέμους, ἀπʼ ἐκείνων δʼ ὀνομασθεῖσαν Τυρρηνήν, τό τε περὶ τοὺς ἡγουμένους στρατηγοὺς ἀξίωμα κατεσκεύασαν, περιθέντες τοῖς ἡγουμένοις ῥαβδούχους καὶ δίφρον ἐλεφάντινον καὶ περιπόρφυρον τήβενναν, ἔν τε ταῖς οἰκίαις τὰ περίστῳα πρὸς τὰς τῶν θεραπευόντων ὄχλων ταραχὰς ἐξεῦρον εὐχρηστίαν· ὧν τὰ πλεῖστα Ῥωμαῖοι μιμησάμενοι καὶ πρὸς τὸ κάλλιον αὐξήσαντες μετήνεγκαν ἐπὶ τὴν ἰδίαν πολιτείαν. γράμματα δὲ καὶ φυσιολογίαν καὶ θεολογίαν ἐξεπόνησαν ἐπὶ πλέον, καὶ τὰ περὶ τὴν κεραυνοσκοπίαν μάλιστα πάντων ἀνθρώπων ἐξειργάσαντο· διὸ καὶ μέχρι τῶν νῦν χρόνων οἱ τῆς οἰκουμένης σχεδὸν ὅλης ἡγούμενοι θαυμάζουσί τε τοὺς ἄνδρας καὶ κατὰ τὰς ἐν τοῖς κεραυνοῖς διοσημείας τούτοις ἐξηγηταῖς χρῶνται. χώραν δὲ νεμόμενοι πάμφορον, καὶ ταύτην ἐξεργαζόμενοι, καρπῶν ἀφθονίαν ἔχουσιν οὐ μόνον πρὸς τὴν ἀρκοῦσαν διατροφήν, ἀλλὰ καὶ πρὸς ἀπόλαυσιν δαψιλῆ καὶ τρυφὴν ἀνήκουσαν. παρατίθενται γὰρ δὶς τῆς ἡμέρας τραπέζας πολυτελεῖς καὶ τἄλλα τὰ πρὸς τὴν ὑπερβάλλουσαν τρυφὴν οἰκεῖα, στρωμνὰς μὲν ἀνθεινὰς κατασκευάζοντες, ἐκπωμάτων δʼ ἀργυρῶν παντοδαπῶν πλῆθος καὶ τῶν διακονούντων οἰκετῶν οὐκ ὀλίγον ἀριθμὸν ἡτοιμακότες· καὶ τούτων οἱ μὲν εὐπρεπείᾳ διαφέροντές εἰσιν, οἱ δʼ ἐσθῆσι πολυτελεστέραις ἢ κατὰ δουλικὴν ἀξίαν κεκόσμηνται. οἰκήσεις τε παντοδαπὰς ἰδιαζούσας ἔχουσι παρʼ αὐτοῖς οὐ μόνον οἱ θεράποντες, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν ἐλευθέρων οἱ πλείους. καθόλου δὲ τὴν μὲν ἐκ παλαιῶν χρόνων παρʼ αὐτοῖς ζηλουμένην ἀλκὴν ἀποβεβλήκασιν, ἐν πότοις δὲ καὶ ῥᾳθυμίαις ἀνάνδροις βιοῦντες οὐκ ἀλόγως τὴν τῶν πατέρων δόξαν ἐν τοῖς πολέμοις ἀποβεβλήκασι. συνεβάλετο δʼ αὐτοῖς πρὸς τὴν τρυφὴν οὐκ ἐλάχιστον καὶ ἡ τῆς χώρας ἀρετή· πάμφορον γὰρ καὶ παντελῶς εὔγειον νεμόμενοι παντὸς καρποῦ πλῆθος ἀποθησαυρίζουσιν. καθόλου γὰρ ἡ Τυρρηνία παντελῶς εὔγειος οὖσα πεδίοις ἀναπεπταμένοις ἐγκάθηται καὶ βουνοειδέσιν ἀναστήμασι τόπων διείληπται γεωργησίμοις· ὑγρὰ δὲ μετρίως ἐστὶν οὐ μόνον κατὰ τὴν χειμερινὴν ὥραν, ἀλλὰ καὶ κατὰ τὸν τοῦ θέρους καιρόν.
It remains for us now to speak of the Tyrrhenians. This people, excelling as they did in manly vigour, in ancient times possessed great territory and founded many notable cities. Likewise, because they also availed themselves of powerful naval forces and were masters of the sea over a long period, they caused the sea along Italy to be named Tyrrhenian after them; and because they also perfected the organization of land forces, they were the inventors of the salpinx, as it is called, a discovery of the greatest usefulness for war and named after them the "Tyrrhenian trumpet." They were also the authors of that dignity which surrounds rulers, providing their rulers with lictors and an ivory stool and a toga with a purple band; and in connection with their houses they invented the peristyle, a useful device for avoiding the confusion connected with the attending throngs; and these things were adopted for the most part by the Romans, who added to their embellishment and transferred them to their own political institutions. 2 Letters, and the teaching about Nature and the gods they also brought to greater perfection, and they elaborated the art of divination by thunder and lightning more than all other men; and it is for this reason that the people who rule practically the entire inhabited world show honour to these men even to this day and employ them as interpreters of the omens of Zeus as they appear in thunder and lightning. The land the Tyrrhenians inhabit bears every crop, and from the intensive cultivation of it they enjoy no lack of fruits, not only sufficient for their sustenance but contributing to abundant enjoyment and luxury. For example, twice each day they spread costly tables and upon them everything that is appropriate to excessive luxury, providing gay-coloured couches and having ready at hand a multitude of silver drinking-cups of every description and servants-in waiting in no small number; and these attendants are some of them of exceeding comeliness and others are arrayed in clothing more costly than befits the station of a slave. 4 Their dwellings are of every description and of individuality, those not only of their magistrates but of the majority of the free men as well. And, speaking generally, they have now renounced the spirit which was emulated by their forebears from ancient times, and passing their lives as they do in drinkingbouts and unmanly amusements, it is easily understood how they have lost the glory in warfare which their fathers possessed. Not the least of the things which have contributed to their luxury is the fertility of the land; for since it bears every product of the soil and is altogether fertile, the Tyrrhenians lay up great stores of every kind of fruit. In general, indeed, Tyrrhenia, being altogether fertile, lies in extended open fields and is traversed at intervals by areas which rise up like hills and yet are fit for tillage; and it enjoys moderate rainfall not only in the winter season but in the summer as well.
§ 5.41
ἐπεὶ δὲ περὶ τῆς πρὸς ἑσπέραν κεκλιμένης χώρας καὶ τῆς πρὸς τὰς ἄρκτους νενευκυίας, ἔτι δὲ τῶν κατὰ τὸν ὠκεανὸν νήσων διεξήλθομεν, ἐν μέρει διέξιμεν περὶ τῶν κατὰ τὴν μεσημβρίαν νήσων τῶν ἐν ὠκεανῷ τῆς Ἀραβίας τῆς πρὸς ἀνατολὴν κεκλιμένης καὶ προσοριζούσης τῇ καλουμένῃ Κεδρωσίᾳ. ἡ μὲν γὰρ χώρα πολλαῖς κώμαις καὶ πόλεσιν ἀξιολόγοις κατοικεῖται, καὶ τούτων αἱ μὲν ἐπὶ χωμάτων ἀξιολόγων κεῖνται, αἱ δʼ ἐπὶ γεωλόφων ἢ πεδίων καθίδρυνται· ἔχουσι δʼ αὐτῶν αἱ μέγισται βασίλεια κατεσκευασμένα πολυτελῶς, πλῆθος οἰκητόρων ἔχοντα καὶ κτήσεις ἱκανάς. πᾶσα δʼ αὐτῶν ἡ χώρα γέμει θρεμμάτων παντοδαπῶν, καρποφοροῦσα καὶ νομὰς ἀφθόνους παρεχομένη τοῖς βοσκήμασι· ποταμοί τε πολλοὶ διαρρέοντες ἐν αὐτῇ πολλὴν ἀρδεύουσι χώραν, συνεργοῦντες πρὸς τελείαν αὔξησιν τῶν καρπῶν. διὸ καὶ τῆς Ἀραβίας ἡ πρωτεύουσα τῇ ἀρετῇ προσηγορίαν ἔλαβεν οἰκείαν, εὐδαίμων ὀνομασθεῖσα. ταύτης δὲ κατὰ τὰς ἐσχατιὰς τῆς παρωκεανίτιδος χώρας κατʼ ἀντικρὺ νῆσοι κεῖνται πλείους, ὧν τρεῖς εἰσιν ἄξιαι τῆς ἱστορικῆς ἀναγραφῆς, μία μὲν ἡ προσαγορευομένη Ἱερά, καθʼ ἣν οὐκ ἔξεστι τοὺς τετελευτηκότας θάπτειν, ἑτέρα δὲ πλησίον ταύτης, ἀπέχουσα σταδίους ἑπτά, εἰς ἣν κομίζουσι τὰ σώματα τῶν ἀποθανόντων ταφῆς ἀξιοῦντες. ἡ δʼ οὖν Ἱερὰ τῶν μὲν ἄλλων καρπῶν ἄμοιρός ἐστι, φέρει δὲ λιβανωτοῦ τοσοῦτο πλῆθος, ὥστε διαρκεῖν καθʼ ὅλην τὴν οἰκουμένην πρὸς τὰς τῶν θεῶν τιμάς· ἔχει δὲ καὶ σμύρνης πλῆθος διάφορον καὶ τῶν ἄλλων θυμιαμάτων παντοδαπὰς φύσεις, παρεχομένας πολλὴν εὐωδίαν. ἡ δὲ φύσις ἐστὶ τοῦ λιβανωτοῦ καὶ ἡ κατασκευὴ τοιάδε· δένδρον ἐστὶ τῷ μὲν μεγέθει μικρόν, τῇ δὲ προσόψει τῇ ἀκάνθῃ τῇ Αἰγυπτίᾳ τῇ λευκῇ παρεμφερές, τὰ δὲ φύλλα τοῦ δένδρου ὅμοια τῇ ὀνομαζομένῃ ἰτέᾳ, καὶ τὸ ἄνθος ἐπʼ αὐτῷ φύεται χρυσοειδές, ὁ δὲ λιβανωτὸς γινόμενος ἐξ αὐτοῦ ὀπίζεται ὡς ἂν δάκρυον. τὸ δὲ τῆς σμύρνης δένδρον ὅμοιόν ἐστι τῇ σχίνῳ, τὸ δὲ φύλλον ἔχει λεπτότερον καὶ πυκνότερον. ὀπίζεται δὲ περισκαφείσης τῆς γῆς ἀπὸ τῶν ῥιζῶν, καὶ ὅσα μὲν αὐτῶν ἐν ἀγαθῇ γῇ πέφυκεν, ἐκ τούτων γίνεται δὶς τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ, ἔαρος καὶ θέρους· καὶ ὁ μὲν πυρρὸς ἐαρινὸς ὑπάρχει διὰ τὰς δρόσους, ὁ δὲ λευκὸς θερινός ἐστι. τοῦ δὲ παλιούρου συλλέγουσι τὸν καρπόν, καὶ χρῶνται βρωτοῖς καὶ ποτοῖς καὶ πρὸς τὰς κοιλίας τὰς ῥεούσας φαρμάκῳ.
But now that we have described the lands which lie to the west and those which extend toward the north, and also the islands in the ocean, we shall in turn discuss the islands in the ocean to the south which lie off that portion of Arabia which extends to the east and borders upon the country known as Cedrosia. 2 Arabia contains many villages and notable cities, which in some cases are situated upon great mounds and in other instances are built upon hillocks or in plains; and the largest cities have royal residences of costly construction, possessing a multitude of inhabitants and ample estates. And the entire land of the Arabians abounds with domestic animals of every description, and it bears fruits as well and provides no lack of pasturage for the fatted animals; and many rivers flow through the land and irrigate a great portion of it, thus contributing to the full maturing of the fruits. Consequently that part of Arabia which holds the chief place for its fertility has received a name appropriate to it, being called Arabia the Blest. 4 On the farthest bounds of Arabia the Blest, where the ocean washes it, there lie opposite it a number of islands, of which there are three which merit a mention in history, one of them bearing the name Hiera or Sacred, on which it is not allowed to bury the dead, and another lying near it, seven stades distant, to which they take the bodies of the dead whom they see fit to inter. Now Hiera has no share in any other fruit, but it produces frankincense in such abundance as to suffice for the honours paid to the gods throughout the entire inhabited world; and it possesses also an exceptional quantity of myrrh and every variety of all the other kinds of incense of highly fragrant odour. The nature of frankincense and the preparing of it is like this: In size it is a small tree, and in appearance it resembles the white Egyptian Acacia, its leaves are like those of the willow, as it is called, the bloom it bears is in colour like gold, and the frankincense which comes from it oozes forth in drops like tears. But the myrrh-tree is like the mastich-tree, although its leaves are more slender and grow thicker. 6 It oozes myrrh when the earth is dug away from the roots, and if it is planted in fertile soil this takes place twice a year, in spring and in summer; the myrrh of the spring is red, because of the dew, but that of the summer is white. They also gather the fruit of the Christ's thorn, which they use both for meat and for drink and as a drug for the cure of dysentery.
§ 5.42
διῄρηται δὲ τοῖς ἐγχωρίοις ἡ χώρα, καὶ ταύτης ὁ βασιλεὺς λαμβάνει τὴν κρατίστην, καὶ τῶν καρπῶν τῶν γινομένων ἐν τῇ νήσῳ δεκάτην λαμβάνει. τὸ δὲ πλάτος τῆς νήσου φασὶν εἶναι σταδίων ὡς διακοσίων. κατοικοῦσι δὲ τὴν νῆσον οἱ καλούμενοι Παγχαῖοι, καὶ τόν τε λιβανωτὸν καὶ τὴν σμύρναν κομίζουσιν εἰς τὸ πέραν καὶ πωλοῦσι τοῖς τῶν Ἀράβων ἐμπόροις, παρʼ ὧν ἄλλοι τὰ τοιαῦτα φορτία ὠνούμενοι διακομίζουσιν εἰς τὴν Φοινίκην καὶ Κοίλην Συρίαν, ἔτι δʼ Αἴγυπτον, τὸ δὲ τελευταῖον ἐκ τούτων τῶν τόπων ἔμποροι διακομίζουσιν εἰς πᾶσαν τὴν οἰκουμένην. ἔστι δὲ καὶ ἄλλη νῆσος μεγάλη, τῆς προειρημένης ἀπέχουσα σταδίους τριάκοντα, εἰς τὸ πρὸς ἕω μέρος τοῦ ὠκεανοῦ κειμένη, τῷ μήκει πολλῶν τινων σταδίων· ἀπὸ γὰρ τοῦ πρὸς ἀνατολὰς ἀνήκοντος ἀκρωτηρίου φασὶ θεωρεῖσθαι τὴν Ἰνδικὴν ἀέριον διὰ τὸ μέγεθος τοῦ διαστήματος. ἔχει δʼ ἡ Παγχαία κατʼ αὐτὴν πολλὰ τῆς ἱστορικῆς ἀναγραφῆς ἄξια. κατοικοῦσι δʼ αὐτὴν αὐτόχθονες μὲν οἱ Παγχαῖοι λεγόμενοι, ἐπήλυδες δʼ Ὠκεανῖται καὶ Ἰνδοὶ καὶ Σκύθαι καὶ Κρῆτες. πόλις δʼ ἔστιν ἀξιόλογος ἐν αὐτῇ, προσαγορευομένη μὲν Πανάρα, εὐδαιμονίᾳ δὲ διαφέρουσα. οἱ δὲ ταύτην οἰκοῦντες καλοῦνται μὲν ἱκέται τοῦ Διὸς τοῦ Τριφυλίου, μόνοι δʼ εἰσὶ τῶν τὴν Παγχαίαν χώραν οἰκούντων αὐτόνομοι καὶ ἀβασίλευτοι. ἄρχοντας δὲ καθιστᾶσι κατʼ ἐνιαυτὸν τρεῖς· οὗτοι δὲ θανάτου μὲν οὐκ εἰσὶ κύριοι, τὰ δὲ λοιπὰ πάντα διακρίνουσι· καὶ αὐτοὶ δὲ οὗτοι τὰ μέγιστα ἐπὶ τοὺς ἱερεῖς ἀναφέρουσιν. ἀπὸ δὲ ταύτης τῆς πόλεως ἀπέχει σταδίους ὡς ἑξήκοντα ἱερὸν Διὸς Τριφυλίου, κείμενον μὲν ἐν χώρᾳ πεδιάδι, θαυμαζόμενον δὲ μάλιστα διά τε τὴν ἀρχαιότητα καὶ τὴν πολυτέλειαν τῆς κατασκευῆς καὶ τὴν τῶν τόπων εὐφυΐαν.
The land of Hiera is divided among its inhabitants, and the king takes for himself the best land and likewise a tithe of the fruits which the island produces. The width of the island is reputed to be about two hundred stades. 2 And the inhabitants of the island are known as Panchaeans and these men take the frankincense and myrrh across to the mainland and sell it to Arab merchants, from whom others in turn purchase wares of this kind and convey them to Phoenicia and Coele Syria and Egypt, and in the end merchants convey them from these countries throughout all the inhabited world. And there is yet another large island, thirty stades distant from the one we have mentioned, lying out in the ocean to the east and many stades in length; for men say that from its promontory which extends toward the east one can descry India, misty because of its great distance. 4 As for Panchaea itself, the island possesses many things which are deserving to be recorded by history. It is inhabited by men who were sprung from the soil itself, called Panchaeans, and the foreigners there are Oceanites and Indians and Scythians and Cretans. There is also a notable city on the island, called Panara, which enjoys unusual felicity; its citizens are called "suppliants of Zeus Triphylius,"9 and they are the only inhabitants of the land of Panchaea who live under laws of their own making and have no king over them. Each year they elect three chief magistrates; these men have no authority over capital crimes, but render judgment in all any other matters; and the weightiest affairs they refer of their own accord to the priests. 6 Some sixty stades distant from the city of Panara is the temple of Zeus Triphylius, which lies out on a level plain and is especially admired for its antiquity, the costliness of its construction, and its favourable situation.
§ 5.43
τὸ μὲν οὖν περὶ τὸ ἱερὸν πεδίον συνηρεφές ἐστι παντοίοις δένδρεσιν, οὐ μόνον καρποφόροις, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις τοῖς δυναμένοις τέρπειν τὴν ὅρασιν· κυπαρίττων τε γὰρ ἐξαισίων τοῖς μεγέθεσι καὶ πλατάνων καὶ δάφνης καὶ μυρσίνης καταγέμει, πλήθοντος τοῦ τόπου ναματιαίων ὑδάτων. πλησίον γὰρ τοῦ τεμένους ἐκ τῆς γῆς ἐκπίπτει τηλικαύτη τὸ μέγεθος πηγὴ γλυκέος ὕδατος, ὥστε ποταμὸν ἐξ αὐτῆς γίνεσθαι πλωτόν· ἐκ τούτου δʼ εἰς πολλὰ μέρη τοῦ ὕδατος διαιρουμένου, καὶ τούτων ἀρδευομένων, κατὰ πάντα τὸν τοῦ πεδίου τόπον συνάγκειαι δένδρων ὑψηλῶν πεφύκασι συνεχεῖς, ἐν αἱς πλῆθος ἀνδρῶν ἐν τοῖς τοῦ θέρους καιροῖς ἐνδιατρίβει, ὀρνέων τε πλῆθος παντοδαπῶν ἐννεοττεύεται, ταῖς χρόαις διάφορα καὶ ταῖς μελῳδίαις μεγάλην παρεχόμενα τέρψιν, κηπεῖαί τε παντοδαπαὶ καὶ λειμῶνες πολλοὶ καὶ διάφοροι ταῖς χλόαις καὶ τοῖς ἄνθεσιν, ὥστε τῇ θεοπρεπείᾳ τῆς προσόψεως ἄξιον τῶν ἐγχωρίων θεῶν φαίνεσθαι. ἦν δὲ καὶ τῶν φοινίκων στελέχη μεγάλα καὶ καρποφόρα διαφερόντως καὶ καρύαι πολλαὶ ἀκροδρύων δαψιλεστάτην τοῖς ἐγχωρίοις ἀπόλαυσιν παρεχόμεναι. χωρὶς δὲ τούτων ὑπῆρχον ἄμπελοί τε πολλαὶ καὶ παντοδαπαί, αἳ πρὸς ὕψος ἀνηγμέναι καὶ διαπεπλεγμέναι ποικίλως τὴν πρόσοψιν ἡδεῖαν ἐποίουν καὶ τὴν ἀπόλαυσιν τῆς ὥρας ἑτοιμοτάτην παρείχοντο.
Thus, the plain lying around the temple is thickly covered with trees of every kind, not only such as bear fruit, but those also which possess the power of pleasing the eye; for the plain abounds with cypresses of enormous size and plane-trees and sweet-bay and myrtle, since the region is full of springs of water. 2 Indeed, close to the sacred precinct there bursts forth from the earth a spring of sweet water of such size that it gives rise to a river on which boats may sail. And since the water is led off from the river to many parts of the plain and irrigates them, throughout the entire area of the plain there grow continuous forests of lofty trees, wherein a multitude of men pass their time in the summer season and a multitude of birds make their nests, birds of every kind and of various hues, which greatly delight the ear by their song; therein also is every kind of garden and many meadows with varied plants and flowers, so that there is a divine majesty in the prospect which makes the place appear worthy of the gods of the country. And there were palm trees there with mighty trunks, conspicuous for the fruits they bore, and many varieties of nut-bearing trees, which provide the natives of the place with the most abundant subsistence. And in addition to what we have mentioned, grape-vines were found there in great number and of every variety, which were trained to climb high and were variously intertwined so that they presented a pleasing sight and provided an enjoyment of the season without further ado.
§ 5.44
ὁ δὲ ναὸς ὑπῆρχεν ἀξιόλογος ἐκ λίθου λευκοῦ, τὸ μῆκος ἔχων δυεῖν πλέθρων, τὸ δὲ πλάτος ἀνάλογον τῷ μήκει· κίοσι δὲ μεγάλοις καὶ παχέσιν ὑπήρειστο καὶ γλυφαῖς φιλοτέχνοις διειλημμένος· ἀγάλματά τε τῶν θεῶν ἀξιολογώτατα, τῇ τέχνῃ διάφορα καὶ τοῖς βάρεσι θαυμαζόμενα. κύκλῳ δὲ τοῦ ναοῦ τὰς οἰκίας εἶχον οἱ θεραπεύοντες τοὺς θεοὺς ἱερεῖς, διʼ ὧν ἅπαντα τὰ περὶ τὸ τέμενος διῳκεῖτο. ἀπὸ δὲ τοῦ ναοῦ δρόμος κατεσκεύαστο, τὸ μὲν μῆκος σταδίων τεττάρων, τὸ δὲ πλάτος πλέθρου. παρὰ δὲ τὴν πλευρὰν ἑκατέραν τοῦ δρόμου χαλκεῖα μεγάλα κεῖται, τὰς βάσεις ἔχοντα τετραγώνους· ἐπʼ ἐσχάτῳ δὲ τοῦ δρόμου τὰς πηγὰς ἔχει λάβρως ἐκχεομένας ὁ προειρημένος ποταμός. ἔστι δὲ τὸ φερόμενον ῥεῦμα τῇ λευκότητι καὶ γλυκύτητι διαφέρον, πρός τε τὴν τοῦ σώματος ὑγίειαν πολλὰ συμβαλλόμενον τοῖς χρωμένοις· ὀνομάζεται δʼ ὁ ποταμὸς οὗτος ἡλίου ὕδωρ. περιέχει δὲ τὴν πηγὴν ὅλην κρηπὶς λιθίνη πολυτελής, διατείνουσα παρʼ ἑκατέραν πλευρὰν σταδίους τέτταρας· ἄχρι δὲ τῆς ἐσχάτης κρηπῖδος ὁ τόπος οὐκ ἔστι βάσιμος ἀνθρώπῳ πλὴν τῶν ἱερέων. τὸ δʼ ὑποκείμενον πεδίον ἐπὶ σταδίους διακοσίους καθιερωμένον ἐστὶ τοῖς θεοῖς, καὶ τὰς ἐξ αὐτοῦ προσόδους εἰς τὰς θυσίας ἀναλίσκουσι. μετὰ δὲ τὸ προειρημένον πεδίον ὄρος ἐστὶν ὑψηλόν, καθιερωμένον μὲν θεοῖς, ὀνομαζόμενον δὲ Οὐρανοῦ δίφρος καὶ Τριφύλιος Ὄλυμπος. μυθολογοῦσι γὰρ τὸ παλαιὸν Οὐρανὸν βασιλεύοντα τῆς οἰκουμένης προσηνῶς ἐνδιατρίβειν ἐν τῷδε τῷ τόπῳ, καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ ὕψους ἐφορᾶν τόν τε οὐρανὸν καὶ τὰ κατʼ αὐτὸν ἄστρα, ὕστερον δὲ Τριφύλιον Ὄλυμπον κληθῆναι διὰ τὸ τοὺς κατοικοῦντας ὑπάρχειν ἐκ τριῶν ἐθνῶν· ὀνομάζεσθαι δὲ τοὺς μὲν Παγχαίους, τοὺς δʼ Ὠκεανίτας, τοὺς δὲ Δῴους· οὓς ὕστερον ὑπὸ Ἄμμωνος ἐκβληθῆναι. τὸν γὰρ Ἄμμωνά φασι μὴ μόνον φυγαδεῦσαι τοῦτο τὸ ἔθνος, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰς πόλεις αὐτῶν ἄρδην ἀνελεῖν, καὶ κατασκάψαι τήν τε Δῴαν καὶ Ἀστερουσίαν. θυσίαν τε κατʼ ἐνιαυτὸν ἐν τούτῳ τῷ ὄρει ποιεῖν τοὺς ἱερεῖς μετὰ πολλῆς τῆς ἁγνείας.
The temple was a striking structure of white marble, two plethra in length and the width proportionate to the length; it was supported by large thick columns and decorated at intervals with reliefs of ingenious design; and there were also remarkable statues of the gods, exceptional in skill of execution and admired by men for their massiveness. 2 Around about the temple the priests who served the gods had their dwellings, and the management of everything pertaining to the sacred precinct was in their hands. Leading from the temple an avenue had been constructed, four stades in length and a plethrum in width. On each side of the avenue are great bronze vessels which rest upon square bases, and at the end of the avenue the river we mentioned above has its sources, which pour forth in a turbulent stream. The water of the stream is exceedingly clear and sweet and the use of it is most conducive to the health of the body; and the river bears the name "Water of the Sun." 4 The entire spring is surrounded by an expensive stone quay, which extends along each side of it four stades, and no man except the priests may set foot upon the place up to the edge of the quay. The plain lying below the temple has been made sacred to the gods, for a distance of two hundred stades, and the revenues which are derived from it are used to support the sacrifices. Beyond the abovementioned plain there is a lofty mountain which has been made sacred to the gods and is called the "Throne of Uranus" and also "Triphylian Olympus." 6 For the myth relates that in ancient times, when Uranus was king of the inhabited earth, he took pleasure in tarrying in that place and in surveying from its lofty top both the heavens and the stars therein, and that at a later time it came to be called Triphylian Olympus because the men who dwelt about it were composed of three peoples; these, namely, were known as Panchaeans, Oceanites, and Doians, who were expelled at a later time by Ammon. 7 For Ammon, men say, not only drove this nation into exile but also totally destroyed their cities, razing to the ground both Doia and Asterusia. And once a year, we are told, the priests hold a sacrifice in this mountain with great solemnity.
§ 5.45
μετὰ δὲ τὸ ὄρος τοῦτο καὶ κατὰ τὴν ἄλλην Παγχαιῖτιν χώραν ὑπάρχειν φασὶ ζῴων παντοδαπῶν πλῆθος· ἔχειν γὰρ αὐτὴν ἐλέφαντάς τε πολλοὺς καὶ λέοντας καὶ παρδάλεις καὶ δορκάδας καὶ ἄλλα θηρία πλείω διάφορα ταῖς τε προσόψεσι καὶ ταῖς ἀλκαῖς θαυμαστά. ἔχει δὲ ἡ νῆσος αὕτη καὶ πόλεις τρεῖς ἀξιολόγους, Ὑρακίαν καὶ Δαλίδα καὶ Ὠκεανίδα. τὴν δὲ χώραν ὅλην εἶναι καρποφόρον, καὶ μάλιστα οἴνων παντοδαπῶν ἔχειν πλῆθος. εἶναι δὲ τοὺς ἄνδρας πολεμικοὺς καὶ ἅρμασι χρῆσθαι κατὰ τὰς μάχας ἀρχαϊκῶς. τὴν δʼ ὅλην πολιτείαν ἔχουσι τριμερῆ, καὶ πρῶτον ὑπάρχει μέρος παρʼ αὐτοῖς τὸ τῶν ἱερέων, προσκειμένων αὐτοῖς τῶν τεχνιτῶν, δευτέρα δὲ μερὶς ὑπάρχει τῶν γεωργῶν, τρίτη δὲ τῶν στρατιωτῶν, προστιθεμένων τῶν νομέων. οἱ μὲν οὖν ἱερεῖς τῶν ἁπάντων ἦσαν ἡγεμόνες, τάς τε τῶν ἀμφισβητήσεων κρίσεις ποιούμενοι καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν δημοσίᾳ πραττομένων κύριοι· οἱ δὲ γεωργοὶ τὴν γῆν ἐργαζόμενοι τοὺς καρποὺς ἀναφέρουσιν εἰς τὸ κοινόν, καὶ ὅστις ἂν αὐτῶν δοκῇ μάλιστα γεγεωργηκέναι, λαμβάνει γέρας ἐξαίρετον ἐν τῇ διαιρέσει τῶν καρπῶν, κριθεὶς ὑπὸ τῶν ἱερέων ὁ πρῶτος καὶ ὁ δεύτερος καὶ οἱ λοιποὶ μέχρι δέκα, προτροπῆς ἕνεκα τῶν ἄλλων. παραπλησίως δὲ τούτοις καὶ οἱ νομεῖς τά τε ἱερεῖα καὶ τἄλλα παραδιδόασιν εἰς τὸ δημόσιον, τὰ μὲν ἀριθμῷ, τὰ δὲ σταθμῷ, μετὰ πάσης ἀκριβείας. καθόλου γὰρ οὐδὲν ἔστιν ἰδίᾳ κτήσασθαι πλὴν οἰκίας καὶ κήπου, πάντα δὲ τὰ γεννήματα καὶ τὰς προσόδους οἱ ἱερεῖς παραλαμβάνοντες τὸ ἐπιβάλλον ἑκάστῳ δικαίως ἀπονέμουσι, τοῖς δʼ ἱερεῦσι μόνοις δίδοται διπλάσιον. χρῶνται δʼ ἐσθῆσι μὲν μαλακαῖς διὰ τὸ παρʼ αὐτοῖς πρόβατα ὑπάρχειν διαφέροντα τῶν ἄλλων διὰ τὴν μαλακότητα· φοροῦσι δὲ καὶ κόσμον χρυσοῦν οὐ μόνον αἱ γυναῖκες, ἀλλὰ καὶ οἱ ἄνδρες, περὶ μὲν τοὺς τραχήλους ἔχοντες στρεπτοὺς κύκλους, περὶ δὲ τὰς χεῖρας ψέλια, ἐκ δὲ τῶν ὤτων παραπλησίως τοῖς Πέρσαις ἐξηρτημένους κρίκους. ὑποδέσεσι δὲ κοίλαις χρῶνται καὶ τοῖς χρώμασι πεποικιλμέναις περιττότερον.
Beyond this mountain and throughout the rest of the land of Panchaeitis, the account continues, there is found a multitude of beasts of every description; for the land possesses many elephants and lions and leopards and gazelles and an unusual number of other wild animals which differ in their aspect and are of marvellous ferocity. 2 This island also contains three notable cities, Hyracia, Dalis, and Oceanis. The whole country, moreover, is fruitful and possesses in particular a multitude of vines of every variety. The men are warlike and use chariots in battle after the ancient manner. The entire body politic of the Panchaeans is divided into three castes: The first caste among them is that of the priests, to whom are assigned the artisans, the second consists of the farmers, and the third is that of the soldiers, to whom are added the herdsmen. 4 The priests served as the leaders in all things, rendering the decisions in legal disputes and possessing the final authority in all other affairs which concerned the community; and the farmers, who are engaged in the tilling of the soil, bring the fruits into the common store, and the man among them who is thought to have practised the best farming receives a special reward when the fruits are portioned out, the priests deciding who had been first, who second, and so in order to the tenth, this being done in order to spur on the rest. In the same manner the herdsmen also turn both the sacrificial animals and all others into the treasury of the state with all precision, some by number and some by weight. For, speaking generally, there is not a thing except a home and a garden which a man may possess for his own, but all the products and the revenues are taken over by the priests, who portion out with justice to each man his share, and to the priests alone is given two-fold. 6 The clothing of the Panchaeans is soft, because the wool of the sheep of the land is distinguished above all other for its softness; and they wear ornaments of gold, not only the women but the men as well, with collars of twisted gold about their necks, bracelets on their wrists, and rings hanging from their ears after the manner of the Persians. The same kind of shoes are worn by both sexes, and they are worked in more varied colours than is usual.
§ 5.46
οἱ δὲ στρατιῶται λαμβάνοντες τὰς μεμερισμένας συντάξεις φυλάττουσι τὴν χώραν, διειληφότες ὀχυρώμασι καὶ παρεμβολαῖς· ἔστι γάρ τι μέρος τῆς χώρας ἔχον λῃστήρια θρασέων καὶ παρανόμων ἀνθρώπων, οἳ τοὺς γεωργοὺς ἐνεδρεύοντες πολεμοῦσι τούτους. αὐτοὶ δʼ οἱ ἱερεῖς πολὺ τῶν ἄλλων ὑπερέχουσι τρυφῇ καὶ ταῖς ἄλλαις ταῖς ἐν τῷ βίῳ καθαρειότησι καὶ πολυτελείαις· στολὰς μὲν γὰρ ἔχουσι λινᾶς, τῇ λεπτότητι καὶ μαλακότητι διαφόρους, ποτὲ δὲ καὶ τὰς ἐκ τῶν μαλακωτάτων ἐρίων κατεσκευασμένας ἐσθῆτας φοροῦσι· πρὸς δὲ τούτοις μίτρας ἔχουσι χρυσοϋφεῖς· τὴν δʼ ὑπόδεσιν ἔχουσι σανδάλια ποικίλα φιλοτέχνως εἰργασμένα· χρυσοφοροῦσι δʼ ὁμοίως ταῖς γυναιξὶ πλὴν τῶν ἐνωτίων. προσεδρεύουσι δὲ μάλιστα ταῖς τῶν θεῶν θεραπείαις καὶ τοῖς περὶ τούτων ὕμνοις τε καὶ ἐγκωμίοις, μετʼ ᾠδῆς τὰς πράξεις αὐτῶν καὶ τὰς εἰς ἀνθρώπους εὐεργεσίας διαπορευόμενοι. μυθολογοῦσι δʼ οἱ ἱερεῖς τὸ γένος αὐτοῖς ἐκ Κρήτης ὑπάρχειν, ὑπὸ Διὸς ἠγμένοις εἰς τὴν Παγχαίαν, ὅτε κατʼ ἀνθρώπους ὢν ἐβασίλευε τῆς οἰκουμένης· καὶ τούτων σημεῖα φέρουσι τῆς διαλέκτου, δεικνύντες τὰ πολλὰ διαμένειν παρʼ αὑτοῖς Κρητικῶς ὀνομαζόμενα· τήν τε πρὸς αὐτοὺς οἰκειότητα καὶ φιλανθρωπίαν ἐκ προγόνων παρειληφέναι, τῆς φήμης ταύτης τοῖς ἐκγόνοις παραδιδομένης ἀεί. ἐδείκνυον δὲ καὶ ἀναγραφὰς τούτων, ἃς ἔφασαν τὸν Δία πεποιῆσθαι καθʼ ὃν καιρὸν ἔτι κατʼ ἀνθρώπους ὢν ἱδρύσατο τὸ ἱερόν. ἔχει δʼ ἡ χώρα μέταλλα δαψιλῆ χρυσοῦ τε καὶ ἀργύρου καὶ χαλκοῦ καὶ καττιτέρου καὶ σιδήρου· καὶ τούτων οὐδὲν ἔστιν ἐξενεγκεῖν ἐκ τῆς νήσου, τοῖς δʼ ἱερεῦσιν οὐδʼ ἐξελθεῖν τὸ παράπαν ἐκ τῆς καθιερωμένης χώρας· τὸν δʼ ἐξελθόντα ἐξουσίαν ἔχει ὁ περιτυχὼν ἀποκτεῖναι. ἀναθήματα δὲ χρυσᾶ καὶ ἀργυρᾶ πολλὰ καὶ μεγάλα τοῖς θεοῖς ἀνάκειται, σεσωρευκότος τοῦ χρόνου τὸ πλῆθος τῶν καθιερωμένων ἀναθημάτων. τά τε θυρώματα τοῦ ναοῦ θαυμαστὰς ἔχει τὰς κατασκευὰς ἐξ ἀργύρου καὶ χρυσοῦ καὶ ἐλέφαντος, ἔτι δὲ θύας δεδημιουργημένας. ἡ δὲ κλίνη τοῦ θεοῦ τὸ μὲν μῆκος ὑπάρχει πηχῶν ἕξ, τὸ δὲ πλάτος τεττάρων, χρυσῆ δʼ ὅλη καὶ τῇ κατὰ μέρος ἐργασίᾳ φιλοτέχνως κατεσκευασμένη. παραπλήσιος δὲ καὶ ἡ τράπεζα τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ τῷ μεγέθει καὶ τῇ λοιπῇ πολυτελείᾳ παράκειται πλησίον τῆς κλίνης. κατὰ μέσην δὲ τὴν κλίνην ἕστηκε στήλη χρυσῆ μεγάλη, γράμματα ἔχουσα τὰ παρʼ Αἰγυπτίοις ἱερὰ καλούμενα, δι’ ὧν ἦσαν αἱ πράξεις Οὐρανοῦ τε καὶ Διὸς ἀναγεγραμμέναι, καὶ μετὰ ταύτας αἱ Ἀρτέμιδος καὶ Ἀπόλλωνος ὑφʼ Ἑρμοῦ προσαναγεγραμμέναι. περὶ μὲν οὖν τῶν κατʼ ἀντικρὺ τῆς Ἀραβίας ἐν ὠκεανῷ νήσων ἀρκεσθησόμεθα τοῖς ῥηθεῖσι.
The soldiers receive a pay which is apportioned to them and in return protect the land by means of forts and posts fixed at intervals; for there is one section of the country which is infested with robber bands, composed of bold and lawless men who lie in wait for the farmer and war upon them. 2 And as for the priests, they far excel the rest in luxury and in every other refinement and elegance of their manner of life; so, for instance, their robes are of linen and exceptionally sheer and soft, and at times they wear garments woven of the softest wool; furthermore, their headdress is interwoven with gold, their footgear consists of sandals which are of varied colours and ingeniously worked, and they wear the same gold ornaments as do the women, with the exception of the earrings. The first duties of the priests concerned with the services paid to the gods and with the hymns and praises which are accorded them, and in them they recite in song the achievements of the gods one after another and the benefactions they have bestowed upon mankind. According to the myth which the priests give, the gods had their origin in Crete, and were led by Zeus to Panchaea at the time when he sojourned among men and was king of the inhabited earth. In proof of this they cite their language, pointing out that most of the things they have about them still retain their Cretan names; and they add that the kinship which they have with the Cretans and the kindly regard they feel toward them are traditions they received from their ancestors, since this report is ever handed down from one generation to another. And it has been their practice, in corroboration of these claims, to point to inscriptions which, they said, were made by Zeus during the time he still sojourned among men and founded the temple. 4 The land possesses rich mines of gold, silver, copper, tin, and iron, but none of these metals is allowed to be taken from the island; nor may the priests for any reason whatsoever set foot outside of the hallowed land, and if one of them does so, whoever meets him is authorized to slay him. There are many great dedications of gold and of silver which have been made to the gods, since time has amassed the multitude of such offerings. 6 The doorways of the temple are objects of wonder in their construction, being worked in silver and gold and ivory and citrus-wood. And there is the couch of the god, which is six cubits long and four wide and is entirely of gold and skillfully constructed in every detail of its workmanship. 7 Similar to it both in size and in costliness in general is the table of the god which stands near the couch. And on the centre of the couch stands a large gold stele which carries letters which the Egyptians call sacred, and the inscription recounts the deeds both of Uranus and of Zeus; and to them there were added by Hermes the deeds also of Artemis and of Apollo. As regards the islands, then, which lie in the ocean opposite Arabia, we shall rest content with what has been said.
§ 5.47
περὶ δὲ τῶν κατὰ τὴν Ἑλλάδα καὶ τὸ Αἰγαῖον πέλαγος κειμένων νῦν διέξιμεν, τὴν ἀρχὴν ἀπὸ τῆς Σαμοθρᾴκης ποιησάμενοι. ταύτην γὰρ τὴν νῆσον ἔνιοι μέν φασι τὸ παλαιὸν Σάμον ὀνομασθῆναι, τῆς δὲ νῦν Σάμου κτισθείσης διὰ τὴν ὁμωνυμίαν ἀπὸ τῆς παρακειμένης τῇ παλαιᾷ Σάμῳ Θρᾴκης Σαμοθρᾴκην ὀνομασθῆναι. ᾤκησαν δʼ αὐτὴν αὐτόχθονες ἄνθρωποι· διὸ καὶ περὶ τῶν πρώτων γενομένων παρʼ αὐτοῖς ἀνθρώπων καὶ ἡγεμόνων οὐδεὶς παραδέδοται λόγος. ἔνιοι δέ φασι τὸ παλαιὸν Σαόννησον καλουμένην διὰ τοὺς ἀποικισθέντας ἔκ τε Σάμου καὶ Θρᾴκης Σαμοθρᾴκην ὀνομασθῆναι. ἐσχήκασι δὲ παλαιὰν ἰδίαν διάλεκτον οἱ αὐτόχθονες, ἧς πολλὰ ἐν ταῖς θυσίαις μέχρι τοῦ νῦν τηρεῖται. οἱ δὲ Σαμόθρᾳκες ἱστοροῦσι πρὸ τῶν παρὰ τοῖς ἄλλοις γενομένων κατακλυσμῶν ἕτερον ἐκεῖ μέγαν γενέσθαι, τὸ μὲν πρῶτον τοῦ περὶ τὰς Κυανέας στόματος ῥαγέντος, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τοῦ Ἑλλησπόντου. τὸ γὰρ ἐν τῷ Πόντῳ πέλαγος λίμνης ἔχον τάξιν μέχρι τοσούτου πεπληρῶσθαι διὰ τῶν εἰσρεόντων ποταμῶν, μέχρι ὅτου διὰ τὸ πλῆθος παρεκχυθὲν τὸ ῥεῦμα λάβρως ἐξέπεσεν εἰς τὸν Ἑλλήσποντον καὶ πολλὴν μὲν τῆς Ἀσίας τῆς παρὰ θάλατταν ἐπέκλυσεν, οὐκ ὀλίγην δὲ καὶ τῆς ἐπιπέδου γῆς ἐν τῇ Σαμοθρᾴκῃ θάλατταν ἐποίησε· καὶ διὰ τοῦτʼ ἐν τοῖς μεταγενεστέροις καιροῖς ἐνίους τῶν ἁλιέων ἀνεσπακέναι τοῖς δικτύοις λίθινα κιονόκρανα, ὡς καὶ πόλεων κατακεκλυσμένων. τοὺς δὲ περιληφθέντας προσαναδραμεῖν εἰς τοὺς ὑψηλοτέρους τῆς νήσου τόπους· τῆς δὲ θαλάττης ἀναβαινούσης ἀεὶ μᾶλλον, εὔξασθαι τοῖς θεοῖς τοὺς ἐγχωρίους, καὶ διασωθέντας κύκλῳ περὶ ὅλην τὴν νῆσον ὅρους θέσθαι τῆς σωτηρίας, καὶ βωμοὺς ἱδρύσασθαι, ἐφʼ ὧν μέχρι τοῦ νῦν θύειν· ὥστʼ εἶναι φανερὸν ὅτι πρὸ τοῦ κατακλυσμοῦ κατῴκουν τὴν Σαμοθρᾴκην.
We shall now give an account of the islands which lie in the neighbourhood of Greece and in the Aegean Sea, beginning with Samothrace. This island, according to some, was called Samos in ancient times, but when the island now known as Samos came to be settled, because the names were the same, the ancient Samos came to be called Samothrace from the land of Thrace which lies opposite it. 2 It was settled by men who were sprung from the soil itself; consequently no tradition has been handed down regarding who were the first men and leaders on the island. But some say that in ancient days it was called Saonnesus and that it received the name of Samothrace because of the settlers who emigrated to it from both Samos and Thrace. The first and original inhabitants used an ancient language which was peculiar to them and of which many words are preserved to this day in the ritual of their sacrifices. And the Samothracians have a story that, before the floods which befell their peoples, a great one took place among them, in the course of which the outlet at the Cyanean Rocks was first rent asunder and then the Hellespont. 4 For the Pontus, which had at the time the form of a lake, was so swollen by the rivers which flow into it, that, because of the great flood which had poured into it, its waters burst forth violently into the Hellespont and flooded a large part of the coast of Asia and made no small amount of the level part of the land of Samothrace into a sea; and this is the reason, we are told, why in later times fishermen have now and then brought up in their nets the stone capitals of columns, since even cities were covered by the inundation. The inhabitants who had been caught by the flood, the account continues, ran up to the higher regions of the island; and when the sea kept rising higher and higher, they prayed to the native gods, and since their lives were spared, to commemorate their rescue they set up boundary stones about the entire circuit of the island and dedicated altars upon which they offer sacrifices even to the present day. For these reasons it is patent that they inhabited Samothrace before the flood.
§ 5.48
μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τῶν κατὰ τὴν νῆσον Σάωνα, γενόμενον, ὡς μέν τινές φασιν, ἐκ Διὸς καὶ Νύμφης, ὡς δέ τινες, ἐξ Ἑρμοῦ καὶ Ῥήνης, συναγαγεῖν τοὺς λαοὺς σποράδην οἰκοῦντας, καὶ νόμους θέμενον αὐτὸν μὲν ἀπὸ τῆς νήσου Σάωνα κληθῆναι, τὸ δὲ πλῆθος εἰς πέντε φυλὰς διανείμαντα τῶν ἰδίων υἱῶν ἐπωνύμους αὐτὰς ποιῆσαι. οὕτω δʼ αὐτῶν πολιτευομένων λέγουσι παρʼ αὐτοῖς τοὺς ἐκ Διὸς καὶ μιᾶς τῶν Ἀτλαντίδων Ἠλέκτρας γενέσθαι Δάρδανόν τε καὶ Ἰασίωνα καὶ Ἁρμονίαν. ὧν τὸν μὲν Δάρδανον μεγαλεπίβολον γενόμενον, καὶ πρῶτον εἰς τὴν Ἀσίαν ἐπὶ σχεδίας διαπεραιωθέντα, τὸ μὲν πρῶτον κτίσαι Δάρδανον πόλιν καὶ τὸ βασίλειον τὸ περὶ τὴν ὕστερον κληθεῖσαν Τροίαν συστήσασθαι καὶ τοὺς λαοὺς ἀφʼ ἑαυτοῦ Δαρδάνους ὀνομάσαι. ἐπάρξαι δʼ αὐτόν φασι καὶ πολλῶν ἐθνῶν κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν, καὶ τοὺς ὑπὲρ Θρᾴκης Δαρδάνους κατοικίσαι. τὸν δὲ Δία βουληθέντα καὶ τὸν ἕτερον τῶν υἱῶν τιμῆς τυχεῖν, παραδεῖξαι αὐτῷ τὴν τῶν μυστηρίων τελετήν, πάλαι μὲν οὖσαν ἐν τῷ νήσῳ, τότε δέ πως παραδοθεῖσαν, ὧν οὐ θέμις ἀκοῦσαι πλὴν τῶν μεμυημένων. δοκεῖ δʼ οὗτος πρῶτος ξένους μυῆσαι καὶ τὴν τελετὴν διὰ τοῦτο ἔνδοξον ποιῆσαι. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Κάδμον τὸν Ἀγήνορος κατὰ ζήτησιν τῆς Εὐρώπης ἀφικέσθαι πρὸς αὐτούς, καὶ τῆς τελετῆς μετασχόντα γῆμαι τὴν ἀδελφὴν τοῦ Ἰασίωνος Ἁρμονίαν, οὐ καθάπερ Ἕλληνες μυθολογοῦσι, τὴν Ἄρεος.
After the events we have described one of the inhabitants of the island, a certain Saon, who was a son, as some say, of Zeus and Nymphe, but, according to others, of Hermes and Rhene, gathered into one body the peoples who were dwelling in scattered habitations and established laws for them; and he was given the name Saon after the island, but the multitude of the people he distributed among five tribes which he named after his sons. 2 And while the Samothracians were living under a government of this kind, they say that there were born in that land to Zeus and Electra, who was one of the Atlantids, Dardanus and Iasion and Harmonia. Of these children Dardanus, who was a man who entertained great designs and was the first to make his way across to Asia in a makeshift boat, founded at the outset a city called Dardanus, organized the kingdom which lay about the city which was called Troy at a later time, and called the peoples Dardanians after himself. They say also that he ruled over many nations throughout Asia and that the Dardani who dwell beyond Thrace were colonists sent forth by him. 4 But Zeus desired that the other of his two sons might also attain to honour, and so he instructed him in the initiatory rite of the mysteries, which had existed on the island since ancient times but was at that time, so to speak, put in his hands; it is not lawful, however, for any but the initiated to hear about the mysteries. And Iasion is reputed to have been the first to initiate strangers into them and by this means to bring the initiatory rite to high esteem. And after this Cadmus, the son of Agenor, came in the course of his quest for Europe to the Samothracians, and after participating in the initiation he married Harmonia, who was the sister of Iasion and not, as the Greeks recount in their mythologies, the daughter of Ares.
§ 5.49
τὸν δὲ γάμον τοῦτον πρῶτον δαῖσαι θεούς, καὶ Δήμητραν μὲν Ἰασίωνος ἐρασθεῖσαν τὸν καρπὸν τοῦ σίτου δωρήσασθαι, Ἑρμῆν δὲ λύραν, Ἀθηνᾶν δὲ τὸν διαβεβοημένον ὅρμον καὶ πέπλον καὶ αὐλούς, Ἠλέκτραν δὲ τὰ τῆς μεγάλης καλουμένης μητρὸς τῶν θεῶν ἱερὰ μετὰ κυμβάλων καὶ τυμπάνων καὶ τῶν ὀργιαζόντων· καὶ Ἀπόλλωνα μὲν κιθαρίσαι, τὰς δὲ Μούσας αὐλῆσαι, τοὺς δʼ ἄλλους θεοὺς εὐφημοῦντας συναυξῆσαι τὸν γάμον. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τὸν μὲν Κάδμον κατὰ τὸν παραδεδομένον χρησμὸν κτίσαι Θήβας τὰς ἐν Βοιωτίᾳ φασί, τὸν δʼ Ἰασίωνα γήμαντα Κυβέλην γεννῆσαι Κορύβαντα. Ἰασίωνος δὲ εἰς θεοὺς μεταστάντος, Δάρδανον καὶ Κυβέλην καὶ Κορύβαντα μετακομίσαι εἰς τὴν Ἀσίαν τὰ τῆς μητρὸς τῶν θεῶν ἱερὰ καὶ συναπᾶραι εἰς Φρυγίαν. καὶ τὴν μὲν Κυβέλην Ὀλύμπῳ τῷ πρώτῳ συνοικήσασαν γεννῆσαι Ἀλκήν, καὶ τὴν θεὰν Κυβέλην ἀφʼ ἑαυτῆς ὀνομάσαι· τὸν δὲ Κορύβαντα τοὺς ἐπὶ τοῖς τῆς μητρὸς ἱεροῖς ἐνθουσιάσαντας ἀφʼ ἑαυτοῦ Κορύβαντας προσαγορεῦσαι, γῆμαι δὲ Θήβην τὴν Κίλικος θυγατέρα. ὁμοίως δὲ τοὺς αὐλοὺς εἰς Φρυγίαν ἐντεῦθεν μετενεχθῆναι, καὶ τὴν λύραν τὴν Ἑρμοῦ εἰς Λυρνησσόν, ἣν Ἀχιλλέα ὕστερον ἐκπορθήσαντα λαβεῖν. ἐξ Ἰασίωνος δὲ καὶ Δήμητρος Πλοῦτον γενέσθαι φασὶν οἱ μῦθοι, τὸ δʼ ἀληθές, τὸν τοῦ σίτου πλοῦτον, δωρηθέντα ἐν τῷ τῆς Ἁρμονίας γάμῳ διὰ τὴν συνουσίαν τοῦ Ἰασίωνος. καὶ τὰ μὲν κατὰ μέρος τῆς τελετῆς ἐν ἀπορρήτοις τηρούμενα μόνοις παραδίδοται τοῖς μυηθεῖσι· διαβεβόηται δʼ ἡ τούτων τῶν θεῶν ἐπιφάνεια καὶ παράδοξος ἐν τοῖς κινδύνοις βοήθεια τοῖς ἐπικαλεσαμένοις τῶν μυηθέντων. γίνεσθαι δέ φασι καὶ εὐσεβεστέρους καὶ δικαιοτέρους καὶ κατὰ πᾶν βελτίονας ἑαυτῶν τοὺς τῶν μυστηρίων κοινωνήσαντας. διὸ καὶ τῶν ἀρχαίων ἡρώων τε καὶ ἡμιθέων τοὺς ἐπιφανεστάτους πεφιλοτιμῆσθαι μεταλαβεῖν τῆς τελετῆς· καὶ γὰρ Ἰάσονα καὶ Διοσκόρους, ἔτι δʼ Ἡρακλέα καὶ Ὀρφέα, μυηθέντας ἐπιτυχεῖν ἐν ἁπάσαις ταῖς στρατείαις διὰ τῆν τῶν θεῶν τούτων ἐπιφάνειαν.
This wedding of Cadmus and Harmonia was the first, we are told, for which the gods provided the marriage-feast, and Demeter, becoming enamoured of Iasion, presented him with the fruit of the corn, Hermes gave a lyre, Athena the renowned necklace and a robe and a flute, and Electra the sacred rites of the Great Mother of the Gods, as she is called, together with cymbals and kettledrums and the instruments of her ritual; and Apollo played upon the lyre and the Muses upon their flutes, and the rest of the gods spoke them fair and gave the pair their aid in the celebration of the wedding. 2 After this Cadmus, they say, in accordance with the oracle he had received, founded Thebes in Boeotia, while Iasion married Cybele and begat Corybas. And after Iasion had been removed into the circle of the gods, Dardanus and Cybele and Corybas conveyed to Asia the sacred rites of the Mother of the Gods and removed with them to Phrygia. Thereupon Cybele, joining herself to the first Olympus, begat Alce and called the goddess Cybele after herself; and Corybas gave the name of Corybantes to all who, in celebrating the rites of his mother, acted like men possessed, and married Thebe, the daughter of Cilix. 4 In like manner he also transferred the flute from Samothrace to Phrygia and to Lyrnessus the lyre which Hermes gave and which at a later time Achilles took for himself when he sacked that city. To Iasion and Demeter, according to the story the myths relate, was born Plutus or Wealth, but the reference is, as a matter of fact, to the wealth of the corn, which was presented to Iasion because of Demeter's association with him at the time of the wedding of Harmonia. Now the details of the initiatory rite are guarded among the matters not to be divulged and are communicated to the initiates alone; but the fame has travelled wide of how these gods appear to mankind and bring unexpected aid to those initiates of theirs who call upon them in the midst of perils. 6 The claim is also made that men who have taken part in the mysteries become both more pious and more just and better in every respect than they were before. And this is the reason, we are told, why the most famous both of the ancient heroes and of the demi-gods were eagerly desirous of taking part in the initiatory rite; and in fact Jason and the Dioscori, and Heracles and Orpheus as well, after their initiation attained success in all the campaigns they undertook, because these gods appeared to them.
§ 5.50
ἐπεὶ δὲ περὶ τῆς Σαμοθρᾴκης διήλθομεν, ἀκολούθως καὶ περὶ τῆς Νάξου διέξιμεν. αὕτη γὰρ ἡ νῆσος τὸ μὲν πρῶτον προσηγορεύετο Στρογγύλη, ᾤκησαν δʼ αὐτὴν πρῶτοι Θρᾷκες διά τινας τοιαύτας αἰτίας. μυθολογοῦνται Βορέου γενέσθαι παῖδες Βούτης καὶ Λυκοῦργος οὐχ ὁμομήτριοι· τὸν δὲ Βούτην ὄντα νεώτερον ἐπιβουλεῦσαι τἀδελφῷ, καὶ καταφανῆ γενόμενον ἕτερον μὲν μηδὲν παθεῖν ὑπὸ τοῦ Λυκούργου, πρόσταγμα δὲ λαβεῖν ὅπως μετὰ τῶν συνεπιβουλευσάντων λαβὼν πλοῖα ζητῇ χώραν ἑτέραν εἰς κατοίκησιν. διόπερ τὸν Βούτην μετὰ τῶν συνεγκαλουμένων Θρᾳκῶν ἐκπλεύσαντα καὶ διὰ τῶν Κυκλάδων νήσων κομιζόμενον κατασχεῖν τὴν Στρογγύλην νῆσον, καὶ ἐν ταύτῃ κατοικοῦντα λῄζεσθαι πολλοὺς τῶν παραπλεόντων. σπανίζοντας δὲ γυναικῶν περιπλέοντας ἁρπάζειν ἀπὸ τῆς χώρας γυναῖκας. τῶν μὲν οὖν Κυκλάδων νήσων αἱ μὲν ὁλοσχερῶς ἔρημοι ὑπῆρχον, αἱ δʼ ὀλίγοις οἰκούμεναι· διόπερ πορρωτέρω πλευσάντων αὐτῶν, καὶ ἀπὸ μὲν τῆς Εὐβοίας ἀποκρουσθέντων, τῇ δὲ Θετταλίᾳ προσενεχθέντων, οἱ περὶ τὸν Βούτην ἀποβάντες ἐπὶ τὴν χώραν περιέτυχον ταῖς Διονύσου τροφοῖς περὶ τὸ καλούμενον Δρίος τῷ θεῷ ὀργιαζούσαις ἐν τῇ Φθιώτιδι Ἀχαΐᾳ. ὁρμησάντων δὲ τῶν περὶ τὸν Βούτην, αἱ μὲν ἄλλαι ῥίψασαι τὰ ἱερὰ εἰς θάλατταν ἔφυγον, αἱ δʼ εἰς ὄρος τὸ καλούμενον Δρίος· κορωνίδα δʼ ἁρπαγεῖσαν συναναγκασθῆναι τῷ Βούτῃ συνοικῆσαι. ἐπὶ δὲ τῇ ἁρπαγῇ καὶ τῇ ὕβρει χαλεπῶς φέρουσαν ἐπικαλέσασθαι τὸν Διόνυσον βοηθῆσαι αὐτῇ. τὸν δὲ μανίαν ἐμβαλεῖν τῷ Βούτῃ, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο παρακόψαντα ῥῖψαι ἑαυτὸν εἴς τι φρέαρ καὶ τελευτῆσαι. οἱ δʼ ἄλλοι Θρᾷκες ἑτέρας τινὰς γυναῖκας ἥρπασαν, ἐπιφανεστάτας δὲ τήν τε Ἀλωέως γυναῖκα Ἰφιμέδειαν καὶ τὴν θυγατέρα αὐτῆς Παγκράτιν· λαβόντες δʼ αὐτὰς ἀπέπλευσαν εἰς τὴν Στρογγύλην. οἱ δὲ Θρᾷκες ἀντὶ τοῦ Βούτου κατέστησαν βασιλέα τῆς νήσου Ἀγασσαμενόν, καὶ τὴν Ἀλωέως θυγατέρα Παγκράτιν κάλλει διαφέρουσαν συνῴκισαν αὐτῷ· πρὸ γὰρ τῆς τούτου αἱρέσεως οἱ ἐπιφανέστατοι τῶν ἡγεμόνων Σικελὸς καὶ Ἑκήτορος ὑπὲρ τῆς Παγκράτιδος ἐρίσαντες ἀλλήλους ἀνεῖλον. ὁ δὲ Ἀγασσαμενὸς ὕπαρχον ἕνα τῶν φίλων καταστήσας συνῴκισεν αὐτῷ τὴν Ἰφιμέδειαν.
Since we have set forth the facts concerning Samothrace, we shall now, in accordance with our plan, discuss Naxos. This island was first called Strongyle and its first settlers were men from Thrace, the reasons for their coming being somewhat as follows. 2 The myth relates that two sons, Butes and Lycurgus, were born to Boreas, but not by the same mother; and Butes, who was the younger, formed a plot against his brother, and on being discovered he received no punishment from Lycurgus beyond that he was ordered by Lycurgus to gather ships and, together with his accomplices in the plot, to seek out another land in which to make his home. Consequently Butes, together with the Thracians who were implicated with him, set forth, and making his way through the islands of the Cyclades he seized the island of Strongyle, where he made his home and proceeded to plunder many of those who sailed past the island. And since they had no women they sailed here and there and seized them from the land. 4 Now some of the islands of the Cyclades had no inhabitants whatsoever and others were sparsely settled; consequently they sailed further, and having been repulsed once from Euboea, they sailed to Thessaly, where Butes and his companions, upon landing, came upon the female devotees of Dionysus as they were celebrating the orgies of the god near Drius, as it is called, in Achaea Phthiotis. As Butes and his companions rushed at the women, these threw away the sacred objects, and some of them fled for safety to the sea, and others to the mountain called Drius; but Coronis, the myth continues, was seized by Butes and forced to lie with him. And she, in anger at the seizure and at the insolent treatment she had received, called upon Dionysus to lend her his aid. And the god struck Butes with madness, because of which he lost his mind and, throwing himself into a well, met his death. 6 But the rest of the Thracians seized some of the other women, the most renowned of whom were Iphimedeia, the wife of Aloeus, and Pancratis, her daughter, and taking these women along with them, they sailed off to Strongyle. And in place of Butes the Thracians made Agassamenus king of the island, and to him they united in marriage Pancratis, the daughter of Aloeus, who was a woman of surpassing beauty; 7 for, before their choice fell on Agassamenus, the most renowned among their leaders, Sicelus and Hecetorus, had quarrelled over Pancratis and had slain each other. And Agassamenus appointed one of his friends his lieutenant and united Iphimedeia to him in marriage.
§ 5.51
ὁ δʼ Ἀλωεὺς ἐπὶ ζήτησιν τῆς τε γυναικὸς καὶ τῆς θυγατρὸς ἐξέπεμψε τοὺς υἱοὺς Ὦτον καὶ Ἐφιάλτην· οἳ πλεύσαντες εἰς τὴν Στρογγύλην μάχῃ τε ἐνίκησαν τοὺς Θρᾷκας καὶ τὴν πόλιν ἐξεπολιόρκησαν. εἶτα ἡ μὲν Παγκράτις ἐτελεύτησεν, οἱ δὲ περὶ τὸν Ὦτον καὶ Ἐφιάλτην ἐπεβάλοντο κατοικεῖν ἐν τῇ νήσῳ καὶ ἄρχειν τῶν Θρᾳκῶν· μετωνόμασαν δὲ καὶ τὴν νῆσον Δίαν. ὕστερον δὲ στασιάσαντες πρὸς ἀλλήλους καὶ μάχην συνάψαντες τῶν τε ἄλλων πολλοὺς ἀπέκτειναν καὶ ἀλλήλους ἀνεῖλον, ὑπὸ δὲ τῶν ἐγχωρίων εἰς τὸν λοιπὸν χρόνον ὡς ἥρωες ἐτιμήθησαν. οἱ μὲν οὖν Θρᾷκες ἐνταῦθα κατοικήσαντες ἔτη πλείω τῶν διακοσίων ἐξέπεσον αὐχμῶν γενομένων ἐκ τῆς νήσου. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Κᾶρες ἐκ τῆς νῦν καλουμένης Λατμίας μεταναστάντες ᾤκησαν τὴν νῆσον· ὧν βασιλεύσας Νάξος ὁ Πολέμωνος ἀντὶ Δίας Νάξον ἀφʼ ἑαυτοῦ προσηγόρευσεν. ἐγένετο δʼ ἀνὴρ ἀγαθὸς καὶ ἐπιφανὴς ὁ Νάξος, καὶ ἀπέλιπεν υἱὸν Λεύκιππον· οὗ γενόμενος υἱὸς Σμέρδιος ἐβασίλευσε τῆς νήσου. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτου Θησεὺς ἐκ Κρήτης ἀναπλέων μετὰ τῆς Ἀριάδνης ἐπεξενώθη τοῖς ἐν τῇ νήσῳ· καὶ κατὰ τὸν ὕπνον ἰδὼν τὸν Διόνυσον ἀπειλοῦντα αὐτῷ, εἰ μὴ ἀπολείψει τὴν Ἀριάδνην αὐτῷ, φοβηθεὶς κατέλιπε καὶ ἐξέπλευσε. Διόνυσος δὲ νυκτὸς ἀπήγαγε τὴν Ἀριάδνην εἰς τὸ ὄρος τὸ καλούμενον Δρίος· καὶ ἐν ἀρχῇ μὲν ἠφανίσθη ὁ θεός, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα καὶ ἡ Ἀριάδνη ἄφαντος ἐγενήθη.
Aloeus dispatched his sons Otus and Ephialtes in search of his wife and daughter, and they, sailing to Strongyle, defeated the Thracians in battle and reduced the city. 2 Some time afterward Pancratis died, and Otus and Ephialtes essayed to take the island for their dwelling and to rule over the Thracians, and they changed the name of the island to Dia. But at a later time they quarrelled among themselves, and joining battle they slew many of the other combatants and then destroyed one another, and from that time on these two men have received at the hands of the natives the honours accorded to heroes. The Thracians dwelt on the island for more than two hundred years and then were driven out of it by a succession of droughts. And after that Carians removed to the island from Latmia, as it is now called, and made it their home; their king was Naxos, the son of Polemon, and he called the island Naxos after himself, in place of Dia. Naxos was an upright and famous man and left behind him a son Leucippus, whose son Smerdius became king of the island. 4 And it was during the reign of Smerdius that Theseus, on his voyage back from Crete together with Ariadne, was entertained as a guest by the inhabitants of the island; and Theseus, seeing in a dream Dionysus threatening him if he would not forsake Ariadne in favour of the god, left her behind him there in his fear and sailed away. And Dionysus led Ariadne away by night to the mountain which is known as Drius; and first of all the god disappeared, and later Ariadne also was never seen again.
§ 5.52
μυθολογοῦσι δὲ Νάξιοι περὶ τοῦ θεοῦ τούτου, φάσκοντες παρʼ αὐτοῖς τραφῆναι τὸν θεόν, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο τὴν νῆσον αὐτῷ γεγονέναι προσφιλεστάτην καὶ ὑπό τινων Διονυσιάδα καλεῖσθαι. τὸν γὰρ Δία κατὰ τὸν παραδεδομένον μῦθον, τότε κεραυνωθείσης Σεμέλης πρὸ τοῦ τεκεῖν, τὸ βρέφος λαβόντα καὶ ἐρράψαντα εἰς τὸν μηρόν, ὡς ὁ τέλειος τῆς γενέσεως χρόνος ἦλθε, βουλόμενον λαθεῖν τὴν Ἥραν, ἐξελεῖν τὸ βρέφος ἐν τῇ νῦν Νάξῳ, καὶ δοῦναι τρέφειν ταῖς ἐγχωρίοις Νύμφαις Φιλίᾳ καὶ Κορωνίδι καὶ Κλείδῃ· κεραυνῶσαι δὲ τὴν Σεμέλην πρὸ τοῦ τεκεῖν, ὅπως μὴ ἐκ θνητῆς, ἀλλʼ ἐκ δυεῖν ἀθανάτων ὑπάρξας εὐθὺς ἐκ γενετῆς ἀθάνατος ᾖ. διὰ δὲ τὴν εἰς τὸν Διόνυσον εὐεργεσίαν ἐν τῇ τροφῇ τὰς χάριτας ἀπολαβεῖν τοὺς ἐγχωρίους· ἐπιδοῦναι γὰρ τὴν νῆσον εἰς εὐδαιμονίαν, καὶ ναυτικάς τε δυνάμεις ἀξιολόγους συστήσασθαι καὶ ἀπὸ Ξέρξου πρώτους ἀποστάντας ἀπὸ τοῦ ναυτικοῦ συγκαταναυμαχῆσαι τὸν βάρβαρον, καὶ τῆς ἐν Πλαταιαῖς παρατάξεως οὐκ ἀσήμως μετασχεῖν. εἶναι δὲ καὶ περὶ τὴν τοῦ οἴνου ἰδιότητα διάφορόν τι παρʼ αὐτοῖς καὶ μηνῦον τὴν τοῦ θεοῦ πρὸς τὴν νῆσον οἰκειότητα.
The myth which the Naxians have to relate about Dionysus is like this: He was reared, they say, in their country, and for this reason the island has been most dear to him and is called by some Dionysias. 2 For according to the myth which has been handed down to us, Zeus, on the occasion when Semele had been slain by his lightning before the time for bearing the child, took the babe and sewed it up within his thigh, and when the appointed time came for its birth, wishing to keep the matter concealed from Hera, he took the babe from his thigh in what is now Naxos and gave it to the Nymphs of the island, Philia, Coronis, and Cleide, to be reared. The reason Zeus slew Semele with his lightning before she could give birth to her child was his desire that the babe should be born, not of a mortal woman but of two immortals, and thus should be immortal from its very birth. And because of the kindness which the inhabitants of Naxos had shown to Dionysus in connection with his rearing they received marks of his gratitude; for the island increased in prosperity and fitted out notable naval forces, and the Naxians were the first to withdraw from the naval forces of Xerxes and to aid in the defeat at sea which the barbarian suffered, and they participated with distinction in the battle of Plataeae. Also the wine of the island possesses an excellence which is peculiarly its own and offers proof of the friendship which the god entertains for the island.
§ 5.53
τὴν δὲ νῆσον τὴν Σύμην ὀνομαζομένην, τὸ παλαιὸν ἔρημον οὖσαν, πρῶτοι κατῴκησαν οἱ μετὰ Τρίοπος ἀφικόμενοι, ὧν ἡγεῖτο Χθόνιος ὁ Ποσειδῶνος καὶ Σύμης, ἀφʼ ἧς ἡ νῆσος ἔτυχε ταύτης τῆς προσηγορίας. ὕστερον δʼ αὐτῆς ἐβασίλευσε Νιρεὺς ὁ Χαρόπου καὶ Ἀγλαΐας, κάλλει διαφέρων, ὃς καὶ ἐπὶ Τροίαν μετʼ Ἀγαμέμνονος ἐστράτευσε, τῆς τε νήσου δυναστεύων καὶ τῆς Κνιδίας μέρους κυριεύων. μετὰ δὲ τοὺς Τρωικοὺς χρόνους κατέσχον τὴν νῆσον Κᾶρες, καθʼ ὃν καιρὸν ἐθαλαττοκράτουν. ὕστερον δʼ αὐχμῶν γενομένων ἔφυγον ἐκ τῆς νήσου, καὶ κατῴκησαν τὸ καλούμενον Οὐράνιον. ἡ δὲ Σύμη διέμεινεν ἔρημος, ἕως ὁ στόλος ὁ Λακεδαιμονίων καὶ Ἀργείων παρέβαλεν εἰς τούτους τοὺς τόπους· ἔπειτα κατῳκίσθη πάλιν τόνδε τὸν τρόπον. τῶν μετὰ Ἱππότου τις μετασχὼν τῆς ἀποικίας, ὄνομα Ναῦσος, ἀναλαβὼν τοὺς καθυστερήσαντας τῆς κληροδοσίας, ἔρημον οὖσαν τὴν Σύμην κατῴκησε καὶ τισιν ἑτέροις ὕστερον καταπλεύσασιν, ὧν ἦν Ξοῦθος ἡγεμών, μεταδοὺς τῆς πολιτείας καὶ χώρας κοινῇ τὴν νῆσον κατῴκησε. φασὶ δὲ τῆς ἀποικίας ταύτης μετασχεῖν τούς τε Κνιδίους καὶ Ῥοδίους.
As for the island which is called Syme and was uninhabited in ancient times, its first settlers were men who came together with Triops, under the leadership of Chthonius, the son of Poseidon and Syme, from whom the island received the name it bears. 2 At a later time its king was Nireus, the son of Charops and Aglaia, an unusually handsome man who also took part with Agamemnon in the war against Troy both as ruler of the island and as lord of a part of Cnidia. But after the period of the Trojan War Carians seized the island, during the time when they were rulers of the sea. At a later time, however, when droughts came, the Carians fled the island and made their home in Uranium, as it is called. Thereupon Syme continued to be uninhabited, until the expedition which the Lacedemonians and the Argives made came to these parts, and at that time the island became settled again in the following manner. One of the companions of Hippotes, a certain Nausus by name, was a member of the colony, and taking those who had come too late to share in the allotment of the land he settled Syme, which was uninhabited at that time, and later, when certain other men, under the leadership of Xuthus, put in at the island, he gave them a share in the citizenship and in the land, and all of them in common settled the island. And we are told that both Cnidians and Rhodians were members of this colony.
§ 5.54
Κάλυδναν δὲ καὶ Νίσυρον τὸ μὲν ἀρχαῖον Κᾶρες κατῴκησαν, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Θετταλὸς ὁ Ἡρακλέους ἀμφοτέρας τὰς νήσους κατεκτήσατο. διόπερ Ἄντιφός τε καὶ Φείδιππος οἱ Κῴων βασιλεῖς στρατεύοντες εἰς Ἴλιον ἦρχον τῶν πλεόντων ἐκ τῶν προειρημένων νήσων. κατὰ δὲ τὸν ἐκ Τροίας ἀπόπλουν τέτταρες τῶν Ἀγαμέμνονος νεῶν ἐξέπεσον περὶ Κάλυδναν, καὶ τοῖς ἐγχωρίοις καταμιγέντες κατῴκησαν. οἱ δὲ τὴν Νίσυρον τὸ παλαιὸν οἰκήσαντες ὑπὸ σεισμῶν διεφθάρησαν· ὕστερον δὲ Κῷοι, καθάπερ τὴν Κάλυδναν, ταύτην κατῴκησαν· μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα φθορᾶς ἀνθρώπων ἐν τῇ νήσῳ γενομένης οἱ Ῥόδιοι ἐποίκους εἰς αὐτὴν ἀπέστειλαν. τὴν δὲ Κάρπαθον πρῶτοι μὲν ᾤκησαν τῶν μετὰ Μίνω τινὲς συστρατευσαμένων, καθʼ ὃν χρόνον ἐθαλαττοκράτησε πρῶτος τῶν Ἑλλήνων· ὕστερον δὲ πολλαῖς γενεαῖς Ἴοκλος ὁ Δημολέοντος, Ἀργεῖος ὢν τὸ γένος, κατά τι λόγιον ἀποικίαν ἀπέστειλεν εἰς τὴν Κάρπαθον.
Calydna and Nisyros were settled in ancient times by Carians, and after that Thettalus, the son of Heracles, took possession of both islands. And this explains why both Antiphus and Pheidippus, who were kings of the Coans, in the expedition against Troy led those who sailed from the two islands just mentioned. 2 And on the return from Troy four of Agamemnon's ships were wrecked off Calydna, and the survivors mingled with the natives of the island and made their home there. The ancient inhabitants of Nisyros were destroyed by earthquakes, and at a later time the Coans settled the island, as they had done in the case of Calydna; and after that, when an epidemic had carried away the population of the island, the Rhodians dispatched colonists to it. 4 As for Carpathos, its first inhabitants were certain men who joined with Minos in his campaigns at the time when he was the first of the Greeks to be master of the sea; and many generations later Iolcus, the son of Demoleon, an Argive by ancestry, in obedience to a certain oracle dispatched a colony to Carpathos.
§ 5.55
τὴν δὲ νῆσον τὴν ὀνομαζομένην Ῥόδον πρῶτοι κατῴκησαν οἱ προσαγορευόμενοι Τελχῖνες· οὗτοι δʼ ἦσαν υἱοὶ μὲν Θαλάττης, ὡς ὁ μῦθος παραδέδωκε, μυθολογοῦνται δὲ μετὰ Καφείρας τῆς Ὠκεανοῦ θυγατρὸς ἐκθρέψαι Ποσειδῶνα, Ῥέας αὐτοῖς παρακαταθεμένης τὸ βρέφος. γενέσθαι δʼ αὐτοὺς καὶ τεχνῶν τινων εὑρετὰς καὶ ἄλλων τῶν χρησίμων εἰς τὸν βίον τῶν ἀνθρώπων εἰσηγητάς. ἀγάλματά τε θεῶν πρῶτοι κατασκευάσαι λέγονται, καί τινα τῶν ἀρχαίων ἀφιδρυμάτων ἀπʼ ἐκείνων ἐπωνομάσθαι· παρὰ μὲν γὰρ Λινδίοις Ἀπόλλωνα Τελχίνιον προσαγορευθῆναι, παρὰ δὲ Ἰαλυσίοις Ἥραν καὶ Νύμφας Τελχινίας, παρὰ δὲ Καμειρεῦσιν Ἥραν Τελχινίαν. λέγονται δʼ οὗτοι καὶ γόητες γεγονέναι καὶ παράγειν ὅτε βούλοιντο νέφη τε καὶ ὄμβρους καὶ χαλάζας, ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ χιόνα ἐφέλκεσθαι· ταῦτα δὲ καθάπερ καὶ τοὺς μάγους ποιεῖν ἱστοροῦσιν. ἀλλάττεσθαι δὲ καὶ τὰς ἰδίας μορφάς, καὶ εἶναι φθονεροὺς ἐν τῇ διδασκαλίᾳ τῶν τεχνῶν. Ποσειδῶνα δὲ ἀνδρωθέντα ἐρασθῆναι Ἁλίας τῆς τῶν Τελχίνων ἀδελφῆς, καὶ μιχθέντα ταύτῃ γεννῆσαι παῖδας ἓξ μὲν ἄρρενας, μίαν δὲ θυγατέρα Ῥόδον, ἀφʼ ἧς τὴν νῆσον ὀνομασθῆναι. γενέσθαι δὲ κατὰ τὸν καιρὸν τοῦτον ἐν τοῖς πρὸς ἕω μέρεσι τῆς νήσου τοὺς κληθέντας γίγαντας· ὅτε δὴ καὶ Ζεὺς λέγεται καταπεπολεμηκὼς Τιτᾶνας ἐρασθῆναι μιᾶς τῶν νυμφῶν Ἱμαλίας ὀνομαζομένης, καὶ τρεῖς ἐξ αὐτῆς τεκνῶσαι παῖδας, Σπαρταῖον, Κρόνιον, Κύτον. κατὰ δὲ τὴν τούτων ἡλικίαν φασὶν Ἀφροδίτην ἐκ Κυθήρων κομιζομένην εἰς Κύπρον καὶ προσορμιζομένην τῇ νήσῳ κωλυθῆναι ὑπὸ τῶν Ποσειδῶνος υἱῶν, ὄντων ὑπερηφάνων καὶ ὑβριστῶν· τῆς δὲ θεοῦ διὰ τὴν ὀργὴν ἐμβαλούσης αὐτοῖς μανίαν, μιγῆναι αὐτοὺς βίᾳ τῇ μητρὶ καὶ πολλὰ κακὰ δρᾶν τοὺς ἐγχωρίους. Ποσειδῶνα δὲ τὸ γεγονὸς αἰσθόμενον τοὺς υἱοὺς κρύψαι κατὰ γῆς διὰ τὴν πεπραγμένην αἰσχύνην, οὓς κληθῆναι προσηῴους δαίμονας· ἁλίαν δὲ ῥίψασαν ἑαυτὴν εἰς τὴν θάλατταν Λευκοθέαν ὀνομασθῆναι καὶ τιμῆς ἀθανάτου τυχεῖν παρὰ τοῖς ἐγχωρίοις.
The island which is called Rhodes was first inhabited by the people who were known as Telchines; these were children of Thalatta, as the mythical tradition tells us, and the myth relates that they, together with Capheira, the daughter of Oceanus, nurtured Poseidon, whom Rhea had committed as a babe to their care. 2 And we are told that they were also the discoverers of certain arts and that they introduced other things which are useful for the life of mankind. They were also the first, men say, to fashion statues of gods, and some of the ancient images of gods have been named after them; so, for example, among the Lindians there is an "Apollo Telchinius," as it is called, among the Ialysians a Hera and Nymphae, both called "Telchinian," and among the Cameirans a "Hera Telchinia." And men say that the Telchines were also wizards and could summon clouds and rain and hail at their will and likewise could even bring snow; these things, the accounts tell us, they could do even as could the Magi of Persia; and they could also change their natural shapes and were jealous of teaching their arts to others. 4 Poseidon, the myth continues, when he had grown to manhood, became enamoured of Halia, the sister of the Telchines, and lying with her he begat six male children and one daughter, called Rhodos, after whom the island was named. And at this period in the eastern parts of the island there sprung up the Giants, as they were called; and at the time when Zeus is said to have subdued the Titans, he became enamoured of one of the nymphs, Himalia by name, and begat by her three sons, Spartaeus, Cronius, and Cytus. 6 And while these were still young men, Aphrodite, they say, as she was journeying from Cytherae to Cyprus and dropped anchor near Rhodes, was prevented from stopping there by the sons of Poseidon, who were arrogant and insolent men; whereupon the goddess, in her wrath, brought a madness upon them, and they lay with their mother against her will and committed many acts of violence upon the natives. 7 But when Poseidon learned of what had happened he buried his sons beneath the earth, because of their shameful deed, and men called them the "Eastern Demons"; and Halia cast herself into the sea, and she was afterwards given the name of Leucothea and attained to immortal honour in the eyes of the natives.
§ 5.56
χρόνῳ δʼ ὕστερον προαισθομένους τοὺς Τελχῖνας τὸν μέλλοντα γίνεσθαι κατακλυσμὸν ἐκλιπεῖν τὴν νῆσον καὶ διασπαρῆναι. λύκον δʼ ἐκ τούτων παραγενόμενον εἰς τὴν Λυκίαν Ἀπόλλωνος Λυκίου ἱερὸν ἱδρύσασθαι παρὰ τὸν Ξάνθον ποταμόν. τοῦ δὲ κατακλυσμοῦ γενομένου τοὺς μὲν ἄλλους διαφθαρῆναι, τῆς δὲ νήσου διὰ τὴν ἐπομβρίαν ἐπιπολασάντων τῶν ὑγρῶν λιμνάσαι τοὺς ἐπιπέδους τόπους, ὀλίγους δʼ εἰς τὰ μετέωρα τῆς νήσου συμφυγόντας διασωθῆναι· ἐν οἷς ὑπάρχειν καὶ τοὺς Διὸς παῖδας. ἥλιον δὲ κατὰ μὲν τὸν μῦθον ἐρασθέντα τῆς Ῥόδου τήν τε νῆσον ἀπʼ αὐτῆς ὀνομάσαι Ῥόδον καὶ τὸ ἐπιπολάζον ὕδωρ ἀφανίσαι· ὁ δʼ ἀληθὴς λόγος ὅτι κατὰ τὴν ἐξ ἀρχῆς σύστασιν τῆς νήσου πηλώδους οὔσης ἔτι καὶ μαλακῆς, τὸν ἥλιον ἀναξηράναντα τὴν πολλὴν ὑγρότητα ζωογονῆσαι τὴν γῆν, καὶ γενέσθαι τοὺς κληθέντας ἀπʼ αὐτοῦ Ἡλιάδας, ἑπτὰ τὸν ἀριθμόν, καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους ὁμοίως λαοὺς αὐτόχθονας. ἀκολούθως δὲ τούτοις νομισθῆναι τὴν νῆσον ἱερὰν Ἡλίου καὶ τοὺς μετὰ ταῦτα γενομένους Ῥοδίους διατελέσαι περιττότερον τῶν ἄλλων θεῶν τιμῶντας τὸν Ἥλιον ὡς ἀρχηγὸν τοῦ γένους αὐτῶν. εἶναι δὲ τοὺς ἑπτὰ υἱοὺς Ὄχιμον, Κέρκαφον, Μάκαρα, Ἀκτῖνα, Τενάγην, Τριόπαν, Κάνδαλον, θυγατέρα δὲ μίαν, Ἠλεκτρυώνην, ἣν ἔτι παρθένον οὖσαν μεταλλάξαι τὸν βίον καὶ τιμῶν τυχεῖν παρὰ Ῥοδίοις ἡρωικῶν. ἀνδρωθεῖσι δὲ τοῖς Ἡλιάδαις εἰπεῖν τὸν Ἥλιον, ὅτι οἵτινες ἂν Ἀθηνᾷ θύσωσι πρῶτοι, παρʼ ἑαυτοῖς ἕξουσι τὴν θεόν· τὸ δʼ αὐτὸ λέγεται διασαφῆσαι τοῖς τὴν Ἀττικὴν κατοικοῦσι. διὸ καί φασι τοὺς μὲν Ἡλιάδας διὰ τὴν σπουδὴν ἐπιλαθομένους ἐνεγκεῖν πῦρ ἐπιθεῖναι τὰ θύματα, τὸν δὲ τότε βασιλεύοντα τῶν Ἀθηναίων Κέκροπα ἐπὶ τοῦ πυρὸς θῦσαι ὕστερον. διόπερ φασὶ διαμένειν μέχρι τοῦ νῦν τὸ κατὰ τὴν θυσίαν ἴδιον ἐν τῇ Ῥόδῳ, καὶ τὴν θεὸν ἐν αὐτῇ καθιδρῦσθαι. περὶ μὲν οὖν τῶν ἀρχαιολογουμένων παρὰ Ῥοδίοις οὕτω τινὲς μυθολογοῦσιν· ἐν οἷς ἐστι καὶ Ζήνων ὁ τὰ περὶ ταύτης συνταξάμενος.
At a later time, the myth continues, the Telchines, perceiving in advance the flood that was going to come, forsook the island and were scattered. Of their number Lycus went to Lycia and dedicated there beside the Xanthus river a temple of Apollo Lycius. 2 And when the flood came the rest of the inhabitants perished, — and since the waters, because of the abundant rains, overflowed the island, its level parts were turned into stagnant pools — but a few fled for refuge to the upper regions of the island and were saved, the sons of Zeus being among their number. Helius, the myth tells us, becoming enamoured of Rhodos, named the island Rhodes after her and caused the water which had overflowed it to disappear. But the true explanation is that, while in the first forming of the world the island was still like mud and soft, the sun dried up the larger part of its wetness and filled the land with living creatures, and there came into being the Heliadae, who were named after him, seven in number, and other peoples who were, like them, sprung from the land itself. 4 In consequence of these events the island was considered to be sacred to Helius, and the Rhodians of later times made it their practice to honour Helius above all the other gods, as the ancestor and founder from whom they were descended. His seven sons were Ochimus, Cercaphus, Macar, Actis, Tenages, Triopas, and Candalus, and there was one daughter, Electryone, who quit this life while still a maiden and attained at the hands of the Rhodians to honours like those accorded to the heroes. And when the Heliadae attained to manhood they were told by Helius that the first people to offer sacrifices to Athena would ever enjoy the presence of the goddess; and the same thing, we are told, was disclosed by him to the inhabitants of Attica. 6 Consequently, men say, the Heliadae, forgetting in their haste to put fire beneath the victims, nevertheless laid them on the altars at the time, whereas Cecrops, who was king at the time of the Athenians, performed the sacrifice over fire, but later than the Heliadae. 7 This is the reason, men say, why the peculiar practice as regards the manner of sacrificing persists in Rhodes to this day, and why the goddess has her seat on the island. Such, then, is the account which certain writers of myths give about the antiquities of the Rhodians, one of them being Zenon, who has composed a history of the island.
§ 5.57
οἱ δʼ Ἡλιάδαι διάφοροι γενηθέντες τῶν ἄλλων ἐν παιδείᾳ διήνεγκαν καὶ μάλιστʼ ἐν ἀστρολογίᾳ. εἰσηγήσαντο δὲ καὶ περὶ τῆς ναυτιλίας πολλὰ καὶ τὰ περὶ τὰς ὥρας διέταξαν. εὐφυέστατος δὲ γενόμενος Τενάγης ὑπὸ τῶν ἀδελφῶν διὰ φθόνον ἀνῃρέθη· γνωσθείσης δὲ τῆς ἐπιβουλῆς οἱ μετασχόντες τοῦ φόνου πάντες ἔφυγον. τούτων δὲ Μάκαρ μὲν εἰς Λέσβον ἀφίκετο, Κάνδαλος δὲ εἰς τὴν Κῶ· ἀκτὶς δʼ εἰς Αἴγυπτον ἀπάρας ἔκτισε τὴν Ἡλιούπολιν ὀνομαζομένην, ἀπὸ τοῦ πατρὸς θέμενος τὴν προσηγορίαν· οἱ δʼ Αἰγύπτιοι ἔμαθον παρʼ αὐτοῦ τὰ περὶ τὴν ἀστρολογίαν θεωρήματα. ὕστερον δὲ παρὰ τοῖς Ἕλλησι γενομένου κατακλυσμοῦ, καὶ διὰ τὴν ἐπομβρίαν τῶν πλείστων ἀνθρώπων ἀπολομένων, ὁμοίως τούτοις καὶ τὰ διὰ τῶν γραμμάτων ὑπομνήματα συνέβη φθαρῆναι· δι’ ἣν αἰτίαν οἱ Αἰγύπτιοι καιρὸν εὔθετον λαβόντες ἐξιδιοποιήσαντο τὰ περὶ τῆς ἀστρολογίας, καὶ τῶν Ἑλλήνων διὰ τὴν ἄγνοιαν μηκέτι τῶν γραμμάτων ἀντιποιουμένων ἐνίσχυσεν, ὡς αὐτοὶ πρῶτοι τὴν τῶν ἄστρων εὕρεσιν ἐποιήσαντο. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ Ἀθηναῖοι κτίσαντες ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ πόλιν τὴν ὀνομαζομένην Σάιν, τῆς ὁμοίας ἔτυχον ἀγνοίας διὰ τὸν κατακλυσμόν. διʼ ἃς αἰτίας πολλαῖς ὕστερον γενεαῖς Κάδμος ὁ Ἀγήνορος ἐκ τῆς Φοινίκης πρῶτος ὑπελήφθη κομίσαι γράμματα εἰς τὴν Ἑλλάδα· καὶ ἀπʼ ἐκείνου τὸ λοιπὸν οἱ Ἕλληνες ἔδοξαν ἀεί τι προσευρίσκειν περὶ τῶν γραμμάτων, κοινῆς τινος ἀγνοίας κατεχούσης τοὺς Ἕλληνας. Τριόπας δὲ πλεύσας εἰς τὴν Καρίαν κατέσχεν ἀκρωτήριον τὸ ἀπʼ ἐκείνου Τριόπιον κληθέν. οἱ δὲ λοιποὶ τοῦ Ἡλίου παῖδες διὰ τὸ μὴ μετασχεῖν τοῦ φόνου κατέμειναν ἐν τῇ Ῥόδῳ, καὶ κατῴκησαν ἐν τῇ Ἰαλυσίᾳ κτίσαντες πόλιν Ἀχαΐαν. ὧν ὁ πρεσβύτερος Ὄχιμος βασιλεύων ἔγημε μίαν τῶν ἐγχωρίων Νυμφῶν Ἡγητορίαν, ἐξ ἧς ἐγέννησε θυγατέρα Κυδίππην τὴν μετὰ ταῦτα Κυρβίαν μετονομασθεῖσαν· ἣν γήμας Κέρκαφος ἀδελφὸς διεδέξατο τὴν βασιλείαν. μετὰ δὲ τὴν τούτου τελευτὴν διεδέξαντο τὴν ἀρχὴν υἱοὶ τρεῖς, Λίνδος, Ἰάλυσος, Κάμειρος· ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων γενομένης μεγάλης πλημυρίδος, ἐπικλυσθεῖσα ἡ Κύρβη ἔρημος ἐγένετο, αὐτοὶ δὲ διείλοντο τὴν χώραν, καὶ ἕκαστος ἑαυτοῦ πόλιν ὁμώνυμον ἔκτισε.
The Heliadae, besides having shown themselves superior to all other men, likewise surpassed them in learning and especially in astrology; and they introduced many new practices in seamanship and established the division of the day into hours. 2 The most highly endowed of them by nature was Tenages, who was slain by his brothers because of their envy of him; but when their treacherous act became known, all who had had a hand in the murder took to flight. Of their number Macar came to Lesbos, and Candalus to Cos; and Actis, sailing off to Egypt, founded there the city men call Heliopolis, naming it after his father; and it was from him that the Egyptians learned the laws of astrology. But when at a later time there came a flood among the Greeks and the majority of mankind perished by reason of the abundance of rain, it came to pass that all written monuments were also destroyed in the same manner as mankind; 4 and this is the reason why the Egyptians, seizing the favourable occasion, appropriated to themselves the knowledge of astrology, and why, since the Greeks, because of their ignorance, no longer laid any claim to writing, the belief prevailed that the Egyptians were the first men to effect the discovery of the stars. Likewise the Athenians, although they were the founders of the city in Egypt men call Sais, suffered from the same ignorance because of the flood. And it was because of reasons such as these that many generations later men supposed that Cadmus, the son of Agenor, had been the first to bring the letters from Phoenicia to Greece; and after the time of Cadmus onwards the Greeks were believed to have kept making new discoveries in the science of writing, since a sort of general ignorance of the facts possessed the Greeks. 6 Triopas sailed to Caria and seized a promontory which was called Triopium after him. But the rest of the sons of Helius, since they had had no hand in the murder, remained behind in Rhodes and made their homes in the territory of Ialysus, where they founded the city of Achaea. 7 Ochimus, who was the oldest of them and their king, married Hegetoria, one of the Nymphs of that region, and begat by her a daughter Cydippe, whose name was afterwards changed to Cyrbia; and Cercaphus, another of the brothers, married Cyrbia and succeeded to the throne. 8 Upon the death of Cercaphus his three sons, Lindus, Ialysus, and Cameirus, succeeded to the supreme power; and during their lifetime there came a great deluge and Cyrbe was buried beneath the flood and laid waste, whereupon the three divided the land among themselves, and each of them founded a city which bore his name.
§ 5.58
κατὰ δὲ τούτους τοὺς χρόνους Δαναὸς ἔφυγεν ἐξ Αἰγύπτου μετὰ τῶν θυγατέρων· καταπλεύσας δὲ τῆς Ῥοδίας εἰς Λίνδον καὶ προσδεχθεὶς ὑπὸ τῶν ἐγχωρίων, ἱδρύσατο τῆς Ἀθηνᾶς ἱερὸν καὶ τὸ ἄγαλμα τῆς θεοῦ καθιέρωσε. τῶν δὲ τοῦ Δαναοῦ θυγατέρων τρεῖς ἐτελεύτησαν κατὰ τὴν ἐπιδημίαν τὴν ἐν τῇ Λίνδῳ, αἱ δʼ ἄλλαι μετὰ τοῦ πατρὸς Δαναοῦ εἰς Ἄργος ἐξέπλευσαν. μικρὸν δʼ ὕστερον τούτων τῶν χρόνων Κάδμος ὁ Ἀγήνορος, ἀπεσταλμένος ὑπὸ τοῦ βασιλέως κατὰ ζήτησιν τῆς Εὐρώπης, κατέπλευσεν εἰς τὴν Ῥοδίαν· κεχειμασμένος δʼ ἰσχυρῶς κατὰ τὸν πλοῦν καὶ πεποιημένος εὐχὰς ἱδρύσασθαι Ποσειδῶνος ἱερόν, διασωθεὶς ἱδρύσατο κατὰ τὴν νῆσον τοῦ θεοῦ τούτου τέμενος καὶ τῶν Φοινίκων ἀπέλιπέ τινας τοὺς ἐπιμελησομένους. οὗτοι δὲ καταμιγέντες Ἰαλυσίοις διετέλεσαν συμπολιτευόμενοι τούτοις· ἐξ ὧν φασι τοὺς ἱερεῖς κατὰ γένος διαδέχεσθαι τὰς ἱερωσύνας. ὁ δʼ οὖν Κάδμος καὶ τὴν Λινδίαν Ἀθηνᾶν ἐτίμησεν ἀναθήμασιν, ἐν οἷς ἦν χαλκοῦς λέβης ἀξιόλογος κατεσκευασμένος εἰς τὸν ἀρχαῖον ῥυθμόν· οὗτος δʼ εἶχεν ἐπιγραφὴν Φοινικικοῖς γράμμασιν, ἅ φασι πρῶτον ἐκ Φοινίκης εἰς τὴν Ἑλλάδα κομισθῆναι. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τῆς Ῥοδίας γῆς ἀνείσης ὄφεις ὑπερμεγέθεις συνέβη πολλοὺς τῶν ἐγχωρίων ὑπὸ τῶν ὄφεων διαφθαρῆναι· διόπερ οἱ περιλειφθέντες ἔπεμψαν εἰς Δῆλον τοὺς ἐπερωτήσοντας τὸν θεὸν περὶ τῆς τῶν κακῶν ἀπαλλαγῆς. τοῦ δʼ Ἀπόλλωνος προστάξαντος αὐτοῖς παραλαβεῖν Φόρβαντα μετὰ τῶν συνακολουθούντων αὐτῷ, καὶ μετὰ τούτων κατοικεῖν τὴν Ῥόδον· οὗτος δʼ ἦν υἱὸς μὲν Λαπίθου, διέτριβε δὲ περὶ Θετταλίαν μετὰ πλειόνων, ζητῶν χώραν εἰς κατοίκησιν· τῶν δὲ Ῥοδίων μεταπεμψαμένων αὐτὸν κατὰ τὴν μαντείαν καὶ μεταδόντων τῆς χώρας, ὁ μὲν Φόρβας ἀνεῖλε τοὺς ὄφεις, καὶ τὴν νῆσον ἐλευθερώσας τοῦ φόβου, κατῴκησεν ἐν τῇ Ῥοδίᾳ, γενόμενος δὲ καὶ τἄλλα ἀνὴρ ἀγαθὸς ἔσχε τιμὰς ἡρωικὰς μετὰ τὴν τελευτήν.
About this time Danaus together with his daughters fled from Egypt, and when he put ashore at Lindus in Rhodes and received the kindly welcome of the inhabitants, he established there a temple of Athena and dedicated in it a statue of the goddess. Of the daughters of Danaus three died during their stay in Lindus, but the rest sailed on to Argos together with their father Danaus. 2 And a little after this time Cadmus, the son of Agenor, having been dispatched by the king to seek out Europe, put ashore at Rhodes. He had been severely buffeted by tempests during the voyage and had taken a vow to found a sanctuary to Poseidon, and so, since he had come through with his life, he founded in the island a sacred precinct to this god and left there certain of the Phoenicians to serve as its overseers. These men mingled with the Ialysians and continued to live as fellow-citizens with them, and from them, we are told, the priests were drawn who succeeded to the priestly office by heredity. Now Cadmus honoured likewise the Lindian Athena with votive offerings, one of which was a striking bronze cauldron worked after the ancient manner, and this carried an inscription in Phoenician letters, which, men say, were first brought from Phoenicia to Greece. 4 Subsequent to these happenings, when the land of Rhodes brought forth huge serpents, it came to pass that the serpents caused the death of many of the natives; consequently the survivors dispatched men to Delos to inquire of the god how they might rid themselves of the evil. And Apollo commanded them to receive Phorbas and his companions and to colonize together with them the island of Rhodes — Phorbas was a son of Lapithes and was tarrying in Thessaly together with a considerable number of men, seeking a land in which he might make his home — and the Rhodians summoned him as the oracle had commanded and gave him a share in the land. And Phorbas destroyed the serpents, and after he had freed the island of its fear he made his home in Rhodes; furthermore, since in other respects he proved himself a great and good man, after his death he was accorded honours like those offered to heroes.
§ 5.59
ὕστερον δὲ τούτων Ἀλθαιμένης ὁ Κατρέως υἱὸς τοῦ Κρητῶν βασιλέως περί τινων χρηστηριαζόμενος ἔλαβε χρησμόν, ὅτι πεπρωμένον ἐστὶν αὐτῷ τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτόχειρα γενέσθαι. βουλόμενος οὖν τοῦτο τὸ μύσος ἐκφυγεῖν ἑκουσίως ἔφυγεν ἐκ τῆς Κρήτης μετὰ τῶν βουλομένων συναπᾶραι, πλειόνων ὄντων. οὗτος μὲν οὖν κατέπλευσε τῆς Ῥοδίας εἰς Κάμειρον καὶ ἐπὶ μὲν ὄρους Ἀταβύρου Διὸς ἱερὸν ἱδρύσατο τοῦ προσαγορευομένου Ἀταβυρίου· διόπερ ἔτι καὶ νῦν τιμᾶται διαφερόντως, κείμενον ἐπί τινος ὑψηλῆς ἄκρας, ἀφʼ ἧς ἐστιν ἀφορᾶν τὴν Κρήτην. ὁ μὲν οὖν Ἀλθαιμένης μετὰ τῶν συνακολουθησάντων κατῴκησεν ἐν τῇ Καμείρῳ, τιμώμενος ὑπὸ τῶν ἐγχωρίων· ὁ δὲ πατὴρ αὐτοῦ Κατρεύς, ἔρημος ὢν ἀρρένων παίδων καὶ διαφερόντως ἀγαπῶν τὸν Ἀλθαιμένην, ἔπλευσεν εἰς Ῥόδον, φιλοτιμούμενος εὑρεῖν τὸν υἱὸν καὶ ἀπαγαγεῖν εἰς Κρήτην. τῆς δὲ κατὰ τὸ πεπρωμένον ἀνάγκης ἐπισχυούσης, ὁ μὲν Κατρεὺς ἀπέβη μετά τινων ἐπὶ τὴν Ῥοδίαν νυκτός, καὶ γενομένης συμπλοκῆς καὶ μάχης πρὸς τοὺς ἐγχωρίους ὁ Ἀλθαιμένης ἐκβοηθῶν ἠκόντισε λόγχῃ καὶ διʼ ἄγνοιαν παίσας ἀπέκτεινε τὸν πατέρα. γνωσθείσης δὲ τῆς πράξεως, ὁ μὲν Ἀλθαιμένης οὐ δυνάμενος φέρειν τὸ μέγεθος τῆς συμφορᾶς τὰς μὲν ἀπαντήσεις καὶ ὁμιλίας τῶν ἀνθρώπων περιέκαμπτε, διδοὺς δʼ ἑαυτὸν εἰς τὰς ἐρημίας ἠλᾶτο μόνος καὶ διὰ τὴν λύπην ἐτελεύτησεν· ὕστερον δὲ κατά τινα χρησμὸν τιμὰς ἔσχε παρὰ Ῥοδίοις ἡρωικάς. βραχὺ δὲ πρὸ τῶν Τρωικῶν Τληπόλεμος ὁ Ἡρακλέους φεύγων διὰ τὸν Λικυμνίου θάνατον, ὃν ἀκουσίως ἦν ἀνῃρηκώς, ἔφυγεν ἑκουσίως ἐξ Ἄργους· χρησμὸν δὲ λαβὼν ὑπὲρ ἀποικίας μετά τινων λαῶν κατέπλευσεν εἰς τὴν Ῥόδον, καὶ προσδεχθεὶς ὑπὸ τῶν ἐγχωρίων αὐτοῦ κατῴκησε. γενόμενος δὲ βασιλεὺς πάσης τῆς νήσου τήν τε χώραν ἐπʼ ἴσης κατεκληρούχησε καὶ τἄλλα διετέλεσεν ἄρχων ἐπιεικῶς. τὸ δὲ τελευταῖον μετʼ Ἀγαμέμνονος στρατεύων εἰς Ἴλιον τῆς μὲν Ῥόδου τὴν ἡγεμονίαν παρέδωκε Βούτᾳ τῷ ἐξ Ἄργους αὐτῷ μετασχόντι τῆς φυγῆς, αὐτὸς δʼ ἐπιφανὴς ἐν τῷ πολέμῳ γενόμενος ἐτελεύτησεν ἐν τῇ Τρῳάδι.
At a later time than the events we have described Althaemenes, the son of Catreus the king of Crete, while inquiring of the oracle regarding certain other matters, received the reply that it was fated that he should slay his father by his own hand. 2 So wishing to avoid such an abominable act, he fled of his own free will from Crete together with such as desired to sail away with him, these being a considerable company. Althaemenes, then, put ashore on Rhodes at Cameirus, and on Mount Atabyrus he founded a temple of Zeus who is called Zeus Atabyrius; and for this reason the temple is held in special honour even to this day, situated as it is upon a lofty peak from which one can descry Crete. So Althaemenes with his companions made his home in Cameirus, being held in honour by the natives; but his father Catreus, having no male children at home and dearly loving Althaemenes, sailed to Rhodes, being resolved upon finding his son and bringing him back to Crete. And now the fated destiny prevailed: Catreus disembarked by night upon the land of Rhodes with a few followers, and when there arose a hand-to hand conflict between them and the natives, Althaemenes, rushing out to aid them, hurled his spear, and struck in ignorance his father and killed him. 4 And when he realized what he had done, Althaemenes, being unable to bear his great affliction, shunned all meetings and association with mankind, and betook himself to unfrequented places and wandered about alone, until the grief put an end to his life; and at a later time he received at the hands of the Rhodians, as a certain oracle had commanded, the honours which are accorded to heroes. Shortly before the Trojan War Tlepolemus, the son of Heracles, who was a fugitive because of the death of Licymnius, whom he had unwittingly slain, fled of his free will from Argos; and upon receiving an oracular response regarding where he should go to found a settlement, he put ashore at Rhodes together with a few people, and being kindly received by the inhabitants he made his home there. 6 And becoming king of the whole island he portioned out the land in equal allotments and continued in other respects as well to rule equitably. And in the end, when he was on the point of taking part with Agamemnon in the war against Ilium, he put the rule of Rhodes in the hands of Butas, who had accompanied him in his flight from Argos, and he gained great fame for himself in the war and met his death in the Troad.
§ 5.60
ἐπεὶ δὲ ταῖς Ῥοδίων πράξεσι τῆς κατʼ ἀντιπέρας Χερρονήσου ἔνια συμπεπλέχθαι συμβέβηκεν, οὐκ ἀνοίκειον ἡγοῦμαι περὶ αὐτῶν διελθεῖν. ἡ Χερρόνησος τοίνυν τὸ παλαιόν, ὡς μέν τινές φασιν, ἀπὸ τοῦ τόπου τῆς φύσεως ὄντος ἰσθμώδους ταύτης ἔτυχε τῆς προσηγορίας· ὡς δέ τινες ἀναγεγράφασιν, ἀπὸ τοῦ δυναστεύσαντος τῶν τόπων ὄνομα Χερρονήσου προσηγόρευται. οὐ πολλῷ δʼ ὕστερον τῆς τούτου δυναστείας λέγεται πέντε Κούρητας ἐκ Κρήτης εἰς αὐτὴν περαιωθῆναι· τούτους δʼ ἀπογόνους γεγονέναι τῶν ὑποδεξαμένων Δία παρὰ τῆς μητρὸς Ῥέας καὶ θρεψάντων ἐν τοῖς κατὰ τὴν Κρήτην Ἰδαίοις ὄρεσι. στόλῳ δʼ ἀξιολόγῳ πλεύσαντας εἰς τὴν Χερρόνησον τοὺς μὲν κατοικοῦντας αὐτὴν Κᾶρας ἐκβαλεῖν, αὐτοὺς δὲ κατοικήσαντας τὴν μὲν χώραν εἰς πέντε μέρη διελεῖν, καὶ πόλιν ἕκαστον κτίσαι θέμενον ἀφʼ ἑαυτοῦ τὴν προσηγορίαν. οὐ πολὺ δὲ τούτων κατόπιν Ἴναχον τὸν Ἀργείων βασιλέα, ἀφανισθείσης τῆς θυγατρὸς Ἰοῦς, ἐξαποστεῖλαι Κύρνον, ἕνα τῶν ἡγεμονικῶν ἀνδρῶν, δόντα αὐτῷ στόλον ἀξιόλογον, καὶ προστάξαι ζητεῖν ἐν παντὶ τόπῳ τὴν Ἰώ, καὶ μὴ ἐπανελθεῖν, ἐὰν μὴ ταύτης ἐγκρατὴς γένηται. ὁ δὲ Κύρνος ἐπὶ πολλὰ μέρη τῆς οἰκουμένης πλανηθεὶς καὶ μὴ δυνάμενος εὑρεῖν ταύτην, κατέπλευσε τῆς Καρίας εἰς τὴν προειρημένην Χερρόνησον· ἀπογνοὺς δὲ τὴν εἰς οἶκον ἀνακομιδὴν κατῴκησεν ἐν τῇ Χερρονήσῳ, καὶ τὰ μὲν πείσας, τὰ δʼ ἀναγκάσας ἐβασίλευσε μέρους τῆς χώρας καὶ πόλιν ἔκτισεν ὁμώνυμον ἑαυτῷ Κύρνον· πολιτευόμενος δὲ δημοτικῶς μεγάλης ἀποδοχῆς ἐτύγχανε παρὰ τοῖς συμπολιτευομένοις.
Since the affairs of Rhodes, as it happened, became interwoven with certain events occurring in the Cherronesus which lies opposite the island, I think it will not be foreign to my purpose to discuss the latter. The Cherronesus, as some men say, received in ancient times the name it bears from the fact that the natural shape of the region is that of an isthmus, but others have written that the name Cherronesus is given it from the man who once ruled over those parts. 2 The account runs like this: Not long after Cherronesus had ruled, five Curetes passed over to it from Crete, and these were descendants of those who had received Zeus from his mother Rhea and had nurtured him in the mountains of Ide in Crete. And sailing to the Cherronesus with a notable expedition they expelled the Carians who dwelt there, and settling down in the land themselves they divided it into five parts, each of them founding a city which he named after himself. 4 Not long after this Inachus, the king of the Argives, since his daughter Io had disappeared, sent forth Cyrnus, one of his men in high command, fitting him out with a considerable fleet, and ordered him to hunt for Io in every region and not to return unless he had got possession of her. And Cyrnus, after having wandered over many parts of the inhabited world without being able to find her, put ashore in Caria on the Cherronesus we are discussing; and despairing of ever returning to his house, he made his home in the Cherronesus, where, partly by persuasive means and partly by the use of force, he became king of a part of the land and founded a city which bore his name Cyrnus. And by administering affairs in a popular fashion he enjoyed great favour among his fellowcitizens.
§ 5.61
μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Τριόπαν, ἕνα τῶν Ἡλίου καὶ Ῥόδου παίδων, φεύγοντα διὰ τὸν Τενάγεω τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ φόνον εἰς τὴν Χερρόνησον ἀφικέσθαι. ἐνταῦθα δὲ καθαρθέντα τὸν φόνον ὑπὸ Μελισσέως τοῦ βασιλέως εἰς τὴν Θετταλίαν πλεῦσαι ἐπὶ συμμαχίαν τοῖς Δευκαλίωνος παισί, καὶ συνεκβαλεῖν ἐκ τῆς Θετταλίας τοὺς Πελασγούς, καὶ μερίσασθαι τὸ καλούμενον Δώτιον πεδίον. ἐνταῦθα δὲ τὸ τέμενος τῆς Δήμητρος ἐκκόψαντα τῇ μὲν ὕλῃ καταχρῆσθαι πρὸς βασιλείων κατασκευήν· δι’ ἣν αἰτίαν ὑπὸ τῶν ἐγχωρίων μισηθέντα φυγεῖν ἐκ Θετταλίας, καὶ καταπλεῦσαι μετὰ τῶν συμπλευσάντων λαῶν εἰς τὴν Κνιδίαν, ἐν ᾗ κτίσαι τὸ καλούμενον ἀπʼ αὐτοῦ Τριόπιον. ἐντεῦθεν δʼ ὁρμώμενον τήν τε Χερρόνησον κατακτήσασθαι καὶ τῆς ὁμόρου Καρίας πολλήν. περὶ δὲ τοῦ γένους τοῦ Τριόπα πολλοὶ τῶν συγγραφέων καὶ ποιητῶν διαπεφωνήκασιν· οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἀναγράφουσιν αὐτὸν υἱὸν εἶναι Κανάχης τῆς Αἰόλου καὶ Ποσειδῶνος, οἱ δὲ Λαπίθου τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνος καὶ Στίλβης τῆς Πηνειοῦ.
After this, the account continues, Triopas, one of the sons of Helius and Rhodos, who was a fugitive because of the murder of his brother Tenages, came to the Cherronesus. And after he had been purified there of the murder by Elisseus the king, he sailed to Thessaly to give assistance as an ally to the sons of Deucalion, and with their aid he expelled from Thessaly the Pelasgians and took for his portion the plain which is called Dotium. 2 There he cut down the sacred grove of Demeter and used the wood to build a palace; and for this reason he incurred the hatred of the natives, whereupon he fled from Thessaly and put ashore, together with the peoples who sailed with him, in the territory of Cnidus, where he founded Triopium, as it was called after him. And setting out from this place as his base he won for himself both the Cherronesus and a large part of neighboring Caria. But as regards the ancestry of Triopas there is disagreement among many of the historians and poets; for some have recorded that he was the son of Canache, the daughter of Aeolus, and Poseidon, but others that he was born of Lapithes, the son of Apollo, and Stilbe, the daughter of Peneius.
§ 5.62
ἔστι δʼ ἐν Καστάβῳ τῆς Χερρονήσου ἱερὸν ἅγιον Ἡμιθέας, ἧς τὴν περιπέτειαν οὐκ ἄξιον παραλιπεῖν. πολλοὶ μὲν οὖν καὶ ποικίλοι λόγοι περὶ ταύτης παραδέδονται· τὸν δʼ ἐπικρατοῦντα καὶ συμφωνούμενον παρὰ τοῖς ἐγχωρίοις διέξιμεν. Σταφύλου γὰρ καὶ Χρυσοθέμιδός φασι γενέσθαι τρεῖς θυγατέρας, Μολπαδίαν καὶ Ῥοιὼ καὶ Παρθένον ὄνομα. καὶ τῇ μὲν Ῥοιοῖ τὸν Ἀπόλλωνα μιγέντα ἔγκυον ποιῆσαι· τὸν δὲ πατέρα αὐτῆς ὡς ὑπʼ ἀνθρώπου τῆς φθορᾶς γεγενημένης ὀργισθῆναι, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο τὴν θυγατέρα εἰς λάρνακα συγκλείσαντα βαλεῖν εἰς τὴν θάλατταν. προσενεχθείσης δὲ τῆς λάρνακος τῇ Δήλῳ τεκεῖν ἄρρενα, καὶ προσαγορεῦσαι τὸ παιδίον Ἄνιον. τὴν δὲ Ῥοιὼ παραδόξως σωθεῖσαν ἀναθεῖναι τὸ βρέφος ἐπὶ τὸν βωμὸν τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνος, καὶ ἐπεύξασθαι τῷ θεῷ, εἰ ἔστιν ἐξ ἐκείνου, σώζειν αὐτό. τὸν δʼ Ἀπόλλωνα μυθολογοῦσι τότε μὲν κρύψαι τὸ παιδίον, ὕστερον δὲ φροντίσαντα τῆς τροφῆς διδάξαι τὴν μαντικήν, καί τινας αὐτῷ περιτιθέναι μεγάλας τιμάς. τὰς δὲ τῆς φθαρείσης ἀδελφὰς Μολπαδίαν καὶ Παρθένον φυλαττούσας τὸν τοῦ πατρὸς οἶνον, προσφάτως κατʼ ἀνθρώπους εὑρημένον, εἰς ὕπνον κατενεχθῆναι· καθʼ ὃν δὴ καιρὸν τὰς τρεφομένας παρʼ αὐτοῖς ὗς εἰσελθεῖν, καὶ τόν τε ἔχοντα τὸν οἶνον κέραμον συντρῖψαι καὶ τὸν οἶνον διαφθεῖραι. τὰς δὲ παρθένους μαθούσας τὸ γεγονός, καὶ φοβηθείσας τὸ ἀπότομον τοῦ πατρός, φυγεῖν ἐπὶ τὸν αἰγιαλὸν καὶ ἀπό τινων πετρῶν ὑψηλῶν ἑαυτὰς ῥῖψαι. Ἀπόλλωνα δὲ διὰ τὴν οἰκειότητα τὴν πρὸς τὴν ἀδελφὴν ὑπολαβόντα τὰς κόρας εἰς τὰς ἐν Χερρονήσῳ πόλεις καταστῆσαι. καὶ τὴν μὲν ὀνομαζομένην Παρθένον ἐποίησεν ἐν Βουβαστῷ τῆς Χερρονήσου τιμὰς ἔχειν καὶ τέμενος, Μολπαδίαν δὲ εἰς Κάσταβον ἐλθοῦσαν διὰ τὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ γενομένην ἐπιφάνειαν Ἡμιθέαν ὠνομάσθαι καὶ τιμᾶσθαι παρὰ πᾶσι τοῖς ἐν Χερρονήσῳ. ἐν δὲ ταῖς θυσίαις αὐτῆς διὰ τὸ συμβὰν περὶ τὸν οἶνον πάθος τὰς μὲν σπονδὰς μελικράτῳ ποιοῦσι, τὸν δʼ ἁψάμενον ἢ φαγόντα ὑὸς οὐ νόμιμον προσελθεῖν πρὸς τὸ τέμενος.
In Castabus, on the Cherronesus, there is a temple which is sacred to Hemithea, and there is no reason why we should omit to mention the strange occurrence which befell this goddess. Now many and various accounts have been handed down regarding her, but we shall recount that which has prevailed and is in accord with what the natives relate. To Staphylus and Chrysothemis were born three daughters, Molpadia, Rhoeo, and Parthenos by name. Apollo lay with Rhoeo and brought her with child; and her father, believing that her seduction was due to a man, was angered, and in his anger he shut up his daughter in a chest and cast her into the sea. 2 But the chest was washed up upon Delos, where she gave birth to a male child and called the babe Anius. And Rhoeo, who had been saved from death in this unexpected manner, laid the babe upon the altar of Apollo and prayed to the god to save its life if it was his child. Thereupon Apollo, the myth relates, concealed the child for the time, but afterwards he gave thought to its rearing, instructed it in divination, and conferred upon it certain great honours. And the other sisters of the maiden who had been seduced, namely, Molpadia and Parthenos, while watching their father's wine, a drink which had only recently been discovered among men, fell asleep; and while they were asleep some swine which they were keeping entered in and broke the jar which contained the wine and so destroyed the wine. And the maidens, when they learned what had happened, in fear of their father's severity fled to the edge of the sea and hurled themselves down from some lofty rocks. 4 But Apollo, because of his affection for their sister, rescued the maidens and established them in the cities of the Cherronesus. The one named Parthenos, as the god brought it to pass, enjoyed honours and a sacred precinct in Bubastus of the Cherronesus, while Molpadia, who came to Castabus, was given the name Hemithea, because the god had appeared to men, and she was honoured by all who dwelt in the Cherronesus. And in sacrifices which are held in her honour a mixture of honey and milk is used in the libations, because of the experience which she had had in connection with the wine, while anyone who has touched a hog or eaten of its flesh is not permitted to draw near to the sacred precinct.
§ 5.63
ἐν δὲ τοῖς ὕστερον χρόνοις ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον ἔλαβε τὸ ἱερὸν αὔξησιν τῆς Ἡμιθέας, ὥστε μὴ μόνον παρὰ τοῖς ἐγχωρίοις καὶ τοῖς περιοίκοις τιμᾶσθαι διαφερόντως, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς μακρὰν οἰκοῦντας εἰς αὐτὸ φιλοτίμως φοιτᾶν, καὶ θυσίαις τε μεγαλοπρεπέσι καὶ ἀναθήμασιν ἀξιολόγοις τιμᾶν, τὸ δὲ μέγιστον, Πέρσας ἡγουμένους τῆς Ἀσίας καὶ πάντα τὰ τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἱερὰ συλῶντας μόνου τοῦ τῆς Ἡμιθέας τεμένους ἀποσχέσθαι, τούς τε λῃστὰς τοὺς πάντα διαρπάζοντας μόνον τοῦτο ἀφεῖναι παντελῶς ἄσυλον, καίπερ ἀτείχιστον ὑπάρχον καὶ ἀκίνδυνον ἔχον τὴν ἁρπαγήν. αἰτίαν δὲ τῆς ἐπὶ πλέον αὐξήσεως φέρουσι τὴν κοινὴν εἰς ἀνθρώπους εὐεργεσίαν· τοῖς τε γὰρ κάμνουσι κατὰ τοὺς ὕπνους ἐφισταμένην φανερῶς διδόναι τὴν θεραπείαν καὶ πολλοὺς τοῖς ἀπεγνωσμένοις πάθεσι συνεχομένους περιτυχόντας ὑγιασθῆναι· πρὸς δὲ τούτοις τὸ περὶ τὰς δυστοκούσας τῶν γυναικῶν τῆς ἐν ταῖς ὠδῖσι ταλαιπωρίας καὶ κινδύνων ἀπαλλάττειν τὴν θεόν. διὸ καὶ πολλῶν ἐκ παλαιῶν χρόνων σεσωσμένων πεπλήρωται τὸ τέμενος ἀναθημάτων, καὶ ταῦτα οὔθʼ ὑπὸ φυλάκων οὔθʼ ὑπὸ τείχους ὀχυροῦ φυλαττόμενα, ἀλλʼ ὑπὸ τῆς συνήθους δεισιδαιμονίας.
In later times the temple of Hemithea enjoyed so great a development that not only was it held in special honour by the inhabitants of the place and of neighbouring regions, but even peoples from afar came to it in their devotion and honoured it with costly sacrifices and notable dedications. And most important of all, when the Persians were the dominant power in Asia and were plundering all the temples of the Greeks, the precinct of Hemithea was the sole shrine on which they did not lay hands, and the robbers who were pillaging everything they met left this shrine alone entirely unplundered, and this they did despite the fact that it was unwalled and the pillaging of it would have entailed no danger. 2 And the reason which men advance for its continued development is the benefactions which the goddess confers upon all mankind alike; for she appears in visible shape in their sleep to those who are in suffering and gives them healing, and many who are in the grip of diseases for which no remedy is known are restored to health; furthermore, to women who are suffering in childbirth the goddess gives relief from the agony and perils of travail. Consequently, since many have been saved in these ways from most ancient times, the sacred precinct is filled with votive offerings, nor are these protected by guards or by a strong wall, but by the habitual reverence of the people.
§ 5.64
περὶ μὲν οὖν Ῥόδου καὶ Χερρονήσου ἀρκεσθησόμεθα τοῖς ῥηθεῖσι, περὶ δὲ Κρήτης νῦν διέξιμεν. οἱ μὲν γὰρ τὴν Κρήτην κατοικοῦντές φασιν ἀρχαιοτάτους γενέσθαι παρʼ αὑτοῖς τοὺς ὀνομαζομένους Ἐτεόκρητας αὐτόχθονας, ὧν τὸν μὲν βασιλέα Κρῆτα καλούμενον πλεῖστα καὶ μέγιστα κατὰ τὴν νῆσον εὑρεῖν τὰ δυνάμενα τὸν κοινὸν τῶν ἀνθρώπων βίον ὠφελῆσαι. καὶ τῶν θεῶν δὲ τοὺς πλείστους μυθολογοῦσι παρʼ ἑαυτοῖς γενέσθαι τοὺς διὰ τὰς κοινὰς εὐεργεσίας τυχόντας ἀθανάτων τιμῶν· περὶ ὧν ἡμεῖς ἐν κεφαλαίοις τὰ παραδεδομένα διέξιμεν ἀκολούθως τοῖς ἐνδοξοτάτοις τῶν τὰς Κρητικὰς πράξεις συνταξαμένων. πρῶτοι τοίνυν τῶν εἰς μνήμην παραδεδομένων ᾤκησαν τῆς Κρήτης περὶ τὴν Ἴδην οἱ προσαγορευθέντες Ἰδαῖοι Δάκτυλοι. τούτους δʼ οἱ μὲν ἑκατὸν τὸν ἀριθμὸν γεγονέναι παραδεδώκασιν, οἱ δὲ δέκα φασὶν ὑπάρχοντας τυχεῖν ταύτης τῆς προσηγορίας, τοῖς ἐν ταῖς χερσὶ δακτύλοις ὄντας ἰσαρίθμους. ἔνιοι δʼ ἱστοροῦσιν, ὧν ἐστι καὶ Ἔφορος, τοὺς Ἰδαίους Δακτύλους γενέσθαι μὲν κατὰ τὴν Ἴδην τὴν ἐν Φρυγίᾳ, διαβῆναι δὲ μετὰ Μυγδόνος εἰς τὴν Εὐρώπην· ὑπάρξαντας δὲ γόητας ἐπιτηδεῦσαι τάς τε ἐπῳδὰς καὶ τελετὰς καὶ μυστήρια, καὶ περὶ Σαμοθρᾴκην διατρίψαντας οὐ μετρίως ἐν τούτοις ἐκπλήττειν τοὺς ἐγχωρίους· καθʼ ὃν δὴ χρόνον καὶ τὸν Ὀρφέα, φύσει διαφόρῳ κεχορηγημένον πρὸς ποίησιν καὶ μελῳδίαν, μαθητὴν γενέσθαι τούτων, καὶ πρῶτον εἰς τοὺς Ἕλληνας ἐξενεγκεῖν τελετὰς καὶ μυστήρια. οἱ δʼ οὖν κατὰ τὴν Κρήτην Ἰδαῖοι Δάκτυλοι παραδέδονται τήν τε τοῦ πυρὸς χρῆσιν καὶ τὴν τοῦ χαλκοῦ καὶ σιδήρου φύσιν ἐξευρεῖν τῆς Ἀπτεραίων χώρας περὶ τὸν καλούμενον Βερέκυνθον, καὶ τὴν ἐργασίαν διʼ ἧς κατασκευάζεται· δόξαντας δὲ μεγάλων ἀγαθῶν ἀρχηγοὺς γεγενῆσθαι τῷ γένει τῶν ἀνθρώπων τιμῶν τυχεῖν ἀθανάτων. ἱστοροῦσι δʼ αὐτῶν ἕνα μὲν προσαγορευθῆναι Ἡρακλέα, δόξῃ δὲ διενεγκόντα θεῖναι τὸν ἀγῶνα τὸν τῶν Ὀλυμπίων· τοὺς δὲ μεταγενεστέρους ἀνθρώπους διὰ τὴν ὁμωνυμίαν δοκεῖν τὸν ἐξ Ἀλκμήνης συστήσασθαι τὴν τῶν Ὀλυμπίων θέσιν. σημεῖα δὲ τούτων φασὶ διαμένειν τὸ πολλὰς τῶν γυναικῶν ἔτι καὶ νῦν λαμβάνειν ἐπῳδὰς ἀπὸ τούτου τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ περιάμματα ποιεῖν, ὡς γεγονότος αὐτοῦ γόητος καὶ τὰ περὶ τὰς τελετὰς ἐπιτετηδευκότος· ἃ δὴ πλεῖστον κεχωρίσθαι τῆς Ἡρακλέους συνηθείας τοῦ γεγονότος ἐξ Ἀλκμήνης.
Now as regards Rhodes and the Cherronesus we shall rest content with what has been said, and we shall at this point discuss Crete. The inhabitants of Crete claim that the oldest people of the island were those who are known as Eteocretans, who were sprung from the soil itself, and that their king, who was called Cres, was responsible for the greatest number of the most important discoveries made in the island which contributed to the improvement of the social life of mankind. 2 Also the greater number of the gods who, because of their benefactions to all men alike, have been accorded immortal honours, had their origin, so their myths relate, in their land; and of the tradition regarding these gods we shall now give a summary account, following the most reputable writers who have recorded the affairs of Crete. The first of these gods of whom tradition has left a record made their home in Crete about Mt. Ide and were called Idaean Dactyli. These, according to one tradition, were one hundred in number, but others say that there were only ten to receive this name, corresponding in number to the fingers (dactyli) of the hands. 4 But some historians, and Ephorus is one of them, record that the Idaean Dactyli were in fact born on the Mt. Ide which is in Phrygia and passed over to Europe together with Mygdon; and since they were wizards, they practised charms and initiatory rites and mysteries and in the course of a sojourn in Samothrace they amazed the natives of that island not a little by their skill in such matters. And it was at this time, we are further told, that Orpheus, who was endowed with an exceptional gift of poesy and song, also became a pupil of theirs, and he was subsequently the first to introduce initiatory rites and mysteries to the Greeks. However this may be, the Idaean Dactyli of Crete, so tradition tell us, discovered both the use of fire and what the metals copper and iron are, as well as the means of working them, this being done in the territory of the city of Aptera at Berecynthus, as it is called; 6 and since they were looked upon as the originators of great blessings for the race of men, they were accorded immortal honours. And writers tell us that one of them was named Heracles, and excelling as he did in fame, he established the Olympic Games, and that the men of a later period thought, because the name was the same, that it was the son of Alcmene who had founded the institution of the Olympic Games. 7 And evidences of this, they tell us, are found in the fact that many women even to this day take their incantations from this god and make amulets in his name, on the ground that he was a wizard and practised the arts of initiatory rites; but they add that these things were indeed very far removed from the habits of the Heracles who was born of Alcmene.
§ 5.65
μετὰ δὲ τοὺς Ἰδαίους Δακτύλους ἱστοροῦσι γενέσθαι Κούρητας ἐννέα. τούτους δʼ οἱ μὲν μυθολογοῦσι γεγονέναι γηγενεῖς, οἱ δʼ ἀπογόνους τῶν Ἰδαίων Δακτύλων. κατοικεῖν δʼ αὐτοὺς τῶν ὀρῶν τοὺς συνδένδρους καὶ φαραγγώδεις τόπους καὶ τὸ σύνολον τοὺς ἔχοντας σκέπην καὶ ὑπόδυσιν φυσικήν, διὰ τὸ μήπω κατασκευὰς οἰκιῶν εὑρῆσθαι. διενεγκόντας δʼ αὐτοὺς συνέσει πολλὰ τῶν κοινῇ χρησίμων καταδεῖξαι· τάς τε γὰρ ποίμνας τῶν προβάτων τούτους ἀθροῖσαι πρώτους καὶ τὰ γένη τῶν ἄλλων βοσκημάτων ἐξημερῶσαι καὶ τὰ περὶ τὰς μελιττουργίας καταδεῖξαι. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τὰ περὶ τὴν τοξικὴν καὶ τὰς κυνηγίας εἰσηγήσασθαι, καὶ τῆς πρὸς ἀλλήλους κοινῆς ὁμιλίας καὶ συμβιώσεως, ἔτι δʼ ὁμονοίας καί τινος εὐταξίας ἀρχηγοὺς γενέσθαι. εὑρεῖν δὲ καὶ ξίφη καὶ κράνη καὶ τὰς ἐνοπλίους ὀρχήσεις, διʼ ὧν ποιοῦντας μεγάλους ψόφους ἀπατᾶν τὸν Κρόνον. φασὶ δʼ αὐτοὺς τὸν Δία, λάθρᾳ τοῦ πατρὸς Κρόνου παραδούσης Ῥέας τῆς μητρός, ὑποδέξασθαι καὶ θρέψαι· περὶ οὗ τὰ κατὰ μέρος μέλλοντας ἡμᾶς δηλοῦν ἀναγκαῖον ἀναλαβεῖν μικρὸν ἀνωτέρω τὴν διήγησιν.
After the Idaean Dactyli, according to accounts we have, there were nine Curetes. Some writers of myths relate that these gods were born of the earth, but according to others, they were descended from the Idaean Dactyli. The home they made in mountainous places which were thickly wooded and full of ravines, and which, in a word, provided a natural shelter and coverage, since it had not yet been discovered how to build houses. 2 And since these Curetes excelled in wisdom they discovered many things which are of use to men generally; so, for instance, they were the first to gather sheep into flocks, to domesticate the several other kinds of animals which men fatten, and to discover the making of honey. In the same manner they introduced the art of shooting with the bow and the ways of hunting animals, and they showed mankind how to live and associate together in a common life, and they were the originators of concord and, so to speak, of orderly behaviour. 4 The Curetes also invented swords and helmets and the war-dance, by means of which they raised a great alarum and deceived Cronus. And we are told that, when Rhea, the mother of Zeus, entrusted him to them unbeknown to Cronus his father, they took him under their care and saw to his nurture; but since we purpose to set forth this affair in detail, we must take up the account at a little earlier point.
§ 5.66
μυθολογοῦσι γὰρ οἱ Κρῆτες γενέσθαι κατὰ τὴν τῶν Κουρήτων ἡλικίαν τοὺς καλουμένους Τιτᾶνας. τούτους δὲ τῆς Κνωσίας χώρας ἔχειν τὴν οἴκησιν, ὅπουπερ ἔτι καὶ νῦν δείκνυται θεμέλια Ῥέας οἰκόπεδα καὶ κυπαρίττων ἄλσος ἐκ παλαιοῦ χρόνου ἀνειμένον. ὑπάρξαι δὲ τὸν ἀριθμὸν ἓξ μὲν ἄνδρας, πέντε δὲ γυναῖκας, ὡς μέν τινες μυθολογοῦσιν, Οὐρανοῦ καὶ Γῆς ὄντας, ὡς δέ τινές φασιν, ἔκ τινος τῶν Κουρήτων καὶ μητρὸς Τιταίας, ἀφʼ ἧς αὐτοὺς ταύτης τετευχέναι τῆς προσηγορίας. ἄρρενας μὲν οὖν γενέσθαι τόν τε Κρόνον καὶ Ὑπερίονα καὶ Κοῖον, ἔτι δὲ Ἰαπετὸν καὶ Κριὸν καὶ τὸ τελευταῖον Ὠκεανόν, ἀδελφὰς δὲ τούτων τήν τε Ῥέαν καὶ Θέμιν καὶ Μνημοσύνην, ἔτι δὲ Φοίβην καὶ Τηθύν. ὧν ἕκαστόν τινων εὑρετὴν γενέσθαι τοῖς ἀνθρώποις, καὶ διὰ τὴν εἰς ἅπαντας εὐεργεσίαν τυχεῖν τιμῶν καὶ μνήμης ἀενάου. τὸν μὲν οὖν Κρόνον ὄντα πρεσβύτατον βασιλέα γενέσθαι, καὶ τοὺς καθʼ ἑαυτὸν ἀνθρώπους ἐξ ἀγρίου διαίτης εἰς βίον ἥμερον μεταστῆσαι, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἀποδοχῆς μεγάλης τυχόντα πολλοὺς ἐπελθεῖν τόπους τῆς οἰκουμένης. εἰσηγήσασθαι δʼ αὐτὸν ἅπασι τήν τε δικαιοσύνην καὶ τὴν ἁπλότητα τῆς ψυχῆς· διὸ καὶ τοὺς ἐπὶ Κρόνου γενομένους ἀνθρώπους παραδεδόσθαι τοῖς μεταγενεστέροις εὐήθεις καὶ ἀκάκους παντελῶς, ἔτι δʼ εὐδαίμονας γεγονότας. δυναστεῦσαι δʼ αὐτὸν μάλιστα τῶν πρὸς ἑσπέραν τόπων καὶ μεγίστης ἀξιωθῆναι τιμῆς· διὸ καὶ μέχρι τῶν νεωτέρων χρόνων παρὰ Ῥωμαίοις καὶ Καρχηδονίοις, ὅτʼ ἦν ἡ πόλις αὕτη, ἔτι δὲ καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις τοῖς πλησιοχώροις ἔθνεσιν ἐπιφανεῖς ἑορτὰς καὶ θυσίας γενέσθαι τούτῳ τῷ θεῷ καὶ πολλοὺς τόπους ἐπωνύμους αὐτοῦ γενέσθαι. διὰ δὲ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῆς εὐνομίας ἀδίκημα μὲν μηδὲν ὅλως ὑπὸ μηδενὸς σνντελεῖσθαι, πάντας δὲ τοὺς ὑπὸ τὴν ἡγεμονίαν τούτου τεταγμένους μακάριον βίον ἐζηκέναι, πάσης ἡδονῆς ἀνεμποδίστως ἀπολαύοντας. περὶ δὲ τούτων καὶ τὸν ποιητὴν Ἡσίοδον ἐπιμαρτυρεῖν ἐν τοῖσδε τοῖς ἔπεσιν· οἱ μὲν ἐπὶ Κρόνου ἦσαν, ὅτʼ οὐρανῷ ἐμβασίλευεν, ὥστε θεοὶ δʼ ἔζωον, ἀκηδέα θυμὸν ἔχοντες, νόσφιν ἄτερ τε κακῶν καὶ ἄτερ χαλεποῖο πόνοιο νούσων τʼ ἀργαλέων καὶ ἀπήμονες, οὐδὲ μέλεσσι γῆρας ἐπῆν, αἰεὶ δὲ πόδας καὶ χεῖρας ὁμοῖοι τέρποντʼ ἐν θαλίῃσι κακῶν ἔκτοσθεν ἐόντες· θνῆσκον δʼ ὡς ὕπνῳ δεδμημένοι. ἄλλα τε πολλὰ τοῖσιν ἔην· καρπὸν δʼ ἔφερε ζείδωρος ἄρουρα αὐτομάτη πολλόν τε καὶ ἄφθονον· οἱ δʼ ἐπὶ γαίῃ εὔφρονες ἔργʼ ἐνέμοντο σὺν ἐσθλοῖσιν πολέεσσιν, ἀφνειοὶ μήλοισι, φίλοι μακάρεσσι θεοῖσι. περὶ μὲν οὖν Κρόνου τοιαῦτα μυθολογοῦσιν.
The myth the Cretans relate runs like this: When the Curetes were young men, the Titans, as they are called, were still living. These Titans had their dwelling in the land about Cnosus, at the place where even to this day men point out foundations of a house of Rhea and a cypress grove, which has been consecrated to her from ancient times. 2 The Titans numbered six men and five women, being born, as certain writers of myths relate, of Uranus and Ge, but according to others, of one of the Curetes and Titaea, from whom as their mother they derive the name they have. The males were Cronus, Hyperion, Coeus, Iapetus, Crius, and Oceanus, and their sisters were Rhea, Themis, Mnemosyne, Phoebe, and Tethys. Each one of them was the discoverer of things of benefit to mankind, and because of the benefaction they conferred upon all men they were accorded honours and everlasting fame. 4 Cronus, since he was the eldest of the Titans, became king and caused all men who were his subjects to change from a rude way of living to a civilized life, and visited many regions of the inhabited earth. Among all he met he introduced justice and sincerity of soul, and this is why the tradition has come down to later generations that the men of Cronus' time were good-hearted, altogether guileless, and blest with felicity. His kingdom was strongest in the western regions, where indeed he enjoyed his greatest honour; consequently, down even to comparatively recent times, among the Romans and the Carthaginians, while their city still stood, and other neighbouring peoples, notable festivals and sacrifices were celebrated in honour of this god and many places bore his name. 6 And because of the exceptional obedience to laws no injustice was committed by any one at any time and all the subjects of the rule of Cronus lived a life of blessedness, in the unhindered enjoyment of every pleasure. To this the poet Hesiod also bears witness in the following words: And they who were of Cronus' day, what time He reigned in heav'n, lived like the gods, no care In heart, remote and free from ills and toils Severe, from grievous sicknesses and cares; Old age lay not upon their limbs, but they, Equal in strength of leg and arm, enjoyed Endless delight of feasting far from ills, And when death came, they sank in it as in A sleep. And many other things were theirs: Grain-giving earth, unploughed, bore for them fruit Abundantly and without stint; and glad Of heart they dwelt upon their tilth throughout The earth, in midst of blessings manifold, Rich in their flocks, loved by the blessed gods. This, then, is what the myths have to say about Cronus.
§ 5.67
Ὑπερίονα δέ φασι τοῦ τε ἡλίου τὴν κίνησιν καὶ σελήνης καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἄστρων, ἔτι δὲ τὰς ὥρας τὰς συντελουμένας ὑπὸ τούτων, πρῶτον ἐξ ἐπιμελείας καὶ παρατηρήσεως κατανοήσαντα τοῖς ἄλλοις εἰς γνῶσιν παραδοῦναι, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο αὐτὸν πατέρα τούτων ὀνομασθῆναι, καθαπερεὶ γεγεννηκότα τὴν τούτων θεωρίαν καὶ φύσιν. καὶ Κοίου μὲν καὶ Φοίβης Λητὼ γενέσθαι, Ἰαπετοῦ δὲ Προμηθέα τὸν παραδεδομένον μὲν ὑπό τινων μυθογράφων ὅτι τὸ πῦρ κλέψας παρὰ τῶν θεῶν ἔδωκε τοῖς ἀνθρώποις, πρὸς δʼ ἀλήθειαν εὑρετὴν γενόμενον τῶν πυρείων, ἐξ ὧν ἐκκάεται τὸ πῦρ. τῶν δὲ Τιτανίδων φασὶ Μνημοσύνην λογισμοὺς εὑρεῖν καὶ τὰς τῶν ὀνομάτων θέσεις ἑκάστῳ τῶν ὄντων τάξαι, διʼ ὧν καὶ δηλοῦμεν ἕκαστα καὶ πρὸς ἀλλήλους ὁμιλοῦμεν· ἅ τινες τὸν Ἑρμῆν φασιν εἰσηγήσασθαι. προσάπτουσι δὲ τῇ θεῷ ταύτῃ καὶ τὰ πρὸς ἀνανέωσιν καὶ μνήμην γινόμενα παρὰ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις, ἀφʼ ὧν δὴ καὶ τῆς προσηγορίας τυχεῖν αὐτὴν ταύτης. Θέμιν δὲ μυθολογοῦσι μαντείας καὶ θυσίας καὶ θεσμοὺς τοὺς περὶ τῶν θεῶν πρώτην εἰσηγήσασθαι καὶ τὰ περὶ τὴν εὐνομίαν καὶ εἰρήνην καταδεῖξαι. διὸ καὶ θεσμοφύλακας καὶ θεσμοθέτας ὀνομάζεσθαι τοὺς τὰ περὶ τοὺς θεοὺς ὅσια καὶ τοὺς τῶν ἀνθρώπων νόμους διαφυλάττοντας· καὶ τὸν Ἀπόλλω, καθʼ ὃν δὴ χρόνον τοὺς χρησμοὺς διδόναι μέλλει, θεμιστεύειν λέγομεν ἀπὸ τοῦ τὴν Θέμιν εὑρέτριαν γεγονέναι τῶν χρησμῶν. οὗτοι μὲν οὖν οἱ θεοὶ πολλὰ τὸν ἀνθρώπινον βίον εὐεργετήσαντες οὐ μόνον ἀθανάτων τιμῶν ἠξιώθησαν, ἀλλὰ καὶ πρῶτοι τὸν Ὄλυμπον ἐνομίσθησαν οἰκεῖν μετὰ τὴν ἐξ ἀνθρώπων μετάστασιν.
Of Hyperion we are told that he was the first to understand, by diligent attention and observation, the movement of both the sun and the moon and the other stars, and the seasons as well, in that they are caused by these bodies, and to make these facts known to others; and that for this reason he was called the father of these bodies, since he had begotten, so to speak, the speculation about them and their nature. 2 To Coeus and Phoebe was born Leto, and to Iapetus was born Prometheus, of whom tradition tells us, as some writers of myths record, that he stole fire from the gods and gave it to mankind, though the truth is that he was the discoverer of those things which give forth fire and from which it may be kindled. Of the female Titans they say that Mnemosyne discovered the uses of the power of reason, and that she gave a designation to every object about us by means of the names which we use to express whatever we would and to hold conversation with another; though there are those who attribute these discoveries to Hermes. And to this goddess is also attributed the power to call things to memory and to remembrance (mneme) which men possess, and it is this power which gave her the name she received. 4 Themis, the myths tell us, was the first to introduce divinations and sacrifices and the ordinances which concern the gods, and to instruct men in the ways of obedience to laws and of peace. Consequently men who preserve what is holy with respect to the gods and the laws of men are called "law-guardians" (thesmophulakes) and "lawgivers" (thesmothetai), and we say that Apollo, at the moment when he is to return the oracular responses, is "issuing laws and ordinances" (themisteuein), in view of the fact that Themis was the discoveress of oracular responses. And so these gods, by reason of the many benefactions which they conferred upon the life of man, were not only accorded immortal honours, but it was also believed that they were the first to make their home on Mount Olympus after they had been translated from among men.
§ 5.68
Κρόνου δὲ καὶ Ῥέας λέγεται γενέσθαι τήν τε Ἑστίαν καὶ Δήμητραν καὶ Ἥραν, ἔτι δὲ Δία καὶ Ποσειδῶνα καὶ Ἅιδην. τούτων δὲ λέγεται τὴν μὲν Ἑστίαν τὴν τῶν οἰκιῶν κατασκευὴν εὑρεῖν, καὶ διὰ τὴν εὐεργεσίαν ταύτην παρὰ πᾶσι σχεδὸν ἀνθρώποις ἐν πάσαις οἰκίαις καθιδρυθῆναι, τιμῶν καὶ θυσιῶν τυγχάνουσαν· Δήμητραν δέ, τοῦ σίτου φυομένου μὲν ὡς ἔτυχε μετὰ τῆς ἄλλης βοτάνης, ἀγνοουμένου δὲ παρʼ ἀνθρώποις, πρώτην συγκομίσαι καὶ τὴν κατεργασίαν αὐτοῦ καὶ φυλακὴν ἐπινοῆσαι καὶ σπείρειν καταδεῖξαι. εὑρεῖν μὲν οὖν αὐτὴν τὸν σῖτον πρὸ τοῦ γεννῆσαι τὴν θυγατέρα Φερσεφόνην, μετὰ δὲ τὴν ταύτης γένεσιν καὶ τὴν ὑπὸ Πλούτωνος ἁρπαγὴν ἐμπρῆσαι πάντα τὸν καρπὸν διά τε τὴν ἔχθραν τὴν πρὸς τὸν Δία καὶ τὴν ἐπὶ τῇ θυγατρὶ λύπην. μετὰ δὲ τὴν εὕρεσιν τῆς Φερσεφόνης διαλλαγῆναί τε τῷ Διὶ καὶ τῷ Τριπτολέμῳ ἀποδοῦναι τὸν τοῦ σίτου σπόρον, ᾧ συντάξαι πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις μεταδοῦναι τῆς τε δωρεᾶς καὶ τὰ περὶ τὴν ἐργασίαν τοῦ σπόρου διδάξαι. λέγουσι δέ τινες ὅτι καὶ νόμους εἰσηγήσατο, καθʼ οὓς ἀλλήλοις τὸ δίκαιον διδόναι συνειθίσθησαν ἄνθρωποι, καὶ τὴν παραδοῦσαν αὐτοῖς θεὰν θεσμοφόρον ἀπὸ τούτων προσηγόρευσαν. μεγίστων γὰρ ἀγαθῶν ἀνθρώποις αἰτίαν γενομένην ἐπιφανεστάτων τυχεῖν τιμῶν καὶ θυσιῶν, ἔτι δʼ ἑορτῶν καὶ πανηγύρεων μεγαλοπρεπῶν, οὐ παρʼ Ἕλλησι μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ παρὰ πᾶσι σχεδὸν τοῖς βαρβάροις, ὅσοι τῆς τροφῆς ταύτης ἐκοινώνησαν.
To Cronus and Rhea, we are told, were born Hestia, Demeter, and Hera, and Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades. Of these, they say, Hestia discovered how to build houses, and because of this benefaction of hers practically all men have established her shrine in every home, according her honours and sacrifices. And Demeter, since the corn still grew wild together with the other plants and was still unknown to men, was the first to gather it in, to devise how to prepare and preserve it, and to instruct mankind how to sow it. 2 Now she had discovered the corn before she gave birth to her daughter Persephone, but after the birth of her daughter and the rape of her by Pluton, she burned all the fruit of the corn, both because of her anger at Zeus and because of her grief over her daughter. After she had found Persephone, however, she became reconciled with Zeus and gave Triptolemus the corn to sow, instructing him both to share the gift with men everywhere and to teach them everything concerned with the labour of sowing. And some men say that it was she also who introduced laws, by obedience to which men have become accustomed to deal justly with one another, and that mankind has called this goddess Thesmophoros after the laws which she gave them. And since Demeter has been responsible for the greatest blessings to mankind, she has been accorded the most notable honours and sacrifices, and magnificent feasts and festivals as well, not only by the Greeks, but also by almost all barbarians who have partaken of this kind of food.
§ 5.69
ἀμφισβητοῦσι δὲ περὶ τῆς εὑρέσεως τοῦ καρποῦ τούτου πολλοί, τὴν θεὸν φάμενοι παρʼ αὑτοῖς πρώτοις ὀφθῆναι καὶ τὴν τούτου φύσιν τε καὶ χρῆσιν καταδεῖξαι. Αἰγύπτιοι μὲν γὰρ λέγουσι τήν τε Δήμητραν καὶ τὴν Ἶσιν τὴν αὐτὴν εἶναι, καὶ εἰς Αἴγυπτον ἐνεγκεῖν τὸ σπέρμα πρώτην, ἀρδεύοντος μὲν εὐκαίρως τὰ πεδία τοῦ Νείλου ποταμοῦ, ταῖς δʼ ὥραις ἄριστα τῆς χώρας ταύτης κεκραμένης. τοὺς δʼ Ἀθηναίους, καίπερ ἀποφαινομένους τὴν εὕρεσιν τοῦ καρποῦ τούτου γεγενημένην παρʼ αὑτοῖς, ὅμως μαρτυρεῖν αὐτὸν ἑτέρωθεν κεκομισμένον εἰς τὴν Ἀττικήν· τὸν γὰρ τόπον τὸν ἐξ ἀρχῆς δεξάμενον τὴν δωρεὰν ταύτην Ἐλευσῖνα προσαγορεύειν ἀπὸ τοῦ παρʼ ἑτέρων ἐλθεῖν τὸ σπέρμα τοῦ σίτου κομισθέν. οἱ δὲ Σικελιῶται, νῆσον ἱερὰν Δήμητρος καὶ Κόρης οἰκοῦντες, εἰκὸς εἶναί φασι τὴν δωρεὰν ταύτην πρώτοις τοῖς τὴν προσφιλεστάτην χώραν νεμομένοις δοθῆναι· ἄτοπον μὲν γὰρ ὑπάρχειν εὐκαρποτάτην αὐτὴν ὡς ἰδίαν ποιῆσαι, τῆς δʼ εὐεργεσίας ὡς μηδὲν προσηκούσῃ μηδʼ ἐσχάτῃ μεταδοῦναι, καὶ ταῦτʼ ἐν αὐτῇ τὴν οἴκησιν ἔχουσαν, εἴπερ καὶ τῆς Κόρης τὴν ἁρπαγὴν ἐν τῇ νήσῳ ταύτῃ γεγονέναι συμπεφώνηται. εἶναι δὲ καὶ τὴν χώραν οἰκειοτάτην τούτοις τοῖς καρποῖς, ἐν ᾗ καὶ τὸν ποιητὴν λέγειν ἀλλὰ τά γʼ ἄσπαρτα καὶ ἀνήροτα πάντα φύονται, πυροὶ καὶ κριθαί. περὶ μὲν οὖν Δήμητρος τοιαῦτα μυθολογοῦσι. τῶν δʼ ἄλλων θεῶν τῶν ἐκ Κρόνου καὶ Ῥέας γενομένων φασὶν οἱ Κρῆτες Ποσειδῶνα μὲν πρῶτον χρήσασθαι ταῖς κατὰ θάλατταν ἐργασίαις καὶ στόλους συστήσασθαι, παραδόντος αὐτῷ τὴν ἡγεμονίαν ταύτην τοῦ Κρόνου· διὸ καὶ παραδίδοσθαι τοῖς ἐπιγινομένοις τοῦτον κύριον ὑπάρχειν τῶν κατὰ θάλατταν πραττομένων καὶ θυσίαις ὑπὸ τῶν ναυτιλλομένων τιμᾶσθαι. προσάπτουσι δʼ αὐτῷ καὶ τὸ τοὺς ἵππους δαμάσαι πρῶτον καὶ τὴν ἐπιστήμην καταδεῖξαι τὴν περὶ τὴν ἱππικήν, ἀφʼ ἧς ἵππιον αὐτὸν ὠνομάσθαι. τὸν δʼ Ἅιδην λέγεται τὰ περὶ τὰς ταφὰς καὶ τὰς ἐκφορὰς καὶ τιμὰς τῶν τεθνεώτων καταδεῖξαι, τὸν πρὸ τοῦ χρόνον μηδεμιᾶς οὔσης ἐπιμελείας περὶ αὐτούς· διὸ καὶ τῶν τετελευτηκότων ὁ θεὸς οὗτος παρείληπται κυριεύειν, ἀπονεμηθείσης τὸ παλαιὸν αὐτῷ τῆς τούτων ἀρχῆς καὶ φροντίδος.
There is dispute about the discovery of the fruit of the corn on the part of many peoples, who claim that they were the first among whom the goddess was seen and to whom she made known both the nature and use of the corn. The Egyptians, for example, say that Demeter and Isis are the same, and that she was first to bring the seed to Egypt, since the river Nile waters the fields at the proper time and that land enjoys the most temperate seasons. 2 Also the Athenians, though they assert that the discovery of this fruit took place in their country, are nevertheless witnesses to its having been brought to Attica from some other region; for the place which originally received this gift they call Eleusis, from the fact that the seed of the corn came from others and was conveyed to them. But the inhabitants of Sicily, dwelling as they do on an island which is sacred to Demeter and Core, say that it is reasonable to believe that the gift of which we are speaking was made to them first, since the land they cultivate is the one the goddess holds most dear; for it would be strange indeed, they maintain, for the goddess to take for her own, so to speak, a land which is the most fertile known and yet to give it, the last of all, a share in her benefaction, as though it were nothing to her, especially since she has her dwelling there, all men agreeing that the Rape of Core took place on this island. Moreover, this land is the best adapted for these fruits, even as the poet also says: But all these things grow there for them unsown And e'en untilled, both wheat and barley. This, then, is what the myths have to say about Demeter. 4 As for the rest of the gods who were born to Cronus and Rhea, the Cretans say that Poseidon was the first to concern himself with sea-faring and to fit out fleets, Cronus having given him the lordship in such matters; and this is why the tradition has been passed along to succeeding generations that he controls whatever is done on the sea, and why mariners honour him by means of sacrifices. Men further bestow upon Poseidon the distinction of having been the first to tame horses and to introduce the knowledge of horsemanship (hippike), because of which he is called "Hippius." And of Hades it is said that he laid down the rules which are concerned with burials and funerals and the honours which are paid to the dead, no concern having been given to the dead before this time; and this is why tradition tells us that Hades is lord of the dead, since there were assigned to him in ancient times the first offices in such matters and the concern for them.
§ 5.70
περὶ δὲ τῆς τοῦ Διὸς γενέσεώς τε καὶ βασιλείας διαφωνεῖται· καί τινες μέν φασιν αὐτὸν μετὰ τὴν ἐξ ἀνθρώπων τοῦ Κρόνου μετάστασιν εἰς θεοὺς διαδέξασθαι τὴν βασιλείαν, οὐ βίᾳ κατισχύσαντα τὸν πατέρα, νομίμως δὲ καὶ δικαίως ἀξιωθέντα ταύτης τῆς τιμῆς· τινὲς δὲ μυθολογοῦσι τῷ Κρόνῳ γενέσθαι λόγιον περὶ τῆς τοῦ Διὸς γενέσεως, ὅτι παραιρήσεται τὴν βασιλείαν αὐτοῦ βιαίως ὁ γεννηθεὶς παῖς. διόπερ τὸν μὲν Κρόνον τὰ γεννώμενα παιδία πλεονάκις ἀφανίζειν, τὴν δὲ Ῥέαν ἀγανακτήσασαν, καὶ μὴ δυναμένην μεταθεῖναι τὴν προαίρεσιν τἀνδρός, τὸν Δία τεκοῦσαν ἐν τῇ προσαγορευομένῃ Ἴδῃ κλέψαι καὶ δοῦναι λάθρᾳ τοῖς Κούρησιν ἐκθρέψαι τοῖς κατοικοῦσι πλησίον ὄρους τῆς Ἴδης. τούτους δ ἀπενέγκαντας εἴς τι ἄντρον παραδοῦναι ταῖς Νύμφαις, παρακελευσαμένους τὴν πᾶσαν ἐπιμέλειαν αὐτοῦ ποιεῖσθαι. αὗται δὲ μέλι καὶ γάλα μίσγουσαι τὸ παιδίον ἔθρεψαν καὶ τῆς αἰγὸς τῆς ὀνομαζομένης Ἀμαλθείας τὸν μαστὸν εἰς διατροφὴν παρείχοντο. σημεῖα δὲ πολλὰ μέχρι τοῦ νῦν διαμένειν τῆς γενέσεως καὶ διατροφῆς τοῦ θεοῦ τούτου κατὰ τὴν νῆσον. φερομένου μὲν γὰρ ὑπὸ τῶν Κουρήτων αὐτοῦ νηπίου φασὶν ἀποπεσεῖν τὸν ὀμφαλὸν περὶ τὸν ποταμὸν τὸν καλούμενον Τρίτωνα, καὶ τὸ χωρίον τε τοῦτο καθιερωθὲν ἀπὸ τοῦ τότε συμβάντος Ὀμφαλὸν προσαγορευθῆναι καὶ τὸ περικείμενον πεδίον ὁμοίως Ὀμφάλειον. κατὰ δὲ τὴν Ἴδην, ἐν ᾗ συνέβη τραφῆναι τὸν θεόν, τό τε ἄντρον ἐν ᾧ τὴν δίαιταν εἶχε καθιέρωται καὶ οἱ περὶ αὐτὸ λειμῶνες ὁμοίως ἀνεῖνται περὶ τὴν ἀκρώρειαν ὄντες. τὸ δὲ πάντων παραδοξότατον καὶ μυθολογούμενον περὶ τῶν μελιττῶν οὐκ ἄξιον παραλιπεῖν· τὸν γὰρ θεόν φασιν ἀθάνατον μνήμην τῆς πρὸς αὐτὰς οἰκειότητος διαφυλάξαι βουλόμενον ἀλλάξαι μὲν τὴν χρόαν αὐτῶν καὶ ποιῆσαι χαλκῷ χρυσοειδεῖ παραπλησίαν, τοῦ τόπου δʼ ὄντος ὑψηλοῦ καθʼ ὑπερβολήν, καὶ πνευμάτων τε μεγάλων ἐν αὐτῷ γινομένων καὶ χιόνος πολλῆς πιπτούσης, ἀνεπαισθήτους αὐτὰς καὶ ἀπαθεῖς ποιῆσαι, δυσχειμερωτάτους τόπους νεμομένας. τῇ θρεψάσῃ δʼ αἰγὶ τιμάς τέ τινας ἄλλας ἀπονεῖμαι καὶ τὴν ἐπωνυμίαν ἀπʼ αὐτῆς λαβεῖν, αἰγίοχον ἐπονομασθέντα. ἀνδρωθέντα δʼ αὐτόν φασι πρῶτον πόλιν κτίσαι περὶ τὴν Δίκταν, ὅπου καὶ τὴν γένεσιν αὐτοῦ γενέσθαι μυθολογοῦσιν· ἧς ἐκλειφθείσης ἐν τοῖς ὕστερον χρόνοις διαμένειν ἔτι καὶ νῦν ἕρματα τῶν θεμελίων.
Regarding the birth of Zeus and the manner in which he came to be king, there is no agreement. Some say that he succeeded to the kingship after Cronus passed from among men into the company of the gods, not by overcoming his father with violence, but in the manner prescribed by custom and justly, having been judged worthy of that honour. But others recount a myth, which runs as follows: There was delivered to Cronus an oracle regarding the birth of Zeus which stated that the son who would be born to him would wrest the kingship from him by force. 2 Consequently Cronus time and again did away with the children whom he begot; but Rhea, grieved as she was, and yet lacking the power to change her husband's purpose, when she had given birth to Zeus, concealed him in Ide, as it is called, and, without the knowledge of Cronus, entrusted the rearing of him to the Curetes who dwelt in the neighbourhood of Mount Ide. The Curetes bore him off to a certain cave where they gave him over to the Nymphs, with the command that they should minister to his every need. And the Nymphs nurtured the child on a mixture of honey and milk and gave him upbringing at the udder of the goat which was named Amaltheia. And many evidences of the birth and upbringing of this god remain to this day on the island. 4 For instance, when he was being carried away, while still an infant, by the Curetes, they say that the umbilical cord (omphalos) fell from him near the river known as Triton, and that this spot has been made sacred and has been called Omphalus after that incident, while in like manner the plain about it is known as Omphaleium. And on Mount Ide, where the god was nurtured, both the cave in which he spent his days has been made sacred to him, and the meadows round about it, which lie upon the ridges of the mountain, have in like manner been consecrated to him. But the most astonishing of all that which the myth relates has to do with the bees, and we should not omit to mention it: The god, they say, wishing to preserve an immortal memorial of his close association with the bees, changed the colour of them, making it like copper with the gleam of gold, and since the region lay at a very great altitude, where fierce winds blew about it and heavy snows fell, he made the bees insensible to such things and unaffected by them, since they must range over the most wintry stretches. 6 To the goat (aeg-) which suckled him Zeus also accorded certain honours, and in particular took from it a surname, being called Aegiochus. And when he had attained to manhood he founded first a city in Dicta, where indeed the myth states that he was born; in later times this city was abandoned, but some stone blocks of its foundations are still preserved.
§ 5.71
διενέγκαι δὲ τὸν θεὸν τοῦτον ἁπάντων ἀνδρείᾳ καὶ συνέσει καὶ δικαιοσύνῃ καὶ ταῖς ἄλλαις ἁπάσαις ἀρεταῖς· διὸ καὶ παραλαβόντα τὴν βασιλείαν παρὰ τοῦ Κρόνου πλεῖστα καὶ μέγιστα τὸν ἀνθρώπινον βίον εὐεργετῆσαι. πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ ἁπάντων καταδεῖξαι περὶ τῶν ἀδικημάτων τὸ δίκαιον ἀλλήλοις διδόναι τοὺς ἀνθρώπους καὶ τοῦ βίᾳ τι πράττειν ἀποστῆσαι, κρίσει δὲ καὶ δικαστηρίῳ τὰς ἀμφισβητήσεις διαλύειν. καθόλου δὲ τὰ περί τε τῆς εὐνομίας καὶ τῆς εἰρήνης προσαναπληρῶσαι, τοὺς μὲν ἀγαθοὺς πείθοντα, τοὺς δὲ φαύλους τῇ τιμωρίᾳ καὶ τῷ φόβῳ καταπληττόμενον. ἐπελθεῖν δʼ αὐτὸν καὶ τὴν οἰκουμένην σχεδὸν πᾶσαν τοὺς μὲν λῃστὰς καὶ ἀσεβεῖς ἀναιροῦντα, τὴν δʼ ἰσότητα καὶ τὴν δημοκρατίαν εἰσηγούμενον· ὅτε δή φασιν αὐτὸν καὶ τοὺς γίγαντας ἀνελεῖν, ἐν μὲν Κρήτῃ τοὺς περὶ Μύλινον, κατὰ δὲ τὴν Φρυγίαν τοὺς περὶ Τυφῶνα. πρὸ δὲ τῆς μάχης τῆς πρὸς τοὺς ἐν Κρήτῃ γίγαντας λέγεται τὸν Δία θῦσαι βοῦν Ἡλίῳ καὶ Οὐρανῷ καὶ Γῇ· ἐπὶ δὲ τῶν ἱερῶν ἁπάντων φανῆναι τὰ περὶ τούτων ἐπικριθέντα ἐπισημαίνεται κράτος καὶ ἀπόστασις ἀπὸ τῶν πολεμίων πρὸς αὐτούς. ἀκόλουθον δὲ τούτοις γενέσθαι τοῦ πολέμου τὸ τέλος· αὐτομολῆσαι μὲν γὰρ ἐκ τῶν πολεμίων Μουσαῖον, καὶ τυχεῖν ὡρισμένων τιμῶν, κατακοπῆναι δʼ ὑπὸ τῶν θεῶν ἅπαντας τοὺς ἀντιταξαμένους. συστῆναι δὲ καὶ ἄλλους πολέμους αὐτῷ πρὸς γίγαντας, τῆς μὲν Μακεδονίας περὶ τὴν Παλλήνην, τῆς δʼ Ἰταλίας κατὰ τὸ πεδίον, ὃ τὸ μὲν παλαιὸν ἀπὸ τοῦ κατακεκαυμένου τόπου Φλεγραῖον ὠνομάζετο, κατὰ δὲ τοὺς ὕστερον χρόνους Κυμαῖον προσηγόρευον. κολασθῆναι δὲ τοὺς γίγαντας ὑπὸ Διὸς διὰ τὴν εἰς τοὺς ἄλλους ἀνθρώπους παρανομίαν καὶ διὰ τὸ ταῖς τοῦ σώματος ὑπεροχαῖς καὶ ῥώμαις πεποιθότας καταδουλοῦσθαι μὲν τοὺς πλησιοχώρους, ἀπειθεῖν δὲ τοῖς περὶ τοῦ δικαίου τιθεμένοις νόμοις, πόλεμον δʼ ἐκφέρειν πρὸς τοὺς διὰ τὰς κοινὰς εὐεργεσίας ὑπὸ πάντων θεοὺς νομιζομένους. τὸν δʼ οὖν Δία λέγουσι μὴ μόνον ἄρδην ἐξ ἀνθρώπων ἀφανίσαι τοὺς ἀσεβεῖς καὶ πονηρούς, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῖς ἀρίστοις τῶν θεῶν καὶ ἡρώων, ἔτι δʼ ἀνδρῶν τὰς ἀξίας ἀπονεῖμαι τιμάς. διὰ δὲ τὸ μέγεθος τῶν εὐεργεσιῶν καὶ τὴν ὑπεροχὴν τῆς δυνάμεως συμφώνως αὐτῷ παρὰ πάντων συγκεχωρῆσθαι τήν τε βασιλείαν εἰς τὸν ἀεὶ χρόνον καὶ τὴν οἴκησιν τὴν ἐν Ὀλύμπῳ.
Now Zeus, the myth goes on to say, surpassed all others in manly spirit and wisdom and justice and in the other virtues one and all, and, as a consequence, when he took over the kingly power from Cronus, he conferred benefactions of the greatest number and importance upon the life of mankind. He was the first of all, for instance, to lay down rules regarding acts of injustice and to teach men to deal justly one with another, to refrain from deeds of violence, and to settle their differences by appeals to men and to courts of justice. In short, he contributed in abundance to the practices which are concerned with obedience to law and with peace, prevailing upon good men by persuasion and intimidating evil men by threat of punishment and by their fear. 2 He also visited practically the entire inhabited earth, putting to death robbers and impious men and introducing equality and democracy; and it was in this connection, they say, that he slew the Giants and their followers, Mylinus in Crete and Typhon in Phrygia. Before the battle against the Giants in Crete, we are told, Zeus sacrificed a bull to Helius and to Uranus and to Ge; and in connection each of the rites there was revealed to him what was the will of the gods in the affair, the omens indicating the victory of the gods and a defection to them of the enemy. And the outcome of the war accorded with the omens; for Musaeus deserted to him from the enemy, for which he was accorded peculiar honours, and all who opposed them were cut down by the gods. 4 Zeus also had other wars against the Giants, we are told, in Macedonia near Pallene and in Italy on the plain which of old was named Phlegraean ("fiery") after the region about it which had been burned, but which in later times men called Cumaean. Now the Giants were punished by Zeus because they had treated the rest of mankind in a lawless fashion and, confiding in their bodily superiority and strength, had enslaved their neighbours, and because they were also disobeying the rules of justice which he was laying down and were raising up war against those whom all mankind considered to be gods because of the benefactions they were conferring upon men generally. 6 Zeus, then, we are told, not only totally eradicated the impious and evil-doers from among mankind, but he also distributed honours as they were merited among the noblest of the gods and heroes and men. And because of the magnitude of his benefactions and his superior power all men accorded to him as with one voice both the everlasting kingship which he possesses and his dwelling upon Mount Olympus.
§ 5.72
καταδειχθῆναι δὲ καὶ θυσίας αὐτῷ συντελεῖν ὑπὲρ τοὺς ἄλλους ἅπαντας, καὶ μετὰ τὴν ἐκ γῆς μετάστασιν εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν ἐγγενέσθαι δόξας δικαίους ἐν ταῖς τῶν εὖ πεπονθότων ψυχαῖς, ὡς ἁπάντων τῶν γινομένων κατʼ οὐρανὸν οὗτος εἴη κύριος, λέγω δʼ ὄμβρων τε καὶ βροντῶν καὶ κεραυνῶν καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν τοιούτων. διόπερ αὐτὸν προσαγορευθῆναι Ζῆνα μὲν ἀπὸ τοῦ δοκεῖν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις αἴτιον εἶναι τοῦ ζῆν, ταῖς ἐκ τοῦ περιέχοντος εὐκρασίαις τοὺς καρποὺς ἀνάγοντα πρὸς τέλος, πατέρα δὲ διὰ τὴν φροντίδα καὶ τὴν εὔνοιαν τὴν εἰς ἅπαντας, ἔτι δὲ καὶ τὸ δοκεῖν ὥσπερ ἀρχηγὸν εἶναι τοῦ γένους τῶν ἀνθρώπων, ὕπατον δὲ καὶ βασιλέα διὰ τὴν τῆς ἀρχῆς ὑπεροχήν, εὐβουλέα δὲ καὶ μητιέτην διὰ τὴν ἐν τῷ βουλεύεσθαι καλῶς σύνεσιν. μυθολογοῦσι δὲ καὶ τὴν Ἀθηνᾶν κατὰ τὴν Κρήτην ἐκ Διὸς ἐν ταῖς πηγαῖς τοῦ Τρίτωνος ποταμοῦ γεννηθῆναι· διὸ καὶ Τριτογένειαν ὀνομασθῆναι. ἔστι δὲ καὶ νῦν ἔτι περὶ τὰς πηγὰς ταύτας ἱερὸν ἅγιον τῆς θεοῦ ταύτης, ἐν ᾧ τόπῳ τὴν γένεσιν αὐτῆς ὑπάρξαι μυθολογοῦσι. λέγουσι δὲ καὶ τοὺς γάμους τοῦ τε Διὸς καὶ τῆς Ἥρας ἐν τῇ Κνωσίων χώρᾳ γενέσθαι κατά τινα τόπον πλησίον τοῦ Θήρηνος ποταμοῦ, καθʼ ὃν νῦν ἱερόν ἐστιν, ἐν ᾧ θυσίας κατʼ ἐνιαυτὸν ἁγίους ὑπὸ τῶν ἐγχωρίων συντελεῖσθαι, καὶ τοὺς γάμους ἀπομιμεῖσθαι, καθάπερ ἐξ ἀρχῆς γενέσθαι παρεδόθησαν. τοῦ δὲ Διὸς ἐκγόνους φασὶ γενέσθαι θεὰς μὲν Ἀφροδίτην καὶ Χάριτας, πρὸς δὲ ταύταις Εἰλείθυιαν καὶ τὴν ταύτης συνεργὸν Ἄρτεμιν, καὶ τὰς προσαγορευομένας Ὥρας, Εὐνομίαν τε καὶ Δίκην, ἔτι δʼ Εἰρήνην καὶ Ἀθηνᾶν καὶ Μοῦσας, θεοὺς δὲ Ἥφαιστον καὶ Ἄρην καὶ Ἀπόλλωνα, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις Ἑρμῆν καὶ Διόνυσον καὶ Ἡρακλέα.
And it was ordained, the myth continues, that sacrifices should be offered to Zeus surpassing those offered to all the other gods, and that, after he passed from earth into the heavens, a just belief should spring up in the souls of all who had received his benefactions that he is lord of all the phenomena of heaven, that is, both of rain and of thunder and of lightning and of everything else of that nature. 2 It is for this reason also that names have been given him: Zen, because in the opinion of mankind he is the cause of life (zen), bringing as he does the fruits to maturity by tempering the atmosphere; Father, because of the concern and goodwill he manifests toward all mankind, as well as because he is considered to be the first cause of the race of men; Most High and King, because of the preeminence of his rule; Good Counsellor and All-wise, because of the sagacity he manifests in the giving of wise counsel. Athena, the myths relate, was likewise begotten of Zeus in Crete, at the sources of the river Triton, this being the reason why she has been given the name Tritogeneia. And there stands, even to this day, at these sources a temple which is sacred to this goddess, at the spot where the myth relates that her birth took place. 4 Men say also that the marriage of Zeus and Hera was held in the territory of the Cnosians, at a place near the river Theren, where now a temple stands in which the natives of the place annually offer holy sacrifices and imitate the ceremony of the marriage, in the manner in which with tradition tells it was originally performed. To Zeus also were born, they say, the goddesses Aphrodite and the Graces, Eileithyia and her helper Artemis, the Horae, as they are called, Eunomia and Dike and Eirene, and Athena and the Muses, and the gods Hephaestus and Ares and Apollo, and Hermes and Dionysus and Heracles.
§ 5.73
τούτων δʼ ἑκάστῳ μυθολογοῦσι τὸν Δία τῶν εὑρεθέντων ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ καὶ συντελουμένων ἔργων τὰς ἐπιστήμας καὶ τὰς τιμὰς τῆς εὑρέσεως ἀπονεῖμαι, βουλόμενον αἰώνιον αὐτοῖς περιποιῆσαι μνήμην παρὰ πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις. παραδοθῆναι δὲ τῇ μὲν Ἀφροδίτῃ τήν τε τῶν παρθένων ἡλικίαν, ἐν οἷς χρόνοις δεῖ γαμεῖν αὐτάς, καὶ τὴν ἄλλην ἐπιμέλειαν τὴν ἔτι καὶ νῦν ἐν τοῖς γάμοις γινομένην μετὰ θυσιῶν καὶ σπονδῶν, ἃς ποιοῦσιν ἄνθρωποι τῇ θεῷ ταύτῃ. προθύουσι δὲ πρότερον ἅπαντες τῷ Διὶ τῷ τελείῳ καὶ Ἥρᾳ τελείᾳ διὰ τὸ τούτους ἀρχηγοὺς γεγονέναι καὶ πάντων εὑρετάς, καθότι προείρηται. ταῖς δὲ Χάρισι δοθῆναι τὴν τῆς ὄψεως κόσμησιν καὶ τὸ σχηματίζειν ἕκαστον μέρος τοῦ σώματος πρὸς τὸ βέλτιον καὶ προσηνὲς τοῖς θεωροῦσι, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις τὸ κατάρχειν εὐεργεσίας καὶ πάλιν ἀμείβεσθαι ταῖς προσηκούσαις χάρισι τοὺς εὖ ποιήσαντας. Εἰλείθυιαν δὲ λαβεῖν τὴν περὶ τὰς τικτούσας ἐπιμέλειαν καὶ θεραπείαν τῶν ἐν τῷ τίκτειν κακοπαθουσῶν. διὸ καὶ τὰς ἐν τοῖς τοιούτοις κινδυνευούσας γυναῖκας ἐπικαλεῖσθαι μάλιστα τὴν θεὸν ταύτην. Ἄρτεμιν δέ φασιν εὑρεῖν τὴν τῶν νηπίων παιδίων θεραπείαν καὶ τροφάς τινας ἁρμοζούσας τῇ φύσει τῶν βρεφῶν· ἀφʼ ἧς αἰτίας καὶ κουροτρόφον αὐτὴν ὀνομάζεσθαι. τῶν δʼ ὀνομαζομένων Ὡρῶν ἑκάστῃ δοθῆναι τὴν ἐπώνυμον τάξιν τε καὶ τοῦ βίου διακόσμησιν ἐπὶ τῇ μεγίστῃ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ὠφελείᾳ· μηδὲν γὰρ εἶναι μᾶλλον δυνάμενον εὐδαίμονα βίον παρασκευάσαι τῆς εὐνομίας καὶ δίκης καὶ εἰρήνης. Ἀθηνᾷ δὲ προσάπτουσι τήν τε τῶν ἐλαιῶν ἡμέρωσιν καὶ φυτείαν παραδοῦναι τοῖς ἀνθρώποις καὶ τὴν τοῦ καρποῦ τούτου κατεργασίαν· πρὸ γὰρ τοῦ γενέσθαι τὴν θεὸν ταύτην ὑπάρξαι μὲν τὸ γένος τοῦτο τῶν δένδρων μετὰ τῆς ἄλλης ἀγρίας ὕλης, τὴν μέντοι γʼ ἐπιμέλειαν ταύτης οὐκ εἶναι καὶ τὴν ἐμπειρίαν τὴν ἔτι καὶ νῦν γινομένην περὶ τούτων. πρὸς δὲ τούτοις τὴν τῆς ἐσθῆτος κατασκευὴν καὶ τὴν τεκτονικὴν τέχνην, ἔτι δὲ πολλὰ τῶν ἐν ταῖς ἄλλαις ἐπιστήμαις εἰσηγήσασθαι τοῖς ἀνθρώποις· εὑρεῖν δὲ καὶ τὴν τῶν αὐλῶν κατασκευὴν καὶ τὴν διὰ τούτων συντελουμένην μουσικὴν καὶ τὸ σύνολον πολλὰ τῶν φιλοτέχνων ἔργων, ἀφʼ ὧν ἐργάνην αὐτὴν προσαγορεύεσθαι.
To each one of the deities we have named, the myth goes on to relate, Zeus imparted the knowledge of the things which he had discovered and was perfecting, and likewise assigned to them the honour of their discovery, wishing in this way with to endow them with immortal fame among all mankind. 2 To Aphrodite was entrusted the youth of maidens, the years in which they are expected to marry, and the supervision of such matters as are observed even yet in connection with weddings, together with the sacrifices and drink-offerings which men perform to this goddess. Nevertheless, all men make their first sacrifices to Zeus the Perfecter and Hera the Perfectress, because they are the originators and discoverers of all things, as we have stated above. To the Graces was given the adornment of personal appearance and the beautifying of each part of the body with an eye to making it more comely and pleasing to the gaze, and the further privilege of being the first to bestow benefactions and, on the other hand, of requiting with appropriate favours such men as have performed good acts. 4 Eileithyia received the care of expectant mothers and the alleviation of the travail of childbirth; and for this reason women when they are in perils of this nature call first of all upon this goddess. And Artemis, we are told, discovered how to effect the healing of young children and the foods which are suitable to the nature of babes, this being the reason why she is also called Kourotrophos. 6 And as for the Horae, as they are called, to each of them, according as her name indicates, was given the ordering and adornment of life, so as to serve to the greatest advantage of mankind; for there is nothing which is better able to build a life of felicity than obedience to law (Eunomia) and justice (Dike) and peace (Eirene). 7 To Athena men ascribe the gift to mankind of the domestication and cultivation of the olive-tree, as well as the preparation of its fruit; for before the birth of this goddess this kind of tree was found only along with the other wild woody growths, and this goddess is the source of the care and the experience which men even to this day devote to these trees. 8 Furthermore, Athena introduced among mankind the making of clothing and carpentry and many of the devices which are used in the other arts; and she also was the discoverer of the making of the pipes and of the music which they produce and, in a word, of many works of cunning device, from which she derives her name of Worker.
§ 5.74
ταῖς δὲ Μούσαις δοθῆναι παρὰ τοῦ πατρὸς τὴν τῶν γραμμάτων εὕρεσιν καὶ τὴν τῶν ἐπῶν σύνθεσιν τὴν προσαγορευομένην ποιητικήν. πρὸς δὲ τοὺς λέγοντας, ὅτι Σύροι μὲν εὑρεταὶ τῶν γραμμάτων εἰσί, παρὰ δὲ τούτων Φοίνικες μαθόντες τοῖς Ἕλλησι παραδεδώκασιν, οὗτοι δʼ εἰσὶν οἱ μετὰ Κάδμου πλεύσαντες εἰς τὴν Εὐρώπην, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο τοὺς Ἕλληνας τὰ γράμματα Φοινίκεια προσαγορεύειν, φασὶ τοὺς Φοίνικας οὐκ ἐξ ἀρχῆς εὑρεῖν, ἀλλὰ τοὺς τύπους τῶν γραμμάτων μεταθεῖναι μόνον, καὶ τῇ τε γραφῇ ταύτῃ τοὺς πλείστους τῶν ἀνθρώπων χρήσασθαι καὶ διὰ τοῦτο τυχεῖν τῆς προειρημένης προσηγορίας. Ἥφαιστον δὲ λέγουσιν εὑρετὴν γενέσθαι τῆς περὶ τὸν σίδηρον ἐργασίας ἁπάσης καὶ τῆς περὶ τὸν χαλκὸν καὶ χρυσὸν καὶ ἄργυρον καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ὅσα τὴν ἐκ τοῦ πυρὸς ἐργασίαν ἐπιδέχεται, καὶ τὰς ἄλλας δὲ χρείας τὰς τοῦ πυρὸς ἁπάσας προσεξευρεῖν καὶ παραδοῦναι τοῖς τε τὰς τέχνας ἐργαζομένοις καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἅπασιν ἀνθρώποις· διόπερ οἱ τῶν τεχνῶν τούτων δημιουργοὶ τὰς εὐχὰς καὶ θυσίας τούτῳ τῷ θεῷ μάλιστα ποιοῦσι, καὶ τὸ πῦρ οὗτοί τε καὶ πάντες ἄνθρωποι προσαγορεύουσιν Ἥφαιστον, εἰς μνήμην καὶ τιμὴν ἀθάνατον τιθέμενοι τὴν ἐξ ἀρχῆς τῷ κοινῷ βίῳ δεδομένην εὐεργεσίαν. τὸν Ἄρην δὲ μυθολογοῦσι πρῶτον κατασκευάσαι πανοπλίαν καὶ στρατιώτας καθοπλίσαι καὶ τὴν ἐν ταῖς μάχαις ἐναγώνιον ἐνέργειαν εἰσηγήσασθαι, φονεύοντα τοὺς ἀπειθοῦντας τοῖς θεοῖς. Ἀπόλλωνα δὲ τῆς κιθάρας εὑρετὴν ἀναγορεύουσι καὶ τῆς κατʼ αὐτὴν μουσικῆς· ἔτι δὲ τὴν ἰατρικὴν ἐπιστήμην ἐξενεγκεῖν διὰ τῆς μαντικῆς τέχνης γινομένην, διʼ ἧς τὸ παλαιὸν συνέβαινε θεραπείας τυγχάνειν τοὺς ἀρρωστοῦντας· εὑρετὴν δὲ καὶ τοῦ τόξου γενόμενον διδάξαι τοὺς ἐγχωρίους τὰ περὶ τὴν τοξείαν, ἀφʼ ἧς αἰτίας μάλιστα παρὰ τοῖς Κρησὶν ἐζηλῶσθαι τὴν τοξικὴν καὶ τὸ τόξον Κρητικὸν ὀνομασθῆναι. Ἀπόλλωνος δὲ καὶ Κορωνίδος Ἀσκληπιὸν γενηθέντα, καὶ πολλὰ παρὰ τοῦ πατρὸς τῶν εἰς ἰατρικὴν μαθόντα, προσεξευρεῖν τήν τε χειρουργίαν καὶ τὰς τῶν φαρμάκων σκευασίας καὶ ῥιζῶν δυνάμεις, καὶ καθόλου προβιβάσαι τὴν τέχνην ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον, ὥστε ὡς ἀρχηγὸν αὐτῆς καὶ κτίστην τιμᾶσθαι.
To the Muses, we are further told, it was given by their father Zeus to discover the letters and to combine words in the way which is designated poetry. And in reply to those who say that the Syrians are the discoverers of the letters, the Phoenicians having learned them from the Syrians and then passed them on to the Greeks, and that these Phoenicians are those who sailed to Europe together with Cadmus and this is the reason why the Greeks call the letters "Phoenician," men tell us, on the other hand, that the Phoenicians were not the first to make this discovery, but that they did no more than to change the forms of the letters, whereupon the majority of mankind made use of the way of writing them as the Phoenicians devised it, and so the letters received the designation we have mentioned above. 2 Hephaestus, we are told, was the discoverer of every manner of working iron and copper and gold and silver and everything else which requires fire for working, and he also discovered all the other uses to be made of fire and turned them over both to the workers in the crafts and to all other men as well. Consequently the workmen who are skilled in these crafts offer up prayers and sacrifices to this god before all others, and both they and all mankind as well call the fire "Hephaestus," handing down in this way to eternal remembrance and honour the benefaction which was bestowed in the beginning upon man's social life. 4 Ares, the myths record, was the first to make a suit of armour, to fit out soldiers with arms, and to introduce the battle's fury of contest, slaying himself those who were disobedient to the gods. And of Apollo men recount that he was the discoverer of the lyre and of the music which is got from it; that he introduced the knowledge of healing, which is brought about through the faculty of prophecy, whereby it was the practice in ancient times that the sick were healed; and as the discoverer of the bow he taught the people of the land all about the use of the bow, this being the reason why the art of archery is especially cultivated by the Cretans and the bow is called "Cretan." 6 To Apollo and Coronis was born Asclepius, who learned from his father many matters which pertain to the healing art, and then went on to discover the art of surgery and the preparations of drugs and the strength to be found in roots, and, speaking generally, he introduced such advances into the healing art that he is honoured as if he were its source and founder.
§ 5.75
τῷ δʼ Ἑρμῇ προσάπτουσι τὰς ἐν τοῖς πολέμοις γινομένας ἐπικηρυκείας καὶ διαλλαγὰς καὶ σπονδὰς καὶ τὸ τούτων σύσσημον κηρύκειον, ὃ φορεῖν εἰώθασιν οἱ περὶ τῶν τοιούτων τοὺς λόγους ποιούμενοι καὶ διὰ τούτου τυγχάνοντες παρὰ τοῖς πολεμίοις ἀσφαλείας· ὅθεν δὴ καὶ κοινὸν Ἑρμῆν ὠνομάσθαι, διὰ τὸ τὴν ὠφέλειαν ἀμφοτέροις εἶναι κοινὴν τοῖς ἐν τῷ πολέμῳ τὴν εἰρήνην μεταλαμβάνουσι. φασὶ δʼ αὐτὸν καὶ μέτρα καὶ σταθμὰ καὶ τὰ διὰ τῆς ἐμπορίας κέρδη πρῶτον ἐπινοῆσαι καὶ τὸ λάθρᾳ τὰ τῶν ἄλλων σφετερίζεσθαι. παραδεδόσθαι δʼ αὐτὸν καὶ κήρυκα τῶν θεῶν, ἔτι δʼ ἄγγελον ἄριστον διὰ τὸ σαφῶς αὐτὸν ἕκαστα τῶν εἰς ἐντολὴν δοθέντων ἑρμηνεύειν· ἀφʼ οὗ καὶ τετευχέναι τῆς προσηγορίας αὐτὸν ταύτης, οὐχ εὑρετὴν τῶν ὀνομάτων καὶ λέξεων γενόμενον, ὥς τινές φασιν, ἀλλὰ τὸ τῆς ἀπαγγελίας ἄρτιον καὶ σαφὲς ἐκπεπονηκότα περιττότερον τῶν ἄλλων. εἰσηγητὴν δʼ αὐτὸν καὶ παλαίστρας γενέσθαι, καὶ τὴν ἀπὸ τῆς χελώνης λύραν ἐπινοῆσαι μετὰ τὴν Ἀπόλλωνος πρὸς Μαρσύαν σύγκρισιν, καθʼ ἣν λέγεται τὸν Ἀπόλλωνα νικήσαντα καὶ τιμωρίαν ὑπὲρ τὴν ἀξίαν λαβόντα παρὰ τοῦ λειφθέντος μεταμεληθῆναι, καὶ τὰς ἐκ τῆς κιθάρας χορδὰς ἐκρήξαντα μέχρι τινὸς χρόνου τῆς ἐν αὐτῇ μουσικῆς ἀποστῆναι. Διόνυσον δὲ μυθολογοῦσιν εὑρετὴν γενέσθαι τῆς τʼ ἀμπέλου καὶ τῆς περὶ ταύτην ἐργασίας, ἔτι δʼ οἰνοποιίας καὶ τοῦ πολλοὺς τῶν ἐκ τῆς ὀπώρας καρπῶν ἀποθησαυρίζεσθαι καὶ τὰς χρείας καὶ τὰς τροφὰς παρέχεσθαι τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἐπὶ πολὺν χρόνον. τοῦτον δὲ τὸν θεὸν γεγονέναι φασὶν ἐκ Διὸς καὶ Φερσεφόνης κατὰ τὴν Κρήτην, ὃν Ὀρφεὺς κατὰ τὰς τελετὰς παρέδωκε διασπώμενον ὑπὸ τῶν Τιτάνων· πλείονας γὰρ Διονύσους συμβαίνει γεγονέναι, περὶ ὧν ἡμεῖς σαφέστερον τὰ κατὰ μέρος ἐν οἰκειοτέροις καιροῖς ἀναγεγράφαμεν. οἱ δʼ οὖν Κρῆτες τῆς παρʼ αὐτοῖς γενέσεως τοῦ θεοῦ πειρῶνται σημεῖα φέρειν, λέγοντες ὅτι περὶ τὴν Κρήτην δύο νήσους κτίσας ἐπὶ τῶν καλουμένων διδύμων κόλπων Διονυσιάδας ἀφʼ ἑαυτοῦ προσηγόρευσεν, ὅπερ μηδαμοῦ τῆς οἰκουμένης αὐτὸν ἑτέρωθι πεποιηκέναι.
To Hermes men ascribe the introduction of the sending of embassies to sue for peace, as they are used in wars, and negotiations and truces and also the herald's wand, as a token of such matters, which is customarily borne by those who are carrying on conversations touching affairs of this kind and who, by means of it, are accorded safe conduct by the enemy; and this is the reason why he has been given the name "Hermes Koinos" because the benefit is common (koine) to both the parties when they exchange peace in time of war. 2 They also say that he was the first to devise measures and weights and the profits to be gained through merchandising, and how also to appropriate the property of others all unknown to them. Tradition also says that he is the herald of the gods and their most trusted messenger, because of his ability to express clearly (hermeneuein) each command that has been given him; and this is the reason why he has received the name he bears, not because he was the discoverer of words and of speech, as some men say, but because he has perfected, to a higher degree than all others, the art of the precise and clear statement of a message. He also introduced wrestling-schools and invented the lyre out of a tortoise-shell after the contest in skill between Apollo and Marsyas, in which, we are told, Apollo was victorious and thereupon exacted an excessive punishment of his defeated adversary, but he afterwards repented of this and, tearing the strings from the lyre, for a time had nothing to do with its music. 4 As for Dionysus, the myths state that he discovered the vine and its cultivation, and also how to make wine and to store away many of the autumn fruits and thus to provide mankind with the use of them as food over a long time. This god was born in Crete, men say, of Zeus and Persephone, and Orpheus has handed down the tradition in the initiatory rites that he was torn in pieces by the Titans. And the fact is that there have been several who bore the name Dionysus, regarding whom we have given a detailed account at greater length in connection with the more appropriate period of time. The Cretans, however, undertake to advance evidences that the god was born in their country, stating that he formed two islands near Crete in the Twin Gulfs, as they are called, and called them after himself Dionysiadae, a thing which he has done, they say, nowhere else in the inhabited earth.
§ 5.76
Ἡρακλέα δὲ μυθολογοῦσιν ἐκ Διὸς γενέσθαι παμπόλλοις ἔτεσι πρότερον τοῦ γεννηθέντος περὶ τὴν Ἀργείαν ἐξ Ἀλκμήνης. τοῦτον δὲ μητρὸς μὲν μὴ παρειληφέναι τίνος ἦν, αὐτὸ δὲ μόνον ὅτι ῥώμῃ σώματος πολὺ τῶν ἁπάντων διενεγκὼν ἐπῆλθε τὴν οἰκουμένην, κολάζων μὲν τοὺς ἀδίκους, ἀναιρῶν δὲ τὰ τὴν χώραν ἀοίκητον ποιοῦντα θηρία· πᾶσι δʼ ἀνθρώποις τὴν ἐλευθερίαν περιποιήσας ἀήττητος μὲν ἐγένετο καὶ ἄτρωτος, διὰ δὲ τὰς εὐεργεσίας ἀθανάτου τιμῆς ἔτυχε παρʼ ἀνθρώποις. τὸν δʼ ἐξ Ἀλκμήνης Ἡρακλέα παντελῶς νεώτερον ὄντα, καὶ ζηλωτὴν γενόμενον τῆς τοῦ παλαιοῦ προαιρέσεως, διὰ τὰς αὐτὰς αἰτίας τυχεῖν τε τῆς ἀθανασίας καὶ χρόνων ἐγγενομένων διὰ τὴν ὁμωνυμίαν δόξαι τὸν αὐτὸν εἶναι, καὶ τὰς τοῦ προτέρου πράξεις εἰς τοῦτον μεταπεσεῖν, ἀγνοούντων τῶν πολλῶν τἀληθές. ὁμολογοῦσι δὲ τοῦ παλαιοτέρου θεοῦ κατὰ τὴν Αἴγυπτον πράξεις τε καὶ τιμὰς ἐπιφανεστάτας διαμένειν καὶ πόλιν ὑπʼ ἐκείνου κτισθεῖσαν. Βριτόμαρτιν δὲ τὴν προσαγορευομένην Δίκτυνναν μυθολογοῦσι γενέσθαι μὲν ἐν Καινοῖ τῆς Κρήτης ἐκ Διὸς καὶ Κάρμης τῆς Εὐβούλου τοῦ γεννηθέντος ἐκ Δήμητρος· ταύτην δʼ εὑρέτιν γενομένην δικτύων τῶν εἰς κυνηγίαν προσαγορευθῆναι Δίκτυνναν, καὶ τὰς μὲν διατριβὰς ποιήσασθαι μετὰ τῆς Ἀρτέμιδος, ἀφʼ ἧς αἰτίας ἐνίους δοκεῖν τὴν αὐτὴν εἶναι Δίκτυννάν τε καὶ Ἄρτεμιν, θυσίαις δὲ καὶ ναῶν κατασκευαῖς τετιμῆσθαι παρὰ τοῖς Κρησὶ τὴν θεὸν ταύτην. τοὺς δʼ ἱστοροῦντας αὐτὴν ὠνομάσθαι Δίκτυνναν ἀπὸ τοῦ συμφυγεῖν εἰς ἁλιευτικὰ δίκτυα, διωκομένην ὑπὸ Μίνω συνουσίας ἕνεκα, διημαρτηκέναι τῆς ἀληθείας· οὔτε γὰρ τὴν θεὸν εἰς τοιαύτην ἀσθένειαν ἐλθεῖν πιθανὸν ὑπάρχειν ὥστε προσδεηθῆναι τῆς παρʼ ἀνθρώπων βοηθείας, τοῦ μεγίστου τῶν θεῶν οὖσαν θυγατέρα, οὔτε τῷ Μίνῳ δίκαιον προσάπτειν τοιαύτην ἀσέβειαν, παραδεδομένῳ συμφώνως δικαίαν προαίρεσιν καὶ βίον ἐπαινούμενον ἐζηλωκέναι.
Of Heracles the myths relate that he was sprung from Zeus many years before that Heracles who was born of Alcmene. As for this son of Zeus, tradition has not given us the name of his mother, but only states that he far excelled all others in vigour of body, and that he visited the inhabited earth, inflicting punishment upon the unjust and destroying the wild beasts which were making the land uninhabitable; for men everywhere he won their freedom, while remaining himself unconquered and unwounded, and because of his good deeds he attained to immortal honour at the hands of mankind. 2 The Heracles who was born of Alcmene was very much later, and, since he emulated the plan of life of the ancient Heracles, for the same reasons he attained to immortality, and, as time were on, he was thought by men to be the same as the other Heracles because both bore the same name, and the deeds of the earlier Heracles were transferred to the later one, the majority of men being ignorant of the actual facts. And it is generally agreed that the most renowned deeds and honours which belong to the older god were concerned with Egypt, and that these, together with a city which he founded, are still known in that country. Britomartis, who is also called Dictynna, the myths relate, was born at Caeno in Crete of Zeus and Carme, the daughter of Eubulus who was the son of Demeter; she invented the nets (dictya) which are used in hunting, whence she has been called Dictynna, and she passed her time in the company of Artemis, this being the reason why some men think Dictynna and Artemis are one and the same goddess; and the Cretans have instituted sacrifices and built temples in honour of this goddess. 4 But those men who tell the tale that she has been named Dictynna because she fled into some fishermen's nets when she was pursued by Minos, who would have ravished her, have missed the truth; for it is not a probable story that the goddess should ever have got into so helpless a state that she would have required the aid that men can give, being as she is the daughter of the greatest one of the gods, nor is it right to ascribe such an impious deed to Minos, who tradition unanimously declares avowed just principles and strove to attain a manner of life which was approved by men.
§ 5.77
πλοῦτον δὲ γενέσθαι φασὶν ἐν Τριπόλῳ τῆς Κρήτης ἐκ Δήμητρος καὶ Ἰασίωνος, διττῶς ἱστορουμένης αὐτοῦ τῆς γενέσεως. οἱ μὲν γάρ φασι τὴν γῆν σπαρεῖσαν ὑπὸ Ἰασίωνος καὶ τυγχάνουσαν ἐπιμελείας τῆς προσηκούσης ἀνεῖναι τοσοῦτο πλῆθος καρπῶν, ὥστε τοὺς ἰδόντας ἴδιον ὄνομα θέσθαι τῷ πλήθει τῶν γενομένων καρπῶν καὶ προσαγορεῦσαι πλοῦτον· διὸ καὶ τοῖς ἐπιγινομένοις παραδόσιμον γενέσθαι τὸ τοὺς πλείω τῶν ἱκανῶν κτησαμένους ἔχειν πλοῦτον. ἔνιοι δὲ μυθολογοῦσιν ἐκ Δήμητρος καὶ Ἰασίωνος γενέσθαι παῖδα Πλοῦτον ὀνομαζόμενον, ὃν πρῶτον ἐπιμέλειαν βίου καὶ χρημάτων ἀθροισμὸν καὶ φυλακὴν εἰσηγήσασθαι, τῶν πρὸ τοῦ πάντων ὀλιγώρως ἐχόντων περὶ τὸ σωρεύειν καὶ τηρεῖν ἐπιμελῶς χρημάτων πλῆθος. περὶ μὲν οὖν τῶν θεῶν οἱ Κρῆτες τῶν παρʼ αὐτοῖς λεγομένων γεννηθῆναι τοιαῦτα μυθολογοῦσι· τὰς δὲ τιμὰς καὶ θυσίας καὶ τὰς περὶ τὰ μυστήρια τελετὰς ἐκ Κρήτης εἰς τοὺς ἄλλους ἀνθρώπους παραδεδόσθαι λέγοντες τοῦτο φέρουσιν, ὡς οἴονται, μέγιστον τεκμήριον· τήν τε γὰρ παρʼ Ἀθηναίοις ἐν Ἐλευσῖνι γινομένην τελετήν, ἐπιφανεστάτην σχεδὸν οὖσαν ἁπασῶν, καὶ τὴν ἐν Σαμοθρᾴκῃ καὶ τὴν ἐν Θρᾴκῃ ἐν τοῖς Κίκοσιν, ὅθεν ὁ καταδείξας Ὀρφεὺς ἦν, μυστικῶς παραδίδοσθαι, κατὰ δὲ τὴν Κρήτην ἐν Κνωσῷ νόμιμον ἐξ ἀρχαίων εἶναι φανερῶς τὰς τελετὰς ταύτας πᾶσι παραδίδοσθαι, καὶ τὰ παρὰ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἐν ἀπορρήτῳ παραδιδόμενα παρʼ αὐτοῖς μηδένα κρύπτειν τῶν βουλομένων τὰ τοιαῦτα γινώσκειν. τῶν γὰρ θεῶν φασι τοὺς πλείστους ἐκ τῆς Κρήτης ὁρμηθέντας ἐπιέναι πολλὰ μέρη τῆς οἰκουμένης, εὐεργετοῦντας τὰ γένη τῶν ἀνθρώπων καὶ μεταδιδόντας ἑκάστοις τῆς ἐκ τῶν ἰδίων εὑρημάτων ὠφελείας. Δήμητραν μὲν γὰρ περαιωθεῖσαν εἰς τὴν Ἀττικὴν ἐκεῖθεν εἰς Σικελίαν ἀπᾶραι, καὶ μετὰ ταῦτʼ εἰς Αἴγυπτον· ἐν δὲ τούτοις τοῖς τόποις μάλιστα τὸν τοῦ σίτου καρπὸν παραδοῦσαν καὶ τὰ περὶ τὸν σπόρον διδάξασαν μεγάλων τιμῶν τυχεῖν παρὰ τοῖς εὖ παθοῦσιν. ὁμοίως δʼ Ἀφροδίτην ἐνδιατρῖψαι τῆς μὲν Σικελίας περὶ τὸν Ἔρυκα, τῶν δὲ νήσων περὶ Κύθηρα καὶ Πάφον τῆς Κύπρου, τῆς δὲ Ἀσίας περὶ τὴν Συρίαν· διὰ δὲ τὴν ἐπιφάνειαν καὶ τὴν ἐπὶ πλέον ἐπιδημίαν αὐτῆς τοὺς ἐγχωρίους ἐξιδιάζεσθαι τὴν θεόν, καλοῦντας Ἀφροδίτην Ἐρυκίνην καὶ Κυθέρειαν καὶ Παφίαν, ἔτι δὲ καὶ Συρίαν. ὡσαύτως δὲ τὸν μὲν Ἀπόλλωνα πλεῖστον χρόνον φανῆναι περὶ Δῆλον καὶ Λυκίαν καὶ Δελφούς, τὴν δʼ Ἄρτεμιν περὶ τὴν Ἔφεσον καὶ τὸν Πόντον, ἔτι δὲ τὴν Περσίδα καὶ τὴν Κρήτην· διόπερ ἀπὸ τῶν τόπων ἢ πράξεων τῶν παρʼ ἑκάστοις συντελεσθεισῶν τὸν μὲν Δήλιον καὶ Λύκιον καὶ Πύθιον ὀνομάζεσθαι, τὴν δʼ Ἐφεσίαν καὶ Κρησίαν, ἔτι δὲ Ταυροπόλον καὶ Περσίαν, ἀμφοτέρων ἐν Κρήτῃ γεγεννημένων. τιμᾶται δὲ καὶ παρὰ τοῖς Πέρσαις ἡ θεὸς αὕτη διαφερόντως, καὶ μυστήρια ποιοῦσιν οἱ βάρβαροι, συντελούμενα παρʼ ἑτέροις μέχρι τῶν νῦν χρόνων Ἀρτέμιδι Περσίᾳ. παραπλήσια δὲ μυθολογοῦσι καὶ περὶ τῶν ἄλλων θεῶν, περὶ ὧν ἡμῖν ἀναγράφειν μακρὸν ἂν εἴη, τοῖς δʼ ἀναγινώσκουσι παντελῶς ἀσύνοπτον.
Plutus, we are told, was born in Cretan Tripolus to Demeter and Iasion, and there is a double account of his origin. For some men say that the earth, when it was sowed once by Iasion and given proper cultivation, brought forth such an abundance of fruits that those who saw this bestowed a special name upon the abundance of fruits when they appear and called it plutus (wealth); consequently it has become traditional among later generations to say that men who have acquired more than they actually need have plutus. 2 But there are some who recount the myth that a son was born to Demeter and Iasion whom they named Plutus, and that he was the first to introduce diligence into the life of man and the acquisition and safeguarding of property, all men up to that time having been neglectful of amassing and guarding diligently any store of property. Such, then, are the myths which the Cretans recount of the gods who they claim were born in their land. They also assert that the honours accorded to the gods and their sacrifices and the initiatory rites observed in connection with the mysteries were handed down from Crete to the rest of men, and to support this they advance the following most weighty argument, as they conceive it: The initiatory rite which is celebrated by the Athenians in Eleusis, the most famous, one may venture, of them all, and that of Samothrace, and the one practised in Thrace among the Cicones, whence Orpheus came who introduced them — these are all handed down in the form of a mystery, whereas at Cnosus in Crete it has been the custom for ancient times that these initiatory rites should be handed down to all openly, and what is handed down among other peoples as not to be divulged, this the Cretans conceal from no one who may wish to inform himself upon such matters. 4 Indeed, the majority of the gods, the Cretans say, had their beginning in Crete and set out from there to visit many regions of the inhabited world, conferring benefactions upon the races of men and distributing among each of them the advantage which resulted from the discoveries they had made. Demeter, for example, crossed over into Attica and then removed from there to Sicily and afterwards to Egypt; and in these lands her choicest gift was that of the fruit of the corn and instructions in the sowing of it, whereupon she received great honours at the hands of those whom she had benefited. Likewise Aphrodite made her seat in Sicily in the region of Eryx, among the islands near Cythera and in Paphos in Cyprus, and in Asia in Syria; because of the manifestation of the goddess in their country and her extended sojourn among them the inhabitants of the lands appropriated her to themselves, calling her, as the case might be, Erycinian Aphrodite, and Cytherian, and Paphian, and Syrian. 6 And in the same manner Apollo revealed himself for the longest time in Delos and Lycia and Delphi, and Artemis in Ephesus and the Pontus and Persis and Crete; 7 and the consequence has been that, either from the names of these regions or as a result of the deeds which they performed in each of them, Apollo has been called Delian and Lycian and Pythian, and Aphrodite has been called Ephesian and Cretan and Tauropolian and Persian, although both of them were born in Crete. 8 And this goddess is held in special honour among the Persians, and the barbarians hold mysteries which are performed among other peoples even down to this day in honour of the Persian Artemis. And similar myths are also recounted by the Cretans regarding the other gods, but to draw up an account of them would be a long task for us, and it would not be easily grasped by our readers.
§ 5.78
μετὰ δὲ τὰς τῶν θεῶν γενέσεις ὕστερον πολλαῖς γενεαῖς φασι γενέσθαι κατὰ τὴν Κρήτην ἥρωας οὐκ ὀλίγους, ὧν ὑπάρχειν ἐπιφανεστάτους τοὺς περὶ Μίνω καὶ Ῥαδάμανθυν καὶ Σαρπηδόνα. τούτους γὰρ μυθολογοῦσιν ἐκ Διὸς γεγεννῆσθαι καὶ τῆς Ἀγήνορος Εὐρώπης, ἥν φασιν ἐπὶ ταύρου διακομισθῆναι προνοίᾳ θεῶν εἰς τὴν Κρήτην. Μίνω μὲν οὖν πρεσβύτατον ὄντα βασιλεῦσαι τῆς νήσου, καὶ κτίσαι πόλεις οὐκ ὀλίγας ἐν αὐτῇ, τούτων δʼ ἐπιφανεστάτας τρεῖς, Κνωσὸν μὲν ἐν τοῖς πρὸς τὴν Ἀσίαν νεύουσι μέρεσι τῆς νήσου, Φαιστὸν δʼ ἐπὶ θαλάττης ἐστραμμένην ἐπὶ μεσημβρίαν, Κυδωνίαν δʼ ἐν τοῖς πρὸς ἑσπέραν κεκλιμένοις τόποις κατʼ ἀντικρὺ τῆς Πελοποννήσου. θεῖναι δὲ καὶ νόμους τοῖς Κρησὶν οὐκ ὀλίγους, προσποιούμενον παρὰ Διὸς τοῦ πατρὸς λαμβάνειν, συνερχόμενον εἰς λόγους αὐτῷ κατά τι σπήλαιον. κτήσασθαι δὲ καὶ δύναμιν ναυτικὴν μεγάλην, καὶ τῶν τε νήσων τὰς πλείστας καταστρέψασθαι καὶ πρῶτον τῶν Ἑλλήνων θαλαττοκρατῆσαι. μεγάλην δὲ δόξαν περιποιησάμενον ἐπʼ ἀνδρείᾳ καὶ δικαιοσύνῃ, καταστρέψαι τὸν βίον ἐν Σικελίᾳ κατὰ τὴν ἐπὶ Κώκαλον στρατείαν, περὶ ἧς τὰ κατὰ μέρος ἀνεγράψαμεν ὅτε τὰ περὶ Δαίδαλον ἀνεγράφομεν, διʼ ὃν καὶ τὴν στρατείαν συνέβη γενέσθαι.
Many generations after the birth of the gods, the Cretans go on to say, not a few heroes were to be found in Crete, the most renowned of whom were Minos and Rhadamanthys and Sarpedon. These men, their myth states, were born of Zeus and Europe, the daughter of Agenor, who, men say, was brought across to Crete upon the back of a bull by the design of the gods. 2 Now Minos, by virtue of his being the eldest, became king of the island, and he founded on it not a few cities, the most renowned of which were the three, Cnosus in those parts of the island which look toward Asia, Phaestus on the sea-shore to the south, and Cydonia in the regions to the west facing the Peloponnesus. And Minos established not a few laws for the Cretans, claiming that he had received them from his father Zeus when conversing with him in a certain cave. Furthermore, he came to possess a great naval power, and he subdued the majority of the islands and was the first man among the Greeks to be master of the sea. 4 And after he had gained great renown for his manly spirit and justice, he ended his life in Sicily in the course of his campaign against Cocalus, the details of which we have recounted in connection with our account of Daedalus, because of whom the campaign was made.
§ 5.79
Ῥαδάμανθυν δὲ λέγουσι τάς τε κρίσεις πάντων δικαιοτάτας πεποιῆσθαι καὶ τοῖς λῃσταῖς καὶ ἀσεβέσι καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις κακούργοις ἀπαραίτητον ἐπενηνοχέναι τιμωρίαν. κατακτήσασθαι δὲ καὶ νήσους οὐκ ὀλίγας καὶ τῆς Ἀσίας πολλὴν τῆς παραθαλαττίου χώρας, ἁπάντων ἑκουσίως παραδιδόντων ἑαυτοὺς διὰ τὴν δικαιοσύνην. τὸν δὲ Ῥαδάμανθυν Ἐρύθρῳ μὲν ἑνὶ τῶν αὑτοῦ παίδων παραδοῦναι τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν διʼ ἐκεῖνον Ἐρυθρῶν ὀνομασθεισῶν, Οἰνοπίωνι δὲ τῷ Ἀριάδνης τῆς Μίνω Χίον ἐγχειρίσαι φασίν, ὃν ἔνιοι μυθολογοῦσι Διονύσου γενόμενον μαθεῖν παρὰ τοῦ πατρὸς τὰ περὶ τὴν οἰνοποιίαν. τῶν δʼ ἄλλων τῶν περὶ αὐτὸν ἡγεμόνων ἑκάστῳ νῆσον ἢ πόλιν δωρήσασθαι λέγουσι τὸν Ῥαδάμανθυν, Θόαντι μὲν Λῆμνον, Ἐνυεῖ δὲ Κύρνον, Σταφύλῳ δὲ Πεπάρηθον, Εὐάνθει δὲ Μαρώνειαν, Ἀλκαίῳ δὲ Πάρον, Ἀνίωνι δὲ Δῆλον, Ἀνδρεῖ δὲ τὴν ἀπʼ ἐκείνου κληθεῖσαν Ἄνδρον. διὰ δὲ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῆς περὶ αὐτὸν δικαιοσύνης μεμυθολογῆσθαι δικαστὴν αὐτὸν ἀποδεδεῖχθαι καθʼ ᾅδου καὶ διακρίνειν τοὺς εὐσεβεῖς καὶ τοὺς πονηρούς. τετευχέναι δὲ τῆς αὐτῆς τιμῆς καὶ τὸν Μίνω, βεβασιλευκότα νομιμώτατα καὶ μάλιστα δικαιοσύνης πεφροντικότα. τὸν δὲ τρίτον ἀδελφὸν Σαρπηδόνα φασὶ μετὰ δυνάμεως εἰς τὴν Ἀσίαν διαβάντα κατακτήσασθαι τοὺς περὶ Λυκίαν τόπους. Εὔανδρον δὲ γενόμενον υἱὸν αὐτοῦ διαδέξασθαι τὴν ἐν Λυκίᾳ βασιλείαν, καὶ γήμαντα Δηιδάμειαν τὴν Βελλεροφόντου τεκνῶσαι Σαρπηδόνα τὸν ἐπὶ Τροίαν μὲν στρατεύσαντα μετʼ Ἀγαμέμνονος, ὑπό τινων δὲ Διὸς υἱὸν ὀνομαζόμενον. Μίνῳ δέ φασιν υἱοὺς γενέσθαι Δευκαλίωνά τε καὶ Μόλον· καὶ Δευκαλίωνος μὲν Ἰδομενέα, Μόλου δὲ Μηριόνην ὑπάρξαι. τούτους δὲ ναυσὶν ἐνενήκοντα στρατεῦσαι μετʼ Ἀγαμέμνονος εἰς Ἴλιον, καὶ διασωθέντας εἰς τὴν πατρίδα τελευτῆσαι καὶ ταφῆς ἐπιφανοῦς ἀξιωθῆναι καὶ τιμῶν ἀθανάτων. καὶ τὸν τάφον αὐτῶν ἐν τῇ Κνωσῷ δεικνύουσιν, ἐπιγραφὴν ἔχοντα τοιάνδε, Κνωσίου Ἰδομενῆος ὅρα τάφον. αὐτὰρ ἐγώ τοι πλησίον ἵδρυμαι Μηριόνης ὁ Μόλου. τούτους μὲν οὖν ὡς ἥρωας ἐπιφανεῖς τιμῶσιν οἱ Κρῆτες διαφερόντως, θύοντες καὶ κατὰ τοὺς ἐν τοῖς πολέμοις κινδύνους ἐπικαλούμενοι βοηθούς.
Of Rhadamanthys the Cretans say that of all men he rendered the most just decisions and inflicted inexorable punishment upon robbers and impious men and all other malefactors. He came also to possess no small number of islands and a large part of the sea coast of Asia, all men delivering themselves into his hands of their free will because of his justice. Upon Erythrus, one of his sons, Rhadamanthys bestowed the kingship over the city which was named after him Erythrae, and to Oinopion, the son of Minos' daughter Ariadne, he gave Chios, we are told, although some writers of myths state that Oinopion was a son of Dionysus and learned from his father the art of making wine. 2 And to each one of his other generals, the Cretans say, he made a present of an island or a city, Lemnos to Thoas, Cyrnus to Enyeus, Peparethos to Staphylus, Maroneia to Euanthes, Paros to Alcaeus, Delos to Anion, and to Andreus the island which was named after him Andros. Moreover, because of his very great justice, the myth has sprung up that he was appointed to be judge in Hades, where his decisions separate the good from the wicked. And the same honour has also been attained by Minos, because he ruled wholly in accordance with law and paid the greatest heed to justice. The third brother, Sarpedon, we are told, crossed over into Asia with an army and subdued the regions about Lycia. Euandrus, his son, succeeded him in the kingship in Lycia, and marrying Deidameia, the daughter of Bellerophon, he begat that Sarpedon who took part in the expedition against Troy, although some writers have called him a son of Zeus. 4 Minos' sons, they say, were Deucalion and Molus, and to Deucalion was born Idomeneus and to Molus was born Meriones. These two joined with Agamemnon in the expedition against Ilium with ninety ships, when they had returned in safety to their fatherland they died and were accorded a notable burial and immortal honours. And the Cretans point out their tomb at Cnosus, which bears the following inscription: Behold Idomeneus the Cnosian's tomb, And by his side am I, Meriones, The son of Molus. These two the Cretans hold in special honour as heroes of renown, offering up sacrifices to them and calling upon them to come to their aid in the perils which arise in war.
§ 5.80
τούτων δʼ ἡμῖν διευκρινημένων λείπεται περὶ τῶν ἐπιμιχθέντων ἐθνῶν τοῖς Κρησὶ διελθεῖν. ὅτι μὲν οὖν πρῶτοι κατῴκησαν τὴν νῆσον οἱ προσαγορευθέντες μὲν Ἐτεόκρητες, δοκοῦντες δʼ ὑπάρχειν αὐτόχθονες, προειρήκαμεν· μετὰ δὲ τούτους πολλαῖς γενεαῖς ὕστερον Πελασγοὶ πλανώμενοι διὰ τὰς συνεχεῖς στρατείας καὶ μεταναστάσεις καταντήσαντες εἰς τὴν Κρήτην μέρος τῆς νήσου κατῴκησαν. τρίτον δὲ γένος φασὶ τῶν Δωριέων παραβαλεῖν εἰς τὴν νῆσον ἡγουμένου Τεκτάμου τοῦ Δώρου· τούτου δὲ τοῦ λαοῦ μέρος τὸ μὲν πλέον ἀθροισθῆναι λέγουσιν ἐκ τῶν περὶ τὸν Ὄλυμπον τόπων, τὸ δέ τι μέρος ἐκ τῶν κατὰ τὴν Λακωνικὴν Ἀχαιῶν διὰ τὸ τὴν ἀφορμὴν τὸν Δῶρον ἐκ τῶν περὶ Μαλέαν τόπων ποιῆσαι. τέταρτον δὲ γένος συμμιγῆναί φασιν εἰς τὴν Κρήτην μιγάδων βαρβάρων τῶν διὰ τὸν χρόνον ἐξομοιωθέντων τῇ διαλέκτῳ τοῖς ἐγχωρίοις Ἕλλησι. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τοὺς περὶ Μίνω καὶ Ῥαδάμανθυν ἰσχύσαντας ὑπὸ μίαν ἀγαγεῖν συντέλειαν τὰ ἔθνη τὰ κατὰ τὴν νῆσον. τὸ δὲ τελευταῖον μετὰ τὴν κάθοδον τῶν Ἡρακλειδῶν Ἀργεῖοι καὶ Λακεδαιμόνιοι πέμποντες ἀποικίας ἄλλας τέ τινας νήσους ἔκτισαν καὶ ταύτης τῆς νήσου κατακτησάμενοι πόλεις τινὰς ᾤκησαν ἐν αὐταῖς· περὶ ὧν τὰ κατὰ μέρος ἐν τοῖς ἰδίοις χρόνοις ἀναγράψομεν. ἐπεὶ δὲ τῶν τὰ Κρητικὰ γεγραφότων οἱ πλεῖστοι διαφωνοῦσι πρὸς ἀλλήλους, οὐ χρὴ θαυμάζειν ἐὰν μὴ πᾶσιν ὁμολογούμενα λέγωμεν· τοῖς γὰρ τὰ πιθανώτερα λέγουσι καὶ μάλιστα πιστευομένοις ἐπηκολουθήσαμεν, ἃ μὲν Ἐπιμενίδῃ τῷ θεολόγῳ προσσχόντες, ἃ δὲ Δωσιάδῃ καὶ Σωσικράτει καὶ Λαοσθενίδᾳ.
But now that we have examined these matters it remains for us to discuss the peoples who have become intermixed with the Cretans. That the first inhabitants of the island were known as Eteocretans and that they are considered to have sprung from the soil itself, we have stated before; and many generations after them Pelasgians, who were in movement by reason of their continuous expeditions and migrations, arrived at Crete and made their home in a part of the island. 2 The third people to cross over to the island, we are told, were Dorians, under the leadership of Tectamus the son of Dorus; and the account states that the larger number of these Dorians was gathered from the regions about Olympus, but that a part of them consisted of Achaeans from Laconia, since Dorus had fixed the base of his expedition in the region about Cape Malea. A fourth people to come to Crete and to become intermixed with the Cretans, we are told, was a heterogeneous collection of barbarians who in the course of time adopted the language of the native Greeks. But after these events Minos and Rhadamanthys, when they had attained to power, gathered the peoples on the island into one union. And last of all, after the Return of the Heracleidae, Argives and Lacedemonians sent forth colonies which they established on certain other islands and likewise took possession of Crete, and on these islands they colonized certain cities; with regard to these cities, however, we shall give a detailed account in connection with the period of time to which they belong. 4 And since the greatest number of writers who have written about Crete disagree among themselves, there should be no occasion for surprise if what we report should not agree with every one of them; we have, indeed, followed as our authorities those who give the more probable account and are the most trustworthy, in some matters depending upon Epimenides who has written about the gods, in others upon Dosiades, Sosicrates, and Laosthenidas.
§ 5.81
ἐπεὶ δὲ περὶ Κρήτης ἱκανῶς διήλθομεν, περὶ τῆς Λέσβου νῦν λέγειν ἐπιχειρήσομεν. ταύτην γὰρ τὴν νῆσον τὸ παλαιὸν ᾤκησε πλείω γένη, πολλῶν μεταναστάσεων ἐν αὐτῇ γενομένων. ἐρήμου γὰρ οὔσης αὐτῆς πρώτους Πελασγοὺς κατασχεῖν αὐτὴν τοιῷδέ τινι τρόπῳ. Ξάνθος ὁ Τριόπου τῶν ἐξ Ἄργους Πελασγῶν βασιλεύων, καὶ κατασχὼν μέρος τι τῆς Λυκίας χώρας, τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἐν αὐτῇ κατοικῶν ἐβασίλευε τῶν συνακολουθησάντων Πελασγῶν, ὕστερον δὲ περαιωθεὶς εἰς τὴν Λέσβον οὖσαν ἔρημον τὴν μὲν χώραν τοῖς λαοῖς ἐμέρισε, τὴν δὲ νῆσον ἀπὸ τῶν κατοικούντων αὐτὴν Πελασγίαν ὠνόμασε, τὸ πρὸ τοῦ καλουμένην Ἴσσαν. ὕστερον δὲ γενεαῖς ἑπτὰ γενομένου τοῦ κατὰ Δευκαλίωνα κατακλυσμοῦ καὶ πολλῶν ἀνθρώπων ἀπολομένων, συνέβη καὶ τὴν Λέσβον διὰ τὴν ἐπομβρίαν ἐρημωθῆναι. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Μακαρεὺς εἰς αὐτὴν ἀφικόμενος, καὶ τὸ κάλλος τῆς χώρας κατανοήσας, κατῴκησεν αὐτήν. ἦν δʼ ὁ Μακαρεὺς υἱὸς μὲν Κρινάκου τοῦ Διός, ὥς φησιν Ἡσίοδος καὶ ἄλλοι τινὲς τῶν ποιητῶν, κατοικῶν δʼ ἐν Ὠλένῳ τῆς τότε μὲν Ἰάδος, νῦν δʼ Ἀχαΐας καλουμένης. εἶχε δὲ λαοὺς ἠθροισμένους, τοὺς μὲν Ἴωνας, τοὺς δʼ ἐξ ἄλλων ἐθνῶν παντοδαπῶν συνερρυηκότας. καὶ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον τὴν Λέσβον κατῴκησε, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ἀεὶ μᾶλλον αὐξόμενος διά τε τὴν ἀρετὴν τῆς νήσου καὶ τὴν ἰδίαν ἐπιείκειάν τε καὶ δικαιοσύνην τὰς σύνεγγυς νήσους κατεκτᾶτο, καὶ διεμέριζε τὴν χώραν ἔρημον οὖσαν. κατὰ δὲ τούτους τοὺς χρόνους Λέσβος ὁ Λαπίθου τοῦ Αἰόλου τοῦ Ἱππότου κατά τι πυθόχρηστον μετʼ οἰκητόρων πλεύσας εἰς τὴν προειρημένην νῆσον, καὶ γήμας τὴν θυγατέρα τοῦ Μακαρέως Μήθυμναν, κοινῇ κατῴκησε, γενόμενος δʼ ἐπιφανὴς ἀνὴρ τήν τε νῆσον Λέσβον ὠνόμασεν ἀφʼ ἑαυτοῦ καὶ τοὺς λαοὺς Λεσβίους προσηγόρευσε. Μακαρεῖ δὲ θυγατέρες ἐγένοντο σὺν ἄλλαις Μυτιλήνη καὶ Μήθυμνα, ἀφʼ ὧν αἱ πόλεις ἔσχον τὴν προσηγορίαν. ὁ δὲ Μακαρεὺς ἐπιβαλλόμενος τὰς σύνεγγυς νήσους ἰδίας κατασκευάζειν ἐξέπεμψεν ἀποικίαν εἰς πρώτην τὴν Χίον, ἑνὶ τῶν ἑαυτοῦ παίδων παραδοὺς τὴν ἡγεμονίαν· μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα εἰς τὴν Σάμον ἕτερον ἐξέπεμψε τὸν ὀνομαζόμενον Κυδρόλαον, ὃς ἐν ταύτῃ κατοικήσας καὶ τὴν νῆσον κατακληρουχήσας ἐβασίλευεν αὐτῆς· τρίτην δὲ τὴν Κῶ κατοικίσας ἀπέδειξεν αὐτῆς βασιλέα Νέανδρον· ἑξῆς δʼ εἰς τὴν Ῥόδον Λεύκιππον ἐξέπεμψε μετὰ συχνῶν οἰκητόρων, οὓς οἱ τὴν Ῥόδον κατοικοῦντες διὰ τὴν σπάνιν τῶν ἀνδρῶν ἄσμενοι προσεδέξαντο καὶ κοινῇ τὴν νῆσον ᾤκησαν.
Now that we have discussed the subject of Crete at sufficient length, we shall undertake at this point to speak about Lesbos. This island has been inhabited in ancient times by many peoples, since it has been the scene of many migrations. The first people to seize it, while it was still uninhabited, was the Pelasgians, and in the following manner: 2 Xanthus, the son of Triopas, who was king of the Pelasgians of Argos, seized a portion of Lycia, and, making his home there, at the outset he became king over the Pelasgians who had accompanied him; but later he crossed over to Lesbos, which was uninhabited, and divided the land among the folk, and he named the island, which had formerly been called Issa, Pelasgia after the people who had settled it. And seven generations later, after the flood of Deucalion had taken place and much of mankind had perished, it came to pass that Lesbos was also laid desolate by the deluge of waters. 4 And after these events Macareus came to the island, and, recognizing the beauty of the land, he made his home in it. This Macareus was the son of Crinacus, the son of Zeus, as Hesiod and certain any other poets state, and was a native of Olenus in what was then called Ias, but is now called Achaia. The folk with him had been gathered from here and there, some being Ionians and the rest those who had streamed to him from every sort of people. Now at first Macareus made his home in Lesbos, but later, as his power kept steadily increasing because of the fertility of the island and also of his own fairness and sense of justice, he won for himself the neighbouring islands and portioned out the land, which was uninhabited. 6 And it was during this time that Lesbos, the son of Lapithes, the son of Aeolus, the son of Hippotes, in obedience to an oracle of Pytho, sailed with colonists to the island we are discussing, and, marrying Methymna, the daughter of Macareus, he made his home there with her; and when he became a man of renown, he named the island Lesbos after himself and called the folk Lesbians. 7 And there was born to Macareus, in addition to other daughters, Mytilene and Methymna, from whom the cities in the island got their names. Moreover, Macareus, essaying to bring under his control the neighbouring islands, dispatched a colony to Chios first of all, entrusting the leadership of the colony to one of his own sons; 8 and after this he dispatched another son, Cydrolaus by name, to Samos, where he settled, and after portioning out the island in allotments to the colonists he became king over it. The third island he settled was Cos, and he appointed Neandrus to be its king; and then he dispatched Leucippus, together with a large body of colonists, to Rhodes, and the inhabitants of Rhodes received them gladly, because there was a lack of men among them, and they dwelt together as one people on the island.
§ 5.82
τὴν δʼ ἀντιπέρας τῶν νήσων κατʼ ἐκείνους τοὺς καιροὺς συνέβη διὰ τὸν κατακλυσμὸν μεγάλας καὶ δεινὰς κατασχεῖν ἀτυχίας· διὰ μὲν γὰρ τὰς ἐπομβρίας ἐπὶ πολλοὺς χρόνους ἐφθαρμένων τῶν καρπῶν σπάνις τε τῶν ἐπιτηδείων ὑπῆρχε καὶ λοιμικὴ κατάστασις ἐπεῖχε τὰς πόλεις διὰ τὴν τοῦ ἀέρος φθοράν. αἱ δὲ νῆσοι διαπνεόμεναι καὶ τὸν ἀέρα παρεχόμεναι τοῖς ἐνοικοῦσιν ὑγιεινόν, ἔτι δὲ τοῖς καρποῖς ἐπιτυγχάνουσαι, ἀεὶ μᾶλλον εὐπορίας ἔγεμον, καὶ ταχὺ τοὺς κατοικοῦντας αὐτὰς μακαρίους ἐποίησαν. διὸ καὶ μακάρων ὠνομάσθησαν νῆσοι, τῆς εὐπορίας τῶν ἀγαθῶν αἰτίας γενομένης τῆς προσηγορίας. ἔνιοι δέ φασιν αὐτὰς μακάρων νήσους ὠνομάσθαι ἀπὸ Μακαρέως καὶ Ἴωνος ὑπὸ τῶν παίδων τούτων δυναστευσάντων αὐτῶν. καθόλου δʼ αἱ προειρημέναι νῆσοι διήνεγκαν εὐδαιμονίᾳ μάλιστα τῶν σύνεγγυς κειμένων οὐ μόνον κατὰ τοὺς ἀρχαίους χρόνους, ἀλλὰ καὶ κατὰ τὴν ἡμετέραν ἡλικίαν· ἀρετῇ γὰρ χώρας καὶ τόπων εὐκαιρίαις, ἔτι δʼ ἀέρων κράσει, καλλιστεύουσαι κατὰ λόγον καλοῦνται καὶ πρὸς ἀλήθειαν εἰσὶν εὐδαίμονες. αὐτὸς δʼ ὁ Μακαρεὺς ἐν τῇ Λέσβῳ βασιλεύων πρῶτον μὲν νόμον ἔγραψε πολλὰ τῶν κοινῇ συμφερόντων περιέχοντα, ὠνόμασε δʼ αὐτὸν λέοντα, ἀπὸ τῆς τοῦ ζῴου δυνάμεως καὶ ἀλκῆς θέμενος τὴν προσηγορίαν.
The mainland opposite the islands, we find, had suffered great and terrible misfortunes, in those times, because of the floods. Thus, since the fruits were destroyed over a long period by reason of the deluge, there was a dearth of the necessities of life and a pestilence prevailed among the cities because of the corruption of the air. 2 The islands, on the other hand, since they were exposed to the breeze and supplied the inhabitants with wholesome air, and since they also enjoyed good crops, were filled with greater and greater abundance, and they quickly made the inhabitants objects of envy. Consequently they have been given the name Islands of the Blessed, the abundance they enjoy of good things constituting the reason for the epithet. But there are some who say that they were given the name Islands of the Blessed (macarioi) after Macareus, since his sons were the rulers over them. And, speaking generally, the islands we have mentioned have enjoyed a felicity far surpassing that of their neighbours, not only in ancient times but also in our own age; 4 for being as they the finest of all in richness of soil, excellence of location, and mildness of climate, it is with good reason that they are called, what in truth they are, "blessed." As for Macareus himself, while he was king of Lesbos he issued a law which contributed much to the common good, and he called the law the "Lion," giving it this name after the strength and courage of that beast.
§ 5.83
ὕστερον δὲ τῆς κατὰ τὴν Λέσβον ἀποικίας ἱκανοῖς τισι χρόνοις συνέβη τὴν νῆσον τὴν ὀνομαζομένην Τένεδον κατοικισθῆναι τοιῷδέ τινι τρόπῳ. Τέννης ἦν υἱὸς μὲν Κύκνου τοῦ βασιλεύσαντος Κολώνης τῆς ἐν τῇ Τρῳάδι, ἀνὴρ δʼ ἐπίσημος διʼ ἀρετήν. οὗτος οἰκήτορας ἀθροίσας καὶ τὴν ὁρμὴν ἐκ τῆς ἀντιπέρας ἠπείρου ποιησάμενος, κατελάβετο νῆσον ἔρημον οὖσαν τὴν ὀνομαζομένην Λεύκοφρυν· κατακληρουχήσας δʼ αὐτὴν τοῖς ὑπʼ αὐτὸν ταττομένοις, καὶ κτίσας ἐν αὐτῇ πόλιν, ὠνόμασεν ἀφʼ ἑαυτοῦ Τένεδον. πολιτευόμενος δὲ καλῶς καὶ πολλὰ τοὺς ἐγχωρίους εὐεργετήσας ζῶν μὲν μεγάλης ἀποδοχῆς ἐτύγχανε, τελευτήσας δʼ ἀθανάτων τιμῶν ἠξιώθη· καὶ γὰρ τέμενος αὐτοῦ κατεσκεύασαν καὶ θυσίαις ὡς θεὸν ἐτίμων, ἃς διετέλουν θύοντες μέχρι τῶν νεωτέρων καιρῶν. οὐ παραλειπτέον δʼ ἡμῖν περὶ τῶν παρὰ τοῖς Τενεδίοις μυθολογουμένων περὶ τοῦ κτίσαντος τὴν πόλιν Τέννου· Κύκνον γάρ φασι τὸν πατέρα πιστεύσαντα γυναικὸς διαβολαῖς ἀδίκοις τὸν υἱὸν Τέννην εἰς λάρνακα θέντα καταποντίσαι· ταύτην δʼ ὑπὸ τοῦ κλύδωνος φερομένην προσενεχθῆναι τῇ Τενέδῳ, καὶ τὸν Τέννην παραδόξως σωθέντα θεῶν τινος προνοίᾳ τῆς νήσου βασιλεῦσαι, καὶ γενόμενον ἐπιφανῆ διὰ τὴν δικαιοσύνην καὶ τὰς ἄλλας ἀρετὰς τυχεῖν ἀθανάτων τιμῶν. κατὰ δὲ τὰς τῆς μητρυιᾶς διαβολὰς αὐλητοῦ τινος ψευδῶς καταμαρτυρήσαντος, νόμιμον ἔθεντο μηδένα αὐλητὴν εἰς τὸ τέμενος εἰσιέναι. κατὰ δὲ τοὺς Τρωικοὺς χρόνους Ἀχιλλέως τὸν Τέννην ἀνελόντος καθʼ ὃν καιρὸν ἐπόρθησαν οἱ Ἕλληνες τὴν Τένεδον, νόμον ἔθεσαν οἱ Τενέδιοι μηδένα ἐξεῖναι ἐν τῷ τεμένει τοῦ κτίστου ὀνομάσαι Ἀχιλλέα. περὶ μὲν οὖν τῆς Τενέδου καὶ τῶν ἐν αὐτῇ τὸ παλαιὸν οἰκησάντων τοιαῦτα μυθολογοῦσιν.
When a considerable time had elapsed after the settlement of Lesbos, the island known as Tenedos came to be inhabited in somewhat the following manner. Tennes was a son of Cycnus, who had been king of Colonae in the Troad, and was a man who had gained renown because of his high achievements. 2 Gathering together colonists and using as his base the mainland opposite to it, he seized an uninhabited island called Leucophrys; this island he portioned out in allotments among his followers, and he founded a city on it which he named Tenedos after himself. And since he governed uprightly and conferred many benefactions upon the inhabitants, during his lifetime he was in high favour, and upon his death he was granted immortal honours; for they built for him a sacred precinct and honoured him with sacrifices as though he were a god, and these sacrifices they have continued to perform down to modern times. 4 But we must not omit to mention what the myths of the Tenedians have to tell about Tennes, the founder of the city. Cycnus his father, they say, giving credence to the unjust slanders of his wife, put his son Tennes in a chest and cast it into the sea; this chest was borne along by the waves and brought to shore on Tenedos, and since Tennes had been saved alive in this astonishing fashion by the providence of some one of the gods, he became king of the island, and becoming distinguished by reason of the justice he displayed and his other virtues, he was granted immortal honours. But it had happened, when his step-mother was slandering him, that a certain flute player had borne false witness against him, and so the Tenedians passed a law that no flute player should ever enter his sacred precinct. And when Tennes was slain by Achilles in the course of the Trojan War, on the occasion when the Greeks sacked Tenedos, the Tenedians passed a law that no man should ever pronounce the name of Achilles in the sacred precinct of the founder of their city. Such, then, is the account which the myths give regarding Tenedos and its ancient inhabitants.
§ 5.84
ἐπεὶ δὲ περὶ τῶν ἀξιολογωτάτων νήσων διήλθομεν, περὶ τῶν ἐλαττόνων ἀναγράψομεν. τῶν γὰρ Κυκλάδων νήσων τὸ παλαιὸν ἐρήμων οὐσῶν Μίνως ὁ Διὸς καὶ Εὐρώπης, βασιλεύων τῆς Κρήτης καὶ μεγάλας δυνάμεις ἔχων πεζάς τε καὶ ναυτικάς, ἐθαλαττοκράτει καὶ πολλὰς ἀποικίας ἐξαπέστειλεν ἐκ τῆς Κρήτης, τῶν δὲ Κυκλάδων νήσων τὰς πλείους κατῴκισε καὶ τοῖς λαοῖς κατεκληρούχησεν, οὐκ ὀλίγην δὲ καὶ τῆς Ἀσίας τῆς παραθαλαττίου κατέσχε. διόπερ ἐν ταῖς νήσοις ἅμα καὶ κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν τὰς ἐπωνυμίας ἔχουσι Κρητῶν λιμένες καὶ Μινῷαι καλούμεναι. ὁ δὲ Μίνως ἐπὶ πολὺ τῇ δυναστείᾳ προκόπτων, καὶ τὸν ἀδελφὸν Ῥαδάμανθυν ἔχων πάρεδρον τῇ βασιλείᾳ, τούτῳ μὲν ἐφθόνησεν ἐπὶ δικαιοσύνῃ θαυμαζομένῳ, βουλόμενος δʼ αὐτὸν ἐκποδὼν ποιήσασθαι εἰς τὰς ἐσχατιὰς τῆς ὑπʼ αὐτὸν τεταγμένης χώρας ἐξέπεμψεν. ὁ δὲ Ῥαδάμανθυς διατρίβων εἰς τὰς νήσους τὰς κατʼ ἀντικρὺ τῆς Ἰωνίας καὶ Καρίας κειμένας Ἔρυθρον μὲν κτίστην ἐποίησε τῆς ἐπωνύμου πόλεως κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν, Οἰνοπίωνα δὲ τὸν Ἀριάδνης τῆς Μίνω υἱὸν κύριον τῆς Χίου κατέστησε. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἐπράχθη πρὸ τῶν Τρωικῶν· μετὰ δὲ τὴν Τροίας ἅλωσιν Κᾶρες αὐξηθέντες ἐπὶ πλέον ἐθαλαττοκράτησαν, καὶ τῶν Κυκλάδων νήσων κρατήσαντες τινὰς μὲν ἰδίᾳ κατέσχον καὶ τοὺς ἐν αὐταῖς κατοικοῦντας Κρῆτας ἐξέβαλον, τινὰς δὲ κοινῇ μετὰ τῶν προενοικούντων Κρητῶν κατῴκησαν. ὕστερον δὲ τῶν Ἑλλήνων αὐξηθέντων συνέβη τὰς πλείους τῶν Κυκλάδων νήσων οἰκισθῆναι καὶ τοὺς βαρβάρους Κᾶρας ἐξ αὐτῶν ἐκπεσεῖν· περὶ ὧν τὰ κατὰ μέρος ἐν τοῖς οἰκείοις χρόνοις ἀναγράψομεν.
Since we have set forth the facts concerning the most notable islands, we shall now give an account of the smaller ones. While in ancient times the Cyclades were still uninhabited, Minos, the son of Zeus and Europe, who was king of Crete and possessed great forces both land and naval, was master of the sea and sent forth from Crete many colonies, and he settled the greater number of the Cyclades, portioning the islands out in allotments among the folk, and he seized no small part of the coast of Asia. 2 And this circumstance explains why harbours on the islands as well as on the coast of Asia have the same designation as those of Crete, being called "Minoan." The power of Minos advanced to great heights; and having his brother Rhadamanthys as co ruler, he envied him because of his fame for righteousness, and wishing to get Rhadamanthys out of the way he sent him off to the farthest parts of his dominion. Rhadamanthys went to the islands which lie off Ionia and Caria, spending his time upon them, and caused Erythrus to found the city which bears his name in Asia, while he established Oinopion, the son of Minos' daughter Ariadne, as lord of Chios. 4 Now these events took place before the Trojan War; and after Troy was taken the Carians steadily increased their power and became masters of the sea; and taking possession of the Cyclades, some of the islands they appropriated to themselves, expelling the Cretans who had their homes on them, but in some islands they settled jointly with the Cretans who had been the first to dwell there. And at a later time, when the power of the Greeks increased, the major number of the Cyclades came to be inhabited by them, and the Carians, who were nonGreeks, were driven out of them. But of these matters we shall give a detailed account in connection with the appropriate period of time.
— Book 11 —
§ 11.arg
τάδε ἔνεστιν ἐν τῇ ἑνδεκάτῃ τῶν Διοδώρου βίβλων. περὶ τῆς Ξέρξου διαβάσεως εἰς τὴν Εὐρώπην. περὶ τῆς μάχης τῆς ἐν Θερμοπύλαις. περὶ τῆς Ξέρξου ναυμαχίας πρὸς τοὺς Ἕλληνας. ὡς Θεμιστοκλέους καταστρατηγήσαντος τὸν Ξέρξην κατεναυμάχησαν οἱ Ἕλληνες τοὺς βαρβάρους περὶ Σαλαμῖνα. ὡς Ξέρξης Μαρδόνιον στρατηγὸν ἀπολιπὼν μετὰ μέρους τῆς δυνάμεως ἀπῆρεν εἰς τὴν Ἀσίαν. ὡς Καρχηδόνιοι μεγάλαις δυνάμεσιν ἐστράτευσαν εἰς τὴν Σικελίαν. ὡς Γέλων καταστρατηγήσας τοὺς βαρβάρους τοὺς μὲν αὐτῶν κατέκοψε, τοὺς δʼ ἐζώγρησεν. ὡς Γέλων δεηθέντων Καρχηδονίων χρήματα πραξάμενος συνεχώρησεν αὐτοῖς τὴν εἰρήνην. κρίσις τῶν ἀριστευσάντων Ἑλλήνων ἐν τῷ πολέμῳ. μάχη τῶν Ἑλλήνων πρὸς Μαρδόνιον καὶ Πέρσας περὶ Πλαταιὰς καὶ νίκη τῶν Ἑλλήνων. πόλεμος Ῥωμαίοις πρὸς Αἰκολανοὺς καὶ τοὺς τὸ Τοῦσκλον κατοικοῦντας. περὶ τῆς κατασκευῆς τοῦ Πειραιέως ὑπὸ Θεμιστοκλέους. περὶ τῆς ἀποσταλείσης βοηθείας Κυμαίοις ὑφʼ Ἱέρωνος τοῦ βασιλέως. περὶ τοῦ γενομένου πολέμου Ταραντίνοις πρὸς Ἰάπυγας. ὡς Θρασυδαῖος ὁ Θήρωνος μὲν υἱός, τύραννος δὲ Ἀκραγαντίνων, ἡττηθεὶς ὑπὸ Συρακουσίων ἀπέβαλε τὴν δυναστείαν. ὡς Θεμιστοκλῆς φυγὼν πρὸς Ξέρξην καὶ κατηγορηθεὶς θανάτου ἠλευθερώθη. ὡς Ἀθηναῖοι τὰς κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν Ἑλληνίδας πόλεις ἠλευθέρωσαν. περὶ τοῦ γενομένου σεισμοῦ περὶ τὴν Λακωνικήν. περὶ τῆς ἀποστάσεως τῶν Μεσσηνίων καὶ τῶν Εἱλώτων ἀπὸ Λακεδαιμονίων. ὡς Ἀργεῖοι Μυκήνας κατασκάψαντες ἀοίκητον ἐποίησαν τὴν πόλιν. ὡς τὴν ἀπὸ Γέλωνος βασιλείαν κατέλυσαν οἱ Συρακούσιοι. ὡς Ξέρξου δολοφονηθέντος Ἀρταξέρξης ἐβασίλευσεν. περὶ τῆς ἀποστάσεως τῶν Αἰγυπτίων ἀπὸ Περσῶν. περὶ στάσεων τῶν γενομένων ἐν ταῖς Συρακούσαις. ὡς Ἀθηναῖοι Αἰγινήτας καὶ Κορινθίους κατεπολέμησαν. ὡς Φωκεῖς πρὸς Δωριεῖς ἐπολέμησαν. ὡς Μυρωνίδης ὁ Ἀθηναῖος ὀλίγοις στρατιώταις Βοιωτοὺς πολλαπλασίους ὄντας ἐνίκησεν. περὶ τῆς Τολμίδου στρατείας εἰς Κεφαλληνίαν. περὶ τοῦ γενομένου πολέμου κατὰ τὴν Σικελίαν Ἐγεσταίοις καὶ Λιλυβαίοις. περὶ τοῦ νομοθετηθέντος ἐν Συρακούσαις πεταλισμοῦ. στρατεία Περικλέους εἰς Πελοπόννησον. στρατεία Συρακουσίων εἰς Τυρρηνίαν. περὶ τῶν ἐν Σικελίᾳ Παλικῶν ὀνομαζομένων. περὶ τῆς Δουκετίου ἥττης καὶ τῆς περὶ αὐτὸν παραδόξου σωτηρίας.
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§ 11.1
ἡ μὲν οὖν πρὸ ταύτης βίβλος, τῆς ὅλης συντάξεως οὖσα δεκάτη, τὸ τέλος ἔσχε τῶν πράξεων εἰς τὸν προηγούμενον ἐνιαυτὸν τῆς Ξέρξου διαβάσεως εἰς τὴν Εὐρώπην καὶ εἰς τὰς γενομένας δημηγορίας ἐν τῇ κοινῇ συνόδῳ τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἐν Κορίνθῳ περὶ τῆς Γέλωνος συμμαχίας τοῖς Ἕλλησιν· ἐν ταύτῃ δὲ τὸ συνεχὲς τῆς ἱστορίας ἀναπληροῦντες ἀρξόμεθα μὲν ἀπὸ τῆς Ξέρξου στρατείας ἐπὶ τοὺς Ἕλληνας, καταλήξομεν δὲ ἐπὶ τὸν προηγούμενον ἐνιαυτὸν τῆς Ἀθηναίων στρατείας ἐπὶ Κύπρον ἡγουμένου Κίμωνος. ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος γὰρ Ἀθήνησι Καλλιάδου Ῥωμαῖοι κατέστησαν ὑπάτους Σπόριον Κάσσιον καὶ Πρόκλον Οὐεργίνιον Τρίκοστον, ἤχθη δὲ καὶ παρʼ Ἠλείοις Ὀλυμπιὰς πέμπτη πρὸς ταῖς ἑβδομήκοντα, καθʼ ἣν ἐνίκα στάδιον Ἀστύλος Συρακόσιος. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Ξέρξης ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐστράτευσεν ἐπὶ τὴν Ἑλλάδα διὰ ταύτην τὴν αἰτίαν. Μαρδόνιος ὁ Πέρσης ἀνεψιὸς μὲν καὶ κηδεστὴς ἦν Ξέρξου, διὰ δὲ σύνεσιν καὶ ἀνδρείαν μάλιστα θαυμαζόμενος παρὰ τοῖς Πέρσαις. οὗτος μετέωρος ὢν τῷ φρονήματι καὶ τὴν ἡλικίαν ἀκμάζων, ἐπεθύμει μεγάλων δυνάμεων ἀφηγήσασθαι· διόπερ ἔπεισε τὸν Ξέρξην καταδουλώσασθαι τοὺς Ἕλληνας, ἀεὶ πολεμικῶς ἔχοντας πρὸς τοὺς Πέρσας. ὁ δὲ Ξέρξης πεισθεὶς αὐτῷ καὶ βουλόμενος πάντας τοὺς Ἕλληνας ἀναστάτους ποιῆσαι, διεπρεσβεύσατο πρὸς Καρχηδονίους περὶ κοινοπραγίας καὶ συνέθετο πρὸς αὐτούς, ὥστε αὐτὸν μὲν ἐπὶ τοὺς τὴν Ἑλλάδα κατοικοῦντας Ἕλληνας στρατεύειν, Καρχηδονίους δὲ τοῖς αὐτοῖς χρόνοις μεγάλας παρασκευάσασθαι δυνάμεις καὶ καταπολεμῆσαι τῶν Ἑλλήνων τοὺς περὶ Σικελίαν καὶ Ἰταλίαν οἰκοῦντας. ἀκολούθως οὖν ταῖς συνθήκαις Καρχηδόνιοι μὲν χρημάτων πλῆθος ἀθροίσαντες μισθοφόρους συνῆγον ἔκ τε τῆς Ἰταλίας καὶ Λιγυστικῆς, ἔτι δὲ Γαλατίας καὶ Ἰβηρίας, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις ἐκ τῆς Λιβύης ἁπάσης καὶ τῆς Καρχηδόνος κατέγραφον πολιτικὰς δυνάμεις· τέλος δὲ τριετῆ χρόνον περὶ τὰς παρασκευὰς ἀσχοληθέντες ἤθροισαν πεζῶν μὲν ὑπὲρ τὰς τριάκοντα μυριάδας, ναῦς δὲ διακοσίας.
The preceding Book, which is the tenth of our narrative, closed with the events of the year just before the crossing of Xerxes into Europe and the formal deliberations which the general assembly of the Greeks held in Corinth on the alliance between Gelon and the Greeks; and in this Book we shall supply the further course of the history, beginning with the campaign of Xerxes against the Greeks, and we shall stop with the year which precedes the campaign of the Athenians against Cyprus under the leadership of Cimon. Calliades was archon in Athens, and the Romans made Spurius Cassius and Proculus Verginius Tricostus consuls, and the Eleians celebrated the Seventy-fifth Olympiad, that in which Astylus of Syracuse won the "stadion." It was in this year that king Xerxes made his campaign against Greece, for the following reason. Mardonius the Persian was a cousin of Xerxes and related to him by marriage, and he was also greatly admired by the Persians because of his sagacity and courage. This man, being elated by pride and at the height of his physical vigour, was eager to be the leader of great armaments; consequently he persuaded Xerxes to enslave the Greeks, who had ever been enemies of the Persians. And Xerxes, being won over by him and desiring to drive all the Greeks from their homes, sent an embassy to the Carthaginians to urge them to join him in the undertaking and closed an agreement with them, to the effect that he would wage war upon the Greeks who lived in Greece, while the Carthaginians should at the same time gather great armaments and subdue those Greeks who lived in Sicily and Italy. In accordance, then, with their agreements, the Carthaginians, collecting a great amount of money, gathered mercenaries from both Italy and Liguria and also from Galatia and Iberia; and in addition to these troops they enrolled men of their own race from the whole of Libya and of Carthage; and in the end, after spending three years in constant preparation, they assembled more than three hundred thousand footsoldiers and two hundred war vessels.
§ 11.2
ὁ δὲ Ξέρξης ἁμιλλώμενος πρὸς τὴν τῶν Καρχηδονίων σπουδήν, ὑπερεβάλετο πάσαις ταῖς παρασκευαῖς τοσοῦτον ὅσον καὶ τῷ πλήθει τῶν ἐθνῶν ὑπερεῖχε Καρχηδονίων. ἤρξατο δὲ ναυπηγεῖσθαι κατὰ πᾶσαν τὴν παραθαλάττιον τὴν ὑπʼ αὐτὸν ταττομένην, Αἴγυπτόν τε καὶ Φοινίκην καὶ Κύπρον, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις Κιλικίαν καὶ Παμφυλίαν καὶ Πισιδικήν, ἔτι δὲ Λυκίαν καὶ Καρίαν καὶ Μυσίαν καὶ Τρῳάδα καὶ τὰς ἐφʼ Ἑλλησπόντῳ πόλεις καὶ τὴν Βιθυνίαν καὶ τὸν Πόντον. ὁμοίως δὲ τοῖς Καρχηδονίοις τριετῆ χρόνον παρασκευασάμενος κατεσκεύασε ναῦς μακρὰς πλείους τῶν χιλίων καὶ διακοσίων. συνεβάλετο δὲ αὐτῷ καὶ ὁ πατὴρ Δαρεῖος, πρὸ τῆς τελευτῆς παρασκευὰς πεποιημένος μεγάλων δυνάμεων· καὶ γὰρ ἐκεῖνος ἡττημένος ὑπὸ Ἀθηναίων ἐν Μαραθῶνι Δάτιδος ἡγουμένου, χαλεπῶς διέκειτο πρὸς τοὺς νενικηκότας Ἀθηναίους. ἀλλὰ Δαρεῖος μὲν μέλλων ἤδη διαβαίνειν ἐπὶ τοὺς Ἕλληνας ἐμεσολαβήθη τελευτήσας, ὁ δὲ Ξέρξης διά τε τὴν τοῦ πατρὸς ἐπιβολὴν καὶ τὴν τοῦ Μαρδονίου συμβουλίαν, καθότι προείρηται, διέγνω πολεμεῖν τοῖς Ἕλλησιν. ὡς δʼ αὐτῷ πάντα τὰ πρὸς τὴν στρατείαν ἡτοίμαστο, τοῖς μὲν ναυάρχοις παρήγγειλεν ἀθροίζειν τὰς ναῦς εἰς Κύμην καὶ Φώκαιαν, αὐτὸς δʼ ἐξ ἁπασῶν τῶν σατραπειῶν συναγαγὼν τὰς πεζὰς καὶ ἱππικὰς δυνάμεις, προῆγεν ἐκ τῶν Σούσων. ὡς δʼ ἧκεν εἰς Σάρδεις, κήρυκας ἐξέπεμψεν εἰς τὴν Ἑλλάδα, προστάξας εἰς πάσας τὰς πόλεις ἰέναι καὶ τοὺς Ἕλληνας αἰτεῖν ὕδωρ καὶ γῆν. τὴν δὲ στρατιὰν διελόμενος ἐξαπέστειλε τοὺς ἱκανοὺς ζεῦξαι μὲν τὸν Ἑλλήσποντον, διασκάψαι δὲ τὸν Ἄθω κατὰ τὸν αὐχένα τῆς Χερρονήσου, ἅμα μὲν ταῖς δυνάμεσιν ἀσφαλῆ καὶ σύντομον τὴν διέξοδον ποιούμενος, ἅμα δὲ τῷ μεγέθει τῶν ἔργων ἐλπίζων προκαταπλήξεσθαι τοὺς Ἕλληνας. οἱ μὲν οὖν πεμφθέντες ἐπὶ τὴν κατασκευὴν τῶν ἔργων ταχέως ἤνυον διὰ τὴν πολυχειρίαν τῶν ἐργαζομένων. οἱ δʼ Ἕλληνες πυθόμενοι τὸ μέγεθος τῆς τῶν Περσῶν δυνάμεως, ἐξέπεμψαν εἰς Θετταλίαν μυρίους ὁπλίτας τοὺς καταληψομένους τὰς περὶ τὰ Τέμπη παρόδους· ἡγεῖτο δὲ τῶν μὲν Λακεδαιμονίων Συνετός, τῶν δὲ Ἀθηναίων Θεμιστοκλῆς. οὗτοι δὲ πρὸς τὰς πόλεις πρεσβευτὰς ἀποστείλαντες ἠξίουν ἀποστέλλειν στρατιώτας τοὺς κοινῇ φυλάξοντας τὰς παρόδους· ἔσπευδον γὰρ ἁπάσας τὰς Ἑλληνίδας πόλεις διαλαβεῖν ταῖς προφυλακαῖς καὶ κοινοποιήσασθαι τὸν πρὸς τοὺς Πέρσας πόλεμον. ἐπεὶ δὲ τῶν Θετταλῶν καὶ τῶν ἄλλων Ἑλλήνων τῶν πλησιοχώρων ταῖς παρόδοις ἔδωκαν οἱ πλείους ὕδωρ τε καὶ γῆν τοῖς ἀφιγμένοις ἀγγέλοις ἀπὸ Ξέρξου, ἀπογνόντες τὴν περὶ τὰ Τέμπη φυλακὴν ἐπανῆλθον εἰς τὴν οἰκείαν.
Xerxes, vying with the zeal displayed by the Carthaginians, surpassed them in all his preparations to the degree that he excelled the Carthaginians in the multitude of peoples at his command. And he began to have ships built throughout all the territory along the sea that was subject to him, both Egypt and Phoenicia and Cyprus, Cilicia and Pamphylia and Pisidia, and also Lycia, Caria, Mysia, the Troad, and the cities on the Hellespont, and Bithynia, and Pontus. Spending a period of three years, as did the Carthaginians, on his preparations, he made ready more than twelve hundred warships. 2 He was aided in this by his father Darius, who before his death had made preparations of great armaments; for Darius, after Datis, his general, had been defeated by the Athenians at Marathon, had continued to be angry with the Athenians for having won that battle. But Darius, when already about to cross over against the Greeks, was stopped in his plans by death, whereupon Xerxes, induced both by the design of his father and by the counsel of Mardonius, as we have stated, made up his mind to wage war upon the Greeks. Now when all preparations for the campaign had been completed, Xerxes commanded his admirals to assemble the ships at Cyme and Phocaea, and he himself collected the foot and cavalry forces from all the satrapies and advanced from Susa. And when he had arrived at Sardis, he dispatched heralds to Greece, commanding them to go to all the states and to demand of the Greeks water and earth. Then, dividing his army, he sent in advance a sufficient number of men both to bridge the Hellespont and to dig a canal through Athos at the neck of the peninsula, in this way not only making the passage safe and short for his forces but also hoping by the magnitude of his exploits to strike the Greeks with terror before his arrival. Now the men who had been sent to make ready these works completed them with dispatch, because so many labourers cooperated in the task. And the Greeks, when they learned of the great size of the Persian armaments, dispatched ten thousand hoplites into Thessaly to seize the passes of Tempe; Synetus commanded the Lacedemonians and Themistocles the Athenians. These commanders dispatched ambassadors to the states and asked them to send soldiers to join in the common defence of the passes; for they eagerly desired that all the Greek states should each have a share in the defence and make common cause in the war against the Persians. But since the large number of the Thessalians and other Greeks who dwelt near the passes had given the water and earth to the envoys of Xerxes when they arrived, the two generals despaired of the defence at Tempe and returned to their own soil.
§ 11.3
χρήσιμον δὲ διορίσαι τῶν Ἑλλήνων τοὺς τὰ τῶν βαρβάρων ἑλομένους, ἵνα τυγχάνοντες ὀνείδους ἀποτρέπωσι ταῖς βλασφημίαις τοὺς προδότας ἂν γενομένους τῆς κοινῆς ἐλευθερίας. Αἰνιᾶνες μὲν οὖν καὶ Δόλοπες καὶ Μηλιεῖς καὶ Περραιβοὶ καὶ Μάγνητες μετὰ τῶν βαρβάρων ἐτάχθησαν, ἔτι παρούσης τῆς ἐν τοῖς Τέμπεσι φυλακῆς, Ἀχαιοὶ δὲ Φθιῶται καὶ Λοκροὶ καὶ Θετταλοὶ καὶ Βοιωτοὶ οἱ πλείους τούτων ἀπελθόντων ἀπέκλιναν πρὸς τοὺς βαρβάρους. οἱ δʼ ἐν Ἰσθμῷ συνεδρεύοντες τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἐψηφίσαντο τοὺς μὲν ἐθελοντὶ τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἑλομένους τὰ Περσῶν δεκατεῦσαι τοῖς θεοῖς, ἐπὰν τῷ πολέμῳ κρατήσωσι, πρὸς δὲ τοὺς τὴν ἡσυχίαν ἔχοντας ἐκπέμψαι πρέσβεις τοὺς παρακαλέσοντας συναγωνίζεσθαι περὶ τῆς κοινῆς ἐλευθερίας. ὧν οἱ μὲν εἵλοντο γνησίως τὴν συμμαχίαν, οἱ δὲ παρῆγον ἐφʼ ἱκανὸν χρόνον, ἀντεχόμενοι τῆς ἰδίας μόνον ἀσφαλείας καὶ καραδοκοῦντες τὸ τοῦ πολέμου τέλος· Ἀργεῖοι δὲ πρέσβεις ἀποστείλαντες εἰς τὸ κοινὸν συνέδριον ἐπηγγέλλοντο συμμαχήσειν, ἐὰν αὐτοῖς μέρος τι τῆς ἡγεμονίας συγχωρήσωσιν. οἷς οἱ σύνεδροι διεσάφησαν, εἰ μὲν δεινότερον ἡγοῦνται τὸ στρατηγὸν ἔχειν Ἕλληνα ἢ δεσπότην βάρβαρον, ὀρθῶς αὐτοὺς ἔχειν ἡσυχίαν, εἰ δὲ φιλοτιμοῦνται λαβεῖν τὴν τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἡγεμονίαν, ἄξια ταύτης δεῖν ἔφασαν αὐτοὺς πεπραχότας ἐπιζητεῖν τὴν τηλικαύτην δόξαν. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τῶν παρὰ Ξέρξου πρέσβεων ἐπιόντων τὴν Ἑλλάδα καὶ γῆν καὶ ὕδωρ αἰτούντων, αἱ πόλεις ἅπασαι διὰ τῶν ἀποκρίσεων ἀπεδείκνυντο τὴν περὶ τῆς κοινῆς ἐλευθερίας σπουδήν. Ξέρξης δὲ ὡς ἐπύθετο τὸν Ἑλλήσποντον ἐζεῦχθαι καὶ τὸν Ἄθω διεσκάφθαι, προῆγεν ἐκ τῶν Σάρδεων ἐφʼ Ἑλλησπόντου τὴν πορείαν ποιούμενος· ὡς δὲ ἧκεν εἰς Ἄβυδον, διὰ τοῦ ζεύγματος τὴν δύναμιν διήγαγεν εἰς τὴν Εὐρώπην. πορευόμενος δὲ διὰ τῆς Θρᾴκης πολλοὺς προσελαμβάνετο στρατιώτας καὶ τῶν Θρᾳκῶν καὶ τῶν ὁμόρων τούτοις Ἑλλήνων. ὡς δʼ ἧκεν εἰς τὸν ὀνομαζόμενον Δορίσκον, ἐνταῦθα μετεπέμψατο τὸ ναυτικόν, ὥστε ἀμφοτέρας τὰς δυνάμεις εἰς ἕνα τόπον ἀθροισθῆναι. ἐποιήσατο δὲ καὶ τὸν ἐξετασμὸν τῆς στρατιᾶς ἁπάσης· ἠριθμήθησαν δὲ τῆς πεζῆς δυνάμεως μυριάδες πλείους τῶν ὀγδοήκοντα, νῆες δὲ αἱ σύμπασαι μακραὶ πλείους τῶν χιλίων καὶ διακοσίων, καὶ τούτων Ἑλληνίδες τριακόσιαι καὶ εἴκοσι, τὰ μὲν πληρώματα τῶν ἀνδρῶν παρεχομένων τῶν Ἑλλήνων, τὰ δὲ σκάφη τοῦ βασιλέως χορηγοῦντος· αἱ δὲ λοιπαὶ πᾶσαι βαρβαρικαὶ κατηριθμοῦντο· καὶ τούτων Αἰγύπτιοι μὲν διακοσίας παρέσχοντο, Φοίνικες δὲ τριακοσίας, Κίλικες δὲ ὀγδοήκοντα, Πάμφυλοι δὲ τετταράκοντα, καὶ Λύκιοι τὰς ἴσας, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις Κᾶρες μὲν ὀγδοήκοντα, Κύπριοι δὲ ἑκατὸν καὶ πεντήκοντα. τῶν δὲ Ἑλλήνων ἔπεμψαν Δωριεῖς μὲν οἱ πρὸς τῇ Καρίᾳ κατοικοῦντες μετὰ Ῥοδίων καὶ Κῴων τετταράκοντα, Ἴωνες δὲ μετὰ Χίων καὶ Σαμίων ἑκατόν, Αἰολεῖς δὲ μετὰ Λεσβίων καὶ Τενεδίων τετταράκοντα, Ἑλλησπόντιοι δὲ ὀγδοήκοντα σὺν τοῖς περὶ τὸν Πόντον κατοικοῦσι, νησιῶται δὲ πεντήκοντα· τὰς γὰρ νήσους τὰς ἐντὸς Κυανέων καὶ Τριοπίου καὶ Σουνίου προσηγμένος ἦν ὁ βασιλεύς. τριήρεις μὲν οὖν τοσαῦται τὸ πλῆθος ὑπῆρχον, ἱππαγωγοὶ δὲ ὀκτακόσιαι πεντήκοντα, αἱ δὲ τριηκόντοροι τρισχίλιαι. ὁ μὲν οὖν Ξέρξης περὶ τὸν ἐξετασμὸν τῶν δυνάμεων διέτριβε περὶ τὸν Δορίσκον.
And now it will be useful to distinguish those Greeks who chose the side of the barbarians, in order that, incurring our censure here, their example may, by the obloquy visited upon them, deter for the future any who may become traitors to the common freedom. The Aenianians, Dolopians, Melians, Perrhaebians, and Magnetans took the side of the barbarians even while the defending force was still at Tempe, and after its departure the Achaeans of Phthia, Locrians, Thessalians, and the majority of the Boeotians went over to the barbarians. But the Greeks who were meeting in congress at the Isthmus voted to make the Greeks who voluntarily chose the cause of the Persians pay a tithe to the gods, when they should be successful in the war, and to send ambassadors to those Greeks who were neutral to urge them to join in the struggle for the common freedom. Of the latter, some joined the alliance without reservation, while others postponed any decision for a considerable time, clinging to their own safety alone and anxiously waiting for the outcome of the war; the Argives, however, sending ambassadors to the common congress, promised to join the alliance if the congress would give them a share in the command. To them the representatives declared plainly that, if they thought it a more terrible thing to have a Greek as general than a barbarian as master, they would do well to remain neutral, but if they were ambitious to secure the leadership of the Greeks, they should, it was stated, first have accomplished deeds deserving of this leadership and then strive for such an honour. After these events, when the ambassadors sent by Xerxes came to Greece and demanded both earth and water, all the states manifested in their replies the zeal they felt for the command freedom. When Xerxes learned that the Hellespont had been bridged and the canal had been dug through Athos, he left Sardis and made his way toward the Hellespont; and when he had arrived at Abydus, he led his army over the bridge into Europe. And as he advanced through Thrace, he added to his forces many soldiers from both the Thracians and neighbouring Greeks. When he arrived at the city called Doriscus, he ordered his fleet to come there, and so both arms of his forces were gathered into one place. And he held there also the enumeration of the entire army, and the number of his land forces was over eight hundred thousand men, while the sum total of his ships of war excelled twelve hundred, of which three hundred and twenty were Greek, the Greeks providing the complement of men and the king supplying the vessels. All the remaining ships were listed as barbarian; and of these the Egyptians supplied two hundred, the Phoenicians three hundred, the Cilicians eighty, the Pamphylians forty, the Lycians the same number, also the Carians eighty, and the Cyprians one hundred and fifty. Of the Greeks the Dorians who dwelt off Caria, together with the Rhodians and Coans, sent forty ships, the Ionians, together with the Chians and Samians, one hundred, the Aeolians, together with the Lesbians and Tenedans, forty, the peoples of the region of the Hellespont, together with those who dwelt along the shores of the Pontus, eighty, and the inhabitants of the islands fifty; for the king had won over to his side the islands lying within the Cyanean Rocks and Triopium and Sunium. Triremes made up the multitude we have listed, and the transports for the cavalry numbered eight hundred and fifty, and the triaconters three thousand. Xerxes, then, was busied with the enumeration of the armaments at Doriscus.
§ 11.4
τοῖς δὲ συνέδροις τῶν Ἑλλήνων, ἐπειδὴ πλησίον εἶναι προσαπηγγέλθησαν αἱ τῶν Περσῶν δυνάμεις, ἔδοξε ταχέως ἀποστέλλειν τὴν μὲν ναυτικὴν δύναμιν ἐπʼ Ἀρτεμίσιον τῆς Εὐβοίας, εὔθετον ὁρῶσι τὸν τόπον τοῦτον πρὸς τὴν ἀπάντησιν τῶν πολεμίων, εἰς δὲ τὰς Θερμοπύλας τοὺς ἱκανοὺς ὁπλίτας, προκαταληψομένους τὰς ἐν τοῖς στενοῖς παρόδους καὶ κωλύσοντας προάγειν ἐπὶ τὴν Ἑλλάδα τοὺς βαρβάρους· ἔσπευδον γὰρ τοὺς τὰ τῶν Ἑλλήνων προελομένους ἐντὸς περιλαβεῖν καὶ σώζειν εἰς τὸ δυνατὸν τοὺς συμμάχους. ἡγεῖτο δὲ τοῦ μὲν στόλου παντὸς Εὐρυβιάδης ὁ Λακεδαιμόνιος, τῶν δὲ εἰς Θερμοπύλας ἐκπεμφθέντων Λεωνίδης ὁ τῶν Σπαρτιατῶν βασιλεύς, μέγα φρονῶν ἐπʼ ἀνδρείᾳ καὶ στρατηγίᾳ. οὗτος δὲ λαβὼν τὴν ἐξουσίαν ἐπήγγειλε χιλίους μόνον ἐπὶ τὴν στρατείαν ἀκολουθεῖν αὐτῷ. τῶν δὲ ἐφόρων λεγόντων ὡς ὀλίγους παντελῶς ἄγει πρὸς μεγάλην δύναμιν, καὶ προσταττόντων πλείονας παραλαμβάνειν, εἶπε πρὸς αὐτοὺς ἐν ἀπορρήτοις ὅτι πρὸς μὲν τὸ κωλῦσαι τοὺς βαρβάρους διελθεῖν τὰς παρόδους ὀλίγοι, πρὸς μέντοι γε τὴν πρᾶξιν ἐφʼ ἣν πορεύονται νῦν πολλοί. αἰνιγματώδους δὲ καὶ ἀσαφοῦς τῆς ἀποκρίσεως γενομένης, ἐπηρώτησαν αὐτὸν εἰ πρὸς εὐτελῆ τινα πρᾶξιν αὐτοὺς ἄγειν διανοεῖται. ἀπεκρίθη δὲ ὅτι τῷ λόγῳ μὲν ἐπὶ τὴν φυλακὴν ἄγει τῶν παρόδων, τῷ δʼ ἔργῳ περὶ τῆς κοινῆς ἐλευθερίας ἀποθανουμένους· ὥστε ἐὰν μὲν οἱ χίλιοι πορευθῶσιν, ἐπιφανεστέραν ἔσεσθαι τὴν Σπάρτην τούτων τελευτηκότων, ἐὰν δὲ πανδημεὶ στρατεύσωσι Λακεδαιμόνιοι, παντελῶς ἀπολεῖσθαι τὴν Λακεδαίμονα· οὐδένα γὰρ αὐτῶν τολμήσειν φεύγειν, ἵνα τύχῃ σωτηρίας. τῶν μὲν οὖν Λακεδαιμονίων ἦσαν χίλιοι, καὶ σὺν αὐτοῖς Σπαρτιᾶται τριακόσιοι, τῶν δʼ ἄλλων Ἑλλήνων τῶν ἅμʼ αὐτοῖς συνεκπεμφθέντων ἐπὶ τὰς Θερμοπύλας τρισχίλιοι. ὁ μὲν οὖν Λεωνίδης μετὰ τετρακισχιλίων προῆγεν ἐπὶ τὰς Θερμοπύλας, Λοκροὶ δὲ οἱ πλησίον τῶν παρόδων κατοικοῦντες ἐδεδώκεσαν μὲν γῆν καὶ ὕδωρ τοῖς Πέρσαις, κατεπηγγελμένοι δʼ ἦσαν προκαταλήψεσθαι τὰς παρόδους· ὡς δʼ ἐπύθοντο τὸν Λεωνίδην ἥκειν εἰς Θερμοπύλας, μετενόησαν καὶ μετέθεντο πρὸς τοὺς Ἕλληνας. ἧκον δὲ εἰς τὰς Θερμοπύλας καὶ Λοκροὶ χίλιοι καὶ Μηλιέων τοσοῦτοι καὶ Φωκέων οὐ πολὺ λειπόμενοι τῶν χιλίων, ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ Θηβαίων ἀπὸ τῆς ἑτέρας μερίδος ὡς τετρακόσιοι· διεφέροντο γὰρ οἱ τὰς Θήβας κατοικοῦντες πρὸς ἀλλήλους περὶ τῆς πρὸς τοὺς Πέρσας συμμαχίας. οἱ μὲν οὖν μετὰ Λεωνίδου συνταχθέντες Ἕλληνες τοσοῦτοι τὸν ἀριθμὸν ὄντες διέτριβον περὶ τὰς Θερμοπύλας, ἀναμένοντες τὴν τῶν Περσῶν παρουσίαν.
The Greeks who were in assembly, when word came to them that the Persian forces were near, took action to dispatch the ships of war with all speed to Artemisium in Euboea, recognizing that this place was well suited for meeting the enemy, and a considerable body of hoplites to Thermopylae to forestall them in occupying the passes at the narrowest part of the defile and to prevent the barbarians from advancing against Greece; for they were eager to throw their protection inside of Thermopylae about those who had chosen the cause of the Greeks and to do everything in their power to save the allies. The leader of the entire expedition was Eurybiades the Lacedemonian, and of the troops sent to Thermopylae the commander was Leonidas the king of the Spartans, a man who set great store by his courage and generalship. Leonidas, when he received the appointment, announced that only one thousand men should follow him on the campaign. And when the ephors said that he was leading altogether too few soldiers against a great force and ordered him to take along a larger number, he replied to them in secret, "For preventing the barbarians from getting through the passes they are few, but for the task to which they are now bound they are many." Since this reply proved riddle-like and obscure, he was asked again whether he believed he was leading the soldiers to some paltry task. Whereupon he replied, "Ostensibly I am leading them to the defence of the passes, but in fact to die for the freedom of all; and so, if a thousand set forth, Sparta will be the more renowned when they have died, but if the whole body of the Lacedemonians take the field, Lacedemon will be utterly destroyed, for not a man of them, in order to save his life, will dare to turn in flight." There were, then, of the Lacedemonians one thousand, and with them three hundred Spartiates, while the rest of the Greeks who were dispatched with them to Thermopylae were three thousand. Leonidas, then, with four thousand soldiers advanced to Thermopylae. The Locrians, however, who dwelt in the neighbourhood of the passes had already given earth and water to the Persians, and had promised that they would seize the passes in advance; but when they learned that Leonidas had arrived at Thermopylae, they changed their minds and went over to the Greeks. And there gathered at Thermopylae also a thousand Locrians, an equal number of Melians, and almost a thousand Phocians, as well as some four hundred Thebans of the other party; for the inhabitants of Thebes were divided against each other with respect to the alliance with the Persians. Now the Greeks who were drawn up with Leonidas for battle, being as many in number as we have set forth, tarried in Thermopylae, awaiting the arrival of the Persians.
§ 11.5
Ξέρξης δὲ μετὰ τὸν ἐξετασμὸν τῶν δυνάμεων προῆγε μετὰ παντὸς τοῦ στρατεύματος, καὶ μέχρι μὲν Ἀκάνθου πόλεως τῇ πεζῇ στρατιᾷ πορευομένῳ συμπαρέπλει πᾶς ὁ στόλος, ἐκεῖθεν δὲ κατὰ τὸν διορυχθέντα τόπον διεκομίσθησαν εἰς τὴν ἑτέραν θάλατταν συντόμως καὶ ἀσφαλῶς. ὡς δʼ ἧκεν ἐπὶ τὸν Μηλιακὸν κόλπον, ἐπύθετο τοὺς πολεμίους προκατειληφέναι τὰς παρόδους. διόπερ ἐνταῦθα προσαναλαβὼν τὴν δύναμιν μετεπέμψατο τοὺς ἀπὸ τῆς Εὐρώπης συμμάχους, οὐ πολὺ λείποντας τῶν εἴκοσι μυριάδων, ὥστʼ ἔχειν αὐτὸν τοὺς σύμπαντας οὐκ ἐλάττους τῶν ἑκατὸν μυριάδων χωρὶς τῆς ναυτικῆς δυνάμεως. ὁ δὲ σύμπας ὄχλος τῶν τε ἐν ταῖς μακραῖς ναυσὶν ὄντων καὶ τῶν τὴν ἀγορὰν καὶ τὴν ἄλλην παρασκευὴν κομιζόντων οὐκ ἐλάττων ἦν τῶν προειρημένων, ὥστε μηδὲν θαυμαστὸν εἶναι τὸ λεγόμενον ὑπὲρ τοῦ πλήθους τῶν ὑπὸ Ξέρξου συναχθέντων· φασὶ γὰρ τοὺς ἀενάους ποταμοὺς διὰ τὴν τοῦ πλήθους συνέχειαν ἐπιλιπεῖν, τὰ δὲ πελάγη τοῖς τῶν νεῶν ἱστίοις κατακαλυφθῆναι. μέγισται μὲν οὖν δυνάμεις τῶν εἰς ἱστορικὴν μνήμην παραδεδομένων αἱ μετὰ Ξέρξου γενόμεναι παραδέδονται. τῶν δὲ Περσῶν κατεστρατοπεδευκότων παρὰ τὸν Σπερχειὸν ποταμόν, ὁ μὲν Ξέρξης ἀπέστειλεν ἀγγέλους εἰς τὰς Θερμοπύλας, τοὺς ἅμα μὲν κατασκεψομένους τίνα διάνοιαν ἔχουσι περὶ τοῦ πρὸς αὐτὸν πολέμου· προσέταξε δʼ αὐτοῖς παραγγέλλειν,ὅτι βασιλεὺς Ξέρξης κελεύει τὰ μὲν ὅπλα πάντας ἀποθέσθαι, αὐτοὺς δὲ ἀκινδύνους εἰς τὰς πατρίδας ἀπιέναι καὶ συμμάχους εἶναι Περσῶν· καὶ ταῦτα πράξασιν αὐτοῖς ἐπηγγείλατο δώσειν χώραν τοῖς Ἕλλησι πλείω καὶ βελτίω τῆς νῦν ὑπʼ αὐτῶν κατεχομένης. οἱ δὲ περὶ τὸν Λεωνίδην ἀκούσαντες τῶν ἀγγέλων ἀπεκρίναντο, ὅτι καὶ συμμαχοῦντες τῷ βασιλεῖ χρησιμώτεροι μετὰ τῶν ὅπλων ἔσονται καὶ πολεμεῖν ἀναγκαζόμενοι μετὰ τούτων γενναιότερον ὑπὲρ τῆς ἐλευθερίας ἀγωνιοῦνται· περὶ δὲ τῆς χώρας ἣν ὑπισχνεῖται δώσειν, ὅτι πάτριόν ἐστι τοῖς Ἕλλησι μὴ διὰ κακίαν, ἀλλὰ διʼ ἀρετὴν κτᾶσθαι χώραν.
Xerxes, after having enumerated his armaments, pushed on with the entire army, and the whole fleet accompanied the land forces in their advance as far as the city of Acanthus, and from there the ships passed through the place where the canal had been cut into the other sea expeditiously and without loss. But when Xerxes arrived at the Gulf of Melis, he learned that the enemy had already seized the passes. Consequently, having joined to his forces the armament there, he summoned his allies from Europe, a little less than two hundred thousand men; so that he now possessed in all not less than one million soldiers exclusive of the naval contingent. And the sum total of the masses who served on the ships of war and who transported the food and general equipment was not less than that of those we have mentioned, so that the account usually given of the multitude of the men gathered together by Xerxes need cause no amazement; for men say that the unfailing rivers ran dray because of the unending stream of the multitude, and that the seas were hidden by the sails of the ships. However this may be, the greatest forces of which any historical record has been left were those which accompanied Xerxes. After the Persians had encamped on the Spercheius River, Xerxes dispatched envoys to Thermopylae to discover, among other things, how the Greeks felt about the war with him; and he commanded them to make this proclamation: "King Xerxes orders all to give up their arms, to depart unharmed to their native lands, and to be allies of the Persian; and to all Greeks who do this he will give more and better lands than they now possess." But when Leonidas heard the commands of the envoys, he replied to them: "If we should be allies of the king we should be more useful if we kept our arms, and if we should have to wage war against him, we should fight the better for our freedom if we kept them; and as for the lands which he promises to give, the Greeks have learned from their fathers to gain lands, not by cowardice, but by valour."
§ 11.6
ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς ἀκούσας παρὰ τῶν ἀγγέλων τὰς τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἀποκρίσεις προσεκαλέσατο Δημάρατον Σπαρτιάτην, ἐκ τῆς πατρίδος πεφευγότα πρὸς αὐτόν, καταγελάσας δὲ τῶν ἀποκρίσεων ἐπηρώτησε τὸν Λάκωνα, πότερον οἱ Ἕλληνες ὀξύτερον τῶν ἐμῶν ἵππων φεύξονται ἢ πρὸς τηλικαύτας δυνάμεις παρατάξασθαι τολμήσουσι; τὸν δὲ Δημάρατον εἰπεῖν φασιν ὡς οὐδʼ αὐτὸς σὺ τὴν ἀνδρείαν τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἀγνοεῖς· τοὺς γὰρ ἀφισταμένους τῶν βαρβάρων Ἑλληνικαῖς δυνάμεσι καταπολεμεῖς· ὥστε μὴ νόμιζε τοὺς ὑπὲρ τῆς σῆς ἀρχῆς ἄμεινον τῶν Περσῶν ἀγωνιζομένους ὑπὲρ τῆς ἰδίας ἐλευθερίας ἧττον κινδυνεύσειν πρὸς τοὺς Πέρσας. ὁ δὲ Ξέρξης καταγελάσας αὐτοῦ προσέταξεν ἀκολουθεῖν, ὅπως ἴδῃ φεύγοντας τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους. τὴν δὲ δύναμιν ἀναλαβὼν ἧκεν ἐπὶ τοὺς ἐν Θερμοπύλαις Ἕλληνας, προτάξας ἁπάντων τῶν ἐθνῶν Μήδους, εἴτε διʼ ἀνδρείαν προκρίνας αὐτοὺς εἴτε καὶ βουλόμενος ἅπαντας ἀπολέσαι· ἐνῆν γὰρ ἔτι φρόνημα τοῖς Μήδοις, τῆς τῶν προγόνων ἡγεμονίας οὐ πάλαι καταπεπονημένης. συνυπέδειξε δὲ τοῖς Μήδοις καὶ τῶν ἐν Μαραθῶνι τετελευτηκότων ἀδελφοὺς καὶ υἱούς, νομίζων τούτους ἐκθυμότατα τιμωρήσεσθαι τοὺς Ἕλληνας. οἱ μὲν οὖν Μῆδοι τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον συνταχθέντες προσέπεσον τοῖς φυλάττουσι τὰς Θερμοπύλας· ὁ δὲ Λεωνίδης εὖ παρεσκευασμένος συνήγαγε τοὺς Ἕλληνας ἐπὶ τὸ στενώτατον τῆς παρόδου.
The king, on hearing from his envoys the replies of the Greeks, sent for Demaratus, a Spartan who had been exiled from his native land and taken refuge with him, and with a scoff at the replies he asked the Laconian, "Will the Greeks flee more swiftly than my horses can run, or will they dare to face such armaments in battle?" And Demaratus, we are told, replied, "You yourself are not unacquainted with the courage of the Greeks, since you use Greek forces to quell such barbarians as revolt. So do not think that those who fight better than the Persians to maintain your sovereignty, will risk their lives less bravely against the Persians to maintain their own freedom." But Xerxes with a scoff at him ordered Demaratus to stay by his side in order that he might witness the Lacedemonians in flight. Xerxes with his army came against the Greeks at Thermopylae. And he put the Medes in front of all the other peoples, either because he preferred them by reason of their courage or because he wished to destroy them in a body; for the Medes still retained a proud spirit, the supremacy which their ancestors had exercised having only recently been overthrown. And he also designated together with the Medes the brothers and sons of those who had fallen at Marathon, believing that they would wreak vengeance upon the Greeks with the greatest fury. The Medes, then, having been drawn up for battle in the manner we have described, attacked the defenders of Thermopylae; but Leonidas had made careful preparation and massed the Greeks in the narrowest part of the pass.
§ 11.7
γενομένης δὲ μάχης καρτερᾶς, καὶ τῶν μὲν βαρβάρων θεατὴν ἐχόντων τῆς ἀρετῆς τὸν βασιλέα, τῶν δὲ Ἑλλήνων μιμνησκομένων τῆς ἐλευθερίας καὶ παρακαλουμένων ὑπὸ τοῦ Λεωνίδου πρὸς τὸν ἀγῶνα, θαυμαστὸν συνέβαινε γίνεσθαι τὸν κίνδυνον. συστάδην γὰρ οὔσης τῆς μάχης καὶ τῶν πληγῶν ἐκ χειρὸς γινομένων, ἔτι δὲ τῆς συστάσεως πεπυκνωμένης, ἐπὶ πολὺν χρόνον ἰσόρροπος ἦν ἡ μάχη. τῶν δʼ Ἑλλήνων ὑπερεχόντων ταῖς ἀρεταῖς καὶ τῷ μεγέθει τῶν ἀσπίδων, μόγις ἐνέδωκαν οἱ Μῆδοι· πολλοὶ μὲν γὰρ αὐτῶν ἔπεσον, οὐκ ὀλίγοι δὲ κατετραυματίσθησαν. τοῖς δὲ Μήδοις ἐπιτεταγμένοι Κίσσιοι καὶ Σάκαι κατʼ ἀρετὴν ἐπίλεκτοι διεδέξαντο τὴν μάχην, καὶ νεοχμοὶ πρὸς διαπεπονημένους συμβαλόντες ὀλίγον μὲν χρόνον ὑπέμενον τὸν κίνδυνον, κτεινόμενοι δʼ ὑπὸ τῶν περὶ τὸν Λεωνίδην καὶ βιασθέντες ὑπεχώρησαν· ἀσπίσι γὰρ καὶ πέλταις μικραῖς οἱ βάρβαροι χρώμενοι κατὰ μὲν τὰς εὐρυχωρίας ἐπλεονέκτουν, εὐκίνητοι γινόμενοι, κατὰ δὲ τὰς στενοχωρίας τοὺς μὲν πολεμίους οὐκ εὐχερῶς ἐτίτρωσκον, συμπεφραγμένους καὶ μεγάλαις ἀσπίσι σκεπαζομένους ὅλον τὸ σῶμα, αὐτοὶ δὲ διὰ τὰς κουφότητας τῶν σκεπαστηρίων ὅπλων ἐλαττούμενοι πυκνοῖς τραύμασι περιέπιπτον. τέλος δὲ ὁ Ξέρξης ὁρῶν πάντα μὲν τὸν περὶ τὰς παρόδους τόπον νεκρῶν ἐστρωμένον, τοὺς δὲ βαρβάρους οὐχ ὑπομένοντας τὰς τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἀρετάς, προσέπεμψε τοὺς τῶν Περσῶν ἐπιλέκτους, ὀνομαζομένους ἀθανάτους καὶ δοκοῦντας ταῖς ἀνδραγαθίαις πρωτεύειν τῶν συστρατευομένων. ὡς δὲ καὶ οὗτοι βραχὺν ἀντιστάντες χρόνον ἔφυγον, τότε μὲν τῆς νυκτὸς ἐπιλαβούσης διελύθησαν, παρὰ μὲν τοῖς βαρβάροις πολλῶν ἀνῃρημένων, παρὰ δὲ τοῖς Ἕλλησιν ὀλίγων πεπτωκότων.
The fight which followed was a fierce one, and since the barbarians had the king as a witness of their valour and the Greeks kept in mind their liberty and were exhorted to the fray by Leonidas, it followed that the struggle was amazing. For since the men stood shoulder to shoulder in the fighting and the blows were struck in close combat, and the lines were densely packed, for a considerable time the battle was equally balanced. But since the Greeks were superior in valour and in the great size of their shields, the Medes gradually gave way; for many of them were slain and not a few wounded. The place of the Medes in the battle was taken by Cissians and Sacae, selected for their valour, who had been stationed to support them; and joining the struggle fresh as they were against men who were worn out they withstood the hazard of combat for a short while, be as they were slain and pressed upon by the soldiers of Leonidas, they gave way. For the barbarians used small round or irregularly shaped shields, by which they enjoyed an advantage in open fields, since they were thus enabled to move more easily, but in narrow places they could not easily inflict wounds upon an enemy who were formed in close ranks and had their entire bodies protected by large shields, whereas they, being at a disadvantage by reason of the lightness of their protective armour, received repeated wounds. At last Xerxes, seeing that the entire area about the passes was strewn with dead bodies and that the barbarians were not holding out against the valour of the Greeks, sent forward the picked Persians known as the "Immortals," who were reputed to be pre-eminent among the entire host for their deeds of courage. But when these also fled after only a brief resistance, then at last, as night fell, they ceased from battle, the barbarians having lost many dead and the Greeks a small number.
§ 11.8
τῇ δʼ ὑστεραίᾳ Ξέρξης μέν, παρὰ προσδοκίαν αὐτῷ τῆς μάχης λαβούσης τὸ τέλος, ἐξ ἁπάντων τῶν ἐθνῶν ἐπέλεξε τοὺς δοκοῦντας ἀνδρείᾳ καὶ θράσει διαφέρειν, καὶ πολλὰ δεηθεὶς αὐτῶν προεῖπεν, ὅτι βιασαμένοις μὲν αὐτοῖς τὴν εἴσοδον δωρεὰς ἀξιολόγους δώσει, φεύγουσι δὲ θάνατος ἔσται τὸ πρόστιμον. τούτων δὲ μετὰ μεγάλης συστροφῆς καὶ βίας ἐπιρραξάντων τοῖς Ἕλλησιν, οἱ περὶ Λεωνίδην τότε συμφράξαντες καὶ τείχει παραπλησίαν ποιησάμενοι τὴν σύστασιν ἐκθύμως ἠγωνίζοντο. ἐπὶ τοσοῦτο δὲ προέβησαν ταῖς προθυμίαις, ὥστε τοὺς εἰωθότας ἐκ διαδοχῆς μεταλαμβάνειν τῆς μάχης οὐ συνεχώρησαν, ἀλλὰ τῇ συνεχείᾳ τῆς κακοπαθείας περιγενόμενοι πολλοὺς ἀνῄρουν τῶν ἐπιλέκτων βαρβάρων. ἐνημερεύοντες δὲ τοῖς κινδύνοις ἡμιλλῶντο πρὸς ἀλλήλους· οἱ μὲν γὰρ πρεσβύτεροι πρὸς τὰς τῶν νέων ἀκμὰς παρεβάλλοντο, οἱ δὲ νεώτεροι πρὸς τὰς τῶν πρεσβυτέρων ἐμπειρίας τε καὶ δόξας ἡμιλλῶντο. τέλος δὲ φευγόντων καὶ τῶν ἐπιλέκτων, οἱ τὴν ἐπιτεταγμένην στάσιν ἔχοντες τῶν βαρβάρων συμφράξαντες οὐκ εἴων φεύγειν τοὺς ἐπιλέκτους· διόπερ ἠναγκάζοντο πάλιν ἀναστρέφειν καὶ μάχεσθαι. ἀπορουμένου δὲ τοῦ βασιλέως καὶ νομίζοντος μηδένα τολμήσειν ἔτι μάχεσθαι, ἧκε πρὸς αὐτὸν Τραχίνιός τις τῶν ἐγχωρίων, ἔμπειρος ὢν τῆς ὀρεινῆς χώρας. οὗτος τῷ Ξέρξῃ προσελθὼν ἐπηγγείλατο διά τινος ἀτραποῦ στενῆς καὶ παρακρήμνου τοὺς Πέρσας ὁδηγήσειν, ὥστε γενέσθαι τοὺς συνελθόντας αὐτῷ κατόπιν τῶν περὶ τὸν Λεωνίδην, καὶ τούτῳ τῷ τρόπῳ περιληφθέντας αὐτοὺς εἰς τὸ μέσον ῥᾳδίως ἀναιρεθήσεσθαι. ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς περιχαρὴς ἐγένετο, καὶ τιμήσας δωρεαῖς τὸν Τραχίνιον συνεξέπεμψεν αὐτῷ στρατιώτας δισμυρίους νυκτός. τῶν δὲ παρὰ τοῖς Πέρσαις τις ὄνομα Τυρραστιάδας, τὸ γένος ὢν Κυμαῖος, φιλόκαλος δὲ καὶ τὸν τρόπον ὢν ἀγαθός, διαδρὰς ἐκ τῆς τῶν Περσῶν παρεμβολῆς νυκτὸς ἧκε πρὸς τοὺς περὶ τὸν Λεωνίδην, καὶ τὰ περὶ τὸν Τραχίνιον ἀγνοοῦσιν ἐδήλωσεν.
On the following day Xerxes, now that the battle had turned out contrary to his expectation, choosing from all the peoples of his army such men as were reputed to be of outstanding bravery and daring, after an earnest exhortation announced before the battle that if they should storm the approach he would give them notable gifts, but if they fled the punishment would be death. These men hurled themselves upon the Greeks as one mighty mass and with great violence, but the soldiers of Leonidas closed their ranks at this time, and making their formation like a wall took up the struggle with ardour. And so far did they go in their eagerness that the lines which were wont to join in the battle by turns would not withdraw, but by their unintermitted endurance of the hardship they got the better and slew many of the picked barbarians. The day long they spent in conflict, vying with one another; for the older soldiers challenged the fresh vigour of the youth, and the younger matched themselves against the experience and fame of their elders. And when finally even the picked barbarians turned in flight, the barbarians who were stationed in reserve blocked the way and would not permit the picked soldiers to flee; consequently they were compelled to turn back and renew the battle. While the king was in a state of dismay, believing that no man would have the courage to go into battle again, there came to him a certain Trachinian, a native of the region, who was familiar with the mountainous area. This man was brought into the presence of Xerxes and undertook to conduct the Persians by way of a narrow and precipitous path, so that the men who accompanied would get behind the forces of Leonidas, which, being surrounded in this manner, would be easily annihilated. The king was delighted, and heaping presents upon the Trachinian he dispatched twenty thousand soldiers with him under cover of night. But a certain man among the Persians named Tyrrhastiadas, a Cymaean by birth, who was honourable and upright in his ways, deserting from the camp of the Persians in the night came to Leonidas, who knew nothing of the act of the Trachinian, and informed him.
§ 11.9
ἀκούσαντες δʼ οἱ Ἕλληνες συνήδρευσαν περὶ μέσας νύκτας καὶ ἐβουλεύοντο περὶ τῶν ἐπιφερομένων κινδύνων. ἔνιοι μὲν οὖν ἔφασαν δεῖν παραχρῆμα καταλιπόντας τὰς παρόδους διασώζεσθαι πρὸς τοὺς συμμάχους· ἀδύνατον γὰρ εἶναι τοῖς μείνασι τυχεῖν σωτηρίας· Λεωνίδης δὲ ὁ βασιλεὺς τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων φιλοτιμούμενος αὑτῷ τε δόξαν περιθεῖναι μεγάλην καὶ τοῖς Σπαρτιάταις, προσέταξε τοὺς μὲν ἄλλους Ἕλληνας ἅπαντας ἀπιέναι καὶ σώζειν ἑαυτούς, ἵνα κατὰ τὰς ἄλλας μάχας συναγωνίζωνται τοῖς Ἕλλησιν, αὐτοὺς δὲ τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους ἔφησε δεῖν μένειν καὶ τὴν φυλακὴν τῶν παρόδων μὴ λιπεῖν· πρέπειν γὰρ τοὺς ἡγουμένους τῆς Ἑλλάδος ὑπὲρ τῶν πρωτείων ἀγωνιζομένους ἀποθνήσκειν ἑτοίμως. εὐθὺς οὖν οἱ μὲν ἄλλοι πάντες ἀπηλλάγησαν, ὁ δὲ Λεωνίδης μετὰ τῶν πολιτῶν ἡρωικὰς πράξεις καὶ παραδόξους ἐπετελέσατο. ὀλίγων δʼ ὄντων Λακεδαιμονίων, Θεσπιεῖς γὰρ μόνους παρακατέσχε, καὶ τοὺς σύμπαντας ἔχων οὐ πλείους τῶν πεντακοσίων, ἕτοιμος ἦν ὑποδέξασθαι τὸν ὑπὲρ τῆς Ἑλλάδος θάνατον. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα οἱ μὲν μετὰ τοῦ Τραχινίου Πέρσαι περιελθόντες τὰς δυσχωρίας ἄφνω τοὺς περὶ τὸν Λεωνίδην ἀπέλαβον εἰς τὸ μέσον, οἱ δʼ Ἕλληνες τὴν μὲν σωτηρίαν ἀπογνόντες, τὴν δʼ εὐδοξίαν ἑλόμενοι, μιᾷ φωνῇ τὸν ἡγούμενον ἠξίουν ἄγειν ἐπὶ τοὺς πολεμίους, πρὶν ἢ γνῶναι τοὺς Πέρσας τὴν τῶν ἰδίων περίοδον. Λεωνίδης δὲ τὴν ἑτοιμότητα τῶν στρατιωτῶν ἀποδεξάμενος, τούτοις παρήγγειλε ταχέως ἀριστοποιεῖσθαι, ὡς ἐν ᾅδου δειπνησομένους· αὐτὸς δʼ ἀκολούθως τῇ παραγγελίᾳ τροφὴν προσηνέγκατο, νομίζων οὕτω δυνήσεσθαι πολὺν χρόνον ἰσχύειν καὶ φέρειν τὴν ἐν τοῖς κινδύνοις ὑπομονήν. ἐπεὶ δὲ συντόμως ἀναλαβόντες αὑτοὺς ἕτοιμοι πάντες ὑπῆρξαν, παρήγγειλε τοῖς στρατιώταις εἰσπεσόντας εἰς τὴν παρεμβολὴν φονεύειν τοὺς ἐντυγχάνοντας καὶ ἐπʼ αὐτὴν ὁρμῆσαι τὴν τοῦ βασιλέως σκηνήν.
The Greeks, on hearing of this, gathered together about the middle of the night and conferred about the perils which were bearing down on them. And although some declared that they should relinquish the pass at once and make their way in safety to the allies, stating that any who remained in the place could not possibly come off with their lives, Leonidas, the king of the Lacedemonians, being eagerly desirous to win both for himself and for the Spartans a garland of great glory, gave orders that the rest of the Greeks should all depart and win safety for themselves, in order that they might fight together with the Greeks in the battles which still remained; but as for the Lacedemonians, he said, they must remain and not abandon the defence of the pass, for it was fitting that those who were the leaders of Hellas should gladly die striving for the meed of honour. Immediately, then, all the rest departed, but Leonidas together with his fellow citizens performed heroic and astounding deeds; and although the Lacedemonians were but few (he detained only the Thespiaeans) and he had all told not more than five hundred men, he was ready to meet death on behalf of Hellas. After this the Persians who were led by the Trachinian, after making their way around the difficult terrain, suddenly caught Leonidas between their forces, and the Greeks, giving up any thought of their own safety and choosing renown instead, with one voice asked their commander to lead them against the enemy before the Persians should learn that their men had made their way around them. And Leonidas, welcoming the eagerness of his soldiers, ordered them to prepare their breakfast quickly, since they would dine in Hades, and he himself, in accordance with the order he had given, took food, believing that by so doing he could keep his strength for a long time and endure the strain of contest. When they had hastily refreshed themselves and all were ready, he ordered the soldiers to attack the camp, slaying any who came in their way, and to strike for the very pavilion of the king.
§ 11.10
οὗτοι μὲν οὖν ἀκολούθως ταῖς παραγγελίαις συμφράξαντες νυκτὸς εἰσέπεσον εἰς τὴν τῶν Περσῶν στρατοπεδείαν, προκαθηγουμένου τοῦ Λεωνίδου· οἱ δὲ βάρβαροι διά τε τὸ παράδοξον καὶ τὴν ἄγνοιαν μετὰ πολλοῦ θορύβου συνέτρεχον ἐκ τῶν σκηνῶν ἀτάκτως, καὶ νομίσαντες τοὺς μετὰ τοῦ Τραχινίου πορευομένους ἀπολωλέναι καὶ τὴν δύναμιν ἅπασαν τῶν Ἑλλήνων παρεῖναι, κατεπλάγησαν. διὸ καὶ πολλοὶ μὲν ὑπὸ τῶν περὶ τὸν Λεωνίδην ἀνῃροῦντο, πλείους δὲ ὑπὸ τῶν ἰδίων ὡς ὑπὸ πολεμίων διὰ τὴν ἄγνοιαν ἀπώλοντο. ἥ τε γὰρ νὺξ ἀφῃρεῖτο τὴν ἀληθινὴν ἐπίγνωσιν, ἥ τε ταραχὴ καθʼ ὅλην οὖσα τὴν στρατοπεδείαν εὐλόγως πολὺν ἐποίει φόνον· ἔκτεινον γὰρ ἀλλήλους, οὐ διδούσης τῆς περιστάσεως τὸν ἐξετασμὸν ἀκριβῆ διὰ τὸ μήτε ἡγεμόνος παραγγελίαν μήτε συνθήματος ἐρώτησιν μήτε ὅλως διανοίας κατάστασιν ὑπάρχειν. εἰ μὲν οὖν ὁ βασιλεὺς ἔμεινεν ἐπὶ τῆς βασιλικῆς σκηνῆς, ῥᾳδίως ἂν καὶ αὐτὸς ὑπὸ τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἀνῄρητο καὶ ὁ πόλεμος ἅπας ταχείας ἂν ἐτετεύχει καταλύσεως· νῦν δʼ ὁ μὲν Ξέρξης ἦν ἐκπεπηδηκὼς πρὸς τὴν ταραχήν, οἱ δʼ Ἕλληνες εἰσπεσόντες εἰς τὴν σκηνὴν τοὺς ἐγκαταληφθέντας ἐν αὐτῇ σχεδὸν ἅπαντας ἐφόνευσαν. τῆς δὲ νυκτὸς καθεστώσης ἐπλανῶντο καθʼ ὅλην τὴν παρεμβολὴν ζητοῦντες τὸν Ξέρξην εὐλόγως· ἡμέρας δὲ γενομένης καὶ τῆς ὅλης περιστάσεως δηλωθείσης, οἱ μὲν Πέρσαι θεωροῦντες ὀλίγους ὄντας τοὺς Ἕλληνας, κατεφρόνησαν αὐτῶν, καὶ κατὰ στόμα μὲν οὐ συνεπλέκοντο, φοβούμενοι τὰς ἀρετὰς αὐτῶν, ἐκ δὲ τῶν πλαγίων καὶ ἐξόπισθεν περιιστάμενοι καὶ πανταχόθεν τοξεύοντες καὶ ἀκοντίζοντες ἅπαντας ἀπέκτειναν. οἱ μὲν οὖν μετὰ Λεωνίδου τὰς ἐν Θερμοπύλαις παρόδους τηροῦντες τοιοῦτον ἔσχον τοῦ βίου τὸ τέλος.
The soldiers, then, in accordance with the orders given them, forming in a compact body fell by night upon the encampment of the Persians, Leonidas leading the attack; and the barbarians, because of the unexpectedness of the attack and their ignorance of the reason for it, ran together from their tents with great tumult and in disorder, and thinking that the soldiers who had set out with the Trachinian had perished and that the entire force of the Greeks was upon them, they were struck with terror. Consequently many of them were slain by the troops of Leonidas, and even more perished at the hands of their comrades, who in their ignorance took them for enemies. For the night prevented any understanding of the true state of affairs, and the confusion, extending as it did throughout the entire encampment, occasioned, we may well believe, great slaughter; since they kept killing one another, the conditions not allowing of a close scrutiny, because there was no order from a general nor any demanding of a password nor, in general, any recovery of reason. Indeed, if the king had remained at the royal pavilion, he also could easily have been slain by the Greeks and the whole war would have reached a speedy conclusion; but as it was, Xerxes had rushed out to the tumult, and the Greeks broke into the pavilion and slew almost to a man all whom they caught there. So long as it was night they wandered throughout the entire camp seeking Xerxes — a reasonable action; but when the day dawned and the entire state of affairs was made manifest, the Persians observing that the Greeks were few in number, viewed them with contempt; the Persians did not, however, join battle with them face to face, fearing their valour, but they formed on their flanks and rear, and shooting arrows and hurling javelins at them from every direction they slew them to a man. Now as for the soldiers of Leonidas who guarded the passes of Thermopylae, such was the end of life they met.
§ 11.11
ὧν τὰς ἀρετὰς τίς οὐκ ἂν θαυμάσειεν; οἵτινες μιᾷ γνώμῃ χρησάμενοι τὴν μὲν ἀφωρισμένην τάξιν ὑπὸ τῆς Ἑλλάδος οὐκ ἔλιπον, τὸν ἑαυτῶν δὲ βίον προθύμως ἐπέδωκαν εἰς τὴν κοινὴν τῶν Ἑλλήνων σωτηρίαν, καὶ μᾶλλον εἵλοντο τελευτᾶν καλῶς ἢ ζῆν αἰσχρῶς. καὶ τὴν τῶν Περσῶν δὲ κατάπληξιν οὐκ ἄν τις ἀπιστήσαι γενέσθαι. τίς γὰρ ἂν τῶν βαρβάρων ὑπέλαβε τὸ γεγενημένον; τίς δʼ ἂν προσεδόκησεν ὅτι πεντακόσιοι τὸν ἀριθμὸν ὄντες ἐτόλμησαν ἐπιθέσθαι ταῖς ἑκατὸν μυριάσι; διὸ καὶ τίς οὐκ ἂν τῶν μεταγενεστέρων ζηλώσαι τὴν ἀρετὴν τῶν ἀνδρῶν, οἵτινες τῷ μεγέθει τῆς περιστάσεως κατεσχημένοι τοῖς μὲν σώμασι κατεπονήθησαν, ταῖς δὲ ψυχαῖς οὐχ ἡττήθησαν; τοιγαροῦν οὗτοι μόνοι τῶν μνημονευομένων κρατηθέντες ἐνδοξότεροι γεγόνασι τῶν ἄλλων τῶν τὰς καλλίστας νίκας ἀπενηνεγμένων. χρὴ γὰρ οὐκ ἐκ τῶν ἀποτελεσμάτων κρίνειν τοὺς ἀγαθοὺς ἄνδρας, ἀλλʼ ἐκ τῆς προαιρέσεως· τοῦ μὲν γὰρ ἡ τύχη κυρία, τοῦ δʼ ἡ προαίρεσις δοκιμάζεται. τίς γὰρ ἂν ἐκείνων ἀμείνους ἄνδρας κρίνειεν, οἵτινες οὐδὲ τῷ χιλιοστῷ μέρει τῶν πολεμίων ἴσοι τὸν ἀριθμὸν ὄντες ἐτόλμησαν τοῖς ἀπιστουμένοις πλήθεσι παρατάξαι τὴν ἑαυτῶν ἀρετήν; οὐ κρατήσειν τῶν τοσούτων μυριάδων ἐλπίζοντες, ἀλλʼ ἀνδραγαθίᾳ τοὺς πρὸ αὐτῶν ἅπαντας ὑπερβαλεῖν νομίζοντες, καὶ τὴν μὲν μάχην αὑτοῖς εἶναι κρίνοντες πρὸς τοὺς βαρβάρους, τὸν ἀγῶνα δὲ καὶ τὴν ὑπὲρ τῶν ἀριστείων κρίσιν πρὸς ἅπαντας τοὺς ἐπʼ ἀρετῇ θαυμαζομένους ὑπάρχειν. μόνοι γὰρ τῶν ἐξ αἰῶνος μνημονευομένων εἵλοντο μᾶλλον τηρεῖν τοὺς τῆς πόλεως νόμους ἢ τὰς ἰδίας ψυχάς, οὐ δυσφοροῦντες ἐπὶ τῷ μεγίστους ἑαυτοῖς ἐφεστάναι κινδύνους, ἀλλὰ κρίνοντες εὐκταιότατον εἶναι τοῖς ἀρετὴν ἀσκοῦσι τοιούτων ἀγώνων τυγχάνειν. δικαίως δʼ ἄν τις τούτους καὶ τῆς κοινῆς τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἐλευθερίας αἰτίους ἡγήσαιτο ἢ τοὺς ὕστερον ἐν ταῖς πρὸς Ξέρξην μάχαις νικήσαντας· τούτων γὰρ τῶν πράξεων μνημονεύοντες οἱ μὲν βάρβαροι κατεπλάγησαν, οἱ δὲ Ἕλληνες παρωξύνθησαν πρὸς τὴν ὁμοίαν ἀνδραγαθίαν. τῶν ἐν Θερμοπύλαις θανόντων εὐκλεὴς μὲν ἁ τύχα, καλὸς δʼ ὁ πότμος, βωμὸς δʼ ὁ τάφος, πρὸ γόων δὲ μνᾶστις, ὁ δʼ οἶτος ἔπαινος. ἐντάφιον δὲ τοιοῦτον οὔτʼ εὐρὼς οὔθʼ ὁ πανδαμάτωρ ἀμαυρώσει χρόνος. ἀνδρῶν ἀγαθῶν ὅδε σηκὸς οἰκέταν εὐδοξίαν Ἑλλάδος εἵλετο. μαρτυρεῖ δὲ καὶ Λεωνίδας ὁ Σπάρτας βασιλεύς, ἀρετᾶς μέγαν λελοιπὼς κόσμον ἀέναόν τε κλέος.
The merits of these men, who would not regard them with wonder? They with one accord did not desert the post to which Greece had assigned them, but gladly offered upon their own lives for the common salvation of all Greeks, and preferred to die bravely rather than to live shamefully. The consternation of the Persians also, no one could doubt that they felt it. For what man among the barbarians could have conceived of that which had taken place? Who could have expected that a band of only five hundred ever had the daring to charge against the human myriads? Consequently what man of later times might not emulate the valour of those warriors who, finding themselves in the grip of an overwhelming situation, though their bodies were subdued, were not conquered in spirit? These men, therefore, alone of all of whom history records, have in defeat been accorded a greater fame than all others who have won the fairest victories. For judgement must be passed upon brave men, not by the outcome of their actions, but by their purpose; in the one case Fortune is mistress, in the other it is the purpose which wins approval. What man would judge any to be braver than were those Spartans who, though not equal in number to even the thousandth part of the enemy, dared to match their valour against the unbelievable multitudes? Nor had they any hope of overcoming so many myriads, but they believed that in bravery they would surpass all men of former times, and they decided that, although the battle they had to fight was against the barbarians, yet the real contest and the award of valour they were seeking was in competition with all who had ever won admiration for their campaign. Indeed they alone of those of whom we have knowledge from time immemorial chose rather to preserve the laws of their state than their own lives, not feeling aggrieved that the greatest perils threatened them, but concluding that the greatest boon for which those who practise valour should pray is the opportunity to play a part in contests of this kind. And one would be justified in believing that it was these men who were more responsible for the common freedom of the Greeks than those who were victorious at a later time in the battles against Xerxes; for when the deeds of these men were called to mind, the Persians were dismayed whereas the Greeks were incited to perform similar courageous exploits. And, speaking in general terms, these men alone of the Greeks down to their time passed into immortality because of their exceptional valour. Consequently not only the writers of history but also many of our poets have celebrated their brave exploits; and one of them is Simonides, the lyric poet, who composed the following encomium in their praise, worthy of their valour: Of those who perished at Thermopylae All glorious is the fortune, fair the doom; Their grave's an altar, ceaseless memory's theirs Instead of lamentation, and their fate Is chant of praise. Such winding-sheet as this Nor mould nor all-consuming time shall waste. This sepulchre of valiant men has taken The fair renown of Hellas for its inmate. And witness is Leonidas, once king Of Sparta, who hath left behind a crown Of valour mighty and undying fame.
§ 11.12
ἡμεῖς δὲ ἀρκούντως περὶ τῆς τούτων τῶν ἀνδρῶν ἀρετῆς εἰρηκότες ἐπάνιμεν ἐπὶ τὰ συνεχῆ τοῖς εἰρημένοις. Ξέρξης γὰρ τῶν παρόδων τὸν εἰρημένον τρόπον κρατήσας καὶ κατὰ τὴν παροιμίαν τὴν Καδμείαν νίκην νενικηκώς, ὀλίγους μὲν τῶν πολεμίων ἀνεῖλε, πολλαπλασίους δὲ τῶν ἰδίων ἀπώλεσεν. ἐπεὶ δὲ πεζῇ τῶν παρόδων ἐκυρίευσε, τῶν κατὰ τὴν θάλατταν ἀγώνων ἔκρινε λαμβάνειν πεῖραν. εὐθὺς οὖν τὸν ἀφηγούμενον τοῦ στόλου Μεγαβάτην προσκαλεσάμενος διεκελεύσατο πλεῖν ἐπὶ τὸ τῶν Ἑλλήνων ναυτικὸν καὶ πειρᾶσθαι παντὶ τῷ στόλῳ ναυμαχεῖν πρὸς τοὺς Ἕλληνας. ὁ δὲ ταῖς τοῦ βασιλέως παραγγελίαις ἀκολουθῶν ἐκ Πύδνης τῆς Μακεδονικῆς ἀνήχθη παντὶ τῷ στόλῳ, καὶ κατέπλευσε τῆς Μαγνησίας πρὸς ἄκραν τὴν ὀνομαζομένην Σηπιάδα. ἐνταῦθα δὲ μεγάλου πνεύματος ἐπιγενομένου ἀπέβαλε ναῦς μακρὰς μὲν ὑπὲρ τὰς τριακοσίας, ἱππαγωγοὺς δὲ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων παμπληθεῖς. λήξαντος δὲ τοῦ πνεύματος ἀναχθεὶς κατέπλευσεν εἰς Ἀφέτας τῆς Μαγνησίας. ἐκεῖθεν δὲ διακοσίας τριήρεις ἐξέπεμψε, προστάξας τοῖς ἡγεμόσι περιπλεῦσαι καὶ τὴν Εὔβοιαν δεξιὰν λαβόντας κυκλώσασθαι τοὺς πολεμίους. οἱ δʼ Ἕλληνες ὥρμουν μὲν ἐπʼ Ἀρτεμισίῳ τῆς Εὐβοίας, εἶχον δὲ τὰς πάσας τριήρεις διακοσίας καὶ ὀγδοήκοντα· καὶ τούτων ἦσαν τῶν μὲν Ἀθηναίων ἑκατὸν καὶ τετταράκοντα, αἱ δὲ λοιπαὶ τῶν ἄλλων Ἑλλήνων. τούτων δὲ ναύαρχος μὲν ἦν Εὐρυβιάδης ὁ Σπαρτιάτης, διῴκει δὲ τὰ περὶ τὸν στόλον Θεμιστοκλῆς ὁ Ἀθηναῖος· οὗτος γὰρ διὰ σύνεσιν καὶ στρατηγίαν μεγάλης ἀποδοχῆς ἐτύγχανεν οὐ μόνον ἐν τοῖς κατὰ τὸ ναυτικὸν Ἕλλησιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ παρʼ αὐτῷ τῷ Εὐρυβιάδῃ, καὶ πάντες τούτῳ προσέχοντες προθύμως ὑπήκουον. προτεθείσης δὲ βουλῆς ἐν τοῖς τῶν νεῶν ἡγεμόσι περὶ τῆς ναυμαχίας, οἱ μὲν ἄλλοι πάντες τὴν ἡσυχίαν ἔκριναν ἔχειν καὶ τὸν ἐπίπλουν τῶν πολεμίων ἀναδέχεσθαι, μόνος δὲ Θεμιστοκλῆς τὴν ἐναντίαν ἀπεφήνατο γνώμην, διδάσκων ὅτι συμφέρει παντὶ τῷ στόλῳ συντεταγμένῳ πλεῖν ἐπὶ τοὺς πολεμίους· οὕτω γὰρ αὐτοὺς πλεονεκτήσειν ἀθρόαις ταῖς ναυσὶν ἐπιπλέοντας τοῖς διὰ τὴν ταραχὴν διεσπασμένην ἔχουσι τὴν τάξιν, ὡς ἂν ἐκ πολλῶν καὶ διεστηκότων λιμένων ἐκπλέουσι. τέλος δὲ κατὰ τὴν Θεμιστοκλέους κρίσιν οἱ Ἕλληνες παντὶ τῷ στόλῳ τοῖς πολεμίοις ἐπέπλευσαν. τῶν δὲ βαρβάρων ἐκ πολλῶν λιμένων ἀναγομένων, τὸ μὲν πρῶτον οἱ περὶ τὸν Θεμιστοκλέα διεσπαρμένοις τοῖς Πέρσαις συμπλεκόμενοι πολλὰς μὲν ναῦς κατέδυσαν, οὐκ ὀλίγας δὲ φυγεῖν ἀναγκάσαντες μέχρι τῆς γῆς κατεδίωξαν· μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα παντὸς τοῦ στόλου συναχθέντος καὶ γενομένης ναυμαχίας ἰσχυρᾶς, μέρει μὲν τῶν νεῶν ἑκάτεροι ἐπροτέρησαν, οὐδέτεροι δὲ ὁλοσχερεῖ νίκῃ πλεονεκτήσαντες νυκτὸς ἐπιλαβούσης διελύθησαν.
Now that we have spoken at sufficient length of the valour of these men we shall resume the course of our narrative. Xerxes, now that he had gained the passes in the manner we have described and had won, as the proverb runs, a "Cadmeian victory" — had destroyed only a few of the enemy, while he had lost great numbers of his own troops. And after he had become master of the passes by means of his land forces, he resolved to make trial of contest at sea. At once, therefore, summoning the commander of the fleet, Megabates, he ordered him to sail against the naval force of the Greeks and to make trial, with all his fleet, of a sea-battle against them. And Megabates, in accordance with the king's orders, set out from Pydne in Macedonia with all the fleet and put in at a promontory of Magnesia which bears the name of Sepias. At this place a great wind arose and he lost more than three hundred warships and great numbers of cavalry transports and other vessels. And when the wind ceased, he weighed anchor and put in at Aphetae in Magnesia. From here he dispatched two hundred triremes, ordering the commanders to take a roundabout course and, by keeping Euboea on the right, to encircle the enemy. The Greeks were stationed at Artemisium in Euboea and had in all two hundred and eighty triremes; of these ships one hundred and forty were Athenian and the remainder were furnished by the rest of the Greeks. Their admiral was Eurybiades the Spartan, and Themistocles the Athenian supervised the affairs of the fleet; for the latter, by reason of his sagacity and skill as a general, enjoyed great favour not only with the Greeks throughout the fleet but also with Eurybiades himself, and all men looked to him and harkened to him eagerly. And when a meeting of the commanders of the ships was held to discuss the engagement, the rest of them all favoured waiting to receive the advance of the enemy; but Themistocles alone expressed the opposite opinion, showing them that it was to their advantage to sail against the enemy with the whole fleet in one array; for in this way, he declared, they would have the upper hand, attacking as they would with their ships in a single body an enemy whose formation was broken by disorder, as it must be, for they would be issuing out of many harbours at some distance apart. In the end the Greeks followed the opinion of meantime and sailed against the enemy with the entire fleet. And since the barbarians put out from many harbours, at the outset Themistocles, engaging with the scattered Persians, sank many ships and not a few he forced to turn in flight and pursued as far as the land; but later, when the whole fleet had gathered and a fierce battle ensued, each side gained the superiority in one part of the line but neither won a complete victory, and at nightfall the engagement was broken off.
§ 11.13
μετὰ δὲ τὴν ναυμαχίαν χειμὼν ἐπιγενόμενος μέγας πολλὰς ἐκτὸς τοῦ λιμένος ὁρμούσας τῶν νεῶν διέφθειρεν, ὥστε δοκεῖν τὸ θεῖον ἀντιλαμβάνεσθαι τῶν Ἑλλήνων, ἵνα τοῦ πλήθους τῶν βαρβαρικῶν νεῶν ταπεινωθέντος ἀντίπαλος ἡ τῶν Ἑλλήνων δύναμις γένηται καὶ πρὸς τὰς ναυμαχίας ἀξιόχρεως διόπερ οἱ μὲν Ἕλληνες ἀεὶ μᾶλλον ἐθάρρουν, οἱ δὲ βάρβαροι ἀεὶ πρὸς τοὺς κινδύνους ἐγίνοντο δειλότεροι. οὐ μὴν ἀλλʼ ἀναλαβόντες ἑαυτοὺς ἐκ τῆς ναυαγίας ἁπάσαις ταῖς ναυσὶν ἀνήχθησαν ἐπὶ τοὺς πολεμίους. οἱ δʼ Ἕλληνες, προσγενομένων αὐτοῖς τριήρων πεντήκοντα Ἀττικῶν, ἀντιπαρετάχθησαν τοῖς βαρβάροις. ἦν δʼ αὐτῶν ἡ ναυμαχία παραπλήσιος ταῖς περὶ τὰς Θερμοπύλας μάχαις· οἱ μὲν γὰρ Πέρσαι διεγνώκεσαν βιάσασθαι τοὺς Ἕλληνας καὶ τὸν Εὔριπον διεκπλεῦσαι, οἱ δʼ Ἕλληνες ἐμφράξαντες τὰ στενὰ προεμάχοντο τῶν ἐντὸς τῆς Εὐβοίας συμμαχούντων. γενομένης δὲ ναυμαχίας ἰσχυρᾶς πολλαὶ νῆες παρʼ ἀμφοτέρων διεφθάρησαν, καὶ νυκτὸς ἐπιγενομένης ἠναγκάσθησαν ἀνακάμπτειν ἐπὶ τοὺς οἰκείους λιμένας. ἀριστεῦσαι δὲ ἐν ἀμφοτέραις ταῖς ναυμαχίαις φασὶ παρὰ μὲν τοῖς Ἕλλησιν Ἀθηναίους, παρὰ δὲ τοῖς βαρβάροις Σιδωνίους. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα οἱ Ἕλληνες ἀκούσαντες τὰ περὶ Θερμοπύλας γενόμενα, πυθόμενοι δὲ καὶ τοὺς Πέρσας πεζῇ προάγειν ἐπὶ τὰς Ἀθήνας, ἠθύμησαν· διόπερ ἀποπλεύσαντες εἰς Σαλαμῖνα διέτριβον ἐνταῦθα. οἱ δʼ Ἀθηναῖοι θεωροῦντες πανδημεὶ κινδυνεύοντας τοὺς ἐν ταῖς Ἀθήναις, τέκνα καὶ γυναῖκας καὶ τῶν ἄλλων χρησίμων ὅσα δυνατὸν ἦν εἰς τὰς ναῦς ἐνθέντες διεκόμισαν εἰς Σαλαμῖνα. ὁ δὲ τῶν Περσῶν ναύαρχος πυθόμενος τὸν τῶν πολεμίων ἀπόπλουν, κατῆρεν εἰς τὴν Εὔβοιαν μετὰ παντὸς τοῦ στόλου, καὶ τὴν τῶν Ἱστιαιέων πόλιν βίᾳ χειρωσάμενος καὶ διαρπάσας τὴν χώραν αὐτῶν ἐδῄωσεν.
After the battle a great storm arose and destroyed many ships which were anchored outside the harbour, so that it appeared as if Providence were taking the part of the Greeks in order that, the multitude of the barbarians' ships having been lessened, the Greek force might become a match for them and strong enough to offer battle. As a result the Greeks grew ever more bold, whereas the barbarians became ever more timorous before the conflicts which faced them. Nevertheless, recovering themselves after the shipwreck, they put out with all their ships against the enemy. And the Greeks, with fifty Attic triremes added to their number, took position opposed to the barbarians. The sea-battle which followed was much like the fighting at Thermopylae; for the Persians were resolved to overwhelm the Greeks and force their way through the Euripus, while the Greeks, blocking the narrows, were fighting to preserve their allies in Euboea. A fierce battle ensued and many ships were lost on both sides, and nightfall compelled them to return to their respective harbours. The prize of valour, we are told, in both battles was accorded to the Athenians for the Greeks and to the Sidonians for the barbarians. After this the Greeks, on hearing of the course events had taken at Thermopylae and discovering that the Persians were advancing by land against Athens, became dispirited; consequently they sailed off to Salamis and awaited events there. The Athenians, surveying the dangers threatening each and every inhabitant of Athens, put on boats their children and wives and every useful article they could and brought them to Salamis. And the Persian admiral, no learning that the enemy had withdrawn, set sail for Euboea with his entire fleet, and taking the city of the Histiaeans by storm he plundered and ravaged their territory.
§ 11.14
ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις Ξέρξης ἀπὸ τῶν Θερμοπυλῶν ἀναζεύξας προῆγε διὰ τῆς Φωκέων χώρας, πορθῶν μὲν τὰς πόλεις, καταφθείρων δὲ τὰς ἐπὶ τῆς χώρας κτήσεις. οἱ δὲ Φωκεῖς τὰ τῶν Ἑλλήνων ᾑρημένοι, καὶ θεωροῦντες αὐτοὺς οὐκ ἀξιομάχους ὄντας, τὰς μὲν πόλεις ἁπάσας ἐξέλιπον πανδημεί, πρὸς δὲ τὰς δυσχωρίας τὰς ἐν τῷ Παρνασσῷ κατέφυγον. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ὁ βασιλεὺς τὴν μὲν τῶν Δωριέων χώραν διεξιὼν οὐδὲν ἠδίκει· συνεμάχουν γὰρ Πέρσαις· αὐτοῦ δὲ μέρος μὲν τῆς δυνάμεως ἀπέλιπε, καὶ προσέταξεν εἰς Δελφοὺς ἰέναι καὶ τὸ μὲν τέμενος τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνος ἐμπρῆσαι, τὰ δὲ ἀναθήματα συλῆσαι, αὐτὸς δὲ μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων βαρβάρων προελθὼν εἰς τὴν Βοιωτίαν κατεστρατοπέδευσεν. οἱ δʼ ἐπὶ τὴν σύλησιν τοῦ μαντείου πεμφθέντες προῆλθον μὲν μέχρι τοῦ ναοῦ τῆς Προναίας Ἀθηνᾶς, ἐνταῦθα δὲ παραδόξως ὄμβρων μεγάλων καὶ κεραυνῶν πολλῶν ἐκ τοῦ περιέχοντος πεσόντων, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις τῶν χειμώνων πέτρας μεγάλας ἀπορρηξάντων εἰς τὸ στρατόπεδον τῶν βαρβάρων, συνέβη διαφθαρῆναι συχνοὺς τῶν Περσῶν, πάντας δὲ καταπλαγέντας τὴν τῶν θεῶν ἐνέργειαν φυγεῖν ἐκ τῶν τόπων. μνᾶμά τʼ ἀλεξάνδρου πολέμου καὶ μάρτυρα νίκας Δελφοί με στᾶσαν, Ζανὶ χαριζόμενοι σὺν Φοίβῳ, πτολίπορθον ἀπωσαμένοις στίχα Μήδων καὶ χαλκοστέφανον ῥυσαμένοις τέμενος. Ξέρξης δὲ διὰ τῆς Βοιωτίας διεξιὼν τὴν μὲν τῶν Θεσπιέων χώραν κατέφθειρε, τὰς δὲ Πλαταιὰς ἐρήμους οὔσας ἐνέπρησεν· οἱ γὰρ ἐν ταῖς πόλεσι ταύταις κατοικοῦντες ἐπεφεύγεσαν εἰς Πελοπόννησον πανδημεί. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα εἰς τὴν Ἀττικὴν ἐμβαλόντες τὴν μὲν χώραν ἐδῄωσαν, τὰς δὲ Ἀθήνας κατέσκαψαν καὶ τοὺς τῶν θεῶν ναοὺς ἐνέπρησαν. τοῦ δὲ βασιλέως περὶ ταῦτα διατρίβοντος, κατέπλευσεν ὁ στόλος ἐκ τῆς Εὐβοίας εἰς τὴν Ἀττικήν, πεπορθηκὼς τήν τε Εὔβοιαν καὶ τὴν παράλιον τῆς Ἀττικῆς.
While these events were taking place, Xerxes set out from Thermopylae and advanced through the territory of the Phocians, sacking the cities and destroying all property in the countryside. Now the Phocians had chosen the cause of the Greeks, but seeing that they were unable to offer resistance, the whole populace deserted all are cities and fled for safety to the rugged regions about Mount Parnassus. Then the king passed through the territory of the Dorians, doing it no harm since they were allies of the Persians. Here he left behind a portion of his army and ordered it to proceed to Delphi, to burn the precinct of Apollo and to carry off the votive offerings, while he advanced into Boeotia with the rest of the barbarians and encamped there. The force that had been dispatched to sack the oracle had proceeded as far as the temple of Athena Pronaea, but at that spot a great thunderstorm, accompanied by incessant lightning, suddenly burst from the heavens, and more than that, the storm wrenched loose huge rocks and hurled them into the host of the barbarians; the result was that large numbers of the Persians were killed and the whole force, dismayed at the intervention of the gods, fled from the region. So the oracle of Delphi, with the aid of some divine Providence, escaped pillage. And the Delphians, desiring to leave to succeeding generations a deathless memorial of the appearance of the gods among men, set up beside the sanctuary of Athena Pronaea a trophy on which they inscribed the following elegiac lines: To serve as a memorial to war, The warder-off of men, and as a witness To victory the Delphians set me up, Rendering thanks to Zeus and Phoebus who Thrust back the citysacking ranks of Medes And threw their guard about the bronze-crowned precinct. Meanwhile Xerxes, as he passed through Boeotia, laid waste the territory of the Thespiaeans and burned Plataea which was without habitants; for the residents of these two cities had fled in a body to the Peloponnesus. After this he entered Attica and ravaged the countryside, and then he razed Athens to the ground and sent up in flames the temples of the gods. And while the king was concerned with these affairs, his fleet sailed from Euboea to Attica, having sacked on the way both Euboea and the coast of Attica.
§ 11.15
κατὰ δὲ τοῦτον τὸν καιρὸν Κερκυραῖοι μὲν πληρώσαντες ἑξήκοντα τριήρεις διέτριβον περὶ τὴν Πελοπόννησον, ὡς μὲν αὐτοί φασιν, οὐ δυνάμενοι κάμψαι τὸ περὶ τὸν Μαλέαν ἀκρωτήριον, ὡς δέ τινες τῶν συγγραφέων ἱστοροῦσι, καραδοκοῦντες τὰς τοῦ πολέμου ῥοπάς, ὅπως Περσῶν μὲν κρατησάντων ἐκείνοις δῶσιν ὕδωρ καὶ γῆν, τῶν δʼ Ἑλλήνων νικώντων δόξωσιν αὐτοῖς βεβοηθηκέναι. οἱ δὲ περὶ τὴν Σαλαμῖνα διατρίβοντες Ἀθηναῖοι, θεωροῦντες τὴν Ἀττικὴν πυρπολουμένην καὶ τὸ τέμενος τῆς Ἀθηνᾶς ἀκούοντες κατεσκάφθαι, δεινῶς ἠθύμουν. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους Ἕλληνας πολὺς κατεῖχε φόβος πανταχόθεν συνεληλαμένους εἰς αὐτὴν τὴν Πελοπόννησον. ἔδοξεν οὖν αὐτοῖς πάντας τοὺς ἐφʼ ἡγεμονίας τεταγμένους συνεδρεῦσαι καὶ βουλεύσασθαι, κατὰ ποίους τόπους συμφέρει ποιεῖσθαι τὴν ναυμαχίαν. πολλῶν δὲ καὶ ποικίλων λόγων ῥηθέντων, οἱ μὲν Πελοποννήσιοι, τῆς ἰδίας μόνον ἀσφαλείας φροντίζοντες, ἔφασαν δεῖν περὶ τὸν Ἰσθμὸν συστήσασθαι τὸν ἀγῶνα· τετειχισμένου γὰρ αὐτοῦ καλῶς, ἐάν τι περὶ τὴν ναυμαχίαν γένηται πταῖσμα, δυνήσεσθαι τοὺς ἠτυχηκότας εἰς ἑτοιμοτάτην ἀσφάλειαν καταφυγεῖν τὴν Πελοπόννησον· ἐὰν δὲ συγκλείσωσιν ἑαυτοὺς εἰς μικρὰν νῆσον τὴν Σαλαμῖνα, δυσβοηθήτοις κακοῖς περιπεσεῖσθαι. Θεμιστοκλῆς δὲ συνεβούλευσε περὶ τὴν Σαλαμῖνα ποιεῖσθαι τὸν ἀγῶνα τῶν νεῶν· πολλὰ γὰρ πλεονεκτήσειν ἐν ταῖς στενοχωρίαις τοὺς ὀλίγοις σκάφεσι διαγωνιζομένους πρὸς πολλαπλασίας ναῦς. καθόλου δὲ τὸν περὶ τὸν Ἰσθμὸν τόπον ἀπεφαίνετο παντελῶς ἄθετον ἔσεσθαι πρὸς τὴν ναυμαχίαν· ἔσεσθαι γὰρ πελάγιον τὸν ἀγῶνα, καὶ τοὺς Πέρσας διὰ τὴν εὐρυχωρίαν ῥᾳδίως καταπονήσεσθαι τὰς ὀλίγας ναῦς ταῖς πολλαπλασίαις. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ ἄλλα πολλὰ διαλεχθεὶς οἰκεῖα τῆς περιστάσεως, ἅπαντας ἔπεισεν αὐτῷ συμψήφους γενέσθαι τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον.
During this time the Cercyraeans, who had fitted out sixty triremes, were waiting off the Peloponnesus, being unable, as they themselves allege, to round the promontory at Malea, but, as certain historians tell us, anxiously awaiting the turn of the war, in order that, if the Persians prevailed, they might then give them water and earth, while if the Greeks were victorious, they would get the credit of having come to their aid. But the Athenians who were waiting in Salamis, when they saw Attica being laid waste with fire and heard that the sacred precinct of Athena had been razed, were exceedingly disheartened. And likewise great fear gripped the other Greeks who, driven from every quarter, were now cooped up in the Peloponnesus alone. Consequently they thought it desirable that all who had been charged with command should meet in council and deliberate regarding the kind of place that would best serve their purpose in fighting a naval battle. Many ideas of various kinds were expressed. The Peloponnesians, thinking only of their own safety, declared that the contest should be held at the Isthmus; for it had been strongly fortified with a wall, and so, if they should suffer any reverse in the battle, the defeated would be able to withdraw for refuge into the most suitable place of safety available, the Peloponnesus, whereas, if they cooped themselves up in the little island of Salamis, perils would beset them from which it would be difficult for them to be rescued. But Themistocles counselled that the contest of the ships be held at Salamis, for he believed that those who had few ships to fight with would have many advantages, in the narrows of Salamis, against a vastly superior number of vessels. And speaking generally, he showed that the region about the Isthmus would be altogether unsuitable for the sea-battle; for the contest would take place on the open sea, and the Persians because of the room for manoeuvring would easily subdue the small force of ships by their vastly superior numbers. And by presenting in like fashion many other facts pertinent to the occasion he persuaded all present to cast their votes with him for the plan he recommended.
§ 11.16
τέλος δὲ κοινοῦ δόγματος γενομένου περὶ Σαλαμῖνα ναυμαχεῖν, οἱ μὲν Ἕλληνες παρεσκευάζοντο τὰ πρὸς τοὺς Πέρσας καὶ πρὸς τὸν κίνδυνον. ὁ δʼ οὖν Εὐρυβιάδης παραλαβὼν τὸν Θεμιστοκλέα παρακαλεῖν ἐπεχείρει τὰ πλήθη καὶ προτρέπεσθαι πρὸς τὸν ἐπιφερόμενον κίνδυνον. οὐ μὴν τὸ πλῆθος ὑπήκουεν, ἀλλὰ πάντων καταπεπληγμένων τὸ μέγεθος τῶν Περσικῶν δυνάμεων οὐδεὶς προσεῖχε τοῖς ἡγεμόσιν, ἀλλʼ ἕκαστος ἐκ τῆς Σαλαμῖνος ἐκπλεῖν ἔσπευδεν εἰς τὴν Πελοπόννησον. οὐδὲν δʼ ἧττον καὶ τὸ πεζὸν στρατόπεδον τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἐδεδίει τὰς τῶν πολεμίων δυνάμεις, ἥ τε τῶν περὶ Θερμοπύλας ἀπώλεια τῶν ἀξιολογωτάτων ἀνδρῶν παρείχετο κατάπληξιν, καὶ τὰ περὶ τὴν Ἀττικὴν συμπτώματα πρὸ ὀφθαλμῶν ὄντα πολλὴν ἀθυμίαν ἐνεποίει τοῖς Ἕλλησιν. οἱ δὲ σύνεδροι τῶν Ἑλλήνων ὁρῶντες τὴν τῶν ὄχλων ταραχὴν καὶ τὴν ὅλην ἔκπληξιν, ἐψηφίσαντο διατειχίζειν τὸν Ἰσθμόν. καὶ ταχὺ τῶν ἔργων συντελεσθέντων διὰ τὴν προθυμίαν καὶ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν ἐργαζομένων, οἱ μὲν Πελοποννήσιοι ὠχύρουν τὸ τεῖχος, διατεῖνον ἐπὶ σταδίους τετταράκοντα ἀπὸ Λεχαίου μέχρι Κεγχρεῶν, οἱ δʼ ἐν τῇ Σαλαμῖνι διατρίβοντες μετὰ παντὸς τοῦ στόλου κατεπλάγησαν ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον, ὥστε μηκέτι πειθαρχεῖν τοῖς ἡγεμόσιν.
When at last a decision was reached by all to fight the sea-battle at Salamis, the Greeks set about making the preparations necessary to meet the Persians and the peril of battle. Accordingly Eurybiades, accompanied by Themistocles, undertook to encourage the crews and incite them to face the impending struggle. However, the crews would not heed them, but since they were one and all dismayed at the magnitude of the Persian forces, not a man of them paid any attention to his commander, every one being intent upon sailing from Salamis to the Peloponnesus. And the army of the Greeks on land was no whit less terrified by the armament of the enemy, and not only the loss at Thermopylae of their most illustrious warriors caused them dismay, but also the disasters which were taking place in Attica before their very eyes were filling the Greeks with utter despair. Meanwhile the members of the congress of the Greeks, observing the unrest of the masses and the dismay prevailing everywhere, voted to build a wall across the Isthmus. The works were completed speedily because of the enthusiasm and the multitude of those engaged in the task; but while the Peloponnesians were strengthening the wall, which extended a distance of forty stades, from Lechaeum to Cenchreae, the forces which were inactive at Salamis, together with the entire fleet, were so terror-stricken that they no longer obeyed the orders of their commanders.
§ 11.17
ὁ δὲ Θεμιστοκλῆς ὁρῶν τὸν μὲν ναύαρχον Εὐρυβιάδην μὴ δυνάμενον περιγενέσθαι τῆς τοῦ πλήθους ὁρμῆς, τὰς δὲ περὶ Σαλαμῖνα δυσχωρίας δύνασθαι πολλὰ συμβαλέσθαι πρὸς τὴν νίκην, ἐμηχανήσατό τι τοιοῦτον· ἔπεισέ τινα πρὸς τὸν Ξέρξην αὐτομολῆσαι καὶ διαβεβαιώσασθαι, διότι μέλλουσιν αἱ κατὰ Σαλαμῖνα νῆες ἀποδιδράσκειν ἐκ τῶν τόπων καὶ πρὸς τὸν Ἰσθμὸν ἀθροίζεσθαι. διόπερ ὁ βασιλεὺς διὰ τὴν πιθανότητα τῶν προσαγγελθέντων πιστεύσας, ἔσπευδε κωλῦσαι τὰς ναυτικὰς δυνάμεις τῶν Ἑλλήνων τοῖς πεζοῖς στρατοπέδοις πλησιάζειν. εὐθὺς οὖν τὸ τῶν Αἰγυπτίων ναυτικὸν ἐξέπεμψε, προστάξας ἐμφράττειν τὸν μεταξὺ πόρον τῆς τε Σαλαμῖνος καὶ τῆς Μεγαρίδος χώρας. τὸ δὲ ἄλλο πλῆθος τῶν νεῶν ἐξέπεμψεν ἐπὶ τὴν Σαλαμῖνα, προστάξας ἐξάπτεσθαι τῶν πολεμίων καὶ ναυμαχίᾳ κρίνειν τὸν ἀγῶνα. ἦσαν δὲ αἱ τριήρεις διατεταγμέναι κατὰ ἔθνος ἑξῆς, ἵνα διὰ τὴν ὁμοφωνίαν καὶ γνῶσιν προθύμως ἀλλήλοις βοηθῶσιν. οὕτω δὲ ταχθέντος τοῦ ναυτικοῦ στόλου, τὸ μὲν δεξιὸν κέρας ἐπεῖχον Φοίνικες, τὸ δʼ εὐώνυμον οἱ μετὰ τῶν Περσῶν ὄντες Ἕλληνες. οἱ δὲ τῶν Ἰώνων ἡγεμόνες ἀπέστειλαν ἄνδρα Σάμιον πρὸς τοὺς Ἕλληνας τὸν διασαφήσοντα περὶ τῶν δεδογμένων τῷ βασιλεῖ καὶ περὶ τῆς ὅλης ἐκτάξεως, καὶ διότι κατὰ τὴν μάχην ἀποστήσονται τῶν βαρβάρων. τοῦ δὲ Σαμίου λάθρᾳ διανηξαμένου καὶ περὶ τούτου διασαφήσαντος τοῖς περὶ τὸν Εὐρυβιάδην, ὁ μὲν Θεμιστοκλῆς, κατὰ νοῦν αὐτῷ προκεχωρηκότος τοῦ στρατηγήματος, περιχαρὴς ἦν καὶ τὰ πλήθη παρεκάλεσεν εἰς τὸν κίνδυνον, οἱ δʼ Ἕλληνες ἐπὶ τῇ τῶν Ἰώνων ἐπαγγελίᾳ θαρρήσαντες, καὶ τῆς περιστάσεως βιαζομένης αὐτοὺς παρὰ τὴν ἰδίαν προαίρεσιν ναυμαχεῖν, ἀπὸ τῆς Σαλαμῖνος προθύμως συγκατέβαινον εἰς τὴν ναυμαχίαν.
Themistocles, perceiving that the admiral, Eurybiades, was unable to overcome the mood of his forces, and yet recognizing that the narrow quarters at Salamis could be a great aid in accomplishing the victory, contrived the following ruse: He induced a certain man to desert to Xerxes and to assure him that the ships at Salamis were going to slip away from that region and assemble at the Isthmus. Accordingly the king, believing the man because what he reported was in itself plausible, made haste to prevent the naval forces of the Greeks from making contact with their armies on land. Therefore he at once dispatched the Egyptian fleet with orders to block the strait which separates Salamis from the territory of Megaris. The main body of his ships he dispatched to Salamis, ordering it to establish contact with the enemy and by fighting there decide the issue. The triremes were drawn up by peoples one after another, in order that, speaking the same language and knowing one another, the several contingents might assist each other with alacrity. When the fleet had been drawn up in this manner, the right wing was held by the Phoenicians and the left by the Greeks who were associated with the Persians. The commanders of Ionian contingents of the Persian fleet sent a man of Samos to the Greeks to inform them of what the king had decided to do and of the disposition of his forces for battle, and to say that in the course of the battle they were going to desert from the barbarians. And when the Samian had swum across without being observed and had informed Eurybiades about this plan, Themistocles, realizing that his stratagem had worked out as he had planned, was beside himself with joy and exhorted the crews to the fight; and as for the Greeks, they were emboldened by the promise of the Ionians, and although the circumstances were compelling them to fight against their own preference, they came down eagerly in a body from Salamis to the shore in preparation for the sea-battle.
§ 11.18
τέλος δὲ τῶν περὶ τὸν Εὐρυβιάδην καὶ Θεμιστοκλέα διαταξάντων τὰς δυνάμεις, τὸ μὲν εὐώνυμον μέρος ἐπεῖχον Ἀθηναῖοι καὶ Λακεδαιμόνιοι, πρὸς τὸ τῶν Φοινίκων ναυτικὸν ἀντιταχθησόμενοι· μεγάλην γὰρ οἱ Φοίνικες ὑπεροχὴν εἶχον διά τε τὸ πλῆθος καὶ διὰ τὴν ἐκ προγόνων ἐν τοῖς ναυτικοῖς ἔργοις ἐμπειρίαν· Αἰγινῆται δὲ καὶ Μεγαρεῖς τὸ δεξιὸν κέρας ἀνεπλήρουν· οὗτοι γὰρ ἐδόκουν εἶναι ναυτικώτατοι μετὰ τοὺς Ἀθηναίους καὶ μάλιστα φιλοτιμήσεσθαι διὰ τὸ μόνους τῶν Ἑλλήνων μηδεμίαν ἔχειν καταφυγήν, εἴ τι συμβαίη πταῖσμα κατὰ τὴν ναυμαχίαν· τὴν δὲ μέσην τάξιν ἐπεῖχε τὸ λοιπὸν τῶν Ἑλλήνων πλῆθος. οὗτοι μὲν οὖν τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον συνταχθέντες ἐξέπλευσαν, καὶ τὸν πόρον μεταξὺ Σαλαμῖνος καὶ Ἡρακλείου κατεῖχον· ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς τῷ μὲν ναυάρχῳ προσέταξεν ἐπιπλεῖν τοῖς πολεμίοις, αὐτὸς δʼ εἰς τὸν ἐναντίον τόπον τῆς Σαλαμῖνος παρῆλθεν, ἐξ οὗ θεωρεῖν ἦν τὴν ναυμαχίαν γινομένην. οἱ δὲ Πέρσαι τὸ μὲν πρῶτον πλέοντες διετήρουν τὴν τάξιν, ἔχοντες πολλὴν εὐρυχωρίαν· ὡς δʼ εἰς τὸ στενὸν ἦλθον, ἠναγκάζοντο τῶν νεῶν τινας ἀπὸ τῆς τάξεως ἀποσπᾶν, καὶ πολὺν ἐποίουν θόρυβον. ὁ δὲ ναύαρχος προηγούμενος τῆς τάξεως καὶ πρῶτος συνάψας μάχην διεφθάρη λαμπρῶς ἀγωνισάμενος. τῆς δὲ νεὼς βυθισθείσης, ταραχὴ κατέσχε τὸ ναυτικὸν τῶν βαρβάρων· πολλοὶ μὲν γὰρ ἦσαν οἱ προστάττοντες, οὐ ταὐτὰ δʼ ἕκαστος παρήγγελλε. διὸ καὶ τοῦ πλεῖν εἰς τοὔμπροσθεν ἐπέσχον, ἀνακωχεύοντες δʼ ἀνεχώρουν εἰς τὴν εὐρυχωρίαν. οἱ δὲ Ἀθηναῖοι θεωροῦντες τὴν ταραχὴν τῶν βαρβάρων ἐπέπλεον τοῖς πολεμίοις, καὶ τὰς μὲν τοῖς ἐμβόλοις ἔτυπτον, ὧν δὲ τοὺς ταρσοὺς παρέσυρον· τῆς δʼ εἰρεσίας οὐχ ὑπηρετούσης, πολλαὶ τῶν Περσῶν τριήρεις πλάγιαι γινόμεναι ταῖς ἐμβολαῖς πυκνῶς κατετιτρώσκοντο. διὸ καὶ πρύμναν μὲν ἀνακρούεσθαι κατέπαυσαν, εἰς τοὐπίσω δὲ πλέουσαι προτροπάδην ἔφευγον.
When at last Eurybiades and Themistocles had completed the disposition of their forces, the left wing was held by the Athenians and Lacedemonians, who in this way would be opposed to the ships of the Phoenicians; for the Phoenicians possessed a distinct superiority by reason of both of their great number and of the experience in seamanship which they inherited from their ancestors. The Aeginetans and Megarians formed the right wing, since they were generally considered to be the best seamen after the Athenians and it was believed that they would show the best spirit, seeing that they alone of the Greeks would have no place of refuge in case any reverse should occur in the course of the battle. The centre was held by the rest of the Greek forces. This, then, was the battle-order in which the Greeks sailed out, and they occupied the strait between Salamis and the Heracleium; and the king gave order to his admiral to advance against the enemy, while he himself moved down the coast to a spot directly opposite Salamis from which he could watch the course of the battle. The Persians, as they advanced, could at the outset maintain their line, since they had plenty of space; but when they came to the narrow passage, they were compelled to withdraw some ships from the line, creating in this way much disorder. The admiral, who was leading the way before the line and was the first to begin the fighting, was slain after having acquitted himself valiantly. When his ship went down, disorder seized the barbarian fleet, for there were many now to give orders, but each man did not issue the same commands. Consequently they halted the advance, and holding back their ships, they began to withdraw to where there was plenty of room. The Athenians, observing the disorder among the barbarians, now advanced upon the enemy, and some of their ships they struck with their rams, while from others they sheared off the rows of oars; and when the men at the oars could no longer do their work, many Persian triremes, getting sidewise to the enemy, were time and again severely damaged by the beaks of the ships. Consequently they ceased merely backing water, but turned about and fled precipitately.
§ 11.19
τῶν δὲ Φοινισσῶν καὶ Κυπρίων νεῶν ὑπὸ τῶν Ἀθηναίων χειρουμένων, αἱ τῶν Κιλίκων καὶ Παμφύλων, ἔτι δὲ καὶ Λυκίων νῆες, ἐχόμεναι τούτων οὖσαι, τὸ μὲν πρῶτον εὐρώστως ἀντείχοντο, ὡς δʼ εἶδον τὰς κρατίστας ναῦς πρὸς φυγὴν ὡρμημένας, καὶ αὐταὶ τὸν κίνδυνον ἐξέλιπον. ἐπὶ δὲ θατέρου κέρατος γενομένης καρτερᾶς ναυμαχίας μέχρι μέν τινος ἰσόρροπος ἦν ὁ κίνδυνος· ὡς δὲ οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι πρὸς τὴν γῆν καταδιώξαντες τοὺς Φοίνικας καὶ Κυπρίους ἐπέστρεψαν, ἐκβιασθέντες ὑπὸ τούτων ἐτράπησαν οἱ βάρβαροι καὶ πολλὰς ναῦς ἀπέβαλον. οἱ μὲν οὖν Ἕλληνες τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον προτερήσαντες ἐπιφανεστάτῃ ναυμαχίᾳ τοὺς βαρβάρους ἐνίκησαν· κατὰ δὲ τὸν κίνδυνον διεφθάρησαν νῆες τῶν μὲν Ἑλλήνων τετταράκοντα, τῶν δὲ Περσῶν ὑπὲρ τὰς διακοσίας χωρὶς τῶν σὺν αὐτοῖς ἀνδράσι ληφθεισῶν. ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς παρʼ ἐλπίδας ἡττημένος τῶν μὲν Φοινίκων τῶν ἀρξάντων τῆς φυγῆς τοὺς αἰτιωτάτους ἀπέκτεινε, τοῖς δʼ ἄλλοις ἠπείλησεν ἐπιθήσειν τὴν προσήκουσαν τιμωρίαν. οἱ δὲ Φοίνικες φοβηθέντες τὰς ἀπειλὰς τὸ μὲν πρῶτον εἰς τὴν Ἀττικὴν κατέπλευσαν, τῆς δὲ νυκτὸς ἐπιγενομένης ἀπῆραν εἰς τὴν Ἀσίαν. Θεμιστοκλῆς δὲ δόξας αἴτιος γενέσθαι τῆς νίκης, ἕτερον οὐκ ἔλαττον τούτου στρατήγημα ἐπενόησε. φοβουμένων γὰρ τῶν Ἑλλήνων πεζῇ διαγωνίζεσθαι πρὸς τοσαύτας μυριάδας, ἐταπείνωσε πολὺ τὰς δυνάμεις τῶν πεζῶν στρατοπέδων τοιῷδέ τινι τρόπῳ. τὸν παιδαγωγὸν τῶν ἰδίων υἱῶν ἀπέστειλε πρὸς τὸν Ξέρξην δηλώσοντα, διότι μέλλουσιν οἱ Ἕλληνες πλεύσαντες ἐπὶ τὸ ζεῦγμα λύειν τὴν γέφυραν. διόπερ ὁ βασιλεὺς πιστεύσας τοῖς λόγοις διὰ τὴν πιθανότητα, περίφοβος ἐγένετο μὴ τῆς εἰς τὴν Ἀσίαν ἐπανόδου στερηθῇ, τῶν Ἑλλήνων θαλαττοκρατούντων, ἔγνω δὲ τὴν ταχίστην διαβαίνειν ἐκ τῆς Εὐρώπης εἰς τὴν Ἀσίαν, καταλιπὼν Μαρδόνιον ἐπὶ τῆς Ἑλλάδος μετὰ τῶν ἀρίστων ἱππέων τε καὶ πεζῶν, ὧν ὁ σύμπας ἀριθμὸς ὑπῆρχεν οὐκ ἐλάττων τῶν τετταράκοντα μυριάδων. Θεμιστοκλῆς μὲν οὖν δυσὶ στρατηγήμασι χρησάμενος μεγάλων προτερημάτων αἴτιος ἐγένετο τοῖς Ἕλλησι. καὶ τὰ μὲν κατὰ τὴν Ἑλλάδα πραχθέντα ἐν τούτοις ἦν.
While the Phoenician and Cyprian ships were being mastered by the Athenians, the vessels of the Cilicians and Pamphylians, and also of the Lycians, which followed them in line, at first were holding out stoutly, but when they saw the strongest ships taking to flight they likewise abandoned the flight. On the other wing the battle was stubbornly fought and for some time the struggle was evenly balanced; but when the Athenians had pursued the Phoenicians and Cyprians to the shore and then turned back, the barbarians, being forced out of line by the returning Athenians, turned about and lost many of their ships. In this manner, then, the Greeks gained the upper hand and won a most renowned naval victory over the barbarians; and in the struggle forty ships were lost by the Greeks, but more than two hundred by the Persians, not including those which were captured together with their crews. The king, for whom the defeat was unexpected, put to death those Phoenicians who were chiefly responsible for beginning the flight, and threatened to visit upon the rest the punishment they deserved. And the Phoenicians, frightened by his threats, first put into port on the coast of Attica, and then, when night fell, set sail for Asia. But Themistocles, who was credited for having brought about the victory, devised another stratagem no less clever than the one we have described. For, since the Greeks were afraid to battle on land against so many myriads of Persians, he greatly reduced the number of the Persian troops in the following manner: he sent to Xerxes the attendant of his own sons to inform him that the Greeks were about to sail to the bridge of boats and to destroy it. Accordingly the king, believing the report because it was plausible, became fearful lest he should be cut off from the route whatever he could get back to Asia, now that the Greeks controlled the sea, and decided to cross over in all possible haste from Europe into Asia, leaving Mardonius behind in Greece with picked cavalry and infantry, the total number of whom was not less than four hundred thousand. Thus Themistocles by the use of two stratagems brought about signal advantages for the Greeks. These were the events that took place in Greece at this time.
§ 11.20
ἡμεῖς δὲ ἀρκούντως διεληλυθότες περὶ τῶν κατὰ τὴν Εὐρώπην πραχθέντων, μεταβιβάσομεν τὴν διήγησιν ἐπὶ τὰς ἑτερογενεῖς πράξεις. Καρχηδόνιοι γὰρ συντεθειμένοι πρὸς Πέρσας τοῖς αὐτοῖς καιροῖς καταπολεμῆσαι τοὺς κατὰ τὴν Σικελίαν Ἕλληνας, μεγάλας παρασκευὰς ἐποιήσαντο τῶν πρὸς τὸν πόλεμον χρησίμων. ὡς δʼ εὐτρεπῆ πάντα αὐτοῖς ὑπῆρχε, στρατηγὸν εἵλοντο Ἀμίλκωνα, τὸν μάλιστα παρʼ αὐτοῖς θαυμαζόμενον προκρίναντες. οὗτος δὲ παραλαβὼν πεζάς τε καὶ ναυτικὰς δυνάμεις μεγάλας ἐξέπλευσεν ἐκ τῆς Καρχηδόνος, ἔχων πεζὴν μὲν δύναμιν οὐκ ἐλάττω τῶν τριάκοντα μυριάδων, ναῦς δὲ μακρὰς πλείους τῶν διακοσίων, καὶ χωρὶς πολλὰς ναῦς φορτίδας τὰς κομιζούσας τὴν ἀγοράν, ὑπὲρ τὰς τρισχιλίας. οὗτος μὲν οὖν διανύσας τὸ Λιβυκὸν πέλαγος καὶ χειμασθεὶς ἀπέβαλε τῶν σκαφῶν τὰ κομίζοντα τοὺς ἱππεῖς καὶ τὰ ἅρματα. καταπλεύσας δὲ τῆς Σικελίας εἰς τὸν ἐν τῷ Πανόρμῳ λιμένα διαπεπολεμηκέναι τὸν πόλεμον ἔφησε· πεφοβῆσθαι γὰρ μήποτε ἡ θάλαττα τοὺς Σικελιώτας ἐξέληται τῶν κινδύνων. ἐπὶ δὲ τρεῖς ἡμέρας ἀναλαβὼν τοὺς στρατιώτας καὶ διορθωσάμενος τὴν ἐν τῷ χειμῶνι γενομένην ναυαγίαν, προῆγε μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως ἐπὶ τὴν Ἱμέραν, συμπαραπλέοντος τοῦ ναυτικοῦ. ὡς δʼ ἦλθε πλησίον τῆς προειρημένης πόλεως, δύο παρεμβολὰς ἔθετο, τὴν μὲν τῷ πεζῷ στρατεύματι, τὴν δὲ τῇ ναυτικῇ δυνάμει. καὶ τὰς μὲν μακρὰς ναῦς ἁπάσας ἐνεώλκησε καὶ τάφρῳ βαθείᾳ καὶ τείχει ξυλίνῳ περιέλαβε, τὴν δὲ τῶν πεζῶν παρεμβολὴν ὠχύρωσεν ἀντιπρόσωπον ποιήσας τῇ πόλει καὶ παρεκτείνας ἀπὸ τοῦ ναυτικοῦ παρατειχίσματος μέχρι τῶν ὑπερκειμένων λόφων. καθόλου δὲ πᾶν τὸ πρὸς δυσμὰς μέρος καταλαβόμενος, τὴν μὲν ἀγορὰν ἅπασαν ἐκ τῶν φορτίδων νεῶν ἐξείλετο, τὰ δὲ πλοῖα ἅπαντα ταχέως ἐξαπέστειλε, προστάξας ἔκ τε τῆς Λιβύης καὶ Σαρδοῦς σῖτον καὶ τὴν ἄλλην ἀγορὰν κομίζειν. αὐτὸς δὲ τοὺς ἀρίστους τῶν στρατιωτῶν ἀναλαβὼν ἧκεν ἐπὶ τὴν πόλιν, καὶ τῶν Ἱμεραίων τοὺς ἐπεξιόντας τρεψάμενος καὶ πολλοὺς ἀνελὼν κατεπλήξατο τοὺς ἐν τῇ πόλει. διὸ καὶ Θήρων ὁ Ἀκραγαντίνων δυνάστης, ἔχων δύναμιν ἱκανὴν καὶ παραφυλάττων τὴν Ἱμέραν, φοβηθεὶς εὐθὺς ἀπέστειλεν εἰς τὰς Συρακούσας, ἀξιῶν τὸν Γέλωνα βοηθεῖν τὴν ταχίστην.
Now that we have described at sufficient length the events in Europe, we shall shift our narrative to the affairs of another people. The Carthaginians, we recall, had agreed with the Persians to subdue the Greeks of Sicily at the same time and had made preparations on a large scale of such materials as would be useful in carrying on a war. And when they had made everything ready, they chose for general Hamilcar, having selected him as the man who was held by them in the highest esteem. He assumed command of huge forces, both land and naval, and sailed forth from Carthage with an army of not less than three hundred thousand men and a fleet of over two hundred ships of war, not to mention many cargo ships for carrying supplies, numbering more than three thousand. Now as he was crossing the Libyan sea he encountered a storm and lost the vessels which were carrying the horses and chariots. And when he came to port in Sicily in the harbour of Panormus he remarked that he had finished the war; for he had been afraid that the sea would rescue the Siceliotes from the perils of the conflict. He took three days to rest his soldiers and to repair the damage which the storm had inflicted on his ships, and then advanced together with his host against Himera, the fleet skirting the coast with him. And when he had arrived near the city we have just mentioned, he pitched two camps, the one for the army and the other for the naval force. All the warships he hauled up on land and threw about them a deep ditch and a wooden palisade, and he strengthened the camp of the army, which he placed so that it fronted the city, and prolonged so that it took in the area from the wall extending along the naval camp as far as the hills which overhung the city. Speaking generally, he took control of the entire west side, after which he unloaded all the supplies from the cargo vessels and at once sent off all these boats, ordering them to bring grain and the other supplies from Libya and Sardinia. Then, taking his best troops, he advanced to the city, and routing the Himerans who came out against him and slaying many of them, he struck the inhabitants of the city with terror. Consequently Theron, the ruler of the Acragantini, who with a considerable force was standing by to guard Himera, in fear hastily sent word to Syracuse, asking Gelon to come to his aid as rapidly as possible.
§ 11.21
ὁ δὲ Γέλων καὶ αὐτὸς ἡτοιμακὼς ἦν τὴν δύναμιν, πυθόμενος δὲ τὴν τῶν Ἱμεραίων ἀθυμίαν ἀνέζευξεν ἐκ τῶν Συρακουσῶν κατὰ σπουδήν, ἔχων πεζοὺς μὲν οὐκ ἐλάττους τῶν πεντακισμυρίων, ἱππεῖς δὲ ὑπὲρ τοὺς πεντακισχιλίους. διανύσας δὲ ταχέως τὴν ὁδὸν καὶ πλησιάσας τῇ πόλει τῶν Ἱμεραίων, ἐποίησε θαρρεῖν τοὺς πρότερον καταπεπληγμένους τὰς τῶν Καρχηδονίων δυνάμεις. αὐτὸς μὲν γὰρ στρατοπεδείαν οἰκείαν βαλόμενος τῶν περὶ τὴν πόλιν τόπων, ταύτην μὲν ὠχύρωσε τάφρῳ βαθείᾳ καὶ χαρακώματι περιλαβών, τοὺς δʼ ἱππεῖς ἅπαντας ἐξαπέστειλεν ἐπὶ τοὺς κατὰ τὴν χώραν πλανωμένους τῶν πολεμίων καὶ περὶ τὰς ὠφελείας διατρίβοντας. οὗτοι δὲ παραδόξως ἐπιφανέντες διεσπαρμένοις ἀτάκτως κατὰ τὴν χώραν, τοσούτους ἀνῆγον αἰχμαλώτους ὅσους ἕκαστος ἄγειν ἠδύνατο. εἰσαχθέντων δὲ αἰχμαλώτων εἰς τὴν πόλιν πλειόνων ἢ μυρίων, ὁ μὲν Γέλων μεγάλης ἀποδοχῆς ἐτύγχανεν, οἱ δὲ κατὰ τὴν Ἱμέραν κατεφρόνησαν τῶν πολεμίων. ἀκόλουθα δὲ τούτοις πράττων ὁ μὲν Γέλων ἁπάσας τὰς πύλας, ἃς διὰ φόβον πρότερον ἐνῳκοδόμησαν οἱ περὶ Θήρωνα, ταύτας τοὐναντίον διὰ τὴν καταφρόνησιν ἐξῳκοδόμησε, καὶ ἄλλας προσκατεσκεύασε, διʼ ὧν ἦν εὐχρηστεῖσθαι πρὸς τὰς κατεπειγούσας χρείας. καθόλου δὲ Γέλων στρατηγίᾳ καὶ συνέσει διαφέρων εὐθὺς ἐζήτει, διʼ οὗ τρόπου καταστρατηγήσας τοὺς βαρβάρους ἀκινδύνως αὐτῶν ἄρδην ἀνελεῖ τὴν δύναμιν. συνεβάλετο δὲ αὐτῷ καὶ τὸ αὐτόματον πρὸς τὴν ἐπίνοιαν μεγάλα, τοιαύτης γενομένης περιστάσεως. κρίναντος αὐτοῦ τὰς τῶν πολεμίων ναῦς ἐμπρῆσαι, καὶ τοῦ Ἀμίλκα διατρίβοντος μὲν κατὰ τὴν ναυτικὴν στρατοπεδείαν, παρασκευαζομένου δὲ θύειν τῷ Ποσειδῶνι μεγαλοπρεπῶς, ἧκον ἀπὸ τῆς χώρας ἱππεῖς ἄγοντες πρὸς τὸν Γέλωνα βιβλιαφόρον ἐπιστολὰς κομίζοντα παρὰ Σελινουντίων, ἐν αἷς ἦν γεγραμμένον, ὅτι πρὸς ἣν ἔγραψεν ἡμέραν Ἀμίλκας ἀποστεῖλαι τοὺς ἱππεῖς, πρὸς αὐτὴν ἐκπέμψουσιν. οὔσης δὲ τῆς ἡμέρας ταύτης καθʼ ἣν ἔμελλε συντελεῖν τὴν θυσίαν Ἀμίλκας, κατὰ ταύτην Γέλων ἀπέστειλεν ἰδίους ἱππεῖς, οἷς ἦν προστεταγμένον περιελθεῖν τοὺς πλησίον τόπους καὶ προσελαύνειν ἅμʼ ἡμέρᾳ πρὸς τὴν ναυτικὴν στρατοπεδείαν, ὡς ὄντας Σελινουντίων συμμάχους, γενομένους δʼ ἐντὸς τοῦ ξυλίνου τείχους τὸν μὲν Ἀμίλκαν ἀποκτεῖναι, τὰς δὲ ναῦς ἐμπρῆσαι. ἐξέπεμψε δὲ καὶ σκοποὺς εἰς τοὺς ὑπερκειμένους λόφους, οἷς προσέταξεν, ὅταν ἴδωσι τοὺς ἱππεῖς γενομένους ἐντὸς τοῦ τείχους, ἆραι τὸ σύσσημον. αὐτὸς δʼ ἅμʼ ἡμέρᾳ τὴν δύναμιν διατεταχὼς ἀνέμενε τὴν ἀπὸ τῶν σκοπῶν ἐσομένην δήλωσιν.
Gelon, who had likewise held his army in readiness, on learning that the Himerans were in despair set out from Syracuse with all speed, accompanied by not less than fifty thousand foot-soldiers and over five thousand cavalry. He covered the distance swiftly, and as he drew near the city of the Himerans he inspired boldness in the hearts of those who before had been dismayed at the forces of the Carthaginians. For after pitching a camp which was appropriate to the terrain about the city, he not only fortified it with a deep ditch and a palisade but also dispatched his entire body of cavalry against such forces of the enemy as were ranging over the countryside in search of booty. And the cavalry, unexpectedly appearing to men who were scattered without military order over the countryside, took prisoner as many as each man could drive before him. And when prisoners of the number of more than ten thousand had been brought into the city, not only was Gelon accorded great approbation but the Himerans also came to hold the enemy in contempt. Following up what he had already accomplished, all the gates which Theron through fear had formerly blocked up were now, on the contrary, opened up by Gelon through his contempt of the enemy, and he even constructed additional ones which might prove serviceable to him in case of urgent need. In a word Gelon, excelling as he did in skill as a general and in shrewdness, set about at once to discover how he might without any risk to his army outgeneral the barbarians and utterly destroy their power. And his own ingenuity was greatly aided by accident, because of the following circumstance. He had decided to set fire to the ships of the enemy; and while Hamilcar was occupied in the naval camp with the preparation of a magnificent sacrifice to Poseidon, cavalrymen came from the countryside bringing to Gelon a letter-carrier who was conveying dispatches from the people of Selinus, in which was written that they would send the cavalry for that day for which Hamilcar had written to dispatch them. The day was that on which Hamilcar planned to celebrate the sacrifice. And on that day Gelon dispatched cavalry of his own, who were under orders to skirt the immediate neighbourhood and to ride up at daybreak to the naval camp, as if they were the allies from Selinus, and when they had once got inside the wooden palisade, to slay Hamilcar and set fire to the ships. He also sent scouts to the hills which overlook the city, ordering them to raise the signal as soon as they saw that the horsemen were inside the wall. For his part, at daybreak he drew up his army and awaited the sign which was to come from the scouts.
§ 11.22
τῶν δʼ ἱππέων ἅμα τῇ κατὰ τὸν ἥλιον ἀνατολῇ προσιππευσάντων τῇ ναυτικῇ τῶν Καρχηδονίων στρατοπεδείᾳ, καὶ προσδεχθέντων ὑπὸ τῶν φυλάκων ὡς συμμάχων, οὗτοι μὲν εὐθὺς προσδραμόντες τῷ Ἀμίλκᾳ περὶ τὴν θυσίαν γινομένῳ, τοῦτον μὲν ἀνεῖλον, τὰς δὲ ναῦς ἐνέπρησαν· ἔπειτα τῶν σκοπῶν ἀράντων τὸ σύσσημον, ὁ Γέλων πάσῃ τῇ δυνάμει συντεταγμένῃ προῆγεν ἐπὶ τὴν παρεμβολὴν τῶν Καρχηδονίων. οἱ δὲ ἐν τῇ στρατοπεδείᾳ τῶν Φοινίκων ἡγεμόνες τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἐξαγαγόντες τὴν δύναμιν ἀπήντων τοῖς Σικελιώταις καὶ συνάψαντες μάχην εὐρώστως ἠγωνίζοντο· ὁμοῦ δὲ ταῖς σάλπιγξιν ἐν ἀμφοτέροις τοῖς στρατοπέδοις ἐσήμαινον τὸ πολεμικόν, καὶ κραυγὴ τῶν δυνάμεων ἐναλλὰξ ἐγίνετο, φιλοτιμουμένων ἀμφοτέρων τῷ μεγέθει τῆς βοῆς ὑπερᾶραι τοὺς ἀντιτεταγμένους. πολλοῦ δὲ γενομένου φόνου, καὶ τῆς μάχης δεῦρο κἀκεῖσε ταλαντευομένης, ἄφνω τῆς κατὰ τὰς ναῦς φλογὸς ἀρθείσης εἰς ὕψος, καί τινων ἀπαγγειλάντων τὸν τοῦ στρατηγοῦ φόνον, οἱ μὲν Ἕλληνες ἐθάρρησαν, καὶ ταῖς φωναῖς καὶ ταῖς ἐλπίσι τῆς νίκης ἐπαρθέντες τοῖς φρονήμασιν ἐπέκειντο θρασύτερον τοῖς βαρβάροις, οἱ δὲ Καρχηδόνιοι καταπλαγέντες καὶ τὴν νίκην ἀπογνόντες πρὸς φυγὴν ἐτράπησαν. τοῦ δὲ Γέλωνος παραγγείλαντος μηδένα ζωγρεῖν, πολὺς ἐγένετο φόνος τῶν φευγόντων, καὶ πέρας κατεκόπησαν αὐτῶν οὐκ ἐλάττους τῶν πεντεκαίδεκα μυριάδων. οἱ δὲ λοιποὶ φυγόντες ἐπί τινα τόπον ἐρυμνὸν τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἠμύνοντο τοὺς βιαζομένους,ἄνυδρον δὲ κατειληφότες τόπον καὶ τῷ δίψει πιεζόμενοι ἠναγκάσθησαν ἑαυτοὺς παραδοῦναι τοῖς κρατοῦσι. Γέλων δὲ ἐπιφανεστάτῃ μάχῃ νικήσας, καὶ ταύτην κατωρθωκὼς μάλιστα διὰ τῆς ἰδίας στρατηγίας, περιβόητον ἔσχε τὴν δόξαν οὐ μόνον παρὰ τοῖς Σικελιώταις, ἀλλὰ καὶ παρὰ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἅπασιν· οὐδεὶς γὰρ τῶν πρὸ αὐτοῦ μνημονεύεται τοιούτῳ στρατηγήματι κεχρημένος, οὐδὲ πλείονας ἐν μιᾷ παρατάξει κατακόψας τῶν βαρβάρων οὐδὲ πλῆθος αἰχμαλώτων τοσοῦτον χειρωσάμενος.
At sunrise the cavalrymen rode up to the naval camp of the Carthaginians, and when the guards admitted them, thinking them to be allies, they at once galloped to where Hamilcar was busied with the sacrifice, slew him, and then set fire to the ships; thereupon the scouts raised the signal and Gelon advanced with his entire army in battle order against the Carthaginian camp. The commanders of the Phoenicians in the camp at the outset led out their troops to meet the Siceliotes and as the lines closed they put up a vigorous fight; at the same time in both camps they sounded with the trumpets the signal for battle and a shout arose from the two armies one after the other, each eagerly striving to outdo their adversaries in the volume of their cheering. The slaughter was great, and the battle was swaying back and forth, when suddenly the flames from the ships began to rise on high and sundry persons reported that the general had been slain; then the Greeks were emboldened and with spirits elated at the rumours and by the hope of victory they pressed with greater boldness upon the barbarians, while the Carthaginians, dismayed and despairing of victory, turned in flight. Since Gelon had given orders to take no prisoners, there followed a great slaughter of the enemy in their flight, and in the end no less than one hundred and fifty thousand of them were slain. All who escaped the battle and fled to a strong position at first warded off the attackers, but the position they had seized had no water, and thirst compelled them to surrender to the victors. Gelon, who had won a victory in a most remarkable battle and had gained his success primarily by reason of his own skill as a general, acquired a fame that was noised abroad, not only among the Siceliotes, but among all other men as well; for memory recalls no man before him who had used a stratagem like this, nor one who had slain more barbarians in one engagement or had taken so great a multitude of prisoners.
§ 11.23
διὸ καὶ πολλοὶ τῶν συγγραφέων παραβάλλουσι ταύτην τὴν μάχην τῇ περὶ Πλαταιὰς γενομένῃ τοῖς Ἕλλησι καὶ στρατήγημα τὸ Γέλωνος τοῖς ἐπινοήμασι τοῖς Θεμιστοκλέους, καὶ τὸ πρωτεῖον διὰ τὰς ἀμφοτέρων ὑπερβολὰς τῆς ἀρετῆς οἱ μὲν τούτοις, οἱ δὲ τοῖς ἑτέροις ἀπονέμουσι. καὶ γὰρ τῶν κατὰ τὴν Ἑλλάδα καὶ τῶν κατὰ τὴν Σικελίαν πρὸ τῆς μάχης καταπεπληγμένων τὸ πλῆθος τῶν βαρβαρικῶν δυνάμεων, οἱ κατὰ Σικελίαν πρότερον νικήσαντες ἐποίησαν τοὺς κατὰ τὴν Ἑλλάδα θαρρῆσαι, πυθομένους τὴν τοῦ Γέλωνος νίκην· καὶ τῶν τὴν ὅλην ἡγεμονίαν παρʼ ἀμφοτέροις ἐσχηκότων παρὰ μὲν τοῖς Πέρσαις συνέβη διαπεφευγέναι τὸν βασιλέα καὶ πολλὰς μυριάδας μετʼ αὐτοῦ, παρὰ δὲ τοῖς Καρχηδονίοις μὴ μόνον ἀπολέσθαι τὸν στρατηγόν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς μετασχόντας τοῦ πολέμου κατακοπῆναι, καὶ τὸ δὴ λεγόμενον μηδὲ ἄγγελον εἰς τὴν Καρχηδόνα διασωθῆναι. πρὸς δὲ τούτοις τοὺς ἐπιφανεστάτους τῶν ἡγεμόνων παρὰ μὲν τοῖς Ἕλλησι Παυσανίαν καὶ Θεμιστοκλέα, τὸν μὲν ὑπὸ τῶν ἰδίων πολιτῶν θανατωθῆναι διὰ πλεονεξίαν καὶ προδοσίαν, τὸν δʼ ἐξ ἁπάσης τῆς Ἑλλάδος ἐξελαθέντα καταφυγεῖν πρὸς τὸν ἐχθρότατον Ξέρξην καὶ παρʼ ἐκείνῳ βιῶσαι μέχρι τῆς τελευτῆς, Γέλωνα δὲ μετὰ τὴν μάχην ἀεὶ καὶ μᾶλλον ἀποδοχῆς τυγχάνοντα παρὰ τοῖς Συρακοσίοις ἐγγηρᾶσαι τῇ βασιλείᾳ καὶ τελευτῆσαι θαυμαζόμενον, καὶ τοσοῦτον ἰσχῦσαι τὴν πρὸς αὐτὸν εὔνοιαν παρὰ τοῖς πολίταις, ὥστε καὶ τρισὶν ἐκ τῆς οἰκίας τῆς ἐκείνου τὴν ἀρχὴν διαφυλαχθῆναι. ἀλλὰ γὰρ τούτων οἱ δικαίαν δόξαν κεκτημένοι τοὺς προσήκοντας ἐπαίνους καὶ παρʼ ἡμῶν ἔχουσιν, ἐπὶ δὲ τὸ συνεχὲς τοῖς προειρημένοις μεταβησόμεθα.
Because of this achievement many historians compare this battle with the one which the Greeks fought at Plataea and the stratagem of Gelon with the ingenious schemes of Themistocles, and the first place they assign, since such exceptional merit was shown by both men, some to the one and some to the other. And the reason is that, when the people of Greece on the one hand and those of Sicily on the other were struck with dismay before the conflict at the multitude of the barbarian armies, it was the prior victory of the Sicilian Greeks which gave courage to the people of Greece when they learned of Gelon's victory; and as for the men in both affairs who held the supreme command, we know that in the case of the Persians the king escaped with his life and many myriads together with him, whereas in the case of the Carthaginians not only did the general perish but also everyone who participated in the war was slain, and, as the saying is, not even a man to bear the news got back alive to Carthage. Furthermore, of the most distinguished of the leaders of the Greeks, Pausanias and Themistocles, the former was put to death by his fellow citizens because of his overweening greed of power and treason, and the latter was driven from every corner of Greece and fled for refuge to Xerxes, his bitterest enemy, on whose hospitality he lived to the end of his life; whereas Gelon after the battle received greater approbation every year at the hands of the Syracusans, grew old in the kingship, and died in the esteem of his people, and so strong was the goodwill which the citizens felt for him that the kingship was maintained for three members of this house. However, now that these men, who enjoy a well deserved fame, have received from us also the eulogies they merit, we shall pass on to the continuation of the preceding narrative.
§ 11.24
συνέβη γὰρ τῇ αὐτῇ ἡμέρᾳ τὸν Γέλωνα νικῆσαι καὶ τοὺς περὶ Θερμοπύλας μετὰ Λεωνίδου διαγωνίσασθαι πρὸς Ξέρξην, ὥσπερ ἐπίτηδες τοῦ δαιμονίου περὶ τὸν αὐτὸν καιρὸν ποιήσαντος γενέσθαι τήν τε καλλίστην νίκην καὶ τὴν ἐνδοξοτάτην ἧτταν. μετὰ δὲ τὴν γενομένην μάχην πρὸς τῇ πόλει τῶν Ἱμεραίων εἴκοσι νῆες μακραὶ διέφυγον τὸν κίνδυνον, ἃς Ἀμίλκας οὐκ ἐνεώλκησε πρὸς τὰς ἀναγκαίας χρείας. διὸ καὶ τῶν ἀνδρῶν σχεδὸν ἁπάντων τῶν μὲν ἀνῃρημένων, τῶν δὲ ἐζωγρημένων, ἔφθασαν αὗται τὸν ἀπόπλουν ποιησάμεναι. πολλοὺς δὲ τῶν φευγόντων ἀναλαβοῦσαι, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο κατάγομοι γενόμεναι, περιέπεσον χειμῶνι καὶ πᾶσαι διεφθάρησαν· ὀλίγοι δέ τινες ἐν μικρῷ σκάφει διασωθέντες εἰς Καρχηδόνα διεσάφησαν τοῖς πολίταις, σύντομον ποιησάμενοι τὴν ἀπόφασιν, ὅτι πάντες οἱ διαβάντες εἰς τὴν Σικελίαν ἀπολώλασιν. οἱ δὲ Καρχηδόνιοι παρʼ ἐλπίδας μεγάλῃ συμφορᾷ περιπεσόντες ἐπὶ τοσοῦτο κατεπλάγησαν, ὥστε τὰς νύκτας ἅπαντας διαγρυπνεῖν φυλάττοντας τὴν πόλιν, ὡς τοῦ Γέλωνος πάσῃ τῇ δυνάμει παραχρῆμα διεγνωκότος πλεῖν ἐπὶ τὴν Καρχηδόνα. διὰ δὲ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν ἀπολωλότων ἥ τε πόλις ἐπένθησε κοινῇ καὶ κατʼ ἰδίαν αἱ τῶν ἰδιωτῶν οἰκίαι κλαυθμοῦ καὶ πένθους ἐπληροῦντο. οἱ μὲν γὰρ υἱούς, οἱ δὲ ἀδελφοὺς ἐπεζήτουν, πλεῖστοι δὲ παῖδες ὀρφανοὶ πατέρων γεγονότες ἔρημοι ὠδύροντο τόν τε τῶν γεγεννηκότων θάνατον καὶ τὴν ἰδίαν ἐρημίαν τῶν βοηθούντων. οἱ δὲ Καρχηδόνιοι φοβούμενοι μὴ φθάσῃ διαβὰς εἰς Λιβύην Γέλων, εὐθὺς ἐξέπεμψαν πρὸς αὐτὸν πρεσβευτὰς αὐτοκράτορας τοὺς δυνατωτάτους εἰπεῖν τε καὶ βουλεύσασθαι.
Now it so happened that Gelon won his victory on the same day that Leonidas and his soldiers were contesting against Xerxes at Thermopylae, as if the deity intentionally so arranged that both the fairest victory and the most honourable defeat should take place at the same time. After the battle at the city of the Himerans twenty warships made their escape from the fight, being those which Hamilcar, to serve his routine requirements, had not hauled up on shore. Consequently, although practically all the rest of the combatants were either slain or taken prisoner, these vessels managed to set sail before they were noticed. But they picked up many fugitives, and while heavily laden on this account, they encountered a storm and were all lost. A handful only of survivors got safely to Carthage in a small boat to give their fellow citizens a statement which was brief: "All who crossed over to Sicily have perished." The Carthaginians, who had suffered a great disaster so contrary to their hopes, were so terror-stricken that every night they kept vigil guarding the city, in the belief that Gelon with his entire force must have decided to sail forthwith against Carthage. And because of the multitude of the lost the city went into public mourning, while privately the homes of citizens were filled with wailing and lamentation. For some kept inquiring after sons, others after brothers, while a very large number of children who had lost their fathers, alone now in the world, grieved at the death of those who had begotten them and at their own desolation through the loss of those who could succour them. And the Carthaginians, fearing lest Gelon should forestall them in crossing over to Libya, at once dispatched to him as ambassadors plenipotentiary their ablest orators and counsellors.
§ 11.25
ὁ δὲ Γέλων μετὰ τὴν νίκην τούς τε ἱππεῖς τοὺς ἀνελόντας τὸν Ἀμίλκαν δωρεαῖς ἐτίμησε καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τοὺς ἠνδραγαθηκότας ἀριστείοις ἐκόσμησε. τῶν δὲ λαφύρων τὰ καλλιστεύοντα παρεφύλαξε, βουλόμενος τοὺς ἐν ταῖς Συρακούσαις νεὼς κοσμῆσαι τοῖς σκύλοις· τῶν δʼ ἄλλων πολλὰ μὲν ἐν Ἱμέρᾳ προσήλωσε τοῖς ἐπιφανεστάτοις τῶν ἱερῶν, τὰ δὲ λοιπὰ μετὰ τῶν αἰχμαλώτων διεμέρισε τοῖς συμμάχοις, κατὰ τὸν ἀριθμὸν τῶν συστρατευσάντων τὴν ἀναλογίαν ποιησάμενος. αἱ δὲ πόλεις εἰς πέδας κατέστησαν τοὺς διαιρεθέντας αἰχμαλώτους, καὶ τὰ δημόσια τῶν ἔργων διὰ τούτων ἐπεσκεύαζον. πλείστους δὲ λαβόντες Ἀκραγαντῖνοι τήν τε πόλιν αὐτῶν καὶ τὴν χώραν ἐκόσμησαν· τοσοῦτον γὰρ παρʼ αὐτοῖς τῶν ἡλωκότων ἦν τὸ πλῆθος, ὥστε πολλοὺς τῶν ἰδιωτῶν παρʼ αὐτοῖς ἔχειν δεσμώτας πεντακοσίους. συνεβάλετο γὰρ αὐτοῖς πρὸς τὸ πλῆθος τῶν αἰχμαλώτων οὐ μόνον ὅτι πολλοὺς στρατιώτας ἀπεσταλκότες ἦσαν ἐπὶ τὴν μάχην, ἀλλὰ καὶ διότι γενομένης τῆς τροπῆς πολλοὶ τῶν φευγόντων εἰς τὴν μεσόγειον ἀνεχώρησαν, μάλιστα δὲ εἰς τὴν Ἀκραγαντίνων, ὧν ἁπάντων ὑπὸ τῶν Ἀκραγαντίνων ζωγρηθέντων ἔγεμεν ἡ πόλις τῶν ἑαλωκότων. πλείστων δὲ εἰς τὸ δημόσιον ἀνενεχθέντων, οὗτοι μὲν τοὺς λίθους ἔτεμνον, ἐξ ὧν οὐ μόνον οἱ μέγιστοι τῶν θεῶν ναοὶ κατεσκευάσθησαν, ἀλλὰ καὶ πρὸς τὰς τῶν ὑδάτων ἐκ τῆς πόλεως ἐκροὰς ὑπόνομοι κατεσκευάσθησαν τηλικοῦτοι τὸ μέγεθος, ὥστε ἀξιοθέατον εἶναι τὸ κατασκεύασμα, καίπερ διὰ τὴν εὐτέλειαν καταφρονούμενον. ἐπιστάτης δὲ γενόμενος τούτων τῶν ἔργων ὁ προσαγορευόμενος Φαίαξ διὰ τὴν δόξαν τοῦ κατασκευάσματος ἐποίησεν ἀφʼ ἑαυτοῦ κληθῆναι τοὺς ὑπονόμους φαίακας. κατεσκεύασαν δὲ οἱ Ἀκραγαντῖνοι καὶ κολυμβήθραν πολυτελῆ, τὴν περίμετρον ἔχουσαν σταδίων ἑπτά, τὸ δὲ βάθος πηχῶν εἴκοσι. εἰς δὲ ταύτην ἐπαγομένων ποταμίων καὶ κρηναίων ὑδάτων ἰχθυοτροφεῖον ἐγένετο, πολλοὺς παρεχόμενον ἰχθῦς εἰς τροφὴν καὶ ἀπόλαυσιν· κύκνων τε πλείστων εἰς αὐτὴν καταπταμένων συνέβη τὴν πρόσοψιν αὐτῆς ἐπιτερπῆ γενέσθαι. ἀλλʼ αὕτη μὲν ἐν τοῖς ὕστερον χρόνοις ἀμεληθεῖσα συνεχώσθη καὶ διὰ τὸ πλῆθος τοῦ χρόνου κατεφθάρη, τὴν δὲ χώραν ἅπασαν ἀγαθὴν οὖσαν ἀμπελόφυτον ἐποίησαν καὶ δένδρεσι παντοίοις πεπυκνωμένην, ὥστε λαμβάνειν ἐξ αὐτῆς μεγάλας προσόδους. Γέλων δὲ τοὺς συμμάχους ἀπολύσας τοὺς πολίτας ἀπήγαγεν εἰς τὰς Συρακούσας, καὶ διὰ τὸ μέγεθος τῆς εὐημερίας ἀποδοχῆς ἐτύγχανεν οὐ μόνον παρὰ τοῖς πολίταις, ἀλλὰ καὶ καθʼ ὅλην τὴν Σικελίαν· ἐπήγετο γὰρ αἰχμαλώτων τοσοῦτο πλῆθος, ὥστε δοκεῖν ὑπὸ τῆς νήσου γεγονέναι τὴν Λιβύην ὅλην αἰχμάλωτον.
As for Gelon, after his victory he not only honoured with gifts the horsemen who had slain Hamilcar but also decorated with rewards for prowess all others who had played the part of men. The fairest part of the booty he put to one side, since he wished to embellish the temples of Syracuse with the spoils; as for the rest of the booty, much of it he nailed to the most notable of the sanctuaries in Himera, and the rest of it, together with the captives, he divided among the allies, apportioning it in accordance with the number who had served with him. The cities put the captives allotted to them in chains and used them for building their public works. A very great number was received by the Acragantini, who embellished their city and countryside; for so great was the multitude of prisoners at their disposal that many private citizens had five hundred captives in their homes. A contributing reason for the vast number of the captives among them was not only that they had sent many soldiers into the battle, but also that, when the flight took place, many of the fugitives turned into the interior, especially into the territory of the Acragantini, and since every man of them was taken captive by the Acragantini, the city was crammed full of the captured. Most of these were handed over to the state, and it was these men who quarried the stones of which not only the largest temples of the gods were constructed but also the underground conduits were built to lead off the waters from the city; these are so large that their construction is well worth seeing, although it is little thought of since they were built at slight expense. The builder in charge of these works, who bore the name of Phaeax, brought it about that, because of the fame of the construction, the underground conduits got the name "Phaeaces" from him. The Acragantini also built an expensive kolumbethra, seven stades in circumference and twenty cubits deep. Into it the waters from rivers and springs were conducted and it became a fish-pond, which supplied fish in great abundance to be used for food and to please the plate; and since swans also in the greatest numbers settled down upon it, the pool came to be a delight to look upon. In later years, however, the pool became choked up through neglect and was destroyed by the long passage of time; but the entire site, which was fertile, the inhabitants planted in vines and in trees of every description placed close together, so that they derived from it great revenues. Gelon, after dismissing the allies, led the citizens of Syracuse back home, and because of the magnitude of his success he was enthusiastically received not only among his fellow citizens but also throughout the whole of Sicily; for he brought with him such a multitude of captives that it looked as if the island had made the whole of Libya captive.
§ 11.26
εὐθὺς δὲ καὶ τῶν πρότερον ἐναντιουμένων πόλεών τε καὶ δυναστῶν παρεγένοντο πρὸς αὐτὸν πρέσβεις, ἐπὶ μὲν τοῖς ἠγνοημένοις αἰτούμενοι συγγνώμην, εἰς δὲ τὸ λοιπὸν ἐπαγγελλόμενοι πᾶν ποιήσειν τὸ προσταττόμενον. ὁ δὲ πᾶσιν ἐπιεικῶς χρησάμενος συμμαχίαν συνετίθετο, καὶ τὴν εὐτυχίαν ἀνθρωπίνως ἔφερεν οὐκ ἐπὶ τούτων μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν πολεμιωτάτων Καρχηδονίων. παραγενομένων γὰρ πρὸς αὐτὸν ἐκ τῆς Καρχηδόνος τῶν ἀπεσταλμένων πρέσβεων καὶ μετὰ δακρύων δεομένων ἀνθρωπίνως αὐτοῖς χρήσασθαι, συνεχώρησε τὴν εἰρήνην, ἐπράξατο δὲ παρʼ αὐτῶν τὰς εἰς τὸν πόλεμον γεγενημένας δαπάνας, ἀργυρίου δισχίλια τάλαντα, καὶ δύο ναοὺς προσέταξεν οἰκοδομῆσαι, καθʼ οὓς ἔδει τὰς συνθήκας ἀνατεθῆναι. οἱ δὲ Καρχηδόνιοι παραδόξως τῆς σωτηρίας τετευχότες ταῦτά τε δώσειν προσεδέξαντο καὶ στέφανον χρυσοῦν τῇ γυναικὶ τοῦ Γέλωνος Δαμαρέτῃ προσωμολόγησαν. αὕτη γὰρ ὑπʼ αὐτῶν ἀξιωθεῖσα συνήργησε πλεῖστον εἰς τὴν σύνθεσιν τῆς εἰρήνης, καὶ στεφανωθεῖσα ὑπʼ αὐτῶν ἑκατὸν ταλάντοις χρυσίου, νόμισμα ἐξέκοψε τὸ κληθὲν ἀπʼ ἐκείνης Δαμαρέτειον· τοῦτο δʼ εἶχε μὲν Ἀττικὰς δραχμὰς δέκα, ἐκλήθη δὲ παρὰ τοῖς Σικελιώταις ἀπὸ τοῦ σταθμοῦ πεντηκοντάλιτρον. ὁ δὲ Γέλων ἐχρῆτο πᾶσιν ἐπιεικῶς, μάλιστα μὲν εἰς τὸν ἴδιον τρόπον, οὐχ ἥκιστα δὲ καὶ σπεύδων ἅπαντας ἔχειν ταῖς εὐνοίαις ἰδίους· παρεσκευάζετο γὰρ πολλῇ δυνάμει πλεῖν ἐπὶ τὴν Ἑλλάδα καὶ συμμαχεῖν τοῖς Ἕλλησι κατὰ τῶν Περσῶν. ἤδη δʼ αὐτοῦ μέλλοντος ποιεῖσθαι τὴν ἀναγωγήν, κατέπλευσάν τινες ἐκ Κορίνθου διασαφοῦντες νενικηκέναι τῇ ναυμαχίᾳ τοὺς Ἕλληνας περὶ Σαλαμῖνα, καὶ τὸν Ξέρξην μετὰ μέρους τῆς δυνάμεως ἐκ τῆς Εὐρώπης ἀπηλλάχθαι. διὸ καὶ τῆς ὁρμῆς ἐπισχών, τὴν προθυμίαν τῶν στρατιωτῶν ἀποδεξάμενος, συνήγαγεν ἐκκλησίαν, προστάξας ἅπαντας ἀπαντᾶν μετὰ τῶν ὅπλων· αὐτὸς δὲ οὐ μόνον τῶν ὅπλων γυμνὸς εἰς τὴν ἐκκλησίαν ἦλθεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀχίτων ἐν ἱματίῳ προσελθὼν ἀπελογίσατο μὲν περὶ παντὸς τοῦ βίου καὶ τῶν πεπραγμένων αὐτῷ πρὸς τοὺς Συρακοσίους· ἐφʼ ἑκάστῳ δὲ τῶν λεγομένων ἐπισημαινομένων τῶν ὄχλων, καὶ θαυμαζόντων μάλιστα ὅτι γυμνὸν ἑαυτὸν παρεδεδώκει τοῖς βουλομένοις αὐτὸν ἀνελεῖν, τοσοῦτον ἀπεῖχε τοῦ μὴ τυχεῖν τιμωρίας ὡς τύραννος, ὥστε μιᾷ φωνῇ πάντας ἀποκαλεῖν εὐεργέτην καὶ σωτῆρα καὶ βασιλέα. ἀπὸ δὲ τούτων γενόμενος ὁ Γέλων ἐκ μὲν τῶν λαφύρων κατεσκεύασε ναοὺς ἀξιολόγους Δήμητρος καὶ Κόρης, χρυσοῦν δὲ τρίποδα ποιήσας ἀπὸ ταλάντων ἑκκαίδεκα ἀνέθηκεν εἰς τὸ τέμενος τὸ ἐν Δελφοῖς Ἀπόλλωνι χαριστήριον. ἐπεβάλετο δὲ ὕστερον καὶ κατὰ τὴν Αἴτνην κατασκευάζειν νεὼν Δήμητρος νεὼς ἐνδεούσης· τοῦτον μὲν οὐ συνετέλεσε, μεσολαβηθεὶς τὸν βίον ὑπὸ τῆς πεπρωμένης. τῶν δὲ μελοποιῶν Πίνδαρος ἦν ἀκμάζων κατὰ τούτους τοὺς χρόνους. τὰ μὲν οὖν ἀξιολογώτατα τῶν πραχθέντων κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν ἐνιαυτὸν σχεδὸν ταῦτʼ ἐστίν.
And at once there came to him ambassadors from both the cities and rulers which had formerly opposed him, asking forgiveness for their past mistakes and promising for the future to carry out his every command. With all of them he dealt equitably and concluded alliances, bearing his good fortune as men should, not toward them alone but even toward the Carthaginians, his bitterest foes. For when the ambassadors who had been dispatched from Carthage came to him and begged him with tears to treat them humanely, he granted them peace, exacting of them the expense he had incurred for the war, two thousand talents of silver, and requiring them further to build two temples in which they should place copies of the treaty. The Carthaginians, having unexpectedly gained their deliverance, not only agreed to all this but also promised to give in addition a gold crown to Damarete, the wife of Gelon. For Damarete at their request had contributed the greatest aid toward the conclusion of the peace, and when she had received the crown of one hundred gold talents from them, she struck a coin which was called from her a Damareteion. This was worth ten Attic drachmas and was called by the Sicilian Greeks, according to its weight, a pentekontalitron. Gelon treated all men fairly, primarily because that was his disposition, but not the least motive was that he was eager to make all men his own by acts of goodwill. For instance, he was making ready to sail to Greece with a large force and to join the Greeks in their war against the Persians. And he was already on the point of setting out to sea, when certain men from Corinth put in at Syracuse and brought the news that the Greeks had won the sea-battle at Salamis and that Xerxes and a part of his armament had retreated from Europe. Consequently he stopped his preparations for departure, while welcoming the enthusiasm of the soldiers; and then he called them to an assembly, issuing orders for each man to appear fully armed. As for himself, he came to the assembly not only with no arms but not even wearing a tunic and clad only in a cloak, and stepping forward he rendered an account of his whole life and of all he had done for the Syracusans; and when the throng shouted its approval at each action he mentioned and showed especially its amazement that he had given himself unarmed into the hands of any who might wish to slay him, so far was he from being a victim of vengeance as a tyrant that they united in acclaiming him with one voice Benefactor and Saviour and King. After this incident Gelon built noteworthy temples to Demeter and Core out of the spoils, and making a golden tripod of sixteen talents value he set it up in the sacred precinct at Delphi as a thank-offering to Apollo. At a later time he purposed to build a temple to Demeter at Aetna, since one was lacking there; but he did not complete it, his life having been cut short by fate. Of the lyric poets Pindar was in his prime in this period. Now these are in general the most notable events which took place in this year.
§ 11.27
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησι Ξανθίππου Ῥωμαῖοι μὲν κατέστησαν ὑπάτους Κόιντον Φάβιον Σιλουανὸν καὶ Σερούιον Κορνήλιον Τρίκοστον. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων ὁ μὲν τῶν Περσῶν στόλος πλὴν Φοινίκων μετὰ τὴν ἐν Σαλαμῖνι γενομένην ναυμαχίαν ἡττημένος διέτριβε περὶ τὴν Κύμην. ἐνταῦθα δὲ παραχειμάσας, ὡς τὸ θέρος ἐνίστατο, παρέπλευσεν εἰς Σάμον, παραφυλάξων τὴν Ἰωνίαν· ἦσαν δʼ αἱ πᾶσαι νῆες ἐν Σάμῳ πλείους τῶν τετρακοσίων. αὗται μὲν οὖν ὡς ἀλλότρια φρονούντων τῶν Ἰώνων παρεφύλαττον τὰς πόλεις. κατὰ δὲ τὴν Ἑλλάδα μετὰ τὴν ἐν Σαλαμῖνι ναυμαχίαν, τῶν Ἀθηναίων δοκούντων αἰτίων γεγονέναι τῆς νίκης, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο αὐτῶν φρονηματιζομένων, πᾶσιν ἐγίνοντο καταφανεῖς ὡς τοῖς Λακεδαιμονίοις ἀμφισβητήσοντες τῆς κατὰ θάλατταν ἡγεμονίας· διόπερ οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι προορώμενοι τὸ μέλλον ἐφιλοτιμοῦντο ταπεινοῦν τὸ φρόνημα τῶν Ἀθηναίων. διὸ καὶ κρίσεως προτεθείσης περὶ τῶν ἀριστείων, χάριτι κατισχύσαντες ἐποίησαν κριθῆναι πόλιν μὲν ἀριστεῦσαι τὴν Αἰγινητῶν, ἄνδρα δὲ Ἀμεινίαν Ἀθηναῖον, τὸν ἀδελφὸν Αἰσχύλου τοῦ ποιητοῦ· οὗτος γὰρ τριηραρχῶν πρῶτος ἐμβολὴν ἔδωκε τῇ ναυαρχίδι τῶν Περσῶν, καὶ ταύτην κατέδυσε καὶ τὸν ναύαρχον διέφθειρε. τῶν δʼ Ἀθηναίων βαρέως φερόντων τὴν ἄδικον ἧτταν, οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι φοβηθέντες μήποτε Θεμιστοκλῆς ἀγανακτήσας ἐπὶ τῷ συμβεβηκότι κακὸν μέγα βουλεύσηται κατʼ αὐτῶν καὶ τῶν Ἑλλήνων, ἐτίμησαν αὐτὸν διπλασίοσι δωρεαῖς τῶν τὰ ἀριστεῖα εἰληφότων. δεξαμένου δὲ τοῦ Θεμιστοκλέους τὰς δωρεάς, ὁ δῆμος τῶν Ἀθηναίων ἀπέστησεν αὐτὸν ἀπὸ τῆς στρατηγίας, καὶ παρέδωκε τὴν ἀρχὴν Ξανθίππῳ τῷ Ἀρίφρονος.
While Xanthippus was archon in Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Quintus Fabius Silvanus and Servius Cornelius Tricostus. At this time the Persian fleet, with the exception of the Phoenician contingent, after its defeat in the sea-battle of Salamis lay at Cyme. Here it passed the winter, and at the coming of summer it sailed down the coast to Samos to keep watch on Ionia; and the total number of the ships in Samos excelled four hundred. Now they were keeping watch upon the cities of the Ionians who were suspected of hostile sentiments. Throughout Greece, after the battle of Salamis, since the Athenians were generally believed to have been responsible for the victory, and on this account were themselves exultant, it became as a matter of fact to all that they were intending to dispute with the Lacedemonians for the leadership on the sea; consequently the Lacedemonians, foreseeing what was going to happen, did all they could to humble the pride of the Athenians. When, therefore, a judgement was proposed to determine the prizes to be awarded for this valour, through the superior favour they enjoyed they caused the decision to be that of states Aegina had won the prize, and of men Ameinias of Athens, the brother of Aeschylus the poet; for Ameinias, while commanding a trireme, had been the first to ram the flagship of the Persians, sinking it and killing the admiral. And when the Athenians showed their anger at this undeserved humiliation, the Lacedemonians, fearful lest Themistocles should be displeased at the outcome and should devise some great evil against them and the Greeks, honoured him with double the number of gifts awarded to those who had received the prize of valour. And when Themistocles accepted the gifts, the Athenians in assembly removed him from the generalship and bestowed the office upon Xanthippus the son of Ariphron.
§ 11.28
διαβοηθείσης δὲ τῆς τῶν Ἀθηναίων πρὸς τοὺς Ἕλληνας ἀλλοτριότητος, ἧκον εἰς τὰς Ἀθήνας πρέσβεις παρὰ Περσῶν καὶ παρὰ τῶν Ἑλλήνων. οἱ μὲν οὖν ὑπὸ τῶν Περσῶν ἀποσταλέντες ἔφασαν τὸν στρατηγὸν Μαρδόνιον ἐπαγγέλλεσθαι τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις, ἐὰν τὰ Περσῶν προέλωνται, δώσειν χώραν ἣν ἂν βούλωνται τῆς Ἑλλάδος, καὶ τὰ τείχη καὶ τοὺς ναοὺς πάλιν ἀνοικοδομήσειν, καὶ τὴν πόλιν ἐάσειν αὐτόνομον· οἱ δὲ παρὰ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων πεμφθέντες ἠξίουν μὴ πεισθῆναι τοῖς βαρβάροις, ἀλλὰ τηρεῖν τὴν πρὸς τοὺς Ἕλληνας καὶ συγγενεῖς καὶ ὁμοφώνους εὔνοιαν. οἱ δὲ Ἀθηναῖοι τοῖς βαρβάροις ἀπεκρίθησαν, ὡς οὔτε χώρα τοῖς Πέρσαις ἐστὶ τοιαύτη οὔτε χρυσὸς τοσοῦτος ὃν Ἀθηναῖοι δεξάμενοι τοὺς Ἕλληνας ἐγκαταλείψουσι· τοῖς δὲ Λακεδαιμονίοις εἶπον, ὡς αὐτοὶ μὲν ἣν πρότερον ἐποιοῦντο φροντίδα τῆς Ἑλλάδος καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα πειράσονται τὴν αὐτὴν διαφυλάττειν, ἐκείνους δʼ ἠξίουν τὴν ταχίστην ἐλθεῖν εἰς τὴν Ἀττικὴν μετὰ πάντων τῶν συμμάχων· πρόδηλον γὰρ εἶναι, διότι Μαρδόνιος, ἠναντιωμένων τῶν Ἀθηναίων αὐτῷ, μετὰ δυνάμεως ἥξει ἐπὶ τὰς Ἀθήνας. ὃ καὶ συνέβη γενέσθαι· ὁ γὰρ Μαρδόνιος ἐν τῇ Βοιωτίᾳ διατρίβων μετὰ τῶν δυνάμεων τὸ μὲν πρῶτον τῶν ἐν Πελοποννήσῳ πόλεων ἐπειρᾶτό τινας ἀφιστάνειν,χρήματα διαπεμπόμενος τοῖς προεστηκόσι τῶν πόλεων, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα πυνθανόμενος τὴν τῶν Ἀθηναίων ἀπόκρισιν καὶ παροξυνθείς, ἅπασαν ἦγεν ἐπὶ τὴν Ἀττικὴν τὴν δύναμιν· χωρὶς γὰρ τῆς δεδομένης ὑπὸ Ξέρξου στρατιᾶς πολλοὺς ἄλλους αὐτὸς Μαρδόνιος ἐκ τῆς Θρᾴκης καὶ Μακεδονίας καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν συμμαχίδων πόλεων ἠθροίκει, πλείους τῶν εἴκοσι μυριάδων. τηλικαύτης δὲ δυνάμεως προαγούσης εἰς τὴν Ἀττικήν, οἱ μὲν Ἀθηναῖοι βιβλιαφόρους ἀπέστειλαν πρὸς τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους δεόμενοι βοηθεῖν· βραδυνόντων δὲ αὐτῶν καὶ τῶν βαρβάρων ἐμβαλόντων εἰς τὴν Ἀττικήν, κατεπλάγησαν, καὶ πάλιν ἀναλαβόντες τέκνα καὶ γυναῖκας καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ὅσα δυνατὸν ἦν ταχέως ἀποκομίζειν, ἐξέλιπον τὴν πατρίδα καὶ συνέφυγον πάλιν εἰς τὴν Σαλαμῖνα. ὁ δὲ Μαρδόνιος χαλεπῶς ἔχων πρὸς αὐτούς, τὴν χώραν ἅπασαν κατέφθειρε καὶ τὴν πόλιν κατέσκαψε καὶ τὰ ἱερὰ τὰ καταλελειμμένα παντελῶς ἐλυμήνατο.
When the estrangement which had arisen between the Athenians and the other Greeks became noised abroad, there came to Athens ambassadors from the Persians and from the Greeks. Now those who had been dispatched by the Persians bore word that Mardonius the general assured the Athenians that, if they should choose the cause of the Persians, he would give them their choice of any land in Greece, rebuild their walls and temples, and allow the city to live under its own laws; but those who had been sent from the Lacedemonians begged the Athenians not to yield to the persuasions of the barbarians but to maintain their loyalty toward the Greeks, who were men of their own blood and of the same speech. And the Athenians replied to the barbarians that the Persians possessed no land rich enough nor garland in sufficient abundance which the Athenians would accept in return for abandoning the Greeks; while to the Lacedemonians they said that as for themselves the concern which they had formerly held for the welfare of Greece they would endeavour to maintain hereafter also, and of the Lacedemonians they only asked that they should come with all speed to Attica together with all their allies. For it was evident, they added, that Mardonius, now that the Athenians had declared against him, would advance with his army against Athens. And this is what actually took place. For Mardonius, who was stationed in Boeotia with all his forces, at first attempted to cause certain cities in the Peloponnesus to come over to him, distributing money among their leading men, but afterwards, when he learned of the reply the Athenians had given, in his rage he led his entire force into Attica. Apart from the army Xerxes had given him he had himself gathered many other soldiers from Thrace and Macedonia and the other allied states, more than two hundred thousand men. With the advance into Attica of so large a force as this, the Athenians dispatched couriers bearing letters to the Lacedemonians, asking their aid; and since the Lacedemonians still loitered and the barbarians had already crossed the border of Attica, they were dismayed, and again, taking their children and wives and whatever else they were able to carry off in their haste, they left their native land and a second time fled for refuge to Salamis. And Mardonius was so angry with them that he ravaged the entire countryside, razed the city to the ground, and utterly destroyed the temples that were still standing.
§ 11.29
ἐπανελθόντος δὲ εἰς τὰς Θήβας τοῦ Μαρδονίου μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως, ἔδοξε τοῖς συνέδροις τῶν Ἑλλήνων παραλαβεῖν τοὺς Ἀθηναίους, καὶ πανδημεὶ προσελθόντας εἰς τὰς Πλαταιὰς διαγωνίσασθαι περὶ τῆς ἐλευθερίας, εὔξασθαι δὲ καὶ τοῖς θεοῖς, ἐὰν νικήσωσιν, ἄγειν κατὰ ταύτην τὴν ἡμέραν τοὺς Ἕλληνας ἐλευθέρια κοινῇ, καὶ τὸν ἐλευθέριον ἀγῶνα συντελεῖν ἐν ταῖς Πλαταιαῖς. συναχθέντων δὲ τῶν Ἑλλήνων εἰς τὸν Ἰσθμόν, ἐδόκει τοῖς πᾶσιν ὅρκον ὀμόσαι περὶ τοῦ πολέμου, τὸν στέξοντα μὲν τὴν ὁμόνοιαν αὐτῶν, ἀναγκάσοντα δὲ γενναίως τοὺς κινδύνους ὑπομένειν. ὁ δὲ ὅρκος ἦν τοιοῦτος· οὐ ποιήσομαι περὶ πλείονος τὸ ζῆν τῆς ἐλευθερίας, οὐδὲ καταλείψω τοὺς ἡγεμόνας οὔτε ζῶντας οὔτε ἀποθανόντας, ἀλλὰ τοὺς ἐν τῇ μάχῃ τελευτήσαντας τῶν συμμάχων πάντας θάψω, καὶ κρατήσας τῷ πολέμῳ τῶν βαρβάρων οὐδεμίαν τῶν ἀγωνισαμένων πόλεων ἀνάστατον ποιήσω, καὶ τῶν ἱερῶν τῶν ἐμπρησθέντων καὶ καταβληθέντων οὐδὲν ἀνοικοδομήσω, ἀλλʼ ὑπόμνημα τοῖς ἐπιγινομένοις ἐάσω καὶ καταλείψω τῆς τῶν βαρβάρων ἀσεβείας. τὸν δὲ ὅρκον ὀμόσαντες ἐπορεύθησαν ἐπὶ τὴν Βοιωτίαν διὰ τοῦ Κιθαιρῶνος, καὶ πρὸς τὰς ὑπωρείας καταντήσαντες πλησίον τῶν Ἐρυθρῶν, αὐτοῦ κατεστρατοπέδευσαν. ἡγεῖτο δὲ τῶν μὲν Ἀθηναίων Ἀριστείδης, τῶν δὲ συμπάντων Παυσανίας, ἐπίτροπος ὢν τοῦ Λεωνίδου παιδός.
When Mardonius and his army had returned to Thebes, the Greeks gathered in congress decreed to make common cause with the Athenians and advancing to Plataea in a body, to fight to a finish for liberty, and also to make a vow to the gods that, if they were victorious, the Greeks would unite in celebrating the Festival of Liberty on that day and would hold the games of the Festival in Plataea. And when the Greek forces were assembled at the Isthmus, all of them agreed that they should swear an oath about the war, one that would make staunch the concord among them and would compel entrenchment nobly to endure the perils of the battle. The oath ran as follows: "I will not hold life dearer than liberty, nor will I desert the leaders, whether they be living or dead, but I will bury all the allies who have perished in the battle; and if I overcome the barbarians in the war, I will not destroy any one of the cities which have participated in the struggle; nor will I rebuild any one of the sanctuaries which have been burnt or demolished, but I will let them be and leave them as a reminder to coming generations of the impiety of the barbarians." After they had sworn the oath, they marched to Boeotia through the pass of Cithaeron, and when they had descended as far as the foothills near Erythrae, they pitched camp there. The command over the Athenians was held by Aristeides, and the supreme command by Pausanias, who was the guardian of the son of Leonidas.
§ 11.30
Μαρδόνιος δὲ πυθόμενος τὴν τῶν πολεμίων δύναμιν προάγειν ἐπὶ Βοιωτίας, προῆλθεν ἐκ τῶν Θηβῶν· καὶ παραγενόμενος ἐπὶ τὸν Ἀσωπὸν ποταμὸν ἔθετο παρεμβολήν, ἣν ὠχύρωσε τάφρῳ βαθείᾳ καὶ τείχει ξυλίνῳ περιέλαβεν. ἦν δὲ ὁ σύμπας ἀριθμὸς τῶν μὲν Ἑλλήνων εἰς δέκα μυριάδας, τῶν δὲ βαρβάρων εἰς πεντήκοντα. πρῶτοι δὲ κατήρξαντο μάχης οἱ βάρβαροι νυκτὸς ἐκχυθέντες ἐπʼ αὐτοὺς καὶ πᾶσι τοῖς ἱππεῦσι πρὸς τὴν στρατοπεδείαν ἐπελάσαντες. τῶν δὲ Ἀθηναίων προαισθομένων καὶ συντεταγμένῃ τῇ στρατιᾷ τεθαρρηκότως ἀπαντώντων, συνέβη καρτερὰν γενέσθαι μάχην. τέλος δὲ τῶν Ἑλλήνων οἱ μὲν ἄλλοι πάντες τοὺς καθʼ αὑτοὺς ταχθέντας τῶν βαρβάρων ἐτρέψαντο, μόνοι δὲ Μεγαρεῖς πρός τε τὸν ἵππαρχον καὶ τοὺς ἀρίστους τῶν Περσῶν ἱππεῖς ἀνθεστῶτες, καὶ πιεζόμενοι τῇ μάχῃ, τὴν μὲν τάξιν οὐ κατέλιπον, πρὸς δὲ τοὺς Ἀθηναίους καὶ Λακεδαιμονίους πέμψαντές τινας ἐξ αὐτῶν ᾔτουν κατὰ τάχος βοηθῆσαι. Ἀριστείδου δὲ τοὺς περὶ αὐτὸν τῶν Ἀθηναίων ταχέως ἀποστείλαντος τοὺς ἐπιλέκτους, συστραφέντες οὗτοι καὶ προσπεσόντες τοῖς βαρβάροις τοὺς μὲν Μεγαρεῖς ἐξείλοντο τῶν κινδύνων τῶν ἐπικειμένων, τῶν δὲ Περσῶν αὐτόν τε τὸν ἵππαρχον καὶ πολλοὺς ἄλλους ἀποκτείναντες τοὺς λοιποὺς ἐτρέψαντο. οἱ μὲν οὖν Ἕλληνες, ὡσπερεί τινι προαγῶνι λαμπρῶς προτερήσαντες, εὐέλπιδες ἐγένοντο περὶ τῆς ὁλοσχεροῦς νίκης· μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ἐκ τῆς ὑπωρείας μετεστρατοπέδευσαν εἰς ἕτερον τόπον εὐθετώτερον πρὸς τὴν ὁλοσχερῆ νίκην. ἦν γὰρ ἐκ μὲν τῶν δεξιῶν γεώλοφος ὑψηλός, ἐκ δὲ τῶν εὐωνύμων ὁ Ἀσωπὸς ποταμός· τὸν δʼ ἀνὰ μέσον τόπον ἐπεῖχεν ἡ στρατοπεδεία, πεφραγμένη τῇ φύσει καὶ ταῖς τῶν τόπων ἀσφαλείαις. τοῖς μὲν οὖν Ἕλλησιν ἐμφρόνως βουλευσαμένοις πολλὰ συνεβάλετο πρὸς τὴν νίκην ἡ τῶν τόπων στενοχωρία· οὐ γὰρ ἦν ἐπὶ πολὺ μῆκος παρεκτείνειν τὴν φάλαγγα τῶν Περσῶν, ὥστε ἀχρήστους εἶναι συνέβαινε τὰς πολλὰς μυριάδας τῶν βαρβάρων. διόπερ οἱ περὶ τὸν Παυσανίαν καὶ Ἀριστείδην θαρρήσαντες τοῖς τόποις προῆγον τὴν δύναμιν εἰς τὴν μάχην, καὶ συντάξαντες ἑαυτοὺς οἰκείως τῆς περιστάσεως ἦγον ἐπὶ τοὺς πολεμίους.
When Mardonius learned that the enemy's army was advancing in the direction of Boeotia, he marched forth from Thebes, and when he arrived at the Asopus River he pitched a camp, which he strengthened by means of a deep ditch and surrounded with a wooden palisade. The total number of the Greeks approached one hundred thousand men, that of the barbarians some five hundred thousand. The first to open the battle were the barbarians, who poured out upon the Greeks by night and charged with all their cavalry upon the camp. The Athenians observed them in time and with their army in battle formation boldly advanced to meet them, and a mighty battle ensued. In the end all the rest of the Greeks put to flight the barbarians who were arrayed against them; but the Megarians alone, who faced the commander of the cavalry and the best horsemen the Persians had, being hard pressed in the fighting, though they did not leave their position, sent some of their men as messengers to the Athenians and Lacedemonians asking them to come to their aid with all speed. Aristeides quickly dispatched the picked Athenians who constituted his body-guard, and these, forming themselves into a compact body and falling on the barbarians, rescued the Megarians from the perils which threatened them, slew of the Persians both the commander of the cavalry and many others, and put the remainder to flight. The Greeks, now that they had shown their superiority so brilliantly in a kind of dress rehearsal, were encouraged to hope for a decisive victory; and after this encounter they moved their camp from the foothills to a place which was better suited to a complete victory. For on the right was a high hill, on the left the Asopus River, and the space between was held by the camp, which was fortified by the natural impregnability of the general terrain. Thus for the Greeks, who had laid their plans wisely, the limited space was a great aid to their victory, since the Persian battle-line could not be extended to a great length, and the result was, as the event was to show, that no use could be made of the many myriads of the barbarians. Consequently Pausanias and Aristeides, placing their confidence in the positions they held, led the army out to battle, and when they had taken positions in a manner suitable to the terrain they advanced against the enemy.
§ 11.31
Μαρδόνιος δὲ συναναγκαζόμενος βαθεῖαν ποιῆσαι τὴν φάλαγγα, διέταξε τὴν δύναμιν ὅπως ποτʼ ἔδοξεν αὐτῷ συμφέρειν, καὶ μετὰ βοῆς ἀπήντησε τοῖς Ἕλλησιν. ἔχων δὲ περὶ αὐτὸν τοὺς ἀρίστους πρῶτος ἐνέβαλεν εἰς τοὺς ἀντιτεταγμένους Λακεδαιμονίους, καὶ γενναίως ἀγωνισάμενος πολλοὺς ἀνεῖλε τῶν Ἑλλήνων· ἀντιταχθέντων δὲ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων εὐρώστως, καὶ πάντα κίνδυνον ὑπομενόντων προθύμως, πολὺς ἐγίνετο φόνος τῶν βαρβάρων. ἕως μὲν οὖν συνέβαινε τὸν Μαρδόνιον μετὰ τῶν ἐπιλέκτων προκινδυνεύειν, εὐψύχως ὑπέμενον τὸ δεινὸν οἱ βάρβαροι· ἐπεὶ δʼ ὅ τε Μαρδόνιος ἀγωνιζόμενος ἐκθύμως ἔπεσε καὶ τῶν ἐπιλέκτων οἱ μὲν ἀπέθανον, οἱ δὲ κατετρώθησαν, ἀνατραπέντες ταῖς ψυχαῖς πρὸς φυγὴν ὥρμησαν. ἐπικειμένων δὲ τῶν Ἑλλήνων, οἱ μὲν πλείους τῶν βαρβάρων εἰς τὸ ξύλινον τεῖχος συνέφυγον, τῶν δʼ ἄλλων οἱ μὲν μετὰ Μαρδονίου ταχθέντες Ἕλληνες εἰς τὰς Θήβας ἀνεχώρησαν, τοὺς δὲ λοιποὺς ὄντας πλείους τῶν τετρακισμυρίων ἀναλαβὼν Ἀρτάβαζος, ἀνὴρ παρὰ Πέρσαις ἐπαινούμενος, εἰς θάτερον μέρος ἔφυγε, καὶ σύντονον τὴν ἀναχώρησιν ποιησάμενος προῆγεν ἐπὶ τῆς Φωκίδος.
Mardonius, having been forced to increase the depth of his line, arranged his troops in the way that he thought would be to his advantage, and raising the battle-cry, advanced to meet the Greeks. The best soldiers were about him and with these he led the way, striking at the Lacedemonians who faced him; he fought gallantly and slew many of the Greeks. The Lacedemonians, however, opposed him stoutly and endured every peril of battle willingly, and so there was a great slaughter of the barbarians. Now so long as Mardonius and his picked soldiers continued to bear the brunt of the fighting, the barbarians sustained the shock of battle with good spirit; but when Mardonius fell, fighting bravely, and of the picked troops some were slain and others wounded, their spirits were dashed and they began to flee. When the Greeks pressed hard upon them, the larger part of the barbarians fled for safety within the palisade, but as for the rest of the army, the Greeks serving with Mardonius withdrew to Thebes, and the remainder, over four hundred thousand in number, were taken in hand by Artabazus, a man of repute among the Persians, who fled in the opposite direction, and withdrew by forced marches toward Phocis.
§ 11.32
τοῦτον δὲ τὸν τρόπον ἐν τῇ φυγῇ τῶν βαρβάρων σχισθέντων, ὁμοίως καὶ τὸ τῶν Ἑλλήνων πλῆθος διεμερίσθη· Ἀθηναῖοι μὲν γὰρ καὶ Πλαταιεῖς καὶ Θεσπιεῖς τοὺς ἐπὶ Θηβῶν ὁρμήσαντας ἐδίωξαν, Κορίνθιοι δὲ καὶ Σικυώνιοι καὶ Φλιάσιοι καί τινες ἕτεροι τοῖς μετὰ Ἀρταβάζου φεύγουσιν ἐπηκολούθησαν, Λακεδαιμόνιοι δὲ μετὰ τῶν λοιπῶν τοὺς εἰς τὸ ξύλινον τεῖχος καταφυγόντας διώξαντες ἐπόρθησαν προθύμως. οἱ δὲ Θηβαῖοι δεξάμενοι τοὺς φεύγοντας καὶ προσαναλαβόντες ἐπέθεντο τοῖς διώκουσιν Ἀθηναίοις· γενομένης δὲ πρὸ τῶν τειχῶν καρτερᾶς μάχης, καὶ τῶν Θηβαίων λαμπρῶς ἀγωνισαμένων, ἔπεσον μὲν οὐκ ὀλίγοι παρʼ ἀμφοτέροις, τὸ δὲ τελευταῖον βιασθέντες ὑπὸ τῶν Ἀθηναίων, συνέφυγον πάλιν εἰς τὰς Θήβας. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα οἱ μὲν Ἀθηναῖοι πρὸς τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους ἀποχωρήσαντες, μετὰ τούτων ἐτειχομάχουν πρὸς τοὺς καταφυγόντας εἰς τὴν παρεμβολὴν τῶν Περσῶν· μεγάλου δὲ ἀγῶνος ἐξ ἀμφοτέρων γενομένου, καὶ τῶν μὲν βαρβάρων ἐκ τόπων ὠχυρωμένων καλῶς ἀγωνισαμένων, τῶν δʼ Ἑλλήνων βίαν προσαγόντων τοῖς ξυλίνοις τείχεσι, πολλοὶ μὲν παραβόλως ἀγωνιζόμενοι κατετιτρώσκοντο, οὐκ ὀλίγοι δὲ καὶ τῷ πλήθει τῶν βελῶν διαφθειρόμενοι τὸν θάνατον εὐψύχως ὑπέμενον. οὐ μήν γε τὴν ὁρμὴν καὶ βίαν τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἔστεγεν οὔτε τὸ κατεσκευασμένον τεῖχος οὔτε τὸ πλῆθος τῶν βαρβάρων, ἀλλʼ ἅπαν τὸ ἀντιτεταγμένον ὑπείκειν ἠναγκάζετο· ἡμιλλῶντο γὰρ πρὸς ἀλλήλους οἱ τῆς Ἑλλάδος ἡγούμενοι Λακεδαιμόνιοι καὶ Ἀθηναῖοι, μεμετεωρισμένοι μὲν ταῖς προγεγενημέναις νίκαις, πεποιθότες δὲ ταῖς ἑαυτῶν ἀρεταῖς. τέλος δὲ κατὰ κράτος ἁλόντες οἱ βάρβαροι, δεόμενοι ζωγρεῖν οὐδενὸς ἐτύγχανον ἐλέου. ὁ γὰρ στρατηγὸς τῶν Ἑλλήνων Παυσανίας ὁρῶν τοῖς πλήθεσιν ὑπερέχοντας τοὺς βαρβάρους, εὐλαβεῖτο μή τι παράλογον γένηται, πολλαπλασίων ὄντων τῶν βαρβάρων· διὸ καὶ παραγγείλαντος αὐτοῦ μηδένα ζωγρεῖν, ταχὺ πλῆθος ἄπιστον νεκρῶν ἐγένετο. τέλος δὲ οἱ Ἕλληνες ὑπὲρ τὰς δέκα μυριάδας τῶν βαρβάρων κατακόψαντες μόγις ἐπαύσαντο τοῦ κτείνειν τοὺς πολεμίους.
Since the barbarians were thus separated in their flight, so the body of the Greeks was similarly divided; for the Athenians and Plataeans and Thespiaeans pursued after those who had set out for Thebes, and the Corinthians and Sicyonians and the Phliasians and certain others followed after the forces which were retreating with Artabazus; and the Lacedemonians together with the rest pursued the soldiers who had taken refuge within the palisade and trounced them spiritedly. The Thebans received the fugitives, added them to their forces, and then set upon the pursuing Athenians; a sharp battle took place before the walls, the Thebans fighting brilliantly, and not a few fell on both sides, but at last this body was overcome by the Athenians and took refuge again within Thebes. After this the Athenians withdrew to the aid of the Lacedemonians and joined with them in assaulting the walls against those Persians who had taken refuge within the camp; both sides put up a vigorous contest, the barbarians fighting bravely from the fortified positions they held and the Greeks storming the wooden walls, and many were wounded as they fought desperately, while not a few were also slain by the multitude of missiles and met death with stout hearts. Nevertheless the powerful onset of the Greeks could be withstood neither by the wall the barbarians had erected nor by their great numbers, but resistance of every kind was forced to give way; for it was a case of rivalry between the foremost peoples of Greece, the Lacedemonians and the Athenians, who were buoyed up by reason of their former victories and supported by confidence in their valour. In the end the barbarians were overpowered, and they found no mercy even though they pled to be taken prisoner. For the Greek general, Pausanias, observing how superior the barbarians were in number, took pains of the prevent anything due to miscalculation from happening, the barbarians being many times more numerous than the Greeks; consequently he had issued orders to take no man prisoner, and soon there was an incredible number of dead. And in the end, when the Greeks had slaughtered more than one hundred thousand of the barbarians, they reluctantly ceased slaying the enemy.
§ 11.33
τοιοῦτον δὲ πέρας τῆς μάχης λαβούσης, οἱ μὲν Ἕλληνες τοὺς πεσόντας ἔθαψαν, ὄντας πλείους τῶν μυρίων. διελόμενοι δὲ τὰ λάφυρα κατὰ τὸν τῶν στρατιωτῶν ἀριθμὸν τὴν περὶ τῶν ἀριστείων κρίσιν ἐποιήσαντο, καὶ Ἀριστείδου κελεύσαντος ἔκριναν ἀριστεῦσαι πόλιν μὲν Σπάρτην, ἄνδρα δὲ Παυσανίαν τὸν Λακεδαιμόνιον. Ἀρτάβαζος δʼ ἔχων τῶν φευγόντων Περσῶν εἰς τετρακισμυρίους, καὶ διὰ τῆς Φωκίδος εἰς Μακεδονίαν πορευθείς, ὀξυτάταις πορείαις ἐχρῆτο, καὶ ἐσώθη μετὰ τῶν στρατιωτῶν εἰς τὴν Ἀσίαν. Ἑλλάδος εὐρυχόρου σωτῆρες τόνδʼ ἀνέθηκαν, δουλοσύνης στυγερᾶς ῥυσάμενοι πόλιας. μυριάσιν ποτὲ τῇδε διηκοσίαις ἐμάχοντο ἐκ Πελοποννήσου χιλιάδες τέτορες, ὦ ξεῖνʼ, ἄγγειλον Λακεδαιμονίοις ὅτι τῇδε κείμεθα τοῖς κείνων πειθόμενοι νομίμοις. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ ὁ τῶν Ἀθηναίων δῆμος ἐκόσμησε τοὺς τάφους τῶν ἐν τῷ Περσικῷ πολέμῳ τελευτησάντων, καὶ τὸν ἀγῶνα τὸν ἐπιτάφιον τότε πρῶτον ἐποίησε, καὶ νόμον ἔθηκε λέγειν ἐγκώμια τοῖς δημοσίᾳ θαπτομένοις τοὺς προαιρεθέντας τῶν ῥητόρων. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Παυσανίας μὲν ὁ στρατηγὸς ἀναλαβὼν τὴν δύναμιν ἐστράτευσεν ἐπὶ τὰς Θήβας, καὶ τοὺς αἰτίους τῆς πρὸς Πέρσας συμμαχίας ἐξῄτει πρὸς τὴν τιμωρίαν· τῶν δὲ Θηβαίων καταπεπληγμένων τό τε πλῆθος τῶν πολεμίων καὶ τὰς ἀρετάς, οἱ μὲν αἰτιώτατοι τῆς ἀπὸ τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἀποστάσεως ἑκουσίως ὑπομείναντες τὴν παράδοσιν ἐκολάσθησαν ὑπὸ τοῦ Παυσανίου καὶ πάντες ἀνῃρέθησαν.
After the battle had ended in the way we have described, the Greeks buried their dead, of which there were more than ten thousand. And after dividing up the booty according to the number of the soldiers, they made their decision as to the award for valour, and in response to the urging of Aristeides they bestowed the prize for cities upon Sparta and for men upon Pausanias the Lacedemonian. Meanwhile Artabazus with as many as four hundred thousand of the fleeing Persians made his way through Phocis into Macedonia, availing himself of the quickest routes, and got back safely together with the soldiers into Asia. The Greeks, taking a tenth part of the spoils, made a gold tripod and set it up in Delphi as a thank-offering to the God, inscribing on it the following couplet: This is the gift the saviours of far-flung Hellas upraised here, Having delivered their states from loathsome slavery's bonds. Inscriptions were also set up for the Lacedemonians who died at Thermopylae; for the whole body of them as follows: Here on a time there strove with two hundred myriads of foemen Soldiers in number but four thousand from Pelops' fair Isle; and for the Spartans alone as follows: To Lacedemon's folk, O stranger, carry the message, How we lie here in this place, faithful and true to their laws. In like manner the citizen-body of the Athenians embellished the tombs of those who had perished in the Persian War, held the Funeral Games then for the first time, and passed a law that laudatory addresses upon men who were buried at the public expense should be delivered by speakers selected for each occasion. After the events we have described Pausanias the general advanced with the army against Thebes and demanded for punishment the men who had been responsible for the alliance of Thebes with the Persians. And the Thebans were so overawed by the multitude of their enemy and by their prowess in battle, that the men most responsible for their desertion from the Greeks agreed of their own accord to being handed over, and they all received at the hands of Pausanias the punishment of death.
§ 11.34
ἐγένετο δὲ καὶ κατὰ τὴν Ἰωνίαν τοῖς Ἕλλησι μεγάλη μάχη πρὸς Πέρσας κατὰ τὴν αὐτὴν ἡμέραν τῇ περὶ τὰς Πλαταιὰς συντελεσθείσῃ, περὶ ἧς μέλλοντες γράφειν ἀναληψόμεθα τὴν ἀπʼ ἀρχῆς διήγησιν. Λεωτυχίδης γὰρ ὁ Λακεδαιμόνιος καὶ Ξάνθιππος ὁ Ἀθηναῖος ἡγούμενοι τῆς ναυτικῆς δυνάμεως, καὶ τὸν στόλον ἐκ τῆς περὶ Σαλαμῖνα ναυμαχίας ἀθροίσαντες εἰς Αἴγιναν, ἐν ταύτῃ διατρίψαντες ἡμέρας τινὰς ἔπλευσαν εἰς Δῆλον, ἔχοντες τριήρεις διακοσίας καὶ πεντήκοντα. ἐνταῦθα δʼ αὐτῶν ὁρμούντων ἧκον ἐκ Σάμου πρέσβεις ἀξιοῦντες ἐλευθερῶσαι τοὺς κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν Ἕλληνας. οἱ δὲ περὶ τὸν Λεωτυχίδην συνεδρεύσαντες μετὰ τῶν ἡγεμόνων καὶ διακούσαντες τῶν Σαμίων ἔκριναν ἐλευθεροῦν τὰς πόλεις, καὶ κατὰ τάχος ἐξέπλευσαν ἐκ Δήλου. οἱ δὲ τῶν Περσῶν ναύαρχοι διατρίβοντες ἐν τῇ Σάμῳ, πυθόμενοι τὸν τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἐπίπλουν, ἀνήχθησαν ἐκ τῆς Σάμου πάσαις ταῖς ναυσί, καὶ κατάραντες εἰς Μυκάλην τῆς Ἰωνίας τὰς μὲν ναῦς ἐνεώλκησαν, ὁρῶντες οὐκ ἀξιοχρέους οὔσας ναυμαχεῖν, καὶ ξυλίνῳ τείχει καὶ τάφρῳ βαθείᾳ περιέλαβον αὐτάς· οὐδὲν δὲ ἧττον καὶ δυνάμεις πεζὰς μετεπέμποντο ἐκ τῶν Σάρδεων καὶ τῶν σύνεγγυς πόλεων, καὶ συνήγαγον τοὺς ἅπαντας εἰς δέκα μυριάδας· ἐποιοῦντο δὲ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἁπάντων τῶν εἰς πόλεμον χρησίμων παρασκευάς, νομίζοντες καὶ τοὺς Ἴωνας ἀποστήσεσθαι πρὸς τοὺς πολεμίους. οἱ δὲ περὶ τὸν Λεωτυχίδην παντὶ τῷ στόλῳ κεκοσμημένῳ προσπλεύσαντες τοῖς ἐν τῇ Μυκάλῃ βαρβάροις, ναῦν προαπέστειλαν ἔχουσαν κήρυκα τὸν μεγαλοφωνότατον τῶν ἐν τῷ στρατοπέδῳ. τῷ δὲ προσετέτακτο προσπλεῦσαι τοῖς πολεμίοις, καὶ μεγάλῃ τῇ φωνῇ κηρύξαι, διότι οἱ Ἕλληνες νενικηκότες τοὺς Πέρσας πάρεισι νῦν ἐλευθερώσοντες τὰς κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν Ἑλληνίδας πόλεις. τοῦτο δʼ ἐποίησαν οἱ περὶ τὸν Λεωτυχίδην νομίζοντες τοὺς συστρατεύοντας τοῖς βαρβάροις Ἕλληνας ἀποστήσειν Περσῶν καὶ ταραχὴν ἔσεσθαι πολλὴν ἐν τῇ τῶν βαρβάρων στρατοπεδείᾳ· ὅπερ καὶ συνέβη γενέσθαι. τοῦ γὰρ κήρυκος προσπλεύσαντος ταῖς νενεωλκημέναις ναυσὶ καὶ κηρύξαντος τὰ προστεταγμένα, συνέβη τοὺς μὲν Πέρσας ἀπιστῆσαι τοῖς Ἕλλησι, τοὺς δʼ Ἕλληνας ἀλλήλοις συντίθεσθαι περὶ ἀποστάσεως.
Also in Ionia the Greeks fought a great battle with the Persians on the same day as that which took place in Plataea, and since we propose to describe it, we shall take up the account of it from the beginning. Leotychides the Lacedemonian and Xanthippus the Athenian, the commanders of the naval force, after the battle of Salamis collected the fleet in Aegina, and after spending some days there they sailed to Delos with two hundred and fifty triremes. And while they lay at anchor there, ambassadors came to them from Samos asking them to liberate the Greeks of Asia. Leotychides took counsel with the commanders, and after they had heard all the Samians had to say, they decided to undertake to liberate the cities and speedily sailed forth from Delos. When the Persian admirals, who were then at Samos, learned that the Greeks were sailing against them, they withdrew from Samos with all their ships, and putting into port at Mycale in Ionia they hauled up their ships, since they saw that the vessels were unequal to offering battle, and threw about them a wooden palisade and a deep ditch; despite these defences they also summoned land forces from Sardis and the neighbouring cities and gathered in all about one hundred thousand men. Furthermore, they made ready all the other equipment that is useful in war, believing that the Ionians also would go over to the enemy. Leotychides advanced with all the fleet ready for action against the barbarians at Mycale, dispatching in advance a ship carrying a herald who had the strongest voice of anyone in the fleet. This man had been ordered to sail up to the enemy and to announce in a loud voice, "The Greeks, having conquered the Persians, are now come to liberate the Greek cities of Asia." This Leotychides did in the belief that the Greeks in the army of the barbarians would revolt from the Persians and that great confusion would arise in the camp of the barbarians; and that is what actually happened. For as soon as the herald approached the ships which had been hauled up on the shore, and made the announcement as he had been ordered, it came about that the Persians lost confidence in the Greeks and that the Greeks began to agree among themselves about revolting.
§ 11.35
οἱ δʼ Ἕλληνες κατασκεψάμενοι τὰ κατʼ αὐτοὺς ἀπεβίβασαν τὴν δύναμιν. τῇ δʼ ὑστεραίᾳ παρασκευαζομένων αὐτῶν τὰ πρὸς τὴν παράταξιν, προσέπεσε φήμη ὅτι νενικήκασιν οἱ Ἕλληνες τοὺς Πέρσας κατὰ τὰς Πλαταιάς. διόπερ οἱ μὲν περὶ Λεωτυχίδην ἀθροίσαντες ἐκκλησίαν, τὰ πλήθη παρεκάλεσαν εἰς τὴν μάχην, τά τε ἄλλα προφερόμενοι καὶ τὴν ἐν Πλαταιαῖς νίκην τραγῳδοῦντες, διʼ ἣν ὑπελάμβανον θρασυτέρους ποιήσειν τοὺς μέλλοντας ἀγωνίζεσθαι. θαυμαστὸν δὲ ἐγένετο τὸ ἀποτέλεσμα· κατὰ γὰρ τὴν αὐτὴν ἡμέραν ἐφάνησαν αἱ παρατάξεις γεγενημέναι, ἥ τε πρὸς τῇ Μυκάλῃ συντελεσθεῖσα καὶ ἡ κατὰ τὰς Πλαταιὰς γενομένη. διόπερ ἔδοξαν οἱ περὶ τὸν Λεωτυχίδην οὔπω μὲν πεπυσμένοι περὶ τῆς νίκης, ἀφʼ ἑαυτῶν δὲ πλάττοντες τὴν εὐημερίαν, στρατηγήματος ἕνεκεν τοῦτο πεποιηκέναι· τὸ γὰρ μέγεθος τοῦ διαστήματος ἤλεγχεν ἀδύνατον οὖσαν τὴν προσαγγελίαν. οἱ δὲ τῶν Περσῶν ἡγεμόνες, ἀπίστως ἔχοντες τοῖς Ἕλλησι, τούτους μὲν ἀφώπλισαν, τὰ δὲ ὅπλα τοῖς ἑαυτῶν φίλοις παρέδωκαν· παρακαλέσαντες δὲ τὰ πλήθη, καὶ τὸν Ξέρξην αὐτὸν μετὰ πολλῆς δυνάμεως εἰπόντες ἥξειν βοηθόν, ἐποίησαν ἅπαντας εὐθαρσεῖς πρὸς τὸν κίνδυνον.
After the Greeks under Leotychides had found out how the Greeks in the Persians' camp felt, they disembarked their forces. And on the following day, while they were making preparation for battle, the rumour came to them of the victory which the Greeks had won over the Persians at Plataea. At this news Leotychides, after calling an assembly, exhorted his troops to the battle, and among the other considerations which he presented to them he announced in histrionic manner the victory of Plataea, in the belief that he would make more confident those who were about to fight. And marvellous indeed was the outcome. For it has become known that it was on the same day that the two battles took place, the one which was fought at Mycale and the other which occurred at Plataea. It would seem, therefore, that Leotychides had not yet learned of the victory, but that he was deliberately inventing the military success and did so as a stratagem; for the great distance separating the places proved that the transmission of the message was impossible. But the leaders of the Persians, placing no confidence in the Greeks of their own forces, took away their arms and gave them to men who were friendly to them; and then they called all the soldiers together and told them that Xerxes was coming in person to their aid with a great armament, inspiring them thereby with courage to face the peril of the battle.
§ 11.36
ἀμφοτέρων δὲ αὐτῶν ἐκταξάντων τὴν στρατιὰν καὶ προσαγόντων ἐπʼ ἀλλήλους, οἱ μὲν Πέρσαι τοὺς πολεμίους ὁρῶντες ὀλίγους ὄντας κατεφρόνησαν αὐτῶν καὶ μετὰ πολλῆς κραυγῆς ἐπεφέροντο· τῶν δὲ Σαμίων καὶ Μιλησίων πανδημεὶ προελομένων βοηθῆσαι τοῖς Ἕλλησι καὶ μετʼ ἀλλήλων κοινῇ προσαγόντων κατὰ σπουδήν, ὡς προϊόντες εἰς ὄψιν ἦλθον τοῖς Ἕλλησιν, οἱ μὲν Ἴωνες ἐνόμιζον εὐθαρσεστέρους ἔσεσθαι τοὺς Ἕλληνας, ἀπέβη δὲ τοὐναντίον. δόξαντες γὰρ οἱ περὶ τὸν Λεωτυχίδην τὸν Ξέρξην ἐκ τῶν Σάρδεων ἐπιέναι μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως, ἐφοβήθησαν, καὶ ταραχῆς γενομένης ἐν τῷ στρατοπέδῳ διεφέροντο πρὸς ἀλλήλους· οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἔφασαν τὴν ταχίστην δεῖν εἰς τὰς ναῦς ἀπιέναι, οἱ δὲ μένειν καὶ τεθαρρηκότως παρατάξασθαι. ἔτι δʼ αὐτοῖς τεθορυβημένοις ἐπεφάνησαν οἱ Πέρσαι διεσκευασμένοι καταπληκτικῶς καὶ μετὰ βοῆς ἐπιφερόμενοι. οἱ δʼ Ἕλληνες οὐδεμίαν ἀνοχὴν ἔχοντες τοῦ βουλεύσασθαι, συνηναγκάσθησαν ὑπομεῖναι τὴν ἔφοδον τῶν βαρβάρων. καὶ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἀμφοτέρων ἀγωνιζομένων εὐρώστως ἰσόρροπος ἦν ἡ μάχη καὶ συχνοὶ παρʼ ἀμφοτέροις ἔπιπτον· τῶν δὲ Σαμίων καὶ τῶν Μιλησίων ἐπιφανέντων οἱ μὲν Ἕλληνες ἐπερρώσθησαν, οἱ βάρβαροι δὲ καταπλαγέντες πρὸς φυγὴν ὥρμησαν. πολλοῦ δὲ γενομένου φόνου, οἱ μὲν περὶ τὸν Λεωτυχίδην καὶ Ξάνθιππον ἐπικείμενοι τοῖς ἡττημένοις κατεδίωξαν τοὺς βαρβάρους μέχρι τῆς παρεμβολῆς, συνεπελάβοντο δὲ τῆς μάχης ἤδη κεκριμένης Αἰολεῖς καὶ τῶν ἄλλων πολλοὶ τῶν κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν· δεινὴ γάρ τις ἐνέπεσεν ἐπιθυμία ταῖς κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν πόλεσι τῆς ἐλευθερίας. διόπερ σχεδὸν ἅπαντες οὔθʼ ὁμήρων οὔτε ὅρκων ἐποιήσαντο φροντίδα, ἀλλὰ μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων Ἑλλήνων ἀπέκτειναν ἐν τῇ φυγῇ τοὺς βαρβάρους. τοῦτον δὲ τὸν τρόπον ἡττηθέντων τῶν Περσῶν, ἀνῃρέθησαν αὐτῶν πλείους τῶν τετρακισμυρίων· τῶν δὲ διασωθέντων οἱ μὲν εἰς τὴν στρατοπεδείαν διέφυγον, οἱ δὲ εἰς Σάρδεις ἀπεχώρησαν. Ξέρξης δὲ πυθόμενος τήν τε περὶ τὰς Πλαταιὰς ἧτταν καὶ τὴν ἐν τῇ Μυκάλῃ τροπὴν τῶν ἰδίων, μέρος μὲν τῆς δυνάμεως ἀπέλιπεν ἐν Σάρδεσιν, ὅπως διαπολεμῇ πρὸς τοὺς Ἕλληνας, αὐτὸς δὲ τεθορυβημένος μετὰ τῆς λοιπῆς στρατιᾶς προῆγεν, ἐπʼ Ἐκβατάνων ποιούμενος τὴν πορείαν.
When both sides had drawn out their troops in battle-order and were advancing against each other, the Persians, observing how few the enemy were, disdained them and bore down on them with great shouting. Now the Samians and Milesians had decided unanimously beforehand to support the Greek cause and were pushing forward all together at the double; and as their advance brought them in sight of the Greek army, although the Ionians thought that the Greeks would be encouraged, the result was the very opposite. For the troops of Leotychides, thinking that Xerxes was come from Sardis with his army and advancing upon them, were filled with fear, and confusion and division among themselves arose in the army, some saying that they should take to their ships with all speed and depart and others that they should remain and boldly hold their lines. While they were still in disorder, the Persians came in sight, equipped in a manner to inspire terror and bearing down on them with shouting. The Greeks, having no respite for deliberation, were compelled to withstand the attack of the barbarians. At the outset both sides fought stoutly and the battle was indecisive, great numbers falling in both armies; but when the Samians and Milesians put in their appearance, the Greeks plucked up courage, whereas the barbarians were filled with terror and broke in flight. A great slaughter followed, as the troops of Leotychides and Xanthippus pressed upon the beaten barbarians and pursued them as far as the camp; and Aeolians participated in the battle, after the issue had already been decided, as well as many other peoples of Asia, since an overwhelming desire for their liberty entered the hearts of the inhabitants of the cities of Asia. Therefore practically all of them gave no thought either to hostages or to oaths, but they joined with the other Greeks in slaying the barbarians in their flight. This was the manner in which the Persians suffered defeat, and there were slain of them more than forty thousand, while of the survivors some found refuge in the camp and others withdrew to Sardis. And when Xerxes learned of both the defeat in Plataea and the rout of his own troops in Mycale, he left a portion of his armament in Sardis to carry on the war against the Greeks, while he himself, in bewilderment, set out with the rest of his army on the way to Ecbatana.
§ 11.37
οἱ δὲ περὶ Λεωτυχίδην καὶ Ξάνθιππον ἀποπλεύσαντες εἰς Σάμον τοὺς μὲν Ἴωνας καὶ τοὺς Αἰολεῖς συμμάχους ἐποιήσαντο, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ἔπειθον αὐτοὺς ἐκλιπόντας τὴν Ἀσίαν εἰς τὴν Εὐρώπην μετοικισθῆναι. ἐπηγγέλλοντο δὲ τὰ μηδίσαντα τῶν ἐθνῶν ἀναστήσαντες δώσειν ἐκείνοις τὴν χώραν· καθόλου γὰρ μένοντας αὐτοὺς ἐπὶ τῆς Ἀσίας τοὺς μὲν πολεμίους ὁμόρους ἕξειν, πολὺ ταῖς δυνάμεσιν ὑπερέχοντας, τοὺς δὲ συμμάχους ὄντας διαποντίους μὴ δυνήσεσθαι τὰς βοηθείας εὐκαίρους αὐτοῖς ποιήσασθαι. οἱ δὲ Αἰολεῖς καὶ οἱ Ἴωνες ἀκούσαντες τῶν ἐπαγγελιῶν ἔγνωσαν πείθεσθαι τοῖς Ἕλλησι, καὶ παρεσκευάζοντο πλεῖν μετʼ αὐτῶν εἰς τὴν Εὐρώπην. οἱ δʼ Ἀθηναῖοι μετανοήσαντες εἰς τοὐναντίον πάλιν μένειν συνεβούλευον, λέγοντες ὅτι κἂν μηδεὶς αὐτοῖς τῶν ἄλλων Ἑλλήνων βοηθῇ, μόνοι Ἀθηναῖοι συγγενεῖς ὄντες βοηθήσουσιν· ὑπελάμβανον δὲ ὅτι κοινῇ κατοικισθέντες ὑπὸ τῶν Ἑλλήνων οἱ Ἴωνες οὐκέτι μητρόπολιν ἡγήσονται τὰς Ἀθήνας. διόπερ συνέβη μετανοῆσαι τοὺς Ἴωνας καὶ κρῖναι μένειν ἐπὶ τῆς Ἀσίας. τούτων δὲ πραχθέντων συνέβη τὴν δύναμιν τῶν Ἑλλήνων σχισθῆναι,καὶ τοὺς μὲν Λακεδαιμονίους εἰς τὴν Λακωνικὴν ἀποπλεῦσαι, τοὺς δὲ Ἀθηναίους μετὰ τῶν Ἰώνων καὶ τῶν νησιωτῶν ἐπὶ Σηστὸν ἀπᾶραι. Ξάνθιππος δὲ ὁ στρατηγὸς εὐθὺς ἐκ κατάπλου προσβολὰς τῇ πόλει ποιησάμενος εἷλε Σηστόν, καὶ φρουρὰν ἐγκαταστήσας τοὺς μὲν συμμάχους ἀπέλυσεν, αὐτὸς δὲ μετὰ τῶν πολιτῶν ἀνέκαμψεν εἰς τὰς Ἀθήνας. ὁ μὲν οὖν Μηδικὸς ὀνομασθεὶς πόλεμος γενόμενος διετὴς τοῦτο ἔσχε τὸ πέρας. τῶν δὲ συγγραφέων Ἡρόδοτος ἀρξάμενος πρὸ τῶν Τρωικῶν χρόνων γέγραφε κοινὰς σχεδόν τι τὰς τῆς οἰκουμένης πράξεις ἐν βίβλοις ἐννέα, καταστρέφει δὲ τὴν σύνταξιν εἰς τὴν περὶ Μυκάλην μάχην τοῖς Ἕλλησι πρὸς τοὺς Πέρσας καὶ Σηστοῦ πολιορκίαν. κατὰ δὲ τὴν Ἰταλίαν Ῥωμαῖοι πρὸς τοὺς Οὐολούσκους πολεμήσαντες καὶ μάχῃ νικήσαντες πολλοὺς ἀνεῖλον. Σπόριος δὲ Κάσσιος, ὁ κατὰ τὸν προηγούμενον ἐνιαυτὸν ὑπατεύσας, δόξας ἐπιθέσθαι τυραννίδι καὶ καταγνωσθείς, ἀνῃρέθη. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἐπράχθη κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν ἐνιαυτόν.
Leotychides and Xanthippus now sailed back to Samos and made allies of the Ionians and Aeolians, and then they endeavoured to induce them to abandon Asia and to move their homes to Europe. They promised to expel the peoples who had espoused the cause of the Medes and to give their lands to them; for as a general thing, they explained, if they remained in Asia, they would always have the enemy on their borders, an enemy far superior in military strength, while their allies, who lived across the sea, would be unable to render them any timely assistance. When the Aeolians and Ionians had heard these promises, they resolved to take the advice of the Greeks and set about preparing to sail with them to Europe. But the Athenians changed to the opposite opinion and advised them to stay where they were, saying that even if no other Greeks should come to their aid, the Athenians, as their kinsmen, would do so independently. They reasoned that, if the Ionians were given new homes by the Greeks acting in common they would no longer look upon Athens as their mother-city. It was for this reason that the Ionians changed their minds and decided to remain in Asia. After these events it came to pass that the armament of the Greeks was divided, the Lacedemonians sailing back to Laconia and the Athenians together with the Ionians and the islanders weighing anchor for Sestus. And Xanthippus the general, as soon as he reached that port, launched assaults upon Sestus and took the city, and after establishing a garrison in it he dismissed the allies and himself with his fellow citizens returned to Athens. Now the Median War, as it has been called, after lasting two years, came to the end which we have described. And of the historians, Herodotus, beginning with the period prior to the Trojan War, has written in nine books a general history of practically all the events which occurred in the inhabited world, and brings his narrative to an end with the battle of the Greeks against the Persians at Mycale and the siege of Sestus. In Italy the Romans waged a war against the Volscians, and conquering them in battle slew many of them. And Spurius Cassius, who had been consul the preceding year, because he was believed to be aiming at a tyranny and was found guilty, was put to death. These, then, were the events of this year.
§ 11.38
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησι Τιμοσθένους ἐν Ῥώμῃ τὴν ὑπατικὴν ἀρχὴν διεδέξαντο Καίσων Φάβιος καὶ Λεύκιος Αἰμίλιος Μάμερκος. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων κατὰ τὴν Σικελίαν πολλή τις εἰρήνη κατεῖχε τὴν νῆσον, τῶν μὲν Καρχηδονίων εἰς τέλος τεταπεινωμένων, τοῦ δὲ Γέλωνος ἐπιεικῶς προεστηκότος τῶν Σικελιωτῶν καὶ πολλὴν εὐνομίαν τε καὶ πάντων τῶν ἐπιτηδείων εὐπορίαν παρεχομένου ταῖς πόλεσι. τῶν δὲ Συρακοσίων τὰς μὲν πολυτελεῖς ἐκφορὰς νόμῳ καταλελυκότων καὶ τὰς εἰωθυίας δαπάνας εἰς τοὺς τελευτῶντας γίνεσθαι περιῃρηκότων, ἐγγεγραμμένων δὲ ἐν τῷ νόμῳ καὶ τῶν παντελῶς λιτῶν ἐνταφίων, ὁ βασιλεὺς Γέλων βουλόμενος τὴν τοῦ δήμου σπουδὴν ἐν ἅπασι διαφυλάττειν, τὸν περὶ τῆς ταφῆς νόμον ἐφʼ ἑαυτοῦ βέβαιον ἐτήρησεν· ὑπὸ γὰρ ἀρρωστίας συνεχόμενος καὶ τὸ ζῆν ἀπελπίσας, τὴν μὲν βασιλείαν παρέδωκεν Ἱέρωνι τῷ πρεσβυτάτῳ τῶν ἀδελφῶν, περὶ δὲ τῆς ἑαυτοῦ ταφῆς ἐνετείλατο διαστελλόμενος ἀκριβῶς τηρῆσαι τὸ νόμιμον. διὸ καὶ τελευτήσαντος αὐτοῦ τὴν ἐκφορὰν κατὰ τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν αὐτοῦ συνετέλεσεν ὁ διαδεξάμενος τὴν βασιλείαν. ἐτάφη δʼ αὐτοῦ τὸ σῶμα κατὰ τὸν ἀγρὸν τῆς γυναικὸς ἐν ταῖς καλουμέναις Ἐννέα τύρσεσιν, οὔσαις τῷ βάρει τῶν ἔργων θαυμασταῖς. ὁ δὲ ὄχλος ἐκ τῆς πόλεως ἅπας συνηκολούθησεν, ἀπέχοντος τοῦ τόπου σταδίους διακοσίους. ἐνταῦθα δʼ αὐτοῦ ταφέντος ὁ μὲν δῆμος τάφον ἀξιόλογον ἐπιστήσας ἡρωικαῖς τιμαῖς ἐτίμησε τὸν Γέλωνα, ὕστερον δὲ τὸ μὲν μνῆμα ἀνεῖλον Καρχηδόνιοι στρατεύσαντες ἐπὶ Συρακούσας, τὰς δὲ τύρσεις Ἀγαθοκλῆς κατέβαλε διὰ τὸν φθόνον. ἀλλʼ ὅμως οὔτε Καρχηδόνιοι διὰ τὴν ἔχθραν οὔτε Ἀγαθοκλῆς διὰ τὴν ἰδίαν κακίαν οὔτε ἄλλος οὐδεὶς ἠδυνήθη τοῦ Γέλωνος ἀφελέσθαι τὴν δόξαν· ἡ γὰρ τῆς ἱστορίας δικαία μαρτυρία τετήρηκε τὴν περὶ αὐτοῦ φήμην, κηρύττουσα διαπρυσίως εἰς ἅπαντα τὸν αἰῶνα. δίκαιον γὰρ ἅμα καὶ συμφέρον ἐστὶ τῷ κοινῷ βίῳ διὰ τὴν ἱστορίαν τοὺς μὲν πονηροὺς τῶν ἐν ταῖς ἐξουσίαις γεγενημένων βλασφημεῖσθαι, τοὺς δὲ εὐεργετικοὺς τυγχάνειν ἀθανάτου μνήμης· οὕτω γὰρ μάλιστα συμβήσεται πολλοὺς ἐπὶ τὴν κοινὴν εὐεργεσίαν προτρέπεσθαι τῶν μεταγενεστέρων. Γέλων μὲν οὖν ἑπταετῆ χρόνον ἐβασίλευσεν, Ἱέρων δʼ ὁ ἀδελφὸς αὐτοῦ διαδεξάμενος τὴν ἀρχὴν ἐβασίλευσε τῶν Συρακοσίων ἔτη ἕνδεκα καὶ μῆνας ὀκτώ.
When Timosthenes was archon at Athens, in Rome Caeso Fabius and Lucius Aemilius Mamercus succeeded to the consulship. During this year throughout Sicily an almost complete peace pervaded the island, the Carthaginians having finally been humbled, and Gelon had established a beneficent rule over the Sicilian Greeks and was providing their cities with a high degree of orderly government and an abundance of every necessity of life. And since the Syracusans had by law put an end to costly funerals and done away with the expense which customarily had been incurred for the dead, and there had been specified in the law even the altogether inexpensive obsequies, King Gelon, desiring to foster and maintain the people's interest in all matters, kept the law regarding bodies intact in his own case; for when he fell ill and had given up hope of life, he handed over the kingship to Hieron, his eldest brother, and respecting his own burial he gave orders that the prescriptions of the law should be strictly observed. Consequently at his death his funeral was held by his successor to the throne just as he had ordered it. His body was buried on the estate of his wife in the Nine Towers, as it is called, which is a marvel to men by reason of its strong construction. And the entire populace accompanied his body from the city, although the place was two hundred stades distant. Here he was buried, and the people erected a noteworthy tomb and accorded Gelon the honours which belong to heroes; but at a later time the monument was destroyed by the Carthaginians in the course of campaign against Syracuse, while the towers were thrown down by Agathocles out of envy. Nevertheless, neither the Carthaginians out of enmity nor Agathocles of his native baseness, nor any other man has ever been able to deprive Gelon of his glory; for the just witness of history has guarded his fair fame, heralding it abroad with piercing voice for evermore. It is indeed both just and beneficial to society that history should heap imprecations upon base men who have held positions of authority, but should accord immortal remembrance to those who have been beneficent rulers; for in this way especially, it will be found, many men of later generations will be impelled to work for the general good of mankind. Now Gelon reigned for seven years, and Hieron his brother succeeded him in the rule and reigned over the Syracusans eleven years and eight months.
§ 11.39
κατὰ δὲ τὴν Ἑλλάδα Ἀθηναῖοι μὲν μετὰ τὴν ἐν Πλαταιαῖς νίκην μετεκόμισαν ἐκ Τροιζῆνος καὶ Σαλαμῖνος τέκνα καὶ γυναῖκας εἰς τὰς Ἀθήνας, εὐθὺς δὲ καὶ τὴν πόλιν ἐπεχείρησαν τειχίζειν καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν πρὸς ἀσφάλειαν ἀνηκόντων ἐπιμέλειαν ἐποιοῦντο. Λακεδαιμόνιοι δʼ ὁρῶντες τοὺς Ἀθηναίους ἐν ταῖς ναυτικαῖς δυνάμεσι περιπεποιημένους δόξαν μεγάλην, ὑπώπτευσαν αὐτῶν τὴν αὔξησιν, καὶ διέγνωσαν κωλύειν τοὺς Ἀθηναίους ἀνοικοδομεῖν τὰ τείχη. εὐθὺς οὖν πρέσβεις ἐξέπεμψαν εἰς τὰς Ἀθήνας τοὺς λόγῳ μὲν συμβουλεύσοντας κατὰ τὸ παρὸν μὴ τειχίζειν τὴν πόλιν διὰ τὸ μὴ συμφέρειν κοινῇ τοῖς Ἕλλησι· τὸν γὰρ Ξέρξην, εἰ πάλιν παραγενηθείη μετὰ μειζόνων δυνάμεων, ἕξειν ἑτοίμους πόλεις τετειχισμένας ἐκτὸς Πελοποννήσου, ἐξ ὧν ὁρμώμενον ῥᾳδίως καταπολεμήσειν τοὺς Ἕλληνας. οὐ πειθομένων δʼ αὐτῶν, οἱ πρέσβεις προσιόντες τοῖς οἰκοδομοῦσι προσέταττον ἀφίστασθαι τῶν ἔργων τὴν ταχίστην. ἀπορουμένων δὲ τῶν Ἀθηναίων ὅ,τι χρὴ πράττειν, Θεμιστοκλῆς, ἀποδοχῆς τότε παρʼ αὐτοῖς τυγχάνων τῆς μεγίστης, συνεβούλευεν ἔχειν ἡσυχίαν· ἐὰν γὰρ βιάζωνται, ῥᾳδίως τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους μετὰ τῶν Πελοποννησίων στρατεύσαντας κωλύσειν αὐτοὺς τειχίζειν τὴν πόλιν. ἐν ἀπορρήτοις δὲ τῇ βουλῇ προεῖπεν, ὡς αὐτὸς μὲν μετά τινων ἄλλων πορεύσεται πρεσβευτὴς εἰς Λακεδαίμονα, διδάξων τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους περὶ τοῦ τειχισμοῦ, τοῖς δὲ ἄρχουσι παρήγγειλεν, ὅταν ἐκ Λακεδαίμονος ἔλθωσι πρέσβεις εἰς τὰς Ἀθήνας, παρακατέχειν αὐτούς, ἕως ἂν αὐτὸς ἐκ τῆς Λακεδαίμονος ἀνακάμψῃ, ἐν τοσούτῳ δὲ πανδημεὶ τειχίζειν τὴν πόλιν, καὶ τούτῳ τῷ τρόπῳ κρατήσειν αὐτοὺς ἀπεφαίνετο τῆς προθέσεως.
In Greece the Athenians after the victory at Plataea brought their children and wives back to Athens from Troezen and Salamis, and at once set to work fortifying the city and were giving their attention to every other means which made for its safety. But the Lacedemonians, observing that the Athenians had gained for themselves great glory by the actions in which their navy had been engaged, looked with suspicion upon their growing power and decided to prevent the Athenians from rebuilding their walls. They at once, therefore, dispatched ambassadors to Athens who would ostensibly advise them not at present to fortify the city, as not being of advantage to the general interests of the Greeks; for, they pointed out, if Xerxes should return with larger armaments than before he would have walled cities ready to hand outside the Peloponnesus which he would use as bases and thus easily subjugate the Greeks. And when no attention was paid to their advice, the ambassadors approached the men who were building the wall and ordered them to stop work immediately. While the Athenians were at a loss what they should do, Themistocles, who enjoyed at that time the highest favour among them, advised them to take no action; for he warned them that if they had recourse to force, the Lacedemonians could easily march up against them together with the Peloponnesians and prevent them from fortifying the city. But he told the Council in confidence that he and certain others would go as ambassadors to Lacedemon to explain the matter of the wall to the Lacedemonians; and he instructed the magistrates, when ambassadors should come from Lacedemonian to Athens, to detain them until he himself should return from Lacedemon, and in the meantime to put the whole population to work fortifying the city. In this manner, he declared to them, they would achieve their purpose.
§ 11.40
ὑπακουσάντων δὲ τῶν Ἀθηναίων, οἱ μὲν περὶ τὸν Θεμιστοκλέα πρέσβεις προῆγον εἰς τὴν Σπάρτην, οἱ δὲ Ἀθηναῖοι μετὰ μεγάλης σπουδῆς ᾠκοδόμουν τὰ τείχη, οὔτʼ οἰκίας οὔτε τάφου φειδόμενοι. συνελαμβάνοντο δὲ τῶν ἔργων οἵ τε παῖδες καὶ αἱ γυναῖκες καὶ καθόλου πᾶς ξένος καὶ δοῦλος, οὐδενὸς ἀπολειπομένου τῆς προθυμίας. παραδόξως δὲ τῶν ἔργων ἀνυομένων διά τε τὰς πολυχειρίας καὶ τὰς τῶν ἁπάντων προθυμίας, ὁ μὲν Θεμιστοκλῆς ἀνακληθεὶς ὑπὸ τῶν ἀρχόντων καὶ ἐπιτιμηθεὶς περὶ τῆς τειχοποιίας ἠρνήσατο τὴν οἰκοδομίαν, καὶ παρεκάλεσε τοὺς ἄρχοντας μὴ πιστεύειν κεναῖς φήμαις, ἀλλʼ ἀποστέλλειν πρέσβεις ἀξιοπίστους εἰς τὰς Ἀθήνας· διὰ γὰρ τούτων εἴσεσθαι τἀληθές· καὶ τούτων ἐγγυητὴν ἑαυτὸν παρεδίδου καὶ τοὺς μεθʼ ἑαυτοῦ συμπρεσβεύοντας. πεισθέντες δὲ οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι τοὺς μὲν περὶ τὸν Θεμιστοκλέα παρεφύλαττον, εἰς δὲ τὰς Ἀθήνας ἀπέστειλαν τοὺς ἐπιφανεστάτους κατασκεψομένους, περὶ ὧν ἦν χρεία πολυπραγμονῆσαι. τοῦ δὲ χρόνου διεξελθόντος, οἱ μὲν Ἀθηναῖοι τὸ τεῖχος ἔφθασαν ἐφʼ ἱκανὸν κατεσκευακότες, τοὺς δὲ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων πρέσβεις ἐλθόντας εἰς τὰς Ἀθήνας καὶ μετʼ ἀνατάσεων καὶ ἀπειλῶν ἐπιτιμῶντας παρέδωκαν εἰς φυλακήν, φήσαντες τότε ἀφήσειν, ὅταν κἀκεῖνοι τοὺς περὶ Θεμιστοκλέα πρέσβεις ἀπολύσωσι. τούτῳ δὲ τῷ τρόπῳ καταστρατηγηθέντες οἱ Λάκωνες ἠναγκάσθησαν ἀπολῦσαι τοὺς Ἀθηναίων πρέσβεις, ἵνα τοὺς ἰδίους ἀπολάβωσιν. ὁ δὲ Θεμιστοκλῆς τοιούτῳ στρατηγήματι τειχίσας τὴν πατρίδα συντόμως καὶ ἀκινδύνως, μεγάλης ἀποδοχῆς ἔτυχε παρὰ τοῖς πολίταις. ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις Ῥωμαίοις πρὸς Αἰκολανοὺς καὶ τοὺς τὸ Τοῦσκλον κατοικοῦντας συνέστη πόλεμος, καὶ πρὸς μὲν Αἰκολανοὺς μάχην συνάψαντες ἐνίκησαν καὶ πολλοὺς τῶν πολεμίων ἀνεῖλον, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τὸ Τοῦσκλον ἐξεπολιόρκησαν καὶ τὴν τῶν Αἰκολανῶν πόλιν ἐχειρώσαντο.
After the Athenians had accepted the plan of Themistocles, he and the ambassadors set out for Sparta, and the Athenians began with great enthusiasm to build the walls, sparing neither houses nor tombs. And everyone joined in the task, both children and women and, in a word, every alien and slave, no one of them showing any lack of zeal. And when the work was being accomplished with amazing speed both because of the many workmen and the enthusiasm of them all, Themistocles was summoned by the chief magistrates and upbraided for the building of the walls; but he denied that there was any construction, and urged the magistrates not to believe empty rumours but to dispatch to Athens trustworthy ambassadors, from whom, he assured them, they would learn the truth; and as surety for them he offered himself and the ambassadors who had accompanied him. The Lacedemonians, following the advice of Themistocles, put him and his companions under guard and dispatched to Athens their most important men who were to spy out whatever matter should arouse their curiosity. But time had passed, and the Athenians had already got so far along with the construction that, when the Lacedemonian ambassadors arrived in Athens and with denunciations and threats of violence upbraided them, the Athenians took them into custody, saying that they would release them only when the Lacedemonians in turn should release the ambassadors who accompanied Themistocles. In this manner the Laconians were outgeneralled and compelled to release the Athenian ambassadors in order to get back their own. And Themistocles, having by means of so clever a stratagem fortified his native land speedily and without danger, enjoyed high favour among his fellow citizens. While the events we have described were taking place, a war broke out between the Romans and the Aequi and the inhabitants of Tusculum, and meeting the Aequi in battle the Romans overcame them and slew many of the enemy, and then they took Tusculum after a siege and occupied the city of the Aequi.
§ 11.41
τοῦ δʼ ἐνιαυσίου χρόνου διεληλυθότος Ἀθήνησι μὲν ἦν ἄρχων Ἀδείμαντος, ἐν Ῥώμῃ δὲ κατεστάθησαν ὕπατοι Μάρκος Φάβιος Οὐιβλανὸς καὶ Λεύκιος Οὐαλέριος Πόπλιος. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Θεμιστοκλῆς διὰ τὴν στρατηγίαν καὶ ἀγχίνοιαν ἀποδοχῆς ἔτυχεν οὐ μόνον παρὰ τοῖς πολίταις, ἀλλὰ καὶ παρὰ πᾶσι τοῖς Ἕλλησι. διὸ καὶ μετεωριζόμενος ἐπὶ τῇ δόξῃ πολὺ μείζοσιν ἄλλαις ἐπιβολαῖς ἐχρήσατο πρὸς αὔξησιν ἡγεμονίας ἀνηκούσαις τῇ πατρίδι. τοῦ γὰρ καλουμένου Πειραιῶς οὐκ ὄντος λιμένος κατʼ ἐκείνους τοὺς χρόνους, ἀλλʼ ἐπινείῳ χρωμένων τῶν Ἀθηναίων τῷ προσαγορευομένῳ Φαληρικῷ, μικρῷ παντελῶς ὄντι, ἐπενόησε τὸν Πειραιᾶ κατασκευάζειν λιμένα, μικρᾶς μὲν προσδεόμενον κατασκευῆς, δυνάμενον δὲ γενέσθαι λιμένα κάλλιστον καὶ μέγιστον τῶν κατὰ τὴν Ἑλλάδα. ἤλπιζεν οὖν τούτου προσγενομένου τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις δυνήσεσθαι τὴν πόλιν ἀντιποιήσασθαι τῆς κατὰ θάλατταν ἡγεμονίας· τριήρεις γὰρ τότε πλείστας ἐκέκτηντο, καὶ διὰ τὴν συνέχειαν τῶν ναυμαχιῶν ἐμπειρίαν καὶ δόξαν μεγάλην τῶν ναυτικῶν ἀγώνων περιεπεποίηντο. πρὸς δὲ τούτοις τοὺς μὲν Ἴωνας ὑπελάμβανε διὰ τὴν συγγένειαν ἰδίους ἕξειν, τοὺς δὲ ἄλλους τοὺς κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν Ἕλληνας διʼ ἐκείνους ἐλευθερώσειν, ἀποκλινεῖν τε ταῖς εὐνοίαις πρὸς τοὺς Ἀθηναίους διὰ τὴν εὐεργεσίαν, τοὺς δὲ νησιώτας ἅπαντας καταπεπληγμένους τὸ μέγεθος τῆς ναυτικῆς δυνάμεως ἑτοίμως ταχθήσεσθαι μετὰ τῶν δυναμένων καὶ βλάπτειν καὶ ὠφελεῖν τὰ μέγιστα. τοὺς γὰρ Λακεδαιμονίους ἑώρα περὶ μὲν τὰς πεζὰς δυνάμεις εὖ κατεσκευασμένους, πρὸς δὲ τοὺς ἐν ταῖς ναυσὶν ἀγῶνας ἀφυεστάτους.
At the close of the year the archon in Athens was Adeimantus, and in Rome the consuls elected were Marcus Fabius Vibulanus and Lucius Valerius Publius. At this time Themistocles, because of his skill as a general and his sagacity, was held in esteem not only by his fellow citizens but by all Greeks. He was, therefore, elated over his fame and had recourse to many other far more ambitious undertakings which would serve to increase the dominant position of his native state. Thus the Peiraeus, as it is called, was not at that time a harbour, but the Athenians were using as their shipyard the bay called Phaleric, which was quite small; and so Themistocles conceived the plan of making the Peiraeus into a harbour, since it would require only a small amount of construction and could be made into a harbour, the best and largest in Greece. He also hoped that when this improvement had been added to what the Athenians possessed, the city would be able to compete for the hegemony at sea; for the Athenians possessed at that time the largest number of triremes and through an unbroken succession of battles at sea which the city had waged had gained experience and renown in naval conflicts. Furthermore, he reasoned that they would have the Ionians on their side because they were kinsmen, and that with their aid the Athenians would liberate the other Greeks of Asia, who would then turn in goodwill to the Athenians because of this benefaction, and that all the Greeks of the islands, being immensely impressed by the magnitude of their naval strength, would readily align themselves with the people which had the power both to inflict the greatest injury and to bestow the greatest advantages. For he saw that the Lacedemonians, though excellently equipped so far as their land forces were concerned, had no natural talent for fighting on ships.
§ 11.42
ταῦτʼ οὖν διαλογισάμενος ἔκρινε φανερῶς μὲν τὴν ἐπιβολὴν μὴ λέγειν, ἀκριβῶς γινώσκων τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους κωλύσοντας, ἐν ἐκκλησίᾳ δὲ διελέχθη τοῖς πολίταις ὅτι μεγάλων πραγμάτων καὶ συμφερόντων τῇ πόλει βούλεται γενέσθαι σύμβουλός τε καὶ εἰσηγητής, ταῦτα δὲ φανερῶς μὲν λέγειν μὴ συμφέρειν, διʼ ὀλίγων δὲ ἀνδρῶν ἐπιτελεῖν προσήκειν· διόπερ ἠξίου τὸν δῆμον δύο ἄνδρας προχειρισάμενον οἷς ἂν μάλιστα πιστεύσῃ, τούτοις ἐπιτρέπειν περὶ τοῦ πράγματος. πεισθέντος δὲ τοῦ πλήθους, ὁ δῆμος εἵλετο δύο ἄνδρας, Ἀριστείδην καὶ Ξάνθιππον, οὐ μόνον κατʼ ἀρετὴν προκρίνας αὐτούς, ἀλλὰ καὶ πρὸς τὸν Θεμιστοκλέα τούτους ὁρῶν ἁμιλλωμένους περὶ δόξης καὶ πρωτείων, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἀλλοτρίως ἔχοντας πρὸς αὐτόν. οὗτοι δὲ κατʼ ἰδίαν ἀκούσαντες τοῦ Θεμιστοκλέους τὴν ἐπιβολήν, ἐδήλωσαν τῷ δήμῳ διότι καὶ μεγάλα καὶ συμφέροντα τῇ πόλει καὶ δυνατὰ καθέστηκε τὰ λεγόμενα ὑπὸ τοῦ Θεμιστοκλέους. τοῦδὲ δήμου θαυμάσαντος ἅμα τὸν ἄνδρα καὶ ὑποπτεύσαντος μήποτε τυραννίδα τινὰ κατασκευασόμενος ἑαυτῷ τηλικαύταις καὶ τοιαύταις ἐπιβολαῖς ἐγχειρῇ, φανερῶς αὐτὸν ἐκέλευον ἀποφαίνεσθαι τὰ δεδογμένα. ὁ δὲ πάλιν ἔφησε μὴ συμφέρειν τῷ δήμῳ φανερῶς δηλοῦσθαι περὶ τῶν ἐπινοηθέντων. πολλῷ δὲ μᾶλλον θαυμάσαντος τοῦ δήμου τὴν δεινότητα καὶ μεγαλοφροσύνην τἀνδρός, ἐκέλευον ἐν ἀπορρήτοις εἰπεῖν τῇ βουλῇ τὰ δεδογμένα· κἂν αὕτη κρίνῃ τὰ δυνατὰ λέγειν καὶ συμφέροντα, τότε ὡς ἂν συμβουλεύσῃ πρὸς τὸ τέλος ἄξειν αὐτοῦ τὴν ἐπιβολήν. διόπερ τῆς βουλῆς πυθομένης τὰ κατὰ μέρος, καὶ κρινάσης λέγειν αὐτὸν τὰ συμφέροντα τῇ πόλει καὶ δυνατά, τὸ λοιπὸν ἤδη συγχωρήσαντος τοῦ δήμου μετὰ τῆς βουλῆς ἔλαβε τὴν ἐξουσίαν πράττειν ὅ,τι βούλεται. ἕκαστος δʼ ἐκ τῆς ἐκκλησίας ἐχωρίζετο θαυμάζων μὲν τὴν ἀρετὴν τἀνδρός, μετέωρος δʼ ὢν καὶ καραδοκῶν τὸ τέλος τῆς ἐπιβολῆς.
Now as Themistocles pondered these matters, he decided that he should not make public announcement of his plan, knowing with certainty that the Lacedemonians would endeavour to stop it; and so he announced to the citizens in Assembly that he wished both to advise upon and to introduce important matters which were also to the advantage of the city. But what these matters were, he added, it was not in the public interest to state openly, but it was fitting that a few men should be charged with putting them into effect; and he therefore asked the people to select two men in whom they had the greatest confidence and to entrust to them to pass upon the matter in question. The people acceded to his advice, and the Assembly chose two men, Aristeides and Xanthippus, selecting them not only because of their upright character, but also because they saw that these men were in active rivalry with Themistocles for glory and leadership and were therefore opposed to him. These men heard privately from Themistocles about the plan and then declared to the Assembly that what Themistocles had disclosed to them was of great importance, was to the advantage of the state, and was feasible. The people admired the man and at the same time harboured suspicions of him, lest it should be with the purpose of preparing some sort of tyranny for himself that he was embarking upon plans of such magnitude and importance, and they urged him to declare openly what he had decided upon. But he made this reply, that it was not to the interests of the state that there should be a public disclosure of his intentions. Thereupon the people were far the more amazed at the man's shrewdness and greatness of mind, and they urged him to disclose his ideas secretly to the Council, assuring him that, if that body decided that what he said was feasible and advantageous, then they would advise it to carry his plan to completion. Consequently, when the Council learned all the details and decided that what he said was for the advantage of the state and was feasible, the people, without more ado, agreed with the Council, and Themistocles received authority to do whatever he wished. And every man departed from the Assembly in admiration of the high character of the man, being also elated in spirit and expectant of the outcome of the plan.
§ 11.43
ὁ δὲ Θεμιστοκλῆς λαβὼν τὴν ἐξουσίαν τοῦ πράττειν, καὶ πᾶσαν ὑπουργίαν ἔχων ἑτοίμην τοῖς ἐγχειρουμένοις, πάλιν ἐπενόησε καταστρατηγῆσαι τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους· ᾔδει γὰρ ἀκριβῶς ὅτι καθάπερ ἐπὶ τοῦ τῆς πόλεως τειχισμοῦ διεκώλυσαν οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι, τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον ἐπὶ τῆς κατασκευῆς τοῦ λιμένος ἐγχειρήσουσι διακόπτειν τῶν Ἀθηναίων τὰς ἐπιβολάς. ἔδοξεν οὖν αὐτῷ πρὸς μὲν τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους πρέσβεις ἀποστεῖλαι τοὺς διδάξοντας συμφέρειν τοῖς κοινοῖς τῆς Ἑλλάδος πράγμασιν ἔχειν ἀξιόχρεων λιμένα πρὸς τὴν ἀπὸ τῶν Περσῶν ἐσομένην στρατείαν. διὰ δὲ τούτου τοῦ τρόπου τοὺς Σπαρτιάτας ἀμβλυτέρους ποιήσας πρὸς τὸ κωλύειν, αὐτὸς εἴχετο τῶν ἔργων, καὶ τῶν πάντων συμφιλοτιμουμένων ταχέως συνέβη γενέσθαι καὶ παραδόξως κατασκευασθῆναι τὸν λιμένα. ἔπεισε δὲ τὸν δῆμον καθʼ ἕκαστον ἐνιαυτὸν πρὸς ταῖς ὑπαρχούσαις ναυσὶν εἴκοσι τριήρεις προσκατασκευάζειν, καὶ τοὺς μετοίκους καὶ τοὺς τεχνίτας ἀτελεῖς ποιῆσαι, ὅπως ὄχλος πολὺς πανταχόθεν εἰς τὴν πόλιν κατέλθῃ καὶ πλείους τέχνας κατασκευάσωσιν εὐχερῶς· ἀμφότερα γὰρ ταῦτα χρησιμώτατα πρὸς τὰς τῶν ναυτικῶν δυνάμεων κατασκευὰς ὑπάρχειν ἔκρινεν. οἱ μὲν οὖν Ἀθηναῖοι περὶ ταῦτα ἠσχολοῦντο.
Themistocles, having received authority to proceed and enjoying every assistance ready at hand for his undertakings, again conceived a way to deceive the Lacedemonians by a stratagem; for he was fully assured that just as the Lacedemonians had interfered with the building of the wall about the city, they would in the same manner endeavour to obstruct the plans of the Athenians in the case of the making of the harbour. Accordingly he decided to dispatch ambassadors to the Lacedemonians to show them how it was to the advantage of the common interests of Greece that it should possess a first-rate harbour in view of the expedition which was to be expected on the part of the Persians. When he had in this way somewhat dulled the impulse of the Spartans to interfere, he devoted himself to that work, and since everybody enthusiastically co operated it was speedily done and the harbour was finished before anyone expected. And Themistocles persuaded the people each year to construct and add twenty triremes to the fleet they already possessed, and also to remove the tax upon metics and artisans, in order that great character crowds of people might stream into the city from every quarter and that the Athenians might easily procure labour for a great number of crafts. Both these policies he considered to be most useful in building up the city's naval forces. The Athenians, therefore, were busy over the matters we have described.
§ 11.44
Λακεδαιμόνιοι δὲ Παυσανίαν τὸν ἐν Πλαταιαῖς στρατηγήσαντα καταστήσαντες ναύαρχον προσέταξαν ἐλευθεροῦν τὰς Ἑλληνίδας πόλεις, ὅσαι βαρβαρικαῖς φυλακαῖς διέμενον ἔτι φρουρούμεναι. οὗτος δὲ πεντήκοντα μὲν τριήρεις ἐκ Πελοποννήσου λαβών, τριάκοντα δὲ παρʼ Ἀθηναίων μεταπεμψάμενος, ὧν Ἀριστείδης ἡγεῖτο, πρῶτον μὲν εἰς τὴν Κύπρον ἔπλευσε καὶ τῶν πόλεων τὰς ἔτι φρουρὰς ἐχούσας Περσικὰς ἠλευθέρωσε, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα πλεύσας ἐπὶ τὸν Ἑλλήσποντον Βυζάντιον μὲν ὑπὸ Περσῶν κρατούμενον ἐχειρώσατο, καὶ τῶν ἄλλων βαρβάρων οὓς μὲν ἀνελὼν, οὓς δʼ ἐκβαλὼν ἠλευθέρωσε τὴν πόλιν, πολλοὺς δʼ ἐν αὐτῇ Περσῶν ἀξιολόγους ζωγρήσας ἄνδρας παρέδωκεν εἰς φυλακὴν Γογγύλῳ τῷ Ἐρετριεῖ, τῷ μὲν λόγῳ πρὸς τιμωρίαν τηρήσοντι, τῷ δʼ ἔργῳ διασώσοντι πρὸς Ξέρξην· συνετέθειτο γὰρ διʼ ἀπορρήτων φιλίαν πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα, καὶ τὴν θυγατέρα τοῦ Ξέρξου γαμεῖν ἔμελλεν, ἵνα προδῷ τοὺς Ἕλληνας. ἦν δʼ ὁ ταῦτα πραττόμενος Ἀρτάβαζος στρατηγός, καὶ χρημάτων πλῆθος ἐχορήγει λάθρᾳ τῷ Παυσανίᾳ πρὸς τὸ διὰ τούτων φθείρειν τοὺς εὐθέτους τῶν Ἑλλήνων. ἐγένετο δὲ καταφανὴς καὶ τιμωρίας ἔτυχε τοιῷδέ τινι τρόπῳ. ζηλώσαντος γὰρ αὐτοῦ τὴν Περσικὴν τρυφὴν καὶ τυραννικῶς προσφερομένου τοῖς ὑποτεταγμένοις, χαλεπῶς ἔφερον ἅπαντες, μάλιστα δὲ οἱ τεταγμένοι τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἐπί τινος ἡγεμονίας. διόπερ τῶν κατὰ τὴν στρατιὰν καὶ κατὰ ἔθνη καὶ κατὰ πόλεις ἀλλήλοις ὁμιλούντων καὶ τοῦ Παυσανίου τῆς βαρύτητος καταλαλούντων, Πελοποννήσιοί τινες μὲν καταλιπόντες αὐτὸν εἰς Πελοπόννησον ἀπέπλευσαν, καὶ πρέσβεις ἀποστείλαντες κατηγόρουν τοῦ Παυσανίου, Ἀριστείδης δὲ ὁ Ἀθηναῖος τῷ καιρῷ χρώμενος ἐμφρόνως ἐν ταῖς κοινολογίαις ἀνελάμβανε τὰς πόλεις καὶ διὰ τῆς ὁμιλίας προσαγόμενος ἰδίας ἐποίησε τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις. ἔτι δὲ μᾶλλον συνήργησε καὶ τὸ αὐτόματον τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις διὰ ταύτας τὰς αἰτίας.
The Lacedemonians, having appointed Pausanias, who had held the command at Plataea, admiral of their fleet, instructed him to liberate the Greek cities which were still held by barbarian garrisons. And taking fifty triremes from the Peloponnesus and summoning from the Athenians thirty commanded by Aristeides, he first of all sailed to Cyprus and liberated those cities which still had Persian garrisons; and after this he sailed to the Hellespont and took Byzantium, which was held by the Persians, and of the other barbarians some he slew and others he expelled, and thus liberated the city, but many important Persians whom he captured in the city he turned over to Gongylus of Eretria to guard. Ostensibly Gongylus was to keep these men for punishment, but actually he was to get them off safe to Xerxes; for Pausanias had secretly made a pact of friendship with the king and was about to marry the daughter of Xerxes, his purpose being to betray the Greeks. The man who was acting as negotiator in this affair was the general Artabazus, and he was quietly supplying Pausanias with large sums of money to be used in corrupting such Greeks as could serve their ends. The plan of Pausanias, however, was brought to light and he got his punishment in the following manner. For Pausanias emulated the luxurious life of the Persian and dealt with his subordinates in the manner of a tyrant, so that they were all angry with him, and especially those Greeks who had been assigned to some command. Consequently, while many, as they mingled together in the army both by peoples and by cities, were railing at the harshness of Pausanias, some Peloponnesians deserted him and sailed back to the Peloponnesus, and dispatching ambassadors to Sparta they lodged an accusation against Pausanias; and Aristeides the Athenian, making wise use of the opportunity, in the course of his public conferences with the states won them over and by his personal intimacy with them made them adherents of the Athenians. But even more did matters play by mere chance into the hands of the Athenians by reason of the following facts.
§ 11.45
Παυσανίας ἦν συντεθειμένος ὥστε τοὺς τὰς ἐπιστολὰς παρʼ αὐτοῦ κομίζοντας πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα μὴ ἀνακάμπτειν μηδὲ γίνεσθαι μηνυτὰς τῶν ἀπορρήτων· διʼ ἣν αἰτίαν ἀναιρουμένων αὐτῶν ὑπὸ τῶν ἀπολαμβανόντων τὰς ἐπιστολὰς συνέβαινε μηδένα διασώζεσθαι. ἃ δὴ συλλογισάμενός τις τῶν βιβλιαφόρων ἀνέῳξε τὰς ἐπιστολάς, καὶ γνοὺς ἀληθὲς ὂν τὸ περὶ τὴν ἀναίρεσιν τῶν κομιζόντων τὰ γράμματα, ἀνέδωκε τοῖς ἐφόροις τὰς ἐπιστολάς. τούτων δὲ ἀπιστούντων διὰ τὸ ἀνεῳγμένας αὐτοῖς τὰς ἐπιστολὰς ἀναδεδόσθαι, καὶ πίστιν ἑτέραν βεβαιοτέραν ζητούντων, ἐπηγγείλατο παραδώσειν αὐτὸν ὁμολογοῦντα. πορευθεὶς οὖν ἐπὶ Ταίναρον καὶ καθεζόμενος ἐπὶ τῷ τοῦ Ποσειδῶνος ἱερῷ διπλῆν σκηνὴν περιεβάλετο, καὶ τοὺς μὲν ἐφόρους καὶ τῶν ἄλλων Σπαρτιατῶν τινας κατέκρυψε, τοῦ δὲ Παυσανίου παραγενομένου πρὸς αὐτὸν καὶ πυνθανομένου τὴν αἰτίαν τῆς ἱκετείας, ἐμέμψατο αὐτῷ καθʼ ὅσον εἰς τὴν ἐπιστολὴν ἐνέγραψε τὸν κατʼ αὐτοῦ θάνατον. τοῦ δὲ Παυσανίου φήσαντος μεταμελεῖσθαι καὶ συγγνώμην αἰτουμένου τοῖς ἀγνοηθεῖσιν, ἔτι δὲ δεηθέντος ὅπως συγκρύψῃ, καὶ δωρεὰς μεγάλας ὑπισχνουμένου, αὐτοὶ μὲν διελύθησαν, οἱ δʼ ἔφοροι καὶ οἱ μετʼ αὐτῶν ἀκριβῶς μαθόντες τἀληθὲς τότε μὲν ἡσυχίαν ἔσχον, ὕστερον δὲ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων τοῖς ἐφόροις συλλαμβανόντων, προαισθόμενος ἔφθασε καὶ κατέφυγεν εἰς ἱερὸν τὸ τῆς Ἀθηνᾶς τῆς Χαλκιοίκου. ἀπορουμένων δὲ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων εἰ τιμωρήσονται τὸν ἱκέτην, λέγεται τὴν μητέρα τοῦ Παυσανίου καταντήσασαν εἰς τὸ ἱερὸν ἄλλο μὲν μηδὲν μήτʼ εἰπεῖν μήτε πρᾶξαι, πλίνθον δὲ βαστάσασαν ἀναθεῖναι κατὰ τὴν εἰς τὸ ἱερὸν εἴσοδον, καὶ τοῦτο πράξασαν ἐπανελθεῖν εἰς τὴν ἰδίαν οἰκίαν. τοὺς δὲ Λακεδαιμονίους τῇ τῆς μητρὸς κρίσει συνακολουθήσαντας ἐνοικοδομῆσαι τὴν εἴσοδον, καὶ τούτῳ τῷ τρόπῳ συναναγκάσαι τὸν Παυσανίαν λιμῷ καταστρέψαι τὸν βίον. τὸ μὲν οὖν σῶμα τοῦ τελευτήσαντος συνεχωρήθη τοῖς προσήκουσι καταχῶσαι, τὸ δὲ δαιμόνιον τῆς τῶν ἱκετῶν σωτηρίας καταλυθείσης ἐπεσήμηνε· τῶν γὰρ Λακεδαιμονίων περί τινων ἄλλων ἐν Δελφοῖς χρηστηριαζομένων, ὁ θεὸς ἔδωκε χρησμὸν κελεύων ἀποκαταστῆσαι τῇ θεῷ τὸν ἱκέτην. διόπερ οἱ Σπαρτιᾶται τὴν μαντείαν ἀδύνατον νομίζοντες εἶναι, ἠπόρουν ἐφʼ ἱκανὸν χρόνον, οὐ δυνάμενοι ποιῆσαι τὸ προσταττόμενον ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ· ὅμως δʼ ἐκ τῶν ἐνδεχομένων βουλευσάμενοι κατεσκεύασαν εἰκόνας δύο τοῦ Παυσανίου χαλκᾶς, καὶ ἀνέθηκαν εἰς τὸ ἱερὸν τῆς Ἀθηνᾶς.
Pausanias had stipulated that the men who carried the messages from him to the king should not return and thus become betrayers of their secret communications; consequently, since they were being put to death by the receivers of the letters, no one of them was ever returning alive. So one of the couriers, reasoning from this fact, opened his letters, and discovering that his inference was correct as to the killing of all who carried the messages, he turned the letters over to the ephors. But when the ephors were loath to believe this, because the letters had been turned over to them already opened, and demanded further and more substantial proof, the man offered to produce Pausanias acknowledging the facts in person. Consequently he went to Taenarum, and seating himself as a suppliant at the shrine of Poseidon he set up a tent with two rooms and concealed the ephors and certain other Spartans; and when Pausanias came to him and asked why he was a suppliant, the man upbraided him for directing in the letter that he should be put to death. Pausanias said that he was sorry and went on to ask the man to forgive the mistake; he even implored him to help keep the matter secret, promising him great gifts, and the two then parted. As for the ephors and the others with them, although they had learned the precise truth, at that time they held their peace, but on a later occasion, when the Lacedemonians were taking up the matter together with the ephors, Pausanias learned of it in advance, acted first, and fled for safety into the temple of Athena of the Brazen House. And while the Lacedemonians were hesitating whether to punish him now that he was a suppliant, we are told that the mother of Pausanias, coming to the temple, neither said nor did anything else than to pick up a brick and lay it against the entrance of the temple, and after she had done this she returned to her home. And the Lacedemonians, falling in with the mother's decision, walled up the entrance and in this manner forced Pausanias to meet his end through starvation. Now the body of the dead man was turned over to his relatives for burial; but the divinity showed its displeasure at the violation of the sanctity of suppliants, for once when the Lacedemonians were consulting the oracle at Delphi about some other matters, the god replied by commanding them to restore her suppliant to the goddess. Consequently the Spartans, thinking the oracle's command to be impracticable, were at a loss for a considerable time, being unable to carry out the injunction of the god. Concluding, however, to do as much as was within their power, they made two bronze statues of Pausanias and set them up in the temple of Athena.
§ 11.46
ἡμεῖς δὲ παρʼ ὅλην τὴν ἱστορίαν εἰωθότες τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἀνδρῶν διὰ τῶν ἐπιλεγομένων ἐπαίνων αὔξειν τὴν δόξαν, τοῖς δὲ φαύλοις ἐπὶ τῆς τελευτῆς ἐπιφθέγγεσθαι τὰς ἁρμοζούσας βλασφημίας, οὐκ ἐάσομεν τὴν Παυσανίου κακίαν καὶ προδοσίαν ἀκατηγόρητον. τίς γὰρ οὐκ ἂν θαυμάσαι τούτου τὴν ἄνοιαν, ὃς εὐεργέτης γενόμενος τῆς Ἑλλάδος καὶ νικήσας τὴν ἐν Πλαταιαῖς μάχην καὶ πολλὰς ἄλλας ἐπαινουμένας πράξεις ἐπιτελεσάμενος, οὐχ ὅπως τὸ παρὸν ἀξίωμα διεφύλαξεν, ἀλλʼ ἀγαπήσας τῶν Περσῶν τὸν πλοῦτον καὶ τὴν τρυφήν, ἅπασαν τὴν προϋπάρχουσαν εὐδοξίαν κατῄσχυνεν; ἐπαρθεὶς γὰρ ταῖς εὐτυχίαις τὴν μὲν Λακωνικὴν ἀγωγὴν ἐστύγησε, τὴν δὲ τῶν Περσῶν ἀκολασίαν καὶ τρυφὴν ἐμιμήσατο, ὃν ἥκιστα ἐχρῆν ζηλῶσαι τὰ τῶν βαρβάρων ἐπιτηδεύματα· οὐ γὰρ ἑτέρων πεπυσμένος, ἀλλʼ αὐτὸς ἔργῳ πεῖραν εἰληφὼς ἐγίνωσκε πόσῳ τῆς τῶν Περσῶν τρυφῆς ἡ πάτριος δίαιτα πρὸς ἀρετὴν διέφερεν. ἀλλὰ γὰρ αὐτὸς μὲν διὰ τὴν ἰδίαν κακίαν οὐ μόνον τῆς ἀξίας ἔτυχε τιμωρίας, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῖς πολίταις αἴτιος κατέστη τοῦ τὴν κατὰ θάλατταν ἡγεμονίαν ἀποβαλεῖν· ἐκ παραθέσεως γὰρ ἡ Ἀριστείδου στρατηγία παρὰ τοῖς συμμάχοις θεωρουμένη, καὶ διὰ τὴν εἰς τοὺς ὑποτεταγμένους ὁμιλίαν καὶ τὰς ἄλλας ἀρετάς, ἐποίησε πάντας ὥσπερ ἀπὸ μιᾶς ὁρμῆς ἀποκλῖναι πρὸς τοὺς Ἀθηναίους. διὸ καὶ τοῖς μὲν ἐκ τῆς Σπάρτης πεμπομένοις ἡγεμόσιν οὐκέτι προσεῖχον, Ἀριστείδην δὲ θαυμάζοντες καὶ πάντα προθύμως ὑπακούοντες ἐποίησαν χωρὶς κινδύνου παραλαβεῖν τὴν κατὰ θάλατταν ἀρχήν.
As for us, since throughout our entire history we have made it our practice in the case of good men to enhance their glory by means of the words of praise we pronounce over them, and in the case of bad men, when they die, to utter the appropriate obloquies, we shall not leave the turpitude and treachery of Pausanias to go uncondemned. For who would not be amazed at the folly of this man who, though he had been a benefactor of Greece, had won the battle of Plataea, and had performed many other deeds which won applause, not only failed to safeguard the esteem he enjoyed but by his love of the wealth and luxury of the Persians brought dishonour upon the good name he already possessed? Indeed, elated by his successes he came to abhor the Laconian manner of life and to imitate the licentiousness and luxury of the Persians, he who least of all had reason to emulate the customs of the barbarians; for he had not learned of them from others, but in person by actual contact he had made trial of them and was aware how greatly superior with respect to virtue his ancestors' way of life was to the luxury of the Persians. And in truth because of his own baseness Pausanias not only himself received the punishment he deserved, but he also brought it about that his countrymen lost the supremacy at sea. In comparison, for instance, take the fine tact of Aristeides in dealing with the allies: when they took note of it, both because of his affability toward his subordinates and his uprightness in general, it caused them all as with one impulse to incline toward the Athenian cause. Consequently the allies no longer paid any heed to the commanders who were sent from Sparta, but in their admiration of Aristeides they eagerly submitted to him in every matter and thus brought it about that he received the supreme command by sea without having to fight for it.
§ 11.47
εὐθὺς οὖν ὁ μὲν Ἀριστείδης συνεβούλευε τοῖς συμμάχοις ἅπασι κοινὴν ἄγουσι σύνοδον ἀποδεῖξαι τὴν Δῆλον κοινὸν ταμιεῖον, καὶ τὰ χρήματα πάντα τὰ συναγόμενα εἰς ταύτην κατατίθεσθαι, πρὸς δὲ τὸν ἀπὸ τῶν Περσῶν ὑποπτευόμενον πόλεμον τάξαι φόρον ταῖς πόλεσι πάσαις κατὰ δύναμιν, ὥστε γίνεσθαι τὸ πᾶν ἄθροισμα ταλάντων πεντακοσίων καὶ ἑξήκοντα. ταχθεὶς δὲ ἐπὶ τὴν διάταξιν τῶν φόρων, οὕτως ἀκριβῶς καὶ δικαίως τὸν διαμερισμὸν ἐποίησεν ὥστε πάσας τὰς πόλεις εὐδοκῆσαι. διὸ καὶ δοκῶν ἕν τι τῶν ἀδυνάτων ἔργων συντετελεκέναι, μεγίστην ἐπὶ δικαιοσύνῃ δόξαν ἐκτήσατο καὶ διὰ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῆς δικαιοσύνης δίκαιος ἐπωνομάσθη. ὑφʼ ἕνα δὲ καὶ τὸν αὐτὸν καιρὸν ἡ μὲν τοῦ Παυσανίου κακία τῆς κατὰ θάλατταν ἡγεμονίας ἐστέρησε τοὺς πολίτας, ἡ Ἀριστείδου δὲ κατὰ πᾶν ἀρετὴ τὰς Ἀθήνας τὴν οὐκ οὖσαν στρατηγίαν ἐποίησε κτήσασθαι. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἐπράχθη κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν ἐνιαυτόν.
At once, then, Aristeides advised all the allies as they were holding a general assembly to designate the island of Delos as their common treasury and to deposit there all the money they collected, and towards the war which they suspected would come from the Persians to impose a levy upon all the cities according to their means, so that the entire sum collected would amount to five hundred and sixty talents. And when he was appointed to allocate the levy, he distributed the sum so accurately and justly that all the cities consented to it. Consequently, since he was considered to have accomplished an impossible thing, he won for himself a very high reputation for justice, and because he excelled in that virtue he was given the epithet of "the Just." Thus at one and the same time the baseness of Pausanias deprived his countrymen of the supremacy on the sea, and the all-round virtue of Aristeides caused Athens to gain the leadership which she had not possessed before. These, then, were the events of this year.
§ 11.48
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησι Φαίδωνος Ὀλυμπιὰς μὲν ἤχθη ἕκτη πρὸς ταῖς ἑβδομήκοντα, καθʼ ἣν ἐνίκα στάδιον Σκαμάνδριος Μυτιληναῖος, ἐν Ῥώμῃ δʼ ὑπῆρχον ὕπατοι Καίσων Φάβιος καὶ Σπόριος Φούριος Μενέλλαιος. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Λεωτυχίδας ὁ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων βασιλεὺς ἐτελεύτησεν ἄρξας ἔτη εἴκοσι καὶ δύο, τὴν δὲ ἀρχὴν διαδεξάμενος Ἀρχίδαμος ἐβασίλευσεν ἔτη τετταράκοντα καὶ δύο. ἐτελεύτησε δὲ καὶ Ἀναξίλας ὁ Ῥηγίου καὶ Ζάγκλης τύραννος, δυναστεύσας ἔτη δέκα ὀκτώ, τὴν δὲ τυραννίδα διεδέξατο Μίκυθος, πιστευθεὶς ὥστε ἀποδοῦναι τοῖς τέκνοις τοῦ τελευτήσαντος οὖσι νέοις τὴν ἡλικίαν. Ἱέρων δὲ ὁ βασιλεὺς τῶν Συρακοσίων μετὰ τὴν τοῦ Γέλωνος τελευτὴν τὸν μὲν ἀδελφὸν Πολύζηλον ὁρῶν εὐδοκιμοῦντα παρὰ τοῖς Συρακοσίοις, καὶ νομίζων αὐτὸν ἔφεδρον ὑπάρχειν τῆς βασιλείας, ἔσπευδεν ἐκποδὼν ποιήσασθαι, αὐτὸς δὲ ξενολογῶν καὶ περὶ αὑτὸν σύστημα ξένων παρασκευάζων ὑπελάμβανεν ἀσφαλῶς καθέξειν τὴν βασιλείαν. διὸ καὶ Συβαριτῶν πολιορκουμένων ὑπὸ Κροτωνιατῶν καὶ δεομένων βοηθῆσαι, στρατιώτας πολλοὺς κατέγραψεν εἰς τὴν στρατιάν, ἣν παρεδίδου Πολυζήλῳ τἀδελφῷ νομίζων αὐτὸν ὑπὸ τῶν Κροτωνιατῶν ἀναιρεθήσεσθαι. τοῦ δὲ Πολυζήλου πρὸς τὴν στρατείαν οὐχ ὑπακούσαντος διὰ τὴν ῥηθεῖσαν ὑποψίαν, διʼ ὀργῆς εἶχε τὸν ἀδελφόν, καὶ φυγόντος πρὸς Θήρωνα τὸν Ἀκραγαντίνων τύραννον, καταπολεμῆσαι τοῦτον παρεσκευάζετο. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Θρασυδαίου τοῦ Θήρωνος ἐπιστατοῦντος τῆς τῶν Ἱμεραίων πόλεως βαρύτερον τοῦ καθήκοντος, συνέβη τοὺς Ἱμεραίους ἀπαλλοτριωθῆναι παντελῶς ἀπʼ αὐτοῦ. πρὸς μὲν οὖν τὸν πατέρα πορεύεσθαί τε καὶ κατηγορεῖν ἀπεδοκίμαζον, νομίζοντες οὐχ ἕξειν ἴσον ἀκουστήν· πρὸς δὲ τὸν Ἱέρωνα πρέσβεις ἀπέστειλαν κατηγοροῦντες τοῦ Θρασυδαίου καὶ ἐπαγγελλόμενοι τήν τε πόλιν ἐκείνῳ παραδώσειν καὶ συνεπιθήσεσθαι τοῖς περὶ τὸν Θήρωνα. ὁ δὲ Ἱέρων κρίνας εἰρηνικῶς διαλύσασθαι πρὸς τὸν Θήρωνα, προύδωκε τοὺς Ἱμεραίους καὶ τὰ βεβουλευμένα λαθραίως ἐμήνυσεν. διόπερ Θήρων ἐξετάσας τὰ κατὰ τὴν βουλήν, καὶ τὴν μήνυσιν ἀληθινὴν εὑρίσκων, πρὸς μὲν τὸν Ἱέρωνα διελύσατο καὶ τὸν Πολύζηλον εἰς τὴν προϋπάρχουσαν εὔνοιαν ἀποκατέστησε, τῶν δὲ Ἱμεραίων τοὺς ἐναντίους πολλοὺς ὄντας συλλαβὼν ἀπέσφαξεν.
When Phaedon was archon in Athens, the Seventy-sixth Olympiad was celebrated, that in which Scamandrus of Mytilene won the "stadion," and in Rome the consuls were Caeso Fabius and Spurius Furius Menellaeus. In the course of this year Leotychides, the king of the Lacedemonians, died after a reign of twenty-two years, and he was succeeded on the throne by Archidamus, who ruled for forty-two years. And there died also Anaxilas, the tyrant of Rhegium and Zancle, after a rule of eighteen years, and he was succeeded in the tyranny by Micythus, who was entrusted with the position on the understanding that he would restore it to the sons of Anaxilas, who were not yet of age. And Hieron, who became king of the Syracusans after the death of Gelon, observing how popular his brother Polyzelus was among the Syracusans and believing that he was waiting to seize the kingship, was eager to put him out of the way, and so, enlisting foreign soldiers and gathering about his person an organized body of mercenaries, he thought that by these means he could hold the kingship securely. And so, when the Sybarites were being besieged by the Crotoniates and called on Hieron for help, he enrolled many soldiers in the army, which he then put under the command of his brother Polyzelus in the belief that he would be slain by the Crotoniates. When Polyzelus, suspecting what we have mentioned, refused to undertake the campaign, Hieron was enraged at his brother, and when Polyzelus took refuge with Theron, the tyrant of Acragas, he began making preparation for war upon Theron. Subsequently to these events, Thrasydaeus the son of Theron was governing the city of Himera more harshly than was proper, and the result was that the Himerans became altogether alienated from him. Now they rejected the idea of going to his father and entering an accusation with him, since they did not believe they would find in him a fair listener; but they dispatched to Hieron ambassadors, who presented their complaints against Thrasydaeus and offered to hand Himera over to Hieron and join him in his attack upon Theron. Hieron, however, having decided to be at peace with Theron, betrayed the Himerans and disclosed to him their secret plans. Consequently Theron, after examining into the reported plan and finding the information to be true, composed his differences with Hieron and restored Polyzelus to the favour he had previously enjoyed, and then he arrested his opponents, who were many, among the Himerans and put them to death.
§ 11.49
Ἱέρων δὲ τούς τε Ναξίους καὶ τοὺς Καταναίους ἐκ τῶν πόλεων ἀναστήσας, ἰδίους οἰκήτορας ἀπέστειλεν, ἐκ μὲν Πελοποννήσου πεντακισχιλίους ἀθροίσας, ἐκ δὲ Συρακουσῶν ἄλλους τοσούτους προσθείς· καὶ τὴν μὲν Κατάνην μετωνόμασεν Αἴτνην, τὴν δὲ χώραν οὐ μόνον τὴν Καταναίαν, ἀλλὰ καὶ πολλὴν τῆς ὁμόρου προσθεὶς κατεκληρούχησε, μυρίους πληρώσας οἰκήτορας. τοῦτο δʼ ἔπραξε σπεύδων ἅμα μὲν ἔχειν βοήθειαν ἑτοίμην ἀξιόλογον πρὸς τὰς ἐπιούσας χρείας, ἅμα δὲ καὶ ἐκ τῆς γενομένης μυριάνδρου πόλεως τιμὰς ἔχειν ἡρωικάς. τοὺς δὲ Ναξίους καὶ τοὺς Καταναίους ἐκ τῶν πατρίδων ἀνασταθέντας μετῴκισεν εἰς τοὺς Λεοντίνους, καὶ μετὰ τῶν ἐγχωρίων προσέταξε κατοικεῖν τὴν πόλιν. Θήρων δὲ μετὰ τὴν Ἱμεραίων σφαγὴν ὁρῶν τὴν πόλιν οἰκητόρων δεομένην, συνῴκισεν εἰς ταύτην τούς τε Δωριεῖς καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τοὺς βουλομένους ἐπολιτογράφησεν. οὗτοι μὲν οὖν μετʼ ἀλλήλων καλῶς πολιτευόμενοι διετέλεσαν ἔτη πεντήκοντα καὶ ὀκτώ· τότε δὲ τῆς πόλεως ὑπὸ Καρχηδονίων χειρωθείσης καὶ κατασκαφείσης, διέμεινεν ἀοίκητος μέχρι τῶν καθʼ ἡμᾶς καιρῶν.
Hieron removed the people of Naxos and Catana from their cities and sent there settlers of his own choosing, having gathered five thousand from the Peloponnesus and added an equal number of others from Syracuse; and the name of Catana he changed to Aetna, and not only the territory of Catana but also much neighbouring land which he added to it he portioned out in allotments, up to the full sum of ten thousand settlers. This he did out of a desire, not only that he might have a substantial help ready at hand for any need that might arise, but also that from the recently founded state of ten thousand men he might receive the honours accorded to heroes. And the Naxians and Catanians whom he had removed from their native states he transferred to Leontini and commanded them to make their homes in that city along with the native population. And Theron, seeing that after the slaughter of the Himerans the city was in need of settlers, made a mixed multitude there, enrolling as its citizens both Dorians and any others who so wished. These citizens lived together on good terms in the state for fiftyeight years; but at the expiration of this period the city was conquered and razed to the ground by the Carthaginians and has remained without inhabitants to this day.
§ 11.50
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησι Δρομοκλείδου Ῥωμαῖοι μὲν κατέστησαν ὑπάτους Μάρκον Φάβιον καὶ Γναῖον Μάλλιον. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Λακεδαιμόνιοι τὴν τῆς θαλάττης ἡγεμονίαν ἀποβεβληκότες ἀλόγως, βαρέως ἔφερον· διὸ καὶ τοῖς ἀφεστηκόσιν ἀπʼ αὐτῶν Ἕλλησι χαλεπῶς ἔχοντες, ἠπείλουν ἐπιθήσειν αὐτοῖς τὴν προσήκουσαν τιμωρίαν. συναχθείσης δὲ τῆς γερουσίας ἐβουλεύοντο περὶ τοῦ πολέμου τοῦ πρὸς τοὺς Ἀθηναίους ὑπὲρ τῆς κατὰ θάλατταν ἡγεμονίας. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τῆς κοινῆς ἐκκλησίας συναχθείσης, οἱ μὲν νεώτεροι καὶ τῶν ἄλλων οἱ πολλοὶ φιλοτίμως εἶχον ἀνακτήσασθαι τὴν ἡγεμονίαν, νομίζοντες, ἐὰν αὐτὴν περιποιήσωνται, χρημάτων τε πολλῶν εὐπορήσειν καὶ καθόλου τὴν Σπάρτην μείζονα ποιήσεσθαι καὶ δυνατωτέραν, τούς τε τῶν ἰδιωτῶν οἴκους πολλὴν ἐπίδοσιν λήψεσθαι πρὸς εὐδαιμονίαν. ἀνεμιμνήσκοντο δὲ καὶ τῆς ἀρχαίας μαντείας, ἐν ᾗ προσέταξεν αὐτοῖς ὁ θεὸς σκοπεῖν, ὅπως μὴ χωλὴν ἔχωσι τὴν ἡγεμονίαν, καὶ τὸν χρησμὸν ἔφασαν εἰς οὐδὲν ἕτερον ἢ τὸ παρὸν λέγειν· χωλὴν γὰρ αὐτοῖς ὑπάρξειν τὴν ἀρχήν, ἐὰν οὐσῶν δυεῖν ἡγεμονιῶν τὴν ἑτέραν ἀποβάλωσι. πάντων δὲ σχεδὸν τῶν πολιτῶν πρὸς ταύτην τὴν ὑπόθεσιν ὡρμημένων, καὶ τῆς γερουσίας συνεδρευούσης περὶ τούτων, οὐδεὶς ἤλπισεν οὐδένα τολμήσειν συμβουλεῦσαι ἕτερόν τι. τῶν δὲ ἐκ τῆς γερουσίας τις, ὄνομα μὲν Ἑτοιμαρίδας, τὸ δὲ γένος ἀφʼ Ἡρακλέους ὢν καὶ διʼ ἀρετὴν ἀποδοχῆς τυγχάνων παρὰ τοῖς πολίταις, ἐπεχείρησε συμβουλεύειν ἐᾶν τοὺς Ἀθηναίους ἐπὶ τῆς ἡγεμονίας· μὴ συμφέρειν γὰρ τῇ Σπάρτῃ τῆς θαλάττης ἀμφισβητεῖν· πρὸς παράδοξον δὲ ὑπόθεσιν εἰπεῖν εὐπορήσας λόγους ἁρμόζοντας, παρὰ τὴν προσδοκίαν ἔπεισε τὴν γερουσίαν καὶ τὸν δῆμον. τέλος δὲ οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι κρίναντες τὸν Ἑτοιμαρίδαν συμφέροντα λέγειν ἀπέστησαν τῆς περὶ τὸν πόλεμον πρὸς τοὺς Ἀθηναίους ὁρμῆς. Ἀθηναῖοι δὲ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον προσεδόκων μέγαν πόλεμον ἕξειν πρὸς τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους περὶ τῆς κατὰ θάλατταν ἡγεμονίας, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο τριήρεις κατεσκεύαζον πλείους καὶ χρημάτων πλῆθος ἐπορίζοντο καὶ τοῖς συμμάχοις ἐπιεικῶς προσεφέροντο· ὡς δὲ τὰ δοχθέντα τοῖς Λακεδαιμονίοις ἐπύθοντο, τοῦ μὲν φόβου τοῦ κατὰ τὸν πόλεμον ἀπελύθησαν, περὶ δὲ τὴν αὔξησιν τῆς ἰδίας πόλεως ἠσχολοῦντο.
When Dromocleides was archon in Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Marcus Fabius and Gnaeus Manlius. In this year the Lacedemonians, now that for no good reason they had lost the command of the sea, were resentful; consequently they were incensed at the Greeks who had fallen away from them and continued to threaten them with the appropriate punishment. And when a meeting of the Gerousia was convened, they considered making war upon the Athenians for the sake of regaining the command of the sea. Likewise, when the general Assembly was convened, the younger men and the majority of the others were eager to recover the leadership, believing that, if they could secure it, they would enjoy great wealth, Sparta in general would be made greater and more powerful, and the estates of its private citizens would receive a great increase of prosperity. They kept calling to mind also the ancient oracle in which the god commanded them to beware lest their leadership should be a "lame" one, and the oracle, they insisted, meant nothing other than the present; for "lame" indeed their rule would be if, having two leaderships, they should lose one of them. Since practically all the citizens had been eager for this course of action and the Gerousia was in session to consider these matters, no one entertained the hope that any man would have the temerity to suggest any other course. But a member of the Gerousia, Hetoemaridas by name, who was a direct descendant of Heracles and enjoyed favour among the citizens by reason of his character, undertook to advise that they leave the Athenians with their leadership, since it was not to Sparta's interest, he declared, to lay claim to the sea. He was able to bring pertinent arguments in support of his surprising proposal, so that, against the expectation of all, he won over both the Gerousia and the people. And in the end the Lacedemonians decided that the opinion of Hetoemaridas was to their advantage and abandoned their zest for the war against the Athenians. As for the Athenians, at first they expected to have a great war with the Lacedemonians for the command of the sea, and for this reason were building additional triremes, raising a large sum of money, and dealing honourably with their allies; but when they learned of the decision of the Lacedemonians, they were relieved of their fear of war and set about increasing the power of their city.
§ 11.51
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησιν Ἀκεστορίδου ἐν Ῥώμῃ τὴν ὕπατον ἀρχὴν διεδέξαντο Καίσων Φάβιος καὶ Τίτος Οὐεργίνιος. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Ἱέρων μὲν ὁ βασιλεὺς τῶν Συρακοσίων, παραγενομένων πρὸς αὐτὸν πρέσβεων ἐκ Κύμης τῆς Ἰταλίας καὶ δεομένων βοηθῆσαι πολεμουμένοις ὑπὸ Τυρρηνῶν θαλαττοκρατούντων, ἐξέπεμψεν αὐτοῖς συμμαχίαν τριήρεις ἱκανάς. οἱ δὲ τῶν νεῶν τούτων ἡγεμόνες ἐπειδὴ κατέπλευσαν εἰς τὴν Κύμην, μετὰ τῶν ἐγχωρίων μὲν ἐναυμάχησαν πρὸς τοὺς Τυρρηνούς, πολλὰς δὲ ναῦς αὐτῶν διαφθείραντες καὶ μεγάλῃ ναυμαχίᾳ νικήσαντες, τοὺς μὲν Τυρρηνοὺς ἐταπείνωσαν, τοὺς δὲ Κυμαίους ἠλευθέρωσαν τῶν φόβων, καὶ ἀπέπλευσαν ἐπὶ Συρακούσας.
When Acestorides was archon in Athens, in Rome Caeso Fabius and Titus Verginius succeeded to the consulship. And in this year Hieron, the king of the Syracusans, when ambassadors came to him from Cumae in Italy and asked his aid in the war which the Tyrrhenians, who were at that time masters of the sea, were waging against them, he dispatched to their aid a considerable number of triremes. And after the commanders of this fleet had put in at Cumae, joining with the men of that region they fought a naval battle with the Tyrrhenians, and destroying many of their ships and conquering them in a great sea-fight, they humbled the Tyrrhenians and delivered the Cumaeans from their fears, after which they sailed back to Syracuse.
§ 11.52
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησι Μένωνος Ῥωμαῖοι μὲν ὑπάτους κατέστησαν Λεύκιον Αἰμίλιον Μάμερκον καὶ Γάιον Κορνήλιον Λέντουλον, κατὰ δὲ τὴν Ἰταλίαν πόλεμος ἐνέστη Ταραντίνοις πρὸς τοὺς Ἰάπυγας· περὶ γὰρ ὁμόρου χώρας ἀμφισβητούντων πρὸς ἀλλήλους, ἐπὶ μέν τινας χρόνους διετέλουν ἁψιμαχοῦντες καὶ λεηλατοῦντες τὰς ἀλλήλων χώρας, ἀεὶ δὲ μᾶλλον τῆς διαφορᾶς συναυξομένης καὶ πολλάκις φόνων γινομένων, τὸ τελευταῖον εἰς ὁλοσχερῆ φιλοτιμίαν ὥρμησαν. οἱ μὲν οὖν Ἰάπυγες τήν τε παρʼ αὑτῶν δύναμιν παρεσκευάζοντο καὶ τὴν παρὰ τῶν ὁμόρων συμμαχίαν συνέλαβον, καὶ τοὺς σύμπαντας ἤθροισαν ὑπὲρ τοὺς δισμυρίους· οἱ δὲ Ταραντῖνοι πυθόμενοι τὸ μέγεθος τῆς ἐπʼ αὐτοὺς ἠθροισμένης δυνάμεως, τούς τε πολιτικοὺς στρατιώτας ἤθροισαν καὶ Ῥηγίνων συμμάχων ὄντων πολλοὺς προσελάβοντο. γενομένης δὲ μάχης ἰσχυρᾶς καὶ πολλῶν παρʼ ἀμφοτέροις πεσόντων, τὸ τελευταῖον οἱ Ἰάπυγες ἐνίκησαν. τῶν δὲ ἡττηθέντων εἰς δύο μέρη σχισθέντων κατὰ τὴν φυγήν, καὶ τῶν μὲν εἰς Τάραντα τὴν ἀναχώρησιν ποιουμένων, τῶν δὲ εἰς τὸ Ῥήγιον φευγόντων, παραπλησίως τούτοις καὶ οἱ Ἰάπυγες ἐμερίσθησαν. οἱ μὲν οὖν τοὺς Ταραντίνους διώξαντες ὀλίγου διαστήματος ὄντος πολλοὺς τῶν ἐναντίων ἀνεῖλον, οἱ δὲ τοὺς Ῥηγίνους διώκοντες ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον ἐφιλοτιμήθησαν ὥστε συνεισπεσεῖν τοῖς φεύγουσιν εἰς τὸ Ῥήγιον καὶ τῆς πόλεως κυριεῦσαι.
When Menon was archon in Athens, the Romans chose as consuls Lucius Aemilius Mamercus and Gaius Cornelius Lentulus, and in Italy a war broke out between the Tarantini and the Iapygians. For these peoples, disputing with each other over some land on their borders, had been engaging for some years in skirmishings and in raiding each other's territory, and since the difference between them kept constantly increasing and frequently resulted in deaths, they finally went headlong into out-and out contention. Now the Iapygians not only made ready the army of their own men but they also joined with them an auxiliary force of more than twenty thousand soldiers; and the Tarantini, on learning of the great size of the army gathered against them, both mustered the soldiers of the state and added to them many more of the Rhegians, who were their allies. A fierce battle took place and many fell on both sides, but in the end the Iapygians were victorious. When the defeated army split in the flight into two bodies, the one retreating to Tarentum and the other fleeing to Rhegium, the Iapygians, following their example, also divided. Those who pursued the Tarantini, the distance being short, slew many of the enemy, but those who were pressing after the Rhegians were so eager that they broke into Rhegium together with the fugitives and took possession of the city.
§ 11.53
μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Ἀθήνησι μὲν ἦρχε Χάρης, ἐν Ῥώμῃ δὲ ὕπατοι καθειστήκεσαν Τίτος Μινούνιος καὶ Γάιος Ὁράτιος Πολύειδος, ἤχθη δὲ παρʼ Ἠλείοις Ὀλυμπιὰς ἑβδομηκοστὴ καὶ ἑβδόμη, καθʼ ἣν ἐνίκα στάδιον Δάνδης Ἀργεῖος. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων κατὰ μὲν τὴν Σικελίαν Θήρων ὁ Ἀκραγαντίνων δυνάστης ἐτελεύτησεν ἄρξας ἔτη δέκα καὶ ἕξ, τὴν δὲ ἀρχὴν διεδέξατο Θρασυδαῖος ὁ υἱός. ὁ μὲν οὖν Θήρων τὴν ἀρχὴν ἐπιεικῶς διῳκηκώς, καὶ ζῶν μεγάλης ἀποδοχῆς ἐτύγχανε παρὰ τοῖς πολίταις καὶ τελευτήσας ἡρωικῶν ἔτυχε τιμῶν, ὁ δὲ υἱὸς αὐτοῦ καὶ ζῶντος ἔτι τοῦ πατρὸς βίαιος ἦν καὶ φονικὸς καὶ τελευτήσαντος ἦρχε τῆς πατρίδος παρανόμως καὶ τυραννικῶς. διὸ καὶ ταχέως ἀπιστηθεὶς ὑπὸ τῶν ὑποτεταγμένων διετέλεσεν ἐπιβουλευόμενος καὶ βίον ἔχων μισούμενον· ὅθεν ταχέως τῆς ἰδίας παρανομίας οἰκείαν ἔσχε τὴν τοῦ βίου καταστροφήν. μετὰ γὰρ τὴν τοῦ πατρὸς Θήρωνος τελευτὴν πολλοὺς μισθοφόρους ἀθροίσας καὶ τῶν Ἀκραγαντίνων καὶ Ἱμεραίων προσκαταλέξας, τοὺς ἅπαντας ἤθροισεν ὑπὲρ τοὺς δισμυρίους ἱππεῖς καὶ πεζούς. μετὰ δὲ τούτων μέλλοντος αὐτοῦ πολεμεῖν τοῖς Συρακοσίοις, Ἱέρων ὁ βασιλεὺς παρασκευασάμενος δύναμιν ἀξιόλογον ἐστράτευσεν ἐπὶ τὸν Ἀκράγαντα. γενομένης δὲ μάχης ἰσχυρᾶς πλεῖστοι παραταξαμένων Ἑλλήνων πρὸς Ἕλληνας ἔπεσον. τῇ μὲν οὖν μάχῃ ἐπροτέρησαν οἱ Συρακόσιοι, κατεκόπησαν δὲ τῶν μὲν Συρακοσίων εἰς δισχιλίους, τῶν δὲ ἄλλων ὑπὲρ τοὺς τετρακισχιλίους. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Θρασυδαῖος μὲν ταπεινωθεὶς ἐξέπεσεν ἐκ τῆς ἀρχῆς, καὶ φυγὼν εἰς Μεγαρεῖς τοὺς Νισαίους καλουμένους, ἐκεῖ θανάτου καταγνωσθεὶς ἐτελεύτησεν· οἱ δʼ Ἀκραγαντῖνοι κομισάμενοι τὴν δημοκρατίαν, διαπρεσβευσάμενοι πρὸς Ἱέρωνα τῆς εἰρήνης ἔτυχον. κατὰ δὲ τὴν Ἰταλίαν Ῥωμαίοις πρὸς Οὐηιεντανοὺς ἐνστάντος πολέμου μεγάλη μάχη συνέστη περὶ τὴν ὀνομαζομένην Κρεμέραν. τῶν δὲ Ῥωμαίων ἡττηθέντων συνέβη πολλοὺς αὐτῶν πεσεῖν, ὧν φασί τινες τῶν συγγραφέων καὶ τοὺς Φαβίους τοὺς τριακοσίους, συγγενεῖς ἀλλήλων ὄντας καὶ διὰ τοῦτο μιᾷ περιειλημμένους προσηγορίᾳ. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἐπράχθη κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν ἐνιαυτόν.
The next year Chares was archon in Athens, and in Rome the consuls elected were Titus Menenius and Gaius Horatius Pulvillus, and the Eleians celebrated the Seventy-seventh Olympiad, that in which Dandes of Argos won the "stadion." In this year in Sicily Theron, the despot of Acragas, died after a reign of sixteen years, and his son Thrasydaeus succeeded to the throne. Now Theron, since he had administered his office equitably, not only enjoyed great favour among his countrymen during his lifetime, but also upon his death he was accorded the honours which are paid to heroes; but his son, even while his father was still living, was violent and murderous, and after his father's death ruled over his native city without respect for the laws and like a tyrant. Consequently he quickly lost the confidence of his subjects and was the constant object of plots, living a life of execration; and so he soon came to an end befitting his own lawlessness. For Thrasydaeus after the death of his father Theron gathered many mercenary soldiers and enrolled also citizens of Acragas and Himera, and thus got together in all more than twenty thousand cavalry and infantry. And since he was preparing to make war with these troops upon the Syracusans, Hieron the king made ready a formidable army and marched upon Acragas. A fierce battle took place, and a very large number fell, since Greeks were marshalled against Greeks. Now the fight was won by the Syracusans, who lost some two thousand men against more than four thousand for their opponents. Thereupon Thrasydaeus, having been humbled, was expelled from his position, and fleeing to Nisaean Megara, as it is called, he was there condemned to death and met his end; and the Acragantini, having now recovered their democratic form of government, sent ambassadors to Hieron and secured peace. In Italy war broke out between the Romans and the Veiians and a great battle was fought at the site called Cremera. The Romans were defeated and many of them perished, among their number, according to some historians, being the three hundred Fabii, who were of the same gens and hence were included under the single name. These, then, were the events of this year.
§ 11.54
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησι Πραξιέργου Ῥωμαῖοι μὲν ὑπάτους κατέστησαν Αὖλον Οὐεργίνιον Τρίκοστον καὶ Γάιον Σερουίλιον Στροῦκτον. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Ἠλεῖοι μὲν πλείους καὶ μικρὰς πόλεις οἰκοῦντες εἰς μίαν συνῳκίσθησαν τὴν ὀνομαζομένην Ἦλιν. Λακεδαιμόνιοι δὲ ὁρῶντες τὴν μὲν Σπάρτην διὰ τὴν Παυσανίου τοῦ στρατηγοῦ προδοσίαν ταπεινῶς πράττουσαν, τοὺς δὲ Ἀθηναίους εὐδοκιμοῦντας διὰ τὸ μηδένα παρʼ αὐτοῖς πολίτην ἐπὶ προδοσίᾳ κατεγνῶσθαι, ἔσπευδον τὰς Ἀθήνας ταῖς ὁμοίαις περιβαλεῖν διαβολαῖς. διόπερ εὐδοκιμοῦντος παρʼ αὐτοῖς Θεμιστοκλέους καὶ μεγάλην δόξαν ἔχοντος ἐπʼ ἀρετῇ, κατηγόρησαν προδοσίαν αὐτοῦ, φάσκοντες φίλον γενέσθαι τοῦ Παυσανίου μέγιστον, καὶ μετὰ τούτου συντεθεῖσθαι κοινῇ προδοῦναι τὴν Ἑλλάδα τῷ Ξέρξῃ. διελέγοντο δὲ καὶ τοῖς ἐχθροῖς τοῦ Θεμιστοκλέους, παροξύνοντες αὐτοὺς πρὸς τὴν κατηγορίαν, καὶ χρήματα ἔδοσαν, διδάσκοντες ὅτι Παυσανίας μὲν κρίνας προδιδόναι τοὺς Ἕλληνας ἐδήλωσε τὴν ἰδίαν ἐπιβολὴν Θεμιστοκλεῖ καὶ παρεκάλεσε κοινωνεῖν τῆς προθέσεως, ὁ δὲ Θεμιστοκλῆς οὔτε προσεδέξατο τὴν ἔντευξιν οὔτε διαβάλλειν ἔκρινε δεῖν ἄνδρα φίλον. οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ κατηγορηθεὶς ὁ Θεμιστοκλῆς τότε μὲν ἀπέφυγε τὴν τῆς προδοσίας κρίσιν. διὸ καὶ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον μετὰ τὴν ἀπόλυσιν μέγας ἦν παρὰ τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις· ἠγάπων γὰρ αὐτὸν ἐπὶ τοῖς πεπραγμένοις διαφερόντως οἱ πολῖται· μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα οἱ μὲν φοβηθέντες αὐτοῦ τὴν ὑπεροχήν, οἱ δὲ φθονήσαντες τῇ δόξῃ, τῶν μὲν εὐεργεσιῶν ἐπελάθοντο, τὴν δʼ ἰσχὺν αὐτοῦ καὶ τὸ φρόνημα ταπεινοῦν ἔσπευδον.
When Praxigerus was archon in Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Aulus Verginius Tricostus and Gaius Servilius Structus. At this time the Eleians, who dwelt in many small cities, united to form one state which is known as Elis. And the Lacedemonians, seeing that Sparta was in a humbled state by reason of the treason of their general Pausanias, whereas the Athenians were in good repute because no one of their citizens had been found guilty of treason, were eager to involve Athens in similar discreditable charges. Consequently, since Themistocles was greatly esteemed by the Athenians and enjoyed high fame for his high character, they accused him of treason, maintaining that he had been a close friend of Pausanias and had agreed with him that together they would betray Greece of the Xerxes. They also carried on conversations with the enemies of Themistocles, inciting them to lodge an accusation against him, and gave them money; and they explained that, when Pausanias decided to betray the Greeks, he disclosed the plan he had to Themistocles and urged him to participate in the project, and that Themistocles neither agreed to the request nor decided that it was his duty to accuse a man who was his friend. At any rate a charge was brought against Themistocles, but at the time he was not found guilty of treason. Hence at first after he was absolved he stood high in the opinion of the Athenians; for his fellow citizens were exceedingly fond of him on account of his achievements. But afterwards those who feared the eminence he enjoyed, and others who were envious of his glory forgot his services to the state, and began to exert themselves to diminish his power and to lower his presumption.
§ 11.55
πρῶτον μὲν οὖν αὐτὸν ἐκ τῆς πόλεως μετέστησαν, τοῦτον τὸν ὀνομαζόμενον ὀστρακισμὸν ἐπαγαγόντες αὐτῷ, ὃς ἐνομοθετήθη μὲν ἐν ταῖς Ἀθήναις μετὰ τὴν κατάλυσιν τῶν τυράννων τῶν περὶ Πεισίστρατον, ὁ δὲ νόμος ἐγένετο τοιοῦτος. ἕκαστος τῶν πολιτῶν εἰς ὄστρακον ἔγραφε τοὔνομα τοῦ δοκοῦντος μάλιστα δύνασθαι καταλῦσαι τὴν δημοκρατίαν· ᾧ δʼ ἂν ὄστρακα πλείω γένηται, φεύγειν ἐκ τῆς πατρίδος ἐτέτακτο πενταετῆ χρόνον. νομοθετῆσαι δὲ ταῦτα δοκοῦσιν οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι, οὐχ ἵνα τὴν κακίαν κολάζωσιν, ἀλλʼ ἵνα τὰ φρονήματα τῶν ὑπερεχόντων ταπεινότερα γένηται διὰ τὴν φυγήν. ὁ μὲν οὖν Θεμιστοκλῆς τὸν προειρημένον τρόπον ἐξοστρακισθεὶς ἔφυγεν ἐκ τῆς πατρίδος εἰς Ἄργος· οἱ δὲ Λακεδαιμόνιοι πυθόμενοι περὶ τούτων, καὶ νομίσαντες παρὰ τῆς τύχης εἰληφέναι καιρὸν ἐπιθέσθαι τῷ Θεμιστοκλεῖ, πάλιν εἰς τὰς Ἀθήνας ἐξαπέστειλαν πρέσβεις κατηγοροῦντες τοῦ Θεμιστοκλέους ὅτι τῷ Παυσανίᾳ κεκοινώνηκε τῆς προδοσίας, καὶ δεῖν ἔφασαν τῶν κοινῶν τῆς Ἑλλάδος ἀδικημάτων εἶναι τὴν κρίσιν οὐκ ἰδίᾳ παρὰ τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις, ἀλλʼ ἐπὶ τοῦ κοινοῦ συνεδρίου τῶν Ἑλλήνων, ὅπερ εἰώθει συνεδρεύειν κατʼ ἐκεῖνον τὸν χρόνον. ὁ δὲ Θεμιστοκλῆς ὁρῶν τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους σπεύδοντας διαβαλεῖν τὴν πόλιν τῶν Ἀθηναίων καὶ ταπεινῶσαι, τοὺς δʼ Ἀθηναίους βουλομένους ἀπολογήσασθαι περὶ τῆς ἐπιφερομένης αἰτίας, ὑπέλαβεν ἑαυτὸν παραδοθήσεσθαι τῷ κοινῷ συνεδρίῳ. τοῦτο δʼ ᾔδει τὰς κρίσεις οὐ δικαίας, ἀλλὰ πρὸς χάριν ποιούμενον τοῖς Λακεδαιμονίοις, τεκμαιρόμενος ἔκ τε τῶν ἄλλων καὶ ἐξ ὧν ἐποιήσατο περὶ τῶν ἀριστείων· οὕτω γὰρ οἱ κύριοι τῆς ψήφου φθονερῶς διετέθησαν πρὸς τοὺς Ἀθηναίους, ὥστε πλείους τριήρεις αὐτῶν παρεσχημένων ἢ σύμπαντες οἱ ναυμαχήσαντες παρέσχοντο, οὐδὲν κρείττους αὐτοὺς ἐποίησαν τῶν ἄλλων Ἑλλήνων. διὰ ταῦτα δὴ συνέβη τὸν Θεμιστοκλέα τοῖς συνέδροις ἀπιστῆσαι. καὶ γὰρ ἐκ τῆς προγεγενημένης ἀπολογίας ἐν ταῖς Ἀθήναις ὑπὸ τοῦ Θεμιστοκλέους ἀφορμὰς εἶχον οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι πρὸς τὴν ὕστερον γενομένην κατηγορίαν. ὁ γὰρ Θεμιστοκλῆς ἀπολογούμενος ὡμολόγει μὲν τὸν Παυσανίαν πρὸς αὐτὸν ἐπιστολὰς ἀπεσταλκέναι παρακαλοῦντα μετασχεῖν τῆς προδοσίας, καὶ τούτῳ μεγίστῳ χρησάμενος τεκμηρίῳ συνίστανεν, ὅτι οὐκ ἂν παρεκάλει Παυσανίας αὐτόν, εἰ μὴ πρὸς τὴν ἀξίωσιν ἀντέλεγε.
First of all they removed Themistocles from Athens, employing against him what is called ostracism, an institution which was adopted in Athens after the overthrow of the tyranny of Peisistratus and his sons; and the law was as follows. Each citizen wrote on a piece of pottery (ostracon) the name of the man who in his opinion had the greatest power to destroy the democracy; and the man who got the largest number of ostraca was obliged by the law to go into exile from his native land for a period of five years. The Athenians, it appears, passed such a law, not for the purpose of punishing wrongdoing, but in order to lower through exile the presumption of men who had risen too high. Now Themistocles, having been ostracized in the manner we have described, fled as an exile from his native city to Argos. But the Lacedemonians, learning of this and considering that Fortune had given them a favourable moment to attack Themistocles, again dispatched ambassadors to Athens. These accused Themistocles of complicity in the treason of Pausanias, and asserted that his trial, since his crimes affected all Greece, should not be held privately among the Athenians alone but rather before the General Congress of the Greeks which, according to custom, was to meet at that time. And Themistocles, seeing that the Lacedemonians were bent upon defaming and humbling the Athenian state, and that the Athenians were anxious to clear themselves of the charge against them, assumed that he would be turned over to the General Congress. This body, he knew, made its decisions, not on the basis of justice, but out of favour to the Lacedemonians, inferring this not only from its other actions but also from what it had done in making the awards for valour. For in that instance those who controlled the voting showed such jealousy of the Athenians that, although these had contributed more triremes than all the others who took part in the battle, they made them out to be no whit better than the rest of the Greeks. These, then, were the reasons why Themistocles distrusted the members of the Congress. Furthermore, it was from the speech in his own defence which Themistocles had made in Athens on the former occasion that the Lacedemonians had got the basis for the accusation they afterwards made. For in that defence Themistocles had acknowledged that Pausanias had sent letters to him, urging him to share in the act of treason, and using this as the strongest piece of evidence in his behalf, he had established that Pausanias would not have urged him, unless he had opposed his first request.
§ 11.56
διὰ δὲ ταῦτα, καθάπερ προειρήκαμεν, ἔφυγεν ἐξ Ἄργους πρὸς Ἄδμητον τὸν Μολοττῶν βασιλέα· καταφυγὼν δὲ πρὸς τὴν ἑστίαν ἱκέτης ἐγένετο. ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς τὸ μὲν πρῶτον προσεδέξατο αὐτὸν φιλοφρόνως καὶ παρεκάλει θαρρεῖν καὶ τὸ σύνολον ἐπηγγέλλετο φροντιεῖν αὐτοῦ τῆς ἀσφαλείας· ἐπεὶ δὲ οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι τοὺς ἐπιφανεστάτους Σπαρτιατῶν πρέσβεις ἀποστείλαντες πρὸς τὸν Ἄδμητον ἐξῄτουν αὐτὸν πρὸς τιμωρίαν, ἀποκαλοῦντες προδότην καὶ λυμεῶνα τῆς ὅλης Ἑλλάδος, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις μὴ παραδιδόντος αὐτὸν πολεμήσειν ἔφασαν μετὰ πάντων τῶν Ἑλλήνων, τὸ τηνικαῦθʼ ὁ βασιλεὺς φοβηθεὶς μὲν τὰς ἀπειλάς, ἐλεῶν δὲ τὸν ἱκέτην καὶ τὴν ἐκ τῆς παραδόσεως αἰσχύνην ἐκκλίνων, ἔπειθε τὸν Θεμιστοκλέα τὴν ταχίστην ἀπιέναι λάθρᾳ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων, καὶ χρυσοῦ πλῆθος ἐδωρήσατο αὐτῷ ἐφόδιον τῆς φυγῆς. ὁ δὲ Θεμιστοκλῆς πάντοθεν ἐλαυνόμενος καὶ τὸ χρυσίον δεξάμενος ἔφυγε νυκτὸς ἐκ τῆς τῶν Μολοττῶν χώρας, συμπράττοντος αὐτῷ πάντα τὰ πρὸς φυγὴν τοῦ βασιλέως· εὑρὼν δὲ δύο νεανίσκους Λυγκηστὰς τὸ γένος, ἐμπορικαῖς δὲ ἐργασίαις χρωμένους, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο τῶν ὁδῶν ἐμπείρως ἔχοντας, μετὰ τούτων ἔφυγε. χρώμενος δὲ νυκτεριναῖς ὁδοιπορίαις ἔλαθε τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους, καὶ διὰ τῆς τῶν νεανίσκων εὐνοίας τε καὶ κακοπαθείας κατήντησεν εἰς τὴν Ἀσίαν· ἐνταῦθα δʼ ἔχων ἰδιόξενον, ὄνομα μὲν Λυσιθείδην, δόξῃ δὲ καὶ πλούτῳ θαυμαζόμενον, πρὸς τοῦτον κατέφυγεν. ὁ δὲ Λυσιθείδης ἐτύγχανε φίλος ὢν Ξέρξου τοῦ βασιλέως καὶ κατὰ τὴν διάβασιν τοῦ Ξέρξου τὴν δύναμιν τῶν Περσῶν ἅπασαν εἱστιακώς. διόπερ συνήθειαν μὲν ἔχων πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα, τὸν δὲ Θεμιστοκλέα διὰ τὸν ἔλεον σῶσαι βουλόμενος, ἐπηγγείλατο αὐτῷ πάντα συμπράξειν. ἀξιοῦντος δὲ τοῦ Θεμιστοκλέους ἀγαγεῖν αὐτὸν πρὸς τὸν Ξέρξην, τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἀντεῖπεν, ἀποφαινόμενος ὅτι κολασθήσεται διὰ τὰς κατὰ τῶν Περσῶν αὐτῷ γεγενημένας πράξεις, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα μαθὼν τὸ συμφέρον ὑπήκουσε, καὶ παραδόξως καὶ ἀσφαλῶς αὐτὸν διέσωσεν εἰς τὴν Περσίδα. ἔθους γὰρ ὄντος παρὰ τοῖς Πέρσαις τὸν ἄγοντα παλλακὴν τῷ βασιλεῖ κομίζειν ταύτην ἐπὶ ἀπήνης κεκρυμμένης, καὶ τῶν ἀπαντώντων μηδένα πολυπραγμονεῖν μηδὲ κατʼ ὄψιν ἀπαντῆσαι τῇ ἀγομένῃ, ἀφορμῇ ταύτῃ συνέβη χρήσασθαι πρὸς τὴν ἐπιβολὴν τὸν Λυσιθείδην. παρασκευασάμενος γὰρ τὴν ἀπήνην πολυτελέσι παραπετάσμασι κεκοσμημένην, εἰς ταύτην ἐνέθηκε τὸν Θεμιστοκλέα, καὶ μετὰ πάσης ἀσφαλείας διασώσας ἐνέτυχε τῷ βασιλεῖ, καὶ πεφυλαγμένως ὁμιλήσας ἔλαβε παρʼ αὐτοῦ πίστεις μηδὲν ἀδικήσειν τὸν ἄνδρα. εἰσαγαγὼν δὲ αὐτὸν πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα, κἀκείνου δόντος τῷ Θεμιστοκλεῖ λόγον καὶ μαθόντος ὡς οὐδὲν ἠδίκησεν, ἀπελύθη τῆς τιμωρίας.
It was for these reasons, as we have stated above, that Themistocles fled from Argos to Admetus, the king of the Molossians; and taking refuge at Admetus' hearth he became his suppliant. The king at first received him kindly, urged him to be of good courage, and, in general, assured him that he would provide for his safety; but when the Lacedemonians dispatched some of the most distinguished Spartans as ambassadors to Admetus and demanded the person of Themistocles for punishment, stigmatizing him as the betrayer and destroyer of the whole Greek world, and when they went further and declared that, if Admetus would not turn him over to them, they together with all the Greeks would make war on him, then indeed the king, fearing on the one hand the threats and yet pitying the suppliant and seeking to avoid the disgrace of handing him over, persuaded Themistocles to make his escape with all speed without the knowledge of the Lacedemonians and gave him a large sum of gold to meet his expenses on the flight. And Themistocles, being persecuted as he was on every side, accepted the gold and fled by night out of the territory of the Molossians, the king furthering his flight in every way; and finding two young men, Lyncestians by birth, who were traders and therefore familiar with the roads, he made his escape in their company. By travelling only at night he eluded the Lacedemonians, and by virtue of the goodwill of the young men and the hardship they endured for him he made his way to Asia. Here Themistocles had a personal friend, Lysitheides by name, who was highly regarded for his fame and wealth, and to him he fled for refuge. Now it so happened that Lysitheides was a friend of Xerxes the king and on the occasion of his passage through Asia Minor had entertained the entire Persian host. Consequently, since he enjoyed an intimate acquaintance with the king and yet wished out of mercy to save Themistocles, he promised to co operate with him in every way. But when Themistocles asked that he lead him to Xerxes, at first he demurred, explaining that Themistocles would be punished because of his past activities against the Persians; later, however, when he realized that it was for the best, he acceded, and unexpectedly and without harm he got him through safe to Persia. For it was a custom among the Persians that when one conducted a concubine to the king one brought her in a closed wagon, and no man who met it interfered or came face to face with the passenger; and it came about that Lysitheides availed himself of this means of carrying out his undertaking. After preparing the wagon and embellishing it with costly hangings he put Themistocles in it; and when he had got him through in entire safety, he came into the presence of the king, and after he had conversed with him cautiously he received pledges from the king that he would do Themistocles no wrong. Then Lysitheides introduced him to the presence of the king, who, when he had allowed Themistocles to speak and learned that he had done the king no wrong, absolved him from punishment.
§ 11.57
δόξας δὲ παραδόξως ὑπʼ ἐχθροῦ διασεσῶσθαι, πάλιν εἰς μείζονας κινδύνους ἐνέπεσε διὰ τοιαύτας αἰτίας· Μανδάνη Δαρείου μὲν ἦν θυγάτηρ τοῦ φονεύσαντος τοὺς μάγους, ἀδελφὴ δὲ γνησία τοῦ Ξέρξου, μεγίστης δʼ ἀποδοχῆς τυγχάνουσα παρὰ τοῖς Πέρσαις. αὕτη τῶν υἱῶν ἐστερημένη καθʼ ὃν καιρὸν Θεμιστοκλῆς περὶ Σαλαμῖνα κατεναυμάχησε τὸν στόλον τῶν Περσῶν, χαλεπῶς ἔφερε τὴν ἀναίρεσιν τῶν τέκνων, καὶ διὰ τὸ μέγεθος τῆς συμφορᾶς ἠλεεῖτο παρὰ τοῖς πλήθεσιν. αὕτη πυθομένη τὴν παρουσίαν τοῦ Θεμιστοκλέους, ἦλθεν εἰς τὰ βασίλεια πενθίμην ἐσθῆτα λαβοῦσα, καὶ μετὰ δακρύων ἱκέτευε τὸν ἀδελφὸν ἐπιθεῖναι τιμωρίαν τῷ Θεμιστοκλεῖ. ὡς δʼ οὐ προσεῖχεν αὐτῇ, περιῄει τοὺς ἀρίστους τῶν Περσῶν ἀξιοῦσα καὶ καθόλου τὰ πλήθη παροξύνουσα πρὸς τὴν τοῦ Θεμιστοκλέους τιμωρίαν. τοῦ δʼ ὄχλου συνδραμόντος ἐπὶ τὰ βασίλεια καὶ μετὰ κραυγῆς ἐξαιτοῦντος ἐπὶ τιμωρίαν τὸν Θεμιστοκλέα, ὁ μὲν βασιλεὺς ἀπεκρίνατο δικαστήριον καταστήσειν ἐκ τῶν ἀρίστων Περσῶν, καὶ τὸ κριθὲν τεύξεσθαι συντελείας· πάντων δὲ συνευδοκησάντων, καὶ δοθέντος ἱκανοῦ χρόνου εἰς τὴν παρασκευὴν τῆς κρίσεως, ὁ μὲν Θεμιστοκλῆς μαθὼν τὴν Περσίδα διάλεκτον, καὶ ταύτῃ χρησάμενος κατὰ τὴν ἀπολογίαν, ἀπελύθη τῶν ἐγκλημάτων. ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς περιχαρὴς γενόμενος ἐπὶ τῇ σωτηρίᾳ τἀνδρὸς μεγάλαις αὐτὸν δωρεαῖς ἐτίμησε· γυναῖκα γὰρ αὐτῷ πρὸς γάμου κοινωνίαν ἔζευξε Περσίδα, εὐγενείᾳ τε καὶ κάλλει διαφέρουσαν, ἔτι δὲ κατʼ ἀρετὴν ἐπαινουμένην, οἰκετῶν τε πλῆθος πρὸς διακονίαν καὶ παντοδαπῶν ἐκπωμάτων καὶ τὴν ἄλλην χορηγίαν πρὸς ἀπόλαυσιν καὶ τρυφὴν ἁρμόζουσαν. ἐδωρήσατο δʼ αὐτῷ καὶ πόλεις τρεῖς πρὸς διατροφὴν καὶ ἀπόλαυσιν εὐθέτους, Μαγνησίαν μὲν τὴν ἐπὶ τῷ Μαιάνδρῳ, πλεῖστον τῶν κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν πόλεων ἔχουσαν σῖτον, εἰς ἄρτους, Μυοῦντα δὲ εἰς ὄψον, ἔχουσαν θάλατταν εὔιχθυν, Λάμψακον δέ, ἀμπελόφυτον ἔχουσαν χώραν πολλήν, εἰς οἶνον.
But when it seemed that the life of Themistocles had unexpectedly been saved by an enemy, he fell again into even greater dangers for the following reasons. Mandane was the daughter of the Darius who had slain the Magi and the full sister of Xerxes, and she enjoyed high esteem among the Persians. She had lost her sons at the time Themistocles had defeated the Persian fleet in the sea-battle at Salamis and sorely grieved over the death of her children, and because of her great affliction she was the object of the pity of the people. When she learned of the presence of Themistocles, she went to the palace clad in raiment of mourning and with tears entreated her brother to wreak vengeance upon Themistocles. And when the king paid no heed to her, she visited in turn the noblest Persians with her request and, speaking generally, spurred on the people to wreak vengeance upon Themistocles. When the mob rushed to the palace and with loud shouts demanded the person of Themistocles for punishment, the king replied that he would form a jury of the noblest Persians and that its verdict would be carried out. This decision was approved by all, and since a considerable time was given to make the preparations for the trial, Themistocles meanwhile learned the Persian language, and using it in his defence he was acquitted of the charges. And the king was overjoyed that Themistocles had been saved and honoured him with great gifts; so, for example, he gave him in marriage a Persian woman, who was of outstanding birth and beauty and, besides, praised for her virtue, and [she brought as her dower] not only a multitude of household slaves for their service but also of drinking-cups of every kind and such other furnishings as comport with a life of pleasure and luxury. Furthermore, the king made him a present also of three cities which were well suited for his support and enjoyment, Magnesia upon the Maeander River, which had more grain than any city of Asia, for bread, Myus for meat, since the sea there abounded in fish, and Lampsacus, whose territory contained extensive vineyards, for wine.
§ 11.58
Θεμιστοκλῆς μὲν οὖν ἀπολυθεὶς τοῦ παρʼ Ἕλλησι φόβου, καὶ παραδόξως ὑπὸ μὲν τῶν τὰ μέγιστα εὐεργετηθέντων φυγαδευθείς, ὑπὸ δὲ τῶν τὰ δεινότατα παθόντων εὐεργετηθείς, ἐν ταύταις ταῖς πόλεσι κατεβίωσε πάντων τῶν πρὸς ἀπόλαυσιν ἀγαθῶν εὐπορούμενος, καὶ τελευτήσας ἐν τῇ Μαγνησίᾳ ταφῆς ἔτυχεν ἀξιολόγου καὶ μνημείου τοῦ ἔτι νῦν διαμένοντος. ἔνιοι δὲ τῶν συγγραφέων φασὶ τὸν Ξέρξην ἐπιθυμήσαντα πάλιν στρατεύειν ἐπὶ τὴν Ἑλλάδα παρακαλεῖν τὸν Θεμιστοκλέα στρατηγεῖν ἐπὶ τοῦ πολέμου, τὸν δὲ συγχωρήσαντα περὶ τούτων πίστεις λαβεῖν ἐνόρκους μὴ στρατεύσειν ἐπὶ τοὺς Ἕλληνας ἄνευ Θεμιστοκλέους. σφαγιασθέντος δὲ ταύρου καὶ τῶν ὅρκων γενομένων, τὸν Θεμιστοκλέα κύλικα τοῦ αἵματος πληρώσαντα ἐκπιεῖν καὶ παραχρῆμα τελευτῆσαι. καὶ τὸν μὲν Ξέρξην ἀποστῆναι τῆς ἐπιβολῆς ταύτης, τὸν δὲ Θεμιστοκλέα διὰ τῆς ἰδίας τελευτῆς ἀπολογίαν ἀπολιπεῖν καλλίστην ὅτι καλῶς ἐπολιτεύθη τὰ πρὸς τοὺς Ἕλληνας. ἡμεῖς δὲ πάρεσμεν ἐπὶ τὴν τελευτὴν ἀνδρὸς μεγίστου τῶν Ἑλλήνων, περὶ οὗ πολλοὶ διαμφισβητοῦσι, πότερον οὗτος ἀδικήσας τὴν πατρίδα καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους Ἕλληνας ἔφυγεν εἰς Πέρσας, ἢ τοὐναντίον ἥ τε πόλις καὶ πάντες οἱ Ἕλληνες εὐεργετηθέντες μεγάλα τῆς μὲν χάριτος ἐπελάθοντο, τὸν δʼ εὐεργέτην ἤγαγον αὐτὸν ἀδίκως εἰς τοὺς ἐσχάτους κινδύνους. εἰ δέ τις χωρὶς φθόνου τήν τε φύσιν τἀνδρὸς καὶ τὰς πράξεις ἐξετάζοι μετʼ ἀκριβείας, εὑρήσει πάντων ὧν μνημονεύομεν ἀμφοτέροις τοῖς εἰρημένοις πεπρωτευκότα. διὸ καὶ θαυμάσειεν ἄν τις εἰκότως, εἰ στερῆσαι σφᾶς αὐτοὺς ἀνδρὸς τοιούτου τὴν φύσιν ἠθέλησαν.
Themistocles, being now relieved of the fear which he had felt when among the Greeks, the man who had unexpectedly, on the one hand, been driven into exile by those who had profited most by the benefits he had bestowed and, on the other, had received benefits from those who had suffered the most grievously at his hands, spent his life in the cities we have mentioned, being well supplied with all the good things that conduce to pleasure, and at his death he was given a notable funeral in Magnesia and a monument that stands even to this day. Some historians say that Xerxes, desiring to lead a second expedition to Greece, invited Themistocles to take command of the war, and that he agreed to do so and received from the king guaranties under oath that he would not march against the Greeks without Themistocles. And when a bull had been sacrificed and the oaths taken, Themistocles, filling a cup with its blood, drank it down and immediately died. They add that Xerxes thereupon relinquished that plan of his, and that Themistocles by his voluntary death left the best possible defence that he had played the part of a good citizen in all matters affecting the interests of Greece. We have come to the death of one of the greatest of the Greeks, about whom many dispute whether it was because he had wronged his native city and the other Greeks that he fled to the Persians, or whether, on the contrary, his city and all the Greeks, after enjoying great benefits at his hands, forgot to be grateful for them but unjustly plunged him, their benefactor, into the uttermost perils. But if any man, putting envy aside, will estimate closely not only the man's natural gifts but also his achievements, he will find that on both counts Themistocles holds first place among all of whom we have record. Therefore one may well be amazed that the Athenians were willing to rid themselves of a man of such genius.
§ 11.59
τίς γὰρ ἕτερος, τῆς Σπάρτης πλέον ἰσχυούσης καὶ τοῦ ναυτικοῦ τὴν ἡγεμονίαν ἔχοντος Εὐρυβιάδου τοῦ Σπαρτιάτου, ταῖς ἰδίαις πράξεσιν ἀφείλετʼ ἂν τῆς Σπάρτης ταύτην τὴν δόξαν; τίνα δʼ ἄλλον ἱστορήκαμεν μιᾷ πράξει ποιήσαντα διενεγκεῖν αὑτὸν μὲν τῶν ἡγεμόνων, τὴν δὲ πόλιν τῶν Ἑλληνίδων πόλεων, τοὺς δʼ Ἕλληνας τῶν βαρβάρων; ἐπὶ τίνος δὲ στρατηγοῦντος ἐλάττονας ἀφορμὰς ἢ μείζονας κινδύνους συνέβη γενέσθαι; τίς δὲ πρὸς ἅπασαν τὴν ἐκ τῆς Ἀσίας δύναμιν ἀναστάτῳ τῇ πόλει παραταχθεὶς ἐνίκησε; τίς δὲ τοῖς ἔργοις ἐν εἰρήνῃ τὴν πατρίδα δυνατὴν κατεσκεύασε τοιούτοις; τίς δὲ πολέμου μεγίστου κατασχόντος αὐτὴν διέσωσε, μιᾷ δʼ ἐπινοίᾳ τῇ περὶ τοῦ ζεύγματος γενομένῃ τὴν πεζὴν τῶν πολεμίων δύναμιν ἐξ ἡμίσους μέρους ἐταπείνωσεν, ὥστʼ εὐχείρωτον γενέσθαι τοῖς Ἕλλησι; διόπερ ὅταν τὸ μέγεθος τῶν ἔργων αὐτοῦ θεωρήσωμεν, καὶ σκοποῦντες τὰ κατὰ μέρος εὕρωμεν ἐκεῖνον μὲν ὑπὸ τῆς πόλεως ἠτιμασμένον, τὴν δὲ πόλιν διὰ τὰς ἐκείνου πράξεις ἐπαιρομένην, εἰκότως τὴν δοκοῦσαν εἶναι τῶν ἁπασῶν πόλεων σοφωτάτην καὶ ἐπιεικεστάτην χαλεπωτάτην πρὸς ἐκεῖνον εὑρίσκομεν γεγενημένην. περὶ μὲν οὖν τῆς Θεμιστοκλέους ἀρετῆς εἰ καὶ πεπλεονάκαμεν παρεκβάντες, ἀλλʼ οὖν οὐκ ἄξιον ἐκρίναμεν τὴν ἀρετὴν αὐτοῦ παραλιπεῖν ἀνεπισήμαντον· ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις κατὰ τὴν Ἰταλίαν Μίκυθος μὲν ὁ τὴν δυναστείαν ἔχων Ῥηγίου καὶ Ζάγκλης πόλιν ἔκτισε Πυξοῦντα.
What other man, while Sparta still had the superior strength and the Spartan Eurybiades held the supreme command of the fleet, could by his singlehanded efforts have deprived Sparta of that glory? Of what other man have we learned from history that by a single act he caused himself to surpass all the commanders, his city all other Greek states, and the Greeks the barbarians? In whose term as general have the resources been more inferior and the dangers they faced greater? Who, facing the united might of all Asia, has found himself at the side of his city when its inhabitants had been driven from their homes, and still won the victory? Who in time of peace has made his fatherland powerful by deeds comparable to his? Who, when a gigantic war enveloped his state, brought it safely through and by the one single ruse of the bridge reduced land armament of the enemy by half, so that it could be easily vanquished by the Greeks? Consequently, when we survey the magnitude of his deeds and, examining them one by one, find that such a man suffered disgrace at the hands of his city, whereas it was by his deeds that the city rose to greatness, we have good reason to conclude that the city which is reputed to rank highest among all cities in wisdom and fair-dealing acted towards him with great cruelty. Now on the subject of the high merits of Themistocles, even if we have dwelt over-long on the subject in this digression, we believed it not seemly that we should leave his great ability unrecorded. While these events were taking place, in Italy Micythus, who was ruler of Rhegium and Zancle, founded the city of Pyxus.
§ 11.60
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησι Δημοτίωνος Ῥωμαῖοι μὲν ὑπάτους κατέστησαν Πούπλιον Οὐαλέριον Ποπλικόλαν καὶ Γάιον Ναύτιον Ῥοῦφον. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Ἀθηναῖοι στρατηγὸν ἑλόμενοι Κίμωνα τὸν Μιλτιάδου καὶ δύναμιν ἀξιόλογον παραδόντες, ἐξέπεμψαν ἐπὶ τὴν παράλιον τῆς Ἀσίας βοηθήσοντα μὲν ταῖς συμμαχούσαις πόλεσιν, ἐλευθερώσοντα δὲ τὰς Περσικαῖς ἔτι φρουραῖς κατεχομένας. οὗτος δὲ παραλαβὼν τὸν στόλον ἐν Βυζαντίῳ, καὶ καταπλεύσας ἐπὶ πόλιν τὴν ὀνομαζομένην Ἠιόνα, ταύτην μὲν Περσῶν κατεχόντων ἐχειρώσατο, Σκῦρον δὲ Πελασγῶν ἐνοικούντων καὶ Δολόπων ἐξεπολιόρκησε, καὶ κτίστην Ἀθηναῖον καταστήσας κατεκληρούχησε τὴν χώραν. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα μειζόνων πράξεων ἄρξασθαι διανοούμενος, κατέπλευσεν εἰς τὸν Πειραιᾶ, καὶ προσλαβόμενος πλείους τριήρεις καὶ τὴν ἄλλην χορηγίαν ἀξιόλογον παρασκευασάμενος, τότε μὲν ἐξέπλευσεν ἔχων τριήρεις διακοσίας, ὕστερον δὲ μεταπεμψάμενος παρὰ τῶν Ἰώνων καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἁπάντων τὰς ἁπάσας εἶχε τριακοσίας. πλεύσας οὖν μετὰ παντὸς τοῦ στόλου πρὸς τὴν Καρίαν, τῶν παραθαλαττίων πόλεων ὅσαι μὲν ἦσαν ἐκ τῆς Ἑλλάδος ἀπῳκισμέναι, ταύτας παραχρῆμα συνέπεισεν ἀποστῆναι τῶν Περσῶν, ὅσαι δʼ ὑπῆρχον δίγλωττοι καὶ φρουρὰς ἔχουσαι Περσικάς, βίαν προσάγων ἐπολιόρκει. προσαγαγόμενος δὲ τὰς κατὰ τὴν Καρίαν πόλεις, ὁμοίως καὶ τὰς ἐν τῇ Λυκίᾳ πείσας προσελάβετο. παρὰ δὲ τῶν ἀεὶ προστιθεμένων συμμάχων προσλαβόμενος ναῦς ἐπὶ πλέον ηὔξησε τὸν στόλον. οἱ δὲ Πέρσαι τὸ μὲν πεζὸν στράτευμα διʼ ἑαυτῶν κατεσκεύασαν, τὸ δὲ ναυτικὸν ἤθροισαν ἔκ τε Φοινίκης καὶ Κύπρου καὶ Κιλικίας· ἐστρατήγει δὲ τῶν Περσικῶν δυνάμεων Τιθραύστης, υἱὸς ὢν Ξέρξου νόθος. Κίμων δὲ πυνθανόμενος τὸν στόλον τῶν Περσῶν διατρίβειν περὶ τὴν Κύπρον, καὶ πλεύσας ἐπὶ τοὺς βαρβάρους, ἐναυμάχησε διακοσίαις καὶ πεντήκοντα ναυσὶ πρὸς τριακοσίας καὶ τετταράκοντα. γενομένου δʼ ἀγῶνος ἰσχυροῦ καὶ τῶν στόλων ἀμφοτέρων λαμπρῶς ἀγωνιζομένων, τὸ τελευταῖον ἐνίκων οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι, καὶ πολλὰς μὲν τῶν ἐναντίων ναῦς διέφθειραν, πλείους δὲ τῶν ἑκατὸν σὺν αὐτοῖς τοῖς ἀνδράσιν εἷλον. τῶν δὲ λοιπῶν νεῶν καταφυγουσῶν εἰς τὴν Κύπρον,οἱ μὲν ἐν αὐταῖς ἄνδρες εἰς τὴν γῆν ἀπεχώρησαν, αἱ δὲ νῆες κεναὶ τῶν βοηθούντων οὖσαι τοῖς πολεμίοις ἐγενήθησαν ὑποχείριοι.
When Demotion was archon in Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Publius Valerius Publicola and Gaius Nautius Rufus. In this year the Athenians, electing as general Cimon the son of Miltiades and giving him a strong force, sent him to the coast of Asia to give aid to the cities which were allied with them and to liberate those which were still held by Persian garrisons. And Cimon, taking along the fleet which was at Byzantium and putting in at the city which is called Eion, took it from the Persians who were holding it and captured by siege Scyros, which was inhabited by Pelasgians and Dolopes; and setting up an Athenian as the founder of a colony he portioned out the land in allotments. After this, with a mind to begin greater enterprises, he put in at the Peiraeus, and after adding more triremes to his fleet and arranging for general supplies on a notable scale, he at that time put to sea with two hundred triremes; but later, when he had called for additional ships from the Ionians and everyone else, he had in all three hundred. So sailing with the entire fleet to Caria he at once succeeded in persuading the cities on the coast which had been settled from Greece to revolt from the Persians, but as for the cities whose inhabitants spoke two languages and still had Persian garrisons, he had recourse to force and laid siege to them; then, after he had brought to his side the cities of Caria, he likewise won over by persuasion those of Lycia. Also, by taking additional ships from the allies, who were continually being added, he still further increased the size of the fleet. Now the Persians had composed their land forces from their own peoples, but their navy they had gathered from both Phoenicia and Cyprus and Cilicia, and the commander of the Persian armaments was Tithraustes, who was an illegitimate son of Xerxes. And when Cimon learned that the Persian fleet was lying off Cyprus, sailing against the barbarians he engaged them in battle, pitting two hundred and fifty ships against three hundred and forty. A sharp struggle took place and both fleets fought brilliantly, but in the end the Athenians were victorious, having destroyed many of the enemy ships and captured more than one hundred together with their crews. The rest of the ships escaped to Cyprus, where their crews left them and took to the land, and the ships, being bare of defenders, fell into the hands of the enemy.
§ 11.61
μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ὁ μὲν Κίμων οὐκ ἀρκεσθεὶς τηλικαύτῃ νίκῃ παραχρῆμα παντὶ τῷ στόλῳ προσκατῆρεν ἐπὶ τὸ πεζὸν τῶν Περσῶν στρατόπεδον, οὔσης τῆς παρεμβολῆς παρὰ τὸν Εὐρυμέδοντα ποταμόν. βουλόμενος δὲ καταστρατηγῆσαι τοὺς βαρβάρους, ἐνεβίβασεν εἰς τὰς αἰχμαλωτίδας ναῦς τῶν ἰδίων τοὺς ἀρίστους, δοὺς τιάρας καὶ τὴν ἄλλην κατασκευὴν περιθεὶς Περσικήν. οἱ δὲ βάρβαροι προσπλέοντος ἄρτι τοῦ στόλου ταῖς Περσικαῖς ναυσὶ καὶ παρασκευαῖς ψευσθέντες ὑπέλαβον τὰς ἰδίας τριήρεις εἶναι. διόπερ οὗτοι μὲν προσεδέξαντο τοὺς Ἀθηναίους ὡς φίλους ὄντας, ὁ δὲ Κίμων ἤδη νυκτὸς ἐπιγενομένης ἐκβιβάσας τοὺς στρατιώτας, καὶ προσδεχθεὶς ὡς φίλος ὑπʼ αὐτῶν, εἰσέπεσεν εἰς τὴν στρατοπεδείαν τῶν βαρβάρων. ταραχῆς δὲ μεγάλης γενομένης παρὰ τοῖς Πέρσαις, οἱ μὲν περὶ τὸν Κίμωνα πάντας τοὺς ἐντυγχάνοντας ἔκτειναν, καὶ τὸν μὲν στρατηγὸν τῶν βαρβάρων τὸν ἕτερον Φερενδάτην, ἀδελφιδοῦν τοῦ βασιλέως, ἐν τῇ σκηνῇ καταλαβόντες ἐφόνευσαν, τῶν δʼ ἄλλων οὓς μὲν ἔκτεινον, οὓς δὲ κατετραυμάτιζον, πάντας δὲ διὰ τὸ παράδοξον τῆς ἐπιθέσεως φεύγειν ἠνάγκασαν, καθόλου δʼ ἔκπληξις ἅμα καὶ ἄγνοια τοιαύτη κατεῖχε τοὺς Πέρσας, ὥσθʼ οἱ πλείους τοὺς ἐπιτιθεμένους αὐτοῖς οἵτινες ἦσαν οὐκ ἐγίνωσκον. τοὺς μὲν γὰρ Ἕλληνας οὐχ ὑπελάμβανον ἥκειν πρὸς αὐτοὺς μετὰ δυνάμεως, τὸ σύνολον μηδʼ ἔχειν αὐτοὺς πεζὴν στρατιὰν πεπεισμένοι· τοὺς δὲ Πισίδας, ὄντας ὁμόρους καὶ τὰ πρὸς αὐτοὺς ἀλλοτρίως ἔχοντας, ὑπελάμβανον ἥκειν μετὰ δυνάμεως. διὸ καὶ νομίσαντες ἀπὸ τῆς ἠπείρου τὴν ἐπιφορὰν εἶναι τῶν πολεμίων, πρὸς τὰς ναῦς ὡς πρὸς φιλίας ἔφευγον. τῆς δὲ νυκτὸς οὔσης ἀσελήνου καὶ σκοτεινῆς συνέβαινε τὴν ἄγνοιαν πολὺ μᾶλλον αὔξεσθαι καὶ μηδένα τἀληθὲς δύνασθαι ἰδεῖν. διὸ καὶ πολλοῦ φόνου γενομένου διὰ τὴν ἀταξίαν τῶν βαρβάρων, ὁ μὲν Κίμων προειρηκὼς τοῖς στρατιώταις πρὸς τὸν ἀρθησόμενον πυρσὸν συντρέχειν, ἦρε πρὸς ταῖς ναυσὶ σύσσημον, εὐλαβούμενος μὴ διεσπαρμένων τῶν στρατιωτῶν καὶ πρὸς ἁρπαγὴν ὁρμησάντων γένηταί τι παράλογον. πάντων δὲ πρὸς τὸν πυρσὸν ἀθροισθέντων καὶ παυσαμένων τῆς ἁρπαγῆς, τότε μὲν εἰς τὰς ναῦς ἀπεχώρησαν, τῇ δʼ ὑστεραίᾳ τρόπαιον στήσαντες ἀπέπλευσαν εἰς τὴν Κύπρον, νενικηκότες δύο καλλίστας νίκας, τὴν μὲν κατὰ γῆν, τὴν δὲ κατὰ θάλατταν· οὐδέπω γὰρ μνημονεύονται τοιαῦται καὶ τηλικαῦται πράξεις γενέσθαι κατὰ τὴν αὐτὴν ἡμέραν καὶ ναυτικῷ καὶ πεζῷ στρατοπέδῳ.
Thereupon Cimon, not satisfied with a victory of such magnitude, set sail at once with his entire fleet against the Persian land army, which was then encamped on the bank of the Eurymedon River. And wishing to overcome the barbarians by a stratagem, he manned the captured Persian ships with his own best men, giving them tiaras for their heads and clothing them in the Persian fashion generally. The barbarians, so soon as the fleet approached them, were deceived by the Persian ships and garb and supposed the triremes to be their own. Consequently they received the Athenians as if they were friends. And Cimon, night having fallen, disembarked his soldiers, and being received by the Persians as a friend, he fell upon their encampment. A great tumult arose among the Persians, and the soldiers of Cimon cut down all who came in their way, and seizing in his tent Pheredates, one of the two generals of the barbarians and a nephew of the king, they slew him; and as for the rest of the Persians, some they cut down and others they wounded, and all of them, because of the unexpectedness of the attack, they forced to take flight. In a word, such consternation as well as bewilderment prevailed among the Persians that most of them did not even know who it was that was attacking them. For they had no idea that the Greeks had come against them in force, being persuaded that they had no land army at all; and they assumed that it was the Pisidians, who dwelt in neighbouring territory and were hostile to them, who had come to attack them. Consequently, thinking that the attack of the enemy was coming from the mainland, they fled to their ships in the belief they were in friendly hands. And since it was a dark night without a moon, their bewilderment was increased all the more and not a man was able to discern the true state of affairs. Consequently, after a great slaughter had occurred on account of the disorder among the barbarians, Cimon, who had previously given orders to the soldiers to come running to the torch which would be raised, had the signal raised beside the ships, being anxious lest, if the soldiers should scatter and turn to plundering, some miscarriage of his plans might occur. And when the soldiers had all been gathered at the torch and had stopped plundering, for the time being they set up a trophy and then sailed back to Cyprus, having won two glorious victories, the one on land and the other on the sea; for not to this day has history recorded the occurrence of so unusual and so important actions on the same day by a host that fought both afloat and on land.
§ 11.62
Κίμων δὲ διὰ τῆς ἰδίας στρατηγίας καὶ ἀρετῆς μεγάλα κατωρθωκώς, περιβόητον ἔσχε τὴν δόξαν οὐ μόνον παρὰ τοῖς πολίταις, ἀλλὰ καὶ παρὰ τοῖς ἄλλοις Ἕλλησιν. αἰχμαλώτους γὰρ εἰλήφει τριακοσίας καὶ τετταράκοντα ναῦς, ἄνδρας δὲ ὑπὲρ τοὺς δισμυρίους, χρημάτων δὲ πλῆθος ἀξιόλογον. οἱ δὲ Πέρσαι τηλικούτοις ἐλαττώμασι περιπεπτωκότες ἄλλας τριήρεις πλείους κατεσκεύασαν, φοβούμενοι τὴν τῶν Ἀθηναίων αὔξησιν. ἀπὸ γὰρ τούτων τῶν χρόνων ἡ πόλις τῶν Ἀθηναίων πολλὴν ἐπίδοσιν ἐλάμβανε, χρημάτων τε πλήθει κατασκευασθεῖσα καὶ δόξης μεγάλης ἐν ἀνδρείᾳ καὶ στρατηγίᾳ τυχοῦσα. ἐξ οὗ γʼ Εὐρώπην Ἀσίας δίχα πόντος ἔνειμε καὶ πόλιας θνητῶν θοῦρος Ἄρης ἐπέχει, οὐδέν πω τοιοῦτον ἐπιχθονίων γένετʼ ἀνδρῶν ἔργον ἐν ἠπείρῳ καὶ κατὰ πόντον ἅμα. οἵδε γὰρ ἐν Κύπρῳ Μήδους πολλοὺς ὀλέσαντες Φοινίκων ἑκατὸν ναῦς ἕλον ἐν πελάγει ἀνδρῶν πληθούσας, μέγα δʼ ἔστενεν Ἀσὶς ὑπʼ αὐτῶν πληγεῖσʼ ἀμφοτέραις χερσὶ κράτει πολέμου.
After Cimon had won these great successes by means of his own skill as general and his valour, his fame was noised abroad not only among his fellow citizens but among all other Greeks as well. For he had captured three hundred and forty ships, more than twenty thousand men, and a considerable sum of money. But the Persians, having met with so great reverses, built other triremes in greater number, since they feared the growing might of the Athenians. For from this time the Athenian state kept receiving significant enhancement of its power, supplied as it was with an abundance of funds and having attained to great renown for courage and for able leadership in war. And the Athenian people, taking a tenth part of the booty, dedicated it to the god, and the inscription which they wrote upon the dedication they made ran as follows: E'en from the day when the sea divided Europe from Asia, And the impetuous god, Ares, the cities of men Took for his own, no deed such as this among earth-dwelling mortals Ever was wrought at one time both upon land and at sea. These men indeed upon Cyprus sent many a Mede to destruction, Capturing out on the sea warships a hundred in sum Filled with Phoenician men; and deeply all Asia grieved o'er them, Smitten thus with both hands, vanquished by war's mighty power.
§ 11.63
ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἐπράχθη κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν ἐνιαυτόν. ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησι Φαίωνος ἐν Ῥώμῃ τὴν ὕπατον ἀρχὴν διεδέξαντο Λεύκιος Φούριος Μεδιολανὸς καὶ Μάρκος Μανίλιος Οὐάσων. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων μεγάλη τις καὶ παράδοξος ἐγένετο συμφορὰ τοῖς Λακεδαιμονίοις· ἐν γὰρ τῇ Σπάρτῃ γενομένων σεισμῶν μεγάλων συνέβη πεσεῖν τὰς οἰκίας ἐκ θεμελίων καὶ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων πλείους τῶν δισμυρίων φθαρῆναι. ἐπὶ πολὺν δὲ χρόνον συνεχῶς τῆς πόλεως καταφερομένης καὶ τῶν οἰκιῶν πιπτουσῶν πολλὰ σώματα τοῖς πτώμασι τῶν τοίχων ἀπολαμβανόμενα διεφθάρη, οὐκ ὀλίγον δὲ τῶν κατὰ τὰς οἰκίας χρημάτων ὁ σεισμὸς ἐλυμήνατο. καὶ τοῦτο μὲν τὸ κακὸν ὥσπερ δαιμονίου τινὸς νεμεσήσαντος αὐτοῖς ἔπαθον, ἄλλους δὲ κινδύνους ὑπʼ ἀνθρώπων αὐτοῖς συνέβη γενέσθαι διὰ τοιαύτας αἰτίας. Εἵλωτες καὶ Μεσσήνιοι πρὸς Λακεδαιμονίους ἀλλοτρίως ἔχοντες τὸ μὲν πρὸ τοῦ ἡσυχίαν εἶχον, φοβούμενοι τὴν τῆς Σπάρτης ὑπεροχήν τε καὶ δύναμιν· ἐπεὶ δὲ διὰ τὸν σεισμὸν ἑώρων τοὺς πλείους αὐτῶν ἀπολωλότας, κατεφρόνησαν τῶν ἀπολελειμμένων, ὀλίγων ὄντων. διόπερ πρὸς ἀλλήλους συνθέμενοι κοινῇ τὸν πόλεμον ἐξήνεγκαν τὸν πρὸς τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους. ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων Ἀρχίδαμος διὰ τῆς ἰδίας προνοίας καὶ κατὰ τὸν σεισμὸν ἔσωζε τοὺς πολίτας καὶ κατὰ τὸν πόλεμον γενναίως τοῖς ἐπιτιθεμένοις ἀντετάξατο. τῆς μὲν γὰρ πόλεως συνεχομένης ὑπὸ τῆς τοῦ σεισμοῦ δεινότητος, πρῶτος Σπαρτιατῶν ἐκ τῆς πόλεως ἁρπάσας τὴν πανοπλίαν ἐπὶ τὴν χώραν ἐξεπήδησε, καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις πολίταις τὸ αὐτὸ πράττειν παρήγγειλεν. ὑπακουσάντων δὲ τῶν Σπαρτιατῶν, τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον οἱ περιλειφθέντες ἐσώθησαν, οὓς συντάξας ὁ βασιλεὺς Ἀρχίδαμος παρεσκευάζετο πολεμεῖν τοῖς ἀφεστηκόσιν.
Such, then, were the events of this year. When Phaeon was archon in Athens, in Rome the consulship was taken over by Lucius Furius Mediolanus and Marcus Manilius Vaso. During this year a great and incredible catastrophe befell the Lacedemonians; for great earthquakes occurred in Sparta, and as a result the houses collapsed from their foundations and more than twenty thousand Lacedemonians perished. And since the tumbling down of the city and the falling in of the houses continued uninterruptedly over a long period, many persons were caught and crushed in the collapse of the walls and no little household property was ruined by the quake. And although they suffered this disaster because some god, as it were, was wreaking his anger upon them, it so happened that other dangers befell them at the hands of men for the following reasons. The Helots and Messenians, although enemies of the Lacedemonians, had remained quiet up to this time, since they stood in fear of the eminent position and power of Sparta; but when they observed that the larger part of them had perished because of the earthquake, they held in contempt the survivors, who were few. Consequently they came to an agreement with each other and joined together in the war against the Lacedemonians. The king of the Lacedemonians, Archidamus, by his personal foresight not only was the saviour of his fellow citizens even during the earthquake, but in the course of the war also he bravely fought the aggressors. For instance, when the terrible earthquake struck Sparta, he was the first Spartan to seize his armour and hasten from the city into the country, calling upon the other citizens to follow his example. The Spartans obeyed him and thus those who survived the shock were saved and these men King Archidamus organized into an army and prepared to make war upon the revolters.
§ 11.64
οἱ δὲ Μεσσήνιοι μετὰ τῶν Εἱλώτων συνταχθέντες τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ὥρμησαν ἐπὶ τὴν Σπάρτην, ὑπολαμβάνοντες αὐτὴν αἱρήσειν διὰ τὴν ἐρημίαν τῶν βοηθησόντων· ὡς δʼ ἤκουσαν τοὺς ὑπολελειμμένους μετʼ Ἀρχιδάμου τοῦ βασιλέως συντεταγμένους ἑτοίμους εἶναι πρὸς τὸν ὑπὲρ τῆς πατρίδος ἀγῶνα, ταύτης μὲν τῆς ἐπιβολῆς ἀπέστησαν, καταλαβόμενοι δὲ τῆς Μεσσηνίας χωρίον ὀχυρόν, ἐκ τούτου τὴν ὁρμὴν ποιούμενοι κατέτρεχον τὴν Λακωνικήν. οἱ δὲ Σπαρτιᾶται καταφυγόντες ἐπὶ τὴν παρὰ τῶν Ἀθηναίων βοήθειαν προσελάβοντο παρʼ αὐτῶν δύναμιν· οὐδὲν δʼ ἧττον καὶ παρὰ τῶν ἄλλων συμμάχων ἀθροίσαντες δυνάμεις ἀξιόμαχοι τοῖς πολεμίοις ἐγενήθησαν. καὶ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον πολὺ προεῖχον τῶν πολεμίων, ὕστερον δὲ ὑποψίας γενομένης ὡς τῶν Ἀθηναίων μελλόντων ἀποκλίνειν πρὸς τοὺς Μεσσηνίους, ἀπέλυσαν αὐτῶν τὴν συμμαχίαν, φήσαντες ἱκανοὺς ἔχειν πρὸς τὸν ἐφεστῶτα κίνδυνον τοὺς ἄλλους συμμάχους. οἱ δὲ Ἀθηναῖοι δόξαντες ἑαυτοὺς ἠτιμάσθαι, τότε μὲν ἀπηλλάγησαν· μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ἀλλοτρίως ἔχοντες τὰ πρὸς τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους ἀεὶ μᾶλλον τὴν ἔχθραν ἐξεπύρσευον. διὸ καὶ ταύτην μὲν ἀρχὴν ἔλαβον τῆς ἀλλοτριότητος,ὕστερον δὲ αἱ πόλεις διηνέχθησαν, καὶ μεγάλους ἐπανελόμεναι πολέμους ἔπλησαν ἅπασαν τὴν Ἑλλάδα μεγάλων ἀτυχημάτων. ἀλλὰ γὰρ περὶ τούτων τὰ κατὰ μέρος ἐν τοῖς οἰκείοις χρόνοις ἀναγράψομεν. τότε δὲ οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι στρατεύσαντες ἐπὶ τὴν Ἰθώμην μετὰ τῶν συμμάχων ἐπολιόρκουν αὐτήν. οἱ δʼ Εἵλωτες πανδημεὶ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων ἀφεστῶτες συνεμάχουν τοῖς Μεσσηνίοις, καὶ ποτὲ μὲν ἐνίκων, ποτὲ δὲ ἡττῶντο. ἐπὶ δὲ ἔτη δέκα τοῦ πολέμου μὴ δυναμένου διακριθῆναι, διετέλουν τοῦτον τὸν χρόνον ἀλλήλους κακοποιοῦντες.
The Messenians together with the Helots at first advanced against the city of Sparta, assuming that they would take it because there would be no one to defend it; but when they heard that the survivors were drawn up in a body with Archidamus the king and were ready for the struggle on behalf of their native land, they gave up this plan, and seizing a stronghold in Messenia they made it their base of operations and from there continued to overrun Laconia. And the Spartans, turning for help to the Athenians, received from them an army; and they gathered troops as well from the rest of their allies and thus became able to meet their enemy on equal terms. At the outset they were much superior to the enemy, but at a later time, when a suspicion arose that the Athenians were about to go over to the Messenians, they broke the alliance with them, stating as their reason that in the other allies they had sufficient men to meet the impending battle. The Athenians, although they believed that they had suffered an affront, at the time did no more than withdraw; later, however, their relations to the Lacedemonians being unfriendly, they were more and more inclined to fan the flames of hatred. Consequently the Athenians took this incident as the first cause of the estrangement of the two states, and later on they quarrelled and, embarking upon great wars, filled all Greece with vast calamities. But we shall give an account of these matters severally in connection with the appropriate periods of time. At the time in question the Lacedemonians together with their allies marched forth against Ithome and laid siege to it. And the Helots, revolting in a body from the Lacedemonians, joined as allies with the Messenians, and at one time they were winning and at another losing. And since for ten years no decision could be reached in the war, for that length of time they never ceased injuring each other.
§ 11.65
μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Ἀθήνησι μὲν ἦν ἄρχων Θεαγενείδης, ἐν Ῥώμῃ δʼ ὕπατοι καθειστήκεσαν Λεύκιος Αἰμίλιος Μάμερκος καὶ Λεύκιος Ἰούλιος Ἴουλος, Ὀλυμπιὰς δʼ ἤχθη ἑβδομηκοστὴ καὶ ὀγδόη, καθʼ ἣν ἐνίκα στάδιον Παρμενίδης Ποσειδωνιάτης. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Ἀργείοις καὶ Μυκηναίοις ἐνέστη πόλεμος διὰ τοιαύτας αἰτίας. Μυκηναῖοι διὰ τὸ παλαιὸν ἀξίωμα τῆς ἰδίας πατρίδος οὐχ ὑπήκουον τοῖς Ἀργείοις, ὥσπερ αἱ λοιπαὶ πόλεις αἱ κατὰ τὴν Ἀργείαν, ἀλλὰ κατʼ ἰδίαν ταττόμενοι τοῖς Ἀργείοις οὐ προσεῖχον· ἠμφισβήτουν δὲ καὶ περὶ τῶν ἱερῶν τῆς Ἥρας, καὶ τὸν ἀγῶνα τῶν Νεμέων ἠξίουν αὐτοὶ διοικεῖν· πρὸς δὲ τούτοις τῶν Ἀργείων ψηφισαμένων μὴ συμμαχεῖν εἰς Θερμοπύλας τοῖς Λακεδαιμονίοις, ἐὰν μὴ μέρος τῆς ἡγεμονίας αὐτοῖς παραδῶσι, μόνοι τῶν τὴν Ἀργείαν κατοικούντων συνεμάχησαν οἱ Μυκηναῖοι τοῖς Λακεδαιμονίοις. τὸ δὲ σύνολον ὑπώπτευον αὐτούς, μήποτε ἰσχύσαντες ἐπὶ πλέον τῆς ἡγεμονίας ἀμφισβητήσωσι τοῖς Ἀργείοις διὰ τὸ παλαιὸν φρόνημα τῆς πόλεως. διὰ δὴ ταύτας τὰς αἰτίας ἀλλοτρίως διακείμενοι, πάλαι μὲν ἔσπευδον ἆραι τὴν πόλιν, τότε δὲ καιρὸν εὔθετον ἔχειν ἐνόμιζον, ὁρῶντες τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους τεταπεινωμένους καὶ μὴ δυναμένους τοῖς Μυκηναίοις βοηθεῖν. ἀθροίσαντες οὖν ἀξιόλογον δύναμιν ἔκ τε Ἄργους καὶ ἐκ τῶν συμμαχίδων πόλεων ἐστράτευσαν ἐπʼ αὐτούς, νικήσαντες δὲ μάχῃ τοὺς Μυκηναίους καὶ συγκλείσαντες ἐντὸς τειχῶν ἐπολιόρκουν τὴν πόλιν. οἱ δὲ Μυκηναῖοι χρόνον μέν τινα τοὺς πολιορκοῦντας εὐτόνως ἠμύνοντο, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα λειπόμενοι τῷ πολέμῳ, καὶ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων μὴ δυναμένων βοηθῆσαι διὰ τοὺς ἰδίους πολέμους καὶ τὴν ἐκ τῶν σεισμῶν γενομένην αὐτοῖς συμφοράν, ἄλλων δʼ οὐκ ὄντων συμμάχων, ἐρημίᾳ τῶν ἐπικουρούντων κατὰ κράτος ἥλωσαν. οἱ δὲ Ἀργεῖοι τοὺς Μυκηναίους ἀνδραποδισάμενοι καὶ δεκάτην ἐξ αὐτῶν τῷ θεῷ καθιερώσαντες, τὰς Μυκήνας κατέσκαψαν. αὕτη μὲν οὖν ἡ πόλις, εὐδαίμων ἐν τοῖς ἀρχαίοις χρόνοις γενομένη καὶ μεγάλους ἄνδρας ἔχουσα καὶ πράξεις ἀξιολόγους ἐπιτελεσαμένη, τοιαύτην ἔσχε τὴν καταστροφήν, καὶ διέμεινεν ἀοίκητος μέχρι τῶν καθʼ ἡμᾶς χρόνων. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἐπράχθη κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν ἐνιαυτόν.
The following year Theageneides was archon in Athens, and in Rome the consuls elected were Lucius Aemilius Mamercus and Lucius Julius Iulus, and the Seventy-eighth Olympiad was celebrated, that in which Parmenides of Posidonia won the "stadion." In this year a war broke out between the Argives and Mycenaeans for the following reasons. The Mycenaeans, because of the ancient prestige of their country, would not be subservient to the Argives as the other cities of Argolis were, but they maintained an independent position and would take no orders from the Argives; and they kept disputing with them also over the shrine of Hera and claiming that they had the right to administer the Nemean games by themselves. Furthermore, when the Argives voted not to join with the Lacedemonians in the battle at Thermopylae unless they were given a share in the supreme command, the Mycenaeans were the only people of Argolis who fought at the side of the Lacedemonians. In a word, the Argives were suspicious of the Mycenaeans, fearing lest, if they got any stronger, they might, on the strength of the ancient prestige of Mycenae, dispute the right of Argos to the leadership. Such, then, were the reasons for the bad blood between them; and from of old the Argives had ever been eager to exalt their city, and now they thought they had a favourable opportunity, seeing that the Lacedemonians had been weakened and were unable to come to the aid of the Mycenaeans. Therefore the Argives, gathering a strong army from both Argos and the cities of their allies, marched against the Mycenaeans, and after defeating them in battle and shutting them within their walls, they laid siege to the city. The Mycenaeans for a time resisted the besiegers with vigour, but afterwards, since they were being worsted in the fighting and the Lacedemonians could bring them no aid because of their own wars and the disaster that had overtaken them in the earthquakes, and since there were no other allies, they were taken by storm through lack of support from outside. The Argives sold the Mycenaeans into slavery, dedicated a tenth part of them to the god, and razed Mycenae. So this city, which in ancient times had enjoyed such felicity, possessing great men and having to its credit memorable achievements, met with such an end, and has remained uninhabited down to our own times. These, then, were the events of this year.
§ 11.66
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησι Λυσιστράτου Ῥωμαῖοι κατέστησαν ὑπάτους Λεύκιον Πινάριον Μαμερτῖνον καὶ Πούπλιον Φούριον Φίφρωνα. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Ἱέρων ὁ τῶν Συρακοσίων βασιλεὺς τοὺς Ἀναξίλα παῖδας τοῦ γενομένου τυράννου Ζάγκλης εἰς Συρακούσας μεταπεμψάμενος μεγάλαις δωρεαῖς ἀνεμίμνησκε τῆς Γέλωνος γενομένης πρὸς τὸν πατέρα αὐτῶν εὐεργεσίας, καὶ συνεβούλευεν αὐτοῖς ἤδη τὴν ἡλικίαν ἠνδρωμένοις ἀπαιτῆσαι λόγον παρὰ Μικύθου τοῦ ἐπιτροπεύοντος, καὶ τὴν δυναστείαν αὐτοὺς παραλαβεῖν. τούτων δʼ ἐπανελθόντων εἰς τὸ Ῥήγιον, καὶ τὸν ἐπίτροπον λόγον ἀπαιτούντων τῶν διῳκημένων, ὁ Μίκυθος, ἀνὴρ ὢν ἀγαθός, συνήγαγε τοὺς πατρικοὺς φίλους τῶν παίδων καὶ τὸν λόγον οὕτω καθαρῶς ἀπέδωκεν, ὥστε ἅπαντας τοὺς παρόντας θαυμάζειν τήν τε δικαιοσύνην καὶ τὴν πίστιν, τοὺς δὲ παῖδας μεταμεληθέντας ἐπὶ τοῖς πραχθεῖσιν ἀξιοῦν τὸν Μίκυθον πάλιν τὴν ἀρχὴν παραλαβεῖν, καὶ πατρὸς ἐξουσίαν ἔχοντα καὶ τάξιν διοικεῖν τὰ κατὰ τὴν δυναστείαν. οὐ μὴν ὁ Μίκυθός γε συνεχώρησεν, ἀλλὰ πάντα παραδοὺς ἀκριβῶς καὶ τὴν ἰδίαν οὐσίαν ἐνθέμενος εἰς πλοῖον ἐξέπλευσεν ἐκ τοῦ Ῥηγίου, προπεμπόμενος ὑπὸ τῆς τῶν ὄχλων εὐνοίας. οὗτος μὲν οὖν εἰς τὴν Ἑλλάδα κατάρας ἐν Τεγέαις τῆς Ἀρκαδίας κατεβίωσεν ἐπαινούμενος. Ἱέρων δʼ ὁ τῶν Συρακοσίων βασιλεὺς ἐτελεύτησεν ἐν τῇ Κατάνῃ, καὶ τιμῶν ἡρωικῶν ἔτυχεν, ὡς ἂν κτίστης γεγονὼς τῆς πόλεως. οὗτος μὲν οὖν ἄρξας ἔτη ἕνδεκα κατέλιπε τὴν βασιλείαν Θρασυβούλῳ τῷ ἀδελφῷ, ὃς ἦρξε Συρακοσίων ἐνιαυτὸν ἕνα.
When Lysistratus was archon in Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Lucius Pinarius Mamertinus and Publius Furius Fifron. In this year Hieron, the king of the Syracusans, summoning to Syracuse the sons of Anaxilas, the former tyrant of Zancle, and giving them great gifts, reminded them of the benefactions Gelon had rendered their father, and advised them, now that they had come of age, to require an accounting of Micythus, their guardian, and themselves to take over the government of Zancle. And when they had returned to Rhegium and required of their guardian an accounting of his administration, Micythus, who was an upright man, gathered together the old family friends of the children and rendered so honest an accounting that all present were filled with admiration of both his justice and good faith; and the children, regretting the steps they had taken, begged Micythus to take back the administration and to conduct the affairs of the state with a father's power and position. Micythus, however, did not accede to the request, but after turning everything over to them punctiliously and putting his own goods aboard a boat he set sail from Rhegium, accompanied by the goodwill of the populace; and reaching Greece he spent the rest of his life in Tegea in Arcadia, enjoying the approval of men. And Hieron, the king of the Syracusans, died in Catana and received the honours which are accorded to heroes, as having been the founder of the city. He had ruled eleven years, and he left the kingdom to his brother Thrasybulus, who ruled over the Syracusans for one year.
§ 11.67
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησι Λυσανίου Ῥωμαῖοι κατέστησαν ὑπάτους Ἄππιον Κλαύδιον καὶ Τίτον Κοΐντιον Καπιτώλιον. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Θρασύβουλος ὁ τῶν Συρακοσίων βασιλεὺς ἐξέπεσεν ἐκ τῆς ἀρχῆς, περὶ οὗ τὰ κατὰ μέρος ἀναγράφοντας ἡμᾶς ἀναγκαῖόν ἐστι βραχὺ τοῖς χρόνοις ἀναδραμόντας ἀπʼ ἀρχῆς ἅπαντα καθαρῶς ἐκθεῖναι. Γέλων ὁ Δεινομένους ἀρετῇ καὶ στρατηγίᾳ πολὺ τοὺς ἄλλους διενέγκας καὶ Καρχηδονίους καταστρατηγήσας ἐνίκησε παρατάξει μεγάλῃ τοὺς βαρβάρους, καθότι προείρηται· χρησάμενος δὲ ἐπιεικῶς τοῖς καταπολεμηθεῖσι καὶ καθόλου τοῖς πλησιοχώροις πᾶσι προσενεχθεὶς φιλανθρώπως, μεγάλης ἔτυχεν ἀποδοχῆς παρὰ τοῖς Σικελιώταις. οὗτος μὲν οὖν ὑπὸ πάντων ἀγαπώμενος διὰ τὴν πρᾳότητα, διετέλεσε τὸν βίον εἰρηνικῶς μέχρι τῆς τελευτῆς. τὴν δὲ βασιλείαν διαδεξάμενος Ἱέρων ὁ πρεσβύτατος τῶν ἀδελφῶν οὐχ ὁμοίως ἦρχε τῶν ὑποτεταγμένων· ἦν γὰρ καὶ φιλάργυρος καὶ βίαιος καὶ καθόλου τῆς ἁπλότητος καὶ καλοκἀγαθίας ἀλλοτριώτατος. διὸ καὶ πλείονές τινες ἀφίστασθαι βουλόμενοι παρακατέσχον τὰς ἰδίας ὁρμὰς διὰ τὴν Γέλωνος δόξαν καὶ τὴν εἰς τοὺς ἅπαντας Σικελιώτας εὔνοιαν. μετὰ δὲ τὴν Ἱέρωνος τελευτὴν παραλαβὼν τὴν ἀρχὴν Θρασύβουλος ὁ ἀδελφὸς ὑπερέβαλε τῇ κακίᾳ τὸν πρὸ αὐτοῦ βασιλεύσαντα. βίαιος γὰρ ὢν καὶ φονικὸς πολλοὺς μὲν τῶν πολιτῶν ἀνῄρει παρὰ τὸ δίκαιον, οὐκ ὀλίγους δὲ φυγαδεύων ἐπὶ ψευδέσι διαβολαῖς τὰς οὐσίας εἰς τὸ βασιλικὸν ἀνελάμβανε· καθόλου δὲ μισῶν καὶ μισούμενος ὑπὸ τῶν ἀδικουμένων, μισθοφόρων πλῆθος ἐξενολόγησεν, ἀντίταγμα κατασκευάζων ταῖς πολιτικαῖς δυνάμεσιν. ἀεὶ δὲ μᾶλλον τοῖς πολίταις ἀπεχθόμενος, καὶ πολλοὺς μὲν ὑβρίζων, τοὺς δὲ ἀναιρῶν, ἠνάγκασε τοὺς ἀδικουμένους ἀποστῆναι. διόπερ οἱ Συρακόσιοι προστησάμενοι τοὺς ἡγησομένους ὥρμησαν ἐπὶ τὴν κατάλυσιν τῆς τυραννίδος πανδημεί, καὶ συνταχθέντες ὑπὸ τῶν ἡγεμόνων ἀντείχοντο τῆς ἐλευθερίας. Θρασύβουλος δὲ ὁρῶν τὴν πόλιν ὅλην ἐπʼ αὐτὸν στρατευομένην, τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἐπεχείρει λόγῳ καταπαύειν τὴν στάσιν· ὡς δʼ ἑώρα τὴν ὁρμὴν τῶν Συρακοσίων ἀκατάπαυστον οὖσαν, συνήγαγεν ἔκ τε τῆς Κατάνης τοὺς κατοικισθέντας ὑφʼ Ἱέρωνος καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους συμμάχους, ἔτι δὲ καὶ μισθοφόρων πλῆθος, ὥστε τοὺς ἅπαντας γενέσθαι σχεδὸν περὶ τοὺς μυρίους πεντακισχιλίους. οὗτος μὲν οὖν τῆς πόλεως κατειληφὼς τὴν ὀνομαζομένην Ἀχραδινὴν καὶ τὴν Νῆσον ὀχυρὰν οὖσαν, καὶ ἐκ τούτων ὁρμώμενος, διεπολέμει πρὸς τοὺς ἀφεστῶτας.
When Lysanias was archon in Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Appius Claudius and Titus Quinctius Capitolinus. During this year Thrasybulus, the king of the Syracusans, was driven from his throne, and since we are writing a detailed account of this event, we must go back a few years and set forth clearly the whole story from the beginning. Gelon, the son of Deinomenes, who far excelled all other men in valour and strategy and out-generalled the Carthaginians, defeated these barbarians in a great battle, as has been told; and since he treated the peoples whom he had subdued with fairness and, in general, conducted himself humanely toward all his immediate neighbours, he enjoyed high favour among the Sicilian Greeks. Thus Gelon, being beloved by all because of his mild rule, lived in uninterrupted peace until his death. But Hieron, the next oldest among the brothers, who succeeded to the throne, did not rule over his subjects in the same manner; for he was avaricious and violent and, speaking generally, an utter stranger to sincerity and nobility of character. Consequently there were a good many who wished to revolt, but they restrained their inclinations because of Gelon's reputation and the goodwill he had shown towards all the Sicilian Greeks. After the death of Hieron, however, his brother Thrasybulus, who succeeded to the throne, surpassed in wickedness his predecessor in the kingship. For being a violent man and murderous by nature, he put to death many citizens unjustly and drove not a few into exile on false charges, confiscating their possessions into the royal treasury; and since, speaking generally, he hated those he had wronged and was hated by them, he enlisted a large body of mercenaries, preparing in this way a legion with which to oppose the citizen soldiery. And since he kept incurring more and most the hatred of the citizens by outraging many and executing others, he compelled the victims to revolt. Consequently the Syracusans, choosing men who would take the lead, set about as one man to destroy the tyranny, and once they had been organized by their leaders they clung stubbornly to their freedom. When Thrasybulus saw that the whole city was in arms against him, he at first attempted to stop the revolt by persuasion; but after he observed that the movement of the Syracusans could not be halted, he gathered together both the colonists whom Hieron had settled in Catana and his other allies, as well as a multitude of mercenaries, so that his army numbered all told almost fifteen thousand men. Then, seizing Achradine, as it is called, and the Island, which was fortified, and using them as bases, he began a war upon the revolting citizens.
§ 11.68
οἱ δὲ Συρακόσιοι τὸ μὲν πρῶτον μέρος τῆς πόλεως κατελάβοντο τὴν ὀνομαζομένην Τύχην, ἐκ ταύτης δὲ ὁρμώμενοι πρεσβευτὰς ἀπέστειλαν εἰς Γέλαν καὶ Ἀκράγαντα καὶ Σελινοῦντα, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις εἰς Ἱμέραν καὶ πρὸς τὰς τῶν Σικελῶν πόλεις τὰς ἐν τῇ μεσογείῳ κειμένας, ἀξιοῦντες κατὰ τάχος συνελθεῖν καὶ συνελευθερῶσαι τὰς Συρακούσας. πάντων δὲ προθύμως ὑπακουόντων, καὶ συντόμως ἀποστειλάντων τῶν μὲν πεζοὺς καὶ ἱππεῖς στρατιώτας, τῶν δὲ ναῦς μακρὰς κεκοσμημένας εἰς ναυμαχίαν, ταχὺ συνήχθη δύναμις ἀξιόχρεως τοῖς Συρακοσίοις. διὸ καὶ τὰς ναῦς καταρτίσαντες οἱ Συρακόσιοι καὶ τὴν πεζὴν δύναμιν ἐκτάξαντες, ἑτοίμους ἑαυτοὺς ἀπέδειξαν καὶ πεζῇ καὶ κατὰ θάλατταν διαγωνίζεσθαι. ὁ δὲ Θρασύβουλος ἐγκαταλειπόμενος ὑπὸ τῶν συμμάχων καὶ τὰς ἐλπίδας ἐν αὐτοῖς ἔχων τοῖς μισθοφόροις, τῆς μὲν Ἀχραδινῆς καὶ τῆς Νήσου κύριος ἦν, τὸ δὲ λοιπὸν μέρος τῆς πόλεως κατεῖχον οἱ Συρακόσιοι. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ὁ μὲν Θρασύβουλος ταῖς ναυσὶν ἐπιπλεύσας ἐπὶ τοὺς πολεμίους, καὶ λειφθεὶς τῇ ναυμαχίᾳ, συχνὰς μὲν τριήρεις ἀπέβαλε, ταῖς δʼ ἄλλαις κατέφυγεν εἰς τὴν Νῆσον. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τὴν πεζὴν δύναμιν προαγαγὼν ἐκ τῆς Ἀχραδινῆς καὶ παραταξάμενος ἐν τοῖς προαστείοις ἡττήθη, καὶ πολλοὺς ἀποβαλὼν ἠναγκάσθη πάλιν εἰς τὴν Ἀχραδινὴν ἀποχωρῆσαι. τέλος δὲ ἀπογνοὺς τὴν τυραννίδα διεπρεσβεύσατο πρὸς τοὺς Συρακοσίους, καὶ συνθέμενος τὰ πρὸς αὐτοὺς ὑπόσπονδος ἀπῆλθεν εἰς Λοκρούς. οἱ δὲ Συρακόσιοι τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον ἐλευθερώσαντες τὴν πατρίδα τοῖς μὲν μισθοφόροις συνεχώρησαν ἀπελθεῖν ἐκ τῶν Συρακουσῶν, τὰς δὲ ἄλλας πόλεις τὰς τυραννουμένας ἢ φρουρὰς ἐχούσας ἐλευθερώσαντες ἀποκατέστησαν ταῖς πόλεσι τὰς δημοκρατίας. ἀπὸ δὲ τούτων τῶν χρόνων εἰρήνην ἔχουσα πολλὴν ἐπίδοσιν ἔλαβε πρὸς εὐδαιμονίαν, καὶ διεφύλαξε τὴν δημοκρατίαν ἔτη σχεδὸν ἑξήκοντα μέχρι τῆς Διονυσίου τυραννίδος. Θρασύβουλος δὲ καλῶς θεμελιωθεῖσαν βασιλείαν παραλαβών, διὰ τὴν ἰδίαν κακίαν αἰσχρῶς ἀπέβαλε τὴν ἀρχήν, καὶ φυγὼν εἰς Λοκροὺς ἐνταῦθα τὸν λοιπὸν χρόνον ἰδιωτεύων κατεβίωσεν. ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις ἐν τῇ Ῥώμῃ τότε πρώτως κατεστάθησαν δήμαρχοι τέτταρες, Γάιος Σικίνιος καὶ Λεύκιος Νεμετώριος, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις Μάρκος Δουίλλιος καὶ Σπόριος Ἀκίλιος.
The Syracusans at the outset seized a part of the city which is called Tyche, and operating from there they dispatched ambassadors to Gela, Acragas, and Selinus, and also to Himera and the cities of the Siceli in the interior of the island, asking them to come together with all speed and join with them in liberating Syracuse. And since all these cities acceded to this request eagerly and hurriedly dispatched aid, some of them infantry and cavalry and others warships fully equipped for action, in a brief time there was collected a considerable armament with which to aid the Syracusans. Consequently the Syracusans, having made ready their ships and drawn up their army for battle, demonstrated that they were ready to fight to a finish both on land and on sea. Now Thrasybulus, abandoned as he was by his allies and basing his hopes only upon the mercenaries, was master only of Achradine and the Island, whereas the rest of the city was in the hands of the Syracusans. And after this Thrasybulus sailed forth with his ships against the enemy, and after suffering defeat in the battle with the loss of numerous triremes, he withdrew with the remaining ships to the Island. Similarly he led forth his army also from Achradine and drew them up for battle in the suburbs, but he suffered defeat and was forced to retire with heavy losses back to Achradine. In the end, giving up hope of maintaining the tyranny, he opened negotiations with the Syracusans, came to an understanding with them, and retired under a truce to Locris. The Syracusans, having liberated their native city in this manner, gave permission to the mercenaries to withdraw from Syracuse, and they liberated the other cities, which were either in the hands of tyrants or had garrisons, and re established democracies in them. From this time the city enjoyed peace and increased greatly in prosperity, and it maintained its democracy for almost sixty years, until the tyranny which was established by Dionysius. But Thrasybulus, who had taken over a kingship which had been established on so fair a foundation, disgracefully lost his kingdom through his own wickedness, and fleeing to Locri he spent the rest of his life there in private station. While these events were taking place, in Rome this year for the first time four tribunes were elected to office, Gaius Sicinius, Lucius Numitorius, Marcus Duillius, and Spurius Acilius.
§ 11.69
τοῦ δʼ ἐνιαυσίου χρόνου διεληλυθότος Ἀθήνησι μὲν ἦρχε Λυσίθεος, ἐν Ῥώμῃ δʼ ὕπατοι καθειστήκεσαν Λεύκιος Οὐαλέριος Ποπλικόλας καὶ Τίτος Αἰμίλιος Μάμερκος. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν Ἀρτάβανος, τὸ μὲν γένος Ὑρκάνιος, δυνάμενος δὲ πλεῖστον παρὰ τῷ βασιλεῖ Ξέρξῃ καὶ τῶν δορυφόρων ἀφηγούμενος, ἔκρινεν ἀνελεῖν τὸν Ξέρξην καὶ τὴν βασιλείαν εἰς ἑαυτὸν μεταστῆσαι. ἀνακοινωσάμενος δὲ τὴν ἐπιβουλὴν πρὸς Μιθριδάτην τὸν εὐνοῦχον, ὃς ἦν κατακοιμιστὴς τοῦ βασιλέως καὶ τὴν κυριωτάτην ἔχων πίστιν, ἅμα δὲ καὶ συγγενὴς ὢν Ἀρταβάνου καὶ φίλος ὑπήκουσε πρὸς τὴν ἐπιβουλήν. ὑπὸ τούτου δὲ νυκτὸς εἰσαχθεὶς ὁ Ἀρτάβανος εἰς τὸν κοιτῶνα, καὶ τὸν Ξέρξην ἀνελών, ὥρμησεν ἐπὶ τοὺς υἱοὺς τοῦ βασιλέως. ἦσαν δὲ οὗτοι τρεῖς τὸν ἀριθμόν, Δαρεῖος μὲν ὁ πρεσβύτατος καὶ Ἀρταξέρξης, ἐν τοῖς βασιλείοις διατρίβοντες, ὁ δὲ τρίτος Ὑστάσπης ἀπόδημος ὢν κατʼ ἐκεῖνον τὸν καιρόν· εἶχε γὰρ τὴν ἐν Βάκτροις σατραπείαν. ὁ δʼ οὖν Ἀρτάβανος παραγενόμενος ἔτι νυκτὸς οὔσης πρὸς τὸν Ἀρταξέρξην ἔφησε Δαρεῖον τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ φονέα γεγονέναι τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ τὴν βασιλείαν εἰς ἑαυτὸν περισπᾶν. συνεβούλευσεν οὖν αὐτῷ πρὸ τοῦ κατασχεῖν ἐκεῖνον τὴν ἀρχὴν σκοπεῖν ὅπως μὴ δουλεύσῃ διὰ ῥᾳθυμίαν, ἀλλὰ βασιλεύσῃ τὸν φονέα τοῦ πατρὸς τιμωρησάμενος· ἐπηγγείλατο δʼ αὐτῷ συνεργοὺς παρέξεσθαι τοὺς δορυφόρους τοῦ βασιλέως. πεισθέντος δὲ τοῦ Ἀρταξέρξου καὶ παραχρῆμα μετὰ τῶν δορυφόρων ἀνελόντος τὸν ἀδελφὸν Δαρεῖον, ὁρῶν αὑτῷ τὴν ἐπιβολὴν εὐροοῦσαν, καὶ παραλαβὼν τοὺς ἰδίους υἱοὺς καὶ φήσας καιρὸν ἔχειν τὴν βασιλείαν κατακτήσασθαι, παίει τῷ ξίφει τὸν Ἀρταξέρξην. ὁ δὲ τρωθεὶς καὶ οὐδὲν παθὼν ὑπὸ τῆς πληγῆς ἠμύνατο τὸν Ἀρτάβανον καὶ κατενέγκας αὐτοῦ πληγὴν καιρίαν ἀπέκτεινε. παραδόξως δὲ σωθεὶς ὁ Ἀρταξέρξης καὶ τὸν φονέα τοῦ πατρὸς τετιμωρημένος παρέλαβε τὴν τῶν Περσῶν βασιλείαν. Ξέρξης μὲν οὖν τὸν εἰρημένον τρόπον ἐτελεύτησε, βασιλεύσας τῶν Περσῶν ἔτη πλείω τῶν εἴκοσι, τὴν δὲ ἀρχὴν διαδεξάμενος ὁ Ἀρταξέρξης ἐβασίλευσεν ἔτη τετταράκοντα.
With the passing of this year, in Athens Lysitheus was archon, and in Rome the consuls elected were Lucius Valerius Publicola and Titus Aemilius Mamercus. During this year, in Asia Artabanus, an Hyrcanian by birth, who enjoyed the greatest influence at the court of King Xerxes and was captain of the royal body-guard, decided to slay Xerxes and transfer the kingship to himself. He communicated the plot to Mithridates the eunuch, who was the king's chamberlain and enjoyed his supreme confidence, and he, since he was also a relative of Artabanus as well as his friend, agreed to the plot. And Artabanus, being led at night by Mithridates into the king's bed-chamber, slew Xerxes and then set out after the king's sons. These were three in number, Darius the eldest and Artaxerxes, who were both living in the palace, and the third, Hystaspes, who happened to be away from home at the time, since he was administering the satrapy of Bactria. Now Artabanus, coming while it was yet night to Artaxerxes, told him that his brother Darius had murdered his father and was shifting the kingship to himself. He counselled him, therefore, before Darius should seize the throne, to see to it that he should not become a slave through sheer indifference but that he should ascend the throne after punishing the murderer of his father; and he promised to get the body-guard of the king to support him in the undertaking. Artaxerxes fell in with the advice and at once, with the help of the body-guard, slew his brother Darius. And when Artabanus saw how his plan was prospering, he called his own sons to his side and crying out that now was his time to win the kingship he strikes Artaxerxes with his sword. Artaxerxes, being wounded merely and not seriously hurt by the blow, held off Artabanus and dealing him a fatal blow killed him. Thus Artaxerxes, after being saved in this unexpected fashion and having taken vengeance upon the slayer of his father, took over the kingship of the Persians. So Xerxes died in the manner we have described, after having been king of the Persians for more than twenty years, and Artaxerxes succeeded to the kingship and ruled for forty years.
§ 11.70
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησιν Ἀρχεδημίδου Ῥωμαῖοι μὲν κατέστησαν ὑπάτους Αὖλον Οὐεργίνιον καὶ Τίτον Μινούκιον, Ὀλυμπιὰς δʼ ἤχθη ἑβδομηκοστὴ καὶ ἐνάτη, καθʼ ἣν ἐνίκα στάδιον Ξενοφῶν Κορίνθιος. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων ἀποστάντες Θάσιοι ἀπὸ Ἀθηναίων, μετάλλων ἀμφισβητοῦντες, ἐκπολιορκηθέντες ὑπὸ τῶν Ἀθηναίων ἠναγκάσθησαν πάλιν ὑπʼ ἐκείνους τάττεσθαι. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ Αἰγινήτας ἀποστάντας Ἀθηναῖοι χειρωσόμενοι τὴν Αἴγιναν πολιορκεῖν ἐπεχείρησαν· αὕτη γὰρ ἡ πόλις τοῖς κατὰ θάλατταν ἀγῶσι πολλάκις εὐημεροῦσα φρονήματός τε πλήρης ἦν καὶ χρημάτων καὶ τριήρων εὐπορεῖτο, καὶ τὸ σύνολον ἀλλοτρίως ἀεὶ διέκειτο πρὸς Ἀθηναίους. διόπερ στρατεύσαντες ἐπʼ αὐτὴν τὴν χώραν ἐδῄωσαν, καὶ τὴν Αἴγιναν πολιορκοῦντες ἔσπευδον ἑλεῖν κατὰ κράτος. καθόλου γὰρ ἐπὶ πολὺ τῇ δυνάμει προκόπτοντες οὐκέτι τοῖς συμμάχοις ὥσπερ πρότερον ἐπιεικῶς ἐχρῶντο, ἀλλὰ βιαίως καὶ ὑπερηφάνως ἦρχον. διόπερ οἱ πολλοὶ τῶν συμμάχων τὴν βαρύτητα φέρειν ἀδυνατοῦντες ἀλλήλοις διελέγοντο περὶ ἀποστάσεως, καί τινες τοῦ κοινοῦ συνεδρίου καταφρονήσαντες κατʼ ἰδίαν ἐτάττοντο. ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις Ἀθηναῖοι θαλαττοκρατοῦντες εἰς Ἀμφίπολιν ἐξέπεμψαν οἰκήτορας μυρίους, οὓς μὲν ἐκ τῶν πολιτῶν, οὓς δʼ ἐκ τῶν συμμάχων καταλέξαντες, καὶ τὴν χώραν κατακληρουχήσαντες μέχρι μέν τινος ἐκράτουν τῶν Θρᾳκῶν, ὕστερον δὲ αὐτῶν ἀναβάντων εἰς Θρᾴκην συνέβη πάντας τοὺς εἰσβαλόντας εἰς τὴν χώραν τῶν Θρᾳκῶν ὑπὸ τῶν Ἠδωνῶν καλουμένων διαφθαρῆναι.
When Archedemides was archon in Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Aulus Verginius and Titus Minucius, and the Seventy-ninth Olympiad was celebrated, that in which Xenophon of Corinth won the "stadion." In this year the Thasians revolted from the Athenians because of a quarrel over mines; but they were forced to capitulate by the Athenians and compelled to subject themselves again to their rule. Similarly also, when the Aeginetans revolted, the Athenians, intending to reduce them to subjection, undertook the siege of Aegina; for this state, being often successful in its engagements at sea, was puffed up with pride and was also well provided with both money and triremes, and, in a word, was constantly at odds with the Athenians. Consequently they sent an army against it and laid waste its territory, and then, laying siege to Aegina, they bent every effort on taking it by storm. For, speaking generally, the Athenians, now that they were making great advances in power, no longer treated their allies fairly, as they had formerly done, but were ruling them harshly and arrogantly. Consequently most of the allies, unable longer to endure their severity, were discussing rebellion with each other, and some of them, scorning the authority of the General Congress, were acting as independent states. While these events were taking place, the Athenians, who were now masters of the sea, dispatched ten thousand colonists to Amphipolis, recruiting a part of them from their own citizens and a part from the allies. They portioned out the territory in allotments, and for a time held the upper hand over the Thracians, but at a later time, as a result of their further advance into Thrace, all who entered the country of the Thracians were slain by a people known as the Edones.
§ 11.71
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησι Τληπολέμου Ῥωμαῖοι κατέστησαν ὑπάτους Τίτον Κοΐντιον καὶ Κόιντον Σερουίλιον Στροῦκτον. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Ἀρταξέρξης ὁ βασιλεὺς τῶν Περσῶν ἄρτι τὴν βασιλείαν ἀνακτησάμενος, τὸ μὲν πρῶτον κολάσας τοὺς μετεσχηκότας τῆς τοῦ πατρὸς ἀναιρέσεως διέταξε τὰ κατὰ τὴν βασιλείαν συμφερόντως αὐτῷ. τῶν μὲν γὰρ ὑπαρχόντων σατραπῶν τοὺς ἀλλοτρίως ἔχοντας πρὸς αὐτὸν ἀπέστησε, τῶν δὲ αὑτοῦ φίλων ἐπιλέξας τοὺς εὐθέτους παρέδωκε τὰς σατραπείας. ἐπεμελήθη δὲ καὶ τῶν προσόδων καὶ τῆς δυνάμεων κατασκευῆς, καὶ καθόλου τὴν βασιλείαν ὅλην ἐπιεικῶς διοικῶν μεγάλης ἀποδοχῆς ἐτύγχανε παρὰ τοῖς Πέρσαις. οἱ δὲ τὴν Αἴγυπτον κατοικοῦντες πυθόμενοι τὴν Ξέρξου τελευτὴν καὶ τὴν ὅλην ἐπίθεσιν καὶ ταραχὴν ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ τῶν Περσῶν, ἔκριναν ἀντέχεσθαι τῆς ἐλευθερίας. εὐθὺς οὖν ἀθροίσαντες δύναμιν ἀπέστησαν τῶν Περσῶν, καὶ τοὺς φορολογοῦντας τὴν Αἴγυπτον τῶν Περσῶν ἐκβαλόντες κατέστησαν βασιλέα τὸν ὀνομαζόμενον Ἰναρώ. οὗτος δὲ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἐκ τῶν ἐγχωρίων κατέλεγε στρατιώτας, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα καὶ μισθοφόρους ἐκ τῶν ἀλλοεθνῶν ἀθροίζων κατεσκεύαζε δύναμιν ἀξιόχρεων. ἔπεμψε δὲ καὶ πρὸς Ἀθηναίους πρέσβεις περὶ συμμαχίας, ὑπισχνούμενος αὐτοῖς, ἐὰν ἐλευθερώσωσι τοὺς Αἰγυπτίους, κοινὴν αὐτοῖς παρέξεσθαι τὴν βασιλείαν καὶ πολλαπλασίους τῆς εὐεργεσίας ἀποδώσειν χάριτας. οἱ δὲ Ἀθηναῖοι κρίναντες συμφέρειν αὐτοῖς τοὺς μὲν Πέρσας εἰς τὸ δυνατὸν ταπεινοῦν, τοὺς δὲ Αἰγυπτίους ἰδίους ἑαυτοῖς παρασκευάσαι πρὸς τὰ παράλογα τῆς τύχης, ἐψηφίσαντο τριακοσίαις τριήρεσι βοηθεῖν τοῖς Αἰγυπτίοις. οἱ μὲν οὖν Ἀθηναῖοι μετὰ πολλῆς προθυμίας περὶ τὴν τοῦ στόλου παρασκευὴν ἐγίνοντο. Ἀρταξέρξης δὲ πυθόμενος τὴν ἀπόστασιν τῶν Αἰγυπτίων καὶ τὰς εἰς τὸν πόλεμον παρασκευάς, ἔκρινε δεῖν τῷ μεγέθει τῶν δυνάμεων ὑπερᾶραι τοὺς Αἰγυπτίους. εὐθὺς οὖν ἐξ ἁπασῶν τῶν σατραπειῶν κατέλεγε στρατιώτας καὶ ναῦς κατεσκεύαζε, καὶ τῆς ἄλλης ἁπάσης παρασκευῆς ἐπιμέλειαν ἐποιεῖτο. καὶ τὰ μὲν κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν καὶ τὴν Αἴγυπτον ἐν τούτοις ἦν.
When Tlepolemus was archon in Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Titus Quinctius and Quintus Servilius Structus. This year Artaxerxes, the king of the Persians, who had just recovered the throne, first of all punished those who had had a part in the murder of his father and then organized the affairs of the kingdom to suit his own personal advantage. Thus with respect to the satraps then in office, those who were hostile to him he dismissed and from his friends he chose such as were competent and gave the satrapies to them. He also concerned himself with both the revenues and the preparation of armaments, and since in general his administration of the entire kingdom was mild, he enjoyed the favour of the Persians to a high degree. But when the inhabitants of Egypt learned of the death of Xerxes and of the general attempt upon the throne and the disorder in the Persian kingdom, they decided to strike for their liberty. At once, then, mustering an army, they revolted from the Persians, and after expelling the Persians whose duty it was to collect the tribute from Egypt, they set up as king a man named Inaros. He at first recruited soldiers from the native Egyptians, but afterwards he gathered also mercenaries from the other nations and amassed a considerable army. He dispatched ambassadors also to the Athenians to effect an alliance, promising them that, if they should liberate the Egyptians, he would give them a share in the kingdom and grant them favours many times greater than the good service they had rendered. And the Athenians, having decided that it was to their advantage to humble the Persians as far as they could and to attach the Egyptians closely to themselves against the unpredictable shiftings of Fortune, voted to send three hundred triremes to the aid of the Egyptians. The Athenians, therefore, with great enthusiasm set about the preparation of the expedition. As for Artaxerxes, when he learned of the revolt of the Egyptians and their preparations for war, he concluded that he must surpass the Egyptians in the size of his armaments. So he at once began to enrol soldiers from all the satrapies, build ships, and give his attention to every other kind of preparation. These were the events of this year in Asia and Egypt.
§ 11.72
κατὰ δὲ τὴν Σικελίαν ἄρτι καταλελυμένης τῆς ἐν ταῖς Συρακούσαις τυραννίδος καὶ πασῶν τῶν κατὰ τὴν νῆσον πόλεων ἠλευθερωμένων, πολλὴν ἐπίδοσιν ἐλάμβανεν ἡ σύμπασα Σικελία πρὸς εὐδαιμονίαν· εἰρήνην γὰρ ἔχοντες οἱ Σικελιῶται καὶ χώραν ἀγαθὴν νεμόμενοι, διὰ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν καρπῶν ταχὺ ταῖς οὐσίαις ἀνέτρεχον καὶ τὴν χώραν ἐπλήρωσαν οἰκετῶν καὶ κτηνῶν καὶ τῆς ἄλλης εὐδαιμονίας, μεγάλας μὲν λαμβάνοντες προσόδους, οὐδὲν δὲ εἰς τοὺς εἰωθότας πολέμους ἀναλίσκοντες. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα πάλιν εἰς πολέμους καὶ στάσεις ἐνέπεσον διὰ τοιαύτας τινὰς αἰτίας. καταλύσαντες τὴν Θρασυβούλου τυραννίδα συνήγαγον ἐκκλησίαν, καὶ περὶ τῆς ἰδίας δημοκρατίας βουλευσάμενοι πάντες ὁμογνωμόνως ἐψηφίσαντο Διὸς μὲν ἐλευθερίου κολοττιαῖον ἀνδριάντα κατασκευάσαι, κατʼ ἐνιαυτὸν δὲ θύειν ἐλευθέρια καὶ ἀγῶνας ἐπιφανεῖς ποιεῖν κατὰ τὴν αὐτὴν ἡμέραν, ἐν ᾗ τὸν τύραννον καταλύσαντες ἠλευθέρωσαν τὴν πατρίδα· θύειν δʼ ἐν τοῖς ἀγῶσι τοῖς θεοῖς ταύρους τετρακοσίους καὶ πεντήκοντα, καὶ τούτους δαπανᾶν εἰς τὴν τῶν πολιτῶν εὐωχίαν. τὰς δὲ ἀρχὰς ἁπάσας τοῖς ἀρχαίοις πολίταις ἀπένεμον· τοὺς δὲ ξένους τοὺς ἐπὶ τοῦ Γέλωνος πολιτευθέντας οὐκ ἠξίουν μετέχειν ταύτης τῆς τιμῆς, εἴτε οὐκ ἀξίους κρίναντες, εἴτε καὶ ἀπιστοῦντες μήποτε συντεθραμμένοι τυραννίδι καὶ μονάρχῳ συνεστρατευμένοι νεωτερίζειν ἐπιχειρήσωσιν· ὅπερ καὶ συνέβη γενέσθαι. τοῦ γὰρ Γέλωνος πλείονας τῶν μυρίων πολιτογραφήσαντος ξένους μισθοφόρους, ἐκ τούτων περιελείποντο πλείους τῶν ἑπτακισχιλίων κατὰ τοὺς ὑποκειμένους καιρούς.
In Sicily, as soon as the tyranny of Syracuse had been overthrown and all the cities of the island had been liberated, the whole of Sicily was making great strides toward prosperity. For the Sicilian Greeks were at peace, and the land they cultivated was fertile, so that the abundance of their harvests enabled them soon to increase their estates and to fill the land with slaves and domestic animals and every other accompaniment of prosperity, taking in great revenues on the one hand and spending nothing upon the wars to which they had been accustomed. But later on they were again plunged into wars and civil strife for the following reasons. After the Syracusans had overthrown the tyranny of Thrasybulus, they held a meeting of the Assembly, and after deliberating on forming a democracy of their own they all voted unanimously to make a colossal statue of Zeus Eleutherios (Liberator) and each year to celebrate with sacrifices the Festival of Liberation and hold games of distinction on the day on which they had overthrown the tyrant and liberated their native city; and they also voted to sacrifice to the gods, in connection with the games, four hundred and fifty bulls and to use them for the citizens' feast. As for all the magistracies, they proposed to assign them to the original citizens, but the aliens who had been admitted to citizenship under Gelon they did not see fit to allow to share in this dignity, either because they judged them to be unworthy or because they were suspicious lest men who had been brought up in the way of tyranny and had served in war under a monarch might attempt a revolution. And that is what actually happened. For Gelon had enrolled as citizens more than ten thousand foreign mercenaries, and of these there were left at the time in question more than seven thousand.
§ 11.73
οὗτοι τῆς ἐκ τῶν ἀρχαιρεσιῶν τιμῆς ἀπελαυνόμενοι χαλεπῶς ἔφερον, καὶ συμφρονήσαντες ἀπέστησαν τῶν Συρακοσίων, καὶ τῆς πόλεως κατελάβοντο τήν τε Ἀχραδινὴν καὶ τὴν Νῆσον, ἀμφοτέρων τῶν τόπων τούτων ἐχόντων ἴδιον τεῖχος καλῶς κατεσκευασμένον. οἱ δὲ Συρακόσιοι πάλιν ἐμπεσόντες εἰς ταραχὴν τὸ λοιπὸν τῆς πόλεως κατεῖχον, καὶ τὸ πρὸς τὰς Ἐπιπολὰς τετραμμένον αὐτῆς ἀπετείχισαν καὶ πολλὴν ἀσφάλειαν ἑαυτοῖς κατεσκεύασαν· εὐθὺς γὰρ τῆς ἐπὶ τὴν χώραν ἐξόδου τοὺς ἀφεστηκότας εὐχερῶς εἶργον καὶ ταχὺ τῶν ἐπιτηδείων ἐποίησαν ἀπορεῖν. οἱ δὲ ξένοι τοῖς μὲν πλήθεσιν ἐλείποντο τῶν Συρακοσίων, ταῖς δὲ ἐμπειρίαις ταῖς κατὰ πόλεμον πολὺ προεῖχον· διὸ καὶ γινομένων κατὰ τὴν πόλιν ἐπιθέσεων καὶ κατὰ μέρος συμπλοκῶν, ταῖς μὲν μάχαις οἱ ξένοι ἐπροτέρουν, εἰργόμενοι δὲ τῆς χώρας ἐλείποντο ταῖς παρασκευαῖς καὶ τροφῆς ἐσπάνιζον. καὶ τὰ μὲν κατὰ τὴν Σικελίαν ἐν τούτοις ἦν.
These aliens resented their being excluded from the dignity attending magistracies and with one accord revolted from the Syracusans, and they seized in the city both Achradine and the Island, both these places having their own well-built fortifications. The Syracusans, who were again plunged into disorder, held possession of the rest of the city; and that part of it which faced Epipolae they blocked off by a wall and made their own position very secure; for they anyone easily cut off the rebels from access to the countryside and soon caused them to be in want of provisions. But though in number the mercenaries were inferior to the Syracusans, yet in experience of warfare they were far superior; consequently, when attacks took place here and there throughout the city and isolated encounters, the mercenaries regularly had the upper hand in the combats, but since they were shut off from the countryside, they were in want of equipment and short of food. Such were the events in Sicily of this year.
§ 11.74
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησι Κόνωνος ἐν Ῥώμῃ, τὴν ὕπατον ἀρχὴν εἶχον Κόιντος Φάβιος Οὐιβουλανὸς καὶ Τιβέριος Αἰμίλιος Μάμερκος. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Ἀρταξέρξης μὲν ὁ βασιλεὺς τῶν Περσῶν κατέστησε στρατηγὸν ἐπὶ τὸν πρὸς Αἰγυπτίους πόλεμον Ἀχαιμένην τὸν Δαρείου μὲν υἱόν, ἑαυτοῦ δὲ θεῖον· τούτῳ δὲ παραδοὺς στρατιωτῶν ἱππέων τε καὶ πεζῶν ὑπὲρ τὰς τριάκοντα μυριάδας προσέταξε καταπολεμῆσαι τοὺς Αἰγυπτίους. οὗτος μὲν οὖν ἐπειδὴ κατήντησεν εἰς Αἴγυπτον, κατεστρατοπέδευσε πλησίον τοῦ Νείλου, καὶ τὴν δύναμιν ἐκ τῆς ὁδοιπορίας ἀναλαβὼν παρεσκευάζετο τὰ πρὸς τὴν μάχην· οἱ δʼ Αἰγύπτιοι συνηθροικότες ἐκ τῆς Λιβύης καὶ τῆς Αἰγύπτου τὴν δύναμιν, ἀνέμενον τὴν παρὰ τῶν Ἀθηναίων συμμαχίαν. καταπλευσάντων δὲ τῶν Ἀθηναίων εἰς τὴν Αἴγυπτον μετὰ διακοσίων νεῶν, καὶ μετὰ τῶν Αἰγυπτίων παραταξαμένων πρὸς τοὺς Πέρσας, ἐγένετο μάχη καρτερά. καὶ μέχρι μέν τινος οἱ Πέρσαι τοῖς πλήθεσι προέχοντες ἐπλεονέκτουν, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τῶν Ἀθηναίων βιασαμένων καὶ τοὺς καθʼ ἑαυτοὺς τεταγμένους τρεψαμένων καὶ πολλοὺς ἀναιρούντων, τὸ λοιπὸν πλῆθος τῶν βαρβάρων πρὸς φυγὴν ὥρμησε. πολλοῦ δὲ κατὰ τὴν φυγὴν γενομένου φόνου, τὸ τελευταῖον οἱ μὲν Πέρσαι τὸ πλέον μέρος τῆς δυνάμεως ἀποβαλόντες κατέφυγον ἐπὶ τὸ καλούμενον Λευκὸν τεῖχος, οἱ δʼ Ἀθηναῖοι ταῖς ἰδίαις ἀνδραγαθίαις νίκημα περιπεποιημένοι συνεδίωξαν τοὺς βαρβάρους εἰς τὸ προκείμενον χωρίον, καὶ οὐκ ἀφίσταντο τῆς πολιορκίας. Ἀρταξέρξης δὲ πυθόμενος τὴν τῶν ἰδίων ἧτταν, τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἀπέστειλέ τινας τῶν φίλων μετὰ πολλῶν χρημάτων εἰς τὴν Λακεδαίμονα, καὶ τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους ἠξίου πόλεμον ἐξενεγκεῖν τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις, νομίζων οὕτω τοὺς ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ νικῶντας Ἀθηναίους ἀποπλεύσειν εἰς τὰς Ἀθήνας βοηθήσοντας τῇ πατρίδι· τῶν δὲ Λακεδαιμονίων οὔτε χρήματα δεξαμένων οὔτε ἄλλως προσεχόντων τοῖς ὑπὸ Περσῶν ἀξιουμένοις ἀπογνοὺς τὴν ἀπὸ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων βοήθειαν ὁ Ἀρταξέρξης ἄλλας δυνάμεις παρεσκευάζετο· ἐπιστήσας δὲ αὐτοῖς ἡγεμόνας Ἀρτάβαζον καὶ Μεγάβυζον, ἄνδρας ἀρετῇ διαφέροντας, ἐξέπεμψε πολεμήσοντας τοῖς Αἰγυπτίοις.
When Conon was archon in Athens, in Rome the consulship was held by Quintus Fabius Vibulanus and Tiberius Aemilius Mamercus. This year Artaxerxes, the king of the Persians, appointed Achaemenes, who was a son of Darius and his own uncle, to be commander in the war against the Egyptians; and turning over to him more than three hundred thousand soldiers, counting both cavalry and infantry, he commanded them to subdue the Egyptians. Now Achaemenes, when he had entered Egypt, pitched his camp near the Nile, and when he had rested his army after the march, he made ready for battle; but the Egyptians, having gathered their army from Libya and Egypt, were awaiting the auxiliary force of the Athenians. After the Athenians had arrived in Egypt with two hundred ships and had been drawn up with the Egyptians in battle order against the Persians, a mighty struggle took place. And for a time the Persians with their superior numbers maintained the advantage, but later, when the Athenians seized the offensive, put to flight the forces opposing them, and slew many of them, the remainder of the barbarians turned to flight en masse. There was much slaughter in the course of the flight, and finally the Persians, after losing the larger part of their army, found refuge in the white Fortress, as it is called, while the Athenians, who had won the victory by their own deeds of valour, pursued the barbarians as far as the aforesaid stronghold and did not hesitate to besiege it. Artaxerxes, on learning of the defeat of his troops, at first sent some of his friends with a large sum of money to Lacedemon and asked the Lacedemonians to make war upon the Athenians, thinking that if they complied the Athenian troops who had won the victory in Egypt would sail back to Athens in order to defend their native city. When the Lacedemonians, however, neither accepted money nor paid any attention whatever to the requests of the Persians, Artaxerxes despaired of getting any aid from the Lacedemonians and set about preparing other armaments. In command of them he placed Artabazus and Megabyzus, men of outstanding merit, and dispatched them to make war upon the Egyptians.
§ 11.75
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησιν Εὐθίππου Ῥωμαῖοι κατέστησαν ὑπάτους Κόιντον Σερουίλιον καὶ Σπόριον Ποστούμιον Ἀλβῖνον. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν Ἀρτάβαζος καὶ Μεγάβυζος ἐκπεμφθέντες ἐπὶ τὸν πρὸς Αἰγυπτίους πόλεμον ἀνέζευξαν ἐκ τῆς Περσίδος, ἔχοντες στρατιώτας ἱππεῖς τε καὶ πεζοὺς πλείους τῶν τριάκοντα μυριάδων. ὡς δʼ ἦλθον εἰς Κιλικίαν καὶ Φοινίκην, τὰς μὲν πεζὰς δυνάμεις ἀνελάμβανον ἐκ τῆς ὁδοιπορίας, ναῦς δὲ προσέταξαν κατασκευάζειν τοῖς τε Κυπρίοις καὶ Φοίνιξι καὶ τοῖς τὴν Κιλικίαν οἰκοῦσι. καταρτισθεισῶν δὲ τριήρων τριακοσίων, ταύτας ἐκόσμησαν ἐπιβάταις τε τοῖς κρατίστοις καὶ ὅπλοις καὶ βέλεσι καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις τοῖς πρὸς ναυμαχίαν χρησίμοις. οὗτοι μὲν οὖν περὶ τὰς παρασκευὰς ἐγίνοντο καὶ γυμνασίας τῶν στρατιωτῶν ἐποιοῦντο καὶ συνείθιζον ἅπαντας ταῖς πολεμικαῖς ἐμπειρίαις, καὶ περὶ ταῦτα διέτριψαν σχεδόν τι τὸν ὑποκείμενον ἐνιαυτόν· οἱ δὲ κατὰ τὴν Αἴγυπτον Ἀθηναῖοι τοὺς περὶ τὴν Μέμφιν καταφυγόντας εἰς τὸ Λευκὸν τεῖχος ἐπολιόρκουν· ἀμυνομένων δὲ τῶν Περσῶν εὐρώστως οὐ δυνάμενοι τὸ χωρίον ἑλεῖν, ἔμειναν ἐπὶ τῆς πολιορκίας τὸν ἐνιαυτόν.
When Euthippus was archon in Athens, the Romans chose as consuls Quintus Servilius and Spurius Postumius Albinus. During this year, in Asia Artabazus and Megabyzus, who had been dispatched to the war against the Egyptians, set out from Persia with more than three hundred thousand soldiers, counting both cavalry and infantry. When they arrived in Cilicia and Phoenicia, they rested their land forces after the journey and commanded the Cyprians and Phoenicians and Cilicians to supply ships. And when the triremes had been made ready, they fitted them out with the ablest marines and arms and missiles and everything else that is useful in naval warfare. So these leaders were busy with their preparations and with giving their soldiers training and accustoming every man to the practice of warfare, and they spent almost this entire year in this way. Meanwhile the Athenians in Egypt were besieging the troops which had taken refuge near Memphis in the White Fortress; but since the Persians were putting up a stout defence, they were unable to take the stronghold and so spent the year in the siege.
§ 11.76
κατὰ δὲ τὴν Σικελίαν Συρακόσιοι μὲν πολεμοῦντες τοῖς ἀφεστηκόσι ξένοις συνεχεῖς προσβολὰς ἐποιοῦντο τῇ τε Ἀχραδινῇ καὶ τῇ Νήσῳ, καὶ ναυμαχίᾳ μὲν ἐνίκησαν τοὺς ἀποστάντας, πεζῇ δʼ οὐκ ἴσχυον ἐκβαλεῖν ἐκ τῆς πόλεως διὰ τὴν ὀχυρότητα τῶν τόπων. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα παρατάξεως γενομένης ἐπὶ τῆς χώρας, καὶ τῶν ἀγωνιζομένων παρʼ ἀμφοτέροις ἐκθύμως κινδυνευόντων, πεσεῖν συνέβη οὐκ ὀλίγους παρʼ ἀμφοτέροις, νικῆσαι δὲ τοὺς Συρακοσίους. μετὰ δὲ τὴν μάχην οἱ Συρακόσιοι τοὺς μὲν ἐπιλέκτους, ὄντας ἑξακοσίους, αἰτίους γενομένους τῆς νίκης, ἐστεφάνωσαν ἀριστεῖα δόντες ἀργυρίου μνᾶν ἑκάστῳ. ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις Δουκέτιος μὲν ὁ τῶν Σικελῶν ἡγεμών, χαλεπῶς ἔχων τοῖς τὴν Κατάνην οἰκοῦσι διὰ τὴν ἀφαίρεσιν τῆς τῶν Σικελῶν χώρας, ἐστράτευσεν ἐπʼ αὐτούς. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τῶν Συρακοσίων στρατευσάντων ἐπὶ τὴν Κατάνην, οὗτοι μὲν κοινῇ κατεκληρούχησαν τὴν χώραν καὶ τοὺς κατοικισθέντας ὑφʼ Ἱέρωνος τοῦ δυνάστου ἐπολέμουν· ἀντιταχθέντων δὲ τῶν ἐν τῇ Κατάνῃ καὶ λειφθέντων πλείοσι μάχαις, οὗτοι μὲν ἐξέπεσον ἐκ τῆς Κατάνης, καὶ τὴν νῦν οὖσαν Αἴτνην ἐκτήσαντο, πρὸ τούτου καλουμένην Ἴνησσαν, οἱ δʼ ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἐκ τῆς Κατάνης ὄντες ἐκομίσαντο πολλῷ χρόνῳ τὴν πατρίδα. τούτων δὲ πραχθέντων οἱ κατὰ τὴν Ἱέρωνος δυναστείαν ἐκπεπτωκότες ἐκ τῶν ἰδίων πόλεων ἔχοντες τοὺς συναγωνιζομένους κατῆλθον εἰς τὰς πατρίδας, καὶ τοὺς ἀδίκως τὰς ἀλλοτρίας πόλεις ἀφῃρημένους ἐξέβαλον ἐκ τῶν πόλεων· τούτων δʼ ἦσαν Γελῷοι καὶ Ἀκραγαντῖνοι καὶ Ἱμεραῖοι. παραπλησίως δὲ τούτοις καὶ Ῥηγῖνοι μετὰ Ζαγκλαίων τοὺς Ἀναξίλου παῖδας δυναστεύοντας ἐκβαλόντες ἠλευθέρωσαν τὰς πατρίδας. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Καμάριναν μὲν Γελῷοι κατοικίσαντες ἐξ ἀρχῆς κατεκληρούχησαν· αἱ δὲ πόλεις σχεδὸν ἅπασαι πρὸς τὴν κατάλυσιν τῶν πολέμων ὁρμήσασαι, καὶ κοινὸν δόγμα ποιησάμεναι, πρὸς τοὺς κατοικοῦντας ξένους διελύθησαν, καὶ τοὺς φυγάδας καταδεξάμεναι τοῖς ἀρχαίοις πολίταις τὰς πόλεις ἀπέδοσαν, τοῖς δὲ ξένοις τοῖς διὰ τὰς δυναστείας ἀλλοτρίας τὰς πόλεις ἔχουσι συνεχώρησαν τὰ ἑαυτῶν ἀποκομίζειν καὶ κατοικεῖν ἅπαντας ἐν τῇ Μεσσηνίᾳ. αἱ μὲν οὖν κατὰ Σικελίαν ἐν ταῖς πόλεσι στάσεις καὶ ταραχαὶ τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον κατελύθησαν, αἱ δὲ πόλεις τὰς ἀπαλλοτρίους πολιτείας ἀποβαλοῦσαι σχεδὸν ἅπασαι τὰς ἰδίας χώρας κατεκληρούχησαν τοῖς πολίταις πᾶσιν.
In Sicily the Syracusans, in their war upon the mercenaries who had revolted, kept launching attack after attack upon both Achradine and the Island, and they defeated the rebels in a sea-battle, but on land they were unable to expel them from the city because of the strength of these two places. Later, however, after an open battle had been fought on land, the soldiers engaged on both sides fighting spiritedly, finally, although both armies suffered not a few casualties, victory lay with the Syracusans. And after the battle the Syracusans honoured with the prize of valour the elite troops, six hundred in number, who were responsible for the victory, giving them each a mina of silver. While these events were taking place, Ducetius, the leader of the Siceli, harbouring a grudge against the inhabitants of Catana because they had robbed the Siceli of their land, led an army against them. And since the Syracusans had likewise sent an army against Catana, they and the Siceli joined in portioning out the land in allotments among themselves and made war upon the settlers who had been sent by Hieron when he was ruler of Syracuse. The Catanians opposed them with arms, but were defeated in a number of engagements and were expelled from Catana, and they took possession of what is now Aetna, which was formerly called Inessa; and the original inhabitants of Catana, after a long period, got back their native city. After these events the peoples who had been expelled from their own cities while Hieron was king, now that they had assistance it struggle, returned to their fatherlands and expelled from their cities the men who had wrongfully seized for themselves the habitations of others; among these were inhabitants of Gela, Acragas, and Himera. In like manner Rhegians along with Zanclians expelled the sons of Anaxilas, who were ruling over them, and liberated their fatherlands. Later on Geloans, who had been the original settlers of Camarina, portioned that land out in allotments. And practically all the cities, being eager to make an end of the wars, came to a common decision, whereby they made terms with the mercenaries in their midst; they then received back the exiles and restored the cities to the original citizens, but to the mercenaries who because of the former tyrannical governments were in possession of the cities belonging to others, they gave permission to take with them their own goods and to settle one and all in Messenia. In this manner, then, an end was put to the civil wars and disorders which had prevailed throughout the cities of Sicily, and the cities, after driving out the forms of government which aliens had introduced, with almost no exceptions portioned out their lands in allotments among all their citizens.
§ 11.77
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησι Φρασικλείδου Ὀλυμπιὰς μὲν ἤχθη ὀγδοηκοστή, καθʼ ἣν ἐνίκα στάδιον Τορύλλας Θετταλός, Ῥωμαῖοι δʼ ὑπάτους κατέστησαν Κόιντον Φάβιον καὶ Τίτον Κοίντιον Καπιτωλῖνον. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων κατὰ μὲν τὴν Ἀσίαν οἱ τῶν Περσῶν στρατηγοὶ διαβάντες ἐπὶ τὴν Κιλικίαν ναῦς μὲν κατεσκεύασαν τριακοσίας κεκοσμημένας καλῶς πρὸς τὴν πολεμικὴν χρείαν, τὸ δὲ πεζὸν στρατόπεδον λαβόντες προῆγον πεζῇ διὰ Συρίας καὶ Φοινίκης· συμπαραπλέοντος δὲ καὶ τοῦ στόλου τῇ πεζῇ στρατιᾷ κατήντησαν εἰς Μέμφιν τῆς Αἰγύπτου. καὶ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον τὴν πολιορκίαν τοῦ Λευκοῦ τείχους ἔλυσαν, καταπληξάμενοι τοὺς Αἰγυπτίους καὶ τοὺς Ἀθηναίους· μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ἐμφρόνως βουλευσάμενοι κατὰ στόμα μὲν παρατάττεσθαι διέκλινον, στρατηγήμασι δὲ ἐφιλοτιμοῦντο καταλῦσαι τὸν πόλεμον. διόπερ καὶ τῶν Ἀττικῶν νεῶν ὁρμουσῶν ἐν τῇ Προσωπίτιδι λεγομένῃ νήσῳ, τὸν περιρρέοντα ποταμὸν διώρυξι διαλαβόντες ἤπειρον ἐποίησαν τὴν νῆσον. τῶν δὲ νεῶν ἄφνω καθιζουσῶν ἐπὶ ξηρὰν τὴν γῆν, οἱ μὲν Αἰγύπτιοι καταπλαγέντες ἐγκατέλιπον τοὺς Ἀθηναίους καὶ πρὸς τοὺς Πέρσας διελύσαντο· οἱ δὲ Ἀθηναῖοι συμμάχων ὄντες ἔρημοι καὶ τὰς ναῦς ὁρῶντες ἀχρήστους γεγενημένας, ταύτας μὲν ἐνέπρησαν, ὅπως μὴ τοῖς πολεμίοις ὑποχείριοι γενηθῶσιν, αὐτοὶ δὲ οὐ καταπλαγέντες τὴν δεινότητα τῆς περιστάσεως παρεκάλουν ἀλλήλους μηδὲν ἀνάξιον πρᾶξαι τῶν προκατειργασμένων ἀγώνων. διόπερ ταῖς ἀρεταῖς ὑπερβαλλόμενοι τοὺς ἐν Θερμοπύλαις ὑπὲρ τῆς Ἑλλάδος ἀποθανόντας, ἑτοίμως εἶχον διαγωνίζεσθαι πρὸς τοὺς πολεμίους. οἱ δὲ στρατηγοὶ τῶν Περσῶν Ἀρτάβαζος καὶ Μεγάβυζος, ὁρῶντες τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῆς εὐτολμίας τῶν πολεμίων καὶ λογισάμενοι, διότι τούτους οὐ δυνατὸν ἀνελεῖν ἄνευ τοῦ πολλὰς μυριάδας ἀποβαλεῖν τῶν ἰδίων, σπονδὰς ἔθεντο πρὸς τοὺς Ἀθηναίους, καθʼ ἃς ἔδει χωρὶς κινδύνων ἀπελθεῖν αὐτοὺς ἐκ τῆς Αἰγύπτου. οἱ μὲν οὖν Ἀθηναῖοι διὰ τὴν ἰδίαν ἀρετὴν τυχόντες τῆς σωτηρίας ἀπῆλθον ἐκ τῆς Αἰγύπτου, καὶ διὰ τῆς Λιβύης εἰς Κυρήνην ἀπελθόντες ἐσώθησαν παραδόξως εἰς τὴν πατρίδα. ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις ἐν μὲν ταῖς Ἀθήναις Ἐφιάλτης ὁ Σοφωνίδου, δημαγωγὸς ὢν καὶ τὸ πλῆθος παροξύνας κατὰ τῶν Ἀρεοπαγιτῶν, ἔπεισε τὸν δῆμον ψηφίσματι μειῶσαι τὴν ἐξ Ἀρείου πάγου βουλήν, καὶ τὰ πάτρια καὶ περιβόητα νόμιμα καταλῦσαι. οὐ μὴν ἀθῷός γε διέφυγε τηλικούτοις ἀνομήμασιν ἐπιβαλόμενος, ἀλλὰ τῆς νυκτὸς ἀναιρεθεὶς ἄδηλον ἔσχε τὴν τοῦ βίου τελευτήν.
When Phrasicleides was archon in Athens, the Eightieth Olympiad was celebrated, that in which Toryllas the Thessalian won the "stadion"; and the Romans elected as consuls Quintus Fabius and Titus Quinctius Capitolinus. During this year, in Asia the Persian generals who had passed over to Cilicia made ready three hundred ships, which they fitted out fully for warfare, and then with their land force they advanced overland through Syria and Phoenicia; and with the fleet accompanying the army along the coast, they arrived at Memphis in Egypt. At the outset they broke the siege of the White Fortress, having struck the Egyptians and the Athenians with terror; but later on, adopting a prudent course, they avoided any frontal encounters and strove to bring the war to an end by the use of stratagems. Accordingly, since the Attic ships lay moored at the island known as Prosopitis, they diverted by means of canals the river which flowed around the island, and thus made the island a part of the mainland. When the ships thus all of a sudden came to rest on the dry land, the Egyptians in alarm left the Athenians in the lurch and came to terms with the Persians. The Athenians, being now without allies and seeing that their ships had become useless, set fire to them to prevent their falling into the hands of the enemy, and then themselves, undismayed at the alarming plight they were in, fell to exhorting one to do nothing unworthy of the fights they had won in the past. Consequently, with a display of deeds of valour surpassing in heroism the men who perished in Thermopylae in defence of Greece, they stood ready to fight it out with the enemy. But the Persian generals, Artabazus and Megabyzus, taking note of the exceptional courage of their foes and reasoning that they would be unable to annihilate such men without sacrificing many myriads of their own, made a truce with the Athenians whereby they should with impunity depart from Egypt. So the Athenians, having saved their lives by their courage, departed from Egypt, and making their way through Libya to Cyrene got safely back, as by a miracle, to their native land. While these events were taking place, in Athens Ephialtes the son of Sophonides, who, being a popular leader, had provoked the masses to anger against the Areopagites, persuaded the Assembly to vote to curtail the power of the Council of the Areopagus and to destroy the renowned customs which their fathers had followed. Nevertheless, he did not escape the punishment for attempting such lawlessness, but he was done to death by night and none ever knew how he lost his life.
§ 11.78
τοῦ δʼ ἐνιαυσίου χρόνου διεληλυθότος Ἀθήνησι μὲν ἦν ἄρχων Φιλοκλῆς, ἐν Ῥώμῃ δὲ τὴν ὕπατον ἀρχὴν διεδέξαντο Αὖλος Ποστούμιος Ῥηγοῦλος καὶ Σπόριος Φούριος Μεδιολανός. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Κορινθίοις καὶ Ἐπιδαυρίοις πρὸς Ἀθηναίους ἐνστάντος πολέμου, ἐστράτευσαν ἐπʼ αὐτοὺς Ἀθηναῖοι, καὶ γενομένης μάχης ἰσχυρᾶς ἐνίκησαν Ἀθηναῖοι. μεγάλῳδὲ στόλῳ καταπλεύσαντες πρὸς τοὺς ὀνομαζομένους Ἁλιεῖς, ἀνέβησαν εἰς τὴν Πελοπόννησον, καὶ τῶν πολεμίων ἀνεῖλον οὐκ ὀλίγους. συστραφέντων δὲ τῶν Πελοποννησίων καὶ δύναμιν ἀξιόλογον ἀθροισάντων, συνέστη μάχη πρὸς τοὺς Ἀθηναίους περὶ τὴν ὀνομαζομένην Κεκρυφάλειαν, καθʼ ἣν πάλιν ἐνίκησαν Ἀθηναῖοι. τοιούτων δὲ εὐημερημάτων αὐτοῖς γενομένων, τοὺς Αἰγινήτας ὁρῶντες πεφρονηματισμένους μὲν ταῖς προγεγενημέναις πράξεσιν, ἀλλοτρίως δὲ ἔχοντας πρὸς αὐτούς, ἔγνωσαν καταπολεμῆσαι. διὸ καὶ στόλον ἐπʼ αὐτοὺς ἀξιόλογον ἀποστειλάντων τῶν Ἀθηναίων, οἱ τὴν Αἴγιναν κατοικοῦντες, μεγάλην ἐμπειρίαν ἔχοντες καὶ δόξαν τῶν κατὰ θάλατταν ἀγώνων, οὐ κατεπλάγησαν τὴν ὑπεροχὴν τῶν Ἀθηναίων, ἔχοντες δὲ τριήρεις ἱκανὰς καὶ προσκατασκευάσαντες ἑτέρας, ἐναυμάχησαν, καὶ λειφθέντες ἀπέβαλον τριήρεις ἑβδομήκοντα· συντριβέντες δὲ τοῖς φρονήμασι διὰ τὸ μέγεθος τῆς συμφορᾶς, ἠναγκάσθησαν εἰς τὴν Ἀθηναίων συντέλειαν καταταχθῆναι. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν Λεωκράτης ὁ στρατηγὸς κατεπράξατο τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις, τοὺς πάντας διαπολεμήσας μῆνας ἐννέα πρὸς τοὺς Αἰγινήτας. ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις κατὰ τὴν Σικελίαν Δουκέτιος ὁ τῶν Σικελῶν βασιλεὺς, ὠνομασμένος τὸ γένος, ἰσχύων δὲ κατʼ ἐκείνους τοὺς χρόνους, Μέναινον μὲν πόλιν ἔκτισε καὶ τὴν σύνεγγυς χώραν τοῖς κατοικισθεῖσι διεμέρισε, στρατευσάμενος δʼ ἐπὶ πόλιν ἀξιόλογον Μοργαντῖναν, καὶ χειρωσάμενος αὐτήν, δόξαν ἀπηνέγκατο παρὰ τοῖς ὁμοεθνέσι.
At the conclusion of this year Philocles was archon in Athens, and in Rome Aulus Postumius Regulus and Spurius Furius Mediolanus succeeded to the consulship. During this year a war arose between the Corinthians and Epidaurians on the one hand and the Athenians on the other, and the Athenians took the field against them and after a sharp battle were victorious. With a large fleet they put in at a place called Halieis, landed on the Peloponnesus, and slew not a few of the enemy. But the Peloponnesians rallied and gathered a strong force, and it came to a battle with the Athenians near the place called Cecryphaleia in which the Athenians were again victorious. After such successes the Athenians, seeing that the Aeginetans were not only puffed up over their former achievements but also hostile to Athens, decided to reduce them by war. Therefore the Athenians dispatched a strong fleet against them. The inhabitants of Aegina, however, who had great experience in fighting at sea and enjoyed a great reputation therefor, were not dismayed at the superiority of the Athenians, but since they had a considerable number of triremes and had built some new ones, they engaged the Athenians in battle, but were defeated with the loss of seventy ships; and, their spirits crushed by so great a disaster, they were forced to enroll as tributaries of the Athenians. This was accomplished for the Athenians by their general Leocrates, who was engaged in the war with the Aeginetans nine months in all. While these events were taking place, in Sicily the king of the Siceli, Ducetius, a man of famous family and influential at this time, founded the city of Menaenum and distributed the neighbouring territory among the settlers, and making a campaign against the strong city of Morgantina and reducing it, he won fame among his own people.
§ 11.79
τοῦ δʼ ἐνιαυσίου χρόνου διεληλυθότος Ἀθήνησι μὲν ἦρχε Βίων, ἐν Ῥώμῃ δὲ τὴν ὕπατον ἀρχὴν διεδέξαντο Πούπλιος Σερουίλιος Στροῦκτος καὶ Λεύκιος Αἰβούτιος Ἄλβας. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Κορινθίοις καὶ Μεγαρεῦσι περὶ χώρας ὁμόρου γενομένης ἀμφισβητήσεως, εἰς πόλεμον αἱ πόλεις ἐνέπεσον. τὸ μὲν οὖν πρῶτον τὴν χώραν ἀλλήλων διετέλουν λεηλατοῦντες καὶ κατʼ ὀλίγους συμπλοκὰς ποιούμενοι· αὐξομένης δὲ τῆς διαφορᾶς οἱ Μεγαρεῖς ἀεὶ μᾶλλον ἐλαττούμενοι καὶ τοὺς Κορινθίους φοβούμενοι, συμμάχους ἐποιήσαντο τοὺς Ἀθηναίους. διὸ καὶ πάλιν τῶν πόλεων ἐφαμίλλων ταῖς δυνάμεσι γενομένων, καὶ τῶν Κορινθίων μετὰ Πελοποννησίων ἀξιολόγῳ δυνάμει στρατευσάντων εἰς τὴν Μεγαρικήν, Ἀθηναῖοι συμμαχίαν ἔπεμψαν τοῖς Μεγαρεῦσιν, ἧς ἡγεῖτο Μυρωνίδης, ἀνὴρ ἐπʼ ἀρετῇ θαυμαζόμενος· γενομένης δὲ παρατάξεως ἰσχυρᾶς ἐπὶ πολὺν χρόνον, καὶ ταῖς ἀνδραγαθίαις ἑκατέρων ἐξισουμένων, τὸ τελευταῖον ἐνίκησαν Ἀθηναῖοι καὶ πολλοὺς ἀνεῖλον τῶν πολεμίων. οἱ Φωκεῖς ἐνεστήσαντο πόλεμον πρὸς Δωριεῖς, τοὺς προγόνους μὲν Λακεδαιμονίων, οἰκοῦντας δὲ πόλεις τρεῖς, Κυτίνιον καὶ Βοιὸν καὶ Ἐρινεόν, κειμένας ὑπὸ τὸν λόφον τὸν ὀνομαζόμενον Παρνασσόν. τὸ μὲν οὖν πρῶτον βίᾳ χειρωσάμενοι τοὺς Δωριεῖς, κατέσχον αὐτῶν τὰς πόλεις· μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Λακεδαιμόνιοι μὲν Νικομήδην τὸν Κλεομένους ἐξέπεμψαν βοηθήσοντα τοῖς Δωριεῦσι διὰ τὴν συγγένειαν· εἶχε δʼ οὗτος Λακεδαιμονίους μὲν χιλίους πεντακοσίους, παρὰ δὲ τῶν ἄλλων Πελοποννησίων μυρίους. οὗτος μὲν οὖν ἐπίτροπος ὢν Πλειστώνακτος τοῦ βασιλέως παιδὸς ὄντος, μετὰ τοσαύτης δυνάμεως ἐβοήθησε τοῖς Δωριεῦσι, νικήσας δὲ τοὺς Φωκεῖς καὶ τὰς πόλεις ἀνακτησάμενος τούς τε Φωκεῖς καὶ Δωριεῖς διήλλαξεν.
At the close of the year Bion was archon in Athens, and in Rome Publius Servilius Structus and Lucius Aebutius Albas succeeded to the consulship. During this year a quarrel arose between the Corinthians and Megarians over land on their borders and the cities went to war. At first they kept making raids on each other's territory and engaging in clashes of small parties; but as the quarrel increased, the Megarians, who were increasingly getting the worse of it and stood in fear of the Corinthians, made allies of the Athenians. As a result the cities were again equal in military strength, and when the Corinthians together with Peloponnesians advanced into Megaris with a strong army, the Athenians sent troops to the aid of the Megarians under the command of Myronides, a man who was admired for his valour. A fierce engagement took place which lasted a long time and each side matched the other in deeds of courage, but at last victory lay with the Athenians, who slew many of the enemy. And after a few days there was another fierce battle at Cimolia, as it is called, and again the Athenians were victorious and slew many of the enemy. The Phocians went to war with the Dorians, who are the original stock of the Lacedemonians and dwell in the three cities, Cytinium, Boeum and Erineus, which lie at the base of Mt. Parnassus. Now at first they subdued the Dorians by force of arms and occupied their cities; but after this the Lacedemonians, because of their kinship, dispatched Nicomedes, the son of Cleomenes, to the aid of the Dorians. He had fifteen hundred Lacedemonians and ten thousand men from the rest of the Peloponnesians. So Nicomedes, who was the guardian of Pleistonax the king, who was still a child, came to the aid of the Dorians with this large army, and after inflicting a defeat upon the Phocians and recovering the cities they had seized, he made peace between the Phocians and the Dorians.
§ 11.80
Ἀθηναῖοι δὲ πυθόμενοι τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους τὸν μὲν πρὸς Φωκεῖς πόλεμον καταλελυκέναι, αὐτοὺς δὲ μέλλειν τὴν εἰς οἶκον ἐπάνοδον ποιεῖσθαι, ἔγνωσαν ἐπιθέσθαι κατὰ τὴν ὁδοιπορίαν τοῖς Λακεδαιμονίοις. ἐστράτευσαν οὖν ἐπʼ αὐτούς, παραλαβόντες τοὺς Ἀργείους καὶ Θετταλούς· καὶ πεντήκοντα μὲν ναυσί, στρατιώταις δὲ μυρίοις καὶ τετρακισχιλίοις ἐπιβαλοῦντες αὐτοῖς κατελάβοντο τὰς περὶ τὴν Γεράνειαν παρόδους. Λακεδαιμόνιοι δὲ πυνθανόμενοι τὰ κατὰ τοὺς Ἀθηναίους παρῆλθον τῆς Βοιωτίας εἰς Τάναγραν. τῶν δὲ Ἀθηναίων παραγενομένων εἰς τὴν Βοιωτίαν καὶ παρατάξεως γενομένης, ἰσχυρὰ συνέστη μάχη· καὶ τῶν μὲν Θετταλῶν μεταβαλομένων ἐν τῇ μάχῃ πρὸς τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους, τῶν δὲ Ἀθηναίων καὶ τῶν Ἀργείων οὐδὲν ἧττον διαγωνιζομένων, ἔπεσον μὲν οὐκ ὀλίγοι παρʼ ἀμφοτέροις, νυκτὸς δʼ ἐπιλαβούσης διελύθησαν. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις κομιζομένης ἀγορᾶς πολλῆς ἐκ τῆς Ἀττικῆς, οἱ Θετταλοὶ κρίναντες ἐπιθέσθαι ταύτῃ καὶ αὐτῆς ὥρας δειπνοποιησάμενοι νυκτὸς ἀπήντων τοῖς κομίζουσι τὰς ἀγοράς. τῶν δὲ παραφυλαττόντων Ἀθηναίων ἀγνοούντων καὶ προσδεξαμένων τοὺς Θετταλοὺς ὡς φίλους, συνέβη πολλοὺς καὶ ποικίλους ἀγῶνας γενέσθαι περὶ τῆς ἀγορᾶς. τὸ μὲν γὰρ πρῶτον οἱ Θετταλοί, προσδεχθέντες ὑπὸ τῶν πολεμίων διὰ τὴν ἄγνοιαν, ἔκτεινον τοὺς ἐντυγχάνοντας, καὶ συντεταγμένοι τοῖς τεθορυβημένοις συμπλεκόμενοι πολλοὺς ἀνῄρουν. οἱ δὲ κατὰ τὴν στρατοπεδείαν ὄντες Ἀθηναῖοι πυθόμενοι τὴν τῶν Θετταλῶν ἐπίθεσιν, ἧκον κατὰ σπουδήν, καὶ τοὺς Θετταλοὺς ἐξ ἐφόδου τρεψάμενοι πολὺν ἐποίουν φόνον. ἐπιβοηθησάντων δὲ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων τοῖς Θετταλοῖς συντεταγμένῃ τῇ δυνάμει, καὶ τοῖς στρατοπέδοις ὅλοις γενομένης παρατάξεως, συνέβη διὰ τὴν γενομένην φιλοτιμίαν πολλοὺς παρʼ ἀμφοτέροις ἀναιρεθῆναι. τέλος δὲ τῆς μάχης ἀμφίδοξον λαβούσης τὸ τέλος, συνέβη τούς τε Λακεδαιμονίους ἀμφισβητῆσαι περὶ τῆς νίκης καὶ τοὺς Ἀθηναίους. τότε μὲν οὖν ἐπιλαβούσης νυκτὸς καὶ τῆς νίκης ἀμφιδόξου γενομένης, διεπρεσβεύοντο πρὸς ἀλλήλους καὶ τετραμηνιαίους σπονδὰς ἐποιήσαντο.
When the Athenians learned that the Lacedemonians had concluded the war against the Phocians and were about to make their return home, they decided to attack the Lacedemonians while on the march. Accordingly they dispatched an army against them, including in it Argives and Thessalians; and with the intention of falling upon them with fifty ships and fourteen thousand men, they occupied the passes about Mt. Geraneia. But the Lacedemonians, having information of the plans of the Athenians, took the route to Tanagra in Boeotia. The Athenians advanced into Boeotia and formed in line of battle, and a fierce struggle took place; and although in the fighting the Thessalians deserted to the Lacedemonians, nonetheless the Athenians and the Argives fought the battle through and not a few fell in both armies before night put an end to the struggle. After this, when a large supply-train was on its way from Attica for the Athenians, the Thessalians decided to attack it, and taking their evening meal at once, they intercepted by night the supply-train. The Athenians who were guarding the train were unaware that the Thessalians had changed sides and received them as friends, so that many conflicts of various kinds broke out around the convoy. For at first the Thessalians, who had been welcomed by the enemy in their ignorance, kept cutting down all whom they met, and being an organized band engaging with men who had fallen into confusion they slew many of the guards. But the Athenians in the camp, when they learned of the attack of the Thessalians, came up with all speed, and routing the Thessalians at the first charge, they were making a great slaughter of them. The Lacedemonians, however, now came to the rescue of the Thessalians with their army in battle order, and a pitched battle between the two armies ensued, and such was their rivalry that many were slain on both sides. And finally, since the battle ended in a tie, both the Lacedemonians and the Athenians laid claim to the victory. However, since night intervened and the victory was still a matter of dispute, each sent envoys to the other and they concluded a truce of four months.
§ 11.81
τοῦ δʼ ἐνιαυσίου χρόνου διεληλυθότος Ἀθήνησι μὲν ἦρχε Μνησιθείδης, ἐν Ῥώμῃ δʼ ὕπατοι κατεστάθησαν Λούκιος Λουκράτιος καὶ Τίτος Οὐετούριος Κιχωρῖνος. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Θηβαῖοι μὲν τεταπεινωμένοι διὰ τὴν πρὸς Ξέρξην αὐτοῖς γενομένην συμμαχίαν, ἐζήτουν διʼ οὗ τρόπου δύναιντʼ ἂν ἀναλαβεῖν τὴν πάτριον ἰσχύν τε καὶ δόξαν. διὸ καὶ τῶν Βοιωτῶν ἁπάντων καταφρονούντων καὶ μηκέτι προσεχόντων τοῖς Θηβαίοις, ἠξίουν τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους τῇ πόλει συμπεριποιῆσαι τὴν ὅλην ἡγεμονίαν τῆς Βοιωτίας· ἐπηγγέλλοντο δʼ αὐτοῖς ἀντὶ ταύτης τῆς χάριτος ἰδίᾳ πολεμήσειν τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις, ὥστε μηδεμίαν ἀνάγκην εἶναι τοῖς Σπαρτιάταις ἐκτὸς τῆς Πελοποννήσου δύναμιν ἐξαγαγεῖν πεζήν. οἱ δὲ Λακεδαιμόνιοι κρίναντες συμφέροντα λέγειν αὐτούς, καὶ νομίζοντες τὰς Θήβας, ἐὰν αὐξήσωσιν, ἔσεσθαι τῆς τῶν Ἀθηναίων ὥσπερ ἀντίπαλόν τινα· διόπερ ἔχοντες τότε περὶ Τάναγραν ἕτοιμον καὶ μέγα στρατόπεδον, τῆς μὲν τῶν Θηβαίων πόλεως μείζονα τὸν περίβολον κατεσκεύασαν, τὰς δʼ ἐν Βοιωτίᾳ πόλεις ἠνάγκασαν ὑποτάττεσθαι τοῖς Θηβαίοις. οἱ δὲ Ἀθηναῖοι τὴν ἐπιβολὴν τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων διακόψαι σπεύδοντες, δύναμιν ἀξιόλογον συνεστήσαντο, καὶ στρατηγὸν εἵλοντο Μυρωνίδην τὸν Καλλίου. οὗτος δὲ καταλέξας τῶν πολιτῶν τοὺς ἱκανοὺς παρήγγειλεν αὐτοῖς, ἐκθέμενος ἡμέραν ἐν ᾗ τὴν ἐκ τῆς πόλεως ἀνάζευξιν ἤμελλε ποιεῖσθαι. ἐπεὶ δʼ ὁ συντεταγμένος καιρὸς ἧκε, καὶ τῶν στρατιωτῶν τινες οὐ κατήντησαν πρὸς τὴν ὡρισμένην ἀφορμήν, ἀναλαβὼν τοὺς προσεληλυθότας προῆγεν εἰς τὴν Βοιωτίαν. τῶν δὲ ἡγεμόνων τινὲς καὶ τῶν φίλων ἔφασαν δεῖν ἀναμένειν τοὺς καθυστεροῦντας, ὁ δὲ Μυρωνίδης, συνετὸς ὢν ἅμα καὶ δραστικὸς στρατηγός, οὐκ ἔφησεν ἀναμενεῖν· ἀπεφαίνετο γὰρ τοὺς μὲν ἑκουσίως καθυστεροῦντας τῆς ἐξόδου καὶ κατὰ τὴν μάχην ἀγεννῶς καὶ δειλῶς ἕξειν, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο οὐδὲ τοὺς ὑπὲρ τῆς πατρίδος κινδύνους ὑποστήσεσθαι, τοὺς δʼ ἑτοίμους κατὰ τὴν συντεταγμένην ἡμέραν παραγενηθέντας φανεροὺς εἶναι διότι καὶ τὴν ἐν τῷ πολέμῳ τάξιν οὐ καταλείψουσιν· ὅπερ καὶ συνέβη γενέσθαι. ὀλίγους γὰρ προάγων στρατιώτας, καὶ τούτους ἀρίστους ταῖς ἀνδραγαθίαις, παρετάξατο κατὰ τὴν Βοιωτίαν πρὸς πολλαπλασίους, καὶ κατὰ κράτος περιεγένετο τῶν ἀντιταχθέντων.
When the year ended, in Athens Mnesitheides was archon, and in Rome the consuls elected were Lucius Lucretius and Titus Veturius Cicurinus. During this year the Thebans, who had been humbled because of their alliance with Xerxes, sought a way by which they might recover both their ancient influence and reputation. Consequently, since all the Boeotians held the Thebans in disdain and no longer paid any attention to them, the Thebans asked the Lacedemonians to aid them in winning for their city the hegemony over all Boeotia; and they promised that in return for this favour they would make war by themselves upon the Athenians, so that it would no longer be necessary for the Spartans to lead troops beyond the border of the Peloponnesus. And the Lacedemonians assented, judging the proposal to be to their advantage and believing that, if Thebes should grow in strength, she would be a kind of counterweight to the increasing power of the Athenians; consequently, since they had at the time a large army in readiness at Tanagra, they increased the extent of the circuit wall of Thebes and compelled the cities of Boeotia to subject themselves to the Thebans. The Athenians, however, being eager to break up the plan of the Lacedemonians, made ready a large army and elected as general Myronides the son of Callias. He enrolled the required number of citizens and gave them orders, announcing a day on which he planned to march forth from the city. And when the appointed time arrived and some of the soldiers had not put in appearance at the specified rendezvous, he took those who had reported and advanced into Boeotia. And when certain of his officers and friends said that he should wait for the tardy men, Myronides, who was not only a sagacious general but energetic as well, replied that he would not do so; for, he declared, men of their own choice are late for the departure will in battle also play an ignoble and cowardly part, and will therefore not withstand the perils of war in defence of their country either, whereas the men who presented themselves ready for service on the appointed day gave clear evidence that they would not desert their posts in the war. And this is what actually took place; for leading forth soldiers who were few in number but the bravest in courage, he drew them up in Boeotia against a vastly superior force and utterly defeated his opponents.
§ 11.82
δοκεῖ δʼ ἡ πρᾶξις αὕτη μηδεμιᾶς ἀπολείπεσθαι τῶν ἐν τοῖς ἔμπροσθεν χρόνοις γεγενημένων παρατάξεων τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις· ἥ τε γὰρ ἐν Μαραθῶνι γενομένη νίκη καὶ τὸ περὶ Πλαταιὰς κατὰ Περσῶν προτέρημα καὶ τἄλλα τὰ περιβόητα τῶν Ἀθηναίων ἔργα δοκεῖ μηδὲν προέχειν τῆς μάχης ἧς ἐνίκησε Μυρωνίδης τοὺς Βοιωτούς. ἐκείνων γὰρ αἱ μὲν ἐγένοντο πρὸς βαρβάρους, αἱ δὲ συνετελέσθησαν μετʼ ἄλλων συμμάχων, ταύτην δὲ τὴν παράταξιν Ἀθηναῖοι μόνοι διακινδυνεύσαντες ἐνίκησαν καὶ πρὸς Ἑλλήνων τοὺς ἀρίστου διηγωνίσαντο. δοκοῦσι γὰρ οἱ Βοιωτοὶ κατὰ τὰς τῶν δεινῶν ὑπομονὰς καὶ τοὺς πολεμικοὺς ἀγῶνας μηδενὸς λείπεσθαι τῶν ἄλλων· ὕστερον γοῦν αὐτοὶ Θηβαῖοι περὶ Λεῦκτρα καὶ Μαντίνειαν μόνοι πρὸς Λακεδαιμονίους ἅπαντας καὶ τοὺς συμμάχους παραταξάμενοι μεγίστην μὲν δόξαν ἐπʼ ἀνδρείᾳ κατεκτήσαντο, τῆς δʼ Ἑλλάδος ἁπάσης ἡγεμόνες ἀνελπίστως ἐγενήθησαν. τῶν δὲ συγγραφέων, καίπερ τῆς μάχης ταύτης ἐπιφανοῦς γεγενημένης, οὐδεὶς οὔτε τὸν τρόπον αὐτῆς οὔτε τὴν διάταξιν ἀνέγραψε. Μυρωνίδης μὲν οὖν ἐπιφανεῖ μάχῃ νικήσας τοὺς Βοιωτοὺς ἐνάμιλλος ἐγενήθη τοῖς πρὸ αὐτοῦ γενομένοις ἡγεμόσιν ἐπιφανεστάτοις, Θεμιστοκλεῖ καὶ Μιλτιάδῃ καὶ Κίμωνι. ὁ δὲ Μυρωνίδης μετὰ τὴν γενομένην νίκην Τάναγραν μὲν ἐκπολιορκήσας, περιεῖλεν αὐτῆς τὰ τείχη, τὴν δὲ Βοιωτίαν ἅπασαν ἐπιὼν ἔτεμνε καὶ κατέφθειρε καὶ τοῖς στρατιώταις διελὼν τὰ λάφυρα πάντας ὠφελείαις ἁδραῖς ἐκόσμησεν.
In my opinion this action was in no way inferior to any of the battles fought by the Athenians in former times; for neither the victory at Marathon nor the success over the Persians at Plataea nor the other renowned exploits of the Athenians seem in any way to surpass the victory which Myronides won over the Boeotians. For of those other battles, some were fought against barbarians and others were gained with the aid of allies, but this struggle was won by the Athenians single-handed in pitched battle, and they were pitted against the bravest warriors to be found among the Greeks. For in staunchness in the face of perils and in the fierce contests of war the Boeotians are generally believed to be surpassed by no other people; at any rate, sometime after this the Thebans at Leuctra and Mantineia, when they unaided confronted all the Lacedemonians and their allies, won for themselves the highest reputation for courage, and contrary to expectation became the leading nation of all Greece. And yet, although the battle of Myronides has become famous, none of our historians has described either the way it was fought or the disposition of the troops engaged in it. Myronides, then, after defeating the Boeotians in a remarkable battle, came to rival the reputations of the most renowned commanders before his time, namely, Themistocles, Miltiades, and Cimon.5 Myronides after this victory took Tanagra by siege, levelled its walls, and then he passed through all Boeotia, breaking it up and destroying it, and dividing the booty among his soldiers he loaded them all down with spoil in abundance.
§ 11.83
οἱ δὲ Βοιωτοὶ παροξυνθέντες ἐπὶ τῇ διαφθορᾷ τῆς χώρας, συνεστράφησαν πανδημεί, καὶ στρατεύσαντες ἤθροισαν μεγάλην δύναμιν. γενομένης δὲ μάχης ἐν Οἰνοφύτοις τῆς Βοιωτίας, καὶ τὸ δεινὸν ἀμφοτέρων ταῖς ψυχαῖς ἐρρωμένως ὑπομενόντων, διημέρευσαν ἐν τῇ μάχῃ· μόγις δὲ τῶν Ἀθηναίων τρεψαμένων τοὺς Βοιωτούς, ὁ Μυρωνίδης πασῶν τῶν κατὰ τὴν Βοιωτίαν πόλεων ἐγκρατὴς ἐγένετο πλὴν Θηβῶν. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ἐκ τῆς Βοιωτίας ἀναζεύξας ἐστράτευσεν ἐπὶ Λοκροὺς τοὺς ὀνομαζομένους Ὀπουντίους. τούτους δὲ ἐξ ἐφόδου χειρωσάμενος, καὶ λαβὼν ὁμήρους, ἐνέβαλεν εἰς τὴν Παρνασίαν. παραπλησίως δὲ τοῖς Λοκροῖς καὶ τοὺς Φωκεῖς καταπολεμήσας, καὶ λαβὼν ὁμήρους, ἀνέζευξεν εἰς τὴν Θετταλίαν, ἐγκαλῶν μὲν περὶ τῆς γενομένης προδοσίας, προστάττων δὲ καταδέχεσθαι τοὺς φυγάδας· τῶν δὲ Φαρσαλίων οὐ προσδεχομένων, ἐπολιόρκει τὴν πόλιν. ἐπεὶ δὲ τὴν μὲν πόλιν οὐκ ἠδύνατο βίᾳ χειρώσασθαι, τὴν δὲ πολιορκίαν πολὺν χρόνον ὑπέμενον οἱ Φαρσάλιοι, τὸ τηνικαῦτα ἀπογνοὺς τὰ κατὰ τὴν Θετταλίαν ἐπανῆλθεν εἰς τὰς Ἀθήνας. Μυρωνίδης μὲν οὖν ἐν ὀλίγῳ χρόνῳ μεγάλας πράξεις ἐπιτελεσάμενος περιβόητον ἔσχε τὴν δόξαν παρὰ τοῖς πολίταις. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἐπράχθη κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν ἐνιαυτόν.
The Boeotians, exasperated by the wasting of their land, sprang to arms as a nation and when they had taken the field constituted a great army. A battle took place at Oenophyta in Boeotia, and since both sides withstood the stress of the conflict with stout hearts, they spent the day in fighting; but after a severe struggle the Athenians put the Boeotians to flight and Myronides became master of all the cities of Boeotia with the exception of Thebes. After this he marched out of Boeotia and led his army against the Locrians who are known as Opuntian. These he overpowered at the first attack, and taking hostages from them he then entered Parnasia. In like manner as he had done with the Locrians, he also subdued the Phocians, and after taking hostages he marched into Thessaly, finding fault with the Thessalians for their act of treachery and ordering them to receive back their exiles; and when the Pharsalians would not open their gates to him, he laid siege to the city. But since he could not master the city by force and the Pharsalians held out for a long time against the siege, for the purpose he gave up his designs regarding Thessaly and returned to Athens. Thus Myronides, who had performed great deeds in a short space of time, won among his fellow citizens the renown which was so widely acclaimed. These, then, were the events of this year.
§ 11.84
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησι Καλλίου παρὰ μὲν Ἠλείοις Ὀλυμπιὰς ἤχθη μία πρὸς ταῖς ὀγδοήκοντα, καθʼ ἣν ἐνίκα στάδιον Πολύμναστος Κυρηναῖος, ἐν Ῥώμῃ δʼ ὑπῆρχον ὕπατοι Σερούιος Σουλπίκιος καὶ Πούπλιος Οὐολούμνιος Ἀμεντῖνος. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Τολμίδης ὁ τεταγμένος ἐπὶ τῆς ναυτικῆς δυνάμεως, ἁμιλλώμενος πρὸς τὴν Μυρωνίδου ἀρετήν τε καὶ δόξαν, ἔσπευδεν ἀξιόλογόν τι κατεργάσασθαι. διὸ καὶ κατʼ ἐκείνους τοὺς καιροὺς μηδενὸς πρότερον πεπορθηκότος τὴν Λακωνικήν, παρεκάλεσε τὸν δῆμον δῃῶσαι τὴν τῶν Σπαρτιατῶν χώραν, ἐπηγγέλλετο δὲ χιλίους ὁπλίτας παραλαβὼν εἰς τὰς τριήρεις μετὰ τούτων πορθήσειν μὲν τὴν Λακωνικήν, ταπεινώσειν δὲ τὴν τῶν Σπαρτιατῶν δόξαν. συγχωρησάντων δὲ τῶν Ἀθηναίων, βουλόμενος λαθραίως πλείονας ὁπλίτας ἐξαγαγεῖν, τεχνάζεταί τι τοιοῦτον. οἱ μὲν πολῖται διελάμβανον αὐτὸν καταλέξειν εἰς τὴν στρατιὰν τῶν νέων τοὺς ἀκμάζοντας ταῖς ἡλικίαις καὶ τοῖς σώμασιν εὐρωστοτάτους· ὁ δὲ Τολμίδης σπεύδων μὴ μόνον τοὺς τεταγμένους χιλίους ἐξαγαγεῖν εἰς τὴν στρατείαν, προσιὼν ἑκάστῳ τῶν νέων καὶ τῇ ῥώμῃ διαφερόντων ἔλεγεν ὡς μέλλει καταλέγειν αὐτόν· κρεῖττον οὖν ἔφησεν ἐθελοντὴν στρατεύειν μᾶλλον ἢ διὰ τῶν καταλόγων ἀναγκασθῆναι δοκεῖν. ἐπεὶ δὲ πλείους τῶν τρισχιλίων τούτῳ τῷ λόγῳ συνέπεισεν ἐθελοντὴν ἀπογράφεσθαι, τοὺς δὲ λοιποὺς οὐκέτι σπεύδοντας ἑώρα, τότε τοὺς ὡμολογημένους χιλίους κατέλεξεν ἐκ τῶν ἄλλων. ὡς δʼ αὐτῷ καὶ τἄλλα τὰ πρὸς τὴν στρατείαν ἡτοίμαστο, πεντήκοντα μὲν τριήρεσιν ἀνήχθη καὶ τετρακισχιλίοις ὁπλίταις, καταπλεύσας δὲ τῆς Λακωνικῆς εἰς Μεθώνην, τοῦτο μὲν τὸ χωρίον εἷλε, τῶν δὲ Λακεδαιμονίων βοηθησάντων ἀνέζευξε, καὶ παραπλεύσας εἰς τὸ Γύθειον, ἐπίνειον τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων, χειρωσάμενος δὲ καὶ ταύτην τὴν πόλιν καὶ τὰ νεώρια τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων ἐμπρήσας, τὴν χώραν ἐδῄωσεν. ἐκεῖθεν δὲ ἀναχθεὶς ἔπλευσε τῆς Κεφαλληνίας εἰς Ζάκυνθον· ταύτην δὲ χειρωσάμενος καὶ πάσας τὰς ἐν τῇ Κεφαλληνίᾳ πόλεις προσαγαγόμενος, εἰς τὸ πέραν διέπλευσε καὶ κατῆρεν εἰς Ναύπακτον. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ ταύτην ἐξ ἐφόδου λαβών, κατῴκισεν εἰς ταύτην Μεσσηνίων τοὺς ἐπισήμους, ὑποσπόνδους ὑπὸ Λακεδαιμονίων ἀφεθέντας· κατὰ γὰρ τὸν αὐτὸν χρόνον οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι πρὸς τοὺς Εἵλωτας καὶ Μεσσηνίους πεπολεμηκότες ἐπὶ πλέον, τότε κρατήσαντες ἀμφοτέρων τοὺς μὲν ἐξ Ἰθώμης ὑποσπόνδους ἀφῆκαν, καθότι προείρηται, τῶν δʼ Εἱλώτων τοὺς αἰτίους τῆς ἀποστάσεως κολάσαντες τοὺς ἄλλους κατεδουλώσαντο.
While Callias was archon in Athens, in Elis the Eighty-first Olympiad was celebrated, that in which Polymnastus of Cyrene won the "stadion," and in Rome the consuls were Servius Sulpicius and Publius Volumnius Amentinus. During this year Tolmides, who was commander of the naval forces and vied with both the valour and fame of Myronides, was eager to accomplish a memorable deed. Consequently, since in those times no one had ever yet laid waste Laconia, he urged the Athenian people to ravage the territory of the Spartans, and he promised that by taking eleven thousand hoplites aboard the triremes he would with them lay waste Laconia and dim the fame of the Spartans. When the Athenians acceded to his request, he then, wishing to take with him secretly a larger number of hoplites, had recourse to the following cunning subterfuge. The citizens thought that he would enrol for the force the young men in the prime of youth and most vigorous in body; but Tolmides, determined to take with him in the campaign not merely the stipulated one thousand, approached every young man of exceptional hardihood and told him that he was going to enrol him; it would be better, however, he added, for him to go as a volunteer than be thought to have been compelled to serve under compulsion by enrolment. When by this scheme he had persuaded more than three thousand to enrol voluntarily and saw that the rest of the youth showed no further interest, he then enrolled the thousand he had been promised from all who were left. When all the other preparations for his expedition had been made, Tolmides set out to sea with fifty triremes and four thousand hoplites, and putting in at Methone in Laconia, he took the place; and when the Lacedemonians came to defend it, he withdrew, and cruising along the coast to Gytheium, which was a seaport of the Lacedemonians, he seized it, burned the city and also the dockyards of the Lacedemonians, and ravaged its territory. From here he set out to sea and sailed to Zacynthos which belonged to Cephallenia; he took the island and won over all the cities on Cephallenia, and then sailed across to the opposite mainland and put in at Naupactus. This city he likewise seized at the first assault and in it he settled the prominent Messenians whom the Lacedemonians had allowed to go free under a truce. At this time, it may be explained, the Lacedemonians had finally overcome both the Helots and Messenians, with whom they had been at war over a long period, and the Messenians they had allowed to depart from Ithome under a truce, as we have said, but of the Helots they had punished those who were responsible for the revolt and had enslaved the rest.
§ 11.85
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησι Σωσιστράτου Ῥωμαῖοι μὲν ὑπάτους κατέστησαν Πούπλιον Οὐαλέριον Ποπλικόλαν καὶ Γάιον Κλώδιον Ῥήγιλλον. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Τολμίδης μὲν περὶ τὴν Βοιωτίαν διέτριβεν, Ἀθηναῖοι δὲ Περικλέα τὸν Ξανθίππου, τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἀνδρῶν, στρατηγὸν κατέστησαν, καὶ δόντες αὐτῷ τριήρεις πεντήκοντα καὶ χιλίους ὁπλίτας ἐξέπεμψαν ἐπὶ τὴν Πελοπόννησον. οὗτος δὲ τῆς Πελοποννήσου πολλὴν ἐπόρθησεν, εἰς δὲ τὴν Ἀκαρνανίαν διαβὰς πλὴν Οἰνιαδῶν ἁπάσας τὰς πόλεις προσηγάγετο. οἱ μὲν οὖν Ἀθηναῖοι κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν ἐνιαυτὸν πλείστων πόλεων ἦρξαν, ἐπʼ ἀνδρείᾳ δὲ καὶ στρατηγίᾳ μεγάλην δόξαν κατεκτήσαντο.
When Sosistratus was archon in Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Publius Valerius Publicola and Gaius Clodius Regillus. In this year Tolmides was occupied in Boeotia and the Athenians elected as general a man of the aristocracy, Pericles the son of Xanthippus, and giving him fifty triremes and a thousand hoplites, sent him against the Peloponnesus. He ravaged a large part of the Peloponnesus, and then sailed across to Acarnania and won over to Athens all the cities with the exception of Oeniadae. So the Athenians during this year controlled a very large number of cities and won great fame for valour and generalship.
§ 11.86
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησιν Ἀρίστωνος Ῥωμαῖοι μὲν κατέστησαν ὑπάτους Κόιντον Φάβιον Οὐιβουλανὸν καὶ Λεύκιον Κορνήλιον Κουριτῖνον. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Ἀθηναίοις καὶ Πελοποννησίοις πενταετεῖς ἐγένοντο σπονδαί, Κίμωνος τοῦ Ἀθηναίου συνθεμένου ταύτας. κατὰ δὲ τὴν Σικελίαν Ἐγεσταίοις καὶ Λιλυβαίταις ἐνέστη πόλεμος περὶ χώρας τῆς πρὸς τῷ Μαζάρῳ ποταμῷ· γενομένης δὲ μάχης ἰσχυρᾶς συνέβη πολλοὺς παρʼ ἀμφοτέροις ἀναιρεθῆναι καὶ τῆς φιλοτιμίας μὴ λῆξαι τὰς πόλεις. μετὰ δὲ τὴν πολιτογραφίαν τὴν ἐν ταῖς πόλεσι γενομένην καὶ τὸν ἀναδασμὸν τῆς χώρας, πολλῶν εἰκῇ καὶ ὡς ἔτυχε πεπολιτογραφημένων, ἐνόσουν αἱ πόλεις καὶ πάλιν εἰς πολιτικὰς στάσεις καὶ ταραχὰς ἐνέπιπτον· μάλιστα δὲ τὸ κακὸν ἐπεπόλασεν ἐν ταῖς Συρακούσαις. Τυνδαρίδης γάρ τις τοὔνομα, θράσους καὶ τόλμης γέμων ἄνθρωπος, τὸ μὲν πρῶτον πολλοὺς τῶν πενήτων ἀνελάμβανε, καὶ σωματοποιῶν τούτους ἑαυτῷ πρὸς τυραννίδα ἑτοίμους ἐποίει δορυφόρους. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ἤδη φανερὸς ὢν ὅτι δυναστείας ὀρέγεται, θανάτου κρίσιν ὑποσχὼν κατεδικάσθη. ἀπαγομένου δὲ εἰς τὸ δεσμωτήριον οἱ πολυωρηθέντες ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ συνεστράφησαν καὶ τοῖς ἀπάγουσι τὰς χεῖρας ἐπέφερον. ταραχῆς δὲ γενομένης κατὰ τὴν πόλιν, συνεστράφησαν οἱ χαριέστατοι τῶν πολιτῶν, καὶ τοὺς νεωτερίσαντας συναρπάσαντες ἅμα τῷ Τυνδαρίδῃ ἀνεῖλον. πλεονάκις δὲ τούτου γινομένου, καὶ τῶν ἀνδρῶν τυραννίδος ἐπιθυμούντων, ὁ δῆμος ἐπηνέχθη μιμήσασθαι τοὺς Ἀθηναίους, καὶ νόμον θεῖναι παραπλήσιον τῷ παρʼ ἐκείνοις γεγραμμένῳ περὶ ὀστρακισμοῦ.
When Ariston was archon in Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Quintus Fabius Vibulanus and Lucius Cornelius Curitinus. This year the Athenians and Peloponnesians agreed to a truce of five years, Cimon the Athenian having conducted the negotiations. In Sicily a war arose between the peoples of Egesta and Lilybaeum over the land on the Mazarus River, and in a sharp battle which ensued both cities lost heavily but did not slacken their rivalry. And after the enrolment of citizens which had taken place in the cities and the redistribution of the lands, since many had been added to the roll of citizens without plan and in a haphazard fashion, the cities were in an unhealthy state and falling back again into civil strife and disorders; and it was especially in Syracuse that this malady prevailed. For a man by the name of Tyndarides, a rash fellow full of effrontery, began by gathering about him many of the poor, and organizing them into an armed unit he proceeded to make of them a personal bodyguard ready for an attempt to set up a tyranny. Not after this, when it was evident that he was grasping after supreme power, he was brought to trial and condemned to death. But while he was being led off to prison, the men upon whom he had lavished his favours rushed together and laid hands upon those who were arresting him. And in the confusion which arose throughout the city the most respectable citizens, who had organized themselves, seized the revolutionists and put them to death along with Tyndarides. And since this sort of thing kept happening time and again and there were men whose hearts were set on a tyranny, the people were led to imitate the Athenians and to establish a law very similar to the one they had passed on ostracism.
§ 11.87
παρὰ γὰρ Ἀθηναίοις ἕκαστον τῶν πολιτῶν ἔδει γράφειν εἰς ὄστρακον τοὔνομα τοῦ δοκοῦντος μάλιστα δύνασθαι τυραννεῖν τῶν πολιτῶν, παρὰ δὲ τοῖς Συρακοσίοις εἰς πέταλον ἐλαίας γράφεσθαι τὸν δυνατώτατον τῶν πολιτῶν, διαριθμηθέντων δὲ τῶν πετάλων τὸν πλεῖστα πέταλα λαβόντα φεύγειν πενταετῆ χρόνον. τούτῳ γὰρ τῷ τρόπῳ διελάμβανον ταπεινώσειν τὰ φρονήματα τῶν πλεῖστον ἰσχυόντων ἐν ταῖς πατρίσι· καθόλου γὰρ οὐ πονηρίας κολάσεις ἐλάμβανον παρὰ τῶν παρανομούντων, ἀλλὰ δυνάμεως καὶ αὐξήσεως τῶν ἀνδρῶν ἐποίουν ταπείνωσιν. οἱ μὲν οὖν Ἀθηναῖοι τοῦτο τὸ γένος τῆς νομοθεσίας ὠνόμασαν ἀπὸ τοῦ συμβεβηκότος ὀστρακισμόν, οἱ δὲ Συρακόσιοι πεταλισμόν. οὗτος δὲ ὁ νόμος διέμεινε παρὰ μὲν τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις ἐπὶ πολὺν χρόνον, παρὰ δὲ τοῖς Συρακοσίοις κατελύθη ταχὺ διὰ τοιαύτας τινὰς αἰτίας. τῶν μεγίστων ἀνδρῶν φυγαδευομένων οἱ χαριέστατοι τῶν πολιτῶν καὶ δυνάμενοι διὰ τῆς ἰδίας ἀρετῆς πολλὰ τῶν κοινῶν ἐπανορθοῦν ἀφίσταντο τῶν δημοσίων πράξεων, καὶ διὰ τὸν ἀπὸ τοῦ νόμου φόβον ἰδιωτεύοντες διετέλουν, ἐπιμελόμενοι δὲ τῆς ἰδίας οὐσίας εἰς τρυφὴν ἀπέκλινον, οἱ δὲ πονηρότατοι τῶν πολιτῶν καὶ τόλμῃ διαφέροντες ἐφρόντιζον τῶν δημοσίων καὶ τὰ πλήθη πρὸς ταραχὴν καὶ νεωτερισμὸν προετρέποντο. διόπερ στάσεων γινομένων πάλιν, καὶ τῶν πολλῶν εἰς διαφορὰς ἐκτρεπομένων, πάλιν ἡ πόλις εἰς συνεχεῖς καὶ μεγάλας ἐνέπιπτε ταραχάς· ἐπεπόλαζε γὰρ δημαγωγῶν πλῆθος καὶ συκοφαντῶν, καὶ λόγου δεινότης ὑπὸ τῶν νεωτέρων ἠσκεῖτο, καὶ καθόλου πολλοὶ τὰ φαῦλα τῶν ἐπιτηδευμάτων ἀντὶ τῆς παλαιᾶς καὶ σπουδαίας ἀγωγῆς ἠλλάττοντο, καὶ ταῖς μὲν οὐσίαις διὰ τὴν εἰρήνην προέκοπτον, τῆς δʼ ὁμονοίας καὶ τοῦ δικαιοπραγεῖν ὀλίγη τις ἐγίνετο φροντίς. διόπερ οἱ Συρακόσιοι μεταγνόντες τὸν περὶ τοῦ πεταλισμοῦ νόμον κατέλυσαν, ὀλίγον χρόνον αὐτῷ χρησάμενοι. καὶ τὰ μὲν κατὰ τὴν Σικελίαν ἐν τούτοις ἦν.
Now among the Athenians each citizen was required to write on a potsherd (ostracon) the name of the man who, in his opinion, was most able through his influence to tyrannize over his fellow citizens; but among the Syracusans the name of the most influential citizen had to be written on an olive leaf, and when the leaves were counted, the man who received the largest number of leaves had to go into exile for five years. For by this means they thought that they would humble the arrogance of the most powerful men in these two cities; for, speaking generally, they were not exacting from violators of the law a punishment for a crime committed, but were effecting a diminution of the influence and growing power of the men in question. Now while the Athenians called this kind of legislation ostracism, from the way it was done, the Syracusans used the name petalism. This law remained in force among the Athenians for a long time, but among the Syracusans it was soon repealed for the following reasons. Since the most influential men were being sent into exile, the most respectable citizens and such as had it in their power, by reason of their high personal character, to effect many reforms in the affairs of the commonwealth were taking no part in public affairs, but consistently remained in private life because of their fear of the law, attending to their personal fortunes and leaning towards a life of luxury; whereas it was the basest citizens and such as excelled in effrontery who were giving their attention to public affairs and inciting the masses to disorder and revolution. Consequently, since factional quarrels were again arising the masses were turning to wrangling, the city fell back into continuous and serious disorders. For a multitude of demagogues and sycophants was arising, the youth were cultivating cleverness in oratory, and, in a word, many were exchanging the ancient and sober way of life for the ignoble pursuits; wealth was increasing because of the peace, but there was little if any concern for concord and honest conduct. As a result the Syracusans changed their minds and repealed the law of petalism, having used it only a short while. Such, then, was the state of affairs in Sicily.
§ 11.88
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησι Λυσικράτους ἐν Ῥώμῃ κατεστάθησαν ὕπατοι Γάιος Ναύτιος Ῥούτιλος καὶ Λεύκιος Μινούκιος Καρουτιανός. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Περικλῆς ὁ τῶν Ἀθηναίων στρατηγὸς ἀποβὰς εἰς Πελοπόννησον ἐδῄωσε τὴν τῶν Σικυωνίων χώραν. ἐπεξελθόντων δʼ ἐπʼ αὐτὸν τῶν Σικυωνίων πανδημεὶ καὶ μάχης γενομένης, ὁ Περικλῆς νικήσας καὶ πολλοὺς κατὰ τὴν φυγὴν ἀνελὼν κατέκλεισεν αὐτοὺς εἰς πολιορκίαν. προσβολὰς δὲ ποιούμενος τοῖς τείχεσι, καὶ μὴ δυνάμενος ἑλεῖν τὴν πόλιν, ἔτι δὲ καὶ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων ἀποστειλάντων βοήθειαν τοῖς πολιορκουμένοις, ἀνέζευξεν ἐκ τῆς Σικυῶνος· εἰς δὲ τὴν Ἀκαρνανίαν πλεύσας καὶ τὴν τῶν Οἰνιαδῶν χώραν καταδραμὼν καὶ λαφύρων πλῆθος ἀθροίσας, ἀπέπλευσεν ἐκ τῆς Ἀκαρνανίας. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ἐλθὼν εἰς Χερρόνησον χιλίοις τῶν πολιτῶν κατεκληρούχησε τὴν χώραν. ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις Τολμίδης ὁ ἕτερος στρατηγὸς εἰς τὴν Εὔβοιαν παρελθὼν ἄλλοις χιλίοις πολίταις ταύτην καὶ τὴν τῶν Ναξίων γῆν διένειμε. κατὰ δὲ τὴν Σικελίαν Τυρρηνῶν λῃζομένων τὴν θάλατταν, οἱ Συρακόσιοι ναύαρχον ἑλόμενοι Φάϋλλον ἔπεμψαν εἰς τὴν Τυρρηνίαν. οὗτος δʼ ἐκπλεύσας τὸ μὲν πρῶτον νῆσον τὴν ὀνομαζομένην Αἰθάλειαν ἐπόρθησε, παρὰ δὲ τῶν Τυρρηνῶν λάθρᾳ χρήματα λαβών, ἀπέπλευσεν εἰς τὴν Σικελίαν οὐδὲν ἄξιον μνήμης διαπραξάμενος. οἱ δὲ Συρακόσιοι τοῦτον μὲν ὡς προδότην καταδικάσαντες ἐφυγάδευσαν, ἕτερον δὲ στρατηγὸν καταστήσαντες Ἀπελλῆν ἐξαπέστειλαν ἐπὶ Τυρρηνοὺς ἔχοντα τριήρεις ἑξήκοντα. οὗτος δὲ τὴν παραθαλάττιον Τυρρηνίαν καταδραμών, ἀπῆρεν εἰς Κύρνον κατεχομένην ὑπὸ Τυρρηνῶν κατʼ ἐκείνους τοὺς χρόνους· πορθήσας δὲ πλεῖστα τῆς νήσου καὶ τὴν Αἰθάλειαν χειρωσάμενος, ἐπανῆλθεν εἰς τὰς Συρακούσας αἰχμαλώτων τε πλῆθος κομίζων καὶ τὴν ἄλλην ὠφέλειαν ἄγων οὐκ ὀλίγην. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Δουκέτιος ὁ τῶν Σικελῶν ἀφηγούμενος τὰς πόλεις ἁπάσας τὰς ὁμοεθνεῖς πλὴν τῆς Ὕβλας εἰς μίαν καὶ κοινὴν ἤγαγε συντέλειαν, δραστικὸς δʼ ὢν νεωτέρων ὠρέγετο πραγμάτων, καὶ παρὰ τοῦ κοινοῦ τῶν Σικελῶν ἀθροίσας δύναμιν ἀξιόλογον τὰς Μένας, ἥτις ἦν αὐτοῦ πατρίς, μετῴκισεν εἰς τὸ πεδίον, καὶ πλησίον τοῦ τεμένους τῶν ὀνομαζομένων Παλικῶν ἔκτισε πόλιν ἀξιόλογον, ἣν ἀπὸ τῶν προειρημένων θεῶν ὠνόμαζε Παλικήν.
When Lysicrates was archon in Athens, in Rome the consuls elected were Gaius Nautius Rutilus and Lucius Minucius Carutianus. During this year Pericles, the general of the Athenians, landed in the Peloponnesus and ravaged the territory of the Sicyonians. And when the Sicyonians came out against him in full force and a battle was fought, Pericles was victorious, slew many as they fled, and shut them up in their city, to which he laid siege. But when he was unable by making assaults upon the walls to take the city, and when, besides, the Lacedemonians sent aid to the besieged, he withdrew from Sicyon; then he sailed to Acarnania, where he overran the territory of Oeniadae, amassed much booty, and then sailed away from Acarnania. After this he arrived at the Cherronesus and portioned out the land in allotments to one thousand citizens. While these events were taking place, Tolmides, the other general, passed over into Euboea and divided it and the land of the Naxians among another thousand citizens. As for the events in Sicily, since the Tyrrhenians were practising piracy at sea, the Syracusans chose Phayllus as admiral and sent him to Tyrrhenia. He sailed at first to the island known as Aethaleia and ravaged it, but he secretly accepted a bribe of money from the Tyrrhenians and sailed back to Sicily without having accomplished anything worthy of mention. The Syracusans found him guilty of treachery and exiled him, and choosing another general, Apelles, they dispatched him with sixty triremes against the Tyrrhenians. He overran the coast of Tyrrhenia and then passed over to Cyrnus, which was held at those times by the Tyrrhenians, and after sacking many places in this island and subduing Aethaleia, he returned to Syracuse accompanied by a multitude of captives and not a little other spoil. And after this Ducetius, the leader of the Siceli, gathered all the cities which were of the same race, with the exception of Hybla, into one and a common federation; and being an energetic man, he was always grasping after innovations, and so he gathered a large army from the Sicilian League and removed the city of Menae, which was his native state, and planted it in the plain. Also near the sacred precinct of the Palici, as they are called, he founded an important city, which he named Palice after the gods just mentioned.
§ 11.89
ἐπεὶ δὲ περὶ τῶν θεῶν τούτων ἐμνήσθημεν, οὐκ ἄξιόν ἐστι παραλιπεῖν τὴν περὶ τὸ ἱερὸν ἀρχαιότητά τε καὶ τὴν ἀπιστίαν καὶ τὸ σύνολον τὸ περὶ τοὺς ὀνομαζομένους κρατῆρας ἰδίωμα. μυθολογοῦσι γὰρ τὸ τέμενος τοῦτο διαφέρειν τῶν ἄλλων ἀρχαιότητι καὶ σεβασμῷ, πολλῶν ἐν αὐτῷ παραδόξων παραδεδομένων. πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ κρατῆρές εἰσι τῷ μεγέθει μὲν οὐ κατὰ πᾶν μεγάλοι, πηγὰς δʼ ἐξαισίους ἀναβάλλοντες ἐξ ἀμυθήτου τε βυθοῦ καὶ παραπλήσιον ἔχοντες τὴν φύσιν τοῖς λέβησι τοῖς ὑπὸ πυρὸς πολλοῦ καομένοις καὶ τὸ ὕδωρ διάπυρον ἀναβάλλουσιν. ἔμφασιν μὲν οὖν ἔχει τὸ ἀναβαλλόμενον ὕδωρ ὡς ὑπάρχει διάπυρον, οὐ μὴν ἀκριβῆ τὴν ἐπίγνωσιν ἔχει διὰ τὸ μηδένα τολμᾶν ἅψασθαι τούτου· τηλικαύτην γὰρ ἔχει κατάπληξιν ἡ τῶν ὑγρῶν ἀναβολὴ ὥστε δοκεῖν ὑπὸ θείας τινὸς ἀνάγκης γίνεσθαι τὸ συμβαῖνον. τὸ μὲν γὰρ ὕδωρ θείου κατακόρου τὴν ὄσφρησιν ἔχει, τὸ δὲ χάσμα βρόμον πολὺν καὶ φοβερὸν ἐξίησι· τὸ δὲ τούτων παραδοξότερον, οὔτε ὑπερεκχεῖται τὸ ὑγρὸν οὔτε ἀπολείπει, κίνησιν δὲ καὶ βίαν ῥεύματος εἰς ὕψος ἐξαιρομένην ἔχει θαυμάσιον. τοιαύτης δὲ θεοπρεπείας οὔσης περὶ τὸ τέμενος, οἱ μέγιστοι τῶν ὅρκων ἐνταῦθα συντελοῦνται, καὶ τοῖς ἐπιορκήσασι συντόμως ἡ τοῦ δαιμονίου κόλασις ἀκολουθεῖ· τινὲς γὰρ τῆς ὁράσεως στερηθέντες τὴν ἐκ τοῦ τεμένους ἄφοδον ποιοῦνται. μεγάλης δʼ οὔσης δεισιδαιμονίας, οἱ τὰς ἀμφισβητήσεις ἔχοντες, ὅταν ὑπό τινος ὑπεροχῆς κατισχύωνται, τῇ διὰ τῶν ὅρκων τούτων ἀνακρίσει κρίνονται. ἔστι δὲ τοῦτο τὸ τέμενος ἔκ τινων χρόνων ἄσυλον τετηρημένον, καὶ τοῖς ἀτυχοῦσιν οἰκέταις καὶ κυρίοις ἀγνώμοσι περιπεπτωκόσι πολλὴν παρέχεται βοήθειαν· τοὺς γὰρ εἰς τοῦτο καταφυγόντας οὐκ ἔχουσιν ἐξουσίαν οἱ δεσπόται βιαίως ἀπάγειν, καὶ μέχρι τούτου διαμένουσιν ἀσινεῖς, μέχρι ἂν ἐπὶ διωρισμένοις φιλανθρώποις πείσαντες οἱ κύριοι καὶ δόντες διὰ τῶν ὅρκων τὰς περὶ τῶν ὁμολογιῶν πίστεις ἀπαγάγωσι. καὶ οὐδεὶς ἱστορεῖται τῶν δεδωκότων τοῖς οἰκέταις πίστιν ταύτην παραβάς· οὕτω γὰρ ἡ τῶν θεῶν δεισιδαιμονία τοὺς ὀμόσαντας πρὸς τοὺς δούλους πιστοὺς ποιεῖ. ἔστι δὲ καὶ τὸ τέμενος ἐν πεδίῳ θεοπρεπεῖ κείμενον καὶ στοαῖς καὶ ταῖς ἄλλαις καταλύσεσιν ἱκανῶς κεκοσμημένον. περὶ μὲν οὖν τούτων ἱκανῶς ἡμῖν εἰρήσθω, πρὸς δὲ τὴν συνεχῆ τοῖς προϊστορημένοις διήγησιν ἐπάνιμεν.
Since we have spoken of these gods, we should not omit to mention both the antiquity and the incredible nature of the shrine, and, in a word, the peculiar phenomenon of The Craters, as they are called. The myth relates that this sacred area surpasses all others in antiquity and the reverence paid to it, and many marvels there are reported by tradition. For first of all there are craters which are not at all large in size, but they throw up extraordinary streams of water from a depth beyond telling and have very much the nature of cauldrons which are heated by a strong fire and throw up boiling water. Now the water that is thrown up gives the impression of being boiling hot, but this is not known for certain because of the fact that no man dares touch it; for the amazement caused by the spout of water is so great that men believe the phenomenon to be due to some divine power. For not only does the water give out a strongly sulphurous smell but the yawning mouth emits a mighty and terrifying roar; and what is still more astonishing than this, the water neither pours over nor recedes, but has a motion and force in its current that lifts it to a marvellous height. Since so divine a majesty pervades the sacred area, the most sacred oaths are taken there and men who swear falsely are immediately overtaken by the punishment of heaven; thus certain men have lost their sight when they depart from the sacred precinct. And so great is the awe of the deities of this shrine, that men who are pressing claims, when, for instance, they are being overborne by a person of superior dignity, have their claims adjudicated on the strength of the preliminary examination of the witnesses supported by oaths taken in the name of these deities. This sacred area has also been recognized for some time as a place of sanctuary and has been a source of great aid to luckless slaves who have fallen into the hands of brutal masters; for if they have fled there for refuge, their masters have no power to remove them by force, and they remain there protected from harm until their masters, having gained their consent upon conditions of humane treatment and having given pledges, supported by such oaths, to fulfil their agreements, lead them away. And history records no case, out of all who have given slaves such a pledge as this, of a violation; so faithful to their slaves does the awe in which these gods are held make those who have taken the oath. And the sacred area, which lies on a plain meet for a god, has been appropriately embellished with colonnades and every other kind of lounging-place. — But let what we have said suffice for this subject, and we shall return to the narrative at the point where our history broke off.
§ 11.90
ὁ γὰρ Δουκέτιος τὴν Παλικὴν κτίσας καὶ περιλαβὼν αὐτὴν ἀξιολόγῳ τείχει, κατεκληρούχησε τὴν ὅμορον χώραν. συνέβη δὲ τὴν πόλιν ταύτην διὰ τὴν τῆς χώρας ἀρετὴν καὶ διὰ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν οἰκητόρων ταχεῖαν λαβεῖν αὔξησιν. οὐ πολὺν δὲ χρόνον εὐδαιμονήσασα κατεσκάφη, καὶ διέμεινεν ἀοίκητος μέχρι τῶν καθʼ ἡμᾶς χρόνων· περὶ ὧν τὰ κατὰ μέρος ἀναγράψομεν ἐν τοῖς οἰκείοις χρόνοις. καὶ τὰ μὲν κατὰ τὴν Σικελίαν ἐν τούτοις ἦν. κατὰ δὲ τὴν Ἰταλίαν μετὰ τὴν κατασκαφὴν τῆς Συβάρεως ὑπὸ τῶν Κροτωνιατῶν ὕστερον ἔτεσιν ὀκτὼ πρὸς τοῖς πεντήκοντα Θετταλὸς συναγαγὼν τοὺς ὑπολοίπους τῶν Συβαριτῶν ἐξ ἀρχῆς ᾤκισε τὴν Σύβαριν, κειμένην ἀνὰ μέσον ποταμῶν δυοῖν, τοῦ τε Συβάριος καὶ Κράθιος. ἀγαθὴν δʼ ἔχοντες χώραν ταχὺ ταῖς οὐσίαις προσανέβησαν. κατασχόντες δὲ τὴν πόλιν ἔτη ὀλίγα πάλιν ἐξέπεσον ἐκ τῆς Συβάρεως· περὶ ὧν τὰ κατὰ μέρος ἀναγράψαι πειρασόμεθα κατὰ τὴν ἐχομένην βίβλον.
Ducetius, after founding Palice and enclosing it with strong walls, portioned out the neighbouring countryside in allotments. And it came to pass that this city, on account of the fertility of the soil and the multitude of the colonists, enjoyed a rapid growth. It did not, however, prosper for long, but was razed to the ground and has remained without habitation until our of which day; regarding this we shall give a detailed account in connection with the appropriate period of time. Such, then, was the state of affairs in Sicily. In Italy, fifty-eight years after the Crotoniates had destroyed Sybaris, a Thessalian gathered together the Sybarites who remained and founded Sybaris anew; it lay between two rivers, the Sybaris and the Crathis. And since the settlers possessed a fertile land they quickly advanced in wealth. But they had possessed the city only a few years when they were again driven out of Sybaris, regarding which event we shall undertake to give a detailed account in the following Book. (The year 452 B.C. is lacking.)
§ 11.91
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησιν Ἀντιδότου Ῥωμαῖοι κατέστησαν ὑπάτους Λεύκιον Ποστούμιον καὶ Μάρκον Ὁράτιον. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Δουκέτιος μὲν ὁ τῶν Σικελῶν ἔχων τὴν ἡγεμονίαν Αἴτνην μὲν κατελάβετο, τὸν ἡγούμενον αὐτῆς δολοφονήσας, εἰς δὲ τὴν Ἀκραγαντίνων χώραν ἀναζεύξας μετὰ δυνάμεως Μότυον φρουρούμενον ὑπὸ τῶν Ἀκραγαντίνων ἐπολιόρκησε· τῶν δὲ Ἀκραγαντίνων καὶ Συρακοσίων ἐπιβοηθησάντων, συνάψας μάχην καὶ προτερήσας ἐξήλασεν ἀμφοτέρους ἐκ τῶν στρατοπέδων. καὶ τότε μὲν τοῦ χειμῶνος ἐνισταμένου διεχωρίσθησαν εἰς τὴν οἰκείαν, οἱ δὲ Συρακόσιοι τὸν στρατηγὸν Βόλκωνα, τῆς ἥττης αἴτιον ὄντα καὶ δόξαντα λάθρᾳ συμπράττειν τῷ Δουκετίῳ, καταδικάσαντες ὡς προδότην ἀπέκτειναν. τοῦ θέρους δὲ ἀρχομένου στρατηγὸν ἕτερον κατέστησαν, ᾧ δύναμιν ἀξιόλογον δόντες προσέταξαν καταπολεμῆσαι Δουκέτιον. οὗτος δὲ πορευθεὶς μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως κατέλαβε τὸν Δουκέτιον στρατοπεδεύοντα περὶ τὰς Νομάς· γενομένης δὲ παρατάξεως μεγάλης, καὶ πολλῶν παρʼ ἀμφοτέροις πιπτόντων, μόγις Συρακόσιοι βιασάμενοι τοὺς Σικελοὺς ἐτρέψαντο, καὶ κατὰ τὴν φυγὴν πολλοὺς ἀνεῖλον. τῶν δὲ διαφυγόντων οἱ πλείους μὲν εἰς τὰ φρούρια τῶν Σικελῶν διεσώθησαν, ὀλίγοι δὲ μετὰ Δουκετίου τῶν αὐτῶν ἐλπίδων μετέχειν προείλοντο. ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις Ἀκραγαντῖνοι τὸ Μότυον φρούριον κατεχόμενον ὑπὸ τῶν μετὰ Δουκετίου Σικελῶν ἐξεπολιόρκησαν, καὶ τὴν δύναμιν ἀπαγαγόντες πρὸς τοὺς Συρακοσίους νενικηκότας ἤδη κοινῇ κατεστρατοπέδευσαν. Δουκέτιος δὲ διὰ τὴν ἧτταν τοῖς ὅλοις συντριβείς, καὶ τῶν στρατιωτῶν αὐτὸν τῶν μὲν καταλειπόντων, τῶν δʼ ἐπιβουλευόντων, εἰς τὴν ἐσχάτην ἦλθεν ἀπόγνωσιν.
When Antidotus was archon in Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Lucius Postumius and Marcus Horatius. During this year Ducetius, who held the leadership of the Siceli, seized the city of Aetna, having treacherously slain its leader, and then he moved with an army into the territory of the Acragantini and laid siege to Motyum, which was held by a garrison of Acragantini; and when the Acragantini and the Syracusans came to the aid of the city, he joined battle with them, was successful, and drove them both out of their camps. But since at the time winter was setting in, they separated and returned to their homes; and the Syracusans found their general Bolcon, who was responsible for the defeat and was thought to have had secret dealings with Ducetius, guilty of treason and put him to death. With the beginning of summer they appointed a new general, to whom they assigned a strong army with orders to subdue Ducetius. This general, setting out with his army, came upon Ducetius while he was encamped near Nomae; a fierce struggle ensued and many fell on both sides, but with difficulty the Syracusans overpowered and routed the Siceli, slaying many of them as they fled. Of those who survived the battle the larger number found safety in the strongholds of the Siceli, but a few chose to share the hopes of Ducetius. While these things were taking place, the Acragantini forced the capitulation of the stronghold of Motyum, which was held by the Siceli who stayed with Ducetius, and then, uniting their troops with the Syracusans who had already won the victory, they now camped together. As for Ducetius, now that he had been completely crushed by his defeat and that some of his soldiers were deserting and others plotting against him, he had come to the depths of despair.
§ 11.92
τέλος δὲ θεωρῶν τοὺς ὑπολοίπους φίλους μέλλοντας αὐτῷ τὰς χεῖρας προσφέρειν, φθάσας αὐτοὺς καὶ νυκτὸς διαδρὰς ἀφίππευσεν εἰς τὰς Συρακούσας. ἔτι δὲ νυκτὸς οὔσης παρῆλθεν εἰς τὴν ἀγορὰν τῶν Συρακοσίων, καὶ καθίσας ἐπὶ τῶν βωμῶν ἱκέτης ἐγένετο τῆς πόλεως, καὶ ἑαυτόν τε καὶ τὴν χώραν ἧς ἦν κύριος παρέδωκε τοῖς Συρακοσίοις. τοῦ δὲ πλήθους διὰ τὸ παράδοξον συρρέοντος εἰς τὴν ἀγοράν, οἱ μὲν ἄρχοντες συνήγαγον ἐκκλησίαν καὶ προέθηκαν βουλὴν περὶ τοῦ Δουκετίου τί χρὴ πράττειν. ἔνιοι μὲν οὖν τῶν δημηγορεῖν εἰωθότων συνεβούλευον κολάζειν ὡς πολέμιον καὶ περὶ τῶν ἡμαρτημένων τὴν προσήκουσαν ἐπιθεῖναι τιμωρίαν· οἱ δὲ χαριέστατοι τῶν πρεσβυτέρων παριόντες ἀπεφαίνοντο σώζειν τὸν ἱκέτην, καὶ τὴν τύχην καὶ τὴν νέμεσιν τῶν θεῶν ἐντρέπεσθαι· δεῖν γὰρ σκοπεῖν οὐ τί παθεῖν ἄξιός ἐστι Δουκέτιος, ἀλλὰ τί πρέπει πρᾶξαι Συρακοσίοις· ἀποκτεῖναι γὰρ τὸν πεπτωκότα τῇ τύχῃ μὴ προσῆκον, σώζειν δʼ ἅμα τὴν πρὸς τοὺς θεοὺς εὐσέβειαν καὶ τὸν ἱκέτην ἄξιον εἶναι τῆς τοῦ δήμου μεγαλοψυχίας. ὁ δὲ δῆμος ὥσπερ τινὶ μιᾷ φωνῇ σώζειν πάντοθεν ἐβόα τὸν ἱκέτην. Συρακόσιοι μὲν οὖν ἀπολύσαντες τῆς τιμωρίας τὸν Δουκέτιον ἐξέπεμψαν εἰς τὴν Κόρινθον, καὶ ἐνταῦθα προστάξαντες καταβιοῦν τὴν ἱκανὴν αὐτῷ χορηγίαν συναπέστειλαν. ἡμεῖς δὲ παρόντες ἐπὶ τὸν προηγούμενον ἐνιαυτὸν τῆς Ἀθηναίων στρατείας ἐπὶ Κύπρον Κίμωνος ἡγουμένου, κατὰ τὴν ἐν ἀρχῇ πρόθεσιν αὐτοῦ περιγράφομεν τήνδε τὴν βίβλον.
Finally, when Ducetius saw that his remaining friends were about to lay hands upon him, he anticipated them by slipping away at night and riding off to Syracuse. And while it was still night he entered the market-place of the Syracusans, and seating himself at the altars he became a suppliant of the city, placing both his person and the land which he controlled at the disposition of the Syracusans. When the multitude poured into the market-place in amazement at the unexpected event, the magistrates called a meeting of the Assembly and laid before it the question of what should be done with Ducetius. Some of those who were accustomed to curry favour with the people advised that they should punish him as an enemy and inflict on him for his misdeeds the appropriate penalty; but the more fairminded of the elder citizens came forward and declared it as their opinion that they should spare the suppliant and show due regard for Fortune and the wrath of the gods. The people should consider, they continued, not what punishment Ducetius deserved, but what action was proper for the Syracusans; for to slay the victim of Fortune was not fitting, but to maintain reverence for the gods as well as to spare the suppliant was an act worthy of the magnanimity of the people. The people thereupon cried out as with one voice from every side to spare the suppliant. The Syracusans, accordingly, released Ducetius from punishment and sent him off to Corinth, ordering him to spend his life in that city and also giving him sufficient means for this his support. Since we are now at the year preceding the campaign of the Athenians against Cyprus under the leadership of Cimon, pursuant to the plan announced at the beginning of this Book we herewith bring it to an end.
— Book 12 —
§ 12.arg
τάδε ἔνεστιν ἐν τῇ δωδεκάτῃ τῶν Διοδώρου βίβλων. περὶ τῆς Ἀθηναίων στρατείας ἐπὶ Κύπρον. περὶ τῆς ἀποστάσεως τῶν Μεγαρέων ἀπὸ Ἀθηναίων. περὶ τῆς γενομένης μάχης περὶ Κορώνειαν Ἀθηναίοις καὶ Βοιωτοῖς. περὶ τῆς Ἀθηναίων στρατείας ἐπὶ τὴν Εὔβοιαν. πόλεμος κατὰ τὴν Σικελίαν Συρακοσίοις πρὸς Ἀκραγαντίνους. κτίσις κατὰ τὴν Ἰταλίαν Θουρίων καὶ στάσις πρὸς ἀλλήλους. ὡς Χαρώνδας ὁ Θουρῖνος νομοθέτης αἱρεθεὶς πολλῶν ἀγαθῶν αἴτιος ἐγένετο τῇ πατρίδι. ὡς Ζάλευκος νομοθετήσας ἐν Λοκροῖς μεγάλην δόξαν περιεποιήσατο. ὡς Ἀθηναῖοι τοὺς Ἑστιαιεῖς ἐκβαλόντες ἰδίους οἰκήτορας ἐξέπεμψαν. περὶ τοῦ γενομένου πολέμου Θουρίοις πρὸς Ταραντίνους. περὶ τῆς γενομένης στάσεως ἐν τῇ Ῥώμῃ. περὶ τοῦ γενομένου πολέμου Σαμίοις πρὸς Μιλησίους. ὡς Συρακόσιοι στρατεύσαντες ἐπὶ Πικηνοὺς τὴν πόλιν κατέσκαψαν. ὡς κατὰ τὴν Ἑλλάδα συνέστη πόλεμος ὁ κληθεὶς Κορινθιακός. ὡς κατὰ τὴν Ἰταλίαν τὸ τῶν Καμπανῶν ἔθνος συνέστη. ναυμαχία Κορινθίων πρὸς Κερκυραίους. ἀπόστασις Ποτιδαίας καὶ Χαλκιδέων ἀπὸ Ἀθηναίων. περὶ τῆς γενομένης στρατείας Ἀθηναίων ἐπὶ τοὺς Ποτιδαιάτας. περὶ τῆς γενομένης στάσεως ἐν τοῖς Θουρίοις. ὡς Μέτων ὁ Ἀθηναῖος πρῶτος ἐξέθηκε τὴν ἐννεακαιδεκαετηρίδα. ὡς τὴν ἐν Ἰταλίᾳ Ἡράκλειαν Ταραντῖνοι ἔκτισαν. ὡς ἐπὶ τῆς Ῥώμης Σπόριος Μαίλιος ἐπιθέμενος τυραννίδι ἀνῃρέθη. περὶ τοῦ Πελοποννησιακοῦ κληθέντος πολέμου. περὶ τῆς γενομένης μάχης Βοιωτοῖς πρὸς Πλαταιεῖς. ὡς τῆς Μεθώνης πολιορκουμένης ὑπὸ Ἀθηναίων Βρασίδας ὁ Σπαρτιάτης ἀριστεύσας ἐδοξάσθη. ὡς Ἀθηναῖοι στρατεύσαντες ἐπὶ Λοκροὺς πόλιν Θρόνιον ἐξεπόρθησαν. ὡς Αἰγινῆται ὑπὸ Ἀθηναίων ἀνασταθέντες τὰς καλουμένας Θυρέας κατῴκησαν. ὡς Λακεδαιμόνιοι στρατεύσαντες εἰς τὴν Ἀττικὴν τὰς κτήσεις κατέφθειραν. στρατεία Ἀθηναίων δευτέρα ἐπὶ τοὺς Ποτιδαιάτας. στρατεία Λακεδαιμονίων εἰς Ἀκαρνανίαν καὶ ναυμαχία πρὸς Ἀθηναίους. στρατεία Σιτάλκου μὲν εἰς Μακεδονίαν, Λακεδαιμονίων δὲ εἰς τὴν Ἀττικήν. περὶ τῆς Λεοντίνων πρεσβείας εἰς τὰς Ἀθήνας καὶ τῆς Γοργίου τοῦ πρεσβεύσαντος δεινότητος ἐν τοῖς λόγοις. περὶ τοῦ γενομένου πολέμου Λεοντίνοις πρὸς Συρακουσίους. ἀπόστασις Λεσβίων ἀπὸ Ἀθηναίων καὶ Πλαταιῶν ἅλωσις καὶ κατασκαφὴ ὑπὸ Λακεδαιμονίων. στάσις Κερκυραίων πρὸς ἀλλήλους. ὡς Ἀθηναῖοι λοιμικῇ νόσῳ περιπεσόντες πολλοὺς ἀπέβαλον τῶν πολιτῶν. ὡς Λακεδαιμόνιοι Ἡράκλειαν ἐν τῇ Τραχῖνι πόλιν ἔκτισαν. ὡς Ἀθηναῖοι πολλοὺς τῶν Ἀμβρακιωτῶν ἀνελόντες ἠρήμωσαν τὴν πόλιν. περὶ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων τῶν ἐν τῇ Σφακτηρίᾳ νήσῳ αἰχμαλώτων γενομένων. περὶ τῆς Ποστουμίου εἰς τὸν υἱὸν γενομένης ἐπιτιμήσεως ἕνεκα τῆς λειποταξίας. περὶ τοῦ γενομένου πολέμου Λακεδαιμονίοις καὶ Ἀθηναίοις ὑπὲρ τῶν Μεγαρέων. πόλεμος Λακεδαιμονίοις καὶ Ἀθηναίοις ὑπὲρ Χαλκιδέων. μάχη κατὰ τὴν Βοιωτίαν Ἀθηναίοις πρὸς Βοιωτούς. στρατεία Ἀθηναίων πρὸς τοὺς ἐν τῇ Λέσβῳ φυγάδας. ἔκπτωσις Δηλίων ὑπὸ Ἀθηναίων. ἅλωσις Τορώνης καὶ κατασκαφὴ ὑπὸ Ἀθηναίων. ὡς Ἀθηναίων καὶ Λακεδαιμονίων ἰδίᾳ συνθεμένων συμμαχίαν ἀπηλλοτριώθησαν αἱ λοιπαὶ πόλεις ἀπʼ αὐτῶν. ὡς Δήλιοι κατήχθησαν ὑπὸ Ἀθηναίων εἰς τὴν πατρίδα. ὡς Λακεδαιμόνιοι πρὸς Μαντινεῖς καὶ Ἀργείους ἐπολέμησαν. βυζαντίων καὶ Καλχηδονίων στρατεία εἰς τὴν Βιθυνίαν. περὶ τῶν αἰτιῶν διʼ ἃς ἐπὶ Συρακούσας ἐστράτευσαν Ἀθηναῖοι.
—
§ 12.1
δικαίως ἄν τις ἀπορήσειε τὸν νοῦν ἐπιστήσας τῇ κατὰ τὸν ἀνθρώπινον βίον ἀνωμαλίᾳ· οὔτε γὰρ τῶν νομιζομένων ἀγαθῶν οὐδὲν ὁλόκληρον εὑρίσκεται δεδομένον τοῖς ἀνθρώποις οὔτε τῶν κακῶν αὐτοτελὲς ἄνευ τινὸς εὐχρηστίας. τούτου δὲ τὰς ἀποδείξεις ἐξέσται λαμβάνειν ἐπιστήσαντας τὴν διάνοιαν ταῖς προγεγενημέναις πράξεσι, καὶ μάλιστα ταῖς μεγίσταις. ἡ γὰρ Ξέρξου τοῦ Περσῶν βασιλέως ἐπὶ τὴν Ἑλλάδα στρατεία διὰ τὸ μέγεθος τῶν δυνάμεων τὸν μέγιστον ἐπέστησε φόβον τοῖς Ἕλλησιν, ὡς ἂν ὑπὲρ ἀνδραποδισμοῦ μελλόντων πολεμεῖν, καὶ προκαταδεδουλωμένων τῶν κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν Ἑλληνίδων πόλεων πάντες ὑπέλαβον καὶ τὰς κατὰ τὴν Ἑλλάδα τῆς ὁμοίας τύχης πειράσεσθαι. τοῦ δὲ πολέμου παρὰ τὴν προσδοκίαν τὸ τέλος λαβόντος παράδοξον, οὐ μόνον τῶν κινδύνων ἀπελύθησαν οἱ τὴν Ἑλλάδα κατοικοῦντες, ἀλλὰ καὶ δόξαν μεγάλην κατεκτήσαντο, καὶ τοσαύτης εὐπορίας ἐπληρώθη πᾶσα πόλις Ἑλληνίς, ὥστε πάντας θαυμάσαι τὴν εἰς τοὐναντίον μεταβολήν. ἀπὸ τούτων γὰρ τῶν χρόνων ἐπὶ ἔτη πεντήκοντα πολλὴν ἐπίδοσιν ἔλαβεν ἡ Ἑλλὰς πρὸς τὴν εὐδαιμονίαν. ἐν τούτοις γὰρ τοῖς χρόνοις αἵ τε τέχναι διὰ τὴν εὐπορίαν ηὐξήθησαν, καὶ τότε μέγιστοι μνημονεύονται τεχνῖται γεγονέναι, ὧν ἐστι Φειδίας ὁ ἀγαλματοποιός· ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τὰ κατὰ τὴν παιδείαν ἐπὶ πολὺ προέβη, καὶ φιλοσοφία προετιμήθη καὶ ῥητορικὴ παρὰ πᾶσι μὲν Ἕλλησι, μάλιστα δὲ Ἀθηναίοις. φιλόσοφοι μὲν γὰρ οἱ περὶ τὸν Σωκράτη καὶ Πλάτωνα καὶ Ἀριστοτέλην, ῥήτορες δὲ Περικλῆς καὶ Ἰσοκράτης καὶ οἱ τούτου μαθηταί· ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ ἄνδρες ἐπὶ στρατηγίᾳ διαβεβοημένοι, Μιλτιάδης, Θεμιστοκλῆς, Ἀριστείδης, Κίμων, Μυρωνίδης καὶ ἕτεροι πλείονες, περὶ ὧν μακρὸν ἂν εἴη γράφειν.
A man may justly feel perplexed when he stops to consider the inconsistency that is to be found in the life of mankind; for no thing which we consider to be good is ever found to have been given to human beings unadulterated, nor is there any evil in an absolute form without some admixture of advantage. Proofs of this will be obtained if we give thought to the events of the past, especially to those of outstanding importance. For instance, the campaign of Xerxes, the king of the Persians, against Greece aroused the greatest fear among the Greeks by reason of the immensity of his armaments, since the war they were entering might well decide their slavery, and since the Greek cities of Asia had already been enslaved, all men assumed that those of Greece would also suffer a similar fate. But the war, contrary to expectation, came to an amazing end, and not only were the peoples of Greece freed of the dangers threatening them, but they also won for themselves great glory, and every city of Hellas enjoyed such an abundant prosperity that all men were filled with wonder at the complete reversal of their fortune. For from this time over the next fifty years Greece made great advance in prosperity. In these years, for example, plenty brought increase to the arts, and the greatest artists of whom we have record, including the sculptor Pheidias, flourished at that time; and there was likewise great advance in education, and philosophy and oratory had a high place of honour among all Greeks, and especially the Athenians. For the philosophers were Socrates and Plato and Aristotle, and the orators were Pericles and Isocrates and his pupils; and there were likewise men who have become renowned for generalship, Miltiades, Themistocles, Aristeides, Cimon, Myronides, and others more than these, regarding whom it would be a long task to write.
§ 12.2
μάλιστα δὲ Ἀθηναῖοι τῇ τε δόξῃ καὶ ἀνδρείᾳ προκόψαντες διωνομάσθησαν καθʼ ὅλην σχεδὸν τὴν οἰκουμένην· ἐπὶ τοσοῦτο γὰρ τὴν ἡγεμονίαν ηὔξησαν, ὥστε ἄνευ Λακεδαιμονίων καὶ Πελοποννησίων ἰδίᾳ μεγάλας δυνάμεις Περσικὰς καὶ κατὰ γῆν καὶ κατὰ θάλατταν κατηγωνίσαντο, καὶ τὴν περιβόητον Περσῶν ἡγεμονίαν ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον ἐταπείνωσαν, ὥστε ἀναγκάσαι πάσας τὰς κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν πόλεις ἐλευθερῶσαι κατὰ συνθήκας. ἀλλὰ περὶ μὲν τούτων ἀκριβέστερον τὰ κατὰ μέρος ἀνεγράψαμεν ἐν δυσὶ βίβλοις, ταύτῃ τε καὶ τῇ πρὸ ταύτης· νυνὶ δὲ ἐπὶ τὰς προκειμένας πράξεις τρεψόμεθα, προδιορίσαντες τοὺς οἰκείους τῇ γραφῇ χρόνους. ἐν μὲν οὖν τῇ πρὸ ταύτης βίβλῳ τὴν ἀρχὴν ἀπὸ τῆς Ξέρξου στρατείας ποιησάμενοι διήλθομεν τὰς κοινὰς πράξεις ἐπὶ τὸν προηγούμενον ἐνιαυτὸν τῆς Ἀθηναίων στρατείας ἐπὶ Κύπρον Κίμωνος ἡγουμένου· ἐν ταύτῃ δὲ ἀπὸ τῆς Ἀθηναίων στρατείας ἐπὶ Κύπρον ποιησάμενοι διέξιμεν ἕως ἐπὶ τὸν ψηφισθέντα πόλεμον ὑπὸ Ἀθηναίων πρὸς Συρακοσίους.
First place belonged to the Athenians, who had advanced so far in both fame and prowess that their name was known throughout practically the entire inhabited world; for they increased their leadership to such a degree that, by their own resources and without the aid of Lacedemonians or Peloponnesians, they overcame great Persian armaments both on land and on sea, and humbled the famed leadership of the Persians to such an extent that they forced them by the terms of a treaty to liberate all the cities of Asia. But of these matters we have given a detailed and fairly precise account in two Books, this and the preceding, and we shall turn now to the events next in order, after we have first set the time-limits of this section. Now in the preceding Book we began with the campaign of Xerxes and presented a universal history down to the year before the campaign of the Athenians against Cyprus under the command of Cimon; and in this Book we shall commence with the campaign of the Athenians against Cyprus and continue as far as the war which the Athenians voted to undertake against the Syracusans.
§ 12.3
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος γὰρ Ἀθήνησιν Εὐθυδήμου Ῥωμαῖοι μὲν ὑπάτους κατέστησαν Λεύκιον Κοΐντιον Κικιννᾶτον καὶ Μάρκον Φάβιον Οὐιβουλανόν. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Ἀθηναῖοι διαπεπολεμηκότες ὑπὲρ Αἰγυπτίων πρὸς Πέρσας, καὶ τὰς ναῦς ἁπάσας ἀπολωλεκότες ἐν τῇ λεγομένῃ Προσωπίτιδι νήσῳ, βραχὺν χρόνον διαλιπόντες ἔγνωσαν πάλιν πολεμεῖν τοῖς Πέρσαις ὑπὲρ τῶν κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν Ἑλλήνων. καταρτίσαντες δὲ στόλον τριήρων διακοσίων, καὶ στρατηγὸν ἑλόμενοι Κίμωνα τὸν Μιλτιάδου, προσέταξαν πλεῖν ἐπὶ Κύπρον καὶ διαπολεμεῖν τοῖς Πέρσαις. ὁ δὲ Κίμων ἀναλαβὼν τὸν στόλον κεκοσμημένον ἀνδρῶν τε ἀρεταῖς καὶ χορηγίαις δαψιλέσιν ἔπλευσεν εἰς τὴν Κύπρον. κατʼ ἐκείνους δὲ τοὺς καιροὺς τῶν Περσικῶν δυνάμεων ἐστρατήγουν Ἀρτάβαζος καὶ Μεγάβυζος. Ἀρτάβαζος μὲν τὴν ἡγεμονίαν ἔχων ἐν τῇ Κύπρῳ διέτριβεν, ἔχων τριήρεις τριακοσίας, Μεγάβυζος δὲ περὶ τὴν Κιλικίαν ἐστρατοπέδευε, πεζὰς ἔχων δυνάμεις, ὧν ὁ ἀριθμὸς ἦν τριάκοντα μυριάδων. ὁ δὲ Κίμων καταπλεύσας εἰς τὴν Κύπρον καὶ θαλαττοκρατῶν Κίτιον μὲν καὶ Μάριον ἐξεπολιόρκησε, καὶ τοῖς κρατηθεῖσι φιλανθρώπως προσηνέχθη. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ἐκ Κιλικίας καὶ Φοινίκης προσφερομένων τριήρων τῇ νήσῳ, Κίμων ἐπαναχθεὶς καὶ πόλεμον συγκρούσας πολλὰς μὲν τῶν νεῶν κατέδυσεν, ἑκατὸν δὲ σὺν αὐτοῖς τοῖς ἀνδράσιν εἷλε, τὰς δὲ λοιπὰς μέχρι τῆς Φοινίκης κατεδίωξεν. οἱ μὲν οὖν Πέρσαι ταῖς ὑπολειφθείσαις ναυσὶ κατέφυγον εἰς τὴν γῆν, καθʼ ὃν τόπον ἦν Μεγάβυζος ἐστρατοπεδευκὼς μετὰ τῆς πεζῆς δυνάμεως· οἱ δὲ Ἀθηναῖοι προσπλεύσαντες καὶ τοὺς στρατιώτας ἐκβιβάσαντες συνῆψαν μάχην, καθʼ ἣν Ἀναξικράτης μὲν ὁ ἕτερος τῶν στρατηγῶν λαμπρῶς ἀγωνισάμενος ἡρωικῶς κατέστρεψε τὸν βίον, οἱ δὲ ἄλλοι κρατήσαντες τῇ μάχῃ καὶ πολλοὺς ἀνελόντες ἐπανῆλθον εἰς τὰς ναῦς. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Ἀθηναῖοι πάλιν ἀπέπλευσαν εἰς τὴν Κύπρον. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἐπράχθη κατὰ τὸ πρῶτον ἔτος τοῦ πολέμου.
When Euthydemus was archon at Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus and Marcus Fabius Vibulanus. In this year the Athenians, who had been at war with the Persians on behalf of the Egyptians and had lost all their ships at the island which is known as Prosopitis, after a short time resolved to make war again upon the Persians on behalf of the Greeks in Asia Minor. And fitting out a fleet of two hundred triremes, they chose Cimon, the son of Miltiades, to be general and commanded him to sail to Cyprus to make war on the Persians. And Cimon, taking the fleet which had been furnished with excellent crews and abundant supplies, sailed to Cyprus. At that time the generals of the Persian armaments were Artabazus and Megabyzus. Artabazus held the supreme command and was tarrying in Cyprus with three hundred triremes, and Megabyzus was encamped in Cilicia with the land forces, which numbered three hundred thousand men. Cimon, when he arrived in Cyprus and was master of the sea, reduced by siege Citium and Marium, treating the conquered in humane fashion. But after this, when triremes from Cilicia and Phoenicia bore down upon the island, Cimon, putting out to sea against them and forcing battle upon them, sank many of the ships, captured one hundred together with their crews, and pursued the remainder as far as Phoenicia. Now the Persians with the ships that were left sought refuge on the land in the region where Megabyzus lay encamped with the land force. And the Athenians, sailing up and disembarking the soldiers, joined battle, in the course of which Anaxicrates, the other general, who had fought brilliantly, ended his life heroically; but the rest were victorious in the battle and after slaying many returned to the ships. After this the Athenians sailed back again to Cyprus. Such, then, were the events of the first year of the war.
§ 12.4
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησι Πεδιέως Ῥωμαῖοι μὲν κατέστησαν ὑπάτους Μάρκον Οὐαλέριον Λακτοῦκαν καὶ Σπόριον Οὐεργίνιον Τρίκοστον. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Κίμων ὁ τῶν Ἀθηναίων στρατηγὸς θαλαττοκρατῶν ἐχειροῦτο τὰς κατὰ τὴν Κύπρον πόλεις. ἐν δὲ τῇ Σαλαμῖνι Περσικῆς φρουρᾶς οὔσης ἀξιολόγου, καὶ βελῶν καὶ ὅπλων παντοδαπῶν, ἔτι δὲ σίτου καὶ τῆς ἄλλης παρασκευῆς γεμούσης τῆς πόλεως, ἔκρινε συμφέρειν ταύτην ἐκπολιορκῆσαι. οὕτω γὰρ ὑπελάμβανε μάλιστα τῆς τε Κύπρου πάσης ῥᾳδίως κυριεύσειν καὶ τοὺς Πέρσας καταπλήξεσθαι, βοηθεῖν μὲν τοῖς Σαλαμινίοις μὴ δυναμένους διὰ τὸ θαλαττοκρατεῖν τοὺς Ἀθηναίους, ἐγκαταλιπόντας δὲ τοὺς συμμάχους καταφρονηθήσεσθαι, καθόλου δὲ τὸν ὅλον πόλεμον κριθήσεσθαι τῆς Κύπρου πάσης βίᾳ χειρωθείσης· ὅπερ καὶ συνέβη γενέσθαι. οἱ μὲν γὰρ Ἀθηναῖοι συστησάμενοι πολιορκίαν πρὸς τῇ Σαλαμῖνι καθʼ ἡμέραν προσβολὰς ἐποιοῦντο, οἱ δʼ ἐν τῇ πόλει στρατιῶται, ἔχοντες βέλη καὶ παρασκευήν, ῥᾳδίως ἀπὸ τῶν τειχῶν ἠμύνοντο τοὺς πολιορκοῦντας. Ἀρταξέρξης δὲ ὁ βασιλεὺς πυθόμενος τὰ περὶ τὴν Κύπρον ἐλαττώματα, καὶ βουλευσάμενος μετὰ τῶν φίλων περὶ τοῦ πολέμου, ἔκρινε συμφέρειν εἰρήνην συνθέσθαι πρὸς τοὺς Ἕλληνας. ἔγραψε τοίνυν τοῖς περὶ Κύπρον ἡγεμόσι καὶ σατράπαις, ἐφʼ οἷς ἂν δύνωνται συλλύσασθαι πρὸς τοὺς Ἕλληνας. διόπερ οἱ περὶ τὸν Ἀρτάβαζον καὶ Μεγάβυζον ἔπεμψαν εἰς τὰς Ἀθήνας πρεσβευτὰς τοὺς διαλεξομένους περὶ συλλύσεως. ὑπακουσάντων δὲ τῶν Ἀθηναίων καὶ πεμψάντων πρέσβεις αὐτοκράτορας, ὧν ἡγεῖτο Καλλίας ὁ Ἱππονίκου, ἐγένοντο συνθῆκαι περὶ τῆς εἰρήνης τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις καὶ τοῖς συμμάχοις πρὸς τοὺς Πέρσας, ὧν ἐστι τὰ κεφάλαια ταῦτα· αὐτονόμους εἶναι τὰς κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν Ἑλληνίδας πόλεις ἁπάσας, τοὺς δὲ τῶν Περσῶν σατράπας μὴ καταβαίνειν ἐπὶ θάλατταν κατωτέρω τριῶν ἡμερῶν ὁδόν, μηδὲ ναῦν μακρὰν πλεῖν ἐντὸς Φασήλιδος καὶ Κυανέων· ταῦτα δὲ τοῦ βασιλέως καὶ τῶν στρατηγῶν ἐπιτελούντων, μὴ στρατεύειν Ἀθηναίους εἰς τὴν χώραν, ἧς βασιλεὺς ἄρχει. συντελεσθεισῶν δὲ τῶν σπονδῶν Ἀθηναῖοι τὰς δυνάμεις ἀπήγαγον ἐκ τῆς Κύπρου, λαμπρὰν μὲν νίκην νενικηκότες, ἐπιφανεστάτας δὲ συνθήκας πεποιημένοι. συνέβη δὲ καὶ τὸν Κίμωνα περὶ τὴν Κύπρον διατρίβοντα νόσῳ τελευτῆσαι.
When Pedieus was archon in Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Marcus Valerius Lactuca and Spurius Verginius Tricostus. In this year Cimon, the general of the Athenians, being master of the sea, subdued the cities of Cyprus. And since a large Persian garrison was there in Salamis and the city was filled with missiles and arms of every description, and of grain and supplies of every other kind, he decided that it would be to his advantage to reduce it by siege. For Cimon reasoned that this would be the easiest way for him not only to become master of all Cyprus but also to confound the Persians, since their being unable to come to the aid of the Salaminians, because the Athenians were masters of the sea, and their having left their allies in the lurch would cause them to be despised, and that, in a word, the entire war would be decided if all Cyprus were reduced by arms. And that in which what actually happened. The Athenians began the siege of Salamis and were making daily assaults, but the soldiers in the city, supplied as they were with missiles and materiel, were with ease warding off the besiegers from the walls. Artaxerxes the king, however, when he learned of the reverses his forces had suffered at Cyprus, took counsel on the war with his friends and decided that it was to his advantage to conclude a peace with the Greeks. Accordingly he dispatched to the generals in Cyprus and to the satraps the written terms on which they were permitted to come to a settlement with the Greeks. Consequently Artabazus and Megabyzus sent ambassadors to Athens to discuss a settlement. The Athenians were favourable and dispatched ambassadors plenipotentiary, the leader of whom was Callias the son of Hipponicus; and so the Athenians and their allies concluded with the Persians a treaty of peace, the principal terms of which run as follows: All the Greek cities are to live under laws of their own making; the satraps of the Persians are not to come nearer to the sea than a three days' journey and no Persian warship is to sail inside of Phaselis or the Cyanean Rocks; and if these terms are observed by the king and his generals, the Athenians are not to send troops into the territory over which the king is ruler. After the treaty had been solemnly concluded, the Athenians withdrew their armaments from Cyprus, having won a brilliant victory and concluded most noteworthy terms of peace. And it so happened that Cimon died of an illness during his stay in Cyprus.
§ 12.5
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δὲ Ἀθήνησι Φιλίσκου Ῥωμαῖοι κατέστησαν ὑπάτους Τίτον Ῥωμίλιον Οὐατικανὸν καὶ Γάιον Οὐετούριον Κιχώριον, Ἠλεῖοι δὲ ἤγαγον Ὀλυμπιάδα τρίτην πρὸς ταῖς ὀγδοήκοντα, καθʼ ἣν ἐνίκα στάδιον Κρίσων Ἱμεραῖος. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Μεγαρεῖς μὲν ἀπέστησαν ἀπὸ Ἀθηναίων, καὶ πρὸς Λακεδαιμονίους διαπρεσβευσάμενοι συμμαχίαν ἐποίησαν· οἱ δὲ Ἀθηναῖοι παροξυνθέντες ἐξέπεμψαν στρατιώτας εἰς τὴν τῶν Μεγαρέων χώραν, καὶ τὰς κτήσεις διαρπάσαντες πολλῆς ὠφελείας κύριοι κατέστησαν. τῶν δʼ ἐκ τῆς πόλεως βοηθούντων τῇ χώρᾳ συνέστη μάχη, καθʼ ἣν οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι νικήσαντες συνεδίωξαν τοὺς Μεγαρεῖς ἐντὸς τῶν τειχῶν.
When Philiscus was archon in Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Titus Romilius Vaticanus and Gaius Veturius Cichorius; and the Eleians celebrated the Eighty-third Olympiad, that in which Crison of Himera won the "stadion." In this year the Megarians revolted from the Athenians, and dispatching ambassadors to the Lacedemonians they concluded an alliance with them. Irritated at this the Athenians sent soldiers into the territory of the Megarians, plundering their properties and seizing much booty. And when the Megarians issued from their city to defend their territory, a battle ensued in which the Athenians were victorious and chased them back within their walls.
§ 12.6
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησι Τιμαρχίδου Ῥωμαῖοι μὲν ὑπάτους κατέστησαν Σπόριον Ταρπήιον καὶ Αὖλον Ἀστέριον Φοντίνιον. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Λακεδαιμόνιοι μὲν εἰς τὴν Ἀττικὴν ἐμβαλόντες ἐπόρθησαν πολλὴν χώραν, καὶ τῶν φρουρίων τινὰ πολιορκήσαντες ἐπανῆλθον εἰς τὴν Πελοπόννησον, Τολμίδης δὲ ὁ τῶν Ἀθηναίων στρατηγὸς εἷλε Χαιρώνειαν. τῶν δὲ Βοιωτῶν συστραφέντων καὶ τοῖς περὶ τὸν Τολμίδην ἐνεδρευσάντων, ἐγένετο μάχη καρτερὰ περὶ τὴν Κορώνειαν, καθʼ ἣν Τολμίδης μὲν μαχόμενος ἀνῃρέθη, τῶν δὲ ἄλλων Ἀθηναίων οἱ μὲν κατεκόπησαν, οἱ δὲ ζῶντες ἐλήφθησαν. τηλικαύτης δὲ συμφορᾶς γενομένης τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις, ἠναγκάσθησαν ἀφεῖναι τὰς πόλεις ἁπάσας τὰς κατὰ τὴν Βοιωτίαν αὐτονόμους, ἵνα τοὺς αἰχμαλώτους ἀπολάβωσιν.
When Timarchides was archon in Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Spurius Tarpeius and Aulus Asterius Fontinius. In this year the Lacedemonians invaded Attica and ravaged a large part of the countryside, and after laying siege to some of the Athenian fortresses they withdrew to the Peloponnesus; and Tolmides, the Athenian general, seized Chaeroneia. And when the Boeotians gathered their forces and caught Tolmides' troops in an ambush, a violent battle took place at Coroneia, in the course of which Tolmides fell fighting and of the remaining Athenians some were massacred and others were taken alive. The result of a disaster of such magnitude was that the Athenians were compelled to allow all the cities throughout Boeotia to live under laws of their own making, in order to get back their captured citizens.
§ 12.7
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησι Καλλιμάχου Ῥωμαῖοι μὲν κατέστησαν ὑπάτους Σέξτον Κοΐντιον Τριγέμινον. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων κατὰ τὴν Ἑλλάδα τεταπεινωμένων τῶν Ἀθηναίων διὰ τὴν ἐν Βοιωτίᾳ περὶ Κορώνειαν ἧτταν, ἀφίσταντο πολλαὶ τῶν πόλεων ἀπὸ τῶν Ἀθηναίων. μάλιστα δὲ τῶν κατοικούντων τὴν Εὔβοιαν νεωτεριζόντων, Περικλῆς αἱρεθεὶς στρατηγὸς ἐστράτευσεν ἐπὶ τὴν Εὔβοιαν μετὰ δυνάμεως ἀξιολόγου, καὶ τὴν μὲν πόλιν τῶν Ἑστιαιῶν ἑλὼν κατὰ κράτος ἐξῴκισε τοὺς Ἑστιαιεῖς ἐκ τῆς πατρίδος, τὰς δʼ ἄλλας καταπληξάμενος ἠνάγκασε πάλιν πειθαρχεῖν Ἀθηναίοις. σπονδὰς δʼ ἐποίησαν τριακονταετεῖς, Καλλίου καὶ Χάρητος συνθεμένων καὶ τὴν εἰρήνην βεβαιωσάντων.
When Callimachus was archon in Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Sextus Quinctius . . . Trigeminus. In this year, since the Athenians had been weakened in Greece because of their defeat in Boeotia at Coroneia, many cities revolted from them. Since the inhabitants of Euboea were taking the lead in the revolution, Pericles, who had been chosen general, made a campaign against Euboea with a strong force, and taking the city of Hestiaea by storm he removed the inhabitants from their native city; and the other cities he terrified and forced back into obedience to the Athenians. A truce was made for thirty years, Callias and Chares negotiating and confirming the peace.
§ 12.8
κατὰ δὲ τὴν Σικελίαν Συρακοσίοις πρὸς Ἀκραγαντίνους συνέστη πόλεμος διὰ τοιαύτας αἰτίας. Συρακόσιοι καταπολεμήσαντες Δουκέτιον δυνάστην τῶν Σικελῶν, καὶ γενόμενον ἱκέτην ἀπολύσαντες τῶν ἐγκλημάτων, ἀπέδειξαν αὐτῷ τὴν τῶν Κορινθίων πόλιν οἰκητήριον. οὗτος δὲ ὀλίγον χρόνον μείνας ἐν τῇ Κορίνθῳ τὰς ὁμολογίας ἔλυσε, καὶ προσποιησάμενος χρησμὸν ὑπὸ θεῶν αὐτῷ δεδόσθαι κτίσαι τὴν Καλὴν Ἀκτὴν ἐν τῇ Σικελίᾳ, κατέπλευσεν εἰς τὴν νῆσον μετά τινων οἰκητόρων· συνεπελάβοντο δὲ καὶ τῶν Σικελῶν τινες, ἐν οἷς ἦν καὶ Ἀρχωνίδης ὁ τῶν Ἑρβιταίων δυναστεύων. οὗτος μὲν οὖν περὶ τὸν οἰκισμὸν τῆς Καλῆς Ἀκτῆς ἐγίνετο. Ἀκραγαντῖνοι δὲ ἅμα μὲν φθονοῦντες τοῖς Συρακοσίοις, ἅμα δʼ ἐγκαλοῦντες αὐτοῖς ὅτι Δουκέτιον ὄντα κοινὸν πολέμιον διέσωσαν ἄνευ τῆς Ἀκραγαντίνων γνώμης, πόλεμον ἐξήνεγκαν τοῖς Συρακοσίοις. σχιζομένων δὲ τῶν Σικελικῶν πόλεων, καὶ τῶν μὲν τοῖς Ἀκραγαντίνοις, τῶν δὲ τοῖς Συρακοσίοις συστρατευόντων, ἠθροίσθησαν παρʼ ἀμφοτέροις δυνάμεις ἀξιόλογοι. φιλοτιμίας δὲ μεγάλης γενομένης ταῖς πόλεσιν, ἀντεστρατοπέδευσαν ἀλλήλοις περὶ τὸν Ἱμέραν ποταμόν, καὶ γενομένης παρατάξεως ἐνίκησαν οἱ Συρακόσιοι, καὶ τῶν Ἀκραγαντίνων ἀνεῖλον ὑπὲρ τοὺς χιλίους. μετὰ δὲ τὴν μάχην διαπρεσβευσαμένων περὶ συνθέσεως τῶν Ἀκραγαντίνων, οἱ Συρακόσιοι συνέθεντο τὴν εἰρήνην.
In Sicily a war broke out between the Syracusans and Acragantini for the following reasons. The Syracusans had overcome Ducetius, the ruler of the Siceli, cleared him of all charges when he became a suppliant, and specified that he should make his home in the city of the Corinthians. But after Ducetius had spent a short time in Corinth he broke the agreement, and on the plea that the gods had given him an oracular reply that he should found a city on the Fair Shore (Kale Acte) of Sicily, he sailed to the island with a number of colonists; some Siceli were also included, among whom was Archonides, the ruler of Herbita. He, then, was busied with the colonization of Kale Acte. But the Acragantini, partly because they were envious of the Syracusans and partly because they were accusing them of letting Ducetius, who was their common enemy, go free without consulting them, declared war upon the Syracusans. The cities of Sicily were divided, some of them taking the field with the Acragantini and others with the Syracusans, and so large armaments were mustered on both sides. Great emulation was shown by the cities as they pitched opposing camps at the Himera River, and in the conflict which followed the Syracusans were victorious and slew more than a thousand Acragantini. After the battle Acragantini sent ambassadors to discuss terms and the Syracusans conclude a peace.
§ 12.9
καὶ τὰ μὲν κατὰ τὴν Σικελίαν ἐν τούτοις ἦν. κατὰ δὲ τὴν Ἰταλίαν συνέβη κτισθῆναι τὴν τῶν Θουρίων πόλιν διʼ αἰτίας τοιαύτας. ἐν τοῖς ἔμπροσθεν χρόνοις Ἑλλήνων κτισάντων κατὰ τὴν Ἰταλίαν πόλιν Σύβαριν, συνέβη ταύτην λαβεῖν ταχεῖαν αὔξησιν διὰ τὴν ἀρετὴν τῆς χώρας. κειμένης γὰρ ἀνὰ μέσον δυεῖν ποταμῶν, τοῦ τε Κράθιος καὶ τοῦ Συβάριος, ἀφʼ οὗ ταύτης ἔτυχε τῆς προσηγορίας, οἱ κατοικισθέντες νεμόμενοι πολλὴν καὶ καρποφόρον χώραν μεγάλους ἐκτήσαντο πλούτους. πολλοῖς δὲ μεταδιδόντες τῆς πολιτείας ἐπὶ τοσοῦτο προέβησαν, ὥστε δόξαι πολὺ προέχειν τῶν κατὰ τὴν Ἰταλίαν οἰκούντων, πολυανθρωπίᾳ τε τοσοῦτο διήνεγκαν, ὥστε τὴν πόλιν ἔχειν πολιτῶν τριάκοντα μυριάδας. γενόμενος δὲ παρʼ αὐτοῖς δημαγωγὸς Τῆλυς, καὶ κατηγορῶν τῶν μεγίστων ἀνδρῶν, ἔπεισε τοὺς Συβαρίτας φυγαδεῦσαι τοὺς εὐπορωτάτους τῶν πολιτῶν πεντακοσίους καὶ τὰς οὐσίας αὐτῶν δημεῦσαι. τῶν δὲ φυγάδων παρελθόντων εἰς Κρότωνα καὶ καταφυγόντων ἐπὶ τοὺς εἰς τὴν ἀγορὰν βωμούς, ὁ μὲν Τῆλυς ἐξέπεμψε πρεσβευτὰς πρὸς τοὺς Κροτωνιάτας, οἷς ἦν προστεταγμένον ἢ τοὺς φυγάδας ἐκδοῦναι ἢ πόλεμον προσδέχεσθαι. συναχθείσης δὲ ἐκκλησίας καὶ προτεθείσης βουλῆς, πότερον χρὴ τοὺς ἱκέτας ἐκδοῦναι τοῖς Συβαρίταις ἢ πόλεμον ὑπομεῖναι πρὸς δυνατωτέρους, ἀπορουμένης τε τῆς συγκλήτου καὶ τοῦ δήμου, τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἔρρεπε ταῖς γνώμαις τὸ πλῆθος πρὸς τὴν ἀπόδοσιν τῶν ἱκετῶν διὰ τὸν πόλεμον· μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Πυθαγόρου τοῦ φιλοσόφου συμβουλεύσαντος σώζειν τοὺς ἱκέτας, μετέπεσον ταῖς γνώμαις καὶ τὸν πόλεμον ὑπὲρ τῆς τῶν ἱκετῶν σωτηρίας ἀνείλοντο. στρατευσάντων δʼ ἐπʼ αὐτοὺς τῶν Συβαριτῶν τριάκοντα μυριάσιν ἀντετάχθησαν οἱ Κροτωνιᾶται δέκα μυριάσι, Μίλωνος τοῦ ἀθλητοῦ ἡγουμένου καὶ διὰ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῆς τοῦ σώματος ῥώμης πρώτου τρεψαμένου τοὺς καθʼ αὑτὸν τεταγμένους. ὁ γὰρ ἀνὴρ οὗτος, ἑξάκις Ὀλύμπια νενικηκὼς καὶ τὴν ἀλκὴν ἀκόλουθον ἔχων τῇ κατὰ τὸ σῶμα φύσει, λέγεται πρὸς τὴν μάχην ἀπαντῆσαι κατεστεφανωμένος μὲν τοῖς Ὀλυμπικοῖς στεφάνοις, διεσκευασμένος δὲ εἰς Ἡρακλέους σκευὴν λεοντῇ καὶ ῥοπάλῳ· αἴτιον δὲ γενόμενον τῆς νίκης θαυμασθῆναι παρὰ τοῖς πολίταις.
These, then, were the events in Sicily. And in Italy the city of Thurii came to be founded, for the following reasons. When in former times the Greeks had founded Sybaris in Italy, the city had enjoyed a rapid growth because of the fertility of the land. For lying as the city did between two rivers, the Crathis and the Sybaris, from which it derived its name, its inhabitants, who tilled an extensive and fruitful countryside, came to possess great riches. And since they kept granting citizenship to many aliens, they increased to such an extent that they were considered to be far the first among the inhabitants of Italy; indeed they so excelled in population that the city possessed three hundred thousand citizens. Now there arose among the Sybarites a leader of the people named Telys, who brought charges against the most influential men and persuaded the Sybarites to exile the five hundred wealthiest citizens and confiscate their estates. And when these exiles went to Croton and took refuge at the altars in the market-place, Telys dispatched ambassadors to the Crotoniates, commanding them either to deliver up the exiles or to expect war. An assembly of the people was convened and deliberation proposed on the question whether they should surrender the suppliants to the Sybarites or face a war with a superior foe, and the Council and people were at a loss what to do. At first the sentiments of the masses, from fear of the war, leaned toward handing over the suppliants, but after this, when Pythagoras the philosopher advised that they grant safety to the suppliants, they changed their opinions and accepted the war on behalf of the safety of the suppliants. When the Sybarites advanced against them with three hundred thousand men, the Crotoniates opposed them with one hundred thousand under the command of Milo the athlete, who by reason of his great physical strength was the first to put to flight his adversaries. For we are told that this man, who had won the prize in Olympia six times and whose courage was of the measure of his physical body, came to battle wearing his Olympic crowns and equipped with the gear of Heracles, lion's skin and club; and he won the admiration of his fellow citizens as responsible for their victory.
§ 12.10
τῶν δὲ Κροτωνιατῶν διὰ τὴν ὀργὴν ζωγρεῖν μὲν μηδένα βουληθέντων, πάντας δὲ κατὰ τὴν φυγὴν τοὺς ὑποπεσόντας ἀποκτεινόντων, οἱ πλείους κατεκόπησαν· τὴν δὲ πόλιν διήρπασαν καὶ παντελῶς ἔρημον ἐποίησαν. ὕστερον δὲ ἔτεσιν ὀκτὼ πρὸς τοῖς πεντήκοντα Θετταλοὶ συνῴκισαν, καὶ μετʼ ὀλίγον ὑπὸ Κροτωνιατῶν ἐξέπεσον κατὰ τοὺς ὑποκειμένους καιρούς. καὶ μετὰ βραχὺ μετασταθεῖσα εἰς ἕτερον τόπον προσηγορίας ἑτέρας ἔτυχε, κτιστῶν γενομένων Λάμπωνος καὶ Ξενοκρίτου τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον. οἱ γὰρ τὸ δεύτερον ἐκπεσόντες ἐκ τῆς πατρίδος Συβαρῖται πρέσβεις ἔπεμψαν εἰς τὴν Ἑλλάδα πρὸς Λακεδαιμονίους καὶ Ἀθηναίους, ἀξιοῦντες συνεπιλαβέσθαι τῆς καθόδου καὶ κοινωνῆσαι τῆς ἀποικίας. Λακεδαιμόνιοι μὲν οὖν οὐ προσέσχον αὐτοῖς, Ἀθηναῖοι δὲ συμπράξειν ἐπαγγειλάμενοι, δέκα ναῦς πληρώσαντες ἀπέστειλαν τοῖς Συβαρίταις, ὧν ἡγεῖτο Λάμπων τε καὶ Ξενόκριτος· ἐκήρυξαν δὲ κατὰ τὰς ἐν Πελοποννήσῳ πόλεις κοινοποιούμενοι τὴν ἀποικίαν τῷ βουλομένῳ μετέχειν τῆς ἀποικίας. μέτρῳ ὕδωρ πίνοντες, ἀμετρὶ δὲ μᾶζαν ἔδοντες, εὑρόντες δὲ οὐκ ἄπωθεν τῆς Συβάρεως κρήνην ὀνομαζομένην Θουρίαν, ἔχουσαν αὐλὸν χάλκεον, ὃν ἐκάλουν οἱ ἐγχώριοι μέδιμνον, νομίσαντες εἶναι τοῦτον τὸν τόπον τὸν δηλούμενον ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ περιέβαλον τεῖχος, καὶ κτίσαντες πόλιν ὠνόμασαν ἀπὸ τῆς κρήνης Θούριον. τὴν δὲ πόλιν διελόμενοι κατὰ μὲν μῆκος εἰς τέτταρας πλατείας, ὧν καλοῦσι τὴν μὲν μίαν Ἡράκλειαν, τὴν δὲ Ἀφροδισίαν, τὴν δὲ Ὀλυμπιάδα, τὴν δὲ Διονυσιάδα, κατὰ δὲ τὸ πλάτος διεῖλον εἰς τρεῖς πλατείας, ὧν ἡ μὲν ὠνομάσθη Ἡρῴα, ἡ δὲ Θουρία, ἡ δὲ Θουρῖνα. τούτων δὲ τῶν στενωπῶν πεπληρωμένων ταῖς οἰκίαις ἡ πόλις ἐφαίνετο καλῶς κατεσκευάσθαι.
Since the Crotoniates in their anger would take no prisoners but slew all who fell into their hands in the flight, the larger number of the Sybarites perished; and they plundered the city of Sybaris and laid it entirely waste. Fifty-eight years later Thessalians joined in settling the city, but after a little while they were driven out by the Crotoniates, in the period we are now discussing. And shortly thereafter the city was moved to another site and received another name, its founders being Lampon and Xenocritus; the circumstances of its founding were as follows. The Sybarites who were driven a second time from their native city dispatched ambassadors to Greece, to the Lacedemonians and Athenians, requesting that they assist their repatriation and take part in the settlement. Now the Lacedemonians paid no attention to them, but the Athenians promised to join in the enterprise, and they manned ten ships and sent them to the Sybarites under the leadership of Lampon and Xenocritus; they further sent word to the several cities of the Peloponnesus, offering a share in the colony to anyone who wished to take part in it. Many accepted the offer and received an oracular response from Apollo that they should found a city in the place where there would be water to drink in due measure, but bread to each without measure. They put in at Italy and arriving at Sybaris they set about hunting the place which the god had ordered them to colonize. Having found not far from Sybaris a spring called Thuria, which had a bronze pipe which the natives of the region called Medimnos, and believing this to be the place which the god had pointed out, they threw a wall about it, and founding a city there they named it Thurium for the spring. They divided the city lengthwise by four streets, the first of which they named Heracleia, the second Aphrodisia, the third Olympias, and the fourth Dionysias, and breadthwise they divided it by three streets, of which the first was named Heroa, the second Thuria, and the last Thurina. And since the quarters formed by these streets were filled with dwellings, the construction of the city appeared to be good.
§ 12.11
ὀλίγον δὲ χρόνον ὁμονοήσαντες οἱ Θούριοι στάσει μεγάλῃ περιέπεσον οὐκ ἀλόγως. οἱ γὰρ προϋπάρχοντες Συβαρῖται τὰς μὲν ἀξιολογωτάτας ἀρχὰς ἑαυτοῖς προσένεμον, τὰς δʼ εὐτελεῖς τοῖς ὕστερον προσγεγραμμένοις πολίταις· καὶ τὰς γυναῖκας ἐπιθύειν τοῖς θεοῖς ᾤοντο δεῖν πρώτας μὲν τὰς πολίτιδας, ὑστέρας δὲ τὰς μεταγενεστέρας· πρὸς δὲ τούτοις τὴν μὲν σύνεγγυς τῇ πόλει χώραν κατεκληρούχουν ἑαυτοῖς, τὴν δὲ πόρρω κειμένην τοῖς ἐπήλυσι. γενομένης δὲ διαφορᾶς διὰ τὰς εἰρημένας αἰτίας, οἱ προσγραφέντες ὕστερον πολῖται πλείους καὶ κρείττονες ὄντες ἀπέκτειναν σχεδὸν ἅπαντας τοὺς προϋπάρχοντας Συβαρίτας, καὶ τὴν πόλιν αὐτοὶ κατῴκησαν. πολλῆς δὲ οὔσης καὶ καλῆς χώρας, οἰκήτορας ἐκ τῆς Ἑλλάδος μεταπεμψάμενοι συχνούς, διενείμαντο τὴν πόλιν καὶ τὴν χώραν ἐπʼ ἴσης ἔνεμον. οἱ δὲ διαμένοντες ταχὺ πλούτους μεγάλους ἐκτήσαντο, καὶ πρὸς τοὺς Κροτωνιάτας φιλίαν συνθέμενοι καλῶς ἐπολιτεύοντο. συστησάμενοι δὲ πολίτευμα δημοκρατικὸν διεῖλον τοὺς πολίτας εἰς δέκα φυλάς, καὶ τὰς προσηγορίας ἁπάσαις περιέθηκαν ἐκ τῶν ἐθνῶν, τρεῖς μὲν ἀπὸ τῶν ἐκ Πελοποννήσου συναχθέντων ὀνομάσαντες Ἀρκάδα καὶ Ἀχαΐδα καὶ Ἠλείαν, τὰς ἴσας δὲ ἀπὸ τῶν ἔξωθεν ὁμοεθνῶν, Βοιωτίαν, Ἀμφικτυονίδα, Δωρίδα, τὰς δὲ λοιπὰς τέτταρας ἀπὸ τῶν ἄλλων γενῶν, Ἰάδα, Ἀθηναΐδα, Εὐβοΐδα, Νησιῶτιν. εἵλοντο δὲ καὶ νομοθέτην τὸν ἄριστον τῶν ἐν παιδείᾳ θαυμαζομένων πολιτῶν Χαρώνδαν. οὗτος δὲ ἐπισκεψάμενος τὰς ἁπάντων νομοθεσίας ἐξελέξατο τὰ κράτιστα καὶ κατέταξεν εἰς τοὺς νόμους· πολλὰ δὲ καὶ ἴδια ἐπινοησάμενος ἐξεῦρε, περὶ ὧν οὐκ ἀνοίκειόν ἐστιν ἐπιμνησθῆναι πρὸς διόρθωσιν τῶν ἀναγινωσκόντων.
For a short time only did the Thurians live together in peace, and then they fell into serious civil strife, not without reason. The former Sybarites, it appears, were assigning the most important offices to themselves and the lower ones to the citizens who had been enrolled later; their wives they also thought should enjoy precedence among the citizenesses in the offering of sacrifices to the gods, and the wives of the later citizens should take second place to them; furthermore, the land lying near the city they were portioning out in allotments among themselves, and the more distant land to the newcomers. And when a division arose for the causes we have mentioned, the citizens who had been added to the rolls after the others, being more numerous and more powerful, put to death practically all of the original Sybarites and took upon themselves the colonization of the city. Since the countryside was extensive and rich, they sent for colonists in large numbers from Greece, and to these they assigned parts of city and gave them equal shares of the land. Those who continued to live in the city quickly came to possess great wealth, and concluding friendship with the Crotoniates they administered their state in admirable fashion. Establishing a democratic form of government, they divided the citizens into ten tribes, to each of which they assigned a name based on the nationality of those who constituted it: three tribes composed of peoples gathered from the Peloponnesus they named the Arcadian, the Achaean, and the Eleian; the same number, gathered from related peoples living outside the Peloponnesus, they named the Boeotian, Amphictyonian, and Dorian; and the remaining four, constituted from any other peoples, the Ionian, the Athenian, the Euboean, and the Islander. They also chose for their lawgiver the best man among such of their citizens as were admired for their learning, this being Charondas. He, after examining the legislations of all peoples, singled out the best principles and incorporated them in his laws; and he also worked out many principles which were his own discovery, and these it is not foreign to our purpose to mention for the edification of our readers.
§ 12.12
πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ τοῖς μητρυιὰν ἐπαγομένοις κατὰ τῶν ἰδίων τέκνων ἔθηκε πρόστιμον τὸ μὴ γίνεσθαι συμβούλους τούτους τῇ πατρίδι, νομίζων τοὺς κακῶς περὶ τῶν ἰδίων τέκνων βουλευσαμένους καὶ συμβούλους κακοὺς ἔσεσθαι τῇ πατρίδι. ἔφη γὰρ τοὺς μὲν πρῶτον γήμαντας καὶ ἐπιτυχόντας δεῖν εὐημεροῦντας καταπαύειν, τοὺς δὲ ἀποτυχόντας τῷ γάμῳ καὶ πάλιν ἐν τοῖς αὐτοῖς ἁμαρτάνοντας ἄφρονας δεῖν ὑπολαμβάνεσθαι. τοὺς δʼ ἐπὶ συκοφαντίᾳ καταγνωσθέντας προσέταξε περιπατεῖν ἐστεφανωμένους μυρίκῃ, ὅπως ἐν πᾶσι τοῖς πολίταις φαίνωνται τὸ πρωτεῖον τῆς πονηρίας περιπεποιημένοι. διὸ καί τινας ἐπὶ τούτῳ τῷ ἐγκλήματι καταδικασθέντας τὸ μέγεθος τῆς ὕβρεως οὐκ ἐνεγκόντας ἑκουσίως ἑαυτοὺς ἐκ τοῦ ζῆν μεταστῆσαι. οὗ συντελεσθέντος ἐφυγαδεύθη πᾶς ἐκ τῆς πόλεως ὁ συκοφαντεῖν εἰωθώς, καὶ τὸ πολίτευμα μακάριον εἶχε βίον τῆς τοιαύτης κακίας ἀπηλλαγμένον. ἔγραψε δὲ ὁ Χαρώνδας καὶ περὶ τῆς κακομιλίας νόμον ἐξηλλαγμένον καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις νομοθέταις παρεωραμένον. ὑπολαβὼν γὰρ τοὺς ἀγαθοὺς ἄνδρας ἐνίοτε διὰ τὴν πρὸς τοὺς πονηροὺς φιλίαν καὶ συνήθειαν διαστρέφεσθαι τὰ ἤθη πρὸς κακίαν, καὶ τὴν φαυλότητα καθάπερ λοιμικὴν νόσον ἐπινέμεσθαι τὸν βίον τῶν ἀνθρώπων καὶ νοσοποιεῖν τὰς ψυχὰς τῶν ἀρίστων· κατάντης γὰρ ἡ πρὸς τὸ χεῖρον ὁδός, ῥᾳδίαν ἔχουσα τὴν ὁδοιπορίαν· διὸ καὶ τῶν μετρίων πολλοὶ τοῖς ἤθεσιν, ὑπούλοις ἡδοναῖς δελεασθέντες, εἰς ἐπιτηδεύσεις χειρίστας περιώκειλαν· ταύτην οὖν τὴν διαφθορὰν ἀναστεῖλαι βουλόμενος ὁ νομοθέτης ἀπηγόρευσε τῇ τῶν πονηρῶν φιλίᾳ τε καὶ συνηθείᾳ χρήσασθαι, καὶ δίκας ἐποίησε κακομιλίας, καὶ προστίμοις μεγάλοις ἀπέτρεψε τοὺς ἁμαρτάνειν μέλλοντας. ἔγραψε δὲ καὶ ἕτερον νόμον πολὺ τούτου κρείττονα καὶ τοῖς παλαιοτέροις αὐτοῦ νομοθέταις ἠμελημένον· ἐνομοθέτησε γὰρ τῶν πολιτῶν τοὺς υἱεῖς ἅπαντας μανθάνειν γράμματα, χορηγούσης τῆς πόλεως τοὺς μισθοὺς τοῖς διδασκάλοις. ὑπέλαβε γὰρ τοὺς ἀπόρους τοῖς βίοις, ἰδίᾳ μὴ δυναμένους διδόναι μισθούς, ἀποστερήσεσθαι τῶν καλλίστων ἐπιτηδευμάτων.
First of all, in the case of men who brought home a stepmother over their children he ordained as their punishment that they should have no part in counselling their fatherland, since he believed that men who planned so badly with respect to their own children would likewise be bad counsellors for their fatherland. For, he said, whoever had been fortunate in their first marriages would rest satisfied with their good lot, whereas whoever had been unfortunate in marriage and then made the same mistake a second time should be regarded as men without sense. Men who had been found guilty of false accusation should, he decreed, wear wherever they went a wreath of tamarisk, in order that they might show to all their fellow citizens that they had won the highest prize for wickedness. As a consequence certain men who had been judged guilty of this charge, being unable to bear their great disgrace, voluntarily removed themselves from life. When this took place, every man who had made a practice of false accusation was banished from the city, and the government enjoyed a blessed life of freedom from this evil. Charondas also wrote a unique law on evil association, which had been overlooked by all other lawgivers. He took it for granted that the characters of good men are in some cases perverted to evil by reason of their found and intimacy with bad persons, and that badness, like a pestilent disease, sweeps over the life of mankind and infects the souls of the most upright; for the road to the worse slopes downward and so provides an easier way to take; and this is the reason why many men of fairly good character, ensnared by deceptive pleasures, get stranded upon very bad habits. Wishing, therefore, to remove this source of corruption, the lawgiver forbade the indulgence in friendship and intimacy with unprincipled persons, provided actions at law against evil association, and by means of severe penalties diverted from their course those who were about to err in this manner. Charondas also wrote another law which is far superior to the one just mentioned and had also been overlooked by lawgivers before his time. He framed the law that all the sons of citizens should learn to read and write, the city providing the salaries of the teachers; for he assumed that men of no means and unable to provide the fees from their own resources would be cut off from the noblest pursuits.
§ 12.13
τὴν γὰρ γραμματικὴν παρὰ τὰς ἄλλας μαθήσεις προέκρινεν ὁ νομοθέτης, καὶ μάλα προσηκόντως· διὰ γὰρ ταύτης τὰ πλεῖστα καὶ χρησιμώτατα τῶν πρὸς τὸν βίον ἐπιτελεῖσθαι, ψήφους, ἐπιστολάς, διαθήκας, νόμους, τἄλλα τὰ τὸν βίον μάλιστα ἐπανορθοῦντα. τίς γὰρ ἂν ἄξιον ἐγκώμιον διάθοιτο τῆς τῶν γραμμάτων μαθήσεως; διὰ γὰρ τούτων μόνων οἱ μὲν τετελευτηκότες τοῖς ζῶσι διαμνημονεύονται, οἱ δὲ μακρὰν τοῖς τόποις διεστῶτες τοῖς πλεῖστον ἀπέχουσιν ὡς πλησίον παρεστῶσι διὰ τῶν γεγραμμένων ὁμιλοῦσι· ταῖς τε κατὰ πόλεμον συνθήκαις ἐν ἔθνεσιν ἢ βασιλεῦσι πρὸς διαμονὴν τῶν ὁμολογιῶν ἡ διὰ τῶν γραμμάτων ἀσφάλεια βεβαιοτάτην ἔχει πίστιν· καθόλου δὲ τὰς χαριεστάτας τῶν φρονίμων ἀνδρῶν ἀποφάσεις καὶ θεῶν χρησμούς, ἔτι δὲ φιλοσοφίαν καὶ πᾶσαν παιδείαν μόνη τηρεῖ καὶ τοῖς ἐπιγινομένοις ἀεὶ παραδίδωσιν εἰς ἅπαντα τὸν αἰῶνα. διὸ καὶ τοῦ μὲν ζῆν τὴν φύσιν αἰτίαν ὑποληπτέον, τοῦ δὲ καλῶς ζῆν τὴν ἐκ τῶν γραμμάτων συγκειμένην παιδείαν. ὅθεν ὡς μεγάλων τινῶν ἀγαθῶν ἀποστερουμένους τοὺς ἀγραμμάτους διωρθώσατο τῇ νομοθεσίᾳ ταύτῃ καὶ δημοσίας ἐπιμελείας τε καὶ δαπάνης ἠξίωσε, καὶ τοσοῦτον ὑπερεβάλετο τοὺς πρότερον νομοθετήσαντας δημοσίῳ μισθῷ τοὺς νοσοῦντας τῶν ἰδιωτῶν ὑπὸ ἰατρῶν θεραπεύεσθαι, ὥσθʼ οἱ μὲν τὰ σώματα θεραπείας ἠξίωσαν, ὁ δὲ τὰς ψυχὰς τὰς ὑπʼ ἀπαιδευσίας ἐνοχλουμένας ἐθεράπευσε, κἀκείνων μὲν τῶν ἰατρῶν εὐχόμεθα μηδέποτε χρείαν ἔχειν, τοῖς δὲ τῆς παιδείας διδασκάλοις ἐπιθυμοῦμεν ἅπαντα τὸν χρόνον συνδιατρίβειν.
In fact the lawgiver rated reading and writing above every other kind of learning, and with right good reason; for it is by means of them that most of the affairs of life and such as are most useful are concluded, like votes, letters, covenants, laws, and all other things which make the greatest contribution to orderly life. What man, indeed, could compose a worthy laudation of the knowledge of letters? For it is by such knowledge alone that the dead are carried in the memory of the living and that men widely separated in space hold converse through written communication with those who are at the furthest distance from them, as if they were at their side; and in the case of covenants in time of war between states or kings the firmest guarantee that such agreements will abide is provided by the unmistakable character of writing. Indeed, speaking generally, it is writing alone which preserves the cleverest sayings of men of wisdom and the oracles of the gods, as well as philosophy and all knowledge, and is constantly handing them down to succeeding generations for the ages to come. Consequently, while it is true that nature is the cause of life, the cause of the good life is the education which is based upon reading and writing. And so Charondas, believing as he did that the illiterate were being deprived of certain great advantages, by his legislation corrected this wrong and judged them to be deserving of concern and expense on the part of the state; and he so far excelled former lawgivers who had required that private citizens when ill should enjoy the service of physicians at state expense that, whereas those legislators judged men's bodies to be worthy of healing, he gave healing to the souls which were in distress through want of education, and whereas it is our prayer that we may never have need of those physicians, it is our heart's desire that all our time may be spent in the company teachers of knowledge.
§ 12.14
ὅστις δʼ ὁμιλῶν ἥδεται κακοῖς ἀνήρ, οὐπώποτʼ ἠρώτησα, γινώσκων ὅτι τοιοῦτός ἐστιν οἷσπερ ἥδεται ξυνών· τὸν νομοθέτην φασὶν Χαρώνδαν ἔν τινι νομοθεσίᾳ τά τʼ ἄλλα καὶ ταυτὶ λέγειν· ὁ παισὶν αὑτοῦ μητρυιὰν ἐπεισάγων μήτʼ εὐδοκιμείτω μήτε μετεχέτω λόγου παρὰ τοῖς πολίταις, ὡς ἐπείσακτον κακὸν κατὰ τῶν ἑαυτοῦ πραγμάτων πεπορισμένος. εἴτʼ ἐπέτυχες γάρ, φησί, γήμας τὸ πρότερον, εὐημερῶν κατάπαυσον, εἴτʼ οὐκ ἐπέτυχες, μανικὸν τὸ πεῖραν δευτέρας λαβεῖν πάλιν. τεθαύμακʼ οὐκέτʼ εἰ πέπλευκέ τις, ἀλλʼ εἰ πέπλευκε δίς, μέγισται γὰρ καὶ χαλεπώταται στάσεις ἐν ταῖς οἰκίαις γίνονται διὰ μητρυιὰς τέκνοις πρὸς πατέρας, καὶ διὰ ταῦτα πολλαὶ καὶ παράνομοι πράξεις ἐν τοῖς θεάτροις τραγῳδοῦνται.
To both the matters we have mentioned above many poets have borne witness in verse; to the law on evil association as follows: The man who takes delight in converse with The base, I never ask his kind, aware He's just like those with whom he likes to be; to the law he proclaimed on a stepmother as follows: Charondas, giver of laws, so men relate, In legal code says many things, but this Above all else: Let him who on his offspring A second mother foists be held without Esteem nor count among his countrymen For aught, since it's a bane that he hath brought From alien source upon his own affairs. For if, he says to him, you fortunate were When wedded first, forbear when you're well off, And if your luck was bad, a madman's act It surely is to try a second wife. For in truth the man who errs twice in the same matter may justly be considered a fool. And Philemon, the writer of comedy, when introducing men who repeatedly sail the seas, after commending the law, says: Amazement holds me, no longer if a man Has gone to sea, but if he's done it twice. Similarly one may say that one is not amazed if a man has married, but if he has married a second time; for it is better to expose oneself twice to the sea than to a woman. Indeed the greatest and most grievous quarrels in homes between children and fathers are caused by stepmothers, and this fact is the cause of many lawless acts which are portrayed in tragic scenes upon the stage.
§ 12.15
ὁ δʼ οὖν Χαρώνδας καὶ ἕτερόν τινα νόμον ἀποδοχῆς ἀξιούμενον ἔγραψε, τὸν περὶ τῆς τῶν ὀρφανῶν φυλακῆς. οὗτος δʼ ἐξ ἐπιπολῆς μὲν θεωρούμενος οὐδὲν φαίνεται περιττὸν ἔχειν οὐδὲ ἀποδοχῆς ἄξιον, ἀναθεωρούμενος δὲ καὶ μετʼ ἀκριβείας ἐξεταζόμενος μεγάλην ἔχει σπουδήν τε καὶ δόξαν. ἔγραψε γὰρ τῶν μὲν ὀρφανικῶν χρημάτων ἐπιτροπεύειν τοὺς ἀγχιστεῖς τοὺς ἀπὸ πατρός, τρέφεσθαι δὲ τοὺς ὀρφανοὺς παρὰ τοῖς συγγενέσι τοῖς ἀπὸ μητρός. αὐτόθεν μὲν οὖν ὁ νόμος οὗτος οὐδὲν ὁρᾶται περιέχων σοφὸν ἢ περιττόν, ἐξεταζόμενος δὲ κατὰ βάθους εὑρίσκεται δικαίως ὢν ἄξιος ἐπαίνων. ζητουμένης γὰρ τῆς αἰτίας διʼ ἣν ἄλλοις μὲν τὴν οὐσίαν, ἑτέροις δὲ τὴν τῶν ὀρφανῶν τροφὴν ἐπίστευσεν, ἐκφαίνεταί τις ἐπίνοια τοῦ νομοθέτου περιττή· οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἀπὸ μητρὸς συγγενεῖς οὐ προσήκοντες τῇ κληρονομίᾳ τῶν ὀρφανῶν οὐκ ἐπιβουλεύσουσιν,οἱ δʼ ἀπὸ τοῦ πατρὸς οἰκεῖοι ἐπιβουλεῦσαι μὲν οὐ δύνανται διὰ τὸ μὴ πιστεύεσθαι τοῦ σώματος, τῆς δʼ οὐσίας εἰς ἐκείνους καθηκούσης, ἐὰν οἱ ὀρφανοὶ τελευτήσωσιν ἢ διὰ νόσον ἤ τινα ἄλλην περίστασιν, ἀκριβέστερον οἰκονομήσουσι τὰ χρήματα, ὡς ἰδίας τὰς ἐκ τῆς τύχης ἐλπίδας ἔχοντες.
Charondas also wrote another law which merits approbation — that which deals with the protection of orphans. On the surface this allow appears to contain nothing unusual or worthy of approbation, but when it is scrutinized more closely and examined with care, it indicates not only earnest study but also a high claim to regard. For his law provided that the property of orphans should be managed by the next of kin on the father's side, but that the orphans should be reared by their relatives on the mother's side. Now at first glance a man sees nothing wise or outstanding in this law, but when it is explored deeply it is found to be justly worthy of praise. For if the reason is sought out why he entrusted the property of orphans to one group and the rearing of them to another, the lawgiver is seen to have shown an unusual kind of ingenuity. That is, the relatives on the mother's side will not plot to take the lives of the orphans, since they have no share in their inheritance, and the kin on the father's side do not have the opportunity to plot against their lives, since they are not entrusted with the care of their persons; furthermore, since they inherit the property if the orphans die of disease or some other circumstance, they will administer the estate with greater care, believing that they hold as their own what are hopes based upon an act of Fortune.
§ 12.16
ἕτερον δὲ ἔθηκε νόμον κατὰ τῶν λιπόντων τὴν ἐν πολέμῳ τάξιν ἢ τὸ σύνολον μὴ ἀναλαβόντων τὰ ὅπλα ὑπὲρ τῆς πατρίδος. τῶν γὰρ ἄλλων νομοθετῶν κατὰ τῶν τοιούτων τεθεικότων θάνατον τὸ πρόστιμον, οὗτος προσέταξε τοὺς τοιούτους ἐν τῇ ἀγορᾷ ἐφʼ ἡμέρας τρεῖς καθῆσθαι ἐν ἐσθῆσι γυναικείαις. ὁ δὲ νόμος οὗτος ἅμα μὲν φιλανθρωπότερός ἐστι τῶν παρὰ τοῖς ἄλλοις, ἅμα δὲ λεληθότως τῷ μεγέθει τῆς ἀτιμίας ἀποτρέπει τοὺς ὁμοίους τούτοις τῆς ἀνανδρίας· κρεῖττον γάρ ἐστιν ἀποθανεῖν ἢ τοιαύτης ὕβρεως ἐν τῇ πατρίδι πειραθῆναι· ἅμα δὲ καὶ τοὺς ἁμαρτάνοντας οὐκ ἠφάνισεν, ἀλλὰ τῇ πόλει πρὸς τὰς πολεμικὰς χρείας ἐτήρησʼ ὡς διορθωσομένους τῇ διὰ τῆς ὕβρεως κολάσει καὶ σπεύσοντας ἑτέροις ἀνδραγαθήμασιν ἐξαλεῖψαι τὴν προγεγενημένην αἰσχύνην. διὰ δὲ τῆς ἀποτομίας τῶν νόμων διέσωσε τοὺς νόμους ὁ νομοθέτης. προσέταξε γὰρ ἐκ παντὸς τρόπου πείθεσθαι τῷ νόμῳ, κἂν ᾖ παντελῶς κακῶς γεγραμμένος· διορθοῦν δὲ συνεχώρησε τὸν χρείαν ἔχοντα διορθώσεως. τὸ μὲν γὰρ ἡττᾶσθαι ὑπὸ νομοθέτου καλὸν εἶναι ὑπελάμβανε, τὸ δὲ ὑπὸ ἰδιώτου παντελῶς ἄτοπον, καὶ εἰ ἐπὶ τῷ συμφέροντι γίνεται. καὶ μάλιστα διὰ τοῦ τοιούτου τρόπου τοὺς ἐν τοῖς δικαστηρίοις τῶν παρανενομηκότων προφάσεις καὶ διανοίας ἀντὶ τῶν ῥητῶν εἰσάγοντας ἐκώλυσε ταῖς ἰδίαις εὑρησιλογίαις καταλύειν τὴν τῶν νόμων ὑπεροχήν· διὸ καί τινας τῶν τοιαύτας κατηγορίας πεποιημένων πρὸς τοὺς δικαστὰς τοὺς δικάζοντας περὶ τῆς τῶν παρανενομηκότων τιμωρίας εἰπεῖν ὅτι σώζειν ἀναγκαῖον ἢ τὸν νόμον ἢ τὸν ἄνδρα.
Charondas also wrote a law against men who had left their post in war or had refused to take up arms at all in defence of their fatherland. Other lawmakers had made death the punishment of such men, but Charondas ordered that they should sit for three days in the market-place dressed in women's clothes. And this law is not only more humane than those of other peoples but it also imperceptibly, by the severity of the disgrace it inflicts, diverts others of like mind from cowardice; for it is better to die than to experience such a gross indignity in one's fatherland. Moreover, he did not do away with the guilty men but preserved them for the state against the needs of wartime, believing that they would make amends, by reason of the punishment caused by that disgrace, and would be eager to wipe out their former shame by bolder deeds of bravery. The lawgiver also preserved the laws he made by means of their severity. That is, he commanded that under every circumstance obedience should be rendered to the law even if it had been altogether wrongly conceived; but he allowed any law to be corrected, if it needed correction. For he took the position that although it was right enough that a man should be overruled by a lawgiver, to be overruled by one in private station was quite preposterous, even if that serves the general interest. And it was especially by this means that he prevented men who present in jurycourts the pretences and cunning devices of those who have violated the laws in place of the literal terms of the laws from destroying by inventive sophistries their supremacy. As a consequence, we are told, to certain men who had offered such arguments before the jurors who were passing on the punishment of men who had violated the law, he said, "You must save either the law or the man."
§ 12.17
τὸν δʼ οὖν Χαρώνδαν φασὶ παραδοξότατον νενομοθετηκέναι περὶ τῆς διορθώσεως τῶν νόμων. ὁρῶντα γὰρ αὐτὸν ἐν ταῖς πλείσταις πόλεσι διὰ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν ἐπιχειρούντων ἐπανορθοῦν τοὺς νόμους λυμαινομένους μὲν τὰς προϋπαρχούσας νομοθεσίας, εἰς στάσεις δὲ τὰ πλήθη προαγομένους, ἴδιόν τι καὶ παντελῶς ἐξηλλαγμένον νομοθετῆσαι. προσέταξε γὰρ τὸν βουλόμενον διορθῶσαί τινα νόμον, ὅταν ποιῆται τὴν περὶ τῆς διορθώσεως συμβουλίαν, τὸν ἑαυτοῦ τράχηλον εἰς βρόχον ἐντιθέναι, καὶ μένειν ἄχρι ἂν ὅτου τὴν κρίσιν ὁ δῆμος περὶ τοῦ διορθουμένου νόμου ποιήσηται, κἂν μὲν ἡ ἐκκλησία προσδέξηται τὸν ὕστερον γραφόμενον, ἀπολύεσθαι τὸν εἰσηγησάμενον, ἐὰν δὲ ἄκυρον ποιήσηται τὴν διόρθωσιν, παραχρῆμα θνήσκειν ὑπὸ τοῦ βρόχου σφιγγόμενον. τοιαύτης δὲ κατὰ τὴν διόρθωσιν τῆς νομοθεσίας οὔσης, καὶ τοῦ φόβου τοὺς νεωτέρους νομοθέτας κολάζοντος, οὐδεὶς ἐτόλμα περὶ νόμων διορθώσεως φωνὴν προΐεσθαι· ἐν παντὶ δὲ τῷ μετὰ ταῦτα χρόνῳ παρὰ τοῖς Θουρίοις τρεῖς οἱ πάντες ἱστοροῦνται διορθωταὶ διὰ τό τινας ἀναγκαίας περιστάσεις ἐπὶ τὴν ὑπὲρ τῆς διορθώσεως συμβουλίαν παραγενέσθαι. νόμου γὰρ ὄντος, ἐάν τίς τινος ὀφθαλμὸν ἐκκόψῃ, ἀντεκκεκόπτεσθαι τὸν ἐκείνου, ἑτερόφθαλμός τις ἐκκοπεὶς τὸν ὀφθαλμὸν καὶ στερηθεὶς ὅλης τῆς ὁράσεως τῷ τὸν ἕνα ἀντεκκεκόφθαι τὸν δράσαντα ἔλαττον ὑπέλαβε πρόστιμον ἐκτῖσαι· τυφλώσαντα γὰρ ἕνα τῶν πολιτῶν, εἰ τὸ κατὰ νόμον πρόστιμον ὁ πράξας ὑπομένοι, μὴ τετευχέναι τῆς ἴσης συμφορᾶς· δίκαιον οὖν εἶναι τὸν ἑτερόφθαλμον τὴν ὅρασιν ἀφελόμενον ἀμφοτέρους ἐκκόπτεσθαι τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς, εἰ μέλλει τὴν ἴσην ἀναδέχεσθαι τιμωρίαν. διὸ καὶ περιαλγῆ γενόμενον τὸν ἑτερόφθαλμον ἀποτολμῆσαι λόγον ἐν ἐκκλησίᾳ διαθέσθαι περὶ τῆς ἰδίας συμφορᾶς, ἅμα μὲν τοῖς πολίταις ἀποδυρόμενον τὴν ἰδίαν ἀτυχίαν, ἅμα δὲ συμβουλεύοντα τοῖς πλήθεσι διορθώσασθαι τὸν νόμον· τέλος δὲ δόντα τὸν τράχηλον εἰς βρόχον καὶ ἐπιτυχόντα τῇ συμβουλίᾳ, ἀκυρῶσαι μὲν τὸν ὑπάρχοντα νόμον, βεβαιῶσαι δὲ τὸν διορθωθέντα, καὶ διαφυγεῖν τὸν τοῦ βρόχου θάνατον.
But the most amazing legislation of Charondas, we are told, was that which related to revision of the laws. Observing that in most states the multitude of men who kept endeavouring to revise the laws led continually to the vitiation of the previously existing body of the laws and incite the masses to civil strife, he wrote a law which was peculiar and altogether unique. He commanded, namely, that the man who proposed to revise any law should put his neck in a noose at the time he made his proposal of a revision, and remain in that position until the people had reached a decision on the revision of the law, and if the Assembly approved the revised law, the introducer was to be freed of the noose, but if the proposal of revision did not carry, the noose was to be drawn and the man die on the spot. Such being the legislation relating to revision, fear restrained subsequent lawmakers and not a man dared to utter a word about revising laws; and in all subsequent time history records but three men who proposed revision among the Thurians, and these appeared because circumstances arose which rendered proposals of revision imperative. Thus, there was a law that if a man put out the eye of another, he should have his own eye put out, and man with but one eye, having had that eye put out and thus lost his entire sight, claimed that the offender, by the loss in requital of but one eye, had paid a less penalty; for, he maintained, if a man who had blinded a fellow citizen paid only the penalty fixed by the law, he would not have suffered the same loss; it would be just, therefore, that the man who had destroyed the entire sight of a man with but one ye should have both his eyes put out, if he were to receive a like punishment. Consequently the man with one eye, taking the matter strongly to heart, made bold to raise in the Assembly the case of the loss he had suffered, at the same time both lamenting bitterly over his personal misfortune to his fellow citizens and suggesting to the commons that they revise the law; and in the end, putting his neck in a noose, he won his proposal, set at naught the existing law, and had the revision approved, and he escaped the death by the noose as well.
§ 12.18
δεύτερος δὲ διωρθώθη νόμος ὁ διδοὺς ἐξουσίαν τῇ γυναικὶ ἀπολύειν τὸν ἄνδρα καὶ συνοικεῖν ᾧ ἂν βούληται. τῶν γὰρ προβεβηκότων τῇ ἡλικίᾳ τις, ἔχων γυναῖκα νεωτέραν καὶ καταλειφθείς, συνεβούλευε τοῖς Θουρίοις διορθῶσαι τὸν νόμον καὶ προσγράψαι τὴν καταλιποῦσαν ἄνδρα συνοικεῖν ᾧ ἂν βούληται μὴ νεωτέρῳ τοῦ προτέρου· ὁμοίως δὲ κἂν ἀνὴρ ἐκβάλῃ γυναῖκα, μὴ γαμεῖν ἄλλην νεωτέραν ταύτης τῆς ἐκβληθείσης. εὐστοχήσας δʼ ἐν τῇ συμβουλίᾳ καὶ ἀκυρώσας τὸν πρότερον νόμον διέφυγε μὲν τὸν ἐκ τοῦ βρόχου κίνδυνον· τῆς δὲ γυναικὸς κωλυθείσης νεωτέρῳ συνοικῆσαι, πάλιν ἔγημε τὸν ἀπολυθέντα. τρίτος δὲ νόμος διωρθώθη ὁ περὶ τῶν ἐπικλήρων, ὁ καὶ παρὰ Σόλωνι κείμενος. ἐκέλευε γὰρ τῇ ἐπικλήρῳ ἐπιδικάζεσθαι τὸν ἔγγιστα γένους, ὡσαύτως δὲ καὶ τὴν ἐπίκληρον ἐπιδικάζεσθαι τῷ ἀγχιστεῖ, ᾧ ἦν ἀνάγκη συνοικεῖν ἢ πεντακοσίας ἐκτῖσαι δραχμὰς εἰς προικὸς λόγον τῇ πενιχρᾷ ἐπικλήρῳ. ὀρφανὴ γάρ τις εὐγενὴς ἐπίκληρος, ἀπορουμένη παντελῶς τῶν κατὰ τὸν βίον καὶ διὰ τὴν πενίαν οὐ δυναμένη συνοικῆσαι, κατέφυγεν ἐπὶ τὸν δῆμον, καὶ μετὰ δακρύων ἐκθεμένη τὴν ἑαυτῆς ἐρημίαν τε καὶ καταφρόνησιν, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις ὑπογραψαμένη τὴν διόρθωσιν τοῦ νόμου, ὥστε ἀντὶ τῆς ἐκτίσεως τῶν πεντακοσίων δραχμῶν γράψαι συνοικεῖν κατʼ ἀνάγκην τὸν ἄγχιστα γένους τῇ ἐπιδικασθείσῃ ἐπικλήρῳ· τοῦ δὲ δήμου διὰ τὸν ἔλεον ψηφισαμένου διορθῶσαι τὸν νόμον, ἡ μὲν ὀρφανὴ τὸν ἐκ τοῦ βρόχου κίνδυνον ἐξέφυγεν, ὁ δʼ ἀγχιστεὺς πλούσιος ὢν ἠναγκάσθη γῆμαι γυναῖκα πενιχρὰν ἐπίκληρον ἄνευ προικός.
A second law, which gave a wife the right to divorce her husband and marry whomever she chose, was also revised. A certain man, who was well advanced in years and had a wife who was younger than he and had left him, proposed to the Thurians that they revise the law by the added provision that the wife who leaves a husband may marry whomever she chooses, provided the man is not younger than her former husband; and that likewise, if a man sends his wife away he may not marry a woman younger than the wife whom he had sent away. The elderly man won his proposal and set at naught the former law, also escaping the peril of the noose which threatened him; and his wife, who had thus been prevented from living with a younger husband, married again the man she had left. A third law to be revised had to do with heiresses and is also found in the legislation of Solon. Charondas ordered that the next of kin be assigned in marriage to an heiress and that likewise an heiress be assigned in marriage to her nearest relative, who was required to marry her or, if she were poor, to contribute five hundred drachmas as a dowry of the penniless heiress. And a certain orphan who was an heiress, of good birth but altogether without means of support and so unable by reason of her poverty to find a husband, turned to the people for aid, explaining to them with tears how helpless and scorned she was; and she went on to outline the revision of the law whereby, in place of the payment of five hundred drachmas, it should specify that the next of kin be required to marry the heiress who had been assigned to him. The people took pity on her and voted for the revision of the law, and thus the orphan escaped the peril which threatened her from the noose, while the nearest of kin, who was wealthy, was compelled to take to wife a penniless heiress without a dowry.
§ 12.19
λείπεται δʼ ἡμῖν εἰπεῖν ὑπὲρ τῆς τοῦ Χαρώνδου τελευτῆς, καθʼ ἣν ἴδιόν τι καὶ παράδοξον αὐτῷ συνέβη. ἐπὶ γὰρ τὴν χώραν ἐξιὼν μετὰ ξιφιδίου διὰ τοὺς λῃστάς, καὶ κατὰ τὴν ἐπάνοδον ἐκκλησίας συνεστώσης καὶ ταραχῆς ἐν τοῖς πλήθεσι, προσέστη πολυπραγμονῶν τὰ κατὰ τὴν στάσιν. νενομοθετηκὼς δʼ ἦν μηδένα μεθʼ ὅπλου ἐκκλησιάζειν, καὶ ἐπιλαθόμενος ὅτι τὸ ξίφος παρέζωσται, παρέδωκεν ἐχθροῖς τισιν ἀφορμὴν κατηγορίας. ὧν ἑνὸς εἰπόντος καταλέλυκας τὸν ἴδιον νόμον, μὰ Διʼ, εἶπεν, ἀλλὰ κύριον ποιήσω· καὶ σπασάμενος τὸ ξιφίδιον ἑαυτὸν ἀπέσφαξεν. ἔνιοι δὲ τῶν συγγραφέων τὴν πρᾶξιν ταύτην περιτιθέασι Διοκλεῖ τῷ Συρακοσίων νομοθέτῃ. ἡμεῖς δὲ ἀρκούντως τὰ περὶ Χαρώνδαν τὸν νομοθέτην διεληλυθότες βραχέα βουλόμεθα καὶ περὶ Ζαλεύκου τοῦ νομοθέτου διελθεῖν διά τε τὴν ὁμοίαν προαίρεσιν τοῦ βίου καὶ τὸ γεγονέναι τοὺς ἄνδρας ἐν πόλεσιν ἀστυγείτοσιν.
It remains for us to speak of the death of Charondas, in connection with which a peculiar and unexpected thing happened to him. He had set out to the country carrying a dagger because of the robbers, and on his return the Assembly was in session and the commons in an uproar, whereupon he approached it because he was curious about the matter in dispute. But he had made a law that no man should enter the Assembly carrying a weapon, and since he had forgotten he was carrying the dagger at his side, he provided certain of his enemies with an occasion to bring an accusation against him. And when one of them said, "You have annulled your own law," he replied, "Not so, by Zeus, I will uphold it," and drawing the dagger he slew himself. Some historians, however, attribute this act to Diocles, the lawgiver of the Syracusans. But now that we have discoursed at sufficient length upon Charondas the lawmaker, we wish to speak briefly also of the lawmaker Zaleucus, since the two men not only followed similar principles of life but were also natives of neighbouring cities.
§ 12.20
Ζάλευκος τοίνυν ἦν τὸ γένος ἐκ τῆς Ἰταλίας Λοκρός, ἀνὴρ εὐγενὴς καὶ κατὰ παιδείαν τεθαυμασμένος, μαθητὴς δὲ Πυθαγόρου τοῦ φιλοσόφου. οὗτος πολλῆς ἀποδοχῆς τυγχάνων ἐν τῇ πατρίδι νομοθέτης ᾑρέθη, καὶ καταβαλόμενος ἐξ ἀρχῆς καινὴν νομοθεσίαν ἤρξατο πρῶτον περὶ τῶν ἐπουρανίων θεῶν. εὐθὺς γὰρ ἐν τῷ προοιμίῳ τῆς ὅλης νομοθεσίας ἔφη δεῖν τοὺς κατοικοῦντας ἐν τῇ πόλει πάντων πρῶτον ὑπολαβεῖν καὶ πεπεῖσθαι θεοὺς εἶναι, καὶ ταῖς διανοίαις ἐπισκοποῦντας τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν διακόσμησιν καὶ τάξιν κρίνειν οὐ τύχης οὐδʼ ἀνθρώπων εἶναι ταῦτα κατασκευάσματα, σέβεσθαί τε τοὺς θεούς, ὡς πάντων τῶν ἐν τῷ βίῳ καλῶν καὶ ἀγαθῶν αἰτίους ὄντας τοῖς ἀνθρώποις, ἔχειν δὲ καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν καθαρὰν πάσης κακίας, ὡς τῶν θεῶν οὐ χαιρόντων ταῖς τῶν πονηρῶν θυσίαις τε καὶ δαπάναις, ἀλλὰ ταῖς τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἀνδρῶν δικαίαις τε καὶ καλαῖς ἐπιτηδεύσεσι. διὰ δὲ τοῦ προοιμίου προκαλεσάμενος τοὺς πολίτας εἰς εὐσέβειαν καὶ δικαιοσύνην, ἐπέζευξε προστάττων μηδένα τῶν πολιτῶν ἐχθρὸν ἀκατάλλακτον ἔχειν, ἀλλʼ οὕτω τὴν ἔχθραν ἀναλαμβάνειν ὡς ἥξοντα πάλιν εἰς σύλλυσιν καὶ φιλίαν· τὸν δὲ παρὰ ταῦτα ποιοῦντα διαλαμβάνεσθαι παρὰ τοῖς πολίταις ἀνήμερον καὶ ἄγριον τὴν ψυχήν. τοὺς δὲ ἄρχοντας παρεκελεύετο μὴ εἶναι αὐθάδεις μηδὲ ὑπερηφάνους, μηδὲ κρίνειν πρὸς ἔχθραν ἢ φιλίαν. ἐν δὲ τοῖς κατὰ μέρος νομοθετήμασι πολλὰ παρʼ ἑαυτοῦ προσεξεῦρε μάλα σοφῶς καὶ περιττῶς.
Now Zaleucus was by birth a Locrian of Italy, a man of noble family, admired for his education, and a pupil of the philosopher Pythagoras. Having been accorded high favour in his native city, he was chosen lawmaker and committed to writing a thorough novel system of law, making his beginning, first of all, with the gods of the heavens. For at the outset in the introduction to his legislation as a whole he declared it to be necessary that the inhabitants of the city should first of all assume as an article of their creed that gods exist, and that, as their minds survey the heavens and its orderly scheme and arrangement, they should judge that these creations are not the result of Chance or the work of men's hands; that they should revere the gods as the cause of all that is noble and good in the life of mankind; and that they should keep the soul pure from every kind of evil, in the belief that the gods take no pleasure in either the sacrifices or costly gifts of the wicked but in the just and honourable practices of good men. And after inviting the citizens in this introduction to reverence and justice, he appended the further command that they should consider no one of their fellow citizens as an enemy with whom there can be no reconciliation, but that the quarrel be entered into with the thought that they will again come to agreement and friendship; and that the one who acts otherwise should be considered by his fellow citizens to be savage and untamed of soul. Also the magistrates were urged by him not to be wilful or arrogant, and not to render judgement out of enmity or friendship. And among his several ordinances a number were added of his own devising, which showed exceptionally great wisdom.
§ 12.21
τῶν γὰρ ἄλλων ἁπάντων ἁμαρτανουσῶν γυναικῶν ἀργυρικὰς ζημίας τεταχότων οὗτος φιλοτέχνῳ προστίμῳ τὰς ἀκολασίας αὐτῶν διωρθώσατο. ἔγραψε γὰρ οὕτω· γυναικὶ ἐλευθέρᾳ μὴ πλείω ἀκολουθεῖν μιᾶς θεραπαινίδος, ἐὰν μὴ μεθύῃ, μηδὲ ἐξιέναι νυκτὸς ἐκ τῆς πόλεως εἰ μὴ μοιχευομένην, μηδὲ περιτίθεσθαι χρυσία μηδὲ ἐσθῆτα παρυφασμένην, ἐὰν μὴ ἑταίρα ᾖ, μηδὲ τὸν ἄνδρα φορεῖν δακτύλιον ὑπόχρυσον μηδὲ ἱμάτιον ἰσομιλήσιον, ἐὰν μὴ ἑταιρεύηται ἢ μοιχεύηται. διὸ καὶ ῥᾳδίως ταῖς τῶν προστίμων αἰσχραῖς ὑπεξαιρέσεσιν ἀπέτρεψε τῆς βλαβερᾶς τρυφῆς καὶ ἀκολασίας τῶν ἐπιτηδευμάτων· οὐδεὶς γὰρ ἐβούλετο τὴν αἰσχρὰν ἀκολασίαν ὁμολογήσας καταγέλαστος ἐν τοῖς πολίταις εἶναι. πολλὰ δὲ καὶ ἄλλα τῶν συμβολαίων καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν κατὰ τὸν βίον ἀμφισβητουμένων καλῶς ἐνομοθέτησε, περὶ ὧν ἡμῖν μακρὸν ἂν εἴη γράφειν καὶ τῆς ὑποκειμένης ἱστορίας ἀνοίκειον· διόπερ ἐπὶ τὰ συνεχῆ τοῖς προειρημένοις ἀναβιβάσομεν τὸν λόγον.
To cite examples, whereas everywhere else wayward wives were required to pay fines, Zaleucus stopped their licentious behaviour by a cunningly devised punishment. That is, he made the following laws: a free-born woman may not be accompanied by more than one female slave, unless she is drunk; she may not leave the city during the night, unless she is planning to commit adultery; she may not wear gold jewelry or a garment with a purple border, unless she is a courtesan; and a husband may not wear a gold-studded ring or a cloak of Milesian fashion unless he is bent upon prostitution or adultery. Consequently, by the elimination, with its shameful implications, of the penalties he easily turned men aside from harmful luxury and wanton living; for no man wished to incur the sneers of his fellow citizens by acknowledging the disgraceful licentiousness. He wrote many other excellent laws, such as those on contracts and other relations of life which are the cause of strife. But it would be a long task for us to recount them and foreign to the plan of our history, and so we shall resume our account at the point where we digressed from the course of our narrative.
§ 12.22
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος γὰρ Ἀθήνησι Λυσιμαχίδου Ῥωμαῖοι μὲν ὑπάτους κατέστησαν Τίτον Μενήνιον καὶ Πόπλιον Σήστιον Καπετωλῖνον. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων διαφεύγοντες τὸν ἐν τῇ στάσει κίνδυνον Συβαρῖται περὶ τὸν Τράεντα ποταμὸν κατῴκησαν. καὶ χρόνον μέν τινα διέμειναν, ἔπειθʼ ὑπὸ Βρεττίων ἐκβληθέντες ἀνῃρέθησαν. κατὰ δὲ τὴν Ἑλλάδα Ἀθηναῖοι τὴν Εὔβοιαν ἀνακτησάμενοι καὶ τοὺς Ἑστιαιεῖς ἐκ τῆς πόλεως ἐκβαλόντες ἰδίαν ἀποικίαν εἰς αὐτὴν ἐξέπεμψαν Περικλέους στρατηγοῦντος, χιλίους δὲ οἰκήτορας ἐκπέμψαντες τήν τε πόλιν καὶ τὴν χώραν κατεκληρούχησαν.
When Lysimachides was archon in Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Titus Menenius and Publius Sestius Capitolinus. In this year the Sybarites who were fleeing from the danger threatening them in the civil strife made their home on the Trais River. Here they remained for a time, but later they were driven out by the Brettii and destroyed. And in Greece the Athenians, regaining control of Euboea and driving the Hestiaeans from their city, dispatched, under Pericles as commander, a colony of their own citizens to it and sending forth a thousand colonists they portioned out both the city and countryside in allotments.
§ 12.23
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησι Πραξιτέλους Ὀλυμπιὰς μὲν ἤχθη τετάρτη πρὸς ταῖς ὀγδοήκοντα, καθʼ ἣν ἐνίκα στάδιον Κρίσων Ἱμεραῖος, ἐν δὲ τῇ Ῥώμῃ δέκα ἄνδρες κατεστάθησαν νομογράφοι, Πόπλιος Κλώδιος Ῥηγιλλανός, Τίτος Μινύκιος, Σπόριος Οὐετούριος, Γάιος Ἰούλιος, Γάιος Σουλπίκιος, Πόπλιος Σήστιος, Ῥωμύλος, Σπόριος Ποστούμιος Καλβίνιος. οὗτοι τοὺς νόμους συνετέλεσαν. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Θούριοι μὲν διαπολεμοῦντες πρὸς Ταραντίνους τὰς ἀλλήλων χώρας ἐπόρθουν καὶ κατὰ γῆν καὶ κατὰ θάλατταν, καὶ πολλὰς μὲν μικρὰς μάχας καὶ ἀκροβολισμοὺς ἐποιήσαντο, ἀξιόλογον δὲ πρᾶξιν οὐδεμίαν συνετέλεσαν.
When Praxiteles was archon in Athens, the Eighty-fourth Olympiad was celebrated, that in which Crison of Himera won the "stadion," and in Rome the following ten men were elected to draft laws: Publius Clodius Regillanus, Titus Minucius, Spurius Veturius, Gaius Julius, Gaius Sulpicius, Publius Sestius, Romulus (Romilius), Spurius Postumius Calvinus. These men drew up the laws. This year the Thurians and the Tarantini handle up continuous warfare and ravaged each other's territory both by land and by sea. They engaged in many light battles and skirmishes, but accomplished no deed worthy of mention.
§ 12.24
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησι Λυσανίου Ῥωμαῖοι πάλιν δέκα ἄνδρας νομοθέτας εἵλοντο, Ἄππιον Κλώδιον, Μάρκον Κορνήλιον, Λεύκιον Μινύκιον, Γάιον Σέργιον, Κόιντον Πόπλιον, Μάνιον Ῥαβολήιον, Σπόριον Οὐετούριον. οὗτοι δὲ τοὺς νόμους οὐκ ἠδυνήθησαν συντελέσαι. εἷς δʼ ἐξ αὐτῶν ἐρασθεὶς εὐγενοῦς παρθένου πενιχρᾶς, τὸ μὲν πρῶτον χρήμασι διαφθεῖραι τὴν κόρην ἐπεβάλετο, ὡς δʼ οὐ προσεῖχεν αὐτῷ, ἐπαπέστειλε συκοφάντην ἐπʼ αὐτήν, προστάξας ἄγειν εἰς δουλείαν. τοῦ δὲ συκοφάντου φήσαντος ἰδίαν αὑτοῦ εἶναι δούλην καὶ πρὸς τὸν ἄρχοντα καταστήσαντος δουλαγωγουμένην, προσαγαγὼν κατηγόρησεν ὡς δούλης. τοῦ δὲ διακούσαντος τῆς κατηγορίας καὶ τὴν κόρην ἐγχειρίσαντος, ἐπιλαβόμενος ὁ συκοφάντης ἀπῆγεν ὡς ἰδίαν δούλην. ὁ δὲ πατὴρ τῆς παρθένου παρὼν καὶ δεινοπαθῶν, ὡς οὐδεὶς αὐτῷ προσεῖχε, παραπορευόμενος κατὰ τύχην παρὰ κρεοπώλιον, ἁρπάσας τὴν παρακειμένην ἐπὶ τῆς σανίδος κοπίδα, ταύτῃ πατάξας τὴν θυγατέρα ἀπέκτεινεν, ἵνα μὴ τῆς ὕβρεως λάβῃ πεῖραν, αὐτὸς δʼ ἐκ τῆς πόλεως ἐκπηδήσας ἀπῆλθε πρὸς τὸ στρατόπεδον τὸ ἐν τῷ Ἀλγίδῳ καλουμένῳ τότε ὑπάρχον. καταφυγὼν δὲ ἐπὶ τὸ πλῆθος καὶ μετὰ δακρύων τὴν καθʼ αὑτὸν συμφορὰν ἀπαγγείλας, ἅπαντας ἤγαγεν εἰς ἔλεον καὶ πολλὴν συμπάθειαν. πάντων δʼ ἐπιβοηθεῖν τοῖς ἠτυχηκόσιν ὁρμησάντων, μετὰ τῶν ὅπλων νυκτὸς εἰς τὴν Ῥώμην εἰσέπεσον. οὗτοι μὲν οὖν κατελάβοντο λόφον τὸν ὀνομαζόμενον Ἀουεντῖνον.
When Lysanias was archon in Athens, the Romans again chose ten men as lawmakers: Appius Clodius, Marcus Cornelius, Lucius Minucius, Gaius Sergius, Quintus Publius, Manius Rabuleius, and Spurius Veturius. These men, however, were not able to complete the codification of the laws. One of them had conceived a passion for a maiden who was penniless but of good family, and at first he tried to seduce the girl by means of money; and when she would have nothing to do with him, he sent an agent to her home with orders to lead her into slavery. The agent, claiming that she was his own slave, brought her, serving in that capacity, before the magistrate, in whose court Appius charged her with being his slave. And when the magistrates had listened to the charge and handed the girl over to him, the agent led her off as his own slave. The maiden's father, who had been present at the scene and had complained bitterly of the injustice he had suffered, since no attention had been paid to him, passed, as it happened, a butcher's shop, and snatching up the cleaver lying on the block, he struck his daughter with it and killed her, to prevent her experiencing the violation which awaited her; then he rushed out of the city and made his way to the army which was encamped at the time on Mount Algidus, as it is called. There he laid his case before the common soldiers, denounced with tears the misfortune that had befallen him, and won their complete pity and great sympathy. The entire body sallied forth to bring help to the unfortunates and burst into Rome during the night fully armed. There they seized the hill known as the Aventine.
§ 12.25
ἅμα δʼ ἡμέρᾳ γνωσθείσης τῆς τῶν στρατιωτῶν μισοπονηρίας οἱ μὲν δέκα νομογράφοι βοηθοῦντες τῷ συνάρχοντι συνῆγον πολλοὺς τῶν νέων, ὡς διὰ τῶν ὅπλων κριθησόμενοι· μεγάλης δʼ ἐμπεσούσης φιλοτιμίας οἱ χαριέστατοι τῶν πολιτῶν, προορώμενοι τὸ μέγεθος τοῦ κινδύνου, διεπρεσβεύσαντο πρὸς ἀμφοτέρους περὶ συλλύσεως, καὶ μετὰ πολλῆς σπουδῆς ἐδέοντο λῆξαι τῆς στάσεως καὶ μὴ περιβαλεῖν τὴν πατρίδα μεγάλαις συμφοραῖς. τέλος δὲ πεισθέντων ἁπάντων ὁμολογίας ἔθεντο πρὸς ἀλλήλους, ὥστε δέκα αἱρεῖσθαι δημάρχους μεγίστας ἔχοντας ἐξουσίας τῶν κατὰ τὴν πόλιν ἀρχόντων, καὶ τούτους ὑπάρχειν οἱονεὶ φύλακας τῆς τῶν πολιτῶν ἐλευθερίας· τῶν δὲ κατʼ ἐνιαυτὸν γινομένων ὑπάτων τὸν μὲν ἕνα ἐκ τῶν πατρικίων αἱρεῖσθαι, καὶ τὸν ἕνα πάντως ἀπὸ τοῦ πλήθους καθίστασθαι, ἐξουσίας οὔσης τῷ δήμῳ καὶ ἀμφοτέρους τοὺς ὑπάτους ἐκ τοῦ πλήθους αἱρεῖσθαι. τοῦτο δʼ ἔπραξαν ταπεινῶσαι σπεύδοντες τὴν τῶν πατρικίων ὑπεροχήν· οἱ γὰρ ἄνδρες οὗτοι διά τε τὴν εὐγένειαν καὶ τὸ μέγεθος τῆς ἐκ τῶν προγόνων αὐτοῖς παρακολουθούσης δόξης ὡσεί τινες κύριοι τῆς πόλεως ὑπῆρχον. ἐν δὲ ταῖς ὁμολογίαις προσέκειτο τοῖς ἄρξασι δημάρχοις τὸν ἐνιαυτόν, ἀντικαθιστάναι πάλιν δημάρχους τοὺς ἴσους ἢ τοῦτο μὴ πράξαντας ζῶντας κατακαυθῆναι· ἐὰν δὲ οἱ δήμαρχοι μὴ συμφωνῶσι πρὸς ἀλλήλους, κύριοι εἶναι τὸν ἀνὰ μέσον κείμενον μὴ κωλύεσθαι. τὴν μὲν οὖν ἐν Ῥώμῃ στάσιν τοιαύτης συλλύσεως τυχεῖν συνέβη.
When with the day the hatred of the soldiers toward the evil which had been done became known, the ten lawmakers, rallying to the aid of their fellow magistrate, collected a body of young men, with the intention of settling the issue by a test of arms. Since a great spirit of contention now threatened the state, the most respectable citizens, foreseeing the greatness of the danger, acted as ambassadors between both parties to reach an agreement and begged them with great earnestness to cease from the civil discord and not plunge their fatherland into such serious distress. In the end all were won over and a mutual agreement was reached as follows: that ten tribunes should be elected who should wield the highest authority among the magistrates of the state and should act as guardians of the freedom of the citizens; and that of the annual consuls one should be chosen from the patricians and one, without exception, should be taken from the plebeians, the people having the power to choose even both consuls from the plebeians. This they did in their desire to weaken the supremacy of the patricians, for the patricians, by reason both of their noble birth and of the great fame that came down to them from their ancestors, were lords, one might say, of the state. It was furthermore stipulated in the agreement that when tribunes had served their year of office they should see that an equal number of tribunes were appointed in their place, and that if they failed to do this they should be burned alive; also, in case the tribunes could not agree among themselves, the will of the interceding tribune must not be prevented. Such, then, we find, was the conclusion of the civil discord in Rome.
§ 12.26
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησι Διφίλου Ῥωμαῖοι κατέστησαν ὑπάτους Μάρκον Ὁράτιον καὶ Λεύκιον Οὐαλέριον Τούρπινον. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων, ἐν τῇ Ῥώμῃ τῆς νομοθεσίας διὰ τὴν στάσιν ἀσυντελέστου γενομένης, οἱ ὕπατοι συνετέλεσαν αὐτήν· τῶν γὰρ καλουμένων δώδεκα πινάκων οἱ μὲν δέκα συνετελέσθησαν, τοὺς δʼ ὑπολειπομένους δύο ἀνέγραψαν οἱ ὕπατοι. καὶ τελεσθείσης τῆς ὑποκειμένης νομοθεσίας, ταύτην εἰς δώδεκα χαλκοῦς πίνακας χαράξαντες οἱ ὕπατοι προσήλωσαν τοῖς πρὸ τοῦ βουλευτηρίου τότε κειμένοις ἐμβόλοις. ἡ δὲ γραφεῖσα νομοθεσία, βραχέως καὶ ἀπερίττως συγκειμένη, διέμεινε θαυμαζομένη μέχρι τῶν καθʼ ἡμᾶς καιρῶν. τούτων δὲ πραττομένων τὰ πλεῖστα τῶν κατὰ τὴν οἰκουμένην ἐθνῶν ἐν ἡσυχίᾳ ὑπῆρχε, πάντων σχεδὸν εἰρήνην ἀγόντων. οἱ μὲν γὰρ Πέρσαι διττὰς συνθήκας εἶχον πρὸς τοὺς Ἕλληνας, τὰς μὲν πρὸς Ἀθηναίους καὶ τοὺς συμμάχους αὐτῶν, ἐν αἷς ἦσαν αἱ κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν Ἑλληνίδες πόλεις αὐτόνομοι, πρὸς δὲ τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους ὕστερον ἐγράφησαν, ἐν αἷς τοὐναντίον ἦν γεγραμμένον ὑπηκόους εἶναι τοῖς Πέρσαις τὰς κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν Ἑλληνίδας πόλεις. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τοῖς Ἕλλησι πρὸς ἀλλήλους ὑπῆρχεν εἰρήνη, συντεθειμένων τῶν Ἀθηναίων καὶ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων σπονδὰς τριακονταετεῖς. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τὰ κατὰ τὴν Σικελίαν εἰρηνικὴν εἶχε κατάστασιν, Καρχηδονίων μὲν πεποιημένων συνθήκας πρὸς Γέλωνα, αὐτῶν δὲ τῶν κατὰ τὴν Σικελίαν πόλεων Ἑλληνίδων τὴν ἡγεμονίαν Συρακοσίοις συγκεχωρηκυιῶν, καὶ τῶν Ἀκραγαντίνων μετὰ τὴν ἧτταν τὴν γενομένην περὶ τὸν Ἱμέραν ποταμὸν συλλελυμένων πρὸς τοὺς Συρακοσίους. ἡσύχαζε δὲ καὶ τὰ κατὰ τὴν Ἰταλίαν ἔθνη καὶ Κελτικήν, ἔτι δʼ Ἰβηρίαν καὶ τὴν ἄλλην σχεδὸν ἅπασαν οἰκουμένην. διόπερ πολεμικὴ μὲν καὶ ἀξία μνήμης πρᾶξις οὐδεμία συνετελέσθη κατὰ τούτους τοὺς χρόνους, εἰρήνη δὲ μία συνετελέσθη, καὶ πανηγύρεις καὶ ἀγῶνες καὶ θεῶν θυσίαι καὶ τἄλλα τὰ πρὸς εὐδαιμονίαν ἀνήκοντα παρὰ πᾶσιν ἐπεπόλαζεν.
When Diphilus was archon in Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Marcus Horatius and Lucius Valerius Turpinus. In Rome during this year, since the legislation remained unfinished because of the civil discord, the consuls brought it to conclusion; that is, of the Twelve Tables, as they are called, ten had been drawn up, and the consuls wrote into law the two remaining. After the legislation they had undertaken had been concluded, the consuls engraved the laws on twelve bronze tablets and affixed them to the Rostra before the Senate-house. And the legislation as it was drawn up, since it is couched in such brief and pithy language, has continued to be admired by men down to our own day. While the events we have described were taking place, the greater number of the nations of the inhabited world were quiet, practically all of them being at peace. For the Persians had two treaties with the Greeks, one with the Athenians and their allies according to which the Greek cities of Asia were to live under laws of their own making, and they also concluded one later with the Lacedemonians, in which exactly the opposite terms had been incorporated, whereby the Greek cities of Asia were to be subject to the Persians. Likewise, the Greeks were at peace with one another, the Athenians and Lacedemonians having concluded a truce of thirty years. Affairs likewise in Sicily also were in a peaceful state, since the Carthaginians had made a treaty with Gelon, the Greek cities of Sicily had voluntarily conceded the hegemony to the Syracusans, and the Acragantini, after their defeat at the river Himera, had come to terms with the Syracusans. There was quiet also among the peoples of Italy and Celtice, as well as over Iberia and almost all the rest of the inhabited world. Consequently no deed of arms worthy of mention was accomplished in this period, a single peace prevailed, and festive gatherings, sacrificial festivals of the gods, and everything else which accompanies a life of felicity prevailed among all mankind.
§ 12.27
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησι Τιμοκλέους Ῥωμαῖοι μὲν κατέστησαν ὑπάτους Λαρῖνον Ἑρμίνιον καὶ Τίτον Στερτίνιον Στρούκτορα. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Σάμιοι μὲν πρὸς Μιλησίους περὶ Πριήνης ἀμφισβητήσαντες εἰς πόλεμον κατέστησαν, ὁρῶντες δὲ τοὺς Ἀθηναίους ταῖς εὐνοίαις διαφέροντας πρὸς Μιλησίους, ἀπέστησαν ἀπʼ αὐτῶν. οἱ δὲ Περικλέα προχειρισάμενοι στρατηγὸν ἐξέπεμψαν ἐπὶ τοὺς Σαμίους ἔχοντα τριήρεις τετταράκοντα. οὗτος δὲ πλεύσας ἐπὶ τὴν Σάμον παρεισελθὼν δὲ καὶ τῆς πόλεως ἐγκρατὴς γενόμενος κατέστησε δημοκρατίαν ἐν αὐτῇ. πραξάμενος δὲ παρὰ τῶν Σαμίων ὀγδοήκοντα τάλαντα, καὶ τοὺς ἴσους ὁμήρους παῖδας λαβών, τούτους μὲν παρέδωκε τοῖς Λημνίοις, αὐτὸς δʼ ἐν ὀλίγαις ἡμέραις ἅπαντα συντετελεκὼς ἐπανῆλθεν εἰς τὰς Ἀθήνας. ἐν δὲ τῇ Σάμῳ στάσεως γενομένης, καὶ τῶν μὲν αἱρουμένων τὴν δημοκρατίαν, τῶν δὲ βουλομένων τὴν ἀριστοκρατίαν εἶναι, ταραχὴ πολλὴ τὴν πόλιν ἐπεῖχε. τῶν δʼ ἐναντιουμένων τῇ δημοκρατίᾳ διαβάντων εἰς τὴν Ἀσίαν καὶ πορευθέντων εἰς Σάρδεις πρὸς Πισσούθνην τὸν τῶν Περσῶν σατράπην περὶ βοηθείας, ὁ μὲν Πισσούθνης ἔδωκεν αὐτοῖς στρατιώτας ἑπτακοσίους, ἐλπίζων τῆς Σάμου διὰ τούτου κυριεύσειν, οἱ δὲ Σάμιοι μετὰ τῶν δοθέντων αὐτοῖς στρατιωτῶν νυκτὸς πλεύσαντες εἰς τὴν Σάμον ἔλαθόν τε τὴν πόλιν παρεισελθόντες, τῶν πολιτῶν συνεργούντων, ῥᾳδίως τʼ ἐκράτησαν τῆς Σάμου, καὶ τοὺς ἀντιπράττοντας αὐτοῖς ἐξέβαλον ἐκ τῆς πόλεως· τοὺς δʼ ὁμήρους ἐκκλέψαντες ἐκ τῆς Λήμνου καὶ τὰ κατὰ τὴν Σάμον ἀσφαλισάμενοι, φανερῶς ἑαυτοὺς ἀπέδειξαν πολεμίους τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις. οἱ δὲ πάλιν Περικλέα προχειρισάμενοι στρατηγὸν ἐξέπεμψαν ἐπὶ τοὺς Σαμίους μετὰ νεῶν ἑξήκοντα. μετὰ δὲ ταῦθʼ ὁ μὲν Περικλῆς ναυμαχήσας πρὸς ἑβδομήκοντα τριήρεις ἐνίκησε τοὺς Σαμίους, μεταπεμψάμενος δὲ παρὰ Χίων καὶ Μυτιληναίων ναῦς εἴκοσι πέντε μετὰ τούτων ἐπολιόρκησε τὴν Σάμον. μετὰ δέ τινας ἡμέρας Περικλῆς μὲν καταλιπὼν μέρος τῆς δυνάμεως ἐπὶ τῆς πολιορκίας ἀνέζευξεν, ἀπαντήσων ταῖς Φοινίσσαις ναυσίν, ἃς οἱ Πέρσαι τοῖς Σαμίοις ἦσαν ἀπεσταλκότες.
When Timocles was archon in Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Lar Herminius and Titus Stertinius Structor. In this year the Samians went to war with the Milesians because of a quarrel over Priene, and when they saw that the Athenians were favouring the Milesians, they revolted from the Athenians, who thereupon chose Pericles as general and dispatched him with forty ships against the Samians. And sailing forth against Samos, Pericles got into the city and mastered it, and then established a democracy in it. He exacted of the Samians eighty talents and took an equal number of their young men as hostages, whom he put in the keeping of the Lemnians; then, after having finished everything in a few days, he returned to Athens. But civil discord arose in Samos, one party preferring the democracy and the other wanting an aristocracy, and the city was in utter tumult. The opponents of the democracy crossed over to Asia, and went on to Sardis to get aid from Pissuthnes, the Persian satrap. Pissuthnes gave them seven hundred soldiers, hoping that in this way he would get the mastery of the island, and the Samians, sailing to Samos by night with the soldiers which had been given them, slipped unnoticed into the city with the aid of the citizens, seized the island without difficulty, and expelled from the city those who opposed them. Then, after they had stolen and carried off the hostages from Lemnos and had made everything secure in Samos, they publicly declared themselves to be enemies of the Athenians. The Athenians again chose Pericles as general and dispatched him against the Samians with sixty ships. Thereupon Pericles fought a naval battle against seventy triremes of the Samians and defeated them; and then, summoning twenty-five ships from the Chians and Mytilenaeans, together with them he laid siege to the city of Samos. But a few days later Pericles left a part of his force to continue the siege and set out to sea to meet the Phoenician ships which the Persians had dispatched to the aid of the Samians.
§ 12.28
οἱ δὲ Σάμιοι διὰ τὴν ἀνάζευξιν τοῦ Περικλέους νομίζοντες ἔχειν καιρὸν ἐπιτήδειον εἰς ἐπίθεσιν ταῖς ἀπολελειμμέναις ναυσίν, ἐπέπλευσαν ἐπʼ αὐτάς, καὶ νικήσαντες τῇ ναυμαχίᾳ φρονήματος ἐπληροῦντο. ὁ δὲ Περικλῆς ἀκούσας τὴν τῶν ἰδίων ἧτταν, εὐθὺς ὑπέστρεψε καὶ στόλον ἀξιόλογον ἤθροισε, βουλόμενος εἰς τέλος συντρῖψαι τὸν τῶν ἐναντίων στόλον. ταχὺ δʼ ἀποστειλάντων Ἀθηναίων μὲν ἑξήκοντα τριήρεις, Χίων δὲ καὶ Μυτιληναίων τριάκοντα, μεγάλην ἔχων δύναμιν συνεστήσατο τὴν πολιορκίαν καὶ κατὰ γῆν καὶ κατὰ θάλατταν, συνεχεῖς ποιούμενος προσβολάς. κατεσκεύασε δὲ καὶ μηχανὰς πρῶτος τῶν πρὸ αὐτοῦ τούς τε ὀνομαζομένους κριοὺς καὶ χελώνας, Ἀρτέμωνος τοῦ Κλαζομενίου κατασκευάσαντος. ἐνεργῶς δὲ πολιορκήσας τὴν πόλιν καὶ ταῖς μηχαναῖς καταβαλὼν τὰ τείχη κύριος ἐγένετο τῆς Σάμου. κολάσας δὲ τοὺς αἰτίους ἐπράξατο τοὺς Σαμίους τὰς εἰς τὴν πολιορκίαν γεγενημένας δαπάνας, τιμησάμενος αὐτὰς ταλάντων διακοσίων. παρείλετο δὲ καὶ τὰς ναῦς αὐτῶν καὶ τὰ τείχη κατέσκαψε, καὶ τὴν δημοκρατίαν καταστήσας ἐπανῆλθεν εἰς τὴν πατρίδα. Ἀθηναίοις δὲ καὶ Λακεδαιμονίοις μέχρι τούτων τῶν χρόνων αἱ τριακονταετεῖς σπονδαὶ διέμειναν ἀσάλευτοι. καὶ ταῦτα μὲν ἐπράχθη κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν ἐνιαυτόν.
The Samians, believing that because of the departure of Pericles they had a suitable opportunity to attack the ships that had been left behind, sailed against them, and having won the battle they were puffed up with pride. But when Pericles received word of the defeat of his forces, he at once turned back and gathered an imposing fleet, since he desired to destroy once and for all the fleet of the enemy. The Athenians rapidly dispatched sixty triremes and the Chians and Mytilenaeans thirty, and with this great armament Pericles renewed the siege both by land and by sea, making continuous assaults. He built also siege machines, being the first of all men to do so, such as those called "rams" and "tortoises," Artemon of Clazomenae having built them; and by pushing the siege with energy and throwing down the walls by means of the siege machines he gained the mastery of Samos. After punishing the ringleaders of the revolt he exacted of the Samians the expenses incurred in the siege of the city, fixing the penalty at two hundred talents. He also took from them their ships and razed their walls; then he restored the democracy and returned to his country. As for the Athenians and Lacedemonians, the thirty-year truce between them remained unshaken to this time. These, then, were the events of this year.
§ 12.29
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησι Μυριχίδου Ῥωμαῖοι μὲν κατέστησαν ὑπάτους Λεύκιον Ἰούλιον καὶ Μάρκον Γεγάνιον, Ἠλεῖοι δʼ ἤγαγον Ὀλυμπιάδα πέμπτην πρὸς ταῖς ὀγδοήκοντα, καθʼ ἣν ἐνίκα Κρίσων Ἱμεραῖος τὸ δεύτερον. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων κατὰ τὴν Σικελίαν Δουκέτιος μὲν ὁ γεγονὼς τῶν Σικελικῶν πόλεων ἡγεμὼν τὴν τῶν Καλακτίνων πατρίδα κατέστησε, καὶ πολλοὺς εἰς αὐτὴν οἰκίζων οἰκήτορας ἀντεποιήσατο μὲν τῆς τῶν Σικελῶν ἡγεμονίας, μεσολαβηθεὶς δὲ νόσῳ τὸν βίον κατέστρεψε. Συρακόσιοι δὲ πάσας τὰς τῶν Σικελῶν πόλεις ὑπηκόους ποιησάμενοι πλὴν τῆς ὀνομαζομένης Τρινακίης, ἔγνωσαν ἐπὶ ταύτην στρατεύειν· σφόδρα γὰρ ὑπώπτευον τοὺς Τρινακίους ἀντιλήψεσθαι τῆς τῶν ὁμοεθνῶν Σικελῶν ἡγεμονίας. ἡ δὲ πόλις αὕτη πολλοὺς καὶ μεγάλους ἄνδρας εἶχεν, ἀεὶ τὸ πρωτεῖον ἐσχηκυῖα τῶν Σικελικῶν πόλεων· ἦν γὰρ ἡγεμόνων ἡ πόλις αὕτη πλήρης μέγα φρονούντων ἐπʼ ἀνδρείᾳ. διὸ καὶ πάσας τὰς δυνάμεις ἀθροίσαντες ἐκ τῶν Συρακουσῶν καὶ τῶν συμμάχων πόλεων ἐστράτευσαν ἐπʼ αὐτήν. οἱ δὲ Τρινάκιοι συμμάχων μὲν ἦσαν ἔρημοι διὰ τὸ τὰς ἄλλας πόλεις ὑπακούειν Συρακοσίοις, μέγαν δʼ ἀγῶνα συνεστήσαντο. ἐκθύμως γὰρ ἐγκαρτεροῦντες τοῖς δεινοῖς καὶ πολλοὺς ἀνελόντες, ἡρωικῶς μαχόμενοι πάντες κατέστρεψαν τὸν βίον. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τῶν πρεσβυτέρων οἱ πλείους ἑαυτοὺς ἐκ τοῦ ζῆν μετέστησαν, οὐχ ὑπομείναντες τὰς ἐκ τῆς ἁλώσεως ὕβρεις. οἱ δὲ Συρακόσιοι τοὺς πρότερον ἀηττήτους γεγονότας νικήσαντες ἐπιφανῶς, τὴν μὲν πόλιν ἐξανδραποδισάμενοι κατέσκαψαν, τῶν δὲ λαφύρων τὰ κράτιστα ἀπέστειλαν εἰς Δελφοὺς χαριστήρια τῷ θεῷ.
When Morychides was archon in Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Lucius Julius and Marcus Geganius, and the Eleans celebrated the Eighty-fifth Olympiad, that in which Crison of Himera won the "stadion" for the second time. In Sicily, in this year, Ducetius, the former leader of the cities of the Siceli, founded the native city of the Calactians, and when he had established many colonists there, he laid claim to the leadership of the Siceli, but his attempt was cut short by illness and his life was ended. The Syracusans had made subject to them all the cities of the Siceli with the exception of Trinacie, as it is called, and against it they decided to send an army; for they were deeply apprehensive lest the Trinacians should make a bid for the leadership of the Siceli, who were their kinsmen. There were many great men in this city, since it had always occupied the chief position among the cities of the Siceli; for it was full of military leaders who took an inestimable pride in their own manly spirit. Consequently the Syracusans marched against it after having mustered all their own armaments and those of their allied states. The Trinacians were without allies, since all the other cities were subject to the Syracusans, but they none the less offered a strong resistance. They held out valiantly against the perils they encountered and slew great numbers, and they all ended their lives fighting heroically. In like manner even the majority of the older men removed themselves from life, being unwilling to endure the despite they would suffer at the capture of their city. And the Syracusans, after conquering in brilliant fashion men who had never before been subdued, sold the inhabitants into slavery and utterly destroyed the city, and the choicest of the booty they sent to Delphi as a thank-offering to the god.
§ 12.30
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησι Γλαυκίδου Ῥωμαῖοι κατέστησαν ὑπάτους Τίτον Κοΐντιον καὶ Ἀγρίππαν Φούριον. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Συρακόσιοι διὰ τὰς προειρημένας εὐημερίας ἑκατὸν μὲν τριήρεις ἐναυπηγήσαντο, τὸν δὲ τῶν ἱππέων ἀριθμὸν ἐποίησαν διπλάσιον· ἐπεμελήθησαν δὲ καὶ τῆς πεζῆς δυνάμεως, καὶ χρημάτων παρασκευὰς ἐποιοῦντο, φόρους ἁδροτέρους τοῖς ὑποτεταγμένοις Σικελοῖς ἐπιτιθέντες. ταῦτα δʼ ἔπραττον διανοούμενοι πᾶσαν Σικελίαν ἐκ τοῦ κατʼ ὀλίγον κατακτήσασθαι. ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις κατὰ τὴν Ἑλλάδα συνέβη τὸν Κορινθιακὸν κληθέντα πόλεμον ἀρχὴν λαβεῖν διὰ τοιαύτας τινὰς αἰτίας. Ἐπιδάμνιοι κατοικοῦντες περὶ τὸν Ἀδρίαν, ἄποικοι δʼ ὑπάρχοντες Κερκυραίων καὶ Κορινθίων, ἐστασίασαν πρὸς ἀλλήλους. τῆς δʼ ἐπικρατούσης μερίδος φυγαδευούσης πολλοὺς τῶν ἀντιπραττόντων, οἱ φυγάδες ἀθροισθέντες καὶ παραλαβόντες τοὺς Ἰλλυριοὺς ἔπλευσαν κοινῇ μετʼ αὐτῶν ἐπὶ τὴν Ἐπίδαμνον. στρατευσάντων δὲ τῶν βαρβάρων πολλῇ δυνάμει, καὶ τὴν μὲν χώραν κατασχόντων, τὴν δὲ πόλιν πολιορκούντων, οἱ μὲν Ἐπιδάμνιοι, καθʼ ἑαυτοὺς οὐκ ὄντες ἀξιόμαχοι, πρέσβεις ἔπεμψαν εἰς Κέρκυραν, ἀξιοῦντες τοὺς Κερκυραίους συγγενεῖς ὄντας βοηθῆσαι. οὐ προσεχόντων δʼ αὐτῶν, ἐπρεσβεύσαντο πρὸς Κορινθίους περὶ συμμαχίας, καὶ μόνην ἐκείνην ἐποιήσαντο μητρόπολιν· ἅμα δὲ καὶ συνοίκους ᾐτοῦντο. οἱ δὲ Κορίνθιοι τοὺς μὲν Ἐπιδαμνίους ἐλεοῦντες, τοὺς δὲ Κερκυραίους μισοῦντες διὰ τὸ μόνους τῶν ἀποίκων μὴ πέμπειν τὰ κατειθισμένα ἱερεῖα τῇ μητροπόλει, ἔκριναν βοηθεῖν τοῖς Ἐπιδαμνίοις. διόπερ ἀποίκους τε ἐξέπεμψαν εἰς τὴν Ἐπίδαμνον καὶ στρατιώτας ἱκανοὺς φρουρῆσαι τὴν πόλιν. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτοις οἱ Κερκυραῖοι παροξυνθέντες ἀπέστειλαν πεντήκοντα τριήρεις καὶ στρατηγὸν ἐπʼ αὐτῶν. οὗτος δὲ προσπλεύσας τῇ πόλει προσέταττε τοὺς μὲν φυγάδας καταδέχεσθαι· ἐπὶ δὲ τοὺς φρουροὺς Κορινθίους πρέσβεις ἀπέστειλαν ἀξιοῦντες δικαστηρίῳ κριθῆναι περὶ τῆς ἀποικίας, μὴ πολέμῳ. τῶν δὲ Κορινθίων οὐ προσεχόντων αὐτοῖς, συγκατέβησαν εἰς πόλεμον ἀμφότεροι, καὶ ναυτικὰς δυνάμεις ἀξιολόγους κατεσκεύαζον καὶ συμμάχους προσελαμβάνοντο. ὁ μὲν οὖν Κορινθιακὸς ὀνομασθεὶς πόλεμος συνέστη διὰ τὰς προειρημένας αἰτίας. Ῥωμαῖοι δὲ πρὸς Οὐολούσκους διαπολεμοῦντες τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἀκροβολισμοὺς καὶ μικρὰς μάχας συνετέλουν, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα παρατάξει μεγάλῃ νικήσαντες τοὺς πλείους τῶν πολεμίων κατέκοψαν.
When Glaucidos was archon in Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Titus Quinctius and Agrippa Furius. During this year the Syracusans, because of the successes we have described, built one hundred triremes and doubled the number of their cavalry; they also developed their infantry forces and made financial preparations by laying heavier tributes upon the Siceli who were now subject to them. This they were doing with the intention of subduing all Sicily little by little. While these events were taking place it came about in Greece that the Corinthian War, as it is called, began for the following causes. Civil strife broke out among the Epidamnians who dwell upon the Adriatic Sea and are colonists of the Cercyraeans and Corinthians. The successful group sent into exile large numbers of their opponents, but the exiles gathered into one body, associated the Illyrians with themselves, and sailed together with them against Epidamnus. Since the barbarians had taken the field with a large army, had seized the countryside, and were investing the city, the Epidamnians, who of themselves were not equal to them in battle, dispatched ambassadors to Cercyra, asking the Cercyraeans on the grounds of kinship to come to their aid. When the Cercyraeans paid no attention to the request, they sent ambassadors to seek an alliance with the Corinthians and declared Corinth to be their single mother-city; at the same time they asked for colonists. And the Corinthians, partly out of pity for the Epidamnians and partly out of hatred for the Cercyraeans, since they alone of the colonists who had gone from Corinth would not send the customary sacrificial animals to the mother-city, decided to go to the aid of the Epidamnians. Consequently they sent to Epidamnus both colonists and soldiers in sufficient numbers to garrison the city. At this the Cercyraeans became irritated and sent out a squadron of fifty triremes under the command of a general. He, sailing up to the city, issued orders to receive back the exiles, while they dispatched ambassadors to the guards from Corinth demanding that the question of the origin of the colony be decided by a court of arbiters, not by war. When the Corinthians made no answer to this proposal, both sides decided upon war, and they set about fitting out great naval armaments and gathering allies. And so the Corinthian War, as it has been called, broke out for the reasons we have narrated. The Romans were at war with the Volscians and at first they engaged only in skirmishes and unimportant engagements, but later they conquered them in a great pitched battle and slew the larger number of the enemy.
§ 12.31
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησι Θεοδώρου Ῥωμαῖοι μὲν κατέστησαν ὑπάτους Μάρκον Γενύκιον καὶ Ἀγρίππαν Κούρτιον Χίλωνα. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων κατὰ μὲν τὴν Ἰταλίαν τὸ ἔθνος τῶν Καμπανῶν συνέστη, καὶ ταύτης ἔτυχε τῆς προσηγορίας ἀπὸ τῆς ἀρετῆς τοῦ πλησίον κειμένου πεδίου. κατὰ δὲ τὴν Ἀσίαν οἱ τοῦ Κιμμερίου Βοσπόρου βασιλεύσαντες, ὀνομασθέντες δὲ Ἀρχαιανακτίδαι, ἦρξαν ἔτη δύο πρὸς τοῖς τετταράκοντα· διεδέξατο δὲ τὴν ἀρχὴν Σπάρτακος, καὶ ἦρξεν ἔτη ἑπτά. κατὰ δὲ τὴν Ἑλλάδα Κορίνθιοι πρὸς Κερκυραίους διαπολεμοῦντες καὶ παρασκευασάμενοι ναυτικὰς δυνάμεις, συνεστήσαντο ναυμαχίαν. οἱ μὲν οὖν Κορίνθιοι ἔχοντες ναῦς ἑβδομήκοντα καλῶς ἐξηρτυμένας, ἐπέπλευσαν τοῖς πολεμίοις· οἱ δὲ Κερκυραῖοι τριήρεσιν ὀγδοήκοντα ἀντιταχθέντες ἐνίκησαν τῇ ναυμαχίᾳ, καὶ τὴν Ἐπίδαμνον ἐκπολιορκήσαντες τοὺς μὲν ἄλλους αἰχμαλώτους ἀπέκτειναν, τοὺς δὲ Κορινθίους δήσαντες εἰς φυλακὴν παρέδοσαν. μετὰ δὲ τὴν ναυμαχίαν οἱ μὲν Κορίνθιοι καταπλαγέντες κατέπλευσαν εἰς Πελοπόννησον, οἱ δὲ Κερκυραῖοι θαλαττοκρατοῦντες τῆς κατʼ ἐκείνους τοὺς τόπους θαλάττης ἐπέπλεον τοῖς Κορινθίων συμμάχοις καὶ τὴν χώραν αὐτῶν ἐπόρθουν.
When Theodorus was archon in Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Marcus Genucius and Agrippa Curtius Chilo. In Italy, during this year, the nation of the Campani was formed, deriving them name from the fertility of the plain about them. In Asia the dynasty of the Cimmerian Bosporus, whose kings were known as the Archeanactidae, ruled for forty-two years; and the successor to the kingship was Spartacus, who reigned seven years. In Greece the Corinthians were at war with the Cercyraeans, and after preparing naval armaments they made ready for a battle at sea. Now the Corinthians with seventy excellently equipped ships sailed against their enemy; but the Cercyraeans opposed them with eighty triremes and won the battle, and then they forced the surrender of Epidamnus and put to death all the captives except the Corinthians, whom they cast in chains and imprisoned. After the sea battle the Corinthians withdrew in dismay to the Peloponnesus, and the Cercyraeans, who were now masters of the sea in those regions, made frequent descents upon the allies of the Corinthians, ravaging their lands.
§ 12.32
τοῦ δʼ ἐνιαυσίου χρόνου διελθόντος Ἀθήνησι μὲν ἦρχεν Εὐθυμένης, ἐν Ῥώμῃ δʼ ἀντὶ τῶν ὑπάτων χιλίαρχοι κατεστάθησαν τρεῖς, Αὖλος Σεμπρώνιος, Λεύκιος Ἀτίλιος, Τίτος Κόιντος. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Κορίνθιοι μὲν ἡττημένοι τῇ ναυμαχίᾳ ναυπηγήσασθαι στόλον ἀξιολογώτερον ἔκριναν. διόπερ ὕλην πολλὴν παρασκευασάμενοι καὶ ναυπηγοὺς ἐκ τῶν πόλεων μισθούμενοι μετὰ πολλῆς φιλοτιμίας κατεσκεύαζον τριήρεις καὶ ὅπλα καὶ βέλη παντοδαπά, καὶ καθόλου πάσας τὰς εἰς τὸν πόλεμον παρασκευὰς ἡτοίμαζον, καὶ τὰς μὲν ἐκ καταβολῆς τριήρεις ἐναυπηγοῦντο, τὰς δὲ πεπονηκυίας ἐθεράπευον, ἄλλας δὲ παρὰ τῶν συμμάχων μετεπέμποντο. τὸ δὲ παραπλήσιον καὶ τῶν Κερκυραίων ποιούντων, καὶ ταῖς φιλοτιμίαις οὐκ ἀπολιμπανομένων, φανερὸς ἦν ὁ πόλεμος αὔξησιν μεγάλην ληψόμενος. ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις Ἀθηναῖοι συνῴκισαν Ἀμφίπολιν, καὶ τῶν οἰκητόρων οὓς μὲν ἐκ τῶν πολιτῶν κατέλεξαν, οὓς δʼ ἐκ τῶν σύνεγγυς φρουρίων.
At the end of the year the archon in Athens was Euthymenes, and in Rome instead of consuls three military tribunes were elected, Aulus Sempronius, Lucius Atilius, and Titus Quinctius. During this year, the Corinthians, who had suffered defeat in the sea-battle, decided to build a more imposing fleet. Consequently, having procured a great amount of timber and hiring shipbuilders from other cities, they set about with great eagerness building triremes and fabricating arms and missiles of every description; and, speaking generally, they were making ready all the equipment needed for the war and, in particular, triremes, of which they were building some from their keels, repairing others which had been damaged, and requisitioning still others from their allies. And since the Cercyraeans were doing the same thing and were not being outdone in eagerness, it was clear that the war was going to increase greatly in intensity. While these events were taking place the Athenians founded the colony of Amphipolis, selecting the colonists in part from their own citizens and in part from garrisons in the neighbourhood.
§ 12.33
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησι Λυσιμάχου Ῥωμαῖοι μὲν ὑπάτους κατέστησαν Τίτον Κοΐντιον καὶ Μάρκον Γεγάνιον Μακερῖνον, Ἠλεῖοι δʼ ἤγαγον Ὀλυμπιάδα ἕκτην πρὸς ταῖς ὀγδοήκοντα, καθʼ ἣν ἐνίκα στάδιον Θεόπομπος Θετταλός. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Κερκυραῖοι μὲν πυνθανόμενοι τῶν παρασκευαζομένων ἐπʼ αὐτοὺς δυνάμεων τὸ πλῆθος, ἀπέστειλαν πρὸς Ἀθηναίους πρέσβεις ἀξιοῦντες αὐτοῖς βοηθῆσαι. τὸ δʼ αὐτὸ καὶ Κορινθίων ποιησάντων, καὶ συναχθείσης ἐκκλησίας, διήκουσε τῶν πρέσβεων ὁ δῆμος, καὶ ἐψηφίσατο συμμαχεῖν Κερκυραίοις. διὸ καὶ παραχρῆμα μὲν ἐξέπεμψαν τριήρεις κατηρτισμένας δέκα, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα πλείους ἐπηγγείλαντο πέμψειν, ἐὰν ᾖ χρεία. οἱ δὲ Κορίνθιοι τῆς τῶν Ἀθηναίων συμμαχίας ἀποτυχόντες, ἐνενήκοντα μὲν αὐτοὶ τριήρεις ἐπλήρωσαν, παρὰ δὲ τῶν συμμάχων ἑξήκοντα προσελάβοντο. ἔχοντες οὖν ναῦς κατηρτισμένας ἑκατὸν πεντήκοντα, καὶ στρατηγοὺς ἑλόμενοι τοὺς χαριεστάτους, ἀνήχθησαν ἐπὶ τὴν Κέρκυραν, κεκρικότες διὰ τάχους ναυμαχῆσαι. οἱ δὲ Κερκυραῖοι πυνθανόμενοι τὸν τῶν πολεμίων στόλον μὴ μακρὰν ἀπέχειν, ἀντανήχθησαν τριήρεσιν ἑκατὸν εἴκοσι σὺν ταῖς τῶν Ἀθηναίων. γενομένης δὲ ναυμαχίας ἰσχυρᾶς, τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἐπεκράτουν οἱ Κορίνθιοι, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τῶν Ἀθηναίων ἐπιφανέντων ἄλλαις εἴκοσι ναυσίν, ἃς ἀπεστάλκεσαν ἐν τῇ δευτέρᾳ συμμαχίᾳ, συνέβη νικῆσαι τοὺς Κερκυραίους. τῇ δʼ ὑστεραίᾳ πάντων τῶν Κερκυραίων ἐπιπλευσάντων οὐκ ἀνήχθησαν οἱ Κορίνθιοι.
When Lysimachus was archon in Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Titus Quinctius and Marcus Geganius Macerinus, and the Eleians celebrated the Eighty-sixth Olympiad, that in which Theopompus the Thessalian won the "stadion." In this year the Cercyraeans, learning of the great scale of the armaments which were being prepared against them, dispatched ambassadors to the Athenians asking their aid. Since the Corinthians did the same thing, an Assembly was convened, and the Athenian people after listening to the ambassadors voted to form an alliance with the Cercyraeans. Consequently they dispatched at once ten fully equipped triremes and promised that they would send more later if necessary. The Corinthians, after their failure to conclude an alliance with the Athenians, manned by themselves ninety triremes and received in addition sixty from their allies. With, therefore, one hundred and fifty fully equipped triremes and after selecting their most accomplished generals, they put to sea against Cercyra, having decided to join battle at once. And when the Cercyraeans learned that the enemy's fleet was not far off, they put out to sea against them with one hundred and twenty triremes including the Athenian. A sharp battle took place, and at the outset the Corinthians had the upper hand; but later, when the Athenians came on the scene with twenty additional ships which they had sent in accordance with the second alliance, it turned out that the Cercyraeans were victorious. And on the next day, when the Cercyraeans sailed against them in full force for battle, the Corinthians did not put out.
§ 12.34
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησιν Ἀντιοχίδου Ῥωμαῖοι κατέστησαν ὑπάτους Μάρκον Φάβιον καὶ Πόστουμον Αἰβούτιον Οὔλεκον. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων, Ἀθηναίων μὲν συνηγωνισμένων τοῖς Κερκυραίοις καὶ τῆς κατὰ τὴν ναυμαχίαν νίκης αἰτίων γενομένων, χαλεπῶς εἶχον πρὸς αὐτοὺς οἱ Κορίνθιοι. διόπερ ἀμύνεσθαι σπεύδοντες τοὺς Ἀθηναίους, ἀπέστησαν ἀπʼ αὐτῶν πόλιν Ποτίδαιαν, οὖσαν ἑαυτῶν ἄποικον. ὁμοίως δὲ τούτοις καὶ Περδίκκας ὁ τῶν Μακεδόνων βασιλεύς, ἀλλοτρίως διακείμενος πρὸς Ἀθηναίους, ἔπεισε τοὺς Χαλκιδεῖς ἀποστάντας Ἀθηναίων τὰς μὲν ἐπὶ θαλάττῃ πόλεις ἐκλιπεῖν, εἰς μίαν δὲ συνοικισθῆναι τὴν ὀνομαζομένην Ὄλυνθον. οἱ δʼ Ἀθηναῖοι τὴν ἀπόστασιν τῶν Ποτιδαιατῶν ἀκούσαντες ἐξέπεμψαν τριάκοντα ναῦς καὶ προσέταξαν τήν τε χώραν τῶν ἀφεστηκότων λεηλατῆσαι καὶ τὴν πόλιν πορθῆσαι. οἱ δὲ πεμφθέντες καταπλεύσαντες εἰς τὴν Μακεδονίαν κατὰ τὰς ἐντολὰς τοῦ δήμου, συνεστήσαντο πολιορκίαν τῆς Ποτιδαίας. ἔνθα δὴ τῶν Κορινθίων βοηθησάντων τοῖς πολιορκουμένοις δισχιλίοις στρατιώταις, δισχιλίους καὶ ὁ δῆμος τῶν Ἀθηναίων ἐξέπεμψε. γενομένης δὲ μάχης περὶ τὸν ἰσθμὸν τὸν πλησίον τῆς Παλληνίων, καὶ τῶν Ἀθηναίων νικησάντων καὶ πλείους τῶν τριακοσίων ἀνελόντων, οἱ Ποτιδαιᾶται συνεκλείσθησαν εἰς πολιορκίαν. ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις ἔκτισαν οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι πόλιν ἐν τῇ Προποντίδι τὴν ὀνομαζομένην Ἀστακόν. κατὰ δὲ τὴν Ἰταλίαν Ῥωμαῖοι πέμψαντες ἀποίκους εἰς Ἄρδεα τὴν χώραν κατεκληρούχησαν.
When Antiochides was archon in Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Marcus Fabius and Postumus Aebutius Ulecus. In this year, since the Athenians had fought at the side of the Cercyraeans and been responsible for their victory in the sea-battle, the Corinthians were incensed at them. Being eager, therefore, to retaliate upon the Athenians, they incited the city of Potidaea, which was one of their own colonies, to revolt from the Athenians. And in like manner Perdiccas, the king of the Macedonians, who was also at odds with the Athenians, persuaded the Chalcidians, who had revolted from the Athenians, to abandon their cities on the sea and unite in forming a single city known as Olynthus. When the Athenians heard of the revolt of the Potidaeans, they dispatched thirty ships with orders to ravage the territory of the rebels and to sack their city; and the expedition landed in Macedonia, as the Athenian people had ordered them to do, and undertook the siege of Potidaea. Thereupon the Corinthians came to the help of the besieged with two thousand soldiers and the Athenian people also sent two thousand. In the battle which took place on the isthmus near Pallene the Athenians were victorious and slew over three hundred of the enemy, and the Potidaeans were entirely beleaguered. And while these event were taking place, the Athenians founded in the Propontis a city which was given the name of Astacus. In Italy the Romans sent colonists to Ardea and portioned out the land in allotments.
§ 12.35
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησι Κράτητος Ῥωμαῖοι κατέστησαν ὑπάτους Κόιντον Φούριον Φοῦσον καὶ Μάνιον Παπίριον Κράσσον. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων κατὰ τὴν Ἰταλίαν οἱ τοὺς Θουρίους οἰκοῦντες, ἐκ πολλῶν πόλεων συνεστηκότες, ἐστασίαζον πρὸς ἀλλήλους, ποίας πόλεως ἀποίκους δεῖ καλεῖσθαι τοὺς Θουρίους καὶ τίνα κτίστην δίκαιον ὀνομάζεσθαι. οἵ τε γὰρ Ἀθηναῖοι τῆς ἀποικίας ταύτης ἠμφισβήτουν, ἀποφαινόμενοι πλείστους οἰκήτορας ἐξ Ἀθηνῶν ἐληλυθέναι, οἵ τε Πελοποννήσιοι, πόλεις οὐκ ὀλίγας παρεσχημέναι παρʼ αὑτῶν εἰς τὴν κτίσιν τῶν Θουρίων, τὴν ἐπιγραφὴν τῆς ἀποικίας ἑαυτοῖς ἔφησαν δεῖν προσάπτεσθαι. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ πολλῶν ἀγαθῶν ἀνδρῶν κεκοινωνηκότων τῆς ἀποικίας καὶ πολλὰς χρείας παρεσχημένων, πολὺς ἦν ὁ λόγος, ἑκάστου τῆς τιμῆς ταύτης σπεύδοντος τυχεῖν. τέλος δὲ τῶν Θουρίων πεμψάντων εἰς Δελφοὺς τοὺς ἐπερωτήσοντας τίνα χρὴ τῆς πόλεως οἰκιστὴν ἀγορεύειν, ὁ θεὸς ἔχρησεν αὑτὸν δεῖν κτίστην νομίζεσθαι. τούτῳ τῷ τρόπῳ λυθείσης τῆς ἀμφισβητήσεως τὸν Ἀπόλλω κτίστην τῶν Θουρίων ἀπέδειξαν, καὶ τὸ πλῆθος τῆς στάσεως ἀπολυθὲν εἰς τὴν προϋπάρχουσαν ὁμόνοιαν ἀποκατέστη. κατὰ δὲ τὴν Ἑλλάδα Ἀρχίδαμος ὁ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων βασιλεὺς ἐτελεύτησεν ἄρξας ἔτη τετταράκοντα δύο, τὴν δὲ ἀρχὴν διαδεξάμενος Ἆγις ἐβασίλευσεν ἔτη εἴκοσι ἑπτά.
When Crates was archon in Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Quintus Furius Fusus and Manius Papirius Crassus. This year in Italy the inhabitants of Thurii, who had been gathered together from many cities, divided into factions over the question from what city the Thurians should say they came as colonists and what man should justly be called the founder of the city. The situation was that the Athenians were laying claim to this colony on the grounds, as they alleged, that the majority of its colonists had come from Athens; and, besides, the cities of the Peloponnesus, which had provided from their people not a few to the founding of Thurii, maintained that the colonization of the city should be ascribed to them. Likewise, since many able men had shared in the founding of the colony and had rendered many services, there was much discussion on the matter, since each one of them was eager to have this honour fall to him. In the end the Thurians sent a delegation to Delphi to inquire what man they should call the founder of their city, and the god replied that he himself should be considered to be its founder. After the dispute had been settled in this manner, they declared Apollo to have been the founder of Thurii, and the people, being now freed from the civil discord, returned to the state of harmony which they had previously enjoyed. In Greece Archidamus, the king of the Lacedemonians, died after a reign of forty-two years, and Agis succeeded to the throne and was king for twenty-five years.
§ 12.36
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησιν Ἀψεύδους Ῥωμαῖοι κατέστησαν ὑπάτους Τίτον Μενήνιον καὶ Πρόκλον Γεγάνιον Μακερῖνον. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Σπάρτακος μὲν ὁ Βοσπόρου βασιλεὺς ἐτελεύτησεν ἄρξας ἔτη ἑπτά, διεδέξατο δὲ τὴν ἀρχὴν Σέλευκος καὶ ἐβασίλευσεν ἔτη τετταράκοντα. ἐν δὲ ταῖς Ἀθήναις Μέτων ὁ Παυσανίου μὲν υἱός, δεδοξασμένος δὲ ἐν ἀστρολογίᾳ, ἐξέθηκε τὴν ὀνομαζομένην ἐννεακαιδεκαετηρίδα, τὴν ἀρχὴν ποιησάμενος ἀπὸ μηνὸς ἐν Ἀθήναις σκιροφοριῶνος τρισκαιδεκάτης. ἐν δὲ τοῖς εἰρημένοις ἔτεσι τὰ ἄστρα τὴν ἀποκατάστασιν ποιεῖται καὶ καθάπερ ἐνιαυτοῦ τινος μεγάλου τὸν ἀνακυκλισμὸν λαμβάνει· διὸ καί τινες αὐτὸν Μέτωνος ἐνιαυτὸν ὀνομάζουσι. δοκεῖ δὲ ὁ ἀνὴρ οὗτος ἐν τῇ προρρήσει καὶ προγραφῇ ταύτῃ θαυμαστῶς ἐπιτετευχέναι· τὰ γὰρ ἄστρα τήν τε κίνησιν καὶ τὰς ἐπισημασίας ποιεῖται συμφώνως τῇ γραφῇ· διὸ μέχρι τῶν καθʼ ἡμᾶς χρόνων οἱ πλεῖστοι τῶν Ἑλλήνων χρώμενοι τῇ ἐννεακαιδεκαετηρίδι οὐ διαψεύδονται τῆς ἀληθείας. κατὰ δὲ τὴν Ἰταλίαν Ταραντῖνοι τοὺς τὴν Σῖριν καλουμένην οἰκοῦντας μετοικίσαντες ἐκ τῆς πατρίδος καὶ ἰδίους προσθέντες οἰκήτορας, ἔκτισαν πόλιν τὴν ὀνομαζομένην Ἡράκλειαν.
When Apseudes was archon in Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Titus Menenius and Proculus Geganius Macerinus. During this year Spartacus, the king of the Bosporus, died after a reign of seven years, and Seleucus succeeded to the throne and was king for forty years. In Athens Meton, the son of Pausanias, who had won fame for his study of the stars, revealed to the public his nineteen-year cycle, as it is called, the beginning of which he fixed on the thirteenth day of the Athenian month of Scirophorion. In this number of years the stars accomplish their return to the same place in the heavens and conclude, as it were, the circuit of what may be called a Great Year; consequently it is called by some the Year of Meton. And we find that this man was astonishingly fortunate in this prediction which he published; for the stars complete both their movement and the effects they produce in accordance with his reckoning. Consequently, even down to our own day, the larger number of the Greeks use the nineteen-year cycle and are not cheated of the truth. In Italy the Tarantini removed the inhabitants of Siris, as it is called, from their native city, and adding to them colonists from their own citizens, they founded a city which they named Herakleia.
§ 12.37
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησι Πυθοδώρου Ῥωμαῖοι μὲν ὑπάτους κατέστησεν Τίτον Κοΐντιον καὶ Νίττον Μενήνιον, Ἠλεῖοι δʼ ἤγαγον Ὀλυμπιάδα ἑβδόμην πρὸς ταῖς ὀγδοήκοντα, καθʼ ἣν ἐνίκα στάδιον Σώφρων Ἀμπρακιώτης. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων ἐν τῇ Ῥώμῃ Σπόριος Μαίλιος ἐπιθέμενος τυραννίδι ἀνῃρέθη. Ἀθηναῖοι δὲ περὶ Ποτίδαιαν νενικηκότες ἐπιφανεῖ μάχῃ, Καλλίου τοῦ στρατηγοῦ πεσόντος ἐν τῇ παρατάξει, στρατηγὸν ἕτερον ἐξέπεμψαν Φορμίωνα. οὗτος δὲ παραλαβὼν τὸ στρατόπεδον καὶ προσκαθήμενος τῇ πόλει τῶν Ποτιδαιατῶν συνεχεῖς προσβολὰς ἐποιεῖτο· ἀμυνομένων δὲ τῶν ἔνδον εὐρώστως ἐγένετο πολυχρόνιος πολιορκία. Θουκυδίδης δὲ ὁ Ἀθηναῖος τὴν ἱστορίαν ἐντεῦθεν ἀρξάμενος ἔγραψε τὸν γενόμενον πόλεμον Ἀθηναίοις πρὸς Λακεδαιμονίους τὸν ὀνομασθέντα Πελοποννησιακόν. οὗτος μὲν οὖν ὁ πόλεμος διέμεινεν ἐπὶ ἔτη εἴκοσι ἑπτά, ὁ δὲ Θουκυδίδης ἔτη δύο πρὸς τοῖς εἴκοσι γέγραφεν ἐν βίβλοις ὀκτώ, ὡς δέ τινες διαιροῦσιν, ἐννέα.
When Pythodorus was archon in Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Titus Quinctius and Nittus Menenius, and the Eleians celebrated the Eighty-seventh Olympiad, that in which Sophron of Ambracia won the "stadion." In Rome in this year Spurius Maelius was put to death while striving for despotic power. And the Athenians, who had won a striking victory around Potidaea, dispatched a second general, Phormion, in the place of their general Callias who had fallen on the field. After taking over the command of the army Phormion settled down to the siege of the city of the Potidaeans, making continuous assaults upon it; but the defenders resisted with vigour and the siege became a long affair. Thucydides, the Athenian, commenced his history with this year, giving an account of the war between the Athenians and the Lacedemonians, the war which has been called the Peloponnesian. This war lasted twenty-seven years, but Thucydides described twenty-two years in eight Books or, as others divide it, in nine.
§ 12.38
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησιν Εὐθυδήμου Ῥωμαῖοι μὲν ἀντὶ τῶν ὑπάτων τρεῖς χιλιάρχους κατέστησαν, Μάνιον Αἰμιλιανὸν Μάμερκον, Γάιον Ἰούλιον, Λεύκιον Κοΐντιον. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Ἀθηναίοις καὶ Λακεδαιμονίοις ἐνέστη πόλεμος ὁ κληθεὶς Πελοποννησιακός, μακρότατος τῶν ἱστορημένων πολέμων. ἀναγκαῖον δʼ ἐστὶ καὶ τῆς ὑποκειμένης ἱστορίας οἰκεῖον προεκθέσθαι τὰς αἰτίας αὐτοῦ. Ἀθηναῖοι τῆς κατὰ θάλατταν ἡγεμονίας ἀντεχόμενοι τὰ ἐν Δήλῳ κοινῇ συνηγμένα χρήματα, τάλαντα σχεδὸν ὀκτακισχίλια, μετήνεγκαν εἰς τὰς Ἀθήνας καὶ παρέδωκαν φυλάττειν Περικλεῖ. οὗτος δʼ ἦν εὐγενείᾳ καὶ δόξῃ καὶ λόγου δεινότητι πολὺ προέχων τῶν πολιτῶν. μετὰ δέ τινα χρόνον ἀνηλωκὼς ἀπʼ αὐτῶν ἰδίᾳ πλῆθος ἱκανὸν χρημάτων καὶ λόγον ἀπαιτούμενος εἰς ἀρρωστίαν ἐνέπεσεν, οὐ δυνάμενος τῶν πεπιστευμένων ἀποδοῦναι τὸν ἀπολογισμόν. ἀδημονοῦντος δʼ αὐτοῦ περὶ τούτων, Ἀλκιβιάδης ὁ ἀδελφιδοῦς, ὀρφανὸς ὤν, τρεφόμενος παρʼ αὐτῷ, παῖς ὢν τὴν ἡλικίαν, ἀφορμὴν αὐτῷ παρέσχετο τῆς περὶ τῶν χρημάτων ἀπολογίας. θεωρῶν γὰρ τὸν θεῖον λυπούμενον ἐπηρώτησε τὴν αἰτίαν τῆς λύπης. τοῦ δὲ Περικλέους εἰπόντος, ὅτι τὴν περὶ τῶν χρημάτων ἀπολογίαν αἰτούμενος ζητῶ πῶς ἂν δυναίμην ἀποδοῦναι τὸν περὶ τούτων λόγον τοῖς πολίταις, ὁ Ἀλκιβιάδης ἔφησε δεῖν αὐτὸν ζητεῖν μὴ πῶς ἀποδῷ τὸν λόγον, ἀλλὰ πῶς μὴ ἀποδῷ. διόπερ Περικλῆς ἀποδεξάμενος τὴν τοῦ παιδὸς ἀπόφασιν ἐζήτει, διʼ οὗ τρόπου τοὺς Ἀθηναίους δύναιτʼ ἂν ἐμβαλεῖν εἰς μέγαν πόλεμον· οὕτω γὰρ μάλιστα ὑπελάμβανε διὰ τὴν ταραχὴν καὶ τοὺς τῆς πόλεως περισπασμοὺς καὶ φόβους ἐκφεύξεσθαι τὸν ἀκριβῆ λόγον τῶν χρημάτων. πρὸς δὲ ταύτην τὴν ἀφορμὴν συνέβαινεν αὐτῷ καὶ ταὐτόματον διὰ τοιαύτας αἰτίας.
When Euthydemus was archon in Athens, the Romans elected in place of consuls three military tribunes, Manius Aemilianus Mamercus, Gaius Julius, and Lucius Quinctius. In this year there began the Peloponnesian War, as it has been called, between the Athenians and the Peloponnesians, the longest of all the wars which history records; and it is necessary and appropriate to the plan of our history to set forth at the outset the causes of the war. While the Athenians were still striving for the mastery of the sea, the funds which had been collected as a common undertaking and placed at Delos, amounting to some eight thousand talents, they had transferred to Athens and give over to Pericles to guard. This man stood far above his fellow citizens in birth, renown, and ability as an orator. But after some time he had spent a very considerable amount of this money for his own purposes, and when he was called upon for an accounting he fell ill, since he was unable to render the statement of the monies with which he had been entrusted. While he was worried over the matter, Alcibiades, his nephew, who was an orphan and was being reared at the home of Pericles, though still a lad showed him a way out of making an explanation of the use of the money. Seeing how his uncle was troubled he asked him the cause of his worry. And when Pericles said, "I am asked for the explanation of the use of the money and I am seeking some means whereby I may be able to render an accounting of it to the citizens," Alcibiades replied, "You should be seeking some means not how to render but how not to render an accounting." Consequently Pericles, accepting the reply of the boy, kept pondering in what way he could embroil the Athenians in a great war; for that would be the best way, he thought, because of the disturbance and distractions and fears which would the city, for him to escape giving an exact accounting of the money. Bearing upon this expedient an incident happened to him by mere chance for the following causes.
§ 12.39
τὸ τῆς Ἀθηνᾶς ἄγαλμα Φειδίας μὲν κατεσκεύαζε, Περικλῆς δὲ ὁ Ξανθίππου καθεσταμένος ἦν ἐπιμελητής. τῶν δὲ συνεργασαμένων τῷ Φειδίᾳ τινὲς διενεχθέντες ὑπὸ τῶν ἐχθρῶν τοῦ Περικλέους ἐκάθισαν ἐπὶ τῶν τῶν θεῶν βωμῶν· διὰ δὲ τὸ παράδοξον προσκαλούμενοι ἔφασαν πολλὰ τῶν ἱερῶν χρημάτων ἔχοντα Φειδίαν δείξειν, ἐπισταμένου καὶ συνεργοῦντος τοῦ ἐπιμελητοῦ Περικλέους. διόπερ ἐκκλησίας συνελθούσης περὶ τούτων, οἱ μὲν ἐχθροὶ τοῦ Περικλέους ἔπεισαν τὸν δῆμον συλλαβεῖν τὸν Φειδίαν, καὶ αὐτοῦ τοῦ Περικλέους κατηγόρουν ἱεροσυλίαν. πρὸς δὲ τούτοις Ἀναξαγόραν τὸν σοφιστήν, διδάσκαλον ὄντα Περικλέους, ὡς ἀσεβοῦντα εἰς τοὺς θεοὺς ἐσυκοφάντουν· συνέπλεκον δʼ ἐν ταῖς κατηγορίαις καὶ διαβολαῖς τὸν Περικλέα, διὰ τὸν φθόνον σπεύδοντες διαβαλεῖν τὴν τἀνδρὸς ὑπεροχήν τε καὶ δόξαν. ὁ δὲ Περικλῆς, εἰδὼς τὸν δῆμον ἐν μὲν τοῖς πολεμικοῖς ἔργοις θαυμάζοντα τοὺς ἀγαθοὺς ἄνδρας διὰ τὰς κατεπειγούσας χρείας, κατὰ δὲ τὴν εἰρήνην τοὺς αὐτοὺς συκοφαντοῦντα διὰ τὴν σχολὴν καὶ φθόνον, ἔκρινε συμφέρειν αὑτῷ τὴν πόλιν ἐμβαλεῖν εἰς μέγαν πόλεμον, ὅπως χρείαν ἔχουσα τῆς Περικλέους ἀρετῆς καὶ στρατηγίας μὴ προσδέχηται τὰς κατʼ αὐτοῦ διαβολάς, μηδʼ ἔχῃ σχολὴν καὶ χρόνον ἐξετάζειν ἀκριβῶς τὸν περὶ τῶν χρημάτων λόγον. ὄντος δὲ ψηφίσματος παρὰ τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις Μεγαρέας εἴργεσθαι τῆς τε ἀγορᾶς καὶ τῶν λιμένων, οἱ Μεγαρεῖς κατέφυγον ἐπὶ τοὺς Σπαρτιάτας. οἱ δὲ Λακεδαιμόνιοι πεισθέντες τοῖς Μεγαρεῦσιν ἀπέστειλαν πρέσβεις ἐκ τοῦ προφανεστάτου ἀπὸ τῆς τοῦ κοινοῦ συνεδρίου γνώμης προστάττοντες τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις ἀνελεῖν τὸ κατὰ τῶν Μεγαρέων ψήφισμα, μὴ πειθομένων δὲ αὐτῶν ἀπειλοῦντες πολεμήσειν αὐτοῖς μετὰ τῶν συμμάχων. συναχθείσης οὖν περὶ τούτων ἐκκλησίας, ὁ Περικλῆς, δεινότητι λόγου πολὺ διαφέρων ἁπάντων τῶν πολιτῶν, ἔπεισε τοὺς Ἀθηναίους μὴ ἀναιρεῖν τὸ ψήφισμα, λέγων ἀρχὴν δουλείας εἶναι τὸ πείθεσθαι παρὰ τὸ συμφέρον τοῖς Λακεδαιμονίων προστάγμασι. συνεβούλευεν οὖν τὰ ἀπὸ τῆς χώρας κατακομίζειν εἰς τὴν πόλιν καὶ θαλαττοκρατοῦντας διαπολεμεῖν τοῖς Σπαρτιάταις.
The statue of Athens was a work of Pheidias, and Pericles, the son of Xanthippus, had been appointed overseer of the undertaking. But sometimes assistants of Pheidias, who had been prevailed upon by Pericles' enemies, took seats as suppliants at the altars of the gods; and when they were called upon to explain their surprising action, they claimed that they would show that Pheidias had possession of a large amount of the sacred funds, with the connivance and assistance of Pericles the overseer. Consequently, when the Assembly convened to consider the affair, the enemies of Pericles persuaded the people to arrest Pheidias and lodged a charge against Pericles himself of stealing sacred property. Furthermore, they falsely accused the sophist Anaxagoras, who was Pericles' teacher, of impiety against the gods; and they involved Pericles in their accusations and malicious charges, since jealousy made them eager to discredit the eminence as well as the fame of the man. But Pericles, knowing that during the operations of war the populace has respect for noble men because of their urgent need of them, whereas in times of peace they keep bringing false accusations against the very same men because they have nothing to do and are envious, came to the conclusion that it would be to his own advantage to embroil the state in a great war, in order that the city, in its need of the ability and skill in generalship of Pericles, should pay no attention to the accusations being lodged against him and would have neither leisure nor time to scrutinize carefully the accounting he would render of the funds. Now when the Athenians voted to exclude the Megarians from both their market and harbours, the Megarians turned to the Spartans for aid. And the Lacedemonians, being won over by the Megarians, in the most open manner dispatched ambassadors in accordance with the decision of the Council of the League, ordering the Athenians to rescind the action against the Megarians and threatening, if they did not accede, to wage war upon them together with the forces of their allies. When the Assembly convened to consider the matter, Pericles, who far excelled his fellow citizens in skill of oratory, persuaded the Athenians not to rescind the action, saying that for them to accede to the demands of the Lacedemonians, contrary to their own interests, would be the first step toward slavery. Accordingly he advised that they bring their possessions from the countryside into the city and fight it out with the Spartans by means of their command of the sea.
§ 12.40
περὶ δὲ τοῦ πολέμου πεφροντισμένως ἀπολογισάμενος ἐξηριθμήσατο μὲν τὸ πλῆθος τῶν συμμάχων τῇ πόλει καὶ τὴν ὑπεροχὴν τῆς ναυτικῆς δυνάμεως, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις τὸ πλῆθος τῶν μετακεκομισμένων ἐκ Δήλου χρημάτων εἰς τὰς Ἀθήνας, ἃ συνέβαινεν ἐκ τῶν φόρων ταῖς πόλεσι κοινῇ συνηθροῖσθαι· κοινῶν δʼ ὄντων τῶν μυρίων ταλάντων ἀπανήλωτο πρὸς τὴν κατασκευὴν τῶν προπυλαίων καὶ τὴν Ποτιδαίας πολιορκίαν τετρακισχίλια τάλαντα· καὶ καθʼ ἕκαστον ἐνιαυτὸν ἐκ τοῦ φόρου τῶν συμμάχων ἀνεφέρετο τάλαντα τετρακόσια ἑξήκοντα. χωρὶς δὲ τούτων τά τε πομπεῖα καὶ τὰ Μηδικὰ σκῦλα πεντακοσίων ἄξια ταλάντων ἀπεφήνατο, ἔν τε τοῖς ἱεροῖς ἀπεδείκνυεν ἀναθημάτων τε πλῆθος καὶ τὸ τῆς Ἀθηνᾶς ἄγαλμα ἔχειν χρυσίου πεντήκοντα τάλαντα, ὡς περιαιρετῆς οὔσης τῆς περὶ τὸν κόσμον κατασκευῆς· καὶ ταῦτα, ἀναγκαία εἰ καταλάβοι χρεία, χρησαμένους παρὰ τῶν θεῶν πάλιν ἀποκαταστήσειν ἐν εἰρήνῃ· τούς τε τῶν πολιτῶν βίους διὰ τὴν πολυχρόνιον εἰρήνην πολλὴν ἐπίδοσιν εἰληφέναι πρὸς εὐδαιμονίαν. χωρὶς δὲ τῶν χρημάτων τούτων στρατιώτας ἀπεδείκνυεν ὑπάρχειν τῇ πόλει χωρὶς συμμάχων καὶ τῶν ἐν τοῖς φρουρίοις ὄντων ὁπλίτας μὲν μυρίους καὶ δισχιλίους, τοὺς δʼ ἐν τοῖς φρουρίοις ὄντας καὶ τοὺς μετοίκους ὑπάρχειν πλείους τῶν μυρίων ἑπτακισχιλίων, τριήρεις τε τὰς παρούσας τριακοσίας. τοὺς δὲ Λακεδαιμονίους χρημάτων τε σπανίζειν ἀπεδείκνυε καὶ ταῖς ναυτικαῖς δυνάμεσι πολὺ λείπεσθαι τῶν Ἀθηναίων. ταῦτα διελθὼν καὶ παρορμήσας τοὺς πολίτας εἰς τὸν πόλεμον, ἔπεισε τὸν δῆμον μὴ προσέχειν τοῖς Λακεδαιμονίοις. ταῦτα δὲ ῥᾳδίως συνετέλεσε διὰ τὴν δεινότητα τοῦ λόγου, διʼ ἣν αἰτίαν ὠνομάσθη Ὀλύμπιος. ὦ λιπερνῆτες γεωργοί, τἀμά τις ξυνιέτω ῥήματʼ, εἰ βούλεσθʼ ἀκοῦσαι τήνδʼ ὅπως ἀπώλετο. πρῶτα μὲν γὰρ αὐτῆς ἦρχε Φειδίας πράξας κακῶς, εἶτα Περικλέης φοβηθεὶς μὴ μετάσχῃ τῆς τύχης, ἐμβαλὼν σπινθῆρα μικρὸν Μεγαρικοῦ ψηφίσματος ἐξεφύσησεν τοσοῦτον πόλεμον ὥστε τῷ καπνῷ πάντας Ἕλληνας δακρῦσαι, τούς τʼ ἐκεῖ τούς τʼ ἐνθάδε· Περικλέης οὑλύμπιος ἤστραπτεν, ἐβρόντα, συνεκύκα τὴν Ἑλλάδα. Πειθώ τις ἐπεκάθιζεν ἐπὶ τοῖς χείλεσιν· οὕτως ἐκήλει καὶ μόνος τῶν ῥητόρων τὸ κέντρον ἐγκατέλειπε τοῖς ἀκροωμένοις.
Speaking of the war, Pericles, after defending his course in wellconsidered words, enumerated first the multitude of allies Athens possessed and the superiority of its naval strength, and then the large sum of money which had been removed from Delos to Athens and which had in fact been gathered from the tribute into one fund for the common use of the cities; from the ten thousand talents in the common fund four thousand had been expended on the building of the Propylaea and the siege of Potidaea; and each year there was an income from the tribute paid by the allies of four hundred and sixty talents. Beside this he declared that the vessels employed in solemn processions and the booty taken from the Medes were worth five hundred talents, and he pointed to the multitude of votive offerings in the various sanctuaries and to the fact that the fifty talents of gold on the statue of Athena for its embellishment was so constructed as to be removable; and he showed that all these, if dire need befell them, they could borrow from the gods and return to them again when peace came, and that also by reason of the long peace the manner of life of the citizens had made great strides toward prosperity. In addition to these financial resources Pericles pointed out that, omitting the allies and garrisons, the city had available twelve thousand hoplites, the garrisons and metics amounted to more than seventeen thousand, and the triremes available to three hundred. He also pointed out that the Lacedemonians were both lacking in money and far behind the Athenians in naval armaments. After he had recounted these facts and incited the citizens to war, he persuaded the people to pay no attention to the Lacedemonians. This he accomplished readily by reason of his great ability as an orator, which is the reason he has been called "The Olympian." Mention has been made of this even by Aristophanes, the poet of the Old Comedy, who lived in the period of Pericles, in the following tetrameters: O ye farmers, wretched creatures, listen now and understand, If you fain would learn the reason why it was Peace left the land. Pheidias began the mischief, having come to grief and shame, Pericles was next in order, fearing he might share the blame, By his Megara-enactment lighting first a little flame, Such a bitter smoke ascended while the flames of war he blew, That from every eye in Hellas everywhere the tears it drew. And again in another place: The Olympian Pericles Thundered and lightened and confounded Hellas. And Eupolis the poet wrote: One might say Persuasion rested On his lips; such charm he'd bring. And alone of all the speakers In his listeners left his sting.
§ 12.41
αἰτίαι μὲν οὖν τοῦ Πελοποννησιακοῦ πολέμου τοιαῦταί τινες ὑπῆρξαν, ὡς Ἔφορος ἀνέγραψε. τῶν δʼ ἡγουμένων πόλεων τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον εἰς πόλεμον ἐμπεσουσῶν, Λακεδαιμόνιοι μὲν μετὰ τῶν Πελοποννησίων συνεδρεύσαντες ἐψηφίσαντο πολεμεῖν τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις, καὶ πρὸς τὸν Περσῶν βασιλέα πρεσβεύσαντες παρεκάλουν συμμαχεῖν αὐτοῖς, καὶ τοὺς κατὰ τὴν Σικελίαν καὶ Ἰταλίαν συμμάχους διαπρεσβευσάμενοι διακοσίαις τριήρεσιν ἔπεισαν βοηθεῖν, αὐτοὶ δὲ μετὰ τῶν Πελοποννησίων τὰς πεζὰς δυνάμεις διατάξαντες καὶ τἄλλα τὰ πρὸς τὸν πόλεμον ἡτοιμασμένοι πρῶτοι τοῦ πολέμου κατήρξαντο. κατὰ γὰρ τὴν Βοιωτίαν ἡ τῶν Πλαταιέων πόλις αὐτόνομος ἦν καὶ συμμαχίαν εἶχε πρὸς Ἀθηναίους. ἐν ταύτῃ τῶν πολιτῶν τινες καταλῦσαι τὴν αὐτονομίαν βουλόμενοι διελέχθησαν τοῖς Βοιωτοῖς, ἐπαγγελλόμενοι τὴν πόλιν ὑπὸ τὴν τῶν Θηβαίων τάξειν συντέλειαν καὶ παραδώσειν αὐτοῖς τὰς Πλαταιάς, ἐὰν αὐτοὶ στρατιώτας πέμψωσι τοὺς βοηθοῦντας. διὸ καὶ τῶν Βοιωτῶν ἀποστειλάντων στρατιώτας ἐπιλέκτους τριακοσίους νυκτός, οἱ προδόται τούτους παρεισαγαγόντες ἐντὸς τῶν τειχῶν κυρίους τῆς πόλεως ἐποίησαν. οἱ δὲ Πλαταιεῖς βουλόμενοι τὴν πρὸς Ἀθηναίους συμμαχίαν διαφυλάττειν, τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ὑπολαβόντες πανδημεὶ τοὺς Θηβαίους παρεῖναι, διεπρεσβεύσαντο πρὸς τοὺς κατειληφότας τὴν πόλιν καὶ παρεκάλουν συνθέσθαι σπονδάς· ὡς δʼ ἡ νὺξ παρῆλθε, κατανοήσαντες ὀλίγους ὄντας, συνεστράφησαν καὶ περὶ τῆς ἐλευθερίας ἐκθύμως ἠγωνίζοντο. γενομένης δὲ τῆς μάχης ἐν ταῖς ὁδοῖς, τὸ μὲν πρῶτον οἱ Θηβαῖοι διὰ τὰς ἀρετὰς προεῖχον καὶ πολλοὺς τῶν ἀνθισταμένων ἀνῄρουν· τῶν δʼ οἰκετῶν καὶ τῶν παίδων ἀπὸ τῶν οἰκιῶν βαλλόντων τὰς κεραμῖδας καὶ κατατιτρωσκόντων τοὺς Θηβαίους ἐτράπησαν· καὶ τινὲς μὲν αὐτῶν ἐκπεσόντες ἐκ τῆς πόλεως διεσώθησαν, τινὲς δὲ εἰς οἰκίαν τινὰ καταφυγόντες ἠναγκάσθησαν παραδοῦναι σφᾶς αὐτούς. οἱ δὲ Θηβαῖοι παρὰ τῶν ἐκ τῆς μάχης διασωθέντων πυθόμενοι τὰ συμβεβηκότα, παραχρῆμα πανδημεὶ κατὰ σπουδὴν ὥρμησαν. διὰ δὲ τὸ παράδοξον ἀνετοίμων ὄντων τῶν κατὰ τὴν χώραν, πολλοὶ μὲν ἀνῃρέθησαν, οὐκ ὀλίγοι δὲ ζῶντες συνελήφθησαν, ἅπασα δʼ ἡ χώρα ταραχῆς καὶ διαρπαγῆς ἔγεμεν.
Now the causes of the Peloponnesian War were in general what I have described, as Ephorus has recorded them. And when the leading states had become embroiled in war in this fashion, the Lacedemonians, sitting in council with the Peloponnesians, voted to make war upon the Athenians, and dispatching ambassadors to the king of the Persians, urged him to ally himself with them, while they also treated by means of ambassadors with their allies in Sicily and Italy and persuaded them to come to their aid with two hundred triremes; and for their own part they, together with the Peloponnesians, got ready their land forces, made all other preparations for the war, and were the first to commence the conflict. For in Boeotia the city of the Plataeans was an independent state and had an alliance with the Athenians. But certain of its citizens, wishing to destroy its independence, had engaged in parleys with the Boeotians, promising that they would range that state under the confederacy organized by the Thebans and hand Plataea over to them if they would send soldiers to aid in the undertaking. Consequently, when the Boeotians dispatched by night three hundred picked soldiers, the traitors got them inside the walls and made them masters of the city. The Plataeans, wishing to maintain their alliance with the Athenians, since at first they assumed that the Thebans were present in full force, began negotiations with the captors of the city and urged them to agree to a truce; but as the night wore on and they perceived that the Thebans were few in number, they rallied en masse and began putting up a vigorous struggle for their freedom. The fighting took place in the streets, and at first the Thebans held the upper hand because of their valour and were slaying many of their opponents; but when the slaves and children began pelting the Thebans with tiles from the houses and wounding them, they turned in flight; and some of them escaped from the city to safety, but some who found refuge in a house were forced to give themselves up. When the Thebans learned the outcome of the attempt from the survivors of the battle, they at once marched forth in all haste in full force. And since the Plataeans who dwelt in the rural districts were unprepared because they were not expecting the attack, many of them were slain and not a small number were taken captive alive, and the whole land was filled with tumult and plundering.
§ 12.42
οἱ δὲ Πλαταιεῖς διαπρεσβευσάμενοι πρὸς τοὺς Θηβαίους ἠξίουν ἀπελθεῖν ἐκ τῆς χώρας αὐτῶν καὶ ἀπολαβεῖν τοὺς αἰχμαλώτους. διὸ καὶ τῆς συνθέσεως ταύτης γεγενημένης οἱ μὲν Θηβαῖοι τοὺς αἰχμαλώτους ἀπολαβόντες καὶ τὴν λείαν ἀποδόντες εἰς τὰς Θήβας ἀπηλλάγησαν, οἱ δὲ Πλαταιεῖς πρὸς μὲν Ἀθηναίους ἔπεμψαν πρέσβεις περὶ βοηθείας, αὐτοὶ δὲ τὰ πλεῖστα ἐκόμισαν εἰς τὴν πόλιν. οἱ δὲ Ἀθηναῖοι πυθόμενοι τὰ περὶ τὰς Πλαταιάς, παραχρῆμα ἐξέπεμψαν τοὺς ἱκανοὺς στρατιώτας· οὗτοι δὲ κατὰ σπουδὴν παραγενόμενοι, καὶ μὴ φθάσαντες τοὺς Θηβαίους, τὰ λοιπὰ τῶν ἀπὸ τῆς χώρας κατεκόμισαν εἰς τὴν πόλιν, καὶ τέκνα καὶ γυναῖκας καὶ τὸν ὄχλον ἀθροίσαντες ἐξαπέστειλαν εἰς τὰς Ἀθήνας. οἱ δὲ Λακεδαιμόνιοι κρίναντες καταλελύσθαι τὰς σπονδὰς ὑπὸ τῶν Ἀθηναίων, δύναμιν ἀξιόλογον ἤθροισαν ἔκ τε τῆς Λακεδαίμονος καὶ παρὰ τῶν ἄλλων Πελοποννησίων. συνεμάχουν δὲ τότε Λακεδαιμονίοις Πελοποννήσιοι μὲν πάντες πλὴν Ἀργείων· οὗτοι δʼ ἡσυχίαν εἶχον· τῶν δʼ ἐκτὸς τῆς Πελοποννήσου Μεγαρεῖς, Ἀμβρακιῶται, Λευκάδιοι, Φωκεῖς, Βοιωτοί, Λοκροὶ τῶν μὲν πρὸς Εὔβοιαν ἐστραμμένων οἱ πλείους, τῶν δʼ ἄλλων Ἀμφισσεῖς. τοῖς δʼ Ἀθηναίοις συνεμάχουν οἱ τὴν παράλιον τῆς Ἀσίας οἰκοῦντες Κᾶρες καὶ Δωριεῖς καὶ Ἴωνες καὶ Ἑλλησπόντιοι καὶ νησιῶται πάντες πλὴν τῶν ἐν Μήλῳ καὶ Θήρᾳ κατοικούντων, ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ οἱ ἐπὶ Θρᾴκης πλὴν Χαλκιδέων καὶ Ποτιδαιατῶν· πρὸς δὲ τούτοις Μεσσήνιοι μὲν οἱ τὴν Ναύπακτον οἰκοῦντες καὶ Κερκυραῖοι. τούτων ναυτικὸν παρείχοντο Χῖοι, Λέσβιοι, Κερκυραῖοι, αἱ δʼ ἄλλαι πᾶσαι πεζοὺς στρατιώτας ἐξέπεμπον. σύμμαχοι μὲν οὖν ἀμφοτέροις ὑπῆρχον οἱ προειρημένοι. Λακεδαιμόνιοι δὲ δύναμιν ἀξιόλογον προχειρισάμενοι τὴν ἡγεμονίαν ἔδωκαν Ἀρχιδάμῳ τῷ βασιλεῖ. οὗτος δὲ μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως ἐνέβαλεν εἰς τὴν Ἀττικήν, τοῖς δὲ φρουρίοις προσβολὰς ἐποιεῖτο καὶ τῆς χώρας πολλὴν ἐδῄωσε. τῶν δʼ Ἀθηναίων παροξυνομένων διὰ τὴν τῆς χώρας καταδρομήν, καὶ βουλομένων παρατάξασθαι τοῖς πολεμίοις, Περικλῆς στρατηγὸς ὢν καὶ τὴν ὅλην ἡγεμονίαν ἔχων παρεκάλει τοὺς νέους ἡσυχίαν ἔχειν, ἐπαγγελλόμενος ἄνευ κινδύνων ἐκβαλεῖν τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους ἐκ τῆς Ἀττικῆς. πληρώσας οὖν ἑκατὸν τριήρεις καὶ δύναμιν ἀξιόλογον εἰς τὰς ναῦς ἐνθέμενος, καὶ στρατηγὸν ἐπιστήσας Καρκίνον καὶ ἑτέρους τινάς, ἐξέπεμψεν εἰς τὴν Πελοπόννησον. οὗτοι δὲ πολλὴν τῆς παραθαλαττίου χώρας πορθήσαντες καί τινα τῶν φρουρίων ἑλόντες κατεπλήξαντο τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους· διὸ καὶ τὴν ἐκ τῆς Ἀττικῆς δύναμιν ταχέως μεταπεμψάμενοι πολλὴν ἀσφάλειαν τοῖς Πελοποννησίοις παρείχοντο. τούτῳ δὲ τῷ τρόπῳ τῆς Ἀττικῆς ἐλευθερωθείσης, ὁ μὲν Περικλῆς ἀποδοχῆς ἐτύγχανε παρὰ τοῖς πολίταις, ὡς δυνάμενος στρατηγεῖν καὶ τοῖς Λακεδαιμονίοις διαπολεμεῖν.
The Plataeans dispatched ambassadors to the Thebans demanding that they leave Plataean territory and receive their own captives back. And so, when this had been agreed upon, the Thebans received their captives back, restored the booty they had taken, and returned to Thebes. The Plataeans dispatched ambassadors to the Athenians asking for aid, while they themselves gathered the larger part of their possessions into the city. The Athenians, when they learned of what had taken place in Plataea, at once sent a considerable body of soldiers; these arrived in haste, although not before the Thebans, and gathered the rest of the property from the countryside into the city, and then, collecting both the children and women and the rabble, sent them off to Athens. The Lacedemonians, deciding that the Athenians had broken the truce, mustered a strong army from both Lacedemon and the rest of the Peloponnesians. The allies of the Lacedemonians at this time were all the inhabitants of the Peloponnesus with the exception of the Argives, who remained neutral; and of the peoples outside of the Peloponnesus the Megarians, Ambraciotes, Leucadians, Phocians, Boeotians, and of the Locrians, the majority of those facing Euboea, and the Amphissians of the rest. The Athenians had as allies the peoples of the coast of Asia, namely, the Carians, Dorians, Ionians and Hellespontines, also all the islanders except the inhabitants of Melos and Thera, likewise the dwellers in Thrace except the Chalcidians and Potidaeans, furthermore the Messenians who dwelt in Naupactus and the Cercyraeans. Of these, the Chians, Lesbians, and Cercyraeans furnished ships, and all the rest supplied infantry. The allies, then, on both sides were as we have listed them. After the Lacedemonians had prepared for service a strong army, they placed the command in the hands of Archidamus their king. He invaded Attica with his army, made repeated assaults upon its fortified places, and ravaged a large part of the countryside. And when the Athenians, being incensed because of the raiding of their countryside, wished to offer battle to the enemy, Pericles, who was a general and held in his hands the entire leadership of the state, urged the young men to make no move, promising that he would expel the Lacedemonians from Attica without the peril of battle. Whereupon, fitting out one hundred triremes and putting on them a strong force of men, he appointed Carcinus general over them together with certain others and sent them against the Peloponnesus. This force, by ravaging a large extent of the Peloponnesian territory along the sea and capturing some fortresses, struck terror into the Lacedemonians; consequently they speedily recalled their army from Attica and thus provided a large measure of safety to the Peloponnesians. In this manner Athens was delivered from the enemy, and Pericles received approbation among his fellow citizens as having the ability to perform the duties of a general and to fight it out with the Lacedemonians.
§ 12.43
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησιν Ἀπολλοδώρου Ῥωμαῖοι κατέστησαν ὑπάτους Μάρκον Γεγάνιον καὶ Λούκιον Σέργιον. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων ὁ τῶν Ἀθηναίων στρατηγὸς οὐ διέλιπε τὴν μὲν χώραν τῶν Πελοποννησίων λεηλατῶν καὶ καταφθείρων, τὰ δὲ φρούρια πολιορκῶν· προσγενομένων δὲ αὐτῷ πεντήκοντα τριήρων ἐκ τῆς Κερκύρας, πολὺ μᾶλλον ἐπόρθει τὴν Πελοποννησίων χώραν, καὶ μάλιστα τῆς παραθαλαττίου τὴν καλουμένην Ἀκτὴν ἐδῄου καὶ τὰς ἐπαύλεις ἐνεπύριζε. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα πλεύσας ἐπὶ Μεθώνην τῆς Λακωνικῆς, τήν τε χώραν κατέσυρε καὶ τῇ πόλει προσβολὰς ἐποιεῖτο. ἔνθα δὴ Βρασίδας ὁ Σπαρτιάτης, νέος μὲν ὢν τὴν ἡλικίαν, ἀλκῇ δὲ καὶ ἀνδρείᾳ διαφέρων, ὁρῶν τὴν Μεθώνην κινδυνεύουσαν ἐκ βίας ἁλῶναι, παραλαβών τινας τῶν Σπαρτιατῶν διὰ μέσου τῶν πολεμίων ἐσκεδασμένων ἐτόλμησε διεκπερᾶσαι, καὶ πολλοὺς ἀνελὼν παρεισέπεσεν εἰς τὸ χωρίον. γενομένης δὲ πολιορκίας, καὶ τοῦ Βρασίδου λαμπρότατα κινδυνεύσαντος, Ἀθηναῖοι μὲν οὐ δυνάμενοι τὸ χωρίον ἑλεῖν ἀπεχώρησαν πρὸς τὰς ναῦς, Βρασίδας δὲ διασεσωκὼς τὴν Μεθώνην διὰ τῆς ἰδίας ἀρετῆς καὶ ἀνδρείας ἀποδοχῆς ἔτυχε παρὰ τοῖς Σπαρτιάταις. διὰ δὲ τὴν ἀνδραγαθίαν ταύτην φρονηματισθείς, πολλάκις ἐν τοῖς ὕστερον χρόνοις παραβόλως ἀγωνιζόμενος μεγάλην δόξαν ἀνδρείας ἀπηνέγκατο. Ἀθηναῖοι δὲ περιπλεύσαντες εἰς τὴν Ἠλείαν τήν τε χώραν ἐπόρθουν καὶ Φειὰν χωρίον Ἠλείων ἐπολιόρκουν. ἐκβοηθησάντων δὲ τῶν Ἠλείων, μάχῃ τε ἐνίκησαν καὶ πολλοὺς ἀποκτείναντες τῶν πολεμίων εἷλον τὰς Φειὰς κατὰ κράτος. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τῶν Ἠλείων πανδημεὶ παραταξαμένων ἀπεκρούσθησαν εἰς τὰς ναῦς· εἶτʼ ἀποπλεύσαντες εἰς τὴν Κεφαλληνίαν, καὶ τοὺς ταύτην κατοικοῦντας εἰς τὴν συμμαχίαν προσαγαγόμενοι, τὸν εἰς τὰς Ἀθήνας πλοῦν ἐποιήσαντο.
When Apollodorus was archon in Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Marcus Geganius and Lucius Sergius. During this year the general of the Athenians never ceased plundering and harrying the territory of the Peloponnesians and laying siege to their fortresses; and when there were added to his command fifty triremes from Cercyra, he ravaged all the more the territory of the Peloponnesians, and in particular he laid waste the part of the coast which is called Acte and sent up the farm-buildings in flames. After this, sailing to Methone in Laconia, he both ravaged the countryside and made repeated assaults upon the city. There Brasidas the Spartan, who was still a youth in years but already distinguished for his strength and courage, seeing that Methone was in danger of capture by assault, took some Spartans, and boldly breaking through the hostile forces, which were scattered, he slew many of them and got into the stronghold. In the siege which followed Brasidas fought so brilliantly that the Athenians found themselves unable to take the stronghold and withdrew to their ships, and Brasidas, who had saved Methone by his individual bravery and valour, received the approbation of the Spartans. And because of this hardihood of his, Brasidas, having become inordinately proud, on many subsequent occasions fought recklessly and won for himself a great reputation for valour. And the Athenians, sailing around to Elis, ravaged the countryside and laid siege to Pheia, a stronghold of the Eleians. The Eleians who came out to its defence they defeated in battle, slaying many of their opponents, and took Pheia by storm. But after this, when the Eleians en masse offered them battle, the Athenians were driven back to their ships, whereupon they sailed off to Cephallenia, where they brought the inhabitants of that island into their alliance, and then voyaged back to Athens.
§ 12.44
μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Ἀθηναῖοι στρατηγὸν προχειρισάμενοι Κλεόπομπον ἐξαπέστειλαν μετὰ νεῶν τριάκοντα, προστάξαντες τήν τε Εὔβοιαν παραφυλάττειν καὶ Λοκροῖς πολεμεῖν. ὁ δʼ ἐκπλεύσας τήν τε παραθαλάττιον τῆς Λοκρίδος ἐδῄωσε καὶ πόλιν Θρόνιον ἐξεπολιόρκησε, τοῖς δʼ ἀντιταξαμένοις τῶν Λοκρῶν συνάψας μάχην ἐνίκησε περὶ πόλιν Ἀλόπην. ἔπειτα τὴν προκειμένην τῆς Λοκρίδος νῆσον, ὀνομαζομένην Ἀταλάντην, ἐπιτείχισμα τῆς Λοκρίδος κατεσκεύασε, πολεμῶν πρὸς τοὺς ἐγχωρίους. Ἀθηναῖοι δʼ ἐγκαλοῦντες Αἰγινήταις ὡς συνηργηκόσι Λακεδαιμονίοις ἀνέστησαν αὐτοὺς ἐκ τῆς πόλεως, ἐκ δὲ τῶν πολιτῶν οἰκήτορας ἐκπέμψαντες κατεκληρούχησαν τήν τε Αἴγιναν καὶ τὴν χώραν. Λακεδαιμόνιοι δὲ τοῖς ἐκπεπτωκόσιν Αἰγινήταις ἔδωκαν οἰκεῖν τὰς καλουμένας Θυρέας διὰ τὸ καὶ τοὺς Ἀθηναίους δεδωκέναι τοῖς ἐκ Μεσσήνης ἐκβληθεῖσι κατοικεῖν Ναύπακτον. Ἀθηναῖοι δὲ Περικλέα μετὰ δυνάμεως ἐξέπεμψαν πολεμήσοντα τοῖς Μεγαρεῦσιν. οὗτος δὲ πορθήσας τὴν χώραν καὶ τὰς κτήσεις αὐτῶν λυμηνάμενος μετὰ πολλῆς ὠφελείας ἐπανῆλθεν εἰς τὰς Ἀθήνας.
After these events the Athenians chose Cleopompus general and sent him to sea with thirty ships under orders both to keep careful guard over Euboea and to make war upon the Locrians. He, sailing forth, ravaged the coast of Locris and reduced by siege the city of Thronium, and the Locrians who opposed him he met in battle and defeated near the city of Alope. Following this he made the island known as Atalante, which lies off Locris, into a fortress on the border of Locris for his operations against the inhabitants of that country. Also the Athenians, accusing the Aeginetans of having collaborated with the Lacedemonians, expelled them from their state, and sending colonists there from their own citizens they portioned out to them in allotments both the city of Aegina and its territory. To the Aeginetan refugees the Lacedemonians gave Thyreae, as it is called, to dwell in, because the Athenians had also once given Naupactus as a home for the people whom they had driven out of Messene. The Athenians also dispatched Pericles with an army to make war upon the Megarians. He plundered their territory, laid waste their possessions, and returned to Athens with much booty.
§ 12.45
Λακεδαιμόνιοι δὲ μετὰ Πελοποννησίων καὶ τῶν ἄλλων συμμάχων ἐνέβαλον εἰς τὴν Ἀττικὴν τὸ δεύτερον. ἐπιπορευόμενοι δὲ τὴν χώραν ἐδενδροτόμουν καὶ τὰς ἐπαύλεις ἐνεπύριζον, καὶ πᾶσαν σχεδὸν τὴν γῆν ἐλυμήναντο πλὴν τῆς καλουμένης Τετραπόλεως· ταύτης δʼ ἀπέσχοντο διὰ τὸ τοὺς προγόνους αὐτῶν ἐνταῦθα κατῳκηκέναι καὶ τὸν Εὐρυσθέα νενικηκέναι τὴν ὁρμὴν ἐκ ταύτης ποιησαμένους· δίκαιον γὰρ ἡγοῦντο τοῖς εὐηργετηκόσι τοὺς προγόνους, παρὰ τῶν ἐκγόνων τὰς προσηκούσας εὐεργεσίας ἀπολαμβάνειν. οἱ δʼ Ἀθηναῖοι παρατάξασθαι μὲν οὐκ ἐτόλμων, συνεχόμενοι δʼ ἐντὸς τῶν τειχῶν ἐνέπεσον εἰς λοιμικὴν περίστασιν· πολλοῦ γὰρ πλήθους καὶ παντοδαποῦ συνερρυηκότος εἰς τὴν πόλιν διὰ τὴν στενοχωρίαν εὐλόγως εἰς νόσους ἐνέπιπτον, ἕλκοντες ἀέρα διεφθαρμένον. διόπερ οὐ δυνάμενοι τοὺς πολεμίους ἐκβαλεῖν ἐκ τῆς χώρας, πάλιν ναῦς πολλὰς ἐξέπεμπον εἰς Πελοπόννησον στρατηγὸν ἐπιστήσαντες Περικλέα. οὗτος δὲ πολλὴν χώραν τῆς παραθαλαττίου δῃώσας καί τινας πόλεις πορθήσας, ἐποίησεν ἀπελθεῖν ἐκ τῆς Ἀττικῆς τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους. μετὰ δὲ ταῦθʼ οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι, τῆς μὲν χώρας δεδενδροκοπημένης, τῆς δὲ νόσου πολλοὺς διαφθειρούσης, ἐν ἀθυμίᾳ καθειστήκεσαν, καὶ τὸν Περικλέα νομίζοντες αἴτιον αὐτοῖς γεγονέναι τοῦ πολέμου διʼ ὀργῆς εἶχον. διόπερ ἀποστήσαντες αὐτὸν τῆς στρατηγίας, καὶ μικράς τινας ἀφορμὰς ἐγκλημάτων λαβόντες, ἐζημίωσαν αὐτὸν ὀγδοήκοντα ταλάντοις. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα πρεσβείας ἀποστείλαντες Λακεδαιμονίοις ἠξίουν καταλύσασθαι τὸν πόλεμον· ὡς δὲ οὐδεὶς αὐτοῖς προσεῖχεν, ἠναγκάζοντο πάλιν τὸν Περικλέα στρατηγὸν αἱρεῖσθαι. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἐπράχθη κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν ἐνιαυτόν.
The Lacedemonians together with the Peloponnesians and their other allies invaded Attica for a second time. In their advance through the country they chopped down orchards and burned the farm-buildings, and they laid waste almost the entire land with the exception of the region known as the Tetrapolis. This area they spared because their ancestors had once dwelt there and had gone forth from it as their base on the occasion when they had defeated Eurystheus; for they considered it only fair that the benefactors of their ancestors should in turn receive from their descendants the corresponding benefactions. As for the Athenians, they could not venture to meet them in a pitched battle, and being confined as they were within the walls, found themselves involved in an emergency caused by a plague; for since a vast multitude of people of every description had streamed together into the city, there was good reason for their falling victim to diseases as they did, because of the cramped quarters, breathing air which had become polluted. Consequently, since they were unable to expel the enemy from their territory, they again dispatched many ships against the Peloponnesus, appointing Pericles general. He ravaged a large part of the territory bordering on the sea, plundered some cities, and brought it about that the Lacedemonians withdrew from Attica. After this the Athenians, now that the trees of their countryside had been cut down and the plague was carrying off great numbers, were plunged into despondency and became angry with Pericles, considering him to have been responsible for their being at war. Consequently they removed him from the generalship, and on the strength of some petty grounds for accusation they imposed a fine upon him of eighty talents. After this they dispatched embassies to the Lacedemonians and asked that the war be brought to an end; but when not a man paid any attention to them, they were forced to elect Pericles general again. These, then, were the events of this year.
§ 12.46
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησιν Ἐπαμείνονος Ῥωμαῖοι κατέστησαν ὑπάτους Λεύκιον Παπίριον καὶ Αὖλον Κορνήλιον Μακερῖνον. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων ἐν μὲν ταῖς Ἀθήναις Περικλῆς ὁ στρατηγὸς ἐτελεύτησεν, ἀνὴρ γένει καὶ πλούτῳ, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις δεινότητι λόγου καὶ στρατηγίᾳ πολὺ προέχων τῶν πολιτῶν. ὁ δὲ δῆμος φιλοτιμούμενος κατὰ κράτος ἑλεῖν τὴν Ποτίδαιαν, ἐξαπέστειλεν Ἅγνωνα στρατηγὸν ἔχοντα τὴν δύναμιν ἣν πρότερον εἶχε Περικλῆς. οὗτος δὲ μετὰ παντὸς τοῦ στόλου καταπλεύσας εἰς τὴν Ποτίδαιαν παρεσκευάσατο τὰ πρὸς τὴν πολιορκίαν· μηχανάς τε γὰρ παντοδαπὰς παρεσκεύασε πολιορκητικὰς καὶ ὅπλων καὶ βελῶν πλῆθος, ἔτι δὲ σίτου δαψίλειαν ἱκανὴν πάσῃ τῇ δυνάμει. προσβολὰς δὲ ποιούμενος συνεχεῖς καθʼ ἑκάστην ἡμέραν διέτριβε πολὺν χρόνον, οὐ δυνάμενος ἑλεῖν τὴν πόλιν. οἱ μὲν γὰρ πολιορκούμενοι διὰ τὸν ἐκ τῆς ἁλώσεως φόβον ἐρρωμένως ἠμύνοντο καὶ ταῖς ὑπεροχαῖς τῶν τειχῶν πεποιθότες ἐπλεονέκτουν τοὺς ἐκ τοῦ λιμένος· ἡ δὲ νόσος τοὺς πολιορκοῦντας συνέχουσα πολλοὺς ἀνῄρει, καὶ τὸ στρατόπεδον ἀθυμία κατεῖχεν. ὁ δʼ Ἅγνων εἰδὼς τοὺς Ἀθηναίους δεδαπανηκότας εἰς τὴν πολιορκίαν πλείω τῶν χιλίων ταλάντων καὶ χαλεπῶς διακειμένους πρὸς τοὺς Ποτιδαιάτας διὰ τὸ πρώτους ἀποστῆναι πρὸς τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους, ἐφοβεῖτο λῦσαι τὴν πολιορκίαν· διόπερ ἠναγκάζετο διακαρτερεῖν καὶ τοὺς στρατιώτας ἀναγκάζειν παρὰ δύναμιν βίαν προσάγειν τῇ πόλει. ἐπεὶ δὲ τῶν πολιτῶν πολλοὶ διεφθείροντο κατὰ τὰς προσβολὰς καὶ κατὰ τὴν ἐκ τοῦ λοιμοῦ νόσον, ἀπολιπὼν μέρος τῆς δυνάμεως ἐπὶ τῆς πολιορκίας ἀπέπλευσεν εἰς τὰς Ἀθήνας, ἀποβεβληκὼς τῶν στρατιωτῶν πλείους τῶν χιλίων. ἀπελθόντων δὲ τούτων οἱ Ποτιδαιᾶται, τοῦ τε σίτου παντελῶς ἐκλιπόντος καὶ τῶν κατὰ τὴν πόλιν ἀθυμούντων, ἐπεκηρυκεύσαντο πρὸς τοὺς πολιορκοῦντας περὶ διαλύσεως. ἀσμένως δὲ κἀκείνων προσδεξαμένων διαλύσεις ἐποιήσαντο τοιαύτας, ἀπελθεῖν ἐκ τῆς πόλεως ἅπαντας τοὺς Ποτιδαιάτας, ἄλλο μὲν μηθὲν λαβόντας, ἔχοντας δὲ τοὺς μὲν ἄνδρας ἱμάτιον ἕν, τὰς δὲ γυναῖκας δύο. γενομένων δὲ τούτων τῶν σπονδῶν οἱ μὲν Ποτιδαιᾶται πάντες μετὰ γυναικῶν καὶ τέκνων ἐξέλιπον τὴν πατρίδα κατὰ τὰς συνθήκας, καὶ παρελθόντες εἰς τοὺς ἐπὶ Θρᾴκης Χαλκιδεῖς παρʼ αὐτοῖς κατῴκησαν· οἱ δʼ Ἀθηναῖοι τῶν πολιτῶν εἰς χιλίους οἰκήτορας ἐξέπεμψαν εἰς τὴν Ποτίδαιαν, καὶ τήν τε πόλιν καὶ τὴν χώραν κατεκληρούχησαν.
When Epameinon was archon in Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Lucius Papirius and Aulus Cornelius Macerinus. This year in Athens Pericles the general died, a man who not only in birth and wealth, but also in eloquence and skill as a general, far surpassed his fellow citizens. Since the people of Athens desired for the glory of it to take Potidaea by storm, they sent Hagnon there as general with the army which Pericles had formerly commanded. He put in at Potidaea with the whole expedition and made all his preparations for the siege; for he had made ready every kind of engine used in sieges, a multitude of arms and missiles, and an abundance of grain, sufficient for the entire army. Hagnon spent much time making continuous assaults every day, but without the power to take the city. For on the one side the besieged, spurred on by their fear of capture, were putting up a sturdy resistance and, confiding in the superior height of the walls, held the advantage over the Athenians attacking from the harbour, whereas the besiegers were dying in large numbers from the plague and despondency prevailed throughout the army. Hagnon, knowing that the Athenians had spent more than a thousand talents on the siege and were angry with the Potidaeans because they were the first to go over to the Lacedemonians, was afraid to raise the siege; consequently he felt compelled to continue it and to compel the soldiers, beyond their strength, to force the issue against the city. But since many Athens citizens were being slain in the assaults and by the ravages of the plague, he left a part of his army to maintain the siege and sailed back to Athens, having lost more than a thousand of his soldiers. After Hagnon had withdrawn, the Potidaeans, since their grain supply was entirely exhausted and the people in the city were disheartened, sent heralds to the besiegers to discuss terms of capitulation. These were received eagerly and an agreement to cessation of hostilities was reached on the following terms: All the Potidaeans should depart from the city, taking nothing with them, with the exception that men could have one garment and women two. When this truce had been agreed upon, all the Potidaeans together with their wives and children left their native land in accordance with the terms of the compact and went to the Chalcidians in Thrace among whom they made their home; and the Athenians sent out as many as a thousand of their citizens to Potidaea as colonists and portioned out to them in allotments both the city and its territory.
§ 12.47
Ἀθηναῖοι δὲ Φορμίωνα στρατηγὸν προχειρισάμενοι μετὰ εἴκοσι τριήρων ἐξαπέστειλαν. οὗτος δὲ περιπλεύσας τὴν Πελοπόννησον εἰς Ναύπακτον κατῆρε, καὶ θαλαττοκρατῶν τοῦ Κρισαίου κόλπου διεκώλυσε ταύτῃ πλεῖν τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους. Λακεδαιμόνιοι δὲ δύναμιν ἀξιόλογον ἐξέπεμψαν μετʼ Ἀρχιδάμου τοῦ βασιλέως· οὗτος δὲ παρελθὼν τῆς Βοιωτίας εἰς Πλαταιὰς ἐστρατοπέδευσε. μελλόντων δʼ αὐτῶν δῃοῦν τὴν χώραν, καὶ παρακαλούντων τοὺς Πλαταιεῖς ἀποστῆναι τῶν Ἀθηναίων, ὡς οὐ προσεῖχον αὐτοῖς, ἐπόρθησε τὴν χώραν καὶ τὰς κατʼ αὐτὴν κτήσεις ἐλυμήνατο. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τὴν πόλιν περιτειχίσας ἤλπιζε τῇ σπάνει τῶν ἀναγκαίων καταπονήσειν τοὺς Πλαταιεῖς· οὐδὲν δʼ ἧττον καὶ μηχανὰς προσάγοντες καὶ διὰ τούτων σαλεύοντες τὰ τείχη καὶ προσβολὰς ἀδιαλείπτως ποιούμενοι διετέλουν. ἐπεὶ δὲ οὐδὲ διὰ τῶν προσβολῶν ἠδύναντο χειρώσασθαι τὴν πόλιν, ἀπολιπόντες τὴν ἱκανὴν φυλακὴν ἐπανῆλθον εἰς Πελοπόννησον. Ἀθηναῖοι δὲ στρατηγοὺς καταστήσαντες Ξενοφῶντα καὶ Φανόμαχον ἀπέστειλαν ἐπὶ Θρᾴκην μετὰ στρατιωτῶν χιλίων. οὗτοι δὲ παραγενηθέντες εἰς Σπάρτωλον τῆς Βοττικῆς ἔτεμον τὴν χώραν, καὶ τὸν σῖτον ἐν χλόῃ διέφθειραν. προσβοηθησάντων δὲ τοῖς Βοττιαίοις Ὀλυνθίων, ἡττήθησαν ὑπὸ τούτων μάχῃ· ἀνῃρέθησαν δὲ τῶν Ἀθηναίων οἵ τε στρατηγοὶ καὶ τῶν στρατιωτῶν οἱ πλείους. ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις Λακεδαιμόνιοι πεισθέντες ὑπὸ Ἀμβρακιωτῶν ἐστράτευσαν εἰς Ἀκαρνανίαν. ἡγούμενος δὲ τούτων Κνῆμος εἶχε στρατιώτας πεζοὺς χιλίους καὶ ναῦς ὀλίγας· προσλαβόμενος δὲ καὶ παρὰ τῶν συμμάχων στρατιώτας τοὺς ἱκανοὺς ἧκεν εἰς τὴν Ἀκαρνανίαν καὶ κατεστρατοπέδευσε πλησίον πόλεως τῆς ὀνομαζομένης Στράτου. οἱ δὲ Ἀκαρνᾶνες συστραφέντες καὶ τοῖς πολεμίοις ἐνεδρεύσαντες πολλοὺς ἀπέκτειναν, καὶ συνηνάγκασαν τὸν Κνῆμον ἀπαγαγεῖν τὴν δύναμιν εἰς τοὺς ὀνομαζομένους Οἰνιάδας.
The Athenians elected Phormio general and sent him to sea with twenty triremes. He sailed around the Peloponnesus and put in at Naupactus, and by gaining the mastery of the Crisaean Gulf prevented the Lacedemonians from sailing in those parts. And the Lacedemonians sent out a strong army under Archidamus their king, who marched into Boeotia and took up positions before Plataea. Under the threat of ravaging the territory of the Plataeans he called upon them to revolt from the Athenians, and when they paid no attention to him, he plundered their territory and laid waste their possessions everywhere. After this he threw a wall about the city, in the hope that he could force the Plataeans to capitulate because of lack of the necessities of life; at the same time the Lacedemonians continued bringing up engines with which they kept shattering the walls and making assaults without interruption. But when they found themselves unable to take the city through their assaults, they left an adequate guard before it and returned to the Peloponnesus. The Athenians appointed Xenophon and Phanomachus generals and sent them to Thrace with a thousand soldiers. When this force arrived at Spartolus in the territory of Bottice, it laid waste the land and cut the grain in the first growth. But the Olynthians came to the aid of the Bottiaeans and defeated them in battle; and there were slain of the Athenians both the generals and the larger part of the soldiers. And while this was taking place, the Lacedemonians, yielding to the request of the Ambraciotes, made a campaign against Acarnania. Their leader was Cnemus and he had a thousand foot-soldiers and a few ships. To these he added a considerable number of soldiers from their allies and entered Acarnania, pitching his camp near the city known as Stratus. But the Acarnanians gathered their forces and, laying an ambush, slew many of the enemy, and they forced Cnemus to withdraw his army to the city called Oeniadae.
§ 12.48
περὶ δὲ τοὺς αὐτοὺς χρόνους Φορμίων ὁ τῶν Ἀθηναίων στρατηγὸς ἔχων εἴκοσι τριήρεις περιέτυχε ναυσὶ Λακεδαιμονίων ἑπτὰ πρὸς ταῖς τετταράκοντα. ναυμαχήσας δὲ πρὸς ταύτας τήν τε στρατηγίδα ναῦν τῶν πολεμίων κατέδυσε καὶ τῶν ἄλλων πολλὰς ἄπλους ἐποίησε, δώδεκα δὲ αὐτάνδρους εἷλε, τὰς δὲ λοιπὰς μέχρι τῆς γῆς κατεδίωξεν. οἱ δὲ Λακεδαιμόνιοι παρʼ ἐλπίδας ἡττηθέντες ταῖς ὑπολειφθείσαις ναυσὶν ἔφυγον εἰς Πάτρας τῆς Ἀχαΐας. αὕτη μὲν οὖν ἡ ναυμαχία συνέστη περὶ τὸ Ῥίον καλούμενον. οἱ δʼ Ἀθηναῖοι τρόπαιον στήσαντες καὶ τῷ Ποσειδῶνι περὶ τὸν πορθμὸν ναῦν καθιερώσαντες ἀπέπλευσαν εἰς πόλιν συμμαχίδα Ναύπακτον. Λακεδαιμόνιοι δʼ ἑτέρας ναῦς ἐξέπεμψαν εἰς τὰς Πάτρας. αὗται δὲ προσλαβόμεναι τὰς ἐκ τῆς ναυμαχίας περιλελειμμένας τριήρεις ἠθροίσθησαν εἰς τὸ Ῥίον· εἰς τὸν αὐτὸν δὲ τόπον καὶ τὸ πεζὸν στρατόπεδον τῶν Πελοποννησίων κατήντησε καὶ πλησίον τοῦ στόλου κατεστρατοπέδευσε. Φορμίων δὲ τῇ προγεγενημένῃ νίκῃ φρονηματισθεὶς ἐτόλμησεν ἐπιθέσθαι ταῖς πολεμίαις ναυσὶν οὔσαις πολλαπλασίαις· καί τινας αὐτῶν καταδύσας καὶ τῶν ἰδίων ἀποβαλὼν ἀμφίδοξον ἔσχε τὴν νίκην. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Ἀθηναίων ἀποστειλάντων εἴκοσι τριήρεις, οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι φοβηθέντες ἀπέπλευσαν εἰς τὴν Κόρινθον, οὐ τολμῶντες ναυμαχεῖν. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἐπράχθη κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν ἐνιαυτόν.
During the same time Phormio, the Athenian general, with twenty triremes fell in with forty-seven Lacedemonian warships. And engaging them in battle he sank the flag-ship of the enemy and put many of the rest of the ships out of action, capturing twelve together with their crews and pursuing the remaining as far as the land. The Lacedemonians, after having suffered defeat contrary to their expectations, fled for safety with the ships which were left them to Patrae in Achaea. This sea battle took place off Rhium, as it is called. The Athenians set up a trophy, dedicated a ship to Poseidon at the strait, and then sailed off to the city of Naupactus, which was in their alliance. The Lacedemonians sent other ships to Patrae. These ships joined to themselves the triremes which had survived the battle and assembled at Rhium, and also the land force of the Peloponnesians met them at the same place and pitched camp near the fleet. And Phormio, having become puffed up with pride over the victory he had just won, had the daring to attack the ships of the enemy, although they far outnumbered his; and some of them he sank, though losing ships of his own, so that the victory he won was equivocal. After this, when the Athenians had dispatched twenty triremes, the Lacedemonians sailed off in fear to Corinth, not daring to offer battle. These, then, were the events of this year.
§ 12.49
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησι Διοτίμου Ῥωμαῖοι μὲν ὑπάτους κατέστησαν Γάιον Ἰούλιον καὶ Πρόκλον Οὐεργίνιον Τρίκοστον, Ἠλεῖοι δʼ ἤγαγον Ὀλυμπιάδα ὀγδόην πρὸς ταῖς ὀγδοήκοντα, καθʼ ἣν ἐνίκα στάδιον Σύμμαχος Μεσσήνιος ἀπὸ Σικελίας. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Κνῆνος ὁ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων ναύαρχος ἐν τῇ Κορίνθῳ διατρίβων ἔκρινε τὸν Πειραιᾶ καταλαβέσθαι. ἐπυνθάνετο γὰρ μήτε ναῦς ἐν αὐτῷ καθειλκυσμένας ὑπάρχειν μήτε στρατιώτας εἶναι τεταγμένους ἐπὶ τῆς φυλακῆς· τοὺς γὰρ Ἀθηναίους ἀμελῶς ἔχειν περὶ τῆς τούτου φυλακῆς διὰ τὸ μηδαμῶς ἐλπίζειν τολμῆσαι τινὰς καταλαβέσθαι τὸν τόπον. διόπερ ἐν τοῖς Μεγάροις καθελκύσας τὰς νενεωλκημένας τετταράκοντα τριήρεις νυκτὸς ἔπλευσεν εἰς τὴν Σαλαμῖνα· προσπεσὼν δʼ ἀπροσδοκήτως εἰς τὸ φρούριον τῆς Σαλαμῖνος τὸ καλούμενον Βουδόριον, τρεῖς ναῦς ἀπέσπασε καὶ τὴν ὅλην Σαλαμῖνα κατέδραμε. τῶν δὲ Σαλαμινίων πυρσευσάντων τοῖς κατὰ τὴν Ἀττικήν, οἱ μὲν Ἀθηναῖοι δόξαντες τὸν Πειραιᾶ κατειλῆφθαι ταχέως ἐξεβοήθουν μετὰ πολλῆς ταραχῆς· γνόντες δὲ τὸ γεγονός, ταχέως πληρώσαντες ναῦς ἱκανὰς ἔπλεον εἰς τὴν Σαλαμῖνα. οἱ δὲ Πελοποννήσιοι τῆς ἐπιβολῆς διαψευσθέντες ἀπέπλευσαν ἐκ τῆς Σαλαμῖνος εἰς τὴν οἰκείαν. οἱ δʼ Ἀθηναῖοι, τῶν πολεμίων ἀποπεπλευκότων, τῆς μὲν Σαλαμῖνος ἐπιμελεστέραν φυλακὴν ἐποιήσαντο καὶ κατέλιπον φρουροὺς τοὺς ἱκανούς, τὸν δὲ Πειραιᾶ κλείθροις καὶ φυλακαῖς ἱκαναῖς διαλαβόντες ὠχύρωσαν.
When Diotimus was archon in Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Gaius Julius and Proculus Verginius Tricostus, and the Eleians celebrated the Eighty-eighth Olympiad, that in which Symmachus of Messene in Sicily won the "stadion." In this year Cnemus, the Lacedemonian admiral, who was inactive in Corinth, decided to seize the Peiraeus. He had received information that no ships in the harbour had been put into the water for duty and no soldiers had been detailed to guard the port; for the Athenians, as he learned, had become negligent about guarding it because they by no means expected any enemy would have the audacity to seize the place. Consequently Cnemus, launching forty triremes which had been hauled up on the beach at Megara, sailed by night to Salamis, and falling unexpectedly on the fortress on Salamis called Boudorium, he towed away three ships and overran the entire island. When the Salaminians signalled by beacon-fires to the inhabitants of Attica, the Athenians, thinking that the Peiraeus had been seized, quickly rushed forth in great confusion to its succour; but when they learned what had taken place, they quickly manned a considerable number of warships and sailed to Salamis. The Peloponnesians, having been disappointed in their main design, sailed away from Salamis and returned home. And the Athenians, after the retreat of the enemy, in the case of Salamis gave it a more vigilant guard and left on it a considerable garrison, and the Peiraeus they strengthened here and there with booms and adequate guards.
§ 12.50
περὶ δὲ τοὺς αὐτοὺς χρόνους Σιτάλκης ὁ τῶν Θρᾳκῶν βασιλεὺς παρειλήφει μὲν βασιλείαν ὀλίγην χώραν, διὰ δὲ τὴν ἰδίαν ἀνδρείαν καὶ σύνεσιν ἐπὶ πολὺ τὴν δυναστείαν ηὔξησεν, ἐπιεικῶς μὲν ἄρχων τῶν ὑποτεταγμένων, ἀνδρεῖος δʼ ὢν ἐν ταῖς μάχαις καὶ στρατηγικός, ἔτι δὲ τῶν προσόδων μεγάλην ποιούμενος ἐπιμέλειαν. τὸ δὲ τέλος ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον δυνάμεως προῆλθεν, ὥστε χώρας ἄρξαι πλείστης τῶν πρὸ αὐτοῦ βασιλευσάντων κατὰ τὴν Θρᾴκην. ἡ μὲν γὰρ παραθαλάττιος αὐτῆς ἀπὸ τῆς Ἀβδηριτῶν χώρας τὴν ἀρχὴν ἔχουσα διέτεινε μέχρι τοῦ Ἴστρου ποταμοῦ, ἀπὸ δὲ θαλάττης εἰς τὸ μεσόγειον πορευομένῳ τοσοῦτον εἶχε διάστημα, ὥστε πεζὸν εὔζωνον ὁδοιπορῆσαι ἡμέρας δέκα τρεῖς. τηλικαύτης δὲ χώρας βασιλεύων ἐλάμβανε προσόδους καθʼ ἕκαστον ἐνιαυτὸν πλείω χιλίων ταλάντων. κατὰ δὲ τοὺς ὑποκειμένους καιροὺς ἔχων πόλεμον ἤθροισεν ἐκ τῆς Θρᾴκης στρατιώτας πεζοὺς μὲν πλείους τῶν δώδεκα μυριάδων, ἱππεῖς δὲ πεντακισμυρίους. ἀναγκαῖον δʼ ἐστὶ τοῦ πολέμου τούτου προεκθέσθαι τὰς αἰτίας, ἵνα σαφὴς ὁ περὶ αὐτοῦ λόγος ὑπάρξῃ τοῖς ἀναγινώσκουσι. Σιτάλκης τοίνυν πρὸς Ἀθηναίους φιλίαν συνθέμενος ὡμολόγησεν αὐτοῖς συμμαχήσειν τὸν ἐπὶ Θρᾴκης πόλεμον· διόπερ βουλόμενος τοὺς Χαλκιδεῖς σὺν τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις καταπολεμῆσαι, παρεσκευάζετο δύναμιν ἀξιόλογον. ἅμα δὲ καὶ πρὸς Περδίκκαν τὸν βασιλέα τῶν Μακεδόνων ἀλλοτρίως διακείμενος, ἔκρινε κατάγειν ἐπὶ τὴν Μακεδονικὴν βασιλείαν Ἀμύνταν τὸν Φιλίππου. διʼ ἀμφοτέρας οὖν τὰς προειρημένας αἰτίας ἦν ἀναγκαῖον αὐτῷ συστήσασθαι δύναμιν ἀξιόλογον. ὡς δʼ αὐτῷ τὰ πρὸς τὴν στρατείαν εὐτρεπῆ κατεσκεύαστο, προήγαγε τὴν δύναμιν ἅπασαν, καὶ διελθὼν τὴν Θρᾴκην ἐνέβαλεν εἰς τὴν Μακεδονίαν. οἱ δὲ Μακεδόνες τὸ μέγεθος τῆς δυνάμεως καταπλαγέντες παρατάξασθαι μὲν οὐκ ἐτόλμησαν, ἐκκομίσαντες δὲ τόν τε σῖτον καὶ τῶν χρημάτων ὅσα δυνατὸν ἦν εἰς τὰ καρτερώτατα φρούρια, μένοντες ἐν τούτοις ἡσυχίαν εἶχον. οἱ δὲ Θρᾷκες καταγαγόντες τὸν Ἀμύνταν ἐπὶ τὴν βασιλείαν τὸ μὲν πρῶτον διὰ λόγων καὶ πρεσβειῶν ἐπειρῶντο προσάγεσθαι τὰς πόλεις, ὡς δʼ οὐδεὶς αὐτοῖς προσεῖχεν, εὐθὺς τῷ πρώτῳ φρουρίῳ προσβαλόντες κατὰ κράτος εἷλον. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτά τινες τῶν πόλεων καὶ τῶν φρουρίων διὰ τὸν φόβον ἑκουσίως ὑπετάγησαν. πορθήσαντες δὲ πᾶσαν τὴν Μακεδονίαν καὶ πολλῆς ὠφελείας κύριοι γενόμενοι μετέβησαν ἐπὶ τὰς Ἑλληνίδας πόλεις τὰς τῶν Χαλκιδέων.
In the same period Sitalces, the king of the Thracians, had succeeded to the kingship of a small land indeed but nonetheless by his personal courage and wisdom he greatly increased his dominion, equitably governing his subjects, playing the part of a brave soldier in battle and of a skilful general, and furthermore giving close attention to his revenues. In the end he attained to such power that he ruled over more extensive territory than had any who had preceded him on the throne of Thrace. For the coastline of his kingdom began at the territory of the Abderites and stretched as far as the Ister River, and for a man going from the sea to the interior the distance was so great that a man on foot travelling light required thirteen days for the journey. Ruling as he did over a territory so extensive he enjoyed annual revenues of more than a thousand talents; and when he was waging war in the period we are discussing he mustered from Thrace more than one hundred and twenty thousand infantry and fifty thousand cavalry. But with respect to this war we must set forth its causes, in order that the discussion of it may be clear to our readers. Now Sitalces, since he had entered into a treaty of friendship with the Athenians, agreed to support them in their war in Thrace; and consequently, since he desired, with the help of the Athenians, to subdue the Chalcidians, he made ready a very considerable army. And since he was at the same time on bad terms with Perdiccas, the king of the Macedonians, he decided to bring back Amyntas, the son of Philip, and place him upon the Macedonian throne. It was for these two reasons, therefore, as we have described them, that he was forced to raise an imposing army. When all his preparations for the campaign had been made, he led forth the whole army, marched through Thrace, and invaded Macedonia. The Macedonians, dismayed at the great size of the army, did not dare face him in battle, but they removed both the grain and all the property they could into their most powerful strongholds, in which they remained inactive. The Thracians, after placing Amyntas upon the throne, at the outset made an effort to win over the cities by means of parleys and embassies, but when no one paid any attention to them, they forthwith made an assault on the first stronghold and took it by storm. After this some of the cities and strongholds submitted to them of their own accord through fear. And after plundering all Macedonia and appropriating much booty the Thracians turned against the Greek cities in Chalcidice.
§ 12.51
τοῦ δὲ Σιτάλκου περὶ ταῦτα διατρίβοντος Θετταλοὶ καὶ Ἀχαιοὶ καὶ Μάγνητες καὶ οἱ ἄλλοι πάντες Ἕλληνες ὅσοι κατῴκουν μεταξὺ Μακεδονίας καὶ Θερμοπυλῶν, συνεφρόνησαν καὶ δύναμιν ἀξιόλογον κοινῇ συνεστήσαντο· εὐλαβοῦντο γὰρ μήποτε τοσαύταις μυριάσιν οἱ Θρᾷκες ἐμβάλωσιν αὐτῶν εἰς τὴν χώραν, καὶ κινδυνεύσωσι ταῖς πατρίσι. τὸ δʼ αὐτὸ καὶ τῶν Χαλκιδέων ποιησάντων, Σιτάλκης πυθόμενος τοὺς Ἕλληνας ἁδρὰς δυνάμεις συνηθροικέναι καὶ τοὺς στρατιώτας ὑπὸ τοῦ χειμῶνος ἐνοχλουμένους ἐννοούμενος, πρὸς μὲν τὸν Περδίκκαν διαλυσάμενος ἐπιγαμίας ἐποιήσατο, τὰς δὲ δυνάμεις ἀπήγαγεν εἰς τὴν Θρᾴκην.
While Sitalces was engaged in these operations, the Thessalians, Achaeans, Magnesians, and all the other Greeks dwelling between Macedonia and Thermopylae took counsel together and united in raising a considerable army; for they were apprehensive lest the Thracians with all their myriads of soldiers should invade their territory and they themselves should be in peril of losing their native lands. Since the Chalcidians made the same preparations, Sitalces, having learned that the Greeks had mustered strong armies and realizing that his soldiers were suffering from the hardships of the winter, came to terms with Perdiccas, concluded a connection by marriage with him, and then led his forces back to Thrace.
§ 12.52
ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις Λακεδαιμόνιοι μὲν παραλαβόντες τοὺς ἐκ Πελοποννήσου συμμάχους εἰσέβαλον εἰς τὴν Ἀττικήν, ἔχοντος τὴν ἡγεμονίαν Ἀρχιδάμου τοῦ βασιλέως, τὸν δὲ σῖτον ἐν τῇ χλόῃ διέφθειραν, καὶ τὴν χώραν δῃώσαντες ἐπανῆλθον εἰς τὰς πατρίδας. οἱ δʼ Ἀθηναῖοι παρατάξασθαι μὲν οὐ τολμῶντες, ὑπὸ δὲ τῆς νόσου καὶ τῆς σιτοδείας πιεζόμενοι, κακὰς περὶ τοῦ μέλλοντος ἐλάμβανον ἐλπίδας. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἐπράχθη κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν ἐνιαυτόν.
While these events were taking place, the Lacedemonians, accompanied by their allies of the Peloponnesus, invaded Attica under the command of Archidamus their king, destroyed the grain, which was in its first growth, ravaged the countryside, and then returned home. The Athenians, since they did not dare meet the invaders in the field and were distressed because of the plague and the lack of provisions, had only bleak hopes for the future. These, then, were the events of this year.
§ 12.53
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησιν Εὐκλείδου Ῥωμαῖοι κατέστησαν ἀντὶ τῶν ὑπάτων χιλιάρχους τρεῖς, Μάρκον Μάνιον, Κόιντον Σουλπίκιον Πραιτέξτατον, Σερούιον Κορνήλιον Κόσσον. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων κατὰ τὴν Σικελίαν Λεοντῖνοι, Χαλκιδέων μὲν ὄντες ἄποικοι, συγγενεῖς δὲ Ἀθηναίων, ἔτυχον ὑπὸ Συρακοσίων πολεμούμενοι. πιεζόμενοι δὲ τῷ πολέμῳ, καὶ διὰ τὴν ὑπεροχὴν τῶν Συρακοσίων κινδυνεύοντες ἁλῶναι κατὰ κράτος, ἐξέπεμψαν πρέσβεις εἰς τὰς Ἀθήνας, ἀξιοῦντες τὸν δῆμον βοηθῆσαι τὴν ταχίστην καὶ τὴν πόλιν ἑαυτῶν ἐκ τῶν κινδύνων ῥύσασθαι. ἦν δὲ τῶν ἀπεσταλμένων ἀρχιπρεσβευτὴς Γοργίας ὁ ῥήτωρ, δεινότητι λόγου πολὺ προέχων πάντων τῶν καθʼ ἑαυτόν. οὗτος καὶ τέχνας ῥητορικὰς πρῶτος ἐξεῦρε καὶ κατὰ τὴν σοφιστείαν τοσοῦτο τοὺς ἄλλους ὑπερέβαλεν, ὥστε μισθὸν λαμβάνειν παρὰ τῶν μαθητῶν μνᾶς ἑκατόν. οὗτος οὖν καταντήσας εἰς τὰς Ἀθήνας καὶ παραχθεὶς εἰς τὸν δῆμον διελέχθη τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις περὶ τῆς συμμαχίας, καὶ τῷ ξενίζοντι τῆς λέξεως ἐξέπληξε τοὺς Ἀθηναίους ὄντας εὐφυεῖς καὶ φιλολόγους. πρῶτος γὰρ ἐχρήσατο τοῖς τῆς λέξεως σχηματισμοῖς περιττοτέροις καὶ τῇ φιλοτεχνίᾳ διαφέρουσιν, ἀντιθέτοις καὶ ἰσοκώλοις καὶ παρίσοις καὶ ὁμοιοτελεύτοις καί τισιν ἑτέροις τοιούτοις, ἃ τότε μὲν διὰ τὸ ξένον τῆς κατασκευῆς ἀποδοχῆς ἠξιοῦτο, νῦν δὲ περιεργίαν ἔχειν δοκεῖ καὶ φαίνεται καταγέλαστα πλεονάκις καὶ κατακόρως τιθέμενα. τέλος δὲ πείσας τοὺς Ἀθηναίους συμμαχῆσαι τοῖς Λεοντίνοις, οὗτος μὲν θαυμασθεὶς ἐν ταῖς Ἀθήναις ἐπὶ τέχνῃ ῥητορικῇ τὴν εἰς Λεοντίνους ἐπάνοδον ἐποιήσατο.
When Eucleides was archon in Athens, the Romans elected in place of consuls three military tribunes, Marcus Manius, Quintus Sulpicius Praetextatus, and Servius Cornelius Cossus. This year in Sicily the Leontines, who were colonists from Chalcis but also kinsmen of the Athenians, were attacked, as it happened, by the Syracusans. And being hard-pressed in the war and in danger of having their city taken by storm because of the superior power of the Syracusans, they dispatched ambassadors to Athens asking the Athenian people to send them immediate aid and save their city from the perils threatening it. The leader of the embassy was Gorgias the rhetorician, who in eloquence far surpassed all his contemporaries. He was the first man to devise rules of rhetoric and so far excelled all other men in the instruction offered by sophists that he received from his pupils a fee of one hundred minas. Now when Gorgias had arrived in Athens and been introduced to the people in assembly, he discoursed to them upon the subject of the alliance, and by the novelty of his speech he filled the Athenians, who are by nature clever and fond of dialectic, with wonder. For he was the first to use the rather unusual and carefully devised structures of space, such as antithesis, sentences with equal members or balanced clauses or similar endings, and the like, all of which at that time was enthusiastically received because the advice was exotic, but is now looked upon as laboured and to be ridiculed when employed too frequently and tediously. In the end he won the Athenians over to an alliance with the Leontines, and after having been admired in Athens for his rhetorical skill he made his return to Leontini.
§ 12.54
Ἀθηναῖοι δὲ καὶ πάλαι μὲν ἦσαν ἐπιθυμηταὶ τῆς Σικελίας διὰ τὴν ἀρετὴν τῆς χώρας, καὶ τότε δʼ ἀσμένως προσδεξάμενοι τοὺς τοῦ Γοργίου λόγους ἐψηφίσαντο συμμαχίαν ἐκπέμπειν τοῖς Λεοντίνοις, πρόφασιν μὲν φέροντες τὴν τῶν συγγενῶν χρείαν καὶ δέησιν, τῇ δʼ ἀληθείᾳ τὴν νῆσον σπεύδοντες κατακτήσασθαι. καὶ γὰρ οὐ πολλοῖς ἔτεσι πρότερον τῶν τε Κορινθίων καὶ τῶν Κερκυραίων διαπολεμούντων μὲν πρὸς ἀλλήλους, φιλοτιμηθέντων δʼ ἀμφοτέρων συμμάχους λαβεῖν τοὺς Ἀθηναίους, προέκρινεν ὁ δῆμος συμμαχεῖν τοῖς Κερκυραίοις διὰ τὸ τὴν Κέρκυραν εὐφυῶς κεῖσθαι πρὸς τὸν εἰς Σικελίαν πλοῦν. καθόλου γὰρ οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι κατακτησάμενοι τὴν τῆς θαλάττης ἡγεμονίαν καὶ μεγάλας πράξεις ἐπιτελεσάμενοι συμμάχων τε πολλῶν εὐπόρουν καὶ δυνάμεις μεγίστας ἐκέκτηντο καὶ χρημάτων τε πλῆθος ἕτοιμον παρέλαβον, μετακομίσαντες ἐκ Δήλου τὰ κοινὰ χρήματα τῶν Ἑλλήνων, ὄντα πλείω τῶν μυρίων ταλάντων, ἡγεμόσι τε μεγάλοις καὶ διὰ στρατηγίαν δεδοκιμασμένοις ἐχρήσαντο, καὶ διὰ τούτων ἁπάντων ἤλπιζον καταπολεμήσειν μὲν τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους, πάσης δὲ τῆς Ἑλλάδος τὴν ἡγεμονίαν περιπεποιημένοι ἀνθέξεσθαι τῆς Σικελίας. διὰ ταύτας οὖν τὰς αἰτίας ψηφισάμενοι βοηθεῖν τοῖς Λεοντίνοις ἐξέπεμψαν εἰς τὴν Σικελίαν ναῦς εἴκοσι καὶ στρατηγοὺς Λάχητα καὶ Χαροιάδην. οὗτοι δὲ πλεύσαντες εἰς τὸ Ῥήγιον προσελάβοντο ναῦς εἴκοσι παρὰ τῶν Ῥηγίνων καὶ τῶν ἄλλων Χαλκιδέων ἀποίκων. ἐντεῦθεν δʼ ὁρμώμενοι τὸ μὲν πρῶτον τὰς Λιπαραίων νήσους κατέδραμον διὰ τὸ συμμαχεῖν τοὺς Λιπαραίους τοῖς Συρακοσίοις, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ἐπὶ Λοκροὺς πλεύσαντες καὶ πέντε νεῶν Λοκρίδων κυριεύσαντες, Μύλας φρούριον ἐπολιόρκησαν. ἐπιβοηθησάντων δὲ τῶν πλησιοχώρων Σικελιωτῶν τοῖς Μυλαίοις ἐγένετο μάχη, καθʼ ἣν Ἀθηναῖοι νικήσαντες ἀπέκτειναν μὲν πλείους τῶν χιλίων, ἐζώγρησαν δὲ οὐκ ἐλάττους τῶν ἑξακοσίων· εὐθὺς δὲ καὶ τὸ φρούριον ἐκπολιορκήσαντες κατέσχον. τούτων δὲ πραττομένων κατέπλευσαν νῆες τετταράκοντα, ἃς ἀπέστειλεν ὁ δῆμος, κρίνων γενναιότερον ἅπτεσθαι τοῦ πολέμου· ἡγεῖτο δʼ αὐτῶν Εὐρυμέδων καὶ Σοφοκλῆς. ἀθροισθεισῶν δὲ τῶν τριήρων εἰς ἕνα τόπον ἀξιόλογος ἤδη στόλος κατεσκεύαστο, συγκείμενος ἐκ τριήρων ὀγδοήκοντα. τοῦ δὲ πολέμου χρονίζοντος οἱ Λεοντῖνοι διαπρεσβευσάμενοι πρὸς τοὺς Συρακοσίους διελύθησαν. διόπερ αἱ μὲν τῶν Ἀθηναίων τριήρεις ἀπέπλευσαν εἰς τὴν οἰκείαν, οἱ δὲ Συρακόσιοι τοῖς Λεοντίνοις μεταδόντες τῆς πολιτείας ἅπαντας Συρακοσίους ἐποίησαν, καὶ τὴν πόλιν φρούριον ἀπέδειξαν τῶν Συρακοσίων. καὶ τὰ μὲν κατὰ τὴν Σικελίαν ἐν τούτοις ἦν.
For some time past the Athenians had been covetous of Sicily because of the fertility of its land, and so at the moment, gladly accepting the proposals of Gorgias, they voted to send an allied force to the Leontines, offering as their excuse the need and request of their kinsmen, whereas in fact they were eager to get possession of the island. And indeed not many years previously, when the Corinthians and Cercyraeans were at war with one another and both were bent upon getting the Athenians allies, the popular Assembly chose the alliance with the Cercyraeans for the reason that Cercyra was advantageously situated on the sea route to Sicily. For, speaking generally, the Athenians, having won the supremacy of the sea and accomplished great deeds, not only enjoyed the aid of many allies and possessed powerful armaments, but also had taken over a great sum of ready money, since they had transferred from Delos to Athens the funds of the confederacy of the Greeks, which amounted to more than ten thousand talents; they also enjoyed the services of great commanders who had stood the test of actual leadership; and by means of all these assets it was their hope not only to defeat the Lacedemonians but also, after they had won the supremacy over all Greece, to lay hands on Sicily. These, then, were the reasons why the Athenians voted to give aid to the Leontines, and they sent twenty ships to Sicily and as generals Laches and Charoeades. These sailed to Rhegium, where they added to their force twenty ships from the Rhegians and the other Chalcidian colonists. Making Rhegium their base they first of all overran the islands of the Liparaeans because they were allies of the Syracusans, and after this they sailed to Locri, where they captured five ships of the Locrians, and then laid siege to the stronghold of Mylae. When the neighbouring Sicilian Greeks came to the aid of the Mylaeans, a battle developed in which the Athenians were victorious, slaying more than a thousand men and taking prisoner not less than six hundred; and at once they captured and occupied the stronghold. While these events were taking place there arrived forty ships which the Athenian people had sent, deciding to push the war more vigorously; the commanders were Eurymedon and Sophocles. When all the triremes were gathered into one place, a fleet of considerable strength had been fitted out, consisting as it did of eighty triremes. But since the war was dragging on, the Leontines entered into negotiations with the Syracusans and came to terms with them. Consequently the Athenian triremes sailed back home, and the Syracusans, granting the Leontines the right of citizenship, made them all Syracusans and their city a stronghold of the Syracusans. Such were the affairs in Sicily at this time.
§ 12.55
κατὰ δὲ τὴν Ἑλλάδα Λέσβιοι μὲν ἀπέστησαν ἀπὸ τῶν Ἀθηναίων· ἐνεκάλουν γὰρ αὐτοῖς, ὅτι βουλομένων συνοικίζειν πάσας τὰς κατὰ τὴν Λέσβον πόλεις εἰς τὴν Μυτιληναίων πόλιν διεκώλυσαν. διὸ καὶ πρὸς Λακεδαιμονίους ἀποστείλαντες πρεσβευτὰς καὶ συμμαχίαν συνθέμενοι συνεβούλευον τοῖς Σπαρτιάταις ἀντέχεσθαι τῆς κατὰ θάλατταν ἡγεμονίας· πρὸς ταύτην δὲ τὴν ἐπιβολὴν ἐπηγγείλαντο πολλὰς τριήρεις εἰς τὸν πόλεμον παρέξεσθαι. ἀσμένως δὲ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων ὑπακουσάντων καὶ περὶ τὴν κατασκευὴν τῶν τριήρων γινομένων, Ἀθηναῖοι φθάσαντες αὐτῶν τὴν παρασκευὴν παραχρῆμα δύναμιν ἐξέπεμψαν εἰς τὴν Λέσβον, πληρώσαντες ναῦς τετταράκοντα καὶ στρατηγὸν προχειρισάμενοι Κλεινιππίδην. οὗτος δὲ προσλαβόμενος βοήθειαν παρὰ τῶν συμμάχων κατέπλευσεν εἰς Μυτιλήνην. γενομένης δὲ ναυμαχίας οἱ μὲν Μυτιληναῖοι λειφθέντες συνεκλείσθησαν εἰς πολιορκίαν, τῶν δὲ Λακεδαιμονίων ψηφισαμένων βοηθεῖν τοῖς Μυτιληναίοις καὶ παρασκευαζομένων στόλον ἀξιόλογον, ἔφθασαν Ἀθηναῖοι ναῦς ἄλλας σὺν ὁπλίταις χιλίοις ἀποστείλαντες εἰς Λέσβον. τούτων δʼ ἡγούμενος Πάχης ὁ Ἐπικλήρου καταντήσας εἰς τὴν Μυτιλήνην, καὶ τὴν προϋπάρχουσαν δύναμιν παραλαβών, περιετείχισε τὴν πόλιν καὶ συνεχεῖς προσβολὰς ἐποιεῖτο οὐ μόνον κατὰ γῆν, ἀλλὰ καὶ κατὰ θάλατταν. Λακεδαιμόνιοι δὲ ἐξαπέστειλαν εἰς τὴν Μυτιλήνην τριήρεις μὲν τετταράκοντα πέντε καὶ στρατηγὸν Ἀλκίδαν, εἰς δὲ τὴν Ἀττικὴν εἰσέβαλον μετὰ τῶν συμμάχων· ἐπελθόντες δὲ καὶ τοὺς παραλελειμμένους τόπους τῆς Ἀττικῆς καὶ δῃώσαντες τὴν χώραν ἐπανῆλθον εἰς τὴν οἰκείαν. Μυτιληναῖοι δὲ τῇ σιτοδείᾳ καὶ τῷ πολέμῳ πιεζόμενοι καὶ στασιάζοντες πρὸς ἀλλήλους, καθʼ ὁμολογίαν παρέδωκαν τὴν πόλιν τοῖς πολιορκοῦσιν. ἐν δὲ ταῖς Ἀθήναις τοῦ δήμου βουλευομένου πῶς χρὴ προσενέγκασθαι τοῖς Μυτιληναίοις, Κλέων ὁ δημαγωγός, ὠμὸς ὢν τὸν τρόπον καὶ βίαιος, παρώξυνε τὸν δῆμον, ἀποφαινόμενος δεῖν τοὺς Μυτιληναίους αὐτοὺς μὲν ἡβηδὸν ἅπαντας ἀποκτεῖναι, τέκνα δὲ καὶ γυναῖκας ἐξανδραποδίσασθαι. τέλος δὲ πεισθέντων τῶν Ἀθηναίων κατὰ τὴν γνώμην τε τοῦ Κλέωνος ψηφισαμένων, ἀπεστάλησαν εἰς τὴν Μυτιλήνην οἱ τὰ δοχθέντα τῷ δήμῳ δηλώσοντες τῷ στρατηγῷ. τοῦ δὲ Πάχητος ἀναγνόντος τὸ ψήφισμα ἦλθεν ἐναντίον τῷ προτέρῳ ἕτερον. ὁ δὲ Πάχης γνοὺς τὴν μετάνοιαν τῶν Ἀθηναίων ἐχάρη, καὶ τοὺς Μυτιληναίους συναγαγὼν εἰς ἐκκλησίαν ἀπέλυσε τῶν ἐγκλημάτων, ἅμα δὲ καὶ τῶν μεγίστων φόβων. Ἀθηναῖοι δὲ τῆς Μυτιλήνης τὰ τείχη περιελόντες τὴν Λέσβον ὅλην πλὴν τῆς Μηθυμναίων χώρας κατεκληρούχησαν. ἡ μὲν οὖν Λεσβίων ἀπόστασις ἀπʼ Ἀθηναίων τοιοῦτον ἔσχε τὸ τέλος.
In Greece the Lesbians revolted from the Athenians; for they harboured against them the complaint that, when they wished to merge all the cities of Lesbos with the city of the Mytilenaeans, the Athenians had prevented it. Consequently, after dispatching ambassadors to the Peloponnesians and concluding an alliance with them, they advised the Spartans to make an attempt to seize the supremacy at sea, and toward this design they promised to supply many triremes for the war. The Lacedemonians were glad to accept this offer, but while they were busied with the building of the triremes, the Athenians forestalled their completion by sending forthwith a force against Lesbos, having manned forty ships and chosen Cleinippides as their commander. He gathered reinforcements from the allies and put in at Mytilene. In a naval battle which followed the Mytilenaeans were defeated and enclosed within a siege of their city. Meanwhile the Lacedemonians had voted to send aid to the Mytilenaeans and were making ready a strong fleet, but the Athenians forestalled them by sending to Lesbos additional ships along with a thousand hoplites. Their commander, Paches the son of Epiclerus, upon arriving at Mytilene, took over the force already there, threw a wall about the city, and kept launching continuous assaults upon it not only by land but by sea as well. The Lacedemonians sent forty-five triremes to Mytilene under the command of Alcidas, and they also invaded Attica which they had passed by before, ravaged the countryside, and then returned home. And the Mytilenaeans, who were distressed by lack of food and the war and were also quarrelling among themselves, formally surrendered the city to the besiegers. While in Athens the people were deliberating on what action they should take against the Mytilenaeans, Cleon, the leader of the populace and a man of cruel and violent nature, spurred on the people, declaring that they should slay all the male Mytilenaeans from the youth upward and sell into slavery the children and women. In the end the Athenians were won over and voted as Cleon had proposed, and messengers were dispatched to Mytilene to make known to the general the measures decreed by the popular assembly. Even as Paches had finished reading the decree a second decree arrived, the opposite of the first. Paches was glad when he learned that the Athenians had changed their minds, and gathering the Mytilenaeans in assembly he declared them free of the charges as well as of the greatest fears. The Athenians pulled down the walls of Mytilene and portioned out in allotments the entire island of Lesbos with the exception of the territory of the Methymnaeans. Such, then, was the end of the revolt of the Lesbians from the Athenians.
§ 12.56
περὶ δὲ τοὺς αὐτοὺς χρόνους Λακεδαιμόνιοι τὰς Πλαταιὰς πολιορκοῦντες περιετείχισαν τὴν πόλιν καὶ στρατιώταις πολλοῖς παρεφύλαττον. χρονιζούσης δὲ τῆς πολιορκίας καὶ τῶν Ἀθηναίων μηδεμίαν ἐξαποστελλόντων βοήθειαν, οἱ πολιορκούμενοι σιτοδείᾳ τε συνείχοντο καὶ τῶν πολιτῶν ἐν ταῖς προσβολαῖς πολλοὺς ἀπεβεβλήκεσαν. ἀπορουμένων δʼ αὐτῶν καὶ βουλευομένων περὶ τῆς σωτηρίας, τοῖς μὲν πολλοῖς ἐδόκει τὴν ἡσυχίαν ἄγειν, τοῖς δʼ ἄλλοις ὡς διακοσίοις οὖσιν ἔδοξε νυκτὸς βιάσασθαι τοὺς φύλακας καὶ διεκπεσεῖν εἰς τὰς Ἀθήνας. τηρήσαντες οὖν ἀσέληνον νύκτα τοὺς μὲν ἄλλους ἔπεισαν εἰς θάτερα μέρη προσβάλλειν τῷ περιτειχίσματι, αὐτοὶ δʼ ἑτοιμασάμενοι κλίμακας, καὶ τῶν πολεμίων παραβοηθούντων ἐν τοῖς ἀπεστραμμένοις μέρεσι τῶν τειχῶν, αὐτοὶ διὰ τῶν κλιμάκων ἔτυχον ἀναβάντες ἐπὶ τὸ τεῖχος, καὶ τοὺς φύλακας ἀποκτείναντες διέφυγον εἰς τὰς Ἀθήνας. τῇ δʼ ὑστεραίᾳ Λακεδαιμόνιοι μὲν παροξυνθέντες ἐπὶ τῷ δρασμῷ τῶν ἀπεληλυθότων ἐκ τῆς πόλεως, προσέβαλον τῇ πόλει τῶν Πλαταιέων καὶ πᾶσαν εἰσεφέροντο σπουδὴν βίᾳ χειρώσασθαι τοὺς πολιορκουμένους· οἱ δὲ Πλαταιεῖς καταπλαγέντες καὶ διαπρεσβευσάμενοι παρέδωκαν ἑαυτούς τε καὶ τὴν πόλιν τοῖς πολεμίοις. οἱ δʼ ἡγεμόνες τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων καθʼ ἕνα τῶν Πλαταιέων προσκαλούμενοι ἐπηρώτων τί ἀγαθὸν πεποίηκε τοῖς Λακεδαιμονίοις, ἑκάστου δὲ ὁμολογοῦντος μηδὲν εὐηργετηκέναι, πάλιν ἐπηρώτων εἴ τι κακὸν ἔδρασαν τοὺς Σπαρτιάτας· οὐδενὸς δʼ ἀντιλέγοντος, πάντων κατέγνωσαν θάνατον. διὸ καὶ τοὺς ἐγκαταλειφθέντας ἅπαντας ἀνεῖλον καὶ κατασκάψαντες ἐμίσθωσαν τὴν χώραν αὐτῶν. Πλαταιεῖς μὲν οὖν τὴν πρὸς Ἀθηναίους συμμαχίαν βεβαιοτάτην τηρήσαντες ἀδίκως ταῖς μεγίσταις συμφοραῖς περιέπεσον.
About the same time the Lacedemonians who were besieging Plataea threw a wall about the city and kept a guard over it of many soldiers. And as the siege dragged on and the Athenians still sent them no help, the besieged not only were suffering from lack of food but had also lost many of their fellow citizens in the assaults. While they were thus at a loss and were conferring together how they could be saved, the majority were of the opinion that they should make no move, but the rest, some two hundred in number, decided to force a passage through the guards by night and make their way to Athens. And so, on a moonless night for which they had waited, they persuaded the rest of the Plataeans to make an assault upon one side of the encircling wall; they themselves then made ready ladders, and when the enemy rushed to defend the opposite parts of the walls, they managed by means of the ladders to get up on the wall, and after slaying the guards they made their escape to Athens. The next day the Lacedemonians, provoked at the flight of the men who had got away from the city, made an assault upon the city of the Plataeans and strained every nerve to subdue the besieged by storm; and the Plataeans in dismay sent envoys to the enemy and surrendered to them both themselves and the city. The commanders of the Lacedemonians, summoning the Plataeans one by one, asked what good deed he had ever performed for the Lacedemonians, and when each confessed that he had done them no good turn, they asked further if he had ever done the Spartans any harm; and when not a man could deny that he had, they condemned all of them to death. Consequently they slew all who still remained, razed the city to the ground, and farmed out its territory. So the Plataeans, who had maintained with the greatest constancy their alliance with the Athenians, fell unjust victims to the most tragic fate.
§ 12.57
ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις ἐν τῇ Κερκύρᾳ μεγάλη συνέστη στάσις καὶ φιλοτιμία διὰ τοιαύτας αἰτίας. ἐν τῷ περὶ Ἐπίδαμνον πολέμῳ πολλοὶ Κερκυραίων αἰχμάλωτοι γενόμενοι καὶ καταβληθέντες εἰς τὴν δημοσίαν φυλακὴν ἐπηγγείλαντο τοῖς Κορινθίοις παραδώσειν τὴν Κέρκυραν, ἐὰν αὐτοὺς ἀπολύσωσιν. ἀσμένως δὲ τῶν Κορινθίων προσδεξαμένων τοὺς λόγους, οἱ Κερκυραῖοι προσποιηθέντες λύτρα διδόναι διηγγυήθησαν ὑπὸ τῶν προξένων ἱκανῶν τινων ταλάντων ἀφεθέντες. καὶ τηροῦντες τὴν τῶν ὡμολογημένων πίστιν, ὡς κατήντησαν εἰς τὴν πατρίδα, τοὺς δημαγωγεῖν εἰωθότας καὶ μάλιστα τοῦ πλήθους προΐστασθαι συλλαβόντες ἀπέσφαξαν. καταλύσαντες δὲ τὴν δημοκρατίαν, μετʼ ὀλίγον χρόνον Ἀθηναίων βοηθησάντων τῷ δήμῳ, οἱ μὲν Κερκυραῖοι τὴν ἐλευθερίαν ἀνακτησάμενοι κολάζειν ἐπεβάλοντο τοὺς τὴν ἐπανάστασιν πεποιημένους· οὗτοι δὲ φοβηθέντες τὴν τιμωρίαν κατέφυγον ἐπὶ τοὺς τῶν θεῶν βωμοὺς καὶ ἱκέται τοῦ δήμου καὶ τῶν θεῶν ἐγένοντο. οἱ δὲ Κερκυραῖοι διὰ τὴν πρὸς θεοὺς εὐσέβειαν τῆς μὲν τιμωρίας αὐτοὺς ἀπέλυσαν, ἐκ τῆς πόλεως δὲ ἐξέπεμψαν. οὗτοι δὲ πάλιν νεωτερίζειν ἐπιβαλόμενοι καὶ τειχίσαντες ἐν τῇ νήσῳ χωρίον ὀχυρὸν ἐκακοποίουν τοὺς Κερκυραίους. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἐπράχθη κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν ἐνιαυτόν.
While these events were taking place, in Cercyra bitter civil strife and contentiousness arose for the feeling reasons. In the fighting about Epidamnus many Cercyraeans had been taken prisoner and cast into the state prison, and these men promised the Corinthians that, if the Corinthians set them free, they would hand Cercyra over to them. The Corinthians gladly agreed to the proposals, and the Cercyraeans, after going through the pretence of paying a ransom, were released on bail of a considerable sum of talents furnished by the proxeni. Faithful to their promises the Cercyraeans, as soon as they had returned to their native land, arrested and put to death the men who had always been popular leaders and had acted as champions of the people. They also put an end to the democracy; but when, a little after this time, the Athenians came to the help of the popular party, the Cercyraeans, who had now recovered their liberty, undertook to mete out punishment to the men responsible for the revolt against the established government. These, in fear of the usual punishment, fled for refuge to the altars of the gods and became suppliants of the people and of the gods. And the Cercyraeans, out of reverence for the gods, absolved them from that punishment but expelled them from the city. But these exiles, undertaking a second revolution, fortified a strong position on the island, and continued to harass the Cercyraeans. These, then, were the events of this year.
§ 12.58
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησιν Εὐθύνου Ῥωμαῖοι κατέστησαν ἀντὶ τῶν ὑπάτων χιλιάρχους τρεῖς, Μάρκον Φάβιον, Μάρκον Φαλίνιον, Λεύκιον Σερουίλιον. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Ἀθηναῖοι χρόνον τινὰ τῆς νόσου τῆς λοιμικῆς ἀνειμένοι πάλιν εἰς τὰς αὐτὰς συμφορὰς ἐνέπεσον· οὕτω γὰρ ὑπὸ τῆς νόσου διετέθησαν, ὥστε τῶν στρατιωτῶν ἀποβαλεῖν πεζοὺς μὲν ὑπὲρ τοὺς τετρακισχιλίους, ἱππεῖς δὲ τετρακοσίους, τῶν δʼ ἄλλων ἐλευθέρων τε καὶ δούλων ὑπὲρ τοὺς μυρίους. ἐπιζητούσης δὲ τῆς ἱστορίας τὴν τῆς περὶ τὴν νόσον δεινότητος αἰτίαν, ἀναγκαῖόν ἐστιν ἐκθέσθαι ταῦτα. προγεγενημένων ἐν τῷ χειμῶνι μεγάλων ὄμβρων συνέβη τὴν γῆν ἔνυδρον γενέσθαι, πολλοὺς δὲ καὶ τῶν κοίλων τόπων δεξαμένους πλῆθος ὕδατος λιμνάσαι καὶ σχεῖν στατὸν ὕδωρ παραπλησίως τοῖς ἑλώδεσι τῶν τόπων, θερμαινομένων δʼ ἐν τῷ θέρει τούτων καὶ σηπομένων συνίστασθαι παχείας καὶ δυσώδεις ἀτμίδας, ταύτας δʼ ἀναθυμιωμένας διαφθείρειν τὸν πλησίον ἀέρα· ὅπερ δὴ καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἑλῶν τῶν νοσώδη διάθεσιν ἐχόντων ὁρᾶται γινόμενον. συνεβάλετο δὲ πρὸς τὴν νόσον καὶ ἡ τῆς προσφερομένης τροφῆς κακία· ἐγένοντο γὰρ οἱ καρποὶ κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν ἐνιαυτὸν ἔνυγροι παντελῶς καὶ διεφθαρμένην ἔχοντες τὴν φύσιν. τρίτην δὲ αἰτίαν συνέβη γενέσθαι τῆς νόσου τὸ μὴ πνεῦσαι τοὺς ἐτησίας, διʼ ὧν ἀεὶ κατὰ τὸ θέρος ψύχεται τὸ πολὺ τοῦ καύματος· τῆς δὲ θερμασίας ἐπίτασιν λαβούσης καὶ τοῦ ἀέρος ἐμπύρου γενομένου, τὰ σώματα τῶν ἀνθρώπων μηδεμιᾶς ψύξεως γενομένης λυμαίνεσθαι συνέβαινε. διὸ καὶ τὰ νοσήματα τότε πάντα καυματώδη συνέβαινεν εἶναι διὰ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῆς θερμασίας. διὰ δὲ ταύτην τὴν αἰτίαν οἱ πλεῖστοι τῶν νοσούντων ἔρριπτον ἑαυτοὺς εἰς τὰ φρέατα καὶ τὰς κρήνας, ἐπιθυμοῦντες αὐτῶν καταψύξαι τὰ σώματα. οἱ δʼ Ἀθηναῖοι διὰ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῆς νόσου τὰς αἰτίας τῆς συμφορᾶς ἐπὶ τὸ θεῖον ἀνέπεμπον. διὸ καὶ κατά τινα χρησμὸν ἐκάθηραν τὴν νῆσον Δῆλον, Ἀπόλλωνος μὲν οὖσαν ἱεράν, δοκοῦσαν δὲ μεμιάνθαι διὰ τὸ τοὺς τετελευτηκότας ἐν αὐτῇ τεθάφθαι. ἀνασκάψαντες οὖν ἁπάσας τὰς ἐν τῇ Δήλῳ θήκας μετήνεγκαν εἰς τὴν Ῥήνειαν καλουμένην νῆσον, πλησίον ὑπάρχουσαν τῆς Δήλου. ἔταξαν δὲ καὶ νόμον μήτε τίκτειν ἐν τῇ Δήλῳ μήτε θάπτειν. ἐποίησαν δὲ καὶ πανήγυριν τὴν τῶν Δηλίων, γεγενημένην μὲν πρότερον, διαλιποῦσαν δὲ πολὺν χρόνον.
When Euthynes was archon in Athens, the Romans elected in place of consuls three military tribunes, Marcus Fabius, Marcus Falinius, and Lucius Servilius. In this year the Athenians, who had enjoyed a period of relief from the plague, became involved again in the same misfortunes; for they were so seriously attacked by the disease that of their soldiers they lost more than four thousand infantry and four hundred cavalry, and of the rest of the population, both free and slave, more than ten thousand. And since history seeks to ascertain the cause of the malignancy of this disease, it is our duty to explain these matters. As a result of heavy rains in the previous winter the ground had become soaked with water, and many low-lying regions, having received a vast amount of water, turned into shallow pools and held stagnant water, very much as marshy regions do; and when these waters became warm in the summer and grew putrid, thick foul vapours were formed, which, rising up in fumes, corrupted the surrounding air, the very thing which may be seen taking place in marshy grounds which are by nature pestilential. Contributing also to the disease was the bad character of the food available; for the crops which were raised that year were altogether watery and their natural quality was corrupted. And a third cause of the disease proved to be the failure of the etesian winds to blow, by with normally most of the heat in summer is cooled; and when the heat intensified and the air grew fiery, the bodies of the inhabitants, being without anything to cool them, wasted away. Consequently all the illnesses which prevailed at that time were found to be accompanied by fever, the cause of which was the excessive heat. And this was the reason why most of the sick threw themselves into the cisterns and springs in their craving to cool their bodies. The Athenians, however, because the disease was so severe, ascribed the causes of their misfortune to the deity. Consequently, acting upon the command of a certain oracle, they purified the island of Delos, which was sacred to Apollo and had been defiled, as men thought, by the burial there of the dead. Digging up, therefore, all the graves on Delos, they transferred the remains to the island of Rheneia, as it is called, which lies near Delos. They also passed a law that neither birth nor burial should be allowed on Delos. And they also celebrated the festival assembly, the Delia, which had been held in former days but had not been observed for a long time.
§ 12.59
τῶν δʼ Ἀθηναίων περὶ ταῦτʼ ἀσχολουμένων Λακεδαιμόνιοι τοὺς Πελοποννησίους παραλαβόντες κατεστρατοπέδευσαν περὶ τὸν ἰσθμόν, διανοούμενοι πάλιν εἰς τὴν Ἀττικὴν εἰσβαλεῖν· σεισμῶν δὲ μεγάλων γινομένων δεισιδαιμονήσαντες ἀνέκαμψαν εἰς τὰς πατρίδας. τηλικούτους δὲ τοὺς σεισμοὺς συνέβη γενέσθαι κατὰ πολλὰ μέρη τῆς Ἑλλάδος, ὥστε καὶ πόλεις τινὰς ἐπιθαλαττίους ἐπικλύσασαν τὴν θάλατταν διαφθεῖραι, καὶ κατὰ τὴν Λοκρίδα χερρονήσου καθεστώσης ῥῆξαι μὲν τὸν ἰσθμόν, ποιῆσαι δὲ νῆσον τὴν ὀνομαζομένην Ἀταλάντην. ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις Λακεδαιμόνιοι τὴν Τραχῖνα καλουμένην ᾤκισαν καὶ μετωνόμασαν Ἡράκλειαν διὰ τοιαύτας τινὰς αἰτίας. Τραχίνιοι πρὸς Οἰταίους ὁμόρους ὄντας ἔτη πολλὰ διεπολέμουν καὶ τοὺς πλείους τῶν πολιτῶν ἀπέβαλον. ἐρήμου δʼ οὔσης τῆς πόλεως ἠξίωσαν Λακεδαιμονίους ὄντας ἀποίκους ἐπιμεληθῆναι τῆς πόλεως. οἱ δὲ καὶ διὰ τὴν συγγένειαν καὶ διὰ τὸ τὸν Ἡρακλέα, πρόγονον ἑαυτῶν ὄντα, ἐγκατῳκηκέναι κατὰ τοὺς ἀρχαίους χρόνους ἐν τῇ Τραχῖνι, ἔγνωσαν μεγάλην αὐτὴν ποιῆσαι πόλιν. διὸ καὶ Λακεδαιμονίων μὲν καὶ τῶν Πελοποννησίων τετρακισχιλίους οἰκήτορας ἐκπεμψάντων, καὶ παρὰ τῶν ἄλλων Ἑλλήνων τοὺς βουλομένους μετέχειν τῆς ἀποικίας προσεδέξαντο· οὗτοι δʼ ἦσαν οὐκ ἐλάττους τῶν ἑξακισχιλίων. διὸ καὶ τὴν Τραχῖνα μυρίανδρον ποιήσαντες, καὶ τὴν χώραν κατακληρουχήσαντες, ὠνόμασαν τὴν πόλιν Ἡράκλειαν.
While the Athenians were busied with these matters, the Lacedemonians, taking with them the Peloponnesians, pitched camp at the Isthmus with the intention of invading Attica again; but when great earthquakes took place, they were filled with superstitious fear and returned to their native lands. And so severe in fact were the shocks in many parts of Greece that the sea actually swept away and destroyed some cities lying on the coast, while in Locris the strip of land forming a peninsula was torn through and the island known as Atalante was formed. While these events were taking place, the Lacedemonians colonized Trachis, as it was called, and renamed it Heracleia, for the following reasons. The Trachinians had been at war with the neighbouring Oetaeans for many years and had lost the larger number of their citizens. Since the city was deserted, they thought it proper that the Lacedemonians, who were colonists from Trachis, should assume the care of it. And the Lacedemonians, both because of their kinship and because Heracles, their ancestor, in ancient times had made his home in Trachis, decided to make it a great city. Consequently the Lacedemonians and the Peloponnesians sent forth four thousand colonists and accepted any other Greeks who wished to have a part in the colony; the latter numbered not less than six thousand. The result was that they made Trachis a city of ten thousand inhabitants, and after portioning out the territory in allotments they named the city Heracleia.
§ 12.60
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησι Στρατοκλέους ἐν Ῥώμῃ ἀντὶ τῶν ὑπάντων χιλίαρχοι τρεῖς κατεστάθησαν, Λεύκιος Φούριος, Σπόριος Πινάριος καὶ Γάιος Μέτελλος. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Ἀθηναῖοι μὲν Δημοσθένη προχειρισάμενοι στρατηγὸν μετὰ νεῶν τριάκοντα καὶ στρατιωτῶν ἱκανῶν ἐξαπέστειλαν. οὗτος δὲ προσλαβόμενος παρὰ τῶν Κερκυραίων τριήρεις πεντεκαίδεκα καὶ παρὰ τῶν Κεφαλλήνων καὶ Ἀκαρνάνων καὶ Μεσσηνίων τῶν ἐν Ναυπάκτῳ στρατιώτας ἔπλευσεν ἐπὶ τὴν Λευκάδα. δῃώσας δὲ τὴν χώραν τῶν Λευκαδίων ἀπέπλευσεν ἐπὶ τὴν Αἰτωλίαν καὶ πολλὰς αὐτῶν κώμας ἐπόρθησε. τῶν δὲ Αἰτωλῶν συστραφέντων ἐπʼ αὐτὸν ἐγένετο μάχη, καθʼ ἣν Ἀθηναῖοι λειφθέντες εἰς Ναύπακτον ἀπεχώρησαν. οἱ δὲ Αἰτωλοὶ διὰ τὴν νίκην ἐπαρθέντες, καὶ προσλαβόμενοι Λακεδαιμονίων τρισχιλίους στρατιώτας, στρατεύσαντες ἐπὶ Ναύπακτον, κατοικούντων ἐν αὐτῇ τότε Μεσσηνίων, ἀπεκρούσθησαν. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα στρατεύσαντες ἐπὶ τὴν ὀνομαζομένην Μολυκρίαν εἷλον τὴν πόλιν. ὁ δὲ τῶν Ἀθηναίων στρατηγὸς Δημοσθένης εὐλαβούμενος μὴ καὶ τὴν Ναύπακτον ἐκπολιορκήσωσι, χιλίους ὁπλίτας ἐξ Ἀκαρνανίας μεταπεμψάμενος ἀπέστειλεν εἰς τὴν Ναύπακτον. Δημοσθένης δὲ περὶ τὴν Ἀκαρνανίαν διατρίβων περιέτυχεν Ἀμπρακιώταις χιλίοις στρατοπεδεύουσι, πρὸς οὓς συνάψας μάχην σχεδὸν πάντας ἀνεῖλε. τῶν δʼ ἐκ τῆς Ἀμπρακίας ἐπεξελθόντων πανδημεί, πάλιν ὁ Δημοσθένης τοὺς πλείους αὐτῶν ἀπέκτεινεν, ὥστε τὴν πόλιν σχεδὸν ἔρημον γενέσθαι. ὁ μὲν οὖν Δημοσθένης ᾤετο δεῖν ἐκπολιορκῆσαι τὴν Ἀμπρακίαν, ἐλπίζων διὰ τὴν ἐρημίαν τῶν ἀμυνομένων ῥᾳδίως αὐτὴν αἱρήσειν. οἱ δʼ Ἀκαρνᾶνες φοβούμενοι μὴ τῆς πόλεως Ἀθηναῖοι κυριεύσαντες βαρύτεροι πάροικοι γένωνται τῶν Ἀμπρακιωτῶν, οὐκ ἔφασαν ἀκολουθεῖν. στασιαζόντων δʼ αὐτῶν, οἱ μὲν Ἀκαρνᾶνες διαλυσάμενοι τοῖς Ἀμπρακιώταις συνέθεντο τὴν εἰρήνην εἰς ἔτη ἑκατόν, Δημοσθένης δʼ ἐγκαταλειφθεὶς ὑπὸ τῶν Ἀκαρνάνων ἀπέπλευσε σὺν ταῖς εἴκοσι ναυσὶν εἰς Ἀθήνας. Ἀμπρακιῶται δὲ μεγάλῃ συμφορᾷ περιπεπτωκότες παρὰ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων φρουρὰν μετεπέμψαντο, φοβούμενοι τοὺς Ἀθηναίους.
When Stratocles was archon in Athens, in Rome in place of consuls three military tribunes were elected, Lucius Furius, Spurius Pinarius, and Gaius Metellus. This year the Athenians chose Demosthenes general and sent him forth with thirty ships and an adequate body of soldiers. He added to his force fifteen ships from the Cercyraeans and soldiers from the Cephallenians, Acarnanians, and the Messenians in Naupactus, and then sailed to Leucas. After ravaging the territory of the Leucadians he sailed to Aetolia and plundered many of its villages. But the Aetolians rallied to oppose him and there was a battle in which the Athenians were defeated, whereupon they withdrew to Naupactus. The Aetolians, elated by their victory, after adding to their army three thousand Lacedemonian soldiers, marched upon Naupactus, which was inhabited at the time by Messenians, but were beaten off. After this they marched upon the city called Molycria and captured it. But the Athenian general, Demosthenes, being concerned lest the Aetolians should reduce by siege Naupactus also, summoned a thousand hoplites from Acarnania and sent them to Naupactus. And Demosthenes, while tarrying in Acarnania, fell in with a thousand Ambraciotes, who were encamped there, and joining battle with them he destroyed nearly the entire force. And when the men of Ambracia came out against him en masse, again Demosthenes slew the larger number of them, so that their city became almost uninhabited. Demosthenes then believed that he should take Ambracia by storm, hoping that he would have an easy conquest because the city had none to defend it. But the Acarnanians, fearing lest, if the Athenians became masters of the city, they should be harder neighbours to deal with than the Ambraciotes, refused to follow him. And since they were thus in disagreement, the Acarnanians came to terms with the Ambraciotes and concluded with them a peace of one hundred years, while Demosthenes, being left in the lurch by the Acarnanians, sailed back with his twenty ships to Athens. The Ambraciotes, who had experienced a great disaster, sent for a garrison of Lacedemonians, since they stood in fear of the Athenians.
§ 12.61
Δημοσθένης δὲ στρατεύσας ἐπὶ Πύλον ἐπεβάλετο τοῦτο τὸ χωρίον τειχίσαι κατὰ τῆς Πελοποννήσου· ἔστι γὰρ ὀχυρόν τε διαφερόντως καὶ κείμενον ἐν τῇ Μεσσηνίᾳ, τῆς δὲ Σπάρτης ἀπέχον σταδίους τετρακοσίους. ἔχων δὲ τότε καὶ ναῦς πολλὰς καὶ στρατιώτας ἱκανούς, ἐν εἴκοσιν ἡμέραις ἐτείχισε τὴν Πύλον. Λακεδαιμόνιοι δὲ πυθόμενοι τὸν τειχισμὸν τῆς Πύλου συνήγαγον δύναμιν ἀξιόλογον οὐ μόνον πεζήν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ναυτικήν. διὸ καὶ τριήρεσι μὲν ἐπὶ τὴν Πύλον ἔπλευσαν τετταράκοντα πέντε καλῶς κατεσκευασμέναις, πεζοῖς δὲ ἐστράτευσαν μυρίοις καὶ δισχιλίοις, αἰσχρὸν ἡγούμενοι τοὺς τῇ Ἀττικῇ δῃουμένῃ μὴ τολμήσαντας βοηθεῖν ἐν Πελοποννήσῳ χωρίον τειχίζειν καὶ καταλαμβάνεσθαι. οὗτοι μὲν οὖν ἡγουμένου Θρασυμήδους πλησίον τῆς Πύλου κατεστρατοπέδευσαν. ἐμπεσούσης δὲ ὁρμῆς τῷ πλήθει πάντα κίνδυνον ὑπομένειν καὶ βίᾳ χειρώσασθαι τὴν Πύλον, τὰς μὲν ναῦς ἀντιπρῴρους ἔστησαν τῷ στόματι τοῦ λιμένος, ὅπως διὰ τούτων ἐμφράξωσι τὸν εἴσπλουν τῶν πολεμίων, πεζῇ δʼ ἐκ διαδοχῆς προσβάλλοντες τῷ τείχει καὶ φιλοτιμίαν τὴν μεγίστην εἰσφερόμενοι θαυμασίους ἀγῶνας συνεστήσαντο. εἰς δὲ τὴν νῆσον τὴν καλουμένην Σφακτηρίαν, παρατεταμένην δʼ ἐπὶ μῆκος καὶ ποιοῦσαν εὔδιον τὸν λιμένα, διεβίβασαν τοὺς ἀρίστους τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων καὶ τῶν συμμάχων. τοῦτο δʼ ἔπραξαν φθάσαι βουλόμενοι τοὺς Ἀθηναίους προκαταλαβέσθαι τὴν νῆσον, εὐφυῶς σφόδρα κειμένην πρὸς τὴν πολιορκίαν. διημερεύοντες δʼ ἐν ταῖς τειχομαχίαις καὶ κατατιτρωσκόμενοι διὰ τὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ τείχους ὑπεροχὴν οὐκ ἔληγον τῆς βίας· διὸ πολλοὶ μὲν αὐτῶν ἀπέθνησκον, οὐκ ὀλίγοι δὲ κατετραυματίζοντο πρὸς τόπον ὠχυρωμένον βιαζόμενοι. οἱ δὲ Ἀθηναῖοι προκατειλημμένοι χωρίον καὶ φύσει καρτερόν, καὶ βελῶν τε πλήθη καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν χρησίμων πολλὴν ἔχοντες ἀφθονίαν, ἐκθύμως ἠμύνοντο· ἤλπιζον γὰρ κρατήσαντες τῆς ἐπιβολῆς πάντα τὸν πόλεμον περιαγαγεῖν εἰς τὴν Πελοπόννησον καὶ δῃώσειν ἀνὰ μέρος τὴν χώραν τῶν πολεμίων.
Demosthenes now led an expedition against Pylos, intending to fortify this stronghold as a threat to the Peloponnesus; for it is an exceptionally strong place, situated in Messenia and four hundred stades distant from Sparta. Since he had at the time both many ships and an adequate number of soldiers, in twenty days he threw a wall about Pylos. The Lacedemonians, when they learned that Pylos had been fortified, gathered together a large force, both infantry and ships. Consequently, when they set sail for Pylos, they not only had a fleet of forty-five fully equipped triremes but also marched with an army of twelve thousand soldiers; for they considered it to be a disgraceful thing that men who were not brave enough to defend Attica while it was being ravaged should fortify and hold a fortress in the Peloponnesus. Now these forces under the command of Thrasymedes pitched their camp in the neighbourhood of Pylos. And since the troops were seized by an eager desire to undergo any and every danger and to take Pylos by storm, the Lacedemonians stationed the ships with their prows facing the entrance to the harbour in order that they might use them for blocking the enemy's attempt to enter, and assaulting the walls with the infantry in successive waves and displaying all possible rivalry, they put up contests of amazing valour. Also to the island called Sphacteria, which extends lengthwise to the harbour and protects it from the winds, they transported the best troops of the Lacedemonians and their allies This they did in their desire to forestall the Athenians in getting control of the island before them, since its situation was especially advantageous to the prosecution of the siege. And though they were engaged every day in the fighting before the fortifications and were suffering wounds because of the superior height of the wall, they did not relax the violence of their fighting; as a consequence, many of them were slain and not a few were wounded as they pressed upon a position which had been fortified. The Athenians, who had secured beforehand a place which was also a natural stronghold and possessed large supplies of missiles and a great abundance of everything else they might need, kept defending their position with spirit; for they hoped that, if they were successful in their design, they could carry the whole war to the Peloponnesus and ravage, bit by bit, the territory of the enemy.
§ 12.62
τῆς δὲ πολιορκίας ἀνυπέρβλητον τὴν σπουδὴν ἐχούσης παρʼ ἀμφοτέροις, καὶ τῶν Σπαρτιατῶν βίαν προσαγόντων τοῖς τείχεσι, πολλοὶ μὲν ἄλλοι κατὰ τὰς ἀνδραγαθίας ἐθαυμάσθησαν, μεγίστης δὲ ἀποδοχῆς ἔτυχε Βρασίδας. τῶν γὰρ τριηράρχων οὐ τολμώντων προσαγαγεῖν τῇ γῇ τὰς τριήρεις διὰ τὴν χαλεπότητα τῶν τόπων, τριήραρχος ὢν ἐβόα καὶ παρεκελεύετο τῷ κυβερνήτῃ μὴ φείδεσθαι τοῦ σκάφους, ἀλλὰ καὶ βίᾳ προσάγειν τῇ γῇ τὴν τριήρη· αἰσχρὸν γὰρ εἶναι τοῖς Σπαρτιάταις τῆς μὲν ψυχῆς ἀφειδεῖν ἕνεκα τῆς νίκης, τῶν δὲ σκαφῶν φείδεσθαι καὶ περιορᾶν Ἀθηναίους κρατοῦντας τῆς Λακωνικῆς. τέλος δὲ συναναγκάσαντος τὸν κυβερνήτην προσαγαγεῖν τὴν ναῦν, ἡ μὲν τριήρης ἐπώκειλεν, ὁ δὲ Βρασίδας ἐπιβὰς ἐπὶ τὴν τῆς νεὼς ἐπιβάθραν ἐκ ταύτης ἠμύνατο τὸ πλῆθος τῶν ἐπʼ αὐτὸν συνδραμόντων Ἀθηναίων. καὶ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον τοὺς προσιόντας πολλοὺς ἀπέκτεινε, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα πολλῶν ἐπʼ αὐτὸν ἐπιφερομένων βελῶν πολλοῖς περιέπιπτεν ἐναντίοις τραύμασι. τέλος δὲ διὰ τῶν τραυμάτων αἵματος ἐκχυθέντος πολλοῦ, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο λιποψυχήσαντος αὐτοῦ, ὁ μὲν βραχίων προέπεσεν ἐκ τῆς νεώς, ἡ δʼ ἀσπὶς περιρρυεῖσα καὶ πεσοῦσα εἰς τὴν θάλατταν ὑποχείριος ἐγένετο τοῖς πολεμίοις. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα οὗτος μὲν πολλοὺς τῶν πολεμίων νεκροὺς σωρεύσας αὐτὸς ἡμιθανὴς ἐκ τῆς νεὼς ὑπὸ τῶν ἰδίων ἀπηνέχθη, τοσοῦτον τοὺς ἄλλους ὑπερβαλόμενος ἀνδρείᾳ, ὥστε τῶν ἄλλων τοὺς ἀποβαλόντας τὴν ἀσπίδα θανάτῳ κολάζεσθαι, τοῦτον δʼ ἐπὶ τῇ αὐτῇ αἰτίᾳ ἀπενέγκασθαι δόξαν. οἱ μὲν οὖν Λακεδαιμόνιοι συνεχεῖς προσβολὰς ποιούμενοι τῇ Πύλῳ, καὶ πολλοὺς ἀποβαλόντες στρατιώτας, ἔμενον καρτερῶς ἐν τοῖς δεινοῖς. θαυμάσαι δʼ ἄν τις τῆς τύχης τὸ παράδοξον καὶ τὴν ἰδιότητα τῆς τῶν περὶ τὴν Πύλον διαθέσεως. Ἀθηναῖοι μὲν γὰρ ἐκ τῆς Λακωνικῆς ἀμυνόμενοι τοὺς Σπαρτιάτας ἐκράτουν, Λακεδαιμόνιοι δὲ τὴν ἰδίαν χώραν πολεμίαν ἔχοντες ἐκ τῆς θαλάττης προσέβαλλον τοῖς πολεμίοις, καὶ τοῖς μὲν πεζῇ κρατοῦσι θαλαττοκρατεῖν συνέβαινε, τοῖς δὲ κατὰ θάλατταν πρωτεύουσι τῆς γῆς ἀπείργειν τοὺς πολεμίους.
Both sides displayed unsurpassable energy in the siege, and as for the Spartans in their assaults upon the walls, while many others were objects of wonder for their deeds of valour, the greatest acclaim was won by Brasidas. For when the captains of the triremes lacked the courage to bring the ships to land because of the rugged nature of the shore, he, being himself the commander of a trireme, called out in a loud voice to the pilot, ordering him not to spare the vessel but to drive the trireme at full speed to the land; for it would be disgraceful, he cried, for Spartans to be unsparing of their lives as they fought for victory, and yet to spare their vessels and to endure the sight of Athenians holding the soil of Laconia. And finally he succeeded in forcing the pilot to drive the ship forward and, when the trireme struck the shore, Brasidas, taking his stand on the gangway, fought off from there the multitude of Athenians who converged upon him. And at the outset he slew many as they came at him, but after a while, as numerous missiles assailed him, he suffered many wounds on the front of his body. In the end he suffered much loss of blood from the wounds, and as he lost consciousness his arm extended over the side of the ship and his shield, slipping off and falling into the sea, came into the hands of the enemy. After this Brasidas, who had built up a heap of many corpses of the enemy, was himself carried off half-dead from the ship by his men, having surpassed to such a degree all other men in bravery that, whereas in the case of all other men those who lose their shields are punished with death, he for that very reason won for himself glory. Now the Lacedemonians, although they kept making continuous assaults upon Pylos and had lost many soldiers, remained steadfast in the fierce struggles. And one may well be amazed at the strange perversity of Fortune and at the singular character of her ordering of what happened at Pylos. For the Athenians, defending themselves from a base on Laconian soil, were gaining the mastery over the Spartans, whereas the Lacedemonians, regarding their own soil as the enemy's, were assaulting the enemy from the sea as their base; and, as it happened, those who were masters of the land in this case controlled the see, and those who held first place on the sea were beating off an attack on land which they held.
§ 12.63
χρονιζούσης δὲ τῆς πολιορκίας, καὶ τῶν Ἀθηναίων ταῖς ναυσὶν ἐπικρατησάντων καὶ σῖτον εἰς τὴν γῆν εἰσκομίζειν κωλυόντων, ἐκινδύνευον οἱ κατειλημμένοι ἐν τῇ νήσῳ τῷ λιμῷ διαφθαρῆναι. διόπερ οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι φοβηθέντες περὶ τῶν ἀπειλημμένων ἐν τῷ νήσῳ, πρεσβείας ἀπέστειλαν εἰς τὰς Ἀθήνας περὶ τῆς καταλύσεως τοῦ πολέμου· οὐ συγκατατιθεμένων δʼ αὐτῶν ἠξίουν ἀλλαγὴν ποιήσασθαι τῶν ἀνδρῶν καὶ λαβεῖν τοὺς ἴσους τῶν Ἀθηναίων τῶν ἑαλωκότων· ἀλλʼ οὐδὲ τοῦτο συνεχώρησαν οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι. διόπερ οἱ πρέσβεις παρρησίαν ἤγαγον ἐν ταῖς Ἀθήναις ὡς ὁμολογοῦσι Λακεδαιμονίους κρείττους εἶναι, μὴ βουλόμενοι τὴν ἀντίδοσιν τῶν αἰχμαλώτων ποιήσασθαι. οἱ δʼ Ἀθηναῖοι τῇ σπάνει τῶν ἀναγκαίων καταπονήσαντες τοὺς ἐν τῇ Σφακτηρίᾳ παρέλαβον αὐτοὺς καθʼ ὁμολογίαν. ἦσαν δʼ οἱ παραδόντες αὑτοὺς Σπαρτιᾶται μὲν ἑκατὸν εἴκοσι, τῶν δὲ συμμάχων ἑκατὸν ὀγδοήκοντα. οὗτοι μὲν οὖν ὑπὸ Κλέωνος τοῦ δημαγωγοῦ στρατηγοῦντος τότε δεθέντες ἤχθησαν εἰς τὰς Ἀθήνας· ὁ δὲ δῆμος ἐψηφίσατο αὐτοὺς φυλάττειν, ἐὰν βούλωνται Λακεδαιμόνιοι λῦσαι τὸν πόλεμον, ἐὰν δὲ προκρίνωσι τὸ πολεμεῖν, τότε πάντας τοὺς αἰχμαλώτους ἀποκτεῖναι. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τῶν ἐν Ναυπάκτῳ κατῳκισμένων Μεσσηνίων μεταπεμψάμενοι τοὺς ἀρίστους καὶ τῶν ἄλλων συμμάχων τοὺς ἱκανοὺς προσθέντες, τούτοις παρέδωκαν τὴν Πύλον φρουρεῖν· ἐνόμιζον γὰρ τοὺς Μεσσηνίους διὰ τὸ πρὸς τοὺς Σπαρτιάτας μῖσος ἐκθυμότατα κακοποιήσειν τὴν Λακωνικήν, ὁρμωμένους ἐξ ὀχυροῦ χωρίου. καὶ τὰ μὲν κατὰ τὴν Πύλον ἐν τούτοις ἦν.
Since the siege dragged on and the Athenians, after their victory with their ships, were preventing the conveyance of food to the land, the soldiers caught on the island were in danger of death from starvation. Consequently the Lacedemonians, fearing for the men left on the island, sent an embassy to Athens to discuss the ending of the war. When no agreement was being reached, they asked for an exchange of men, the Athenians to get back and equal number of their soldiers now held prisoner; but not even to this would the Athenians agree. Whereupon the ambassadors spoke out frankly in Athens, that by their unwillingness to effect an exchange of prisoners the Athenians acknowledged that Lacedemonians were better men than they. 3 Meanwhile the Athenians wore down the bodily strength of the Spartans on Sphacteria through their lack of provisions and accepted their formal surrender. Of the men who gave themselves up have and twenty were Spartans and one hundred and eighty were of their allies. 4 These, then, were brought by Cleon the leader of the populace, since he held the office of general when this took place, in chains to Athens; and the people voted to keep them in custody in case the Lacedemonians should be willing to end the war, but to slay all the captives if they should decide to continue it. 5 After this they sent for select troops from the Messenians who had been settled in Naupactus, joined to them an adequate force from their other allies, and turned over to them the garrisoning of Pylos; for they believed that the Messenians, by reason of their hatred of the Spartans, would show the greatest zeal in harrying Laconia by forays, once they were operating from a strong position as their base. Such were the events about Pylos in this year.
§ 12.64
Ἀρταξέρξης δʼ ὁ τῶν Περσῶν βασιλεὺς ἐτελεύτησεν ἄρξας ἔτη τετταράκοντα, τὴν δʼ ἀρχὴν διαδεξάμενος Ξέρξης ἐβασίλευσεν ἐνιαυτόν. κατὰ δὲ τὴν Ἰταλίαν Αἴκλων ἀποστάντων ἀπὸ Ῥωμαίων κατὰ τὸν πόλεμον αὐτοκράτορα μὲν Αὖλον Ποστούμιον, ἵππαρχον δὲ Λεύκιον Ἰούλιον ἐποίησαν. οὗτοι δὲ μετὰ πολλῆς δυνάμεως ἀξιολόγου στρατεύσαντες εἰς τὴν τῶν ἀφεστηκότων χώραν τὸ μὲν πρῶτον τὰς κτήσεις ἐπόρθησαν, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Αἴκλων ἀντιταχθέντων ἐγένετο μάχη, καθʼ ἣν ἐνίκησαν οἱ Ῥωμαῖοι, καὶ πολλοὺς μὲν τῶν πολεμίων ἀνεῖλον, οὐκ ὀλίγους δʼ ἐζώγρησαν, λαφύρων δὲ πολλῶν ἐκυρίευσαν. μετὰ δὲ τὴν μάχην οἱ μὲν ἀφεστηκότες διὰ τὴν ἧτταν καταπεπληγμένοι τοῖς Ῥωμαίοις ὑπετάγησαν, ὁ δὲ Ποστούμιος δόξας καλῶς διῳκηκέναι τὰ κατὰ τὸν πόλεμον, κατήγαγε τὸν εἰωθότα θρίαμβον. ἴδιον δέ τι καὶ παντελῶς ἄπιστόν φασι πρᾶξαι τὸν Ποστούμιον· κατὰ γὰρ τὴν μάχην τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ διὰ τὴν προθυμίαν προεκπηδῆσαι τῆς ὑπὸ τοῦ πατρὸς δεδομένης τάξεως· τὸν δὲ πατέρα τηροῦντα τὸ πάτριον ἔθος τὸν υἱὸν ὡς λελοιπότα τὴν τάξιν ἀποκτεῖναι.
Artaxerxes, the king of the Persians, died after a reign of forty years, and Xerxes succeeded to the throne and ruled for a year. In Italy, when the Aequi revolted from the Romans, in the war which followed Aulus Postumius was made Dictator and Lucius Julius was named Master of the Horse. And the Romans, having marched against the territory of the rebels with a large and strong army, first of all plundered their possessions, and when the Aequi later drew up against them, a battle ensued in which the Romans were victorious, slaying many of the enemy, taking not a few captive, and capturing great quantities of by. After the battle the revolters, being broken in spirit because of the defeat, submitted themselves to the Romans, and Postumius, because he had conducted the war brilliantly, as the Romans thought, celebrated the customary triumph. And Postumius, we are told, did a peculiar thing and altogether unbelievable; for in the battle his own son in his eagerness leaped forward from the station assigned him by his father, and his father, preserving the ancient discipline, had his son executed as one who had left his station.
§ 12.65
τούτου δὲ τοῦ ἔτους διελθόντος Ἀθήνησι μὲν ἦν ἄρχων Ἴσαρχος, ἐν δὲ τῇ Ῥώμῃ καθειστήκεσαν ὕπατοι Τίτος Κοΐντιος καὶ Γάιος Ἰούλιος, παρὰ δὲ Ἠλείοις Ὀλυμπιὰς ἤχθη ἐνάτη καὶ ὀγδοηκοστή, καθʼ ἣν ἐνίκα στάδιον Σύμμαχος τὸ δεύτερον. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Ἀθηναῖοι στρατηγὸν καταστήσαντες Νικίαν τὸν Νικηράτου, καὶ παραδόντες αὐτῷ τριήρεις μὲν ἑξήκοντα, ὁπλίτας δὲ τρισχιλίους, προσέταξαν πορθῆσαι τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίων συμμάχους. οὗτος δʼ ἐπὶ πρώτην τὴν Μῆλον πλεύσας τήν τε χώραν ἐδῄωσε καὶ τὴν πόλιν ἐφʼ ἱκανὰς ἡμέρας ἐπολιόρκησεν· αὕτη γὰρ μόνη τῶν Κυκλάδων νήσων διεφύλαττε τὴν πρὸς Λακεδαιμονίους συμμαχίαν, ἄποικος οὖσα τῆς Σπάρτης. ὁ δὲ Νικίας, γενναίως ἀμυνομένων τῶν Μηλίων οὐ δυνάμενος ἑλεῖν τὴν πόλιν, ἀπέπλευσεν εἰς Ὠρωπὸν τῆς Βοιωτίας. ἐνταῦθα δὲ τὰς ναῦς ἀπολιπὼν παρῆλθεν εἰς τὴν τῶν Ταναγραίων χώραν μετὰ τῶν ὁπλιτῶν, καὶ κατέλαβεν ἐνταῦθα δύναμιν ἑτέραν Ἀθηναίων, ἧς ἐστρατήγει Ἱππόνικος ὁ Καλλίου. συνελθόντων δὲ εἰς ταὐτὸ τῶν στρατοπέδων ἀμφοτέρων, οὗτοι μὲν ἐπεπορεύοντο τὴν χώραν πορθοῦντες, τῶν δὲ Θηβαίων ἐκβοηθούντων συνάψαντες αὐτοῖς μάχην οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι καὶ πολλοὺς ἀνελόντες ἐνίκησαν. μετὰ δὲ τὴν μάχην οἱ μεθʼ Ἱππονίκου στρατιῶται τὴν εἰς Ἀθήνας ἐπάνοδον ἐποιήσαντο, Νικίας δὲ παρελθὼν ἐπὶ τὰς ναῦς παρέπλευσεν ἐπὶ τὴν Λοκρίδα, καὶ τὴν παραθαλάττιον χώραν πορθήσας προσελάβετο παρὰ τῶν συμμάχων τριήρεις τετταράκοντα, ὥστε τὰς πάσας ἔχειν αὐτὸν ναῦς ἑκατόν· καταλέξας δὲ καὶ πεζοὺς στρατιώτας οὐκ ὀλίγους, καὶ δύναμιν ἀξιόλογον συστησάμενος, ἔπλευσεν ἐπὶ τὴν Κόρινθον. ἀποβιβάσαντος δʼ αὐτοῦ τοὺς στρατιώτας, καὶ τῶν Κορινθίων ἀντιταχθέντων, οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι δυσὶ μάχαις ἐνίκησαν καὶ πολλοὺς τῶν πολεμίων ἀνελόντες τρόπαιον ἔστησαν. ἐτελεύτησαν δʼ ἐν τῇ μάχῃ τῶν Ἀθηναίων εἰς ὀκτώ, τῶν δὲ Κορινθίων πλείους τῶν τριακοσίων. ὁ δὲ Νικίας πλεύσας εἰς Κρομμυῶνα τήν τε χώραν ἐδῄωσε καὶ τὸ φρούριον ἐχειρώσατο. εὐθὺς δʼ ἐπαναζεύξας καὶ τειχίσας φρούριον ἐν τῇ Μεθώνῃ, φυλακὴν κατέλιπε τὴν τὸ χωρίον ἅμα φυλάξουσαν καὶ τὴν ἐγγὺς χώραν δῃώσουσαν· αὐτὸς δὲ τὴν παραθαλάττιον πορθήσας ἐπανῆλθεν εἰς τὰς Ἀθήνας. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ἐπὶ Κύθηρα ναῦς ἀπέστειλαν ἑξήκοντα καὶ δισχιλίους ὁπλίτας, ὧν εἶχε τὴν στρατηγίαν Νικίας μετʼ ἄλλων τινῶν. οὗτος δὲ στρατεύσας ἐπὶ τὴν νῆσον καὶ προσβολὰς ποιησάμενος παρέλαβε τὴν πόλιν καθʼ ὁμολογίαν. ἐν δὲ τῇ νήσῳ καταλιπὼν φρουρὰν ἐξέπλευσεν εἰς τὴν Πελοπόννησον καὶ τὴν παραθαλάττιον χώραν ἐδῄωσε. καὶ Θυρέας μὲν κειμένας ἐν τοῖς μεθορίοις τῆς Λακωνικῆς καὶ τῆς Ἀργείας ἐκπολιορκήσας ἐξηνδραποδίσατο καὶ κατέσκαψε, τοὺς δʼ ἐν αὐτῇ κατοικοῦντας Αἰγινήτας καὶ τὸν φρούραρχον Τάνταλον Σπαρτιάτην ζωγρήσας ἀπήγαγεν εἰς τὰς Ἀθήνας. οἱ δὲ Ἀθηναῖοι τὸν μὲν Τάνταλον δήσαντες ἐφύλαττον μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων αἰχμαλώτων καὶ τοὺς Αἰγινήτας.
At the close of the year, in Athens the archon was Isarchus and in Rome the consuls elected were Titus Quinctius and Gaius Julius, and among the Eleians the Eighty-ninth Olympiad was celebrated, that in which Symmachus won the "stadion" for the second time. This year the Athenians chose as general Nicias, the son of Niceratus, and assigning to him sixty triremes and three thousand hoplites, they ordered him to plunder the allies of the Lacedemonians. He sailed to Melos as the first place, where he ravaged their territory and for a number of days laid siege to the city; for it was the only island of the Cyclades which was maintaining its alliance with the Lacedemonians, being a Spartan colony. Nicias was unable to take the city, however, since the Melians defended themselves gallantly, and he then sailed to Oropus in Boeotia. Leaving his ships there, he advanced with his hoplites into the territory of the Tanagraeans, where he fell in with another Athenians force which was commanded by Hipponicus, the son of Callias. When the two armies had united, the generals pressed forward, plundering the land; and when the Thebans sallied forth to the rescue, the Athenians offered them battle, in which they inflicted heavy casualties and were victorious. After the battle the soldiers with Hipponicus made their way back to Athens, but Nicias, returning to his ships, sailed along the coast to Locris, and when he had laid waste the country on the coast, he added to his fleet forty triremes from the allies, so that he possessed in all one hundred ships. He also enrolled no small number of soldiers and gathered together a strong armament, whereupon he sailed against Corinth. There he disembarked the soldiers, and when the Corinthians drew up their forces against them, the Athenians gained the victory in two battles, slew many of the enemy, and set up a trophy. There perished in the fighting eight Athenians and more than three hundred Corinthians. Nicias then sailed to Crommyon, ravaged its territory, and seized its stronghold. Then he immediately removed from there and built a stronghold near Methone, in which he left a garrison for the twofold purpose of protecting the place and ravaging the neighbouring countryside; then Nicias plundered the coast and returned to Athens. After these events the Athenians sent sixty ships and two thousand hoplites to Cythera, the expedition being under the command of Nicias and certain other generals. Nicias attacked the island, hurled assaults upon the city, and received its formal surrender. And leaving a garrison behind on the island he sailed off to the Peloponnesus and ravaged the territory along the coast. And Thyreae, which lies on the border between Laconia and Argolis, he took by siege, making slaves of its inhabitants, and razed it to the ground; and the Aeginetans, who inhabited the city, together with the commander of the garrison, Tantalus the Spartan, he took captive and carried off to Athens. And the Athenians fettered Tantalus and kept him under guard together with the other prisoners, as well as the Aeginetans.
§ 12.66
ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις Μεγαρεῖς θλιβόμενοι τῷ πολέμῳ τῷ πρὸς τοὺς Ἀθηναίους καὶ τῷ πρὸς τοὺς φυγάδας· διαπρεσβευομένων δὲ πρὸς ἀλλήλους περὶ τούτων, τῶν πολιτῶν τινες ἀλλοτρίως ἔχοντες πρὸς τοὺς φυγάδας ἐπηγγείλαντο πρὸς τοὺς Ἀθηναίων στρατηγοὺς προδώσειν τὴν πόλιν. οἱ δὲ στρατηγοί, Ἱπποκράτης τε καὶ Δημοσθένης, συνθέμενοι περὶ τῆς προδοσίας, ἐξέπεμψαν νυκτὸς στρατιώτας ἑξακοσίους εἰς τὴν πόλιν, καὶ οἱ συνθέμενοι παρεδέξαντο τοὺς Ἀθηναίους ἐντὸς τειχῶν. καταφανοῦς δὲ τῆς προδοσίας γενομένης κατὰ τὴν πόλιν, καὶ τοῦ πλήθους σχιζομένου κατὰ τὴν αἵρεσιν, καὶ τῶν μὲν συμμαχούντων τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις, τῶν δὲ βοηθούντων τοῖς Λακεδαιμονίοις, ἐκήρυξέ τις ἀφʼ ἑαυτοῦ τοὺς βουλομένους τίθεσθαι τὰ ὅπλα μετὰ Ἀθηναίων καὶ Μεγαρέων. διόπερ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων ἐγκαταλείπεσθαι μελλόντων ὑπὸ τῶν Μεγαρέων, συνέβη τοὺς φρουροῦντας τὰ μακρὰ τείχη καταλιπεῖν, εἰς δὲ τὴν καλουμένην Νίσαιαν, ἥπερ ἐστὶν ἐπίνειον τῶν Μεγαρέων, καταφυγεῖν. περιταφρεύσαντες δὲ αὐτὴν οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι ἐπολιόρκουν· μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ἐκ τῶν Ἀθηνῶν τεχνίτας προσλαβόμενοι περιετείχισαν τὴν Νίσαιαν. οἱ δὲ Πελοποννήσιοι φοβούμενοι μὴ κατὰ κράτος ἁλόντες ἀναιρεθῶσι, παρέδοσαν τὴν Νίσαιαν τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις καθʼ ὁμολογίαν. καὶ τὰ μὲν κατὰ τοὺς Μεγαρέας ἐν τούτοις ἦν.
While these events were taking place the Megarians were finding themselves in distress because of the war with the Athenians on the one hand and with their exiles on the other hand. And while representatives were exchanging opinions regarding the exiles, certain citizens who were hostile to the exiles approached the Athenian generals with the offer to deliver the city to them. The generals, Hippocrates and Demosthenes, agreeing to this betrayal, sent by night six hundred soldiers to the city, and the conspirators admitted the Athenians within the walls. When the betrayal became known throughout the city and while the multitude were divided according to party, some being in favour of fighting on the side of the Athenians and others of aiding the Lacedemonians, a certain man, acting on his own initiative, made the proclamation that any who so wished could take up arms on the side of the Athenians and Megarians. Consequently, when the Lacedemonians were on the point of being left in the lurch by the Megarians, it so happened that the Lacedemonian garrison of the long walls abandoned them and sought safety in Nisaea, as it is called, which is the sea-port of the Megarians. The Athenians thereupon dug a ditch about Nisaea and put it under siege, and then, bringing skilled workmen from Athens, they threw a wall about it. And the Peloponnesians, fearing lest they should be taken by storm and put to death, surrendered Nisaea to the Athenians. Such, then, were the affairs of the Megarians at this time.
§ 12.67
Βρασίδας δὲ δύναμιν ἱκανὴν ἀναλαβὼν ἔκ τε Λακεδαίμονος καὶ παρὰ τῶν ἄλλων Πελοποννησίων ἀνέζευξεν ἐπὶ Μέγαρα. καταπληξάμενος δὲ τοὺς Ἀθηναίους, τούτους μὲν ἐξέβαλεν ἐκ τῆς Νισαίας, τὴν δὲ πόλιν τῶν Μεγαρέων ἐλευθερώσας ἀποκατέστησεν εἰς τὴν τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων συμμαχίαν· αὐτὸς δὲ μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως διὰ Θετταλίας τὴν πορείαν ποιησάμενος ἧκεν εἰς Δῖον τῆς Μακεδονίας. ἐκεῖθεν δὲ παρελθὼν εἰς Ἄκανθον συνεμάχησε τοῖς Χαλκιδεῦσι. καὶ πρώτην μὲν τὴν Ἀκανθίων πόλιν τὰ μὲν καταπληξάμενος, τὰ δὲ καὶ λόγοις φιλανθρώποις πείσας ἐποίησεν ἀποστῆναι τῶν Ἀθηναίων· ἔπειτα πολλοὺς καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν ἐπὶ Θρᾴκης κατοικούντων προετρέψατο κοινωνεῖν τῆς τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων συμμαχίας. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Βρασίδας βουλόμενος ἐνεργότερον ἅψασθαι τοῦ πολέμου, μετεπέμπετο στρατιώτας ἐκ τῆς Λακεδαίμονος, σπεύδων ἀξιόλογον συστήσασθαι δύναμιν· οἱ δὲ Σπαρτιᾶται βουλόμενοι τῶν Εἱλώτων τοὺς κρατίστους ἀπολέσθαι, πέμπουσιν ἐξ αὐτῶν τοὺς μάλιστα πεφρονηματισμένους χιλίους, νομίζοντες ἐν ταῖς μάχαις τοὺς πλείστους αὐτῶν κατακοπήσεσθαι. ἔπραξαν δέ τι καὶ ἄλλο βίαιον καὶ ὠμόν, διʼ οὗ ταπεινώσειν ὑπελάμβανον τοὺς Εἵλωτας· ἐκήρυξαν γὰρ ἀπογράφεσθαι τῶν Εἱλώτων τοὺς ἀγαθόν τι πεποιηκότας τῇ Σπάρτῃ, καὶ τούτους κρίναντες ἐλευθερώσειν ἐπηγγείλαντο· ἀπογραψαμένων δὲ δισχιλίων, τούτους μὲν προσέταξαν τοῖς κρατίστοις ἀποκτεῖναι κατʼ οἶκον ἑκάστου. σφόδρα γὰρ εὐλαβοῦντο μήποτε καιροῦ δραξάμενοι καὶ μετὰ τῶν πολεμίων ταχθέντες εἰς κίνδυνον ἀγάγωσι τὴν Σπάρτην. οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ τῷ Βρασίδᾳ παραγενομένων χιλίων Εἱλώτων, ἔκ τε συμμάχων στρατολογηθέντων συνέστη δύναμις ἀξιόχρεως.
Brasidas, taking an adequate force from Lacedemon and the other Peloponnesian states, advanced against Megara. And striking terror into the Athenians he expelled them from Nisaea, and then he set free the city of the Megarians and brought it back into the alliance of the Lacedemonians. After this he made his way with his army through Thessaly and came to Dium in Macedonia. From there he advanced against Acanthus and associated himself with the cause of the Chalcidians. The city of the Acanthians was the first which he brought, partly through fear and partly through kindly and persuasive arguments, to revolt from the Athenians; and afterwards he induced many also of the other peoples of Thrace to join the alliance of the Lacedemonians. After this Brasidas, wishing to prosecute the war more vigorously, proceeded to summon soldiers from Lacedemon, since he was eager to gather a strong army. And the Spartans, wishing to destroy the most influential among the Helots, sent him a thousand of the most highspirited Helots, thinking that the larger number of them would perish in the fighting. They also committed another violent and savage act whereby they thought to humble the pride of the Helots: They made public proclamation that any Helots who had rendered some good service to Sparta should give in their names, and promised that after passing upon their claims they would set them free; and when two thousand had given in their names, they then commanded the most influential citizens to slay these Helots, each in his own home. For they were deeply concerned lest the Helots should seize an opportune moment to line up with the enemy and bridge Sparta into peril. Nevertheless, since Brasidas had been joined by a thousand Helots and troops had been levied among the allies, a satisfactory force was assembled.
§ 12.68
διὸ καὶ θαρρήσας τῷ πλήθει τῶν στρατιωτῶν ἐστράτευσεν ἐπὶ τὴν καλουμένην Ἀμφίπολιν. ταύτην δὲ τὴν πόλιν πρότερον μὲν ἐπεχείρησεν οἰκίζειν Ἀρισταγόρας ὁ Μιλήσιος, φεύγων Δαρεῖον τὸν βασιλέα τῶν Περσῶν· ἐκείνου δὲ τελευτήσαντος, καὶ τῶν οἰκητόρων ἐκπεσόντων ὑπὸ Θρᾳκῶν τῶν ὀνομαζομένων Ἠδωνῶν, μετὰ ταῦτα ἔτεσι δυσὶ πρὸς τοῖς τριάκοντα Ἀθηναῖοι μυρίους οἰκήτορας εἰς αὐτὴν ἐξέπεμψαν. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τούτων ὑπὸ Θρᾳκῶν διαφθαρέντων περὶ Δράβησκον, διαλιπόντες ἔτη δύο πάλιν ἀνεκτήσαντο τὴν πόλιν Ἅγνωνος ἡγουμένου. περιμαχήτου δʼ αὐτῆς πολλάκις γεγενημένης, ἔσπευδεν ὁ Βρασίδας κύριος γενέσθαι τῆς πόλεως. διὸ καὶ στρατεύσας ἐπʼ αὐτὴν ἀξιολόγῳ δυνάμει, καὶ στρατοπεδεύσας πλησίον τῆς γεφύρας, τὸ μὲν πρῶτον εἷλε τὸ προάστειον τῆς πόλεως, τῇ δʼ ὑστεραίᾳ καταπληξάμενος τοὺς Ἀμφιπολίτας παρέλαβε τὴν πόλιν καθʼ ὁμολογίαν, ὥστʼ ἐξεῖναι τῷ βουλομένῳ τὰ ἑαυτοῦ λαβόντα ἀπελθεῖν ἐκ τῆς πόλεως. εὐθὺς δὲ καὶ τῶν πλησιοχώρων πόλεων πλείονας προσηγάγετο, ἐν αἷς ἦσαν ἀξιολογώταται Οἰσύμη καὶ Γαληψός, ἀμφότεραι Θασίων ἄποικοι, καὶ Μύρκινον, Ἠδωνικὸν πολισμάτιον. ἐπεβάλετο δὲ καὶ ναυπηγεῖσθαι τριήρεις πλείους ἐπὶ τῷ Στρυμόνι ποταμῷ, καὶ στρατιώτας ἔκ τε Λακεδαίμονος καὶ παρὰ τῶν ἄλλων συμμάχων μετεπέμπετο. κατεσκεύαζε δὲ καὶ πανοπλίας πολλάς, καὶ τοῖς ἀόπλοις τῶν νέων ἀνεδίδου ταύτας, καὶ βελῶν καὶ σίτου καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἁπάντων παρασκευὰς ἐποιεῖτο. ὡς δʼ αὐτῷ πάντα παρεσκεύαστο, ἀνέζευξεν ἐκ τῆς Ἀμφιπόλεως μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως, καὶ παραγενόμενος εἰς τὴν καλουμένην Ἀκτὴν κατεστρατοπέδευσεν. ἐν ταύτῃ δʼ ὑπῆρχον πέντε πόλεις, ὧν αἱ μὲν Ἑλληνίδες ἦσαν, Ἀνδρίων ἄποικοι, αἱ δὲ εἶχον ὄχλον βαρβάρων διγλώττων Βισαλτικόν. ταύτας δὲ χειρωσάμενος ἐστράτευσεν ἐπὶ πόλιν Τορώνην, ἄποικον μὲν Χαλκιδέων, κατεχομένην δὲ ὑπʼ Ἀθηναίων. προδιδόντων δέ τινων τὴν πόλιν, ὑπὸ τούτων εἰσαχθεὶς νυκτὸς ἐκράτησε τῆς Τορώνης ἄνευ κινδύνων. τὰ μὲν οὖν κατὰ τὸν Βρασίδαν μέχρι τούτου προέβη κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν ἐνιαυτόν.
Brasidas, confiding in the multitude of his soldiers, now advanced with his army against the city known as Amphipolis. This city Aristagoras of Miletus at an earlier time had undertaken to found as a colony, when he was fleeing from Darius, the king of the Persians; after his death the colonists were driven out by the Thracians who are called Edones, and thirty-two years after this event the Athenians dispatched ten thousand colonists to the place. In like manner these colonists also were utterly destroyed by Thracians at Drabescus, and two years later the Athenians again recovered the city, under the leadership of Hagnon. Since the city had been the object of many a battle, Brasidas was eager to master it. Consequently he set out against it with a strong force, and pitching his camp near the bridge, he first of all seized the suburb of the city and then on the next day, having struck terror into the Amphipolitans, he received the formal surrender of the city on the condition that anyone who so wished could take his property and leave the city. Immediately after this Brasidas brought over to his side a number of the neighbouring cities, the most important of which were Oesyme and Galepsus, both colonies of the Thasians, and also Myrcinus, a small Edonian city. He also set about building a number of triremes on the Strymon River and summoned soldiers from both Lacedemon and the rest of the allies. Also he had many complete suits of armour made, which he distributed among the young men who possessed no arms, and he gathered supplies of missiles and grain and everything else. And when all his preparations had been made, he set out from Amphipolis with his army and came to Acte, as it is called, where he pitched his camp. In this area there were five cities, of which some were Greek, being colonies from Andros, and the others had a populace of barbarians of Bisaltic origin, which were bilingual. After mastering these cities Brasidas led his army against the city of Torone, which was a colony of the Chalcidians but was held by Athenians. Since certain men were ready to betray the city, Brasidas was by night admitted by them and got Torone in his power without a fight. To such a height did the fortunes of Brasidas attain in the course of this year.
§ 12.69
ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις περὶ τὸ Δήλιον ἐγένετο παράταξις κατὰ τὴν Βοιωτίαν Ἀθηναίων πρὸς Βοιωτοὺς διὰ τοιαύτας τινὰς αἰτίας. τῶν Βοιωτῶν τινες δυσαρεστούμενοι τῇ τότε πολιτείᾳ καὶ σπεύδοντες δημοκρατίας ἐν ταῖς πόλεσι καταστῆσαι, διελέχθησαν περὶ τῆς ἰδίας προαιρέσεως τοῖς Ἀθηναίων στρατηγοῖς Ἱπποκράτει καὶ Δημοσθένει, καὶ κατεπηγγέλλοντο παραδώσειν τὰς ἐν τῇ Βοιωτίᾳ πόλεις. ἀσμένως δὲ τῶν Ἀθηναίων προσδεξαμένων, περί τε τῶν κατὰ τὴν ἐπίθεσιν διοικήσεων διελομένων τῶν στρατηγῶν τὴν δύναμιν, Δημοσθένης μὲν τὸ πλεῖστον τοῦ στρατεύματος ἀναλαβὼν ἐνέβαλεν εἰς τὴν Βοιωτίαν, καὶ καταλαβὼν τοὺς Βοιωτοὺς προνενοημένους τὴν προδοσίαν, ἄπρακτος ἀπῆλθεν, Ἱπποκράτης δὲ πανδημεὶ τοὺς Ἀθηναίους ἀγαγὼν ἐπὶ τὸ Δήλιον κατελάβετο τὸ χωρίον, καὶ φθάσας τὴν ἔφοδον τῶν Βοιωτῶν ἐτείχισε τὸ Δήλιον. τοῦτο δὲ τὸ χωρίον κεῖται μὲν πλησίον τῆς Ὠρωπίας καὶ τῶν ὅρων τῆς Βοιωτίας, Παγώνδας δʼ ὁ τῶν Βοιωτῶν ἔχων τὴν στρατηγίαν ἐξ ἁπασῶν τῶν κατὰ τὴν Βοιωτίαν πόλεων μεταπεμψάμενος στρατιώτας ἧκε πρὸς τὸ Δήλιον μετὰ πολλῆς δυνάμεως· εἶχε γὰρ στρατιώτας πεζοὺς μὲν οὐ πολὺ λείποντας τῶν δισμυρίων, ἱππεῖς δὲ περὶ χιλίους. οἱ δʼ Ἀθηναῖοι τῷ πλήθει μὲν ὑπερεῖχον τῶν Βοιωτῶν, ὡπλισμένοι δὲ οὐχ ὁμοίως τοῖς πολεμίοις· ἄφνω γὰρ καὶ συντόμως ἐξεληλύθεσαν ἐκ τῆς πόλεως, καὶ διὰ τὴν σπουδὴν ὑπῆρχον ἀπαράσκευοι.
While these events were happening, at Delium in Boeotia a pitched battle took place between the Athenians and the Boeotians for the following reasons. Certain Boeotians, who were restive under the form of government which obtained at the time and were eager to establish democracies in the cities, discussed their policy with the Athenian generals, Hippocrates and Demosthenes, and promised to deliver the cities of Boeotia into their hands. The Athenians gladly accepted this offer and, having in view the arrangements for the attack, the generals divided their forces: Demosthenes, taking the larger part of the army, invaded Boeotia, but finding the Boeotians already informed of the betrayal he withdrew without accomplishing anything; Hippocrates led the popular levy of the Athenians against Delium, seized the place, and threw a wall about it before the approach of the Boeotians. The town lies near the territory of Oropus and the boundary of Boeotia. Pagondas, who commanded the Boeotians, having summoned soldiers from all the cities of Boeotia, came to Delium with a great army, since he had little less than twenty thousand infantry and about a thousand cavalry. The Athenians, although superior to the Boeotians in number, were not so well equipped as the enemy; for they had left the city hurriedly and on short notice, and in such haste they were unprepared.
§ 12.70
ἀμφοτέρων δὲ προθύμως ὡρμημένων παρετάχθησαν αἱ δυνάμεις τόνδε τὸν τρόπον. παρὰ τοῖς Βοιωτοῖς ἐτάχθησαν ἐπὶ τὸ δεξιὸν κέρας Θηβαῖοι, ἐπὶ δὲ τὸ εὐώνυμον Ὀρχομένιοι, τὴν δὲ μέσην ἀνεπλήρουν φάλαγγα Βοιωτοί· προεμάχοντο δὲ πάντων οἱ παρʼ ἐκείνοις ἡνίοχοι καὶ παραβάται καλούμενοι, ἄνδρες ἐπίλεκτοι τριακόσιοι. Ἀθηναῖοι δὲ διατάττοντες ἔτι τὴν δύναμιν ἠναγκάσθησαν συνάψαι μάχην. γενομένης δὲ τῆς παρατάξεως ἰσχυρᾶς, τὸ μὲν πρῶτον οἱ τῶν Ἀθηναίων ἱππεῖς ἀγωνιζόμενοι λαμπρῶς ἠνάγκασαν φυγεῖν τοὺς ἀντιστάντας ἱππεῖς· μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τῶν πεζῶν διαγωνισαμένων οἱ ταχθέντες κατὰ τοὺς Θηβαίους Ἀθηναῖοι βιασθέντες ἐτράπησαν, οἱ δὲ λοιποὶ τοὺς ἄλλους Βοιωτοὺς τρεψάμενοι καὶ συχνοὺς ἀνελόντες ἐφʼ ἱκανὸν τόπον ἐδίωξαν. οἱ δὲ Θηβαῖοι, διαφέροντες ταῖς τῶν σωμάτων ῥώμαις, ἐπέστρεψαν ἀπὸ τοῦ διωγμοῦ, καὶ τοῖς διώκουσι τῶν Ἀθηναίων ἐπιπεσόντες φυγεῖν ἠνάγκασαν· ἐπιφανεῖ δὲ μάχῃ νικήσαντες μεγάλην ἀπηνέγκαντο δόξαν πρὸς ἀνδρείαν. τῶν δʼ Ἀθηναίων οἱ μὲν εἰς Ὠρωπόν, οἱ δὲ εἰς τὸ Δήλιον κατέφυγον, τινὲς δὲ πρὸς τὴν θάλατταν διέτειναν πρὸς τὰς ἰδίας ναῦς, ἄλλοι δὲ κατʼ ἄλλους ὡς ἔτυχε τόπους διεσπάρησαν. ἐπιγενομένης δὲ τῆς νυκτὸς ἔπεσον τῶν μὲν Βοιωτῶν οὐ πλείους τῶν πεντακοσίων, τῶν δʼ Ἀθηναίων πολλαπλάσιοι τούτων. εἰ μὲν οὖν ἡ νὺξ μὴ προκατέλαβεν, οἱ πλεῖστοι τῶν Ἀθηναίων ἂν ἐτελεύτησαν· αὕτη γὰρ μεσολαβήσασα τὰς τῶν διωκόντων ὁρμὰς διέσωσε τοὺς φεύγοντας. ὅμως δὲ τοσοῦτο πλῆθος τῶν ἀναιρεθέντων ἦν, ὥστε τοὺς Θηβαίους ἐκ τῆς τῶν λαφύρων τιμῆς τήν τε στοὰν τὴν μεγάλην ἐν ἀγορᾷ κατασκευάσαι καὶ χαλκοῖς ἀνδριᾶσι κοσμῆσαι, τοὺς δὲ ναοὺς καὶ τὰς κατὰ τὴν ἀγορὰν στοὰς τοῖς ὅπλοις τοῖς ἐκ τῶν σκύλων προσηλωθεῖσι καταχαλκῶσαι· τήν τε τῶν Δηλίων πανήγυριν ἀπὸ τούτων τῶν χρημάτων ἐνεστήσαντο ποιεῖν. μετὰ δὲ τὴν μάχην οἱ μὲν Βοιωτοὶ τῷ Δηλίῳ προσβολὰς ποιησάμενοι κατὰ κράτος εἷλον τὸ χωρίον· τῶν δὲ φρουρούντων τὸ Δήλιον οἱ πλείους μὲν μαχόμενοι γενναίως ἀπέθανον, διακόσιοι δὲ ἥλωσαν· οἱ δὲ λοιποὶ κατέφυγον εἰς τὰς ναῦς, καὶ διεκομίσθησαν μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων εἰς τὴν Ἀττικήν. Ἀθηναῖοι μὲν οὖν ἐπιβουλεύσαντες τοῖς Βοιωτοῖς τοιαύτῃ συμφορᾷ περιέπεσον.
Both armies advanced to the fray in high spirits and the forces were disposed in the following manner. On the Boeotian side, the Thebans were drawn up on the right wing, the Orchomenians on the left, and the centre of the line was made up of the other Boeotians; the first line of the whole army was formed of what they called "charioteers and footmen," a select group of three hundred. The Athenians were forced to engage the enemy while still marshalling their army. A fierce conflict ensued and at first the Athenian cavalry, fighting brilliantly, compelled the opposing cavalry to flee; but later, after the infantry had become engaged, the Athenians who were opposed to the Thebans were overpowered and put to flight, although the remaining Athenians overcame the other Boeotians, slew great numbers of them, and pursued them for some distance. But the Thebans, whose bodily strength was superior, turned back from the pursuit, and falling on the pursuing Athenians forced them to flee; and since they had won a conspicuous victory, they gained for themselves great fame for valour. Of the Athenians some fled for refuge to Oropus and others to Delium; certain of them made for the sea and the Athenian ships; still others scattered this way and that, as chance dictated. When night fell, the Boeotian dead were not in excess of five hundred, the Athenian many times that number. However, if night had not intervened, most of the Athenians would have perished, for it broke the drive of the pursuers and brought safety to those in flight. Even so the multitude of the slain was so great that from the proceeds of the booty the Thebans not only constructed the great colonnade in their market-place but also embellished it with bronze statues, and their temples and the colonnades in the market-place they covered with bronze by the armour from the booty which they nailed to them; furthermore, it was with this money that they instituted the festival called Delia. After the battle the Boeotians launched assaults upon Delium and took the place by storm; of the garrison of Delium the larger number died fighting gallantly and two hundred were taken prisoner; the rest fled for safety to the ships and were transported with the other refugees to Attica. Thus the Athenians, who devised a plot against the Boeotians, were involved in the disaster we have described.
§ 12.71
κατὰ δὲ τὴν Ἀσίαν Ξέρξης ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐτελεύτησεν ἄρξας ἐνιαυτόν, ὡς δʼ ἔνιοι γράφουσι, μῆνας δύο· τὴν δὲ βασιλείαν διαδεξάμενος ὁ ἀδελφὸς Σογδιανὸς ἦρξε μῆνας ἑπτά. τοῦτον δʼ ἀνελὼν Δαρεῖος ἐβασίλευσεν ἔτη δεκαεννέα. τῶν δὲ συγγραφέων Ἀντίοχος ὁ Συρακόσιος τὴν τῶν Σικελικῶν ἱστορίαν εἰς τοῦτον τὸν ἐνιαυτὸν κατέστρεψεν, ἀρξάμενος ἀπὸ Κωκάλου τοῦ Σικανῶν βασιλέως, ἐν βίβλοις ἐννέα.
In Asia King Xerxes died after a reign of one year, or, as some record, two months; and his brother Sogdianus succeeded to the throne and ruled for seven months. He was slain by Darius, who reigned nineteen years. Of the historians Antiochus of Syracuse concluded with this year his history of Sicily, which began with Cocalus, the king of the Sicani, and embraced nine Books.
§ 12.72
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησιν Ἀμεινίου Ῥωμαῖοι μὲν κατέστησαν ὑπάτους Γάιον Παπίριον καὶ Λεύκιον Ἰούνιον. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Σκιωναῖοι μὲν καταφρονήσαντες τῶν Ἀθηναίων διὰ τὴν περὶ τὸ Δήλιον ἧτταν, ἀπέστησαν πρὸς τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους καὶ τὴν πόλιν παρέδωκαν Βρασίδᾳ τῷ στρατηγοῦντι τῶν ἐπὶ Θρᾴκης Λακεδαιμονίων. ἐν δὲ τῇ Λέσβῳ μετὰ τὴν ἅλωσιν τῆς Μυτιλήνης ὑπʼ Ἀθηναίων οἱ πεφευγότες ἐκ τῆς ἁλώσεως πολλοὶ τὸν ἀριθμὸν ὄντες καὶ πάλαι μὲν ἐπεχείρουν κατελθεῖν εἰς τὴν Λέσβον, τότε δὲ συστραφέντες Ἄντανδρον κατέλαβον, κἀκεῖθεν ὁρμώμενοι διεπολέμουν τοῖς κατέχουσι τὴν Μυτιλήνην Ἀθηναίοις. ἐφʼ οἷς παροξυνθεὶς ὁ δῆμος τῶν Ἀθηναίων ἐξέπεμψε στρατηγοὺς μετὰ δυνάμεως ἐπʼ αὐτοὺς Ἀριστείδην καὶ Σύμμαχον. οὗτοι δὲ καταπλεύσαντες εἰς τὴν Λέσβον καὶ προσβολὰς ποιησάμενοι συνεχεῖς εἷλον τὴν Ἄντανδρον, καὶ τῶν φυγάδων τοὺς μὲν ἀπέκτειναν, τοὺς δʼ ἐκ τῆς πόλεως ἐξέβαλον, αὐτοὶ δὲ φρουρὰν ἀπολιπόντες τὴν φυλάξουσαν τὸ χωρίον ἀπέπλευσαν ἐκ τῆς Λέσβου. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Λάμαχος ὁ στρατηγὸς ἔχων δέκα τριήρεις ἔπλευσεν εἰς τὸν Πόντον, καὶ καθορμισθεὶς εἰς Ἡράκλειαν περὶ τὸν ποταμὸν τὸν ὀνομαζόμενον Κάλητα πάσας τὰς ναῦς ἀπέβαλε· μεγάλων γὰρ ὄμβρων καταρραγέντων, καὶ τοῦ ποταμοῦ βίαιον τὴν καταφορὰν τοῦ ῥεύματος ποιησαμένου, τὰ σκάφη κατά τινας τραχεῖς τόπους προσπεσόντα τῇ γῇ διεφθάρη. Ἀθηναῖοι δὲ πρὸς Λακεδαιμονίους σπονδὰς ἐνιαυσίους ἐποιήσαντο κατὰ ταύτας τὰς ὁμολογίας, ὥστʼ ἔχειν ἑκατέρους ὧν τότε κύριοι καθειστήκεσαν. συνιόντες δὲ πολλάκις εἰς λόγους ᾤοντο δεῖν καταλῦσαι τὸν πόλεμον καὶ εἰς τέλος παύσασθαι τῆς πρὸς ἀλλήλους φιλοτιμίας· Λακεδαιμόνιοι δὲ ἔσπευδον ἀπολαβεῖν τοὺς ἐν τῇ Σφακτηρίᾳ γενομένους αἰχμαλώτους. τῶν δὲ σπονδῶν τὸν εἰρημένον τρόπον συντελεσθεισῶν, περὶ μὲν τῶν ἄλλων αὐτοῖς ὁμολογούμενα πάντα ὑπῆρξε, περὶ δὲ τῆς Σκιώνης ἠμφισβήτουν ἀμφότεροι. γενομένης δὲ μεγάλης φιλοτιμίας τὰς σπονδὰς κατελύσαντο, περὶ δὲ τῆς Σκιώνης διεπολέμουν πρὸς ἀλλήλους. κατὰ δὲ τοῦτον τὸν χρόνον καὶ Μένδη πόλις πρὸς τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους ἀπέστη καὶ τὴν φιλοτιμίαν τὴν ὑπὲρ τῆς Σκιώνης ἰσχυροτέραν ἐποίησε. διὸ καὶ Βρασίδας μὲν ἐκ τῆς Μένδης καὶ τῆς Σκιώνης ἀποκομίσας τέκνα καὶ γυναῖκας καὶ τἄλλα τὰ χρησιμώτατα φρουραῖς ἀξιολόγοις ἠσφαλίσατο τὰς πόλεις, Ἀθηναῖοι δὲ παροξυνθέντες ἐπὶ τοῖς γεγονόσιν ἐψηφίσαντο πάντας τοὺς Σκιωναίους, ὅταν ἁλῶσιν, ἡβηδὸν ἀποσφάξαι, καὶ δύναμιν ἐξέπεμψαν ἐπʼ αὐτοὺς ναυτικὴν τριήρων πεντήκοντα· τούτων δὲ τὴν στρατηγίαν εἶχε Νικίας καὶ Νικόστρατος. οὗτοι δὲ πλεύσαντες ἐπὶ πρώτην τὴν Μένδην ἐκράτησαν τῆς πόλεως προδόντων τινῶν αὐτήν· τὴν δὲ Σκιώνην περιετείχισαν, καὶ προσκαθήμενοι τῇ πολιορκίᾳ συνεχεῖς προσβολὰς ἐποιοῦντο. οἱ δʼ ἐν τῇ Σκιώνῃ φρουροί, πολλοὶ μὲν τὸν ἀριθμὸν ὄντες, εὐπορίαν δʼ ἔχοντες βελῶν καὶ σίτου καὶ τῆς ἄλλης παρασκευῆς, ῥᾳδίως ἠμύνοντο τοὺς Ἀθηναίους, καὶ στάσιν ὑπερδέξιον ἔχοντες πολλοὺς κατετίτρωσκον. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἐπράχθη κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν ἐνιαυτόν.
When Ameinias was archon in Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Gaius Papirius and Lucius Junius. In this year the people of Scione, holding the Athenians in contempt because of their defeat at Delium, revolted to the Lacedemonians and delivered their city into the hands of Brasidas, who was in command of the Lacedemonian forces in Thrace. In Lesbos, after the Athenian seizure of Mytilene, the exiles, who had escaped the capture in large numbers, had for some time been trying to return to Lesbos, and they succeeded at this time in rallying and seizing Antandrus, from which as their base they then carried on war with the Athenians who were in possession of Mytilene. Exasperated by this state of affairs the Athenian people sent against them as generals Aristeides and Symmachus with an army. They put in at Lesbos and by means of sustained assaults took possession of Antandrus, and of the exiles some they put to death and others they expelled from the city; then they left a garrison to guard the place and sailed away from Lesbos. After this Lamachus the general sailed with ten triremes into the Pontus and anchored at Heracleia, on the river Cales, as it is called, but he lost all his ships; for when heavy rains fell, the river brought down so violent a current that his vessels were driven on certain rocky places and broken to pieces on the bank. The Athenians concluded a truce with the Lacedemonians for a year, on the terms that both of them should remain in possession of the places of which they were masters at the time. They held many discussions and were of the opinion that they should stop the warn put an end to their mutual rivalry; and the Lacedemonians were eager to recover their citizens who had been taken captive at Sphacteria. When the truce had been concluded on the terms here mentioned, they were in entire agreement on all other matters, but both of them laid claim to Scione. And so bitter a controversy followed that they renounced the truce and continued their war against each other over the issue of Scione. At this time the city of Mende also revolted to the Lacedemonians and made the quarrel over Scione the more bitter. Consequently Brasidas removed the children and women and all the most valuable property from Mende and Scione and safeguarded the cities with strong garrisons, whereupon the Athenians, being incensed at what had taken place, voted to put to the sword all the Scionaeans from the youth upward, when they should take the city, and sent a naval force of fifty triremes against them, the command of which was held by Nicias and Nicostratus. They sailed to Mende first and conquered it with the aid of certain men who betrayed it; then they threw a wall about Scione, settled down to a siege, and launched unceasing assaults upon it. But the garrison of Scione, which was strong in numbers and abundantly provided with missiles and food and all other supplies, had no difficulty in repulsing the Athenians and, because they held a higher position, in wounding many of their men. Such, then, were the events of this year.
§ 12.73
μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Ἀθήνησι μὲν ἦρχεν Ἀλκαῖος, ἐν Ῥώμῃ δὲ ὑπῆρχον ὕπατοι Ὀπίτερος Λουκρήτιος καὶ Λεύκιος Σέργιος Φιδηνιάτης. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Ἀθηναῖοι τοῖς Δηλίοις ἐγκαλοῦντες ὅτι λάθρᾳ πρὸς Λακεδαιμονίους συντίθενται συμμαχίαν, ἐξέβαλον αὐτοὺς ἐκ τῆς νήσου καὶ τὴν πόλιν αὐτοὶ κατέσχον. τοῖς δʼ ἐκπεσοῦσι Δηλίοις Φαρνιάκης ὁ σατράπης ἔδωκεν οἰκεῖν πόλιν Ἀδραμύτιον. οἱ δʼ Ἀθηναῖοι προχειρισάμενοι στρατηγὸν Κλέωνα τὸν δημαγωγόν, καὶ δόντες ἀξιόλογον δύναμιν πεζήν, ἐξέπεμψαν εἰς τοὺς ἐπὶ Θρᾴκης τόπους. οὗτος δὲ πλεύσας εἰς Σκιώνην, κἀκεῖθεν προσλαβόμενος στρατιώτας ἐκ τῶν πολιορκούντων τὴν πόλιν, ἀπέπλευσε καὶ κατῆρεν εἰς Τορώνην· ἐγίνωσκε γὰρ τὸν μὲν Βρασίδαν ἐκ τούτων τῶν τόπων ἀπεληλυθότα, πρὸς δὲ τῇ Τορώνῃ τοὺς ἀπολελειμμένους στρατιώτας οὐκ ὄντας ἀξιομάχους. πλησίον δὲ τῆς Τορώνης καταστρατοπεδεύσας καὶ πολιορκήσας ἅμα κατὰ γῆν καὶ κατὰ θάλατταν, εἷλε κατὰ κράτος τὴν πόλιν, καὶ τοὺς μὲν παῖδας καὶ τὰς γυναῖκας ἠνδραποδίσατο, αὐτοὺς δὲ καὶ τοὺς τὴν πόλιν φρουροῦντας αἰχμαλώτους λαβών, σήσας ἀπέστειλεν εἰς τὰς Ἀθήνας· τῆς δὲ πόλεως ἀπολιπὼν τὴν ἱκανὴν φρουρὰν ἐξέπλευσε μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως, καὶ κατῆρε τῆς Θρᾴκης ἐπὶ Στρυμόνα ποταμόν. καταστρατοπεδεύσας δὲ πλησίον πόλεως Ἠιόνος, ἀπεχούσης ἀπὸ τῆς Ἀμφιπόλεως σταδίους ὡς τριάκοντα, προσβολὰς ἐποιεῖτο τῷ πολίσματι.
The next year Alcaeus was archon in Athens and in Rome the consuls were Opiter Lucretius and Lucius Sergius Fideniates. During this year the Athenians, accusing Delians of secretly concluding an alliance with the Lacedemonians, expelled them from the island and took their city for their own. To the Delians who had been expelled the satrap Pharniaces gave the city of Adramytium to dwell in. The Athenians elected as general Cleon, the leader of the popular party, and supplying him with a strong body of infantry sent him to the regions lying off Thrace. He sailed to Scione, where he added to his force soldiers from the besiegers of the city, and then sailed away and put in at Torone; for he knew that Brasidas had gone from these parts and that the soldiers who were left in Torone were not strong enough to offer battle. After encamping near Torone and besieging the city both by land and by sea, he took it by storm, and the children and women he sold into slavery, but the men who garrisoned the city he took captive, fettered them, and sent them to Athens. Then, leaving an adequate garrison for the city, he sailed away with his army and put in at the Strymon River in Thrace. Pitching camp near the city of Eion, which is about thirty stades distant from Amphipolis, he launched successive assaults upon the town.
§ 12.74
πυθόμενος δὲ τὸν Βρασίδαν μετὰ δυνάμεως διατρίβειν περὶ πόλιν Ἀμφίπολιν, ἀνέζευξεν ἐπʼ αὐτόν. ὁ δὲ Βρασίδας ὡς ἤκουσε προσιόντας τοὺς πολεμίους, ἐκτάξας τὴν δύναμιν ἀπήντα τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις· γενομένης δὲ παρατάξεως μεγάλης, καὶ τῶν στρατοπέδων ἀγωνισαμένων ἀμφοτέρων λαμπρῶς, τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἰσόρροπος ἦν ἡ μάχη, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα παρʼ ἑκατέροις τῶν ἡγεμόνων φιλοτιμουμένων διʼ ἑαυτῶν κρῖναι τὴν μάχην, συνέβη πολλοὺς τῶν ἀξιολόγων ἀνδρῶν ἀναιρεθῆναι, τῶν στρατηγῶν αὑτοὺς καταστησάντων εἰς τὴν μάχην καὶ ὑπὲρ τῆς νίκης ἀνυπέρβλητον φιλοτιμίαν εἰσενεγκαμένων. ὁ μὲν οὖν Βρασίδας ἀριστεύσας καὶ πλείστους ἀνελὼν ἡρωικῶς κατέστρεψε τὸν βίον· ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τοῦ Κλέωνος ἐν τῇ μάχῃ πεσόντος, ἀμφότεραι μὲν αἱ δυνάμεις διὰ τὴν ἀναρχίαν ἐταράχθησαν, τὸ τέλος δʼ ἐνίκησαν οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι καὶ τρόπαιον ἔστησαν. οἱ δʼ Ἀθηναῖοι τοὺς νεκροὺς ὑποσπόνδους, ἀνελόμενοι καὶ θάψαντες ἀπέπλευσαν εἰς τὰς Ἀθήνας. εἰς δὲ τὴν Λακεδαίμονα παραγενομένων τινῶν ἐκ τῆς μάχης καὶ τὴν Βρασίδου νίκην ἅμα καὶ τελευτὴν ἀπαγγειλάντων, ἡ μήτηρ τοῦ Βρασίδου πυνθανομένη περὶ τῶν πραχθέντων κατὰ τὴν μάχην ἐπηρώτησε, ποῖός τις γέγονεν ἐν τῇ παρατάξει Βρασίδας· τῶν δʼ ἀποκριναμένων ὅτι πάντων Λακεδαιμονίων ἄριστος, εἶπεν ἡ μήτηρ τοῦ τετελευτηκότος ὅτι Βρασίδας ὁ υἱὸς αὐτῆς ἦν ἀγαθὸς ἀνήρ, πολλῶν μέντοι γε ἑτέρων καταδεέστερος. τῶν δὲ λόγων τούτων διαδοθέντων κατὰ τὴν πόλιν οἱ ἔφοροι δημοσίᾳ τὴν γυναῖκα ἐτίμησαν, ὅτι προέκρινε τὸν τῆς πατρίδος ἔπαινον τῆς τοῦ τέκνου δόξης. μετὰ δὲ τὴν εἰρημένην μάχην ἔδοξαν οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι τοῖς Λακεδαιμονίοις συνθέσθαι σπονδὰς πεντηκονταετεῖς ἐπὶ τοῖσδε· τοὺς μὲν αἰχμαλώτους παρʼ ἀμφοτέροις ἀπολυθῆναι, τὰς δὲ πόλεις ἀποδοῦναι τὰς κατὰ πόλεμον ληφθείσας. ὁ μὲν οὖν Πελοποννησιακὸς πόλεμος, διαμείνας μέχρι τῶν ὑποκειμένων καιρῶν ἔτη δέκα, τὸν εἰρημένον τρόπον κατελύθη.
Cleon, learning that Brasidas and his army were tarrying at the city of Amphipolis, broke camp and marched against him. And when Brasidas heard of the approach of the enemy, he formed his army in battle-order and went out to meet the Athenians. A fierce battle ensued, in which both armies engaged brilliantly, and at first the fight was evenly balanced, but later, as the leaders on both sides strove to decide the battle through their own efforts, it was the lot of many important men to be slain, the generals injecting themselves into the battle and bringing into it a rivalry for victory that could not be surpassed. Brasidas, after fighting with the greatest distinction and slaying a very large number, ended his life heroically; and when Cleon also, after displaying like valour, fell in the battle, both armies were thrown into confusion because they had no leaders, but in the end the Lacedemonians were victorious and set up a trophy. The Athenians got back their dead under a truce, gave them burial, and sailed away to Athens. And when certain men from the scene of the battle arrived at Lacedemon and brought the news of Brasidas' victory as well as of his death, the mother of Brasidas, on learning of the course of the battle, inquired what sort of a man Brasidas had shown himself to be in the conflict. And when she was told that of all the Lacedemonians he was the best, the mother of the dead man said, "My son Brasidas was a brave man, and yet he was inferior to many others." When this reply passed throughout the city, the ephors accorded the woman public honours, because she placed the fair name of her country above the fame of her son. After the battle we have described the Athenians decided to make a truce of fifty years with the Lacedemonians, upon the following terms: The prisoners with both sides were to be released and each side should give back the cities which had been taken during the course of the war. Thus the Peloponnesian War, which had continued up to that time for ten years, came to an end in the manner we have described.
§ 12.75
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησιν Ἀριστίωνος Ῥωμαῖοι κατέστησαν ὑπάτους Τίτον Κοΐντιον καὶ Αὖλον Κορνήλιον Κόσσον. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων ἄρτι τοῦ πολέμου τοῦ Πελοποννησιακοῦ καταλελυμένου πάλιν ταραχαὶ καὶ κινήσεις πολεμικαὶ συνέβησαν κατὰ τὴν Ἑλλάδα διὰ τοιαύτας τινὰς αἰτίας. Ἀθηναῖοι καὶ Λακεδαιμόνιοι κοινῇ μετὰ τῶν συμμάχων πεποιημένοι σπονδὰς καὶ διαλύσεις, χωρὶς τῶν συμμαχίδων πόλεων συνέθεντο συμμαχίαν. τοῦτο δὲ πράξαντες εἰς ὑπόνοιαν ἦλθον ὡς ἐπὶ καταδουλώσει τῶν ἄλλων Ἑλλήνων ἰδίᾳ πεποιημένοι συμμαχίαν. διόπερ αἱ μέγισται τῶν πόλεων διεπρεσβεύοντο πρὸς ἀλλήλας καὶ συνδιελέγοντο περὶ ὁμονοίας καὶ συμμαχίας κατὰ τῶν Ἀθηναίων καὶ Λακεδαιμονίων. ἦσαν δὲ προεστῶσαι πόλεις ταύτης αἱ δυνατώταται τέτταρες, Ἄργος, Θῆβαι, Κόρινθος, Ἦλις. εὐλόγως δʼ ὑπωπτεύθησαν αἱ πόλεις συμφρονεῖν κατὰ τῆς Ἑλλάδος διὰ τὸ προσγεγράφθαι ταῖς κοιναῖς συνθήκαις· ἐξεῖναι Ἀθηναίοις καὶ Λακεδαιμονίοις, ὅπερ ἂν δοκῇ ταύταις ταῖς πόλεσι, προσγράφειν ταῖς συνθήκαις καὶ ἀφαιρεῖν ἀπὸ τῶν συνθηκῶν. χωρὶς δὲ τούτων Ἀθηναῖοι μὲν διὰ ψηφίσματος ἔδωκαν δέκα ἀνδράσιν ἐξουσίαν ἔχειν βουλεύεσθαι περὶ τῶν τῇ πόλει συμφερόντων· τὸ παραπλήσιον δὲ καὶ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων πεποιηκότων φανερὰν συνέβη γενέσθαι τῶν δύο πόλεων τὴν πλεονεξίαν. πολλῶν δὲ πόλεων ὑπακουουσῶν πρὸς τὴν κοινὴν ἐλευθερίαν, καὶ τῶν μὲν Ἀθηναίων καταφρονουμένων διὰ τὴν περὶ τὸ Δήλιον συμφοράν, τῶν δὲ Λακεδαιμονίων τεταπεινωμένων τῇ δόξῃ διὰ τὴν ἅλωσιν τῶν ἐν τῇ Σφακτηρίᾳ νήσῳ, πολλαὶ πόλεις συνίσταντο, καὶ προῆγον τὴν τῶν Ἀργείων πόλιν ἐπὶ τὴν ἡγεμονίαν. εἴ͂χε γὰρ ἡ πόλις αὕτη μέγα ἀξίωμα διὰ τὰς παλαιὰς πράξεις· πρὸ γὰρ τῆς Ἡρακλειδῶν κατηλύσεως ἐκ τῆς Ἀργείας ὑπῆρξαν σχεδὸν ἅπαντες οἱ μέγιστοι τῶν βασιλέων· πρὸς δὲ τούτοις πολὺν χρόνον εἰρήνην ἔχουσα προσόδους μεγίστας ἐλάμβανε, καὶ πλῆθος οὐ μόνον χρημάτων εἶχεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀνδρῶν. οἱ δʼ Ἀργεῖοι νομίζοντες αὑτοῖς συγχωρηθήσεσθαι τὴν ὅλην ἡγεμονίαν, ἐπέλεξαν τῶν πολιτῶν χιλίους τοὺς νεωτέρους καὶ μάλιστα τοῖς τε σώμασιν ἰσχύοντας καὶ ταῖς οὐσίαις· ἀπολύσαντες δὲ αὐτοὺς καὶ τῆς ἄλλης λειτουργίας καὶ τροφὰς δημοσίας χορηγοῦντες προσέταξαν γυμνάζεσθαι συνεχεῖς μελέτας. οὗτοι μὲν οὖν διὰ τὴν χορηγίαν καὶ τὴν συνεχῆ μελέτην ταχὺ τῶν πολεμικῶν ἔργων ἀθληταὶ κατεστάθησαν.
When Aristion was archon in Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Titus Quinctius and Aulus Cornelius Cossus. During this year, although the Peloponnesian War had just come to an end, again tumults and military movements occurred throughout Greece, for the following reasons. Although the Athenians and Lacedemonians had concluded a truce and cessation of hostilities in company with their allies, they had formed an alliance without consultation with the allied cities. By this act they fell under suspicion of having formed an alliance for their private ends, with the purpose of enslaving the rest of the Greeks. As a consequence the most important of the cities maintained a mutual exchange of embassies and conversations regarding a union of policy and an alliance against the Athenians and Lacedemonians. The leading states in this undertaking were the four most powerful ones, Argos, Thebes, Corinth, and Elis. There was good reason to suspect that Athens and Lacedemon had common designs against the rest of Greece, since a clause had been added to the compact which the two had made, namely, that the Athenians and Lacedemonians had the right, according as these states may deem it best, to add to or subtract from the agreements. Moreover, the Athenians by decree had lodged in ten men the power to take counsel regarding what would be of advantage to the city; and since much the same thing had also been done by the Lacedemonians, the selfish ambitions of the two states were open for all to see. 5 Many cities answered to the call of their common freedom, and since the Athenians were disdained by reason of the defeat they had suffered at Delium and the Lacedemonians had had their fame reduced because of the capture of their citizens on the island of Sphacteria, a large number of cities joined together and selected the city of the Argives to hold the position of leader. 6 For this city enjoyed a high position by reason of its achievements in the past, since until the return of the Heracleidae practically all the most important kings had come from the Argolis, and furthermore, since the city had enjoyed peace for a long time, it had received revenues of the greatest size and had a great store not only of money but also of men. 7 The Argives, believing that the entire leadership was to be conceded to them, picked out one thousand of their younger citizens who were at the same time the most vigorous in body and the most wealthy, and freeing them also from every other service to the state and supplying them with sustenance at public expense, they had them undergo continuous training and exercise. These young men, therefore, by reason of the expense incurred for them and their continuous training, quickly formed a body of athletes trained to deeds of war.
§ 12.76
Λακεδαιμόνιοι δὲ ὁρῶντες ἐπʼ αὐτοὺς συνισταμένην τὴν Πελοπόννησον καὶ προορώμενοι τὸ μέγεθος τοῦ πολέμου, τὰ κατὰ τὴν ἡγεμονίαν ὡς ἦν δυνατὸν ἠσφαλίζοντο. καὶ πρῶτον μὲν τοὺς μετὰ Βρασίδα κατὰ τὴν Θρᾴκην ἐστρατευμένους Εἵλωτας ὄντας χιλίους ἠλευθέρωσαν, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τοὺς ἐν τῇ Σφακτηρίᾳ νήσῳ ληφθέντας αἰχμαλώτους Σπαρτιάτας ἀτιμίᾳ περιβεβληκότες, ὡς τὴν Σπάρτην ἀδοξοτέραν πεποιηκότας, ἀπέλυσαν τῆς ἀτιμίας. ἀκολούθως δὲ τούτοις τοῖς κατὰ τὸν πόλεμον ἐπαίνοις καὶ τιμαῖς προετρέποντο τὰς προγεγενημένας ἀνδραγαθίας ἐν τοῖς μέλλουσιν ἀγῶσιν ὑπερβάλλεσθαι· τοῖς τε συμμάχοις ἐπιεικέστερον προσεφέροντο, καὶ ταῖς φιλανθρωπίαις τοὺς ἀλλοτριωτάτους αὐτῶν ἐθεράπευον. Ἀθηναῖοι δὲ τοὐναντίον τῷ φόβῳ βουλόμενοι καταπλήξασθαι τοὺς ἐν ὑποψίᾳ ἀποστάσεως ὄντας, παράδειγμα πᾶσιν ἀνέδειξαν τὴν ἐκ τῶν Σκιωναίων τιμωρίαν· ἐκπολιορκήσαντες γὰρ αὐτοὺς καὶ πάντας ἡβηδὸν κατασφάξαντες, παῖδας μὲν καὶ γυναῖκας ἐξηνδραποδίσαντο,τὴν δὲ νῆσον οἰκεῖν παρέδοσαν τοῖς Πλαταιεῦσιν, ἐκπεπτωκόσι διʼ ἐκείνους ἐκ τῆς πατρίδος. περὶ δὲ τοὺς αὐτοὺς χρόνους κατὰ τὴν Ἰταλίαν Καμπανοὶ μεγάλῃ δυνάμει στρατεύσαντες ἐπὶ Κύμην ἐνίκησαν μάχῃ τοὺς Κυμαίους καὶ τοὺς πλείους τῶν ἀντιταχθέντων κατέκοψαν. προσκαθεζόμενοι δὲ τῇ πολιορκίᾳ καὶ πλείους προσβολὰς ποιησάμενοι κατὰ κράτος εἷλον τὴν πόλιν. διαρπάσαντες δʼ αὐτὴν καὶ τοὺς καταληφθέντας ἐξανδραποδισάμενοι τοὺς ἱκανοὺς οἰκήτορας ἐξ αὑτῶν ἀπέδειξαν.
The Lacedemonians, seeing the Peloponnesus uniting against them and foreseeing the magnitude of the impending war, began exerting every possible effort to make sure their position of leadership. And first of all the Helots who had served with Brasidas in Thrace, a thousand in all, were given their freedom; then the Spartans, who had been taken prisoner on the island of Sphacteria and had been disgraced on the ground that they had diminished the glory of Sparta, were freed from their state of disgrace. Also, in pursuance of the same policy, by means of the commendations and honours accorded in the course of the war they were incited to surpass in the struggles which lay before them the deeds of valour they had already performed; and toward their allies they conducted themselves more equitably and conciliated the most unfavourably disposed of them with kindly treatment. The Athenians, on the contrary, desiring to strike with fear those whom they suspected of planning secession, displayed an example for all to see in the punishment they inflicted on the inhabitants of Scione; for after reducing them by siege, they put to the sword all of them from the youth upwards, sold into slavery the children and women, and gave the island to the Plataeans to dwell in, since they had been expelled from their native land on account of the Athenians. In the course of this year in Italy the Campanians advanced against Cyme with a strong army, defeated the Cymaeans in battle, and destroyed the larger part of the opposing forces. And settling down to a siege, they launched a number of assaults upon the city and took it by storm. They then plundered the city, sold into slavery the captured prisoners, and selected an adequate number of their own citizens to settle there.
§ 12.77
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησιν Ἀστυφίλου Ῥωμαῖοι κατέστησαν ὑπάτους Λεύκιον Κοΐντιον καὶ Αὖλον Σεμπρώνιον, Ἠλεῖοι δʼ ἤγαγον Ὀλυμπιάδα ἐνενηκοστήν, καθʼ ἣν ἐνίκα στάδιον Ὑπέρβιος Συρακόσιος. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Ἀθηναῖοι μὲν κατά τινα χρησμὸν Δηλίοις ἀπέδοσαν τὴν νῆσον, καὶ κατῆλθον εἰς τὴν πατρίδα οἱ τὸ Ἀδραμύτιον οἰκοῦντες Δήλιοι. τῶν δὲ Ἀθηναίων οὐκ ἀποδόντων Λακεδαιμονίοις τὴν Πύλον, πάλιν αἱ πόλεις αὗται πρὸς ἀλλήλας διεφέροντο καὶ πολεμικῶς εἶχον. ἃ δὴ πυθόμενος ὁ δῆμος τῶν Ἀργείων ἔπεισε τοὺς Ἀθηναίους φιλίαν συνθέσθαι πρὸς τοὺς Ἀργείους. αὐξομένης δὲ τῆς διαφορᾶς, οἱ μὲν Λακεδαιμόνιοι τοὺς Κορινθίους ἔπεισαν ἐγκαταλιπεῖν τὴν κοινὴν σύνοδον καὶ συμμαχεῖν τοῖς Λακεδαιμονίοις. τοιαύτης δὲ ταραχῆς γενομένης καὶ ἀναρχίας οὔσης, τὰ κατὰ τὴν Πελοπόννησον ἐν τούτοις ἦν. ἐν δὲ τοῖς ἐκτὸς τόποις Αἰνιᾶνες καὶ Δόλοπες καὶ Μηλιεῖς συμφρονήσαντες δυνάμεσιν ἀξιολόγοις ἐστράτευσαν ἐπὶ τὴν Ἡράκλειαν τὴν ἐν Τραχῖνι. ἀντιταχθέντων δὲ τῶν Ἡρακλεωτῶν, καὶ μάχης γενομένης ἰσχυρᾶς, ἡττήθησαν οἱ τὴν Ἡράκλειαν κατοικοῦντες. πολλοὺς δʼ ἀποβαλόντες στρατιώτας, καὶ συμφυγόντες ἐντὸς τῶν τειχῶν, μετεπέμψαντο βοήθειαν παρὰ τῶν Βοιωτῶν. ἀποστειλάντων δʼ αὐτοῖς τῶν Θηβαίων χιλίους ὁπλίτας ἐπιλέκτους, μετʼ αὐτῶν ἠμύνοντο τοὺς ἐπεστρατευκότας. ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις Ὀλύνθιοι μὲν στρατεύσαντες ἐπὶ πόλιν Μηκύβερναν, φρουρουμένην ὑπʼ Ἀθηναίων, τὴν μὲν φρουρὰν ἐξέβαλον, αὐτοὶ δὲ τὴν πόλιν κατέσχον.
When Astypilus was archon in Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Lucius Quinctius and Aulus Sempronius, and the Eleians celebrated the Ninetieth Olympiad, that in which Hyperbius of Syracuse won the "stadion." This year the Athenians, in obedience to a certain oracle, returned their island to the Delians, and the Delians who were dwelling in Adramytium returned to their native land. And since the Athenians had not returned the city of Pylos to the Lacedemonians, these cities were again at odds with each other and hostile. When this was known to the Assembly of the Argives, that body persuaded the Athenians to close a treaty of friendship with the Argives. And since the quarrel kept growing, the Lacedemonians persuaded the Corinthians to desert the league of states and ally themselves with the Lacedemonians. Such being the confusion that had arisen together with a lack of leadership, the situation throughout the Peloponnesus was as has been described. In the regions outside, the Aenianians, Dolopians, and Melians, having come to an understanding, advanced with strong armaments against Heracleia in Trachis. The Heracleians drew up to oppose them and a great battle took place, in which the people of Heracleia were defeated. Since they had lost many soldiers and had sought refuge within their walls, they sent for aid from the Boeotians. The Thebans dispatched to their help a thousand picked hoplites, with whose aid they held off their adversaries. While these events were taking place, the Olynthians dispatched an army against the city of Mecyberna which had an Athenian garrison, drove out the garrison, and themselves took possession of the city.
§ 12.78
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησιν Ἀρχίου Ῥωμαῖοι κατέστησαν ὑπάτους Λεύκιον Παπίριον Μουγιλανὸν καὶ Γάιον Σερουίλιον Στροῦκτον. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Ἀργεῖοι μὲν ἐγκαλέσαντες τοῖς Λακεδαιμονίοις ὅτι τὰ θύματα οὐκ ἀπέδοσαν τῷ Ἀπόλλωνι τῷ Πυθαεῖ, πόλεμον αὐτοῖς κατήγγειλαν· καθʼ ὃν δὴ χρόνον Ἀλκιβιάδης ὁ στρατηγὸς τῶν Ἀθηναίων ἐνέβαλεν εἰς τὴν Ἀργείαν ἔχων δύναμιν. τούτους δὲ οἱ Ἀργεῖοι παραλαβόντες ἐστράτευσαν ἐπὶ Τροιζῆνα, πόλιν σύμμαχον Λακεδαιμονίων, καὶ τὴν μὲν χώραν λεηλατήσαντες, τὰς δὲ ἐπαύλεις ἐμπρήσαντες, ἀπηλλάγησαν εἰς τὴν οἰκείαν. οἱ δὲ Λακεδαιμόνιοι παροξυνθέντες ἐπὶ τοῖς εἰς τοὺς Τροιζηνίους παρανομήμασιν ἔγνωσαν διαπολεμεῖν πρὸς Ἀργείους· διὸ καὶ δύναμιν ἀθροίσαντες ἐπέστησαν ἡγεμόνα Ἆγιν τὸν βασιλέα. οὗτος δὲ μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως ἐστράτευσεν ἐπὶ τοὺς Ἀργείους, καὶ τὴν μὲν χώραν ἐδῄωσε, πλησίον δὲ τῆς πόλεως ἀγαγὼν τὴν δύναμιν προεκαλεῖτο τοὺς πολεμίους εἰς μάχην. οἱ δʼ Ἀργεῖοι προσλαβόμενοι στρατιώτας παρὰ μὲν Ἠλείων τρισχιλίους, παρὰ δὲ Μαντινέων οὐ πολὺ λειπομένους τούτων, προῆγον ἐκ τῆς πόλεως τὸ στρατόπεδον. μελλούσης δὲ παρατάξεως γίνεσθαι, οἱ στρατηγοὶ παρʼ ἀμφοτέροις διαπρεσβευσάμενοι τετραμηνιαίους ἀνοχὰς συνέθεντο. ἐπανελθόντων δὲ τῶν στρατοπέδων ἀπράκτων εἰς τὴν οἰκείαν, διʼ ὀργῆς εἶχον αἱ πόλεις ἀμφότεραι τοὺς συνθεμένους τὰς σπονδὰς στρατηγούς. διόπερ οἱ μὲν Ἀργεῖοι τοῖς λίθοις βάλλοντες τοὺς ἡγεμόνας ἀποκτείνειν ἐπεχείρησαν, καὶ μόγις μεταξὺ πολλῆς δεήσεως τὸ ζῆν συνεχώρησαν, τὴν δʼ οὐσίαν αὐτῶν δημεύσαντες κατέσκαψαν τὰς οἰκίας. οἱ δὲ Λακεδαιμόνιοι τὸν Ἆγιν ἐπεβάλοντο μὲν κολάζειν, ἐπαγγειλαμένου δʼ αὐτοῦ διὰ τῶν καλῶν ἔργων διορθώσασθαι τὴν ἁμαρτίαν, μόγις συνεχώρησαν, εἰς δὲ τὸν λοιπὸν χρόνον ἑλόμενοι δέκα ἄνδρας τοὺς συνετωτάτους, παρακατέστησαν συμβούλους καὶ προσέταξαν μηδὲν ἄνευ τῆς τούτων γνώμης πράττειν.
When Archias was archon in Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Lucius Papirius Mugilanus and Gaius Servilius Structus. In this year the Argives, charging the Lacedemonians with not paying the sacrifices to Apollo Pythaeus, declared war on them; and it was at this very time that Alcibiades, the Athenian general, entered Argolis with an army. Adding these troops to their forces, the Argives advanced against Troezen, a city which was an ally of the Lacedemonians, and after plundering its territory and burning its farm-buildings they returned home. The Lacedemonians, being incensed at the lawless acts committed against the Troezenians, resolved to go to war against the Argives; consequently they mustered an army and put their king Agis in command. With this force Agis advanced against the Argives and ravaged their territory, and leading his army to the vicinity of the city he challenged the enemy to battle. The Argives, adding to their army three thousand soldiers from the Eleians and almost as many from the Mantineians, led out their forces from the city. When a pitched battle was imminent, the generals conducted negotiations with each other and agreed upon a cessation of hostilities for four months. But when the armies returned to their homes without accomplishing anything, both cities were angry with the generals who had agreed upon the truce. Consequently the Argives hurled stones at their commanders and began to menace them with death; only reluctantly and after much supplication their lives were spared, but their property was confiscated and their homes razed to the ground. The Lacedemonians took steps to punish Agis, but when he promised to atone for his error by worthy deeds, they reluctantly let him off, and for the future they chose ten of their wisest men, whom they appointed his advisers, and they ordered him to do nothing without learning their opinion.
§ 12.79
μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Ἀθηναίων ἀποστειλάντων κατὰ θάλατταν εἰς Ἄργος ὁπλίτας μὲν χιλίους ἐπιλέκτους, ἱππεῖς δὲ διακοσίους, ὧν ἐστρατήγουν Λάχης καὶ Νικόστρατος· συνῆν δὲ τούτοις καὶ Ἀλκιβιάδης ἰδιώτης ὢν διὰ τὴν φιλίαν τὴν πρὸς Ἠλείους καὶ Μαντινεῖς· συνεδρευσάντων δὲ πάντων, ἔδοξε τὰς μὲν σπονδὰς ἐᾶν χαίρειν, πρὸς δὲ τὸν πόλεμον ὁρμῆσαι. διὸ καὶ τοὺς ἰδίους ἕκαστος στρατηγὸς παρώρμησε πρὸς τὸν ἀγῶνα, καὶ πάντων προθύμως ὑπακουσάντων, ἐκτὸς τῆς πόλεως κατεστρατοπέδευσαν. ἔδοξεν οὖν αὐτοῖς πάντων πρῶτον στρατεύειν ἐπʼ Ὀρχομενὸν τῆς Ἀρκαδίας. διὸ καὶ παρελθόντες εἰς Ἀρκαδίαν, προσκαθεζόμενοι τῇ πόλει καθʼ ἡμέραν ἐποιοῦντο προσβολὰς τοῖς τείχεσι. χειρωσάμενοι δὲ τὴν πόλιν κατεστρατοπέδευσαν πλησίον Τεγέας, κεκρικότες καὶ ταύτην πολιορκῆσαι. τῶν δὲ Τεγεατῶν ἀξιούντων τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους βοηθῆσαι κατὰ τάχος, οἱ Σπαρτιᾶται παραλαβόντες τοὺς ἰδίους πάντας καὶ τοὺς συμμάχους ἧκον ἐπὶ τὴν Μαντίνειαν, νομίζοντες ταύτης πολεμουμένης ἀρθήσεσθαι τὴν τῆς Τεγέας πολιορκίαν. οἱ δὲ Μαντινεῖς τοὺς συμμάχους παραλαβόντες, καὶ αὐτοὶ πανδημεὶ στρατεύσαντες, ἀντετάχθησαν τοῖς Λακεδαιμονίοις. γενομένης δὲ μάχης ἰσχυρᾶς, οἱ μὲν ἐπίλεκτοι τῶν Ἀργείων, χίλιοι τὸν ἀριθμὸν ὄντες, γεγυμνασμένοι δὲ καλῶς τὰ κατὰ τὸν πόλεμον, ἐτρέψαντο τοὺς ἀντιτεταγμένους πρῶτοι, καὶ διώκοντες πολὺν ἐποίουν φόνον. οἱ δὲ Λακεδαιμόνιοι τἄλλα μέρη τοῦ στρατεύματος τρεψάμενοι καὶ πολλοὺς ἀνελόντες ὑπέστρεψαν ἐπʼ αὐτοὺς ἐκείνους, καὶ τῷ πλήθει κυκλώσαντες ἤλπιζον κατακόψειν ἅπαντας. τῶν δὲ λογάδων τῷ μὲν πλήθει πολὺ λειπομένων, ταῖς δʼ ἀνδραγαθίαις προεχόντων, ὁ μὲν βασιλεὺς τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων προαγωνιζόμενος ἐνεκαρτέρησε τοῖς δεινοῖς, καὶ πάντας ἂν ἀνεῖλεν· ἔσπευδε γὰρ τοῖς πολίταις ἀποδοῦναι τὰς ἐπαγγελίας, καὶ μέγα τι κατεργασάμενος διορθώσασθαι τὴν γεγενημένην ἀδοξίαν· οὐ μὴν εἰάθη γε τὴν προαίρεσιν ἐπιτελέσαι. Φάραξ γὰρ ὁ Σπαρτιάτης, εἷς ὢν τῶν συμβούλων, ἀξίωμα δὲ μέγιστον ἔχων ἐν τῇ Σπάρτῃ, διεκελεύετο τοῖς λογάσι δοῦναι δίοδον, καὶ μὴ πρὸς ἀπεγνωκότας τὸ ζῆν διακινδυνεύοντας πεῖραν λαβεῖν ἀτυχούσης ἀρετῆς. ὅθεν ἠναγκάσθη κατὰ τὴν ἀρτίως ῥηθεῖσαν ἐπιταγὴν δοῦναι διέξοδον κατὰ τὴν τοῦ Φάρακος γνώμην. οἱ μὲν οὖν χίλιοι τὸν εἰρημένον τρόπον ἀφεθέντες διελθεῖν διεσώθησαν, οἱ δὲ Λακεδαιμόνιοι μεγάλῃ μάχῃ νικήσαντες καὶ τρόπαιον στήσαντες ἀπῆλθον εἰς τὴν οἰκείαν.
After this the Athenians dispatched to Argos by sea a thousand picked hoplites and two hundred cavalry, under the command of Laches and Nicostratus; and Alcibiades also accompanied them, although in a private capacity, because of the friendly relations he enjoyed with the Eleians and Mantineians; and when they were all gathered in council, they decided to pay no attention to the truce but to set about making war. Consequently each general urged on his own troops to the conflict, and when they all responded eagerly, they pitched camp outside the city. Now they agreed that they should march first of all against Orchomenus in Arcadia; and so, advancing into Arcadia, they settled down to the siege of the city and made daily assaults upon its walls. And after they had taken the city, they encamped near Tegea, having decided to besiege it also. But when the Tegeatans called upon the Lacedemonians for immediate aid, the Spartans gathered all their own soldiers and those of their allies and moved on Mantineia, believing that, once Mantineia was attacked in the war, the enemy would raise the siege of Tegea. The Mantineians gathered their allies, and marching forth themselves en masse, formed their lines opposite the Lacedemonians. A sharp battle followed, and the picked troops of the Argives, one thousand in number, who had received excellent training in warfare, were the first to put to flight their opponents and made great slaughter of them in their pursuit. But the Lacedemonians, after putting to flight the other parts of the army and slaying many, wheeled about to oppose the Argives and by their superior numbers surrounded them, hoping to destroy them to a man. Now although the picked troops of the Argives, though in numbers far inferior, were superior in feats of courage, the king of the Lacedemonians led the fight and held out firmly against the perils he encountered; and he would have slain all the Argives — for he was resolved to fulfil the promises he had made to his fellow citizens and wipe out, by a great deed, his former ill repute — but he was not allowed to consummate that purpose. For Pharax the Spartan, who was one of the advisers of Agis and enjoyed the highest reputation in Sparta, directed him to leave a way of escape for the picked men and not, by hazarding the issue against men who had given up all hope of life, to learn what valour is when abandoned by Fortune. So the king was compelled, in obedience to the command recently given him, to leave a way of escape even as Pharax advised. So the Thousand, having been allowed to pass through in the manner described, made their way to safety, and the Lacedemonians, having won the victory in a great battle, erected a trophy and returned home.
§ 12.80
τοῦ δʼ ἐνιαυσίου χρόνου διεληλυθότος Ἀθήνησι μὲν ἦρχεν Ἀντιφῶν, ἐν Ῥώμῃ δʼ ἀντὶ τῶν ὑπάτων χιλίαρχοι τέτταρες κατεστάθησαν, Γάιος Φούριος καὶ Τίτος Κοΐντιος, ἔτι δὲ Μάρκος Ποστούμιος καὶ Αὖλος Κορνήλιος. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Ἀργεῖοι καὶ Λακεδαιμόνιοι διαπρεσβευσάμενοι πρὸς ἀλλήλους εἰρήνην ἐποιήσαντο καὶ συμμαχίαν συνέθεντο. διόπερ οἱ Μαντινεῖς ἀποβαλόντες τὴν ἀπὸ τῶν Ἀργείων βοήθειαν ἠναγκάσθησαν ὑποταγῆναι τοῖς Λακεδαιμονίοις. περὶ δὲ τοὺς αὐτοὺς χρόνους ἐν τῇ πόλει τῶν Ἀργείων οἱ κατʼ ἐκλογὴν κεκριμένοι τῶν πολιτῶν χίλιοι συνεφώνησαν, καὶ τὴν μὲν δημοκρατίαν ἔγνωσαν καταλύειν, ἀριστοκρατίαν δʼ ἐξ αὑτῶν καθιστάναι. ἔχοντες δὲ πολλοὺς συνεργοὺς διὰ τὸ προέχειν τῶν πολιτῶν ταῖς οὐσίαις καὶ ταῖς ἀνδραγαθίαις, τὸ μὲν πρῶτον συλλαβόντες τοὺς δημαγωγεῖν εἰωθότας ἀπέκτειναν, τοὺς δʼ ἄλλους καταπληξάμενοι κατέλυσαν τοὺς νόμους καὶ διʼ ἑαυτῶν τὰ δημόσια διῴκουν. διακατασχόντες δὲ ταύτην τὴν πολιτείαν μῆνας ὀκτὼ κατελύθησαν, τοῦ δήμου συστάντος ἐπʼ αὐτούς· διὸ καὶ τούτων ἀναιρεθέντων ὁ δῆμος ἐκομίσατο τὴν δημοκρατίαν. ἐγένετο δὲ καὶ ἑτέρα κίνησις κατὰ τὴν Ἑλλάδα· καὶ Φωκεῖς γὰρ πρὸς Λοκροὺς διενεχθέντες παρατάξει ἐκρίθησαν διὰ τὴν οἰκείαν ἀνδρείαν· ἐνίκησαν γὰρ Φωκεῖς ἀνελόντες Λοκρῶν πλείους χιλίων. Ἀθηναῖοι δὲ Νικίου στρατηγοῦντος εἷλον δύο πόλεις, Κύθηρα καὶ Νίσαιαν· τήν τε Μῆλον ἐκπολιορκήσαντες πάντας ἡβηδὸν ἀπέσφαξαν, παῖδας δὲ καὶ γυναῖκας ἐξηνδραποδίσαντο. καὶ τὰ μὲν κατὰ τοὺς Ἕλληνας ἐν τούτοις ἦν. κατὰ δὲ τὴν Ἰταλίαν Φιδηνᾶται μέν, παραγενομένων εἰς τὴν πόλιν αὐτῶν πρέσβεων ἐκ τῆς Ῥώμης, ἐπὶ μικραῖς αἰτίαις ἀνεῖλον τούτους. ἐφʼ οἷς οἱ Ῥωμαῖοι παροξυνθέντες ἐψηφίσαντο πολεμεῖν, καὶ προχειρισάμενοι δύναμιν ἀξιόλογον εἵλοντο δικτάτωρα Ἄνιον Αἰμίλιον καὶ μετὰ τούτου κατὰ τὸ ἔθος Αὖλον Κορνήλιον ἵππαρχον. ὁ δʼ Αἰμίλιος παρασκευασάμενος τὰ πρὸς τὸν πόλεμον, ἀνέζευξε μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως ἐπὶ τοὺς Φιδηνάτας. ἀντιταξαμένων δὲ τῶν Φιδηνατῶν ἐγένετο μάχη ἐπὶ πολὺν χρόνον ἰσχυρά, καὶ πολλῶν παρʼ ἀμφοτέροις πεσόντων ἰσόρροπος ὁ ἀγὼν ἐγένετο.
When this year had come to an end, in Athens the archon was Antiphon, and in Rome in place of consuls four military tribunes were elected, Gaius Furius, Titus Quinctius, Marcus Postumius, and Aulus Cornelius. During this year the Argives and Lacedemonians, after negotiations with each other, concluded a peace and formed an alliance. Consequently the Mantineians, now that they had lost the help of the Argives, were compelled to subject themselves to the Lacedemonians. And about the same time in the city of the Argives the Thousand who had been selected out of the total muster of citizens came to an agreement among themselves and decided to dissolve the democracy and establish an aristocracy from their own number. And having as they did many to aid them, because of the prominent position their wealth and brave exploits gave them, they first of all seized the men who had been accustomed to be the leaders of the people and put them to death, and then, by terrorizing the rest of the citizens, they abolished the laws and were proceeding to take the management of the state into their own hands. They maintained this government for eight months and then were overthrown, the people having united against them; and so these men were put to death and the people got back the democracy. Another movement also took place in Greece. The Phocians also, having quarrelled with the Locrians, settled the issue in pitched battle by virtue of their own valour. For the victory lay with the Phocians, who slew more than one thousand Locrians. The Athenians under the command of Nicias seized two cities, Cythera and Nisaea; and they reduced Melos by siege, slew all the males from the youth upward, and sold into slavery the children and women. Such were the affairs of the Greeks in this year. In Italy the Fidenates, when ambassadors came to their city from Rome, put them to death for trifling reasons. Incensed at such an act, the Romans voted to go to war, and mobilizing a strong army they appointed Anius Aemilius Dictator and with him, following their custom, Aulus Cornelius Master of Horse. Aemilius, after making all the preparations for the war, marched with his army against the Fidenates. And when the Fidenates drew up their forces to oppose the Romans, a fierce battle ensued which continued a long time; heavy losses were incurred on both sides and the conflict was indecisive.
§ 12.81
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησιν Εὐφήμου ἐν Ῥώμῃ κατεστάθησαν ἀντὶ τῶν ὑπάτων χιλίαρχοι Λεύκιος Φούριος, Λεύκιος Κοΐντιος, Αὖλος Σεμπρώνιος. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Λακεδαιμόνιοι μετὰ τῶν συμμάχων στρατεύσαντες εἰς τὴν Ἀργείαν Ὑσιὰς χωρίον εἷλον, καὶ τοὺς ἐνοικοῦντας ἀποκτείναντες τὸ μὲν φρούριον κατέσκαψαν, αὐτοὶ δὲ πυθόμενοι τοὺς Ἀργείους ᾠκοδομηκέναι τὰ μακρὰ τείχη μέχρι τῆς θαλάττης, ἐπελθόντες τὰ κατεσκευασμένα τείχη κατέσκαψαν, καὶ τὴν εἰς τὴν οἰκείαν ἐπάνοδον ἐποιήσαντο. Ἀθηναῖοι δʼ ἑλόμενοι στρατηγὸν Ἀλκιβιάδην, καὶ δόντες αὐτῷ ναῦς εἴκοσι, προσέταξαν συγκατασκευάσαι τοῖς Ἀργείοις τὰ κατὰ τὴν πολιτείαν· ἔτι γὰρ ἦσαν ἐν ταραχαῖς διὰ τὸ πολλοὺς ὑπολελεῖφθαι τῶν τὴν ἀριστοκρατίαν αἱρουμένων. ὁ δʼ οὖν Ἀλκιβιάδης καταντήσας εἰς τὴν τῶν Ἀργείων πόλιν, καὶ συνεδρεύσας μετὰ τῶν τὴν δημοκρατίαν προκρινόντων, ἐπέλεξε τῶν Ἀργείων τοὺς μάλιστα δοκοῦντας τὰ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων αἱρεῖσθαι· μεταστησάμενος δὲ τούτους ἐκ τῆς πόλεως, καὶ συγκατασκευάσας βεβαίως τὴν δημοκρατίαν, ἀπέπλευσεν εἰς τὰς Ἀθήνας. τούτου δὲ τοῦ ἔτους λήγοντος Λακεδαιμόνιοι μετὰ πολλῆς δυνάμεως ἐμβαλόντες εἰς τὴν Ἀργείαν, καὶ πολλὴν τῆς χώρας δῃώσαντες, τοὺς φυγάδας τῶν Ἀργείων κατῴκισαν εἰς Ὀρνεάς· ἐπιτειχίσαντες δὲ τοῦτο τὸ χωρίον ἐπὶ τῆς Ἀργείας, καὶ φρουροὺς τοὺς ἱκανοὺς ἀπολιπόντες, προσέταξαν κακοποιεῖν τοὺς Ἀργείους. ἀπελθόντων δὲ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων ἐκ τῆς Ἀργείας, Ἀθηναῖοι μὲν συμμαχίαν ἐξέπεμψαν τοῖς Ἀργείοις τριήρεις τετταράκοντα, ὁπλίτας δὲ χιλίους καὶ διακοσίους· οἱ δʼ Ἀργεῖοι μετὰ τῶν Ἀθηναίων στρατεύσαντες ἐπὶ τὰς Ὀρνεὰς τήν τε πόλιν κατὰ κράτος εἷλον καὶ τῶν φρουρῶν καὶ φυγάδων οὓς μὲν ἀπέκτειναν, οὓς δʼ ἐξέβαλον ἐκ τῶν Ὀρνεῶν. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἐπράχθη κατὰ τὸ πεντεκαιδέκατον ἔτος τοῦ Πελοποννησιακοῦ πολέμου.
When Euphemus was archon in Athens, in Rome in place of consuls military tribunes were elected, Lucius Furius, Lucius Quinctius, and Aulus Sempronius. In this year the Lacedemonians and their allies took the field against Argolis and captured the stronghold of Hysiae, and slaying the inhabitants they razed the fortress to the ground; and when they learned that the Argives had completed the construction of the long walls clear to the sea, they advanced there, razed the walls that had been finished, and then made their way back home. The Athenians chose Alcibiades general, and giving him twenty ships commanded him to assist the Argives in establishing the affairs of their government; for conditions were still unsettled among them because many still remained of those who preferred the aristocracy. So when Alcibiades had arrived at the city of the Argives and had consulted with the supporters of the democracy, he selected those Argives who were considered to be the strongest adherents of the Lacedemonian cause; these he removed from the city, and when he had assisted in establishing the democracy on a firm basis, he sailed back to Athens. Toward the end of the year the Lacedemonians invaded Argolis with a strong force, and after ravaging a large part of the country they settled the exiles from Argos in Orneae; this place they fortified as a stronghold against Argolis, and leaving in it a strong garrison, they ordered it to harass the Argives. But when the Lacedemonians had withdrawn from Argolis, the Athenians dispatched to the Argives a supporting force of forty triremes and twelve hundred hoplites. The Argives then advanced against Orneae together with the Athenians and took the city by storm, and of the garrison and exiles some they put to death and others they expelled from Orneae. These, then, were the events of the fifteenth year of the Peloponnesian War.
§ 12.82
τῷ δʼ ἑκκαιδεκάτῳ παρὰ μὲν Ἀθηναίοις ἦν ἄρχων Ἀρίμνηστος, ἐν Ῥώμῃ δʼ ἀντὶ τῶν ὑπάτων χιλίαρχοι κατεστάθησαν τέτταρες, Τίτος Κλαύδιος καὶ Σπόριος Ναύτιος, ἔτι δὲ Λούκιος Σέντιος καὶ Σέξτος Ἰούλιος. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων παρὰ μὲν Ἠλείοις ἤχθη Ὀλυμπιὰς πρώτη πρὸς ταῖς ἐνενήκοντα, καθʼ ἣν ἐνίκα στάδιον Ἐξαίνετος Ἀκραγαντῖνος. Βυζάντιοι δὲ καὶ Καλχηδόνιοι παραλαβόντες Θρᾷκας ἐστράτευσαν εἰς τὴν Βιθυνίαν πολλοῖς πλήθεσι, καὶ τήν τε χώραν ἐπόρθησαν καὶ πολλὰ τῶν μικρῶν πολισματίων ἐκπολιορκήσαντες ἐπετελέσαντο πράξεις ὠμότητι διαφερούσας· πολλῶν γὰρ αἰχμαλώτων κρατήσαντες ἀνδρῶν τε καὶ γυναικῶν καὶ παίδων ἅπαντας ἀπέσφαξαν. περὶ δὲ τοὺς αὐτοὺς χρόνους κατὰ τὴν Σικελίαν Ἐγεσταῖοι πρὸς Σελινουντίους ἐπολέμησαν περὶ χώρας ἀμφισβητησίμου, ποταμοῦ τὴν χώραν τῶν διαφερομένων πόλεων ὁρίζοντος. Σελινούντιοι δὲ διαβάντες τὸ ῥεῖθρον τὸ μὲν πρῶτον τῆς παραποταμίας βίᾳ κατέσχον, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα καὶ τῆς προσκειμένης χώρας πολλὴν ἀποτεμόμενοι κατεφρόνησαν τῶν ἠδικημένων. οἱ δʼ Ἐγεσταῖοι παροξυνθέντες τὸ μὲν πρῶτον διὰ τῶν λόγων πείθειν ἐπεβάλοντο μὴ ἐπιβαίνειν τῆς ἀλλοτρίας γῆς· ὡς δὲ οὐδεὶς αὐτοῖς προσεῖχεν, ἐστράτευσαν ἐπὶ τοὺς κατέχοντας τὴν χώραν, καὶ πάντας ἐκβαλόντες ἐκ τῶν ἀγρῶν αὐτοὶ τὴν χώραν κατέσχον. γενομένης δὲ διαφορᾶς μεγάλης ἀμφοτέραις ταῖς πόλεσι, στρατιώτας ἀθροίσαντες διὰ τῶν ὅπλων ἐποιοῦντο τὴν κρίσιν. διόπερ ἀμφοτέρων παραταξαμένων ἐγένετο μάχη καρτερά, καθʼ ἣν Σελινούντιοι νικήσαντες ἀπέκτειναν τῶν Ἐγεσταίων οὐκ ὀλίγους. οἱ δʼ Ἐγεσταῖοι ταπεινωθέντες καὶ καθʼ ἑαυτοὺς οὐκ ὄντες ἀξιόμαχοι, τὸ μὲν πρῶτον Ἀκραγαντίνους καὶ Συρακοσίους ἔπειθον συμμαχῆσαι· ἀποτυχόντες δὲ τούτων ἐξέπεμψαν πρεσβευτὰς εἰς τὴν Καρχηδόνα, δεόμενοι βοηθῆσαι· οὐ προσεχόντων δʼ αὐτῶν, ἐζήτουν τινὰ διαπόντιον συμμαχίαν· οἷς συνήργησε ταὐτόματον.
In the sixteenth year of the War Arimnestus was archon among the Athenians, and in Rome in place of consuls four military tribunes were elected, Titus Claudius, Spurius Nautius, Lucius Sentius, and Sextus Julius. And in this year among the Eleians the Ninety-first Olympiad was celebrated, that in which Exaenetus of Acragas won the "stadion." The Byzantines and Chalcedonians, accompanied by Thracians, made war in great force against Bithynia, plundered the land, reduced by siege many of the small settlements, and performed deeds of exceeding cruelty; for of the many prisoners they took, both men and women and children, they put all to the sword. About the same time in Sicily war broke out between the Egestaeans and the Selinuntians from a difference over territory, where a river divided the lands of the quarrelling cities. The Selinuntians, crossing the stream, at first seized by force the land along the river, but later they cut off for their own a large piece of the adjoining territory, utterly disregarding the rights of the injured parties. The people of Egesta, aroused to anger, at first endeavoured to persuade them by verbal arguments not to trespass on the territory of another city; however, when no one paid any attention to them, they advanced with an army against those who held the territory, expelled them all from their fields, and themselves seized the land. Since the quarrel between the two cities had become serious, the two parties, having mustered soldiers, sought to bring about the decision by recourse to arms. Consequently, when both forces were drawn up in battle-order, a fierce battle took place in which the Selinuntians were the victors, having slain not a few Egestaeans. Since the Egestaeans had been humbled and were not strong enough of themselves to offer battle, they at first tried to induce the Acragantini and the Syracusans to enter into an alliance with them. Failing in this, they sent ambassadors to Carthage to beseech its aid. And when the Carthaginians would not listen to them, they looked about for some alliance overseas; and in this, chance came to their aid.
§ 12.83
Λεοντίνων γὰρ ὑπὸ Συρακοσίων ἐκ τῆς πόλεως μετῳκισμένων καὶ τὴν πόλιν καὶ τὴν χώραν ἀποβεβληκότων, οἱ φυγάδες αὐτῶν συστραφέντες ἔκριναν πάλιν τοὺς Ἀθηναίους προσλαβέσθαι συμμάχους, ὄντας συγγενεῖς. περὶ δὲ τούτων κοινολογησάμενοι τοῖς Ἐγεσταίοις συνεφρόνησαν καὶ κοινῇ πρέσβεις ἐξέπεμψαν πρὸς Ἀθηναίους, ἀξιοῦντες μὲν βοηθῆσαι ταῖς πόλεσιν αὐτῶν ἀδικουμέναις, ἐπαγγειλάμενοι δὲ συγκατασκευάσειν αὐτοῖς τὰ κατὰ τὴν Σικελίαν πράγματα. παραγενομένων οὖν εἰς τὰς Ἀθήνας τῶν πρέσβεων, καὶ τῶν μὲν Λεοντίνων τὴν συγγένειαν προφερομένων καὶ τὴν προϋπάρχουσαν συμμαχίαν, τῶν δʼ Ἐγεσταίων ἐπαγγελλομένων χρημάτων τε πλῆθος δώσειν εἰς τὸν πόλεμον καὶ συμμαχήσειν κατὰ τῶν Συρακοσίων, ἔδοξε τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις ἐκπέμψαι τινὰς τῶν ἀρίστων ἀνδρῶν καὶ διασκέψασθαι τὰ κατὰ τὴν νῆσον καὶ τοὺς Ἐγεσταίους. παραγενομένων οὖν τούτων εἰς τὴν Ἔγεσταν, οἱ μὲν Ἐγεσταῖοι χρημάτων πλῆθος ἐπέδειξαν, τὰ μὲν οἴκοθεν,τὰ δὲ παρὰ τῶν ἀστυγειτόνων χρησάμενοι φαντασίας ἕνεκεν. ἀνελθόντων δὲ τῶν πρέσβεων καὶ τὴν εὐπορίαν τῶν Ἐγεσταίων ἀπαγγειλάντων, συνῆλθεν ὁ δῆμος περὶ τούτων. προτεθείσης δὲ τῆς βουλῆς περὶ τοῦ στρατεύειν ἐπὶ Σικελίαν, Νικίας μὲν ὁ Νικηράτου, θαυμαζόμενος ἐπʼ ἀρετῇ παρὰ τοῖς πολίταις, συνεβούλευε μὴ στρατεύειν ἐπὶ Σικελίαν· μὴ γὰρ δυνατὸν ὑπάρχειν ἅμα τε Λακεδαιμονίοις διαπολεμεῖν καὶ δυνάμεις μεγάλας ἐκπέμπειν διαποντίους, καὶ τῶν Ἑλλήνων μὴ δυναμένους κτήσασθαι τὴν ἡγεμονίαν ἐλπίζειν τὴν μεγίστην τῶν κατὰ τὴν οἰκουμένην νήσων περιποιήσασθαι, καὶ Καρχηδονίους μέν, ἔχοντας μεγίστην ἡγεμονίαν καὶ πολλάκις ὑπὲρ τῆς Σικελίας πεπολεμηκότας, μὴ δεδυνῆσθαι κρατῆσαι τῆς νήσου, τοὺς δὲ Ἀθηναίους, πολὺ λειπομένους τῇ δυνάμει τῶν Καρχηδονίων, δορίκτητον ποιήσασθαι τὴν κρατίστην τῶν νήσων.
Now since the Leontines had been forced by the Syracusans to leave their city and their territory, those of them who were living in exile got together and decided once more to take the Athenians, who were their kinsmen, as allies. When they had conferred with the Egestaeans on the matter and come to an agreement, the two cities jointly dispatched ambassadors to Athens, asking the Athenians to come to the aid of their cities, which were victims of ill treatment, and promising to assist the Athenians in establishing order in the affairs of Sicily. When, now, the ambassadors had arrived in Athens, and the Leontines stressed their kinship and the former alliance and the Egestaeans promised to contribute a large sum of money for the war and also to fight as an ally against the Syracusans, the Athenians voted to send some of their foremost men and to investigate the situation on the island and among the Egestaeans. When these men arrived at Egesta, the Egestaeans showed them a great sum of money which they had borrowed partly from their own citizens and partly from neighbouring peoples for the sake of making a good show. And when the envoys had returned and reported on the wealth of the Egestaeans, a meeting of the people was convened to consider the matter. When the proposal was introduced to dispatch an expedition to Sicily, Nicias the son of Niceratus, a man who enjoyed the respect of his fellow citizens for his uprightness, counselled against the expedition to Sicily. They were in no position, he declared, at the same time both to carry on a war against the Lacedemonians and to send great armaments overseas; and so long as they were unable to secure their supremacy over the Greeks, how could they hope to subdue the greatest island in the inhabited world? even the Carthaginians, he added, who possessed a most extensive empire and had waged war many times to gain Sicily, had not been able to subdue the island, and the Athenians, whose military power was far less than that of the Carthaginians, could not possibly win by the spear and acquire the most powerful of the islands.
§ 12.84
πολλὰ δὲ καὶ ἄλλα διαλεχθέντος αὐτοῦ τῆς προκειμένης ὑποθέσεως οἰκεῖα, τῆς ἐναντίας γνώμης προεστηκὼς Ἀλκιβιάδης, ἐπιφανέστατος Ἀθηναίων, ἔπεισε τὸν δῆμον ἐπανελέσθαι τὸν πόλεμον· ἦν γὰρ ὁ ἀνὴρ οὗτος δεινότατος μὲν εἰπεῖν τῶν πολιτῶν, εὐγενείᾳ δὲ καὶ πλούτῳ καὶ στρατηγίᾳ διωνομασμένος. εὐθὺς οὖν ὁ δῆμος στόλον ἀξιόχρεων κατεσκεύασε, τριάκοντα μὲν τριήρεις παρὰ τῶν συμμάχων λαβών, ἰδίας δʼ ἑκατὸν καταρτίσας. ταύτας δὲ κοσμήσας πᾶσι τοῖς εἰς πόλεμον χρησίμοις κατέλεξεν ὁπλίτας εἰς πεντακισχιλίους, στρατηγοὺς δὲ τρεῖς ἐχειροτόνησεν ἐπὶ ταύτην τὴν στρατηγίαν, Ἀλκιβιάδην καὶ Νικίαν καὶ Λάμαχον. Ἀθηναῖοι μὲν οὖν περὶ ταῦτα ἦσαν. ἡμεῖς δὲ παρόντες ἐπὶ τὴν ἀρχὴν τοῦ πολέμου τοῦ συστάντος Ἀθηναίοις καὶ Συρακοσίοις, κατὰ τὴν ἐν ἀρχῇ πρόθεσιν τὰς ἑπομένας πράξεις εἰς τὴν ἐχομένην βίβλον κατατάξομεν.
After Nicias had set forth these and many other considerations appropriate to the proposal before the people, Alcibiades, who was the principal advocate of the opposite view and a most prominent Athenian, persuaded the people to enter upon the war; for this man was the ablest orator among the citizens and was widely known for his high birth, wealth, and skill as a general. At once, then, the people got ready a strong fleet, taking thirty triremes from their allies and equipping one hundred of their own. And when they had fitted these ships out with every kind of equipment that is useful in war, they enrolled some five thousand hoplites and elected three generals, Alcibiades, Nicias, and Lamachus, to be in charge of the campaign. Such were the matters with which the Athenians were occupied. And as for us, since we are now at the beginning of the war between the Athenians and the Syracusans, pursuant to the plan we announced at the beginning of this Book we shall assign to the next Book the events which follow.
— Book 13 —
§ 13.arg
τάδʼ ἔνεστιν ἐν τῇ τρισκαιδεκάτῃ τῶν Διοδώρου βύβλων. στρατεία Ἀθηναίων ἐπὶ Συρακοσίους μεγάλαις δυνάμεσι πεζικαῖς τε καὶ ναυτικαῖς. κατάπλους Ἀθηναίων εἰς Σικελίαν. κατάκλησις Ἀλκιβιάδου τοῦ στρατηγοῦ καὶ φυγὴ εἰς Λακεδαίμονα. ὡς Ἀθηναῖοι διαπλεύσαντες εἰς τὸν μέγαν λιμένα τῶν Συρακοσίων κατελάβοντο τοὺς περὶ τὸ Ὀλύμπιον τόπους. ὡς Ἀθηναῖοι τὰς Ἐπιπολὰς καταλαβόμενοι καὶ μάχῃ νικήσαντες ἐξ ἀμφοτέρων τῶν μερῶν ἐπολιόρκησαν τὰς Συρακούσας. ὡς Λακεδαιμονίων καὶ Κορινθίων πεμψάντων βοήθειαν ἐθάρρησαν οἱ Συρακόσιοι. μάχη Συρακοσίων καὶ Ἀθηναίων καὶ νίκη Ἀθηναίων μεγάλη. μάχη τοῖς αὐτοῖς καὶ νίκη Συρακοσίων. ὡς Συρακόσιοι τῶν Ἐπιπολῶν κρατήσαντες ἠνάγκασαν τοὺς Ἀθηναίους εἰς μίαν ἐλθεῖν παρεμβολὴν τὴν πρὸς τῷ Ὀλυμπίῳ. ὡς ναυτικὴν δύναμιν οἱ Συρακόσιοι κατασκευάσαντες ναυμαχεῖν διέγνωσαν. ὡς Ἀθηναῖοι Λαμάχου τοῦ στρατηγοῦ τελευτήσαντος καὶ Ἀλκιβιάδου μετακληθέντος, ἀντὶ τούτων στρατηγοὺς ἔπεμψαν Εὐρυμέδοντα καὶ Δημοσθένην ἔχοντας δύναμιν καὶ χρήματα. διάλυσις σπονδῶν ὑπὸ Λακεδαιμονίων καὶ πόλεμος πρὸς Ἀθηναίους ὁ Πελοποννησιακὸς λεγόμενος. ναυμαχία Συρακοσίων καὶ Ἀθηναίων καὶ νίκη Ἀθηναίων, καὶ ἅλωσις φρουρίων ὑπὸ Συρακοσίων καὶ κατὰ γῆν νίκη. ναυμαχία πάσαις ταῖς ναυσὶν ἐν τῷ μεγάλῳ λιμένι καὶ νίκη Συρακοσίων. κατάπλους ἐξ Ἀθηνῶν Δημοσθένους καὶ Εὐρυμέδοντος μετὰ δυνάμεως ἀξιολόγου. μάχη μεγάλη περὶ τὰς Ἐπιπολὰς καὶ νίκη Συρακοσίων. δρασμὸς τῶν Ἀθηναίων καὶ ἅλωσις τῆς πάσης δυνάμεως. ὡς Συρακόσιοι συνελθόντες εἰς ἐκκλησίαν προέθηκαν βουλήν, πῶς χρηστέον τοῖς αἰχμαλώτοις. οἱ ῥηθέντες λόγοι πρὸς ἑκάτερον μέρος τῆς ὑποθέσεως. τὰ ψηφισθέντα τοῖς Συρακοσίοις περὶ τῶν αἰχμαλώτων. ὡς Ἀθηναίων πταισάντων περὶ Σικελίαν πολλοὶ τῶν συμμάχων ἀπέστησαν. ὡς ὁ δῆμος τῶν Ἀθηναίων ἀθυμήσας παρεχώρησε τῆς δημοκρατίας καὶ τετρακοσίοις ἀνδράσι τὴν πολιτείαν ἐπέτρεψαν. ὡς Λακεδαιμόνιοι ταῖς ναυμαχίαις τοὺς Ἀθηναίους ἐνίκησαν. ὡς Συρακόσιοι τοὺς ἀνδραγαθήσαντας κατὰ τὸν πόλεμον ἀξιολόγοις δωρεαῖς ἐτίμησαν. ὡς Διοκλῆς νομοθέτης αἱρεθεὶς ἔγραψε τοὺς νόμους Συρακοσίοις. ὡς Συρακόσιοι τοῖς Λακεδαιμονίοις δύναμιν ἀξιόλογον ἔπεμψαν. ὡς Ἀθηναῖοι τὸν τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων ναύαρχον καταναυμαχήσαντες Κύζικον ἐξεπολιόρκησαν. ὡς Λακεδαιμονίων ἐξ Εὐβοίας πεντήκοντα ναῦς ἀποστειλάντων ἐπὶ βοήθειαν τοῖς ἡττημένοις, ἅπασαι περὶ τὸν Ἄθω μετὰ τῶν ἀνδρῶν διεφθάρησαν ὑπὸ τοῦ χειμῶνος. Ἀλκιβιάδου κάθοδος καὶ στρατηγία. πόλεμος Αἰγεσταίοις καὶ Σελινουντίοις περὶ τῆς ἀμφισβητουμένης χώρας. ὡς Λακεδαιμόνιοι τὸν Εὔριπον χώσαντες τὴν Εὔβοιαν ἤπειρον ἐποίησαν. περὶ τῆς ἐν Κορκύρᾳ γενομένης στάσεως καὶ σφαγῆς. ναυμαχία Ἀθηναίων καὶ Λακεδαιμονίων περὶ τὸ Σίγειον καὶ νίκη Ἀθηναίων. ὡς Ἀλκιβιάδης καὶ Θηραμένης ἐνίκησαν Λακεδαιμονίους ἅμα πεζῇ καὶ κατὰ θάλατταν ἐπιφανέστατα. ὡς Καρχηδόνιοι μεγάλας δυνάμεις διαβιβάσαντες ἐν Σικελίᾳ Σελινοῦντα καὶ Ἱμέραν κατὰ κράτος εἷλον. ὡς εἰς τὸν Πειραιέα καταπλεύσας μετὰ πολλῶν λαφύρων μεγάλης ἔτυχεν ἀποδοχῆς Ἀλκιβιάδης. ὡς Ἆγις ὁ βασιλεὺς μεγάλῃ δυνάμει τὰς Ἀθήνας πολιορκεῖν ἐπιβαλόμενος ἐξέπεσεν. Ἀλκιβιάδου φυγή, καὶ κτίσις Θέρμων ἐν Σικελίᾳ. ναυμαχία Συρακοσίων πρὸς Καρχηδονίους καὶ νίκη Συρακοσίων. περὶ τῆς ἐν Ἀκράγαντι εὐδαιμονίας καὶ τῶν ἐν αὐτῇ κατασκευασμάτων. ὡς Καρχηδόνιοι τριάκοντα μυριάσι στρατεύσαντες εἰς Σικελίαν ἐπολιόρκησαν Ἀκράγαντα. ὡς Συρακόσιοι παραλαβόντες τοὺς συμμάχους μυρίοις στρατιώταις ἐβοήθουν τοῖς Ἀκραγαντίνοις. ὡς τετρακισμυρίων Καρχηδονίων ἀπαντησάντων ἐνίκησαν οἱ Συρακόσιοι καὶ πλείους τῶν ἑξακισχιλίων κατέκοψαν. ὡς Καρχηδονίων τὰς ἀγορὰς παραιρουμένων οἱ Ἀκραγαντῖνοι διὰ τὴν σπάνιν τῆς τροφῆς ἠναγκάσθησαν ἐκλιπεῖν τὴν πατρίδα. ὡς Διονύσιος στρατηγὸς αἱρεθεὶς ἐτυράννησε τῶν Συρακοσίων. ὡς Ἀθηναῖοι ἐν Ἀργινούσαις ἐπιφανεστάτῃ ναυμαχίᾳ νικήσαντες τοὺς στρατηγοὺς ἀδίκως ἐθανάτωσαν. ὡς Ἀθηναῖοι μεγάλῃ ναυμαχίᾳ λειφθέντες ἠναγκάσθησαν ἐφʼ οἷς δυνατὸν ἦν συνθέσθαι τὴν εἰρήνην, καὶ οὕτως ὁ Πελοποννησιακὸς πόλεμος κατελύθη. ὡς Καρχηδόνιοι λοιμικῇ νόσῳ περιπεσόντες ἠναγκάσθησαν συνθέσθαι τὴν εἰρήνην πρὸς Διονύσιον τὸν τύραννον.
—
§ 13.1
εἰ μὲν ὅμοια τοῖς ἄλλοις ἱστορίαν ἐπραγματευόμεθα, σχεδὸν ἦν ἐν τῷ προοιμίῳ περί τινων διαλεχθέντας ἐφʼ ὅσον ἦν εὔκαιρον, οὕτως ἐπὶ τὰς συνεχεῖς πράξεις μεταβιβάζειν τὸν λόγον· ὀλίγον γὰρ χρόνον ἀπολαβόντες τῇ γραφῇ, τὴν ἀναστροφὴν ἂν εἴχομεν τὸν ἀπὸ τῶν προοιμίων καρπὸν προσλαμβάνεσθαι· ἐπεὶ δὲ ἐν ὀλίγαις βίβλοις ἐπηγγειλάμεθα μὴ μόνον τὰς πράξεις ἐφʼ ὅσον ἂν δυνώμεθα γράψειν, ἀλλὰ καὶ περιλήψεσθαι χρόνον πλείονα τῶν χιλίων καὶ ἑκατὸν ἐτῶν, ἀναγκαῖόν ἐστι τὸν πολὺν λόγον τῶν προοιμίων παραπέμψαντας ἐπʼ αὐτὰς ἔρχεσθαι τὰς πράξεις, τοῦτο μόνον προειπόντας, ὅτι κατὰ μὲν τὰς προηγουμένας ἓξ βίβλους ἀνεγράψαμεν τὰς ἀπὸ τῶν Τρωικῶν πράξεις ἕως εἰς τὸν ὑπὸ τῶν Ἀθηναίων ψηφισθέντα πόλεμον ἐπὶ Συρακοσίους, εἰς ὃν ἀπὸ Τροίας ἁλώσεως ἐστὶν ἔτη ἑπτακόσια ἑξήκοντα ὀκτώ· ἐν ταύτῃ δὲ προσαναπληροῦντες τὸν συνεχῆ χρόνον, ἀρξόμεθα μὲν ἀπὸ τῆς ἐπὶ Συρακοσίους στρατείας, καταλήξομεν δʼ ἐπὶ τὴν ἀρχὴν τοῦ δευτέρου πολέμου Καρχηδονίοις πρὸς Διονύσιον τὸν Συρακοσίων τύραννον.
If we were composing a history after the manner of the other historians, we should, I suppose, discourse upon certain topics at appropriate length in the introduction to each Book and by this means turn our discussion to the events which follow; surely, if we were picking out a brief period of history for our treatise, we should have the time to enjoy the fruit such introductions yield. But since we engaged ourselves in a few Books not only to set forth, to the best of our ability, the events but also to embrace a period of more than eleven hundred years, we must forgo the long discussion which such introductions would involve and come to the events themselves, with only this word by way of preface, namely, that in the preceding six Books we have set down a record of events from the Trojan War to the war which the Athenians by decree of the people declared against the Syracusans, the period to this war from the capture of Troy embracing seven hundred and sixty-eight years; and in this book, as we add to our narrative the period next succeeding, we shall commence with the expedition against the Syracusans and stop with the beginning of the second war between the Carthaginians and Dionysius the tyrant of the Syracusans.
§ 13.2
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος γὰρ Ἀθήνησι Χαβρίου Ῥωμαῖοι μὲν ἀντὶ τῶν ὑπάτων κατέστησαν χιλιάρχους τρεῖς, Λεύκιον Σέργιον, Μάρκον Παπίριον, Μάρκον Σερουίλιον. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Ἀθηναῖοι ψηφισάμενοι τὸν πρὸς Συρακοσίους πόλεμον τάς τε ναῦς ἐπεσκεύασαν καὶ χρήματα συναγαγόντες μετὰ πολλῆς σπουδῆς ἅπαντα τὰ πρὸς τὴν στρατείαν παρεσκευάζοντο. ᾑρημένοι δὲ τρεῖς στρατηγούς, Ἀλκιβιάδην, Νικίαν, Λάμαχον, αὐτοκράτορας αὐτοὺς κατέστησαν ἁπάντων τῶν κατὰ τὸν πόλεμον. τῶν δὲ ἰδιωτῶν οἱ ταῖς οὐσίαις εὐποροῦντες τῇ προθυμίᾳ τοῦ δήμου χαρίζεσθαι βουλόμενοι τινὲς μὲν ἰδίας τριήρεις κατεσκεύασαν, τινὲς δὲ χρήματα δώσειν εἰς τὰς τροφὰς τῆς δυνάμεως ἐπηγγέλλοντο· πολλοὶ δὲ καὶ τῶν δημοτικῶν πολιτῶν καὶ ξένων, ἔτι δὲ συμμάχων, ἑκουσίως προσιόντες τοῖς στρατηγοῖς διεκελεύοντο καταγράφειν ἑαυτοὺς εἰς τοὺς στρατιώτας. οὕτως ἅπαντες μεμετεωρισμένοι ταῖς ἐλπίσιν ἐξ ἑτοίμου κατακληρουχεῖν ἤλπιζον τὴν Σικελίαν. ἤδη δὲ τοῦ στόλου παρεσκευασμένου, τοὺς ἑρμᾶς τοὺς κατὰ τὴν πόλιν παμπληθεῖς ὄντας συνέβη ἐν μιᾷ νυκτὶ περικοπῆναι. ὁ μὲν οὖν δῆμος, οὐχ ὑπὸ τῶν τυχόντων νομίσας γεγενῆσθαι τὴν πρᾶξιν, ἀλλʼ ὑπὸ τῶν προεχόντων ταῖς δόξαις ἐπὶ τῇ καταλύσει τῆς δημοκρατίας, ἐμισοπονήρει καὶ τοὺς πράξαντας ἐζήτει μεγάλας δωρεὰς προθεὶς τῷ μηνύσαντι. προσελθὼν δέ τις τῇ βουλῇ τῶν ἰδιωτῶν ἔφησεν εἰς οἰκίαν μετοίκου τινὰς ἑωρακέναι τῇ νουμηνίᾳ περὶ μέσας νύκτας εἰσιόντας, ἐν οἷς καὶ τὸν Ἀλκιβιάδην. ἀνακρινόμενος δʼ ὑπὸ τῆς βουλῆς, πῶς νυκτὸς οὔσης ἐπεγίνωσκε τὰς ὄψεις, ἔφησε πρὸς τὸ τῆς σελήνης φῶς ἑωρακέναι. οὗτος μὲν οὖν αὑτὸν ἐξελέγξας κατεψευσμένος ἠπιστήθη, τῶν δʼ ἄλλων οὐδʼ ἴχνος οὐδεὶς τῆς πράξεως εὑρεῖν ἠδυνήθη. τριήρων μὲν ἑκατὸν τεσσαράκοντα ἑτοιμασμένων, ὁλκάδων δὲ καὶ τῶν ἱππαγωγῶν, ἔτι δὲ τῶν τὸν σῖτον καὶ τὴν ἄλλην παρασκευὴν κομιζόντων πολύς τις ἀριθμὸς ἦν· ὁπλῖται δὲ καὶ σφενδονῆται, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις ἱππεῖς καὶ τῶν συμμάχων πλείους τῶν ἑπτακισχιλίων ἐκτὸς τῶν ἐν τοῖς πληρώμασι. τότε μὲν οὖν οἱ στρατηγοὶ μετὰ τῆς βουλῆς ἐν ἀπορρήτῳ συνεδρεύοντες ἐβουλεύοντο, πῶς χρὴ διοικῆσαι τὰ κατὰ τὴν Σικελίαν, ἐὰν τῆς νήσου κρατήσωσιν. ἔδοξεν οὖν αὐτοῖς Σελινουντίους μὲν καὶ Συρακοσίους ἀνδραποδίσασθαι, τοῖς δʼ ἄλλοις ἁπλῶς τάξαι φόρους, οὓς κατʼ ἐνιαυτὸν οἴσουσιν Ἀθηναίοις.
When Chabrias was archon in Athens, the Romans elected in place of consuls three military tribunes, Lucius Sergius, Marcus Papirius, and Marcus Servilius. This year the Athenians, pursuant to their vote of the war against the Syracusans, got ready the ships, collected the money, and proceeded with great zeal to make every preparation for the campaign. They elected three generals, Alcibiades, Nicias, and Lamachus, and gave them full powers over all matters pertaining to the war. Of the private citizens those who had the means, wishing to indulge the enthusiasm of the populace, in some instances fitted out triremes at their own expense and in others engaged to donate money for the maintenance of the forces; and many, not only from among the citizens and aliens of Athens who favoured the democracy but also from among the allies, voluntarily went to the generals and urged that they be enrolled among the soldier. To such a degree were they all buoyed up in their hopes and looking forward forthwith to portioning out Sicily in allotments. And the expedition was already fully prepared when it came to pass that in a single night the statues of Hermes which stood everywhere throughout the city were mutilated. At this the people, believing that the deed had not been by ordinary persons but by men who stood in high repute and were bent upon the overthrow of the democracy, were incensed at the sacrilege and undertook a search for the perpetrators, offering large rewards to anyone who would furnish information against them. And a certain private citizen, appearing before the Council, stated that he had seen certain men enter the house of an alien about the middle of the night on the first day of the new moon and that one of them was Alcibiades. When he was questioned by the Council and asked how he could recognize the faces at night, he replied that he had seen them by the light of the moon. Since, then, the man had convicted himself of lying, no credence was given to his story, and of other investigators not a man was able to discover a single clue to the deed. One hundred and forty triremes were equipped, and of transports and ships to carry horses as well as ships to convey food and all other equipment there was a huge number; and there were also hoplites and slingers as well as cavalry, and in addition more than seven thousand men from the allies, not including the crews. At this time the generals, sitting in secret session with the Council, discussed what disposition they should make of Sicilian affairs, if they should get control of the island. And it was agreed by them that they would enslave the Selinuntians and Syracusans, but upon the other peoples they would merely lay a tribute severally which they would pay annually to the Athenians.
§ 13.3
τῇ δʼ ὑστεραίᾳ κατέβαινον οἱ στρατηγοὶ μετὰ τῶν στρατιωτῶν εἰς τὸν Πειραιέα, καὶ συνηκολούθει πᾶς ὁ κατὰ τὴν πόλιν ὄχλος ἀναμὶξ ἀστῶν τε καὶ ξένων, ἑκάστου τοὺς ἰδίους συγγενεῖς τε καὶ φίλους προπέμποντος. αἱ μὲν οὖν τριήρεις παρʼ ὅλον τὸν λιμένα παρώρμουν κεκοσμημέναι τοῖς ἐπὶ ταῖς πρῴραις ἐπισήμασι καὶ τῇ λαμπρότητι τῶν ὅπλων· ὁ δὲ κύκλος ἅπας τοῦ λιμένος ἔγεμε θυμιατηρίων καὶ κρατήρων ἀργυρῶν, ἐξ ὧν ἐκπώμασι χρυσοῖς ἔσπενδον οἱ τιμῶντες τὸ θεῖον καὶ προσευχόμενοι κατατυχεῖν τῆς στρατείας. ἀναχθέντες οὖν ἐκ τοῦ Πειραιέως περιέπλευσαν τὴν Πελοπόννησον καὶ κατηνέχθησαν εἰς Κόρκυραν· ἐνταῦθα γὰρ παραμένειν παρήγγελτο καὶ προσαναλαμβάνειν τοὺς παροίκους τῶν συμμάχων. ἐπεὶ δʼ ἅπαντες ἠθροίσθησαν, διαπλεύσαντες τὸν Ἰόνιον πόρον πρὸς ἄκραν Ἰαπυγίαν κατηνέχθησαν, κἀκεῖθεν ἤδη παρελέγοντο τὴν Ἰταλίαν. ὑπὸ μὲν οὖν Ταραντίνων οὐ προσεδέχθησαν, Μεταποντίνους δὲ καὶ Ἡρακλειώτας παρέπλευσαν· εἰς δὲ Θουρίους κατενεχθέντες πάντων ἔτυχον τῶν φιλανθρώπων. ἐκεῖθεν δὲ καταπλεύσαντες εἰς Κρότωνα, καὶ λαβόντες ἀγορὰν παρὰ τῶν Κροτωνιατῶν, τῆς τε Λακινίας Ἥρας τὸ ἱερὸν παρέπλευσαν καὶ τὴν Διοσκουριάδα καλουμένην ἄκραν ὑπερέθεντο. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τὸ καλούμενόν τε Σκυλλήτιον καὶ Λοκροὺς παρήλλαξαν, καὶ τοῦ Ῥηγίου καθορμισθέντες ἐγγὺς ἔπειθον τοὺς Ῥηγίνους συμμαχεῖν· οἱ δὲ ἀπεκρίναντο βουλεύσεσθαι μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων Ἰταλιωτῶν.
On the next day the generals together with the soldiers went down to the Peiraeus, and the entire populace of the city, citizens and aliens thronging together, accompanied them, everyone bidding godspeed to his own kinsmen and friends. The triremes lay at anchor over the whole harbour, embellished with their insignia on the bows and the gleam of their armour; and the whole circumference of the harbour was filled with censers and silver mixing-bowls, from which the people poured libations with golden cups, paying honour to the gods and beseeching them to grant success to the expedition Now after leaving the Peiraeus they sailed around the Peloponnesus and put in at Corcyra, since they were under orders to wait at that place and add to their forces the allies in that region. And when they had all been assembled, they sailed across the Ionian Strait and came to land on the tip of Iapygia, from where they skirted along the coast of Italy. 4 They were not received by the Tarantini, and they also sailed on past the Metapontines and Heracleians; but when they put in at Thurii they were accorded every kind of courtesy. From there they sailed on to Croton, from whose inhabitants they got a market, and then they sailed on past the temple of Hera Lacinia and doubled the promontory known as Dioscurias. 5 After this they passed by Scylletium, as it is called, and Locri, and dropping anchor near Rhegium they endeavoured to persuade the Rhegians to become their allies; but the Rhegians replied that they would consult with the other Greek cities of Italy.
§ 13.4
Συρακόσιοι δʼ ἀκούσαντες ἐπὶ τοῦ πορθμοῦ τὰς δυνάμεις εἶναι τῶν Ἀθηναίων, στρατηγοὺς κατέστησαν αὐτοκράτορας τρεῖς, Ἑρμοκράτην, Σικανόν, Ἡρακλείδην, οἳ τοὺς στρατιώτας κατέγραφον καὶ πρέσβεις ἐπὶ τὰς κατὰ Σικελίαν πόλεις ἀπέστελλον, δεόμενοι τῆς κοινῆς σωτηρίας ἀντιλαμβάνεσθαι· τοὺς γὰρ Ἀθηναίους τῷ μὲν λόγῳ πρὸς Συρακοσίους ἐνίστασθαι τὸν πόλεμον, τῇ δʼ ἀληθείᾳ καταστρέψασθαι βουλομένους ὅλην τὴν νῆσον. Ἀκραγαντῖνοι μὲν οὖν καὶ Νάξιοι συμμαχήσειν ἔφησαν Ἀθηναίοις, Καμαριναῖοι δὲ καὶ Μεσσήνιοι τὴν μὲν εἰρήνην ἄξειν ὡμολόγησαν, τὰς δʼ ὑπὲρ τῆς συμμαχίας ἀποκρίσεις ἀνεβάλοντο· Ἱμεραῖοι δὲ καὶ Σελινούντιοι, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις Γελῷοι καὶ Καταναῖοι, συναγωνιεῖσθαι τοῖς Συρακοσίοις ἐπηγγείλαντο. αἱ δὲ τῶν Σικελῶν πόλεις τῇ μὲν εὐνοίᾳ πρὸς Συρακοσίους ἔρρεπον, ὅμως δʼ ἐν ἡσυχίᾳ μένουσαι τὸ συμβησόμενον ἐκαραδόκουν. τῶν δʼ Αἰγεσταίων οὐχ ὁμολογούντων δώσειν πλέον τῶν τριάκοντα ταλάντων, οἱ στρατηγοὶ τῶν Ἀθηναίων ἐγκαλέσαντες αὐτοῖς ἀνήχθησαν ἐκ Ῥηγίου μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως, καὶ κατέπλευσαν τῆς Σικελίας εἰς Νάξον. δεξαμένων δʼ αὐτοὺς τῶν ἐν τῇ πόλει φιλοφρόνως, παρέπλευσαν ἐκεῖθεν εἰς Κατάνην. τῶν δὲ Καταναίων εἰς μὲν τὴν πόλιν οὐ δεχομένων τοὺς στρατιώτας, τοὺς δὲ στρατηγοὺς ἐασάντων εἰσελθεῖν καὶ παρασχομένων ἐκκλησίαν, οἱ στρατηγοὶ τῶν Ἀθηναίων περὶ συμμαχίας διελέγοντο. δημηγοροῦντος δὲ τοῦ Ἀλκιβιάδου τῶν στρατιωτῶν τινες διελόντες πυλίδα παρεισέπεσον εἰς τὴν πόλιν· διʼ ἣν αἰτίαν ἠναγκάσθησαν οἱ Καταναῖοι κοινωνεῖν τοῦ κατὰ τῶν Συρακοσίων πολέμου.
When the Syracusans heard that the Athenian armaments were at the Strait, they appointed three generals with supreme power, Hermocrates, Sicanus, and Heracleides, who enrolled soldiers and dispatched ambassadors to the cities of Sicily, urging them to do their share in the cause of their common liberty; for the Athenians, they pointed out, while beginning the war, as they alleged, upon the Syracusans, were in fact intent upon subduing the entire island. Now the Acragantini and Naxians declared that they would ally themselves with the Athenians; the Camarinaeans and Messenians gave assurances that they would maintain the peace, while postponing a reply to the request for an alliance; but the Himeraeans, Selinuntians, Geloans, and Catanaeans promised that they would fight at the side of the Syracusans. The cities of the Siceli, while tending to be favourably inclined toward the Syracusans, nevertheless remained neutral, awaiting the outcome. After the Aegestaeans had refused to give more than thirty talents, the Athenian generals, having remonstrated with them, put out to sea from Rhegium with their force and sailed to Naxos in Sicily. They were kindly received by the inhabitants of this city and sailed on from there to Catane. Although the Catanaeans would not receive the soldiers into the city, they allowed the generals to enter and summoned an assembly of the citizens, and the Athenian generals presented their proposal for an alliance. But while Alcibiades was addressing the assembly, some of the soldiers burst open a postern-gate and broke into the city. It was by this cause that the Catanaeans were forced to join in the war against the Syracusans.
§ 13.5
τούτων δὲ πραττομένων οἱ κατὰ τὴν ἰδίαν ἔχθραν μισοῦντες τὸν Ἀλκιβιάδην ἐν Ἀθήναις, πρόφασιν ἔχοντες τὴν τῶν ἀγαλμάτων περικοπήν, διέβαλον αὐτὸν ἐν ταῖς δημηγορίαις ὡς συνωμοσίαν κατὰ τοῦ δήμου πεποιημένον. συνελάβετο δʼ αὐτῶν ταῖς διαβολαῖς τὸ πραχθὲν παρὰ τοῖς Ἀργείοις· οἱ γὰρ ἰδιόξενοι συνθέμενοι καταλῦσαι τὴν ἐν Ἄργει δημοκρατίαν πάντες ὑπὸ τῶν πολιτῶν ἀνῃρέθησαν. πιστεύσας οὖν ὁ δῆμος ταῖς κατηγορίαις, καὶ δεινῶς ὑπὸ τῶν δημαγωγῶν παροξυνθείς, ἀπέστειλε τὴν Σαλαμινίαν ναῦν εἰς Σικελίαν, κελεύων τὴν ταχίστην ἥκειν Ἀλκιβιάδην ἐπὶ τὴν κρίσιν. παραγενομένης οὖν τῆς νεὼς εἰς τὴν Κατάνην, Ἀλκιβιάδης, ἀκούσας τῶν πρέσβεων τὰ δόξαντα τῷ δήμῳ,τοὺς συνδιαβεβλημένους ἀναλαβὼν εἰς τὴν ἰδίαν τριήρη μετὰ τῆς Σαλαμινίας ἐξέπλευσεν. ἐπεὶ δʼ εἰς Θουρίους κατέπλευσεν, εἴτε καὶ συνειδὼς αὑτῷ τὴν ἀσέβειαν ὁ Ἀλκιβιάδης εἴτε καὶ φοβηθεὶς τὸ μέγεθος τοῦ κινδύνου, μετὰ τῶν συνδιαβεβλημένων διαδρὰς ἐκποδὼν ἐχωρίσθη. οἱ δʼ ἐν τῇ Σαλαμινίᾳ νηὶ παραγενόμενοι τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἐζήτουν τοὺς περὶ τὸν Ἀλκιβιάδην· ὡς δʼ οὐχ εὕρισκον, ἀποπλεύσαντες εἰς Ἀθήνας ἀπήγγειλαν τῷ δήμῳ τὰ πεπραγμένα. οἱ μὲν οὖν Ἀθηναῖοι παραδόντες δικαστηρίῳ τοῦ τε Ἀλκιβιάδου καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν συμφυγόντων τὰ ὀνόματα δίκην ἐρήμην κατεδίκασαν θανάτου. ὁ δʼ Ἀλκιβιάδης ἐκ τῆς Ἰταλίας διαπλεύσας ἐπὶ Πελοπόννησον ἔφυγεν εἰς Σπάρτην, καὶ τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους παρώξυνεν ἐπιθέσθαι τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις.
While these events were taking place, those in Athens who hated Alcibiades with a personal enmity, possessing now an excuse in the mutilation of the statues, accused him in speeches before the Assembly of having formed a conspiracy against the democracy. Their charges gained colour from an incident that had taken place among the Argives; for private friends of his in that city had agreed together to destroy the democracy in Argos, but they had all been put to death by the citizens. Accordingly the people, having given credence to the accusations and having had their feelings deeply aroused by their demagogues, dispatched their ship, the Salaminia, to Sicily with orders for Alcibiades to return with all speed to face trial. When the ship arrived at Catane and Alcibiades learned of the decision of the people from the ambassadors, he took the others who had been accused together with him aboard his own trireme and sailed away in company with the Salaminia. But when he had put in at Thurii, Alcibiades, either because he was privy to the deed of impiety or because he was alarmed at the seriousness of the danger which threatened him, made his escape together with the other accused men and got away. The ambassadors who had come on the Salaminia at first set up a hunt for Alcibiades, but when they could not find him, they sailed back to Athens and reported to the people what had taken place. Accordingly the Athenians brought the names of Alcibiades and the other fugitives with him before a court of justice and condemned them in default to death. And Alcibiades made his way across from Italy to the Peloponnesus, where he took refuge in Sparta and spurred on the Lacedemonians to attack the Athenians.
§ 13.6
οἱ δʼ ἐν Σικελίᾳ στρατηγοὶ μετὰ τῆς τῶν Ἀθηναίων δυνάμεως παραπλεύσαντες εἰς Αἴγεσταν, Ὕκκαρα μὲν Σικελικὸν πολισμάτιον ἑλόντες ἐκ τῶν λαφύρων συνήγαγον ἑκατὸν τάλαντα· κομισάμενοι δὲ καὶ τριάκοντα τάλαντα παρὰ τῶν Αἰγεσταίων κατέπλευσαν εἰς Κατάνην. βουλόμενοι δὲ τὸν πρὸς τῷ μεγάλῳ λιμένι τόπον Συρακοσίων ἀκινδύνως καταλαβέσθαι, πέμπουσιν ἄνδρα Καταναῖον, ἑαυτοῖς μὲν πιστόν, τοῖς δὲ Συρακοσίων στρατηγοῖς πιθανόν,διακελευσάμενοι λέγειν τοῖς ἡγεμόσι τῶν Συρακοσίων, ὅτι τινὲς Καταναίων συστάντες βούλονται συχνοὺς τῶν Ἀθηναίων αὐλιζομένους ἀπὸ τῶν ὅπλων ἐν τῇ πόλει νυκτὸς ἄφνω συλλαβόντες τὰς ἐν τῷ λιμένι ναῦς ἐμπρῆσαι· πρὸς δὲ τὴν τούτων συντέλειαν ἀξιοῦν τοὺς στρατηγοὺς ἐπιφανῆναι μετὰ δυνάμεως, μήποτε τῆς ἐπιβολῆς ἀποτύχωσιν. ἐλθόντος δὲ τοῦ Καταναίου πρὸς τοὺς ἡγεμόνας τῶν Συρακοσίων καὶ δηλώσαντος τὰ προειρημένα, πιστεύσαντες περὶ τούτων οἱ στρατηγοὶ συνετάξαντο νύκτα καθʼ ἣν ἐξάξουσι τὴν δύναμιν, καὶ τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἐξαπέστειλαν εἰς τὴν Κατάνην. οἱ μὲν οὖν Συρακόσιοι κατὰ τὴν τεταγμένην νύκτα ἦγον τὸ στρατόπεδον ἐπὶ τὴν Κατάνην, οἱ δὲ Ἀθηναῖοι παραπλεύσαντες εἰς τὸν μέγαν λιμένα τῶν Συρακοσίων μετὰ πολλῆς ἡσυχίας τοῦ τε Ὀλυμπίου κύριοι κατέστησαν καὶ πάντα τὸν περικείμενον τόπον καταλαβόμενοι παρεμβολὴν ἐποιήσαντο. οἱ δὲ στρατηγοὶ τῶν Συρακοσίων ὡς ᾔσθοντο τὴν ἀπάτην, ταχέως ἀναστρέψαντες προσέβαλον τῇ παρεμβολῇ τῶν Ἀθηναίων. ἐπεξελθόντων οὖν τῶν πολεμίων συνέστη μάχη, καθʼ ἣν οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι τετρακοσίους τῶν ἐναντίων ἀνελόντες φυγεῖν ἠνάγκασαν τοὺς Συρακοσίους. οἱ δὲ τῶν Ἀθηναίων στρατηγοὶ θεωροῦντες τοὺς πολεμίους ἱπποκρατοῦντας, καὶ βουλόμενοι βέλτιον τὰ πρὸς τὴν πολιορκίαν κατασκευάσασθαι, πάλιν ἀπέπλευσαν εἰς τὴν Κατάνην. πέμψαντες δʼ εἰς Ἀθήνας τινὰς ἔγραψαν πρὸς τὸν δῆμον ἐπιστολάς, ἐν αἷς ἠξίουν ἱππεῖς ἀποστεῖλαι καὶ χρήματα· πολυχρόνιον γὰρ ἔσεσθαι τὴν πολιορκίαν ὑπελάμβανον. οἱ δʼ Ἀθηναῖοι τριακόσια τάλαντα καὶ τῶν ἱππέων τινὰς ἐψηφίσαντο πέμπειν εἰς τὴν Σικελίαν. τούτων δὲ πραττομένων Διαγόρας ὁ κληθεὶς ἄθεος, διαβολῆς τυχὼν ἐπʼ ἀσεβείᾳ καὶ φοβηθεὶς τὸν δῆμον, ἔφυγεν ἐκ τῆς Ἀττικῆς· οἱ δʼ Ἀθηναῖοι τῷ ἀνελόντι Διαγόραν ἀργυρίου τάλαντον ἐπεκήρυξαν. κατὰ δὲ τὴν Ἰταλίαν Ῥωμαῖοι πρὸς Αἴκους πόλεμον ἔχοντες Λαβικοὺς ἐξεπολιόρκησαν. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἐπράχθη κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν ἐνιαυτόν.
The generals in Sicily sailed on with the armament of the Athenians to Aegesta and captured Hyccara, a small town of the Siceli, from the booty of which they realized one hundred talents; and after receiving thirty talents in addition from the Aegestaeans they continued their voyage to Catane And wishing to seize, without risk to themselves, the position on the Great Harbour of the Syracusans, they sent a man of Catane who was loyal to themselves and was also trusted by the Syracusan generals, with instructions to say to the Syracusan commanders that a group of Catanaeans had banded together and were ready to seize unawares a large number of Athenians, who made it their practice to pass the night in the city away from their arms, and set fire to the ships in the harbour; and he was to ask the generals that, in order to effect this, they should appear at the place with troops so that they might not fail in their design. When the Catanaean went to the commanders of the Syracusans and told them what we have stated, the generals, believing his story, decided on the night on which they would lead out their troops and sent the man back to Catane. Now on the appointed night the Syracusans brought the army to Catane, whereupon the Athenians, sailing down into the Great Harbour of the Syracusans in dead silence, not only became masters of the Olympiaeum but also, after seizing the entire area about it, constructed a camp. The generals of the Syracusans, however, when they learned of the deceit which had been practised on them, returned speedily and assaulted the Athenian camp. When the enemy came out to meet them, there ensued a battle, in which the Athenians slew four hundred of their opponents and compelled the Syracusans to take to flight. But the Athenian generals, seeing that the enemy were superior in cavalry and wishing to improve their equipment for the siege of the city, sailed back to Catane. And they dispatched men to Athens and addressed letters to the people in which they asked them to send cavalry and funds; for they believed that the siege would be a long affair; and the Athenians voted to send three hundred talents and a contingent of cavalry to Sicily. While these events were taking place, Diagoras, who was dubbed "the Atheist," was accused of impiety and, fearing the people, fled from Attica; and the Athenians announced a reward of a talent of silver to the man who should slay Diagoras. In Italy the Romans went to war with the Aequi and reduced Labici by siege. These, then, were the events of this year.
§ 13.7
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησι Τισάνδρου Ῥωμαῖοι μὲν ἀντὶ τῶν ὑπάτων χιλιάρχους κατέστησαν τέτταρας, Πόπλιον Λουκρήτιον, Γάιον Σερουίλιον, Ἀγρίππαν Μενήνιον, Σπούριον Οὐετούριον. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Συρακόσιοι πρέσβεις ἀποστείλαντες εἴς τε Κόρινθον καὶ Λακεδαίμονα παρεκάλουν βοηθῆσαι καὶ μὴ περιορᾶν αὐτοὺς περὶ τῶν ὅλων κινδυνεύοντας. συνηγορήσαντος δʼ αὐτοῖς Ἀλκιβιάδου Λακεδαιμόνιοι μὲν ψηφισάμενοι βοηθεῖν τοῖς Συρακοσίοις στρατηγὸν εἵλοντο Γύλιππον, Κορίνθιοι δὲ πλείονας μὲν τριήρεις παρεσκευάζοντο πέμπειν, τότε δὲ μετὰ Γυλίππου Πύθην μετὰ δύο τριήρων προαπέστειλαν εἰς Σικελίαν. ἐν δὲ τῇ Κατάνῃ Νικίας καὶ Λάμαχος οἱ τῶν Ἀθηναίων στρατηγοί, παραγενομένων αὐτοῖς ἐξ Ἀθηνῶν ἱππέων μὲν διακοσίων πεντήκοντα, ἀργυρίου δὲ ταλάντων τριακοσίων, ἀναλαβόντες τὴν δύναμιν ἔπλευσαν εἰς Συρακούσας. καὶ προσενεχθέντες τῇ πόλει νυκτὸς ἔλαθον τοὺς Συρακοσίους καταλαβόμενοι τὰς Ἐπιπολάς. αἰσθόμενοι δʼ οἱ Συρακόσιοι κατὰ τάχος ἐβοήθουν, καὶ ἀποβαλόντες τῶν στρατιωτῶν τριακοσίους εἰς τὴν πόλιν συνεδιώχθησαν. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα παραγενομένων τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις ἐξ Αἰγέστης τριακοσίων μὲν ἱππέων, παρὰ δὲ τῶν Σικελῶν ἱππέων διακοσίων πεντήκοντα, συνήγαγον ἱππεῖς τοὺς πάντας ὀκτακοσίους. κατασκευάσαντες δὲ περὶ τὸ Λάβδαλον ὀχύρωμα, τὴν πόλιν τῶν Συρακοσίων ἀπετείχιζον καὶ πολὺν φόβον τοῖς Συρακοσίοις ἐπέστησαν. διόπερ ἐπεξελθόντες ἐκ τῆς πόλεως ἐπεχείρησαν διακωλύειν τοὺς οἰκοδομοῦντας τὸ τεῖχος· γενομένης δʼ ἱππομαχίας συχνοὺς ἀποβαλόντες ἐτράπησαν. οἱ δʼ Ἀθηναῖοι τῷ μέρει τῆς δυνάμεως τὸν ὑπερκείμενον τοῦ λιμένος τόπον κατελάβοντο, καὶ τὴν καλουμένην Πολίχνην τειχίσαντες τό τε τοῦ Διὸς ἱερὸν περιεβάλοντο καὶ ἐξ ἀμφοτέρων τῶν μερῶν τὰς Συρακούσας ἐπολιόρκουν. τοιούτων δὲ ἐλαττωμάτων περὶ τοὺς Συρακοσίους γενομένων ἠθύμουν οἱ κατὰ τὴν πόλιν· ὡς δʼ ἤκουσαν Γύλιππον εἰς Ἱμέραν καταπεπλευκέναι καὶ στρατιώτας ἀθροίζειν, πάλιν ἐθάρρησαν. ὁ γὰρ Γύλιππος μετὰ τεττάρων τριήρων καταπλεύσας εἰς Ἱμέραν τὰς μὲν ναῦς ἐνεώλκησε, τοὺς δʼ Ἱμεραίους πείσας συμμαχεῖν τοῖς Συρακοσίοις, παρά τε τούτων καὶ Γελῴων, ἔτι δὲ Σελινουντίων καὶ Σικανῶν ἤθροιζε στρατιώτας. συναγαγὼν δὲ τοὺς ἅπαντας τρισχιλίους μὲν πεζούς, διακοσίους δʼ ἱππεῖς, διὰ τῆς μεσογείου παρῆγεν εἰς Συρακούσας.
When Tisandrus was archon in Athens, the Romans elected in place of consuls four military tribunes, Publius Lucretius, Gaius Servilius, Agrippa Menenius, and Spurius Veturius. In this year the Syracusans, dispatching ambassadors to both Corinth and Lacedemon, urged these cities to come to their aid and not to stand idly by when total ruin threatened the Syracusans. Since Alcibiades supported their request, the Lacedemonians voted to send aid to the Syracusans and chose Gylippus to be general, and the Corinthians made preparations to send a number of triremes, but at the moment they sent in advance to Sicily, accompanying Gylippus, Pythes with two triremes. And in Catane Nicias and Lamachus, the Athenian generals, after two hundred and fifty cavalry and three hundred talents of silver had come to them from Athens, took their army aboard and sailed to Syracuse. They arrived at the city by night and unobserved by the Syracusans took possession of Epipolae. When the Syracusans learned of this, they speedily came to its defence, but were chased back into the city with the loss of three hundred soldiers. After this, with the arrival for the Athenians of three hundred horsemen from Aegesta and two hundred and fifty from the Siceli, they mustered in all eight hundred cavalry. Then, having built a fort at Labdalum, they began constructing a wall about the city of the Syracusans and aroused great fear among the populace. Therefore they advanced out of the city and endeavoured to hinder the builders of the wall; but a cavalry battle followed in which they suffered heavy losses and were forced to flee. The Athenians with a part of their troops now seized the region lying above the harbour and by fortifying the so-called Polichne, they not only enclosed the temple of Zeus but were also besieging Syracuse from both sides. Now that such reverses as these had befallen the Syracusans, the inhabitants of the city were disheartened; but when they learned that Gylippus had put in at Himera and was gathering soldiers, they again took heart. For Gylippus, having put in at Himera with four triremes, had hauled his ships up on shore, persuaded the Himeraeans to ally themselves with the Syracusans, and was gathering soldiers from them and the Geloans, as well as from the Selinuntians and the Sicani. And after he had assembled three thousand infantry in all and three hundred cavalry, he led them through the interior of the island to Syracuse.
§ 13.8
καὶ μετʼ ὀλίγας ἡμέρας μετὰ τῶν Συρακοσίων ἐξήγαγε τὴν δύναμιν ἐπὶ τοὺς Ἀθηναίους. γενομένης δὲ μάχης ἰσχυρᾶς Λάμαχος ὁ τῶν Ἀθηναίων στρατηγὸς μαχόμενος ἐτελεύτησε· πολλῶν δὲ παρʼ ἀμφοτέρων ἀναιρεθέντων ἐνίκησαν Ἀθηναῖοι. μετὰ δὲ τὴν μάχην παραγενομένων τρισκαίδεκα τριήρων ἐκ Κορίνθου, τοὺς ἐκ τῶν πληρωμάτων ἀναλαβὼν ὁ Γύλιππος μετὰ τῶν Συρακοσίων προσέβαλε τῇ παρεμβολῇ τῶν πολεμίων, καὶ τὰς Ἐπιπολὰς ἐπολιόρκει. ἐξελθόντων δὲ τῶν Ἀθηναίων συνῆψαν μάχην οἱ Συρακόσιοι, καὶ πολλοὺς τῶν Ἀθηναίων ἀποκτείναντες ἐνίκησαν, καὶ διʼ ὅλης τῆς Ἐπιπολῆς τὸ τεῖχος κατέσκαψαν· οἱ δʼ Ἀθηναῖοι καταλιπόντες τὸν πρὸς ταῖς Ἐπιπολαῖς τόπον πᾶσαν τὴν δύναμιν εἰς τὴν ἄλλην παρεμβολὴν μετήγαγον. τούτων δὲ πραχθέντων οἱ Συρακόσιοι μὲν πρέσβεις ἀπέστειλαν εἰς Κόρινθον καὶ Λακεδαίμονα περὶ βοηθείας· οἷς ἀπέστειλαν Κορίνθιοι μετὰ Βοιωτῶν μὲν καὶ Σικυωνίων χιλίους, Σπαρτιᾶται δʼ ἑξακοσίους· Γύλιππος δὲ περιπορευόμενος τὰς κατὰ Σικελίαν πόλεις πολλοὺς προετρέπετο συμμαχεῖν, καὶ λαβὼν στρατιώτας παρά τε τῶν Ἱμεραίων καὶ Σικανῶν τρισχιλίους ἦγε διὰ τῆς μεσογείου. πυθόμενοι δὲ οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι τὴν παρουσίαν αὐτῶν, ἐπιθέμενοι τοὺς ἡμίσεις ἀνεῖλον· οἱ δὲ περιλειφθέντες διεσώθησαν εἰς Συρακούσας. ἐλθόντων δὲ τῶν συμμάχων οἱ Συρακόσιοι βουλόμενοι καὶ τῶν κατὰ θάλατταν ἀγώνων ἀντιποιεῖσθαι, τάς τε προϋπαρχούσας ναῦς καθείλκυσαν καὶ ἄλλας προσκατασκευάσαντες. ἐν τῷ μικρῷ λιμένι τὰς ἀναπείρας ἐποιοῦντο. Νικίας δὲ ὁ τῶν Ἀθηναίων στρατηγὸς ἀπέστειλεν εἰς Ἀθήνας ἐπιστολάς, ἐν αἷς ἐδήλου ὅτι πολλοὶ πάρεισι σύμμαχοι τοῖς Συρακοσίοις, καὶ διότι ναῦς οὐκ ὀλίγας πληρώσαντες ναυμαχεῖν διέγνωσαν· κατὰ τάχος οὖν ἠξίου τριήρεις τε πέμπειν καὶ χρήματα καὶ στρατηγοὺς τοὺς συνδιοικήσοντας τὸν πόλεμον· Ἀλκιβιάδου μὲν γὰρ πεφευγότος, Λαμάχου δὲ τετελευτηκότος αὐτὸν μόνον ἀπολελεῖφθαι, καὶ ταῦτʼ ἀσθενῶς διακείμενον. οἱ δʼ Ἀθηναῖοι μετʼ Εὐρυμέδοντος μὲν τοῦ στρατηγοῦ δέκα ναῦς ἀπέστειλαν εἰς Σικελίαν καὶ ἀργυρίου τάλαντα ἑκατὸν τεσσαράκοντα περὶ τὰς χειμερινὰς τροπάς· περὶ δὲ τὴν ἐαρινὴν ὥραν παρεσκευάζοντο μέγαν στόλον ἀποστέλλειν. διόπερ στρατιώτας τε πανταχόθεν παρὰ τῶν συμμάχων κατέγραφον καὶ χρήματα συνήθροιζον. κατὰ δὲ τὴν Πελοπόννησον οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι παροξυνθέντες ὑπὸ Ἀλκιβιάδου τὰς σπονδὰς ἔλυσαν τὰς πρὸς Ἀθηναίους, καὶ ὁ πόλεμος οὗτος διέμεινεν ἔτη δώδεκα.
After a few days Gylippus led forth his troops together with the Syracusans against the Athenians. A fierce battle took place and Lamachus, the Athenian general, died in the fighting; and although many were slain on both sides, victory lay with the Athenians. After the battle, when thirteen triremes had arrived from Corinth, Gylippus, after taking the crews of the ships, with them and the Syracusans attacked the camp of the enemy and sought to storm Epipolae. When the Athenians came out, they joined battle and the Syracusans, after slaying many Athenians, were victorious and they razed the wall throughout the length of Epipolae; at this the Athenians abandoned the area of Epipolae and withdrew their entire force to the other camp. After these events the Syracusans dispatched ambassadors to Corinth and Lacedemon to get help; and the Corinthians together with the Boeotians and Sicyonians sent them one thousand men and Spartans six hundred. And Gylippus went about the cities of Sicily and persuaded many peoples to join the alliance, and after gathering three thousand soldiers from the Himeraeans and Sicani he led them through the interior of the island. When the Athenians learned that these troops were near at hand, they attacked and slew half of them; the survivors, however, got safely to Syracuse. Upon the arrival of the allies the Syracusans, wishing to try their hand also in battles at sea, launched the ships they already possessed and fitted out additional ones, giving them their trials in the small harbour. And Nicias, the Athenian general, dispatched letters to Athens in which he made known that many allies were now with the Syracusans and that they had fitted out no small number of ships and had resolved upon offering battle at sea; he therefore asked them to send speedily both triremes and money and generals to assist him in the conduct of the war, explaining that with the flight of Alcibiades and the death of Lamachus he was the only general left and at that was not in good health. The Athenians dispatched to Sicily ten ships with Eurymedon the general and one hundred and forty talents of silver, at the time of the winter solstice; meantime they busied themselves with preparations to dispatch a great fleet in the spring. Consequently they were enrolling soldiers everywhere from their allies and gathering together money. In the Peloponnesus the Lacedemonians, being spurred on by Alcibiades, broke the truce with the Athenians, and the war which followed continued for twelve years.
§ 13.9
τοῦ δὲ ἔτους τούτου διελθόντος Κλεόκριτος μὲν ἄρχων Ἀθηναίων ἦν, ἐν Ῥώμῃ δʼ ἀντὶ τῶν ὑπάτων χιλίαρχοι τέτταρες ὑπῆρχον, Αὖλος Σεμπρώνιος καὶ Μάρκος Παπίριος, Κόιντος Φάβιος, Σπόριος Ναύτιος. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Λακεδαιμόνιοι μετὰ τῶν συμμάχων ἐνέβαλον εἰς τὴν Ἀττικήν, Ἄγιδός ἡγουμένου καὶ Ἀλκιβιάδου τοῦ Ἀθηναίου. καταλαβόμενοι δὲ χωρίον ὀχυρὸν Δεκέλειαν φρούριον ἐποίησαν κατὰ τῆς Ἀττικῆς· διὸ καὶ συνέβη τὸν πόλεμον τοῦτον Δεκελεικὸν προσαγορευθῆναι. Ἀθηναῖοι δὲ περὶ μὲν τὴν Λακωνικὴν τριάκοντα τριήρεις ἀπέστειλαν καὶ Χαρικλέα στρατηγόν, εἰς δὲ τὴν Σικελίαν ἐψηφίσαντο πέμπειν ὀγδοήκοντα μὲν τριήρεις, ὁπλίτας δὲ πεντακισχιλίους. οἱ δὲ Συρακόσιοι κρίναντες ναυμαχεῖν, καὶ πληρώσαντες ὀγδοήκοντα τριήρεις, ἐπέπλεον τοῖς πολεμίοις. τῶν δὲ Ἀθηναίων ἑξήκοντα ναυσὶν ἀνταναχθέντων, καὶ τῆς ναυμαχίας ἐνεργοῦ γενομένης ἤδη, πάντες οἱ ἀπὸ τῶν φρουρίων Ἀθηναῖοι κατέβησαν ἐπὶ τὴν θάλατταν· οἱ μὲν γὰρ θεάσασθαι τὴν μάχην ἐπεθύμουν, οἱ δʼ, εἴ τι πταίσειαν ἐν τῇ ναυμαχίᾳ, βοηθήσειν τοῖς φεύγουσιν ἤλπιζον. οἱ δὲ τῶν Συρακοσίων στρατηγοὶ προϊδόμενοι τὸ γινόμενον ἀπεστάλκεισαν τοὺς κατὰ τὴν πόλιν ἐπὶ τὰ τῶν Ἀθηναίων ὀχυρώματα, χρημάτων καὶ ναυτικῶν σκευῶν, ἔτι δὲ τῆς ἄλλης παρασκευῆς ὑπάρχοντα πλήρη· ἃ δὴ καταλαβόντες οἱ Συρακόσιοι παντελῶς ὑπʼ ὀλίγων τηρούμενα κατέσχον καὶ τῶν ἀπὸ τῆς θαλάττης προσβοηθούντων πολλοὺς ἀπέκτειναν. κραυγῆς δὲ πολλῆς γενομένης περὶ τὰ φρούρια καὶ τὴν παρεμβολήν, οἱ ναυμαχοῦντες Ἀθηναῖοι καταπλαγέντες ἐτράπησαν καὶ πρὸς τὸ λειπόμενον τῶν φρουρίων ἔφυγον. τῶν δὲ Συρακοσίων ἀτάκτως διωκόντων οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι πρὸς τὴν γῆν καταφεύγειν οὐ δυνάμενοι διὰ τὸ τοὺς Συρακοσίους δυεῖν φρουρίων κυριεύειν, ἠναγκάσθησαν ἐξ ὑποστροφῆς πάλιν ναυμαχῆσαι. τῶν δὲ Συρακοσίων λελυκότων τὰς τάξεις καὶ κατὰ τὸν διωγμὸν διερριμμένων, ἀθρόαις ταῖς ναυσὶν ἐπιπλεύσαντες ἕνδεκα μὲν κατέδυσαν, τὰς δὲ λοιπὰς ἕως τῆς Νήσου κατεδίωξαν. διαλυθείσης δὲ τῆς μάχης ἑκάτεροι τρόπαιον ἔστησαν, οἱ μὲν Ἀθηναῖοι τῆς ναυμαχίας, οἱ δὲ Συρακόσιοι τῶν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς κατωρθωμένων.
At the close of this year Cleocritus [413/2 BCE] was archon of the Athenians, and in Rome in place of consuls there were four military tribunes, Aulus Sempronius, Marcus Papirius, Quintus Fabius, and Spurius Nautius. This year the Lacedemonians together with their allies invaded Attica, under the leadership of Agis and Alcibiades the Athenian. And seizing the stronghold of Deceleia they made it into a fortress for attacks upon Attica, and this, as it turned out, was why this war came to be called the Deceleian War. The Athenians dispatched thirty triremes to lie off Laconia under Charicles as general and voted to send eighty triremes and five thousand hoplites to Sicily. And the Syracusans, having made up their minds to join battle at sea, fitted out eighty triremes and sailed against the enemy. The Athenians put out against them with sixty ships, and when the battle was at its height, all the Athenians in the fortresses went down to the sea; for some were desirous of watching the battle, while others hoped that, in case of some reverse in the sea-battle, they could be of help to those in flight. But the Syracusan generals, foreseeing what really happened, had dispatched the troops in the city against the strongholds of the Athenians, which were filled with money and naval supplies as well as every other kind of equipment; when the Syracusans found the strongholds guarded by a totally inadequate number, they seized them, and slew many of those who came up from the sea to their defence. And since a great uproar arose about the forts and the camp, the Athenians who were engaged in the sea-battle turned about in dismay and fled toward the last remaining fort. The Syracusans pursued them without order, but the Athenians, when they saw themselves unable to find safety on land because the Syracusans controlled two forts, were forced to turn about and renew the sea-battle. And since the Syracusans had broken their battle order and had become scattered in the pursuit, the Athenians, attacking with their ships in a body, sank eleven triremes and pursued the rest as far as the island. When the fight was ended, each side set up a trophy, the Athenians for the sea-battle and the Syracusans for their successes on land.
§ 13.10
τῆς δὲ ναυμαχίας τοιοῦτο τέλος λαβούσης, οἱ μὲν Ἀθηναῖοι πυνθανόμενοι τὸν μετὰ Δημοσθένους στόλον ἐν ὀλίγαις ἡμέραις ἥξειν, ἔκριναν μηκέτι διακινδυνεύειν, ἕως ἂν ἡ δύναμις ἐκείνη παραγένηται, οἱ δὲ Συρακόσιοι τοὐναντίον βουλόμενοι πρὶν ἐλθεῖν τὴν μετὰ Δημοσθένους στρατιὰν περὶ τῶν ὅλων διακριθῆναι, καθʼ ἡμέραν ἐπιπλέοντες ταῖς τῶν Ἀθηναίων ναυσὶν ἐξήπτοντο τῆς μάχης. συμβουλεύσαντος δʼ αὐτοῖς Ἀρίστωνος τοῦ Κορινθίου κυβερνήτου τὰς πρῴρας τῶν νεῶν ποιῆσαι βραχυτέρας καὶ ταπεινοτέρας, πεισθέντες οἱ Συρακόσιοι πολλὰ διὰ ταύτην τὴν αἰτίαν ἐν τοῖς μετὰ ταῦτα κινδύνοις ἐπλεονέκτησαν. αἱ μὲν γὰρ Ἀττικαὶ τριήρεις ἦσαν ἀσθενεστέρας ἔχουσαι τὰς πρῴρας καὶ μετεώρους· διὸ συνέβαινεν αὐτῶν τὰς ἐμβολὰς τιτρώσκειν τοὺς ὑπερέχοντας τῆς θαλάττης τόπους, ὥστε τοὺς πολεμίους μὴ μεγάλοις ἐλαττώμασι περιπίπτειν· αἱ δὲ τῶν Συρακοσίων τὸν περὶ τὴν πρῴραν τόπον ἰσχυρὸν ἔχουσαι καὶ ταπεινόν, κατὰ τὰς τῶν ἐμβολῶν δόσεις μιᾷ πολλάκις πληγῇ κατέδυον τὰς τῶν Ἀθηναίων τριήρεις. ἐπὶ μὲν οὖν συχνὰς ἡμέρας οἱ Συρακόσιοι τῇ παρεμβολῇ τῶν πολεμίων καὶ κατὰ γῆν καὶ κατὰ θάλατταν προσβάλλοντες οὐδὲν ἤνυον, τῶν Ἀθηναίων ἀγόντων ἡσυχίαν· ἐπειδὴ δέ τινες τῶν τριηράρχων οὐκέτι δυνάμενοι καρτερεῖν τὴν τῶν Συρακοσίων καταφρόνησιν ἀντανήχθησαν τοῖς πολεμίοις ἐν τῷ μεγάλῳ λιμένι, συνέστη πασῶν τῶν τριήρων ναυμαχία. οἱ μὲν οὖν Ἀθηναῖοι ταχυναυτούσας ἔχοντες τριήρεις, καὶ ταῖς κατὰ θάλατταν ἐμπειρίαις, ἔτι δὲ ταῖς τῶν κυβερνητῶν τέχναις προτεροῦντες, ἄπρακτον εἶχον τὴν ἐν τούτοις ὑπεροχήν, τῆς ναυμαχίας ἐν στενῷ τόπῳ γινομένης· οἱ δὲ Συρακόσιοι συμπλεκόμενοι καὶ τοῖς πολεμίοις οὐδεμίαν διδόντες ἀναστροφήν, τούς τε ἐπὶ τῶν καταστρωμάτων ἠκόντιζον καὶ λιθοβολοῦντες λιπεῖν ἠνάγκαζον τὰς πρῴρας, ἁπλῶς δὲ πολλαῖς τῶν ἐμπιπτουσῶν νεῶν ἐμβολὰς διδόντες καὶ εἰς τὰς τῶν ἐναντίων ναῦς εἰσαλλόμενοι πεζομαχίαν ἐν ταῖς ναυσὶ συνίσταντο. θλιβόμενοι δὲ πανταχόθεν οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι πρὸς φυγὴν ὥρμησαν· οἱ δὲ Συρακόσιοι διώξαντες ἑπτὰ μὲν τριήρεις κατέδυσαν, πολλὰς δὲ ἀχρήστους ἐποίησαν.
After the sea-battle had ended in the manner we have described, the Athenians, learning that the fleet under Demosthenes would arrive within a few days, decided to run no more risks before that force should join them, whereas the Syracusans, on the contrary, wishing to reach a final decision before the arrival of Demosthenes and his army, kept sailing out every day against the ships of the Athenians and continuing the fight. And when Ariston the Corinthian pilot advised them to make the prows of their ships shorter and lower, the Syracusans followed his advice and for that reason enjoyed great advantage in the fighting which followed. For the Attic triremes were built with weaker and high prows, and for this reason it followed that, when they rammed, they damaged only the parts of a ship that extended above the water, so that the enemy suffered no great damage; whereas the ships of the Syracusans, built as they were with the structure about the prow strong and low, would often, as they delivered their ramming blows, sink with one shock the triremes of the Athenians. Now day after day the Syracusans attacked the camp of the enemy both by land and by sea, but to no effect, since the Athenians made no move; but when some of the captains of the triremes, being no longer able to endure the scorn of the Syracusans, put out against the enemy in the Great Harbour. A sea-battle commenced in which all the triremes joined. Now though the Athenians had fast-sailing triremes and enjoyed the advantage from their long experience at sea as well as from the skill of their pilots, yet their superiority in these respects brought them no return since the sea-battle was in a narrow area; and the Syracusans, engaging at close quarters and giving the enemy no opportunity to turn about to ram, not only cast spears at the soldiers on the decks, but also, by hurling stones, forced them to leave the prows, and in many cases simply by ramming a ship that met them and then boarding the enemy vessel they made it a land-battle on the ship's deck. The Athenians, being pressed upon from every quarter, turned to flight; and the Syracusans, pressing in pursuit, not only sank seven triremes but made a large number unfit for use.
§ 13.11
τῶν δὲ Συρακοσίων ἐπηρμένων ταῖς ἐλπίσι διὰ τὸ καὶ κατὰ γῆν καὶ κατὰ θάλατταν τοὺς πολεμίους νενικηκέναι, παρῆν Εὐρυμέδων καὶ Δημοσθένης, καταπεπλευκότες μὲν ἐξ Ἀθηνῶν μετὰ δυνάμεως πολλῆς, ἐν δὲ τῷ παράπλῳ παρὰ Θουρίων καὶ Μεσσαπίων προσειληφότες συμμαχίαν. ἦγον δὲ τριήρεις πλείους τῶν ὀγδοήκοντα, στρατιωτῶν δὲ χωρὶς τῶν ἐν τοῖς πληρώμασι πεντακισχιλίους· ὅπλα δὲ καὶ χρήματα, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις τὰ πρὸς πολιορκίαν ὄργανα καὶ τὴν ἄλλην παρασκευὴν ἐν στρογγύλοις πλοίοις ἐκόμιζον. διʼ ἣν αἰτίαν οἱ Συρακόσιοι πάλιν ἐταπεινοῦντο ταῖς ἐλπίσι, νομίζοντες μηκέτι ῥᾳδίως ἐξισωθῆναι τοῖς πολεμίοις δυνήσεσθαι. Δημοσθένης δὲ πείσας τοὺς συνάρχοντας ἐπιθέσθαι ταῖς Ἐπιπολαῖς—ἄλλως γὰρ οὐ δυνατὸν ἦν ἀποτειχίσαι τὴν πόλιν—, ἀναλαβὼν μυρίους μὲν ὁπλίτας, ἄλλους δὲ τοσούτους ψιλούς, νυκτὸς ἐπέθετο τοῖς Συρακοσίοις. ἀπροσδοκήτου δὲ γενομένης τῆς ἐφόδου φρουρίων τέ τινων ἐκράτησαν καὶ παρεισπεσόντες ἐντὸς τοῦ τειχίσματος τῆς Ἐπιπολῆς μέρος τι τοῦ τείχους κατέβαλον. τῶν δὲ Συρακοσίων πανταχόθεν συνδραμόντων ἐπὶ τὸν τόπον, ἔτι δὲ Ἑρμοκράτους μετὰ τῶν ἐπιλέκτων ἐπιβοηθήσαντος, ἐξεώσθησαν οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι καὶ νυκτὸς οὔσης διὰ τὴν ἀπειρίαν τῶν τόπων ἄλλοι κατʼ ἄλλους τόπους ἐσκεδάσθησαν. οἱ δὲ Συρακόσιοι μετὰ τῶν συμμάχων καταδιώξαντες, δισχιλίους μὲν καὶ πεντακοσίους τῶν πολεμίων ἀποκτείναντες, οὐκ ὀλίγους δὲ τραυματίας ποιήσαντες, πολλῶν ὅπλων ἐκυρίευσαν. μετὰ δὲ τὴν μάχην Συρακόσιοι μὲν Σικανὸν ἕνα τῶν στρατηγῶν μετὰ δώδεκα τριήρων ἀπέστειλαν εἰς τὰς ἄλλας πόλεις, τήν τε νίκην ἀπαγγελοῦντα τοῖς συμμάχοις καὶ βοηθεῖν ἀξιοῦντα.
At the moment when the hopes of the Syracusans had raised their spirits high because of their victory over the enemy both by land and by sea, Eurymedon and Demosthenes arrived, having sailed there from Athens with a great force and gathered on the way allied troops from the Thurians and Messapians. They brought more than eighty triremes and five thousand soldiers, excluding the crews; and they also conveyed on merchant vessels arms and money as well as siege machines and every other kind of equipment. As a result the hopes of the Syracusans were dashed again, since they believed that they could not now readily find the means to bring themselves up to equality with the enemy. Demosthenes persuaded his fellow commanders to assault Epipolae, for it was impossible by any other means to wall off the city, and taking ten thousand hoplites and as many more light-armed troops, he attacked the Syracusans by night. Since the assault had not been expected, they overpowered some forts, and breaking into the fortifications of Epipolae threw down a part of the wall. But when the Syracusans ran together to the scene from every quarter and Hermocrates also came to the aid with the picked troops, the Athenians were forced out and, it being night, because of their unfamiliarity with the region were scattered some to one place and others to another. The Syracusans and their allies, pursuing after them, slew two thousand five hundred of the enemy, wounded not a few, and captured much armour. And after the battle the Syracusans dispatched Sicanus, one of their generals, with twelve triremes to the other cities, both to announce the victory to the allies and to ask them for aid.
§ 13.12
Ἀθηναῖοι δέ, τῶν πραγμάτων αὐτοῖς ἐπὶ τὸ χεῖρον ἐκβάντων καὶ διὰ τὸ τὸν περικείμενον τόπον ὑπάρχειν ἑλώδη λοιμικῆς καταστάσεως εἰς τὸ στρατόπεδον ἐμπεσούσης, ἐβουλεύοντο, πῶς δεῖ χρῆσθαι τοῖς πράγμασιν. Δημοσθένης μὲν οὖν ᾤετο δεῖν ἀποπλεῖν τὴν ταχίστην εἰς Ἀθήνας φάσκων αἱρετώτερον εἶναι πρὸς Λακεδαιμονίους ὑπὲρ τῆς πατρίδος κινδυνεύειν ἢ καθημένους εἰς Σικελίαν μηδὲν τῶν χρησίμων ἐπιτελεῖν· ὁ δὲ Νικίας οὐκ ἔφη δεῖν αἰσχρῶς οὕτως ἐγκαταλιπεῖν τὴν πολιορκίαν, καὶ τριήρων καὶ στρατιωτῶν, ἔτι δὲ χρημάτων εὐποροῦντας· πρὸς δὲ τούτοις, ἐὰν ἄνευ τῆς τοῦ δήμου γνώμης εἰρήνην ποιησάμενοι πρὸς τοὺς Συρακοσίους ἀποπλεύσωσιν εἰς τὴν πατρίδα, κίνδυνον αὐτοῖς ἐπακολουθήσειν ἀπὸ τῶν εἰωθότων τοὺς στρατηγοὺς συκοφαντεῖν. τῶν δὲ εἰς τὸ συμβούλιον παρειλημμένων οἱ μὲν τῷ Δημοσθένει συγκατέθεντο περὶ τῆς ἀναγωγῆς, οἱ δὲ τῷ Νικίᾳ τὴν αὐτὴν γνώμην ἀπεφαίνοντο· διόπερ οὐδὲν σαφὲς ἐπικρίναντες ἐφʼ ἡσυχίας ἔμενον. τοῖς δὲ Συρακοσίοις παραγενομένης συμμαχίας παρά τε Σικελῶν καὶ Σελινουντίων, ἔτι δὲ Γελῴων, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις Ἱμεραίων καὶ Καμαριναίων, οἱ μὲν Συρακόσιοι μᾶλλον ἐθάρρουν, οἱ δʼ Ἀθηναῖοι περιδεεῖς ἐγίνοντο. τῆς δὲ νόσου μεγάλην ἐπίτασιν λαμβανούσης πολλοὶ τῶν στρατιωτῶν ἀπέθνησκον, καὶ πάντες μετεμέλοντο διὰ τὸ μὴ πάλαι τὸν ἀπόπλουν πεποιῆσθαι. διὸ καὶ τοῦ πλήθους θορυβοῦντος, καὶ τῶν ἄλλων πάντων ἐπὶ τὰς ναῦς ὁρμώντων, ὁ Νικίας ἠναγκάσθη συγχωρῆσαι περὶ τῆς εἰς οἶκον ἀναγωγῆς. ὁμογνωμόνων δὲ ὄντων τῶν στρατηγῶν, οἱ στρατιῶται τὰ σκεύη ἐνετίθεντο καὶ τὰς τριήρεις πληρώσαντες ᾖρον τὰς κεραίας· καὶ παρήγγειλαν οἱ στρατηγοὶ τοῖς πλήθεσιν, ὅταν σημήνῃ, μηδένα τῶν κατὰ τὸ στρατόπεδον ὑστερεῖν, ὡς ἀπολειφθησόμενον τὸν βραδύνοντα. μελλόντων δʼ αὐτῶν τῇ ὑστεραίᾳ πλεῖν, ἐξέλιπεν ἡ σελήνη τῆς ἐπιούσης νυκτός. διόπερ ὁ Νικίας, καὶ φύσει δεισιδαίμων ὑπάρχων καὶ διὰ τὴν ἐν τῷ στρατοπέδῳ νόσον εὐλαβῶς διακείμενος, συνεκάλεσε τοὺς μάντεις. τούτων δʼ ἀποφηναμένων ἀναγκαῖον εἶναι τὰς εἰθισμένας τρεῖς ἡμέρας ἀναβαλέσθαι τὸν ἔκπλουν, ἠναγκάσθησαν καὶ οἱ περὶ τὸν Δημοσθένην συγκαταθέσθαι διὰ τὴν πρὸς τὸ θεῖον εὐλάβειαν.
The Athenians, now that their affairs had taken a turn for the worse and a wave of pestilence had struck the camp because the region round about it was marshy, counselled together how they should deal with the situation. Demosthenes thought that they should sail back to Athens with all speed, stating that to risk their lives against the Lacedemonians in defence of their fatherland was preferable to settling down on Sicily and accomplishing nothing worth while; but Nicias said that they ought not to abandon the siege in so disgraceful a fashion, while they were well supplied with triremes, soldiers, and funds; furthermore, he added, if they should make peace with the Syracusans without the approval of the Athenian people and sail back to their country, peril would attend them from the men who make it their practice to bring false charges against their generals. Of the participants in the council some agreed with Demosthenes on putting to sea, but others expressed the same opinion as Nicias; and so they came to no clear decision and took no action. And since help came to the Syracusans from the Siceli, Selinuntians, and Geloans, as well as from the Himeraeans and Camarinaeans, the Syracusans were the more emboldened, but the Athenians became apprehensive. Also, when the epidemic greatly increased, many of the soldiers were dying and all regretted that they had not set out upon their return voyage long since. Consequently, since the multitude was in an uproar and all the others were eager to take to the ships, Nicias found himself compelled to yield on the matter of their returning home. When the generals were agreed, the soldiers began gathering together their equipment, loading the triremes, and raising the yard-arms; and the generals issued orders to the multitude that at the signal not a man in the camp should be late, for he who lagged would be left behind. But when they were about to sail on the following day, on the night of the day before, the moon was eclipsed. Consequently Nicias, who was not only by nature a superstitiously devout man but also cautious because of the epidemic in the camp, summoned the soothsayers. And when they declared that the departure must be postponed for the customary three days, Demosthenes and the others were also compelled, out of respect for the deity, to accede.
§ 13.13
οἱ δὲ Συρακόσιοι παρά τινων αὐτομόλων πυθόμενοι τὴν αἰτίαν τοῦ ὑπερτεθεῖσθαι τὸν ἀπόπλουν, τάς τε τριήρεις πάσας ἐπλήρωσαν, οὔσας ἑβδομήκοντα καὶ τέσσαρας, καὶ τὰς πεζὰς δυνάμεις ἐξαγαγόντες προσέβαλον τοῖς πολεμίοις καὶ κατὰ γῆν καὶ κατὰ θάλατταν. οἱ δʼ Ἀθηναῖοι τριήρεις πληρώσαντες ἓξ πρὸς ταῖς ὀγδοήκοντα, τὸ μὲν δεξιὸν κέρας παρέδωκαν Εὐρυμέδοντι τῷ στρατηγῷ, καθʼ ὃ ἐτάχθη ὁ τῶν Συρακοσίων στρατηγὸς Ἀγάθαρχος· ἐπὶ δὲ θατέρου μέρους Εὐθύδημος ἐτέτακτο, καθʼ ὃν ἀντετάξατο Σικανὸς τῶν Συρακοσίων ἡγούμενος· τῆς δὲ μέσης τάξεως εἶχε τὴν ἡγεμονίαν παρὰ μὲν τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις Μένανδρος, παρὰ δὲ τοῖς Συρακοσίοις Πύθης ὁ Κορίνθιος. ὑπερτεινούσης δὲ τῆς τῶν Ἀθηναίων φάλαγγος διὰ τὸ πλείοσιν αὐτοὺς ἀγωνίζεσθαι τριήρεσιν, οὐχ ἥκιστα καθʼ ὃ πλεονεκτεῖν ἐδόκουν κατὰ τοῦτο ἠλαττώθησαν. ὁ γὰρ Εὐρυμέδων ἐπιχειρήσας περιπλεῖν τὸ κέρας τῶν ἐναντίων, ὡς ἀπεσπάσθη τῆς τάξεως, ἐπιστρεψάντων ἐπʼ αὐτὸν τῶν Συρακοσίων ἀπελήφθη πρὸς τὸν κόλπον τὸν Δάσκωνα μὲν καλούμενον, ὑπὸ δὲ τῶν Συρακοσίων κατεχόμενον. κατακλεισθεὶς δʼ εἰς στενὸν τόπον καὶ βιασθεὶς εἰς τὴν γῆν ἐκπεσεῖν, αὐτὸς μὲν ὑπό τινος τρωθεὶς καιρίᾳ πληγῇ τὸν βίον μετήλλαξεν, ἑπτὰ δὲ ναῦς ἐν τούτῳ τῷ τόπῳ διεφθάρησαν. τῆς δὲ ναυμαχίας ἤδη γινομένης ὅλοις τοῖς στόλοις, ὡς διεδόθη λόγος τόν τε στρατηγὸν ἀνῃρῆσθαι καί τινας ναῦς ἀπολωλέναι, τὸ μὲν πρῶτον αἱ μάλιστα συνεγγίζουσαι ταῖς διεφθαρμέναις ναυσὶν ἐνέκλιναν, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τῶν Συρακοσίων ἐπικειμένων καὶ διὰ τὸ γεγονὸς εὐημέρημα θρασέως ἀγωνιζομένων, βιασθέντες οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι πάντες φυγεῖν ἠναγκάσθησαν. γενομένου δὲ τοῦ διωγμοῦ πρὸς τὸ τεναγῶδες μέρος τοῦ λιμένος, οὐκ ὀλίγαι τῶν τριήρων ἐν τοῖς βράχεσιν ἐπώκειλαν. ὧν συμβαινόντων Σικανὸς ὁ τῶν Συρακοσίων στρατηγὸς ταχέως ὁλκάδα κληματίδων καὶ δᾴδων, ἔτι δὲ πίττης πληρώσας, ἐνέπρησε τὰς ἐν τοῖς βράχεσι ναῦς κυλινδουμένας. ὧν ἀναφθεισῶν οἱ μὲν Ἀθηναῖοι ταχέως τήν τε φλόγα κατέσβεσαν καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν νεῶν ἐρρωμένως ἠμύναντο τοὺς ἐπιφερομένους, ἄλλην οὐδεμίαν εὑρίσκοντες σωτηρίαν· τὰ δὲ πεζὰ στρατόπεδα παρεβοήθει παρὰ τὸν αἰγιαλόν, ἐφʼ ὃν αἱ ναῦς ἐξεπεπτώκεισαν. ἁπάντων δὲ καρτερῶς ὑπομενόντων τὸν κίνδυνον, ἐπὶ μὲν τῆς γῆς ἐτράπησαν οἱ Συρακόσιοι, κατὰ θάλατταν δὲ προτερήσαντες ἀπέπλευσαν εἰς τὴν πόλιν. ἀπώλοντο δὲ τῶν μὲν Συρακοσίων ὀλίγοι, τῶν δʼ Ἀθηναίων ἄνδρες μὲν οὐκ ἐλάττους δισχιλίων, τριήρεις δʼ ὀκτωκαίδεκα.
When the Syracusans learned from some deserters why the departure had been deferred, they manned all their triremes, seventy-four in number, and leading out their ground forces attacked the enemy both by land and by sea. The Athenians, having manned eighty-six triremes, assigned to Eurymedon, the general, the command of the right wing, opposite to which was stationed the general of the Syracusans, Agatharchus; on the other wing Euthydemus had been stationed and opposite to him was Sicanus commanding the Syracusans; and in command of the centre of the line were Menander for the Athenians and Pythes the Corinthian for the Syracusans. Although the Athenian line was the longer since they were engaging with a superior number of triremes, yet the very factor which they thought would work to their advantage was not the least in their undoing. For Eurymedon endeavoured to outfit the opposing wing; but when he had become detached from his line, the Syracusans turned to face him and he was cut off and forced into a bay called Dascon which was held by the Syracusans. Being hemmed in as he was into a narrow place, he was forced to run ashore, where some man gave him a mortal wound and he lost his life, and seven of his ships were destroyed in this place. The battle had now spread throughout both fleets, and when the word was passed along that the general had been slain and some ships lost, at first only those ships gave way which were nearest to those which had been destroyed, but later, as the Syracusans pressed forward and pushed the fight boldly because of the success they had won, the whole Athenian force was overpowered and compelled to turn in flight. And since the pursuit turned toward the shallow part of the harbour, not a few triremes ran aground in the shoals. When this took place, Sicanus, the Syracusan general, straightway filling a merchant ship with faggots and pine-wood and pitch, set fire to the ships which were wallowing in the shoals. But although they were put on fire, the Athenians not only quickly extinguished the flames but, finding no other means of safety, also vigorously fought off from their ships the men who were rushing against them; and the land forces ran to their aid along the beach on which with the ships had run ashore. And since they all withstood the attack with vigour, on land the Syracusans were turned back, but at sea they won the decision and sailed back to the city. The losses of the Syracusans were few, but of the Athenians not less than two thousand men and eighteen triremes.
§ 13.14
οἱ δὲ Συρακόσιοι νομίζοντες μηκέτι τὸν κίνδυνον εἶναι περὶ τῆς πόλεως, ἀλλὰ πολὺ μᾶλλον ἐνεστηκέναι τὸν ἀγῶνα περὶ τοῦ λαβεῖν τὸ στρατόπεδον μετὰ τῶν πολεμίων αἰχμάλωτον, ἀπέφραττον τὸ στόμα τοῦ λιμένος ζεῦγμα κατασκευάζοντες. ἀκάτους τε γὰρ καὶ τριήρεις, ἔτι δὲ στρογγύλας ναῦς ἐπʼ ἀγκυρῶν ὁρμίσαντες, καὶ σιδηραῖς ἁλύσεσι διαλαμβάνοντες, ἐπὶ τὰ σκάφη γεφύρας ἐκ σανίδων κατεσκεύασαν καὶ πέρας ἐν ἡμέραις τρισὶ τοῖς ἔργοις ἐπέθηκαν. οἱ δʼ Ἀθηναῖοι θεωροῦντες αὑτοῖς πάντοθεν τὴν σωτηρίαν ἀποκεκλεισμένην, ἔκριναν ἁπάσας τὰς τριήρεις πληροῦν καὶ τῶν πεζῶν τοὺς κρατίστους ἐμβιβάσαι, τῷ τε πλήθει τῶν νεῶν καὶ τῇ τῶν ἀγωνιζομένων ὑπὲρ τῆς σωτηρίας ἀπονοίᾳ καταπλήξειν τοὺς Συρακοσίους. διόπερ τοὺς ἐπὶ ταῖς ἡγεμονίαις τεταγμένους καὶ τοὺς ἀρίστους ἐξ ὅλου τοῦ στρατεύματος ἐμβιβάσαντες τριήρεις μὲν ἐπλήρωσαν πέντε λειπούσας τῶν ἑκατὸν εἴκοσι, τοὺς δὲ λοιποὺς ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ἔταξαν παρὰ τὸν αἰγιαλόν. οἱ δὲ Συρακόσιοι τὸ μὲν πεζὸν στράτευμα πρὸ τῆς πόλεως ἔστησαν, τριήρεις δὲ συνεπλήρωσαν ἑβδομήκοντα τέσσαρας· συμπαρείποντό τε τὰς ὑπηρετικὰς ἔχοντες ναῦς παῖδες ἐλεύθεροι, τοῖς τε ἔτεσιν ὄντες ὑπὸ τὴν τῶν νεανίσκων ἡλικίαν καὶ συναγωνιζόμενοι μετὰ τῶν πατέρων. τὰ δὲ περὶ τὸν λιμένα τείχη καὶ πᾶς ὁ τῆς πόλεως ὑπερκείμενος τόπος ἔγεμε σωμάτων· γυναῖκές τε γὰρ καὶ παρθένοι καὶ οἱ ταῖς ἡλικίαις τὴν ἐν τῷ πολέμῳ χρείαν παρέχεσθαι μὴ δυνάμενοι, τοῦ παντὸς πολέμου τὴν κρίσιν λαμβάνοντος, μετὰ πολλῆς ἀγωνίας ἐπεθεώρουν τὴν μάχην.
The Syracusans, believing that the danger no longer was the losing of their city but that, far more, the contest had become one for the capture of the camp together with the enemy, blocked off the entrance to the harbour by the construction of a barrier. For they moored at anchor both small vessels and triremes as well as merchant-ships, with iron chains between them, and to the vessels they built bridges of boards, completing the undertaking in three days. The Athenians, seeing their hope of deliverance shut off in every direction, decided to man all their triremes and put on them their best land troops, and thus, by means both of the multitude of their ship and of the desperation of the men who would be fighting for their lives, eventually to strike terror into the Syracusans. Consequently they put on board the officers and the choicest troops from the whole army, manning in this way one hundred and fifteen triremes, and the other soldiers they stationed on land along the beach. The Syracusans drew up their infantry before the city, and fully manned seventy-four triremes; and the triremes were attended by free boys on small boats, who were in years below manhood and were fighting at the side of their fathers. And the walls about the harbour and every high place in the city were crowded with people; for wives and maidens and all who, because of age, could not render the service war demands, since the whole war was coming to its decision, were eyeing the battle with the greatest anguish of spirit.
§ 13.15
καθʼ ὃν δὴ χρόνον Νικίας ὁ τῶν Ἀθηναίων στρατηγὸς ἐπιβλέψας τὰς ναῦς καὶ τὸ μέγεθος τοῦ κινδύνου λογισάμενος, οὐκ ἐπέμεινεν ἐπὶ τῆς ἐν τῇ γῇ τάξεως, ἀλλὰ καταλιπὼν τοὺς πεζοὺς ἐπί τινα ναῦν ἀνέβη καὶ παρέπλει τὰς τριήρεις τῶν Ἀθηναίων. ἕκαστον δὲ τῶν τριηράρχων ἐξ ὀνόματος προσφωνῶν καὶ τὰς χεῖρας ἐκτείνων ἐδεῖτο πάντων, εἰ καὶ πρότερον, τὸ νῦν ἀντιλαβέσθαι τῆς μόνης καταλελειμμένης ἐλπίδος· ἐν γὰρ ταῖς τῶν ναυμαχεῖν μελλόντων ἀρεταῖς καὶ ἑαυτῶν ἁπάντων καὶ τῆς πατρίδος κεῖσθαι τὴν σωτηρίαν. καὶ τοὺς μὲν τέκνων ὄντας πατέρας τῶν υἱῶν ὑπομιμνήσκων, τοὺς δʼ ἐνδόξων γεγονότας πατέρων παρακαλῶν τὰς τῶν προγόνων ἀρετὰς μὴ καταισχῦναι, τοὺς δʼ ὑπὸ τοῦ δήμου τετιμημένους προτρεπόμενος ἀξίους φανῆναι τῶν στεφάνων, ἅπαντας δʼ ἀναμνησθέντας τῶν ἐν Σαλαμῖνι τροπαίων ἠξίου μὴ καταρρῖψαι τῆς πατρίδος τὴν περιβόητον δόξαν, μηδὲ αὑτοὺς ἀνδραπόδων τρόπον παραδοῦναι τοῖς Συρακοσίοις. ὁ μὲν οὖν Νικίας τοιούτοις χρησάμενος λόγοις πάλιν ἐπὶ τὴν ἰδίαν τάξιν ἐπανῆλθεν· οἱ δʼ ἐν ταῖς ναυσὶ παιανίσαντες ἔπλεον, καὶ φθάσαντες τοὺς πολεμίους διέλυον τὸ ζεῦγμα. οἱ δὲ Συρακόσιοι ταχέως ἐπαναχθέντες συνετάττοντο ταῖς τριήρεσι, καὶ συμπλεκόμενοι τοῖς ἐναντίοις ἠνάγκασαν αὐτοὺς ἐπιστρέφειν ἀπὸ τοῦ ζεύγματος καὶ διαμάχεσθαι. ποιουμένων δὲ τὰς ἀνακρούσεις τῶν μὲν ἐπὶ τὸν αἰγιαλόν, τῶν δʼ εἰς μέσον τὸν λιμένα, τινῶν δὲ πρὸς τὰ τείχη, ταχέως ἀπʼ ἀλλήλων διεσπάσθησαν αἱ τριήρεις ἅπασαι, καὶ χωρισθέντων ἀπὸ τῶν κλείθρων πλήρης ἦν ὁ λιμὴν τῶν κατʼ ὀλίγους ναυμαχούντων. ἔνθα δὴ παραβόλως ἀμφοτέρων περὶ τῆς νίκης ἀγωνιζομένων, οἱ μὲν Ἀθηναῖοι τῷ τε πλήθει τῶν νεῶν θαρροῦντες καὶ σωτηρίαν ἄλλην οὐχ ὁρῶντες θρασέως ἐκινδύνευον καὶ τὸν ἐν τῇ μάχῃ θάνατον εὐγενῶς ὑπέμενον· οἱ δὲ Συρακόσιοι θεατὰς τῶν ἀγώνων ἔχοντες γονεῖς καὶ παῖδας ἐφιλοτιμοῦντο πρὸς ἀλλήλους, ἑκάστου βουλομένου διʼ ἑαυτοῦ τὴν νίκην περιγενέσθαι τῇ πατρίδι.
At this time Nicias, the general of the Athenians, as he surveyed the ships and measured the magnitude of the struggle, could not remain at his station on shore, but leaving the land troops he boarded a boat and passed along the line of the Athenian triremes. Calling each captain by name and stretching forth his hands, he implored them all, now if ever before, to grasp the only hope left to them, for on the valour of those who were about to join battle at sea depended the preservation both of themselves, every man of them, and of their fatherland. Those who were fathers of children he reminded of their sons; those who were sons of distinguished fathers he exhorted not to bring disgrace ought to the valorous deeds of their ancestors; those who had been honoured by their fellow citizens he urged to show themselves worthy of their crowns; and all of them he reminded of the trophies erected at Salamis and begged them not to bring to disrepute the far-famed glory of their fatherland nor surrender themselves like slaves to the Syracusans. After Nicias had spoken to this effect, he returned to his station, and the men of the fleet advanced singing the paean and broke through the barrier of boats before the enemy could prevent them. But the Syracusans, putting quickly out to sea, formed their triremes in battle order and coming to grips with the enemy forced them to withdraw from the barrier of boats and fight a pitched battle. And as the ships backed water, some toward the beach, others toward the middle of the harbour, and still others in the direction of the walls, all the triremes were quickly separated from each other, and after they had got clear of the boom across its entrance the harbour was full of ships fighting in small groups. Thereupon both sides fought with abandon for the victory. The Athenians, cheered by the multitude of their ships and seeing no other hope of safety, carried on the fight boldly and faced gallantly their death in battle, and the Syracusans, with their parents and children as spectators of the struggle, vied with one another, each man wishing the victory to come to his country through his own efforts.
§ 13.16
διὸ καὶ πολλοὶ ταῖς τῶν ἐναντίων πρῴραις ἐπιβάντες, τῆς οἰκείας νεὼς ὑφʼ ἑτέρας τρωθείσης, ἐν μέσοις τοῖς πολεμίοις ἀπελαμβάνοντο. ἔνιοι δὲ σιδηρᾶς χεῖρας ἐπιβάλλοντες ἠνάγκαζον τοὺς ἀντιταττομένους ἐπὶ τῶν νεῶν πεζομαχεῖν. πολλάκις δὲ τὰς ἰδίας ἔχοντες ναῦς συντετριμμένας, εἰς τὰς τῶν ἐναντίων μεθαλλόμενοι, καὶ τοὺς μὲν ἀποκτείνοντες, τοὺς δʼ εἰς τὴν θάλατταν προωθοῦντες, ἐκυρίευον τῶν τριήρων. ἁπλῶς δὲ καθʼ ὅλον τὸν λιμένα τῶν τʼ ἐμβολῶν ψόφος ἐγίνετο καὶ βοὴ τῶν ἀγωνιζομένων ἐναλλὰξ ἀπολλυμένων. ὅτε γὰρ ἀποληφθείη ναῦς ὑπὸ πλειόνων τριήρων, πανταχόθεν τυπτομένη τοῖς χαλκώμασι, τοῦ ῥεύματος εἰσπίπτοντος αὔτανδρος ὑπὸ τῆς θαλάττης κατεπίνετο. ἔνιοι δὲ καταδυομένων τῶν νεῶν ἀποκολυμβῶντες τοῖς τε τόξοις κατετιτρώσκοντο καὶ τοῖς δόρασι τυπτόμενοι διεφθείροντο. οἱ δὲ κυβερνῆται θεωροῦντες τεταραγμένην τὴν μάχην, καὶ πάντα τόπον ὄντα πλήρη θορύβου, καὶ πολλάκις ἐπὶ μίαν ναῦν πλείους ἐπιφερομένας, οὔθʼ ὅ,τι σημαίνοιεν εἶχον, μὴ τῶν αὐτῶν πρὸς ἅπαντα συμφερόντων, οὔτε πρὸς τοὺς κελεύοντας τοὺς ἐνεδέχετο βλέπειν διὰ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν βελῶν. ἁπλῶς δὲ τῶν παραγγελλομένων οὐδεὶς οὐδὲν ἤκουε, τῶν σκαφῶν θραυομένων καὶ παρασυρομένων τῶν ταρσῶν, ἅμα δὲ καὶ τῇ κραυγῇ τῶν ναυμαχούντων καὶ τῶν ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς συμφιλοτιμουμένων. τοῦ γὰρ αἰγιαλοῦ παντὸς τὸ μὲν ὑπὸ τῶν πεζῶν τῶν Ἀθηναίων κατείχετο, τὸ δʼ ὑπὸ τῶν Συρακοσίων, ὥστʼ ἐνίοτε τοὺς παρὰ τὴν γῆν ναυμαχοῦντας συμμάχους ἔχειν τοὺς ἐπὶ τῆς χέρσου στρατοπεδεύοντας. οἱ δʼ ἐπὶ τῶν τειχῶν ὅτε μὲν ἴδοιεν τοὺς ἰδίους εὐημεροῦντας, ἐπαιάνιζον, ὅτε δʼ ἐλαττουμένους, ἔστενον καὶ μετὰ δακρύων τοῖς θεοῖς προσηύχοντο. ἐνίοτε γάρ, εἰ τύχοι, τῶν Συρακοσίων τριήρων παρὰ τὰ τείχη διαφθείρεσθαί τινας συνέβαινε, καὶ τοὺς ἰδίους ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς τῶν συγγενῶν ἀναιρεῖσθαι, καὶ θεωρεῖν γονεῖς μὲν τέκνων ἀπώλειαν, ἀδελφὰς δὲ καὶ γυναῖκας ἀνδρῶν καὶ ἀδελφῶν οἰκτρὰν καταστροφήν.
Consequently many leaped on the prows of the hostile ships, when their own had been damaged by another, and were isolated in the midst of their enemies. In some cases they dropped grappling-irons and forced their adversaries to fight a land-battle on their ships. Often men whose own ships had been shattered leaped on their opponents' vessels, and by slaying the defenders or pushing them into the sea became masters of their triremes. In a word, over the entire harbour came the crash of ship striking ship and the cry of desperately struggling men slaying and being slain. For when a ship had been intercepted by several triremes and struck by their beaks from every direction, the water would pour in and it would be swallowed together with the entire crew beneath the sea. Some who would be swimming away after their ship had been sunk would be wounded by arrows or slain by the blows of spears. The pilots, as they saw with the confusion of the battle, every spot full of uproar, and often a number of ships converging upon a single one, did not know what signal to give, since the same orders were not suitable to all situations, nor was it possible, because of the multitude of missiles, for the oarsmen to keep their eyes upon the men who gave them their orders. In short, not a man could hear any of the commands amid the shattering of boats and the sweeping off of oars, as well as amid the uproar of the men in combat on the ships and of their zealous comrades on land. For of the entire beach a part was held by the Athenian infantry and a part by the Syracusans, so that at times the men fighting the seabattle had as helpers, when along the shore, the soldiers lined up on the land. The spectators on the walls, whenever they saw their own fighters winning, would sing songs of victory, but when they saw them being vanquished, they would groan and with tears offer prayers to the gods. For now and then it happened that some Syracusan triremes would be destroyed along the walls and their crews slain before the eyes of their kinsmen, and parents would witness the destruction of their children, sisters and wives the pitiable ends of husbands and brothers.
§ 13.17
ἐπὶ πολὺν δὲ χρόνον πολλῶν ἀπολλυμένων ἡ μάχη τέλος οὐκ ἐλάμβανεν· οὐδὲ γὰρ οἱ θλιβόμενοι πρὸς τὴν γῆν φεύγειν ἐτόλμων. οἱ μὲν γὰρ Ἀθηναῖοι τοὺς ἀφισταμένους τῆς μάχης καὶ τῇ γῇ προσπλέοντας ἠρώτων, εἰ διὰ τῆς γῆς εἰς Ἀθήνας πλεῦσαι νομίζουσιν, οἱ δὲ πεζοὶ τῶν Συρακοσίων τοὺς προσπλέοντας ἀνέκρινον, διὰ τί βουλομένων αὐτῶν εἰς τὰς τριήρεις ἐμβαίνειν κωλύσαντες αὐτοὺς μάχεσθαι νῦν προδιδόασι τὴν πατρίδα, καὶ εἰ διὰ τοῦτο ἔφραξαν τὸ στόμα τοῦ λιμένος, ὅπως κωλύσαντες τοὺς πολεμίους αὐτοὶ φεύγωσιν ἐπὶ τὸν αἰγιαλόν, καὶ τοῦ τελευτᾶν ὀφειλομένου πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις ποῖον ζητοῦσι καλλίω θάνατον ἢ τὸν ὑπὲρ τῆς πατρίδος, ἣν ἔχοντες μάρτυρα τῶν ἀγώνων αἰσχρῶς ἐγκαταλείπουσιν. τοιαῦτα δὲ τῶν ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς στρατιωτῶν ὀνειδιζόντων τοῖς προσπλέουσιν, οἱ πρὸς τοὺς αἰγιαλοὺς ἀποφεύγοντες πάλιν ἀνέστρεφον, καίπερ συντετριμμένας ἔχοντες τὰς ναῦς καὶ ὑπὸ τῶν τραυμάτων καταβαρούμενοι. τῶν δὲ παρὰ τὴν πόλιν κινδυνευόντων Ἀθηναίων ἐκβιασθέντων καὶ πρὸς φυγὴν ὁρμησάντων, οἱ προσεχεῖς ἀεὶ τῶν Ἀθηναίων ἐνέκλινον, καὶ κατʼ ὀλίγον ἅπαντες ἐτράπησαν. οἱ μὲν οὖν Συρακόσιοι μετὰ πολλῆς κραυγῆς κατεδίωκον τὰς ναῦς ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν· τῶν δὲ Ἀθηναίων ὅσοι μὴ μετέωροι διεφθάρησαν, ἐπεὶ πρὸς τὰ βράχη προσηνέχθησαν, ἐκπηδῶντες ἐκ τῶν νεῶν εἰς τὸ πεζὸν στρατόπεδον ἔφευγον. ὁ δὲ λιμὴν πλήρης ἦν ὅπλων τε καὶ ναυαγίων, ὡς ἂν Ἀττικῶν μὲν νεῶν ἀπολομένων ἑξήκοντα, παρὰ δὲ τῶν Συρακοσίων ὀκτὼ μὲν τελέως διεφθαρμένων, ἑκκαίδεκα δὲ συντετριμμένων. οἱ δὲ Συρακόσιοι τῶν τε τριήρων ὅσας δυνατὸν ἦν εἷλκον ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν, καὶ τοὺς τετελευτηκότας πολίτας τε καὶ συμμάχους ἀνελόμενοι δημοσίας ταφῆς ἠξίωσαν.
For a long time, despite the many who were dying, the battle would not come to an end, since not even the men who were in desperate straits would dare flee to the land. For the Athenians would ask those who were breaking off the battle and turning to the land, "Do you think to sail to Athens by land?" and the Syracusan infantry would inquire of any who were bringing their ships towards them, "Why, when we wanted to go aboard at triremes, did you prevent us from engaging in the battle, if now you are betraying the fatherland?" "Was the reason you blocked the mouth of the harbour that, after preventing the enemy from getting out, you might yourselves flee to the beach?" "Since it is the lot of all men to die, what fairer death do you seek than dying for the fatherland, which you are disgracefully abandoning though you have it as a witness of your fighting!" When the soldiers on the land hurled such upbraidings at the sailors who drew near, those who were fleeing for refuge to the beach would turn back again, even though their ships were shattered and they themselves were weighed down by their wounds. But when the Athenians who were engaged near the city had been thrust back and began to flee, the Athenians next in line gave way from time to time and gradually the whole host took to flight. Thereupon the Syracusans with great shouting pursued the ships to the land; and those Athenians who had not been slain out at sea, now that they had come to shallow water, leaped from the ships and fled to the land troops. And the harbour was full of arms and wreckage of boats, since of the Attic ships sixty were lost and of the Syracusan eight were completely destroyed and sixteen badly damaged. The Syracusans drew up on the shore as many of their triremes as they could, and taking up the bodies of their citizens and allies who had died, honoured them with a public funeral.
§ 13.18
οἱ δʼ Ἀθηναῖοι συνδραμόντες ἐπὶ τὰς τῶν ἡγεμόνων σκηνὰς ἐδέοντο τῶν στρατηγῶν, μὴ τῶν νεῶν, ἀλλὰ τῆς ἑαυτῶν φροντίζειν σωτηρίας. Δημοσθένης μὲν οὖν ἔφη δεῖν, λελυμένου τοῦ ζεύγματος, κατὰ τάχος πληροῦν τὰς τριήρεις, καὶ ἀπροσδοκήτως ἐπιθεμένους ἐπηγγέλλετο ῥᾳδίως κρατήσειν τῆς ἐπιβολῆς· Νικίας δὲ συνεβούλευε καταλιπόντας τὰς ναῦς διὰ τῆς μεσογείου πρὸς τὰς συμμαχίδας πόλεις ἀναχωρεῖν. ᾧ πάντες ὁμογνώμονες γενόμενοι τῶν νεῶν τινας ἐνέπρησαν καὶ τὰ πρὸς τὴν ἀπαλλαγὴν παρεσκευάζοντο. φανεροῦ δʼ ὄντος ὅτι τῆς νυκτὸς ἀναζεύξουσιν, Ἑρμοκράτης συνεβούλευε τοῖς Συρακοσίοις ἐξάγειν τῆς νυκτὸς ἅπαν τὸ στρατόπεδον καὶ τὰς ὁδοὺς ἁπάσας προκαταλαβέσθαι. οὐ πειθομένων δὲ τῶν στρατηγῶν διὰ τὸ πολλοὺς μὲν τραυματίας εἶναι τῶν στρατιωτῶν, πάντας δʼ ὑπὸ τῆς μάχης κατακόπους ὑπάρχειν τοῖς σώμασιν, ἀπέστειλέ τινας τῶν ἱππέων ἐπὶ τὴν παρεμβολὴν τῶν Ἀθηναίων τοὺς ἐροῦντας, ὅτι προαπεστάλκασιν οἱ Συρακόσιοι τοὺς τὰς ὁδοὺς καὶ τοὺς ἐπικαιροτάτους τόπους προκαταληψομένους. ποιησάντων δὲ τῶν ἱππέων τὸ προσταχθὲν ἤδη νυκτὸς οὔσης, οἱ μὲν Ἀθηναῖοι νομίσαντες τῶν Λεοντίνων τινὰς εἶναι τοὺς διʼ εὔνοιαν ἀπηγγελκότας, διεταράχθησαν οὐ μικρῶς καὶ τὴν ἀπαλλαγὴν ὑπερέθεντο· ᾧπερ εἰ μὴ παρεκρούσθησαν, ἀσφαλῶς ἂν ἐχωρίσθησαν. οἱ μὲν οὖν Συρακόσιοι τῆς ἡμέρας ὑποφωσκούσης ἀπέστειλαν τοὺς προκαταληψομένους τὰ στενόπορα τῶν ὁδῶν· οἱ δὲ τῶν Ἀθηναίων στρατηγοὶ διελόμενοι τοὺς στρατιώτας εἰς δύο μέρη, καὶ τὰ μὲν σκευοφόρα καὶ τοὺς ἀρρώστους εἰς μέσον λαβόντες, τοὺς δὲ δυναμένους μάχεσθαι προηγεῖσθαι καὶ οὐραγεῖν τάξαντες, προῄεσαν ἐπὶ Κατάνης, ὧν μὲν Δημοσθένους, ὧν δὲ Νικίου καθηγουμένων.
The Athenians thronged to the tents of their commanders and begged the generals to take thought, not for the ships, but for the safety of themselves. Demosthenes, accordingly, declared that, since the barrier of boats had been broken, they should straightway man the triremes, and he expressed the belief that, if they delivered an unexpected attack, they would easily succeed in their design. But Nicias advised that they leave the ships behind and withdraw through the interior to the cities which were their allies. This plan was agreed to by all, and they burned some of the ships and made preparations for the retreat. When it was evident that the Athenians were going to withdraw during the night, Hermocrates advised the Syracusans to lead forth their entire army in the night and seize all the roads beforehand. And when the generals would not agree to this, both because many of the soldiers were wounded and because all of them were worn-out in body from the fighting, he sent some of the horsemen to the camp of the Athenians to tell them that the Syracusans had already dispatched men to seize in advance the roads and the most important positions. It was already night when the horsemen carried out these orders, and the Athenians, believing that it was men from Leontini who out of goodwill had brought them the word, were not a little disturbed and postponed the departure. If they had not been deceived by this trick, they would have got safely away. The Syracusans at daybreak dispatched the soldiers who were to seize in advance the narrow passes in the roads. And the Athenian generals, dividing the soldiers into two bodies, put the pack-animals and the sick and injured in the centre and stationed those who were in condition to fight in the van and the rear, and then set out for Catane, Demosthenes commanding one group and Nicias the other.
§ 13.19
οἱ δὲ Συρακόσιοι πεντήκοντα μὲν τὰς καταλειφθείσας ναῦς ἀναψάμενοι κατήγαγον εἰς τὴν πόλιν, ἐκβιβάσαντες δʼ ἐκ τῶν τριήρων ἅπαντας καὶ καθοπλίσαντες, μετὰ πάσης τῆς δυνάμεως ἠκολούθουν τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις, ἐξαπτόμενοι καὶ βαδίζειν εἰς τοὔμπροσθεν διακωλύοντες. ἐπὶ τρεῖς δʼ ἡμέρας ἐπακολουθοῦντες καὶ πανταχόθεν περιλαμβάνοντες ἀπεῖργον εὐθυπορεῖν πρὸστὴν σύμμαχον Κατάνην, παλινοδίαν δὲ καταναγκάσαντες ποιήσασθαι διὰ τοῦ Ἐλωρίου πεδίου, πρὸς τῷ Ἀσινάρῳ ποταμῷ περικυκλώσαντες ἀπέκτειναν μὲν μυρίους ὀκτακισχιλίους, ἐζώγρησαν δὲ ἑπτακισχιλίους, ἐν οἷς καὶ τοὺς στρατηγοὺς Δημοσθένην καὶ Νικίαν· οἱ δὲ λοιποὶ διηρπάσθησαν ὑπὸ τῶν στρατιωτῶν. οἱ γὰρ Ἀθηναῖοι πάντοθεν ἀποκλειομένης τῆς σωτηρίας ἠναγκάσθησαν τὰ ὅπλα καὶ ἑαυτοὺς παραδοῦναι τοῖς πολεμίοις. τούτων δὲ πραχθέντων οἱ Συρακόσιοι στήσαντες δύο τρόπαια, καὶ τὰ τῶν στρατηγῶν ὅπλα πρὸς ἑκάτερον προσηλώσαντες, ἀνέστρεψαν εἰς τὴν πόλιν. τότε μὲν οὖν τοῖς θεοῖς ἔθυσαν πανδημεί, τῇ δʼ ὑστεραίᾳ συναχθείσης ἐκκλησίας ἐβουλεύοντο, πῶς χρήσονται τοῖς αἰχμαλώτοις. Διοκλῆς δέ τις, τῶν δημαγωγῶν ἐνδοξότατος ὤν, ἀπεφήνατο γνώμην ὡς δέοι τοὺς μὲν στρατηγοὺς τῶν Ἀθηναίων μετʼ αἰκίας ἀνελεῖν, τοὺς δʼ ἄλλους αἰχμαλώτους ἐν μὲν τῷ παρόντι τεθῆναι πάντας εἰς τὰς λατομίας, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τοὺς μὲν συμμαχήσαντας τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις λαφυροπωλῆσαι, τοὺς δʼ Ἀθηναίους ἐργαζομένους ἐν τῷ δεσμωτηρίῳ λαμβάνειν ἀλφίτων δύο κοτύλας. ἀναγνωσθέντος δὲ τοῦ ψηφίσματος Ἑρμοκράτης παρελθὼν εἰς τὴν ἐκκλησίαν ἐνεχείρει λέγειν, ὡς κάλλιόν ἐστι τοῦ νικᾶν τὸ τὴν νίκην ἐνεγκεῖν ἀνθρωπίνως. θορυβοῦντος δὲ τοῦ δήμου καὶ τὴν δημηγορίαν οὐχ ὑπομένοντος, Νικόλαός τις,ἐστερημένος ἐν τῷ πολέμῳ δυεῖν υἱῶν, ἀνέβαινεν ἐπὶ τὸ βῆμα κατεχόμενος ὑπὸ τῶν οἰκετῶν διὰ τὸ γῆρας· ὃν ὡς εἶδεν ὁ δῆμος, ἔληξε τοῦ θορύβου, νομίζων κατηγορήσειν τῶν αἰχμαλώτων. γενομένης οὖν σιωπῆς ὁ πρεσβύτερος ἐντεῦθεν ἤρξατο τῶν λόγων.
The Syracusans took in tow the fifty ships left behind and brought them to the city, and then, taking off the crew of their triremes and providing them with arms, they followed after the Athenians with their entire armament, harassing them and hindering their forward progress. For three days following close on their heels and encompassing them on all sides they prevented them from taking a direct road toward Catane, their ally; instead they compelled them to retrace their steps through the plain of Elorium, and surrounding them at the Ainarus River, slew eighteen thousand and took captive seven thousand, among whom were also the generals Demosthenes and Nicias. The remainder were seized as their plunder by the soldiers; for the Athenians, since their escape was blocked in every direction, were obliged to surrender their weapons and their persons to the enemy. After this had taken place, the Syracusans set up two trophies, nailing to each of them the arms of a general, and turned back to the city. (19) Now at that time the whole city of Syracuse offered sacrifice to the gods, and on the next day, after the Assembly had gathered, they considered what disposition they should make of the captives. A man named Diocles, who was a most notable leader of the populace, declared his opinion that the Athenian generals should be put to death under torture and the other prisoners should for the present all be thrown into the quarries; but that later the allies of the Athenians should be sold as booty and the Athenians should labour as prisoners under guard, receiving two cotyls of barley meal. When this motion had been read, Hermocrates took the floor and endeavoured to show that a fairer thing than victory is to bear the victory with moderation. But when the people shouted their disapproval and would not allow him to continue, a man named Nicolaus, who had lost two sons in the war, made his way, supported by his slaves because of his age, to the platform. When the people saw him, they stopped shouting, believing that he would denounce the prisoners. As soon, then, as there was silence, the old man began to speak.
§ 13.20
τῶν κατὰ τὸν πόλεμον ἀτυχημάτων, ἄνδρες Συρακόσιοι, μέρος οὐκ ἐλάχιστον ἐγὼ μετέσχηκα· δυεῖν γὰρ υἱῶν γενόμενος πατὴρ ἐξέπεμψα μὲν αὐτοὺς εἰς τὸν ὑπὲρ τῆς πατρίδος κίνδυνον, ὑπεδεξάμην δʼ ἀντʼ αὐτῶν ἀγγελίαν, ἣ τὸν ἐκείνων θάνατον ἐμήνυεν. διὸ καὶ καθʼ ἡμέραν ἐπιζητῶν τὴν συμβίωσιν, καὶ τὴν τελευτὴν ἀναλογιζόμενος, ἐκείνους μὲν μακαρίζω, τὸν ἐμαυτοῦ δὲ βίον ἐλεῶ, πάντων ἡγούμενος εἶναι δυστυχέστατος. ἐκεῖνοι μὲν γὰρ τὸν ὀφειλόμενον τῇ φύσει θάνατον εἰς πατρίδος σωτηρίαν ἀναλώσαντες ἀθάνατον ἑαυτῶν δόξαν καταλελοίπασιν, ἐγὼ δʼ ἐπὶ τῆς ἐσχάτης ἡλικίας ἔρημος ὢν τῶν θεραπευσόντων τὸ γῆρας διπλοῦν ἔχω τὸ πένθος, τὴν συγγένειαν ἅμα καὶ ἀρετὴν ἐπιζητῶν· ὅσῳ γὰρ εὐγενέστερον ἐτελεύτησαν, τοσούτῳ ποθεινοτέραν τὴν ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν μνήμην καταλελοίπασιν. εἰκότως οὖν μισῶ τοὺς Ἀθηναίους, διʼ ἐκείνους οὐχ ὑπὸ τῶν τέκνων, ἀλλʼ ὑπὸ οἰκετῶν, ὡς ὁρᾶτε, χειραγωγούμενος. εἰ μὲν οὖν ἑώρων, ὦ ἄνδρες Συρακόσιοι, τὴν παροῦσαν ἐνεστηκέναι βουλὴν ὑπὲρ Ἀθηναίων, εἰκότως ἂν καὶ διὰ τὰς κοινὰς τῆς πατρίδος συμφορὰς καὶ διὰ τὰς ἰδίας ἀτυχίας πικρῶς ἂν αὐτοῖς προσηνέχθην· ἐπεὶ δʼ ἅμα τῷ πρὸς τοὺς ἠτυχηκότας ἐλέῳ κρίνεται τό τε κοινῇ συμφέρον καὶ ἡ πρὸς ἅπαντας ἀνθρώπους ὑπὲρ τοῦ δήμου τῶν Συρακοσίων ἐξενεχθησομένη δόξα, ἀκέραιον ποιήσομαι τὴν τοῦ συμφέροντος συμβουλίαν.
"Of the misfortunes of the war, men of Syracuse, I have shared in a part, and not the least; for being the father of two sons, I sent them into the struggle on behalf of the fatherland, and I received back, in place of them, a message which announced their death. Therefore, as I miss their companionship each day and call to mind once more that they are dead, I deem them happy, but pity my own lot, believing myself to be the most unfortunate of men. For they, having expended for the salvation of their fatherland the death which mankind owes to Nature, have left behind them deathless renown for themselves, whereas I, bereft at the end of my days of those who were to minister to my old age, bear a twofold sorrow, in that it is both the children of my own body and their valour that I miss. For the more gallant their death, the more poignant the memory of themselves they have left behind. I have good reason, then, for hating the Athenians, since it is because of them that I am being guided here, not by my own sons, but, as you can see, by slaves. Now if I perceived, men of Syracuse, that the matter under discussion was merely a decision affecting the Athenians, I with good reason, both because of the misfortunes of our country, shared by all, and because of my personal afflictions, should have dealt bitterly with them; but since, along with consideration of the pity which is shown to unfortunates, the question at issue concerns both the good of the State and the fame of the people of the Syracusans which will be spread abroad to all mankind, I shall direct my proposal solely to the question of expediency.
§ 13.21
ὁ μὲν οὖν δῆμος τῶν Ἀθηναίων τῆς ἰδίας ἀνοίας ἀξίαν κεκόμισται τιμωρίαν, πρῶτον μὲν παρὰ θεῶν, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα παρʼ ἡμῶν τῶν ἀδικηθέντων. ἀγαθὸν γάρ ἐστι τὸ θεῖον τοὺς ἀδίκου πολέμου καταρχομένους καὶ τὴν αὑτῶν ὑπεροχὴν οὐκ ἐνεγκόντας ἀνθρωπίνως ἀνελπίστοις περιβαλεῖν συμφοραῖς. τίς γὰρ ἂν ἤλπισεν Ἀθηναίους, μύρια μὲν εἰληφότας ἐκ Δήλου τάλαντα, τριήρεις δὲ διακοσίας εἰς Σικελίαν ἀπεσταλκότας καὶ τοὺς ἀγωνισομένους ἄνδρας πλείους τῶν τετρακισμυρίων, οὕτως μεγάλαις συμφοραῖς περιπεσεῖσθαι; ἀπὸ γὰρ τῆς τηλικαύτης παρασκευῆς οὔτε ναῦς οὔτʼ ἀνὴρ οὐθεὶς ἐπανῆλθεν, ὥστε μηδὲ τὸν ἀγγελοῦντα αὐτοῖς τὴν συμφορὰν περιλειφθῆναι. εἰδότες οὖν, ἄνδρες Συρακόσιοι, τοὺς ὑπερηφανοῦντας παρὰ θεοῖς καὶ παρʼ ἀνθρώποις μισουμένους, προσκυνοῦντες τὴν τύχην μηθὲν ὑπὲρ ἄνθρωπον πράξητε. τί γὰρ σεμνὸν φονεῦσαι τὸν ὑποπεπτωκότα; τί δʼ ἔνδοξον τιμωρίᾳ περιβαλεῖν; ὁ γὰρ ἀμετάθετον ἔχων τὴν περὶ τῶν ἀτυχημάτων ὠμότητα συναδικεῖ τὴν κοινὴν ἀνθρώπων ἀσθένειαν. οὐθεὶς γάρ ἐστιν οὕτω φρόνιμος, ὥστε μεῖζον ἰσχῦσαι τῆς τύχης, ἣ φύσει ταῖς ἀνθρωπίναις ἡδομένη συμφοραῖς ὀξείας τῆς εὐδαιμονίας ποιεῖ τὰς μεταβολάς. ἐροῦσί τινες ἴσως, ἠδίκησαν, καὶ τῆς κατʼ αὐτῶν τιμωρίας ἔχομεν τὴν ἐξουσίαν. οὐκοῦν παρὰ μὲν τοῦ δήμου πολλαπλασίαν εἰλήφατε τιμωρίαν, παρὰ δὲ τῶν αἰχμαλώτων ἱκανὴν ἔχετε κόλασιν; παρέδωκαν γὰρ ἑαυτοὺς μετὰ τῶν ὅπλων πιστεύσαντες τῇ τῶν κρατούντων εὐγνωμοσύνῃ· διόπερ οὐκ ἄξιον αὐτοὺς τῆς ἡμετέρας ψευσθῆναι φιλανθρωπίας. οἱ μὲν οὖν ἀμετάθετον τὴν ἔχθραν φυλάττοντες μαχόμενοι τετελευτήκασιν, οἱ δʼ ἑαυτοὺς ἡμῖν ἐγχειρίσαντες ἀντὶ πολεμίων γεγόνασιν ἱκέται. οἱ γὰρ ἐν ταῖς μάχαις τοῖς ἐναντίοις τὰ σώματα ἐγχειρίζοντες, ἐπʼ ἐλπίδι σωτηρίας τοῦτο πράττουσιν· εἰ δὲ πιστεύσαντες τιμωρίας τεύξονται τηλικαύτης, οἱ μὲν παθόντες ἀναδέξονται τὴν συμφοράν, οἱ δὲ πράξαντες ἀγνώμονες ἂν κληθεῖεν. δεῖ δὲ τοὺς τῆς ἡγεμονίας ἀντιποιουμένους, ὦ ἄνδρες Συρακόσιοι, μὴ οὕτως τοῖς ὅπλοις ἑαυτοὺς ἰσχυροὺς κατασκευάζειν, ὡς τοῖς τρόποις ἐπιεικεῖς παρέχεσθαι.
"The people of the Athenians have received a punishment their own folly deserved, first of all from the hands of the gods and then from us whom they had wronged. Good it is indeed that the deity involves in unexpected disasters those who begin an unjust war and do not bear their own superiority as men should. For who could have expected that the Athenians, who had removed ten thousand talents from Delos to Athens and had dispatched to Sicily two hundred triremes and more than forty thousand men to fight, would ever suffer disasters of such magnitude? for from the preparations they made on such a scale not a ship, not a man has returned home, so that not even a survivor is left to carry to them word of the disaster. Knowing, therefore, men of Syracuse, that the arrogant are hated among gods and men, do you, humbling yourselves before Fortune, commit no act that is beyond man's powers. What nobility is there in slaying the man who lies at your feet? What glory is there in wreaking vengeance on him? He who maintains his savagery unalterable amid human misfortunes also fails to take proper account of the common weakness of mankind. For no man is so wise that his strength can prevail over Fortune, which of its nature finds delight in the sufferings of men and works swift changes in prosperity. "Some, perhaps, will say, 'They have committed a wrong, and we have the power to punish them.' But have you, then, not inflicted a many times greater punishment on the Athenian people, and are you not satisfied with your chastisement of the prisoners? For they have surrendered themselves together with their arms, trusting in the reasonableness of their conquerors; it is, therefore, not seemly that they should be cheated of our expected humaneness. For those who maintained unalterable their enmity toward us have died fighting, but these who delivered themselves into our hands have become suppliants, no longer enemies. For those who in battle deliver their persons into the hands of their opponents do so in the hope of saving their lives; and should the men who have shown this trust receive so severe a punishment, though the victims will accept their misfortune, yet the punishers would be called hard-hearted. But those who lay claim to leadership, men of Syracuse, should not strive to make themselves strong in arms so much as they should show themselves reasonable in their character.
§ 13.22
οἱ γὰρ ὑποτεταγμένοι τοὺς μὲν φόβῳ κατισχύοντας καιροτηρήσαντες ἀμύνονται διὰ τὸ μῖσος, τοὺς δὲ φιλανθρώπως ἀφηγουμένους βεβαίως ἀγαπῶντες ἀεὶ συναύξουσι τὴν ἡγεμονίαν. τί καθεῖλε τὴν Μήδων ἀρχήν; ἡ πρὸς τοὺς ταπεινοτέρους ὠμότης. ἀποστάντων γὰρ Περσῶν καὶ τὰ πλεῖστα τῶν ἐθνῶν συνεπέθετο. πῶς γὰρ Κῦρος ἐξ ἰδιώτου τῆς Ἀσίας ὅλης ἐβασίλευσε; τῇ πρὸς τοὺς κρατηθέντας εὐγνωμοσύνῃ. Κροῖσον γὰρ τὸν βασιλέα λαβὼν αἰχμάλωτον οὐχ ὅπως ἠδίκησεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ προσευηργέτησεν· παραπλησίως δὲ καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις βασιλεῦσί τε καὶ δήμοις προσηνέχθη. τοιγαροῦν διαδοθείσης εἰς πάντα τόπον τῆς ἡμερότητος ἅπαντες οἱ κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν ἀλλήλους φθάνοντες εἰς τὴν τοῦ βασιλέως συμμαχίαν παρεγίνοντο. τί λέγω τὰ μακρὰν καὶ τόποις καὶ χρόνοις ἀφεστηκότα; κατὰ γὰρ τὴν ἡμετέραν πόλιν οὐ πάλαι Γέλων ἐξ ἰδιώτου τῆς Σικελίας ὅλης ἡγεμὼν ἐγένετο, τῶν πόλεων ἑκουσίως εἰς τὴν ἐξουσίαν ἐκείνου παραγενομένων· προσεκαλεῖτο γὰρ ἡ τἀνδρὸς ἐπιείκεια πάντας ἀνθρώπους, τὴν εἰς τοὺς ἠτυχηκότας συγγνώμην προσλαβοῦσα. ἀπʼ ἐκείνων οὖν τῶν χρόνων τῆς κατὰ Σικελίαν ἡγεμονίας ἀντιποιουμένης τῆς πόλεως, μὴ καταρρίψωμεν τὸν ὑπὲρ τῶν προγόνων ἔπαινον, μηδʼ ἑαυτοὺς θηριώδεις καὶ ἀπαραιτήτους πρὸς ἀνθρωπίνην ἀτυχίαν παράσχωμεν. οὐ γὰρ προσήκει δοῦναι τῷ φθόνῳ καθʼ ἡμῶν ἀφορμὴν εἰπεῖν, ὡς ἀναξίως εὐτυχοῦμεν· καλὸν γὰρ καὶ τὸ τῆς τύχης ἀντιπραττούσης ἔχειν τοὺς συναλγήσοντας καὶ πάλιν ἐν τοῖς κατορθώμασι τοὺς ἡδομένους. τὰ μὲν οὖν ἐν τοῖς ὅπλοις πλεονεκτήματα τύχῃ καὶ καιρῷ κρίνεται πολλάκις, ἡ δʼ ἐν ταῖς εὐπραξίαις ἡμερότης ἴδιόν ἐστι σημεῖον τῆς τῶν εὐτυχούντων ἀρετῆς. διὸ μὴ φθονήσητε τῇ πατρίδι περιβόητον γενέσθαι παρὰ πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις, ὅτι τοὺς Ἀθηναίους ἐνίκησεν οὐ μόνον τοῖς ὅπλοις, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῇ φιλανθρωπίᾳ. φανήσονται γὰρ οἱ τῶν ἄλλων ὑπερέχειν ἡμερότητι σεμνυνόμενοι τῇ παρʼ ἡμῶν εὐγνωμοσύνῃ πολυωρούμενοι, καὶ οἱ πρῶτοι βωμὸν ἐλέου καθιδρυσάμενοι τοῦτον ἐν τῇ πόλει τῶν Συρακοσίων εὑρήσουσιν. ἐξ ὧν πᾶσιν ἔσται φανερόν, ὡς ἐκεῖνοι μὲν δικαίως ἐσφάλησαν, ἡμεῖς δʼ ἀξίως ηὐτυχήσαμεν, εἴπερ οἱ μὲν τοιούτους ἀδικεῖν ἐπεχείρησαν οἳ καὶ πρὸς τοὺς ἐχθροὺς εὐγνωμόνησαν, ἡμεῖς δὲ τοιούτους ἐνικήσαμεν οἳ καὶ τοῖς πολεμιωτάτοις μερίζουσι τὸν ἔλεον ἐτόλμησαν ἐπιβουλεῦσαι· ὥστε μὴ μόνον ὑπὸ τῶν ἄλλων κατηγορίας τυγχάνειν τοὺς Ἀθηναίους, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτοὺς ἑαυτῶν καταγινώσκειν, εἰ τοιούτους ἄνδρας ἀδικεῖν ἐνεχείρησαν.
"The fact is that subject peoples bide their time against those who dominate them by fear and, because of their hatred, retaliate upon them, but they steadfastly cherish those who exercise their leadership humanely and thereby always aid them in strengthening their supremacy. What destroyed the kingdom of the Medes? Their brutality toward the weaker. For after the Persians revolted from them, their kingdom was attacked by most of the nations also. Else how did Cyrus rise from private citizen to the kingship over all of Asia? By his considerate treatment of the conquered. When, for example, he took King Croesus captive, far from doing him any injustice he actually became his benefactor; and in much the same way did he also deal with all the other kings as well as peoples. As a consequence, when the fame of his clemency had been spread abroad to every region, all the inhabitants of Asia vied with one another in entering into alliance with the king. "But why do I speak of things distant in both place and time? In this our city, not long since, Gelon rose from private citizen to be lord of the whole of Sicily, the cities willingly putting themselves under his authority; for the fairness of the man, combined with his sympathy for the unfortunate, drew all men to him. And since from those times our city has laid claim to the leadership in Sicily, let us not bring into disrepute the fair name our ancestors won nor show ourselves brutal and implacable toward human misfortune. Indeed it is not fitting to give envy an occasion to criticize us by saying that we make an unworthy use of our good fortune; for it is a fine thing with us when Fortune is adverse and rejoice in turn at our successes. The advantages which are won in arms are often determined by Fortune and opportunity, but clemency amid constant success is a distinctive mark of the virtue of men whose affairs prosper. Do not, therefore, begrudge our country the opportunity of being acclaimed by all mankind, because it has surpassed the Athenians not only in feats of arms but also in humanity. For it will be manifest that the people who vaunt their superiority to all others in civilization have received by our kindness all consideration, and they who were the first to raise an altar to Mercy will find that mercy in the city of the Syracusans. From this it will be clear to all that they suffered a just defeat and we enjoyed a deserved success, if it so be that, although they sought to wrong men who had treated with kindness even their foes, we, on the contrary, defeated men who ventured treacherously to attack a people which shows mercy even to its bitterest enemies. And so the Athenians would not only stand accused by all the world, but even they themselves would condemn themselves, that they had undertaken to wrong such men.
§ 13.23
καλόν, ὦ ἄνδρες Συρακόσιοι, κατάρξασθαι φιλίας, καὶ τῷ τῶν ἠτυχηκότων ἐλέῳ σπείσασθαι τὴν διαφοράν. δεῖ γὰρ τὴν μὲν πρὸς τοὺς φίλους εὔνοιαν ἀθάνατον φυλάττειν, τὴν δὲ πρὸς τοὺς ἐναντίους ἔχθραν θνητήν· οὕτω γὰρ συμβήσεται τοὺς μὲν συμμάχους γίνεσθαι πλείους, τοὺς δὲ πολεμίους ἐλάττους. τὴν δὲ διαφορὰν αἰώνιον διαφυλάττοντας παραδιδόναι παισὶ παίδων οὔτʼ εὔγνωμον οὔτε ἀσφαλές· ἐνίοτε γὰρ οἱ δοκοῦντες ὑπερέχειν ἐν ῥοπῇ καιροῦ τῶν πρότερον ὑποπεπτωκότων ἀσθενέστεροι γίνονται. μαρτυρεῖ δʼ ὁ νῦν γενόμενος πόλεμος· οἱ γὰρ ἐπὶ πολιορκίᾳ παραγενόμενοι καὶ διὰ τὴν ὑπεροχὴν ἀποτειχίσαντες τὴν πόλιν ἐκ μεταβολῆς αἰχμάλωτοι γεγόνασιν, ὡς ὁρᾶτε. καλὸν οὖν ἐν ταῖς τῶν ἄλλων ἀτυχίαις ἡμέρους φανέντας ἕτοιμον ἔχειν τὸν παρὰ πάντων ἔλεον, ἐάν τι συμβαίνῃ τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων. πολλὰ γὰρ ὁ βίος ἔχει παράδοξα, στάσεις πολιτικάς, λῃστείας, πολέμους, ἐν οἷς οὐ ῥᾴδιον διαφεύγειν τὸν κίνδυνον ἄνθρωπον ὄντα. διόπερ εἰ τὸν πρὸς τοὺς ὑποπεπτωκότας ἔλεον ἀποκόψομεν, πικρὸν καθʼ ἑαυτῶν νόμον θήσομεν εἰς ἅπαντα τὸν αἰῶνα. οὐ γὰρ δυνατὸν τοὺς ἄλλοις ἀνημέρως χρησαμένους αὐτοὺς παρʼ ἑτέρων τυχεῖν ποτε φιλανθρωπίας, ἄλλους τε πράξαντας δεινὰ παθεῖν εὐγνώμονα, καὶ παρὰ τοὺς τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἐθισμοὺς τοσούτους ἄνδρας φονεύσαντας ἐν ταῖς τοῦ βίου μεταβολαῖς ἐπιβοᾶσθαι τὰ κοινὰ πάντων νόμιμα. τίς γὰρ Ἑλλήνων τοὺς παραδόντας ἑαυτοὺς καὶ τῇ τῶν κρατούντων εὐγνωμοσύνῃ πιστεύσαντας ἀπαραιτήτου τιμωρίας ἠξίωκεν, ἢ τίς ἧττον τοῦ μὲν ὠμοῦ τὸν ἔλεον, τῆς δὲ προπετείας τὴν εὐλάβειαν ἔσχηκεν;
"A fine thing it is, men of Syracuse, to take the lead in establishing a friendship and, by showing mercy to the unfortunate, to make up the quarrel. For goodwill toward our friend should be kept imperishable, but hatred toward our enemies perishable, since by this practice it will come about that one's allies increase in number and one's enemies decrease. But for us to maintain the quarrel forever and to pass it on to children's children is neither kindly nor safe; since it sometimes happens that those who appear to be more powerful turn out to be weaker by the decision of a moment than their former subjects. And a witness to this is the war which has just now ceased: The men who came here to lay siege to the city and, by means of their superior power, threw a wall about it have by a change in fortune become captives, as you can see. It is a fine thing, therefore, by showing ourselves lenient amid the misfortunes of other men, to have reserved for us the hope of mercy from all men, in case some ill befall us of such as come to mortal men. For many are the unexpected things life holds — civic strifes, robberies, wars, amid which one may not easily avoid the peril, being but human. Consequently, if we shall exclude the thought of mercy for the defeated, we shall be setting up, for all time to come, a harsh law against ourselves. For it is impossible that men who have shown no compassion for others should themselves ever carve humane treatment at the hands of another and that men who have outraged others should be treated indulgently, or that we, after murdering so many men contrary to the traditions of the Greeks, should in the reversals which attend life appeal to the usages common to all mankind. For what Greek has ever judged that those who have surrendered themselves and put their trust in the kindness of their conquerors are deserving of implacable punishment? or who has ever held mercy less potent than cruelty, precaution than rashness?
§ 13.24
πάντες δὲ ἀνατείνονται μὲν πρὸς τοὺς ἀντιταττομένους, εἴκουσι δὲ τοῖς ὑποπεπτωκόσιν, ὧν μὲν τὴν τόλμαν καταπονοῦντες, ὧν δὲ τὴν ἀτυχίαν οἰκτείροντες. θραύεται γὰρ ἡμῶν ὁ θυμός, ὅταν ὁ πρότερον ἐχθρὸς ὢν ἐκ μεταβολῆς ἱκέτης γενόμενος ὑπομένῃ παθεῖν ὅ,τι ἂν δοκῇ τοῖς κρατοῦσιν. ἁλίσκονται δʼ, οἶμαι, τῶν ἡμέρων ἀνδρῶν αἱ ψυχαὶ μάλιστά πως ἐλέῳ διὰ τὴν κοινὴν τῆς φύσεως ὁμοπάθειαν. Ἀθηναῖοι γὰρ κατὰ τὸν Πελοποννησιακὸν πόλεμον εἰς τὴν Σφακτηρίαν νῆσον πολλοὺς τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων κατακλείσαντες καὶ λαβόντες αἰχμαλώτους ἀπελύτρωσαν τοῖς Σπαρτιάταις. πάλιν Λακεδαιμόνιοι πολλοὺς τῶν Ἀθηναίων καὶ τῶν συμμάχων αἰχμαλωτισάμενοι παραπλησίως ἐχρήσαντο. καὶ καλῶς ἀμφότεροι ταῦτʼ ἔπραξαν. δεῖ γὰρ τοῖς Ἕλλησι τὴν ἔχθραν εἶναι μέχρι τῆς νίκης, καὶ κολάζειν μέχρι τοῦ κρατῆσαι τῶν ἐναντίων. ὁ δὲ περαιτέρω τὸν ὑποπεσόντα καὶ πρὸς τὴν τοῦ κρατοῦντος εὐγνωμοσύνην προσφεύγοντα τιμωρούμενος οὐκέτι τὸν ἐχθρὸν κολάζει, πολὺ δὲ μᾶλλον ἀδικεῖ τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην ἀσθένειαν. εἴποι γὰρ ἄν τις πρὸς τὴν τοῦ τοιούτου σκληρότητα τὰς τῶν πάλαι σοφῶν ἀποφάσεις, ἄνθρωπε, μὴ μέγα φρόνει, γνῶθι σαυτόν, ἰδὲ τὴν τύχην ἁπάντων οὖσαν κυρίαν. τίνος γὰρ χάριν οἱ πρόγονοι πάντων τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἐν ταῖς κατὰ πόλεμον νίκαις κατέδειξαν οὐ διὰ λίθων, διὰ δὲ τῶν τυχόντων ξύλων ἱστάναι τὰ τρόπαια; ἆρʼ οὐχ ὅπως ὀλίγον χρόνον διαμένοντα ταχέως ἀφανίζηται τὰ τῆς ἔχθρας ὑπομνήματα; καθόλου δʼ εἰ μὲν αἰώνιον ἵστασθαι τὴν διαφορὰν βούλεσθε, μάθετε τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην ἀσθένειαν ὑπερφρονοῦντες· εἷς γὰρ καιρὸς καὶ βραχεῖα ῥοπὴ τύχης ταπεινοῖ πολλάκις τοὺς ὑπερηφάνους.
"All men sturdily oppose the enemy which is lined up for battle but fall back when he has surrendered, wearing down the hardihood of the former and showing pity for the misfortune of the latter. For our ardour is broken whenever the former enemy, having by a change of fortune become a suppliant, submits to suffer whatever suits the pleasure of his conquerors. And the spirits of civilized men are gripped, I believe, most perhaps by mercy, because of the sympathy which nature has planted in all. The Athenians, for example, although in the Peloponnesian War they had blockaded many Lacedemonians on the island of Sphacteria and taken them captive, released treatment to the Spartans on payment of ransom. On another occasion the Lacedemonians, when they had taken prisoner many of the Athenians and their allies, disposed of them in the same manner. And in so doing they both acted nobly. For hatred should exist between the Greeks only until victory has been won and punishment only until the enemy has been overcome. And whoever goes farther and wreaks vengeance upon the vanquished who flees for refuge to the leniency of his conqueror is no longer punishing his enemy but, far more, is guilty of an offence against human weakness. For against harshness such as this one may mention the adages of the wise men of old: 'O man, be not high-spirited'; 'Know thyself'; 'Observe how Fortune is lord of all.' For what reason did the ancestors of all the Greeks ordain that the trophies set up in celebrating victories in war should be made, not of stone, but of any wood at hand? Was it not in order that the memorials of the enmity, lasting as they would for a brief time, should quickly disappear? Speaking generally, if you wish to establish the quarrel for all time, know that in doing so you are treating with disdain human weakness; for a single moment, a slight turn of Fortune, often brings low the arrogant.
§ 13.25
εἰ δʼ, ὅπερ εἰκός ἐστι, παύσεσθε πολεμοῦντες, τίνα καλλίω καιρὸν εὑρήσετε τοῦ νῦν ὑπάρχοντος, ἐν ᾧ τὴν πρὸς τοὺς ἐπταικότας φιλανθρωπίαν ἀφορμὴν τῆς φιλίας ποιήσεσθε; μὴ γὰρ οἴεσθε τὸν τῶν Ἀθηναίων δῆμον τελέως ἐξησθενηκέναι διὰ τὴν ἐν Σικελίᾳ συμφοράν, ὃς κρατεῖ σχεδὸν τῶν τε κατὰ τὴν Ἑλλάδα νήσων ἁπασῶν, καὶ τῆς παραλίου τῆς τε κατὰ τὴν Εὐρώπην καὶ τὴν Ἀσίαν ἔχει τὴν ἡγεμονίαν. καὶ γὰρ πρότερον περὶ τὴν Αἴγυπτον τριακοσίας τριήρεις αὐτάνδρους ἀπολέσας τὸν δοκοῦντα κρατεῖν βασιλέα συνθήκας ἀσχήμονας ποιεῖν ἠνάγκασε, καὶ πάλιν ὑπὸ Ξέρξου τῆς πόλεως κατασκαφείσης μετʼ ὀλίγον κἀκεῖνον ἐνίκησε καὶ τῆς Ἑλλάδος τὴν ἡγεμονίαν ἐκτήσατο. ἀγαθὴ γὰρ ἡ πόλις ἐν τοῖς μεγίστοις ἀτυχήμασι μεγίστην ἐπίδοσιν λαβεῖν καὶ μηδέποτε ταπεινὸν μηδὲν βουλεύεσθαι. καλὸν οὖν ἀντὶ τοῦ τὴν ἔχθραν ἐπαύξειν συμμάχους αὐτοὺς ἔχειν φεισαμένους τῶν αἰχμαλώτων. ἀνελόντες μὲν γὰρ αὐτοὺς τῷ θυμῷ μόνον χαριούμεθα, τὴν ἄκαρπον ἐπιθυμίαν ἐκπληροῦντες, φυλάξαντες δὲ παρὰ μὲν τῶν εὖ παθόντων τὴν χάριν ἕξομεν, παρὰ δὲ τῶν ἄλλων ἁπάντων τὴν εὐδοξίαν.
"If, as is likely, you will make an end of the war, what better time will you find than the present, in which you will make your humane treatment of the prostrate the occasion for friendship? For do not assume that the Athenian people have become completely exhausted by their disaster in Sicily, seeing that they hold sway over practically all the islands of Greece and retain the supremacy over the coasts of both Europe and Asia. Indeed once before, after losing three hundred triremes together with their crews in Egypt, they compelled the King, who seemed to hold the upper hand, to accept ignominious terms of peace, and again, when their city had been razed to the ground by Xerxes, after a short time they defeated him also and won for themselves the leadership of Greece. For that city has a clever way, in the midst of the greatest misfortunes, of making the greatest growth in power and of never adopting a policy that is mean-spirited. It would be a fine thing, therefore, instead of increasing their enmity, to have the Athenians as allies after sparing the prisoners. For if we put them to death we shall merely be indulging our anger, sating a fruitless passion, whereas if we put them under guard, we shall have the gratitude of the men we succoured and the approbation of all other peoples.
§ 13.26
ναί, ἀλλά τινες τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἀπέσφαξαν τοὺς αἰχμαλώτους. τί οὖν; εἰ μὲν αὐτοῖς ἐκ ταύτης τῆς πράξεως ἔπαινοι τυγχάνουσι, μιμησώμεθα τοὺς τῆς δόξης πεφροντικότας· εἰ δὲ παρὰ πρώτων ἡμῶν τυγχάνουσι κατηγορίας, μηδὲ αὐτοὶ πράξωμεν τὰ αὐτὰ τοῖς ὁμολογουμένως ἡμαρτηκόσι. μέχρι μὲν γὰρ τοῦ μηδὲν ἀνήκεστον πεπονθέναι τοὺς εἰς τὴν ἡμετέραν πίστιν ἑαυτοὺς παραδόντας, ἅπαντες καταμέμψονται δικαίως τὸν Ἀθηναίων δῆμον· ἐὰν δὲ ἀκούσωσι παρὰ τὰ κοινὰ νόμιμα τοὺς αἰχμαλώτους παρεσπονδημένους, ἐφʼ ἡμᾶς μετοίσουσι τὴν κατηγορίαν. καὶ γὰρ εἴ τινων ἄλλων, Ἀθηναίων ἄξιόν ἐστιν ἐντραπῆναι μὲν τὸ τῆς πόλεως ἀξίωμα, χάριν δʼ αὐτοῖς ἀπομερίσαι τῶν εἰς ἄνθρωπον εὐεργετημάτων. οὗτοι γάρ εἰσιν οἱ πρῶτοι τροφῆς ἡμέρου τοῖς Ἕλλησι μεταδόντες, ἣν ἰδίᾳ παρὰ θεῶν λαβόντες τῇ χρείᾳ κοινὴν ἐποίησαν· οὗτοι νόμους εὗρον, διʼ οὓς ὁ κοινὸς βίος ἐκ τῆς ἀγρίας καὶ ἀδίκου ζωῆς εἰς ἥμερον καὶ δικαίαν ἐλήλυθε συμβίωσιν· οὗτοι πρῶτοι τοὺς καταφυγόντας διασώσαντες τοὺς περὶ τῶν ἱκετῶν νόμους παρὰ πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις ἰσχῦσαι παρεσκεύασαν· ὧν ἀρχηγοὺς γενομένους οὐκ ἄξιον αὐτοὺς ἀποστερῆσαι. καὶ ταῦτα μὲν πρὸς ἅπαντας· ἰδίᾳ δʼ ἐνίους ὑπομνήσω τῶν φιλανθρώπων.
"Yes, some will answer, but there are Greeks who have executed their prisoners. What of it? If praise accrues to them from that deed, let us nevertheless imitate those who have paid heed to their reputation; but if we are the first by whom they are accused, let us not ourselves commit the same crimes as those who by their own admission have sinned. So long as the men who entrusted their lives to our good faith have suffered no irremediable punishment, all men will justly censure the Athenian people; but if they hear that, contrary to the generally accepted customs of mankind, faith has been broken with the captives, they will shift their accusation against us. For in truth, if it can be said of any other people, the prestige of the city of the Athenians deserves our reverence, and we may well return to them our gratitude for the benefactions they have bestowed upon man. For it is they who first gave to the Greeks a share in a food gained by cultivation of the soil, which, though they had received it from the gods for their exclusive use, they made available to all. They it was who discovered laws, by the application of which the manner of men's living has advanced from the savage and unjust existence to a civilized and just society. It was they who first, by sparing the lives of any who sought refuge with them, contrived to cause the laws on suppliants to prevail among all men, and since they were the authors of these laws, we should not deprive them of their protection. So much to all of you; but some among you I shall remind of the claims of human kindness.
§ 13.27
ὅσοι μὲν γὰρ λόγου καὶ παιδείας ἐν τῇ πόλει μετεσχήκατε, δότε τὸν ἔλεον τοῖς τὴν πατρίδα κοινὸν παιδευτήριον παρεχομένοις πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις· ὅσοι δὲ τῶν ἁγνοτάτων μυστηρίων μετειλήφατε, σώσατε τοὺς μυήσαντας, οἱ μὲν ἤδη μετεσχηκότες τῶν φιλανθρωπιῶν τὴν χάριν διδόντες τῆς εὐεργεσίας, οἱ δὲ μέλλοντες μεταλήψεσθαι μὴ παραιρούμενοι τῷ θυμῷ τὴν ἐλπίδα. ποῖος γὰρ τόπος τοῖς ξένοις βάσιμος εἰς παιδείαν ἐλευθέριον τῆς Ἀθηναίων πόλεως ἀνῃρημένης; βραχὺ τὸ διὰ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν μῖσος, μεγάλα δὲ καὶ πολλὰ τὰ πρὸς εὔνοιαν αὐτοῖς εἰργασμένα. χωρὶς δὲ τῆς περὶ τὴν πόλιν ἐντροπῆς καὶ κατʼ ἰδίαν ἄν τις τοὺς αἰχμαλώτους ἐξετάζων εὕροι δικαίως ἐλέου τυγχάνοντας. οἱ μὲν γὰρ σύμμαχοι τῇ τῶν κρατούντων ὑπεροχῇ βιασθέντες ἠναγκάσθησαν συστρατεύειν. διόπερ εἰ τοὺς ἐξ ἐπιβολῆς ἀδικήσαντας δίκαιόν ἐστι τιμωρεῖσθαι, τοὺς ἀκουσίως ἐξαμαρτάνοντας προσῆκον ἂν εἴη συγγνώμης ἀξιοῦν. τί λέγω Νικίαν, ὃς ἀπʼ ἀρχῆς τὴν πολιτείαν ὑπὲρ Συρακοσίων ἐνστησάμενος μόνος ἀντεῖπεν ὑπὲρ τῆς εἰς Σικελίαν στρατείας, ἀεὶ δὲ τῶν παρεπιδημούντων Συρακοσίων φροντίζων καὶ πρόξενος ὢν διατετέλεκεν; ἄτοπον οὖν Νικίαν κολάζεσθαι τὸν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν Ἀθήνησι πεπολιτευμένον, καὶ διὰ μὲν τὴν εἰς ἡμᾶς εὔνοιαν μὴ τυχεῖν φιλανθρωπίας, διὰ δὲ τὴν ἐν τοῖς κοινοῖς ὑπηρεσίαν ἀπαραιτήτῳ περιπεσεῖν τιμωρίᾳ, καὶ τὸν μὲν ἐπαγαγόντα τὸν πόλεμον ἐπὶ Συρακοσίους Ἀλκιβιάδην ἅμα καὶ παρʼ ἡμῶν καὶ παρʼ Ἀθηναίων ἐκφυγεῖν τὴν τιμωρίαν, τὸν δʼ ὁμολογουμένως φιλανθρωπότατον Ἀθηναίων γεγενημένον μηδὲ τοῦ κοινοῦ τυχεῖν ἐλέου. διόπερ ἔγωγε τὴν τοῦ βίου μεταβολὴν θεωρῶν ἐλεῶ τὴν τύχην. πρότερον μὲν γὰρ ἐν τοῖς ἐπισημοτάτοις τῶν Ἑλλήνων ὑπάρχων καὶ διὰ τὴν καλοκἀγαθίαν ἐπαινούμενος μακαριστὸς ἦν καὶ περίβλεπτος κατὰ πᾶσαν πόλιν· νυνὶ δʼ ἐξηγκωνισμένος καὶ ἐν ἀσχήμονί χιτῶνι προσόψει τῶν τῆς αἰχμαλωσίας οἰκτρῶν πεπείραται, καθαπερεὶ τῆς τύχης ἐν τῷ τούτου βίῳ τὴν ἑαυτῆς δύναμιν ἐπιδείξασθαι βουλομένης. ἧς τὴν εὐημερίαν ἀνθρωπίνως ἡμᾶς ὑπενεγκεῖν προσήκει καὶ μὴ βάρβαρον ὠμότητα πρὸς ὁμοεθνεῖς ἀνθρώπους ἐνδείξασθαι.
"All you who in that city have participated in its eloquence and learning, show mercy to men who offer their country as a school for the common use of mankind; and do all you, who have taken part in the most holy Mysteries, save the lives of those who initiated you, some by way of showing gratitude for kindly services already received and others, who look forward to partaking of them, not in anger depriving yourselves of that hope. For what place is there to which foreigners may resort for a liberal eunuch once the city of the Athenians has been destroyed? Brief is the hatred aroused by the wrong they have committed, but important and many are their accomplishments which claim goodwill. "But apart from consideration for the city, one might, in examining the prisoners individually, find those who would justly receive mercy. For the allies of Athens, being under constraint because of the superior power of their rulers, were compelled to join the expedition. It follows, then, that if it is just to take vengeance upon those who have done wrong from design, it would be fitting to treat as worthy of leniency those who sin against their will. What shall I say of Nicias, who from the first, after initiating his policy in the interest of the Syracusans, was the only man to oppose the expedition against Sicily, and who has continually looked after the interests of Syracusans resident in Athens and served as their proxenus? It would be extraordinary indeed that Nicias, who had sponsored our cause as a politician in Athens, should be punished, and that he should not be accorded humane treatment because of the goodwill he has shown toward us but because of his service in business of his country should meet with implacable punishment, and that Alcibiades, the man who brought on the war against the Syracusans, should escape his deserved punishment both from us and from the Athenians, whereas he who has proved himself by common consent the most humane among Athenians should not even meet with the mercy accorded to all men. Therefore for my part, when I consider the change in his circumstances, I pity his lot. For formerly, as one of the most distinguished of all Greeks and applauded for his knightly character, he was one to be deemed happy and was admired in every city; but now, with hands bound behind his back in a tunic squalid in appearance, he has experienced the piteous state of captivity, as if Fortune wished to give, in the life of this man, an example of her power. The prosperity which Fortune gives it behooves us to bear as human beings should and not show barbarous savagery toward men of our own race."
§ 13.28
Νικόλαος μὲν οὖν πρὸς τοὺς Συρακοσίους τοιούτοις χρησάμενος λόγοις κατέπαυσε τὴν δημηγορίαν, συμπαθεῖς ποιήσας τοὺς ἀκούοντας. Γύλιππος δʼ ὁ Λάκων ἀπαραίτητον τὸ πρὸς Ἀθηναίους μῖσος διαφυλάττων, ἀναβὰς ἐπὶ τὸ βῆμα τῶν λόγων τὴν ἀρχὴν ἐντεῦθεν ἐποιήσατο. θαυμάζω μεγάλως, ἄνδρες Συρακόσιοι, θεωρῶν ὑμᾶς οὕτως ταχέως, περὶ ὧν ἔργῳ κακῶς πεπόνθατε, περὶ τούτων τῷ λόγῳ μεταδιδασκομένους. εἰ γὰρ ὑμεῖς ὑπὲρ ἀναστάσεως κινδυνεύσαντες πρὸς τοὺς ἐπὶ κατασκαφῇ τῆς πατρίδος ὑμῶν παραγεγενημένους ἀνεῖσθε τοῖς θυμοῖς, τί χρὴ νῦν ἡμᾶς διατείνεσθαι τοὺς μηδὲν ἠδικημένους; δότε δέ μοι πρὸς θεῶν, ἄνδρες Συρακόσιοι, συγγνώμην τὴν συμβουλίαν ἐκτιθεμένῳ μετὰ παρρησίας· Σπαρτιάτης γὰρ ὢν καὶ τὸν λόγον ἔχω Σπαρτιάτην. καὶ πρῶτον ἄν τις ἐπιζητήσειε, πῶς Νικόλαος ἐλεῆσαί φησι τοὺς Ἀθηναίους, οἳ τὸ γῆρας αὐτοῦ διὰ τὴν ἀπαιδίαν ἐλεεινὸν πεποιήκασι, καὶ παριὼν εἰς ἐκκλησίαν ἐν ἐσθῆτι πενθίμῃ δακρύει καὶ λέγει δεῖν οἰκτείρειν τοὺς φονεῖς τῶν ἰδίων τέκνων. οὐκέτι γὰρ ἐπιεικής ἐστιν ὁ τῶν συγγενεστάτων μετὰ τὴν τελευτὴν ἀμνημονῶν, τοὺς δὲ πολεμιωτάτους σῶσαι προαιρούμενος. ἐπεὶ πόσοι τῶν ἐκκλησιαζόντων υἱοὺς ἀνῃρημένους κατὰ τὸν πόλεμον ἐπενθήσατε; πολλοὶ γοῦν τῶν καθημένων ἐθορύβησαν. ὁ δʼ ἐπιβαλών, Ὁρᾷς, φησί, τοὺς τῷ θορύβῳ τὴν συμφορὰν ἐμφανίζοντας; πόσοι δὲ ἀδελφοὺς ἢ συγγενεῖς ἢ φίλους ἀπολωλεκότες ἐπιζητεῖτε; καὶ πολλῷ πλείους ἐπεσημήναντο. καὶ ὁ Γύλιππος, θεωρεῖς, ἔφη, τὸ πλῆθος τῶν διʼ Ἀθηναίους δυστυχούντων; οὗτοι πάντες οὐδὲν εἰς ἐκείνους ἁμαρτάνοντες τῶν ἀναγκαιοτάτων σωμάτων ἐστερήθησαν, καὶ τοσοῦτο μισεῖν τοὺς Ἀθηναίους ὀφείλουσιν, ὅσον τοὺς ἰδίους ἠγαπήκασι.
Such were the arguments used by Nicolaus in addressing the people of Syracuse and before he ceased he had won the sympathy of his hearers. But the Laconian Gylippus, who still maintained implacable his hatred of Athenians, mounting the rostrum began his argument with that topic. "I am greatly surprised, men of Syracuse, to see that you so quickly, on a matter in which you have suffered grievously by deeds, are moved to change your minds by words. For if you who, in order to save your city from desolation, faced peril against men who came to destroy your country, have become relaxed in temper, why, then, should we who have suffered no wrong exert ourselves? Do you in heaven's name, men of Syracuse, grant me pardon as I set forth my counsel with all frankness; for, being a Spartan, I have also a Spartan's manner of speech. And first of all one might inquire how Nicolaus can say, 'Show mercy to the Athenians,' who have rendered his old age piteous because childless, and how, coming before the Assembly in mourner's dress, he can weep and say that you should show pity to the murderers of his own children. For that man is no longer equitable who ceases to think of his nearest of kin after their death but elects to save the lives of his bitterest foes. Why how many of you who are assembled here have mourned sons who have been slain in the war?" (Many of the audience at least raised a great outcry.) And Gylippus interrupting it said, "Do you see, Nicolaus, those who by their outcry proclaim their misfortune? And how many of you look in vain for brothers or relatives or friends whom you have lost?" (A far greater number shouted agreement.) Gylippus then continued: "Do you observe, Nicolaus, the multitude of those who have suffered because of Athenians? All these, though guilty of no wrong done to Athenians, have been robbed of their nearest kinsmen, and they are bound to hate the Athenians in as great a measure as they have loved their own.
§ 13.29
πῶς οὖν οὐκ ἄτοπον, ἄνδρες Συρακόσιοι, τοὺς μὲν τετελευτηκότας ἑκούσιον ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν ἑλέσθαι θάνατον, ὑμᾶς δὲ ὑπὲρ ἐκείνων μηδὲ παρὰ τῶν πολεμιωτάτων λαβεῖν τιμωρίαν, καὶ ἐπαινεῖν μὲν τοὺς ὑπὲρ τῆς κοινῆς ἐλευθερίας τοὺς ἰδίους ἀναλώσαντας βίους, περὶ πλείονος δὲ τὴν τῶν φονέων ποιεῖσθαι σωτηρίαν τῆς ἐκείνων τιμῆς; κοσμεῖν ἐψηφίσασθε δημοσίᾳ τοὺς τάφους τῶν μετηλλαχότων· καὶ τίνα καλλίονα κόσμον εὑρήσετε τοῦ κολάσαι τοὺς ἐκείνων αὐτόχειρας; εἰ μὴ νὴ Δία πολιτογραφήσαντες αὐτοὺς βούλεσθε καταλιπεῖν ἔμψυχα τρόπαια τῶν μετηλλαχότων. ἀλλὰ μεταβαλόντες τὴν τῶν πολεμίων προσηγορίαν γεγόνασιν ἱκέται· πόθεν αὐτοῖς ταύτης τῆς φιλανθρωπίας συγκεχωρημένης; οἱ γὰρ ἀπʼ ἀρχῆς τὰ περὶ τούτων νόμιμα διατάξαντες τοῖς μὲν δυστυχοῦσι τὸν ἔλεον, τοῖς δὲ διὰ πονηρίαν ἀδικοῦσιν ἔταξαν τιμωρίαν. ἐν ποτέρᾳ δὴ τάξει θῶμεν τοὺς αἰχμαλώτους; ἐν τῇ τῶν ἠτυχηκότων; καὶ τίς αὐτοὺς τύχη μὴ προαδικηθέντας ἐβιάσατο πολεμεῖν Συρακοσίοις καὶ τὴν παρὰ πᾶσιν ἐπαινουμένην εἰρήνην ἀφέντας ἐπὶ κατασκαφῇ παρεῖναι τῆς ὑμετέρας πόλεως; διόπερ ἑκουσίως ἑλόμενοι πόλεμον ἄδικον εὐψύχως ὑπομενόντων τὰ τούτου δεινά, καὶ μή, κρατοῦντες μέν, ἀπαραίτητον ἐχόντων τὴν καθʼ ὑμῶν ὠμότητα, σφαλέντες δέ, τοῖς τῆς ἱκεσίας φιλανθρώποις παραιτείσθων τὴν τιμωρίαν. εἰ δʼ ἐλέγχονται διὰ πονηρίαν καὶ πλεονεξίαν τοιούτοις ἐλαττώμασι περιπεπτωκότες, μὴ καταμεμφέσθων τὴν τύχην, μηδʼ ἐπικαλείσθων τὸ τῆς ἱκεσίας ὄνομα. τοῦτο γὰρ παρʼ ἀνθρώποις φυλάττεται τοῖς καθαρὰν μὲν τὴν ψυχήν, ἀγνώμονα δὲ τὴν τύχην ἐσχηκόσιν. οὗτοι δʼ ἁπάντων τῶν ἀδικημάτων πλήρη τὸν βίον ἔχοντες οὐδένα τόπον αὐτοῖς βάσιμον εἰς ἔλεον καὶ καταφυγὴν ἀπολελοίπασι.
"Will it not be strange, men of Syracuse, if those who have perished chose death on your behalf of their own accord, but that you on their behalf shall not exact punishment from even your bitterest enemies? and that, though you praise those who gave their very lives to preserve their country's freedom, you shall make it a matter of greater moment to preserve the lives of the murderers than to safeguard the honour of these men? You have voted to embellish at public expense the tombs of the departed; yet what fairer embellishment will you find than the punishing of their slayers? Unless, by Zeus, it would be by enrolling them among your citizens, you should wish to leave living trophies of the departed. But, it may be said, they have renounced the name of enemies and have become suppliants. On what grounds, pray, would this humane treatment have been accorded them? For those who first established our ordinances regarding these matters prescribed mercy for the unfortunates, but punishment for those who from sheer depravity practise iniquity. In which category, now, are we to place the prisoners? In that of unfortunates? Why, what Fortune compelled them, who had suffered no wrong, to make war on Syracuse, to abandon peace, which all men praise, and to come here with the purpose of destroying your city? Consequently let those who of their free will chose an unjust war bear its hard consequences with courage, and let not those who, if they had conquered, would have kept implacable their cruelty toward you, now that they have been thwarted in their purpose, beg off from punishment by appealing to the human kindness which is due to the prayer of a suppliant. And if they stand convicted of having suffered their serious defeats because of wickedness and greed, let them not blame Fortune for them nor summon to their aid the name of 'supplication'. For that term is reserved among men for those who are pure in heart but have found Fortune unkind. These men, however, whose lives have been crammed with every malefaction, have left for themselves no place in the world which will admit them to mercy and refuge.
§ 13.30
τί γὰρ τῶν αἰσχίστων οὐκ ἐβουλεύσαντο, τί δὲ τῶν δεινοτάτων οὐκ ἔπραξαν; πλεονεξίας ἴδιόν ἐστι τὸ ταῖς ἰδίαις εὐτυχίαις οὐκ ἀρκούμενον τῶν πόρρω κειμένων καὶ μηδὲν προσηκόντων ἐπιθυμεῖν· οὗτοι ταῦτʼ ἔπραξαν. εὐδαιμονέστατοι γὰρ ὄντες τῶν Ἑλλήνων, τὴν εὐτυχίαν ὥσπερ βαρὺ φορτίον οὐ φέροντες, τὴν πελάγει τηλικούτῳ διειργομένην Σικελίαν ἐπεθύμησαν κατακληρουχῆσαι, τοὺς ἐνοικοῦντας ἐξανδραποδισάμενοι. δεινόν ἐστι μὴ προαδικηθέντας πόλεμον ἐπιφέρειν· καὶ τοῦτʼ ἐνήργησαν. φίλοι γὰρ ὄντες τὸν ἔμπροσθεν χρόνον, ἐξαίφνης ἀνελπίστως τηλικαύτῃ δυνάμει Συρακοσίους ἐπολιόρκησαν. ὑπερηφάνων ἐστὶ τὸ τῶν μήπω κρατηθέντων προλαμβάνοντας τὴν τύχην καταψηφίζεσθαι τιμωρίαν· οὐδὲ τοῦτο παραλελοίπασι. πρὸ τοῦ γὰρ ἐπιβῆναι τῆς Σικελίας γνώμην ἐκύρωσαν Συρακοσίους μὲν καὶ Σελινουντίους ἐξανδραποδίσασθαι, τοὺς δὲ λοιποὺς διδόναι φόρους ἀναγκάζειν. ὅταν οὖν περὶ τοὺς αὐτοὺς ἀνθρώπους ὑπάρχῃ πλεονεξία, ἐπιβουλή, ὑπερηφανία, τίς ἂν νοῦν ἔχων αὐτοὺς ἐλεήσειεν; ἐπεί τοί γε Ἀθηναῖοι πῶς ἐχρήσαντο Μιτυληναίοις; κρατήσαντες γὰρ αὐτῶν, ἀδικῆσαι μὲν οὐδὲν βουλομένων, ἐπιθυμούντων δὲ τῆς ἐλευθερίας, ἐψηφίσαντο τοὺς ἐν τῇ πόλει κατασφάξαι. ὠμόν τε καὶ βάρβαρον τὸ πεπραγμένον. καὶ ταῦτα ἐξήμαρτον εἰς Ἕλληνας, εἰς συμμάχους, εἰς εὐεργέτας πολλάκις γεγενημένους. μὴ δὴ νῦν ἀγανακτούντων, εἰ τοιαῦτα πρὸς τοὺς ἄλλους πράξαντες αὐτοὶ παραπλησίας τεύξονται τιμωρίας· δικαιότατον γάρ ἐστιν, ὃν καθʼ ἑτέρων νόμον τις ἔθηκε, τούτῳ χρώμενον μὴ ἀγανακτεῖν. καὶ τί λέγω Μηλίους, οὓς ἐκπολιορκήσαντες ἡβηδὸν ἀπέκτειναν, καὶ Σκιωναίους, οἳ συγγενεῖς ὄντες τῆς αὐτῆς Μηλίοις τύχης ἐκοινώνησαν; ὥστε δύο δήμους πρὸς Ἀττικὴν ὀργὴν ἐπταικότας οὐδὲ τοὺς κηδεύσοντας ἔχειν τὰ τῶν τετελευτηκότων σώματα. οὐ Σκύθαι τοῦτʼ ἔπραξαν, ἀλλʼ ὁ προσποιούμενος φιλανθρωπίᾳ διαφέρειν δῆμος ψηφίσμασι τὰς πόλεις ἄρδην ἀνῄρηκεν. ἤδη λογίζεσθε, τί ἂν ἔπραξαν, εἰ τὴν τῶν Συρακοσίων πόλιν ἐξεπόρθησαν· οἱ γὰρ τοῖς οἰκείοις οὕτως ὠμῶς χρησάμενοι τοῖς μηδὲν προσήκουσι βαρυτέραν ἂν ἐξεῦρον τιμωρίαν.
"For what utterly shameful deed have they not planned, what deed most shocking have they not perpetrated? It is a distinctive mark of greed that a man, not being content with his own gifts of Fortune, covets those which are distant and belong to someone else; and this these men have done. For though the Athenians were the most prosperous of all the Greeks, dissatisfied with their felicity as if were a heavy burden, they longed to portion out to colonists Sicily, separated as it was from them by so great and expanse of sea, for they had sold the inhabitants into slavery. It is a terrible thing to begin a war, when one has not first been wronged; yet that is what they did. For though they were your friends until then, on a sudden, without warning, with an armament of such strength they laid siege to Syracusans. It is characteristic of arrogant men, anticipating the decision of Fortune, to decree the punishment of peoples not yet conquered; and this also they have left undone. For before the Athenians ever set foot in Sicily they approved a resolution to sell into slavery the citizens of Syracuse and Selinus and to compel the remaining Sicilians to pay tribute. When there is to be found in the same men greediness, treachery, arrogance, what person in his right mind would show them mercy? How then, mark you, did the Athenians treat the Mitylenaeans? Why after conquering them, although the Mitylenaeans had no intention of doing them any wrong but only desired their freedom, they voted to put to the sword all the inhabitants of the city. A cruel and barbarous deed. And that crime too they committed Greeks, against allies, against men who had often been their benefactors. Let them not now complain if, after having done such things to the rest of mankind, they themselves shall receive like punishment; for it is altogether just that a man should accept his lot without complaint when he is himself affected by the law he has laid down for others. What shall I say also of the Melians, whom they reduced by siege and slew from the youth upward? and of the Scionaeans, who, although their kinsmen, shared the same fate as the Melians? Consequently two peoples who had fallen foul of Attic fury had left not even any of their number to perform the rites over the bodies of their dead. It is not Scythians who committed such deeds, but the people who claim to excel in love of mankind have by their decrees utterly destroyed these cities. Consider now what they would have done if they had sacked the city of the Syracusans; for men who dealt with their kinsmen with such savagery would have devised a harsher punishment for a people with whom they had no ties of blood.
§ 13.31
οὐκ ἔστιν οὖν τούτοις δίκαιος ἀποκείμενος ἔλεος· αὐτοὶ γὰρ αὐτὸν ἐπὶ τῶν ἰδίων ἀκληρημάτων ἀνῃρήκασι. ποῦ γὰρ ἄξιον τούτοις καταφυγεῖν; πρὸς θεούς, ὧν τὰς πατρίους τιμὰς ἀφελέσθαι προείλοντο; πρὸς ἀνθρώπους, οὓς δουλωσόμενοι παρεγένοντο; Δήμητρα καὶ Κόρην καὶ τὰ τούτων ἐπικαλοῦνται μυστήρια, τὴν ἱερὰν αὐτῶν νῆσον πεπορθηκότες; ναί, ἀλλʼ οὐκ αἴτιον τὸ πλῆθος τῶν Ἀθηναίων, ἀλλʼ Ἀλκιβιάδης ὁ ταῦτα συμβουλεύσας. ἀλλʼ εὑρήσομεν τοὺς συμβούλους κατὰ τὸ πλεῖστον στοχαζομένους τῆς τῶν ἀκουόντων βουλήσεως, ὥσθʼ ὁ χειροτονῶν τῷ ῥήτορι λόγον οἰκεῖον ὑποβάλλει τῆς ἑαυτοῦ προαιρέσεως. οὐ γὰρ ὁ λέγων κύριος τοῦ πλήθους, ἀλλʼ ὁ δῆμος ἐθίζει τὸν ῥήτορα τὰ βέλτιστα λέγειν χρηστὰ βουλευόμενος. εἰ δὲ τοῖς ἀδικοῦσιν ἀνήκεστα συγγνώμην δώσομεν, ἐὰν εἰς τοὺς συμβούλους τὴν αἰτίαν ἀναφέρωσιν, εὐχερῆ τοῖς πονηροῖς τὴν ἀπολογίαν παρεξόμεθα. ἁπλῶς δὲ πάντων ἐστὶν ἀδικώτατον τῶν μὲν εὐεργεσιῶν μὴ τοὺς συμβούλους, ἀλλὰ τὸν δῆμον ἀπολαμβάνειν τὰς χάριτας παρὰ τῶν εὖ παθόντων, τῶν δʼ ἀδικημάτων ἐπὶ τοὺς ῥήτορας μεταφέρειν τὴν τιμωρίαν. καὶ ἐπὶ τοσοῦτόν τινες ἐξεστήκασι τῶν λογισμῶν, ὥστʼ Ἀλκιβιάδην, εἰς ὃν τὴν ἐξουσίαν οὐκ ἔχομεν, φασὶ δεῖν τιμωρεῖσθαι, τοὺς δʼ αἰχμαλώτους ἀγομένους ἐπὶ τὴν προσήκουσαν τιμωρίαν ἀφεῖναι, καὶ πᾶσιν ἐνδείξασθαι, διότι τὴν δικαίαν μισοπονηρίαν οὐκ ἔσχηκεν ὁ δῆμος τῶν Συρακοσίων. εἰ δὲ καὶ κατʼ ἀλήθειαν αἴτιοι γεγόνασιν οἱ σύμβουλοι τοῦ πολέμου, μεμφέσθω τὸ μὲν πλῆθος τοῖς ῥήτορσιν ὑπὲρ ὧν ἐξηπάτησαν, ὑμεῖς δὲ δικαίως μετελεύσεσθε τὸ πλῆθος ὑπὲρ ὧν ἠδίκησθε. καθόλου δʼ εἰ μὲν ἐπιστάμενοι σαφῶς ἠδίκησαν, διʼ αὐτὴν τὴν προαίρεσιν ἄξιοι τιμωρίας, εἰ δʼ εἰκῇ βουλευσάμενοι τὸν πόλεμον ἐξήνεγκαν, οὐδʼ ὣς αὐτοὺς ἀφετέον, ἵνα μὴ σχεδιάζειν ἐν τοῖς τῶν ἄλλων βίοις ἐθισθῶσιν. οὐ γὰρ δίκαιόν ἐστι τὴν Ἀθηναίων ἄγνοιαν Συρακοσίοις φέρειν ἀπώλειαν, οὐδʼ ἐν οἷς τὸ πραχθὲν ἀνήκεστόν ἐστιν, ἐν τούτοις ἀπολογίαν ὑπολείπεσθαι τοῖς ἁμαρτάνουσι.
"There is, therefore, no just measure of mercy in store for them to call upon, since as for the use of it on the occasion of their own mishaps they themselves have destroyed it. Where is it worth their while to flee for safety? To gods, whom they have chosen to rob of their traditional honours? To men, whom they have visited only to enslave? Do they call upon Demeter and Core and their Mysteries now that they have laid waste the sacred island of these goddesses? Yes, some will say, but not the whole people of the Athenians are to blame, but only Alcibiades who advised this expedition. We shall find, however, that in most cases their advisers pay every attention to the wishes of their audience, so that the voter suggests to the speaker words that suit his own purpose. For the speaker is not the master of the multitude, but the people, by adopting measures that are honest, train the orator to propose what is best. If we shall pardon men guilty of irrevocable injustices when they lay the responsibility upon their advisers, we shall indeed be providing wicked with an easy defence! It is clear that nothing in the world could be more unjust than that, while in the case of benefactions it is not the advisers but the people who receive the thanks of the recipients, in the matter of injustices the punishment is passed on to the speakers. "Yet some have lost their reasoning powers to such a degree as to assert that it is Alcibiades, over whom we have no power, who should be punished, but that we should release the prisoners, who are being led to their deserved punishment, and thus make it known to the world that the people of the Syracusans have no righteous indignation against base men. But if the advocates of the war have in truth been the cause of it, let the people blame the speakers for the consequences of their deception, but you will with justice punish the people for the wrongs which you have suffered. And, speaking generally, if they committed the wrongs with full knowledge that they were so doing, because of their very intention they deserve punishment, but if they entered the war without a considered plan, even so they should not be let off, in order that they may not grow accustomed to act offhand in matters which affect the lives of other men. For it is not just that the ignorance of the Athenians should bring destruction to Syracusans or that in a case where the crime is irremediable, the criminals should retain a vehicle of defence.
§ 13.32
νὴ Δία, ἀλλὰ Νικίας ὑπὲρ Συρακοσίων ἐπολιτεύσατο καὶ μόνος συνεβούλευσε μὴ πολεμεῖν. τὸν μὲν ἐκεῖ γεγενημένον λόγον ἀκούομεν, τὰ δʼ ἐνταῦθα πεπραγμένα τεθεωρήκαμεν. ὁ γὰρ ἀντειπὼν ἐκεῖ περὶ τῆς στρατείας, ἐνταῦθα στρατηγὸς ἦν τῆς δυνάμεως· καὶ ὁ πολιτευόμενος ὑπὲρ Συρακοσίων, ἀπετείχισεν ὑμῶν τὴν πόλιν· καὶ ὁ φιλανθρώπως διακείμενος πρὸς ὑμᾶς, Δημοσθένους καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἁπάντων βουλομένων λῦσαι τὴν πολιορκίαν, μόνος ἐβιάσατο μένειν καὶ πολεμεῖν. διόπερ ἔγωγε νομίζω μὴ δεῖν παρʼ ὑμῖν πλέον ἰσχῦσαι τὸν μὲν λόγον τῶν ἔργων, τὴν δʼ ἀπαγγελίαν τῆς πείρας, τὰ δʼ ἀφανῆ τῶν ὑπὸ πάντων ἑωραμένων. νὴ Δίʼ, ἀλλὰ καλὸν μὴ ποιεῖν τὴν ἔχθραν αἰώνιον. οὐκοῦν μετὰ τὴν τῶν ἠδικηκότων κόλασιν, ἐὰν ὑμῖν δοκῇ, προσηκόντως διαλύσεσθε τὴν ἔχθραν. οὐ γὰρ δίκαιον, ὅταν μὲν κρατῶσιν, ὡς δούλοις χρῆσθαι τοῖς ἡλωκόσιν, ὅταν δὲ κρατηθῶσιν, ὡς οὐδὲν ἠδικηκότας συγγνώμης τυγχάνειν. καὶ τοῦ μὲν δοῦναι δίκην ὧν ἔπραξαν ἀφεθήσονται, λόγῳ δʼ εὐσχήμονι καθʼ ὃν ἂν χρόνον αὐτοῖς συμφέρῃ τῆς φιλίας μνημονεύσουσιν. ἐῶ γὰρ ὅτι τοῦτο πράξαντες σὺν πολλοῖς ἄλλοις καὶ τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους ἀδικήσετε, ὑμῶν χάριν κἀκεῖ τὸν πόλεμον ἐπανῃρημένους καὶ ἐνταῦθα συμμαχίαν ἀποστείλαντας· ἐξῆν γὰρ αὐτοῖς ἀγαπητῶς ἄγειν εἰρήνην καὶ περιορᾶν τὴν Σικελίαν πορθουμένην. διόπερ ἐὰν τοὺς αἰχμαλώτους ἀφέντες φιλίαν συνάπτησθε, προδόται φανήσεσθε τῶν συμμαχησάντων, καὶ τοὺς κοινοὺς ἐχθροὺς δυνάμενοι ταπεινῶσαι, τοσούτους στρατιώτας ἀποδόντες πάλιν ἰσχυροὺς κατασκευάσετε. οὐ γὰρ ἄν ποτʼ ἔγωγε πιστεύσαιμι, ὡς Ἀθηναῖοι τηλικαύτην ἔχθραν ἐπανῃρημένοι βεβαίαν φυλάξουσι τὴν φιλίαν, ἀλλʼ ἀσθενεῖς μὲν ὄντες ὑποκριθήσονται τὴν εὔνοιαν, ἀναλαβόντες δʼ αὑτοὺς τὴν ἀρχαίαν προαίρεσιν εἰς τέλος ἄξουσιν. ἐγὼ μὲν οὖν, ὦ Ζεῦ καὶ πάντες θεοί, μαρτύρομαι πάντας ὑμᾶς μὴ σώζειν τοὺς πολεμίους, μὴ ἐγκαταλιπεῖν τοὺς συμμάχους, μὴ πάλιν ἕτερον ἐπάγειν τῇ πατρίδι κίνδυνον. ὑμεῖς δέ, ὦ ἄνδρες Συρακόσιοι, τούτους ἀφέντες, ἐὰν ἀποβῇ τι δυσχερές, οὐδʼ ἀπολογίαν ἑαυτοῖς εὐσχήμονα καταλείψετε.
"Yet, by Zeus, someone will say, Nicias took the part of the Syracusans in the debate and was the only one who advised against making war. As for what he said there we know it by hearsay, but what has been done here we have witnessed with our own eyes. For the man who there opposed the expedition was here commander of the armament; he who takes the part of Syracusans in debate walled off your city; and he who is humanely disposed toward you, when Demosthenes and all the others wished to break off the siege, alone compelled them to remain and continue the war. Therefore for my part I do not believe that his words should have greater weight with you than his deeds, report than experience, things unseen than things that have been witnessed by all. "Yet, by Zeus, someone will say, it is a good thing not to make our enmity eternal. Very well, then, after the punishment of the malefactors you will, if you so agree, put an end to your enmity in a suitable manner. For it is not just that men who treat their captives like slaves when they are the victors, should, when they in turn are the vanquished, be objects of pity as if they had done no wrong. And though they will have been freed of paying the penalty for their deeds, by specious pleas they will remember the friendship only so long as it is to their advantage. For I omit to mention the fact that, if you take this course, you will be wronging not only many others but also the Lacedemonians, who for your sake both entered upon the war over there and also sent you aid here; for they might have been well content to maintain peace and look on while Sicily was being laid waste. Consequently, if you free the prisoners and thus enter into friendly relations with Athens, you will be looked upon as traitors to your allies and, when it is in your water to weaken the common enemy, by releasing so great a number of soldiers you will make our enemy again formidable. For I could never bring myself to believe that Athenians, after getting themselves involved in so bitter an enmity, will keep the friendly relation unbroken; on the contrary, while they are weak they will feign goodwill, but when they have recovered their strength, they will carry their original purpose to completion. I therefore adjure you all, in the name of Zeus and all the gods, not to save the lives of your enemies, not to leave your allies in the lurch, not again for a second time to bring peril upon your country. You yourselves, men of Syracuse, if you let these men go and then some ill befalls you, will leave for yourselves not even a respectable defence."
§ 13.33
τοιαῦτα διαλεχθέντος τοῦ Λάκωνος μετέπεσε τὸ πλῆθος καὶ τὴν Διοκλέους γνώμην ἐκύρωσεν. διόπερ οἱ μὲν στρατηγοὶ παραχρῆμα ἀνῃρέθησαν καὶ οἱ σύμμαχοι, οἱ δʼ Ἀθηναῖοι παρεδόθησαν εἰς τὰς λατομίας, ὧν ὕστερον οἱ μὲν ἐπὶ πλεῖον παιδείας μετεσχηκότες ὑπὸ τῶν νεωτέρων ἐξαρπαγέντες διεσώθησαν, οἱ δὲ λοιποὶ σχεδὸν ἅπαντες ἐν τῷ δεσμωτηρίῳ κακούμενοι τὸν βίον οἰκτρῶς κατέστρεψαν. μετὰ δὲ τὴν κατάλυσιν τοῦ πολέμου Διοκλῆς τοὺς νόμους ἀνέγραψε τοῖς Συρακοσίοις, καὶ συνέβη παράδοξον περὶ τὸν ἄνδρα τοῦτον γενέσθαι περιπέτειαν. ἀπαραίτητος γὰρ ἐν τοῖς ἐπιτιμίοις γενόμενος καὶ σκληρῶς κολάζων τοὺς ἐξαμαρτάνοντας, ἔγραψεν ἐν τοῖς νόμοις, ἐάν τις ὅπλον ἔχων εἰς τὴν ἀγορὰν παραγένηται, θάνατον εἶναι πρόστιμον, οὔτε ἀγνοίᾳ δοὺς οὔτε ἄλλῃ τινὶ περιστάσει συγγνώμην. προσαγγελθέντων δὲ πολεμίων ἐπὶ τῆς χώρας ἐξεπορεύετο ξίφος ἔχων· αἰφνιδίου δὲ στάσεως καὶ ταραχῆς κατὰ τὴν ἀγορὰν γενομένης, ἀγνοήσας μετὰ τοῦ ξίφους παρῆν εἰς τὴν ἀγοράν. τῶν δὲ ἰδιωτῶν τινος κατανοήσαντος καὶ εἰπόντος, ὅτι τοὺς ἰδίους αὐτὸς καταλύει νόμους, ἀνεβόησε, Μὰ Δία οὐ μὲν οὖν, ἀλλὰ καὶ κυρίους ποιήσω. καὶ σπασάμενος τὸ ξίφος ἑαυτὸν ἀπέκτεινεν. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἐπράχθη κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν ἐνιαυτόν.
After the Laconian had spoken to this effect, the multitude suddenly changed its mind and approved the proposal of Diocles. Consequently the general and the allies were forthwith put to death, and the Athenians were consigned to the quarries; and at a later time such of them as possessed a better education were rescued from there by the younger men and thus got away safe, but practically all the rest ended their lives pitiably amid the hardships of this place of confinement. After the termination of the war Diocles set up the laws for the Syracusans, and it came to pass that this man experienced a strange reversal of fortune. For having become implacable in fixing penalties and severe in punishing offenders, he wrote in the laws that, if any man should appear in the market-place carrying a weapon, the punishment should be death, and he made no allowance for either ignorance or any other circumstance. And when word had been received that enemies were in the land, he set forth carrying a sword; but since sudden civil strife had arisen and there was uproar in the market-place, he thoughtlessly entered the market-place with the sword. And when one of the ordinary citizens, noticing this, said that he himself was annulling his own laws, he cried out, "Not so, by Zeus, I will even uphold them." And drawing the sword he slew himself. These, then, were the events of this year.
§ 13.34
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησι Καλλίου Ῥωμαῖοι μὲν ἀντὶ τῶν ὑπάτων χιλιάρχους κατέστησαν τέτταρας, Πόπλιον Κορνήλιον Γάιον Φάβιον, Ὀλυμπιὰς δʼ ἤχθη παρʼ Ἠλείοις δευτέρα πρὸς ταῖς ἐνενήκοντα, καθʼ ἣν ἐνίκα στάδιον Ἐξαίνετος Ἀκραγαντῖνος. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Ἀθηναίων περὶ Σικελίαν ἐπταικότων συνέβη τὴν ἡγεμονίαν αὐτῶν καταφρονηθῆναι· εὐθὺς γὰρ Χῖοι καὶ Σάμιοι καὶ Βυζάντιοι καὶ πολλοὶ τῶν συμμάχων ἀπέστησαν πρὸς τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους. διόπερ ὁ δῆμος ἀθυμήσας ἐξεχώρησεν ἑκουσίως τῆς δημοκρατίας, ἑλόμενος δὲ ἄνδρας τετρακοσίους, τούτοις τὴν διοίκησιν ἐπέτρεψε τῶν κοινῶν. οἱ δὲ τῆς ὀλιγαρχίας προεστῶτες ναυπηγησάμενοι πλείους τριήρεις ἀπέστειλαν τεσσαράκοντα καὶ στρατηγούς. οὗτοι δὲ στασιάζοντες πρὸς ἀλλήλους εἰς Ὠρωπὸν ἐξέπλευσαν· ἐκεῖ γὰρ ὥρμουν αἱ τῶν πολεμίων τριήρεις. γενομένης οὖν ναυμαχίας ἐνίκων οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι, καὶ σκαφῶν εἴκοσι καὶ δυεῖν ἐκυρίευσαν. Συρακόσιοι δὲ καταλελυκότες τὸν πρὸς Ἀθηναίους πόλεμον, τοὺς μὲν Λακεδαιμονίους συμμαχήσαντας, ὧν ἦρχε Γύλιππος, ἐτίμησαν τοῖς ἐκ τοῦ πολέμου λαφύροις, συναπέστειλαν δʼ αὐτοῖς εἰς Λακεδαίμονα συμμαχίαν εἰς τὸν πρὸς Ἀθηναίους πόλεμον τριάκοντα καὶ πέντε τριήρεις, ὧν ἦρχεν Ἑρμοκράτης ὁ πρωτεύων τῶν πολιτῶν. αὐτοὶ δὲ τὰς ἐκ τοῦ πολέμου γενομένας ὠφελείας ἀθροίσαντες τοὺς μὲν ναοὺς ἀναθήμασι καὶ σκύλοις ἐκόσμησαν, τῶν δὲ στρατιωτῶν τοὺς ἀριστεύσαντας ταῖς προσηκούσαις δωρεαῖς ἐτίμησαν. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τῶν δημαγωγῶν ὁ πλεῖστον παρʼ αὐτοῖς ἰσχύσας Διοκλῆς ἔπεισε τὸν δῆμον μεταστῆσαι τὴν πολιτείαν εἰς τὸ κλήρῳ τὰς ἀρχὰς διοικεῖσθαι, ἑλέσθαι δὲ καὶ νομοθέτας εἰς τὸ τὴν πολιτείαν διατάξαι καὶ νόμους καινοὺς ἰδίᾳ συγγράψαι.
When Callias was archon in Athens, the Romans elected in place of consuls four military tribunes, Publius Cornelius . . . Gaius Fabius, and among the Eleians the Ninety-second Olympiad was celebrated, that in which Exaenetus of Acragas won the "stadion." In this year it came to pass that, after the Athenians had collapsed in Sicily, their supremacy was held in contempt; for immediately the peoples of Chios, Samos, Byzantium, and many of the allies revolted to the Lacedemonians. Consequently the Athenian people, being disheartened, of their own accord renounced the democracy, and choosing four hundred men they turned over to them the administration of the state. And the leaders of the Italy, after building a number of triremes, sent out forty of them together with generals. Although these were at odds with one another, they sailed off to Oropus, for the enemy's triremes lay at anchor there. In the battle which followed the Lacedemonians were victorious and captured twenty-two vessels. After the Syracusans had brought to an end the war with the Athenians, they honoured with the booty taken in the war the Lacedemonians who had fought with them under the command of Gylippus, and they sent back with them to Lacedemon, to aid them in the war against the Athenians, an allied force of thirty-five triremes under the command of Hermocrates, their foremost citizen. And as for themselves, after gathering the spoil that accrued from the war, they embellished their temples with dedications and with arms taken from the enemy and honoured with the appropriate gifts those soldiers who had fought with distinction. After this Diocles, who was the most influential among them of the leaders of the populace, persuaded the citizens to change their form of government so that the administration would be conducted by magistrates chosen by lot and that lawgivers also should be elected for organizing the polity and drafting new laws privately.
§ 13.35
διόπερ οἱ Συρακόσιοι τοὺς φρονήσει διαφέροντας τῶν πολιτῶν εἵλοντο νομοθέτας, ὧν ἦν ἐπιφανέστατος Διοκλῆς. τοσοῦτο γὰρ τῶν ἄλλων διήνεγκε συνέσει καὶ δόξῃ, ὥστε τῆς νομοθεσίας ὑπὸ πάντων κοινῇ γραφείσης ὀνομασθῆναι τοὺς νόμους Διοκλέους. οὐ μόνον δὲ τὸν ἄνδρα τοῦτον ζῶντα ἐθαύμασαν οἱ Συρακόσιοι, ἀλλὰ καὶ τελευτήσαντα τιμαῖς ἡρωικαῖς ἐτίμησαν καὶ νεὼν ᾠκοδόμησαν δημοσίᾳ τὸν ὕστερον ὑπὸ Διονυσίου κατὰ τὴν τειχοποιίαν καθαιρεθέντα. ἐθαυμάσθη δὲ ὁ ἀνὴρ οὗτος καὶ παρὰ τοῖς ἄλλοις Σικελιώταις· πολλαὶ γοῦν τῶν κατὰ τὴν νῆσον πόλεων χρώμεναι διετέλεσαν τοῖς τούτου νόμοις, μέχρι ὅτου πάντες οἱ Σικελιῶται τῆς Ῥωμαίων πολιτείας ἠξιώθησαν. οἱ δʼ οὖν Συρακόσιοι κατὰ τοὺς νεωτέρους χρόνους κατὰ μὲν Τιμολέοντα νομοθετήσαντος αὐτοῖς Κεφάλου, κατὰ δὲ τὸν Ἱέρωνα τὸν βασιλέα Πολυδώρου, οὐδέτερον αὐτῶν ὠνόμασαν νομοθέτην, ἀλλʼ ἢ ἐξηγητὴν τοῦ νομοθέτου, διὰ τὸ τοὺς νόμους γεγραμμένους ἀρχαίᾳ διαλέκτῳ δοκεῖν εἶναι δυσκατανοήτους. μεγάλης δὲ οὔσης κατὰ τὴν νομοθεσίαν ἀναθεωρήσεως, μισοπόνηρος μὲν φαίνεται διὰ τὸ πάντων τῶν νομοθετῶν πικρότατα πρόστιμα θεῖναι κατὰ πάντων τῶν ἀδικούντων, δίκαιος δʼ ἐκ τοῦ περιττότερον τῶν πρὸ αὐτοῦ κατʼ ἀξίαν ἑκάστῳ τὸ ἐπιτίμιον ὑπάρξαι, πραγματικὸς δὲ καὶ πολύπειρος ἐκ τοῦ πᾶν ἔγκλημα καὶ πρᾶγμα δημόσιόν τε καὶ ἰδιωτικὸν ἀμφισβητούμενον ὡρισμένης ἀξιῶσαι τιμωρίας· ἔστι δὲ καὶ κατὰ τὴν λέξιν σύντομος καὶ πολλὴν τοῖς ἀναγινώσκουσιν ἀπολείπων ἀναθεώρησιν. ἐμαρτύρησε δʼ αὐτοῦ τὴν ἀρετὴν καὶ τὴν σκληρότητα τῆς ψυχῆς ἡ περὶ τὴν τελευτὴν περιπέτεια. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἀκριβέστερον εἰπεῖν προήχθην διὰ τὸ τοὺς πλείους τῶν συγγραφέων ὀλιγωρότερον περὶ αὐτοῦ διειλέχθαι.
Consequently the Syracusans elected lawgivers from such of their citizens as excelled in judgement, the most distinguished of them being Diocles. For he so far excelled the rest in understanding and renown that, although the writing of the code was a task of all in common, they were called "The Laws of Diocles." And not only did the Syracusans admire this man during his lifetime, but also, when he died, they rendered him the honours accorded to heroes and built a temple in his honour at public expense — the one which was torn down by Dionysius at a later time when the walls of the city were being constructed. And this man was held in high esteem among the other Sicilian Greeks as well; indeed many cities of the island continued to use his laws down to the time when the Sicilian Greeks as a body were granted Roman citizenship. Accordingly, when in later times laws were framed for the Syracusans by Cephalus in the time of Timoleon and by Polydorus in the time of King Hiero, they called neither one of these men a "lawgiver," but rather an "interpreter of the lawgiver," since men found the laws of Diocles, written as they were in an ancient style, difficult to understand. Profound reflection is displayed in his legislation, the lawmaker showing himself to be a hater of evil, since he sets heavier penalties against all wrongdoers than any other legislator, just, in that most precisely than by any predecessor the punishment of each man is fixed according to his deserts, and both practical and widely experienced, in that he judges every complaint and every dispute, whether it concerns the state or the individual, to be deserving of a fixed penalty. He is also concise in his style and leaves much for the readers to reflect upon. And the dramatic manner of his death bore witness to the uprightness and austerity of his soul. Now these qualities of Diocles I have been moved to set forth in considerable detail by reason of the fact that most historians have rather slighted him in their treatises.
§ 13.36
οἱ δʼ Ἀθηναῖοι πυθόμενοι τὴν ἐν Σικελίᾳ δύναμιν ἄρδην ἀνῃρημένην, βαρέως ἔφερον τὸ πλῆθος τῆς συμφορᾶς. οὐ μὴν ἔληγόν γε διὰ τοῦτο τῆς φιλοτιμίας περὶ τῆς ἡγεμονίας, ἀλλὰ ναῦς τε κατεσκεύαζον πλείους καὶ χρήματα ἐπορίζοντο, ὅπως φιλονικῶσι μέχρι τῆς ἐσχάτης ἐλπίδος ὑπὲρ τῶν πρωτείων. ἑλόμενοι δὲ τετρακοσίους ἄνδρας, τούτοις ἔδωκαν τὴν ἐξουσίαν αὐτοκράτορα διοικεῖν τὰ κατὰ τὸν πόλεμον· ὑπελάμβανον γὰρ τὴν ὀλιγαρχίαν εὐθετωτέραν εἶναι τῆς δημοκρατίας ἐν ταῖς τοιαύταις περιστάσεσιν. οὐ μὴν τὰ πράγματά γε κατὰ τὴν ἐκείνων ἠκολούθησε κρίσιν, ἀλλὰ πολὺ χεῖρον τὸν πόλεμον διῴκησαν. ἀποστείλαντες γὰρ τεσσαράκοντα ναῦς συνεξέπεμψαν τοὺς ἀφηγησομένους δύο στρατηγοὺς ἀλλοτρίως ἔχοντας πρὸς ἀλλήλους. τῶν δὲ περὶ τοὺς Ἀθηναίους πραγμάτων τεταπεινωμένων ὁ μὲν καιρὸς προσεδεῖτο πολλῆς ὁμονοίας, οἱ δὲ στρατηγοὶ πρὸς ἀλλήλους ἐστασίαζον. καὶ τέλος ἐκπλεύσαντες εἰς Ὠρωπὸν ἀπαράσκευοι πρὸς τοὺς Πελοποννησίους ἐναυμάχησαν· κακῶς δὲ καὶ τὴν μάχην ἐνστησάμενοι καὶ τὸν κίνδυνον ἀγεννῶς ὑπομείναντες, ἀπέβαλον ναῦς δύο πρὸς ταῖς εἴκοσι, τὰς δὲ λοιπὰς μόγις διέσωσαν εἰς Ἐρέτριαν. τούτων δὲ πραχθέντων οἱ σύμμαχοι τῶν Ἀθηναίων διά τε τὰς περὶ Σικελίαν ἀτυχίας καὶ διὰ τὰς τῶν ἡγεμόνων καχεξίας μεθίσταντο πρὸς Λακεδαιμονίους. συμμάχου δʼ ὄντος τοῖς Λακεδαιμονίοις Δαρείου τοῦ Περσῶν βασιλέως, Φαρνάβαζος ὁ τῶν ἐπὶ θαλάττης τόπων ἔχων τὴν στρατηγίαν ἐχορήγει χρήματα τοῖς Λακεδαιμονίοις· μετεπέμψατο δὲ καὶ τὰς ἐκ Φοινίκης τριήρεις τριακοσίας, διαλογιζόμενος ἀποστεῖλαι τοῖς Λακεδαιμονίοις ἐπὶ τὴν βοήθειαν.
When the Athenians learned of the total destruction of their forces in Sicily, they were deeply distressed at the magnitude of the disaster. Yet they would not at all on that account abate their ardent aspiration for the supremacy, but set about both constructing more ships and providing themselves with funds wherewith they might contend to the last hope for the primacy. Choosing four hundred men they put in their hands the supreme authority to direct the conduct of the war; for they assumed that an oligarchy was more suitable than a democracy in critical circumstances like these. The events, however, did not turn out according to the judgement of those who held that opinion, but the Four Hundred conducted the war far less competently. For, although they dispatched forty ships, they sent along to command them two generals who were at odds with each other. Although, with the affairs of the Athenians at such low ebb, the emergency called for complete concord, the generals kept quarrelling with each other. And finally they sailed to Oropus without preparation and met the Peloponnesians in a sea-battle; but since they made a wretched beginning of the battle and stood up to the fighting like churls, they lost twenty-two ships and barely got the rest safe over to eretria. After these events had taken place, the allies of the Athenians, because of the defeats they had suffered in Sicily as well as the estranged relations of the commanders, revolted to the Lacedemonians. And since Darius, the king of the Persians, was an ally of the Lacedemonians, Pharnabazus, who had the military command of the regions bordering on the sea, supplied money to the Lacedemonians; and he also summoned the three hundred triremes supplied by Phoenicia, having in mind to dispatch them to the aid of the Lacedemonians.
§ 13.37
τοιούτων δʼ ἐλαττωμάτων τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις εἰς ἕνα καιρὸν συνδραμόντων ἅπαντες καταλελύσθαι τὸν πόλεμον διειλήφεισαν· οὐκέτι γὰρ τοὺς Ἀθηναίους οὐδὲ τὸν ἐλάχιστον χρόνον οὐδεὶς ἤλπιζε τοιαῦτα ὑποστήσεσθαι. οὐ μὴν τὰ πράγματά γε τῇ τῶν πολλῶν ὑπολήψει τέλος ἔσχεν ἀκόλουθον, ἀλλʼ εἰς τοὐναντίον πάντα διὰ τὰς τῶν διαπολεμούντων ὑπεροχὰς μεταπεσεῖν συνέβη διὰ τοιαύτας αἰτίας. Ἀλκιβιάδης φυγὰς ὢν ἐξ Ἀθηνῶν συνεπολέμησε χρόνον τινὰ τοῖς Λακεδαιμονίοις, καὶ μεγάλας ἐν τῷ πολέμῳ χρείας παρέσχετο· ἦν γὰρ καὶ λόγῳ δυνατώτατος καὶ τόλμῃ πολὺ προέχων τῶν πολιτῶν, ἔτι δʼ εὐγενείᾳ καὶ πλούτῳ πρῶτος Ἀθηναίων. οὗτος οὖν ἐπιθυμῶν τῆς εἰς τὴν πατρίδα τυχεῖν καθόδου, πάντα ἐμηχανᾶτο πρὸς τὸ τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις πρᾶξαί τι τῶν χρησίμων, καὶ μάλιστʼ ἐν οἷς καιροῖς ἐδόκουν τοῖς ὅλοις ἐλαττοῦσθαι. ἔχων οὖν φιλίαν πρὸς Φαρνάβαζον τὸν Δαρείου σατράπην, καὶ θεωρῶν αὐτὸν μέλλοντα τριακοσίας ναῦς ἀποστέλλειν τοῖς Λακεδαιμονίοις εἰς συμμαχίαν, ἔπεισεν ἀποστῆναι τῆς πράξεως· ἐδίδασκε γὰρ ὡς οὐ συμφέρει τῷ βασιλεῖ τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους ποιεῖν ἄγαν ἰσχυρούς· οὐ γὰρ συνοίσειν Πέρσαις· κρεῖττον οὖν εἶναι περιορᾶν τοὺς διαπολεμοῦντας ἴσους ὄντας, ὅπως πρὸς ἀλλήλους ὡς πλεῖστον χρόνον διαφέρωνται. ὅθεν ὁ Φαρνάβαζος διαλαβὼν εὖ λέγειν τὸν Ἀλκιβιάδην, πάλιν τὸν στόλον ἀπέστειλεν εἰς Φοινίκην. τότε μὲν οὖν τηλικαύτην τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων συμμαχίαν παρείλατο· μετὰ δέ τινα χρόνον τυχὼν τῆς καθόδου, καὶ δυνάμεως ἡγησάμενος, πολλαῖς μὲν μάχαις ἐνίκησε Λακεδαιμονίους, καὶ τελέως τὰ τῶν Ἀθηναίων πράγματα πεσόντα πάλιν ἤγειρεν. ἀλλὰ περὶ μὲν τούτων ἐν τοῖς οἰκείοις χρόνοις ἀκριβέστερον ἐροῦμεν, ἵνα μὴ παρὰ φύσιν προλαμβάνωμεν τῇ γραφῇ τοὺς καιρούς.
Inasmuch as the Athenians had experienced setbacks so serious at one and the same time, everyone had assumed that the war was at an end; for no one expected that the Athenians could possibly endure such reverses any longer, even for a moment. However, events did not come to an end that tallied with the assumption of the majority, but on the contrary it came to pass, such was the superiority of the combatants, that the whole situation changed for the following reasons. Alcibiades, who was in exile from Athens, had for a time fought on the side of the Lacedemonians and had rendered them great assistance in the war; for he was a most able orator and far the outstanding citizen in daring, and, besides, he was in high birth and wealth first among the Athenians. Now since Alcibiades was eager to be allowed to return to his native city, he contrived every device whereby he could do the Athenians some good turn, and in particular at the crucial moments when the Athenians seemed doomed to utter defeat. Accordingly, since he was on friendly terms with Pharnabazus, the satrap of Darius, and saw that he was on the point of sending three hundred ships to the support of the Lacedemonians, he persuaded him to give up the undertaking; for he showed him that it would not be to the advantage of the King to make the Lacedemonians too powerful. That would not, he said, help the Persians, and so a better policy would be to maintain a neutral attitude toward the combatants so long as they were equally matched, in order that they might continue their quarrel as long as possible. Thereupon Pharnabazus, believing that Alcibiades was giving him good advice, sent the fleet back to Phoenicia. Now on that occasion Alcibiades deprived the Lacedemonians of so great an allied force; and some time later, when he had been allowed to return to Athens and been given command of a military force, he defeated the Lacedemonians in many battles and completely restored again the sunken fortunes of the Athenians. But we shall discuss these matters in more detail in connection with the appropriate period of time, in order that our account may not by anticipation violate the natural order of events.
§ 13.38
τοῦ γὰρ ἐνιαυσιαίου χρόνου διεληλυθότος Ἀθήνησι μὲν ἦρχε Θεόπομπος, Ῥωμαῖοι δʼ ἀντὶ τῶν ὑπάτων τέτταρας χιλιάρχους κατέστησαν, Τιβέριον Ποστούμιον καὶ Γάιον Κορνήλιον, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις Γάιον Οὐαλέριον καὶ Καίσωνα Φάβιον. περὶ δὲ τούτους τοὺς χρόνους Ἀθηναῖοι τὴν ἐκ τῶν τετρακοσίων ὀλιγαρχίαν κατέλυσαν καὶ τὸ σύστημα τῆς πολιτείας ἐκ τῶν πολιτῶν συνεστήσαντο. τούτων δὲ πάντων ἦν εἰσηγητὴς Θηραμένης, ἀνὴρ καὶ τῷ βίῳ κόσμιος καὶ φρονήσει δοκῶν διαφέρειν τῶν ἄλλων· καὶ γὰρ τὸν Ἀλκιβιάδην οὗτος μόνος συνεβούλευσε κατάγειν, διʼ ὃν πάλιν ἑαυτοὺς ἀνέλαβον, καὶ πολλῶν ἄλλων εἰσηγητὴς γενόμενος ἐπʼ ἀγαθῷ τῆς πατρίδος οὐ μετρίας ἀποδοχῆς ἐτύγχανεν. ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν μικρὸν ὕστερον ἐγενήθη, εἰς δὲ τὸν πόλεμον Ἀθηναῖοι μὲν στρατηγοὺς κατέστησαν Θράσυλλον καὶ Θρασύβουλον, οἳ τὸν στόλον εἰς Σάμον ἀθροίσαντες ἐγύμναζον τοὺς στρατιώτας εἰς ναυμαχίαν καθʼ ἡμέραν ἀναπείρας ποιούμενοι. Μίνδαρος δʼ ὁ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων ναύαρχος χρόνον μέν τινα περὶ τὴν Μίλητον διέτριβε, προσδοκῶν τὴν παρὰ Φαρναβάζου βοήθειαν· τριακοσίας γὰρ τριήρεις ἀκούων ἐκ Φοινίκης καταπεπλευκέναι μετέωρος ἦν ταῖς ἐλπίσι, νομίζων τηλικούτῳ στόλῳ καταλύσειν τὴν Ἀθηναίων ἡγεμονίαν· μετʼ ὀλίγον δὲ πυθόμενός τινων, ὅτι πεισθεὶς Ἀλκιβιάδῃ πάλιν ἀπέστειλε τὸν στόλον εἰς Φοινίκην, τὰς μὲν παρὰ Φαρναβάζου ἐλπίδας ἀπέγνω, αὐτὸς δὲ καταρτίσας τάς τʼ ἐκ Πελοποννήσου ναῦς καὶ τὰς παρὰ τῶν ἔξωθεν συμμάχων, Δωριέα μὲν μετὰ τριῶν καὶ δέκα νεῶν ἀπέστειλεν εἰς Ῥόδον, πυνθανόμενος ἐπὶ νεωτερισμῷ τινας συνίστασθαι τῶν Ῥοδίων· προσφάτως γὰρ τοῖς Λακεδαιμονίοις τινὲς τῶν ἀπὸ τῆς Ἰταλίας Ἑλλήνων ἀπεστάλκεισαν εἰς συμμαχίαν τὰς προειρημένας ναῦς· αὐτὸς δὲ τὰς ἄλλας πάσας ἀναλαβών, οὔσας ὀγδοήκοντα καὶ τρεῖς, ἀπῆρεν εἰς Ἑλλήσποντον διὰ τὸ πυνθάνεσθαι τὸν τῶν Ἀθηναίων στόλον ἐν Σάμῳ διατρίβειν. καθʼ ὃν δὴ χρόνον οἱ τῶν Ἀθηναίων στρατηγοὶ θεωροῦντες παραπλέοντας, ἀνήχθησαν ἐπʼ αὐτοὺς μετὰ νεῶν ἑξήκοντα. τῶν δὲ Λακεδαιμονίων κατενεχθέντων εἰς Χίον ἔδοξε τοῖς τῶν Ἀθηναίων στρατηγοῖς προσπλεῦσαι τῇ Λέσβῳ, κἀκεῖ παρὰ τῶν συμμάχων ἀθροῖσαι τριήρεις, ὅπως μὴ συμβαίνῃ τοὺς πολεμίους ὑπερέχειν τῷ πλήθει τῶν νεῶν.
After the close of the year Theopompus was archon in Athens and the Romans elected in place of consuls four military tribunes, Tiberius Postumius, Gaius Cornelius, Gaius Valerius, and Caeso Fabius. At this time the Athenians dissolved the oligarchy of the Four hundred and formed the constitution of the government from the citizens at large. The author of all these changes was Theramenes, a man who was orderly in his manner of life and was reputed to surpass all others in judgement; for he was the only person to advise the recall from exile of Alcibiades, through whom the Athenians recovered themselves, and since he was the author of many other measures for the benefit of his country, he was the recipient of no small approbation. But these events took place at a little later time, and for the war the Athenians appointed Thrasyllus and Thrasybulus generals, who collected the fleet at Samos and trained the soldiers for battle at sea, giving them daily exercises. But Mindarus, the Lacedemonian admiral, was inactive for some time at Miletus, expecting the aid promised by Pharnabazus; and when he heard that three hundred triremes had arrived from Phoenicia, he was buoyed up in his hopes, believing that with so great a fleet he could destroy the empire of the Athenians. But when a little later he learned from sundry persons that Pharnabazus had been won over by Alcibiades and had sent the fleet back to Phoenicia, he gave up the hopes he had placed in Pharnabazus and by himself, after equipping both the ships bought from the Peloponnesus and those supplied by his allies from abroad, he dispatched Dorieus with thirteen ships to Rhodes, since he had learned that certain Rhodians were banding together for a revolution. — The ships we have mentioned had recently been sent to the Lacedemonians as an allied force by certain Greeks of Italy. — And Mindarus himself took all the other ships, numbering eighty-three, and set out for the Hellespont, since he had learned that the Athenian fleet was tarrying at Samos. The moment the generals of the Athenians saw them sailing by, they put out to sea against them with sixty ships. But when the Lacedemonians put in at Chios, the Athenian generals decided to sail on to Lesbos and there to gather triremes from their allies, in order that it should not turn out that the enemy surpassed them in number of ships.
§ 13.39
οὗτοι μὲν οὖν περὶ ταῦτα διέτριβον. Μίνδαρος δʼ ὁ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων ναύαρχος νυκτὸς μετὰ τοῦ στόλου παντὸς ἐκπλεύσας εἰς Ἑλλήσποντον ἐκομίζετο κατὰ σπουδήν, καὶ δευτεραῖος εἰς Σίγειον κατέπλευσεν. οἱ δʼ Ἀθηναῖοι πυθόμενοι τὸν παράπλουν, οὐκ ἀνέμειναν ἁπάσας τὰς παρὰ τῶν συμμάχων τριήρεις, τριῶν δὲ μόνον προσγενομένων αὐτοῖς, ἐδίωκον τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους. ἐπεὶ δʼ ἦλθον εἰς Σίγειον, εὗρον τὸν μὲν στόλον ἐκπεπλευκότα, τρεῖς δὲ ναῦς ὑπολελειμμένας, ὧν εὐθέως ἐκυρίευσαν· καὶ μετὰ ταῦτʼ εἰς Ἐλεοῦντα καταπλεύσαντες τὰ περὶ τὴν ναυμαχίαν παρεσκευάζοντο. Λακεδαιμόνιοι δὲ θεωροῦντες τοὺς πολεμίους τὰ πρὸς τὴν μάχην ἑτοιμαζομένους, καὶ αὐτοὶ πένθʼ ἡμέρας ἀναπείρας ποιούμενοι καὶ γυμνάσαντες τοὺς ἐρέτας, ἐξέταξαν τὸν στόλον εἰς ναυμαχίαν, ὄντα νεῶν δυεῖν ἐλάττω τῶν ἐνενήκοντα. οὗτοι μὲν οὖν ἐκ τοῦ πρὸς τὴν Ἀσίαν μέρους ἔστησαν τὰς ναῦς, οἱ δʼ Ἀθηναῖοι τὸ πρὸς τὴν Εὐρώπην ἔχοντες ἀντανήγοντο, τῷ μὲν πλήθει λειπόμενοι, ταῖς δʼ ἐμπειρίαις ὑπερέχοντες. Λακεδαιμόνιοι μὲν οὖν ἐπὶ τοῦ δεξιοῦ κέρατος ἔταξαν τοὺς Συρακοσίους, ὧν Ἑρμοκράτης ἀφηγεῖτο, τὸ δʼ εὐώνυμον αὐτοὶ συνεπλήρουν Πελοποννήσιοι, Μινδάρου τὴν ἡγεμονίαν ἔχοντος. τῶν δʼ Ἀθηναίων ἐπὶ μὲν τὸ δεξιὸν ἐτάχθη Θράσυλλος, ἐπὶ δὲ τὸ εὐώνυμον Θρασύβουλος. καὶ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἔσπευδον ἀμφότεροι φιλοτιμούμενοι περὶ τοῦ τόπου, ὅπως μὴ τὸν ῥοῦν ἔχωσιν ἐναντίον. διὸ καὶ πολὺν χρόνον ἀλλήλους περιέπλεον, διακλείοντες τὰ στενὰ καὶ περὶ τῆς στάσεως τοπομαχοῦντες· μεταξὺ γὰρ Ἀβύδου καὶ Σηστοῦ τῆς ναυμαχίας γινομένης συνέβαινε τὸν ῥοῦν οὐ μετρίως ἐμποδίζειν ἐν στενοῖς τόποις. οὐ μὴν ἀλλʼ οἱ τῶν Ἀθηναίων κυβερνῆται πολὺ ταῖς ἐμπειρίαις προέχοντες πολλὰ πρὸς τὴν νίκην συνεβάλοντο.
Now the Athenians were engaged in gathering ships. But Mindarus, the Lacedemonian admiral, setting out by night with his entire fleet, made in haste for the Hellespont and arrived on the second day at Sigeium. When the Athenians learned that the fleet had sailed by them, they did not wait for all the triremes of their allies, but after only three had been added to their number they set out in pursuit of the Lacedemonians. When they arrived at Sigeium, they found the fleet already departed, but three ships left behind they at once captured; after this they put in at Eleus and made preparations for the sea-battle. The Lacedemonians, seeing the enemy rehearsing for the battle, did likewise, spending five days in proving their ships and exercising their rowers; then they drew up the fleet for the battle, its strength being eighty-eight ships. Now the Lacedemonians stationed their ships on the Asian side of the channel, while the Athenians lined up against them on the European side, being fewer in number but of superior training. The Lacedemonians put on their right wing the Syracusans, whose leader was Hermocrates, and the Peloponnesians themselves formed the whole left wing with Mindarus in command. For the Athenians Thrasyllus was stationed on the right wing and Thrasybulus on the left. At the outset both sides strove stubbornly for position in order that they might not have the current against them. Consequently they kept sailing around each other for a long time, endeavouring to block off the straits and struggling for an advantageous position; for the battle took place between Abydus and Sestus and it so happened that the current was of no little hindrance where the strait was narrow. However, the pilots of the Athenian fleet, being far superior in experience, contributed greatly to the victory.
§ 13.40
τῶν γὰρ Πελοποννησίων ὑπερεχόντων τῷ πλήθει τῶν νεῶν καὶ ταῖς τῶν ἐπιβατῶν ἀρεταῖς, ἡ τέχνη τῶν κυβερνητῶν ἄχρηστον τὴν ὑπεροχὴν τῶν ἐναντίων ἐποίει. ὁπότε γὰρ οἱ Πελοποννήσιοι κατὰ σπουδὴν ἀθρόαις ταῖς ναυσὶν εἰς ἐμβολὴν ἐπιφέροιντο, τὰς ἑαυτῶν οὕτως φιλοτέχνως καθίστανον, ὥστε τοῦ μὲν ἄλλου μέρους αὐτὰς μὴ δύνασθαι θιγεῖν, τοῖς δὲ στόμασι τῶν ἐμβόλων μόνοις ἀναγκάζεσθαι συμβάλλειν. διόπερ ὁ Μίνδαρος ὁρῶν ἄπρακτον οὖσαν τὴν ἐκ τῶν ἐμβολῶν βίαν, κατʼ ὀλίγας καὶ κατὰ μίαν ἐκέλευσε συμπλέκεσθαι. οὐ μὴν οὐδʼ ἐνταῦθα τὴν τῶν κυβερνητῶν τέχνην ἄπρακτον εἶναι συνέβαινεν, ἀλλʼ εὐφυῶς ἐκκλίνοντες τὰς τῶν νεῶν ἐπιφερομένας ἐμβολὰς πλαγίαις ἐνέσειον καὶ πολλὰς κατετίτρωσκον. φιλοτιμίας δʼ ἐμπεσούσης εἰς ἀμφοτέρους, οὐ μόνον ταῖς ἐμβολαῖς διεκινδύνευον, ἀλλὰ συμπλεκόμενοι τοῖς ἐπιβάταις διηγωνίζοντο. πολλὰ δʼ ὑπὸ τῆς τοῦ ῥοῦ βίας διακωλυόμενοι πράττειν ἐφʼ ἱκανὸν χρόνον διεκινδύνευον, οὐδετέρων δυναμένων τυχεῖν τῆς νίκης. ἰσορρόπου δὲ τῆς μάχης οὔσης, ἐπεφάνησαν ὑπέρ τινος ἄκρας ναῦς εἴκοσι πέντε παρὰ τῶν συμμάχων ἀπεσταλμέναι τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις. φοβηθέντες δὲ οἱ Πελοποννήσιοι πρὸς τὴν Ἄβυδον ἔφυγον, ἐξαπτομένων τῶν Ἀθηναίων καὶ φιλοτιμότερον διωξάντων. τῆς δὲ ναυμαχίας τοιοῦτον τέλος λαβούσης, Ἀθηναῖοι ναῦς ἔλαβον ὀκτὼ μὲν Χίων, πέντε δὲ Κορινθίων, Ἀμβρακιωτῶν δὲ δύο, Συρακοσίων δὲ καὶ Πελληνέων καὶ Λευκαδίων μίαν ἐξ ἑκάστων· αὐτοὶ δὲ πέντε ναῦς ἀπέβαλον, ἃς πάσας βυθισθῆναι συνέβη. μετὰ δὲ ταῦθʼ οἱ περὶ τὸν Θρασύβουλον ἔστησαν τρόπαιον ἐπὶ τῆς ἄκρας, οὗ τὸ τῆς Ἑκάβης ἐστὶ μνημεῖον, καὶ τοὺς ἀπαγγελοῦντας τὴν νίκην εἰς Ἀθήνας ἔπεμψαν, αὐτοὶ δὲ μετὰ παντὸς τοῦ στόλου τὸν πλοῦν ἐπὶ Κύζικον ἐποιήσαντο· αὕτη γὰρ πρὸ τῆς ναυμαχίας ἦν ἀφεστηκυῖα πρὸς Φαρνάβαζον τὸν Δαρείου στρατηγὸν καὶ Κλέαρχον τὸν Λακεδαιμονίων ἡγεμόνα. εὑρόντες δʼ αὐτὴν ἀτείχιστον ῥᾳδίως τῆς ἐπιβολῆς ἐκράτησαν, καὶ χρήματα πραξάμενοι τοὺς Κυζικηνοὺς ἀπέπλευσαν εἰς Σηστόν.
For although the Peloponnesians had the advantage in the number of their ships and the valour of their marines, the skill of the Athenian pilots rendered the superiority of their opponents of no effect. For whenever the Peloponnesians, with their ships in a body, would charge swiftly forward to ram, the pilots would manoeuvre their own ships so skilfully that their opponents were unable to strike them at any other spot but could only meet them bows on, ram against ram. Consequently Mindarus, seeing that the force of the rams was proving ineffective, gave orders for his ships to come to grips in small groups, or one at a time. But not by this manoeuvre either, as it turned out, was the skill of the Athenian pilots rendered ineffective; on the contrary, cleverly avoiding the on-coming rams of the ships, they struck them on the side and damaged many. And such a spirit of rivalry pervaded both forces that they would not confine the struggle to ramming tactics, but tangling ship with ship fought it out with the marines. Although they were hindered by the strength of the current from achieving great success, they continued the struggle for a considerable time, neither side being able to gain the victory. While the fighting was thus equally balanced, there appeared beyond a cape twenty-five ships which had been dispatched to the Athenians from their allies. The Peloponnesians thereupon in alarm turned in flight toward Abydus, the Athenians clinging to them and pursuing them the more vigorously. Such was the end of the battle; and the Athenians captured eight ships of the Chians, five of the Corinthians, two of the Ambraciotes, and one each of the Syracusans, Pellenians, and Leucadians, while they themselves lost five ships, all of them, as it happened, having been sunk. After this Thrasybulus set up a trophy on the cape where stands the memorial of Hecabe and sent messengers to Athens to carry word of the victory, and himself made his way to Cyzicus with the entire fleet. For before the sea-battle this city had revolted to Pharnabazus, the general of Darius, and to Clearchus, the Lacedemonian commander. Finding the city unfortified the Athenians easily achieved their end, and after exacting money of the Cyziceni they sailed off to Sestus.
§ 13.41
Μίνδαρος δʼ ὁ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων ναύαρχος ἀπὸ τῆς ἥττης φυγὼν εἰς Ἄβυδον τάς τε πεπονηκυίας ναῦς ἐπεσκεύασε καὶ πρὸς τὰς ἐν Εὐβοίᾳ τριήρεις ἀπέστειλεν Ἐπικλέα τὸν Σπαρτιάτην, προστάξας ἄγειν τὴν ταχίστην. ὃς ἐπεὶ κατέπλευσεν εἰς Εὔβοιαν, ἀθροίσας τὰς ναῦς οὔσας πεντήκοντα κατὰ σπουδὴν ἀνήχθη· καὶ κατὰ τὸν Ἄθω γενομένων τῶν τριήρων ἐπεγενήθη χειμὼν τηλικοῦτος ὥστε τὰς μὲν ναῦς ἁπάσας ἀπολέσθαι, τῶν δὲ ἀνδρῶν δώδεκα μόνον διασωθῆναι. οἵδʼ ἀπὸ πεντήκοντα νεῶν θάνατον προφυγόντες πρὸς σκοπέλοισιν Ἄθω σώματα γῇ πέλασαν δώδεκα, τοὺς δʼ ἄλλους ὄλεσεν μέγα λαῖτμα θαλάσσης, νῆάς τε στυγεροῖς πνεύμασι χρησαμένας. περὶ δὲ τὸν αὐτὸν καιρὸν Ἀλκιβιάδης ἔχων τρισκαίδεκα τριήρεις κατέπλευσε πρὸς τοὺς ἐν Σάμῳ διατρίβοντας, οἳ πάλαι προακηκοότες ἦσαν, ὅτι πεπεικὼς εἴη τὸν Φαρνάβαζον μηκέτι ταῖς τριακοσίαις ναυσὶ βοηθεῖν τοῖς Λακεδαιμονίοις. φιλοφρόνως δʼ αὐτὸν ἀποδεξαμένων τῶν ἐν τῇ Σάμῳ, διελέγετο πρὸς αὐτοὺς περὶ τῆς καθόδου, πολλὰ κατεπαγγελλόμενος χρήσιμος ἔσεσθαι τῇ πατρίδι, ὁμοίως καὶ τὰ καθʼ ἑαυτὸν ἀπολογησάμενος, καὶ πολλὰ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ δακρύσας τύχην, ὅτι τὴν ἰδίαν ἀρετὴν ὑπὸ τῶν ἐχθρῶν ἠνάγκασται κατὰ τῆς πατρίδος ἐνδείξασθαι.
Mindarus, the Lacedemonian admiral, after his flight to Abydus from the scene of his defeat repaired his ships that had been damaged and also sent the Spartan Epicles to the triremes at Euboea with orders to bring them with all speed. When Epicles arrived at Euboea, he gathered all the ships, which amounted to fifty, and hurriedly put out to sea; but when the triremes were off Mt. Athos there arose a storm of such fury that all the ships were lost and of their crews twelve men alone survived. These facts are set forth by a dedication, as Ephorus states, which stands in the temple at Coroneia and bears the following inscription: These from the crews of fifty ships, escaping destruction, Brought their bodies to land hard by Athos' sharp crags; Only twelve, all the rest the yawning depth of the waters Took to their death with their ships, meeting with terrible winds. At about the same time Alcibiades with thirteen triremes came by sea to the Athenians who were lying at Samos and had already heard that he had persuaded Pharnabazus not to come, as he had intended, with his three hundred ships to reinforce the Lacedemonians. And since the troops at Samos gave him a friendly welcome, he discussed with them the matter of his return from exile, offering promises to render many services to the fatherland; and in like manner he defended his own conduct and shed many tears over his own fortune, because he had been compelled by his enemies to give proof of his own valour at the expense of his native land.
§ 13.42
τῶν δὲ στρατιωτῶν ἀσμένως τοὺς λόγους προσδεξαμένων, καὶ περὶ τούτων διαπεμψαμένων εἰς Ἀθήνας, ἔδοξε τῷ δήμῳ τὸν ἄνδρα τῶν ἐγκλημάτων ἀπολῦσαι καὶ μεταδοῦναι τῆς στρατηγίας· θεωροῦντες γὰρ αὐτοῦ τὸ πρακτικὸν τῆς τόλμης καὶ τὴν παρὰ τοῖς Ἕλλησι δόξαν, ὑπελάμβανον, ὅπερ ἦν εἰκός, οὐ μικρὰν ῥοπὴν ἔσεσθαι τοῖς σφετέροις πράγμασι τούτου προσγενομένου. καὶ γὰρ ὁ τῆς πολιτείας ἀφηγούμενος τότε Θηραμένης, ἀνὴρ εἰ καί τις ἄλλος εἶναι δόξας συνετός, τῷ δήμῳ συνεβούλευσε κατάγειν τὸν Ἀλκιβιάδην. τούτων δʼ ἀπαγγελθέντων εἰς Σάμον, Ἀλκιβιάδης πρὸς αἷς εἶχεν ἰδίαις ναυσὶ τρισκαίδεκα ἐννέα προσέλαβε, καὶ μετὰ τούτων ἐκπλεύσας εἰς Ἁλικαρνασσὸν παρὰ τῆς πόλεως εἰσεπράξατο χρήματα. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τὴν Μεροπίδα πορθήσας μετὰ πολλῆς λείας ἀνέπλευσεν εἰς Σάμον. πολλῶν δὲ συναχθέντων λαφύρων, τοῖς τʼ ἐν Σάμῳ στρατιώταις καὶ τοῖς μεθʼ ἑαυτοῦ διελόμενος τὰς ὠφελείας ταχὺ τοὺς εὖ παθόντας εὔνους ἑαυτῷ κατεσκεύασεν. περὶ δὲ τὸν αὐτὸν χρόνον Ἀντάνδριοι, φρουρὰν ἔχοντες, μετεπέμψαντο παρὰ Λακεδαιμονίων στρατιώτας, μεθʼ ὧν ἐκβαλόντες τὴν φυλακὴν ἐλευθέραν ᾤκουν τὴν πατρίδα· οἱ γὰρ Λακεδαιμόνιοι περὶ τῆς εἰς Φοινίκην ἀποστολῆς τῶν τριακοσίων νεῶν ἐγκαλοῦντες τῷ Φαρναβάζῳ τοῖς Ἄντανδρον οἰκοῦσι συνεμάχησαν. τῶν δὲ συγγραφέων Θουκυδίδης μὲν τὴν ἱστορίαν κατέστροφε, περιλαβὼν χρόνον ἐτῶν εἴκοσι καὶ δυοῖν ἐν βύβλοις ὀκτώ· τινὲς δὲ διαιροῦσιν εἰς ἐννέα· Ξενοφῶν δὲ καὶ Θεόπομπος ἀφʼ ὧν ἀπέλιπε Θουκυδίδης τὴν ἀρχὴν πεποίηνται, καὶ Ξενοφῶν μὲν περιέλαβε χρόνον ἐτῶν τεσσαράκοντα καὶ ὀκτώ, Θεόπομπος δὲ τὰς Ἑλληνικὰς πράξεις διελθὼν ἐπʼ ἔτη ἑπτακαίδεκα καταλήγει τὴν ἱστορίαν εἰς τὴν περὶ Κνίδον ναυμαχίαν ἐν βύβλοις δώδεκα. τὰ μὲν οὖν κατὰ τὴν Ἑλλάδα καὶ τὴν Ἀσίαν ἐν τούτοις ἦν. Ῥωμαῖοι δὲ πρὸς Αἴκους διαπολεμοῦντες ἐνέβαλον αὐτῶν εἰς τὴν χώραν μετὰ πολλῆς δυνάμεως· περιστρατοπεδεύσαντες δὲ πόλιν Βώλας ὀνομαζομένην ἐξεπολιόρκησαν.
And since the soldiers heartily welcomed the offers of Alcibiades and sent messages to Athens regarding them, the people voted to dismiss the charges against Alcibiades and to give him a share in the command; for as they observed the efficiency of his daring and the fame he enjoyed among the Greeks, they assumed, and with good reason, that his adherence to them would add no little weight to their cause. Moreover, Theramenes, who at the time enjoyed the leadership in the government and who, if anyone, had a reputation of sagacity, advised the people to recall Alcibiades. When word of this action was reported to Samos, Alcibiades added nine ships to the thirteen he already had, and sailing with them to Halicarnassus he exacted money from that city. After this he sacked Meropis and returned to Samos with much plunder. And since a great amount of booty had been amassed, he divided the spoils among the soldiers at Samos and his own troops, thereby soon causing the recipients of his benefactions to be well disposed toward himself. About the same time the Antandrians, who were held by a garrison, sent to the Lacedemonians for soldiers, with whose aid they expelled the garrison and thus made their country a free place to live in; for the Lacedemonians, finding fault with Pharnabazus for the sending of the three hundred ships back to Phoenicia, gave their aid to the inhabitants of Antandrus. Of the historians, Thucydides ended his History, having included a period of twenty-two years in eight Books, although some divide it into nine; and Xenophon and Theopompus have begun at the point where Thucydides left off. Xenophon embraced a period of forty-eight years, and Theopompus set forth the facts of Greek history for seventeen years and bring his account to an end with the sea-battle of Cnidus in twelve Books. Such was the state of affairs in Greece and Asia. The Romans were waging war with the Aequi and invaded their territory with a strong army; and investing the city named Bolae they took it by siege.
§ 13.43
τῶν δὲ κατὰ τὸν ἐνιαυτὸν τοῦτον πράξεων τέλος ἐχουσῶν Ἀθήνησι μὲν ἦρχε Γλαύκιππος, ἐν δὲ τῇ Ῥώμῃ κατεστάθησαν ὕπατοι Μάρκος Κορνήλιος καὶ Λεύκιος Φούριος. περὶ δὲ τούτους τοὺς χρόνους Αἰγεσταῖοι κατὰ τὴν Σικελίαν σύμμαχοι γεγενημένοι τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις κατὰ Συρακοσίων, καταλυθέντος τοῦ πολέμου περιδεεῖς καθειστήκεισαν· ἤλπιζον γάρ, ὅπερ ἦν εἰκός, τιμωρίαν δώσειν τοῖς Σικελιώταις, ὑπὲρ ὧν εἰς αὐτοὺς ἐξήμαρτον. τῶν δὲ Σελινουντίων περὶ τῆς ἀμφισβητησίμου χώρας πολεμούντων αὐτούς, ἑκουσίως ἐξεχώρουν, εὐλαβούμενοι, μὴ διὰ ταύτην τὴν πρόφασιν οἱ Συρακόσιοι συνεπιλάβωνται τοῦ πολέμου τοῖς Σελινουντίοις, καὶ κινδυνεύσωσιν ἄρδην ἀπολέσαι τὴν πατρίδα. ἐπεὶ δʼ οἱ Σελινούντιοι χωρὶς τῆς ἀμφισβητησίμου πολλὴν τῆς παρακειμένης ἀπετέμοντο, τηνικαῦθʼ οἱ τὴν Αἴγεσταν οἰκοῦντες πρέσβεις ἀπέστειλαν εἰς Καρχηδόνα, δεόμενοι βοηθῆσαι καὶ τὴν πόλιν αὐτοῖς ἐγχειρίζοντες. καταπλευσάντων δὲ τῶν πεμφθέντων, καὶ τῇ γερουσίᾳ τὰς παρὰ τοῦ δήμου δεδομένας ἐντολὰς εἰπόντων, οὐ μετρίως διηπόρησαν οἱ Καρχηδόνιοι· ἅμα μὲν γὰρ ἐπεθύμουν παραλαβεῖν πόλιν εὔκαιρον, ἅμα δʼ ἐφοβοῦντο τοὺς Συρακοσίους, ἑωρακότες προσφάτως καταπεπολεμημένας τὰς τῶν Ἀθηναίων δυνάμεις. οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῦ παρʼ αὐτοῖς πρωτεύοντος Ἀννίβου συμβουλεύοντος παραλαβεῖν τὴν πόλιν, τοῖς μὲν πρεσβευταῖς ἀπεκρίθησαν βοηθήσειν, εἰς δὲ τὴν τούτων διοίκησιν, ἂν ᾖ χρεία πολεμεῖν, στρατηγὸν κατέστησαν τὸν Ἀννίβαν, κατὰ νόμους τότε βασιλεύοντα. οὗτος δὲ ἦν υἱωνὸς μὲν τοῦ πρὸς Γέλωνα πολεμήσαντος Ἀμίλκου καὶ πρὸς Ἱμέρᾳ τελευτήσαντος, υἱὸς δὲ Γέσκωνος, ὃς διὰ τὴν τοῦ πατρὸς ἧτταν ἐφυγαδεύθη καὶ κατεβίωσεν ἐν τῇ Σελινοῦντι. ὁ δʼ οὖν Ἀννίβας, ὢν μὲν καὶ φύσει μισέλλην, ὁμοῦ δὲ τὰς τῶν προγόνων ἀτιμίας διορθώσασθαι βουλόμενος, ἔσπευδε διʼ ἑαυτοῦ τι κατασκευάσαι χρήσιμον τῇ πατρίδι. θεωρῶν οὖν τοὺς Σελινουντίους οὐκ ἀρκουμένους τῇ παραχωρήσει τῆς ἀμφισβητησίμου χώρας, πρέσβεις ἀπέστειλε μετὰ τῶν Αἰγεσταίων πρὸς Συρακοσίους, ἐπιτρέπων αὐτοῖς τὴν κρίσιν τούτων, τῷ μὲν λόγῳ προσποιούμενος δικαιοπραγεῖν, τῇ δʼ ἀληθείᾳ νομίζων ἐκ τοῦ μὴ βούλεσθαι τοὺς Σελινουντίους διακριθῆναι μὴ συμμαχήσειν αὐτοῖς τοὺς Συρακοσίους. ἀποστειλάντων δὲ καὶ Σελινουντίων πρέσβεις, διακριθῆναι μὲν μὴ βουλομένων, πολλὰ δὲ πρὸς τοὺς παρὰ Καρχηδονίων καὶ τῶν Αἰγεσταίων πρέσβεις ἀντειπόντων, τέλος ἔδοξε τοῖς Συρακοσίοις ψηφίσασθαι τηρεῖν πρὸς μὲν Σελινουντίους τὴν συμμαχίαν, πρὸς δὲ Καρχηδονίους τὴν εἰρήνην.
When the events of this year had come to an end, in Athens Glaucippus was archon and in Rome the consuls elected were Marcus Cornelius and Lucius Furius. At this time in Sicily the Aegestaeans, who had allied themselves with the Athenians against the Syracusans, had fallen into great fear at the conclusion of the war; for they expected, and with good reason, to pay the penalty to the Sicilian Greeks for the wrongs they had inflicted upon them. And when the Selinuntians went to war with them over the land in dispute, they withdrew from it of their free will, being concerned lest the Syracusans should use this excuse to join the Selinuntians in the war and they should thereby run the risk of utterly destroying their country. But when the Selinuntians proposed, quite apart from the territory in dispute, to carve off for themselves a large portion of the neighbouring territory, the inhabitants of Aegesta thereupon dispatched ambassadors to Carthage, asking for aid and putting their city in the hands of the Carthaginians. When the envoys arrived and laid before the Senate the instructions the people had given them, the Carthaginians found themselves in no little quandary; for while they were eager to acquire a city so strategically situated, at the same time they stood in fear of the Syracusans, having just witnessed their defeat of the armaments of the Athenians. But when Hannibal, their foremost citizen, also advised them to acquire the city, they replied to the ambassadors that they would come to their aid, and to supervise the undertaking, in case it should lead to war, they selected as general Hannibal, who at the time lawfully exercised sovereign powers. He was the grandson of Hamilcar, who fought in the war against Gelon and died at Himera, and the son of Gescon, who had been exiled because of his father's defeat and had ended his life in Selinus. Now Hannibal, who by nature was a hater of the Greeks and at the same time desired to wipe out the disgraces which had befallen his ancestors, was eager by his own efforts to achieve some advantage for his country. Hence, seeing that the Selinuntians were not satisfied with the cession of the territory in dispute, he dispatched ambassadors together with the Aegestaeans to the Syracusans, referring to them the decision of the dispute; and though ostensibly he pretended to be seeking that justice be done, in fact he believed that, after the Selinuntians refused to agree to arbitration, the Syracusans would not join them as allies. Since the Selinuntians also dispatched ambassadors, refusing the arbitration and answering at length the ambassadors of the Carthaginians and Aegestaeans, in the end the Syracusans decided to vote to maintain their alliance with the Selinuntians and their state of peace with the Carthaginians.
§ 13.44
μετὰ δὲ τὴν ἐπάνοδον τῶν πρεσβευτῶν Καρχηδόνιοι μὲν τοῖς Αἰγεσταίοις ἀπέστειλαν Λίβυάς τε πεντακισχιλίους καὶ τῶν Καμπανῶν ὀκτακοσίους. οὗτοι δʼ ἦσαν ὑπὸ τῶν Χαλκιδέων τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις εἰς τὸν πρὸς Συρακοσίους πόλεμον μεμισθωμένοι, καὶ μετὰ τὴν ἧτταν καταπεπλευκότες οὐκ εἶχον τοὺς μισθοδοτήσοντας· οἱ δὲ Καρχηδόνιοι πᾶσιν ἵππους ἀγοράσαντες καὶ μισθοὺς ἀξιολόγους δόντες εἰς τὴν Αἴγεσταν κατέστησαν. οἱ δὲ Σελινούντιοι κατʼ ἐκείνους τοὺς χρόνους εὐδαιμονοῦντες, καὶ τῆς πόλεως αὐτοῖς πολυανδρούσης, κατεφρόνουν τῶν Αἰγεσταίων. καὶ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἐν τάξει τὴν ὅμορον χώραν ἐπόρθουν, πολὺ προέχοντες ταῖς δυνάμεσι, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα καταφρονήσαντες κατὰ πᾶσαν τὴν χώραν ἐσκεδάσθησαν. οἱ δὲ τῶν Αἰγεσταίων στρατηγοὶ παρατηρήσαντες αὐτοὺς ἐπέθεντο μετὰ τῶν Καρχηδονίων καὶ τῶν Καμπανῶν. ἀπροσδοκήτου δὲ τῆς ἐφόδου γενομένης ῥᾳδίως ἐτρέψαντο τοὺς Σελινουντίους, καὶ τῶν μὲν στρατιωτῶν ἀνεῖλον περὶ χιλίους, τῆς δὲ λείας πάσης ἐκυρίευσαν. μετὰ δὲ τὴν μάχην εὐθέως ἀπέστειλαν πρέσβεις, οἱ μὲν Σελινούντιοι πρὸς Συρακοσίους, οἱ δʼ Αἰγεσταῖοι πρὸς Καρχηδονίους, περὶ βοηθείας. ἑκατέρων δʼ ἐπαγγειλαμένων συμμαχήσειν, ὁ μὲν Καρχηδονιακὸς πόλεμος ταύτην ἔλαβεν ἀρχήν· οἱ δὲ Καρχηδόνιοι προορώμενοι τὸ μέγεθος τοῦ πολέμου, τὴν ἐπιτροπὴν ἔδωκαν Ἀννίβᾳ τῷ στρατηγῷ περὶ τοῦ μεγέθους τῆς δυνάμεως, καὶ πάντα προθύμως ὑπηρέτουν. ὁ δὲ Ἀννίβας τό τε θέρος ἐκεῖνο καὶ τὸν συνάπτοντα χειμῶνα πολλοὺς μὲν ἐξ Ἰβηρίας ἐξενολόγησεν, οὐκ ὀλίγους δὲ καὶ τῶν πολιτῶν κατέγραφεν· ἐπῄει δὲ καὶ τὴν Λιβύην ἐπιλεγόμενος ἐξ ἁπάσης πόλεως τοὺς κρατίστους, καὶ ναῦς παρεσκευάζετο, διανοούμενος τῆς ἐαρινῆς ὥρας ἐνισταμένης διαβιβάζειν τὰς δυνάμεις. τὰ μὲν οὖν κατὰ τὴν Σικελίαν ἐν τούτοις ἦν.
After the return of their ambassadors the Carthaginians dispatched to the Aegestaeans five thousand Libyans and eight hundred Campanians. These troops had been hired by the Chalcidians to aid the Athenians in the war against the Syracusans, and on their return after its disastrous conclusion they found no one to hire their services; but the Carthaginians purchased horses for them all, gave them high pay, and sent them to Aegesta. The Selinuntians, who were prosperous in those days and whose city was heavily populated, held the Aegestaeans in contempt. And at first, deploying in battle order, they laid waste the land which touched their border, since their armies were far superior, but after this, despising their foes, they scattered everywhere over the countryside. The generals of the Aegestaeans, watching their opportunity, attacked them with the aid of the Carthaginians and Campanians. Since the attack was not expected, they easily put the Selinuntians to flight, killing about a thousand of the soldiers and capturing all their loot. And after the battle both sides straightway dispatched ambassadors, the Selinuntians to the Syracusans and the Aegestaeans to the Carthaginians, asking for help. Both parties promised their assistance and the Carthaginian War thus had its beginning. The Carthaginians, foreseeing the magnitude of the war, entrusted the responsibility for the size of their armament to Hannibal as their general and enthusiastically rendered him every assistance. And Hannibal during the summer and the following winter enlisted many mercenaries from Iberia and also enrolled not a few from among the citizens; he also visited Libya, choosing the stoutest men from every city, and he made ready ships, planning to convey the armies across with the opening of spring. Such, then, was the state of affairs in Sicily.
§ 13.45
κατὰ δὲ τὴν Ἑλλάδα Δωριεὺς ὁ Ῥόδιος, ναύαρχος ὢν τῶν ἐξ Ἰταλίας τριήρων, ἐπειδὴ κατέστησε τὴν ἐν Ῥόδῳ ταραχήν, ἐξέπλευσεν ἐφʼ Ἑλλήσποντον, σπεύδων συμμῖξαι τῷ Μινδάρῳ· οὗτος γὰρ ἐν Ἀβύδῳ διατρίβων συνῆγε πανταχόθεν τὰς συμμαχούσας ναῦς τοῖς Πελοποννησίοις. ἤδη δὲ τοῦ Δωριέως ὄντος περὶ τὸ Σίγειον τῆς Τρῳάδος, οἱ περὶ Σηστὸν ὄντες Ἀθηναῖοι πυθόμενοι τὸν παράπλουν ἀνήχθησαν ἐπʼ αὐτοὺς πάσαις ταῖς ναυσίν, οὔσαις ἑβδομήκοντα καὶ τέσσαρσιν. ὁ δὲ Δωριεὺς μέχρι μέν τινος ἀγνοήσας τὸ γινόμενον ἔπλει μετέωρος· κατανοήσας δὲ τὸ μέγεθος τοῦ στόλου κατεπλάγη, καὶ σωτηρίαν ἄλλην οὐδεμίαν ὁρῶν κατέφυγεν εἰς Δάρδανον. ἐκβιβάσας δὲ τοὺς στρατιώτας καὶ τοὺς φρουροῦντας τὴν πόλιν προσλαβόμενος, βέλη τε παμπληθῆ ταχέως παρεκόμισε καὶ τῶν στρατιωτῶν οὓς μὲν ἐπὶ τὰς πρῴρας ἐπέστησεν, οὓς δʼ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς εὐκαίρως ἔταξεν. οἱ δʼ Ἀθηναῖοι κατὰ πολλὴν σπουδὴν καταπλεύσαντες ἐνεχείρησαν ἀποσπᾶν τὰς ναῦς, καὶ πανταχόθεν τῷ πλήθει περιχυθέντες κατεπόνουν τοὺς ἐναντίους. ἃ δὴ πυθόμενος Μίνδαρος ὁ τῶν Πελοποννησίων ναύαρχος, εὐθέως ἐξ Ἀβύδου μετὰ παντὸς ἀνήχθη τοῦ στόλου, καὶ κατέπλει πρὸς τὸ Δαρδάνειον μετὰ νεῶν τεσσάρων πρὸς ταῖς ὀγδοήκοντα, βοηθήσων τοῖς μετὰ τοῦ Δωριέως· συμπαρῆν δὲ καὶ τὸ πεζὸν στράτευμα τοῦ Φαρναβάζου, βοηθοῦν τοῖς Λακεδαιμονίοις. ὡς δʼ ἐγγὺς ἀλλήλων ἐγενήθησαν οἱ στόλοι, διέταξαν ἀμφότεροι τὰς τριήρεις εἰς ναυμαχίαν· καὶ Μίνδαρος μὲν ἔχων ἑπτὰ πρὸς ταῖς ἐνενήκοντα ναυσὶν ἐπὶ μὲν τὸ λαιὸν κέρας ἔταξε Συρακοσίους, τοῦ δεξιοῦ δʼ αὐτὸς εἶχε τὴν ἡγεμονίαν· τῶν δʼ Ἀθηναίων τοῦ μὲν δεξιοῦ μέρους Θρασύβουλος ἡγεῖτο, τοῦ δʼ ἑτέρου Θράσυλλος. τοῦτον δὲ τὸν τρόπον αὐτῶν ἐξηρτυμένων, οἱ μὲν ἡγεμόνες αὐτῶν ἦραν τὸ σύσσημον τῆς μάχης, οἱ σαλπικταὶ δὲ ἀφʼ ἑνὸς παραγγέλματος ἤρξαντο σημαίνειν τὸ πολεμικόν· καὶ τῶν μὲν ἐρετῶν οὐθὲν ἐλλειπόντων προθυμίας, τῶν δὲ κυβερνητῶν ἐντέχνως τοῖς οἴαξι χρωμένων, καταπληκτικὸν συνέβαινε γίνεσθαι τὸν ἀγῶνα. ὁπότε γὰρ αἱ τριήρεις εἰς ἐμβολὴν ἐπιφέροιντο, τηνικαῦτα οἱ κυβερνῆται πρὸς αὐτὴν τὴν τοῦ καιροῦ ῥοπὴν ἐπέστρεφον τὰς ναῦς πραγματικῶς, ὥστε τὰς πληγὰς γίνεσθαι κατʼ ἐμβολήν. οἱ μὲν οὖν ἐπιβάται θεωροῦντες πλαγίας τὰς ἑαυτῶν ναῦς συνεπιφερομένας ταῖς τῶν πολεμίων τριήρεσι, περιδεεῖς ἐγίνοντο, περὶ σφῶν ἀγωνιῶντες· ὁπότε δʼ οἱ κυβερνῆται ταῖς ἐμπειρίαις ἐκκρούσειαν τὰς ἐπιφοράς, πάλιν ἐγίνοντο περιχαρεῖς καὶ μετέωροι ταῖς ἐλπίσιν.
In Greece Dorieus the Rhodian, the admiral of the triremes from Italy, after he had quelled the tumult in Rhodes, set sail for the Hellespont, being eager to join Mindarus; for the latter was lying at Abydus, and collecting from every quarter the ships of the Peloponnesian alliance. And when Dorieus was already in the neighbourhood of Sigeium in the Troad, the Athenians who were at Sestus, learning that he was sailing along the coast, put out against him with their ships, seventyfour in all. Dorieus held to his course for a time in ignorance of what was happening; but when he observed the great strength of the fleet he was alarmed, and seeing no other way to save his force he put in at Dardanus. Here he disembarked his soldiers and took over the troops who were guarding the city, and then he speedily got in a vast supply of missiles and stationed his soldiers both on the fore-parts of the ships and in advantageous positions on the land. The Athenians, sailing in at full speed, set to work hauling the ships away from the shore, and they were wearing down the enemy, having crowded them on every side by their superior numbers. When Mindarus, the Peloponnesian admiral, learned of the situation, he speedily put out from Abydus with his entire fleet and sailed to the Dardanian Promontory with eighty-four ships to the aid of the fleet of Dorieus; and the land army of Pharnabazus was also there, supporting the Lacedemonians. When the fleets came near one another, both sides drew up the triremes for battle; Mindarus, who had ninety-seven ships, stationed the Syracusans on his left wing, while he himself took command of the right; as for the Athenians, Thrasybulus led the right wing and Thrasyllus the other. After the forces had made ready in this fashion, their commanders raised the signal for battle and the trumpeters at a single word of command began to sound the attack; and since the rowers showed no lack of eagerness and the pilots managed their helms with skill, the contest which ensued was an amazing spectacle. For whenever the triremes would drive forward to ram, at that moment the pilots, at just the critical instant, would turn their ships so effectively that the blows were made ram on. As for the marines, whenever they would see their own ships borne along with their sides to the triremes of the enemy, they would be terror-stricken, despairing of their lives; but whenever the pilots, employing the skill of practice, would frustrate the attack, they would in turn be overjoyed and elated in their hopes.
§ 13.46
οὐ μὴν οὐδʼ οἱ τοῖς καταστρώμασιν ἐπιβεβηκότες ἄπρακτον εἶχον τὴν φιλοτιμίαν, ἀλλʼ οἱ μὲν ἐκ πολλοῦ διαστήματος ἐφεστηκότες ἐτόξευον κατὰ τὸ συνεχές, καὶ ταχὺ ὁ τόπος ἦν βελῶν πλήρης· οἱ δʼ ἀεὶ προσιόντες ἐγγυτέρω τὰς λόγχας ἠκόντιζον, οἱ μὲν ἐπὶ τοὺς ἀμυνομένους ἐπιβάτας, οἱ δʼ ἐπʼ αὐτοὺς βαλεῖν φιλοτιμούμενοι τοὺς κυβερνήτας· ὁπότε δὲ συνερείσειαν αἱ ναῦς, τοῖς τε δόρασιν ἠγωνίζοντο καὶ κατὰ τὰς προσαγωγὰς εἰς τὰς τῶν πολεμίων τριήρεις μεθαλλόμενοι τοῖς ξίφεσιν ἀλλήλους ἠμύνοντο. κατὰ δὲ τὰς γινομένας ἐλαττώσεις τῶν νικώντων ἐπαλαλαζόντων καὶ τῶν ἄλλων μετὰ βοῆς παραβοηθούντων, κραυγὴ σύμμικτος ἐγίνετο παρʼ ὅλον τὸν τῆς ναυμαχίας τόπον. ἐπὶ πολὺν οὖν χρόνον ἰσόρροπος ἦν ἡ μάχη διὰ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῆς παρʼ ἀμφοτέροις φιλοτιμίας· μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Ἀλκιβιάδης ἐκ Σάμου παραδόξως ἐπεφάνη μετὰ νεῶν εἴκοσι, πλέων κατὰ τύχην εἰς Ἑλλήσποντον. τούτων δὲ πόρρω μὲν οὐσῶν, ἑκάτεροι σφίσι βοήθειαν ἐλπίζοντες παραγενέσθαι, μετέωροι ταῖς ἐλπίσιν ἐγίνοντο καὶ πολὺ προθυμότερον ταῖς τόλμαις διεκινδύνευον· ἐπεὶ δʼ ἤδη σύνεγγυς ἦν ὁ στόλος, καὶ τοῖς μὲν Λακεδαιμονίοις οὐδὲν ἐφαίνετο σύσσημον, τοῖς δʼ Ἀθηναίοις Ἀλκιβιάδης μετέωρον ἐποίησεν ἐπίσημον φοινικοῦν ἀπὸ τῆς ἰδίας νεώς, ὅπερ ἦν σύσσημον αὐτοῖς διατεταγμένον, οἱ μὲν Λακεδαιμόνιοι καταπλαγέντες ἐτράπησαν, οἱ δʼ Ἀθηναῖοι τῷ προτερήματι μετεωρισθέντες μετὰ σπουδῆς ἐπεδίωκον τὰς ὑποφευγούσας. καὶ δέκα μὲν νεῶν εὐθὺς ἐκυρίευσαν, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα χειμῶνος ἐπιγενομένου καὶ πνευμάτων μεγάλων πολλὰ περὶ τὸν διωγμὸν αὐτοὺς ἐμποδίζεσθαι συνέβαινε· διὰ γὰρ τὸ μέγεθος τῶν κυμάτων τὰ μὲν σκάφη τοῖς οἴαξιν ἠπείθει, τὰς δʼ ἐμβολὰς ἀπράκτους συνέβαινε γίνεσθαι, τῶν τυπτομένων νεῶν ὑποχωρουσῶν. τέλος δʼ οἱ μὲν Λακεδαιμόνιοι πρὸς τὴν γῆν κατενεχθέντες ἔφυγον πρὸς τὸ πεζὸν τοῦ Φαρναβάζου στρατόπεδον, οἱ δʼ Ἀθηναῖοι τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἐπεχείρησαν ἀποσπᾶν τὰς ναῦς ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς καὶ παραβόλως διεκινδύνευον, ὑπὸ δὲ τοῦ Περσικοῦ στρατεύματος ἀνακοπέντες ἀπέπλευσαν εἰς Σηστόν. ὁ γὰρ Φαρνάβαζος βουλόμενος τοῖς Λακεδαιμονίοις ὑπὲρ ὧν ἐνεκάλουν ἀπολογεῖσθαι, βιαιότερον διηγωνίζετο πρὸς τοὺς Ἀθηναίους· ἅμα δὲ καὶ περὶ τῶν εἰς Φοινίκην ἀποσταλεισῶν νεῶν τριακοσίων ἐδίδαξεν, ὡς τοῦτο ἔπραξε πυνθανόμενος τόν τε τῶν Ἀράβων βασιλέα καὶ τὸν τῶν Αἰγυπτίων ἐπιβουλεύειν τοῖς περὶ Φοινίκην πράγμασιν.
Nor did the men whose position was on the decks fail to maintain the zeal which brooked no failure; but some, while still at a considerable distance from the enemy, kept up a stream of arrows and soon the space was full of missiles, while others, each time that they drew near, would hurl their javelins, some doing their best to strike the defending marines and others the enemy pilots themselves; and whenever the ships would come close together, they would not only fight with their spears but at the moment of contact would also leap over on the enemy's triremes and carry on the contest with their swords. And since at each reverse the victors would raise the war-cry and the others would rush to aid with shouting, a mingled din prevailed over the entire area of the battle. For a long time the battle was equally balanced because of the very high rivalry with which both sides were inspired; but later on Alcibiades unexpectedly appeared from Samos with twenty ships, sailing by mere chance to the Hellespont. While these ships were still at a distance, each side, hoping that reinforcement had come for themselves, was elated in its hopes and fought on with far greater courage; but when the fleet was now near and for the Lacedemonians no signal was to be seen, but for the Athenians Alcibiades ran up a purple flag from his own ship, which was the signal they had agreed upon, the Lacedemonians in dismay turned in flight and the Athenians, elated by the advantage they now possessed, pressed eagerly upon the ships trying to escape. And they speedily captured ten ships, but then a storm and violent winds arose, as a result of which they were greatly hindered in the pursuit; for because of the high waves the boats would not respond to the tillers, and the attempts at ramming proved fruitless, since the ships were receding when struck. In the end the Lacedemonians, gaining the shore, fled to the land army of Pharnabazus, and the Athenians at first essayed to drag the ships from the shore and put up a desperate battle, but when they were checked in their attempts by the Persian forces they sailed off to Sestus. For Pharnabazus, wishing to build a defence for himself before the Lacedemonians against the charges they were bringing against him, put up all the more vigorous fight against the Athenians; while at the same time, with respect to his sending the three hundred triremes to Phoenicia, he explained to them that he had done so on receiving information that the king of the Arabians and the king of the Egyptians had designs upon Phoenicia.
§ 13.47
τῆς δὲ ναυμαχίας τοιοῦτον τὸ τέλος λαβούσης Ἀθηναῖοι τότε μὲν εἰς Σηστὸν ἀπέπλευσαν ἤδη νυκτὸς οὔσης, ἅμα δʼ ἡμέρᾳ τά τε ναυάγια συνήγαγον καὶ πρὸς τῷ προτέρῳ τροπαίῳ πάλιν ἕτερον ἔστησαν. Μίνδαρος δὲ νυκτὸς περὶ πρώτην φυλακὴν εἰς Ἄβυδον ἀναχθεὶς τάς τε πεπονηκυίας ναῦς ἐπεσκεύαζε καὶ πρὸς Λακεδαιμονίους διεπέμψατο περὶ βοηθείας πεζῆς τε καὶ ναυτικῆς· διενοεῖτο γὰρ ἐν ὅσῳ τὰ κατὰ τὸν στόλον ἕτοιμα ἐγίνετο, πεζῇ μετὰ Φαρναβάζου τὰς συμμαχούσας κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν πόλεις Ἀθηναίοις πολιορκήσειν. Χαλκιδεῖς δὲ καὶ σχεδὸν οἱ λοιποὶ πάντες οἱ τὴν Εὔβοιαν κατοικοῦντες ἀφεστηκότες ἦσαν Ἀθηναίων, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο περιδεεῖς ἐγίνοντο, μήποτε νῆσον οἰκοῦντες ἐκπολιορκηθῶσιν ὑπʼ Ἀθηναίων θαλασσοκρατούντων· ἠξίουν οὖν Βοιωτοὺς κοινῇ χῶσαι τὸν Εὔριπον, ὥστε συνάψαι τὴν Εὔβοιαν τῇ Βοιωτίᾳ. συγκαταθεμένων δὲ τῶν Βοιωτῶν διὰ τὸ κἀκείνοις συμφέρειν τὴν Εὔβοιαν εἶναι τοῖς μὲν ἄλλοις νῆσον, ἑαυτοῖς δʼ ἤπειρον· διόπερ αἱ πόλεις ἅπασαι πρὸς τὴν διάχωσιν ἐπερρώσθησαν καὶ πρὸς ἀλλήλας ἡμιλλῶντο· οὐ γὰρ μόνον τοῖς πολίταις ἐξιέναι πανδημεὶ προσέταξαν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῖς παροικοῦσι ξένοις, ὥστε διὰ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν τοῖς ἔργοις προσιόντων τὴν πρόθεσιν ταχέως λαβεῖν συντέλειαν. τῆς μὲν οὖν Εὐβοίας κατεσκευάσθη τὸ χῶμα κατὰ τὴν Χαλκίδα, τῆς δὲ Βοιωτίας πλησίον Αὐλίδος· ἐνταῦθα γὰρ ὁ μεταξὺ τόπος ἦν στενώτατος. συνέβαινε μὲν οὖν καὶ πρότερον ἀεὶ κατʼ ἐκεῖνον τὸν τόπον εἶναι ῥοῦν καὶ πυκνὰς ποιεῖσθαι τροπὰς τὴν θάλατταν, τότε δὲ πολὺ μᾶλλον ἦν ἐπιτείνοντα τὰ κατὰ τὸν ῥοῦν, ὡς ἂν εἰς στενὸν ἄγαν συγκεκλεισμένης τῆς θαλάττης· ὁ γὰρ διέκπλους ἀπελείφθη μιᾷ νηί. ᾠκοδόμησαν δὲ καὶ πύργους ὑψηλοὺς ἐπʼ ἀμφοτέρων τῶν ἄκρων, καὶ ξυλίνας τοῖς διάρροις ἐπέστησαν γεφύρας. Θηραμένης δʼ ὑπʼ Ἀθηναίων ἀποσταλεὶς μετὰ νεῶν τριάκοντα τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἐπεχείρησε κωλύειν τοὺς ἐπὶ τῶν ἔργων, πολλοῦ δὲ πλήθους στρατιωτῶν συμπαρόντος τοῖς κατασκευάζουσι τὰ χώματα ταύτης μὲν τῆς ἐπιβολῆς ἀπέστη, τὸν δὲ πλοῦν ἐπὶ τῶν νήσων ἐποιήσατο. βουλόμενος δὲ τούς τε πολίτας καὶ συμμάχους ἀναπαῦσαι τῶν εἰσφορῶν, τήν τε τῶν πολεμίων χώραν ἐπόρθησε καὶ πολλὰς ὠφελείας ἤθροισεν. ἐπῄει δὲ καὶ τὰς συμμαχίδας πόλεις, καὶ τοὺς ἐν αὐταῖς νεωτερίζοντας εἰσεπράττετο χρήματα. καταπλεύσας δʼ εἰς Πάρον καὶ καταλαβὼν ὀλιγαρχίαν ἐν τῇ πόλει, τῷ μὲν δήμῳ τὴν ἐλευθερίαν ἀποκατέστησε, παρὰ δὲ τῶν ἁψαμένων τῆς ὀλιγαρχίας χρημάτων πλῆθος εἰσεπράξατο.
When the sea-battle had ended as we have related, the Athenians sailed off at the time to Sestus, whence it was already night, but when day came they collected their ships which had been damaged and set up another trophy near the former one. And Mindarus about the first watch of the night set out to Abydus, where he repaired his ships that had been damaged and sent word to the Lacedemonians for reinforcements of both soldiers and ships; for he had in mind, while the fleet was being made ready, to lay siege with the army together with Pharnabazus to the cities in Asia which were allied with the Athenians. The people of Chalcis and almost all the rest of the inhabitants of Euboea had revolted from the Athenians and were therefore highly apprehensive lest, living as they did on an island, they should be forced to surrender to the Athenians, who were masters of the sea; and they therefore asked the Boeotians to join with them in building a causeway across the Euripus and thereby joining Euboea to Boeotia. The Boeotians agreed to this, since it was to their special advantage that Euboea should be an island to everybody else but a part of the mainland to themselves. Consequently all the cities threw themselves vigorously into the building of the causeway and vied with one another; for orders were issued not only to the citizens to report en masse but to the foreigners dwelling among them as well, so that by reason of the great number that came forward to the work the proposed task was speedily completed. On Euboea the causeway was built at Chalcis, and in Boeotia in the neighbourhood of Aulis, since at that place the channel was narrowest. Now it so happened that in former times also there had always been a current in that place and that the sea frequently reversed its course, and at the time in question the force of the current was far greater because the sea had been confined into a very narrow channel; for passage was left for only a single ship. High towers were also built on both ends and wooden bridges were thrown over the channel.a Theramenes, who had been dispatched by the Athenians with thirty ships, at first attempted to stop the workers, but since a strong body of soldiers was at the side of the builders of the causeway, he abandoned this design and directed his voyage toward the islands. And since he wished to relieve both the citizens and the allies from their contributions, he laid waste the territory of the enemy and collected great quantities of booty. He visited also the allied cities and exacted money of such inhabitants as were advocating a change in government. And when he put in at Paros and found an oligarchy in the city, he restored their freedom to the people and exacted a great sum of money of the men who had participated in the oligarchy.
§ 13.48
συνέβη δὲ περὶ τοῦτον τὸν χρόνον ἐν τῇ Κορκύρᾳ γενέσθαι μεγάλην στάσιν καὶ σφαγήν, ἣν διʼ ἑτέρας μὲν αἰτίας λέγεται γενέσθαι, μάλιστα δὲ διὰ τὴν ὑπάρχουσαν αὐτοῖς πρὸς ἀλλήλους ἔχθραν. ἐν οὐδεμιᾷ γάρ ποτε πόλει τοιοῦτοι πολιτῶν φόνοι συνετελέσθησαν οὐδὲ μείζων ἔρις καὶ φιλονεικία πρὸς ὄλεθρον ἀνήκουσα. δοκοῦσι γὰρ οἱ μὲν ἀναιρεθέντες ὑπʼ ἀλλήλων πρὸ ταύτης τῆς στάσεως γεγονέναι περὶ χιλίους καὶ πεντακοσίους, καὶ πάντες οὗτοι πρωτεύοντες τῶν πολιτῶν. τούτων δʼ ἐπιγεγενημένων τῶν ἀτυχημάτων ἑτέραν αὐτοῖς συμφορὰν ἐπέστησεν ἡ τύχη, τὴν πρὸς ἀλλήλους πάλιν αὐξήσασα διαφοράν. οἱ μὲν γὰρ προέχοντες τοῖς ἀξιώμασι τῶν Κορκυραίων ὀρεγόμενοι τῆς ὀλιγαρχίας ἐφρόνουν τὰ Λακεδαιμονίων, ὁ δὲ δημοτικὸς ὄχλος ἔσπευδε τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις συμμαχεῖν. καὶ γὰρ διαφερούσας τὰς σπουδὰς εἶχον οἱ περὶ τῆς ἡγεμονίας διαγωνιζόμενοι δῆμοι· Λακεδαιμόνιοι γὰρ τοὺς πρωτεύοντας ἐν ταῖς συμμαχίσι πόλεσιν ἐποίουν ἐπὶ τῆς διοικήσεως τῶν κοινῶν, Ἀθηναῖοι δὲ δημοκρατίας ἐν ταῖς πόλεσι καθίστανον. οἱ δʼ οὖν Κορκυραῖοι θεωροῦντες τοὺς δυνατωτάτους τῶν πολιτῶν ὄντας πρὸς τῷ τὴν πόλιν ἐγχειρίζειν Λακεδαιμονίοις, μετεπέμψαντο παρʼ Ἀθηναίων δύναμιν τὴν παραφυλάξουσαν τὴν πόλιν. Κόνων δʼ ὁ στρατηγὸς τῶν Ἀθηναίων πλεύσας εἰς Κόρκυραν, ἑξακοσίους μὲν τῶν ἐκ Ναυπάκτου Μεσσηνίων κατέλιπεν ἐν τῇ πόλει, αὐτὸς δὲ μετὰ τῶν νεῶν παρέπλευσε, καὶ καθωρμίσθη πρὸς τῷ τῆς Ἥρας τεμένει. οἱ δὲ ἑξακόσιοι μετὰ τῶν δημοτικῶν ὁρμήσαντες ἐπὶ τοὺς τὰ Λακεδαιμονίων φρονοῦντας ἐξαίφνης ἀγορᾶς πληθούσης οὓς μὲν συνελάμβανον, οὓς δʼ ἐφόνευον, πλείους δὲ τῶν χιλίων ἐφυγάδευσαν· ἐποιήσαντο δὲ τοὺς μὲν δούλους ἐλευθέρους, τοὺς δὲ ξένους πολίτας, εὐλαβούμενοι τό τε πλῆθος καὶ τὴν δύναμιν τῶν φυγάδων. οἱ μὲν οὖν ἐκπεσόντες ἐκ τῆς πατρίδος εἰς τὴν καταντίον ἤπειρον ἔφυγον· μετὰ δέ τινας ἡμέρας τῶν ἐν τῇ πόλει τινες φρονοῦντες τὰ τῶν φυγάδων κατελάβοντο τὴν ἀγοράν, καὶ μεταπεμψάμενοι τοὺς φυγάδας περὶ τῶν ὅλων διηγωνίζοντο. τέλος δὲ νυκτὸς καταλαβούσης εἰς ὁμολογίας ἦλθον πρὸς ἀλλήλους, καὶ τῆς φιλονεικίας παυσάμενοι κοινῶς ᾤκουν τὴν πατρίδα. ἡ μὲν οὖν ἐν Κορκύρᾳ σφαγὴ τοιοῦτον ἔσχε τὸ τέλος.
It happened at this time that a serious civil strife occurred in Corcyra accompanied by massacre, which is said to have been due to various causes but most of all to the mutual hatred that existed between its own inhabitants. For never in any state have there taken place such murderings of citizens nor have there been greater quarrelling and contentiousness which culminated in bloodshed. For it would seem that the number of those who were slain by their fellow citizens before the present civil strife was some fifteen hundred, and all of these were leading citizens. And although these misfortunes had already befallen them, Fortune brought upon them a second disaster, in that she increased once more the disaffection which prevailed among them. For the foremost Corcyraeans, who desired the oligarchy, favoured the cause of the Lacedemonians, whereas the masses which favoured the democracy were eager to ally themselves with the Athenians. For the peoples who were struggling for leadership in Greece were devoted to opposing principles; the Lacedemonians, for example, made it their policy to put the control of the government in the hands of the leading citizens of their allied states, whereas the Athenians regularly established democracies in their cities. Accordingly the Corcyraeans, seeing that their most influential citizens were planning to hand the city over to the Lacedemonians, sent to the Athenians for an army to protect their city. And Conon, the general of the Athenians, sailed to Corcyra and left in the city six hundred men from the Messenians in Naupactus, while he himself sailed on with his ships and cast anchor off the sacred precinct of Hera. And the six hundred, setting out unexpectedly with the partisans of the people's party at the time of full market against the supporters of the Lacedemonians, arrested some of them, slew others, and drove more than a thousand from the state; they also set the slaves free and gave citizenship to the foreigners living among them as a precaution against the great number and influence of the exiles. Now the men who had been exiled from their country fled to the opposite mainland; but a few days later some people still in the city who favoured the cause of the exiles seized the market-place, called back the exiles, and essayed a final decision of the struggle. When night brought an end to the fighting they came to an agreement with each other, stopped their quarrelling, and resumed living together as one people on their fatherland. Such, then, was the end of the massacre in Corcyra.
§ 13.49
Ἀρχέλαος δʼ ὁ τῶν Μακεδόνων βασιλεύς, τῶν Πυδναίων ἀπειθούντων, πολλῇ δυνάμει τὴν πόλιν περιεστρατοπέδευσεν. παρεβοήθησε δʼ αὐτῷ καὶ Θηραμένης ἔχων στόλον· ὃς χρονιζούσης τῆς πολιορκίας ἀπέπλευσεν εἰς Θρᾴκην πρὸς Θρασύβουλον τὸν ἀφηγούμενον τοῦ στόλου παντός. ὁ μὲν οὖν Ἀρχέλαος φιλοτιμότερον πολιορκήσας τὴν Πύδναν καὶ κρατήσας μετῴκισεν αὐτὴν ἀπὸ θαλάττης ὡς εἴκοσι στάδια. ὁ δὲ Μίνδαρος, ἤδη τοῦ χειμῶνος λήγοντος, συνήγαγε τὰς πανταχόθεν τριήρεις· ἔκ τε γὰρ τῆς Πελοποννήσου πολλαὶ παρεγενήθησαν καὶ παρὰ τῶν ἄλλων συμμάχων ὁμοίως. οἱ δʼ ἐν Σηστῷ τῶν Ἀθηναίων στρατηγοί, πυνθανόμενοι τὸ μέγεθος τοῦ συναγομένου τοῖς πολεμίοις στόλου, περιδεεῖς ἦσαν, μήποτε πάσαις ταῖς τριήρεσιν ἐπιπλεύσαντες οἱ πολέμιοι κυριεύσωσι τῶν νεῶν. ὅθεν αὐτοὶ μὲν καθελκύσαντες τὰς οὔσας ἐν Σηστῷ ναῦς περιέπλευσαν τὴν Χερρόνησον καὶ καθωρμίσθησαν εἰς Καρδίαν· εἰς δὲ Θρᾴκην πρὸς Θρασύβουλον καὶ Θηραμένην ἔπεμψαν τριήρεις, παρακαλοῦντες μετὰ τοῦ στόλου τὴν ταχίστην ἥκειν· μετεπέμψαντο δὲ καὶ τὸν Ἀλκιβιάδην ἐκ Λέσβου μεθʼ ὧν εἶχε νεῶν, καὶ συνήχθη πᾶς ὁ στόλος εἰς ἕνα τόπον, σπευδόντων τῶν στρατηγῶν περὶ τῶν ὅλων διακινδυνεῦσαι. Μίνδαρος δʼ ὁ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων ναύαρχος πλεύσας εἰς Κύζικον πᾶσαν τὴν δύναμιν ἐξεβίβασε καὶ τὴν πόλιν περιεστρατοπέδευσεν. παρεγενήθη δὲ καὶ Φαρνάβαζος μετὰ πολλῆς στρατιᾶς, μεθʼ οὗ πολιορκήσας Μίνδαρος εἷλε τὴν Κύζικον κατὰ κράτος. οἱ δὲ τῶν Ἀθηναίων στρατηγοὶ κρίναντες ἐπὶ Κύζικον πλεῖν, ἀνήχθησαν μετὰ πασῶν τῶν νεῶν καὶ τὴν Χερρόνησον περιέπλεον. καὶ πρῶτον μὲν εἰς Ἐλεοῦντα παρεγένοντο· μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ἐφιλοτιμήθησαν νυκτὸς τὴν τῶν Ἀβυδηνῶν πόλιν παραπλεῦσαι πρὸς τὸ μὴ κατανοηθῆναι τὸ πλῆθος τῶν νεῶν ὑπὸ τῶν πολεμίων. ἐπεὶ δʼ ἦλθον εἰς Προικόννησον, τὴν μὲν νύκτα κατηυλίσθησαν ἐν ταύτῃ, τῇ δʼ ὑστεραίᾳ τοὺς μὲν ἐπιβεβηκότας στρατιώτας διεβίβασαν εἰς τὴν τῶν Κυζικηνῶν χώραν, καὶ τῷ στρατηγοῦντι τούτων Χαιρέᾳ προσέταξαν ἄγειν τὸ στρατόπεδον ἐπὶ τὴν πόλιν.
Archelaus, the king of the Macedonians, since the people of Pydna would not obey his orders, laid siege to the city with a great army. He received reinforcement also from Theramenes, who brought a fleet; but he, as the siege dragged of, sailed to Thrace, where he joined Thrasybulus who was commander of the entire fleet. Archelaus now pressed the siege of Pydna more vigorously, and after reducing it he removed the city some twenty stades distant from the sea. Mindarus, when winter had come to an end, collected his triremes from all quarters, for many had come to him from the Peloponnesus as well as from the other allies. But the Athenian generals in Sestus, when they learned of the great size of the fleet that was being assembled by the enemy, were greatly alarmed lest they, attacking with all their triremes, should capture their ships. Consequently the generals on their side hauled down the ships they had at Sestus, sailed around the Chersonesus, and moored them at Cardia; and they sent triremes to Thrasybulus and Theramenes in Thrace, urging them to come with their fleet as soon as possible, and they summoned Alcibiades also from Lesbos with what ships he had. And the whole fleet was gathered into one place, the generals being eager for a decisive battle. Mindarus, the Lacedemonian general, sailing to Cyzicus, disembarked his whole force and invested the city. Pharnabazus was also there with a large army and with his aid Mindarus laid siege to Cyzicus and took it by storm. The Athenian generals, having decided to sail to Cyzicus, put out to sea with all their ships and sailed around the Chersonesus. They arrived first at Eleus; and after that they made a special point of sailing past the city of Abydus at night, in order that the great number of their vessels might not be known to the enemy. And when they had arrived at Proconnesus, they spent the night there and the next day they disembarked the soldiers who had shipped with them on the territory of the Cyzicenes and gave orders to Chaereas, their commander, to lead the army against the city.
§ 13.50
αὐτοὶ δʼ εἰς τρία μέρη διείλαντο τὸ ναυτικόν, καὶ τοῦ μὲν ἦρχεν Ἀλκιβιάδης, τοῦ δὲ Θηραμένης, τοῦ δὲ τρίτου Θρασύβουλος. Ἀλκιβιάδης μὲν οὖν μετὰ τοῦ καθʼ αὑτὸν μέρους πολὺ προέπλευσε τῶν ἄλλων, βουλόμενος προκαλέσασθαι τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους εἰς ναυμαχίαν· Θηραμένης δὲ καὶ Θρασύβουλος ἐφιλοτέχνουν εἰς τὸ κυκλώσασθαι καὶ τῆς εἰς τὴν πόλιν ἐπανόδου τοὺς ἐκπλεύσαντας εἶρξαι. Μίνδαρος δὲ τὰς μὲν Ἀλκιβιάδου ναῦς εἴκοσι μόνας ὁρῶν προσφερομένας, τὰς δʼ ἄλλας ἀγνοῶν, κατεφρόνησε, καὶ ναυσὶν ὀγδοήκοντα θρασέως ἐκ τῆς πόλεως τὸν ἐπίπλουν ἐποιήσατο. ὡς δὲ πλησίον ἐγένετο τῶν περὶ τὸν Ἀλκιβιάδην, οἱ μὲν Ἀθηναῖοι, καθάπερ ἦν αὐτοῖς παρηγγελμένον, προσεποιοῦντο φεύγειν, οἱ δὲ Πελοποννήσιοι περιχαρεῖς ὄντες ἠκολούθουν κατὰ σπουδὴν ὡς νικῶντες. ὁ δὲ Ἀλκιβιάδης ἐπειδὴ τῆς πόλεως αὐτοὺς ἀπέσπασε πορρωτέρω, τὸ σύσσημον ἦρεν· οὗ γενηθέντος αἱ μετʼ Ἀλκιβιάδου τριήρεις ἐξαίφνης πρὸς ἕνα καιρὸν ἐπέστρεψαν ἀντίπρῳροι τοῖς πολεμίοις, Θηραμένης δὲ καὶ Θρασύβουλος ἔπλεον ἐπὶ τὴν πόλιν καὶ τὸν ἀπόπλουν τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων ὑπετέμοντο. οἱ δὲ μετὰ τοῦ Μινδάρου καθορῶντες ἤδη τὸ πλῆθος τῶν πολεμίων νεῶν, καὶ μαθόντες ἑαυτοὺς κατεστρατηγημένους, περίφοβοι καθειστήκεισαν. τέλος δὲ τῶν Ἀθηναίων πανταχόθεν ἐπιφαινομένων καὶ τῆς εἰς τὴν πόλιν ἐφόδου τοὺς Πελοποννησίους ἀποκλεισάντων, ὁ Μίνδαρος ἠναγκάσθη καταφυγεῖν τῆς χώρας πρὸς τοὺς καλουμένους Κλήρους, ὅπου καὶ Φαρνάβαζος εἶχε τὴν δύναμιν. Ἀλκιβιάδης δὲ κατὰ σπουδὴν διώκων ἃς μὲν κατέδυεν, ἃς δὲ κατατιτρώσκων ὑποχειρίους ἐλάμβανε, τὰς δὲ πλείστας πρὸς αὐτῇ τῇ γῇ καθωρμισμένας καταλαβὼν ἐπέβαλλε σιδηρᾶς χεῖρας, καὶ ταύταις ἀποσπᾶν ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς ἐπειρᾶτο. παραβοηθούντων δὲ τῶν πεζῶν ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς τοῖς Πελοποννησίοις πολὺς ἐγένετο φόνος, ὡς ἂν τῶν μὲν Ἀθηναίων διὰ τὸ προτέρημα θρασύτερον ἢ συμφορώτερον ἀγωνιζομένων, τῶν δὲ Πελοποννησίων πολὺ τοῖς πλήθεσιν ὑπεραγόντων· καὶ γὰρ τὸ τοῦ Φαρναβάζου στρατόπεδον παρεβοήθει τοῖς Λακεδαιμονίοις, καὶ τὴν μάχην ἐκ τῆς γῆς ποιούμενον τὴν στάσιν εἶχεν ἀσφαλεστέραν. Θρασύβουλος δὲ θεωρῶν τοὺς πεζοὺς τοῖς πολεμίοις βοηθοῦντας, καὶ τοὺς λοιποὺς τῶν ἐπιβατῶν ἀπεβίβασεν εἰς τὴν γῆν, σπεύδων βοηθῆσαι τοῖς περὶ τὸν Ἀλκιβιάδην· τῷ δὲ Θηραμένει παρεκελεύσατο τοῖς περὶ Χαιρέαν πεζοῖς συνάψαντα τὴν ταχίστην ἥκειν, ὅπως πεζῇ διαγωνίσωνται.
As for the generals themselves, they divided the naval force into three squadrons, Alcibiades commanding one, Theramenes another, and Thrasybulus the third. Now Alcibiades with his own squadron advanced far ahead of the others, wishing to draw the Lacedemonians out to a battle, whereas Theramenes and Thrasybulus planned the manoeuvre of encircling the enemy and, if they sailed out, of blocking their retreat to the city. Mindarus, seeing only the ships of Alcibiades approaching, twenty in number, and having no knowledge of the others, held them in contempt and boldly set sail from the city with eighty ships to attack him. Then, when he had come near the ships of Alcibiades, the Athenians, as they had been commanded, pretended to flee, and the Peloponnesians, in high spirits, pursued after them vigorously in the belief they were winning the victory. But after Alcibiades had drawn them a considerable distance from the city, he raised the signal; and when this was given, the ships of Alcibiades suddenly at the same time turned about to face the enemy, and Theramenes and Thrasybulus sailed toward the city and cut off the retreat of the Lacedemonians. The troops of Mindarus, when they now observed multitude of the enemy ships and realized that they had been outgeneralled, were filled with great fear. And finally, since the Athenians were appearing from every direction and had shut off the Peloponnesians from their line of approach to the city, Mindarus was forced to seek safety on land near Cleri, as it is called, where also Pharnabazus had his army. Alcibiades, pursuing him vigorously, sank some ships, damaged and captured others, and the largest number, which were moored on the land itself, he seized and threw grappling-irons on, endeavouring by this means to drag them from the land. And when the infantry of Pharnabazus rushed to the aid of the Lacedemonians, there was great bloodshed, inasmuch as the Athenians because of the advantage they had won were fighting with greater boldness than expediency, while the Peloponnesians were in number far superior; for the army of Pharnabazus was supporting the Lacedemonians and fighting as it was from the land the position it had was more secure. But when Thrasybulus saw the infantry aiding the enemy, he put the rest of his marines on the land with intent to assist Alcibiades and his men, and he also urged Theramenes to join up with the land troops of Chaereas and come with all sped, in order to wage a battle on land.
§ 13.51
τῶν δὲ Ἀθηναίων περὶ ταῦτα γινομένων Μίνδαρος ὁ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων ἀφηγούμενος αὐτὸς μὲν πρὸς Ἀλκιβιάδην ὑπὲρ τῶν ἀφελκομένων νεῶν διηγωνίζετο, Κλέαρχον δὲ τὸν Σπαρτιάτην μετὰ μέρους τῶν Πελοποννησίων ἀπέστειλε πρὸς τοὺς περὶ Θρασύβουλον· συναπέστειλε δʼ αὐτῷ καὶ τοὺς παρὰ Φαρναβάζῳ στρατευομένους μισθοφόρους. ὁ δὲ Θρασύβουλος μετὰ τῶν ἐπιβατῶν καὶ τῶν τοξοτῶν τὸ μὲν πρῶτον εὐρώστως ὑπέστη τοὺς πολεμίους, καὶ πολλοὺς μὲν ἀνεῖλεν, οὐκ ὀλίγους δὲ καὶ τῶν ἰδίων ἑώρα πίπτοντας· τῶν δὲ μετὰ τοῦ Φαρναβάζου μισθοφόρων κυκλούντων τοὺς Ἀθηναίους καὶ τῷ πλήθει πανταχόθεν περιχεομένων, ἐπεφάνη Θηραμένης τούς τε ἰδίους καὶ τοὺς μετὰ Χαιρέου ἄγων πεζούς. οἱ δὲ μετὰ τοῦ Θρασυβούλου καταπεπονημένοι καὶ τὰς τῆς σωτηρίας ἐλπίδας ἀπεγνωκότες πάλιν ἐξαίφνης ταῖς ψυχαῖς διηγείροντο τηλικαύτης βοηθείας παραγεγενημένης. ἐπὶ πολὺν δὲ χρόνον καρτερᾶς μάχης γενομένης, τὸ μὲν πρῶτον οἱ τοῦ Φαρναβάζου μισθοφόροι φεύγειν ἤρξαντο, καὶ τὸ συνεχὲς ἀεὶ τῆς τάξεως παρερρήγνυτο· τέλος δὲ οἱ Πελοποννήσιοι μετὰ Κλεάρχου καταλειφθέντες καὶ πολλὰ δράσαντες καὶ παθόντες ἐξεώσθησαν. τούτων δὲ καταπεπονημένων οἱ περὶ τὸν Θηραμένην ὥρμησαν τοῖς μετʼ Ἀλκιβιάδου κινδυνεύσασι βοηθῆσαι. συνδραμουσῶν δὲ τῶν δυνάμεων εἰς ἕνα τόπον, ὁ μὲν Μίνδαρος οὐ κατεπλάγη τὴν ἔφοδον τῶν περὶ Θηραμένην, ἀλλὰ διελόμενος τοὺς Πελοποννησίους τοῖς μὲν ἡμίσεσιν ἀπήντα τοῖς ἐπιοῦσι, τοὺς δʼ ἡμίσεις αὐτὸς ἔχων, καὶ δεόμενος ἑκάστου μὴ καταισχῦναι τὸ τῆς Σπάρτης ἀξίωμα, καὶ ταῦτα πεζομαχοῦντας, ἀντετάχθησαν τοῖς περὶ τὸν Ἀλκιβιάδην. περὶ δὲ τῶν νεῶν ἡρωικὴν συστησάμενος μάχην, καὶ πρὸ πάντων αὐτὸς κινδυνεύων, πολλοὺς μὲν ἀνεῖλε τῶν ἀντιτεταγμένων, τὸ δὲ τελευταῖον ἀξίως τῆς πατρίδος ἀγωνισάμενος ὑπὸ τῶν περὶ τὸν Ἀλκιβιάδην ἀνῃρέθη. τούτου δὲ πεπτωκότος οἵ τε Πελοποννήσιοι καὶ πάντες οἱ σύμμαχοι συνέδραμον καὶ καταπλαγέντες εἰς φυγὴν ὥρμησαν. οἱ δʼ Ἀθηναῖοι μέχρι μέν τινος ἐπεδίωξαν τοὺς πολεμίους, πυνθανόμενοι δὲ τὸν Φαρνάβαζον μετὰ πολλῆς ἵππου κατὰ σπουδὴν ἐπειγόμενον, ἀνέκαμψαν ἐπὶ τὰς ναῦς, καὶ τὴν μὲν πόλιν παρέλαβον, δύο δὲ τρόπαια κατέστησαν ἀφʼ ἑκατέρας νίκης, τὸ μὲν τῆς ναυμαχίας ἐν τῇ νήσῳ τῇ Πολυδώρου καλουμένῃ, τὸ δὲ τῆς πεζομαχίας οὗ τὴν τροπὴν ἐποιήσαντο τὴν πρώτην. οἱ μὲν οὖν ἐν τῇ πόλει Πελοποννήσιοι καὶ πάντες οἱ διαφυγόντες ἐκ τῆς μάχης ἔφυγον ἐπὶ τὸ τοῦ Φαρναβάζου στρατόπεδον· οἱ δὲ τῶν Ἀθηναίων στρατηγοὶ τῶν τε νεῶν ἁπασῶν ἐγκρατεῖς ἐγενήθησαν καὶ πολλοὺς μὲν αἰχμαλώτους, ἀναρίθμητον δὲ πλῆθος λαφύρων ἤθροισαν, ὡς ἂν δύο δυνάμεις ἅμα τηλικαύτας νενικηκότες.
While the Athenians were busying themselves with these matters, Mindarus, the Lacedemonian commander, was himself fighting with Alcibiades for the ships that were being dragged off, and he dispatched Clearchus the Spartan with a part of the Peloponnesians against the troops with Thrasybulus; and with him he also sent the mercenaries in the army of Pharnabazus. Thrasybulus with the marines and archers at first stoutly withstood the enemy, and though he slew many of them, he also saw not a few his own men falling; but when the mercenaries of Pharnabazus were surrounding the Athenians and were crowding about them in great numbers from every direction, Theramenes appeared, leading both his own troops and the infantry with Chaereas. Although the troops of Thrasybulus were exhausted and had given up hope of rescue, their spirits were suddenly revived again when reinforcements so strong were at hand. An obstinate battle which lasted a long time ensued; but at first the mercenaries of Pharnabazus began to withdraw and the continuity of their battle line was broken; and finally the Peloponnesians who had been left behind with Clearchus, after having both inflicted and suffered much punishment, were expelled. Now that the Peloponnesians had been defeated, the troops of Theramenes rushed to give aid to the soldiers who had been fighting under Alcibiades. Although the forces had rapidly assembled at one point, Mindarus was not dismayed at the attack of Theramenes, but, after dividing the Peloponnesians, with half of them he met the advancing enemy, while with the other half which he himself commanded, first calling upon each soldier not to disgrace the fair name of Sparta, and that too in a fight on land, he formed a line against the troops of Alcibiades. He put up a heroic battle about the ships, fighting in person before all his troops, but though he slew many of the opponents, in the end he was killed by the troops of Alcibiades as he battled nobly for his fatherland. When he had fallen, both the Peloponnesians and all allies banded together and broke into terror-stricken flight. The Athenians pursued the enemy for a distance, but when they learned that Pharnabazus was hurrying up at full speed with a strong force of cavalry, they returned to the ships, and after they had taken the city they set up two trophies for the two victories, one for the sea-battle at the island of Polydorus, as it is called, and one for the land-battle where they forced the first flight of the enemy. Now the Peloponnesians in the city and all the fugitives from the battle fled to the camp of Pharnabazus; and the Athenian generals not only captured all the ships but they also took many prisoners and an immeasurable quantity of booty, since they had won the victory at the same time over two armaments of such size.
§ 13.52
ἀπενεχθείσης δὲ τῆς νίκης εἰς Ἀθήνας, ὁ μὲν δῆμος ἐκ τῶν προτέρων συμφορῶν ἀνελπίστους εὐτυχίας ὁρῶν τῇ πόλει προσγεγενημένας μετέωρος ἦν ἐπὶ τοῖς εὐημερήμασι, καὶ τοῖς μὲν θεοῖς πανδημεὶ θυσίας καὶ πανηγύρεις ἐποιήσατο, εἰς δὲ τὸν πόλεμον ἐπέλεξε χιλίους τῶν ὁπλιτῶν τοὺς κρατίστους, ἱππεῖς δʼ ἑκατόν, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις τριάκοντα τριήρεις ἀπέστειλε τοῖς περὶ τὸν Ἀλκιβιάδην, ὅπως τὰς περὶ Λακεδαιμονίους πόλεις ἀδεῶς πορθῶσι κρατοῦντες τῆς θαλάττης. οἱ δὲ Λακεδαιμόνιοι ὡς ἤκουσαν τὴν περὶ Κύζικον αὐτοῖς γενομένην συμφοράν, πρέσβεις ἐξέπεμψαν εἰς Ἀθήνας ὑπὲρ εἰρήνης, ὧν ἦν ἀρχιπρεσβευτὴς Ἔνδιος. ἐξουσίας δʼ αὐτῷ δοθείσης παρελθὼν συντόμως καὶ λακωνικῶς διελέχθη· διόπερ ἔκρινα μὴ παραλιπεῖν τοὺς ῥηθέντας λόγους. βουλόμεθα πρὸς ὑμᾶς ἄγειν εἰρήνην, ἄνδρες Ἀθηναῖοι, καὶ τὰς μὲν πόλεις ἔχειν ἃς ἑκάτεροι κρατοῦμεν, τὰ δὲ φρούρια τὰ παρʼ ἀλλήλοις καταλῦσαι, τῶν δʼ αἰχμαλώτων λυτροῦντες ἀνθʼ ἑνὸς Ἀθηναίου λαβεῖν ἕνα Λάκωνα. οὐ γὰρ ἀγνοοῦμεν τὸν πόλεμον ἀμφοτέροις μὲν βλαβερόν, πολὺ δὲ μᾶλλον ὑμῖν. παραπέμψαντες δὲ τὸν ἐμὸν λόγον ἐκ τῶν πραγμάτων μάθετε. ἡμεῖς μὲν ἅπασαν τὴν Πελοπόννησον γεωργοῦμεν, ὑμεῖς δὲ βραχὺ μέρος τῆς Ἀττικῆς· καὶ Λάκωσι μὲν ὁ πόλεμος πολλοὺς συνέθηκε συμμάχους, Ἀθηναίων δὲ τοσούτους ἀφείλατο ὅσους τοῖς πολεμίοις ἔδωκε· καὶ ἡμῖν μὲν ὁ πλουσιώτατος τῶν κατὰ τὴν οἰκουμένην βασιλέων χορηγός ἐστι τοῦ πολέμου, ὑμῖν δὲ οἱ πενιχρότατοι τῶν κατὰ τὴν οἰκουμένην· διόπερ οἱ μὲν ἡμέτεροι κατὰ τὸ μέγεθος τῶν μισθῶν προθύμως στρατεύονται, οἱ δὲ ὑμέτεροι, τὰς εἰσφορὰς ἀπὸ τῶν ἰδίων διδόντες οὐσιῶν, ἅμα καὶ τὰς κακοπαθείας φεύγουσι καὶ τὰς δαπάνας. ἔπειθʼ ἡμεῖς μὲν κατὰ θάλατταν πολεμοῦντες σκάφεσι πολιτικοῖς μόνον κινδυνεύομεν, ὑμεῖς δὲ πολίτας ἔχετε τοὺς πλείστους ἐν ταῖς ναυσίν. τὸ δὲ μέγιστον, ἡμεῖς μὲν κἂν κρατηθῶμεν ἐν τοῖς κατὰ θάλατταν πράγμασι, τήν γε κατὰ γῆν ἡγεμονίαν ὁμολογουμένως ἔχομεν· οὐδὲ γὰρ οἶδε τὸ φυγεῖν πεζὸς Σπαρτιάτης· ὑμεῖς δὲ τῆς θαλάττης ἐκβληθέντες οὐχ ὑπὲρ ἡγεμονίας πεζῆς, ἀλλʼ ὑπὲρ ἀναστάσεως ἀγωνιᾶτε. καταλείπεταί μοι διδάξαι, πῶς τοσαῦτα καὶ τηλικαῦτα πλεονεκτοῦντες ἐν τῷ πολεμεῖν εἰρήνην ἄγειν παρακαλοῦμεν. ἐγὼ δʼ ὠφελεῖσθαι μὲν ἐκ τοῦ πολεμεῖν οὔ φημι τὴν Σπάρτην, βλάπτεσθαι μέντοι γε ἔλαττον τῶν Ἀθηναίων. ἀποπλήκτων δὲ εὐδοκεῖν συνατυχοῦντας τοῖς πολεμίοις, παρὸν μηδʼ ὅλως ἀτυχίας λαβεῖν πεῖραν· οὐ τοσαύτην γὰρ ἡ τῶν πολεμίων ἀπώλεια φέρει χαράν, ἡλίκην ἔχει λύπην ἡ τῶν ἰδίων ταλαιπωρία. οὐ μόνον δὲ τούτων ἕνεκα διαλυθῆναι σπεύδομεν,ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ πάτριον ἔθος τηροῦντες· θεωροῦντες γὰρ τὰς ἐν τῷ πολέμῳ φιλονεικίας πολλὰ καὶ δεινὰ πάθη ποιούσας, οἰόμεθα δεῖν φανερὸν ποιῆσαι πᾶσι καὶ θεοῖς καὶ ἀνθρώποις, ὅτι τούτων ἥκιστα πάντων ἐσμὲν αἴτιοι.
When the news of the victory came to Athens, the people, contemplating the unexpected good fortune which had come to the city after their former disasters, were elated over their successes and the populace in a body offered sacrifices to the gods and gathered in festive assemblies; and for the war they selected from their most stalwart men one thousand hoplites and one hundred horsemen, and in addition to these they dispatched thirty triremes to Alcibiades, in order that, now that they dominated the sea, they might lay waste with impunity the cities which favoured the Lacedemonians. The Lacedemonians, on the other hand, when they heard of the disaster they had suffered at Cyzicus, sent ambassadors to Athens to treat for peace, the chief of whom was Endius. When permission was given him, he took the floor and spoke succinctly and in the terse fashion of Laconians, and for this reason I have decided not to omit the speech as he delivered it. "We want to be at peace with you, men of Athens, and that each party should keep the cities which it now possesses and cease to maintain its garrisons in the other's territory, and that our captives be ransomed, one Laconian for one Athenian. We are not unmindful that the war is hurtful to both of us, but far more to you. Never mind the words I use but learn from the facts. As for us, we till the entire Peloponnesus, but you only a small part of Attica. While to the Laconians the war has brought many allies, from the Athenians it has taken away as many as it has given to their enemies. For us the richest king to be found in the inhabited world defrays the cost of the war, for you the most poverty-stricken folk of the inhabited world. Consequently our troops, in view of their generous pay, make war with spirit, while your soldiers, because they pay the war-taxes out of their own pockets, shrink from both the hardships and the costs of war. In the second place, when we make war at sea, we risk losing only hulls among resources of the state, while you have on board crews most of whom are citizens. And, what is the most important, even if we meet defeat in our actions at sea, we still maintain without dispute the mastery on land — for a Spartan foot-soldier does not even know what flight means — but you, if you are driven from the sea, contend, not for the supremacy on land, but for survival. "It remains for me to show you why, despite so many and great advantages we possess in the fighting, we urge you to make peace. I do not affirm that Sparta is profiting from the war, but only that she is suffering less than the Athenians. Only fools find satisfaction in sharing the misfortunes of their enemies, when it is in their power to make no trial whatsoever of misfortune. For the destruction of the enemy brings no joy that can balance the gift caused by the distress of one's own people. And not for these reasons alone are we eager to come to terms, but because we hold fast to the custom of our fathers; for when we consider the many terrible sufferings which are caused by the rivalries which accompany war, we believe we should make it clear in the sight of all gods and men that we are least responsible of all men for such things."
§ 13.53
τοιαῦτα δὲ καὶ τούτοις παραπλήσια τοῦ Λάκωνος διαλεχθέντος, οἱ μὲν ἐπιεικέστατοι τῶν Ἀθηναίων ἔρρεπον ταῖς γνώμαις πρὸς τὴν εἰρήνην, οἱ δὲ πολεμοποιεῖν εἰωθότες καὶ τὰς δημοσίας ταραχὰς ἰδίας ποιούμενοι προσόδους ᾑροῦντο τὸν πόλεμον. συνεπελάβετο δὲ τῆς γνώμης ταύτης καὶ Κλεοφῶν, μέγιστος ὢν τότε δημαγωγός. ὃς παρελθὼν καὶ πολλὰ πρὸς τὴν ὑπόθεσιν οἰκείως διαλεχθεὶς ἐμετεώρισε τὸν δῆμον, τὸ μέγεθος τῶν εὐημερημάτων προφερόμενος, ὥσπερ τῆς τύχης οὐκ ἐναλλὰξ εἰθισμένης βραβεύειν τὰ κατὰ πόλεμον προτερήματα. Ἀθηναῖοι μὲν οὖν κακῶς βουλευσάμενοι μετενόησαν ὅτε οὐδὲν ὄφελος, καὶ λόγοις πρὸς ἀρέσκειαν εἰρημένοις ἐξαπατηθέντες οὕτως ἔπταισαν τοῖς ὅλοις, ὥστε μηκέτι δύνασθαι πώποτε αὑτοὺς γνησίως ἀναλαβεῖν. ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν ὕστερον πραχθέντα τεύξεται λόγου κατὰ τοὺς ἰδίους χρόνους· τότε δὲ οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι τοῖς τε εὐημερήμασιν ἐπαρθέντες καὶ πολλὰς καὶ μεγάλας ἐλπίδας ἔχοντες ἐν τῷ τὸν Ἀλκιβιάδην ἀφηγεῖσθαι τῶν ἰδίων δυνάμεων, ταχέως ᾤοντο τὴν ἡγεμονίαν ἀνακτήσασθαι.
After the Laconian had made these and similar representations, the sentiments of the most reasonable men among the Athenians inclined toward the peace, but those who made it their practice to foment war and to turn disturbances in the state to their personal profit chose the war. A supporter of this sentiment was, among others, Cleophon, who was the most influential leader of the populace at this time. He, taking the floor and arguing at length on the question in his own fashion, buoyed up the people, citing the magnitude of their military successes, as if indeed it is not the practice of Fortune to adjudge the advantages in war now to one side and now to the other. Consequently the Athenians, after taking unwise counsel, repented of it when it could do them no good, and, deceived as they were by words spoken in flattery, they made a blunder so vital that never again at any time were they able truly to recover. But these events, which took place at a later date, will be described in connection with the period of time to which they belong; at the time we are discussing the Athenians, being elated by their successes and entertaining many great hopes because they had Alcibiades as the leader of their armed forces, thought that they had quickly won back their supremacy.
§ 13.54
τῶν δὲ κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν ἐνιαυτὸν πράξεων τέλος ἐχουσῶν Ἀθήνησι μὲν παρέλαβε τὴν ἀρχὴν Διοκλῆς, ἐν Ῥώμῃ δὲ τὴν ὕπατον εἶχον ἀρχὴν Κόιντος Φάβιος καὶ Γάιος Φούριος. περὶ δὲ τούτους τοὺς καιροὺς Ἀννίβας ὁ τῶν Καρχηδονίων στρατηγὸς τούς τʼ ἐξ Ἰβηρίας ξενολογηθέντας καὶ τοὺς ἐκ τῆς Λιβύης καταγραφέντας στρατιώτας συνήγαγε, καὶ μακρὰς μὲν ἑξήκοντα ναῦς ἐπλήρωσε, τὰ δὲ φορτηγὰ πλοῖα περὶ χίλια πεντακόσια παρεσκευάσατο. ἐν τούτοις τήν τε δύναμιν διεκόμιζε καὶ τὰ πρὸς τὰς πολιορκίας μηχανήματα καὶ βέλη καὶ τὴν ἄλλην παρασκευὴν ἅπασαν. περαιωθεὶς δὲ μετὰ τοῦ στόλου τὸ Λιβυκὸν πέλαγος, κατέπλευσε τῆς Σικελίας ἐπὶ τὴν ἄκραν τὴν ἀπέναντι τῆς Λιβύης, καλουμένην Λιλύβαιον· καθʼ ὃν δὴ χρόνον τῶν Σελινουντίων τινὲς ἱππέων περὶ τοὺς τόπους διατρίβοντες, καὶ τὸ μέγεθος τοῦ καταπλέοντος στόλου θεασάμενοι, ταχέως τοῖς πολίταις τὴν τῶν πολεμίων παρουσίαν ἐδήλωσαν. καὶ οἱ μὲν Σελινούντιοι τοὺς βιβλιαφόρους παραχρῆμα πρὸς τοὺς Συρακοσίους ἀπέστειλαν, δεόμενοι βοηθεῖν· ὁ δʼ Ἀννίβας ἐκβιβάσας τὴν δύναμιν κατεστρατοπέδευσεν, ἀρξάμενος ἀπὸ τοῦ φρέατος, ὃ κατʼ ἐκείνους μὲν τοὺς καιροὺς ὠνομάζετο Λιλύβαιον, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα πολλοῖς ἔτεσι πρὸς αὐτῷ κτισθείσης πόλεως αἴτιον ἐγενήθη τῇ πόλει τῆς ἐπωνυμίας. εἶχε δὲ τοὺς σύμπαντας Ἀννίβας, ὡς μὲν Ἔφορος ἀνέγραψε, πεζῶν μυριάδας εἴκοσι, ἱππεῖς δὲ τετρακισχιλίους, ὡς δὲ Τίμαιός φησιν, οὐ πολλῷ πλείους τῶν δέκα μυριάδων. τὰς μὲν οὖν ναῦς ἐν τῷ περὶ Μοτύην κόλπῳ πάσας ἐνεώλκησε, βουλόμενος ἔννοιαν διδόναι τοῖς Συρακοσίοις, ὡς οὐ πάρεστιν ἐκείνοις πολεμήσων οὐδὲ ναυτικῇ δυνάμει παραπλεύσων ἐπὶ Συρακούσας· παραλαβὼν δὲ τοὺς παρʼ Αἰγεσταίων στρατιώτας καὶ τοὺς παρὰ τῶν ἄλλων συμμάχων ἀνέζευξεν ἀπὸ τοῦ Λιλυβαίου τὴν πορείαν ποιούμενος ἐπὶ Σελινοῦντος. ὡς δʼ ἐπὶ τὸν Μάζαρον ποταμὸν παρεγενήθη, τὸ μὲν παρʼ αὐτὸν ἐμπόριον κείμενον εἷλεν ἐξ ἐφόδου, πρὸς δὲ τὴν πόλιν παραγενηθεὶς εἰς δύο μέρη διεῖλε τὴν δύναμιν· περιστρατοπεδεύσας δʼ αὐτὴν καὶ τὰς μηχανὰς ἐπιστήσας μετὰ πάσης σπουδῆς τὰς προσβολὰς ἐποιεῖτο. ἓξ μὲν γὰρ πύργους ὑπερβάλλοντας τοῖς μεγέθεσιν ἐπέστησε, τοὺς ἴσους δὲ κριοὺς κατασεσιδηρωμένους προσήρεισε τοῖς τείχεσι· χωρὶς δὲ τούτων τοῖς τοξόταις καὶ σφενδονήταις πολλοῖς χρώμενος ἀνέστελλε τοὺς ἐπὶ τῶν ἐπάλξεων μαχομένους.
When the events of this year had come to an end, in Athens Diocles took over the chief office, and in Rome Quintus Fabius and Gaius Furius held the consulship. At this time Hannibal, the general of the Carthaginians, gathered together both the mercenaries he had collected from Iberia and the soldiers he had enrolled from Libya, manned sixty ships of war, and made ready some fifteen hundred transports. On these he loaded the troops, the siege-engines, missiles, and all the other accessories. After crossing with the fleet the Libyan Sea he came to land in Sicily on the promontory which lies opposite Libya and is called Lilybaeum; and at that very time some Selinuntian cavalry were tarrying in those regions, and having seen the great size of the fleet as it came to land, they speedily informed their fellow citizens of the presence of the enemy. The Selinuntians at once dispatched their letter-carriers to the Syracusans, asking their aid; 4 and Hannibal disembarked his troops and pitched a camp, beginning at the well which in those times had the name Lilybaeum, and many years after these events, when a city was founded near it, the presence of the well occasioned the giving of the name to the city. 5 Hannibal had all told, as Ephorus has recorded, two hundred thousand infantry and four thousand cavalry, but as Timaeus says, not many more than one hundred thousand men. His ships he hauled up on land in the bay about Motye, every one of them, wishing to give the Syracusans the impression that he had not come to make war upon them or to sail along the coast with his naval force against Syracuse. 6 And after adding to his army the soldiers supplied by the Aegestaeans and by the other allies he broke camp and made his way from Lilybaeum toward Selinus. And when he came to the Mazarus River, he took at the first assault the trading-station situated by it, and when he arrived before the city, he divided his army into two parts; then, after he had invested the city and put his siege-engines in position, he began the assaults with all speed. 7 He set up six towers of exceptional size and advanced an equal number of battering-rams plated with iron against the walls; furthermore, by employing his archers and slingers in great numbers he beat back the fighters on the battlements.
§ 13.55
οἱ δὲ Σελινούντιοι ἐκ πολλῶν ὄντες ἄπειροι πολιορκίας, καὶ Καρχηδονίοις ἐν τῷ πρὸς Γέλωνα πολέμῳ συνηγωνισμένοι μόνοι τῶν Σικελιωτῶν, οὔποτʼ ἤλπιζον ὑπὸ τῶν εὐεργετηθέντων εἰς τοιούτους φόβους συγκλεισθήσεσθαι. θεωροῦντες δὲ τὰ μεγέθη τῶν μηχανημάτων καὶ τὰ πλήθη τῶν πολεμίων, περιδεεῖς ἦσαν καὶ κατεπλήττοντο τὸ μέγεθος τοῦ περιεστῶτος κινδύνου. οὐ μὴν κατὰ πᾶν γε τὴν σωτηρίαν ἀπεγίνωσκον, ἀλλὰ προσδοκῶντες συντόμως ἥξειν τοὺς Συρακοσίους καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους συμμάχους, πανδημεὶ τοὺς πολεμίους ἀπὸ τῶν τειχῶν ἠμύνοντο. οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἀκμάζοντες ταῖς ἡλικίαις ἐν τοῖς ὅπλοις ὄντες διεκινδύνευον, οἱ δὲ πρεσβύτεροι περί τε τὰς παρασκευὰς ἦσαν καὶ περιπορευόμενοι τὸ τεῖχος ἐδέοντο τῶν νέων μὴ περιιδεῖν αὐτοὺς ὑποχειρίους τοῖς πολεμίοις γινομένους· γυναῖκες δὲ καὶ παῖδες τάς τε τροφὰς καὶ βέλη τοῖς ὑπὲρ τῆς πατρίδος ἀγωνιζομένοις παρεκόμιζον, τὴν αἰδῶ καὶ τὴν ἐπὶ τῆς εἰρήνης αἰσχύνην παρʼ οὐδὲν ἡγούμεναι. τοσαύτη κατάπληξις καθειστήκει, ὥστε τὸ μέγεθος τῆς περιστάσεως δεῖσθαι καὶ τῆς παρὰ τῶν γυναικῶν βοηθείας. ὁ δʼ Ἀννίβας ἐπαγγειλάμενος τοῖς στρατιώταις εἰς διαρπαγὴν δώσειν τὴν πόλιν, τάς τε μηχανὰς προσήρεισε καὶ τοῖς κρατίστοις στρατιώταις ἐκ διαδοχῆς προσέβαλλε τοῖς τείχεσιν. ὁμοῦ δὲ αἵ τε σάλπιγγες τὸ πολεμικὸν ἐσήμαινον καὶ πρὸς ἓν παράγγελμα πᾶν ἐπηλάλαξε τὸ τῶν Καρχηδονίων στράτευμα, καὶ τῇ βίᾳ μὲν τῶν κριῶν ἐσαλεύετο τὰ τείχη, τῷ δʼ ὕψει τῶν πύργων οἱ μαχόμενοι πολλοὺς τῶν Σελινουντίων ἀνῄρουν· ἐν πολυχρονίῳ γὰρ εἰρήνῃ γεγονότες καὶ τῶν τειχῶν οὐδʼ ἡντινοῦν ἐπιμέλειαν πεποιημένοι ῥᾳδίως κατεπονοῦντο, τῶν ξυλίνων πύργων πολὺ τοῖς ὕψεσιν ὑπερεχόντων. πεσόντος δὲ τοῦ τείχους οἱ μὲν Καμπανοὶ σπεύδοντες ἐπιφανές τι πρᾶξαι, ταχέως εἰσέπεσον εἰς τὴν πόλιν. τὸ μὲν οὖν πρῶτον κατεπλήξαντο τοὺς ὑποστάντας, ὀλίγους ὄντας· μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα πολλῶν συνδραμόντων ἐπὶ τὴν βοήθειαν ἐξεώσθησαν καὶ συχνοὺς ἑαυτῶν ἀπέβαλον· οὔπω γὰρ τελέως ἀνακεκαθαρμένου τοῦ τείχους βιασάμενοι καὶ κατὰ τὴν ἔφοδον εἰς δυσχωρίας ἐμπίπτοντες ῥᾳδίως ἠλαττοῦντο. νυκτὸς δʼ ἐπιγενομένης οἱ μὲν Καρχηδόνιοι τὴν πολιορκίαν ἔλυσαν.
The Selinuntians, who had for a long time been without experience in sieges and had been the only Sicilian Greeks to fight on the side of the Carthaginians in the war against Gelon, had never conceived that they would be brought to such a state of fear by the people whom they had befriended. But when they saw the great size of the engines of war and the hosts of the enemy, they were filled with dread and dismayed at the magnitude of the danger threatening them. However, they did not totally despair of their deliverance, but in the expectation that the Syracusans and their other allies would soon arrive, the whole populace fought off the enemy from the walls. Indeed all the men in the prime of life were armed and battled desperately, while the older men busied themselves with the supplies and, as they made the rounds of the wall, begged the young men not to allow them to fall under subjection to the enemy; and women and girls supplied the food and mills to the defenders of the fatherland, counting as naught the modesty and the sense of shame which they cherished in time of peace. Such consternation prevailed that the magnitude of the emergency called for even the aid of their women. Hannibal, who had promised the soldiers that he would give them the city to pillage, pushed the siege-engines forward and assaulted the walls in waves with his best soldiers. And all together the trumpets sounded the signal for attack and at one command the army of the Carthaginians as a body raised the warcry, and by the power of the rams the walls were shaken, while by reason of the height of the towers the fighters on them slew many of the Selinuntians. For in the long period of peace they had enjoyed they had given no attention whatever even to their walls and of so they were easily subdued, since the wooden towers far excelled the walls in height. When the wall fell the Campanians, being eager to accomplish some outstanding feat, broke swiftly into the city. Now at the outset they struck terror into their opponents, who were few in number; but after that, when many gathered to the aid of the defenders, they were thrust out with heavy losses among their own soldiers; for since they had forced a passage when the wall had not yet been completely cleared and in their attack had fallen foul of difficult terrain, they were easily overcome. At nightfall the Carthaginians broke off the assault.
§ 13.56
οἱ δὲ Σελινούντιοι τῶν ἱππέων τοὺς κρατίστους ἐπιλέξαντες διὰ νυκτὸς εὐθέως ἀπέστειλαν τοὺς μὲν εἰς Ἀκράγαντα, τοὺς δʼ εἰς Γέλαν καὶ Συρακούσας, δεόμενοι τὴν ταχίστην βοηθεῖν, ὡς οὐ δυναμένης πλείω χρόνον τῆς πόλεως ὑποστῆναι τῶν πολεμίων τὴν δύναμιν. οἱ μὲν οὖν Ἀκραγαντῖνοι καὶ Γελῷοι περιέμενον τοὺς Συρακοσίους, βουλόμενοι τὴν δύναμιν ἀθρόαν ἄγειν ἐπὶ τοὺς Καρχηδονίους· οἱ δὲ Συρακόσιοι πυθόμενοι τὰ περὶ τὴν πολιορκίαν, πρὸς μὲν Χαλκιδεῖς πόλεμον ἔχοντες διελύσαντο, τὰς δʼ ἀπὸ τῆς χώρας δυνάμεις ἀθροίζοντες, μεγάλην ποιούμενοι παρασκευὴν ἐχρόνιζον, νομίζοντες ἐκπολιορκηθήσεσθαι τὴν πόλιν, ἀλλʼ οὐκ ἀναρπασθήσεσθαι. Ἀννίβας δὲ τῆς νυκτὸς διελθούσης ἅμα ἡμέρᾳ πανταχόθεν μὲν προσέβαλε, τὸ δὲ κατὰ τὴν πόλιν πεπτωκὸς μέρος τοῦ τείχους καὶ τὸ συνάπτον τούτῳ κατέβαλε ταῖς μηχαναῖς. ἀνακαθάρας δὲ τὸν πεσόντα τόπον τοῦ τείχους, καὶ τοῖς κρατίστοις ἐκ διαδοχῆς ἀγωνιζόμενος, ἐπʼ ὀλίγον ἐξέωσε τοὺς Σελινουντίους· οὐ μήν γε βιάσασθαι δυνατὸν ἦν τοὺς ὑπὲρ τῶν ὅλων διαγωνιζομένους. πολλῶν δʼ ἀναιρουμένων παρʼ ἀμφοτέροις, τοῖς μὲν Καρχηδονίοις νεαλεῖς διεδέχοντο τὴν μάχην, τοῖς δὲ Σελινουντίοις οὐκ ἦν τὸ βοηθῆσον. τῆς δὲ πολιορκίας ἐφʼ ἡμέρας ἐννέα γενομένης μετὰ φιλοτιμίας ἀνυπερβλήτου, πολλὰ συνέβη τοὺς Καρχηδονίους κακοπαθεῖν καὶ δρᾶσαι δεινά. κατὰ δὲ τὸ πεπτωκὸς τεῖχος ἀναβάντων τῶν Ἰβήρων, αἱ μὲν ἐπὶ τῶν οἰκιῶν οὖσαι γυναῖκες ἀνεβόησαν, οἱ δὲ Σελινούντιοι νομίζοντες ἁλίσκεσθαι τὴν πόλιν κατεπλάγησαν, καὶ τὰ τείχη λιπόντες κατὰ τὰς εἰσβολὰς τῶν στενωπῶν ἀθρόοι συνίσταντο, καὶ τὰς μὲν ὁδοὺς διοικοδομεῖν ἐνεχείρησαν, τοὺς δὲ πολεμίους ἐπὶ πολὺν χρόνον ἠμύνοντο. βιαζομένων δὲ τῶν Καρχηδονίων, τὰ πλήθη τῶν γυναικῶν καὶ παίδων ἔφευγον ἐπὶ τὰς οἰκίας, καὶ τούς τε λίθους καὶ τὰς κεραμίδας ἔβαλλον ἐπὶ τοὺς πολεμίους. ἐπὶ πολὺν δὲ χρόνον οἱ Καρχηδόνιοι κακῶς ἀπήλλαττον, οὔτε περιστῆναι δυνάμενοι τοὺς ἐν τοῖς στενωποῖς διὰ τοὺς τῶν οἰκιῶν τοίχους, οὔτʼ ἐπʼ ἴσης διαγωνίσασθαι διὰ τοὺς ἀπὸ τῶν στεγῶν βάλλοντας. οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ τοῦ κινδύνου μέχρι δείλης παρεκτείνοντος, τοῖς μὲν ἀπὸ τῶν οἰκιῶν ἀγωνιζομένοις ἐνέλιπε τὰ βέλη, τοῖς δὲ Καρχηδονίοις οἱ διαδεχόμενοι τοὺς κακοπαθοῦντας ἀκέραιοι διηγωνίζοντο. τέλος δὲ τῆς μὲν ἔνδον δυνάμεως ἀφαίρεσιν λαμβανούσης, τῶν δὲ πολεμίων ἀεὶ πλειόνων εἰς τὴν πόλιν ἐμπιπτόντων, ἐξεώσθησαν ἐκ τῶν στενωπῶν οἱ Σελινούντιοι.
The Selinuntians, picking out their best horsemen, dispatched them at once by night, some to Acragas, and others to Gela and Syracuse, asking them to come to their aid with all speed, since their city could not withstand the strength of the enemy for any great time. Now the Acragantini and Geloans waited for the Syracusans, since they wished to lead their troops as one body against the Carthaginians; and the Syracusans, on learning the facts about the siege, first stopped the war they were engaged in with the Chalcidians and then spent some time in gathering the troops from the countryside and making great preparations, thinking that the city might be forced by siege to surrender but would not be taken by storm. Hannibal, when the night had passed, at daybreak launched assaults from every side, and the part of the city's wall which had already fallen and the portion of the wall next the breach he broke down with the siege-engines. He then cleared the area of the fallen part of the wall and, attacking in relays of his best troops, gradually forced out the Selinuntians; it was not possible, however, to overpower by force men who were fighting for their very existence. Both sides suffered heavy losses, but for the Carthaginians fresh troops kept taking over the fighting, while for the Selinuntians there was no reserve to come to their support. The siege continued for nine days with unsurpassed stubbornness, and in the event the Carthaginians suffered and inflicted many terrible injuries. When the Iberians mounted where the wall had fallen, the women who were on the house-tops raised a great cry, whereupon the Selinuntians, thinking that the city was being taken, were struck with terror, and leaving the walls they gathered in bands at the entrances of the narrow alleys, endeavoured to barricade the streets, and held off the enemy for a long time. And as the Carthaginians pressed the attack, the multitudes of women and children took refuge on the housetops whence they threw both stones and tiles on the enemy. For a long time the Carthaginians came off baldy, being unable either, because of the walls of the houses, to surround the men in the alleys or, because of those hurling at them from the roofs, to fight it out on equal terms. However, as the struggle went on until the afternoon, the missiles of the fighters from the houses were exhausted, whereas the troops of the Carthaginians, which constantly relieved those which were suffering heavily, continued the fighting in fresh condition. Finally, since the troops within the walls were being steadily reduced in number and the enemy entered the city in ever-increasing strength, the Selinuntians were forced out of the alleys.
§ 13.57
διὸ καὶ τῆς πόλεως καταλαμβανομένης παρὰ μὲν τοῖς Ἕλλησιν ἦν ὀδυρμοὺς καὶ δάκρυα θεωρεῖν, παρὰ δὲ τοῖς βαρβάροις ἀλαλαγμὸς ἦν καὶ βοὴ σύμμικτος· οἱ μὲν γὰρ τὸ μέγεθος τῆς περιεστώσης συμφορᾶς ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς ἔχοντες περιδεεῖς ἦσαν, οἱ δὲ τοῖς εὐημερήμασιν ἐπηρμένοι σφάττειν παρεκελεύοντο. εἰς δὲ τὴν ἀγορὰν συνδραμόντων τῶν Σελινουντίων, οὗτοι μὲν ἐνταῦθα μαχόμενοι πάντες ἀνῃρέθησαν· οἱ δὲ βάρβαροι σκεδασθέντες καθʼ ὅλην τὴν πόλιν τὴν μὲν ἐν ταῖς οἰκίαις εὐδαιμονίαν συνήρπασαν, τῶν δὲ ἐγκαταληφθέντων σωμάτων ἃ μὲν ταῖς οἰκίαις συγκατέκαιον, τῶν δʼ εἰς τὰς ὁδοὺς βιαζομένων οὐ διακρίνοντες οὔτε φύσιν οὔθʼ ἡλικίαν, ἀλλʼ ὁμοίως παῖδας νηπίους, γυναῖκας, πρεσβύτας ἐφόνευον, οὐδεμίαν συμπάθειαν λαμβάνοντες. ἠκρωτηρίαζον δὲ καὶ τοὺς νεκροὺς κατὰ τὸ πάτριον ἔθος, καὶ τινὲς μὲν χεῖρας ἀθρόας περιέφερον τοῖς σώμασι, τινὲς δὲ κεφαλὰς ἐπὶ τῶν γαίσων καὶ τῶν σαυνίων ἀναπείροντες ἔφερον. ὅσας δὲ τῶν γυναικῶν μετὰ τέκνων εἰς τοὺς ναοὺς συμπεφευγυίας κατελάμβανον, παρεκελεύοντο μὴ φονεύειν, καὶ ταύταις μόναις πίστιν ἔδοσαν. τοῦτο δʼ ἔπραξαν οὐ τοὺς ἀκληροῦντας ἐλεοῦντες, ἀλλʼ εὐλαβούμενοι, μήποτε τὴν σωτηρίαν αἱ γυναῖκες ἀπογνοῦσαι κατακαύσωσι τοὺς ναούς, καὶ μὴ δυνηθῶσι συλῆσαι τὴν ἐν αὐτοῖς καθιερωμένην πολυτέλειαν. τοσοῦτο γὰρ ὠμότητι διέφερον οἱ βάρβαροι τῶν ἄλλων, ὥστε τῶν λοιπῶν ἕνεκα τοῦ μηδὲν ἀσεβεῖν εἰς τὸ δαιμόνιον διασωζόντων τοὺς εἰς τὰ ἱερὰ καταπεφευγότας Καρχηδόνιοι τοὐναντίον ἀπέσχοντο τῶν πολεμίων, ὅπως τοὺς τῶν θεῶν ναοὺς συλήσειαν. ἤδη δὲ νυκτὸς οὔσης ἡ μὲν πόλις διήρπαστο, τῶν δʼ οἰκιῶν αἱ μὲν κατεκαύθησαν, αἱ δὲ κατεσκάφησαν, πᾶς δʼ ἦν τόπος αἵματος καὶ νεκρῶν πλήρης. ἑξακισχίλια μὲν πρὸς τοῖς μυρίοις εὑρέθη σώματα πεπτωκότα, καὶ χωρὶς αἰχμάλωτα συνήχθη πλείω τῶν πεντακισχιλίων·
And so, while the city was being taken, there was to be observed among the Greeks lamentation and weeping, and among the barbarians there was cheering and commingled outcries; for the former, as their eyes looked upon the great disaster which surrounded them, were filled with ter, while the latter, elated by their successes, urged on their comrades to slaughter. The Selinuntians gathered into the market-place and all who reached it died fighting there; and the barbarians, scattering throughout the entire city, plundered whatever of value was to be found in the dwellings, while of the inhabitants they found in them some they burned together with their homes and when others struggled into the streets, without distinction of sex or age but whether infant children or women or old men, they put them to the sword, showing no sign of compassion. They mutilated even the dead according to the practice of their people, some carrying bunches of hands which they had spitted upon their javelins and spears. Such women as they found to have taken refuge together with their children in the temples they called upon their comrades not to kill, and to these alone did they give assurance of their lives. This they did, however, not out of pity for the unfortunate people, but because they feared lest the women, despairing of their lives, would burn down the temples, and thus they would not be able to make booty of the great wealth which was stored up in them as dedications. To such a degree did the barbarians surpass all other men in cruelty, that whereas the rest of mankind spare those who seek refuge in the sanctuaries from the desire not to commit sacrilege against the deity, the Carthaginians, on the contrary, would refrain from laying hands on the enemy in order that they might plunder the temples of their gods. By nightfall the city had been sacked, and of the dwellings some had been burned and others razed to the ground, while the whole area was filled with blood and corpses. Sixteen thousand was the sum of the inhabitants who were found to have fallen, not counting the more than five thousand who had been taken captive.
§ 13.58
θεωροῦντες δὲ τὴν τοῦ βίου μεταβολὴν οἱ τοῖς Καρχηδονίοις Ἕλληνες συμμαχοῦντες ἠλέουν τὴν τῶν ἀκληρούντων τύχην. αἱ μὲν γυναῖκες ἐστερημέναι τῆς συνήθους τρυφῆς ἐν πολεμίων ὕβρει διενυκτέρευον, ὑπομένουσαι δεινὰς ταλαιπωρίας· ὧν ἔνιαι θυγατέρας ἐπιγάμους ὁρᾶν ἠναγκάζοντο πασχούσας οὐκ οἰκεῖα τῆς ἡλικίας. ἡ γὰρ βαρβάρων ὠμότης οὔτε παίδων ἐλευθέρων οὔτε παρθένων φειδομένη δεινὰς τοῖς ἠτυχηκόσι παρίστα συμφοράς. διόπερ αἱ γυναῖκες ἀναλογιζόμεναι μὲν τὴν ἐν τῇ Λιβύῃ μέλλουσαν αὑταῖς ἔσεσθαι δουλείαν, θεωροῦσαι δʼ αὑτὰς ἅμα τοῖς τέκνοις ἐν ἀτιμίᾳ καὶ προπηλακισμῷ δεσποτῶν ἀναγκαζομένας ὑπακούειν, τούτους δʼ ὁρῶσαι ἀσύνετον μὲν τὴν φωνήν, θηριώδη δὲ τὸν τρόπον ἔχοντας, τὰ μὲν ζῶντα τῶν τέκνων ἐπένθουν, καὶ καθʼ ἕκαστον τῶν εἰς ταῦτα παρανομημάτων οἱονεὶ νυγμοὺς εἰς τὴν ψυχὴν λαμβάνουσαι περιπαθεῖς ἐγίνοντο καὶ πολλὰ τὴν ἑαυτῶν τύχην κατωδύροντο· τοὺς δὲ πατέρας, ἔτι δὲ ἀδελφούς, οἳ διαγωνιζόμενοι περὶ τῆς πατρίδος ἐτετελευτήκεισαν, ἐμακάριζον, οὐθὲν ἀνάξιον ἑωρακότας τῆς ἰδίας ἀρετῆς. οἱ δὲ τὴν αἰχμαλωσίαν διαφυγόντες Σελινούντιοι, τὸν ἀριθμὸν ὄντες ἑξακόσιοι πρὸς τοῖς δισχιλίοις, διεσώθησαν εἰς Ἀκράγαντα καὶ πάντων ἔτυχον τῶν φιλανθρώπων· οἱ γὰρ Ἀκραγαντῖνοι σιτομετρήσαντες αὐτοῖς δημοσίᾳ διέδωκαν κατὰ τὰς οἰκίας, παρακελευσάμενοι τοῖς ἰδιώταις καὶ αὐτοῖς προθύμοις οὖσι χορηγεῖν τὰ πρὸς τὸ ζῆν ἅπαντα.
The Greeks serving as allies of the Carthaginians, as they contemplated the reversal in the lives of the hapless Selinuntians, felt pity at their lot. The women, deprived now of the pampered life they had enjoyed, spent the nights in the very midst of enemies' lasciviousness, enduring terrible indignities, and some were obliged to see their daughters of marriageable age suffering treatment improper for their years. For the savagery of the barbarians spared night free-born youths nor maidens, but exposed these unfortunates to dreadful disasters. Consequently, as the women reflected upon the slavery that would be their lot in Libya, as they saw themselves together with their children in a condition in which they possessed no legal rights and were subject to insolent treatment and thus compelled to obey masters, and as they noted that these masters used an unintelligible speech and had a bestial character, they mourned for their living children as dead, and receiving into their souls as a piercing wound each and every outrage committed against them, they became frantic with suffering and vehemently deplored their own fate; while as for their fathers and brothers who had died fighting for their country, them they counted blessed, since they had not witnessed any sight unworthy of their own valour. The Selinuntians who had escaped capture, twenty-six hundred in number, made their way in safety to Acragas and there received all possible kindness; for Acragantini, after portioning out food to them at public expense, divided them for billeting among their homes, urging the private citizens, who were indeed eager enough, to supply them with every necessity of life.
§ 13.59
ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις εἰς τὸν Ἀκράγαντα κατήντησαν στρατιῶται τρισχίλιοι παρὰ Συρακοσίων ἐπίλεκτοι, προαπεσταλμένοι κατὰ σπουδὴν ἐπὶ τὴν βοήθειαν. πυθόμενοι δὲ τὴν πόλιν ἡλωκυῖαν, πρέσβεις ἀπέστειλαν, παρακαλοῦντες τὸν Ἀννίβαν τούς τε αἰχμαλώτους ἀπολυτρῶσαι καὶ τῶν θεῶν τοὺς ναοὺς ἐᾶσαι. ὁ δʼ Ἀννίβας ἀπεκρίθη, τοὺς μὲν Σελινουντίους μὴ δυναμένους τηρεῖν τὴν ἐλευθερίαν πεῖραν τῆς δουλείας λήψεσθαι, τοὺς δὲ θεοὺς ἐκτὸς Σελινοῦντος οἴχεσθαι προσκόψαντας τοῖς ἐνοικοῦσιν. ὅμως δὲ τῶν πεφευγότων Ἐμπεδίωνα πρεσβευτὴν ἀποστειλάντων, τούτῳ μὲν ὁ Ἀννίβας τὰς οὐσίας ἀποκατέστησεν· ἀεὶ γὰρ τὰ Καρχηδονίων ἦν πεφρονηκὼς καὶ πρὸ τῆς πολιορκίας τοῖς πολίταις συμβεβουλευκὼς μὴ πολεμεῖν Καρχηδονίους· ἐχαρίσατο δʼ αὐτῷ τοὺς συγγενεῖς τοὺς ὄντας ἐν τοῖς αἰχμαλώτοις, καὶ τοῖς ἐκπεφευγόσι Σελινουντίοις ἔδωκεν ἐξουσίαν τὴν πόλιν οἰκεῖν καὶ τὴν χώραν γεωργεῖν τελοῦντας φόρον τοῖς Καρχηδονίοις. αὕτη μὲν οὖν ἡ πόλις ἀπὸ τῆς κτίσεως οἰκηθεῖσα χρόνον ἐτῶν διακοσίων τεσσαράκοντα δύο ἑάλω. ὁ δὲ Ἀννίβας περιελὼν τὰ τείχη τῆς Σελινοῦντος ἀνέζευξε μετὰ πάσης τῆς δυνάμεως ἐπὶ τὴν Ἱμέραν, ἐπιθυμῶν μάλιστα ταύτην κατασκάψαι τὴν πόλιν. διὰ ταύτην γὰρ ὁ μὲν πατὴρ αὐτοῦ φυγὰς ἦν, ὁ δὲ προπάτωρ Ἀμίλκας πρὸς ταύτῃ καταστρατηγηθεὶς ὑπὸ Γέλωνος ἀνῃρέθη, καὶ μετʼ αὐτοῦ πεντεκαίδεκα μυριάδες στρατιωτῶν ἀνῃρέθησαν, ἄλλαι δὲ οὐκ ἐλάττους τούτων ᾐχμαλωτίσθησαν. ὑπὲρ ὧν σπεύδων τιμωρίαν λαβεῖν Ἀννίβας τέτρασι μυριάσιν οὐκ ἄπωθεν τῆς πόλεως ἐπί τινων λόφων κατεστρατοπέδευσε, τῇ δʼ ἄλλῃ δυνάμει πάσῃ περιεστρατοπέδευσε τὴν πόλιν, προσγενομένων ἄλλων παρά τε Σικελῶν καὶ Σικανῶν δισμυρίων στρατιωτῶν. στήσας δὲ μηχανὰς τὸ τεῖχος κατὰ πλείονας τόπους ἐσάλευε, καὶ πολλῷ πλήθει διαγωνιζόμενος ἐκ διαδοχῆς κατεπόνει τοὺς πολιορκουμένους, ἅτε καὶ τῶν στρατιωτῶν ἐπηρμένων ταῖς εὐτυχίαις. ὑπώρυττε δὲ καὶ τὰ τείχη, καὶ ξύλοις ὑπήρειδεν, ὧν ἐμπρησθέντων ταχὺ πολὺ μέρος τοῦ τείχους ἔπεσεν. ἔνθα δὴ συνέβαινε καρτερωτάτην μάχην γίνεσθαι, τῶν μὲν βιαζομένων ἐντὸς τοῦ τείχους παρεισπεσεῖν, τῶν δὲ φοβουμένων μὴ ταὐτὰ πάθωσι τοῖς Σελινουντίοις. διὸ καὶ τὸν ἔσχατον ἀγῶνα τιθεμένων αὐτῶν ὑπὲρ τέκνων καὶ γονέων καὶ τῆς περιμαχήτου πᾶσι πατρίδος, ἐξεώσθησαν οἱ βάρβαροι, καὶ ταχὺ τὸ μέρος τοῦ τείχους ἀνῳκοδόμησαν. παρεγενήθησαν δʼ αὐτοῖς εἰς τὴν βοήθειαν οἵ τʼ ἐξ Ἀκράγαντος Συρακόσιοι καί τινες τῶν ἄλλων συμμάχων, οἱ πάντες εἰς τετρακισχιλίους, ὧν Διοκλῆς ὁ Συρακόσιος εἶχε τὴν ἡγεμονίαν.
While these events were taking place there arrived at Acragas three thousand picked soldiers from Syracusans, who had been dispatched in advance with all speed to bring aid. On learning of the fall of Selinus, they sent ambassadors to Hannibal urging him both to release the captives on the payment of ransom and to spare the temples of the gods. Hannibal replied that the Selinuntians, having proved incapable of defending their freedom, would now undergo the experience of slavery, and that the gods had departed from Selinus, having become offended with its inhabitants. However, since the fugitives had sent Empedion as an ambassador, to him Hannibal restored his possessions; for Empedion had always favoured the cause of the Carthaginians and before the siege had counselled the citizens not to go to war against the Carthaginians. Hannibal also graciously delivered up to him his kinsmen who were among the captives and to the Selinuntians who had escaped he gave permission to dwell in the city and to cultivate its fields upon payment of tribute to the Carthaginians. Now this city was taken after it had been inhabited from its founding for a period of two hundred and forty-two years. And Hannibal, after destroying the walls of Selinus, departed with his whole army to Himera, being especially bent on razing this city to the ground. For it was this city which had caused his father to be exiled and before its walls his grandfather Hamilcar had been out-generalled by Gelon and then met his end, and with him one hundred and fifty thousand soldiers had perished and no fewer than these had been taken captive. These were the reasons why Hannibal was eager to exact punishment, and with forty thousand men he pitched camp upon some hills not far from the city, while with the rest of his entire army he invested the city, twenty thousand additional soldiers from both Siceli and Sicani having joined him. Setting up his siege-engines he shook the walls at a number of points, and since he pressed the battle with waves of troops in great strength, he wore down the defenders, especially since his soldiers were elated by their successes. He also set about undermining the walls, which he then shored up with wooden supports, and when these were set on fire, a large section of the wall soon fell. Thereupon there ensued a most bitter battle, one side struggling to force its way inside the wall and the other fearing lest they should suffer the same fate as the Selinuntians. Consequently, since the defenders put up a struggle to the death on behalf of children and parents and the fatherland which all men fight to defend, the barbarians were thrust out and the section of the wall quickly restored. To their aid came also the Syracusans from Acragas and troops from their other allies, some four thousand in all, who were under the command of Diocles the Syracusan.
§ 13.60
τότε μὲν οὖν νυκτὸς ἀφελομένης τὴν ἐπὶ τὸ πλέον φιλονεικίαν ἔλυσαν τὴν πολιορκίαν· ἅμα δʼ ἡμέρᾳ τοῖς Ἱμεραίοις ἔδοξε μὴ περιορᾶν αὑτοὺς συγκεκλεισμένους ἀγεννῶς, καθάπερ τοὺς Σελινουντίους, ἐπὶ δὲ τῶν τειχῶν φύλακας κατέταττον, τοὺς δʼ ἄλλους στρατιώτας δὺν τοῖς παραγεγονόσι συμμάχοις ἐξήγαγον, ὄντας περὶ μυρίους. ἀπροσδοκήτως δὲ τοῖς πολεμίοις ἀπαντήσαντες εἰς ἔκπληξιν ἤγαγον τοὺς βαρβάρους, νομίζοντας ἥκειν τοὺς συμμάχους τοῖς πολιορκουμένοις. πολὺ δὲ ταῖς τόλμαις ὑπερέχοντες καὶ ταῖς εὐχειρίαις, καὶ τὸ μέγιστον, μιᾶς ἐλπίδος εἰς σωτηρίαν ὑποκειμένης, εἰ τῇ μάχῃ κρατήσειαν, εὐθὺ τοὺς πρώτους ὑποστάντας ἀνεῖλον. τοῦ δὲ πλήθους τῶν βαρβάρων συντρέχοντος ἐν ἀταξίᾳ πολλῇ διὰ τὸ μηδέποτʼ ἂν ἐλπίσαι τοὺς συγκεκλεισμένους τηλικαῦτα τολμήσειν, οὐ μετρίως ἠλαττοῦντο· εἰς ἕνα γὰρ τόπον ὀκτὼ μυριάδων συνδραμουσῶν ἀτάκτως συνέβαινε τοὺς βαρβάρους ἀλλήλοις ἐμπίπτειν καὶ πλείονα πάσχειν ὑφʼ ἑαυτῶν ἤπερ ὑπὸ τῶν πολεμίων. οἱ δʼ Ἱμεραῖοι θεατὰς ἔχοντες ἀπὸ τῶν τειχῶν γονεῖς καὶ παῖδας, ἔτι δὲ τοὺς οἰκείους ἅπαντας, ἀφειδῶς ἐχρῶντο τοῖς ἰδίοις σώμασιν εἰς τὴν κοινὴν σωτηρίαν. λαμπρῶς δʼ αὐτῶν ἀγωνιζομένων οἱ βάρβαροι τάς τε τόλμας καὶ τὸ παράδοξον καταπλαγέντες πρὸς φυγὴν ἐτράπησαν. τούτων δʼ οὐδενὶ κόσμῳ φευγόντων πρὸς τοὺς ἐπὶ τῶν λόφων στρατοπεδεύοντας, ἐπηκολούθουν ἀλλήλοις παρακελευόμενοι μηδένα ζωγρεῖν, καὶ πλείους ἀνεῖλον τῶν ἑξακισχιλίων, ὡς Τίμαιος, ὡς δʼ Ἔφορός φησι, δισμυρίων. ὁ δʼ Ἀννίβας ὁρῶν τοὺς ἰδίους καταπονουμένους, κατεβίβασε τοὺς ἐπὶ τῶν λόφων κατεστρατοπεδευκότας, καὶ παραβοηθήσας τοῖς ἐλαττουμένοις κατέλαβε τοὺς Ἱμεραίους ἐν οὐδεμιᾷ τάξει τὸν διωγμὸν ποιουμένους. γενομένης δὲ μάχης καρτερᾶς, τὸ μὲν πλῆθος τῶν Ἱμεραίων πρὸς φυγὴν ὥρμησε, τρισχίλιοι δʼ αὐτῶν ὑποστάντες τὴν τῶν Καρχηδονίων δύναμιν, καὶ πολλὰ δράσαντες, ἅπαντες ἀνῃρέθησαν.
At that juncture, when night brought an end to all further striving for victory, the Carthaginians abandoned the attack. And when day came, the Himeraeans decided not to allow themselves to be shut in and surrounded in this ignominious manner, as were the Selinuntians, and so they stationed guards on the walls and led out of the city the rest of their soldiers together with the allies who had arrived, some ten thousand men. And by engaging the enemy thus unexpectedly, they threw the barbarians into consternation, thinking as they did that allied forces had arrived to aid those who were penned in by the siege. And because the Himeraeans were far superior in deeds of daring and of skill, and especially because their single hope of safety lay in their prevailing in the battle, at the outset they slew the first opponents. And since the multitude of the barbarians thronged together in great disorder because they never would have expected that the besieged would dare such a move, they were under no little disadvantage; for when eighty thousand men streamed together without order into one place, the result was that the barbarians clashed with each other and suffered more heavily from themselves than from the enemy. The Himeraeans, having as spectators on the walls parents and children as well as all their relatives, spent their own lives unsparingly for the salvation of them all. And since they fought brilliantly, the barbarians, dismayed by their deeds of daring and unexpected resistance, turned in flight. They fled in disorder to the troops encamped on the hills, and the Himeraeans pressed hard upon them, crying out to each other to take no man captive, and they slew more than six thousand of them, according to Timaeus, or, as Ephorus states, more than twenty thousand. But Hannibal, seeing that his men were becoming exhausted, brought down his troops who were encamped on the hills, and reinforcing his beaten soldiers caught the Himeraeans in disorder as they were pushing the pursuit. In the fierce battle which ensued the main body of the Himeraeans turned in flight, but three thousand of them who tried to oppose the Carthaginian army, though they accomplished great deeds, were slain to a man.
§ 13.61
τῆς δὲ μάχης ταύτης ἤδη τέλος ἐχούσης κατέπλευσαν πρὸς τὴν Ἱμέραν πέντε πρὸς ταῖς εἴκοσι τριήρεις παρὰ τῶν Σικελιωτῶν, ἃς πρότερον μὲν ἀπεστάλκεισαν τοῖς Λακεδαιμονίοις ἐπὶ συμμαχίαν, τότε δʼ ἀνέστρεψαν ἀπὸ τῆς στρατείας. διεδόθη δὲ καὶ φήμη τις κατὰ τὴν πόλιν, ὅτι Συρακόσιοι μὲν πανδημεὶ μετὰ τῶν συμμάχων πορεύονται τοῖς Ἱμεραίοις βοηθεῖν, Ἀννίβας δὲ μέλλοι τὰς ἐν Μοτύῃ τριήρεις πληροῦν τῶν κρατίστων ἀνδρῶν καὶ περιπλεύσας ἐπὶ Συρακούσας ἔρημον τὴν πόλιν τῶν ἀμυνομένων καταλαβέσθαι. διόπερ Διοκλῆς ὁ τῶν ἐν Ἱμέρᾳ στρατηγὸς συνεβούλευσε τοῖς ναυάρχοις τὴν ταχίστην ἐκπλεῖν εἰς Συρακούσας, ἵνα μὴ συμβῇ κατὰ κράτος ἁλῶναι τὴν πόλιν, ἀπόντων ἐν τῇ μάχῃ τῶν κρατίστων ἀνδρῶν. διόπερ ἐφαίνετο συμφέρειν αὐτοῖς ἐκλιπεῖν τὴν πόλιν καὶ τοὺς μὲν ἡμίσεις εἰς τὰς τριήρεις ἐμβιβάσαι—ταύτας γὰρ κατακομιεῖν αὐτούς, μέχρι ἂν ἐκτὸς τῆς Ἱμεραίας γένωνται χώρας—, τοῖς δʼ ἡμίσεσι τηρεῖν, ἕως ἂν πάλιν αἱ τριήρεις ἐπιστρέψωσιν. τῶν δʼ Ἱμεραίων σχετλιαζόντων μὲν ἐπὶ τοῖς λεγομένοις, οὐκ ἐχόντων δὲ ὃ πράξειαν ἕτερον, αἱ μὲν τριήρεις νυκτὸς ἐπληροῦντο κατὰ σπουδὴν ἀναμὶξ γυναικῶν τε καὶ παίδων, ἔτι δὲ τῶν ἄλλων σωμάτων, ἐπὶ τούτων ἀποπλεόντων ὡς ἐπὶ Μεσσήνην· Διοκλῆς δὲ τοὺς ἰδίους στρατιώτας ἀναλαβὼν καὶ τοὺς πεσόντας ἐν τῇ μάχῃ καταλιπών, ὥρμησεν ἐπʼ οἴκου τὴν πορείαν ποιούμενος. πολλοὶ δὲ τῶν Ἱμεραίων μετὰ τέκνων καὶ γυναικῶν ἐξώρμησαν σὺν τοῖς περὶ τὸν Διοκλῆν, μὴ δυναμένων χωρῆσαι τῶν τριήρων τὸν ὄχλον.
This battle had already come to an end when there arrived at Himera from the Sicilian Greeks the twenty-five triremes which had previously been sent to aid the Lacedemonians but at this time had returned from the campaign. And a report also spread through the city that the Syracusans en masse together with their allies were on the march to the aid of the Himeraeans and that Hannibal was planning to man his triremes in Motye with his choicest troops and, sailing to Syracuse, seize that city while it was stripped of its defenders. Consequently Diocles, who commanded the forces in Himera, advised the admirals of the fleet to set sail with all speed for Syracuse, in order that it might not happen that the city should be taken by storm while its best troops were fighting a war abroad. They decided, therefore, that their best course was to abandon the city, and that they should embark half the populace on the triremes (for these would convey them until they had got beyond Himeraean territory) and with the other half keep guard until the triremes should return. Although the Himeraeans complained indignantly at this conclusion, since there was no other course they could take, the triremes were hastily loaded by night with a mixed throng of women and children and of other inhabitants also, who sailed on them as far as Messene; and Diocles, taking his own soldiers and leaving behind the bodies of those who had fallen in the fighting, set forth upon the journey home. And many Himeraeans with children and wives set out with Diocles, since the triremes could not carry the whole populace.
§ 13.62
οἱ δʼ ἐν τῇ πόλει καταλειφθέντες διενυκτέρευον μὲν ἐν τοῖς ὅπλοις ἐπὶ τῶν τειχῶν· ἅμα δʼ ἡμέρᾳ τῶν Καρχηδονίων περιστρατοπεδευσάντων τὴν πόλιν καὶ πυκνὰς προσβολὰς ποιουμένων, οἱ καταλειφθέντες τῶν Ἱμεραίων ἀφειδῶς ἠγωνίζοντο, προσδοκῶντες τὴν τῶν νεῶν παρουσίαν. ἐκείνην μὲν οὖν τὴν ἡμέραν διεκαρτέρησαν, τῇ δʼ ὑστεραίᾳ τῶν τριήρων ἐπιφαινομένων ἤδη συνέβαινε τὸ μὲν τεῖχος πεσεῖν ὑπὸ τῶν μηχανῶν, τοὺς δʼ Ἴβηρας ἀθρόους παρεισπεσεῖν εἰς τὴν πόλιν. τῶν δὲ βαρβάρων οἱ μὲν ἠμύνοντο τοὺς παραβοηθοῦντας τῶν Ἱμεραίων, οἱ δὲ καταλαμβανόμενοι τὰ τείχη παρεδέχοντο τοὺς ἰδίους. κατὰ κράτος οὖν ἁλούσης τῆς πόλεως, ἐπὶ πολὺν χρόνον οἱ βάρβαροι πάντας ἐφόνευον τοὺς καταλαμβανομένους ἀσυμπαθῶς. τοῦ δʼ Ἀννίβα ζωγρεῖν παραγγείλαντος ὁ μὲν φόνος ἔληξεν, ἡ δʼ ἐκ τῶν οἰκιῶν εὐδαιμονία διεφορεῖτο. ὁ δʼ Ἀννίβας τὰ μὲν ἱερὰ συλήσας καὶ τοὺς καταφυγόντας ἱκέτας ἀποσπάσας ἐνέπρησε, καὶ τὴν πόλιν εἰς ἔδαφος κατέσκαψεν, οἰκισθεῖσαν ἔτη διακόσια τεσσαράκοντα·τῶν δʼ αἰχμαλώτων γυναῖκας καὶ παῖδας διαδοὺς εἰς τὸ στρατόπεδον παρεφύλαττε, τῶν δʼ ἀνδρῶν τοὺς ἁλόντας εἰς τρισχιλίους ὄντας παρήγαγεν ἐπὶ τὸν τόπον, ἐν ᾧ πρότερον Ἀμίλκας ὁ πάππος αὐτοῦ ὑπὸ Γέλωνος ἀνῃρέθη, καὶ πάντας αἰκισάμενος κατέσφαξεν. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα διαλύσας τὸ στρατόπεδον, τοὺς μὲν ἀπὸ Σικελίας συμμάχους ἀπέστειλεν εἰς τὰς πατρίδας, μεθʼ ὧν καὶ Καμπανοὶ συνηκολούθησαν, ἐγκαλοῦντες τοῖς Καρχηδονίοις ὡς αἰτιώτατοι μὲν τῶν εὐημερημάτων γεγενημένοι, οὐκ ἀξίας δὲ χάριτας εἰληφότες τῶν πεπραγμένων· ὁ δʼ Ἀννίβας εἰς τὰς μακρὰς ναῦς καὶ φορτηγοὺς ἐμβιβάσας τὴν δύναμιν, καὶ τοὺς ἱκανοὺς τοῖς συμμάχοις ἀπολιπὼν στρατιώτας, ἐξέπλευσεν ἐκ τῆς Σικελίας. ἐπεὶ δʼ εἰς Καρχηδόνα κατέπλευσε μετὰ πολλῶν λαφύρων, ἀπήντων αὐτῷ πάντες δεξιούμενοι καὶ τιμῶντες ὡς ἐν ὀλίγῳ χρόνῳ μείζονα πράξαντα τῶν πρότερον στρατηγῶν.
Those who had been left behind in Himera spent the night under arms on the walls; and when with the coming of day the Carthaginians surrounded the city and launched repeated attacks, the remaining Himeraeans fought with no thought for their lives, expecting the arrival of the ships. For that day, therefore, they continued to hold out, but on the next, even when the triremes were already in sight, it so happened that the wall began to fall before the blows of the siege-engines and the Iberians to pour in a body into the city. Some of the barbarians thereupon would hold off the Himeraeans who rushed up to bring aid, while others, gaining command of the walls, would help their comrades get in. Now that the city had been taken by storm, for a long time the barbarians continued, with no sign of compassion, to slaughter everyone they seized. But when Hannibal issued orders to take prisoners, although the slaughter stopped, the wealth of the dwellings now became the objects of plunder. Hannibal, after sacking the temples and dragging out the suppliants who had fled to them for safety, set them afire, and the city he razed to the ground, two hundred and forty years after its founding. Of the captives the women and children he distributed among the army and kept them under guard, but the men whom he took captive, some three thousand, he led to the spot where once his grandfather Hamilcar had been slain by Gelon and after torturing them put them all to death. After this, breaking up his army, he sent the Sicilian allies back to their countries, and accepting them also were the Campanians, who bitterly complained to the Carthaginians that, though they had been the ones chiefly responsible for the Carthaginian successes, the rewards they had received were not a fair return for their accomplishments. Then Hannibal embarked his army on the warships and merchant vessels, and leaving behind sufficient troops for the needs of his allies he set sail from Sicily. And when he arrived at Carthage with much booty, the whole city came out to meet him, paying him homage and honour as one who in a brief time had performed greater deeds than any general before him.
§ 13.63
εἰς δὲ τὴν Σικελίαν κατέπλευσεν Ἑρμοκράτης ὁ Συρακόσιος. οὗτος δʼ ἐν μὲν τῷ πρὸς Ἀθηναίους πολέμῳ στρατηγήσας καὶ πολλὰ τῇ πατρίδι χρήσιμος γενόμενος πλεῖστον ἴσχυσε παρὰ τοῖς Συρακοσίοις, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ναύαρχος πεμφθεὶς σὺν τριάκοντα πέντε τριήρεσι Λακεδαιμονίοις συμμαχήσων ὑπὸ τῶν ἀντιπολιτευομένων κατεστασιάσθη, καὶ φυγῆς μὲν ἐγενήθη κατάδικος, τὸν δὲ στόλον παρέδωκεν ἐν Πελοποννήσῳ τοῖς ἐπὶ τὴν διαδοχὴν ἀποσταλεῖσιν. αὐτὸς δʼ ἐκ τῆς στρατείας φιλίαν ἔχων πρὸς Φαρνάβαζον τὸν τῶν Περσῶν σατράπην ἔλαβε παρʼ αὐτοῦ πολλὰ χρήματα, μεθʼ ὧν εἰς Μεσσήνην καταπλεύσας πέντε μὲν ἐναυπήγησε τριήρεις, χιλίους δʼ ἐμισθώσατο στρατιώτας. παραλαβὼν δὲ καὶ τῶν ἐκπεπτωκότων Ἱμεραίων ὡς χιλίους, ἐπεχείρησε μὲν εἰς Συρακούσας κατελθεῖν συναγωνιζομένων αὐτῷ τῶν φίλων, ἀποτυχὼν δὲ τῆς ἐπιβολῆς ὥρμησε διὰ τῆς μεσογείου, καὶ καταλαβόμενος τὸν Σελινοῦντα τῆς πόλεως μέρος ἐτείχισε καὶ πανταχόθεν κατεκάλει τοὺς διασωζομένους τῶν Σελινουντίων. πολλοὺς δὲ καὶ ἄλλους ὑποδεχόμενος εἰς τὸν τόπον συνήγαγε δύναμιν ἐπιλέκτων ἀνδρῶν ἑξακισχιλίων. ἐντεῦθεν δʼ ὁρμώμενος πρῶτον μὲν τὴν τῶν Μοτυηνῶν ἐπόρθησε χώραν, καὶ τοὺς ἐπεξελθόντας ἐκ τῆς πόλεως μάχῃ κρατήσας πολλοὺς μὲν ἀνεῖλε, τοὺς δʼ ἄλλους συνεδίωξεν ἐντὸς τοῦ τείχους. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τὴν τῶν Πανορμιτῶν χώραν λεηλατήσας ἀναριθμήτου λείας ἐκυρίευσε, τῶν δὲ Πανορμιτῶν πανδημεὶ παραταξαμένων πρὸ τῆς πόλεως εἰς πεντακοσίους μὲν αὐτῶν ἀνεῖλε, τοὺς δʼ ἄλλους συνέκλεισεν ἐντὸς τῶν τειχῶν. παραπλησίως δὲ καὶ τὴν ἄλλην χώραν ἅπασαν τὴν ὑπὸ Καρχηδονίους οὖσαν πορθῶν ἐπαίνου παρὰ τοῖς Σικελιώταις ἐτύγχανεν. εὐθὺ δὲ καὶ τῶν Συρακοσίων οἱ πλεῖστοι μετεμελήθησαν,ἀναξίως τῆς ἰδίας ἀρετῆς ὁρῶντες πεφυγαδευμένον τὸν Ἑρμοκράτην. διὸ καὶ περὶ αὐτοῦ πολλῶν λόγων γινομένων ἐν ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις, ὁ μὲν δῆμος φανερὸς ἦν βουλόμενος καταδέχεσθαι τὸν ἄνδρα, ὁ δʼ Ἑρμοκράτης ἀκούων τὴν περὶ αὑτοῦ φήμην ἐν ταῖς Συρακούσαις παρεσκευάζετο πρὸς τὴν αὑτοῦ κάθοδον ἐπιμελῶς, εἰδὼς τοὺς ἀντιπολιτευομένους ἀντιπράξοντας. καὶ τὰ μὲν κατὰ Σικελίαν ἐν τούτοις ἦν.
Hermocrates the Syracusan arrived in Sicily. This man, who had served as general in the war against the Athenians and had been of great service to his country, had acquired the greatest influence among the Syracusans, but afterwards, when he had been sent as admiral in command of thirty-five triremes to support the Lacedemonians, he was overpowered by his political opponents and, upon being condemned to exile, he handed over the fleet in the Peloponnesus to the men who had been dispatched to succeed him. And since he had struck up a friendship with Pharnabazus, the satrap of the Persians, as a result of the campaign, he accepted from him a great sum of money with which, after he had arrived at Messene, he had five triremes built and hired a thousand soldiers. Then, after adding to this force also above a thousand of the Himeraeans who had been driven from their home, he endeavoured with the aid of his friends to make good his return to Syracuse; but when he failed in this design, he set out through the middle of the island and seizing Selinus he built a wall about a part of the city and called to him from all quarters the Selinuntians who were still alive. He also received many others into the place and thus gathered a force of six thousand picked warriors. Making Selinus his base he first laid waste the territory of the inhabitants of Motye and defeating in battle those who came out from the city against him he slew many and pursued the rest within the wall of the city. After this he ravaged the territory of the people of Panormus and acquired countless booty, and when the inhabitants offered battle en masse before the city he slew about five hundred of them and shut up the rest within their walls. And since he also laid waste in like fashion all the rest of the territory in the hands of the Carthaginians, he won the commendation of the Sicilian Greeks. And among other things the majority of the Syracusans also repented of their treatment of him, realizing that Hermocrates had been banished contrary to the merits of his valour. Consequently, after much discussion of him in meetings of the assembly, it was evident that the people desired to receive the man back from exile, and Hermocrates, on hearing of the talk about himself that was current in Syracuse, laid careful plans regarding his return from exile, knowing that his political opponents would work against it. Such was the course of events in Sicily.
§ 13.64
κατὰ δὲ τὴν Ἑλλάδα Θρασύβουλος πεμφθεὶς παρʼ Ἀθηναίων μετὰ νεῶν τριάκοντα καὶ πολλῶν ὁπλιτῶν σὺν ἱππεῦσιν ἑκατὸν κατέπλευσεν εἰς τὴν Ἔφεσον· ἐκβιβάσας δὲ τὴν δύναμιν κατὰ δύο τόπους προσβολὰς ἐποιήσατο. τῶν δʼ ἔνδον ἐπεξελθόντων καρτερὰν συνέβη μάχην συστῆναι· πανδημεὶ δὲ τῶν Ἐφεσίων ἀγωνισαμένων τετρακόσιοι μὲν τῶν Ἀθηναίων ἔπεσον, τοὺς δʼ ἄλλους ὁ Θρασύβουλος ἀναλαβὼν εἰς τὰς ναῦς ἐξέπλευσεν εἰς Λέσβον. οἱ δὲ περὶ Κύζικον ὄντες τῶν Ἀθηναίων στρατηγοὶ πλεύσαντες ἐπὶ Χαλκηδόνα, Χρυσόπολιν ᾤκισαν φρούριον καὶ τὴν ἱκανὴν αὐτῷ κατέλιπον δύναμιν· τοῖς δʼ ἐπὶ τούτων κατασταθεῖσι προσέταξαν δεκάτην πράττεσθαι τοὺς ἐκ τοῦ Πόντου πλέοντας. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα διελομένων αὐτῶν τὰς δυνάμεις, Θηραμένης μὲν μετὰ πεντήκοντα νεῶν κατελείφθη πολιορκήσων Χαλκηδόνα καὶ Βυζάντιον, Θρασύβουλος δὲ περὶ Θρᾴκην πεμφθεὶς τὰς ἐν τούτοις τοῖς τόποις πόλεις προσηγάγετο. Ἀλκιβιάδης δὲ τὸν Θρασύβουλον μετὰ τῶν τριάκοντα νεῶν ἀπολύσας ἔπλευσεν εἰς τὴν ὑπὸ Φαρνάβαζον χώραν, καὶ κοινῇ πολλὴν αὐτῆς πορθήσαντες τούς τε στρατιώτας ἐνέπλησαν ὠφελείας καὶ αὐτοὶ χρήματα συνήγαγον ἐκ τῶν λαφύρων, βουλόμενοι κουφίσαι τὸν δῆμον τῶν εἰσφορῶν. Λακεδαιμόνιοι δὲ πυνθανόμενοι περὶ τὸν Ἑλλήσποντον ὑπάρχειν ἁπάσας τὰς τῶν Ἀθηναίων δυνάμεις, ἐστράτευσαν ἐπὶ Πύλον, ἣν Μεσσήνιοι φρουρᾷ κατεῖχον, κατὰ μὲν θάλατταν ἕνδεκα ναυσίν, ὧν ἦσαν αἱ μὲν ἀπὸ Σικελίας πέντε, ἓξ δὲ ἐκ τῶν πολιτῶν πεπληρωμέναι· πεζῇ δὲ παρήγαγον ἱκανὴν δύναμιν, καὶ περιστρατοπεδεύσαντες τὸ φρούριον ἐπόρθουν ἅμα καὶ κατὰ γῆν καὶ κατὰ θάλατταν. ἃ δὴ πυθόμενος ὁ τῶν Ἀθηναίων δῆμος ἐξαπέστειλε τοῖς πολιορκουμένοις εἰς βοήθειαν ναῦς τριάκοντα καὶ στρατηγὸν Ἄνυτον τὸν Ἀνθεμίωνος. οὗτος μὲν οὖν ἐκπλεύσας, καὶ διά τινας χειμῶνας οὐ δυνηθεὶς τὸν Μαλέαν κάμψαι, ἀνέπλευσεν εἰς Ἀθήνας. ἐφʼ οἷς ὁ μὲν δῆμος ὀργισθείς, καὶ καταιτιασάμενος αὐτοῦ προδοσίαν, μετέστησεν εἰς κρίσιν· ὁ δʼ Ἄνυτος ἰσχυρῶς κινδυνεύων ἐρρύσατο χρήμασι τὴν ἰδίαν ψυχήν, καὶ πρῶτος Ἀθηναίων δοκεῖ δικαστήριον δωροδοκῆσαι. οἱ δʼ ἐν τῇ Πύλῳ Μεσσήνιοι μέχρι μέν τινος ἀντεῖχον, προσδοκῶντες παρὰ τῶν Ἀθηναίων βοήθειαν· ὡς δʼ οἱ μὲν πολέμιοι τὰς προσβολὰς ἐκ διαδοχῆς ἐποιοῦντο, τῶν δὲ ἰδίων οἱ μὲν ἐκ τῶν τραυμάτων ἀπέθνησκον, οἱ δʼ ἐκ τῆς σιτοδείας κακῶς ἀπήλλαττον, ὑπόσπονδοι τὸν τόπον ἐξέλιπον. Λακεδαιμόνιοι μὲν οὖν ἐγκρατεῖς ἐγένοντο τῆς Πύλου, πεντεκαίδεκα ἔτη τῶν Ἀθηναίων αὐτὴν κατεσχηκότων, ἀφʼ ὅτου Δημοσθένης αὐτὴν ἐτείχισεν.
In Greece Thrasybulus, who had been sent out by the Athenians with thirty ships and a strong force of hoplites as well as a hundred horsemen, put in at Ephesus; and after disembarking his troops at two points he launched assaults upon the city. The inhabitants came out of the city against them and a fierce battle ensued; and since the entire populace of the Ephesians joined in the fighting, four hundred Athenians were slain and the remainder Thrasybulus took aboard his ships and sailed off to Lesbos. The Athenian generals who were in the neighbourhood of Cyzicus, sailing to Chalcedon, established there the fortress of Chrysopolis and left an adequate force behind; and the officers in charge they ordered to collect a tenth from all merchants sailing out of the Pontus. After this they divided their forces and Theramenes was left behind with fifty ships with which to lay siege to Chalcedon and Byzantium, and Thrasybulus was sent to Thrace, where he brought the cities in those regions over to the Athenians. And Alcibiades, after giving Thrasybulus a separate command with the thirty ships, sailed to the territory held by Pharnabazus, and when they had conjointly laid waste a great amount of that territory, they not only sated the soldiers with plunder but also themselves realized money from the booty, since they wished to relieve the Athenian people of the propertytaxes imposed for the prosecution of their war. When the Lacedemonians learned that all the armaments of the Athenians were in the region of the Hellespont, they undertook a campaign against Pylos, which the Messenians held with a garrison; on the sea they had eleven ships, of which five were from Sicily and six were manned by their own citizens, while on land they had gathered an adequate army, and after investing the fortress they began to wreak havoc both by land and by sea. As soon as the Athenian people learned of this they dispatched to the aid of the besieged thirty ships and as general Anytus the son of Anthemion. Now Anytus sailed out on his mission, but when he was unable to round Cape Malea because of storms he returned to Athens. The people were so incensed at this that they accused him of treason and brought him to trial; but Anytus, being in great danger, saved his own life by the use of money, and he is reputed to have been the first Athenian to have bribed a jury. Meanwhile the Messenians in Pylos held out for some time, awaiting aid from the Athenians; but since the enemy kept launching successive assaults and of their own number some were dying of wounds and others were reduced to sad straits for lack of food, they abandoned the place under a truce. And so the Lacedemonians became masters of Pylos, after the Athenians had held it fifteen years from the time Demosthenes had fortified it.
§ 13.65
τούτων δὲ πραττομένων Μεγαρεῖς μὲν Νίσαιαν ὑπʼ Ἀθηναίους οὖσαν εἷλον, Ἀθηναῖοι δʼ ἐπʼ αὐτοὺς ἀπέστειλαν Λεωτροφίδην καὶ Τίμαρχον μετὰ μὲν πεζῶν χιλίων, ἱππέων δὲ τετρακοσίων. οἷς οἱ Μεγαρεῖς ἀπαντήσαντες μετὰ τῶν ὅπλων πανδημεὶ καὶ παραλαβόντες τινὰς τῶν ἐκ Σικελίας, παρετάξαντο πρὸς τοῖς λόφοις τοῖς Κέρασι καλουμένοις· τῶν δʼ Ἀθηναίων λαμπρῶς ἀγωνισαμένων, καὶ πολλαπλασίους ὄντας τοὺς πολεμίους τρεψαμένων, Μεγαρέων ἔπεσον μὲν πολλοί, τῶν δὲ Λακεδαιμονίων εἴκοσι μόνον· οἱ γὰρ Ἀθηναῖοι βαρέως φέροντες ἐπὶ τῷ τὴν Νίσαιαν κατειλῆφθαι τοὺς μὲν Λακεδαιμονίους οὐκ ἐδίωξαν, πρὸς δὲ τοὺς Μεγαρεῖς χαλεπῶς διακείμενοι παμπληθεῖς ἀνεῖλον. Λακεδαιμόνιοι δὲ Κρατησιππίδαν ἑλόμενοι ναύαρχον, καὶ παρὰ τῶν συμμάχων ναῦς αὑτῶν πληρώσαντες εἴκοσι πέντε, προσέταξαν παραβοηθεῖν τοῖς συμμάχοις. οὗτος δὲ χρόνον μέν τινα περὶ τὴν Ἰωνίαν διέτριψεν οὐθὲν ἄξιον λόγου πράξας· μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα παρὰ τῶν ἐκ Χίου φυγάδων λαβὼν χρήματα κατήγαγεν αὐτοὺς καὶ τὴν ἀκρόπολιν τῶν Χίων κατελάβετο. οἱ δὲ κατελθόντες τῶν Χίων τοὺς ἀντιπολιτευομένους αὐτοῖς καὶ τῆς ἐκπτώσεως αἰτίους ὄντας εἰς ἑξακοσίους τὸν ἀριθμὸν ὄντας ἐφυγάδευσαν. οὗτοι δὲ τῆς ἀντιπέραν ἠπείρου χωρίον Ἀταρνέα καλούμενον κατελάβοντο, σφόδρα τῇ φύσει καθεστηκὸς ὀχυρόν, καὶ τὸ λοιπὸν ἐκ τούτου τὰς ἀφορμὰς ἔχοντες ἐπολέμουν τοῖς Χίον ἔχουσιν.
While these events were taking place, the Megarians seized Nisaea, which was in the hands of Athenians, and the Athenians dispatched against them Leotrophides and Timarchus with a thousand infantry and four hundred cavalry. The Megarians went out to meet them en masse under arms, and after adding to their number some of the troops from Sicily they drew up for battle near the hills called "The Cerata." Since the Athenians fought brilliantly and put to flight the enemy, who greatly outnumbered them, many of the Megarians were slain but only twenty Lacedemonians; for the Athenians, made angry by the seizure of Nisaea, did not pursue the Lacedemonians but slew great numbers of the Megarians with whom they were indignant. The Lacedemonians, having chosen Cratesippidas as admiral and manned twenty-five of their own ships with troops furnished by their allies, ordered them to go to the aid of their allies. Cratesippidas spent some time near Ionia without accomplishing anything worthy of mention; but later, after receiving may have from the exiles of Chios, he restored them to their homes and seized the acropolis of the Chians. And the returned exiles of the Chians banished the men who were their political opponents and had been responsible for their exile to the number of approximately six hundred. These men then seized a place called Atarneus on the opposite mainland, which was by nature extremely rugged, and henceforth, from that as their base, continued to make war on their opponents who held Chios.
§ 13.66
τούτων δὲ πραττομένων Ἀλκιβιάδης καὶ Θρασύβουλος Λάμψακον τειχίσαντες, ἐν μὲν ταύτῃ τὴν ἱκανὴν φυλακὴν κατέλιπον, αὐτοὶ δὲ μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως ἐξέπλευσαν πρὸς Θηραμένην, ὃς ἐπόρθει τὴν Χαλκηδόνα ναῦς μὲν ἔχων ἑβδομήκοντα, στρατιώτας δὲ πεντακισχιλίους. ἀθροισθεισῶν δὲ τῶν δυνάμεων εἰς ἕνα τόπον ἀπετείχισαν τὴν πόλιν ἀπὸ θαλάττης εἰς θάλατταν ξυλίνῳ τείχει. ὁ δʼ ἐν τῇ πόλει καθεσταμένος ὑπὸ Λακεδαιμονίων Ἱπποκράτης ἡγεμών, ὃν οἱ Λάκωνες ἁρμοστὴν ἐκάλουν, τούς τʼ ἰδίους στρατιώτας προσήγαγε καὶ τοὺς Χαλκηδονίους ἅπαντας. γενομένης δὲ καρτερᾶς μάχης, καὶ τῶν περὶ τὸν Ἀλκιβιάδην ἐρρωμένως ἀγωνισαμένων, ὅ τε Ἱπποκράτης ἔπεσε καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν οἱ μὲν ἀνῃρέθησαν, οἱ δὲ κατατρωθέντες συνέφυγον εἰς τὴν πόλιν. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Ἀλκιβιάδης μὲν εἰς Ἑλλήσποντον καὶ Χερρόνησον ἐξέπλευσε, βουλόμενος ἀθροῖσαι χρήματα, οἱ δὲ περὶ τὸν Θηραμένην ὁμολογίαν ἐποιήσαντο πρὸς Χαλκηδονίους φόρον λαμβάνειν παρʼ αὐτῶν ὅσον καὶ πρότερον. ἐντεῦθεν δὲ τὰς δυνάμεις ἀπαγαγόντες πρὸς Βυζάντιον ἐπολιόρκουν τὴν πόλιν καὶ μετὰ πολλῆς σπουδῆς ἀποτειχίζειν ἐπεχείρησαν. Ἀλκιβιάδης δὲ ἀθροίσας χρήματα πολλοὺς αὑτῷ τῶν Θρᾳκῶν ἔπεισε συστρατεῦσαι, παρέλαβε δὲ καὶ τοὺς Χερρόνησον οἰκοῦντας πανδημεί, καὶ μετὰ πάσης τῆς δυνάμεως ἀναζεύξας πρῶτον μὲν Σηλυβρίαν διὰ προδοσίας εἷλεν, ἐξ ἧς πολλὰ χρήματα πραξάμενος ἐν μὲν ταύτῃ φρουρὰν κατέλιπεν, αὐτὸς δὲ διὰ τάχους ἧκε πρὸς τοὺς περὶ Θηραμένην εἰς Βυζάντιον. ἀθροισθεισῶν δὲ τῶν δυνάμεων, οὗτοι μὲν τὰ πρὸς πολιορκίαν ἡτοιμάζοντο· ἤμελλον γὰρ νικήσειν πόλιν βάρος ἔχουσαν καὶ γέμουσαν τῶν ὑπὲρ αὐτῆς ἀμυνομένων· χωρὶς γὰρ τῶν Βυζαντίων, πολλῶν ὄντων, Κλέαρχος ὁ Λακεδαιμόνιος ἁρμοστὴς εἶχε πολλοὺς ἐν τῇ πόλει τῶν Πελοποννησίων καὶ μισθοφόρους. μέχρι μὲν οὖν τινος προσβολὰς ποιούμενοι, κακὸν οὐδὲν ἀξιόλογον δρῶντες τοὺς ἔνδον διετέλουν· ἐπεὶ δʼ ὁ τῆς πόλεως ἐπιστάτης ἀπῆλθε πρὸς Φαρνάβαζον, ὅπως λάβῃ χρήματα, τηνικαῦτά τινες τῶν Βυζαντίων, μισοῦντες τὸ βάρος τῆς ἐπιστασίας—ἦν γὰρ ὁ Κλέαρχος χαλεπός—, προύδωκαν τὴν πόλιν τοῖς περὶ τὸν Ἀλκιβιάδην.
While these events were taking place Alcibiades and Thrasybulus, after fortifying Lampsacus, left a strong garrison in that place and themselves sailed with their force to Theramenes, who was laying waste Chalcedon with seventy ships and five thousand soldiers. And when the armaments had been brought together into one place they threw a wooden stockade about the city from sea to sea. Hippocrates, who had been stationed by the Lacedemonians in the city as commander (the Laconians call such a man a "harmost"), led against them both his own soldiers and all the Chalcedonians. A fierce battle ensued, and since the troops of Alcibiades fought stoutly, not only Hippocrates fell but of the rest of the soldiers some were slain, and the others, disabled by wounds, took refuge in a body in the city. After this Alcibiades sailed out into the Hellespont and to Chersonesus, wishing to contract money, and Theramenes concluded an agreement with the Chalcedonians whereby the Athenians received from them as much tribe as before. Then leading his troops from there to Byzantium he laid siege to the city and with great alacrity set about walling it off. And Alcibiades, after collecting money, persuaded many of the Thracians to join his army and he also took into it the inhabitants of Chersonesus en masse; then, setting forth with his entire force, he first took Selybria by betrayal, in which, after exacting from it much money, he left a garrison, and then himself came speedily to Theramenes at Byzantium. When the armaments had been united, the commanders began making the preparations for a siege; for they were setting out to conquer a city of great wealth which was crowded with defenders, since, not counting the Byzantines, who were many, Clearchus, the Lacedemonian harmost, had in the city many Peloponnesians and mercenaries. Consequently, though they kept launching assaults for some time, they continued to inflict no notable damage on the defenders; but when the governor left the city to visit Pharnabazus in order to get money, thereupon certain Byzantines, hating the severity of his administration (for Clearchus was a harsh man), agreed to deliver up the city to Alcibiades and his colleagues.
§ 13.67
οὗτοι δὲ ὡς λύσοντες τὴν πολιορκίαν καὶ τὰς δυνάμεις ἀπάξοντες εἰς Ἰωνίαν δείλης ταῖς ναυσὶ πάσαις ἐξέπλευσαν, καὶ τὸ πεζὸν στράτευμα μέχρι τινὸς ἀπαγαγόντες, ὡς ἐπέλαβεν ἡ νύξ, πάλιν ὑπέστρεψαν καὶ περὶ μέσας νύκτας προσέμιξαν τῇ πόλει, καὶ τὰς μὲν τριήρεις ἀπέστειλαν προστάξαντες ἀφέλκειν τὰ πλοῖα καὶ κραυγὴν ποιεῖν, ὡς ἁπάσης ἐκεῖ τῆς δυνάμεως οὔσης, αὐτοὶ δὲ μετὰ τοῦ πεζοῦ στρατεύματος πρὸς τοῖς τείχεσιν ἐτήρουν τὸ συντεταγμένον παρὰ τῶν ἐνδιδόντων σύσσημον. τῶν δʼ ἐν ταῖς τριήρεσι ποιησάντων τὸ προσταχθέν, καὶ τῶν πλοίων τὰ μὲν συντριβόντων ταῖς ἐμβολαῖς, τὰ δʼ ἀποσπᾶν πειρωμένων ταῖς σιδηραῖς χερσίν, ἔτι δὲ βοὴν ἐξαίσιον ποιούντων, οἱ μὲν κατὰ τὴν πόλιν ὄντες Πελοποννήσιοι καὶ πάντες οἱ τὴν ἀπάτην ἀγνοοῦντες ἐξεβοήθουν ἐπὶ τοὺς λιμένας. διόπερ οἱ τὴν πόλιν προδιδόντες ἦραν τὸ σύσσημον ἀπὸ τοῦ τείχους, καὶ παρεδέχοντο τοὺς περὶ τὸν Ἀλκιβιάδην διὰ τῶν κλιμάκων κατὰ πολλὴν ἀσφάλειαν, ὡς ἂν τοῦ πλήθους ἐπὶ τὸν λιμένα συνδεδραμηκότος. οἱ δὲ Πελοποννήσιοι πυθόμενοι τὸ γεγονός, τὸ μὲν πρῶτον τοὺς ἡμίσεις ἐπὶ τοῦ λιμένος ἀπέλιπον, τοῖς δὲ λοιποῖς κατὰ σπουδὴν ἐξεβοήθουν ἐπὶ τὰ κατειλημμένα τείχη. ἤδη δὲ σχεδὸν πάσης τῆς δυνάμεως τῶν Ἀθηναίων παρεισπεπτωκυίας, ὅμως οὐ κατεπλάγησαν, ἀλλὰ πολὺν χρόνον ἀντιστάντες εὐρώστως τοὺς Ἀθηναίους ἠμύνοντο συναγωνιζομένων τῶν Βυζαντίων. καὶ πέρας οὐκ ἂν ἐκράτησαν Ἀθηναῖοι τῆς πόλεως διὰ μάχης, εἰ μὴ συννοήσας τὸν καιρὸν Ἀλκιβιάδης ἐκήρυξε μηδὲν ἀδίκημα ποιεῖν τοῖς Βυζαντίοις· οὕτω γὰρ οἱ πολιτικοὶ μεταβαλλόμενοι τοὺς Πελοποννησίους ἠμύνοντο. ὅθεν οἱ πλεῖστοι μὲν αὐτῶν ἀνῃρέθησαν εὐγενῶς ἀγωνισάμενοι, οἱ δὲ περιλειφθέντες εἰς πεντακοσίους κατέφυγον πρὸς τοὺς ἐν τοῖς ἱεροῖς βωμούς. οἱ δʼ Ἀθηναῖοι τοῖς μὲν Βυζαντίοις ἀπέδωκαν τὴν πόλιν, συμμάχους αὐτοὺς ποιησάμενοι, πρὸς δὲ τοὺς ἐπὶ τοῖς βωμοῖς ὄντας ἱκέτας ὁμολογίας ἔθεντο, τὰ μὲν ὅπλα παραλαβεῖν, τὰ δὲ σώματα εἰς Ἀθήνας κομίσαντες ἐπιτρέψαι τῷ δήμῳ περὶ αὐτῶν.
The Athenian generals, giving the impression that they intended to raise the siege and take their armaments to Ionia, sailed out in the afternoon with all their ships and withdrew the land army some distance; but when night came, they turned back again and about the middle of the night drew near the city, and they dispatched the triremes with orders to drag off the boats and to raise a clamour as if the entire force were at that point, while they themselves, holding the land army before the walls, watched for the signal which had been agreed upon with those who were yielding the city. And when the crews of the triremes set about carrying their orders, shattering some of the boats with their rams, trying to haul off others with their grappling irons, and all the while raising a tremendous outcry, the Peloponnesians in the city and everyone who was unaware of the trickery rushed out to the harbours to bring aid. Consequently the betrayers of the city raised the signal from the wall and admitted Alcibiades' troops by means of ladders in complete safety, since the multitude had thronged down to the harbour. When the Peloponnesians learned what had happened, at first they left half their troops at the harbour and with the rest speedily rushed back to attack the walls which had been seized. And although practically the entire force of the Athenians had already effected an entrance, they nonetheless were not panic-stricken but resisted stoutly for a long while and battled the Athenians with the help of the Byzantines. And in the end the Athenians would not have conquered the city by fighting, had not Alcibiades, perceiving opportunity, had the announcement made that no wrong should be done to the Byzantines; for at this word the citizens changed sides and turned upon the Peloponnesians. Thereupon the most of them were slain fighting gallantly, and the survivors, about five hundred, fled for refuge to the altars of the temples. The Athenians returned the city to the Byzantines, having first made them allies, and then came to terms with the suppliants at the altars: the Athenians would take away their arms and carry their persons to Athens turn them over to the decision of the Athenian people.
§ 13.68
τοῦ δʼ ἔτους διελθόντος Ἀθηναῖοι μὲν Εὐκτήμονι παρέδωκαν τὴν ἀρχήν, Ῥωμαῖοι δʼ ὑπάτους κατέστησαν Μάρκον Παπίριον καὶ Σπόριον Ναύτιον, Ὀλυμπιὰς δʼ ἐγένετο τρίτη πρὸς ταῖς ἐνενήκοντα, καθʼ ἣν ἐνίκα στάδιον Εὔβατος Κυρηναῖος. περὶ δὲ τούτους τοὺς χρόνους οἱ τῶν Ἀθηναίων στρατηγοὶ Βυζαντίου κυριεύσαντες ἐπῆλθον τὸν Ἑλλήσποντον, καὶ τὰς ἐν αὐτῷ πόλεις πλὴν Ἀβύδου πάσας εἷλον. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Διόδωρον καὶ Μαντίθεον ἐπιμελητὰς μετὰ τῆς ἱκανῆς δυνάμεως κατέλιπον, αὐτοὶ δὲ μετὰ τῶν νεῶν καὶ τῶν λαφύρων ἔπλεον εἰς Ἀθήνας, πολλὰ καὶ μεγάλα κατειργασμένοι τῇ πατρίδι. ὡς δʼ ἐγγὺς ἦσαν, ὁ δῆμος ἅπας ἀπήντα περιχαρὴς ἐπὶ τοῖς εὐημερήμασι· συνέδραμον δʼ εἰς τὸν Πειραιέα πολλοὶ καὶ τῶν ξένων, ἔτι δὲ παίδων καὶ γυναικῶν. εἶχε γὰρ πολλὴν κατάπληξιν τῶν στρατηγῶν ὁ κατάπλους· ἦγον γὰρ τῶν ἡλωκυιῶν νεῶν οὐκ ἐλάττους διακοσίων, αἰχμαλώτων δὲ ἀνδρῶν καὶ λαφύρων πλῆθος· εἶχον δὲ τὰς ἰδίας τριήρεις ὅπλοις ἐπιχρύσοις καὶ στεφάνοις, ἔτι δὲ λαφύροις καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἅπασιν ἐπιμελῶς κεκοσμημένας. πλεῖστοι δʼ ἐπὶ τὴν Ἀλκιβιάδου θέαν συνέδραμον ἐπὶ τοὺς λιμένας, ὥστε παντελῶς ἐρημωθῆναι τὴν πόλιν, συμφιλοτιμουμένων τοῖς ἐλευθέροις τῶν δούλων. κατʼ ἐκείνους γὰρ τοὺς χρόνους οὕτω συνέβη θαυμασθῆναι τὸν ἄνδρα τοῦτον, ὥσθʼ οἱ μὲν ὑπερέχοντες τῶν Ἀθηναίων μόγις ἐνόμιζον εὑρηκέναι δυνατὸν ἄνδρα τὸν φανερῶς καὶ θρασέως ἀντιτάξασθαι τῷ δήμῳ δυνάμενον, οἱ δʼ ἄποροι ὑπειλήφεισαν συναγωνιστὴν ἕξειν ἄριστον τὸν ἀπονενοημένως συνταράξοντα τὴν πόλιν καὶ τὴν ἑαυτῶν ἐπανορθώσοντα πενίαν. θράσει γὰρ πολὺ διέφερε τῶν ἄλλων, καὶ δεινότατος ἦν εἰπεῖν, καὶ κατὰ μὲν τὴν στρατηγίαν ἄριστος, κατὰ δὲ τὴν τόλμαν πρακτικώτατος· ἦν δὲ καὶ τὴν ὄψιν καθʼ ὑπερβολὴν εὐπρεπὴς καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν λαμπρὸς καὶ μεγαλεπίβολος. καθόλου δὲ τηλικαύτην ὑπόληψιν εἶχον ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ σχεδὸν ἅπαντες, ὥσθʼ ἅμα τῇ κείνου καθόδῳ καὶ τὴν τῶν πραγμάτων εὐτυχίαν εἰς τὴν πόλιν ἥκειν διελάμβανον. πρὸς δὲ τούτοις, ὥσπερ Λακεδαιμόνιοι τούτου συναγωνιζομένου προετέρουν, οὕτως ἑαυτοὺς πάλιν κατορθώσειν ἤλπιζον σύμμαχον ἔχοντες τὸν ἄνδρα τοῦτον.
At the end of the year the Athenians bestowed the office of archon upon Euctemon and the Romans elected as consuls Marcus Papirius and Spurius Nautius, and the Ninety-third Olympiad was celebrated, that in which Eubatus of Cyrene won the "stadion." About this time the Athenian generals, now that they had taken possession of Byzantium, proceeded against the Hellespont and took every one of the cities of that region with the exception of Abydus. Then they left Diodorus and Mantitheus in charge with an adequate force and themselves sailed to Athens with the ships and the spoils, having performed many great deeds for the fatherland. When they drew near the city, the populace in a body, overjoyed at their successes, came out to meet them, and great numbers of the aliens, as well as children and women, flocked to the Peiraeus. For the return of the generals gave great cause for amazement, in that they brought no less than two hundred captured vessels, a multitude of captive soldiers, and a great store of spoils; and their own triremes they had gone to great care to embellish with gilded arms and garlands and, besides, with spoils and all such decorations. But most men thronged to the harbours to catch sight of Alcibiades, so that the city was entirely deserted, the slaves vying with the free. For at that time it had come to pass that this man was such an object of admiration that the leading Athenians thought that they had at long last found a strong man capable of opposing the people openly and boldly, while the poor had assumed that they would have in him an excellent supporter who would recklessly throw the city into confusion and relieve their destitute condition. For in boldness he far excelled all other men, he was a most eloquent speaker, in generalship he was unsurpassed, and in daring he was most successful; furthermore, in appearance he was exceedingly handsome and in spirit brilliant and intent upon great enterprises. In a word, practically all men had conceived such assumptions regarding him that they believed that along with his return from exile good fortune in their undertakings had also come again to the city. Furthermore, just as the Lacedemonians enjoyed success while he was fighting on their side, so they expected that they in turn would again prosper when they had this man as an ally.
§ 13.69
ἐπεὶ δʼ οὖν κατέπλευσεν ὁ στόλος, ἐπέστρεψε τὸ πλῆθος ἐπὶ τὴν Ἀλκιβιάδου ναῦν, ἐξ ἧς ἐκβάντα τὸν ἄνδρα πάντες ἐδεξιοῦντο, τοῖς εὐημερήμασιν ἅμα καὶ τῇ καθόδῳ συγχαίροντες. ὁ δʼ ἀσπασάμενος τὰ πλήθη φιλανθρώπως ἐκκλησίαν συνήγαγε, καὶ πολλὰ τῶν καθʼ ἑαυτὸν ἀπολογησάμενος εἰς τοσαύτην εὔνοιαν τοὺς ὄχλους ἤγαγεν, ὥστε ὁμολογεῖν πάντας τὴν πόλιν αἰτίαν γεγονέναι τῶν κατʼ ἐκείνου ψηφισμάτων. διόπερ αὐτῷ τήν τε οὐσίαν ἀπέδωκαν ἣν ἐδήμευσαν, ἔπειτα δὲ τὰς στήλας κατεπόντισαν, ἐν αἷς ἦν ἡ καταδίκη καὶ τἄλλα τὰ κατʼ ἐκείνου κυρωθέντα· ἐψηφίσαντο δὲ καὶ τοὺς Εὐμολπίδας ἆραι τὴν ἀράν, ἣν ἐποιήσαντο κατʼ αὐτοῦ καθʼ ὃν καιρὸν ἔδοξεν ἀσεβεῖν περὶ τὰ μυστήρια. τὸ δὲ τελευταῖον αὐτὸν στρατηγὸν καταστήσαντες αὐτοκράτορα καὶ κατὰ γῆν καὶ κατὰ θάλατταν, ἁπάσας τὰς δυνάμεις ἐνεχείρισαν αὐτῷ. εἵλαντο δὲ καὶ στρατηγοὺς ἑτέρους οὓς ἐκεῖνος ἤθελεν, Ἀδείμαντον καὶ Θρασύβουλον. ὁ δʼ Ἀλκιβιάδης ἑκατὸν ναῦς πληρώσας ἐξέπλευσεν εἰς Ἄνδρον, καὶ καταλαβόμενος Γαύριον φρούριον ἐτείχισεν. ἐξελθόντων δὲ τῶν Ἀνδρίων πανδημεὶ μετὰ τῶν παραφυλαττόντων τὴν πόλιν Πελοποννησίων ἐγενήθη μάχη, καθʼ ἣν ἐνίκησαν Ἀθηναῖοι· τῶν δʼ ἐκ τῆς πόλεως πολλοὶ μὲν ἀνῃρέθησαν, τῶν δὲ διασωθέντων οἱ μὲν κατὰ τὴν χώραν διεσκεδάσθησαν, οἱ δʼ ἐντὸς τῶν τειχῶν συνέφυγον. αὐτὸς δʼ Ἀλκιβιάδης προσβολὰς ποιησάμενος τῇ πόλει, ἐν μὲν τῷ πεφρουρημένῳ τείχει τὴν ἱκανὴν φυλακὴν κατέλιπε καὶ Θρασύβουλον ἡγεμόνα κατέστησεν, αὐτὸς δὲ μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως ἐκπλεύσας τήν τε Κῶν καὶ Ῥόδον ἐδῄωσε, καὶ συχνὰς ὠφελείας ἤθροισε πρὸς τὰς τῶν στρατιωτῶν διατροφάς.
So when the fleet came to land the multitude turned to the ship of Alcibiades, and as he stepped from it all gave their welcome to the man, congratulating him on both his successes and his return from exile. He in turn, after greeting the crowds kindly, called a meeting of the Assembly, and offering a long defence of his conduct he brought the masses into such a state of goodwill that all agreed that the city had been to blame for the decrees issued against him. Consequently they not only returned to him his property, which they had confiscated, but went further and cast into the sea the stelae on which were written his sentence and all the other acts passed against him; and they also voted that the Eumolpidae should revoke the curse they had pronounced against him at the time when men believed he had profaned the Mysteries. And to cap all they appointed him general with supreme power both on land and on sea and put in his hands all their armaments. They also chose as generals others whom he wished, namely, Adeimantus and Thrasybulus. Alcibiades manned one hundred ships and sailed to Andros, and seizing Gaurium, a stronghold, strengthened it with a wall. And when the Andrians, together with the Peloponnesians who were guarding the city, came out against him en masse, a battle ensued in which the Athenians were the victors; and of the inhabitants of the city many were slain, and of those who escaped some were scattered throughout the countryside and the rest found safety within the walls. As for Alcibiades, after having launched assaults upon the city he left an adequate garrison in the fort he had occupied, appointing Thrasybulus commander, and himself sailed away with his force and ravaged both Cos and Rhodes, collecting abundant booty to support his soldiers.
§ 13.70
Λακεδαιμόνιοι δὲ τήν τε ναυτικὴν δύναμιν ἄρδην ἀπολωλεκότες καὶ μετʼ αὐτῆς Μίνδαρον τὸν ἡγεμόνα, ταῖς ψυχαῖς ὅμως οὐκ ἐνέδωκαν, ἀλλὰ ναύαρχον εἵλαντο Λύσανδρον, δοκοῦντα στρατηγίᾳ διαφέρειν τῶν ἄλλων καὶ τόλμαν ἔμπρακτον ἔχοντα πρὸς πᾶσαν περίστασιν· ὃς παραλαβὼν τὴν ἀρχὴν ἐκ τῆς Πελοποννήσου στρατιώτας τε κατέγραφε τοὺς ἱκανοὺς καὶ ναῦς ἐπλήρωσεν ὅσας ἐδύνατο πλείστας. ἐκπλεύσας δὲ εἰς Ῥόδον, καὶ προσλαβόμενος ἐκεῖθεν ναῦς ὅσας εἶχον αἱ πόλεις, ἔπλευσεν εἰς Ἔφεσον καὶ Μίλητον. καταρτίσας δὲ καὶ τὰς ἐν ταύταις ταῖς πόλεσι τριήρεις, μετεπέμψατο τὰς ἐκ Χίου, καὶ στόλον ἐξήρτυεν ἐξ Ἐφέσου νεῶν ὑπάρχοντα σχεδὸν ἑβδομήκοντα. ἀκούσας δὲ Κῦρον τὸν Δαρείου τοῦ βασιλέως υἱὸν ὑπὸ τοῦ πατρὸς ἀπεσταλμένον συμπολεμεῖν τοῖς Λακεδαιμονίοις, ἧκεν εἰς Σάρδεις πρὸς αὐτόν, καὶ παροξύνας τὸν νεανίσκον εἰς τὸν κατὰ τῶν Ἀθηναίων πόλεμον μυρίους μὲν δαρεικοὺς παραχρῆμα ἔλαβεν εἰς τὸν τῶν στρατιωτῶν μισθόν, καὶ εἰς τὸ λοιπὸν δὲ ὁ Κῦρος ἐκέλευσεν αἰτεῖν μηδὲν ὑποστελλόμενον· ἐντολὰς γὰρ ἔχειν παρὰ τοῦ πατρός, ὅπως ὅσα ἂν προαιρῶνται Λακεδαιμόνιοι χορηγήσαι αὐτοῖς. ἀνακάμψας δὲ εἰς Ἔφεσον ἀπὸ τῶν πόλεων μετεπέμπετο τοὺς δυνατωτάτους, πρὸς οὓς ἑταιρίας συντιθέμενος ἐπηγγέλλετο τῶν πραγμάτων κατορθωθέντων κυρίους ἑκάστους τῶν πόλεων ποιήσειν. διʼ ἣν αἰτίαν συνέβη τούτους πρὸς ἀλλήλους ἁμιλλωμένους ὑπηρετεῖν πλείονα τῶν ἐπιταττομένων, καὶ ταχὺ παραδόξως εὐπορεῖν τὸν Λύσανδρον πάντων τῶν εἰς πόλεμον χρησίμων.
Although the Lacedemonians had entirely lost not only their sea force but Mindarus, the commander, together with it, nevertheless they did not let their spirits sink, but they chose as admiral Lysander, a man who was believed to excel all others in skill as a general and who possessed a daring that was ready to meet every situation. As soon as Lysander assumed the command he enrolled an adequate number of soldiers from the Peloponnesus and also manned as many ships as he was able. Sailing to Rhodes he added to his force the ships which the cities of Rhodes possessed, and then sailed to Ephesus and Miletus. After equipping the triremes in these cities he summoned those which were supplied by Chios and thus fitted out at Ephesus a fleet of approximately seventy ships. And hearing that Cyrus, the son of King Darius, had been dispatched by his father to aid the Lacedemonians in the war, he went to him at Sardis, and stirring up the youth's enthusiasm for the war against the Athenians he received on the spot ten thousand darics for the pay of his soldiers; and for the future Cyrus told him to make requests without reserve, since, as he stated, he carried orders from his father to supply the Lacedemonians with whatever they should want. Then Lysander, returning to Ephesus, called to him the most influential men of the cities, and arranging with them to form cabals he promised that if his undertakings were successful he would put each group in control of its city. And it came to pass for this reason that these men, vying with one another, gave greater aid than was required of them and that Lysander was quickly supplied in startling fashion with all the equipment that is useful in war.
§ 13.71
Ἀλκιβιάδης δὲ πυθόμενος ἐν Ἐφέσῳ τὸν Λύσανδρον ἐξαρτύειν τὸν στόλον, ἀνήχθη μετὰ πασῶν τῶν νεῶν εἰς Ἔφεσον. ἐπιπλεύσας δὲ τοῖς λιμέσιν,ὡς οὐδεὶς ἀντανήγετο, τὰς μὲν πολλὰς ναῦς καθώρμισε περὶ τὸ Νότιον, τὴν ἡγεμονίαν αὐτῶν παραδοὺς Ἀντιόχῳ τῷ ἰδίῳ κυβερνήτῃ, διακελευσάμενος αὐτῷ μὴ ναυμαχεῖν, ἕως ἂν αὐτὸς παραγένηται, τὰς δὲ στρατιώτιδας ναῦς ἀνέλαβε καὶ κατὰ σπουδὴν ἔπλευσεν εἰς Κλαζομενάς· αὕτη γὰρ ἡ πόλις σύμμαχος Ἀθηναίων οὖσα κακῶς ἔπασχεν ὑπό τινων φυγάδων πορθουμένη. ὁ δʼ Ἀντίοχος ὢν τῇ φύσει πρόχειρος, καὶ σπεύδων διʼ ἑαυτοῦ τι πρᾶξαι λαμπρόν, τῶν μὲν Ἀλκιβιάδου λόγων ἠμέλησε, δέκα δὲ ναῦς τὰς ἀρίστας πληρώσας, καὶ τὰς ἄλλας τοῖς τριηράρχοις παραγγείλας ἑτοίμας ἔχειν, ἂν ἦ χρεία ναυμαχεῖν, ἐπέπλευσε τοῖς πολεμίοις, προκαλεσόμενος εἰς ναυμαχίαν. ὁ δὲ Λύσανδρος πεπυσμένος παρά τινων αὐτομόλων τὴν ἄφοδον Ἀλκιβιάδου καὶ τῶν ἀρίστων μετʼ αὐτοῦ στρατιωτῶν, καιρὸν εἶναι διέλαβε πρᾶξαί τι τῆς Σπάρτης ἄξιον. διόπερ πάσαις ταῖς ναυσὶν ἀνταναχθεὶς μίαν μὲν τὴν προπλέουσαν τῶν δέκα, καθʼ ἣν Ἀντίοχος ἦν ἀντιτεταγμένος, κατέδυσε, τὰς δʼ ἄλλας τρεψάμενος ἐδίωξε, μέχρις οὗ τὰς ἄλλας πληρώσαντες οἱ τριήραρχοι τῶν Ἀθηναίων παρεβοήθησαν ἐν οὐδεμιᾷ τάξει. γενομένης δὲ ναυμαχίας ἀθρόαις ταῖς ναυσὶν οὐ μακρὰν τῆς γῆς, Ἀθηναῖοι διὰ τὴν ἀταξίαν ἠλαττώθησαν καὶ ναῦς ἀπέβαλον δύο πρὸς ταῖς εἴκοσι· τῶν δʼ ἐν αὐταῖς ἀνδρῶν ὀλίγοι μὲν ἐζωγρήθησαν,οἱ δὲ λοιποὶ πρὸς τὴν γῆν διενήξαντο. Ἀλκιβιάδης δὲ πυθόμενος τὸ γεγενημένον διὰ σπουδῆς ἀνέκαμψεν εἰς τὸ Νότιον, καὶ πάσας τὰς τριήρεις πληρώσας ἐπέπλευσε τοῖς λιμέσι τῶν πολεμίων· οὐ τολμῶντος δʼ ἀνταναχθῆναι τοῦ Λυσάνδρου τὸν πλοῦν εἰς Σάμον ἐποιήσατο.
When Alcibiades learned that Lysander was fitting out his fleet in Ephesus, he set sail for there with all his ships. He sailed up to the harbours, but when no one came out against him, he had most of his ships cast anchor at Notium, entrusting the command of them to Antiochus, his personal pilot, with orders not to accept battle until he should be present, while he took the troop-ships and sailed in haste to Clazomenae; for this city, which was an ally of the Athenians, was suffering from forays by some of its exiles. But Antiochus, who was by nature an impetuous man and was eager to accomplish some brilliant deed on his own account, paid no attention to the orders of Alcibiades, but manning ten of the best ships and ordering the captains to keep the others ready in case they should need to accept battle, he sailed up to the enemy in order to challenge them to battle. But Lysander, who had learned from certain deserters of the departure of Alcibiades and his best soldiers, decided that the favourable time had come for him to strike a blow worthy of Sparta. Accordingly, putting out to sea for the attack with all his ships, he encountered the leading one of the ten ships, the one on which Antiochus had taken his place for the attack, and sank it, and then, putting the rest to flight, he chased them until the Athenian captains manned the rest of their vessels and came to the rescue, but in no battle order at all. In the sea-battle which followed between the two entire fleets not far from the land the Athenians, because of their disorder, were defeated and lost twenty-two ships, but of their crews only a few were taken captive and the rest swam to safety ashore. When Alcibiades learned what had taken place, he returned in haste to Notium and manning all the triremes sailed to the harbours which were held by the enemy; but since Lysander would not venture to come out against him, he directed his course to Samos.
§ 13.72
τούτων δὲ πραττομένων Θρασύβουλος ὁ τῶν Ἀθηναίων στρατηγὸς μετὰ νεῶν πεντεκαίδεκα πλεύσας ἐπὶ Θάσον ἐνίκησε μάχῃ τοὺς ἐκ τῆς πόλεως καὶ περὶ διακοσίους αὐτῶν ἀνεῖλεν· ἐγκλείσας δʼ αὐτοὺς εἰς πολιορκίαν ἠνάγκασε τοὺς φυγάδας τοὺς τὰ τῶν Ἀθηναίων φρονοῦντας καταδέχεσθαι, καὶ φρουρὰν λαβόντας συμμάχους Ἀθηναίων εἶναι. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα πλεύσας εἰς Ἄβδηρα προσηγάγετο πόλιν ἐν ταῖς δυνατωτάταις οὖσαν τότε τῶν ἐπὶ Θρᾴκης. οἱ μὲν οὖν στρατηγοὶ τῶν Ἀθηναίων ταῦτα ἔπραξαν μετὰ τὸν οἴκοθεν ἔκπλουν. Ἆγις δʼ ὁ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων βασιλεὺς ἔτυχε μὲν ἐν τῇ Δεκελείᾳ διατρίβων μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως, πυνθανόμενος δὲ τοὺς κρατίστους τῶν Ἀθηναίων μετʼ Ἀλκιβιάδου στρατευομένους, νυκτὸς ἀσελήνου τὸ στρατόπεδον ἤγαγεν ἐπὶ τὰς Ἀθήνας. εἶχε δὲ πεζοὺς δισμυρίους ὀκτακισχιλίους, ὧν ἦσαν οἱ μὲν ἡμίσεις ὁπλῖται κατʼ ἐκλογήν, οἱ δʼ ἡμίσεις ψιλοί· κατηκολούθουν δʼ αὐτῷ καὶ τῶν ἱππέων εἰς χιλίους διακοσίους, ὧν ἐννακοσίους μὲν Βοιωτοὶ παρείχοντο, τοὺς δὲ λοιποὺς Πελοποννήσιοι συνεξέπεμψαν. ὡς δʼ ἐγγὺς ἐγενήθη τῆς πόλεως, ἔλαθε ταῖς προφυλακαῖς ἐγγίσας, καὶ ῥᾳδίως αὐτοὺς τρεψάμενος διὰ τὸ παράδοξον, ὀλίγους μὲν ἀνεῖλε, τοὺς δʼ ἄλλους συνεδίωξεν ἐντὸς τῶν τειχῶν. οἱ δʼ Ἀθηναῖοι μαθόντες τὸ γεγενημένον, ἅπασι παρήγγειλαν τοῖς πρεσβυτέροις καὶ τοῖς μεγίστοις παισὶν ἀπαντᾶν μετὰ τῶν ὅπλων· ὧν ταχὺ τὸ προσταχθὲν ποιησάντων, ὁ μὲν κύκλος τοῦ τείχους πλήρης ἐγένετο τῶν ἐπὶ τὸν κοινὸν κίνδυνον συνδεδραμηκότων, οἱ δὲ στρατηγοὶ τῶν Ἀθηναίων ἅμʼ ἡμέρᾳ θεωροῦντες ἐκτεταγμένην τὴν τῶν πολεμίων δύναμιν εἰς φάλαγγα τὸ μὲν βάθος εἰς τέτταρας ἄνδρας, τὸ δὲ μῆκος ἐπὶ σταδίους ὀκτώ, τότε πρῶτον κατεπλάγησαν, θεωροῦντες τὰ δύο μέρη σχεδὸν τοῦ τείχους ὑπὸ τῶν πολεμίων περιειλημμένα. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τοὺς ἱππεῖς ἐξαπέστειλαν, ὄντας παραπλησίους τὸν ἀριθμὸν τοῖς ἐναντίοις· ὧν πρὸ τῆς πόλεως συστησαμένων ἱππομαχίαν ἐπί τινα χρόνον ἐγένετο καρτερὰ μάχη. ἡ μὲν γὰρ φάλαγξ περὶ πέντε σταδίους ἀπεῖχε τοῦ τείχους, οἱ δʼ ἱππεῖς συμπλακέντες ἀλλήλοις πρὸς αὐτοῖς τοῖς τείχεσι διηγωνίζοντο. οἱ μὲν οὖν Βοιωτοὶ καθʼ αὑτοὺς προνενικηκότες ἐπὶ Δηλίῳ τοὺς Ἀθηναίους, δεινὸν ἡγοῦντο τῶν ἡττημένων φανῆναι καταδεέστεροι· οἱ δʼ Ἀθηναῖοι θεατὰς ἔχοντες τῆς ἀρετῆς τοὺς ἐπὶ τῶν τειχῶν ἐφεστῶτας καὶ κατὰ ἄνδρα γνωριζόμενοι, πᾶν ὑπέμενον ὑπὲρ τῆς νίκης. τέλος δὲ βιασάμενοι τοὺς ἀντιτεταγμένους, συχνοὺς μὲν αὐτῶν ἀνεῖλον, τοὺς δʼ ἄλλους κατεδίωξαν μέχρι τῆς τῶν πεζῶν φάλαγγος. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα οὗτοι μὲν ἐπιπορευομένων τῶν πεζῶν ἀνεχώρησαν εἰς τὴν πόλιν,
While these events were taking place Thrasybulus, the Athenian general, sailing to Thasos with fifteen ships defeated in battle the troops who came out from the city and slew about two hundred of them; then, having bottled them up in a siege of the city, he forced them to receive back their exiles, that is the men who favoured the Athenians, to accept a garrison, and to be allies of the Athenians. After this, sailing to Abdera, he brought that city, which at that time was among the most powerful in Thrace, over to the side of the Athenians. Now the foregoing is what the Athenian generals had accomplished since they sailed from Athens. But Agis, the king of the Lacedemonians, as it happened, was at the time in Deceleia with his army, and when he learned that the best Athenian troops were engaged in an expedition with Alcibiades, he led his army on a moonless night to Athens. He had twenty-eight thousand infantry, one-half of whom were picked hoplites and the other half light-armed troops; there were also attached to his army some twelve hundred cavalry, of whom the Boeotians furnished nine hundred and the rest had been sent with him by Peloponnesians. As he drew near the city, he came upon the outposts before they were aware of him, and easily dispersing them because they were taken by surprise he slew a few and pursued the rest within the walls. When the Athenians learned what had happened, they issued orders for all the older men and the sturdiest of the youth to present themselves under arms. Since these promptly responded to the call, the circuit of the wall was manned with those who had rushed together to meet the common peril; and the Athenian generals, when in the morning they surveyed the army of the enemy extended in a line four men deep and eight stades in length, at the moment were at first dismayed, seeing as they did that approximately two-thirds of the wall was surrounded by the enemy. After this, however, they sent out their cavalry, who were about equal in number to the opposing cavalry, and when the two bodies met in a cavalry-battle before the city, sharp fighting ensued which lasted for some time. For the line of the infantry was some five stades from the wall, but the cavalry which had engaged each other were fighting at the very walls. Now the Boeotians, who by themselves alone had formerly defeated the Athenians at Delium, thought it would be a terrible thing if they should prove to be inferior to the men they had once conquered, while the Athenians, since they had as spectators of their valour the populace standing upon the walls and were known every one to them, were ready to endure everything for the sake of victory. Finally, overpowering their opponents they slew great numbers of them and pursued the remainder as far as the line of the infantry. After this when the infantry advanced against them, they withdrew within the city.
§ 13.73
Ἆγις δὲ τότε μὲν οὐ κρίνας πολιορκεῖν ἐν Ἀκαδημίᾳ κατεστρατοπέδευσε, τῇ δʼ ὑστεραίᾳ τῶν Ἀθηναίων στησάντων τρόπαιον ἐξέταξε τὴν δύναμιν καὶ προεκαλεῖτο τοὺς ἐν τῇ πόλει περὶ τοῦ τροπαίου διαγωνίσασθαι. τῶν δʼ Ἀθηναίων ἐξαγαγόντων τοὺς στρατιώτας καὶ παρὰ τὸ τεῖχος παραταττομένων, τὸ μὲν πρῶτον οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι πρὸς μάχην ὥρμησαν, ἀπὸ δὲ τῶν τειχῶν πολλοῦ πλήθους βελῶν ἐπʼ αὐτοὺς ῥιφέντος ἀπήγαγον τὴν δύναμιν ἀπὸ τῆς πόλεως· μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τὸ λοιπὸν τῆς Ἀττικῆς δῃώσαντες εἰς Πελοπόννησον ἀπηλλάγησαν. Ἀλκιβιάδης δὲ ἐκ Σάμου μετὰ πασῶν τῶν νεῶν πλεύσας εἰς Κύμην ψευδεῖς αἰτίας ἐπέρριψε τοῖς Κυμαίοις, βουλόμενος αὐτῶν μετὰ προφάσεως διαρπάσαι τὴν χώραν. καὶ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον πολλῶν αἰχμαλώτων σωμάτων κυριεύσας ἀπῆγεν ἐπὶ τὰς ναῦς· ἐκβοηθησάντων δὲ τῶν ἐκ τῆς πόλεως πανδημεὶ καὶ προσπεσόντων ἀπροσδοκήτως, χρόνον μέν τινα διεκαρτέρουν οἱ περὶ τὸν Ἀλκιβιάδην, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τοῖς Κυμαίοις προσγενομένων πολλῶν τῶν ἐκ τῆς πόλεως καὶ τῆς χώρας ἠναγκάσθησαν καταλιπόντες τοὺς αἰχμαλώτους καταφυγεῖν ἐπὶ τὰς ναῦς. ὁ δʼ Ἀλκιβιάδης ἐπὶ τοῖς ἐλαττώμασι περιαλγὴς γενόμενος ἐκ Μιτυλήνης μετεπέμψατο τοὺς ὁπλίτας, καὶ πρὸ τῆς πόλεως ἐκτάξας τὴν δύναμιν προεκαλεῖτο τοὺς Κυμαίους εἰς μάχην· οὐδενὸς δʼ ἐξιόντος δῃώσας τὴν χώραν ἀπέπλευσεν ἐπὶ Μιτυλήνην. Κυμαίων δὲ πεμψάντων εἰς Ἀθήνας πρεσβείαν καὶ κατηγορούντων Ἀλκιβιάδου, διότι σύμμαχον πόλιν οὐδὲν ἀδικήσασαν ἐπόρθησεν· ἐγίνοντο δὲ καὶ ἄλλαι πολλαὶ διαβολαὶ κατʼ αὐτοῦ· τῶν γὰρ ἐν Σάμῳ τινὲς στρατιωτῶν ἀλλοτρίως τὰ πρὸς αὐτὸν ἔχοντες ἔπλευσαν εἰς Ἀθήνας, καὶ κατηγόρησαν ἐν ἐκκλησίᾳ κατʼ Ἀλκιβιάδου, ὅτι τὰ Λακεδαιμονίων φρονεῖ καὶ πρὸς Φαρνάβαζον ἔχει φιλίαν, διʼ ἧς ἐλπίζει καταλυθέντος τοῦ πολέμου καταδυναστεύσειν τῶν πολιτῶν.
Agis, deciding for the time not to lay siege to the city, pitched camp in the Academy, but on the next day, after the Athenians had set up a trophy, he drew up his army in battle order and challenged the troops in the city to fight it out for the possession of the trophy. The Athenians led forth their soldiers and drew them up along the wall, and at first the Lacedemonians advanced to offer battle, but since a great multitude of missiles was hurled at them from the walls, they led their army away from the city. After this they ravaged the rest of Attica and then departed to the Peloponnesus. Alcibiades, having sailed with all his ships from Samos to Cyme, hurled false charges against the Cymaeans, since he wished to have an excuse for plundering their territory. And at the outset he gained possession of many captives and was taking them to his ships; but when the men of the city came out en masse to the rescue and fell unexpectedly on Alcibiades' troops, for a time they stood off the attack, but as later many from the city and countryside reinforced the Cymaeans, they were forced to abandon their prisoners and flee for safety to their ships. Alcibiades, being greatly distressed by his reverses, summoned his hoplites from Mitylene, and drawing up his army before the city he challenged the Cymaeans to battle; but when no one came out of the city, he ravaged its territory and sailed off to Mitylene. The Cymaeans dispatched an embassy to Athens and denounced Alcibiades for having laid waste an allied city which had done no wrong; and there were also many other charges brought against him; for some of the soldiers at Samos, who were at odds with him, sailed to Athens and accused Alcibiades in the Assembly of favouring the Lacedemonian cause and of forming ties of friendship with Pharnabazus whereby he hoped that at the conclusion of the war he should lord it over his fellow citizens.
§ 13.74
ταχὺ δὲ τοῦ πλήθους πιστεύοντος ταῖς διαβολαῖς, ἡ μὲν περὶ Ἀλκιβιάδην ἐθραύετο δόξα διὰ τὸ περὶ τὴν ναυμαχίαν ἐλάττωμα καὶ τὰ περὶ τὴν Κύμην ἡμαρτημένα, ὁ δὲ τῶν Ἀθηναίων δῆμος ὑφορώμενος τὴν τἀνδρὸς τόλμαν δέκα στρατηγοὺς εἵλατο, Κόνωνα, Λυσίαν, Διομέδοντα, Περικλέα, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις Ἐρασινίδην, Ἀριστοκράτην, Ἀρχέστρατον, Πρωτόμαχον, Θρασύβουλον, Ἀριστογένην· ἐκ δὲ τούτων προκρίνας Κόνωνα ταχέως ἐξέπεμψε παρʼ Ἀλκιβιάδου τὸ ναυτικὸν παραληψόμενον. Ἀλκιβιάδης δὲ τῆς ἀρχῆς ἐκχωρήσας τῷ Κόνωνι καὶ τὰς δυνάμεις παραδούς, τὴν μὲν εἰς Ἀθήνας ἐπάνοδον ἀπέγνω, μετὰ δὲ τριήρους μιᾶς εἰς Πακτύην τῆς Θρᾴκης ἀπεχώρησε· χωρὶς γὰρ τῆς τοῦ πλήθους ὀργῆς καὶ τὰς ἐπενηνεγμένας αὐτῷ δίκας εὐλαβεῖτο. πολλοὶ γὰρ θεωροῦντες αὐτὸν κακῶς φερόμενον ἐπενηνόχεισαν ἐγκλήματα πολλά· μέγιστον δʼ ἦν τὸ περὶ τῶν ἵππων, τετιμημένον ταλάντων ὀκτώ. Διομήδους γάρ τινος τῶν φίλων συμπέμψαντος αὐτῷ τέθριππον εἰς Ὀλυμπίαν, ὁ Ἀλκιβιάδης κατὰ τὴν ἀπογραφὴν τὴν εἰωθυῖαν γίνεσθαι τοὺς ἵππους ἰδίους ἀπεγράψατο, καὶ νικήσας τὸ τέθριππον τήν τʼ ἐκ τῆς νίκης δόξαν αὐτὸς ἀπηνέγκατο καὶ τοὺς ἵππους οὐκ ἀπέδωκε τῷ πιστεύσαντι. ταῦτα δὴ πάντα διανοούμενος ἐφοβεῖτο, μήποτε καιρὸν λαβόντες Ἀθηναῖοι τιμωρίαν ἐπιθῶσι περὶ πάντων ὧν εἰς αὐτοὺς ἐξήμαρτεν· αὐτὸς οὖν αὑτοῦ κατέγνω φυγήν.
Since the multitude soon began to believe these accusations, not only was the fame of Alcibiades damaged because of his defeat in the sea-battle and the wrongs he had committed against Cyme, but the Athenian people, viewing with suspicion the boldness of the man, chose as the ten generals Conon, Lysias, Diomedon, and Pericles, and in addition Erasinides, Aristocrates, Archestratus, Protomachus, Thrasybulus, and Aristogenes. Of these they gave first place to Conon and dispatched him at once to take over the fleet from Alcibiades. After Alcibiades had relinquished his command to Conon and handed over his armaments, he gave up any thought of returning to Athens, but with one trireme withdrew to Pactye in Thrace, since, apart from the anger of the multitude, he was afraid of the law-suits which had been brought against him. For there were many who, on seeing how he was hated, had filed numerous complaints against him, the most important of which was the one about the horses, involving the sum of eight talents. Diomedes, it appears, one of his friends, had sent in his care a four-horse team to Olympia; and Alcibiades, when entering it in the usual way, listed the horses as his own; and when he was the victor in the four-horse race, Alcibiades took for himself the glory of the victory and did not return the horses to the man who had entrusted them to his care. As he thought about all these things he was afraid lest the Athenians, seizing a suitable occasion, would inflict punishment upon him for all the wrongs he had committed against them. Consequently he himself condemned himself to exile.
§ 13.75
προσετέθη δὲ καὶ συνωρὶς κατὰ τὴν αὐτὴν Ὀλυμπιάδα, καὶ παρὰ Λακεδαιμονίοις Πλειστῶναξ ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐτελεύτησεν ἄρξας ἔτη πεντήκοντα, διαδεξάμενος δὲ τὴν ἀρχὴν Παυσανίας ἦρξεν ἔτη τετταρακαίδεκα. οἱ δὲ τὴν Ῥόδον νῆσον κατοικοῦντες καὶ Ἰηλυσὸν καὶ Λίνδον καὶ Κάμειρον μετῳκίσθησαν εἰς μίαν πόλιν τὴν νῦν καλουμένην Ῥόδον. Ἑρμοκράτης δʼ ὁ Συρακόσιος ἀναλαβὼν τοὺς μετʼ αὐτοῦ στρατεύοντας ὥρμησεν ἐκ Σελινοῦντος, καὶ παραγενόμενος πρὸς τὴν Ἱμέραν κατεστρατοπέδευσεν ἐν τοῖς προαστείοις τῆς ἀνατετραμμένης πόλεως. διαπυθόμενος δʼ ἐν ᾧ τόπῳ παρετάχθησαν οἱ Συρακόσιοι, τὰ τῶν τετελευτηκότων ὀστᾶ συνήθροιζε, παρασκευάσας δʼ ἁμάξας πολυτελῶς κεκοσμημένας, ἐπὶ τούτων παρεκόμισεν αὐτὰ ἐπὶ τὴν Συράκουσαν. αὐτὸς μὲν οὖν ἐπὶ τῶν ὅρων κατέμεινε διὰ τὸ κωλύεσθαι τοὺς φυγάδας ὑπὸ τῶν νόμων συνιέναι, τῶν δὲ μετʼ αὐτοῦ τινας ἀπέστειλεν, οἳ τὰς ἁμάξας παρεκόμισαν εἰς τὰς Συρακούσας. ὁ δʼ Ἑρμοκράτης ταῦτα ἔπραττεν, ὅπως ὁ μὲν Διοκλῆς ἀντιπράττων αὐτῷ περὶ τῆς καθόδου, δοκῶν δʼ αἴτιος εἶναι τοῦ περιεωρᾶσθαι τοὺς τετελευτηκότας ἀτάφους, προσκόψαι τοῖς πλήθεσιν, αὐτὸς δὲ φιλανθρώπως τούτοις προσενεχθεὶς ἐπαγάγοι τὸ πλῆθος εἰς τὴν προτέραν εὔνοιαν. τῶν οὖν ὀστῶν παρακομισθέντων ἐνέπεσεν εἰς τὰ πλήθη στάσις, τοῦ μὲν Διοκλέους κωλύοντος θάπτειν, τῶν δὲ πολλῶν συγκατατιθεμένων. τέλος δʼ οἱ Συρακόσιοι ἔθαψάν τε τὰ λείψανα τῶν τετελευτηκότων καὶ πανδημεὶ τὴν ἐκφορὰν ἐτίμησαν. καὶ ὁ μὲν Διοκλῆς ἐφυγαδεύθη, τὸν δʼ Ἑρμοκράτην οὐδʼ ὣς προσεδέξαντο· ὑπώπτευον γὰρ τὴν τἀνδρὸς τόλμαν, μήποτε τυχὼν ἡγεμονίας ἀναδείξῃ ἑαυτὸν τύραννον. ὁ μὲν οὖν Ἑρμοκράτης τότε τὸν καιρὸν οὐχ ὁρῶν εὔθετον εἰς τὸ βιάσασθαι, πάλιν ἀνεχώρησεν εἰς Σελινοῦντα. μετὰ δέ τινα χρόνον τῶν φίλων αὐτὸν μεταπεμπομένων ὥρμησε μετὰ τρισχιλίων στρατιωτῶν, καὶ πορευθεὶς διὰ τῆς Γελῴας ἧκε νυκτὸς ἐπὶ τὸν συντεταγμένον τόπον. οὐ δυνηθέντων δὲ ἁπάντων ἀκολουθῆσαι τῶν στρατιωτῶν, ὁ μὲν Ἑρμοκράτης μετʼ ὀλίγων προσελθὼν τῷ κατὰ τὴν Ἀχραδινὴν πυλῶνι, καὶ τῶν φίλων τινὰς εὑρὼν προκατειλημμένους τοὺς τόπους, ἀνελάμβανε τοὺς ἀφυστεροῦντας· οἱ δὲ Συρακόσιοι τὸ γεγενημένον ἀκούσαντες σὺν τοῖς ὅπλοις ἦλθον εἰς τὴν ἀγοράν, καθʼ ἣν μετὰ πολλοῦ πλήθους ἐπιφανέντες τόν τε Ἑρμοκράτην καὶ τῶν συμπραττόντων αὐτῷ τοὺς πλείστους ἀπέκτειναν. τοὺς δὲ ἀπὸ τῆς μάχης διασωθέντας μεθιστάντες εἰς κρίσιν φυγῇ κατεδίκαζον· διόπερ τινὲς αὐτῶν πολλοῖς περιπεσόντες τραύμασιν ὡς τετελευτηκότες ὑπὸ τῶν συγγενῶν παρεδόθησαν, ὅπως μὴ τῇ τοῦ πλήθους ὀργῇ παραδοθῶσιν, ὧν ἦν καὶ Διονύσιος ὁ μετὰ ταῦτα τῶν Συρακοσίων τυραννήσας.
The two-horse chariot race was added in this same Olympic Festival; and, among the Lacedemonians Pleistonax, their king, died after a reign of fifty years, and Pausanias succeeded to the throne and reigned for fourteen years. Also the inhabitants of the island of Rhodes left the cities of Ielysus, Lindus and Cameirus and settled in one city, that which is now called Rhodes. Hermocrates, the Syracusan, taking his soldiers set out from Selinus, and on arriving at Himera he pitched camp in the suburbs of the city, which lay in ruins. And finding out the place where the Syracusans had made their stand, he collected the bones of the dead and putting them upon wagons which he had constructed and embellished at great cost he conveyed them to Syracuse. Now Hermocrates himself stopped at the border of Syracusan territory, since the exiles were forbidden by the laws from accompanying the bones farther, but he sent on some of his troops who brought the wagons to Syracuse. Hermocrates acted in this way in order that Diocles, who opposed his return and was generally believed to be responsible for lack of concern over the failure to bury the dead, should fall out with the masses, whereas he, by his humane consideration for the dead, would win the multitude back to the feeling of goodwill in which they had formerly held him. Now when the bones had been brought into the city, civil discord arose among the masses, Diocles objecting to their burial and the majority favouring it. Finally the Syracusans not only buried the remains of the dead but also by turning out en masse paid honour to the burial procession. Diocles was exiled; but even so they did not receive Hermocrates back, since they were wary of the daring of the man and feared lest, once he had gained a position of leadership, he should proclaim himself tyrant. Accordingly Hermocrates, seeing that the time was not opportune for resorting to force, withdrew again to Selinus. But some time later, when his friends sent for him, he set out with three thousand soldiers, and making his way through the territory of Gela he arrived at night at the place agreed upon. Although not all his soldiers had been able to accompany him, Hermocrates with a small number of them came to the gate on Achradine, and when he found that some of his friends had already occupied the region, he waited to pick up the late-comers. But when the Syracusans heard what had happened, they gathered in the market-place under arms, and here, since they appeared accompanied by a great multitude, they slew both Hermocrates and most of his supporters. Those who had not been killed in the fighting were brought to trial and sentenced to exile; consequently some of them who had been severely wounded were reported by their relatives as having died, in order that they might not be given over to the wrath of the multitude. Among their number was Dionysius, who later became tyrant of the Syracusans.
§ 13.76
τῶν δὲ κατὰ τὸν ἐνιαυτὸν τοῦτον πράξεων τέλος ἐχουσῶν Ἀθήνησι μὲν Ἀντιγένης τὴν ἀρχὴν παρέλαβε, Ῥωμαῖοι δʼ ὑπάτους κατέστησαν Γάιον Μάνιον Αἰμίλιον καὶ Γάιον Οὐαλέριον. περὶ δὲ τούτους τοὺς χρόνους Κόνων ὁ τῶν Ἀθηναίων στρατηγός, ἐπειδὴ παρέλαβε τὰς δυνάμεις ἐν Σάμῳ, τάς τε παρούσας τῶν νεῶν ἐξηρτύετο καὶ τὰς παρὰτῶν συμμάχων ἤθροιζε, σπεύδων ἐφάμιλλον κατασκευάσαι τὸν στόλον ταῖς τῶν πολεμίων ναυσίν. οἱ δὲ Σπαρτιᾶται, τῷ Λυσάνδρῳ διεληλυθότος ἤδη τοῦ τῆς ναυαρχίας χρόνου, Καλλικρατίδην ἐπὶ τὴν διαδοχὴν ἀπέστειλαν. οὗτος δὲ νέος μὲν ἦν παντελῶς, ἄκακος δὲ καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν ἁπλοῦς, οὔπω τῶν ξενικῶν ἠθῶν πεπειραμένος, δικαιότατος δὲ Σπαρτιατῶν· ὁμολογουμένως δὲ καὶ κατὰ τὴν ἀρχὴν οὐδὲν ἔπραξεν ἄδικον οὔτʼ εἰς πόλιν οὔτʼ εἰς ἰδιώτην, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῖς ἐπιχειροῦσιν αὐτὸν διαφθείρειν χρήμασι χαλεπῶς ἔφερε καὶ δίκην παρʼ αὐτῶν ἐλάμβανεν. οὗτος καταπλεύσας εἰς Ἔφεσον παρέλαβε τὰς ναῦς, μεταπεμψάμενος δὲ καὶ τὰς παρὰ τῶν συμμάχων ναῦς τὰς πάσας σὺν ταῖς παρὰ Λυσάνδρου παρέλαβεν ἑκατὸν τεσσαράκοντα. ἐν δὲ τῇ Χίων χώρᾳ Δελφίνιον κατεχόντων Ἀθηναίων, ἐπὶ τούτους ἔπλευσε μετὰ πασῶν τῶν νεῶν, καὶ πολιορκεῖν ἐπεχείρησεν. οἱ δʼ Ἀθηναῖοι περὶ πεντακοσίους ὄντες κατεπλάγησαν τὸ μέγεθος τῆς δυνάμεως, καὶ διεξελθόντες ἐξέλιπον τὸ χωρίον ὑπόσπονδοι. Καλλικρατίδας δὲ τὸ μὲν φρούριον παραλαβὼν κατέσκαψεν, ἐπὶ δὲ Τηίους πλεύσας, καὶ νυκτὸς παρεισπεσὼν ἐντὸς τῶν τειχῶν, διήρπασε τὴν πόλιν. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα πλεύσας εἰς Λέσβον, τῇ Μηθύμνῃ προσέβαλε μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως παρʼ Ἀθηναίων ἐχούσῃ φρουράν. ποιησάμενος δὲ συνεχεῖς προσβολὰς ἐν ἀρχῇ μὲν οὐδὲν ἤνυε, μετʼ ὀλίγον δέ τινων ἐνδόντων αὐτῷ τὴν πόλιν παρεισέπεσεν ἐντὸς τῶν τειχῶν, καὶ τὰς μὲν κτήσεις διήρπασε, τῶν δʼ ἀνδρῶν φεισάμενος ἀπέδωκε τοῖς Μηθυμναίοις τὴν πόλιν. τούτων δὲ πραχθέντων ἐπὶ τὴν Μιτυλήνην ὥρμησε, καὶ τοὺς μὲν ὁπλίτας Θώρακι τῷ Λακεδαιμονίῳ παραδοὺς ἐκέλευσε πεζῇ κατὰ σπουδὴν ἐπείγεσθαι, ταῖς δὲ ναυσὶν αὐτὸς παρέπλευσεν.
When the events of this year came to an end, in Athens Antigenes took over the office of archon and the Romans elected as consuls Gaius Manius Aemilius and Gaius Valerius. About this time Conon, the Athenian general, now that he had taken over the armaments in Samos, fitted out the ships which were in that place and also collected those of the allies, since he was intent upon making his fleet a match for the ships of the enemy. And the Spartans, when Lysander's period of command as admiral had expired, dispatched Callicratidas to succeed him. Callicratidas was a very young man, without guile and straightforward in character, since he had had as yet no experience of the ways of foreign peoples, and was the most just man among the Spartans; and it is agreed by all that also during his period of command he committed no wrong against either a city or a private citizen but dealt summarily with those who tried to corrupt him with money and had them punished. He put in at Ephesus and took over the fleet, and since he had already sent for the ships of the allies, the sum total he took over, including those of Lysander, was one hundred and forty. And since the Athenians had Delphinium in the territory of the Chians, he sailed against them with all his ships and undertook to lay siege to it. The Athenians, who numbered some five hundred, were dismayed at the great size of his force and abandoned the place, passing through the enemy under a truce. Callicratidas took over the fortress and levelled it to the ground, and then, sailing against the Teians, he stole inside the walls of the city by night and plundered it. After this he sailed to Lesbos and with his force attacked Methymne, which held a garrison of Athenians. Although he launched repeated assaults, at first he accomplished nothing, but soon afterward, with the help of certain men who betrayed the city to him, he broke inside its walls, and although he plundered its wealth, he spared lives of the inhabitants and returned the city to the Methymnaeans. After these exploits he made for Mitylene; and assigning the hoplites to Thorax, the Lacedemonian, he ordered him to advance by land with all speed and himself sailed on past Thorax with his fleet.
§ 13.77
Κόνων δʼ ὁ τῶν Ἀθηναίων στρατηγὸς εἶχε μὲν ἑβδομήκοντα ναῦς, οὕτως ἐξηρτυμένας τὰ πρὸς ναυμαχίαν ὡς οὐδεὶς ἕτερος τῶν πρότερον στρατηγῶν ἦν κατεσκευακώς. ἔτυχε μὲν οὖν ἁπάσαις ἀνηγμένος ἐπὶ τὴν βοήθειαν τῆς Μηθύμνης· εὑρὼν δὲ αὐτὴν ἡλωκυῖαν τότε μὲν ηὐλίσθη πρός τινι νήσῳ τῶν Ἑκατὸν καλουμένων, ἅμα δʼ ἡμέρᾳ κατανοήσας τὰς τῶν πολεμίων ναῦς προσπλεούσας, τὸ μὲν αὐτοῦ διαναυμαχεῖν ἔκρινεν ἐπισφαλὲς εἶναι πρὸς διπλασίας τριήρεις, διενοεῖτο δὲ ἔξω πλέων φυγεῖν καὶ προσεπισπασάμενός τινας τῶν πολεμίων τριήρων ναυμαχῆσαι πρὸς τῇ Μιτυλήνῃ· οὕτως γὰρ ὑπελάμβανε νικῶν μὲν ἕξειν ἀναστροφὴν εἰς τὸ διώκειν, ἡττώμενος δʼ εἰς τὸν λιμένα καταφεύξεσθαι. ἐμβιβάσας οὖν τοὺς στρατιώτας ἔπλει σχολαίως ταῖς εἰρεσίαις χρώμενος, ὅπως αἱ τῶν Πελοποννησίων ἐγγίσωσιν. οἱ δὲ Λακεδαιμόνιοι προσιόντες ἀεὶ μᾶλλον ἤλαυνον τὰς ναῦς, ἐλπίζοντες αἱρήσειν τὰς ἐσχάτας τῶν πολεμίων. τοῦ δὲ Κόνωνος ὑποχωροῦντος οἱ τὰς ἀρίστας ἔχοντες ναῦς τῶν Πελοποννησίων κατὰ σπουδὴν ἐδίωκον, καὶ τοὺς μὲν ἐρέτας διὰ τὴν συνέχειαν τῆς εἰρεσίας ἐξέλυσαν, αὐτοὶ δὲ πολὺ τῶν ἄλλων ἀπεσπάσθησαν. ἃ δὴ συνιδὼν ὁ Κόνων, ὡς ἤδη τῆς Μιτυλήνης ἤγγιζον, ἦρεν ἀπὸ τῆς ἰδίας νεὼς φοινικίδα· τοῦτο γὰρ σύσσημον ἦν τοῖς τριηράρχοις. διόπερ αἱ μὲν ναῦς, τῶν πολεμίων ἐξαπτομένων, ἐξαίφνης πρὸς ἕνα καιρὸν ἐπέστρεψαν, καὶ τὸ μὲν πλῆθος ἐπαιάνισεν, οἱ δὲ σαλπικταὶ τὸ πολεμικὸν ἐσήμηναν· οἱ δὲ Πελοποννήσιοι καταπλαγέντες ἐπὶ τῷ γεγονότι ταχέως ἐπεχείρουν ἀντιπαρατάττειν τὰς ναῦς, τοῦ καιροῦ δʼ ἀναστροφὴν οὐ διδόντος οὗτοι μὲν ἐν πολλῷ θορύβῳ καθειστήκεισαν διὰ τὸ τὰς ἀφυστερούσας ναῦς τὴν εἰθισμένην λελοιπέναι τάξιν,
Conon, the Athenian general, had seventy ships which he had fitted out with everything necessary for making war at sea more carefully than any other general had ever done by way of preparation. Now it so happened that he had put out to sea with all his ships when he went to the aid of Methymne; but on discovering that it had already fallen, at the time he had bivouacked at one of the Hundred Isles, as they are called, and at daybreak, when he observed that the enemy's ships were bearing down on him, he decided that it would be dangerous for him to join battle in that place with triremes double his in number, but he planned to avoid battle by sailing outside the Isles and, drawing some of the enemy's triremes after him, to engage them off Mitylene. For by such tactics, he assumed, in case of victory he could turn about and pursue and in case of defeat he could withdraw for safety to the harbour. Consequently, having put his soldiers on board ship, he set out with the oars at a leisurely stroke in order that the ships of the Peloponnesians might draw near him. And the Lacedemonians, as they approached, kept driving the ships faster and faster in the hope of seizing the hindmost ships of the enemy. As Conon withdrew, the commanders of the best ships of the Peloponnesians pushed the pursuit hotly, and they wore out the rowers by their continued exertion at the oars and were themselves separated a long distance from the others. Conon, noticing this, when his ships were already near Mitylene, raised from his flagship a red banner, for this was a signal for the captains of the triremes. At this his ships, even as the enemy was overhauling them, suddenly turned about at the same moment, and the crews raised the battle-song and the trumpeters sounded the attack. The Peloponnesians, dismayed at the turn of events, hastily endeavoured to draw up their ships to repel the attack, but as there was not time for them to turn about they had fallen into great confusion because the ships coming up after them had left their accustomed position.
§ 13.78
ὁ δὲ Κόνων δεξιῶς τῷ καιρῷ χρησάμενος εὐθὺς ἐνέκειτο, καὶ τὴν παράταξιν αὐτῶν διεκώλυεν, ἃς μὲν τιτρώσκων, ὧν δὲ τοὺς ταρσοὺς παρασύρων. τῶν μὲν οὖν κατὰ τὸν Κόνωνα ταχθεισῶν οὐδεμία πρὸς φυγὴν ἐπέστρεψεν, ἀλλὰ πρύμναν ἀνακρουόμεναι διεκαρτέρουν, προσδεχόμεναι τὰς ἀφυστερούσας· οἱ δὲ τὴν εὐώνυμον ἔχοντες τάξιν Ἀθηναῖοι τρεψάμενοι τοὺς καθʼ αὑτοὺς ἐπέκειντο φιλοτιμότερον ἐπὶ πολὺν χρόνον διώκοντες. ἤδη δὲ πασῶν τῶν νεῶν τοῖς Πελοποννησίοις ἠθροισμένων, ὁ μὲν Κόνων εὐλαβηθεὶς τὸ πλῆθος τῶν πολεμίων τοῦ μὲν διώκειν ἀπέστη, μετὰ τεσσαράκοντα δὲ νεῶν ἀπέπλευσεν εἰς Μιτυλήνην. τοὺς δὲ διώξαντας Ἀθηναίους αἱ τῶν Πελοποννησίων ναῦς ἅπασαι περιχυθεῖσαι κατεπλήξαντο, καὶ τῆς ἐπὶ τὴν πόλιν ἐπανόδου διακλείσασαι φυγεῖν πρὸς τὴν γῆν ἐβιάσαντο. ἐπικειμένων δὲ τῶν Πελοποννησίων πάσαις ταῖς ναυσίν, Ἀθηναῖοι θεωροῦντες μηδεμίαν σωτηρίαν ἄλλην ὑποκειμένην, κατέφυγον πρὸς τὴν γῆν, καὶ καταλιπόντες τὰ σκάφη διεσώθησαν εἰς Μιτυλήνην. Καλλικρατίδας δὲ τριάκοντα νεῶν κυριεύσας τὸ μὲν ναυτικὸν ἐθεώρει τῶν πολεμίων καταλελυμένον, πεζῇ δὲ τοὺς ἀγῶνας ἤλπιζεν ὑπολείπεσθαι. διόπερ οὗτος μὲν ἐπὶ τὴν πόλιν διέπλει, Κόνων δʼ ἅμα τῷ καταπλεῦσαι προσδεχόμενος τὴν πολιορκίαν, τὰ περὶ τὸν εἴσπλουν τοῦ λιμένος κατεσκεύαζεν· εἰς μὲν γὰρ τὰ βράχη τοῦ λιμένος πλοῖα μικρὰ πληρώσας λίθων κατεπόντισε, πρὸς δὲ τοῖς βάθεσιν ὁλκάδας καθώρμιζεν οὔσας λιθοφόρους. οἱ μὲν οὖν Ἀθηναῖοι καὶ τῶν Μιτυληναίων ὄχλος πολὺς ἐκ τῶν ἀγρῶν διὰ τὸν πόλεμον συνεληλυθὼς ταχέως κατεσκεύασε τὰ πρὸς τὴν πολιορκίαν. ὁ δὲ Καλλικρατίδας ἐκβιβάσας τοὺς στρατιώτας εἰς τὸν πλησίον τῆς πόλεως αἰγιαλὸν ἐποιήσατο παρεμβολήν, καὶ τρόπαιον ἀπὸ τῆς ναυμαχίας ἔστησεν. τῇ δʼ ὑστεραίᾳ τὰς κρατίστας τῶν νεῶν ἐπιλέξας, καὶ παρακελευσάμενος μὴ ἀπολείπεσθαι τῆς ἰδίας νεώς,ἀνήχθη, σπεύδων εἰς τὸν λιμένα πλεῦσαι καὶ λῦσαι τὸ διάφραγμα τῶν πολεμίων. ὁ δὲ Κόνων τοὺς μὲν εἰς τὰς τριήρεις ἐνεβίβασε καὶ κατὰ τὸν διέκπλουν ἀντιπρῴρους κατέστησε, τοὺς δʼ ἐπὶ τὰ μεγάλα πλοῖα διέταξε, τινὰς δʼ ἐπὶ τὰς χηλὰς τοῦ λιμένος παρέπεμψεν, ὅπως πανταχόθεν ᾖ πεφραγμένος καὶ κατὰ γῆν καὶ κατὰ θάλατταν. αὐτὸς μὲν οὖν ὁ Κόνων τὰς τριήρεις ἔχων ἐναυμάχει, πληρώσας τὸν μεταξὺ τόπον τῶν διαφραγμάτων· οἱ δʼ ἐπὶ τῶν μεγάλων πλοίων ἐφεστῶτες ἐπέρριψαν ταῖς τῶν πολεμίων ναυσὶ τοὺς ἀπὸ τῶν κεραιῶν λίθους· οἱ δʼ ἐπὶ ταῖς χηλαῖς τοῦ λιμένος τεταγμένοι διεκώλυον τοὺς ἀποτολμῶντας εἰς τὴν γῆν ἀποβαίνειν.
Conon, making clever use of the opportunity, at once pressed upon them, and prevented their establishing any order, damaging some ships and shearing off the rows of oars of others. Of the ships opposing Conon not one turned to flight, but they continued to back water while waiting for the ships which tarried behind; but the Athenians who held the left wing, putting to flight their opponents, pressed upon them with increasing eagerness and pursued them for a long time. But when the Peloponnesians had brought all their ships together, Conon, fearing the superior numbers of the enemy, stopped the pursuit and sailed off to Mitylene with forty ships. As for the Athenians who had set out in pursuit, all the Peloponnesian ships, swarming around them, struck terror into them, and cutting them off from return to the city compelled them to turn in flight to land. And since the Peloponnesians pressed upon them with all their ships, the Athenians, seeing no other means of deliverance, fled for safety to the land and deserting their vessels found refuge in Mitylene. Callicratidas, by the capture of thirty ships, was aware that the naval power of the enemy had been destroyed, but he anticipated that the fighting on land remained. Consequently he sailed on to the city, and Conon, who was expecting a siege when he arrived, began upon preparations about the entrance to the harbour; for in the shallow places of the harbour he sank small boats filled with rocks and in the deep waters he anchored merchantmen armed with stones. Now the Athenians and a great throng of the Mitylenaeans who had gathered from the fields into the city because of the war speedily completed preparations for the siege. Callicratidas, disembarking his soldiers on the beach near the city, pitched a camp, and then he set up a trophy for the sea-battle. And on the next day, after choosing out his beside ships and commanding them not to get far from his own ship, he put out to sea, being eager to sail into the harbour and break the barrier constructed by the enemy. Conon put some of his soldiers on the triremes, which he placed with their prows facing the open passage, and some he assigned to the large vessels, while others he sent to the breakwaters of the harbour in order that the harbour might be fenced in on every side, both by land and by sea. Then Conon himself with his triremes joined the battle, filling with his ships the space lying between the barriers; and the soldiers stationed on the large ships hurled the stones from the yardarms upon the ships of the enemy, while those drawn up on the breakwaters of the harbour held off those who might have ventured to disembark on the land.
§ 13.79
οἱ δὲ Πελοποννήσιοι τῆς τῶν Ἀθηναίων φιλοτιμίας ἐλείποντο οὐδέν. ταῖς γὰρ ναυσὶν ἀθρόαις ἐπιπλεύσαντες, καὶ τοὺς ἀρίστους ἄνδρας ἐπὶ τὰ καταστρώματα τάξαντες, τὴν ναυμαχίαν ἅμα καὶ πεζὴν ἐποιοῦντο μάχην· βιαζόμενοι γὰρ εἰς τὰς τῶν ἀντιτεταγμένων ναῦς ταῖς πρῴραις ἐπέβαινον τετολμηκότως, ὡς οὐχ ὑποστησομένων τὸ δεινὸν τῶν προηττημένων. οἱ δʼ Ἀθηναῖοι καὶ Μιτυληναῖοι μίαν ὁρῶντες ἀπολειπομένην σωτηρίαν τὴν ἐκ τῆς νίκης, εὐγενῶς ἀποθνήσκειν ἔσπευδον ὑπὲρ τοῦ μὴ λιπεῖν τὴν τάξιν. κατεχούσης δὲ φιλοτιμίας ἀνυπερβλήτου τὰ στρατόπεδα πολὺς ἐγένετο φόνος, ἁπάντων ἀφειδῶς τὰ σώματα τοῖς κινδύνοις παραρριπτόντων. οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἐπὶ τῶν καταστρωμάτων ὑπὸ τοῦ πλήθους τῶν εἰς αὐτοὺς φερομένων βελῶν κατετιτρώσκοντο, καὶ τινὲς μὲν ἐπικαίρως πληγέντες ἔπιπτον εἰς τὴν θάλατταν, τινὲς δʼ οὐκ αἰσθανόμενοι θερμῶν ἔτι τῶν πληγῶν οὐσῶν διηγωνίζοντο· πλεῖστοι δʼ ὑπὸ τῶν λιθοφόρων κεραιῶν ἔπιπτον, ὡς ἂν ἐξ ὑπερδεξίων τόπων βαλλόντων λίθους ὑπερμεγέθεις τῶν Ἀθηναίων. οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ τῆς μάχης ἐπὶ πολὺν χρόνον γενομένης, καὶ πολλῶν παρʼ ἀμφοτέροις ἀπολλυμένων, ὁ Καλλικρατίδας ἀνεκαλέσατο τῇ σάλπιγγι τοὺς στρατιώτας, βουλόμενος αὐτοὺς διαναπαῦσαι. μετὰ δέ τινα καιρὸν πάλιν πληρώσας τὰς ναῦς, καὶ πολὺν διαγωνισάμενος χρόνον, μόγις τῷ τε πλήθει τῶν νεῶν καὶ τῇ ῥώμῃ τῶν ἐπιβατῶν ἐξέωσε τοὺς Ἀθηναίους. ὧν συμφυγόντων εἰς τὸν ἐν τῇ πόλει λιμένα, διέπλευσε τὰ διαφράγματα, καὶ καθωρμίσθη πλησίον τῆς πόλεως τῶν Μιτυληναίων. ὁ γὰρ εἴσπλους ὑπὲρ οὗ διηγωνίζοντο λιμένα μὲν εἶχε καλόν, ἐκτὸς δὲ τῆς πόλεώς ἐστιν. ἡ μὲν γὰρ ἀρχαία πόλις μικρὰ νῆσός ἐστιν, ἡ δʼ ὕστερον προσοικισθεῖσα τῆς ἀντιπέραν ἐστὶ Λέσβου· ἀνὰ μέσον δʼ αὐτῶν ἐστιν εὔριπος στενὸς καὶ ποιῶν τὴν πόλιν ὀχυράν. ὁ δὲ Καλλικρατίδας ἐκβιβάσας τὴν δύναμιν περιεστρατοπέδευσε τὴν πόλιν, καὶ πανταχόθεν προσβολὰς ἐποιεῖτο. καὶ τὰ μὲν κατὰ τὴν Μιτυλήνην ἐν τούτοις ἦν. κατὰ δὲ Σικελίαν Συρακόσιοι πέμψαντες εἰς Καρχηδόνα πρέσβεις περί τε τοῦ πολέμου κατεμέμφοντο καὶ τὸ λοιπὸν ἠξίουν παύσασθαι τῆς διαφορᾶς. οἷς οἱ Καρχηδόνιοι τὰς ἀποκρίσεις ἀμφιβόλους δόντες, ἐν μὲν τῇ Λιβύῃ μεγάλας παρεσκευάζοντο δυνάμεις, ἐπιθυμοῦντες ἁπάσας τὰς ἐν τῇ νήσῳ πόλεις καταδουλώσασθαι· πρὶν ἢ δὲ τὰ στρατόπεδα διαβιβάζειν, καταλέξαντες τῶν πολιτῶν τινας καὶ τῶν ἄλλων Λιβύων τοὺς βουλομένους ἔκτισαν ἐν τῇ Σικελίᾳ πρὸς αὐτοῖς τοῖς θερμοῖς ὕδασι πόλιν, ὀνομάσαντες Θέρμα.
The Peloponnesians were not a whit outdone by the emulation displayed by the Athenians. Advancing with their ships in mass formation and with their best soldiers lined up on the decks they made the sea-battle also a fight between infantry; for as they pressed upon their opponents' ships they boldly boarded their prows, in the belief that men who had once been defeated would not stand up to the terror of battle. But the Athenians and Mitylenaeans, seeing that the single hope of safety left to them lay in their victory, were resolved to die nobly rather than leave their station. And so, since an unsurpassable emulation pervaded both forces, a great slaughter ensued, all the participants exposing their bodies, without regard of risk, to the perils of battle. The soldiers on the decks were wounded by the multitude of missiles which flew at them, and some of them, who were mortally struck, fell into the sea, while some, so long as their wounds were fresh, fought on without feeling them; but very many fell victims to the stones that were hurled by the stone-carrying yardarms, since the Athenians kept up a shower of huge stones from these commanding positions. The fighting had continued, none the less, for a long while and many had met death on both sides, when Callicratidas, wishing to give his soldiers a breathing-spell, sounded the recall. After some time he again manned his ships and continued the struggle over a long period, and with great effort, by means of the superior number of his ships and the strength of the marines, he thrust out the Athenians. And when the Athenians fled for refuge to the harbour within the city, he sailed through the barriers and brought his ships to anchor near the city of the Mitylenaeans. It may be explained that the entrance for whose control they had fought had a good harbour, which, however, lies outside the city. For the ancient city is a small island, and the later city, which was founded near it, is opposite it on the island of Lesbos; and between the two cities is a narrow strait which also adds strength to the city. Callicratidas now, disembarking his troops, invested the city and launched assaults upon it from every side. Such was the state of affairs at Mitylene. In Sicily the Syracusans, sending ambassadors to Carthage, not only censured them for the war but required that for the future they cease from hostilities. To them the Carthaginians gave ambiguous answers and set about assembling great armaments in Libya, since their desire was fixed on enslaving all the cities of the island; but before sending their forces across to Sicily they picked out volunteers from their citizens and the other inhabitants of Libya and founded in Sicily right at the warm (therma) springs a city which they named Therma.
§ 13.80
τῶν δὲ κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν ἐνιαυτὸν πράξεων τέλος ἐχουσῶν Ἀθήνησι μὲν παρέλαβε τὴν ἀρχὴν Καλλίας, ἐν δὲ τῇ Ῥώμῃ κατεστάθησαν ὕπατοι Λεύκιος Φούριος καὶ Γναῖος Πομπήιος. περὶ δὲ τούτους τοὺς χρόνους Καρχηδόνιοι τοῖς περὶ Σικελίαν εὐτυχήμασι μετεωριζόμενοι, καὶ σπεύδοντες ἁπάσης τῆς νήσου κυριεῦσαι, μεγάλας δυνάμεις ἐψηφίσαντο παρασκευάζεσθαι· ἑλόμενοι δὲ στρατηγὸν Ἀννίβαν τὸν κατασκάψαντα τήν τε τῶν Σελινουντίων καὶ τὴν τῶν Ἱμεραίων πόλιν, ἅπασαν αὐτῷ τὴν κατὰ τὸν πόλεμον ἐξουσίαν ἐπέτρεψαν. παραιτουμένου δὲ διὰ τὸ γῆρας, προσκατέστησαν καὶ ἄλλον στρατηγὸν Ἰμίλκωνα τὸν Ἄννωνος, ἐκ τῆς αὐτῆς ὄντα συγγενείας. οὗτοι δὲ κοινῇ συνεδρεύσαντες ἔπεμψάν τινας τῶν ἐν ἀξιώματι παρὰ τοῖς Καρχηδονίοις ὄντων μετὰ πολλῶν χρημάτων, τοὺς μὲν εἰς Ἰβηρίαν, τοὺς δʼ εἰς τὰς Βαλιαρίδας νήσους, παρακελευσάμενοι ξενολογεῖν ὡς πλείστους. αὐτοὶ δʼ ἐπῄεσαν τὴν Λιβύην καταγράφοντες στρατιώτας Λίβυας καὶ Φοίνικας καὶ τῶν πολιτικῶν τοὺς κρατίστους. μετεπέμποντο δὲ καὶ παρὰ τῶν συμμαχούντων αὐτοῖς ἐθνῶν καὶ βασιλέων στρατιώτας Μαυρουσίους καὶ Νομάδας καί τινας τῶν οἰκούντων τὰ πρὸς τὴν Κυρήνην κεκλιμένα μέρη. ἐκ δὲ τῆς Ἰταλίας μισθωσάμενοι Καμπανοὺς διεβίβασαν εἰς Λιβύην· ᾔδεισαν γὰρ τὴν μὲν χρείαν αὐτῶν μεγάλα συμβαλλομένην, τοὺς δʼ ἐν Σικελίᾳ καταλελειμμένους Καμπανοὺς διὰ τὸ προσκεκοφέναι τοῖς Καρχηδονίοις μετὰ τῶν Σικελιωτῶν ταχθησομένους. τέλος δὲ τῶν δυνάμεων ἀθροισθεισῶν εἰς Καρχηδόνα συνήχθησαν αὐτοῖς οἱ πάντες σὺν ἱππεῦσιν οὐ πολλῷ πλείους, ὡς μὲν Τίμαιος, τῶν δώδεκα μυριάδων, ὡς δʼ Ἔφορος, τριάκοντα μυριάδες. Καρχηδόνιοι μὲν οὖν τὰ πρὸς τὴν διάβασιν ἑτοιμάζοντες τάς τε τριήρεις πάσας κατήρτιζον καὶ φορτηγὰ πλοῖς συνήγαγον πλείω τῶν χιλίων· προαποστειλάντων δʼ αὐτῶν εἰς Σικελίαν τεσσαράκοντα τριήρεις, οἱ Συρακόσιοι κατὰ τάχος ταῖς παραπλησίαις ναυσὶν ἐπεφάνησαν ἐν τοῖς περὶ τὸν Ἔρυκα τόποις. γενομένης δὲ ναυμαχίας ἐπὶ πολὺν χρόνον πεντεκαίδεκα μὲν τῶν Φοινισσῶν νεῶν διεφθάρησαν, αἱ δʼ ἄλλαι νυκτὸς ἐπιγενομένης ἔφυγον εἰς τὸ πέλαγος. ἀπαγγελθείσης δὲ τῆς ἥττης τοῖς Καρχηδονίοις, Ἀννίβας ὁ στρατηγὸς ἐξέπλευσε μετὰ νεῶν πεντήκοντα· ἔσπευδε γὰρ τοὺς μὲν Συρακοσίους κωλῦσαι χρήσασθαι τῷ προτερήματι, ταῖς δὲ ἰδίαις δυνάμεσιν ἀσφαλῆ παρασκευάσαι τὸν κατάπλουν.
When the events of this year came to an end, in Athens Callias succeeded to the office of archon and in Rome the consuls elected were Lucius Furius and Gnaeus Pompeius. At this time the Carthaginians, being elated over their successes in Sicily and eager to become lords of the whole island, voted to prepare great armaments; and electing as general Hannibal, who had razed to the ground both the city of the Selinuntians and that of the Himeraeans, they committed to him full authority over the conduct of the war. When he begged to be excused because of his age, they appointed besides him another general, Himilcon, the son of Hanno and of the same family. These two, after full consultation, dispatched certain citizens who were held in high esteem among the Carthaginians with large sums of money, some to Iberia and others to the Baliarides Islands, with orders to recruit as many mercenaries as possible. And they themselves canvassed Libya, enrolling as soldiers Libyans and Phoenicians and the stoutest from among their own citizens. Moreover they summoned soldiers also from the nations and kings who were their allies, Maurusians and Nomads and certain peoples who dwell in the regions toward Cyrene. Also from Italy they hired Campanians and brought them over to Libya; for they knew that their aid would be of great assistance to them and that the Campanians who had been left behind in Sicily, because they had fallen out with the Carthaginians, would fight on the side of the Sicilian Greeks. And when the armaments were finally assembled at Carthage, the sum total of the troops collected together with the cavalry was a little over one hundred and twenty thousand, according to Timaeus, but three hundred thousand, according to Ephorus. The Carthaginians, in preparation for their crossing over to Sicily, made ready and equipped all their triremes and also assembled more than a thousand cargo ships, and when they dispatched in advance forty triremes to Sicily, the Syracusans speedily appeared with about the same time number of warships in the region of Eryx. In the long sea-battle which ensued fifteen of the Phoenician ships were destroyed and the rest, when night fell, fled for safety to the open sea. And when word of the defeat was brought to the Carthaginians, Hannibal the general set out to sea with fifty ships, since he was eager both to prevent the Syracusans from exploiting their advantage and to make the landing safe for his own armaments.
§ 13.81
διαβοηθείσης δὲ τῆς Ἀννίβα βοηθείας κατὰ τὴν νῆσον, ἅπαντες προσεδόκων καὶ τὰς δυνάμεις εὐθέως διαβιβασθήσεσθαι. αἱ δὲ πόλεις τὸ μέγεθος τῆς παρασκευῆς ἀκούουσαι, καὶ συλλογιζόμεναι τὸν ἀγῶνα περὶ τῶν ὅλων ἐσόμενον, οὐ μετρίως ἠγωνίων. οἱ μὲν οὖν Συρακόσιοι πρός τε τοὺς κατʼ Ἰταλίαν Ἕλληνας καὶ πρὸς Λακεδαιμονίους περὶ συμμαχίας διεπέμποντο· ἀπέστελλον δὲ καὶ πρὸς τὰς ἐν Σικελίᾳ πόλεις τοὺς παρορμήσοντας τὰ πλήθη πρὸς τὸν ὑπὲρ τῆς κοινῆς ἐλευθερίας κίνδυνον. Ἀκραγαντῖνοι δέ, ὁμοροῦντες τῇ τῶν Καρχηδονίων ἐπικρατείᾳ, διελάμβανον, ὅπερ ἦν, ἐπʼ αὐτοὺς πρώτους ἥξειν τὸ τοῦ πολέμου βάρος. ἔδοξεν οὖν αὐτοῖς τόν τε σῖτον καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους καρπούς, ἔτι δὲ τὰς κτήσεις ἁπάσας, ἀπὸ τῆς χώρας κατακομίζειν ἐντὸς τῶν τειχῶν. κατʼ ἐκείνους δὲ τοὺς καιροὺς τήν τε πόλιν καὶ τὴν χώραν τῶν Ἀκραγαντίνων συνέβαινεν εὐδαιμονίας ὑπάρχειν πλήρη· περὶ ἧς οὐκ ἀνάρμοστόν μοι φαίνεται διελθεῖν. καὶ γὰρ ἀμπελῶνες τοῖς μεγέθεσι καὶ τῷ κάλλει διαφέροντες, καὶ τὸ πλεῖστον τῆς χώρας ἐλαίαις κατάφυτον, ἐξ ἧς παμπληθῆ κομιζόμενοι καρπὸν ἐπώλουν εἰς Καρχηδόνα· οὔπω γὰρ κατʼ ἐκείνους τοὺς χρόνους τῆς Λιβύης πεφυτευμένης οἱ τὴν Ἀκραγαντίνην νεμόμενοι τὸν ἐκ τῆς Λιβύης ἀντιφορτιζόμενοι πλοῦτον οὐσίας ἀπίστους τοῖς μεγέθεσιν ἐκέκτηντο. πολλὰ δὲ τοῦ πλούτου παρʼ αὐτοῖς διαμένει σημεῖα, περὶ ὧν οὐκ ἀνοίκειόν ἐστι βραχέα διελθεῖν.
When news of the reinforcements which Hannibal was bringing was noised throughout Sicily, everyone expected that his armaments would also be brought over at once. And the city, as they heard of the great scale of the preparations and came to the conclusion that the struggle was to be for their very existence, were distressed without measure. Accordingly the Syracusans set about negotiating alliances both with the Greeks of Italy and with the Lacedemonians; and they also continued to dispatch emissaries to the cities of Sicily to arouse the masses to fight for the common freedom. The Acragantini, because they were the nearest to the empire of the Carthaginians, assumed what indeed took place, that the weight of the war would fall on them first. They decided, therefore, to gather not only their grain and other crops but also all their possessions from the countryside within their walls. At this time, it so happened, both the city and the territory of the Acragantini enjoyed great prosperity, which I think it would not be out of place for me to describe. Their vineyards excelled in their great extent and beauty and the greater part of their territory was planted in olive-trees from which they gathered an abundant harvest and sold to Carthage; for since Libya at that time was not yet planted in fruit-trees, the inhabitants of the territory belonging to Acragas took in exchange for their products the wealth of Acragas and accused fortunes of unbelievable size. Of this wealth there remain among them many evidences, which it will not foreign to our purpose to discuss briefly.
§ 13.82
ἥ τε γὰρ τῶν ἱερῶν κατασκευὴ καὶ μάλιστα ὁ τοῦ Διὸς νεὼς ἐμφαίνει τὴν μεγαλοπρέπειαν τῶν τότε ἀνθρώπων· τῶν μὲν οὖν ἄλλων ἱερῶν τὰ μὲν κατεκαύθη, τὰ δὲ τελείως κατεσκάφη διὰ τὸ πολλάκις ἡλωκέναι τὴν πόλιν, τὸ δʼ Ὀλύμπιον μέλλον λαμβάνειν τὴν ὀροφὴν ὁ πόλεμος ἐκώλυσεν· ἐξ οὗ τῆς πόλεως κατασκαφείσης οὐδέποτε ὕστερον ἴσχυσαν Ἀκραγαντῖνοι τέλος ἐπιθεῖναι τοῖς οἰκοδομήμασιν. ἔστι δὲ ὁ νεὼς ἔχων τὸ μὲν μῆκος πόδας τριακοσίους τεσσαράκοντα, τὸ δὲ πλάτος ἑξήκοντα, τὸ δὲ ὕψος ἑκατὸν εἴκοσι χωρὶς τοῦ κρηπιδώματος. μέγιστος δʼ ὢν τῶν ἐν Σικελίᾳ καὶ τοῖς ἐκτὸς οὐκ ἀλόγως ἂν συγκρίνοιτο κατὰ τὸ μέγεθος τῆς ὑποστάσεως· καὶ γὰρ εἰ μὴ τέλος λαβεῖν συνέβη τὴν ἐπιβολήν, ἥ γε προαίρεσις ὑπάρχει φανερά. τῶν δʼ ἄλλων ἢ μετὰ περιτειχῶν τοὺς νεὼς οἰκοδομούντων ἢ κύκλῳ κίοσι τοὺς σηκοὺς περιλαμβανόντων, οὗτος ἑκατέρας τούτων μετέχει τῶν ὑποστάσεων· συνῳκοδομοῦντο γὰρ τοῖς τοίχοις οἱ κίονες, ἔξωθεν μὲν στρογγύλοι, τὸ δʼ ἐντὸς τοῦ νεὼ ἔχοντες τετράγωνον· καὶ τοῦ μὲν ἐκτὸς μέρους ἐστὶν αὐτῶν ἡ περιφέρεια ποδῶν εἴκοσι, καθʼ ἣν εἰς τὰ διαξύσματα δύναται ἀνθρώπινον ἐναρμόζεσθαι σῶμα, τὸ δʼ ἐντὸς ποδῶν δώδεκα. τῶν δὲ στοῶν τὸ μέγεθος καὶ τὸ ὕψος ἐξαίσιον ἐχουσῶν, ἐν μὲν τῷ πρὸς ἕω μέρει τὴν γιγαντομαχίαν ἐποιήσαντο γλυφαῖς καὶ τῷ μεγέθει καὶ τῷ κάλλει διαφερούσαις, ἐν δὲ τῷ πρὸς δυσμὰς τὴν ἅλωσιν τῆς Τροίας, ἐν ᾗ τῶν ἡρώων ἕκαστον ἰδεῖν ἔστιν οἰκείως τῆς περιστάσεως δεδημιουργημένον. ἦν δὲ καὶ λίμνη κατʼ ἐκεῖνον τὸν χρόνον ἐκτὸς τῆς πόλεως χειροποίητος, ἔχουσα τὴν περίμετρον σταδίων ἑπτά, τὸ δὲ βάθος εἴκοσι πηχῶν· εἰς ἣν ἐπαγομένων ὑδάτων ἐφιλοτέχνησαν πλῆθος ἰχθύων ἐν αὐτῇ ποιῆσαι παντοίων εἰς τὰς δημοσίας ἑστιάσεις, μεθʼ ὧν συνδιέτριβον κύκνοι καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ὀρνέων πολὺ πλῆθος, ὥστε μεγάλην τέρψιν παρασκευάζειν τοῖς θεωμένοις. δηλοῖ δὲ τὴν τρυφὴν αὐτῶν καὶ ἡ πολυτέλεια τῶν μνημείων, ἃ τινὰ μὲν τοῖς ἀθληταῖς ἵπποις κατεσκεύασαν, τινὰ δὲ τοῖς ὑπὸ τῶν παρθένων καὶ παίδων ἐν οἴκῳ τρεφομένοις ὀρνιθαρίοις, ἃ Τίμαιος ἑωρακέναι φησὶ μέχρι τοῦ καθʼ ἑαυτὸν βίου διαμένοντα. καὶ κατὰ τὴν προτέραν δὲ ταύτης Ὀλυμπιάδα, δευτέραν ἐπὶ ταῖς ἐνενήκοντα, νικήσαντος Ἐξαινέτου Ἀκραγαντίνου, κατήγαγον αὐτὸν εἰς τὴν πόλιν ἐφʼ ἅρματος· συνεπόμπευον δʼ αὐτῷ χωρὶς τῶν ἄλλων συνωρίδες τριακόσιαι λευκῶν ἵππων, πᾶσαι παρʼ αὐτῶν τῶν Ἀκραγαντίνων. καθόλου δὲ καὶ τὰς ἀγωγὰς εὐθὺς ἐκ παίδων ἐποιοῦντο τρυφεράς, τήν τʼ ἐσθῆτα μαλακὴν φοροῦντες καθʼ ὑπερβολὴν καὶ χρυσοφοροῦντες, ἔτι δὲ στλεγγίσι καὶ ληκύθοις ἀργυραῖς τε καὶ χρυσαῖς χρώμενοι.
Now the sacred buildings which they constructed, and especially the temple of Zeus, bear witness to the grand manner of the men of that day. Of the other sacred buildings some have been burned and others completely destroyed because of the many times the city has been taken in war, but the completion of the temple of Zeus, which was ready to receive its roof, was prevented by the war; and after the war, since the city had been completely destroyed, never in the subsequent years did the Acragantini find themselves able to finish their buildings. The temple has a length of three hundred and forty feet, a width of sixty, and a height of one hundred and twenty not including the foundation. And being as it is the largest temple in Sicily, it may not unreasonably be compared, so far as magnitude of its substructure is concerned, with the temples outside of Sicily; for even though, as it turned out, the design could not be carried out, the scale of the undertaking at any rate is clear. And though all other men build their temples either with walls forming the sides or with rows of columns, thrown enclosing their sanctuaries, this temple combines both these plans; for the columns were built in with the walls, the part extending outside the temple being rounded and that within square; and the circumference of the outer part of the column which extends from the wall is twenty feet and the body of a man may be contained in the fluting, while that of the inner part is twelve feet. The porticoes were of enormous size and height, and in the east pediment they portrayed The Battle between the Gods and the Giants which excelled in size and beauty, and in the west The Capture of Troy, in which each one of the heroes may be seen portrayed in a manner appropriate to his role. There was at that time also an artificial pool outside the city, seven stades in circumference and twenty cubits deep; into this they brought water and ingeniously contrived to produce a multitude of fish of every variety for their public feastings, and with the fish swans spent their time and a vast multitude of every other kind of bird, so that the pool was an object of great delight to gaze upon. And witness to the luxury of the inhabitants is also the extravagant cost of the monuments which they erected, some adorned with sculptured race-horses and others with the pet birds kept by girls and boys in their homes, monuments which Timaeus says he had seen extant even in his own lifetime. And in the Olympiad previous to the one we are discussing, namely, the Ninety-second, when Exaenetus of Acragas won the "stadion," he was conducted into the city in a chariot and in the procession there were, not to speak of the other things, three hundred chariots belonging to citizens of Acragas. Speaking generally, they led from youth onward a manner of life which was luxurious, wearing as they did exceedingly delicate clothing and gold ornaments and, besides, using strigils and oil-flasks made of silver and even of gold.
§ 13.83
ξείνων αἰδοῖοι λιμένες, κακότητος ἄπειροι. καὶ δή ποτε πεντακοσίων ἱππέων παραγενομένων ἐκ Γέλας χειμερίου περιστάσεως οὔσης, καθάπερ φησὶ Τίμαιος ἐν τῇ πεντεκαιδεκάτῃ βίβλῳ, πάντας αὐτὸς ὑπεδέξατο, καὶ παραχρῆμα πᾶσιν ἱμάτια καὶ χιτῶνας ἔνδοθεν προενέγκας ἔδωκεν. καὶ Πολύκλειτος ἐν ταῖς ἱστορίαις ἐξηγεῖται περὶ τοῦ κατὰ τὴν οἰκίαν πιθεῶνος λέγων ὡς διαμείναντος αὐτοῦ τε στρατευομένου ἐν Ἀκράγαντι τεθεωρηκότος· εἶναι δʼ ἐν αὐτῷ τριακοσίους μὲν πίθους ἐξ αὐτῆς τῆς πέτρας τετμημένους, ἕκαστον ἑκατὸν ἀμφορεῖς χωροῦντα· κολυμβήθραν δὲ παρʼ αὐτοῖς ὑπάρχειν κεκονιαμένην, χωροῦσαν ἀμφορεῖς χιλίους, ἐξ ἧς τὴν ῥύσιν εἰς τοὺς πίθους γίνεσθαι. γεγονέναι δέ φασι τὸν Τελλίαν τὸ μὲν εἶδος εὐτελῆ παντελῶς, τὸ δὲ ἦθος θαυμαστόν. ἀποσταλέντος οὖν αὐτοῦ πρὸς Κεντοριπίνους κατὰ πρεσβείαν, καὶ παρεληλυθότος εἰς τὴν ἐκκλησίαν, τὸ μὲν πλῆθος προέπεσεν εἰς ἄκαιρον γέλωτα, θεωροῦν καταδεέστερον τῆς περὶ αὐτοῦ δόξης· ὁ δʼ ὑπολαβὼν εἶπε μὴ θαυμάζειν· ἐν ἔθει γὰρ εἶναι τοῖς Ἀκραγαντίνοις πρὸς μὲν τὰς ἐπιδόξους πόλεις ἀποστέλλειν τοὺς κρατίστους τῷ κάλλει, πρὸς δὲ τὰς ταπεινὰς καὶ λίαν εὐτελεῖς ὁμοίους.
Among the Acragantini of that time perhaps the richest man was Tellias, who had in his mansion a considerable number of guestchambers and used to station servants before his gates with orders to invite every stranger to be his guest. There were also many other Acragantini who did something of this kind, mingling with others in an oldfashioned and friendly manner; consequently also Empedocles speaks of them as Havens of mercy for strangers, unacquainted with evil. Indeed once when five hundred cavalry from Gela arrived there during a wintry storm, as Timaeus says in his Fifteenth Book, Tellias entertained all of them by himself and provided them all forthwith from his own stores with outer and under garments. And Polycleitus in his Histories describes the wine-cellar in the house as still existing and as he had himself seen it when in Acragas as a soldier; there were in it, he states, three hundred great casks hewn out of the very rock, each of them with a capacity of one hundred amphoras, and beside them was a wine-vat, plastered with stucco and with a capacity of one thousand amphoras, from which the wine flowed into the casks. And we are told that Tellias was quite plain in appearance but wonderful in character. So once when he had been dispatched on an embassy to the people of Centoripa and came forward to speak before the Assembly, the multitude broke into unseemly laughter as they saw how much he fell short of their expectation. But he, interrupting them, said, "Don't be surprised, for it is the practice of the Acragantini to send to famous cities their most handsome citizens, but to insignificant and most paltry cities men of their sort."
§ 13.84
οὐ μόνον δὲ περὶ τὸν Τελλίαν συνέβαινεν εἶναι τοῦ πλούτου μεγαλοπρέπειαν, ἀλλὰ καὶ περὶ πολλοὺς ἄλλους Ἀκραγαντίνους. Ἀντισθένης γοῦν ὁ ἐπικαλούμενος Ῥόδος γάμους ἐπιτελῶν τῆς θυγατρὸς εἱστίασε τοὺς πολίτας ἐπὶ τῶν στενωπῶν ὧν ᾤκουν ἕκαστοι, καὶ ζεύγη τῇ νύμφῃ συνηκολούθησε πλείω τῶν ὀκτακοσίων· πρὸς δὲ τούτοις οὐ μόνον οἱ κατʼ αὐτὴν τὴν πόλιν ἱππεῖς, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν ἀστυγειτόνων πολλοὶ κληθέντες ἐπὶ τὸν γάμον συμπροέπεμψαν τὴν νύμφην. περιττότατον δέ φασι γενέσθαι τὸ περὶ τὴν τοῦ φωτὸς κατασκευήν· τούς τε γὰρ βωμοὺς τοὺς ἐν πᾶσι τοῖς ἱεροῖς καὶ τοὺς ἐν τοῖς στενωποῖς καθʼ ὅλην τὴν πόλιν ἐπλήρωσε ξύλων, καὶ τοῖς ἐπὶ τῶν ἐργαστηρίων ἔδωκε σχίδακας καὶ κληματίδας, παραγγείλας, ὅταν ἀπὸ τῆς ἀκροπόλεως ἀναφθῇ πῦρ, ἅπαντας ἐπιτελεῖν τὸ παραπλήσιον· ὧν ποιησάντων τὸ προσταχθέν, καθʼ ὃν καιρὸν ἤγετο ἡ νύμφη, προηγουμένων πολλῶν τῶν τὰς δᾷδας φερόντων, ἡ μὲν πόλις ἔγεμε φωτός, τὸ δὲ συνακολουθοῦν πλῆθος οὐκ ἐχώρουν αἱ δημόσιαι κατὰ τὸ ἑξῆς ὁδοί, πάντων συμφιλοτιμουμένων τῇ τἀνδρὸς μεγαλοπρεπείᾳ. κατʼ ἐκεῖνον γὰρ τὸν χρόνον Ἀκραγαντῖνοι μὲν ἦσαν πλείους τῶν δισμυρίων, σὺν δὲ τοῖς κατοικοῦσι ξένοις οὐκ ἐλάττους τῶν εἴκοσι μυριάδων. φασὶ δὲ τὸν Ἀντισθένην, ἐπειδὴ τὸν υἱὸν ἑώρα πολεμοῦντά τινα τῶν ἀγρογειτόνων πένητα καὶ βιαζόμενον ἑαυτῷ τὸ ἀγρίδιον πωλῆσαι, μέχρι μέν τινος ἐπιπλήττειν, τῆς δʼ ἐπιθυμίας ἐπίτασιν λαμβανούσης, φῆσαι δεῖν μὴ σπεύδειν πῶς ἄπορον ποιήσῃ τὸν γείτονα, ἀλλὰ τοὐναντίον ὅπως πλούσιος ὑπάρχῃ· οὕτως γὰρ αὐτὸν ἐπιθυμήσειν μὲν ἀγροῦ μείζονος, οὐ δυνάμενον δὲ παρὰ τοῦ γείτονος προσαγοράσαι τὸν ὑπάρχοντα πωλήσειν. διὰ δὲ τὸ μέγεθος τῆς κατὰ τὴν πόλιν εὐπορίας τοσαύτην συνέβαινε τρυφὴν εἶναι παρὰ τοῖς Ἀκραγαντίνοις, ὥστε μετʼ ὀλίγον τῆς πολιορκίας γινομένης ποιῆσαι ψήφισμα περὶ τῶν ἐν τοῖς φυλακείοις διανυκτερευόντων, ὅπως μή τις ἔχῃ πλεῖον τύλης καὶ περιστρώματος καὶ κωδίου καὶ δυεῖν προσκεφαλαίων. τοιαύτης δὲ τῆς σκληροτάτης στρωμνῆς ὑπαρχούσης, ἔξεστι λογίζεσθαι τὴν κατὰ τὸν λοιπὸν βίον τρυφήν. περὶ μὲν οὖν τούτων οὔτε παραδραμεῖν ἠθελήσαμεν οὔτʼ ἐπὶ πλεῖον μακρολογεῖν, ἵνα μὴ τῶν ἀναγκαιοτέρων ἀποπίπτωμεν.
It was not in the case of Tellias only that such magnificence of wealth occurred, he says, but also of many other inhabitants of Acragas. Antisthenes at any rate, who was called Rhodus, when celebrating the marriage of his daughter, gave a party to all the citizens in the courtyards where they all lived and more than eight hundred chariots followed the bride in the procession; furthermore, not only the men on horseback from the city itself but also many from neighbouring cities who had been invited to the wedding joined to form the escort of the bride. But most extraordinary of all, we are told, was the provision for its lightning: the altars in all the sanctuaries and those in the courtyards throughout the city he had piled high with wood, and to the shopkeepers he gave firewood and brush with orders that when a fire was kindled on the acropolis they should all do the same; and when they did as they were ordered, at the time when the bride was brought to her home, since there were many torch-bearers in the procession, the city was filled with light, and the main streets through which the procession was to pass could not contain the accompanying throng, all the inhabitants zealously emulating the man's grand manner. For at that time the citizens of Acragas numbered more than twenty thousand, and when resident aliens were included, not less than two hundred thousand. And men say that once when Antisthenes saw his son quarrelling with a neighbouring farmer, a poor man, and pressing him to sell him his little plot of land, for a time he merely reproved his son; but when his son's cupidity grew more intense, he said to him that he should not be doing his best to make his neighbour poor but, on the contrary, to make him rich; for then the man would long for more land, and when he would be unable to buy additional land from his neighbour he would sell what he now had. Because of the immense prosperity prevailing in the city the Acragantini came to live on such a scale of luxury that a little later, when the city was under siege, they passed a decree about the guards who spent the nights at their posts, that none of them should have more than one mattress, one cover, one sheepskin, and two pillows. When such was their most rigorous kind of bedding, one can get an idea of the luxury which prevailed in their living generally. Now it was our wish neither to pass these matters by nor yet to speak of them at greater length, in order that we may not fail to record the more important events.
§ 13.85
οἱ δὲ Καρχηδόνιοι τὰς δυνάμεις διαβιβάσαντες εἰς τὴν Σικελίαν ἀνέζευξαν ἐπὶ τὴν πόλιν τῶν Ἀκραγαντίνων, καὶ δύο παρεμβολὰς ἐποιήσαντο, μίαν μὲν ἐπί τινων λόφων, ἐφʼ ὧν τούς τε Ἴβηρας καί τινας τῶν Λιβύων ἔταξαν εἰς τετρακισμυρίους· τὴν δʼ ἄλλην οὐκ ἄπωθεν τῆς πόλεως ποιησάμενοι τάφρῳ βαθείᾳ καὶ χάρακι περιέλαβον. καὶ πρῶτον μὲν ἀπέστειλαν πρέσβεις πρὸς τοὺς Ἀκραγαντίνους, ἀξιοῦντες μάλιστα μὲν συμμαχεῖν αὐτοῖς, εἰ δὲ μή γε, ἡσυχίαν ἔχειν καὶ φίλους εἶναι Καρχηδονίοις ἐν εἰρήνῃ μένοντας· οὐ προσδεξαμένων δὲ τῶν ἐν τῇ πόλει τοὺς λόγους, εὐθὺς τὰ τῆς πολιορκίας ἐνηργεῖτο. οἱ μὲν οὖν Ἀκραγαντῖνοι τοὺς ἐν ἡλικίᾳ πάντας καθώπλισαν, καὶ καταστήσαντες εἰς τάξιν τοὺς μὲν ἐπὶ τῶν τειχῶν ἔστησαν, τοὺς δὲ ἐφέδρους πρὸς τὰς τῶν καταπονουμένων διαδοχάς. συνεμάχει δʼ αὐτοῖς Δέξιππός τε ὁ Λακεδαιμόνιος προσφάτως ἐκ Γέλας παρὼν μετὰ ξένων χιλίων πεντακοσίων· οὗτος γὰρ κατʼ ἐκεῖνον τὸν χρόνον, ὡς Τίμαιός φησιν, ἐν Γέλᾳ διέτριβεν, ἔχων ἀξίωμα διὰ τὴν πατρίδα. διόπερ ἠξίωσαν αὐτὸν οἱ Ἀκραγαντῖνοι μισθωσάμενον στρατιώτας ὡς πλείστους ἐλθεῖν εἰς Ἀκράγαντα· ἅμα δὲ τούτοις ἐμισθώθησαν καὶ οἱ πρότερον Ἀννίβᾳ συμμαχήσαντες Καμπανοί, περὶ ὀκτακοσίους ὄντες. οὗτοι δὲ κατέσχον τὸν ὑπὲρ τῆς πόλεως λόφον, τὸν Ἀθήναιον μὲν ὀνομαζόμενον, κατὰ δὲ τῆς πόλεως εὐφυῶς κείμενον. Ἰμίλκας δὲ καὶ Ἀννίβας οἱ τῶν Καρχηδονίων στρατηγοὶ διασκεψάμενοι τὰ τείχη, καὶ καθʼ ἕνα τόπον θεωροῦντες εὐέφοδον οὖσαν τὴν πόλιν, δύο πύργους προσήγαγον τοῖς τείχεσιν ὑπερμεγέθεις. τὴν μὲν οὖν πρώτην ἡμέραν ἐπὶ τούτων τειχομαχήσαντες καὶ συχνοὺς ἀνελόντες ἀνεκαλέσαντο τῇ σάλπιγγι τοὺς μαχομένους· τῆς δὲ νυκτὸς ἐπιγενομένης οἱ κατὰ τὴν πόλιν ἐπεξελθόντες ἐνεπύρισαν τὰς μηχανάς.
The Carthaginians, after transporting their armaments to Sicily, marched against the city of the Acragantini and made two encampments, one on certain hills where they stationed the Iberians and some Libyans to the number of about forty thousand, and the other they pitched not far from the city and surrounded it with deep trench and a palisade. And first they dispatched ambassadors to the Acragantini, asking them, preferably, to become their allies, but otherwise to stay neutral and be friends with the Carthaginians, thereby remaining in peace; and when the inhabitants of the city would not entertain these terms, the siege was begun at once. The Acragantini thereupon armed all those of military age, and forming them in battle order they stationed one group upon the walls and the other as a reserve to replace the soldiers as they became worn out. Fighting with them was also Dexippus the Lacedemonian, who had lately arrived there from Gela with fifteen hundred mercenaries; for at that time, at Timaeus says, Dexippus was tarrying in Gela, enjoying high regard by reason of the city of his birth. Consequently the Acragantini invited him to recruit as many mercenaries as he could and come to Acragas; and together with them the Campanians who had formerly fought with Hannibal, some eight hundred, were also hired. These mercenaries held the height above the city which is called the Hill of Athena and strategically situated overhanging the city. Himilcar and Hannibal, the Carthaginian generals, noting, after they had surveyed the walls, that in one place the city was easily assailable, advanced two enormous towers against the walls. During the first day they pressed the siege from these towers, and after inflicting many casualties then sounded the recall for their soldiers; but when night had fallen the defenders of the city launched a counter-attack and burned the siege-engines.
§ 13.86
οἱ δὲ περὶ τὸν Ἀννίβαν σπεύδοντες κατὰ πλείονα μέρη τὰς προσβολὰς ποιεῖσθαι, παρήγγειλαν τοῖς στρατιώταις καθαιρεῖν τὰ μνήματα καὶ χώματα κατασκευάζειν μέχρι τῶν τειχῶν. ταχὺ δὲ τῶν ἔργων διὰ τὴν πολυχειρίαν συντελουμένων ἐνέπεσεν εἰς τὸ στρατόπεδον πολλὴ δεισιδαιμονία. τὸν γὰρ τοῦ Θήρωνος τάφον ὄντα καθʼ ὑπερβολὴν μέγαν συνέβαινεν ὑπὸ κεραυνοῦ διασεῖσθαι· διόπερ αὐτοῦ καθαιρουμένου τῶν τε μάντεών τινες προνοήσαντες διεκώλυσαν, εὐθὺ δὲ καὶ λοιμὸς ἐνέπεσεν εἰς τὸ στρατόπεδον, καὶ πολλοὶ μὲν ἐτελεύτων, οὐκ ὀλίγοι δὲ στρέβλαις καὶ δειναῖς ταλαιπωρίαις περιέπιπτον. ἀπέθανε δὲ καὶ Ἀννίβας ὁ στρατηγός, καὶ τῶν ἐπὶ τὰς φυλακὰς προπεμπομένων ἤγγελλόν τινες διὰ νυκτὸς εἴδωλα φαίνεσθαι τῶν τετελευτηκότων. Ἰμίλκας δὲ θεωρῶν τὰ πλήθη δεισιδαιμονοῦντα πρῶτον μὲν ἐπαύσατο καθαιρῶν τὰ μνημεῖα, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ἱκέτευε τοὺς θεοὺς κατὰ τὸ πάτριον ἔθος τῷ μὲν Κρόνῳ παῖδα σφαγιάσας, τῷ δὲ Ποσειδῶνι πλῆθος ἱερείων καταποντίσας. οὐ μὴν ἀπέστη γε τῶν ἔργων, ἀλλὰ χώσας τὸν παρὰ τὴν πόλιν ποταμὸν μέχρι τῶν τειχῶν ἐπέστησε πάσας τὰς μηχανὰς καὶ καθʼ ἡμέραν προσβολὰς ἐποιεῖτο. οἱ δὲ Συρακόσιοι θεωροῦντες τὴν Ἀκράγαντος πολιορκίαν, καὶ φοβούμενοι μὴ τῆς αὐτῆς τοῖς Σελινουντίοις καὶ τοῖς Ἱμεραίοις τύχωσιν οἱ πολιορκούμενοι τύχης, πάλαι μὲν ἔσπευδον ἐκπέμψαι τὴν βοήθειαν, τότε δὲ παραγενομένων τῶν ἐξ Ἰταλίας καὶ Μεσσήνης συμμάχων στρατηγὸν Λαφναῖον εἵλαντο. τὴν δὲ δύναμιν ἀθροίσαντες παρέλαβον κατὰ τὴν ὁδὸν Καμαριναίους καὶ Γελῴους· ἔτι δὲ τῶν ἐκ τῆς μεσογείου μεταπεμψάμενοί τινας ἐπʼ Ἀκράγαντος τὴν πορείαν ἐποιοῦντο, συμπαραπλεουσῶν αὐτοῖς καὶ τῶν νεῶν τριάκοντα. εἶχον δὲ τοὺς πάντας πεζοὺς μὲν πλείους τῶν τρισμυρίων, ἱππεῖς δʼ οὐκ ἐλάττους τῶν πεντακισχιλίων.
Hannibal, being eager to launch assaults in an increasing number of places, ordered the soldiers to tear down the monuments and tombs and to build mounds extending to the walls. But when these works had been quickly completed because of the united labour of many hands, a deep superstitious fear fell upon the army. For it happened that the tomb of Theron, which was exceedingly large, was shaken by a stroke of lightning; consequently, when it was being torn down, certain soothsayers, presaging what might happen, forbade it, and at once a plague broke out in the army, and many died of it while not a few suffered tortures and grievous distress. Among the dead was also Hannibal the general, and among the watch-guards who were sent out there were some who reported that in the night spirits of the dead were to be seen. Himilcar, on seeing how the throng was beset with superstitious fear, first of all put a stop to the destruction of the monuments, and then he supplicated the gods after the custom of his people by sacrificing a young boy to Cronus and a multitude of cattle to Poseidon by drowning them in the sea. He did not, however, neglect the siege works, but filling up the river which ran beside the city as far as the walls, he advanced all his siege-engines against them and launched daily assaults. The Syracusans, seeing that Acragas was under siege and fearing lest the besieged might suffer the same fate as befell the Selinuntians and Himeraeans, had long been eager to send them their aid, and when at this juncture allied troops arrived from Italy and Messene they elected Daphnaeus general. Collecting their forces they added along the way soldiers from Camarina and Gela, and summoning additional troops from the peoples of the interior they made their way towards Acragas, while thirty of their ships sailed along beside them. The forces which they had numbered in all more than thirty thousand infantry and not less than five thousand cavalry.
§ 13.87
Ἰμίλκων δὲ πυθόμενος τὴν τῶν πολεμίων ἔφοδον, ἀπέστειλεν αὐτοῖς ἀπαντᾶν τούς τε Ἴβηρας καὶ Καμπανοὺς καὶ τῶν ἄλλων οὐκ ἐλάττους τετρακισμυρίων. ἤδη δὲ τῶν Συρακοσίων τὸν Ἱμέραν ποταμὸν διαβεβηκότων ἀπήντησαν οἱ βάρβαροι, καὶ παρατάξεως γενομένης ἐπὶ πολὺν χρόνον ἐνίκησαν οἱ Συρακόσιοι καὶ πλείους τῶν ἑξακισχιλίων ἀνεῖλον. τελέως δὲ ὅλον τὸ στρατόπεδον διέφθειραν ἂν καὶ μέχρι τῆς πόλεως κατεδίωξαν, ἀλλὰ τῶν στρατιωτῶν ἀτάκτως διωκόντων ὁ στρατηγὸς εὐλαβήθη, μήποτε μετὰ τοῦ λοιποῦ στρατεύματος Ἰμίλκας ἐπιφανεὶς ἀναλάβῃ τὴν ἧτταν. καὶ γὰρ τοὺς Ἱμεραίους ἐγίνωσκε παρὰ τὴν αὐτὴν αἰτίαν τοῖς ὅλοις ἐπταικότας. οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ τῶν βαρβάρων φευγόντων εἰς τὴν πρὸς Ἀκράγαντι παρεμβολήν, οἱ κατὰ τὴν πόλιν στρατιῶται θεωροῦντες τὴν τῶν Καρχηδονίων ἧτταν ἐδέοντο τῶν στρατηγῶν ἐξάγειν αὐτούς, καιρὸν εἶναι φάσκοντες τοῦ φθεῖραι τὴν τῶν πολεμίων δύναμιν. οἱ δʼ, εἴτε χρήμασιν ἐφθαρμένοι, καθάπερ ἦν λόγος, εἴτε φοβηθέντες μὴ τῆς πόλεως ἐρημωθείσης Ἰμίλκων αὐτὴν καταλάβηται, τῆς ὁρμῆς ἐπέσχον τοὺς στρατιώτας. οἱ μὲν οὖν φεύγοντες μετὰ πάσης ἀσφαλείας διεσώθησαν εἰς τὴν πρὸς τῇ πόλει παρεμβολήν. ὁ δὲ Δαφναῖος μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως παραγενηθεὶς εἰς τὴν ὑπὸ τῶν βαρβάρων ἐκλελειμμένην στρατοπεδείαν, ἐν ταύτῃ παρενέβαλεν. εὐθὺ δὲ καὶ τῶν ἐκ τῆς πόλεως στρατιωτῶν ἐπιμιχθέντων καὶ τοῦ Δεξίππου συγκαταβάντος αὐτοῖς, ἀπὸ συνδρομῆς εἰς ἐκκλησίαν τὰ πλήθη συνῆλθεν· πάντων δʼ ἀγανακτούντων ἐπὶ τῷ παρεῖσθαι τὸν καιρὸν καὶ κεκρατηκότας τῶν βαρβάρων τὴν προσήκουσαν τιμωρίαν παρʼ αὐτῶν μὴ λαβεῖν, ἀλλὰ δυναμένους τοὺς ἐκ τῆς πόλεως στρατηγοὺς ἐπεξελθεῖν καὶ διαφθεῖραι τὴν τῶν πολεμίων δύναμιν ἀφεικέναι τοσαύτας μυριάδας· θορύβου δὲ καὶ πολλῆς κραυγῆς ἐπεχούσης τὴν ἐκκλησίαν, παρελθὼν Μένης ὁ Καμαριναῖος ἐφʼ ἡγεμονίας τεταγμένος κατηγόρησε τῶν Ἀκραγαντίνων στρατηγῶν καὶ πάντας οὕτω παρώξυνεν, ὥστε τῶν κατηγορουμένων ἐγχειρούντων ἀπολογεῖσθαι μηδένα προσδέχεσθαι τοὺς λόγους, καὶ τὸ πλῆθος ὁρμῆσαν ἐπὶ τὸ βάλλειν τοῖς λίθοις τέσσαρας αὐτῶν καταλεῦσαι, τὸν δὲ πέμπτον, Ἀργεῖον καλούμενον, τὴν δʼ ἡλικίαν παντελῶς ὄντα νεώτερον, ἀφεθῆναι· βλασφημίας δὲ τυγχάνειν καὶ τὸν Λακεδαιμόνιον Δέξιππον, ὅτι τεταγμένος ἐφʼ ἡγεμονίας καὶ δοκῶν εἶναι τῶν πολεμικῶν ἔργων οὐκ ἄπειρος τοῦτʼ ἔπραξε προδοσίας ἕνεκα.
When Himilcon learned of the approach of the enemy, he dispatched to meet them both his Iberians and his Campanians and more than forty thousand other troops. The Syracusans had already crossed the Himera River when the barbarians met them, and in the long battle which ensued the Syracusans were victorious and slew more than six thousand men. They would have crushed the whole army completely and pursued it all the way to the city, but since the soldiers were pressing the pursuit without order, the general was concerned lest Himilcar should appear with the rest of his army and retrieve the defeat. For he remembered also how the Himeraeans had been utterly destroyed for the same reason. However, when the barbarians were in flight to their camp before Acragas, the soldiers in the city, seeing the defeat of the Carthaginians, begged their generals to lead them out, saying that the opportunity had come to destroy the host of the enemy. But the generals, whether they had been bribed, as the report ran, or feared that Himilcon would seize the city if it were stripped of defenders, checked the ardour of the men. So the fleeing men quite safely made good their escape to the camp before the city. When Daphnaeus with his army arrived at the encampment which the barbarians had deserted, he took up his quarters there. At once both the soldiers from the city mingled with his troops and Dexippus accompanied his men, and the multitude gathered in a tumultuous throng in an assembly, everyone being vexed that the opportunity had been let slip and that although they had the barbarians in their power, they had not inflicted on them the punishment they deserved, but that the generals in the city, although able to lead them forth to attack and destroy the host of the enemy, had let so many myriads of men off scot-free. While great uproar and tumult prevailed in the assembly, Menes of Camarina, who had been put in command, came forward and lodged an accusation against the Acragantine generals and so incited all who were present that, when the accused tried to offer a defence, and one would let them speak and the multitude began to throw stones and killed four of them, but the fifth, Argeius by name, who was very much younger, they spared. Dexippus the Lacedemonian, we are told, also was the object of abuse on the ground that, although he held a position of command and was reputed to be not inexperienced in warfare, he had acted as he did treacherously.
§ 13.88
μετὰ δὲ τὴν ἐκκλησίαν οἱ περὶ τὸν Δαφναῖον προαγαγόντες τὰς δυνάμεις ἐπεχείρουν μὲν πολιορκεῖν τὴν παρεμβολὴν τῶν Καρχηδονίων, πολυτελῶς δʼ αὐτὴν ὁρῶντες ὠχυρωμένην ταύτης μὲν τῆς ἐπιβολῆς ἀπέστησαν, τὰς δʼ ὁδοὺς ἱππαζόμενοι τούς τʼ ἐν ταῖς προνομαῖς αὐτῶν κατελάμβανον καὶ τῶν σιτοπομπιῶν ἀποκλείοντες εἰς πολλὴν ἀπορίαν ἦγον. οἱ δὲ Καρχηδόνιοι παρατάττεσθαι μὲν οὐ τολμῶντες, τῇ δὲ σιτοδείᾳ δεινῶς πιεζούμενοι, μεγάλοις ἀτυχήμασι περιέπιπτον. τῶν μὲν γὰρ στρατιωτῶν πολλοὶ διὰ τὴν σπάνιν ἀπέθνησκον, οἱ δὲ Καμπανοὶ μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων μισθοφόρων σχεδὸν ἅπαντες ἐπὶ τὴν Ἰμίλκα σκηνὴν ὠθούμενοι τὰς σιτομετρίας τὰς προτεταγμένας ᾔτουν· εἰ δὲ μή, διηπειλοῦντο μεταβάλλεσθαι πρὸς τοὺς πολεμίους. ὁ δʼ Ἰμίλκας ἦν ἀκηκοώς τινος, ὅτι Συρακόσιοι πλῆθος σίτου παρακομίζοιεν εἰς Ἀκράγαντα κατὰ θάλατταν. διόπερ ταύτην μόνην ἔχων ἐλπίδα σωτηρίας, τοὺς μὲν στρατιώτας ἔπεισεν ὀλίγας ἐπισχεῖν ἡμέρας, ἐνέχυρα δοὺς τὰ παρὰ τῶν ἐκ Καρχηδόνος στρατευομένων ποτήρια. καὶ αὐτὸς μὲν ἐκ Πανόρμου καὶ Μοτύης μεταπεμψάμενος τεσσαράκοντα τριήρεις ἐπέθετο τοῖς τὴν ἀγορὰν παρακομίζουσιν· οἱ δὲ Συρακόσιοι, τὸν ἔμπροσθεν χρόνον τῶν βαρβάρων τῆς θαλάττης παρακεχωρηκότων καὶ τοῦ χειμῶνος ἐνεστηκότος ἤδη, κατεφρόνουν τῶν Καρχηδονίων, ὡς οὐκέτι τολμησόντων πληροῦν τὰς τριήρεις. διόπερ ὀλιγώρως αὐτῶν παραπεμψάντων τὴν ἀγοράν, Ἰμίλκας ἐκπλεύσας τεσσαράκοντα τριήρεσιν ἄφνω κατέδυσε μὲν τῶν μακρῶν νεῶν ὀκτώ, τὰς δʼ ἄλλας εἰς τὸν αἰγιαλὸν κατεδίωξεν· τῶν δʼ ἄλλων πλοίων ἁπάντων κυριεύσας, τοσοῦτον εἰς τοὐναντίον τὰς ἑκατέρων ἐλπίδας μεταπεσεῖν ἐποίησεν, ὥστε τοὺς παρὰ τοῖς Ἀκραγαντίνοις Καμπανοὺς καταγνόντας τῆς τῶν Ἑλλήνων ὑποθέσεως πεντεκαίδεκα ταλάντοις φθαρῆναι καὶ μεταβαλέσθαι πρὸς τοὺς Καρχηδονίους. οἱ δὲ Ἀκραγαντῖνοι τὸ μὲν πρῶτον κακῶς ἀπαλλαττόντων τῶν Καρχηδονίων ἀφθόνως ἀπήλαυον τοῦ τε σίτου καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἐπιτηδείων, ἀεὶ προσδοκῶντες ταχέως λυθήσεσθαι τὴν πολιορκίαν· ἐπεὶ δʼ αἱ τῶν βαρβάρων ἐλπίδες ἀνέκυψαν καὶ τοσαῦται μυριάδες εἰς μίαν ἠθροίσθησαν πόλιν, ἔλαθεν αὐτοὺς ὁ σῖτος ἐξαναλωθείς. λέγεται δὲ καὶ Δέξιππος ὁ Λακεδαιμόνιος πεντεκαίδεκα ταλάντοις διαφθαρῆναι· εὐθὺ γὰρ ἀπεκρίνατο πρὸς τοὺς τῶν Ἰταλιωτῶν στρατηγούς, ὅτι συμφέρει τὸν πόλεμον ἐν ἄλλῳ συστήσασθαι τόπῳ· τὴν γὰρ τροφὴν ἐκλιπεῖν. διόπερ οἱ στρατηγοὶ πρόφασιν ἐνέγκαντες ὡς διεληλύθασιν οἱ ταχθέντες τῆς στρατηγίας χρόνοι, τὰς δυνάμεις ἀπήγαγον ἐπὶ τὸν πορθμόν. μετὰ δὲ τὴν τούτων ἀπαλλαγὴν συνελθόντες οἱ στρατηγοὶ μετὰ τῶν ἐφʼ ἡγεμονίας τεταγμένων διέγνωσαν ἐξετάσαι τὸν ἐν τῇ πόλει σῖτον· ὃν εὑρόντες παντελῶς ὀλίγον ἐθεώρουν ἀναγκαῖον ὑπάρχειν ἐκλιπεῖν τὴν πόλιν. εὐθὺς οὖν ἐπιγινομένης τῆς νυκτὸς παρήγγειλαν ἀναζευγνύειν ἅπαντας.
After the assembly Daphnaeus led forth his forces and undertook to lay siege to the camp of the Carthaginians, but when he saw that it had been fortified with great outlay, he gave up that design; however, by covering the roads with his cavalry he seized such as were foraging, and by cutting off the transport of supplies brought them into serious straits. The Carthaginians, not daring to wage a pitched battle and being hard pinched by lack of food, were enduring great misfortunes. For many of the soldiers were dying of want, and the Campanians together with the other mercenaries, almost in a body, forced their way to the tent of Himilcar and demanded the rations which had been agreed upon; and if these were not given them, they threatened to go over to the enemy. But Himilcar had learned from some source that the Syracusans were conveying a great amount of grain to Acragas by sea. Consequently, since this was the only hope he had of salvation, he persuaded the soldiers to wait a few days, giving them as a pledge the goblets belonging to the troops from Carthage. He then summoned forty triremes from Panormus and Motye and planned an attack upon the ships which were bringing the supplies; and the Syracusans, because up to this time the barbarians had retired from the sea and winter had already set in, held the Carthaginians in contempt, feeling assured that they would not again have the courage to man their triremes. Consequently, since they gave little concern to the convoying of the supplies, Himilcar, sailing forth unawares for forty triremes, sank eight of their warships and pursued the rest to the beach; and by capturing all the remaining vessels he effected such a reversal in the expectations of both sides that the Campanians who were in the service of the Acragantini, considering the position of the Greeks to be hopeless, were bought off for fifteen talents and went over to the Carthaginians. The Acragantini at first, when the Carthaginians were faring badly, had enjoyed their grain and other supplies without stint, expecting all the while that the siege would be quickly lifted; but when the hopes of the barbarians began to rise and so many myriads of human beings were gathered into one city, the grain was exhausted before they were aware of it. And the story is told that also Dexippus the Lacedemonian was corrupted by a bribe of fifteen talents; for without hesitation he replied to a question of the generals of the Italian Greeks, "Yes, it's better if the war is settled somewhere else, for our provisions have failed." Consequently the generals, offering as their excuse that the time agreed upon for the campaign had elapsed, led their troops off to the Strait. After the departure of these troops the generals met with the commanders and decided of make a survey of the supply of grain in the city, and when they discovered that it was quite low, they perceived that they were compelled to desert the city. At once, then, they issued orders that all should leave on the next night.
§ 13.89
τοσούτου δὲ πλήθους ἀνδρῶν γυναικῶν παίδων ἐκλιπόντων τὴν πόλιν ἄφνω πολὺς οἶκτος καὶ δάκρυα κατεῖχε τὰς οἰκίας. ἅμα γὰρ ὁ τῶν πολεμίων ἐξέπληττε φόβος, ἅμα δὲ διὰ τὴν σπουδὴν ἠναγκάζοντο καταλιπεῖν εἰς διαρπαγὴν τοῖς βαρβάροις ταῦτʼ ἐφʼ οἷς ἑαυτοὺς ἐμακάριζον· ἀφαιρουμένης γὰρ τῆς τύχης τὴν ἐξουσίαν τῶν οἴκοι καλῶν, ἀγαπητὸν ἡγοῦντο τὰ σώματα γοῦν αὑτῶν διασῶσαι. οὐ μόνον δὲ τῆς τοιαύτης πόλεως εὐδαιμονίαν παρῆν ὁρᾶν ἀπολειπομένην, ἀλλὰ καὶ σωμάτων πλῆθος. οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἐν ἀρρωστίαις ὑπὸ τῶν οἰκείων περιεωρῶντο, τῆς καθʼ ἑαυτὸν σωτηρίας ἑκάστου φροντίζοντος, οἱ δὲ ταῖς ἡλικίαις ἤδη προβεβηκότες ὑπὸ τῆς τοῦ γήρως ἀσθενείας κατελείποντο· πολλοὶ δὲ καὶ τὴν ἀλλαγὴν τῆς πατρίδος θανάτου τιμώμενοι τὰς χεῖρας ἑαυτοῖς προσήνεγκαν, ὅπως ταῖς πατρῴαις οἰκίαις ἐναποπνεύσωσιν. οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ τὸ μὲν ἐκ τῆς πόλεως ἐξιὸν πλῆθος οἱ στρατιῶται μετὰ τῶν ὅπλων παρέπεμπον εἰς τὴν Γέλαν· ἡ δʼ ὁδὸς καὶ πάντα τὰ πρὸς τὴν Γελῴαν ἀποκεκλιμένα τῆς χώρας μέρη ἔγεμε γυναικῶν καὶ παίδων ἀναμὶξ παρθένοις, αἳ τὴν συνήθη τρυφὴν εἰς ὁδοιπορίαν σύντονον καὶ κακοπάθειαν ὑπεράγουσαν μεταβαλλόμεναι διεκαρτέρουν, τοῦ φόβου τὰς ψυχὰς ἐντείνοντος. οὗτοι μὲν οὖν ἀσφαλῶς διασωθέντες εἰς Γέλαν ὕστερον εἰς Λεοντίνους κατῴκησαν, Συρακοσίων αὐτοῖς δόντων τὴν πόλιν ταύτην οἰκητήριον.
With such a throng of men, women, and children deserting the city, at once endless lamentation and tears pervaded all homes. For while they were panic-stricken from fear of the enemy, at the same time they were also under necessity, because of their haste, of leaving behind as booty for the barbarians the possessions on which they had based their happiness; for when Fortune was robbing them of the comforts they enjoyed in their homes, they thought that they should be content that at least they were preserving their lives. And one could see the abandonment not only of the opulence of so wealthy a city but also of a multitude of human beings. For the sick were neglected by their relatives, everyone taking thought for his own safety, and those who were already far advanced in years were abandoned because of the weakness of old age; and many, reckoning even speculation from their native city to be the equivalent of death, laid hands upon themselves in order that they might breathe their last in the dwellings of their ancestors. However, the multitude which left the city was given armed escort by the soldiers to Gela; and the highway and all parts of the countryside which led away toward the territory of the Geloans were crowded with women and children intermingled with maidens, who, changing from the pampered life to which they had been accustomed to a strenuous journey by foot and extreme hardship, held out to the end, since fear nerved their souls. Now these got safely to Gela and at a later time made their home in Leontini, the Syracusans having given them this city for their dwelling-place.
§ 13.90
ὁ δʼ Ἰμίλκας ἅμα τῷ φωτὶ τὴν δύναμιν ἐντὸς τῶν τειχῶν παρεισαγαγὼν σχεδὸν ἅπαντας τοὺς ἐγκαταλειφθέντας ἀνεῖλεν· ὅτε δὴ καὶ τοὺς ἐν τοῖς ναοῖς καταπεφευγότας ἀποσπῶντες οἱ Καρχηδόνιοι ἀνῄρουν. λέγεται δὲ τὸν Τελλίαν τὸν πρωτεύοντα τῶν πολιτῶν πλούτῳ καὶ καλοκἀγαθίᾳ συνατυχῆσαι τῇ πατρίδι, βουληθέντα καταφυγεῖν σύν τισιν ἑτέροις εἰς τὸ τῆς Ἀθηνᾶς ἱερόν, νομίζοντα τῆς εἰς θεοὺς παρανομίας ἀφέξεσθαι τοὺς Καρχηδονίους· θεωροῦντα δὲ αὐτῶν τὴν ἀσέβειαν, ἐμπρῆσαι τὸν νεὼν καὶ μετὰ τῶν ἐν τούτῳ ἀναθημάτων ἑαυτὸν συγκατακαῦσαι. μιᾷ γὰρ πράξει διελάμβανεν ἀφελέσθαι θεῶν ἀσέβειαν, πολεμίων ἁρπαγὰς πολλῶν χρημάτων, μέγιστον ἑαυτοῦ τὴν εἰς τὸ σῶμα ἐσομένην ὕβριν. ὁ δὲ Ἰμίλκας τὰ ἱερὰ καὶ τὰς οἰκίας συλήσας καὶ φιλοτίμως ἐρευνήσας, τοσαύτην ὠφέλειαν συνήθροισεν ὅσην εἰκός ἐστιν ἐσχηκέναι πόλιν οἰκουμένην ὑπὸ ἀνδρῶν εἴκοσι μυριάδων, ἀπόρθητον δὲ ἀπὸ τῆς κτίσεως γεγενημένην, πλουσιωτάτην δὲ σχεδὸν τῶν τότε Ἑλληνίδων πόλεων γεγενημένην, καὶ ταῦτα τῶν ἐν αὐτῇ φιλοκαλησάντων εἰς παντοίων κατασκευασμάτων πολυτέλειαν· καὶ γὰρ γραφαὶ παμπληθεῖς ηὑρέθησαν εἰς ἄκρον ἐκπεπονημέναι καὶ παντοίων ἀνδριάντων φιλοτέχνως δεδημιουργημένων ὑπεράγων ἀριθμός. τὰ μὲν οὖν πολυτελέστατα τῶν ἔργων ἀπέστειλεν εἰς Καρχηδόνα, ἐν οἷς καὶ τὸν Φαλάριδος συνέβη κομισθῆναι ταῦρον, τὴν δʼ ἄλλην ὠφέλειαν ἐλαφυροπώλησεν. τοῦτον δὲ τὸν ταῦρον ὁ Τίμαιος ἐν ταῖς ἱστορίαις διαβεβαιωσάμενος μὴ γεγονέναι τὸ σύνολον, ὑπʼ αὐτῆς τῆς τύχης ἠλέγχθη· Σκιπίων γὰρ ὕστερον ταύτης τῆς ἁλώσεως σχεδὸν ἑξήκοντα καὶ διακοσίοις ἔτεσιν ἐκπορθήσας Καρχηδόνα τοῖς Ἀκραγαντίνοις μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν διαμεινάντων παρὰ τοῖς Καρχηδονίοις ἀποκατέστησε τὸν ταῦρον, ὃς καὶ τῶνδε τῶν ἱστοριῶν γραφομένων ἦν ἐν Ἀκράγαντι. περὶ δὲ τούτου φιλοτιμότερον εἰπεῖν προήχθην, διότι Τίμαιος ὁ τῶν πρό γε αὐτοῦ συγγραφέων πικρότατα κατηγορήσας καὶ συγγνώμην οὐδεμίαν τοῖς ἱστοριογράφοις ἀπολιπὼν αὐτὸς εὑρίσκεται σχεδιάζων, ἐν οἷς μάλιστα ἑαυτὸν ἀποπέφαγκεν ἀκριβολογούμενον. δεῖ γάρ, οἶμαι, τοὺς συγγραφεῖς ἐν μὲν τοῖς ἀγνοήμασι τυγχάνειν συγγνώμης, ὡς ἂν ἀνθρώπους ὄντας καὶ τῆς ἐν τοῖς παροιχομένοις χρόνοις ἀληθείας οὔσης δυσευρέτου, τοὺς μέντοι γε κατὰ προαίρεσιν οὐ τυγχάνοντας τοῦ ἀκριβοῦς προσηκόντως κατηγορίας τυγχάνειν, ὅταν κολακεύοντές τινας ἢ διʼ ἔχθραν πικρότερον προσβάλλοντες ἀποσφάλλωνται τῆς ἀληθείας.
Himilcar, leading his army at dawn within the walls, put to death practically all who had been left behind; yes, even those who had fled for safety to the temples the Carthaginians hauled out and slew. And we are told that Tellias, who was the foremost citizen in wealth and honourable character, shared in the misfortune of his country: He had decided to take refuge with certain others in the sanctuary of Athena, thinking that the Carthaginians would refrain from acts of lawlessness against the gods, but when he saw their impiety, he set fire to the temple and burned himself together with the dedications in it. For by one deed, he thought, he would withhold from the gods impiety, from the enemy a vast store of plunder, and from himself, most important of all, certain physical indignity. But Himilcar, after pillaging and industriously ransacking the sanctuaries and dwellings, collected as great a store of booty as a city could be expected to yield which had been inhabited by two hundred thousand people, had gone unravaged since the date of its founding, had been well-nigh the wealthiest of the Greek cities of that day, and whose citizens, furthermore, had shown their love of the beautiful in expensive collections of works of art of every description. Indeed a multitude of paintings executed with the greatest care was found and an extraordinary number of sculptures of every description and worked with great skill, The most valuable pieces, accordingly, Himilcar sent to Carthage, among which, as it turned out, was the bull of Phalaris, and the rest of the pillage he sold as booty. As regards this bull, although Timaeus in his History has maintained that it never existed at all, he has been refuted by Fortune herself; for some two hundred and sixty years after the capture of Acragas, when Scipio sacked Carthage, he returned to the Acragantini, together with their others possessions still in the hands of the Carthaginians, the bull, which was still in Acragas at the time this history was being written. I have been led to speak of this matter rather copiously because Timaeus, who criticized most bitterly the historians before his time and left the writers of history bereft of all forgiveness, is himself caught improvising in the very province where he most proclaims his own accuracy. For historians should, in my opinion, be granted charity in errors that come of ignorance, since they are human beings and since the truth of ages past is hard to discover, but historians who deliberately do not give the exact facts should properly be open to censure, whenever in flattering one man or another or in attacking others from hatred too bitterly, they stray from the truth.
§ 13.91
Ἰμίλκας δὲ ὀκτὼ μῆνας πολιορκήσας τὴν πόλιν, καὶ μικρὸν πρὸ τῆς χειμερινῆς τροπῆς κυριεύσας αὐτῆς, οὐκ εὐθὺς κατέσκαψεν, ὅπως αἱ δυνάμεις ἐν ταῖς οἰκίαις παραχειμάσωσιν. τῆς δὲ περὶ τὸν Ἀκράγαντα συμφορᾶς διαγγελθείσης, τοσοῦτος τὴν νῆσον κατέσχε φόβος, ὥστε τῶν Σικελιωτῶν τοὺς μὲν εἰς Συρακούσας μεθίστασθαι, τοὺς δὲ εἰς τὴν Ἰταλίαν τέκνα καὶ γυναῖκας καὶ τὴν ἄλλην κτῆσιν ἀποσκευάζεσθαι. οἱ δὲ διαφυγόντες τὴν αἰχμαλωσίαν Ἀκραγαντῖνοι παραγενηθέντες εἰς Συρακούσας κατηγόρουν τῶν στρατηγῶν, φάσκοντες διὰ τὴν ἐκείνων προδοσίαν ἀπολωλέναι τὴν πατρίδα. συνέβαινε δὲ καὶ ὑπὸ τῶν ἄλλων Σικελιωτῶν ἐπιτιμήσεως τυγχάνειν τοὺς Συρακοσίους, ὅτι τοιούτους προστάτας αἱροῦνται, διʼ οὓς ἀπολέσθαι κινδυνεύει πᾶσα Σικελία. οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ συναχθείσης ἐκκλησίας ἐν Συρακούσαις, καὶ μεγάλων φόβων ἐπικρεμαμένων, οὐθεὶς ἐτόλμα περὶ τοῦ πολέμου συμβουλεύειν. ἀπορουμένων δὲ πάντων παρελθὼν Διονύσιος ὁ Ἑρμοκράτους τῶν μὲν στρατηγῶν κατηγόρησεν ὡς προδιδόντων τὰ πράγματα τοῖς Καρχηδονίοις, τὰ δὲ πλήθη παρώξυνε πρὸς τὴν αὐτῶν τιμωρίαν, παρακαλῶν μὴ περιμεῖναι τὸν κατὰ τοὺς νόμους λῆρον, ἀλλʼ ἐκ χειρὸς ἐπιθεῖναι τὴν δίκην. τῶν δʼ ἀρχόντων ζημιούντων τὸν Διονύσιον κατὰ τοὺς νόμους ὡς θορυβοῦντα, Φίλιστος ὁ τὰς ἱστορίας ὕστερον συγγράψας, οὐσίαν ἔχων μεγάλην, ἐξέτισε τὰ πρόστιμα, καὶ τῷ Διονυσίῳ παρεκελεύετο λέγειν ὅσα προῄρητο. καὶ προσεπειπόντος ὅτι καθʼ ὅλην τὴν ἡμέραν, ἂν ζημιοῦν θέλωσιν, ἐκτίσει τἀργύριον ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ, τὸ λοιπὸν θαρρήσας ἀνέσειε τὰ πλήθη, καὶ τὴν ἐκκλησίαν συνταράττων διέβαλλε τοὺς στρατηγούς, ὅτι χρήμασι πεισθέντες ἐγκατέλιπον τὴν τῶν Ἀκραγαντίνων σωτηρίαν. συγκατηγόρησε δὲ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν ἐπισημοτάτων πολιτῶν, συνιστὰς αὐτοὺς οἰκείους ὄντας ὀλιγαρχίας. διόπερ συνεβούλευεν αἱρεῖσθαι στρατηγοὺς μὴ τοὺς δυνατωτάτους, ἀλλὰ τοὺς εὐνουστάτους καὶ δημοτικοὺς μᾶλλον· ἐκείνους μὲν γὰρ δεσποτικῶς ἄρχοντας τῶν πολιτῶν καταφρονεῖν τῶν πολλῶν, καὶ τὰς τῆς πατρίδος συμφορὰς ἰδίας ἡγεῖσθαι προσόδους, τοὺς δὲ ταπεινοτέρους οὐδὲν πράξειν τῶν τοιούτων, δεδιότας τὴν περὶ αὑτοὺς ἀσθένειαν.
Since Himilcar, after besieging the city for eight months, had taken it shortly before the winter solstice, he did not destroy it at once, in order that his forces might winter in the dwellings. But when the misfortune that had befallen Acragas was noised abroad, such fear took possession of the island that of the Sicilian Greeks some removed to Syracuse and others transferred their children and wives and all their possessions to Italy. The Acragantini who had escaped being taken captive, when they arrived in Syracuse, lodged accusations against their generals, asserting that it was due to their treachery that their country had perished. And it so happened that the Syracusans also came in for censure by the rest of the Sicilian Greeks, because, as they charged, they elected the kind of leaders through whose fault the whole of Sicily ran the risk of destruction. Nevertheless, even though an assembly of the people was held in Syracuse and great fears hung over them, not a man would venture to offer any counsel respecting the war. While everyone was at a loss what to do, Dionysius, the son of Hermocrates, taking the floor, accused the generals of betraying their cause to the Carthaginians and stirred up the assemblage to exact punishment of them, urging them not to await the futile procedure prescribed by the laws but to pass judgement upon them at once. And when the archons, in accordance with the laws, laid a fine upon Dionysius on the charge of raising an uproar, Philistus, who later composed his History, a man of great wealth, paid the fine and urged Dionysius to speak out whatever he had had in his mind to say. And when Philistus went on to say that if they wanted to fine Dionysius throughout the whole day he would provide the money for him, from then on Dionysius, full of confidence, hand stirring up the multitude, and throwing the assembly into confusion he accused the generals of taking bribes to put the security of the Acragantini in jeopardy. And he also denounced the rest of the most renowned citizens, presenting them as friends of oligarchy. Consequently he advised them to choose as generals not the most influential citizens, but rather those who were the best disposed and most favourable to the people; for the former, he maintained, ruling the citizens as they do in a despotic manner, hold the many in contempt and consider the misfortunes of their country their own source of income, whereas the more humble will do none of such things, since they fear their own weakness.
§ 13.92
πάντα δὲ πρὸς τὴν τῶν ἀκουόντων προαίρεσιν καὶ τὴν ἰδίαν ἐπιβολὴν δημηγορήσας οὐ μετρίως ἐξῆρε τὸν τῶν ἐκκλησιαζόντων θυμόν· ὁ γὰρ δῆμος καὶ πάλαι μισῶν τοὺς στρατηγοὺς διὰ τὸ δοκεῖν κακῶς προΐστασθαι τοῦ πολέμου, τότε διὰ τῶν λόγων παροξυνθεὶς παραυτίκα τοὺς μὲν ἔλυσε τῆς ἀρχῆς, ἑτέρους δʼ εἵλατο στρατηγούς, ἐν οἷς καὶ τὸν Διονύσιον, ὃς ἐν ταῖς πρὸς Καρχηδονίους μάχαις ἀνδρείᾳ δόξας διενηνοχέναι περίβλεπτος ἦν παρὰ τοῖς Συρακοσίοις. διὸ καὶ μετεωρισθεὶς ταῖς ἐλπίσι πᾶν ἐμηχανήσατο πρὸς τὸ γενέσθαι τῆς πατρίδος τύραννος. μετὰ γὰρ τὴν παράληψιν τῆς ἀρχῆς οὔτε συνήδρευσεν ἅμα τοῖς στρατηγοῖς οὔθʼ ὅλως συνῆν· ταῦτα δὲ πράττων διεδίδου λόγον ὡς διαπεμπομένων αὐτῶν πρὸς τοὺς πολεμίους. οὕτω γὰρ μάλιστʼ ἤλπιζεν ἐκείνων μὲν περιαιρήσεσθαι τὴν ἐξουσίαν, ἑαυτῷ δὲ μόνῳ περιστήσειν τὴν στρατηγίαν. ταῦτα δʼ αὐτοῦ πράττοντος οἱ μὲν χαριέστατοι τῶν πολιτῶν ὑπώπτευον τὸ γινόμενον, καὶ κατὰ πάσας τὰς συνόδους ἐβλασφήμουν αὐτόν, ὁ δὲ δημοτικὸς ὄχλος, ἀγνοῶν τὴν ἐπιβουλήν, ἐπῄνει καὶ μόγις ἔφασκε τὴν πόλιν προστάτην εὑρηκέναι βέβαιον. οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ πολλάκις ἐκκλησίας συναγομένης περὶ τῆς εἰς τὸν πόλεμον παρασκευῆς, θεωρήσας τοὺς Συρακοσίους καταπεπληγμένους τὸν ἀπὸ τῶν πολεμίων φόβον, συνεβούλευε κατάγειν τοὺς φυγάδας· ἄτοπον γὰρ ὑπάρχειν ἐκ μὲν Ἰταλίας καὶ Πελοποννήσου μεταπέμπεσθαι βοήθειαν παρὰ τῶν ἀλλοτρίων, τοὺς δὲ πολίτας μὴ βούλεσθαι πρὸς τοὺς ἰδίους κινδύνους συμπαραλαμβάνειν, οὕς—τῶν πολεμίων μεγάλας δωρεὰς ὑπισχνουμένων, ἂν συστρατεύωσιν—προαιρεῖσθαι μᾶλλον ἐπὶ ξένης ἀλωμένους ἀποθανεῖν ἤπερ ἀλλότριόν τι κατὰ τῆς πατρίδος βουλεύσασθαι. καὶ γὰρ διὰ τὰς γεγενημένας ἐν τῇ πόλει στάσεις φυγόντας, νῦν γε τυχόντας ταύτης τῆς εὐεργεσίας προθύμως ἀγωνιεῖσθαι, τοῖς εὖ ποιήσασιν ἀποδιδόντας χάριτας. πρὸς δὲ τὴν ὑπόθεσιν ταύτην πολλὰ διαλεχθεὶς οἰκεῖα τοῖς πράγμασι συμψήφους ἔλαβε τοὺς Συρακοσίους· οὐδὲ γὰρ τῶν συναρχόντων οὐδεὶς ἐτόλμα περὶ τούτων ἀντειπεῖν διά τε τὴν τοῦ πλήθους ὁρμὴν καὶ διὰ τὸ θεωρεῖν ἑαυτῷ μὲν περιεσομένην τὴν ἀπέχθειαν, ἐκείνῳ δὲ τὴν παρὰ τῶν εὐεργετηθέντων χάριν. τοῦτο δʼ ἔπραξεν ὁ Διονύσιος ἐλπίζων ἰδίους ἕξειν τοὺς φυγάδας, ἀνθρώπους μεταβολῆς ἐπιθυμοῦντας καὶ πρὸς τὴν ἐπίθεσιν τῆς τυραννίδος εὐθέτως διακειμένους· ἤμελλον γὰρ ἡδέως ὄψεσθαι τῶν ἐχθρῶν φόνους, δημεύσεις τῶν οὐσιῶν, ἑαυτοῖς ἀποκαθεσταμένα τὰ χρήματα. καὶ τέλος κυρωθείσης τῆς περὶ τῶν φυγάδων γνώμης, οὗτοι μὲν εὐθὺς εἰς τὴν πατρίδα κατῆλθον·
Dionysius, by suiting every word of his harangue to the people to the predilection of his hearers and his own personal design, stirred the anger of the assembly to no small degree; for the people, which for some time past had hated the generals for what they considered to be their bad conduct of the war and at the moment were spurred on by what was being said to them, immediately dismissed some of them from office and chose other generals, among whom was also Dionysius, who enjoyed the reputation of having shown unusual bravery in the battles against the Carthaginians and was admired of all the Syracusans. Having become elated, therefore, in his hopes, he tried every device to become tyrant of his country. For example, after assuming office he neither participated in the meetings of the generals nor associated with them in any way; and while acting in this manner he spread the report that they were carrying on negotiations with the enemy. For in this way he hoped that he could most effectively strip them of their power and clothe himself alone with the office of general. While Dionysius was acting in this fashion, the most respectable citizens suspected what was taking place and in every gathering spoke disparagingly of him, but the common crowd, being ignorant of his scheme, gave him their approbation and declared that at long last teach had found a steadfast leader. However, when the assembly convened time and again to consider preparations for the war, Dionysius, observing that fear of the enemy had struck the Syracusans with terror, advised them to recall the exiles; for it was absurd, he said, to seek aid from peoples other states in Italy and the Peloponnesus and to be unwilling to enlist the assistance of their fellow citizens in facing their own dangers, citizens who, although the enemy kept promising them great rewards for their military co operation, chose rather to die as wanderers on foreign soil than plan some hostile act against their native land. And in fact, he declared, men who were now in exile because of past civil strife in the city, if at this time they were the recipients of this benefaction, would fight with eagerness, showing in this way their appreciation to their benefactors. After reciting many arguments for this proposal that bore on the situation, he won the votes of the Syracusans to his view; for no one of his colleagues in office dared oppose him in the matter both because of the eagerness shown by multitude and because each observed that he himself would gain only enmity, while Dionysius would heap a reward of gratitude from those who had received kindness from him. Dionysius took this course in the hope that he would win the exile for himself, men who wished a change and would be favourably disposed toward the establishment of a tyranny; for they would be happy to witness the murder of their enemies, the confiscation of their property, and the restoration to themselves of their possessions. And when finally the resolution regarding the exiles was passed, these returned at once to their native land.
§ 13.93
ἐκ δὲ τῆς Γέλας ἐνεχθέντων γραμμάτων, ὅπως ἀποσταλῶσι στρατιῶται πλείους, ἔλαβεν ὁ Διονύσιος οἰκείαν ἔφοδον τῆς ἰδίας προαιρέσεως. ἀποσταλεὶς γὰρ μετὰ στρατιωτῶν πεζῶν μὲν δισχιλίων, ἱππέων δὲ τετρακοσίων, ἦλθε συντόμως εἰς τὴν πόλιν τῶν Γελῴων, ἣν τότε παρεφύλαττε Δέξιππος ὁ Λακεδαιμόνιος, κατασταθεὶς ὑπὸ Συρακοσίων. ὁ δʼ οὖν Διονύσιος καταλαβὼν τοὺς εὐπορωτάτους στασιάζοντας πρὸς τὸν δῆμον, καὶ κατηγορήσας αὐτῶν ἐν ἐκκλησίᾳ καὶ κατακρίνας, αὐτοὺς μὲν ἀπέκτεινε, τὰς δʼ οὐσίας αὐτῶν ἐδήμευσεν, ἐκ δὲ τῶν χρημάτων τούτων τοῖς μὲν φρουροῦσι τὴν πόλιν, ὧν ἡγεῖτο Δέξιππος, ἀπέδωκε τοὺς ὀφειλομένους μισθούς· τοῖς δὲ μετʼ αὐτοῦ παραγεγονόσιν ἐκ Συρακουσῶν ἐπηγγείλατο διπλοῦς ποιήσειν τοὺς μισθούς, ὧν ἡ πόλις ἔταξε. διὰ δὲ τούτου τοῦ τρόπου τούς τʼ ἐν Γέλᾳ στρατιώτας καὶ τοὺς μετʼ αὐτοῦ ταῖς εὐνοίαις ἰδίους κατεσκεύασεν. ἐπῃνεῖτο δὲ καὶ ὑπὸ τοῦ δήμου τῶν Γελῴων ὡς αἴτιος αὐτοῖς γεγενημένος τῆς ἐλευθερίας· τοῖς γὰρ δυνατωτάτοις φθονοῦντες τὴν ἐκείνων ὑπεροχὴν δεσποτείαν αὐτῶν ἀπεκάλουν. διόπερ ἐξέπεμψαν πρέσβεις τοὺς ἐπαινοῦντας ἐν Συρακούσαις καὶ τὰ ψηφίσματα φέροντας, ἐν οἷς αὐτὸν μεγάλαις δωρεαῖς ἐτίμησαν. ὁ δὲ Διονύσιος ἐπεβάλετο μὲν τὸν Δέξιππον πείθειν κοινωνῆσαι τῆς ἐπιβολῆς· ἐπεὶ δʼ οὐ συγκατετίθετο, μετὰ τῶν ἰδίων στρατιωτῶν ἕτοιμος ἦν ἀνακάμπτειν εἰς Συρακούσας. οἱ δὲ Γελῷοι πυνθανόμενοι τοὺς Καρχηδονίους μέλλειν μετὰ πάσης τῆς δυνάμεως ἐπὶ πρώτην στρατεύειν τὴν Γέλαν, ἐδέοντο τοῦ Διονυσίου μεῖναι καὶ μὴ περιιδεῖν αὐτοὺς τὰ αὐτὰ τοῖς Ἀκραγαντίνοις παθόντας. οἷς ἐπαγγειλάμενος ὁ Διονύσιος συντόμως ἥξειν μετὰ πλείονος δυνάμεως, ἐξώρμησεν ἐκ τῆς Γέλας μετὰ τῶν ἰδίων στρατιωτῶν.
When messages were brought from Gela requesting the dispatch of additional troops, Dionysius got a favourable means of accomplishing his own purpose. Having been dispatched with two thousand infantry and four hundred cavalry, he arrived speedily at the city of the Geloans, which at that time was under the eye of Dexippus, the Lacedemonian, who had been put in charge by the Syracusans. And when Dionysius on arrival found the wealthiest citizens engaged in strife with the people, he accused them in an assembly and secured their condemnation, whereupon he put them to death and confiscated their possessions. With the money thus gained he paid the guards of the city under the command of Dexippus the wages which were owing them, while to his own troops who had come with him from Syracuse he promised he would pay double the wages which the city had determined. In this manner he won over to himself the loyalty not only of the soldiers in Gela but also of those whom he had brought with him. He also gained the approval of the populace of the Geloans, who believed him to be responsible for their liberation; for in their envy of the most influential citizens they stigmatized the superiority these men possessed as a despotism over themselves. Consequently they dispatched ambassadors who sang his praises in Syracuse and reported decrees in which they honoured him with rich gifts. Dionysius also undertook to persuade Dexippus to associate himself with his design, and when Dexippus would not join with him, he was on the point of returning with his own troops to Syracuse. But the Geloans, on learning that the Carthaginians with their entire host were going to make Gela the first object of attack, besought Dionysius to remain and not to stand idly by while they suffered the same fate as the Acragantini. Dionysius replied to them that he would return speedily with a larger force and set forth from Gela with his own soldiers.
§ 13.94
θέας δʼ οὔσης ἐν ταῖς Συρακούσαις, κατὰ τὴν ὥραν τῆς ἀπαλλαγῆς τῶν ἐκ τοῦ θεάτρου παρῆν εἰς τὴν πόλιν. συνδραμόντων δὲ τῶν ὄχλων ἐπʼ αὐτὸν καὶ πυνθανομένων περὶ τῶν Καρχηδονίων, ἀγνοεῖν αὐτοὺς ἔφη, διότι τῶν ἔξωθεν πολεμιωτέρους ἔχουσι τοὺς ἔνδον τῶν κοινῶν προεστῶτας, οἷς οἱ μὲν πολῖται πιστεύοντες ἑορτάζουσιν, αὐτοὶ δὲ διαφοροῦντες τὰ δημόσια τοὺς στρατιώτας ἀμίσθους πεποιήκασι, καὶ τῶν πολεμίων ἀνυπερβλήτους ποιουμένων τὰς εἰς τὸν πόλεμον παρασκευὰς καὶ μελλόντων ἐπὶ Συρακούσας τὴν δύναμιν ἄγειν, τούτων οὐδʼ ἡντινοῦν ποιοῦνται φροντίδα. διʼ ἣν δʼ αἰτίαν ταῦτα πράττουσιν, εἰδέναι μὲν καὶ πρότερον, νῦν δὲ σαφέστερον ἀνεγνωκέναι· Ἰμίλκωνα γὰρ πρὸς αὐτὸν ἀπεσταλκέναι κήρυκα, πρόφασιν μὲν ὑπὲρ τῶν αἰχμαλώτων, παρακαλεῖν δὲ—πλῆθος τῶν συναρχόντων περιποιησάμενον μηδὲν τῶν πραττομένων πολυπραγμονεῖν—μή γʼ ἀντιπράττειν, ἐπειδὴ συνεργεῖν οὐ προαιρεῖται. μηκέτʼ οὖν βούλεσθαι στρατηγεῖν, ἀλλὰ παρεῖναι τὴν ἀρχὴν ἀποθησόμενος· οὐ γὰρ ἀνεκτὸν εἶναι, τῶν ἄλλων πωλούντων τὴν πατρίδα, μόνον κινδυνεύειν μετὰ τῶν πολιτῶν ἅμα καὶ δόξειν μετεσχηκέναι τῆς προδοσίας. παροξυνθέντων δὲ ἐπὶ τοῖς ῥηθεῖσι καὶ τοῦ λόγου διὰ πάσης τῆς δυνάμεως ῥυέντος, τότε μὲν εἷς ἕκαστος ἀγωνιῶν εἰς οἶκον ἐχωρίσθη· τῇ δʼ ὑστεραίᾳ συναχθείσης ἐκκλησίας, ἐν ᾗ τῶν ἀρχόντων πολλὰ κατηγορήσας οὐ μετρίως εὐδοκίμησε, τὸν δὲ δῆμον κατὰ τῶν στρατηγῶν παρώξυνε. τέλος δὲ τῶν καθημένων τινὲς ἀνεβόησαν στρατηγὸν αὐτὸν αὐτοκράτορα καθιστάναι καὶ μὴ περιμένειν, ἄχρις ἂν οἱ πολέμιοι τοῖς τείχεσιν ἐπεισίωσι· χρείαν γὰρ ἔχειν τὸ μέγεθος τοῦ πολέμου τοιούτου στρατηγοῦ, διʼ οὗ δυνατὸν εἶναι εὐπορεῖν τοῖς πράγμασιν· τὰ δὲ περὶ τῶν προδοτῶν ἐν ἐκκλησίᾳ ἑτέρᾳ βουλεύεσθαι· τῶν γὰρ ἐνεστώτων καιρῶν ἀλλότριον εἶναι· καὶ πρότερον δὲ Καρχηδονίων τὰς τριάκοντα μυριάδας περὶ τὴν Ἱμέραν νενικῆσθαι στρατηγοῦντος Γέλωνος αὐτοκράτορος.
A play was being presented in Syracuse and Dionysius arrived in the city at the time when the people were leaving the theatre. When the populace rushed in throngs to him and were questioning him about the Carthaginians, they were unaware, he said, that they had more dangerous enemies than their foreign foes — the men within the city in charge of the public interests; these men the citizens trusted while they held public festivals, but these very men, while plundering the public funds, had let the soldiers go unpaid, and although the enemy was making their preparations for the war on a scale which could not be surpassed and were about to lead their forces upon Syracuse, the generals were giving these matters no concern whatsoever. The reason for such conduct, he continued, he had been aware of before, but now he had got fuller information. For Himilcon had sent a herald to him, ostensibly to treat about the captives, but in fact to urge him, now that Himilcon had induced a large number of Dionysius' colleagues not to bother themselves with what was taking place, at least to offer no opposition, since he, Dionysius, did not choose to co operate with him. Consequently, Dionysius continued, he did not wish to serve longer as general, but was present in Syracuse to lay down his office; for it was intolerable for him, while the other generals were selling out their country, to be the only one to fight together with the citizens and yet be at the same time destined to be thought in after years to have shared in their betrayal. Although the populace had been stirred by what Dionysius had said and his words spread through the whole army, at the time every man departed to his home full of anxiety. But on the following day, when an assembly had been convened in which Dionysius won no small approval when he lodged many accusations against the magistrates and stirred up the populace against the generals, finally some of the members cried out to appoint him general with supreme power and not to wait until the enemy were storming their walls; for the magnitude of the war, they urged, made necessary such a general, through whose leadership their cause could prosper; as for the traitors, their case would be debated in another assembly, since it was foreign to the present situation; indeed at a former time three hundred thousand Carthaginians had been conquered at Himera when Gelon was general with supreme power.
§ 13.95
ταχὺ δὲ τῶν πολλῶν, ὥσπερ εἰώθασιν, ἐπὶ τὸ χεῖρον ῥεπόντων, ὁ Διονύσιος ἀπεδείχθη στρατηγὸς αὐτοκράτωρ. ἐπεὶ δʼ οὖν αὐτῷ τὰ πράγματα κατὰ νοῦν ἠκολούθει, ψήφισμα ἔγραψε τοὺς μισθοὺς διπλασίους εἶναι· πάντας γὰρ ἔφησε τούτου γενομένου προθυμοτέρους ἔσεσθαι πρὸς τὸν ἀγῶνα, καὶ περὶ τῶν χρημάτων παρεκάλει μηθὲν ἀγωνιᾶν· ἔσεσθαι γὰρ αὐτῶν τὸν πόρον ῥᾴδιον. διαλυθείσης δὲ τῆς ἐκκλησίας οὐκ ὀλίγοι τῶν Συρακοσίων κατηγόρουν τῶν πραχθέντων, ὥσπερ οὐκ αὐτοὶ ταῦτα κεκυρωκότες· τοῖς γὰρ λογισμοῖς εἰς ἑαυτοὺς ἐρχόμενοι τὴν ἐσομένην δυναστείαν ἀνεθεώρουν. οὗτοι μὲν οὖν βεβαιῶσαι βουλόμενοι τὴν ἐλευθερίαν ἔλαθον ἑαυτοὺς δεσπότην τῆς πατρίδος καθεστακότες· ὁ δὲ Διονύσιος τὴν μετάνοιαν τῶν ὄχλων φθάσαι βουλόμενος, ἐπεζήτει διʼ οὗ τρόπου δύναιτο φύλακας αἰτήσασθαι τοῦ σώματος· τούτου γὰρ συγχωρηθέντος ῥᾳδίως ἤμελλε κυριεύσειν τῆς τυραννίδος. εὐθὺς οὖν παρήγγειλε τοὺς ἐν ἡλικίᾳ πάντας ἕως ἐτῶν τεσσαράκοντα λαβόντας ἐπισιτισμὸν ἡμερῶν τριάκοντα καταντᾶν μετὰ τῶν ὅπλων εἰς Λεοντίνους. αὕτη δʼ ἡ πόλις τότε φρούριον ἦν τῶν Συρακοσίων, πλῆρες ὑπάρχον φυγάδων καὶ ξένων ἀνθρώπων. ἤλπιζε γὰρ τούτους συναγωνιστὰς ἕξειν, ἐπιθυμοῦντας μεταβολῆς, τῶν δὲ Συρακοσίων τοὺς πλείστους οὐδʼ ἥξειν εἰς Λεοντίνους. οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ νυκτὸς ἐπὶ τῆς χώρας στρατοπεδεύων, καὶ προσποιηθεὶς ἐπιβουλεύεσθαι, κραυγὴν ἐποίησε καὶ θόρυβον διὰ τῶν ἰδίων οἰκετῶν· τοῦτο δὲ πράξας συνέφυγεν εἰς τὴν ἀκρόπολιν, καὶ διενυκτέρευσε πυρὰ καίων καὶ τοὺς γνωριμωτάτους τῶν στρατιωτῶν μεταπεμπόμενος. ἅμα δʼ ἡμέρᾳ τοῦ πλήθους ἀθροισθέντος εἰς Λεοντίνους, πολλὰ πρὸς τὴν τῆς ἐπιβολῆς ὑπόθεσιν πιθανολογήσας ἔπεισε τοὺς ὄχλους δοῦναι φύλακας αὐτῷ τῶν στρατιωτῶν ἑξακοσίους, οὓς ἂν προαιρῆται. λέγεται δὲ τοῦτο πρᾶξαι τὸν Διονύσιον ἀπομιμούμενον Πεισίστρατον τὸν Ἀθηναῖον· καὶ γὰρ ἐκεῖνόν φασιν ἑαυτὸν κατατραυματίσαντα προελθεῖν εἰς τὴν ἐκκλησίαν ὡς ἐπιβεβουλευμένον, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο φυλακὴν λαβεῖν παρὰ τῶν πολιτῶν, ᾗ χρησάμενον τὴν τυραννίδα περιπεποιῆσθαι. καὶ τότε Διονύσιος τῇ παραπλησίᾳ μηχανῇ τὸ πλῆθος ἐξαπατήσας ἐνήργει τὰ τῆς τυραννίδος.
And soon the multitude, as is their wont, swung to the worse decision and Dionysius was appointed general with supreme power. And now, since the situation corresponded to his desires, he proposed a decree that the pay of the mercenaries be doubled; for they would all, he said, if this were done, be more eager for the coming contest, and he urged them not to worry at all about the funds, since it would be an easy task to raise them. After the assembly was adjourned no small number of the Syracusans condemned what had been done, as if they themselves had not had their way in the matter; for as their thoughts turned to their own state they could imagine the tyrannical power which was to follow. Now these men, in their desire to insure their freedom, had unwittingly established a despot over their country; Dionysius, on the other hand, wishing to forestall the change of mind on the part of the populace, kept seeking a means whereby he could ask for a guard for his person, for if this were granted him he would easily establish himself in the tyranny. At once, then, he issued orders that all men of military age up to forty years should provide themselves rations for thirty days and report to him under arms at Leontini. This city was at that time an outpost of the Syracusans, being full of exiles and foreigners. For Dionysius hoped that he would have these men on his side, desiring as they did a change of government, and that the majority of the Syracusans would not even come to Leontini. However, while he was encamped at night in the countryside, he pretended that he was the object of a plot and had his personal servants raise a tumult and uproar; and after doing this he took refuge on the acropolis, where he passed the night, keeping fires burning and summoning to him his most trustworthy soldiers. And at daybreak, when the common people were gathered into Leontini, he delivered a long plausible speech to further his design and persuaded the populace to give him a guard of six hundred soldiers whomsoever he should select. It is said that Dionysius did this in imitation of Peisistratus the Athenian; for he, we are told, after wounding himself, appeared before the assembly alleging that he had been the victim of a plot, and because of this he received a guard at the hands of the citizens, by means of which he established the tyranny. And at this time Dionysius, having deceived the multitude by a similar device, put into effect the structure of his tyranny.
§ 13.96
εὐθὺ γὰρ τοὺς χρημάτων μὲν ἐνδεεῖς, τῇ δὲ ψυχῇ θρασεῖς ἐπιλέξας, ὑπὲρ τοὺς χιλίους, ὅπλοις τε πολυτελέσι καθώπλισε καὶ ταῖς μεγίσταις ἐπαγγελίαις ἐμετεώρισε, τοὺς δὲ μισθοφόρους ἀνακαλούμενος καὶ φιλανθρώποις λόγοις χρώμενος ἰδίους κατεσκεύαζεν. μετετίθει δὲ καὶ τὰς τάξεις, τοῖς πιστοτάτοις τὰς ἡγεμονίας παραδιδούς, καὶ Δέξιππον τὸν Λακεδαιμόνιον ἀπέλυσεν εἰς τὴν Ἑλλάδα· ὑφεωρᾶτο γὰρ τὸν ἄνδρα τοῦτον, μὴ καιροῦ λαμβανόμενος ἀνακτήσηται τοῖς Συρακοσίοις τὴν ἐλευθερίαν. μετεπέμψατο δὲ καὶ τοὺς ἐν Γέλᾳ μισθοφόρους, καὶ πανταχόθεν συνῆγε τοὺς φυγάδας καὶ ἀσεβεῖς, ἐλπίζων διὰ τούτων βεβαιότατα τηρηθήσεσθαι τὴν τυραννίδα. οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ παραγενόμενος εἰς Συρακούσας κατεσκήνωσεν ἐν τῷ ναυστάθμῳ, φανερῶς αὑτὸν ἀναδείξας τύραννον. οἱ δὲ Συρακόσιοι βαρέως φέροντες ἠναγκάζοντο τὴν ἡσυχίαν ἔχειν· οὐδὲν γὰρ ἔτι περαίνειν ἠδύναντο· ἥ τε γὰρ πόλις ἔγεμεν ὅπλων ξενικῶν, τούς τε Καρχηδονίους ἐδεδοίκεισαν τηλικαύτας ἔχοντας δυνάμεις. ὁ δʼ οὖν Διονύσιος εὐθέως ἔγημε τὴν Ἑρμοκράτους θυγατέρα τοῦ καταπολεμήσαντος Ἀθηναίους, καὶ τὴν ἀδελφὴν ἔδωκε Πολυξένῳ τῆς Ἑρμοκράτους γυναικὸς ἀδελφῷ· τοῦτο δʼ ἔπραξε βουλόμενος οἰκίαν ἐπίσημον εἰς οἰκειότητα προσλαβέσθαι πρὸς τὸ τὴν τυραννίδα ποιῆσαι βεβαίαν. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα συναγαγὼν ἐκκλησίαν τῶν ἀντιπραξάντων αὐτῷ τοὺς δυνατωτάτους ὄντας, Δαφναῖον καὶ Δήμαρχον, ἀνεῖλεν. Διονύσιος μὲν οὖν ἐκ γραμματέως καὶ τοῦ τυχόντος ἰδιώτου τῆς μεγίστης πόλεως τῶν Ἑλληνίδων ἐγενήθη τύραννος· διετήρησε δὲ τὴν δυναστείαν ἄχρι τῆς τελευτῆς, τυραννήσας ἔτη δύο λείποντα τῶν τεσσαράκοντα. τὰς δὲ κατὰ μέρος αὐτοῦ πράξεις καὶ τὴν αὔξησιν τῆς ἀρχῆς ἐν τοῖς οἰκείοις χρόνοις διέξιμεν· δοκεῖ γὰρ οὗτος μεγίστην τῶν ἱστορουμένων τυραννίδα περιπεποιῆσθαι διʼ ἑαυτοῦ καὶ πολυχρονιωτάτην. οἱ δὲ Καρχηδόνιοι μετὰ τὴν ἅλωσιν τῆς πόλεως τὰ μὲν ἀναθήματα καὶ τοὺς ἀνδριάντας καὶ τἄλλα τὰ πολυτελέστατα μετήνεγκαν εἰς Καρχηδόνα, τὰ δʼ ἱερὰ κατακαύσαντες καὶ τὴν πόλιν διαρπάσαντες αὐτοῦ παρεχείμασαν. ἐπὶ δὲ τὴν ἐαρινὴν ὥραν παρεσκευάζοντο μηχανήματα καὶ βέλη παντοδαπά, διανοούμενοι πρώτην πολιορκῆσαι τὴν τῶν Γελῴων πόλιν.
For instance Dionysius at once selected such citizens as were without property but bold in spirit, more than a thousand in number, provided them with costly arms, and buoyed them up with extravagant promises; the mercenaries also he won to himself by calling them to him and conversing with them in friendly fashion. He made changes also in the military posts, conferring their commands upon his most faithful followers; and Dexippus the Lacedemonian he dismissed to Greece, for he was suspicious of this man lest he should seize a favourable opportunity and restore to the Syracusans their liberty. He also called to himself the mercenaries in Gela and gathered from all quarters the exiles and impious, hoping that in these men the tyranny would find its strongest support. While in Syracuse, however, he took up his quarters in the naval station, having openly proclaimed himself tyrant. Although the Syracusans were offended, they were compelled to keep quiet; for they were unable to effect anything now, since not only was the city thronged with mercenary soldiers but the people were filled with fear of the Carthaginians who possessed such powerful armaments. Now Dionysius straightway married the daughter of Hermocrates, the conqueror of the Athenians, and gave his sister in marriage to Polyxenus, the brother of Hermocrates' wife. This he did out of a desire to draw a distinguished house into relationship with him in order to make firm the tyranny. After this he summoned an assembly and had his most influential opponents, Daphnaeus and Demarchus, put to death. Now Dionysius, from a scribe and ordinary private citizen, had become tyrant of the largest city in the Greek world; and he maintained his dominance until his death, having ruled as tyrant for thirty-eight years. But we shall give a detailed account of his deeds and of the expansion of his rule in connection with the appropriate periods of time; for it seems that this man, single-handed, established the strongest and longest tyranny of any recorded by history. The Carthaginians, after their capture of the city, transferred to Carthage both the votive offerings and statues and every object of greatest value, and when they had burned down the temples and plundered the city, they spent the winter there. And in the springtime they made ready every kind of engine of war and of missile, planning to lay siege first to the city of the Geloans.
§ 13.97
τούτων δὲ πραττομένων Ἀθηναῖοι μὲν κατὰ τὸ συνεχὲς ἐλαττώμασι περιπίπτοντες, ἐποιήσαντο πολίτας τοὺς μετοίκους καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ξένων τοὺς βουλομένους συναγωνίσασθαι· ταχὺ δὲ πολλοῦ πλήθους πολιτογραφηθέντος, οἱ στρατηγοὶ κατέγραφον τοὺς εὐθέτους εἰς τὴν στρατείαν. παρεσκευάσαντο δὲ ναῦς ἑξήκοντα, καὶ ταύτας πολυτελῶς καταρτίσαντες ἐξέπλευσαν εἰς Σάμον, ἐν ᾗ κατέλαβον τοὺς ἄλλους στρατηγοὺς ἀπὸ τῶν ἄλλων νήσων ὀγδοήκοντα τριήρεις ἠθροικότας. δεηθέντες δὲ καὶ τῶν Σαμίων προσπληρῶσαι δέκα τριήρεις, ἀνήχθησαν ἁπάσαις ταῖς ναυσὶν οὔσαις ἑκατὸν πεντήκοντα, καὶ κατέπλευσαν εἰς τὰς Ἀργινούσας νήσους, σπεύδοντες λῦσαι τὴν Μιτυλήνης πολιορκίαν. ὁ δὲ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων ναύαρχος Καλλικρατίδας πυθόμενος τὸν κατάπλουν τῶν νεῶν, ἐπὶ μὲν τῆς πολιορκίας κατέλιπεν Ἐτεόνικον μετὰ τῆς πεζῆς δυνάμεως, αὐτὸς δὲ πληρώσας ναῦς ἑκατὸν τεσσαράκοντα κατὰ σπουδὴν ἀνήχθη τῶν Ἀργινουσῶν περὶ θάτερα μέρη· αἳ νῆσοι τότʼ ἦσαν οἰκούμεναι καὶ πολισμάτιον Αἰολικὸν ἔχουσαι, κείμεναι μεταξὺ Μιτυλήνης καὶ Κύμης, ἀπέχουσαι τῆς ἠπείρου βραχὺ παντελῶς καὶ τῆς ἄκρας τῆς Κανίδος. οἱ δʼ Ἀθηναῖοι τὸν μὲν κατάπλουν τῶν πολεμίων εὐθέως ἔγνωσαν, οὐ μακρὰν ὁρμοῦντες, διὰ δὲ τὸ μέγεθος τῶν πνευμάτων τὸ μὲν ναυμαχεῖν ἀπέγνωσαν, εἰς δὲ τὴν ἐχομένην ἡμέραν ἡτοιμάζοντο τὰ πρὸς τὴν ναυμαχίαν, τὸ αὐτὸ ποιούντων καὶ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων, καίπερ ἀμφοτέροις ἀπαγορευόντων τῶν μάντεων. τοῖς μὲν γὰρ Λακεδαιμονίοις ἡ τοῦ θύματος κεφαλὴ κειμένη παρὰ τὸν αἰγιαλὸν ἀφανὴς ἐγεγόνει, προσκλύζοντος τοῦ κύματος· διόπερ ὁ μάντις προύλεγε, διότι τελευτήσει ναυμαχῶν ὁ ναύαρχος· οὗ ῥηθέντος φασὶ τὸν Καλλικρατίδαν εἰπεῖν, ὅτι τελευτήσας κατὰ τὴν μάχην οὐδὲν ἀδοξοτέραν ποιήσει τὴν Σπάρτην. τῶν δʼ Ἀθηναίων ὁ στρατηγὸς Θρασύβουλος, ὃς ἦν ἐπὶ τῆς ἡγεμονίας ἐκείνην τὴν ἡμέραν, εἶδε κατὰ τὴν νύκτα τοιαύτην ὄψιν· ἔδοξεν Ἀθήνησι τοῦ θεάτρου πλήθοντος αὐτός τε καὶ τῶν ἄλλων στρατηγῶν ἓξ ὑποκρίνεσθαι τραγῳδίαν Εὐριπίδου Φοινίσσας· τῶν δʼ ἀντιπάλων ὑποκρινομένων τὰς Ἱκέτιδας δόξαι τὴν Καδμείαν νίκην αὐτοῖς περιγενέσθαι, καὶ πάντας ἀποθανεῖν μιμουμένους τὰ πράγματα τῶν ἐπὶ τὰς Θήβας στρατευσάντων. ἀκούσας δʼ ὁ μάντις ταῦτα διεσάφει τοὺς ἑπτὰ τῶν στρατηγῶν ἀναιρεθήσεσθαι. τῶν δʼ ἱερῶν φερόντων νίκην, οἱ στρατηγοὶ περὶ μὲν τῆς ἑαυτῶν ἀπωλείας ἐκώλυον ἑτέροις ἀπαγγέλλειν, περὶ δὲ τῆς ἐν τοῖς ἱεροῖς νίκης ἀνήγγειλαν καθʼ ὅλην τὴν δύναμιν.
While these events were taking place, the Athenians, who had suffered a continued series of reverses, conferred citizenship upon the metics and any other aliens who were willing to fight with them; and when a great multitude was quickly enrolled among the citizens, the generals kept mustering for the campaign all who were in fit condition. They made ready sixty ships, and after fitting them out at great expense they sailed forth to Samos, where they found the other generals who had assembled eighty triremes from the rest of the islands. They also had asked the Samians to man and equip ten additional triremes, and with one hundred and fifty ships in all they set out to sea and put in at the Arginusae Islands, being eager to raise the siege of Mytilene. When Callicratidas, the admiral of the Lacedemonians, learned of the approach of the ships, he left Eteonicus with the land troops in charge of the siege, while he himself manned one hundred and forty ships and hurriedly put out to sea on the other side of the Arginusae. These islands, which were inhabited at that time and contained a small settlement of Aeolians, lie between Mitylene and Cyme and are but a very small distance from the mainland and the headland of Canis. The Athenians learned at once of the approach of the enemy, since they lay at anchor no great distance away, but refused battle because of the strong winds and made ready for the conflict on the following day, the Lacedemonians also doing likewise, although the seers on both sides forbade it. For in the case of the Lacedemonians the head of the victim, which lay on the beach, was lost to sight when the waves broke on it, and the seer accordingly foretold that the admiral would die in the fight. At this prophecy Callicratidas, we are told, remarked, "If I die in the fight, I shall not have lessened the fame of Sparta." And in the case of the Athenians Thrasybulus their general, who held the supreme command on that day, saw in the night the following vision. He dreamed that he was in Athens and the theatre was crowded, and that he and six of the other generals were playing the Phoenician Women of Euripides, while their competitors were performing the Suppliants; and that it resulted in a "Cadmean victory" for them and they all died, just as did those who waged the campaign against Thebes. When the seer heard this, he disclosed that seven of the generals would be slain. Since the omens revealed victory, the generals forbade any word going out to the others about their own death but they passed the news of the victory disclosed by the omens throughout the whole army.
§ 13.98
Καλλικρατίδας δʼ ὁ ναύαρχος συναγαγὼν τὰ πλήθη καὶ παραθαρσύνας τοῖς οἰκείοις λόγοις, τὸ τελευταῖον εἶπεν· εἰς τὸν ὑπὲρ τῆς πατρίδος κίνδυνον οὕτως εἰμὶ πρόθυμος αὐτός, ὥστε τοῦ μάντεως λέγοντος διὰ τῶν ἱερείων ὑμῖν μὲν προσημαίνεσθαι νίκην, ἐμοὶ δὲ θάνατον, ὅμως ἕτοιμός εἰμι τελευτᾶν. εἰδὼς οὖν μετὰ τὸν τῶν ἡγεμόνων θάνατον ἐν θορύβῳ τὰ στρατόπεδα γινόμενα, νῦν ἀναδεικνύω ναύαρχον, ἂν ἐγώ τι πάθω, τὸν διαδεξόμενον Κλέαρχον, ἄνδρα πεῖραν δεδωκότα τῶν κατὰ τὸν πόλεμον ἔργων. ὁ μὲν οὖν Καλλικρατίδας ταῦτʼ εἰπὼν οὐκ ὀλίγους ἐποίησε ζηλῶσαι τὴν ἀρετὴν αὐτοῦ καὶ προθυμοτέρους γενέσθαι πρὸς τὴν μάχην. καὶ Λακεδαιμόνιοι μὲν παρακαλοῦντες ἀλλήλους ἀνέβαινον εἰς τὰς ναῦς· οἱ δʼ Ἀθηναῖοι, παρακληθέντες ὑπὸ τῶν στρατηγῶν εἰς τὸν ἀγῶνα, κατὰ σπουδὴν ἐπλήρουν τὰς τριήρεις καὶ πάντες εἰς τάξιν καθίσταντο. τοῦ μὲν οὖν δεξιοῦ κέρατος Θράσυλλος ἡγεῖτο καὶ Περικλῆς ὁ Περικλέους τοῦ προσαγορευθέντος κατὰ τὴν δύναμιν Ὀλυμπίου· συμπαρέλαβε δὲ καὶ Θηραμένην εἰς τὸ δεξιὸν κέρας, ἐφʼ ἡγεμονίας τάξας· ὃς ἰδιώτης ὢν μὲν συνεστράτευε τότε, πρότερον δὲ πολλάκις ἦν ἀφηγημένος δυνάμεων· τοὺς δʼ ἄλλους στρατηγοὺς παρʼ ὅλην τὴν φάλαγγα διέταξε, καὶ τὰς καλουμένας Ἀργινούσας νήσους συμπεριέλαβε τῇ τάξει, σπεύδων ὅτι πλεῖστον παρεκτεῖναι τὰς ναῦς. ὁ δὲ Καλλικρατίδας ἀνήχθη τὸ μὲν δεξιὸν μέρος αὐτὸς ἔχων, τὸ δʼ εὐώνυμον παρέδωκε Βοιωτοῖς, ὧν Θρασώνδας ὁ Θηβαῖος τὴν ἡγεμονίαν ἔσχεν. οὐ δυνάμενος δὲ τὴν τάξιν ἐξισῶσαι τοῖς πολεμίοις διὰ τὸ τὰς νήσους πολὺν ἐπέχειν τόπον, διείλατο τὴν δύναμιν, καὶ δύο ποιήσας στόλους πρὸς ἑκάτερον μέρος δίχα διηγωνίζετο. διὸ καὶ παρείχετο μεγάλην κατάπληξιν πολλαχῇ τοῖς θεωμένοις, ὡς ἂν τεττάρων μὲν στόλων ναυμαχούντων, τῶν δὲ νεῶν συνηθροισμένων εἰς ἕνα τόπον οὐ πολλαῖς ἐλάττω τῶν τριακοσίων· μεγίστη γὰρ αὕτη μνημονεύεται ναυμαχία γεγενημένη Ἕλλησι πρὸς Ἕλληνας.
The admiral Callicratidas, having assembled his whole force, encouraged them with the appropriate words and concluded his speech as follows. "So eager am I myself to enter battle for my country that, although the seer declares that the victims foretell victory for you but death for me, I am none the less ready to die. Accordingly, knowing that after the death of commanders forces are thrown into confusion, I designate at this time as admiral to succeed me, in case I meet with some mishap, Clearchus, a man who has proved himself in deeds of war." By these words Callicratidas led not a few to emulate his valour and to become more eager for the battle. The Lacedemonians, exhorting one another, entered their ships, and the Athenians, after hearing the exhortations of their generals summoning them to the struggle, manned the triremes in haste and all took their positions. Thrasyllus commanded the right wing and also Pericles, the son of the Pericles, who by reason of his influence, had been dubbed "The Olympian"; and he associated with himself on the right wing also Theramenes, giving him a command. At the time Theramenes was on the campaign as a private citizen, although formerly he had often been in command of armaments. The rest of the generals he stationed along the entire line, and the Arginusae Islands, as they are called, he enclosed by his battle order, since he wished to extend his ships as far as possible.4 Callicratidas put out to sea holding himself the right flank, and the left he entrusted to the Boeotians, who were commanded by Thrasondas the Theban. And since he was unable to make his line equal to that of the enemy by reason of the large space occupied by the islands, he divided his force, and forming two fleets fought two battles separately, one on each wing. 5 Consequently he aroused great amazement in the spectators on many sides, since there were four fleets engaged and the ships that had been gathered into one place did not lack many of being three hundred. For this is the greatest sea-battle on record of Greeks against Greeks.
§ 13.99
ἅμα δʼ οἵ τε ναύαρχοι τοῖς σαλπιγκταῖς παρεκελεύοντο σημαίνειν καὶ τὸ παρʼ ἑκατέροις πλῆθος ἐναλλὰξ ἐπαλαλάζον ἐξαίσιον ἐποίει βοήν· πάντες δὲ μετὰ σπουδῆς ἐλαύνοντες τὸ ῥόθιον ἐφιλοτιμοῦντο πρὸς ἀλλήλους, ἑκάστου σπεύδοντος πρώτου κατάρξασθαι τῆς μάχης. ἔμπειροί τε γὰρ ἦσαν τῶν κινδύνων οἱ πλεῖστοι διὰ τὸ μῆκος τοῦ πολέμου καὶ σπουδὴν ἀνυπέρβλητον εἰσεφέροντο διὰ τὸ τοὺς κρατίστους εἰς τὸν ὑπὲρ τῶν ὅλων ἀγῶνα συνηθροῖσθαι· πάντες γὰρ ὑπελάμβανον τοὺς ταύτῃ τῇ μάχῃ νικήσαντας πέρας ἐπιθήσειν τῷ πολέμῳ. οὐ μὴν ἀλλʼ ὁ Καλλικρατίδας ἀκηκοὼς τοῦ μάντεως τὴν περὶ αὐτὸν ἐσομένην τελευτήν, ἔσπευδεν ἐπιφανέστατον ἑαυτῷ περιποιήσασθαι θάνατον. διόπερ πρῶτος ἐπὶ τὴν Λυσίου τοῦ στρατηγοῦ ναῦν ἐπιπλεύσας, καὶ σὺν ταῖς ἅμα πλεούσαις τριήρεσιν ἐξ ἐφόδου τρώσας, κατέδυσε· τῶν δʼ ἄλλων τὰς μὲν τοῖς ἐμβόλοις τύπτων ἄπλους ἐποίει, τῶν δὲ τοὺς ταρσοὺς παρασύρων ἀχρήστους ἀπετέλει πρὸς τὴν μάχην. τὸ δὲ τελευταῖον δοὺς ἐμβολὴν τῇ τοῦ Περικλέους τριήρει βιαιότερον, τῆς μὲν τριήρους ἐπὶ πολὺν ἀνέρρηξε τόπον, τοῦ δὲ στόματος ἐναρμοσθέντος εἰς τὴν λακίδα, καὶ μὴ δυναμένων αὐτῶν ἀνακρούσασθαι, Περικλῆς μὲν ἐπέβαλε τῇ τοῦ Καλλικρατίδα νηὶ σιδηρᾶν χεῖρα, προσαφθείσης δʼ αὐτῆς οἱ μὲν Ἀθηναῖοι περιστάντες τὴν ναῦν εἰσήλλοντο, καὶ περιχυθέντες τοὺς ἐν αὐτῇ πάντας ἀπέσφαξαν. τότε δή φασι τὸν Καλλικρατίδαν λαμπρῶς ἀγωνισάμενον καὶ πολὺν ἀντισχόντα χρόνον, τὸ τελευταῖον ὑπὸ τοῦ πλήθους πανταχόθεν τιτρωσκόμενον καταπονηθῆναι. ὡς δὲ τὸ περὶ τὸν ναύαρχον ἐλάττωμα συμφανὲς ἐγένετο, συνέβη τοὺς Πελοποννησίους δείσαντας ἐγκλῖναι. τοῦ δὲ δεξιοῦ μέρους τῶν Πελοποννησίων φυγόντος, οἱ τὸ λαιὸν ἔχοντες Βοιωτοὶ χρόνον μέν τινα διεκαρτέρουν εὐρώστως ἀγωνιζόμενοι· εὐλαβοῦντο γὰρ αὐτοί τε καὶ οἱ συγκινδυνεύοντες Εὐβοεῖς καὶ πάντες οἱ τῶν Ἀθηναίων ἀφεστηκότες, μήποτε Ἀθηναῖοι τὴν ἀρχὴν ἀνακτησάμενοι τιμωρίαν παρʼ αὐτῶν λάβωσιν ὑπὲρ τῆς ἀποστάσεως· ἐπειδὴ δὲ τὰς πλείστας ναῦς ἑώρων τετρωμένας καὶ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν νικώντων ἐπʼ αὐτοὺς ἐπιστραφέν, ἠναγκάσθησαν φυγεῖν. τῶν μὲν οὖν Πελοποννησίων οἱ μὲν εἰς Χίον, οἱ δʼ εἰς Κύμην διεσώθησαν.
At the very moment when the admirals gave orders to sound the trumpets the whole host on each side, raising the war-cry in turn, made a tremendous shout; and all, as they enthusiastically struck the waves, vied with one another, every man being anxious to be the first to begin the battle. For the majority were experienced in fighting, because the war had endured so long, and they displayed insuperable enthusiasm, since it was the choicest troops who had been gathered for the decisive contest; for all took it for granted that the conquers in this battle would put an end to the war. But Callicratidas especially, since he had heard from the seer of the end awaiting him, was eager the compass for himself a death that would be most renowned. Consequently he was the first to drive at the ship of Lysias the general, and shattering it at the first blow together with the triremes accompanying it, he sank it; and as for the other ships, some he rammed and made unseaworthy and from others he tore away the rows of oars and rendered them useless for the fighting. Last of all he rammed the trireme of Pericles with a rather heavy blow and broke a great hole in the trireme; then, since the beak of his ship stuck tight in the gap and they could not withdraw it, Pericles threw an iron hand on the ship of Callicratidas, and when it was fastened tight, the Athenians, surrounding the ship, sprang upon it, and pouring over its crew put them all to the sword. It was at this time, we are told, that Callicratidas, after fighting brilliantly and holding out for a long time, finally was worn down by numbers, as he was struck from all directions. As soon as the defeat of the admiral became evident, the result was that the Peloponnesians gave way in fear. But although the right wing of the Peloponnesians was in flight, the Boeotians, who held the left, continued to put up a stout fight for some time; for both they and the Euboeans who were fighting by their side as well as all the other Greeks who had revolted from the Athenians feared lest the Athenians, if they should once again regain their sovereignty, would exact punishment of them for their revolt. But when they saw that most of their ships had been damaged and that the main body of the victors was turning against them, they were compelled to take flight. Now of the Peloponnesians some found safety in Chios and some in Cyme.
§ 13.100
οἱ δʼ Ἀθηναῖοι διώξαντες ἐφʼ ἱκανὸν τοὺς ἡττημένους πάντα τὸν σύνεγγυς τόπον τῆς θαλάττης ἐπλήρωσαν νεκρῶν καὶ ναυαγίων. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τῶν στρατηγῶν οἱ μὲν ᾤοντο δεῖν τοὺς τετελευτηκότας ἀναιρεῖσθαι διὰ τὸ χαλεπῶς διατίθεσθαι τοὺς Ἀθηναίους ἐπὶ τοῖς ἀτάφους περιορῶσι τοὺς τετελευτηκότας, οἱ δʼ ἔφασαν δεῖν ἐπὶ τὴν Μιτυλήνην πλεῖν καὶ τὴν ταχίστην λῦσαι τὴν πολιορκίαν. ἐπεγενήθη δὲ καὶ χειμὼν μέγας, ὥστε σαλεύεσθαι τὰς τριήρεις, καὶ τοὺς στρατιώτας διά τε τὴν ἐκ τῆς μάχης κακοπάθειαν καὶ διὰ τὸ μέγεθος τῶν κυμάτων ἀντιλέγειν πρὸς τὴν ἀναίρεσιν τῶν νεκρῶν. τέλος δὲ τοῦ χειμῶνος ἐπιτείνοντος οὔτε ἐπὶ τὴν Μιτυλήνην ἔπλευσαν οὔτε τοὺς τετελευτηκότας ἀνείλαντο, βιασθέντες δὲ ὑπὸ τῶν πνευμάτων εἰς Ἀργινούσας κατέπλευσαν. ἀπώλοντο δὲ ἐν τῇ ναυμαχίᾳ τῶν μὲν Ἀθηναίων ναῦς εἴκοσι πέντε καὶ τῶν ἐν αὐταῖς οἱ πλεῖστοι, τῶν δὲ Πελοποννησίων ἑπτὰ πρὸς ταῖς ἑβδομήκοντα· διόπερ τοσούτων νεῶν καὶ τῶν ἐν αὐταῖς γεγενημένων ἀνδρῶν ἀπολωλότων ἐπλήσθη τῆς Κυμαίων καὶ Φωκαέων ἡ παραθαλάττιος χώρα νεκρῶν καὶ ναυαγίων. ὁ δὲ τὴν Μιτυλήνην πολιορκῶν Ἐτεόνικος πυθόμενός τινος τὴν τῶν Πελοποννησίων ἧτταν, τὰς μὲν ναῦς εἰς Χίον ἔπεμψε, τὴν δὲ πεζὴν δύναμιν αὐτὸς ἔχων εἰς τὴν Πυρραίων πόλιν ἀπεχώρησεν,οὖσαν σύμμαχον· ἐδεδοίκει γάρ, μήποτε τῷ στόλῳ πλευσάντων τῶν Ἀθηναίων ἐπʼ αὐτοὺς καὶ τῶν ἐκ τῆς πόλεως ἐπεξελθόντων κινδυνεύσῃ τὴν δύναμιν ἀποβαλεῖν ἅπασαν. οἱ δὲ τῶν Ἀθηναίων στρατηγοὶ πλεύσαντες εἰς Μιτυλήνην καὶ τὸν Κόνωνα μετὰ τῶν τεσσαράκοντα νεῶν παραλαβόντες εἰς Σάμον κατέπλευσαν, κἀκεῖθεν ὁρμώμενοι τὴν τῶν πολεμίων χώραν ἐπόρθουν. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα οἱ περὶ τὴν Αἰολίδα καὶ τὴν Ἰωνίαν καὶ τὰς νήσους τὰς συμμαχούσας Λακεδαιμονίοις συνῆλθον εἰς Ἔφεσον, καὶ βουλευομένοις αὐτοῖς ἔδοξεν ἀποστέλλειν εἰς Σπάρτην καὶ Λύσανδρον αἰτεῖσθαι ναύαρχον· οὗτος γὰρ ἔν τε τῷ τῆς ναυαρχίας χρόνῳ κατωρθωκὼς ἦν πολλὰ καὶ ἐδόκει διαφέρειν στρατηγίᾳ τῶν ἄλλων. οἱ δὲ Λακεδαιμόνιοι νόμον ἔχοντες δὶς τὸν αὐτὸν μὴ πέμπειν, καὶ τὸ πάτριον ἔθος μὴ θέλοντες καταλύειν, Ἄρακον μὲν εἵλοντο ναύαρχον, τὸν δὲ Λύσανδρον ἰδιώτην αὐτῷ συνεξέπεμψαν, προστάξαντες ἀκούειν ἅπαντα τούτου. οὗτοι μὲν ἐκπεμφθέντες ἐπὶ τὴν ἡγεμονίαν ἔκ τε τῆς Πελοποννήσου καὶ παρὰ τῶν συμμάχων τριήρεις ἤθροιζον ὅσας ἠδύναντο πλείστας.
The Athenians, while they pursued the defeated foe for a considerable distance, filled the whole area of the sea in the neighbourhood of the battle with corpses and the wreckage of ships. After this some of the generals thought that they should pick up the dead, since the Athenians are incensed at those who allow the dead to go unburied, but others of them said they should sail to Mitylene and raise the siege with all speed. But in the meantime a great storm arose, so that the ships were tossed about and the soldiers, by reason both of the hardships they had suffered in the battle and the heavy waves, opposed picking up the dead. And finally, since the storm increased in violence, they neither sailed to Mitylene nor picked up the dead but were forced by the winds to put in at the Arginusae. The losses in the battle were twenty-five ships of the Athenians together with most of their crews and seventy-seven of the Peloponnesians; and as a result of the loss of so many ships and of the sailors who manned them the coastline of the territory of the Cymaeans and Phocaeans was strewn with corpses and wreckage. When Eteonicus, who was besieging Mitylene, learned from someone of the defeat of the Peloponnesians, he sent his ships to Chios and himself retreated with his land forces to the city of the Pyrrhaeans, which was an ally; for he feared lest, if the Athenians should sail against his troops with their fleet and the besieged make a sortie from the city, he should run the risk of losing his entire force. And the generals of the Athenians, after sailing to Mitylene and picking up Conon and his forty ships, put in at Samos, and from there as their base they set about laying waste the territory of the enemy. After this the inhabitants of Aeolis and Ionia and of the islands which were allies of the Lacedemonians gathered in Ephesus, and as they counselled together they resolved to send to Spartan to ask for Lysander as admiral; for during the time Lysander had been in command of the fleet he had enjoyed many successes and was believed to excel all others in skill as a general. The Lacedemonians, however, having a law not to send the same man twice and being unwilling to break the custom of their fathers, chose Aracus as admiral but sent Lysander with him as an ordinary citizen, commanding Aracus to follow the advice of Lysander in every matter. These leaders, having been dispatched to assume the command, set about assembling the greatest possible number of triremes from both the Peloponnesus and their allies.
§ 13.101
Ἀθηναῖοι δὲ πυθόμενοι τὴν ἐν ταῖς Ἀργινούσαις εὐημερίαν ἐπὶ μὲν τῇ νίκῃ τοὺς στρατηγοὺς ἐπῄνουν, ἐπὶ δὲ τῷ περιιδεῖν ἀτάφους τοὺς ὑπὲρ τῆς ἡγεμονίας τετελευτηκότας χαλεπῶς διετέθησαν. Θηραμένους δὲ καὶ Θρασυβούλου προαπεληλυθότων εἰς Ἀθήνας, ὑπολαβόντες οἱ στρατηγοὶ τούτους εἶναι τοὺς διαβαλόντας πρὸς τὰ πλήθη περὶ τῶν τελευτησάντων, ἀπέστειλαν κατʼ αὐτῶν ἐπιστολὰς πρὸς τὸν δῆμον, διασαφοῦντες ὅτι τούτοις ἐπέταξαν ἀνελέσθαι τοὺς τελευτήσαντας· ὅπερ μάλιστʼ αὐτοῖς αἴτιον ἐγενήθη τῶν κακῶν. δυνάμενοι γὰρ ἔχειν συναγωνιστὰς εἰς τὴν κρίσιν τοὺς περὶ Θηραμένην, ἄνδρας καὶ λόγῳ δυνατοὺς καὶ φίλους πολλοὺς ἔχοντας, καὶ τὸ μέγιστον, συμπαραγεγονότας τοῖς εἰς τὴν ναυμαχίαν πράγμασιν, ἐκ τῶν ἐναντίων ἔσχον ἀντιδίκους καὶ πικροὺς κατηγόρους. ἀναγνωσθεισῶν γὰρ ἐν τῷ δήμῳ τῶν ἐπιστολῶν εὐθὺς μὲν τοῖς περὶ Θηραμένην ὠργίζετο τὰ πλήθη, τούτων δὲ ἀπολογησαμένων συνέβη τὴν ὀργὴν πάλιν μεταπεσεῖν εἰς τοὺς στρατηγούς. διόπερ ὁ δῆμος προέθηκεν αὐτοῖς κρίσιν, καὶ Κόνωνα μὲν ἀπολύσας τῆς αἰτίας προσέταξε τούτῳ τὰς δυνάμεις παραδίδοσθαι, τοὺς δʼ ἄλλους ἐψηφίσατο τὴν ταχίστην ἥκειν. ὧν Ἀριστογένης μὲν καὶ Πρωτόμαχος φοβηθέντες τὴν ὀργὴν τοῦ πλήθους ἔφυγον, Θράσυλλος δὲ καὶ Καλλιάδης, ἔτι δὲ Λυσίας καὶ Περικλῆς καὶ Ἀριστοκράτης μετὰ τῶν πλείστων νεῶν κατέπλευσαν εἰς τὰς Ἀθήνας, ἐλπίζοντες τοὺς ἐν ταῖς ναυσὶ πολλοὺς ὄντας βοηθοὺς ἕξειν ἐν τῇ κρίσει. ὡς δʼ εἰς τὴν ἐκκλησίαν τὰ πλήθη συνῆλθον, τῆς μὲν κατηγορίας καὶ τῶν πρὸς χάριν δημηγορούντων ἤκουον,τοὺς δʼ ἀπολογουμένους συνθορυβοῦντες οὐκ ἠνείχοντο τῶν λόγων. οὐκ ἐλάχιστα δʼ αὐτοὺς ἔβλαψαν οἱ συγγενεῖς τῶν τετελευτηκότων, παρελθόντες μὲν εἰς τὴν ἐκκλησίαν ἐν πενθίμοις, δεόμενοι δὲ τοῦ δήμου τιμωρήσασθαι τοὺς περιεωρακότας ἀτάφους τοὺς ὑπὲρ τῆς πατρίδος προθύμως τετελευτηκότας. τέλος δʼ οἵ τε τούτων φίλοι καὶ οἱ τοῖς περὶ Θηραμένην συναγωνιζόμενοι πολλοὶ καθεστῶτες ἐνίσχυσαν, καὶ συνέβη καταδικασθῆναι τοὺς στρατηγοὺς θανάτῳ καὶ δημεύσει τῶν οὐσιῶν.
When the Athenians learned of their success at the Arginusae, they commended the generals for the victory but were incensed that they had allowed the men who had died to maintain their supremacy to go unburied. Since Theramenes and Thrasybulus had gone off to Athens in advance of the others, the generals, having assumed that it was they who had made accusations before the populace with respect to the dead, dispatched letters against them to the people stating that it was they whom the generals had ordered to pick up the dead. But this very thing turned out to be the principal cause of their undoing. For although they could have had the help of Theramenes and his associates in the trial, men who both were able orators and had many friends and, most important of all, had been participants in the events relative to the battle, they had them, on the contrary, as adversaries and bitter accusers. For when the letters were read before the people, the multitude was at once angered at Theramenes and his associates, but after these had presented their defence, it turned out that their anger was directed again on the generals. Consequently the people served notice on them of their trial and ordered them to turn over the command of the armaments to Conon, whom they freed of the responsibility, while they decreed that the others should report to Athens with all speed. Of the generals Aristogenes and Protomachus, fearing the wrath of the populace, sought safety in flight, but Thrasyllus and Calliades and, besides, Lysias and Pericles and Aristocrates sailed home to Athens with most of their ships, hoping that they would have their crews, which were numerous, to aid them in the trial. When the populace gathered in the assembly, they gave attention to the accusation and to those who spoke to gratify them, but any who entered a defence they unitedly greeted with clamour and would not allow to speak. And not the least damaging to the generals were the relatives of the dead, who appeared in the assembly in mourning garments and begged the people to punish those who had allowed men who had gladly died on behalf of their country to go unburied. And in the end the friends of these relatives and the partisans of Theramenes, being many, prevailed and the outcome was that the generals were condemned to death and their property confiscated.
§ 13.102
τούτων δὲ κυρωθέντων, καὶ μελλόντων αὐτῶν ὑπὸ τῶν δημοσίων ἐπὶ τὸν θάνατον ἄγεσθαι, Διομέδων εἷς τῶν στρατηγῶν παρῆλθεν εἰς τὸ μέσον, ἀνὴρ καὶ τὰ περὶ τὸν πόλεμον ἔμπρακτος καὶ δικαιοσύνῃ τε καὶ ταῖς ἄλλαις ἀρεταῖς δοκῶν διαφέρειν. σιωπησάντων δὲ πάντων εἶπεν· ἄνδρες Ἀθηναῖοι, τὰ μὲν περὶ ἡμῶν κυρωθέντα συνενέγκαι τῇ πόλει· τὰς δὲ ὑπὲρ τῆς νίκης εὐχὰς ἐπειδήπερ ἡ τύχη κεκώλυκεν ἡμᾶς ἀποδοῦναι, καλῶς ἔχον ὑμᾶς φροντίσαι, καὶ τῷ Διὶ τῷ σωτῆρι καὶ Ἀπόλλωνι καὶ ταῖς σεμναῖς θεαῖς ἀπόδοτε· τούτοις γὰρ εὐξάμενοι τοὺς πολεμίους κατεναυμαχήσαμεν. ὁ μὲν οὖν Διομέδων ταῦτα διαλεχθεὶς ἐπὶ τὸν κυρωθέντα θάνατον ἀπήγετο μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων στρατηγῶν, τοῖς ἀγαθοῖς τῶν πολιτῶν πολὺν οἶκτον παραστήσας καὶ δάκρυα· τὸν γὰρ ἀδίκως τελευτᾶν μέλλοντα τοῦ μὲν καθʼ αὑτὸν πάθους μηδʼ ἡντινοῦν ποιεῖσθαι μνείαν, ὑπὲρδὲ τῆς ἀδικούσης πόλεως ἀξιοῦν τὰς εὐχὰς ἀποδιδόναι τοῖς θεοῖς, ἐφαίνετʼ ἀνδρὸς εὐσεβοῦς ἔργον καὶ μεγαλοψύχου καὶ τῆς περὶ αὐτὸν τύχης ἀναξίου. τούτους μὲν οὖν οἱ ταχθέντες ὑπὸ τῶν νόμων ἕνδεκα ἄρχοντες ἀπέκτειναν, οὐχ οἷον ἠδικηκότας τι τὴν πόλιν, ἀλλὰ ναυμαχίαν μεγίστην τῶν Ἕλλησι πρὸς Ἕλληνας γεγενημένων νενικηκότας καὶ ἐν ἄλλαις μάχαις λαμπρῶς ἠγωνισμένους, καὶ διὰ τὰς ἰδίας ἀρετὰς τρόπαια κατὰ τῶν πολεμίων ἑστακότας. οὕτως δʼ ὁ δῆμος τότε παρεφρόνησε, καὶ παροξυνθεὶς ἀδίκως ὑπὸ τῶν δημαγωγῶν τὴν ὀργὴν ἀπέσκηψεν εἰς ἄνδρας οὐ τιμωρίας, ἀλλὰ πολλῶν ἐπαίνων καὶ στεφάνων ἀξίους.
After this action had been taken and while the generals were about to be led off by the public executioners to death, Diomedon, one of the generals, took the floor before the people, a man who was both vigorous in the conduct of war and thought by all to excel both in justice and in the other avoids. And when all became still, he said: "Men of Athens, may the action which has been taken regarding us turn out well for the state; but as for the vows which we made for the victory, inasmuch as Fortune has prevented our paying them, since it is well that you give thought to them, do you pay them to Zeus the Saviour and Apollo and the Holy Goddesses; for it was to these gods that we made vows before we overcame the enemy." Now after Diomedon had made this request he was led off to the appointed execution together with the other generals, though among the better citizens he had aroused great compassion and tears; for that the man who was about to meet an unjust death should make no mention whatsoever of his own fate but on behalf of the state which was wronging him should request it to pay his vows to the gods appeared to be an act of a man who was god-fearing and magnanimous and undeserving of the fate that was to befall him. These men, then, were put to death by the eleven magistrates who are designated by the laws, although far from having committed any crime against the state, they had won the greatest naval battle that had ever taken place of Greeks against Greeks and fought in splendid fashion in other battles and by reason of their individual deeds of valour had set up trophies of victories over their enemies. To such an extent were the people beside themselves at that time, and provoked unjustly as they were by their political leaders, they vented their rage upon men who were deserving, not of punishment, but of many praises and crowns.
§ 13.103
ταχὺ δὲ καὶ τοῖς πείσασι καὶ τοῖς πεισθεῖσι μετεμέλησεν, οἱονεὶ νεμεσήσαντος τοῦ δαιμονίου· οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἐξαπατηθέντες ἐπίχειρα τῆς ἀγνοίας ἔλαβον μετʼ οὐ πολὺν χρόνον καταπολεμηθέντες οὐχ ὑφʼ ἑνὸς δεσπότου μόνον, ἀλλὰ τριάκοντα· ὁ δʼ ἐξαπατήσας καὶ τὴν γνώμην εἰπὼν Καλλίξενος εὐθὺ τοῦ πλήθους μεταμεληθέντος εἰς αἰτίαν ἦλθεν ὡς τὸν δῆμον ἐξηπατηκώς· οὐκ ἀξιωθεὶς δʼ ἀπολογίας ἐδέθη, καὶ καταβληθεὶς εἰς τὴν δημοσίαν φυλακὴν ἔλαθε μετά τινων διορύξας τὸ δεσμωτήριον καὶ διαδρὰς πρὸς τοὺς πολεμίους εἰς Δεκέλειαν, ὅπως διαφυγὼν τὸν θάνατον μὴ μόνον Ἀθήνησιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ παρὰ τοῖς ἄλλοις Ἕλλησι δακτυλοδεικτουμένην ἔχῃ τὴν πονηρίαν παρʼ ὅλον τὸν βίον. τὰ μὲν οὖν κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν ἐνιαυτὸν πραχθέντα σχεδὸν ταῦτʼ ἐστίν. τῶν δὲ συγγραφέων Φίλιστος τὴν πρώτην σύνταξιν τῶν Σικελικῶν εἰς τοῦτον τὸν ἐνιαυτὸν κατέστροφεν, εἰς τὴν Ἀκράγαντος ἅλωσιν, ἐν βύβλοις ἑπτὰ διελθὼν χρόνον ἐτῶν πλείω τῶν ὀκτακοσίων, τῆς δὲ δευτέρας συντάξεως τὴν μὲν ἀρχὴν ἀπὸ τῆς τῆς προτέρας τελευτῆς πεποίηται, γέγραφε δὲ βύβλους τέσσαρας. περὶ δὲ τὸν αὐτὸν χρόνον ἐτελεύτησε Σοφοκλῆς ὁ Σοφίλου, ποιητὴς τραγῳδιῶν, ἔτη βιώσας ἐνενήκοντα, νίκας δʼ ἔχων ὀκτωκαίδεκα. φασὶ δὲ τὸν ἄνδρα τοῦτον τὴν ἐσχάτην τραγῳδίαν εἰσαγαγόντα καὶ νικήσαντα χαρᾷ περιπεσεῖν ἀνυπερβλήτῳ, διʼ ἣν καὶ τελευτῆσαι. Ἀπολλόδωρος δʼ ὁ τὴν χρονικὴν σύνταξιν πραγματευσάμενός φησι καὶ τὸν Εὐριπίδην κατὰ τὸν αὐτὸν ἐνιαυτὸν τελευτῆσαι· τινὲς δὲ λέγουσι παρʼ Ἀρχελάῳ τῷ βασιλεῖ Μακεδόνων κατὰ τὴν χώραν ἐξελθόντα κυσὶ περιπεσεῖν καὶ διασπασθῆναι μικρῷ πρόσθεν τούτων τῶν χρόνων.
Soon, however, both those who had urged this action and those whom they had persuaded repented, as if the deity had become wroth with them; for those who had been deceived got the wages of their error when not long afterwards they fell he says the power of not one despot only but of thirty; and the deceiver, who had also proposed the measure, Callixenus, when once the populace had repented, was brought to trial on the charge of having deceived the people, and without being allowed to speak in his defence he was put in chains and thrown into the public prison; and secretly burrowing his way out of the prison with certain others he managed to make his way to the enemy at Deceleia, to the end that by escaping death he might have that finger of scorn pointed at his turpitude not only in Athens but also wherever else there were Greeks throughout his entire life. Now these, we may say, were the events of this year. And of the historians Philistus ended his first History of Sicily with this year and the capture of Acragas, treating a period of more than eight hundred years in seven Books, and he began his second History where the first leaves off and wrote four Books. At this same time Sophocles the son of Sophilus, the writer of tragedies, died at the age of ninety years, after he had won the prize eighteen times. And we are told of this man that when he presented his last tragedy and won the prize, he was filled with insuperable jubilation which was also the cause of his death. And Apollodorus, who composed his Chronology, states that Euripides also died in the same year; although others say that he was living at the court of Archelaus, the king of Macedonia, and that once when he went out in the countryside, he was set upon by dogs and torn to pieces a little before this time.
§ 13.104
τοῦ δʼ ἔτους τούτου διελθόντος Ἀθήνησι μὲν ἦρχεν Ἀλεξίας, ἐν δὲ τῇ Ῥώμῃ ἀντὶ τῶν ὑπάτων τρεῖς χιλίαρχοι κατεστάθησαν, Γάιος Ἰούλιος, Πούπλιος Κορνήλιος, Γάιος Σερουίλιος. τούτων δὲ τὴν ἀρχὴν παραλαβόντων Ἀθηναῖοι μετὰ τὴν ἀναίρεσιν τῶν στρατηγῶν ἐπὶ τὴν ἡγεμονίαν ἔταξαν Φιλοκλέα, καὶ τὸ ναυτικὸν αὐτῷ παραδόντες ἐξέπεμψαν πρὸς Κόνωνα, προστάξαντες κοινῶς ἀφηγεῖσθαι τῶν δυνάμεων. ὃς ἐπεὶ κατέπλευσε πρὸς Κόνωνα εἰς Σάμον, τὰς ναῦς ἁπάσας ἐπλήρωσεν, οὔσας τρεῖς πρὸς ταῖς ἑκατὸν ἑβδομήκοντα. τούτων εἴκοσι μὲν ἔδοξεν αὐτοῦ καταλιπεῖν, ταῖς δʼ ἄλλαις ἁπάσαις ἀνήχθησαν εἰς Ἑλλήσποντον, ἡγουμένου Κόνωνος καὶ Φιλοκλέους. Λύσανδρος δʼ ὁ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων ναύαρχος ἐκ Πελοποννήσου παρὰ τῶν ἐγγὺς συμμάχων τριάκοντα πέντε ναῦς ἀθροίσας κατέπλευσεν εἰς Ἔφεσον. μεταπεμψάμενος δὲ καὶ τὸν ἐκ Χίου στόλον ἐξήρτυεν· ἀνέβη δὲ καὶ πρὸς Κῦρον τὸν Δαρείου τοῦ βασιλέως υἱόν, καὶ χρήματα πολλὰ παρέλαβε πρὸς τὰς τῶν στρατιωτῶν διατροφάς. ὁ δὲ Κῦρος, μεταπεμπομένου τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτὸν εἰς Πέρσας, τῷ Λυσάνδρῳ τῶν ὑφʼ αὑτὸν πόλεων τὴν ἐπιστασίαν παρέδωκε καὶ τοὺς φόρους τούτῳ τελεῖν συνέταξεν. ὁ δὲ Λύσανδρος πάντων τῶν εἰς πόλεμον εὐπορήσας εἰς Ἔφεσον ἀνέστρεψεν. καθʼ ὃν δὴ χρόνον ἐν τῇ Μιλήτῳ τινὲς ὀλιγαρχίας ὀρεγόμενοι κατέλυσαν τὸν δῆμον, συμπραξάντων αὐτοῖς Λακεδαιμονίων. καὶ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον Διονυσίων ὄντων ἐν ταῖς οἰκίαις τοὺς μάλιστα ἀντιπράττοντας συνήρπασαν καὶ περὶ τεσσαράκοντα ὄντας ἀπέσφαξαν, μετὰ δέ, τῆς ἀγορᾶς πληθούσης,τριακοσίους ἐπιλέξαντες τοὺς εὐπορωτάτους ἀνεῖλον. οἱ δὲ χαριέστατοι τῶν τὰ τοῦ δήμου φρονούντων, ὄντες οὐκ ἐλάττους χιλίων, φοβηθέντες τὴν περίστασιν ἔφυγον πρὸς Φαρνάβαζον τὸν σατράπην· οὗτος δὲ φιλοφρόνως αὐτοὺς δεξάμενος, καὶ στατῆρα χρυσοῦν ἑκάστῳ δωρησάμενος, κατῴκισεν εἰς Βλαῦδα, φρούριόν τι τῆς Λυδίας. Λύσανδρος δὲ μετὰ τῶν πλείστων νεῶν ἐπὶ Ἴασον τῆς Καρίας πλεύσας, κατὰ κράτος αὐτὴν εἷλεν Ἀθηναίοις συμμαχοῦσαν, καὶ τοὺς μὲν ἡβῶντας ὀκτακοσίους ὄντας ἀπέσφαξε, παῖδας δὲ καὶ γυναῖκας λαφυροπωλήσας κατέσκαψε τὴν πόλιν. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτʼ ἐπὶ τὴν Ἀττικὴν καὶ πολλοὺς τόπους πλεύσας μέγα μὲν οὐδὲν οὐδʼ ἄξιον μνήμης ἔπραξε· διὸ καὶ ταῦτα μὲν οὐκ ἀναγράφειν ἐσπουδάσαμεν· τὸ δὲ τελευταῖον Λάμψακον ἑλὼν τὴν μὲν Ἀθηναίων φρουρὰν ἀφῆκεν ὑπόσπονδον, τὰς δὲ κτήσεις ἁρπάσας τοῖς Λαμψακηνοῖς ἀπέδωκε τὴν πόλιν.
At the end of this year Alexias was archon in Athens and in Rome in the place of consuls three military tribunes were elected, Gaius Julius, Publius Cornelius, and Gaius Servilius. When these had entered office, the Athenians, after the execution of the generals, put Philocles in command, and turning over the fleet to him, they sent him to Conon with orders that they should share the leadership of the armaments in common. After he had joined Conon in Samos, he manned all the ships which numbered one hundred and seventy-three. Of these it was decided to leave twenty at Samos, and with all the rest they set out for the Hellespont under the command of Conon and Philocles. Lysander, the admiral of the Lacedemonians, having collected thirty-five ships from his neighbouring allies of the Peloponnesus, put in at Ephesus; and after summoning also the fleet from Chios he made it ready. He also went inland to Cyrus, the son of King Darius, and received from him a great sum of money with which to maintain his soldiers. And Cyrus, since his father was summoning him to Persia, turned over to Lysander the authority over the cities under his command and ordered them to pay the tribute to him. Lysander, then, after being thus supplied with every means for making war, returned to Ephesus. At the same time certain men in Miletus, who were striving for an oligarchy, with the aid of the Lacedemonians put an end to the government of the people. First of all, while the Dionysia was being celebrated, they seized in their homes and carried off their principal opponents and put some forty of them to the sword, and then, at the time when the market-place was full, they picked out three hundred of the wealthiest citizens and slew them. The most respectable citizens among those who favoured the people, not less than one thousand, fearing the situation they were in, fled to Pharnabazus the satrap, who received them kindly and giving each of them a gold stater settled them in Blauda, a fortress of Lydia. Lysander, sailing with the larger part of his ships to Iasus in Caria, took the city, which was an ally of the Athenians, by storm, put to the sword the males of military age to the number of eight hundred, sold the children and women as booty, and razed the city to the ground. After this he sailed against Attica and many places, but accomplished nothing of importance or worthy of record; consequently we have not taken pains to recount these events. Finally, capturing Lampsacus, he let the Athenian garrison depart under a truce, but seized the property of the inhabitants and then returned the city to them.
§ 13.105
οἱ δὲ τῶν Ἀθηναίων στρατηγοὶ πυθόμενοι τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους πάσῃ τῇ δυνάμει πολιορκεῖν Λάμψακον, συνήγαγόν τε πανταχόθεν τριήρεις καὶ κατὰ σπουδὴν ἀνήχθησαν ἐπʼ αὐτοὺς ναυσὶν ἑκατὸν ὀγδοήκοντα. εὑρόντες δὲ τὴν πόλιν ἡλωκυῖαν, τότε μὲν ἐν Αἰγὸς ποταμοῖς καθώρμισαν τὰς ναῦς, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτʼ ἐπιπλέοντες τοῖς πολεμίοις καθʼ ἡμέραν εἰς ναυμαχίαν προεκαλοῦντο. οὐκ ἀνταναγομένων δὲ τῶν Πελοποννησίων, οἱ μὲν Ἀθηναῖοι διηπόρουν ὅ,τι χρήσωνται τοῖς πράγμασιν, οὐ δυνάμενοι τὸν πλείω χρόνον ἐκεῖ διατρέφειν τὰς δυνάμεις. Ἀλκιβιάδου δὲ πρὸς αὐτοὺς ἐλθόντος καὶ λέγοντος, ὅτι Μήδοκος καὶ Σεύθης οἱ τῶν Θρᾳκῶν βασιλεῖς εἰσιν αὐτῷ φίλοι, καὶ δύναμιν πολλὴν ὡμολόγησαν δώσειν, ἐὰν βούληται διαπολεμεῖν τοῖς Λακεδαιμονίοις· διόπερ αὐτοὺς ἠξίου μεταδοῦναι τῆς ἡγεμονίας, ἐπαγγελλόμενος αὐτοῖς δυεῖν θάτερον, ἢ ναυμαχεῖν τοὺς πολεμίους ἀναγκάσειν ἢ πεζῇ μετὰ Θρᾳκῶν πρὸς αὐτοὺς διαγωνιεῖσθαι. ταῦτα δὲ ὁ Ἀλκιβιάδης ἔπραττεν ἐπιθυμῶν διʼ ἑαυτοῦ τῇ πατρίδι μέγα τι κατεργάσασθαι καὶ διὰ τῶν εὐεργεσιῶν τὸν δῆμον ἀποκαταστῆσαι εἰς τὴν ἀρχαίαν εὔνοιαν. οἱ δὲ τῶν Ἀθηναίων στρατηγοί, νομίσαντες τῶν μὲν ἐλαττωμάτων ἑαυτοῖς τὴν μέμψιν ἀκολουθήσειν, τὰ δʼ ἐπιτεύγματα προσάψειν ἅπαντας Ἀλκιβιάδῃ, ταχέως αὐτὸν ἐκέλευσαν ἀπιέναι καὶ μηκέτι προσεγγίζειν τῷ στρατοπέδῳ.
The generals of the Athenians, on learning that the Lacedemonians in full force were besieging Lampsacus, assembled their triremes from all quarters and put forth against them in haste with one hundred and eighty ships. But finding the city already taken, at the time they stationed their ships at Aegospotami but afterward sailed out each day against the enemy and offered battle. When the Peloponnesians persisted in not coming out against them, the Athenians were at a loss what to do in the circumstances, since they were unable to find supplies for their armaments for any further length of time where they were. Alcibiades now came to them and said that Medocus and Seuthes, the kings of the Thracians, were friends of his and had agreed to give him a large army if he wished to make war to a finish on the Lacedemonians; he therefore asked them to give him a share in the command, promising them one of two things, either to compel the enemy to accept battle or to contend with them on land with the aid of the Thracians. This offer Alcibiades made from a desire to achieve by his own efforts some great success for his country and through his benefactions to bring the people back to their old affection for him. But the generals of the Athenians, considering that in case of defeat the blame would attach to them and that in case of success all men would attribute it to Alcibiades, quickly bade him to be gone and not come near the camp ever again.
§ 13.106
ἐπεὶ δʼ οἱ μὲν πολέμιοι ναυμαχεῖν οὐκ ἤθελον, τὸ δὲ στρατόπεδον σιτοδεία κατεῖχε, Φιλοκλῆς ἐκείνην τὴν ἡμέραν ἀφηγούμενος τοῖς μὲν ἄλλοις τριηράρχοις προσέταξε πληρώσαντας τὰς τριήρεις ἀκολουθεῖν, αὐτὸς δʼ ἑτοίμας ἔχων ναῦς τριάκοντα τάχιον ἐξέπλευσεν. ὁ δὲ Λύσανδρος παρά τινων αὐτομόλων ταῦτʼ ἀκούσας, μετὰ πασῶν τῶν νεῶν ἀναχθεὶς καὶ τὸν Φιλοκλέα τρεψάμενος πρὸς τὰς ἄλλας ναῦς κατεδίωξεν. οὔπω δὲ τῶν τριήρων τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις πεπληρωμένων θόρυβος κατεῖχεν ἅπαντας διὰ τὴν ἀπροσδόκητον ἐπιφάνειαν τῶν πολεμίων. ὁ δὲ Λύσανδρος συνιδὼν τὴν τῶν ἐναντίων ταραχήν, Ἐτεόνικον μὲν μετὰ τῶν εἰωθότων πεζῇ μάχεσθαι ταχέως ἀπεβίβασεν· ὁ δὲ ὀξέως τῇ τοῦ καιροῦ ῥοπῇ χρησάμενος μέρος κατελάβετο τῆς παρεμβολῆς· αὐτὸς δʼ ὁ Λύσανδρος ἁπάσαις ταῖς τριήρεσιν ἐξηρτυμέναις ἐπιπλεύσας, καὶ σιδηρᾶς ἐπιβαλὼν χεῖρας, ἀπέσπα τὰς ὁρμούσας ἐπὶ τῇ γῇ ναῦς. Ἀθηναῖοι δὲ τὸ παράδοξον ἐκπεπληγμένοι, καὶ μήτʼ ἀναχθῆναι ταῖς ναυσὶν ἀναστροφὴν ἔχοντες μήτε πεζῇ διαγωνίζεσθαι δυνάμενοι, βραχὺν ἀντισχόντες χρόνον ἐτράπησαν, εὐθὺ δʼ οἱ μὲν τὰς ναῦς, οἱ δὲ τὴν παρεμβολὴν ἐκλιπόντες ἔφυγον, ὅπου ποθʼ ἕκαστος ἤλπιζε σωθήσεσθαι. τῶν μὲν οὖν τριήρων δέκα μόνον διεξέπεσον, ὧν μίαν ἔχων Κόνων ὁ στρατηγὸς τὴν μὲν εἰς Ἀθήνας ἐπάνοδον ἀπέγνω φοβηθεὶς τὴν ὀργὴν τοῦ δήμου, πρὸς Εὐαγόραν δὲ τὸν ἀφηγούμενον τῆς Κύπρου κατέφυγεν, ἔχων πρὸς αὐτὸν φιλίαν· τῶν δὲ στρατιωτῶν οἱ πλεῖστοι μὲν κατὰ γῆν φυγόντες εἰς Σηστὸν διεσώθησαν. Λύσανδρος δὲ τὰς λοιπὰς ναῦς παραλαβὼν αἰχμαλώτους, καὶ ζωγρήσας Φιλοκλέα τὸν στρατηγόν, ἀπαγαγὼν εἰς Λάμψακον ἀπέσφαξεν. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτʼ εἰς Λακεδαίμονα τοὺς τὴν νίκην ἀπαγγελοῦντας ἀπέστειλεν ἐπὶ τῆς κρατίστης τριήρους, κοσμήσας τοῖς πολυτελεστάτοις τὴν ναῦν ὅπλοις καὶ λαφύροις. ἐπὶ δὲ τοὺς εἰς Σηστὸν καταφυγόντας Ἀθηναίους στρατεύσας τὴν μὲν πόλιν εἷλε, τοὺς δʼ Ἀθηναίους ὑποσπόνδους ἀφῆκεν. εὐθὺς δὲ τῇ δυνάμει πλεύσας ἐπὶ Σάμον αὐτὸς μὲν ταύτην ἐπολιόρκει, Γύλιππον δὲ τὸν εἰς Σικελίαν τοῖς Συρακοσίοις τῷ ναυτικῷ συμπολεμήσαντα ἀπέστειλεν εἰς Σπάρτην τά τε λάφυρα κομίζοντα καὶ μετὰ τούτων ἀργυρίου τάλαντα χίλια καὶ πεντακόσια. ὄντος δὲ τοῦ χρήματος ἐν σακίοις, καὶ ταῦτʼ ἔχοντος ἑκάστου σκυτάλην ἔχουσαν τὴν ἐπιγραφὴν τὸ πλῆθος τοῦ χρήματος δηλοῦσαν, ταύτην ἀγνοήσας ὁ Γύλιππος τὰ μὲν σακία παρέλυσεν, ἐξελόμενος δὲ τάλαντα τριακόσια, καὶ διὰ τῆς ἐπιγραφῆς γνωσθεὶς ὑπὸ τῶν ἐφόρων, ἔφυγε καὶ κατεδικάσθη θανάτῳ. παραπλησίως δὲ καὶ τὸν πατέρα τοῦ Γυλίππου Κλέαρχον συνέβη φυγεῖν ἐν τοῖς ἔμπροσθεν χρόνοις, ὅτι δόξας παρὰ Περικλέους λαβεῖν χρήματα περὶ τοῦ τὴν εἰσβολὴν εἰς τὴν Ἀττικὴν μὴ ποιήσασθαι κατεδικάσθη θανάτῳ, καὶ φυγὼν ἐν Θουρίοις τῆς Ἰταλίας διέτριβεν. οὗτοι μὲν οὖν, ἄνδρες ἱκανοὶ τἄλλα δόξαντες εἶναι, ταῦτα πράξαντες τὸν ἄλλον βίον αὐτῶν κατῄσχυναν.
Since they refused to accept battle at sea and famine gripped the army, Philocles, who held the command on that day, ordered the other captains to man their triremes and follow him, while he with thirty triremes which were ready set out in advance. Lysander, who had learned of this from some deserters, set out to sea with all his ships, and putting Philocles to flight, pursued him toward the other ships. The triremes of the Athenians had not yet been manned and confusion pervaded them all because of the unexpected appearance of the enemy. And when Lysander perceived the tumult among the enemy, he speedily put ashore Eteonicus and the troops who were practised in fighting on land. Eteonicus, quickly turning to his account the opportunity of the moment, seized a part of the camp, while Lysander himself, sailing up with all his triremes in trim for battle, after throwing iron hands on the ships which were moored along the shore began dragging them off. The Athenians, panic-stricken at the unexpected move, since they neither had respite for putting out to sea with their ships nor were able to fight it out by land, held out for a short while and then gave way, and at once, some deserting the ships, others the camp, they took to flight in whatever direction each man hoped to find safety. Of the triremes only ten escaped. Conon, the general, who had one of them, gave up any thought of returning to Athens, fearing the wrath of the people, but sought safety with Evagoras, who was in control of Cyprus and with whom he had relations of friendship; and of the soldiers the majority fled by land to Sestus and found safety there. The rest of the ships Lysander captured, and taking prisoner Philocles general, he took him to Lampsacus and had him executed. After this Lysander dispatched messengers by the swiftest trireme to Lacedemon to carry news of the victory, first decking the vessel out with the most costly arms and booty. After this, advancing against the Athenians who had found refuge in Sestus, he took the city but let the Athenians depart under a truce. Then he sailed at once to Samos with his troops and himself began the siege of the city, but Gylippus, who with a flotilla had fought in aid of the Syracusans in Sicily, he dispatched to Sparta to take there both the booty and with it fifteen hundred talents of silver. The money was in small bags, each of which contained a skytale which carried the notation of the amount of the money. Gylippus, not knowing of the skytale, secretly undid the bags and took out three hundred talents, and when, by means of the notation, Gylippus was detected by the ephors, he fled the country and was condemned to death. Similarly it happens that Clearchus also, the father of Gylippus, fled the country at an earlier time, when he was believed to have accepted a bribe from Pericles not to make the planned raid into Attica, and was condemned to death, spending his life as an exile in Thurii in Italy. And so these men, who in all other affairs were looked upon as individuals of ability, by such conduct brought shame upon the rest of their lives.
§ 13.107
Ἀθηναῖοι δὲ τὴν τῶν δυνάμεων φθορὰν ἀκούσαντες τοῦ μὲν ἀντέχεσθαι τῆς θαλάττης ἀπέστησαν, περὶ δὲ τὴν τῶν τειχῶν κατασκευὴν ἐγίνοντο καὶ τοὺς λιμένας ἀπεχώννυον, ἐλπίζοντες, ὅπερ ἦν εἰκός, εἰς πολιορκίαν καταστήσεσθαι. εὐθὺ γὰρ οἱ μὲν τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων βασιλεῖς Ἆγις καὶ Παυσανίας μετὰ πολλῆς δυνάμεως ἐμβαλόντες εἰς τὴν Ἀττικὴν πρὸς τοῖς τείχεσιν ἐστρατοπέδευον, Λύσανδρος δὲ πλέον ἢ διακοσίαις τριήρεσιν εἰς τὸν Πειραιέα κατέπλευσεν. οἱ δʼ Ἀθηναῖοι τηλικούτοις περιεχόμενοι κακοῖς ὅμως ἀντεῖχον, καὶ ῥᾳδίως τὴν πόλιν παρεφύλαττον ἐπί τινα χρόνον. τοῖς δὲ Πελοποννησίοις ἔδοξεν, ἐπείπερ δυσχερὴς ἦν ἡ πολιορκία, τὰς μὲν δυνάμεις ἀπαγαγεῖν ἐκ τῆς Ἀττικῆς, ταῖς δὲ ναυσὶ μακρὰν ἐφεδρεύειν, ὅπως αὐτοῖς μὴ παρακομισθῇ σῖτος. οὗ συντελεσθέντος, οἱ μὲν Ἀθηναῖοι εἰς δεινὴν σπάνιν ἐνέπεσον ἁπάντων μέν, μάλιστα δὲ τροφῆς διὰ τὸ ταύτην ἀεὶ κατὰ θάλατταν αὐτοῖς κομίζεσθαι. ἐπιτείνοντος δὲ τοῦ δεινοῦ καθʼ ἡμέραν, ἡ μὲν πόλις ἔγεμε νεκρῶν, οἱ δὲ λοιποὶ διαπρεσβευσάμενοι πρὸς Λακεδαιμονίους συνέθεντο τὴν εἰρήνην, ὥστε τὰ μακρὰ σκέλη καὶ τὰ τείχη τοῦ Πειραιέως περιελεῖν, καὶ μακρὰς ναῦς μὴ πλεῖον ἔχειν δέκα, τῶν δὲ πόλεων πασῶν ἐκχωρῆσαι καὶ Λακεδαιμονίοις ἡγεμόσι χρῆσθαι. ὁ μὲν οὖν Πελοποννησιακὸς πόλεμος, μακρότατος γενόμενος ὧν ἴσμεν, τοιοῦτον ἔσχε τὸ τέλος, ἔτη διαμείνας ἑπτὰ πρὸς τοῖς εἴκοσι.
When the Athenians heard of the destruction of their armaments, they abandoned the policy of control of the sea, but busied themselves with putting the walls in order and with blocking the harbours, expecting, as well they might, that they would be besieged. For at once the kings of the Lacedemonians, Agis and Pausanias, invaded Attica with a large army and pitched their camp before the walls, and Lysander with more than two hundred triremes put in at the Peiraeus. Although they were in the grip of such hard trials, the Athenians nevertheless held out and had no trouble defending their city for some time. And the Peloponnesians decided, since the siege was offering difficulties, to withdraw their armies from Attica and to conduct a blockade at a distance with their ships, in order that no grain should come to the inhabitants. When his was done, the Athenians came into dire want of everything, but especially of food, because this had always come to them by sea. Since the suffering increased day by day, the city was filled with dead, and the survivors sent ambassadors and concluded peace with the Lacedemonians on the terms that they should tear down the two Long Walls and those of the Peiraeus, keep no more than ten ships of war, withdraw from all the cities, and recognize the hegemony of the Lacedemonians. And so the Peloponnesian War, the most protracted of any of which we have knowledge, having run for twenty-seven years, came to the end we have described.
§ 13.108
μικρὸν δὲ τῆς εἰρήνης ὕστερον ἐτελεύτησε Δαρεῖος ὁ τῆς Ἀσίας βασιλεύς, ἄρξας ἔτη ἐννεακαίδεκα, τὴν δʼ ἡγεμονίαν διεδέξατο τῶν υἱῶν ὁ πρεσβύτατος Ἀρταξέρξης καὶ ἦρξεν ἔτη τρία πρὸς τοῖς τεσσαράκοντα. καθʼ ὃν δὴ χρόνον καὶ Ἀντίμαχον τὸν ποιητὴν Ἀπολλόδωρος ὁ Ἀθηναῖός φησιν ἠνθηκέναι. κατὰ δὲ τὴν Σικελίαν Ἰμίλκων ὁ τῶν Καρχηδονίων ἀφηγούμενος ἀρχομένου τοῦ θέρους τὴν μὲν τῶν Ἀκραγαντίνων πόλιν κατέσκαψε, τῶν δʼ ἱερῶν, ὅσα μηδʼ ἱκανῶς ὑπὸ τοῦ πυρὸς ἐδόκει διεφθάρθαι, τὰς γλυφὰς καὶ τὰ περιττοτέρως εἰργασμένα περιέκοψεν· αὐτόθε δʼ ἀναλαβὼν ἅπασαν τὴν δύναμιν ἐνέβαλεν εἰς τὴν τῶν Γελῴων χώραν. ἐπελθὼν δὲ ταύτην πᾶσαν καὶ τὴν Καμαριναίαν, πλῆρες ἐποίησε τὸ στράτευμα παντοίας ὠφελείας. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ἐπὶ Γέλαν πορευθεὶς παρὰ τὸν ὁμώνυμον ποταμὸν τῇ πόλει κατεστρατοπέδευσεν. ἐχόντων δὲ τῶν Γελῴων ἐκτὸς τῆς πόλεως Ἀπόλλωνος ἀνδριάντα χαλκοῦν σφόδρα μέγαν, συλήσαντες αὐτὸν ἀπέστειλαν εἰς τὴν Τύρον. τοῦτον μὲν οἱ Γελῷοι κατὰ τὸν τοῦ θεοῦ χρησμὸν ἀνέθηκαν, οἱ δὲ Τύριοι καθʼ ὃν καιρὸν ὕστερον ὑπʼ Ἀλεξάνδρου τοῦ Μακεδόνος ἐπολιορκοῦντο, καθύβριζον ὡς συναγωνιζόμενον τοῖς πολεμίοις· Ἀλεξάνδρου δʼ ἑλόντος τὴν πόλιν,ὡς Τίμαιός φησι, κατὰ τὴν ὁμώνυμον ἡμέραν καὶ τὴν αὐτὴν ὥραν ἐν ᾗ Καρχηδόνιοι τὸν Ἀπόλλωνα περὶ Γέλαν ἐσύλησαν, συνέβη τιμηθῆναι θυσίαις καὶ προσόδοις ταῖς μεγίσταις ὑπὸ τῶν Ἑλλήνων, ὡς αἴτιον γεγενημένον τῆς ἁλώσεως. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν, καίπερ ἐν ἄλλοις πραχθέντα χρόνοις, οὐκ ἀνεπιτήδειον ἡγησάμεθα παρʼ ἄλληλα θεῖναι διὰ τὸ παράδοξον. οἱ δʼ οὖν Καρχηδόνιοι δενδροτομοῦντες τὴν χώραν τάφρον περιεβάλοντο τῇ στρατοπεδείᾳ· προσεδέχοντο γὰρ τὸν Διονύσιον ἥξειν μετὰ δυνάμεως πολλῆς βοηθήσοντα τοῖς κινδυνεύουσιν. οἱ δὲ Γελῷοι τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἐψηφίσαντο τέκνα καὶ γυναῖκας εἰς Συρακούσας ὑπεκθέσθαι διὰ τὸ μέγεθος τοῦ προσδοκωμένου κινδύνου· τῶν δὲ γυναικῶν ἐπὶ τοὺς κατὰ τὴν ἀγορὰν βωμοὺς καταφυγουσῶν καὶ δεομένων τῆς αὐτῆς τοῖς ἀνδράσι τύχης κοινωνῆσαι, συνεχώρησαν. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τάξεις ποιησάμενοι πλείστας, κατὰ μέρος τοὺς στρατιώτας ἀπέστελλον ἐπὶ τὴν χώραν· οὗτοι δʼ ἐμπειρίαν ἔχοντες ἐπετίθεντο τοῖς πλανωμένοις τῶν πολεμίων, καὶ πολλοὺς μὲν αὐτῶν καθʼ ἡμέραν ἀνῆγον ζῶντας, οὐκ ὀλίγους δὲ ἀνῄρουν. τῶν δὲ Καρχηδονίων ἀπὸ μέρους προσβαλλόντων τῇ πόλει καὶ τοῖς κριοῖς καταβαλλόντων τὰ τείχη γενναίως ἠμύνοντο· τά τε γὰρ ἐφʼ ἡμέρας πίπτοντα τῶν τειχῶν νυκτὸς ἀνῳκοδόμουν, συνυπηρετουσῶν τῶν γυναικῶν καὶ παίδων· οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἀκμάζοντες ταῖς ἡλικίαις ἐν τοῖς ὅπλοις ὄντες διετέλουν μαχόμενοι, τὸ δʼ ἄλλο πλῆθος τοῖς ἔργοις καὶ ταῖς ἄλλαις παρασκευαῖς προσήδρευε μετὰ πάσης προθυμίας· τὸ δὲ σύνολον οὕτως ἐδέξαντο τὴν ἔφοδον τῶν Καρχηδονίων εὐρώστως, ὥστε καὶ πόλιν ἀνώχυρον ἔχοντες καὶ συμμάχων ὄντες ἔρημοι, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις τὰ τείχη θεωροῦντες πίπτοντα κατὰ πλείονας τόπους, οὐ κατεπλάγησαν τὸν περιεστῶτα κίνδυνον.
Not long after the peace Darius, the King of Asia, died after a reign of nineteen years, and Artaxerxes, his eldest son, succeeded to the throne and reigned for forty-three years. During this period, as Apollodorus the Athenian says, the poet Antimachus flourished. In Sicily at the beginning of summer Himilcon, the commander of the Carthaginians, razed to the ground the city of the Acragantini, and in the case of the temples which did not appear to have been sufficiently destroyed even by the fire he mutilated the sculptures and everything of rather exceptional workmanship; he then at once with his entire army invaded the territory of the Geloans. In his attack upon all this territory and that of Camarina he enriched his army with booty of every description. After this he advanced to Gela and pitched his camp along the river of the same name as the city. The Geloans had, outside the city, a bronze statue of Apollo of colossal size; this the Carthaginians seized as spoil and sent to Tyre. The Geloans had set up the statue in accordance with an oracular response of the god, and the Tyrians at a later time, when they were being besieged by Alexander of Macedon, treated the god disrespectfully on the ground that he was fighting on the side of the enemy. But when Alexander took the city, as Timaeus says, on the day with the same name and at the same hour on which the Carthaginians seized the Apollo at Gela, it came to pass that the god was honoured by the Greeks with the greatest sacrifices and processions as having been the cause of its capture. Although these events took place at different times, we have thought it not inappropriate to bring them together because of their astonishing nature. Now the Carthaginians cut down the trees of the countryside and threw a trench about their encampment, since they were expecting Dionysius to come with a strong army to the aid of the imperilled inhabitants. The Geloans at first voted to remove their children and women out of danger to Syracuse because of the magnitude of the expected danger, but when the women fled to the altars about the market-place and begged to share the same fortune as the men, they yielded to them. After this, forming a very large number of detachments, they sent the soldiers in turn over the countryside; and they, because of their knowledge of the land, attacked wandering bands of the enemy, daily brought back many of them alive, and slew not a few. And although the Carthaginians kept launching assaults in relays upon the city and breaching the walls with their battering-rams, the Geloans defended themselves gallantly; for the portions of the walls which fell during the day they built up again at night, the women and children assisting. For those who were in the bloom of their physical strength were under arms and constantly in battle, and the rest of the multitude stood by to attend to the defences and the rest of the tasks with all eagerness. In a word, they met the attack of the Carthaginians so stoutly that, although their city lacked natural defences and they were without allies and they could, besides, see the walls falling in a number of places, they were not dismayed at the danger which threatened them.
§ 13.109
Διονύσιος δʼ ὁ τῶν Συρακοσίων τύραννος μεταπεμψάμενος παρὰ τῶν ἐξ Ἰταλίας Ἑλλήνων βοήθειαν ἐξῆγε καὶ παρὰ τῶν ἄλλων συμμάχων δύναμιν· ἐπέλεξε δὲ καὶ τῶν Συρακοσίων τοὺς πλείστους τῶν ἐν ἡλικίᾳ καὶ τοὺς μισθοφόρους κατέλεξεν εἰς τὸ στρατόπεδον. εἶχε δὲ τοὺς ἅπαντας, ὡς μέν τινες, πεντακισμυρίους, ὡς δὲ Τίμαιος ἀνέγραψε, πεζοὺς μὲν τρισμυρίους, ἱππεῖς δὲ χιλίους, ναῦς δὲ καταφράκτους πεντήκοντα. μετὰ δὲ τοσαύτης δυνάμεως ἐξορμήσας ἐπὶ τὴν βοήθειαν τοῖς Γελῴοις, ὡς ἤγγισε τῆς πόλεως, κατεστρατοπέδευσε παρὰ τὴν θάλατταν. ἔσπευδε γὰρ μὴ διασπᾶν τὴν στρατιάν, ἀλλʼ ἐκ τοῦ αὐτοῦ τόπου τὴν ὁρμὴν ποιούμενος κατὰ γῆν ἅμα καὶ κατὰ θάλατταν ἀγωνίζεσθαι· τοῖς μὲν γὰρ ψιλοῖς ἠγωνίζετο καὶ τὴν χώραν οὐκ εἴα προνομεύεσθαι, τοῖς δʼ ἱππεῦσι καὶ ταῖς ναυσὶν ἐπειρᾶτο τὰς ἀγορὰς ἀφαιρεῖσθαι τὰς κομιζομένας τοῖς Καρχηδονίοις ἐκ τῆς ἰδίας ἐπικρατείας. ἐφʼ ἡμέρας μὲν οὖν εἴκοσι διέτριβον οὐδὲν ἄξιον λόγου πράττοντες· μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Διονύσιος τοὺς πεζοὺς εἰς τρία μέρη διεῖλεν, ἓν μὲν τάγμα ποιήσας τῶν Σικελιωτῶν, οἷς προσέταξεν ἐν ἀριστερᾷ τὴν πόλιν ἔχοντας ἐπὶ τὸν χάρακα τῶν ἐναντίων πορεύεσθαι· τὸ δʼ ἕτερον τάγμα συμμάχων καταστήσας ἐκέλευσεν ἐν δεξιᾷ τὴν πόλιν ἔχοντας ἐπείγεσθαι παρʼ αὐτὸν τὸν αἰγιαλόν· αὐτὸς δʼ ἔχων τὸ τῶν μισθοφόρων σύνταγμα διὰ τῆς πόλεως ὥρμησεν ἐπὶ τὸν τόπον, οὗ τὰ μηχανήματα τῶν Καρχηδονίων ἦν. καὶ τοῖς μὲν ἱππεῦσι παρήγγειλεν, ἐπειδὰν ἴδωσι τοὺς πεζοὺς ὡρμημένους, διαβῆναι τὸν ποταμὸν καὶ τὸ πεδίον καθιππάζεσθαι, κἂν μὲν ὁρῶσι τοὺς ἰδίους προτεροῦντας, συνεπιλαμβάνεσθαι τῆς μάχης, ἂν δʼ ἐλαττωμένους, δέχεσθαι τοὺς θλιβομένους· τοῖς δʼ ἐν ταῖς ναυσὶ παρήγγειλε πρὸς τὴν τῶν Ἰταλιωτῶν ἔφοδον τῇ παρεμβολῇ τῶν πολεμίων ἐπιπλεῦσαι.
Dionysius, the tyrant of the Syracusans, summoning aid from the Greeks of Italy and his other allies, led forth his army; and he also enlisted the larger part of the Syracusans of military age and enrolled the mercenaries in the army. He had in all, as some record, fifty thousand soldiers, but according to Timaeus, thirty thousand infantry, a thousand cavalry, and fifty decked vessels. With a force of such size he set out to the aid of the Geloans, and when he drew near the city, he pitched camp by the sea. For his intent was not to divide his army but to use the same base for the fighting by land as well as by sea; and with his light armed troops he engaged the enemy and did not allow them the forage over the countryside, while with his cavalry and ships he attempted to deprive the Carthaginians of the supplies which they got from the territory of which they were masters. Now for twenty days they were inactive, doing nothing worthy of mention. But after this Dionysius divided his infantry into three groups, and one division, which he formed of the Sicilian Greeks, he ordered to advance against the entrenched camp of their adversaries with the city on their left flank; the second division, which he formed of allies, he commanded to drive along the shore with the city on their right; and he himself with the contingent of mercenaries advanced through the city against the place where the Carthaginian engines of war were stationed. And to the cavalry he gave orders that, as soon as they saw the infantry advancing, they should cross the river and overrun the plain, and if they should see their comrades winning, they should join in the fighting, but in hand they were losing, they should receive any who were in distress; and to the troops on the ships his orders were, so soon as the Italian Greeks made their attack, to sail against the camp of the enemy.
§ 13.110
εὐκαίρως δʼ αὐτῶν ποιησάντων τὸ παραγγελθέν, οἱ μὲν Καρχηδόνιοι πρὸς ἐκεῖνο τὸ μέρος παρεβοήθουν, ἀνείργοντες τοὺς ἐκ τῶν νεῶν ἀποβαίνοντας· καὶ γὰρ οὐδʼ ὠχυρωμένον τὸ μέρος εἶχον, ἅπαν τὸ παρὰ τὸν αἰγιαλὸν· οἱ δʼ Ἰταλιῶται κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν καιρὸν παρὰ τὴν θάλατταν τὸ πᾶν διανύσαντες ἐπέθεντο τῇ παρεμβολῇ τῶν Καρχηδονίων, τοὺς πλείστους εὑρόντες παραβεβοηθηκότας ἐπὶ τὰς ναῦς· τοὺς δʼ ἐπὶ τούτου τοῦ μέρους ὑπολελειμμένους τρεψάμενοι παρεισέπεσον εἰς τὴν στρατοπεδείαν. οὗ γενηθέντος οἱ Καρχηδόνιοι τῷ πλείστῳ μέρει τῆς δυνάμεως ἐπιστρέψαντες καὶ πολὺν διαγωνισάμενοι χρόνον μόγις ἐξέωσαν τοὺς ἐντὸς τῆς τάφρου βιασαμένους. οἱ δὲ Ἰταλιῶται τῷ πλήθει τῶν βαρβάρων καταπονούμενοι κατὰ τὴν ἀναχώρησιν εἰς τὸ τοῦ χάρακος ἀπωξυμμένον ἐνέπιπτον, οὐκ ἔχοντες βοήθειαν· οἵ τε γὰρ Σικελιῶται διὰ τοῦ πεδίου πορευόμενοι καθυστέρουν τῶν καιρῶν, οἵ τε μετὰ Διονυσίου μισθοφόροι μόγις διεπορεύοντο τὰς κατὰ τὴν πόλιν ὁδούς, οὐ δυνάμενοι κατὰ τὴν ἰδίαν προαίρεσιν ἐπισπεῦσαι. οἱ δὲ Γελῷοι μέχρι τινὸς ἐπεξιόντες ἐπεβοήθουν κατὰ βραχὺν τόπον τοῖς Ἰταλιώταις, εὐλαβούμενοι λιπεῖν τὴν τῶν τειχῶν φυλακήν· διόπερ ὑστέρουν τῆς βοηθείας. οἱ δὲ Ἴβηρες καὶ Καμπανοὶ μετὰ τῶν Καρχηδονίων στρατευόμενοι, καὶ βαρεῖς ἐπικείμενοι τοῖς ἀπὸ τῆς Ἰταλίας Ἕλλησι, κατέβαλον αὐτῶν πλείους τῶν χιλίων. τῶν δʼ ἐν ταῖς ναυσὶν ἀνειργόντων τοξεύμασι τοὺς διώκοντας, οἱ λοιποὶ μετʼ ἀσφαλείας διεσώθησαν πρὸς τὴν πόλιν. ἐκ δὲ θατέρου μέρους οἱ Σικελιῶται πρὸς τοὺς ἀπαντήσαντας Λίβυας διαγωνισάμενοι συχνοὺς μὲν αὐτῶν ἀνεῖλον, τοὺς δʼ ἄλλους εἰς τὴν στρατοπεδείαν συνεδίωξαν· τῶν δὲ Ἰβήρων καὶ Καμπανῶν, ἔτι δὲ Καρχηδονίων, παραβοηθησάντων τοῖς Λίβυσι, περὶ ἑξακοσίους ἀποβαλόντες πρὸς τὴν πόλιν ἀπεχώρησαν. οἱ δʼ ἱππεῖς ὡς εἶδον τοὺς ἰδίους ἡττημένους, καὶ αὐτοὶ πρὸς τὴν πόλιν ἀπῆλθον, ἐπικειμένων αὐτοῖς τῶν πολεμίων. Διονύσιος δὲ μόγις διελθὼν τὴν πόλιν, ὡς κατέλαβε τὸ στρατόπεδον ἠλαττωμένον, τότε μὲν ἐντὸς τῶν τειχῶν ἀνεχώρησεν.
When the fleet carried out their orders at the proper time, the Carthaginians rushed to the aid of that sector in an attempt to keep back the attackers disembarking from the ships; and in fact that portion of the camp which the Carthaginians occupied was unfortified, all the part which lay along the beach. And at this survey time the Italian Greeks, who had covered the entire distance along the sea, attacked the camp of the Carthaginians, having found that most of the defenders had gone to give aid against the ships, and putting to flight the troops which had been left behind at this place, they forced their way into the encampment. At this turn of affairs the Carthaginians, turning about with the greater part of their troops, after a sustained flight, thrust out with difficulty the men who had forced their way within the trench. The Italian Greeks, overcome by the multitude of the barbarians, encountered as they withdrew the acute angle of the palisade and no help came to them; for the Sicilian Greeks, advancing through the plain, came too late and the mercenaries with Dionysius encountered difficulties in making their way through the streets of the city and thus were unable to make such haste as they had planned. The Geloans, advancing for some distance from the city, gave aid to the Italian Greeks over only a short space of the area, since they were afraid to abandon the guarding of the walls, and as a result they were too late to be of any assistance. The Iberians and Campanians, who were serving in the army of the Carthaginians, pressing hard upon the Italian Greeks, slew more than a thousand of them. But since the crews of the ships held back the pursuers with showers of arrows, the rest of them got back in safety to the city. In the other part the Sicilian Greeks, who had engaged the Libyans who opposed them, slew great numbers of them and pursued the rest into the encampment; but when the Iberians and Campanians and, besides, the Carthaginians came up to the aid of the Libyans, they withdrew to the city, having lost some six hundred men. And the cavalry, when they saw the defeat of their comrades, likewise withdrew to the city, since the enemy pressed hard upon them. Dionysius, having barely got through the city, found his army defeated and for the time being withdrew within the walls.
§ 13.111
μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τῶν φίλων συναγαγὼν συνέδριον ἐβουλεύετο περὶ τοῦ πολέμου. πάντων δὲ λεγόντων ἀνεπιτήδειον εἶναι τὸν τόπον περὶ τῶν ὅλων διακρίνεσθαι τοῖς πολεμίοις, πρὸς τὴν ἑσπέραν ἀπέστειλε κήρυκα περὶ τῆς εἰς αὔριον ἀναιρέσεως τῶν νεκρῶν, καὶ τὸν μὲν ἐκ τῆς πόλεως ὄχλον περὶ πρώτην φυλακὴν τῆς νυκτὸς ἐξαπέστειλεν, αὐτὸς δὲ περὶ μέσας νύκτας ἀφώρμησε, καταλιπὼν τῶν ψιλῶν περὶ δισχιλίους. τούτοις δʼ ἦν παρηγγελμένον πυρὰ καίειν διʼ ὅλης τῆς νυκτὸς καὶ θορυβοποιεῖν πρὸς τὸ δόξαν ἐμποιῆσαι τοῖς Καρχηδονίοις ὡς μένοντος ἐν τῇ πόλει. οὗτοι μὲν οὖν ἤδη τῆς ἡμέρας ὑποφωσκούσης ἀφώρμησαν πρὸς τοὺς περὶ τὸν Διονύσιον, οἱ δὲ Καρχηδόνιοι διαισθόμενοι τὸ γεγονὸς μετεστρατοπέδευσαν εἰς τὴν πόλιν καὶ τὰ περιλειφθέντα κατὰ τὰς οἰκίας διήρπασαν. Διονύσιος δὲ παραγενόμενος εἰς τὴν Καμάριναν, ἠνάγκασε καὶ τοὺς ἐκεῖ μετὰ τέκνων καὶ γυναικῶν εἰς Συρακούσας ἀπιέναι. τοῦ φόβου δʼ οὐδεμίαν ἀναβολὴν διδόντος τινὲς μὲν ἀργύριον καὶ χρυσίον καὶ τὰ ῥᾳδίως φέρεσθαι δυνάμενα συνεσκευάζοντο, τινὲς δὲ γονεῖς καὶ τέκνα τὰ νήπια λαβόντες ἔφευγον, οὐδεμίαν ἐπιστροφὴν χρημάτων ποιούμενοι· ἔνιοι δὲ γεγηρακότες ἢ νόσῳ βαρυνόμενοι διʼ ἐρημίαν συγγενῶν ἢ φίλων ὑπελείποντο, προσδοκωμένων ὅσον οὔπω παρέσεσθαι τῶν Καρχηδονίων· ἡ γὰρ περὶ Σελινοῦντα καὶ Ἱμέραν, ἔτι δὲ Ἀκράγαντα, γενομένη συμφορὰ τοὺς ἀνθρώπους ἐξέπληττε, πάντων καθάπερ ὑπὸ τὴν ὅρασιν λαμβανόντων τὴν τῶν Καρχηδονίων δεινότητα. οὐδεμία γὰρ ἦν παρʼ αὐτοῖς φειδὼ τῶν ἁλισκομένων, ἀλλʼ ἀσυμπαθῶς τῶν ἠτυχηκότων οὓς μὲν ἀνεσταύρουν, οἷς δʼ ἀφορήτους ἐπῆγον ὕβρεις. οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ δυεῖν πόλεων ἐξοριζομένων ἔγεμεν ἡ χώρα γυναικῶν καὶ παίδων καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ὄχλων· ἃ θεωροῦντες οἱ στρατιῶται διʼ ὀργῆς μὲν εἶχον τὸν Διονύσιον, ἠλέουν δὲ τὰς τῶν ἀκληρούντων τύχας· ἑώρων γὰρ παῖδας ἐλευθέρους καὶ παρθένους ἐπιγάμους ἀναξίως τῆς ἡλικίας ὡς ἔτυχε κατὰ τὴν ὁδὸν ὡρμημένας, ἐπειδὴ τὴν σεμνότητα καὶ τὴν πρὸς τοὺς ἀλλοτρίους ἐντροπὴν ὁ καιρὸς ἀφῃρεῖτο. παραπλησίως δὲ καὶ τοῖς πρεσβυτέροις συνήλγουν, βλέποντες παρὰ φύσιν ἀναγκαζομένους ἅμα τοῖς ἀκμάζουσιν ἐπισπεύδειν.
After this Dionysius called a meeting of his friends and took counsel regarding the war. When they all said that his position was unfavourable for a decisive battle with the enemy, he dispatched a herald toward evening to arrange for the taking up of the dead on the next day, and about the first watch of the night he sent out of the city the mass of the people, while he himself set out about the middle of the night, leaving behind some two thousand of his light-armed troops. These had been given orders to keep fires burning through the entire night and to make an uproar in order to cause the Carthaginians to believe that he was still in the city. Now these troops, as the day was beginning to break, set out to join Dionysius, and the Carthaginians, on learning what had taken place, moved their quarters into the city and plundered what had been left of the contents of the dwellings. When Dionysius arrived at Camarina, he compelled the residents of that city also to depart with their children and wives to Syracuse. And since their fear admitted of no delay, some gathered together silver and gold and whatever could be easily carried, while others fled with only their parents and infant children, paying no attention to valuables; and some, who were aged or suffering from illness, were left behind because they had no relatives or friends, since the Carthaginians were expected of the arrive almost immediately. For the fate that had befallen Selinus and Himera and Acragas as well terrified the populace, all of whom felt as if they had actually been eye-witnesses of the savagery of the Carthaginians. For among them there was no sparing their captives, but they were without compassion for the victims of Fortune of whom they would crucify some and upon others inflict unbearable outrages. Nevertheless, now that two cities had been driven into exile, the countryside teemed with women and children and the rabble in general. And when the soldiers witnessed these conditions, they were not only enraged against Dionysius but also filled with pity at the lot of the unfortunate victims; for they saw free-born boys and maidens of marriageable years rushing pell-mell along the road in a manner improper for their age, since the stress of the moment had done away with the dignity and respect which are shown before strangers. Similarly they sympathized also with the elderly, as they watched them being forced to push onward beyond their strength while trying to keep up with those in the prime of life.
§ 13.112
ἐφʼ οἷς ἐξεκάετο τὸ κατὰ τοῦ Διονυσίου μῖσος· καὶ γὰρ ὑπελάμβανον αὐτὸν ἐκ συνθέσεως τοῦτο πεποιηκέναι πρὸς τὸ τῷ Καρχηδονίων φόβῳ τῶν ἄλλων πόλεων ἀσφαλῶς δυναστεύειν. ἀνελογίζοντο γὰρ τὴν βραδυτῆτα τῆς βοηθείας, τὸ μηδένα πεπτωκέναι τῶν μισθοφόρων, τὸ μηδενὸς ἁδροῦ πταίσματος γεγενημένου φυγεῖν ἀλόγως, τὸ δὲ μέγιστον, τὸ μηδένα τῶν πολεμίων ἐπηκολουθηκέναι· ὥστε τοῖς πρότερον ἐπιθυμοῦσι καιρὸν λαβεῖν τῆς ἀποστάσεως καθάπερ θεῶν προνοίᾳ πάντα ὑπουργεῖν πρὸς τὴν κατάλυσιν τῆς δυναστείας. οἱ μὲν οὖν Ἰταλιῶται καταλιπόντες αὐτὸν ἐπʼ οἴκου διὰ τῆς μεσογείου τὴν πορείαν ἐποιήσαντο, οἱ δὲ τῶν Συρακοσίων ἱππεῖς τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἐπετήρουν, εἰ δύναιντο κατὰ τὴν ὁδὸν ἀνελεῖν τὸν τύραννον· ὡς δὲ ἑώρων οὐκ ἀπολείποντας αὐτὸν τοὺς μισθοφόρους, ὁμοθυμαδὸν ἀφίππευσαν εἰς τὰς Συρακούσας. καταλαβόντες δὲ τοὺς ἐν τοῖς νεωρίοις ἀγνοοῦντας τὰ περὶ τὴν Γέλαν, εἰσῆλθον οὐδενὸς κωλύσαντος, καὶ τὴν μὲν οἰκίαν τοῦ Διονυσίου διήρπασαν γέμουσαν ἀργύρου τε καὶ χρυσοῦ καὶ τῆς ἄλλης πολυτελείας ἁπάσης, τὴν δὲ γυναῖκα συλλαβόντες οὕτω διέθεσαν κακῶς, ὥστε καὶ τὸν τύραννον βαρέως ἐνέχειν τὴν ὀργήν, νομίζοντες τὴν ταύτης τιμωρίαν μεγίστην εἶναι πίστιν τῆς πρὸς ἀλλήλους κοινωνίας κατὰ τὴν ἐπίθεσιν. ὁ δὲ Διονύσιος κατὰ τὴν ὁδοιπορίαν τὸ γεγονὸς καταστοχαζόμενος, ἐπέλεξε τῶν ἱππέων καὶ τῶν πεζῶν τοὺς πιστοτάτους, μεθʼ ὧν ἠπείγετο πρὸς τὴν πόλιν σπουδῆς οὐδὲν ἐλλείπων· ἐλογίζετο γὰρ οὐκ ἂν ἄλλως δυνατὸν ἐπικρατῆσαι τῶν ἱππέων, εἰ μὴ σπεύδοι· ὅπερ ἐποίησεν. εἰ γὰρ παραδοξότερον ἐκείνων ποιήσαιτο τὴν ἄφιξιν, ἤλπιζε ῥᾳδίως κρατήσειν τῆς ἐπιβολῆς· ὅπερ καὶ συνέπεσεν. οἱ γὰρ ἱππεῖς οὔτʼ ἂν ἔτʼ ἀπελθεῖν οὔτε μεῖναι κατὰ τὸ στρατόπεδον τὸν Διονύσιον ὑπελάμβανον· διόπερ κεκρατηκέναι τῆς ἐπιβολῆς νομίσαντες, ἔφασαν αὐτὸν ἐκ μὲν Γέλας προσποιηθῆναι τοὺς Φοίνικας ἀποδιδράσκειν, νυνὶ δὲ ὡς ἀληθῶς ἀποδεδρακέναι τοὺς Συρακοσίους.
It was for these reasons that the hatred against Dionysius was flaring up, since men assumed that he had so acted for this definite plan: by using the dread of the Carthaginians to be lord or remaining cities of Sicily without risk. For they reckoned up his delay in bringing aid; the fact that none of his mercenaries had fallen; that he had retreated without reason, since he had suffered no serious reverse; and, most important of all, that not a single one of the Carthaginians had pursued them. Consequently, for those who before this were eager to seize an opportunity to revolt, all things, as if by the foreknowledge of the gods, were working toward the overthrow of the tyrannical power. Now the Italian Greeks, deserting Dionysius, made their way home through the interior of the island, and the Syracusan cavalry at first kept watch in the hope that they might be able to slay the tyrant along the road; but when they saw that the mercenaries were not deserting him, they rode off with one accord to Syracuse. And finding the guards of the dockyards knew nothing of the events at Gela, they entered these without hindrance, plundered the house of Dionysius which was filled with silver and gold and all other costly things, and seizing his wife left her so ill-used as to ensure the tyrant's keeping his anger fiercely alive, acting as they did in the belief that the vengeance they wreaked on Dionysius' wife would be the surest guarantee of their holding by each other in their attack upon him. And Dionysius, guessing while on the way what had taken place, picked out the most trustworthy of his cavalry and infantry, with whom he pressed toward the city without checking speed; for he reasoned that he could overcome the cavalry by no other means than by speedy action, and he acted accordingly. For if he should make his arrival even more of a surprise than theirs had been, he had hope that he would easily carry out his design; and that is what happened. For the cavalry assumed that Dionysius would now neither return to Syracuse nor remain with his army; consequently, in the belief that they had carried out their design, they said that he had pretended that in leaving Gela he was giving the slip to the Carthaginians whereas the truth in fact was that he had given the slip to the Syracusans.
§ 13.113
Διονύσιος δὲ διανύσας σταδίους περὶ τετρακοσίους παρῆν περὶ μέσας νύκτας πρὸς τὴν πύλην τῆς Ἀχραδινῆς μεθʼ ἱππέων ἑκατὸν καὶ πεζῶν ἑξακοσίων· ἣν καταλαβὼν κεκλεισμένην, προσέθηκεν αὐτῇ τὸν κατακεκομισμένον ἐκ τῶν ἑλῶν κάλαμον, ᾧ χρῆσθαι νομίζουσιν οἱ Συρακόσιοι πρὸς τὴν τῆς κονίας σύνδεσιν. ἐν ὅσῳ δὲ συνέβαινε τὰς πύλας κατακαίεσθαι, προσανελάμβανε τοὺς ἀφυστεροῦντας. ἐπειδὴ δὲ τὸ πῦρ κατέφθειρε τὰς πύλας, οὗτος μὲν μετὰ τῶν ἠκολουθηκότων εἰσήλαυνε διὰ τῆς Ἀχραδινῆς, τῶν δʼ ἱππέων οἱ δυνατώτατοι τὸ γεγονὸς ἀκούσαντες, τὸ μὲν πλῆθος οὐκ ἀνέμενον, εὐθὺς δʼ ἐξεβοήθουν ὄντες ὀλίγοι παντελῶς—ἦσαν δὲ περὶ τὴν ἀγοράν—καὶ κυκλωθέντες ὑπὸ τῶν μισθοφόρων ἅπαντες κατηκοντίσθησαν. ὁ δὲ Διονύσιος ἐπελθὼν τὴν πόλιν τούς τε σποράδην ἐκβοηθοῦντας ἀνεῖλε, καὶ τῶν ἀλλοτρίως διακειμένων ἐπῄει τὰς οἰκίας, ὧν τοὺς μὲν ἀπέκτεινε, τοὺς δʼ ἐκ τῆς πόλεως ἐξέβαλε. τὸ δὲ λοιπὸν πλῆθος τῶν ἱππέων ἐκπεσὸν ἐκ τῆς πόλεως κατελάβετο τὴν νῦν καλουμένην Αἴτνην. ἅμα δʼ ἡμέρᾳ τὸ μὲν πλῆθος τῶν μισθοφόρων καὶ τὸ στράτευμα τῶν Σικελιωτῶν κατήντησεν εἰς τὰς Συρακούσας, Γελῷοι δὲ καὶ Καμαριναῖοι τῷ Διονυσίῳ διαφόρως ἔχοντες εἰς Λεοντίνους ἀπηλλάγησαν.
Dionysius covered a distance of four hundred stades and arrived at the gates of Achradine about the middle of the night with a hundred cavalry and six hundred infantry, and finding the gate closed, he piled upon it reeds brought from the marshes such as the Syracusans are accustomed to use to bind their stucco. While the gates were being burned down, he gathered to his troops the laggards. And when the fire had consumed the gates, Dionysius with his followers made their way through Achradine, and the stoutest soldiers among the cavalry, when they heard what had happened, without waiting for the main body, and although they were very few in number, rushed forth at once to aid in the resistance. They were gathered in the market-place, and there they were surrounded by the mercenaries and shot down to a man. Then Dionysius, ranging through the city, slew any who came out here and there to resist him, and entering the houses of those who were hostile toward him, some of them he killed and others he banished from the city. The main body of the cavalry which was left fled from the city and occupied Aetne, as it is now called. At daybreak the main body of the mercenaries and the army of the Sicilian Greeks arrived at Syracuse, but the Geloans and Camarinaeans, who were at odds with Dionysius, left him and departed to Leontini.
§ 13.114
διόπερ ὑπὸ τῶν πραγμάτων ἀναγκαζόμενος Ἰμίλκας ἔπεμψεν εἰς Συρακούσας κήρυκα, παρακαλῶν τοὺς ἡττημένους διαλύσασθαι. ἀσμένως δʼ ὑπακούσαντος τοῦ Διονυσίου τὴν εἰρήνην ἐπὶ τοῖσδε ἔθεντο· Καρχηδονίων εἶναι μετὰ τῶν ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἀποίκων Ἐλύμους καὶ Σικανούς· Σελινουντίους δὲ καὶ Ἀκραγαντίνους, ἔτι δʼ Ἱμεραίους, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις Γελῴους καὶ Καμαριναίους οἰκεῖν μὲν ἐν ἀτειχίστοις ταῖς πόλεσι, φόρον δὲ τελεῖν τοῖς Καρχηδονίοις· Λεοντίνους δὲ καὶ Μεσσηνίους καὶ Σικελοὺς ἅπαντας αὐτονόμους εἶναι, καὶ Συρακοσίους μὲν ὑπὸ Διονύσιον τετάχθαι, τὰ δὲ αἰχμάλωτα καὶ τὰς ναῦς ἀποδοῦναι τοὺς ἔχοντας τοῖς ἀποβαλοῦσι. τῶν συνθηκῶν δὲ γενομένων Καρχηδόνιοι μὲν εἰς Λιβύην ἐξέπλευσαν, πλεῖον ἢ τὸ ἥμισυ μέρος τῶν στρατιωτῶν ἀποβαλόντες ὑπὸ τῆς νόσου· οὐδὲν δʼ ἧττον καὶ κατὰ Λιβύην διαμείναντος τοῦ λοιμοῦ, παμπληθεῖς αὐτῶν τε τῶν Καρχηδονίων, ἔτι δὲ τῶν συμμάχων διεφθάρησαν. ἡμεῖς δὲ παραγενηθέντες ἐπὶ τὴν κατάλυσιν τῶν πολέμων, κατὰ μὲν τὴν Ἑλλάδα τοῦ Πελοποννησιακοῦ, κατὰ δὲ τὴν Σικελίαν τοῦ Καρχηδονίοις πρὸς Διονύσιον πρώτου συστάντος, ἡγούμεθα δεῖν ἐπιτετελεσμένης τῆς προθέσεως τὰς ἑξῆς πράξεις εἰς τὴν ἐχομένην βίβλον καταχωρίσαι.
. . . . Consequently Himilcar, acting under the stress of circumstances, dispatched a herald to Syracuse urging the vanquished to make up their differences. Dionysius was glad to comply and they concluded peace on the following terms: To the Carthaginians shall belong, together with their original colonists, the Elymi and Sicani; the inhabitants of Selinus, Acragas, and Himera as well as those of Gela and Camarina may dwell in their cities, which shall be unfortified, but shall pay tribute to the Carthaginians; the inhabitants of Leontini and Messene and the Siceli shall all live under laws of their own making, and the Syracusans shall be subject to Dionysius; and whatever captives and ships are held shall be returned to those who lost them. As soon as this treaty had been concluded, the Carthaginians sailed off to Libya, having lost more than half their soldiers from the plague; but the pestilence continued to rage no less in Libya also and great numbers both of the Carthaginians themselves and of their allies were struck down. But for our part, now that we have arrived at the conclusion of the wars, in Greece the Peloponnesian and in Sicily the first between the Carthaginians and Dionysius, and our proposed task has been completed, we think that we should set down the events next in order in the following Book.
— Book 14 —
§ 14.arg
τάδε ἔνεστιν ἐν τῇ τεσσαρεσκαιδεκάτῃ τῶν Διοδώρου βύβλων. κατάλυσις ἐν Ἀθήναις τῆς δημοκρατίας καὶ κατάστασις ἀνδρῶν τριάκοντα. παρανομία τῶν τριάκοντα ἀνδρῶν εἰς τοὺς πολίτας. ὡς Διονύσιος ὁ τύραννος ἀκρόπολιν κατασκευάσας διεμέρισε τὴν πόλιν καὶ τὴν χώραν τοῖς πλήθεσιν. ὡς Διονύσιος παραλυομένην τὴν τυραννίδα παραδόξως αὐτὴν ἀνεκτήσατο. ὡς Λακεδαιμόνιοι διῴκησαν τὰ κατὰ τὴν Ἑλλάδα. Ἀλκιβιάδου θάνατος, καὶ Κλεάρχου τοῦ Λάκωνος τυραννὶς ἐν Βυζαντίῳ καὶ κατάλυσις. ὡς Λύσανδρος ὁ Λακεδαιμόνιος ἐπιβαλόμενος καταλῦσαι τοὺς ἀφʼ Ἡρακλέους ἀπέτυχεν. ὡς Διονύσιος Κατάνην μὲν καὶ Νάξον ἐξηνδραποδίσατο, Λεοντίνους δὲ μετῴκισεν εἰς Συρακούσας. κτίσις Ἀλαίσης ἐν τῇ Σικελίᾳ. Λακεδαιμονίων πρὸς Ἠλείους πόλεμος. ὡς Διονύσιος τὸ πρὸς τοῖς Ἑξαπύλοις τεῖχος κατεσκεύασεν. ὡς Κῦρος στρατεύσας ἐπὶ τὸν ἀδελφὸν ἀνῃρέθη. ὡς Λακεδαιμόνιοι τοῖς κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν Ἕλλησιν ἐβοήθησαν. κτίσις Ἀδρανοῦ κατὰ τὴν Σικελίαν, καὶ Σωκράτους τοῦ φιλοσόφου θάνατος. κατασκευὴ τοῦ περὶ τὴν Χερρόνησον τείχους. παρασκευὴ Διονυσίου πρὸς τὸν Καρχηδονιακὸν πόλεμον καὶ ὁπλοποιία, καθʼ ἣν εὗρε τὸ καταπελτικὸν βέλος. ὡς Καρχηδονίοις καὶ Διονυσίῳ πόλεμος ἐνέστη. ὡς Διονύσιος Μοτύην πόλιν ἐπίσημον Καρχηδονίων ἐξεπολιόρκησεν. ὡς Αἰγεσταῖοι τὴν Διονυσίου παρεμβολὴν ἐνέπρησαν. ὡς Καρχηδόνιοι τριάκοντα μυριάσι διαβάντες εἰς τὴν Σικελίαν ἐπολέμουν πρὸς Διονύσιον. Διονυσίου ἀποχώρησις εἰς τὰς Συρακούσας. Καρχηδονίων στρατεία ἐπὶ τὸν πορθμόν, καὶ ἅλωσις τῆς Μεσσήνης. ναυμαχία Καρχηδονίων πρὸς Διονύσιον μεγάλη καὶ νίκη Καρχηδονίων. σύλησις τῶν ναῶν τῆς τε Δήμητρος καὶ Κόρης ὑπὸ Καρχηδονίων. κόλασις ἐκ θεῶν τῶν ἱεροσύλων, καὶ φθορὰ τῆς Καρχηδονίων δυνάμεως ὑπὸ νόσου λοιμικῆς. ναυμαχία Συρακοσίων πρὸς Καρχηδονίους καὶ νίκη Συρακοσίων. δημηγορία Θεοδώρου περὶ τῆς ἐλευθερίας. ὡς Διονύσιος τοὺς ταραχωδεστάτους χιλίους μισθοφόρους καταστρατηγήσας ἐποίησε κατακοπῆναι. ὡς Διονύσιος τὰ φρούρια καὶ τὴν παρεμβολὴν τῶν Καρχηδονίων ἐπολιόρκησεν. ὡς Διονύσιος ἐκπολιορκήσας Καρχηδονίους πολλὰς τῶν πολεμίων ναῦς ἐνέπρησεν. Καρχηδονίων ἧττα κατὰ γῆν ἅμα καὶ κατὰ θάλατταν. δρασμὸς τῶν Καρχηδονίων νυκτὸς Διονυσίου συνεργήσαντος λάθρᾳ τῶν Συρακοσίων ἐπὶ τετρακοσίοις ταλάντοις. τὰ συμβάντα Καρχηδονίοις δυσχερῆ διὰ τὴν εἰς τὸ θεῖον ἀσέβειαν. συνοικισμὸς τῶν κατὰ Σικελίαν ἀναστάτων γεγενημένων πόλεων. ὡς Διονύσιος τῶν Σικελικῶν πόλεων ἃς μὲν ἐξεπολιόρκησεν, ἃς δʼ εἰς συμμαχίαν προσηγάγετο. ὡς πρὸς τοὺς δυνάστας Ἄγυρίν τε τὸν Ἀγυρηναῖον καὶ Νικόδημον τὸν Κεντοριπῖνον φιλίαν συνέθετο. ὡς Ἀγησίλαος ὁ Σπαρτιατῶν βασιλεὺς μετὰ δυνάμεως εἰς τὴν Ἀσίαν διέβη καὶ τὴν ὑπὸ Πέρσας τεταγμένην χώραν ἐπόρθησεν. ὡς Ἀγησίλαος ἐνίκησε μάχῃ τοὺς Πέρσας ἡγουμένου Φαρναβάζου. περὶ τοῦ Βοιωτικοῦ πολέμου καὶ τῶν πραχθέντων ἐν αὐτῷ. ὡς Κόνων ὑπὸ Περσῶν κατασταθεὶς στρατηγὸς τὰ τείχη τῶν Ἀθηναίων ἀνῳκοδόμησεν. ὡς περὶ Κόρινθον Λακεδαιμόνιοι Βοιωτοὺς ἐνίκησαν καὶ ὁ πόλεμος οὗτος ἐκλήθη Κορινθιακός. ὡς Διονύσιος μετὰ πολλῶν κινδύνων παρεισπεσὼν εἰς τὸ Ταυρομένιον ἐξέπεσεν. ὡς Καρχηδόνιοι περὶ πόλιν Βάκαιναν ἡττήθησαν ὑπὸ Διονυσίου. στρατεία Καρχηδονίων εἰς Σικελίαν καὶ κατάλυσις τοῦ πολέμου. ὡς Θίβρος ὁ Λακεδαιμόνιος ὢν στρατηγὸς ὑπὸ Περσῶν ἡττηθεὶς ἀνῃρέθη. ὡς Διονύσιος Ῥήγιον ἐπολιόρκησεν. ὡς οἱ κατὰ τὴν Ἰταλίαν Ἕλληνες εἰς μίαν πολιτείαν συστάντες ἀντετάξαντο πρὸς Διονύσιον. ὡς Διονύσιος νικήσας τῇ μάχῃ καὶ μυρίους αἰχμαλώτους λαβών, ἀπέλυσεν ἄνευ λύτρων καὶ ταῖς πόλεσιν αὐτονομεῖσθαι συνεχώρησεν. Καυλωνίας καὶ Ἱππωνίου ἅλωσις καὶ κατασκαφὴ καὶ μετοίκησις εἰς Συρακούσας. ὡς οἱ Ἕλληνες πρὸς Ἀρταξέρξην εἰρήνην ἐποιήσαντο τὴν ἐπὶ Ἀνταλκίδου. Ῥηγίου ἅλωσις καὶ τὰ περὶ τὴν πόλιν ἀτυχήματα. ῞ἅλωσις Ῥώμης ὑπὸ Γαλατῶν πλὴν τοῦ Καπετωλίου.
—
§ 14.1
πάντας μὲν ἴσως εἰκός ἐστι προσάντως ἀκούειν τὰς καθʼ ἑαυτῶν βλασφημίας· καὶ γὰρ οἱ κατὰ πᾶν ἔκδηλον ἔχοντες τὴν ἑαυτῶν κακίαν, ὥστε μηδʼ ἐξαρνεῖσθαι, ὅμως ψόγου τυγχάνοντες διαγανακτοῦσι καὶ λόγους εἰσφέρειν πειρῶνται πρὸς τὴν κατηγορίαν. διόπερ εὐλαβητέον ἐκ παντὸς τρόπου τὸ πράττειν τι φαῦλον πᾶσι, μάλιστα μέντοι τοῖς ἡγεμονίας ὀρεγομένοις ἤ τινος ἐπισήμου τύχης μεταλαβοῦσιν· ὁ γὰρ τούτων βίος περίοπτος ὢν διὰ τὴν ἐπιφάνειαν ἐν πᾶσιν ἀδυνατεῖ κρύπτειν τὴν ἰδίαν ἄγνοιαν· ὥστε μηδεὶς ἐλπιζέτω τῶν τυχόντων ὑπεροχῆς τινος, ἂν ἐξαμαρτάνῃ μεγάλα, λήσεσθαι διὰ τέλους ἀνεπιτίμητος. καὶ γὰρ ἂν ἐν τῷ καθʼ ἑαυτὸν βίῳ διαφύγῃ τὸν ἀπὸ τῆς ἐπιτιμήσεως λόγον, ὕστερον ἥξειν ἐπʼ αὐτὸν προσδεχέσθω τὴν ἀλήθειαν μετὰ παρρησίας κηρύττουσαν τὰ πάλαι σιωπώμενα. χαλεπὸν οὖν τοῖς φαύλοις τοῦ παντὸς βίου καθάπερ ἀθάνατον εἰκόνα μετὰ τὴν ἰδίαν τελευτὴν ἀπολείπειν τοῖς μεταγενεστέροις· καὶ γὰρ εἰ μηδέν ἐστι πρὸς ἡμᾶς τὰ μετὰ τὸν θάνατον, καθάπερ ἔνιοι τῶν φιλοσόφων θρυλοῦσιν, ὅμως ὅ γε προγεγενημένος βίος γίνεται πολὺ χείρων τὸν ἅπαντα τὸν αἰῶνα ἐπὶ κακῷ μνημονευόμενος. ἐμφανῆ δὲ τούτων παραδείγματα λαμβάνειν ἔξεστι τοῖς ἀναγνοῦσι τὰ κατὰ μέρος τῆσδε τῆς βίβλου.
All men, perhaps naturally, are disinclined to listen to obloquies that are uttered against them. Indeed even those whose evil-doing is in every respect so manifest that it cannot even be denied, none the less deeply resent it when they are the objects of censure and endeavour to make a reply to the accusation. Consequently all men should take every possible care not to commit any evil deed, and those especially who aspire to leadership or have been favoured by some striking gift of Fortune; for since the life of such men is in all things an open book because of their distinction, it cannot conceal its own unwisdom. Let no man, therefore, who has gained some kind of pre-eminence, cherish the hope that, if he commits great crimes, he will for all time escape notice and go uncensured. For even if during his own lifetime he eludes the sentence of rebuke, let him expect that at a later time Truth will find him out, frankly proclaiming abroad matters long hidden from mention. It is, therefore, a hard fate for wicked men that at their death they leave to posterity and undying image, so to speak, of their entire life; for even if those things that follow after death do not concern us, as certain philosophers keep chanting, nevertheless the life which has preceded death becomes far worse throughout all time for the evil memory that it enjoys. Manifest examples of this may be found by those who read the detailed story contained in this Book.
§ 14.2
παρὰ μὲν γὰρ Ἀθηναίοις τριάκοντα τύραννοι γενόμενοι διὰ τὴν ἰδίαν πλεονεξίαν τήν τε πατρίδα μεγάλοις ἀτυχήμασι περιέβαλον καὶ αὐτοὶ ταχὺ τὴν δύναμιν ἀποβαλόντες ἀθάνατον ἑαυτῶν ὄνειδος καταλελοίπασι, Λακεδαιμόνιοι δὲ περιποιησάμενοι τὴν τῆς Ἑλλάδος ἀρχὴν ἀναμφισβήτητον, τότε ταύτης ἐστερήθησαν, ὅτε πράξεις ἀδίκους κατὰ τῶν συμμάχων ἐπιτελεῖν ἐπεχείρησαν· αἱ γὰρ τῶν ἡγεμόνων ὑπεροχαὶ τηροῦνται μὲν εὐνοίᾳ καὶ δικαιοσύνῃ, καταλύονται δὲ ἀδικήμασι καὶ μίσει τῶν ὑποτεταγμένων. παραπλησίως δὲ καὶ Διονύσιος ὁ Συρακοσίων τύραννος, καίπερ εὐτυχέστατος τῶν δυναστῶν γεγονώς, ζῶν μὲν οὐ διέλιπεν ἐπιβουλευόμενος, καὶ διὰ τὸν φόβον ἠναγκάζετο φέρειν ὑπὸ τὸν χιτῶνα σιδηροῦν θώρακα, τελευτήσας δὲ μέγιστον εἰς βλασφημίας παράδειγμα καταλέλοιπε τὸν ἑαυτοῦ βίον εἰς ἅπαντα τὸν αἰῶνα. ἀλλὰ περὶ μὲν τούτων ἐν τοῖς οἰκείοις χρόνοις ἕκαστον ἀναγράψομεν σαφέστερον, νῦν δʼ ἐπὶ τὰ συνεχῆ τοῖς προϊστορημένοις τρεψόμεθα, τοὺς χρόνους μόνον διορίζοντες. ἐν μὲν γὰρ ταῖς πρὸ ταύτης βίβλοις ἀνεγράψαμεν τὰς ἀπὸ Τροίας ἁλώσεως πράξεις ἕως ἐπὶ τὴν κατάλυσιν τοῦ τε Πελοποννησιακοῦ πολέμου καὶ τῆς Ἀθηναίων ἡγεμονίας, διελθόντες ἔτη ἑπτακόσια ἑβδομήκοντα ἐννέα· ἐν ταύτῃ δὲ τὰς συνεχεῖς πράξεις προσαναπληροῦντες ἀρξόμεθα ἐκ τῶν κατασταθέντων Ἀθήνησι τριάκοντα τυράννων, καταλήξομεν δὲ ἐπὶ τὴν Ῥώμης ἅλωσιν ὑπὸ Γαλατῶν, περιλαβόντες ἔτη δέκα ὀκτώ.
Among the Athenians, for example, thirty men who became tyrants from their own lust of gain, not only involved their native land in great misfortunes but themselves soon lost their power and have bequeathed a deathless memorial of their own disgrace. The Lacedemonians, after winning for themselves the undisputed sovereignty of Greece, were shorn of it from the moment when they sought to carry out unjust projects at the expense of their allies. For the superiority of those who enjoy leadership is maintained by goodwill and justice, and is overthrown by acts of injustice and by the hatred of their subjects. Similarly Dionysius, the tyrant of the Syracusans, although he has been the most fortunate of such rulers, was incessantly plotted against while alive, was compelled by fear to wear an iron corselet under his tunic, and has bequeathed since his death his own life as an outstanding example unto all ages for the maledictions of men. But we shall record each one of these illustrations with more detail in connection with the appropriate period of time; for the present we shall take up the continuation of our account, pausing only to define our dates. In the preceding Books we have set down a record of events from the capture of Troy to the end of the Peloponnesian War and of the Athenian Empire, covering a period of seven hundred and seventy-nine years. In this Book, as we add to our narrative the events next succeeding, we shall commence with the establishment of the thirty tyrants and stop with the capture of Rome by the Gauls, embracing a period of eighteen years.
§ 14.3
ἀναρχίας γὰρ οὔσης Ἀθήνησι διὰ τὴν κατάλυσιν τῆς ἡγεμονίας, ἔτος μὲν ἦν ὀγδοηκοστὸν πρὸς τοῖς ἑπτακοσίοις μετὰ τὴν Τροίας ἅλωσιν, ἐν δὲ τῇ Ῥώμῃ χιλίαρχοι διεδέξαντο τὴν ὕπατον ἀρχὴν τέτταρες, Γάιος Φολούιος καὶ Γάιος Σερουίλιος καὶ Γάιος Οὐαλέριος καὶ Νουμέριος Φάβιος, ἤχθη δὲ Ὀλυμπιὰς κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν ἐνιαυτὸν τετάρτη πρὸς ταῖς ἐνενήκοντα, καθʼ ἣν ἐνίκα Κορκίνας Λαρισαῖος. κατὰ δὲ τούτους τοὺς χρόνους Ἀθηναῖοι μὲν καταπεπονημένοι ἐποιήσαντο συνθήκας πρὸς Λακεδαιμονίους, καθʼ ἃς ἔδει τὰ τείχη τῆς πόλεως καθελεῖν καὶ τῇ πατρίῳ πολιτείᾳ χρῆσθαι. καὶ τὰ μὲν τείχη περιεῖλον, περὶ δὲ τῆς πολιτείας πρὸς ἀλλήλους διεφέροντο. οἱ γὰρ τῆς ὀλιγαρχίας ὀρεγόμενοι τὴν παλαιὰν κατάστασιν ἔφασαν δεῖν ἀνανεοῦσθαι, καθʼ ἣν παντελῶς ὀλίγοι τῶν ὅλων προειστήκεισαν· οἱ δὲ πλεῖστοι δημοκρατίας ὄντες ἐπιθυμηταὶ τὴν τῶν πατέρων πολιτείαν προεφέροντο, καὶ ταύτην ἀπέφηναν ὁμολογουμένως οὖσαν δημοκρατίαν. ἀντιλογίας δὲ γενομένης περὶ τούτων ἐπί τινας ἡμέρας, οἱ τὰς ὀλιγαρχίας αἱρούμενοι πρὸς Λύσανδρον διεπρεσβεύσαντο τὸν Σπαρτιάτην— οὗτος γὰρ καταλυθέντος τοῦ πολέμου τὰ κατὰ τὰς πόλεις ἀπέσταλτο διοικῆσαι, καὶ ὀλιγαρχίαι ἐν ταῖς πλείσταις καθίσταντο—ἐλπίζοντες ὅπερ ἦν εἰκός, συνεπιλήψεσθαι τῆς ἐπιβολῆς αὐτοῖς. διέπλευσαν οὖν εἰς Σάμον· ἐκεῖ γὰρ ἐτύγχανε διατρίβων ὁ Λύσανδρος, προσφάτως κατειληφὼς τὴν πόλιν. παρακαλούντων δὲ αὐτὸν πρὸς τὸ συνεργῆσαι συνεπένευσε, καὶ τῆς μὲν Σάμου Θώρακα τὸν Σπαρτιάτην ἁρμοστὴν κατέστησεν, αὐτὸς δὲ μετὰ νεῶν ἑκατὸν κατέπλευσεν εἰς τὸν Πειραιέα. συναγαγὼν δʼ ἐκκλησίαν συνεβούλευσε τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις ἑλέσθαι τριάκοντα ἄνδρας τοὺς ἀφηγησομένους τῆς πολιτείας καὶ πάντα διοικήσοντας τὰ κατὰ τὴν πόλιν. ἀντειπόντος δὲ τοῦ Θηραμένους καὶ τὰς συνθήκας ἀναγινώσκοντος, ὅτι τῇ πατρίῳ συνεφώνησε χρήσεσθαι πολιτείᾳ, καὶ δεινὸν εἶναι λέγοντος, εἰ παρὰ τοὺς ὅρκους ἀφαιρεθήσονται τὴν ἐλευθερίαν, ὁ Λύσανδρος ἔφη λελύσθαι τὰς συνθήκας ὑπὸ Ἀθηναίων· ὕστερον γὰρ τῶν συγκειμένων ἡμερῶν καθῃρηκέναι τὰ τείχη. ἀνετείνατο δὲ καὶ τῷ Θηραμένει τὰς μεγίστας ἀπειλάς, ἀποκτενεῖν φήσας, εἰ μὴ παύσεται Λακεδαιμονίοις ἐναντιούμενος. διόπερ ὅ τε Θηραμένης καὶ ὁ δῆμος καταπλαγεὶς ἠναγκάζετο χειροτονίᾳ καταλῦσαι τὴν δημοκρατίαν. ᾑρέθησαν οὖν τριάκοντα ἄνδρες οἱ διοικήσοντες τὰ κοινὰ τῆς πόλεως, ἁρμόζοντες μὲν τῷ λόγῳ, τύραννοι δὲ τοῖς πράγμασιν.
There was no archon in Athens because of the overthrow of the government, it being the seven hundred and eightieth year from the capture of Troy, and in Rome four military tribunes succeeded to the consular magistracy, Gaius Fulvius, Gaius Servilius, Gaius Valerius, and Numerius Fabius; and in this year the Ninety-fourth Olympiad was celebrated, that in which Corcinas of Larisa was victor. At this time the Athenians, completely reduced by exhaustion, made a treaty with the Lacedemonians whereby they were bound to demolish the walls of their city and to employ the polity of their fathers. They demolished the walls, but were unable to agree among themselves regarding the form of government. For those who were bent on oligarchy asserted that the ancient constitution should be revived, in which only a very few represented the state, whereas the greatest number, who were partisans of democracy, made the government of their fathers their platform and declared that this was by common consent a democracy. After a controversy over this had continued for some days, the oligarchic party sent an embassy to Lysander the Spartan, who, at the end of the war, had been dispatched to administer the governments of the cities and had established oligarchies in the greater number of them, for they hoped that, as well he might, he would support them in their design. Accordingly they sailed across to Samos, for it happened that Lysander was tarrying there, having just seized the city. 5 He gave his assent to their pleas for co-operation, appointed Thorax the Spartan harmost of Samos, and put in himself at the Peiraeus with one hundred ships. Calling an assembly of the Athenians, he advised them to choose thirty men to head the government and to manage all the affairs of the state. 6 And when Theramenes opposed him and read to him the terms of the peace, which agreed that they should enjoy the government of their fathers, and declared that it would be a terrible thing if they should be robbed of their freedom contrary to the oaths, Lysander stated that the terms of peace had been broken by the Athenians, since, he asserted, they had destroyed the walls later than the days of grace agreed upon. He also invoked the direst of threats against Theramenes, saying that he would have put to death if he did not stop opposing the Lacedemonians. 7 Consequently Theramenes and the people, being struck with terror, were compelled to dissolve the democracy by a show of hands. Accordingly thirty men were elected with power to manage the affairs of the state, as directors ostensibly but tyrants in fact.
§ 14.4
ὁ δὲ δῆμος θεωρῶν τὴν Θηραμένους ἐπιείκειαν καὶ νομίζων τῇ τούτου καλοκἀγαθίᾳ τὴν πλεονεξίαν τῶν προεστηκότων ἐπὶ ποσὸν ἀνασταλήσεσθαι, καὶ τοῦτον ἐν τοῖς τριάκοντʼ ἄρχουσιν ἐχειροτόνησεν. ἔδει δὲ τοὺς ᾑρημένους βουλήν τε καὶ τὰς ἄλλας ἀρχὰς καταστῆσαι, καὶ νόμους συγγράψαι καθʼ οὓς ἔμελλον πολιτεύεσθαι. τὰ μὲν οὖν περὶ τῆς νομοθεσίας ἀνεβάλοντο, προφάσεις εὐλόγους αἰεὶ ποριζόμενοι, βουλὴν δὲ καὶ τὰς ἄλλας ἀρχὰς ἐκ τῶν ἰδίων φίλων κατέστησαν, ὥστε τούτους καλεῖσθαι μὲν ἄρχοντας, εἶναι δʼ ὑπηρέτας τῶν τριάκοντα. καὶ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον παραδιδόντες κρίσει τοὺς πονηροτάτους τῶν ἐν τῇ πόλει κατεδίκαζον θανάτῳ· καὶ μέχρι τούτου τοῖς ἐπιεικεστάτοις τῶν πολιτῶν εὐαρέστει τὰ γινόμενα. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα βουλόμενοι βιαιότερα καὶ παράνομα πράττειν, ᾐτήσαντο παρὰ Λακεδαιμονίων φρουράν, λέγοντες ὅτι τὴν πολιτείαν καταστήσουσιν ἐκείνοις συμφέρουσαν. ᾔδεισαν γὰρ ὅτι φόνους ἐπιτελεῖν οὐκ ἂν δύναιντο χωρὶς ξενικῶν ὅπλων· πάντας γὰρ ἀνθέξεσθαι τῆς κοινῆς ἀσφαλείας. Λακεδαιμονίων δὲ πεμψάντων φρουρὰν καὶ τὸν ταύτης ἡγησόμενον Καλλίβιον, τὸν μὲν φρούραρχον ἐξεθεράπευσαν δώροις καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις φιλανθρώποις οἱ τριάκοντα, τῶν δὲ πλουσίων ἐπιλέγοντες τοὺς ἐπιτηδείους συνελάμβανον ὡς νεωτερίζοντας, καὶ θανάτῳ περιβάλλοντες τὰς οὐσίας ἐδήμευον. τοῦ δὲ Θηραμένους ἐναντιουμένου τοῖς συνάρχουσι, καὶ μετὰ τῶν ἀντεχομένων τῆς σωτηρίας ἀπειλοῦντος ἀμύνεσθαι, συνήγαγον τὴν βουλὴν οἱ τριάκοντα. Κριτίου δὲ προεστῶτος αὐτῶν, καὶ πολλὰ κατηγορήσαντος τοῦ Θηραμένους, ὅτι προδίδωσι τὴν πολιτείαν ταύτην ἧς αὐτὸς ἑκουσίως κοινωνεῖ, παραλαβὼν τὸν λόγον ὁ Θηραμένης καὶ περὶ τῶν κατὰ μέρος ἀπολογησάμενος, ἅπασαν ἔσχε τὴν βουλὴν εὔνουν. οἱ δὲ περὶ τὸν Κριτίαν φοβούμενοι τὸν ἄνδρα μήποτε καταλύσῃ τὴν ὀλιγαρχίαν, περιέστησαν στρατιώτας ἔχοντας ἐσπασμένα τὰ ξίφη, καὶ τὸν Θηραμένη συνελάμβανον. ὁ δὲ φθάσας ἀνεπήδησε μὲν πρὸς τὴν βουλαίαν Ἑστίαν, ἔφησε δὲ πρὸς τοὺς θεοὺς καταφεύγειν, οὐ σωθήσεσθαι νομίζων, ἀλλὰ σπεύδων τοῖς ἀνελοῦσιν αὐτὸν περιποιήσασθαι τὴν εἰς τοὺς θεοὺς ἀσέβειαν.
The people, observing the fair dealing of Theramenes and believing that his honourable principles would act to some extent to check the encroachments of the leaders, elected him also as one of the thirty officials. It was the duty of those selected to appoint both a Council and the other magistrates and to draw up laws in accordance with which they were to administer the state. Now they kept postponing the drawing up of laws, always putting forth fine-sounding excuses, but a Council and the other magistrates they appointed from their personal friends, so that these men bore the name indeed of magistrates but actually were underlings of the Thirty. At first they brought to trail the lowest elements of the city and condemned them to death; and thus far the most honourable citizens approved of their actions. But after this, desiring to commit acts more violent and lawless, they asked the Lacedemonians for a garrison, saying that they were going to establish a form of government that would serve the interests of the Lacedemonians. For they realized that they would be unable to accomplish murders without foreign armed aid, since all men, they knew, would unite to support the common security. When the Lacedemonians sent a garrison and Callibius to command it, the Thirty won the commander over by bribes and any accommodations. Then, choosing out from the rich such men as suited their ends, they proceeded to arrest them as revolutionaries, put them to death, and confiscated their possessions. When Theramenes opposed his colleagues and threatened to join the ranks of those who claimed the right to be secure, the Thirty called a meeting of the Council. Critias was their spokesman, and in a long speech accused Theramenes of betraying this government of which he was a voluntary member; but Theramenes in his reply cleared himself of the several charges and gained the sympathy of the entire Council. Critias, fearing that Theramenes might overthrow the oligarchy, threw about him a band of soldiers with drawn swords. They were going to arrest him, but, forestalling them, Theramenes leaped up to the altar of Hestia of the Council Chamber, crying out, "I flee for refuge to the gods, not with the thought that I shall be saved, but to make sure that my slayers will involve themselves in an act of impiety against the gods."
§ 14.5
παρελθόντων δὲ τῶν ὑπηρετῶν καὶ ἀποσπώντων αὐτόν, ὁ μὲν Θηραμένης ἔφερε γενναίως τὴν ἀτυχίαν, ἅτε καὶ φιλοσοφίας ἐπὶ πλεῖον μετεσχηκὼς παρὰ Σωκράτει, τὸ δὲ λοιπὸν πλῆθος ἠλέει δυστυχοῦντα τὸν Θηραμένη, οὐ μὴν ἐτόλμα βοηθεῖν, περιεστώτων πολλῶν μετὰ ὅπλων. Σωκράτης δὲ ὁ φιλόσοφος καὶ δύο τῶν οἰκείων προσδραμόντες ἐνεχείρουν κωλύειν τοὺς ὑπηρέτας. ὁ δὲ Θηραμένης ἠξίου μηδὲν τούτων πράττειν· τὴν μὲν γὰρ φιλίαν καὶ τὴν ἀνδρείαν ἔφησεν αὐτῶν ἐπαινεῖν, ἑαυτῷ δὲ μεγίστην συμφορὰν ἔσεσθαι, εἰ τοῖς οὕτως οἰκείως διακειμένοις αἴτιος ἔσται θανάτου. οἱ δὲ περὶ τὸν Σωκράτην, τῶν μὲν ἄλλων οὐδένα βοηθὸν ἔχοντες, τὴν δὲ τῶν ὑπερεχόντων ἀνάτασιν ὁρῶντες αὐξανομένην, ἡσυχίαν ἔσχον. καὶ Θηραμένην μὲν ἀπὸ τῶν βωμῶν ἀποσπάσαντες οἷς ἦν προστεταγμένον, διὰ μέσης τῆς ἀγορᾶς εἵλκυσαν ἐπὶ τὸν θάνατον· οἱ δὲ πολλοὶ τὰ τῆς φρουρᾶς ὅπλα καταπεπληγμένοι συνήλγουν τῷ δυστυχοῦντι, καὶ τήν τε ἐκείνου συμφορὰν ἅμα καὶ τὴν περὶ σφᾶς δουλείαν ἐδάκρυον· τῶν γὰρ ταπεινῶν ἕκαστοι τὴν Θηραμένους ἀρετὴν θεωροῦντες οὕτω προπηλακιζομένην, τὴν περὶ αὑτοὺς ἀσθένειαν οὐδενὶ λόγῳ παραναλωθήσεσθαι διειλήφεισαν. μετὰ δὲ τὸν τούτου θάνατον οἱ τριάκοντα τοὺς πλουσίους ἐπιλεγόμενοι, τούτοις ψευδεῖς αἰτίας ἐπερρίπτουν, καὶ φονεύοντες τὰς οὐσίας διήρπαζον. ἀνεῖλον δὲ καὶ Νικήρατον τὸν Νικίου τοῦ στρατηγήσαντος ἐπὶ Συρακοσίους υἱόν, ἄνδρα πρὸς ἅπαντας ἐπιεικῆ καὶ φιλάνθρωπον, πλούτῳ δὲ καὶ δόξῃ σχεδὸν πρῶτον πάντων Ἀθηναίων· διὸ καὶ συνέβη πᾶσαν οἰκίαν συναλγῆσαι τῇ τἀνδρὸς τελευτῇ, τῆς διὰ τὴν ἐπιείκειαν μνήμης προαγούσης εἰς δάκρυα. οὐ μὴν ἔληγόν γε τῆς παρανομίας οἱ τύραννοι, πολὺ δὲ μᾶλλον ἐπίτασιν λαμβανούσης τῆς ἀπονοίας τῶν μὲν ξένων τοὺς πλουσιωτάτους ἑξήκοντα κατέσφαξαν, ὅπως τῶν χρημάτων κυριεύσωσι, τῶν δὲ πολιτῶν καθʼ ἡμέραν ἀναιρουμένων οἱ τοῖς βίοις εὐπορούμενοι σχεδὸν ἅπαντες ἔφυγον ἐκ τῆς πόλεως. ἀνεῖλον δὲ καὶ Αὐτόλυκον, ἄνδρα παρρησιαστήν, καὶ καθόλου τοὺς χαριεστάτους ἐπέλεγον. ἐπὶ τοσοῦτο δὲ κατέφθειραν τὴν πόλιν, ὥστε φυγεῖν τοὺς Ἀθηναίους πλείους τῶν ἡμίσεων.
When the attendants came forward and were dragging him off, Theramenes bore his bad fortune with a noble spirit, since indeed he had had no little acquaintance with philosophy in company with Socrates; the multitude, however, in general mourned the ill-fortune of Theramenes, but had not the courage to come to his aid since a strong armed guard stood around him. Now Socrates the philosopher and two of his intimates ran forward and endeavoured to hinder the attendants. But Theramenes entreated them to do nothing of the kind; he appreciated, he said, their friendship and bravery, but as for himself, it would be the greatest grief if he should be the cause of the death of those who were so intimately associated with him. Socrates and his helpers, since they had no aid from anyone else and saw the intransigence of those in authority increasing, made no move. Then those who had received their orders dragged Theramenes from the altar and hustled him through the centre of the market-place to his execution; and the populace, terror-stricken at the arms of the garrison, were filled with pity for the unfortunate man and shed tears, not only over his fate, but also over their own slavery. For all the common sort, when they saw a man of such virtue as Theramenes treated with such contumely, had concluded that they in their weakness would be sacrificed without a thought. After the death of Theramenes the Thirty drew up a list of the wealthy, lodged false charges against them, put them to death, and seized their estates. They slew even Niceratus, the son of Nicias who had commanded the campaign against the Syracusans, a man who had conducted himself toward all men with fairness and humanity, and who perhaps first of all Athenians in wealth and reputation. It came about, therefore, that every house was filled with pity for the end of the man, as fond thoughts due to their memory of his honest ways provoked them to tears. Nevertheless, the tyrants did not cease from their lawless conduct; rather their madness became so much the more acute that of the metics they slaughtered sixty of the wealthiest in order to gain possession of their property, and as for the citizens, since they were being killed daily, the well-to-do among them fled from the city almost to a man. They also slew Autolycus, an outspoken man, and, in a word, selected the most respectable citizens. So far did their wasting of the city to that more than half of the Athenians took to flight.
§ 14.6
Λακεδαιμόνιοι δὲ ταπεινὴν τὴν πόλιν τῶν Ἀθηναίων ὁρῶντες, οὐδέποτε ἰσχῦσαι βουλόμενοι τοὺς Ἀθηναίους, ἔχαιρον καὶ φανερὰν ἑαυτῶν ἐποίουν τὴν διάθεσιν· ἐψηφίσαντο γὰρ τοὺς Ἀθηναίων φυγάδας ἐξ ἁπάσης τῆς Ἑλλάδος ἀγωγίμους τοῖς τριάκοντα εἶναι, τὸν δὲ κωλύσοντα πέντε ταλάντοις ἔνοχον εἶναι. δεινοῦ δʼ ὄντος τοῦ ψηφίσματος, αἱ μὲν ἄλλαι πόλεις καταπεπληγμέναι τὸ βάρος τῶν Σπαρτιατῶν ὑπήκουον, Ἀργεῖοι δὲ πρῶτοι, μισοῦντες μὲν τὴν Λακεδαιμονίων ὠμότητα, κατελεοῦντες δὲ τὰς τύχας τῶν ἀκληρούντων, ὑπεδέχοντο φιλανθρώπως τοὺς φυγάδας. καὶ Θηβαῖοι δὲ ἐψηφίσαντο ὑπάρχειν πρόστιμον τῷ θεασαμένῳ μὲν ἀγόμενον φυγάδα, μὴ βοηθήσαντι δὲ κατὰ τὸ δυνατόν. τὰ μὲν οὖν περὶ Ἀθηναίους ἐν τούτοις ἦν.
The Lacedemonians, seeing the city of the Athenians abased in power and having no desire that the Athenians should ever gain strength, were delighted and made their attitude clear; for they voted that the Athenian exiles should be delivered up to the Thirty from all over Greece and that anyone who attempted to prevent this should be liable to fine of five talents. Though this decree was shocking, all the rest of the cities, dismayed at the power of the Spartans, obeyed it, with the exception of the Argives who, hating as they did the cruelty of the Lacedemonians and pitying the hard lot of the unfortunate, were the first to receive the exiles in a spirit of humanity. Also the Thebans voted that anyone who witnessed an exile being led off and did not render him all aid within his power should be subject to a fine. Such, then, was the state of the affairs of the Athenians.
§ 14.7
κατὰ δὲ τὴν Σικελίαν Διονύσιος ὁ τῶν Σικελῶν τύραννος ἐπειδὴ πρὸς Καρχηδονίους εἰρήνην ἐποιήσατο, περὶ τὴν ἀσφάλειαν τῆς τυραννίδος διενοεῖτο μᾶλλον γίνεσθαι· ὑπελάμβανε γὰρ τοὺς Συρακοσίους ἀπολελυμένους τοῦ πολέμου σχολὴν ἕξειν εἰς τὸ τὴν ἐλευθερίαν ἀνακτήσασθαι. θεωρῶν δὲ τῆς πόλεως τὴν Νῆσον ὀχυρωτάτην οὖσαν καὶ δυναμένην ῥᾳδίως φυλάττεσθαι, ταύτην μὲν διῳκοδόμησεν ἀπὸ τῆς ἄλλης πόλεως τείχει πολυτελεῖ, καὶ πύργους ὑψηλοὺς καὶ πυκνοὺς ἐνῳκοδόμησε, καὶ πρὸ αὐτῆς χρηματιστήρια καὶ στοὰς δυναμένας ὄχλων ἐπιδέχεσθαι πλῆθος. ᾠκοδόμησε δʼ ἐν αὐτῇ πολυτελῶς ὠχυρωμένην ἀκρόπολιν πρὸς τὰς αἰφνιδίους καταφυγάς, καὶ συμπεριέλαβε τῷ ταύτης τείχει τὰ πρὸς τῷ μικρῷ λιμένι τῷ Λακκίῳ καλουμένῳ νεώρια· ταῦτα δʼ ἑξήκοντα τριήρεις χωροῦντα πύλην εἶχε κλειομένην, διʼ ἧς κατὰ μίαν τῶν νεῶν εἰσπλεῖν συνέβαινεν. τῆς δὲ χώρας τὴν μὲν ἀρίστην ἐξελόμενος ἐδωρήσατο τοῖς τε φίλοις καὶ τοῖς ἐφʼ ἡγεμονίας τεταγμένοις, τὴν δʼ ἄλλην ἐμέρισεν ἐπʼ ἴσης ξένῳ τε καὶ πολίτῃ, συμπεριλαβὼν τῷ τῶν πολιτῶν ὀνόματι τοὺς ἠλευθερωμένους δούλους, οὓς ἐκάλει νεοπολίτας. διέδωκε δὲ καὶ τὰς οἰκίας τοῖς ὄχλοις πλὴν τῶν ἐν τῇ Νήσῳ· ταύτας δὲ τοῖς φίλοις καὶ τοῖς μισθοφόροις ἐδωρήσατο. ἐπεὶ δὲ τὰ κατὰ τὴν τυραννίδα καλῶς ἐδόκει διῳκηκέναι, τὴν δύναμιν ἐξήγαγεν ἐπὶ τοὺς Σικελούς, πάντας μὲν σπεύδων τοὺς αὐτονόμους ὑφʼ ἑαυτὸν ποιήσασθαι, μάλιστα δὲ τούτους διὰ τὸ συμμαχῆσαι πρότερον Καρχηδονίοις. οὗτος μὲν οὖν ἐπὶ τὴν τῶν Ἑρβησσίνων πόλιν στρατεύσας τὰ πρὸς τὴν πολιορκίαν παρεσκευάζετο. οἱ δὲ συστρατευόμενοι Συρακόσιοι κύριοι τῶν ὅπλων ὄντες συστάσεις ἐποιοῦντο καὶ κατηγόρουν ἀλλήλων, ὅτι τοῖς ἱππεῦσιν οὐ συνεπελάβοντο τῆς καταλύσεως τῆς τοῦ τυράννου. ὁ δὲ καθεσταμένος ὑπὸ τοῦ Διονυσίου τῶν στρατιωτῶν ἡγεμὼν τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἠπείλησέ τινι τῶν παρρησιαζομένων, ἀντειπόντος δʼ ἐκείνου θρασέως ἐπῆλθεν ὡς πατάξων. ἐφʼ ᾧ παροξυνθέντες οἱ στρατιῶται τὸν μὲν ἔπαρχον ὄνομα Δωρικὸν ἀπέκτειναν, τοὺς δὲ πολίτας βοῶντες ἐπὶ τὴν ἐλευθερίαν μετεπέμποντο τοὺς ἐκ τῆς Αἴτνης ἱππεῖς· οὗτοι γὰρ ἐν ἀρχῇ τῆς τυραννίδος ἐκπεπτωκότες ᾤκουν τοῦτο τὸ φρούριον.
In Sicily, Dionysius, the tyrant of the Siceli, after concluding peace with the Carthaginians, planned of the busy himself more with the strengthening of his tyranny; for he assumed that the Syracusans, now that they were relieved of the war, would have plenty of time to see after the recovery of their liberty. And, perceiving that the Island was the strongest section of the city and could be easily defended, he divided it from the rest of the city by an expensive wall, and in this he set high towers at close intervals, while before it he built places of business and stoas capable of accommodating a multitude of the populace. He also constructed on the Island at great expense a fortified acropolis as a place of refuge in case of immediate need, and within its wall he enclosed the dockyards which are connected with the small harbour that is known as Laccium. The dockyards could accommodate sixty triremes and had an entrance that was closed off, through which only one ship could enter at a time. As for the territory of Syracuse, he picked out the best of it and distributed it in gifts to his friends as well as to higher officers, and divided the rest of it in equal portions both to aliens and to citizens, including under the name of citizens the manumitted slaves whom he designated as New Citizens. He also distributed the dwellings among the common people, except those on the island, which he gave to his friends and the mercenaries. When Dionysius thought that he had now organized his tyranny properly, he led forth his army against the Siceli, being eager to bring all the independent peoples under his control, and the Siceli in particular, because of their previous alliance with the Carthaginians. Accordingly he advanced against the city of the Herbessini and made preparations for its siege. But the Syracusans who were in the army, now that they had arms in their hands, began to gather in groups and upbraid each other that they had not joined with the cavalry in overthrowing the tyrant. The man appointed by Dionysius to command the men at first warned one of those who were freespoken, and when the man retorted, stepped boldly up to him to give him a blow. The soldiers, in ager at this, slew the commander, whose name was Doricus, and, crying to the citizens to strike for their freedom, sent for the cavalry from Aetne; for the cavalry, who had been banished at the beginning of the tyranny, occupied this outpost.
§ 14.8
Διονύσιος δὲ καταπλαγεὶς τὴν ἀπόστασιν τῶν Συρακοσίων, τὴν μὲν πολιορκίαν ἔλυσεν, εἰς δὲ τὰς Συρακούσας ἠπείγετο, σπεύδων καταλαβέσθαι τὴν πόλιν. οὗ φυγόντος οἱ τὴν ἀπόστασιν ποιησάμενοι στρατηγοὺς εἵλαντο τοὺς ἀποκτείναντας τὸν ἔπαρχον, καὶ παραλαβόντες τοὺς ἐξ Αἴτνης ἱππεῖς ἐν ταῖς καλουμέναις Ἐπιπολαῖς ἀντεστρατοπέδευσαν τῷ τυράννῳ, καὶ διέκλεισαν αὐτὸν τῆς ἐπὶ τὴν χώραν ἐξόδου. εὐθὺς δὲ πρός τε Μεσσηνίους καὶ Ῥηγίνους πρέσβεις ἀπέστειλαν, δεόμενοι κατὰ θάλατταν συναντιλαβέσθαι τῆς ἐλευθερίας· εἰώθεισαν γὰρ αἱ πόλεις αὗται κατʼ ἐκεῖνον τὸν καιρὸν τριήρεις πληροῦν οὐκ ἐλάττους ὀγδοήκοντα. ἃς τότε τοῖς Συρακοσίοις αἱ πόλεις ἀπέστειλαν, σπεύδουσαι συνεπιλαβέσθαι τῆς ἐλευθερίας. ἐπεκήρυξαν δὲ καὶ χρημάτων πλῆθος τοῖς ἀνελοῦσι τὸν τύραννον, καὶ τοῖς μεταβαλομένοις τῶν ξένων ἐπηγγείλαντο μεταδώσειν τῆς πολιτείας. κατεσκεύασαν δὲ καὶ μηχανήματα, διʼ ὧν τὰ τείχη σαλεύοντες ἐξελοῦσι, καὶ προσέβαλλον καθʼ ἡμέραν τῇ Νήσῳ, καὶ τοὺς μεταβαλλομένους τῶν ξένων φιλανθρώπως ἀπεδέχοντο. Διονύσιος δὲ τῆς εἰς τὴν χώραν ἐξόδου διακεκλεισμένος καὶ ὑπὸ τῶν μισθοφόρων ἐγκαταλειπόμενος, συνήγαγε τοὺς φίλους βουλευσόμενος περὶ τῶν ἐνεστώτων· οὕτω γὰρ τελέως ἀπήλπιστο τὰ τῆς δυναστείας, ὥστε οὐ ζητεῖν αὐτόν, πῶς καταπολεμήσῃ τοὺς Συρακοσίους, ἀλλὰ ποῖον ὑπομείνας θάνατον μὴ παντελῶς ἄδοξον ποιήσῃ τὴν κατάλυσιν τῆς ἀρχῆς. Ἕλωρις μὲν οὖν, εἷς τῶν φίλων, ὡς δʼ ἔνιοί φασιν, ὁ ποιητὸς πατήρ, εἶπεν αὐτῷ, διότι καλὸν ἐντάφιόν ἐστιν ἡ τυραννίς· Πολύξενος δὲ ὁ κηδεστὴς ἀπεφήνατο δεῖν λαβόντα τὸν ὀξύτατον ἵππον εἰς τὴν τῶν Καρχηδονίων ἐπικράτειαν ἀφιππεῦσαι πρὸς τοὺς Καμπανούς· τούτους γὰρ Ἰμίλκων ἀπελελοίπει φυλακῆς ἕνεκα τῶν κατὰ Σικελίαν τόπων· Φίλιστος δʼ ὁ μετὰ ταῦτα τὰς ἱστορίας συνταξάμενος, ἀντειπὼν τῷ Πολυξένῳ, προσήκειν ἔφησεν οὐκ ἐφʼ ἵππου θέοντος ἐκπηδᾶν ἐκ τῆς τυραννίδος, ἀλλὰ τοῦ σκέλους ἑλκόμενον ἐκπίπτειν. ᾧ προσσχὼν ὁ Διονύσιος ἔκρινε πᾶν ὑπομεῖναι πρότερον ἢ τὴν δυναστείαν ἐκλιπεῖν ἑκουσίως. διόπερ ἀποστείλας πρέσβεις πρὸς τοὺς ἀφεστηκότας, τούτους μὲν παρεκάλει δοῦναι τὴν ἐξουσίαν αὐτῷ μετὰ τῶν ἰδίων ἀπελθεῖν ἐκ τῆς πόλεως, πρὸς δὲ τοὺς Καμπανοὺς λάθρᾳ διαπεμψάμενος ὡμολόγησεν αὐτοῖς δώσειν χρήματα ὅσα ἂν αἰτήσωσιν εἰς τὴν πολιορκίαν.
Dionysius, terror-stricken at the revolt of the Syracusans, broke off the siege and hastened to Syracuse, being eager to secure the city. Upon his flight those who had revolted chose as generals the men who had slain the commander, and gathering to their number the cavalry from Aetne, they pitched a camp facing the tyrant on the height called Epipolae, and blocked his passage to the countryside. And they at once dispatched ambassadors to the Messenians and the Rhegians, urging these people to join in the bid for freedom by action at sea; for it had been the practice of these cities at this time to man no less than eighty triremes. These triremes the cities dispatched at that time to the Syracusans, being eager to support them in the cause of freedom. The revolters also proclaimed a large reward to any who would slay the tyrant and promised citizenship to any mercenaries who would come over to them. They also constructed engines of war with which to shatter and destroy the walls, launched daily assaults upon the Island, and kindly received any of the mercenaries who came over to them. Dionysius, being shut off as he now was from access to the countryside and constantly being abandoned by the mercenaries, gathered together his friends to counsel with them on the situation; for he had so completely despaired of maintaining his tyrannical power that he no longer was studying how to defeat the Syracusans but rather how to meet death in such a way as to end his rule not altogether ingloriously. Now Heloris, one of his friends, or as some say, his adopted father, declared to him, "Tyranny is a fair winding-sheet"; but Polyxenus, his brother-in-law, advised him to use his swiftest horse and ride off into the domain of the Carthaginians to the Campanians, whom Himilcon had left behind to guard the districts of Sicily. Philistus, however, who composed his history after these events, declared in opposition to Polyxenus that it was not fitting to dash from the tyranny on a galloping horse but to be cast out, dragged by the leg. Dionysius agreed with Philistus and decided to submit to anything rather than abandon the throne of his free will. Consequently he sent ambassadors to those in revolt and urged them to allow him and his companions to leave the city, while he secretly dispatched messengers to the Campanians and promised them any price they should ask for the duration of the siege.
§ 14.9
τούτων δὲ πραχθέντων οἱ μὲν Συρακόσιοι τὴν ἐξουσίαν δόντες τῷ τυράννῳ μετὰ πέντε νεῶν ἀποπλεῖν, ῥᾳθυμότεροι καθειστήκεσαν, καὶ τοὺς μὲν ἱππεῖς ἀπέλυσαν οὐδὲν χρησίμους ὄντας πρὸς τὴν πολιορκίαν, τῶν δὲ πεζῶν οἱ πλεῖστοι κατὰ τὴν χώραν ἐξῄεσαν ὡς ἤδη καταλελυμένης τῆς τυραννίδος. οἱ δὲ Καμπανοὶ ταῖς ἐπαγγελίαις μετεωρισθέντες τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἐπʼ Ἀγύριον παρεγενήθησαν· ἐκεῖ δὲ τὴν ἀποσκευὴν Ἄγυρι παραθέμενοι τῷ δυναστεύοντι τῆς πόλεως ἐξώρμησαν ἐπὶ Συρακούσας εὔζωνοι, τὸν ἀριθμὸν ὄντες ἱππεῖς χίλιοι διακόσιοι. ταχὺ δὲ διανύσαντες τὴν ὁδὸν ἀπροσδοκήτως ἐπεφάνησαν τοῖς Συρακοσίοις, καὶ πολλοὺς αὐτῶν ἀνελόντες εἰσεβιάσαντο πρὸς τὸν Διονύσιον. κατέπλευσαν δὲ καὶ τριακόσιοι μισθοφόροι τῷ τυράννῳ κατὰ τὸν αὐτὸν καιρόν, ὥστε αὐτὸν ἀνακῦψαι ταῖς ἐλπίσιν. οἱ δὲ Συρακόσιοι πάλιν τῆς δυναστείας ἰσχυροποιουμένης ἐστασίασαν πρὸς ἀλλήλους, τῶν μὲν ἀποφαινομένων μένειν καὶ πολιορκεῖν, τῶν δὲ λύειν τὸ στρατόπεδον καὶ τὴν πόλιν ἐκλιπεῖν. ἃ δὴ συνιδὼν ὁ Διονύσιος ἐξήγαγεν ἐπʼ αὐτοὺς τὴν δύναμιν, καὶ τεταραγμένοις ἐπιπεσὼν ῥᾳδίως ἐτρέψατο περὶ τὴν Νέαν πόλιν καλουμένην. ἀνῃρέθησαν μὲν οὖν οὐ πολλοί· παριππεύων γὰρ ὁ Διονύσιος ἐκώλυσε φονεύειν τοὺς φεύγοντας· οἱ δὲ Συρακόσιοι παραχρῆμα μὲν κατὰ τὴν χώραν ἐσκεδάσθησαν, μετʼ ὀλίγον δὲ πρὸς τοὺς ἱππεῖς εἰς Αἴτνην ἠθροίσθησαν ὑπὲρ τοὺς ἑπτακισχιλίους. Διονύσιος δὲ τοὺς πεσόντας τῶν Συρακοσίων θάψας ἀπέστειλε πρέσβεις εἰς Αἴτνην, ἀξιῶν τοὺς φυγάδας διαλύεσθαι καὶ τὴν πατρίδα κατοικεῖν, διδοὺς πίστιν μὴ μνησικακήσειν αὐτοῖς. τινὲς μὲν οὖν τέκνα καὶ γυναῖκας ἀπολελοιπότες ἠναγκάσθησαν πεισθῆναι τοῖς παρακαλουμένοις· οἱ δὲ λοιποί, προφερομένων τῶν πρεσβευτῶν τὴν τοῦ Διονυσίου περὶ τὴν ταφὴν τῶν πεσόντων εὐεργεσίαν, ἔφασαν αὐτὸν ἄξιον εἶναι τυχεῖν τῆς ὁμοίας χάριτος, καὶ τοῖς θεοῖς ηὔχοντο τὴν ταχίστην αὐτὸν ἐπιδεῖν ταύτης τυγχάνοντα. οὗτοι μὲν οὖν οὐδενὶ τρόπῳ βουληθέντες πιστεῦσαι τῷ τυράννῳ κατέμειναν ἐν Αἴτνῃ, καιρὸν ἐπιτηροῦντες κατʼ αὐτοῦ· Διονύσιος δὲ τοῖς μὲν κατελθοῦσι φυγάσι φιλανθρώπως ἐχρήσατο, βουλόμενος καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους προτρέψασθαι κατελθεῖν εἰς τὴν πατρίδα, τοὺς δὲ Καμπανοὺς ταῖς καθηκούσαις δωρεαῖς τιμήσας ἐξαπέστειλεν ἐκ τῆς πόλεως, ὑφορώμενος αὐτῶν τὴν ἀβεβαιότητα. οἳ πορευθέντες εἰς Ἔντελλαν, καὶ πείσαντες τοὺς ἐν τῇ πόλει λαβεῖν ἑαυτοὺς συνοίκους, νυκτὸς ἐπιθέμενοι τοὺς μὲν ἡβῶντας ἀπέσφαξαν, τὰς δὲ γυναῖκας τῶν παρασπονδηθέντων γήμαντες κατέσχον τὴν πόλιν.
After the events we have described the Syracusans, having given the tyrant permission to sail away with five ships, took matters with rather less concern; the cavalry, since they were of no use in the siege, they discharged, while as for the infantry, most of them roved off into the countryside, assuming that the tyranny was already at an end. The Campanians, being elated at the promises they had received, first of all came to Agyrium, and leaving their baggage there with Agyris, the ruler of the city, they set forth unencumbered for Syracuse, being in number twelve hundred cavalry. Completing the journey in quick time, they came upon the Syracusans unexpectedly and, slaying many of them, they forced their way through to Dionysius. At this same time three hundred mercenaries had also landed to aid the tyrant, so that his hopes revived. The Syracusans, as the despotic power again gathered strength, were at odds among themselves, some maintaining that they should remain and continue the siege and others that they should disband their forces and abandon the city. As soon as Dionysius learned of this, he led his army out against them, and falling on them while they were disordered, he easily routed them near the New City, as it is called. Not many of them, however, were slain, since Dionysius, riding among his men, stopped them from killing the fugitives. The Syracusans were forthwith scattered over the countryside, but a little later more than seven thousand of them were gathered with the cavalry at Aetne. Dionysius, after burying the Syracusans who had fallen, dispatched ambassadors to Aetne, asking the exiles to accept terms and return to their native land, and giving his pledged word that he would not bear enmity against them. Now certain of them, who had left behind children and wives, felt compelled to accept the offer; but the rest replied, when the ambassadors cited the benefaction Dionysius had performed in the burial of the dead, that he deserved the same favour, and they prayed to the gods that they might, the sooner the better, see him obtain it. These men accordingly, who would by no means put any trust in the tyrant, remained in Aetne, watching for an opportunity against him. Dionysius treated with humanity the exiles who returned, wishing to encourage the rest to return to their native land too. To the Campanians he awarded the gifts that were due and then dispatched them from the city, having regard to their fickleness. These made their way to Entella and persuaded the men of the city to receive them as fellow-inhabitants; then they fell upon them by night, slew the men of military age, married the wives of the men with whom they had broken faith, and possessed themselves of the city.
§ 14.10
κατὰ δὲ τὴν Ἑλλάδα Λακεδαιμόνιοι καταλελυκότες τὸν Πελοποννησιακὸν πόλεμον ὁμολογουμένην ἔσχον τὴν ἡγεμονίαν καὶ τὴν κατὰ γῆν καὶ τὴν κατὰ θάλατταν. καταστήσαντες δὲ ναύαρχον Λύσανδρον, τούτῳ προσέταξαν ἐπιπορεύεσθαι τὰς πόλεις, ἐν ἑκάστῃ τοὺς παρʼ αὐτοῖς καλουμένους ἁρμοστὰς ἐγκαθιστάντα· ταῖς γὰρ δημοκρατίαις προσκόπτοντες οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι διʼ ὀλιγαρχίας ἐβούλοντο τὰς πόλεις διοικεῖσθαι. ἔταξαν δὲ καὶ φόρους τοῖς καταπολεμηθεῖσι, καὶ τὸν πρὸ τοῦ χρόνον οὐ χρώμενοι νομίσματι, τότε συνήθροιζον ἐκ τοῦ φόρου κατʼ ἐνιαυτὸν πλείω τῶν χιλίων ταλάντων. ἐπεὶ δὲ τὰ κατὰ τὴν Ἑλλάδα πράγματα κατὰ τὴν ἰδίαν ἀξίαν διῴκησαν, ἀπέστειλαν Ἄριστον ἄνδρα τῶν ἐπιφανῶν εἰς Συρακούσας, τῷ μὲν λόγῳ προσποιούμενοι καταλύειν τὴν δυναστείαν, τῇ δʼ ἀληθείᾳ σπεύδοντες αὐξῆσαι τὴν τυραννίδα· ἤλπιζον γὰρ συγκατασκευάζοντες τὴν ἀρχὴν ὑπήκοον ἕξειν τὸν Διονύσιον διὰ τὰς εὐεργεσίας. ὁ δʼ Ἄριστος καταπλεύσας εἰς Συρακούσας καὶ τῷ τυράννῳ λάθρᾳ περὶ τούτων διαλεχθείς, τούς τε Συρακοσίους ἀνασείων καὶ τὴν ἐλευθερίαν ἀποκαταστήσειν ἐπαγγειλάμενος, Νικοτέλην μὲν τὸν Κορίνθιον ἀνεῖλεν ἀφηγούμενον τῶν Συρακοσίων, τοὺς δὲ πιστεύσαντας προδοὺς τὸν μὲν τύραννον ἰσχυρὸν κατέστησε, διὰ δὲ τῆς πράξεως ταύτης ἀσχημονεῖν ἐποίησεν αὑτὸν ἅμα καὶ τὴν πατρίδα. Διονύσιος δὲ τοὺς Συρακοσίους ἐπὶ τὸν θερισμὸν ἀποστείλας ἐπῆλθε τὰς οἰκίας, καὶ τὰ μὲν ὅπλα πάντων ἀφείλετο, μετὰ δὲ ταῦθʼ ἕτερον τεῖχος ᾠκοδόμει περὶ τὴν ἀκρόπολιν, καὶ ναῦς τε κατεσκευάζετο, συνῆγε δὲ καὶ μισθοφόρων πλῆθος, καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ παρεσκευάζετο πρὸς τὴν ἀσφάλειαν τῆς τυραννίδος, ὡς ἂν ἔργοις ἤδη πεῖραν εἰληφὼς ὅτι πᾶν ὑπομένουσιν οἱ Συρακόσιοι χάριν τοῦ μὴ δουλεύειν.
In Greece the Lacedemonians, now that they had brought the Peloponnesian War to an end, held the supremacy by common acknowledgement both on land and on sea. Appointing Lysander admiral, they ordered him to visit the cities and set up in each the magistrates they call harmosts; for the Lacedemonians, who had a dislike for the democracies, wished the cities to have oligarchic governments. They also levied tribute upon the peoples they had conquered, and although before this time they had not used coined money, they now collected yearly from the tribute more than a thousand talents. When the Lacedemonians had settled the affairs of Greece to their own taste, they dispatched Aristus, one of their distinguished men, to Syracuse, ostensibly pretending that they would overthrow the government, but in truth with intent to increase the power of the tyranny; for they hoped that by helping to establish the rule of Dionysius they would obtain his ready service because of their benefactions to him.3 Aristus, after having put ashore at Syracuse and discussed secretly with the tyrant the matters we have mentioned, kept stirring up the Syracusans and promised to restore their liberty; then he slew Nicoteles the Corinthian, a leader of the Syracusans, made strong the tyrant by betraying those who put their faith in him, and by such conduct brought disgrace both upon himself and upon his native land. 4 Dionysius, sending the Syracusans out to harvest their crops, entered their homes and carried off the arms of them all; after this he built a second wall about the acropolis, constructed war vessels, and also collected a great number of mercenaries; and he made every other provision to safeguard the tyranny, since he had learned by experience that the Syracusans would endure anything to escape slavery.
§ 14.11
τούτων δὲ πραττομένων Φαρνάβαζος ὁ Δαρείου τοῦ βασιλέως σατράπης Ἀλκιβιάδην τὸν Ἀθηναῖον συλλαβὼν ἀνεῖλε, χαρίσασθαι βουλόμενος Λακεδαιμονίοις. τοῦ δʼ Ἐφόρου διʼ ἄλλας αἰτίας ἐπιβουλευθῆναι γεγραφότος, οὐκ ἄχρηστον εἶναι νομίζω παραθεῖναι τὴν παραδοθεῖσαν ὑπὸ τοῦ συγγραφέως ἐπιβουλὴν κατʼ Ἀλκιβιάδου. φησὶ γὰρ κατὰ τὴν ἑπτακαιδεκάτην βίβλον Κῦρον μὲν καὶ Λακεδαιμονίους λάθρᾳ παρασκευάζεσθαι ἅμα πολεμεῖν πρὸς Ἀρταξέρξην τὸν ἀδελφόν, Ἀλκιβιάδην δὲ διά τινων αἰσθόμενον τὴν Κύρου προαίρεσιν ἐλθεῖν πρὸς Φαρνάβαζον καὶ περὶ τούτων ἐξηγήσασθαι κατὰ μέρος, ἀξιῶσαι δὲ αὐτὸν δοῦναι ἀναβάσεως ὁδηγὸν πρὸς Ἀρταξέρξην· βούλεσθαι γὰρ ἐμφανίσαι πρῶτον τὴν ἐπιβουλὴν τῷ βασιλεῖ. τὸν δὲ Φαρνάβαζον ἀκούσαντα τῶν λόγων, σφετερίσασθαι τὴν ἀπαγγελίαν καὶ πέμψαι πιστοὺς ἄνδρας ὑπὲρ τούτων τῷ βασιλεῖ δηλώσοντας. οὐ διδόντος δὲ τοῦ Φαρναβάζου τοὺς παραπέμψοντας εἰς τὰ βασίλεια, φησὶ τὸν μὲν Ἀλκιβιάδην ὁρμῆσαι πρὸς τὸν σατράπην τῆς Παφλαγονίας, ὅπως διʼ ἐκείνου ποιήσαιτο τὴν ἀνάβασιν· τὸν δὲ Φαρνάβαζον φοβηθέντα μὴ περὶ τούτων ἀκούσῃ τὴν ἀλήθειαν ὁ βασιλεύς, ἐπαποστεῖλαι τοὺς ἀνελοῦντας κατὰ τὴν ὁδὸν τὸν Ἀλκιβιάδην. τοὺς δὲ καταλαβόντας αὐτὸν τῆς Φρυγίας ἔν τινι κώμῃ κατεσκηνωκότα νυκτὸς περιθεῖναι ξύλων πλῆθος· ἀναφθέντος οὖν πολλοῦ πυρὸς τὸν Ἀλκιβιάδην ἐπιχειρῆσαι μὲν ἀμύνεσθαι, κρατηθέντα δὲ ὑπὸ τοῦ πυρὸς καὶ τῶν εἰς αὐτὸν ἀκοντιζόντων τελευτῆσαι. περὶ δὲ τὸν αὐτὸν χρόνον καὶ Δημόκριτος ὁ φιλόσοφος ἐτελεύτησε βιώσας ἔτη ἐνενήκοντα. Λασθένην δὲ τὸν Θηβαῖον τὸν νενικηκότα ταύτην τὴν Ὀλυμπιάδα λέγεται πρὸς ἵππον ἀθλητὴν δραμόντα νικῆσαι· τὸν δὲ δρόμον ἀπὸ τῆς Κορωνείας μέχρι τῆς Θηβαίων πόλεως γενέσθαι. κατὰ δὲ τὴν Ἰταλίαν Ῥωμαίων φρουρούντων Ἔρρουκαν πόλιν Οὐόλσκων ἐπελθόντες οἱ πολέμιοι τῆς τε πόλεως ἐκράτησαν καὶ τῶν φρουρῶν τοὺς πλείστους ἀνεῖλαν.
While these events were taking place, Pharnabazus, the satrap of King Darius, seized Alcibiades the Athenian and put him to death. But since Ephorus recounts that his death was sought for other reasons, I think it not unprofitable to set forth the plot against Alcibiades as the historian has described it. He states in the Seventeenth Book that Cyrus and the Lacedemonians were making secret plans for a joint war against Cyrus' brother Artaxerxes, and Alcibiades, learning of Cyrus' purpose from certain parties, went to Pharnabazus and told him of it in detail; and he asked him for someone to conduct him on a mission to Artaxerxes, since he wished to be the first to disclose the plot to the King. But Pharnabazus, on hearing the story, usurped the function of reporter and sent trusted men to disclose the matter to the King. When Pharnabazus did not provide escorts to the capital, Ephorus continues, Alcibiades set out to the satrap of Paphlagonia in order to make the trip with his assistance; but Pharnabazus, fearing lest the King should hear the truth of the affair, sent men after Alcibiades to slay him on the road. These came upon him where he had taken shelter in a village of Phrygia, and in the night enclosed the place with a mass of fuel. When a strong fire was kindled, Alcibiades endeavoured to save himself, but came to his death from the fire and the javelins of his attackers. About the same time Democritus the philosopher died at the age of ninety. And Lasthenes the Theban, who was the victor in the Olympic Games of this year, won a race, we are told, against a race horse, the course being from Coroneia to the city of the Thebans. In Italy the Roman garrison of Erruca, a city of the Volsci, was attacked by the enemy, who captured the city and slew most of the defenders.
§ 14.12
τῶν δὲ κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν ἐνιαυτὸν πράξεων τέλος ἐχουσῶν Ἀθήνησι μὲν ἦν ἄρχων Εὐκλείδης, ἐν Ῥώμῃ δὲ τὴν ὑπατικὴν ἀρχὴν διεδέξαντο χιλίαρχοι τέσσαρες, Πόπλιος Κορνήλιος, Νουμέριος Φάβιος, Λεύκιος Οὐαλέριος. τούτων δὲ τὴν ἀρχὴν παρειληφότων Βυζάντιοι πρὸς μὲν ἀλλήλους στασιάζοντες, πρὸς δὲ τοὺς παροικοῦντας Θρᾷκας πόλεμον ἔχοντες, κακῶς ἀπήλλαττον· οὐ δυνάμενοι δὲ λύσιν πορίσασθαι τῆς πρὸς ἀλλήλους φιλονεικίας, στρατηγὸν ᾐτήσαντο παρὰ Λακεδαιμονίων. ἐξέπεμψαν οὖν οἱ Σπαρτιᾶται Κλέαρχον καταστήσοντα τὰ κατὰ τὴν πόλιν· οὗτος δὲ πιστευθεὶς περὶ τῶν ὅλων καὶ μισθοφόρους πολλοὺς ἀθροίσας, οὐκέτι προστάτης ἦν, ἀλλὰ τύραννος. καὶ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον τοὺς ἄρχοντας αὐτῶν ἐπί τινι θυσίᾳ καλέσας ἀνεῖλε, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ἀναρχίας οὔσης ἐν τῇ πόλει, τριάκοντα μὲν τοὺς ὀνομαζομένους Βυζαντίους συνήρπασε καὶ περιθεὶς κάλων ἀπεστραγγάλισε· πάντων δὲ τῶν διαφθαρέντων τὰς οὐσίας σφετερισάμενος ἐπελέγετο καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τοὺς εὐπόρους, καὶ ψευδεῖς αἰτίας ἐπιρρίπτων οὓς μὲν ἀπέκτεινεν, οὓς δʼ ἐφυγάδευσε. πολλῶν δὲ χρημάτων κυριεύσας καὶ μισθοφόρων ἀθροίσας πλῆθος τὰ κατὰ τὴν δυναστείαν ἠσφαλίσατο. διαβοηθείσης δὲ τῆς κατὰ τὸν τύραννον ὠμότητός τε καὶ δυνάμεως, Λακεδαιμόνιοι τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἀπέστειλαν πρὸς αὐτὸν πρέσβεις τοὺς πείσοντας ἀποθέσθαι τὴν δυναστείαν· οὐ προσέχοντος δὲ τοῖς ἀξιουμένοις ἔπεμψαν δύναμιν ἐπʼ αὐτὸν καὶ στρατηγὸν Πανθοίδαν. οὗ τὴν ἔφοδον αἰσθόμενος ὁ Κλέαρχος εἰς Σηλυμβρίαν μετήγαγε τὴν δύναμιν, κύριος ὢν καὶ ταύτης τῆς πόλεως· πολλὰ γὰρ εἰς τοὺς Βυζαντίους ἡμαρτηκὼς ὑπελάμβανεν οὐ μόνον τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς ἐν τῇ πόλει πολεμίους ἕξειν. διόπερ ἐκ Σηλυμβρίας κρίνας ἀσφαλέστερον διαπολεμήσειν, τά τε χρήματα καὶ τὴν δύναμιν μετέστησεν. ὡς δʼ ἐπύθετο τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους ἐγγὺς ὄντας, ἀπήντησεν αὐτοῖς, καὶ περὶ τὸν καλούμενον πόρον συνῆψε μάχην τοῖς περὶ τὸν Πανθοίδαν. γενομένου δʼ ἐπὶ πολὺν χρόνον τοῦ κινδύνου, καὶ λαμπρῶς ἀγωνισαμένων τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων, οἱ τοῦ τυράννου διεφθάρησαν. ὁ δὲ Κλέαρχος τὸ μὲν πρῶτον μετʼ ὀλίγων συγκλεισθεὶς εἰς Σηλυμβρίαν ἐπολιορκεῖτο· μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα φοβηθεὶς διέδρα νυκτὸς καὶ διέπλευσεν εἰς τὴν Ἰωνίαν· ἐκεῖ δʼ εἰς συνήθειαν ἐλθὼν Κύρῳ τῷ τοῦ βασιλέως ἀδελφῷ δυνάμεων ἀφηγήσατο. ὁ γὰρ Κῦρος, ἄρχων ἀποδεδειγμένος τῶν ἐπὶ θαλάττῃ σατραπειῶν καὶ φρονήματος πλήρης ὤν, διενοεῖτο στρατεύειν ἐπὶ τὸν ἀδελφὸν Ἀρταξέρξην. ὁρῶν οὖν τὸν Κλέαρχον τόλμαν ἔχοντα καὶ θράσος πρόχειρον, ἔδωκεν αὐτῷ χρήματα καὶ προσέταξεν ὡς πλείστους ξενολογεῖν, νομίζων εὔθετον ἕξειν συναγωνιστὴν τοῖς ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ τολμωμένοις.
When the events of this year had come to an end, Eucleides was archon in Athens, and in Rome four military tribunes succeeded to the consular magistracy, Publius Cornelius, Numerius Fabius, and Lucius Valerius. After these magistrates had taken office, the Byzantines were in serious difficulties both because of factional strife and of a war that they were waging with the neighbouring Thracians; and since they were unable to devise a settlement of their mutual differences, they asked the Lacedemonians for a general. The Spartans, accordingly, sent them Clearchus to bring order to the affairs of the city; and he, after being entrusted with supreme authority, and having gathered a large body of mercenaries, was no longer their president but their tyrant. First of all, he invited their chief magistrates to attend a festival of some kind and put them to death, and after this, since there was no government in the city, he seized a group of thirty prominent Byzantines, put a cord about their necks, and strangled them to death. After appropriating for himself the property of those he had slain, he also picked out the wealthy among the rest of the citizens, and launching false charges against them, he put some to death and drove others into exile. Having thus acquired a large amount of money and assembled a great body of mercenaries, he made his tyrannical power secure. When the cruelty and power of the tyrant became noised abroad, the Lacedemonians first of all dispatched ambassadors to him to prevail upon him to lay down his tyrannical power, but when he paid no heed to their requests, they sent an army against him under the command of Panthoedas. Clearchus, on learning of his approach, transferred his army to Selymbria, being master also of this city, for he assumed that after the many crimes he had committed against the Byzantines, he would have as enemies not only the Lacedemonians, but also the inhabitants of the city. Consequently, having decided that Selymbria would be a safer base for the war, he removed both his treasure and his army to that place. When he learned that the Lacedemonians were close at hand, he advanced to meet them and joined battle with the troops of Panthoedas at the place called Porus. The struggle lasted a long while, but the Lacedemonians fought splendidly and the forces of the tyrant were destroyed. Clearchus with a few of his companions was at first shut up in Selymbria and besieged there, but later he was fearful and slipped away by night, and crossed over to Ionia, where he became intimate with Cyrus, the brother of the Persian King, and won command of his troops. For Cyrus, who had been appointed supreme commander of the satrapies lying on the sea and was afire with ambition, was planning to lead an army against his brother Artaxerxes. Observing, therefore, that Clearchus possessed daring and a prompt boldness, he supplied him with funds and instructed him to enroll as many mercenaries as he could, believing that he would have in Clearchus an apt partner for his bold undertakings.
§ 14.13
Λύσανδρος δὲ ὁ Σπαρτιάτης ἐπειδὴ πάσας τὰς ὑπὸ Λακεδαιμονίους πόλεις διῴκησε κατὰ τὴν τῶν ἐφόρων γνώμην, ἐν αἷς μὲν δεκαδαρχίας, ἐν αἷς δʼ ὀλιγαρχίας καταστήσας, περίβλεπτος ἦν ἐν τῇ Σπάρτῃ. καταλύσας γὰρ τὸν Πελοποννησιακὸν πόλεμον τῇ πατρίδι περιτεθεικὼς ἦν τὴν ἡγεμονίαν ὁμολογουμένην καὶ τὴν κατὰ γῆν καὶ τὴν κατὰ θάλατταν. διόπερ ἐπὶ τούτοις πεφρονηματισμένος διενοεῖτο καταλῦσαι τὴν τῶν Ἡρακλειδῶν βασιλείαν καὶ κοινὴν ἐκ πάντων Σπαρτιατῶν ποιῆσαι τὴν αἵρεσιν τῶν βασιλέων· ἤλπιζε γὰρ εἰς ἑαυτὸν τάχιστα τὴν ἀρχὴν ἥξειν διὰ τὸ μεγίστας καὶ καλλίστας πράξεις κατειργάσθαι. θεωρῶν δὲ τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους μάλιστα τοῖς μαντείοις προσέχοντας, ἐπεχείρησε τὴν ἐν Δελφοῖς προφῆτιν διαφθεῖραι χρήμασιν· ἐνόμιζε γάρ, εἰ χρησμὸν λάβοι σύμμαχον ταῖς ἰδίαις ἐπιβολαῖς, ῥᾳδίως ἄξειν ἐπὶ τέλος τὴν προαίρεσιν. ἐπεὶ δὲ παμπληθῆ χρήματα τοῖς περὶ τὸ μαντεῖον διατρίβουσιν ὑπισχνούμενος οὐκ ἔπειθε, ταῖς ἐν Δωδώνῃ περὶ τὸ μαντεῖον οὔσαις ἱερείαις προσήνεγκε λόγους περὶ τῶν αὐτῶν διά τινος Φερεκράτους, Ἀπολλωνιάτου μὲν τὸ γένος, ἔχοντος δὲ συνήθειαν πρὸς τοὺς περὶ τὸ ἱερὸν διατρίβοντας. οὐδὲν δὲ πρᾶξαι δυνάμενος ἐξεδήμησεν εἰς Κυρήνην, πρόφασιν μὲν ὡς εὐχὰς ἀποδιδοὺς Ἄμμωνι, τῇ δʼ ἀληθείᾳ διαφθεῖραι βουλόμενος τὸ μαντεῖον· ἐκόμισε δὲ καὶ χρημάτων πλῆθος, διʼ ὧν ἤλπιζε τοὺς περὶ τὸ ἱερὸν διατρίβοντας πεῖσαι. καὶ γὰρ ὁ βασιλεὺς τῶν περὶ ἐκείνους τοὺς τόπους Λίβυς ξένος ἦν αὐτῷ πατρικός, καὶ τὸν ἀδελφὸν τοῦ Λυσάνδρου συνέβαινεν ὀνομάζεσθαι Λίβυν ἀπὸ τῆς πρὸς ἐκεῖνον φιλίας. διὰ δὴ τούτου καὶ τῶν κομιζομένων χρημάτων ἐλπίσας πείσειν, οὐ μόνον ἀπέτυχε τῆς ἐπιβολῆς, ἀλλὰ καὶ συνεξέπεμψαν οἱ τοῦ μαντείου προεστῶτες πρέσβεις τοὺς κατηγορήσοντας τοῦ Λυσάνδρου περὶ τῆς τοῦ χρηστηρίου διαφθορᾶς. ὁ δὲ Λύσανδρος παραγενηθεὶς εἰς Λακεδαίμονα, κρίσεως αὐτῷ προτεθείσης ἀπελογήσατο πιθανῶς ὑπὲρ αὑτοῦ. τότε μὲν οὖν οὐδὲν ᾔδεισαν οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι περὶ τῆς τοῦ Λυσάνδρου προαιρέσεως εἰς τὸ καταλῦσαι τοὺς ἀφʼ Ἡρακλέους βασιλεῖς· μετὰ δέ τινα χρόνον τελευτήσαντος αὐτοῦ, καί τινων χρηματισμῶν ζητουμένων κατὰ τὴν οἰκίαν, εὗρον λόγον γεγραμμένον πολυτελῶς, ὃν ἐπραγματεύσατο πρὸς τὰ πλήθη, πείσων ἐξ ἁπάντων τῶν πολιτῶν αἱρετοὺς γίνεσθαι βασιλεῖς.
Lysander the Spartan, after he had introduced governments in all the cities under the Lacedemonians in accordance with the will of the ephors, establishing a rule of ten men in some and oligarchies in others, was the cynosure of Sparta. For by bringing the Peloponnesian War to an end he had bestowed upon his native land the supreme power, acknowledged by all, both on land and on sea. Consequently, he conceived the idea of putting an end to the kingship of the Heracleidae and making every Spartan eligible to election as king; for he hoped that the kingship would very soon come to him because of his achievements, which were very great and glorious. Knowing that the Lacedemonians gave very great heed to the responses of oracles, he attempted to bribe the prophetess in Delphi, since he believed that, if he should receive an oracular response favourable to the designs he entertained, he should easily carry his project to a successful end. But when he could not win over the attendants of the oracle, despite the large sum he promised them, he opened negotiations on the same matter with the priestesses of the oracle of Dodona, through a certain Pherecrates, who was a native of Apollonia and intimate with the attendants of the shrine. Meeting with no success, he made a journey to Cyrene, offering as his reason payment of vows to Ammon, but actually for the purpose of bribing the oracle; and he took with him a great sum of money with which he hoped to win over the attendants of the shrine. And in fact Libys, the king of those regions, was a guest-friend of his father, and it so happened that Lysander's brother had been named Libys by reason of the friendship with the king. With the king's help, then, and the money he brought, he hoped to win them, but not only did he fail of his design, but the overseers of the oracle sent ambassadors to lay charges against Lysander for his effort to bribe the oracle. When Lysander arrived at Lacedemon, a trial was proposed, but he presented a persuasive defence of his conduct. 8 Now at that time the Lacedemonians knew nothing of Lysander's purpose to abolish the kings in line of descent from Heracles; but some time later, after his death, when some documents were being searched for in his house, they found a speech, composed at greatest expense, which he had prepared to deliver to the people, to persuade them that the kings should be elected from all the citizens.
§ 14.14
Διονύσιος δʼ ὁ τῶν Συρακοσίων τύραννος ἐπειδὴ τὴν πρὸς Καρχηδονίους εἰρήνην ἐποιήσατο, τῶν δὲ κατὰ τὴν πόλιν στάσεων ἀπήλλακτο, τὰς ὁμόρους τῶν Χαλκιδέων πόλεις ἔσπευδε προσαγαγέσθαι· αὗται δʼ ἦσαν Νάξος, Κατάνη, Λεοντῖνοι. τούτων δʼ ἐπεθύμει κυριεῦσαι διὰ τὸ συνορίζειν αὐτὰς τῇ Συρακούσῃ καὶ πολλὰς ἀφορμὰς ἔχειν πρὸς τὴν αὔξησιν τῆς δυναστείας. πρῶτον μὲν οὖν τῇ Αἴτνῃ προσστρατοπεδεύσας παρέλαβε τὸ φρούριον, τῶν φυγάδων οὐκ ὄντων ἀξιομάχων πρὸς τηλικαύτην δύναμιν· μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ἐπὶ Λεοντίνους ἀναζεύξας ἐγγὺς τῆς πόλεως κατεστρατοπέδευσε παρὰ τὸν Τηρίαν ποταμόν. καὶ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἐκτάξας τὴν δύναμιν ἐξαπέστειλε κήρυκα πρὸς τοὺς Λεοντίνους, κελεύων παραδοῦναι τὴν πόλιν καὶ νομίζων τῷ φόβῳ καταπλῆξαι τοὺς ἔνδον· οὐ προσεχόντων δὲ τῶν Λεοντίνων, ἀλλὰ πάντα παρεσκευασμένων τὰ πρὸς τὴν πολιορκίαν, Διονύσιος οὐκ ἔχων μηχανήματα τὴν μὲν πολιορκίαν κατὰ τὸ παρὸν ἀπέγνω, τὴν δὲ χώραν ἅπασαν ἐλεηλάτησεν. ἐκεῖθεν δʼ ἀνέζευξεν ἐπὶ τοὺς Σικελούς, προσποιούμενος τὸν πρὸς τούτους πόλεμον ἐπαναιρεῖσθαι πρὸς τὸ τοὺς Καταναίους καὶ Ναξίους ῥᾳθυμοτέρους γενέσθαι περὶ τὴν τῆς πόλεως φυλακήν. διατρίβων δὲ περὶ τὴν Ἔνναν Ἀείμηνστον τὸν Ἐνναῖον ἔπεισεν ἐπιθέσθαι τυραννίδι, συνεπιλήψεσθαι τῆς προθέσεως ἐπαγγελλόμενος. κρατήσαντος δʼ ἐκείνου τῆς ἐπιβολῆς, καὶ τὸν Διονύσιον οὐκ εἰσαγαγόντος εἰς τὴν πόλιν, διοργισθεὶς μετεβάλετο καὶ τοὺς Ἐνναίους παρεκάλει καταλύειν τὸν τύραννον. ὧν συνδραμόντων εἰς τὴν ἀγορὰν μετὰ τῶν ὅπλων καὶ τῆς ἐλευθερίας ἀντιποιουμένων, πλήρης ἦν ἡ πόλις ταραχῆς. Διονύσιος δὲ πυθόμενος τὴν στάσιν, ἀνέλαβε τοὺς ψιλοὺς καὶ ταχέως διά τινος ἐρήμου τόπου παρεισέπεσεν εἰς τὴν πόλιν, καὶ τὸν μὲν Ἀείμνηστον συλλαβὼν παρέδωκε τοῖς Ἐνναίοις πρὸς τὴν τιμωρίαν, αὐτοὺς δʼ οὐδὲν ἀδικήσας ἀπῆλθεν ἐκ τῆς πόλεως. τοῦτο δʼ ἔπραξεν οὐχ οὕτως τοῦ δικαίου φροντίζων, ὡς βουλόμενος προτρέψασθαι τὰς ἄλλας πόλεις αὐτῷ πιστεύειν.
Dionysius, the tyrant of the Syracusans, after he had made peace with the Carthaginians and had got free of the uprisings in the city, was eager to attach to himself the neighbouring cities of the Chalcidians, namely, Naxos, Catane, and Leontini. He was eager to be lord of them because they lay on the borders of Syracuse and possessed many advantages for further increase of his tyrannical power. First of all, then, he encamped near Aetne and won the fortress, the exiles there being no match for an army of such size; and after this he advanced to Leontini and pitched his camp near the city along the river Teria. Then he at first led out his army in battleorder and dispatched a herald to the Leontines, commanding them to surrender the city and believing that he had struck terror into the inhabitants. But when the Leontines paid no attention to him and had made every preparation to withstand a siege, Dionysius, having no engines of war, gave up the siege for the time being, but plundered their entire territory. From there he set out against the Siceli, pretending that he was engaging in war against them in order that the Catanians and Naxians might become slacker in the defence of their cities. And while he was tarrying in the neighbourhood of Enna, he persuaded Aeimnestus, a native of the city, to make a bid for tyranny, promising to aid him in the undertaking. But when Aeimnestus had succeeded in his design and then did not admit Dionysius into the city, Dionysius in anger changed sides and urged the Ennaeans to overthrow the tyrant. These streamed into the market-place with their arms, contending for their freedom, and the city was filled with tumult. Dionysius, on learning of the strife, took his light-armed troops, speedily broke through an unoccupied place into the city, seized Aeimnestus, and handed him over to the Ennaeans to be punished. He himself, refraining from all injustice, departed from the city. This he did, not so much because he had regard for right as because he wanted to encourage the other cities to put faith in him.
§ 14.15
ἐκεῖθεν δʼ ἀναζεύξας τὴν τῶν Ἑρβιταίων πόλιν πορθεῖν ἐπεχείρησεν· οὐδὲν δὲ πράσσων πρὸς μὲν τούτους εἰρήνην ἐποιήσατο, τὴν δὲ δύναμιν ἤγαγεν ἐπὶ Κατάνην· Ἀρκεσίλαος γὰρ στρατηγὸς ὢν τῶν Καταναίων ἐπηγγέλλετο αὐτῷ προδώσειν τὴν πόλιν. διόπερ ὑπὸ τούτου περὶ μέσας νύκτας παρεισαχθεὶς κύριος τῆς Κατάνης ἐγένετο. ἀφελόμενος δὲ τῶν πολιτῶν τὰ ὅπλα, φρουρὰν ἐν αὐτῇ κατέστησεν ἱκανήν. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Προκλῆς ὁ τῶν Ναξίων ἀφηγούμενος ἐπαγγελιῶν μεγέθει πεισθεὶς παρέδωκε τὴν πατρίδα τῷ Διονυσίῳ· ὃς τὰς δωρεὰς ἀποδοὺς τῷ προδιδόντι καὶ τοὺς συγγενεῖς αὐτῷ χαρισάμενος τὴν πόλιν ἐξηνδραποδίσατο, καὶ τὰς μὲν κτήσεις ἐφῆκε τοῖς στρατιώταις διαρπάσαι, τὰ δὲ τείχη καὶ τὰς οἰκίας κατέσκαψεν. παραπλησίως δὲ καὶ τοῖς Καταναίοις χρησάμενος ἐλαφυροπώλησε τοὺς αἰχμαλώτους ἐν Συρακούσαις. τὴν μὲν οὖν τῶν Ναξίων χώραν Σικελοῖς τοῖς ὁμοροῦσιν ἐδωρήσατο, τοῖς δὲ Καμπανοῖς τὴν πόλιν τῶν Καταναίων οἰκητήριον ἔδωκεν. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ἐπὶ Λεοντίνους στρατεύσας ἁπάσῃ τῇ δυνάμει τὴν πόλιν περιεστρατοπέδευσε, καὶ πρὸς τοὺς ἔνδον διαπρεσβευσάμενος ἐκέλευσεν αὐτοὺς παραδιδόναι τὴν πόλιν καὶ μετέχειν τῆς ἐν Συρακούσαις πολιτείας. οἱ δὲ Λεοντῖνοι, βοήθειαν μὲν οὐδεμίαν ἕξειν προσδοκῶντες, τὰς δὲ Ναξίων καὶ Καταναίων συμφορὰς ἀναλογιζόμενοι, κατεπλήττοντο, φοβούμενοι μὴ τοῖς αὐτοῖς περιπέσωσι δυστυχήμασιν. διόπερ εἴξαντες τῷ καιρῷ συνεχώρησαν, καὶ τὴν πόλιν ἐκλιπόντες εἰς Συρακούσας μετῴκησαν.
From Enna Dionysius set out to the city of the Herbitaeans and attempted to ravage it. But accomplishing nothing, he made peace with them and led his army to Catane, for Arcesilaus, the general of the Catanians, had offered to betray the city to him. Consequently, being admitted by Arcesilaus about midnight, he became master of Catane. After taking their arms from the citizens, he placed an adequate garrison in the city. After this Procles, the commander of the Naxians, on being won over by great promises, delivered over his native city to Dionysius, who, after paying the promised gifts to the traitor and granting him his kinsmen, sold the inhabitants into slavery, turned their property over to the soldiers to plunder, and razed the walls and the dwellings. He also meted out a similar treatment to the Catanians, selling the captives he took as booty in Syracuse. Now the territory of the Naxians he gave as a present to the neighbouring Siceli and granted to the Campanians the city of the Catanians as their dwelling-place. After this he advanced to Leontini with his entire armed strength and laid siege to the city, and sending ambassadors to the inhabitants, he ordered them to hand over their city and enjoy citizenship in Syracuse. The Leontines, expecting that they would receive no help and reflecting on the fate of the Naxians and Catanians, were struck with terror in fear that they would suffer the same misfortune. Consequently, yielding to the exigency of the moment, they assented to the proposal, left their city, and removed to Syracuse.
§ 14.16
Ἀρχωνίδης δʼ ὁ τῆς Ἑρβίτης ἐπιστάτης, ἐπειδὴ πρὸς Διονύσιον εἰρήνην ὁ δῆμος ὁ τῶν Ἑρβιταίων συνέθετο, διενοεῖτο κτίσαι πόλιν. εἶχε γὰρ μισθοφόρους τε πλείους καὶ σύμμικτον ὄχλον, ὃς τῷ πρὸς Διονύσιον πολέμῳ συνέδραμεν εἰς τὴν πόλιν· πολλοὶ δὲ καὶ τῶν ἀπόρων Ἑρβιταίων ἐπηγγέλλοντο αὐτῷ κοινωνήσειν τῆς ἀποικίας. ἀναλαβὼν οὖν τὸ συνδραμὸν πλῆθος κατελάβετό τινα τῶν λόφων ὀκτὼ σταδίους ἀπέχοντα τῆς θαλάττης, ἐν ᾧ πόλιν ἔκτισεν Ἅλαισαν· οὐσῶν δὲ καὶ ἄλλων πόλεων κατὰ τὴν Σικελίαν ὁμωνύμων, Ἀρχωνίδιον αὐτὴν προσηγόρευσεν ἀφʼ ἑαυτοῦ. ἐν δὲ τοῖς ὕστερον χρόνοις τῆς πόλεως πολλὴν ἐπίδοσιν λαμβανούσης διά τε τὰς ἀπὸ τῆς θαλάττης ἐργασίας καὶ διὰ τὴν ὑπὸ Ῥωμαίων δοθεῖσαν ἀτέλειαν, οἱ Ἁλαισῖνοι τὴν τῶν Ἑρβιταίων συγγένειαν ἀπηρνήσαντο, αἰσχρὸν ἡγούμενοι καταδεεστέρας πόλεως ἑαυτοὺς ἀποίκους νομίζεσθαι. οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ μέχρι νῦν παρʼ ἀμφοτέραις συγγένειαί τε πλείονες διαμένουσι καὶ τὰς κατὰ τὸ Ἀπολλώνιον θυσίας τοῖς αὐτοῖς ἔθεσι διοικοῦσιν. τινὲς δέ φασιν ὑπὸ Καρχηδονίων ἐκτίσθαι τὴν Ἅλαισαν, καθʼ ὃν καιρὸν Ἰμίλκων τὴν πρὸς τὸν Διονύσιον εἰρήνην ἐποιήσατο. κατὰ δὲ τὴν Ἰταλίαν Ῥωμαίοις πρὸς Βηίους πόλεμος συνέστη διὰ τοιαύτας αἰτίας. τότε πρώτως ἐπεψηφίσαντο Ῥωμαῖοι τοῖς στρατιώταις καθʼ ἕκαστον ἐνιαυτὸν εἰς ἐφόδια διδόναι χρήματα. ἐξεπολιόρκησαν δὲ καὶ τὴν Οὐόλσκων πόλιν, ἣ τότε μὲν Ἄνξωρ ἐκαλεῖτο, νῦν δʼ ὀνομάζεται Ταρρακίνη.
Archonides, the leader of Herbita, after the citizen-body of the Herbitaeans had concluded peace with Dionysius, determined to found a city. For he had not only many mercenaries but also a mixed throng who had streamed into the city in connection with the war against Dionysius; and many of the destitute among the Herbitaeans had promised him to join in the colony. Consequently, taking the multitude of refugees, he occupied a hill lying eight stades from the sea, on which he founded the city of Halaesa; and since there were other cities of Sicily with the same name, he called it Halaesa Archonidion after himself. When, in later times, the city grew greatly both because of the trade by sea and because the Romans exempted it from tribute, the Halaesians denied their kinship with the Herbitaeans, holding it a disgrace to be deemed colonists of an inferior city. Nevertheless, up to the present time numerous ties of relationships are to be found among both peoples, and they administer their sacrifices at the Apollonion with the same customs. But there are those who state that Halaesa was founded by the Carthaginians at the time when Himilcon concluded his peace with Dionysius. In Italy a war arose between the Romans and the people of Veii for the following reasons. In this campaign the Romans voted for the first time to give annual pay to the soldiers for their support. They also reduced by siege the city of the Volsci which was called at that time Anxor but now has the name Tarracine.
§ 14.17
τοῦ δʼ ἐνιαυσίου χρόνου διεληλυθότος Ἀθήνησι μὲν ἦρχε Μικίων, ἐν δὲ τῇ Ῥώμῃ τὴν ὑπατικὴν ἀρχὴν μετέλαβον χιλίαρχοι τρεῖς, Τίτος Κοΐντιος καὶ Γάιος Ἰούλιος καὶ Αὖλος Μαμίλος. τούτων δὲ τὰς ἀρχὰς λαβόντων οἱ τὸν Ὠρωπὸν οἰκοῦντες πρὸς ἀλλήλους στασιάσαντες ἐφυγάδευσαν τῶν πολιτῶν τινας. οἱ δὲ φυγάδες μέχρι μέν τινος διʼ ἑαυτῶν ἐπεβάλοντο κατελθεῖν, οὐ δυνάμενοι δὲ τὴν προαίρεσιν ἐπὶ τέλος ἀγαγεῖν, ἔπεισαν τοὺς Θηβαίους ἑαυτοῖς συναποστεῖλαι δύναμιν. Θηβαῖοι δὲ στρατεύσαντες ἐπὶ τοὺς Ὠρωπίους καὶ κυριεύσαντες τῆς πόλεως, μετῴκισαν ἀπὸ τῆς θαλάττης αὐτοὺς ὡς ἑπτὰ σταδίους, καὶ χρόνους μέν τινας εἴασαν καθʼ αὑτοὺς πολιτεύεσθαι, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα δόντες πολιτείαν τὴν χώραν Βοιωτίαν ἐποιήσαντο. τούτων δὲ πραττομένων Λακεδαιμόνιοι καὶ ἄλλα μὲν πλείονα τοῖς Ἠλείοις ἐνεκάλουν, μάλιστα δʼ ὅτι Ἆγιν αὐτῶν τὸν βασιλέα διεκώλυσαν τῷ θεῷ θῦσαι καὶ διότι τοῖς Ὀλυμπίοις Λακεδαιμονίους οὐκ εἴασαν ἀγωνίσασθαι. διόπερ κρίναντες πρὸς αὐτοὺς ἐκφέρειν πόλεμον, δέκα πρεσβευτὰς ἀπέστειλαν, πρῶτον μὲν κελεύοντες τὰς περιοίκους πόλεις ἐᾶν αὐτονόμους εἶναι, ἔπειτα τὰς δαπάνας τοῦ πρὸς Ἀθηναίους πολέμου κατὰ τὸ ἐπιβάλλον αὐτοῖς μέρος ἀπῄτουν. ταῦτα δʼ ἔπραττον προφάσεις αὑτοῖς εὐλόγους καὶ πιθανὰς ἀρχὰς ζητοῦντες πολέμου. οὐ προσεχόντων δὲ τῶν Ἠλείων, ἀλλὰ καὶ προσεγκαλούντων ὅτι τοὺς Ἕλληνας καταδουλοῦνται, τὸν ἕτερον τῶν βασιλέων Παυσανίαν ἐπʼ αὐτοὺς ἀπέστειλαν μετὰ στρατιωτῶν τετρακισχιλίων. συνηκολούθουν δʼ αὐτῷ πολλοὶ στρατιῶται καὶ παρὰ τῶν συμμάχων σχεδὸν ἁπάντων πλὴν Βοιωτῶν καὶ Κορινθίων· οὗτοι δὲ δυσχεραίνοντες τοῖς ὑπὸ Λακεδαιμονίων πραττομένοις οὐ μετέσχον τῆς ἐπὶ τὴν Ἦλιν στρατείας. ὁ δʼ οὖν Παυσανίας κατʼ ἔφοδον τῆς Ἀρκαδίας ἐμβαλὼν εἰς τὴν Ἦλιν Λασίωνα μὲν φρούριον εὐθὺς εἷλεν ἐξ ἐφόδου, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα διὰ τῆς Ἀκρωρείας ἀγαγὼν τὸ στρατόπεδον τέτταρας πόλεις προσηγάγετο, Θραῖστον, Ἅλιον, Ἐπιτάλιον, Ὀποῦντα. ἐκεῖθεν δὲ τῇ Πύλῳ προσστρατοπεδεύσας εὐθὺς καὶ τοῦτο τὸ χωρίον παρέλαβεν, ἀπέχον τῆς Ἤλιδος σταδίους ὡς ἑβδομήκοντα. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτʼ ἐπʼ αὐτὴν πορευθεὶς τὴν Ἦλιν ἐπὶ τῶν πέραν τοῦ ποταμοῦ λόφων κατεστρατοπέδευσεν. Ἠλεῖοι δὲ μικρὸν ἔμπροσθεν ἦσαν παρʼ Αἰτωλῶν εἰληφότες συμμάχους ἐπιλέκτους ἄνδρας χιλίους, οἷς τὸν περὶ τὸ γυμνάσιον τόπον δεδώκεισαν φυλάττειν. τοῦ δὲ Παυσανίου τοῦτον τὸν τόπον πρῶτον ἐπιχειρήσαντος πολιορκεῖν καταπεφρονηκότως, ὡς οὐδέποτʼ ἂν τολμησάντων Ἠλείων ἐπεξελθεῖν, ἐξαίφνης οἵ τε Αἰτωλοὶ καὶ πολλοὶ τῶν πολιτῶν ἐκχυθέντες ἐκ τῆς πόλεως κατεπλήξαντο τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους, καὶ σχεδὸν τριάκοντα αὐτῶν κατέβαλον. ὁ δὲ Παυσανίας τότε μὲν ἔλυσε τὴν πολιορκίαν, μετὰ δὲ ταῦθʼ ὁρῶν ἐργώδη τὴν ἅλωσιν οὖσαν, ἐπῄει πορθῶν καὶ φθείρων τὴν χώραν ἱερὰν οὖσαν, καὶ παμπληθεῖς ὠφελείας ἤθροισεν. ἤδη δὲ τοῦ χειμῶνος συνεγγίζοντος κατὰ μὲν τὴν Ἠλείαν ἐτείχισε φρούρια, καὶ τὴν ἱκανὴν ἐν αὐτοῖς κατέλιπε δύναμιν, αὐτὸς δὲ μετὰ τῆς ὑπολοίπου στρατιᾶς ἐν Δύμῃ παρεχείμασεν.
At the close of the year Micion was archon in Athens, and in Rome three military tribunes took over the consular magistracy, Titus Quinctius, Gaius Julius, and Aulus Mamilus. After these magistrates had entered office, the inhabitants of Oropus fell into civil strife and exiled some of their citizens. For a time the exiles undertook to effect their return by their own resources, but finding themselves unable to carry through their purpose, they persuaded the Thebans to send an army to assist them. The Thebans took the field against the Oropians, and becoming masters of the city, resettled the inhabitants some seven stades from the sea; and for some time they allowed them to have their own government, but after this they gave them Theban citizenship and attached their territory to Boeotia. While these events were taking place, the Lacedemonians brought a number of charges against the Eleians, the most serious being that they had prevented Agis, their king, from offering sacrifices to the god and that they had not allowed the Lacedemonians to compete in the Olympic Games. Consequently, having decided to wage war on the Eleians, they dispatched ten ambassadors to them, ordering them, in the first place, to allow their subject cities to be independent, and after that they demanded of them their quota of the cost of the war against the Athenians. This they did in quest of specious pretexts for themselves and of plausible openings for war. When the Eleians not only paid no heed to them but even accused them besides of enslaving the Greeks, they dispatched Pausanias, the other of their two kings, against them with four thousand soldiers. He was accompanied by many soldiers also from practically all the allies except the Boeotians and Corinthians. They, being offended by the proceedings of the Lacedemonians, took no part in the campaign against Elis. Pausanias, then, entered Elis by way of Arcadia and straightway took the outpost of Lasion at the first assault; then, leading his army through Acroreia, he won to his side the four cities of Thraestus, Halium, Epitalion, and Opous. Moving thence, he straightway encamped near Pylus and took this place, which was about seventy stades from Elis. After this, advancing to Elis proper, he pitched his camp on the hills across the river. A short time before this the Eleians had got from the Aetolians a thousand elite troops to help them, to whom they had given the region about the gymnasium to guard. When Pausanias first of all started to lay siege to this place, and in a careless manner, not supposing that the Eleians would ever dare to make a sortie against him, suddenly both the Aetolians and many of the citizens, pouring forth from the city, struck terror into the Lacedemonians and slew some thirty of them. At the time Pausanias raised the siege, but after this, since he saw that the city would be hard to take, he traversed its territory, laying it waste and plundering it, even though it was sacred soil, and gathered great stores of booty. 12 Since the winter was already at hand, he built walled outposts in Elis and left adequate forces in them, and himself passed the winter with the rest of the army in Dyme.
§ 14.18
κατὰ δὲ τὴν Σικελίαν Διονύσιος ὁ τῶν Σικελῶν τύραννος, ἐπειδὴ τὰ κατὰ τὴν δυναστείαν αὐτῷ προεχώρει κατὰ γνώμην, διενοεῖτο μὲν πρὸς Καρχηδονίους ἐκφέρειν πόλεμον· οὔπω δὲ ταῖς παρασκευαῖς ἱκανὸς ὢν τὴν μὲν προαίρεσιν ταύτην ἔκρυπτε, πρὸς δὲ τοὺς μέλλοντας κινδύνους τὰ χρήσιμα διῴκει. εἰδὼς οὖν κατὰ τὸν Ἀττικὸν πόλεμον τὴν πόλιν ἐκ θαλάττης εἰς θάλατταν ἀποτετειχισμένην, εὐλαβεῖτο μήποτε παραπλησίοις ἐλαττώμασι περιπεσὼν ἀποκλεισθῇ τῆς εἰς τὴν χώραν ἐξόδου· εὐφυῶς γὰρ ἑώρα κειμένας τὰς καλουμένας Ἐπιπολὰς κατὰ τῆς πόλεως τῶν Συρακοσίων. διόπερ τοὺς ἀρχιτέκτονας παραλαβών, ἀπὸ τῆς τούτων γνώμης ἔκρινε δεῖν τειχίσαι τὰς Ἐπιπολάς, ᾗ νῦν τὸ πρὸς τοῖς Ἑξαπύλοις ὑπάρχει τεῖχος. ὁ γὰρ τόπος οὗτος τετραμμένος ἐστὶ πρὸς ἄρκτον, ὑπόκρημνος δὲ πᾶς καὶ διὰ τὴν τραχύτητα δυσπρόσοδος ἐκ τῶν ἔξωθεν μερῶν. βουλόμενος οὖν ταχεῖαν τὴν κατασκευὴν τῶν τειχῶν γίνεσθαι, τὸν ἀπὸ τῆς χώρας ὄχλον ἤθροισεν, ἐξ οὗ τοὺς εὐθέτους ἄνδρας ἐλευθέρους ἐπιλέξας εἰς ἑξακισμυρίους ἐπιδιεῖλε τούτοις τὸν τειχιζόμενον τόπον. καθʼ ἕκαστον μὲν οὖν στάδιον ἀρχιτέκτονας ἐπέστησε, κατὰ δὲ πλέθρον ἐπέταξεν οἰκοδόμους, καὶ τοὺς τούτοις ὑπηρετήσοντας ἐκ τῶν ἰδιωτῶν εἰς ἕκαστον πλέθρον διακοσίους. χωρὶς δὲ τούτων ἕτεροι παμπληθεῖς τὸν ἀριθμὸν ἔτεμνον τὸν ἀνέργαστον λίθον· ἑξακισχίλια δὲ ζεύγη βοῶν ἐπὶ τὸν οἰκεῖον τόπον παρεκόμιζεν. ἡ δὲ τῶν ἐργαζομένων πολυχειρία πολλὴν παρείχετο τοῖς θεωμένοις κατάπληξιν, ἁπάντων σπευδόντων τελέσαι τὸ τεταγμένον. ὁ γὰρ Διονύσιος τὴν προθυμίαν τοῦ πλήθους ἐκκαλούμενος μεγάλας προέθηκε δωρεὰς τοῖς προτερήσασι, δίχα μὲν τοῖς ἀρχιτέκτοσι, χωρὶς δὲ τοῖς οἰκοδόμοις καὶ πάλιν τοῖς ἐργαζομένοις· καὶ αὐτὸς δὲ μετὰ τῶν φίλων προσήδρευε τὰς ἡμέρας ὅλας τοῖς ἔργοις, ἐπὶ πάντα τόπον ἐπιφαινόμενος καὶ τοῖς κακοπαθοῦσιν αἰεὶ προσλαμβάνων. καθόλου δʼ ἀποθέμενος τὸ τῆς ἀρχῆς βάρος ἰδιώτην αὑτὸν ἀπεδείκνυε, καὶ τοῖς βαρυτάτοις τῶν ἔργων προσιστάμενος ὑπέμενε τὴν αὐτὴν τοῖς ἄλλοις κακοπάθειαν, ὥστε πολλὴ μὲν ἔρις ἐγίνετο καὶ τοῖς τῆς ἡμέρας ἔργοις ἔνιοι προσετίθεσαν καὶ μέρη τῶν νυκτῶν· τοσαύτη σπουδὴ τοῖς πλήθεσιν ἐνεπεπτώκει. διόπερ ἀνελπίστως ἐν ἡμέραις εἴκοσι τέλος ἔσχε τὸ τεῖχος, τὸ μὲν μῆκος κατασκευασθὲν ἐπὶ σταδίους τριάκοντα, τὸ δὲ ὕψος σύμμετρον, ὥστε τῷ τοίχῳ τῆς ὀχυρότητος προςγενομένης ἀνάλωτον ἐκ βίας ὑπάρξαι· τοῖς γὰρ πύργοις διείληπτο πυκνοῖς καὶ ὑψηλοῖς, ἔκ τε λίθων ᾠκοδόμητο τετραπέδων φιλοτίμως συνειργασμένων.
In Sicily Dionysius, the tyrant of the Siceli, since his government was making satisfactory progress, determined to make war upon the Carthaginians; but being not yet sufficiently prepared, he concealed this purpose of his while making the necessary preparations for the coming encounters. And realizing that in the war with Athens the city had been blocked off by a wall that ran from the sea to the sea, he took care that he should never, when caught at a similar disadvantage, be cut off from contact with the countryside; for he saw that the site of Epipolae, as it is called, naturally commanded the city of the Syracusans. Sending, therefore, for his master-builders, in accord with their advice he decided that he must fortify Epipolae at the point where there stands now the Wall with the Six Gates. For this place, which faces north, is precipitous in its entirety, and so steep that access is hardly to be won from the outside. Wishing to complete the building of the walls rapidly, he gathered the peasants from the countryside, from whom he selected some sixty thousand capable men and parcelled out to them the space to be walled. For each stade he appointed a master-builder and for each plethron a mason, and the labourers from the common people assigned to the task numbered two hundred for each plethron. Besides these, other workers, a multitude in number, quarried out the rough stone, and six thousand yoke of oxen brought it to the appointed place. And the united labour of so many workers struck the watchers with great amazement, since all were zealous to complete the task assigned them. For Dionysius, in order to excite the enthusiasm of the multitude, offered valuable gifts to such as finished first, special ones for the master-builders, and still others for the masons and in turn for the common labourers; and he in person, together with his friends, oversaw the work through all the days required, visiting every section and ever lending a hand to the toilers. Speaking generally, he laid aside the dignity of his office and reduced himself to the ranks. Putting his hands to the hardest tasks, he endured the same toil as the other workers, so that great rivalry was engendered and some added even a part of the night to the day's labour, such eagerness had infected the multitude for the task. As a result, contrary to expectation, the wall was brought to completion in twenty days. It was thirty stades in length and of corresponding height, and the added strength of the wall made it impregnable to assault; for there were lofty towers at frequent intervals and it was constructed of stones four feet long and carefully joined.
§ 14.19
τοῦ δʼ ἔτους τούτου διεληλυθότος Ἀθήνησι μὲν ἦν ἄρχων Ἐξαίνετος, ἐν Ῥώμῃ δὲ τὴν ὑπατικὴν ἀρχὴν παρέλαβον χιλίαρχοι ἕξ, Πόπλιος Κορνήλιος, Καίσων Φάβιος, Σπόριος Ναύτιος, Γάιος Οὐαλέριος, Μάνιος Σέργιος. περὶ δὲ τούτους τοὺς χρόνους Κῦρος ὁ τῶν ἐπὶ θαλάττης σατραπειῶν ἡγούμενος διενοεῖτο μὲν πάλαι στρατεύειν ἐπὶ τὸν ἀδελφὸν Ἀρταξέρξην· ἦν γὰρ ὁ νεανίσκος φρονήματος πλήρης καὶ προθυμίαν ἔχων οὐκ ἄπρακτον εἰς τοὺς κατὰ πόλεμον ἀγῶνας. ἐπεὶ δʼ αὐτῷ μισθοφόρων πλῆθος ἱκανὸν συνῆκτο καὶ τὰ πρὸς τὴν στρατείαν εὐτρέπιστο, τοῖς μὲν πλήθεσιν οὐκ ἐδήλου τἀληθές, ἔφασκε δʼ εἰς Κιλικίαν ἀνάγειν τὴν δύναμιν ἐπὶ τοὺς ἀφεστηκότας τοῦ βασιλέως τυράννους. ἀπέστειλε δὲ καὶ πρὸς Λακεδαιμονίουσπρεσβευτὰς τοὺς ἀνανεωσομένους τὰς κατὰ τὸν πρὸς Ἀθηναίους πόλεμον εὐεργεσίας καὶ παρακαλέσοντας ἑαυτῷ συμμαχεῖν. οἱ δὲ Λακεδαιμόνιοι, νομίσαντες αὑτοῖς συνοίσειν τὸν πόλεμον, ἔγνωσαν τῷ Κύρῳ βοηθεῖν, καὶ παραχρῆμα ἐξέπεμψαν πρεσβευτὰς πρὸς τὸν ἑαυτῶν ναύαρχον Σάμον ὀνομαζόμενον, ὅπως ὅ,τι ἂν κελεύῃ ὁ Κῦρος πράττῃ. ὁ δὲ Σάμος εἶχε μὲν τριήρεις εἴκοσι καὶ πέντε, μεθʼ ὧν πλεύσας εἰς Ἔφεσον πρὸς τὸν Κύρου ναύαρχον ἕτοιμος ἦν αὐτῷ πάντα συμπράττειν. ἐξέπεμψαν δὲ καὶ πεζοὺς στρατιώτας ὀκτακοσίους, ἡγεμόνα Χειρίσοφον καταστήσαντες. ἀφηγεῖτο δὲ τοῦ βαρβαρικοῦ στόλου Ταμώς, ἔχων τριήρεις πεντήκοντα πολυτελῶς ἐξηρτυμένας· καὶ καταπλευσάντων τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων ἀνήχθησαν οἱ στόλοι τὸν πλοῦν ὡς ἐπὶ Κιλικίας ποιούμενοι. Κῦρος δὲ τούς τε ἀπὸ τῆς Ἀσίας στρατολογηθέντας καὶ μισθοφόρους μυρίους τρισχιλίους ἀθροίσας εἰς Σάρδεις, Λυδίας μὲν καὶ Φρυγίας κατέστησεν ἐπιμελητὰς Πέρσας ἑαυτοῦ συγγενεῖς, Ἰωνίας δὲ καὶ τῆς Αἰολίδος, ἔτι δὲ τῶν σύνεγγυς τόπων Ταμώ, φίλον μὲν ὄντα πιστόν, τὸ δὲ γένος ὑπάρχοντα Μεμφίτην· αὐτὸς δὲ μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως προῆγεν ὡς ἐπὶ τῆς Κιλικίας καὶ Πισιδίας, διαδιδοὺς λόγον ὅτι τινὲς τῶν ἐκεῖ κατοικούντων ἀφεστήκασιν. εἶχε δὲ τοὺς ἅπαντας ἀπὸ μὲν τῆς Ἀσίας ἑπτακισμυρίους, ὧν ἦσαν ἱππεῖς τρισχίλιοι, ἀπὸ δὲ Πελοποννήσου καὶ τῆς ἄλλης Ἑλλάδος μισθοφόρους μυρίους τρισχιλίους. ἡγεῖτο δὲ τῶν μὲν ἀπὸ Πελοποννήσου χωρὶς Ἀχαιῶν Κλέαρχος ὁ Λακεδαιμόνιος, τῶν δʼ ἀπὸ Βοιωτίας Πρόξενος Θηβαῖος, τῶν δʼ Ἀχαιῶν Σωκράτης Ἀχαιός, τῶν δʼ ἀπὸ Θεσσαλίας Μένων ὁ Λαρισσαῖος. τῶν δὲ βαρβάρων τὰς μὲν κατὰ λεπτὸν ἡγεμονίας εἶχον Πέρσαι, τῶν δὲ συμπάντων αὐτὸς ἡγεῖτο Κῦρος, ὃς τοῖς μὲν ἡγεμόσιν ἐδεδηλώκει τὴν ἐπὶ τὸν ἀδελφὸν ἀνάβασιν, τὸ δὲ πλῆθος ἔκρυπτεν, εὐλαβούμενος μήποτε διὰ τὸ μέγεθος τῆς στρατείας ἐγκαταλίπῃ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ προαίρεσιν. διὸ καὶ κατὰ τὴν ὁδοιπορίαν προορώμενος τὸ μέλλον ἐξεθεράπευσε τοὺς στρατιώτας, κοινὸν ἑαυτὸν παρεχόμενος καὶ δαψιλεῖς ἀγορὰς ἑτοιμάζων.
At the close of the year Exaenetus was archon in Athens, and in Rome six military tribunes took over the consular magistracy, Publius Cornelius, Caeso Fabius, Spurius Nautius, Gaius Valerius, and Manius Sergius. At this time Cyrus, who was commander of the satrapies on the sea, had been planning for a long while to lead an army against his brother Artaxerxes; for the young man was full of ambition and had a keenness for the encounters of war that was not unrewarded. When an adequate force of mercenaries had been collected for him and all preparations for the campaign had been completed, he did not reveal the truth to the troops, but kept asserting that he was leading the army to Cilicia against the despots who were in rebellion against the King. He also dispatched ambassadors to the Lacedemonians to recall to their minds the services he had rendered in their war against the Athenians and to urge them to join him as allies The Lacedemonians, thinking that the war would be to their advantage, decided to give aid to Cyrus and forthwith sent ambassadors to their admiral, named Samus, with instructions that he should carry out whatever Cyrus ordered. Samus had twenty-five triremes, and with these he sailed to Ephesus to Cyrus' admiral and was reduce to co-operate with him in every respect. They also sent eight hundred infantry, giving the command to Cheirisophus. The commander of the barbarian fleet was Tamos, who had fifty triremes which had been fitted out at great expense; and after the Lacedemonians had arrived, the fleets put out to sea, following a course for Cilicia. Cyrus, after gathering to Sardis both the levies of Asia and thirteen thousand mercenaries, appointed Persians of his kindred to be governors of Lydia and Phrygia, but of Ionia, Aeolis, and the neighbouring territories, his trusted friend Tamos, who was a native of Memphis; then he with his army advanced in the direction of Cilicia and Pisidia, spreading the report that certain peoples of those regions were in revolt. From Asia he had in all seventy thousand troops, of whom three thousand were cavalry, and from the Peloponnesus and the rest of Greece thirteen thousand mercenaries. 8 The soldiers from the Peloponnesus, with the exception of the Achaeans, were commanded by Clearchus the Lacedemonian, those from Boeotia by Proxenus the Theban, the Achaeans by Socrates the Achaean, and those from Thessaly by Menon of Larissa. 9 The officers of the barbarians, in minor commands, were Persians, and of the whole army Cyrus himself was commander-in-chief. He had disclosed to the commanders that he was marching against his brother, but he kept this hid from the troops for fear that they would leave his enterprise stranded because of the scale of his expedition. Consequently along the march, by way of providing for the coming occasion, he curried favour with the troops by affability and by providing abundant supplies of provisions.
§ 14.20
ἐπεὶ δὲ διῆλθε Λυδίαν καὶ Φρυγίαν, ἔτι δὲ Καππαδοκίας τὰ συνορίζοντα, παρεγενήθη πρὸς τοὺς ὅρους τῆς Κιλικίας καὶ τὴν πρὸς ταῖς Κιλικίαις πύλαις εἰσβολήν· αὕτη δʼ ἐστὶ στενὴ καὶ παράκρημνος ἐπὶ σταδίους μὲν εἴκοσι παρατείνουσα, πλησίον δʼ αὐτῆς ἐστιν ἐξ ἀμφοτέρων καθʼ ὑπερβολὴν ὄρη μεγάλα καὶ δυσπρόσιτα· ἀπὸ δὲ τῶν ὀρῶν ἐξ ἑκατέρου μέρους τείχη κατατείνει μέχρι τῆς ὁδοῦ, καθʼ ἣν ἐνῳκοδόμηνται πύλαι. διεξαγαγὼν δὲ διὰ τούτων τὴν δύναμιν εἰσέβαλεν εἴς τι πεδίον τῶν κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν οὐδενὸς τῷ κάλλει λειπόμενον· διʼ οὗ πορευθεὶς εἰς Ταρσόν, μεγίστην τῶν ἐν Κιλικίᾳ πόλεων, ταχέως αὐτῆς ἐγκρατὴς ἐγένετο. Συέννεσις δʼ ὁ τῆς Κιλικίας δυναστεύων ὡς ἤκουσε τὸ μέγεθος τῆς τῶν πολεμίων δυνάμεως, εἰς ἀπορίαν πολλὴν ἐνέπιπτεν, οὐκ ὢν ἀξιόμαχος. μεταπεμπομένου δʼ αὐτὸν Κύρου καὶ τὰ πιστὰ δόντος ἐπορεύθη πρὸς αὐτόν, καὶ τὴν ἀλήθειαν τοῦ πολέμου πυθόμενος ὡμολόγησε συμμαχήσειν ἐπὶ τὸν Ἀρταξέρξην, καὶ τὸν ἕνα τῶν υἱῶν τῷ Κύρῳ συνεξαπέστειλεν, αὐτῷ δοὺς τῶν Κιλίκων τοὺς ἱκανοὺς συστρατευσομένους· πανοῦργος γὰρ ὢν τὴν φύσιν καὶ πρὸς τὸ τῆς τύχης ἄδηλον ἀρτισάμενος, τὸν ἕτερον τῶν υἱῶν ἐξέπεμψε λάθρᾳ πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα, δηλώσοντα καὶ τὰς δυνάμεις ἐπʼ ἐκεῖνον ἠθροισμένας καὶ διότι τῆς μὲν συμμαχίας διʼ ἀνάγκην τῷ Κύρῳ μετέχει, τῇ δʼ εὐνοίᾳ προσμένων, ἂν καιρὸς γένηται, καταλιπὼν ἐκεῖνον τῷ βασιλεῖ συστρατεύσεσθαι. Κῦρος δʼ εἴκοσι μὲν ἡμέρας ἐν Ταρσῷ τὴν δύναμιν ἀνέλαβε· μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ἀναζευγνύντος αὐτοῦ τὸ πλῆθος ὑπώπτευσε τὴν στρατείαν ἐπὶ τὸν Ἀρταξέρξην γίνεσθαι. ἀναλογιζόμενος δὲ ἕκαστος τὰ μήκη τῶν ὁδῶν καὶ τὰ πλήθη τῶν πολεμίων ἐθνῶν, διʼ ὧν ἀναγκαῖον ἦν τὴν πορείαν ποιεῖσθαι, τελέως ἠγωνία· διαβεβόητο γὰρ ἡ μὲν ἕως Βάκτρων ὁδὸς οὖσα στρατοπέδῳ τετραμήνου, δύναμις δʼ ἠθροισμένη τῷ βασιλεῖπλείω τῶν τετταράκοντα μυριάδων. διὸ δὴ περιδεεῖς ὄντες ἐκεῖνοι ἠγανάκτουν, καὶ τοὺς ἡγεμόνας διʼ ὀργῆς ἔχοντες ἐνεχείρησαν ἀναιρεῖν ὡς προδότας ἑαυτῶν ὄντας. τοῦ δὲ Κύρου δεομένου πάντων, καὶ διαβεβαιουμένου τὴν στρατιὰν ἀνάγειν οὐκ ἐπʼ Ἀρταξέρξην, ἀλλʼ ἐπί τινα σατράπην τῆς Συρίας, ἐπείσθησαν οἱ στρατιῶται, καὶ λαβόντες πλείω μισθὸν ἀποκατέστησαν εἰς τὴν ἐξ ἀρχῆς εὔνοιαν.
After Cyrus had traversed Lydia and Phrygia as well as the regions bordering on Cappadocia, he arrived at the boundaries of Cilicia and the entrance at the Cilician Gates. This pass is narrow and precipitous, twenty stades in length, and bordering it on both sides are exceedingly high and inaccessible mountains; and walls stretch down one side from the mountains as far as the roadway, where gates have been built across it. Leading his army through these gates, Cyrus entered a plain which in beauty yields to no plain in Asia, and through which he advanced to Tarsus, the largest city of Cilicia, which he speedily mastered. When Syennesis, the lord of Cilicia, heard of the great size of the hostile army, he was at a great loss, since he was no match for it in battle. When he was summoned to Cyrus' presence and had been given pledges, he went to him, and on learning the truth about the war he agreed to join him as an ally against Artaxerxes; and he sent one of his two sons along with Cyrus, giving him also a strong contingent of Cilicians for his army. For Syennesis, being by nature unscrupulous and having adjusted himself to the uncertainty of Fortune, had dispatched his other son secretly to the King to reveal to him the armaments that had been gathered against him and to assure him that he took the part of Cyrus out of necessity, but that he was still faithful to the King and, when the opportunity arose, would desert Cyrus and join the army of the King. Cyrus rested his army twenty days in Tarsus, and after this, when he would have resumed the march, the troops suspected that the campaign was against Artaxerxes. And as each man reckoned up the length of the distances entailed and the multitude of hostile peoples through whom they would have to pass, he was filled with the deepest anxiety; for the word had got about that it was a four months' march for an army to Bactria and that a force of more than four hundred thousand soldiers had been mustered for the King. Consequently the soldiers became most fearful and vexed, and in anger at their commanders they attempted to kill them on the ground that the commanders had betrayed them. But when Cyrus entreated one and all of them and assured them that he was leading the army, not against Artaxerxes, but against a certain satrap of Syria, the soldiers yielded, and when they had received an increase in pay, they resumed their former loyalty to him.
§ 14.21
ὁ δὲ Κῦρος ἐπειδὴ διῆλθε τὴν Κιλικίαν, παρεγενήθη πρὸς πόλιν Ἰσσόν, ἐπὶ θαλάττης μὲν κειμένην, ἐσχάτην δʼ οὖσαν τῆς Κιλικίας. κατέπλευσε δʼ εἰς αὐτὴν περὶ τὸν αὐτὸν καιρὸν καὶ ὁ στόλος ὁ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων, καὶ οἱ στρατηγοῦντες ἐξέβησαν καὶ συντυχόντες τῷ Κύρῳ τὴν τῶν Σπαρτιατῶν εἰς αὐτὸν εὔνοιαν ἀπήγγειλαν, καὶ τοὺς μετὰ Χειρισόφου πεζοὺς ὀκτακοσίους ἐκβιβάσαντες παρέδωκαν. τούτους δὲ προσεποιοῦντο μὲν οἱ φίλοι τοῦ Κύρου πέμψαι μισθοφόρους, τῇ δʼ ἀληθείᾳ μετὰ τῆς τῶν ἐφόρων γνώμης ἅπαντʼ ἐπράττετο· οἱ δὲ Λακεδαιμόνιοι φανερὸν οὔπω τὸν πόλεμον ἐπανῃροῦντο, κατέκρυπτον δὲ τὴν προαίρεσιν, ἐπιτηροῦντες τὴν ῥοπὴν τοῦ πολέμου. ὁ δὲ Κῦρος μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως ἀνέζευξεν ἐπὶ Συρίας τὴν πορείαν ποιούμενος, καὶ τοὺς ναυάρχους ἐκέλευσε συμπαραπλεῖν ἁπάσαις ταῖς ναυσίν. ὡς δʼ ἦλθεν ἐπὶ τὰς Πύλας καλουμένας καὶ τὸν τόπον εὗρεν ἔρημον τῶν φυλαττόντων, περιχαρὴς ἦν· ἠγωνία γὰρ σφόδρα, μή τινες αὐτὰς εἶεν προκατειλημμένοι. ἔστι δὲ ἡ φύσις τοῦ τόπου στενὴ καὶ παράκρημνος, ὥστε διʼ ὀλίγων ῥᾳδίως παραφυλάττεσθαι. ὄρη γὰρ πλησίον ἀλλήλων κεῖται, τὸ μὲν τραχὺ καὶ κρημνοὺς ἔχον ἀξιολόγους, ἐπʼ αὐτῆς δʼ ἄρχεται τῆς ὁδοῦ ἕτερον ὄρος μέγιστον τῶν περὶ τοὺς τόπους ἐκείνους, καὶ καλεῖται μὲν Ἄμανος, παρεκτείνει δὲ παρὰ τὴν Φοινίκην· ὁ δʼ ἀνὰ μέσον τόπος τῶν ὀρῶν, ὑπάρχων ὡς τριῶν σταδίων, παντελῶς τετειχισμένος καὶ πύλας ἔχων εἰς στενὸν συγκλειομένας. διελθὼν οὖν ὁ Κῦρος ταύτας ἀκινδύνως, τὸν μὲν λοιπὸν στόλον ἀπέστειλεν ἀνακάμψαι εἰς Ἔφεσον· οὐκέτι γὰρ αὐτῷ χρήσιμος ἦν μέλλοντι διὰ μεσογείου τὴν πορείαν ποιεῖσθαι· ὁδοιπορήσας δʼ ἡμέρας εἴκοσι παρεγενήθη πρὸς Θάψακον πόλιν, ἣ κεῖται παρὰ τὸν ποταμὸν τὸν Εὐφράτην. ἐνταῦθα δὲ πένθʼ ἡμέρας διατρίψας, καὶ τὴν δύναμιν ἐξιδιοποιησάμενος ταῖς τε τῶν ἐπιτηδείων ἀφθονίαις καὶ ταῖς ἐκ τῶν προνομῶν ὠφελείαις, συνήγαγεν ἐκκλησίαν, καὶ τὴν ἀλήθειαν τῆς στρατείας ἐδήλωσεν. προσάντως δὲ δεξαμένων τὸν λόγον τῶν στρατιωτῶν, ἐδεῖτο πάντων μὴ καταλιπεῖν ἑαυτόν, ἐπαγγελλόμενος ἄλλας τε μεγάλας δωρεὰς καὶ ὅτι παραγενομένοις αὐτοῖς εἰς Βαβυλῶνα κατʼ ἄνδρα ἕκαστον δώσει πέντε μνᾶς ἀργυρίου. οἱ μὲν οὖν στρατιῶται ταῖς ἐλπίσι μετεωρισθέντες ἐπείσθησαν ἀκολουθεῖν· ὁ δὲ Κῦρος ὡς διέβη τῇ δυνάμει τὸν Εὐφράτην, ἠπείγετο κατὰ τὸ συνεχὲς ὁδοιπορῶν, καὶ παραγενηθεὶς ἐπὶ τοὺς ὅρους τῆς Βαβυλωνίας ἀνελάμβανε τὴν δύναμιν.
As Cyrus marched through Cilicia he arrived at Issus, which lies on the sea and is the last city of Cilicia. At the same time the fleet of the Lacedemonians also put in at the city, and the commanders went ashore, met with Cyrus, and reported the goodwill of the Spartans toward him; and they disembarked and turned over to him the eight hundred infantry under the command of Cheirisophus. The pretence was that these mercenaries were sent by the friends of Cyrus, but in fact everything was done with the consent of the ephors. The Lacedemonians had not yet openly entered upon the war, but were concealing their purpose, awaiting the turn of the war. Cyrus set out with his army, travelling toward Syria, and ordered the admirals to accompany him by sea with all the ships. When he arrived at the Gates, as they are called, and found the place clear of guards, he was elated, for he was greatly concerned lest troops might have occupied them before his arrival. The place is narrow and precipitous in character, so that it can be easily guarded by few troops. For two mountains lie against everyone, the one jagged and with great crags, and the other beginning right at the road itself, and it is the largest in those regions, bearing the name Amanus and extending along Phoenicia; and the space between the mountains, some three stades in length, has walls running its while length and gates closed to make a narrow passage. Now, after passing through the Gates without a fight, Cyrus sent off that part of the fleet that was still with him to make the return voyage to Ephesus, since it was of no further use to him now that he would be travelling inland. After a march of twenty days he arrived at the city of Thapsacus, which lies on the Euphrates River. Here he remained five days, and after winning the army to himself both by abundant supplies and by booty from foraging, he summoned it to an assembly and disclosed the truth about his campaign. When the soldiers received his words unfavourably, he besought them, one and all, not to leave him in the lurch, promising, besides other great rewards, that, when they came to Babylon, he would give every man of them five minas of silver. The soldiers, accordingly, soaring in their expectations, were prevailed upon to follow him. When Cyrus crossed the Euphrates with his army, he pressed on the way without making any halt, and as soon as he reached the borders of Babylonia he rested his troops.
§ 14.22
ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς Ἀρταξέρξης καὶ πάλαι μὲν ἦν παρὰ Φαρναβάζου πεπυσμένος ὅτι στρατόπεδον ἐπʼ αὐτὸν ἀθροίζει λάθρᾳ Κῦρος, καὶ τότε δὴ πυθόμενος αὐτοῦ τὴν ἀνάβασιν μετεπέμπετο τὰς πανταχόθεν δυνάμεις εἰς Ἐκβάτανα τῆς Μηδίας. ἐπεὶ δὲ αἵ τε παρʼ Ἰνδῶν καί τινων ἄλλων ἐθνῶν καθυστέρουν διὰ τὸ μακρὰν ἀφεστάναι τοὺς τόπους, μετὰ τῆς συναχθείσης στρατιᾶς ὥρμησεν ἀπαντήσων τῷ Κύρῳ. εἶχε δὲ τοὺς ἅπαντας στρατιώτας σὺν ἱππεῦσιν οὐκ ἐλάττους τετταράκοντα μυριάδων, καθά φησιν Ἔφορος. ὡς δʼ εἰς τὸ Βαβυλώνιον ἧκε πεδίον, παρὰ τὸν Εὐφράτην στρατοπεδείαν ἐβάλετο, διανοούμενος ἐν ταύτῃ καταλιπεῖν τὴν ἀποσκευήν· ἐπυνθάνετο γὰρ τοὺς πολεμίους οὐ μακρὰν ὄντας, καὶ τὸ παράβολον αὐτῶν τῆς τόλμης ὑπώπτευεν. ὀρύξας οὖν τάφρον τὸ μὲν πλάτος ποδῶν ἑξήκοντα, τὸ δὲ βάθος ποδῶν δέκα, περιέθηκε κύκλῳ τὰς συνακολουθούσας ἁρμαμάξας καθαπερεὶ τεῖχος. καταλιπὼν δʼ ἐν τῇ παρεμβολῇ τὴν ἀποσκευὴν καὶ τὸν ἀχρεῖον ὄχλον, ἐπὶ μὲν ταύτης ἱκανὴν φυλακὴν παρέστησεν, αὐτὸς δὲ τὴν δύναμιν εὔζωνον προαγαγὼν ἀπήντα τοῖς πολεμίοις ἐγγὺς ὑπάρχουσιν. ὁ δὲ Κῦρος ὡς εἶδε προϊοῦσαν τὴν τοῦ βασιλέως στρατιάν, εὐθὺς εἰς τάξεις κατέστησε τὸ σφέτερον στρατόπεδον. τὸ μὲν οὖν δεξιὸν κέρας παρὰ τὸν Εὐφράτην παρεκτεῖνον πεζοὶ μὲν ἐπεῖχον Λακεδαιμόνιοι καί τινες τῶν μισθοφόρων, ὧν ἁπάντων Κλέαρχος ὁ Λακεδαιμόνιος ἀφηγεῖτο· συνηγωνίζοντο δʼ αὐτῷ τῶν ἱππέων οἱ συναχθέντες ἀπὸ Παφλαγονίας, ὄντες ὑπὲρ τοὺς χιλίους· τὸ δὲ θάτερον μέρος ἐπεῖχον οἵ τʼ ἀπὸ Φρυγίας καὶ Λυδίας, ἔτι δὲ τῶν ἱππέων περὶ χιλίους, ὧν εἶχε τὴν ἡγεμονίαν Ἀριδαῖος. αὐτὸς δὲ ὁ Κῦρος ἐτέτακτο κατὰ μέσην τὴν φάλαγγα τοὺς κρατίστους ἔχων Περσῶν τε καὶ τῶν ἄλλων βαρβάρων ὡς μυρίους· προηγοῦντο δʼ αὐτῷ τῶν ἱππέων οἱ κάλλιστα διεσκευασμένοι χίλιοι, θώρακας ἔχοντες καὶ μαχαίρας Ἑλληνικάς. Ἀρταξέρξης δὲ πρὸ μὲν τῆς φάλαγγος πάσης ἔστησεν ἅρματα δρεπανηφόρα τὸν ἀριθμὸν οὐκ ὀλίγα· καὶ τῶν μὲν κεράτων Πέρσας ἡγεμόνας κατέστησε, κατὰ δὲ τὸ μέσον αὐτὸς ἐτάχθη τῶν ἐπιλέκτων ἔχων οὐκ ἐλάττους πεντακισμυρίων.
King Artaxerxes had learned some time before from Pharnabazus that Cyrus was secretly collecting an army to lead against him, and when he now learned that he was on the march, he summoned his armaments from every place to Ecbatana in Media. When the contingents from the Indians and certain other peoples were delayed because of the remoteness of those regions, he set out to meet Cyrus with the army that had been assembled. He had in all not less than four hundred thousand soldiers, including cavalry, as Ephorus states. When he arrived on the plain of Babylonia, he pitched a camp beside the Euphrates, intending to leave his baggage in it; for he had learned that the enemy was not far distant and he was apprehensive of their reckless daring. Accordingly he dug a trench sixty feet wide and ten deep and encircled the camp with the baggage-waggons of his train like a wall. Having left behind in the camp the baggage and the attendants who were of no use in the battle, he appointed an adequate guard for it, and leading forward in person his army unencumbered, he advanced to meet the enemy which was near at hand. When Cyrus saw the King's army advancing, he at once drew up his own force in battle order. The right wing, which rested on the Euphrates, was held by infantry composed of Lacedemonians and some of the mercenaries, all under the command of Clearchus the Lacedemonian, and helping him in the fight were the cavalry brought from Paphlagonia, more than a thousand. The left wing was held by the troops from Phrygia and Lydia and about a thousand of the cavalry, under the command of Aridaeus. Cyrus himself had taken a station in the centre of the battle-line, together with the choicest troops gathered from the Persians and the other barbarians, about ten thousand strong; and leading the van before him were the finest-equipped cavalry, a thousand, armed with Greek breastplates and swords. Artaxerxes stationed before the length of his battle-line scythe-bearing chariots in no small number, and the wings he put under command of Persians, while he himself took his position in the centre with no less than fifty thousand elite troops.
§ 14.23
ὡς δὲ τρεῖς σχεδὸν σταδίους ἀπεῖχον ἀλλήλων αἱ δυνάμεις, οἱ μὲν Ἕλληνες παιανίσαντες τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἡσυχῇ προῆγον· ὡς δʼ ἐντὸς βέλους ἦσαν, ἔθεον κατὰ πολλὴν σπουδήν. παρηγγελκὼς δʼ αὐτοῖς Κλέαρχος ὁ Λακεδαιμόνιος ἦν τοῦτο πράττειν· τὸ μὲν γὰρ ἐκ διαστήματος πολλοῦ μὴ τρέχειν ἤμελλεν ἀκεραίους τοῖς σώμασι τοὺς ἀγωνιζομένους τηρήσειν εἰς τὴν μάχην, τὸ δʼ ἐγγὺς ὄντας δρόμῳ προσιέναι τὰς τῶν τόξων βολὰς καὶ τῶν ἄλλων βελῶν ὑπερπετεῖς ἐδόκει ποιήσειν. ἐπεὶ δʼ ἤγγισαν οἱ μετὰ Κύρου τῷ τοῦ βασιλέως στρατοπέδῳ, τοσοῦτʼ ἐπʼ αὐτοὺς ἐρρίφη βελῶν πλῆθος, ὅσον εἰκός ἐστιν ἐκ δυνάμεως ἐνεχθῆναι συνεστώσης ἐκ μυριάδων τετταράκοντα. οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ βραχὺν χρόνον παντελῶς τοῖς παλτοῖς διαγωνισάμενοι, τὸ λοιπὸν ἐκ χειρὸς ἤδη τὴν μάχην συνίσταντο. Λακεδαιμόνιοι δὲ μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων μισθοφόρων εὐθὺς ἐκ τῆς πρώτης συστάσεως ἐξέπληξαν τοὺς ἀντιτεταγμένους βαρβάρους τῇ τε τῶν ὅπλων λαμπρότητι καὶ ταῖς εὐχειρίαις. ἐκεῖνοι μὲν γὰρ ἦσαν ὅπλοις τε μικροῖς ἐσκεπασμένοι καὶ τὰ πολλὰ τῶν ταγμάτων ἔχοντες ψιλικά, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις ἄπειροι τῶν κατὰ πόλεμον κινδύνων· οἱ δʼ Ἕλληνες διὰ τὸ μῆκος τοῦ Πελοποννησιακοῦ πολέμου κατὰ τὸ συνεχὲς ἐν μάχαις γεγενημένοι πολὺ ταῖς ἐμπειρίαις διέφερον. διόπερ εὐθὺ τρεψάμενοι τοὺς καθʼ αὑτοὺς ἐδίωκον, καὶ πολλοὺς τῶν βαρβάρων ἀνῄρουν. κατὰ δὲ μέσην τὴν τάξιν ἔτυχε μὲν ἀμφοτέρους τοὺς ὑπὲρ τῆς βασιλείας ἀγωνιζομένους ταχθῆναι· διὸ καὶ κατανοήσαντες τὸ γεγενημένον ὥρμησαν ἐπʼ ἀλλήλους, φιλοτιμούμενοι διʼ ἑαυτῶν κρῖναι τὴν μάχην· συνήγαγε γάρ, ὡς ἔοικεν, ἡ τύχη τὴν ὑπὲρ τῆς ἡγεμονίας τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς ἔριν εἰς μονομαχίαν καθάπερ εἰς ἀπομίμημα τῆς παλαιᾶς ἐκείνης καὶ τραγῳδουμένης τῆς περὶ τὸν Ἐτεοκλέα καὶ Πολυνείκην τόλμης. Κῦρος μὲν οὖν φθάσας ἐκ διαστήματος ἠκόντισε, καὶ τυχὼν τοῦ βασιλέως ἔσφηλεν αὐτὸν ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν· ὃν ταχέως οἱ περὶ αὐτὸν ἁρπάσαντες ἀπήνεγκαν ἐκ τῆς μάχης. καὶ τὴν μὲν τοῦ βασιλέως ἡγεμονίαν διαδεξάμενος Τισσαφέρνης ἀνὴρ Πέρσης παρεκάλει τε τὰ πλήθη καὶ αὐτὸς λαμπρῶς ἠγωνίζετο· ἀναμαχόμενος δὲ τὸ περὶ τὸν βασιλέα γεγονὸς ἐλάττωμα καὶ μετὰ τῶν ἐπιλέκτων ἐπὶ πάντα τόπον ἐπιφαινόμενος πολλοὺς ἀνῄρει τῶν ἀντιτεταγμένων, ὥστε τὴν ἐπιφάνειαν αὐτοῦ πόρρωθεν ὑπάρχειν ἐπίσημον. ὁ δὲ Κῦρος ἐπαρθεὶς τῷ προτερήματι τῶν περὶ αὐτὸν εἰς μέσους ἐβιάσατο τοὺς πολεμίους, καὶ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἀφειδῶς τῇ τόλμῃ χρώμενος πολλοὺς ἀνῄρει, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα προχειρότερον κινδυνεύων ὑπό τινος τῶν τυχόντων Περσῶν πληγεὶς ἐπικαίρως ἔπεσεν. τούτου δʼ ἀναιρεθέντος οἱ τοῦ βασιλέως πρὸς τὴν μάχην ἐπερρώσθησαν, καὶ τέλος τῷ τε πλήθει καὶ τῇ τόλμῃ κατεπόνησαν τοὺς ἀνθεστηκότας.
When the armies were about three stades apart, the Greeks struck up the paean and at first advanced at a slow pace, but as soon as they were within range of missiles they began to run at great speed. Clearchus the Lacedemonian had given orders for them to do this, for by not running from a great distance he had in mind to keep the fighters fresh in body for the fray, while if they advanced on the run when at close quarters, this, it was thought, would cause the missiles shot by bows and other means to fly over their heads. When the troops with Cyrus approached the King's army, such a multitude of missiles was hurled upon them as one could expect to be discharged from a host of four hundred thousand. Nevertheless, they fought but an altogether short time with javelin and then for the remainder of the battle closed hand to hand. The Lacedemonians and the rest of the mercenaries at the very first contact struck terror into the opposing barbarians both by the splendour of their arms and by the skill they displayed. For the barbarians were protected by small shields and their divisions were for the most part equipped with light arms; and, furthermore, they were without trial in the perils of war, whereas the Greeks had been in constant battle by reason of the length of the Peloponnesian War and were far superior in experience. Consequently they straightway put their opponents to flight, pushed after them in pursuit, and slew many of the barbarians. In the centre of the lines, it so happened, were stationed both the men who were contending for the kingship. Consequently, becoming aware of this fact, they made at each other, being eagerly desirous of deciding the issue of the battle by their own hands; for Fortune, it appears, brought the rivalry of the brothers over the throne to culmination in a duel as if in imitation of that ancient rash combat of Eteocles and Polyneices so celebrated in tragedy. Cyrus was the first to hurl his javelin from a distance, and striking the King, brought him to the ground; but the King's attendants speedily snatched him away and carried him out of the battle. Tissaphernes, a Persian noble, now succeeded to the supreme command held by the King, and not only rallied the troops but fought himself in splendid fashion; and retrieving the reverse involved in the wounding of the King and arriving on the scene everywhere his elite troops, he slew great numbers of the enemy, so that his presence was conspicuous from afar.7 Cyrus, being elated by the success of his forces, rushed boldly into the midst of the enemy and at first slew numbers of them as he set no bounds to his daring; but later, as he fought too imprudently, he was struck by a common Persian and fell mortally wounded. Upon his death the King's soldiers gained confidence for the battle and in the end, by virtue of numbers and daring, wore down their opponents.
§ 14.24
ἐκ δὲ θατέρου μέρους Ἀριδαῖος ὁ Κύρου σατράπης τεταγμένος ἐπὶ τῆς ἡγεμονίας τὸ μὲν πρῶτον εὐρώστως ἐδέξατο τοὺς ἐπιόντας βαρβάρους· μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τῆς φάλαγγος ἐπὶ πολὺ παρεκτεινούσης κυκλούμενος καὶ τὴν Κύρου τελευτὴν πυθόμενος, ἔφυγε μετὰ τῶν ἰδίων στρατιωτῶν πρός τινα τῶν ἰδίων σταθμῶν, ἔχοντα καταφυγὴν οὐκ ἀνεπιτήδειον. Κλέαρχος δὲ θεωρῶν τήν τε μέσην τάξιν καὶ τἄλλα μέρη τῶν συμμάχων τετραμμένα, τοῦ μὲν διώκειν ἀπέστη, τοὺς δὲ στρατιώτας ἀνακαλούμενος καθίστα· εὐλαβεῖτο γὰρ μήποτε πάσης τῆς δυνάμεως ἐπὶ τοὺς Ἕλληνας ἐλθούσης κυκλωθῶσι καὶ πάντες ἀπόλωνται. οἱ δὲ μετὰ τοῦ βασιλέως ταχθέντες ἐπειδὴ τὰ καθʼ αὑτοὺς ἐτρέψαντο, πρῶτον μὲν τὴν ἀποσκευὴν τοῦ Κύρου διήρπασαν, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ἤδη νυκτὸς ἐπελθούσης ἀθροισθέντες ἐπὶ τοὺς Ἕλληνας ὥρμησαν· ὧν δεξαμένων τὴν ἔφοδον εὐγενῶς, ὀλίγον μὲν χρόνον ὑπέμενον οἱ βάρβαροι, μετʼ ὀλίγον δὲ ταῖς τόλμαις καὶ ταῖς εὐχειρίαις νικώμενοι πρὸς φυγὴν ὥρμησαν. οἱ δὲ περὶ Κλέαρχον πολλοὺς τῶν βαρβάρων ἀνελόντες, ὡς ἤδη νὺξ ἦν, ἀναχωρήσαντες τρόπαιον ἔστησαν, καὶ περὶ δευτέραν σχεδὸν φυλακὴν ἔφθασαν εἰς τὴν παρεμβολήν. τῆς δὲ μάχης τοιοῦτον τέλος λαβούσης ἀνῃρέθησαν τῶν τοῦ βασιλέως πλείους τῶν μυρίων πεντακισχιλίων, ὧν τοὺς πλείστους ἀνεῖλον οἱ μετὰ Κλεάρχου ταχθέντες Λακεδαιμόνιοί τε καὶ μισθοφόροι. ἐκ δὲ θατέρου μέρους τῶν Κύρου στρατιωτῶν ἔπεσον περὶ τρισχιλίους· τῶν δὲ Ἑλλήνων φασὶν ἀναιρεθῆναι μὲν οὐδένα, τρωθῆναι δʼ ὀλίγους. τῆς δὲ νυκτὸς παρελθούσης Ἀριδαῖος ὁ πεφευγὼς εἰς τὸν σταθμὸν ἀπέστειλέ τινας πρὸς τὸν Κλέαρχον, παρακαλῶν πρὸς ἑαυτὸν ἀπαγαγεῖν τοὺς στρατιώτας καὶ κοινῇ διασώζεσθαι πρὸς τοὺς ἐπὶ θάλατταν τόπους· ἀνῃρημένου γὰρ Κύρου καὶ τῶν τοῦ βασιλέως δυνάμεων ὑπερεχουσῶν, ἀγωνία πολλὴ κατέσχε τοὺς τετολμηκότας ἐπὶ τῇ καταλύσει τῆς Ἀρταξέρξου βασιλείας στρατεύεσθαι.
On the other wing Aridaeus, who was second in command to Cyrus, at first withstood stoutly the charge of the barbarians, but later, since he was being encircled by the far-extended line of the enemy and had learned of Cyrus' death, he turned in flight with the soldiers under his command to one of the stations where he had once stopped, which was not unsuited as a place for retreat. Clearchus, when he observed that both the centre of his allies and the other part as well had been routed, stopped his pursuit, and calling back the soldiers, set them in order; for he feared that if the entire army should turn on the Greeks, they would be surrounded and slain to a man. The King's troops, after they had put their opponents to flight, first plundered Cyrus' baggage-train and then, when night had come on, gathered in force and set upon the Greeks; but when the Greeks met the attack valiantly, the barbarians withstood them only a short while and after a little turned in flight, being overcome by their deeds of valour and skill. The troops of Clearchus, when they had slain great numbers of the barbarians, since it was already night, returned to the battlefield and set up a trophy, and about the second watch got safe to their camp. Such was the outcome of the battle, and of the army of the King more than fifteen thousand were slain, most of whom fell at the hands of the Lacedemonians and mercenaries under the command of Clearchus. On the other side some three thousand of Cyrus' soldiers fell, while of the Greeks, we are told, not a man was slain, though a few were wounded. When the night was past, Aridaeus, who had fled to the stopping-place, dispatched messengers to Clearchus, urging him to lead his soldiers to him and to join him in making a safe return to the regions not sea. For now that Cyrus had been slain and the King's armaments held the advantage, deep concern had seized those who had dared to take the field to unset Artaxerxes from the throne.
§ 14.25
ὁ δὲ Κλέαρχος ἀνακαλεσάμενος τούς τε στρατηγοὺς καὶ τοὺς ἐφʼ ἡγεμονίας τεταγμένους ἐβουλεύετο περὶ τῶν παρόντων. ὄντων δʼ αὐτῶν περὶ ταῦτα παρεγενήθησαν παρὰ τοῦ βασιλέως πρέσβεις, ὧν ἦν ἀρχιπρεσβευτὴς ἀνὴρ Ἕλλην, ὄνομα μὲν Φάλυνος, γένος δὲ Ζακύνθιος. εἰσαχθέντες δʼ εἰς τὸ συνέδριον εἶπον, ὅτι λέγει ὁ βασιλεὺς Ἀρταξέρξης· Ἐπειδὴ νενίκηκα Κῦρον ἀποκτείνας, παράδοτε τὰ ὅπλα, καὶ πρὸς τὰς θύρας αὐτοῦ βαδίσαντες ζητεῖτε, πῶς ἂν αὐτὸν ἐκθεραπεύσαντες ἀγαθοῦ τινος μεταλάβητε. ῥηθέντων δὲ τούτων ἀπόκρισιν ἔδωκεν ἕκαστος τῶν στρατηγῶν τοιαύτην οἵαν Λεωνίδης, καθʼ ὃν καιρὸν περὶ Θερμοπύλας αὐτοῦ φυλάττοντος τὰς παρόδους Ξέρξης ἀπέστειλεν ἀγγέλους, κελεύων τῶν ὅπλων παραχωρῆσαι. καὶ γὰρ τότε Λεωνίδης εἶπεν ἀπαγγεῖλαι τῷ βασιλεῖ διότι νομίζομεν, κἂν φίλοι γενώμεθα τῷ Ξέρξῃ, μετὰ τῶν ὅπλων ὄντες ἀμείνους ἔσεσθαι σύμμαχοι, κἂν πολεμεῖν πρὸς αὐτὸν ἀναγκασθῶμεν, βέλτιον μετὰ τούτων ἀγωνιεῖσθαι. παραπλησίως δὲ καὶ τοῦ Κλεάρχου περὶ τούτων ἀποκριναμένου, Πρόξενος ὁ Θηβαῖος εἶπεν, ὅτι νῦν τὰ μὲν ἄλλα σχεδὸν ἀποβεβλήκαμεν, λέλειπται δʼ ἡμῖν ἥ τʼ ἀρετὴ καὶ τὰ ὅπλα. νομίζομεν οὖν, ἂν μὲν ταῦτα φυλάττωμεν, χρησίμην ἡμῖν ἔσεσθαι καὶ τὴν ἀρετήν, ἂν δὲ παραδῶμεν, οὐδὲ ταύτην ἡμῖν ἔσεσθαι βοηθόν. διόπερ ἐκέλευσε τῷ βασιλεῖ λέγειν, ὡς ἂν περὶ ἡμῶν κακόν τι βουλεύηται, διὰ τούτων πρὸς αὐτὸν διαγωνιούμεθα περὶ τῶν ἀγαθῶν τῶν ἐκείνου. λέγεται δὲ καὶ Σώφιλον τὸν ἐφʼ ἡγεμονίας τεταγμένον εἰπεῖν, ὅτι θαυμάζει τοὺς παρὰ τοῦ βασιλέως λόγους· εἰ μὲν γὰρ αὐτὸν δοκεῖ κρείσσονα τῶν Ἑλλήνων εἶναι, μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως ἐλθὼν λαβέτω τὰ παρʼ ἡμῶν ὅπλα· εἰ δὲ πείσας βούλεται, λεγέτω, τίνα χάριν ἡμῖν ἀντὶ τούτων ἀξίαν δώσει. μετὰ δὲ τούτους Σωκράτης Ἀχαιὸς εἶπεν, ὅτι λίαν αὐτοῖς ἐκπληκτικῶς ὁ βασιλεὺς προσφέρεται· ἃ μὲν γὰρ παρʼ ἡμῶν βούλεται λαβεῖν παραχρῆμʼ ἀπαιτεῖ, τὰ δʼ ἀντὶ τούτων δοθησόμενα μετὰ ταῦτʼ ἀξιοῦν προστάττει. καθόλου δʼ εἰ μὲν ἀγνοῶν τοὺς νενικηκότας ὡς ἡττημένους κελεύει τὸ προσταττόμενον ποιεῖν, μαθέτω ποτέρων ἐστὶν ἡ νίκη παραγενηθεὶς μετὰ τῆς πολυαρίθμου δυνάμεως· εἰ δὲ σαφῶς ἡμᾶς εἰδὼς νενικηκότας ψεύδεται, πῶς αὐτῷ περὶ τῶν εἰς ὕστερον ἐπαγγελιῶν πιστεύσομεν; —οἱ μὲν οὖν ἄγγελοι τοιαύτας ἀποκρίσεις λαβόντες ἐχωρίσθησαν· οἱ δὲ περὶ Κλέαρχον ἀνέζευξαν πρὸς τὸν σταθμόν, ὅπου τὸ διασεσωσμένον στρατόπεδον ἦν ἀνακεχωρηκός. εἰς ταὐτὸ δὲ πάσης τῆς δυνάμεως ἐλθούσης, περὶ τῆς ἐπὶ θάλατταν καταβάσεως ἐβουλεύοντο κοινῇ καὶ περὶ τῆς πορείας. ἔδοξεν οὖν αὐτοῖς μὴ τὴν αὐτὴν ἀναχώρησιν ᾗπερ ἦλθον ποιεῖσθαι· πολὺ γὰρ αὐτῆς ἦν ἔρημον, ἐν ᾧ τροφὰς οὐχ ὑπελάμβανον ἕξειν, δυνάμεως πολεμίας ἀκολουθούσης. γνόντες δʼ ἐπὶ Παφλαγονίας ἀναζευγνύειν, οὗτοι μὲν ὥρμησαν ἐπὶ Παφλαγονίαν μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως, κατὰ σχολὴν ὁδοιποροῦντες, ὡς ἂν ἅμα τὰς τροφὰς ποριζόμενοι·
Clearchus called together both the generals and commanders and took counsel with them on the situation. While they were discussing it, there came ambassadors from the King, the chief of whom was a man of Greece, Phalynus by name, who was a Zacynthian. They were introduced to the gathering and spoke as follows: "King Artaxerxes says: Since I have defeated and slain Cyrus, do you surrender your arms, come to my doors, and seek how you may appease me and gain some favour." To these words each general gave a reply much like that which Leonides made when he was guarding the Pass of Thermopylae, and Xerxes sent messengers ordering him to lay down his arms. For Leonides at that time instructed the messengers to report to the King: "We believe that if we become friends of Xerxes, we shall be better allies if we keep our arms, and if we are forced to wage war against him, we shall fight the better if we keep them." When Clearchus had made a somewhat similar reply to the message, Proxenus the Theban said, "As things now stand, we have lost practically everything else, and all that is left to us is our valour and our arms. It is my opinion, therefore, that if we guard our arms, our valour also will be useful to us, but if we give them up, then not even our valour will be of any help to us." Consequently he gave them this message to the King: "If you are plotting some evil against us, with our arms we will fight against you for your own possessions." We are told that also Sophilus, one of the commanders, said, "I am surprised at the words of the King; for if he believes that he is stronger than the Greeks, let him come with his army and take our arms away from us; but if he wishes to use persuasion, let him say what favour of equal worth he will grant us in exchange for them." After these speakers Socrates the Achaean said, "The King is certainly acting toward us in a most astounding fashion; for what he wishes to take from us he requires at once, while what will be given us in return he commands us to request of him at a later time. In a word, if it is in ignorance of who are the victors that he orders us to obey his command as though we had been defeated, let him come with his numerous host and find out on whose side the victory lies; but if, knowing well enough that we are the victors, he uses lying words, how shall we trust his later promises?" After the messengers had received these replies, they departed; and Clearchus marched to the stopping-place whither the troops had retired who had escaped from the battle. When the entire force had gathered in the same place, they counselled together how they should make their way back to the sea and what route they should take. Now it was agreed that they should not return by the same way they had come, since much of it was waste country where they could not expect provisions to be available with a hostile army on their heels. They resolved, therefore, to make toward Paphlagonia, and set out in that direction with the army, proceeding at a leisurely pace, since they gathered provisions as they marched.
§ 14.26
ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς βέλτιον ἔχων ἀπὸ τοῦ τραύματος, ὡς ἐπύθετο τὴν τῶν ἐναντίων ὑποχώρησιν, νομίσας αὐτοὺς φεύγειν, ὥρμησε μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως κατὰ σπουδήν. καταλαβὼν δʼ αὐτοὺς διὰ τὸ βραδέως ὁδοιπορεῖν, τότε μὲν ἤδη νυκτὸς οὔσης ἐγγὺς τὴν στρατοπεδείαν ἐποιήσατο, ἅμα δʼ ἡμέρᾳ διατασσόντων τῶν Ἑλλήνων τὸ στρατόπεδον εἰς μάχην, πέμψας τοὺς ἀγγέλους κατὰ μὲν τὸ παρὸν εἰς τρεῖς ἡμέρας ἀνοχὰς ἐποιήσατο· ἐν δὲ ταύταις συνεφώνησαν, ὥστε αὐτὸν μὲν φιλίαν παρασχέσθαι τὴν χώραν καὶ τοὺς ἡγησομένους ἐπὶ θάλατταν δοῦναι καὶ τοῖς διεξιοῦσιν ἀγορὰν παρέχειν, τοὺς δὲ μετὰ Κλεάρχου μισθοφόρους καὶ τοὺς μετʼ Ἀριδαίου πάντας πορεύεσθαι διὰ τῆς χώρας μηδὲν ἀδίκημα ποιοῦντας. μετὰ δὲ ταῦθʼ οὗτοι μὲν περὶ τὰς ὁδοιπορίας ἐγίνοντο, τὴν δὲ δύναμιν ὁ βασιλεὺς ἀπήγαγεν εἰς Βαβυλῶνα. ἐκεῖ δὲ τῶν κατὰ τὴν μάχην ἀνδραγαθησάντων κατʼ ἀξίαν ἕκαστον τιμήσας ἔκρινε πάντων ἄριστον γεγενῆσθαι Τισσαφέρνην. διὸ καὶ μεγάλαις αὐτὸν τιμήσας δωρεαῖς ἔδωκε τὴν ἑαυτοῦ θυγατέρα πρὸς συμβίωσιν, καὶ τὸ λοιπὸν διετέλει πιστότατον αὐτὸν ἔχων φίλον· ἔδωκε δʼ αὐτῷ καὶ τὴν ἡγεμονίαν ὧν Κῦρος ἐπὶ θαλάττης ἦρχε σατραπειῶν. ὁ δὲ Τισσαφέρνης θεωρῶν τὸν βασιλέα διʼ ὀργῆς ἔχοντα τοὺς Ἕλληνας, ἐπηγγείλατʼ αὐτῷ ἅπαντας ἀνελεῖν, ἐὰν αὐτῷ μὲν δυνάμεις δῷ, πρὸς δὲ Ἀριδαῖον διαλλαγῇ· προδοθήσεσθαι γὰρ ὑπὸ τούτου τοὺς Ἕλληνας κατὰ τὴν ὁδοιπορίαν. ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς ἀσμένως τοὺς λόγους δεξάμενος τούτῳ μὲν ἔδωκεν ἐξ ἁπάσης τῆς δυνάμεως ἐπιλέξαι τοὺς κρατίστους ὅσους προαιροῖτο. ἄλλοις γε ἡγεμόσιν ἐλθεῖν καὶ κατὰ πρόσωπον ἀκοῦσαι τῶν λόγων. διόπερ οἵ τε στρατηγοὶ σχεδὸν ἅπαντες μετὰ Κλεάρχου καὶ τῶν λοχαγῶν ὡς εἴκοσι πρὸς Τισσαφέρνην ἦλθον· καὶ στρατιωτῶν δὲ πρὸς ἀγορὰν ἐλθεῖν βουλομένων ἠκολούθησαν ὡς διακόσιοι. Τισσαφέρνης δὲ τοὺς μὲν στρατηγοὺς εἰς τὴν σκηνὴν ἐκάλεσεν, οἱ δὲ λοχαγοὶ πρὸς ταῖς θύραις διέτριβον. καὶ μετʼ ὀλίγον ἐκ τῆς Τισσαφέρνους σκηνῆς ἀρθείσης φοινικίδος ὁ μὲν τοὺς στρατηγοὺς ἔνδον συνέλαβε, τοὺς δὲ λοχαγοὺς οἷς ἦν συντεταγμένον ἐπελθόντες ἀνεῖλον, ἄλλοι δὲ τοὺς ἐπὶ τὴν ἀγορὰν ἥκοντας τῶν στρατιωτῶν ἀνῄρουν· ἐξ ὧν εἷς φυγὼν εἰς τὴν ἰδίαν παρεμβολὴν ἐδήλωσε τὴν συμφοράν.
The King was recovering from his wound, and when he learned that his opponents were withdrawing, he believed that they were in flight and set out in haste after them with his army. As soon as he had overtaken them because of their slow progress, for the moment, since it was night, he went into camp near them, and when day came and the Greeks were drawing up their army for battle, he sent messengers to them and for the time being agreed upon a truce of three days. During this period they reached the following agreement: The King would see that his territory was friendly to them; he would provide them guides for their journey to the sea and would supply them with provisions on the way; the mercenaries under Clearchus and all the troops under Aridaeus would pass through his territory without doing any injury. After this they started on their journey, and the King led his army off to Babylon. In that city he accorded fitting honours to everyone who had performed deeds of courage in the battle and judged Tissaphernes seem to have been the bravest of all. Consequently he honoured him with rich gifts, gave him his own daughter in marriage, and henceforth continued to hold him as his most trusted friend; and he also gave him the command which Cyrus had held over the satrapies on the sea. Tissaphernes, seeing that the King was angered at the Greeks, promised him that he would destroy them one and all, if the King would supply him with armaments and come to terms with Aridaeus, for he believed that Aridaeus would betray the Greeks to him in the course of the march. The King readily accepted this suggestion and allowed him to select from his entire army as many of the best troops as he chose. (When Tissaphernes caught up with the Greeks he sent word for Clearchus and the) rest of the commanders to come to him and hear what he had to say in person. Consequently, practically all the generals, together with Clearchus and some twenty captains, went to Tissaphernes, and of the common soldiers about two hundred, who wanted to go to market, accompanied them. Tissaphernes invited the generals into his tent and the captains waited at the entrance. And after a little, at the raising of a red flag from Tissaphernes' tent, he seized the generals within, certain appointed troops fell upon the captains and slew them, and others killed the soldiers who had come to the market. Of the last, one made his escape to the camp and disclosed the disaster that had befallen them.
§ 14.27
οἱ δὲ στρατιῶται πυθόμενοι τὰ γεγενημένα παρʼ αὐτὸν μὲν τὸν καιρὸν ἐξεπλάγησαν καὶ πάντες ἐχώρουν εἰς ὅπλα μετὰ πολλῆς ἀταξίας, ὡς ἂν ἀναρχίας οὔσης· μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα, οὐδενὸς αὐτοῖς παρενοχλοῦντος, εἵλοντο στρατηγοὺς μὲν πλείους, ἑνὶ δὲ τῶν ὅλων τὴν ἡγεμονίαν ἀπέδωκαν Χειρισόφῳ τῷ Λακεδαιμονίῳ. οὗτοι δὲ διατάξαντες τὸ στρατόπεδον εἰς τὴν ὁδοιπορίαν ὥς ποτʼ αὐτοῖς ἐδόκει κάλλιστα προῆγον ἐπὶ Παφλαγονίαν. Τισσαφέρνης δὲ τοὺς στρατηγοὺς δήσας ἀπέστειλε πρὸς Ἀρταξέρξην· ἐκεῖνος δὲ τοὺς μὲν ἄλλους ἀνεῖλε, Μένωνα δὲ μόνον ἀφῆκεν· ἐδόκει γὰρ μόνος οὗτος στασιάζων πρὸς τοὺς συμμάχους προδώσειν τοὺς Ἕλληνας. Τισσαφέρνης δὲ μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως ἐπακολουθῶν τοῖς Ἕλλησιν ἐξήπτετο, καὶ κατὰ στόμα μὲν οὐκ ἐτόλμα παρατάττεσθαι, φοβούμενος ἀπεγνωσμένων ἀνδρῶν θράσος καὶ ἀπόνοιαν, ἐν δὲ τοῖς εὐθέτοις τόποις παρενοχλῶν μεγάλῳ μὲν οὐδενὶ κακῷ περιβάλλειν αὐτοὺς ἠδύνατο, μικρὰ δὲ βλάπτων μέχρι τοῦ τῶν Καρδούχων καλουμένων ἔθνους ἐπηκολούθησεν. καὶ Τισσαφέρνης μὲν οὐδὲν ἔτι δυνάμενος πρᾶξαι, μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως ἐπʼ Ἰωνίας ἀνέζευξεν· οἱ δὲ Ἕλληνες ἐφʼ ἑπτὰ μὲν ἡμέρας διεπορεύοντο τὰ τῶν Καρδούχων ὄρη, πολλὰ κακὰ πάσχοντες ὑπὸ τῶν ἐγχωρίων ἀλκίμων τε ὄντων καὶ τῆς χώρας ἐμπείρων. ἦσαν δʼ οὗτοι πολέμιοι μὲν τοῦ βασιλέως, ἐλεύθεροι δὲ καὶ τὰ κατὰ πόλεμον ἀσκοῦντες, μάλιστα δʼ ἐκπονοῦντες σφενδόναις ὡς μεγίστους λίθους ἐμβάλλειν καὶ τοξεύμασιν ὑπερμεγέθεσι χρῆσθαι, διʼ ὧν τοὺς Ἕλληνας κατατιτρώσκοντες ἐξ ὑπερδεξίων τόπων πολλοὺς μὲν ἀνεῖλον, οὐκ ὀλίγους δὲ κακῶς διέθεσαν. τὰ γὰρ βέλη μείζω καθεστῶτα δυεῖν πηχῶν ἔδυνε διά τε τῶν ἀσπίδων καὶ θωράκων, ὥστε μηδὲν τῶν ὅπλων ἰσχύειν τὴν βίαν αὐτῶν ὑπομένειν· οὕτω γάρ φασι μεγάλοις κεχρῆσθαι οἰστοῖς, ὥστε τοὺς Ἕλληνας ἐναγκυλοῦντας τὰ ῥιπτόμενα βέλη τούτοις σαυνίοις χρωμένους ἐξακοντίζειν. διελθόντες οὖν τὴν προειρημένην χώραν ἐπιπόνως παρεγενήθησαν πρὸς τὸν Κεντρίτην ποταμόν· ὃν διαβάντες εἰσέβαλον εἰς τὴν Ἀρμενίαν. ταύτης δʼ ἦν σατράπης Τιρίβαζος, πρὸς ὃν σπεισάμενοι διεπορεύοντο τὴν χώραν ὡς φίλοι.
When the soldiers learned what had taken place, at the moment they were panic-stricken and all rushed to arms in great disorder, since there was no one to command; but after this, since no one disturbed them, they elected a number of generals and put the supreme command in the hands of one, Cheirisophus the Lacedemonian. The generals organized the army for the march on the route they thought best and proceeded toward Paphlagonia. Tissaphernes sent the generals in chains to Artaxerxes, who executed the others but spared Menon alone, since he alone, because of a quarrel with his allies, was thought to be ready to betray the Greeks. Tissaphernes, following with his army, clung to the Greeks, but he did not dare to meet them in battle face to face, fearing as he did the courage and recklessness of desperate men; and although he harassed them in places well suited for that purpose, he was unable to do them any great harm, but he followed them, causing slight difficulties, as far as the country of the people known as the Carduchi. Since Tissaphernes was unable to accomplish anything further, he set out with his army for Ionia; and the Greeks made their way for seven days through the mountains of the Carduchi, suffering greatly at the hands of the natives, who were a warlike people and well acquainted with the region. They were enemies of the King and a free people who practised the arts of war, and they especially trained themselves in hurling largest stones they could with slings and in the use of enormous arrows, with which missiles they inflicted wounds on the Greeks from advantageous positions, slaying many and seriously injuring not a few. For the arrows were more than two cubits long and pierced both the shields and breastplates, so that no armour could withstand their force; and these arrows they used were so large, we are told, that the Greeks wound thongs about those that had been shot and used them as javelins to hurl back. Now after they had traversed with difficulty the country we have mentioned, they arrived at the river Centrites, which they crossed, and entered Armenia. The satrap here was Tiribazus, with whom they made a truce and passed through his territory as friends.
§ 14.28
ὁδοιποροῦντες δὲ διὰ τῶν Ἀρμενίων ὀρῶν ἐλήφθησαν ὑπὸ χιόνος πολλῆς, καὶ παρεκινδύνευσαν ἀπολέσθαι πάντες. τοῦ γὰρ ἀέρος τεταραγμένου τὸ μὲν πρῶτον κατʼ ὀλίγον ἤρξατο χιὼν πίπτειν ἐκ τοῦ περιέχοντος, ὥστε τοὺς ὁδοιποροῦντας μηδὲν ἐμποδίζεσθαι τῆς εἰς τοὔμπροσθεν πορείας· μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα πνεύματος ἐπιγινομένου μᾶλλον αἰεὶ κατερρίπτετο καὶ τὴν χώραν ἐπεκάλυπτεν, ὥστε μηκέτι δύνασθαι μήτε τὰς ὁδοὺς μήτε ὁλοσχερῶς τὰς ἰδιότητας τῶν τόπων θεωρεῖσθαι. διόπερ ἀθυμία τὸ στρατόπεδον ὑπεδύετο καὶ δέος, ἀνακάμπτειν μὲν εἰς ἀπώλειαν οὐ βουλομένων, προάγειν δὲ διὰ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν χιόνων οὐ δυναμένων. τοῦ δὲ χειμῶνος ἐπίτασιν λαμβάνοντος ἐπεγενήθη πνευμάτων μέγεθος μετὰ πολλῆς χαλάζης, ὥστε τοῦ συρμοῦ κατὰ πρόσωπον ὄντος ἀναγκασθῆναι καθίσαι τὴν δύναμιν ἅπασαν· ἕκαστος γὰρ τὴν ἐκ τῆς ὁδοιπορίας κακοπάθειαν ὑπομένειν ἀδυνατῶν, οὗ ποτε τύχοι, μένειν ἠναγκάζετο. ἀποροῦντες δὲ πάντων τῶν ἀναγκαίων ἐκείνην μὲν τὴν ἡμέραν καὶ τὴν νύκτα διεκαρτέρουν ὑπαίθριοι, πολλοῖς συνεχόμενοι κακοῖς· διὰ γὰρ τὸ πλῆθος τῆς κατὰ τὸ συνεχὲς ἐκχεομένης χιόνος τά τε ὅπλα πάντα συνεκαλύφθη καὶ τὰ σώματα διὰ τὸν ἀπὸ τῆς αἰθρίας πάγον περιεψύχετο. διὰ δὲ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῶν κακῶν ὅλην τὴν νύκτα διηγρύπνουν· καὶ τινὲς μὲν πῦρ ἐκκαύσαντες τῆς ἀπὸ τούτου βοηθείας ἐτύγχανον, τινὲς δὲ περικαταληφθέντες ὑπὸ τοῦ πάγου τὰ σώματα πᾶσαν ἀπεγίνωσκον ἐπικουρίαν, τῶν ἀκρωτηρίων αὐτοῖς σχεδὸν ἁπάντων ἀπονεκρουμένων. διόπερ ὡς ἡ νὺξ διῆλθε, τῶν θʼ ὑποζυγίων τὰ πλεῖστα εὑρέθη διεφθαρμένα καὶ τῶν ἀνδρῶν πολλοὶ μὲν τετελευτηκότες, οὐκ ὀλίγοι δὲ τὴν μὲν ψυχὴν ἔχοντες ἔμφρονα, τὸ δὲ σῶμα διὰ τὸν πάγον ἀκίνητον· ἔνιοι δὲ καὶ τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ἐτυφλώθησαν διά τε τὸ ψῦχος καὶ τὴν ἀνταύγειαν τῆς χιόνος. καὶ τελείως ἂν ἅπαντες διεφθάρησαν, εἰ μὴ βραχὺ διελθόντες εὗρον κώμας γεμούσας τῶν ἐπιτηδείων. αὗται δὲ τὰς μὲν τοῖς ὑποζυγίοις καταβάσεις εἶχον ὀρυκτάς, τὰς δὲ τοῖς ἀνδράσι κατὰ κλιμάκων ταῖς οἰκίαις τά τε βοσκήματα τρεφόμενα χόρτῳ, τοῖς δʼ ἀνδράσι πολλὴν ἀφθονίαν πάντων τῶν πρὸς τὸ ζῆν ἀναγκαίων.
As they made their way through the mountains of Armenia they encountered a heavy snow and the entire army came near to perishing. What happened was this. At first, when the air was stirred, the snow began to fall in light quantities from the heavens, so that the marchers experienced no trouble in their advance; but after this a wind rose and it came down heavier and heavier and so covered the ground that not only the road but even any distinguishing landmarks could no longer be seen at all. Consequently despondency and fear seized the army, which was unwilling to turn back to certain destruction and unable to advance because of the heavy snow. As the storm increased in intensity, there came a great wind and heavy hail which beat in gusts on their faces and forced the entire army to come to a halt; for everyone, being unable to endure the hardship entailed in a further advance, was forced to remain wherever he happened to be. Although without supplies of any kind, they stuck it out under the open sky that day and the following night, beset by many hardships; for because of the heavy snow which kept continually falling, all their arms were covered and their bodies were completely chilled by the frost in the air. The hardships they endured were so great that they got no sleep the entire night. Some lighted fires and got some help from them, and some, whose bodies were invaded by the frost, gave up all hope of succour, since practically all their fingers and toes were mortifying. Accordingly, when the night was past, it was found that most of the baggage animals had perished, and of the soldiers many were dead and not a few, though still conscious, could not move their bodies because of the frost; and the eyes of some were blinded by reason of the cold and the glare from the snow. And every man would certainly have perished had they not gone on a little farther and found villages full of supplies. These villages had entrances for the beasts of burden which were tunnelled under the ground and others for the human inhabitants who descended into them by ladders . . . and in the houses the animals were supplied with hay, while the human inhabitants enjoyed a great abundance of all the necessities of life.
§ 14.29
ἐμμείναντες δὲ ταῖς κώμαις ἡμέρας ὀκτὼ παρεγενήθησαν πρὸς τὸν Φᾶσιν ποταμόν. ἐκεῖ δὲ τέτταρας ἡμέρας διανύσαντες διεπορεύοντο τὴν Χάων καὶ Φασιανῶν χώραν. ἐπιθεμένων δʼ αὐτοῖς τῶν ἐγχωρίων, τούτους μὲν ἐν τῇ μάχῃ νικήσαντες πολλοὺς ἀνεῖλον, αὐτοὶ δὲ καταλαμβάνοντες τὰς τῶν ἐγχωρίων κτήσεις γεμούσας ἀγαθῶν ἐνδιέτριψαν ἐν αὐταῖς ἡμέρας πεντεκαίδεκα. ἀναζεύξαντες δʼ ἐκεῖθεν διῆλθον τὴν Χαλδαίων καλουμένων χώραν ἐν ἡμέραις ἑπτά, καὶ παρεγενήθησαν πρὸς τὸν Ἅρπαγον ὀνομαζόμενον ποταμόν, ὄντα τὸ πλάτος πλέθρων τεττάρων. ἐντεῦθεν δὲ διὰ τῆς Σκυτίνων πορευόμενοι διῆλθον ὁδὸν πεδινήν, ἐν ᾗ τρεῖς ἡμέρας αὑτοὺς ἀνέλαβον, εὐποροῦντες ἁπάντων τῶν ἀναγκαίων. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτʼ ἀναζεύξαντες τεταρταῖοι παρεγενήθησαν πρὸς πόλιν μεγάλην Γυμνασίαν ὀνομαζομένην. ἐκ δὲ ταύτης ὁ τῶν τόπων τούτων ἀφηγούμενος ἐσπείσατο πρὸς αὐτοὺς καὶ τοὺς ὁδηγήσοντας ἐπὶ θάλατταν συνέστησεν. ἐν ἡμέραις δὲ πεντεκαίδεκα παραγενόμενοι ἐπὶ τὸ Χήνιον ὄρος, ὡς εἶδον πορευόμενοι οἱ πρῶτοι τὴν θάλατταν, περιχαρεῖς ἦσαν καὶ τοιαύτην ἐποίουν κραυγήν, ὥστε τοὺς ἐπὶ τῆς οὐραγίας ὄντας ὑπολαμβάνοντας πολεμίων ἔφοδον εἶναι χωρεῖν εἰς ὅπλα. ὡς δʼ ἅπαντες ἀνέβησαν ἐπὶ τὸν τόπον, ἐξ οὗ τὴν θάλατταν ἦν ὁρᾶν, τοῖς θεοῖς ἀνατείναντες τὰς χεῖρας ηὐχαρίστουν ὡς ἤδη διασεσωσμένοι· συνενέγκαντες δʼ εἰς ἕνα τόπον λίθους παμπληθεῖς, καὶ ποιήσαντες ἐξ αὐτῶν ἀναστήματα μεγάλα, σκῦλα τῶν βαρβάρων ἀνέθεσαν, βουλόμενοι τῆς στρατείας ἀθάνατον ὑπόμνημα καταλιπεῖν. καὶ τῷ μὲν ὁδηγήσαντι φιάλην ἀργυρᾶν καὶ στολὴν Περσικὴν ἐδωρήσαντο· ὃς δείξας αὐτοῖς τὴν ἐπὶ Μάκρωνας ὁδὸν ἀπηλλάγη. οἱ δʼ Ἕλληνες εἰσβαλόντες εἰς τὴν τῶν Μακρώνων χώραν ἐσπείσαντο, καὶ πρὸς πίστιν παρὰ μὲν ἐκείνων λόγχην ἔλαβον βαρβαρικήν, αὐτοὶ δʼ Ἑλληνικὴν ἔδωκαν· ταῦτα γὰρ ἔφασαν αὑτοῖς οἱ βάρβαροι διὰ προγόνων παραδεδόσθαι πρὸς πίστιν βεβαιότατα. ὡς δὲ τοὺς τούτων ὅρους διῆλθον, παρεγενήθησαν εἰς τὴν τῶν Κόλχων χώραν. εἰς ἣν ἀθροισθέντων τῶν ἐγχωρίων ἐπʼ αὐτούς, τούτους μὲν κρατήσαντες μάχῃ πολλοὺς ἀνεῖλαν, αὐτοὶ δὲ λόφον ὀχυρὸν καταλαβόμενοι τὴν χώραν ἐπόρθουν, καὶ τὰς ὠφελείας εἰς τοῦτον ἀθροίσαντες ἀφθόνως ἑαυτοὺς ἀνελάμβανον.
After they had remained in the villages eight days, they went on to the river Phasis. Here they passed four days and then made their way through the territory of the Chaoi and the Phasians. When the natives attacked them, they defeated them in battle, slaying great numbers of them, seized their farms, which abounded in provisions, and spent fifteen days on them. Continuing their advance from here, they then traversed the territory of the Chaldaeans, as they are called, in seven days and arrived at the river named Harpagus, which was four plethra wide. From here their advance brought them through the territory of the Scytini by a road across a plain, on which they refreshed themselves for three days, enjoying all the necessities of life in plenty. After this they set out and on the fourth day arrived at a large city which bore the name of Gymnasia. Here the ruler of these regions concluded a truce with them and furnished them guides to lead them to the sea. Arriving in fifteen days at Mt. Chenium, when the men marching in the van caught sight of the sea, they were overjoyed and raised such a cry that the men in the rear, assuming that there was an attack by enemies, rushed to arms. But when they had all got up to the place from which the sea could be seen, they raised their hands to the gods and gave thanks, believing they had now come through to safety; and gathering together into one spot a great number of stones, they formed from them great cairns on which they set up as a dedication spoils taken from the barbarians, wishing to leave an eternal memorial of their expedition. To the guide they gave as presents a silver bowl and a suit of Persian raiment; and he, after pointing out to them the road to the Macronians, took his departure. The Greeks then entered the territory of the Macronians with whom they concluded a truce, receiving from them as a pledge of good faith a spear used by these barbarians and giving them in return a Greek one; for the barbarians declared that such an exchange had been handed down to them from their forefathers as the surest pledge of good faith. When they had crossed the boundaries of this people, they arrived at the territory of the Colchians. When the natives gathered here against them, the Greeks overcame them in battle and slew great numbers of them, and then, seizing a strong position on a hill, they pillaged the territory, gathered their booty not hill, and refreshed themselves plentifully.
§ 14.30
εὑρίσκετο δὲ καὶ σμήνη παμπληθῆ περὶ τοὺς τόπους, ἐξ ὧν πολυτελῆ προσεφέρετο κηρία. τούτων δʼ οἱ γευσάμενοι παραλόγῳ περιέπιπτον συμπτώματι· οἱ γὰρ μεταλαβόντες αὐτῶν ἄφρονες ἐγίνοντο καὶ πίπτοντες ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν ὅμοιοι τοῖς τετελευτηκόσιν ὑπῆρχον. πολλῶν δὲ φαγόντων διὰ τὴν γλυκύτητα τῆς ἀπολαύσεως, ταχὺ τὸ πλῆθος ἐγεγόνει τῶν πεπτωκότων οἱονεὶ τροπῆς ἐν πολέμῳ γεγενημένης. ἐκείνην μὲν οὖν τὴν ἡμέραν ἠθύμησεν ἡ δύναμις, καταπεπληγμένη τό τε παράδοξον καὶ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν ἠτυχηκότων· τῇ δʼ ὑστεραίᾳ περὶ τὴν αὐτὴν ὥραν ἅπαντες ἑαυτοὺς ἀνελάμβανον καὶ κατʼ ὀλίγον ἀνακτώμενοι τὸ φρονεῖν ἀνέστησαν, καὶ τὸ σῶμα διετέθησαν ὁμοίως τοῖς ἐκ φαρμακοποσίας διασωθεῖσιν. ὡς δʼ ἀνέλαβον ἑαυτοὺς ἐν τρισὶν ἡμέραις, ἐπορεύθησαν εἰς Τραπεζοῦντα πόλιν Ἑλληνίδα, Σινωπέων μὲν ἄποικον, κειμένην δʼ ἐν τῇ Κόλχων χώρᾳ. ἐνταῦθα δὲ διατρίψαντες ἡμέρας τριάκοντα, παρὰ μὲν τοῖς ἐγχωρίοις λαμπρῶς ἐξενίσθησαν, αὐτοὶ δὲ τῷ τε Ἡρακλεῖ καὶ Διὶ σωτηρίῳ θυσίαν ἐποίησαν καὶ γυμνικὸν ἀγῶνα, καθʼ ὃν τόπον φασὶ προσπλεῦσαι τὴν Ἀργὼ καὶ τοὺς περὶ Ἰάσονα. ἐκεῖθεν δὲ Χειρίσοφον μὲν τὸν ἀφηγούμενον ἀπέστειλαν εἰς Βυζάντιον ἐπὶ πλοῖα καὶ τριήρεις· ἔλεγε γὰρ εἶναι φίλος Ἀναξιβίῳ τῷ Βυζαντίων ναυάρχῳ. τοῦτον μὲν οὖν ἐπὶ κέλητος ἐξέπεμψαν· λαβόντες δὲ τῶν ἐπικώπων δύο πλοιάρια παρὰ τῶν Τραπεζουντίων, ἐλῄστευον τοὺς περιοικοῦντας βαρβάρους καὶ κατὰ γῆν καὶ κατὰ θάλατταν. ἐφʼ ἡμέρας μὲν οὖν τριάκοντα περιέμειναν τὸν Χειρίσοφον· ὡς δʼ ἐκεῖνος ἐβράδυνεν, αἱ δὲ τροφαὶ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἐσπάνιζον, ἀνέζευξαν ἐκ Τραπεζοῦντος, καὶ τριταῖοι παρεγενήθησαν εἰς Κερασοῦντα πόλιν Ἑλληνίδα, Σινωπέων ἄποικον. ἐν ταύτῃ δὲ ἡμέρας διατρίψαντές τινας παρεγενήθησαν εἰς τὸ τῶν Μοσυνοίκων ἔθνος. τῶν δὲ βαρβάρων συστραφέντων ἐπʼ αὐτοὺς ἐκράτησαν μάχῃ καὶ πολλοὺς ἀνεῖλον. συμφυγόντων δʼ εἴς τι χωρίον, ἐν ᾧ κατῴκουν ἑπτωρόφους ἔχοντες ξυλίνους πύργους, συνεχεῖς προσβολὰς ποιησάμενοι κατὰ κράτος εἷλαν. ἦν δὲ τὸ χωρίον τοῦτο μητρόπολις τῶν ἄλλων ἐρυμάτων, ἐν ᾧ καὶ ὁ βασιλεὺς αὐτῶν κατῴκει τὸν ὑψηλότατον τόπον ἔχων. ἔθος δʼ ἔχει πάτριον μένειν ἐν αὐτῷ τὸν πάντα βίον, κἀκεῖθεν διαδιδόναι τοῖς ὄχλοις τὰ προστάγματα. βαρβαρώτατον δʼ ἔφασαν οἱ στρατιῶται τοῦτο διεληλυθέναι τὸ ἔθνος, καὶ ταῖς μὲν γυναιξὶν αὐτοὺς πλησιάζειν ἁπάντων ὁρώντων, τοὺς δὲ παῖδας τῶν πλουσιωτάτων τρέφεσθαι καρύοις ἑφθοῖς, ἅπαντας δʼ ἐκ παιδὸς στίγμασι τόν τε νῶτον καὶ τὰ στήθη καταπεποικίλθαι. ταύτην μὲν οὖν τὴν χώραν ἐν ἡμέραις ὀκτὼ διεπορεύθησαν, τὴν δʼ ἐχομένην ἐν τρισίν, ἣν ἐκάλουν Τιβαρηνήν.
There were found in the regions great numbers of beehives which yielded valuable honey. But as many as partook of it succumbed to a strange affliction; for those who ate it lost consciousness, and falling on the ground were like dead men. Since many consumed the honey because of the pleasure its sweetness afforded, such a number had soon fallen to the ground as if they had suffered a rout in war. Now during that day the army was disheartened, terrified as it was at both the strange happening and the great number of the unfortunates; but on the next day at about the same hour all came to themselves, gradually recovered their senses, and rose up from the ground, and their physical state was like that of men recovered after a dose of a drug. When they had refreshed themselves for three days, they marched on to the Greek city of Trapezus, which is a colony of the Sinopians and lies in the territory of the Colchians. Here they spent thirty days, during which they were most magnificently entertained by the inhabitants; and they offered sacrifices to Heracles and to Zeus the Deliverer and held a gymnastic contest at the place at which, men say, the Argo put in with Jason and his men. From here they dispatched Cheirisophus their commander to Byzantium to get transports and triremes, since he claimed to be a friend of Anaxibius, the admiral of the Byzantines. The Greeks sent him off on a light boat, and then, receiving from the Trapezians two small boats equipped with oars, they plundered the neighbouring barbarians both by land and by sea. Now for thirty days they waited for the return of Cheirisophus, and when he still delayed and provisions for the troops were running low, they set out from Trapezus and arrived on the third day at the Greek city of Cerasus, a colony of the Sinopians. Here they spent some days and then came to the people of the Mosynoecians. When the barbarians assembled against them, the Greeks defeated them in battle, slaying great numbers of them. And when they fled for refuge to a stronghold where they had their dwelling and which they defended with wooden towers seven stories high, the Greeks launched successive assaults upon it and took it by storm. This stronghold was the capitol of all the other walled communities and in it, in the loftiest part, their king had his dwelling. A custom, handed down from their fathers, is followed that the king must remain for his entire life in the stronghold and from it issue his commands to the people. This was the most barbarous nation, the soldiers said, that they passed through: the men have intercourse with the women in the sight of all; the children of the wealthiest are nourished on boiled nuts; and they are all from their youth tattooed in various colours on both their back and breast. The territory they passed through in eight days and the next country, called Tibarene, in three.
§ 14.31
κἀκεῖθεν εἰς Κοτύωρα πόλιν παρεγενήθησαν Ἑλληνίδα, Σινωπέων ἄποικον. ἐν ταύτῃ δὲ πεντήκονθʼ ἡμέρας διέτριψαν τοὺς περιοίκους τῆς Παφλαγονίας τε καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους βαρβάρους λῃστεύοντες. Ἡρακλεῶται δὲ καὶ Σινωπεῖς ἀπέστειλαν αὐτοῖς πλοῖα, διʼ ὧν αὐτοί τε καὶ τὰ σκευοφόρα διεκομίσθησαν. ἡ δὲ Σινώπη Μιλησίων μὲν ἦν ἄποικος, κειμένη δʼ ἐν τῇ Παφλαγονίᾳ μέγιστον εἶχεν ἀξίωμα τῶν περὶ τοὺς τόπους· ἐν ᾗ δὴ καθʼ ἡμᾶς ἔσχε Μιθριδάτης ὁ πρὸς Ῥωμαίους διαπολεμήσας τὰ μέγιστα βασίλεια. παρεγενήθη δὲ καὶ ἐνταῦθα Χειρίσοφος ὁ πρὸς τὰς τριήρεις ἀπεσταλμένος ἄπρακτος. οὐ μὴν ἀλλʼ οἱ Σινωπεῖς φιλοφρόνως αὐτοὺς ξενίσαντες ἀπέπεμψαν αὐτοὺς κατὰ θάλατταν εἰς Ἡράκλειαν, Μεγαρέων ἄποικον· καὶ καθωρμίσθη πᾶς ὁ στόλος πρὸς τὴν Ἀχερουσίαν χερρόνησον, ὅπου φασὶν Ἡρακλέα τὸν ἐξ ᾅδου Κέρβερον ἀναγαγεῖν. ἐκεῖθεν δὲ πεζῇ διὰ Βιθυνίας πορευόμενοι κινδύνοις περιέπιπτον, τῶν ἐγχωρίων ἐξαπτομένων κατὰ τὴν πορείαν. μόγις οὖν διεσώθησαν εἰς Χρυσόπολιν τῆς Χαλκηδονίασοἱ περιλειφθέντες ἀπὸ μυρίων ὀκτακισχίλιοι τριακόσιοι. ἐκεῖθεν δὲ ῥᾳδίως ἤδη τὸ λοιπὸν τινὲς μὲν διεσώθησαν εἰς τὰς πατρίδας, οἱ δὲ λοιποὶ περὶ τὴν Χερρόνησον ἀθροισθέντες ἐπόρθουν τὴν παρακειμένην Θρᾳκῶν χώραν. ἡ μὲν οὖν ἐπʼ Ἀρταξέρξην Κύρου στρατεία τοιοῦτον ἔσχε τὸ τέλος.
From there they arrived at Cotyora, a Greek city and a colony of the Sinopians. Here they spent fifty days, plundering both the neighbouring peoples of Paphlagonia and the other barbarians. And the citizens of Heracleia and Sinope sent them vessels on which both the soldiers and their pack-animals were conveyed across. Sinope was a colony founded by the Milesians, and situated as it was in Paphlagonia, it held first place among the cities of those regions; and it was in this city that in our day Mithridates, who went to war with the Romans, had his largest palace. And at that city also arrived Cheirisophus, who had been dispatched without success to get triremes. Nevertheless, the Sinopians entertained them in kindly fashion and sent them on their way by sea to Heracleia, a colony of the Megarians; and the entire fleet came to anchor at the peninsula of Acherusia, where, we are told, Heracles led up Cerberus from Hades. As they proceeded from there on foot through Bithynia they fell among perils, as the natives skirmished with them along their route. So they barely made their way to safety to Chrysopolis in Chalcedonia, eight thousand three hundred surviving of the original ten thousand. From there some of the Greeks got back in safety, without further trouble, to their native lands, and the rest banded together around the Chersonesus and laid waste the adjoining territory of the Thracians. Such, then, was the outcome of the campaign of Cyrus against Artaxerxes.
§ 14.32
οἱ δʼ ἐν ταῖς Ἀθήναις δυναστεύοντες τριάκοντα τύραννοι καθʼ ἡμέραν οὐκ ἐπαύοντο τοὺς μὲν φυγαδεύοντες, τοὺς δὲ ἀναιροῦντες. τῶν δὲ Θηβαίων ἀγανακτούντων ἐπὶ τοῖς γινομένοις καὶ φιλοφρόνως τοὺς φυγάδας ὑποδεχομένων, Θρασύβουλος Στιριεὺς ὀνομαζόμενος, ὢν Ἀθηναῖος, ὑπὸ δὲ τῶν τριάκοντα πεφυγαδευμένος, συνεργούντων αὐτῷ λάθρᾳ τῶν Θηβαίων κατελάβετο τῆς Ἀττικῆς χωρίον ὀνομαζόμενον Φυλήν. ἦν δὲ τὸ φρούριον ὀχυρόν τε σφόδρα καὶ τῶν Ἀθηνῶν ἀπέχον σταδίους ἑκατόν, ὥστε πολλὰς ἀφορμὰς αὐτοῖς παρέχεσθαι πρὸς τὴν ἔφοδον. οἱ δὲ τριάκοντα τύραννοι πυθόμενοι τὸ γεγονός, τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἐξήγαγον ἐπʼ αὐτοὺς τὴν δύναμιν ὡς πολιορκήσοντες τὸ χωρίον· πλησίον δὲ τῆς Φυλῆς αὐτῶν στρατοπεδευόντων ἐπεγενήθη πολὺς νιφετός. καί τινων ἐπιχειρησάντων μετασκηνοῦν, οἱ πολλοὶ φεύγειν αὐτοὺς ὑπέλαβον καὶ πλησίον τινὰ πολεμίαν δύναμιν εἶναι· ἐμπεσόντος δὲ εἰς τὸ στρατόπεδον θορύβου τοῦ καλουμένου Πανικοῦ μετεστρατοπέδευσαν εἰς ἕτερον τόπον. οἱ δὲ τριάκοντα θεωροῦντες τοὺς πολίτας ἐν Ἀθήναις, ὅσοι μὴ μετεῖχον τῆς τῶν τρισχιλίων πολιτείας, μετεώρους ὄντας πρὸς τὴν κατάλυσιν τῆς δυναστείας, μετῴκισαν αὐτοὺς εἰς τὸν Πειραιᾶ, καὶ τοῖς ξενικοῖς ὅπλοις διακατεῖχον τὴν πόλιν· Ἐλευσινίους δὲ καὶ Σαλαμινίους αἰτιασάμενοι τὰ τῶν φυγάδων φρονεῖν, ἅπαντας ἀνεῖλον. τούτων δὲ πραττομένων πολλοὶ τῶν φυγάδων συνέρρεον πρὸς τοὺς περὶ Θρασύβουλον φανερῶς μὲν περί τινων αἰχμαλώτων διαλεξόμενοι, λάθρᾳ δὲ συμβουλεύειν αὐτῷ διαλῦσαι τὸ συνεστηκὸς φυγαδικὸν καὶ μεθʼ ἑαυτῶν τῆς πόλεως δυναστεύειν ἀντὶ Θηραμένους προσαιρεθέντα, λαβεῖν δʼ ἐξουσίαν δέκα τῶν φυγάδων οὓς ἂν προαιρῆται κατάγειν εἰς τὴν πατρίδα. ὁ μὲν Θρασύβουλος ἔφησε προκρίνειν τὴν ἑαυτοῦ φυγὴν τῆς τῶν τριάκοντα δυναστείας, καὶ τὸν πόλεμον οὐ καταλύσειν, εἰ μὴ πάντες οἱ πολῖται κατέλθωσι καὶ τὴν πάτριον πολιτείαν ὁ δῆμος ἀπολάβῃ. οἱ δὲ τριάκοντα θεωροῦντες πολλοὺς μὲν ἀφʼ ἑαυτῶν ἀφισταμένους διὰ τὸ μῖσος, τοὺς δὲ φυγάδας ἀεὶ πλείους γινομένους, ἀπέστειλαν εἰς Σπάρτην πρέσβεις περὶ βοηθείας, αὐτοὶ δʼ ὅσους ἠδύναντο πλείστους ἀθροίσαντες ἐν ὑπαίθρῳ περιεστρατοπέδευσαν περὶ τὰς ὀνομαζομένας Ἀχαρνάς.
In Athens the Thirty Tyrants, who were in supreme control, made no end out of daily exiling some citizens and putting to death others. When the Thebans were displeased at what was taking place and extended kindly hospitality to the exiles, Thrasybulus of the deme of Stiria, as he was called, who was an Athenian and had been exiled by the Thirty, with the secret aid of the Thebans seized a stronghold in Attica called Phyle. This was an outpost, which was not only very strong but was also only one hundred stades distant from Athens, so that it afforded them many advantages for attack. The Thirty Tyrants, on learning of this act, at first led forth their troops against the band with the intention of laying siege to the stronghold. But while they were encamped near Phyle there came a heavy snow, and when some set to work to shift their encampment, the majority of the soldiers assumed that they were taking to flight and that a hostile force was at hand; and the uproar which men call Panic struck the army and they removed their camp to another place. The Thirty, seeing that those citizens of Athens who enjoyed no political rights in the government of the three thousand were elated at the prospect of the overthrow of their control of the state, transferred them to Peiraeus and maintained their control of the city by means of mercenary troops; and accusing the Eleusinians and Salaminians of siding with the exiles, they put them all to death. While these things were being done, many of the exiles flocked to Thrasybulus; (and the Thirty dispatched ambassadors to Thrasybulus) publicly to treat with him about some prisoners, but privately to advise him to dissolve the band of exiles and to associate himself with the Thirty in the rule of the city, taking the place of Theramenes; and they promised further that he could have licence to restore to their native land any ten exiles he chose. Thrasybulus replied that he preferred his own state of exile to the rule of the Thirty and that he would not end the war unless all the citizens returned from exile and the people got back the form of government they had received from their fathers. The Thirty, seeing many revolting from them because of hatred and the exiles growing ever more numerous, dispatched ambassadors to Sparta for aid, and meanwhile themselves gathered as many troops as they could and pitched a camp in the open country near Acharnae, as it is called.
§ 14.33
ὁ δὲ Θρασύβουλος τὴν ἱκανὴν φυλακὴν τοῦ χωρίου καταλιπὼν ἐξήγαγε τοὺς φυγάδας, ὄντας χιλίους καὶ διακοσίους· ἐπιθέμενος δὲ τῇ τῶν ἐναντίων παρεμβολῇ νυκτὸς ἀπροσδοκήτως καὶ συχνοὺς ἀποκτείνας, τοὺς ἄλλους διὰ τὸ παράδοξον ἐξέπληξε καὶ φυγεῖν εἰς Ἀθήνας ἠνάγκασεν. μετὰ δὲ τὴν μάχην ὁ Θρασύβουλος εὐθὺς μὲν ὥρμησεν ἐπὶ τὸν Πειραιᾶ καὶ κατελάβετο τὴν Μουνυχίαν, λόφον ἔρημον καὶ καρτερόν, οἱ δὲ τύραννοι τῇ δυνάμει πάσῃ καταβάντες εἰς τὸν Πειραιᾶ προσέβαλον τῇ Μουνυχίᾳ, Κριτίου τὴν ἡγεμονίαν ἔχοντος. ἐπὶ πολὺν δὲ χρόνον τῆς μάχης καρτερᾶς γενομένης, οἱ μὲν τύραννοι τοῖς πλήθεσιν ὑπερεῖχον, οἱ δὲ φυγάδες τῇ τῶν τόπων ὀχυρότητι. τέλος δὲ Κριτίου πεσόντος οἱ μετὰ τῶν τριάκοντα κατεπλάγησαν καὶ πρὸς τοὺς ὁμαλωτέρους τόπους κατέφυγον, οὐ τολμώντων τῶν φυγάδων εἰς ἐκείνους καταβαίνειν. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα συχνῶν ἀφισταμένων πρὸς τοὺς φυγάδας, οἱ περὶ τὸν Θρασύβουλον ἐξαίφνης ἐπέθεντο τοῖς ἐναντίοις, καὶ μάχῃ κρατήσαντες ἐκυρίευσαν τοῦ Πειραιῶς. εὐθὺ δὲ πολλοὶ μὲν τῶν ἐκ τῆς πόλεως ἐπιθυμοῦντες ἀπαλλαγῆναι τῆς τυραννίδος συνέρρεον εἰς τὸν Πειραιᾶ, πάντες δʼ οἱ κατὰ τὰς πόλεις διερριμμένοι φυγάδες ἀκούοντες τὰ προτερήματα τῶν περὶ Θρασύβουλον, ἧκον εἰς Πειραιᾶ, καὶ τὸ λοιπὸν ἤδη πολὺ ταῖς δυνάμεσιν οἱ φυγάδες ὑπερεῖχον· διὸ καὶ πολιορκεῖν τὴν πόλιν ἐπεχείρησαν. οἱ δʼ ἐν ταῖς Ἀθήναις τοὺς μὲν τριάκοντα τῆς ἀρχῆς παύσαντες ἐκ τῆς πόλεως ἐξέπεμψαν, δέκα δʼ ἄνδρας κατέστησαν αὐτοκράτορας, εἰ δύναιντο, μάλιστα φιλικῶς διαλύεσθαι τὸν πόλεμον. οὗτοι δὲ παραλαβόντες τὴν ἀρχὴν τούτων μὲν ἠμέλησαν, ἑαυτοὺς δὲ τυράννους ἀποδείξαντες ἀπὸ Λακεδαίμονος τετταράκοντα ναῦς μετεπέμψαντο καὶ στρατιώτας χιλίους, ὧν ἦρχε Λύσανδρος. Παυσανίας δὲ ὁ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων βασιλεύς, φθονῶν μὲν τῷ Λυσάνδρῳ, θεωρῶν δὲ τὴν Σπάρτην ἀδοξοῦσαν παρὰ τοῖς Ἕλλησιν, ἀνέζευξε μετὰ δυνάμεως πολλῆς, καὶ παραγενηθεὶς εἰς Ἀθήνας διήλλαξε τοὺς ἐν τῇ πόλει πρὸς τοὺς φυγάδας. διόπερ Ἀθηναῖοι μὲν ἐκομίσαντο τὴν πατρίδα καὶ τὸ λοιπὸν τοῖς ἰδίοις νόμοις ἐπολιτεύοντο, τοῖς δʼ εὐλαβουμένοις, μή τι πάθωσι διὰ τὰ γενόμενα κατὰ τὸ συνεχὲς αὐτῶν ἀδικήματα, τὴν Ἐλευσῖνα κατοικεῖν συνεχώρησαν.
Thrasybulus, leaving behind an adequate guard at the stronghold, led forth the exiles, twelve hundred in number, and delivering an unexpected attack by night on the camp of his opponents, he slew a large number of them, struck terror into the rest by his unexpected move, and forced them to flee to Athens. After the battle Thrasybulus set out straightway for the Peiraeus and seized Munychia, which was an uninhabited and strong hill; and the Tyrants with all the troops at their disposal went down to the Peiraeus and attacked Munychia, under the command of Critias. In the sharp battle which continued for a long time the Thirty held the advantage in numbers and the exiles in the strength of their position. At last, however, when Critias fell, the troops of the Thirty were dismayed and fled for safety to more level ground, the exiles not daring to come down against them. When after this great numbers went over to the exiles, Thrasybulus made an unexpected attack upon his opponents, defeated them in battle, and became master of the Peiraeus. At once many of the inhabitants of the city who wished to be rid of the tyranny flocked to the Peiraeus and all the exiles who were scattered throughout the cities of Greece, on hearing of the successes of Thrasybulus, came to the Peiraeus, so that from now on the exiles were far superior in force. In consequence they began to lay siege to the city. The remaining citizens in Athens now removed the Thirty from office and sent them out of the city, and then they elected ten men with supreme power first and foremost to put an end to the war, in any way possible, on friendly terms. But these men, as soon as they had succeeded to office, paid no attention to these orders, but established themselves as tyrants and sent to Lacedemon for forty warships and a thousand soldiers, under the command of Lysander. But Pausanias, the king of the Lacedemonians, being jealous of Lysander and observing that Sparta was in ill repute among the Greeks, marched forth with a strong army and on his arrival in Athens brought about a reconciliation between the men in the city and the exiles. As a result the Athenians got back their country and henceforth conducted their government under laws of their own making; and the men who lived in fear of punishment for their unbroken series of past crimes they allowed to make their home in Eleusis.
§ 14.34
Ἠλεῖοι δὲ φοβηθέντες τὴν τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων ὑπεροχήν, κατέλυσαν τὸν πρὸς αὐτοὺς πόλεμον, ἐφʼ ᾧ τὰς τριήρεις δοῦναι Λακεδαιμονίοις καὶ τὰς περιοικούσας πόλεις αὐτονόμους ἀφεῖναι. Λακεδαιμόνιοι δὲ καταλελυκότες τοὺς πολέμους καὶ σχολὴν ἔχοντες ἐστράτευσαν ἐπὶ Μεσσηνίους, ὧν οἱ μὲν ἐν Κεφαλληνίᾳ φρούριόν τι κατῴκουν, οἱ δὲ Ναύπακτον ἐν τοῖς προσεσπερίοις λεγομένοις Λοκροῖς, δόντων Ἀθηναίων. ἐκβαλόντες δʼ αὐτοὺς ἐκ τῶν τόπων ἀπέδωκαν τὰ φρούρια, τὸ μὲν τοῖς τὴν Κεφαλληνίαν οἰκοῦσι, τὸ δὲ τοῖς Λοκροῖς. οἱ δὲ Μεσσήνιοι διὰ τὸ παλαιὸν πρὸς τοὺς Σπαρτιάτας μῖσος πανταχόθεν ἐλαυνόμενοι, μετὰ τῶν ὅπλων ἀπηλλάγησαν ἐκ τῆς Ἑλλάδος, καὶ τινὲς μὲν αὐτῶν πλεύσαντες εἰς Σικελίαν ἐγένοντο Διονυσίου μισθοφόροι, τινὲς δʼ εἰς Κυρήνην ἔπλευσαν, περὶ τρισχιλίους ὄντες, καὶ μετὰ τῶν ἐκεῖ φυγάδων ἐτάχθησαν. οἱ γὰρ Κυρηναῖοι κατʼ ἐκεῖνον τὸν καιρὸν ἐν ταραχῇ καθειστήκεισαν, Ἀρίστωνος καί τινων ἑτέρων κατειληφότων τὴν πόλιν. προσφάτως μὲν πεντακόσιοι οἱ δυνατώτατοι τῶν Κυρηναίων ἀνῄρηντο, τῶν δʼ ἄλλων ἐπεφεύγεισαν οἱ χαριέστατοι. οὐ μὴν ἀλλʼ οἱ φυγάδες προσλαμβανόμενοι τοὺς Μεσσηνίους παρετάξαντο πρὸς τοὺς τὴν πόλιν κατειληφότας, καὶ τῶν μὲν Κυρηναίων πολλοὶ παρʼ ἀμφοτέροις ἔπεσον, οἱ δὲ Μεσσήνιοι σχεδὸν ἅπαντες ἀνῃρέθησαν. μετὰ δὲ τὴν παράταξιν οἱ Κυρηναῖοι πρὸς ἀλλήλους διαπρεσβευσάμενοι διηλλάγησαν, καὶ παραχρῆμα ὁρκωμοτήσαντες μὴ μνησικακήσειν, κοινῇ τὴν πόλιν κατῴκησαν. περὶ δὲ τοὺς αὐτοὺς χρόνους Ῥωμαῖοι προσέθηκαν οἰκήτορας εἰς τὰς ὀνομαζομένας Οὐελίτρας.
The Eleians, because they stood in fear of the superior strength of the Lacedemonians, brought the war with them to an end, agreeing that they would surrender their triremes to the Lacedemonians and let the neighbouring cities go free. And the Lacedemonians, now that they had brought their wars to an end and were no longer concerned with them, advanced with their army against the Messenians, of whom some were settled in an outpost on Cephallenia and others in Naupactus, which the Athenians had given them, among the western Locrians. Driving the Messenians from these regions, they returned the one outpost to the inhabitants of Cephallenia and the other to the Locrians. The Messenians, being now driven from every place because of their ancient hatred of the Spartans, departed with their arms from Greece, and some of them, sailing to Sicily, took service as mercenaries with Dionysius, while others, about three thousand in number, sailed to Cyrene and joined the forces of exiles there. For at that time disorder had broken out among the Cyrenaeans, since Ariston, together with certain others, had seized the city. Of the Cyrenaeans, five hundred of the most influential citizens had recently been put to death and the most respected among the survivors had been banished. The exiles now added the Messenians to their number and joined battle with the men who had seized the city, and many of the Cyrenaeans were slain on both sides, but the Messenians were killed almost to a man. After the battle the Cyrenaeans negotiated with each other and agreed to be reconciled, and they immediately swore oaths not to remember past injuries and lived together as one body in the city. At this same time the Romans increased the number of colonists in the city known as Velitrae.
§ 14.35
τοῦ δʼ ἔτους τούτου διελθόντος Ἀθήνησι μὲν ἦρχε Λάχης, ἐν δὲ τῇ Ῥώμῃ τὴν ὕπατον ἀρχὴν διῴκουν χιλίαρχοι, Μάνιος Κλώδιος, Μάρκος Κοΐντιος, Λεύκιος Ἰούλιος, Μάρκος Φούριος, ΛεύκιοσΟὐαλέριος, ἐγενήθη δὲ καὶ Ὀλυμπιὰς πέμπτη πρὸς ταῖς ἐνενήκοντα, καθʼ ἣν ἐνίκα στάδιον Μίνως Ἀθηναῖος. κατὰ δὲ τούτους τοὺς χρόνους Ἀρταξέρξης μὲν ὁ τῆς Ἀσίας βασιλεὺς καταπεπολεμηκὼς Κῦρον ἀπεστάλκει Τισσαφέρνην παραληψόμενον πάσας τὰς ἐπὶ θαλάττῃ σατραπείας. διόπερ οἱ Κύρῳ συμμαχήσαντες σατράπαι καὶ πόλεις ἐν ἀγωνίᾳ πολλῇ καθειστήκεισαν, μήποτε δῶσι τιμωρίαν ὑπὲρ ὧν ἐξήμαρτον εἰς τὸν βασιλέα. οἱ μὲν οὖν ἄλλοι σατράπαι διαπρεσβευσάμενοι πρὸς Τισσαφέρνην ἐξεθεράπευον καὶ τὰ καθʼ αὑτοὺς ἐτίθεντο πρὸς αὐτόν, ὅπως ποτʼ ἦσαν δυνατοί· Ταμὼς δέ, μέγιστος ὢν αὐτῶν καὶ τῆς Ἰωνίας ἀφηγούμενος, εἰς τὰς τριήρεις ἐνέθετο τὰ χρήματα καὶ τοὺς υἱοὺς ἅπαντας πλὴν ἑνὸς τοῦ καλουμένου μὲν Γλοῦ, μετὰ δέ τινας χρόνους ἀφηγησαμένου τῶν βασιλικῶν δυνάμεων. εὐλαβηθεὶς οὖν ὁ Ταμὼς τὸν Τισσαφέρνην ἀπῆρεν εἰς Αἴγυπτον μετὰ τοῦ στόλου, καὶ κατέφυγε πρὸς Ψαμμήτιχον τὸν βασιλέα τῶν Αἰγυπτίων, ἀπόγονον ὄντα τοῦ Ψαμμητίχου. οὔσης δʼ αὐτῷ προγεγενημένης εὐεργεσίας εἰς τὸν βασιλέα, διελάμβανε τοῦτον ἕξειν οἷόν τινα λιμένα τῶν ἀπὸ τοῦ βασιλέως κινδύνων. ὁ δὲ Ψαμμήτιχος τήν τε εὐεργεσίαν καὶ τὸ πρὸς τοὺς ἱκέτας ὅσιον παρʼ οὐδὲν ἡγησάμενος ἀπέσφαξε τὸν ἱκέτην καὶ φίλον μετὰ τῶν τέκνων,ὅπως τῶν τε χρημάτων καὶ τοῦ στόλου γένηται κύριος. αἱ δὲ κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν Ἑλληνίδες πόλεις πυνθανόμεναι τὴν τοῦ Τισσαφέρνους κατάβασιν, περὶ σφῶν ἀγωνιῶσαι πρὸς Λακεδαιμονίους ἔπεμψαν πρέσβεις, δεόμεναι μὴ περιιδεῖν ἑαυτὰς ὑπὸ τῶν βαρβάρων ἀναστάτους γινομένας. οἱ δὲ Λακεδαιμόνιοι βοηθήσειν ἐπαγγειλάμενοι, πρὸς Τισσαφέρνην ἔπεμψαν πρέσβεις τοὺς ἐροῦντας μὴ ὅπλα πολέμια ἐπιφέρειν ταῖς Ἑλληνίσι πόλεσιν. Τισσαφέρνης δὲ μετὰ δυνάμεως ἐπὶ πρώτην ἐλθὼν τὴν Κυμαίων πόλιν τήν τε χώραν ἐπόρθησεν ἅπασαν καὶ πολλῶν αἰχμαλώτων ἐγκρατὴς ἐγένετο· μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα συγκλείσας αὐτοὺς εἰς πολιορκίαν, ὡς ὁ μὲν χειμὼν συνήγγισε, τὴν δὲ πόλιν ἑλεῖν οὐκ ἠδύνατο, τοὺς αἰχμαλώτους πολλῶν χρημάτων ἀπελύτρωσε καὶ τὴν πολιορκίαν ἔλυσεν.
At the close of this year, in Athens Laches was archon and in Rome the consulship was administered by military tribunes, Manius Claudius, Marcus Quinctius, Lucius Julius, Marcus Furius, and Lucius Valerius; and the Ninety-fifth Olympiad was held, that in which Minos of Athens won the "stadion." This year Artaxerxes, the King of Asia, after his defeat of Cyrus, had dispatched Tissaphernes to take over all the satrapies which bordered on the sea. Consequently the satraps and cities which had allied themselves with Cyrus were in great suspense, lest they should be punished for their offences against the King. Now all the other satraps, sending ambassadors to Tissaphernes, paid court to him and in every way possible arranged their affairs to suit him; but Tamos, the most powerful satrap, who commanded Ionia, put on triremes his possessions and all his sons except one whose name was Glos and who became later commander of the King's armaments. Tamos then, in fear of Tissaphernes, sailed off with his fleet to Egypt and sought safety with Psammetichus, the king of the Egyptians, who was a descendant of the famous Psammetichus. Because of a good turn he had done the king in the past, Tamos believed that he would find in him a haven, as it were, from the perils he faced from the King of Persia. But Psammetichus, completely ignoring both the good turn and the hallowed obligation due to suppliants, put to the sword the man who was his suppliant and friend, together with his children, in order to take for his own both Tamos' possessions and his fleet. When the Greek cities of Asia learned that Tissaphernes was on his way, they were deeply concerned for their future and dispatched ambassadors to the Lacedemonians, begging them not to allow the cities to be laid waste by the barbarians. The Lacedemonians promised to come to their aid and sent ambassadors to Tissaphernes to warn him not to commit any acts of aggression against the Greek cities. Tissaphernes, however, advancing with his army against the city of the Cymaeans first, both plundered its entire territory and got possession of many captives; after this he laid siege to the Cymaeans, but on the approach of winter, since he was unable to capture the city, he released the captives for a heavy ransom and raised the siege.
§ 14.36
Λακεδαιμόνιοι δὲ ἐπὶ τὸν πρὸς βασιλέα πόλεμον Θίβρωνα καταστήσαντες ἡγεμόνα χιλίους μὲν τῶν πολιτῶν ἔδωκαν, παρὰ δὲ τῶν συμμάχων ἐκέλευσαν στρατολογεῖν ὅσους ἂν αὐτῷ φαίνηται συμφέρειν. ὁ δὲ Θίβρων πορευθεὶς εἰς Κόρινθον, κἀκεῖ παρὰ τῶν συμμάχων μεταπεμψάμενος στρατιώτας, ἐξέπλευσεν εἰς Ἔφεσον ἔχων οὐ πλείους πεντακισχιλίων. ἐκεῖ δὲ ἔκ τε τῶν ἰδίων πόλεων καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ὡς δισχιλίους καταγράψας, ἀνέζευξε τοὺς πάντας ἔχων πλείους ἑπτακισχιλίων. διελθὼν δʼ ὡς ἑκατὸν εἴκοσι σταδίους πρὸς Μαγνησίαν ἧκεν, ἧς ἦρχε Τισσαφέρνης· ταύτην δʼ ἐξ ἐφόδου παραλαβών, καὶ ταχέως ἐπὶ Τράλλεις τῆς Ἰωνίας πορευθείς, ἐπεχείρησε πολιορκεῖν τὴν πόλιν· οὐδὲν δὲ δυνάμενος πρᾶξαι διʼ ὀχυρότητα, πάλιν εἰς Μαγνησίαν ἀπεχώρησεν. ταύτης δʼ οὔσης ἀτειχίστου, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο φοβούμενος μήποτε χωρισθέντος αὐτοῦ κυριεύσῃ τῆς πόλεως ὁ Τισσαφέρνης, μετῴκισεν αὐτὴν πρὸς τὸ πλησίον ὄρος, ὃ καλοῦσι Θώρακα· αὐτὸς δʼ ἐμβαλὼν εἰς τὴν τῶν πολεμίων χώραν τοὺς στρατιώτας ἐνέπλησε παντοίας ὠφελείας. Τισσαφέρνους δὲ μετὰ πολλῆς ἵππου παραγενομένου διευλαβηθεὶς ἀνέστρεψεν εἰς Ἔφεσον.
The Lacedemonians appointed Thibron commander of the war against the King, gave him a thousand soldiers from their own citizens, and ordered him to enlist as many troops from their allies as he should think desirable. Thibron, after going to Corinth and summoning soldiers from the allies to that city, set sail for Ephesus with not more than five thousand troops. Here he enrolled some two thousand soldiers from his own and other cities and then marched forth with a total force of over seven thousand. Advancing some one hundred and twenty stades, he came to Magnesia which was under the government of Tissaphernes; taking this city at the first assault, he then advanced speedily to Tralles in Ionia and began to lay siege to the city, but when he was unable to achieve any success because of its strong position, he turned back to Magnesia. And since the city was unwalled and Thibron therefore feared that at his departure Tissaphernes would get control of it, he transferred it to a neighbouring hill which men call Thorax; then Thibron, invading the territory of the enemy, glutted his soldiers with booty of every kind. But when Tissaphernes arrived with strong cavalry forces, he withdrew for security to Ephesus.
§ 14.37
περὶ δὲ τὸν αὐτὸν χρόνον τῶν ἐστρατευμένων μετὰ Κύρου καὶ διασωθέντων εἰς τὴν Ἑλλάδα τινὲς μὲν εἰς τὰς ἰδίας πατρίδας ἀπηλλάγησαν, οἱ δὲ πλεῖστοι στρατιωτικὸν εἰθισμένοι ζῆν βίον, καὶ σχεδὸν ὄντες πεντακισχίλιοι, στρατηγὸν αὑτῶν εἵλαντο Ξενοφῶντα. ὃς ἀναλαβὼν τὴν δύναμιν ὥρμησε πολεμήσων Θρᾷκας τοὺς περὶ τὸν Σαλμυδησσὸν οἰκοῦντας· οὗτος δʼ ἔστι μὲν ἐπʼ ἀριστερᾷ τοῦ Πόντου, παρεκτείνων δʼ ἐπὶ πολὺ πλεῖστα ποιεῖ ναυάγια. οἱ μὲν οὖν Θρᾷκες εἰώθεισαν περὶ τούτους τοὺς τόπους ἐφεδρεύοντες τοὺς ἐκπίπτοντας τῶν ἐμπόρων αἰχμαλωτίζειν· ὁ δὲ Ξενοφῶν μετὰ τῶν συνηθροισμένων στρατιωτῶν ἐμβαλὼν αὐτῶν εἰς τὴν χώραν μάχῃ τε ἐνίκησε καὶ τὰς πλείστας τῶν κωμῶν ἐνέπρησεν· μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Θίβρωνος αὐτοὺς μεταπεμπομένου καὶ μισθοὺς ἐπαγγελλομένου δώσειν, πρὸς ἐκεῖνον ἀπεχώρησαν καὶ μετὰ Λακεδαιμονίων ἐπολέμουν τοῖς Πέρσαις. τούτων δὲ πραττομένων Διονύσιος μὲν ἐν τῇ Σικελίᾳ πόλιν ἔκτισεν ὑπʼ αὐτὸν τὸν τῆς Αἴτνης λόφον, καὶ ἀπό τινος ἐπιφανοῦς ἱεροῦ προσηγόρευσεν αὐτὴν Ἄδρανον. κατὰ δὲ τὴν Μακεδονίαν Ἀρχέλαος ὁ βασιλεὺς ἔν τινι κυνηγίῳ πληγεὶς ἀκουσίως ὑπὸ Κρατεροῦ τοῦ ἐρωμένου τὸν βίον μετήλλαξε, βασιλεύσας ἔτη ἑπτά· τὴν δʼ ἀρχὴν διεδέξατο Ὀρέστης παῖς ὤν, ὃν ἀνελὼν Ἀέροπος ἐπίτροπος ὢν κατέσχε τὴν βασιλείαν ἔτη ἕξ. Ἀθήνησι δὲ Σωκράτης ὁ φιλόσοφος ὑπʼ Ἀνύτου καὶ Μελήτου κατηγορηθεὶς ἐπʼ ἀσεβείᾳ καὶ φθορᾷ τῶν νέων, θανάτῳ κατεδικάσθη καὶ πιὼν κώνειον ἐτελεύτησεν. ἀδίκου δὲ τῆς κατηγορίας γεγενημένης ὁ δῆμος μετεμελήθη, τηλικοῦτον ἄνδρα θεωρῶν ἀνῃρημένον· διόπερ τοὺς κατηγορήσαντας διʼ ὀργῆς εἶχε καὶ τέλος ἀκρίτους ἀπέκτεινεν.
At this same time a group of the soldiers who had served in the campaign with Cyrus and had got back safe to Greece went off each to his own country, but the larger part of them, about five thousand in number, since they had become accustomed to the life of a soldier, chose Xenophon for their general. And Xenophon with this army set out to make war on the Thracians who dwell around Salmydessus. The territory of this city, which lies on the left side of the Pontus, stretches for a great distance and is the cause of many shipwrecks. Accordingly the Thracians made it their practice to lie in wait in those parts and seize the merchants who were cast ashore as prisoners. Xenophon with the troops he had gathered invaded their territory, defeated them in battle, and burned most of their villages. After this, when Thibron sent for the soldiers with the promise to hire them, they withdrew to join him and made war with the Lacedemonians against the Persians. While these events were taking place, Dionysius founded in Sicily a city just below the crest of Mount Aetne and named it Adranum, after a certain famous temple. In Macedonia King Archelaus was unintentionally struck while hunting by Craterus, whom he loved, and met his end, after a reign of seven years. He was succeeded on the throne by Orestes, who was still a boy and was slain by Aeropus, his guardian, who held the throne for six years. In Athens Socrates the philosopher, who was accused by Anytus and Meletus of impiety and of corrupting the youth, was condemned to death and met his end by drinking the hemlock. But since the accusation had been undeserved, the people repented, considering that so great a man had been put to death; consequently they were angered at the accusers and ultimately put them to death without trial.
§ 14.38
τοῦ δʼ ἐνιαυσίου χρόνου διεληλυθότος Ἀθήνησι μὲν τὴν ἀρχὴν Ἀριστοκράτης παρέλαβεν, ἐν Ῥώμῃ δὲ τὴν ὑπατικὴν ἀρχὴν ἓξ χιλίαρχοι διεδέξαντο, Γάιος Σερουίλιος καὶ Λούκιος Οὐεργίνιος, Κόιντος Σουλπίκιος, Αὖλος Μουτίλιος, Μάνιος Σέργιος. τούτων δὲ τὴν ἀρχὴν παρειληφότων Λακεδαιμόνιοι πυθόμενοι τὸν Θίβρωνα κακῶς διοικοῦντα τὰ κατὰ τὸν πόλεμον, Δερκυλίδαν στρατηγὸν εἰς τὴν Ἀσίαν ἐξέπεμψαν· ὃς παραλαβὼν τὴν δύναμιν ἐστράτευσεν ἐπὶ τὰς ἐν τῇ Τρῳάδι πόλεις. Ἁμάξιτον μὲν οὖν καὶ Κολώνας καὶ Ἀρίσβαν εἷλεν ἐξ ἐφόδου· μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Ἴλιον καὶ Κεβρηνίαν καὶ τὰς ἄλλας ἁπάσας τὰς κατὰ τὴν Τρῳάδα ἃς μὲν δόλῳ παρέλαβεν, ἃς δʼ ἐκ βίας ἐχειρώσατο. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα πρὸς Φαρνάβαζον ὀκταμηνιαίους ἀνοχὰς ποιησάμενος, ἐστράτευσεν ἐπὶ Θρᾷκας τοὺς περὶ Βιθυνίαν τότε κατοικοῦντας· πορθήσας δʼ αὐτῶν τὴν χώραν ἀπήγαγε τὴν δύναμιν εἰς παραχειμασίαν. ἐν Ἡρακλείᾳ δὲ τῇ περὶ Τραχῖνα στάσεως γενομένης, Ἡριππίδαν ἐξέπεμψαν Λακεδαιμόνιοι καταστήσοντα τὰ πράγματα. ὃς παραγενόμενος εἰς Ἡράκλειαν συνήγαγεν εἰς ἐκκλησίαν τὰ πλήθη, καὶ περιστήσας αὐτοῖς ὁπλίτας συνέλαβε τοὺς αἰτίους καὶ πάντας ἀνεῖλεν, ὄντας περὶ πεντακοσίους. τῶν δὲ περὶ τὴν Οἴτην κατοικούντων ἀποστάντων ἐπολέμησεν αὐτοῖς, καὶ πολλοῖς περιβαλὼν κακοῖς ἠνάγκασεν ἐκλιπεῖν τὴν χώραν· ὧν οἱ πλεῖστοι μετὰ τῶν τέκνων καὶ γυναικῶν ἔφυγον εἰς Θεσσαλίαν, καὶ μετὰ πέντε ἔτη κατήχθησαν ὑπὸ Βοιωτῶν. τούτων δὲ πραττομένων Θρᾷκες πολλοῖς πλήθεσιν ἐνέβαλον εἰς τὴν Χερρόνησον, καὶ τὴν χώραν πᾶσαν πορθήσαντες τειχήρεις συνεῖχον τὰς ἐν αὐτῇ πόλεις. οἱ δὲ Χερρονησῖται πιεζόμενοι τῷ πολέμῳ μετεπέμψαντο Δερκυλίδαν τὸν Λακεδαιμόνιον ἐκ τῆς Ἀσίας. οὗτος δὲ διαβὰς μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως τοὺς μὲν Θρᾷκας ἐξήλασεν ἐκ τῆς χώρας, τὴν δὲ Χερρόνησον ἀπὸ θαλάττης ἀρξάμενος μέχρι θαλάττης διετείχισεν. τοῦτο δὲ πράξας τοὺς μὲν Θρᾷκας ἐκώλυσε τῆς εἰς τὸν μετὰ ταῦτα χρόνον καταδρομῆς, αὐτὸς δὲ μεγάλαις δωρεαῖς τιμηθεὶς διεβίβασε τὸ στρατόπεδον εἰς τὴν Ἀσίαν.
At the end of the year in Athens Aristocrates entered the office of archon and in Rome the consular magistracy was taken over by six military tribunes, Gaius Servilius, Lucius Verginius, Quintus Sulpicius, Aulus Mutilius, and Manius Sergius. After these magistrates had entered office the Lacedemonians, learning that Thibron was conducting the war inefficiently, dispatched Dercylidas as general to Asia; and he took over the army and advanced against the cities in the Troad. Now Hamaxitus and Colonae and Arisba he took at the first assault, then Ilium and Cerbenia and all the rest of the cities of the Troad, occupying some by craft and conquering the others by force. After this he concluded an armistice of eight months with Pharnabazus and advanced against the Thracians who were dwelling at that time in Bithynia; and after laying waste their territory he led his army off into winter quarters. In Trachinian Heracleia civil discord had arisen and the Lacedemonians sent Herippidas there to restore order. As soon as Herippidas arrived in Heracleia he called an assembly of the people, and surrounding them with his hoplites, he arrested the authors of the discord and put them all to death, some five hundred in number. And since the inhabitants about Oite had revolted, he made war on them, subjected them to many hardships, and forced them to leave their land. The majority of them, together with their children and wives, fled into Thessaly, from where they were restored to their homes five years later by the Boeotians. While these events were taking place, the Thracians invaded the Chersonesus in great multitudes, laid waste the whole region, and held its cities beleaguered. The inhabitants of the Chersonesus, being hard pressed in the war, sent for the Lacedemonian Dercylidas to come from Asia. He, crossing over with his army, drove the Thracians out of the country and shut off the Chersonesus by a wall which he ran from sea to sea. By this act he prevented any future descent of the Thracians; and after being honoured with great gifts he transported his army of the Asia.
§ 14.39
Φαρνάβαζος δὲ τῶν πρὸς Λακεδαιμονίους ἀνοχῶν γενομένων ἀνέβη πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα, καὶ συνέπεισεν αὐτὸν στόλον ἑτοιμάσαι καὶ ναύαρχον ἐπιστῆσαι Κόνωνα τὸν Ἀθηναῖον· οὗτος γὰρ ἦν ἔμπειρος τῶν κατὰ πόλεμον ἀγώνων, καὶ μάλιστα τῶν πολεμίων· πολεμικώτατος δʼ ὢν ἐν Κύπρῳ διέτριβε παρʼ Εὐαγόρᾳ τῷ βασιλεῖ. πεισθέντος δὲ τοῦ βασιλέως, Φαρνάβαζος λαβὼν ἀργυρίου τάλαντα πεντακόσια παρεσκευάζετο κατασκευάζειν ναυτικόν. διαπλεύσας οὖν εἰς Κύπρον τοῖς μὲν ἐκεῖ βασιλεῦσι παρήγγειλεν ἑκατὸν τριήρεις ἑτοιμάζειν, τῷ δὲ Κόνωνι περὶ τῆς ναυαρχίας διαλεχθεὶς ἐπέστησεν αὐτὸν ἐπὶ τὴν θάλατταν ἡγεμόνα, μεγάλας ὑποφαίνων παρὰ τοῦ βασιλέως ἐλπίδας. ὁ δὲ Κόνων ἅμα μὲν ἐλπίζων ἀνακτήσεσθαι τῇ πατρίδι τὴν ἡγεμονίαν,εἰ Λακεδαιμόνιοι καταπολεμηθεῖεν, ἅμα δʼ αὐτὸς μεγάλης τεύξεσθαι δόξης, προσεδέξατο τὴν ναυαρχίαν. οὔπω δὲ τοῦ στόλου παντὸς παρεσκευασμένου, τὰς ἑτοίμους ναῦς τετταράκοντα λαβὼν διέπλευσεν εἰς Κιλικίαν, κἀκεῖ τὰ πρὸς τὸν πόλεμον ἡτοιμάζετο. Φαρνάβαζος δὲ καὶ Τισσαφέρνης ἐκ τῶν ἰδίων σατραπειῶν ἀθροίσαντες στρατιώτας ἀνέζευξαν, ἐπὶ τῆς Ἐφέσου τὴν πορείαν ποιούμενοι διὰ τὸ τοὺς πολεμίους ἔχειν ἐνταῦθα τὴν δύναμιν. καὶ συνηκολούθουν αὐτοῖς πεζοὶ μὲν δισμύριοι, ἱππεῖς δὲ μύριοι. ἀκούων δὲ τῶν Περσῶν τὴν ἔφοδον Δερκυλίδας ὁ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων ἀφηγούμενος ἐξήγαγε τὴν δύναμιν, ἔχων τοὺς πάντας οὐ πλείους τῶν ἑπτακισχιλίων. ὡς δʼ ἐγγὺς ἀλλήλων ἐγενήθη τὰ στρατόπεδα, σπονδὰς ἐποιήσαντο καὶ χρόνον ὥρισαν, ἐν ᾧ Φαρνάβαζος μὲν πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα πέμψει περὶ συνθηκῶν, εἰ βούλοιτο καταλῦσαι τὸν πόλεμον, Δερκυλίδας δὲ τοῖς Σπαρτιάταις δηλώσει περὶ τούτων. οὗτοι μὲν οὖν οὕτω διέλυσαν τὰ στρατόπεδα.
Pharnabazus, after the truce had been made with the Lacedemonians, went back to the King and won him over to the plan of preparing a fleet and appointing Conon the Athenian as its admiral; for Conon was experienced in the encounters of war and especially in combat with the present enemy, and although he excelled in warfare, he was at the time in Cyprus at the court of Evagoras the king. After the King had been persuaded, Pharnabazus took five hundred talents of silver and prepared to fit out a naval force. Sailing across to Cyprus, he ordered the kings there to make ready a hundred triremes and then, after discussions with Conon about the command of the fleet, he appointed him supreme commander at sea, giving indications in the name of the King of great hopes Conon might entertain. 3 Conon, in the hope not only that he would recover the leadership in Greece for his native country if the Lacedemonians were subdued in war but also that he would himself win great renown, accepted the command. 4 And before the entire fleet had been made ready, he took the forty ships which were at hand and sailed across to Cilicia, where he began preparations for the war. Pharnabazus and Tissaphernes gathered soldiers from their own satrapies and marched out, making their way towards Ephesus, since the enemy had their forces in that city. 5 The army accompanying them numbered twenty thousand infantry and ten thousand cavalry. On hearing of the approach of the Persians Dercylidas, the commander of the Lacedemonians, led out his army, having in all not more than seven thousand men. 6 But when the forces drew near each other, they concluded a truce and set a period of time during which Pharnabazus should send word to the King regarding the terms of the treaty, should he be ready to end the war, and Dercylidas should explain the matter to the Spartans. So upon this understanding the commanders dispersed their armies.
§ 14.40
Ῥηγῖνοι δὲ Χαλκιδέων ὄντες ἄποικοι τὴν αὔξησιν τοῦ Διονυσίου χαλεπῶς ἑώρων. Ναξίους μὲν γὰρ καὶ Καταναίους συγγενεῖς ὄντας ἐξηνδραποδίσατο, τοῖς δὲ Ῥηγίνοις, γένους τοῦ αὐτοῦ μετέχουσι τοῖς ἠτυχηκόσιν, οὐ τὴν τυχοῦσαν ἀγωνίαν παρεῖχε τὸ γεγονός, πάντων εὐλαβουμένων μὴ ταῖς αὐταῖς συμφοραῖς περιπέσωσιν. ἔδοξεν οὖν αὐτοῖς, πρὶν τελείως ἰσχυρὸν γενέσθαι τὸν τύραννον, στρατεύειν ἐπʼ αὐτὸν κατὰ τάχος. παραχρῆμα δὲ συνεβάλοντο πρὸς τὸν πόλεμον οὐκ ἐλάχιστα καὶ οἱ φυγαδευθέντες τῶν Συρακοσίων ὑπὸ Διονυσίου· τότε γὰρ οἱ πλεῖστοι διατρίβοντες ἐν Ῥηγίῳ διετέλουν περὶ τούτων διαλεγόμενοι, διδάσκοντες ὅτι συνεπιθήσονται τῷ καιρῷ πάντες οἱ Συρακόσιοι. τέλος δὲ καταστήσαντες στρατηγούς, ἐξέπεμψαν μετʼ αὐτῶν πεζοὺς μὲν ἑξακισχιλίους, ἱππεῖς δὲ ἑξακοσίους, τριήρεις δὲ πεντήκοντα. οὗτοι δὲ διαπλεύσαντες τὸν πορθμὸν ἔπεισαν τοὺς τῶν Μεσσηνίων στρατηγοὺς κοινωνῆσαι τοῦ πολέμου, φάσκοντες δεινὸν εἶναι περιιδεῖν ἀστυγείτονας Ἑλληνίδας πόλεις ἄρδην ἀνῃρημένας ὑπὸ τοῦ τυράννου. οἱ μὲν οὖν στρατηγοὶ πεισθέντες τοῖς Ῥηγίνοις ἄνευ τῆς τοῦ δήμου γνώμης ἐξήγαγον τοὺς στρατιώτας· ἦσαν δʼ οὗτοι πεζοὶ μὲν τετρακισχίλιοι, ἱππεῖς δὲ τετρακόσιοι, τριήρεις δὲ τριάκοντα. ἐπεὶ δὲ προῆλθον αἱ προειρημέναι δυνάμεις πρὸς τοὺς ὅρους τῆς Μεσσήνης, ἐνέπεσεν εἰς τοὺς στρατιώτας στάσις, Λαομέδοντος τοῦ Μεσσηνίου δημηγορήσαντος· οὗτος γὰρ συνεβούλευε μὴ κατάρχεσθαι πολέμου πρὸς τὸν Διονύσιον μηδὲν αὐτοὺς ἠδικηκότα. οἱ μὲν οὖν τῶν Μεσσηνίων στρατιῶται, τὸν πόλεμον οὐκ ἐπικεκυρωκότος τοῦ δήμου, παραχρῆμʼ ἐπείσθησαν, καὶ τοὺς στρατηγοὺς καταλιπόντες ἀνέκαμψαν εἰς τὴν πατρίδα· Ῥηγῖνοι δʼ οὐκ ὄντες ἀξιόμαχοι καθʼ ἑαυτούς, ἐπειδὴ τοὺς Μεσσηνίους ἑώρων διαλύοντας τὸ στρατόπεδον, καὶ αὐτοὶ ταχέως ἀνέκαμψαν εἰς Ῥήγιον. Διονύσιος δὲ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἐπὶ τοὺς ὅρους τῆς Συρακοσίας ἐξήγαγε τὴν δύναμιν, προσδεχόμενος τὴν τῶν πολεμίων ἔφοδον· ὡς δʼ ἤκουσε τὴν ἀνάζευξιν αὐτῶν, ἀπήγαγε τὴν στρατιὰν εἰς τὰς Συρακούσας· διαπρεσβευσαμένων δὲ τῶν Ῥηγίνων καὶ τῶν Μεσσηνίων περὶ εἰρήνης, κρίνων συμφέρον εἶναι διαλύεσθαι τὴν ἔχθραν πρὸς τὰς πόλεις, συνέθετο τὴν εἰρήνην.
The inhabitants of Rhegium, who were colonists of Chalcis, were angered to see the growing power of Dionysius. For he had sold into slavery the Naxians and Catanians, their kinsmen, and to the Rhegians, because they were of the same blood as these unfortunate peoples, this act was the cause of no ordinary concern, since all feared the same disaster would befall them. They therefore decided to take the field speedily against the tyrant before he became entirely secure. Their decision upon war was forthwith supported strongly also by the Syracusans who had been exiled by Dionysius, for most of them were at that time resident in Rhegium and were continually discussing the matter and pointing out that all the Syracusans would seize the occasion to join in an attack. In the end the Rhegians appointed generals and sent out with them six thousand infantry, six hundred cavalry, and fifty triremes. The generals crossed the strait and induced the generals of the Messenians to join in the war, declaring that it would be a terrible thing for them to stand idly by when Greek cities, and their neighbours, had been totally destroyed by the tyrant. Now the generals were won over by the Rhegians and, without obtaining a vote of the people, led forth their forces which consisted of four thousand infantry, four hundred cavalry, and thirty triremes. But when the armaments we have mentioned had advanced as far as the borders of Messene, opposition broke out among the soldiers due to a harangue delivered by the Messenian Laomedon; for he advised them not begin a war against Dionysius who had done them no wrong. Accordingly the Messenian troops, since the people had not approved the war, followed his advice at once, and, deserting their generals, turned back home; and the Rhegians, since they were not strong enough alone for a battle, when they saw that the Messenians were disbanding their army, also turned back speedily to Rhegium. At the outset Dionysius had led out his army to the border of the Syracusan territory, awaiting the attack of the enemy; but when he learned of their retirement, he led his forces back to Syracuse. When the Rhegians and Messenians sent ambassadors to treat upon terms of peace, he decided that it was to his advantage to put an end to enmity against these states and concluded peace.
§ 14.41
ὁρῶν δὲ τῶν Ἑλλήνων τινὰς εἰς τὴν ἐπικράτειαν τῶν Καρχηδονίων ἀποτρέχοντας τάς τε πόλεις καὶ τὰς κτήσεις κομιζομένους, ἐνόμιζε τῆς πρὸς Καρχηδονίους εἰρήνης μενούσης πολλοὺς τῶν ὑφʼ αὑτὸν ταττομένων βουλήσεσθαι κοινωνεῖν τῆς ἐκείνων ἀποστάσεως, ἐὰν δὲ πόλεμος γένηται, πάντας τοὺς καταδεδουλωμένους ὑπὸ Καρχηδονίων ἀποστήσεσθαι πρὸς αὐτόν· ἤκουσε δὲ καὶ τῶν Καρχηδονίων πολλοὺς ἐν Λιβύῃ διεφθάρθαι λοιμικῇ καταστάσει περιπεσόντας. διὸ καὶ νομίζων εὔθετον ἔχειν καιρὸν τοῦ πολέμου, κατασκευὴν ἔκρινε δεῖν πρῶτον γίνεσθαι· ὑπελάμβανε γὰρ ἔσεσθαι μέγαν καὶ πολυχρόνιον τὸν πόλεμον, ὡς ἂν πρὸς τοὺς δυνατωτάτους τῶν κατὰ τὴν Εὐρώπην μέλλων διαγωνίζεσθαι. εὐθὺς οὖν τοὺς τεχνίτας ἤθροιζεν ἐκ μὲν τῶν ὑπʼ αὐτὸν ταττομένων πόλεων κατὰ πρόσταγμα, τοὺς δʼ ἐξ Ἰταλίας καὶ τῆς Ἑλλάδος, ἔτι δὲ τῆς Καρχηδονίων ἐπικρατείας, μεγάλοις μισθοῖς προτρεπόμενος. διενοεῖτο γὰρ ὅπλα μὲν παμπληθῆ καὶ βέλη παντοῖα κατασκευάσαι, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις ναῦς τετρήρεις καὶ πεντήρεις, οὐδέπω κατʼ ἐκείνους τοὺς χρόνους σκάφους πεντηρικοῦ νεναυπηγημένου. συναχθέντων δὲ πολλῶν τεχνιτῶν, διελὼν αὐτοὺς κατὰ τὰς οἰκείας ἐργασίας κατέστησε τῶν πολιτῶν τοὺς ἐπισημοτάτους, προθεὶς δωρεὰς μεγάλας τοῖς κατασκευάσασιν ὅπλα. διέδωκε δὲ καὶ τῶν ὅπλων τὸν γένους ἑκάστου τύπον διὰ τὸ τοὺς μισθοφόρους ἐκ πολλῶν ἐθνῶν συνεστηκέναι· ἔσπευδε γὰρ ἕκαστον τῶν στρατευομένων κοσμῆσαι τοῖς οἰκείοις ὅπλοις, καὶ διελάμβανε τὸ στρατόπεδον πολλὴν ἕξειν κατάπληξιν διὰ ταύτην τὴν αἰτίαν καὶ κατὰ τὰς μάχας κάλλιστα χρήσεσθαι τῷ συνήθει καθοπλισμῷ πάντας τοὺς συναγωνιζομένους. συμπροθυμουμένων δὲ καὶ τῶν Συρακοσίων τῇ τοῦ Διονυσίου προαιρέσει, πολλὴν συνέβαινε γίνεσθαι τὴν φιλοτιμίαν περὶ τὴν τῶν ὅπλων κατασκευήν. οὐ μόνον γὰρ ἐν τοῖς προνάοις καὶ τοῖς ὀπισθοδόμοις τῶν ἱερῶν, ἔτι δὲ τοῖς γυμνασίοις καὶ ταῖς κατὰ τὴν ἀγορὰν στοαῖς, ἔγεμε πᾶς τόπος τῶν ἐργαζομένων, ἀλλὰ καὶ χωρὶς τῶν δημοσίων τόπων ἐν ταῖς ἐπιφανεστάταις οἰκίαις ὅπλα παμπληθῆ κατεσκευάζετο.
When Dionysius observed that some of the Greeks were deserting to the Carthaginian domain, taking with them their justice and their estates, he concluded that so long as he was at peace with the Carthaginians many of his subjects would be wanting to join their defection, whereas, if there were war, all who had been enslaved by the Carthaginians would revolt to him. And he also heard that many Carthaginians in Libya had fallen victims to a plague which had raged among them. Thinking for these reasons, then, that he had a favourable occasion for war, he decided that preparation should first be effected; for he assumed that the war would be a great and protracted one since he was entering a struggle with the most powerful people of Europe. At once, therefore, he gathered skilled workmen, commandeering them for from the cities under his control and attracting them by high wages from Italy and Greece as well as Carthaginian territory. For his purpose was to make weapons in great numbers and every kind of missile, and also quadriremes and quinqueremes, no ship of the latter size having yet been built at that time. After collecting many skilled workmen, he divided them into groups in accordance with their skills, and appointed over them the most conspicuous citizens, offering great bounties to any who created a supply of arms. As for the armour, he distributed among them models of each kind, because he had gathered his mercenaries from many nations; for he was eager to have every one of his soldiers armed with the weapons of his people, conceiving that by such armour his army would, for this very reason, cause great consternation, and that in battle all of his soldiers would fight to best effect in armour to which they were accustomed. And since the Syracusans enthusiastically supported the policy of Dionysius, it came to pass that rivalry rose high to manufacture the arms. For not only was every space, such as the porticoes and back rooms of the temples as well as the gymnasia and colonnades of the market place, crowded with workers, but the making of great quantities of arms went on, apart from such public places, in the most distinguished homes.
§ 14.42
καὶ γὰρ τὸ καταπελτικὸν εὑρέθη κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν καιρὸν ἐν Συρακούσαις, ὡς ἂν τῶν κρατίστων τεχνιτῶν πανταχόθεν εἰς ἕνα τόπον συνηγμένων. τὴν γὰρ προθυμίαν τό τε μέγεθος τῶν μισθῶν ἐξεκαλεῖτο καὶ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν προκειμένων ἄθλων τοῖς ἀρίστοις κριθεῖσι· χωρὶς δὲ τούτων περιπορευόμενος τοὺς ἐργαζομένους ὁ Διονύσιος καθʼ ἡμέραν λόγοις τε φιλανθρώποις ἐχρῆτο καὶ τοὺς προθυμοτάτους ἐτίμα δωρεαῖς καὶ πρὸς τὰ συνδείπνια παρελάμβανε. διόπερ ἀνυπέρβλητον φιλοτιμίαν εἰσφέροντες οἱ τεχνῖται πολλὰ προσεπενοοῦντο βέλη καὶ μηχανήματα ξένα καὶ δυνάμενα παρέχεσθαι μεγάλας χρείας. ἤρξατο δὲ ναυπηγεῖσθαι τετρήρεις καὶ πεντηρικὰ σκάφη, πρῶτος ταύτην τὴν κατασκευὴν τῶν νεῶν ἐπινοήσας. ἀκούων γὰρ ὁ Διονύσιος ἐν Κορίνθῳ ναυπηγηθῆναι τριήρη πρώτως, ἔσπευδε κατὰ τὴν ἀποικισθεῖσαν ὑπʼ ἐκείνων πόλιν αὐξῆσαι τὸ μέγεθος τῆς τῶν νεῶν κατασκευῆς. λαβὼν δʼ ἐκ τῆς Ἰταλίας ἐξαγωγὴν ὕλης, τοὺς μὲν ἡμίσεις τῶν ὑλοτόμων εἰς τὸ κατὰ τὴν Αἴτνην ὄρος ἀπέστειλε, γέμον κατʼ ἐκείνους τοὺς χρόνους πολυτελοῦς ἐλάτης τε καὶ πεύκης, τοὺς δʼ ἡμίσεις εἰς τὴν Ἰταλίαν ἀποστείλας παρεσκευάσατο ζεύγη μὲν τὰ πρὸς τὴν θάλατταν κατακομιοῦντα, πλοῖα δὲ καὶ τοὺς ὑπηρέτας πρὸς τὸ τὰς σχεδίας ἀπάγεσθαι κατὰ τάχος εἰς τὰς Συρακούσας. ὁ δὲ Διονύσιος ἐπειδὴ τὴν ἱκανὴν ὕλην ἤθροισεν, ὑφʼ ἕνα καιρὸν ἤρξατο ναυπηγεῖσθαι ναῦς πλείους τῶν διακοσίων, ἐπισκευάζειν δὲ τὰς προϋπαρχούσας δέκα πρὸς ταῖς ἑκατόν· ᾠκοδόμει δὲ καὶ νεωσοίκους πολυτελεῖς κύκλῳ τοῦ νῦν μεγάλου καλουμένου λιμένος ἑκατὸν ἑξήκοντα, τοὺς πλείστους δύο ναῦς δεχομένους, καὶ τοὺς προϋπάρχοντας ἐθεράπευεν, ὄντας ἑκατὸν πεντήκοντα.
In fact the catapult was invented at this time in Syracuse, since the ablest skilled workmen had been gathered from everywhere into one place. The high wages as well as the numerous prizes offered the workmen who were judged to be the best stimulated their zeal. And over and above these factors, Dionysius circulated daily among the workers, conversed with them in kindly fashion, and rewarded the most zealous with gifts and invited them to his table. Consequently the workmen brought unsurpassable devotion to the devising of many missiles and engines of war that were strange and capable of rendering great service. He also began the construction of quadriremes and quinqueremes, being the first to think of the construction of such ships. For, hearing that triremes had first been built in Corinth, he was intent, in his city that had been settled by a colony from there, on increasing the scale of naval construction. After obtaining leave to transport timber from Italy he dispatched half of his woodmen to Mount Aetne, on which there were heavy stands at that time of both excellent fir and pine, while the other half he dispatched to Italy, where he got ready teams to convey the timber to the sea, as well as boats and crews to bring the worked wood speedily to Syracuse. When Dionysius had collected an adequate supply of wood, he began at one and the same time to build more than two hundred ships and to refit the one hundred and ten he already had; and he also constructed about the Great Harbour, as it is now called, one hundred and sixty costly ship-sheds, and repaired the one hundred and fifty which were already there.
§ 14.43
διόπερ τοσούτων ὅπλων καὶ νεῶν κατασκευαζομένων ἐν ἑνὶ τόπῳ, τὸ γινόμενον πολλὴν παρεῖχε τοῖς θεωμένοις κατάπληξιν· ὅτε μὲν γάρ τις ἴδοι τὴν περὶ τὰς ναῦς σπουδήν, ἐνόμιζε περὶ ταύτας ἅπαντας πραγματεύεσθαι τοὺς Σικελιώτας· ὅτε δὲ πάλιν τοῖς τῶν ὁπλοποιῶν καὶ μηχανοποιῶν ἔργοις συμπαραγενηθείη, περὶ τούτους μόνους ἐνόμιζεν ἅπασαν εἶναι τὴν τῆς ὑπηρεσίας παρασκευήν. οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ τῆς περὶ ταῦτα σπουδῆς ἀνυπερβλήτου γινομένης, κατεσκευάσθησαν ἀσπίδων μὲν τεσσαρεσκαίδεκα μυριάδες, ἐγχειριδίων δὲ καὶ περικεφαλαιῶν ὁ παραπλήσιος ἀριθμός· ἡτοιμάσθησαν δὲ καὶ θώρακες, παντοῖοι μὲν ταῖς κατασκευαῖς, περιττῶς δὲ κατὰ τὴν τέχνην εἰργασμένοι, πλείους τῶν μυρίων τετρακισχιλίων. τούτους δὲ διενοεῖτο διαδιδόναι τοῖς ἱππεῦσι καὶ τῶν πεζῶν τοῖς ἐφʼ ἡγεμονίας τεταγμένοις, ἔτι δὲ τῶν μισθοφόρων τοῖς σωματοφυλακεῖν μέλλουσιν. κατεσκευάσθησαν δὲ καὶ καταπέλται παντοῖοι καὶ τῶν ἄλλων βελῶν πολύς τις ἀριθμός. τῶν δὲ παρασκευασθεισῶν νεῶν μακρῶν αἱ μὲν ἡμίσεις αὐτῶν εἶχον πολιτικοὺς κυβερνήτας καὶ πρῳρεῖς, ἔτι δὲ τοὺς ταῖς κώπαις χρησομένους, ταῖς δʼ ἄλλαις ὁ Διονύσιος ξένους ἐμισθώσατο. ἐπεὶ δὲ τὰ περὶ τὰς ναῦς καὶ τὴν ὁπλοποιίαν αὐτῷ συντέλειαν ἐλάμβανε, περὶ τὴν τῶν στρατιωτῶν παρασκευὴν ἐγίνετο· τούτους γὰρ ἔκρινε συμφέρειν μὴ πρὸ πολλοῦ μισθοῦσθαι πρὸς τὸ μὴ πολλὰς γίνεσθαι δαπάνας. Ἀστυδάμας δʼ ὁ τραγῳδιογράφος τότε πρῶτον ἐδίδαξεν· ἔζησε δὲ ἔτη ἑξήκοντα. Ῥωμαῖοι δὲ πολιορκοῦντες τοὺς Βηίους, ἐξελθόντων τῶν ἐκ τῆς πόλεως οἱ μὲν κατεκόπησαν ὑπὸ τῶν Βηίων, οἱ δʼ ἐξέφυγον αἰσχρῶς.
With so many arms and ships under construction at one place the beholder was filled with utter wonder at the sight. For whenever a man gazed at the eagerness shown in the building of the ships, he thought that every Greek in Sicily was engaged on their construction; and when, on the other hand, he visited the places where men were making arms and engines of war, he thought that all available labour was engaged on this alone. Moreover, despite the unsurpassable zeal devoted to the products we have mentioned, there were made one hundred and forty thousand shields and a like number of daggers and helmets; and in addition corselets were made ready, of every design and wrought with utmost art, more than fourteen thousand in number. These Dionysius expected to distribute to his cavalry and the commanders of the infantry, as well as to the mercenaries who were to form his bodyguard. He also had catapults made of every style and a large number of the other missiles. For half of the ships of war which were prepared, the pilots, officers at the bow, and rowers were drawn from citizens, while for the rest of the vessels Dionysius hired mercenaries. When the building of the ships and the making of arms were completed, Dionysius turned his attention to the gathering of soldiers; for he believed it advantageous not to hire them far in advance in order to avoid heavy expenses. In this year Astydamas, the writer of tragedies, produced his first play; and he lived sixty years. The Romans were besieging Veii, and when a sortie was made from the city, some of the Romans were cut to pieces by the Veientes and others escaped by shameful flight.
§ 14.44
τοῦ δʼ ἔτους τούτου διεληλυθότος Ἀθήνησι μὲν ἦρξεν Ἰθυκλῆς, ἐν Ῥώμῃ δʼ ἀντὶ τῶν ὑπάτων χιλίαρχοι πέντε κατεστάθησαν, Λεύκιος Ἰούλιος, Μάρκος Φούριος, Μάρκος Αἰμίλιος, Γάιος Κορνήλιος, Καίσων Φάβιος. Διονύσιος δʼ ὁ τῶν Συρακοσίων τύραννος, ἐπειδὴ τῶν περὶ τὴν ὁπλοποιίαν καὶ ναυπηγίαν ἔργων τὰ πλεῖστα συντέλειαν εἰλήφει, περὶ τὴν τῶν στρατιωτῶν παρασκευὴν εὐθὺς ἐγένετο. τῶν οὖν Συρακοσίων κατέλεγε τοὺς ἐπιτηδείους εἰς τάξεις, καὶ παρὰ τῶν ὑπʼ αὐτὸν ταττομένων πόλεων μετεπέμπετο τοὺς εὐθέτους. συνήγαγε δὲ καὶ μισθοφόρους ἐκ τῆς Ἑλλάδος καὶ μάλιστα παρὰ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων· οὗτοι γὰρ αὐτῷ συναύξοντες τὴν ἀρχὴν ἔδωκαν ἐξουσίαν ὅσους βούλοιτο παρʼ αὐτῶν ξενολογεῖν. καθόλου δʼ ἐκ πολλῶν ἐθνῶν σπεύδων τὸ ξενικὸν στρατόπεδον συνηθροικέναι, καὶ μισθοὺς πολλοὺς ἐπαγγελλόμενος, εὕρισκε τοὺς ὑπακούοντας. μέλλων δὲ μέγαν ἐξεγείρειν πόλεμον, ταῖς κατὰ τὴν νῆσον πόλεσι φιλανθρώπως προσεφέρετο, τὴν εὔνοιαν αὐτῶν ἐκκαλούμενος. τοὺς δὲ παρὰ τὸν πορθμὸν κατοικοῦντας Ῥηγίνους τε καὶ Μεσσηνίους ὁρῶν ἱκανὴν δύναμιν ἔχοντας συντεταγμένην, εὐλαβεῖτο μήποτε τῶν Καρχηδονίων διαβάντων εἰς Σικελίαν ἐκείνοις πρόσθωνται· οὐ μικρὰν γὰρ αἱ πόλεις αὗται ῥοπὴν εἶχον, ὁποτέροις εἰς τὸν πόλεμον συμμαχήσειαν. ἃ δὴ λίαν ἀγωνιῶν ὁ Διονύσιος, τοῖς Μεσσηνίοις ἔδωκε πολλὴν τῆς ὁμόρου χώραν, ἰδίους αὐτοὺς κατασκευάζων ταῖς εὐεργεσίαις· πρὸς δὲ Ῥηγίνους ἀπέστειλε πρεσβευτάς, παρακαλῶν ἐπιγαμίαν ποιήσασθαι καὶ δοῦναι τῶν πολιτικῶν παρθένων αὐτῷ μίαν συμβιώσασθαι· ἐπηγγέλλετο δʼ αὐτοῖς πολλὴν τῆς συνοριζούσης χώρας κατακτήσεσθαι, τὴν πόλιν δʼ αὐξήσειν ἐφʼ ὅσον ἂν αὐτὸς ἰσχύῃ. τῆς γὰρ γυναικὸς αὐτοῦ, θυγατρὸς δʼ Ἑρμοκράτους, κατὰ τὴν ἀπόστασιν τῶν ἱππέων ἀνῃρημένης, ἔσπευδε τεκνοποιήσασθαι, διαλαμβάνων τῇ τῶν γεννηθέντων εὐνοίᾳ βεβαιότατα τηρήσειν τὴν δυναστείαν. οὐ μὴν ἀλλʼ ἐν τῷ Ῥηγίῳ συναχθείσης περὶ τούτων ἐκκλησίας, καὶ πολλῶν ῥηθέντων λόγων, ἔδοξε τοῖς Ῥηγίνοις μὴ δέξασθαι τὴν ἐπιγαμίαν. Διονύσιος δʼ ἀποτυχὼν ταύτης τῆς ἐπιβολῆς, περὶ τῶν αὐτῶν ἀπέστειλε τοὺς πρεσβευτὰς πρὸς τὸν δῆμον τῶν Λοκρῶν. ὧν ψηφισαμένων τὴν ἐπιγαμίαν, ἐμνήστευεν ὁ Διονύσιος Δωρίδα τὴν Ξενέτου θυγατέρα, κατʼ ἐκεῖνον τὸν χρόνον ὄντος ἐνδοξοτάτου τῶν πολιτῶν. ὀλίγαις δʼ ἡμέραις πρὸ τῶν γάμων ἀπέστειλεν εἰς Λοκροὺς πεντήρη πρῶτον νεναυπηγημένην, ἀργυροῖς καὶ χρυσοῖς κατασκευάσμασι κεκοσμημένην· ἐφʼ ἧς διακομίσας τὴν παρθένον εἰς τὰς Συρακούσας εἰσήγαγεν εἰς τὴν ἀκρόπολιν. ἐμνηστεύσατο δὲ καὶ τῶν πολιτικῶν τὴν ἐπισημοτάτην Ἀριστομάχην, ἐφʼ ἣν ἀποστείλας λευκὸν τέθριππον ἤγαγεν εἰς τὴν ἰδίαν οἰκίαν.
When this year had come to an end, Ithycles was archon in Athens and in Rome five military tribunes were established in place of the consuls, Lucius Julius, Marcus Furius, Marcus Aemilius, Gaius Cornelius, and Caeso Fabius. Dionysius, the tyrant of the Syracusans, as soon as the major part of the task of making arms and building a fleet was completed, turned at once to the gathering of soldiers. From the Syracusans he enrolled those who were fit for military service in companies and from the cities subject to him he summoned their able men. He also gathered mercenaries from Greece, and especially from the Lacedemonians, for they, in order to aid him in building up his power, gave him permission to enlist as many mercenaries from them as he might wish. And, speaking generally, since he made a point of gathering his mercenary force from many nations and promised high pay, he found men who were responsive. Since Dionysius was going to raise up a great war, he addressed himself to the cities of Sicily with courtesy, eliciting their goodwill. He saw that the Rhegians and Messenians who dwelt on the Strait had a strong army mobilized and he feared that, when the Carthaginians crossed over to Sicily, they would join the Carthaginians; for these cities would add no little weight to the side with which they allied themselves for the war. Since these considerations were the cause of great concern to Dionysius, he made a present to the Messenians of a large piece of territory on their borders, binding them to him by such a benefaction; and to the Rhegians he dispatched ambassadors, urging them to form a connection by marriage and to give him in marriage a maiden who was a citizen of theirs; and he promised that he would win for them a large section of neighbouring territory and do all that was in his power to add to the strength of their city. For since his wife, the daughter of Hermocrates, had been slain at the time the cavalry revolted, he was eager to beget children, in the belief that the loyalty of his offspring would be the strongest safeguard of his tyrannical power. Nevertheless, when an assembly of the people was held in Rhegium to consider Dionysius' proposal, after much discussion the Rhegians voted not to accept the marriage connection. Now that Dionysius had failed of this design, he dispatched his ambassadors for the same purpose to the people of the Locrians. When they voted to approve the marriage connection, Dionysius sued for the hand of Doris, the daughter of Xenetus, who at that time was their most esteemed citizen. A few days before the marriage he sent to Locri a quinquereme, the first one he had built, embellished with silver and gold furnishings; on this he had the maiden conveyed to Syracuse, where he led her into the acropolis. And he also sought in marriage from among the people of his city the most notable maiden among them, Aristomache, for whom he dispatched a chariot drawn by four white horses to bring her to his own home.
§ 14.45
περὶ δὲ τὸν αὐτὸν χρόνον ἀμφοτέρας γήμας συνεχεῖς ἑστιάσεις ἐποιεῖτο τῶν στρατιωτῶν καὶ τῶν πλείστων πολιτῶν· ἀπετίθετο γὰρ ἤδη τὸ πικρὸν τῆς τυραννίδος, καὶ μεταβαλλόμενος εἰς ἐπιείκειαν φιλανθρωπότερον ἦρχε τῶν ὑποτεταγμένων, οὔτε φονεύων οὔτε φυγάδας ποιῶν, καθάπερ εἰώθει. μετὰ δὲ τοὺς γάμους ὀλίγας ἐπιμείνας ἡμέρας συνήγαγεν ἐκκλησίαν καὶ παρεκάλει τοὺς Συρακοσίους πόλεμον ἐξενεγκεῖν πρὸς τοὺς Καρχηδονίους, ἀποφαίνων αὐτοὺς καθόλου μὲν τοῖς Ἕλλησιν ἐχθροτάτους ὄντας, μάλιστα δὲ τοῖς Σικελιώταις διὰ παντὸς ἐπιβουλεύοντας. καὶ νῦν μὲν ἐφʼ ἡσυχίας αὐτοὺς μένειν ἀπεδείκνυε διὰ τὸν ἐμπεσόντα λοιμόν, ὃν τοὺς πλείστους τῶν κατὰ Λιβύην διεφθαρκέναι· ἰσχύσαντας δʼ αὐτοὺς οὐκ ἀφέξεσθαι τῶν Σικελιωτῶν, οἷς ἐξ ἀρχαίων ἐπιβουλεύουσιν. διὸ αἱρετώτερον νῦν εἶναι πρὸς ἀσθενεῖς αὐτοὺς ὄντας διαπολεμεῖν ἢ μετὰ ταῦτα πρὸς ἰσχυροὺς διαγωνίζεσθαι. ἅμα δὲ συνίστα δεινὸν εἶναι περιορᾶν τὰς Ἑλληνίδας πόλεις ὑπὸ βαρβάρων καταδεδουλωμένας, ἃς ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον συνεπιλήψεσθαι τῶν κινδύνων, ἐφʼ ὅσον τῆς ἐλευθερίας τυχεῖν ἐπιθυμοῦσιν. οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ πολλοὺς λόγους πρὸς ταύτην τὴν προαίρεσιν διαλεχθεὶς ταχὺ συγκαταίνους ἔλαβε τοὺς Συρακοσίους. οὐ γὰρ ἧττον ἐκείνου τὸν πόλεμον ἔσπευδον γενέσθαι, πρῶτον μὲν μισοῦντες τοὺς Καρχηδονίους, διʼ ἐκείνους ἠναγκασμένοι ποιεῖν τὸ προσταττόμενον ὑπὸ τοῦ τυράννου· ἔπειτα δὲ καὶ τὸν Διονύσιον φιλανθρωπότερον ἑαυτοῖς ἤλπιζον χρήσεσθαι, φοβούμενον τοὺς πολεμίους καὶ τὴν ἀπὸ τῶν καταδεδουλωμένων ἐπίθεσιν· τὸ δὲ μέγιστον,ἤλπιζον ἑαυτοὺς κυριεύσαντας ὅπλων, ἐὰν ἡ τύχη δῷ καιρόν, ἀντιλήψεσθαι τῆς ἐλευθερίας.
After Dionysius had taken in marriage both maidens at the same time, he gave a series of public dinners for the soldiers and the larger part of the citizens; for he now renounced the oppressive aspect of his tyranny, and changing to a course of equitable dealing, he ruled over his subjects in more humane fashion, no more putting them to death or banishing them, as had been his practice. After his marriages he let a few days pass and then called an assembly of the Syracusans and urged them to make war against the Carthaginians, declaring that they were most hostile to all Greeks generally and that they had designs at every opportunity on the Greeks of Sicily in particular. For the present, he pointed out, the Carthaginians were inactive because of the plague which had broken out among them and had destroyed the larger part of the inhabitants of Libya, but when they had recovered their strength, they would not refrain from attacking the Sicilian Greeks, against whom they had been plotting from the earliest time. It was therefore preferable, he continued, to wage a decisive war upon them while they were still weak than to wait and compete when they were strong. At the same time he pointed out how terrible a thing it was to allow the Greek cities to be enslaved by barbarians, and that these cities would the more zealously join in the war, the more eagerly they desired to obtain their freedom. After speaking at length in support of his policy he speedily won the approval of the Syracusans. Indeed they were no less eager than he for war, first of all because of their hatred of the Carthaginians who were the cause of their being compelled to take orders from the tyrant; secondly, because they hoped that Dionysius would treat them in more humane fashion because of his fear of the enemy and of an attack upon him by the citizens he had enslaved; but most of all, because they hoped that once they had got weapons in their hand, they could strike for their liberty, let Fortune but give them the opportunity.
§ 14.46
μετὰ δὲ τὴν ἐκκλησίαν, τοῦ Διονυσίου τὴν ἐξουσίαν δόντος, οἱ Συρακόσιοι τὰ Φοινικικὰ χρήματα διήρπασαν. οὐκ ὀλίγοι γὰρ τῶν Καρχηδονίων ᾤκουν ἐν ταῖς Συρακούσαις ἁδρὰς ἔχοντες κτήσεις, πολλοὶ δὲ καὶ τῶν ἐμπόρων εἶχον ἐν τῷ λιμένι τὰς ναῦς γεμούσας φορτίων, ἃ πάντα διεφόρησαν οἱ Συρακόσιοι. παραπλησίως δὲ καὶ οἱ λοιποὶ Σικελιῶται τοὺς παρʼ αὐτοῖς οἰκοῦντας τῶν Φοινίκων ἐκβαλόντες τὰς κτήσεις διήρπασαν· καίπερ γὰρ τὴν Διονυσίου τυραννίδα μισοῦντες, ὅμως ἡδέως ἐκοινώνουν τοῦ πρὸς Καρχηδονίους πολέμου διὰ τὴν ὠμότητα τῶν ἀνδρῶν. ὧν δὴ χάριν καὶ οἱ τὰς Ἑλληνίδας πόλεις οἰκοῦντες ὑπὸ Καρχηδονίους, ἐπειδὴ φανερῶς ὁ Διονύσιος ἐξέφερε τὸν πόλεμον, ἐναπεδείξαντο τὸ πρὸς τοὺς Φοίνικας μῖσος· οὐ μόνον γὰρ αὐτῶν τὰς οὐσίας διήρπασαν, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτοὺς συλλαμβάνοντες πᾶσαν αἰκίαν καὶ ὕβριν εἰς τὰ σώματʼ αὐτῶν ἀπετίθεντο, μνημονεύοντες ὧν αὐτοὶ κατὰ τὴν αἰχμαλωσίαν ἔπαθον. ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον δὲ τῆς κατὰ τῶν Φοινίκων τιμωρίας προέβησαν καὶ τότε καὶ κατὰ τὸν ὕστερον χρόνον, ὥστε τοὺς Καρχηδονίους διδαχθῆναι μηκέτι παρανομεῖν εἰς τοὺς ὑποπεσόντας· οὐ γὰρ ἠγνόουν, διʼ αὐτῶν τῶν ἔργων μαθόντες, ὅτι τοῖς διαπολεμοῦσι κοινῆς τῆς τύχης ὑπαρχούσης ἀμφοτέρους κατὰ τὰς ἥττας τοιαῦτα ἀνάγκη πάσχειν, οἷα ἂν αὐτοὶ πράξωσιν εἰς τοὺς ἀτυχήσαντας. ὁ δʼ οὖν Διονύσιος, ἐπειδὴ πάντʼ αὐτῷ τὰ πρὸς τὸν πόλεμον ἡτοίμαστο, διενοεῖτο πέμπειν ἀγγέλους εἰς Καρχηδόνα τοὺς ἐροῦντας, ὅτι Συρακόσιοι καταγγέλλουσι πόλεμον Καρχηδονίοις, ἐὰν μὴ τὰς ὑπʼ αὐτῶν καταδεδουλωμένας Ἑλληνίδας πόλεις ἐλευθερώσωσιν. Διονύσιος μὲν οὖν περὶ ταῦτʼ ἐγίνετο. Κτησίας δʼ ὁ συγγραφεὺς τὴν τῶν Περσικῶν ἱστορίαν εἰς τοῦτον τὸν ἐνιαυτὸν κατέστροφεν, ἀρξάμενος ἀπὸ Νίνου καὶ Σεμιράμεως. ἤκμασαν δὲ κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν ἐνιαυτὸν οἱ ἐπισημότατοι διθυραμβοποιοί, Φιλόξενος Κυθήριος, Τιμόθεος Μιλήσιος, Τελέστης Σελινούντιος, Πολύειδος, ὃς καὶ ζωγραφικῆς καὶ μουσικῆς εἶχεν ἐμπειρίαν.
After the meeting of the assembly the Syracusans, with the permission of Dionysius, seized as plunder the property of the Phoenicians; for no small number of Carthaginians had their homes in Syracuse and rich possessions, and many also of their merchants had vessels in the harbour loaded with goods, all of which the Syracusans plundered. Similarly the rest of the Sicilian Greeks drove out the Phoenicians who dwelt among them and plundered their possessions; for although they hated the tyranny of Dionysius, they were still glad to join in the war against the Carthaginians because of the cruelty of that people. For the very same reasons, too, the inhabitants of the Greek cities under the rule of the Carthaginians, as soon as Dionysius publicly enacted war, made open display of their hatred of the Phoenicians; for not only did they seize their property as plunder, but they also laid hands on their persons and subjected them to every kind of physical torture and outrage, remembering what they had themselves suffered during the time of their captivity. So far did they go in the vengeance they wreaked on the Phoenicians both at this time and subsequently, that the Carthaginians were taught the lesson no more to transgress the law in their treatment of conquered peoples; for they did not fail to realize, learning as they did by very deeds, that in war Fortune is impartial to both combatants and in defeat both sides must suffer the same sort of thing that they themselves have done to those who were unfortunate. Now when Dionysius had made ready all his preparations for the war, he determined to send messengers to Carthage with the announcement: The Syracusans declare war upon the Carthaginians unless they restore freedom to the Greek cities that they have enslaved. Dionysius, then, was engaged in the affairs we have discussed. Ctesias the historian ended with this year his History of the Persians, which began with Ninus and Semiramis. And in this year the most distinguished composers of dithyrambs were in their prime, Philoxenus of Cythera, Timotheus of Miletus, Telestus of Selinus, and Polyeidus, who was also expert in the arts of painting and music.
§ 14.47
τοῦ δʼ ἐνιαυσίου χρόνου διεληλυθότος Ἀθήνησι μὲν παρειλήφει τὴν ἀρχὴν Λυσιάδης, ἐν δὲ τῇ Ῥώμῃ τὴν ὕπατον ἀρχὴν διῴκουν χιλίαρχοι ἕξ, Πόπλιος Μάλλιος, Πούπλιος Μαίλιος, Σπόριος Φούριος, Λεύκιος Πούπλιος. Διονύσιος δʼ ὁ τῶν Συρακοσίων τύραννος, ἐπειδὴ πάντα τὰ πρὸς τὸν πόλεμον αὐτῷ κατεσκεύαστο κατὰ τὴν ἰδίαν προαίρεσιν, ἐξέπεμψεν εἰς Καρχηδόνα κήρυκα, δοὺς ἐπιστολὴν πρὸς τὴν γερουσίαν· ἐν ταύτῃ δὲ γεγραμμένον ἦν ὅτι Συρακοσίοις δεδογμένον εἴη πολεμεῖν πρὸς Καρχηδονίους, ἐὰν μὴ τῶν Ἑλληνίδων πόλεων ἐκχωρήσωσιν. οὗτος μὲν οὖν κατὰ τὸ παραγγελθὲν πλεύσας εἰς Λιβύην τὴν ἐπιστολὴν ἀπέδωκε τῇ γερουσίᾳ. ἧς ἀναγνωσθείσης ἔν τε τῇ συγκλήτῳ καὶ μετὰ ταῦτʼ ἐν τῷ δήμῳ συνέβη τοὺς Καρχηδονίους οὐ μετρίως ἀγωνιᾶν περὶ τοῦ πολέμου· ὅ τε γὰρ λοιμὸς αὐτῶν παμπληθεῖς ἀπεκτάγκει καὶ τοῖς ὅλοις ἦσαν ἀπαρασκεύαστοι. οὐ μὴν ἀλλʼ οὗτοι μὲν ἐκαραδόκουν τὴν τῶν Συρακοσίων προαίρεσιν, καὶ μετὰ πολλῶν χρημάτων ἀπέστειλάν τινας τῶν ἐκ τῆς γερουσίας τοὺς ξενολογήσοντας ἀπὸ τῆς Εὐρώπης· Διονύσιος δʼ ἀναλαβὼν τοὺς Συρακοσίους καὶ τοὺς μισθοφόρους, ἔτι δὲ τοὺς συμμάχους, ἀνέζευξεν ἐκ Συρακουσῶν, ἐπʼ Ἔρυκος τὴν πορείαν ποιούμενος. οὐ μακρὰν γὰρ τοῦ λόφου τούτου Μοτύη πόλις ἦν ἄποικος Καρχηδονίων, ᾗ μάλιστα ἐχρῶντο κατὰ τῆς Σικελίας ὁρμητηρίῳ· ταύτης γὰρ κρατήσας ἤλπιζεν οὐκ ὀλίγα προτερήσειν τῶν πολεμίων. κατὰ δὲ τὴν ὁδοιπορίαν ἀεὶ παρελάμβανε τοὺς ἐκ τῶν Ἑλληνίδων πόλεων, πανδημεὶ καθοπλίζων· συνεστρατεύοντο γὰρ αὐτῷ προθύμως ἅπαντες, μισοῦντες μὲν τὸ βάρος τῆς τῶν Φοινίκων ἐπικρατείας, ἐπιθυμοῦντες δὲ τυχεῖν ποτε τῆς ἐλευθερίας. καὶ πρώτους μὲν Καμαριναίους παρέλαβεν, εἶτα Γελῴους καὶ Ἀκραγαντίνους· μεθʼ οὓς Ἱμεραίους μετεπέμψατο, κατοικοῦντας ἐπὶ θάτερα μέρη τῆς Σικελίας· Σελινουντίους δʼ ἐν παρόδῳ προσαγαγόμενος παρεγενήθη πρὸς τὴν Μοτύην μετὰ πάσης τῆς δυνάμεως. εἶχε δὲ πεζοὺς μὲν ὀκτακισμυρίους, ἱππεῖς δὲ πολὺ πλείους τῶν τρισχιλίων, ναῦς δὲ μακρὰς οὐ πολὺ λειπούσας τῶν διακοσίων· συνηκολούθει δὲ καὶ φορτηγὰ πλοῖα γέμοντα πολλῶν μηχανημάτων, ἔτι δὲ τῆς ἄλλης χορηγίας ἁπάσης, ὄντα τὸν ἀριθμὸν οὐκ ἐλάττω πεντακοσίων.
At the close of the year, in Athens Lysiades became archon, and in Rome six military tribunes administered the office of consul, Popilius Mallius, Publius Maelius, Spurius Furius, and Lucius Publius. When Dionysius, the tyrant of the Syracusans, had completed all his preparations for the war according to his personal design, he sent a herald to Carthage, having given him a letter to the senate, which contained the statement that the Syracusans had resolved to make war upon the Carthaginians unless they withdrew from the Greek cities. The herald accordingly, pursuant to his orders, sailed to Libya and delivered the letter to the senate. When it had been read in the council and subsequently before the people, it came about that the Carthaginians were not a little distressed at the thought of war; for the plague had killed great numbers of them, and they were also totally unprepared. Nevertheless, they waited for the Syracusans to take the initiative and dispatched members of the senate with large sums of money to recruit mercenaries in Europe. Dionysius with the Syracusans, the mercenaries, and his allies marched forth from Syracuse and made his way towards Eryx. For not far from this hill lay the city of Motye, a Carthaginian colony, which they used as their chief base of operations against Sicily; and Dionysius hoped that with this city in his power he would have no small advantage over his enemies. In the course of his march he received from time to time the contingents from the Greek cities, supplying the full levy of each with arms; for they were all eager to join his campaign, hating as they did the heavy hand of Phoenician domination and relishing the prospect at last of freedom. He received first the levy from Camarina, then those of Gela and Acragas; and after these he sent for the Himeraeans, whose home was on the other side of Sicily, and after adding the men of Selinus, as he passed by, he arrived at Motye with all his army. He had eighty thousand infantry, well over three thousand cavalry, and a little less than two hundred warships, and he was accompanied by not less than five hundred merchantmen loaded with great numbers of engines of war and all the other supplies needed.
§ 14.48
τηλικαύτης δὲ τῆς παρασκευῆς οὔσης, Ἐρυκῖνοι μὲν καταπλαγέντες τὸ μέγεθος τῆς δυνάμεως καὶ μισοῦντες Καρχηδονίους προσεχώρησαν τῷ Διονυσίῳ, οἱ δὲ τὴν Μοτύην κατοικοῦντες προσδεχόμενοι τὴν ἐκ Καρχηδονίων βοήθειαν οὐ κατεπλήττοντο τὴν Διονυσίου δύναμιν, ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὴν πολιορκίαν παρεσκευάζοντο· οὐ γὰρ ἠγνόουν τοὺς Συρακοσίους ὅτι πρώτην τὴν Μοτύην πορθήσουσι διὰ τὸ πιστοτάτην εἶναι τοῖς Καρχηδονίοις. αὕτη δʼ ἡ πόλις ἦν ἐπί τινος νήσου κειμένη, τῆς Σικελίας ἀπέχουσα σταδίους ἕξ, τῷ δὲ πλήθει καὶ τῷ κάλλει τῶν οἰκιῶν εἰς ὑπερβολὴν πεφιλοτεχνημένη διὰ τὴν εὐπορίαν τῶν κατοικούντων. εἶχε δὲ καὶ ὁδὸν στενὴν χειροποίητον φέρουσαν ἐπὶ τὸν τῆς Σικελίας αἰγιαλόν, ἣν οἱ Μοτυηνοὶ τότε διέσκαψαν, ὡς μὴ προσόδους ἔχοιεν κατʼ αὐτῶν οἱ πολέμιοι. Διονύσιος δὲ μετὰ τῶν ἀρχιτεκτόνων κατασκεψάμενος τοὺς τόπους, ἤρξατο χώματα κατασκευάζειν ἐπὶ τὴν Μοτύην, καὶ τὰς μὲν μακρὰς ναῦς παρὰ τὸν εἴσπλουν τοῦ λιμένος ἐνεώλκησε, τὰ δὲ φορτηγὰ τῶν πλοίων ὥρμισε παρὰ τὸν αἰγιαλόν. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ἐπὶ μὲν τῶν ἔργων κατέλιπεν ἐπιστάτην Λεπτίνην τὸν ναύαρχον, αὐτὸς δὲ μετὰ τῆς πεζῆς στρατιᾶς ὥρμησεν ἐπὶ τὰς τοῖς Καρχηδονίοις συμμαχούσας πόλεις. Σικανοὶ μὲν οὖν πάντες εὐλαβούμενοι τὸ μέγεθος τῆς δυνάμεως προσεχώρησαν τοῖς Συρακοσίοις, τῶν δὲ ἄλλων πόλεων πέντε μόνον διέμειναν ἐν τῇ πρὸς Καρχηδονίους φιλίᾳ· αὗται δὲ ἦσαν Ἁλικύαι, Σολοῦς, Αἴγεστα, Πάνορμος, Ἔντελλα. τὴν μὲν οὖν τῶν Σολουντίνων καὶ Πανορμιτῶν, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις Ἁλικυαίων χώραν ὁ Διονύσιος λεηλατήσας ἐδενδροτόμησε, τὴν δὲ Αἴγεσταν καὶ Ἔντελλαν πολλῇ δυνάμει περιστρατοπεδεύσας συνεχεῖς ἐποιεῖτο προσβολάς, σπεύδων αὐτῶν μετὰ βίας κυριεῦσαι. καὶ τὰ μὲν περὶ Διονύσιον ἐν τούτοις ἦν.
Since the armament was on the great scale we have described, the people of Eryx were awed by the magnitude of the force and, hating the Carthaginians as they did, came over to Dionysius. The inhabitants of Motye, however, expecting aid from the Carthaginians, were not dismayed at Dionysius' armament, but made ready to withstand a siege; for they were not unaware that the Syracusans would make Motye the first city to sack, because it was most loyal to the Carthaginians. This city was situated on an island lying six stades off Sicily, and was embellished artistically to the last degree with numerous fine houses, thanks to the prosperity of the inhabitants. It also had a narrow artificial causeway extending to the shore of Sicily, which the Motyans breached at this time, in order that the enemy should have no approach against them. Dionysius, after reconnoitring the area, together with his engineers, began to construct moles leading to Motye, hauled the warships up on land at the entrance of the harbour, and moored the merchantmen along the beach. After this he left Leptines his admiral in command of the works, while he himself set out with the infantry of his army against the cities that were allies of the Carthaginians. Now the Sicani, fearing the great size of the army, all went over to the Syracusans, and of the rest of the cities only five remained loyal to the Carthaginians, these being Halicyae, Solus, Aegesta, Panormus, and Entella. Hence Dionysius plundered the territory of Solus and Panormus, and that also of Halicyae, and cut down the trees on it, but he laid siege to Aegesta and Entella with strong forces and launched continuous attacks upon them, seeking to get control of them by force. Such was the state of the affairs of Dionysius.
§ 14.49
Ἰμίλκων δὲ ὁ τῶν Καρχηδονίων στρατηγὸς αὐτὸς μὲν περὶ τὸν τῶν δυνάμεων ἀθροισμὸν καὶ τὴν ἄλλην ἐγίνετο παρασκευήν, τὸν δὲ ναύαρχον μετὰ δέκα τριήρων ἀπέστειλε, κελεύσας κατὰ τάχος λάθρᾳ πλεῖν ὡς ἐπὶ Συρακοσίους, καὶ νυκτὸς εἰς τὸν λιμένα πλεύσαντα διαφθεῖραι τὰ καταλελειμμένα τῶν πλοίων. τοῦτο δʼ ἔπραξε νομίζων ἀντιπερισπασμόν τινα ποιήσειν καὶ τὸν Διονύσιον ἀναγκάσειν μέρος τῶν πλοίων ἀποστέλλειν ἐπὶ Συρακοσίους. ὁ δὲ πεμφθεὶς ναύαρχος συντόμως πράξας τὸ παραγγελθέν, κατέπλευσε νυκτὸς εἰς τὸν τῶν Συρακοσίων λιμένα, πάντων ἀγνοούντων τὸ γεγενημένον. ἀπροσδοκήτως δʼ ἐπιθέμενος καὶ τοῖς παρορμοῦσι πλοίοις ἐμβολὰς δοὺς καὶ σχεδὸν ἅπαντα καταδύσας, ἀνέκαμψεν εἰς Καρχηδόνα. Διονύσιος δὲ πᾶσαν τὴν ὑπὸ Καρχηδονίους χώραν δῃώσας καὶ τοὺς πολεμίους τειχήρεις ποιήσας, ἐπὶ τὴν Μοτύην ἅπασαν ἤγαγε τὴν δύναμιν· ἤλπιζε γὰρ ταύτης ἐκπολιορκηθείσης τὰς ἄλλας εὐθέως αὑτὰς παραδώσειν. εὐθὺς οὖν πολλαπλασίους ἄνδρας τοῖς ἔργοις τε προστιθεὶς ἐχώννυε τὸν μεταξὺ πόρον, καὶ τὰς μηχανὰς ἐκ τοῦ κατʼ ὀλίγον ἅμα τῇ τοῦ χώματος αὐξήσει προσήγαγε τοῖς τείχεσιν.
Himilcon, the general of the Carthaginians, being himself busy with the mustering of the armaments and other preparations, dispatched his admiral with ten triremes under orders to sail speedily in secret against the Syracusans, enter the harbour by night, and destroy the shipping left behind there. This he did, expecting to cause a diversion and force Dionysius to send part of his fleet back to the Syracusans. The admiral who had been dispatched carried out his orders with promptness and entered the harbour of the Syracusans by night while everyone was ignorant of what had taken place. Attacking unawares, he rammed the vessels lying at anchor along the shore, sank practically all of them, and then returned to Carthage. Dionysius, after ravaging all the territory held by the Carthaginians and forcing the enemy to take refuge behind walls, led all his army against Motye; for he hoped that when this city had been reduced by siege, all the others would forthwith surrender themselves to him. Accordingly, he at once put many times more men on the task of filling up the strait between the city and the coast, and, as the mole was extended, advanced his engines of war little by little toward the walls.
§ 14.50
περὶ δὲ τοῦτον τὸν χρόνον Ἰμίλκων ὁ τῶν Καρχηδονίων ναύαρχος ἀκούσας ὅτι Διονύσιος ἐνεώλκησε τὰς ναῦς, εὐθὺς ἐπλήρου τὰς ἀρίστας τῶν τριήρων ἑκατόν· ὑπελάμβανε γὰρ ἀπροσδοκήτως ἐπιφανεὶς ῥᾳδίως κρατήσειν τῶν νενεωλκημένων ἐν τῷ λιμένι σκαφῶν, κυριεύων τῆς θαλάττης· τοῦτο δὲ πράξας ἐνόμιζε τήν τε τῆς Μοτύης πολιορκίαν λύσειν καὶ τὸν πόλεμον μετάξειν ἐπὶ τὴν τῶν Συρακοσίων πόλιν. ἐκπλεύσας οὖν μετὰ νεῶν ἑκατὸν κατήχθη ἐπὶ τὴν τῶν Σελινουντίων χώραν νυκτός, καὶ περιπλεύσας τὴν περὶ Λιλύβαιον ἄκραν ἅμʼ ἡμέρᾳ παρῆν ἐπὶ τὴν Μοτύην. ἀνελπίστως δʼ ἐπιφανεὶς τοῖς πολεμίοις τῶν παρορμούντων πλοίων τὰ μὲν συνέτριψε, τὰ δʼ ἔκαυσεν, οὐ δυναμένων βοηθεῖν τῶν περὶ Διονύσιον. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτʼ εἰσπλεύσας εἰς τὸν λιμένα διέταξε τὰς ναῦς ὡς ἐπιθησόμενος ταῖς νενεωλκημέναις ὑπὸ τῶν πολεμίων. Διονύσιος δὲ συναγαγὼν τὴν δύναμιν ἐπὶ τὸ στόμα τοῦ λιμένος, καὶ θεωρῶν τοὺς πολεμίους τὸν ἐκ τοῦ λιμένος ἔκπλουν παραφυλάττοντας, εὐλαβεῖτο καθέλκειν εἰς τὸν λιμένα τὰ σκάφη· οὐ γὰρ ἠγνόει διότι στενοῦ τοῦ στόματος ὄντος ἀναγκαῖον ἦν ὀλίγαις ναυσὶ πρὸς πολλαπλασίους διακινδυνεύειν. διόπερ τῷ πλήθει τῶν στρατιωτῶν ῥᾳδίως διελκύσας τὰ σκάφη διὰ τῆς γῆς εἰς τὴν ἐκτὸς τοῦ λιμένος θάλατταν διέσωσε τὰς ναῦς. Ἰμίλκων δὲ ταῖς πρώταις τριήρεσιν ἐπιθέμενος τῷ πλήθει τῶν βελῶν ἀνείργετο· ἐπὶ μὲν γὰρ τῶν νεῶν ἐπεβεβήκει πλῆθος τοξοτῶν καὶ σφενδονητῶν, ἀπὸ δὲ τῆς γῆς τοῖς ὀξυβελέσι καταπέλταις οἱ Συρακόσιοι χρώμενοι συχνοὺς τῶν πολεμίων ἀνῄρουν· καὶ γὰρ κατάπληξιν εἶχε μεγάλην τοῦτο τὸ βέλος διὰ τὸ πρώτως εὑρεθῆναι κατʼ ἐκεῖνον τὸν καιρόν· ὥστε Ἰμίλκων οὐ δυνάμενος κρατῆσαι τῆς ἐπιβολῆς ἀπέπλευσεν εἰς τὴν Λιβύην, ναυμαχεῖν οὐ κρίνων συμφέρειν διὰ τὸ διπλασίας εἶναι τὰς ναῦς τῶν πολεμίων.
Meanwhile Himilcon, the admiral of the Carthaginians, hearing that Dionysius had hauled his warships up on land, manned at once his hundred vest triremes; for he assumed that if he appeared unexpectedly, he should easily seize the vessels which were hauled up on land in the harbour, since he would be master of the sea. Once he succeeded in this, he believed, he would not only relieve the siege of Motye but also transfer the war to the city of the Syracusans. Sailing forth, therefore, with one hundred ships, he arrived during the night at the territory of Selinus, skirted the promontory of Lilybaeum, and arrived at daybreak at Motye. Since his appearance took the enemy by surprise, he disabled some of the vessels anchored along the shore by ramming and others by burning, for Dionysius was unable to come to their defence. After this he sailed into the harbour and drew up his ships as if to attack the vessels which the enemy had drawn up on land. Dionysius now massed his army at the entrance of the harbour; but when he saw that the enemy was lying in wait to attack as the ships left the harbour, he refused to risk launching his ships within the harbour, since he realized that the narrow entrance compelled a few ships to match themselves against an enemy many times more numerous. Consequently, using the multitude of his soldiers, he hauled his vessels over the land with no difficulty and launched them safely in the sea outside the harbour. Himilcon attacked the first ships, but was held back by the multitude of missiles; for Dionysius had manned the ships with a great number of archers and slingers, and the Syracusans slew many of the enemy by using from the land the catapults which shot sharp-pointed missiles. Indeed this weapon created great dismay, because it was a new invention at this time. As a result, Himilcon was unable to achieve his design and sailed away to Libya, believing that a sea-battle would serve no end, since the enemy's ships were double his in number.
§ 14.51
Διονύσιος δὲ τῇ πολυχειρίᾳ τῶν ἐργαζομένων συντελέσας τὸ χῶμα, προσήγαγε παντοίας μηχανὰς τοῖς τείχεσι, καὶ τοῖς μὲν κριοῖς ἔτυπτε τοὺς πύργους, τοῖς δὲ καταπέλταις ἀνέστελλε τοὺς ἐπὶ τῶν ἐπάλξεων μαχομένους· προσήγαγε δὲ καὶ τοὺς ὑπὸ τῶν τροχῶν πύργους τοῖς τείχεσιν, ἑξωρόφους ὄντας, οὓς κατεσκεύασε πρὸς τὸ τῶν οἰκιῶν ὕψος. οἱ δὲ τὴν Μοτύην κατοικοῦντες ἐν χερσὶ τοῦ κινδύνου καθεστῶτος ὅμως οὐ κατεπλάγησαν τὴν τοῦ Διονυσίου δύναμιν, καίπερ ὄντες ἔρημοι συμμάχων κατʼ ἐκεῖνον τὸν καιρόν. ὑπερτιθέμενοι δὲ τῇ φιλοδοξίᾳ τοὺς πολιορκοῦντας, τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἐκ τῶν μεγίστων ἱστῶν κεραίαις ἱσταμέναις ἐβάσταζον ἄνδρας ἐν θωρακίοις, οὗτοι δʼ ἀφʼ ὑψηλῶν τόπων δᾷδας ἡμμένας ἠφίεσαν καὶ στυππεῖα καιόμενα μετὰ πίττης εἰς τὰς τῶν πολεμίων μηχανάς. ταχὺ δὲ τῆς φλογὸς ἐπινεμομένης τὴν ὕλην, ὀξέως οἱ Σικελιῶται παραβοηθήσαντες ταύτην μὲν ἀπέσβεσαν, τοῖς δὲ κριοῖς πυκνὰς τὰς ἐμβολὰς διδόντες κατέβαλον μέρος τοῦ τείχους. συνδραμόντων δʼ ἐπὶ τὸν τόπον ἀθρόων ἐξ ἑκατέρου μέρους ἰσχυρὰν συνέβαινε τὴν μάχην γίνεσθαι. οἱ μὲν γὰρ Σικελιῶται κεκρατηκέναι τῆς πόλεως ἤδη νομίζοντες, πᾶν ὑπέμενον ἕνεκεν τοῦ τοὺς Φοίνικας ἀμύνεσθαι, περὶ ὧν πρότερον εἰς αὐτοὺς ἡμαρτήκεισαν· οἱ δʼ ἐκ τῆς πόλεως πρὸ ὀφθαλμῶν λαμβάνοντες τὰ τῆς αἰχμαλωσίας δεινά, καὶ φυγὴν οὐδεμίαν ὁρῶντες ὑπάρχουσαν οὔτε κατὰ γῆν οὔτε κατὰ θάλατταν, οὐκ ἀγενῶς ὑπέμενον τὸν θάνατον. θεωροῦντες δὲ τὴν ἀπὸ τῶν τειχῶν ἐπικουρίαν περιῃρημένην, ἐνέφραττον τοὺς στενωπούς, καὶ ταῖς ἐσχάταις οἰκίαις ἐχρῶντο καθάπερ τειχίῳ πολυτελῶς ᾠκοδομημένῳ. ὅθεν εἰς μείζονα δυσχέρειαν οἱ περὶ τὸν Διονύσιον παρεγενήθησαν. παρεισπεσόντες γὰρ ἐντὸς τοῦ τείχους, καὶ δοκοῦντες ἤδη κυριεύειν τῆς πόλεως, ὑπὸ τῶν ἐν ταῖς οἰκίαις ὄντων ἐξ ὑπερδεξίων τόπων κατετιτρώσκοντο. οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ τοὺς ξυλίνους πύργους προσαγαγόντες ταῖς πρώταις οἰκίαις ἐπιβάθρας κατεσκεύασαν. ἴσων δʼ ὄντων τῶν μηχανημάτων τοῖς οἰκοδομήμασι, τὸ λοιπὸν ἐκ χειρὸς συνέβαινεν εἶναι τὴν μάχην. οἱ μὲν γὰρ Σικελιῶται τὰς ἐπιβάθρας ἐπιρριπτοῦντες, διὰ τούτων ἐπὶ τὰς οἰκίας ἐβιάζοντο·
After Dionysius had completed the mole by employing a large force of labourers, he advanced war engines of every kind against the walls and kept hammering the towers with his battering-rams, while with the catapults he kept down the fighters on the battlements; and he also advanced against the walls his wheeled towers, six stories high, which he had built to equal the height of the houses. The inhabitants of Motye, now that the threat was at hand-grips, were nevertheless not dismayed by the armament of Dionysius, even though they had for the moment no allies to help them. Surpassing the besiegers in thirst for glory, they in the first place raised up men in crow'snests resting on yard-arms suspended from the highest possible masts, and these from their lofty positions hurled lighted fire-brands and burning tow with pitch on the enemies' siege engines. The flame quickly caught the wood, but the Sicilian Greeks, dashing to the scene, swiftly quenched it; and meantime the frequent blows of the battering-rams broke down a section of the wall. Since now both sides rushed with one accord to the place, the battle that ensued grew furious. For the Sicilian Greeks, believing that the city was already in their hands, spared no effort in retaliating upon the Phoenicians for former injuries they had suffered at their hands, while the people of the city, envisioning the terrible fate of a life of captivity and seeing no possibility of flight either by land or by sea, faced death stoutly. And finding themselves shorn of the defence of the walls, they barricaded the narrow lanes and made the last houses provide a lavishly constructed wall. From this came even greater difficulties for the troops of Dionysius. For after they had burst through the wall and seemed to be already masters of the city, they were raked by missiles from men posted in superior positions. Nevertheless, they advanced the wooden towers to the first houses and provided them with gangways; and since the siege machines were equal in height to the dwellings, the rest of the struggle was fought hand to hand. For the Sicilian Greeks would launch the gangways and force a passage by them on to the houses.
§ 14.52
οἱ δὲ Μοτυηνοὶ τὸ μέγεθος τοῦ κινδύνου λογιζόμενοι, καὶ τῶν γυναικῶν καὶ τῶν τέκνων ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς ὄντων, τῷ περὶ τούτων φόβῳ προθυμότερον ἠγωνίζοντο. οἱ μὲν γὰρ γονέων παρεστώτων καὶ δεομένων μὴ περιιδεῖν αὐτοὺς τῇ τούτων ὕβρει παραδιδομένους ἐπηγείροντο ταῖς ψυχαῖς, οὐδεμίαν φειδὼ τοῦ ζῆν ποιούμενοι, οἱ δὲ γυναικῶν καὶ νηπίων τέκνων θρῆνον ἀκούοντες ἔσπευδον εὐγενῶς ἀποθανεῖν, πρὶν ἐπιδεῖν τὴν τῶν τέκνων αἰχμαλωσίαν· οὐδὲ γὰρ φυγεῖν ἐκ τῆς πόλεως ἦν, ὡς ἂν περιεχούσης μὲν θαλάττης, τῶν δὲ πολεμίων θαλαττοκρατούντων. ἐξέπληττέ τε καὶ μάλιστα ἀπογινώσκειν ἐποίει τοὺς Φοίνικας τὸ ὠμῶς κεχρῆσθαι τοῖς τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἡλωκόσιν, οἷς ταὐτὸ προσεδόκων πείσεσθαι. ἀπελείπετʼ οὖν αὐτοῖς εὐγενῶς μαχομένοις ἢ νικᾶν ἢ τελευτᾶν. τοιαύτης δὲ παραστάσεως ἐμπεσούσης εἰς τὰς τῶν πολιορκουμένων ψυχάς, συνέβαινε τοὺς Σικελιώτας εἰς πολλὴν ἀπορίαν ἐμπίπτειν. ἀπὸ γὰρ τῶν ἐπερεισθεισῶν σανίδων μαχόμενοι κακῶς ἀπήλλαττον διά τε τὴν στενοχωρίαν καὶ διὰ τὸ τοὺς ἐναντίους ἀπονενοημένως κινδυνεύειν, ὡς ἂν ἀπογινώσκοντας τὸ ζῆν· ὥσθʼ οἱ μὲν εἰς χεῖρας συμπλεκόμενοι καὶ τραύματα διδόντες καὶ λαμβάνοντες ἀπέθνησκον, οἱ δʼ ὑπὸ τῶν Μοτυαίων ἐξωθούμενοι καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν σανίδων ἀποπίπτοντες εἰς τὴν γῆν ἀπώλλυντο. τέλος δʼ ἐφʼ ἡμέρας τοιαύτης τινὸς τῆς πολιορκίας γινομένης, Διονύσιος αἰεὶ πρὸς τὴν ἑσπέραν τῇ σάλπιγγι τοὺς μαχομένους ἀνακαλούμενος ἔλυε τὴν πολιορκίαν. εἰς τοιαύτην δὲ συνήθειαν τοὺς Μοτυαίους ἀγαγών, ἐπειδὴ παρʼ ἑκατέρων οἱ κινδυνεύοντες ἀπῆλθον, ἀπέστειλεν Ἀρχύλον τὸν Θούριον μετὰ τῶν ἐπιλέκτων· οὗτος δʼ ἤδη νυκτὸς οὔσης προσήρεισε ταῖς πεπτωκυίαις οἰκίαις κλίμακας, διʼ ὧν ἀναβὰς καὶ καταλαβόμενός τινα τόπον εὔκαιρον παρεδέχετο τοὺς περὶ τὸν Διονύσιον. οἱ δὲ Μοτυαῖοι τὸ γεγενημένον αἰσθόμενοι παραυτίκα μετὰ πάσης σπουδῆς παρεβοήθουν, καὶ τῶν καιρῶν ὑστεροῦντες οὐδὲν ἧττον ὑπέστησαν τὸν κίνδυνον. γενομένης δὲ τῆς μάχης ἰσχυρᾶς καὶ πολλῶν προσαναβάντων, μόγις οἱ Σικελιῶται τῷ πλήθει κατεπόνησαν τοὺς ἀνθεστηκότας.
The Motyans, as they took account of the magnitude of the peril, and with their wives and children before their eyes, fought the more fiercely out of fear for their fate. There were some whose parents stood by entreating them not to let them be surrendered to the lawless will of victors, who were thus wrought to a pitch where they set no value on life; others, as they heard the laments of their wives and helpless children, sought to die like men rather than to see their children led into captivity. Flight of course from the city was impossible, since it was entirely surrounded by the sea, which was controlled by the enemy. Most appalling for the Phoenicians and the greatest cause of their despair was the thought how cruelly they had used their Greek captives and the prospect of their suffering the same treatment. Indeed there was nothing left for them but, fighting bravely, either to conquer or die. When such an obstinate mood filled the souls of the besieged, the Sicilian Greeks found themselves in a very difficult position. For, fighting as they were from the suspended wooden bridges, they suffered grievously both because of the narrow quarters and because of the desperate resistance of their opponents, who had abandoned hope of life. As a result, some perished in hand-to hand encounter as they gave and received wounds, and others, pressed back by the Motyans and tumbling from the wooden bridges, fell to their death on the ground. In the end, while the kind of siege we have described had lasted some days, Dionysius made it his practice always toward evening to sound the trumpet for the recall of the fighters and break off the siege. When he had accustomed the Motyans to such a practice, the combatants on both sides retiring, he dispatched Archylus of Thurii with the elite troops, who, when night had fallen, placed ladders against the fallen houses, and mounting by them, seized an advantageous spot where he admitted Dionysius' troops. The Motyans, when they perceived what had taken place, at once rushed to the rescue with all eagerness, and although they were too late, none the less faced the struggle. The battle grew fierce and abundant reinforcements climbed the ladders, until at last the Sicilian Greeks wore down their opponents by weight of numbers.
§ 14.53
εὐθὺς δὲ καὶ διὰ τοῦ χώματος ἡ δύναμις ἅπασα τοῦ Διονυσίου παρεισέπεσεν εἰς τὴν πόλιν, καὶ πᾶς τόπος ἔγεμε τῶν ἀναιρουμένων· οἱ γὰρ Σικελιῶται ὠμότητα ὠμότητι σπεύδοντες ἀμύνεσθαι, πάντας ἑξῆς ἀνῄρουν, ἁπλῶς οὐ παιδός, οὐ γυναικός, οὐ πρεσβύτου φειδόμενοι. Διονύσιος δὲ βουλόμενος ἐξανδραποδίσασθαι τὴν πόλιν, ὅπως ἀθροισθῇ χρήματα, τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἀνεῖργε τοὺς στρατιώτας τοῦ φονεύειν τοὺς αἰχμαλώτους· ὡς δʼ οὐδεὶς αὐτῷ προσεῖχεν, ἀλλʼ ἑώρα τὴν τῶν Σικελιωτῶν ὁρμὴν ἀκατάσχετον οὖσαν, παρεστήσατο κήρυκας τοὺς μετὰ βοῆς δηλώσοντας τοῖς Μοτυαίοις φυγεῖν εἰς τὰ παρὰ τοῖς Ἕλλησιν ἱερὰ τιμώμενα. οὗ γενηθέντος οἱ μὲν στρατιῶται τοῦ φονεύειν ἔληγον, ἐπὶ δὲ τὴν τῶν κτήσεων διαρπαγὴν ὥρμησαν· καὶ διεφορεῖτο πολὺς μὲν ἄργυρος, οὐκ ὀλίγος δὲ χρυσός, καὶ ἐσθῆτες πολυτελεῖς καὶ τῆς ἄλλης εὐδαιμονίας πλῆθος. τὴν δὲ τῆς πόλεως διαρπαγὴν ἔδωκεν ὁ Διονύσιος τοῖς στρατιώταις, βουλόμενος προθύμους αὐτοὺς ποιῆσαι πρὸς τοὺς ἐπιφερομένους κινδύνους. ἀπὸ δὲ τούτων γενόμενος Ἀρχύλον τὸν ἀναβάντα πρῶτον ἐπὶ τὸ τεῖχος ἑκατὸν μναῖς ἐστεφάνωσεν, τῶν δʼ ἄλλων κατὰ τὴν ἀξίαν ἕκαστον τῶν ἠνδραγαθηκότων ἐτίμησεν, καὶ τῶν Μοτυαίων τοὺς περιλειφθέντας ἐλαφυροπώλησεν· Δαϊμένην δὲ καί τινας τῶν Ἑλλήνων συμμαχοῦντας Καρχηδονίοις λαβὼν αἰχμαλώτους ἀνεσταύρωσεν. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα φύλακας τῆς πόλεως καταστήσας, Βίτωνα τὸν Συρακόσιον φρούραρχον ἀπέδειξε· τὸ δὲ πλεῖον μέρος ἐκ τῶν Σικελῶν ὑπῆρχεν. καὶ Λεπτίνην μὲν τὸν ναύαρχον μετὰ νεῶν εἴκοσι καὶ ἑκατὸν ἐκέλευσεν παρατηρεῖν τὴν διάβασιν τῶν Καρχηδονίων, συνέταξε δʼ αὐτῷ τὴν Αἴγεσταν καὶ τὴν Ἔντελλαν πολιορκεῖν, καθάπερ ἐξ ἀρχῆς πορθεῖν αὐτὰς ἐνεστήσατο· αὐτὸς δὲ τοῦ θέρους ἤδη λήγοντος ἀνέζευξε μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως εἰς Συρακούσας. ἐν δὲ ταῖς Ἀθήναις Σοφοκλῆς ὁ Σοφοκλέους τραγῳδίαν διδάσκειν ἤρξατο, καὶ νίκας ἔσχε δεκαδύο.
Straightway Dionysius' entire army burst into the city, coming also by the mole, and now every spot was a scene of mass slaughter; for the Sicilian Greeks, eager to return cruelty for cruelty, slew everyone they encountered, sparing without distinction not a child, not a woman, not an elder. Dionysius, wishing to sell the inhabitants into slavery for the money he could gather, at first attempted to restrain the soldiers from murdering the captives, but when no one paid any attention to him and he saw that the fury of the Sicilian Greeks was not to be controlled, he stationed heralds to cry aloud and tell the Motyans to take refuge in the temples which were revered by the Greeks. When this was done, the soldiers ceased their slaughter and turned to looting the property; and the plunder yielded much silver and not a little gold, as well as costly raiment and an abundance of every other product of felicity. The city was given over by Dionysius to the soldiers to plunder, since he wished to whet their appetites for future encounters. After this success he rewarded Archylus, who had been the first to mount the wall, with one hundred minas, and honoured according to their merits all others who had performed deeds of valour; he also sold as booty the Motyans who survived, but he crucified Daimenes and other Greeks who had fought on the side of the Carthaginians and had been taken captive. After this Dionysius stationed guards in the city whom he put under the command of Biton of Syracuse; and the garrison was composed largely of Siceli. He ordered Leptines his admiral with one hundred and twenty ships to lie in wait for any attempt by the Carthaginians to cross to Sicily; and he also assigned to him the siege of Aegesta and Entella, in accordance with his original plan to sack them. Then, since the summer was already coming to a close, he marched back to Syracuse with his army. In Athens Sophocles, the son of Sophocles, began to produce tragedies and won the first prize twelve times.
§ 14.54
τοῦ δʼ ἐνιαυσιαίου χρόνου διεληλυθότος Ἀθήνησι μὲν ἔλαβε τὴν ἀρχὴν Φορμίων, ἐν Ῥώμῃ δʼ ἀντὶ τῶν ὑπάτων ἐγένοντο χιλίαρχοι ἕξ, Γναῖος Γενούκιος καὶ Λεύκιος Ἀτίλιος, Μάρκος Πομπώνιος, Γάιος Δυίλιος, Μάρκος Οὐετούριος, Οὐαλέριος Ποπλίλιος, Ὀλυμπιὰς δʼ ἤχθη ἐνενηκοστὴ καὶ ἕκτη, καθʼ ἣν ἐνίκα Εὔπολις Ἠλεῖος. τούτων δὲ τὴν ἀρχὴν παραλαβόντων Διονύσιος ὁ τῶν Συρακοσίων τύραννος μετὰ πάσης τῆς δυνάμεως ἀναζεύξας ἐκ Συρακουσῶν ἐνέβαλεν εἰς τὴν τῶν Καρχηδονίων ἐπικράτειαν. πορθοῦντος δʼ αὐτοῦ τὴν χώραν, Ἁλικυαῖοι μὲν καταπλαγέντες διεπρεσβεύσαντο πρὸς αὐτὸν καὶ συμμαχίαν ἐποιήσαντο, Αἰγεσταῖοι δὲ τοῖς πολιορκοῦσι νυκτὸς ἀπροσδοκήτως ἐπιθέμενοι, καὶ πῦρ ἐνέντες ταῖς κατὰ τὴν παρεμβολὴν σκηναῖς, εἰς πολλὴν ταραχὴν ἤγαγον τοὺς ἐν τῇ στρατοπεδείᾳ· ἐπινεμηθείσης δὲ τῆς φλογὸς ἐπὶ πολὺν τόπον, καὶ τοῦ πυρὸς ἀκατασχέτου γενηθέντος, τῶν μὲν παραβοηθούντων στρατιωτῶν ὀλίγοι διεφθάρησαν, τῶν δʼ ἵππων οἱ πλεῖστοι ταῖς σκηναῖς συγκατεκαύθησαν. καὶ Διονύσιος μὲν ἐδῄου τὴν χώραν οὐδενὸς ὑφισταμένου, Λεπτίνης δʼ ὁ ναύαρχος περὶ Μοτύην διατρίβων ἐπετήρει τὸν τῶν πολεμίων κατάπλουν. οἱ δὲ Καρχηδόνιοι πυθόμενοι τὸ μέγεθος τῆς τοῦ Διονυσίου δυνάμεως, ἔκριναν πολὺ ταῖς παρασκευαῖς αὐτὸν ὑπερθέσθαι. διόπερ Ἰμίλκωνα βασιλέα κατὰ νόμον καταστήσαντες, ἐκ τῆς Λιβύης ὅλης, ἔτι δʼ ἐκ τῆς Ἰβηρίας συνήγαγον δυνάμεις, τὰς μὲν παρὰ τῶν συμμάχων μεταπεμπόμενοι, τὰς δὲ μισθούμενοι· καὶ πέρας ἤθροισαν πεζῶν μὲν ὑπὲρ τὰς τριάκοντα μυριάδας, ἱππεῖς δὲ τετρακισχιλίους χωρὶς τῶν ἁρμάτων· ταῦτα δʼ ἦσαν τετρακόσια· ναῦς δὲ μακρὰς μὲν τετρακοσίας, τὰς δὲ τὸν σῖτον καὶ τὰ μηχανήματα καὶ τὴν ἄλλην ὑπηρεσίαν παρακομιζούσας πλείους τῶν ἑξακοσίων, καθάπερ φησὶν Ἔφορος. Τίμαιος μὲν γὰρ τὰς ἐκ τῆς Λιβύης περαιωθείσας δυνάμεις οὐ πλείω φησὶν εἶναι δέκα μυριάδων, καὶ πρὸς ταύταις ἑτέρας τρεῖς ἀποφαίνεται κατὰ Σικελίαν στρατολογηθείσας.
When the year had come to an end, in Athens Phormion assumed the archonship and in Rome six military tribunes took the place of the consuls, Gnaeus Genucius, Lucius Atilius, Marcus Pomponius, Gaius Duilius, Marcus Veturius, and Valerius Publilius; and the Ninetysixth Olympiad was celebrated, that in which Eupolis of Elis was the victor. In the year when these magistrates entered office Dionysius, the tyrant of the Syracusans, set out from Syracuse with his entire army and invaded the domain of the Carthaginians. While he was laying waste the countryside, the Halicyaeans in dismay sent an embassy to him and concluded an alliance. But the Aegestaeans, falling unexpectedly by night on their besiegers and setting fire to the tents where they were camped, threw the men in the encampment into great confusion; for since the flames spread over a large area and the fire could not be brought under control, a few of the soldiers who came to the rescue lost their lives and most of the horses were burned, together with the tents. Now Dionysius ravaged the Carthaginian territory without meeting any opposition, and Leptines his admiral from his quarters in Motye kept watch against any approach of the enemy by sea. The Carthaginians, when they learned of the magnitude of the armament of Dionysius, resolved far to surpass him in their preparations. Consequently, lawfully according Himilcon sovereign power, they gathered armaments from all Libya as well as from Iberia, summoning some from their allies and in other cases hiring mercenaries. In the end they collected more than three hundred thousand infantry, four thousand cavalry in addition to chariots, which numbered four hundred, four hundred ships of war, and over six hundred other vessels to convey food and engines of war and other supplies. These are the numbers stated by Ephorus. Timaeus, on the other hand, says that the troops transported from Libya did not exceed one hundred thousand and declares that an additional thirty thousand were enlisted in Sicily.
§ 14.55
Ἰμίλκων δὲ τοῖς κυβερνήταις ἅπασι δοὺς βυβλίον ἐπεσφραγισμένον, ἐκέλευσεν ἀνοίγειν ὅταν ἐκπλεύσωσι καὶ ποιεῖν τὰ γεγραμμένα. τοῦτο δʼ ἐμηχανήσατο πρὸς τὸ μηδένα τῶν κατασκόπων ἀπαγγεῖλαι τὸν κατάπλουν τῷ Διονυσίῳ· ἦν δὲ γεγραμμένον, ὅπως ἐς Πάνορμον καταπλεύσωσιν. διόπερ ἐπιγενομένου πνεύματος οὐρίου, καὶ πάντων λυσάντων τὰ πρυμνήσια, τὰ μὲν φορτηγὰ τῶν πλοίων ἔπλει διὰ τοῦ πελάγους, αἱ δὲ τριήρεις ἔπλευσαν εἰς τὴν Λιβυκήν, παρελέγοντό τε τὴν γῆν. φοροῦ δὲ πνεύματος ὄντος, ὡς ἤδη καταφανεῖς ἦσαν ἀπὸ τῆς Σικελίας αἱ πρῶται πλέουσαι τῶν φορτηγῶν νεῶν, Διονύσιος ἀπέστειλε Λεπτίνην μετὰ τριάκοντα τριήρων, παρακελευσάμενος τύπτειν τοῖς ἐμβόλοις καὶ διαφθείρειν ἁπάσας τὰς καταλαμβανομένας. ὃς μετὰ σπουδῆς ἐκπλεύσας καὶ ταῖς πρώταις προσμίξας εὐθέως τινὰς αὐτάνδρους κατέδυσεν· αἱ δὲ λοιπαὶ πλήρεις οὖσαι καὶ τὸν ἄνεμον τοῖς ἱστίοις δεχόμεναι ῥᾳδίως ἐξέφυγον· ὅμως κατέδυσε πεντήκοντα ναῦς στρατιώτας ἐχούσας πεντακισχιλίους, ἅρματα δὲ διακόσια. Ἰμίλκων δὲ καταπλεύσας εἰς Πάνορμονκαὶ τὴν δύναμιν ἐκβιβάσας ἦγεν ἐπὶ τοὺς πολεμίους, καὶ τὰς μὲν τριήρεις παραπλεῖν ἐκέλευσεν, αὐτὸς δʼ ἐν παρόδῳ διὰ προδοσίας ἑλὼν Ἔρυκα πρὸς τὴν Μοτύην κατεστρατοπέδευσεν. ὄντος δὲ κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν χρόνον τοῦ Διονυσίου περὶ τὴν Αἴγεσταν μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως, Ἰμίλκων τὴν Μοτύην ἐξεπολιόρκησεν. τῶν δὲ Σικελιωτῶν προθύμων ὄντων διαμάχεσθαι, Διονύσιος ἅμα μὲν μακρὰν τῶν συμμαχίδων πόλεων ἀπεωσμένος, ἅμα δὲ τῆς σιτοπομπίας ἐπιλειπούσης, διέλαβε συμφέρειν ἐφʼ ἑτέρων τόπων συστήσασθαι τὸν πόλεμον. κρίνας οὖν ἀναζευγνύειν, τοὺς μὲν Σικανοὺς ἔπειθε καταλιπεῖν τὰς πόλεις κατὰ τὸ παρὸν καὶ μετʼ αὐτοῦ στρατεύεσθαι· ἀντὶ δὲ τούτων ἐπηγγέλλετο δώσειν χώραν βελτίονα καὶ τῷ πλήθει παραπλησίαν, καὶ μετὰ τὴν τοῦ πολέμου κατάλυσιν κατάξειν τοὺς βουλομένους εἰς τὰς πατρίδας. τῶν δὲ Σικανῶν ὀλίγοι, καταπλαγέντες μήποτε ἀντιλέγοντες διαρπασθῶσιν ὑπὸ τῶν στρατιωτῶν, συγκατέθεντο τοῖς ἀξιουμένοις ὑπὸ Διονυσίου. ἀπέστησαν δὲ παραπλησίως καὶ Ἁλικυαῖοι, καὶ πέμψαντες πρέσβεις εἰς τὸ τῶν Καρχηδονίων στρατόπεδον συμμαχίαν ἐποιήσαντο. καὶ Διονύσιος μὲν ἀφώρμησεν ἐπὶ Συρακουσῶν, καταφθείρων τὴν χώραν διʼ ἧς ἦγε τὴν δύναμιν.
Himilcon gave sealed orders to all the pilots with commands to open them after they had sailed and to carry out the instructions. He devised this scheme in order that no spy should be able to report to Dionysius where they would put in; and the orders read for them to put in at Panormus. When a favourable wind arose, all the vessels cast off their cables and the transports put out to open sea, but the triremes sailed into the Libyan Sea and skirted the land. The wind continued favourable, and as soon as the leading vessels of the transports were visible from Sicily, Dionysius dispatched Leptines with thirty triremes under orders to ram and destroy all he could intercept.3 Leptines sailed forth promptly and straightway sank, together with their men, the first ships he encountered, but the rest, having all canvas spread and catching the wind with their sails, easily made their escape. Nevertheless, fifty ships were sunk, together with five thousand soldiers and two hundred chariots. 4 After Himilcon had put in at Panormus and disembarked his army, he advanced toward the enemy, ordering the triremes to sail along beside him; and having himself taken Eryx by treachery as he passed, he took up quarters before Motye. Since Dionysius and his army were during this time at Aegeste, Himilcon reduced Motye by siege. 5 Although the Sicilian Greeks were eager for a battle, Dionysius conceived it to be better, both because he was widely separated from his allied cities and because the transport of his food supplies was reduced, to renew the war in other areas. 6 Having decided, therefore, to break camp, he proposed to the Sicani to abandon their cities for the present and to join him in the campaign; and in return he promised to give them richer territory of about equal size and, at the conclusion of the war, to return to their native cities any who so wished. 7 Of the Sicani only a few, fearing that, if they refused, they would be plundered by the soldiers, agreed to Dionysius' offer. The Halicyaeans similarly deserted him and sent ambassadors to the Carthaginian camp and concluded an alliance with them. And Dionysius set out for Syracuse, laying waste the territory though which he led his army.
§ 14.56
Ἰμίλκων δὲ τῶν πραγμάτων προχωρούντων κατὰ γνώμην παρεσκευάζετο τὴν στρατιὰν ἀνάγειν ἐπὶ Μεσσήνης, σπεύδων αὐτῆς κυριεῦσαι διὰ τὴν εὐκαιρίαν τῶν τόπων· ὅ τε γὰρ ἐν αὐτῇ λιμὴν εὔθετος ἦν, δυνάμενος δέχεσθαι πάσας τὰς ναῦς, οὔσας πλείω τῶν ἑξακοσίων, τά τε περὶ τὸν πορθμὸν οἰκεῖα ποιησάμενος Ἰμίλκων ἤλπιζε τὰς τῶν Ἰταλιωτῶν βοηθείας ἐμφράξειν καὶ τοὺς ἐκ Πελοποννήσου στόλους ἐπισχεῖν. ταῦτα δὲ διανοηθεὶς πράττειν, πρὸς τοὺς μὲν Ἱμεραίους καὶ τοὺς τὸ Κεφαλοίδιον φρούριον κατοικοῦντας φιλίαν ἐποιήσατο, Λιπάρας δὲ τῆς πόλεως ἐγκρατὴς γενόμενος τριάκοντα τάλαντα παρὰ τῶν κατοικούντων τὴν νῆσον ἐπράξατο· αὐτὸς δὲ μετὰ πάσης τῆς δυνάμεως ὥρμησεν ἐπὶ Μεσσήνης, συμπαραπλεουσῶν αὐτῷ τῶν νεῶν. καὶ ταχὺ διανύσας τὴν ὁδὸν κατεστρατοπέδευσεν ἐπὶ τῆς Πελωρίδος, ἀπέχων τῆς Μεσσήνης σταδίους ἑκατόν. οἱ δὲ τὴν πόλιν ταύτην κατοικοῦντες ὡς ἐπύθοντο τὴν παρουσίαν τῶν πολεμίων, οὐ τὰς αὐτὰς ἀλλήλοις ἐννοίας εἶχον περὶ τοῦ πολέμου. τινὲς μὲν γὰρ αὐτῶν τὸ μέγεθος τῆς τῶν πολεμίων δυνάμεως ἀκούοντες, καὶ τὴν ἐρημίαν τῶν συμμάχων ὁρῶντες, ἔτι δὲ καὶ τῶν ἰδίων ἱππέων ἐν Συρακούσαις ὄντων, ἀπεγνώκεισαν τὴν ἐκ τῆς πολιορκίας σωτηρίαν. μάλιστα δʼ αὐτοὺς εἰς ἀθυμίαν ἦγε τὰ τείχη καταπεπτωκότα καὶ ὁ καιρὸς εἰς παρασκευὴν οὐ διδοὺς ἄνεσιν. διόπερ ἐξεκόμιζον ἐκ τῆς πόλεως τέκνα καὶ γυναῖκας καὶ τὰ πολυτελέστατα τῶν χρημάτων εἰς τὰς ἀστυγείτονας πόλεις. τινὲς δὲ τῶν Μεσσηνίων ἀκούοντές τι παλαιὸν αὐτοῖς εἶναι λόγιον, ὅτι δεῖ Καρχηδονίους ὑδροφορῆσαι κατὰ τὴν πόλιν, ἐξεδέχοντο τὸ κατὰ τὴν φήμην πρὸς τὸ συμφέρον ἑαυτοῖς, νομίζοντες δουλεύσειν ἐν Μεσσήνῃ τοὺς Καρχηδονίους. διὸ καὶ ταῖς ψυχαῖς εὐθαρσεῖς ὄντες πολλοὺς καὶ τῶν ἄλλων προθύμους ἐποιοῦντο εἰς τοὺς ὑπὲρ τῆς ἐλευθερίας κινδύνους. εὐθέως δὲ τῶν νεωτέρων ἐπιλέξαντες τοὺς ἀρίστους ἀπέστειλαν ἐπὶ τὴν Πελωρίδα, κωλύσοντας τοὺς πολεμίους ἐπιβαίνειν τῆς χώρας.
Himilcon, now that his affairs were proceeding as he wished, made preparations to lead his army against Messene, being anxious to get control of the city because of its favourable facilities; for it had an excellent harbour, capable of accommodating all his ships, which numbered more than six hundred, and Himilcon also hoped that by getting possession of the straits he would be able to bar any aid from the Italian Greeks and hold in check the fleets that might come from the Peloponnesus. With this programme in mind, he formed relations of friendship with the Himeraeans and the dwellers in the fort of Cephaloedium, and seizing the city of Lipara, he exacted thirty talents from the inhabitants of the island. Then he set out in person with his entire army toward Messene, his ships sailing along the coast beside him. Completing the distance in a brief time, he pitched his camp at Peloris, at a distance of one hundred stades from Messene. When the inhabitants of this city learned that the enemy was at hand, they could not agree among themselves about the war. One party, when they heard reports of the great size of the enemy's army and observed that they themselves were without any allies — what is more, that their own cavalry were at Syracuse — were fully convinced that nothing could save them from capture. When contributed most to their despair was the fact that their walls had fallen down and that the situation allowed no time for their repair. Consequently they removed from the city their children and wives and most valuable possessions to neighbouring cities. Another party of the Messenians, however, hearing of a certain ancient oracle of theirs which ran, "Carthaginians must be bearers of water in Messene," interpreted the utterance to their advantage, believing that the Carthaginians would serve as slaves in Messene. Consequently not only were they in a hopeful mood, but they made many others eager to face battle for their freedom. At once, then, they selected the ablest troops from among their young men and dispatched them to Peloris to prevent the enemy from entering their territory.
§ 14.57
περὶ ταῦτα δʼ ὄντων αὐτῶν, Ἰμίλκων θεωρῶν ἐκβοηθοῦντας τοὺς Μεσσηνίους περὶ τὴν ἀπόβασιν, ἀπέστειλε τῶν νεῶν διακοσίας ἐπὶ τὴν πόλιν· ἤλπιζε γάρ, ὅπερ ἦν εἰκός, τῶν στρατιωτῶν τὴν ἀπόβασιν κωλυόντων τοὺς ἐν ταῖς ναυσὶ κυριεύσειν ῥᾳδίως τῆς Μεσσήνης οὔσης ἐρήμου τῶν ἀμυνομένων. πνεύσαντος δὲ βορέου τὰς μὲν ναῦς συνέβη ταχέως πλήρεσι τοῖς ἱστίοις εἰς τὸν λιμένα κατενεχθῆναι, τοὺς δʼ ἐπὶ τῇ Πελωρίδι παραφυλάττοντας Μεσσηνίους ὑστερῆσαι τῆς τῶν νεῶν παρουσίας, καίπερ κατὰ σπουδὴν ἐπειγομένους. διόπερ οἱ Καρχηδόνιοι περιστρατοπεδεύσαντες τὴν Μεσσήνην καὶ διὰ τῶν πεπτωκότων τειχῶν εἰσβιασάμενοι τῆς πόλεως ἐκυρίευσαν. τῶν δὲ Μεσσηνίων οἱ μὲν μαχόμενοι γενναίως ἀνῃρέθησαν, οἱ δʼ εἰς τὰς ἐγγυτάτω κειμένας πόλεις ἔφυγον, ὁ δὲ πολὺς ὄχλος διὰ τῶν παρακειμένων ὀρῶν ὁρμήσας εἰς τὰ κατὰ τὴν χώραν φρούρια διεσπάρη· τῶν δὲ ἄλλων τινὲς μὲν ὑπὸ τῶν πολεμίων συνελαμβάνοντο, τινὲς δὲ ἀποληφθέντες εἰς τὸ πρὸς τὸν λιμένα μέρος ἔρριψαν ἑαυτοὺς εἰς τὴν θάλατταν, ἐλπίζοντες διανήξασθαι τὸν μεταξὺ πόρον. τούτων δὲ ὄντων πλειόνων ἢ διακοσίων, οἱ πλεῖστοι μὲν ὑπὸ τοῦ ῥοῦ διεφθάρησαν, πεντήκοντα δὲ πρὸς τὴν Ἰταλίαν διεσώθησαν. Ἰμίλκων δὲ τὴν δύναμιν ἅπασαν μεταγαγὼν εἰς τὴν πόλιν, τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἐπεχείρησε πορθεῖν τὰ κατὰ τὴν χώραν φρούρια, τούτων δʼ ὀχυρῶν ὄντων, καὶ τῶν εἰς αὐτὰ συμπεφευγότων γενναίως ἀγωνιζομένων, ἀνέστρεψεν εἰς τὴν πόλιν, ἀδυνατήσας αὐτῶν κυριεῦσαι. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τήν τε δύναμιν ἀνελάμβανε καὶ παρεσκευάζετο τὴν πορείαν ἐπὶ Συρακούσας ποιεῖσθαι.
While the Messenians were busied in this way, Himilcon, seeing that they had sallied against his place of landing, dispatched two hundred ships against the city, for he hoped, as well he might, that while the soldiers were trying to prevent his landing, the crews of the ships would easily seize Messene, stripped of defenders as it was. A north wind sprang up and the ships with all canvas spread entered the harbour, while the Messenians who were on guard at Peloris, in spite of their hurried return, failed to arrive before the ships. Consequently the Carthaginians invested Messene, forced their way through the fallen walls, and made themselves masters of the city. Of the Messenians, some were slain as they put up a gallant fight, others fled to the nearest cities, but the great mass of the common people took to flight through the surrounding mountains and scattered among the fortresses of the territory; of the rest, some were captured by the enemy and some, who had been cut off in the area near the harbour, hurled themselves into the sea in hopes of swimming across the intervening strait. These numbered more than two hundred and most of them were overcome by the current, only fifty making their way in safety to Italy. Himilcon now brought his entire army into the city and at first set to work to reduce the forts over the countryside; but since they were strongly situated and the men who had fled to them put up gallant struggles, he retired to the city, having found himself unable to master them. After this he refreshed his army and made preparations to advance against Syracuse.
§ 14.58
οἱ δὲ Σικελοί, πάλαι μὲν μισοῦντες τὸν Διονύσιον, τότε δὲ καιρὸν τῆς ἀποστάσεως ἔχοντες, μετεβάλοντο πρὸς Καρχηδονίους πλὴν Ἀσσωρίνων ἅπαντες. Διονύσιος δʼ ἐν ταῖς Συρακούσαις τοὺς δούλους ἐλευθερώσας, ἐπλήρωσεν ἐξ αὐτῶν ναῦς ἑξήκοντα· μετεπέμψατο δὲ καὶ παρὰ Λακεδαιμονίων μισθοφόρους πλείω τῶν χιλίων, καὶ τὰ κατὰ τὴν χώραν φρούρια περιπορευόμενος ὠχύρου καὶ σῖτον παρεκόμιζεν· ἐπιμελέστατα δὲ τὰς ἐν Λεοντίνοις ἀκροπόλεις ἐτείχισε καὶ τὸν ἐκ τῶν πεδίων σῖτον εἰς ταύτας συνήθροισεν. ἔπεισε δὲ καὶ τοὺς τὴν Κατάνην οἰκοῦντας Καμπανοὺς εἰς τὴν νῦν καλουμένην Αἴτνην μεταστῆναι διὰ τὸ λίαν εἶναι τὸ φρούριον ὀχυρόν. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ἀπὸ τῶν Συρακουσῶν ἑκατὸν ἑξήκοντα σταδίους προαγαγὼν ἅπασαν τὴν δύναμιν κατεστρατοπέδευσε περὶ τὸν Ταῦρον καλούμενον. εἶχε δὲ κατʼ ἐκεῖνον τὸν καιρὸν πεζοὺς μὲν τρισμυρίους, ἱππεῖς δὲ πλείους τῶν τρισχιλίων, ναῦς δὲ ἑκατὸν ὀγδοήκοντα· τούτων δʼ ὀλίγαι μὲν ἦσαν τριήρεις. Ἰμίλκων δὲ τὰ τείχη τῆς Μεσσήνης κατασκάψας προσέταξε τοῖς στρατιώταις καταβαλεῖν τὰς οἰκίας εἰς ἔδαφος, καὶ μήτε κέραμον μήθʼ ὕλην μήτʼ ἄλλο μηδὲν ὑπολιπεῖν, ἀλλὰ τὰ μὲν κατακαῦσαι, τὰ δὲ συντρῖψαι. ταχὺ δὲ τῇ τῶν στρατιωτῶν πολυχειρίᾳ λαβόντων τῶν ἔργων συντέλειαν, ἡ πόλις ἄγνωστος ἦν ὅτι πρότερον αὐτὴν οἰκεῖσθαι συνέβαινεν. ὁρῶν γὰρ τὸν τόπον πόρρω μὲν ἀπὸ τῶν συμμαχίδων πόλεων κεχωρισμένον, εὐκαιρότατον δὲ τῶν περὶ Σικελίαν ὄντα, προῄρητο δυεῖν θάτερον, ἢ τελέως ἀοίκητον διατηρεῖν ἢ δυσχερῆ καὶ πολυχρόνιον τὴν κτίσιν αὐτῆς γίνεσθαι.
The Siceli, who had hated Dionysius from of old and now had an opportunity to revolt, went over in a body, with the exception of the people of Assorus, to the Carthaginians. In Syracuse Dionysius set free the slaves and manned sixty ships from their numbers; he also summoned over a thousand mercenaries from the Lacedemonians, and went about the countryside strengthening the fortresses and storing them with provisions. He was most concerned, however, to fortify the citadels of the Leontines and to store in them the harvest from the plains. He also persuaded the Campanians who were dwelling in Catane to move to Aetne, as it is now called, since it was an exceptionally strong fortress. After this he led forth his entire army one hundred and sixty stades from Syracuse and encamped near Taurus, as it is called. He had at that time thirty thousand infantry, more than three thousand cavalry, and one hundred and eighty ships of war, of which only a few were triremes. Himilcon threw down the walls of Messene and issued orders to his soldiers to raze to the ground the dwellings, and to leave not a tile or timber or anything else but either to burn or break them. When the many hands of the soldiers speedily accomplished this task, no one would have known that the site had been occupied. For, reflecting that the place was far separated from the cities which were his allies and yet was the most strategically situated of any in Sicily, he had determined that he would see either that it was kept uninhabited or that it was an arduous and prolonged task to rebuild it.
§ 14.59
ἐναποδειξάμενος οὖν τὸ πρὸς τοὺς Ἕλληνας μῖσος ἐν τῇ τῶν Μεσσηνίων ἀτυχίᾳ, Μάγωνα μὲν τὸν ναύαρχον ἀπέστειλε μετὰ τῆς ναυτικῆς δυνάμεως, προστάξας παραπλεῖν ἐπὶ τὸν λόφον τὸν καλούμενον Ταῦρον. τοῦτον δὲ κατειληφότες ἦσαν Σικελοί, συχνοὶ μὲν τὸ πλῆθος ὄντες, οὐδένα δʼ ἔχοντες ἡγεμόνα. τούτοις δὲ τὸ μὲν πρότερον Διονύσιος δεδώκει τὴν τῶν Ναξίων χώραν, τότε δʼ ὑπʼ Ἰμίλκου πεισθέντες ἐπαγγελίαις τὸν λόφον κατελάβοντο. ὀχυροῦ δʼ ὄντος τούτου, καὶ τότε καὶ μετὰ τὸν πόλεμον ᾤκουν αὐτὸν τεῖχος περιβαλόμενοι, καὶ τὴν πόλιν διὰ τὸ μεῖναι τοὺς ἐπὶ τὸν Ταῦρον ἀθροισθέντας Ταυρομένιον ὠνόμασαν. Ἰμίλκων δὲ ἀναλαβὼν τὴν πεζὴν στρατιὰν εὔτονον τὴν πορείαν ἐποιεῖτο, καὶ κατήντησε τῆς Ναξίας ἐπὶ τὸν προειρημένον τόπον, ἅμα καὶ Μάγωνος καταπλεύσαντος. προσφάτως δὲ πυρὸς ἐκραγέντος ἐκ τῆς Αἴτνης μέχρι τῆς θαλάττης, οὐκέτι δυνατὸν ἦν τὴν πεζὴν στρατιὰν συμπαράγειν παραπλεούσαις ταῖς ναυσίν· ἐφθαρμένων γὰρ τῶν παρὰ τὴν θάλατταν τόπων ὑπὸ τοῦ καλουμένου ῥύακος, ἀναγκαῖον ἦν τὸ πεζὸν στρατόπεδον περιπορεύεσθαι τὸν τῆς Αἴτνης λόφον. διόπερ Μάγωνι προσέταξε καταπλεῖν ἐπὶ τῆς Κατάνης, αὐτὸς δὲ διὰ τῆς μεσογείου ταχέως ὁρμήσας ἔσπευδε συμμῖξαι ταῖς ναυσὶ περὶ τὸν τῶν Καταναίων αἰγιαλόν· εὐλαβεῖτο γὰρ μήποτε διεσπαρμένης τῆς δυνάμεως οἱ Σικελιῶται τοῖς περὶ τὸν Μάγωνα διαναυμαχήσωσιν· ὅπερ καὶ συνετελέσθη. Διονύσιος γὰρ τὸν μὲν πλοῦν εἰδὼς τῷ Μάγωνι βραχὺν ὄντα, τὴν δὲ πορείαν τοῖς πεζοῖς ἐργώδη καὶ μακράν, ἔσπευδεν ἐπὶ τῆς Κατάνης,βουλόμενος ναυμαχῆσαι πρὸς Μάγωνα, πρὶν ἐλθεῖν τοὺς περὶ τὸν Ἰμίλκωνα. ἤλπιζε γὰρ τῶν πεζῶν ἐκτεταγμένων παρὰ τὸν αἰγιαλὸν τοῖς μὲν ἰδίοις θάρσος παρέξεσθαι, τοὺς δὲ πολεμίους δειλοτέρους ἔσεσθαι· τὸ δὲ μέγιστον, εἴ τι συμβαίη γενέσθαι πταῖσμα, ταῖς θλιβομέναις ναυσὶν ἐξῆν καταφυγεῖν πρὸς τὸ τῶν πεζῶν στρατόπεδον. ταῦτα δὲ διανοηθεὶς Λεπτίνην μὲν ἀπέστειλε μετὰ πασῶν τῶν νεῶν, παραγγείλας ἀθρόοις τοῖς σκάφεσι ναυμαχεῖν καὶ μὴ λύειν τὴν τάξιν, ὅπως μὴ κινδυνεύσωσιν ὑπὸ τοῦ πλήθους τῶν ἐναντίων· εἶχον γὰρ οἱ περὶ τὸν Μάγωνα σὺν ταῖς ὁλκάσι καὶ ταῖς ἄλλαις ταῖς ἐπικώποις, οὔσαις χαλκεμβόλοις, ναῦς οὐκ ἐλάττους πεντακοσίων.
After Himilcon had exhibited his hatred for the Greeks by the calamity he visited upon the Messenians, he dispatched Magon his admiral with his naval armament under orders to sail to the peak known as Taurus. This area had been taken by Siceli in large numbers, who, however, had no leader. They had formerly been given by Dionysius the territory of the Naxians, but at this time, having been induced by Himilcon's offers, they occupied this peak. Since it was a strong position, both at this time and subsequent to the war, they made it their home, throwing a wall about it, and since those who gathered remained (menein) upon Taurus, they named the city Tauromenium. Himilcon, advancing with his land forces, made so rapid a march that he arrived at the same time as Magon put in there by sea. But since there had recently been a fiery eruption from Mt. Aetne as far as the sea, it was no longer possible for the land forces to advance in the company of the ships as they sailed beside them; for the regions along the sea were laid waste by the lava, as it is called, so that the land army had to take it was way around the peak of Aetne. Consequently he gave orders to Magon to come to port at Catane, while he himself advanced speedily through the heart of the country with the intention of joining the ships on the Catanaean shore; for he was concerned lest, when his forces were divided, the Sicilian Greeks should fight a battle with Magon at sea. And this is what actually took place. For Dionysius, when he realized that Magon had a short sail, whereas the route of the land forces was toilsome and long, hastened to Catane with the object of attacking Magon by sea before the arrival of Himilcon. His hope was that his land forces lined up along the coast would embolden his own troops while the enemy would be the more fearful, and, what was the most important consideration, that if he should suffer a reverse of some kind, the ships in distress would be able to take refuge in the camp of the land forces. With this purpose in mind, he dispatched Leptines with his whole fleet under orders to engage with his ships in close order, and not to break his line lest he be endangered by the great numbers of his opponents; for, including merchantmen and oared vessels with brazen beaks, Magon had no less than five hundred ships.
§ 14.60
οἱ δὲ Καρχηδόνιοι ὡς εἶδον τὸν αἰγιαλὸν τῶν πεζῶν πλήρη καὶ τὰς Ἑλληνικὰς ναῦς ἐπιφερομένας, παραχρῆμα μὲν οὐ μετρίως ἠγωνίασαν, καὶ πρὸς τὴν γῆν ἐπεχείρησαν καταπλεῖν· μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα λογισάμενοι, διότι κινδυνεύσουσιν ἀπολέσθαι πρὸς τὰς ναῦς ἅμα καὶ τοὺς πεζοὺς μαχόμενοι, ταχέως μετενόησαν. κρίναντες οὖν ναυμαχεῖν, διέταττον τὰς ναῦς καὶ τὸν τῶν πολεμίων ἐπίπλουν ἐκαραδόκουν. Λεπτίνης δὲ τριάκοντα ναυσὶ ταῖς ἀρίσταις πολὺ τῶν ἄλλων προάγων, οὐκ ἀνάνδρως μέν, ἀβούλως δὲ διηγωνίσατο. εὐθὺς γὰρ ἐπιθέμενος ταῖς πρώταις τῶν Καρχηδονίων, τὸ μὲν πρῶτον οὐκ ὀλίγας κατέδυσε τῶν ἀντιτεταγμένων τριήρων· τοῦδὲ Μάγωνος ἀθρόαις ταῖς ναυσὶ ταῖς τριάκοντα περιχυθέντος, ταῖς μὲν ἀρεταῖς ὑπερεῖχον οἱ περὶ τὸν Λεπτίνην, τοῖς δὲ πλήθεσιν οἱ Καρχηδόνιοι. διὸ καὶ τῆς μάχης ἰσχυροτέρας γινομένης, καὶ τῶν κυβερνητῶν ἐκ παραβολῆς τὸν ἀγῶνα συνισταμένων, ὅμοιος ὁ κίνδυνος ταῖς ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς παρατάξεσιν ἐγίνετο. οὐ γὰρ ἐκ διαστήματος τοῖς ἐμβόλοις εἰς τὰς τῶν πολεμίων ναῦς ἐνέσειον, ἀλλὰ συμπλεκομένων τῶν σκαφῶν ἐκ χειρὸς διηγωνίζοντο. τινὲς μὲν ἐπὶ τὰς τῶν ἐναντίων ναῦς ἐπιπηδῶντες ἔπιπτον εἰς τὴν θάλατταν, τινὲς δὲ κρατήσαντες τῆς ἐπιβολῆς ἐν ταῖς τῶν πολεμίων ναυσὶν ἠγωνίζοντο. τέλος δὲ ὁ μὲν Λεπτίνης ἐκβιασθεὶς ἠναγκάσθη φυγεῖν εἰς τὸ πέλαγος, αἱ δὲ λοιπαὶ τῶν νεῶν ἀτάκτως τὸν ἐπίπλουν ποιούμεναι ὑπὸ τῶν Καρχηδονίων ἐχειροῦντο· καὶ γὰρ τὸ περὶ τὸν ναύαρχον ἐλάττωμα τοὺς Φοίνικας εὐθαρσεστέρους ἐποίησεν, τοὺς δὲ Σικελιώτας οὐκ εἰς τὴν τυχοῦσαν ἀθυμίαν ἤγαγεν. τῆς δὲ μάχης τοιοῦτον λαβούσης τὸ τέλος, οἱ Καρχηδόνιοι τοὺς ἀτάκτως φεύγοντας σφᾶς φιλοτιμότερον διώξαντες διέφθειραν μὲν ναῦς πλείους τῶν ἑκατόν, τὰ δʼ ὑπηρετικὰ παρὰ τὸν αἰγιαλὸν καταστήσαντες ἀνῄρουν τῶν ναυτῶν τοὺς διανηχομένους πρὸς τὸ πεζὸν στρατόπεδον. πολλῶν δʼ ἀπολλυμένων οὐ μακρὰν τῆς γῆς, τῶν περὶ τὸν Διονύσιον οὐδαμῶς δυναμένων βοηθῆσαι, πᾶς ὁ τόπος ἔγεμε νεκρῶν καὶ ναυαγίων. ἀπώλοντο μὲν οὖν ἐν τῇ ναυμαχίᾳ τῶν μὲν Καρχηδονίων οὐκ ὀλίγοι, τῶν δὲ Σικελιωτῶν ναῦς μὲν πλείω τῶν ἑκατόν, ἄνδρες δʼ ὑπὲρ τοὺς δισμυρίους. ἀπὸ δὲ τῆς μάχης οἱ μὲν Φοίνικες περὶ τὴν Κατάνην ὁρμίσαντες τὰς τριήρεις, ἀνήψαντο τὰς αἰχμαλώτους ναῦς, καὶ καθελκύσαντες αὐτὰς ἐθεράπευον, ὥστε τοῖς Καρχηδονίοις μὴ μόνον ἀκουστόν, ἀλλὰ καὶ θεωρητὸν ποιῆσαι τὸ μέγεθος τοῦ προτερήματος.
When the Carthaginians saw the shore thronged with infantry and the ships of the Greeks bearing down on them, they were at once not a little alarmed and began to make for the land; but later, when they realized the risk they ran of destruction in giving battle at the same time both to the fleet and to the infantry, they quickly changed their mind. Deciding, therefore, to face the battle at sea, they drew up their ships and awaited the approach of the enemy. Leptines advanced with his thirty best vessels far ahead of the rest and joined battle, in no cowardly fashion, but without prudence. Attacking forthwith the leading ships of the Carthaginians, at the outset he sank no small number of the opposing triremes; but when Magon's massed ships crowded about the thirty, the forces of Leptines surpassed in valour, but the Carthaginians in numbers. Consequently, as the battle grew fiercer, the steersmen laid their ships broadside in the fighting and the struggle came to resemble conflicts on land. For they did not drive upon the opposing ships from a distance in order to ram them, but the vessels were locked together and the fighting was hand to hand. Some, as they leaped for the enemy's ships, fell into the sea, and others, who succeeded in their attempt, continued the struggle on the opponents' ships. In the end Leptines was driven off and compelled to flee to the open sea, and his remaining ships, attacking without order, were overcome by the Carthaginians; for the defeat suffered by the admiral raised the spirits of the Phoenicians and markedly discouraged the Sicilian Greeks. After the battle had ended in the manner we have described, the Carthaginians pursued with even greater ardour the enemy who were fleeing in disorder, and destroyed more than one hundred of their ships, and stationing their lighter craft along the shore, they slew any of the sailors who were swimming toward the land army. And as they perished in great numbers not far from the land, while the troops of Dionysius were unable to help them in any way, the whole region was full of corpses and wreckage. There perished in the sea battle no small number of Carthaginians, but the loss of the Sicilian Greeks amounted to more than one hundred ships and over twenty thousand men. After the battle the Phoenicians anchored their triremes in the harbour of Catane, took in tow the ships they had captured, and when they had brought them in, repaired them, so that they made the greatness of their success not only a tale for the ears but also a sight for the eyes of the Carthaginians.
§ 14.61
οἱ δὲ Σικελιῶται τὴν πορείαν μὲν ἐπὶ Συρακουσῶν ἐποιήσαντο, νομίζοντες δὲ πάντως εἰς ἐργώδη πολιορκίαν συγκλεισθήσεσθαι, παρεκάλουν τὸν Διονύσιον εὐθέως ἀπαντᾶν τοῖς περὶ τὸν Ἰμίλκωνα διὰ τὴν γεγενημένην νίκην· τάχα γὰρ τῷ παραδόξῳ τῆς ἐπιφανείας καταπλήξεσθαι τοὺς βαρβάρους καὶ τὸ πρότερον ἐλάττωμα διορθώσεσθαι. Διονύσιος δὲ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον τοῖς παρακαλοῦσι πειθόμενος ἕτοιμος ἦν ἄγειν τὴν δύναμιν ἐπὶ τὸν Ἰμίλκωνα· ὡς δέ τινες τῶν φίλων ἔλεγον αὐτῷ, ὅτι κινδυνεύσει τὴν πόλιν ἀποβαλεῖν, ἐὰν Μάγων ἀναχθῇ μετὰ τοῦ στόλου παντὸς ἐπὶ Συρακουσῶν, εὐθέως μετενόησε· καὶ γὰρ τὴν Μεσσήνην ᾔδει τῷ παραπλησίῳ τρόπῳ τοῖς βαρβάροις ὑποχείριον γεγενημένην. ὥστε οὐκ ἀσφαλὲς εἶναι νομίζων ἔρημον ποιῆσαι τὴν πόλιν τῶν ἀμυνομένων, ἀνέζευξεν ἐπὶ Συρακουσῶν. τῶν δὲ Σικελιωτῶν οἱ πλεῖστοι χαλεπῶς φέροντες ἐπὶ τῷ μὴ βούλεσθαι τοῖς πολεμίοις ἀπαντᾶν, καταλιπόντες τὸν Διονύσιον οἱ μὲν εἰς τὰς ἰδίας πατρίδας, οἱ δʼ εἰς τὰ σύνεγγυς τῶν φρουρίων ἀπεχώρησαν. Ἰμίλκων δὲ δυσὶν ἡμέραις κατανύσας εἰς τὸν τῶν Καταναίων αἰγιαλόν, τὰς μὲν ναῦς ἁπάσας ἐνεώλκησε, μεγάλου πνεύματος ἐπιγενομένου, τὴν δὲ δύναμιν ἐφʼ ἡμέρας τινὰς ἀναλαμβάνων πρέσβεις ἀπέστειλε πρὸς τοὺς τὴν Αἴτνην κατέχοντας Καμπανούς, παρακαλῶν ἀποστῆναι τοῦ Διονυσίου. ἐπηγγέλλετο δʼ αὐτοῖς χώραν τε δωρήσεσθαι πολλὴν καὶ τῶν ἐκ τοῦ πολέμου λαφύρων κοινωνοὺς ποιήσεσθαι· ἐδίδασκε δὲ καὶ τοὺς τὴν Ἔντελλαν κατοικοῦντας Καμπανοὺς εὐδοκοῦντας Καρχηδονίοις καὶ συμμαχοῦντας κατὰ τῶν Σικελιωτῶν, καθόλου δὲ τὸ τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἀπεδείκνυε πολέμιον ὑπάρχον τῶν ἄλλων ἐθνῶν. οἱ δὲ Καμπανοὶ δεδωκότες ὁμήρους τῷ Διονυσίῳ, καὶ τοὺς ἀρίστους τῶν στρατιωτῶν ἀπεσταλκότες εἰς Συρακούσας, ἠναγκάσθησαν διατηρῆσαι τὴν πρὸς Διονύσιον συμμαχίαν, καίπερ ἐπιθυμοῦντες μεταβαλέσθαι πρὸς Καρχηδονίους.
The Sicilian Greeks made their way toward Syracuse, but as they reflected that they would certainly be invested and forced to endure a laborious siege, they urged Dionysius to seek an immediate encounter with Himilcon because of his past victory; for, they said, perhaps their unexpected appearance would strike terror into the barbarians and they could repair their late reverse. Dionysius was at first won over by these advisers and ready to lead his army against Himilcon, but when some of his friends told him that he ran the risk of losing the city if Magon should set out with his entire fleet against Syracuse, he quickly changed his mind; and in fact he knew that Messene had fallen to the hands of the barbarians in a similar manner. And so, believing that it was not safe to strip the city of defenders, he set out for Syracuse. The majority of the Sicilian Greeks, being angered at his unwillingness to encounter the enemy, deserted Dionysius, some of them departing to their own countries and others to fortresses in the neighbourhood. Himilcon, who had reached in two days the coast of the Catanaeans, hauled all the ships up on land, since a strong wind had arisen, and, while resting his forces for some days, sent ambassadors to the Campanians who held Aetne, urging them to revolt from Dionysius. He promised both to give them a large amount of territory and to let them share in the spoils of the war; he also informed them that the Campanians dwelling in Entella found no fault with the Carthaginians and took their side against the Sicilian Greeks, and he pointed out that as a general thing the Greeks as a race are the enemies of all other peoples. But since the Campanians had given hostages to Dionysius and had sent their choicest troops to Syracuse, they were compelled to maintain the alliance with Dionysius, although they would gladly have joined the Carthaginians.
§ 14.62
μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Διονύσιος μὲν καταπεπληγμένος τοὺς Καρχηδονίους, ἀπέστειλε πρεσβευτὴν πρός τε τοὺς κατʼ Ἰταλίαν Ἕλληνας καὶ πρὸς Λακεδαιμονίους, ἔτι δὲ Κορινθίους, Πολύξενον τὸν κηδεστήν, δεόμενος βοηθεῖν καὶ μὴ περιιδεῖν τὰς ἐν Σικελίᾳ πόλεις τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἄρδην ἀναιρουμένας. ἔπεμψε δὲ καὶ ξενολόγους εἰς Πελοπόννησον μετὰ πολλῶν χρημάτων, ἐντειλάμενος ὡς πλείστους ἀθροίζειν στρατιώτας, μὴ φειδομένους τῶν μισθῶν. Ἰμίλκων δὲ τοῖς ἀπὸ τῶν πολεμίων σκύλοις κοσμήσας τὰς ναῦς κατέπλευσεν εἰς τὸν μέγαν λιμένα τῶν Συρακοσίων, καὶ πολλὴν τοῖς ἐν τῇ πόλει κατάπληξιν ἐπέστησεν. διακόσιαι μὲν γὰρ καὶ πεντήκοντα μακραὶ ναῦς εἰσέπλεον ἐν τάξει τὰς εἰρεσίας ποιούμεναι καὶ τοῖς ἐκ τοῦ πολέμου λαφύροις πολυτελῶς κεκοσμημέναι, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα αἱ φορτηγοὶ ναῦς εἰσθεόμεναι μὲν ὑπὲρ τρισχιλίας, φέρουσαι δὲ πλείους τῶν πεντακοσίων, αἱ δὲ πᾶσαι σχεδὸν δισχίλιαι. διὸ καὶ συνέβαινε τὸν λιμένα τῶν Συρακοσίων, καίπερ ὄντα μέγαν, ἐμπεφράχθαι μὲν τοῖς σκάφεσι, συγκαλύπτεσθαι δὲ σχεδὸν ἅπαντα τοῖς ἱστίοις. τούτων δὲ καθορμισθεισῶν εὐθὺς καὶ τὸ πεζὸν στρατόπεδον ἐκ θατέρου μέρους ἀντιπαρῆγε, συνεστηκός, ὡς μέν τινες ἀνέγραψαν, ἐκ τριάκοντα μυριάδων πεζῶν, ἱππέων δὲ τρισχιλίων. ὁ μὲν οὖν στρατηγὸς τῶν δυνάμεων Ἰμίλκων κατεσκήνωσεν ἐν τῷ τοῦ Διὸς νεῴ, τὸ δὲ λοιπὸν πλῆθος ἐν τῷ παρακειμένῳ τόπῳ κατεστρατοπέδευσεν, ἀπέχον τῆς πόλεως σταδίους δώδεκα. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Ἰμίλκων ἐξήγαγε τὴν στρατιὰν ἅπασαν, καὶ πρὸ τῶν τειχῶν ἐξέταξε τὴν δύναμιν, εἰς μάχην προκαλούμενος τοὺς Συρακοσίους. ἐπέπλευσε δὲ καὶ τοῖς λιμέσιν ἑκατὸν ναυσὶ ταῖς ἀρίσταις, ὅπως καταπλήξηται τοὺς κατὰ τὴν πόλιν καὶ συναναγκάσῃ συγχωρεῖν ἥττους εἶναι καὶ κατὰ θάλατταν. οὐδενὸς δʼ ἐπεξιέναι τολμῶντος τότε μὲν ἀπῆγε τὴν δύναμιν εἰς τὴν στρατοπεδείαν, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτʼ ἐφʼ ἡμέρας τριάκοντα τὴν χώραν ἐπῄει δενδροτομῶν καὶ πᾶσαν φθείρων, ὅπως ἅμα μὲν τοὺς στρατιώτας πληρώσῃ παντοίας ὠφελείας, ἅμα δὲ τοὺς ἐντὸς τῶν τειχῶν εἰς ἀθυμίαν καταστήσῃ.
After this Dionysius, who was in terror of the Carthaginians, sent his brother-in law Polyxenus as ambassador both to the Greeks in Italy and to the Lacedemonians, as well as the Corinthians, begging them to come to his aid and not to suffer the Greek cities of Sicily to be utterly destroyed. He also sent to the Peloponnesus men with ample funds to recruit mercenaries, ordering them to enlist as many soldiers as they could without regard to economy. Himilcon decked his ships with the spoils taken from the enemy and put in at the great harbour of the Syracusans, and he caused great dismay among the inhabitants of the city. For two hundred and fifty ships of war entered the harbour, with oars flashing in order and richly decorated with the spoils of war; then came the merchantmen, in excess of three thousand, laden with more than five hundred . . .; and the whole fleet numbered some two hundred vessels. The result was that the harbour of the Syracusans, despite its great size, was blocked up by the vessels and it was almost entirely concealed from view by the sails. The sails had just come to anchor when at once from the other side the land army advanced, consisting, as some have reported, of three hundred thousand infantry and three thousand cavalry. The general of the armaments, Himilcon, took up his quarters in the temple of Zeus and the rest of the multitude encamped in the neighbourhood twelve stades from the city. After this Himilcon led out the entire army and drew up his troops in battle order before the walls, challenging the Syracusans to battle; and he also sailed up to the harbours with a hundred of his finest ships in order to strike terror into the inhabitants of the city and to force them to concede that they were inferior at sea as well. But when no one ventured to come out against him, for the time being he withdrew his troops to the camp and then for thirty days overran the countryside, cutting down the trees and laying it all waste, in order not to only to satisfy the soldiers with every kind of plunder, but also to reduce the besieged to despair.
§ 14.63
κατελάβετο δὲ καὶ τὸ τῆς Ἀχραδινῆς προάστειον, καὶ τοὺς νεὼς τῆς τε Δήμητρος καὶ Κόρης ἐσύλησεν· ὑπὲρ ὧν ταχὺ τῆς εἰς τὸ θεῖον ἀσεβείας ἀξίαν ὑπέσχε τιμωρίαν. ταχὺ γὰρ αὐτῷ τὰ πράγματα καθʼ ἡμέραν ἐγίνετο χείρω, καὶ τοῦ Διονυσίου θαρροῦντος ἀκροβολισμοὺς συνίστασθαι συνέβαινε προτερεῖν τοὺς Συρακοσίους. ἐγίνοντο δὲ καὶ τὰς νύκτας ἐν τῷ στρατοπέδῳ παράλογοι ταραχαί, καὶ μετὰ τῶν ὅπλων συνέτρεχον, ὡς τῶν πολεμίων ἐπιθεμένων τῷ χάρακι. ἐπεγενήθη δὲ καὶ νόσος, ἣ πάντων αὐτοῖς αἰτία κακῶν κατέστη· περὶ ἧς μικρὸν ὕστερον ἐροῦμεν, ἵνα μὴ προλαμβάνωμεν τῇ γραφῇ τοὺς καιρούς. Ἰμίλκων μὲν οὖν τεῖχος περιβαλὼν τῇ παρεμβολῇ, τοὺς τάφους σχεδὸν πάντας τοὺς σύνεγγυς καθεῖλεν, ἐν οἷς τόν τε Γέλωνος καὶ τῆς γυναικὸς αὐτοῦ Δημαρέτης, πολυτελῶς κατεσκευασμένους. ᾠκοδόμησε δὲ καὶ τρία φρούρια παρὰ θάλατταν, τὸ μὲν ἐπὶ τοῦ Πλημμυρίου, τὸ δʼ ἐπὶ μέσου τοῦ λιμένος, τὸ δὲ κατὰ τὸν νεὼν τοῦ Διός· εἰς δὲ ταῦτα τόν τε οἶνον καὶ τὸν σῖτον καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ τῶν ἐπιτηδείων κατεκόμιζε, νομίζων χρονιωτέραν ἔσεσθαι τὴν πολιορκίαν. ἀπέστειλε δὲ καὶ τὰς ὁλκάδας ναῦς ἔς τε Σαρδῶνα καὶ Λιβύην, ὅπως σῖτον καὶ τὰς ἄλλας τροφὰς παρακομίζωσιν. Πολύξενος δὲ ὁ Διονυσίου κηδεστὴς ἔκ τε Πελοποννήσου καὶ τῆς Ἰταλίας παρεγενήθη ναῦς μακρὰς ἄγων τριάκοντα παρὰ τῶν συμμάχων καὶ ναύαρχον Φαρακίδαν Λακεδαιμόνιον.
Himilcon seized the suburb of Achradine; and he also plundered the temples of both Demeter and Core, for which acts of impiety against the divinity he quickly suffered a fitting penalty. For his fortune quickly worsened from day today, and whenever Dionysius made bold to skirmish with him, the Syracusans had the better of it. Also at night unaccountable tumults would arise in the camp and the soldiers would rush to arms, thinking that the enemy was attacking the palisade. To this was added a plague which was the cause of every kind of suffering. But of this we shall speak a little later, in order that our account may not anticipate the proper time. Now when he threw a wall about the camp, Himilcon destroyed practically all the tombs in the area, a among which was that of Gelon and his wife Demarete, of costly construction. He also built three forts along the sea, one at Plemmyrium, one at the middle of the harbour, and one by the temple of Zeus, and into them he brought wine and grain and all other provisions, believing that the siege would continue a long time. He also dispatched merchant ships to Sardinia and Libya to secure grain and every kind of food. Polyxenus, the brother-in law of Dionysius, arrived from the Peloponnesus and Italy, bringing thirty warships from his allies, with Pharacidas the Lacedemonian as admiral.
§ 14.64
μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Διονύσιος μὲν καὶ Λεπτίνης μετὰ μακρῶν νεῶν ἐξέπλεον ἀγορὰν βουλόμενοι παρακομίσαι, οἱ δὲ Συρακόσιοι καθʼ αὑτούς τε γενόμενοι καὶ κατὰ τύχην ἰδόντες σιτηγὸν πλοῖον προσφερόμενον, πέντε ναυσὶν ἐπέπλευσαν αὐτῷ, καὶ κατακυριεύσαντες κατῆγον εἰς τὴν πόλιν. τῶν δὲ Καρχηδονίων ἐπʼ αὐτοὺς ἀναχθέντων τετταράκοντα ναυσίν, οἱ Συρακόσιοι πάσας ἐπλήρωσαν τὰς ναῦς, καὶ ναυμαχήσαντες τῆς τε στρατηγίδος νεὼς ἐκυρίευσαν καὶ τῶν ἄλλων εἴκοσι καὶ τέτταρας διέφθειραν· καταδιώξαντες δὲ τὰς φευγούσας μέχρι τοῦ ναυστάθμου τῶν πολεμίων, προεκαλοῦντο τοὺς Καρχηδονίους εἰς ναυμαχίαν. ἐκεῖνοι μὲν οὖν διὰ τὸ παράδοξον τεταραγμένοι ἡσυχίαν ἔσχον, οἱ δὲ Συρακόσιοι τὰς αἰχμαλώτους ναῦς ἀναψάμενοι κατήγαγον εἰς τὴν πόλιν. μετεωρισθέντες δὲ τῷ προτερήματι, καὶ διαλογιζόμενοι τὸν μὲν Διονύσιον πλεονάκις ἡττημένον, αὑτοὺς δὲ χωρὶς ἐκείνου νενικηκότας Καρχηδονίους, φρονήματος ἐπληροῦντο. ἀθροιζόμενοι δὲ διελάλουν, ὅτι περιορῶσιν αὑτοὺς δουλεύοντας Διονυσίῳ, καὶ ταῦτα καιρὸν ἔχοντες τῆς καταλύσεως αὐτοῦ· τὸν μὲν γὰρ ἔμπροσθεν χρόνον ἦσαν ἀφωπλισμένοι, τότε δὲ διὰ τὸν πόλεμον τῶν ὅπλων ἦσαν κύριοι. οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ τοιούτων λόγων γινομένων Διονύσιος κατέπλευσε, καὶ συναγαγὼν ἐκκλησίαν ἐπῄνει τοὺς Συρακοσίους καὶ παρεκάλει θαρρεῖν, ἐπαγγελλόμενος ταχέως καταλύσειν τὸν πόλεμον. ἤδη δʼ αὐτοῦ μέλλοντος διαλύειν τὴν ἐκκλησίαν ἀναστὰς Θεόδωρος ὁ Συρακόσιος, ἐν τοῖς ἱππεῦσιν εὐδοκιμῶν καὶ δοκῶν εἶναι πρακτικός, ἀπετόλμησε περὶ τῆς ἐλευθερίας τοιούτοις χρήσασθαι λόγοις.
After this Dionysius and Leptines had set out with warships to escort a supply of provisions; and the Syracusans, who were thus left to themselves, seeing by chance a vessel approaching laden with food, sailed out against it with five ships, seized it, and brought it to the city. The Carthaginians put out against them with forty ships, whereupon the Syracusans manned all their ships and in the ensuing battle both captured the flag-ship and destroyed twenty-four of the remainder; and then, pursuing the fleeing ships as far as the enemy's anchorage, they challenged the Carthaginians to battle. Elated at their success and thinking how often Dionysius had met defeat, whereas a they, without his presence, had won a victory over the Carthaginians, they were now puffed up with pride. And as they gathered in groups they talked together about how they took no steps to end their slavery to Dionysius, even though they had an opportunity to depose him; for up until then they had been without arms, but now because of the war they had weapons at their command. Even while discussions of this kind were taking place, Dionysius sailed into the harbour and, calling an assembly, praised the Syracusans and urged them to be of good courage, promising that he would speedily put an end to the war. And he was on the point of dismissing the assembly when Theodorus, a Syracusan, who was held in high esteem among the cavalry and was considered a man of action, made bold to speak as follows in regard to their liberty.
§ 14.65
εἰ καί τινα προσέψευσται Διονύσιος, τό γε ῥηθὲν ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ τὸ τελευταῖον ἀληθὲς ἦν, ὅτι ταχέως καταλύσει τὸν πόλεμον. τοῦτο δὲ πρᾶξαι δύναιτʼ ἂν οὐκ αὐτὸς ἀφηγούμενος, ἥττηται γὰρ πολλάκις, ἀλλὰ τὴν πάτριον ἐλευθερίαν ἀποδοὺς τοῖς πολίταις. νῦν μὲν γὰρ οὐδεὶς ἡμῶν προθύμως ὑπομένει τοὺς κινδύνους, ὅταν ἡ νίκη μηδὲν ἧττον ᾖ τῆς ἥττης· λειφθέντας γὰρ Καρχηδονίοις δεήσει ποιεῖν τὸ προσταττόμενον, νικήσαντας δὲ Διονύσιον ἔχειν βαρύτερον ἐκείνων δεσπότην. Καρχηδόνιοι μὲν γάρ, κἂν πολέμῳ κρατήσωσι, φόρον ὡρισμένον λαβόντες οὐκ ἂν ἡμᾶς ἐκώλυσαν τοῖς πατρίοις νόμοις διοικεῖν τὴν πόλιν· οὗτος δὲ τὰ μὲν ἱερὰ συλήσας, τοὺς δὲ τῶν ἰδιωτῶν πλούτους ἅμα ταῖς τῶν κεκτημένων ψυχαῖς ἀφελόμενος, τοὺς οἰκέτας μισθοδοτεῖ κατὰ τῆς τῶν δεσποτῶν δουλείας· καὶ τὰ συμβαίνοντα κατὰ τὰς τῶν πόλεων ἁλώσεις δεινά, ταῦτʼ ἐν εἰρήνῃ πράττων καταλύσειν ἐπαγγέλλεται τὸν πρὸς Καρχηδονίους πόλεμον. ἡμῖν δʼ, ὦ ἄνδρες, οὐχ ἧττον τοῦ Φοινικικοῦ πολέμου καταλυτέον ἐστὶ τὸν ἐντὸς τοῦ τείχους τύραννον. ἡ μὲν γὰρ ἀκρόπολις δούλων ὅπλοις τηρουμένη κατὰ τῆς πόλεως ἐπιτετείχισται, τὸ δὲ τῶν μισθοφόρων πλῆθος ἐπὶ δουλείᾳ τῶν Συρακοσίων ἤθροισται. καὶ κρατεῖ τῆς πόλεως οὐκ ἐπʼ ἴσης βραβεύων τὸ δίκαιον, ἀλλὰ μόναρχος πλεονεξίᾳ κρίνων πράττειν πάντα. καὶ νῦν μὲν οἱ πολέμιοι βραχὺ μέρος ἔχουσι τῆς χώρας, Διονύσιος δὲ πᾶσαν ποιήσας ἀνάστατον τοῖς τὴν τυραννίδα συναύξουσιν ἐδωρήσατο. μέχρι τίνος οὖν καρτερήσομεν ταῦτα πάσχοντες, ὑπὲρ ὧν οἱ ἀγαθοὶ χάριν τοῦ μὴ λαβεῖν πεῖραν ἀποθνήσκειν ὑπομένουσιν; καὶ πρὸς μὲν Καρχηδονίους ἀγωνιζόμενοι τοὺς ἐσχάτους κινδύνους εὐψύχως ὑπομένομεν, πρὸσδὲ πικρὸν τύραννον ὑπὲρ ἐλευθερίας καὶ περὶ πατρίδος οὐδὲ λόγῳ παρρησίαν ἔτι ἄγειν τολμῶμεν· καὶ ταῖς μὲν τοσαύταις μυριάσι τῶν πολεμίων ἀντιταττόμεθα, μόναρχον δὲ οὐδʼ ἀνδραπόδου γενναίου τὴν ἀρετὴν ἔχοντα πεφρίκαμεν.
"Although Dionysius has introduced some falsehoods, the last statement he made was true: that he would speedily put an end to the war. He could accomplish this if he were no longer our commander — for he has often been defeated — but had returned to the citizens the freedom their fathers enjoyed. As things are, no one of us faces battle with good courage so long as victory differs not a whit from defeat; for if conquered, we shall have to obey the commands of the Carthaginians, and if conquerors, to have in Dionysius a harsher master than they would be. For even should the Carthaginians defeat us in war, they would only impose a fixed tribute and would not prevent us from governing the city in accordance with our ancient laws; but this man has plundered our temples, has taken the property of private citizens together with the lives of their owners, and pays a wage to servants to secure the enslavement of their masters. Such horrors as attend the storming of cities are perpetrated by him in time of peace, yet he promises to put an end to the war with the Carthaginians. But it behooves us, fellow citizens, to put an end not only to the Phoenician war but to the tyrant within our walls. For the acropolis, which is guarded by the weapons of slaves, is a hostile redoubt in our city; the multitude of mercenaries has been gathered to hold the Syracusans in slavery; and he lords it over the city, not like a magistrate dispensing justice on equal terms, but like a dictator who by policy makes all decisions for his own advantage. For the time being the enemy possess a small portion of our territory, but Dionysius has devastated it all and given it to those who join in increasing his tyranny. "How long, then, are we to be patient though we suffer such abuses as brave men endure to die rather than to experience them? In battle against the Carthaginians we bravely face the final sacrifice, but against a harsh tyrant, in behalf of freedom and our fatherland, even in speech we no longer dare to raise our voices; we face in battle so many myriads of the enemy, but we stand in shivering fear of a single ruler, who has not the manliness of a superior slave.
§ 14.66
οὐ γὰρ δήπουθεν ἀξιώσαι τις ἂν παραβάλλειν Διονύσιον τῷ παλαιῷ Γέλωνι. ἐκεῖνος μὲν γὰρ μετὰ τῆς ἰδίας ἀρετῆς, μετὰ τῶν Συρακοσίων καὶ τῶν ἄλλων Σικελιωτῶν ἠλευθέρωσε τὴν Σικελίαν ἅπασαν, ὁ δʼ ἐν ἐλευθερίᾳ παραλαβὼν τὰς πόλεις τῶν μὲν ἄλλων ἁπασῶν κυρίους πεποίηκε τοὺς πολεμίους, αὐτὸς δὲ τὴν πατρίδα καταδεδούλωται. κἀκεῖνος μὲν πολὺ πρὸ τῆς Σικελίας ἀγωνισάμενος τοὺς ἐν ταῖς πόλεσιν ὄντας συμμάχους οὐδὲ ἰδεῖν τοὺς πολεμίους ἐποίησεν, ὁ δʼ ἀπὸ Μοτύης διὰ πάσης τῆς νήσου φυγὼν συγκέκλεικεν ἑαυτὸν ἐντὸς τῶν τειχῶν, πρὸς μὲν τοὺς πολίτας θρασυνόμενος, τοὺς δὲ πολεμίους οὐδὲ κατʼ ὄψιν ἰδεῖν ὑπομένων. τοιγαροῦν ἐκεῖνος μὲν διά τε τὴν ἀρετὴν καὶ τὸ μέγεθος τῶν πράξεων οὐ μόνον τῶν Συρακοσίων, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν Σικελιωτῶν ἑκουσίων παρέλαβε τὴν ἡγεμονίαν, ὁ δʼ ἐπʼ ὀλέθρῳ μὲν τῶν συμμάχων, ἐπὶ δουλείᾳ δὲ τῶν πολιτῶν στρατηγήσας, πῶς οὐκ ἂν δικαίως ὑπὸ πάντων μισοῖτο; οὐ γὰρ μόνον ἡγεμονίας ἀνάξιος, ἀλλὰ καὶ μυρίων θανάτων τυχεῖν δίκαιος. Γέλα καὶ Καμάρινα διὰ τοῦτον κατεστράφησαν, Μεσσήνη ἄρδην ἀνῄρηται, κατὰ ναυμαχίαν δισμύριοι τῶν συμμάχων ἀπολώλασι, τὸ σύνολον εἰς μίαν κατακεκλείσμεθα πόλιν, τῶν κατὰ Σικελίαν Ἑλληνίδων πασῶν ἀνῃρημένων. πρὸς γὰρ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἀδικήμασι Μάξον καὶ Κατάνην ἐξηνδραποδίσατο, πόλεις συμμαχίδας, ἐπικαίρους πόλεις, ἄρδην ἀνῄρηκεν. καὶ πρὸς μὲν Καρχηδονίους δύο μάχας ἐνστησάμενος ἐν ἑκατέραις ἥττηται, παρὰ δὲ τοῖς πολίταις πιστευθεὶς ἅπαξ στρατηγίας εὐθέως ἀφείλετο τὴν ἐλευθερίαν, φονεύων μὲν τοὺς παρρησίαν ἄγοντας ὑπὲρ τῶν νόμων, φυγαδεύων δὲ τοὺς ταῖς οὐσίαις προέχοντας, καὶ τὰς μὲν τῶν φυγάδων γυναῖκας οἰκέταις καὶ μιγάσιν ἀνθρώποις συνοικίζων, τῶν δὲ πολιτικῶν ὅπλων βαρβάρους καὶ ξένους ποιῶν κυρίους. καὶ ταῦτʼ ἔπραξεν, ὦ Ζεῦ καὶ θεοὶ πάντες, ὑπηρέτης ἀρχείων, ἀπεγνωσμένος ἄνθρωπος.
"Surely no one would think of comparing Dionysius with Gelon of old. For Gelon, by reason of his own high character, together with the Syracusans and the rest of the Sicilian Greeks, set free the whole of Sicily, whereas this man, who found the cities free, has delivered all the rest of them over to the lordship of the enemy and has himself enslaved his native state. Gelon fought so far forward in behalf of Sicily that he never let his allies in the cities even catch siege of the enemy, whereas this man, after fleeing from Motye through the entire length of the island, has cooped himself up within our walls, full of confidence against his fellow citizens, but unable to bear even the sight of the enemy. As a consequence Gelon, by reason both of his high character and of his great deeds, received the leadership by the free will not only of the Syracusans but also of the Sicilian Greeks, while, as for this man whose generalship has led to the destruction of his allies and the enslavement of his fellow citizens, how can he escape the just hatred of all? For not only is he unworthy of leadership but, if justice were done, would die ten thousand deaths. Because of him Gela and Camarina were subdued, Messene lies in total ruin, twenty thousand allies are perished in a sea-battle, and, in a word, we have been enclosed in one city and all the other Greek cities throughout Sicily have been destroyed. For in addition to his other malefactions he sold into slavery Naxos and Catane; he has completely destroyed cities that were allies, cities whose existence was opportune. With the Carthaginians he has fought two battles and has come out vanquished in each. Yet when he was entrusted with a generalship by the citizens but one time, he speedily robbed them of their freedom, slaying those who spoke openly on behalf of the laws and exiling the more wealthy; he gave the wives of the banished in marriage to slaves and to a motley throng; he put the weapons of citizens in the hands of barbarians and foreigners. And these deeds, O Zeus and all the gods, were the work of a public clerk, of a desperate man.
§ 14.67
καὶ ποῦ τὸ φιλελεύθερον τῶν Συρακοσίων; ποῦ δʼ αἱ τῶν προγόνων πράξεις; ἐῶ τὰς ἐφʼ Ἱμέρᾳ τριάκοντα μυριάδας ἄρδην ἀναιρεθείσας Καρχηδονίων, παρίημι τὴν τῶν μετὰ Γέλωνα τυράννων κατάλυσιν· ἀλλʼ ἐχθὲς καὶ πρῴην, Ἀθηναίων τηλικαύταις δυνάμεσιν ἐπὶ Συρακούσας στρατευσάντων, οἱ πατέρες ἡμῶν οὐδὲ τὸν ἀπαγγελοῦντα τὴν συμφορὰν ἀπέλιπον. ἡμεῖς δὲ τηλικαῦτʼ ἔχοντες πατέρων παραδείγματʼ ἀρετῆς, τοῦ Διονυσίου προστάγμασιν ὑπακούομεν, καὶ ταῦτα τῶν ὅπλων ὄντες κύριοι; θεῶν γάρ τις πρόνοια μετὰ τῶν συμμάχων ἐν τοῖς ὅπλοις ἡμᾶς συνήγαγε πρὸς τὸ τὴν ἐλευθερίαν ἀνακτήσασθαι, καὶ πάρεστι τήμερον ἄνδρας ἀγαθοὺς γενομένους καὶ συμφρονήσαντας ἀπαλλαγῆναι τῆς βαρείας ἀνάγκης. τὸν μὲν γὰρ ἔμπροσθεν χρόνον παρωπλισμένοι καὶ ἔρημοι συμμάχων ὄντες, τῷ δὲ τῶν μισθοφόρων πλήθει τηρούμενοι, σχεδὸν εἴκομεν τῷ τῆς ἀνάγκης καιρῷ· νῦν δὲ τῶν ὅπλων κυριεύοντες καὶ τοὺς συμμάχους ἅμα βοηθοὺς καὶ θεατὰς ἔχοντες τῆς ἀρετῆς, μὴ παραχωρήσωμεν ἀλλὰ ποιήσωμεν φανερόν, ὡς διὰ καιρόν, οὐ διʼ ἀνανδρίαν ὑπεμείναμεν δουλεύειν. οὐκ αἰσχυνόμεθα τῶν πολέμων ἔχοντες ἡγεμόνα τὸν τὰ κατὰ τὴν πόλιν ἱερὰ σεσυληκότα, καὶ τηλικούτων πραγμάτων ποιοῦντες προστάτην, ᾧ βίον ἰδιωτικὸν οὐδεὶς ἂν εὖ φρονῶν διοικεῖν ἐπιτρέψειεν; καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἐν τοῖς πολέμοις μάλιστα τηρούντων τὰ πρὸς τοὺς θεοὺς ὅσια διὰ τὸ μέγεθος τῶν κινδύνων, ἡμεῖς τὸν ἐπʼ ἀσεβείᾳ διωνομασμένον ἐλπίζομεν καταλύσειν τὸν πόλεμον;
"Where, then, is the Syracusans' love of freedom? Where the deeds of our ancestors? I say nothing of the three hundred thousand Carthaginians who were totally destroyed at Himera; I pass by the overthrow of the tyrants who followed Gelon. But only yesterday, as it were, when the Athenians attacked Syracuse with such great armaments, our fathers left not a man free to carry back word of the disaster. And shall we, who have such great examples of our fathers' valour, take orders from Dionysius, especially when we have weapons in our hands? Surely some divine providence has gathered us here, with allies about us and weapons in our hands, for the purpose of recovering our freedom, and it is within our power this day to play the part of brave men and rid ourselves with one accord of our heavy yoke. For hitherto, while we were disarmed and without allies and guarded by a multitude of mercenaries, we have, I dare say, yielded to the pressure of circumstances; but now, since we have arms in our hands and allies to give us aid as well as bear witness of our bravery, let us not yield but make it clear that it was circumstances, not cowardice, that made us submit to slavery. Are we not ashamed that we should have as commander in our wars the man who has plundered the temples of our city and that we choose as representative in such important matters a person to whom no man of good sense would entrust the management of his private affairs? And though all other peoples in times of war, because of the great perils they face, observe with the greatest care their obligations to the gods, do we expect that a man of such notorious impiety will put an end to the war?
§ 14.68
καίτοι γε εἴ τις βούλεται τἀκριβὲς ζητεῖν, εὑρήσει Διονύσιον οὐχ ἧττον τοῦ πολέμου τὴν εἰρήνην εὐλαβούμενον. νῦν μὲν γὰρ διὰ τὸν ἀπὸ τῶν πολεμίων φόβον νομίζει τοὺς Συρακοσίους μηθὲν ἐπιχειρήσειν κατʼ αὐτοῦ πρᾶξαι, καταπονηθέντων δὲ τῶν Καρχηδονίων ἀντιλήψεσθαι τῆς ἐλευθερίας, τῶν μὲν ὅπλων κυριεύοντας, διὰ δὲ τὰς πράξεις πεφρονηματισμένους. διὰ τοῦτο γάρ, οἶμαι, κατὰ μὲν τὸν πρῶτον πόλεμον προδοὺς Γέλαν καὶ Καμάριναν ταύτας ἀοικήτους ἐποίησεν, ἐν δὲ ταῖς συνθήκαις ἐκδότους τὰς πλείστας, Ἑλληνίδας πόλεις συνέθετο. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτʼ ἐν εἰρήνῃ Νάξον καὶ Κατάνην παρασπονδῶν ἐξανδραποδισάμενος ἣν μὲν κατέσκαψεν, ἣν δὲ τοῖς ἐξ Ἰταλίας Καμπανοῖς οἰκητήριον ἔδωκεν. ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἐκείνων ἀπολομένων οἱ περιλειφθέντες πολλάκις ἐπεβάλοντο καταλῦσαι τὴν τυραννίδα, πάλιν τοῖς Καρχηδονίοις πόλεμον κατήγγειλεν· οὐ γὰρ οὕτως εὐλαβεῖτο λῦσαι τὰς συνθήκας παρὰ τοὺς ὅρκους, ὡς ἐφοβεῖτο τὰ περιλελειμμένα συστήματα τῶν Σικελιωτῶν. καὶ δὴ φαίνεται διὰ παντὸς ἐπηγρυπνηκὼς τῇ τούτων ἀπωλείᾳ. καὶ πρῶτον μὲν περὶ Πάνορμον δυνάμενος παρατάξασθαι τοῖς πολεμίοις, ἀποβαινόντων ἐκ τῶν νεῶν καὶ τὰ σώματα κακῶς ἐχόντων διὰ τὸν σάλον, οὐκ ἠβουλήθη· μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τὴν Μεσσήνην ἐπίκαιρον καὶ τηλικαύτην πόλιν ἀβοήθητον περιιδὼν εἴασε κατασκαφῆναι, ὅπως μὴ μόνον ὡς πλεῖστοι διαφθείρωνται τῶν Σικελιωτῶν, ἀλλὰ καὶ Καρχηδόνιοι τὰς ἐξ Ἰταλίας βοηθείας καὶ τοὺς ἐκ Πελοποννήσου στόλους ἐμφράξωσιν. τὸ δὲ τελευταῖον ἐν τῷ Καταναίων αἰγιαλῷ διηγωνίσατο, παρεὶς πρὸς τῇ πόλει τὴν μάχην συστήσασθαι πρὸς τὸ τοὺς ἐλαττουμένους καταφεύγειν εἰς τοὺς οἰκείους λιμένας. μετὰ δὲ τὴν ναυμαχίαν, μεγάλων πνευμάτων ἐπιγενομένων καὶ τῶν Καρχηδονίων ἀναγκασθέντων νεωλκῆσαι τὸν στόλον, καιρὸν εἶχε τοῦ νικᾶν κάλλιστον· τὸ μὲν γὰρ πεζὸν στράτευμα τῶν πολεμίων οὔπω κατηντηκὸς ἦν, τὸ δὲ μέγεθος τοῦ χειμῶνος ἐπὶ τὸν αἰγιαλὸν αὐτοῖς τὰς ναῦς ἐξέβραττεν. τότε συνεπιθεμένων ἡμῶν πεζῇ πάντων ἠναγκάσθησαν ἂν ἀποβαίνοντες ἁλίσκεσθαι ῥᾳδίως ἢ πρὸς τὰ κύματα βιαζόμενοι τὸν αἰγιαλὸν πληρῶσαι ναυαγίων.
"In fact, if a man cares to put a finer point on it, he will find that Dionysius is as wary of peace as he is of war. For he believes that, as matters stand, the Syracusans, because of their fear of the enemy, will not attempt anything against him, but that once the Carthaginians have been defeated they will claim their freedom, since they will have weapons in their hands and will be proudly conscious of their deeds. Indeed this is the reason, in my opinion, why in the first war he betrayed Gela and Camarina and made these cities desolate, and why in his negotiations he agreed that most of the Greek cities should be given over to the enemy. After this he broke faith in time of peace with Naxos and Catane and sold the inhabitants into slavery, razing one to the ground and giving the other to the Campanians from Italy to dwell in. And when, after the destruction of these peoples, the rest of Sicily made many attempts to overthrow his tyranny, he again declared war upon the Carthaginians; for his scruple against breaking his agreement in violation of the oaths he had taken was not so great as his fear of the surviving concentrations of the Sicilian Greeks. "Moreover, it is obvious that he has been at all times on the alert to effect their destruction. First of all at Panormus, when the enemy were disembarking and were in bad physical condition after the stormy passage, he could have offered battle, but did not choose to do. After that he stood idly by and sent no help to Messene, a city strategically situated and of great size, but allowed it to be razed, not only in order that the greatest possible number of Sicilian Greeks should perish, but also that the Carthaginians might intercept the reinforcements from Italy and the fleets from the Peloponnesus. Last of all, he joined battle offshore at Catane, careless of the advantage of pitching battle near the city, where the vanquished could find safety in their own harbours. After the battle, when strong winds sprang up and the Carthaginians were forced to haul their fleet up on land, he had a most favourable opportunity for victory; for the land forces of the enemy had not yet arrived and the violent storm was driving the enemy's ships on the shore. At that time, if we had all attacked on land, the only outcomes left the enemy would have been, either to be captured with ease, if they left their ships, or to strew the coast with wreckage, if they matched their strength against the waves.
§ 14.69
ἀλλὰ τὸ μὲν Διονυσίου κατηγορεῖν ἐν Συρακοσίοις ἐπὶ πλεῖον οὐκ ἀναγκαῖον εἶναι νομίζω. εἰ γὰρ οἱ διʼ αὐτῶν τῶν ἔργων ἀνήκεστα παθόντες οὐκ ἐγείρονται τοῖς θυμοῖς, ἦπου τοῖς λόγοις προαχθήσονται πρὸς τὴν κατὰ τούτου τιμωρίαν, καὶ ταῦτʼ ἰδόντες αὐτὸν πολίτην μὲν γεγονότα πονηρότατον, τύραννον δὲ πικρότατον, στρατηγὸν δὲ πάντων ἀγενέστατον; ὁσάκις μὲν γὰρ σὺν τούτῳ παρεταξάμεθα, τοσαυτάκις ἡττήθημεν· νυνὶ δὲ καθʼ αὑτοὺς ὀλίγαις ναυσὶ τὴν πᾶσαν τῶν πολεμίων δύναμιν κατεναυμαχήσαμεν. διόπερ ἕτερον ἡγεμόνα ζητητέον, ὅπως μὴ τὸν σεσυληκότα τοὺς τῶν θεῶν ναοὺς στρατηγὸν ἔχοντες ἐν τῷ πολέμῳ θεομαχῶμεν. φανερῶς γὰρ τὸ δαιμόνιον ἀντιπράττει τοῖς τὸν ἀσεβέστατον προχειρισαμένοις ἐπὶ τὴν ἡγεμονίαν. τὸ γὰρ μετὰ μὲν τούτου πάσας τὰς δυνάμεις ἡττῆσθαι, χωρὶς δὲ τούτου καὶ βραχὺ μέρος ἱκανὸν εἶναι καταπολεμῆσαι Καρχηδονίους, πῶς οὐ πᾶσιν ὁρατὴν ἔχει τὴν τῶν θεῶν ἐπιφάνειαν; διόπερ, ὦ ἄνδρες, ἐὰν μὲν ἑκὼν ἀποτίθηται τὴν ἀρχήν, ἐάσωμεν αὐτὸν ἀπαλλάττεσθαι μετὰ τῶν ἰδίων ἐκ τῆς πόλεως· ἐὰν δὲ μὴ βούληται, καιρὸν ἔχομεν κάλλιστον τὸν παρόντα πρὸς τὸ τῆς ἐλευθερίας ἀντιλαμβάνεσθαι. πάντες συνεληλύθαμεν, κύριοι τῶν ὅπλων ἐσμέν, συμμάχους ἔχομεν παρόντας οὐ μόνον τοὺς ἀπὸ τῆς Ἰταλίας Ἕλληνας, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς ἀπὸ Πελοποννήσου. τὴν δὲ ἡγεμονίαν δοτέον κατὰ τοὺς νόμους πολίταις ἢ τοῖς κατὰ τὴν μητρόπολιν οἰκοῦσι Κορινθίοις ἢ τοῖς ἀφηγουμένοις τῆς Ἑλλάδος Σπαρτιάταις.
"But to lodge accusations against Dionysius at greater length among Syracusans is, I should judge, not necessary. For if men who have suffered in very deed such irretrievable ruin are not roused to rage, will they, forsooth, be moved by words to wreak vengeance upon him — men too who have seen his behaviour as the worst of citizens, the harshest of tyrants, the most ignoble of all generals? For as often as we have stood in line of battle under his command, so often have we been defeated, whereas but just now, when we fought independently, we defeated with a few ships the enemy's entire force. We should, therefore, seek out another leader, to avoid fighting under a general who has pillaged the shrines of the gods and so finding ourselves engaged in a war against the gods; for it is manifest that heaven opposes those who have selected the worst enemy of religion to be their commander. Noting that when he is present our armies in full force suffer defeat, whereas, when he is absent, even a small detachment is sufficient to defeat the Carthaginians, should not all men see in this the visible presence of the gods? Therefore, fellow citizens, if he is willing to lay down his office of his own accord, let us allow him to leave the city with his possessions; but if he does not choose to do so, we have at the present moment the fairest opportunity to assert our freedom. We are all gathered together; we have weapons in our hands; we have allies about us, not only the Greeks from Italy but also those from the Peloponnesus. The chief command must be given, according to the laws, either to citizens, or to the Corinthians who dwell in our mother-city, or to the Spartans who are the first power in Greece."
§ 14.70
τοιούτοις τοῦ Θεοδώρου χρησαμένου λόγοις, οἱ μὲν Συρακόσιοι μετέωροι ταῖς ψυχαῖς ἐγένοντο καὶ πρὸς τοὺς συμμάχους ἀπέβλεπον, Φαρακίδου δὲ τοῦ Λακεδαιμονίου ναυαρχοῦντος τῶν συμμάχων παρελθόντος ἐπὶ τὸ βῆμα, πάντες προσεδόκων ἀρχηγὸν ἔσεσθαι τῆς ἐλευθερίας. ὁ δὲ τὰ πρὸς τὸν τύραννον ἔχων οἰκείως ἔφησεν αὐτὸν ὑπὸ Λακεδαιμονίων ἀπεστάλθαι Συρακοσίοις καὶ Διονυσίῳ συμμαχεῖν πρὸς Καρχηδονίους, ἀλλʼ οὐ Διονυσίου τὴν ἀρχὴν καταλύειν. παρὰ δὲ τὴν προσδοκίαν γενομένης τῆς ἀποφάσεως, οἱ μὲν μισθοφόροι συνέδραμον πρὸς τὸν Διονύσιον, οἱ δὲ Συρακόσιοι καταπλαγέντες τὴν ἡσυχίαν εἶχον, πολλὰ τοῖς Σπαρτιάταις καταρώμενοι· καὶ γὰρ τὸ πρότερον Ἀρέτης ὁ Λακεδαιμόνιος ἀντιλαμβανόμενος αὐτῶν τῆς ἐλευθερίας ἐγένετο προδότης, καὶ τότε Φαρακίδας ἐνέστη ταῖς ὁρμαῖς τῶν Συρακοσίων. ὁ δὲ Διονύσιος τότε μὲν ἐγένετο περίφοβος καὶ διέλυσε τὴν ἐκκλησίαν, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα φιλανθρώποις λόγοις χρησάμενος καθωμίλει τῷ πλήθει, καὶ τινὰς μὲν δωρεαῖς ἐτίμα, τινὰς δʼ ἐπὶ τὰ συσσίτια παρελάμβανε. Καρχηδονίοις δὲ μετὰ τὴν κατάληψιν τοῦ προαστείου καὶ τὴν σύλησιν τοῦ τε τῆς Δήμητρος καὶ Κόρης ἱεροῦ ἐνέπεσεν εἰς τὸ στράτευμα νόσος· συνεπελάβετο δὲ καὶ τῇ τοῦ δαιμονίου συμφορᾷ τὸ μυριάδας εἰς ταὐτὸ συναθροισθῆναι καὶ τὸ τῆς ὥρας εἶναι πρὸς τὰς νόσους ἐνεργότατον, ἔτι δὲ τὸ ἔχειν ἐκεῖνο τὸ θέρος καύματα παρηλλαγμένα. ἔοικε δὲ καὶ ὁ τόπος αἴτιος γεγονέναι πρὸς τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῆς συμφορᾶς· καὶ γὰρ Ἀθηναῖοι πρότερον τὴν αὐτὴν ἔχοντες παρεμβολὴν πολλοὶ διεφθάρησαν ὑπὸ τῆς νόσου, ἑλώδους ὄντος τοῦ τόπου καὶ κοίλου. πρῶτον μὲν πρὶν ἥλιον ἀνατεῖλαι διὰ τὴν ψυχρότητα τὴν ἐκ τῆς αὔρας τῶν ὑδάτων φρίκη κατεῖχε τὰ σώματα· κατὰ δὲ τὴν μεσημβρίαν ἡ θερμότης ἔπνιγεν, ὡς ἂν τοσούτου πλήθους ἐν στενῷ τόπῳ συνηθροισμένου.
After this speech by Theodorus the Syracusans were in high spirits and kept their eyes fixed on their allies; and when Pharacidas the Lacedemonian, the admiral of the allies, stepped up to the platform, all expected that he would take the lead for liberty. But he was on friendly terms with the tyrant and declared that the Lacedemonians had dispatched him to aid the Syracusans and Dionysius against the Carthaginians, not to overthrow the rule of Dionysius. At this statement so contrary to expectation the mercenaries flocked about Dionysius, and the Syracusans in dismay made no move, although they called down many curses on the Spartans. For on a previous occasion Aretes the Lacedemonian, at the time that he was asserting the right of the Syracusans to freedom, had betrayed them, and now at this time Pharacidas vetoed the movement of the Syracusans. For the moment Dionysius was in great fear and dissolved the assembly, but later he won the favour of the multitude by kindly words, honouring some of them with gifts and inviting some to general banquets. After the Carthaginians had seized the suburb and pillaged the sanctuary of Demeter and Core, a sickness struck the army. Over and above the disaster sent by influence of the city, there were contributing causes: that myriads of people were gathered together, that it was the time of year which is most productive of sicknesses, and that the particular summer had brought unusually hot water. It also seems likely that the place itself was responsible for the excessive extent of the disaster; for on a former occasion the Athenians too, who occupied the same camp, had perished in great numbers from the plague, since the terrain was marshy and in a hollow. First, before sunrise, because of the cold from the breeze over the waters, their bodies were struck with chills, but in the middle of the day the heat was stifling, as must be the case when so great a multitude is gathered together in a narrow place.
§ 14.71
ἥψατο μὲν οὖν ἡ νόσος πρῶτον τῶν Λιβύων, ἐξ ὧν πολλῶν ἀποθνησκόντων τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἔθαπτον τοὺς τετελευτηκότας, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα διά τε τὸ πλῆθος τῶν νεκρῶν καὶ διὰ τὸ τοὺς νοσοκομοῦντας ὑπὸ τῆς νόσου διαρπάζεσθαι, οὐδεὶς ἐτόλμα προσιέναι τοῖς κάμνουσιν. παραιρεθείσης οὖν καὶ τῆς θεραπείας ἀβοήθητος ἦν ἡ συμφορά. διὰ γὰρ τὴν τῶν ἀθάπτων δυσωδίαν καὶ τὴν ἀπὸ τῶν ἑλῶν σηπεδόνα πρῶτον μὲν ἤρχετο τῆς νόσου κατάρρους, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτʼ ἐγίνετο περὶ τὸν τράχηλον οἰδήματα· ἐκ δὲ τοῦ κατʼ ὀλίγον ἠκολούθουν πυρετοὶ καὶ περὶ τὴν ῥάχιν νεύρων πόνοι καὶ τῶν σκελῶν βαρύτητες· εἶτʼ ἐπεγίνοντο δυσεντερία καὶ φλύκταιναι περὶ τὴν ἐπιφάνειαν ὅλην τοῦ σώματος. τοῖς μὲν οὖν πλείστοις τοιοῦτον ἦν τὸ πάθος, τινὲς δʼ εἰς μανίαν καὶ λήθην τῶν ἁπάντων ἔπιπτον, οἳ περιπορευόμενοι τὴν παρεμβολὴν ἐξεστῶτες τοῦ φρονεῖν ἔτυπτον τοὺς ἀπαντῶντας. καθόλου δὲ συνέβη καὶ τὴν ἀπὸ τῶν ἰατρῶν βοήθειαν ἄπρακτον εἶναι καὶ διὰ τὸ μέγεθος τοῦ πάθους καὶ τὴν ὀξύτητα τοῦ θανάτου· πεμπταῖοι γὰρ ἢ τὸ πλεῖστον ἑκταῖοι μετήλλαττον, δεινὰς ὑπομένοντες τιμωρίας, ὥσθʼ ὑπὸ πάντων μακαρίζεσθαι τοὺς ἐν τῷ πολέμῳ τετελευτηκότας. καὶ γὰρ οἱ τοῖς κάμνουσι παρεδρεύοντες ἐνέπιπτον εἰς τὴν νόσον ἅπαντες, ὥστε δεινὴν εἶναι τὴν συμφορὰν τῶν ἀρρωστούντων, μηδενὸς θέλοντος ὑπηρετεῖν τοῖς ἀτυχοῦσιν. οὐ γὰρ μόνον οἱ μηδὲν προσήκοντες ἀλλήλους ἐγκατέλειπον, ἀλλʼ ἀδελφοὶ μὲν ἀδελφούς, φίλοι δὲ τοὺς συνήθεις ἠναγκάζοντο προΐεσθαι διὰ τὸν ὑπὲρ αὑτῶν φόβον.
Now the plague first attacked the Libyans, and, as many of them perished, at first they buried the dead, but later, both because of the multitude of corpses and because those who tended the sick were seized by the plague, no one dared approach the suffering. When even nursing was thus omitted, there was no remedy for the disaster. For by reason of the stench of the unburied and the miasma from the marshes, the plague began with a catarrh; then came a swelling in the throat; gradually burning sensations ensued, pains in the sinews of the back, and a heavy feeling in the limbs; then dysentery supervened and pustules upon the whole surface of the body. In most cases this was the course of the disease; but some became mad and totally lost their memory; they circulated through the camp, out of their mind, and struck at anyone they met. In general, as it turned out, even help by physicians was of no avail both because of the severity of the disease and the swiftness of the death; for death came on the fifth day or on the sixth at the latest, amidst such terrible tortures that all looked upon those who had fallen in the war as blessed. In fact all who watched beside the sick were struck by the plague, and thus the lot of the ill was miserable, since no one was willing to minister to the unfortunate. For not only did any not akin abandon one another, but even brothers were forced to desert brothers, friends to sacrifice friends out of fear for their own lives.
§ 14.72
Διονύσιος δʼ ἐπειδὴ τὴν περὶ Καρχηδονίους συμφορὰν ἤκουσεν, ὀγδοήκοντα μὲν ναῦς πληρώσας Φαρακίδᾳ καὶ Λεπτίνῃ τοῖς ναυάρχοις ἐπέταξεν ἅμʼ ἡμέρᾳ τὸν ἐπίπλουν ταῖς πολεμίαις ναυσὶ ποιήσασθαι, αὐτὸς δʼ ἀσελήνου τῆς νυκτὸς οὔσης περιήγαγε τὴν δύναμιν, καὶ περιελθὼν ἐπὶ τὸ τῆς Κυάνης ἱερὸν ἔλαθε τοὺς πολεμίους ἅμʼ ἡμέρᾳ προσιὼν τῇ παρεμβολῇ. τοὺς μὲν οὖν ἱππεῖς καὶ μισθοφόρων πεζοὺς χιλίους προαπέστειλεν εἰς τὸ πρὸς τὴν μεσόγειον ἀνατεῖνον μέρος τῆς τῶν Καρχηδονίων στρατοπεδείας. οὗτοι δʼ ἦσαν οἱ μισθοφόροι τῷ Διονυσίῳ παρὰ πάντας ἀλλοτριώτατοι καὶ πλεονάκις στάσεις καὶ ταραχὰς ποιοῦντες. διόπερ ὁ μὲν Διονύσιος τοῖς ἱππεῦσιν ἦν παρηγγελκώς, ὅταν ἐξάπτωνται τῶν πολεμίων, φεύγειν καὶ τοὺς μισθοφόρους ἐγκαταλιπεῖν· ὧν ποιησάντων τὸ προσταχθὲν οὗτοι μὲν ἅπαντες κατεκόπησαν, ὁ δὲ Διονύσιος ἅμα τήν τε παρεμβολὴν καὶ τὰ φρούρια πολιορκεῖν ἐπεχείρησε· καὶ τῶν βαρβάρων διὰ τὸ παράδοξον καταπεπληγμένων καὶ παραβοηθούντων τεταραγμένως, αὐτὸς μὲν φρούριον τὴν καλουμένην Πολίχναν εἷλε κατὰ κράτος, ἐκ δὲ θατέρου μέρους οἱ ἱππεῖς καί τινες τῶν τριήρων προσπλεύσασαι τὸ πρὸς τῷ Δάσκωνι χωρίον ἐξεπολιόρκησαν. εὐθὺ δʼ αἵ τε ναῦς ἅπασαι τὸν ἐπίπλουν ἐποιήσαντο, καὶ κατὰ τὰς τῶν φρουρίων ἁλώσεις ἐπαλαλάξαντος τοῦ στρατοπέδου περιδεεῖς οἱ βάρβαροι καθειστήκεισαν. ἐξ ἀρχῆς μὲν γὰρ ἐπὶ τὸ πεζὸν στράτευμα πάντες συνέδραμον, ἀμυνόμενοι τοὺς τὴν παρεμβολὴν πολιορκοῦντας· ὡς δὲ καὶ τὸν τῶν νεῶν ἐπίπλουν εἶδον, πάλιν ἐξεβοήθουν ἐπὶ τὸν ναύσταθμον· καταταχούμενοι δʼ ὑπὸ τῆς ὀξύτητος τοῦ καιροῦ τὴν ἑαυτῶν σπουδὴν εἶχον ἄπρακτον. ἔτι γὰρ αὐτῶν ἀναβαινόντων ἐπὶ τὰ καταστρώματα καὶ πληρούντων τὰς τριήρεις, αἱ πολέμιαι ναῦς ταῖς εἰρεσίαις ἐλαυνόμεναι πλαγίαις ἐνέσειον πολλάκις. ἐκ μὲν οὖν μιᾶς ἐπικαίρου πληγῆς κατέδυον τὰς τιτρωσκομένας ναῦς· αἱ δὲ πλείοσιν ἐμβολαῖς ἀναρρήττουσαι τὰς συγγεγομφωμένας σανίδας δεινὴν ἔκπληξιν τοῖς ἀντιταττομένοις παρείχοντο. πάντῃ δὲ τῶν ἐξοχωτάτων νεῶν θραυομένων, αἱ μὲν ἐκ τῶν ἐμβολῶν ἀναρρηττόμεναι λακίδες ἐξαίσιον ἐποιοῦντο ψόφον, ὁ δὲ παρὰ τὴν μάχην παρήκων αἰγιαλὸς ἔγεμε νεκρῶν.
When Dionysius heard of the disaster that had struck the Carthaginians, he manned eighty ships and ordered Pharacidas and Leptines the admirals to attack the enemy's ships at daybreak, while he himself, profiting by a moonless night, made a circuit with his army and, passing by the sanctuary of Cyane, arrived near the camp of the enemy at daybreak before they were aware of it. The cavalry and a thousand infantry from the mercenaries were dispatched in advance against that part of the Carthaginian encampment which extended toward the interior. These mercenaries were the most hostile, beyond all others, to Dionysius and had engaged time and again in factional quarrels and uproars. Consequently Dionysius had issued orders to the cavalry that as soon as they came to blows with the enemy they should flee and leave the mercenaries in the lurch; when this order had been carried out and the mercenaries had been slain to a man, Dionysius set about laying siege to both the camp and the forts. While the barbarians were still dismayed at the unexpected attack and bringing up reinforcements in disorderly fashion, he on his part took by storm the fort known as Polichne; and on the opposite side the cavalry, aided in an attack by some of the triremes, stormed the area around Dascon. At once all the warships joined in the attack, and when the army raised the war-cry at the taking of the forts, the barbarians were in a state of panic. For at the outset they had rushed in a body against the land troops in order to ward off the assailants of the camp; but when they saw the fleet also coming up to attack, they turned back to give help to the naval station. The swift course of events, however, outstripped them and their haste was without result. Even as they were mounting on the decks and manning the triremes, the enemy's vessels, driven on by rowers, struck the ships athwart in many cases. Now one well-delivered blow would sink a damaged ship; but blows in repeated rammings, which broke through the nailed timbers, struck terrible dismay into the opponents. Since all about the mightiest ships were being shattered, the rending of the vessels by the crushing blows raised a great noise and the shore extending along the scene of the battle was strewn with corpses.
§ 14.73
οἱ δὲ Συρακόσιοι τῷ προτερήματι συμφιλοτιμούμενοι κατὰ πολλὴν σπουδὴν ἀλλήλους ἔφθανον ἐπιπηδῶντες ταῖς πολεμίαις ναυσί, καὶ τοὺς βαρβάρους καταπεπληγμένους τὸ μέγεθος τῆς περιστάσεως περιχυθέντες ἐφόνευον. οὐ μὴν οὐδʼ οἱ πεζῇ τῷ ναυστάθμῳ προσβάλλοντες ἐλείποντο τῆς τούτων σπουδῆς· ἐν οἷς συνέβαινεν εἶναι καὶ αὐτὸν τὸν Διονύσιον, παριππευκότα πρὸς τὸ κατὰ Δάσκωνα μέρος. εὑρόντες γὰρ πεντηκοντόρους τετταράκοντα νενεωλκημένας, καὶ κατὰ τὸ συνεχὲς ναῦς παρορμούσας ὁλκάδας καί τινας τῶν τριήρων, πῦρ εἰς αὐτὰς ἐνῆκαν. ταχὺ δὲ τῆς φλογὸς εἰς ὕψος ἀρθείσης καὶ χεομένης ἐπὶ πολὺν τόπον ἐφλέγετο τὰ σκάφη, καὶ τῶν ἐμπόρων τε καὶ ναυκλήρων οὐδεὶς ἐδύνατο παραβοηθῆσαι διὰ τὸ πλῆθος τοῦ πυρός. ἐπιγενομένου δὲ μεγάλου πνεύματος ἐκ τῶν νενεωλκημένων σκαφῶν ἐφέρετο τὸ πῦρ ἐπὶ τὰς ὁρμούσας ὁλκάδας. τῶν δʼ ἀνδρῶν ἐκκολυμβώντων διὰ τὸν ἀπὸ τῆς πνιγὸς φόβον, καὶ τῶν ἀγκυρίων ἀποκαιομένων, διὰ τὸν κλύδωνα συνέκρουον αἱ ναῦς, καὶ τινὲς μὲν ὑπʼ ἀλλήλων συντριβόμεναι διεφθείροντο, τινὲς δὲ ὑπὸ τοῦ πνεύματος ὠθούμεναι, αἱ πλεῖσται δʼ ὑπὸ τοῦ πυρὸς ἀπώλλυντο. ἔνθα δὴ τῶν φορτηγῶν πλοίων ἀναφερομένης τῆς φλογὸς διὰ τῶν ἱστίων καὶ τὰς κεραίας καταφλεγούσης, τοῖς ἐκ τῆς πόλεως θεατρικὴν συνέβαινε γίνεσθαι τὴν θέαν καὶ τοῖς διʼ ἀσέβειαν κεραυνωθεῖσι φαίνεσθαι παραπλησίαν τὴν ἀπώλειαν τῶν βαρβάρων.
The Syracusans, eagerly co operating in their success, rivalled one another in great zeal to be the first to board the enemy's ships, and surrounding the barbarians, who were terror-stricken at the magnitude of the peril they faced, put them to death. Nor did the infantry who were attacking the naval station show less zeal than the others, and among them, it so happened, was Dionysius himself, who had ridden on horseback to the section about Dascon. Finding there forty ships of fifty oars, which had been drawn up on the beach, and beside them merchant ships and some triremes at anchor, they set fire to them. Quickly the flame leaped up into the sky and, spreading over a large area, caught the shipping, and none of the merchants or owners was able to bring any help because of the violence of the blaze. Since a strong wind arose, the fires carried from the ships drawn up on land to the merchantmen lying at anchor. When the crews dived into the water from fear of suffocation and the anchor cables were burnt off, the ships came into collision because of the rough seas, some of them being destroyed as they struck one another, and others as the wind drove them about, but the majority of them were victims of the fire. Thereupon, as the flames swept up through the sails of the merchant-ships and consumed the yard-arms, the sight was like a scene from the theatre to the inhabitants of the city and the destruction of the barbarians resembled that of men struck by lightning from heaven for their impiety.
§ 14.74
διόπερ τοῖς εὐτυχήμασι μετεωριζόμενοι τὰ πορθμεῖα συνεπλήρουν οἵ τε πρεσβύτατοι τῶν παίδων καὶ τῶν παρηκμακότων ταῖς ἡλικίαις οἱ μὴ τελείως ὑπὸ τοῦ γήρως καταπονούμενοι· πρὸς δὲ τὰς κατὰ τὸν λιμένα ναῦς ὡς ἔτυχε προσπλέοντες ἀθρόοι, τὰς μὲν προδιεφθαρμένας ὑπὸ τοῦ πυρὸς διήρπαζον, ἐκλέγοντες τῶν χρησίμων τὰ δυνάμενα βοηθείας τυχεῖν, τὰς δʼ ἀκεραίους ἐξαπτόμενοι κατῆγον εἰς τὴν πόλιν. οὕτως οὐδὲ οἱ τῶν κατὰ πόλεμον ἀφιέμενοι διὰ τὰς ἡλικίας καρτερεῖν ἐδύναντο, διὰ δὲ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῆς χαρᾶς ἡ φιλοτιμία τῆς ψυχῆς κατίσχυε τὴν ἡλικίαν. τοῦ δὲ περὶ τὴν νίκην λόγου διαρρυέντος κατὰ τὴν πόλιν, τὰς οἰκίας ἐξέλειπον ὁμοῦ τοῖς οἰκέταις παῖδες καὶ γυναῖκες, καὶ πάντων σπευδόντων ἐπὶ τὰ τείχη πᾶς τόπος ἔγεμε τῶν θεωμένων. τούτων δʼ οἱ μὲν εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν τὰς χεῖρας ἐκτείναντες εὐχαρίστουν τοῖς θεοῖς, οἱ δὲ τῆς τῶν ἱερῶν συλήσεως ἔφασαν εἰληφέναι τοὺς βαρβάρους τὴν παρὰ τοῦ δαιμονίου τιμωρίαν. ἐφαίνετο γὰρ διὰ μακροῦ θεομαχίᾳ παραπλήσιος ἡ θέα, τοσούτων μὲν νεῶν πυρπολουμένων, τῆς δὲ φλογὸς διὰ τῶν ἱστίων εἰς ὕψος ἀναφερομένης, καὶ τῶν μὲν Ἑλλήνων καθʼ ἕκαστον τῶν προτερημάτων ἐπισημαινομένων ἐξαισίῳ βοῇ, τῶν δὲ βαρβάρων διὰ τὴν ἔκπληξιν τοῦ δεινοῦ πολὺν θόρυβον καὶ κραυγὴν σύμμικτον ποιούντων. οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ τότε μὲν τῆς νυκτὸς ἐπιγενομένης ἡ μάχη διελύθη, καὶ Διονύσιος ἐπεστρατοπέδευσε τοῖς βαρβάροις πρὸς τὸ τοῦ Διὸς ἱερὸν παρεμβολὴν ποιησάμενος.
Forthwith, elated by the Syracusan successes, both the oldest youths and such aged men as were not yet entirely incapacitated by years manned lighters, and approaching without order all together made for the ships in the harbour. Those which the fire had ruined they plundered, stripping them of anything that could be saved, and such as were undamaged they took in tow and brought to the city. Thus even those who by age were exempt from war duties were unable to restrain themselves, but in their excessive joy their ardent spirit prevailed over their age. When the news of the victory ran through the city, children and women, together with their households, left their homes, everyone hurrying to the walls, and the whole extent was crowded with spectators. Of these some raised their hands to heaven and returned thanks to the gods, and others declared that the barbarians had suffered the punishment of heaven for their plundering of the sanctuaries. For from a distance the sight resembled a battle with the gods, such a number of ships going up in fire, the flames leaping aloft among the sails, the Greeks applauding every success with great shouting, and the barbarians in their consternation at the disaster keeping up a great uproar and confused crying. But as night came the battle ceased for the time, and Dionysius kept to the field against the barbarians, pitching a camp near the sanctuary of Zeus.
§ 14.75
οἱ δὲ Καρχηδόνιοι κατὰ γῆν ἅμα καὶ κατὰ θάλατταν ἡττημένοι διεπρεσβεύσαντο πρὸς Διονύσιον λάθρᾳ τῶν Συρακοσίων· ἠξίουν δὲ αὐτὸν ἀφιέναι τοὺς περιλειπομένους εἰς Λιβύην διακομισθῆναι, καὶ τὰ κατὰ τὴν παρεμβολὴν αὐτοῖς ὄντα τριακόσια τάλαντα δώσειν ἐπηγγέλλοντο. ὁ δὲ Διονύσιος ἅπαντας μὲν ἀδύνατον εἶναι φυγεῖν ἀπεφαίνετο, τοὺς δὲ πολιτικοὺς συνεχώρησε μόνους νυκτὸς ἀπελθεῖν λάθρᾳ κατὰ θάλατταν· ᾔδει γὰρ τοὺς Συρακοσίους καὶ τοὺς συμμάχους οὐκ ἐπιτρέψοντας αὐτῷ περὶ τούτων συγχωρεῖν τοῖς πολεμίοις. ταῦτα δʼ ἔπραττεν ὁ Διονύσιος οὐ βουλόμενος τελείως ἀπολέσθαι τὴν τῶν Καρχηδονίων δύναμιν, ὅπως οἱ Συρακόσιοι διὰ τὸν ἀπὸ τούτων φόβον μηδέποτε σχολὴν λάβωσιν ἀντέχεσθαι τῆς ἐλευθερίας. ὁ μὲν οὖν Διονύσιος συνθέμενος εἰς ἡμέραν τετάρτην ὑπὸ νύκτα τὴν φυγὴν τοῖς Καρχηδονίοις, τὸ στρατόπεδον ἀπήγαγεν εἰς τὴν πόλιν· ὁ δʼ Ἰμίλκων νυκτὸς παρακομίσας εἰς τὴν ἀκρόπολιν τὰ τριακόσια τάλαντα παρέδωκε τοῖς ἐν τῇ Νήσῳ τεταγμένοις ὑπὸ τοῦ τυράννου, αὐτὸς δʼ, ἐπεὶ παρῆν ὁ συγκείμενος χρόνος, νυκτὸς ἐπλήρωσε τετταράκοντα τριήρεις τῶν πολιτικῶν, καὶ καταλιπὼν τὸ λοιπὸν ἅπαν στρατόπεδον ὥρμησε φεύγειν. ἤδη δʼ αὐτοῦ τὸν λιμένα διεκπεπλευκότος ᾔσθοντό τινες τῶν Κορινθίων τὸν δρασμόν, καὶ ταχέως ἀπήγγειλαν τῷ Διονυσίῳ. τοῦ δὲ τοὺς στρατιώτας τε καλοῦντος εἰς τὰ ὅπλα καὶ κατὰ σχολὴν τοὺς ἡγεμόνας ἀθροίζοντος, οὐκ ἀνέμειναν αὐτὸν οἱ Κορίνθιοι, ταχὺ δʼ ἀναχθέντες ἐπὶ τοὺς Καρχηδονίους καὶ πρὸς ἀλλήλους ἐν ταῖς εἰρεσίαις φιλοτιμούμενοι τὰς ἐσχάτας Φοινίσσας ναῦς κατέλαβον, ἃς τοῖς ἐμβόλοις συντρίψαντες κατέδυσαν. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Διονύσιος μὲν ἐξήγαγε τὴν δύναμιν, οἱ δὲ συμμαχοῦντες τοῖς Καρχηδονίοις Σικελοὶ φθάσαντες τοὺς Συρακοσίους ἔφυγον διὰ τῆς μεσογείου, καὶ σχεδὸν πάντες διεσώθησαν εἰς τὰς πατρίδας. καὶ Διονύσιος μὲν τὰς ὁδοὺς διαλαβὼν φυλακαῖς ἀπήγαγε τὴν δύναμιν ἐπὶ τὴν τῶν πολεμίων στρατοπεδείαν ἔτι νυκτὸς οὔσης· οἱ δὲ βάρβαροι καταλειφθέντες ὑπό τε τοῦ στρατηγοῦ καὶ τῶν Καρχηδονίων, ἔτι δὲ τῶν Σικελῶν, ἠθύμησαν καὶ καταπλαγέντες ἔφευγον. οἱ μὲν ἐν ταῖς ὁδοῖς καὶ ταῖς προφυλακαῖς ἐμπίπτοντες συνελαμβάνοντο, οἱ δὲ πλεῖστοι τὰ ὅπλα ῥιπτοῦντες συνήντων, δεόμενοι φείσασθαι τοῦ βίου· μόνοι δὲ Ἴβηρες ἠθροισμένοι μετὰ τῶν ὅπλων ἐπεκηρυκεύοντο περὶ συμμαχίας. Διονύσιος δὲ πρὸς μὲν τούτους σπεισάμενος κατέταξε τοὺς Ἴβηρας εἰς τοὺς μισθοφόρους, τὸ δὲ λοιπὸν πλῆθος ἐζώγρησε καὶ τὴν λοιπὴν ἀποσκευὴν ἐφῆκε τοῖς στρατιώταις διαρπάσαι.
Now that the Carthaginians had suffered defeat on land as well as on sea, they entered into negotiations with Dionysius without the knowledge of the Syracusans. They asked him to allow their remaining troops to cross back to Libya and promised to give him the three hundred talents which they had there in their camp. Dionysius replied that he would not be able to allow the whole army to escape, but he consented to their citizen troops alone withdrawing secretly at night by sea; for he knew that the Syracusans and their allies would not allow him to make any such terms with the enemy. Dionysius acted as he did to avoid the total destruction of the Carthaginian army, in order that the Syracusans, by reason of their fear of the Carthaginians, should never find a time of ease to assert their freedom. Accordingly Dionysius agreed that the flight of the Carthaginians should take place by night on the fourth day hence and led his army back into the city. Himilcon during the night conveyed the three hundred talents to the acropolis and delivered them to the persons stationed on the island by the tyrant, and then himself, when the time agreed upon had arrived, manned forty triremes during the night with the citizens of Carthage and began his flight, abandoning all the rest of his army. He had already made his way across the harbour, when some of the Corinthians observed his flight and speedily reported it to Dionysius. Since Dionysius took his time in calling the soldiers to arms and gathering the commanders, the Corinthians did not wait for him but speedily put out to sea against the Carthaginians, and vying with each other in their rowing they caught up with the last Phoenician ships, which they shattered with their rams and sent to the bottom. After this Dionysius led out the army, but the Siceli, who were serving in the army of the Carthaginians, forestalling the Syracusans, fled through the interior and, almost to a man, made their way in safety to their native homes. Dionysius stationed guards at intervals along the roads and then led his army against the enemy's camp, while it was still night. The barbarians, abandoned as they were by their general, by the Carthaginians, and by the Siceli as well, were dispirited and fled in dismay. Some were taken captive as they fell in with weight guards on the roads, but the majority threw down their arms, surrendered themselves, and asked only that their lives be spared. Some Iberians alone massed together with their arms and dispatched a herald to treat about taking service with him. Dionysius made peace with the Iberians and enrolled them in his mercenaries, but the rest of the multitude he made captive and whatever remained of the baggage he turned over to the soldiers to plunder.
§ 14.76
οὕτως μὲν οὖν τοῖς Καρχηδονίοις ἡ τύχη ταχεῖαν τὴν μεταβολὴν ἐποίησε, καὶ πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις ἔδειξεν, ὡς οἱ μεῖζον τοῦ καθήκοντος ἐπαιρόμενοι ταχέως ἐξελέγχουσι τὴν ἰδίαν ἀσθένειαν. ἐκεῖνοι γὰρ τῶν κατὰ Σικελίαν πόλεων σχεδὸν ἁπασῶν πλὴν Συρακουσῶν κρατοῦντες, καὶ ταύτην ἁλώσεσθαι προσδοκῶντες, ἐξαίφνης ὑπὲρ τῆς ἰδίας πατρίδος ἀγωνιᾶν ἠναγκάσθησαν, καὶ τοὺς τάφους τῶν Συρακοσίων ἀνατρέψαντες πεντεκαίδεκα μυριάδας ἐπεῖδον ἀτάφους διὰ τὸν λοιμὸν σεσωρευμένους, πυρπολήσαντες δὲ τὴν χώραν τῶν Συρακοσίων ἐκ μεταβολῆς εὐθὺς εἶδον τὸν ἴδιον στόλον ἐμπυρισθέντα, εἰς δὲ τὸν λιμένα πάσῃ τῇ δυνάμει καταπλέοντες ὑπερηφάνως, καὶ τοῖς Συρακοσίοις ἐπιδεικνύμενοι τὰς ἑαυτῶν εὐτυχίας, ἠγνόουν ἑαυτοὺς μέλλοντας νυκτὸς ἀποδράσεσθαι καὶ τοὺς συμμάχους ἐκδότους καταλιπεῖν τοῖς πολεμίοις. αὐτὸς δὲ ὁ στρατηγὸς ὁ ποιησάμενος σκηνὴν μὲν τὸ τοῦ Διὸς ἱερόν, πρόσοδον δὲ τὸν ἐκ τῶν ἱερῶν συληθέντα πλοῦτον, αἰσχρῶς μετʼ ὀλίγων εἰς Καρχηδόνα διέφυγεν, ὅπως μὴ τὸν ὀφειλόμενον τῇ φύσει θάνατον ἀποδοὺς ἀθῷος γένηται τῶν ἀσεβημάτων, ἀλλʼ ἐν τῇ πατρίδι περιβόητον ἔχῃ τὸν βίον ὑπὸ πάντων ὀνειδιζόμενος. εἰς τοσοῦτο δʼ ἦλθεν ἀτυχίας, ὥστε μετὰ τῆς εὐτελεστάτης ἐσθῆτος περιῄει τοὺς κατὰ τὴν πόλιν ναοὺς κατηγορῶν τῆς ἰδίας ἀσεβείας καὶ περὶ τῶν εἰς θεοὺς ἁμαρτημάτων ὁμολογουμένην διδοὺς τιμωρίαν τῷ δαιμονίῳ. τὸ δὲ τέλος ἑαυτοῦ καταγνοὺς θάνατον ἀπεκαρτέρησε, πολλὴν τοῖς πολίταις ἀπολιπὼν δεισιδαιμονίαν· εὐθὺ γὰρ καὶ τἄλλα τὰ πρὸς τὸν πόλεμον αὐτοῖς ἡ τύχη συνήθροισεν.
With such swiftness did Fortune work a change in the affairs of the Carthaginians, and point out to all mankind that those who become elated above due measure quickly give proof of their own weakness. For they who had in their hands practically all the cities of Sicily with the exception of Syracuse and expected its capture, of a sudden were forced to be anxious for their own fatherland; they who overthrew the tombs of the Syracusans gazed upon one hundred and fifty thousand dead lying in heaps and unburied because of the plague; they who wasted with fire the territory of the Syracusans now in their turn saw their own fleet of a sudden go usurp in flames; they who so arrogantly sailed with their whole armada into the harbour and flaunted their successes before the Syracusans had little thought that they were to steal away by night and leave their allies at the mercy of their enemy. The general himself, who had taken the sanctuary of Zeus for his quarters and the pillaged wealth of the sanctuaries for his own possession, slipped away in disgrace to Carthage with a few survivors, in order that he might not by dying and paying a debt to nature go unscathed for his acts of impiety, but should in his native land lead a life that was notorious, while reproaches were heaped on him on every hand. Indeed, so calamitous was his lot that he went about the temples of the city in the cheapest clothing, charging himself with impiety and offering acknowledged retribution to heaven for his sins against the gods. In the end he passed sentence of death upon himself and starved himself to death. And he bequeathed to his fellow citizens a deep respect for religion, for straightway Fortune heaped upon them the other calamities of war as well.
§ 14.77
τῆς γὰρ συμφορᾶς διακηρυχθείσης κατὰ τὴν Λιβύην, οἱ σύμμαχοι καὶ πάλαι μὲν μισοῦντες τὸ βάρος τῆς τῶν Καρχηδονίων ἡγεμονίας, τότε δὲ διὰ τὴν τῶν στρατιωτῶν ἐν Συρακούσαις προδοσίαν πολὺ μᾶλλον ἐξέκαυσαν τὸ κατʼ αὐτῶν μῖσος. διόπερ ἅμα μὲν ὑπὸ τῆς ὀργῆς προαχθέντες, ἅμα δὲ καταφρονήσαντες αὐτῶν διὰ τὴν ἀτυχίαν, ἀντείχοντο τῆς ἐλευθερίας. διαπρεσβευσάμενοι δὲ πρὸς ἀλλήλους ἤθροισαν δύναμιν, καὶ προελθόντες ἐν ὑπαίθρῳ κατεστρατοπέδευσαν. ταχὺ δʼ οὐ μόνον ἐλευθέρων, ἀλλὰ καὶ δούλων συντρεχόντων, ἐν ὀλίγῳ χρόνῳ μυριάδες εἴκοσι συνηθροίσθησαν. καταλαβόμενοι δὲ Τύνητα, πόλιν οὐ μακρὰν τῆς Καρχηδόνος κειμένην, ἐκ ταύτης παρετάττοντο, καὶ πλεονεκτοῦντες ἐν ταῖς μάχαις τειχήρεις τοὺς Φοίνικας συνεῖχον. οἱ δὲ Καρχηδόνιοι φανερῶς ὑπὸ τῶν θεῶν πολεμούμενοι, τὸ μὲν πρῶτον κατʼ ὀλίγους ξυνιόντες ἐξεταράττοντο καὶ τὸ δαιμόνιον ἱκέτευον λῆξαι τῆς ὀργῆς· μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα πᾶσαν τὴν πόλιν δεισιδαιμονία κατέσχε καὶ δέος, ἑκάστου τὸν τῆς πόλεως ἀνδραποδισμὸν τῇ διανοίᾳ προλαμβάνοντος. διόπερ ἐψηφίσαντο παντὶ τρόπῳ τοὺς ἀσεβηθέντας θεοὺς ἐξιλάσασθαι. οὐ παρειληφότες δʼ ἐν τοῖς ἱεροῖς οὔτε Κόρην οὔτε Δήμητρα, τούτων ἱερεῖς τοὺς ἐπισημοτάτους τῶν πολιτῶν κατέστησαν, καὶ μετὰ πάσης σεμνότητος τὰς θεὰς ἱδρυσάμενοι τὰς θυσίας τοῖς τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἤθεσιν ἐποίουν, καὶ τῶν παρʼ αὐτοῖς ὄντων Ἑλλήνων τοὺς χαριεστάτους ἐπιλέξαντες ἐπὶ τὴν τῶν θεῶν θεραπείαν ἔταξαν. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ναῦς τε κατεσκεύαζον καὶ τὰ πρὸς τὸν πόλεμον ἐπιμελῶς ἡτοίμαζον. οἱ δʼ ἀποστάται μιγάδες ὄντες οὔθʼ ἡγεμόνας ἀξιοχρέους εἶχον, τὸ δὲ μέγιστον, αὐτοῖς μὲν διὰ τὸ πλῆθος ἐξέλειπον αἱ τροφαί, τοῖς δὲ Καρχηδονίοις κατὰ θάλατταν ἐκ Σαρδοῦς παρεκομίζοντο, καὶ πρὸς ἀλλήλους ἐστασίαζον περὶ τῆς ἡγεμονίας, καί τινες αὐτῶν χρήμασιν ὑπὸ Καρχηδονίων διαφθαρέντες ἐγκατέλειπον τὰς κοινὰς ἐλπίδας. ὅθεν διά τε τὴν σπάνιν τῆς τροφῆς καί τινων προδοσίαν, οὗτοι μὲν διαλυθέντες εἰς τὰς πατρίδας ἀπήλλαξαν τοῦ μεγίστου φόβου Καρχηδονίους. καὶ τὰ μὲν κατὰ Λιβύην ἐν τούτοις ἦν.
When the news of the Carthaginian disaster had spread throughout Libya, their allies, who had long hated the oppressive rule of the Carthaginians and even more at this time because of the betrayal of the soldiers at Syracuse, were inflamed against them. Consequently, being led on partly by anger and partly by contempt for them because of the disaster they had suffered, they endeavoured to assert their independence. After exchanging messages with one another they collected an army, moved forward, and pitched camp in the open. Since they were speedily joined not only by freemen but also by slaves, there was gathered in a short time a body of two hundred thousand men. Seizing Tynes, a city situated not far from Carthage, they based their line of battle on it, and since they had the better of the fighting, they confined the Phoenicians within their walls. The Carthaginians, against whom the gods were clearly fighting, at first gathered in small groups and in great confusion and besought the deity to put an end to its wrath; thereupon the entire city was seized by superstitious fear and dread, as every man anticipated in imagination the enslavement of the city. Consequently they voted by every means to propitiate the gods who had been sinned against. Since they had included neither Core nor Demeter in their rites, they appointed their most renowned citizens to be priests of these goddesses, and consecrating statues of them with all solemnity, they conducted their rites, following the ritual used by the Greeks. They also chose out the most prominent Greeks who lived among them and assigned them to the service of the goddesses. After this they constructed ships and made careful provision of supplies for the war. Meanwhile the revolters, who were a motley mass, possessed no capable commanders, and what was of first importance, they were short of provisions because they were so numerous, while the Carthaginians brought supplies by sea from Sardinia. Furthermore, they quarrelled among themselves over the supreme command and some of them were bought off with Carthaginian money and deserted the common cause. As a result, both because of the lack of provisions and because of treachery on the part of some, they broke up and scattered to their native lands, thus relieving the Carthaginians of the greatest fear. Such was the state of affairs in Libya at this time.
§ 14.78
Διονύσιος δὲ θεωρῶν τοὺς μισθοφόρους ἀλλοτριώτατα πρὸς αὐτὸν ἔχοντας, καὶ φοβούμενος μὴ διὰ τούτων καταλυθῇ, τὸ μὲν πρῶτον Ἀριστοτέλην τὸν ἀφηγούμενον αὐτῶν συνέλαβε, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τοῦ πλήθους συντρέχοντος μετὰ τῶν ὅπλων καὶ τοὺς μισθοὺς πικρότερον ἀπαιτούντων, τὸν μὲν Ἀριστοτέλην ἔφησεν ἀποστέλλειν εἰς Λακεδαίμονα κρίσιν ἐν τοῖς ἰδίοις πολίταις ὑφέξοντα, τοῖς δὲ μισθοφόροις ὡς μυρίοις οὖσι τὸν ἀριθμὸν ἔδωκεν ἐν τοῖς μισθοῖς τὴν τῶν Λεοντίνων πόλιν τε καὶ χώραν. ἀσμένως δʼ αὐτῶν ὑπακουσάντων διὰ τὸ κάλλος τῆς χώρας, οὗτοι μὲν κατακληρουχήσαντες ᾤκουν ἐν Λεοντίνοις, ὁ δὲ Διονύσιος ἄλλους μισθοφόρους ξενολογήσας, τούτοις τε καὶ τοῖς ἠλευθερωμένοις οἰκέταις ἐνεπίστευσε τὴν ἀρχήν. μετὰ δὲ τὴν τῶν Καρχηδονίων συμφορὰν οἱ διασωζόμενοι τῶν ἐξηνδραποδισμένων κατὰ Σικελίαν πόλεων ἠθροίζοντο, καὶ τὰς ἰδίας κομιζόμενοι πατρίδας ἑαυτοὺς ἀνελάμβανον. Διονύσιος δʼ εἰς Μεσσήνην κατῴκισε χιλίους μὲν Λοκρούς, τετρακισχιλίους δὲ Μεδμαίους, ἑξακοσίους δὲ τῶν ἐκ Πελοποννήσου Μεσσηνίων, ἔκ τε Ζακύνθου καὶ Ναυπάκτου φευγόντων. θεωρῶν δὲ τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους προσκόπτοντας ἐπὶ τῷ τοὺς ὑφʼ ἑαυτῶν ἐκβεβλημένους Μεσσηνίους ἐν ἐπισήμῳ πόλει κατοικίζεσθαι, μετήγαγεν ἐκ Μεσσήνης αὐτούς, καὶ χωρίον τι παρὰ θάλατταν δοὺς τῆς Ἀβακαινίνης χώρας ἀπετέμετο καὶ προσώρισεν ὅσον αὐτὸς μέρος ἀπετέμετο. οἱ δὲ Μεσσήνιοι τὴν μὲν πόλιν ὠνόμασαν Τυνδαρίδα, πολιτευόμενοι δὲ πρὸς αὑτοὺς εὐνοϊκῶς καὶ πολλοὺς πολιτογραφοῦντες ταχὺ πλείους πεντακισχιλίων ἐγένοντο. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα εἰς τὴν τῶν Σικελῶν χώραν πλεονάκις στρατεύσας Μέναινον μὲν καὶ Μοργαντῖνον εἷλε, πρὸς Ἄγυριν δὲ τὸν Ἀγυριναίων τύραννον καὶ Δάμωνα τὸν δυναστεύοντα Κεντοριπίνων, ἔτι δʼ Ἑρβιταίους τε καὶ Ἀσσωρίνους συνθήκας ἐποιήσατο· παρέλαβε δὲ διὰ προδοσίας Κεφαλοίδιον καὶ Σολοῦντα καὶ τὴν Ἔνναν· πρὸς δὲ τούτοις πρὸς Ἑρβησσίνους εἰρήνην ἐποιήσατο. καὶ τὰ μὲν κατὰ Σικελίαν ἐν τούτοις ἦν.
Dionysius, seeing that the mercenaries were most hostile to him and fearing that they might depose him, first of all arrested Aristotle, their commander. At this, when the body of them ran together under arms and demanded their pay with some sharpness, Dionysius declared that he was sending Aristotle to Lacedemon to face trial among his fellow citizens, and offered to the mercenaries, who numbered about ten thousand, in lieu of their pay the city and territory of the Leontines. To this they gladly agreed because the territory was good land, and after portioning it out in allotments they made their home in Leontini. Dionysius then recruited other mercenaries and trusted in them and his freedmen to maintain the government. After the disaster which the Carthaginians had suffered, the survivors from the cities of Sicily that had been enslaved gathered together, gained back their native lands, and revived their strength. Dionysius settled in Messene a thousand Locrians, four thousand Medmaeans, and six hundred Messenians from the Peloponnesus who were exiles from Zacynthus and Naupactus. But when he observed that the Lacedemonians were offended that the Messenians whom they had driven out were settled in a renowned city, he removed them from Messene, and giving them a place on the sea, he cut off some area of Abacaene and annexed it to their territory. The Messenians named their city Tyndaris, and by living in concord together and admitting many to citizenship, they speedily came to number more than five thousand citizens. After this Dionysius waged a number of campaigns against the territory of the Siceli, in the course of which he took Menaenum and Morgantinum and struck a treaty with Agyris, the tyrant of the Agyrinaeans, and Damon, the lord of the Centoripans, as well as with the Herbitaeans and the Assorini. He also gained by treachery Cephaloedium, Solus, and Enna, and made peace besides with the Herbessini. Such was the state of affairs in Sicily at this time.
§ 14.79
κατὰ δὲ τὴν Ἑλλάδα Λακεδαιμόνιοι προορώμενοι τὸ μέγεθος τοῦ πρὸς Πέρσας πολέμου, τὸν ἕτερον τῶν βασιλέων Ἀγησίλαον ἐπέστησαν τοῖς πράγμασιν. οὗτος δʼ ἑξακισχιλίους στρατιώτας ἐπιλέξας, τριάκοντα δὲ τῶν πολιτῶν εἰς τὸ συνέδριον τοὺς ἀρίστους κατατάξας, διεβίβασε τὴν δύναμιν ἐκ τῆς Αὐλίδος εἰς Ἔφεσον. ἐκεῖ δὲ στρατολογήσας τετρακισχιλίους, προήγαγε τὴν δύναμιν εἰς ὕπαιθρον, οὖσαν πεζῶν μὲν μυρίων, ἱππέων δὲ τετρακοσίων· ἠκολούθει δʼ ἀγοραῖος αὐτοῖς ὄχλος καὶ τῆς ἁρπαγῆς χάριν οὐκ ἐλάττων τοῦ προειρημένου. διεξιὼν δὲ τὸ Καΰστριον πεδίον, διέφθειρε τὴν χώραν τὴν ὑπὸ τοὺς Πέρσας οὖσαν, μέχρι ὅτου κατήντησεν εἰς Κύμην. ἐκεῖθεν δʼ ὁρμηθεὶς τὸ πλεῖστον τοῦ θέρους τήν τε Φρυγίαν καὶ τὰ συνεχῆ διετέλεσε πορθῶν, καὶ τὴν δύναμιν ἐμπλήσας ὠφελείας ὑπὸ τὸ φθινόπωρον ἀνέκαμψεν εἰς Ἔφεσον. τούτων δὲ πραττομένων Λακεδαιμόνιοι μὲν πρέσβεις ἀπέστειλαν πρὸς Νεφερέα τὸν Αἰγύπτου βασιλέα περὶ συμμαχίας, ὃς ἀντὶ τῆς βοηθείας ἐδωρήσατο σκευὴν τοῖς Σπαρτιάταις ἑκατὸν τριήρεσι, σίτου δὲ μυριάδας πεντήκοντα. Φάραξ δὲ ὁ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων ναύαρχος ἀναχθεὶς ἐκ Ῥόδου ναυσὶν ἑκατὸν εἴκοσι κατέπλευσε τῆς Καρίας πρὸς Σάσανδα, φρούριον ἀπέχον τῆς Καύνου σταδίους ἑκατὸν πεντήκοντα. ἐκεῖθεν δὲ ὁρμώμενος ἐπολιόρκει τὴν Καῦνον, καὶ Κόνωνα μὲν τὸν τοῦ βασιλικοῦ στόλου τὴν ἡγεμονίαν ἔχοντα, διατρίβοντα δʼ ἐν Καύνῳ μετὰ νεῶν τεσσαράκοντα. Ἀρταφέρνους δὲ καὶ Φαρναβάζου μετὰ πολλῆς δυνάμεως παραβοηθήσαντος τοῖς Καυνίοις, ὁ Φάραξ ἔλυσε τὴν πολιορκίαν καὶ μετὰ τοῦ στόλου παντὸς ἀπῆρεν εἰς Ῥόδον. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Κόνων μὲν ἀθροίσας ὀγδοήκοντα τριήρεις ἔπλευσεν εἰς Χερρόνησον, Ῥόδιοι δʼ ἐκβαλόντες τὸν τῶν Πελοποννησίων στόλον ἀπέστησαν ἀπὸ Λακεδαιμονίων, καὶ τὸν Κόνωνα προσεδέξαντο μετὰ τοῦ στόλου παντὸς εἰς τὴν πόλιν. οἱ δʼ ἐκ τῆς Αἰγύπτου τὸν δωρηθέντα σῖτον κατακομίζοντες Λακεδαιμόνιοι τὴν ἀπόστασιν τῶν Ῥοδίων ἀγνοοῦντες τεθαρρηκότες προσέπλεον τῇ νήσῳ· Ῥόδιοι δὲ καὶ Κόνων ὁ τῶν Περσῶν ναύαρχος καταγαγόντες τὰς ναῦς εἰς τοὺς λιμένας ἐπλήρωσαν σίτου τὴν πόλιν. παρεγενήθησαν δὲ τῷ Κόνωνι τριήρεις ἐνενήκοντα, δέκα μὲν ἀπὸ Κιλικίας, ὀγδοήκοντα δʼ ἀπὸ Φοινίκης, ὧν ὁ Σιδωνίων δυνάστης εἶχε τὴν ἡγεμονίαν.
In Greece the Lacedemonians, foreseeing how great their war with the Persians would be, put one of the two kings, Agesilaus, in command. After he had levied six thousand soldiers and constitute a council of thirty of his foremost fellow citizens, he transported the armament from Aulis to Ephesus. Here he enlisted four thousand soldiers and took the field with his army, which numbered ten thousand infantry and four hundred cavalry. They were also accompanied by a throng of no less number which provided a market and was intent upon plunder. He traversed the Plain of Cayster and laid waste the territory held by the Persians until he arrived at Cyme. From this as his base he spent the larger part of the summer ravaging Phrygia and neighbouring territory; and after sating his army with pillage he returned toward the beginning of autumn to Ephesus. While these events were taking place, the Lacedemonians dispatched ambassadors to Nephereus, the king of Egypt, to conclude an alliance; he, in place of the aid requested, made the Spartans a gift of equipment for one hundred triremes and five hundred thousand measures of grain. Pharax, the Lacedemonian admiral, sailing from Rhodes with one hundred and twenty ships, put in at Sasanda in Caria, a fortress one hundred and fifty stades from Caunus. From this as his base he laid siege to Caunus and blockaded Conon, who was commander of the King's fleet and lay at Caunus with forty ships. But when Artaphernes and Pharnabazus came with strong forces to the aid of the Caunians, Pharax lifted the siege and sailed off to Rhodes with the entire fleet. After this Conon gathered eighty triremes and sailed to the Chersonesus, and the Rhodians, having expelled the Peloponnesian fleet, revolted from the Lacedemonians and received Conon, together with his entire fleet, into their city. Now the Lacedemonians, who were bringing the gift of grain from Egypt, being unaware of the defection of the Rhodians, approached the island in full confidence; but the Rhodians and Conon, the Persian admiral, brought the ships in the harbours and stored the city with grain. There also came to Conon ninety triremes, ten of them from Cilicia and eighty from Phoenicia, under the command of the lord of the Sidonians.
§ 14.80
μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Ἀγησίλαος μὲν ἐξαγαγὼν τὴν δύναμιν εἰς τὸ Καΰστρου πεδίον καὶ τὴν περὶ Σίπυλον χώραν, ἐδῄωσε τὰς τῶν ἐγχωρίων κτήσεις· Τισσαφέρνης δὲ μυρίους μὲν ἱππεῖς, πεντακισμυρίους δὲ πεζοὺς ἀθροίσας, ἐπηκολούθει τοῖς Λακεδαιμονίοις καὶ τοὺς ἀποσπωμένους τῆς τάξεως ἐν ταῖς προνομαῖς ἀνῄρει. Ἀγησίλαος δὲ εἰς πλινθίον συντάξας τοὺς στρατιώτας ἀντείχετο τῆς παρὰ τὸν Σίπυλον παρωρείας, ἐπιτηρῶν καιρὸν εὔθετον εἰς τὴν τῶν πολεμίων ἐπίθεσιν. ἐπελθὼν δὲ τὴν χώραν μέχρι Σάρδεων ἔφθειρε τούς τε κήπους καὶ τὸν παράδεισον τὸν Τισσαφέρνους, φυτοῖς καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις πολυτελῶς πεφιλοτεχνημένον εἰς τρυφὴν καὶ τὴν ἐν εἰρήνῃ τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἀπόλαυσιν. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτʼ ἐπιστρέψας, ὡς ἀνὰ μέσον ἐγενήθη τῶν τε Σάρδεων καὶ Θυβάρνων, ἀπέστειλε Ξενοκλέα τὸν Σπαρτιάτην μετὰ χιλίων καὶ τετρακοσίων στρατιωτῶν νυκτὸς εἴς τινα δασὺν τόπον, ὅπως ἐνεδρεύσῃ τοὺς βαρβάρους. αὐτὸς δʼ ἅμʼ ἡμέρᾳ πορευόμενος μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως, ἐπειδὴ τὴν μὲν ἐνέδραν παρήλλαξεν, οἱ δὲ βάρβαροι προσπίπτοντες ἀτάκτως τοῖς ἐπὶ τῆς οὐραγίας ἐξήπτοντο, παραδόξως ἐξαίφνης ἐπέστρεψεν ἐπὶ τοὺς Πέρσας. γενομένης δὲ καρτερᾶς μάχης, καὶ τοῦ συσσήμου τοῖς κατὰ τὴν ἐνέδραν οὖσιν ἀρθέντος, ἐκεῖνοι μὲν παιανίσαντες ἐπεφέροντο τοῖς πολεμίοις, οἱ δὲ Πέρσαι θεωροῦντες αὑτοὺς ἀπολαμβανομένους εἰς μέσον κατεπλάγησαν καὶ παραχρῆμα ἔφευγον. οἱ δὲ περὶ τὸν Ἀγησίλαον μέχρι μέν τινος ἐπιδιώξαντες ἀνεῖλαν μὲν ὑπὲρ τοὺς ἑξακισχιλίους, αἰχμαλώτων δὲ πολὺ πλῆθος ἤθροισαν, τὴν δὲ παρεμβολὴν διήρπασαν, γέμουσαν πολλῶν ἀγαθῶν. ἀπὸ δὲ τῆς μάχης Τισσαφέρνης μὲν εἰς Σάρδεις ἀπεχώρησε καταπεπληγμένος τὴν τόλμαν τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων, Ἀγησίλαος δʼ ἐπεχείρησε μὲν εἰς τὰς ἄνω σατραπείας, ἐν δὲ τοῖς ἱεροῖς οὐ δυνάμενος καλλιερῆσαι πάλιν ἀπήγαγε τὴν δύναμιν ἐπὶ θάλατταν. Ἀρταξέρξης δὲ ὁ τῆς Ἀσίας βασιλεὺς τά τε ἐλαττώματα πυθόμενος καὶ κατορρωδῶν τὸν πρὸς τοὺς Ἕλληνας πόλεμον, διʼ ὀργῆς εἶχε τὸν Τισσαφέρνην. τοῦτον γὰρ αἴτιον τοῦ πολέμου γεγονέναι ὑπελάμβανε· καὶ ὑπὸ τῆς μητρὸς δὲ Παρυσάτιδος ἦν ἠξιωμένος τιμωρήσασθαι τὸν Τισσαφέρνην· εἶχε γὰρ αὕτη διαφόρως πρὸς αὐτὸν ἐκ τοῦ διαβεβληκέναι τὸν υἱὸν αὐτῆς Κῦρον, ὅτε τὴν ἐπὶ τὸν ἀδελφὸν στρατείαν ἐποιεῖτο. καταστήσας οὖν Τιθραύστην ἡγεμόνα, τούτῳ μὲν παρήγγειλε συλλαμβάνειν Τισσαφέρνην, πρὸς δὲ τὰς πόλεις καὶ τοὺς σατράπας ἔπεμψεν ἐπιστολὰς ὅπως πάντες τούτῳ ποιῶσι τὸ προσταττόμενον. ὁ δὲ Τιθραύστης παραγενόμενος εἰς Κολοσσὰς τῆς Φρυγίας συνέλαβε τὸν Τισσαφέρνην διά τινος Ἀριαίου σατράπου λουόμενον, καὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν ἀποκόψας ἀπέστειλε πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα· αὐτὸς δὲ τὸν Ἀγησίλαον πείσας εἰς λόγους ἐλθεῖν ἑξαμηνιαίους ἀνοχὰς ἐποιήσατο.
After this Agesilaus led forth his army into the Plain of Cayster and the country around Sipylus and ravaged the possessions of the inhabitants. Tissaphernes, gathering ten thousand cavalry and fifty thousand infantry, followed close on the Lacedemonians and cut down any who became separate from the main body while plundering. Agesilaus formed his soldiers in a square and clung to the foothills of Mt. Sipylus, awaiting a favourable opportunity to attack the enemy. He overran the countryside as far as Sardis and ravaged the orchards and the pleasure-park belonging to Tissaphernes, which had been artistically laid out at great expense with plants and all other things that contribute to luxury and the enjoyment in peace of the good things of life. He then turned back, and when he was midway between Sardis and Thybarnae, he dispatched by night the Spartan Xenocles with fourteen hundred soldiers to a thickly wooded place to set an ambush for the barbarians. Then Agesilaus himself moved at daybreak along the way with his army. And when he had passed the place of ambush and the barbarians were advancing upon him without battle order and harassing his rearguard, to their surprise he suddenly turned about on the Persians. When a sharp battle followed, he raised the signal to the soldiers in ambush and they, chanting the battle song, charged the enemy. The Persians, seeing that they were caught between the forces, were struck with dismay and turned at once in flight. Pursuing them for some distance, Agesilaus slew over six thousand of them, gathered a great multitude of prisoners, and pillaged their camp which was stored with goods of many sorts. Tissaphernes, thunderstruck at the daring of the Lacedemonians, withdrew from the battle to Sardis, and Agesilaus was about to attack the satrapies farther inland, but led his army back to the sea when he could not obtain favourable omens from the sacrifices. When Artaxerxes, the King of Asia, learned of the defeats, being alarmed by the war with the Greeks, he was angry at Tissaphernes, since he considered him to be responsible for the war. He had also been asked by his mother, Parysatis, to grant her revenge upon Tissaphernes, for she hated him for denouncing her son Cyrus, when he made his attack upon his brother. Accordingly Artaxerxes appointed Tithraustes commander with orders to arrest Tissaphernes and sent letters to the cities and the satraps that all should perform whatever he commanded. Tithraustes, on arriving at Colossae in Phrygia, with the aid of Ariaeus, a satrap, arrested Tissaphernes while he was in the bath, cut off his head, and sent it to the King. Then he persuaded Agesilaus to enter into negotiations and concluded with him a truce of six months.
§ 14.81
τῶν δὲ κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον διῳκημένων, Φωκεῖς πρὸς Βοιωτοὺς ἔκ τινων ἐγκλημάτων εἰς πόλεμον καταστάντες ἔπεισαν τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους συμμαχεῖν κατὰ τῶν Βοιωτῶν. καὶ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον αὐτοῖς ἀπέστειλαν Λύσανδρον μετὰ στρατιωτῶν ὀλίγων, ὃς εἰσελθὼν εἰς τὴν Φωκίδα συνήγαγε δύναμιν· μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα καὶ Παυσανίας ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐξεπέμφθη μετὰ στρατιωτῶν ἑξακισχιλίων. Βοιωτοὶ δὲ πείσαντες Ἀθηναίους συνεπιλαβέσθαι τοῦ πολέμου, τότε μὲν καθʼ αὑτοὺς ὥρμησαν, καὶ κατέλαβον Ἁλίαρτον ὑπὸ Λυσάνδρου καὶ Φωκέων πολιορκουμένην. γενομένης δὲ μάχης ὅ τε Λύσανδρος ἔπεσε καὶ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων καὶ τῶν συμμάχων πολλοί, τῶν δὲ Βοιωτῶν ἡ μὲν ὅλη φάλαγξ ταχέως ἐπέστρεψεν ἀπὸ τοῦ διωγμοῦ, τῶν δὲ Θηβαίων ὡς διακόσιοι προχειρότερον εἰς τόπους τραχεῖς ἑαυτοὺς δόντες ἀνῃρέθησαν. ὁ μὲν οὖν πόλεμος οὗτος ἐκλήθη Βοιωτικός, Παυσανίας δὲ ὁ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων βασιλεὺς πυθόμενος τὴν ἧτταν ἀνοχὰς ἐποιήσατο πρὸς Βοιωτοὺς καὶ τὴν δύναμιν ἀπήγαγε πρὸς Πελοπόννησον. Κόνων δʼ ὁ τῶν Περσῶν ναύαρχος ἐπὶ μὲν τοῦ στόλου κατέστησεν Ἱερώνυμον καὶ Νικόδημον Ἀθηναίους ὄντας, αὐτὸς δὲ σπεύδων ἐντυχεῖν τῷ βασιλεῖ παρέπλευσεν εἰς Κιλικίαν, κἀκεῖθεν εἰς Θάψακον τῆς Συρίας πορευθεὶς ἀνὰ τὸν Εὐφράτην ποταμὸν ἔπλευσεν εἰς Βαβυλῶνα. ἐκεῖ δʼ ἐντυχὼν τῷ βασιλεῖ καταναυμαχήσειν ἐπηγγείλατο τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους, ἂν αὐτῷ χρήματα καὶ τὴν ἄλλην παρασκευὴν ἑτοιμάσῃ κατὰ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ προαίρεσιν. ὁ δʼ Ἀρταξέρξης ἐπαινέσας αὐτὸν καὶ δωρεαῖς μεγάλαις τιμήσας, συνέστησε ταμίαν τὸν χορηγήσοντα χρημάτων πλῆθος ὅσον ἂν προστάττῃ Κόνων, καὶ τὴν ἐξουσίαν ἔδωκεν αὐτῷ λαβεῖν εἰς τὸν πόλεμον συνηγησόμενον ὃν ἂν προαιρῆται Περσῶν. Κόνων μὲν οὖν Φαρνάβαζον ἑλόμενος τὸν σατράπην κατέβαινεν εἰς τὴν θάλατταν, ἅπαντα διῳκηκὼς κατὰ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ διάνοιαν.
While affairs in Asia were handled as we have described, the Phocians went to war with the Boeotians because of certain grievances and persuaded the Lacedemonians to join them against the Boeotians. At first they sent Lysander to them with a few soldiers, who, on entering Phocis, gathered an army; but later the king, Pausanias, was dispatched there with six thousand soldiers. The Boeotians persuaded the Athenians to take part with them in the war, but at the time they took the field alone and found Haliartus under siege by Lysander and the Phocians. In the battle which followed Lysander fell together with many Lacedemonians and their allies. The entire body of other Boeotians speedily turned back from the pursuit, but some two hundred Thebans advanced rather rashly into rugged terrain and were slain. This was called the Boeotian War. Pausanias, the king of the Lacedemonians, on learning of the defeat, concluded a truce with the Boeotians and led his army back to the Peloponnesus. Conon, the admiral of the Persians, put the Athenians Hieronymus and Nicodemus in charge of the fleet and himself set forth with intent to interview the King. He sailed along the coast of Cilicia, and when he had gone on to Thapsacus in Syria, he then took boat by the Euphrates river to Babylon. Here he met the King and promised that he would destroy the Lacedemonians' naval power if the King would furnish him with such money and other supplies as his plan required. Artaxerxes approved Conon, honoured him with rich gifts, and appointed a paymaster who should supply funds in abundance as Conon might assign them. He also gave him authority to take as his associate leader for the war any Persian he might choose. Conon selected the satrap Pharnabazus and then returned to the sea, having arranged everything to suit his purpose.
§ 14.82
τοῦ δʼ ἔτους τούτου διεληλυθότος Ἀθήνησι μὲν τὴν ἀρχὴν ἔλαβε Διόφαντος, ἐν Ῥώμῃ δʼ ἀντὶ τῶν ὑπάτων ἓξ χιλίαρχοι τὴν ὑπατικὴν ἀρχὴν διῴκουν, Λεύκιος Οὐαλέριος, Μάρκος Φούριος, Κόιντος Σερουίλιος, Κόιντος Σουλπίκιος. τούτων δὲ τὴν ἀρχὴν παρειληφότων Βοιωτοὶ καὶ Ἀθηναῖοι, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις Κορίνθιοι καὶ Ἀργεῖοι, συμμαχίαν πρὸς ἀλλήλους ἐποιήσαντο. μισουμένων γὰρ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων ὑπὸ τῶν συμμάχων διὰ τὸ βάρος τῆς ἐπιστασίας, ᾤοντο ῥᾳδίως καταλύσειν αὐτῶν τὴν ἡγεμονίαν, τὰς μεγίστας πόλεις συμφρονούσας ἔχοντες. καὶ πρῶτον μὲν συνέδριον κοινὸν ἐν τῇ Κορίνθῳ συστησάμενοι τοὺς βουλευσομένους ἔπεμπον καὶ κοινῶς διῴκουν τὰ κατὰ τὸν πόλεμον, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα πρέσβεις εἰς τὰς πόλεις ἀποστέλλοντες πολλοὺς συμμάχους ἀπὸ Λακεδαιμονίων ἀπέστησαν· εὐθὺ γὰρ αὐτοῖς ἥ τε Εὔβοια ἅπασα προσέθετο καὶ Λευκάδιοι, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις Ἀκαρνᾶνές τε καὶ Ἀμβρακιῶται καὶ Χαλκιδεῖς οἱ πρὸς τῇ Θρᾴκῃ. ἐπεβάλοντο δὲ καὶ τοὺς ἐν Πελοποννήσῳ κατοικοῦντας πείθειν ἀποστῆναι Λακεδαιμονίων, οὐδεὶς δʼ αὐτοῖς ὑπήκουσεν· ἡ γὰρ Σπάρτη κατὰ τὰ πλευρὰ κειμένη καθαπερεί τις ἀκρόπολις ἦν καὶ φρουρὰ πάσης Πελοποννήσου. Μηδίου δὲ τοῦ τῆς Λαρίσσης τῆς ἐν Θετταλίᾳ δυναστεύοντος διαπολεμοῦντος πρὸς Λυκόφρονα τὸν Φερῶν τύραννον, καὶ δεομένου πέμψαι βοήθειαν, ἀπέστειλεν αὐτῷ τὸ συνέδριον στρατιώτας δισχιλίους· ὁ δὲ Μήδιος τῆς συμμαχίας αὐτῷ παραγενομένης Φάρσαλον εἷλεν ὑπὸ Λακεδαιμονίων φρουρουμένην καὶ τοὺς ἐν αὐτῇ κατοικοῦντας ἐλαφυροπώλησεν. μετὰ δὲ ταῦθʼ οἱ Βοιωτοὶ μετʼ Ἀργείων Ἡράκλειαν τὴν ἐν Τραχῖνι κατελάβοντο, χωρισθέντες ἀπὸ Μηδίου· καὶ νυκτὸς ἐντὸς τῶν τειχῶν ὑπό τινων εἰσαχθέντες Λακεδαιμονίους μὲν τοὺς καταληφθέντας ἀπέσφαξαν, τοὺς δʼ ἀπὸ Πελοποννήσου τὰ σφῶν ἔχοντας εἴασαν ἀπελθεῖν. εἰς δὲ τὴν πόλιν τοὺς Τραχινίους φεύγοντας ἐκ τῶν πατρίδων ὑπὸ Λακεδαιμονίων μεταπεμπόμενοι, τούτοις ἔδωκαν τὴν πόλιν οἰκεῖν, οἳ καὶ παλαιότατοι τῆς χώρας ταύτης ἦσαν οἰκήτορες. μετὰ δὲ ταῦθʼ ὁ τῶν Βοιωτῶν ἀφηγούμενος Ἰσμηνίας τοὺς μὲν Ἀργείους ἐν τῇ πόλει κατέλιπε φυλακῆς ἕνεκα, αὐτὸς δὲ πείσας ἀποστῆναι ἀπὸ Λακεδαιμονίων Αἰνιᾶνας καὶ Ἀθαμᾶνας ἤθροισε παρά τε τούτων καὶ τῶν συμμάχων στρατιώτας· τοὺς πάντας δʼ ἔχων μικρὸν ἀπολείποντας τῶν ἑξακισχιλίων ἐστράτευσεν εἰς Φωκεῖς. καταστρατοπεδεύοντος δʼ αὐτοῦ εἰς Νάρυκα τῆς Λοκρίδος, ἐξ ἧς φασι τὸν Αἴαντα γεγενῆσθαι, τὸ πλῆθος τῶν Φωκέων ἀπήντησε μετὰ τῶν ὅπλων, τὴν ἡγεμονίαν ἔχοντος Ἀλκισθένους τοῦ Λάκωνος. γενομένης δὲ μάχης ἐπὶ πολὺν χρόνον ἰσχυρᾶς ἐκράτησαν οἱ Βοιωτοί, καὶ μέχρι νυκτὸς διώξαντες τοὺς φεύγοντας ἀνεῖλον οὐ πολὺ λείποντας τῶν χιλίων, τῶν δʼ ἰδίων ἀπέβαλον ἐν τῇ μάχῃ περὶ πεντακοσίους. μετὰ δὲ τὴν παράταξιν ἀμφότεροι μὲν διέλυσαν τὸ στρατόπεδον εἰς τὰς ἰδίας πατρίδας· οἱ δʼ εἰς Κόρινθον τὸ συνέδριον ἀγαγόντες, ἐπεὶ κατὰ νοῦν αὐτοῖς προεχώρει τὰ πράγματα, συνήγαγον ἐξ ἁπασῶν τῶν πόλεων στρατιώτας εἰς Κόρινθον, πεζοὺς μὲν πλείους μυρίων πεντακισχιλίων, ἱππεῖς δὲ περὶ πεντακοσίους.
At the close of this year, in Athenian Diophantus entered upon the archonship, and in Rome, in place of consuls, the consular magistracy was exercised by six military tribunes, Lucius Valerius, Marcus Furius, Quintus Servilius, and Quintus Sulpicius. After these men had assumed their magistracies the Boeotians and Athenians, together with the Corinthians and the Argives, concluded an alliance with each other. It was their thought that, since the Lacedemonians were hated by their allies because of their harsh rule, it would be an easy matter to overthrow their supremacy, given that the strongest states were of one mind. First of all, they set up a common Council in Corinth to which they sent representatives to form plans, and worked out in common the arrangements for the war. Then they dispatched ambassadors to the cities and caused many allies of the Lacedemonians to withdraw from them; for at once all of Euboea and the Leucadians joined them, as well as the Acarnanians, Ambraciots, and the Chalcidians of Thrace. They also attempted to persuade the inhabitants of the Peloponnesus to revolt from the Lacedemonians, but no one listened to them; for Sparta, lying as it does along the side of it, was a kind of citadel and fortress of the entire Peloponnesus. Medius, the lord of Larissa in Thessaly, was at war with Lycophron, the tyrant of Pherae, and when he asked for aid to be sent him, the Council dispatched to him two thousand soldiers. After the troops had arrived Medius seized Pharsalus, in which there was a garrison of Lacedemonians, and sold the inhabitants as booty. After this the Boeotians and Argives, parting company with Medius, seized Heracleia in Trachis; and on being admitted at night within the walls by certain persons, they put to the sword the Lacedemonians whom they seized but allowed the other Peloponnesians to leave with their possessions. They then summoned to the city the Trachinians whom the Lacedemonians had banished from their homes, and gave them the city as their dwelling-place; and indeed they were the most ancient settlers of this territory. After this Ismenias, the leader of the Boeotians, left the Argives in the city to serve as its garrison and himself persuaded the Aenianians and the Athamanians to revolt from the Lacedemonians and gathered soldiers from among them and their allies. After he had recruited a little less than six thousand men, he took the field against the Phocians. While he was taking up quarters in Naryx in Locris, which men say was the birthplace of Ajax, the people of the Phocians came against him in arms under the command of Alcisthenes the Laconian. A sharp and protracted battle followed, in which the Boeotians were the victors. Pursuing the fugitives until nightfall, they slew not many less than a thousand, but lost of their own troops in the battle about five hundred. After the pitched battle both sides dismissed their armies to their native lands, and the members of the Council in Corinth, since affairs were progressing as they desired, gathered to Corinth soldiers from all the cities, more than fifteen thousand infantry and about five hundred cavalry.
§ 14.83
Λακεδαιμόνιοι δʼ ὁρῶντες τὰς μεγίστας τῶν κατὰ τὴν Ἑλλάδα πόλεων ἐφʼ ἑαυτοὺς συνισταμένας, ἐψηφίσαντο τόν τε Ἀγησίλαον ἐκ τῆς Ἀσίας μεταπέμψασθαι καὶ τὴν μετʼ αὐτοῦ δύναμιν, αὐτοὶ δὲ ἐν τοσούτῳ παρά τε σφῶν καὶ τῶν συμμάχων ἀθροίσαντες πεζοὺς μὲν δισμυρίους τρισχιλίους, ἱππεῖς δὲ πεντακοσίους, ἀπήντησαν τοῖς πολεμίοις. γενομένης δὲ παρατάξεως παρὰ τὸν Νεμέαν ποταμὸν μέχρι νυκτός, ἑκατέρων προετέρησε τὰ μέρη τοῦ στρατεύματος· καὶ τῶν μὲν Λακεδαιμονίων καὶ τῶν συμμάχων ἔπεσον ἑκατὸν πρὸς τοῖς χιλίοις, Βοιωτῶν δὲ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων συμμάχων περὶ δισχιλίους ὀκτακοσίους. Ἀγησίλαος δὲ τὴν δύναμιν ἐκ τῆς Ἀσίας διαβιβάσας εἰς τὴν Εὐρώπην, τὸ μὲν πρῶτον Θρᾳκῶν τινων ἀπαντησάντων αὐτῷ πολλῇ στρατιᾷ, μάχῃ τε ἐνίκησε καὶ τοὺς πλείστους τῶν βαρβάρων ἀνεῖλε· μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα διὰ Μακεδονίας τὴν πορείαν ἐποιεῖτο, τὴν αὐτὴν διεξιὼν χώραν ἣν καὶ Ξέρξης ἐπορεύθη, καθʼ ὃν καιρὸν ἐστράτευσεν ἐπὶ τοὺς Ἕλληνας. Ἀγησίλαος μὲν οὖν διὰ Μακεδονίας καὶ Θετταλίας πορευθείς, ὡς διῆλθε τὰ περὶ Θερμοπύλας στενά, τὴν πορείαν ἐποιεῖτο. Κόνων δὲ ὁ Ἀθηναῖος καὶ Φαρνάβαζος ἀφηγοῦντο μὲν τοῦ βασιλικοῦ στόλου, διέτριβον δὲ περὶ Λώρυμα τῆς Χερρονήσου, τριήρεις ἔχοντες πλείους τῶν ἐνενήκοντα. πυθόμενοι δὲ ἐν Κνίδῳ τὸ ναυτικὸν τῶν πολεμίων εἶναι, τὰ πρὸς τὴν ναυμαχίαν παρεσκευάζοντο. Πείσανδρος δʼ ὁ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων ναύαρχος ἐξέπλευσεν ἐκ τῆς Κνίδου τριήρεσιν ὀγδοήκοντα πέντε, καὶ κατηνέχθη πρὸς Φύσκον τῆς Χερρονήσου. ἐκεῖθεν δʼ ἐκπλεύσας περιέπεσε τῷ στόλῳ τοῦ βασιλέως, καὶ ταῖς μὲν προπλεούσαις ναυσὶ συμβαλὼν προετέρει, τῶν δὲ Περσῶν ἅμα ταῖς τριήρεσιν ἀθρόαις παραβοηθησάντων, ἐπειδὴ πάντες οἱ σύμμαχοι πρὸς τὴν γῆν ἔφυγον, τὴν ἰδίαν ναῦν ἐπέστρεψεν, αἰσχρὸν εἶναι νομίσας καὶ τῆς Σπάρτης ἀνάξιον τὸ φυγεῖν ἀγεννῶς. ἀγωνισάμενος δὲ λαμπρῶς καὶ πολλοὺς τῶν πολεμίων ἀνελών, τὸ τελευταῖον ἀξίως τῆς πατρίδος ἀνῃρέθη μαχόμενος. οἱ δὲ περὶ τὸν Κόνωνα μέχρι τῆς γῆς καταδιώξαντες τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους πεντήκοντα μὲν τριήρων ἐκυρίευσαν, τῶν δʼ ἀνδρῶν οἱ πλεῖστοι μὲν ἐκκολυμβήσαντες κατὰ γῆν ἔφυγον, ἑάλωσαν δὲ περὶ πεντακοσίους· αἱ δὲ λοιπαὶ τριήρεις εἰς Κνίδον διεσώθησαν.
When the Lacedemonians saw that the greatest cities of Greece were uniting against them, they voted to summon Agesilaus and his army from Asia. In the meantime they gathered from their own levy and their allies twenty-three thousand infantry and five hundred cavalry and advanced to meet the enemy. The battle took place along the river Nemea, lasting until nightfall, and parts of both armies had the advantage, but of the Lacedemonians and their allies eleven hundred men fell, while of the Boeotians and their allies but also twenty-eight hundred. After Agesilaus had conveyed his army across from Asia to Europe, at first he was opposed by certain Thracians with a large force; these he defeated in battle, slaying the larger number of the barbarians. Then he made his way through Macedonia, passing through the same country as Xerxes did when he made his campaign against the Greeks. When Agesilaus had traversed Macedonia and Thessaly and made his way through the pass of Thermopylae, he continued. . . . Conon the Athenian and Pharnabazus were in command of the King's fleet and were tarrying in Loryma of the Chersonesus. 6 On sailing from there he fell in with the King's fleet, and engaging the leading ships, he won the advantage over them; but when the Persians came to give aid with their triremes in close formation, all his allies fled to the land. But Peisander turned his own ship against them, believing ignoble flight to be disgraceful and unworthy of Sparta. 7 After fighting brilliantly and slaying many of the enemy, in the end he was overcome, battling in a manner worthy of his native land. Conon pursued the Lacedemonians as far as the land and captured fifty of their triremes. As for the crews, most of them leaped overboard and escaped by land, but about five hundred were captured. The rest of the triremes found safety at Cnidus.
§ 14.84
Ἀγησίλαος δὲ προσλαβόμενος ἐκ Πελοποννήσου στρατιώτας, ἐπειδὴ μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως ἐπέβαινεν εἰς Βοιωτίαν, εὐθὺς οἱ Βοιωτοὶ μετὰ τῶν συμμάχων ἀπήντησαν εἰς Κορώνειαν. γενομένης δὲ παρατάξεως Θηβαῖοι μὲν τὸ καθʼ αὑτοὺς μέρος τρεψάμενοι μέχρι τῆς παρεμβολῆς κατεδίωξαν, οἱ δʼ ἄλλοι μικρὸν ἀντισχόντες χρόνον ὑπʼ Ἀγησιλάου καὶ τῶν ἄλλων φυγεῖν ἠναγκάσθησαν. διὸ καὶ νενικηκέναι τῇ μάχῃ Λακεδαιμόνιοι διαλαβόντες ἔστησαν τρόπαιον καὶ τοὺς νεκροὺς τοῖς πολεμίοις ὑποσπόνδους ἀπέδωκαν. ἀπέθανον δὲ τῶν Βοιωτῶν καὶ τῶν συμμάχων πλείους τῶν ἑξακοσίων, Λακεδαιμονίων δὲ καὶ τῶν συναγωνισαμένων τριακόσιοι πεντήκοντα· καὶ αὐτὸς Ἀγησίλαος πολλοῖς περιπεπτωκὼς τραύμασιν εἰς Δελφοὺς ἐκομίσθη, κἀκεῖ τὴν ἐπιμέλειαν τοῦ σώματος ἐποιεῖτο. Φαρνάβαζος δὲ καὶ Κόνων μετὰ τὴν ναυμαχίαν ἀνήχθησαν ἁπάσαις ταῖς ναυσὶν ἐπὶ τοὺς τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων συμμάχους. καὶ πρῶτον μὲν Κῴους ἀπέστησαν, εἶτα Νισυρίους καὶ Τηίους. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Χῖοι τὴν φρουρὰν ἐκβαλόντες προσέθεντο τοῖς περὶ Κόνωνα· παραπλησίως δὲ μετέβαλον καὶ Μιτυληναῖοι καὶ Ἐφέσιοι καὶ Ἐρυθραῖοι. τοιαύτη δὲ τῆς μεταστάσεως σπουδή τις εἰς τὰς πόλεις ἐνέπεσεν, ὧν αἱ μὲν ἐκβάλλουσαι τὰς φρουρὰς τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων τὴν ἐλευθερίαν διεφύλαττον, αἱ δὲ τοῖς περὶ Κόνωνα προσετίθεντο. καὶ Λακεδαιμόνιοι μὲν ἀπὸ τούτου τοῦ χρόνου τὴν κατὰ θάλατταν ἀρχὴν ἀπέβαλον, οἱ δὲ περὶ Κόνωνα κρίναντες παντὶ τῷ στόλῳ πλεῖν ἐπὶ τὴν Ἀττικὴν ἀνέζευξαν, καὶ τὰς Κυκλάδας νήσους προσαγαγόμενοι κατέπλευσαν ἐπὶ Κύθηρα τὴν νῆσον. εὐθὺ δὲ ταύτης ἐξ ἐφόδου κυριεύσαντες τοὺς μὲν Κυθηρίους ὑποσπόνδους ἐξέπεμψαν εἰς τὴν Λακωνικήν, αὐτοὶ δὲ καταλιπόντες τῆς πόλεως τὴν ἱκανὴν φρουρὰν ἔπλεον ἐπὶ Κορίνθου. ἐκεῖ δὲ καταπλεύσαντες τοῖς συνέδροις διελέχθησαν ὑπὲρ ὧν ἤθελον, καὶ συμμαχίαν ποιησάμενοι τούτοις μὲν χρήματα κατέλιπον, αὐτοὶ δʼ εἰς τὴν Ἀσίαν ἐξέπλευσαν. περὶ δὲ τὸν αὐτὸν χρόνον Ἀέροπος ὁ τῶν Μακεδόνων βασιλεὺς ἐτελεύτησε νόσῳ, βασιλεύσας ἔτη ἕξ· τὴν δʼ ἡγεμονίαν διαδεξάμενος Παυσανίας υἱὸς ἦρξεν ἐνιαυτόν. Θεόπομπος δʼ ὁ Χῖος τὴν τῶν Ἑλληνικῶν σύνταξιν κατέστροφεν εἰς τοῦτον τὸν ἐνιαυτὸν καὶ εἰς τὴν περὶ Κνίδον ναυμαχίαν, γράψας βύβλους δώδεκα. ὁ δὲ συγγραφεὺς οὗτος ἦρκται μὲν ἀπὸ τῆς περὶ Κυνὸς σῆμα ναυμαχίας, εἰς ἣν Θουκυδίδης κατέληξε τὴν πραγματείαν, ἔγραψε δὲ χρόνον ἐτῶν δεκαεπτά.
Agesilaus enlisted more soldiers from the Peloponnesus and then advanced with his army against Boeotia, whereupon the Boeotians, together with their allies, at once set out to Coroneia of the meet him. In the battle which followed the Thebans defeated the forces opposed to them and pursued them as far as their camp, but the others held out only a short time and then were forced by Agesilaus and his troops to take to flight. Therefore the Lacedemonians, looking upon themselves as conquerors, set up a trophy and gave back the dead to the enemy under a truce. There fell of the Boeotians and their allies more than six hundred, but of the Lacedemonians and their associates three hundred and fifty. Agesilaus, who had suffered many wounds, was taken to Delphi, where he looked after his physical needs. After the sea-fight Pharnabazus and Conon put out to sea with all their ships against the allies of the Lacedemonians. First of all they induced the people of Cos to secede, and then those of Nisyros and of Teos. After this the Chians expelled their garrison and joined Conon, and similarly the Mitylenaeans and Ephesians and Erythraeans changed sides. Something like the same eagerness for change infected all the cities, of which some expelled their Lacedemonian garrisons and maintained their freedom, while others attached themselves to Conon. As for the Lacedemonians, from this time they lost the sovereignty of the sea. Conon, having decided to sail with the entire fleet to Attica, put out to sea, and after bringing over to his cause the islands of the Cyclades, he sailed against the island of Cythera. Mastering it at once on the first assault, he sent the Cytherians under a truce to Laconia, left an adequate garrison for the city, and sailed for Corinth. After putting in there he discussed with the members of the Council such points as they wished, made an alliance with them, left them money, and then sailed off to Asia. At this time Aeropus, the king of the Macedonians, died of illness after a reign of six years, and was succeeded in the sovereignty by his son Pausanias, who ruled for one year. Theopompus of Chios ended with this year and the battle of Cnidus his Hellenistic History, which he wrote in twelve books. This historian began with the battle of Cynossema, with which Thucydides ended his work, and covered in his account a period of seventeen years.
§ 14.85
ἐπεὶ δὲ ὁ ἐνιαυσιαῖος χρόνος διεληλύθει, Ἀθήνησι μὲν Εὐβουλίδης ἦρξεν, ἐν Ῥώμῃ δὲ τὴν ὑπατικὴν ἀρχὴν διῴκουν χιλίαρχοι ἕξ, Λεύκιος Σέργιος, Αὖλος Ποστούμιος, Πόπλιος Κορνήλιος, Κόιντος Μάνλιος. περὶ δὲ τούτους τοὺς χρόνους Κόνων τοῦ βασιλικοῦ στόλου τὴν ἡγεμονίαν ἔχων, ὀγδοήκοντα τριήρεσι καταπλεύσας εἰς τὸν Πειραιέα τοῖς πολίταις ὑπέσχετο τὸν περίβολον τῆς πόλεως ἀνοικοδομήσειν· τοῦ γὰρ Πειραιέως τὰ τείχη καὶ τὰ μακρὰ σκέλη καθῄρητο κατὰ τὰς Λακεδαιμονίων συνθήκας, ὅτε κατεπονήθησαν ἐν τῷ Πελοποννησιακῷ πολέμῳ. ὁ δʼ οὖν Κόνων μισθωσάμενος πλῆθος τεχνιτῶν, καὶ τὸν ἐκ τῶν πληρωμάτων ὄχλον εἰς ὑπηρεσίαν παραδούς, ταχέως τὸ πλεῖστον μέρος τοῦ τείχους ἀνῳκοδόμησε· καὶ γὰρ Θηβαῖοι πεντακοσίους τεχνίτας καὶ λιθοτόμους ἀπέστειλαν, καί τινες ἄλλαι τῶν πόλεων παρεβοήθησαν. Τιρίβαζος δʼ ὁ τῶν κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν πεζῶν δυνάμεων ἀφηγούμενος ἐφθόνει ταῖς τοῦ Κόνωνος εὐπραξίαις, καὶ πρόφασιν μὲν λαβὼν ὅτι ταῖς βασιλικαῖς δυνάμεσι τὰς πόλεις Ἀθηναίοις κατακτᾶται, προαγαγόμενος δʼ αὐτὸν εἰς Σάρδεις συνέλαβε καὶ δήσας εἰς φυλακὴν κατέθετο.
At the conclusion of the year, in Athens Eubulides was archon and in Rome the consular magistracy was administered by six military tribunes, Lucius Sergius, Aulus Postumius, Publius Cornelius, and Quintus Manlius. At this time Conon, who held the command of the King's fleet, put in at the Peiraeus with eighty triremes and promised the citizens to rebuild the fortifications of the city; for the whiles of the Peiraeus and the Long Walls had been destroyed in accordance with the terms the Athenians had concluded with the Lacedemonians when they were reduced in the Peloponnesian War. Accordingly Conon hired a multitude of skilled workers, and putting at their service the general run of his crews, he speedily rebuilt the larger part of the wall. For the Thebans too sent five hundred skilled workers and masons, and some other cities also gave assistance. But Tiribazus, who commanded the land forces in Asia, was envious of Conon's successes, and on the plea that Conon was using the King's armaments to win the cities for the Athenians, he lured him to Sardis, where he arrested him, threw him in chains, and remanded him to custody.
§ 14.86
ἐν δὲ τῇ Κορίνθῳ τινὲς τῶν ἐπιθυμούντων δημοκρατίας συστραφέντες ἀγώνων ὄντων ἐν τῷ θεάτρῳ φόνον ἐποίησαν καὶ στάσεως ἐπλήρωσαν τὴν πόλιν· συνεπιλαβομένων δὲ αὐτοῖς τῆς τόλμης Ἀργείων, ἑκατὸν μὲν καὶ εἴκοσι τῶν πολιτῶν ἀπέσφαξαν, πεντακοσίους δʼ ἐφυγάδευσαν. Λακεδαιμονίων δὲ παρασκευαζομένων κατάγειν καὶ δύναμιν ἀθροιζόντων, Ἀθηναῖοι καὶ Βοιωτοὶ παρεβοήθουν τοῖς σφαγεῦσιν, ὅπως τὴν πόλιν ἐξιδιοποιήσωνται. καὶ οἱ μὲν φυγάδες μετὰ Λακεδαιμονίων καὶ τῶν συμμάχων ἐπὶ τὸ Λέχαιον καὶ τὸν ναύσταθμον ἐπελθόντες νυκτὸς κατὰ κράτος εἷλαν· τῇ δʼ ὑστεραίᾳ τῶν ἐκ τῆς πόλεως ἐπεξελθόντων, ὧν Ἰφικράτης ἡγεῖτο, συνέβη γενέσθαι μάχην, ἐν ᾗ Λακεδαιμόνιοι νικήσαντες οὐκ ὀλίγους ἀπέκτειναν. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα οἵ τε Βοιωτοὶ καὶ Ἀθηναῖοι, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις Ἀργεῖοι καὶ Κορίνθιοι πάσῃ τῇ δυνάμει παρελθόντες εἰς τὸ Λέχαιον, τὸ μὲν πρῶτον πολιορκήσαντες τὸ χωρίον τὸ ἐντὸς τοῦ διατειχίσματος εἰσεβιάζοντο· μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων καὶ τῶν φυγάδων λαμπρῶς ἀγωνισαμένων ἐξεώσθησαν οἱ Βοιωτοὶ καὶ οἱ μετʼ αὐτῶν ἅπαντες. οὗτοι μὲν οὖν περὶ χιλίους τῶν στρατιωτῶν ἀποβαλόντες εἰς τὴν πόλιν ἀπεχώρησαν. εὐθὺ δὲ τῶν Ἰσθμίων ἐπελθόντων διεφέροντο περὶ τῆς θέσεως τοῦ ἀγῶνος· καὶ πολλὰ φιλονεικησάντων ἐκράτησαν οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι καὶ τοὺς φυγάδας ἐποίησαν θεῖναι τὸν ἀγῶνα, τῶν δὲ κατὰ τὸν πόλεμον δεινῶν σχεδόν τι περὶ τὴν Κόρινθον γενομένων ὁ πόλεμος οὗτος ἐκλήθη Κορινθιακός, καὶ διέμεινεν ἔτη ὀκτώ.
In Corinth certain men who favoured a democracy, banding together while contests were being held in the theatre, instituted a slaughter and filled the city with civil strife; and when the Argives gave them their support in their turn, they put to the sword one hundred and twenty of the citizens and drove five hundred into exile. While the Lacedemonians were making preparations to restore the exiles and gathering an army, the Athenians and Boeotians came to the aid of the murderers, in order that they might secure the adhesion of the city. The exiles, together with the Lacedemonians and their allies, attacked Lechaeum and the dock-yard by night and seized them by storm; and on the next day, when the troops of the city, which Iphicrates commanded, came out against them, a battle followed in which the Lacedemonians were victorious and slew no small number of their opponents. After this the Boeotians and Athenians, and with them the Argives and Corinthians, came with all their forces to Lechaeum, and at the outset they laid siege to the place and forced their way into the corridor between the walls; but afterward the Lacedemonians and the exiles put up a brilliant fight and forced out the Boeotians and all who were with them. They then, having lost about a thousand soldiers, returned to the city. And since the Isthmian Games were now at hand, there was a quarrel over who should conduct them. After much contention the Lacedemonians had their way and saw to it that the exiles conducted festival. Since the severe fighting in the war took place for the most part about Corinth, it was called the Corinthian War, and it continued for eight years.
§ 14.87
κατὰ δὲ τὴν Σικελίαν Ῥηγῖνοι κατηγοροῦντες Διονυσίου ὅτι Μεσσήνην τειχίζων ἐπʼ αὐτοὺς κατασκευάζεται, πρῶτον μὲν τοὺς ὑπὸ Διονυσίου φυγαδευομένους καὶ τἀναντία πράττοντας ὑπεδέξαντο, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τῶν Ναξίων καὶ Καταναίων τοὺς ὑπολειπομένους εἰς Μύλας κατοικίσαντες, δύναμιν παρεσκευάζοντο καὶ στρατηγὸν Ἕλωριν ἐξέπεμψαν πολιορκήσοντα Μεσσήνην. τούτου δὲ τὴν ἐπίθεσιν κατὰ τὴν ἀκρόπολιν ποιησαμένου παραβόλως, οἱ κατέχοντες τὴν πόλιν Μεσσήνιοι καὶ Διονυσίου μισθοφόροι συστραφέντες ἀπήντησαν. γενομένης δὲ μάχης ἐνίκων οἱ Μεσσήνιοι καὶ πλείους τῶν πεντακοσίων ἀπέκτειναν. εὐθὺ δʼ ἐπὶ τὰς Μύλας ἐπελθόντες εἷλον τὴν πόλιν, καὶ τοὺς οἰκισθέντας ἐν αὐτῇ Ναξίους ὑποσπόνδους ἀφῆκαν. οὗτοι μὲν οὖν εἴς τε Σικελοὺς καὶ τὰς ἄλλας τὰς Ἑλληνίδας πόλεις ἀπελθόντες ἄλλοι κατʼ ἄλλους τόπους κατῴκησαν· ὁ δὲ Διονύσιος, τῶν περὶ τὸν πορθμὸν αὐτῷ τόπων κατεσκευασμένων φιλίων, διενοεῖτο μὲν ἐπὶ Ῥήγιον στρατιὰν ἄγειν, παρηνωχλεῖτο δʼ ὑπὸ τῶν τὸ Ταυρομένιον κατειληφότων Σικελῶν. διόπερ κρίνας συμφέρειν τούτοις ἐπιθέσθαι πρώτοις, ἐξήγαγεν ἐπʼ αὐτοὺς τὴν δύναμιν, καὶ στρατοπεδεύσας ἐκ τοῦ πρὸς τὴν Νάξον μέρους προσεκαρτέρει τῇ πολιορκίᾳ τὸν χειμῶνα, νομίζων τοὺς Σικελοὺς ἐκλείψειν τὸν λόφον διὰ τὸ μὴ πάλαι κατῳκηκέναι.
In Sicily the people of Rhegium, bringing the charge against Dionysius that in fortifying Messene he was making preparations against them, first of all offered asylum to those who were expelled by Dionysius and were active against him, and then settled in Mylae the surviving Naxians and Catanians, prepared an army, and dispatched as its general Heloris to lay siege to Messene. When Heloris made a reckless attack upon the acropolis, the Messenians and the mercenaries of Dionysius, who were holding the city, closed ranks and advanced against him. In the battle that followed the Messenians were victorious and slew more than five hundred of their opponents. Marching straightway against Mylae, they seized the city and let the Naxians who had been settled there go free under a truce. These, accordingly, departed to the Siceli and the Greek cities and made their dwelling some in one place and others in another. Dionysius, now that the regions about the Straits had been brought to friendly terms with him, planned to lead an army against Rhegium, but he had trouble with the Siceli who held Tauromenium. Deciding, therefore, that it would be to his advantage to attack them first, he led out his forces against them, pitched a camp on the side toward Naxos, and persisted in the siege during the winter, in the belief that the Siceli would desert the hill since they had not been dwelling there long.
§ 14.88
οἱ δὲ Σικελοὶ παρὰ τῶν πατέρων ἐκ παλαιοῦ παρειληφότες ὅτι τὰ μέρη ταῦτα τῆς νήσου Σικελῶν κατεχόντων Ἕλληνες πρώτως καταπλεύσαντες ἔκτισαν μὲν Νάξον, ἐξέβαλον δʼ ἐκ τούτου τοῦ λόφου τοὺς τότε κατοικοῦντας Σικελούς· διὸ δὴ φάσκοντες πατρῴαν ἀνακτήσασθαι χώραν καὶ περὶ ὧν εἰς τοὺς ἑαυτῶν προγόνους ἐξήμαρτον Ἕλληνες ἀμύνασθαι δικαίως, ἐφιλοτιμοῦντο κατασχεῖν τὸν λόφον. ὑπερβαλλούσης δὲ φιλονεικίας παρʼ ἀμφοτέροις οὔσης, ἔτυχον μὲν οὖσαι τροπαὶ χειμεριναί, καὶ διὰ τοὺς ἐπιγινομένους χειμῶνας ὁ περὶ τὴν ἀκρόπολιν τόπος πλήρης ἦν χιόνος. ἐνταῦθα δὴ Διονύσιος τοὺς Σικελοὺς διὰ τὴν ὀχυρότητα καὶ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τοῦ τείχους ῥᾳθυμοῦντας περὶ τὴν κατὰ τὴν ἀκρόπολιν φυλακὴν εὑρών, ὥρμησε νυκτὸς ἀσελήνου καὶ χειμερίου πρὸς τοὺς ἀνωτάτω τόπους. πολλὰ δὲ κακοπαθήσας διά τε τὴν τῶν κρημνῶν δυσχέρειαν καὶ τὸ πλῆθος τῆς χιόνος, μιᾶς μὲν ἀκροπόλεως ἐκυρίευσε, καὶ τὸ πρόσωπον ἐξήλκωσε καὶ τὰς ὄψεις ἔβλαψε διὰ τὸ ψῦχος· μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα εἰς τὸ ἕτερον μέρος παρεισπεσὼν εἰσήγαγε τὴν δύναμιν εἰς τὴν πόλιν. τῶν δὲ Σικελῶν ἀθρόων βοηθησάντων ἐξεώσθησαν οἱ μετὰ τοῦ Διονυσίου, καὶ αὐτὸς ἐν τῇ φυγῇ τυπτόμενος εἰς τὸν θώρακα περιεκυλίσθη, καὶ παρʼ ὀλίγον συνελήφθη ζῶν. τῶν δὲ Σικελῶν ἐπικειμένων ἐξ ὑπερδεξίων τόπων, ἀνῃρέθησαν μὲν τῶν μετὰ Διονυσίου πλείους τῶν ἑξακοσίων, ἀπέβαλον δὲ τὰς πανοπλίας οἱ πλεῖστοι· καὶ αὐτὸς δὲ ὁ Διονύσιος μόνον τὸν θώρακα διέσωσεν. μετὰ δὲ τὴν ἀτυχίαν ταύτην Ἀκραγαντῖνοι καὶ Μεσσήνιοι τοὺς τὰ Διονυσίου φρονοῦντας μεταστησάμενοι, τῆς ἐλευθερίας ἀντείχοντο καὶ τῆς τοῦ τυράννου συμμαχίας ἀπέστησαν.
The Siceli, however, had an ancient tradition, handed down from their ancestors, that these parts of the island had been the possession of the Siceli, when Greeks first landed there and founded Naxos, expelling from that very hill the Siceli who were then dwelling on it. Maintaining, therefore, that they had only recovered territory that belonged to their fathers and were justly righting the wrongs which the Greeks had committed against their ancestors, they put forth every effort to hold the hill. While extraordinary rivalry was being displayed on both sides, the winter solstice occurred, and because of the consequent winter storms the area about the acropolis was filled with snow. Thereupon Dionysius, who had discovered that the Siceli were careless in their guard of the acropolis because of its strength and the unusual height of the wall, advanced on a moonless and stormy night against the loftiest sectors. After many difficulties both because of the obstacles offered by the crags and because of the great depth of the snow he occupied one peak, although his face was frosted and his vision impaired by the cold. After this he broke through to the other side and led his army into the city. But when the Siceli came up in a body, the troops of Dionysius were thrust out and Dionysius himself was struck on the corslet in the flight, sent scrambling, and barely escaped being taken alive. Since the Siceli pressed upon them from superior ground, more than six hundred of Dionysius' troops were slain and most of them lost their complete armour, while Dionysius himself saved only his corslet. After this disaster the Acragantini and Messenians banished the partisans of Dionysius, asserted their freedom, and renounced their alliance with the tyrant.
§ 14.89
Παυσανίας δὲ ὁ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων βασιλεὺς ἐγκαλούμενος ὑπὸ τῶν πολιτῶν ἔφυγεν, ἄρξας ἔτη δεκατέτταρα· τὴν δὲ βασιλείαν διαδεξάμενος ὁ υἱὸς Ἀγησίπολις ἦρξε τὸν ἴσον τῷ πατρὶ χρόνον. ἐτελεύτησε δὲ καὶ Παυσανίας ὁ τῶν Μακεδόνων βασιλεύς, ἀναιρεθεὶς ὑπὸ Ἀμύντου δόλῳ, ἄρξας ἐνιαυτόν· τὴν δὲ βασιλείαν κατέσχεν Ἀμύντας, καὶ ἦρξεν ἔτη εἴκοσι τέσσαρα.
Pausanias, the king of the Lacedemonians, was accused by his fellow citizens and went into exile after a reign of fourteen years, and his son Agesipolis succeeded to the kingship and reigned for the same length of time as his father. Pausanias too, the king of the Macedonians, died after a reign of one year, being assassinated by Amyntas, who seized the kingship and reigned twenty-four years.
§ 14.90
τοῦ δὲ ἔτους τούτου διεληλυθότος Ἀθήνησι μὲν παρέλαβε τὴν ἀρχὴν Δημόστρατος, ἐν Ῥώμῃ δὲ τὴν ὑπατικὴν ἀρχὴν διῴκουν χιλίαρχοι ἕξ, Λεύκιος Τιτίνιος, Πόπλιος Λικίνιος, Πόπλιος Μελαῖος, Κόιντος Μάλλιος, Γναῖος Γενύκιος, Λεύκιος Ἀτίλιος. τούτων δὲ τὴν ἀρχὴν παρειληφότων Μάγων ὁ τῶν Καρχηδονίων στρατηγὸς διέτριβε μὲν ἐν Σικελίᾳ, τὰ δὲ πράγματα τῶν Καρχηδονίων ἀπὸ τῆς γεγενημένης συμφορᾶς ἀνελάμβανε· ταῖς τε γὰρ ὑποτεταγμέναις πόλεσι φιλανθρώπως προσεφέρετο καὶ τοὺς ὑπὸ Διονυσίου πολεμουμένους ὑπεδέχετο. ἐποιήσατο δὲ καὶ πρὸς τοὺς πλείστους τῶν Σικελῶν συμμαχίας, καὶ δυνάμεις ἀθροίσας ἐστράτευσεν εἰς τὴν Μεσσηνίαν. λεηλατήσας δὲ τὴν χώραν καὶ πολλῆς ὠφελείας ἐγκρατὴς γενόμενος ἀνέζευξε καὶ πρὸς Ἀβακαίνῃ πόλει συμμαχίδι κατεστρατοπέδευσεν. Διονυσίου δὲ ἐπελθόντος μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως παρετάχθησαν, καὶ γενομένης καρτερᾶς μάχης ἐνίκησαν οἱ περὶ Διονύσιον. καὶ οἱ μὲν Καρχηδόνιοι πλείους ὀκτακοσίων ἀποβαλόντες ἔφυγον εἰς τὴν πόλιν, Διονύσιος δὲ τότε μὲν εἰς Συρακούσας ἀνέζευξε, μετὰ δέ τινας ἡμέρας ἑκατὸν τριήρεις πληρώσας ἐστράτευσεν ἐπὶ Ῥηγίνους. ἀπροσδοκήτως δὲ νυκτὸς ἐπιφανεὶς τῇ πόλει τὰς πύλας ἐνέπρησε καὶ τοῖς τείχεσι προσήρεισε κλίμακας. οἱ δὲ Ῥηγῖνοι τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ὀλίγοι προσβοηθήσαντες ἐπεχείρουν σβεννύναι τὴν φλόγα, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Ἑλώριδος τοῦ στρατηγοῦ παραγενομένου καὶ συμβουλεύσαντος τἀναντία πράττειν ἔσωσαν τὴν πόλιν. σβεννύντες μὲν γὰρ τὸ πῦρ οὐκ ἂν ἴσχυσαν Διονύσιον κωλῦσαι εἰσελθεῖν, ὀλίγοι παντελῶς ὄντες, ἐκ δὲ τῶν ἐγγὺς οἰκιῶν ἐνέγκαντες φρύγανα καὶ ξύλα τὴν φλόγα κατεσκεύαζον μείζονα, μέχρι ὅτου τὸ πλῆθος ἐν τοῖς ὅπλοις ἀθροισθὲν παρεβοήθησεν. Διονύσιος δὲ τῆς ἐπιβολῆς ἀποτυχὼν ἐπῆλθε τὴν χώραν ἐμπυρίζων καὶ δενδροτομῶν, καὶ μετὰ ταῦτʼ ἐνιαυσίους ἀνοχὰς ποιησάμενος ἐξέπλευσεν ἐπὶ Συρακουσῶν.
At the conclusion of this year, in Athens Demostratus took over the archonship, and in Rome the cease magistracy was administered by six military tribunes, 2 Lucius Titinius, Publius Licinius, Publius Melaeus, Quintus Mallius, Gnaeus Genycius, and Lucius Atilius. After these magistrates had entered office, Magon, the Carthaginian general, was stationed in Sicily. He set about retrieving the Carthaginian cause after the disaster they had suffered, 3 for he showed kindness to the subject cities and received the victims of Dionysius' wars. He also formed alliances with most of the Siceli and, after gathering armaments, launched an attack upon the territory of Messene. After ravaging the countryside and seizing much booty he marched from that place and went into camp near the city of Abacaene, which was his ally. 4 When Dionysius came up with his army, the forces drew up for battle, and after a sharp engagement Dionysius was the victor. The Carthaginians fled into the city after a loss of more than eight hundred men, while Dionysius withdrew for the time being to Syracuse; but after a few days he manned one hundred triremes and set out against the Rhegians. 5 Arriving unexpectedly by night before the city, he put fire to the gates and set ladders against the walls. The Rhegians, coming up in defence as they did at first in small numbers, endeavoured to put out the flames, but later, when their general Heloris arrived and advised them to do just the opposite, they saved the city. 6 For if they had put out the fire, they would not have been strong enough to prevent Dionysius from entering, being far too small a number; but by bringing firewood and timbers from the neighbouring houses they made the flames higher, until the main body of their troops could assemble in arms and come to the defence. 7 Dionysius, who had failed of his design, traversed the countryside, wasting it in flames and cutting down orchards, and then concluded a truce for a year and sailed off to Syracuse.
§ 14.91
οἱ δὲ τὴν Ἰταλίαν κατοικοῦντες Ἕλληνες ἑώρων μὲν μέχρι τῆς ἑαυτῶν χώρας προβαίνουσαν τὴν Διονυσίου πλεονεξίαν, συμμαχίαν δὲ πρὸς ἀλλήλους ἐποιήσαντο καὶ συνέδριον ἐγκατεσκεύαζον. ἤλπιζον γὰρ τὸν Διονύσιον ῥᾳδίως ἀμυνεῖσθαι καὶ τοῖς παροικοῦσι Λευκανῶν ἀντιτάξεσθαι· καὶ γὰρ οὗτοι τότε διεπολέμουν πρὸς αὐτούς. οἱ δὲ τὸ Λέχαιον τῆς Κορινθίας κατέχοντες φυγάδες νυκτὸς ὑπό τινων εἰσαχθέντες ἐνεχείρησαν μὲν καταλαμβάνειν τὰ τείχη, τῶν δὲ μετʼ Ἰφικράτους ἐκβοηθησάντων τριακοσίους ἐξ αὑτῶν ἀποβαλόντες ἔφυγον ἐπὶ τὸν ναύσταθμον. μετὰ δέ τινας ἡμέρας τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων μέρος τῆς στρατιᾶς διῄει διὰ τῆς Κορινθίας χώρας, οἷς Ἰφικράτης καί τινες τῶν ἐν Κορίνθῳ συμμάχων ἐπιπεσόντες τοὺς πλείστους ἀνεῖλον. Ἰφικράτης δὲ μετὰ τῶν πελταστῶν ἐπὶ Φλιασίαν στρατεύσας, καὶ μάχην τοῖς ἐκ τῆς πόλεως συνάψας, τούτων μὲν πλείους τριακοσίων ἀπέκτεινε· μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ἐπὶ Σικυῶνα αὐτοῦ πορευθέντος, οἱ Σικυώνιοι παραταξάμενοι πρὸ τῶν τειχῶν ἀπέβαλον περὶ πεντακοσίους καὶ συνέφυγον εἰς τὴν πόλιν.
The Greek inhabitants of Italy, when they saw the encroachments of Dionysius advancing as far as their own lands, formed an alliance among themselves and established a Council. It was their hope to defend themselves with ease against Dionysius and to resist the neighbouring Leucani; for these last were also at war with them at this time. The exiles who held Lechaeum in Corinthian territory, being admitted into the city in the night, endeavoured to get possession of the walls, but when the troops of Iphicrates came up against them, they lost three hundred of their number and fled back to the ship station. Some days later a contingent of the Lacedemonian army was passing through Corinthian territory, when Iphicrates and some of the allies in Corinth fell on them and slew the larger number. Iphicrates with his peltasts advanced against the territory of Phlius, and joining battle with the men of the city, he slew more than three hundred of them. Then, when he advanced against Sicyon, the Sicyonians offered battle before their walls but lost about five hundred men and found refuge within their city.
§ 14.92
τούτων δὲ πραχθέντων Ἀργεῖοι μετὰ τῶν ὅπλων πανδημεὶ στρατεύσαντες εἰς Κόρινθον τήν τʼ ἀκρόπολιν κατελάβοντο καὶ τὴν πόλιν ἐξιδιοποιησάμενοι τὴν Κορινθίων χώραν Ἀργείαν ἐποίησαν. ἐπεβάλετο δὲ καὶ Ἰφικράτης ὁ Ἀθηναῖος καταλαβέσθαι τὴν πόλιν, ἐπιτήδειον οὖσαν εἰς τὴν τῆς Ἑλλάδος ἡγεμονίαν· τοῦ δὲ δήμου κωλύσαντος οὗτος μὲν ἀπέθετο τὴν ἀρχήν, οἱ δʼ Ἀθηναῖοι Χαβρίαν ἀντʼ αὐτοῦ στρατηγὸν εἰς τὴν Κόρινθον ἐξέπεμψαν. κατὰ δὲ τὴν Μακεδονίαν Ἀμύντας ὁ Φιλίππου πατὴρ Ἰλλυριῶν ἐμβαλόντων εἰς Μακεδονίαν ἐξέπιπτεν ἐκ τῆς χώρας· ἀπογνοὺς δὲ τὴν ἀρχὴν Ὀλυνθίοις μὲν τὴν σύνεγγυς χώραν ἐδωρήσατο, αὐτὸς δὲ τότε μὲν ἀπέβαλε τὴν βασιλείαν, μετʼ ὀλίγον δὲ χρόνον ὑπὸ Θετταλῶν καταχθεὶς ἀνεκτήσατο τὴν ἀρχήν, καὶ ἐβασίλευσεν ἔτη εἴκοσι τέτταρα. ἔνιοι δέ φασι μετὰ τὴν ἔκπτωσιν τὴν Ἀμύντου διετῆ χρόνον Ἀργαῖον βασιλεῦσαι τῶν Μακεδόνων, καὶ τότε τὸν Ἀμύνταν ἀνακτήσασθαι τὴν βασιλείαν.
After these events had taken place, the Argives took up arms in full force and marched against Corinth, and after seizing the acropolis and securing the city for themselves, they made the Corinthian territory Argive. The Athenian Iphicrates also had the design to seize the city, since it was advantageous for the control of Greece; but when the Athenian people opposed it, he resigned his position. The Athenians appointed Chabrias general in his place and sent him to Corinth. In Macedonia Amyntas, the father of Philip, was driven from his country by Illyrians who invaded Macedonia, and giving up hope for his crown, he made a present to the Olynthians of his territory which bordered on theirs. For the time being he lost his kingdom, but shortly he was restore by the Thessalians, recovered his crown, and ruled for twentyfour years. Some say, however, that after the expulsion of Amyntas the Macedonians were ruled by Argaeus for a period of two years, and that it was after that time that Amyntas recovered the kingship.
§ 14.93
περὶ δὲ τὸν αὐτὸν χρόνον καὶ Σάτυρος ὁ Σπαρτάκου μὲν υἱός, βασιλεὺς δὲ Βοσπόρου, ἐτελεύτησεν, ἄρξας ἔτη τετταράκοντα· τὴν ἡγεμονίαν δὲ διεδέξατο ὁ υἱὸς Λεύκων ἐπʼ ἔτη τετταράκοντα. κατὰ δὲ τὴν Ἰταλίαν Ῥωμαῖοι πολιορκοῦντες ἑνδέκατον ἔτος Βηίους κατέστησαν αὐτοκράτορα μὲν Μάρκον Φούριον, ἵππαρχον δὲ Πόπλιον Κορνήλιον. οὗτοι δὲ ἀναλαβόντες τὰς δυνάμεις Βηίους ἐξεπολιόρκησαν διώρυγα κατασκευάσαντες, καὶ τὴν πόλιν ἐξανδραποδισάμενοι τούς τε ἄνδρας καὶ τὴν ἄλλην λείαν ἐλαφυροπώλησαν. ὁ μὲν οὖν αὐτοκράτωρ θρίαμβον ἤγαγεν, ὁ δὲ τῶν Ῥωμαίων δῆμος ἐκ τῶν λαφύρων δεκάτην ἐξελόμενος χρυσοῦν κατεσκεύασε κρατῆρα καὶ εἰς Δελφοὺς ἀνέθηκεν. οἱ δὲ κομίζοντες αὐτὸν πρεσβευταὶ λῃσταῖς Λιπαραίοις περιέπεσον, καὶ πάντες αἰχμαλωτισθέντες κατήχθησαν εἰς Λιπάραν. Τιμασίθεος δʼ ὁ τῶν Λιπαραίων στρατηγὸς γνοὺς τὸ γεγενημένον, τούς τε πρεσβευτὰς ἀνέσωσε καὶ τὸ χρυσίον ἀποδοὺς εἰς Δελφοὺς τοὺς πρέσβεις ἀποκατέστησεν. οἱ δὲ τὸν κρατῆρα κομίζοντες, ἀναθέντες αὐτὸν εἰς τὸν τῶν Μασσαλιητῶν θησαυρόν, εἰς Ῥώμην ἀνέστρεψαν. διόπερ ὁ δῆμος τῶν Ῥωμαίων πυθόμενος τὴν τοῦ Τιμασιθέου καλοκἀγαθίαν, παραχρῆμα αὐτὸν ἐτίμησε δημόσιον δοὺς κατάλυμα, καὶ μετὰ ταῦτʼ ἔτεσιν ἑκατὸν τριάκοντα ἑπτὰ τὴν Λιπάραν ἀφελόμενος τῶν Καρχηδονίων τοὺς ἐγγόνους τοῦ Τιμασιθέου τῶν τε εἰσφορῶν ἀτελεῖς ἀφῆκε καὶ ἐλευθέρους ἐποίησεν.
The same year Satyrus, the son of Spartacus and king of Bosporus, died after a reign of forty years, and his son Leucon succeeded him in the rulership for a period of forty years. In Italy the Romans, who were in the eleventh year of their siege of the Veians, appointed Marcus Furius to be dictator and Publius Cornelius to be master of the horse. These restored the spirit of the troops and captured Veii by constructing an underground passage; the city they reduced to slavery, selling the inhabitants with the other booty. The dictator then celebrated a triumph, and the Roman people, taking a tenth of the spoil, made a gold bowl and dedicated to the oracle at Delphi. The ambassadors who were taking it fell in with pirates from the Lipari islands, were all taken prisoners, and brought to Lipara. But Timasitheus, the general of the Liparaeans, on learning what had taken place, rescued the ambassadors, gave them back the vessel of gold, and sent them on their way to Delphi. The men who were conveying the bowl dedicated it in the Treasury of the Massalians and returned to Rome. Consequently the Roman people, when they learned of this generous act of Timasitheus, honoured him at once by conferring the right to public hospitality, and one hundred and thirty-seven years later, when they took Lipara from the Carthaginians, they relieved the descendants of Timasitheus of the payment of taxes and gave them freedom.
§ 14.94
ἐπεὶ δʼ ὁ ἐνιαύσιος διεληλύθει χρόνος, Ἀθήνησι μὲν ἦρχε Φιλοκλῆς, ἐν Ῥώμῃ δὲ τὴν ὑπατικὴν ἀρχὴν μετέλαβον ἓξ χιλίαρχοι, Πόπλιος καὶ Κορνήλιος, Καίσων Φάβιος, Λεύκιος Φούριος, Κόιντος Σερουίλιος, Μάρκος Οὐαλέριος· ἤχθη δὲ καὶ Ὀλυμπιὰς κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν ἐνιαυτὸν ἑβδόμη πρὸς ταῖς ἐνενήκοντα, καθʼ ἣν ἐνίκα Τερίρης. κατὰ δὲ τούτους τοὺς χρόνους Ἀθηναῖοι στρατηγὸν ἑλόμενοι Θρασύβουλον ἐξέπεμψαν μετὰ τριήρων τετταράκοντα. οὗτος δὲ πλεύσας εἰς Ἰωνίαν καὶ χρήματα λαβὼν παρὰ τῶν συμμάχων ἀνέζευξε, καὶ διατρίβων περὶ Χερρόνησον Μήδοκον καὶ Σεύθην τοὺς τῶν Θρᾳκῶν βασιλεῖς συμμάχους ἐποιήσατο. μετὰ δέ τινα χρόνον ἐξ Ἑλλησπόντου πλεύσας εἰς Λέσβον, ἐν τῷ παρὰ τὴν Ἔρεσον αἰγιαλῷ καθώρμει. ἐπιγενομένων δὲ πνευμάτων μεγάλων εἴκοσι μὲν καὶ τρεῖς τριήρεις διεφθάρησαν· μετὰ δὲ τῶν λοιπῶν διασωθεὶς ἐπῄει τὰς κατὰ τὴν Λέσβον πόλεις προσαγόμενος· ἀφειστήκεισαν γὰρ πᾶσαι πλὴν Μιτυλήνης. καὶ πρῶτον μὲν ἐπὶ Μέθυμναν παραγενόμενος ἐπισυνῆψε μάχην τοῖς ἐκ τῆς πόλεως, ὧν ἦρχε Θηρίμαχος ὁ Σπαρτιάτης. ἀγωνισάμενος δὲ λαμπρῶς αὐτόν τε τὸν Θηρίμαχον ἀνεῖλε καὶ τῶν Μεθυμναίων οὐκ ὀλίγους, τοὺς δὲ λοιποὺς συνέκλεισεν ἐντὸς τῶν τειχῶν, καὶ τὴν μὲν τῶν Μεθυμναίων χώραν ἔφθειρε, τὴν δʼ Ἔρεσον καὶ τὴν Ἄντισσαν καθʼ ὁμολογίαν παρέλαβεν. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα παρά τε Χίων καὶ Μιτυληναίων συμμάχων ἀθροίσας ναῦς ἔπλευσεν ἐπὶ Ῥόδον.
When the year had ended, in Athens Philocles became archon, and in Rome the consular magistracy was assumed by six military tribunes, Publius and Cornelius, Caeso Fabius, Lucius Furius, Quintus Servilius, and Marcus Valerius; and this year the Ninety-seventh Olympiad was celebrated, that in which Terires was victor. In this year the Athenians chose Thrasybulus general and sent him to sea with forty triremes. He sailed to Ionia, collected funds from the allies, and proceeded on his way; and while tarrying at the Chersonesus he made allies of Medocus and Seuthes, the kings of the Thracians. After some time he sailed from the Hellespont to Lesbos and anchored off the coast at Eresus. But strong winds arose and twenty-three triremes were lost. Getting off safe with the other ships he advanced against the cities of Lesbos, with the intention of winning them over; for they had all revolted with the exception of Mitylene. First he appeared before Methymna and joined battle with the men of the city, who were commanded by the Spartan Therimachus. In a brilliant fight he slew not only Therimachus himself but no small number of the Methymnaeans and shut up the rest of them within their walls; he also ravaged the territory of the Methymnaeans and received the surrender of eresus and Antissa. After this he gathered ships from the Chian and Mitylenaean allies and sailed to Rhodes.
§ 14.95
Καρχηδόνιοι δὲ βραδέως ἑαυτοὺς ἐκ τῆς περὶ Συρακούσας συμφορᾶς ἀναλαβόντες, ἔγνωσαν ἀντέχεσθαι τῶν κατὰ Σικελίαν πραγμάτων. κρίναντες δὲ διαγωνίζεσθαι, ναυσὶ μὲν μακραῖς ὀλίγαις διέβησαν, δύναμιν δὲ συνήγαγον ἀπό τε Λιβύης καὶ Σαρδοῦς, ἔτι δὲ τῶν ἐξ Ἰταλίας βαρβάρων. πάντας δʼ ἐπιμελῶς καθοπλίσαντες μετὰ τῆς οἰκείας χορηγίας ἐπεραιώθησαν εἰς τὴν Σικελίαν, οὐκ ἐλάττους ὄντες τῶν ὀκτὼ μυριάδων, ὧν ἡγεῖτο Μάγων. οὗτος μὲν οὖν διὰ Σικελῶν πορευθείς, καὶ τὰς πλείστας πόλεις ἀποστήσας τοῦ Διονυσίου, κατεστρατοπέδευσεν ἐν τῇ τῶν Ἀγυριναίων χώρᾳ παρὰ τὸν Χρύσαν ποταμὸν ἐγγὺς τῆς ὁδοῦ τῆς φερούσης εἰς Μοργαντίναν· τοὺς γὰρ Ἀγυριναίους οὐ δυνάμενος εἰς συμμαχίαν προσλαβέσθαι, τῆς εἰς τοὔμπροσθεν ἀπέστη πορείας, ἀκούων τοὺς πολεμίους ἐκ Συρακουσῶν ὡρμηκέναι. Διονύσιος δὲ πυθόμενος τοὺς Καρχηδονίους διὰ τῆς μεσογείου τὴν πορείαν ποιουμένους, ταχὺ συλλέξας οὓς ἠδύνατο τῶν Συρακοσίων καὶ τῶν μισθοφόρων ὥρμησε, τοὺς πάντας ἔχων οὐκ ἐλάττους δισμυρίων. παραγενόμενος δʼ ἐγγὺς τῶν πολεμίων διεπρεσβεύσατο πρὸς Ἄγυριν τὸν δυναστεύοντα τῶν Ἀγυριναίων. οὗτος δὲ τῶν τότε τυράννων τῶν ἐν Σικελίᾳ μεγίστην εἶχε δύναμιν μετὰ Διονύσιον· τῶν τε γὰρ περικειμένων ἐρυμάτων σχεδὸν ἁπάντων ἐκυρίευε καὶ τῆς πόλεως τῶν Ἀγυριναίων ἦρχε πολυοχλουμένης κατʼ ἐκείνους τοὺς καιρούς· εἶχε γὰρ πολίτας οὐκ ἐλάττους δισμυρίων. ἦν δὲ καὶ εἰς τοῦτο τὸ πλῆθος ἐν τῇ πόλει συνηθροισμένον χρημάτων πολλῶν κατὰ τὴν ἀκρόπολιν παράθεσις, ἣν Ἄγυρις ἠθροίκει πεφονευκὼς τοὺς εὐπορωτάτους τῶν πολιτῶν. ἀλλʼ ὁ Διονύσιος μετʼ ὀλίγων εἰσελθὼν ἐντὸς τοῦ τείχους ἔπεισε τὸν Ἄγυριν συμμαχῆσαι γνησίως, καὶ πολλὴν ἐπηγγείλατο χώραν τῆς ὁμόρου δωρήσεσθαι κατορθωθέντος τοῦ πολέμου. ὁ δʼ Ἄγυρις πρῶτον μὲν πάσῃ τῇ Διονυσίου δυνάμει σῖτον καὶ τἄλλα ὅσα ἦν χρεία προθύμως ἐδωρήσατο, καὶ πανδημεὶ τὴν δύναμιν ἐξαγαγὼν ἐστράτευσε μετὰ Διονυσίου καὶ κοινῇ πρὸς Καρχηδονίους διεπολέμει.
The Carthaginians, after a slow recovery from the disaster they had suffered at Syracuse, resolved to keep their hand in Sicilian affairs. Having decided upon war, they crossed over with only a few warships, but brought together troops from Libya and Sardinia as well as from the barbarians of Italy. The soldiers were all carefully supplied with equipment to which they were accustomed and brought over to Sicily, being no less than eighty thousand in number and under the command of Magon. This commander accordingly made his way through the Siceli, detaching most of the cities from Dionysius, and went into camp in the territory of the Agyrinaeans on the banks of the Chrysas River near the road that leads to Morgantina. For since he was unable to bring the Agyrinaeans to enter into an alliance with him, he refrained from marching farther, since he had news that the enemy had set out from Syracuse. Dionysius, on learning that the Carthaginians were making their way through the interior, speedily collected as many Syracusans and mercenaries as he could and set forth, having in all not less than twenty thousand soldiers. When he came near the enemy he sent an embassy to Agyris, the lord of the Agyrinaeans. This man possessed the strongest armament of any of the tyrants of Sicily at that time after Dionysius, since he was lord of practically all the neighbouring fortified communities and ruled the city of the Agyrinaeans which was well peopled at that time, for it had no less than twenty thousand citizens. There was also laid up on the acropolis for this multitude which had been gathered together in the city a large store of money which Agyris had collected after he had murdered the wealthiest citizens. But Dionysius, after entering the city with a small company, persuaded Agyris to join him as a genuine ally and promised to make him a present of a large portion of neighbouring territory if the war ended successfully. At the outset, then, Agyris readily provided the entire army of Dionysius with food and whatever else it needed, led forth his troops in a body, joined with Dionysius in the campaign, and fought together with him in the war against the Carthaginians.
§ 14.96
Μάγων δʼ ἐν πολεμίᾳ χώρᾳ στρατοπεδεύων, καὶ τῶν ἀναγκαίων ἐνδεὴς ἀεὶ μᾶλλον γινόμενος, οὐ μετρίως ἠλαττοῦτο· καὶ γὰρ οἱ περὶ τὸν Ἄγυριν τῆς χώρας ἔμπειροι καθεστῶτες ἐν ταῖς ἐνέδραις ἐπλεονέκτουν καὶ τὰς ἀγορὰς τῶν πολεμίων ἀφῃροῦντο. λεγόντων δὲ τῶν Συρακοσίων διὰ μάχης κρίνειν ὡς τάχιστα τὰ πράγματα, Διονύσιος ἠναντιοῦτο λέγων χωρὶς κινδύνων τῷ χρόνῳ καὶ τῇ σπάνει καταφθαρήσεσθαι τοὺς βαρβάρους· ἐφʼ οἷς παροργισθέντες οἱ Συρακόσιοι κατέλιπον τὸν Διονύσιον. ὁ δὲ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον εὐλαβούμενος ἐπʼ ἐλευθερίαν ἐκάλει τοὺς οἰκέτας, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα διαπρεσβευσαμένων τῶν Καρχηδονίων ὑπὲρ εἰρήνης ὑπακούσας ἀναπομπίμους τοῖς κυρίοις ἐποίησε, πρὸς δὲ τοὺς Καρχηδονίους εἰρήνην ἐποιήσατο. ἦσαν δʼ αἱ συνθῆκαι τὰ μὲν ἄλλα παραπλήσιαι ταῖς πρότερον, Σικελοὺς δὲ δεῖν ὑπὸ Διονύσιον τετάχθαι καὶ παραλαβεῖν αὐτὸν τὸ Ταυρομένιον. μετὰ δὲ τὰς συνθήκας Μάγων μὲν ἀπέπλευσε, Διονύσιος δὲ παραλαβὼν τὸ Ταυρομένιον τοὺς μὲν πλείστους τῶν ἐκεῖ Σικελῶν ἐξέβαλεν, τῶν δʼ ἰδίων μισθοφόρων τοὺς ἐπιτηδειοτάτους ἐπιλέξας κατῴκισεν. καὶ τὰ μὲν κατὰ Σικελίαν ἐν τούτοις ἦν, κατὰ δὲ τὴν Ἰταλίαν Ῥωμαῖοι Φαλίσκον πόλιν ἐκ τοῦ Φαλίσκων ἔθνους ἐξεπόρθησαν.
Magon, since he was encamped in hostile territory and was ever more and more in want of supplies, was at no little disadvantage; for the troops of Agyris, being familiar with the territory, held the advantage in laying ambushes and were continually cutting off the enemy's supplies. The Syracusans were for deciding the issue by battle as soon as possible, but Dionysius opposed them, saying that time and want would ruin the barbarians without fighting. Provoked to anger at this the Syracusans deserted him. In his first concern Dionysius proclaimed freedom for the slaves, but later, when the Carthaginians sent embassies to discuss peace, he negotiated with them, sent back the slaves to their masters, and made peace with the Carthaginians. The conditions were like the former except that the Siceli were to be subject to Dionysius and that he was to receive Tauromenium. After the conclusion of the treaty Magon sailed off, and Dionysius, on taking possession of Tauromenium, banished most of the Siceli who were in it and selected and settled there the most suitable members of his own mercenary troops. Such was the state of affairs in Sicily; and in Italy the Romans pillaged the city of Faliscusa of the tribe of the Falisci.
§ 14.97
τοῦ δʼ ἔτους τούτου διεληλυθότος Ἀθήνησι μὲν ἦν ἄρχων Νικοτέλης, ἐν Ῥώμῃ δὲ τὴν ὑπατικὴν ἀρχὴν διῴκουν χιλίαρχοι τρεῖς, Μάρκος Φούριος, Γάιος Αἰμίλιος. τούτων δὲ τὴν ἀρχὴν παρειληφότων οἱ λακωνίζοντες τῶν Ῥοδίων ἐπαναστάντες τῷ δήμῳ τοὺς τὰ τῶν Ἀθηναίων φρονοῦντας ἐξέβαλον ἐκ τῆς πόλεως. συνδραμόντων δʼ αὐτῶν ἐν τοῖς ὅπλοις καὶ πειρωμένων ἀντέχεσθαι τῶν πραγμάτων, ἐπεκράτησαν οἱ Λακεδαιμονίοις συμμαχοῦντες, καὶ πολλοὺς μὲν ἐφόνευσαν, τοὺς δὲ διαφυγόντας ἐξεκήρυξαν. εὐθὺς δὲ καὶ πρέσβεις ἀπέστειλαν εἰς Λακεδαίμονα περὶ βοηθείας, εὐλαβούμενοι μή τινες τῶν πολιτῶν νεωτερίσωσιν. Λακεδαιμόνιοι δʼ αὐτοῖς ἀπέστειλαν ἑπτὰ τριήρεις καὶ τοὺς ἀφηγησομένους τῶν πραγμάτων τρεῖς ἄνδρας, Εὐδόκιμον καὶ Φιλόδοκον καὶ Διφίλαν. οὗτοι δὲ πρῶτον εἰς Σάμον κομισθέντες ἀπέστησαν τὴν πόλιν Ἀθηναίων, ἔπειτα καταπλεύσαντες εἰς Ῥόδον τῶν ἐνταῦθα πραγμάτων εἶχον τὴν ἐπιμέλειαν. οἱ δὲ Λακεδαιμόνιοι, προχωρούντων αὐτοῖς τῶν πραγμάτων, ἔγνωσαν ἀντέχεσθαι τῆς θαλάττης, καὶ πάλιν ἐκ τοῦ κατʼ ὀλίγον ἐκράτουν τῶν συμμάχων ἀθροίσαντες ναυτικόν. οὗτοι μὲν οὖν εἴς τε Σάμον καὶ Κνίδον καὶ Ῥόδον κατέπλευσαν, καὶ πανταχόθεν ναῦς τε καὶ τοὺς ἀρίστους καταγράφοντες ἐπιβάτας ἐξήρτυον πολυτελῶς τριήρεις εἴκοσιν ἑπτά. Ἀγησίλαος δʼ ὁ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων βασιλεύς, ἀκούων τοὺς Ἀργείους περὶ τὴν Κόρινθον διατρίβοντας, ἐξήγαγε τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους πανδημεὶ πλὴν μιᾶς μόρας. ἐπελθὼν δὲ τὴν Ἀργείαν πᾶσαν τὰς μὲν κτήσεις διήρπασεν, τὴν δὲ χώραν δενδροτομήσας εἰς τὴν Σπάρτην ἀπεχώρησεν.
At the close of the year, in Athens Nicoteles was archon, and in Rome the consular magistracy was administered by three military tribunes, Marcus Furius and Gaius Aemilius. After these magistrates had entered office, the philo-Lacedemonians among the Rhodians rose up against the party of the people and expelled from the city the partisans of the Athenians. When these banded together under arms and endeavoured to maintain their interests, the allies of the Lacedemonians got the upper hand, slaughtered many, and formally banished those who escaped. They also at once sent ambassadors to Lacedemon to get aid, fearing that some of the citizens would rise in revolt. The Lacedemonians dispatched to them seven triremes and three men to take charge of affairs, Eudocimus, Philocodus, and Diphilas. They first reached Samos and brought that city over from the Athenians, and then they put in at Rhodes and assumed the oversight of affairs there. The Lacedemonians, now that their affairs were prospering, resolved to get control of the sea, and after gathering a naval force they again little by little began to get the upper hand over their allies. So they put in at Samos and Cnidus and Rhodes; and gathering ships from every place and enrolling the choicest marines, they equipped lavishly twentyseven triremes. Agesilaus, the king of the Lacedemonians, on hearing that the Argives were engaged about Corinth, led forth the Lacedemonians in full force with the exception of one regiment. He visited every part of Argolis, pillaged the homesteads, cut down the trees over the countryside, and then returned to Sparta.
§ 14.98
κατὰ δὲ τὴν Κύπρον Εὐαγόρας ὁ Σαλαμίνιος, ὃς ἦν μὲν εὐγενέστατος, τῶν γὰρ κτισάντων τὴν πόλιν ἦν ἀπόγονος, πεφευγὼς δʼ ἐν τοῖς ἔμπροσθεν χρόνοις διά τινας στάσεις, καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα κατελθὼν μετʼ ὀλίγων, τὸν μὲν δυναστεύοντα τῆς πόλεως Ἀβδήμονα τὸν Τύρσιον ἐξέβαλε, φίλον ὄντα τοῦ Περσῶν βασιλέως, αὐτὸς δὲ τὴν πόλιν κατασχὼν τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἐβασίλευσε τῆς Σαλαμῖνος, μεγίστης οὔσης καὶ δυνατωτάτης τῶν ἐν Κύπρῳ πόλεων· ταχὺ δὲ χρημάτων πολλῶν εὐπορήσας καὶ δύναμιν προχειρισάμενος ἐπεχείρησεν ἅπασαν τὴν νῆσον σφετερίσασθαι. τῶν δὲ πόλεων ἃς μὲν βίᾳ χειρωσάμενος, ἃς δὲ πειθοῖ προσλαβόμενος, τῶν μὲν ἄλλων πόλεων ταχὺ τὴν ἡγεμονίαν παρέλαβεν, Ἀμαθούσιοι δὲ καὶ Σόλιοι καὶ Κιτιεῖς ἀντέχοντες τῷ πολέμῳ πρέσβεις ἀπέστειλαν πρὸς Ἀρταξέρξην τὸν τῶν Περσῶν βασιλέα περὶ βοηθείας· καὶ τοῦ μὲν Εὐαγόρου κατηγόρουν, ὅτι τὸν Ἄγυριν βασιλέα σύμμαχον ὄντα Περσῶν ἀνεῖλε, τὴν δὲ νῆσον ὡμολόγησαν αὐτῷ συγκατακτήσασθαι. ὁ δὲ βασιλεύς, οὐ βουλόμενος ἅμα μὲν τὸν Εὐαγόραν ἐπὶ πλεῖον προκόπτειν, ἅμα δὲ διανοούμενος τὴν Κύπρον εὐφυῶς εἶναι κειμένην καὶ ναυτικὴν δύναμιν μεγάλην ἔχειν, ᾗ δυνήσεται προπολεμεῖν τῆς Ἀσίας, ἔκρινε συμμαχεῖν, καὶ τούτους μὲν ἐξέπεμψεν, αὐτὸς δὲ πρὸς μὲν τὰς ἐπιθαλαττίους πόλεις καὶ τοὺς ἀφηγουμένους τῶν πόλεων σατράπας ἔπεμψεν ἐπιστολὰς ναυπηγεῖσθαι τριήρεις καὶ τὰ πρὸς τὸν στόλον χρήσιμα ὄντα κατὰ σπουδὴν παρασκευάζεσθαι, Ἑκατόμνῳ δὲ τῷ Καρίας δυνάστῃ προσέταξε πολεμεῖν τῷ Εὐαγόρᾳ. οὗτος δὲ τὰς ἐν ταῖς ἄνω σατραπείαις πόλεις ἐπιπορευόμενος μεγάλαις δυνάμεσι διαβαίνει εἰς τὴν Κύπρον. τὰ μὲν οὖν κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν ἐν τούτοις ἦν, κατὰ δὲ τὴν Ἰταλίαν Ῥωμαῖοι πρὸς Φαλίσκους εἰρήνην ποιησάμενοι, πρὸς δὲ Αἰκίκλους πόλεμον τὸ τέταρτον, καὶ Σούτριον μὲν ᾤκισαν, ἐκ δὲ Οὐερρηγῖνος πόλεως ὑπὸ τῶν πολεμίων ἐξεβλήθησαν.
In Cyprus Evagoras of Salamis, who was of most noble birth, since he was descended from the founders of the city, but had previously been banished because of some factional quarrels and had later returned in company with a small group, drove out Abdemon of Tyre, who was lord of the city and a friend of the King of the Persians. When he took control of the city, Evagoras was at first king only of Salamis, the largest and strongest of the cities of Cyprus; but when he soon acquired great resources and mobilized an army, he set out to make the whole island his own. Some of the cities he subdued by force and others he won over by persuasion. While he easily gained control of the other cities, the peoples of Amathus, Soli, and Citium resisted him with arms and dispatched ambassadors to Artaxerxes the King of the Persians to get his aid. They accused Evagoras of having slain King Agyris, an ally of the Persians, and promised to join the King in acquiring the island for him. The King, not only because he did not wish Evagoras to grow any stronger, but also because he appreciated the strategic position of Cyprus and its great naval strength whereby it would be able to protect Asia in front, decided to accept the alliance. He dismissed the ambassadors and for himself sent letters to the cities situated on the sea and to their commanding satraps to construct triremes and with all speed to make ready everything the fleet might need; and he commanded Hecatomnus, the ruler of Caria, to make war upon Evagoras. Hecatomnus traversed the cities of the upper satrapies and crossed over to Cyprus in strong force. Such was the state of affairs in Asia. In Italy the Romans concluded peace with the Falisci and waged war for the fourth time on the Aequi; they also sent a colony to Sutrium but were expelled by the enemy from the city of Verrugo.
§ 14.99
τοῦ δʼ ἔτους τούτου διεληλυθότος Ἀθήνησι μὲν ἦρχε Δημόστρατος, ἐν Ῥώμῃ δʼ ὕπατοι τὴν ἀρχὴν παρειλήφεισαν Λεύκιος Λουκρήτιος καὶ Σερουίλιος. κατὰ δὲ τούτους τοὺς χρόνους Ἀρταξέρξης μὲν Στρούθαν στρατηγὸν κατέπεμψεν ἐπὶ θάλατταν μετὰ δυνάμεως Λακεδαιμονίοις πολεμήσοντα, Σπαρτιᾶται δὲ τὴν παρουσίαν αὐτοῦ πυθόμενοι Θίβρωνα στρατηγὸν εἰς τὴν Ἀσίαν ἐξέπεμψαν. ὃς κατελάβετο χωρίον Ἴονδα καὶ Κόρνισσον ὄρος ὑψηλόν, τῆς Ἐφέσου ἀπέχον σταδίους τετταράκοντα. οὗτος μὲν οὖν ὀκτακισχιλίους ἔχων στρατιώτας σὺν τοῖς κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν ἀθροισθεῖσιν ἐπῄει τὴν τοῦ βασιλέως χώραν φθείρων, Στρούθας δὲ σὺν ἵππῳ τε βαρβαρικῇ πολλῇ καὶ στρατιώταις ὁπλίταις μὲν πεντακισχιλίοις, ψιλοῖς δὲ πλείοσι δισμυρίων, οὐ μακρὰν τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων κατεστρατοπέδευσεν. τέλος δὲ τοῦ Θίβρωνος μετὰ μέρους τῆς δυνάμεως ἐξελθόντος καὶ πολλὴν περιβαλομένου λείαν, ἐπελθὼν ὁ Στρούθας τόν τε Θίβρωνα μαχόμενον ἀνεῖλε, καὶ τῶν στρατιωτῶν τοὺς μὲν πλείστους ἀπέκτεινε, τοὺς δʼ ἐζώγρησεν, ὀλίγοι δʼ εἰς τὸ Κνιδίνιον φρούριον διεσώθησαν. Θρασύβουλος δʼ ὁ τῶν Ἀθηναίων στρατηγὸς ἐκ τῆς Λέσβου κομιζόμενος μετὰ τοῦ στόλου πρὸς Ἄσπενδον, ὥρμισε τὰς τριήρεις εἰς τὸν Εὐρυμέδοντα ποταμόν. χρήματα δʼ εἰληφότος αὐτοῦ παρὰ τῶν Ἀσπενδίων, ὅμως τινὲς τῶν στρατιωτῶν ἐδῄωσαν τὴν χώραν. γενομένης δὲ νυκτὸς οἱ μὲν Ἀσπένδιοι χαλεπῶς ἐνεγκόντες ἐπὶ τοῖς ἀδικήμασιν ἐπέθεντο τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις καὶ τόν τε Θρασύβουλον καί τινας τῶν ἄλλων ἀνεῖλαν· οἱ δὲ τῶν Ἀθηναίων τριήραρχοι περιδεεῖς γενόμενοι καὶ ταχὺ πληρώσαντες τὰς ναῦς, εἰς Ῥόδον ἐξέπλευσαν. ἀφεστηκυίας δὲ τῆς πόλεως, καὶ τῶν φυγάδων φρούριόν τι κατειληφότων, μετὰ τούτων διεπολέμουν πρὸς τοὺς κατὰ τὴν πόλιν. οἱ δʼ Ἀθηναῖοι πυθόμενοι τὴν Θρασυβούλου τοῦ στρατηγοῦ τελευτήν, Ἀγύριον στρατηγὸν ἐξέπεμψαν. τὰ μὲν οὖν κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν ἐν τούτοις ἦν.
At the close of this year Demostratus was archon in Athens, and in Rome the consuls Lucius Lucretius and Servilius took office. At this time Artaxerxes sent Struthas as general to the coast with an army to make war on the Lacedemonians, and the Spartans, when they learned of his arrival, dispatched Thibron as general to Asia. Thibron seized the stronghold of Ionda and a high mountain, Cornissus, forty stades from Ephesus. He then advanced with eight thousand soldiers together with the troops gathered from Asia, pillaging the King's territory. Struthas, with a strong force of barbarian cavalry, five thousand hoplites, and more than twenty thousand light-armed troops, pitched his camp not far from the Lacedemonians. Eventually, when Thibron once set out with a detachment of his troops and had seized much booty, Struthas attacked and slew him in battle, killed the larger number of his troops, and took captive others. A few found safety in Cnidinium, an outpost. Thrasybulus, the Athenian general, went with his fleet from Lesbos to Aspendus and moored his triremes in the Eurymedon River. Although he had received contributions from the Aspendians, some of the soldiers, nevertheless, pillaged the countryside. When night came, the Aspendians, angered at such unfairness, attacked the Athenians and slew both Thrasybulus and a number of the others; whereupon the captains of the Athenian vessels, greatly alarmed, speedily manned the ships and sailed off to Rhodes. Since this city was in revolt, they joined the exiles who had seized a certain outpost and waged war on the men who held the city. When the Athenians learned of the death of their general Thrasybulus, they sent out Agyrius as general. Such was the state of affairs in Asia.
§ 14.100
κατὰ δὲ τὴν Σικελίαν ὁ τῶν Συρακοσίων τύραννος Διονύσιος σπεύδων τῇ κατὰ τὴν νῆσον δυναστείᾳ καὶ τοὺς κατʼ Ἰταλίαν Ἕλληνας προσλαβέσθαι, τὴν μὲν ἐπʼ ἐκείνους κοινὴν στρατείαν εἰς ἕτερον καιρὸν ἀνεβάλετο, κρίνας δὲ συμφέρειν ἐπιχειρεῖν πρώτῃ τῇ τῶν Ῥηγίνων πόλει διὰ τὸ προπολεμητήριον αὐτὴν εἶναι τῆς Ἰταλίας, ὥρμησεν ἐκ Συρακουσῶν μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως. εἶχε δὲ πεζοὺς μὲν δισμυρίους, ἱππεῖς δὲ χιλίους, ναῦς δʼ ἑκατὸν εἴκοσι. περαιώσας δὲ τὴν δύναμιν ἐπὶ τοὺς ὅρους τῆς Λοκρίδος, ἐκεῖθεν διὰ τῆς μεσογείου τὴν πορείαν ἐποιεῖτο, τέμνων καὶ πυρπολῶν τὴν τῶν Ῥηγίνων χώραν· συμπαρέπλευσε δὲ καὶ ὁ στόλος ἐπὶ θάτερα μέρη τῆς θαλάττης, καὶ πάσῃ τῇ δυνάμει περὶ τὸν πορθμὸν κατεστρατοπέδευσεν. οἱ δʼ Ἰταλοὶ πυθόμενοι τὴν τοῦ Διονυσίου διάβασιν ἐπὶ τὸ Ῥήγιον, ἀπέστειλαν ἐκ Κρότωνος ναῦς ἑξήκοντα, σπεύδοντες παραδοῦναι τοῖς Ῥηγίνοις. μετεώρων δὲ πλεουσῶν αὐτῶν ὁ Διονύσιος πεντήκοντα ναῦς ἔχων ἐπέπλευσε, καὶ φυγόντων αὐτῶν ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν οὐδὲν ἧττον ἐπέκειτο, καὶ συνδήσας ἀπέσπα τὰς παρορμούσας τῇ γῇ. κινδυνευουσῶν δὲ τῶν ἑξήκοντα τριήρων ἁλῶναι Ῥηγῖνοι πανδημεὶ παρεβοήθησαν, καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς τῷ πλήθει τῶν βελῶν ἀνεῖρξαν τὸν Διονύσιον. ἐπιγενομένων δὲ πνευμάτων μεγάλων οἱ μὲν Ῥηγῖνοι τὰς ναῦς ἀνείλκυσαν ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν, Διονύσιος δʼ ἰσχυρῶς χειμασθεὶς ἑπτὰ ναῦς ἀπώλεσε καὶ σὺν αὐταῖς ἄνδρας οὐκ ἐλάττους χιλίων πεντακοσίων. τούτων δʼ ἅμα ταῖς ναυσὶν ἐκβρασθέντων ἐπὶ τὴν Ῥηγίνην, οἱ Ῥηγῖνοι πολλοὺς τῶν ναυτῶν ἐζώγρησαν. Διονύσιος δʼ ἐπὶ πεντήρους πλέων, καὶ πολλάκις παρʼ ὀλίγον ἐλθὼν ὑποβρύχιος, μόγις περὶ μέσας νύκτας εἰς τὸν ἐν Μεσσήνῃ λιμένα κατέφυγεν. ἤδη δὲ καὶ τῆς χειμερινῆς ὥρας ἐνισταμένης οὗτος μὲν πρὸς Λευκανοὺς συμμαχίαν ποιησάμενος ἀπήγαγε τὰς δυνάμεις εἰς Συρακούσας.
In Sicily Dionysius, the tyrant of the Syracusans, with intent to annex the Greeks of Italy as well to the overlordship that he held in the island, postponed the general war against them to another time. He judged rather that it was good policy to attack first the city of the Rhegians, because it was the advanced bastion of Italy, and so set out from Syracuse with his army. He had twenty thousand infantry, a thousand cavalry, and one hundred and twenty ships of war. He crossed with his troops to the borders of Locris and from there made his way through the interior, cutting down the trees and burning and destroying the territory of the Rhegians. His fleet sailed along to the other districts upon the sea and he encamped with his entire army at the Strait. When the Italians learned that Dionysius had crossed the sea to attack Rhegium, they dispatched sixty ships from Croton, with intent to hand them over to the Rhegians. While this fleet was cruising on the high sea, Dionysius sailed against them with fifty ships, and when the fleet fled to land, he pressed his attack no less vigorously and began to make fast and haul off the ships that were lying off-shore. Since the sixty triremes were in danger of being captured, the Rhegians came to their aid in full force and held Dionysius off from the land by the multitude of their missiles. When a heavy storm arose, the Rhegians hauled up the ships high and dry on the land, but Dionysius lost seven ships in the heavy gale and together with them no fewer than fifteen hundred men. Since the sailors were cast ashore together with their ships on Rhegian territory, many of them were taken prisoner by the Rhegians. Dionysius, who was on a quinquereme and many times narrowly escaped foundering, about midnight barely found safety in the harbour of Messene. Since the winter season had already come, he drew up terms of alliance with the Leucani and led his forces back to Syracuse.
§ 14.101
μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Λευκανῶν τὴν Θουρίαν καταδραμόντων οἱ Θούριοι παρήγγειλαν τοῖς συμμάχοις κατὰ τάχος ἀπαντᾶν μετὰ τῶν ὅπλων· αἱ γὰρ κατὰ τὴν Ἰταλίαν Ἑλληνίδες πόλεις ἐν ταῖς συνθήκαις εἶχον οὕτως, ἵνʼ ἥτις ἂν ὑπὸ τῶν Λευκανῶν λεηλατηθῇ χώρα, πρὸς ταύτην ἅπαντες παραβοηθῶσιν· ἧς δʼ ἂν πόλεως μὴ καταστῇ τὸ στρατόπεδον ἐπὶ τὴν βοήθειαν, τεθνάναι τοὺς ἐκείνης τῆς πόλεως στρατηγούς. διόπερ τῶν Θουρίων τοὺς βιβλιαφόρους ἀποστειλάντων ἐπὶ τὰς πόλεις πρὸς τὴν τῶν πολεμίων παρουσίαν, ἅπαντες παρεσκευάζοντο πρὸς τὴν ἀνάζευξιν. αὐτοὶ δὲ προεξαναστάντες ταῖς ὁρμαῖς καὶ τὸ τῶν συμμάχων πλῆθος οὐκ ἀναμείναντες, ἀνέζευξαν ἐπὶ τοὺς Λευκανούς, ἔχοντες πεζοὺς μὲν πλείους τῶν μυρίων τετρακισχιλίων, ἱππεῖς δὲ σχεδὸν χιλίους. καὶ Λευκανοὶ μὲν ἀκούσαντες τὴν τῶν πολεμίων ἔφοδον ἀπεχώρησαν εἰς τὴν ἰδίαν χώραν· οἱ δὲ Θούριοι κατὰ σπουδὴν ἐμβαλόντες εἰς τὴν Λευκανίαν, τὸ μὲν πρῶτον φρούριον ἐξεῖλον, καὶ πολλῆς ὠφελείας κυριεύσαντες καθαπερεὶ δέλεαρ ἔλαβον τῆς ἑαυτῶν ἀπωλείας. φρονηματισθέντες γὰρ ἐπὶ τῷ προτερήματι καταπεφρονηκότως διά τινων στενῶν καὶ ἀποκρήμνων ὁδῶν ἐπορεύθησαν, βουλόμενοι Λᾶον πόλιν εὐδαίμονα πολιορκῆσαι. ἐπειδὴ δὲ παρεγενήθησαν εἴς τι πεδίον κύκλῳ λόφοις ὑψηλοῖς καὶ κρημνοῖς περιειλημμένον, ἐνταῦθα οἱ Λευκανοὶ πάσῃ τῇ δυνάμει διέκλεισαν αὐτοὺς τῆς ἐπὶ τὰς πατρίδας ἐπανόδου. παράδοξον δʼ ἐπὶ τῷ λόφῳ καὶ φανερὰν ποιήσαντες τὴν ἑαυτῶν ἐπιφάνειαν ἐξέπληξαν τοὺς Ἕλληνας διά τε τὸ μέγεθος τοῦ στρατοπέδου καὶ τὴν τῶν τόπων δυσχωρίαν· εἶχον γὰρ Λευκανοὶ τότε πεζοὺς μὲν τρισμυρίους, ἱππεῖς δʼ οὐκ ἐλάττους τετρακισχιλίων.
After this, when the Leucanians overran the territory of Thurii, the Thurians sent word to their allies to gather to them speedily under arms. For the Greek cities of Italy had an agreement among themselves to the effect that if any city's territory was being plundered by the Leucanians, they should all come to its aid, and that if any city's army did not take up a position to give aid, the generals of that city should be put to death. Consequently, when the Thurians dispatched messengers to the cities to tell of the approach of the enemy, they all made ready to march. But the Thurians, who were first off the mark in their actions, did not wait for the troops of their allies, but set forth against the Leucanians with above fourteen thousand infantry and about one thousand cavalry. The Leucanians, on hearing of the approach of the enemy, withdrew to their own territory, and the Thurians, falling in haste upon Leucania, captured the first outpost and gathered much booty, thus taking the bait, as it were, for their own destruction. For having become puffed with pride at their success, they advanced with light concern through some narrow and sheer paths, in order to lay siege to the prosperous city of Laus. When they had arrived at a certain plain surrounded by lofty hills and precipitous cliffs, thereupon the Leucanians with their entire army cut them off from retreat to their native soil. Making their appearance, which was quite unexpected and unconcealed, on the height, they filled the Greeks with dismay, both because of the great size of the army and because of the difficulty of the terrain; for the Leucanians had at the time thirty thousand infantry and no less than four thousand cavalry.
§ 14.102
τῶν δʼ Ἑλλήνων ἀνελπίστως τηλικούτῳ περιεχομένων κινδύνῳ, κατέβαινον εἰς τὸ πεδίον οἱ βάρβαροι. γενομένης δὲ παρατάξεως, καὶ τῶν Ἰταλιωτῶν καταπολεμηθέντων ὑπὸ τοῦ πλήθους τῶν Λευκανῶν, ἔπεσον μὲν πλείους τῶν μυρίων· παρήγγελλον γὰρ οἱ Λευκανοὶ μηθένα ζωγρεῖν· τῶν δὲ λοιπῶν οἱ μὲν ἐπί τινα πρὸς τῇ θαλάσσῃ λόφον ἔφυγον, οἱ δὲ θεωροῦντες ναῦς μακρὰς προσπλεούσας καὶ νομίζοντες τὰς τῶν Ῥηγίνων εἶναι, συνέφυγον εἰς τὴν θάλασσαν καὶ διενήχοντο ἐπὶ τὰς τριήρεις. ἦν δὲ ὁ στόλος ὁ προσπλέων Διονυσίου τοῦ τυράννου, καὶ ναύαρχος ὑπῆρχεν αὐτῷ Λεπτίνης ὁ ἀδελφός, ἀπεσταλμένος τοῖς Λευκανοῖς ἐπὶ βοήθειαν. ὁ μὲν οὖν Λεπτίνης δεξάμενος φιλανθρώπως τοὺς νηχομένους ὡς ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν ἀπεβίβασε καὶ ἔπεισε τοὺς Λευκανοὺς ὑπὲρ ἑκάστου τῶν αἰχμαλώτων λαβεῖν ἀργυρίου μνᾶν· οὗτοι δʼ ἦσαν τὸν ἀριθμὸν ὑπὲρ τοὺς χιλίους. γενόμενος δὲ τῶν χρημάτων ἐγγυητὴς καὶ διαλλάξας τοὺς Ἰταλιώτας τοῖς Λευκανοῖς ἔπεισεν εἰρήνην ποιήσασθαι, καὶ μεγάλης ἀποδοχῆς ἔτυχε παρὰ τοῖς Ἰταλιώταις, συμφερόντως αὑτῷ, οὐ λυσιτελῶς δὲ Διονυσίῳ συντεθεικὼς τὸν πόλεμον. ἤλπιζε γὰρ ὁ Διονύσιος τῶν Ἰταλιωτῶν πολεμούντων πρὸς Λευκανοὺς ἐπελθὼν ῥᾳδίως ἂν κρατῆσαι τῶν κατʼ Ἰταλίαν πραγμάτων, ἀπολελυμένων δὲ τηλικούτου πολέμου δυσχερῶς ἂν περιγενέσθαι. διόπερ τοῦτον μὲν ἀπήλλαξε τῆς ναυαρχίας, Θεαρίδην δὲ τὸν ἕτερον ἀδελφὸν ἡγεμόνα τοῦ στόλου κατέστησεν. τούτων δὲ πραχθέντων Ῥωμαῖοι τὴν τῶν Οὐεξίων χώραν κατεκληρούχησαν, κατʼ ἄνδρα δόντες πλέθρα τέτταρα, ὡς δέ τινες, εἴκοσι ὀκτώ· καὶ πρὸς μὲν Αἰκούσους διαπολεμοῦντες Λίφλον πόλιν κατὰ κράτος εἷλον, Οὐελιτρίνων δʼ ἀποστάντων πόλεμον πρὸς αὐτοὺς ἐνεστήσαντο. ἀπέστη δὲ καὶ Σάτρικον ἀπὸ Ῥωμαίων, καὶ εἰς Κερκίους ἀποικίαν ἀπέστειλαν.
When the Greeks were to their surprise caught in such hopeless peril as we have described, the barbarians descended into the plain. A battle took place and there fell of the Italian Greeks, overwhelmed as they were by the multitude of the Leucanians, more than ten thousand men, since the Leucanians gave orders to save no one alive. Of the survivors some fled to a height on the sea, and others, seeing warships sailing toward them and thinking they belonged to the Rhegians, fled in a body to the sea and swam out to the triremes. The approaching fleet belonged to Dionysius the tyrant, under the command of his brother Leptines, and had been sent to the aid of the Leucanians. Leptines received the swimmers kindly, set them on land, and persuaded the Leucanians to accept a mina of silver for each captive, the number of whom was over a thousand. Leptines went surety for the ransom money, reconciled the Italian Greeks with the Leucanians, and persuaded them to conclude peace. He won great acclaim among the Italian Greeks, having settled the war, as he had, to his own advantage, but without any profit to Dionysius. For Dionysius hoped that, if the Italian Greeks were embroiled in war with the Leucanians, he might appear and easily make himself master of affairs in Italy, but if they were rid of such a dangerous war, his success would be difficult. Consequently he relieved Leptines of his command and appointed Thearides, his other brother, commander of the fleet. Subsequent to these events the Romans portioned out in allotments the territory of the Veians, giving each holder four plethra, but according to other accounts, twenty-eight. The Romans were at war with the Aequi and took by storm the city of Liphlus; and they began war upon the people of Velitrae, who had revolted. Satricum also revolted from the Romans; and they dispatched a colony to Cercii.
§ 14.103
τοῦ δʼ ἐνιαυσίου χρόνου διεληλυθότος Ἀθήνησι μὲν ἦρχεν Ἀντίπατρος, ἐν δὲ τῇ Ῥώμῃ τὴν ὑπατικὴν ἀρχὴν διῴκουν Λεύκιος Οὐαλέριος καὶ Αὖλος Μάλλιος. περὶ δὲ τούτους τοὺς χρόνους Διονύσιος ὁ τῶν Συρακοσίων δυνάστης φανερῶς ἑαυτὸν ἀναδείξας ἐπὶ τὴν Ἰταλίαν στρατευσόμενον, μετὰ πλείστης δυνάμεως ὥρμησεν ἀπὸ Συρακουσῶν. εἶχε δὲ πεζοὺς μὲν πλείους τῶν δισμυρίων, ἱππεῖς δὲ περὶ τρισχιλίους, ναῦς δὲ μακρὰς μὲν τεσσαράκοντα, τὰς δὲ τὸν σῖτον κομιζούσας οὐκ ἐλάττους τριακοσίων. πεμπταῖος δὲ κατανύσας εἰς τὴν Μεσσήνην, αὐτὸς μὲν ἐν τῇ πόλει τὴν δύναμιν ἀνελάμβανε, Θεαρίδην δὲ τὸν ἀδελφὸν ἐπὶ τὰς Λιπαραίων νήσους ἀπέστειλε μετὰ νεῶν τριάκοντα· πεπυσμένος γὰρ ἦν δέκα ναῦς τῶν Ῥηγίνων περὶ ἐκείνους τοὺς τόπους οὔσας. ὁ δὲ Θεαρίδης ἐκπλεύσας καὶ καταλαβὼν τὴν Ῥηγίνων δεκαναΐαν ἔν τισιν εὐθέτοις τόποις, αὐτάνδρων τῶν σκαφῶν ἐκυρίευσε καὶ ταχέως εἰς Μεσσήνην πρὸς Διονύσιον ἐπέστρεψε. Διονύσιος δὲ τοὺς αἰχμαλώτους εἰς δεσμὰ καταθέμενος τοῖς Μεσσηνίοις ἔδωκε φυλάττειν, αὐτὸς δὲ περαιώσας τὴν δύναμιν εἰς Καυλωνίαν περιεστρατοπέδευσε τὴν πόλιν, καὶ τὰς μηχανὰς προσερείσας πυκνὰς προσβολὰς ἐποιεῖτο. οἱ δὲ κατὰ τὴν Ἰταλίαν Ἕλληνες ὡς ἐπύθοντο τὰς τοῦ Διονυσίου δυνάμεις περαιουμένας τὸν διείργοντα πορθμόν, καὶ αὐτοὶ στρατόπεδα συνήθροιζον. τῆς δὲ τῶν Κροτωνιατῶν πόλεως μάλιστα πολυοχλουμένης καὶ πλείστους ἐχούσης Συρακοσίους φυγάδας, τούτοις τὴν ἡγεμονίαν τοῦ πολέμου παρέδωκαν· οἱ δὲ Κροτωνιᾶται τὰς πανταχόθεν δυνάμεις ἀθροίσαντες στρατηγὸν Ἕλωριν τὸν Συρακόσιον εἵλοντο. οὗτος δὲ πεφευγὼς Διονύσιον καὶ δοκῶν τόλμαν ἔχειν ἔμπρακτον, πιστότατα πρὸς τὸν τύραννον πολεμήσειν διὰ τὸ μῖσος ὑπείληπτο. ὡς δὲ πάντες οἱ σύμμαχοι παρεγενήθησαν εἰς Κρότωνα, κατὰ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ προαίρεσιν Ἕλωρις διατάξας ὥρμησε μετὰ πάσης τῆς δυνάμεως ἐπὶ Καυλωνίας· ἅμα γὰρ ἐνόμιζεν ἐπιφανεὶς λύσειν τὴν πολιορκίαν, ἅμα δὲ καταπεπονημένους τοὺς πολεμίους ὑπὸ τῶν καθʼ ἡμέραν προσβολῶν διαγωνιεῖσθαι. εἶχε δὲ τοὺς ἅπαντας πεζοὺς μὲν περὶ δισμυρίους πεντακισχιλίους, ἱππεῖς δὲ περὶ δισχιλίους.
When the year had ended, in Athens Antipater was archon, and in Rome Lucius Valerius and Aulus Mallius administered the consular magistracy. This year Dionysius, the lord of the Syracusans, openly indicated his design of an attack on Italy and set forth from Syracuse with a most formidable force. He had more than twenty thousand infantry, some three thousand cavalry, forty ships of war, and not less than three hundred vessels transporting food supplies. On arriving at Messene on the fifth day he rested his troops in the city, while he dispatched his brother Thearides with thirty ships to the islands of the Liparaeans, since he had learned that ten ships of the Rhegians were in those waters. Thearides, sailing forth and coming upon the ten Rhegian ships in a place favourable to his purpose, seized the ships together with their crews and speedily returned to Dionysius at Messene. Dionysius threw the prisoners in chains and turned them over to the custody of the Messenians; then he transported his army to Caulonia, laid siege to the city, advanced his siege-engines, and launched frequent assaults. When the Greeks of Italy learned that the armaments of Dionysius were starting to move across the strait which separated them, they in turn mustered their forces. Since the city of the Crotoniates was the most heavily populated and had the largest number of exiles from Syracuse, they gave over to them the command of the war, 5 and the people of Croton gathered troops from every quarter and chose as general Heloris the Syracusan. Since this man had been banished by Dionysius and was considered by all to possess action and enterprise, it was believed that he could be best trusted, because of his hatred, to lead a war against the tyrant. When all the allies had gathered in Croton, Heloris disposed them to his liking and advanced with the entire army toward Caulonia. 6 He calculated that he would by his appearance at the same time both relieve the siege and also be in combat with the enemy worn out by their daily assaults. In all he had about twenty-five thousand infantry and two thousand cavalry.
§ 14.104
διανυσάντων δʼ αὐτῶν τὸ πλεῖστον τῆς ὁδοῦ καὶ στρατοπεδευσάντων πρὸς τὸν Ἐλέπορον ποταμόν, ἀνέζευξεν ὁ Διονύσιος ἀπὸ τῆς πόλεως καὶ συνήντα τοῖς Ἰταλιώταις. ὁ μὲν οὖν Ἕλωρις μετὰ τῶν ἀρίστων πεντακοσίων προηγεῖτο τῆς δυνάμεως, ὁ δὲ Διονύσιος ἔτυχε μὲν ἀπὸ τεσσαράκοντα σταδίων ἐστρατοπεδευκὼς τῶν ἐναντίων, διὰ δὲ τῶν κατασκόπων μαθὼν ἐγγὺς ὄντας τοὺς πολεμίους, ὄρθρου τὴν δύναμιν ἐγείρας προήγαγεν εἰς τοὔμπροσθεν. ἅμα δʼ ἡμέρᾳ τοῖς περὶ τὸν Ἕλωριν ὀλίγοις οὖσιν ἀπαντήσας ἄφνω προσεμάχετο, καὶ διεσκευασμένην ἔχων τὴν δύναμιν ἀνοχὴν οὐδʼ ἡντινοῦν ἐδίδου τοῖς πολεμίοις. ὁ δʼ Ἕλωρις εἰς πολλὴν ἐμπεσὼν ἀπορίαν, αὐτὸς μὲν μεθʼ ὧν εἶχεν ὑπέστη τοὺς ἐπιφερομένους, τῶν δὲ φίλων τινὰς ἀπέστειλεν ἐπὶ τὸ στρατόπεδον, ἐπισπεῦσαι τὰ πλήθη παρακελευόμενος. ὧν ταχέως ποιησάντων τὸ προσταχθέν, οἱ μὲν Ἰταλιῶται πυθόμενοι τὸν στρατηγὸν καὶ τοὺς μετʼ αὐτοῦ κινδυνεύοντας δρομαῖοι παρῆσαν ἐπὶ τὴν βοήθειαν, ὁ δὲ Διονύσιος ἀθρόᾳ τῇ δυνάμει περιχυθεὶς τόν θʼ Ἕλωριν καὶ τοὺς μετʼ αὐτοῦ γενναίως ἀγωνισαμένους σχεδὸν ἅπαντας ἀνεῖλε. τῶν δʼ Ἰταλιωτῶν σποράδην διὰ τὴν σπουδὴν ἐκβοηθούντων, οἱ Σικελιῶται τὰς τάξεις διαφυλάττοντες ῥᾳδίως τῶν πολεμίων περιεγίνοντο. οὐ μὴν ἀλλʼ ἐπὶ μέν τινα χρόνον οἱ κατὰ τὴν Ἰταλίαν Ἕλληνες ὑπέμενον τὸν κίνδυνον, καίπερ ἑαυτῶν πολλοὺς ὁρῶντες ἀναιρουμένους· ὡς δὲ τὴν τοῦ στρατηγοῦ τελευτὴν ἐπύθοντο καὶ διὰ τὸν θόρυβον ἀλλήλοις ἐμπίπτοντες ἠλαττοῦντο μεγάλως, τότε δὴ τελέως ἀθυμήσαντες ἐτράπησαν.
The Italian Greeks had accomplished the major part of their march and were encamped on the Eleporus River, when Dionysius drew off from the city and advanced to meet them. Now Heloris was in the van of his army with five hundred of choicest troops and Dionysius, at it happened, was encamped forty stades from the enemy. On learning from his scouts that the enemy was near, he roused his army at early light and led it forward. Meeting at daybreak the troops of Heloris, who were few in number, he engaged them in unexpected battle, and since he had his army ready for combat, he gave the enemy not a moment to recover themselves. Though Heloris found himself in desperate straits, he withstood the attackers with what troops he had, while he sent some of his friends to the camp, urging them to rush up the main body of soldiers. These speedily carried out their orders, and when the Italian Greeks learned of the danger facing their general and his troops, they came to their aid on the run. Meanwhile Dionysius, with his troops in close order, surrounded Heloris and his men and slew them almost to a man, though they offered a gallant resistance. Since the Italian Greeks in their haste entered the fighting in scattered groups, the Sicilian Greeks, who kept their lines intact, experienced no difficulty in overcoming the enemy. Nevertheless, the Greeks of Italy maintained the fight for some time, although they saw their comrades falling in great numbers. But when they learned of the death of their general, while being greatly hampered as they fell foul of one another in their confusion, then at last they completely lost spirit and turned in flight.
§ 14.105
πολλῶν δʼ ἀναιρουμένων ἐν τῇ κατὰ τὸ πεδίον τροπῇ, κατέφυγε τὸ πλῆθος ἐπί τινα λόφον, ἐρυμνὸν μὲν ὄντα πρὸς τὴν πολιορκίαν, ἄνυδρον δὲ καὶ δυνάμενον ῥᾳδίως ὑπὸ τῶν πολεμίων φυλάττεσθαι. ὃν ὁ Διονύσιος περιστρατοπεδεύσας τήν τε ἡμέραν ἐκείνην καὶ τὴν νύκτα διηγρύπνησεν ἐν τοῖς ὅπλοις, ἐπιμελῶς ταῖς φυλακαῖς χρησάμενος. τῇ δʼ ὑστεραίᾳ διὰ τὸ καῦμα καὶ τὴν ἀνυδρίαν οἱ συμπεφευγότες κακῶς ἀπήλλαττον. ἐπικηρυκευσαμένων δʼ αὐτῶν πρὸς τὸν Διονύσιον καὶ παρακαλούντων λύτρα πράξασθαι, οὐ μέτριος ἐν τοῖς εὐημερήμασι γενόμενος προσέταττεν ἀποθέσθαι τὰ ὅπλα καὶ σφᾶς αὐτοὺς ἐγχειρίσαι τῷ κρατοῦντι. σκληροῦ δὲ τοῦ προστάγματος ὄντος, μέχρι μέν τινος διεκαρτέρουν, ὡς δʼ ὑπὸ τῆς φυσικῆς ἀνάγκης κατεβαροῦντο, παρέδωκαν αὑτοὺς περὶ ὀγδόην ὥραν, ἤδη τὰ σώματα παρειμένοι. Διονύσιος δὲ λαβὼν ῥάβδον καὶ πατάξας ἐπὶ τοῦ ἐδάφους ἠρίθμει τοὺς καταβαίνοντας αἰχμαλώτους, ὄντας πλείους τῶν μυρίων. καὶ πάντων αὐτοῦ ὑποπτευόντων τὸ θηριῶδες, τοὐναντίον ἐφάνη πάντων ἐπιεικέστατος· τούς τε γὰρ αἰχμαλώτους ἀφῆκεν αὐτεξουσίους χωρὶς λύτρων καὶ πρὸς τὰς πλείστας τῶν πόλεων εἰρήνην συνθέμενος ἀφῆκεν αὐτονόμους. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτοις ἐπαίνου τυχὼν ὑπὸ τῶν εὖ παθόντων χρυσοῖς στεφάνοις ἐτιμήθη, καὶ σχεδὸν τοῦτʼ ἔδοξε πρᾶξειν ἐν τῷ ζῆν κάλλιστον.
Many were killed in their rout across the plain; but the main body made a safe retreat to a hill, which was strong enough to withstand a siege but had no water and could be easily contained by the enemy. Dionysius invested the hill and bivouacked under arms that day and through the night, giving careful attention to the watches. The next day the beleaguered suffered severely from the heat and lack of water. They then sent a herald to Dionysius inviting him to accept ransom; he, however, did not preserve moderation in his success but ordered them to lay down their arms and put themselves at the disposal of their conqueror. This was a harsh order and they held out for some time; but when they were overborne by physical necessity, they surrendered about the eighth hour, their bodies being now weakened.3 Dionysius took a staff and struck it on the ground while numbering the prisoners as they descended, and they amounted to more than ten thousand. All men were apprehensive of his brutality, but on the contrary he showed himself most kindly; 4 for he let the prisoners go subject to no authority without ransom, concluded peace with most of the cities, and left them independent. In return for this he received the approval of those he had favoured and was honoured with gold crowns; and men believed that this would probably be the finest act of his life.
§ 14.106
ἐπὶ δὲ Ῥήγιον ἀναζεύξαντος αὐτοῦ, καὶ μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως παρεσκευασμένου πολιορκεῖν διὰ τὴν περὶ τῆς ἐπιγαμίας ὕβριν, ἀγωνία πολλὴ κατεῖχε τοὺς Ῥηγίνους· οὔτε γὰρ συμμάχους οὔτε δύναμιν ἀξιόμαχον εἶχον, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις ᾔδεισαν ὅτι τῆς πόλεως ἁλούσης οὔτʼ ἔλεος οὔτε δέησις αὐτοῖς ἀπελείπετο. διόπερ ἔκριναν ἀποστεῖλαι πρέσβεις τοὺς δεησομένους μετρίως αὐτοῖς χρήσασθαι καὶ παρακαλέσαι μηδὲν περὶ αὐτῶν ὑπὲρ ἄνθρωπον βουλεύσασθαι. ὁ δὲ Διονύσιος τριακόσια τάλαντα πραξάμενος καὶ τὰς ναῦς ἁπάσας παραλαβὼν οὔσας ἑβδομήκοντα, προσέταξεν ἑκατὸν ὁμήρους δοῦναι δοθέντων δὲ πάντων ἀνέζευξεν ἐπὶ Καυλωνίαν. ταύτης δὲ τοὺς μὲν ἐνοικοῦντας εἰς Συρακούσας μετῴκισε καὶ πολιτείαν δοὺς πέντε ἔτη συνεχώρησεν ἀτελεῖς εἶναι, τὴν δὲ πόλιν κατασκάψας τοῖς Λοκροῖς τὴν χώραν τῶν Καυλωνιατῶν ἐδωρήσατο. Ῥωμαῖοι δὲ Λιφοίκουαν πόλιν ἐκ τοῦ τῶν Αἰκῶν ἔθνους ἑλόντες, κατὰ τὰς τῶν ὑπάτων εὐχὰς μέγαν ἀγῶνα τῷ Διὶ συνετέλεσαν.
Dionysius now advanced against Rhegium and prepared to lay siege to the city with his army because of the slight he had received in connection with his offer of marriage. Deep distress gripped the Rhegians, since they had neither allies nor an army that was a match for him in battle, and they knew, furthermore, that if the city were taken, neither pity nor entreaty would be left them. Therefore they decided to dispatch ambassadors to entreat him to deal moderately with them and to urge him to make no decision against them beyond what became a human being. Dionysius required three hundred talents of them, took all their ships, which amounted to seventy, and ordered the delivery of one hundred hostages. When all these had been turned over, he set out against Caulonia. The inhabitants of this city he transplanted to Syracuse, gave them citizenship, and allowed them exemption from taxes for five years; he then levelled the city to the ground and gave the territory of the Cauloniates to the Locrians. The Romans, after taking the city of Liphoecua from the people of the Aequi, held, in accordance with the vows of the consuls, great games in honour of Zeus.
§ 14.107
τοῦ δʼ ἔτους τούτου διεληλυθότος Ἀθήνησι μὲν ἦρχε Πυργίων, ἐν δὲ τῇ Ῥώμῃ τὴν ὕπατον ἀρχὴν μετέλαβον χιλίαρχοι τέσσαρες, Λεύκιος Λουκρήτιος, Σερούιος Σουλπίκιος, Γάιος Αἰμίλιος καὶ Γάιος Ῥοῦφος, Ὀλυμπιὰς δʼ ἤχθη ὀγδόη πρὸς ταῖς ἐνενήκοντα, καθʼ ἣν ἐνίκα Σώσιππος Ἀθηναῖος. τούτων δὲ τὴν ἀρχὴν παρειληφότων Διονύσιος ὁ τῶν Συρακοσίων δυνάστης πορευθεὶς εἰς Ἱππώνιον μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως, τοὺς μὲν κατοικοῦντας ἐν αὐτῇ μετῴκισεν εἰς τὰς Συρακούσας, τὴν δὲ πόλιν κατασκάψας τοῖς Λοκροῖς προσεμέρισε τὴν χώραν. κατὰ τὸ συνεχὲς γὰρ ἐφιλοτιμεῖτο τοὺς Λοκροὺς εὖ ποιεῖν διὰ τὴν συγχωρηθεῖσαν ἐπιγαμίαν· τοὺς δὲ Ῥηγίνους ἐπεθύμει τιμωρήσασθαι διὰ τὴν περὶ τῆς οἰκειότητος ἀδικίαν. καθʼ ὃν γὰρ καιρὸν ἀπέστειλε πρὸς αὐτοὺς πρέσβεις ἀξιῶν αὑτῷ συγχωρηθῆναι τῶν πολιτικῶν παρθένων γαμῆσαι, φασὶ τοὺς Ῥηγίνους ἀποκριθῆναι δημοσίᾳ τοῖς πρέσβεσιν, ὡς μόνην αὐτῷ συγχωρῆσαι γαμεῖν τὴν τοῦ δημίου θυγατέρα. διὰ τοῦτο βαρέως φέρων καὶ δοκῶν ὑπερβαλλόντως ὑβρίσθαι, πολὺς ἦν ἐπὶ τῇ κατʼ αὐτῶν τιμωρίᾳ. καὶ γὰρ ἐν τῷ πρότερον ἐνιαυτῷ τὴν εἰρήνην συνέθετο πρὸς αὐτοὺς οὐ τῆς φιλίας ὀρεγόμενος, ἀλλὰ τὴν ναυτικὴν δύναμιν παρελέσθαι βουλόμενος, οὖσαν τριήρων ἑβδομήκοντα· διελάμβανε γὰρ τῆς κατὰ θάλατταν βοηθείας ἀποκλεισθείσης ῥᾳδίως ἐκπολιορκήσειν τὴν πόλιν. διόπερ κατὰ τὴν Ἰταλίαν ἐνδιατρίβων ἐζήτει πρόφασιν εὔλογον, διʼ ἧς οὐ παρὰ τὴν ἀξίαν τὴν ἰδίαν δόξει λελυκέναι τὰς συνθήκας.
At the close of the year, in Athens Pyrgion was archon and in Rome four military tribunes took over the consular magistracy, Lucius Lucretius, Servius Sulpicius, Gaius Aemilius, and Gaius Rufus, and the Ninety-eighth Olympiad was celebrated, that in which Sosippus of Athens was the victor. When these men had entered office, Dionysius, the lord of the Syracusans, advanced with his army to Hipponium, removed its inhabitants to Syracuse, razed the city to the ground, and apportioned its territory to the Locrians. For he was continuously set upon doing the Locrians favours for the marriage they had agreed to, whereas he studied revenge upon the Rhegians for their affront with respect to the offer of kinship. For on the occasion when he sent ambassadors to them to ask them to grant him in marriage a maiden of their city, the Rhegians replied to the ambassadors by action of the people, we are told, that the only maiden they would agree to his marrying would be the daughter of their public executioner. Angered because of this and believing that he had been grossly insulted, he was bent on getting revenge upon them. Indeed the peace he had concluded with them in the preceding year had come from no hankering on his part for friendly relations, but was designed to strip them of their naval water, which consisted of seventy triremes. For he believed that if the city were cut off from aid by sea he could easily reduce it by siege. Consequently, while loitering in Italy, he kept seeking a plausible excuse whereby he might seem to have broken the truce without prejudice to his own standing.
§ 14.108
ἀγαγὼν οὖν πρὸς τὸν πορθμὸν τὰς δυνάμεις, τὰ πρὸς τὴν διάβασιν παρεσκευάζετο. καὶ πρῶτον μὲν ᾔτει τοὺς Ῥηγίνους ἀγοράς, ἐπαγγελλόμενος ταχέως τὰς δοθείσας ἀποστέλλειν ἐκ Συρακουσῶν. τοῦτο δʼ ἔπραττεν, ὅπως μὴ διδόντων μὲν αὐτῶν δικαίως δόξῃ τὴν πόλιν ἑλεῖν, δόντων δʼ ἐνόμιζεν ἐξαναλώσειν αὐτῶν τὸν σῖτον καὶ προσκαθίσας τὴν πόλιν διὰ τὴν σπάνιν ταχὺ κυριεύσειν αὐτῆς. οἱ δὲ Ῥηγῖνοι τούτων μὲν οὐδὲν ὑπονοοῦντες τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἐφʼ ἡμέρας τινὰς ἐχορήγουν τὰς τροφὰς λαμπρῶς· ὡς δὲ πλείονα χρόνον ἐνδιέτριβε, ποτὲ μὲν ἀρρωστίαν, ποτὲ δὲ ἄλλας προφάσεις ποριζόμενος, ὑπονοήσαντες αὐτοῦ τὴν ἐπιβολήν, οὐκέτι παρεῖχον τὰς τροφὰς τῷ στρατοπέδῳ. ὁ δὲ Διονύσιος ἐπὶ τούτῳ προσποιηθεὶς ἀγανακτεῖν, τοὺς μὲν ὁμήρους τοῖς Ῥηγίνοις ἀπέδωκε, τὴν δὲ πόλιν περιστρατοπεδεύσας καθʼ ἡμέραν προσβολὰς ἐποιεῖτο. κατεσκεύασε δὲ καὶ μηχανημάτων πολὺ πλῆθος ἀπίστων τοῖς μεγέθεσι, διʼ ὧν τὰ τείχη σαλεύων ἐφιλοτιμεῖτο κατὰ κράτος ἑλεῖν τὴν πόλιν. οἱ δὲ Ῥηγῖνοι στρατηγὸν ἑλόμενοι Φύτωνα, καὶ πάντας τοὺς ἐν ἡλικίᾳ καθοπλίσαντες, ταῖς τε φυλακαῖς ἐπιμελῶς ἐχρῶντο καὶ κατὰ τὰς εὐκαιρίας ἐξιόντες ἐνεπύριζον τὰς τῶν πολεμίων μηχανάς. οὗτοι μὲν οὖν πολλάκις ὑπὲρ τῆς πατρίδος λαμπρῶς ἀγωνιζόμενοι πρὸ τῶν τειχῶν, τήν τε τῶν πολεμίων ὀργὴν ἐξέκαυσαν καὶ πολλοὺς μὲν ἑαυτῶν ἀπέβαλον, οὐκ ὀλίγους δὲ καὶ τῶν Σικελιωτῶν ἀνεῖλον. καὶ αὐτὸν δὲ τὸν Διονύσιον συνέβη λόγχῃ πληγέντα παρὰ τὸν βουβῶνα παρʼ ὀλίγον μὲν τελευτῆσαι, μόγις δὲ αὑτὸν ἀναλαβεῖν ἐκ τοῦ τραύματος. χρονιζούσης δὲ τῆς πολιορκίας διὰ τὸ τοὺς Ῥηγίνους ἀνυπέρβλητον εἰσφέρεσθαι σπουδὴν ὑπὲρ τῆς ἐλευθερίας, Διονύσιος τὰς μὲν δυνάμεις συνεῖχεν ἐν ταῖς καθʼ ἡμέραν προσβολαῖς καὶ τὴν ἐξ ἀρχῆς πρόθεσιν οὐκ ἐγκατέλειπεν.
Dionysius now led his forces to the Strait and made preparations to cross over. And first he asked the Rhegians to provide him with supplies for sale, promising that he would promptly return from Syracuse what they had given. He made this request in order that men should think that, if they did not provide the food, he would be justified in seizing the city, whereas if they did, he believed their food would run out and by sitting down before the city he would speedily master it by starvation. The Rhegians, suspecting nothing of this, at first supplied them lavishly with food for several days; but when he kept extending his stay, at one time claiming illness and at another offering other excuses, they suspected what he had in mind and no longer furnished his army with supplies. Dionysius, pretending now to be angered at this, returned the hostages to the Rhegians, laid siege to the city, and launched daily assaults upon it. He also constructed a great multitude of siege weapons of unbelievable size by which he rocked the walls in his determination to take the city by storm. The Rhegians chose Phyton as general, armed all who could bear arms, gave close concern to their watches, and, as opportunity arose, sallied out and burned the enemy's siege engines. Fighting brilliantly as they did for their fatherland on many occasions before the walls, they roused the anger of the enemy, and although they lost many of their own troops, they also slew no small number of the Sicilian Greeks. And it happened that Dionysius himself was struck by a lance in the groin and barely escaped death, recovering with difficulty from the wound. The siege wore on because of unsurpassable zeal the Rhegians displayed to maintain their freedom; but Dionysius held his armaments to the daily assaults and would not give up the task he had originally proposed to himself.
§ 14.109
τῶν δʼ Ὀλυμπίων ἐγγὺς ὄντων ἀπέστειλεν εἰς τὸν ἀγῶνα τέθριππα πλείω, διαφέροντα πολὺ τῶν ἄλλων τοῖς τάχεσι, καὶ σκηνὰς εἰς τὴν πανήγυριν διαχρύσους καὶ πολυτελέσι ποικίλοις ἱματίοις κεκοσμημένας. ἔπεμψε δὲ καὶ ῥαψῳδοὺς τοὺς κρατίστους, ὅπως ἐν τῇ πανηγύρει τὰ ποιήματα αὐτοῦ προφερόμενοι ποιήσωσιν ἔνδοξον τὸν Διονύσιον· σφόδρα γὰρ εἰς τὴν ποιητικὴν ὑπῆρχε μεμηνώς. τούτων δʼ ἐπιμελητὴν συνεξέπεμψε Θεαρίδην τὸν ἀδελφόν· ὃς ἐπεὶ παρεγένετο εἰς τὴν πανήγυριν, ἐπὶ μὲν τῷ κάλλει τῶν σκηνῶν καὶ τῷ πλήθει τῶν τεθρίππων ἦν περίβλεπτος· ὡς δʼ ἐπεβάλονθʼ οἱ ῥαψῳδοὶ προφέρεσθαι τοῦ Διονυσίου τὰ ποιήματα, κατʼ ἀρχὰς μὲν διὰ τὴν εὐφωνίαν τῶν ὑποκριτῶν συνέδραμε τὰ πλήθη καὶ πάντες ἐθαύμαζον· μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ἀναθεωροῦντες τὴν κακίαν τῶν ποιημάτων, διεγέλων τὸν Διονύσιον καὶ κατεγίνωσκον ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον, ὥστε τινὰς τολμῆσαι διαρπάζειν τὰς σκηνάς. καὶ γὰρ Λυσίας ὁ ῥήτωρ τότε διατρίβων ἐν Ὀλυμπίᾳ προετρέπετο τὰ πλήθη μὴ προσδέχεσθαι τοῖς ἱεροῖς ἀγῶσι τοὺς ἐξ ἀσεβεστάτης τυραννίδος ἀπεσταλμένους θεωρούς· ὅτε καὶ τὸν Ὀλυμπιακὸν λόγον ἐπιγραφόμενον ἀνέγνω. τοῦ δʼ ἀγῶνος συντελουμένου συνέβη κατὰ τύχην τῶν Διονυσίου τεθρίππων τὰ μὲν ἐκπεσεῖν ἐκ τοῦ δρόμου, τὰ δʼ ἀλλήλοις ἐμπεσόντα συντριβῆναι, παραπλησίως δὲ καὶ τὴν παρακομίζουσαν ναῦν τοὺς θεωροὺς ἀπὸ τῶν ἀγώνων ἀναχθεῖσαν εἰς τὴν Σικελίαν ἐκπεσεῖν τῆς Ἰταλίας εἰς Τάραντα διά τινας χειμῶνας. διὸ καί φασι σωθέντας τοὺς ναύτας εἰς Συρακούσας διαγγέλλειν κατὰ τὴν πόλιν, ὅτι διὰ τὴν κακίαν τῶν ποιημάτων οὐ μόνον οἱ ῥαψῳδοῦντες, ἀλλὰ σὺν τούτοις τά τε τέθριππα καὶ ἡ ναῦς ἐξέπεσον. ὁ δὲ Διονύσιος πυθόμενος τὸν τῶν ποιημάτων διασυρμόν, καὶ τῶν κολάκων λεγόντων ὅτι πᾶσι τοῖς καλῶς πραττομένοις φθονοῦντες ἐξ ὑστέρου θαυμάζουσιν, οὐκ ἀφίστατο τῆς περὶ τὴν ποίησιν σπουδῆς. Ῥωμαῖοι δὲ πρὸς Οὐολσινίτας περὶ Γουράσιον παραταξάμενοι πολλοὺς τῶν πολεμίων ἀνεῖλον.
The Olympic Games were at hand and Dionysius dispatched to the contest several four-horse teams, which far surpassed all others in swiftness, and also pavilions for the festive occasion, which were interwoven with gold and embellished with expensive cloth of gay and varied colours. He also sent the best professional reciters that they might present his poems in the gathering and thus win glory for the name of Dionysius, for he was madly addicted to poetry. In charge of all this he sent along his brother Thearides. When Thearides arrived at the gathering, he was a centre of attraction for the beauty of the pavilions and the large number of four-horse teams; and when the reciters began to present the poems of Dionysius, at first the multitude thronged together because of the pleasing voices of the actors and all were filled with wonder. But on second consideration, when they observed how poor his verses were, they laughed Dionysius to scorn and went so far to their rejection that some of them even ventured to rifle the tents. Indeed the orator Lysias, who was at that time in Olympia urged the multitude not to admit to the sacred festival the representatives from a most impious tyranny; and at this time he delivered his Olympiacus. In the course of the contest chance brought it about that some of Dionysius' chariots left the course and others collided among themselves and were wrecked. Likewise the ship which was on its way to Sicily carrying the representatives from the games was wrecked by strong winds near Taras in Italy. Consequently the sailors who got safe to Syracuse spread the story throughout the city, we are told, that the badness of the verses caused the ill-success, not only of the reciters, but of the teams and of the ship with them. When Dionysius learned of the ridicule that had been heaped upon his verses, his flatterers told him that every fair accomplishment is first an object of envy and then of admiration. He therefore did not give up his devotion to writing. The Romans fought a battle at Gurasium with the Volscians and slew great numbers of the enemy.
§ 14.110
τούτων δὲ πραχθέντων ὁ μὲν ἐνιαύσιος χρόνος παρεληλύθει, παρὰ δὲ τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις ἦρχε Θεόδοτος, ἐν δὲ τῇ Ῥώμῃ τὴν ὑπατικὴν ἀρχὴν εἶχον χιλίαρχοι ἕξ, Κόιντος Καίσων Σουλπίκιος, Αἶνος Καίσων Φάβιος, Κόιντος Σερουίλιος, Πόπλιος Κορνήλιος. τούτων δὲ τὴν ἀρχὴν παρειληφότων Λακεδαιμόνιοι κακοπαθοῦντες τῷ πολέμῳ τῷ τε πρὸς τοὺς Ἕλληνας καὶ τῷ πρὸς τοὺς Πέρσας, Ἀνταλκίδαν τὸν ναύαρχον ἐξαπέστειλαν πρὸς Ἀρταξέρξην ὑπὲρ εἰρήνης. διαλεχθέντος δʼ αὐτοῦ περὶ ὧν ἦν ἀπεσταλμένος ἐνδεχομένως, ὁ βασιλεὺς ἔφησεν ἐπὶ τοῖσδε ποιήσασθαι τὴν εἰρήνην· τὰς μὲν κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν Ἑλληνίδας πόλεις ὑπὸ βασιλέα τετάχθαι, τοὺς δʼ ἄλλους Ἕλληνας ἅπαντας αὐτονόμους εἶναι· τοῖς δὲ ἀπειθοῦσι καὶ μὴ προσδεχομένοις τὰς συνθήκας διὰ τῶν εὐδοκούντων πολεμήσειν. οἱ μὲν οὖν Λακεδαιμόνιοι τούτοις εὐδοκήσαντες ἡσυχίαν ἦγον, Ἀθηναῖοι δὲ καὶ Θηβαῖοι καί τινες ἕτεροι τῶν Ἑλλήνων βαρέως ἔφερον ἐπὶ τῷ τὰς κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν πόλεις ἐγκαταλελεῖφθαι· καθʼ αὑτοὺς δὲ οὐκ ὄντες ἀξιόμαχοι, κατʼ ἀνάγκην συνεχώρησαν καὶ προσεδέξαντο τὴν εἰρήνην. καὶ ὁ μὲν βασιλεὺς διαλυθείσης τῆς πρὸς τοὺς Ἕλληνας διαφορᾶς παρεσκευάζετο τὰς δυνάμεις εἰς τὸν Κυπριακὸν πόλεμον· ὁ γὰρ Εὐαγόρας σχεδὸν ὅλην τὴν Κύπρον ἦν κεκτημένος καὶ δυνάμεις ἁδρὰς συνηθροίκει διὰ τὸ τὸν Ἀρταξέρξην τῷ πρὸς τοὺς Ἕλληνας πολέμῳ διεσπάσθαι.
At the conclusion of these events the year came to an end, and among the Athenians Theodotus was archon and in Rome the consular my was held by six military tribunes, Quintus Caeso Sulpicius, Aenus Caeso Fabius, Quintus Servilius, and Publius Cornelius. After these men had entered office, the Lacedemonians, who were hard put to it by their double war, that against the Greeks and that against the Persians, dispatched their admiral Antalcidas to Artaxerxes to treat for peace.3 Antalcidas discussed as well as he could the circumstances of the mission and the King agreed to make peace on the following terms: "The Greek cities of Asia are subject to the King, but all the other Greeks shall be independent; and upon those who refuse compliance and do not accept these terms I shall make war through the aid of those who consent to them." 4 Now the Lacedemonians consented to the terms and offered no opposition, but the Athenians and Thebans and some of the other Greeks were deeply concerned that the cities of Asia should be left in the lurch. But since they were not by themselves a match in war, they consented of necessity and accepted the peace. 5 The King, now that his difference with the Greeks was settled, made ready his armaments for the war great Cyprus. For Evagoras had got possession of almost the whole of Cyprus and gathered strong armaments, because Artaxerxes was distracted by the war against the Greeks.
§ 14.111
Διονυσίου δὲ σχεδὸν ἑνδέκατον μῆνα Ῥήγιον πολιορκοῦντος καὶ τὰς πανταχόθεν βοηθείας ἀποκεκλεικότος, εἰς δεινὴν σπάνιν τῶν ἀναγκαίων οἱ κατὰ τὴν πόλιν παρεγενήθησαν· φασὶ γὰρ παρὰ τοῖς Ῥηγίνοις κατʼ ἐκεῖνον τὸν καιρὸν πέντε μνῶν γενέσθαι τὸν μέδιμνον τοῦ σίτου. καταπονούμενοι δὲ τῇ σιτοδείᾳ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον τούς τε ἵππους καὶ τἄλλα ὑποζύγια κατέφαγον, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα δέρματα καθέψοντες ἐσιτοῦντο, τὸ δὲ τελευταῖον ἐκ τῆς πόλεως ἐξιόντες τὴν πρὸς τοῖς τείχεσι βοτάνην ἤσθιον καθαπερεί τινα θρέμματα· οὕτως ἡ τῆς φύσεως ἀνάγκη τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην δίαιταν εἰς ἀλόγων ζῴων τροφὰς καταφυγεῖν ἐβιάζετο. ὁ δὲ Διονύσιος πυθόμενος τὸ γινόμενον, οὐχ ὅπως ἠλέησε τοὺς ὑπὲρ ἄνθρωπον πάσχειν ἀναγκαζομένους, ἀλλὰ πᾶν τοὐναντίον ἐπαγαγὼν ζεύγη εἷλε τὴν πόαν τοῦ τόπου, ὥστε τὴν ὕλην ἅπασαν ἀφανισθῆναι. διόπερ ταῖς ὑπερβολαῖς τῶν κακῶν νικώμενοι παρέδωκαν τὴν πόλιν οἱ Ῥηγῖνοι τῷ τυράννῳ, τὴν πᾶσαν καθʼ αὐτῶν ἐπιτρέψαντες ἐξουσίαν. ὁ δὲ Διονύσιος κατὰ μὲν τὴν πόλιν εὗρε σωροὺς νεκρῶν, οἳ διὰ τὴν ἔνδειαν τῆς τροφῆς ἐτετελευτήκεισαν· καὶ τοὺς ζῶντας δὲ νεκρῶν ἔχοντας διάθεσιν καὶ παρειμένους τὰ σώματα καταλαβών, ἤθροισεν αἰχμαλώτους πλείους τῶν ἑξακισχιλίων. τὸ μὲν οὖν πλῆθος ἀποστείλας εἰς Συρακούσας ἐκέλευσε τοὺς δόντας ἀργυρίου μνᾶν ἀπολυτροῦσθαι, τοὺς δʼ εὐπορῆσαι μὴ δυνηθέντας ἐλαφυροπώλησε.
It was about the eleventh month of Dionysius's siege of Rhegium, and since he had cut off relief from every direction, the inhabitants of the city were faced by a terrible dearth of the necessities of life. We are told, indeed, that at the time a medimnus of wheat among the Rhegians cost five minas. So reduced were they by lack of food that at first they ate their horses and other beasts of burden, then fed upon boiled skins and leather, and finally they would go out from the city and eat the grass near the walls like so many cattle. To such an extent did the demand of nature compel the wants of man to turn for their satisfaction to the food of dumb animals. When Dionysius learned what was taking place, far from showing mercy to those who were perforce suffering beyond man's endurance, on the contrary he brought in cattle to clear the place of the green-stuff, with the result that it was completely stripped. Consequently the Rhegians, overcome by their excessive hardships, surrendered their city to the tyrant, giving him complete power over their lives. Within the city Dionysius found heaps of dead who had perished from lack of food, and the living too whom he captured were like dead men and weakened in body. He got together more than six thousand captives and the multitude he sent off to Syracuse with orders that those who could pay as ransom a mina of silver should be freed, but to sell as slaves those who were unable to raise that sum.
§ 14.112
Φύτωνα δὲ τὸν τῶν Ῥηγίνων στρατηγὸν συλλαβών, τὸν μὲν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ κατεπόντισεν, αὐτὸν δὲ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἔδησε πρὸς τὰς ὑψηλοτάτας μηχανάς, οἱονεὶ τραγικήν τινα τιμωρίαν λαμβάνων, προσέπεμψε δέ τινα τῶν ὑπηρετῶν ἐροῦντα πρὸς αὐτόν, ὡς ἐχθὲς αὐτοῦ τὸν υἱὸν Διονύσιος κατεπόντισε· πρὸς ὃν εἶπε Φύτων, διότι γέγονεν εὐτυχέστερος τοῦ πατρὸς ἡμέρᾳ μιᾷ. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα περιῆγεν αὐτὸν Διονύσιος τὴν πόλιν μαστίζων καὶ κατὰ πάντα τρόπον αἰκιζόμενος, ἅμα κήρυκος συνακολουθοῦντος ὅτι τὸν ἄνδρα Διονύσιος τιμωρεῖται παρηλλαγμένως, ὅτι τὴν πόλιν ἔπεισεν ἑλέσθαι τὸν πόλεμον. ὁ δὲ Φύτων κατὰ τὴν πολιορκίαν στρατηγὸς ἀγαθὸς γεγενημένος καὶ κατὰ τὸν ἄλλον βίον ἐπαινούμενος, οὐκ ἀγεννῶς ὑπέμενε τὴν ἐπὶ τῆς τελευτῆς τιμωρίαν, ἀλλʼ ἀκατάπληκτον τὴν ψυχὴν φυλάξας καὶ βοῶν ὅτι τὴν πόλιν οὐ βουληθεὶς προδοῦναι Διονυσίῳ τυγχάνει τῆς τιμωρίας, ἣν αὐτῷ τὸ δαιμόνιον ἐκείνῳ συντόμως ἐπιστήσει· ὥστε τὴν ἀρετὴν τἀνδρὸς καὶ παρὰ τοῖς στρατιώταις τοῦ Διονυσίου κατελεεῖσθαι καί τινας ἤδη θορυβεῖν. ὁ δὲ Διονύσιος εὐλαβηθείς, μή τινες τῶν στρατιωτῶν ἀποτολμήσωσιν ἐξαρπάζειν τὸν Φύτωνα, παυσάμενος τῆς τιμωρίας κατεπόντισε τὸν ἀτυχῆ μετὰ τῆς συγγενείας. οὗτος μὲν οὖν ἀναξίως τῆς ἀρετῆς ἐκνόμοις περιέπεσε τιμωρίαις, καὶ πολλοὺς ἔσχε καὶ τότε τῶν Ἑλλήνων τοὺς ἀλγήσαντας τὴν συμφορὰν καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα ποιητὰς τοὺς θρηνήσαντας τὸ τῆς περιπετείας ἐλεεινόν.
Dionysius seized Phyton, the general of the Rhegians, and drowned his son in the sea, but Phyton himself he at first bound on his loftiest siege engines, wreaking a vengeance upon him such as is to be seen upon the stage of tragedy. He also sent one of his servants to tell him that Dionysius had drowned his son in the sea the day before; to whom Phyton replied, "He has been more fortunate than his father by one day." After this Dionysius had him led about the city under flogging and subjected to every indignity, a herald accompanying him and announcing that Dionysius was inflicting this unusual vengeance upon the man because he had persuaded the city to undertake the war. But Phyton, who had shown himself a brave general during the siege and had won approval for all his other qualities, endured his mortal punishment with no low-born spirit. Rather he preserved his spirit undaunted and cried out that he was punished because he would not betray the city to Dionysius, and that heaven would soon visit such punishment upon Dionysius himself. The courage of the man aroused sympathy even among the soldiers of Dionysius, and some of them began to protest. Dionysius, fearing that some of the soldiers might make bold to snatch Phyton out of his hands, ceased to punish him and drowned the unfortunate man at sea together with his near of kin. So this man suffered monstrous tortures unworthy of his merits. He won many of the Greeks to grieve for him at the time and many poets to lament the sad story of his reversal of fortune thereafter.
§ 14.113
καθʼ ὃν δὲ καιρὸν μάλιστα Ῥήγιον ἐπολιόρκει Διονύσιος, οἱ κατοικοῦντες τὰ πέραν τῶν Ἄλπεων Κελτοὶ τὰ στενὰ διελθόντες μεγάλαις δυνάμεσι κατελάβοντο τὴν μεταξὺ χώραν τοῦ τε Ἀπεννίνου καὶ τῶν Ἄλπεων ὀρῶν, ἐκβάλλοντες τοὺς κατοικοῦντας Τυρρηνούς. τούτους δʼ ἔνιοί φασιν ἀπὸ τῶν ἐν Τυρρηνίᾳ δώδεκα πόλεων ἀποικισθῆναι· τινὲς δέ φασι Πελασγοὺς πρὸ τῶν Τρωικῶν ἐκ Θετταλίας φυγόντας τὸν ἐπὶ Δευκαλίωνος γενόμενον κατακλυσμὸν ἐν τούτῳ τῷ τόπῳ κατοικῆσαι. τῶν οὖν Κελτῶν κατʼ ἔθνη διελομένων τὴν χώραν, οἱ καλούμενοι Σέννωνες ἔτυχον λαβόντες τὸν πορρωτάτω κείμενον τόπον τῶν ὀρῶν παρὰ θάλατταν. ὄντος δʼ αὐτοῦ καυματώδους, δυσθετοῦντες ἔσπευδον μετοικῆσαι, καὶ τοὺς νεωτέρους καθοπλίσαντες ἀπέστειλαν ζητεῖν χώραν, ἐν ᾗ κατοικήσουσιν. εἰσβαλόντες οὖν εἰς Τυρρηνίαν, καὶ τὸν ἀριθμὸν ὄντες περὶ τρισμυρίους, τὴν τῶν Κλουσίνων χώραν ἐπόρθουν. καθʼ ὃν δὴ χρόνον ὁ δῆμος ὁ τῶν Ῥωμαίων πρέσβεις ἀπέστειλεν εἰς Τυρρηνίαν τοὺς κατασκεψομένους τὴν στρατιὰν τῶν Κελτῶν. παραγενόμενοι δὲ οἱ πρέσβεις εἰς Κλούσιον καὶ θεωρήσαντες παράταξιν γενομένην, ἀνδρειότεροι μᾶλλον ἢ φρονιμώτεροι γενηθέντες παρετάξαντο τοῖς Κλουσίνοις πρὸς τοὺς πολιορκοῦντας. εὐημερήσαντος δὲ θατέρου τῶν πρεσβευτῶν καί τινα τῶν ἐνδοξοτέρων ἐπάρχων ἀποκτείναντος, γνόντες οἱ Κελτοὶ τὸ γεγονὸς εἰς Ῥώμην πρέσβεις ἀπέστειλαν τοὺς ἐξαιτήσοντας τὸν πρεσβευτὴν τὸν ἀδίκου πολέμου προκαταρξάμενον. ἡ δὲ γερουσία τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἔπειθε τοὺς πρεσβευτὰς τῶν Κελτῶν χρήματα λαβεῖν περὶ τῶν ἠδικημένων· ὡς δʼ οὐ προσεῖχον, ἐψηφίσαντο παραδοῦναι τὸν κατηγορούμενον. ὁ δὲ πατὴρ τοῦ μέλλοντος παραδίδοσθαι, τῶν χιλιάρχων εἷς ὢν τῶν τὴν ὑπατικὴν ἐξουσίαν ἐχόντων, προεκαλέσατο τὴν δίκην ἐπὶ τὸν δῆμον, καὶ δυνατὸς ὢν ἐπὶ τοῖς πλήθεσιν ἔπεισεν ἄκυρον ποιῆσαι τὴν κρίσιν τῆς συγκλήτου. ὁ μὲν οὖν δῆμος ἐν τοῖς ἔμπροσθεν χρόνοις πάντα πειθόμενος τῇ γερουσίᾳ, τότε πρῶτον ἤρξατο διαλύειν τὸ κριθὲν ὑπὸ τῆς συγκλήτου.
At the time that Dionysius was besieging Rhegium, the Celts who had their homes in the regions beyond the Alps streamed through the passes in great strength and seized the territory that lay between the Apennine mountains and the Alps, expelling the Tyrrhenians who dwelt there. These, according to some, were colonists from the twelve cities of Tyrrhenia; but others state that before the Trojan War Pelasgians fled from Thessaly to escape the flood of Deucalion's time and settled in this region. Now it happened, when the Celts divided up the territory by tribes, that those known as the Sennones received the area which lay farthest from the mountains and along the sea. But since this region was scorching hot, they were distressed and eager to move; hence they armed their younger men and sent them out to seek a territory where they might settle. Now they invaded Tyrrhenia, and being in number some thirty thousand they sacked the territory of the Clusini. At this very time the Roman people sent ambassadors into Tyrrhenia to spy out the army of the Celts. The ambassadors arrived at Clusium, and when they saw that a battle had been joined, with more valour than wisdom they joined the men of Clusium against their besiegers, and one of the ambassadors was successful in killing a rather important commander. When the Celts learned of this, they dispatched ambassadors to Rome to demand the person of the envoy who had thus commenced an unjust war. The senate at first sought to persuade the envoys of the Celts to accept money in satisfaction of the injury, but when they would not consider this, it voted to surrender the accused. But the father of the man to be surrendered, who was also one of the military tribunes with consular power, appealed the judgement to the people, and since he was a man of influence among the masses, he persuaded them to void the decision of the senate. Now in the times previous to this the people had followed the senate in all matters; with this occasion they first began to rescind decisions of that body.
§ 14.114
οἱ δὲ τῶν Κελτῶν πρέσβεις παραγενηθέντες εἰς τὸ σφέτερον στρατόπεδον ἀπήγγειλαν τὴν τῶν Ῥωμαίων ἀπόκρισιν. ἐφʼ ᾗ μεγάλως ἀγανακτήσαντες, καὶ προσλαβόμενοι παρὰ τῶν ὁμοεθνῶν δύναμιν, ἐπʼ αὐτὴν ἠπείγοντο τὴν Ῥώμην, ὄντες πλείους τῶν ἑπτακισμυρίων. οἱ δὲ χιλίαρχοι τῶν Ῥωμαίων ἐπὶ τῆς ἰδίας ἐξουσίας ὄντες, καὶ τὴν τῶν Κελτῶν ἔφοδον ἀκούοντες, ἅπαντας τοὺς ἐν ἡλικίᾳ καθώπλισαν. ἐξελθόντες δὲ πανδημεὶ καὶ διαβάντες τὸν Τίβεριν παρὰ τὸν ποταμὸν ἤγαγον τὴν δύναμιν σταδίους ὀγδοήκοντα, καὶ τῶν Γαλατῶν ἀπαγγελλομένων προσιέναι διέταττον τὸ στρατόπεδον. τοὺς μὲν οὖν ἀνδρειοτάτους δισμυρίους καὶ τετρακισχιλίους ἀπὸ τοῦ ποταμοῦ μέχρι τῶν λόφων διέταξαν, ἐπὶ δὲ τῶν ὑψηλοτάτων λόφων τοὺς ἀσθενεστάτους ἔστησαν. οἱ δὲ Κελτοί, μακρὰν τὴν φάλαγγα παρεκτείνοντες, εἴτε κατὰ τύχην εἴτε κατὰ πρόνοιαν τοὺς ἀρίστους ἔστησαν ἐπὶ τῶν λόφων. ἅμα δʼ αἱ σάλπιγγες παρʼ ἀμφοτέροις ἐσήμαινον καὶ τὰ στρατόπεδα συνῄεσαν εἰς μάχην μετὰ πολλῆς κραυγῆς. οἱ δʼ ἐπίλεκτοι τῶν Κελτῶν ἀντιτεταγμένοι τοῖς ἀσθενεστάτοις τῶν Ῥωμαίων ῥᾳδίως αὐτοὺς ἀπὸ τῶν λόφων ἐτρέψαντο. διόπερ τούτων ἀθρόων φευγόντων πρὸς τοὺς ἐν τῷ πεδίῳ Ῥωμαίους, αἵ τε τάξεις ἐπεταράττοντο καὶ τῶν Κελτῶν ἐπικειμένων καταπλαγέντες ἔφευγον. τῶν δὲ πλείστων παρὰ τὸν ποταμὸν ὁρμησάντων καὶ διὰ τὴν ταραχὴν ἀλλήλοις ἐμπιπτόντων, οὐχ ὑστέρουν οἱ Κελτοὶ τοὺς ἐσχάτους ἀεὶ φονεύοντες· διὸ καὶ τὸ πεδίον ἅπαν νεκρῶν κατεστρώθη. τῶν δὲ φευγόντων ἐπὶ τὸν ποταμὸν οἱ μὲν ἀνδρειότατοι μετὰ τῶν ὅπλων διενήχοντο, τὴν πανοπλίαν ἐν ἴσῳ καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν προτιμῶντες· σφοδροῦ δὲ τοῦ ῥεύματος ὄντος, τινὲς μὲν ὑπὸ τοῦ βάρους τῶν ὅπλων καταδυόμενοι διεφθείροντο, τινὲς δὲ μετὰ πολλῆς κακοπαθείας ἐφʼ ἱκανὸν διάστημα παρενεχθέντες μόγις ἐσώθησαν. ἐπικειμένων δὲ τῶν πολεμίων καὶ παρὰ τὸν ποταμὸν πολλοὺς ἀναιρούντων, οἱ πλεῖστοι τῶν ὑπολειπομένων ῥιπτοῦντες τὰ ὅπλα διενήχοντο τὸν Τίβεριν.
The ambassadors of the Celts returned to their camp and reported the reply of the Romans. At this they were greatly angered and, adding an army from their fellow tribesmen, they marched swiftly upon Rome itself, numbering more than seventy thousand men. The military tribunes of the Romans, exercising their special power, when they heard of the advance of the Celts, armed all the men of military age. They then marched out in full force and, crossing the Tiber, led their troops for eighty stades along the river; and at news of the approach of the Galatians they drew up the army for battle. Their best troops, to the number of twenty-four thousand, they set in a line from the river as far as the hills and on the highest hills they stationed the weakest. The Celts deployed their troops in a long line and, whether by fortune or design, stationed their choicest troops on the hills. The trumpets on both sides sounded the charge at the same time and the armies joined in battle with great clamour. The elite troops of the Celts, who were opposed to the weakest soldiers of the Romans, easily drove them from the hills. Consequently, as these fled in masses to the Romans on the plain, the ranks were thrown into confusion and fled in dismay before the attack of the Celts. Since the bulk of the Romans fled along the river and impeded one another by reason of their disorder, the Celts were not behind-hand in slaying again and again those who were last in line. Hence the entire plain was strewn with dead. Of the men who fled to the river the bravest attempted to swim across with their arms, prizing their armour as highly as their lives; but since the stream ran strong, some of them were borne down to their death by the weight of the arms, and some, after being carried along for some distance, finally and after great effort got off safe. But since the enemy pressed them hard and was making a great slaughter along the river, most of the survivors threw away their arms and swam across the Tiber.
§ 14.115
οἱ δὲ Κελτοί, πολλοὺς καὶ παρʼ αὐτὸν τὸν ποταμὸν ἀνῃρηκότες, οὐδʼ οὕτως ἀφίσταντο τῆς φιλοτιμίας, ἀλλʼ ἐπὶ τοὺς διανηχομένους ἠκόντιζον. καὶ πολλῶν βελῶν ἀφιεμένων εἰς ἀθρόους τοὺς ἐν τῷ ποταμῷ, συνέβαινε μὴ διαμαρτάνειν τοὺς βάλλοντας. ὅθεν οἱ μὲν καιρίαις περιπεσόντες πληγαῖς εὐθέως ἐτελεύτων, οἱ δὲ κατατραυματιζόμενοι καὶ διὰ τὴν περὶ τὸ αἷμα ῥύσιν καὶ σφοδρότητα τοῦ ῥεύματος ἐκλυόμενοι παρεφέροντο. τοιαύτης δὲ συμφορᾶς γενομένης περὶ τοὺς Ῥωμαίους, οἱ μὲν πλεῖστοι τῶν διασωθέντων πόλιν Βηίους κατελάβοντο, προσφάτως ὑφʼ ἑαυτῶν κατεσκαμμένην, καὶ τόν τε τόπον ὠχύρουν κατὰ τὸ δυνατὸν καὶ τοὺς ἐκ τῆς φυγῆς σωζομένους ἀνελάμβανον· ὀλίγοι δὲ τῶν διανηξαμένων ἄνοπλοι φυγόντες εἰς Ῥώμηνἀπήγγειλαν πάντας ἀπολωλέναι. τηλικούτων δʼ ἀτυχημάτων ἠγγελμένων τοῖς ἐν τῇ πόλει καταλελειμμένοις, εἰς ἀπορίαν ἅπαντες ἐνέπιπτον· ἀνθίστασθαι μὲν γὰρ ἀδύνατον εἶναι διελάμβανον, ἁπάντων τῶν νέων ἀπολωλότων, φεύγειν δὲ μετὰ τέκνων καὶ γυναικῶν ἐπικίνδυνον ἦν λίαν, τῶν πολεμίων ἐγγὺς ὑπαρχόντων. πολλοὶ μὲν οὖν τῶν ἰδιωτῶν πανοίκιοι πρὸς τὰς ἀστυγείτονας πόλεις ἔφευγον, οἱ δʼ ἄρχοντες τῆς πόλεως παραθαρσύνοντες τὰ πλήθη προσέταττον ταχέως ἐπὶ τὸ Καπετώλιον τόν τε σῖτον καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ τῶν ἀναγκαίων ἀποκομίζειν. οὗ γενηθέντος ἔγεμεν ἡ τʼ ἀκρόπολις καὶ τὸ Καπετώλιον χωρὶς τῶν εἰς τροφὴν ἀνηκόντων ἀργυρίου τε καὶ χρυσίου καὶ τῆς πολυτελεστάτης ἐσθῆτος, ὡς ἂν ἐξ ὅλης τῆς πόλεως εἰς ἕνα τόπον τῶν ἀγαθῶν συνηθροισμένων. οὗτοι μὲν οὖν τὰ δυνατὰ τῶν χρημάτων μετεκόμιζον καὶ τὸν προειρημένον τόπον ὠχύρουν, ἀναστροφὴν ἔχοντες τρεῖς ἡμέρας. οἱ γὰρ Κελτοὶ τὴν μὲν πρώτην ἡμέραν διετέλεσαν ἀποκόπτοντες τὰς κεφαλὰς τῶν τετελευτηκότων κατὰ τὸ πάτριον ἔθος· τὰς δὲ δύο παρὰ τὴν πόλιν στρατοπεδεύοντες, καὶ τὰ μὲν τείχη θεωροῦντες ἔρημα, κραυγὴν δὲ αἰσθόμενοι γινομένην, ἣν ἐποίουν οἱ τὰ χρησιμώτατα μεταφέροντες εἰς τὴν ἀκρόπολιν, ὑπελάμβανον ἐνεδρεύειν ἑαυτοῖς τοὺς Ῥωμαίους. τῇ τετάρτῃ δʼ ἡμέρᾳ γνόντες τὴν ἀλήθειαν, τάς τε πύλας ἐξέκοψαν καὶ τὴν πόλιν ἐλυμαίνοντο, χωρὶς ὀλίγων οἰκιῶν ἐν τῷ Παλατίῳ. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα προσβολὰς ποιούμενοι καθʼ ἡμέραν πρὸς ὀχυροὺς τόπους, οὐθὲν μὲν ἀξιόλογον ἔβλαπτον τοὺς ὑπεναντίους, ἑαυτῶν δὲ πολλοὺς ἀπέβαλλον· ὅμως δʼ οὐκ ἀφίσταντο τῆς φιλοτιμίας, ἐλπίζοντες, ἐὰν μὴ βίᾳ κρατήσωσι, τῷ γε χρόνῳ πάντως τῶν ἀναγκαίων ἐκλιπόντων καταπονήσειν.
The Celts, though they had slain great numbers on the bank of the river, nevertheless did not desist from the zest for glory but showered javelins upon the swimmers; and since many missiles were hurled and men were massed in the river, those who threw did not miss their mark. So it was that some died at once from mortal blows, and others, who were wounded only, were carried off unconscious because of loss of blood and the swift current. When such disaster befell, the greater part of the Romans who escaped occupied the city of Veii, which had lately been razed by them, fortified the place as well as they could, and received the survivors of the rout. A few of those who had swum the river fled without their arms to Rome and reported that the whole army had perished. When word of such misfortunes as we have described was brought to those who had been left behind in the city, everyone fell into despair; for they saw no possibility of resistance, now that all their youth had perished, and to flee with their children and wives was fraught with the greatest danger since the enemy were close at hand. Now many private citizens fled with their households to neighbouring cities, but the city magistrates, encouraging the populace, issued orders for them to bring speedily to the Capitoline grain and every other necessity. When this had been done, both the acropolis and the Capitoline were stored not only with supplies of food but with silver and gold and the costliest raiment, since the precious possessions had been gathered from over the whole city into one place. They gathered such valuables as they could and fortified the place we have mentioned during a respite of three days. For the Celts spent the first day cutting off, according to their custom, the heads of the dead. And for two days they lay encamped before the city, for when they saw the walls deserted and yet heard the noise made by those who were transferring their most useful possessions to the acropolis, they suspected that the Romans were planning a trap for them. But on the fourth day, after they had learned the true state of affairs, they broke down the gates and pillaged the city except for a few dwellings on the Palatine. After this they delivered daily assaults on strong positions, without, however, inflicting any serious hurt upon their opponents and with the loss of many of their own troops. Nevertheless, they did not relax their ardour, expecting that, even if they did not conquer by force, they would wear down the enemy in the course of time, when the necessities of life had entirely given out.
§ 14.116
τῶν δὲ Ῥωμαίων ἐν τοιαύταις ταραχαῖς ὄντων, οἱ παροικοῦντες Τυρρηνοὶ μετὰ δυνάμεως ἁδρᾶς ἐπεπορεύοντο τὴν τῶν Ῥωμαίων χώραν λεηλατοῦντες, καὶ πολλῶν μὲν σωμάτων, οὐκ ὀλίγης δʼ ὠφελείας ἐγκρατεῖς ἐγένοντο. οἱ δʼ εἰς τοὺς Βηίους τῶν Ῥωμαίων πεφευγότες ἀπροσδοκήτως τοῖς Τυρρηνοῖς ἐπιπεσόντες ἐτρέψαντο, καὶ τήν τε λείαν ἀφείλαντο καὶ τῆς παρεμβολῆς ἐκυρίευσαν. ἐγκρατεῖς δὲ γενόμενοι πολλῶν ὅπλων τοῖς τε ἀνόπλοις οὖσι διέδωκαν καὶ τοὺς ἀπὸ τῆς χώρας ἀθροίζοντες καθώπλιζον· ἐβούλοντο γὰρ τοὺς εἰς τὸ Καπετώλιον συμπεφευγότας ἐκ τῆς πολιορκίας ἐξελέσθαι. ἀπορούντων δʼ αὐτῶν, ᾧ τρόπῳ δηλώσειαν τοῖς συγκεκλειμένοις διὰ τὸ τοὺς Κελτοὺς μεγάλαις δυνάμεσι περιστρατοπεδεύειν, Κομίνιός τις Πόντιος ὑπέσχετο παραθαρρύνειν τοὺς ἐν τῷ Καπετωλίῳ. ὁρμήσας οὖν μόνος καὶ διανηξάμενος νυκτὸς τὸν ποταμόν, ἔλαθε προσελθών τινα πέτραν τοῦ Καπετωλίου δύσβατον, καὶ ταύτῃ μόγις ἑαυτὸν ἑλκύσας ἐδήλωσε τοῖς ἐν τῷ Καπετωλίῳ περὶ τῶν συνηθροισμένων εἰς Βηίους καὶ διότι καιρὸν τηρήσαντες ἐπιθήσονται τοῖς Κελτοῖς. οὗτος μὲν οὖν καταβὰς ᾗπερ ἀνέβη καὶ διακολυμβήσας τὸν Τίβεριν, εἰς Βηίους ἀνέστρεψεν· οἱ δὲ Κελτοὶ κατανοήσαντες τὰ ἴχνη τοῦ προσφάτως ἀναβεβηκότος, συνετάξαντο κατὰ τῆς αὐτῆς πέτρας ἀναβῆναι νυκτός. διὸ καὶ περὶ μέσας νύκτας οἱ μὲν φύλακες παρερρᾳθυμηκότες ἦσαν τῆς φυλακῆς διὰ τὴν ὀχυρότητα τοῦ τόπου, τῶν δὲ Κελτῶν τινες κατὰ τῆς πέτρας προσανέβησαν. τοὺς μὲν οὖν φύλακας ἔλαθον, χῆνες δʼ ἱεροὶ τῆς Ἥρας τρεφόμενοι, καὶ θεωρήσαντες ἀναβαίνοντας κραυγὴν ἐποίουν. συνδραμόντων δὲ τῶν φυλάκων ἐπὶ τὸν τόπον, οὗτοι μὲν καταπλαγέντες οὐκ ἐτόλμων προσελθεῖν, Μάρκος δέ τις Μάλλιος, ἔνδοξος ἀνήρ, ἐκβοηθήσας ἐπὶ τὸν τόπον τῷ μὲν ξίφει τὴν χεῖρα τοῦ προσαναβαίνοντος ἀπέκοψε, τῷ δὲ θυρεῷ πατάξας εἰς τὸ στῆθος ἀπεκύλισεν αὐτὸν ἀπὸ τῆς πέτρας. παραπλησίως δὲ καὶ τοῦ δευτέρου προσαναβαίνοντος ἀπολομένου, οἱ λοιποὶ ταχέως πάντες ἔφυγον· ἀπορρῶγος δὲ τῆς πέτρας οὔσης ἅπαντες κατακρημνισθέντες ἐτελεύτησαν. διόπερ πρεσβευομένων τῶν Ῥωμαίων περὶ διαλύσεως, ἐπείσθησαν χιλίας λαβόντες λίτρας χρυσίου τὴν πόλιν ἐκλιπεῖν καὶ ἐκ τῆς Ῥωμαίων χώρας ἀπαλλαγῆναι. Ῥωμαῖοι δέ, τῶν μὲν οἰκιῶν κατεσκαμμένων, τῶν δὲ πλείστων πολιτῶν ἀπολωλότων, ἔδωκαν ἐξουσίαν τῷ βουλομένῳ καθʼ ὃν προῄρηται τόπον οἰκίαν οἰκοδομεῖν, καὶ δημοσίας κεραμῖδας ἐχορήγουν, αἳ μέχρι τοῦ νῦν πολιτικαὶ καλοῦνται. ἁπάντων οὖν πρὸς τὴν ἰδίαν προαίρεσιν οἰκοδομούντων, συνέβη τὰς κατὰ πόλιν ὁδοὺς στενὰς γενέσθαι καὶ καμπὰς ἐχούσας· διόπερ ὕστερον αὐξηθέντες οὐκ ἠδυνήθησαν εὐθείας ποιῆσαι τὰς ὁδούς. λέγουσι δέ τινες καὶ διότι τὸν χρυσοῦν κόσμον αἱ γυναῖκες εἰς τὴν κοινὴν σωτηρίαν εἰσενέγκασαι ταύτης ἔτυχον παρὰ τοῦ δήμου τιμῆς, ὥστʼ ἐξουσίαν ἔχειν ἐφʼ ἁρμάτων ὀχεῖσθαι κατὰ τὴν πόλιν.
While the Romans were in such throes, the neighbouring Tyrrhenians advanced and made a raid with a strong army on the territory of the Romans, capturing many prisoners and not a small amount of booty. But the Romans who had fled to Veii, falling unexpectedly upon the Tyrrhenians, put them to flight, took back the booty, and captured their camp. Having got possession of arms in abundance, they distributed them among the unarmed, and they also gathered men from the countryside and armed them, since they intended to relieve the siege of the soldiers who had taken refuge on the Capitoline. While they were at a loss how they might reveal their plans to the besieged, since the Celts had surrounded them with strong forces, a certain Cominius Pontius undertook to get the cheerful news to the men on the Capitoline. Starting out alone and swimming the river by night, he got unseen to a cliff of the Capitoline that was hard to climb and, hauling himself up it with difficulty, told the soldiers on the Capitoline about the troops that had been collected in Veii and how they were watching for an opportunity and would attack the Celts. Then, descending by the way he had mounted and swimming the Tiber, he returned to Veii. The Celts, when they observed the tracks of one who had recently climbed up, made plans to ascend at night by the same cliff. Consequently about the middle of the night, while the guards were neglectful of their watch because of the strength of the place, some Celts started an ascent of the cliff. They escaped detection by the guards, but the sacred geese of Hera, which were kept there, noticed the climbers and set up a cackling. The guards rushed to the place and the Celts deterred did not dare proceed farther. A certain Marcus Mallius, a man held in high esteem, rushing to the defence of the place, cut off the hand of the climber with his sword and, striking him on the breast with his shield, rolled him from the cliff. In like manner the second climber met his death, whereupon the rest all quickly turned in flight. But since the cliff was precipitous they were all hurled headlong and perished. As a result of this, when the Romans sent ambassadors to negotiate a peace, they were persuaded, upon receipt of one thousand pounds of gold, to leave the city and to withdraw from Roman territory. The Romans, now that their houses had been razed to the ground and the majority of their citizens slain, gave permission to anyone who wished to build a home in any place he chose, and supplied him at state expense with roof-tiles; and up to the present time these are known as "public tiles." Since every man naturally built his home where it suited his fancy, the result was that the streets of the city were narrow and crooked; consequently, when the population increased in later days, it was impossible to straighten the streets. Some also say that the Roman matrons, because they contributed their gold ornaments to the common safety, received from the people as a reward the right to ride through the city in chariots.
§ 14.117
ταπεινῶν δʼ ὄντων τῶν Ῥωμαίων διὰ τὴν προειρημένην συμφοράν, οἱ Οὐόλσκοι πρὸς αὐτοὺς πόλεμον ἐξήνεγκαν. οἱ μὲν οὖν χιλίαρχοι τῶν Ῥωμαίων καταγράψαντες στρατιώτας, καὶ προαγαγόντες τὴν δύναμιν εἰς ὕπαιθρον, ἐν τῷ καλουμένῳ Μαρκίῳ κατεστρατοπέδευσαν, ἀπέχοντες ἀπὸ Ῥώμης σταδίους διακοσίους. τῶν δὲ Οὐόλσκων μετὰ μείζονος στρατιᾶς ἀντικαθημένων καὶ τῇ παρεμβολῇ προσβαλλόντων, οἱ κατὰ τὴν Ῥώμην φοβηθέντες ὑπὲρ τῶν ἐν τῷ στρατοπέδῳ, κατέστησαν αὐτοκράτορα μὲν Μάρκον Φούριον οὗτοι δὲ πάντας τοὺς ἐν ἡλικίᾳ καθοπλίσαντες νυκτὸς ἐξῆλθον, καὶ καταλαβόντες ἅμʼ ἡμέρᾳ τοὺς Οὐόλσκους τῇ παρεμβολῇ προσμαχομένους, ἐπιφανέντες κατὰ νώτου ῥᾳδίως ἐτρέψαντο. ἐξελθόντων δὲ καὶ τῶν ἐκ τῆς παρεμβολῆς, εἰς μέσον ἀποληφθέντες οἱ Οὐόλσκοι σχεδὸν ἅπαντες κατεκόπησαν. διόπερ τὸν ἔμπροσθεν χρόνον ἰσχυροὶ δοκοῦντες εἶναι, διὰ τὴν συμφορὰν ταύτην ἀσθενέστατοι τῶν περιοικούντων ἐθνῶν ἐγενήθησαν. μετὰ δὲ τὴν μάχην ἀκούσας ὁ αὐτοκράτωρ πορθεῖσθαι Βώλας ὑπὸ Αἰκουλανῶν, τῶν νῦν Αἰκίκλων καλουμένων, ἀγαγὼν τὴν δύναμιν τοὺς πλείστους τῶν πολιορκούντων ἀνεῖλεν. ἐκεῖθεν δʼ ἀνέζευξεν εἰς Σουτριανήν, οὖσαν ἀποικίαν, ἣν οἱ Τυρρηνοὶ βίᾳ κατειλήφεισαν. προσπεσὼν οὖν ἄφνω τοῖς Τυρρηνοῖς πολλοὺς μὲν αὐτῶν ἀνεῖλε, τὴν δὲ πόλιν ἀνέσωσε τοῖς Σουτριαίοις. τῶν δʼ ἀπεληλυθότων Γαλατῶν ἀπὸ Ῥώμης Οὐεάσκιον τὴν πόλιν σύμμαχον οὖσαν Ῥωμαίων πορθούντων, ἐπιθέμενος αὐτοῖς ὁ αὐτοκράτωρ καὶ τοὺς πλείστους ἀποκτείνας τῆς ἀποσκευῆς πάσης ἐκυρίευσεν, ἐν ᾗ καὶ τὸ χρυσίον ἦν ὃ εἰλήφεισαν εἰς Ῥώμην καὶ σχεδὸν ἅπαντα τὰ διηρπασμένα κατὰ τὴν τῆς πόλεως ἅλωσιν. τοσαῦτα δὲ διαπραξάμενος διὰ τὸν φθόνον τῶν δημάρχων ἐκωλύθη θρίαμβον καταγαγεῖν. ἔνιοι δέ φασιν αὐτὸν ἀπὸ Τούσκων θρίαμβον ἀγαγεῖν ἐπὶ λευκοῦ τεθρίππου, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο δυσὶν ὕστερον ἔτεσιν ὑπὸ τοῦ δήμου πολλοῖς χρήμασι καταδικασθῆναι· περὶ οὗ κατὰ τοὺς οἰκείους χρόνους ἐπιμνησθησόμεθα. οἱ δʼ εἰς τὴν Ἰαπυγίαν τῶν Κελτῶν ἐληλυθότες ἀνέστρεψαν διὰ τῆς τῶν Ῥωμαίων χώρας· καὶ μετʼ ὀλίγον ὑπὸ Κερίων ἐπιβουλευθέντες νυκτὸς ἅπαντες κατεκόπησαν ἐν τῷ Τραυσίῳ πεδίῳ. Καλλισθένης δʼ ὁ ἱστοριογράφος ἀπὸ τῆς κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν ἐνιαυτὸν γενομένης εἰρήνης τοῖς Ἕλλησι πρὸς Ἀρταξέρξην τὸν τῶν Περσῶν βασιλέα τὴν ἱστορίαν ἦρκται γράφειν· διελθὼν δὲ τριακονταετῆ χρόνον ἔγραψε μὲν βύβλους δέκα, τὴν δὲ τελευταίαν κατέπαυσε τῆς συντάξεως εἰς τὴν ὑπὸ τοῦ Φιλομήλου τοῦ Φωκέως κατάληψιν τοῦ ἐν Δελφοῖς ἱεροῦ. ἡμεῖς δʼ ἐπεὶ πάρεσμεν ἐπὶ τὴν γενομένην τοῖς Ἕλλησιν εἰρήνην πρὸς Ἀρταξέρξην καὶ τὸν τῆς Ῥώμης ὑπὸ Γαλατῶν κίνδυνον, κατὰ τὴν ἐν ἀρχῇ πρόθεσιν τοῦτο τέλος ποιησόμεθα τῆσδε τῆς βύβλου.
While the Romans were in a weakened condition because of the misfortune we have described, the Volscians went to war against them. Accordingly the Roman military tribunes enrolled soldiers, took the field with their army, and pitched camp on the Campus Martius, as it is called, two hundred stades distant from Rome. Since the Volscians lay over against them with a larger force and were assaulting the camp, the citizens in Rome, fearing for the safety of those in the encampment, appointed Marcus Furius dictator. . . . These armed all the men of military age and marched out during the night. At day-break they caught the Volscians as they were assaulting the camp, and appearing on their rear easily put them to flight. When the troops in the camp then sallied forth, the Volscians were caught in the middle and cut down almost to a man. Thus a people that passed for powerful in former days was by this disaster reduced to the weakest among the neighbouring tribes. After the battle the dictator, on hearing that Bola was being besieged by the Aeculani, who are now called the Aequicoli, led forth his troops and slew most of the besieging army. From here he marched to the territory of Sutrium, a Roman colony, which the Tyrrhenians had forcibly occupied. Falling unexpectedly upon the Tyrrhenians, he slew many of them and recovered the city for the people of Sutrium. The Gauls on their way from Rome laid siege to the city of Veascium which was an ally of the Romans. The dictator attacked them, slew the larger number of them, and got possession of all their baggage, included in which was the gold which they had received for Rome and practically all the booty which they had gathered in the seizure of the city. Despite the accomplishment of such great deeds, envy on the part of the tribunes prevented his celebrating a triumph. There are some, however, who state that he celebrated a triumph for his victory over the Tuscans in a chariot drawn by four white horses, for which the people two years later fined him a large sum of money. But we shall recur to this in the appropriate period of time. Those Celts who had passed into Iapygia turned back through the territory of the Romans; but soon thereafter the Cerii made a crafty attack on them by night and cut all of them to pieces in the Trausian Plain. The historian Callisthenes began his history with the peace of this year between the Greeks and Artaxerxes, the King of the Persians. His account embraced a period of thirty years in ten Books and he closed the last Book of his history with the seizure of the Temple of Delphi by Philomelus the Phocian. But for our part, since we have arrived at the peace between the Greeks and Artaxerxes, and at the threat to Rome offered by the Gauls, we shall make this the end of this Book, as we proposed at the beginning.
— Book 15 —
§ 15.arg
τάδε ἔνεστιν ἐν τῇ πεντεκαιδεκάτῃ τῶν Διοδώρου βύβλων. ὡς Πέρσαι Εὐαγόραν ἐν τῇ Κύπρῳ διεπολέμησαν. ὡς Λακεδαιμόνιοι παρὰ τὰς κοινὰς ὁμολογίας Μαντινεῖς μετῴκισαν ἐκ τῆς πατρίδος. περὶ τῶν Διονυσίου τοῦ τυράννου ποιημάτων. περὶ τῆς Τιριβάζου συλλήψεως καὶ τῆς ἀπολύσεως αὐτοῦ. περὶ τοῦ Γλῶ θανάτου καὶ τῆς Ὀρόντου καταγνώσεως. ὡς Ἀμύντας καὶ Λακεδαιμόνιοι πρὸς Ὀλυνθίους ἐπολέμησαν. ὡς Λακεδαιμόνιοι τὴν Καδμείαν κατελάβοντο. ὡς τὰς Ἑλληνίδας πόλεις παρὰ τὰς συνθήκας κατεδουλώσαντο. κτίσις Φάρου νήσου κατὰ τὸν Ἀδρίαν. Διονυσίου στρατεία εἰς τὴν Τυρρηνίαν καὶ σύλησις τοῦ ἱεροῦ. στρατεία Διονυσίου ἐπὶ Καρχηδονίους, καὶ νίκη καὶ ἧττα. ὡς Θηβαῖοι τὴν Καδμείαν ἀνεκτήσαντο. ὡς Καρχηδόνιοι λοιμικῇ νόσῳ περιπεσόντες ἐκινδύνευσαν. περὶ τοῦ Βοιωτικοῦ πολέμου καὶ τῶν πραχθέντων ἐν αὐτῷ. Τριβαλλῶν στρατεία ἐπὶ Ἄβδηρα. στρατεία Περσῶν ἐπʼ Αἴγυπτον. ὡς Θηβαῖοι Λακεδαιμονίους ἐπιφανεστάτῃ μάχῃ νικήσαντες ἐν Λεύκτροις ἀντεποιήσαντο τῆς τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἡγεμονίας. τὰ πραχθέντα Θηβαίοις κατὰ τὰς εἰς Πελοπόννησον εἰσβολάς. περὶ τῆς Ἰφικράτους ἀγωγῆς καὶ τῶν εὑρημένων ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ κατὰ τὰς στρατείας. στρατεία Λακεδαιμονίων ἐπὶ Κόρκυραν. περὶ τοῦ γενομένου σεισμοῦ καὶ κατακλυσμοῦ περὶ τὴν Πελοπόννησον καὶ τῆς φανείσης ἐν οὐρανῷ λαμπάδος. ὡς παρὰ τοῖς Ἀργείοις ἐγένετο πολὺς φόνος ὁ κληθεὶς σκυταλισμός. περὶ Ἰάσονος τοῦ Φερῶν τυράννου καὶ τῶν διαδόχων αὐτοῦ. Μεσσήνης συνοικισμὸς ὑπὸ Θηβαίων. στρατεία Βοιωτῶν εἰς Θετταλίαν.
—
§ 15.1
παρʼ ὅλην τὴν πραγματείαν εἰωθότες χρῆσθαι τῇ συνήθει τῆς ἱστορίας παρρησίᾳ, καὶ τοῖς μὲν ἀγαθοῖς ἀνδράσιν ἐπὶ τῶν καλῶν ἔργων τὸν δίκαιον ἐπιλέγειν ἔπαινον, τοὺς δὲ φαύλους, ὅταν ἐξαμαρτάνωσιν, ἀξιοῦν δικαίας ἐπιτιμήσεως, διὰ τοῦ τοιούτου τρόπου νομίζομεν τοὺς μὲν εὖ πεφυκότας πρὸς ἀρετὴν τῷ διὰ τῆς δόξης ἀθανατισμῷ προτρέψεσθαι ταῖς καλλίσταις ἐγχειρεῖν πράξεσι, τοὺς δὲ τὴν ἐναντίαν ἔχοντας διάθεσιν ταῖς ἁρμοττούσαις βλασφημίαις ἀποτρέψειν τῆς ἐπὶ τὴν κακίαν ὁρμῆς. διὸ καὶ τῇ γραφῇ παρόντες ἐπʼ ἐκείνους τοὺς χρόνους, ἐν οἷς Λακεδαιμόνιοι περὶ Λεῦκτρα παραδόξως ἡττηθέντες μεγάλῃ περιέπεσον συμφορᾷ, καὶ πάλιν περὶ Μαντίνειαν πταίσαντες ἀνελπίστως ἀπέβαλον τὴν τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἡγεμονίαν, ἡγούμεθα δεῖν τὴν ὑπόστασιν τῆς γραφῆς διαφυλάττειν καὶ τὴν ἁρμόττουσαν ἐπιτίμησιν τοῖς Λακεδαιμονίοις ποιήσασθαι. τίς γὰρ ἂν οὐχ ἡγήσαιτο κατηγορίας αὐτοὺς ἀξίους ὑπάρχειν, οἵτινες παρὰ τῶν προγόνων παραλαβόντες ἡγεμονίαν κάλλιστα τεθεμελιωμένην, καὶ ταύτην διὰ τὴν ἀρετὴν τῶν προγόνων διαφυλαχθεῖσαν ἔτη πλείω τῶν πεντακοσίων, οἱ τότε Λακεδαιμόνιοι διὰ τὴν ἑαυτῶν ἀβουλίαν καταλυθεῖσαν ἐπεῖδον, οὐκ ἀλόγως. οἱ μὲν γὰρ πρὸ αὐτῶν βεβιωκότες πολλοῖς πόνοις καὶ μεγάλοις κινδύνοις τὴν τηλικαύτην κατεκτήσαντο δόξαν, ἐπιεικῶς καὶ φιλανθρώπως προσφερόμενοι τοῖς ὑποτεταγμένοις· οἱ δὲ μεταγενέστεροι βιαίως καὶ χαλεπῶς χρώμενοι τοῖς συμμάχοις, ἔτι δὲ πολέμους ἀδίκους καὶ ὑπερηφάνους ἐνιστάμενοι πρὸς τοὺς Ἕλληνας, οὐκ ἀλόγως ἀπέβαλον τὴν ἀρχὴν διὰ τὰς ἰδίας ἀβουλίας. ἐν γὰρ ταῖς συμφοραῖς αὐτῶν τὸ μῖσος τῶν ἀδικουμένων ἔλαβε καιρὸν ἀμύνασθαι τοὺς προηδικηκότας, καὶ τοῖς ἐκ προγόνων ἀνικήτοις γεγονόσι τοσαύτη καταφρόνησις ἐπηκολούθησεν, ὅσην εἰκός ἐστι γενέσθαι κατὰ τῶν ἀναιρούντων τὰς τῶν προγόνων ἀρετάς. τοιγαροῦν Θηβαῖοι μὲν οἱ πρότερον ἐπὶ πολλὰς γενεὰς τοῖς κρείττοσιν ὑποτεταγμένοι, τότε τούτους ἀνελπίστως νικήσαντες ἡγεμόνες κατέστησαν τῶν Ἑλλήνων, Λακεδαιμόνιοι δὲ μετὰ τὴν ἀφαίρεσιν τῆς ἡγεμονίας οὐδέποτʼ ἐδυνήθησαν ἀναλαβεῖν τὸ τῶν προγόνων ἀξίωμα. ἡμεῖς δὲ τούτοις ἀρκούντως ἐπιτετιμηκότες ἐπὶ τὸ συνεχὲς τῆς ἱστορίας μεταβησόμεθα προδιορίσαντες τοὺς οἰκείους τῇ γραφῇ χρόνους. ἡ μὲν οὖν πρὸ ταύτης βύβλος, οὖσα τῆς ὅλης συντάξεως τεσσαρεσκαιδεκάτη, τὸ τέλος ἔσχε τῶν πράξεων εἰς τὸν Ῥηγίνων ἀνδραποδισμὸν ὑπὸ Διονυσίου καὶ τὴν ἅλωσιν τῆς Ῥώμης ὑπὸ Γαλατῶν, ἥτις ἐγένετο κατὰ τὸν προηγούμενον ἐνιαυτὸν τῆς Περσῶν στρατείας εἰς Κύπρον ἐπʼ Εὐαγόραν τὸν βασιλέα· ἐν ταύτῃ δὲ τὴν ἀρχὴν ἀπὸ τούτου τοῦ πολέμου ποιησάμενοι καταλήξομεν ἐπὶ τὸν προηγούμενον ἐνιαυτὸν τῆς Φιλίππου τοῦ Ἀμύντου βασιλείας.
Throughout our entire treatise our practice has been to employ the customary freedom of speech enjoyed by history, and we have added just praise of good men for their fair deeds and meted out just censure upon bad men whenever they did wrong. By this means, as we believe, we shall lead men whose nature fortunately inclines them to virtue to undertake, because of immortality fame accords them, the fairest deeds, whereas by appropriate obloquies we shall turn men of the opposite character from their impulse to evil. Consequently, since we have come in our writing to the period when the Lacedemonians fell upon deep distress in their unexpected defeat at Leuctra, and again in their unlooked for repulse at Mantineia lost the supremacy over the Greeks, we believe that we should maintain the principle we have set for our writing and set forth the appropriate censure of the Lacedemonians. For who would not judge men to be deserving of accusation who had received from their ancestors a supremacy with such firm foundations and that too preserved by the high spirit of their ancestors for over five hundred years, and now beheld it, as the Lacedemonians of that time did, overthrown by their own folly? And this is easy to understand. For the men who had lived before them won the glory they had by many labours and great struggles, treating their subjects the while fairly and humanely; but their successors used their allies roughly and harshly, stirring up, besides, unjust and insolent wars against the Greeks, and so it is quite to be understood that they lost their rule because of their own acts of folly. For the hatred of those they had wronged found in their disasters an opportunity to retaliate upon their aggressors, and they who had been unconquered from their ancestors' time were now attended by such contempt as, it stands to reason, must befall those who obliterate the virtues that characterized their ancestors. This explains why the Thebans, who for many generations had been subjects of their superiors, when they defeated them to everyone's surprise, became supreme among the Greeks, but the Lacedemonians, when once they had lost the supremacy, were never at any time able to recover the high position enjoyed by their ancestors. Now that we have sufficiently censured the Lacedemonians, we shall in turn pass on to the further course of our history, after we have first set the time-limits of this section. The preceding Book, which is the fourteenth of our narrative, closed with the events concerned with the enslaving of the Rhegians by Dionysius and the capture of Rome by the Gauls, which took place in the year preceding the campaign of the Persians in Cyprus against Evagoras the king. In this Book we shall begin with this war and close with the year preceding the reign of Philip the son of Amyntas.
§ 15.2
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος γὰρ Ἀθήνησι Μυστιχίδου Ῥωμαῖοι μὲν ἀντὶ τῶν ὑπάτων χιλιάρχους τρεῖς κατέστησαν, Μάρκον Φούριον, ἔτι δὲ Γάιον καὶ Αἰμίλιον. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Ἀρταξέρξης ὁ τῶν Περσῶν βασιλεὺς ἐστράτευσεν ἐπʼ Εὐαγόραν τὸν Κύπρου βασιλέα. πολὺν δὲ χρόνον ἀσχοληθεὶς περὶ τὰς εἰς τὸν πόλεμον παρασκευὰς συνεστήσατο δύναμιν ναυτικήν τε καὶ πεζὴν μεγάλην· τὸ μὲν γὰρ πεζὸν στράτευμα μυριάδων ἦν τριάκοντα σὺν ἱππεῦσι, τριήρεις δὲ κατεσκεύασε πλείους τῶν τριακοσίων. στρατηγοὺς δʼ ἀπέδειξε τῆς πεζῆς δυνάμεως Ὀρόνταν κηδεστήν, τῆς δὲ ναυτικῆς Τιρίβαζον, ἄνδρα μεγάλης ἀποδοχῆς τυγχάνοντα παρὰ τοῖς Πέρσαις. οὗτοι δὲ παραλαβόντες τὰς δυνάμεις ἐν Φωκαίᾳ καὶ Κύμῃ κατήντησαν εἰς Κιλικίαν, καὶ περαιωθέντες εἰς Κύπρον ἐνεργῶς διῴκουν τὸν πόλεμον. ὁ δʼ Εὐαγόρασπρὸς μὲν τὸν Ἄκοριν τὸν Αἰγυπτίων βασιλέα, πολέμιον ὄντα Περσῶν, συμμαχίαν ἐποιήσατο καὶ δύναμιν ἀξιόλογον παρʼ αὐτοῦ προσελάβετο, παρʼ Ἑκατόμνου δὲ τοῦ Καρίας δυνάστου, λάθρᾳ συμπράττοντος αὐτῷ, χρημάτων ἔλαβε πλῆθος εἰς διατροφὴν ξενικῶν δυνάμεων· ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους τοὺς ἀλλοτρίως ἔχοντας πρὸς Πέρσας, τοὺς μὲν λαθραίως, τοὺς δὲ καὶ φανερῶς ἐπεσπάσατο κοινωνήσοντας τοῦ Περσικοῦ πολέμου. ἐκυρίευε δὲ κατὰ μὲν τὴν Κύπρον τῶν πόλεων σχεδόν τι πασῶν, κατὰ δὲ τὴν Φοινίκην Τύρου καί τινων ἑτέρων. εἶχε δὲ τριήρεις μὲν ἐνενήκοντα, καὶ τούτων ὑπῆρχον Τύριαι μὲν εἴκοσι, Κύπριαι δʼ ἑβδομήκοντα, στρατιώτας δʼ ἰδίους μὲν ἑξακισχιλίους, παρὰ δὲ τῶν συμμάχων πολλῷ τούτων πλείους. πρὸς δὲ τούτοις μισθοφόρους πολλοὺς ἐξενολόγει, ἔχων χρημάτων δαψίλειαν. ἔπεμψε δʼ αὐτῷ καὶ ὁ τῶν Ἀράβων βασιλεὺς στρατιώτας οὐκ ὀλίγους καὶ ἄλλοι τινὲς οἱ ἐν ὑποψίαις ὄντες τῷ τῶν Περσῶν βασιλεῖ.
When Mystichides was archon in Athens, the Romans elected in place of consuls three military tribunes, Marcus Furius, Gaius, and Aemilius. This year Artaxerxes, the King of the Persians, made war upon Evagoras, the king of Cyprus. He busied himself for a long time with the preparations for the war and gathered a large armament, both naval and land; his land force consisted of three hundred thousand men including cavalry, and he equipped more than three hundred triremes. As commanders he chose for the land force his brother-in law Orontes, and for the naval Tiribazus, a man who was held in high favour among the Persians. These commanders took over the armaments in Phocaea and Cyme, repaired to Cilicia, and passed over to Cyprus, where they prosecuted the war with vigour. Evagoras made an alliance with Acoris, the king of the Egyptians, who was an enemy of the Persians, and received a strong force from him, and from Hecatomnus, the lord of Caria, who was secretly co operating with him, he got a large sum of money to support his mercenary troops. Likewise he drew on such others to join in the war with Persia as were at odds with the Persians, either secretly or openly. He was master of practically all the cities of Cyprus, and of Tyre and some others in Phoenicia. He also had ninety triremes, of which twenty were Tyrian and seventy were Cyprian, six thousand soldiers of his own subjects, and many more than this number from his allies. In addition to these he enlisted many mercenaries, since he had funds in abundance. And not a few soldiers were sent him by the king of the Arabs and by certain others of whom the King of the Persians was suspicious.
§ 15.3
οὗτος μὲν οὖν τοσαύτας ἀφορμὰς ἔχων τεθαρρηκότως συγκατέβαινεν εἰς τὸν πόλεμον. καὶ πρῶτον μὲν λῃστρικὰς ἔχων ναῦς οὐκ ὀλίγας ἐφήδρευσε ταῖς κομιζομέναις τῶν πολεμίων ἀγοραῖς, καὶ τὰς μὲν αὐτῶν διέφθειρεν ἐν θαλάττῃ, τὰς δὲ διεκώλυσεν, ἐνίας δὲ ἀφείλατο. διὸ καὶ τῶν ἐμπόρων μὴ τολμώντων εἰς τὴν Κύπρον παρακομίζειν σῖτον, μεγάλων δὲ δυνάμεων ἠθροισμένων εἰς τὴν νῆσον, ταχὺ σιτοδεία κατέσχε τὸ τῶν Περσῶν στρατόπεδον. τῆς δʼ ἀπορίας γενομένης εἰς στάσιν, οἱ μισθοφόροι τῶν Περσῶν ἐπὶ τοὺς ἡγεμόνας ὁρμήσαντες καί τινας ἀνελόντες ταραχῆς καὶ στάσεως ἐνέπλησαν τὸ στρατόπεδον. μόγις δʼ οἱ στρατηγοὶ τῶν Περσῶν καὶ ὁ τῆς ναυτικῆς δυνάμεως ἡγούμενος, ὀνομαζόμενος δὲ Γλῶς, κατέπαυσαν τὴν στάσιν. πλεύσαντες δὲ τῷ παντὶ στόλῳ καὶ σίτου πλῆθος ἐκ τῆς Κιλικίας παρακομίσαντες, πολλὴν παρεῖχον τῆς τροφῆς δαψίλειαν. τῷ δʼ Εὐαγόρᾳ σίτου πλῆθος ἱκανὸν ὁ βασιλεὺς Ἄκορις ἐκ τῆς Αἰγύπτου παρεκόμισε, καὶ χρήματα καὶ τὴν ἄλλην παρασκευὴν ἱκανὴν ἐξέπεμψεν. ὁ δʼ Εὐαγόρας ὁρῶν ἑαυτὸν πολὺ λειπόμενον τῇ ναυτικῇ δυνάμει, ἑξήκοντα μὲν ναῦς ἄλλας προσεπλήρωσε, πεντήκοντα δὲ παρὰ Ἀκόριδος ἐξ Αἰγύπτου μετεπέμψατο, ὥστε τὰς πάσας ἔχειν τριήρεις διακοσίας. ταύτας δὲ κοσμήσας πρὸς ναυμαχίαν καταπληκτικῶς, καὶ συνεχεῖς διαπείρας καὶ γυμνασίας ποιούμενος, ἡτοιμάζετο πρὸς ναυμαχίαν. διὸ καὶ τοῦ βασιλικοῦ στόλου παραπλέοντος εἰς Κίτιον, ἀπροσδοκήτως ἐπιπλεύσας ταῖς ναυσὶ πολλὰ τῶν Περσῶν ἐπλεονέκτει. ἐπέβαλε γὰρ συντεταγμέναις ναυσὶν ἐπὶ ἀσυντάκτους, καὶ προβεβουλευμένοις ἀνδράσι πρὸς ἀπροσδοκήτους ἀγωνιζόμενος εὐθὺς ἐν τῇ πρώτῃ συστάσει τὴν νίκην προκατεσκεύασεν· ἀθρόαις γὰρ ταῖς τριήρεσιν ἐπιπλεύσας ἐπὶ διεσπαρμένας καὶ τεταραγμένας, ἃς μὲν διέφθειρεν, ἃς δʼ ἐχειροῦτο. ὅμως δὲ τοῦ τε ναυάρχου τῶν Περσῶν Γλῶ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἡγεμόνων γενναίως ὑποστάντων, ἐγένετο ναυμαχία καρτερά, καθʼ ἣν ὁ Εὐαγόρας τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ὑπερεῖχεν, ὕστερον δὲ τοῦ Γλῶ μετὰ τοῦ βάρους ἐπενεχθέντος καὶ γενναίως ἀγωνισαμένου συνέβη φυγεῖν τοὺς περὶ τὸν Εὐαγόραν καὶ πολλὰς τῶν τριήρων ἀποβαλεῖν.
Since Evagoras had such advantages, he entered the war with confidence. First, since he had not a few boats of the sort used for piracy, he lay in wait for the supplies coming to the enemy, sank some of their ships at sea, drove off others, and captured yet others. Consequently the merchants did not dare to convey food to Cyprus; and since large armaments had been gathered on the island, the army of the Persians soon suffered from lack of food and the want led to revolt, the mercenaries of the Persians attacking their officers, slaying some of them, and filling the camp with tumult and revolt. It was with difficulty that the generals of the Persians and the leader of the naval armament, known as Glos, put an end to the mutiny. Sailing off with their entire fleet, they transported a large quantity of grain from Cilicia and provided a great abundance of food. As for Evagoras, King Acoris transported an adequate supply of grain from Egypt and sent him money and adequate supplies for every other need. Evagoras, seeing that he was much inferior in naval strength, fitted out sixty additional ships and sent for fifty from Acoris in Egypt, seems he had in all two hundred triremes. These he fitted out for battle in a way to cause terror and by continued trials and drill got ready for a sea engagement. Consequently, when the King's fleet sailed past toward Citium, he fell upon the ships unexpectedly and had a great advantage over the Persians. For he attacked with his ships in compact array ships in disorder, and since he fought with men whose plans were prepared against men unready, he at once at the first encounter won a prearranged victory. For, attacking as he did with his triremes in close order triremes that were scattered and in confusion, he sank some and captured others. Still the Persian admiral Glos and the other commanders put up a gallant resistance, and a fierce struggle developed in which at first Evagoras held the upper hand. Later, however, when Glos attacked in strong force and put up a gallant fight, the result was that Evagoras turned in flight and lost many of his triremes.
§ 15.4
οἱ δὲ Πέρσαι τῇ ναυμαχίᾳ νικήσαντες εἰς Κίτιον πόλιν ἀμφοτέρας τὰς δυνάμεις ἤθροισαν. ἐκ ταύτης δʼ ὁρμώμενοι πολιορκίαν συνεστήσαντο πρὸς τῇ Σαλαμῖνι, καὶ τὴν πόλιν ἐπόρθουν κατὰ γῆν ἅμα καὶ κατὰ θάλατταν. καὶ Τιρίβαζος μὲν μετὰ τὴν ναυμαχίαν διαβὰς εἰς Κιλικίαν, κἀκεῖθεν πορευθεὶς πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα, τήν τε νίκην ἀπήγγειλε καὶ δισχίλια τάλαντα πρὸς τὸν πόλεμον ἀπεκόμισεν· Εὐαγόρας δὲ πρὸ μὲν τῆς ναυμαχίας παρὰ θάλατταν πεζῇ συμβαλὼν μέρει τῆς πεζῆς δυνάμεως προετέρησε καὶ πρὸς τὸ μέλλον εὐθαρσὴς καθειστήκει, τῇ δὲ ναυμαχίᾳ πταίσας καὶ συγκλεισθεὶς εἰς πολιορκίαν ἀθύμως εἶχεν. ὅμως δὲ κρίνας ἔχεσθαι τοῦ πολέμου, Πνυταγόραν μὲν τὸν υἱὸν ἀπέλιπεν ἡγεμόνα τῶν ὅλων ποιήσας ἐν τῇ Κύπρῳ, αὐτὸς δʼ ἀναλαβὼν δέκα τριήρεις νυκτὸς ἔλαθε τοὺς πολεμίους ἐκπλεύσας ἐκ τῆς Σαλαμῖνος. κομισθεὶς δʼ εἰς τὴν Αἴγυπτον καὶ συντυχὼν τῷ βασιλεῖ, παρεκάλεσεν αὐτὸν ἐρρωμένως ἀντέχεσθαι τοῦ πολέμου καὶ κοινὸν ἡγεῖσθαι τὸν πρὸς τοὺς Πέρσας πόλεμον.
The Persians after their victory in the sea-fight gathered both their sea and land forces at the city of Citium. From this as their base they organized a siege of Salamis and beleaguered the city both by land and by sea. Meantime Tiribazus crossed over to Cilicia after the sea-fight and continued thence to the King, reported the victory, and brought back two thousand talents for the prosecution of the war. Before the sea-fight, Evagoras, who had fallen in with a body of the land force near the sea and defeated it, had been confident of success, but when he suffered defeat in the sea-fight and found himself besieged, he lost heart. Nevertheless, deciding to continue the war, he left his son Pnytagoras behind as supreme commander in Cyprus and himself took ten triremes, eluded the enemy, and got away from Salamis. On arriving in Egypt he met the king and urged him to continue the war energetically and to consider the war against the Persians a common undertaking.
§ 15.5
ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις Λακεδαιμόνιοι μὲν ἔγνωσαν στρατεύειν ἐπὶ τὴν Μαντίνειαν, οὐδὲν φροντίσαντες τῶν γεγενημένων σπονδῶν, διὰ τοιαύτας αἰτίας. προϋπαρχούσης τοῖς Ἕλλησι κοινῆς εἰρήνης τῆς ἐπὶ Ἀνταλκίδου, καθʼ ἣν αἱ πόλεις ἅπασαι τὰς μὲν φρουρὰς ἀπετρίψαντο, τὴν δʼ αὐτονομίαν καθʼ ὁμολογίαν παρέλαβον, Λακεδαιμόνιοι φύσει φιλαρχοῦντες καὶ πολεμικοὶ ταῖς αἱρέσεσιν ὄντες, τὴν εἰρήνην ὥσπερ βαρὺ φορτίον οὐχ ὑπέμενον, τὴν δὲ προγεγενημένην τῆς Ἑλλάδος δυναστείαν ἐπιποθοῦντες μετέωροι ταῖς ὁρμαῖς ὑπῆρχον πρὸς καινοτομίαν. εὐθὺς οὖν τὰς μὲν πόλεις συνετάραττον καὶ διὰ τῶν ἰδίων φίλων στάσεις ἐγκατεσκεύαζον ἐν αὐταῖς, ὧν ἔνιαι πιθανὰς ἀφορμὰς αὐτοῖς παρέσχοντο τῆς ταραχῆς. ἀπολαβοῦσαι γὰρ τὰς αὐτονομίας λόγον ἀπῄτουν παρὰ τῶν ἐπεστατηκότων ἐπὶ τῆς Λακεδαιμονίων ἡγεμονίας· πικρῶν δὲ τῶν ἐλέγχων γινομένων διὰ τὸ μνησικακεῖν τοὺς δήμους, καὶ πολλῶν φυγαδευομένων, ἀπέδειξαν ἑαυτοὺς βοηθοὺς τοῖς καταστασιαζομένοις. ὑποδεχόμενοι δὲ τούτους καὶ μετὰ δυνάμεως ἐκπέμποντες ἐπὶ τὰς καθόδους, κατεδουλοῦντο τὸ μὲν πρῶτον τὰς ἀσθενεστέρας πόλεις, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα καὶ τὰς ἀξιολογωτέρας καταπολεμοῦντες ὑπηκόους ἐποίουν, οὐδὲ δύο ἔτη φυλάξαντες τὰς κοινὰς σπονδάς. πλησιόχωρον δʼ ὁρῶντες οὖσαν τὴν τῶν Μαντινέων πόλιν καὶ πλήθουσαν ἀνδρῶν ἀλκίμων, ὑπώπτευσαν αὐτῆς τὴν αὔξησιν τὴν γινομένην ἐκ τῆς εἰρήνης, καὶ τὰ φρονήματα τῶν ἀνδρῶν ἔσπευδον ταπεινῶσαι. διὸ καὶ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον πρέσβεις ἀποστείλαντες πρὸς τὴν Μαντίνειαν προσέταττον τὰ μὲν τείχη καθελεῖν, αὐτοὺς δὲ μετοικῆσαι πάντας εἰς τὰς ἀρχαίας πέντε κώμας, ἐξ ὧν εἰς τὴν Μαντίνειαν τὸ παλαιὸν συνῴκησαν· οὐδενὸς δὲ αὐτοῖς προσέχοντος, δύναμιν ἐκπέμψαντες ἐπολιόρκουν τὴν πόλιν. οἱ δὲ Μαντινεῖς εἰς τὰς Ἀθήνας πρέσβεις ἀποστείλαντες ἠξίουν ἑαυτοῖς βοηθῆσαι. οὐ προαιρουμένων δὲ τῶν Ἀθηναίων παραβαίνειν τὰς κοινὰς συνθήκας, ὅμως καθʼ αὑτοὺς ὑποστάντες τὴν πολιορκίαν εὐρώστως ἠμύνοντο τοὺς πολεμίους. καὶ τὰ μὲν κατὰ τὴν Ἑλλάδα τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον καινῶν πολέμων ἀρχὴν ἐλάμβανεν.
While these events were taking place, the Lacedemonians determined to make war upon Mantineia, without regard to the standing treaty, for the following reasons. The Greeks were enjoying the general peace of Antalcidas, in accordance with which all the cities had got rid of their garrisons and recovered by agreement their autonomy. The Lacedemonians, however, who by their nature loved to command and by policy preferred war, would not tolerate the peace which they considered to be a heavy burden, and longing for their past dominance over Greece, they were poised and alert to begin a new movement. At once, then, they stirred up the cities and formed partisan groups in them with the aid of their friends, being provided in some of the cities with plausible grounds for interference. For the cities, after having recovered their autonomy, demanded an accounting of the men who had been in control under the Lacedemonian supremacy; and since the procedure was harsh, because the people bore enmity for past injuries and many were sent into exile, the Lacedemonians took it upon themselves to give support to the defeated faction. By receiving these men and dispatching a force with them to restore them to their homes, they at first enslaved the weaker cities, but afterward made war on and forced the more important cities to submit, having preserved the general peace no longer than two years. Seeing that the city of the Mantineians lay upon their borders and was full of valiant men, the Lacedemonians were jealous of its growth which had resulted from the peace and were bent on humbling the pride of its citizens. First of all, therefore, they dispatched ambassadors to Mantineia, commanding them to destroy their walls and all of them to remove to the original five villages from which they had of old united to form Mantineia. When no one paid any attention to them, they sent out an army and laid siege to the city. The Mantineians dispatched ambassadors to Athens, asking for aid. When the Athenians did not choose to make a breach of the common peace, the Mantineians none the less withstood the siege on their own account and stoutly resisted the enemy. In this way, then, fresh wars got a start in Greece.
§ 15.6
κατὰ δὲ τὴν Σικελίαν Διονύσιος ὁ τῶν Συρακοσίων τύραννος ἀπολελυμένος τῶν πρὸς Καρχηδονίους πολέμων πολλὴν εἰρήνην καὶ σχολὴν εἶχεν. διὸ καὶ ποιήματα γράφειν ὑπεστήσατο μετὰ πολλῆς σπουδῆς, καὶ τοὺς ἐν τούτοις δόξαν ἔχοντας μετεπέμπετο καὶ προτιμῶν αὐτοὺς συνδιέτριβε καὶ τῶν ποιημάτων ἐπιστάτας καὶ διορθωτὰς εἶχεν. ὑπὸ δὲ τούτων διὰ τὰς εὐεργεσίας τοῖς πρὸς χάριν λόγοις μετεωριζόμενος ἐκαυχᾶτο πολὺ μᾶλλον ἐπὶ τοῖς ποιήμασιν ἢ τοῖς ἐν πολέμῳ κατωρθωμένοις. τῶν δὲ συνόντων αὐτῷ ποιητῶν Φιλόξενος ὁ διθυραμβοποιός, μέγιστον ἔχων ἀξίωμα κατὰ τὴν κατασκευὴν τοῦ ἰδίου ποιήματος, κατὰ τὸ συμπόσιον ἀναγνωσθέντων τῶν τοῦ τυράννου ποιημάτων μοχθηρῶν ὄντων ἐπηρωτήθη περὶ τῶν ποιημάτων τίνα κρίσιν ἔχοι. ἀποκριναμένου δʼ αὐτοῦ παρρησιωδέστερον, ὁ μὲν τύραννος προσκόψας τοῖς ῥηθεῖσι, καὶ καταμεμψάμενος ὅτι διὰ φθόνον ἐβλασφήμησε, προσέταξε τοῖς ὑπηρέταις παραχρῆμα ἀπάγειν εἰς τὰς λατομίας. τῇ δʼ ὑστεραίᾳ τῶν φίλων παρακαλούντων συγγνώμην δοῦναι τῷ Φιλοξένῳ, διαλλαγεὶς αὐτῷ πάλιν τοὺς αὐτοὺς παρέλαβεν ἐπὶ τὸ συμπόσιον. προβαίνοντος δὲ τοῦ πότου, καὶ πάλιν τοῦ Διονυσίου καυχωμένου περὶ τῶν ἰδίων ποιημάτων, καί τινας στίχους τῶν δοκούντων ἐπιτετεῦχθαι προενεγκαμένου, καὶ ἐπερωτῶντος ποῖά τινά σοι φαίνεται τὰ ποιήματα ὑπάρχειν; ἄλλο μὲν οὐδὲν εἶπε, τοὺς δʼ ὑπηρέτας τοῦ Διονυσίου προσκαλεσάμενος ἐκέλευσεν αὑτὸν ἀπαγαγεῖν εἰς τὰς λατομίας. τότε μὲν οὖν διὰ τὴν εὐτραπελίαν τῶν λόγων μειδιάσας ὁ Διονύσιος ἤνεγκε τὴν παρρησίαν, τοῦ γέλωτος τὴν μέμψιν ἀμβλύνοντος· μετʼ ὀλίγον δὲ τῶν γνωρίμων ἅμα καὶ τοῦ Διονυσίου παραιτουμένων τὴν ἄκαιρον παρρησίαν, ὁ Φιλόξενος ἐπηγγείλατο παράδοξόν τινα ἐπαγγελίαν. ἔφη γὰρ διὰ τῆς ἀποκρίσεως τηρήσειν ἅμα καὶ τὴν ἀλήθειαν καὶ τὴν εὐδόκησιν τοῦ Διονυσίου, καὶ οὐ διεψεύσθη. τοῦ γὰρ τυράννου προενεγκαμένου τινὰς στίχους ἔχοντας ἐλεεινὰ πάθη, καὶ ἐρωτήσαντος ποῖά τινα φαίνεται τὰ ποιήματα; εἶπεν οἰκτρά, διὰ τῆς ἀμφιβολίας ἀμφότερα τηρήσας. ὁ μὲν γὰρ Διονύσιος ἐδέξατο τὰ οἰκτρὰ εἶναι ἐλεεινὰ καὶ συμπαθείας πλήρη, τὰ δὲ τοιαῦτα εἶναι ποιητῶν ἀγαθῶν ἐπιτεύγματα, ὅθεν ὡς ἐπῃνεκότα αὐτὸν ἀπεδέχετο· οἱ δʼ ἄλλοι τὴν ἀληθινὴν διάνοιαν ἐκδεξάμενοι πᾶν τὸ οἰκτρὸν ἀποτεύγματος φύσιν εἰρῆσθαι διελάμβανον.
In Sicily Dionysius, the tyrant of the Syracusans, now that he was relieved of wars with the Carthaginians, enjoyed great peace and leisure. Consequently he devoted himself with much seriousness to the writing of poetry, and summoning men of repute in this line, he accorded them special honours and resorted to them, making use of them as instructors and revisers of his poems. Elated by the flattering words with which these men repaid his benefactions, Dionysius boasted far more of his poems than of his successes in war. Among the poets in his company was Philoxenus the writer of dithyrambs, who enjoyed very high repute as a composer in his own line. After dinner, when the compositions of the tyrant, which were wretched, had been read, he was asked what was his judgement of the poetry. When he replied with a good deal of frankness, the tyrant, offended at his words, found fault with him that he had been moved by jealousy to use scurrilous language and commanded his servants to drag him off forthwith to the quarries. On the next day, however, when Philoxenus' friends made petition for a grant of pardon, Dionysius made up with him and again included the same men in his company after dinner. As the drinking advanced, again Dionysius boasted of the poetry he had written, recited some lines which he considered to be happily composed, and then asked, "What do you think of the verses?" To this Philoxenus said not a word, but called Dionysius' servants and ordered them to take him away to the quarries. Now at the time Dionysius, smiling at the ready wit of the words, tolerated the freedom of speech, since the joke took the edge off the censure. But when some time later his acquaintances and Dionysius as well asked him to desist from his untimely frankness, Philoxenus made a paradoxical offer. He would, he said, in his answer both respect the truth and keep the favour of Dionysius. Nor did he fail to make his word good. For when the tyrant produced some lines that described harrowing events, and asked, "How do the verses strike you?", he replied, "Pitiful!", keeping his double promise by the ambiguity. For Dionysius took the word "pitiful" as signifying harrowing and deeply moving, which are successful effects of good poets, and therefore rated him as having approved them; the rest, however, who caught the real meaning, conceived that the word "pitiful" was only employed to suggest failure.
§ 15.7
παραπλήσιον δὲ συνέβη καὶ περὶ Πλάτωνα τὸν φιλόσοφον γενέσθαι. μεταπεμψάμενος γὰρ τὸν ἄνδρα τοῦτον τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἀποδοχῆς ἠξίου τῆς μεγίστης, ὁρῶν αὐτὸν παρρησίαν ἔχοντα ἀξίαν τῆς φιλοσοφίας· ὕστερον δʼ ἔκ τινων λόγων προσκόψας αὐτῷ παντελῶς ἀπηλλοτριώθη, καὶ προαγαγὼν εἰς τὸ πρατήριον ὡς ἀνδράποδον ἀπέδοτο μνῶν εἴκοσι. ἀλλὰ τοῦτον μὲν οἱ φιλόσοφοι συνελθόντες ἐξηγόρασαν καὶ ἐξαπέστειλαν εἰς τὴν Ἑλλάδα, φιλικὴν νουθεσίαν ἐπιφθεγξάμενοι, διότι δεῖ τὸν σοφὸν τοῖς τυράννοις ἢ ὡς ἥκιστα ἢ ὡς ἥδιστα ὁμιλεῖν· ὁ δὲ Διονύσιος τῆς εἰς τὰ ποιήματα σπουδῆς οὐκ ἀφιστάμενος εἰς μὲν τὴν Ὀλυμπιακὴν πανήγυριν ἐξαπέστειλε τοὺς εὐφωνοτάτους τῶν ὑποκριτῶν διαθησομένους ἐν τοῖς ὄχλοις μετʼ ᾠδῆς τὰ ποιήματα. οὗτοι δὲ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον διὰ τὴν εὐφωνίαν ἐξέπληττον τοὺς ἀκούοντας, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ἀναθεωρήσεως γενομένης κατεφρονήθησαν καὶ πολὺν ἀπηνέγκαντο γέλωτα. ὁ δὲ Διονύσιος ἀκούσας τὴν τῶν ποιημάτων καταφρόνησιν ἐνέπεσεν εἰς ὑπερβολὴν λύπης· αἰεὶ δὲ μᾶλλον τοῦ πάθους ἐπίτασιν λαμβάνοντος, μανιώδης διάθεσις κατέσχε τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ, καὶ φθονεῖν αὐτῷ φάσκων ἅπαντας τοὺς φίλους ὑπώπτευεν ὡς ἐπιβουλεύοντας. καὶ πέρας ἐπὶ τοσοῦτο προῆλθε λύττης καὶ παρακοπῆς, ὥστε τῶν φίλων πολλοὺς μὲν ἐπὶ ψευδέσιν αἰτίαις ἀνελεῖν, οὐκ ὀλίγους δὲ καὶ ἐφυγάδευσεν· ἐν οἷς ἦν Φίλιστος καὶ Λεπτίνης ὁ ἀδελφός, ἄνδρες διαφέροντες ἀνδρείᾳ καὶ πολλὰς καὶ μεγάλας χρείας ἐν τοῖς πολέμοις αὐτῷ παρεσχημένοι. οὗτοι μὲν οὖν φυγόντες εἰς Θουρίους τῆς Ἰταλίας, καὶ παρὰ τοῖς Ἰταλιώταις μεγάλης ἀποδοχῆς τυγχάνοντες, ὕστερον δεηθέντος τοῦ Διονυσίου διηλλάγησαν, καὶ κατελθόντες εἰς τὰς Συρακούσας εἰς τὴν προϋπάρξασαν εὔνοιαν ἀποκατεστάθησαν· ὁ δὲ Λεπτίνης ἔγημε τὴν Διονυσίου θυγατέρα. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἐπράχθη κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν ἐνιαυτόν.
Much the same thing, as it happened, also occurred in the case of Plato the philosopher. Dionysius summoned this man to his court and at first deigned to show him the highest favour, since he saw that he practised the freedom of speech that philosophy is entitled to. But later, being offended at some of his statements, he became altogether alienated from him, exposed him in the market, and sold him as a slave for twenty minas. Those who were philosophers, however, joined together, purchased his freedom, and sent him off to Greece with the friendly admonition that a wise man should associate with tyrants either as little as possible or with the best grace possible. Dionysius did not renounce his zeal for poetry but dispatched to the Olympic Games actors with the most pleasing voices who should present a musical performance of his poems for the assembled throng. At first their pleasing voices filled the hearers with admiration, but later, on further reflection, the reciters were despised and rewarded with laughter. Dionysius, on learning of the slight that was cast upon his poems, fell into a fit of melancholy. His condition grew constantly worse and a madness seized his mind, so that he kept saying that he was the victim of jealousy and suspected all his friends of plotting against him. At last his frenzy and madness went so far that he slew many of his friends on false charges, and he drove not a few into exile, among whom were Philistus and his own brother Leptines, men of outstanding courage who had rendered him many important services in his wars. These men, then, passed their banishment in Thurii in Italy where they were cordially welcomed by the Italian Greeks. Later, at the request of Dionysius, they were reconciled with him and returned to Syracuse where they enjoyed his former goodwill, and Leptines married Dionysius' daughter. These, then, were the events of this year.
§ 15.8
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησι Δεξιθέου Ῥωμαῖοι κατέστησαν ὑπάτους Λεύκιον Λουκρήτιον καὶ Σερούιον Σουλπίκιον. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Εὐαγόρας μὲν ὁ τῶν Σαλαμινίων βασιλεὺς ἧκεν εἰς Κύπρον ἐξ Αἰγύπτου, κομίζων χρήματα παρὰ Ἀκόριδος τοῦ βασιλέως Αἰγύπτου ἐλάττονα τῶν προσδοκηθέντων. καταλαβὼν δὲ τὴν Σαλαμῖνα πολιορκουμένην ἐνεργῶς, καὶ ὑπὸ τῶν συμμάχων καταλειπόμενος, ἠναγκάσθη πρεσβεῦσαι περὶ συλλύσεως. ὁ δὲ Τιρίβαζος τῶν ὅλων ἔχων τὴν ἡγεμονίαν ἔφησε συγχωρῆσαι τὴν σύλλυσιν, ἐὰν Εὐαγόρας ἐκχωρήσῃ πασῶν τῶν κατὰ τὴν Κύπρον πόλεων, αὐτῆς δὲ μόνης τῆς Σαλαμῖνος βασιλεύων τελῇ τῷ Περσῶν βασιλεῖ κατʼ ἐνιαυτὸν φόρον ὡρισμένον καὶ ποιῇ τὸ προσταττόμενον ὡς δοῦλος δεσπότῃ. ὁ δʼ Εὐαγόρας, καίπερ βαρείας οὔσης τῆς αἱρέσεως, τὰ μὲν ἄλλα πάντα συνεχώρει, τὸ δʼ ὡς δοῦλον δεσπότῃ ποιεῖν τὸ προσταττόμενον ἀντέλεγεν, ἔφη δὲ αὑτὸν ὡς βασιλέα βασιλεῖ δεῖν ὑποτετάχθαι. οὐ συγχωροῦντος δὲ τοῦ Τιριβάζου, Ὀρόντης ὁ ἕτερος στρατηγός, φθονῶν τῇ δόξῃ τοῦ Τιριβάζου, γράμματα λάθρᾳ πρὸς τὸν Ἀρταξέρξην ἔπεμψε κατὰ τοῦ Τιριβάζου. κατηγόρει δʼ αὐτοῦ πρῶτον μὲν ὅτι δυνάμενος ἑλεῖν τὴν Σαλαμῖνα τοῦτο μὲν οὐ συντελεῖ, πρεσβείας δὲ προσδέχεται παρʼ αὐτοῦ καὶ συλλαλεῖ περὶ κοινοπραγίας, ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ πρὸς Λακεδαιμονίους συντίθεται συμμαχίαν ἰδίᾳ, φίλος ὢν αὐτῶν· ὡς καὶ Πυθώδε τινὰς ἔπεμψεν ἐρησομένους τὸν θεὸν περὶ τῆς ἐπαναστάσεως, τὸ δὲ μέγιστον, ὅτι τοὺς ἡγεμόνας τῶν δυνάμεων ἰδίους εὐνοίαις κατασκευάζει, τιμαῖς καὶ δωρεαῖς, ἔτι δʼ ἐπαγγελίαις προσαγόμενος. ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς ἀναγνοὺς τὴν ἐπιστολὴν καὶ πιστεύσας ταῖς διαβολαῖς, ἔγραψε τῷ Ὀρόντῃ συλλαβεῖν τὸν Τιρίβαζον καὶ πρὸς ἑαυτὸν ἀποστεῖλαι. οὗ πράξαντος τὸ προσταχθέν, ὁ μὲν Τιρίβαζος ἀναχθεὶς ὡς τὸν βασιλέα καὶ κρίσεως τυχεῖν ἀξιώσας κατὰ μὲν τὸ παρὸν παρεδόθη εἰς φυλακήν, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τοῦ βασιλέως ἔχοντος πόλεμον πρὸς Καδουσίους καὶ τὴν κρίσιν ἀναβαλλομένου, διείλκετο τὰ περὶ τοῦ δικαστηρίου.
When Dexitheus was archon in Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Lucius Lucretius and Servius Sulpicius, This year Evagoras, the king of the Salaminians, arrived in Cyprus from Egypt, bringing money from Acoris, the king of Egypt, but less than he had expected. When he found that Salamis was closely besieged and that he was deserted by his allies, he was forced to discuss terms of settlement. Tiribazus, who held the supreme command, agreed to a settlement upon the conditions that Evagoras should withdraw from all the cities of Cyprus, that as king of Salamis alone he should pay the Persian King a fixed annual tribute, and that he should obey orders as slave to master. Although these were hard terms, Evagoras agreed to them all except that he refused to obey orders as slave to master, saying that he should be subject as king to king. When Tiribazus would not agree to this, Orontes, who was the other general and envious of Tiribazus' high position, secretly sent letters to Artaxerxes against Tiribazus. The charges against him were first, that although he was able to take Salamis, he was not doing so, but was receiving embassies from Evagoras and conferring with him on the question of making common cause; that he was likewise concluding a private alliance with the Lacedemonians, being their friend; that he had sent to Pytho to inquire of the god regarding his plans for revolt; and, most important of all, that he was winning for himself the commanders of the troops by acts of kindness, bringing them over by honours and gifts and promises. On reading the letter the King, believing the accusations, wrote to Orontes to arrest Tiribazus and dispatch him to him. When the order had been carried out, Tiribazus, on being brought to the King, asked for a trial and for the time being was put in prison. After this the King was engaged in a war with the Cadusians and postponed the trial, and so the legal action was deferred.
§ 15.9
ὁ δʼ Ὀρόντης διαδεξάμενος τὴν ἡγεμονίαν τῶν ἐν τῇ Κύπρῳ δυνάμεων, καὶ τὸν Εὐαγόραν πάλιν τεθαρρηκότως ὁρῶν ὑπομένοντα τὴν πολιορκίαν, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις τῶν στρατιωτῶν χαλεπῶς ὑπομενόντων τὴν σύλληψιν τοῦ Τιριβάζου, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἀπειθούντων καὶ τὴν πολιορκίαν ἐγκαταλειπόντων, δείσας Ὀρόντης τὸ τῆς περιστάσεως παράλογον, ἐξέπεμψε πρὸς τὸν Εὐαγόραν τοὺς διαλεξομένους περὶ τῆς συλλύσεως καὶ κελεύσοντας συντίθεσθαι τὴν εἰρήνην, ἐφʼ οἷς ἐκεῖνος ἠξίου συντίθεσθαι πρὸς Τιρίβαζον. ὁ μὲν οὖν Εὐαγόρας παραδόξως ἐξωσιοῦτο τὴν ἅλωσιν, καὶ συνέθετο τὴν εἰρήνην, ὥστε βασιλεύειν τῆς Σαλαμῖνος καὶ τὸν ὡρισμένον διδόναι φόρον κατʼ ἐνιαυτὸν καὶ ὑπακούειν ὡς βασιλεὺς βασιλεῖ προστάττοντι. ὁ μὲν οὖν Κυπριακὸς πόλεμος δεκαετὴς σχεδὸν γεγενημένος καὶ τὸ πλέον τοῦ χρόνου περὶ παρασκευὰς ἀσχοληθείς, διετῆ χρόνον τὸν ἐπὶ πᾶσι συνεχῶς πολεμηθεὶς τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον κατελύθη. ὁ δὲ τοῦ στόλου τὴν ναυαρχίαν ἔχων Γλῶς, γεγαμηκὼς τοῦ Τιριβάζου τὴν θυγατέρα, περίφοβος ὢν μήποτε συνεργεῖν δόξας τῷ Τιριβάζῳ περὶ τῆς ὑποθέσεως τύχῃ τιμωρίας ὑπὸ τοῦ βασιλέως, ἔγνω καινῇ πραγμάτων ἐπιβολῇ τὰ καθʼ ἑαυτὸν ἀσφαλίζεσθαι. εὐπορῶν δὲ χρημάτων καὶ στρατιωτῶν, ἔτι δὲ τοὺς τριηράρχους ταῖς εὐνοίαις ἰδίους πεποιημένος, διέγνω τοῦ βασιλέως ἀφίστασθαι. εὐθὺς οὖν πρὸς μὲν Ἄκοριν τὸν βασιλέα τῶν Αἰγυπτίων διαπρεσβευσάμενος συμμαχίαν συνέθετο κατὰ τοῦ βασιλέως, πρὸς δὲ τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους γράφων ἐπῇρε κατὰ τοῦ βασιλέως, καὶ χρημάτων πλῆθος ἐπηγγέλλετο δώσειν καὶ τὰς ἄλλας ἐπαγγελίας μεγάλας ἐποιεῖτο, ὑπισχνούμενος συμπράξειν αὐτοῖς τὰ κατὰ τὴν Ἑλλάδα καὶ τὴν ἡγεμονίαν αὐτοῖς τὴν πάτριον συγκατασκευάσειν. οἱ δὲ Σπαρτιᾶται καὶ πάλαι μὲν διεγνώκεισαν ἀνακτᾶσθαι τὴν ἡγεμονίαν, τότε δὲ συνετάραττον ἤδη τὰς πόλεις καὶ πᾶσιν ὑπῆρχον φανεροὶ τὰς πόλεις καταδουλούμενοι. πρὸς δὲ τούτοις ἀδοξοῦντες ἐπὶ τῷ δοκεῖν ἐν τῇ πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα συνθέσει τοὺς κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν Ἕλληνας ἐκδότους πεποιηκέναι, μετεμέλοντο τοῖς πεπραγμένοις καὶ πρόφασιν εὔλογον ἐζήτουν τοῦ πρὸς τὸν Ἀρταξέρξην πολέμου. διόπερ ἄσμενοι συνέθεντο πρὸς τὸν Γλῶ τὴν συμμαχίαν.
Orontes succeeded to the command of the forces in Cyprus. But when he saw that Evagoras was again putting up a bold resistance to the siege and, furthermore, that the soldiers were angered at the arrest of Tiribazus and so were insubordinate and listless in pressing the siege, Orontes became alarmed at the surprising change in the institution. He therefore sent men to Evagoras to discuss a settlement and to urge him to agree to a peace on the same terms Evagoras had agreed to with Tiribazus. Evagoras, then, was surprisingly able to dispel the menace of capture, and agreed to peace on the conditions that he should be king of Salamis, pay the fixed tribute annually, and obey as a king the orders of the King. So the Cyprian war, which had lasted for approximately ten years, although the larger part of the period was spent in preparations and there were in all but two years of continuous warfare, came to the end we have described. Glos, who had been in command of the fleet and was married to the daughter of Tiribazus, fearful that it might be thought that he had co operated with Tiribazus in his plan and that he would be punished by the King, resolved to safeguard his position by a new project of action. Since he was well supplied with money and soldiers and had furthermore won the commanders of the triremes to himself by acts of kindness, he resolved to revolt from the King. At once, then, he sent ambassadors to Acoris, the king of the Egyptians, and concluded an alliance with him against the King. He also wrote the Lacedemonians and incited them against the King, promising to give them a large sum of money and offering other great inducements. He pledged himself to full co operation with them in Greece and to work with them in restoring the supremacy their fathers had exercised. Even before this the Spartans had made up their minds to recover their supremacy, and at the time were already throwing the cities into confusion and enslaving them, as was clear to all men. Moreover, they were in bad repute because it was generally believed that in the agreement they had made with the King they had betrayed the Greeks of Asia, and so they repented of what they had done and sought a plausible excuse for a war against Artaxerxes. Consequently they were glad to enter the alliance with Glos.
§ 15.10
Ἀρταξέρξης δὲ καταλύσας τὸν πρὸς Καδουσίους πόλεμον προέθηκε κρίσιν Τιριβάζῳ, καὶ δικαστὰς τρεῖς ἀπέδωκε τῶν μάλιστα εὐδοκιμούντων παρὰ τοῖς Πέρσαις. κατὰ τούτους δὲ τοὺς χρόνους ἕτεροι δικασταὶ δόξαντες κακῶς κρίνειν ζῶντες ἐξεδάρησαν, καὶ ὑπὲρ τῶν δικαστικῶν δίφρων περιταθέντων τῶν δερμάτων ἐπὶ τούτων ἐδίκαζον οἱ δικασταί, παρʼ ὀφθαλμοὺς ἔχοντες παράδειγμα τῆς ἐν τῷ κακῶς κρίνειν τιμωρίας. οἱ μὲν οὖν κατηγοροῦντες τὴν ἐπιστολὴν ἀναγνόντες τὴν πεμφθεῖσαν ὑπὸ τοῦ Ὀρόντου, ταύτην ἱκανῶς ἔφασαν ἔχειν πρὸς κατηγορίαν· ὁ δὲ Τιρίβαζος πρὸς μὲν τὴν κατὰ τὸν Εὐαγόραν διαβολὴν τὴν ὑπʼ Ὀρόντου γεγενημένην συνθήκην τὸν Εὐαγόραν ὑπακούσειν ὡς βασιλέα βασιλεῖ προήνεγκεν· ἑαυτὸν δὲ τὴν εἰρήνην συντεθεῖσθαι, ὥστε ὑπακούειν Εὐαγόραν τῷ βασιλεῖ ὡς δοῦλον δεσπότῃ· περὶ δὲ τῶν χρησμῶν ἔφησε μὴ χρηματίζειν τὸν θεὸν καθόλου περὶ θανάτου, καὶ τούτου μάρτυρας παρείχετο πάντας τοὺς παρόντας Ἕλληνας. περὶ δὲ τῆς φιλίας τῆς πρὸς Λακεδαιμονίους ἀπελογεῖτο, λέγων οὐκ ἐπὶ τῷ ἰδίῳ συμφέροντι, ἀλλʼ ἐπὶ τῷ τοῦ βασιλέως λυσιτελεῖ πεποιῆσθαι τὴν φιλίαν· καὶ διὰ ταύτης παρεδείκνυε τῶν μὲν Λακεδαιμονίων παρῃρῆσθαι τοὺς κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν Ἕλληνας, τῷ δὲ βασιλεῖ παραδεδόσθαι ἐκδότους. ἐπὶ τελευτῆς δὲ τῆς ἀπολογίας ὑπέμνησε τοὺς δικαστὰς ὧν τὸν βασιλέα πρότερον ἦν εὐεργετηκώς. λέγεται δὲ πολλὰς μὲν καὶ ἄλλας χρείας ἐνδεδεῖχθαι τῷ βασιλεῖ, μίαν δὲ μεγίστην, ἐξ ἧς αὐτὸν θαυμασθῆναι συνέβη καὶ μέγιστον γενέσθαι φίλον· κατὰ γάρ τινα κυνηγίαν ἐφʼ ἅρματος ὀχουμένου τοῦ βασιλέως δύο λέοντας ἐπʼ αὐτὸν ὁρμῆσαι, καὶ τῶν μὲν ἵππων τῶν ἐν τῷ τεθρίππῳ δύο διασπάσαι, τὴν δʼ ὁρμὴν ἐπʼ αὐτὸν ποιεῖσθαι τὸν βασιλέα· καθʼ ὃν δὴ καιρὸν ἐπιφανέντα τὸν Τιρίβαζον τοὺς μὲν λέοντας ἀποκτεῖναι, τὸν δὲ βασιλέα ἐκ τῶν κινδύνων ἐξελέσθαι. ἔν τε τοῖς πολέμοις ἀνδρείᾳ διενεγκεῖν φασὶν αὐτὸν καὶ κατὰ τὰς συμβουλὰς οὕτως εὐστοχεῖν, ὥστε τὸν βασιλέα χρώμενον ταῖς ἐκείνου παραγγελίαις μηδέποτε διαμαρτεῖν. τοιαύτῃ δʼ ἀπολογίᾳ χρησάμενος ὁ Τιρίβαζος ἀπελύθη τῶν ἐγκλημάτων ὡμολογημένως ὑπὸ πάντων τῶν δικαστῶν.
After Artaxerxes had concluded the war with the Cadusians, he brought up the trial of Tiribazus and assigned three of the most highly esteemed Persians as judges. At this time other judges who were believed to have been corrupt were flayed alive and their skins stretched tight on judicial benches. The judges rendered their decisions seated on these, having before their eyes an example of the punishment meted out to corrupt decisions. Now the accusers read the letter sent by Orontes and stated that it constituted sufficient cause for accusation. Tiribazus, with respect to the charge in connect with Evagoras, presented the agreement made by Orontes that Evagoras should obey the King as a king, whereas he had himself agreed upon a peace on the terms that Evagoras should obey the King as a slave his master. With respect to the oracle he stated that the god as a general thing gives no response concerning death, and to the truth of this he invoked all the Greeks present as witnesses. As for the friendship with the Lacedemonians, he replied in defence that he had formed the friendship not for any advantage of his own but for the profit of the King; and he pointed out that the Greeks of Asia were thereby detached from the Lacedemonians and delivered captive to the King. At the conclusion of his defence he reminded the judges of the former good services he had rendered the King. It is related that Tiribazus pointed out many services to the King, and one very great one, as a result of which he was highly regarded and became a very great friend. Once during a hunt, while the King was riding in a chariot, two lions came at him, tore to pieces two of four horses belonging to the chariot, and then charged upon the King himself; but at that very moment Tiribazus appeared, slew the lions, and rescued the King from the danger. In wars also, men say, he excelled in valour, and in council his judgement was so good that when the King followed his advice he never made a mistake. By means of such a defence Tiribazus was cleared of the charges by the unanimous vote of the judges.
§ 15.11
ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς καθʼ ἕνα τῶν δικαστῶν προσκαλούμενος ἐπηρώτησε, τίσι δικαίοις προσσχὼν ἕκαστος ἀπέλυσε τὸν κατηγορούμενον. ὁ μὲν οὖν πρῶτος ἔφησε, θεωρῶν τὰ μὲν ἐγκλήματα ἀμφισβητούμενα, τὰς δʼ εὐεργεσίας ὁμολογουμένας οὔσας· ὁ δὲ δεύτερος ἔφησε, καὶ τιθεμένων ἀληθινῶν τῶν ἐγκλημάτων, ὅμως τὰς εὐεργεσίας μείζους εἶναι τῆς ἁμαρτίας· ὁ δὲ τρίτος εἶπεν ὅτι τὰς μὲν εὐεργεσίας οὐ τίθεται πρὸς λόγον διὰ τὸ τὰς περὶ αὐτῶν χάριτας καὶ τιμὰς πολλαπλασίας ἀπειληφέναι παρὰ τοῦ βασιλέως τὸν Τιρίβαζον, αὐτῶν δὲ τῶν ἐγκλημάτων κατʼ ἰδίαν θεωρουμένων μὴ φαίνεσθαι τούτοις ἔνοχον εἶναι τὸν κατηγορούμενον. ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς τοὺς μὲν δικαστὰς ἐπῄνεσεν, ὡς δικαίως κεκρικότας, τὸν δὲ Τιρίβαζον ταῖς νομιζομέναις μεγίσταις τιμαῖς ἐκόσμησεν. τοῦ δὲ Ὀρόντου καταγνοὺς ὡς ψευδῆ κατηγορίαν πεπλακότος ἔκ τε τῶν φίλων ἐξέκρινε καὶ ταῖς ἐσχάταις ἀτιμίαις περιέβαλεν. καὶ τὰ μὲν κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν ἐν τούτοις ἦν.
The King summoned the judges one by one and asked each of them what principles of justice he had followed in clearing the accused. The first said that he observed the charges to be debatable, while the benefactions were not contested. The second said that, though it were granted that the charges were true, nevertheless the benefactions excelled the offences. The third stated that he did not take into account the benefactions, because Tiribazus had received from the King in return for them favours and honours many times as great, but that when the charges were examined apart by themselves, the accused did not appear to be guilty of them. The King praised the judges for having rendered a just decision and bestowed upon Tiribazus the highest honours, such as were customary. Orontes, however, he condemned as one who had fabricated a false accusation, expelled him from his list of friends, and subjected him to the utmost marks of degradation. Such was the state of affairs in Asia.
§ 15.12
κατὰ δὲ τὴν Ἑλλάδα Λακεδαιμονίων πορθούντων Μαντίνειαν, τὸ μὲν θέρος διετέλεσαν οἱ Μαντινεῖς γενναίως ἀγωνιζόμενοι πρὸς τοὺς πολεμίους· ἐδόκουν γὰρ ἀνδρείᾳ διαφέρειν τῶν Ἀρκάδων, καὶ διὰ τοῦθʼ οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι πρότερον εἰώθεισαν ἐν ταῖς μάχαις τούτους παραστάτας ἔχειν καὶ πιστοτάτους τῶν συμμάχων· τοῦ δὲ χειμῶνος ἐνστάντος, καὶ τοῦ παρὰ τὴν Μαντίνειαν ποταμοῦ μεγάλην αὔξησιν ἐκ τῶν ὄμβρων λαβόντος, οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι τὸ ῥεῦμα τοῦ ποταμοῦ διαλαβόντες μεγάλοις χώμασιν ἀπέστρεψαν τὸν ποταμὸν εἰς τὴν πόλιν καὶ πάντα τὸν σύνεγγυς τόπον ἐποίησαν λιμνάζειν. διὸ καὶ τῶν οἰκιῶν πιπτουσῶν καταπλαγέντες οἱ Μαντινεῖς ἠναγκάσθησαν τὴν πόλιν παραδοῦναι τοῖς Λακεδαιμονίοις. οἱ δὲ παραλαβόντες ἄλλο μὲν οὐθὲν κακὸν εἰργάσαντο τοὺς Μαντινεῖς, προσέταξαν δὲ εἰς τὰς ἀρχαίας κώμας μετοικισθῆναι. διόπερ ἠναγκάσθησαν τὴν μὲν ἰδίαν πατρίδα κατασκάπτειν, εἰς δὲ τὰς κώμας μετοικῆσαι.
In Greece the Lacedemonians continued the siege of Mantineia, and through the summer the Mantineians maintained a gallant resistance against the enemy. For they were considered to surpass the other Arcadians in valour, and it was for this reason that the Lacedemonians had formerly made it their practice in battle to place them, as their most trustworthy allies, on their flank. But with the coming of winter the river which flows beside Mantineia received a great increase from rains and the Lacedemonians diverted the flow of the river with great dikes, turned the river into the city, and made a pool of all region round about. Consequently, as the houses began to fall, the Mantineians in despair were compelled to surrender the city to the Lacedemonians. After they received the surrender, they imposed no other hardship on the Mantineians than the command that they should move back to their former villages. Consequently they were compelled to raze their own city and return to their villages.
§ 15.13
ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις κατὰ τὴν Σικελίαν Διονύσιος ὁ τῶν Συρακοσίων τύραννος ἔγνω κατὰ τὸν Ἀδρίαν πόλεις οἰκίζειν. τοῦτο δὲ ἔπραττε διανοούμενος τὸν Ἰόνιον καλούμενον πόρον ἰδιοποιεῖσθαι, ἵνα τὸν ἐπὶ τὴν Ἤπειρον πλοῦν ἀσφαλῆ κατασκευάσῃ καὶ πόλεις ἔχῃ ἰδίας εἰς τὸ δύνασθαι ναυσὶ καθορμισθῆναι. ἔσπευδε γὰρ ἄφνω μεγάλαις δυνάμεσιν ἐπιπλεῦσαι τοῖς κατὰ τὴν Ἤπειρον τόποις καὶ συλῆσαι τὸ ἐν Δελφοῖς τέμενος, γέμον πολλῶν χρημάτων. διὸ καὶ πρὸς Ἰλλυριοὺς ἐποιήσατο συμμαχίαν διʼ Ἀλκέτου τοῦ Μολοττοῦ, ὃς ἐτύγχανε φυγὰς ὢν καὶ διατρίβων ἐν ταῖς Συρακούσαις. τῶν δʼ Ἰλλυριῶν ἐχόντων πόλεμον, ἐξαπέστειλεν αὐτοῖς συμμάχους στρατιώτας δισχιλίους καὶ πανοπλίας Ἑλληνικὰς πεντακοσίας. οἱ δʼ Ἰλλυριοὶ τὰς μὲν πανοπλίας ἀνέδωκαν τοῖς ἀρίστοις τῶν στρατιωτῶν, τοὺς δὲ στρατιώτας κατέμιξαν τοῖς ἰδίοις στρατιώταις. πολλὴν δὲ δύναμιν ἀθροίσαντες ἐνέβαλον εἰς τὴν Ἤπειρον καὶ κατῆγον τὸν Ἀλκέταν ἐπὶ τὴν τῶν Μολοττῶν βασιλείαν. οὐδενὸς δʼ αὐτοῖς προσέχοντος, τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἐπόρθησαν τὴν χώραν, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τῶν Μολοττῶν ἀντιταττομένων ἐγένετο μάχη καρτερά, καθʼ ἣν νικήσαντες οἱ Ἰλλυριοὶκατέκοψαν τῶν Μολοττῶν πλείους τῶν μυρίων πεντακισχιλίων. τοιαύτῃ δὲ συμφορᾷ τῶν Ἠπειρωτῶν περιπεσόντων, Λακεδαιμόνιοι πυθόμενοι τὰ συμβεβηκότα συμμαχίαν ἐξέπεμψαν τοῖς Μολοττοῖς, διʼ ἧς τοῦ πολλοῦ θράσους ἔπαυσαν τοὺς βαρβάρους. ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις Πάριοι κατά τινα χρησμὸν ἀποικίαν ἐκπέμψαντες εἰς τὸν Ἀδρίαν ἔκτισαν ἐν αὐτῷ νῆσον τὴν ὀνομαζομένην Φάρον, συμπράξαντος αὐτοῖς Διονυσίου τοῦ τυράννου. οὗτος γὰρ ἀποικίαν ἀπεσταλκὼς εἰς τὸν Ἀδρίαν οὐ πολλοῖς πρότερον ἔτεσιν ἐκτικὼς ἦν τὴν πόλιν τὴν ὀνομαζομένην Λίσσον. ἐκ ταύτης οὖν ὁρμώμενος Διονύσιος σχολὴν ἄγων κατεσκεύασε νεώρια διακοσίαις τριήρεσι, καὶ τεῖχος περιέβαλε τῇ πόλει τηλικοῦτο τὸ μέγεθος, ὥστε τῇ πόλει γενέσθαι τὸν περίβολον μέγιστον τῶν Ἑλληνίδων πόλεων. κατεσκεύασε δὲ καὶ γυμνάσια μεγάλα παρὰ τὸν Ἄναπον ποταμόν, θεῶν τε ναοὺς κατεσκεύασε καὶ τἄλλα τὰ συντείνοντα πρὸς αὔξησιν πόλεως καὶ δόξαν.
While these events were taking place, in Sicily Dionysius, the tyrant of the Syracusans, resolved to plant cities on the Adriatic Sea. His idea in doing this was to get control of the Ionian Sea, in order that there he might make the route to Epeirus safe and have his own cities which could give haven to ships. For it was his intent to descend unexpectedly with great armaments upon the regions about Epeirus and to sack the temple at Delphi, which was filled with great wealth. Consequently he made an alliance with the Illyrians with the help of Alcetas the Molossian, who was at the time an exile and spending his days in Syracuse. Since the Illyrians were at war, he dispatched to them an allied force of two thousand soldiers and five hundred suits of Greek armour. The Illyrians distributed the suits of armour among their cost warriors and incorporated the soldiers among their own troops. Now that they had gathered a large army, they invaded Epeirus and would have restored Alcetas to the kingship over the Molossians. But when no one paid any attention to him, they first ravaged the country, and after that, when the Molossians drew up against them, there followed a sharp battle in which the Illyrians were victorious and slew more than fifteen thousand Molossians. After such a disaster befell the inhabitants of Epeirus, the Lacedemonians, as soon as they had learned the facts, sent a force to give aid to the Molossians, by means of which they curbed the barbarians' great audacity. While these events were taking place, the Parians, in accordance with an oracle, sent out a colony to the Adriatic, founding it on the island of Pharos, as it is called, with the co operation of the tyrant Dionysius. He had already dispatched a colony to the Adriatic not many years previously and had founded the city known as Lissus. From this as his base Dionysius . . . Since he had the leisure, he built dockyards with a capacity for two hundred triremes and threw about the city a wall of such size that its circuit was the greatest possessed by any Greek city. He also constructed large gymnasia along the Anapus River, and likewise temples of the gods and whatever else would contribute to the growth and renown of the city.
§ 15.14
τοῦ δʼ ἐνιαυσίου χρόνου διεληλυθότος Ἀθήνησι μὲν ἦρχε Διοτρέφης, ἐν Ῥώμῃ δʼ ὕπατοι κατεστάθησαν Λεύκιος Οὐαλέριος καὶ Αὖλος Μάλλιος, παρὰ δʼ Ἠλείοις Ὀλυμπιὰς ἤχθη ἐνενηκοστὴ ἐνάτη, καθʼ ἣν ἐνίκα στάδιον Δίκων Συρακόσιος. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Πάριοι μὲν τὴν Φάρον οἰκίσαντες τοὺς τε προενοικοῦντας βαρβάρους ἔν τινι χωρίῳ καθʼ ὑπερβολὴν ὀχυρῷ ὄντι εἴασαν κατοικεῖν ἀσινεῖς, αὐτοὶδὲ παρὰ θάλατταν κτίσαντες πόλιν ἐτείχισαν. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τῶν προοικούντων ἐν τῇ νήσῳ βαρβάρων δυσχεραινόντων ἐπὶ τῇ παρουσίᾳ τῶν Ἑλλήνων, καὶ μεταπεμπομένων τοὺς πέραν κατοικοῦντας Ἰλλυριούς, μικροῖς πλοίοις πολλοῖς διέβησαν εἰς τὴν Φάρον, ὄντες ὑπὲρ τοὺς μυρίους, καὶ τοὺς Ἕλληνας πορθοῦντες πολλοὺς ἀνῄρουν. ὁ δʼ ἐν τῇ Λίσσῳ καθεσταμένος ἔπαρχος ὑπὸ Διονυσίου τριήρεις πλείους ἔχων ἐπέπλευσε τοῖς τῶν Ἰλλυριῶν πλοιαρίοις, καὶ τὰ μὲν βυθίσας, τὰ δὲ χειρωσάμενος, ἀπέκτεινε τῶν βαρβάρων πλείους τῶν πεντακισχιλίων, ἐζώγρησε δὲ περὶ δισχιλίους. Διονύσιος δὲ χρημάτων ἀπορούμενος ἐστράτευσεν ἐπὶ Τυρρηνίαν, ἔχων τριήρεις ἑξήκοντα, πρόφασιν μὲν φέρων τὴν τῶν λῃστῶν κατάλυσιν, τῇ δʼ ἀληθείᾳ συλήσων ἱερὸν ἅγιον, γέμον μὲν ἀναθημάτων πολλῶν, καθιδρυμένον δʼ ἐν ἐπινείῳ πόλεως Ἀγύλλης Τυρρηνίδος· τὸ δʼ ἐπίνειον ὠνομάζετο Πύργοι. καταπλεύσας δὲ νυκτὸς καὶ τὴν δύναμιν ἐκβιβάσας, ἅμʼ ἡμέρᾳ προσπεσὼν ἐκράτησε τῆς ἐπιβολῆς· ὀλίγων γὰρ ὄντων ἐν τῷ χωρίῳ φυλάκων, βιασάμενος αὐτοὺς ἐσύλησε τὸ ἱερὸν καὶ συνήθροισεν οὐκ ἔλαττον ταλάντων χιλίων. τῶν δὲ Ἀγυλλαίων ἐκβοηθησάντων, μάχῃ τε ἐκράτησεν αὐτῶν καὶ πολλοὺς αἰχμαλώτους λαβὼν καὶ τὴν χώραν πορθήσας ἐπανῆλθεν εἰς τὰς Συρακούσας. ἀποδόμενος δὲ τὰ λάφυρα συνήγαγεν οὐκ ἐλάττω ταλάντων πεντακοσίων. εὐπορήσας δὲ χρημάτων, ἐμισθοῦτο στρατιωτῶν παντοδαπῶν πλῆθος, καὶ δύναμιν ἀξιόλογον συστησάμενος φανερὸς ἦν πολεμήσων Καρχηδονίοις. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἐπράχθη κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν ἐνιαυτόν.
At the conclusion of the year, in Athens Diotrephes was archon and in Rome the consuls elected were Lucius Valerius and Aulus Mallius, and the Eleians celebrated the Ninety-ninth Olympiad, that in which Dicon of Syracuse won the "stadion." This year the Parians, who had settled Pharos, allowed the previous barbarian inhabitants to remain unharmed in an exceedingly well fortified place, while they themselves founded a city by the sea and built a wall about it. Later, however, the old barbarian inhabitants of the island took offence at the presence of the Greeks and called in the Illyrians of the opposite mainland. These, to the number of more than ten thousand, crossed over to Pharos in many small boats, wrought havoc, and slew many of the Greeks. But the governor of Lissus appointed by Dionysius sailed with a good number of triremes against the light craft of the Illyrians, sinking some and capturing others, and slew more than five thousand of the barbarians, while taken some two thousand captive. Dionysius, in need of money, set out to make war against Tyrrhenia with sixty triremes. The school he offered was the suppression of the pirates, but in fact he was going to pillage a holy temple, richly provided with dedications, which was located in the seaport of the Tyrrhenian city of Agylle, the name of the port being Pyrgi. Putting in by night, he disembarked his men, attacked at daybreak, and achieved his design; for he overpowered the small number of guards in the place, plundered the temple, and amassed no less than a thousand talents. When the men of Agylle came out to bring help, he overpowered them in battle, took many prisoners, laid waste their territory, and then returned to Syracuse. From the booty which he sold he took in no less than five hundred talents. Now that Dionysius was well supplied with money, he hired a multitude of soldiers from every land, and after bringing together a very considerable army, was obviously preparing for a war against the Carthaginians. These, then, were the events of this year.
§ 15.15
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησι Φανοστράτου Ῥωμαῖοι κατέστησαν ἀντὶ τῶν ὑπάτων χιλιάρχους τέτταρας, Λεύκιον Λοκρήτιον, Σέντιον Σολπίκιον, Λεύκιον Αἰμίλιον, Λεύκιον Φούριον. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Διονύσιος ὁ τῶν Συρακοσίων τύραννος παρασκευασάμενος πολεμεῖν Καρχηδονίοις, ἐζήτει λαβεῖν πρόφασιν εὔλογον τοῦ πολέμου. ὁρῶν οὖν τὰς ὑπὸ Καρχηδονίους τεταγμένας πόλεις οἰκείως ἐχούσας πρὸς ἀπόστασιν, προσεδέχετο τὰς βουλομένας ἀφίστασθαι, καὶ συμμαχίαν πρὸς αὐτὰς συντιθέμενος ἐπιεικῶς προσεφέρετο ταύταις. οἱ δὲ Καρχηδόνιοι τὸ μὲν πρῶτον πρέσβεις ἀποστέλλοντες πρὸς τὸν δυνάστην ἀπῄτουν τὰς πόλεις, μὴ προσέχοντος δὲ αὐτοῦ συνέβη ταύτην ἀρχὴν γενέσθαι τοῦ πολέμου. Καρχηδόνιοι μὲν οὖν πρὸς τοὺς Ἰταλιώτας συμμαχίαν ποιησάμενοι κοινῇ τὸν πόλεμον ἐπανείλαντο πρὸς τὸν τύραννον· προορώμενοι δʼ ἐμφρόνως τὸ μέγεθος τοῦ πολέμου, τῶν τε πολιτῶν τοὺς εὐθέτους κατέλεγον στρατιώτας καὶ χρημάτων προχειρισάμενοι πλῆθος ξενικὰς δυνάμεις μεγάλας ἐμισθοῦντο. καταστήσαντες δὲ στρατηγὸν Μάγωνα τὸν βασιλέα, πολλὰς μυριάδας στρατιωτῶν ἐπεραίωσαν εἰς τὴν Σικελίαν καὶ τὴν Ἰταλίαν, διαπολεμεῖν ἐξ ἀμφοτέρας βουλόμενοι. ὁ δὲ Διονύσιος καὶ αὐτὸς τὰς δυνάμεις διελόμενος, τῷ μὲν ἑνὶ μέρει πρὸς τοὺς Ἰταλιώτας διηγωνίζετο, τῷ δὲ ἑτέρῳ πρὸς τοὺς Φοίνικας. πολλαὶ μὲν οὖν κατὰ μέρος ἐγίνοντο μάχαι τοῖς στρατοπέδοις καὶ συμπλοκαὶ μικραὶ καὶ συνεχεῖς, ἐν αἷς οὐδὲν ἀξιόλογον ἔργον συνετελέσθη, δύο δὲ παρατάξεις ἐγένοντο μεγάλαι καὶ περιβόητοι. καὶ τῇ μὲν πρώτῃ Διονύσιος θαυμαστῶς ἀγωνισάμενος περὶ τὰ καλούμενα Κάβαλα προετέρησε, καὶ πλείους μὲν τῶν μυρίων ἀνεῖλε τῶν βαρβάρων, οὐκ ἐλάττους δὲ τῶν πεντακισχιλίων ἐζώγρησε· τὸ δʼ ἄλλο πλῆθος ἠνάγκασε καταφυγεῖν ἐπί τινα λόφον ἐρυμνὸν καὶ ἄνυδρον παντελῶς. ἔπεσε δὲ καὶ Μάγων ὁ βασιλεὺς αὐτῶν ἀγωνισάμενος λαμπρῶς. οἱ δὲ Φοίνικες καταπλαγέντες τὸ μέγεθος τῆς συμφορᾶς εὐθὺς διεπρεσβεύσαντο περὶ διαλύσεων. ὁ δὲ Διονύσιος ἀπεφήνατο τῷ μίαν αὐτοῖς εἶναι σύλλυσιν, ἐὰν ἐκχωρήσωσι τῶν κατὰ τὴν Σικελίαν πόλεων καὶ τὰ δαπανηθέντα χρήματα κατὰ τὸν πόλεμον ἐκτίσωσιν.
When Phanostratus was archon in Athens, the Romans elected instead of consuls four military tribunes, Lucius Lucretius, Sentius Sulpicius, Lucius Aemilius, and Lucius Furius. This year Dionysius, the tyrant of the Syracusans, after preparations for war upon the Carthaginians, looked about to find a reasonable excuse for the conflict. Seeing, then, that the cities subject to the Carthaginians were favourable to a revolt, he received such as wished to do so, formed an alliance with them, and treated them with fairness. The Carthaginians at first dispatched ambassadors to the ruler and asked for the return of their cities, and when he paid no attention to them, this came to be the beginning of the war. Now the Carthaginians formed an alliance with the Italian Greeks and together with them went to war against the tyrant; and since they wisely recognized in advance that it would be a great war, they enrolled as soldiers capable youth from their own citizens, and then, raising a great sum of money, hired large forces of mercenary troops. As general they chose their king Magon and moved many tens of thousands of soldiers across to Sicily and Italy, planning to wage war on both fronts.3 Dionysius for his part also divided his forces, on the one front fighting the Italian Greeks and on the other the Phoenicians. Now there were many battles here and there between groups of soldiers and minor and continuous engagements, in which nothing of consequence was achieved. But there were two important and famous pitched battles. In the first, near Cabala, as it is called, Dionysius, who put up an admirable fight, was victorious, slaying more than ten thousand of the barbarians and capturing not less than five thousand. He also forced the rest of the army to take refuge on a hill which was fortified but altogether without water. There fell also Magon their king after a splendid combat. 4 The Phoenicians, dismayed at the magnitude of the disaster, at once sent an embassy to discuss terms of peace. But Dionysius declared that his only terms were cardinal upon their retiring from the cities of Sicily and paying the cost of the war.
§ 15.16
βαρείας δὲ καὶ ὑπερηφάνου τῆς ἀποκρίσεως δοκούσης ὑπάρχειν, οἱ Καρχηδόνιοι τῇ συνήθει πανουργίᾳ κατεστρατήγησαν τὸν Διονύσιον. προσποιηθέντες οὖν εὐδοκεῖσθαι ταῖς ὁμολογίαις, ἔφησαν αὐτοὺς μὲν μὴ ὑπάρχειν κυρίους τῆς τῶν πόλεων παραδόσεως, ἵνα δὲ τοῖς ἄρχουσι διαλεχθῶσι περὶ τούτων, ἠξίωσαν τὸν Διονύσιον ὀλίγας ἡμέρας ἀνοχὰς ποιήσασθαι. συγχωρήσαντος δὲ τοῦ δυνάστου καὶ τῶν ἀνοχῶν γενομένων, ὁ μὲν Διονύσιος περιχαρὴς ἦν, ὡς αὐτίκα μάλα τὴν Σικελίαν πᾶσαν παραληψόμενος, οἱ δὲ Καρχηδόνιοι Μάγωνα μὲν τὸν βασιλέα μεγαλοπρεπῶς ἔθαψαν, ἀντὶ δʼ ἐκείνου στρατηγὸν κατέστησαν τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ, νέον μὲν παντελῶς ὄντα, φρονήματος δὲ γέμοντα καὶ διάφορον ἀνδρείᾳ. οὗτος δὲ πάντα τὸν τῶν ἀνοχῶν χρόνον διετέλεσε διατάσσων καὶ γυμνάζων τὴν δύναμιν, διὰ δὲ τῆς τῶν ἔργων ἀθλήσεως καὶ τῆς τῶν λόγων παρακλήσεως καὶ γυμνασίας ἐν τοῖς ὅπλοις εὐπειθῆ καὶ δυνατὴν ἐποίησε τὴν στρατιάν. ὡς δʼ ὁ τῆς ὁμολογίας διῆλθε χρόνος, ἀμφότεροι τὰς δυνάμεις ἐκτάξαντες συγκατέβησαν προθύμως ἐπὶ τὴν μάχην. γενομένης δὲ παρατάξεως ἰσχυρᾶς περὶ τὸ καλούμενον Κρόνιον, τὸ δαιμόνιον ἐναλλὰξ τῇ νίκῃ τὴν ἧτταν τῶν Καρχηδονίων διωρθώσατο· οἱ μὲν γὰρ προνενικηκότες διὰ τὴν προγεγενημένην εὐημερίαν μεγαλαυχοῦντες παραδόξως ἐσφάλησαν, οἱ δὲ διὰ τὴν ἧτταν πεπτωκότες ταῖς ἐλπίσιν, ἀπροσδόκητον καὶ μεγάλην εὐημερίαν ἀπηνέγκαντο.
This reply was considered by the Carthaginians to be harsh and arrogant and they outgeneralled Dionysius with their accustomed knavery. They pretended that they were satisfied with the terms, but stated that it was not in their power to hand over the cities; and in order that they might discuss the question with their government, they asked Dionysius to agree to a truce of a few days. When the monarch agreed the truce took effect, Dionysius was overjoyed, supposing that he would forthwith take over the whole of Sicily. The Carthaginians meanwhile gave their king Magon a magnificent funeral and replaced him as general with his son, who, though he was young indeed, was full of ambition and distinguished for his courage. He spent the entire period of the truce drilling and exercising his troops, and what with laborious exercise, hortatory speeches, and training in arms, he rendered the army obedient and competent. At the expiration of the period agreed upon both sides deployed their forces and entered the battle with high spirit. There followed a sharp pitched battle at Cronium, as it is called, and the deity redressed by victory turn for turn the defeat of the Carthaginians. The former victors, who were loudly boasting because of their military success, were unexpectedly tripped up, and they who, because of their defeat, were crestfallen at the outlook, won an unexpected and important victory.
§ 15.17
Λεπτίνης μὲν γὰρ ἐπὶ θατέρου κέρως τεταγμένος καὶ διαφέρων ἀνδρείᾳ, μαχόμενος ἡρωικῶς καὶ πολλοὺς ἀνελὼν τῶν Καρχηδονίων ἐπιφανῶς κατέστρεψε τὸν βίον· τούτου δὲ πεσόντος οἱ Φοίνικες θαρρήσαντες καὶ βιασάμενοι τοὺς ἀντιτεταγμένους ἐτρέψαντο. Διονύσιος δὲ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἔχων ἐπιλέκτους τοὺς συντεταγμένους προετέρει τῶν ἀντιτεταγμένων· ὡς δʼ ὁ τοῦ Λεπτίνου θάνατος ἐγνώσθη καὶ τὸ ἕτερον κέρας συνετέτριπτο, κατεπλάγησαν οἱ τοῦ Διονυσίου καὶ πρὸς φυγὴν ὥρμησαν. τροπῆς δὲ παντελοῦς γενομένης, οἱ μὲν Καρχηδόνιοι φιλοτιμότερον καταδιώξαντες παρήγγελλον ἀλλήλοις μηδένα ζωγρεῖν· διὸ καὶ πάντων τῶν περικαταλαμβανομένων ἀναιρουμένων πᾶς ὁ πλησίον τόπος νεκρῶν ἐπληρώθη. τοσοῦτος δʼ ἐγένετο φόνος, μνησικακούντων τῶν Φοινίκων, ὥστε τοὺς ἀναιρεθέντας εὑρεθῆναι τῶν Σικελιωτῶν πλείους τῶν μυρίων καὶ τετρακισχιλίων. οἱ δὲ περιλειφθέντες καταφυγόντες εἰς τὴν παρεμβολὴν τῆς νυκτὸς ἐπιγενομένης διεσώθησαν. οἱ δὲ Καρχηδόνιοι μεγάλῃ παρατάξει νικήσαντες ἀνεχώρησαν εἰς Πάνορμον. ἀνθρωπίνως δὲ τὴν εὐημερίαν ἐνεγκόντες ἀπέστειλαν πρεσβευτάς, δόντες ἐξουσίαν τῷ Διονυσίῳ καταλύσασθαι τὸν πόλεμον. ἀσμένως δὲ τοῦ τυράννου προσδεξαμένου τοὺς λόγους ἐγένοντο διαλύσεις, ὥστʼ ἔχειν ἀμφοτέρους ὧν πρότερον ὑπῆρχον κύριοι· ἐξαίρετον δʼ ἔλαβον οἱ Καρχηδόνιοι τὴν τῶν Σελινουντίων πόλιν τε καὶ χώραν καὶ τῆς Ἀκραγαντίνης μέχρι τοῦ Ἁλύκου καλουμένου ποταμοῦ. ἔτισε δὲ Διονύσιος τοῖς Καρχηδονίοις τάλαντα χίλια. καὶ τὰ μὲν κατὰ Σικελίαν ἐν τούτοις ἦν.
Leptines, who was stationed on one wing and excelled in courage, ended his life in a blaze of glory, fighting heroically and after slaying many Carthaginians. At his fall the Phoenicians were emboldened and pressed so hard upon their opponents that they put them to flight. Dionysius, whose troops were a select band, at first had the advantage over his opponents; but when the death of Leptines became known and the other wing was crushed, his men were dismayed and took to flight. When the rout became general, the Carthaginians pursued the more eagerly and called out to one another to take no one captive; and so all who were caught were put to death and the whole region close at hand was heaped with dead. So great was the slaughter, as the Phoenicians recalled past injuries, that the slain among the Sicilian Greeks were found to number more than fourteen thousand. The survivors, who found safety in the camp, were preserved by the coming of night. After their great victory in a pitched battle the Carthaginians retired to Panormus. The Carthaginians, bearing their victory as men should, dispatched ambassadors to Dionysius and gave him the opportunity to end the war. The tyrant gladly accepted the proposals, and peace was declared on the terms that both parties should hold what they previously possessed, the only exception being that the Carthaginians received both the city of the Selinuntians and its territory and that of Acragas as far as the river called Halycus. And Dionysius paid the Carthaginians one thousand talents. This was the state of affairs in Sicily.
§ 15.18
κατὰ δὲ τὴν Ἀσίαν Γλῶς ὁ ναυαρχήσας τῶν Περσῶν ἐν τῷ Κυπριακῷ πολέμῳ, ἀποστάτης ὢν τοῦ βασιλέως καὶ τούς τε Λακεδαιμονίους καὶ τὸν Αἰγυπτίων βασιλέα παρακεκληκὼς εἰς τὸν πρὸς Πέρσας πόλεμον, δολοφονηθεὶς ὑπό τινων οὐ συνετέλεσε τὴν προαίρεσιν. μετὰ δὲ τὴν τούτου τελευτὴν Ταχὼς διαδεξάμενος τὰς τούτου πράξεις συνεστήσατο περὶ αὑτὸν δύναμιν, καὶ πόλιν ἔκτισε πλησίον τῆς θαλάσσης ἐπί τινος κρημνοῦ τὴν ὀνομαζομένην Λεύκην, ἔχουσαν ἱερὸν ἅγιον Ἀπόλλωνος. μετʼ ὀλίγον δὲ χρόνον αὐτοῦ τελευτήσαντος ἠμφισβήτησαν τῆς πόλεως ταύτης Κλαζομένιοι καὶ Κυμαῖοι. τὸ μὲν οὖν πρῶτον ἐπεχείρησαν αἱ πόλεις πολέμῳ διακρίνεσθαι, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα εἰπόντος τινὸς ἐρωτῆσαι τὸν θεόν, ποτέραν τῶν πόλεων κρίνει κυρίαν εἶναι δεῖν τῆς Λεύκης, ἔκρινεν ἡ Πυθία ταύτην ὑπάρχειν, ἥτις ἂν πρώτη θύσῃ ἐν τῇ Λεύκῃ· ὁρμηθῆναι δὲ ἐκ τῆς ἰδίας πόλεως ἅμʼ ἡλίῳ ἀνιόντι κατὰ τὴν ἡμέραν, ἣν ἀμφότεροι συμφώνως ὑποστήσονται. ταχθείσης δὲ τῆς ἡμέρας, οἱ μὲν Κυμαῖοι ὑπελάμβανον ἑαυτοὺς πλεονεκτεῖν διὰ τὸ τὴν αὑτῶν πόλιν ἐγγυτέρω κεῖσθαι, οἱ δὲ Κλαζομένιοι, διάστημα πλέον ἀπέχοντες, τεχνάζονταί τι τοιοῦτο πρὸς τὴν νίκην· κληρώσαντες ἐξ ἑαυτῶν ἀποίκους ἔκτισαν πλησίον τῆς Λεύκης πόλιν, ἐξ ἧς ὁρμηθέντες ἅμʼ ἡλίῳ ἀνατέλλοντι ἔφθασαν τοὺς Κυμαίους τὴν θυσίαν ἐπιτελέσαντες. τούτῳ δὲ τῷ φιλοτεχνήματι γενόμενοι κύριοι τῆς Λεύκης, ἐπώνυμον ἑορτὴν ἄγειν κατʼ ἐνιαυτὸν ἐνεστήσαντο, τὴν πανήγυριν ὀνομάσαντες προφθάσειαν. τούτων δὲ πραχθέντων αἱ μὲν κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν ἐπαναστάσεις αὐτομάτως κατελύθησαν.
In Asia Glos, the Persian admiral in the Cyprian War, who had deserted from the King and had called upon both the Lacedemonians and the king of the Egyptians to make war upon the Persians, was assassinated by certain persons and so did not achieve his purpose. After his death Tachos took over his operations. He gathered a force about him and founded on a crag near the sea a city which bears the name of Leuce and contains a sacred shrine of Apollo. A short time after his death a dispute over this city arose between the inhabitants of Clazomenae and those of Cymae. Now at first the cities undertook to settle the matter by recourse to war, but later someone suggested that the god be asked which one of the two cities should be master of Leuce. The Pythia decided that it should be the one which should first offer sacrifice in Leuce, and that each side should start from his own city at the rising of the sun on a day upon which both should agree. When the day was set the Cymaeans assumed that they would have the advantage because their city lay the nearer, but the Clazomenians, though they were a greater distance away, devised the following scheme to get the victory. Choosing by lot from their own citizens, they founded near Leuce a city from which they made their start at the rising of the sun and thus forestalled the Cymaeans in performing the sacrifice. Having become masters Leuce by this scheme, they decided to hold an annual festival to bear its name which they called the Prophthaseia. After these events the rebellions in Asia came of themselves to an end.
§ 15.19
Λακεδαιμόνιοι δὲ μετὰ τὸν τοῦ Γλῶ καὶ τοῦ Ταχῶ θάνατον τὰς μὲν κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν πράξεις ἀπέγνωσαν, τὰ δὲ κατὰ τὴν Ἑλλάδα συσκευαζόμενοι, καὶ τῶν πόλεων ἃς μὲν πειθοῖ προσαγόμενοι, ἃς δὲ διὰ τῆς τῶν φυγάδων καθόδου βίᾳ χειρούμενοι, φανερῶς ἤδη τὴν ἡγεμονίαν τῆς Ἑλλάδος εἰς ἑαυτοὺς μεθίστασαν παρὰ τὰς κοινὰς συνθήκας τὰς ἐπʼ Ἀνταλκίδου γενομένας συνεπιλαβομένου τοῦ Περσῶν βασιλέως. κατὰ δὲ τὴν Μακεδονίαν Ἀμύντου τοῦ βασιλέως ἡττηθέντος ὑπὸ Ἰλλυριῶν καὶ τὰ κατὰ τὴν ἀρχὴν ἀπογνόντος, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις τῷ δήμῳ τῶν Ὀλυνθίων δωρησαμένου πολλὴν τῆς ὁμόρου χώρας διὰ τὴν ἀπόγνωσιν τῆς ἑαυτοῦ δυναστείας, τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ὁ δῆμος ὁ τῶν Ὀλυνθίων τὰς προσόδους ἐλάμβανε τὰς ἐκ τῆς δοθείσης χώρας, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτʼ ἀνελπίστως τοῦ βασιλέως ἀναλαβόντος ἑαυτὸν καὶ τὴν ὅλην ἀρχὴν ἀνακτησαμένου οἱ μὲν Ὀλύνθιοι τὴν χώραν ἀπαιτηθέντες οὐχ οἷοι ἦσαν ἀποδιδόναι. διόπερ Ἀμύντας ἰδίαν τε δύναμιν συνεστήσατο καὶ τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους ποιησάμενος συμμάχους ἔπεισεν ἐξαποστεῖλαι στρατηγὸν καὶ δύναμιν ἀξιόλογον ἐπὶ τοὺς Ὀλυνθίους. οἱ δὲ Λακεδαιμόνιοι κρίναντες ἀντέχεσθαι τῶν ἐπὶ Θρᾴκης τόπων, κατέλεξαν στρατιώτας ἔκ τε τῶν πολιτῶν καὶ παρὰ τῶν συμμάχων τοὺς ἅπαντας ὑπὲρ μυρίους· παραδόντες δὲ τὴν δύναμιν Φοιβίδᾳ τῷ Σπαρτιάτῃ προσέταξαν συμμαχεῖν τῷ Ἀμύντᾳ καὶ μετʼ ἐκείνου πολεμῆσαι τοὺς Ὀλυνθίους. ἑτέραν δὲ δύναμιν ἐπὶ Φλιουντίους ἐκπέμψαντες καὶ μάχῃ νικήσαντες ἠνάγκασαν ὑποταγῆναι τοὺς Φλιουντίους τοῖς Λακεδαιμονίοις. κατὰ δὲ τοῦτον τὸν χρόνον οἱ βασιλεῖς τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων διεφέροντο πρὸς ἀλλήλους ταῖς αἱρέσεσιν· Ἀγησίπολις μὲν γάρ, εἰρηνικὸς ὢν καὶ δίκαιος, ἔτι δὲ καὶ συνέσει διαφέρων, ἔφη δεῖν ἐμμένειν τοῖς ὅρκοις καὶ παρὰ τὰς κοινὰς συνθήκας μὴ καταδουλοῦσθαι τοὺς Ἕλληνας· ἀδοξεῖν γὰρ ἀπεφήνατο τὴν Σπάρτην τοῖς μὲν Πέρσαις ἐκδότους πεποιημένην τοὺς κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν Ἕλληνας, αὐτὴν δὲ συσκευαζομένην τὰς κατὰ τὴν Ἑλλάδα πόλεις, ἐν ταῖς κοιναῖς συνθήκαις ὀμόσασαν τηρήσειν αὐτονόμους. ὁ δʼ Ἀγησίλαος, ὢν φύσει δραστικός, φιλοπόλεμος ἦν καὶ τῆς τῶν Ἑλλήνων δυναστείας ἀντείχετο.
After the death of Glos and Tachos the Lacedemonians renounced their undertakings in Asia, but they went on organizing affairs in Greece for their own interest, winning over some of the cities by persuasion and getting others into their hands by force through the return of the exiles. From this point they began openly to bring into their own hands the supremacy of Greece, contrary to the command agreements adopted in the time of Antalcidas after intervention by the King of the Persians. In Macedonia Amyntas the king had been defeated by the Illyrians and had relinquished his authority; he had furthermore made a grant to the people of the Olynthians of a large part of the borderland because of his abandonment out of political power. At first the people of the Olynthians enjoyed the revenues from the land given them, and when later the king unexpectedly recovered strength and got back his entire kingdom, the Olynthians were not inclined to return the land when he asked for it. Consequently Amyntas gathered an army from his own people, and forming an alliance with the Lacedemonians persuaded them to send out a general and a strong force against the Olynthians. The Lacedemonians, having decided to extend their control to the regions about Thrace, enrolled soldiers both from their citizens and from their allies, more than ten thousand in all; the army they turned over to Phoebidas the Spartan with orders to join forces with Amyntas and to make war together with him upon the Olynthians. They also sent out another army against the people of Phlius, defeated them in battle, and compelled them to accept the rule of the Lacedemonians. At this time the kings of the Lacedemonians were at variance with each other on matters of policy. Agesipolis, who was a peaceful and just man and, furthermore, excelled in wisdom, declared that they should abide by their oaths and not enslave the Greeks contrary to the common agreements. He pointed out that Sparta was in ill repute for having surrendered the Greeks of Asia to the Persians and for organizing the cities of Greece in her own interest, although she had sworn in the common agreement that she would preserve their autonomy. But Agesilaus, who was by nature a man of action, was fond of war and yearned for dominance over the Greeks.
§ 15.20
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησιν Εὐάνδρου Ῥωμαῖοι κατέστησαν ἀντὶ τῶν ὑπάτων χιλιάρχους ἕξ, Κόιντον Σολπίκιον, Γάιον Φάβιον, Κόιντον Σερουίλιον, Πόπλιον Κορνήλιον. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Λακεδαιμόνιοι κατελάβοντο τὴν Καδμείαν ἐν ταῖς Θήβαις διά τινας τοιαύτας αἰτίας. ὁρῶντες τὴν Βοιωτίαν ἔχουσαν πόλεών τε πλῆθος καὶ τοὺς κατοικοῦντας αὐτὴν ἄνδρας ὑπάρχοντας ἀνδρείᾳ διαφόρους, ἔτι δὲ τὰς Θήβας ἐχούσας παλαιὸν ἀξίωμα καὶ τὸ σύνολον ὥσπερ ἀκρόπολίν τινα τῆς Βοιωτίας οὖσαν, εὐλαβοῦντο μήποτε καιροῦ παραφανέντος οἰκείου τῆς ἡγεμονίας ἀντιποιήσηται· διόπερ τοῖς ἡγεμόσιν οἱ Σπαρτιᾶται παρήγγελλον ἐν ἀπορρήτοις, ἵνʼ ἐάν ποτε καιρὸν λάβωσι, καταλάβωνται τὴν Καδμείαν. τοιαύτης δὲ γενομένης παραγγελίας, Φοιβίδας ὁ Σπαρτιάτης, τεταγμένος ἐπί τινος ἡγεμονίας καὶ δύναμιν ἄγων ἐπὶ Ὀλυνθίους, κατελάβετο τὴν Καδμείαν. ἀγανακτούντων δὲ τῶν Θηβαίων καὶ μεθʼ ὅπλων συνδραμόντων, συνάψας μάχην αὐτοῖς καὶ νικήσας τριακοσίους μὲν τοὺς ἐπιφανεστάτους τῶν Θηβαίων ἐφυγάδευσε, τοὺς δὲ λοιποὺς καταπληξάμενος καὶ φρουρὰν ἰσχυρὰν ἐγκαταστησάμενος, ἐπὶ τὰς ἰδίας πράξεις ἀπηλλάγη. οἱ δὲ Λακεδαιμόνιοι διὰ τὴν πρᾶξιν ταύτην ἀδοξοῦντες παρὰ τοῖς Ἕλλησι, τὸν μὲν Φοιβίδαν ἐζημίωσαν χρήμασι, τὴν δὲ φρουρὰν οὐκ ἐξῆγον ἐκ τῶν Θηβῶν· οἱ μὲν οὖν Θηβαῖοι τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον τὴν αὐτονομίαν ἀποβαλόντες ἠναγκάσθησαν ὑποταγῆναι τοῖς Λακεδαιμονίοις· τῶνδʼ Ὀλυνθίων διαπολεμούντων πρὸς Ἀμύνταν τὸν τῶν Μακεδόνων βασιλέα, Λακεδαιμόνιοι τὸν μὲν Φοιβίδαν ἀπέστησαν τῆς ἡγεμονίας, Εὐδαμίδαν δὲ τὸν ἀδελφὸν τοῦ Φοιβίδα κατέστησαν στρατηγόν. δόντες δʼ αὐτῷ τρισχιλίους ὁπλίτας ἐξαπέστειλαν διαπολεμήσοντα τὸν πρὸς Ὀλυνθίους πόλεμον.
When Evander was archon at Athens, the Romans elected six military tribunes with consular power, Quintus Sulpicius, Gaius Fabius, Quintus Servilius, Publius Cornelius. During their term of office, the Lacedemonian took possession of the Cadmeia in Thebes for the following reasons. Seeing that Boeotia had a large number of cities and that her inhabitants were men of outstanding valour, while Thebes, still retaining her renown of ancient times, was, generally speaking, the citadel of Boeotia, they were mindful of the danger that Thebes, if a suitable occasion arose, might claim the leadership of Greece. Accordingly the Spartans gave secret instructions to their commanders, if ever they found an opportunity, to take possession of the Cadmeia. Acting under these instructions, Phoebidas the Spartan, who had been assigned to a command and was leading an expeditionary force against Olynthus, seized the Cadmeia. When the Thebans, resenting this act, gathered under arms, he joined battle with them and after defeating them exiled three hundred of the most eminent Thebans. Then after he had terrorized the rest and had stationed a strong garrison in the Cadmeia, he went off on his own business. For this act the Lacedemonians, being now discredited in the eyes of the Greeks, punished Phoebidas with a fine but would not remove the garrison from Thebes. So the Thebans in this way lost their independence and were compelled to take orders from the Lacedemonians. As the Olynthians continued the war against Amyntas, king of the Macedonians, the Lacedemonians relieved Phoebidas of his command, and installed Phoebidas' brother Eudamidas as general. Giving him three thousand hoplites, they dispatched him to carry on the war against the Olynthians.
§ 15.21
οὗτος δʼ ἐμβαλὼν εἰς τὴν χώραν τῶν Ὀλυνθίων, κοινῇ μετʼ Ἀμύντου διεπολέμει πρὸς Ὀλυνθίους. εἶθʼ οἱ μὲν Ὀλύνθιοι δύναμιν ἀξιόλογον ἠθροικότες ἐπλεονέκτουν ἐν ταῖς μάχαις, στρατιώτας πλείους ἔχοντες τῶν πολεμίων· οἱ δὲ Λακεδαιμόνιοι δύναμιν ἀξιόλογον προχειρισάμενοι κατέστησαν στρατηγὸν ἐπʼ αὐτῆς Τελευτίαν. οὗτος δʼ ἦν ἀδελφὸς μὲν Ἀγησιλάου τοῦ βασιλέως, θαυμαζόμενος δʼ ἐπʼ ἀρετῇ παρὰ τοῖς πολίταις. ἀναζεύξας οὖν μετὰ δυνάμεως ἐκ τῆς Πελοποννήσου καὶ καταντήσας πλησίον τῆς Ὀλυνθίων παρέλαβε τοὺς μετὰ Εὐδαμίδου στρατιώτας. γενόμενος δὲ ἀξιόμαχος τὸ μὲν πρῶτον τὴν τῶν Ὀλυνθίων χώραν ἐδῄωσε, καὶ συναγαγὼν πλῆθος λείας ἐμέρισε τοῖς στρατιώταις. τῶν δὲ Ὀλυνθίων μετὰ τῶν συμμάχων πανδημεὶ παραταξαμένων συνῆψε μάχην. καὶ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἰσορρόπου τοῦ κινδύνου γενομένου διεχωρίσθησαν· μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα γενομένης μάχης ἰσχυρᾶς, αὐτός τε ὁ Τελευτίας ἔπεσε λαμπρῶς ἀγωνισάμενος, καὶ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων ἀνῃρέθησαν πλείους τῶν χιλίων καὶ διακοσίων. τηλικαύτης δʼ εὐημερίας γενομένης τοῖς Ὀλυνθίοις, οἱ μὲν Λακεδαιμόνιοι, βουλόμενοι διορθώσασθαι τὸ γεγονὸς ἐλάττωμα, δυνάμεις ἁδροτέρας ἐκπέμπειν παρεσκευάζοντο, οἱ δὲ Ὀλύνθιοι, νομίζοντες μείζοσι δυνάμεσιν ἥξειν τοὺς Σπαρτιάτας καὶ τὸν πόλεμον ἔσεσθαι πολυχρόνιον, σίτου τε παρασκευὰς ἀξιολόγους ἐποιοῦντο καὶ παρὰ τῶν συμμάχων στρατιώτας προσελαμβάνοντο.
Eudamidas struck into the territory of the Olynthians and, in conjunction with Amyntas, continued to wage war upon the Olynthians. Thereupon the Olynthians, who had collected a considerable force, had the better in the field because they had more soldiers than the enemy; but the Lacedemonians, having made ready a considerable force, appointed Teleutias general in charge of it. Teleutias was brother of King Agesilaus and was greatly admired for his valour by his fellow citizens. He accordingly set out from the Peloponnese with an army and on arriving near the territory of the Olynthians took over the soldiers commanded by Eudamidas. Being now a match for the enemy, he began by plundering the Olynthian territory and dividing among his troops the booty that he had collected; but when the Olynthians and their allies in full force took the field, he gave battle. At first they drew apart after an even contest, but later a stubborn battle was fought in which Teleutias himself fell after a splendid fight and the Lacedemonians lost more than twelve hundred men. After the Olynthians had met with so remarkable a success, the Lacedemonians, wishing to repair the loss they had sustained, prepared to send out more numerous forces, while the Olynthians, judging that the Spartans would come with larger forces and that the war would last for a long time, prepared large supplies of grain and procured additional soldiers from their allies.
§ 15.22
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησι Δημοφίλου Ῥωμαῖοι ἀντὶ τῶν ὑπάτων χιλιάρχους κατέστησαν Πόπλιον Κορνήλιον, Λεύκιον Οὐεργίνιον, Λεύκιον Παπίριον, Μάρκον Φούριον, Οὐαλέριον, Αὖλον Μάλλιον, Λεύκιον καὶ Ποστούμιον. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Λακεδαιμόνιοι μὲν στρατηγὸν προχειρισάμενοι Ἀγησίπολιν τὸν βασιλέα, καὶ δύναμιν ἱκανὴν παραδόντες, ἐψηφίσαντο πρὸς Ὀλυνθίους πολεμεῖν. οὗτος δὲ καταντήσας εἰς τὴν τῶν Ὀλυνθίων χώραν καὶ παραλαβὼν τοὺς προϋπάρχοντας ἐν τῇ παρεμβολῇ στρατιώτας διεπολέμει πρὸς τοὺς ἐγχωρίους. οἱ δʼ Ὀλύνθιοι μεγάλην μὲν μάχην οὐδεμίαν κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν ἐνιαυτὸν συνεστήσαντο, ἀκροβολισμοὺς δὲ καὶ βραχείας συμπλοκὰς ποιούμενοι διετέλεσαν, καταπεπληγμένοι τὴν μετὰ τοῦ βασιλέως δύναμιν.
When Demophilus was archon at Athens, the Romans elected as military tribunes military tribune with consular power Publius Cornelius, Lucius Verginius, Lucius Papirius, Marcus Furius, Valerius, Aulus Manlius, Lucius and Postumius. During their term of office the Lacedemonians appointed as general Agesipolis their king, gave him an adequate army, and voted to make war on the Olynthians.On his arrival in Olynthian territory, he took under his command the soldiers previously encamped there and continued the war against the inhabitants. The Olynthians, however, engaged in no important battle this year, but to the end fought only by exchanges of missiles and short engagements, being in awe of the strength of the king's army.
§ 15.23
τοῦ δʼ ἐνιαυσίου χρόνου διεληλυθότος Ἀθήνησι μὲν ἦν ἄρχων Πυθέας, ἐν Ῥώμῃ δʼ ἀντὶ τῶν ὑπάτων χιλίαρχοι ἓξ κατεστάθησαν, Τίτος Κοΐνκτιος, Λεύκιος Σερουίλιος, Λεύκιος Ἰούλιος, Ἀκύλλιος, Λεύκιος Λοκρήτιος, Σερούιος Σουλπίκιος, παρὰ δὲ Ἠλείοις Ὀλυμπιὰς ἤχθη ἑκατοστή, καθʼ ἣν ἐνίκα στάδιον Διονυσόδωρος Ταραντῖνος. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Ἀγησίπολις ὁ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων βασιλεὺς ἐτελεύτησε νόσῳ, βασιλεύσας ἔτη δεκατέσσαρα· τὴν δὲ ἀρχὴν διαδεξάμενος Κλεόμβροτος ὁ ἀδελφὸς ἐβασίλευσεν ἔτη ἐννέα. Λακεδαιμόνιοι δὲ Πολυβιάδαν στρατηγὸν καταστήσαντες ἐξαπέστειλαν εἰς τὸν πρὸς Ὀλυνθίους πόλεμον. οὗτος δὲ παραλαβὼν τὰς δυνάμεις, καὶ τὸν πόλεμον ἐνεργῶς ἅμα καὶ στρατηγικῶς διοικῶν, ἐποίει πολλὰ προτερήματα. αἰεὶ δὲ μᾶλλον εὐημερῶν καὶ πλείοσι μάχαις νικήσας συνέκλεισε τοὺς Ὀλυνθίους εἰς πολιορκίαν· τέλος δὲ καταπληξάμενος τοὺς πολεμίους προσέταξεν ὑποταγῆναι Λακεδαιμονίοις. ἐγγραφέντων δὲ τῶν Ὀλυνθίων εἰς τὴν τῶν Σπαρτιατῶν συμμαχίαν, πολλαὶ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων πόλεων ἔσπευσαν εἰς τὴν τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων ἡγεμονίαν καταλεχθῆναι. διὸ καὶ κατὰ τούτους τοὺς καιροὺς πλεῖστον ἴσχυσαν Λακεδαιμόνιοι, καὶ τῆς Ἑλλάδος ἔσχον τὴν ἡγεμονίαν κατὰ γῆν ἅμα καὶ κατὰ θάλατταν. Θηβαῖοι μὲν γὰρ ὑπῆρχον ἔμφρουροι, Κορίνθιοι δὲ καὶ Ἀργεῖοι διὰ τοὺς προγεγονότας πολέμους ὑπῆρχον τεταπεινωμένοι, Ἀθηναῖοι δὲ διὰ τὰς τῶν καταπολεμουμένων κληρουχίας ἠδόξουν ἐν τοῖς Ἕλλησιν· οἱ δὲ Λακεδαιμόνιοι τῆς τε πολυανθρωπίας καὶ τῆς ἐν τοῖς ὅπλοις μελέτης πολλὴν πρόνοιαν ἐπεποίηντο, καὶ φοβεροὶ πᾶσιν ὑπῆρχον διὰ τὴν δύναμιν τῆς ἡγεμονίας. διόπερ οἱ μέγιστοι τῶν τότε δυναστῶν, λέγω δὲ τὸν Περσῶν βασιλέα καὶ τὸν Σικελίας δυνάστην Διονύσιον, ἐθεράπευον τὴν Σπαρτιατῶν ἡγεμονίαν καὶ συμμαχίαν ἔσπευδον συντίθεσθαι πρὸς αὐτούς.
At the close of the year Pythias was archon at Athens, and at Rome six military tribunes with consular power were elected, Titus Quinctius, Lucius Servilius, Lucius Julius, Aquilius, Lucius Lucretius, and Servius Sulpicius; and in this year the Eleians celebrated the hundredth Olympiad, at which Dionysodorus of Tarentum won the stadium race. During their term of office Agesipolis, king of the Lacedemonians, died of illness after a reign of fourteen years; Cleombrotus his brother succeeded to the throne and reigned for nine years. The Lacedemonians appointed Polybiadas general and sent him to the war against the Olynthians. He took over the forces, and, prosecuting the war vigorously and with able generalship, was often superior. With ever-increasing success, after several victories, he reduced the Olynthians to a state of siege. In the end he thoroughly cowed his enemies and forced them to become subjects of the Lacedemonians. With the enrolment of the Olynthians in the Spartan alliance many other states likewise were eager to enlist under the Lacedemonian standard. As a result the Lacedemonians at this particular juncture reached their greatest power and won the overlordship of Greece on both land and sea. For the Thebans were secured by a garrison; the Corinthians and the Argives were safely humbled as a result of the previous wars; the Athenians, because of their policy of occupying with colonists the lands of those whom they subdued, had a bad reputation with the Greeks; the Lacedemonians, however, had given their constant attention to securing a large population and practice in the use of arms, and so were become an object of terror to all because of the strength of their following. Consequently the greatest rulers of that time, the Persian King and Dionysius the tyrant of Sicily, paid court to the Spartan overlordship and sought alliance with them.
§ 15.24
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησι Νίκωνος Ῥωμαῖοι χιλιάρχους ἓξ ἀντὶ τῶν ὑπάτων κατέστησαν, Λεύκιον Παπίριον, Γάιον Σερουίλιον, Λεύκιον Κοΐνκτιον, Λεύκιον Κορνήλιον, Λεύκιον Οὐαλέριον Αὖλον Μάλλιον. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Καρχηδόνιοι στρατεύσαντες εἰς τὴν Ἰταλίαν τοῖς μὲν Ἱππωνιάταις ἐκπεπτωκόσιν ἐκ τῆς πατρίδος ἀποκατέστησαν τὴν πόλιν, καὶ πάντας τοὺς πεφευγότας συναγαγόντες πολλὴν ἐπιμέλειαν αὐτῶν ἐποιήσαντο. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα λοιμικῆς νόσου τοῖς κατοικοῦσι τὴν Καρχηδόνα γενομένης, καὶ τῆς νόσου πολλὴν ἐπίτασιν ἐχούσης, πολλοὶ τῶν Καρχηδονίων διεφθάρησαν, καὶ τὴν ἡγεμονίαν ἐκινδύνευσαν ἀποβαλεῖν· οἵ τε γὰρ Λίβυες καταφρονήσαντες αὐτῶν ἀπέστησαν, οἵ τε τὴν Σαρδόνα κατοικοῦντες, νομίσαντες ἔχειν καιρὸν κατὰ τῶν Καρχηδονίων, ἀπέστησαν ἀπʼ αὐτῶν καὶ συμφρονήσαντες ἐπέθεντο τοῖς Καρχηδονίοις. ἐγένετο δὲ περὶ τὸν αὐτὸν καιρὸν θεόπεμπτός τις ἀτυχία κατὰ τὴν Καρχηδόνα. ταραχαὶ γὰρ καὶ φόβοι καὶ πανικοὶ θόρυβοι συνεχεῖς ἐγίνοντο κατὰ τὴν πόλιν παράδοξοι, καὶ πολλοὶ μὲν μετὰ τῶν ὅπλων ἐξεπήδων ἐκ τῶν οἰκιῶν, ὡς πολεμίων εἰσπεπτωκότων εἰς τὴν πόλιν, καὶ πρὸς ἀλλήλους ὡς πολεμίους διαπολεμοῦντες, οὓς μὲν ἀνῄρουν, οὓς δὲ κατετραυμάτιζον. τέλος δὲ θυσίαις τὸ θεῖον ἐξιλασάμενοι καὶ μόγις τῶν κακῶν ἀπαλλαγέντες, ταχὺ καὶ τοὺς Λίβυας κατεπολέμησαν καὶ τὴν νῆσον ἀνεκτήσαντο.
When Nicon was archon at Athens, the Romans elected six military tribunes with consular power, Lucius Papirius, Gaius Servilius, Lucius Quinctius, Lucius Cornelius, Lucius Valerius, and Aulus Manlius. During their term of office the Carthaginians invaded Italy and restored their city to the Hipponiatae who had been exiled from it, and, having gathered together all the refugees, they showed themselves very solicitous of their welfare. After this a plague broke out among the inhabitants of Carthage which was so violent and took off so many of the Carthaginians that they risked losing their commanding position. For the Libyans, undervaluing them, seceded, and the Sardinians, thinking they now had an opportunity to oppose the Carthaginians, revolted, and, making common cause, attacked the Carthaginians. And about the same time a supernatural disaster befell Carthage; for turmoils and fears and panicky disturbances constantly occurred throughout the city defying explanation; and many men rushed from their houses in arms, having the impression that enemies had burst into the city, and they fought constantly with one another as if with enemies, killing some and wounding others. Finally, after having propitiated the deity by sacrifices and with difficulty rid themselves of their misfortunes, they quickly subdued the Libyans and recovered the island of Sardinia.
§ 15.25
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησι Ναυσινίκου Ῥωμαῖοι χιλιάρχους τέσσαρας ἀντὶ τῶν ὑπάτων κατέστησαν, Μάρκον Κορνήλιον καὶ Κόιντον Σερουίλιον, Μάρκον Φούριον καὶ Λεύκιον Κοΐνκτιον. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων ὁ κληθεὶς Βοιωτικὸς πόλεμος ἐνέστη Λακεδαιμονίοις πρὸς Βοιωτοὺς διὰ τοιαύτας αἰτίας. τὴν Καδμείαν φρουρούντων Λακεδαιμονίων ἀδίκως καὶ πολλοὺς τῶν ἀξιολόγων ἀνδρῶν πεφυγαδευκότων, συνεστράφησαν οἱ φυγάδες, καὶ συνεπιλαβομένων Ἀθηναίων κατῆλθον εἰς τὴν πατρίδα νυκτός. καὶ πρῶτον μὲν τοὺς τὰ Λακεδαιμονίων φρονοῦντας ἐν ταῖς ἰδίαις οἰκίαις ἐφόνευσαν, ἔτι κοιμωμένους καταλαβόντες· ἔπειτα τοὺς πολίτας ἐπὶ τὴν ἐλευθερίαν παρακαλέσαντες συνεργοὺς ἔσχον ἅπαντας τοὺς Θηβαίους. ταχὺ δὲ τοῦ πλήθους συνδραμόντος μετὰ τῶν ὅπλων, ἅμʼ ἡμέρᾳ τὴν Καδμείαν πολιορκεῖν ἐπεχείρησαν. οἱ δὲ φρουροῦντες τὴν ἄκραν Λακεδαιμόνιοι, μετὰ τῶν συμμάχων ὄντες οὐκ ἐλάττους τῶν χιλίων καὶ πεντακοσίων, εἰς μὲν τὴν Σπάρτην ἐξέπεμψαν τοὺς δηλώσοντας τὴν τῶν Θηβαίων ἐπανάστασιν καὶ βοηθεῖν τὴν ταχίστην παρακαλέσοντας, αὐτοὶ δʼ ἐκ τόπων ὑπερδεξίων ἀμυνόμενοι τοὺς πολιορκοῦντας πολλοὺς μὲν ἀνῄρουν, οὐκ ὀλίγους δὲ κατετραυμάτιζον. οἱ δὲ Θηβαῖοι μεγάλην δύναμιν προσδοκῶντες ἥξειν ἐκ τῆς Ἑλλάδος Λακεδαιμονίοις, ἐξέπεμψαν πρεσβευτὰς εἰς τὰς Ἀθήνας, ὑπομιμνήσκοντες μὲν ὅτι καὶ αὐτοὶ συγκατήγαγον τὸν δῆμον τῶν Ἀθηναίων καθʼ ὃν καιρὸν ὑπὸ τῶν τριάκοντα τυράννων κατεδουλώθησαν, ἀξιοῦντες δὲ πανδημεὶ βοηθῆσαι καὶ πρὸ τῆς τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων παρουσίας συνεκπολεμῆσαι τὴν Καδμείαν.
When Nausinicus was archon at Athens, the Romans elected four military tribunes with consular power, Marcus Cornelius, Quintus Servilius, Marcus Furius, and Lucius Quinctius. During their term of office what is known as the Boeotian War broke out between the Lacedemonians and the Boeotians for the following reasons. When the Lacedemonians maintained a garrison unjustly in the Cadmeia and had exiled many important citizens, the exiles gathered together, secured the support of the Athenians, and returned by night to their native city. Having first slain in their own houses those who favoured the Lacedemonian cause, whom they surprised while still asleep, they next rallied the citizens to the cause of freedom and obtained the co operation of all the Thebans. When the populace had quickly assembled under arms, at daybreak they attempted to assault the Cadmeia. The Lacedemonians who formed the garrison of the citadel, numbering with their allies not less than fifteen hundred, sent men to Sparta to announce the insurrection of the Thebans and to urge them to send help as soon as possible. Favoured by their position, they slew many of the attackers and wounded severely no small number. The Thebans, anticipating the arrival of a large army from Greece to aid the Lacedemonians, dispatched envoys to Athens to remind them that they too once aided in restoring the democracy of the Athenians at the time when the Athenians had been enslaved by the Thirty Tyrants, and to request the Athenians to come with all their forces and assist them in reducing the Cadmeia before the arrival of the Lacedemonians.
§ 15.26
ὁ δὲ δῆμος τῶν Ἀθηναίων διακούσας τῶν πρέσβεων ἐψηφίσατο παραχρῆμα δύναμιν ὡς πλείστην ἀποστεῖλαι τὴν ἐλευθερώσουσαν τὰς Θήβας, ἅμα μὲν τῆς εὐεργεσίας ἀποδιδοὺς τὰς χάριτας, ἅμα δὲ βουλόμενος τοὺς Βοιωτοὺς ἐξιδιώσασθαι καὶ συναγωνιστὰς ἰσχυροὺς ἔχειν κατὰ τῆς Λακεδαιμονίων ὑπεροχῆς· τὸ γὰρ ἔθνος τοῦτο καὶ πλήθει τῶν ἀνδρῶν καὶ ἀνδρείᾳ κατὰ πόλεμον οὐδενὸς τῶν Ἑλληνικῶν ἐδόκει λείπεσθαι. τέλος δὲ Δημοφῶν κατασταθεὶς στρατηγός, καὶ παραχρῆμα πεντακισχιλίους ὁπλίτας καὶ πεντακοσίους ἱππεῖς καταλέξας, τῇ ὑστεραίᾳ τὴν δύναμιν ἅμʼ ἡμέρᾳ προήγαγεν ἐκ τῆς πόλεως, καὶ δρομαῖος ἠπείγετο, φθάσαι σπεύδων τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους· οὐδὲν δʼ ἧττον ὁ δῆμος παρεσκευάζετο πανδημεὶ στρατεύειν εἰς τὴν Βοιωτίαν, ἐὰν ᾖ χρεία. ὁ δὲ Δημοφῶν συντόμοις ταῖς ὁδοῖς χρησάμενος παραδόξως ἐπεφάνη τοῖς Θηβαίοις. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ ἐκ τῶν ἄλλων πόλεων τῶν κατὰ τὴν Βοιωτίαν πολλῶν στρατιωτῶν συνδραμόντων, ταχὺ μεγάλη δύναμις ἠθροίσθη τοῖς Θηβαίοις. ὁπλῖται μὲν γὰρ συνῆλθον οὐκ ἐλάττους τῶν μυρίων καὶ δισχιλίων, ἱππεῖς δὲ πλείους τῶν δισχιλίων. πάντων δὲ προθύμως ἐπὶ τὴν πολιορκίαν ὁρμησάντων διελόμενοι τὰ πλήθη τὰς προσβολὰς ἐκ διαδοχῆς ἐποιοῦντο, προσκαρτεροῦντες τοῖς κινδύνοις συνεχῶς καὶ καθʼ ἡμέραν καὶ νυκτός.
The Athenian people heard the ambassadors through to the end and voted to dispatch immediately as large a force as possible for the liberation of Thebes, thus repaying their obligation for the former service and at the same time moved by a desire to win the Boeotians to their side and to have in them a powerful partner in the contest against the superiority of the Lacedemonians. For the Boeotian was reputed to be inferior to none of the Greek nations in the number of its men and in military valour. Finally Demophon, who had been made general, and had immediately raised a levy of five thousand hoplites and five hundred horse, on the following day at dawn led forth his troops from the city, and pressed on at full speed in an effort to outstrip the Lacedemonians; but the Athenians none the less went on with their preparations for an expedition into Boeotia with all their forces in case of need.3 Demophon by taking cross-country paths appeared unexpectedly before Thebes. And since many soldiers likewise came hurriedly together from the other cities of Boeotia, there was quickly assembled a great army for the support of the Thebans. 4 For not less than twelve thousand hoplites and more than two thousand horse were assembled. And since they were one and all eager for the siege, dividing their forces they kept making their assaults in relays, maintaining a persistent attack at all times both day and night.
§ 15.27
οἱ δʼ ἐν τῇ Καδμείᾳ φρουροῦντες παρακληθέντες ὑπὸ τῶν ἡγεμόνων εὐρώστως ἠμύνοντο τοὺς πολεμίους, ἐλπίζοντες συντόμως ἥξειν τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους μετὰ μεγάλης δυνάμεως. ἕως μὲν οὖν εἶχον τροφὰς ἱκανάς, ἐνεκαρτέρουν τοῖς δεινοῖς, καὶ πολλοὺς τῶν πολιορκούντων ἀπέκτεινον καὶ κατετραυμάτιζον, συνεργὸν ἔχοντες τὴν τῆς ἀκροπόλεως ὀχυρότητα· ὡς δʼ ἡ μὲν τῶν ἀναγκαίων σπάνις ἐπέτεινεν, οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι δὲ περὶ τὰς παρασκευὰς ὄντες ἐχρόνιζον, ἐστασίαζον πρὸς ἀλλήλους. οἱ μὲν γὰρ Λακεδαιμόνιοι μέχρι θανάτου καρτερεῖν ᾤοντο δεῖν, οἱ δὲ ἀπὸ τῶν συμμαχίδων πόλεων συστρατεύσαντες, ὄντες πολλαπλάσιοι, παραδιδόναι τὴν Καδμείαν ἀπεφήναντο· συνηναγκάσθησαν δὲ καὶ οἱ ἐξ αὐτῆς τῆς Σπάρτης, ὄντες ὀλίγοι, παραχωρῆσαι τῆς ἀκροπόλεως. διόπερ οὗτοι μὲν ὑπόσπονδοι καθʼ ὁμολογίαν ἀφεθέντες εἰς τὴν Πελοπόννησον ἀπηλλάγησαν, οἱ δὲ Λακεδαιμόνιοι δυνάμεσιν ἀξιολόγοις προσιόντες ἐπὶ τὰς Θήβας, καὶ βραχὺ τῶν καιρῶν ὑστερήσαντες, ἄπρακτον ἔσχον τὴν ἐπιβολήν. τοὺς δὲ ἡγεμόνας τῆς φρουρᾶς τρεῖς ὄντας μετέστησαν εἰς κρίσιν, καὶ τοὺς μὲν δύο κατεδίκασαν θανάτῳ, τὸν μέντοι τρίτον τοσούτῳ πλήθει χρημάτων, ὥστε μὴ δύνασθαι τὴν οὐσίαν αὐτοῦ τοσαῦτα χρήματα ἐκτῖσαι. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτʼ Ἀθηναῖοι μὲν ἐπανῆλθον εἰς τὴν πατρίδα, Θηβαῖοι δὲ Θεσπιὰς πολιορκήσαντες ἄπρακτον ἔσχον τὴν ἐπιβολήν. ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις Ῥωμαῖοι μὲν ἐπὶ ἀτελείᾳ πεντακοσίους ἀποίκους εἰς Σαρδονίαν ἀπέστειλαν.
The garrison in the Cadmeia under the exhortations of their commanders stoutly defended themselves against their adversaries, expecting that the Lacedemonians would come shortly with a large army. Now as long as they had sufficient food, they held out stubbornly against the attacks and slew and wounded many of their besiegers, supported by the strength of the citadel; but when the scarcity of provisions increased and the Lacedemonians, occupied in mustering forces, were long in coming, dissension spread amongst them. For the Lacedemonians among them thought they should hold out till death, while their partners in war from the allied cities, who were many times their number, declared themselves for surrendering the Cadmeia. Under such compulsion even the men from Sparta itself, who were but few, joined in the evacuation of the citadel. These therefore capitulated on terms and returned to the Peloponnese; but the Lacedemonians advanced with a considerable force on Thebes, and, coming just too late, were unsuccessful in their attack. They put on trial the three officers of the garrison, sentenced two to death, and inflicted so heavy a fine upon the third that his estate could not pay it. Subsequently the Athenians returned home, and the Thebans assailed Thespiae but were unsuccessful in their attack. While these things were taking place in Greece, the Romans dispatched five hundred colonists, who were to be exempt from taxes, to Sardinia.
§ 15.28
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησι Καλλέου Ῥωμαῖοι χιλιάρχους ἀντὶ τῶν ὑπάτων κατέστησαν τέτταρας, Λεύκιον Παπίριον, Μάρκον Πόπλιον, Τίτον Κορνήλιον, Κόιντον Λεύκιον. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων, Λακεδαιμονίων ἐπταικότων περὶ τὰς Θήβας, οἱ μὲν Βοιωτοὶ θαρρήσαντες συνεστράφησαν, καὶ κοινὴν συμμαχίαν ποιησάμενοι, δύναμιν ἀξιόλογον συνεστήσαντο, προσδοκῶντες ἥξειν τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους μεγάλαις δυνάμεσιν εἰς τὴν Βοιωτίαν. Ἀθηναῖοι δὲ πρέσβεις τοὺς ἀξιολογωτάτους τῶν παρʼ αὐτοῖς ἐξέπεμψαν ἐπὶ τὰς ὑπὸ τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους τεταγμένας πόλεις, παρακαλοῦντες ἀντέχεσθαι τῆς κοινῆς ἐλευθερίας. οἱ γὰρ Λακεδαιμόνιοι διὰ τὸ μέγεθος τῆς περὶ αὐτοὺς δυνάμεως ὑπεροπτικῶς καὶ βαρέως ἦρχον τῶν ὑποτεταγμένων· διόπερ πολλοὶ τῶν ὑπʼ αὐτοὺς τεταγμένων ἀπέκλινον πρὸς τοὺς Ἀθηναίους. πρῶτοι δὲ πρὸς τὴν ἀπόστασιν ὑπήκουσαν Χῖοι καὶ Βυζάντιοι, καὶ μετὰ τούτους Ῥόδιοι καὶ Μυτιληναῖοι καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τινὲς νησιωτῶν· αἰεὶ δὲ μᾶλλον αὐξομένης τῆς τῶν Ἑλλήνων ὁρμῆς πολλαὶ πόλεις προσέθεντο τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις. ὁ δὲ δῆμος μετεωρισθεὶς ἐπὶ τῇ τῶν πόλεων εὐνοίᾳ κοινὸν συνέδριον ἁπάντων τῶν συμμάχων συνεστήσαντο, καὶ συνέδρους ἀπέδειξαν ἑκάστης πόλεως. ἐτάχθη δʼ ἀπὸ τῆς κοινῆς γνώμης τὸ μὲν συνέδριον ἐν ταῖς Ἀθήναις συνεδρεύειν, πόλιν δὲ ἐπʼ ἴσης καὶ μεγάλην καὶ μικρὰν μιᾶς ψήφου κυρίαν εἶναι, πάσας δʼ ὑπάρχειν αὐτονόμους, ἡγεμόσι χρωμένας Ἀθηναίοις. οἱ δὲ Λακεδαιμόνιοι τὴν ὁρμὴν τῶν πόλεων ὁρῶντες ἀκατάσχετον οὖσαν πρὸς τὴν ἀπόστασιν, ὅμως πρεσβείαις καὶ λόγοις φιλανθρώποις, ἔτι δʼ ἐπαγγελίαις εὐεργετικαῖς ἐφιλοτιμοῦντο διορθοῦσθαι τὰς ἀλλοτριότητας τῶν ἀνθρώπων. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τῆς εἰς τὸν πόλεμον παρασκευῆς ἐποιοῦντο πολλὴν φροντίδα, προσδοκῶντες μέγαν καὶ πολυχρόνιον αὑτοῖς ἔσεσθαι τὸν Βοιωτικὸν πόλεμον, συμμαχούντων τοῖς Θηβαίοις τῶν Ἀθηναίων καὶ τῶν ἄλλων Ἑλλήνων τῶν κοινωνούντων τοῦ συνεδρίου.
When Calleas was archon at Athens, the Romans elected as military tribunes with consular power four men, Lucius Papirius, Marcus Publius, Titus Cornelius, and Quintus Lucius. During their term of office, following the failure of the Lacedemonians at Thebes, the Boeotians, uniting boldly, formed an alliance and gathered a considerable army, expecting that the Lacedemonians would arrive in Boeotia in great strength. The Athenians sent their most respected citizens as ambassadors to the city which were subject to the Lacedemonians, urging them to adhere to the common cause of liberty. For the Lacedemonians, relying on the size of the force at their disposal, ruled their subject peoples inconsiderately and severely, and consequently many of those who belonged to the Spartan sphere of influence fell away to the Athenians. The first to respond to the plea to secede were the peoples of Chios and Byzantium; they were followed by the peoples of Rhodes and Mytilene and certain others of the islanders; and as the movement steadily gathered force throughout Greece, many cities attached themselves to the Athenians. The democracy, elated by the loyalty of the cities, established a common council of all the allies and appointed representatives of each state. It was agreed by common consent that, while the council should hold its sessions in Athens, every city great and small should be on an equal basis and enjoy but one vote, and that all should continue independent, accepting the Athenians as leaders. The Lacedemonians, aware that the movement of their cities to secede could not be checked, nevertheless strove earnestly by means of diplomatic missions, friendly words and promises of benefits to win back the peoples who had become estranged. Likewise they devoted themselves assiduously to their preparations for war, for they expected the Boeotian War to be a hard and tedious affair for them, since the Athenians and the rest of the Greeks who participated in the council were allied with the Thebans.
§ 15.29
ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις Ἄκορις ὁ τῶν Αἰγυπτίων βασιλεύς, ἀλλοτρίως διακείμενος πρὸς τὸν Περσῶν βασιλέα, δυνάμεις ξενικὰς ἀξιολόγους ἤθροισε· μεγάλους γὰρ μισθοὺς τοῖς ὑπακούουσι προτιθείς, συχνοὺς δʼ εὐεργετῶν, ταχὺ πολλοὺς ἔσχε τῶν Ἑλλήνων ὑπακούοντας πρὸς τὴν στρατείαν. οὐκ ἔχων δὲ στρατηγὸν ἀξιόχρεων, μετεπέμψατο Χαβρίαν τὸν Ἀθηναῖον, ἄνδρα καὶ φρονήσει καὶ συνέσει στρατηγικῇ διάφορον καὶ δόξαν ἐπʼ ἀρετῇ μεγάλην περιπεποιημένον. οὗτος μὲν οὖν ἄνευ τῆς τοῦ δήμου γνώμης προσδεξάμενος τὴν στρατηγίαν ἀφηγεῖτο τῶν κατʼ Αἴγυπτον δυνάμεων, καὶ μετὰ πολλῆς σπουδῆς παρεσκευάζετο πολεμεῖν πρὸς τοὺς Πέρσας. Φαρνάβαζος δʼ ὑπὸ τοῦ βασιλέως ἀναδεδειγμένος στρατηγὸς ἐπὶ τῆς Περσικῆς δυνάμεως παρασκευὰς μεγάλας ἐποιήσατο τῶν πρὸς τὸν πόλεμον χρησίμων· ἐξέπεμψε δὲ καὶ πρὸς Ἀθηναίους πρέσβεις, κατηγορῶν μὲν Χαβρίου, ὅτι τῶν Αἰγυπτίων ἡγούμενος ἀπαλλοτριοῖ τὴν τοῦ βασιλέως εὔνοιαν ἀπὸ τοῦ δήμου, παρακαλῶν δὲ στρατηγὸν Ἰφικράτην αὑτῷ δοῦναι. οἱ δʼ Ἀθηναῖοι, σπεύδοντες τὸν βασιλέα τῶν Περσῶν εἰς εὔνοιαν προσαγαγέσθαι καὶ τὸν Φαρνάβαζον ἰδιοποιήσασθαι, ταχέως τόν τε Χαβρίαν ἐξ Αἰγύπτου μετεπέμψαντο καὶ τὸν Ἰφικράτην στρατηγὸν ἐξαπέστειλαν συμμαχήσοντα τοῖς Πέρσαις. τοῖς δὲ Λακεδαιμονίοις καὶ τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις σπονδὰς πεποιημένοις ἐν τοῖς ἐπάνω χρόνοις συνέβαινε μένειν τὴν εἰρήνην μέχρι τῶνδε τῶν καιρῶν. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Σφοδριάδου τοῦ Σπαρτιάτου τεταγμένου μὲν ἐφʼ ἡγεμονίας, φύσει δʼ ὄντος μετεώρου καὶ προπετοῦς, ἔπεισεν αὐτὸν Κλεόμβροτος ὁ βασιλεὺς τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων ἄνευ τῆς γνώμης τῶν ἐφόρων καταλαβέσθαι τὸν Πειραιᾶ. ὁ δὲ Σφοδριάδης ἔχων στρατιώτας πλείους τῶν μυρίων ἐπεβάλετο μὲν τῆς νυκτὸς καταλαβέσθαι τὸν Πειραιᾶ· καταφανὴς δὲ γενόμενος Ἀθηναίοις καὶ διαμαρτὼν τῆς ἐπιβολῆς ἄπρακτος ἐπανῆλθεν. κατηγορηθεὶς δʼ ἐν τῷ συνεδρίῳ τῶν Σπαρτιατῶν, καὶ συναγωνιστὰς ἔχων τοὺς βασιλεῖς, ἀδίκως ἀπελύθη. διόπερ οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι χαλεπῶς φέροντες ἐπὶ τοῖς γεγονόσιν, ἐψηφίσαντο λελύσθαι τὰς σπονδὰς ὑπὸ Λακεδαιμονίων. κρίναντες δὲ πολεμεῖν αὐτοῖς, στρατηγοὺς τρεῖς εἵλαντο τοὺς ἐπιφανεστάτους τῶν πολιτῶν, Τιμόθεον καὶ Χαβρίανκαὶ Καλλίστρατον. ἐψηφίσαντο δὲ στρατιώτας μὲν ὁπλίτας καταλέξαι δισμυρίους, ἱππεῖς δὲ πεντακοσίους, ναῦς δὲ πληρῶσαι διακοσίας. προσελάβοντο δὲ καὶ τοὺς Θηβαίους ἐπὶ τὸ κοινὸν συνέδριον ἐπὶ τοῖς ἴσοις πᾶσιν. ἐψηφίσαντο δὲ καὶ τὰς γενομένας κληρουχίας ἀποκαταστῆσαι τοῖς πρότερον κυρίοις γεγονόσι, καὶ νόμον ἔθεντο μηδένα τῶν Ἀθηναίων γεωργεῖν ἐκτὸς τῆς Ἀττικῆς. διὰ δὲ ταύτης τῆς φιλανθρωπίας ἀνακτησάμενοι τὴν παρὰ τοῖς Ἕλλησιν εὔνοιαν, ἰσχυροτέραν ἐποιήσαντο τὴν ἰδίαν ἡγεμονίαν.
While these things were going on, Acoris, the king of the Egyptians, being on unfriendly terms with the Persian King, collected a large mercenary force; for by offering high pay to those who enrolled and doing favours to many of them, he quickly induced many of the Greeks to take service with him for the campaign. But having no capable general, he sent for Chabrias the Athenian, a man distinguished both for his prudence as general and his shrewdness in the art of war, who had also won great repute for personal prowess. Now Chabrias, without first securing the permission of the Athenian people, accepted the appointment and took command of the forces in Egypt and with great dispatch made preparations to fight the Persians. But Pharnabazus, who had been appointed by the King general of the Persian armies, prepared large supplies of war material, and also sent ambassadors to Athens, first to denounce Chabrias, who by becoming general of the Egyptians was alienating, so he said, the King's affection from the people of Athens, and, secondly, to urge them to give him Iphicrates as general. The Athenians, being eager to gain the favour of the Persian King and to incline Pharnabazus to themselves, quickly recalled Chabrias from Egypt and dispatched Iphicrates as general to act in alliance with the Persians. The truce which the Lacedemonians and Athenians had concluded in the earlier period remained unshaken up to this time. But now Sphodriades the Spartan, who had been placed in command and was by nature flighty and precipitate, was prevailed upon by Cleombrotus, the king of the Lacedemonians, without the consent of the ephors to occupy the Peiraeus. 6 Sphodriades with more than ten thousand soldiers attempted to occupy the Peiraeus at night, but he was detected by the Athenians and, failing in the attempt, returned without accomplishing anything. He was then denounced before the council of the Spartans, but since he had the kings to support him, he got off by a miscarriage of justice. 7 As a result the Athenians, much vexed at the occurrence, voted that the truce had been broken by the Lacedemonians. They then decided to make war on them and chose three of their most distinguished citizens as generals, Timotheus, Chabrias, and Callistratus. They voted to levy twenty thousand hoplites and five hundred cavalry, and to man two hundred ships. They likewise admitted the Thebans into the common council on terms equal in all respects. 8 They voted also to restore the land settled by cleruchs to its former owners and passed a law that no Athenian should cultivate lands outside of Attica. By this generous act they recovered the goodwill of the Greeks and made their own leadership more secure.
§ 15.30
πολλαὶ μὲν οὖν καὶ τῶν ἄλλων πόλεων διὰ τὴν εἰρημένην αἰτίαν προεκλήθησαν πρὸς τοὺς Ἀθηναίους ἀποκλῖναι, πρῶται δὲ καὶ προθυμότατα συνεμάχησαν αἱ κατὰ τὴν Εὔβοιαν οἰκοῦσαι χωρὶς Ἑστιαίας· αὕτη γὰρ εὐηργετημένη μὲν ὑπὸ Λακεδαιμονίων μεγάλα, πεπολεμημένη δὲ δεινῶς ὑπὸ Ἀθηναίων, εὐλόγως πρὸς μὲν Ἀθηναίους ἀδιάλυτον ἐφύλαττε τὴν ἔχθραν, πρὸς δὲ τοὺς Σπαρτιάτας βεβαίαν τὴν πίστιν διεφύλαττεν. οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις εἰς συμμαχίαν συνέβησαν ἑβδομήκοντα πόλεις καὶ μετέσχον ἐπʼ ἴσης τοῦ κοινοῦ συνεδρίου· διὸ καὶ τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις αἰεὶ μᾶλλον τῆς δυνάμεως αὐξομένης, τοῖς δὲ Λακεδαιμονίοις ταπεινουμένης, ἐφάμιλλον τὴν ἰσχὺν τῶν πόλεων συνέβαινε γίνεσθαι. οἱ δʼ Ἀθηναῖοι, τῶν πραγμάτων αὐτοῖς κατὰ νοῦν προχωρούντων, δύναμιν ἐξέπεμψαν εἰς τὴν Εὔβοιαν τὴν παραφυλάξουσαν μὲν τοὺς συμμάχους, καταπολεμήσουσαν δὲ τοὺς ἐναντίους. κατὰ δὲ τὴν Εὔβοιαν βραχὺ μὲν πρὸ τούτων τῶν χρόνων Νεογένης τις ὄνομα μετʼ Ἰάσονος τοῦ Φεραίου συλλέξας στρατιώτας κατελάβετο τήν τε ἀκρόπολιν τῶν Ἑστιαιέων, καὶ τύραννον ἑαυτὸν ἀπέδειξε ταύτης τῆς χώρας καὶ τῆς τῶν Ὠρειτῶν πόλεως. ἄρχοντος δʼ αὐτοῦ βιαίως καὶ ὑπερηφάνως Λακεδαιμόνιοι Θηριπίδην ἀπέστειλαν ἐπʼ αὐτόν. ὁ δὲ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἐπεχείρει λόγοις τὸν τύραννον ἐκχωρεῖν ἐκ τῆς ἀκροπόλεως· ὡς δʼ οὐ προσεῖχε, παρακαλέσας τοὺς ἐγχωρίους πρὸς τὴν ἐλευθερίαν ἐξεπολιόρκησε τὸ χωρίον καὶ τοῖς Ὠρείταις τὴν ἐλευθερίαν ἀποκατέστησεν, διʼ ἣν αἰτίαν οἱ τὴν Ἑστιαιέων καλουμένην χώραν οἰκοῦντες οἰκείως διετέθησαν πρὸς τοὺς Σπαρτιάτας, καὶ βεβαίως ἐτήρουν τὴν φιλίαν. τῆς δʼ ὑπὸ τῶν Ἀθηναίων ἐκπεμφθείσης δυνάμεως ἡγούμενος Χαβρίας ἐπόρθησε τὴν Ἑστιαιῶτιν χώραν, καὶ τὴν καλουμένην μὲν Μητρόπολιν, κειμένην δʼ ἐπί τινος ἐρυμνοῦ λόφου, τειχίσας, ἀπέλιπεν ἐν αὐτῇ φρουράν, αὐτὸς δὲ ταῖς Κυκλάσι νήσοις ἐπιπλέων προσηγάγετο Πεπάρηθον καὶ Σκίαθον καί τινας ἄλλας τεταγμένας ὑπὸ Λακεδαιμονίοις.
Now many of the other cities for the aforesaid reason were prompted to fall away to Athens; and the first to join in the alliance and the most eager were the cities of Euboea excepting Hestiaea; for Hestiaea, having been treated most generously by the Lacedemonians while she had suffered terribly in war with the Athenians, had very good reason for maintaining unabated her enmity to Athens and force continuing to observe inviolate her pledge of the Sparta. Nevertheless seventy cities eventually entered into alliance with the Athenians and participated on equal footing in the common council. So with the constant increase in the strength of the Athenians and the diminution of that of the Lacedemonians the two states were now well matched. The Athenians, seeing affairs proceeding to their liking, dispatched a force to Euboea to serve at once as a protection for their allies and to subdued the opposition. In Euboea a short time before this a certain Neogenes with the assistance of Jason of Pherae had gathered soldiers and occupied the citadel of Hestiaea, and so appointed himself tyrant of this country and of the city of Oreitans. Because of his violent and arrogant rule the Lacedemonians had then dispatched Theripides against him. Theripides at first endeavoured to prevail upon the tyrant by reasoning with him to leave the citadel; but when the tyrant paid no heed to him, he rallied the people of the district to the cause of freedom, took the place by storm, and restored their freedom to the people of Oreus. For this reason the people who inhabit what is known as the country of the Hestiaeans continued to be loyal to the Spartans and preserved intact their friendship. Chabrias, in command of the force dispatched by the Athenians, left aside Hestiaeotis, and, fortifying its Metropolis, as it is called, which is situated on a naturally steep hill, left a garrison in it, and then sailed to the Cyclades and won over Peparethos and Sciathos and some other islands which had been subject to the Lacedemonians.
§ 15.31
οἱ δὲ ὁρῶντες τὴν τῶν συμμάχων ὁρμὴν πρὸς τὴν ἀπόστασιν ἀκατάσχετον οὖσαν, ἐπαύσαντο τῆς προϋπαρχούσης βαρύτητος καὶ ταῖς πόλεσι φιλανθρώπως προσεφέροντο. τοιαύταις δʼ ὁμιλίαις καὶ εὐεργεσίαις χρησάμενοι εὐνουστέρους ἅπαντας τοὺς συμμάχους κατεσκεύασαν. ὁρῶντες δὲ τὸν πόλεμον αὐξόμενον καὶ πολλῆς ἐπιμελείας ἐπιδεόμενον, τάς τε ἄλλας παρασκευὰς ἐποιοῦντο φιλοτίμως καὶ τὴν διάταξιν καὶ τὴν διαίρεσιν τῶν στρατιωτῶν καὶ λειτουργιῶν περιττότερον ἐξειργάσαντο. τάς τε γὰρ πόλεις καὶ τοὺς καταλεγομένους στρατιώτας εἰς τὸν πόλεμον διεῖλαν εἰς δέκα μέρη· τούτων δὲ πρώτην ἐπεῖχον μερίδα Λακεδαιμόνιοι, δευτέραν δὲ καὶ τρίτην Ἀρκάδες, τετάρτην δʼ Ἠλεῖοι, πέμπτην δʼ Ἀχαιοί· καὶ τὴν μὲν ἕκτην ἐπλήρουν Κορίνθιοι καὶ Μεγαρεῖς, τὴν δʼ ἑβδόμην Σικυώνιοι καὶ Φλιάσιοι καὶ οἱ τὴν Ἀκτὴν καλουμένην οἰκοῦντες, τὴν δʼ ὀγδόην Ἀκαρνᾶνες, ἐνάτην δὲ Φωκεῖς καὶ Λοκροί, τὴν δʼ ἐπὶ πᾶσιν Ὀλύνθιοι καὶ οἱ ἐπὶ Θρᾴκης κατοικοῦντες σύμμαχοι. ἦν δʼ αὐτοῖς ὁ μὲν ὁπλίτης πρὸς δύο ψιλοὺς τεταγμένος, ὁ δʼ ἱππεὺς πρὸς τέτταρας ὁπλίτας ἰσαζόμενος. τοιαύτης δὲ τῆς συντάξεως οὔσης, ἡγεῖτο τῆς στρατιᾶς Ἀγησίλαος ὁ βασιλεύς· περιβόητος δʼ ἦν ἐπʼ ἀνδρείᾳ καὶ στρατηγικῇ συνέσει καὶ σχεδὸν ἀνίκητος γεγονὼς ἐν τοῖς ἐπάνω χρόνοις. ἔν τε γὰρ τοῖς λοιποῖς πολέμοις ἐθαυμάσθη, καὶ καθʼ ὃν καιρὸν Λακεδαιμόνιοι ἐπολέμουν τοῖς Πέρσαις, παραταξάμενος καὶ πολλαπλασίονα δύναμιν νικήσας, πολλὴν τῆς Ἀσίας ἐπῆλθε κρατῶν τῶν ὑπαίθρων, καὶ πέρας, εἰ μὴ μετεπέμψαντο αὐτὸν οἱ Σπαρτιᾶται διά τινας πολιτικὰς χρείας, σχεδὸν ἂν καὶ τὴν ὅλην τῶν Περσῶν βασιλείαν εἰς τοὺς ἐσχάτους κινδύνους κατέστησεν. ἦν γὰρ ὁ ἀνὴρ οὗτος δραστικὸς καὶ μετὰ συνέσεως πολλῆς θρασὺς καὶ παραβόλοις πράξεσι χρώμενος. διὸ καὶ τότε θεωροῦντες οἱ Σπαρτιᾶται τὸ μέγεθος τοῦ πολέμου προσδεόμενον ἡγεμόνος ἀξιολόγου, τοῦτον τοῦ πολέμου παντὸς ἡγεμόνα κατέστησαν.
The Spartans, perceiving that the impulse of their allies to secede was not to be checked, put an end to their former severity and began to treat the cities humanely. By this sort of treatment and by benefactions they rendered all their allies more loyal. And now that they saw that the war was becoming more serious and required strict attention, they set ambitiously to work on their various preparations for it, and in particular brought to greater perfection the organization and distribution of their soldiers and the services. In fact they divided the cities and the soldiers that were levied for the war into ten parts. The first part included the Lacedemonians, the second and third the Arcadians, the fourth the Eleians, the fifth the Achaeans. Corinthians and Megarians supplied the sixth, the seventh the Sicyonians and Phliasians and the inhabitants of the promontory called Acte, the eighth the Acarnanians, the ninth the Phocians and Locrians, and the last of all the Olynthians and the allies who lived in Thrace. They reckoned one hoplite to two light-armed, and one horseman as equivalent to four hoplites. Such was the organization, and King Agesilaus was put in command of the campaign. He was renowned for courage and shrewdness in the art of war and had been all but invincible in the former periods. For in all his wars he won admiration and especially when the Lacedemonians were fighting the Persians. For he gave battle and won the victory over a force of many times his own number; then he overran a large part of Asia, mastering the open country, and finally would probably have succeeded, had not the Spartans recalled him because of political affairs, in reducing the whole Persian empire to the direst straits. For he was a man of energy, daring but highly intelligent, engaging in hazardous actions. Accordingly the Spartans, seeing that the magnitude of the war called for a first-rate leader, again appointed him commander of the whole war.
§ 15.32
ὁ δʼ Ἀγησίλαος προαγαγὼν τὴν δύναμιν, ἧκεν εἰς τὴν Βοιωτίαν, ἔχων τοὺς σύμπαντας στρατιώτας πλείους τῶν μυρίων ὀκτακισχιλίων, ὧν ἦσαν αἱ Λακεδαιμονίων πέντε μόραι· τὴν δὲ μόραν ἀναπληροῦσιν ἄνδρες πεντακόσιοι. ὁ δὲ Σκιρίτης καλούμενος λόχος παρὰ τοῖς Σπαρτιάταις οὐ συντάττεται μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων, ἀλλʼ ἰδίαν ἔχων σύστασιν μετὰ τοῦ βασιλέως ἵσταται, καὶ παραβοηθεῖ τοῖς αἰεὶ θλιβομένοις μέρεσι· συνεστὼς δʼ ἐξ ἐπιλέκτων ἀνθρώπων μεγάλας ποιεῖται ῥοπὰς ἐν ταῖς παρατάξεσι καὶ κατὰ τὸ πλεῖστον αἴτιος γίνεται τῆς νίκης. ἱππεῖς δʼ εἶχεν ὁ Ἀγησίλαος χιλίους καὶ πεντακοσίους. οὗτος μὲν οὖν παραγενόμενος εἰς πόλιν Θεσπιάς, φρουρουμένην ὑπὸ Λακεδαιμονίων, πλησίον ταύτης κατεστρατοπέδευσε, καὶ τοὺς στρατιώτας ἐφʼ ἡμέρας τινὰς ἀνελάμβανεν ἐκ τῆς κακοπαθείας. Ἀθηναῖοι δὲ πυθόμενοι τὴν τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων παρουσίαν εἰς τὴν Βοιωτίαν, εὐθὺς ἐβοήθουν εἰς τὰς Θήβας, ἔχοντες πεζοὺς μὲν πεντακισχιλίους, ἱππεῖς δὲ διακοσίους. τούτων δὲ τῶν δυνάμεων ἀθροισθεισῶν εἰς ἕνα τόπον, οἱ μὲν Θηβαῖοι λόφον τινὰ κατελάβοντο παραμήκη, σταδίους ἀπέχοντα τῆς πόλεως εἴκοσι, καὶ πρόβλημα ποιησάμενοι τὰς δυσχωρίας ἀνέμενον τὴν τῶν πολεμίων ἔφοδον· τὴν γὰρ Ἀγησιλάου δόξαν καταπεπληγμένοι, τὸν ἐν τοῖς πεδίοις ἐξ ἴσου κίνδυνον ὑπομένειν εὐλαβοῦντο. ὁ δʼ Ἀγησίλαος συντεταγμένῃ τῇ δυνάμει προάγων ἐπὶ τοὺς Βοιωτούς, ὡς ἤγγισε τοῖς πολεμίοις, τὸ μὲν πρῶτον τοὺς ψιλοὺς ἐπαφῆκε τοῖς ἐναντίοις, πειρώμενος πῶς ἔχουσι πρὸς τὴν μάχην. ἀποκρουσαμένων δὲ αὐτοὺς τῶν Θηβαίων ῥᾳδίως ἐκ τόπων ὑπερδεξίων, ἐπήγαγε πᾶσαν ἐπʼ αὐτοὺς τὴν δύναμιν συντεταγμένην καταπληκτικῶς. Χαβρίας δʼ ὁ Ἀθηναῖος τῶν μισθοφόρων ἀφηγούμενος παρήγγειλε τοῖς στρατιώταις δέχεσθαι τοὺς πολεμίους καταπεφρονηκότως ἅμα καὶ τεταγμένως, καὶ τὰς ἀσπίδας πρὸς τὸ γόνυ κλίναντας ὀρθῷ τῷ δόρατι μένειν. ὧν ποιησάντων τὸ προσταχθὲν ὥσπερ ἀφʼ ἑνὸς παρακελεύσματος, ὁ Ἀγησίλαος θαυμάσας τήν τε εὐταξίαν τῶν πολεμίων καὶ τὴν καταφρόνησιν, τὸ μὲν βιάζεσθαι πρὸς ὑπερδεξίους τόπους καὶ συναναγκάζειν τοὺς ἐναντίους ἄνδρας ἀγαθοὺς γίνεσθαι πρὸς τὸν ἐκ χειρὸς κίνδυνον οὐκ ἔκρινε, πεῖραν δὲ λαβὼν ὅτι τολμήσουσιν ἀναγκαζόμενοι διαγωνίσασθαι περὶ τῆς νίκης, ἐν τῷ πεδίῳ προεκαλεῖτο. οὐ συγκαταβαινόντων δὲ τῶν Θηβαίων, τὴν μὲν φάλαγγα τῶν πεζῶν ἀπήγαγε, τοὺς δʼ ἱππεῖς καὶ τὰ ψιλικὰ τῶν ταγμάτων ἐξαποστείλας ἐπόρθησε τὴν χώραν ἀδεῶς καὶ πολλῶν λαφύρων ἐγκρατὴς ἐγένετο.
Agesilaus led forth his army and reached Boeotia accompanied by all the soldiers, amounting to more than eighteen thousand, in which were the five divisions of Lacedemonians. Each division contained five hundred men. The company known as Sciritae amongst the Spartans is not drawn up with the rest, but has its own station with the king and it goes to the support of the sections that from time to time are in distress; and since it is composed of picked men, it is an important factor in turning the scale in pitched battles, and generally determines the victory. Agesilaus also had fifteen hundred cavalry. Passing on then to the city of Thespiae, which was garrisoned by the Lacedemonians, he encamped near it and for several days rested his men from the hardships of the march. The Athenians, having become aware of the arrival of the Lacedemonians in Boeotia, immediately went to the assistance of Thebes with five thousand foot-soldiers and two hundred cavalry. When these forces had assembled, the Thebans occupied an oblong crest about twenty stades from the city and, having transformed the obstacle into a bastion, awaited the attack of the enemy; for the reputation of Agesilaus so overawed them that they were too timid to await his attack on equal terms in the level country. As for Agesilaus, he led out his army in battle array against the Boeotians, and, when he had drawn near, in the first place launched his light-armed troops against his opponents, thus testing their disposition to fight him. But when the Thebans had easily from their higher position thrust his men back, he led the whole army against them closely arrayed to strike them with terror. Chabrias the Athenian, however, leading his mercenary troops, ordered his men to receive the enemy with a show of contempt, maintaining all the while their battle lines, and, leaning their shields against their knees, to wait with upraised spear. Since they did what they were ordered as at a single word of command, Agesilaus, marvelling at the fine discipline of the enemy and their posture of contempt, judged it inadvisable to force a way against the higher ground and compel his opponents to show their valour in a hand-to hand contest, and, having learned by trial that they would dare, if forced, to dispute the victory, he challenged them in the plain. But when the Thebans would not come down to meet him, he withdrew the phalanx of infantry, dispatched the cavalry and light-armed ranks to plunder the countryside unhampered, and so took a great quantity of spoil.
§ 15.33
οἱ δὲ συνόντες τῷ Ἀγησιλάῳ Σπαρτιᾶται σύμβουλοι καὶ οἱ τὰς ἡγεμονίας ἔχοντες ἐθαύμαζον, πῶς δραστικὸς εἶναι δοκῶν Ἀγησίλαος καὶ μείζονα καὶ δυναμικωτέραν ἔχων τὴν δύναμιν οὐ διηγωνίσατο πρὸς τοὺς πολεμίους. πρὸς οὓς ὁ Ἀγησίλαος ἀπεκρίθη, νῦν μὲν ἀκινδύνως τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους νενικηκέναι· πορθουμένῃ γὰρ τῇ χώρᾳ μὴ τετολμηκέναι τοὺς Βοιωτοὺς βοηθῆσαι· εἰ δʼ αὐτῶν τῶν πολεμίων παρακεχωρηκότων τῆς νίκης ἐβιάσατο τοὺς πολεμίους ὑπομένειν τὸ δεινόν, ἴσως ἂν διὰ τὸ παράλογον τῆς τύχης δύναιντο καὶ πταῖσαι κατὰ τὸν κίνδυνον οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι. τότε μὲν οὖν διὰ τῆς ἀποκρίσεως ταύτης ἔδοξε μετρίως κατεστοχάσθαι τὸ δυνάμενον ἀποβῆναι, ὕστερον δὲ διὰ τῶν ἀποτελεσμάτων ἔδοξεν οὐκ ἀνθρωπίνην ἀπόφασιν, ἀλλὰ θεῖόν τινα χρησμὸν εἰρηκέναι. οἱ γὰρ Λακεδαιμόνιοι μετὰ πολλῆς δυνάμεως στρατεύσαντες ἐπὶ Θηβαίους, καὶ συναναγκάσαντες αὐτοὺς ὑπὲρ τῆς ἐλευθερίας ἀγωνίσασθαι, μεγάλῃ συμφορᾷ περιέπεσον. τὸ μὲν γὰρ πρῶτον ἐν Λεύκτροις ἡττηθέντες πολλοὺς ἀπώλεσαν τῶν πολιτῶν, ἐν οἷς καὶ ὁ βασιλεὺς αὐτῶν Κλεόμβροτος ἔπεσε· μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα περὶ Μαντίνειαν πολεμήσαντες τοῖς ὅλοις ἐσφάλησαν καὶ τὴν ἡγεμονίαν ἀνελπίστως ἀπέβαλον. ἀγαθὴ γὰρ ἡ τύχη τοὺς μέγα φρονοῦντας παραδόξως σφῆλαι καὶ διδάξαι μηδὲν ἄγαν κατελπίζειν. ὁ γοῦν Ἀγησίλαος ἐχεφρόνως ἀρκεσθεὶς τῷ πρώτῳ προτερήματι, τὴν δύναμιν ἀσινῆ διεφύλαξεν. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ὁ μὲν Ἀγησίλαος μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως ἐπανῆλθεν εἰς τὴν Πελοπόννησον, οἱ δὲ Θηβαῖοι διὰ τὴν Χαβρίου στρατηγίαν σωθέντες ἐθαύμασαν τἀνδρὸς τὴν ἐν τῷ στρατηγήματι ἀγχίνοιαν. ὁ δὲ Χαβρίας, πολλῶν καὶ καλῶν αὐτῷ πεπραγμένων κατὰ πόλεμον, ἐπὶ τούτῳ μάλιστα ἐσεμνύνετο τῷ στρατηγήματι, καὶ τὰς εἰκόνας τὰς ὑπὸ τοῦ δήμου δοθείσας αὐτῷ καθίστανεν ἐχούσας τοῦτο τὸ σχῆμα. οἱ δὲ Θηβαῖοι μετὰ τὴν ἀπαλλαγὴν τὴν Ἀγησιλάου στρατεύσαντες ἐπὶ Θεσπιὰς τὴν μὲν προφυλακήν, οὖσαν ἀνδρῶν διακοσίων, ἀνεῖλον, τῇ δὲ πόλει προσβολὰς συνεχεῖς ποιούμενοι, καὶ μηδὲν ἀξιόλογον πράξαντες, ἀπῆγον τὴν δύναμιν εἰς τὰς Θήβας. Φοιβίδας δὲ ὁ Λακεδαιμόνιος, ἔχων ἀξιόλογον φρουρὰν ἐν ταῖς Θεσπιαῖς, ἐκχυθεὶς ἐκ τῆς πόλεως καὶ προπετῶς τοῖς ἀποχωροῦσι Θηβαίοις ἐπιθέμενος, τῶν μὲν στρατιωτῶν ἀπέβαλε πλείους τῶν πεντακοσίων, αὐτὸς δὲ λαμπρῶς ἀγωνισάμενος καὶ πολλοῖς ἐναντίοις τραύμασι περιπεσὼν ἡρωικῶς κατέστρεψε τὸν βίον.
The Spartan advisers, who accompanied Agesilaus, and his officers expressed to him their surprise that Agesilaus, who reputedly was a man of energy and had the larger and more powerful force, should have avoided a decisive contest with the enemy. To them Agesilaus made answer that, as it was, the Lacedemonians had won the victory without the risk; for when the countryside was being sacked, the Boeotians had not dared to rally to its defence; but if, when the enemy themselves had conceded the victory, he had forced them to endure the risks of battle, perhaps through the uncertainty of fortune the Lacedemonians might even have come to grief in the contest. Now at the time he was thought in this reply of his to have estimated the possible outcome fairly well, but later in the light of events he was believed to have uttered no mere human saying but a divinely inspired oracle. For the Lacedemonians, having taken the field against the Thebans with a mighty army and having compelled them to fight for their freedom, met with a great disaster. They were defeated, namely, at Leuctra first, where they lost many of their citizen soldiers and their king Cleombrotus fell; and later, when they fought at Mantineia, they were utterly routed and hopelessly lost their supremacy. For fortune has a knack, when men vaunt themselves too highly, of laying them unexpectedly low and so teaching them to hope for nothing in excess. At any rate Agesilaus, prudently satisfied with his first success, brought his army through unharmed. After this Agesilaus returned with his army to the Peloponnese, while the Thebans, saved by the generalship of Chabrias, though he had performed many gallant deeds in war, was particularly proud of this bit of strategy and he caused the statues which had been granted to him by his people to be erected to display that posture. The Thebans after the departure of Agesilaus, leading an expedition against Thespiae, destroyed the advance outpost consisting of two hundred men, but after making repeated assaults on the city itself and accomplishing nothing worthy of mention, led their army back to Thebes. Phoebidas, the Lacedemonian, who had a considerable garrison in Thespiae, sallied forth from the city, fell rashly upon the retreating Thebans, and lost more than five hundred soldiers, while he himself, fighting brilliantly, after receiving many wounds in front, met a hero's death.
§ 15.34
οὐ πολλῷ δʼ ὕστερον χρόνῳ πάλιν τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων τῇ αὐτῇ δυνάμει στρατευσάντων ἐπὶ τὰς Θήβας, οἱ μὲν Θηβαῖοι δυσχωρίας τινὰς ἑτέρας καταλαμβανόμενοι διεκώλυον μὲν τοὺς πολεμίους λεηλατεῖν τὴν χώραν, κατὰ στόμα δὲ πρὸς ἅπασαν τὴν δύναμιν ἐν τοῖς πεδίοις οὐκ ἐτόλμων παρατάξασθαι. τοῦ δʼ Ἀγησιλάου προσμαχομένου συγκατέβησαν ἐκ τοῦ κατʼ ὀλίγον πρὸς τὸν ἀγῶνα. γενομένης δὲ μάχης ἐπὶ πολὺν χρόνον ἰσχυρᾶς, τὸ μὲν πρῶτον οἱ περὶ τὸν Ἀγησίλαον προετέρουν, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τῶν ἐκ τῆς πόλεως Θηβαίων ἐκχυθέντων πανδημεί, θεωρῶν τὸ πλῆθος τῶν ἐπιρρεόντων ὁ Ἀγησίλαος ἀνεκαλέσατο τῇ σάλπιγγι τοὺς στρατιώτας ἀπὸ τῆς μάχης. οἱ δὲ Θηβαῖοι, δόξαντες τότε πρώτως μὴ καταδεεστέρους ἑαυτοὺς εἶναι Λακεδαιμονίων, τρόπαιόν τε ἔστησαν καὶ τὸ λοιπὸν κατεθάρρησαν τῆς τῶν Σπαρτιατῶν δυνάμεως. τὰ μὲν οὖν περὶ τὰς πεζὰς δυνάμεις τοιοῦτον ἔσχε τὸ τέλος· τῶν δὲ ναυτικῶν κατὰ τοὺς αὐτοὺς καιροὺς ἐγένετο μεγάλη ναυμαχία μεταξὺ Νάξου καὶ Πάρου διὰ τοιαύτας αἰτίας. Πόλλις ὁ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων ναύαρχος, πυθόμενος σίτου πλῆθος ἐν ὁλκάσι παρακομίζεσθαι τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις, ἐφήδρευε καὶ παρετήρει τὸν κατάπλουν τῆς κομιζομένης ἀγορᾶς, διανοούμενος ἐπιθέσθαι ταῖς ὁλκάσιν. ἃ δὴ πυθόμενος ὁ δῆμος τῶν Ἀθηναίων ἐξέπεμψε στόλον παραφυλάξοντα τὴν σιτοπομπίαν, ὃς καὶ διέπεμψεν εἰς τὸν Πειραιέα τὴν κομιζομένην ἀγοράν. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Χαβρίας μὲν ὁ τῶν Ἀθηναίων ναύαρχος μετὰ τοῦ στόλου παντὸς πλεύσας ἐπὶ τὴν Νάξον συνεστήσατο πολιορκίαν. προσαγαγὼν δὲ τοῖς τείχεσι μηχανάς, καὶ διὰ τούτων σαλεύσας τὰ τείχη, σπουδὴν εἰσεφέρετο βίᾳ κρατῆσαι τῆς πόλεως. ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις Πόλλις ὁ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων ναύαρχος κατέπλευσε βοηθήσων τοῖς Ναξίοις. γενομένης δὲ φιλοτιμίας ἀμφότεροι συγκατέβησαν εἰς ναυμαχίαν, καὶ τὰς ναῦς διατάξαντες ἐπέπλεον ἀλλήλοις. εἶχε δὲ τριήρεις ὁ μὲν Πόλλις ἑξήκοντα καὶ πέντε, ὁ δὲ Χαβρίας ὀγδοήκοντα καὶ τρεῖς. ἐπιπλεουσῶν δὲ τῶν νεῶν ἀλλήλαις, Πόλλις μὲν ἡγούμενος τοῦ δεξιοῦ κέρως πρῶτος ἐνέβαλε ταῖς ἀντιτεταγμέναις τριήρεσιν ἐπὶ τοῦ λαιοῦ κέρατος, ὧν ἡγεῖτο Κήδων ὁ Ἀθηναῖος· ἀγωνισάμενος δὲ λαμπρῶς αὐτόν τε τὸν Κήδωνα διέφθειρε καὶ τὴν ναῦν κατεβύθισεν· ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ ταῖς ἄλλαις συμβαλὼν καὶ τοῖς ἐμβόλοις ἀναρρήττων, ἃς μὲν διέφθειρεν, ἃς δὲ φυγεῖν ἠνάγκασεν. ἃ δὴ κατιδὼν ὁ Χαβρίας, καὶ μέρος τῶν περὶ αὐτὸν νεῶν ἐκπέμψας, ἐβοήθησε τοῖς πιεζομένοις καὶ τὴν ἧτταν τῶν ἰδίων διωρθώσατο, αὐτὸς δʼ ἔχων τὸ κράτιστον τοῦ στόλου καὶ γενναίως ἀγωνισάμενος πολλὰς μὲν τριήρεις διέφθειρεν, οὐκ ὀλίγας δʼ αἰχμαλώτους ἔλαβεν.
Not long after this the Lacedemonians again took the field against Thebes in the same strength as before, but the Thebans, by occupying certain new obstacles, prevented the enemy from devastating the country, though they did not venture to offer battle in the plains face to face against the whole army of the enemy. As Agesilaus advanced to the attack, they came out to met him gradually. A bitter battle raged for a long time, in which at first Agesilaus' men prevailed, but later, as the Thebans poured forth in full force from the city, Agesilaus, behold the multitude of men streaming down upon him, summoned his soldiers by trumpet to withdraw from the battle. The Thebans, who found themselves now for the first time not inferior to the Lacedemonians, erected a trophy of victory and thereafter faced the army of the Spartans with confidence. With regard to the fighting of the land forces, such was the issue. At sea about the same time occurred a great naval battle between Naxos and Paros, of which the cause was as follows. Pollis, the admiral of the Lacedemonians, learning that a large shipment of grain was on its way to Athens in freighters, lay in wait watching for the grain fleet as it put in to port, intending to attack the freighters. The Athenian people, being informed of this, sent out a convoy to guard the grain in transit, which in fact brought it safe to the Peiraeus. Later Chabrias, the Athenian admiral, with the whole navy sailed to Naxos and laid it under siege. Bringing his siege-engines to bear against the walls, when he had shaken them, he then bent every effort to take the city by storm. While these things were going on, Pollis, the admiral of the Lacedemonians, sailed into port to assist the Naxians. In eager rivalry both sides engaged in a sea-battle, and forming in line of battle charged each other. Pollis had sixty-five triremes; Chabrias eighty-three. As the ships bore down on one another, Pollis, leading the right wing, was first to attack the opposing triremes on the left wing, which Cedon the Athenian commanded. In a brilliant contest he slew Cedon himself and sank his ship; and, in similar fashion engaging the other ships of Cedon and tearing them open with the beaks of his ships, he destroyed some and others he forced to flee. When Chabrias beheld what was happening, he dispatched a squadron of the ships under his command and brought support to the men who were hard pressed and so retrieved the defeat of his own side. He himself with the strongest part of the fleet in a valiant struggle destroyed many triremes and took a large number captive.
§ 15.35
γενόμενος δʼ ἐπὶ τοῦ προτερήματος, καὶ πάσας τὰς τῶν πολεμίων ναῦς φυγεῖν ἀναγκάσας, ἀπέσχετο παντελῶς τοῦ διωγμοῦ· ἀναμνησθεὶς γὰρ τῆς ἐν Ἀργινούσαις ναυμαχίας, ἐν ᾗ τοὺς νικήσαντας στρατηγοὺς ὁ δῆμος ἀντὶ μεγάλης εὐεργεσίας θανάτῳ περιέβαλεν, αἰτιασάμενος ὅτι τοὺς τετελευτηκότας κατὰ τὴν ναυμαχίαν οὐκ ἔθαψαν, εὐλαβήθη μήποτε τῆς περιστάσεως ὁμοίας γενομένης κινδυνεύσῃ παθεῖν παραπλήσια. διόπερ ἀποστὰς τοῦ διώκειν ἀνελέγετο τῶν πολιτῶν τοὺς διανηχομένους, καὶ τοὺς μὲν ἔτι ζῶντας διέσωσε, τοὺς δὲ τετελευτηκότας ἔθαψεν. εἰ δὲ μὴ περὶ ταύτην ἐγένετο τὴν ἐπιμέλειαν, ῥᾳδίως ἂν ἅπαντα τὸν τῶν πολεμίων στόλον διέφθειρε. κατὰ δὲ τὴν ναυμαχίαν τῶν μὲν Ἀθηναίων διεφθάρησαν τριήρεις ὀκτωκαίδεκα, τῶν δὲ Λακεδαιμονίων διεφθάρησαν μὲν εἴκοσι καὶ τέτταρες, αὔτανδροι δʼ ἐλήφθησαν ὀκτώ. Χαβρίας μὲν οὖν ἐπιφανῆ ναυμαχίαν νικήσας κατέπλευσε μετὰ πολλῶν λαφύρων εἰς τὸν Πειραιέα, καὶ μεγάλης ἀποδοχῆς ἔτυχε παρὰ τοῖς πολίταις. μετὰ γὰρ τὸν Πελοποννησιακὸν πόλεμον Ἀθηναῖοι ταύτην πρώτην ναυμαχίαν ἐνίκησαν· τὴν γὰρ περὶ Κνίδον οὐκ ἰδίᾳ διηγωνίσαντο, τῷ δὲ βασιλικῷ στόλῳ χρησάμενοι προετέρησαν. ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις κατὰ τὴν Ἰταλίαν ἐν τῇ Ῥώμῃ Μάρκος Μάνλιος ἐπιβαλόμενος τυραννίδι καὶ κρατηθεὶς ἀνῃρέθη.
Although he had thus won the upper hand and forced all the enemies' ships to flee, he abstained altogether from pursuit. For he recalled the battle of Arginusae and that the assembly of the people, in return for the great service performed by victorious generals, condemned them to death on the charge that they had failed to bury the men who had perished in the fight; consequently he was afraid, since the circumstances were much the same, that he might run the risk of a similar fate. Accordingly, refraining from pursuit, he gathered up the bodies of his fellow citizens which were afloat, saved those who still lived, and buried the dead. Had he not engaged in this task he would easily have destroyed the whole enemy fleet. In the battle eighteen triremes on the Athenian side were destroyed; on the Lacedemonian twenty-four were destroyed and eight captured with their crews. Chabrias then, having won a notable victory, sailed back laden with spoils to the Peiraeus and met with an enthusiastic reception from his fellow citizens. Since the Peloponnesian War this was the first naval battle the Athenians had won. For they had not fought the battle of Cnidus with a fleet of their own, but had got the use of the King's fleet and won a victory. While these things were going on, in Italy Marcus Manlius, who aspired to a tyranny in Rome, was overpowered and slain.
§ 15.36
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησι Χαρισάνδρου Ῥωμαῖοι μὲν ἀντὶ τῶν ὑπάτων χιλιάρχους κατέστησαν τέτταρας, Σερούιον Σουλπίκιον, Λεύκιον Παπίριον, Τίτον Κοΐνκτιον, Ἠλεῖοι δʼ ἤγαγον Ὀλυμπιάδα πρώτην πρὸς ταῖς ἑκατόν, καθʼ ἣν ἐνίκα στάδιον Δάμων Θούριος. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων ἐν τῇ Θρᾴκῃ Τριβαλλοὶ σιτοδείᾳ πιεζόμενοι πανδημεὶ στρατείαν ἐποιήσαντο πρὸς τὴν ὑπερόριον χώραν, καὶ τὰς τροφὰς ἐκ τῆς ἀλλοτρίας γῆς ἐπορίζοντο. ὄντες δὲ πλείους τῶν τρισμυρίων ἐπῆλθον τήν τε ὅμορον Θρᾴκην καὶ τὴν τῶν Ἀβδηριτῶν χώραν ἐπόρθησαν ἀδεῶς· πολλῆς δὲ ὠφελείας κυριεύσαντες καταπεφρονηκότως καὶ ἀτάκτως τὴν ἐπάνοδον ἐποιοῦντο. οἱ δʼ Ἀβδηρῖται πανδημεὶ στρατεύσαντες ἐπʼ αὐτοὺς σποράδην καὶ ἀτάκτως τὴν ἐπάνοδον ποιουμένους πλείους τῶν δισχιλίων ἀνεῖλον. οἱ δὲ βάρβαροι παροξυνθέντες ἐπὶ τοῖς συμβεβηκόσι,καὶ βουλόμενοι τοὺς Ἀβδηρίτας τιμωρήσασθαι, πάλιν ἐνέβαλον αὐτῶν εἰς τὴν χώραν. οἱ δὲ προνενικηκότες ἐπαρθέντες τῷ προτερήματι, καὶ τῶν πλησιοχώρων Θρᾳκῶν συμμαχίαν ἀποστειλάντων αὐτοῖς, παρετάξαντο τοῖς βαρβάροις. γενομένης δὲ μάχης ἰσχυρᾶς, καὶ τῶν Θρᾳκῶν μεταβαλομένων ἄφνω, μονωθέντες οἱ Ἀβδηρῖται καὶ κυκλωθέντες ὑπὸ τοῦ πλήθους τῶν βαρβάρων, σχεδὸν ἅπαντες οἱ τῆς μάχης μετεσχηκότες κατεκόπησαν. τηλικαύτῃ δὲ συμφορᾷ τῶν Ἀβδηριτῶν περιπεπτωκότων καὶ μελλόντων πολιορκεῖσθαι, Χαβρίας ὁ Ἀθηναῖος ἐπιφανεὶς μετὰ δυνάμεως ἐξείλατο τῶν κινδύνων τοὺς Ἀβδηρίτας, καὶ τοὺς μὲν βαρβάρους ἐξήλασεν ἐκ τῆς χώρας, ἐν δὲ τῇ πόλει φρουρὰν ἀξιόλογον καταλιπὼν αὐτὸς ὑπό τινων ἐδολοφονήθη. Τιμόθεος δὲ παραλαβὼν τὴν ναυαρχίαν καὶ πλεύσας εἰς τὴν Κεφαληνίαν, τάς τʼ ἐν αὐτῇ πόλεις προσηγάγετο καὶ τὰς κατὰ τὴν Ἀκαρνανίαν ὁμοίως ἔπεισεν ἀποκλῖναι πρὸς Ἀθηναίους. Ἀλκέταν τε τὸν Μολοττῶν βασιλέα φίλον κατασκευάσας, καὶ καθόλου τὰς χώρας τὰς τῶν περὶ τοὺς τόπους ἐκείνους πόλεων ἐξιδιοποιησάμενος, ἐνίκησε ναυμαχίᾳ τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους περὶ Λευκάδα. ταῦτα δὲ πάντα ταχέως καὶ ῥᾳδίως ἐπετέλεσε, πείθων μὲν διὰ τῆς τοῦ λόγου δυνάμεως, νικῶν δὲ διʼ ἀνδρείαν καὶ στρατηγίαν. διόπερ οὐ μόνον παρὰ τοῖς πολίταις, ἀλλὰ καὶ παρὰ τοῖς ἄλλοις Ἕλλησι μεγάλης ἐτύγχανεν ἀποδοχῆς. καὶ τὰ μὲν περὶ Τιμόθεον ἐν τούτοις ἦν.
When Charisander was archon at Athens, the Romans elected four military tribunes with consular power, Servius Sulpicius, Lucius Papirius, Titus Quinctius; and the Eleians celebrated the one hundred first Olympiad, in which Damon of Thurii won the stadium race. During their term of office, in Thrace the Triballians, suffering from a famine, moved in full force into territory beyond their borders and obtained food from the land not their own. More than thirty thousand invaded the adjacent part of Thrace and ravaged with impunity the territory of Abdera; and after seizing a large quantity of booty they were making their way homeward in a contemptuous and disorderly fashion when the inhabitants of Abdera took the field in full force against them and slew more than two thousand of them as they straggled in disorder homewards. The barbarians then, enraged at what had happened and wishing to avenge themselves upon the Abderites, again invaded their land. The victors in the earlier conflict, being elated by their success and aided by the presence of the Thracians of the neighbouring region, who had sent out a body of men to assist them, drew up their lines opposite to the barbarians. A stubborn battle took place, and since the Thracians suddenly changed sides, the Abderites, now left to fight alone and surrounded by the superior number of the barbarians, were butchered almost to a man, as many as took part in the fight. But just after the Abderites had suffered so great a disaster and were on the point of being besieged, Chabrias the Athenian suddenly appeared with troops and snatched them out of their perils. He drove the barbarians from the country, and, after leaving a considerable garrison in the city, was himself assassinated by certain persons. Timotheus succeeded him as admiral, sailed to Cephallenia, won over the cities there, and likewise persuaded the cities of Acarnania to come over to Athens. After he had made a friend of Alcetas, king of the Molossians, and, speaking generally, had won over the areas belonging to the cities of those regions, he defeated the Lacedemonians in a naval battle off Leuctra. All this he accomplished quickly and easily, not only persuading men by his eloquence, but also winning battles by courage and good generalship. Consequently he won great acclaim, not only among his own fellow citizens but also among the Greeks at large. Thus stood the fortunes of Timotheus.
§ 15.37
ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις Θηβαῖοι μὲν ἐστράτευσαν ἐπʼ Ὀρχομενὸν ἐπιλέκτοις ἀνδράσι πεντακοσίοις, καὶ συνετέλεσαν πρᾶξιν ἀξίαν μνήμης· φρουρούντων γὰρ τὸν Ὀρχομενὸν Λακεδαιμονίων πολλοῖς στρατιώταις, καὶ τοῖς Θηβαίοις ἀντιταξαμένων, ἐγενήθη μάχη καρτερά, καθʼ ἣν οἱ Θηβαῖοι πρὸς διπλασίους συμβαλόντες ἐνίκησαν τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους. οὐδέποτε γὰρ τοῦτο συνέβη γενέσθαι κατὰ τοὺς ἐπάνω χρόνους, ἀλλʼ ἀγαπητὸν ὑπάρχειν ἐδόκει τὸ πολλοὺς ὀλίγους νικῆσαι. διὸ καὶ φρονήματος ἐπίμπλαντο Θηβαῖοι, καὶ τὴν ἀνδρείαν εἶχον μᾶλλον περιβόητον, καὶ φανεροὶ καθειστήκεισαν ἀμφισβητήσοντες τῆς τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἡγεμονίας. τῶν δὲ συγγραφέων Ἑρμείας ὁ Μεθυμναῖος τὴν τῶν Σικελικῶν σύνταξιν εἰς τοῦτον τὸν ἐνιαυτὸν κατέστροφε, γράψας βύβλους δέκα, ὡς δέ τινες διαιροῦσι, δώδεκα.
While these things were going on, the Thebans made an expedition against Orchomenus with five hundred picked men and performed a memorable action. For as the Lacedemonians maintained a garrison of many soldiers in Orchomenus and had drawn up their forces against the Thebans, a stiff battle took place in which the Thebans, attacking twice their number, defeated the Lacedemonians. Never indeed had such a thing occurred before; it had seemed enough if they won with many against few. The result was that the Thebans swelled with pride, became more and more renowned for their valour, and had manifestly put themselves in a position to compete for the supremacy of Greece. Of the historians, Hermeias of Methymne brought to a close with this year his narrative of Sicilian affairs, having composed ten books, or, as some divide the work, twelve.
§ 15.38
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησιν Ἱπποδάμου Ῥωμαῖοι χιλιάρχους ἀντὶ τῶν ὑπάτων κατέστησαν τέτταρας, Λεύκιον Οὐαλέριον, Λεύκιον Μάλλιον, Σερούιον Σουλπίκιον, Λοκρήτιον. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Ἀρταξέρξησὁ τῶν Περσῶν βασιλεὺς μέλλων πολεμεῖν πρὸς Αἰγυπτίους καὶ σπεύδων ξενικὴν δύναμιν ἀξιόλογον συστήσασθαι, διέγνω συλλύσασθαι τοὺς κατὰ τὴν Ἑλλάδα πολέμους· οὕτως γὰρ μάλιστʼ ἤλπιζε τοὺς Ἕλληνας ἀπολελυμένους τῶν οἰκείων πολέμων ἑτοιμοτέρους ἔσεσθαι πρὸς τὰς ξενολογίας. διόπερ πρέσβεις ἐξέπεμψεν εἰς τὴν Ἑλλάδα τοὺς παρακαλέσοντας τὰς πόλεις κοινὴν εἰρήνην συνθέσθαι. τῶν δʼ Ἑλλήνων ἀσμένως προσδεξαμένων τοὺς λόγους διὰ τὸ κάμνειν τῇ συνεχείᾳ τῶν πολέμων, συνέθεντο πάντες τὴν εἰρήνην, ὥστε πάσας τὰς πόλεις αὐτονόμους καὶ ἀφρουρήτους εἶναι. καὶ κατέστησαν οἱ Ἕλληνες ἐξαγωγεῖς, οἳ κατὰ πόλιν ἑκάστην ἐπελθόντες ἐξήγαγον ἁπάσας τὰς φρουράς. μόνων δὲ Θηβαίων οὐ προσδεξαμένων κατὰ πόλιν γίνεσθαι τὰς σπονδάς, ἀλλὰ τὴν Βοιωτίαν ἅπασαν ὑπὸ τὴν τῶν Θηβαίων συντέλειαν ταττόντων, καὶ Ἀθηναίων μὲν ἀντειπόντων φιλοτιμότατα, Καλλιστράτου τοῦ δημαγωγοῦ τὸν λόγον διαθεμένου, ὑπὲρ δὲ τῶν Θηβαίων Ἐπαμεινώνδου διαθεμένου λόγον θαυμαστῶς ἐν τῷ κοινῷ συνεδρίῳ, τοῖς μὲν ἄλλοις Ἕλλησι πᾶσι συμφώνως αἱ σπονδαὶ συνετελέσθησαν, μόνοι δὲ Θηβαῖοι κριθέντες ἔκσπονδοι, καὶ τοῦ Ἐπαμεινώνδου διὰ τῆς ἰδίας ἀρετῆς ἐμποιοῦντος φρόνημα τοῖς πολίταις, ἐθάρρησαν τοῖς ἁπάντων δόγμασιν ἀντιβαίνειν. Λακεδαιμόνιοι μὲν γὰρ καὶ Ἀθηναῖοι, διὰ πάντων περὶ τῆς ἡγεμονίας διαφιλοτιμούμενοι, παρεχώρουν ἀλλήλοις, οἱ μὲν τῆς κατὰ γῆν, οἱ δὲ τῆς κατὰ θάλατταν ἀρχῆς ἄξιοι κρινόμενοι. διόπερ τὴν ἐκ τρίτου προσώπου ἀναφερομένην ἡγεμονίαν χαλεπῶς ἔφερον, καὶ τὰς κατὰ Βοιωτίαν πόλεις ἀπέσπων τῆς τῶν Θηβαίων συντελείας.
When Hippodamas was archon at Athens, the Romans elected four military tribunes with consular power, Lucius Valerius, Lucius Manlius, Servius Sulpicius, and Lucretius. During their term of office Artaxerxes, King of the Persians, intending to make war on the Egyptians and being busily engaged in organizing a considerable mercenary army, decided to effect a settlement of the wars going on in Greece. For by this means he particularly hoped that the Greeks, once released from their domestic wars, would be more ready to accept mercenary service. Accordingly he sent ambassadors to Greece to urge the cities to enter into a general peace by agreement. The Greeks welcomed his proposal because they wearied of the uninterrupted series of wars, and all agreed to make peace on the condition that all the cities should be independent and free from foreign garrisons. Accordingly the Greeks appointed agents who, going from city to city, proceeded to evacuate all the garrisons. But the Thebans alone would not agree that the ratification of the peace should be made city by city, but insisted that all Boeotia should be listed as subject to the confederacy of the Thebans. When the Athenians opposed this in the most contentious manner, Callistratus, their popular leader, reciting their reasons, while, on behalf of the Thebans, Epameinondas delivered the address before the general assembly with marvellous effect, the result was that though the terms of the peace were harmoniously concluded for all the other Greek states, the Thebans alone were refused participation in them; and, through the influence of Epameinondas, who by his own personal merits inspired his fellow citizens with patriotic spirit, they were emboldened to make a stand against the decision of all the rest. For the Lacedemonians and Athenians, who had constantly been rivals for the hegemony, now yielded one to the other, the one being judged worthy on land, the other on the sea. They were consequently annoyed by the claims to leadership advanced by a third contender and sought to sever the Boeotian cities from the Theban confederation.
§ 15.39
οἱ δὲ Θηβαῖοι, τῇ τε ῥώμῃ τῶν σωμάτων καὶ ταῖς ἀλκαῖς διαφέροντες καὶ πολλαῖς μάχαις προνενικηκότες τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους, μετέωροι τοῖς φρονήμασιν ὑπῆρχον καὶ τῆς κατὰ γῆν ἡγεμονίας ἠμφισβήτουν. οὐ διεψεύσθησαν δὲ τῆς ἐλπίδος διὰ τὰς εἰρημένας αἰτίας καὶ διὰ τὸ πλείονας ἔχειν ἀγαθοὺς ἡγεμόνας καὶ στρατηγοὺς κατὰ τοὺς ὑποκειμένους χρόνους. ἐπιφανέστατοι δʼ ἦσαν Πελοπίδας καὶ Γοργίδας καὶ Ἐπαμεινώνδας· οὗτος γὰρ οὐ μόνον τῶν ὁμοεθνούντων, ἀλλὰ καὶ πάντων Ἑλλήνων πολὺ προέσχεν ἀνδρείᾳ τε καὶ στρατηγικῇ συνέσει. μετέσχε γὰρ ἐπὶ πολὺ πάσης παιδείας, καὶ μάλιστα τῆς Πυθαγορικῆς φιλοσοφίας· πρὸς δὲ τούτοις φυσικοῖς προτερήμασι κεχορηγημένος, εἰκότως καὶ πράξεις ἐπιφανεστάτας συνετέλεσεν. διὸ καὶ συναναγκασθεὶς ὀλίγοις πολιτικοῖς στρατιώταις πρὸς πάσας τὰς τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων καὶ τῶν συμμάχων δυνάμεις ἀγωνίσασθαι, τοσοῦτον ὑπερέσχε τῶν ἀνικήτων στρατιωτῶν, ὥστε τὸν βασιλέα τῶν Σπαρτιατῶν Κλεόμβροτον ἀνελεῖν, τὸ δὲ πλῆθος τῶν ἀντιταχθέντων ἄρδην σχεδὸν κατακόψαι. καὶ τὰ τηλικαῦτα παραδόξως διεπράξατο διὰ τὴν ἀγχίνοιαν καὶ τὴν ἐκ παιδείας αὐτῷ περιγεγενημένην ἀρετήν. ἀλλὰ περὶ μὲν τούτων μικρὸν ὕστερον ἐν τοῖς κατὰ μέρος ἐκτεθεῖσι σαφέστερον δηλώσομεν, νῦν δʼ ἐπὶ τὸ συνεχὲς τῆς ἱστορίας τρεψόμεθα.
The Thebans, who excelled in bodily strength and prowess and had already conquered the Lacedemonians in numerous battles, were elated in spirit and eager to dispute the supremacy on land. Nor were they cheated of their hope, both for the aforesaid reasons and because they had more good commanders and generals during the period under consideration. Most famous were Pelopidas, Gorgidas, and Epameinondas. Epameinondas, indeed, far excelled not merely those of his own race but even all Greeks in valour and shrewdness in the art of war. He had a broad general education, being particularly interested in the philosophy of Pythagoras. Besides this, being well endowed with physical advantages, it is natural that he contributed very distinguished achievements. Hence even when compelled with a very few citizen soldiers to fight against all the armies of the Lacedemonians and their allies, he was so far superior to these heretofore invincible warriors that he slew the Spartan king Cleombrotus, and almost completely annihilated the multitude of his opponents. Such were the remarkable deeds which he unexpectedly performed because of his astuteness and the moral excellence he had derived from his education. However, we shall somewhat later explain these matters more fully in a special chapter; at present we shall turn to the thread of our narrative.
§ 15.40
μετὰ γὰρ τὴν συγχωρηθεῖσαν τοῖς δήμοις αὐτονομίαν αἱ πόλεις ἐνέπιπτον εἰς ταραχὰς μεγάλας καὶ στάσεις, μάλιστα δὲ αἱ κατὰ τὴν Πελοπόννησον. ὀλιγαρχικοῖς γὰρ πολιτεύμασι κεχρημέναι, καὶ ταῖς τῆς δημοκρατίας ἐξουσίαις ἀπειραγάθως χρώμεναι, πολλοὺς τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἀνδρῶν ἐφυγάδευον καὶ κρίσεις ἐπιβάλλουσαι συκοφαντώδεις κατεδίκαζον. διόπερ εἰς στάσεις ἐμπίπτουσαι φυγὰς καὶ δημεύσεις οὐσιῶν ἐποιοῦντο, μάλιστα δὲ πρὸς τοὺς ἐπὶ τῆς Λακεδαιμονίων ἡγεμονίας προεστηκότας τῶν πατρίδων. ἐν γὰρ τοῖς τότε χρόνοις ἐπιτακτικῶς ἐκείνων τοῖς πολίταις προσενηνεγμένων, ὕστερον ὁ δημοτικὸς ὄχλος ἀπολαβὼν τὴν ἐλευθερίαν ἐμνησικάκει. πρῶτον δὲ τῶν Φιαλέων οἱ φυγάδες συστραφέντες κατελάβοντο τὴν καλουμένην Ἡραίαν, χωρίον ὀχυρόν. ἐκ ταύτης δʼ ὁρμηθέντες παρεισέπεσον εἰς τὴν Φιάλειαν, καὶ Διονυσίαν κατὰ τύχην ὄντων ἐπιπεσόντες ἀπροσδοκήτως τοῖς ἐν τῷ θεάτρῳ καθημένοις, καὶ πολλοὺς ἀποσφάξαντες, οὐκ ὀλίγους δὲ καὶ συναπονοήσασθαι πείσαντες, ἀνεχώρησαν εἰς τὴν Σπάρτην. οἱ δὲ τῆς Κορίνθου φυγάδες, συχνοὶ διατρίβοντες παρὰ τοῖς Ἀργείοις, ἐπεχείρησαν κατιέναι· παραδεχθέντες δʼ ἐπὶ τὴν πόλιν ὑπό τινων οἰκείων καὶ φίλων, διαβληθέντες ἐγένοντο περικατάληπτοι· μέλλοντες δὲ συναρπάζεσθαι, καὶ φοβούμενοι τὴν ἐκ τῆς ἁλώσεως αἰκίαν, ἀλλήλους ἀπέκτειναν. οἱ δὲ Κορίνθιοι πολλοὺς τῶν πολιτῶν αἰτιασάμενοι μετεσχηκέναι τοῖς φυγάσι τῆς ἐπιθέσεως, οὓς μὲν ἀπέκτειναν, οὓς δʼ ἐφυγάδευσαν. ἐν δὲ τῇ πόλει τῶν Μεγαρέων ἐπιχειρήσαντές τινες μεταστῆσαι τὴν πολιτείαν, καὶ κρατηθέντες ὑπὸ τοῦ δήμου, πολλοὶ μὲν ἀνῃρέθησαν, οὐκ ὀλίγοι δʼ ἐξέπεσον. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ παρὰ τοῖς Σικυωνίοις τινὲς νεωτερίζειν ἐπιβαλόμενοι καὶ σφαλέντες ἀνῃρέθησαν. παρὰ δὲ τοῖς Φλιασίοις πολλῶν φυγαδευομένων, καὶ καταλαβομένων ἐπὶ τῆς χώρας φρούριον ὀχυρὸν καὶ πλῆθος μισθοφόρων ἀθροισάντων, ἐγένετο μάχη πρὸς τοὺς ἐκ τῆς πόλεως, καὶ νικησάντων τῶν φυγάδων ἀνῃρέθησαν τῶν Φλιασίων ὑπὲρ τοὺς τριακοσίους. ὕστερον δὲ προδόντων τῶν φυλάκων τοὺς φυγάδας, κρατήσαντες οἱ Φλιάσιοι τῶν φυγάδων ἀνεῖλον πλείους τῶν ἑξακοσίων, τοὺς δὲ λοιποὺς ἐκβαλόντες ἐκ τῆς χώρας ἠνάγκασαν φυγεῖν εἰς Ἄργος. αἱ μὲν οὖν κατὰ Πελοπόννησον πόλεις ἐν τοιαύταις συμφοραῖς ἦσαν.
After autonomy had been conceded to the various peoples, the cities fell into great disturbances and internal strife, particularly in the Peloponnese. Having been used to oligarchic institutions and now taking foolish advantage of the liberties which democracy allows itself, they exiled many of their good citizens, and, trumping up charges against them, condemned them. Thus falling into internal strife they had recourse to exilings and confiscations of property, particularly against those who during the Spartan hegemony had been leaders of their native cities. Indeed in those times the oligarchs had exercised authoritative control over their fellow citizens, and later as the democratic mob recovered is freedom it harboured a grudge. First, however, the exiles of Phialeia, rallying their forces, recovered Heraea, as it is called, a stronghold. And setting out from there, they swooped down upon Phialeia, and at a time when, as it happened, the festival of Dionysus was being celebrated, they fell unexpectedly upon the spectators in the theatre, killed many, persuaded not a few to participate in their folly, and retreated to Sparta. And the exiles from Corinth, who, many in number, were living among the Argives, attempted to return, but though admitted into the city by some of their relatives and friends, they were denounced and surrounded, and, as they were about to be apprehended, fearful of the maltreatment their capture would entail, they slew one another. The Corinthians, having charged many of their citizens with assisting the exiles in the attack, put some to death and exiled others. Again, in the city of the Megarians, when some persons endeavoured to overturn the government and overpowered by the democracy, many were slain and not a few driven into exile. Likewise among the Sicyonians as well a number who tried to effect a revolution but failed were killed. Among the Phliasians, when many who were in exile had seized a stronghold in the country and gathered a considerable number of mercenaries, a battle was fought against the city party, and, when the exiles won the victory, over three hundred of the Phliasians were slain. Later, as the sentinels betrayed the exiles, the Phliasians got the upper hand and executed more than six hundred exiles, while they drove the rest out of the country and compelled them to take refuge in Argos. Such were the disasters that afflicted the Peloponnesian cities.
§ 15.41
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησι Σωκρατίδου Ῥωμαῖοι ἀντὶ τῶν ὑπάτων χιλιάρχους κατέστησαν τέτταρας, Κόιντον Σερουίλιον, Σερούιον Κορνήλιον, ἔτι δὲ Σπόριον Παπίριον. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Ἀρταξέρξης ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐστράτευσεν ἐπʼ Αἰγυπτίους ἀφεστηκότας ἀπὸ Περσῶν. ἡγοῦντο δὲ τῶν δυνάμεων Φαρνάβαζος μὲν τῶν βαρβαρικῶν, Ἰφικράτης δʼ ὁ Ἀθηναῖος τῶν μισθοφόρων, ὄντων δισμυρίων. ὁ δʼ ἀνὴρ οὗτος μετάπεμπτος ἐπὶ τὴν στρατηγίαν ὑπὸ τοῦ βασιλέως ἐτάχθη διὰ τὴν ἐν τῷ στρατηγεῖν ἀρετήν. ἔτη δὲ πλείω τοῦ Φαρναβάζου κατανηλωκότος περὶ τὰς παρασκευάς, ὁ μὲν Ἰφικράτης ὁρῶν αὐτὸν ἐν μὲν τῷ λέγειν ὄντα δεινόν, ἐν δὲ τοῖς πραττομένοις νωχελῆ, παρρησίᾳ πρὸς αὐτὸν ἐχρήσατο, φήσας θαυμάζειν πῶς ἐν μὲν τοῖς λόγοις ἐστὶν ὀξύς, ἐν δὲ τοῖς ἔργοις βραδύς. ὁ δὲ Φαρνάβαζος ἀπεκρίθη, διότι τῶν μὲν λόγων αὐτὸς κύριός ἐστι, τῶν δʼ ἔργων ὁ βασιλεύς. τῆς δὲ τῶν Περσῶν δυνάμεως ἀθροισθείσης εἰς πόλιν Ἄκην, ἠριθμήθησαν τῶν μὲν βαρβάρων εἴκοσι μυριάδες, ὧν ἦρχε Φαρνάβαζος· τῶν δὲ μισθοφόρων Ἑλλήνων Ἰφικράτης ἡγεῖτο δισμυρίων. καὶ ναῦς ἠριθμήθησαν τριήρεις μὲν τριακόσιαι, τριακόντοροι δὲ διακόσιαι· τῶν δὲ τὴν ἀγορὰν καὶ τὴν ἄλλην παρασκευὴν κομιζουσῶν πολὺς ἦν ἀριθμός. ἀρχομένου δὲ τοῦ θέρους ἀνέζευξαν οἱ τοῦ βασιλέως στρατηγοὶ μετὰ πάσης τῆς δυνάμεως, καὶ τοῦ στόλου συμπαραπλέοντος προῆγον ἐπὶ τὴν Αἴγυπτον. ὡς δʼ ἧκον πλησίον τοῦ Νείλου, κατέλαβον τοὺς Αἰγυπτίουσφανερῶς παρεσκευασμένους τὰ πρὸς τὸν πόλεμον. ὁ γὰρ Φαρνάβαζος βραδεῖαν τὴν στρατείαν ἐποιεῖτο, καὶ πολὺν χρόνον ἐδεδώκει τοῖς πολεμίοις εἰς τὴν παρασκευήν. ὡς ἐπίπαν γὰρ οἱ τῶν Περσῶν στρατηγοί, τῶν ὅλων οὐκ ὄντες αὐτοκράτορες, περὶ πάντων ἀναφέρουσι τῷ βασιλεῖ, καὶ προσαναμένουσι τὰς περὶ ἑκάστων ἀποκρίσεις.
When Socratides was archon at Athens, the Romans elected four military tribunes with consular power, Quintus Servilius, Servius Cornelius, and Spurius Papirius. During their term of office King Artaxerxes sent an expedition against the Egyptians, who had revolted from Persia. The leaders of the army were Pharnabazus, commanding the barbarian contingent, and Iphicrates the Athenian, commanding the mercenaries, who numbered twenty thousand. Iphicrates, who had been summoned for the campaign by the King, was given the assignment because of his strategic skill. After Pharnabazus had wasted several years making his preparations, Iphicrates perceiving that though in talk he was clever, he was sluggish in action, frankly told him that he marvelled that anyone so quick in speech could be so dilatory in action. Pharnabazus replied that it was because he was master of his words but the King was master of his actions. When the Persian army had assembled at the city of Ace it numbered two hundred thousand barbarians under the command of Pharnabazus and twenty thousand Greek mercenaries led by Iphicrates. The triremes numbered three hundred and the thirty-oared vessels two hundred. The number of those conveying food and other supplies was great. At the beginning of the summer the King's generals broke camp with the entire army, and accompanied by the fleet sailing along the coast proceeded to Egypt. When they came near the Nile they found that the Egyptians had manifestly completed their preparations for the war. For Pharnabazus marched slowly and had given plenty of time for the enemy to prepare. Indeed it is the usual custom for the Persian commanders, not being independent in the general conduct of war, to refer all matters to the King and await his replies concerning every detail.
§ 15.42
ὁ δὲ τῶν Αἰγυπτίων βασιλεὺς Νεκτάνεβις ἐπυνθάνετο μὲν τὸ μέγεθος τῶν Περσικῶν δυνάμεων, ἐθάρρει δὲ μάλιστα μὲν τῇ τῆς χώρας ὀχυρότητι, δυσπροσίτου παντελῶς οὔσης τῆς Αἰγύπτου, ἔπειτα καὶ τῷ πεφράχθαι καλῶς πάσας εἰσβολὰς τάς τε ἀπὸ γῆς καὶ τὰς ἀπὸ θαλάττης. ἑπτὰ στόμασι γὰρ τοῦ Νείλου τὰς εἰς τὸ Αἰγύπτιον πέλαγος ἐκβολὰς ποιουμένου, καθʼ ἕκαστον τῶν στομάτων πόλις κατεσκεύαστο πύργους μεγάλους ἔχουσα καθʼ ἑκάτερον τοῦ ῥείθρου καὶ ξυλίνην γέφυραν τοῦ εἴσπλου κυριεύουσαν. μάλιστα δὲ τὸ Πηλουσιακὸν στόμα κατεσκεύασε διὰ τὸ κεῖσθαι μὲν αὐτὸ πρῶτον πρὸς τοὺς ἀπὸ Συρίας πορευομένους καὶ δοκεῖν διὰ τούτου μάλιστʼ ἂν ποιεῖσθαι τὴν ἔφοδον τοὺς πολεμίους. τοῦτο γὰρ ἀπετάφρευσε, καὶ διετείχισε τοὺς εἴσπλους κατὰ τοὺς εὐκαιροτάτους τόπους, καὶ τῶν προσόδων τὰς μὲν κατὰ γῆν πορευτὰς ἐποίησε λιμνάζειν, τὰς δὲ πλωτὰς χώμασιν ἐνέφραττεν. διόπερ οὐκ ἦν ῥᾳδίως οὔτε ταῖς ναυσὶν εἰσπλέειν οὔτε τοῖς ἱππεῦσι προσπελάσαι οὔτε τοῖς πεζοῖς προσελθεῖν. οἱ δὲ περὶ τὸν Φαρνάβαζον στρατηγοί, καταλαβόντες τὸ Πηλουσιακὸν στόμα θαυμαστῶς ὠχυρωμένον καὶ στρατιωτῶν πλήθει φυλαττόμενον, τὸ μὲν διὰ τούτου βιάζεσθαι παντελῶς ἀπεδοκίμασαν, διʼ ἑτέρου δὲ στόματος ἔγνωσαν ποιεῖσθαι τὸν εἴσπλουν. διὸ πλεύσαντες πελάγιοι πρὸς τὸ μὴ καθορᾶσθαι τὰς ναῦς ὑπὸ τῶν πολεμίων, κατέπλευσαν πρὸς τὸ στόμα τὸ καλούμενον Μενδήσιον, ἔχον ἠιόνα παρήκουσαν ἐφʼ ἱκανὸν τόπον. εἰς ταύτην ἀποβάντες μετὰ στρατιωτῶν τρισχιλίων ὅ τε Φαρνάβαζος καὶ ὁ Ἰφικράτης προῆγον ἐπὶ τὸ τετειχισμένον ἐπὶ τοῦ στόματος πολισμάτιον. ἐκβοηθησάντων δὲ τῶν Αἰγυπτίων ἱππεῦσί τε καὶ πεζοῖς τρισχιλίοις, γενομένης τε μάχης ἰσχυρᾶς καὶ τοῖς Πέρσαις πολλῶν ἐκ τῶν νεῶν προσγεγενημένων, κυκλωθέντες οἱ Αἰγύπτιοι, πολλοὶ μὲν ἀπέθανον, οὐκ ὀλίγοι δʼ ἐζωγρήθησαν· οἱ δὲ περιλειφθέντες εἰς τὴν πόλιν συνεδιώχθησαν. οἱ δὲ περὶ τὸν Ἰφικράτην συνεισπεσόντες τοῖς φρουροῦσιν ἐντὸς τῶν τειχῶν, καὶ κρατήσαντες τοῦ φρουρίου, τοῦτο μὲν κατέσκαψαν, τοὺς δʼ ἐνοικοῦντας ἐξηνδραποδίσαντο.
The Egyptian king Nectanebos learned the size of the Persian armies, but was emboldened, for Egypt is extremely difficult of approach, and secondly by the fact that all points of invasion from land or sea had been carefully blocked. For the Nile empties into the Egyptian Sea by seven mouths, and at each mouth a city had been established along with great towers on each bank of the stream and a wooden bridge commanding its entrance. He especially fortified the Pelusiac mouth because it is the first to be encountered by those approaching from Syria and seemed to be the most likely route of the enemy approach. He dug channels connecting with this, fortified the entrances for ships at the most suitable points, and inundated the approaches by land while blocking the sea approaches by embankments. Accordingly it was not easy either for the ships to sail in, or for the cavalry to draw near, or for the infantry to approach. Pharnabazus' staff, finding the Pelusiac mouth so remarkably fortified and guarded by a multitude of soldiers, rejected utterly the plan of forcing a way through it and decided to make the invasion by ship through another mouth. Accordingly they voyaged on the open sea so that the ships should not be sighted by the enemy, and sailed in by the mouth known as Mendesian, which had a beach stretching over a considerable space. Landing here with three thousand men, Pharnabazus and Iphicrates pushed forward to the walled stronghold at the mouth. The Egyptians rushed out with three thousand horse and infantry, and a sharp battle ensued, but many men from their ships came to increase the number of the Persians, until finally the Egyptians were surrounded, many slain, and not a few captured alive; and the rest were driven in confusion into the city. Iphicrates' men dashed in with the defenders inside the walls, took possession of the fortress, razed it, and enslaved the inhabitants.
§ 15.43
μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τοῖς στρατηγοῖς ἐνέπεσε στάσις, διʼ ἣν τῆς ἐπιβολῆς ἐσφάλησαν. ὁ μὲν γὰρ Ἰφικράτης παρὰ τῶν αἰχμαλώτων πυθόμενος ἔρημον εἶναι τὴν Μέμφιν, ἐπικαιροτάτην οὖσαν πόλιν τῶν κατʼ Αἴγυπτον, συνεβούλευεν ἐξαυτῆς ἀναπλεῖν ἐπὶ τὴν Μέμφιν πρὸ τοῦ παραγενέσθαι τὰς τῶν Αἰγυπτίων δυνάμεις· οἱ δὲ περὶ τὸν Φαρνάβαζον ᾦντο δεῖν ἀναμένειν τὴν ὅλην δύναμιν τῶν Περσῶν· ἀσφαλεστέραν γὰρ ἔσεσθαι τὴν στρατείαν ἐπὶ τὴν Μέμφιν. τοῦ δʼ Ἰφικράτους ἀξιοῦντος αὑτῷ δοθῆναι τοὺς παρόντας μισθοφόρους, καὶ μετʼ ἐκείνων ἐπαγγελλομένου κρατήσειν τῆς πόλεως, τό τε θράσος αὐτοῦ καὶ τὴν ἀρετὴν ὑπώπτευσε, μὴ κατʼ ἰδίαν κατάσχῃ τὴν Αἴγυπτον. διόπερ οὐ συγχωροῦντος τοῦ Φαρναβάζου, ὁ Ἰφικράτης διεμαρτύρατο, λέγων ὡς ἐὰν παρῶσι τὴν ὀξύτητα τῶν καιρῶν, ἄπρακτον ποιήσουσι τὴν ὅλην στρατιάν. στρατηγοὶ μὲν οὖν τινες ἐφθόνουν αὐτῷ καὶ διαβολὰς ἀδίκους προσῆπτον. οἱ δʼ Αἰγύπτιοι πολλὴν ἀναστροφὴν λαβόντες, εἰς μὲν τὴν Μέμφιν ἐξέπεμψαν τὴν ἱκανὴν φυλακήν, ἐπὶ δὲ τὸ πεπορθημένον πολισμάτιον πάσαις ταῖς δυνάμεσι παραγενόμενοι, καὶ πολλὰ πλεονεκτοῦντες διὰ τὴν τῶν τόπων ὀχυρότητα, συμπλοκὰς ἐποιοῦντο τοῖς πολεμίοις συνεχεῖς. αἰεὶ δὲ μᾶλλον ἐπισχύοντες πολλοὺς ἀνῄρουν τῶν Περσῶν καὶ κατεθάρρουν τῶν πολεμίων. χρονιζούσης δὲ τῆς περὶ τὸ πολισμάτιον τοῦτο στρατείας, καὶ τῶν ἐτησίων ἤδη γενομένων, ὁ Νεῖλος πληρούμενος καὶ πάντα τόπον ἐπέχων τῷ πλήθει τοῦ ῥεύματος αἰεὶ μᾶλλον ὠχύρου τὴν Αἴγυπτον. οἱ δὲ τῶν Περσῶν ἡγεμόνες, ἀντιπραττούσης αὐτοῖς αἰεὶ τῆς περιστάσεως, ἔγνωσαν ἐκ τῆς Αἰγύπτου τὴν ἀπαλλαγὴν ποιήσασθαι. διόπερ ἐπανιόντων αὐτῶν εἰς τὴν Ἀσίαν, καὶ γενομένης διαφορᾶς τῷ Φαρναβάζῳ πρὸς τὸν Ἰφικράτην, ὑποπτεύσας ὁ Ἰφικράτης μὴ συλληφθῇ καὶ τιμωρίας τύχῃ, καθάπερ Κόνων ἔπαθεν ὁ Ἀθηναῖος, ἔκρινε λάθρᾳ φεύγειν ἐκ τοῦ στρατοπέδου· διὸ καὶ παρασκευασάμενος πλοῖον ἔλαθε νυκτὸς ἀπαλλαγεὶς καὶ καταπλεύσας εἰς τὰς Ἀθήνας. ὁ δὲ Φαρνάβαζος πρέσβεις ἐκπέμψας κατηγόρησε τοῦ Ἰφικράτους ὡς αἰτίου γεγονότος τοῦ μὴ ληφθῆναι τὴν Αἴγυπτον. οἱ δὲ Ἀθηναῖοι τοῖς μὲν Πέρσαις ἀπόκρισιν ἔδωκαν, ὅτι ἐὰν εὕρωσιν αὐτὸν ἠδικηκότα, κολάσουσι κατὰ τὴν ἀξίαν, αὐτοὶ δὲ μετʼ ὀλίγον χρόνον στρατηγὸν κατέστησαν τὸν Ἰφικράτην ἐπὶ τὸ ναυτικόν.
After this, discord set in amongst the commanders, causing the failure of the enterprise. For Iphicrates, learning from the captives that Memphis, the most strategically situated of the Egyptian cities, was undefended, advised sailing immediately up to Memphis before the Egyptian forces arrived there, but Pharnabazus thought they should await the entire Persian force; for in this way the campaign against Memphis would be less dangerous. When Iphicrates demanded that he be given the mercenaries that were on hand and promised if he had them to capture the city, Pharnabazus became suspicious of his boldness and his courage for fear lest he take possession of Egypt for himself. Accordingly when Pharnabazus would not yield, Iphicrates protested that if they let slip the exact moment of opportunity, they would make the whole campaign a failure. Some generals indeed bore a grudge against him and were attempting to fasten unfair charges upon him. Meanwhile the Egyptians, having had plenty of time to recuperate, first sent an adequate garrison into Memphis, and then, proceeding with all their forces against the ravaged stronghold at the Mendesian mouth of the Nile and being now at a great advantage owing to the strength their position, fought constant engagements with the enemy. With ever-increasing strength they slew many Persians and gained confidence against them. As the campaign about this stronghold dragged on, and the Etesian winds had already set in, the Nile, which was filling up and flooding the whole region with the abundance of its waters, made Egypt daily more secure. The Persian commanders, as this state of affairs constantly operated against them, decided to withdraw from Egypt. Consequently, on their way back to Asia, when a disagreement arose between him and Pharnabazus, Iphicrates, suspecting that he might be arrested and punished as Conon the Athenian had been, decided to flee secretly from the camp. Accordingly, having secured a ship he covertly got away at night and reached port at Athens. Pharnabazus dispatched ambassadors to Athens and accused Iphicrates of being responsible for the failure to capture Egypt. The Athenians, however, replied to the Persians that if they detected him in wrongdoing they would punish him as he deserved, and shortly afterward appointed Iphicrates general in command of their fleet.
§ 15.44
οὐκ ἀνοίκειον δʼ ἐστὶ τὰ περὶ τῆς Ἰφικράτους ἀρετῆς ἱστορούμενα παραθεῖναι. οὗτος γὰρ παραδέδοται στρατηγικήν τε ἀγχίνοιαν ἐσχηκέναι καὶ πρὸς πᾶσαν ἐπίνοιαν ἀγαθὴν φύσει κεχρῆσθαι διαφόρῳ. προσλαβόμενον οὖν αὐτὸν τὴν ἐν τῷ Περσικῷ πολέμῳ πολυχρόνιον ἐμπειρίαν τῶν στρατιωτικῶν ἔργων, ἐπινοήσασθαι πολλὰ τῶν εἰς τὸν πόλεμον χρησίμων, καὶ μάλιστα περὶ τὸν καθοπλισμὸν φιλοτιμηθῆναι. τῶν γὰρ Ἑλλήνων μεγάλαις ἀσπίσι χρωμένων καὶ διὰ τοῦτο δυσκινήτων ὄντων, συνεῖλε τὰς ἀσπίδας καὶ κατεσκεύασε πέλτας συμμέτρους, ἀμφοτέρων εὖ στοχασάμενος, τοῦ τε σκέπειν ἱκανῶς τὰ σώματα καὶ τοῦ δύνασθαι τοὺς χρωμένους ταῖς πέλταις διὰ τὴν κουφότητα παντελῶς εὐκινήτους ὑπάρχειν. διὰ δὲ τῆς πείρας τῆς εὐχρηστίας ἀποδοχῆς τυγχανούσης, οἱ μὲν πρότερον ἀπὸ τῶν ἀσπίδων ὁπλῖται καλούμενοι τότε δὲ ἀπὸ τῆς πέλτης πελτασταὶ μετωνομάσθησαν. ἐπὶ δὲ τοῦ δόρατος καὶ τοῦ ξίφους εἰς τοὐναντίον τὴν μετάθεσιν ἐποιήσατο· ηὔξησε γὰρ τὰ μὲν δόρατα ἡμιολίῳ μεγέθει, τὰ δὲ ξίφη σχεδὸν διπλάσια κατεσκεύασεν. τὴν δὲ δοκιμασίαν ἡ χρεία διαβεβαιοῦσα τὴν ἐπίνοιαν τοῦ στρατηγοῦ τῷ τῆς πείρας ἐπιτεύγματι δόξης ἠξίωσεν. τάς τε ὑποδέσεις τοῖς στρατιώταις εὐλύτους καὶ κούφας ἐποίησε, τὰς μέχρι τοῦ νῦν ἰφικρατίδας ἀπʼ ἐκείνου καλουμένας. πολλὰ δὲ καὶ ἄλλα τῶν χρησίμων εἰς τὰς στρατείας κατέδειξε, περὶ ὧν μακρὸν ἂν εἴη γράφειν. ἡ μὲν οὖν ἐπʼ Αἴγυπτον στρατεία τῶν Περσῶν, μεγάλης τυχοῦσα παρασκευῆς, παρʼ ἐλπίδας ἄπρακτον ἔσχε τὸ τέλος.
It will not be out of place to set forth what I have learned about the remarkable character of Iphicrates. For he is reported to have possessed shrewdness in common and to have enjoyed an exceptional natural genius for every kind of useful invention. Hence we are told, after he had acquired his long experience of military operations in the Persian War, he devised many improvements in the tools of war, devoting himself especially to the matter of arms. For instance, the Greeks were using shields which were large and consequently difficult to handle; these he discarded and made small oval ones of moderate size, thus successfully achieving both objects, to furnish the body with adequate cover and to enable the user of the small shield, on account of its lightness, to be completely free in his movements. After a trial of the new shield its easy manipulation secured its adoption, and the infantry who had formerly been called "hoplites" because of their heavy shield, then had their name changed to "peltasts" from the light pelta they carried. As regards spear and sword, he made changes in the contrary direction: namely, he increased the length of the spears by half, and made the swords almost twice as long. The actual use of these arms confirmed the initial test and from the success of the experiment won great fame for the inventive genius of the general. He made soldiers' boots that were easy to untie and light and they continue to this day to be called "iphicratids" after him. He also introduced many other useful improvements into warfare, but it would be tedious to write about them. So the Persian expedition against Egypt, for all its huge preparations, disappointed expectations and proved a failure in the end.
§ 15.45
κατὰ δὲ τὴν Ἑλλάδα ταραττομένων τῶν πόλεων διὰ τὴν ἀσυνήθη πολιτείαν, καὶ πολλῶν ἐπανισταμένων διὰ τὴν κοινὴν ἀναρχίαν, τοῖς μὲν τὰς ὀλιγαρχίας κατασκευάζουσιν ἐβοήθουν οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι, τοῖς δὲ τῆς δημοκρατίας ἀντεχομένοις συνεμάχουν οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι. ἀμφότεραι γὰρ αἱ πόλεις αὗται χρόνον ὀλίγον διετήρησαν τὰς σπονδάς, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα συμπράττουσαι ταῖς οἰκείαις πόλεσιν ἐπολέμουν, οὐδὲν ἔτι φροντίζοντες τῆς κοινῆς συντεθείσης εἰρήνης. διόπερ ἐν Ζακύνθῳ τοῖς ἐπὶ τῆς Λακεδαιμονίων ἐπιστασίας κυρίοις γεγονόσι τοῦ πολιτεύματος ὁ δῆμος χαλεπῶς ἔχων καὶ μνησικακῶν ἐφυγάδευσε πάντας οὗτοι δὲ πρὸς Τιμόθεον τὸν Ἀθηναίων ἡγούμενον τοῦ ναυτικοῦ καταφυγόντες συνέπλεον αὐτῷ καὶ συνεμάχουν. τοῦτον οὖν παραστησάμενοι συνεργόν, καὶ διαβιβασθέντες εἰς τὴν νῆσον ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ, κατελάβοντο χωρίον ὀχυρὸν παρὰ θάλατταν, ὃ προσηγόρευον Ἀρκαδίαν. ἐκ τούτου δʼ ὁρμώμενοι, καὶ βοηθὸν ἔχοντες τὸν Τιμόθεον, ἐκακοποίουν τοὺς ἐν τῇ πόλει. τῶν δὲ Ζακυνθίων τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους ἀξιούντων βοηθῆσαι, τὸ μὲν πρῶτον εἰς τὰς Ἀθήνας ἀποστείλαντες πρέσβεις κατηγόρουν τοῦ Τιμοθέου· ὡς δʼ ἐθεώρουν τὸν δῆμον ἀποκλίνοντα πρὸς τοὺς φυγάδας, συνεστήσαντο ναυτικόν, καὶ πληρώσαντες τριήρεις εἴκοσι καὶ πέντε ἐξέπεμψαν τοῖς Ζακυνθίοις συμμαχίαν, δόντες τὴν ἡγεμονίαν Ἀριστοκράτει.
Throughout Greece now that its several states were in confusion because of unwonted forms of government, and many uprisings were occurring in the midst of the general anarchy, the Lacedemonians gave assistance to such as were trying to establish oligarchies, while the Athenians supported those groups which clung to democracy. For both these states did maintain the truce for a short time, but then, acting in co operation with their affiliated cities renewed the war, no longer respecting the general peace that had been agreed upon. So it came about that in Zacynthos the popular party, being angry and resentful toward those who had held control of the government during the domination of the Lacedemonians, drove them all into exile. . . . These Zacynthians, having taken refuge with Timotheus the Athenian in charge of the fleet, joined his naval force and fought with him. Accordingly they made him their confederate, were transported by him to the island, and seized a stronghold by the sea which they called Arcadia. With this as their base and having the support of Timotheus they inflicted damage upon those in the city. And when the Zacynthians asked the Lacedemonians to help them, these latter at first sent envoys to Athens to denounce Timotheus; but then, seeing that the Athenian people favoured the exiles, they organized a fleet, and manning twenty-five triremes sent them to assist the Zacynthians, placing Aristocrates in command.
§ 15.46
ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις τῶν ἐκ Κορκύρας τινὲς φίλοι Λακεδαιμονίων ἐπαναστάντες τῷ δήμῳ, παρεκάλεσαν τοὺς Σπαρτιάτας ἀποστεῖλαι ναυτικὴν δύναμιν, ὑπισχνούμενοι παραδώσειν αὐτοῖς τὴν Κόρκυραν. οἱ δὲ Λακεδαιμόνιοι, τὴν Κόρκυραν εἰδότες μεγάλην ῥοπὴν ἔχουσαν τοῖς ἀντεχομένοις τῆς θαλάττης, ἔσπευσαν κύριοι γενέσθαι ταύτης τῆς πόλεως. εὐθὺς οὖν ἔπεμψαν εἰς τὴν Κόρκυραν τριήρεις εἴκοσι καὶ δύο, τὴν ἡγεμονίαν Ἀλκίδᾳ παραδόντες. τοῦτον δὲ τὸν στόλον προσεποιήθησαν εἰς Σικελίαν ἀποστεῖλαι, ἵνα ὡς φίλοι προσδεχθέντες ὑπὸ τῶν Κορκυραίων κατάσχωσι τὴν πόλιν μετὰ τῶν φυγάδων. οἱ δὲ Κορκυραῖοι γνόντες τῶν Σπαρτιατῶν τὴν ἐπίνοιαν, τὴν μὲν πόλιν ἐπιμελῶς ἐφύλαττον, εἰς δὲ τὰς Ἀθήνας πρέσβεις ἐξέπεμψαν περὶ βοηθείας. οἱ δʼ Ἀθηναῖοι ψηφισάμενοι βοηθεῖν τοῖς Κορκυραίοις καὶ Ζακυνθίων τοῖς φυγάσιν, εἰς μὲν τὴν Ζάκυνθον ἐξέπεμψαν Κτησικλέα στρατηγόν, ἡγούμενον τῶν φυγάδων, εἰς δὲ τὴν Κόρκυραν παρεσκευάζοντο ναυτικὴν δύναμιν ἐκπέμπειν. ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις κατὰ τὴν Βοιωτίαν Πλαταιεῖς ἀντεχόμενοι τῆς Ἀθηναίων συμμαχίας μετεπέμποντο στρατιώτας, κεκρικότες τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις παραδοῦναι τὴν πόλιν. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτοις οἱ βοιωτάρχαι χαλεπῶς διατεθέντες πρὸς τοὺς Πλαταιεῖς, καὶ σπεύδοντες φθάσαι τὴν παρὰ τῶν Ἀθηναίων συμμαχίαν, εὐθὺς ἐπʼ αὐτοὺς δύναμιν ἀξιόλογον ἦγον. παραγενόμενοι δὲ πλησίον τῆς τῶν Πλαταιέων πόλεως, ἀπροσδοκήτου τῆς ἐπιθέσεως γενομένης, οἱ πλεῖστοι μὲν τῶν Πλαταιέων ἐπὶ τῆς χώρας καταληφθέντες ὑπὸ τῶν ἱππέων συνηρπάγησαν, οἱ δὲ λοιποὶ καταφυγόντες εἰς τὴν πόλιν, καὶ συμμάχων ὄντες ἔρημοι, συνηναγκάσθησαν ὁμολογίας συνθέσθαι τοῖς πολεμίοις εὐαρέστους· ἔδει γὰρ αὐτοὺς τὰ ἔπιπλα λαβόντας ἀπελθεῖν ἐκ τῆς πόλεως καὶ μηκέτι τῆς Βοιωτίας ἐπιβαίνειν. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα οἱ μὲν Θηβαῖοι τὰς Πλαταιὰς κατασκάψαντες καὶ Θεσπιὰς ἀλλοτρίως πρὸς αὐτοὺς διακειμένας ἐξεπόρθησαν, οἱ δὲ Πλαταιεῖς εἰς Ἀθήνας μετὰ τέκνων καὶ γυναικῶν φυγόντες τῆς ἰσοπολιτείας ἔτυχον διὰ τὴν χρηστότητα τοῦ δήμου. καὶ τὰ μὲν κατὰ Βοιωτίαν ἐν τούτοις ἦν.
While these things were going on, some partisans of the Lacedemonians in Corcyra revolted against the democracy and called upon the Spartans to dispatch a fleet, promising to betray Corcyra to them. The Lacedemonians, aware of the great importance that Corcyra had for the aspirants to sea power, made haste to possess themselves of this city. So they immediately dispatched to Corcyra twenty-two triremes, having given the command to Alcidas. They pretended that this expedition was sent to Sicily, in order to be received as friends by the Corcyraeans and then with the assistance of the exiles to occupy the city. But the Corcyraeans, discovering the design of the Spartans, kept careful guard over the city and sent envoys to Athens to get help. The Athenians voted help for the Corcyraeans and the Zacynthian exiles, sent to Zacynthos Ctesicles as general in command of the exiles, and prepared to dispatch a naval force to Corcyra. While these things were going on, the Plataeans in Boeotia, clinging to the alliance with the Athenians, sent to them for soldiers, having decided to hand their city over to the Athenians. At this the Boeotarchs became incensed with the Plataeans, and being eager to forestall the allied force from Athens, immediately brought a considerable army against the Plataeans. They reached the neighbourhood of Plataeae when the attack was not expected, so that a large number of the Plataeans were arrested in the fields and carried off by the cavalry, while the rest, who had escaped to the city, being helpless without any allies, were forced to make a covenant agreeable to their enemies; they were obliged, namely, to depart from the city with their movable possessions and never again to set foot on Boeotian soil. Thereupon the Thebans, having razed Plataeae completely, pillaged Thespiae as well, which was at odds with them. The Plataeans with their wives and children, having fled to Athens, received equality of civic rights as a mark of favour from the Athenian people. Such was the state of affairs in Boeotia.
§ 15.47
Λακεδαιμόνιοι δὲ στρατηγὸν καταστήσαντες Μνάσιππον ἐξαπέστειλαν ἐπὶ τὴν Κόρκυραν, ἔχοντα τριήρεις μὲν ἑξήκοντα καὶ πέντε, στρατιώτας δὲ χιλίους καὶ πεντακοσίους. οὗτος δὲ καταπλεύσας εἰς τὴν νῆσον καὶ προσλαβόμενος τοὺς φυγάδας εἰσέπλευσεν εἰς τὸν λιμένα, καὶ τεττάρων μὲν νεῶν ἐκυρίευσε, τῶν δὲ ὑπολοίπων τριῶν νεῶν φυγουσῶν πρὸς τὴν γῆν, αὗται μὲν ἐνεπρήσθησαν ὑπὸ τῶν Κορκυραίων, ἵνα μὴ τοῖς πολεμίοις ὑποχείριοι γένωνται. ἐνίκησε δὲ καὶ πεζῇ τοὺς ἐπὶ τῇ γῇ λόφον τινὰ κατειλημμένους, καὶ καθόλου πολὺν φόβον τοῖς Κορκυραίοις ἐπέστησεν. Ἀθηναῖοι δὲ καὶ πάλαι μὲν ἀπεστάλκεισαν Τιμόθεον τὸν Κόνωνος ἐπὶ βοήθειαν τοῖς Κορκυραίοις μετὰ νεῶν ἑξήκοντα· οὗτος δὲ πρὸ τῆς συμμαχίας ταύτης πλεύσας ἐπὶ Θρᾴκης, καὶ πολλὰς πόλεις ἐπὶ συμμαχίαν προκαλεσάμενος, προσέθηκε τριάκοντα τριήρεις· τότε δὲ καθυστερῶν τῆς τῶν Κορκυραίων συμμαχίας τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἀπέβαλε τὴν στρατηγίαν, τοῦ δήμου χαλεπῶς πρὸς αὐτὸν διατεθέντος· ὡς δὲ παρέπλευσεν εἰς τὰς Ἀθήνας, ἄγων πρέσβεων πλῆθος τῶν τὴν συμμαχίαν συντιθεμένων καὶ τριάκοντα τριήρεις προστεθεικώς, πάντα δὲ τὸν στόλον εὖ κατεσκευακὼς πρὸς τὸν πόλεμον, μετενόησεν ὁ δῆμος καὶ πάλιν αὐτῷ τὴν στρατηγίαν ἀποκατέστησεν. προσκατεσκεύαζον δὲ καὶ ἄλλας τριήρεις τετταράκοντα, ὥστε τὰς πάσας γίνεσθαι ἑκατὸν καὶ τριάκοντα· ἐποιοῦντο δὲ καὶ σίτου καὶ βελῶν καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν εἰς πόλεμον χρησίμων ἀξιολόγους παρασκευάς. κατὰ δὲ τὸ παρὸν στρατηγὸν ἑλόμενοι Κτησικλέα μετὰ στρατιωτῶν πεντακοσίων ἐξέπεμψαν βοηθήσοντα τοῖς Κορκυραίοις. οὗτος δὲ λάθρᾳ νυκτὸς ἔλαθε τοὺς πολιορκοῦντας εἰσπλεύσας εἰς Κόρκυραν· καὶ καταλαβὼν τοὺς ἐν τῇ πόλει πρὸς μὲν ἀλλήλους στασιάζοντας, τὰ δὲ κατὰ τὸν πόλεμον κακῶς διοικοῦντας, τὰς μὲν στάσεις διέλυσε, τῆς δὲ πόλεως πολλὴν ἐπιμέλειαν ποιησάμενος εὐθαρσεῖς ἐποίησε τοὺς πολιορκουμένους. καὶ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἀπροσδοκήτως τοῖς πολιορκοῦσιν ἐπιθέμενος ἀνεῖλεν αὐτῶν περὶ διακοσίους, ὕστερον δὲ μεγάλης μάχης γενομένης τόν τε Μνάσιππον ἀνεῖλε καὶ τῶν ἄλλων οὐκ ὀλίγους· τέλος δὲ τοὺς πολιορκοῦντας εἰς πολιορκίαν συγκλείσας μεγάλων ἐπαίνων ἔτυχεν. τοῦ δὲ περὶ τὴν Κόρκυραν πολέμου σχεδὸν ἤδη τέλος ἔχοντος κατέπλευσεν ὁ στόλος τῶν Ἀθηναίων εἰς τὴν Κόρκυραν, ἔχων στρατηγοὺς Τιμόθεον καὶ Ἰφικράτην. οὗτοι δὲ τῶν καιρῶν ὑστερηκότες ἄλλο μὲν οὐδὲν ἔπραξαν μνήμης ἄξιον, τριήρεσι δὲ Σικελικαῖς περιτυχόντες, ἃς Διονύσιος ἦν ἀπεσταλκὼς Λακεδαιμονίοις ἐπὶ συμμαχίαν, ὧν ἡγοῦντο Κισσίδης καὶ Κρίνιππος, αὐτάνδρους εἷλαν, οὔσας ἐννέα· τοὺς δʼ ἁλόντας λαφυροπωλήσαντες, καὶ πλείω τῶν ἑξήκοντα ταλάντων ἀθροίσαντες, ἐμισθοδότησαν τὴν δύναμιν. ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις κατὰ μὲν τὴν Κύπρον Νικοκλῆς ὁ εὐνοῦχος ἐδολοφόνησεν Εὐαγόραν τὸν βασιλέα καὶ τῆς τῶν Σαλαμινίων βασιλείας ἐκυρίευσε, κατὰ δὲ τὴν Ἰταλίαν Ῥωμαῖοι πρὸς Πραινεστίνους παραταξάμενοι καὶ νικήσαντες τοὺς πλείστους τῶν ἀντιταξαμένων κατέκοψαν.
The Lacedemonians appointed Mnasippus general and ordered him to proceed to Corcyra with sixty-five triremes, his forces consisting of fifteen hundred soldiers. Touching at the island, he picked up the exiles, then sailed into the harbour and captured four ships, the three remaining ships having fled to the shore, where they were burned by the Corcyraeans to prevent their falling into the hands of the enemy. He also defeated with his infantry a contingent on land which had seized a certain hill, and generally terrorized the Corcyraeans. The Athenians had some time previously dispatched Timotheus, Conon's son, with sixty ships to aid Corcyra. He, however, before intervening in their favour, had sailed to the region of Thrace. Here he summoned many cities to join the alliance, and added thirty triremes to his fleet. At this point, because he was too late to assist Corcyra, he was at first deprived of his command as a result of his loss of popularity. Later, however, when he sailed along the Attic coast to Athens, bringing with him a great number of envoys from states which were ready to conclude an alliance with Athens, having added thirty triremes to his fleet and put the whole fleet in good trim for the war, the people repented and reinstated him in his command. They furthermore equipped forty additional triremes, so that altogether he had one hundred thirty; they also provided liberal stores of food, engines of war, and other supplies needed for war. To meet the immediate emergency, they chose Ctesicles general and sent him with five hundred soldiers to aid the Corcyraeans. He arrived there secretly by night and sailed into Corcyra undetected by the besiegers. Finding the inhabitants of the city at strife with one another and handling military matters badly, he composed the dissensions, devoted much attention to the city's business, and heartened the besieged. At first in an unexpected attack on the besiegers he slew about two hundred, and later in a great battle slew Mnasippus and not a few others. Finally he encircled and laid siege to the besiegers and won great approval. The war to possess Corcyra was practically at an end when the Athenian fleet sailed in with the generals Timotheusand Iphicrates. These, having arrived too late for the critical moment, accomplished nothing worth mentioning except that, falling in with some Sicilian triremes which Dionysius had dispatched under the command of Cissides and Crinippus to assist his allies the Lacedemonians, they captured them with their crews, nine ships in all. By selling the captives as booty they collected more than sixty talents, with which they paid their forces. While these things were going on, in Cyprus Nicocles the eunuch assassinated the king Evagoras and possessed himself of the royal power over the Salaminians; and Italy the Romans, arrayed in battle against the Praenestini, defeated them and slew almost all their opponents.
§ 15.48
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησιν Ἀστείου Ῥωμαῖοι κατέστησαν ἀντὶ τῶν ὑπάτων χιλιάρχους ἕξ, Μάρκον Φούριον καὶ Λεύκιον Φούριον, ἔτι δὲ Αὖλον Ποστόμιον καὶ Λεύκιον Λοκρήτιον καὶ Μάρκον Φάβιον καὶ Λεύκιον Ποστόμιον. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων κατὰ τὴν Πελοπόννησον ἐγένοντο σεισμοὶ μεγάλοι καὶ κατακλυσμοὶ χώρας καὶ πόλεων ἄπιστοι· οὐδέποτε γὰρ ἐν τοῖς ἐπάνω χρόνοις ἐγένοντο πάθη τοιαῦτα περὶ πόλεις Ἑλληνίδας, οὔτε τῶν πόλεων αὐτάνδρων ἀφανισμός, θείας τινὸς ἐνεργείας τὴν ἀπώλειαν καὶ φθορὰν τῶν ἀνθρώπων μηχανησαμένης. ἐπέτεινε δὲ τὸ μέγεθος τῆς συμφορᾶς ὁ καιρός· οὐ γὰρ ἡμέρας συνέβη γενέσθαι τὸν σεισμόν, ἐν ᾗ δυνατὸν ἦν τοὺς κινδυνεύοντας βοηθεῖν ἑαυτοῖς, ἀλλὰ νυκτὸς τοῦ πάθους συμβάντος αἱ μὲν οἰκίαι διὰ τὸ μέγεθος τοῦ σεισμοῦ καταρριπτούμεναι συνεχέοντο, οἱ δὲ ἄνθρωποι διά τε τὸ σκότος καὶ τὸ τῆς περιστάσεως ἀπροσδόκητον καὶ παράδοξον ἀδυνάτως εἶχον ἀντιλαμβάνεσθαι τῆς σωτηρίας. οἱ μὲν οὖν πλείους ἐναποληφθέντες τοῖς πτώμασι τῶν οἰκιῶν ἠφανίσθησαν· ἐπιλαβούσης δʼ ἡμέρας τινὲς ἐξεπήδων ἐκ τῶν οἰκιῶν, καὶ δόξαντες ἐκπεφευγέναι τὸν κίνδυνον μείζονι καὶ παραδοξοτέρᾳ συμφορᾷ περιέπεσον· τῆς γὰρ θαλάσσης μετεωρισθείσης ἐπὶ πολὺ καὶ κύματος ὑψηλοῦ ἐξαιρομένου κατεκλύσθησαν ἅπαντες σὺν ταῖς πατρίσιν ἀφανισθέντες. ἐγένετο δὲ τοῦτο τὸ πάθος τῆς Ἀχαΐας περὶ δύο πόλεις, Ἑλίκην τε καὶ Βοῦραν, ὧν τὴν Ἑλίκην συνέβαινε μέγιστον τῶν κατὰ τὴν Ἀχαΐαν πόλεων ἔχειν ἀξίωμα πρὸ τοῦ σεισμοῦ. περὶ δὲ τῶν συμπτωμάτων μεγάλης οὔσης ζητήσεως, οἱ μὲν φυσικοὶ πειρῶνται τὰς αἰτίας τῶν τοιούτων παθῶν οὐκ εἰς τὸ θεῖον ἀναφέρειν, ἀλλʼ εἰς φυσικάς τινας καὶ κατηναγκασμένας περιστάσεις, οἱ δʼ εὐσεβῶς διακείμενοι πρὸς τὸ θεῖον πιθανάς τινας αἰτίας ἀποδιδοῦσι τοῦ συμβάντος, ὡς διὰ θεῶν μῆνιν γεγενημένης τῆς συμφορᾶς τοῖς εἰς τὸ θεῖον ἀσεβήσασι· περὶ ὧν καὶ ἡμεῖς ἀκριβῶς ἀναγράψαι πειρασόμεθα τῇ κατὰ μέρος ἱστορίᾳ.
When Asteius was archon at Athens, the Romans elected six military tribunes with consular power, Marcus Furius, Lucius Furius, Aulus Postumius, Lucius Lucretius, Marcus Fabius, and Lucius Postumius. During their term of office great earthquakes occurred in the Peloponnese accompanied by tidal waves which engulfed the open country and cities in a manner past belief; for never in the earlier periods had such disasters befallen Greek cities, nor had entire cities along with their inhabitants disappeared as a result of some divine force wreaking destruction and ruin upon mankind. The extent of the destruction was increased by the time of its occurrence; for the earthquake did not come in the daytime when it would have been possible for the sufferers to help themselves, but the blow came at night, so that when the houses crashed and crumbled under the force of the shock, the population, owing to the darkness and to the surprise and bewilderment occasioned by the event, had no power to struggle for life. The majority were caught in the falling houses and annihilated, but as day returned some survivors dashed from the ruins and, when they thought they had escaped the danger, met with a greater and still more incredible danger. For the sea rose to a vast height, and a wave towering even higher washed away and drowned all the inhabitants and their native lands as well. Two cities in Achaia bore the brunt of this disaster, Helice and Bura, the former of which had, as it happened, before the earthquake held first place among the cities of Achaia. These disasters have been the subject of much discussion. Natural scientists make it their endeavour to attribute responsibility in such cases not to divine providence, but to certain natural circumstances determined by necessary causes, whereas those who are disposed to venerate the divine power assign certain plausible reasons for the occurrence, alleging that the disaster was occasioned by the anger of the gods at those who had committed sacrilege. This question I too shall endeavour to deal with in detail in a special chapter of my history.
§ 15.49
κατὰ τὴν Ἰωνίαν ἐννέα πόλεις εἰώθεισαν κοινὴν ποιεῖσθαι σύνοδον τὴν τῶν Πανιωνίων, καὶ θυσίας συνθύειν ἀρχαίας καὶ μεγάλας Ποσειδῶνι περὶ τὴν ὀνομαζομένην Μυκάλην ἐν ἐρήμῳ τόπῳ. ὕστερον δὲ πολέμων γενομένων περὶ τούτους τοὺς τόπους οὐ δυνάμενοι ποιεῖν τὰ Πανιώνια, μετέθεσαν τὴν πανήγυριν εἰς ἀσφαλῆ τόπον, ὃς ἦν πλησίον τῆς Ἐφέσου. πέμψαντες δὲ θεωροὺς Πυθώδε, χρησμοὺς ἔλαβον ἀφιδρύματα λαβεῖν ἀπὸ τῶν ἀρχαίων καὶ προγονικῶν αὐτοῖς βωμῶν ἐξ Ἑλίκης τῆς ἐν τῷ τότε μὲν Ἰωνίας, νῦν δὲ Ἀχαΐας καλουμένης. οἱ μὲν οὖν Ἴωνες κατὰ τὸν χρησμὸν ἔπεμψαν εἰς Ἀχαΐαν τοὺς ληψομένους τὰ ἀφιδρύματα· οὗτοι δὲ πρὸς τὸ κοινὸν τῶν Ἀχαιῶν διαλεχθέντες ἔπεισαν διδόναι τὰ ἀξιούμενα. οἱ δὲ τὴν Ἑλίκην οἰκοῦντες, ἔχοντες παλαιὸν λόγιον ὅτι τότε κινδυνεύσουσιν ὅταν Ἴωνες ἐπὶ τοῦ βωμοῦ τοῦ Ποσειδῶνος θύσωσιν, ἀναλογιζόμενοι τὸν χρησμὸν ἀντέλεγον τοῖς Ἴωσι περὶ τῶν ἀφιδρυμάτων, λέγοντες μὴ κοινὸν τῶν Ἀχαιῶν, ἀλλʼ ἴδιον αὑτῶν εἶναι τὸ τέμενος· συνέπραττον δὲ τούτοις καὶ οἱ τὴν Βοῦραν οἰκοῦντες. τῶν δὲ Ἀχαιῶν κοινῷ δόγματι συγχωρησάντων, οἱ μὲν Ἴωνες ἔθυσαν ἐπὶ τοῦ βωμοῦ τοῦ Ποσειδῶνος κατὰ τὸν χρησμόν, οἱ δʼ Ἑλικεῖς τὰ χρήματα διαρρίψαντες τῶν Ἰώνων τούς τε θεωροὺς συνήρπασαν, ἠσέβησάν τε εἰς τὸ θεῖον. ἀνθʼ ὧν φασι μηνίσαντα τὸν Ποσειδῶνα διὰ τοῦ σεισμοῦ καὶ τοῦ κατακλυσμοῦ τὰς ἀσεβούσας πόλεις λυμήνασθαι. τοῦ δʼ ἐκ Ποσειδῶνος γεγονέναι τὴν μῆνιν ταῖς πόλεσί φασιν ἐμφανεῖς ἀποδείξεις ὑπάρχειν διὰ τὸ τῶν σεισμῶν καὶ τῶν κατακλυσμῶν τοῦτον τὸν θεὸν ἔχειν διειλῆφθαι τὴν ἐξουσίαν, καὶ διὰ τὸ δοκεῖν τὸ παλαιὸν τὴν Πελοπόννησον οἰκητήριον γεγονέναι Ποσειδῶνος, καὶ τὴν χώραν ταύτην ὥσπερ ἱερὰν τοῦ Ποσειδῶνος νομίζεσθαι, καὶ τὸ σύνολον πάσας τὰς ἐν Πελοποννήσῳ πόλεις μάλιστα τῶν ἀθανάτων τὸν θεὸν τιμᾶν τοῦτον. πρὸς δὲ τούτοις τὴν Πελοπόννησον κατὰ βάθους ἔχειν μεγάλα κοιλώματα καὶ συστάσεις ὑδάτων ναματιαίων μεγάλας. εἶναι γὰρ ἐν αὐτῇ δύο ποταμοὺς φανεροὺς ῥέοντας ὑπὸ γῆν· ὅ τε γὰρ περὶ Φένεον ποταμὸς εἰς τὴν γῆν καταδυόμενος ἐν τοῖς προτέροις χρόνοις ἠφανίζετο, τῶν κατὰ γῆς ἄντρων αὐτὸν ὑποδεχομένων, ὅ τε περὶ τὸ Στύμφηλον εἴς τι χάσμα καταδυόμενος ἐπὶ διακοσίους σταδίους φέρεται κεκρυμμένος κατὰ γῆς καὶ παρὰ τὴν τῶν Ἀργείων πόλιν ἐξίησιν. πρὸς δὲ τοῖς εἰρημένοις λέγουσιν, ὅτι πλὴν τῶν ἀσεβησάντων οὐδεὶς ἄλλος περιέπεσε τῇ συμφορᾷ. καὶ περὶ μὲν τῶν γενομένων σεισμῶν καὶ κατακλυσμῶν ἀρκεσθησόμεθα τοῖς ῥηθεῖσιν.
In Ionia nine cities were in the habit of holding sacrifices of great antiquity on a large scale to Poseidon in a lonely region near the place called Mycale. Later, however, as a result of the outbreak of wars in this neighbourhood, since they were unable to hold the Panionia there, they shifted the festival gathering to a safe place near Ephesus. Having sent an embassy to Delphi, they received an oracle telling them to take copies of the ancient ancestral altars at Helice, which was situated in what was then known as Ionia, but is now known as Achaea. So the Ionians in obedience to the oracle sent men to Achaea to make the copies, and they spoke before the council of the Achaeans and persuaded them to give them what they asked. The inhabitants of Helice, however, who had an ancient saying that they would suffer danger when Ionians should sacrifice at the altar of Poseidon, taking account of the oracle, opposed the Ionians in the matter of the copies, saying that the sanctuary was not the common property of the Achaeans, but their own particular possession. The inhabitants of Bura also took part with them in this. But since the Achaeans by common decree had concurred, the Ionians sacrificed at the altar of Poseidon as the oracle directed, but the people of Helice scattered the sacred possessions of the Ionians and seized the persons of their representatives, thus committing sacrilege. It was because of these acts, they say, that Poseidon in his anger brought ruin upon the offending cities through the earthquake and the flood. That it was Poseidon's wrath that was wreaked upon these cities they allege that clear proofs are at hand: first, it is distinctly conceived that authority over earthquakes and floods belongs to this god, and also it is the ancient belief that the Peloponnese was an habitation of Poseidon; and this country is regarded as sacred in a way to Poseidon, and, speaking generally, all the cities in the Peloponnese pay honour to this god more than to any other of the immortals. Furthermore, the Peloponnese has beneath its surface huge caverns and get underground accumulations of flowing water. Indeed the two rivers in it which clearly have underground courses; one of them, in fact, near Pheneus, plunges into the ground, and in former times completely disappeared, swallowed up by underground caves, and the other, near Stymphalus, plunges into a chasm and flows for two hundred stades concealed underground, then pours forth by the city of the Argives. In addition to these statements the pious say further that except for those who committed the sacrilege no one perished in the disaster. Concerning the earthquakes and floods which occurred we shall rest content with what has been said.
§ 15.50
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησιν Ἀλκισθένους Ῥωμαῖοι μὲν ἀντὶ τῶν ὑπάτων χιλιάρχους κατέστησαν ὀκτώ, Λεύκιον Οὐαλέριον καὶ Πόπλιον, ἔτι δὲ Γάιον Τερέντιον καὶ Λεύκιον Μενήνιον, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις Γάιον Σολπίκιον καὶ Τίτον Παπίριον καὶ Λεύκιον Αἰμίλιον, παρὰ δὲ Ἠλείοις Ὀλυμπιὰς ἤχθη δευτέρα πρὸς ταῖς ἑκατόν, καθʼ ἣν ἐνίκα στάδιον Δάμων Θούριος. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων, Λακεδαιμονίων ἔτη σχεδὸν πεντακόσια τῆς Ἑλλάδος ἐχόντων τὴν ἡγεμονίαν, τὸ θεῖον προεσήμαινεν αὐτοῖς τῆς ἀρχῆς τὴν ἀποβολήν· ὤφθη μὲν γὰρ κατὰ τὸν οὐρανὸν ἐπὶ πολλὰς νύκτας λαμπὰς μεγάλη καομένη, ἀπὸ τοῦ σχήματος ὀνομασθεῖσα πυρίνη δοκίς· μικρὸν δʼ ὕστερον ἡττηθέντες οἱ Σπαρτιᾶται παραδόξως μεγάλῃ μάχῃ τὴν ἡγεμονίαν ἀπέβαλον ἀνελπίστως. ἔνιοι δὲ τῶν φυσικῶν τὴν γένεσιν τῆς λαμπάδος εἰς φυσικὰς αἰτίας ἀνέφερον, ἀποφαινόμενοι τὰ τοιαῦτα φαντάσματα κατηναγκασμένως γίνεσθαι χρόνοις ὡρισμένοις, καὶ περὶ τῶν τοιούτων τούς τε ἐν Βαβυλῶνι Χαλδαίους καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους ἀστρολόγους ποιουμένους προρρήσεις ἐναργεῖς ἐπιτυγχάνειν· τοὺς δὲ μὴ θαυμάζειν ὅταν γένηταί τι τοιοῦτον, ἀλλʼ ἐὰν μὴ γένηται, κατὰ τὰς ἰδίας ἑκάστων περιόδους αἰωνίοις κινήσεσι καὶ φοραῖς ὡρισμέναις συντελουμένων. τὴν δʼ οὖν λαμπάδα τοσαύτην ἐσχηκέναι λαμπρότητα καὶ δύναμιν τοῦ φωτός, ὥστʼ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς σκιὰς ποιεῖν παραπλησίας τῇ σελήνῃ. κατὰ δὲ τούτους τοὺς χρόνους Ἀρταξέρξης ὁ βασιλεὺς ὁρῶν πάλιν ταραττομένην τὴν Ἑλλάδα πρέσβεις ἀπέστειλε, παρακαλῶν συλλύσασθαι τοὺς ἐμφυλίους πολέμους καὶ συνθέσθαι κοινὴν εἰρήνην κατὰ τὰς ὁμολογίας, ἃς πρότερον ἦσαν πεποιημένοι. τῶν Ἑλλήνων δὲ πάντων ἀσμένως προσδεξαμένων τοὺς λόγους, συνέθεντο κοινὴν εἰρήνην αἱ πόλεις πᾶσαι πλὴν Θηβαίων· Θηβαῖοι γὰρ μόνοι, τὴν Βοιωτίαν ὑπὸ μίαν ἄγοντες συντέλειαν, οὐ προσεδέχθησαν ὑπὸ τῶν Ἑλλήνων διὰ τὸ πᾶσιν ἀρέσκειν κατὰ πόλιν γίνεσθαι τοὺς ὅρκους καὶ τὰς σπονδάς. διόπερ ἔκσπονδοι γενηθέντες ὥσπερ καὶ πρότερον, συνεῖχον τὴν Βοιωτίαν ἐν τῇ καθʼ αὑτοὺς μιᾷ συντελείᾳ. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτοις οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι παροξυνθέντες ἔγνωσαν μεγάλῃ δυνάμει στρατεύειν ἐπʼ αὐτούς, ὡς κοινοὺς πολεμίους· σφόδρα γὰρ ὑφεωρῶντο τὴν αὔξησιν αὐτῶν, μήποτε τῆς ὅλης Βοιωτίας ἡγούμενοι τὴν ἡγεμονίαν τῆς Σπάρτης καταλύσωσιν, ἐπιλαβόμενοι καιροῦ. ἔν τε γὰρ τοῖς γυμνασίοις συνεχῶς διατρίβοντες εὔρωστοι τοῖς σώμασιν ὑπῆρχον, καὶ φύσει φιλοπόλεμοι καθεστῶτες οὐδενὸς ἔθνους Ἑλληνικοῦ ταῖς ἀνδρείαις ἐλείποντο. εἶχον δὲ καὶ ἡγεμόνας ἐπιφανεῖς ταῖς ἀρεταῖς πολλοὺς μὲν καὶ ἄλλους, μεγίστους δὲ τρεῖς, Ἐπαμεινώνδαν καὶ Γοργίαν, ἔτι δὲ καὶ Πελοπίδαν· ἥ τε πόλις τῶν Θηβαίων διὰ τῆς τῶν προγόνων ἐπιφανείας ἐν τοῖς ἡρωικοῖς χρόνοις φρονήματος ἦν πλήρης καὶ μεγάλων ὠρέγετο πραγμάτων. κατὰ μὲν οὖν τοῦτον τὸν ἐνιαυτὸν οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι παρεσκευάζοντο πρὸς τὸν πόλεμον καὶ δυνάμεις κατέλεγον τὰς μὲν πολιτικάς, τὰς δὲ παρὰ τῶν συμμάχων.
When Alcisthenes was archon at Athens, the Romans elected eight military tribunes with consular power, Lucius and Publius Valerius, Gaius Terentius, Lucius Menenius, Gaius Sulpicius, Titus Papirius, and Lucius Aemilius, and the Eleians celebrated the hundred and second Olympiad in which Damon of Thurii won the stadium race. During their term of office, after the Lacedemonians had held the supremacy in Greece for almost five hundred years, a divine portent foretold the loss of their empire; for there was seen in the heavens during the course of many nights a great blazing torch which was named from its shape a "flaming beam," and a little later, to the surprise of all, the Spartans were defeated in a great battle and irretrievably lost their supremacy. Some of the students of nature ascribed the origin of the torch to natural causes, voicing the opinion that such apparitions occur of necessity at appointed times, and that in these matters the Chaldaeans in Babylon and the other astrologers succeeded in making accurate prophecies. These men, they say, are not surprised when such a phenomenon occurs, but rather if it does not, since each particular constellation has its own peculiar cycle and they complete these cycles through age-long movements in appointed courses. At any rate this torch had such brilliancy, they report, and its light such strength that it cast shadows on the rather similar to those cast by the moon. At this time Artaxerxes the Persian King, seeing that the Greek world was again in a turmoil, sent ambassadors, calling upon the Greeks to settle their internecine wars and establish a common peace in accordance with the covenants they had formerly made. All the Greeks gladly received this proposal, and all the cities agreed to a general peace except Thebes; for the Thebans alone, being engaged in bringing Boeotia under a single confederacy, were not admitted by the Greeks because of the general determination to have the oaths and treaties made city by city. So, remaining outside of the treaties as formerly, the Thebans continued to hold Boeotia in a single confederacy subject to themselves. The Lacedemonians, being exasperated by this, decided to lead a large army against them as common enemies, for they cast an extremely jealous eye upon their increase of power, fearing lest with the leadership of all Boeotia they might break up the Spartan supremacy, given a suitable opportunity. For they constantly practised gymnastics and had great bodily strength, and since they were naturally lovers of war, they were inferior to no Greek nation in deeds of valour. They had besides leaders conspicuous for their virtues, greatest among them being three men, Epameinondas, Gorgidas, and Pelopidas. The city of the Thebans was full of pride because of the glory of its ancestors in the heroic age and aspired to mighty deeds. In this year, then, the Lacedemonians were making ready for war, levying armies both of their own citizens and from their allies as well.
§ 15.51
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησι Φρασικλείδου Ῥωμαῖοι κατέστησαν ἀντὶ τῶν ὑπάτων χιλιάρχους ὀκτώ, Πόπλιον Μάνιον καὶ Γάιον, Ἐρενούκιον καὶ Γάιον Σέστον καὶ Τιβέριον Ἰούλιον, ἔτι δὲ Λεύκιον Λαβίνιον καὶ Πόπλιον Τριβώνιον καὶ Γάιον Μάλλιον, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις Λεύκιον Ἀνθέστιον. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων οἱ μὲν Θηβαῖοι ἔκσπονδοι γεγονότες ἠναγκάσθησαν ἀναδέξασθαι μόνοι τὸν πρὸς Λακεδαιμονίους πόλεμον· οὐδεμιᾷ γὰρ ἐξῆν πόλει συμμαχῆσαι διὰ τὸ πάσας συντεθεῖσθαι τὴν κοινὴν εἰρήνην. οἱ δὲ Λακεδαιμόνιοι, μονωθέντων τῶν Θηβαίων, ἔκριναν πολεμεῖν αὐτοῖς καὶ τὰς Θήβας ἐξανδραποδίσασθαι. φανερᾶς δὲ οὔσης τῆς τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων παρασκευῆς, καὶ τῶν Θηβαίων ἐρήμων ὄντων συμμάχων, ἅπαντες ὑπελάμβανον αὐτοὺς ῥᾳδίως ὑπὸ τῶν Σπαρτιατῶν καταπολεμηθήσεσθαι. διόπερ οἱ μὲν εὐνοϊκῶς ἔχοντες τῶν Ἑλλήνων πρὸς τοὺς Θηβαίους συνήλγουν αὐτοῖς ἐπὶ ταῖς προσδοκωμέναις συμφοραῖς, οἱ δʼ ἀλλοτρίως ἔχοντες περιχαρεῖς ἦσαν, ὡς αὐτίκα μάλα τῶν Θηβαίων ἐξανδραποδισθησομένων. τέλος δʼ οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι πολλὴν δύναμιν παρασκευασάμενοι παρέδωκαν αὐτὴν Κλεομβρότῳ τῷ βασιλεῖ, καὶ πρῶτον μὲν προαπέστειλαν πρέσβεις εἰς Θήβας, προστάττοντες ἁπάσας τὰς ἐν τῇ Βοιωτίᾳ πόλεις ἐᾶν αὐτονόμους, Πλαταιὰς δὲ καὶ Θεσπιὰς οἰκίζειν καὶ τὴν χώραν τοῖς πρότερον γεγονόσι κυρίοις ἀποκαταστῆσαι. ἀποκριναμένων δὲ τῶν Θηβαίων, ὡς οὔτʼ αὐτοὶ πολυπραγμονοῦσιν οὐδὲν τῶν κατὰ τὴν Λακωνικὴν οὔτʼ ἐκείνοις ἅπτεσθαι προσήκει τῶν τῆς Βοιωτίας· γενομένων δὲ τοιούτων τῶν ἀποκρίσεων οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι τὸν Κλεόμβροτον εὐθὺς ἐξέπεμψαν μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως ἐπὶ τὰς Θήβας· οἱ δὲ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων σύμμαχοι προθύμως εἶχον εἰς τὸν πόλεμον, ἐλπίζοντες μήτʼ ἀγῶνα μήτε μάχην ἔσεσθαι, ἀλλʼ ἀκονιτὶ τῶν Βοιωτῶν κρατήσειν.
When Phrasicleides was archon at Athens, the Romans elected eight military tribunes with consular power, Publius Manius, Gaius Erenucius, Gaius Sextus, Tiberius Julius, Lucius Lavinius, Publius Tribonius, and Gaius Manlius, and besides Lucius Anthestius. During their term of office the Thebans, since they were not participants in the truce, were forced to undertake alone the war with the Lacedemonians; for there was no city that could legally join them, because all had agreed to the general peace. The Lacedemonians, since the Thebans were isolated, determined to fight them and reduce Thebes to complete slavery. And since the Lacedemonians were making their preparations without concealment and the Thebans were destitute of allies, everyone assumed that they would be easily defeated by the Spartans. Accordingly some of the Greeks who were friendly to the Thebans sympathized with them at the prospect of defeat, while others who were at odds with them were overjoyed at the thought that Thebes would in a trice be reduced to utter slavery. Finally the Lacedemonians, their huge army ready, gave command of it to Cleombrotus their king, and first of all sent envoys ahead to Thebes, directing the Thebans to permit all of the Boeotian cities to be independent, to people Plataea and Thespiae, and to restore the land to its former owners. When the Thebans replied that they never meddled with affairs in Laconia and the Spartans had no right to touch those of Boeotia, such being the tenor of their answers, the Lacedemonians sent Cleombrotus forth immediately with his army against Thebes; and the Spartan allies were eager for the war, confident that there would be no contest or battle but that they would master the Boeotians without a struggle.
§ 15.52
οὗτοι μὲν οὖν προάγοντες ὡς ἧκον εἰς Κορώνειαν, κατεστρατοπέδευσαν καὶ τοὺς καθυστεροῦντας τῶν συμμάχων ἀνέμενον. οἱ δὲ Θηβαῖοι διὰ τὴν παρουσίαν τῶν πολεμίων ἐψηφίσαντο τέκνα μὲν καὶ γυναῖκας εἰς Ἀθήνας ὑπεκθέσθαι, αὐτοὶ δʼ Ἐπαμεινώνδαν στρατηγὸν ἑλόμενοι τούτῳ τὰ κατὰ τὸν πόλεμον ἐπέτρεψαν, συμπαρόντων αὐτῷ βοιωταρχῶν ἕξ. ὁ δʼ Ἐπαμεινώνδας πανδημεὶ τοὺς Θηβαίους τοὺς ἐν ἡλικίᾳ στρατιᾶς ὄντας καταλέξας εἰς τὴν μάχην καὶ τῶν ἄλλων Βοιωτῶν τοὺς εὐθέτους, προῆγε τὴν δύναμιν ἐκ τῶν Θηβῶν, ἔχων τοὺς σύμπαντας οὐ πλείους τῶν ἑξακισχιλίων. κατὰ δὲ τὴν τῆς πόλεως ἔξοδον τῶν στρατιωτῶν πολλοῖς ἔδοξε δυσχερῆ σημεῖα φανῆναι τῷ στρατοπέδῳ. περὶ γὰρ τὰς πύλας ἀπήντησε τοῖς περὶ τὸν Ἐπαμεινώνδαν κῆρυξ τυφλός, ὃς ἀνδράποδʼ ἀποδεδρακότα, ἀνακομίζων, καὶ καθάπερ ἦν εἰθισμένον, ἀνηγόρευε κηρύττων μήτʼ ἐξάγειν Θήβηθεν μήτʼ ἀφανίζειν, ἀλλʼ ἀπάγοντα πάλιν ἀνασώζειν. εἷς οἰωνὸς ἄριστος ἀμύνεσθαι περὶ πάτρης. ταύτῃ δὲ τῇ παρρησίᾳ καταπληξαμένου τοῦ Ἐπαμεινώνδου τοὺς εὐλαβῶς ἔχοντας, ἕτερος οἱωνὸς ἐφάνη δυσχερέστερος τοῦ προτέρου. ὁ γὰρ γραμματεὺς προῆγεν ἔχων δόρυ καὶ ταινίαν ἐπʼ αὐτῷ, καὶ προεσήμαινε τὸ παραγγελλόμενον ὑπὸ τῶν ἡγεμόνων· πνεύματος δὲ γενομένου συνέβη τὴν ταινίαν ἀποσπασθεῖσαν περιαμπίσχεσθαι περί τινα στήλην ἐφεστῶσαν τάφῳ· ἦσαν δὲ ἐν τῷ τόπῳ τούτῳ τεθαμμένοι τινὲς Λακεδαιμόνιοι καὶ Πελοποννήσιοι, οἳ μετʼ Ἀγησιλάου στρατεύσαντες ἐτελεύτησαν. τῶν δὲ πρεσβυτέρων τινὲς πάλιν ἐντυχόντες διεμαρτύραντο μὴ προάγειν τὴν δύναμιν, φανερῶς τῶν θεῶν κωλυόντων, ὁ δʼ οὐδὲν αὐτοῖς ἀποκριθεὶς προῆγε τὸ στρατόπεδον, ἡγούμενος τὸν ὑπὲρ τῶν καλῶν λογισμὸν καὶ τὴν ὑπὲρ τῶν δικαίων μνήμην αἱρετωτέραν εἶναι τῶν παρόντων σημείων. ὁ μὲν οὖν Ἐπαμεινώνδας πεφιλοσοφηκὼς καὶ τοῖς ἐν παιδείᾳ λογισμοῖς ἐμφρόνως χρησάμενος παραυτίκα μὲν ὑπὸ πολλῶν μέμψεως ἔτυχεν, ὕστερον δὲ διὰ τῶν κατορθωμάτων δόξας στρατηγικῇ συνέσει διαφέρειν μεγίστων ἀγαθῶν αἴτιος ἐγένετο τῇ πατρίδι. εὐθὺς γὰρ προαγαγὼν τὴν δύναμιν, καὶ προκαταλαβόμενος τὰ περὶ τὴν Κορώνειαν στενά, κατεστρατοπέδευσεν.
The Spartans accordingly advanced till they came to Coroneia, where they encamped and waited for such of their allies as were tardy. The Thebans, in view of the presence of the enemy, first voted to remove their wives and children to safety in Athens, then chose Epameinondas general and turned over to him the command in the war, giving him as his advisers six boeotarchs. Epameinondas, having conscripted for the battle all Thebans of military age and the other Boeotians who were willing and qualified, led forth from Thebes his army, numbering in all not more than six thousand. As the soldiers were marching out from the city it seemed to many that unfavourable omens appeared to the armament. For by the gates Epameinondas was met by a blind herald, who, seeking recovery of runaway slaves, just as was usual, cried his warning not to take them from Thebes nor to spirit them away, but to bring them home and keep them secure. Now the older people amongst those who heard the herald considered it an omen for the future; but the younger folk kept quiet so as not to appear through cowardice to hold Epameinondas back from the expedition. But Epameinondas replied to those who told him that he must observe the omens: One only omen is best, to fight for the land that is ours." Though Epameinondas astounded the cautious by his forthright answer, a second omen appeared more unfavourable than the previous one. For as the clerk advanced with a spear and a ribbon attached to it and signalled the orders from headquarters, a breeze came up and, as it happened, the ribbon was torn from the spear and wrapped itself around a slab that stood over a grave, and there were buried in this spot some Lacedemonians and Peloponnesians who had died in the expedition under Agesilaus. Some of the older folk who again chanced to be there protested earnestly against leading the force out in the face of the patent opposition of the gods; but Epameinondas, deigning them no reply, led forth his army, thinking that considerations of nobility and regard for justice should be preferred as motives to the omens in question. Epameinondas accordingly, who was trained in philosophy and applied sensibly the principles of his training, was at the moment widely criticized, but later in the light of his successes would considered to have excelled in military shrewdness and did contribute the greatest benefits to his country. For he immediately led forth his army, seized in advance the pass at Coroneia, and encamped there.
§ 15.53
ὁ δὲ Κλεόμβροτος πυθόμενος τοὺς πολεμίους προκατειληφέναι τὰς παρόδους, τὸ μὲν ταύτῃ ποιεῖσθαι τὴν διέξοδον ἀπέγνω, πορευθεὶς δὲ διὰ τῆς Φωκίδος, καὶ διεξελθὼν τὴν παραθαλαττίαν ὁδὸν χαλεπὴν οὖσαν, ἐνέβαλεν εἰς τὴν Βοιωτίαν ἀκινδύνως· ἐν παρόδῳ δέ τινα τῶν πολισματίων χειρωσάμενος δέκα τριήρων ἐγκρατὴς ἐγένετο. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα καταντήσας εἰς τὰ καλούμενα Λεῦκτρα κατεστρατοπέδευσε καὶ τοὺς στρατιώτας ἐκ τῆς ὁδοιπορίας ἀνελάμβανεν. οἱ δὲ Βοιωτοὶ προάγοντες ἐπὶ τοὺς πολεμίους, ὡς ἤγγισαν αὐτοῖς καὶ λόφους τινὰς ὑπερβαλόντες ἄφνω κατενόησαν τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους ἐπέχοντας ἅπαν τὸ Λευκτρικὸν πεδίον, κατεπλάγησαν ἰδόντες τὸ μέγεθος τῆς δυνάμεως. συνεδρευσάντων δὲ τῶν βοιωταρχῶν καὶ βουλευομένων, πότερον χρὴ μένειν καὶ πρὸς πολλαπλασίονα δύναμιν διαγωνίζεσθαι ἢ τὴν ἀναχώρησιν ποιησάμενοι ἐν τόποις ὑπερδεξίοις συστήσονται τὴν μάχην, ἔτυχον αἱ γνῶμαι τῶν ἡγεμόνων ἴσαι γενόμεναι. ἓξ γὰρ ὄντων βοιωταρχῶν τρεῖς μὲν ᾤοντο δεῖν ἀπάγειν τὴν δύναμιν, τρεῖς δὲ μένειν καὶ διαγωνίζεσθαι, ἐν οἷς ἦν καὶ ὁ Ἐπαμεινώνδας συνεξαριθμούμενος. ἀπορίας δʼ οὔσης μεγάλης καὶ δυσκρίτου τῶν βοιωταρχῶν ὁ ἕβδομος ἧκεν, ὃν πείσας Ἐπαμεινώνδας ὁμόψηφον ἑαυτῷ γενέσθαι προετέρησε τῇ γνώμῃ. ὁ μὲν οὖν ὑπὲρ τῶν ὅλων ἀγὼν τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον ἐκυρώθη. ὁ δʼ Ἐπαμεινώνδας ὁρῶν τοὺς στρατιώτας δεισιδαιμονοῦντας ἐπὶ τοῖς γεγονόσι σημείοις, ἐφιλοτιμεῖτο διὰ τῆς ἰδίας ἐπινοίας καὶ στρατηγίας μεταθεῖναι τὰς τοῦ πλήθους εὐλαβείας. διόπερ τινῶν προσφάτως παραγεγονότων ἐκ Θηβῶν ἔπεισεν εἰπεῖν, ὅτι τὰ κατὰ τὸν νεὼν τοῦ Ἡρακλέους ὅπλα παραδόξως ἀφανῆ γέγονε καὶ λόγος ἐν ταῖς Θήβαις διαδέδοται ὡς τῶν ἡρώων τῶν ἀρχαίων ἀνειληφότων αὐτὰ καὶ βοηθεῖν τοῖς Βοιωτοῖς ἀπεληλυθότων. ἄλλον δὲ κατέστησεν ὡς ἀπὸ Τροφωνίου προσφάτως ἀναβεβηκότα καὶ λέγοντα, διότι προστέταχεν ὁ θεὸς αὐτοῖς, ὅταν ἐν Λεύκτροις νικήσωσιν, ἀγῶνα τιθέναι Διὶ βασιλεῖ στεφανίτην· ἀφʼ οὗ δὴ Βοιωτοὶ ταύτην ποιοῦσι τὴν πανήγυριν ἐν Λεβαδείᾳ.
Cleombrotus, learning that the enemy had seized the pass first, decided against forcing a passage there, proceeded instead through Phocis, and, when he had traversed the shore road which was difficult, entered Boeotia without danger. In his passage he took some of the fortresses and seized ten triremes. Later, when he reached the place called Leuctra, he encamped there and allowed the soldiers to recover after their march. As the Boeotians neared the enemy in their advance, and then, after surmounting some ridges, suddenly caught sight of the Lacedemonians covering the entire plain of Leuctra, they were astounded at beholding the great size of the army. And when the boeotarchs held a conference to decide whether they ought to remain and fight it out with an army that many times outnumbered them, or whether they should retreat and join battle in a commanding position, it chanced that the votes of the leaders were equal. For of the six boeotarchs, three thought that they should withdraw the army, and three that they should stay and fight it out, and among the latter Epameinondas was numbered. In this great and perplexing deadlock, the boeotarch came to vote, whom Epameinondas persuaded to vote with him, and thus he carried the day. So the decision to stake all on the issue of battle was thus ratified. But Epameinondas, who saw that the soldiers were superstitious on account of the omens that had occurred, earnestly desired through his own ingenuity and strategy to reverse the scruples of the soldiery. Accordingly, a number of men having recently arrived from Thebes, he persuaded them to say that the weapons at the temple of Heracles had surprisingly disappeared and that word had gone abroad in Thebes that the heroes of old had taken them up and set off to help the Boeotians. He placed before them another man as one who had recently ascended from the cave of Trophonius, who said that the god had directed them, when they won at Leuctra, to institute a contest with crowns for prizes in honour of Zeus the king. This indeed is the origin of this festival which the Boeotians now celebrate at Lebadeia.
§ 15.54
συνήργησε δὲ πρὸς ταύτην τὴν ἐπίνοιαν Λεανδρίας ὁ Σπαρτιάτης, πεφευγὼς μὲν ἐκ Λακεδαίμονος, τότε δὲ συστρατεύων Θηβαίοις. οὗτος γὰρ ἐν ἐκκλησίᾳ προαχθεὶς ἀπεφήνατο παλαιὸν εἶναι λόγιον τοῖς Σπαρτιάταις, ὅτι τότε τὴν ἡγεμονίαν ἀποβαλοῦσιν, ὅταν ἐν Λεύκτροις ὑπὸ Θηβαίων ἡττηθῶσιν. προσῆλθον δὲ τῷ Ἐπαμεινώνδᾳ καὶ χρησμολόγοι τινὲς ἐγχώριοι, λέγοντες ὅτι περὶ τὸν τάφον τῶν Λεύκτρου καὶ Σκεδάσου θυγατέρων μεγάλῃ συμφορᾷ δεῖ περιπεσεῖν Λακεδαιμονίους διὰ τοιαύτας αἰτίας. Λεῦκτρος ἦν, ἀφʼ οὗ τὸ πεδίον τοῦτο ἔσχε τὴν προσηγορίαν. τούτου θυγατέρας καὶ Σκεδάσου τινὸς ὁμοίως κόρας πρέσβεις Λακεδαιμονίων ἐβιάσαντο· αἱ δὲ ὑβρισθεῖσαι τὴν συμφορὰν οὐκ ἐνέγκασαι, τῇ πατρίδι τῇ πεμψάσῃ τοὺς ὑβριστὰς καταρασάμεναι τὸν βίον αὐτοχειρίᾳ κατέστρεψαν. πολλῶν δὲ καὶ ἄλλων τοιούτων λεγομένων, καὶ τοῦ Ἐπαμεινώνδου συναγαγόντος ἐκκλησίαν καὶ τοὺς στρατιώτας τοῖς οἰκείοις λόγοις προτρεψαμένου πρὸς τὸν ἀγῶνα, πάντες μετέθεντο τὰς γνώμας, καὶ τῆς μὲν δεισιδαιμονίας ἀπελύθησαν, πρὸς δὲ τὴν μάχην εὐθαρσεῖς ταῖς ψυχαῖς κατέστησαν. ἦλθε δὲ καὶ συμμαχία κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν καιρὸν τοῖς Θηβαίοις παρὰ Θετταλῶν, πεζοὶ μὲν χίλιοι καὶ πεντακόσιοι, ἱππεῖς δὲ πεντακόσιοι, ὧν ἡγεῖτο Ἰάσων. οὗτος δʼ ἔπεισε τούς τε Βοιωτοὺς καὶ τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους ἀνοχὰς ποιήσασθαι καὶ τὰ παράλογα τῆς τύχης εὐλαβηθῆναι. γενομένων δὲ τῶν σπονδῶν Κλεόμβροτος ἀνέξευξε μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως ἐκ τῆς Βοιωτίας, καὶ ἀπήντησεν αὐτῷ ἄλλη δύναμις μεγάλη Λακεδαιμονίων καὶ τῶν συμμάχων, ἡγουμένου Ἀρχιδάμου τοῦ Ἀγησιλάου. οἱ γὰρ Σπαρτιᾶται θεωροῦντες τὴν ἑτοιμότητα τῶν Βοιωτῶν, καὶ τὸ θράσος καὶ τὴν ἀπόνοιαν εὐλαβούμενοι, τὴν δευτέραν ἀπεστάλκεισαν δύναμιν, ἵνα τῷ πλήθει τῶν ἀγωνιζομένων περιγένωνται τῆς τῶν πολεμίων τόλμης. συνελθουσῶν δʼ εἰς ταὐτὸ τῶν δυνάμεων αἰσχρὸν εἶναι ὑπέλαβον οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι δεδιέναι τὰς τῶν Βοιωτῶν ἀρετάς. διόπερ τὰς σπονδὰς παρʼ οὐδὲν ἡγησάμενοι μετὰ πολλῆς προθυμίας ἀνέκαμψαν εἰς Λεῦκτρα. ἑτοίμων δʼ ὄντων καὶ τῶν Βοιωτῶν πρὸς τὴν μάχην, ἐξέταττον ἀμφότεροι τὰς δυνάμεις.
An aider and abettor of this device was Leandrias the Spartan, who had been exiled from Lacedemonian and was then a member of the Theban expedition. He was produced in the assembly and declared that there was an ancient saying amongst the Spartans, that they would lose the supremacy when they should be defeated at Leuctra at the hands of the Thebans. Certain local oracle-mongers likewise came up to Epameinondas, saying that the Lacedemonians were destined to meet with a great disaster by the tomb of the daughters of Leuctrus and Scedasus for the following reasons. Leuctrus was the person for whom this plain was named. His daughters and those of a certain Scedasus as well, being maidens, were violated by some Lacedemonian ambassadors. The outraged girls, unable to endure their misfortune, called down curses on the country that had sent forth their ravishers and took their lives by their own hands. Many other such occurrences were reported, and when Epameinondas had convened an assembly and exhorted the soldiers by the appropriate pleas to meet the issue, they all shifted their resolutions, rid themselves of their superstition, and with courage in their hearts stood ready for the battle. There came also at this time to aid the Thebans an allied contingent from Thessaly, fifteen hundred infantry, and five hundred horsemen, commanded by Jason. He persuaded both the Boeotians and the Lacedemonians to make an armistice and so to guard against the caprices of Fortune. When the truce came into effect, Cleombrotus set out with his army from Boeotia, and there came to meet him another large army of Lacedemonians and their allies under the command of Archidamus, son of Agesilaus. For the Spartans, seeing the preparedness of the Boeotians, and taking measures to meet their boldness and recklessness in battle, had dispatched the second army to overcome by the superior number of their combatants the daring of the enemy. Once these armies had united, the Lacedemonians thought it cowardly to fear the valour of the Boeotians. So they disregarded the truce and with high spirits returned to Leuctra. The Boeotians too were ready for the battle and both sides marshalled their forces.
§ 15.55
καὶ παρὰ μὲν τοῖς Λακεδαιμονίοις οἱ ἀφʼ Ἡρακλέους γεγονότες ἡγεμόνες ἐτάχθησαν ἐπὶ τῶν κεράτων, Κλεόμβροτός τε ὁ βασιλεὺς καὶ Ἀρχίδαμος ὁ Ἀγησιλάου τοῦ βασιλέως υἱός, παρὰ δὲ τοῖς Βοιωτοῖς Ἐπαμεινώνδας ἰδίᾳ τινὶ καὶ περιττῇ τάξει χρησάμενος διὰ τῆς ἰδίας στρατηγίας περιεποιήσατο τὴν περιβόητον νίκην. ἐκλεξάμενος γὰρ ἐξ ἁπάσης τῆς δυνάμεως τοὺς ἀρίστους ἐπὶ τὸ ἕτερον μέρος ἔστησε, μεθʼ ὧν καὶ αὐτὸς ἔμελλε διαγωνίζεσθαι· τοὺς δʼ ἀσθενεστάτους ἐπὶ τὸ ἕτερον κέρας τάξας παρήγγειλεν αὐτοῖς φυγομαχεῖν καὶ κατὰ τὴν ἔφοδον τῶν πολεμίων ἐκ τοῦ κατʼ ὀλίγον ὑποχωρεῖν. διὸ καὶ λοξὴν ποιήσας τὴν φάλαγγα, τῷ τοὺς ἐπιλέκτους ἔχοντι κέρατι ἔγνω κρίνειν τὴν μάχην. ὡς δʼ αἵ τε σάλπιγγες ἐσήμαινον παρʼ ἀμφοτέροις τὸ πολεμικὸν καὶ κατὰ τὴν πρώτην ὁρμὴν συνηλάλαξαν αἱ δυνάμεις, οἱ μὲν Λακεδαιμόνιοι τοῖς κέρασιν ἀμφοτέροις ἐπῆγον μηνοειδὲς τὸ σχῆμα τῆς φάλαγγος πεποιηκότες, οἱ δὲ Βοιωτοὶ τῷ μὲν ἑτέρῳ κέρατι ὑπεχώρουν, τῷ δὲ ἑτέρῳ δρόμῳ συνῆπτον τοῖς πολεμίοις. ὡς δὲ συνῆψαν ἀλλήλοις εἰς χεῖρας, τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἐκθύμως ἀμφοτέρων ἀγωνιζομένων ἰσόρροπος ἦν ἡ μάχη, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τῶν περὶ τὸν Ἐπαμεινώνδαν διά τε τὴν ἀρετὴν καὶ τὴν πυκνότητα τῆς τάξεως πλεονεκτούντων πολλοὶ τῶν Πελοποννησίων ἀνῃροῦντο. οὐ γὰρ ὑπέμενον ὑπενέγκαι τὸ βάρος τῆς τῶν ἐπιλέκτων ἀνδραγαθίας, ἀλλὰ τῶν ἀντιστάντων οἱ μὲν ἔπιπτον, οἱ δὲ κατετραυματίζοντο, πάσας τὰς πληγὰς ἐναντίας λαμβάνοντες. ἕως μὲν οὖν ὁ βασιλεὺς τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων Κλεόμβροτος ἔζη, πολλοὺς ἔχων τοὺς συνασπίζοντας καὶ προθύμως πρὸ αὐτοῦ ἀποθνήσκοντας, ἄδηλος ἦν ἡ ῥοπὴ τῆς νίκης· ἐπεὶ δʼ οὗτος πάντα κίνδυνον ὑπομένων οὐκ ἠδύνατο βιάσασθαι τοὺς ἀνθεστηκότας, ἡρωικῶς δὲ μαχόμενος καὶ πολλοῖς τραύμασι περιπεσὼν ἐτελεύτησε, τότε συνδρομῆς γενομένης περὶ τοῦ πτώματος νεκρῶν πλῆθος ἐσωρεύθη.
Now on the Lacedemonian side the descendants of Heracles were stationed as commanders of the wings, namely Cleombrotus the king and Archidamus, son of the King Agesilaus, while on the Boeotian side Epameinondas, by employing an unusual disposition of his own, was enabled through his own strategy to achieve his famous victory. He selected from the entire army the bravest men and stationed them on one wing, intending to fight to the finish with them himself. The weakest he placed on the other wing and instructed them to avoid battle and withdraw gradually during the enemy's attack. So then, by arranging his phalanx in oblique formation, he planned to decide the issue of the battle by means of the wing in which were the elite. When the trumpets on both sides sounded the charge and the armies simultaneously with the first onset raised the battle-cry, the Lacedemonians attacked both wings with their phalanx in crescent formation, while the Boeotians retreated on one wing, but on the other engaged the enemy in double-quick time. As they met in hand-to hand combat, at first both fought ardently and the battle was evenly poised; shortly, however, as Epameinondas' men began to derive advantage from their valour and the denseness of their lines, many Peloponnesians began to fall. For they were unable to endure the weight of the courageous fighting of the elite corps; of those who had resisted some fell and others were wounded, taking all the blows in front. Now as long as King Cleombrotus of the Lacedemonians was alive and had with him many comrades-in arms who were quite ready to die in his defence, it was uncertain which way the scales of victory inclined; but when, though he shrank from no danger, he proved unable to bear down his opponents, and perished in an heroic resistance after sustaining many wounds, then, as masses of men thronged about his body, there was piled up a great mound of corpses.
§ 15.56
ἀναρχίας δὲ γενομένης περὶ τὸ κέρας, οἱ μὲν περὶ τὸν Ἐπαμεινώνδαν βαρεῖς ἐγκείμενοι τοῖς Λακεδαιμονίοις τὸ μὲν πρῶτον τῇ βίᾳ βραχὺ προέωσαν ἐκ τῆς τάξεως τοὺς πολεμίους, οἱ δὲ Λακεδαιμόνιοι περὶ τοῦ βασιλέως ἀγωνισάμενοι λαμπρῶς τοῦ μὲν σώματος ἐγκρατεῖς ἐγένοντο, τῆς δὲ νίκης οὐκ ἴσχυσαν ἐφικέσθαι. καὶ τῶν γὰρ ἐπιλέκτων ὑπερβαλλομένων ταῖς ἀνδραγαθίαις, καὶ τῆς ἀρετῆς καὶ παρακλήσεως Ἐπαμεινώνδου πολλὰ συμβαλλομένης, μόγις ἐβιάσθησαν οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι· τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἀναχωροῦντες τὴν τάξιν οὐ διέλυον, τὸ δὲ τελευταῖον πολλῶν ἀναιρουμένων, τοῦ δὲ παραγγέλλοντος ἡγεμόνος τετελευτηκότος, ἐγένετο παντελὴς τροπὴ τοῦ στρατοπέδου. οἱ δὲ περὶ τὸν Ἐπαμινώνδαν ἐπικείμενοι τοῖς φεύγουσι καὶ πολλοὺς τῶν ἐναντίων κατακόψαντες ἀπηνέγκαντο νίκην ἐπιφανεστάτην. συμβαλόντες γὰρ τοῖς ἀρίστοις τῶν Ἑλλήνων, καὶ τοῖς ὀλίγοις τῶν πολλαπλασίων παραδόξως περιγενόμενοι, μεγάλην δόξαν ἐπʼ ἀνδρείᾳ κατεκτήσαντο. μεγίστων δʼ ἐπαίνων ὁ στρατηγὸς Ἐπαμεινώνδας ἠξιώθη, διὰ τῆς ἰδίας ἀνδρείας μάλιστα καὶ στρατηγικῆς συνέσεως τοὺς ἀνικήτους ἡγεμόνας τῆς Ἑλλάδος κατηγωνισμένος. ἔπεσον δʼ ἐν τῇ μάχῃ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων οὐκ ἐλάττους τῶν τετρακισχιλίων, τῶν δὲ Βοιωτῶν περὶ τριακοσίους. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα περί τε τῆς τῶν νεκρῶν ἀναιρέσεως καὶ τῆς εἰς Πελοπόννησον ἀπαλλαγῆς τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων σπονδὰς ἐποιήσαντο. καὶ τὰ μὲν περὶ τὴν ἐν Λεύκτροις μάχην συμβάντα τοιοῦτον ἔσχε τέλος.
There being no one in command of the wing, the heavy column led by Epameinondas bore down upon the Lacedemonians, and at first by sheer force caused the line of the enemy to buckle somewhat; then, however, the Lacedemonians, fighting gallantly about their king, got possession of his body, but were not strong enough to achieve victory. For as the corps of elite outdid them in feats of courage, and the valour and exhortations of Epameinondas contributed greatly to its prowess, the Lacedemonians were with great difficulty forced back; at first, as they gave ground they would not break their formation, but finally, as many fell and the commander who would have rallied them had died, the army turned and fled in utter rout. Epameinondas' corps pursued the fugitives, slew many who opposed them, and won for themselves a most glorious victory. For since they had met the bravest of the Greeks and with a small force had miraculously overcome many times their number, they won a great reputation for valour. The highest praises were accorded the general Epameinondas, who chiefly by his own courage and by his shrewdness as a commander had defeated in battle the invincible leaders of Greece. More than four thousand Lacedemonians fell in the battle but only about three hundred Boeotians. Following the battle they made a truce to allow for taking up the bodies of the dead and the departure of the Lacedemonians to the Peloponnese. Such was the outcome of events relating to the battle of Leuctra.
§ 15.57
τοῦ δʼ ἐνιαυσίου χρόνου διεληλυθότος Ἀθήνησι μὲν ἦρχε Δυσνίκητος, ἐν Ῥώμῃ δὲ ἀντὶ τῶν ὑπάτων χιλίαρχοι κατεστάθησαν τέτταρες, Κόιντος Σερουίλιος καὶ Λεύκιος Φούριος, ἔτι δὲ Γάιος Λικίνιος καὶ Πόπλιος Κοίλιος. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Θηβαῖοι μεγάλῃ δυνάμει στρατεύσαντες ἐπʼ Ὀρχομενὸν ἐπεβάλοντο μὲν ἐξανδραποδίσασθαι τὴν πόλιν, Ἐπαμεινώνδου δὲ συμβουλεύσαντος ὅτι τὰ διὰ τῆς ἀνδρείας κατεργασθέντα τῇ φιλανθρωπίᾳ δεῖ διαφυλάττειν τοὺς τῆς τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἡγεμονίας ὀρεγομένους, μετέγνωσαν. διόπερ τοὺς μὲν Ὀρχομενίους εἰς τὴν τῶν συμμάχων χώραν κατέταξαν,μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Φωκεῖς καὶ Αἰτωλοὺς καὶ Λοκροὺς φίλους ποιησάμενοι τὴν εἰς Βοιωτίαν ἐπάνοδον ἐποιήσαντο. Ἰάσων δὲ ὁ Φερῶν τύραννος ἀεὶ μᾶλλον αὐξόμενος ἐστράτευσεν εἰς τὴν Λοκρίδα, καὶ τὴν μὲν Ἡράκλειαν τὴν ἐν Τραχινίᾳ διὰ προδοσίας ἑλὼν ἀνάστατον ἐποίησε, καὶ τὴν χώραν Οἰταίοις καὶ Μηλιεῦσιν ἐδωρήσατο· μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ἐπὶ τὴν Περραιβίαν ἀναζεύξας τῶν πόλεων τὰς μὲν λόγοις φιλανθρώποις προσηγάγετο, τὰς δὲ διὰ τῆς βίας ἐχειρώσατο. ταχὺ δὲ τῆς δυναστείας αὐτοῦ στερεουμένης, οἱ τὴν Θετταλίαν οἰκοῦντες ὑφεωρῶντο τὴν αὔξησιν αὐτοῦ καὶ τὴν πλεονεξίαν. ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις ἐν τῇ πόλει τῶν Ἀργείων ἐγένετο στάσις καὶ φόνος τοσοῦτος, ὅσος παρʼ ἑτέροις τῶν Ἑλλήνων οὐδέποτε γεγονέναι μνημονεύεται. ἐκλήθη δὲ ὁ νεωτερισμὸς οὗτος παρὰ τοῖς Ἕλλησι σκυταλισμός, διὰ τὸν τρόπον τοῦ θανάτου ταύτης τυχὼν τῆς προσηγορίας.
When the year had ended, at Athens Dysnicetus was archon, and in Rome military tribunes with consular power were elected, four in number: Quintus Servilius, Lucius Furius, Gaius Licinius, and Publius Coelius. During their term of office the Thebans, taking the field with a large army against Orchomenus, aimed to reduce the city to slavery, but when Epameinondas advised them that any who aimed at supremacy over the Greeks ought to safeguard by their generous treatment what they had achieved by their valour, they changed their mind. Accordingly they reckoned the people of Orchomenus as belonging to the territory of their allies, and later, having made friends of the Phocians, Aetolians, and Locrians, returned to Boeotia again. Jason, tyrant of Pherae, whose power was constantly increasing, invaded Locris, first took Heracleia in Trachinia by treachery, laid it waste, and gave the country to the Oetaeans and Malians; then later, moving into Perrhaebia, he won over some of the cities by generous promises, and subdued others by force. As his position of influence speedily became established, the inhabitants of Thessaly looked with suspicion on his aggrandizement and encroachments. While these things were going on, in the city of Argos civil strife broke out accompanied by slaughter of a greater number than is recorded ever to have occurred anywhere else in Greece. Among the Greeks this revolutionary movement was called "Club-law," receiving this appellation on account of the manner of the execution.
§ 15.58
ἡ δʼ οὖν στάσις ἐγένετο διὰ τοιαύτας αἰτίας. τῆς πόλεως τῶν Ἀργείων δημοκρατουμένης καί τινων δημαγωγῶν παροξυνόντων τὸ πλῆθος κατὰ τῶν ταῖς ἐξουσίαις καὶ δόξαις ὑπερεχόντων, οἱ διαβαλλόμενοι συστάντες ἔγνωσαν καταλῦσαι τὸν δῆμον. βασανισθέντων δέ τινων ἐκ τῶν συνεργεῖν δοκούντων, οἱ μὲν ἄλλοι φοβηθέντες τὴν ἐκ τῶν βασάνων τιμωρίαν ἑαυτοὺς ἐκ τοῦ ζῆν μετέστησαν, ἑνὸς δʼ ἐν ταῖς βασάνοις ὁμολογήσαντος καὶ πίστιν λαβόντος, ὁ μὲν μηνυτὴς τριάκοντα τῶν ἐπιφανεστάτων κατηγόρησεν, ὁ δὲ δῆμος οὐκ ἐλέγξας ἀκριβῶς ἅπαντας τοὺς διαβληθέντας ἀπέκτεινε καὶ τὰς οὐσίας αὐτῶν ἐδήμευσεν. πολλῶν δὲ καὶ ἄλλων ἐν ὑποψίαις ὄντων, καὶ τῶν δημαγωγῶν ψευδέσι διαβολαῖς συνηγορούντων, ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον ἐξηγριώθη τὸ πλῆθος, ὥστε πάντων τῶν κατηγορουμένων, ὄντων πολλῶν καὶ μεγαλοπλούτων, καταγνῶναι θάνατον. ἀναιρεθέντων δὲ τῶν δυνατῶν ἀνδρῶν πλειόνων ἢ χιλίων καὶ διακοσίων, καὶ τῶν δημαγωγῶν αὐτῶν ὁ δῆμος οὐκ ἐφείσατο. διὰ γὰρ τὸ μέγεθος τῆς συμφορᾶς οἱ μὲν δημαγωγοὶ φοβηθέντες μή τι παράλογον αὐτοῖς ἀπαντήσῃ, τῆς κατηγορίας ἀπέστησαν, οἱ δʼ ὄχλοι δόξαντες ὑπʼ αὐτῶν ἐγκαταλελεῖφθαι, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο παροξυνθέντες, ἅπαντας τοὺς δημαγωγοὺς ἀπέκτειναν. οὗτοι μὲν οὖν, ὡσπερεί τινος νεμεσήσαντος δαιμονίου, τῆς ἁρμοζούσης τιμωρίας ἔτυχον, ὁ δὲ δῆμος παυσάμενος τῆς λύττης εἰς τὴν προϋπάρχουσαν ἔννοιαν ἀποκατέστη.
Now the strife arose from the following causes: the city of Argos had a democratic form of government, and certain demagogues instigated the populace against the outstanding citizens of property and reputation. The victims of the hostile charges then got together and decided to overthrow the democracy. When some of those who were thought to be implicated were subjected to torture, all but one, fearing the agony of torture, committed suicide, but this one came to terms under torture, received a pledge of immunity, and as informer denounced thirty of the most distinguished citizens, and the democracy without a thorough investigation put to death all those who were accused and confiscated their property. But many others were under suspicion, and as the demagogues supported false accusations, the mob was wrought up to such a pitch of savagery that they condemned to death all the accused, who were many and wealthy. When, however, more than twelve hundred influential men had been removed, the populace did not spare the demagogues themselves. For because of the magnitude of the calamity the demagogues were afraid that some unforeseen turn of fortune might overtake them and therefore desisted from their accusation, whereas the mob, now thinking that they had been left in the lurch by them, were angry at this and put to death all the demagogues. So these men received the punishment which fitted their crimes as if some divinity were visiting its just resentment upon them, and the people, eased of their mad rage, were restored to their senses.
§ 15.59
περὶ δὲ τοὺς αὐτοὺς χρόνους Λυκομήδης ὁ Τεγεάτης ἔπεισε τοὺς Ἀρκάδας εἰς μίαν συντέλειαν ταχθῆναι καὶ κοινὴν ἔχειν σύνοδον συνεστῶσαν ἐξ ἀνδρῶν μυρίων, καὶ τούτους ἐξουσίαν ἔχειν περὶ πολέμου καὶ εἰρήνης βουλεύεσθαι. γενομένης δὲ στάσεως μεγάλης παρὰ τοῖς Ἀρκάσι, καὶ διὰ τῶν ὅπλων διακριθέντων τῶν διαφερομένων, πολλοὶ μὲν ἀνῃρέθησαν, πλείους δὲ τῶν χιλίων καὶ τετρακοσίων ἔφυγον, οἱ μὲν εἰς τὴν Σπάρτην, οἱ δʼ εἰς τὸ Παλλάντιον. οὗτοι μὲν οὖν ἐκδοθέντες ὑπὸ τῶν Παλλαντίων, ὑπὸ τῶν νενικηκότων ἐσφαγιάσθησαν· οἱ δʼ εἰς τὴν Σπάρτην φυγόντες ἔπεισαν τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους εἰς τὴν Ἀρκαδίαν στρατεῦσαι. διόπερ Ἀγησίλαος ὁ βασιλεὺς μετὰ δυνάμεως καὶ τῶν φυγάδων ἐνέβαλεν εἰς τὴν τῶν Τεγεατῶν χώραν διὰ τὸ δοκεῖν τούτους τῆς στάσεως καὶ τῆς φυγῆς αἰτίους γεγονέναι. πορθήσας δὲ τὴν χώραν καὶ τῇ πόλει προσβολὰς ποιησάμενος κατεπλήξατο τῶν Ἀρκάδων τοὺς ἐναντιοπραγοῦντας.
About the same time, Lycomedes of Tegea prevailed upon the Arcadians to form a single confederacy with a common council to consist of ten thousand men empowered to decide issues of war and peace. But since civil war broke out in Arcadia on a large scale and the quarrelling factions came to a decision by force of arms, many were killed and more than fourteen hundred fled, some to Sparta, others to Pallantium. Now these latter refugees were surrendered by the Pallantians and slaughtered by the victorious party, whereas those who took refuge in Sparta prevailed upon the Lacedemonians to invade Arcadia. Accordingly King Agesilaus with an army and the band of fugitives invaded the territory of the Tegeans, who were believed to have been the cause of the insurrection and the expulsions. By devastation of the countryside and assaults upon the city, he cowed the Arcadians of the opposing party.
§ 15.60
ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις Ἰάσων ὁ Φερῶν τύραννος, συνέσει τε στρατηγικῇ διαφέρων καὶ πολλοὺς τῶν περιοίκων εἰς συμμαχίαν προηγμένος, ἔπεισε τοὺς Θετταλοὺς ἀντιποιεῖσθαι τῆς τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἡγεμονίας· ταύτην γὰρ ὥσπερ ἔπαθλον ἀρετῆς προκεῖσθαι τοῖς δυναμένοις αὐτῆς ἀμφισβητῆσαι. Λακεδαιμονίους γὰρ συνέβαινε περὶ Λεῦκτρα μεγάλῃ συμφορᾷ περιπεπτωκέναι, Ἀθηναίους δὲ μόνον τῆς κατὰ θάλατταν ἀρχῆς ἀντέχεσθαι, Θηβαίους δὲ τῶν πρωτείων ἀξίους μὴ εἶναι, Ἀργείους δὲ διὰ στάσεις καὶ φόνους ἐμφυλίους τεταπεινῶσθαι. διόπερ οἱ Θετταλοὶ προστησάμενοι τῶν ὅλων ἡγεμόνα Ἰάσονα, τούτῳ τὰ κατὰ τὸν πόλεμον ἐπέτρεψαν. ὁ δὲ Ἰάσων παραλαβὼν τὴν ἡγεμονίαν τῶν τε πλησίον ἐθνῶν τινα προσηγάγετο καὶ πρὸς Ἀμύνταν τὸν τῶν Μακεδόνων βασιλέα συμμαχίαν ἐποιήσατο. ἴδιον δέ τι συνέβη κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν ἐνιαυτόν· τῶν γὰρ ἐν δυναστείαις ὄντων τρεῖς ἐτελεύτησαν περὶ τὸν αὐτὸν καιρόν. Ἀμύντας μὲν ὁ Ἀρριδαίου βασιλεύων τῆς Μακεδονίας ἐτελεύτησεν ἄρξας ἔτη εἴκοσι καὶ τέτταρα, υἱοὺς ἀπολιπὼν τρεῖς, Ἀλέξανδρον καὶ Περδίκκαν καὶ Φίλιππον· διεδέξατο δὲ τὴν βασιλείαν ὁ υἱὸς Ἀλέξανδρος καὶ ἦρξεν ἐνιαυτόν. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ Ἀγησίπολις ὁ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων βασιλεὺς μετήλλαξεν ἄρξας ἐνιαυτόν, τὴν δὲ ἀρχὴν διαδεξάμενος Κλεομένης ὁ ἀδελφὸς ἐβασίλευσεν ἔτη τριάκοντα καὶ τέτταρα. τρίτος δὲ Ἰάσων ὁ Φεραῖος ἡγεμὼν ᾑρημένος τῆς Θετταλίας, καὶ δοκῶν ἐπιεικῶς ἄρχειν τῶν ὑποτεταγμένων, ἐδολοφονήθη, ὡς μὲν Ἔφορος γέγραφεν, ὑπό τινων ἑπτὰ νεανίσκων συνομοσαμένων δόξης ἕνεκα, ὡς δʼ ἔνιοι γράφουσιν, ὑπὸ Πολυδώρου τἀδελφοῦ. οὗτος δὲ καὶ αὐτὸς διαδεξάμενος τὴν δυναστείαν ἦρξεν ἐνιαυτόν. Δοῦρις δʼ ὁ Σάμιος ὁ ἱστοριογράφος τῆς τῶν Ἑλληνικῶν ἱστορίας ἐντεῦθεν ἐποιήσατο τὴν ἀρχήν. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἐπράχθη κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν ἐνιαυτόν.
While these things were going on, Jason, tyrant of Pherae, because of his superior shrewdness as a general and his success in attracting many of his neighbours into an alliance, prevailed upon the Thessalians to lay claim to the supremacy in Greece; for this was a sort of prize for valour open to those strong enough to contend for it. Now it happened that the Lacedemonians had sustained a great disaster at Leuctra; that the Athenians laid claim to the mastery of the sea only; that the Thebans were unworthy of first rank; and that the Argives had been brought low by civil wars and internecine slaughter. So the Thessalians put Jason forward as leader of the whole country, and as such gave him supreme command in war. Jason accepted the command, won over some of the tribes near by, and entered into alliance with Amyntas king of the Macedonians. A peculiar coincidence befell in this year, for three of those in positions of power died about the same time. Amyntas, son of Arrhidaeus, king of Macedonia, died after a rule of twenty-four years, leaving behind him three sons, Alexander, Perdiccas, and Philip. The son Alexander succeeded to the throne and ruled for one year. Likewise Agesipolis, king of the Lacedemonians, died after ruling a year, the kingship going to Cleomenes his brother who succeeded to the throne and had a reign of thirty-four years. Thirdly, Jason of Pherae, who had been chosen ruler of Thessaly and was reputed to be governing his subjects with moderation, was assassinated, either, as Ephorus writes, by seven young men who conspired together for the repute it would bring, or, as some historians say, by his brother Polydorus. This Polydorus himself also, after succeeding to the position of leader, ruled for one year. Duris of Samos, the historian, began his History of the Greeks at this point. These then were the events of this year.
§ 15.61
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησι Λυσιστράτου παρὰ Ῥωμαίοις ἐγένετο στάσις, τῶν μὲν οἰομένων δεῖν ὑπάτους, τῶν δὲ χιλιάρχους αἱρεῖσθαι. ἐπὶ μὲν οὖν τινα χρόνον ἀναρχία τὴν στάσιν ὑπέλαβε, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ἔδοξε χιλιάρχους αἱρεῖσθαι ἕξ· καὶ κατεστάθησαν Λεύκιος Αἰμίλιος καὶ Γάιος Οὐεργίνιος καὶ Σερούιος Σουλπίκιος, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις Λεύκιος Κοΐντιος καὶ Γάιος Κορνήλιος, ἔτι δὲ Γάιος Οὐαλέριος. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Πολύδωρος ὁ Φεραῖος ὁ τῶν Θετταλῶν ἄρξας ὑπὸ Ἀλεξάνδρου τοῦ ἀδελφιδοῦ ἀνῃρέθη φαρμάκῳ, προκληθεὶς εἰς μέθην· τὴν δὲ δυναστείαν διαδεξάμενος Ἀλέξανδρος ὁ ἀδελφιδοῦς ἦρξεν ἔτη ἕνδεκα. οὗτος δὲ παρανόμως καὶ βιαίως κτησάμενος τὴν δυναστείαν, ἀκολούθως ταύτῃ τῇ προαιρέσει διῴκει τὰ κατὰ τὴν ἀρχήν. τῶν γὰρ πρὸ αὐτοῦ δυναστῶν ἐπιεικῶς προσφερομένων τοῖς πλήθεσι, καὶ διὰ τοῦτʼ ἀγαπωμένων, οὗτος βιαίως καὶ χαλεπῶς ἄρχων ἐμισεῖτο. διὸ καὶ τὴν παρανομίαν φοβηθέντες τῶν Λαρισσαίων τινές, οἱ διʼ εὐγένειαν Ἀλευάδαι προσαγορευόμενοι, συνέθεντο πρὸς ἀλλήλους καταλῦσαι τὴν δυναστείαν. ἀπελθόντες δʼ ἐκ Λαρίσσης εἰς Μακεδονίαν ἔπεισαν Ἀλέξανδρον τὸν βασιλέα συγκαταλῦσαι τὸν τύραννον. τούτων δὲ περὶ ταῦτα διατριβόντων, ὁ Φεραῖος Ἀλέξανδρος πυθόμενος τὴν καθʼ ἑαυτοῦ παρασκευήν, κατέλεγε τοὺς εἰς τὴν στρατείαν εὐθέτους, διανοούμενος ἐν τῇ Μακεδονίᾳ συστήσασθαι τὴν μάχην. ὁ δὲ τῶν Μακεδόνων βασιλεύς, ἔχων μεθʼ ἑαυτοῦ τοὺς ἐκ Λαρίσσης φυγάδας, φθάσας τοὺς πολεμίους ἧκε μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως εἰς τὴν Λάρισσαν· παρεισαχθεὶς δʼ ὑπὸ τῶν Λαρισσαίων ἐντὸς τοῦ τείχους ἐκράτησε τῆς πόλεως πλὴν τῆς ἄκρας. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τήν τε ἄκραν ἐξεπολιόρκησε καὶ Κραννῶνα πόλιν προσαγαγόμενος ὡμολόγησε μὲν τοῖς Θετταλοῖς ἀποδώσειν τὰς πόλεις, καταφρονήσας δὲ τῆς δόξης, καὶ φρουρὰς ἀξιολόγους εἰσαγαγών, αὐτὸς κατεῖχε τὰς πόλεις. ὁ δὲ Φεραῖος Ἀλέξανδρος καταδιωχθεὶς ἅμα καὶ καταπλαγεὶς ἐπανῆλθεν εἰς τὰς Φεράς. καὶ τὰ μὲν κατὰ τὴν Θετταλίαν ἐν τούτοις ἦν.
When Lysistratus was archon at Athens, civil strife arose among the Romans, one party thinking there should be consuls, others that military tribunes should be chosen. For a time then anarchy supervened on civil strife, later they decided to choose six military tribunes, and those elected were Lucius Aemilius, Gaius Verginius, Servius Sulpicius, Lucius Quintius, Gaius Cornelius, and Gaius Valerius. During their term of office Polydorus of Pherae the ruler of Thessaly was poisoned by Alexander his nephew, who had challenged him to a drinking bout, and the nephew Alexander succeeded to the rule as overlord and held it for eleven years. Having acquired the rule illegally and by force, he administered it consistently with the policy he had chosen to follow. For while the rulers before him had treated the peoples with moderation and were therefore loved, he was hated for his violent and severe rule. Accordingly, in fear of his lawlessness, some Larissaeans, called Aleuadae because of their noble descent, conspired together to overthrow the overlordship. Journeying from Larissa to Macedonia, they prevailed upon the King Alexander to join them in overthrowing the tyrant. But while they were occupied with these matters, Alexander of Pherae, learning of the preparations against him, gathered such men as were conveniently situated for the campaign, intending to give battle in Macedonia. But the Macedonian king, accompanied by refugees from Larissa, anticipated the enemy by invading Larissa with the army, and having been secretly admitted by the Larissaeans within the fortifications, he mastered the city with the exception of the citadel. Later he took the citadel by siege, and, having also won the city of Crannon, at first covenanted to restore the cities to the Thessalians, but then, in contempt of public opinion, he brought into them garrisons of considerable strength and held the cities himself. Alexander of Pherae, hotly pursued and alarmed at the same time, returned to Pherae. Such was the state of affairs in Thessaly.
§ 15.62
κατὰ δὲ τὴν Πελοπόννησον Λακεδαιμόνιοι μὲν Πολύτροπον στρατηγὸν ἐξέπεμψαν εἰς τὴν Ἀρκαδίαν, ἔχοντα πολιτικοὺς μὲν ὁπλίτας χιλίους, φυγάδας δʼ Ἀργείων καὶ Βοιωτῶν πεντακοσίους. οὗτος δὲ παρελθὼν εἰς Ὀρχομενὸν τὸν Ἀρκαδικὸν παρεφύλαττε τὴν πόλιν ταύτην, οἰκείως διακειμένην πρὸς τοὺς Σπαρτιάτας. Λυκομήδης δʼ ὁ Μαντινεύς, στρατηγὸς ὢν τῶν Ἀρκάδων, παραλαβὼν τοὺς καλουμένους ἐπιλέκτους, ὄντας πεντακισχιλίους, ἧκεν ἐπὶ τὸν Ὀρχομενόν. προαγαγόντων δὲ τὴν δύναμιν Λακεδαιμονίων ἐκ τῆς πόλεως ἐγένετο μάχη καρτερά, καθʼ ἣν ὅ τε στρατηγὸς τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων ἀνῃρέθη καὶ τῶν ἄλλων εἰς διακοσίους· οἱ δὲ λοιποὶ συνεδιώχθησαν εἰς τὴν πόλιν. οἱ δὲ Ἀρκάδες, καίπερ νενικηκότες, ὅμως εὐλαβοῦντο τὸ βάρος τῆς Σπάρτης, καὶ καθʼ αὑτοὺς οὐχ ὑπέλαβον δυνήσεσθαι τοῖς Λακεδαιμονίοις διαπολεμεῖν. διὸ καὶ παραλαβόντες Ἀργείους τε καὶ Ἠλείους, τὸ μὲν πρῶτον πρέσβεις ἀπέστειλαν εἰς τὰς Ἀθήνας, ἀξιοῦντες συμμαχίαν ποιήσασθαι κατὰ τῶν Σπαρτιατῶν, ὡς δʼ οὐδεὶς αὐτοῖς προσεῖχε, διαπρεσβευσάμενοι πρὸς τοὺς Θηβαίους ἔπεισαν αὐτοὺς συμμαχίαν συνθέσθαι κατὰ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων. εὐθὺς οὖν οἱ Βοιωτοὶ τὴν δύναμιν ἐξῆγον, προσλαβόμενοι συμμάχους Λοκρούς τε καὶ Φωκεῖς. οὗτοι μὲν οὖν προῆγον ἐπὶ τὴν Πελοπόννησον, βοιωταρχούντων Ἐπαμεινώνδου καὶ Πελοπίδου· τούτοις γὰρ οἱ ἄλλοι βοιωτάρχαι παρεκεχωρήκεισαν ἑκουσίως τῆς στρατηγίας διά τε τὴν σύνεσιν καὶ τὴν ἀνδρείαν τῶν ἀνδρῶν. ὡς δὲ κατήντησαν ἐπὶ τὴν Ἀρκαδίαν, ἧκον πρὸς αὐτοὺς πανδημεὶ οἵ τε Ἀρκάδες καὶ Ἠλεῖοι καὶ Ἀργεῖοι καὶ οἱ ἄλλοι σύμμαχοι πάντες. ἀθροισθέντων δὲ πλειόνων ἢ πεντακισμυρίων, οἱ μὲν ἡγεμόνες αὐτῶν συνεδρεύσαντες ἔγνωσαν ἐπʼ αὐτὴν βαδίζειν τὴν Σπάρτην καὶ πᾶσαν τὴν Λακωνικὴν πορθῆσαι.
In the Peloponnese, the Lacedemonians dispatched Polytropus as general to Arcadia with a thousand citizen hoplites and five hundred Argive and Boeotian refugees. He reached the Arcadian Orchomenus and guarded it closely since it was on friendly terms with Sparta. Lycomedes of Mantineia, general of the Arcadians, with five thousand men styled the elite, came to Orchomenus. As the Lacedemonians led forth their army from the city a great battle ensued in which the Lacedemonian general was killed and two hundred others, while the rest were driven into the city. The Arcadians, in spite of their victory, felt a prudent respect for the strength of Sparta and believed that they would not be able by themselves to cope with the Lacedemonians. Accordingly, associating Argives and Eleians with themselves, they first sent envoys to Athens requesting them to join in an alliance against the Spartans, but as no one heeded them, they sent an embassy to the Thebans and persuaded them to join an alliance against the Lacedemonians. Immediately, then, the Boeotians led out their army, taking some Locrians and Phocians along as allies. Now these men advanced against the Peloponnese under the boeotarchs Epameinondas and Pelopidas, for the other boeotarchs had willingly relinquished the command to these in recognition of their shrewdness in the art of war and their courage. When they reached Arcadia, the Arcadians, Eleians, Argives, and all the other allies joined them in full force. And when more than fifty thousand had gathered, their leaders sitting in council decided to march upon Sparta itself and lay waste all Laconia.
§ 15.63
οἱ δὲ Λακεδαιμόνιοι, πολλοὺς μὲν ἀποβεβληκότες τῶν νέων ἐν τῇ περὶ Λεῦκτρα συμφορᾷ, οὐκ ὀλίγους δʼ ἐν ταῖς ἄλλαις ἥτταις ἀπολωλεκότες, καὶ τὸ σύνολον εἰς ὀλίγους πολιτικοὺς στρατιώτας ὑπὸ τῆς τύχης συγκεκλεισμένοι, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις τῶν συμμάχων τῶν μὲν ἀφεστηκότων, τῶν δὲ διὰ τὰς ὁμοίας αἰτίας ὀλιγανδρούντων, εἰς πολλὴν ἀμηχανίαν ἔπιπτον. διόπερ ἠναγκάζοντο καταφεύγειν ἐπὶ τὴν τῶν Ἀθηναίων βοήθειαν, οἷς τριάκοντα μὲν τυράννους ἐν τοῖς ἔμπροσθεν χρόνοις ἐπέστησαν, τὰ δὲ τείχη τῆς πόλεως ἐκώλυσαν ἀνοικοδομεῖν, ἐπεβάλοντο δὲ καὶ τὴν πόλιν ἄρδην ἀναιροῦντες τὴν Ἀττικὴν ποιῆσαι μηλόβοτον. ἀλλὰ γὰρ οὐδὲν ἰσχυρότερόν ἐστιν ἀνάγκης καὶ τύχης, διʼ ὧν ἐβιάσθησαν οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι τῶν πολεμιωτάτων δεηθῆναι. ὅμως δʼ οὐ διεσφάλησαν τῶν ἐλπίδων. ὁ γὰρ τῶν Ἀθηναίων δῆμος, μεγαλόψυχος ὢν καὶ φιλάνθρωπος, τὴν μὲν τῶν Θηβαίων ἰσχὺν οὐ κατεπλάγησαν, τοῖς δὲ Λακεδαιμονίοις ὑπὲρ ἀνδραποδισμοῦ κινδυνεύουσιν ἐψηφίσαντο βοηθεῖν πανδημεί. καὶ παραχρῆμα στρατηγὸν καταστήσαντες τὸν Ἰφικράτην ἐξέπεμψαν καὶ τοὺς νέους αὐθημερόν, ὄντας μυρίους καὶ δισχιλίους. Ἰφικράτης μὲν οὖν, προθύμους ἔχων τοὺς στρατιώτας, προῆγε μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως κατὰ σπουδήν. οἱ δὲ Λακεδαιμόνιοι, τῶν πολεμίων ἐπὶ τοὺς ὅρους τῆς Λακωνικῆς καταστρατοπεδευόντων, καὶ αὐτοὶ πανδημεὶ τὴν ἐκ τῆς Σπάρτης ἔξοδον ποιησάμενοι προῆγον ἐπὶ τοὺς ἐναντίους, ταῖς μὲν τῶν στρατιωτῶν δυνάμεσι τεταπεινωμένοι, ταῖς δὲ τῆς ψυχῆς ἀρεταῖς τεθαρρηκότες. οἱ μὲν οὖν περὶ τὸν Ἐπαμεινώνδαν ὁρῶντες τὴν τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων χώραν δυσείσβολον οὖσαν, τὸ μὲν ἀθρόᾳ τηλικαύτῃ δυνάμει ποιεῖσθαι τὴν ἐμβολὴν οὐχ ἡγοῦντο συμφέρειν, εἰς τέτταρα δὲ μέρη διελόμενοι σφᾶς αὐτοὺς κατὰ πλείονας τόπους ἔκριναν ποιεῖσθαι τὴν ἔφοδον.
As for the Lacedemonians, since they had cast away many of their young men in the disaster at Leuctra and in their other defeats had lost not a few, and were, taking all together, restricted by the blows of fortune to but few citizen soldiers, and, furthermore, since some of their allies had seceded and others were experiencing a shortage of men for reasons similar to their own, they sank into a state of great weakness. Hence they were compelled to have recourse to the aid of the Athenians, the very people over whom they had once set up thirty tyrants, whom they had forbidden to rebuild the walls of their city, whose city they had aimed utterly to destroy, and whose territory, Attica, they wished to turn into a sheep-walk. Yet, after all, nothing is stronger than necessity and fate, which compelled the Lacedemonians to request the aid of their bitterest enemies. Nevertheless they were not disappointed of their hopes. For the Athenian people, magnanimous and generous, were not terrified by the power of Thebes, and voted to aid with all their forces the Lacedemonians now that they were in danger of enslavement. Immediately they appointed Iphicrates general and dispatched him with twelve thousand young men the self-same day. Iphicrates, then, whose men were in high spirits, advanced with the army at top speed. Meanwhile the Lacedemonians, as the enemy took up quarters on the borders of Laconia, issued in full force from Sparta and marched on to meet them, weakened in military force but strong in inward courage. Now Epameinondas and the others, perceiving that the country of the Lacedemonians was difficult to invade, thought it not to their advantage to make the invasion with such a large force in a body, and so decided to divide their army into four columns and enter at several points.
§ 15.64
ἡ μὲν οὖν πρώτη μερὶς ἡ τῶν Βοιωτῶν μέσην τὴν πορείαν ἐποιήσατο ἐπὶ τὴν Σελλασίαν καλουμένην πόλιν, καὶ τοὺς τῇδε κατοικοῦντας ἀπέστησε τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων. Ἀργεῖοι δὲ κατὰ τοὺς ὅρους τῆς Τεγεάτιδος χώρας ἐμβαλόντες συνῆψαν μάχην τοῖς φρουροῦσι τὰς παρόδους, καὶ τόν τε ἡγεμόνα τῆς φρουρᾶς Ἀλέξανδρον τὸν Σπαρτιάτην ἀνεῖλον καὶ τῶν ἄλλων εἰς διακοσίους ἀπέκτειναν, ἐν οἷς ὑπῆρχον καὶ οἱ τῶν Βοιωτῶν φυγάδες. ἡ δὲ τρίτη μερίς, ἐκ τῶν Ἀρκάδων συνεστηκυῖα καὶ στρατιώτας ἔχουσα πλείστους, εἰσέβαλεν εἰς τὴν Σκιρῖτιν καλουμένην χώραν, ἣν παρεφύλαττεν Ἰσχόλας, ἀνὴρ ἀνδρείᾳ καὶ συνέσει διαφέρων, μετὰ πολλῶν στρατιωτῶν. οὗτος δὲ τῶν ἐπιφανεστάτων στρατιωτῶν ἐπετελέσατο πρᾶξιν ἡρωικὴν καὶ μνήμης ἀξίαν. ὁρῶν γὰρ ὅτι διὰ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν πολεμίων πάντες οἱ συνάψαντες μάχην ἀναιρεθήσονται, τὸ μὲν λιπεῖν τὴν ἐν ταῖς παρόδοις τάξιν ἀνάξιον τῆς Σπάρτης ἔκρινε, τὸ δὲ διασῶσαι τοὺς στρατιώτας χρήσιμον ἔσεσθαι τῇ πατρίδι· διὸ παραδόξως ἀμφοτέρων προενοήθη, καὶ τὴν γενομένην ποτὲ περὶ Θερμοπύλας ἀνδρείαν τοῦ βασιλέως Λεωνίδου φιλοτίμως ἐμιμήσατο. διαλέξας γὰρ τοὺς νέους, τούτους μὲν ἀπέστειλεν εἰς τὴν Σπάρτην, χρησίμους ἐσομένους τῇ κινδυνευούσῃ περὶ τῶν ὅλων· αὐτὸς δὲ μετὰ τῶν πρεσβυτέρων φυλάττων τὴν τάξιν καὶ πολλοὺς ἀνελὼν τῶν πολεμίων, κυκλωθεὶς ὑπὸ τῶν Ἀρκάδων μετὰ πάντων ἀνῃρέθη. Ἠλεῖοι δὲ τὴν τετάρτην μοῖραν ἔχοντες, καὶ κατʼ ἄλλους τόπους πεπταμένους διελθόντες, εἰς τὴν Ἑλλασίαν παρεγένοντο· εἰς τοῦτον γὰρ τὸν τόπον πᾶσι καταντᾶν παρήγγελτο. ἀθροισθείσης δὲ ἁπάσης τῆς δυνάμεως εἰς τὴν Ἑλλασίαν, προῆγον ἐπʼ αὐτὴν τὴν Σπάρτην πορθοῦντες ἅμα καὶ πυρπολοῦντες τὴν χώραν.
Now the first, composed of the Boeotians, took the middle route to the city known as Sellasia and caused its inhabitants to revolt from the Lacedemonians. The Argives, entering by the borders of Tegeatis, engaged in battle the garrison set to guard the pass, slew its leader Alexander the Spartan and about two hundred of the rest, amongst whom were the Boeotian refugees. The third contingent, composed of the Arcadians and containing the largest number, invaded the district called Sciritis, which had a large garrison under Ischolas, a man of conspicuous valour and shrewdness. Himself one of the most distinguished soldiers, he accomplished an heroic and memorable deed. For, seeing that, because of the overwhelming number of the enemy, all who joined battle with them would be killed, he decided that while it was not in keeping with Spartan dignity to abandon his post in the pass, yet it would be useful to his country to preserve the men. He therefore in an amazing manner provided for both objects and emulated the courageous exploit of King Leonidas at Thermopylae. For he picked out the young men and sent them back to Sparta to be of service to her in her hour of deadly peril. He himself, keeping his post with the older men, slew many of the enemy, but finally, encircled by the Arcadians, perished with all his corps. The Eleians, who formed the fourth contingent, marching by other unguarded regions, reached Sellasia, for this was the locality designated to all as the rendezvous. When all the army had gathered in Sellasia, they advanced upon Sparta itself, sacking and burning the countryside.
§ 15.65
οἱ δὲ Λακεδαιμόνιοι, πεντακόσια ἔτη τὴν Λακωνικὴν τετηρηκότες ἀπόρθητον, τότε θεωροῦντες δῃουμένην ὑπὸ τῶν πολεμίων οὐκ ἐκαρτέρουν, ἀλλὰ τοῖς θυμοῖς προπίπτοντες ἐξεπήδων ἐκ τῆς πόλεως· κωλυόμενοι δʼ ὑπὸ τῶν πρεσβυτέρων προϊέναι μακρότερον ἀπὸ τῆς πατρίδος, μή τις ἐπίθηται, ἐπείσθησαν τὴν ἡσυχίαν ἄγειν καὶ τῇ πόλει παρέχεσθαι τὴν ἀσφάλειαν. τῶν δὲ περὶ τὸν Ἐπαμεινώνδαν διὰ τοῦ Ταϋγέτου καταβαινόντων ἐπὶ τὸν Εὐρώταν, καὶ διαβαινόντων τὸν ποταμὸν σφοδρὸν ὄντα τῷ ῥεύματι κατὰ τὴν χειμερινὴν ὥραν, ὁρῶντες οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι τεταραγμένην τὴν δύναμιν τῶν ἐναντίων διὰ τὴν χαλεπότητα τῆς διαβάσεως, καιρὸν ἔλαβον εὔθετον πρὸς τὴν ἐπίθεσιν, καὶ τὰς μὲν γυναῖκας καὶ παῖδας, ἔτι δὲ καὶ τοὺς γεγηρακότας, ἀπέλιπον ἐν τῇ πόλει φυλάττοντας τὴν Σπάρτην, αὐτοὶ δὲ πανδημεὶ συντάξαντες τοὺς νέους ἐξεχύθησαν ἐπὶ τοὺς πολεμίους, καὶ προσπεσόντες ἄφνω τοῖς διαβαίνουσι πολὺν ἐποιοῦντο φόνον. ἀμυνομένων δὲ τῶν Βοιωτῶν καὶ τῶν Ἀρκάδων, καὶ τῷ πλήθει κυκλούντων τοὺς ἐναντίους, οἱ Σπαρτιᾶται πολλοὺς ἀνῃρηκότες ἐπανῆλθον εἰς τὴν πόλιν, φανερῶς ἐνδεδειγμένοι τὰς ἰδίας ἀνδραγαθίας. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τῶν περὶ τὸν Ἐπαμεινώνδαν πάσῃ τῇ δυνάμει καταπληκτικῶς προσβαλλόντων τῇ πόλει, οἱ μὲν Σπαρτιᾶται συνεργὸν ἔχοντες τὴν τῶν τόπων ὀχυρότητα, πολλοὺς μὲν ἀπέκτειναν τῶν προπετῶς βιαζομένων, τέλος δʼ οἱ πολιορκοῦντες πᾶσαν εἰσενεγκάμενοι σπουδὴν τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἀπείκαζον βίᾳ χειρώσασθαι τὴν Σπάρτην· ἐπεὶ δὲ τῶν βιαζομένων οἱ μὲν ἀπέθνησκον, οἱ δʼ ἐτραυματίζοντο, ἀνεκαλέσαντο τῇ σάλπιγγι τοὺς στρατιώτας οἱ περὶ τὸν Ἐπαμεινώνδαν, αὐτοὶ δὲ προσελθόντες τῇ πόλει προεκαλοῦντο τοὺς Σπαρτιάτας εἰς παράταξιν, ἢ ξυνομολογεῖσθαι προσέταττον ἥττους εἶναι τῶν πολεμίων. ἀποκριναμένων δὲ τῶν Σπαρτιατῶν, ὅτι καιρὸν λαβόντες εὔθετον διαγωνιοῦνται περὶ τῶν ὅλων, ἀπηλλάγησαν ἀπὸ τῆς πόλεως. πᾶσαν δὲ τὴν Λακωνικὴν δῃώσαντες, καὶ λαφύρων ἀναρίθμητον πλῆθος ἀθροίσαντες, ἀπεχώρησαν εἰς τὴν Ἀρκαδίαν. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτʼ Ἀθηναῖοι μέν, ὑστερηκότες τῶν καιρῶν, ἐπανῆλθον εἰς τὴν Ἀττικὴν οὐδὲν πράξαντες μνήμης ἄξιον, τοῖς δὲ Λακεδαιμονίοις παρὰτῶν συμμάχων ἧκον βοηθήσοντες στρατιῶται τετρακισχίλιοι. πρὸς δὲ τούτοις προσθέντες τοὺς Εἵλωτας ἠλευθερωμένους προσφάτως χιλίους καὶ τῶν Βοιωτῶν φυγάδων διακοσίους, ἔτι δʼ ἐκ τῶν σύνεγγυς πόλεων οὐκ ὀλίγους μεταπεμψάμενοι, κατεσκεύαζον δύναμιν ἀντίπαλον τοῖς πολεμίοις. ταύτην δʼ ἀθρόαν συνέχοντες καὶ γυμνάζοντες αἰεὶ μᾶλλον ἐθάρρουν καὶ παρεσκευάζοντο πρὸς τὸν ὑπὲρ τῶν ὅλων ἀγῶνα.
Now the Lacedemonians, who for five hundred years had preserved Laconia undevastated, could not then bear to see it being sacked by the enemy, but hot-headedly were ready to rush forth from the city; but being restrained by the elders from advancing too far from their native land, lest some one attack it, they were finally prevailed upon to wait quietly and keep the city safe. Now Epameinondas descended through the Taygetus into the Eurotas valley and was engaged in crossing the river, whose current was swift since it was the winter season, when the Lacedemonians, seeing their opponents' army thrown into confusion by the difficulty of the crossing, seized the opportunity favourable for attack. Leaving the women, children, and the old men as well in the city to guard Sparta, they marshalled in full force the men of military age, streamed forth against the enemy, fell upon them suddenly as they crossed, and wrought heavy slaughter. But as the Boeotians and Arcadians fought back and began to encircle the enemy with their superior numbers, the Spartans, having slain many, withdrew to the city, for they had clearly displayed their own courage. Following this, as Epameinondas in full force made a formidable assault on the city, the Spartans with the aid of their strong natural defences slew many of those who pressed rashly forward, but finally the besiegers applied great pressure and thought at first they had overcome Sparta by force; but as those who tried to force their way were some slain, some wounded, Epameinondas recalled the soldiers with the trumpet, but the men of their own accord would approach the city, and would challenge the Spartans to a pitched battle, bidding them otherwise admit their inferiority to the enemy. When the Spartans replied to the effect that when they found a suitable occasion they would stake everything on one battle, they departed from the city. And when they had devastated all Laconia and amassed countless spoils, they withdrew to Arcadia. Thereupon the Athenians, who had arrived on the scene too late for action, returned to Attica without accomplishing anything of note; but others of their allies, to the number of four thousand men, came to reinforce the Lacedemonians. Besides these they attached to their numbers the Helots who had been newly emancipated, a thousand, and two hundred of the Boeotian fugitives, and summoned no small number from the neighbouring cities, so that they created an army comparable to that of the enemy. As they maintained these in one body and trained them, they gained more and more confidence and made themselves ready for the decisive contest.
§ 15.66
Ἐπαμεινώνδας δὲ φύσει μεγαλεπίβολος ὢν καὶ δόξης ὀρεγόμενος αἰωνίου, συνεβούλευε τοῖς τε Ἀρκάσι καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις συμμάχοις οἰκίσαι τὴν Μεσσήνην, πολλὰ μὲν ἔτη γεγενημένην ἀνάστατον ὑπὸ Λακεδαιμονίων, τόπον δʼ εὔθετον ἔχουσαν κατὰ τῆς Σπάρτης. συγκατατιθεμένων δὲ πάντων ἀνεζήτησε τοὺς ἀπολελειμμένους τῶν Μεσσηνίων, καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τοὺς βουλομένους καταλέξας εἰς τὴν πολιτείαν ἀνέκτισε τὴν Μεσσήνην, πολλοὺς ποιήσας αὐτῆς οἰκήτορας. τούτοις δὲ κατακληρουχήσας τὴν χώραν καὶ ἀνοικοδομήσας ἀνέσωσε πόλιν ἐπίσημον Ἑλληνίδα, καὶ μεγάλης ἀποδοχῆς ἔτυχε παρὰ πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις. οὐκ ἀνοίκειον δʼ εἶναι νομίζω, πολλάκις τῆς Μεσσήνης ἁλούσης καὶ κατασκαφείσης, τὰ περὶ αὐτὴν ἀπʼ ἀρχῆς ὡς ἐν κεφαλαίοις παραδραμεῖν. τὸ μὲν οὖν παλαιὸν οἱ ἀπὸ Νηλέως καὶ Νέστορος κατέσχον αὐτὴν μέχρι τῶν Τρωικῶν χρόνων, μετὰ δὲ ταῦθʼ ὁ Ἀγαμέμνονος Ὀρέστης καὶ οἱ ἀπὸ τούτου μέχρι τῆς καθόδου τῶν Ἡρακλειδῶν, ἀπὸ δὲ ταύτης Κρεσφόντης ἔλαχε τὴν Μεσσηνίαν μερίδα, καὶ οἱ ἀπὸ τούτου μέχρι τινὸς ἐβασίλευσαν αὐτῆς· ὕστερον δὲ τῶν ἀπὸ Κρεσφόντου τὴν βασιλείαν ἀποβαλόντων Λακεδαιμόνιοι κύριοι κατέστησαν αὐτῆς. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Τηλέκλου τοῦ βασιλέως τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων ἀποθανόντος ἐν ἀγῶνι κατεπολεμήθησαν ὑπὸ Λακεδαιμονίων οἱ Μεσσήνιοι. τοῦτον δὲ τὸν πόλεμον εἰκοσαετῆ φασι γενέσθαι, κατομοσαμένων τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων μὴ ἀνακάμψειν εἰς τὴν Σπάρτην, ἐὰν μὴ Μεσσήνην ἕλωσιν. τότε δὲ συνέβη τοὺς παρθενίας ὀνομασθέντας γεννηθῆναι καὶ κτίσαι τὴν τῶν Ταραντίνων πόλιν. ὕστερον δὲ δουλευόντων Μεσσηνίων τοῖς Λακεδαιμονίοις, Ἀριστομένης ἔπεισε τοὺς Μεσσηνίους ἀποστῆναι τῶν Σπαρτιατῶν, καὶ πολλὰ κακὰ διειργάσατο τοὺς Σπαρτιάτας, ὅτε καὶ Τυρταῖος ὁ ποιητὴς ὑπὸ Ἀθηναίων ἡγεμὼν ἐδόθη τοῖς Σπαρτιάταις. ἔνιοι δὲ τὸν Ἀριστομένη γεγονέναι φασὶ κατὰ τὸν εἰκοσαετῆ πόλεμον. ὁ δʼ ὕστατος ἐγένετο πόλεμος αὐτοῖς σεισμοῦ μεγάλου γενομένου· καὶ τῆς μὲν Σπάρτης ὅλης σχεδὸν συγχυθείσης, ἀνδρῶν δʼ ἐρήμου γενομένης, οἱ Μεσσηνίων περιλειφθέντες ᾤκισαν τὴν Ἰθώμην μετὰ τῶν συναποστάντων Εἱλώτων, ἀναστάτου γεγενημένης τῆς Μεσσήνης πολλοὺς χρόνους. ἀτυχήσαντες δʼ ἐν πᾶσι τοῖς πολέμοις, τὸ τελευταῖον ἀνάστατοι γενόμενοι κατῴκησαν ἐν Ναυπάκτῳ, δόντων αὐτοῖς Ἀθηναίων οἰκητήριον τήνδε τὴν πόλιν. καὶ τινὲς μὲν αὐτῶν εἰς Κεφαλληνίαν ἐξέπεσον, τινὲς δʼ ἐν Σικελίᾳ Μεσσήνην τὴν ἀπʼ ἐκείνων ὀνομασθεῖσαν κατῴκησαν. τὸ δὲ τελευταῖον κατὰ τοὺς ὑποκειμένους καιροὺς Θηβαῖοι, πείσαντος αὐτοὺς Ἐπαμεινώνδου καὶ πανταχόθεν συναγαγόντος τοὺς Μεσσηνίους, ᾤκισαν τὴν Μεσσήνην καὶ τὴν ἀρχαίαν αὐτοῖς χώραν ἀποκατέστησαν. περὶ μὲν οὖν τὴν Μεσσήνην τοσαύτας καὶ τηλικαύτας συνέβη γενέσθαι μεταβολάς.
Now Epameinondas, whose nature it was to aim at great enterprises and to crave everlasting fame, counselled the Arcadians and his other allies to resettle Messene, which for many years had remained stripped of its inhabitants by the Lacedemonians, for it occupied a position well suited for operations against Sparta. When they all concurred, he sought out the remnants of the Messenians, and registering as citizens any others who so wished he founded Messene again, making it a populous city. Among them he divided the land, and reconstructing its buildings restored a notable Greek city and gained the widespread approbation of all men. Here I think it not unsuitable, since Messene has so often been captured and razed, to recapitulate its history from the beginning. In ancient times the line of Neleus and Nestor held it down to Trojan times; then Orestes, Agamemnon's son, and his descendants down to the return of the Heracleidae; following which Cresphontes received Messene as his portion and his line ruled it for a time; but later when Cresphontes' descendants had lost the kingship, the Lacedemonians became masters of it. After this, at the death of the Lacedemonian king Teleclus, the Messenians were defeated in a war by the Lacedemonians. This war is said to have lasted twenty years, for the Lacedemonians had taken an oath not to return to Sparta unless they should have captured Messene. Then it was that the children called partheniae were born and founded the city of Tarentum. Later, however, while the Messenians were in slavery to the Lacedemonians, Aristomenes persuaded the Messenians to revolt from the Spartans, and he inflicted many defeats upon the Spartans at the time when the poet Tyrtaeus was given by the Athenians as a leader to Sparta. Some say that Aristomenes lived during the twenty-year war. The last war between them was on the occasion of a great earthquake; practically all Sparta was destroyed and left bare of men, and the remnants of the Messenians settled Ithome with the aid of the Helots who joined the revolt, after Messene had for a long time been desolate. But when they were unsuccessful in all their wars and were finally driven from their homes, they settled in Naupactus, a city which the Athenians had given them for an abode. Furthermore some of their number were exiled to Cephallenia, while others settled in Messana in Sicily, which was named after them. Finally at the time under discussion the Thebans, at the instigation of Epameinondas, who gathered together the Messenians from all quarters, settled Messene and restored their ancient land to them. Such then were the many important vicissitudes of Messenian history.
§ 15.67
οἱ δὲ Θηβαῖοι πάντα τὰ προειρημένα συντελέσαντες ἐν ἡμέραις ὀγδοήκοντα καὶ πέντε, καὶ καταλιπόντες φυλακὴν ἀξιόλογον τῆς Μεσσήνης, ἐπανῆλθον εἰς τὴν οἰκείαν. Λακεδαιμόνιοι δὲ παραδόξως ἀποτετριμμένοι τοὺς πολεμίους, ἀπέστειλαν πρεσβευτὰς εἰς τὰς Ἀθήνας τοὺς ἐπιφανεστάτους τῶν Σπαρτιατῶν, καὶ τὰς μὲν ὁμολογίας ἐποιήσαντο περὶ τῆς ἡγεμονίας, ὥστε τῆς μὲν θαλάττης ἄρχειν Ἀθηναίους, τῆς δὲ γῆς τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ἐν ἀμφοτέραις ταῖς πόλεσιν ἐποιήσαντο κοινὰς τὰς ἡγεμονίας. Ἀρκάδες δὲ Λυκομήδην στρατηγὸν προχειρισάμενοι, καὶ παραδόντες αὐτῷ τοὺς ἐπιλέκτους ὀνομαζομένους, ὄντας πεντακισχιλίους, ἐστράτευσαν ἐπὶ Πελλήνην τῆς Λακωνικῆς, καὶ τὴν μὲν πόλιν βίᾳ χειρωσάμενοι τοὺς ἐγκαταλειφθέντας φρουροὺς τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων ἀπέκτειναν, ὄντας πλείους τῶν τριακοσίων, τὴν δὲ πόλιν ἐξανδραποδισάμενοι καὶ τὴν χώραν δῃώσαντες ἐπανῆλθον εἰς τὴν οἰκείαν, φθάσαντες τὴν παρὰ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων βοήθειαν. Βοιωτοὶ δέ, μεταπεμπομένων αὐτοὺς Θετταλῶν ἐπʼ ἐλευθερώσει μὲν τῶν πόλεων, καταλύσει δὲ τῆς Ἀλεξάνδρου τοῦ Φεραίου τυραννίδος ἐξαπέστειλαν Πελοπίδαν μετὰ δυνάμεως εἰς Θετταλίαν, δόντες ἐντολὰς αὐτῷ εἰς τὸ συμφέρον τῶν Βοιωτῶν διοικῆσαι τὰ κατὰ τὴν Θετταλίαν. οὗτος δὲ καταντήσας εἰς Λάρισσαν, καὶ καταλαβὼν τὴν ἀκρόπολιν φρουρουμένην ὑπὸ Ἀλεξάνδρου τοῦ Μακεδόνος, ταύτην μὲν παρέλαβεν, εἰς δὲ τὴν Μακεδονίαν παρελθὼν καὶ συμμαχίαν ποιησάμενος πρὸς Ἀλέξανδρον τὸν τῶν Μακεδόνων βασιλέα, ὅμηρον ἔλαβε παρʼ αὐτοῦ τὸν ἀδελφὸν Φίλιππον, ὃν ἐξέπεμψεν εἰς τὰς Θήβας. τὰ δὲ κατὰ τὴν Θετταλίαν διοικησάμενος ὥς ποτʼ ἔδοξεν αὐτῷ συμφέρειν τοῖς Βοιωτοῖς, ἐπανῆλθεν εἰς τὴν οἰκείαν.
The Thebans, having accomplished in eighty-five days all that is narrated above, and having left a considerable garrison for Messene, returned to their own land. The Lacedemonians, who had unexpectedly got rid of their enemies, sent to Athens a commission of the most distinguished Spartans, and came to an agreement over the supremacy: the Athenians should be masters of the sea, the Lacedemonians of the land; but after this in both cities they set up a joint command. The Arcadians now appointed Lycomedes their general, gave him the corps they called their elite, five thousand in number, and took the field against Pellene in Laconia. Having taken the city by force, they slew the Lacedemonians who had been left behind there as a garrison, over three hundred men, enslaved the city, devastated the countryside, and returned home before assistance came from the Lacedemonians. The Boeotians, summoned by the Thessalians to liberate their cities and to overthrow the tyranny of Alexander of Pherae, dispatched Pelopidas with an army to Thessaly, after giving him instructions to arrange Thessalian affairs in the interests of the Boeotians. Having arrived in Larissa and found the acropolis garrisoned by Alexander of Macedon, he obtained its surrender. Then proceeding into Macedon, where he made an alliance with Alexander the Macedonian king, he took from him as a hostage his brother Philip, whom he sent to Thebes. When he had settled Thessalian affairs as he thought fit in the interest of the Boeotians, he returned home.
§ 15.68
τούτων δὲ πραχθέντων Ἀρκάδες καὶ Ἀργεῖοι καὶ Ἠλεῖοι συμφρονήσαντες ἔγνωσαν στρατεύειν ἐπὶ τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους, καὶ πρεσβεύσαντες πρὸς Βοιωτοὺς ἔπεισαν αὐτοὺς κοινωνεῖν τοῦ πολέμου. οἱ δʼ Ἐπαμεινώνδαν καταστήσαντες ἡγεμόνα μετʼ ἄλλων βοιωταρχῶν, ἐξέπεμψαν στρατιώτας πεζοὺς μὲν ἑπτακισχιλίους, ἱππεῖς δʼ ἑξακοσίους. Ἀθηναῖοι δὲ πυθόμενοι τὴν Βοιωτῶν στρατιὰν παριοῦσαν εἰς τὴν Πελοπόννησον, ἐξέπεμψαν δύναμιν καὶ στρατηγὸν ἐπʼ αὐτῆς Χαβρίαν. οὗτος δὲ παρελθὼν εἰς Κόρινθον, καὶ προσλαβόμενος καὶ παρὰ Μεγαρέων καὶ Πελληνέων, ἔτι δὲ Κορινθίων στρατιώτας, στρατόπεδον συνεστήσατο ἀνδρῶν μυρίων· μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Λακεδαιμονίων καὶ τῶν ἄλλων συμμάχων παραγενομένων εἰς Κόρινθον συνήχθησαν οἱ σύμπαντες οὐκ ἐλάττους δισμυρίων. ἔδοξεν οὖν αὐτοῖς ὀχυρώσασθαι τὰς παρόδους καὶ διακωλύειν τοὺς Βοιωτοὺς τῆς εἰς Πελοπόννησον εἰσβολῆς. ἀρξάμενοι δʼ ἀπὸ Κεγχρεῶν μέχρι Λεχαίου σταυρώμασι καὶ βαθείαις τάφροις διελάμβανον τὸν τόπον· ταχὺ δὲ τῶν ἔργων συντελουμένων διά τε τὴν πολυχειρίαν καὶ τὰς προθυμίας τῶν ἀνδρῶν, ἔφθασαν τοὺς Βοιωτοὺς πάντα τόπον ὀχυρώσαντες. ὁ δʼ Ἐπαμεινώνδας ἥκων μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως ἐπεσκέψατο, καὶ κατανοήσας εὐεφοδώτατον εἶναι τόπον καθʼ ὃν οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι παρεφύλαττον, τὸ μὲν πρῶτον προεκαλεῖτο τοὺς πολεμίους εἰς παράταξιν, σχεδὸν τριπλασίους ὄντας τοῖς πλήθεσιν, οὐδενὸς δὲ τολμῶντος ἐκτὸς τοῦ τειχίσματος προελθεῖν, ἀλλʼ ἀπὸ τοῦ χαρακώματος ἀμυνομένων ἁπάντων, προσῆγε τὴν βίαν τοῖς πολεμίοις. κατὰ πάντα μὲν οὖν τὸν τόπον ἐγίνοντο προσβολαὶ καρτεραί, μάλιστα δὲ κατὰ Λακεδαιμονίους, εὐεφόδων ὄντων καὶ δυσφυλάκτων τῶν τόπων. μεγάλης δὲ φιλοτιμίας γενομένης παρʼ ἀμφοτέροις, Ἐπαμεινώνδας ἔχων μεθʼ ἑαυτοῦ τοὺς ἀρίστους τῶν Θηβαίων μόγις ἐβιάσατο τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους· διακόψας δὲ τὴν φυλακὴν αὐτῶν καὶ τὴν δύναμιν διαγαγὼν παρῆλθεν εἰς τὴν Πελοπόννησον, διαπραξάμενος ἔργον οὐδὲν τῶν προκατειργασμένων καταδεέστερον.
After these events, Arcadians, Argives, and Eleians, making common cause, decided to take the field against the Lacedemonians, and having sent a commission to the Boeotians prevailed on them to join in the war. They appointed Epameinondas commander along with other boeotarchs and dispatched seven thousand foot and six hundred horse. The Athenians, hearing that the Boeotian army was about to pass into the Peloponnese, dispatched an army and Chabrias as general against them. He arrived in Corinth, added to his number Megarians, Pellenians, and also Corinthians, and so gathered a force of ten thousand men. Later, when the Lacedemonians and other allies arrived at Corinth, there were assembled no less than twenty thousand men all told. They decided to fortify the approaches and prevent the Boeotians from invading the Peloponnese. From Cenchreae to Lechaeum they fenced off the area with palisades and deep trenches, and since the task was quickly completed owing to the large number of men and their enthusiasm, they had every spot fortified before the Boeotians arrived. Epameinondas came with his army, inspected the fortifications, and, perceiving that there was a spot very easy of access where the Lacedemonians were on guard, first challenged the army to come forth to a pitched battle, though they were almost three times his number, then when not a man dared to advance beyond the fortified line, but all remained on the defensive in their palisaded camp, he launched a violent attack upon them. Accordingly, throughout the whole area heavy assaults were made, but particularly against the Lacedemonians, for their terrain was easily assailed and difficult to defend. Great rivalry arose between the two armies, and Epameinondas, who had with him the bravest of the Thebans, with great effort forced back the Lacedemonians, and, cutting through their defence and bringing his army through, passed into the Peloponnese, thereby accomplishing a feat no whit inferior to his former mighty deeds.
§ 15.69
εὐθὺ δὲ ἐπὶ Τροιζῆνα καὶ Ἐπίδαυρον πορευθεὶς τὴν μὲν χώραν ἐδῄωσε, τῶν δὲ πόλεων οὐκ ἐδυνήθη κρατῆσαι διὰ τὸ φρουρὰς ἔχειν ἀξιολόγους, Σικυῶνα δὲ καὶ Φλιοῦντα καί τινας ἄλλας πόλεις καταπληξάμενος προσηγάγετο. στρατεύσας δʼ ἐπὶ Κόρινθον, καὶ τῶν Κορινθίων ἐπεξελθόντων νικήσας μάχῃ, τούτους μὲν ἐντὸς τῶν τειχῶν συνεδίωξε, τῶν δὲ Βοιωτῶν διὰ τὴν εὐημερίαν μετεωρισθέντων, καί τινων προχείρως τολμησάντων διὰ τῆς πύλης εἰς τὴν πόλιν εἰσβιάζεσθαι, οἱ μὲν Κορίνθιοι δείσαντες ἐτράπησαν εἰς τὰς οἰκίας, Χαβρίας δʼ ὁ τῶν Ἀθηναίων στρατηγὸς ἐμφρόνως ἅμα καὶ τεθαρρηκότως ὑποστὰς τοὺς μὲν ἐξέβαλεν ἐκ τῆς πόλεως, πολλοὺς δὲ τῶν Βοιωτῶν κατέβαλεν. γενομένης δὲ φιλοτιμίας, οἱ μὲν Βοιωτοὶ πᾶσαν τὴν δύναμιν συντάξαντες ἐπῆγον ἐπὶ τὴν Κόρινθον καταπληκτικῶς, ὁ δὲ Χαβρίας ἀναλαβὼν τοὺς Ἀθηναίους προῆγεν ἐκ τῆς πόλεως, καὶ καταλαβόμενος τοὺς ὑπερδεξίους τόπους ὑπέστη τὴν τῶν πολεμίων ἔφοδον. οἱ μὲν οὖν Βοιωτοί, πεποιθότες ταῖς τῶν σωμάτων ῥώμαις καὶ ταῖς ἐν τοῖς συνεχέσι πολέμοις ἐμπειρίαις, τῇ βίᾳ τοὺς Ἀθηναίους ἤλπιζον χειρώσασθαι, οἱ δὲ περὶ τὸν Χαβρίαν ἐκ τόπων ὑπερδεξίων ἀγωνιζόμενοι, καὶ πολλῶν ἐκ τῆς πόλεως χορηγουμένων, οὓς μὲν ἀνῄρουν τῶν βιαζομένων, τοὺς δὲ κατετίτρωσκον. οἱ δὲ Βοιωτοί, πολλὰ μὲν κακοπαθήσαντες, οὐδὲν δὲ πρᾶξαι δυνάμενοι, τὴν ἀναχώρησιν ἐποιήσαντο. Χαβρίας μὲν οὖν ἐπὶ ἀνδρείᾳ καὶ στρατηγικῇ συνέσει θαυμασθεὶς τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον ἀπετρίψατο τοὺς πολεμίους.
Having proceeded straightway to Troezen and Epidaurus, he ravaged the countryside but could not seize the cities, for they had garrisons of considerable strength, yet Sicyon, Phlius, and certain other cities he so intimidated as to bring them over to his side. When he invaded Corinth, and the Corinthians sallied forth to meet him, he defeated them in battle, and drove them all back inside their walls, but when the Boeotians were so elated by their successes that some of them rashly ventured to force their way through the gates into the city, the Corinthians, frightened, took refuge in their houses, but Chabrias the Athenian general made an intelligent and determined resistance, and succeeded in driving the Boeotians out of the city, having also struck down many of them. In the rivalry which followed, the Boeotians gathered all their army in line of battle and directed a formidable blow at Corinth; but Chabrias with the Athenians advanced out of the city, took his station on superior terrain and withstood the attack of the enemy. The Boeotians, however, relying upon the hardihood of their bodies and their experience in continuous warfare, expected to worst the Athenians by sheer might, but Chabrias' corps, having the advantage of superior ground in the struggle and of abundant supplies from the city, slew some of the attackers and severely wounded others. The Boeotians, having suffered many losses and being unable to accomplish anything, beat a retreat. So Chabrias won great admiration for his courage and shrewdness as a general and got rid of the enemy in this fashion.
§ 15.70
ἐκ δὲ τῆς Σικελίας Κελτοὶ καὶ Ἴβηρες δισχίλιοι κατέπλευσαν εἰς Κόρινθον, ἐκπεμφθέντες ὑπὸ Διονυσίου τοῦ τυράννου συμμαχῆσαι Λακεδαιμονίοις, εἰς μῆνας πέντε τοὺς μισθοὺς εἰληφότες. οἱ δʼ Ἕλληνες πεῖραν αὐτῶν βουλόμενοι λαβεῖν προῆγον αὐτούς, καὶ κατὰ τὰς συμπλοκὰς καὶ μάχας ἀνδραγαθούντων αὐτῶν, πολλοί τε τῶν Βοιωτῶν καὶ τῶν συμμάχων ὑπʼ αὐτῶν ἀνῃροῦντο. διόπερ δόξαντες εὐχειρίᾳ καὶ ἀνδρείᾳ διαφέρειν καὶ πολλὰς χρείας παρασχόμενοι, καὶ τιμηθέντες ὑπὸ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων τοῦ θέρους λήγοντος ἐξαπεστάλησαν εἰς τὴν Σικελίαν. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Φιλίσκος μὲν ὑπʼ Ἀρταξέρξου τοῦ βασιλέως ἀποσταλεὶς κατέπλευσεν ἐπὶ τὴν Ἑλλάδα, παρακαλῶν τοὺς Ἕλληνας διαλύσασθαι μὲν τοὺς πολέμους, εἰρήνην δὲ κοινὴν συνθέσθαι. οἱ μὲν οὖν ἄλλοι πάντες ἀσμένως ὑπήκουσαν, Θηβαῖοι δὲ κατὰ τὴν ἰδίαν ὑπόστασιν ὅλην τὴν Βοιωτίαν ὑπὸ μίαν ἀγαγόντες συντέλειαν οὐ προσεδέχθησαν. ἀπογνωσθείσης δὲ τῆς κοινῆς εἰρήνης, ὁ μὲν Φιλίσκος καταλιπὼν τοῖς Λακεδαιμονίοις δισχιλίους ἐπιλέκτους μισθοφόρους ἔχοντας τοὺς μισθούς, ἀπῆλθεν εἰς τὴν Ἀσίαν. ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις Εὔφρων ὁ Σικυώνιος, διαφέρων θράσει καὶ ἀπονοίᾳ, συνεργοὺς λαβὼν Ἀργείους ἐπέθετο τυραννίδι. κρατήσας δὲ τῆς ἐπιβολῆς τετταράκοντα τοὺς εὐπορωτάτους τῶν Σικυωνίων ἐφυγάδευσε, δημεύσας αὐτῶν τὰς οὐσίας, καὶ πολλῶν χρημάτων κυριεύσας μισθοφόρους ἤθροισε καὶ τῆς πόλεως ἐδυνάστευσεν.
From Sicily, Celts and Iberians to the number of two thousand sailed to Corinth, for they had been sent by the tyrant Dionysius to fight in an alliance with the Lacedemonians, and had received pay for five months. The Greeks, in order to make trial of them, led them forth; and they proved their worth in hand-to hand fighting and in battles and many both of the Boeotians and of their allies were slain by them. Accordingly, having won repute for superior dexterity and courage and rendered many kinds of service, they were given awards by the Lacedemonians and sent back home at the close of the summer to Sicily. Following this, Philiscus, who was sent on this mission by King Artaxerxes, sailed to Greece to urge the Greeks to compose their strife and agree to a general peace. All but the Thebans responded willingly; they, however, adhering to their own design, had brought all Boeotia into one confederation and were excluded from the agreement. Since the general peace was not adhered to, Philiscus left two thousand picked mercenaries, paid in advance, for the Lacedemonians and then returned to Asia. While these things were going on, Euphron of Sicyon, a particularly rash and crack-brained individual, with accomplices from Argos attempted to set up a tyranny. Succeeding in his plan, he sent forty of the wealthiest Sicyonians into exile, first confiscating their property, and, when he had secured large sums thereby, he collected a mercenary force and became lord of the city.
§ 15.71
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησι Ναυσιγένους ἐν Ῥώμῃ χιλίαρχοι κατεστάθησαν ἀντὶ τῶν ὑπάτων τέτταρες, Λεύκιος Παπίριος, Λεύκιος Μενήνιος, Σερούιος Κορνήλιος, Σερούιος Σολπίκιος, παρὰ δὲ Ἠλείοις Ὀλυμπιὰς ἤχθη τρίτη πρὸς ταῖς ἑκατόν, καθʼ ἣν ἐνίκα στάδιον Πυθόστρατος Ἀθηναῖος. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Πτολεμαῖος ὁ Ἀλωρίτης ὁ Ἀμύντου υἱὸς ἐδολοφόνησεν Ἀλέξανδρον τὸν ἀδελφόν, καὶ ἐβασίλευσε τῆς Μακεδονίας ἔτη τρία. κατὰ δὲ τὴν Βοιωτίαν Πελοπίδας ἐφάμιλλος ὢν τῷ Ἐπαμεινώνδᾳ τῇ κατὰ πόλεμον δόξῃ, καὶ θεωρῶν ἐκεῖνον τὰ περὶ τὴν Πελοπόννησον συμφερόντως κατεσκευακότα τοῖς Βοιωτοῖς, ἔσπευδε τὰ ἐκτὸς Πελοποννήσου διʼ αὑτοῦ προσάγεσθαι τοῖς Θηβαίοις. παραλαβὼν δὲ Ἰσμηνίαν, ἄνδρα φίλον μὲν ἑαυτοῦ, θαυμαζόμενον δʼ ἐπʼ ἀρετῇ, παρῆλθεν εἰς Θετταλίαν. καταντήσας δὲ πρὸς Ἀλέξανδρον τὸν Φερῶν τύραννον, ἀλόγως συνελήφθη μετὰ Ἰσμηνίου καὶ εἰς φυλακὴν παρεδόθη. Θηβαίων δʼ ἐπὶ τοῖς πραχθεῖσι παροξυνθέντων, καὶ ταχέως εἰς τὴν Θετταλίαν ἐκπεμψάντων ὁπλίτας μὲν ὀκτακισχιλίους, ἱππεῖς δʼ ἑξακοσίους, φοβηθεὶς Ἀλέξανδρος ἐξέπεμψε πρεσβευτὰς εἰς τὰς Ἀθήνας περὶ συμμαχίας. ᾧ παραχρῆμα ὁ δῆμος ἐξέπεμψε ναῦς μὲν τριάκοντα, στρατιώτας δὲ χιλίους, ὧν ἦν στρατηγὸς Αὐτοκλῆς. ἐν ὅσῳ δʼ οὗτος περιέπλει τὴν Εὔβοιαν, Θηβαῖοι κατήντησαν εἰς Θετταλίαν. τοῦ δʼ Ἀλεξάνδρου πεζὴν δύναμιν ἠθροικότος καὶ ἱππεῖς πολλαπλασίους ἔχοντος τῶν Βοιωτῶν, τὸ μὲν πρῶτον οἱ Βοιωτοὶ διὰ μάχης ἔκρινον λῦσαι τὸν πόλεμον, συνεργοὺς ἔχοντες τοὺς Θετταλούς· ὡς δʼ οὗτοι μὲν αὐτοὺς ἐγκατέλιπον, Ἀθηναῖοι δὲ καί τινες ἄλλοι σύμμαχοι παρεγένοντο τῷ Ἀλεξάνδρῳ, τὰ δὲ σῖτα καὶ ποτὰ καὶ τἄλλα πάντα ἐπέλειπε τοῖς Βοιωτοῖς, ἔγνωσαν οἱ βοιωτάρχαι τὴν εἰς οἶκον ἐπάνοδον ποιεῖσθαι. ἀναζευξάντων δʼ αὐτῶν, καὶ τῆς πορείας οὔσης διὰ χώρας πεδιάδος, Ἀλέξανδρος ἐπηκολούθει πολλοῖς ἱππεῦσι καὶ τοῖς ἐπὶ τῆς οὐραγίας ἐπέθετο. τῶν δὲ Βοιωτῶν οἱ μὲν κατακοντιζόμενοι συνεχῶς ἀπέθνησκον, οἱ δὲ τραύμασι περιέπιπτον, τέλος δʼ οὔτε μένειν οὔτε προάγειν ἐώμενοι εἰς πολλὴν ἀμηχανίαν ἐνέπιπτον, ἅτε δὴ καὶ τῶν ἐπιτηδείων σπανιζόντων. ἤδη δʼ αὐτῶν τὴν σωτηρίαν ἀπογινωσκόντων, Ἐπαμεινώνδας ἰδιωτεύων κατʼ ἐκεῖνον τὸν χρόνον ὑπὸ τῶν στρατιωτῶν κατεστάθη στρατηγός. εὐθὺς δὲ διαλέξας τούς τε ψιλοὺς καὶ τοὺς ἱππεῖς, τούτους μὲν αὐτὸς ἀνέλαβε, καὶ ταχθεὶς ἐπὶ τῆς οὐραγίας διὰ τούτων ἀνέστελλε τοὺς ἐπακολουθοῦντας πολεμίους καὶ πολλὴν ἀσφάλειαν παρείχετο τοῖς προηγουμένοις ὁπλίταις, ποιούμενος δὲ μάχας ἐξ ὑποστροφῆς καὶ τάξει φιλοτέχνῳ χρώμενος διέσωσε τὸ στρατόπεδον. αἰεὶ δὲ μᾶλλον διὰ τῶν κατορθωμάτων αὔξων τὴν ἰδίαν εὐδοξίαν μεγάλης ἀποδοχῆς ἐτύγχανε παρά τε τοῖς πολίταις καὶ τοῖς συμμάχοις. οἱ δὲ Θηβαῖοι τοὺς τότε βοιωταρχήσαντας καταδικάσαντες, πολλοῖς χρήμασιν ἐζημίωσαν.
When Nausigenes was archon at Athens, in Rome four military tribunes with consular power were elected, Lucius Papirius, Lucius Menenius, Servius Cornelius, and Servius Sulpicius; and the Eleians celebrated the hundred and third Olympiad, in which Pythostratus the Athenian won the stadium race. During their term of office Ptolemy of Alorus, son of Amyntas, assassinated Alexander, his brotherin law, and was king of Macedon for three years. In Boeotia Pelopidas, whose military reputation rivalled that of Epameinondas, saw that the latter had arranged the Peloponnesian affairs to the advantage of the Boeotians, and was eager to be the instrument whereby districts outside of the Peloponnese were won for the Thebans. Taking along with him as his associate Ismenias, a friend of his, and a man who was admired for his valour, he entered Thessaly. There he met Alexander, the tyrant of Pherae, but was suddenly arrested with Ismenias, and placed under guard. The Thebans, incensed at what had been done, dispatched with all speed eight thousand hoplites and six hundred cavalry into Thessaly, so frightening Alexander that he dispatched ambassadors to Athens for an alliance. The Athenian people immediately sent him thirty ships and a thousand men under the command of Autocles. While Autocles was making the circuit of Euboea, the Thebans entered Thessaly. Though Alexander had gathered his infantry and had many times more horsemen than the Boeotians, at first the Boeotians decided to settle the war by battle, for they had the Thessalians as supporters; but when the latter left them in the lurch and the Athenians and some other allies joined Alexander, and they found their provisions of food and drink and all their other supplies giving out, the boeotarchs decided to return home. When they had broken camp and were proceeding through level country, Alexander trailed them with a large body of cavalry and attacked their rear. A number of Boeotians perished under the continuous rain of darts, others fell wounded, until finally, being permitted neither to halt nor to proceed, they were reduced to utter helplessness, as was natural when they were also running short of provisions. When they had now abandoned hope, Epameinondas, who was at that time serving as a private soldier, was appointed general by the men. Quickly selecting the light-armed men and cavalry, he took them with him, and, posting himself in the rear, with their aid checked the enemy pursuers and provided complete security for the heavy-armed men in the front ranks; and by wheeling about and offering battle and using masterly formations he saved the army. By these repeated successes he more and more enhanced his own reputation and won the warm approbation of both his fellow citizens and allies. But the Thebans brought judgement against the boeotarchs of the day and punished them with a heavy fine.
§ 15.72
ἐπιζητουμένης δὲ τῆς αἰτίας, πῶς ὁ τοιοῦτος ἀνὴρ ἰδιώτης ὢν ἐστρατεύετο μετὰ τῶν εἰς Θετταλίαν ἀποσταλέντων, ἀποδοτέον τὸν οἰκεῖον λόγον τῆς ἀπολογίας. τῇ μάχῃ τῇ περὶ Κόρινθον Ἐπαμεινώνδας διακόψας τὴν ἐπὶ τοῦ προτειχίσματος φυλακὴν τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων, καὶ δυνάμενος πολλοὺς ἀνελεῖν τῶν πολεμίων, ἠρκέσθη τῷ προτερήματι καὶ τῆς ἐπὶ πλεῖον μάχης ἀπέστη. γενομένης δὲ περὶ αὐτὸν ἱκανῆς ὑποψίας ὡς πεφεισμένου τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων ἰδίας ἕνεκα χάριτος, οἱ φθονοῦντες αὐτοῦ τῇ δόξῃ καιρὸν ἔλαβον εὐλόγου διαβολῆς. ἐπενεγκάντων οὖν αὐτῷ προδοσίας ἔγκλημα, τὸ πλῆθος παροξυνθὲν ἀπέστησεν αὐτὸν τῆς βοιωταρχίας, καὶ ἰδιώτην ποιῆσαν ἐξαπέστειλε μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων. ὡς δὲ ἀπὸ τῶν ἀποτελεσμάτων ἐξήλειψε τὰς καθʼ ἑαυτοῦ διαβολάς, τότε ὁ δῆμος ἀποκατέστησεν αὐτὸν εἰς τὴν προγεγενημένην εὐδοξίαν. μετʼ ὀλίγον δὲ χρόνον Λακεδαιμονίοις πρὸς Ἀρκάδας ἐγένετο μεγάλη μάχη, ἐν ᾗ ἐνίκησαν Λακεδαιμόνιοι ἐπιφανῶς. μετὰ γὰρ τὴν ἐν Λεύκτροις ἧτταν τοῦτο πρῶτον αὐτοῖς παράδοξον εὐτύχημα ἐγένετο· ἔπεσον γὰρ Ἀρκάδων μὲν ὑπὲρ τοὺς μυρίους, Λακεδαιμονίων δʼ οὐδείς. προεῖπον δʼ αὐτοῖς αἱ Δωδωνίδες ἱέρειαι, διότι πόλεμος οὗτος Λακεδαιμονίοις ἄδακρυς ἔσται. μετὰ δὲ τὴν μάχην οἱ Ἀρκάδες, φοβηθέντες τὰς τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων εἰσβολάς, ἔκτισαν ἐπί τινος ἐπικαίρου τόπου τὴν ὀνομαζομένην Μεγάλην πόλιν, συρρίψαντες εἰς αὐτὴν κώμας εἴκοσι τῶν ὀνομαζομένων Μαιναλίων καὶ Παρρασίων Ἀρκάδων. καὶ τὰ μὲν κατὰ τοὺς Ἕλληνας ἐν τούτοις ἦν.
When the reason is asked why a man of such parts was serving as a private soldier in the expedition that was sent to Thessaly, we must give his own plea in defence. In the battle at Corinth Epameinondas, having cut through the guard of the Lacedemonians on the outwork, though he might have slain many of the enemy, was satisfied with his advantage and desisted from further combat. A serious suspicion arose that he had spared the Lacedemonians as a personal favour, and those who were jealous of his fame found an opportunity for plausible charges against him. They accordingly brought a charge of treason against him, and the populace, incensed, removed him from the board of boeotarchs, made him a private soldier, and sent him out with the rest. When he had by his achievements wiped out the feeling against him, the people then restored him to his former position of high repute. Shortly after this the Lacedemonians fought a great battle with the Arcadians and defeated them signally. Indeed since the defeat at Leuctra this was their first stroke of good fortune, and it was a surprising one; for over ten thousand Arcadians fell and not one Lacedemonian. The priestesses of Dodona had foretold to them that this war would be a tearless one for the Lacedemonians. After this battle the Arcadians, fearful of the invasions of the Lacedemonians, founded in a favourable location the city called Great, Megalopolis, by combining to form it twenty villages of the Arcadians known as Maenalians and Parrhasians. Such were the events in Greece at this time.
§ 15.73
κατὰ δὲ τὴν Σικελίαν Διονύσιος ὁ τύραννος ἔχων δυνάμεις ἀξιολόγους, καὶ τοὺς Καρχηδονίους ὁρῶν οὐκ εὖ διακειμένους πρὸς τὸν πόλεμον διά τε τὴν γεγενημένην παρʼ αὐτοῖς λοιμικὴν νόσον καὶ τὴν ἀπόστασιν τῶν Λιβύων, ἔγνω στρατεύειν ἐπʼ αὐτούς. οὐκ ἔχων δὲ πρόφασιν ἀξιόλογον τῆς διαφορᾶς, προσεποιήθη τοὺς κατὰ τὴν ἐπικράτειαν Φοίνικας ἐπιβεβηκέναι τῆς ὑπʼ αὐτὸν χώρας. παρασκευασάμενος οὖν πεζοὺς μὲν τρισμυρίους, ἱππεῖς δὲ τρισχιλίους, τριήρεις δὲ τριακοσίας καὶ τὴν ἁρμόζουσαν τῇ δυνάμει ταύτῃ παρασκευήν, ἐνέβαλεν εἰς τὴν ὑπὸ Καρχηδονίους χώραν. καὶ Σελινοῦντα μὲν καὶ Ἔντελλαν εὐθὺς προσηγάγετο, καὶ τὴν χώραν πᾶσαν πορθήσας καὶ τῆς πόλεως τῶν Ἐρυκίνων ἐγκρατὴς γενόμενος ἐπολιόρκησε Λιλύβαιον· πολλῶν δʼ ὄντων ἐν αὐτῷ στρατιωτῶν τὴν πολιορκίαν ἔλυσεν. ἀκούσας δὲ τὰ νεώρια τῶν Καρχηδονίων ἐμπεπρῆσθαι, καὶ δόξας πάντα τὸν στόλον αὐτῶν διεφθάρθαι, κατεφρόνησε, καὶ τῶν ἰδίων τριήρων ἑκατὸν μὲν καὶ τριάκοντα τὰς ἀρίστας ἀπέστειλεν εἰς τὸν τῶν Ἐρυκίνων λιμένα, τὰς δʼ ἄλλας ἁπάσας ἐξέπεμψεν εἰς τὰς Συρακούσας. οἱ δὲ Καρχηδόνιοι παραδόξως διακοσίας ναῦς πληρώσαντες ἐπέπλευσαν ταῖς ὁρμούσαις ἐν τῷ λιμένι τῶν Ἐρυκίνων· ἀνελπίστου δὲ τῆς ἐπιθέσεως γενομένης ἀπήγαγον τῶν τριήρων τὰς πλείστας. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τοῦ χειμῶνος ἐνστάντος ἀνοχὰς ποιησάμενοι διεχωρίσθησαν εἰς τὰς οἰκείας ἑκάτεροι πόλεις. μετʼ ὀλίγον δὲ χρόνον Διονύσιος εἰς ἀρρωστίαν ἐμπεσὼν ἐτελεύτησε, δυναστεύσας ἔτη τριάκοντα καὶ ὀκτώ· τὴν δὲ ἀρχὴν διαδεξάμενος ὁ υἱὸς Διονύσιος ἐτυράννευσεν ἔτη δώδεκα.
In Sicily, Dionysius the tyrant having large armies, and perceiving that the Carthaginians were in no condition for war because of the plague which had raged in their midst and the defection of the Libyans, decided to take the field against them. Not having a reasonable excuse for strife, he alleged that the Phoenicians in the empire of Carthage had violated the territory subject to him. He therefore got ready an armament of thirty thousand foot, three thousand horse, three hundred triremes and the supply train appropriate for that force, and invaded Carthaginian territory in Sicily. He immediately won Selinus and Entella, lay waste the whole countryside, and, having captured the city of Eryx, besieged Lilybaeum, but there were so many soldiers in the place that he abandoned the siege. Hearing that the Carthaginians' dockyards had been burned and thinking that their whole fleet had been destroyed, he conceived a contempt for them and dispatched only one hundred thirty of his best triremes to the harbour of Eryx, sending all the rest back to Syracuse. But the Carthaginians, having unexpectedly manned two hundred ships, sailed against the fleet at anchor in the harbour of Eryx, and, as the attack was unforeseen, they made off with most of the triremes. Later when winter had set in, the two states agreed to an armistice and separated, each going to its own cities. A little later Dionysius fell sick and died, after ruling as overlord for thirty-eight years. His son Dionysius succeeded and ruled as tyrant twelve years.
§ 15.74
οὐκ ἀνοίκειον δʼ ἐστὶ τῆς ὑποκειμένης ἱστορίας φδιελθεῖν τάς τε αἰτίας τῆς τελευτῆς καὶ τὰ συμβάντα τούτῳ τῷ δυνάστῃ περὶ τὴν τοῦ βίου καταστροφήν. Διονυσίου τοίνυν δεδιδαχότος Ἀθήνησι Ληναίοις τραγῳδίαν καὶ νικήσαντος, τῶν ἐν τῷ χορῷ τις ᾀδόντων ὑπολαβὼν τιμηθήσεσθαι λαμπρῶς, ἐὰν πρῶτος ἀπαγγείλῃ τὴν νίκην, διέπλευσεν εἰς τὴν Κόρινθον. καταλαβὼν δʼ ἐκεῖ ναῦν ἐκπλέουσαν εἰς Σικελίαν καὶ μετεμβὰς εἰς ταύτην, οὐρίοις ἐχρήσατο πνεύμασι, καὶ καταπλεύσας εἰς Συρακούσας συντόμως ἀπήγγειλε τῷ τυράννῳ τὴν νίκην. ὁ δὲ Διονύσιος τοῦτον μὲν ἐτίμησεν, αὐτὸς δὲ περιχαρὴς ἐγένετο καὶ τοῖς θεοῖς εὐαγγέλια θύσας πότους καὶ μεγάλας εὐωχίας ἐπετέλεσεν. ἑστιῶν δὲ λαμπρῶς τοὺς φίλους, καὶ κατὰ τοὺς πότους φιλοτιμότερον τῇ μέθῃ δοὺς ἑαυτόν, εἰς ἀρρωστίαν σφοδροτέραν ἐνέπεσε διὰ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν ἐμφορηθέντων ὑγρῶν. ἔχων δὲ παρὰ θεῶν λόγιον, τότε τελευτήσειν ὅταν τῶν κρειττόνων περιγένηται, τὸν χρησμὸν ἀνέφερεν ἐπὶ τοὺς Καρχηδονίους, ὑπολαμβάνων τούτους κρείττους ἑαυτοῦ εἶναι. διὸ καὶ πρὸς αὐτοὺς πλεονάκις πεπολεμηκὼς εἰώθει κατὰ τὰς νίκας ὑποφεύγειν καὶ ἑκουσίως ἡττᾶσθαι, ἵνα μὴ δόξῃ τῶν ἰσχυροτέρων γεγονέναι κρείττων. οὐ μὴν ἠδυνήθη γε τῇ πανουργίᾳ κατασοφίσασθαι τὴν ἐκ τῆς πεπρωμένης ἀνάγκην, ἀλλὰ ποιητὴς ὢν κακὸς καὶ διακριθεὶς ἐν Ἀθήναις ἐνίκησε τοὺς κρείττονας ποιητάς. εὐλόγως οὖν κατὰ τὸν χρησμὸν διὰ τὸ περιγενέσθαι τῶν κρειττόνων ἐπακολουθοῦσαν ἔσχε τὴν τοῦ βίου τελευτήν. ὁ δὲ Διονύσιος ὁ νεώτερος διαδεξάμενος τὴν τυραννίδα, πρῶτον τὰ πλήθη συναγαγὼν εἰς ἐκκλησίαν παρεκάλεσε τοῖς οἰκείοις λόγοις τηρεῖν τὴν πατροπαράδοτον πρὸς αὐτὸν εὔνοιαν, ἔπειτα τὸν πατέρα μεγαλοπρεπῶς θάψας κατὰ τὴν ἀκρόπολιν πρὸς ταῖς βασιλίσι καλουμέναις πύλαις, ἠσφαλίσατο τὰ κατὰ τὴν ἀρχήν.
It is not out of keeping with the present narrative to recount the cause of his death and the events which befell this dynast toward the end of his life. Now Dionysius had produced a tragedy at the Lenaea at Athens and had won the victory, and one of those who sang in the chorus, supposing he would be rewarded handsomely if he were the first to give news of the victory, set sail to Corinth. There, finding a ship bound for Sicily, he transferred to it, and obtaining favouring winds, speedily landed at Syracuse and gave the tyrant news of the victory. Dionysius did reward him, and was himself so overjoyed that he sacrificed to the gods for the good tidings and instituted a drinking bout and great feasts. As he entertained his friends lavishly and during the bout applied himself overzealously to drink, he fell violently ill from the quantity of liquor he had consumed. Now he had an oracle the gods had given him that he should die when he had conquered "his betters," but he interpreted the oracle as referring to the Carthaginians, assuming that these were "his betters." So in the wars that he had many times waged against them he was accustomed to withdraw in the hour of victory and accept defeat willingly, in order that he might not appear to have proved himself "better" than the stronger foe. For all that, however, he could not in the end by his chicanery outwit the destiny Fate had in store for him; on the contrary, though a wretched poet and though judged on this occasion in a competition at Athens, he defeated "better" poets than himself. So in verbal consistency with the decree of the oracle he met his death as a direct consequence of defeating "his betters." Dionysius the younger on his succession to the tyranny first gathered the populace in an assembly and urged them in appropriate words to maintain toward him the loyalty that passed to him with the heritage that he had received from his father; then, having buried his father with magnificent obsequies in the citadel by the gates called royal, he made secure for himself the administration of the government.
§ 15.75
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησι Πολυζήλου κατὰ μὲν τὴν Ῥώμην ἀναρχία διά τινας πολιτικὰς στάσεις ἐγένετο, κατὰ δὲ τὴν Ἑλλάδα Ἀλέξανδρος ὁ Φερῶν τύραννος ἐν τῇ Θετταλίᾳ περί τινων ἐγκαλέσας τῇ πόλει τῶν Σκοτουσσαίων, ἐκάλεσεν αὐτοὺς εἰς ἐκκλησίαν καὶ περιστήσας τοὺς μισθοφόρους ἅπαντας ἀπέσφαξε, τὰ δὲ σώματα τῶν τετελευτηκότων ῥίψας εἰς τὴν πρὸ τῶν τειχῶν τάφρον τὴν πόλιν διήρπασεν. Ἐπαμεινώνδας δʼ ὁ Θηβαῖος μετὰ δυνάμεως ἐμβαλὼν εἰς Πελοπόννησον τοὺς Ἀχαιοὺς καί τινας ἄλλας πόλεις προσηγάγετο, Δύμην δὲ καὶ Ναύπακτον καὶ Καλυδῶνα φρουρουμένην ὑπʼ Ἀχαιῶν ἠλευθέρωσεν. ἐστράτευσαν δὲ καὶ εἰς Θετταλίαν Βοιωτοί, καὶ Πελοπίδαν ἐκομίσαντο παρʼ Ἀλεξάνδρου τοῦ Φερῶν τυράννου. Φλιασίοις δὲ πολεμουμένοις ὑπʼ Ἀργείων Χάρης ὑπʼ Ἀθηναίων πεμφθεὶς στρατηγὸς μετὰ δυνάμεως ἐβοήθησε· νικήσας δὲ τοὺς Ἀργείους δυσὶ μάχαις καὶ τὴν ἀσφάλειαν περιποιήσας τοῖς Φλιασίοις ἐπανῆλθεν εἰς τὰς Ἀθήνας.
When Polyzelus was archon at Athens, anarchy prevailed at Rome because of civil dissensions, and in Greece, Alexander, tyrant of Pherae in Thessaly, having lodged accusations about certain matters against the city of Scotussa, summoned its citizens to an assembly and, having surrounded them with mercenaries, slew them all, cast the bodies of the dead into the ditch in front of the walls, and plundered the city from end to end. Epameinondas, the Theban, entered the Peloponnese with an army, won over the Achaeans and some cities besides, and liberated Dyme, Naupactus, and Calydon, which were held by a garrison of the Achaeans. The Boeotians invaded Thessaly also and released Pelopidas from the custody of Alexander, tyrant of Pherae. And to the Phliasians upon whom the Argives were waging war, Chares brought assistance, having been sent with an army under his command by the Athenians; he defeated the Argives in two battles, and after securing the position of the Phliasians, returned to Athens.
§ 15.76
τοῦ δʼ ἐνιαυσίου χρόνου διεληλυθότος Ἀθήνησι μὲν ἦρχε Κηφισόδωρος, ἐν Ῥώμῃ δʼ ἀντὶ τῶν ὑπάτων χιλιάρχους ὁ δῆμος τέσσαρας κατέστησε, Λεύκιον Φούριον, Παῦλον Μάλλιον, Σερούιον Σουλπίκιον, Σερούιον Κορνήλιον. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Θεμίσων ὁ Ἐρετρίας τύραννος Ὠρωπὸν κατελάβετο. ταύτην δὲ τὴν πόλιν οὖσαν Ἀθηναίων παραλόγως ἀπέβαλεν· τῶν γὰρ Ἀθηναίων στρατευσάντων ἐπʼ αὐτὸν καὶ πολὺ ταῖς δυνάμεσιν ὑπερεχόντων, οἱ Θηβαῖοι βοηθήσαντες αὐτῷ καὶ παραλαβόντες ἐν παρακαταθήκῃ τὴν πόλιν οὐκ ἀπέδωκαν. —ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις Κῷοι μετῴκησαν εἰς τὴν νῦν οἰκουμένην πόλιν καὶ κατεσκεύασαν αὐτὴν ἀξιόλογον· πλῆθός τε γὰρ ἀνδρῶν εἰς ταύτην ἠθροίσθη καὶ τείχη πολυτελῆ κατεσκευάσθη καὶ λιμὴν ἀξιόλογος. ἀπὸ δὲ τούτων τῶν χρόνων αἰεὶ μᾶλλον ηὐξήθη προσόδοις τε δημοσίαις καὶ τοῖς τῶν ἰδιωτῶν πλούτοις, καὶ τὸ σύνολον ἐνάμιλλος ἐγένετο ταῖς πρωτευούσαις πόλεσιν. —ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις ὁ τῶν Περσῶν βασιλεὺς ἀποστείλας πρέσβεις ἔπεισε τοὺς Ἕλληνας τοὺς μὲν πολέμους καταλύσασθαι καὶ κοινὴν εἰρήνην συνθέσθαι πρὸς ἀλλήλους. διόπερ ὅ τε Λακωνικὸσκαὶ Βοιωτικὸς κληθεὶς πόλεμος κατελύθη, πλείω μείνας ἐτῶν πέντε, τὴν ἀρχὴν λαβὼν ἀπὸ τῶν Λευκτρικῶν. ὑπῆρξαν δὲ κατὰ τούτους τοὺς χρόνους ἄνδρες κατὰ παιδείαν ἄξιοι μνήμης Ἰσοκράτης τε ὁ ῥήτωρ καὶ οἱ τούτου γενόμενοι μαθηταὶ καὶ Ἀριστοτέλης ὁ φιλόσοφος, ἔτι δὲ Ἀναξιμένης ὁ Λαμψακηνὸς καὶ Πλάτων ὁ Ἀθηναῖος, ἔτι δὲ τῶν Πυθαγορικῶν φιλοσόφων οἱ τελευταῖοι, Ξενοφῶν τε ὁ τὰς ἱστορίας συγγραψάμενος ἐσχατόγηρως ὤν· μέμνηται γὰρ τῆς Ἐπαμεινώνδου τελευτῆς μετʼ ὀλίγον χρόνον γεγενημένης· Ἀρίστιππός τε καὶ Ἀντισθένης, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις Αἰσχίνης ὁ Σφήττιος ὁ Σωκρατικός.
When the year ended, Cephisodorus was archon at Athens, and at Rome the people elected four military tribunes with consular power, Lucius Furius, Paulus Manlius, Servius Sulpicius, and Servius Cornelius. During their term of office, Themison, tyrant of Eretria, seized Oropus. But this city, which belonged to Athens, he quite unexpectedly lost; for when the Athenians took the field against him with far superior forces, the Thebans, who had come to aid him and had taken over from him the city for safekeeping, did not give it back. While these things were going on, the Coans transferred their abode to the city they now inhabit and made it a notable place; for a large population was gathered into it, and costly walls and a considerable harbour were constructed. From this time on its public revenues and private wealth constantly increased, so much so that it became in a word a rival of the leading cities of Greece. While these things were going on, the Persian King sent envoys and succeeded in persuading the Greeks to settle their wars and make a general peace with one another. Accordingly the war called SpartoBoeotian was settled after lasting more than five years counting from the campaign of Leuctra. In this period there were men memorable for their culture, Isocrates the orator and those who became his pupils, Aristotle the philosopher, and besides these Anaximenes of Lampsacus, Plato of Athens, the last of the Pythagorean philosophers, and Xenophon who composed his histories in extreme old age, for he mentions the death of Epameinondas which occurred a few years later. Then there were Aristippus and Antisthenes, and Aeschines of Sphettus, the Socratic.
§ 15.77
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησι Χίωνος ἐν Ῥώμῃ ἀντὶ τῶν ὑπάτων χιλίαρχοι κατεστάθησαν Κόιντος Σερουίλιος καὶ Γάιος Οὐετόριος καὶ Αὖλος Κορνήλιος, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις Μάρκος Κορνήλιος καὶ Μάρκος Φάβιος. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων εἰρήνης οὔσης κατὰ πᾶσαν τὴν Ἑλλάδα, πάλιν ἀρχαὶ πολέμων συνέστησάν τισι τῶν πόλεων καὶ νεωτέρων πραγμάτων καινοτομία παράλογος. οἱ γὰρ τῶν Ἀρκάδων φυγάδες ὁρμηθέντες ἐξ Ἤλιδος κατελάβοντο τῆς ὀνομαζομένης Τριφυλίας χωρίον ὀχυρόν, ὃ προσηγόρευται Λασίων. ἐκ πολλῶν δὲ χρόνων περὶ τῆς Τριφυλίας ἠμφεσβήτουν Ἀρκάδες καὶ Ἠλεῖοι, καὶ κατὰ τὰς ἑκατέρων ἐν ταῖς μεταβολαῖς ὑπεροχὰς ἐναλλὰξ ἐκυρίευον τῆς χώρας· κατὰ δὲ τοὺς ὑποκειμένους καιροὺς τῶν Ἀρκάδων κρατούντων τὴν Τριφυλίαν, προφάσει τῶν φυγάδων ἀφῃροῦντο ταύτην τῶν Ἀρκάδων οἱ Ἠλεῖοι. διὸ καὶ παροξυνθέντες οἱ Ἀρκάδες τὸ μὲν πρῶτον πρέσβεις ἐξαποστείλαντες ἀπῄτουν τὸ χωρίον· ὡς δʼ οὐδεὶς αὐτοῖς προσεῖχε, μετεπέμψαντο παρʼ Ἀθηναίων συμμαχίαν καὶ μετὰ ταύτης ἐστράτευσαν ἐπὶ τὸν Λασίωνα. τῶν δὲ Ἠλείων βοηθησάντων τοῖς φυγάσιν ἐγένετο μάχη πλησίον τοῦ Λασίωνος, καὶ τῶν Ἀρκάδων πολλαπλασίων ὄντων ἡττήθησαν Ἠλεῖοι καὶ πλείους τῶν διακοσίων στρατιωτῶν ἀπέβαλον. ταύτης δὲ ἀρχῆς τοῦ πολέμου γενομένης συνέβη τὴν διαφορὰν ἐπὶ πλέον προβῆναι τοῖς Ἀρκάσι καὶ τοῖς Ἠλείοις· εὐθὺς γὰρ οἱ μὲν Ἀρκάδες μετεωρισθέντες τῷ προτερήματι ἐστράτευσαν ἐπὶ τὴν Ἠλείαν, καὶ εἷλον πόλεις Μάργανα καὶ Κρόνιον, ἔτι δὲ Κυπαρισσίαν καὶ Κορυφάσιον. —ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις κατὰ τὴν Μακεδονίαν Πτολεμαῖος μὲν ὁ Ἀλωρίτης ἐδολοφονήθη ὑπὸ τἀδελφοῦ Περδίκκα, βασιλεύσας ἔτη τρία· τὴν δὲ ἀρχὴν διαδεξάμενος ὁ Περδίκκας ἐβασίλευσε τῆς Μακεδονίας ἔτη πέντε.
When Chion was archon at Athens, at Rome military tribunes with consular power were elected, Quintus Servilius, Gaius Veturius, Aulus Cornelius, Marcus Cornelius, and Marcus Fabius. During their term of office, though peace prevailed throughout Greece, clouds of war again gathered in certain cities and strange new outbreaks of revolution. For instance, the Arcadian exiles, setting out from Elis, occupied a stronghold known as Lasion of the country called Triphylia. For many years Arcadia and Elis had been disputing the possession of Triphylia, and according as the ascendancy shifted from one country to the other, they had alternately been masters of the district; but at the period in question, though the Arcadians were ruling Triphylia, the Eleians, making the refugees a pretext, took it from the Arcadians. As a result the Arcadians were incensed and at first dispatched envoys demanding a return of the district; but when no one paid any attention to them, they summoned an allied force from the Athenians and with it attacked Lasion. The Eleians coming to the rescue of the refugees, a battle ensued near Lasion in which, being many times outnumbered by the Arcadians, the Eleians were defeated and lost over two hundred men. When the war had started in this way, it came to pass that the disagreement between Arcadians and Eleians widened in scope, for immediately the Arcadians, elated by their success, invaded Elis and took the cities of Margana and Cronion, and Cyparissia and Coryphasium. While these things were going on, in Macedon Ptolemy of Alorus was assassinated by his brother-in law Perdiccas after ruling three years; and Perdiccas succeeded to the throne and ruled Macedon for five years.
§ 15.78
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησι Τιμοκράτους ἐν Ῥώμῃ μὲν ἀντὶ τῶν ὑπάτων χιλίαρχοι τρεῖς κατεστάθησαν, Τίτος Κοΐνκτιος καὶ Σερούιος Κορνήλιος καὶ Σερούιος Σουλπίκιος, Ὀλυμπιὰς δὲ ὑπὸ Πισατῶν καὶ Ἀρκάδων ἤχθη τετάρτη πρὸς ταῖς ἑκατόν, καθʼ ἣν ἐνίκα στάδιον Φωκίδης Ἀθηναῖος. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Πισᾶται μὲν ἀνανεωσάμενοι τὸ παλαιὸν ἀξίωμα τῆς πατρίδος καί τισι μυθικαῖς καὶ παλαιαῖς ἀποδείξεσι χρώμενοι, τὴν θέσιν τῆς Ὀλυμπικῆς πανηγύρεως αὑτοῖς προσήκειν ἀπεφαίνοντο. κρίνοντες δὲ τὸν παρόντα καιρὸν εὔθετον ἔχειν ἀμφισβητῆσαι τοῦ ἀγῶνος, συμμαχίαν ἐποιήσαντο πρὸς Ἀρκάδας ὄντας πολεμίους Ἠλείων· συναγωνιστὰς δὲ λαβόντες τούτους ἐστράτευσαν ἐπὶ τοὺς Ἠλείους ἄρτι τιθέντας τὸν ἀγῶνα. ἀντιστάντων δὲ τῶν Ἠλείων πανδημεὶ συνέστη μάχη καρτερά, θεωμένων τὴν μάχην τῶν παρόντων ἐπὶ τὴν πανήγυριν Ἑλλήνων ἐστεφανωμένων καὶ μεθʼ ἡσυχίας ἀκινδύνως ἐπισημαινομένων τὰς ἑκατέρωθεν ἀνδραγαθίας. τέλος Πισᾶται νικήσαντες ἔθηκαν τὸν ἀγῶνα, καὶ τὴν Ὀλυμπιάδα ταύτην ὕστερον οὐκ ἀνέγραψαν Ἠλεῖοι διὰ τὸ δοκεῖν βίᾳ καὶ ἀδίκως διατεθῆναι. ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις Ἐπαμεινώνδας ὁ Θηβαῖος, μέγιστον ἔχων τῶν πολιτῶν ἀξίωμα, συναχθείσης ἐκκλησίας διελέχθη τοῖς πολίταις, προτρεπόμενος αὐτοὺς ἀντέχεσθαι τῆς κατὰ θάλατταν ἡγεμονίας. διελθὼν δὲ λόγον ἐκ χρόνου πεφροντισμένον ἐδείκνυε τὴν ἐπιβολὴν ταύτην συμφέρουσάν τε καὶ δυνατήν, τά τε ἄλλα προφερόμενος καὶ διότι τοῖς πεζῇ κρατοῦσι ῥᾴδιόν ἐστι περιποιήσασθαι τὴν τῆς θαλάττης ἀρχήν· καὶ γὰρ Ἀθηναίους ἐν τῷ πρὸς Ξέρξην πολέμῳ διακοσίας ναῦς ἰδίᾳ πληροῦντας Λακεδαιμονίοις δέκα ναῦς παρεχομένοις ὑποτετάχθαι. πολλὰ δὲ καὶ ἄλλα πρὸς ταύτην τὴν ὑπόθεσιν οἰκείως διαλεχθεὶς ἔπεισε τοὺς Θηβαίους ἀντέχεσθαι τῆς κατὰ θάλατταν ἀρχῆς.
When Timocrates was archon at Athens, in Rome three military tribunes with consular power were elected, Titus Quinctius, Servius Cornelius, and Servius Sulpicius; and the hundred and fourth Olympiad was celebrated by the Pisans and Arcadians, in which Phocides, an Athenian, won the stadium race. During their term of office the Pisans, renewing the ancient prestige of their country and resorting to mythical, antiquarian proofs, asserted that the honour of holding the Olympian festival was their prerogative. And judging that they had now a suitable occasion for claiming the games, they formed an alliance with the Arcadians, who were enemies of the Eleians. With them as supporters they took the field against the Eleians who were in the act of holding the games. The Eleians resisted with all their forces and a stubborn battle took place, having as spectators the Greeks who were present for the festival wearing wreaths on their heads and calmly applauding the deeds of valour on both sides, themselves out of reach of danger. Finally the Pisans won the day and held the games, but the Eleians later failed to record this Olympiad because they considered that it had been conducted by force and contrary to justice. While these things were going on, Epameinondas the Theban, who enjoyed the highest standing amongst his fellow countrymen, harangued his fellow citizens at a meeting of the assembly, urging them to strive for the supremacy on the sea. In the course of the speech, which was the result of long consideration, he pointed out that this attempt was both expedient and possible, alleging in particular that it was easy for those who possessed supremacy on land to acquire the mastery of the sea. The Athenians, for instance, in the war with Xerxes, who had two hundred ships manned by themselves, were subject to the commands of the Lacedemonians who provided only ten ships. By this and many other arguments suited to his theme he prevailed upon the Thebans to make a bid for the mastery at sea.
§ 15.79
εὐθὺς οὖν ὁ δῆμος ἐψηφίσατο τριήρεις μὲν ἑκατὸν ναυπηγεῖσθαι, νεώρια δὲ ταύταις ἴσα τὸν ἀριθμόν, Ῥοδίους δὲ καὶ Χίους καὶ Βυζαντίους προτρέπεσθαι βοηθῆσαι ταῖς ἐπιβολαῖς. αὐτὸς δὲ μετὰ δυνάμεως ἐκπεμφθεὶς ἐπὶ τὰς εἰρημένας πόλεις Λάχητα μὲν τὸν Ἀθηναίων στρατηγόν, ἔχοντα στόλον ἀξιόλογον καὶ διακωλύειν τοὺς Θηβαίους ἀπεσταλμένον, καταπληξάμενος καὶ ἀποπλεῦσαι συναναγκάσας, ἰδίας τὰς πόλεις τοῖς Θηβαίοις ἐποίησεν. εἰ μὲν οὖν ὁ ἀνὴρ οὗτος πλείω χρόνον ἐπέζησεν, ὡμολογημένως ἂν οἱ Θηβαῖοι τῇ κατὰ γῆν ἡγεμονίᾳ καὶ τὴν τῆς θαλάττης ἀρχὴν προσεκτήσαντο· ἐπεὶ δὲ μετʼ ὀλίγον χρόνον ἐν τῇ περὶ τὴν Μαντίνειαν μάχῃ λαμπροτάτην τὴν νίκην τῇ πατρίδι περιποιήσας ἡρωικῶς ἐτελεύτησεν, εὐθέως καὶ τὰ τῶν Θηβαίων πράγματα τῇ τούτου τελευτῇ συναπέθανεν. ἀλλὰ περὶ μὲν τούτων τὰ κατὰ μέρος μικρὸν ὕστερον ἀκριβῶς διέξιμεν. τότε δὲ τοῖς Θηβαίοις ἔδοξε στρατεύειν ἐπὶ τὸν Ὀρχομενὸν διὰ τοιαύτας τινὰς αἰτίας. τῶν φυγάδων τινὲς βουλόμενοι τὴν ἐν Θήβαις πολιτείαν εἰς ἀριστοκρατικὴν κατάστασιν μεταστῆσαι, συνέπεισαν τοὺς τῶν Ὀρχομενίων ἱππεῖς, ὄντας τριακοσίους, συνεπιλαβέσθαι τῆς ἐπιβολῆς. οὗτοι δὲ εἰωθότες μετὰ Θηβαίων ἀπαντᾶν ἡμέρᾳ τεταγμένῃ πρὸς τὴν ἐξοπλισίαν, εἰς ταύτην συνέθεντο ποιήσασθαι τὴν ἐπίθεσιν· πολλῶν δὲ καὶ ἄλλων κοινωνούντων τῆς προθέσεως καὶ προσορμησάντων, ἀπήντησαν πρὸς τὸν καιρόν. οἱ μὲν οὖν συστησάμενοι τὴν πρᾶξιν μετανοήσαντες ἐδήλωσαν τοῖς βοιωτάρχαις τὴν ἐπίθεσιν, προδόντες τοὺς συνομόσαντας, καὶ διὰ τῆς εὐεργεσίας ταύτης ἑαυτοῖς ἐπορίσαντο τὴν σωτηρίαν. τῶν δʼ ἀρχόντων συλλαβόντων τοὺς τῶν Ὀρχομενίων ἱππεῖς καὶ παραγαγόν ων εἰς τὴν ἐκκλησίαν, ὁ δῆμος ἐψηφίσατο τούτους μὲν ἀποσφάξαι, τοὺς δʼ Ὀρχομενίους ἐξανδραποδίσασθαι καὶ τὴν πόλιν κατασκάψαι. ἐκ παλαιῶν γὰρ χρόνων οἱ Θηβαῖοι πρὸς τούτους ἀλλοτρίως διέκειντο, δασμοφοροῦντες μὲν τοῖς Μινύαις ἐν τοῖς ἡρωικοῖς χρόνοις, ὕστερον δʼ ὑφʼ Ἡρακλέους ἐλευθερωθέντες. οἱ δʼ οὖν Θηβαῖοι καιρὸν ἔχειν νομίσαντες καὶ προφάσεις εὐλόγους τῆς τιμωρίας λαβόντες, ἐστράτευσαν ἐπὶ τὸν Ὀρχομενόν· κατασχόντες δὲ τὴν πόλιν τοὺς μὲν ἄνδρας ἀπέκτειναν, τέκνα δὲ καὶ γυναῖκας ἐξηνδραποδίσαντο.
Accordingly the people immediately voted to construct a hundred triremes and dockyards to accommodate their number, and to urge the peoples of Rhodes, Chios, and Byzantium to assist their schemes. Epameinondas himself, who had been dispatched with a force to the aforementioned cities, so overawed Laches, the Athenian general, who had a large fleet and had been sent out to circumvent the Thebans, that he forced him to sail away and made the cities friendly to Thebes. Indeed if this man had lived on longer, the Thebans admittedly would have secured the mastery at sea in addition to their supremacy on land; when, however, a little while later, after winning a most glorious victory for his country in the battle of Mantineia, he died a hero's death, straightway the power of Thebes died with him. But this subject we shall set forth accurately in detail a little later. At that time the Thebans decided to take the field against Orchomenus for the following reasons. Certain refugees who wanted to change the constitution of Thebes to an aristocracy induced the knights of Orchomenus, three hundred in all, to join them in the attempt. These knights, who were in the habit of meeting with some Thebans on a stated day for a review under arms, agreed to make the attack on this day, and along with many others who joined the movement and added their efforts, they met at the appointed time. Now the men who had originated the action changed their minds, and disclosed to the Boeotarchs the projected attack, thus betraying their fellow conspirators, and by this service they purchased safety for themselves. The officials arrested the knights from Orchomenus and brought them before the assembly, where the people voted to execute them, to sell the inhabitants of Orchomenus into slavery, and to raze the city. For from earliest times the Thebans had been ill-disposed towards them, having paid tribute to the Minyae in the heroic age, but later they had been liberated by the Heracles. So the Thebans, thinking they had a good opportunity and having got plausible pretexts for punishing them, took the field against Orchomenus, occupied the city, slew the male inhabitants and sold into slavery the women and children.
§ 15.80
περὶ δὲ τοὺς αὐτοὺς καιροὺς Θετταλοὶ πρὸς Ἀλέξανδρον τὸν Φερῶν τύραννον διαπολεμοῦντες, καὶ πλείοσι μάχαις ἡττωμένοι, πολλοὺς δὲ τῶν στρατιωτῶν ἀπολωλεκότες, πρέσβεις ἀπέστειλαν πρὸς Θηβαίους, ἀξιοῦντες αὐτοῖς βοηθῆσαι καὶ στρατηγὸν αὐτοῖς ἐξαποστεῖλαι Πελοπίδαν. ᾔδεισαν γὰρ τοῦτον τὸν ἄνδρα διὰ τὴν ὑπʼ Ἀλεξάνδρου σύλληψιν ἀλλοτριώτατα διακείμενον πρὸς τὸν δυνάστην, ἅμα δὲ καὶ ἀνδρείᾳ διάφορον καὶ ἐπὶ στρατηγικῇ συνέσει διαβεβοημένον. συναχθείσης δὲ τῆς κοινῆς συνόδου τῶν Βοιωτῶν, καὶ τῶν πρέσβεων διαλεχθέντων περὶ ὧν εἶχον ἐντολάς, οἱ μὲν Βοιωτοὶ πάντα συνεχώρησαν τοῖς Θετταλοῖς, καὶ δόντες εἰς ἑπτακισχιλίους στρατιώτας τῷ Πελοπίδᾳ συντόμως ἐκέλευον βοηθεῖν αὐτὸν τοῖς δεομένοις· τοῦ δὲ Πελοπίδου ταχέως μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως ἐξιόντος συνέβη τὸν ἥλιον ἐκλιπεῖν. πολλῶν δὲ τὸ γεγονὸς ὑποπτευσαμένων, τῶν μάντεών τινες ἀπεφήναντο διὰ τὴν γενομένην ἔξοδον τῶν στρατιωτῶν ἐκλιπεῖν τὸν τῆς πόλεως ἥλιον. καὶ διὰ τούτων τῶν λόγων προλεγόντων τὸν τοῦ Πελοπίδου θάνατον, οὐδὲν ἧττον ὁ Πελοπίδας ἀνέζευξεν ἐπὶ τὴν στρατείαν, ὑπὸ τοῦ χρεὼν ἀγόμενος. ὡς δὲ κατήντησεν εἰς τὴν Θετταλίαν, καὶ τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον κατέλαβε προκατειλημμένον τοὺς ὑπερδεξίους τόπους καὶ στρατιώτας ἔχοντα πλείους τῶν δισμυρίων, ἀντεστρατοπέδευσε μὲν τοῖς πολεμίοις, προσλαβόμενος δὲ συμμάχους παρὰ τῶν Θετταλῶν συνῆψε μάχην τοῖς ἐναντίοις. τοῦ δὲ Ἀλεξάνδρου διὰ τὰς ὑπεροχὰς τῶν τόπων πλεονεκτοῦντος, ὁ Πελοπίδας σπεύδων διὰ τῆς ἰδίας ἀνδρείας κρῖναι τὴν μάχην ἐπʼ αὐτὸν ὥρμησε τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον. τοῦ δὲ δυνάστου μετὰ τῶν ἐπιλέκτων ὑποστάντος, ἐγένετο μάχη καρτερά, καθʼ ἣν ὁ Πελοπίδας ἀριστεύων πάντα τὸν περὶ αὐτὸν τόπον νεκρῶν κατέστρωσε, τέλος δʼ ἐπιθεὶς τῷ κινδύνῳ καὶ τοὺς πολεμίους τρεψάμενος τὴν μὲν νίκην περιεποιήσατο, τὸν δὲ αὑτοῦ βίον ἀπέβαλε, πολλοῖς περιπεσὼν τραύμασι καὶ τὸ ζῆν ἡρωικῶς προέμενος. ὁ δʼ Ἀλέξανδρος δευτέρᾳ μάχῃ λειφθεὶς καὶ τοῖς ὅλοις συντριβείς, ἠναγκάσθη καθʼ ὁμολογίαν τοῖς μὲν Θετταλοῖς τὰς καταπεπολεμημένας πόλεις ἀποδοῦναι, Μάγνητας δὲ καὶ τοὺς Φθιώτας Ἀχαιοὺς παραδοῦναι Βοιωτοῖς, καὶ τὸ λοιπὸν Φερῶν μόνων ἄρχοντα σύμμαχον εἶναι Βοιωτοῖς.
About this time the Thessalians, who continued the war upon Alexander, tyrant of Pherae, and, suffering defeat in most of the battles, had lost large numbers of their fighting men, sent ambassadors to the Thebans with a request to assist them and to dispatch to them Pelopidas as general. For they knew that on account of his arrest by Alexander he was on very bad terms with the ruler, and besides, that he was a man of superior courage and widely renowned for his shrewdness in the art of war. When the common council of the Boeotians convened and the envoys had explained the matters on which they had been instructed, the Boeotians concurred with the Thessalians on every matter, gave Pelopidas seven thousand men and ordered him speedily to assist as requested; but as Pelopidas was hastening to leave with his army, the sun, as it happened, was eclipsed. Many were superstitious about the phenomenon, and some of the soothsayers declared that because of the withdrawal of the soldiers, the city's "sun" had been eclipsed. Although in this interpretation they were foretelling the death of Pelopidas, he notwithstanding set out for the campaign, drawn on by Fate. When he arrived in Thessaly, and found that Alexander had forestalled him by occupying the commanding positions and had more than twenty thousand men, he encamped opposite the enemy, and, strengthening his forces with allied troops from among the Thessalians, joined battle with his opponents. Although Alexander had the advantage by reason of his superior position, Pelopidas, eager to settle the battle by his own courage, charged Alexander himself. The ruler with a corps of picked men resisted, and a stubborn battle ensued, in the course of which Pelopidas, performing mighty deeds of valour, strewed all the ground about him with dead men, and though he brought the contest to a close, routed the enemy and won the victory, he yet lost his own life, suffering many wounds and heroically forfeiting his life. But Alexander, after being worsted in a second battle and utterly crushed, was compelled by agreement to restore to the Thessalians the cities he had reduced, to surrender the Magnesians and the Phthiotian Achaeans to the Boeotians, and for the future to be the ruler over Pherae alone as an ally of the Boeotians.
§ 15.81
οἱ δὲ Θηβαῖοι περιβόητον νίκην ἀπενηνεγμένοι, πρὸς ἅπαντας ἔφασαν ἑαυτοὺς ἡττᾶσθαι διὰ τὴν Πελοπίδου τελευτήν· ἀξιόλογον γὰρ ἀπολωλεκότες ἄνδρα, κατὰ λόγον ἔκρινον τὴν νίκην ἥττονα ὑπάρχειν τῆς Πελοπίδου ζωῆς. πολλὰς γὰρ καὶ μεγάλας χρείας παρέσχετο τῇ πατρίδι, πλεῖστον δὲ συνεβάλετο πρὸς τὴν τῶν Θηβαίων αὔξησιν. ἐν γὰρ τῇ τῶν φυγάδων κατηλύσει, καθʼ ἣν ἀνεκτήσαντο τὴν Καδμείαν, ὡμολογημένως ἅπαντες τούτῳ τὸ πρωτεῖον τοῦ κατορθώματος ἀπονέμουσιν. τὴν δʼ εὐημερίαν ταύτην συνέβη πάντων τῶν ὕστερον γενομένων ἀγαθῶν αἰτίαν γενέσθαι. ἐν δὲ τῇ περὶ Τεγύραν μάχῃ μόνος Πελοπίδας τῶν βοιωταρχῶν ἐνίκησε τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους, πλεῖστον ἰσχύοντας τῶν Ἑλλήνων, ὅτε διὰ τὸ μέγεθος τῆς νίκης πρῶτον ἔστησαν Θηβαῖοι τρόπαιον κατὰ Λακεδαιμονίων. κατὰ δὲ τὴν ἐν Λεύκτροις μάχην ἡγήσατο τοῦ ἱεροῦ λόχου, μεθʼ οὗ προεμβαλὼν τοῖς Σπαρτιάταις ἀρχηγὸς ἐγένετο τῆς νίκης. ἐν δὲ ταῖς ἐπὶ Λακεδαίμονα στρατείαις ἑπτὰ μὲν ἡγήσατο μυριάδων, πρὸς αὐτῇ δὲ τῇ Σπάρτῃ τρόπαιον ἔστησε κατὰ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων τῶν πάντα τὸν πρὸ τοῦ χρόνον ἀπορθήτων γεγενημένων. πρὸς δὲ τὸν Περσῶν βασιλέα πρεσβεύσας ἐν ταῖς κοιναῖς ὁμολογίαις τὴν Μεσσήνην κατʼ ἰδίαν παρέλαβεν, ἣν ἀνάστατον οὖσαν ἔτη τριακόσια Θηβαῖοι πάλιν ἀποκατέστησαν. ἐπὶ τελευτῆς δὲ διαγωνισάμενος πρὸς Ἀλέξανδρον ἔχοντα πολλαπλασίονα δύναμιν οὐ μόνον ἐπιφανῶς ἐνίκησεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸν θάνατον ἔσχεν ἐπʼ ἀρετῇ περιβόητον. πρὸς δὲ τοὺς πολίτας οὕτω καλῶς διετέθη, ὥστε ἀπὸ τῆς εἰς τὰς Θήβας καθόδου τῶν φυγάδων μέχρι τῆς ἑαυτοῦ τελευτῆς βοιωταρχῶν πάντα τὸν χρόνον διετέλεσε, μηδενὸς ἄλλου τῶν πολιτῶν ταύτης ἠξιωμένου τῆς τιμῆς. Πελοπίδας μὲν οὖν, διὰ τὴν ἰδίαν ἀρετὴν ὑπὸ πάντων ἀποδοχῆς ἠξιωμένος, ἐχέτω καὶ παρʼ ἡμῶν τὸν διὰ τῆς ἱστορίας ἔπαινον. κατὰ δὲ τοὺς αὐτοὺς χρόνους Κλέαρχος, τὸ γένος ὢν ἐξ Ἡρακλείας τῆς ἐν τῷ Πόντῳ, ἐπέθετο τυραννίδι· κρατήσας δὲ τῆς ἐπιβολῆς ἐζήλωσε μὲν τὴν διαγωγὴν τὴν Διονυσίου τοῦ Συρακοσίων τυράννου, τυραννεύσας δὲ τῶν Ἡρακλεωτῶν ἐπιφανῶς ἦρξεν ἔτη δώδεκα. ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις Τιμόθεος ὁ Ἀθηναίων στρατηγὸς ἔχων δύναμιν πεζήν τε καὶ ναυτικὴν Τορώνην μὲν καὶ Ποτίδαιαν πολιορκήσας εἷλε, Κυζικηνοῖς δὲ πολιορκουμένοις ἐβοήθησεν.
Although the Thebans had won a famous victory, they declared to the world that they were the losers because of the death of Pelopidas. For having lost such a remarkable man, they rightly judged the victory of less account than the fame of Pelopidas. Indeed he had done many great services to his country and had contributed more than any other man to the rise of Thebes. For in the matter of the return of the refugees, whereby he recaptured the Cadmeia, all men agree in attributing to him the principal credit for its success. And it turned out that this piece of good fortune was the cause of all the subsequent happy events. In the battle by Tegyra, Pelopidas alone of the boeotarchs won victory over the Lacedemonians. In the battle of Leuctra he commanded the Sacred Band, with which he charged the Spartans first and thus was the primary cause of the victory. In the campaigns about Lacedemon, he commanded seventy thousand men, and in the very territory of Sparta erected a trophy of victory over the Lacedemonians, who never in all previous time had seen their land plundered. As ambassador to the Persian King he took Messene under his personal charge in the general settlement, and though for three hundred years it had been stripped of inhabitants, the Thebans established it again. At the end of his life, in the contest with Alexander who had an army far outnumbering his, he not only gained a glorious victory, but also met his death with a courage that made it renowned. In his relations with his fellow citizens he was so favourably treated that from the return of the exiles to Thebes until his death he continued every year to hold the office of boeotarch, an honour accorded to no other citizen. So let Pelopidas, whose personal merits received the approbation of all, receive from us too the approbation of History. At the same time, Clearchus, who was a native of Heracleia on the Black Sea, set out to win a tyranny, and when he had achieved his purpose, he emulated the methods of Dionysius tyrant of Syracuse, and after becoming tyrant of Heracleia ruled with conspicuous success for twelve years. While these things were going on Timotheus, the Athenian general, commanding a force of both infantry and ships, besieged and took Torone and Potidaea, and brought relief to Cyzicus, which was undergoing a siege.
§ 15.82
τοῦ δʼ ἔτους τούτου διεληλυθότος Ἀθήνησι μὲν ἦρχε Χαρικλείδης, ἐν Ῥώμῃ δʼ ὕπατοι κατεστάθησαν Λεύκιος Αἰμίλιος Μάμερκος καὶ Λεύκιος Σέξτιος Λατερίας. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Ἀρκάδες μετὰ Πισαίων κοινῇ τεθεικότες ὑπῆρχον τὸν ἀγῶνα τῶν Ὀλυμπίων, καὶ ἐκυρίευον τοῦ ἱεροῦ καὶ τῶν ἐν αὐτῷ χρημάτων. τῶν δὲ Μαντινέων ἀναλαβόντων εἰς τοὺς ἰδίους βίους οὐκ ὀλίγα τῶν ἀναθημάτων ἔσπευδον οἱ παρανομήσαντες διακατέχειν τὸν πρὸς Ἠλείους πόλεμον, ἵνα μὴ δῶσιν ἐν εἰρήνῃ λόγον τῶν ἀναλωθέντων. τῶν δὲ ἄλλων Ἀρκάδων βουλομένων συνθέσθαι τὴν εἰρήνην, στάσεις ἐκίνησαν πρὸς τοὺς ὁμοεθνεῖς. γενομένων οὖν δυεῖν ἑταιριῶν, συνέβαινε τῆς μὲν τοὺς Τεγεάτας, τῆς δὲ τοὺς Μαντινεῖς ἡγεῖσθαι. ἐπὶ πολὺ δὲ τῆς διαφορᾶς αὐξηθείσης εἰς τὴν διὰ τῶν ὅπλων κρίσιν κατήντησαν, καὶ Τεγεᾶται μὲν πρεσβεύσαντες πρὸς Βοιωτοὺς ἔπεισαν ἑαυτοῖς βοηθεῖν, οἱ δὲ Βοιωτοὶ στρατηγὸν ἐπιστήσαντες Ἐπαμεινώνδαν καὶ δύναμιν ἀξιόλογον δόντες ἐξαπέστειλαν βοηθῆσαι τοῖς Τεγεάταις. οἱ δὲ Μαντινεῖς τὴν ἐκ τῆς Βοιωτίας δύναμιν καὶ τὴν Ἐπαμεινώνδου δόξαν καταπλαγέντες, πρὸς τοὺς ἐχθροτάτους τῶν Βοιωτῶν Ἀθηναίους καὶ Λακεδαιμονίους πρέσβεις ἐκπέμψαντες ἔπεισαν συμμαχεῖν. ὧν ἀμφοτέρων ἁδρὰς δυνάμεις ταχέως ἀποστειλάντων, ἀγῶνες πολλοὶ καὶ μεγάλοι κατὰ τὴν Πελοπόννησον συνέστησαν. εὐθὺς οὖν Λακεδαιμόνιοι μὲν πλησίον οἰκοῦντες ἐστράτευσαν εἰς τὴν Ἀρκαδίαν, Ἐπαμεινώνδας δὲ κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν καιρὸν μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως προϊὼν καὶ τῆς Μαντινείας οὐ μακρὰν ἀπέχων ἐπύθετο παρὰ τῶν ἐγχωρίων, ὅτι Λακεδαιμόνιοι πανδημεὶ πορθοῦσι τὴν τῶν Τεγεατῶν χώραν. ὑπολαβὼν οὖν ἔρημον εἶναι στρατιωτῶν τὴν Σπάρτην, ἐπεβάλετο μὲν μέγα τι πρᾶξαι, τὴν δὲ τύχην ἔσχεν ἀντιπράττουσαν. αὐτὸς μὲν γὰρ νυκτὸς ὥρμησεν ἐπὶ τὴν Σπάρτην, ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων Ἆγις ὑποπτεύσας τὴν ἀγχίνοιαν τὴν Ἐπαμεινώνδου κατεστοχάσατο μὲν τὸ μέλλον ἐμφρόνως, ἐξέπεμψε δέ τινας Κρῆτας ἡμεροδρόμους, διʼ ὧν καταταχήσας τὸν Ἐπαμεινώνδαν τοῖς ἀπολελειμμένοις ἐν τῇ Σπάρτῃ ἐδήλωσε, διότι Βοιωτοὶ συντόμως ἥξουσιν ἐπὶ τὴν Λακεδαίμονα πορθήσοντες τὴν πόλιν, αὐτὸς δʼ ὡς ἂν τάχιστα δύναιτο μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως ἥξει βοηθήσων τῇ πατρίδι. ἐκέλευεν οὖν τοῖς ἐν τῇ Σπάρτῃ παραφυλάττειν τὴν πόλιν μηδὲν καταπεπληγμένους· ταχὺ γὰρ αὐτὸν ἐπιφανέντα βοηθήσειν.
When this year had ended, at Athens Charicleides became archon, and in Rome consuls were elected, Lucius Aemilius Mamercus and Lucius Sextius Lateranus. During their term of office the Arcadians collaborating with the Pisans administered the Olympian games, and were masters of the temple and the offerings deposited in it. Since the Mantineians had appropriated for their own private uses a large number of the dedications, they were eager as transgressors for the war against the Eleians to continue, in order to avoid, if peace were restored, giving an account of their expenditures. But since the rest of the Arcadians wished to make peace, they stirred up strife against their fellow countrymen. Two parties accordingly sprang up, one headed by Tegea, and the other by Mantineia. Their quarrel assumed such proportions that they resorted to a decision by arms, and the Tegeans, having sent ambassadors to the Boeotians, won assistance for themselves, for the Boeotians appointed Epameinondas general, gave him a large army, and dispatched him to aid the Tegeans. The Mantineians, terrified at the army from Boeotia and the reputation of Epameinondas, sent envoys to the bitterest enemies of the Boeotians, the Athenians and the Lacedemonians, and prevailed upon them to fight on their side. And when both peoples had quickly sent in response strong armies, many heavy engagements took place in the Peloponnese. Indeed the Lacedemonians, living near at hand, immediately invaded Arcadia, but Epameinondas, advancing at this juncture with his army and being not far from Mantineia, learned from the inhabitants that the Lacedemonians, in full force, were plundering the territory of Tegea. Supposing then that Sparta was stripped of soldiers, he planned a great stroke, but fortune worked against him. He himself set out by night to Sparta, but the Lacedemonian king Agis, suspecting the cunning of Epameinondas, shrewdly guessed what he would do, and sent out some Cretan runners and through them forestalling Epameinondas got word to the men who had been left behind in Sparta that the Boeotians would shortly appear in Lacedemon to sack the city, but that he himself would come as quickly as possible with his army to bring aid to his native land. So he gave orders for those who were in Sparta to watch over the city and be terrified at nothing, for he himself would soon appear with help.
§ 15.83
τῶν δὲ Κρητῶν συντόμως τὸ παραγγελθὲν ποιησάντων, παραδόξως οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι τὴν ἅλωσιν τῆς πατρίδος ἐξέφυγον· μὴ προδηλωθείσης γὰρ τῆς ἐπιθέσεως ἔλαθεν ἂν ὁ Ἐπαμεινώνδας εἰσπεσὼν εἰς τὴν Σπάρτην. τὴν μὲν οὖν ἐπίνοιαν τῶν στρατηγῶν ἀμφοτέρων δικαίως ἄν τις ἀποδέξαιτο, συνετωτέραν δὲ στρατηγίαν τὴν τοῦ Λάκωνος ἡγήσαιτο. οὐ μὴν ἀλλʼ ὁ Ἐπαμεινώνδας ὅλην τὴν νύκτα διαγρυπνήσας καὶ τὸ διάστημα τῆς ὁδοῦ κατὰ σπουδὴν διανύσας ἅμʼ ἡμέρᾳ προσῆγε τῇ Σπάρτῃ. ὁ δʼ ἐπὶ τῆς φυλακῆς ἀπολελειμμένος Ἀγησίλαος ὀλίγῳ πρότερον χρόνῳ τῶν Κρητῶν ἀκούσας τὰ κατὰ μέρος, εὐθὺς μετὰ πολλῆς σπουδῆς τὴν ἐπιμέλειαν ἐποιήσατο τῆς πόλεως. τοὺς μὲν οὖν πρεσβυτάτους τῶν παίδων καὶ τοὺς γεγηρακότας ἐπὶ τὰ στέγη τῶν οἰκιῶν ἀνεβίβασε, καὶ προσέταξεν ἀπὸ τούτων ἀμύνασθαι τοὺς εἰς τὴν πόλιν βιαζομένους, αὐτὸς δὲ τοὺς ἀκμάζοντας ταῖς ἡλικίαις συντάξας διεμέρισεν εἰς τὰς πρὸ τῆς πόλεως δυσχωρίας καὶ παρόδους, καὶ πάντας τοὺς δυναμένους τόπους δέξασθαι δίοδον ἐμφράξας ἀνέμενε τὴν τῶν πολεμίων ἔφοδον. Ἐπαμεινώνδας δʼ εἰς πλείω μέρη διελόμενος τοὺς στρατιώτας, καὶ πάντῃ προσπίπτων κατὰ τὸν αὐτὸν καιρόν, ὡς εἶδε τὴν τῶν Σπαρτιατῶν σύνταξιν, εὐθὺς ἔγνω μεμηνυμένην τὴν πρᾶξιν· ὅμως δὲ προσμαχόμενος πᾶσι κατὰ μέρος καὶ ταῖς δυσχωρίαις ἐλαττούμενος συνῆπτεν εἰς χεῖρας. πολλὰ δὲ παθὼν καὶ δράσας οὐκ ἀπέστη τῆς φιλοτιμίας, ἕως τὸ στράτευμα τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων ἐπανῆλθεν εἰς τὴν Σπάρτην· πολλῶν δὲ βοηθούντων τοῖς πολιορκουμένοις, καὶ τῆς νυκτὸς καταλαβούσης, ἔλυσε τὴν πολιορκίαν.
The Cretans speedily carried out their orders, and the Lacedemonians miraculously avoided the capture of their native land; for had not the attack been disclosed in advance, Epameinondas would have burst into Sparta undetected. We can justly praise the ingenuity of both generals, but should deem the strategy of the Laconian the shrewder. It is true that Epameinondas, without resting the entire night, covered the distance at top speed and at daybreak attacked Sparta. But Agesilaus, who had been left on guard and had learned only shortly before from the Cretans all about the enemy's plan, straightway devoted his utmost energy to the care of the city's defence. He placed the oldest children and the aged on the roofs of the houses and instructed them from there to defend themselves against the enemy if he forced a way into the city, while he himself lined up the men in the prime of life and apportioned them to the obstacles in front of the city and to the approaches, and, having blocked all places that could offer passage, he awaited the attack of the enemy. Epameinondas, after dividing his soldiers into several columns, attacked everywhere at once, but when he saw the disposition of the Spartans, he knew immediately that his move had been revealed. Nevertheless he made the assault on all the positions one after the other, and, though he was at a disadvantage because of the obstacles, closed in a hand-to hand combat. Many a blow he received and dealt and did not call off the zealous rivalry until the army of the Lacedemonians re-entered Sparta. Then as many came to the assistance of the besieged and night intervened, he desisted from the siege.
§ 15.84
πυθόμενος δὲ παρὰ τῶν αἰχμαλώτων ὅτι Μαντινεῖς πανδημεὶ πάρεισι βοηθοῦντες τοῖς Λακεδαιμονίοις, τότε μὲν ἀναχωρήσας μικρὸν ἀπὸ τῆς πόλεως κατεστρατοπέδευσεν· παραγγείλας δὲ δειπνοποιεῖσθαι, καταλιπὼν τῶν ἱππέων τινάς, τούτοις μὲν παρήγγειλεν ἕως ἑωθινῆς φυλακῆς πυρὰ καίειν ἐν τῇ παρεμβολῇ, αὐτὸς δὲ μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως ἀφορμήσας ἔσπευσεν ἄφνω προσπεσεῖν τοῖς ἀπολελειμμένοις ἐν τῇ Μαντινείᾳ. τῇ δʼ ὑστεραίᾳ πολλὴν διανύσας ὁδὸν ἄφνω τοῖς Μαντινεῦσιν ἀνελπίστως ἐπέρραξεν, οὐ μὴν ἐκράτησε τῆς ἐπιβολῆς, καίπερ ἅπαντα τῇ στρατηγίᾳ προνοησάμενος, ἀλλὰ τὴν τύχην λαβὼν ἀντιπράττουσαν παραδόξως ἀπέβαλε τὴν νίκην. ἄρτι γὰρ αὐτοῦ πλησιάζοντος ἐρήμῳ τῇ πόλει κατήντησαν ἐπὶ θάτερα τῆς Μαντινείας οἱ πεμφθέντες ὑπὸ τῶν Ἀθηναίων στρατιῶται πρὸς τὴν συμμαχίαν, ὄντες ἑξακισχίλιοι, στρατηγὸν δʼ ἔχοντες Ἡγησίλεων, ἄνδρα τότε παρὰ τοῖς πολίταις ἐπαινουμένον. οὗτος δὲ τοὺς ἱκανοὺς εἰς τὴν πόλιν παρεισαγαγών, τὴν ἄλλην δύναμιν ἐξέταξεν ὡς μάχῃ διακριθησόμενος. εὐθὺς δὲ καὶ Λακεδαιμόνιοι καὶ Μαντινεῖς ἐπεφάνησαν, καὶ πρὸς τὴν τῶν ὅλων κρίσιν ἅπαντες κατεσκευάζοντο καὶ τοὺς πανταχόθεν συμμάχους μετεπέμποντο. τοῖς μὲν οὖν Μαντινεῦσιν ἐβοήθουν Ἠλεῖοι καὶ Λακεδαιμόνιοι καὶ Ἀθηναῖοι καὶ ἄλλοι τινές, ὧν ὁ σύμπας ἀριθμὸς ἦν πεζοὶ μὲν πλείους τῶν δισμυρίων, ἱππεῖς δὲ περὶ δισχιλίους· τοῖς δὲ Τεγεάταις συνεμάχουν οἱ πλεῖστοι καὶ κράτιστοι τῶν Ἀρκάδων καὶ Ἀχαιοὶ καὶ Βοιωτοὶ καὶ Ἀργεῖοι καί τινες ἕτεροι τῶν Πελοποννησίων καὶ τῶν ἔξωθεν συμμάχων, οἱ δὲ πάντες ἠθροίσθησαν πεζοὶ μὲν ὑπὲρ τοὺς τρισμυρίους, ἱππεῖς δʼ οὐκ ἐλάττους τῶν τρισχιλίων.
Having learned from his captives that the Mantineians had come in full force to assist the Lacedemonians, Epameinondas then withdrew a short distance from the city and encamped, and having given orders to prepare mess, he left some of the horsemen and ordered them to burn fires in the camp until the morning watch, while he himself set out with his army and hurried to fall suddenly on those who had been left in Mantineia. Having covered much ground on the next day, he suddenly broke in on the Mantineians when they were not expecting it. However, he did not succeed in his attempt, although by his plan of campaign he had provided for every contingency, but, finding Fate opposed to him, contrary to his expectations he lost the victory. For just as he was approaching the unprotected city, one opposite side of Mantineia there arrived the reinforcements sent by Athens, six thousand in number with Hegesileos their general, a man at that time renowned amongst his fellow citizens. He introduced an adequate force into the city and arrayed the rest of the army in expectation of a decisive battle. And presently the Lacedemonians and Mantineians made their appearance as well, whereat all got ready for the contest which was to decide the issue and summoned their allies from every direction. On the side of the Mantineians were the Eleians, Lacedemonians, Athenians, and a few others, who numbered all told more than twenty thousand foot and about two thousand horse. On the side of the Tegeans the most numerous and bravest of the Arcadians were ranged as allies, also Achaeans, Boeotians, Argives, some other Peloponnesians, and allies from outside, and all in all there were assembled above thirty thousand foot and not less than three thousand horse.
§ 15.85
ἀμφοτέρων δὲ προθύμως συγκαταβάντων εἰς τὸν ὑπὲρ τῶν ὅλων ἀγῶνα, καὶ διαταχθέντων τῶν στρατοπέδων, οἱ μὲν μάντεις σφαγιασάμενοι παρʼ ἀμφοτέροις ἀπεφαίνοντο τὴν νίκην ὑπὸ τῶν θεῶν προφαινομένην· κατὰ δὲ τὴν τάξιν Μαντινεῖς μὲν μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων Ἀρκάδων τὸ δεξιὸν ἐπεῖχον κέρας, ἔχοντες παραστάτας καὶ συναγωνιστὰς Λακεδαιμονίους, τούτοις δὲ συνεχεῖς ἦσαν Ἠλεῖοι καὶ Ἀχαιοί, καὶ τῶν ἄλλων οἱ καταδεέστεροι τὴν μέσην ἐπεῖχον τάξιν· τὸ δʼ εὐώνυμον κέρας ἀνεπλήρουν Ἀθηναῖοι. Θηβαῖοι δʼ αὐτοὶ μὲν ἐπὶ τὸ εὐώνυμον κέρας ἐτάχθησαν, παραστάτας ἔχοντες Ἀρκάδας, τὸ δὲ δεξιὸν παρέδωκαν Ἀργείοις· τὸ δὲ ἄλλο πλῆθος ἀνεπλήρου τὴν μέσην τάξιν, Εὐβοεῖς καὶ Λοκροὶ καὶ Σικυώνιοι, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις Μεσσήνιοι καὶ Μαλιεῖς καὶ Αἰνιᾶνες, ἔτι δὲ καὶ Θετταλοὶ καὶ οἱ λοιποὶ σύμμαχοι. τοὺς δʼ ἱππεῖς ἐφʼ ἑκατέρων τῶν κεράτων ἀμφότεροι διείλοντο. τῶν δὲ στρατευμάτων τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον τεταγμένων, ὡς ἤδη πλησίον ὑπῆρχον ἀλλήλων, αἱ μὲν σάλπιγγες τὸ πολεμικὸν ἐσήμαινον, αἱ δὲ δυνάμεις ἠλάλαξαν καὶ τῷ μεγέθει τῆς βοῆς τὴν νίκην ἐσήμαινον. καὶ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἱππομαχίαν ἐν τοῖς κέρασι συνεστήσαντο, καθʼ ἣν ταῖς φιλοτιμίαις ἑαυτοὺς ὑπερεβάλοντο. οἱ μὲν γὰρ τῶν Ἀθηναίων ἱππεῖς τοῖς τῶν Θηβαίων ἐπελάσαντες ἠλαττοῦντο οὐχ οὕτω ταῖς τῶν ἵππων ἀρεταῖς οὐδὲ ταῖς ἰδίαις εὐψυχίαις οὐδὲ ταῖς κατὰ τὴν ἱππικὴν ἐμπειρίαις· ἐν γὰρ τούτοις ἅπασιν οὐκ ἦν καταδεέστερον τὸ τῶν Ἀθηναίων ἱππικόν· τῷ δὲ πλήθει καὶ τῇ παρασκευῇ τῶν ψιλῶν καὶ τῇ στρατηγικῇ συντάξει πολὺ τῶν ἐναντίων ἐλείποντο. αὐτοὶ μὲν οὖν ὀλίγους εἶχον ἀκοντιστάς, οἱ δὲ Θηβαῖοι τριπλασίους σφενδονήτας καὶ ἀκοντιστὰς τοὺς ἐκ τῶν περὶ τὴν Θετταλίαν τόπων ἀπεσταλμένους. οὗτοι περιττότερον ἐκ παίδων ζηλοῦντες τὴν ἐν τούτοις μάχην, μεγάλην ῥοπὴν ποιεῖν εἰώθεισαν ἐν ταῖς μάχαις διὰ τὴν ἐν τούτοις ἐμπειρίαν. διόπερ οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι κατατιτρωσκόμενοι μὲν ὑπὸ τῶν ψιλικῶν, καταπονούμενοι δʼ ὑπὸ τῶν ἀνθεστηκότων, ἅπαντες ἐτράπησαν. τὴν δὲ φυγὴν ἐκτὸς τῶν κεράτων ποιησάμενοι διωρθώσαντο τὴν ἧτταν· ἅμα μὲν γὰρ κατὰ τὴν ἀποχώρησιν οὐκ ἐτάραξαν τὴν ἰδίαν φάλαγγα, ἅμα δὲ περιπεσόντες Εὐβοεῦσι καὶ μισθοφόροις τισὶν ἀπεσταλμένοις ἐπὶ τὴν κατάληψιν τῶν πλησίον λόφων, συνάψαντες αὐτοῖς μάχην ἅπαντας ἀπέκτειναν. οἱ δὲ τῶν Θηβαίων ἱππεῖς τοὺς μὲν φεύγοντας οὐκ ἐπεδίωξαν, ἐπὶ δὲ τὴν φάλαγγα τῶν ἀντιτεταγμένων ἐπελάσαντες ἐφιλοτιμοῦντο παραλλάξαι τοὺς πεζούς. ἰσχυρᾶς δὲ μάχης γενομένης, καὶ τῶν Ἀθηναίων καταπονουμένων καὶ πρὸς φυγὴν ὁρμησάντων, ὁ τῶν Ἠλείων ἵππαρχος ἐπὶ τῆς οὐραγίας τεταγμένος ἐπεβοήθησε τοῖς φεύγουσι, καὶ πολλοὺς τῶν Βοιωτῶν καταβαλὼν παλίντροπον ἐποίησε τὴν μάχην. οἱ μὲν οὖν τῶν Ἠλείων ἱππεῖς τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον ἐπιφανέντες τῷ λαιῷ κέρατι τὸ γεγονὸς περὶ τοὺς συμμάχους ἐλάττωμα διωρθώσαντο· ἐπὶ δὲ θατέρου κέρατος ἐπιρραξάντων ἀλλήλοις τῶν ἱππέων βραχὺν χρόνον ἡ μάχη διέμεινεν ἰσόρροπος, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα διά τε τὸ πλῆθος καὶ τὴν ἀρετὴν τῶν Βοιωτῶν καὶ Θετταλῶν ἱππέων οἱ μετὰ τῶν Μαντινέων ὄντες ἐβιάσθησαν, καὶ συχνοὺς ἀποβαλόντες κατέφυγον πρὸς τὴν ἰδίαν φάλαγγα.
Both sides eagerly drew together for the decisive conflict, their armies in battle formation, while the soothsayers, having sacrificed on both sides, declared that victory was foreshadowed by the gods. In the disposition of forces the Mantineians with the rest of the Arcadians occupied the right wing with the Lacedemonians as their neighbours and supporters, and next to these were Eleians and Achaeans; and the weaker of the remaining forces occupied the centre, while the Athenians filled the left. The Thebans themselves had their post on the left wing, supported by the Arcadians, while they entrusted the right to the Argives. The remaining multitude filled the middle of the line: Euboeans, Locrians, Sicyonians, Messenians, Malians, Aenianians, together with Thessalians and the remaining allies. Both sides divided the cavalry and placed contingents on each wing. Such was the array of the armaments, and now as they approached one another, the trumpets sounded the battle charge, the armies raised the battle shout, and by the very volume of their cries betokened their victory. Now as the Athenian horse attacked the Theban they suffered defeat not so much because of the quality of their mounts nor yet on the score of the riders' courage or experience in horsemanship, for in none of these departments was the Athenian cavalry deficient; but it was in the numbers and equipment of the light-armed troops and in their tactical skill that they were far inferior to their opponents. Indeed they had only a few javelin-throwers, whereas the Thebans had three times as many slingers and javelin-throwers sent them from the regions about Thessaly. These people practised from boyhood assiduously this type of fighting and consequently were wont to exercise great weight in battles because of their experience in handling these missiles. Consequently the Athenians, who were continually being wounded by the light-armed and were harried to exhaustion by the opponents who confronted them, all turned and fled. But having fled beyond the flanks, they managed to retrieve their defeat, for even in their retreat they did not break their own phalanx, and encountering simultaneously the Euboeans and certain mercenaries who had been dispatched to seize the heights near by, they gave battle and slew them all. Now the Theban horse did not follow up the fugitives, but, assailing the phalanx opposing them, strove zealously to outflank the infantry. The battle was a hot one; the Athenians were exhausted and had turned to flee, when the Eleian cavalry-commander, assigned to the rear, came to the aid of the fugitives and, by striking down many Boeotians, reversed the course of the battle. So while the Eleian cavalry by their appearance in this fashion on the left wing retrieved the defeat their allies had sustained, on the other flank both cavalry forces lashed at one another and the battle hung for a short time in the balance, but then, because of the number and valour of the Boeotian and Thessalian horsemen, the contingents on the Mantineian side were forced back, and with considerable loss took refuge with their own phalanx.
§ 15.86
ἡ μὲν οὖν τῶν παρʼ ἀμφοτέροις ἱππέων μάχη τοιοῦτον ἔσχε τὸ τέλος· αἱ δὲ πεζαὶ δυνάμεις ὡς συνῆλθον εἰς χεῖρας τοῖς πολεμίοις, μεγάλους καὶ θαυμαστοὺς ἀγῶνας συνεστήσαντο. οὐδέποτε γὰρ Ἑλλήνων πρὸς Ἕλληνας ἀγωνιζομένων οὔτε πλῆθος ἀνδρῶν τοσοῦτο παρετάξατο οὔθʼ ἡγεμόνες ἀξιολογώτεροι τοῖς ἀξιώμασιν οὔτε ἄνδρες δυνατώτεροι τὰς ἐν τοῖς κινδύνοις ἀνδραγαθίας ἐπεδείξαντο. οἱ γὰρ πεζομαχεῖν ἄριστα δυνάμενοι κατὰ τοὺς ὑποκειμένους καιρούς, Βοιωτοὶ καὶ Λακεδαιμόνιοι, πρὸς ἀλλήλους κατὰ τὴν τάξιν ἀνθεστηκότες πρῶτον μάχην συνῆψαν, οὐδεμίαν φειδὼ ποιούμενοι τοῦ ζῆν. καὶ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον τύπτοντες ἀλλήλους τοῖς δόρασι, καὶ διὰ τὴν πυκνότητα τῶν πληγῶν τὰ πλεῖστα συντρίψαντες, εἰς τὸν ἀπὸ τῆς μαχαίρας ἀγῶνα κατήντησαν. συμπλεκόμενοι δὲ τοῖς σώμασι καὶ παντοίας διαθέσεις τραυμάτων ἀπεργαζόμενοι τοῖς θυμοῖς οὐκ ἔληγον· ἐπὶ πολὺν δὲ χρόνον τοῖς δεινοῖς ἐγκαρτερούντων διὰ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῆς παρʼ ἑκατέροις ἀνδραγαθίας οὐδεμίαν ῥοπὴν ἐλάμβανεν ἡ μάχη ἕκαστος γὰρ τοῦ παθεῖν τι δεινὸν καταφρονῶν, τοῦ δὲ δρᾶσαί τι λαμπρὸν ἐφιέμενος, εὐγενῶς ἀνεδέχετο τὸν ὑπὲρ τῆς δόξης θάνατον. ἰσχυρᾶς δὲ μάχης ἐπὶ πολύν τε χρόνον γινομένης καὶ τοῦ κινδύνου μηδεμίαν ῥοπὴν λαμβάνοντος, ὁ μὲν Ἐπαμεινώνδας ὑπολαβὼν τῆς ἰδίας ἀρετῆς προσδεῖσθαι τὴν νίκην, ἔγνω διʼ ἑαυτοῦ κρῖναι τὸν κίνδυνον. εὐθὺς οὖν ἀναλαβὼν τοὺς ἀρίστους καὶ μετὰ τούτων συμφράξας, εἰσέβαλεν εἰς μέσους τοὺς πολεμίους· καθηγούμενος δὲ τοῦ συντάγματος, καὶ πρῶτος ἀκοντίσας, ἔβαλε τὸν ἡγούμενον τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων. εὐθὺς δὲ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων εἰς χεῖρας ἐρχομένων, οὓς μὲν ἀνελών, οὓς δὲ καταπληξάμενος, διέκοψε τὴν φάλαγγα τῶν πολεμίων. οἱ δὲ Λακεδαιμόνιοι τὸ ἀξίωμα τοῦ Ἐπαμεινώνδου καὶ τὸ βάρος τοῦ περὶ αὐτὸν συστήματος καταπλαγέντες ἀνεχώρουν ἐκ τῆς μάχης· ἐπικειμένων δὲ τῶν Βοιωτῶν καὶ τοὺς ἐσχάτους αἰεὶ φονευόντων, νεκρῶν ἐσωρεύθη πλῆθος.
Now the cavalry battle had the foregoing issue. But when the infantry forces closed with the enemy in hand-to hand combat, a mighty, stupendous struggle ensued. For never at any other time when Greeks fought Greeks was such a multitude of men arrayed, nor did generals of greater repute or men more competent ever display such gallantry in battle. For the most capable foot-soldiers of that time, Boeotians and Lacedemonians, whose lines were drawn up facing one another, began the contest, exposing their lives to every risk. After the first exchange of spears in which most were shattered by the very density of the missiles, they engaged with swords. And although their bodies were all locked with one another and they were inflicting all manner of wounds, yet they did not leave off; and for a long time as they persisted in their terrible work, because of the superlative courage displayed on each side, the battle hung poised. For each man, disregarding the risk of personal hurt, but desirous rather of performing some brilliant deed, would nobly accept death as the price of glory. As the battle raged severely for a long time and the conflict took no turn in favour of either side, Epameinondas, conceiving that victory called for the display of his own valour also, decided to be himself the instrument to decide the issue. So he immediately took his best men, grouped them in close formation and charged into the midst of the enemy; he led his battalion in the charge and was the first to hurl his javelin, and hit the commander of the Lacedemonians. Then, as the rest of his men also came immediately into close quarters with the foe, he slew some, threw others into a panic, and broke through the enemy phalanx. The Lacedemonians, overawed by the prestige of Epameinondas and by the sheer weight of the contingent he led, withdrew from the battle, but the Boeotians kept pressing the attack and continually slaying any men who were in the rear rank, so that a multitude of corpses was piled up.
§ 15.87
οἱ δὲ Λακεδαιμόνιοι θεωροῦντες Ἐπαμεινώνδαν προθυμότερον προπίπτοντα τῷ θυμῷ, συνέδραμον ἐπʼ αὐτόν. πολλῶν δὲ καὶ πυκνῶν φερομένων βελῶν, τὰ μὲν ἐξένευε, τὰ δὲ διεκρούετο, τινὰ δὲ ἐκ τοῦ σώματος ἐξαιρῶν τούτοις ἠμύνετο τοὺς ἐπιφερομένους. ἡρωικῶς δʼ ὑπὲρ τῆς νίκης ἀγωνισάμενος καιρίαν ἔλαβε πληγὴν εἰς τὸν θώρακα. κλασθέντος δὲ τοῦ δόρατος, καὶ τοῦ σιδήρου καταλειφθέντος ἐν τῷ σώματι, παραχρῆμα ἔπεσε κατισχυθεὶς ὑπὸ τῆς πληγῆς. περὶ δὲ τοῦ σώματος ἐμπεσούσης φιλοτιμίας, καὶ πολλῶν παρʼ ἀμφοτέροις ἀναιρεθέντων, μόγις οἱ Θηβαῖοι τῇ ῥώμῃ τῶν σωμάτων προέχοντες κατεπόνησαν τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους. φυγῆς δὲ γενομένης, οἱ μὲν Βοιωτοὶ βραχὺν ἐπιδιώξαντες χρόνον ἀνέστρεψαν, ἀναγκαιότατον ἡγούμενοι τὸ κυριεῦσαι τῶν νεκρῶν. ἀνακαλεσαμένων οὖν τῶν σαλπιγκτῶν τοὺς στρατιώτας,ἅπαντες τῆς μάχης ἀπέστησαν, καὶ τρόπαιον ἀμφότεροι στήσαντες ἠμφεσβήτουν τῆς νίκης. οἱ μὲν γὰρ Ἀθηναῖοι νενικηκότες τοὺς περὶ τὸν λόφον Εὐβοεῖς καὶ μισθοφόρους κύριοι τῶν νεκρῶν ὑπῆρχον, οἱ δὲ Βοιωτοὶ τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους ἀπὸ κράτους ἡττηκότες καὶ κρατοῦντες τῶν πεπτωκότων προσένεμον ἑαυτοῖς τὴν νίκην. ἐπὶ μὲν οὖν χρόνον τινὰ περὶ τῆς τῶν νεκρῶν ἀναιρέσεως οὐδέτεροι διεπρεσβεύσαντο, ἵνα μὴ δόξωσιν ἐκχωρεῖν τοῦ πρωτείου· μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων πρώτων ἐπικηρυκευσαμένων περὶ τῆς τῶν νεκρῶν ἀναιρέσεως ἀμφότεροι τοὺς ἰδίους ἔθαψαν. Ἐπαμεινώνδας δʼ ἔτι ζῶν εἰς τὴν παρεμβολὴν ἀπηνέχθη, καὶ τῶν συγκληθέντων ἰατρῶν ἀποφηναμένων, ὅτι πάντως, ὅταν ἐκ τοῦ θώρακος ἐξαιρεθῇ τὸ δόρυ, συμβήσεται καὶ τὸν θάνατον ἐπακολουθῆσαι, εὐψυχότατα τὴν τοῦ βίου καταστροφὴν ἐποιήσατο. πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ τὸν ὑπασπιστὴν προσκαλεσάμενος ἐπηρώτησεν, εἰ διασέσωκε τὴν ἀσπίδα. τοῦ δὲ φήσαντος καὶ θέντος αὐτὴν πρὸ τῆς ὁράσεως, πάλιν ἐπηρώτησε, πότεροι νενικήκασιν. ἀποφαινομένου δὲ τοῦ παιδός, ὅτι Βοιωτοὶ νενικήκασιν, ὥρα, φησίν, ἐστὶ τελευτᾶν, καὶ προσέταξεν ἐκσπάσαι τὸ δόρυ. ἀναβοησάντων δὲ τῶν παρόντων φίλων, καί τινος εἰπόντος ὅτι τελευτᾷς ἄτεκνος, Ἐπαμεινώνδα, καὶ δακρύσαντος, μὰ Δία μέν, φησίν, ἀλλὰ καταλείπω δύο θυγατέρας, τήν τε ἐν Λεύκτροις νίκην καὶ τὴν ἐν Μαντινείᾳ. καὶ τοῦ δόρατος ἐξαιρεθέντος ἄνευ πάσης ταραχῆς ἐξέπνευσεν.
As for the Lacedemonians, when they saw that Epameinondas in the fury of battle was pressing forward too eagerly, they charged him in a body. As missiles flew thick and fast about him, he dodged some, others he fended off, still others he pulled from his body and used to ward off his attackers. But while struggling heroically for the victory, he received a mortal wound in the chest. As the spear broke and the iron point was left in his body, he fell of a sudden, his strength sapped by the wound. About his body a rivalry ensued in which many were slain on both sides, but at last with difficulty by their superiority in bodily strength, the Thebans wore the Lacedemonians out. As the latter turned and fled, the Boeotians pursued for a short time but turned back, considering it most essential to take possession of the bodies of the dead. So, when the trumpeters sounded recall for their men, all withdrew from battle and both sides set up trophies claiming the victory. In fact the Athenians had defeated the Euboeans and mercenaries in the battle for the heights and were in possession of the dead; while the Boeotians, because they had overpowered the Lacedemonians and were in possession of the dead, were for awarding the victory to themselves. So for a long time neither side sent envoys to recover its dead, in order that it should not appear to yield the primacy; but later, when the Lacedemonians were the first to have sent a herald to ask for the recovery of their dead, each side buried its own. Epameinondas, however, was carried back to camp still living, and the physicians were summoned, but when they declared that undoubtedly as soon as the spear-point should be drawn from his chest, death would ensue, with supreme courage he met his end. For first summoning his armour-bearer he asked him if he had saved his shield. On his replying yes and placing it before his eyes, he again asked, which side was victorious. At the boy's answer that the Boeotians were victorious, he said, "It is time to die," and directed them to withdraw the spear point. His friends press cried out in protest, and one of them said: "You die childless, Epameinondas," and burst into tears. To this he replied, "No, by Zeus, on the contrary I leave behind two daughters, Leuctra and Mantineia, my victories." Then when the spear point was withdrawn, without any commotion he breathed his last.
§ 15.88
ἡμεῖς δʼ εἰωθότες ταῖς τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἀνδρῶν τελευταῖς ἐπιλέγειν τὸν ἴδιον ἔπαινον, οὐδαμῶς ἁρμόττον ἡγούμεθα παραδραμεῖν ἀνδρὸς τηλικούτου τὴν τελευτὴν ἀνεπισήμαντον. δοκεῖ γάρ μοι μὴ μόνον τοὺς καθʼ ἑαυτὸν ὑπερβάλλειν ἐν τῇ στρατηγικῇ συνέσει καὶ ἐμπειρίᾳ, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις ἐπιεικείᾳ τε καὶ μεγαλοψυχίᾳ. κατὰ μὲν γὰρ τὴν ἡλικίαν τὴν τούτου γεγόνασιν ἄνδρες ἐπιφανεῖς Πελοπίδας τε Θηβαῖος καὶ Τιμόθεος καὶ Κόνων, ἔτι δὲ Χαβρίας τε καὶ Ἰφικράτης οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις Ἀγησίλαος ὁ Σπαρτιάτης, βραχὺ τοῖς χρόνοις προτερῶν· ἐν δὲ τοῖς πρὸ τοῦ χρόνοις, ἐπὶ τῶν Μηδικῶν καὶ πρὸ τῶν Περσικῶν καιρῶν, Σόλων καὶ Θεμιστοκλῆς καὶ Μιλτιάδης, ἔτι δὲ Κίμων καὶ Μυρωνίδης καὶ Περικλῆς καί τινες ἕτεροι παρὰ τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις, κατὰ δὲ τὴν Σικελίαν Γέλων ὁ Δεινομένους καί τινες ἕτεροι. ἀλλʼ ὅμως εἴ τις συγκρίναι τὰς τούτων ἀρετὰς τῇ Ἐπαμεινώνδου στρατηγίᾳ τε καὶ δόξῃ, πολὺ ἂν προέχουσαν εὕροι τὴν περὶ τὸν Ἐπαμεινώνδαν ἀρετήν. παρὰ μὲν γὰρ ἑκάστῳ τῶν ἄλλων ἓν ἂν εὕροι προτέρημα τῆς δόξης, παρὰ δὲ τούτῳ πάσας τὰς ἀρετὰς ἠθροισμένας. καὶ γὰρ ῥώμῃ σώματος καὶ λόγου δεινότητι, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις ψυχῆς λαμπρότητι καὶ μισαργυρίᾳ καὶ ἐπιεικείᾳ, καὶ τὸ μέγιστον, ἀνδρείᾳ καὶ στρατηγικῇ συνέσει πολὺ διήνεγκε πάντων. τοιγαροῦν ἡ πατρὶς αὐτοῦ ζῶντος μὲν ἐκτήσατο τὴν ἡγεμονίαν τῆς Ἑλλάδος, τελευτήσαντος δὲ ταύτης ἐστερήθη καὶ τῆς ἐπὶ τὸ χεῖρον ἀεὶ μεταβολῆς ἐπειράθη, καὶ πέρας διὰ τὴν ἀφροσύνην τῶν ἡγουμένων ἀνδραποδισμοῦ καὶ κατασκαφῆς ἔλαβε πεῖραν. Ἐπαμεινώνδας μὲν οὖν παρὰ πᾶσι περιβόητον ἔχων τὴν ἀρετήν, τοιαύτης ἔτυχε καταστροφῆς τοῦ βίου.
For us who are wont to accord to the demise of great men the appropriate meed of praise, it would be most unfitting, so we think, to pass by the death of a man of such stature with no word of note. For it seems to me that he surpassed his contemporaries not only in skill and experience in the art of war, but in reasonableness and magnanimity as well. For among the generation of Epameinondas were famous men: Pelopidas the Theban, Timotheus and Conon, also Chabrias and Iphicrates, Athenians all, and, besides, Agesilaus the Spartan, who belonged to a slightly older generation. Still earlier than these, in the times of the Medes and Persians, there were Solon, Themistocles, Miltiades, and Cimon, Myronides, and Pericles and certain others in Athens, and in Sicily Gelon, son of Deinomenes, and still others. All the same, if you should compare the qualities of these with the generalship and reputation of Epameinondas, you would find the qualities possessed by Epameinondas far superior. For in each of the others you would discover but one particular superiority as a claim to fame; in him, however, all qualities combined. For in strength of body and eloquence of speech, furthermore in elevation of mind, contempt of lucre, fairness, and, most of all, in courage and shrewdness in the art of war, he far surpassed them all. So it was that in his lifetime his native country acquired the primacy of Hellas, but when he died lost it and constantly suffered change for the worse and finally, because of the folly of its leaders, experienced slavery and devastation. So Epameinondas, whose valour was approved among all men, in the manner we have shown met his death.
§ 15.89
οἱ δʼ Ἕλληνες μετὰ τὴν μάχην ἀμφισβητουμένην ἔχοντες τὴν νίκην, καὶ ταῖς ἀνδραγαθίαις ἐφάμιλλοι καθεστῶτες, ἔτι δὲ τῇ συνεχείᾳ τῶν κινδύνων καταπονούμενοι, διελύσαντο πρὸς ἀλλήλους. συνθέμενοι δὲ κοινὴν εἰρήνην καὶ συμμαχίαν, κατέταττον ἐν τῇ συμμαχίᾳ καὶ τοὺς Μεσσηνίους. οἱ δὲ Λακεδαιμόνιοι διὰ τὴν πρὸς τούτους ἀκατάλλακτον ἀλλοτριότητα τῶν σπονδῶν οὐ προείλοντο κοινωνεῖν καὶ μόνοι τῶν Ἑλλήνων ὑπῆρχον ἔκσπονδοι. τῶν δὲ συγγραφέων Ξενοφῶν μὲν ὁ Ἀθηναῖος τὴν τῶν Ἑλληνικῶν σύνταξιν εἰς τοῦτον τὸν ἐνιαυτὸν κατέστροφεν ἐπὶ τὴν Ἐπαμεινώνδου τελευτήν· Ἀναξιμένης δὲ ὁ Λαμψακηνὸς τὴν πρώτην τῶν Ἑλληνικῶν ἀνέγραψεν ἀρξάμενος ἀπὸ θεογονίας καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ πρώτου γένους τῶν ἀνθρώπων, κατέστροφε δʼ εἰς τὴν ἐν Μαντινείᾳ μάχην καὶ τὴν Ἐπαμεινώνδου τελευτήν· περιέλαβε δὲ πάσας σχεδὸν τάς τε τῶν Ἑλλήνων καὶ βαρβάρων πράξεις ἐν βύβλοις δώδεκα. Φίλιστος δὲ τὰ περὶ Διονύσιον τὸν νεώτερον ὧδε κατέστροφε, διελθὼν ἔτη πέντε ἐν βύβλοις δυσίν.
The states of Greece after the battle, since the victory credited to them all was in dispute and they had proved to be evenly matched in the matter of valour, and, furthermore, were now exhausted by the unbroken series of battles, came to terms with one another. When they had agreed upon a general truce and alliance, they sought to include the Messenians in the compact. But the Lacedemonians, because of the irreconcilable quarrel with them, chose not to be parties to the truce and alone of the Greeks remained out of it. Among the historians Xenophon the Athenian brings the narrative of "Greek Affairs" down into this year, closing it with the death of Epameinondas, while Anaximenes of Lampsacus, who composed the "First Inquiry of Greek Affairs" beginning with the birth of the gods and the first generation of man, closed it with the battle of Mantineia and the death of Epameinondas. He included practically all the doings of the Greek and non-Greeks in twelve volumes. And Philistus brought his history of Dionysius the Younger down to this year, narrating the events of five years in two volumes.
§ 15.90
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησι Μόλωνος ἐν Ῥώμῃ κατεστάθησαν ὕπατοι Λεύκιος Γενούκιος καὶ Κόιντος Σερουίλιος. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων οἱ τὴν παράλιον οἰκοῦντες τῆς Ἀσίας ἀπέστησαν ἀπὸ Περσῶν, καί τινες τῶν σατραπῶν καὶ στρατηγῶν ἐπαναστάντες πόλεμον ἐξήνεγκαν πρὸς Ἀρταξέρξην. ὁμοίως δὲ τούτοις καὶ Ταχὼς ὁ βασιλεὺς τῶν Αἰγυπτίων κρίνας πολεμεῖν τοῖς Πέρσαις, ναῦς τε κατεσκεύασε καὶ πεζὰς δυνάμεις ἤθροισεν. πολλοὺς δὲ ξενολογήσας ἐκ τῶν Ἑλληνίδων πόλεων ἔπεισε καὶ Λακεδαιμονίους συμμαχεῖν· οἱ γὰρ Σπαρτιᾶται πρὸς Ἀρταξέρξην ἀλλοτρίως εἶχον διὰ τὸ τοὺς Μεσσηνίους ὁμοίως τοῖς ἄλλοις Ἕλλησιν ὑπὸ τοῦ βασιλέως εἰς τὴν κοινὴν εἰρήνην κατατετάχθαι. τηλικαύτης δὲ συνδρομῆς κατὰ τῶν Περσῶν γενομένης, καὶ ὁ βασιλεὺς παρεσκευάζετο τὰ πρὸς τὸν πόλεμον. ὑπὸ γὰρ τὸν αὐτὸν καιρὸν ἔδει πρός τε τὸν τῶν Αἰγυπτίων βασιλέα πολεμεῖν καὶ πρὸς τὰς κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν Ἑλληνίδας πόλεις καὶ Λακεδαιμονίους καὶ τοὺς τούτων συμμάχους σατράπας καὶ στρατηγούς, τοὺς ἄρχοντας μὲν τῶν παραθαλαττίων τόπων, συντεθειμένους δὲ κοινοπραγίαν· ὧν ἦσαν ἐπιφανέστατοι Ἀριοβαρζάνης μὲν ὁ τῆς Φρυγίας σατράπης, ὃς καὶ Μιθριδάτου τελευτήσαντος τῆς τούτου βασιλείας κεκυριευκὼς ἦν, Μαύσωλος δὲ Καρίας δυναστεύων καὶ πολλῶν ἐρυμάτων καὶ πόλεων ἀξιολόγων κυριεύων, ὧν ἑστίαν καὶ μητρόπολιν συνέβαινεν εἶναι τὴν Ἁλικαρνασσόν, ἔχουσαν ἀκρόπολιν ἀξιόλογον καὶ τὰ τῆς Καρίας βασίλεια, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις Ὀρόντης μὲν τῆς Μυσίας σατράπης, Αὐτοφραδάτης δὲ Λυδίας· τῶν δὲ Ἰώνων ἄνευΛύκιοί τε καὶ Πισίδαι καὶ Παμφύλιοι καὶ Κίλικες, ἔτι δὲ καὶ Σύροι καὶ Φοίνικες καὶ σχεδὸν πάντες οἱ παραθαλάσσιοι. τηλικαύτης δʼ οὔσης ἀποστάσεως, τὸ μὲν ἥμισυ τῶν προσόδων τῷ βασιλεῖ κατελέλυτο, τὸ δὲ λοιπὸν οὐχ ἱκανὸν ἦν εἰς τὰς τοῦ πολέμου χρείας.
When Molon was archon at Athens, in Rome there were elected as consuls Lucius Genucius and Quintus Servilius. During their term of office the inhabitants of the Asiatic coast revolted from Persia, and some of the satraps and generals rising in insurrection made war on Artaxerxes. At the same time Tachos the Egyptian king decided to fight the Persians and prepared ships and gathered infantry forces. Having procured many mercenaries from the Greek cities, he persuaded the Lacedemonians likewise to fight with him, for the Spartans were estranged from Artaxerxes because the Messenians had been included by the King on the same terms as the other Greeks in the general peace. When the general uprising against the Persians reached such large proportions, the King also began making preparations for the war. For at one and the same time he must needs fight the Egyptian king, the Greek cities of Asia, the Lacedemonians and the allies of these, — satraps and generals who ruled the coastal districts and had agreed upon making common cause with them. Of these the most distinguished were Ariobarzanes, satrap of Phrygia, who at the death of Mithridates had taken possession of his kingdom, and Mausolus, overlord of Caria, who was master of many strongholds and important cities of which the hearth and mother city was Halicarnassus, which possessed a famous acropolis and the royal palace of Caria; and, in addition to the two already mentioned, Orontes, satrap of Mysia, and Autophradates, satrap of Lydia. Apart from the Ionians were Lycians, Pisidians, Pamphylians, and Cilicians, likewise Syrians, Phoenicians, and practically all the coastal peoples. With the revolt so extensive, half the revenues of the King were cut off and what remained were insufficient for the expenses of the war.
§ 15.91
οἱ δʼ ἀφεστηκότες τοῦ βασιλέως ἐπὶ τὴν τῶν ὅλων διοίκησιν εἵλαντο στρατηγὸν Ὀρόντην. οὗτος δὲ παραλαβὼν τὴν ἡγεμονίαν καὶ χρήματα πρὸς ξενολογίαν, δισμυρίοις στρατιώταις ἐνιαύσιον μισθόν, ἐγένετο προδότης τῶν πιστευσάντων. ὑπολαβὼν γὰρ παρὰ τοῦ βασιλέως δωρεῶν τε μεγάλων τεύξεσθαι καὶ τῆς παραθαλασσίου πάσης παραλήψεσθαι τὴν σατραπείαν, ἐὰν ἐγχειρίσῃ τοῖς Πέρσαις τοὺς ἀφεστηκότας, πρῶτον μὲν τοὺς κομίσαντας τὰ χρήματα συνέλαβε καὶ πρὸς τὸν Ἀρταξέρξην ἀπέστειλε, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα πολλὰς τῶν πόλεων καὶ τοὺς ξενολογηθέντας στρατιώτας τοῖς ὑπὸ τοῦ βασιλέως πεμφθεῖσιν ἡγεμόσι παρέδωκεν. ὁμοίως δὲ τούτῳ καὶ κατὰ τὴν Καππαδοκίαν ἐγένετο προδοσία, καθʼ ἣν ἴδιόν τι καὶ παράδοξον συνέβη γενέσθαι. Ἀρταβάζου γὰρ τοῦ βασιλέως στρατηγοῦ μετὰ πολλῆς δυνάμεως ἐμβαλόντος εἰς τὴν Καππαδοκίαν, ὁ μὲν ταύτης τῆς χώρας σατράπης Δατάμης ἀντεστρατοπέδευσεν αὐτῷ, πολλοὺς μὲν ἱππεῖς ἠθροικώς, δισμυρίους δὲ πεζοὺς μισθοφόρους ἔχων αὑτῷ συστρατεύοντας· ὁ δὲ κηδεστὴς τοῦ Δατάμου τῶν ἱππέων ἀφηγούμενος, χάριν βουλόμενος καταθέσθαι καὶ τῆς ἰδίας σωτηρίας ἅμα προνοούμενος, ἀποστὰς νυκτὸς μετὰ τῶν ἱππέων ἀπήλαυνε πρὸς τοὺς πολεμίους, συντεθειμένος πρὸς Ἀρτάβαζον τῇ πρότερον ἡμέρᾳ περὶ τῆς προδοσίας. Δατάμης δὲ παρακαλέσας τοὺς μισθοφόρους καὶ δωρεὰς ὑποσχόμενος, ἀνέζευξε πρὸς τοὺς ἀφεστηκότας. καταλαβὼν δʼ αὐτοὺς ἤδη συνάπτοντας τοῖς πολεμίοις, καὶ αὐτὸς προσπεσὼν ἅμα τοῖς περὶ τὸν Ἀρτάβαζον καὶ τοῖς ἱππεῦσιν, ἔκτεινε τοὺς εἰς χεῖρας ἐρχομένους. ὁ δʼ Ἀρτάβαζος, τὸ μὲν πρῶτον τὸ ἀληθὲς ἀγνοῶν, ὑπολαβὼν δὲ τὸν ἀποστάτην τοῦ Δατάμου παλιμπροδοσίαν ποιεῖσθαι, παρήγγειλε τοῖς ἰδίοις κτείνειν τοὺς προσιόντας ἱππεῖς. ὁ δὲ Μιθροβαρζάνης ἐν μέσοις ἀποληφθείς, καὶ τῶν μὲν ὡς προδότην ἀμυνομένων, τῶν δὲ ὡς παλιμπροδότην τιμωρουμένων, ἐν ἀπορίᾳ καθειστήκει· τῆς δʼ ἀπορίας οὐκ ἐώσης βουλεύσασθαι, πρὸς ἀλκὴν ἐτρέπετο, καὶ πρὸς ἀμφοτέρους διαμαχόμενος πολὺν ἐποίει φόνον. τέλος δὲ πλειόνων ἢ μυρίων ἀναιρεθέντων, τοὺς ὑπολειφθέντας ὁ Δατάμης τρεψάμενος καὶ πολλοὺς φονεύσας ἀνεκαλέσατο τῇ σάλπιγγι τοὺς διώκοντας στρατιώτας. τῶν δʼ ἱππέων τῶν ὑπολειφθέντων οἱ μὲν πρὸς τὸν Δατάμην ἀποχωρήσαντες ἠξίουν τυχεῖν συγγνώμης, οἱ δὲ λοιποὶ τὴν ἡσυχίαν ἦγον, οὐκ ἔχοντες ὅποι τράπωνται, καὶ τέλος εἰς πεντακοσίους ὄντες κυκλωθέντες ὑπὸ Δατάμου κατηκοντίσθησαν. Δατάμης μὲν οὖν καὶ πρότερον ἐπὶ στρατηγίᾳ θαυμαζόμενος, πολλῷ τότε μᾶλλον ἔσχε περιβόητον τήν τε ἀνδρείαν καὶ τὴν ἐν τῷ στρατηγεῖν σύνεσιν· ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς Ἀρταξέρξης πυθόμενος τὴν στρατηγίαν τοῦ Δατάμου, καὶ σπεύδων ἄρασθαι τοῦτον, διʼ ἐπιβουλῆς αὐτὸν ἐδολοφόνησεν.
The peoples who had revolted from the King chose as their general Orontes in charge of all branches of the administration. He, having taken over the command and funds needed for recruiting mercenaries, amounting to a year's pay for twenty thousand men, proceeded to betray his trust. For suspecting that he would obtain from the King not only great rewards but would also succeed to the satrapy of all the coastal region if he should deliver the rebels into the hands of the Persians, he first arrested those who brought the money and dispatched them to Artaxerxes; then afterwards he delivered many of the cities and the soldiers who had been hired to the commanding officers who had been sent by the King. In a similar manner, betrayal occurred also in Cappadocia, where a strange and unexpected thing took place. Artabazus, the King's general, had invaded Cappadocia with a large army, and Datames, the satrap of the country, had taken the field against him, for he had collected many horsemen and had twenty thousand mercenary foot-soldiers serving with him. But the father-in law of Datames, who commanded the cavalry, wishing to acquire favour and at the same time having an eye to his own safety, deserted at night and rode off with the cavalry to the enemy, having the day before made arrangements with Artabazus for the betrayal. Datames then summoned his mercenaries, promised them largess, and launched an attack upon the deserters. Finding them on the point of joining forces with the enemy and himself attacking at the same time Artabazus' guard and the horsemen, he slew all who came to close quarters. Artabazus, at first unaware of the truth and suspecting that the man who had deserted Datames was effecting a counter-betrayal, ordered his own men to slay all the horsemen who approached. And Mithrobarzanes, caught between the two parties one group seeking revenge against him as a traitor; the other trying to punish him for counterbetrayal — was in a predicament, but since the situation allowed no time to deliberate, he had recourse to force, and fighting against both parties caused grievous slaughter. When, finally, more than ten thousand had been slain, Datames, having put the rest of Mithrobarzanes' men to flight and slain many of them, recalled with the trumpet his soldiers who had gone in pursuit. Amongst the survivors in the cavalry some went back to Datames and asked for pardon; the rest did nothing, having nowhere to turn, and finally, being about five hundred in number, were surrounded and shot down by Datames. As for Datames, though even before this he was admired for his generalship, at that time he won far greater acclaim for both his courage and his sagacity in the art of war; but King Artaxerxes, when he learned about Datames' exploit as general, because he was impatient to be rid of him, instigated his assassination.
§ 15.92
ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις Ῥεομίθρης, ὑπὸ τῶν ἀποστατῶν πεμφθεὶς εἰς Αἴγυπτον πρὸς Ταχὼ τὸν βασιλέα, καὶ λαβὼν ἀργυρίου μὲν τάλαντα πεντακόσια, ναῦς δὲ μακρὰς πεντήκοντα, κατέπλευσε τῆς Ἀσίας εἰς τὰς ὀνομαζομένας Λεύκας. εἰς δὲ ταύτην τὴν πόλιν μεταπεμψάμενος πολλοὺς τῶν ἀφεστηκότων ἡγεμόνας, τούτους μὲν συλλαβὼν καὶ δήσας ἀνέπεμψε πρὸς Ἀρταξέρξην, αὐτὸς δὲ ἀποστάτης γενόμενος ταῖς ἐκ τῆς προδοσίας δωρεαῖς διελύσατο τὰ πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα. κατὰ δὲ τὴν Αἴγυπτον Ταχὼς ὁ βασιλεὺς κατασκευασάμενος τὰ πρὸς τὸν πόλεμον διακοσίας μὲν τριήρεις εἶχε πολυτελῶς κεκοσμημένας, μισθοφόρους δʼ ἐπιλέκτους ἐκ τῆς Ἑλλάδος μυρίους, χωρὶς δὲ τούτων πεζοὺς στρατιώτας Αἰγυπτίους ὀκτακισμυρίους. καὶ τῶν μὲν μισθοφόρων τὴν ἡγεμονίαν παρέδωκεν Ἀγησιλάῳ τῷ Σπαρτιάτῃ, ἀπεσταλμένῳ μὲν ὑπὸ Λακεδαιμονίων ἐπὶ συμμαχίαν μεθʼ ὁπλιτῶν χιλίων, δυναμένῳ δʼ ἡγεῖσθαι στρατιωτῶν καὶ διʼ ἀνδρείαν καὶ στρατηγικὴν σύνεσιν τεθαυμασμένῳ· τοῦ δὲ ναυτικοῦ τὴν στρατηγίαν ἐνεχείρισε Χαβρίᾳ τῷ Ἀθηναίῳ, δημοσίᾳ μὲν ὑπὸ τῆς πατρίδος οὐκ ἀπεσταλμένῳ, ἰδίᾳ δὲ ὑπὸ τοῦ βασιλέως συστρατεύειν πεπεισμένῳ. αὐτὸς δὲ τῶν Αἰγυπτίων ἔχων τὴν ἡγεμονίαν καὶ στρατηγὸς ὢν ἁπάσης τῆς δυνάμεως, Ἀγησιλάῳ μὲν συμβουλεύσαντι μένειν ἐπὶ τῆς Αἰγύπτου καὶ διὰ τῶν στρατηγῶν τὸν πόλεμον διοικεῖν οὐ προσέσχε καλῶς συμβουλεύοντι. τῆς γὰρ δυνάμεως προελθούσης πορρωτέρω καὶ περὶ Φοινίκην καταστρατοπεδευούσης, ὁ καθεσταμένος ἐπὶ τῆς Αἰγύπτου στρατηγὸς ἀπέστη ἀπὸ τοῦ βασιλέως, διαπεμψάμενος δὲ πρὸς τὸν υἱὸν Νεκτανεβώ, καὶ πείσας ἀντέχεσθαι τῆς ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ βασιλείας, μέγαν πόλεμον ἐξέκαυσεν· ὁ γὰρ Νεκτανεβὼς ὑπὸ τοῦ βασιλέως τεταγμένος ἡγεμὼν τῶν ἐξ Αἰγύπτου στρατιωτῶν, καὶ πεμφθεὶς ἀπὸ τῆς Φοινίκης πολιορκεῖν τὰς ἐν τῇ Συρίᾳ πόλεις, συγκάταινος γενόμενος ταῖς τοῦ πατρὸς ἐπιβολαῖς, τοὺς μὲν ἡγεμόνας δωρεαῖς, τοὺς δὲ στρατιώτας ἐπαγγελίαις προτρεψάμενος, ἔπεισε συναγωνιστὰς γενέσθαι. τέλος δὲ καταληφθείσης ὑπὸ τῶν ἀποστατῶν τῆς Αἰγύπτου, ὁ μὲν Ταχὼς καταπλαγεὶς ἐτόλμησε διὰ τῆς Ἀραβίας ἀναβῆναι πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα, καὶ συγγνώμην ἠξίου δοῦναι περὶ τῶν ἡμαρτημένων· ὁ δὲ Ἀρταξέρξης οὐ μόνον αὐτὸν ἀπέλυσε τῶν ἐγκλημάτων, ἀλλὰ καὶ στρατηγὸν ἀπέδειξε τοῦ πρὸς Αἰγυπτίους πολέμου.
While these things were going on, Rheomithres, who had been sent by the insurgents to King Tachos in Egypt, received from him five hundred talents of silver and fifty warships, and sailed to Asia to the city named Leucae. To this city he summoned many leaders of the insurgents. These he arrested and sent in irons to Artaxerxes, and, though he himself had been an insurgent, by the favours that he conferred through his betrayal, he made his peace with the King. In Egypt King Tachos, having completed his preparations for the war, now had two hundred triremes expensively adorned, ten thousand chosen mercenaries from Greece, and besides these eighty thousand Egyptian infantry. He gave the command of the mercenaries to the Spartan Agesilaus, who had been dispatched by the Lacedemonians with a thousand hoplites to fight as an ally, being a man capable of leading troops and highly regarded for his courage and for his shrewdness in the art of war. The command of the naval contingent he entrusted to Chabrias the Athenian, who had not been sent officially by his country, but had been privately prevailed upon by the king to join the expedition. The king himself, having command of the Egyptians and being general of the whole army, gave no heed to the advice of Agesilaus to remain in Egypt and conduct the war through the agency of his generals, though the advice was sound. In fact when the armament had gone far afield and was encamped near Phoenicia, the general left in charge of Egypt revolted from the king, and having thereupon sent word to his son Nectanebos prevailed upon him to take the kingship in Egypt, and thereby kindled a great war. For Nectanebos, who had been appointed by the king commander of the soldiers from Egypt and had been sent from Phoenicia to besiege the cities in Syria, after approving of his father's designs, solicited the officers with bribes and the common soldiers with promises, and so prevailed upon them to be his accomplices. At last Egypt was seized by the insurgents, and Tachos, panicstricken, made bold to go up to the King by way of Arabia and beg forgiveness for his past errors. Artaxerxes not only cleared him of the charges against him but even appointed him general in the war against Egypt.
§ 15.93
μετʼ ὀλίγον δὲ ὁ μὲν βασιλεὺς τῶν Περσῶν ἐτελεύτησεν ἄρξας ἔτη τρία πρὸς τοῖς τετταράκοντα, τὴν δὲ βασιλείαν διεδέξατο Ὦχος ὁ μετονομασθεὶς Ἀρταξέρξης, καὶ ἐβασίλευσεν ἔτη τρία πρὸς τοῖς εἴκοσι· τοῦ γὰρ Ἀρταξέρξου καλῶς βεβασιλευκότος καὶ γενομένου παντελῶς εἰρηνικοῦ καὶ ἐπιτυχοῦς, τοὺς μετὰ τοῦτον βασιλεύοντας μετωνόμαζον καὶ τὴν τούτου προσηγορίαν ἔχειν προσέταττον. τοῦ δὲ βασιλέως Ταχὼ ἐπανελθόντος πρὸς τοὺς περὶ τὸν Ἀγησίλαον, Νεκτανεβὼς ἠθροικὼς στρατιώτας πλείους τῶν δέκα μυριάδων ἧκεν ἐπὶ τὸν Ταχώ, καὶ προεκαλεῖτο περὶ τῆς βασιλείας διαγωνίσασθαι. ὁ μὲν οὖν Ἀγησίλαος ὁρῶν τὸν βασιλέα καταπεπληγμένον καὶ μὴ τολμῶντα διακινδυνεύειν, παρεκάλει θαρρεῖν· τῆς γὰρ νίκης τυγχάνειν οὐ τοὺς κατὰ τὸ πλῆθος προέχοντας, ἀλλὰ τοὺς κατὰ τὰς ἀνδραγαθίας πρωτεύοντας· οὐ προσέχοντος δʼ αὐτοῦ συνηναγκάσθη μετʼ αὐτοῦ ποιήσασθαι τὴν ἀναχώρησιν εἴς τινα πόλιν εὐμεγέθη. οἱ δʼ Αἰγύπτιοι τὸ πρῶτον ἐπολιόρκουν τοὺς συγκεκλεισμένους· ἐπεὶ δὲ πολλοὺς ἐν ταῖς τειχομαχίαις ἀπέβαλον, τείχει καὶ τάφρῳ περιελάμβανον τὴν πόλιν. ταχὺ δὲ τῶν ἔργων συντελουμένων διὰ τὴν πολυχειρίαν, καὶ τῶν ἐπιτηδείων ἐξαναλωθέντων, ὁ μὲν Ταχὼς ἀπέγνω τὴν σωτηρίαν, ὁ δὲ Ἀγησίλαος παρακαλέσας τοὺς στρατιώτας, καὶ νυκτὸς ἐπιθέμενος τοῖς πολεμίοις, διέσωσεν ἅπαντας τοὺς στρατιώτας ἀνελπίστως. ἐπιδιωξάντων δὲ τῶν Αἰγυπτίων καὶ τῶν τόπων ὄντων πεδινῶν, οἱ μὲν Αἰγύπτιοι διέλαβον τῷ πλήθει κεκυκλῶσθαι τοὺς πολεμίους καὶ πάντας ἄρδην ἀναιρήσειν, ὁ δὲ Ἀγησίλαος καταλαβόμενος τόπον, ὃς εἶχεν ἐξ ἑκατέρου μέρους διώρυγα ποταμοῦ χειροποίητον, ὑπέμενε τὴν τῶν πολεμίων ἔφοδον. ἐκτάξας δὲ τὴν δύναμιν οἰκείως τοῖς τόποις, καὶ τοῖς τοῦ ποταμοῦ ῥείθροις ὀχυρώσας τὴν στρατιάν, συνῆψε μάχην. τοῦ δὲ πλήθους τοῖς Αἰγυπτίοις ἀχρήστου γενομένου, ταῖς ἀρεταῖς προέχοντες οἱ Ἕλληνες πολλοὺς μὲν ἀπέκτειναν τῶν Αἰγυπτίων, τοὺς δὲ λοιποὺς φεύγειν ἠνάγκασαν. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ὁ μὲν Ταχὼς ῥᾳδίως ἀνεκτήσατο τὴν κατʼ Αἴγυπτον βασιλείαν, ὁ δʼ Ἀγησίλαος ὡς μόνος κατωρθωκὼς τὴν βασιλείαν ἐτιμήθη προσηκούσαις δωρεαῖς. ἐπανιὼν δὲ εἰς τὴν πατρίδα διὰ Κυρήνης ἐτελεύτησε, καὶ τοῦ σώματος ἐν μέλιτι κομισθέντος εἰς τὴν Σπάρτην ἔτυχε τῆς βασιλικῆς ταφῆς τε καὶ τιμῆς. καὶ τὰ μὲν κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν μέχρι τούτων προέβη κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν ἐνιαυτόν.
Shortly after, the King of Persia died, having ruled forty-three years, and Ochus, who now assumed a new name, Artaxerxes, succeeded to the kingdom and ruled twenty-three years; — for since the first Artaxerxes had ruled well and had shown himself altogether peaceloving and fortunate, the Persians changed the names of those who ruled after him and prescribed that they should bear that name. When King Tachos had returned to the army of Agesilaus, Nectanebos, who had collected more than a hundred thousand men, came against Tachos and challenged him to fight a battle for the kingship. Now Agesilaus, observing that the king was terrified and lacked the courage to risk a battle, bade him take heart. "For," said he, "it is not those who have the advantage of numbers who win the victory, but those who excel in valour." But since the king paid no heed to Agesilaus, he was obliged to withdraw with him to a large city. The Egyptians at first started to assault them once they were shut in it, but when they had lost many men in their attacks on the walls, they then began to surround the city with a wall and a ditch. As the work was rapidly nearing completion by reason of the large number of workers, and the provisions in the city were exhausted, Tachos despaired of his safety, but Agesilaus, encouraging the men and attacking the enemy by night, unexpectedly succeeded in bringing all the men out safely. And since the Egyptians had pursued close on their heels and the district was now flat, the Egyptians supposed that they had the enemy surrounded by superior numbers, and would utterly destroy them, but Agesilaus seized a position which had on each side a canal fed by the river and thus halted the enemy's attack. Then having drawn up his force in conformity with the terrain and protected his army by the river channels, he joined battle. The superior numbers of the Egyptians had become useless, and the Greeks, who surpassed them in courage, slew many Egyptians and forced the rest to flee. Afterwards Tachos easily recovered the Egyptian kingship, and Agesilaus, as the one who single-handed had restored his kingdom, was honoured with appropriate gifts. On his journey back to his native land by way of Cyrene Agesilaus died, and his body packed in honey was conveyed to Sparta where he received kingly burial and honour. So far did events in Asia progress to the end of the year.
§ 15.94
κατὰ δὲ τὴν Πελοπόννησον τοῖς Ἀρκάσι γενομένης εἰρήνης κοινῆς μετὰ τὴν ἐν Μαντινείᾳ μάχην, ἐνιαυτὸν μόνον ἐμμείναντες τοῖς ὅρκοις πάλιν κατέστησαν τὸν πόλεμον. ἐν μὲν γὰρ τοῖς ὅρκοις ἦν γεγραμμένον ἑκάστους εἰς τὴν ἑαυτῶν ἀπιέναι πατρίδα μετὰ τὴν μάχην, εἰς δὲ τὴν Μεγάλην πόλιν ὑπῆρχον αἱ περιοικοῦσαι πόλεις μετῳκισμέναι καὶ δυσχερῶς φέρουσαι τὴν ἐκ τῆς πατρίδος μετάστασιν. διόπερ αὐτῶν ἐπανελθόντων εἰς τὰς προγεγενημένας πόλεις, οἱ Μεγαλοπολῖται συνηνάγκαζον ἐκλιπεῖν τὰς πατρίδας. διὰ δὲ ταύτην τὴν αἰτίαν γενομένης διαφορᾶς, οἱ μὲν ἐκ τῶν πολισμάτων ἠξίουν αὐτοῖς βοηθεῖν Μαντινεῖς καὶ τῶν ἄλλων Ἀρκάδων τινάς, ἔτι δὲ Ἠλείους καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους τοὺς μετεσχηκότας τοῖς Μαντινεῦσι συμμαχίας· οἱ δὲ Μεγαλοπολῖται τοὺς Θηβαίους παρεκάλουν συμμαχεῖν. οἷς ἀπέστειλαν συντόμως ὁπλίτας μὲν τρισχιλίους, ἱππεῖς δὲ τριακοσίους, ὧν τὴν στρατηγίαν εἶχε Παμμένης. οὗτος δὲ παρελθὼν εἰς Μεγάλην πόλιν, καὶ τῶν πολισμάτων ἃ μὲν ἐκπορθήσας, ἃ δὲ καταπληξάμενος, συνηνάγκασεν εἰς τὴν Μεγάλην πόλιν μετοικῆσαι. καὶ τὰ μὲν περὶ τὸν συνοικισμὸν τῶν πόλεων ἐπὶ τοσοῦτο ταραχῆς ἐλθόντα ἔτυχεν ἐνδεχομένης καταστολῆς. τῶν δὲ συγγραφέων Ἀθάνας ὁ Συρακόσιος τῶν περὶ Δίωνα πράξεων ἐντεῦθεν ἀρξάμενος ἔγραψε μὲν βύβλους τρισκαίδεκα, προανέλαβε δὲ τὸν ἄγραφον χρόνον ἐτῶν ἑπτὰ ἀπὸ τῆς Φιλίστου συντάξεως ἐν μιᾷ βύβλῳ, καὶ διελθὼν τὰς πράξεις ἐν κεφαλαίοις συνεχῆ τὴν ἱστορίαν ἐποίησεν.
In the Peloponnese, though the Arcadians had agreed on a general peace after the battle of Mantineia, they adhered to their covenant only a year before they renewed the war. In the covenant it was written that each should return to his respective native country after the battle, but there had come into the city of Megalopolis the inhabitants of neighbouring cities who had been moved to new homes and were finding transplantation from their own homes difficult to bear. Consequently when they had returned to the cities which had formerly been theirs, the Megalopolitans tried to compel them to abandon their homelands. And when for this reason a quarrel arose, the townsfolk asked the Mantineians and certain other Arcadians to help them, and also the Eleians and the other peoples that were members of the alliance with the Mantineians, whereas the Megalopolitans besought the Thebans to fight with them as allies. The Thebans speedily dispatched to them three thousand hoplites and three hundred cavalry with Pammenes as their commander. He came to Megalopolis, and by sacking some of the towns and terrifying others he compelled their inhabitants to change their abode to Megalopolis. So the problem of the amalgamation of the cities, after it had reached such a state of turmoil, was reduced to such calm as was possible. Of the historians, Athanas of Syracuse wrote thirteen books beginning with the events attending and following Dion's expedition, but he prefixed, in one book, an account of the period of seven years not recorded in the treatise of Philistus and by recording these events in summary fashion made of the history a continuous narrative.
§ 15.95
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησι Νικοφήμου τὴν ὑπατικὴν ἀρχὴν ἐν Ῥώμῃ διέλαβε Γάιος Σολπίκιος καὶ Γάιος Λικίνιος. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Ἀλέξανδρος μὲν ὁ Φερῶν τύραννος λῃστρίδας ναῦς ἐκπέμψας ἐπὶ τὰς Κυκλάδας νήσους, τινὰς μὲν ἐκπολιορκήσας πολλῶν σωμάτων ἐκυρίευσεν, εἰς δὲ τὴν Πεπάρηθον ἀποβιβάσας μισθοφόρους στρατιώτας ἐπολιόρκει τὴν πόλιν. Ἀθηναίων δὲ βοηθησάντων τοῖς Πεπαρηθίοις, καὶ στρατηγὸν Λεωσθένην ἀπολιπόντων, ἐπέθετο τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις· ἐτύγχανον δʼ οὗτοι παραφυλάττοντες τοὺς ἐν τῷ Πανόρμῳ διατρίβοντας τῶν Ἀλεξάνδρου στρατιωτῶν. ἀπροσδοκήτως δὲ ἐπιθεμένων τῶν τοῦ δυνάστου, παράδοξος εὐημερία περὶ τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον ἐγένετο. οὐ μόνον γὰρ τοὺς ἀπεσταλμένους ἐν τῷ Πανόρμῳ διέσωσεν ἐκ τῶν μεγίστων κινδύνων, ἀλλὰ καὶ τριήρεις μὲν Ἀττικὰς πέντε, μίαν δὲ Πεπαρηθίαν εἷλε, καὶ σωμάτων ἐκυρίευσεν ἑξακοσίων. οἱ δʼ Ἀθηναῖοι παροξυνθέντες τοῦ μὲν Λεωσθένους ὡς προδότου θάνατον κατέγνωσαν καὶ τὴν οὐσίαν ἐδήμευσαν, ἑλόμενοι δὲ στρατηγὸν Χάρητα καὶ ναυτικὴν δύναμιν δόντες ἐξέπεμψαν. οὗτος δὲ τοὺς μὲν πολεμίους εὐλαβούμενος, τοὺς δὲ συμμάχους ἀδικῶν διετέλει. καταπλεύσας γὰρ εἰς Κόρκυραν συμμαχίδα πόλιν, στάσεις ἐν αὐτῇ μεγάλας ἐκίνησεν, ἐξ ὧν συνέπεσε γενέσθαι σφαγὰς πολλὰς καὶ ἁρπαγάς, διʼ ἃς συνέβη τὸν δῆμον τῶν Ἀθηναίων διαβληθῆναι παρὰ τοῖς συμμάχοις. ὁ μὲν οὖν Χάρης καὶ ἕτερα τοιαῦτα παρανομῶν ἀγαθὸν μὲν οὐδὲν διεπράξατο, τῇ δὲ πατρίδι διαβολάς. τῶν δὲ συγγραφέων Διονυσόδωρος καὶ Ἄναξις οἱ Βοιωτοὶ τὴν τῶν Ἑλληνικῶν ἱστορίαν εἰς τοῦτον τὸν ἐνιαυτὸν κατεστρόφασι τὰς συντάξεις. ἡμεῖς δὲ τὰς πρὸ Φιλίππου τοῦ βασιλέως πράξεις διεληλυθότες, ταύτην μὲν τὴν βύβλον κατὰ τὴν ἐν ἀρχῇ πρόθεσιν αὐτοῦ περιγράφομεν, τὴν δʼ ἐχομένην ἀπὸ τῆς Φιλίππου παραλήψεως τῆς βασιλείας ἀρξάμενοι πάσας διέξιμεν τὰς τοῦ βασιλέως τούτου πράξεις μέχρι τῆς τελευτῆς, συμπεριλαμβάνοντες καὶ τὰς ἄλλας τὰς γεγενημένας ἐν τοῖς γνωριζομένοις μέρεσι τῆς οἰκουμένης.
When Nicophemus was archon at Athens, the consular office at Rome was assumed by Gaius Sulpicius and Gaius Licinius. During their term of office Alexander, tyrant of Pherae, sent pirate ships against the Cyclades, stormed some and took many captives, then disembarking mercenaries on Peparethos put the city under siege. And when the Athenians came to the assistance of the Peparethians and left Leosthenes in command of the mission, Alexander attacked the Athenians. Actually they were blockading such of Alexander's soldiers as were stationed in Panormos. And since the tyrant's men attacked unexpectedly, Alexander won a surprising success. For he not only rescued the detachment at Panormos from the greatest danger, but he also captured five Attic triremes and one Peparethian, and took six hundred captives. The Athenians, enraged, condemned Leosthenes to death as a traitor and confiscated his property, then choosing Chares as general in command and giving him a fleet, they sent him out. But he spent his time avoiding the enemy and injuring the allies. For he sailed to Corcyra, an allied city, and stirred up such violent civil strife in it that many murders and seizures took place, with the result that the Athenian democracy was discredited in the eyes of the allies. So it turned out that Chares, who did many other such lawless acts, accomplished nothing good but brought his country into discredit. The historians Dionysodorus and Anaxis, Boeotians, closed their narrative of Greek history with this year. But we, now that we have narrated the events before the time of King Philip, bring this book to a close here in accordance with the plan stated at the beginning. In the following book which begins with Philip's accession to the throne, we shall record all the achievements of this king to his death, including in its compass those other events as well which have occurred in the known portions of the world.
— Book 16 —
§ 16.arg
τάδε ἔνεστιν ἐν τῇ ἑκκαιδεκάτῃ τῶν Διοδώρου ἱστορικῶν βίβλων. ὡς Φίλιππος ὁ Ἀμύντου παρέλαβε τὴν τῶν Μακεδόνων βασιλείαν. ὡς Ἀργαῖον ἀντιποιούμενον τῆς βασιλείας ἐνίκησεν. ὡς Ἰλλυριοὺς καὶ Παίονας καταπολεμήσας ἐκτήσατο τὴν προγονικὴν ἀρχήν. περὶ τῆς ἀνανδρίας τοῦ νεωτέρου Διονυσίου καὶ τῆς Δίωνος φυγῆς. κτίσις Ταυρομενίου κατὰ τὴν Σικελίαν. τὰ πραχθέντα κατὰ τὴν Εὔβοιαν καὶ κατὰ τὸν συμμαχικὸν πόλεμον. πολιορκία Ἀμφιπόλεως ὑπὸ Φιλίππου καὶ ἅλωσις. ὡς Φίλιππος τοὺς Πυδναίους ἐξανδραποδισάμενος τὰ χρύσεια μέταλλα κατεσκεύασεν. ὡς Δίων ἐλευθερώσας τοὺς Συρακουσίους Διονύσιον κατεπολέμησεν. ὡς ἐκπεσὼν ἐκ τῆς πατρίδος πάλιν ἀνεκτήσατο τὰς Συρακούσας. κατάλυσις συμμαχικοῦ πολέμου. συνδρομὴ τριῶν βασιλέων ἐπὶ Φίλιππον. ὡς Φιλόμηλος ὁ Φωκεὺς τοὺς Δελφοὺς καὶ τὸ μαντεῖον καταλαβόμενος τὸν ἱερὸν πόλεμον ἐξέκαυσεν. περὶ τῆς ἐξ ἀρχῆς εὑρέσεως τοῦ μαντείου. Φιλομήλου τοῦ Φωκέως ἧττα καὶ θάνατος. Ὀνομάρχου παράληψις τῆς ἀρχῆς καὶ παρασκευὴ πρὸς πόλεμον. ὡς Βοιωτοὶ Ἀρταβάζῳ βοηθήσαντες ἐνίκησαν τοὺς βασιλέως σατράπας. ὡς Ἀθηναῖοι Χερρονήσου κρατήσαντες κατεκληρούχησαν αὐτήν. ὡς Φίλιππος Μεθώνην ἑλὼν κατέσκαψεν. ὡς Φίλιππος Φωκεῖς νικήσας ἐξέβαλεν ἐκ τῆς Θετταλίας. ὡς Ὀνόμαρχος ὁ Φωκεὺς Φίλιππον δυσὶ μάχαις νικήσας εἰς τοὺς ἐσχάτους κινδύνους ἤγαγεν. ὡς Ὀνόμαρχος Βοιωτοὺς νικήσας Κορώνειαν εἷλεν. ὡς Ὀνόμαρχος ἐν Θετταλίᾳ παραταξάμενος πρὸς Φίλιππον καὶ Θετταλοὺς ἡττήθη. ὡς αὐτὸς μὲν ἐκρεμάσθη, οἱ δʼ ἄλλοι κατεποντίσθησαν ὡς ἱερόσυλοι. ὡς Φάυλλος διαδεξάμενος τὴν ἀρχὴν πολλὰ τῶν ἀργυρῶν καὶ χρυσῶν ἀναθημάτων κατέκοψεν. ὡς τὰς μισθοφορίας ἀναβιβάσας ἤθροισε μισθοφόρων πλῆθος. ὡς τεταπεινωμένα τὰ τῶν Φωκέων πράγματα διωρθώσατο. ὡς χρήμασι διαφθείρων τὰς πόλεις καὶ τοὺς προεστηκότας αὐταῖς πολλοὺς προσελάβετο συμμάχους. ὡς οἱ τῶν Φεραίων τύραννοι παραδόντες Φιλίππῳ τὰς Φερὰς Φωκέων ἐγένοντο σύμμαχοι. μάχη Φωκέων πρὸς Βοιωτοὺς περὶ Ὀρχομενὸν καὶ ἧττα Φωκέων. ἄλλαι μάχαι τοῖς αὐτοῖς παρὰ τὸν Κηφισὸν καὶ Κορώνειαν καὶ νίκη Βοιωτῶν. ὡς Φάυλλος στρατεύσας εἰς τὴν Λοκρίδα πολλὰς πόλεις ἐχειρώσατο. ὡς Φάυλλος νόσῳ περιπεσὼν φθινάδι τὸν βίον ἐπιπόνως κατέστρεψεν. ὡς Φάλαικος διαδεξάμενος τὴν ἀρχὴν καὶ ἀγεννῶς διοικῶν τὸν πόλεμον ἐξέπεσεν. ὡς οἱ κατὰ τὴν Πελοπόννησον ἐστασίασαν. ὡς Ἀρταξέρξης ὁ ἐπικληθεὶς Ὦχος ἀνεκτήσατο Αἴγυπτον καὶ Φοινίκην καὶ Κύπρον. ὡς Φίλιππος τὰς Χαλκιδικὰς πόλεις προσαγαγόμενος τὴν ἐπισημοτάτην πόλιν κατέσκαψεν. ζήτησις τῶν ἀναλωθέντων ἱερῶν χρημάτων καὶ κόλασις τῶν νοσφισαμένων. ὡς οἱ καταφυγόντες εἰς τὸ ἱερὸν τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνος Φωκεῖς ὄντες πεντακόσιοι παραδόξως ἅπαντες ὑπὸ πυρὸς διεφθάρησαν. ὡς ὁ Φωκικὸς πόλεμος κατελύθη. ὡς οἱ μετασχόντες τῆς ἱεροσυλίας τοῖς Φωκεῦσιν ἅπαντες ὑπὸ θείας τινὸς ἐνεργείας ἐκολάσθησαν. Τιμολέοντος κατάπλους εἰς Σικελίαν καὶ αἱ πράξεις αὐτοῦ μέχρι τῆς τελευτῆς. Περίνθου καὶ Βυζαντίου πολιορκία ὑπὸ Φιλίππου. Φιλίππου παράταξις πρὸς Ἀθηναίους ἐν Χαιρωνείᾳ καὶ ἧττα Ἀθηναίων. ὡς οἱ Ἕλληνες αὐτοκράτορα στρατηγὸν εἵλοντο Φίλιππον. ὡς Φίλιππος μέλλων διαβαίνειν εἰς τὴν Ἀσίαν ἀνῃρέθη.
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§ 16.1
ἐν πάσαις μὲν ταῖς ἱστορικαῖς πραγματείαι καθήκει τοὺς συγγραφεῖς περιλαμβάνειν ἐν ταῖς βίβλοις ἢ πόλεων ἢ βασιλέων πράξεις αὐτοτελεῖς ἀπʼ ἀρχῆς μέχρι τοῦ τέλους· οὕτως γὰρ μάλιστα διαλαμβάνομεν τὴν ἱστορίαν εὐμνημόνευτον καὶ σαφῆ γενέσθαι τοῖς ἀναγινώσκουσιν. αἱ μὲν γὰρ ἡμιτελεῖς πράξεις οὐκ ἔχουσαι συνεχὲς ταῖς ἀρχαῖς τὸ πέρας μεσολαβοῦσι τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν τῶν φιλαναγνωστούντων, αἱ δὲ τὸ τῆς διηγήσεως συνεχὲς περιλαμβάνουσαι μέχρι τῆς τελευτῆς ἀπηρτισμένην τὴν τῶν πράξεων ἔχουσιν ἀπαγγελίαν. ὅταν δʼ ἡ φύσις αὐτὴ τῶν πραχθέντων συνεργῇ τοῖς συγγραφεῦσι, τότʼ ἤδη παντελῶς οὐκ ἀποστατέον ταύτης τῆς προαιρέσεως. διόπερ καὶ ἡμεῖς παρόντες ἐπὶ τὰς Φιλίππου τοῦ Ἀμύντου πράξεις πειρασόμεθα τούτῳ τῷ βασιλεῖ τὰ πραχθέντα περιλαβεῖν ἐν ταύτῃ τῇ βίβλῳ. οὗτος γὰρ εἴκοσι μὲν καὶ τέτταρα ἔτη τῶν Μακεδόνων ἐβασίλευσεν, ἐλαχίσταις δὲ ἀφορμαῖς χρησάμενος μεγίστην τῶν κατὰ τὴν Εὐρώπην δυναστειῶν κατεσκεύασε τὴν ἰδίαν βασιλείαν καὶ παραλαβὼν τὴν Μακεδονίαν δουλεύουσαν Ἰλλυριοῖς πολλῶν καὶ μεγάλων ἐθνῶν καὶ πόλεων κυρίαν ἐποίησε. διὰ δὲ τὴν ἰδίαν ἀρετὴν τῆς μὲν Ἑλλάδος ἁπάσης παρέλαβε τὴν ἡγεμονίαν ἑκουσίως τῶν πόλεων ὑποταττομένων, τοὺς δὲ τὸ ἐν Δελφοῖς ἱερὸν συλήσαντας καταπολεμήσας καὶ τῷ μαντείῳ βοηθήσας μετέσχε τοῦ συνεδρίου τῶν Ἀμφικτυόνων καὶ διὰ τὴν εἰς τοὺς θεοὺς εὐσέβειαν ἔπαθλον ἔλαβε τὰς ψήφους τῶν κρατηθέντων Φωκέων. Ἰλλυριοὺς δὲ καὶ Παίονας καὶ Θρᾷκας καὶ Σκύθας καὶ πάντα τὰ πλησιόχωρα τούτοις ἔθνη καταπολεμήσας τὴν Περσῶν βασιλείαν ἐπεβάλετο καταλῦσαι καὶ δυνάμεις μὲν εἰς τὴν Ἀσίαν διαβιβάσας τὰς Ἑλληνίδας πόλεις ἠλευθέρου, μεσολαβηθεὶς δʼ ὑπὸ τῆς πεπρωμένης τηλικαύτας καὶ τοιαύτας δυνάμεις ἀπέλιπεν ὥστε τὸν υἱὸν Ἀλέξανδρον μὴ προσδεηθῆναι συμμάχων εἰς τὴν κατάλυσιν τῆς Περσῶν ἡγεμονίας. καὶ ταῦτʼ ἔπραξεν οὐ διὰ τύχην, ἀλλὰ διὰ τὴν ἰδίαν ἀρετήν. γέγονε γὰρ ὁ βασιλεὺς οὗτος ἀγχινοίᾳ στρατηγικῇ καὶ ἀνδρείᾳ καὶ λαμπρότητι ψυχῆς διαφέρων. ἵνα δὲ μὴ διὰ τοῦ προοιμίου προλαμβάνωμεν αὐτοῦ τὰς πράξεις, ἐπὶ τὸ συνεχὲς τῆς ἱστορίας πορευσόμεθα, βραχέα τοῖς χρόνοις προσαναδραμόντες.
In all systematic historical treatises it behooves the historian to include in his books actions of states or of kings which are complete in themselves from beginning to end; for in this manner I conceive history to be most easy to remember and most intelligible to the reader. Now incomplete actions, the conclusion of which is unconnected with the beginning, interrupt the interest of the curious reader, whereas if the actions embrace a continuity of development culminating naturally, the narrative of events will achieve a well-rounded perfection. Whenever the natural pattern of events itself harmonizes with the task of the historian, from that point on he must not deviate at all from this principle. Consequently, now that I have reached the actions of Philip son of Amyntas, I shall endeavour to include the deeds performed by this king within the compass of the present Book. For Philip was king over the Macedonians for twenty-four years, and having started from the most insignificant beginnings built up his kingdom to be the greatest of the dominions in Europe, and having taken over Macedonia when she was a slave to the Illyrians, made her mistress of many powerful tribes and states. And it was by his own valour that he took over the supremacy of all Hellas with the consent of the states, which voluntarily subordinated themselves to his authority. Having subdued in war the men who had been plundering the shrine at Delphi and having brought aid to the oracle, he won a seat in the Amphictyonic Council, and because of his reverence for the gods received as his prize in the contest, after the defeat of the Phocians, the votes which had been theirs. Then when he had conquered in war Illyrians, Paeonians, Thracians, Scythians, and all the peoples in the vicinity of these, he planned to overthrow the Persian kingdom, and, after transporting his armaments into Asia, was in the act of liberating the Greek cities; but, cut short by Fate in mid-career, he left armies so numerous and powerful that his son Alexander had no need to apply for allies in his attempt to overthrow the Persian supremacy. And these deeds he accomplished, not by the favour of Fortune, but by his own valour. For King Philip excelled in shrewdness in the art of war, courage, and brilliance of personality. But, not to anticipate his achievements in my introduction, I shall proceed to the continuous thread of the narrative after first briefly retracing his early period.
§ 16.2
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος γὰρ Ἀθήνησι Καλλιμήδους Ὀλυμπιὰς μὲν ἤχθη πέμπτη πρὸς ταῖς ἑκατόν, καθʼ ἣν ἐνίκα στάδιον Πῶρος Κυρηναῖος, Ῥωμαῖοι δὲ κατέστησαν ὑπάτους Γναῖον Γενύκιον καὶ Λεύκιον Αἰμίλιον. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Φίλιππος ὁ Ἀμύντου υἱός, Ἀλεξάνδρου δὲ τοῦ Πέρσας καταπολεμήσαντος πατήρ, παρέλαβε τὴν τῶν Μακεδόνων βασιλείαν διὰ τοιαύτας αἰτίας. Ἀμύντου καταπολεμηθέντος ὑπὸ Ἰλλυριῶν καὶ φόρους τοῖς κρατήσασι τελεῖν ἀναγκασθέντος οἱ μὲν Ἰλλυριοὶ λαβόντες εἰς ὁμηρείαν Φίλιππον τὸν νεώτατον τῶν υἱῶν παρέθεντο τοῖς Θηβαίοις. οὗτοι δὲ τῷ Ἐπαμεινώνδου πατρὶ παρέθεντο τὸν νεανίσκον καὶ προσέταξαν ἅμα τηρεῖν ἐπιμελῶς τὴν παρακαταθήκην καὶ προστατεῖν τῆς ἀγωγῆς καὶ παιδείας. τοῦ δʼ Ἐπαμεινώνδου Πυθαγόριον ἔχοντος φιλόσοφον ἐπιστάτην συντρεφόμενος ὁ Φίλιππος μετέσχεν ἐπὶ πλεῖον τῶν Πυθαγορίων λόγων. ἀμφοτέρων δὲ τῶν μαθητῶν προσενεγκαμένων φύσιν τε καὶ φιλοπονίαν ὑπῆρξαν ἑκάτεροι διαφέροντες ἀρετῇ· ὧν Ἐπαμεινώνδας μὲν μεγάλους ἀγῶνας καὶ κινδύνους ὑπομείνας τῇ πατρίδι παραδόξως τὴν ἡγεμονίαν τῆς Ἑλλάδος περιέθηκεν, ὁ δὲ Φίλιππος ταῖς αὐταῖς ἀφορμαῖς χρησάμενος οὐκ ἀπελείφθη τῆς Ἐπαμεινώνδου δόξης. μετὰ γὰρ τὴν Ἀμύντου τελευτὴν Ἀλέξανδρος ὁ πρεσβύτατος τῶν υἱῶν διεδέξατο τὴν ἀρχήν. τοῦτον δὲ Πτολεμαῖος ὁ Ἀλωρίτης δολοφονήσας παρέλαβε τὴν βασιλείαν καὶ τοῦτον ὁμοίως Περδίκκας ἐπανελόμενος ἐβασίλευσεν. τούτου δὲ παρατάξει μεγάλῃ λειφθέντος ὑπὸ Ἰλλυριῶν καὶ πεσόντος ἐπὶ τῆς χρείας Φίλιππος ὁ ἀδελφὸς διαδρὰς ἐκ τῆς ὁμηρείας παρέλαβε τὴν βασιλείαν κακῶς διακειμένην. ἀνῄρηντο μὲν γὰρ ἐν τῇ παρατάξει Μακεδόνων πλείους τῶν τετρακισχιλίων, οἱ δὲ λοιποὶ καταπεπληγμένοι τὰς τῶν Ἰλλυριῶν δυνάμεις περίφοβοι καθειστήκεισαν καὶ πρὸς τὸ διαπολεμεῖν ἀθύμως εἶχον. ὑπὸ δὲ τὸν αὐτὸν καιρὸν Παίονες μὲν πλησίον τῆς Μακεδονίας οἰκοῦντες ἐπόρθουν τὴν χώραν καταφρονοῦντες τῶν Μακεδόνων, Ἰλλυριοὶ δὲ μεγάλας δυνάμεις ἤθροιζον καὶ στρατεύειν εἰς τὴν Μακεδονίαν παρεσκευάζοντο, Παυσανίας δέ τις τῆς βασιλικῆς συγγενείας κοινωνῶν ἐπεβάλλετο διὰ τοῦ Θρᾳκῶν βασιλέως ἐπὶ τὴν Μακεδονικὴν βασιλείαν κατιέναι. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ Ἀθηναῖοι πρὸς Φίλιππον ἀλλοτρίως ἔχοντες κατῆγον ἐπὶ τὴν βασιλείαν Ἀργαῖον καὶ στρατηγὸν ἀπεστάλκεισαν Μαντίαν ἔχοντα τρισχιλίους μὲν ὁπλίτας, ναυτικὴν δὲ δύναμιν ἀξιόλογον.
When Callimedes was archon at Athens, the one hundred fifth celebration of the Olympian games was held at which Porus of Cyrene won the stadion race, and the Romans elected as consuls Gnaeus Genucius and Lucius Aemilius. During their term of office Philip, the son of Amyntas and father of Alexander who defeated the Persians in war, succeeded to the Macedonian throne in the following manner. After Amyntas had been defeated by the Illyrians and forced to pay tribute to his conquerors, the Illyrians, who had taken Philip, the youngest son of Amyntas, as a hostage, placed him in the care of the Thebans. They in turn entrusted the lad to the father of Epameinondas and directed him both to keep careful watch over his ward and to superintend his upbringing and education. Since Epameinondas had as his instructor a philosopher of the Pythagorean school, Philip, who was reared along with him, acquired a wide acquaintance with the Pythagorean philosophy. Inasmuch as both students showed natural ability and diligence they proved to be superior in deeds of valour. Of the two, Epameinondas underwent the most rigorous tests and battles, and invested his fatherland almost miraculously with the leadership of Hellas, while Philip, availing himself of the same initial training, achieved no less fame than Epameinondas. For after the death of Amyntas, Alexander, the eldest of the sons of Amyntas, succeeded to the throne. But Ptolemy of Alorus assassinated him and succeeded to the throne and then in similar fashion Perdiccas disposed of him and ruled as king. But when he was defeated in a great battle by the Illyrians and fell in the action, Philip his brother, who had escaped from his detention as a hostage, succeeded to the kingdom, now in a bad way. For the Macedonians had lost more than four thousand men in the battle, and the remainder, panic-stricken, had become exceedingly afraid of the Illyrian armies and had lost heart for continuing the war. About the same time the Paeonians, who lived near Macedonia, began to pillage their territory, showing contempt for the Macedonians, and the Illyrians began to assemble large armies and prepare for an invasion of Macedonia, while a certain Pausanias, who was related to the royal line of Macedon, was planning with the aid of the Thracian king to join the contest for the throne of Macedon. Similarly, the Athenians too, being hostile to Philip, were endeavouring to restore Argaeus to the throne and had dispatched Mantias as general with three thousand hoplites and a considerable naval force.
§ 16.3
οἱ δὲ Μακεδόνες διά τε τὴν ἐν τῇ μάχῃ συμφορὰν καὶ διὰ τὸ μέγεθος τῶν ἐπιφερομένων κινδύνων ἐν ἀπορίᾳ τῇ μεγίστῃ καθειστήκεισαν. ἀλλʼ ὅμως τηλικούτων φόβων καὶ κινδύνων ἐφεστώτων ὁ Φίλιππος οὐ κατεπλάγη τὸ μέγεθος τῶν προσδοκωμένων δεινῶν, ἀλλὰ τοὺς Μακεδόνας ἐν συνεχέσιν ἐκκλησίαις συνέχων καὶ τῇ τοῦ λόγου δεινότητι προτρεπόμενος ἐπὶ τὴν ἀνδρείαν εὐθαρσεῖς ἐποίησε, τὰς δὲ στρατιωτικὰς τάξεις ἐπὶ τὸ κρεῖττον διορθωσάμενος καὶ τοὺς ἄνδρας τοῖς πολεμικοῖς ὅπλοις δεόντως κοσμήσας, συνεχεῖς ἐξοπλασίας καὶ γυμνασίας ἐναγωνίους ἐποιεῖτο. ἐπενόησε δὲ καὶ τὴν τῆς φάλαγγος πυκνότητα καὶ κατασκευήν, μιμησάμενος τὸν ἐν Τροίᾳ τῶν ἡρώων συνασπισμόν, καὶ πρῶτος συνεστήσατο τὴν Μακεδονικὴν φάλαγγα. ἐν δὲ ταῖς ὁμιλίαις προσηνὴς ἦν καὶ διά τε τῶν δωρεῶν καὶ τῶν ἐπαγγελιῶν εἰς τὴν μεγίστην εὔνοιαν τὰ πλήθη προήγετο, πρός τε τὸ πλῆθος τῶν ἐπιφερομένων κινδύνων εὐστόχως ἀντεμηχανᾶτο. θεωρῶν γὰρ τοὺς Ἀθηναίους ὑπὲρ τοῦ τὴν Ἀμφίπολιν ἀνακτήσασθαι τὴν πᾶσαν φιλοτιμίαν εἰσφερομένους καὶ διὰ τοῦτο κατάγοντας τὸν Ἀργαῖον ἐπὶ τὴν βασιλείαν ἑκουσίως ἐξεχώρησε τῆς πόλεως, ἀφεὶς αὐτὴν αὐτόνομον. πρὸς δὲ Παίονας διαπρεσβευσάμενος καὶ τοὺς μὲν δωρεαῖς διαφθείρας, τοὺς δʼ ἐπαγγελίαις φιλανθρώποις πείσας κατὰ τὸ παρὸν εἰρήνην ἄγειν πρὸς αὐτοὺς συνέθετο. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τὸν Παυσανίαν ἀπέστησε τῆς καθόδου, τὸν κατάγειν μέλλοντα βασιλέα δωρεαῖς πείσας. Μαντίας δʼ ὁ τῶν Ἀθηναίων στρατηγὸς καταπλεύσας εἰς Μεθώνην αὐτὸς μὲν ἐνταῦθα κατέμεινε, τὸν Ἀργαῖον δὲ μετὰ τῶν μισθοφόρων ἐπὶ τὰς Αἰγὰς ἀπέστειλεν. οὗτος δὲ προσελθὼν τῇ πόλει παρεκάλει τοὺς ἐν ταῖς Αἰγαῖς προσδέξασθαι τὴν κάθοδον καὶ γενέσθαι τῆς αὑτοῦ βασιλείας ἀρχηγούς. οὐδενὸς δʼ αὐτῷ προσέχοντος ὁ μὲν ἀνέκαμπτεν εἰς τὴν Μεθώνην, ὁ δὲ Φίλιππος ἐπιφανεὶς μετὰ στρατιωτῶν καὶ συνάψας μάχην πολλοὺς μὲν ἀνεῖλε τῶν μισθοφόρων, τοὺς δὲ λοιποὺς εἴς τινα λόφον καταφυγόντας ὑποσπόνδους ἀφῆκεν, λαβὼν παρʼ αὐτῶν ἐκδότους τοὺς φυγάδας. Φίλιππος μὲν οὖν ταύτην πρώτην μάχην νικήσας εὐθαρσεστέρους ἐποίησε τοὺς Μακεδόνας πρὸς τοὺς ἐφεξῆς ἀγῶνας. ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις Θάσιοι μὲν ᾤκισαν τὰς ὀνομαζομένας Κρηνίδας, ἃς ὕστερον ὁ βασιλεὺς ἀφʼ ἑαυτοῦ ὀνομάσας Φιλίππους ἐπλήρωσεν οἰκητόρων. τῶν δὲ συγγραφέων Θεόπομπος ὁ Χῖος τὴν ἀρχὴν τῶν περὶ Φίλιππον ἱστοριῶν ἐντεῦθεν ποιησάμενος γέγραφεν βύβλους ὀκτὼ πρὸς ταῖς πεντήκοντα, ἐξ ὧν πέντε διαφωνοῦσιν.
The Macedonians because of the disaster sustained in the battle and the magnitude of the dangers pressing upon them were in the greatest perplexity. Yet even so, with such fears and dangers threatening them, Philip was not panic-stricken by the magnitude of the expected perils, but, bringing together the Macedonians in a series of assemblies and exhorting them with eloquent speeches to be men, he built up their morale, and, having improved the organization of his forces and equipped the men suitably with weapons of war, he held constant manoeuvres of the men under arms and competitive drills. Indeed he devised the compact order and the equipment of the phalanx, imitating the close order fighting with overlapping shields of the warriors at Troy, and was the first to organize the Macedonian phalanx. He was courteous in his intercourse with men and sought to win over the multitudes by his gifts and his promises to the fullest loyalty, and endeavoured to counteract by clever moves the crowd of impending dangers. For instance, when he observed that the Athenians were centring all their ambition upon recovering Amphipolis and for this reason were trying to bring Argaeus back to the throne, he voluntarily withdrew from the city, after first making it autonomous. Then he sent an embassy to the Paeonians, and by corrupting some with gifts and persuading others by generous promises he made an agreement with them to maintain peace for the present. In similar fashion he prevented the return of Pausanias by winning over with gifts the king who was on the point of attempting his restoration. Mantias, the Athenian general, who had sailed into Methone, stayed behind there himself but sent Argaeus with his mercenaries to Aegae. And Argaeus approached the city and invited the population of Aegae to welcome his return and become the founders of his own kingship. When no one paid any attention to him, he turned back to Methone, but Philip, who suddenly appeared with his soldiers, engaged him in battle, slew many of his mercenaries, and released under a truce the rest, who had fled for refuge to a certain hill, after he had first obtained from them the exiles, whom they delivered to him. Now Philip by his success in this first battle encouraged the Macedonians to meet the succeeding contests with greater temerity. While these things were going on, the Thasians settled the place called Crenides, which the king afterward named Philippi for himself and made a populous settlement. Among the writers of history Theopompus of Chios began his history of Philip at this point and composed fifty-eight books, of which five are lost.
§ 16.4
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησιν Εὐχαρίστου Ῥωμαῖοι μὲν κατέστησαν ὑπάτους Κόιντον Σερουίλιον καὶ Κόιντον Γενούκιον. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων ὁ Φίλιππος πρέσβεις ἐκπέμψας εἰς Ἀθήνας ἔπεισε τὸν δῆμον εἰρήνην πρὸς αὐτὸν συνθέσθαι διὰ τὸ μηδὲν ἔτι προσποιεῖσθαι τὴν Ἀμφίπολιν. ἀπολυθεὶς δὲ τοῦ πρὸς Ἀθηναίους πολέμου καὶ πυνθανόμενος τὸν βασιλέα τῶν Παιόνων Ἆγιν τετελευτηκέναι ὑπέλαβε καιρὸν ἔχειν ἐπιθέσθαι τοῖς Παίοσιν. στρατεύσας οὖν εἰς τὴν Παιονίαν καὶ παρατάξει τοὺς βαρβάρους νικήσας ἠνάγκασε τὸ ἔθνος πειθαρχεῖν τοῖς Μακεδόσιν. ὑπολειπομένων δὲ πολεμίων τῶν Ἰλλυριῶν ἐφιλοτιμεῖτο καὶ τούτους καταπολεμῆσαι. εὐθὺς οὖν συναγαγὼν ἐκκλησίαν καὶ τοὺς στρατιώτας οἰκείοις λόγοις προτρεψάμενος εἰς τὸν πόλεμον ἐστράτευσεν εἰς τὴν τῶν Ἰλλυριῶν χώραν, πεζοὺς μὲν ἔχων οὐκ ἐλάττους μυρίων, ἱππεῖς δὲ ἑξακοσίους. Βάρδυλις δʼ ὁ τῶν Ἰλλυριῶν βασιλεὺς πυθόμενος τὴν παρουσίαν τῶν πολεμίων τὸ μὲν πρῶτον πρέσβεις ἀπέστειλεν περὶ διαλύσεως, ἐφʼ ὅτῳ κυρίους ἀμφοτέρους εἶναι τῶν τότε κυριευομένων πόλεων· τοῦ δὲ Φιλίππου φήσαντος ἐπιθυμεῖν μὲν τῆς εἰρήνης, μὴ μέντοι γε ταύτην συγχωρήσειν, ἐὰν μὴ τῶν Μακεδονικῶν πόλεων ἁπασῶν ἐκχωρήσωσιν Ἰλλυριοί, οἱ μὲν πρέσβεις ἐπανῆλθον ἄπρακτοι, ὁ δὲ Βάρδυλις πιστεύων ταῖς τε προγεγενημέναις νίκαις καὶ ταῖς τῶν Ἰλλυριῶν ἀνδραγαθίαις ἀπήντα τοῖς πολεμίοις μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως· εἶχεν δὲ πεζοὺς μὲν μυρίους ἐπιλέκτους, ἱππεῖς δὲ εἰς πεντακοσίους. ὡς δʼ ἤγγιζον ἀλλήλοις τὰ στρατεύματα καὶ μετὰ βοῆς πολλῆς συνέρραξαν εἰς τὴν μάχην, ὁ μὲν Φίλιππος ἔχων τὸ δεξιὸν κέρας καὶ τοὺς ἀρίστους τῶν Μακεδόνων συναγωνιζομένους τοῖς μὲν ἱππεῦσι παρήγγειλεν παριππεῦσαι καὶ πλαγίοις ἐμβαλεῖν τοῖς βαρβάροις, αὐτὸς δὲ κατὰ στόμα τοῖς πολεμίοις ἐπιπεσὼν καρτερὰν συνεστήσατο μάχην. οἱ δʼ Ἰλλυριοὶ συντάξαντες ἑαυτοὺς εἰς πλινθίον ἐρρωμένως συνεστήσαντο τὸν κίνδυνον. καὶ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἐπὶ πολὺν χρόνον ἦν ἰσόρροπος ἡ μάχη διὰ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῆς παρʼ ἀμφοτέροις ἀνδραγαθίας καὶ πολλῶν μὲν ἀναιρουμένων, ἔτι δὲ πλειόνων τιτρωσκομένων ὁ κίνδυνος δεῦρο κἀκεῖσε τὰς ῥοπὰς ἐλάμβανεν, ταλαντευόμενος αἰεὶ ταῖς τῶν ἀγωνιζομένων ἀρεταῖς· μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τῶν ἱππέων ἐκ πλαγίου καὶ κατὰ νώτου βιαζομένων, τοῦ δὲ Φιλίππου μετὰ τῶν ἀρίστων ἡρωικῶς ἀγωνισαμένου συνηναγκάσθη τὸ πλῆθος τῶν Ἰλλυριῶν πρὸς φυγὴν ὁρμῆσαι. γενομένης δὲ τῆς διώξεως ἐπὶ πολὺν τόπον καὶ πολλῶν κατὰ τὴν φυγὴν ἀναιρεθέντων ὁ μὲν Φίλιππος ἀνακαλεσάμενος τῇ σάλπιγγι τοὺς Μακεδόνας καὶ στήσας τρόπαιον ἔθαψεν τῶν ἰδίων τοὺς τετελευτηκότας, οἱ δʼ Ἰλλυριοὶ διαπρεσβευσάμενοι καὶ τῶν Μακεδονικῶν πόλεων πασῶν ἐκχωρήσαντες ἔτυχον τῆς εἰρήνης. ἀνῃρέθησαν δὲ τῶν Ἰλλυριῶν ἐν ταύτῃ τῇ μάχῃ πλείους τῶν ἑπτακισχιλίων.
When Eucharistus was archon at Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Quintus Servilius and Quintus Genucius. During their term of office Philip sent ambassadors to Athens and persuaded the assembly to make peace with him on the ground that he abandoned for all time any claim to Amphipolis. Now that he was relieved of the war with the Athenians and had information that the king of the Paeonians, Agis, was dead, he conceived that he had the opportunity to attack the Paeonians. Accordingly, having conducted an expedition into Paeonia and defeated the barbarians in a battle, he compelled the tribe to acknowledge allegiance to the Macedonians. And since the Illyrians were still left as enemies, he was ambitious to defeat them in war also. So, having quickly called an assembly and exhorted his soldiers for the war in a fitting speech, he led an expedition into the Illyrian territory, having no less than ten thousand footsoldiers and six hundred horsemen. 4 Bardylis, the king of the Illyrians, having learned of the presence of the enemy, first dispatched envoys to arrange for a cessation of hostilities on the condition that both sides remained possessed of the cities which they then controlled. But when Philip said that he indeed desired peace but would not, however, concur in that proposal unless the Illyrians should withdraw from all the Macedonian cities, the envoys returned without having accomplished their purpose, and Bardylis, relying upon his previous victories and the gallant conduct of the Illyrians, came out to meet the enemy with his army; and he had ten thousand picked infantry soldiers and about five hundred cavalry. 5 When the armies approached each other and with a great outcry clashed in the battle, Philip, commanding the right wing, which consisted of the flower of the Macedonians serving under him, ordered his cavalry to ride past the ranks of the barbarians and attack them on the flank, while he himself falling on the enemy in a frontal assault began bitter combat. 6 But the Illyrians, forming themselves into a square, courageously entered the fray. And at first for a long while the battle was evenly poised because of the exceeding gallantry displayed on both sides, and as many were slain and still more wounded, the fortune of battle vacillated first one way then the other, being constantly swayed by the valorous deeds of the combatants; but later as the horsemen pressed on from the flank and rear and Philip with the flower of his troops fought with true heroism, the mass of the Illyrians was compelled to take hastily to flight. 7 When the pursuit had been kept up for a considerable distance and many had been slain in their flight, Philip recalled the Macedonians with the trumpet and erecting a trophy of victory buried his own dead, while the Illyrians, having sent ambassadors and withdrawn from all the Macedonian cities, obtained peace. But more than seven thousand Illyrians were slain in this battle.
§ 16.5
ἡμεῖς δʼ ἐπεὶ τὰ κατὰ τὴν Μακεδονικὴν καὶ τὴν Ἰλλυρίδα διήλθομεν, μεταβησόμεθα πρὸς τὰς ἑτερογενεῖς πράξεις. κατὰ γὰρ τὴν Σικελίαν Διονύσιος ὁ τῶν Συρακοσίων τύραννος ὁ νεώτερος παρειληφὼς μὲν τὴν δυναστείαν ἐν τοῖς ἀνωτέρω καιροῖς, ἄπρακτος δʼ ὢν καὶ πολὺ τοῦ πατρὸς καταδεέστερος προσεποιεῖτο διὰ τὴν ἀπραγίαν εἰρηνικὸς εἶναι καὶ πρᾷος τὸν τρόπον. διόπερ πρὸς Καρχηδονίους διαδεδεγμένος τὸν πόλεμον πρός τε τούτους εἰρήνην συνέθετο καὶ πρὸς Λευκανοὺς ὁμοίως διαπολεμήσας ἀργῶς ἐπί τινα χρόνον καὶ ταῖς τελευταίαις μάχαις ἐπὶ τοῦ προτερήματος γενόμενος ἀσμένως πρὸς αὐτοὺς κατελύσατο τὸν πόλεμον. κατὰ δὲ τὴν Ἀπουλίαν δύο πόλεις ἔκτισε βουλόμενος ἀσφαλῆ τοῖς πλέουσι τὸν Ἰόνιον πόρον ποιῆσαι· οἱ γὰρ τὴν παραθαλάττιον οἰκοῦντες βάρβαροι λῃστρίσι πολλαῖς πλέοντες ἄπλουν τοῖς ἐμπόροις παρεσκεύαζον πᾶσαν τὴν περὶ τὸν Ἀδρίαν θάλατταν. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα δοὺς ἑαυτὸν εἰς βίον εἰρηνικὸν ἐξέλυσε μὲν τῶν στρατιωτῶν τὰς ἐν τοῖς πολεμικοῖς γυμνασίας, μεγίστην δὲ τῶν κατὰ τὴν Εὐρώπην δυναστειῶν παραλαβὼν τὴν ἀρχὴν καὶ τὴν ὑπὸ τοῦ πατρὸς λεγομένην ἀδάμαντι δεδέσθαι τυραννίδα διὰ τὴν ἰδίαν ἀνανδρίαν παραδόξως ἀπέβαλεν. τὰς δὲ αἰτίας τῆς καταλύσεως καὶ τὰς κατὰ μέρος πράξεις ἀναγράφειν πειρασόμεθα.
Since we have finished with the affairs of Macedonia and Illyria, we shall now turn to events of a different kind. In Sicily Dionysius the Younger, tyrant of the Syracusans, who had succeeded to the realm in the period preceding this but was indolent and much inferior to his father, pretended because of his lack of enterprise to be peacefully inclined and mild of disposition. Accordingly, since he had inherited the war with the Carthaginians, he made peace with them and likewise pursued war listlessly for some time against the Lucanians and then, in the latest battles having had the advantage, he gladly brought to a close the war against them. In Apulia he founded two cities because he wished to make safe for navigators the passage across the Ionian Sea; for the barbarians who dwelt along the coast were accustomed to put out in numerous pirate ships and render the whole shore along the Adriatic Sea unsafe for merchants. Thereafter, having given himself over to a peaceful existence, he relieved the soldiers of their drills in warfare and though he had succeeded to the greatest of the realms in Europe, the tyranny that was said by his father to be bound fast by adamantine chains, yet, strange to say, he lost it all by his pusillanimity. The causes for its dissolution and the various events I shall attempt to record.
§ 16.6
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος γὰρ Ἀθήνησι Κηφισοδότου Ῥωμαῖοι κατέστησαν ὑπάτους Γάιον Λικίνιον καὶ Γάιον Σουλπίκιον. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Δίων ὁ Ἱππαρίνου, Συρακοσίων ὑπάρχων ἐπιφανέστατος, ἔφυγεν ἐκ τῆς Σικελίας καὶ διὰ τὴν λαμπρότητα τῆς ψυχῆς ἠλευθέρωσε Συρακοσίους καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους Σικελιώτας διὰ τοιαύτας τινὰς αἰτίας. ὁ πρεσβύτερος Διονύσιος ἐκ δυεῖν γυναικῶν ἦν πεπαιδοποιημένος, ἐκ μὲν τῆς πρώτης Λοκρίδος οὔσης τὸ γένος Διονύσιον τὸν διαδεξάμενον τὴν τυραννίδα, ἐκ δὲ τῆς δευτέρας Ἱππαρίνου θυγατρὸς οὔσης, εὐδοκιμωτάτου Συρακοσίων, δύο παῖδας, Ἱππαρῖνον καὶ Νυσαῖον. ἐτύγχανε δὲ τῆς δευτέρας γυναικὸς ἀδελφὸς ὢν Δίων, ἀνὴρ ἐν φιλοσοφίᾳ μεγάλην ἔχων προκοπὴν καὶ κατʼ ἀνδρείαν καὶ στρατηγίαν πολὺ προέχων τῶν κατʼ αὐτὸν Συρακοσίων. οὗτος δὲ διὰ τὴν εὐγένειαν καὶ τὴν λαμπρότητα τῆς ψυχῆς εἰς ὑποψίαν ἦλθε τῷ τυράννῳ, δόξας ἀξιόχρεως εἶναι καταλῦσαι τὴν τυραννίδα. φοβούμενος οὖν αὐτὸν ὁ Διονύσιος ἔκρινεν ἐκποδὼν ποιήσασθαι τὸν ἄνδρα, συλλαβὼν ἐπὶ θανάτῳ. ὁ δὲ Δίων αἰσθόμενος τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἐκρύφθη παρά τισιν τῶν φίλων, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ἔφυγεν ἐκ τῆς Σικελίας εἰς Πελοπόννησον, ἔχων μεθʼ ἑαυτοῦ τὸν ἀδελφὸν Μεγακλῆν καὶ Ἡρακλείδην τὸν ἐπὶ τῶν στρατιωτῶν τεταγμένον ὑπὸ τοῦ τυράννου. καταπλεύσας δʼ εἰς τὴν Κόρινθον τοὺς μὲν Κορινθίους ἠξίου συνεπιλαβέσθαι τῆς ἐλευθερώσεως τῶν Συρακοσίων, αὐτὸς δὲ μισθοφόρους συνῆγε καὶ πανοπλίας συνήθροιζε. ταχὺ δὲ πολλῶν ὑπακουόντων πανοπλίας τε παρεσκευάζετο καὶ μισθοφόρους συχνούς, καὶ φορτηγοὺς δύο ναῦς μισθωσάμενος τά τε ὅπλα καὶ τοὺς μισθοφόρους ἐνθέμενος αὐτὸς μὲν ταύτας τὰς φορτίδας ἔχων ἐξέπλευσεν ἐκ Ζακύνθου τῆς πρὸς Κεφαλληνίαν εἰς τὴν Σικελίαν, Ἡρακλείδην δὲ ἀπέλιπεν τριήρεις τινὰς καὶ ἑτέρας φορτηγοὺς ἄξοντα κατόπιν εἰς τὰς Συρακούσσας.
When Cephisodotus was archon at Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Gaius Licinius and Gaius Sulpicius. During their term of office Dion, son of Hipparinus and the most distinguished of the Syracusans, escaped from Sicily and by his nobility of spirit set free the Syracusans and the other Sicilian Greeks in the following manner. Dionysius the Elder had begotten children of two wives, of the first, who was a Locrian by birth, Dionysius, who succeeded to the tyranny, and of the second, who was the daughter of Hipparinus, a Syracusan of great renown, two sons Hipparinus and Nysaeus. It chanced that the brother of the second wife was Dion, a man who had great proficiency in philosophy and, in matter of courage and skill in the art of war, far surpassed the other Syracusans of his time. Dion, because of his high birth and nobility of spirit, fell under suspicion with the tyrant, for he was considered powerful enough to overthrow the tyranny. So, fearing him, Dionysius decided to get him out of the way by arresting him on a charge involving the death penalty. But Dion, becoming aware of this, was at first concealed in the home of some of his friends, and then escaped from Sicily to the Peloponnese in the company of his brother Megacles and of Heracleides who had been appointed commandant of the garrison by the tyrant. When he landed at Corinth, he besought the Corinthians to collaborate with him in setting free the Syracusans, and he himself began to gather mercenary troops and to collect suits of armour. Soon many gave ear to his pleas and he gradually accumulated large supplies of armour and many mercenaries, then, hiring two merchantmen, he loaded on board arms and men, while he himself with these transports sailed from Zacynthus, which is near Cephallenia, to Sicily, but he left Heracleides behind to bring up later some triremes as well as merchantmen to Syracuse.
§ 16.7
ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις Ἀνδρόμαχος ὁ Ταυρομενίτης, Τιμαίου μὲν τοῦ τὰς ἱστορίας συγγράψαντος πατὴρ ὤν, πλούτῳ δὲ καὶ ψυχῆς λαμπρότητι διαφέρων ἤθροισε τοὺς ἐκ τῆς Νάξου τῆς κατασκαφείσης ὑπὸ Διονυσίου περιλειφθέντας. οἰκίσας δὲ τὸν ὑπὲρ τῆς Νάξου λόφον τὸν ὀνομαζόμενον Ταῦρον καὶ μείνας κατʼ αὐτὸν πλείω χρόνον ἀπὸ τῆς ἐπὶ τοῦ Ταύρου μονῆς ὠνόμασε Ταυρομένιον. ταχὺ δὲ τῆς πόλεως ἐπίδοσιν λαμβανούσης οἱ μὲν οἰκήτορες μεγάλους περιεποιήσαντο πλούτους, ἡ δὲ πόλις ἀξιόλογον ἀξίωμα περιποιησαμένη τὸ τελευταῖον ἐν τῷ καθʼ ἡμᾶς βίῳ Καίσαρος ἀναστήσαντος τοὺς Ταυρομενίτας ἐκ τῆς πατρίδος τῶν Ῥωμαίων ἀποικίαν ἐδέξατο. ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις οἱ τὴν Εὔβοιαν κατοικοῦντες ἐστασίασαν πρὸς ἀλλήλους καὶ τῶν μὲν τοὺς Βοιωτούς, τῶν δὲ τοὺς Ἀθηναίους ἐπικαλεσαμένων συνέστη πόλεμος κατὰ τὴν Εὔβοιαν. γενομένων δὲ πλειόνων συμπλοκῶν καὶ ἀκροβολισμῶν ὁτὲ μὲν οἱ Θηβαῖοι προετέρουν, ὁτὲ δʼ οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι τὴν νίκην ἀπεφέροντο. μεγάλη μὲν οὖν παράταξις οὐδεμία συνετελέσθη· τῆς δὲ νήσου διὰ τὸν ἐμφύλιον πόλεμον καταφθαρείσης καὶ πολλῶν ἀνθρώπων παρʼ ἀμφοτέρων διαφθαρέντων μόγις ταῖς συμφοραῖς νουθετηθέντες εἰς ὁμόνοιαν ἦλθον καὶ τὴν εἰρήνην συνέθεντο πρὸς ἀλλήλους. οἱ μὲν οὖν Βοιωτοὶ τὴν εἰς οἶκον ἐπάνοδον ποιησάμενοι τὴν ἡσυχίαν ἦγον. οἱ δʼ Ἀθηναῖοι Χίων καὶ Ῥοδίων καὶ Κῴων, ἔτι δὲ Βυζαντίων ἀποστάντων ἐνέπεσον εἰς πόλεμον τὸν ὀνομασθέντα συμμαχικόν, ὃς διέμεινεν ἔτη τρία. ἑλόμενοι δὲ στρατηγοὺς Χάρητα καὶ Χαβρίαν ἀπέστειλαν μετὰ δυνάμεως. οὗτοι δὲ πλεύσαντες ἐπὶ τὴν Χίον κατέλαβον παραγεγονότας συμμάχους τοῖς Χίοις παρὰ Βυζαντίων καὶ Ῥοδίων καὶ Κῴων, ἔτι δὲ Μαυσώλου τοῦ Καρῶν δυνάστου. ἐκτάξαντες δὲ τὴν δύναμιν ἐπολιόρκουν τὴν πόλιν κατὰ γῆν ἅμα καὶ κατὰ θάλατταν. ὁ μὲν οὖν Χάρης τοῦ πεζοῦ στρατεύματος ἡγούμενος κατὰ γῆν προσῄει τοῖς τείχεσι καὶ πρὸς τοὺς ἐκ τῆς πόλεως ἐκχυθέντας ἐπʼ αὐτὸν διηγωνίζετο· ὁ δὲ Χαβρίας προσπλεύσας τῷ λιμένι ναυμαχίαν καρτερὰν συνεστήσατο καὶ τῆς νεὼς τοῖς ἐμβόλοις ἀναρραγείσης κατεπονεῖτο. οἱ μὲν οὖν ἐπὶ τῶν ἄλλων νεῶν εἴξαντες τῷ καιρῷ διεσώθησαν, ὁ δʼ ἀντὶ τῆς ἥττης ἀλλαξάμενος τὸν εὐκλεᾶ θάνατον ἀγωνιζόμενος ὑπὲρ τῆς νεὼς καὶ τρωθεὶς ἐτελεύτησε.
While these things were going on, Andromachus of Tauromenium, who was the father of Timaeus, the author of the Histories, and distinguished for his wealth and nobility of spirit, gathered together the men who had survived the razing of Naxos by Dionysius. Having settled the hill above Naxos called Tauros and remained there a considerable time, he called it Tauromenium from his "remaining on Tauros."And as the city made quick progress, the inhabitants laid up great wealth, and the city, which had won considerable repute, finally in our own lifetime, after Caesar had expelled the inhabitants of Tauromenium from their native land, received a colony of Roman citizens. While these things were going on, the inhabitants of Euboea fell into strife among themselves, and when one party summoned the Boeotians to its assistance and the other the Athenians, war broke out over all Euboea. A good many close combats and skirmishes occurred in which sometimes the Thebans were superior and sometimes the Athenians carried off the victory. Although no important pitched battle was fought to a finish, yet when the island had been devastated by the intestinal warfare and many men had been slain on both sides, at long last admonished by the disasters, the parties came to an agreement and made peace with one another. Now the Boeotians returned home and remained quiet, but the Athenians, who had suffered the revolt of Chios, Rhodes, and Cos and, moreover, of Byzantium, became involved in the war called the Social War which lasted three years. The Athenians chose Chares and Chabrias as generals and dispatched them with an army. The two generals on sailing into Chios found that allies had arrived to assist the Chians from Byzantium, Rhodes, and Cos, and also from Mausolus, the tyrant of Caria. They then drew up their forces and began to besiege the city both by land and by sea. Now Chares, who commanded the infantry force, advanced against the walls by land and began a struggle with the enemy who poured out on him from the city; but Chabrias, sailing up to the harbour, fought a severe naval engagement and was worsted when his ship was shattered by a ramming attack. While the men on the other ships withdrew in the nick of time and saved their lives, he, choosing death with glory instead of defeat, fought on for his ship and died of his wounds.
§ 16.8
περὶ δὲ τοὺς αὐτοὺς καιροὺς Φίλιππος ὁ τῶν Μακεδόνων βασιλεὺς μεγάλῃ παρατάξει νενικηκὼς τοὺς Ἰλλυριοὺς καὶ πάντας τοὺς μέχρι τῆς Λυχνίτιδος καλουμένης λίμνης κατοικοῦντας ὑπηκόους πεποιημένος ἀνέκαμψεν εἰς τὴν Μακεδονίαν, συντεθειμένος ἔνδοξον εἰρήνην πρὸς τοὺς Ἰλλυριούς, περιβόητός τε ὑπάρχων παρὰ τοῖς Μακεδόσιν ἐπὶ τοῖς διʼ ἀνδρείαν κατωρθωμένοις. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τῶν τὴν Ἀμφίπολιν οἰκούντων ἀλλοτρίως πρὸς αὐτὸν διατεθέντων καὶ πολλὰς ἀφορμὰς δόντων εἰς πόλεμον ἐστράτευσεν ἐπʼ αὐτοὺς ἀξιολόγῳ δυνάμει. προσαγαγὼν δὲ τοῖς τείχεσι μηχανὰς καὶ προσβολὰς ἐνεργοὺς καὶ συνεχεῖς ποιησάμενος κατέβαλε μὲν τοῖς κριοῖς μέρος τι τοῦ τείχους, παρεισελθὼν δʼ εἰς τὴν πόλιν διὰ τοῦ πτώματος καὶ τῶν ἀντιστάντων πολλοὺς καταβαλὼν ἐκυρίευσε τῆς πόλεως καὶ τοὺς μὲν ἀλλοτρίως πρὸς αὐτὸν διακειμένους ἐφυγάδευσε, τοῖς δʼ ἄλλοις φιλανθρώπως προσηνέχθη. ἡ δὲ πόλις αὕτη κειμένη κατὰ τῆς Θρᾴκης καὶ τῶν σύνεγγυς τόπων εὐφυῶς πολλὰ συνεβάλετο τῷ Φιλίππῳ πρὸς αὔξησιν. εὐθὺ γὰρ τὴν μὲν Πύδναν ἐχειρώσατο, πρὸς δὲ Ὀλυνθίους συμμαχίαν ἔθετο καὶ Ποτίδαιαν ὡμολόγησε περιποιήσειν αὐτοῖς, ὑπὲρ ἧς Ὀλύνθιοι πολλὴν σπουδὴν ἔσχον κυριεῦσαι τῆς πόλεως. τῶν δʼ Ὀλυνθίων βαρεῖαν πόλιν οἰκούντων καὶ διὰ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν ἐν ταύτῃ ἐνοικούντων πολλὴν ἐχόντων ῥοπὴν εἰς τὸν πόλεμον περιμάχητος ἦν ἡ πόλις τοῖς ἡγεμονίας μείζονος ὀρεγομένοις. διόπερ οἵ τε Ἀθηναῖοι καὶ ὁ Φίλιππος διεφιλοτιμοῦντο πρὸς ἀλλήλους περὶ τῆς τῶν Ὀλυνθίων συμμαχίας. οὐ μὴν ἀλλʼ ὁ Φίλιππος Ποτίδαιαν ἐκπολιορκήσας τὴν μὲν τῶν Ἀθηναίων φρουρὰν ἐξήγαγεν ἐκ τῆς πόλεως καὶ φιλανθρώπως αὐτῇ προσενεγκάμενος ἐξαπέστειλεν εἰς τὰς Ἀθήνας· σφόδρα γὰρ εὐλαβεῖτο τὸν δῆμον τῶν Ἀθηναίων διὰ τὸ βάρος καὶ τὸ ἀξίωμα τῆς πόλεως. τὴν δὲ πόλιν ἐξανδραποδισάμενος παρέδωκε τοῖς Ὀλυνθίοις, δωρησάμενος ἅμα καὶ τὰς κατὰ τὴν χώραν κτήσεις. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα παρελθὼν ἐπὶ πόλιν Κρηνίδας ταύτην μὲν ἐπαυξήσας οἰκητόρων πλήθει μετωνόμασε Φιλίππους, ἀφʼ ἑαυτοῦ προσαγορεύσας, τὰ δὲ κατὰ τὴν χώραν χρύσεια μέταλλα παντελῶς ὄντα λιτὰ καὶ ἄδοξα ταῖς κατασκευαῖς ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον ηὔξησεν ὥστε δύνασθαι φέρειν αὐτῷ πρόσοδον πλεῖον ἢ ταλάντων χιλίων. ἐκ δὲ τούτων ταχὺ σωρεύσας πλοῦτον αἰεὶ μᾶλλον διὰ τὴν εὐπορίαν τῶν χρημάτων εἰς ὑπεροχὴν μεγάλην ἤγαγε τὴν Μακεδονικὴν βασιλείαν· νόμισμα γὰρ χρυσοῦν κόψας τὸ προσαγορευθὲν ἀπʼ ἐκείνου Φιλίππειον μισθοφόρων τε δύναμιν ἀξιόλογον συνεστήσατο καὶ τῶν Ἑλλήνων πολλοὺς διὰ τούτου προετρέψατο προδότας γενέσθαι τῶν πατρίδων. ἀλλὰ περὶ μὲν τούτων αἱ κατὰ μέρος πράξεις ἕκαστα δηλώσουσιν, ἡμεῖς δʼ ἐπὶ τὰς συνεχεῖς πράξεις μεταβιβάσομεν τὸν λόγον.
About the same time Philip, king of the Macedonians, who had been victorious over the Illyrians in a great battle and had made subject all the people who dwelt there as far as the lake called Lychnitis, now returned to Macedonia, having arranged a noteworthy peace with the Illyrians and won great acclaim among the Macedonians for the success due to his valour. Thereupon, finding that the people of Amphipolis were illdisposed toward him and offered many pretexts for war, he entered upon a campaign against them with a considerable force. By bringing siegeengines against the walls and launching severe and continuous assaults, he succeeded in breaching a portion of the wall with his battering rams, whereupon, having entered the city through the breach and struck down many of his opponents, he obtained the mastery of the city and exiled those who were disaffected toward him, but treated the rest considerately. Since this city was favourably situated with regard to Thrace and the neighbouring regions, it contributed greatly to the aggrandizement of Philip. Indeed he immediately reduced Pydna, and made an alliance with the Olynthians in the terms of which he agreed to take over for them Potidaea, a city which the Olynthians had set their hearts on possessing. Since the Olynthians inhabited an important city and because of its huge population had great influence in war, their city was an object of contention for those who sought to extend their supremacy. For this reason the Athenians and Philip were rivals against one another for the alliance with the Olynthians. However that may be, Philip, when he had forced Potidaea to surrender, led the Athenian garrison out of the city and, treating it considerately, sent it back to Athens — for he was particularly solicitous toward the people of Athens on account of the importance and repute of their city — but, having sold the inhabitants into slavery, he handed it over to the Olynthians, presenting them also at the same time with all the properties in the territory of Potidaea. After this he went to the city of Crenides, and having increased its size with a large number of inhabitants, changed its name to Philippi, giving it his own name, and then, turning to the gold mines in its territory, which were very scanty and insignificant, he increased their output so much by his improvements that they could bring him a revenue of more than a thousand talents. And because from these mines he had soon amassed a fortune, with the abundance of money he raised the Macedonian kingdom higher and higher to a greatly superior position, for with the gold coins which he struck, which came to be known from name as Philippeioi, he organized a large force of mercenaries, and by using these coins for bribes induced many Greeks to become betrayers of their native lands. But concerning these matters the several events, when recorded, will explain everything in detail, and we shall now shift our account back to the events in the order of their occurrence.
§ 16.9
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος γὰρ Ἀθήνησιν Ἀγαθοκλέους Ῥωμαῖοι κατέστησαν ὑπάτους Μάρκον Φάβιον καὶ Γάιον Πόπλιον. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Δίων ὁ Ἱππαρίνου κατέπλευσεν εἰς τὴν Σικελίαν καταλύσων τὴν Διονυσίου τυραννίδα, ἐλαχίσταις δὲ τῶν πρὸ αὐτοῦ πάντων χρησάμενος ἀφορμαῖς μεγίστην δυναστείαν τῶν κατὰ τὴν Εὐρώπην κατέλυσεν ἀνελπίστως. τίς γὰρ ἂν πιστεύσειεν ὅτι δυσὶ φορτηγοῖς ναυσὶ καταπλεύσας περιεγένετο δυνάστου ναῦς μὲν μακρὰς ἔχοντος τετρακοσίας, στρατιώτας δὲ πεζοὺς μὲν εἰς δέκα μυριάδας, ἱππεῖς δὲ μυρίους, ὅπλων δὲ καὶ σίτου καὶ χρημάτων τοσαύτην παρασκευὴν ὅσην εἰκός ἐστι κεκτῆσθαι τὸν μέλλοντα χορηγήσειν δαψιλῶς ταῖς προειρημέναις δυνάμεσι, χωρὶς δὲ τῶν εἰρημένων πόλιν μὲν ἔχοντα μεγίστην τῶν Ἑλληνίδων, λιμένας δὲ καὶ νεώρια καὶ κατεσκευασμένας ἀκροπόλεις ἀναλώτους, ἔτι δὲ συμμάχων δυνατῶν ἔχοντα πλῆθος; αἰτία δʼ ὑπῆρχε τῷ Δίωνι τῶν προτερημάτων μάλιστα μὲν ἡ ἰδία λαμπρότης τῆς ψυχῆς καὶ ἀνδρεία καὶ ἡ τῶν ἐλευθεροῦσθαι μελλόντων εὔνοια, τὸ δὲ τούτων ἁπάντων μεῖζον ἥ τε ἀνανδρία τοῦ τυράννου καὶ τὸ τῶν ἀρχομένων πρὸς αὐτὸν μῖσος· πάντα γὰρ ταῦτα πρὸς ἕνα καιρὸν συνδραμόντα παραδόξως τὰς ἀπιστουμένας πράξεις πρὸς τέλος ἤγαγεν. ἡμεῖς δʼ ἀφέμενοι τούτων τῶν λόγων ἐπὶ τὴν ἀναγραφὴν τῶν κατὰ μέρος πεπραγμένων τρεψόμεθα. Δίων γὰρ ἐκ Ζακύνθου τῆς πρὸς Κεφαλληνίαν δυσὶ φορτίσι ναυσὶν ἀναχθεὶς κατέπλευσε τῆς Ἀκραγαντίνης εἰς τὴν ὀνομαζομένην Μίνῳαν. αὕτη δὲ τὸ μὲν παλαιὸν ὑπὸ Μίνωος ἐκτίσθη τοῦ βασιλέως Κρητῶν, καθʼ ὃν καιρὸν ζητῶν Δαίδαλον ἐπεξενώθη Κωκάλῳ τῷ βασιλεῖ τῶν Σικανῶν· κατὰ δὲ τοὺς ὑποκειμένους καιροὺς ἡ μὲν πόλις αὕτη τοῖς Καρχηδονίοις ὑπήκουεν, ὁ δʼ ἐπιστάτης αὐτῆς, ὄνομα Πάραλος, φίλος ὢν Δίωνος προθύμως ὑπεδέξατʼ αὐτόν. ὁ δὲ Δίων ἐξελόμενος ἐκ τῶν φορτηγῶν πανοπλίας πεντακισχιλίας τῷ Παράλῳ παρέδωκεν καὶ παρεκάλεσεν αὐτὸν ἁμάξαις παρακομίσαι πρὸς τὰς Συρακούσσας· αὐτὸς δὲ τοὺς μισθοφόρους παραλαβών, ὄντας χιλίους, προῆγεν ἐπὶ τὰς Συρακούσσας. ἐν παρόδῳ δὲ τούς τε Ἀκραγαντίνους καὶ Γελῴους καί τινας τῶν τὴν μεσόγειον οἰκούντων Σικανῶν τε καὶ Σικελῶν, ἔτι δὲ Καμαριναίους πείσας συνελευθερῶσαι τοὺς Συρακοσίους προῆγεν ἐπὶ τὴν κατάλυσιν τοῦ τυράννου. πολλῶν δὲ πάντοθεν συρρυέντων μετὰ τῶν ὅπλων ταχὺ πλείους τῶν δισμυρίων στρατιωτῶν ἠθροίσθησαν. οὐδὲν δʼ ἧττον καὶ πολλοὶ τῶν ἐκ τῆς Ἰταλίας Ἑλλήνων καὶ Μεσσηνίων μετεπέμφθησαν καὶ πάντες σὺν πολλῇ προθυμίᾳ κατὰ σπουδὴν ἧκον.
When Agathocles was archon at Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Marcus Fabius and Gaius Poplius. During their term of office, Dion son of Hipparinus sailed to Sicily intending to overthrow the tyranny of Dionysius, and with slenderer resources than those of any conqueror before his time he succeeded contrary to all expectation in overthrowing the greatest realm in all Europe. Who, indeed, would have believed that, putting ashore with two merchantmen, he could actually have overcome the despot who had at his disposal four hundred ships of war, infantry numbering nearly one hundred thousand, ten thousand horse, and as great a store of arms, food, and money as one in all probability possessed who had to maintain lavishly the aforesaid forces; and, apart from all we have mentioned, had a city which was the largest of the cities of Hellas, and harbours and docks and fortified citadels that were impregnable, and, besides, a great number of powerful allies? The cause for Dion's successes was, above all others, his own nobility of spirit, his courage, and the willing support of those who were to be liberated, but still more important than all these were the pusillanimity of the tyrant and his subjects' hatred of him; for when all these characteristics merged at a single critical moment, they unexpectedly brought to a successful close deeds which were considered impossible. But we must forgo these reflections and turn to the detailed narrative of the events as they severally occurred. Dion, having sailed from Zacynthos, which lies by Cephallenia, with two merchantmen, put in at the harbour of Acragas named Minoa. This had been founded of olden time by Minos, king of the Cretans, on the occasion when, in his search for Daedalus, he had been entertained by Cocalus, king of the Sicanians, but in the period with which we are concerned this city was subject to the Carthaginians, and its governor, named Paralus, who was a friend of Dion, received him enthusiastically. Dion, having unloaded from the merchantman five thousand suits of armour, handed them over to Paralus and requested him to transport them on wagons to Syracuse, while he himself, taking along the mercenaries numbering a thousand, led them against Syracuse. On the march he persuaded the peoples of Acragas, Gela, and some of the Sicanians and Sicels who dwelt in the interior, also the people of Camarina, to join in the liberation of the Syracusans, and then advanced to overthrow the tyrant. Since many men with their arms streamed in from all sides, soon more than twenty thousand soldiers were gathered. Likewise many also of the Greeks from Italy and of the Messenians were summoned, and all came in haste with great enthusiasm.
§ 16.10
ὡς δʼ ἐπὶ τοῖς ὅροις τῆς Συρακοσίας ὁ Δίων ἦν, ἀπήντα πρὸς αὐτὸν πλῆθος ἀνόπλων ἀνθρώπων ἔκ τε τῆς χώρας καὶ τῆς πόλεως· ἀπίστως γὰρ διακείμενος ὁ Διονύσιος πρὸς τοὺς Συρακοσίους πολλῶν τὰ ὅπλα παρῄρητο. κατὰ δὲ τοῦτον τὸν καιρὸν ὁ μὲν τύραννος περὶ τὰς νεοκτίστους πόλεις κατὰ τὸν Ἀδρίαν διέτριβε μετὰ πολλῶν δυνάμεων, οἱ δʼ ἐπὶ τῆς φυλακῆς τῶν Συρακουσσῶν ἀπολειφθέντες ἡγεμόνες τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἐπειρῶντο μετακαλεῖσθαι τοὺς Συρακοσίους ἀπὸ τῆς ἀποστάσεως· ἀκατασχέτου δὲ τῆς ὁρμῆς τῶν ὄχλων οὔσης ἀπογνόντες τοὺς μισθοφόρους καὶ τοὺς τὰ τοῦ δυνάστου φρονοῦντας ἤθροισαν καὶ τὰς τάξεις πληρώσαντες τοῖς ἀφεστηκόσιν ἐπιθέσθαι διέγνωσαν. Δίων δὲ τοῖς μὲν ἀνόπλοις τῶν Συρακοσίων διέδωκε τὰς πεντακισχιλίας πανοπλίας, τοὺς δὲ ἄλλους ἐκ τῶν δυνατῶν τοῖς παρατυχοῦσιν ὅπλοις συνεσκεύασεν. συναγαγὼν δʼ ἅπαντας εἰς κοινὴν ἐκκλησίαν ἀπεφαίνετο μὲν ἑαυτὸν ἥκειν ἐπὶ τὴν ἐλευθέρωσιν τῶν Σικελιωτῶν, παρεκάλει δὲ στρατηγοὺς αἱρεῖσθαι τοὺς εὐθέτους πρὸς τὴν ἀποκατάστασιν τῆς αὐτονομίας καὶ τὴν κατάλυσιν τῆς ὅλης τυραννίδος. τὸ δὲ πλῆθος ὥσπερ ἀπὸ μιᾶς φωνῆς ἀνεβόησε στρατηγοὺς αἱρεῖσθαι τόν τε Δίωνα καὶ τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ Μεγακλῆν αὐτοκράτορας. εὐθὺς οὖν ἀπὸ τῆς ἐκκλησίας ἐκτάξας τὴν δύναμιν προσῆγε τῇ πόλει. οὐδενὸς δʼ ἀντιποιουμένου τῶν ὑπαίθρων ἀδεῶς εἰσῆλθεν ἐντὸς τοῦ τείχους καὶ διὰ τῆς Ἀχραδινῆς πορευθεὶς εἰς τὴν ἀγορὰν κατεστρατοπέδευσεν, οὐδενὸς τολμῶντος ἐπεξιέναι. ὁ δὲ σύμπας ἀριθμὸς ἦν τῶν μετὰ Δίωνος στρατιωτῶν οὐκ ἐλάττους τῶν πεντακισμυρίων. οὗτοι δὲ πάντες ἐστεφανωμένοι κατῆλθον εἰς τὴν πόλιν προηγουμένου τοῦ τε Δίωνος καὶ τοῦ Μεγακλέους καὶ μετὰ τούτων τριάκοντα Συρακοσίων, οἳ μόνοι τῶν κατὰ τὴν Πελοπόννησον φυγάδων Συρακοσίοις μετασχεῖν τῶν κινδύνων ἠθέλησαν.
When Dion was on the borders of the Syracusan territory, there came to meet him a host of men without arms both from the countryside and from the city; for Dionysius, being suspicious of the Syracusans, had disarmed many of them. About this time the tyrant was sojourning in the newly founded cities along the Adriatic with large forces, and the commanders who had been left in charge of the garrison of Syracuse at first attempted to summon back the Syracusans from their revolt, but when the impulse of the mobs could not be checked they gave up in despair and gathered mercenaries and those who favoured the cause of the tyrant, and having filled their ranks decided to attack the insurgents. Dion distributed the five thousand suits of armour to such of the Syracusans as were unarmed, and equipped the rest as well as he could with weapons that came to hand. Then having brought them all to a general assembly, he disclosed that he had come for the liberation of the Greeks of Sicily, and he urged them to elect as generals those men who were well qualified to effect the restoration of their independence and the dissolution of the entire tyranny. The crowd as with one voice cried out that it chose Dion and his brother Megacles as generals with absolute power. Accordingly he drew up his army in line of battle immediately at the close of the assembly and advanced upon the city. Since no one disputed with him the open country, he entered fearlessly within the walls, and making his way through Achradina encamped in the market-place, no one daring to come out against him. The whole number of the soldiers with Dion was not less than fifty thousand. All of these with garlands on their heads came down to the city under the leadership of Dion and Megacles and with them thirty Syracusans who alone of the exiles in the Peloponnese were willing to share in the battles with their fellow Syracusans.
§ 16.11
τῆς δὲ πόλεως πάσης μετημφιεσμένης ἀντὶ τῆς δουλείας τὴν ἐλευθερίαν καὶ τὸ σκυθρωπὸν τῆς τυραννίδος εἰς πανηγυρικὴν ἱλαρότητα τῆς τύχης ἀγούσης πᾶσα οἰκία θυσιῶν καὶ χαρᾶς ἔγεμε, τῶν ἰδιωτῶν ἐπὶ ταῖς ἰδίαις ἑστίαις θυμιώντων καὶ περὶ μὲν τῶν παρόντων ἀγαθῶν εὐχαριστούντων τοῖς θεοῖς, περὶ δὲ τῶν μελλόντων εὐχὰς ἀγαθὰς ποιουμένων. ἐγένετο δὲ καὶ τῶν γυναικῶν ἐπὶ ταῖς ἀνελπίστοις εὐημερίαις ὀλολυγμὸς πολὺς καὶ καθʼ ἅπασαν τὴν πόλιν συνδρομαί. οὐδεὶς δʼ ἦν ἐλεύθερος, οὐ δοῦλος, οὐ ξένος, ὃς οὐκ ἔσπευδεν ἰδεῖν τὸν Δίωνα καὶ τὴν ἀρετὴν τοῦ ἀνδρὸς πάντες ἀπεδέχοντο μειζόνως ἢ κατʼ ἄνθρωπον. καὶ τοῦτʼ εὐλόγως ἔπασχον διὰ τὸ μέγεθος καὶ παράδοξον τῆς μεταβολῆς· πεντηκονταετοῦς γὰρ δουλείας πεπειραμένοι καὶ τῆς ἐλευθερίας διὰ τὸν χρόνον ἐπιλελησμένοι διʼ ἑνὸς ἀνδρὸς ἀρετὴν ἀπελύθησαν τῆς συμφορᾶς. Διονύσιος δὲ κατὰ τούτους τοὺς καιροὺς αὐτὸς μὲν ἔτυχε διατρίβων περὶ Καυλωνίαν τῆς Ἰταλίας, Φίλιστον δὲ τὸν στρατηγὸν περὶ τὸν Ἀδρίαν ὄντα μετεπέμψατο μετὰ τῆς ναυτικῆς δυνάμεως καὶ προσέταξε πλεῖν εἰς τὰς Συρακούσσας. ἀμφοτέρων δʼ εἰς τὸν αὐτὸν τόπον ἐλθεῖν σπευδόντων ὁ μὲν Διονύσιος ἧκεν εἰς τὰς Συρακούσσας ἡμέραις ὕστερον ἑπτὰ τῆς Δίωνος καθόδου. εὐθὺς οὖν καταστρατηγῆσαι βουλόμενος τοὺς Συρακοσίους περὶ διαλύσεως ἐπρεσβεύετο καὶ πολλὰς ἐμφάσεις ἐδίδου παραδώσειν τὴν τυραννίδα τῷ δήμῳ καὶ τῆς δημοκρατίας ἀλλάξεσθαι τιμὰς ἀξιολόγους· ἠξίου τε πρέσβεις ἀποστεῖλαι πρὸς αὐτόν, μεθʼ ὧν συνεδρεύσας καταλύσηται τὸν πόλεμον. οἱ μὲν οὖν Συρακόσιοι μετεωρισθέντες ταῖς ἐλπίσιν ἐξαπέστειλαν πρέσβεις τοὺς ἀξιολογωτάτους τῶν ἀνδρῶν· ὁ δὲ Διονύσιος τούτοις μὲν φυλακὴν περιστήσας ἀνεβάλετο τὴν ἔντευξιν, αὐτὸς δʼ ὁρῶν τοὺς Συρακοσίους διὰ τὴν ἐλπίδα τῆς εἰρήνης τά τε περὶ τὰς φυλακὰς ῥᾳθύμως ἔχοντας καὶ τὰ πρὸς μάχην ἀπαρασκεύους ἄφνω τὰς πύλας τῆς κατὰ τὴν Νῆσον ἀκροπόλεως ἀνοίξας ἐξεχύθη συντεταγμένῃ τῇ δυνάμει.
Now that all the city had put on the garb of freedom in exchange for that of slavery and that fortune had changed the sullen looks of the tyranny to festival gaiety, every house was filled with sacrificing and rejoicing, as the citizens burnt incense on their own hearths, thanked the gods for their present blessings, and offered hopeful prayers for blessings to come. The women too raised great shouts of joy for the unexpected good fortune and gathered together in throngs throughout the whole city. There was no freeman, no slave, no stranger who did not hasten to gaze upon Dion, and all applauded the man's valour in terms too exalted for a mere mortal. And they had good reason for such feelings because of the magnitude and unexpected nature of the change; for after having experienced fifty years slavery and forgotten the meaning of freedom through the lapse of time, they were suddenly released from their misfortune by the valour of a single man. Dionysius himself at this time chanced to be sojourning near Caulonia in Italy, and he sent for Philistus his general, who was cruising the Adriatic, to come with his fleet and ordered him to sail to Syracuse. Both men made haste to reach the same spot, but Dionysius arrived seven days after the return of Dion. Immediately, then, on his arrival, desirous of outmanoeuvring the Syracusans, he sent an embassy to make peace, and gave many indications that he would surrender his power as tyrant to the people and would accept of the people's government important privileges in exchange. He requested them to dispatch envoys to him so that he might sit in conference with them and bring the war to an end. The Syracusans, accordingly, elated with hopes, dispatched as envoys the most important of their men; but Dionysius, having placed them under guard, postponed the conference and, observing that the Syracusans because of their hope of peace were lax in the matter of garrisons and unprepared for a battle, suddenly opened the gates of the citadel on the Island, and issued forth with his army in battle array.
§ 16.12
τῶν δὲ Συρακοσίων κατεσκευακότων ἀπὸ θαλάττης εἰς θάλατταν διατείχισμα αὑτῶν προσέπεσον οἱ μισθοφόροι τῷ τείχει μετὰ πολλῆς βοῆς καὶ καταπλήξεως καὶ πολλοὺς μὲν τῶν φυλάκων ἀνεῖλον, τοῦ δὲ τείχους ἐντὸς γενόμενοι πρὸς τοὺς ἐκβοηθοῦντας διηγωνίζοντο. ὁ δὲ Δίων ἀνελπίστως παρεσπονδημένος μετὰ τῶν ἀρίστων στρατιωτῶν ἀπήντα τοῖς πολεμίοις καὶ συνάψας μάχην πολὺν ἐποίει φόνον. ἐν σταδίῳ γὰρ ὥσπερ, τῷ ὀλίγῳ δὴ διαστήματι τῆς διατειχίσεως, μάχης οὔσης συνέδραμε πλῆθος στρατιωτῶν εἰς στενὸν τόπον. διὸ καὶ παρʼ ἀμφοτέροις οἱ ταῖς ἀνδραγαθίαις πρωτεύοντες συγκατέβησαν εἰς τὸν κίνδυνον· καὶ τῶν μὲν τοῦ Διονυσίου μισθοφόρων διὰ τὸ μέγεθος τῶν ἐπαγγελιῶν, τῶν δὲ Συρακοσίων διὰ τὴν ἐλπίδα τῆς ἐλευθερίας εἰς ὑπερβάλλουσαν φιλοτιμίαν ἐκτραπέντων τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἰσόρροπος ἦν ἡ μάχη, τῆς παρʼ ἀμφοτέροις ἀρετῆς οὔσης ἰσομάχου, καὶ πολλοὶ μὲν ἔπιπτον, οὐκ ὀλίγοιδὲ κατετιτρώσκοντο πάσας τὰς πληγὰς ἐναντίας λαμβάνοντες· οἱ μὲν γὰρ πρωτοστάται τὸν ὑπὲρ τῶν ἄλλων θάνατον ὑπέμενον εὐψύχως, οἱ δʼ ἐπιτεταγμένοι τοὺς πίπτοντας ὑπερασπίζοντες καὶ τοῖς δεινοῖς ἐγκαρτεροῦντες τοὺς ἐσχάτους κινδύνους ὑπὲρ τῆς νίκης ἀνεδέχοντο. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Δίων μὲν ἀριστεῦσαι βουλόμενος ἐν τῇ μάχῃ καὶ σπεύδων διʼ ἑαυτοῦ περιποιήσασθαι τὴν νίκην εἰς μέσους ἐβιάσατο τοὺς πολεμίους· ἡρωικῶς δʼ ἀγωνιζόμενος πολλοὺς μὲν ἐφόνευσε, τὴν δʼ ὅλην σύνταξιν τῶν μισθοφόρων διακόψας ἐναπελήφθη μόνος τῷ πλήθει· πολλῶν δʼ ἐπʼ αὐτὸν ῥιφέντων βελῶν εἴς τε τὴν ἀσπίδα καὶ τὸ κράνος ταῦτα μὲν ἐξέφυγε διὰ τὴν τῶν ὅπλων κατασκευήν, εἰς δὲ τὸν δεξιὸν βραχίονα τρωθεὶς συγκατηνέχθη τῷ βάρει τῆς πληγῆς καὶ τοῖς πολεμίοις παρʼ ὀλίγον ὑποχείριος ἐγένετο. οἱ δὲ Συρακόσιοι δείσαντες ὑπὲρ τῆς κατὰ τὸν στρατηγὸν σωτηρίας ἐπέρραξαν τοῖς μισθοφόροις βαρείᾳ τῇ συντάξει καὶ τὸν μὲν Δίωνα καταπονούμενον ἐξήρπασαν ἐκ τῶν κινδύνων, τοὺς δὲ πολεμίους βιασάμενοι φυγεῖν ἠνάγκασαν. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ κατὰ τὸν ἄλλον τόπον τοῦ τείχους προτερούντων τῶν Συρακοσίων οἱ τοῦ τυράννου μισθοφόροι συνεδιώχθησαν ἐντὸς πυλῶν τῶν ἐν τῇ Νήσῳ. ἐπιφανεῖ δὲ μάχῃ νικήσαντες οἱ Συρακόσιοι καὶ τὴν ἐλευθερίαν βεβαίως κτησάμενοι τρόπαιον ἔστησαν κατὰ τοῦ τυράννου.
Since the Syracusans had constructed a crosswall of their own from sea to sea, the mercenaries fell upon the wall with a loud and terrifying outcry, massacred many of the garrison and, getting inside the wall, engaged in a struggle with those who were coming out to the rescue. Dion, being unexpectedly tricked by the violation of the truce, came to meet the enemy with his best soldiers and joining battle wrought extensive slaughter. For when fighting took place, as if in a stadium, within the narrow interval afforded by the crosswall, a multitude of soldiers collected in a contracted space. For this reason on both sides men outstanding in gallantry met in the action and since Dionysius' mercenaries, by the size of the promised rewards, and the Syracusans, by the hope of freedom, were wrought up to a high pitch of rivalry, at first the battle stood equally poised, as the valour of both sides in the fight was equal. Many fell, and not a few were wounded, receiving all the blows in front; for on the one hand those in the front rank courageously met death defending the rest, and those arrayed behind them covering them with their shields as they fell and holding firm in the desperate peril took the most dangerous risks to win the victory. After this engagement Dion, wishing to display his valour in the battle and eager to win the victory by his own deeds, forced his way into the midst of the enemy and there in an heroic encounter slew many and having disrupted the whole battle line of the mercenaries was suddenly cut off and isolated in the crowd. Many missiles hurled at him fell upon his shield and helmet, but he escaped these owing to the protection of his armour, but receiving a wound on his right arm he was borne down by the weight of the blow and barely escaped capture by the enemy. The Syracusans, fearing for their general's safety, dashed into the mercenaries in heavy formation and rescued the distressed Dion from his perils, then overpowering the enemy, forced them to flee. Since likewise in the other part of the wall the Syracusans had the superiority, the tyrant's mercenaries were chased in a body inside the gates of the Island. The Syracusans, who had now won victory in a significant battle and had securely recovered their freedom, set up a trophy to signalize the tyrant's defeat.
§ 16.13
μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Διονύσιος μὲν ἐπταικὼς καὶ τὴν δυναστείαν ἀπογινώσκων ἤδη ἐν μὲν ταῖς ἀκροπόλεσιν ἀπέλιπε φρουρὰς ἀξιολόγους, αὐτὸς δὲ τοὺς τετελευτηκότας, ὀκτακοσίους ὄντας, λαβὼν τὴν ἀναίρεσιν αὐτῶν ἔθαψε λαμπρῶς, χρυσοῖς μὲν στεφάνοις ἐστεφανωμένους, πορφυρίσι δὲ καλαῖς περιβεβλημένους· ἤλπιζε γὰρ διὰ τῆς τούτων σπουδῆς προτρέψεσθαι τοὺς ἄλλους εἰς τὸ προθύμως κινδυνεύειν ὑπὲρ τῆς τυραννίδος· τοὺς δʼ ἀνδραγαθήσαντας μεγάλαις δωρεαῖς ἐτίμησε. πρὸς δὲ τοὺς Συρακοσίους διεπέμπετο περὶ διαλύσεων. ὁ δὲ Δίων περὶ μὲν τῶν πρεσβειῶν αἰεί τινας εὐλόγους προφάσεις ποριζόμενος ἀνεβάλλετο, ἐν τοσούτῳ δὲ τὸ λοιπὸν τοῦ τείχους κατασκευάσας μεθʼ ἡσυχίας τότε τὰς πρεσβείας μετεπέμπετο, κατεστρατηγηκὼς τοὺς πολεμίους ταῖς τῆς εἰρήνης ἐλπίσιν. γενομένων δὲ λόγων περὶ συλλύσεων ὁ Δίων ἀπεκρίθη τοῖς πρέσβεσιν μίαν εἶναι σύλλυσιν, ἐὰν ἀποθέμενος τὴν τυραννίδα βούληται τυχεῖν τιμῶν τινων. ὁ δὲ Διονύσιος ὑπερηφάνου τῆς ἀποκρίσεως γενομένης συναγαγὼν τοὺς ἡγεμόνας ἐβουλεύετο πῶς χρὴ τοὺς Συρακοσίους ἀμύνασθαι. πάντων δʼ εὐπορῶν πλὴν σίτου καὶ θαλαττοκρατῶν ἐλῄστευε τὴν χώραν καὶ τὰς τροφὰς ἐκ τῶν προνομῶν κακῶς ποριζόμενος ἐξαπέστειλε ναῦς φορτίδας καὶ χρήματα πρὸς τὸν τοῦ σίτου καταγορασμόν. οἱ δὲ Συρακόσιοι ναῦς μακρὰς πολλὰς ἔχοντες καὶ κατὰ τοὺς εὐκαίρους τόπους ἐπιφαινόμενοι πολλὴν τῆς ὑπὸ τῶν ἐμπόρων κομιζομένης ἀγορᾶς παρῃροῦντο. καὶ τὰ μὲν περὶ τὰς Συρακούσσας ἐν τούτοις ἦν.
After this, Dionysius, who had failed and by now despaired of his tyranny, left a considerable garrison in his citadels, while he himself, having secured permission to take up his dead, eight hundred in number, gave their bodies a magnificent burial, causing them to be crowned with golden crowns and wrapped in fine purple; for he hoped by his solicitude for them to incite the survivors to fight spiritedly in defence of the tyranny; and those who had behaved gallantly he honoured with rich gifts. And he kept sending messengers to the Syracusans to confer about terms of a settlement. But Dion in the matter of his embassies, by constantly offering plausible excuses, kept making postponements, and, when he had meanwhile constructed the remainder of the wall at his leisure, he then called for the embassies, having outmanoeuvred the enemy by encouraging their hopes of peace. When discussion arose concerning the terms of settlement, Dion replied to the ambassadors that only one settlement was possible, namely that Dionysius should resign his position as tyrant and then deign to accept certain privileges. But Dionysius, since Dion's reply had been arrogant, assembled his commanders and began to deliberate on the best means of defending himself against the Syracusans. Having plenty of everything but grain and being in control of the sea, he began to pillage the countryside and, finding it difficult to provide subsistence from his foraging parties, he dispatched merchantmen and money to purchase grain. But the Syracusans, who had many ships of war and kept putting in an appearance at opportune places, made off with many of the supplies which were being brought in by the traders. This was the situation of affairs in Syracuse.
§ 16.14
κατὰ δὲ τὴν Ἑλλάδα Ἀλέξανδρος ὁ Φερῶν τύραννος ὑπὸ τῆς ἰδίας γυναικὸς Θήβης καὶ τῶν ταύτης ἀδελφῶν Λυκόφρονος καὶ Τισιφόνου ἐδολοφονήθη. οὗτοι δὲ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ὡς τυραννοκτόνοι μεγάλης ἐτύγχανον ἀποδοχῆς, ὕστερον δὲ μετανοήσαντες καὶ τοὺς μισθοφόρους χρήμασι πείσαντες ἀνέδειξαν ἑαυτοὺς τυράννους καὶ πολλοὺς μὲν τῶν ἀντιπραττομένων ἀνεῖλον, κατασκευασάμενοι δὲ τὴν δύναμιν ἀξιόλογον βίᾳ κατεῖχον τὴν ἀρχήν. οἱ δʼ Ἀλευάδαι καλούμενοι παρὰ τοῖς Θετταλοῖς, διʼ εὐγένειαν δὲ ἀξίωμα ἔχοντες περιβόητον ἀντεπράττοντο τοῖς τυράννοις. οὐκ ὄντες δὲ καθʼ ἑαυτοὺς ἀξιόμαχοι προσελάβοντο Φίλιππον σύμμαχον τὸν Μακεδόνων βασιλέα. οὗτος δὲ παρελθὼν εἰς τὴν Θετταλίαν κατεπολέμησε τοὺς τυράννους καὶ ταῖς πόλεσιν ἀνακτησάμενος τὴν ἐλευθερίαν μεγάλην εὔνοιαν εἰς τοὺς Θετταλοὺς ἐνεδείξατο· διόπερ ἐν ταῖς μετὰ ταῦτα πράξεσιν ἀεὶ συναγωνιστὰς ἔσχεν οὐ μόνον αὐτός, ἀλλὰ καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα ὁ υἱὸς Ἀλέξανδρος. τῶν δὲ συγγραφέων Δημόφιλος μὲν ὁ Ἐφόρου τοῦ ἱστοριογράφου υἱὸς τὸν παραλειφθέντα πόλεμον ὑπὸ τοῦ πατρός, ὀνομασθέντα δὲ ἱερόν, συντεταγμένος ἐντεῦθεν ἦρκται ἀπὸ τῆς καταλήψεως τοῦ ἐν Δελφοῖς ἱεροῦ καὶ τῆς συλήσεως τοῦ μαντείου ὑπὸ Φιλομήλου τοῦ Φωκέως· ἐγένετο δʼ ὁ πόλεμος οὗτος ἔτη ἕνδεκα ἕως τῆς φθορᾶς τῶν διανειμαμένων τὰ ἱερὰ χρήματα. Καλλισθένης δὲ τὴν τῶν Ἑλληνικῶν πραγμάτων ἱστορίαν γέγραφεν ἐν βύβλοις δέκα καὶ κατέστροφεν εἰς τὴν κατάληψιν τοῦ ἱεροῦ καὶ παρανομίαν Φιλομήλου τοῦ Φωκέως· Δίυλλος δʼ ὁ Ἀθηναῖος ἦρκται τῆς ἱστορίας ἀπὸ τῆς ἱεροσυλήσεως καὶ γέγραφε βύβλους εἴκοσι καὶ ἕξ, συμπεριλαβὼν πάσας τὰς ἐν τοῖς χρόνοις τούτοις γενομένας πράξεις περί τε τὴν Ἑλλάδα καὶ τὴν Σικελίαν.
In Greece Alexander, tyrant of Pherae, was assassinated by his own wife Thebe and her brothers Lycophron and Tisiphonus. The brothers at first received great acclaim as tyrannicides, but later, having changed their purpose and bribed the mercenaries, they disclosed themselves as tyrants, slew many of their opponents, and, having contrived to make their forces imposing, retained the government by force. Now the faction among the Thessalians called Aleuadae, who enjoyed a far-flung reputation by reason of their noble birth, began to oppose the tyrants. But not being of sufficient strength to fight by themselves they took on Philip, the king of the Macedonians, as ally. And he, entering Thessaly, defeated the tyrants and, when he had vindicated the independence of their cities, showed himself very friendly to the Thessalians. Wherefore in the course of subsequent events not merely Philip himself but his son Alexander after him had the Thessalians always as confederates. Among historians Demophilus, the son of the chronicler Ephorus, who treated in his work the history of what is known as the Sacred War, which had been passed over by his father, began his account with the capture of the shrine at Delphi and the pillaging of the oracle by Philomelus the Phocian. This war lasted eleven years until the annihilation of those who had divided amongst themselves the sacred property. And Callisthenes wrote the history of the events in the Hellenic world in ten books and closed with the capture of the shrine and the impious act of Philomelus the Phocian. Diyllus the Athenian began his history with the pillaging of the shrine and wrote twenty-six books, in which he included all the events which occurred in this period both in Greece and in Sicily.
§ 16.15
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησιν Ἐλπίνου Ῥωμαῖοι κατέστησαν ὑπάτους Μάρκον Πόπλιον Λαινάτην καὶ Γναῖον Μαιμίλιον Ἰμπεριῶσον, Ὀλυμπιὰς δʼ ἤχθη ἕκτη πρὸς ταῖς ἑκατόν, καθʼ ἣν ἐνίκα στάδιον Πῶρος Μαλιεύς. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων κατὰ μὲν τὴν Ἰταλίαν ἠθροίσθη περὶ τὴν Λευκανίαν πλῆθος ἀνθρώπων πανταχόθεν μιγάδων, πλείστων δὲ δούλων δραπετῶν. οὗτοι δὲ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον λῃστρικὸν ἐνεστήσαντο βίον καὶ διὰ τὴν ἐν ταῖς ἀγραυλίαις καὶ καταδρομαῖς συνήθειαν ἔσχον τριβὴν καὶ μελέτην τῶν κατὰ πόλεμον ἔργων· διὸ καὶ τοῖς πολεμικοῖς ἀγῶσι προτεροῦντες τῶν ἐγχωρίων εἰς αὔξησιν ἀξιολογωτέραν κατέστησαν. καὶ πρῶτον μὲν Τέριναν πόλιν ἐκπολιορκήσαντες διήρπασαν, ἔπειτα Ἱππώνιον καὶ Θουρίους καὶ πολλὰς ἄλλας χειρωσάμενοι κοινὴν πολιτείαν συνέθεντο καὶ προσηγορεύθησαν Βρέττιοι διὰ τὸ πλείστους εἶναι δούλους· κατὰ γὰρ τὴν τῶν ἐγχωρίων διάλεκτον οἱ δραπέται βρέττιοι προσηγορεύοντο. τὸ μὲν οὖν τῶν Βρεττίων πλῆθος οὕτω συνέστη κατὰ τὴν Ἰταλίαν.
When Elpines was archon at Athens the Romans elected as consuls Marcus Poplius Laenas and Gnaeus Maemilius Imperiosus, and the one hundred sixth celebration was held of the Olympian games, at which Porus the Malian won the stadion race. During their term of office, in Italy there gathered in Lucania a multitude of men from every region, a mixture of every sort, but for the most part runaway slaves. These at first led a marauding life and as they habituated themselves to out-of door life and making raids they gained practice and training in warfare; consequently, since they regularly had the upper hand with the inhabitants in their battles, they reached a state of considerably increased importance. First they took by siege the city Terina and plundered it completely; then, having taken Hipponium, Thurii, and many other cities, they formed a common government and were called Bruttians from the fact that most of them were slaves, for in the local dialect runaway slaves were called "bruttians." Such, then, was the origin of the people of the Bruttians in Italy.
§ 16.16
κατὰ δὲ τὴν Σικελίαν Φίλιστος μὲν ὁ Διονυσίου στρατηγὸς πλεύσας εἰς Ῥήγιον διεκόμισε τοὺς ἱππεῖς εἰς Συρακούσσας, ὄντας πλείους τῶν πεντακοσίων. προσθεὶς δὲ τούτοις ἱππεῖς τε ἄλλους πλείονας καὶ πεζοὺς δισχιλίους ἐστράτευσεν ἐπὶ Λεοντίνους ἀφεστηκότας ἀπὸ Διονυσίου, νυκτὸς δὲ παρεισπεσὼν ἐντὸς τοῦ τείχους κατελάβετο μέρος τῆς πόλεως. γενομένης δὲ μάχης ἰσχυρᾶς καὶ τῶν Συρακοσίων βοηθησάντων ἡττηθεὶς ἐξέπεσεν ἐκ τῶν Λεοντίνων. Ἡρακλείδης δʼ ὁ καταλελειμμένος ὑπὸ Δίωνος ναύαρχος τῶν μακρῶν νεῶν ἐν Πελοποννήσῳ διά τινας χειμῶνας ἐμποδισθεὶς ὑστέρησε τῆς καθόδου τῶν περὶ τὸν Δίωνα καὶ τῆς τῶν Συρακοσίων ἐλευθερώσεως· ἧκε δʼ ἄγων ναῦς μὲν μακρὰς εἴκοσι, χιλίους δὲ στρατιώτας καὶ πεντακοσίους. ὢν δʼ ἀνὴρ ἐπισημότατος καὶ δόξας ἄξιος ὑπάρχειν ᾑρέθη ναύαρχος ὑπὸ τῶν Συρακοσίων, καὶ μετὰ Δίωνος τεταγμένος ἐπὶ τῆς ἡγεμονίας διεπολέμει πρὸς Διονύσιον. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Φίλιστος ἀποδειχθεὶς στρατηγὸς καὶ καταρτίσας τριήρεις ἑξήκοντα πρὸς Συρακοσίους ἐναυμάχησεν ἔχοντας ναῦς παραπλησίους τὸν ἀριθμόν. γενομένου δʼ ἀγῶνος καρτεροῦ καὶ τοῦ Φιλίστου τὸ μὲν πρῶτον διὰ τῆς ἰδίας ἀνδραγαθίας προτεροῦντος, ὕστερον δʼ ἀποληφθέντος ὑπὸ τῶν πολεμίων οἱ μὲν Συρακόσιοι πανταχόθεν κυκλώσαντες τὰς ναῦς ἐφιλοτιμοῦντο ζωγρίᾳ λαβεῖν τὸν στρατηγόν, ὁ δὲ Φίλιστος εὐλαβηθεὶς τὴν ἐκ τῆς αἰχμαλωσίας αἰκίαν ἑαυτὸν ἀπέσφαξε, πλείστας μὲν καὶ μεγίστας χρείας παρεσχημένος τοῖς τυράννοις, πιστότατος δὲ τῶν φίλων τοῖς δυνάσταις γεγονώς. οἱ δὲ Συρακόσιοι νικήσαντες τῇ ναυμαχίᾳ τὸ μὲν σῶμα τοῦ Φιλίστου διαμερίσαντες καὶ διʼ ὅλης τῆς πόλεως ἑλκύσαντες ἄταφον ἐξέρριψαν, Διονύσιος δὲ τὸν μὲν πρακτικώτατον τῶν φίλων ἀποβαλὼν καὶ στρατηγὸν μὲν ἕτερον ἀξιόχρεων οὐκ ἔχων, αὐτὸς δʼ οὐ δυνάμενος φέρειν τὸ τοῦ πολέμου βάρος ἐξέπεμψε πρεσβευτὰς πρὸς τὸν Δίωνα, τὸ μὲν πρῶτον τὴν ἡμίσειαν τῆς ἀρχῆς παραδιδούς, ὕστερον δὲ βουλόμενος ὅλην ἐγχειρίζειν.
In Sicily Philistus, Dionysius' general, sailed to Rhegium and transported to Syracuse the cavalry, more than five hundred in number. When he had added to these other cavalry more numerous and two thousand infantry, he made an expedition against Leontini, which had revolted from Dionysius, and having succeeded in entering the walls by night captured a portion of the city. A sharp engagement ensued, and the Syracusans came to the aid of the Leontinians, so that he was defeated and was driven out of Leontini. Heracleides, who had been left behind by Dion as commander of his men-of war, being hindered by storms in the Peloponnese, was too late for Dion's return and the liberation of the Syracusans, but he now came with twenty men-of war and fifteen hundred soldiers. Being a man of very great distinction and considered worthy of the position, he was chosen admiral by the Syracusans, and, having been assigned to the supreme command of the armed forces along with Dion, he participated in the war against Dionysius. After this Philistus, who had been appointed general and had fitted out sixty triremes, fought a naval battle with the Syracusans, who had about the same number. As the fight became sharp Philistus at first was superior because of his own gallantry, but later on, when he was intercepted by the enemy, the Syracusans, encircling the ships from all sides, put forth strenuous efforts to capture the general alive, but Philistus, with apprehensions of torture after his capture, slew himself after having performed a great many very important services to the tyrants and having proved himself the most faithful of their friends to the men in power. The Syracusans, after they had won the naval battle, dismembered the body of Philistus, dragged it through the whole city, and cast it forth unburied; and Dionysius, who had lost the most efficient of his friends and had no other general of repute, being himself unable to sustain the burden of the war, sent out ambassadors to Dion, first offering him the half of his power, but later consenting to place the whole of it in his hands.
§ 16.17
τοῦ δὲ Δίωνος ἀποκριθέντος ὅτι τοῖς Συρακοσίοις δίκαιόν ἐστι παραδιδόναι τὴν ἀκρόπολιν ἐπί τισιν ἐξαιρέτοις χρήμασι καὶ τιμαῖς, ὁ μὲν Διονύσιος ἕτοιμος ἦν παραδιδόναι τὴν ἄκραν τῷ δήμῳ ὥστε τοὺς μισθοφόρους καὶ τὰ χρήματα λαβόντα εἰς τὴν Ἰταλίαν μεταστῆναι, ὁ δὲ Δίων συνεβούλευε τοῖς Συρακοσίοις δέχεσθαι τὰ διδόμενα. ὁ δὲ δῆμος ὑπὸ τῶν ἀκαίρων δημηγόρων πεισθεὶς ἀντεῖπε, νομίζων κατὰ κράτος ἐκπολιορκήσειν τὸν τύραννον. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ὁ μὲν Διονύσιος τοὺς ἀρίστους τῶν μισθοφόρων ἀπέλιπεν φυλάξοντας τὴν ἄκραν, αὐτὸς δʼ ἐνθέμενος τὰ χρήματα καὶ πᾶσαν τὴν βασιλικὴν κατασκευὴν ἔλαθεν ἐκπλεύσας καὶ κατῆρεν εἰς τὴν Ἰταλίαν. οἱ δὲ Συρακόσιοι πρὸς ἀλλήλους ἐστασίασαν, τῶν μὲν οἰομένων δεῖν τὴν στρατηγίαν καὶ τὴν τῶν ὅλων ἐξουσίαν ἐγχειρίζειν Ἡρακλείδῃ διὰ τὸ τοῦτον δοκεῖν μηδέποτʼ ἂν ἐπιθέσθαι τυραννίδι, τῶν δὲ ἀποφαινομένων τὸν Δίωνα δεῖν ἔχειν τὴν τῶν ἁπάντων ἡγεμονίαν. πρὸς δὲ τούτοις πολλῶν ὀφειλομένων μισθῶν τοῖς ἐκ Πελοποννήσου ξένοις τοῖς ἠλευθερωκόσι τὰς Συρακούσσας καὶ χρημάτων σπανιζούσης τῆς πόλεως οἱ μὲν μισθοφόροι τῶν χρημάτων ἀποστερούμενοι συνεστράφησαν, ὄντες πλείους τῶν τρισχιλίων, πάντες δʼ ἐπίλεκτοι ταῖς ἀρεταῖς καὶ διὰ τὴν ἄθλησιν τῶν πολεμικῶν ἔργων διαπεπονημένοι πολὺ τοὺς Συρακοσίους ταῖς ἀρεταῖς ὑπερεβάλλοντο. ὁ δὲ Δίων ἀξιούμενος ὑπὸ τῶν μισθοφόρων συναποστῆναι καὶ παρὰ τῶν Συρακοσίων ὡς κοινῶν ἐχθρῶν λαβεῖν τιμωρίαν τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἀντεῖπεν, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα συναναγκαζόμενος ὑπὸ τῆς περιστάσεως προσεδέξατο τὴν ἡγεμονίαν τῶν ξένων καὶ μετʼ ἐκείνων ταχθεὶς ἀνέζευξεν ἐπὶ τοὺς Λεοντίνους. οἱ δὲ Συρακόσιοι συστραφέντες ἐδίωκον τοὺς μισθοφόρους καὶ κατὰ τὴν ὁδοιπορίαν συνάψαντες μάχην καὶ πολλοὺς ἀποβαλόντες ἀπεχώρησαν. ὁ δὲ Δίων λαμπρᾷ μάχῃ νικήσας οὐδὲν ἐμνησικάκησε τοῖς Συρακοσίοις· ἀποστειλάντων γὰρ πρὸς αὐτὸν κήρυκα περὶ τῆς τῶν νεκρῶν ἀναιρέσεως τήν τε τῶν νεκρῶν ἀναίρεσιν ἔδωκε καὶ τοὺς ἁλόντας πολλοὺς ὄντας ἀπέλυσεν ἄνευ λύτρων. πολλοὶ γὰρ ἐν τῇ φυγῇ μέλλοντες φονεύεσθαι διηγόρευον ἑαυτοὺς εἶναι τῶν τὰ Δίωνος φρονούντων καὶ πάντες διὰ ταύτην τὴν αἰτίαν ἐξέφυγον τὸν θάνατον.
But when Dion replied that it was only fair to surrender to the Syracusans the acropolis with the reservation of certain property and privileges, Dionysius was ready to surrender the citadel to the people on the condition that he took his mercenaries and his property and went abroad to Italy, and Dion counselled the Syracusans to accept his offer. But the people, persuaded by their inopportune demagogues, refused, believing that they could forcibly make the tyrant surrender by siege. Thereafter Dionysius left the best of his mercenaries to guard the citadel, while he himself, putting his possessions and all his royal paraphernalia on board ship, sailed off secretly and put ashore in Italy. But the Syracusans were divided into two factions, some being of the opinion that they should entrust the generalship and supreme power in the state to Heracleides because it was believed that he would never aim at tyrannical power, and the others declaring that Dion should have the supremacy over the entire government. Furthermore, large sums for wages were due to the Peloponnesian mercenaries who had liberated Syracuse and the city was short of funds, so the mercenaries, deprived of their money, banded together in excess of three thousand, and since all had been selected for meritorious conduct and because of their training in actual warfare were hardened veterans, they were far more than a match for the Syracusans in valour. As for Dion, when he was asked by the mercenaries to join their revolt and to take vengeance upon the Syracusans as a common enemy, he at first refused, but later, upon compulsion of the critical circumstances, he accepted the command of the mercenaries, and with them marched off to Leontini. The Syracusans in a body set out to pursue the mercenaries, and, having engaged them on the way and lost many men, retreated. Dion, who had defeated them in a brilliant battle, harboured no grudge toward the Syracusans, for when they sent him a herald to arrange for the removal of the dead he granted them permission and set free without ransom the captives, who were numerous. For many who were on the point of being slain in their flight declared that they were on Dion's side and all for this reason escaped death.
§ 16.18
μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Διονύσιος μὲν στρατηγὸν ἀπέστειλεν εἰς τὰς Συρακούσσας Νύψιον τὸν Νεαπολίτην, ἀνδρείᾳ καὶ συνέσει στρατηγικῇ διαφέροντα· συνεξέπεμψε δʼ αὐτῷ καὶ φορτηγὰ πλοῖα σίτου καὶ τῆς ἄλλης ἀγορᾶς γέμοντα. οὗτος μὲν οὖν ἐκ Λοκρῶν ἀναχθεὶς ἐτέλει τὸν εἰς Συρακούσσας πλοῦν. οἱ δὲ κατὰ τὴν ἀκρόπολιν μισθοφόροι τοῦ τυράννου, κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν καιρὸν ἐπιλιπόντος τοῦ σίτου, καὶ τῇ σπάνει τῶν ἀναγκαίων δεινῶς πιεζούμενοι μέχρι μέν τινος ὑπέμενον εὐψύχως τὴν ἔνδειαν, τῆς δὲ φύσεως ὑπὸ τῆς ἀνάγκης ἡττωμένης καὶ τῆς σωτηρίας ἀπογινωσκομένης συνδραμόντες εἰς ἐκκλησίαν νυκτὸς ἐψηφίσαντο παραδοῦναι τὴν ἀκρόπολιν καὶ σφᾶς αὐτοὺς τοῖς Συρακοσίοις ἅμʼ ἡμέρᾳ. ἤδη δὲ τῆς νυκτὸς ληγούσης οἱ μὲν μισθοφόροι κήρυκας ἐξέπεμπον πρὸς τοὺς Συρακοσίους περὶ τῆς διαλύσεως, ὁ δὲ Νύψιος διαφαινούσης ἤδη τῆς ἡμέρας κατέπλευσε μετὰ τοῦ στόλου καὶ καθωρμίσθη περὶ τὴν Ἀρέθουσαν. διόπερ τῆς ἐνδείας παραχρῆμα μεταβαλούσης εἰς πολλὴν δαψίλειαν τῶν ἐπιτηδείων ὁ μὲν στρατηγὸς Νύψιος ἐκβιβάσας τοὺς στρατιώτας, κοινὴν ἐκκλησίαν συναγαγὼν καὶ διαλεχθεὶς οἰκείως τοῖς παροῦσι καιροῖς, προθύμους κατεσκεύασε πρὸς τοὺς μέλλοντας κινδύνους. ἡ μὲν οὖν ἀκρόπολις ἤδη παραδιδομένη τοῖς Συρακοσίοις τὸν εἰρημένον τρόπον ἀνελπίστως διεφυλάχθη, οἱ δὲ Συρακόσιοι πληρώσαντες ἁπάσας τὰς τριήρεις ἐπέπλευσαν τοῖς πολεμίοις ἔτι περὶ τὴν ἐξαίρεσιν τῆς ἀγορᾶς διατρίβουσιν. ἀπροσδοκήτου δὲ τῆς ἐφόδου γενομένης καὶ τῶν κατὰ τὴν ἀκρόπολιν μισθοφόρων τεθορυβημένως ἀντιταχθέντων ταῖς πολεμίαις τριήρεσιν, ἐγένετο ναυμαχία, καθʼ ἣν οἱ Συρακόσιοι προετέρησαν, καὶ τινὰς μὲν τῶν νεῶν κατέδυσαν, τινῶν δʼ ἐγκρατεῖς κατέστησαν, τὰς δὲ λοιπὰς πρὸς τὴν γῆν κατεδίωξαν. μετεωρισθέντες δʼ ἐπὶ τῷ προτερήματι τοῖς μὲν θεοῖς μεγαλοπρεπῶς ἔθυσαν ἐπινίκια, αὐτοὶ δʼ εἰς εὐωχίας καὶ πότους ἐκτραπέντες, καταφρονοῦντες τῶν ἡττημένων ῥᾳθύμως εἶχον τὰ περὶ τὰς φυλακάς.
After this Dionysius dispatched to Syracuse as general Nypsius the Neapolitan, a man who excelled in valour and in sagacity of generalship; and with him he sent merchantmen laden with grain and other supplies. Nypsius then set sail from Locri and completed the voyage to Syracuse. The tyrant's mercenaries, stationed on the acropolis, as their supply of grain failed at this time, were in dire distress for want of supplies, but for a time endured in good spirits their lack of food; then, when human nature succumbed to necessity and they despaired of saving their lives, they came together in an assembly at night and voted to surrender the citadel and themselves to the Syracusans at dawn. Night was just drawing to a close as the mercenaries sent heralds to the Syracusans to make terms, but, as dawn was just breaking, Nypsius sailed in with his fleet and anchored off Arethusa. Consequently, now that scarcity had suddenly changed into a great abundance of supplies, the general Nypsius, after disembarking his soldiers, held a joint assembly, presented arguments suitable to the occasion and won the support of the men to meet the perils in store. Now the acropolis which was already on the point of being given over to the Syracusans was unexpectedly preserved in the aforesaid manner, but the Syracusans, manning all their triremes, sailed against the enemy while they were still occupied in unloading the supplies. Since the attack was unexpected and the mercenaries in the citadel could only be drawn up in confused fashion against the enemy triremes, a naval battle took place in which the Syracusans had the superiority, in fact they sank some of the ships, gained possession of others, and pursued the remnant to the shore. Elated by their success they offered magnificent sacrifice to the gods in honour of the victory, and, turning to banqueting and drink, with contempt for the men they had defeated, were negligent about their guards.
§ 16.19
Νύψιος δʼ ὁ τῶν μισθοφόρων στρατηγὸς ἀναλαβεῖν καὶ ἀναμαχέσασθαι βουλόμενος τὴν ἧτταν νυκτὸς ἐκτεταγμένῃ τῇ δυνάμει παραδόξως προσέπεσε τῷ κατεσκευασμένῳ τείχει. εὑρὼν δὲ τοὺς φύλακας διὰ τὴν καταφρόνησιν καὶ μέθην εἰς ὕπνον τετραμμένους προσέθηκε τὰς παρεσκευασμένας κλίμακας πρὸς τὴν χρείαν. διὰ δὲ τούτων οἱ κράτιστοι τῶν μισθοφόρων ἀνέβησαν ἐπὶ τὸ τεῖχος καὶ τοὺς φύλακας φονεύσαντες ἀνέῳξαν τὰς πύλας. εἰσπεσόντων δὲ τῶν στρατιωτῶν εἰς τὴν πόλιν οἱ μὲν στρατηγοὶ τῶν Συρακοσίων ἐκ τῆς μέθης ἀνανήφοντες ἐπειρῶντο βοηθεῖν, ἐμποδιζόμενοι δὲ τὰς ὁρμὰς διὰ τὸν οἶνον οἱ μὲν ἀνῃρέθησαν, οἱ δʼ ἔφυγον. κατειλημμένης δὲ τῆς πόλεως καὶ τῶν ἐκ τῆς ἀκροπόλεως στρατιωτῶν σχεδὸν ἁπάντων εἰσπεσόντων ἐντὸς τοῦ περιτειχίσματος, τῶν δὲ Συρακοσίων διὰ τὸ παράδοξον καὶ τὴν ἀταξίαν ἐκπεπληγμένων πολὺς ἐγίνετο φόνος. τῶν δὲ τοῦ τυράννου στρατιωτῶν πλειόνων ἢ μυρίων ὄντων καὶ συντεταγμένων καλῶς οὐδεὶς τὸ βάρος αὐτῶν ὑπομεῖναι δυνατὸς ἦν, ἅτε τοῦ θορύβου καὶ τῆς ταραχῆς, ἔτι δὲ ἀναρχίας τοὺς ἐλαττουμένους ἐμποδιζούσης. κρατηθείσης δὲ τῆς ἀγορᾶς ὑπὸ τῶν πολεμίων, εὐθὺς ἐπὶ τὰς οἰκίας οἱ νενικηκότες ὥρμησαν· καὶ πολλὰ μὲν χρήματα διεφορεῖτο, οὐκ ὀλίγα δὲ σώματα γυναικῶν καὶ παίδων, ἔτι δʼ οἰκετῶν ἐξηνδραποδίζετο. κατὰ δὲ τοὺς στενωποὺς καὶ τὰς ἄλλας ὁδοὺς ἀντιταττομένων Συρακοσίων ἐγίνοντο συνεχεῖς συμπλοκαὶ καὶ πολλοὶ μὲν ἀπέθνησκον, οὐκ ὀλίγοι δὲ τραύμασι περιέπιπτον. τὴν μὲν οὖν νύκτα διετέλεσαν ἀλλήλους ἀναιροῦντες ὡς ἔτυχε διὰ τὸ σκότος καὶ πᾶς τόπος νεκρῶν ἔγεμεν.
Nypsius, the commander of the mercenaries, wishing to renew the battle and retrieve the defeat, with his army which had been marshalled during the night unexpectedly attacked the wall which had been constructed. And, finding that the guards through contempt and drunkenness had betaken themselves to sleep, he placed against it the ladders that had been constructed in case they were needed. The bravest of the mercenaries climbed on the wall with these, slaughtered the guards, and opened the gates. As the men poured into the city, the generals of the Syracusans, becoming sober after their drunkenness, tried to bring aid, but, their efforts being hampered by the wine, some were slain and some fled. When the city had been captured and almost all the soldiers from the citadel had rushed inside the circuitwalls, since the Syracusans were panic-stricken by the suddenness and confusion of the attack, a great slaughter took place. The soldiers of the tyrant numbered more than ten thousand and their lines were so well marshalled that no one was able to withstand their sheer weight, inasmuch as the din and disorder and, furthermore, the lack of a commander, impeded the Syracusans in their hour of defeat. Once the market-place had come into possession of the enemy, the victors straightway attacked the residences. They carried off much property and took off as slaves many women and children and household servants besides. Where the Syracusans formed to meet them in narrow alleys and other streets, continuous engagements occurred and many were killed and not a few wounded. So they passed the night slaying one another at random in the darkness, and every quarter teemed with dead.
§ 16.20
ἅμα δʼ ἡμέρᾳ τὸ μὲν τῆς συμφορᾶς μέγεθος συνεωράθη, οἱ δὲ Συρακόσιοι, μίαν ἔχοντες σωτηρίαν τὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ Δίωνος βοήθειαν, ἐξαπέστειλαν ἱππεῖς εἰς Λεοντίνους, δεόμενοι τοῦ Δίωνος μὴ περιιδεῖν τὴν πατρίδα δοριάλωτον γινομένην καὶ τῶν μὲν ἡμαρτημένων δοῦναι συγγνώμην αὐτοῖς, τὰς δὲ παρούσας δυστυχίας ἐλεήσαντα διορθώσασθαι τὴν τῆς πατρίδος συμφοράν. ὁ δὲ Δίων λαμπρὸς ὢν τὴν ψυχὴν καὶ διὰ τὴν ἐκ φιλοσοφίας παιδείαν ἐξημερωμένος τοὺς λογισμοὺς οὐκ ἐμνησικάκησε τοῖς πολίταις, ἀλλὰ τοὺς μισθοφόρους πείσας παραχρῆμα ἀνέζευξε καὶ διανύσας ὀξέως τὴν εἰς Συρακούσσας ὁδὸν ἧκε πρὸς τὰ Ἑξάπυλα. ἐνταῦθα δὲ διατάξας τοὺς στρατιώτας προσῆγε κατὰ τάχος καὶ κατέλαβεν ἐκ τῆς πόλεως τέκνα μὲν καὶ γυναῖκας καὶ τοὺς γεγηρακότας ὑπὲρ τοὺς μυρίους· οὗτοι δὲ πάντες ἀπαντῶντες μετὰ δακρύων ἱκέτευον ἀμῦναι τοῖς ἰδίοις ἀκληρήμασιν. οἱ δʼ ἐκ τῆς ἀκροπόλεως μισθοφόροι κεκρατηκότες ἤδη τῆς προθέσεως τὰς μὲν περὶ τὴν ἀγορὰν οἰκίας διαρπάσαντες ἐνέπρησαν, ἐπὶ δὲ τὰς λοιπὰς ὁρμήσαντες διήρπαζον τὰς ἐν ταύταις κτήσεις. καθʼ ὃν δὴ καιρὸν Δίων κατὰ πλείους τόπους εἰσπεσὼν εἰς τὴν πόλιν, καὶ τοῖς πολεμίοις περὶ τὰς ἁρπαγὰς ἀσχολουμένοις ἐπιθέμενος πάντας τοὺς περιτυγχάνοντας ἔκτεινε κομίζοντας ἐπὶ τῶν ὤμων παντοδαπὰς κατασκευάς· διὰ δὲ τὸ παράδοξον τῆς παρουσίας καὶ τὴν ἀταξίαν καὶ τὴν ταραχὴν τῶν διαφορούντων τὰς κτήσεις εὐχερῶς ἅπαντες ἐχειροῦντο. τέλος δὲ πλειόνων ἢ τετρακισχιλίων φονευθέντων, τῶν μὲν ἐν ταῖς οἰκίαις, τῶν δʼ ἐν ταῖς ὁδοῖς, οἱ λοιποὶ συνέφυγον εἰς τὴν ἀκρόπολιν καὶ τὰς πύλας κλείσαντες ἐξέφυγον τὸν κίνδυνον. Δίων δὲ κάλλιστον τῶν προγεγενημένων ἔργων ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ διαπραξάμενος τὰς μὲν καιομένας οἰκίας διέσωσε κατασβέσας τὴν φλόγα, τὸ δὲ περιτείχισμα καλῶς κατασκευασάμενος μιᾷ πράξει τήν τε πόλιν ὠχύρωσε καὶ τοὺς πολεμίους ἀποτειχίσας εἶρξε τῆς ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν ἐξόδου. καθαρὰν δὲ τῶν νεκρῶν ποιήσας τὴν πόλιν καὶ τρόπαιον στήσας ἔθυσε τοῖς θεοῖς ὑπὲρ τῆς σωτηρίας. συναχθείσης δʼ ἐκκλησίας ὁ μὲν δῆμος εὐχαριστῶν αὐτῷ στρατηγὸν ἐχειροτόνησεν αὐτοκράτορα τὸν Δίωνα καὶ τιμὰς ἀπένειμεν ἡρωικάς, ὁ δὲ Δίων ἀκολούθως τοῖς πεπραγμένοις ἐπιεικῶς τοὺς μὲν ἐχθροὺς ἅπαντας ἀπέλυσε τῶν ἐγκλημάτων καὶ τὸ πλῆθος παραμυθησάμενος εἰς κοινὴν ἤγαγεν ὁμόνοιαν. οἱ δὲ Συρακόσιοι πανδήμοις ἐπαίνοις καὶ ἀποδοχαῖς μεγάλαις ἐτίμων τὸν εὐεργέτην ὡς μόνον σωτῆρα γεγονότα τῆς πατρίδος. καὶ τὰ μὲν κατὰ τὴν Σικελίαν ἐν τούτοις ἦν.
At daybreak the magnitude of the disaster was seen in its entirety, and the Syracusans, whose one hope of survival lay in help from Dion, sent horsemen to Leontini begging Dion not to suffer his native city to be captured by the spear point of the enemy, to forgive them the mistakes they had made, and in pity for their present misfortunes to come and retrieve his country's disaster. Dion, a man noble in spirit and civilized in his judgements because of his philosophical training, did not bear a grudge against his fellow citizens, but, after winning the mercenaries over, straightway set out and, having quickly traversed the road to Syracuse, arrived at the Hexapyla. After drawing up his soldiers at that point he advanced with all speed and encountered, fleeing from the city, children, women, and old men in excess of ten thousand. All of these as they met him besought him with tears to avenge their own misfortunes. The mercenaries from the citadel, having already obtained their objective, after plundering the houses by the market-place set them on fire and now, attacking the remaining residences, were in the act of plundering the possessions in these. At this very moment Dion, rushing into the city in several places and attacking the enemy as they were busily engaged in their looting, slew all whom he met as they were lugging furnishings of various sorts off on their shoulders. And because of the unexpectedness of his appearance and the disorder and confusion, all of those who were making off with their plunder were easily overpowered. And finally, after more than four thousand had been slain, some in the houses, and others in the streets, the rest fled in a body to the citadel and closing the gates escaped the danger. Dion, having accomplished the finest of all the deeds ever performed by him, preserved the burning houses by extinguishing the flames, and, by restoring to good condition the circuit-wall, at one stroke fortified the city and by walling off the foe blocked their egress to the mainland. When he had cleansed the city of the dead and had erected a trophy of victory, he offered sacrifices to the gods for the deliverance of the city. An assembly was summoned, and the people, as an expression of their gratitude to him, elected Dion general with absolute power and accorded him honours suited to a hero, and Dion in harmony with his former conduct generously absolved all his personal enemies of the charges outstanding against them and having reassured the populace brought them to a state of general harmony. The Syracusans with universal praises and with elaborate testimonials of approval honoured their benefactor as the one and only saviour of their native land. Such was the condition of affairs in Sicily.
§ 16.21
κατὰ δὲ τὴν Ἑλλάδα Χίων καὶ Ῥοδίων καὶ Κῴων, ἔτι δὲ Βυζαντίων διαπολεμούντων πρὸς Ἀθηναίους τὸν συμμαχικὸν πόλεμον ἀμφότεροι μεγάλας παρασκευὰς ἐποιοῦντο, βουλόμενοι ναυμαχίᾳ κρῖναι τὸν πόλεμον. Ἀθηναῖοι δὲ Χάρητα μὲν μετὰ νεῶν ἑξήκοντα προαπεσταλκότες ἦσαν ἐν τοῖς ἄνω καιροῖς, τότε δὲ ἄλλας ἑξήκοντα πληρώσαντες καὶ στρατηγοὺς ἐπιστήσαντες τοὺς ἐπιφανεστάτους τῶν πολιτῶν, Ἰφικράτην καὶ Τιμόθεον, ἐξαπέστειλαν κοινῇ μετὰ Χάρητος διαπολεμεῖν τοῖς ἀφεστηκόσι τῶν συμμάχων. οἱ δὲ Χῖοι καὶ Ῥόδιοι καὶ Βυζάντιοι μετὰ τῶν συμμάχων ἑκατὸν ναῦς πληρώσαντες Ἴμβρον μὲν καὶ Λῆμνον οὔσας Ἀθηναίων ἐπόρθησαν, ἐπὶ δὲ Σάμον πολλῇ δυνάμει στρατεύσαντες τὴν μὲν χώραν ἐδῄωσαν, τὴν δὲ πόλιν ἐπολιόρκουν κατὰ γῆν καὶ κατὰ θάλατταν· πολλὰς δὲ καὶ ἄλλας νήσους οὔσας ὑπʼ Ἀθηναίους κακοποιήσαντες χρήματα ἤθροισαν εἰς τὰς τοῦ πολέμου χρείας. οἱ δὲ τῶν Ἀθηναίων στρατηγοὶ πάντες ἀθροισθέντες τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἐπεβάλοντο πολιορκῆσαι τὴν τῶν Βυζαντίων πόλιν, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τῶν Χίων καὶ τῶν συμμάχων τὴν μὲν πολιορκίαν τῆς Σάμου λυσάντων, ἐπὶ δὲ τὴν βοήθειαν τοῖς Βυζαντίοις τρεπομένων συνηθροίσθησαν πάντες οἱ στόλοι περὶ τὸν Ἑλλήσποντον. μελλούσης δὲ γίνεσθαι τῆς ναυμαχίας μέγας ἄνεμος ἐπιπεσὼν διεκώλυσεν αὐτῶν τὴν προαίρεσιν. τοῦ δὲ Χάρητος παρὰ φύσιν βουλομένου ναυμαχεῖν καὶ τῶν περὶ τὸν Ἰφικράτην καὶ Τιμόθεον ἐναντιουμένων διὰ τὸ μέγεθος τοῦ κλύδωνος ὁ μὲν Χάρης ἐπιμαρτυρόμενος τοὺς στρατιώτας διέβαλε τοὺς συνάρχοντας ὡς προδότας καὶ πρὸς τὸν δῆμον ἔγραψε περὶ αὐτῶν ὡς ἐγκαταλελοιπότων ἑκουσίως τὴν ναυμαχίαν, οἱ δʼ Ἀθηναῖοι παροξυνθέντες καὶ κρίσιν τῷ Ἰφικράτει καὶ Τιμοθέῳ προθέντες ἐζημίωσαν αὐτοὺς πολλοῖς ταλάντοις καὶ τῆς στρατηγίας ἀπέστησαν.
In Greece proper, where the Chians, Rhodians, Coans, and also the Byzantians were continuing the Social War against the Athenians, both sides were making great preparations, for they wished to decide the war by a naval battle. The Athenians had previously sent Chares forth with sixty ships, but now, manning sixty more and placing as generals in command the most distinguished of their citizens, Iphicrates and Timotheus, they dispatched this expedition along with Chares to continue war upon their allies who had revolted. The Chians, Rhodians, and Byzantians together with their allies manned one hundred ships and then sacked Imbros and Lemnos, Athenian islands, and having descended on Samos with a large contingent lay waste the countryside and besieged the city by land and by sea; and by ravaging many other islands that were subject to Athens they collected money for the needs of the war. All the Athenian generals now met and planned at first to besiege the city of the Byzantians, and when later the Chians and their allies abandoned the siege of Samos and turned to assist the Byzantians, all the fleets became massed in the Hellespont. But just at the time when the naval battle was about to take place a great wind fell upon them and thwarted their plans. When Chares, however, though the elements were against him, wished to fight, but Iphicrates and Timotheus opposed on account of the heavy sea, Chares, calling upon his soldiers to bear him witness, accused his colleagues of treason and wrote to the assembly about them, charging that they had purposely shirked the sea-fight. And the Athenians were so incensed that they indicted Iphicrates and Timotheus, fined them many talents, and removed them from the generalship.
§ 16.22
Χάρης δὲ παραλαβὼν παντὸς τοῦ στόλου τὴν ἡγεμονίαν καὶ σπεύδων τῆς δαπάνης ἀπαλλάξαι τοὺς Ἀθηναίους ἐπεχείρησε πράξει παραβόλῳ· Ἀρταβάζου γὰρ ἀποστάντος ἀπὸ τοῦ βασιλέως καὶ μέλλοντος ὀλίγοις στρατιώταις πρὸς τοὺς σατράπας διαγωνίζεσθαι μυριάδας ἑπτὰ στρατιωτῶν ἔχοντας, συμμαχήσαντος αὐτῷ Χάρητος πάσῃ τῇ δυνάμει καὶ νικήσαντος τὴν τοῦ βασιλέως δύναμιν, ὁ μὲν Ἀρτάβαζος ἀποδιδοὺς τῆς εὐεργεσίας χάριτας ἐδωρήσατο πλῆθος χρημάτων, ἐξ ὧν δυνατὸν ἦν πᾶσαν τὴν δύναμιν ὀψωνιάζεσθαι, οἱ δʼ Ἀθηναῖοι τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἀπεδέξαντο τὴν πρᾶξιν τοῦ Χάρητος, ὕστερον δὲ τοῦ βασιλέως πρέσβεις ἀποστείλαντος καὶ κατηγοροῦντος τοῦ Χάρητος τὴν ἐναντίαν ἔσχον γνώμην· διεδόθη γὰρ λόγος ὅτι τοῖς πολεμίοις τῶν Ἀθηναίων βασιλεὺς ἐπηγγείλατο τριακοσίαις ναυσὶ συγκαταπολεμήσειν τοὺς Ἀθηναίους. ταῦτʼ οὖν ὁ δῆμος εὐλαβηθεὶς ἔκρινε καταλύσασθαι τὸν πρὸς τοὺς ἀφεστηκότας πόλεμον· εὑρὼν δὲ κἀκείνους ἐπιθυμοῦντας τῆς εἰρήνης ῥᾳδίως πρὸς αὐτοὺς διελύσατο. ὁ μὲν οὖν συμμαχικὸς ὀνομασθεὶς πόλεμος τοιοῦτον ἔσχε τὸ τέλος, διαμείνας ἔτη τέτταρα. κατὰ δὲ τὴν Μακεδονίαν τρεῖς βασιλεῖς συνέστησαν ἐπὶ τὸν Φίλιππον, ὅ τε τῶν Θρᾳκῶν καὶ Παιόνων καὶ Ἰλλυριῶν. οὗτοι γὰρ ὄντες ὅμοροι τοῖς Μακεδόσι καὶ τὴν αὔξησιν ὑφορώμενοι τοῦ Φιλίππου καθʼ ἑαυτοὺς μὲν οὐκ ἦσαν ἀξιόμαχοι προηττημένοι, κοινῇ δὲ πολεμοῦντες ὑπέλαβον ῥᾳδίως αὐτοῦ περιέσεσθαι. διόπερ ἀθροιζόντων τὰς δυνάμεις ἐπιφανεὶς ἀσυντάκτοις καὶ καταπληξάμενος ἠνάγκασε προσθέσθαι τοῖς Μακεδόσιν.
Chares, now that he had succeeded to the command of the whole fleet and was eager to relieve the Athenians of its expense, undertook a hazardous operation. Now Artabazus had revolted from the Persian King and with only a few soldiers was on the point of joining combat with the satraps who had more than seventy thousand. Chares with all his forces took part with Artabazus in a battle and defeated the King's army. And Artabazus, out of gratitude for his kindness, made him a present of a large sum of money, with which he was able to furnish his entire army with supplies. The Athenians at first approved Chares' action, but later, when the King sent ambassadors and denounced Chares, they changed their minds; for word had been spread abroad that the King had promised Athens' enemies that he would join them in their war against the Athenians with three hundred ships. The assembly, accordingly, taking a cautious attitude, decided to bring to a close the war against their revolted allies; and finding that they too desired peace they easily came to terms with them. So the Social War, as it was called, came to a close after lasting four years. In Macedon three kings combined against Philip, — the kings of the Thracians, Paeonians, and Illyrians. For these peoples, inasmuch as they bordered upon Macedonia, eyed with suspicion the aggrandizement of Philip; singly, however, they were not capable of sustaining a combat, each having suffered defeat in the past, but they supposed that, if they should join their forces in a war, they would easily have the better of Philip. So it was that, while they were still gathering their armies, Philip appeared before their dispositions were made, struck terror into them, and compelled them to join forces with the Macedonians.
§ 16.23
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησι Καλλιστράτου Ῥωμαῖοι κατέστησαν ὑπάτους Μάρκον Φάβιον καὶ Γάιον Πλώτιον. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων ὁ κληθεὶς ἱερὸς πόλεμος συνέστη καὶ διέμεινεν ἔτη ἐννέα. Φιλόμηλος γὰρ ὁ Φωκεύς, ἀνὴρ θράσει καὶ παρανομίᾳ διαφέρων, κατελάβετο μὲν τὸ ἐν Δελφοῖς ἱερόν, ἐξέκαυσε δὲ τὸν ἱερὸν πόλεμον διὰ τοιαύτας τινὰς αἰτίας. Λακεδαιμονίων πρὸς Βοιωτοὺς διαπολεμησάντων τὸν Λευκτρικὸν πόλεμον καὶ καταπολεμηθέντων οἱ μὲν Θηβαῖοι διὰ τὴν κατάληψιν τῆς Καδμείας δίκας μεγάλας ἐπαγαγόντες τοῖς Λακεδαιμονίοις ἐν Ἀμφικτύοσι κατεδίκασαν αὐτοὺς πολλοῖς χρήμασιν, οἱ δὲ Φωκεῖς ἐπεργασάμενοι πολλὴν τῆς ἱερᾶς χώρας τῆς ὀνομαζομένης Κιρραίας δίκας ὑπέσχον ἐν Ἀμφικτύοσι καὶ πολλοῖς ταλάντοις κατεκρίθησαν. οὐκ ἐκτινόντων δʼ αὐτῶν τὰ ὀφλήματα οἱ μὲν ἱερομνήμονες ἐν Ἀμφικτύοσι κατηγόρουν τῶν Φωκέων καὶ τὸ συνέδριον ἠξίουν, ἐὰν μὴ τὰ χρήματα τῷ θεῷ ἀποδῶσιν οἱ Φωκεῖς, καθιερῶσαι τὴν χώραν τῶν ἀποστερούντων τὸν θεόν· ὁμοίως δʼ ἔφασαν δεῖν καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους τοὺς καταδικασθέντας ἐκτίνειν τὰ ὀφλήματα, ἐν οἷς ὑπῆρχον καὶ Λακεδαιμόνιοι· ἐὰν δὲ μὴ ὑπακούωσι, κοινῇ ὑπὸ τῶν Ἑλλήνων μισοπονηρίας ἀξιοῦσθαι. τῶν δʼ Ἑλλήνων συνεπικυρούντων τὰ δόγματα τῶν Ἀμφικτυόνων καὶ τῆς τῶν Φωκέων χώρας μελλούσης καθιεροῦσθαι ὁ Φιλόμηλος, μέγιστον ἔχων ἐν τοῖς Φωκεῦσιν ἀξίωμα, διελέχθη τοῖς ὁμοεθνέσι, διδάσκων ὡς ἐκτῖσαι μὲν οὐ δύνανται τὰ χρήματα διὰ τὸ μέγεθος τῆς καταδίκης, περιορᾶν δὲ καθιερουμένην τὴν χώραν οὐ μόνον ἄνανδρον ὑπάρχειν, ἀλλὰ καὶ κίνδυνον ἐπιφέρειν τῇ τῶν ἁπάντων τοῦ βίου ἀνατροπῇ. αὐτὰρ Φωκείων Σχεδίος καὶ Ἐπίστροφος ἦρχον, οἳ Κυπάρισσον ἔχον Πυθῶνά τε πετρήεσσαν. διόπερ ἔφη δεῖν ἀμφισβητεῖν περὶ τῆς τοῦ μαντείου προστασίας ὡς οὔσης πατρίου τοῖς Φωκεῦσιν. ἐπηγγέλλετο δὲ κατορθώσειν τὴν ἐπιβολήν, ἐὰν αὐτὸν αὐτοκράτορα καταστήσωσι στρατηγὸν τῆς ὅλης ἐπιβολῆς καὶ κύριον.
When Callistratus was archon at Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Marcus Fabius and Gaius Plautius. During their term of office the Sacred War, as it was called, began and lasted nine years. For Philomelus the Phocian, a man of unusual audacity and lawlessness, seized the shrine in Delphi and kindled the Sacred War for reasons somewhat as follows. When the Lacedemonians had fought the Leuctrian War with the Boeotians and been defeated, the Thebans brought a serious charge against the Lacedemonians in the Amphictyonic Council because of their seizure of the Cadmeia and obtained a judgement against them for a large indemnity; and the Phocians for having cultivated a large portion of the consecrated territory named Cirrhaean were arraigned in the Council and were fined a large number of talents. When they did not discharge the assessments, the hieromnemones of the Amphictyons brought charges against the Phocians and demanded of the Council that if the Phocians did not pay the money to the god, they should lay under a curse the land of those who were cheating the god. Likewise they declared that the others against whom judgements had been passed should discharge their fines, the Lacedemonians being in this category, and if they did not obey, they should incur the common hatred of the Greeks for their knavery. When the Greeks all ratified the decisions of the Amphictyons and the territory of the Phocians was about to be placed under the curse, Philomelus, who had the highest reputation among the Phocians, harangued his fellow countrymen, explaining that they were unable to pay the money on account of the magnitude of the fine, and that to allow the territory to be cursed was not only cowardly but involved them in danger since it was the destruction of the means by which they all lived. He endeavoured also to prove that the judgements of the Amphictyons were unjust in the highest degree, since they had inflicted huge fines for the cultivation of what was a very small parcel of land. Accordingly he advised them to treat the fines as null and void and declared that the Phocians had strong grounds for their case against the Amphictyons: for in ancient times they had held control and guardianship of the oracle. As witness he offered the most ancient and greatest of all poets, Homer who said: "Now over Phocians Schedius ruled and e'en Epistrophus, They dwelt in Cyparissus and in Pytho land of rocks." On this account he said they should enter a claim for the guardianship of the oracle on the ground that this belonged to the Phocians as an inheritance from their fathers. He promised that he would succeed with the enterprise if they would appoint him general with absolute power for the entire programme and give him complete authority.
§ 16.24
τῶν δὲ Φωκέων διὰ τὸν ἐκ τῆς καταδίκης φόβον ἑλομένων αὐτὸν αὐτοκράτορα στρατηγὸν ὁ Φιλόμηλος ἐνεργῶς ἐπετέλει τὰς ἐπαγγελίας. πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ παρελθὼν εἰς τὴν Σπάρτην ἐν ἀπορρήτοις διελέχθη τῷ βασιλεῖ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων Ἀρχιδάμῳ, ὅτι κοινὸς ὁ ἀγών ἐστιν αὐτῷ περὶ τοῦ ποιῆσαι τὰς κρίσεις τῶν Ἀμφικτυόνων ἀκύρους· εἶναι γὰρ καὶ κατὰ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων μεγάλας καὶ ἀδίκους ἀποφάσεις τῶν Ἀμφικτυόνων. ἐδήλωσεν οὖν αὐτῷ διότι τοὺς Δελφοὺς καταλαβέσθαι διέγνωκε καὶ τῆς προστασίας ἐὰν ἐγκρατὴς γένηται τὰ δόγματα τῶν Ἀμφικτυόνων ἀκυρώσει. ὁ δʼ Ἀρχίδαμος ἀποδεξάμενος τὸν λόγον φανερῶς μὲν κατὰ τὸ παρὸν οὐκ ἔφησε βοηθήσειν, λάθρᾳ δὲ πάντα συμπράξειν χορηγῶν καὶ χρήματα καὶ μισθοφόρους. ὁ δὲ Φιλόμηλος παρὰ μὲν τούτου πεντεκαίδεκα τάλαντα λαβών, ἰδίᾳ δὲ προσθεὶς οὐκ ἐλάττω τούτων μισθοφόρους τε ξένους ἐμισθώσατο καὶ τῶν Φωκέων ἐπέλεξε χιλίους, οὓς ὠνόμασε πελταστάς. ἀθροίσας δὲ στρατιωτῶν πλῆθος καὶ καταλαβόμενος τὸ μαντεῖον τούς τε Θρακίδας καλουμένους τῶν Δελφῶν ἐναντιουμένους ἀνεῖλε καὶ τὰς οὐσίας αὐτῶν ἐδήμευσε· τοὺς δʼ ἄλλους ὁρῶν καταπεπληγμένους παρεκάλει θαρρεῖν ὡς οὐδενὸς ἐσομένου περὶ αὐτοὺς δεινοῦ. διαβοηθείσης δὲ τῆς περὶ τὸ ἱερὸν καταλήψεως Λοκροὶ μὲν οἱ πλησίον οἰκοῦντες παραχρῆμα ἐστράτευσαν ἐπὶ τὸν Φιλόμηλον. γενομένης δὲ περὶ Δελφοὺς μάχης οἱ μὲν Λοκροὶ λειφθέντες καὶ πολλοὺς ἀποβαλόντες τῶν στρατιωτῶν ἔφυγον εἰς τὴν οἰκείαν, ὁ δὲ Φιλόμηλος ἐπαρθεὶς τῇ νίκῃ τὰς τῶν Ἀμφικτυόνων ἀποφάσεις ἔκ τε τῶν στηλῶν ἐξέκοψε καὶ τὰ περὶ τῶν καταδικῶν γράμματα κατέλυσεν, αὐτὸς δὲ διέδωκε λόγον ὡς οὔτε συλᾶν τὸ μαντεῖον διέγνωκεν οὔτʼ ἄλλην οὐδεμίαν παράνομον πρᾶξιν συντελεῖν βεβούλευται, τῆς δὲ προγονικῆς προστασίας ἀμφισβητῶν καὶ τὰς τῶν Ἀμφικτυόνων ἀδίκους ἀποφάσεις ἀκυρῶσαι βουλόμενος βοηθεῖν τοῖς πατρίοις νόμοις τῶν Φωκέων.
When the Phocians out of fear of the judgement elected him general with absolute power, Philomelus set about energetically to fulfil his promise. First he went to Sparta, where he conversed in private with Archidamus king of the Lacedemonians, representing that the king had an equal interest in the effort to render null and void the judgements of the Amphictyons, for there existed serious and unjust pronouncements of that Council to the injury of the Lacedemonians also. He accordingly disclosed to Archidamus that he had decided to seize Delphi and that if he succeeded in obtaining the guardianship of the shrine he would annul the decrees of the Amphictyons. Although Archidamus approved of the proposal, he said he would not for the present give assistance openly, but that he would co operate secretly in every respect, providing both money and mercenaries. Philomelus, having received from him fifteen talents and having added at least as much on his own account, hired foreign mercenaries and chose a thousand of the Phocians, whom he called peltasts. Then, after he had gathered a multitude of soldiers and had seized the oracle, he slew the group of Delphians called Thracidae who sought to oppose him and confiscated their possessions; but, observing that the others were terror-stricken, he exhorted them to be of good cheer since no danger would befall them. When news of the seizure of the shrine was noised abroad, the Locrians, who lived near by, straightway took the field against Philomelus. A battle took place near Delphi and the Locrians, having been defeated with the loss of many of their men, fled to their own territory, and Philomelus, being elated by his victory, hacked from the slabs the pronouncements of the Amphictyons, deleted the letters recording their judgements, and personally caused the report to be circulated that he had resolved not to plunder the oracle nor had he purposed to commit any other lawless deed, but that in support of the ancestral claim to the guardianship and because of his desire to annul the unjust decrees of the Amphictyons, he was vindicating the ancestral laws of the Phocians.
§ 16.25
οἱ δὲ Βοιωτοὶ συνελθόντες εἰς ἐκκλησίαν ἐψηφίσαντο βοηθεῖν τῷ μαντείῳ καὶ παραχρῆμα στρατιώτας ἐξέπεμψαν. τούτων δὲ πραττομένων ὁ Φιλόμηλος τεῖχός τε περιεβάλετο τῷ ἱερῷ καὶ μισθοφόρους ἤθροιζε πολλούς, ἀναβιβάσας τοὺς μισθοὺς καὶ ποιήσας ἡμιολίους, καὶ τῶν Φωκέων ἐπιλέγων τοὺς ἀρίστους κατέγραφε καὶ ταχὺ δύναμιν ἀξιόλογον ἤθροισεν· οὐκ ἐλάττους γὰρ τῶν πεντακισχιλίων στρατιωτῶν ἔχων προεκάθητο τῶν Δελφῶν, φοβερὸς ὢν ἤδη τοῖς πολεμεῖν πρὸς αὐτὸν βουλομένοις. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα στρατεύσας εἰς τὴν τῶν Λοκρῶν χώραν καὶ πολλὴν τῆς πολεμίας γῆς δῃώσας κατεστρατοπεδεύσατο πλησίον ποταμοῦ τινος ῥέοντος παρὰ φρούριον ὀχυρόν. τούτῳ δὲ προσβολὰς ποιησάμενος καὶ μὴ δυνάμενος ἑλεῖν τῆς μὲν πολιορκίας ἀπέστη, πρὸς δὲ τοὺς Λοκροὺς συνάψας μάχην ἀπέβαλε τῶν στρατιωτῶν εἴκοσι καὶ τῶν νεκρῶν οὐ δυνηθεὶς κρατῆσαι τὴν ἀναίρεσιν αὐτῶν διὰ κήρυκος ᾐτήσατο. οἱ δὲ Λοκροὶ τὴν ἀναίρεσιν οὐ συγχωροῦντες ἀπόκρισιν ἔδωκαν ὅτι παρὰ πᾶσι τοῖς Ἕλλησι κοινὸς νόμος ἐστὶν ἀτάφους ῥίπτεσθαι τοὺς ἱεροσύλους. ὁ δὲ Φιλόμηλος χαλεπῶς φέρων τὸ συμβεβηκὸς συνῆψε μάχην τοῖς Λοκροῖς καὶ πᾶσαν εἰσενεγκάμενος φιλοτιμίαν ἀνεῖλέ τινας τῶν πολεμίων καὶ τῶν σωμάτων κυριεύσας ἠνάγκασε τοὺς Λοκροὺς ἀλλαγὴν ποιήσασθαι τῶν νεκρῶν. κρατῶν δὲ τῶν ὑπαίθρων καὶ πολλὴν πορθήσας τῆς Λοκρίδος ἐπανῆλθεν εἰς Δελφοὺς ἐμπεπληκὼς ὠφελείας τοὺς στρατιώτας. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα περὶ τοῦ πολέμου βουλόμενος χρήσασθαι τῷ μαντείῳ τὴν Πυθίαν ἠνάγκασεν ἀναβᾶσαν ἐπὶ τὸν τρίποδα δοῦναι τὸν χρησμόν.
The Boeotians, coming together in an assembly, voted to rally to the support of the oracle and immediately dispatched troops. While these things were going on, Philomelus threw a wall about the shrine and began to assemble a large number of mercenaries by raising the pay to half as much grain, and selecting the bravest of the Phocians he enrolled them and quickly had a considerable army; for with no less than five thousand troops he took up a position in defence of Delphi, already a formidable adversary for those who wished to make war upon him. Later on, having led an expedition into the territory of the Locrians and laid waste much of the enemy's land, he encamped near a river that flowed past a stronghold. Though he made assaults upon this, he was unable to take it and finally desisted from the siege, but joining battle with the Locrians he lost twenty of his men, and not being able to get possession of their bodies, he asked through a herald the privilege of taking them up. The Locrians, refusing to grant this, gave answer that amongst the Greeks it was the general law that temple-robbers should be cast forth without burial. Philomelus so resented this that he joined battle with the Locrians and, bending every effort, slew some of the enemy, and having got possession of their bodies compelled the Locrians to make an exchange of the dead. As he was master of the open country, he sacked a large portion of Locris and returned to Delphi, having given his soldiers their fill of the spoils of war. After this, since he wished to consult the oracle for the war, he compelled the Pythian priestess to mount her tripod and deliver the oracle.
§ 16.26
ἐπεὶ δὲ τοῦ τρίποδος ἐμνήσθην, οὐκ ἄκαιρον προσαναλαβεῖν ἡγοῦμαι τὴν παλαιὰν περὶ αὐτοῦ παραδεδομένην ἱστορίαν. λέγεται γὰρ τὸ παλαιὸν αἶγας εὑρεῖν τὸ μαντεῖον· οὗ χάριν αἰξὶ μάλιστα χρηστηριάζονται μέχρι τοῦ νῦν οἱ Δελφοί. τὸν δὲ τρόπον τῆς εὑρέσεως γενέσθαι φασὶ τοιοῦτον. ὄντος χάσματος ἐν τούτῳ τῷ τόπῳ, καθʼ ὅν ἐστι νῦν τοῦ ἱεροῦ τὸ καλούμενον ἄδυτον, καὶ περὶ τοῦτο νενομένων αἰγῶν διὰ τὸ μήπω κατοικεῖσθαι τοὺς Δελφοὺς αἰεὶ τὴν προσιοῦσαν τῷ χάσματι καὶ προσβλέψασαν αὐτῷ σκιρτᾶν θαυμαστῶς καὶ προΐεσθαι φωνὴν διάφορον ἢ πρότερον εἰώθει φθέγγεσθαι. τὸν δʼ ἐπιστατοῦντα ταῖς αἰξὶ θαυμάσαι τὸ παράδοξον καὶ προσελθόντα τῷ χάσματι καὶ κατιδόντα οἷόνπερ ἦν ταὐτὸ παθεῖν ταῖς αἰξίν·ἐκείνας τε γὰρ ὅμοια ποιεῖν τοῖς ἐνθουσιάζουσι καὶ τοῦτον προλέγειν τὰ μέλλοντα γίνεσθαι. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τῆς φήμης παρὰ τοῖς ἐγχωρίοις διαδοθείσης περὶ τοῦ πάθους τῶν προσιόντων τῷ χάσματι πλείους ἀπαντᾶν ἐπὶ τὸν τόπον· διὰ δὲ τὸ παράδοξον πάντων ἀποπειρωμένων τοὺς αἰεὶ πλησιάζοντας ἐνθουσιάζειν. διʼ ἃς αἰτίας θαυμαστωθῆναί τε τὸ μαντεῖον καὶ νομισθῆναι τῆς Γῆς εἶναι τὸ χρηστήριον. καὶ χρόνον μέν τινα τοὺς βουλομένους μαντεύεσθαι προσιόντας τῷ χάσματι ποιεῖσθαι τὰς μαντείας ἀλλήλοις· μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα πολλῶν καθαλλομένων εἰς τὸ χάσμα διὰ τὸν ἐνθουσιασμὸν καὶ πάντων ἀφανιζομένων δόξαι τοῖς κατοικοῦσι περὶ τὸν τόπον, ἵνα μηδεὶς κινδυνεύῃ, προφῆτίν τε μίαν πᾶσι καταστῆσαι γυναῖκα καὶ διὰ ταύτης γίνεσθαι τὴν χρησμολογίαν. ταύτῃ δὲ κατασκευασθῆναι μηχανὴν, ἐφʼ ἣν ἀναβαίνουσαν ἀσφαλῶς ἐνθουσιάζειν καὶ μαντεύεσθαι τοῖς βουλομένοις. εἶναι δὲ τὴν μηχανὴν τρεῖς ἔχουσαν βάσεις, ἀφʼ ὧν αὐτὴν τρίποδα κληθῆναι· σχεδὸν δὲ πάντας τούτου τοῦ κατασκευάσματος ἀπομιμήματα γίνεσθαι τοὺς ἔτι καὶ νῦν κατασκευαζομένους χαλκοῦς τρίποδας. ὃν μὲν οὖν τρόπον εὑρέθη τὸ μαντεῖον καὶ διʼ ἃς αἰτίας ὁ τρίπους κατεσκευάσθη ἱκανῶς εἰρῆσθαι νομίζω. θεσπιῳδεῖν δὲ τὸ ἀρχαῖον λέγεται παρθένους διά τε τὸ τῆς φύσεως ἀδιάφθορον καὶ τὸ τῆς Ἀρτέμιδος ὁμογενές· ταύτας γὰρ εὐθετεῖν πρὸς τὸ τηρεῖν τὰ ἀπόρρητα τῶν χρησμῳδουμένων. ἐν δὲ τοῖς νεωτέροις χρόνοις φασὶν Ἐχεκράτη τὸν Θετταλὸν παραγενόμενον εἰς τὸ χρηστήριον καὶ θεασάμενον τὴν χρησμολογοῦσαν παρθένον ἐρασθῆναι διὰ τὸ κάλλος αὐτῆς καὶ συναρπάσαντα βιάσασθαι· τοὺς δὲ Δελφοὺς διὰ τὸ γεγενημένον πάθος εἰς τὸ λοιπὸν νομοθετῆσαι μηκέτι παρθένον χρηστηριάζειν, ἀλλὰ γυναῖκα πρεσβυτέραν πεντήκοντα ἐτῶν χρησμολογεῖν· κοσμεῖσθαι δʼ αὐτὴν παρθενικῇ σκευῇ, καθάπερ ὑπομνήματι τῆς παλαιᾶς προφήτιδος. τὰ μὲν οὖν περὶ τῆς εὑρέσεως τοῦ μαντείου μυθολογούμενα τοιαῦτʼ ἐστίν· ἡμεῖς δʼ ἐπανήξομεν ἐπὶ τὰς Φιλομήλου πράξεις.
Since I have mentioned the tripod, I think it not inopportune to recount the ancient story which has been handed down about it. It is said that in ancient times goats discovered the oracular shrine, on which account even to this day the Delphians use goats preferably when they consult the oracle. They say that the manner of its discovery was the following. There is a chasm at this place where now is situated what is known as the "forbidden" sanctuary, and as goats had been wont to feed about this because Delphi had not as yet been settled, invariably any goat that approached the chasm and peered into it would leap about in an extraordinary fashion and utter a sound quite different from what it was formerly wont to emit. The herdsman in charge of the goats marvelled at the strange phenomenon and having approached had the same experience as the goats, for the goats began to act like beings possessed and the goatherd began to foretell future events. After this as the report was bruited among the people of the vicinity concerning the experience of those who approached the chasm, an increasing number of persons visited the place and, as they all tested it because of its miraculous character, whosoever approached to spot became inspired. For these reasons the oracle came to be regarded as a marvel and to be considered the prophecy-giving shrine of Earth. For some time all who wished to obtain a prophecy approached the chasm and made their prophetic replies to one another; but later, since many were leaping down into the chasm under the influence of their frenzy and all disappeared, it seemed best to the dwellers in that region, in order to eliminate the risk, to station one woman there as a single prophetess for all and to have the oracles told through her. And for her a contrivance was devised which she could safely mount, then become inspired and give prophecies to those who so desired. And this contrivance has three supports and hence was called a tripod, and, I dare say, all the bronze tripods which are constructed even to this day are made in imitation of this contrivance. In what manner, then, the oracle was discovered and for what reasons the tripod was devised I think I have told at sufficient length. It is said that in ancient times virgins delivered the oracles because virgins have their natural innocence intact and are in the same case as Artemis; for indeed virgins were alleged to be well suited to guard the secrecy of disclosures made by oracles. In more recent times, however, people say that Echecrates the Thessalian, having arrived at the shrine and beheld the virgin who uttered the oracle, became enamoured of her because of her beauty, carried her away with him and violated her; and that the Delphians because of this deplorable occurrence passed a law that in future a virgin should no longer prophesy but that an elderly woman of fifty should declare the oracles and that she should be dressed in the costume of a virgin, as a sort of reminder of the prophetess of olden times. Such are the details of the legend regarding the discovery of the oracle; and now we shall turn to the activities of olden times.
§ 16.27
οὗτος γὰρ κρατῶν τοῦ μαντείου προσέταττε τῇ Πυθίᾳ τὴν μαντείαν ἀπὸ τοῦ τρίποδος ποιεῖσθαι κατὰ τὰ πάτρια. ἀποκριναμένης δʼ αὐτῆς ὅτι τοιαῦτα οὐκ ἔστι τὰ πάτρια διηπειλήσατο καὶ συνηνάγκασε τὴν ἀνάβασιν ποιεῖσθαι ἐπὶ τὸν τρίποδα. ἀποφθεγξαμένης δʼ αὐτῆς πρὸς τὴν ὑπεροχὴν τοῦ βιαζομένου ὅτι ἔξεστιν αὐτῷ πράττειν ὃ βούλεται ἀσμένως τὸ ῥηθὲν ἐδέξατο καὶ τὸν προσήκοντα χρησμὸν ἔχειν ἀπεφαίνετο. εὐθὺς δὲ καὶ τὸν χρησμὸν ἔγγραφον ποιήσας καὶ προθεὶς εἰς τοὐμφανὲς ἅπασιν ἐποίησε φανερὸν ὅτι ὁ θεὸς αὐτῷ δίδωσιν ἐξουσίαν πράττειν ὅ, τι βούλεται. συναγαγὼν δʼ ἐκκλησίαν καὶ τὴν μαντείαν τοῖς πλήθεσι δηλώσας καὶ παρακαλέσας θαρρεῖν ἐτρέπετο πρὸς τὰς τοῦ πολέμου πράξεις. ἐγένετο δʼ αὐτῷ καὶ σημεῖον ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνος· ἀετὸς γὰρ ὑπερπετώμενος τὸν ναὸν τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ συγκυλισθεὶς ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν τὰς τρεφομένας ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ περιστερὰς ἐθήρευεν, ὧν ἐνίας ἀπʼ αὐτῶν ἥρπαζε τῶν βωμῶν. τὸ δὲ σημεῖον ἔφασαν οἱ περὶ ταῦτʼ ἀσχολούμενοι σημαίνειν τῷ Φιλομήλῳ καὶ τοῖς Φωκεῦσι κρατήσειν τῶν περὶ Δελφοὺς πραγμάτων. ἐπαρθεὶς οὖν ἐπὶ τούτοις ἐπέλεξε τῶν φίλων τοὺς εὐθετωτάτους εἰς τὰς πρεσβείας καὶ τούτων τοὺς μὲν εἰς τὰς Ἀθήνας, τοὺς δʼ εἰς Λακεδαίμονα, τοὺς δʼ εἰς τὰς Θήβας ἐξέπεμψεν· ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ πρὸς τὰς ἄλλας τὰς ἐπισημοτάτας τῶν κατὰ τὴν Ἑλλάδα πόλεων ἀπέστειλεν, ἀπολογούμενος ὅτι κατείληπται τοὺς Δελφοὺς οὐ τοῖς ἱεροῖς χρήμασιν ἐπιβουλεύων, ἀλλὰ τῆς τοῦ ἱεροῦ προστασίας ἀμφισβητῶν· εἶναι γὰρ Φωκέων αὐτὴν ἰδίαν ἐν τοῖς παλαιοῖς χρόνοις ἀποδεδειγμένην. τῶν δὲ χρημάτων τὸν λόγον ἔφη πᾶσι τοῖς Ἕλλησιν ἀποδώσειν καὶ τόν τε σταθμὸν καὶ τὸν ἀριθμὸν τῶν ἀναθημάτων ἕτοιμος εἶναι παραδοῦναι τοῖς βουλομένοις ἐξετάζειν. ἠξίου δέ, ἄν τις διʼ ἔχθραν ἢ φθόνον πολεμῇ Φωκεῦσι, μάλιστα μὲν συμμαχεῖν, εἰ δὲ μή γε, τὴν ἡσυχίαν ἄγειν. τῶν δὲ πρέσβεων τὸ προσταχθὲν πραξάντων Ἀθηναῖοι μὲν καὶ Λακεδαιμόνιοι καί τινες ἄλλοι συμμαχίαν πρὸς αὐτὸν συνέθεντο καὶ βοηθήσειν ἐπηγγείλαντο, Βοιωτοὶ δὲ καὶ Λοκροὶ καί τινες ἕτεροι τἀναντία τούτοις ἐψηφίσαντο καὶ τὸν πόλεμον ὑπὲρ τοῦ θεοῦ πρὸς τοὺς Φωκεῖς ἐπανείλαντο. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἐπράχθη κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν ἐνιαυτόν.
When Philomelus had control of the oracle he directed the Pythia to make her prophecies from the tripod in the ancestral fashion. But when she replied that such was not the ancestral fashion, he threatened her harshly and compelled her to mount the tripod. Then when she frankly declared, referring to the superior power of the man who was resorting to violence: "It is in your power to do as you please," he gladly accepted her utterance and declared that he had the oracle which suited him. He immediately had the oracle inscribed and set it up in full view, and made it clear to everyone that the god gave him the authority to do as he pleased. Having got together an assembly and disclosed the prophecy to the multitude and urged them to be of good cheer, he turned to the business of the war. There came to him an omen as well, in the sanctuary of Apollo, namely an eagle which, after flying over the temple of the god and swooping down to earth, preyed upon the pigeons which were maintained in the sanctuary, some of which it snatched away from the very altars. Those versed in such matters declared that the omen indicated to Philomelus and the Phocians that they would control the affairs of Delphi. Elated accordingly by these events, he selected the best qualified of his friends for the embassies, and sent some to Athens, some to Lacedemon, and some to Thebes; and he likewise sent envoys to the other most distinguished cities of the Greek world, explaining that he had seized Delphi, not with any designs upon its sacred properties but to assert a claim to the guardianship of the sanctuary; for this guardianship had been ordained in early times as belonging to the Phocians. He said he would render due account of the property to all Greeks and expressed himself as ready to report the weight and the number of the dedications to all who wished examination. But he requested that, if any through enmity or envy were to engage in war against the Phocians, these cities should preferably join forces with him, or, if not, at least maintain peaceful relations. When the envoys had accomplished their appointed mission, the Athenians, Lacedemonians, and some others arranged an alliance with him and promised assistance, but the Boeotians, Locrians, and some others passed decrees to the contrary intent and renewed the war in behalf of the god upon the Phocians. Such were the events of this year.
§ 16.28
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησι Διοτίμου Ῥωμαῖοι κατέστησαν ὑπάτους Γάιον Μάρκιον καὶ Γναῖον Μάλλιον. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Φιλόμηλος μὲν προορώμενος τὸ μέγεθος τοῦ πολέμου μισθοφόρων τε πλῆθος ἤθροιζε, τῶν τε Φωκέων τοὺς εὐθέτους κατέλεγεν εἰς τὴν στρατείαν. τοῦ δὲ πολέμου προσδεομένου χρημάτων τῶν μὲν ἱερῶν ἀναθημάτων ἀπείχετο, τοὺς δὲ Δελφοὺς εὐδαιμονίᾳ καὶ πλούτῳ διαφέροντας ἐπράξατο πλῆθος χρημάτων ἱκανὸν εἰς τοὺς τῶν ξένων μισθούς. κατασκευάσας οὖν ἀξιόλογον δύναμιν προήγαγεν εἰς ὕπαιθρον καὶ φανερὸς ἦν ἑτοίμως ἔχων διαγωνίζεσθαι πρὸς τοὺς ἀλλοτρίως διακειμένους τοῖς Φωκεῦσι. τῶν δὲ Λοκρῶν στρατευσάντων ἐπʼ αὐτὸν ἐγένετο μάχη περὶ τὰς Φαιδριάδας καλουμένας πέτρας, ἣν νικήσας ὁ Φιλόμηλος πολλοὺς μὲν ἀνεῖλε τῶν πολεμίων, οὐκ ὀλίγους δʼ ἐζώγρησε, τινὰς δὲ κατὰ τῆς πέτρας συνηνάγκασεν ἑαυτοὺς κατακρημνίσαι. μετὰ δὲ τὴν μάχην ταύτην οἱ μὲν Φωκεῖς ἐπήρθησαν τοῖς φρονήμασι διὰ τὴν εὐημερίαν, οἱ δὲ Λοκροὶ ταπεινωθέντες πρέσβεις ἐξέπεμψαν εἰς τὰς Θήβας ἀξιοῦντες τοὺς Βοιωτοὺς βοηθεῖν αὐτοῖς τε καὶ τῷ θεῷ. οἱ δὲ Βοιωτοὶ διά τε τὴν πρὸς τοὺς θεοὺς εὐσέβειαν καὶ διὰ τὸ συμφέρειν αὐτοῖς τὰς τῶν Ἀμφικτυόνων κρίσεις βεβαίας εἶναι πρός τε τοὺς Θετταλοὺς ἐπρέσβευσαν καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους Ἀμφικτύονας ἀξιοῦντες κοινῇ πολεμῆσαι τοῖς Φωκεῦσι. ψηφισαμένων δὲ τῶν Ἀμφικτυόνων τὸν πρὸς Φωκεῖς πόλεμον πολλὴ ταραχὴ καὶ διάστασις ἦν καθʼ ὅλην τὴν Ἑλλάδα. οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἔκριναν βοηθεῖν τῷ θεῷ καὶ τοὺς Φωκεῖς ὡς ἱεροσύλους κολάζειν, οἱ δὲ πρὸς τὴν τῶν Φωκέων βοήθειαν ἀπέκλινον.
When Diotimus was archon at Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Gaius Marcius and Gnaeus Manlius. During their term of office Philomelus, foreseeing the magnitude of the war, began to gather a multitude of mercenaries and to select for active duty those of the Phocians who were fit. Although the war required additional funds, he kept his hands off the sacred dedications, but he did exact from the Delphians, who were exceptionally prosperous and wealthy, a sufficient sum of money to pay the mercenaries. Having accordingly prepared a large army, he led it into the open country and was obviously holding himself ready to join issue with any who were hostile to the Phocians. And when the Locrians took the field against him a battle was fought near the cliffs called Phaedriades, in which Philomelus won the victory, having slain many of the enemy and taken not a few alive, while some he forced to hurl themselves over the precipices. After this battle the Phocians were elated by their successes, but the Locrians, being quite dejected, sent ambassadors to Thebes asking the Boeotians to come to their support and the god's. The Boeotians because of their reverence for the gods and because of the advantage they gained if the decisions of the Amphictyons were enforced, sent embassies to the Thessalians and the other Amphictyons demanding that they make war in common against the Phocians. But when the Amphictyons voted the war against the Phocians much confusion and disagreement reigned throughout the length and breadth of Greece. For some decided to stand by the god and punish the Phocians as temple-robbers, while others inclined toward giving the Phocians assistance.
§ 16.29
σχιζομένης δὲ τῆς τῶν ἐθνῶν καὶ πόλεων αἱρέσεως τῷ μὲν ἱερῷ βοηθεῖν ἔγνωσαν Βοιωτοὶ καὶ Λοκροὶ καὶ Θετταλοὶ καὶ Περραιβοί, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις Δωριεῖς καὶ Δόλοπες, ἔτι δὲ Ἀθαμᾶνες καὶ Ἀχαιοὶ Φθιῶται καὶ Μάγνητες, ἔτι δὲ Αἰνιᾶνες καί τινες ἕτεροι, τοῖς δὲ Φωκεῦσι συνεμάχουν Ἀθηναῖοι καὶ Λακεδαιμόνιοι καί τινες ἕτεροι τῶν Πελοποννησίων. προθυμότατα δὲ συνέπραττον οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι διὰ τοιαύτας αἰτίας. ἐν τῷ Λευκτρικῷ πολέμῳ Θηβαῖοι καταπολεμήσαντες τοὺς πολεμίους δίκην ἐπήνεγκαν εἰς Ἀμφικτύονας κατὰ τῶν Σπαρτιατῶν, ὅτι Φοιβίδας ὁ Σπαρτιάτης κατελάβετο τὴν Καδμείαν, καὶ διετιμήσαντο τὸ ἀδίκημα ταλάντων πεντακοσίων. καταδικασθέντων δὲ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων καὶ τὴν δίκην οὐκ ἐκτινόντων κατὰ τὸν ὡρισμένον ἐκ τῶν νόμων καιρὸν οἱ Θηβαῖοι πάλιν δίκην ἐπήνεγκαν διπλοῦ τοῦ ἀδικήματος. τῶν δʼ Ἀμφικτυόνων χιλίοις ταλάντοις καταδικασάντων οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι διὰ τὸ μέγεθος τοῦ ὀφλήματος ὁμοίας τοῖς Φωκεῦσι τὰς ἀποφάσεις ἐποιοῦντο, λέγοντες ἀδίκως ὑπὸ τῶν Ἀμφικτυόνων καταδεδικάσθαι. διόπερ κοινοῦ ὄντος τοῦ συμφέροντος οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι κατʼ ἰδίαν μὲν ὤκνουν ὑπὲρ τῆς καταδίκης ἄρασθαι πόλεμον, διὰ δὲ τοῦ προσώπου τῶν Φωκέων εὐσχημονέστερον ἔκρινον ἀκυρῶσαι τὰς κρίσεις τῶν Ἀμφικτυόνων. διὰ δὴ ταύτας τὰς αἰτίας ἑτοιμότατα συνεμάχουν τοῖς Φωκεῦσι καὶ τὴν προστασίαν τοῦ ἱεροῦ συγκατεσκεύαζον αὐτοῖς.
As tribes and cities were divided in their choice, the Boeotians, Locrians, Thessalians, and Perrhaebians decided to aid the shrine, and in addition the Dorians and Dolopians, likewise the Athamanians, Achaeans of Phthiotis, and the Magnesians, also the Aenianians and some others; while the Athenians, Lacedemonians, and some others of the Peloponnesians fought on the side of the Phocians. In the Leuctrian War the Thebans, after defeating the enemy, brought suit before the Amphictyons against the Spartans, the charge being that Phoebidas the Spartan had seized the Cadmeia, and the Amphictyons assessed a fine of five hundred talents for the offence. Then when the Lacedemonians had had judgement entered against them and failed to pay the fine during the period set by the laws, the Thebans again brought suit, this time for double damages. When the Amphictyons set the judgement at a thousand talents, the Lacedemonians, on account of the large amount of the fine, made declarations similar to those of the Phocians, saying that an unjust judgement had been rendered against them by the Amphictyons. Wherefore, though their interests were now common, the Lacedemonians hesitated to begin war by themselves on account of the adverse judgement, but thought that it was more seemly to annul the judgements of the Amphictyons through the agency of the Phocians. For these particular reasons they were very ready to fight on the side of the Phocians and they co operated in securing for them the guardianship of the sanctuary.
§ 16.30
φανεροῦ δʼ ὄντος ὅτι Βοιωτοὶ μεγάλῃ δυνάμει στρατεύσουσιν ἐπὶ τοὺς Φωκεῖς ὁ Φιλόμηλος ἔκρινε μισθοφόρων ἀθροίζειν πλῆθος. προσδεομένου δὲ τοῦ πολέμου χρημάτων πλειόνων ἠναγκάζετο τοῖς ἱεροῖς ἀναθήμασιν ἐπιβάλλειν τὰς χεῖρας καὶ συλᾶν τὸ μαντεῖον. ὑποστησαμένου δʼ αὐτοῦ τοῖς ξένοις μισθοὺς ἡμιολίους ταχὺ πλῆθος ἠθροίσθη μισθοφόρων, πολλῶν ὑπακουόντων πρὸς τὴν στρατείαν διὰ τὸ μέγεθος τῶν μισθῶν. τῶν μὲν οὖν ἐπιεικῶν ἀνδρῶν οὐδεὶς ἀπεγράψατο πρὸς τὴν στρατείαν διὰ τὴν πρὸς τοὺς θεοὺς εὐσέβειαν, οἱ δὲ πονηρότατοι καὶ θεῶν διὰ τὴν πλεονεξίαν καταφρονοῦντες προθύμως συνέτρεχον πρὸς τὸν Φιλόμηλον καὶ ταχὺ δύναμις ἰσχυρὰ συνέστη τῶν πρὸς τὴν ἱεροσυλίαν ὁρμωμένων. ὁ μὲν οὖν Φιλόμηλος διὰ τὸ μέγεθος τῆς εὐπορίας ταχὺ δύναμιν ἀξιόχρεων κατεσκευάσατο. εὐθὺς οὖν ἐστράτευσεν εἰς τὴν τῶν Λοκρῶν χώραν ἔχων στρατιώτας ἱππεῖς τε καὶ πεζοὺς πλείους τῶν μυρίων. ἀντιταχθέντων δὲ τῶν Λοκρῶν καὶ τῶν Βοιωτῶν βοηθησάντων τοῖς Λοκροῖς ἱππομαχία συνέστη, καθʼ ἣν προετέρησαν οἱ Φωκεῖς. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα οἱ μὲν Θετταλοὶ μετὰ τῶν πλησιοχώρων συμμάχων ἀθροισθέντες εἰς ἑξακισχιλίους ἧκον εἰς τὴν Λοκρίδα καὶ συνάψαντες μάχην τοῖς Φωκεῦσι περὶ λόφον Ἀργόλαν ὀνομαζόμενον ἡττήθησαν. ἐπιφανέντων δὲ Βοιωτῶν μυρίοις καὶ τρισχιλίοις στρατιώταις καὶ τῶν ἐκ Πελοποννήσου Ἀχαιῶν χιλίοις καὶ πεντακοσίοις βοηθησάντων τοῖς Φωκεῦσιν ἀντεστρατοπέδευσαν αἱ δυνάμεις, ἀμφοτέρων ἀθροισθέντων εἰς ἕνα τόπον.
When it was clear that the Boeotians would take the field with a large army against the Phocians, Philomelus decided to gather a great number of mercenaries. Since the war required ampler funds he was compelled to lay his hands on the sacred dedications and to plunder the oracle. By setting the base pay for the mercenaries at half as much again as was usual he quickly assembled a large number of mercenaries, since many answered the summons to the campaign on account of the size of the pay. Now no men of honourable character enrolled for the campaign because of their reverence for the gods, but the worst knaves, and those who despised the gods, because of their own greed, eagerly gathered about Philomelus and quickly a strong army was formed out of those whose object it was to plunder the shrine. So Philomelus, because of the magnitude of his resources, soon had prepared a considerable army. He immediately advanced into the territory of the Locrians with soldiers both foot and horse amounting to more than ten thousand. When the Locrians marshalled their forces to meet him and the Boeotians came to the support of the Locrians, a cavalry battle ensued in which the Phocians had the superiority. After this the Thessalians together with the allies from neighbouring districts, having assembled to the number of six thousand, arrived in Locris and joining battle with the Phocians met with a defeat by a hill called Argolas. When the Boeotians put in an appearance with thirteen thousand men and the Achaeans from the Peloponnesus came to the support of the Phocians with fifteen hundred, the armies encamped over against one another, both assembled in one place.
§ 16.31
μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα οἱ μὲν Βοιωτοὶ κατὰ τὰς προνομὰς ζωγρήσαντες οὐκ ὀλίγους τῶν μισθοφόρων, προαγαγόντες πρὸ τῆς πόλεως ἐκήρυξαν ὅτι τούσδε τοὺς ἄνδρας οἱ Ἀμφικτύονες στρατευσαμένους μετὰ τῶν ἱεροσύλων θανάτῳ κολάζουσιν· εὐθὺς δὲ καὶ τῶν ἔργων τοῖς λόγοις ἀκολουθούντων ἅπαντας κατηκόντισαν. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτοις οἱ παρὰ τοῖς Φωκεῦσι μισθοφόροι παροξυνθέντες ἠξίουν τὸν Φιλόμηλον τῆς ὁμοίας τιμωρίας ἀξιῶσαι τοὺς πολεμίους, μεγάλην δὲ φιλονεικίαν εἰσενεγκάμενοι καὶ πολλοὺς τῶν κατὰ τὴν χώραν πλανωμένων παρὰ τοῖς πολεμίοις ζωγρήσαντες ἀνήγαγον, οὓς ἅπαντας ὁ Φιλόμηλος κατηκόντισε. διὰ δὲ ταύτης τῆς κολάσεως τοὺς ἐναντίους ἐποίησαν μεθέσθαι τῆς ὑπερηφάνου καὶ δεινῆς τιμωρίας. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τῶν δυνάμεων εἰς ἄλλην χώραν ἐμβαλουσῶν καὶ τὴν ὁδοιπορίαν ποιουμένων διὰ τόπων καταδένδρων καὶ τραχέων ἄφνω συνέμιξαν ἀλλήλοις οἱ προηγούμενοι τῆς στρατιᾶς. γενομένης δὲ συμπλοκῆς, εἶτα μάχης ἰσχυρᾶς οἱ Βοιωτοὶ τῷ πλήθει πολὺ προέχοντες ἐνίκησαν τοὺς Φωκεῖς. τῆς δὲ φυγῆς γινομένης διὰ τόπου κρημνώδους καὶ δυσεξίτου πολλοὶ τῶν τε Φωκέων καὶ μισθοφόρων κατεκόπησαν· ὁ δὲ Φιλόμηλος ἐκθύμως ἀγωνισάμενος καὶ πολλοῖς τραύμασι περιπεσὼν εἴς τινα κρημνώδη τόπον συνεκλείσθη· οὐκ ἔχων δὲ διέξοδον καὶ φοβούμενος τὴν ἐκ τῆς αἰχμαλωσίας αἰκίαν ἑαυτὸν κατεκρήμνισε καὶ τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον δοὺς τῷ δαιμονίῳ δίκας κατέστρεψε τὸν βίον. ὁ δὲ συνάρχων αὐτῷ στρατηγὸς Ὀνόμαρχος διαδεξάμενος τὴν ἡγεμονίαν καὶ μετὰ τῆς ἀνασωζομένης δυνάμεως ἀναχωρήσας ἀνελάμβανε τοὺς ἐκ τῆς φυγῆς ἐπανιόντας. ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις Φίλιππος ὁ τῶν Μακεδόνων βασιλεὺς Μεθώνην μὲν ἐκπολιορκήσας καὶ διαρπάσας κατέσκαψε, Παγασὰς δὲ χειρωσάμενος ἠνάγκασεν ὑποταγῆναι. κατὰ δὲ τὸν Πόντον Λεύκων ὁ τοῦ Βοσπόρου βασιλεὺς ἐτελεύτησεν ἄρξας ἔτη τεσσαράκοντα, τὴν δὲ ἀρχὴν διαδεξάμενος Σπάρτακος ὁ υἱὸς ἐβασίλευσεν ἔτη πέντε. Ῥωμαίοις δὲ πρὸς Φαλίσκους συνέστη πόλεμος καὶ μέγα μὲν οὐδὲν οὐδʼ ἄξιον μνήμης ἐπετελέσθη, καταδρομαὶ δὲ καὶ πορθήσεις τῆς χώρας τῶν Φαλίσκων ἐγίνοντο. κατὰ δὲ τὴν Σικελίαν Δίωνος τοῦ στρατηγοῦ σφαγέντος ὑπὸ Ζακυνθίων τινῶν μισθοφόρων τὴν ἡγεμονίαν διεδέξατο Κάλλιππος ὁ τούτους πρὸς τὸν φόνον παρασκευάσας καὶ ἦρξε μῆνας τρεισκαίδεκα.
After this the Boeotians, who had taken captive on foraging parties a good many mercenaries, brought them out in front of the city and made an announcement by heralds that the Amphictyons were punishing with death these men present who had enlisted with the temple-robbers; and immediately, making the deed follow the word, shot them all down. But the mercenaries serving with the Phocians were so enraged by this that they demanded of Philomelus that he mete out the like punishment to the enemy, and then, when, bending every effort, they had taken captive many men who were straggling up and down the countryside where the enemy were, they brought them back and all these Philomelus shot. Through this punishment they forced the opposite side to give up their overweening and cruel vengeance. After this, as the armies were invading another district and were making a march through heavily wooded rough regions, both vanguards suddenly became intermingled. An engagement took place and then a sharp battle in which the Boeotians, who far outnumbered the Phocians, defeated them. As the flight took place through precipitous and almost impassable country many of the Phocians and their mercenaries were cut down. Philomelus, after he had fought courageously and had suffered many wounds, was driven into a precipitous area and there hemmed in, and since there was no exit from it and he feared the torture after capture, he hurled himself over the cliff and having thus made atonement to the gods ended his life. Onomarchus, his colleague in the generalship, having succeeded to the command and retreated with such of his force as survived, collected any who returned from the flight. While these things were going on, Philip, king of the Macedonians, after taking Methone by storm and pillaging it, razed it to the ground, and having subdued Pagasae forced it to submit. In the region of the Black Sea Leucon, the king of the Bosporus, died after ruling forty years, and Spartacus, his son, succeeding to the throne, reigned for five years. A war took place between the Romans and Faliscans and nothing important or memorable was accomplished; only raids and pillaging of the territory of the Faliscans went on. In Sicily after Dion the general had been slain by some mercenaries from Zacynthos, Callippus, who had procured them for the assassination, succeeded him and ruled thirteen months.
§ 16.32
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησιν Θουδήμου Ῥωμαῖοι κατέστησαν ὑπάτους Μάρκον Πόπλιον καὶ Μάρκον Φάβιον. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Βοιωτοὶ νενικηκότες τοὺς Φωκεῖς καὶ νομίσαντες τὸν αἰτιώτατον τῆς ἱεροσυλίας Φιλόμηλον ὑπὸ θεῶν καὶ ἀνθρώπων κεκολασμένον ἀποτρέψειν τοὺς ἄλλους ἀπὸ τῆς ὁμοίας κακίας ἀνέζευξαν εἰς τὴν οἰκείαν. οἱ δὲ Φωκεῖς ἀπολυθέντες τοῦ πολέμου κατὰ τὸ παρὸν ἐπανῆλθον εἰς Δελφοὺς καὶ συνελθόντες μετὰ τῶν συμμάχων εἰς κοινὴν ἐκκλησίαν ἐβουλεύοντο περὶ τοῦ πολέμου. οἱ μὲν οὖν ἐπιεικέστατοι πρὸς τὴν εἰρήνην ἔρρεπον, οἱ δʼ ἀσεβεῖς καὶ τόλμῃ καὶ πλεονεξίᾳ διαφέροντες ἐφρόνουν τὰ ἐναντία καὶ περιεβλέποντο ζητοῦντες τὸν συνηγορήσοντα ταῖς σφετέραις παρανομίαις. Ὀνόμαρχος δὲ πεφροντισμένον λόγον διελθὼν ὑπὲρ τοῦ τηρεῖν τὴν ἐξ ἀρχῆς προαίρεσιν προετρέψατο τὰ πλήθη πρὸς τὸν πόλεμον, οὐχ οὕτω τοῦ κοινῇ συμφέροντος προνοηθεὶς, ὡς τὸ ἴδιον λυσιτελὲς προκρίνας· πολλαῖς γὰρ καὶ μεγάλαις δίκαις ὑπὸ τῶν Ἀμφικτυόνων ἦν καταδεδικασμένος ὁμοίως τοῖς ἄλλοις καὶ τὰ ὀφλήματα οὐκ ἐκτετικώς. διόπερ ὁρῶν αἰρετώτερον αὐτῷ τὸν πόλεμον ὄντα τῆς εἰρήνης εὐλόγως τοὺς Φωκεῖς καὶ συμμάχους παρώξυνε τηρεῖν τὴν ὑπόστασιν τοῦ Φιλομήλου. αἱρεθεὶς δὲ στρατηγὸς αὐτοκράτωρ μισθοφόρων τε πλῆθος ἤθροιζε καὶ τὰς τῶν τετελευτηκότων τάξεις ἀναπληρώσας καὶ τῷ πλήθει τῶν ξενολογηθέντων αὐξήσας τὴν δύναμιν μεγάλας παρασκευὰς ἐποιεῖτο συμμάχων καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν εἰς πόλεμον χρησίμων.
When Thudemus was archon at Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Marcus Poplius and Marcus Fabius. During their term of office, now that the Boeotians had won a victory over the Phocians and were of the opinion that the fate of Philomelus, who was chiefly responsible for the plundering of the temple and who had been punished by gods and men, would deter the rest from like villainy, they returned to their own country. But the Phocians, now freed from the war, for the present returned to Delphi and there meeting with their allies in a common assembly deliberated on the war. The moderate parties inclined toward the peace, but the irreligious, the hot-headed and avaricious were of the opposite opinion and were looking around to find the proper spokesman to support their lawless aims. When Onomarchus arose and delivered a carefully argued speech urging them to adhere to their original purpose, he swung the sentiment of the gathering toward war, though he did so not so much with the intention of consulting the common welfare as with a view to his own interests, for he had been sentenced frequently and severely by the Amphictyons in the same manner as the rest and had not discharged the fines. Accordingly, seeing that war was more desirable for himself than peace, he quite logically urged the Phocians and their allies to adhere to the project of Philomelus. Having been chosen general with supreme command, he began to collect a large number of mercenaries, and, filling the gaps in his ranks caused by the casualties and having increased his army by the large number of foreigners enrolled, he set about making great preparations of allies and of everything else that is serviceable for war.
§ 16.33
ἐπῆρε δʼ αὐτὸν πρὸς τὴν ὑπόστασιν ταύτην ὄνειρος ἔμφασιν διδοὺς μεγάλης αὐξήσεώς τε καὶ δόξης· κατὰ γὰρ τὸν ὕπνον ἔδοξε τὸν κολοττὸν τὸν χαλκοῦν, ὃν ἀνέθηκαν ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνος οἱ Ἀμφικτύονες, ἀναπλάττειν εἰς ὕψος ταῖς ἰδίαις χερσὶ καὶ ποιῆσαι πολὺ μείζονα. ὑπέλαβεν οὖν αὐτῷ σημαίνεσθαι παρὰ τῶν θεῶν αὔξησιν δόξης ἔσεσθαι διὰ τῆς αὑτοῦ στρατηγίας· τὸ δʼ ἀληθὲς οὐχ οὕτως εἶχε, τοὐναντίον δὲ παρεσημαίνετο· διὰ τὸ τοὺς Ἀμφικτύονας ἐκ τοῦ ζημιώματος ἀναθεῖναι, τῶν Φωκέων εἰς τὸ ἱερὸν παρανομησάντων καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ζημιωθέντων ἐσημαίνετο ἡ ζημία τῶν Φωκέων αὔξησιν ἀπολήψεσθαι ταῖς τοῦ Ὀνομάρχου χερσίν· ὅπερ καὶ συνέβη γενέσθαι. ὁ δʼ οὖν Ὀνόμαρχος στρατηγὸς αὐτοκράτωρ ᾑρημένος ἐκ μὲν τοῦ χαλκοῦ καὶ σιδήρου κατεσκεύασεν ὅπλων πλῆθος, ἐκ δὲ τοῦ ἀργυρίου καὶ χρυσίου νόμισμα κόψας ταῖς τε συμμαχούσαις πόλεσι διεδίδου καὶ μάλιστα τοὺς προεστηκότας ἐδωροδόκει. διέφθειρε δὲ καὶ τῶν πολεμίων πολλούς, οὓς μὲν συμμαχεῖν πείθων, οὓς δὲ τὴν ἡσυχίαν ἔχειν ἀξιῶν. πάντα δὲ ῥᾳδίως ἐπετέλει διὰ τὴν τῶν ἀνθρώπων φιλαργυρίαν· καὶ γὰρ τοὺς Θετταλοὺς μέγιστον ἔχοντας τῶν συμμάχων ἀξίωμα δωροδοκήσας ἔπεισε τὴν ἡσυχίαν ἔχειν. καὶ τῶν μὲν Φωκέων τοὺς ἐναντιουμένους συλλαμβάνων ἀνῄρει καὶ τὰς οὐσίας ἐδήμευεν, εἰς δὲ τὴν πολεμίαν ἐμβαλὼν Θρόνιον μὲν ἐκπολιορκήσας ἐξηνδραποδίσατο, Ἀμφισσεῖς δὲ καταπληξάμενος ἠνάγκασεν ὑποτάττεσθαι. τὰς δʼ ἐν Δωριεῦσι πόλεις πορθήσας τὴν χώραν αὐτῶν ἐδῄωσεν. εἰς δὲ τὴν Βοιωτίαν ἐμβαλὼν Ὀρχομενὸν μὲν εἷλεν, ἐπιχειρήσας δʼ ἐκπολιορκεῖν Χαιρώνειαν καὶ ἡττηθεὶς ὑπὸ Θηβαίων ἐπανῆλθεν εἰς τὴν οἰκείαν.
He was greatly encouraged in this undertaking by a dream which gave intimation of great increase of power and glory. In his sleep, namely, it seemed that he was remodelling with his own hands the bronze statue which the Amphictyons had dedicated in the sanctuary of Apollo, making it much taller and larger. He accordingly assumed that a sign was being given to him from the gods that there would be an increase of glory because of his services as general. But truth turned out to be otherwise, rather the contrary was indicated because of the fact that the Amphictyons had dedicated the statue out of the fines paid by the Phocians who had acted lawlessly toward the shrine and had been fined for so doing. What was indicated was that the fine of the Phocians would take on an increase at the hands of Onomarchus; and such turned out to be the case. Onomarchus, when he had been chosen general in supreme command, prepared a great supply of weapons from the bronze and iron, and having struck coinage from the silver and gold distributed it among the allied cities and chiefly gave it as bribes to the leaders of those cities. Indeed he succeeded in corrupting many of the enemy too, some of whom he persuaded to fight on his side, and others he required to maintain the peace. He easily accomplished everything because of man's greed. In fact he persuaded even the Thessalians, who were held in highest esteem amongst the allies, by bribes to maintain the peace. In his dealings with the Phocians he also arrested and executed those who opposed him and confiscated their property. After invading the territory of the enemy he took Thronion by storm and reduced its inhabitants to slavery, and having intimidated the Amphissans by threats he forced them to submit. He sacked the cities of the Dorians and ravaged their territory. He invaded Boeotia, captured Orchomenus, then, having attempted to reduce Chaeroneia by siege and being defeated by the Thebans, he returned to his own territory.
§ 16.34
ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις Ἀρτάβαζος, ἀποστάτης ὢν τοῦ βασιλέως, διεπολέμει πρὸς τοὺς ἀποσταλέντας ὑπὸ τοῦ βασιλέως σατράπας εἰς τὸν πόλεμον. καὶ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον συμμαχοῦντος αὐτῷ Χάρητος τοῦ Ἀθηναίων στρατηγοῦ ἐρρωμένως ἀντετάττετο τοῖς σατράπαις, ἐκείνου δʼ ἀπελθόντος μονωθεὶς ἔπεισε τοὺς Θηβαίους συμμαχίαν αὐτῷ πέμψαι. οἱ δὲ Παμμένη στρατηγὸν ἑλόμενοι καὶ δόντες αὐτῷ στρατιώτας πεντακισχιλίους ἐξέπεμψαν εἰς τὴν Ἀσίαν. ὁ δὲ Παμμένης βοηθήσας Ἀρταβάζῳ καὶ τοὺς σατράπας μεγάλαις μάχαις δυσὶ νικήσας περιεποιήσατο μεγάλην δόξαν ἑαυτῷ τε καὶ τοῖς Βοιωτοῖς. ἐφάνη γὰρ θαυμαστὸν εἰ Βοιωτοὶ τῶν μὲν Θετταλῶν ἐγκαταλελοιπότων, τοῦ δὲ Φωκικοῦ πολέμου μεγάλους ἐπιφέροντος κινδύνους διαποντίους δυνάμεις εἰς Ἀσίαν ἐξέπεμπον καὶ προετέρουν κατὰ τὸ πλεῖστον ἐν τοῖς κινδύνοις. ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις συνέστη πόλεμος Ἀργείοις πρὸς Λακεδαιμονίους, καὶ γενομένης μάχης περὶ πόλιν Ὀρνεὰς ἐνίκων οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι καὶ τὰς Ὀρνεὰς ἐκπολιορκήσαντες ἐπανῆλθον εἰς τὴν Σπάρτην. Χάρης δὲ ὁ τῶν Ἀθηναίων στρατηγὸς εἰσπλεύσας εἰς Ἑλλήσποντον καὶ Σηστὸν πόλιν ἑλὼν τοὺς μὲν ἡβῶντας ἀπέσφαξεν, τοὺς δʼ ἄλλους ἐξηνδραποδίσατο. Κερσοβλέπτου δὲ τοῦ Κότυος διά τε τὴν πρὸς Φίλιππον ἀλλοτριότητα καὶ τὴν πρὸς Ἀθηναίους φιλίαν ἐγχειρίσαντος τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις τὰς ἐν Χερρονήσῳ πόλεις πλὴν Καρδίας ἀπέστειλεν ὁ δῆμος κληρούχους εἰς τὰς πόλεις. Φίλιππος δʼ ὁρῶν τοὺς Μεθωναίους ὁρμητήριον παρεχομένους τὴν πόλιν τοῖς πολεμίοις ἑαυτοῦ πολιορκίαν συνεστήσατο. καὶ μέχρι μέν τινος οἱ Μεθωναῖοι διεκαρτέρουν, ἔπειτα κατισχυόμενοι συνηναγκάσθησαν παραδοῦναι τὴν πόλιν τῷ βασιλεῖ ὥστε ἀπελθεῖν τοὺς πολίτας ἐκ τῆς Μεθώνης ἔχοντας ἓν ἱμάτιον ἕκαστον. ὁ δὲ Φίλιππος τὴν μὲν πόλιν κατέσκαψε, τὴν δὲ χώραν διένειμε τοῖς Μακεδόσιν. ἐν δὲ τῇ πολιορκίᾳ ταύτῃ συνέβη τὸν Φίλιππον εἰς τὸν ὀφθαλμὸν πληγέντα τοξεύματι διαφθαρῆναι τὴν ὅρασιν.
While these things were going on, Artabazus, who had revolted from the Persian King, continued the war against the satraps who had been dispatched by the King to take part in the war against him. At first when Chares the Athenian general was fighting with him, Artabazus resisted the satraps courageously, but when Chares had gone and he was left alone he induced the Thebans to send him an auxiliary force. Choosing Pammenes as general and giving him five thousand soldiers, they dispatched him to Asia. Pammenes, by the support he gave to Artabazus and by defeating the satraps in two great battles, won great glory for himself and the Boeotians. Now it seemed an amazing thing that the Boeotians, after the Thessalians had left them in the lurch, and when the war with the Phocians was threatening them with serious dangers, should be sending armies across the sea into Asia and for the most part proving successful in the battles. While these things were going on, war broke out between the Argives and the Lacedemonians, and in a battle that took place near the city of Orneae the Lacedemonians won, and after they had taken Orneae by siege, returned to Sparta. Chares the Athenian general sailed to the Hellespont, captured Sestus, slew its adult inhabitants, and enslaved the rest. And when Cersobleptes, son of Cotys, because of his hostility to Philip and his alliance of friendship with the Athenians, had turned over to the Athenians the cities on the Chersonese except Cardia, the assembly sent out colonists to these cities. Philip, perceiving that the people of Methone were permitting their city to become a base of operations for his enemies, began a siege. And although for a time the people of Methone held out, later, being overpowered, they were compelled to hand the city over to the king on the terms that the citizens should leave Methone with a single garment each. Philip then razed the city and distributed its territory among the Macedonians. In this siege it so happened that Philip was struck in the eye by an arrow and lost the sight of that eye.
§ 16.35
μετὰ δὲ ταῦθʼ ὁ Φίλιππος ὑπὸ Θετταλῶν μετακληθεὶς ἧκεν εἰς Θετταλίαν μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως, καὶ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον πρὸς Λυκόφρονα τὸν Φερῶν τύραννον διεπολέμει βοηθῶν τοῖς Θετταλοῖς· μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τοῦ Λυκόφρονος μεταπεμψαμένου παρὰ τῶν Φωκέων συμμαχίαν ἀπεστάλη Φάυλλος ὁ ἀδελφὸς Ὀνομάρχου μετὰ στρατιωτῶν ἑπτακισχιλίων. ὁ δὲ Φίλιππος τοὺς Φωκεῖς νικήσας ἐξέβαλεν ἐκ τῆς Θετταλίας. Ὀνόμαρχος δʼ ἀναλαβὼν πᾶσαν τὴν δύναμιν καὶ νομίζων ὅλης τῆς Θετταλίας κυριεύσειν ἧκεν ἐν τάχει βοηθήσων τοῖς περὶ τὸν Λυκόφρονα. τοῦ δὲ Φιλίππου μετὰ τῶν Θετταλῶν ἀντιπαραταξαμένου τοῖς Φωκεῦσιν Ὀνόμαρχος ὑπερέχων τοῖς πλήθεσι δυσὶ μάχαις ἐνίκησε καὶ πολλοὺς τῶν Μακεδόνων ἀνεῖλεν. Φίλιππος δʼ εἰς τοὺς ἐσχάτους κινδύνους περικλεισθεὶς καὶ τῶν στρατιωτῶν διὰ τὴν ἀθυμίαν καταλιπόντων αὐτὸν παραθαρσύνας τὸ πλῆθος μόγις ἐποίησεν αὐτοὺς εὐπειθεῖς. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ὁ Φίλιππος μὲν ἀνεχώρησεν εἰς Μακεδονίαν, Ὀνόμαρχος δὲ στρατεύσας εἰς Βοιωτίαν ἐνίκησε μάχῃ τοὺς Βοιωτοὺς καὶ πόλιν εἷλε Κορώνειαν. κατὰ δὲ τὴν Θετταλίαν Φίλιππος μὲν ἐκ τῆς Μακεδονίας μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως ἄρτι κατηντηκὼς ἐστράτευσεν ἐπὶ Λυκόφρονα τὸν Φερῶν τύραννον. οὗτος δʼ οὐκ ὢν ἀξιόμαχος μετεπέμψατο συμμαχίαν παρὰ Φωκέων, ἐπαγγελλόμενος συγκατασκευάσειν αὐτοῖς τὰ κατὰ τὴν Θετταλίαν. διόπερ Ὀνομάρχου σπουδῇ βοηθήσαντος μετὰ πεζῶν δισμυρίων καὶ πεντακοσίων ἱππέων ὁ μὲν Φίλιππος πείσας τοὺς Θετταλοὺς κοινῇ τὸν πόλεμον ἄρασθαι συνήγαγε τοὺς πάντας πεζοὺς μὲν ὑπὲρ τοὺς δισμυρίους, ἱππεῖς δὲ τρισχιλίους. γενομένης δὲ παρατάξεως ἰσχυρᾶς καὶ τῶν Θετταλῶν ἱππέων τῷ πλήθει καὶ ταῖς ἀρεταῖς διαφερόντων ἐνίκησεν ὁ Φίλιππος. τῶν δὲ περὶ τὸν Ὀνόμαρχον καταφυγόντων εἰς τὴν θάλατταν καὶ τυχικῶς παραπλέοντος τοῦ Ἀθηναίου Χάρητος μετὰ πολλῶν τριήρων πολὺς ἐγένετο φόνος τῶν Φωκέων· οἱ γὰρ φεύγοντες ῥίψαντες τὰς πανοπλίας διενήχοντο πρὸς τὰς τριήρεις, ἐν οἷς ἦν καὶ αὐτὸς Ὀνόμαρχος. τέλος δὲ τῶν Φωκέων καὶ μισθοφόρων ἀνῃρέθησαν μὲν ὑπὲρ τοὺς ἑξακισχιλίους, ἐν οἷς ἦν καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ στρατηγός, ἥλωσαν δὲ οὐκ ἐλάττους τῶν τρισχιλίων. ὁ δὲ Φίλιππος τὸν μὲν Ὀνόμαρχον ἐκρέμασε, τοὺς δʼ ἄλλους ὡς ἱεροσύλους κατεπόντισεν.
After this Philip in response to a summons from the Thessalians entered Thessaly with his army, and at first carried on a war against Lycophron, tyrant of Pherae, in support of the Thessalians; but later, when Lycophron summoned an auxiliary force from his allies the Phocians, Phayllus, the brother of Onomarchus, was dispatched with seven thousand men. But Philip defeated the Phocians and drove them out of Thessaly. Then Onomarchus came in haste with his entire military strength to the support of Lycophron, believing that he would dominate all Thessaly. When Philip in company with the Thessalians joined battle against the Phocians, Onomarchus with his superior numbers defeated him in two battles and slew many of the Macedonians. As for Philip, he was reduced to the uttermost perils and his soldiers were so despondent that they had deserted him, but by arousing the courage of the majority, he got them with great difficulty to obey his orders. Later Philip withdrew to Macedonia, and Onomarchus, marching into Boeotia, defeated the Boeotians in battle and took the city of Coroneia. As for Thessaly, however, Philip had just at that time returned with his army from Macedonia and had taken the field against Lycophron, tyrant of Pherae. Lycophron, however, since he was no match for him in strength, summoned reinforcements from his allies the Phocians, promising jointly with them to organize the government of all Thessaly. So when Onomarchus in haste came to his support with twenty thousand foot and five hundred horse, Philip, having persuaded the Thessalians to prosecute the war in common, gathered them all together, numbering more than twenty thousand foot and three thousand horse. A severe battle took place and since the Thessalian cavalry were superior in numbers and valour, Philip won. Because Onomarchus had fled toward the sea and Chares the Athenian was by chance sailing by with many triremes, a great slaughter of the Phocians took place, for the men in their effort to escape would strip off their armour and try to swim out to the triremes, and among them was Onomarchus. Finally more than six thousand of the Phocians and mercenaries were slain, and among them the general himself; and no less than three thousand were taken captives. Philip hanged Onomarchus; the rest he threw into the sea as temple-robbers.
§ 16.36
μετὰ δὲ τὴν Ὀνομάρχου τελευτὴν διεδέξατο τὴν Φωκέων ἡγεμονίαν ὁ ἀδελφὸς Φάυλλος. οὗτος δὲ τὴν γεγενημένην συμφορὰν διορθούμενος μισθοφόρων τε πλῆθος ἤθροιζε, διπλασιάσας τοὺς εἰωθότας μισθούς, καὶ παρὰ τῶν συμμάχων βοήθειαν μετεπέμψατο· κατεσκευάζετο δὲ καὶ ὅπλων πλῆθος καὶ νόμισμα κατέκοψε χρυσοῦν τε καὶ ἀργυροῦν. ὑπὸ δὲ τοὺς αὐτοὺς καιροὺς Μαύσωλος ὁ Καρίας δυνάστης ἐτελεύτησεν ἄρξας ἔτη εἴκοσι τέσσαρα, τὴν δὲ ἀρχὴν διαδεξαμένη Ἀρτεμισία ἡ ἀδελφὴ καὶ γυνὴ ἐδυνάστευσεν ἔτη δύο. Κλέαρχος δʼ ὁ Ἡρακλείας τύραννος Διονυσίων ὄντων ἐπὶ θέαν βαδίζων ἀνῃρέθη,ἄρξας ἔτη δεκαδύο· τὴν δὲ ἀρχὴν διαδεξάμενος ὁ υἱὸς Τιμόθεος ἦρξεν ἔτη πεντεκαίδεκα. Τυρρηνοὶ δὲ διαπολεμοῦντες Ῥωμαίοις ἐπόρθησαν πολλὴν τῆς πολεμίας χώρας καὶ μέχρι τοῦ Τιβέρεως καταδραμόντες ἐπανῆλθον εἰς τὴν οἰκείαν. ἐν δὲ ταῖς Συρακούσσαις στάσεως γενομένης τοῖς Δίωνος φίλοις πρὸς Κάλλιππον οἱ μὲν τοῦ Δίωνος φίλοι ἡττηθέντες ἔφυγον εἰς τοὺς Λεοντίνους· μετὰ δέ τινα χρόνον Ἱππαρίνου τοῦ Διονυσίου καταπλεύσαντος εἰς τὰς Συρακούσσας μετὰ δυνάμεως ὁ μὲν Κάλλιππος ἡττηθεὶς ἐξέπεσεν τῆς πόλεως, Ἱππαρῖνος δὲ ἀνακτησάμενος τὴν πατρῴαν δυναστείαν ἦρξεν ἔτη δύο.
After the death of Onomarchus his brother Phayllus succeeded to the command of the Phocians. In an attempt to retrieve the disaster, he began to gather a multitude of mercenaries, offering double the customary pay, and summoned help from his allies. He got ready also a large supply of arms and coined gold and silver money. About the same time Mausolus, the tyrant of Caria, died after ruling twenty-four years, and Artemisia, his sister and wife, succeeded to the throne and reigned for two years. Clearchus, the tyrant of Heracleia, was slain during the festival of Dionysus as he went to witness the spectacle, after ruling twelve years, and his son Timotheus succeeded to the throne and ruled for fifteen years. The Etruscans, continuing their war with the Romans, sacked much of the enemy territory and after marauding as far as the Tiber returned to their own country. In Syracuse, civil strife having broken out between the friends of Dion and Callippus, Dion's friends were defeated, fled to Leontini, and, after a short time, when Hipparinus son of Dionysius had put ashore at Syracuse with troops, Callippus was defeated and driven from the city, and Hipparinus, having recovered his father's realm, ruled for two years.
§ 16.37
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησιν Ἀριστοδήμου Ῥωμαῖοι κατέστησαν ὑπάτους Γάιον Σολπίκιον καὶ Μάρκον Οὐαλέριον, Ὀλυμπιὰς δʼ ἤχθη ἑβδόμη πρὸς ταῖς ἑκατόν, καθʼ ἣν ἐνίκα στάδιον Μικρίνας Ταραντῖνος. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Φάυλλος μὲν ὁ Φωκέων στρατηγὸς μετὰ τὴν τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ τελευτήν τε καὶ ἧτταν προσανέλαβε τὰ τῶν Φωκέων πράγματα τεταπεινωμένα διά τε τὴν ἧτταν καὶ τὴν φθορὰν τῶν στρατιωτῶν. ἔχων γὰρ χρημάτων πλῆθος ἀνέκλειπτον πολλοὺς μὲν μισθοφόρους ἤθροισεν, οὐκ ὀλίγους δὲ συμμάχους ἔπεισε συνεπιλαβέσθαι τοῦ πολέμου. τῇ γὰρ ἀφθονίᾳ τῶν χρημάτων ἀνέδην χρώμενος οὐ μόνον ἰδιώτας πολλοὺς ἔσχε προθύμους συναγωνιστάς, ἀλλὰ καὶ πόλεις τὰ σἐπιφανεστάτας ἐπεσπάσατο πρὸς τὴν κοινοπραγίαν. Λακεδαιμόνιοι μὲν γὰρ ἀπέστειλαν αὐτῷ στρατιώτας χιλίους, Ἀχαιοὶ δὲ δισχιλίους, Ἀθηναῖοι δὲ πεζοὺς μὲν πεντακισχιλίους, ἱππεῖς δὲ τετρακοσίους, ὧν ἦν στρατηγὸς Ναυσικλῆς. οἱ δὲ τῶν Φεραίων τύραννοι Λυκόφρων καὶ Πειθόλαος μετὰ τὴν Ὀνομάρχου τελευτὴν ἔρημοι συμμάχων ὄντες τὰς μὲν Φερὰς παρέδοσαν τῷ Φιλίππῳ, αὐτοὶ δʼ ὑπόσπονδοι γενόμενοι συνήγαγον τοὺς μισθοφόρους ὄντας δισχιλίους καὶ μετὰ τούτων φυγόντες πρὸς Φάυλλον συνεμάχουν τοῖς Φωκεῦσιν. ἐβοήθησαν δὲ καὶ τῶν ἐλαττόνων πόλεων οὐκ ὀλίγαι τοῖς Φωκεῦσι διὰ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν διαδιδομένων χρημάτων· ὁ γὰρ χρυσὸς τὰς πλεονεξίας τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐκκαλούμενος ἠνάγκασεν αὐτομολεῖν πρὸς τὴν ἐκ τοῦ κέρδους λυσιτέλειαν. ὁ δʼ οὖν Φάυλλος μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως ἐστράτευσεν εἰς τὴν Βοιωτίαν καὶ περὶ πόλιν Ὀρχομενὸν ἡττηθεὶς μάχῃ πολλοὺς τῶν στρατιωτῶν ἀπέβαλεν. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ἄλλης γενομένης μάχης παρὰ τὸν Κηφισὸν ποταμὸν ἐνίκησαν πάλιν Βοιωτοὶ καὶ ἀνεῖλον τῶν πολεμίων ὑπὲρ τοὺς πεντακοσίους, ἐζώγρησαν δὲ οὐκ ἐλάττους τῶν τετρακοσίων. ὀλίγαις δʼ ὕστερον ἡμέραις γενομένης μάχης περὶ Κορώνειαν ἐνίκησαν οἱ Βοιωτοὶ καὶ πεντήκοντα μὲν ἀνεῖλον τῶν Φωκέων, ἑκατὸν δὲ καὶ τριάκοντα ἐζώγρησαν. ἡμεῖς δὲ τὰ περὶ Βοιωτοὺς καὶ Φωκεῖς διεληλυθότες ἐπάνιμεν ἐπὶ τὸν Φίλιππον.
When Aristodemus was archon at Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Gaius Sulpicius and Marcus Valerius, and the one hundred seventh celebration of the Olympian games was held, in which Micrinas of Tarentum won the stadion race. During their term of office Phayllus, the general of the Phocians after the death and defeat of his brother, effected another revival of the affairs of the Phocians, then at a low ebb on account of the defeat and slaughter of their soldiers. For since he had an inexhaustible supply of money he gathered a large body of mercenaries, and persuaded not a few allies to co operate in renewing the war. In fact, by making lavish use of his abundance of money he not only procured many individuals as enthusiastic helpers, but also lured the most renowned cities into joining his enterprise. The Lacedemonians, for example, sent him a thousand soldiers, the Achaeans two thousand, the Athenians five thousand foot and four hundred horse with Nausicles as their general. The tyrants of Pherae, Lycophron and Peitholaus, who were destitute of allies after the death of Onomarchus, gave Pherae over to Philip, while they themselves, being protected by terms of truce, brought together their mercenaries to the number of two thousand, and, having fled with these to Phayllus, joined the Phocians as allies. Not a few of the lesser cities as well actively supported the Phocians because of the abundance of money that had been distributed; for gold that incites man's covetousness compelled them to desert to the side which would enable them to profit from their gains. Phayllus accordingly with his army carried the campaign into Boeotia, and, suffering defeat near the city of Orchomenus, lost a great number of men. Later in another battle that took place by the Cephisus River the Boeotians won again and slew over five hundred of the enemy and took no fewer than four hundred prisoners. A few days later, in a battle that took place near Coroneia, the Boeotians were victorious and slew fifty of the Phocians, and took one hundred thirty prisoners. Now that we have recounted the affairs of the Boeotians and Phocians we shall return to Philip.
§ 16.38
οὗτος γὰρ νικήσας τὸν Ὀνόμαρχον ἐπιφανεῖ παρατάξει τήν τʼ ἐν Φεραῖς τυραννίδα καθεῖλε καὶ τῇ πόλει τὴν ἐλευθερίαν ἀποδοὺς καὶ τἄλλα τὰ κατὰ τὴν Θετταλίαν καταστήσας προῆγεν ἐπὶ τὰς Πύλας πολεμήσων τοῖς Φωκεῦσι. κωλυσάντων δὲ τῶν Ἀθηναίων διελθεῖν τὰς παρόδους ἐπανῆλθεν εἰς Μακεδονίαν, ηὐξηκὼς ἑαυτοῦ τὴν βασιλείαν ταῖς τε πράξεσι καὶ τῇ πρὸς τὸ θεῖον εὐσεβείᾳ. Φάυλλος δὲ στρατεύσας εἰς Λοκροὺς τοὺς ὀνομαζομένους Ἐπικνημιδίους τὰς μὲν ἄλλας πόλεις ἐχειρώσατο πάσας, μίαν δὲ τὴν ὀνομαζομένην Νάρυκα διὰ προδοσίας νυκτὸς παραλαβὼν πάλιν ἐξέπεσε καὶ τῶν στρατιωτῶν ἀπέβαλεν οὐκ ἐλάττους τῶν διακοσίων. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα στρατοπεδεύοντος αὐτοῦ περὶ τὰς ὀνομαζομένας Ἄβας οἱ Βοιωτοὶ νυκτὸς ἐπιθέμενοι τοῖς Φωκεῦσιν ἀνεῖλον αὐτῶν οὐκ ὀλίγους· ἐπαρθέντες δὲ τῷ προτερήματι παρῆλθον εἰς τὴν τῶν Φωκέων χώραν καὶ πολλὴν αὐτῆς πορθήσαντες ἤθροισαν λαφύρων πλῆθος. ἐπανιόντων δʼ αὐτῶν καὶ τῇ Ναρυκαίων πόλει πολιορκουμένῃ βοηθούντων ἐπιφανεὶς ὁ Φάυλλος τούτους μὲν ἐτρέψατο, τὴν δὲ πόλιν ἑλὼν κατὰ κράτος διήρπασε καὶ κατέσκαψεν. αὐτὸς δὲ περιπεσὼν νόσῳ φθινάδι καὶ πολὺν χρόνον ἀρρωστήσας ἐπιπόνως καὶ τῆς ἀσεβείας οἰκείως κατέστρεψε τὸν βίον, καταλιπὼν τῶν Φωκέων στρατηγὸν Φάλαικον τὸν Ὀνομάρχου υἱὸν τοῦ τὸν ἱερὸν πόλεμον ἐκκαύσαντος, ἀντίπαιδα τὴν ἡλικίαν ὄντα· παρακατέστησε δʼ αὐτῷ ἐπίτροπον ἅμα καὶ στρατηγὸν Μνασέαν, ἕνα τῶν ἑαυτοῦ φίλων. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα οἱ Βοιωτοὶ νυκτὸς ἐπιθέμενοι τοῖς Φωκεῦσι τόν τε στρατηγὸν αὐτῶν Μνασέαν ἀπέκτειναν καὶ τῶν στρατιωτῶν εἰς διακοσίους. μετʼ ὀλίγον δʼ ἱππομαχίας γενομένης περὶ Χαιρώνειαν ὁ Φάλαικος ἡττηθεὶς ἀπέβαλε τῶν ἱππέων οὐκ ὀλίγους.
Philip, after his defeat of Onomarchus in a noteworthy battle, put an end to the tyranny in Pherae, and, after restoring its freedom to the city and settling all other matters in Thessaly, advanced to Thermopylae, intending to make war on the Phocians. But since the Athenians prevented him from penetrating the pass, he returned to Macedonia, having enlarged his kingdom not only by his achievement but also by his reverence toward the god. Phayllus, having made a campaign into the Locris known as Epicnemidian, succeeded in capturing all the cities but one named Naryx, which he had taken by treachery at night but from which he was expelled again with the loss of two hundred of his men. Later as he was encamped near a place called Abae, the Boeotians attacked the Phocians at night and slew a great number of them; then, elated by their success, they passed into Phocian territory, and, by pillaging a great portion of it, gathered a quantity of booty. As they were on their way back and were assisting the city of the Narycaeans, which was under siege, Phayllus suddenly appeared, put the Boeotians to flight, and having taken the city by storm, plundered and razed it. But Phayllus himself, falling sick of a wasting disease, after a long illness, suffering great pain as befitted his impious life, died, leaving Phalaecus, son of the Onomarchus who had kindled the Sacred War, as general of the Phocians, a stripling in years, at whose side he had placed as guardian and supporting general Mnaseas, one of his own friends. After this in a night attack upon the Phocians the Boeotians slew their general Mnaseas and about two hundred of his men. A short while later in a cavalry battle which took place near Chaeroneia, Phalaecus was defeated and lost a large number of his cavalry.
§ 16.39
ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις καὶ κατὰ τὴν Πελοπόννησον ἐγένοντο ταραχαὶ καὶ κινήσεις διὰ τοιαύτας τινὰς αἰτίας. Λακεδαιμόνιοι πρὸς Μεγαλοπολίτας διαφερόμενοι τὴν χώραν αὐτῶν κατέδραμον Ἀρχιδάμου τὴν ἡγεμονίαν ἔχοντος· οἱ δὲ Μεγαλοπολῖται παροξυνθέντες ἐπὶ τοῖς πραχθεῖσι καὶ καθʼ ἑαυτοὺς οὐκ ὄντες ἀξιόμαχοι παρὰ τῶν συμμάχων μετεπέμψαντο βοήθειαν. Ἀργεῖοι μὲν οὖν καὶ Σικυώνιοι καὶ Μεσσήνιοι πανδημεὶ κατὰ τάχος ἐβοήθησαν, Θηβαῖοι δʼ ἀπέστειλαν πεζοὺς μὲν τετρακισχιλίους, ἱππεῖς δὲ πεντακοσίους, στρατηγὸν ἐπιστήσαντες Κηφισίωνα. Μεγαλοπολῖται μὲν οὖν μετὰ τῶν συμμάχων ἐκστρατεύσαντες κατεστρατοπέδευσαν περὶ τὰς πηγὰς τοῦ Ἀλφειοῦ ποταμοῦ· οἱ δὲ Λακεδαιμόνιοι τρισχιλίους μὲν πεζοὺς παρὰ Φωκέων προσελάβοντο, ἱππεῖς δὲ ἑκατὸν καὶ πεντήκοντα παρὰ Λυκόφρονος καὶ Πειθολάου τῶν ἐκπεπτωκότων ἐκ τῆς ἐν Φεραῖς τυραννίδος· συστησάμενοι δὲ δύναμιν ἀξιόμαχον κατεστρατοπέδευσαν περὶ Μαντίνειαν. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ἐπὶ πόλιν Ὀρνεὰς τῆς Ἀργείας καταντήσαντες ἔφθασαν αὐτὴν ἐκπολιορκήσαντες πρὸ τῆς τῶν πολεμίων παρουσίας,οὖσαν σύμμαχον τῶν Μεγαλοπολιτῶν. ἐπεξελθόντων δὲ τῶν Ἀργείων συνάψαντες μάχην ἐνίκησαν καὶ πλείους τῶν διακοσίων ἀπέκτειναν. τῶν δὲ Θηβαίων ἐπιφανέντων καὶ τῷ μὲν πλήθει διπλασίων ὄντων, ταῖς δʼ εὐταξίαις λειπομένων συνέστη μάχη καρτερά· καὶ τῆς νίκης ἀμφιδόξου γενομένης οἱ μὲν Ἀργεῖοι καὶ οἱ σύμμαχοι τὴν εἰς τὰς οἰκείας πόλεις ἐπάνοδον ἐποιήσαντο, Λακεδαιμόνιοι δʼ εἰς τὴν Ἀρκαδίαν ἐμβαλόντες καὶ πόλιν Ἑλισσοῦντα κατὰ κράτος ἑλόντες καὶ διαρπάσαντες ἐπανῆλθον εἰς τὴν Σπάρτην. μετὰ δέ τινα χρόνον οἱ Θηβαῖοι μετὰ τῶν συμμάχων ἐνίκησαν τοὺς πολεμίους περὶ Τέλφουσαν καὶ συχνοὺς ἀνελόντες ἐζώγρησαν Ἀνάξανδρόν τε τὸν ἡγούμενον καὶ τῶν ἄλλων πλείους τῶν ἑξήκοντα. μετʼ ὀλίγον δὲ χρόνον ἄλλαις δυσὶ μάχαις προετέρησαν καὶ τῶν ἐναντίων οὐκ ὀλίγους κατέβαλον. τὸ δὲ τελευταῖον τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων ἀξιολόγῳ μάχῃ νικησάντων, αἱ δυνάμεις ἀμφοτέρων εἰς τὰς οἰκείας πόλεις ἐπανῆλθον. ἔπειτα τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων ποιησαμένων ἀνοχὰς πρὸς τοὺς Μεγαλοπολίτας ἐπανῆλθον εἰς τὴν Βοιωτίαν οἱ Θηβαῖοι. Φάλαικος δὲ περὶ τὴν Βοιωτίαν διατρίβων Χαιρώνειαν εἷλε καὶ τῶν Θηβαίων ἐπιβοηθησάντων ἐξέπεσεν ἐκ τῆς πόλεως. ἔπειθʼ οἱ μὲν Βοιωτοὶ πολλῇ δυνάμει στρατεύσαντες εἰς τὴν Φωκίδα τὴν πλείστην αὐτῆς ἐπόρθησαν καὶ τὰς κατὰ τὴν χώραν κτήσεις ἐδῄωσαν· ἔνια δὲ καὶ τῶν μικρῶν πολισμάτων ἑλόντες καὶ λαφύρων πλῆθος ἀθροίσαντες ἐπανῆλθον εἰς τὴν Βοιωτίαν.
While these things were going on, throughout the Peloponnese also disturbances and disorders had occurred for the following reasons. The Lacedemonians, being at variance with the Megalopolitans, overran their country with Archidamus in command, and the Megalopolitans, incensed over their actions but not strong enough to fight by themselves, summoned aid from their allies. Now the Argives, Sicyonians, and Messenians in full force and with all speed came to their assistance; and the Thebans dispatched four thousand foot and five hundred horse with Cephision placed in charge as general. The Megalopolitans accordingly, having taken the field with their allies, encamped near the headwaters of the Alpheius River, while the Lacedemonians were reinforced by three thousand foot-soldiers from the Phocians and one hundred fifty cavalry from Lycophron and Peitholaus, the exiled tyrants of Pherae, and, having mustered an army capable of doing battle, encamped by Mantineia. Then having advanced to the Argive city of Orneae, they captured it before the arrival of the enemy, for it was an ally of the Megalopolitans. When the Argives took the field against them, they joined battle and defeated them and slew more than two hundred. Then the Thebans appeared, and since they were in number twice as many though inferior in discipline, a stubborn battle was engaged; and as the victory hung in doubt, the Argives and their allies withdrew to their own cities, while the Lacedemonians, after invading Arcadia and taking the city Helisson by storm and plundering it, returned to Sparta. Some time after this the Thebans with their allies conquered the enemy near Telphusa and after slaying many took captive Anaxander, who was in command, along with more than sixty others. A short time later they had the advantage in two other battles and felled a considerable number of their opponents. Finally, when the Lacedemonians proved victorious in an important battle, the armies on both sides withdrew to their own cities. Then when the Lacedemonians made an armistice with the Megalopolitans the Thebans went back to Boeotia. But Phalaecus, who was lingering in Boeotia, seized Chaeroneia and when the Thebans came to its rescue, was expelled from the city. Then the Boeotians, who now with a large army invaded Phocis, sacked the greater portion of it and plundered the farms throughout the countryside; and having taken also some of the small towns and gathered an abundance of booty, they returned to Boeotia.
§ 16.40
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησι Θεέλλου Ῥωμαῖοι κατέστησαν ὑπάτους Μάρκον Φάβιον καὶ Τίτον Κοΐντιον. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Θηβαῖοι κάμνοντες τῷ πρὸς Φωκεῖς πολέμῳ καὶ χρημάτων ἀπορούμενοι πρέσβεις ἐξέπεμψαν πρὸς τὸν τῶν Περσῶν βασιλέα, παρακαλοῦντες εἰσευπορῆσαι τῇ πόλει χρήματα· ὁ δʼ Ἀρταξέρξης προθύμως ὑπακούσας ἔδωκεν αὐτοῖς δωρεὰν ἀργυρίου τάλαντα τριακόσια. τοῖς δὲ Βοιωτοῖς καὶ τοῖς Φωκεῦσιν ἀκροβολισμοὶ μὲν καὶ χώρας καταδρομαὶ συνέστησαν, πράξεις δὲ κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν ἐνιαυτὸν ἄξιαι μνήμης οὐ συνετελέσθησαν. κατὰ δὲ τὴν Ἀσίαν ὁ βασιλεὺς τῶν Περσῶν ἐν μὲν τοῖς ἐπάνω χρόνοις στρατεύσας ἐπʼ Αἴγυπτον πολλοῖς πλήθεσι στρατιωτῶν ἀπέτυχε, κατὰ δὲ τοὺς ὑποκειμένους καιροὺς πάλιν ἐπολέμησε τοῖς Αἰγυπτίοις καὶ πράξεις ἀξιολόγους κατεργασάμενος διὰ τῆς ἰδίας ἐνεργείας τὴν Αἴγυπτον ἀνεκτήσατο καὶ Φοινίκην καὶ Κύπρον. ἵνα δὲ σαφῆ τὴν περὶ τούτων ἱστορίαν ποιήσωμεν, τὰς αἰτίας τοῦ πολέμου προεκθησόμεθα μικρὸν ἀναλαβόντες τοὺς οἰκείους χρόνους. τῶν γὰρ Αἰγυπτίων ἀπὸ Περσῶν ἀποστάντων κατὰ τοὺς ἀνωτέρω χρόνους Ἀρταξέρξης ὁ ἐπικληθεὶς Ὦχος αὐτὸς μὲν οὐκ ὢν φιλοπόλεμος ἐφʼ ἡσυχίας ἔμενεν, ἀποστέλλων δὲ δυνάμεις καὶ στρατηγοὺς πολλάκις ἀπετύγχανε διὰ τὴν κακίαν καὶ ἀπειρίαν τῶν ἡγεμόνων. διὸ καὶ καταφρονηθεὶς ὑπὸ τῶν Αἰγυπτίων ἠναγκάζετο καρτερεῖν διά τε τὴν ἀργίαν καὶ τὸ τῆς ψυχῆς εἰρηνικόν. κατὰ δὲ τοὺς ὑποκειμένους καιροὺς τῶν Φοινίκων καὶ τῶν ἐν Κύπρῳ βασιλέων μιμησαμένων τοὺς Αἰγυπτίους καὶ διὰ τὴν καταφρόνησιν ἐπὶ τὴν ἀπόστασιν ὁρμησάντων παροξυνθεὶς ἔκρινε πολεμεῖν τοὺς ἀφεστηκότας. τὸ μὲν οὖν στρατηγοὺς ἐκπέμπειν ἀπεδοκίμασε, διʼ ἑαυτοῦ δὲ τοὺς ὑπὲρ τῆς βασιλείας ἀγῶνας ποιήσασθαι διέγνω. διόπερ ὅπλων καὶ βελῶν καὶ σίτου καὶ δυνάμεων μεγάλας παρασκευὰς ποιησάμενος ἤθροισε πεζῶν μὲν τριάκοντα μυριάδας, ἱππέων δὲ τρεῖς, τριήρεις δὲ τριακοσίας, φορτηγοὺς δὲ καὶ τὰς ἄλλας τὰς τὴν ἀγορὰν κομιζούσας πεντακοσίας.
When Theellus was archon in Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Marcus Fabius and Titus Quintius. During their term of office the Thebans, growing weary of the war against the Phocians and finding himself short of funds, sent ambassadors to the King of the Persians urging him to furnish the city with a large sum of money. Artaxerxes, readily acceding to the request, made a gift to them of three hundred talents of silver. Between the Boeotians and the Phocians skirmishes and raids on each other's territory occurred but no actions worth mentioning took place during this year. In Asia the King of the Persians, who had in the period treated above made an expedition into Egypt with vast multitudes of soldiers and was unsuccessful, made war on the Egyptians and, after carrying out some remarkable feats by his own forceful activity, regained possession of Egypt, Phoenicia, and Cyprus. To make clear the history of these events I shall set forth first the causes of the war by reviewing again briefly the period to which these events properly belong. We recall that, when the Egyptians revolted from the Persians in the earlier period, Artaxerxes, known as Ochus, himself unwarlike, remained inactive, and though he sent out armies and generals many times, failed in his attempts because of the cowardice and inexperience of the leaders. And so, though regarded with contempt by the Egyptians, he was compelled to be patient because of his own inertia and peace-loving nature. But in the period now under discussion, when the Phoenicians and the kings in Cyprus had imitated the Egyptians and in contemptuous disregard of him made a move to revolt, he became enraged and decided to make war upon the insurgents. So he rejected the practice of sending out generals, and adopted the plan of carrying out in person the struggles to preserve his kingdom. Wherefore, having made great provision of arms, missiles, food, and forces, he assembled three hundred thousand foot-soldiers, thirty thousand horsemen, three hundred triremes, and five hundred merchantmen and other ships to carry the supplies.
§ 16.41
ἤρξατο δὲ καὶ πρὸς Φοίνικας πολεμεῖν διὰ τοιαύτας τινὰς αἰτίας. κατὰ τὴν Φοινίκην ἐστὶ πόλις ἀξιόλογος ὀνόματι Τρίπολις, οἰκείαν ἔχουσα τῇ φύσει τὴν προσηγορίαν· τρεῖς γάρ εἰσιν ἐν αὐτῇ πόλεις σταδιαῖον ἀπʼ ἀλλήλων ἔχουσαι διάστημα· ἐπικαλεῖται δὲ τούτων ἡ μὲν Ἀραδίων, ἡ δὲ Σιδωνίων, ἡ δὲ Τυρίων. ἀξίωμα δʼ ἔχει μέγιστον αὕτη τῶν κατὰ τὴν Φοινίκην πόλεων, ἐν ᾗ συνέβαινεν τοὺς Φοίνικας συνέδριον ἔχειν καὶ βουλεύεσθαι περὶ τῶν μεγίστων. τῶν δὲ σατραπῶν καὶ στρατηγῶν ἐν τῇ Σιδωνίων διατριβόντων καὶ κατὰ τὰς τῶν πραγμάτων ἐπιταγὰς ὑβριστικῶς καὶ ὑπερηφάνως προσφερομένων τοῖς Σιδωνίοις οἱ κακούμενοι τὴν ἐπήρειαν χαλεπῶς φέροντες ἔγνωσαν ἀποστῆναι τῶν Περσῶν. πείσαντες δὲ καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους Φοίνικας τῆς αὐτονομίας ἀντέχεσθαι διεπρεσβεύσαντο πρὸς τὸν Αἰγυπτίων βασιλέα Νεκτανεβώ, πολέμιον ὄντα Περσῶν, καὶ πείσαντες παραλαβεῖν αὐτοὺς εἰς τὴν συμμαχίαν παρεσκευάζοντο τὰ πρὸς τὸν πόλεμον. τῆς δὲ Σιδῶνος εὐδαιμονίᾳ διαφερούσης καὶ τῶν ἰδιωτῶν διὰ τὰς ἐμπορίας μεγάλους περιπεποιημένων πλούτους ταχὺ τριήρεις τε πολλαὶ κατεσκευάσθησαν καὶ μισθοφόρων πλῆθος ἠθροίσθη, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις ὅπλα καὶ βέλη καὶ σῖτος καὶ τἄλλα πάντα τὰ πρὸς πόλεμον χρήσιμα συντόμως κατεσκευάσθη. κατάρχοντες δὲ τῆς ἔχθρας τὸν μὲν βασιλικὸν παράδεισον, ἐν ᾧ τὰς καταλύσεις οἱ τῶν Περσῶν βασιλεῖς εἰώθεισαν ποιεῖσθαι, δενδροτομήσαντες διέφθειραν· ἔπειτα τὸν ἠθροισμένον ὑπὸ τῶν σατραπῶν εἰς τὸν πόλεμον τοῖς ἵπποις χόρτον ἐνέπρησαν, τὸ δὲ τελευταῖον τοὺς τὰς ὕβρεις ἐπιτελεσαμένους Πέρσας συλλαβόντες ἐτιμωρήσαντο. τοῦ δὲ πολέμου τοῦ πρὸς τοὺς Φοίνικας ταύτην τὴν καταρχὴν λαβόντος ὁ βασιλεὺς πυθόμενος τὰ τετολμημένα τοῖς ἀποστάταις πᾶσι μὲν τοῖς Φοίνιξιν ἠπείλει, μάλιστα δὲ τοῖς Σιδωνίοις.
He began to make war also on the Phoenicians for the following reasons. In Phoenicia there is an important city called Tripolis, whose name is appropriate to its nature, for there are in it three cities, at a distance of a stade from one another, and the names by which these are called are the city of the Aradians, of the Sidonians, and of the Tyrians. This city enjoys the highest repute amongst the cities of Phoenicia, for there, as it happens, the Phoenicians held their common council and deliberated on matters of supreme importance. Now since the King's satraps and generals dwelt in the city of the Sidonians and behaved in an outrageous and high-handed fashion toward the Sidonians in ordering things to be done, the victims of this treatment, aggrieved by their insolence, decided to revolt from the Persians. Having persuaded the rest of the Phoenicians to make a bid for their independence, they sent ambassadors to the Egyptian king Nectanebos, who was an enemy of the Persians, and after persuading him to accept them as allies they began to make preparations for the war. Inasmuch as Sidon was distinguished for its wealth and its private citizens had amassed great riches from its shipping, many triremes were quickly outfitted and a multitude of mercenaries gathered, and, besides, arms, missiles, food, and all other materials useful in war were provided with dispatch. The first hostile act was the cutting down and destroying of the royal park in which the Persian Kings were wont to take their recreation; the second was the burning of the fodder for the horses which had been stored up by the satraps for the war; last of all they arrested such Persians as had committed the acts of insolence and wreaked vengeance upon them. Such was the beginning of the war with the Phoenicians, and Artaxerxes, being apprised of the rash acts of the insurgents, issued threatening warnings to all the Phoenicians and in particular to the people of Sidon.
§ 16.42
ἐν δὲ τῇ Βαβυλῶνι συνηθροικὼς τὰς πεζικὰς καὶ ἱππικὰς δυνάμεις εὐθὺς ἀναλαβὼν προῆγεν ἐπὶ τοὺς Φοίνικας· ἐν ὅσῳ δʼ οὗτος κατὰ τὴν ὁδοιπορίαν ἐβάδιζε, Βέλεσυς ὁ τῆς Συρίας σατράπης καὶ Μαζαῖος ὁ τῆς Κιλικίας ἄρχων συνελθόντες ἐπολέμουν τοὺς Φοίνικας. Τέννης δʼ ὁ τῆς Σιδῶνος βασιλεὺς προσελάβετο παρʼ Αἰγυπτίων στρατιώτας μισθοφόρους Ἕλληνας τετρακισχιλίους, ὧν ἦν στρατηγὸς Μέντωρ ὁ Ῥόδιος. μετὰ δὲ τούτων καὶ τῶν πολιτικῶν στρατιωτῶν τοῖς προειρημένοις σατράπαις συμβαλὼν ἐνίκησεν καὶ τοὺς πολεμίους ἐξέβαλεν ἐκ τῆς Φοινίκης. ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις καὶ κατὰ τὴν Κύπρον συνέστη πόλεμος, συμπεπλεγμένας ἔχων τὰς πράξεις τῷ ὑποκειμένῳ πολέμῳ. ἐν γὰρ τῇ νήσῳ ταύτῃ πόλεις ἦσαν ἀξιόλογοι μὲν ἐννέα, ὑπὸ δὲ ταύτας ὑπῆρχε τεταγμένα μικρὰ πολίσματα τὰ προσκυροῦντα ταῖς ἐννέα πόλεσιν. ἑκάστη δὲ τούτων εἶχε βασιλέα τῆς μὲν πόλεως ἄρχοντα, τῷ δὲ βασιλεῖ τῶν Περσῶν ὑποτεταγμένον. οὗτοι πάντες συμφρονήσαντες καὶ μιμησάμενοι τοὺς Φοίνικας ἀπέστησαν καὶ παρασκευασάμενοι τὰ πρὸς τὸν πόλεμον αὐτοκράτορας τὰς ἰδίας βασιλείας ἐποίησαν. ἐφʼ οἷς παροξυνθεὶς ὁ Ἀρταξέρξης ἔγραψε πρὸς τὸν Ἰδριέα τὸν τῆς Καρίας δυνάστην, ἄρτι μὲν παρειληφότα τὴν ἀρχήν, φίλον δʼ ὄντα καὶ σύμμαχον Περσῶν ἐκ προγόνων, ἀθροῖσαι δύναμιν πεζικήν τε καὶ ναυτικὴν τὴν διαπολεμήσουσαν τοῖς ἐν Κύπρῳ βασιλεῦσιν. ὁ δʼ ὀξέως παρασκευασάμενος τριήρεις μὲν τεσσαράκοντα, στρατιώτας δὲ μισθοφόρους ὀκτακισχιλίους ἐξέπεμψεν εἰς τὴν Κύπρον, ἐπιστήσας στρατηγοὺς Φωκίωνα τὸν Ἀθηναῖον καὶ Εὐαγόραν τὸν ἐν τοῖς ἐπάνω χρόνοις βεβασιλευκότα κατὰ τὴν νῆσον. οὗτοι μὲν οὖν καταπλεύσαντες εἰς τὴν Κύπρον εὐθὺς ἐπὶ τὴν μεγίστην τῶν πόλεων Σαλαμῖνα τὴν δύναμιν ἤγαγον. βαλόμενοι δὲ χάρακα καὶ τὴν παρεμβολὴν ὀχυρώσαντες ἐπολιόρκουν τοὺς Σαλαμινίους κατὰ γῆν ἅμα καὶ κατὰ θάλατταν. τῆς δὲ νήσου πάσης ἐν εἰρήνῃ πολὺν χρόνον γενομένης καὶ τῆς χώρας εὐδαιμονούσης οἱ στρατιῶται κρατοῦντες τῶν ὑπαίθρων πολλὰς ὠφελείας ἤθροισαν. τῆς δὲ τούτων εὐπορίας διαβοηθείσης πολλοὶ τῶν ἐκ τῆς περαίας Συρίας τε καὶ Κιλικίας συνέρρεον ἐθελοντὶ στρατιῶται πρὸς τὴν ἐλπίδα τοῦ κέρδους. τέλος δὲ διπλασιασθείσης τῆς μετʼ Εὐαγόρου καὶ Φωκίωνος δυνάμεως οἱ βασιλεῖς οἱ κατὰ τὴν Κύπρον εἰς ἀγωνίαν καὶ μεγίστους φόβους ἐνέπιπτον. καὶ τὰ μὲν κατὰ τὴν Κύπρον ἐν τούτοις ἦν.
In Babylon the King, after assembling his infantry and cavalry forces, immediately assumed command of them and advanced against the Phoenicians. While he was still on his way, Belesys, the satrap of Syria, and Mazaeus, the governor of Cilicia, having joined forces, opened the war against the Phoenicians. Tennes, the king of Sidon, acquired from the Egyptians four thousand Greek mercenary soldiers whose general was Mentor the Rhodian. With these and the citizen soldiery he engaged the aforementioned satraps, defeated them, and drove the enemy out of Phoenicia. While these things were going on, a war broke out in Cyprus also, the actions in which were interwoven with the war we have just mentioned. For in this island were nine populous cities, and under them were ranged the small towns which were suburbs of the nine cities. Each of these cities had a king who governed the city and was subject to the King of the Persians. All these kings in common agreement and in imitation of the Phoenicians revolted, and having made preparations for the war, declared their own kingdoms independent. Incensed at these actions, Artaxerxes wrote to Idrieus, despot of Caria, who had just acquired his office and was a friend and ally of the Persians by inheritance from his ancestors, to collect an infantry force and a navy to carry on a war with the kings in Cyprus. Idrieus, after making ready immediately forty triremes and eight thousand mercenary soldiers, sent them to Cyprus, having placed in command as their generals Phocion the Athenian and Evagoras, who had in the former period been king in the island. So these two, having sailed to Cyprus, at once led their army against Salamis, the largest of the cities. Having set up a palisade and fortified the encampment, they began to besiege the Salaminians by land and also by sea. Since all the island had enjoyed peace for a long time and the territory was wealthy, the soldiers, who had possession of the open country, gathered much booty. When word of their affluence got abroad, many soldiers from the opposite coast of Syria and Cilicia flocked over voluntarily in the hope of gain. Finally, after the army with Evagoras and Phocion had been doubled in size, the kings throughout Cyprus fell into a state of great anxiety and terror. Such was the situation in Cyprus.
§ 16.43
μετὰ δὲ ταῦθʼ ὁ μὲν τῶν Περσῶν βασιλεὺς ἐκ τῆς Βαβυλῶνος τὴν ἀνάζευξιν ποιησάμενος μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως προῆγεν ἐπὶ τὴν Φοινίκην· ὁ δὲ τῆς Σιδῶνος δυνάστης Τέννης πυνθανόμενος τὸ μέγεθος τῆς τῶν Περσῶν δυνάμεως καὶ νομίσας τοὺς ἀφεστηκότας οὐκ ἀξιομάχους εἶναι τὴν σωτηρίαν ἰδίᾳ πορίζειν ἔκρινεν. διόπερ τῶν ἑαυτοῦ θεραπόντων τὸν πιστότατον Θετταλίωνα λάθρᾳ τῶν Σιδωνίων ἐξέπεμψε πρὸς τὸν Ἀρταξέρξην ἐπαγγελλόμενος αὐτῷ τὴν μὲν Σιδῶνα παραδώσειν, τὴν δʼ Αἴγυπτον συνεκπολεμήσειν, μεγάλα δʼ αὐτῷ συνεργήσειν ἔμπειρον ὄντα τῶν κατὰ τὴν Αἴγυπτον τόπων καὶ τὰς κατὰ τὸν Νεῖλον ἀποβάσεις ἀκριβῶς εἰδότα. ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς ἀκούσας τοῦ Θετταλίωνος τὰ κατὰ μέρος ἥσθη διαφερόντως καὶ τῶν μὲν κατὰ τὴν ἀπόστασιν ἐγκλημάτων ἀπολύσειν ἔφη τὸν Τέννην, πράξαντος δʼ αὐτοῦ τὰ καθωμολογημένα μεγάλας δωρεὰς δώσειν ἐπηγγείλατο. εἰπόντος δὲ τοῦ Θετταλίωνος ὡς καὶ δεξιὰν λαβεῖν ὁ Τέννης ἠξίωσεν, ἐπὶ τούτοις ὁ μὲν βασιλεὺς ὀργισθεὶς ὡς οὐ πιστευόμενος παρέδωκε τὸν Θετταλίωνα τοῖς ὑπηρέταις καὶ προσέταξεν ἀφελεῖν τὴν κεφαλήν· ἐπεὶ δʼ ἀπαγόμενος ὁ Θετταλίων ἐπὶ τὴν τιμωρίαν τοσοῦτον εἶπεν ὅτι Σὺ μέν, ὦ βασιλεῦ, πράξεις ὃ θέλεις, ὁ μέντοι Τέννης δυνάμενος ἅπαντα καταπρᾶξαι διὰ τὸ μὴ δοῦναί σε τὴν πίστιν οὐδὲν μὴ συντελέσει τῶν ἐπηγγελμένων, πάλιν ἀκούσας τούτων μετενόησε καὶ μετακαλεσάμενος τοὺς ὑπηρέτας ἀφεῖναι προσέταξε καὶ τὴν δεξιὰν ἔδωκε τῷ Θετταλίωνι· ἔστι δʼ ἡ πίστις αὕτη βεβαιοτάτη παρὰ τοῖς Πέρσαις. οὗτος μὲν οὖν παρελθὼν εἰς Σιδῶνα τὰ πεπραγμένα τῷ Τέννῃ λάθρᾳ τῶν Σιδωνίων ἀπήγγειλεν,
After this the King of the Persians, who had begun his journey from Babylon, marched with his army against Phoenicia. The ruler of Sidon, Tennes, who was informed of the great size of the Persian army and thought that the insurgents were incapable of fighting against it, decided to provide for his personal safety. Accordingly, without the knowledge of the people of Sidon, he sent the most faithful of his own henchmen, Thettalion, to Artaxerxes with the promise that he would betray Sidon to him, would assist him in vanquishing Egypt, and would render him great service, since he was acquainted with the topography of Egypt and knew accurately the landingplaces along the Nile. The King on hearing from Thettalion these particulars was extremely pleased and said that he would free Tennes of the charges relative to the revolt, and he promised to give him rich rewards if he performed all that he had agreed upon. But when Thettalion added that Tennes wished him also to confirm his promise by giving his right hand, thereupon the King, flying into a rage at the thought that he was not trusted, handed Thettalion over to his attendants and gave orders to take off his head. But when, as Thettalion was being led off to his punishment, he simply said: "You, O King, will do as you please, but Tennes, though he is able to achieve complete success, since you refuse the pledge, will assuredly not perform any of his promises," the King, hearing what he said, again changed his mind and recalling the attendants directed them to release Thettalion, and then he gave him his right hand, which is the surest pledge amongst the Persians. Thettalion accordingly returned to Sidon and reported what had happened to Tennes without the knowledge of the people of Sidon.
§ 16.44
ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς ἐν μεγάλῳ τιθέμενος τὸ κρατῆσαι τῆς Αἰγύπτου διὰ τὸ πρότερον ἐλάττωμα πρεσβευτὰς ἀπέστειλε πρὸς τὰς μεγίστας τῶν κατὰ τὴν Ἑλλάδα πόλεων, ἀξιῶν συστρατεῦσαι τοῖς Πέρσαις ἐπʼ Αἰγυπτίους. Ἀθηναῖοι μὲν οὖν καὶ Λακεδαιμόνιοι τὴν φιλίαν ἔφασαν τὴν πρὸς Πέρσας τηρεῖν, συμμαχίαν δὲ ἀποστέλλειν ἀντεῖπαν. Θηβαῖοι δὲ στρατηγὸν ἑλόμενοι Λακράτην ἐξαπέστειλαν μετὰ χιλίων ὁπλιτῶν. Ἀργεῖοι δὲ τρισχιλίους στρατιώτας ἐξέπεμψαν, στρατηγὸν δὲ αὐτοὶ μὲν οὐχ εἵλαντο, τοῦ δὲ βασιλέως κατʼ ὄνομα τὸν Νικόστρατον στρατηγὸν αἰτησαμένου συνεχώρησαν. ἦν γὰρ ὁ ἀνὴρ οὗτος ἀγαθὸς καὶ πρᾶξαι καὶ βουλεύσασθαι, μεμιγμένην δʼ ἔχων τῇ φρονήσει μανίαν· τῇ γὰρ τοῦ σώματος ῥώμῃ διαφέρων ἐμιμεῖτο τὸν Ἡρακλέα κατὰ τὰς στρατείας καὶ λεοντῆν ἐφόρει καὶ ῥόπαλον ἐν ταῖς μάχαις. ὁμοίως δὲ τούτοις οἱ τὴν παραθαλάττιον τῆς Ἀσίας οἰκοῦντες Ἕλληνες ἀπέστειλαν στρατιώτας ἑξακισχιλίους, ὥστε τοὺς πάντας Ἕλληνας γενέσθαι συμμάχους μυρίους. πρὸ δὲ τῆς τούτων παρουσίας ὁ μὲν βασιλεὺς διεληλυθὼς τὴν Συρίαν καὶ παραγενόμενος εἰς τὴν Φοινίκην ἐστρατοπέδευσεν οὐ μακρὰν τῆς Σιδῶνος. οἱ δὲ Σιδώνιοι κεχρονικότος τοῦ βασιλέως περὶ τὰς παρασκευὰς σίτου τε καὶ ὅπλων καὶ βελῶν πολλὴν ἐπιμέλειαν ἐποιήσαντο. ὁμοίως οὖν τὴν πόλιν τάφροις τριπλαῖς μεγάλαις καὶ τειχῶν ὑψηλῶν κατασκευαῖς περιειλήφεισαν. εἶχον δὲ καὶ στρατιωτῶν ἱκανὸν πλῆθος πολιτικῶν ἐν γυμνασίαις καὶ πόνοις ἐνηθληκὸς καὶ ταῖς τῶν σωμάτων εὐεξίαις καὶ ῥώμαις διαφέρον. πλούτῳ δὲ καὶ ταῖς ἄλλαις χορηγίαις ἡ πόλις πολὺ προεῖχε τῶν κατὰ τὴν Φοινίκην πόλεων, τὸ δὲ μέγιστον τριήρεις καὶ πεντήρεις εἶχε πλείους τῶν ἑκατόν.
The Persian King, accounting it a matter of great importance, in view of his former defeat, to overthrow Egypt, dispatched envoys to the greatest cities of Greece requesting them to join the Persians in the campaign against the Egyptians. Now the Athenians and the Lacedemonians replied that they continued to observe their friendship for the Persians, but were opposed to sending troops as allies. But the Thebans, choosing Lacrates as general, dispatched him with a thousand hoplites. And the Argives sent three thousand men; they did not, however, choose a general themselves, but when the King requested Nicostratus specifically as general, they concurred. Now Nicostratus was good both in action and in counsel, but there was madness mingled with his intelligence; for since he excelled in bodily strength, he would imitate Heracles when on a campaign by wearing a lion's skin and carrying a club in battle. Following the example of these states, the Greeks who inhabited the sea-coast of Asia Minor dispatched six thousand men, making the total number of Greeks who served as allies ten thousand. Before their arrival the Persian King, after he had traversed Syria and reached Phoenicia, encamped not far from Sidon. As for the Sidonians, while the King had been slow to move, they attended assiduously to the preparation of food, armour, and missiles. Likewise they had encompassed their city with huge triple ditches and constructions of lofty walls. They had also an ample number of citizen soldiers well trained in exercises and hard work and of superior bodily condition and strength. In wealth and in other resources the city far excelled the other cities of Phoenicia and, most important of all, it had more than a hundred triremes and quinqueremes.
§ 16.45
ὁ δὲ Τέννης κοινωσάμενος τὴν προδοσίαν Μέντορι τῷ στρατηγῷ τῶν ἐξ Αἰγύπτου μισθοφόρων τοῦτον μὲν ἀπέλιπε τηροῦντα μέρος τῆς πόλεως καὶ συνεργοῦντα τοῖς περὶ τὴν προδοσίαν ἐγχειρουμένοις, αὐτὸς δὲ μετὰ στρατιωτῶν πεντακοσίων προῆγεν ἐκ τῆς πόλεως, προσποιούμενος ἐπὶ κοινὴν τῶν Φοινίκων σύνοδον ἀπαντᾶν· ἦγε δὲ μεθʼ ἑαυτοῦ τοὺς ἐπιφανεστάτους τῶν πολιτῶν ἑκατὸν ὡς συμβούλους. ἐπεὶ δὲ πλησίον ἦσαν τοῦ βασιλέως, συναρπάσας τοὺς ἑκατὸν παρέδωκε τῷ Ἀρταξέρξῃ. ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς ἀποδεξάμενος αὐτὸν ὡς φίλον τοὺς μὲν ἑκατὸν ὡς αἰτίους ὄντας τῆς ἀποστάσεως κατηκόντισε, πεντακοσίων δὲ τῶν πρώτων Σιδωνίων μεθʼ ἱκετηριῶν ἀπαντησάντων ἀνεκαλέσατο τὸν Τέννην καὶ ἐπηρώτησεν εἰ δύναται τὴν πόλιν αὐτῷ παραδοῦναι· σφόδρα γὰρ ἔσπευδε μὴ διʼ ὁμολογίας τὴν Σιδῶνα παραλαβεῖν, ὅπως ἀπαραιτήτοις συμφοραῖς περιβαλὼν τοὺς Σιδωνίους τῇ τούτων τιμωρίᾳ καταπλήξηται τὰς ἄλλας πόλεις. τοῦ δὲ Τέννου διαβεβαιωσαμένου παραδώσειν τὴν πόλιν ὁ βασιλεύς, φυλάττων τὴν ὀργὴν ἀπαραίτητον, ἅπαντας τοὺς πεντακοσίους ἔχοντας τὰς ἱκετηρίας κατηκόντισεν. εἶθʼ ὁ μὲν Τέννης προσελθὼν τοῖς ἐξ Αἰγύπτου μισθοφόροις ἔπεισεν αὐτοὺς ἐντὸς τῶν τειχῶν εἰσαγαγεῖν αὐτόν τε καὶ τὸν βασιλέα. ἡ μὲν οὖν Σιδὼν διὰ τοιαύτης προδοσίας ὑποχείριος ἐγένετο τοῖς Πέρσαις. ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς ὑπολαβὼν τὸν Τέννην μηκέτι χρήσιμον ὑπάρχειν ἀνεῖλεν. οἱ δὲ Σιδώνιοι πρὸ μὲν τῆς παρουσίας τοῦ βασιλέως ἐνέπρησαν ἁπάσας τὰς ναῦς, ὅπως μηδεὶς δύνηται τῶν κατὰ τὴν πόλιν ἐκπλεύσας ἰδίᾳ σωτηρίαν πορίζεσθαι· ἐπειδὴ δὲ τὴν πόλιν ἑώρων καὶ τὰ τείχη κατειλημμένα καὶ πολλαῖς μυριάσι στρατιωτῶν περιεχόμενα, συγκλείσαντες ἑαυτοὺς καὶ τὰ τέκνα καὶ γυναῖκας εἰς τὰς οἰκίας ἐνέπρησαν. φασὶ δὲ τοὺς ὑπὸ τοῦ πυρὸς τότε διαφθαρέντας σὺν τοῖς οἰκετικοῖς σώμασι γεγονέναι πλείους τῶν τετρακισμυρίων. τούτου δὲ τοῦ πάθους περὶ τοὺς Σιδωνίους γενομένου καὶ τῆς πόλεως ὅλης μετὰ τῶν ἐνοικούντων ὑπὸ τοῦ πυρὸς ἀφανισθείσης τὴν πυρκαϊὰν ὁ βασιλεὺς ἀπέδοτο πολλῶν ταλάντων· διὰ γὰρ τὴν εὐδαιμονίαν τῶν ἐνῳκηκότων εὑρέθη πολὺς ἄργυρός τε καὶ χρυσὸς ὑπὸ τοῦ πυρὸς κεχωνευμένος. τὰ μὲν οὖν κατὰ Σιδῶνα συμβάντα δυστυχήματα τοιαύτην ἔσχε τὴν καταστροφήν, αἱ δʼ ἄλλαι πόλεις καταπλαγεῖσαι προσεχώρησαν τοῖς Πέρσαις. βραχὺ δὲ πρὸ τούτων τῶν χρόνων Ἀρτεμισία μὲν ἡ Καρίας δυναστεύουσα μετήλλαξεν ἄρξασα ἔτη δύο, τὴν δὲ δυναστείαν Ἰδριεὺς ὁ ἀδελφὸς διεδέξατο καὶ ἦρξεν ἔτη ἑπτά. κατὰ δὲ τὴν Ἰταλίαν Ῥωμαῖοι πρὸς μὲν Πραινεστίνους ἀνοχάς, πρὸς δὲ Σαυνίτας συνθήκας ἐποιήσαντο, Ταρκυνίους δὲ ἄνδρας διακοσίους καὶ ἑξήκοντα δημοσίᾳ ἐθανάτωσαν ἐν τῇ ἀγορᾷ. κατὰ δὲ τὴν Σικελίαν Λεπτίνης καὶ Κάλλιππος οἱ Συρακόσιοι δύναμιν ἔχοντες ἐξεπολιόρκησαν Ῥήγιον φρουρούμενον ὑπὸ Διονυσίου τοῦ τυράννου τοῦ νεωτέρου καὶ τὴν μὲν φρουρὰν ἐξέβαλον, τοῖς δὲ Ῥηγίνοις τὴν αὐτονομίαν ἀπεκατέστησαν.
Tennes, having confided his scheme for betrayal to Mentor the commander of the mercenaries from Egypt, left him to guard a portion of the city and to act in concert with his agents handling the betrayal, while he himself, with five hundred men, marched out of the city, pretending that he was going to a common meeting of the Phoenicians, and he took with him the most distinguished of the citizens, to the number of one hundred, in the role of advisers. When they had come near the King he suddenly seized the hundred and delivered them to Artaxerxes. The King, welcoming him as a friend, had the hundred shot as instigators of the revolt, and when five hundred of the leading Sidonians carrying olive branches approached him, he summoned Tennes and asked him if he was able to deliver the city to him; for he was very eager not to receive Sidon on the terms of a capitulation, since his aim was to overwhelm the Sidonians with a merciless disaster and to strike terror into the other cities by their punishment. When Tennes assured him that he would deliver up the city, the King, maintaining his merciless rage, had all five hundred shot down while still holding the supplicant branches. Thereupon Tennes, approaching the mercenaries from Egypt, prevailed upon them to lead him and the King inside the walls. So Sidon by this base betrayal was delivered into the power of the Persians; and the King, believing that Tennes was of no further use to him, put him to death. But the people of Sidon before the arrival of the King burned all their ships so that none of the townspeople should be able by sailing out secretly to gain safety for himself. But when they saw the city and the walls captured and swarming with many myriads of soldiers, they shut themselves, their children, and their women up in their houses and consumed them all in flames. They say that those who were then destroyed in the fire, including the domestics, amounted to more than forty thousand. After this disaster had befallen the Sidonians and the whole city together with its inhabitants had been obliterated by the fire, the King sold that funeral pyre for many talents, for as a result of the prosperity of the householders there was found a vast amount of silver and gold melted down by the fire. So the disasters which had overtaken Sidon had such an ending, and the rest of the cities, panic-stricken, went over to the Persians. Shortly before this time Artemisia, who had held despotic rule over Caria, passed away after ruling two years, and Idrieus, her brother, succeeded to the despotism and ruled seven years. In Italy the Romans made an armistice with the people of Praeneste, and a treaty with the Samnites, and they put to death two hundred sixty inhabitants of Tarquinii at the hands of the public executioners in the Forum. In Sicily Leptines and Callippus, the Syracusans then in power, took by siege Rhegium, which was garrisoned by the tyrant Dionysius the younger, ejected the garrison, and restored to the people of Rhegium their independence.
§ 16.46
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησιν Ἀπολλοδώρου Ῥωμαῖοι κατέστησαν ὑπάτους Μάρκον Οὐαλέριον καὶ Γάιον Σουλπίκιον. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων κατὰ τὴν Κύπρον Σαλαμινίων πολιορκουμένων ὑπʼ Εὐαγόρου καὶ Φωκίωνος αἱ μὲν ἄλλαι πόλεις ἅπασαι τοῖς Πέρσαις ὑπετάγησαν, τῆς δὲ Σαλαμῖνος βασιλεύων Πνυταγόρας μόνος ὑπέμεινε τὴν πολιορκίαν. ὁ δʼ Εὐαγόρας πατρῴαν ἀρχὴν τὴν Σαλαμινίων ἀνεκτᾶτο καὶ διὰ τοῦ βασιλέως τῶν Περσῶν τὴν κάθοδον εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν ἐποιεῖτο. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα διαβληθέντος αὐτοῦ πρὸς Ἀρταξέρξην καὶ τοῦ βασιλέως βοηθοῦντος τῷ Πνυταγόρᾳ ὁ μὲν Εὐαγόρας ἀπογνοὺς τὴν κάθοδον καὶ περὶ τῶν ἐγκλημάτων ἀπολογησάμενος ἄλλης ἡγεμονίας ἠξιώθη κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν μείζονος. κακῶς δὲ τὰ κατὰ τὴν ἀρχὴν διοικήσας ἔφυγε πάλιν εἰς Κύπρον καὶ συλληφθεὶς τιμωρίας ἠξιώθη. ὁ δὲ Πνυταγόρας ἑκουσίως ὑποταγεὶς τοῖς Πέρσαις τὸ λοιπὸν ἀδεῶς ἐβασίλευε τῆς Σαλαμῖνος. ὁ δὲ τῶν Περσῶν βασιλεὺς μετὰ τὴν ἅλωσιν τῆς Σιδῶνος, παραγενομένων αὐτῷ τῶν συμμάχων ἔκ τε Ἄργους καὶ Θηβῶν καὶ τῶν κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν Ἑλληνίδων πόλεων, ἀθροίσας πᾶσαν τὴν δύναμιν προῆγεν ἐπὶ τὴν Αἴγυπτον. καταντήσας δʼ ἐπὶ τὴν μεγάλην λίμνην, καθʼ ἣν ἔστι τὰ καλούμενα Βάραθρα, μέρος τῆς δυνάμεως ἀπέβαλε διὰ τὴν ἀπειρίαν τῶν τόπων. περὶ δὲ τῆς κατὰ τὴν λίμνην φύσεως καὶ τοῦ περὶ αὐτὴν παραδόξου συμπτώματος προειρηκότες ἐν τῇ πρώτῃ βύβλῳ τὸ διλογεῖν περὶ τῶν αὐτῶν παρήσομεν. διελθὼν δὲ τὰ Βάραθρα μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως ὁ βασιλεὺς ἧκεν πρὸς τὸ Πηλούσιον· αὕτη δʼ ἐστὶ πόλις ἐπὶ τοῦ πρώτου στόματος, καθʼ ὃν τόπον ὁ Νεῖλος ποιεῖται τὰς ἐκβολάς. οἱ μὲν οὖν Πέρσαι κατεστρατοπέδευσαν ἀπὸ τεσσαράκοντα σταδίων τοῦ Πηλουσίου, οἱ δʼ Ἕλληνες πρὸς αὐτῷ τῷ πολίσματι. οἱ δʼ Αἰγύπτιοι, δεδωκότων αὐτοῖς τῶν Περσῶν πολὺν χρόνον εἰς τὴν παρασκευήν, πάντα μὲν τὰ στόματα τοῦ Νείλου καλῶς κατεσκευακότες ὑπῆρχον, μάλιστα δὲ τὸ πρὸς τῷ Πηλουσίῳ διὰ τὸ πρῶτον εἶναι τοῦτο καὶ μάλιστα κείμενον εὐκαίρως. ἐφρούρουν δὲ τὸ χωρίον στρατιῶται πεντακισχίλιοι, στρατηγοῦντος Φιλόφρονος τοῦ Σπαρτιάτου. οἱ δὲ Θηβαῖοι σπεύδοντες ἄριστοι φανῆναι τῶν συστρατευομένων Ἑλλήνων πρῶτοι καὶ μόνοι διὰ στενῆς τινος καὶ βαθείας διώρυγος ἐτόλμησαν διαβῆναι παραβόλως. διαβάντων δʼ αὐτῶν καὶ προσβαλλόντων τοῖς τείχεσιν οἱ φρουροῦντες τὸ Πηλούσιον ἐκχυθέντες ἐκ τῆς πόλεως συνῆψαν μάχην πρὸς τοὺς Θηβαίους· μεγάλου δʼ ἀγῶνος γενομένου διὰ τὰς παρʼ ἀμφοτέροις φιλοτιμίας τότε μὲν ἐν τῷ κινδύνῳ διημερεύσαντες ὑπὸ τῆς νυκτὸς διελύθησαν.
When Apollodorus was archon in Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Marcus Valerius and Gaius Sulpicius. During their term of office, in Cyprus, while the people of Salamis were being besieged by Evagoras and Phocion, the rest of the cities all became subject to the Persians, and Pnytagoras, the king of Salamis, alone continued to endure the siege. Now Evagoras was endeavouring to recover his ancestral rule over the Salaminians and through the help of the King of the Persians to be restored to his kingship. But later, when he had been falsely accused to Artaxerxes and the King was backing Pnytagoras, Evagoras, after having given up hope of his restoration, and made his defence on the accusations brought against him, was accorded another and higher command in Asia. But then when he had misgoverned his province he fled again to Cyprus and, arrested there, paid the penalty. Pnytagoras, who had made willing submission to the Persians, continued thenceforth to rule unmolested as king in Salamis. After the capture of Sidon and the arrival of his allies from Argos and Thebes and the Greek cities in Asia, the King of the Persians assembled all his army and advanced against Egypt. As he came to the great marsh where are the Barathra or Pits, as they are called, he lost a portion of his army through his lack of knowledge of the region. Since we have discoursed earlier on the nature of the marsh and the peculiar mishaps which occur there in the first Book of our History, we shall refrain from making a second statement about it. Having passed through the Barathra with his army the King came to Pelusium. This is a city at the first mouth at which the Nile debouches into the sea. Now the Persians encamped at a distance of forty stades from Pelusium, but the Greeks close to the town itself. The Egyptians, since the Persians had given them plenty of time for preparation, had already fortified well all the mouths of the Nile, particularly the one near Pelusium because it was the first and the most advantageously situated. Five thousand soldiers garrisoned the position, Philophron the Spartiate being the general in command. The Thebans, being eager to show themselves the best of the Greeks that were taking part in the expedition, were the first to venture, unsupported and recklessly, to make a crossing through a narrow and deep canal. They had passed through it and were assaulting the walls when the garrison of Pelusium sallied forth from the city and engaged in battle with the Thebans. As the engagement proved severe because of the intense rivalry on both sides, they spent the whole of that day in the battle and were separated only by the night.
§ 16.47
τῇ δʼ ὑστεραίᾳ τοῦ βασιλέως εἰς τρία μέρη τὴν Ἑλληνικὴν δύναμιν μερίσαντος ἑκάστη μερὶς εἶχε στρατηγὸν Ἕλληνα καὶ τούτῳ παρακαθεσταμένον ἡγεμόνα Πέρσην, ἄνδρα προκεκριμένον ἐπʼ ἀρετῇ τε καὶ εὐνοίᾳ. τὴν μὲν οὖν πρώτην τάξιν ἐπεῖχον οἱ Βοιωτοὶ στρατηγὸν μὲν ἔχοντες Λακράτην τὸν Θηβαῖον, ἡγεμόνα δὲ Πέρσην Ῥωσάκην· οὗτος δὲ ἀπόγονος μὲν ἦν ἑνὸς τῶν ἑπτὰ Περσῶν τῶν τοὺς μάγους καταλυσάντων, σατράπης δὲ Ἰωνίας καὶ Λυδίας· συνείπετο δʼ αὐτῷ πολλὴ μὲν ἵππος, οὐκ ὀλίγη δὲ πεζικὴ στρατιὰ τῶν βαρβάρων. δευτέρα δʼ ἦν μερὶς ἡ τῶν Ἀργείων Νικοστράτου στρατηγοῦντος καὶ μετʼ αὐτοῦ Πέρσου συνάρχοντος Ἀρισταζάνου· οὗτος δʼ ἦν εἰσαγγελεὺς τοῦ βασιλέως καὶ πιστότατος τῶν φίλων μετὰ Βαγώαν· προσωρίσθησαν δʼ αὐτῷ στρατιῶται μὲν ἐπίλεκτοι πεντακισχίλιοι, τριήρεις δὲ ὀγδοήκοντα. τῆς δὲ τρίτης μερίδος ἐστρατήγει Μέντωρ ὁ τὴν Σιδῶνα παραδούς, ἔχων τοὺς προϋπάρχοντας αὐτῷ μισθοφόρους· συνεστρατεύετο δʼ αὐτῷ Βαγώας, ᾧ μάλιστα βασιλεὺς ἐνεπίστευε, τόλμῃ καὶ παρανομίᾳ διαφέρων· εἶχε δʼ οὗτος τοὺς τοῦ βασιλέως Ἕλληνας καὶ τῶν βαρβάρων ἱκανὸν πλῆθος καὶ ναῦς οὐκ ὀλίγας. αὐτὸς δὲ τὴν λοιπὴν δύναμιν ἔχων ἐφήδρευε τοῖς ὅλοις πράγμασι. τοιαύτης δὲ τῆς διαιρέσεως γενομένης παρὰ τοῖς Πέρσαις ὁ μὲν τῶν Αἰγυπτίων βασιλεὺς Νεκτανεβὼς οὔτε τὸ πλῆθος τῶν πολεμίων οὔτε τὴν ὅλην διάταξιν τῶν Περσῶν κατεπλάγη, καίπερ πολὺ λειπόμενος τοῦ πλήθους. εἶχε γὰρ Ἕλληνας μὲν μισθοφόρους δισμυρίους, Λίβυας δὲ παραπλησίους τούτοις, Αἰγυπτίους δὲ τοὺς μαχίμους παρʼ αὐτοῖς ὀνομαζομένους ἑξακισμυρίους, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις πλοίων ποταμίων πρὸς τὰς κατὰ τὸν Νεῖλον μάχας καὶ συμπλοκὰς εὐθέτων ἄπιστον πλῆθος. ὠχύρωτο δʼ αὐτῷ καὶ ἡ πρὸς τὴν Ἀραβίαν νεύουσα πλευρὰ τοῦ ποταμοῦ, πεπυκνωμένη πολίσμασιν, ἔτι δὲ τείχεσι καὶ τάφροις πᾶσα διειλημμένη. ἔχων δὲ καὶ τὰς ἄλλας παρασκευὰς πάσας πρὸς τὸν πόλεμον ἱκανὰς διὰ τὴν ἰδίαν ἀβουλίαν ταχὺ τοῖς ὅλοις ἔπταισεν.
Then on the next day, as the king divided the Greek army into three contingents, each contingent had a Greek general, and stationed along beside him a Persian officer, a man preferred above the others for valour and loyalty. Now the forward position was held by the Boeotians, who had as general the Theban Lacrates and as Persian officer Rhosaces. The latter was a descendant of one of the seven Persians who deposed the Magi; he was satrap of Ionia and Lydia, and he was accompanied by a large force of cavalry and no small body of infantry composed of barbarians. Next in line was the Argive contingent of which Nicostratus was general and with him as Persian colleague Aristazanes. The latter was an usher of the King and the most faithful of his friends after Bagoas; and assigned to him were five thousand elite soldiers and eighty triremes. Of the third contingent Mentor was general, he who had betrayed Sidon, having the mercenaries that were formerly under his command; and associated with him on the expedition was Bagoas, whom the King trusted most, a man exceptionally daring and impatient of propriety; and he had the King's Greeks and an ample force of barbarians and not a few ships. The King himself with the remainder of the army held himself in reserve for the whole operation. Such being the distribution of the army on the Persian side, the king of the Egyptians, Nectanebos, was dismayed neither by the multitude of the enemy nor by the general disposition of the Persian forces, though his numbers were far inferior. In fact he had twenty thousand Greek mercenaries, about the same number of Libyans, and sixty thousand Egyptians of the caste known amongst them as "The Warriors", and besides these an incredible number of river-boats suited for battles and engagements on the Nile. The bank of the river facing Arabia had been strongly fortified by him, being a region crowded with towns and, besides, all intersected by walls and ditches. Although he had ready also all the other preparations which were adequate for the war, yet because of his own poor judgement he met with complete disaster.
§ 16.48
αἰτία δʼ ἐγένετο τῆς ἥττης μάλισθʼ ἡ τοῦ στρατηγεῖν ἀπειρία καὶ τὸ προνενικῆσθαι τοὺς Πέρσας ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ κατὰ τὴν πρὸ ταύτης γεγενημένην στρατείαν. ἐσχηκὼς γὰρ τοὺς τότε στρατηγοὺς ἐπιφανεῖς ἄνδρας καὶ διαφέροντας ἀρετῇ τε καὶ ἀγχινοίᾳ στρατηγικῇ, Διόφαντον τὸν Ἀθηναῖον καὶ Λάμιον τὸν Σπαρτιάτην, διὰ τούτων ἅπαντα κατώρθωσε· τότε δʼ ὑπολαμβάνων ἑαυτὸν ἱκανὸν εἶναι στρατηγὸν οὐδενὶ τῆς ἡγεμονίας μετεδίδου καὶ διὰ τὴν ἀπειρίαν οὐδὲν ἠδύνατο πράττειν τῶν ἐν τῷ πολέμῳ χρησίμων. τὰ μὲν οὖν πολίσματα φρουραῖς ἀξιολόγοις διαλαβὼν παρεφύλαττεν, αὐτὸς δὲ τῶν Αἰγυπτίων ἔχων τρισμυρίους, τῶν δʼ Ἑλλήνων πεντακισχιλίους, τῶν δὲ Λιβύων τοὺς ἡμίσεις ταῖς εὐκαιροτάταις τῶν εἰσβολῶν ἐφήδρευεν. τοιαύτης δὲ παρʼ ἀμφοτέροις οὔσης τῆς διατάξεως Νικόστρατος μὲν ὁ τῶν Ἀργείων στρατηγὸς ἔχων ἡγεμόνας Αἰγυπτίους, ὧν ἦσαν ὅμηροι παῖδες παρὰ τοῖς Πέρσαις καὶ γυναῖκες, παρέπλευσε μετὰ τοῦ στόλου διά τινος διώρυγος εἰς τόπον κεκρυμμένον, ἐκβιβάσας δὲ τοὺς στρατιώτας καὶ παρεμβολὴν ὀχυρωσάμενος κατεστρατοπέδευσεν. οἱ δὲ τὸν πλησίον τόπον παραφυλάττοντες μισθοφόροι τῶν Αἰγυπτίων ὡς ᾔσθοντο τὴν τῶν πολεμίων παρουσίαν εὐθὺς ἐξεβοήθουν, ὄντες οὐκ ἐλάττους τῶν ἑπτακισχιλίων. ἔχων δʼ αὐτῶν τὴν ἡγεμονίαν Κλείνιος ὁ Κῷος συνέταξε τὴν δύναμιν εἰς μάχην. ἀντιταχθέντων δὲ τῶν καταπεπλευκότων ἐγένετο καρτερὰ μάχη, καθʼ ἣν οἱ μετὰ τῶν Περσῶν Ἕλληνες ἀγωνισάμενοι λαμπρῶς τόν τε στρατηγὸν Κλείνιον ἐφόνευσαν καὶ τῶν ἄλλων στρατιωτῶν κατέκοψαν πλείους τῶν πεντακισχιλίων. Νεκτανεβὼς δʼ ὁ τῶν Αἰγυπτίων βασιλεὺς ἀκούσας τὴν τῶν ἰδίων ἀπώλειαν κατεπλάγη, νομίσας καὶ τὴν λοιπὴν τῶν Περσῶν δύναμιν ῥᾳδίως διαβήσεσθαι τὸν ποταμόν. ὑπολαβὼν δὲ τοὺς πολεμίους μετὰ πάσης τῆς δυνάμεως ἐπʼ αὐτὴν ἥξειν τὴν Μέμφιν ἔκρινε ταύτης μάλιστα προνοήσασθαι. οὗτος μὲν οὖν μετὰ τῆς περὶ αὐτὸν στρατιᾶς ἐπανελθὼν εἰς Μέμφιν τὰ πρὸς τὴν πολιορκίαν παρεσκευάζετο.
The reason for his defeat was chiefly his lack of experience as a general and the fact that the Persians had been defeated by him in the previous expedition. For he had then had as his generals men who were distinguished and superior both in valour and in sagacity in the art of war, Diophantus the Athenian and Lamius the Spartan, and it was because of them that he had been victorious in all respects. At this time, however, since he supposed that he himself was a competent general, he would not share the command with anyone and so, because of his inexperience, was unable to execute any of the moves that would have been useful in this war. Now when he had provided the towns here and there with considerable garrisons, he maintained a strict guard there, and having in his own command thirty thousand Egyptians, five thousand Greeks, and half the Libyans, he held them in reserve to defend the most exposed approaches. Such being the disposition of the forces on both sides, Nicostratus, the general of the Argives, having as guides Egyptians whose children and wives were held as hostages by the Persians, sailed by with his fleet through a canal into a hidden district and, disembarking his men and fortifying a site for a camp, encamped there. The mercenaries of the Egyptians who were keeping a strict guard in the neighbourhood, observing the presence of the enemy, straightway made a sally in number not less than seven thousand. Cleinius the Coan, their commander, drew up his force in line of battle. And when those who had sailed in were drawn up opposite, a sharp battle ensued in the course of which the Greeks serving with the Persians, fighting brilliantly, slew the general Cleinius and cut down more than five thousand of the rest of the soldiers. Nectanebos the Egyptian king, on hearing of the loss of his men, was terror-stricken, thinking that the rest of the Persian army also would easily cross the river. Assuming that the enemy with their entire army would come to the very gates of Memphis, he decided first and foremost to take precautionary measures to protect the city. Accordingly he returned to Memphis with the army he had retained and began to prepare for this siege.
§ 16.49
ὁ δὲ τῆς πρώτης μερίδος ἀφηγούμενος Λακράτης ὁ Θηβαῖος ἐπὶ τὴν τοῦ Πηλουσίου πολιορκίαν ὥρμησεν· ἀποστρέψας δὲ τῆς διώρυγος τὸ ῥεῦμα πρὸς ἕτερα μέρη καὶ τὸν ἀναξηρανθέντα τόπον χώσας μηχανὰς προσήγαγε τῇ πόλει. ἐπὶ πολὺ δὲ μέρος πεσόντων τῶν τειχῶν οἱ τὸ Πηλούσιον φρουροῦντες ὀξέως ἀντῳκοδόμησαν ἕτερα καὶ πύργους ξυλίνους ἀξιολόγους ἀνέστησαν. ἐπὶ δέ τινας ἡμέρας συνεχοῦς γινομένης τῆς τειχομαχίας τὸ μὲν πρῶτον οἱ κατὰ τὸ Πηλούσιον Ἕλληνες ἐρρωμένως ἠμύνοντο τοὺς πολιορκοῦντας· ὡς δʼ ἐπύθοντο τὴν τοῦ βασιλέως ἀναχώρησιν εἰς Μέμφινκαταπλαγέντες περὶ διαλύσεων ἐπρεσβεύοντο. τοῦ δὲ Λακράτους δόντος αὐτοῖς διὰ τῶν ὅρκων πίστεις ὅτι παραδόντων αὐτῶν τὸ Πηλούσιον ἀποκομισθήσονται πάντες εἰς τὴν Ἑλλάδα μεθʼ ὧν ἂν ἐξενέγκωσι, παρέδωκαν τὸ φρούριον. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ὁ μὲν Ἀρταξέρξης ἀπέστειλε Βαγώαν μετὰ στρατιωτῶν βαρβάρων παραληψόμενον τὸ Πηλούσιον· οἱ δὲ στρατιῶται παριόντες εἰς τὸ χωρίον τῶν ἐξιόντων Ἑλλήνων ἀφῃροῦντο πολλὰ τῶν ὑπʼ αὐτῶν ἐκκομιζομένων. ἀγανακτούντων δὲ τῶν ἀδικουμένων καὶ θεοὺς τοὺς ἐπόπτας τῶν ὅρκων ἐπιβοωμένων παροξυνθεὶς ὁ Λακράτης τροπὴν ἐποίησε τῶν βαρβάρων καί τινας καταβαλὼν ἐπεκούρησε τοῖς παρασπονδουμένοις. τοῦ δὲ Βαγώου φυγόντος πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα καὶ κατηγοροῦντος τοῦ Λακράτους ὁ Ἀρταξέρξης ἔκρινε δίκαια πεπονθέναι τοὺς περὶ τὸν Βαγώαν καὶ τῶν Περσῶν τοὺς αἰτίους τῆς ἁρπαγῆς ἀπέκτεινεν. τὸ μὲν οὖν Πηλούσιον τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον παρεδόθη τοῖς Πέρσαις. Μέντωρ δὲ ὁ τοῦ τρίτου μέρους ἡγούμενος Βούβαστον καὶ πολλὰς ἄλλας πόλεις χειρωσάμενος ὑπηκόους ἐποίησε τῷ βασιλεῖ διʼ ἑνὸς στρατηγήματος. πασῶν γὰρ τῶν πόλεων φρουρουμένων ὑπὸ δυεῖν ἐθνῶν, Ἑλλήνων τε καὶ Αἰγυπτίων, ὁ Μέντωρ διέδωκε λόγον εἰς τοὺς στρατιώτας ὅτι βασιλεὺς Ἀρταξέρξης τοῖς μὲν ἑκουσίως παραδιδοῦσι τὰς πόλεις φιλανθρώπως χρήσασθαι διέγνωκε, τοῖς δὲ βίᾳ κρατηθεῖσι τὴν αὐτὴν ἀπονέμειν τιμωρίαν ἥνπερ τοῖς Σιδωνίοις ἐπέστησε· καὶ τοῖς φυλάττουσι τὰς πύλας παρήγγειλεν ἐᾶν τοὺς βουλομένους παρʼ αὐτῶν αὐτομολεῖν. διόπερ ἀκωλύτως τῶν ἡλωκότων Αἰγυπτίων ἀπιόντων ἐκ τῆς παρεμβολῆς ταχέως εἰς ἁπάσας τὰς κατὰ τὴν Αἴγυπτον πόλεις ὁ λόγος ὁ προειρημένος διεσπάρη. εὐθὺς οὖν οἱ μισθοφόροι πρὸς τοὺς ἐγχωρίους πανταχῇ διεφέροντο καὶ στάσεως αἱ πόλεις ἐπληροῦντο. ἑκάτεροι γὰρ ἰδίᾳ διεφιλοτιμοῦντο παραδιδόναι τὰ φρούρια καὶ τῆς χάριτος ταύτης ἰδίας ἀγαθῶν ἐλπίδας ἠλλάττοντο· ὅπερ καὶ περὶ πρώτην τὴν Βούβαστον συνέβη γενέσθαι.
Lacrates the Theban, who was in command of the first contingent, hastened to begin the siege of Pelusium. First he diverted the stream of the canal to other directions, then when the channel had become dry he filled it with earth and brought siege engines against the city. When a large portion of the walls fell, the garrison in Pelusium quickly built others to oppose the advance and reared huge towers of wood. The battle for the walls continued for several days running and at first the Greeks in Pelusium vigorously warded off the besiegers; but when they learned of the king's withdrawal to Memphis they were so terrorstricken that they sent envoys to arrange for a settlement. Since Lacrates gave them pledges backed by oaths to the effect that if they surrendered Pelusium they would all be conveyed back to Greece with whatever they could carry on their backs, they delivered over the citadel. After this Artaxerxes dispatched Bagoas with barbarian soldiers to take over Pelusium, and the soldiers, arriving at this place as the Greeks were issuing forth, seized upon many of the articles they were carrying out. The victims of this injustice in their anger called loudly upon the gods who were guardians of their oaths, whereupon Lacrates became incensed, put the barbarians to flight, slaying a number of them, thus standing by the Greeks, the sufferers from the broken pledges. But when Bagoas fled to the King and brought accusation against Lacrates, Artaxerxes decided that Bagoas' contingent had met with their just deserts and put to death the Persians who were responsible for the robbery. So it was in this fashion that Pelusium was delivered over to the Persians. Mentor, who was in command of the third contingent, captured Bubastus and many other cities and made them subject to the King by a single strategic device. For since all the cities were garrisoned by two peoples, Greeks and Egyptians, Mentor passed the word around to the soldiers that King Artaxerxes had decided to treat magnanimously those who voluntarily surrendered their cities, but to mete out the same penalty to those who were overcome by force as he had imposed on the people of Sidon; and he instructed those who guarded the gates to give free passage to any who wished to desert from the other side. Accordingly, since the captured Egyptians were leaving the barracks without hindrance, the aforementioned word was quickly scattered amongst all the cities of Egypt. Immediately, therefore, the mercenaries were everywhere at variance with the natives and the cities were filled with strife; for each side was privately endeavouring to surrender its posts and nursing private hopes of gain in exchange for this favour; and this is what actually happened in the case of the city of Bubastus first.
§ 16.50
ὡς γὰρ οἱ περὶ τὸν Μέντορα καὶ Βαγώαν πλησίον αὐτῆς κατεστρατοπέδευσαν, οἱ μὲν Αἰγύπτιοι λάθρᾳ τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἐξέπεμψάν τινα πρὸς τὸν Βαγώαν, ἐπαγγελλόμενοι παραδώσειν τὴν πόλιν ἐὰν αὐτοῖς τὴν ἀσφάλειαν συγχωρήσωσιν. οἱ δʼ Ἕλληνες αἰσθόμενοι τὸ γεγονὸς κατεδίωξαν τὸν ἀπεσταλμένον καὶ φόβον ἐπικρεμάσαντες ἤκουσαν τὴν ἀλήθειαν· ἐφʼ οἷς παροξυνθέντες ἐπέθεντο τοῖς Αἰγυπτίοις καὶ τινὰς μὲν ἀπέκτειναν, τινὰς δὲ τραυματίας ποιήσαντες τοὺς λοιποὺς συνήλασαν εἴς τι μέρος τῆς πόλεως. οἱ δʼ ἡττηθέντες δηλώσαντες τῷ Βαγώᾳ τὸ γεγονὸς ἠξίουν κατὰ τάχος ἐλθόντα παραλαβεῖν τὴν πόλιν παρʼ αὐτῶν. τῶν δὲ Ἐλλήνων πρὸς τὸν Μέντορα λάθρᾳ διακηρυκευσαμένων ὁ Μέντωρ ἐν ἀπορρήτοις παρεκάλεσεν αὐτούς, ὅταν Βαγώας εἰς τὴν πόλιν εἰσέλθῃ, τὴν ἐπίθεσιν τοῖς βαρβάροις ποιήσασθαι. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τοῦ Βαγώου μετὰ τῶν Περσῶν εἰσιόντος ἄνευ τῆς τῶν Ἑλλήνων συγκαταθέσεως καὶ μέρους τῶν στρατιωτῶν εἰσεληλυθότος οἱ μὲν Ἕλληνες ἄφνω τὰς θύρας κλείσαντες ἐπέθεντο τοῖς ἐντὸς τῶν τειχῶν ὑπάρχουσι καὶ πάντας ἀνελόντες τὸν Βαγώαν αὐτὸν ἐζώγρησαν. ὁ δὲ τὰς τῆς σωτηρίας ἐλπίδας ὁρῶν ἐν τῷ Μέντορι κειμένας ἐδεήθη σῶσαι καὶ εἰς τὸ λοιπὸν κατεπηγγείλατο μηθὲν πράξειν ἄνευ τῆς ἐκείνου γνώμης. ὁ δὲ Μέντωρ πείσας τοὺς Ἕλληνας ἀφεῖναι τὸν Βαγώαν καὶ διʼ ἑαυτοῦ γενέσθαι τὴν παράδοσιν τὴν μὲν ἐπιγραφὴν τοῦ προτερήματος αὐτὸς ἀπηνέγκατο, τῷ δὲ Βαγώᾳ τῆς σωτηρίας αἴτιος γενόμενος συνέθετο πρὸς αὐτὸν κοινοπραγίαν καὶ δοὺς ὅρκους καὶ λαβὼν περὶ τούτων διετέλεσε τὴν σύνθεσιν φυλάττων μέχρι τῆς τοῦ βίου τελευτῆς. διὸ καὶ συνέβη τούτους παρὰ βασιλεῖ συμφρονοῦντας ὕστερον πλεῖστον ἰσχῦσαι τῶν φίλων καὶ συγγενῶν τῶν παρʼ Ἀρταξέρξῃ· ὁ μὲν γὰρ Μέντωρ ἐν τοῖς παραθαλαττίοις μέρεσι τῆς Ἀσίας ἡγεμὼν μέγιστος ἀποδειχθεὶς τῷ βασιλεῖ μεγάλας παρείχετο χρείας ἐκ μὲν τῆς Ἑλλάδος μισθοφόρους ἀθροίζων καὶ πέμπων πρὸς Ἀρταξέρξην, κατὰ δὲ τὰς πράξεις ἀνδρείως καὶ πιστῶς ἅπαντα διοικῶν· ὁ δὲ Βαγώας ἐν ταῖς ἄνω σατραπείαις ἅπαντα τῷ βασιλεῖ διῳκηκὼς τοσοῦτον ἴσχυσε διὰ τὴν πρὸς τὸν Μέντορα κοινωνίαν τῶν πράξεων ὥστε τῆς βασιλείας κύριον εἶναι καὶ μηδὲν πράττειν τὸν Ἀρταξέρξην ἄνευ τῆς ἐκείνου γνώμης. καὶ μετὰ τὴν ἐκείνου τελευτὴν τοὺς διαδόχους αἰεὶ τῆς βασιλείας οὗτος ἀπεδείκνυτο καὶ πάντα βασιλέως εἶχε πλὴν τῆς προσηγορίας. ἀλλὰ περὶ μὲν τούτων τὰ κατὰ μέρος ἐν τοῖς οἰκείοις χρόνοις ἀναγράψομεν.
When, namely, the forces of Mentor and Bagoas were encamped near Bubastus, the Egyptians, without the knowledge of the Greeks, sent an envoy to Bagoas offering to deliver the city if he would consent to their safety. The Greeks, having knowledge of the mission, overtook the envoy and by dire threats extracted the truth, whereat they were much enraged and attacked the Egyptians, slew some, wounded others, and herded the rest into a quarter of the city. The discomfited men, having notified Bagoas of what had taken place, asked him to come with all speed and receive the city from themselves. But the Greeks had been privately treating with Mentor, who gave them secret encouragement, as soon as Bagoas should enter Bubastus, to attack the barbarians. Later on, when Bagoas with the Persians was entering the city without the sanction of the Greeks and a portion of his men had got inside, the Greeks suddenly closed the gates and attacked those who were inside the walls, and, having slain all the men, took Bagoas himself prisoner. The latter, seeing that his hopes of safety lay in Mentor, besought him to spare his life and promised in future to do nothing without his advice. Mentor, who now prevailed upon the Greeks to set Bagoas free and to arrange the surrender through himself, won credit himself for his success, but, having become responsible for Bagoas' life, he made an agreement with him for common action, and after an exchange of pledges on this matter kept the agreement faithfully till the end of his life. The result of this was that these two by their cooperation in the service of the King attained later on to the greatest power of all the friends and relatives at Artaxerxes' court. In fact Mentor, having been appointed to the chief command in the coastal districts of Asia, performed great services to the King in gathering mercenaries from Greece and sending them to Artaxerxes, and in the course of his activities administering all his duties courageously and loyally. As for Bagoas, after he had administered all the King's affairs in the upper satrapies, he rose to such power because of his partnership with Mentor that he was master of the kingdom, and Artaxerxes did nothing without his advice. And after Artaxerxes' death he designated in every case the successor to the throne and enjoyed all the functions of kingship save the title. But of these matters we shall record the details in their proper chronological sequence.
§ 16.51
τότε δὲ μετὰ τὴν τῆς Βουβάστου παράδοσιν αἱ λοιπαὶ πόλεις καταπλαγεῖσαι καθʼ ὁμολογίαν παρεδόθησαν τοῖς Πέρσαις. ἐν δὲ τῇ Μέμφει διατρίβων ὁ βασιλεὺς Νεκτανεβὼς καὶ θεωρῶν τὴν τῶν πόλεων ἐπὶ τὴν προδοσίαν ὁρμὴν οὐκ ἐτόλμησεν ὑποστῆναι τοὺς ὑπὲρ τῆς ἡγεμονίας κινδύνους. ἀπογνοὺς οὖν τὴν βασιλείαν καὶ τὰ πλεῖστα τῶν χρημάτων ἀναλαβὼν ἔφυγεν εἰς τὴν Αἰθιοπίαν. Ἀρταξέρξης δὲ παραλαβὼν πᾶσαν τὴν Αἴγυπτον καὶ τῶν ἀξιολογωτάτων πόλεων τὰ τείχη περιελὼν τὰ μὲν ἱερὰ συλήσας ἤθροισεν ἀργύρου τε καὶ χρυσοῦ πλῆθος, ἀπήνεγκε δὲ καὶ τὰς ἐκ τῶν ἀρχαίων ἱερῶν ἀναγραφάς, ἃς ὕστερον Βαγώας πολλῶν χρημάτων ἀπελύτρωσε τοῖς ἱερεῦσι τῶν Αἰγυπτίων. τοὺς δὲ συστρατευσαμένους τῶν Ἑλλήνων κατὰ τὴν ἀξίαν ἕκαστον δωρεαῖς ἀξιολόγοις τιμήσας ἀπέλυσεν εἰς τὰς πατρίδας· τῆς δʼ Αἰγύπτου σατράπην καταστήσας Φερενδάτην ἐπανῆλθεν μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως εἰς Βαβυλῶνα πολλὰ μὲν χρήματα καὶ λάφυρα κομίζων, δόξαν δὲ μεγάλην ἐκ τῶν κατορθωμάτων περιπεποιημένος.
At the time under consideration, after the surrender of Bubastus, the remaining cities, terror-stricken, were delivered to the Persians by capitulation. But King Nectanebos, while still tarrying in Memphis and perceiving the trend of the cities toward betrayal, did not dare risk battles for his dominion. So giving up hope of his kingship and taking with him the greater part of his possessions, he fled into Aethiopia. Artaxerxes, after taking over all Egypt and demolishing the walls of the most important cities, by plundering the shrines gathered a vast quantity of silver and gold, and he carried off the inscribed records from the ancient temples, which later on Bagoas returned to the Egyptian priests on the payment of huge sums by way of ransom. Then when he had rewarded the Greeks who had accompanied him on the campaign with lavish gifts, each according to his deserts, he dismissed them to their native lands; and, having installed Pherendates as satrap of Egypt, he returned with his army to Babylon, bearing many possessions and spoils and having won great renown by his successes.
§ 16.52
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησι Καλλιμάχου Ῥωμαῖοι κατέστησαν ὑπάτους Μάρκιον Γάιον καὶ ΠόπλιονΟὐαλέριον. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Ἀρταξέρξης ὁρῶν μεγάλας ἑαυτῷ παρεσχημένον χρείας ἐν τῷ πρὸς Αἰγυπτίους πολέμῳ Μέντορα τὸν στρατηγὸν προῆγεν αὐτὸν μάλιστα τῶν φίλων. τιμήσας δʼ ἀριστείοις τὸν ἄνδρα ἐδωρήσατο αὐτῷ ἀργυρίου μὲν ἑκατὸν τάλαντα, τῆς δʼ ἄλλης πολυτελοῦς κατασκευῆς τὴν κρατίστην· ἀπέδειξε δὲ σατράπην τῆς κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν παραλίας καὶ τὸν πρὸς τοὺς ἀφεστηκότας πόλεμον ἐπέτρεψεν, αὐτοκράτορα στρατηγὸν ἀποδείξας. ὁ δὲ Μέντωρ ἔχων οἰκειότητα πρὸς Ἀρτάβαζον καὶ Μέμνονα τοὺς διαπεπολεμηκότας μὲν πρὸς Πέρσας ἐν τοῖς ἐπάνω χρόνοις, τότε δὲ πεφευγότας ἐκ τῆς Ἀσίας καὶ διατρίβοντας παρὰ Φιλίππῳ, δεηθεὶς τοῦ βασιλέως ἔπεισεν αὐτὸν ἀπολῦσαι τοὺς ἄνδρας τῶν ἐγκλημάτων. εὐθὺς δὲ καὶ μετεπέμψατο πρὸς ἑαυτὸν ἀμφοτέρους μεθʼ ὅλης τῆς συγγενείας· ἦσαν γὰρ Ἀρταβάζῳ γεγονότες ἐκ τῆς Μέντορος καὶ Μέμνονος ἀδελφῆς υἱοὶ μὲν ἕνδεκα, θυγατέρες δὲ δέκα. ψυχαγωγούμενος δʼ ἐπὶ τῷ πλήθει τῶν τέκνων ὁ Μέντωρ προῆγε τοὺς παῖδας, παραδιδοὺς αὐτοῖς τὰς ἐπιφανεστάτας ἐν τοῖς στρατιωτικοῖς ἡγεμονίας. ἐστρατεύσατο δʼ ἐπὶ πρῶτον Ἑρμίαν τὸν Ἀταρνέως τύραννον, ἀφεστηκότα τοῦ βασιλέως καὶ πολλῶν ὀχυρωμάτων καὶ πόλεων κυριεύοντα. ἐπαγγειλάμενος δʼ αὐτῷ πείσειν τὸν βασιλέα καὶ τῶν ἐγκλημάτων ἀπολῦσαι συνῆλθεν εἰς λόγους καὶ παρακρουσάμενος αὐτὸν συνέλαβε. κυριεύσας δὲ τοῦ δακτυλίου καὶ γράψας εἰς τὰς πόλεις ὅτι διήλλακται τῷ βασιλεῖ διὰ Μέντορος καὶ σφραγισάμενος τὰς ἐπιστολὰς τῷ τοῦ Ἑρμείου δακτυλίῳ συνεξέπεμψε τοὺς παραληψομένους τὰ χωρία. οἱ δʼ ἐν ταῖς πόλεσι πιστεύσαντες τοῖς γεγραμμένοις καὶ τὴν εἰρήνην ἀγαπητῶς προσδεξάμενοι παρέδωκαν πάντες τὰ φρούρια καὶ τὰς πόλεις. Μέντωρ μὲν οὖν διʼ ἀπάτης ταχὺ παραλαβὼν ἀκινδύνως τὰ τῶν ἀποστατῶν πολίσματα μεγάλης ἀποδοχῆς ἔτυχε παρὰ τῷ βασιλεῖ, δόξας δύνασθαι στρατηγεῖν πραγματικῶς. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους ἡγεμόνας τοὺς ἀλλοτρίως διακειμένους τοῖς Πέρσαις τοὺς μὲν βιασάμενος, τοὺς δὲ καταστρατηγήσας ἅπαντας ταχέως κατεπολέμησεν. καὶ τὰ μὲν κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν ἐν τούτοις ἦν. κατὰ δὲ τὴν Εὐρώπην Φίλιππος μὲν ὁ Μακεδόνων βασιλεὺς στρατεύσας ἐπὶ τὰς Χαλκιδικὰς πόλεις Ζερεία μὲν φρούριον ἐκπολιορκήσας κατέσκαψε, τῶν δʼ ἄλλων πολισμάτων ἔνια καταπληξάμενος ἠνάγκασεν ὑποτάττεσθαι· ἐπὶ δὲ τὰς Φερὰς τῆς Θετταλίας παρελθὼν Πειθόλαον δυναστεύοντα τῆς πόλεως ἐξέβαλεν. ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις ἐν τῷ Πόντῳ Σπάρτακος ὁ τοῦ Πόντου βασιλεὺς ἐτελεύτησεν ἄρξας ἔτη πέντε, τὴν δʼ ἡγεμονίαν διαδεξάμενος ὁ ἀδελφὸς Παιρισάδης ἐβασίλευσεν ἔτη τριάκοντα ὀκτώ.
When Callimachus was archon at Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Gaius Marcius and Publius Valerius. During their term of office Artaxerxes, seeing that Mentor the general had performed great services for him in the war against the Egyptians, advanced him over and above his other friends. Esteeming him worthy of honour for his gallant actions, he gave him a hundred talents of silver and also the best of expensive decorations, and he appointed him satrap of the Asiatic coast and placed him in charge of the war against the rebels, having designated him general in supreme command. And since Mentor was related to Artabazus and Memnon, both of whom had warred against the Persians in the preceding period and at the time now under consideration were fugitives from Asia residing at the court of Philip, he requested the King and prevailed upon him to dismiss the charges against them. Immediately afterwards he also summoned them both to come to his presence with all their families; for there had been born to Artabazus by the sister of Mentor and Memnon eleven sons and ten daughters. And Mentor was so enchanted with the large number of children born to the marriage that he promoted the lads, giving them the most distinguished commands in the armed forces. He made his first campaign against Hermias the tyrant of Atarneus, who had revolted are the King and was master of many fortresses and cities. Having promised Hermias that he would prevail upon the King to dismiss the charges against him too, he met him at a conference and then, playing him false, arrested him. After getting possession of his signetring and writing to the cities that a reconciliation had been effected with the King through Mentor's intervention, he sealed the letters with Hermias' ring, and sent the letters and with them agents who were to take over the districts. The populations of the cities, trusting the documents and being quite content to accept the peace, all surrendered their fortresses and cities. Now that Mentor through deception had quickly and without risk recovered the towns of the rebels, he won great favour with the King, who concluded that he was capable of performing the duties of general realistically. Similarly with regard to the other commanders who were at odds with the Persians, whether by force or by stratagem, he soon subdued them all. And this was the state of affairs in Asia. In Europe Philip, the Macedonian king, marched against the cities of Chalcidice, took the fortress of Zereia [ms reading uncertain] by siege and razed it. He then intimidated some of the other towns and compelled them to submit. Then coming against Pherae in Thessaly he expelled Peitholaus, who was in control of the city. While these things were going on, there occurred in Pontus the death of Spartacus king of Pontus after a rule of five years. His brother Paerisades succeeded to the throne and reigned for thirty-eight years.
§ 16.53
τοῦ δʼ ἔτους τούτου διελθόντος Ἀθήνησι μὲν ἦρχε Θεόφιλος, ἐν Ῥώμῃ δὲ κατεστάθησαν ὕπατοι Γάιος Σουλπίκιος καὶ Γάιος Κοΐντιος, Ὀλυμπιὰς δʼ ἤχθη ὀγδόη πρὸς ταῖς ἑκατόν, καθʼ ἣν ἐνίκα στάδιον Πολυκλῆς Κυρηναῖος. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Φίλιππος μὲν σπεύδων τὰς ἐφʼ Ἑλλησπόντῳ πόλεις χειρώσασθαι Μηκύβερναν μὲν καὶ Τορώνην χωρὶς κινδύνων διὰ προδοσίας παρέλαβεν, ἐπὶ δὲ τὴν μεγίστην τῶν περὶ τοὺς τόπους τούτους πόλεων Ὄλυνθον στρατεύσας μετὰ πολλῆς δυνάμεως τὸ μὲν πρῶτον νικήσας τοὺς Ὀλυνθίους δυσὶ μάχαις συνέκλεισεν εἰς πολιορκίαν, προσβολὰς δὲ συνεχεῖς ποιούμενος πολλοὺς τῶν στρατιωτῶν ἀπέβαλεν ἐν ταῖς τειχομαχίαις· τὸ δὲ τελευταῖον φθείρας χρήμασι τοὺς προεστηκότας τῶν Ὀλυνθίων, Εὐθυκράτην τε καὶ Λασθένην, διὰ τούτων προδοθεῖσαν τὴν Ὄλυνθον εἷλεν. διαρπάσας δʼ αὐτὴν καὶ τοὺς ἐνοικοῦντας ἐξανδραποδισάμενος ἐλαφυροπώλησε. τοῦτο δὲ πράξας χρημάτων τε πολλῶν εἰς τὸν πόλεμον εὐπόρησε καὶ τὰς ἄλλας πόλεις τὰς ἐναντιουμένας κατεπλήξατο. τοὺς δὲ ἀνδραγαθήσαντας τῶν στρατιωτῶν κατὰ τὴν μάχην ἀξίαις δωρεαῖς τιμήσας καὶ χρημάτων πλῆθος διαδοὺς τοῖς ἐν ταῖς πόλεσιν ἰσχύουσι πολλοὺς ἔσχε προδότας τῶν πατρίδων. καὶ αὐτὸς δὲ ἀπεφαίνετο διὰ χρυσίου πολὺ μᾶλλον ἢ διὰ τῶν ὅπλων ηὐξηκέναι τὴν ἰδίαν βασιλείαν.
When this year had elapsed, at Athens Theophilus was archon, and at Rome Gaius Sulpicius and Gaius Quintius were elected as consuls, and the one hundred eighth celebration of the Olympian games was held at which Polycles of Cyrene won the stadion race. During their term of office Philip, whose aim was to subdue the cities on the Hellespont, acquired without a battle Mecyberna and Torone by treasonable surrender, and then, having taken the field with a large army against the most important of the cities in this region, Olynthus, he first defeated the Olynthians in two battles and confined them to the defence of their walls; then in the continuous assaults that he made he lost many of his men in encounters at the walls, but finally bribed the chief officials of the Olynthians, Euthycrates and Lasthenes, and captured Olynthus through their treachery. After plundering it and enslaving the inhabitants he sold both men and property as booty. By so doing he procured large sums for prosecuting the war and intimidated the other cities that were opposed to him. Having rewarded with appropriate gifts such soldiers as had behaved gallantly in the battle and distributed a sum of money to men of influence in the cities, he gained many tools ready to betray their countries. Indeed he was wont to declare that it was far more by the use of gold than of arms that he had enlarged his kingdom.
§ 16.54
οἱ δʼ Ἀθηναῖοι τὴν αὔξησιν ὑφορώμενοι τοῦ Φιλίππου τοῖς ἀεὶ πολεμουμένοις ὑπὸ τοῦ βασιλέως ἐβοήθουν, πρέσβεις ἀποστέλλοντες ἐπὶ τὰς πόλεις καὶ παρακαλοῦντες τηρεῖν τὴν αὐτονομίαν καὶ τοὺς ἐπὶ τὴν προδοσίαν ὁρμῶντας τῶν πολιτῶν θανάτῳ κολάζειν· ἐπηγγέλλοντο δὲ πᾶσι συμμαχήσειν καὶ φανερῶς ἑαυτοὺς πολεμίους ἀποδείξαντες τῷ βασιλεῖ διεπολέμουν πρὸς Φίλιππον. μάλιστα δʼ αὐτοὺς παρώξυνε προστῆναι τῆς Ἑλλάδος Δημοσθένης ὁ ῥήτωρ, δεινότατος ὢν τῶν κατʼ ἐκείνους τοὺς χρόνους Ἑλλήνων. οὐ μὴν ἡ πόλις γε ἀναστεῖλαι τῆς ἐπὶ τὴν προδοσίαν ὁρμῆς ἠδυνήθη τοὺς πολίτας· τοιαύτη γὰρ φορά τις προδοτῶν ὑπῆρξε τότε κατὰ τὴν Ἑλλάδα. διὸ καί φασι τὸν Φίλιππον βουλόμενον ἑλεῖν τινα πόλιν ὀχυρότητι διαφέρουσαν, εἰπόντος τινὸς αὐτῷ τῶν ἐγχωρίων ἀνάλωτον αὐτὴν ἐκ βίας ὑπάρχειν, ἐπερωτῆσαι εἰ οὐδʼ ὁ χρυσὸς τὸ τεῖχος ὑπερβῆναι δυνατός ἐστιν. ἦν γὰρ πεῖραν εἰληφὼς ὅτι τὰ τοῖς ὅπλοις ἀδύνατα χειρωθῆναι τῷ χρυσῷ ῥᾴδιόν ἐστι καταπολεμῆσαι. ἐγκατασκευάζων οὖν ἐν ταῖς πόλεσι προδότας διὰ τῆς δωροδοκίας καὶ τοὺς δεχομένους τὸ χρυσίον ξένους καὶ φίλους ὀνομάζων ταῖς πονηραῖς ὁμιλίαις διέφθειρε τὰ ἤθη τῶν ἀνθρώπων.
Since the Athenians viewed with alarm the rising power of Philip, they came to the assistance of any people who were attacked by the king, by sending envoys to the cities and urging them to watch over their independence and punish with death those citizens who were bent on treason, and they promised them all that they would fight as their allies, and, after publicly declaring themselves the king's enemies, engaged in an out-and-out war against Philip. The man who more than any other spurred them on to take up the cause of Hellas was the orator Demosthenes, the most eloquent of the Greeks of those times. Even his city was, however, unable to restrain its citizens from their urge toward treason, such was the crop, as it were, of traitors that had sprung up at that time throughout Hellas. Hence the anecdote that when Philip wished to take a certain city with unusually strong fortifications and one of the inhabitants remarked that it was impregnable, he asked if even gold could not scale its walls. For he had learned from experience that what could not be subdued by force of arms could easily be vanquished by gold. So, organizing bands of traitors in the several cities by means of bribes and calling those who accepted his gold "guests" and "friends," by his evil communications he corrupted the morals of the people.
§ 16.55
μετὰ δὲ τὴν ἅλωσιν τῆς Ὀλύνθου Ὀλύμπια ποιήσας τοῖς θεοῖς ἐπινίκια μεγαλοπρεπεῖς θυσίας συνετέλεσεν· πανήγυριν δὲ μεγάλην συστησάμενος καὶ λαμπροὺς ἀγῶνας ποιήσας πολλοὺς τῶν ἐπιδημούντων ξένων ἐπὶ τὰς ἑστιάσεις παρελάμβανε. παρὰ δὲ τοὺς πότους πολλαῖς ὁμιλίαις χρώμενος καὶ πολλοῖς μὲν ποτήρια διδοὺς κατὰ τὰς προπόσεις, οὐκ ὀλίγοις δὲ δωρεὰς ἀπονέμων, πᾶσι δὲ μεγάλας ἀπαγγελίας εὐχαρίστως ποιούμενος πολλοὺς ἔσχεν ἐπιθυμητὰς τῆς πρὸς αὐτὸν φιλίας. καὶ δήποτʼ ἐν τῷ συμποσίῳ κατανοήσας Σάτυρον τὸν ὑποκριτὴν σκυθρωπὸν ὄντʼ ἤρετο διὰ τί μόνος οὐδὲν ἀξιοῖ μεταλαβεῖν τῆς παρʼ αὐτοῦ φιλανθρωπίας· τοῦ δʼ εἰπόντος ὅτι βούλεται παρʼ αὐτοῦ τυχεῖν τινος δωρεᾶς, δεδοικέναι δὲ μήποτε δηλώσας τὴν προκεχειρισμένην ἔντευξιν ἀποτύχῃ, ὁ μὲν βασιλεὺς περιχαρὴς γενόμενος διεβεβαιώσατο πᾶν ὅ τι ἂν αἰτήσῃ χαρίσασθαι· ὁ δʼ εἶπεν ὅτι ξένου τινὸς ἑαυτοῦ δύο παρθένοι τὴν ἡλικίαν ἔχουσαι γάμου τυγχάνουσιν ἐν ταῖς αἰχμαλώτοις οὖσαι· ταύτας οὖν βούλεσθαι λαβεῖν οὐχ ἵνα λυσιτέλειάν τινα περιποιήσηται τυχὼν τῆς δωρεᾶς, ἀλλʼ ἵνα προικίσας ἀμφοτέρας συνοικίσῃ καὶ μὴ περιίδῃ μηδὲν παθούσας ἀνάξιον τῆς ἡλικίας. μετὰ δὲ ταῦθʼ ὁ Φίλιππος ἀσμένως τὴν αἴτησιν προσδεξάμενος παραχρῆμα τὰς παρθένους ἐδωρήσατο τῷ Σατύρῳ. πολλὰς δὲ καὶ ἄλλας παντοδαπὰς εὐεργεσίας καὶ δωρεὰς διασπείρων ἐκομίζετο τοὺς μισθοὺς πολλαπλασίους τῆς χάριτος· πολλοὶ γὰρ ταῖς τῆς εὐεργεσίας ἐλπίσι προκληθέντες ἔφθασαν ἀλλήλους προσνέμοντες ἑαυτοὺς τῷ Φιλίππῳ καὶ τὰς πατρίδας ἐγχειρίζοντες.
After the capture of Olynthus, he celebrated the Olympian festival to the gods in commemoration of his victory, and offered magnificent sacrifices; and he organized a great festive assembly at which he held splendid competitions and thereafter invited many of the visiting strangers to his banquets. In the course of the carousals he joined in numerous conversations, presenting to many guests drinking cups as he proposed the toasts, awarding gifts to a considerable number, and graciously making such handsome promises to them all that he won over a large number to crave friendship with him. At one time in the course of the drinking bout, noticing Satyrus, the actor, with a gloomy look on his face, Philip asked him why he alone disdained to partake of the friendly courtesy he offered; and when Satyrus said that he wished to obtain a boon from him but he feared lest, if he disclosed the request he had decided upon, he should be refused, the king, exceedingly pleased, affirmed that he granted forthwith any favour he might ask. He replied that there were two virgin daughters of a friend of his who were of marriageable age among the captive women; these girls he wished to obtain, not in order to derive any profit if he were granted the gift, but to give them both a dowry and husbands and would not permit them to suffer any indignity unworthy of their years. Thereupon Philip gladly acceded to his request and immediately made a present of the girls to Satyrus. And by dispensing many other benefactions and gifts of every kind he reaped returns many times greater than his favour; for many who were incited by hopes of his beneficence outstripped one another in devoting themselves to Philip and in delivering their countries to him.
§ 16.56
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησι Θεμιστοκλέους ἐν Ῥώμῃ τὴν ὑπατικὴν ἀρχὴν διεδέξαντο Γάιος Κορνήλιος καὶ Μάρκος Ποπίλιος. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Βοιωτοὶ πολλὴν τῆς Φωκίδος χώραν πορθήσαντες περὶ τὴν ὀνομαζομένην Ὕαν πόλιν ἐνίκησαν τοὺς πολεμίους καὶ κατέβαλον αὐτῶν περὶ ἑβδομήκοντα. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Βοιωτοὶ περὶ Κορώνειαν συμπλακέντες τοῖς Φωκεῦσιν ἡττήθησαν καὶ συχνοὺς ἀπέβαλον. ἔπειτα τῶν Φωκέων κατασχόντων ἱκανάς τινας πόλεις ἐν τῇ Βοιωτίᾳ στρατεύσαντες οἱ Βοιωτοὶ καὶ τὸν σῖτον ἐκ τῆς χώρας τῶν πολεμίων φθείραντες κατὰ τὴν ἐπάνοδον ἡττήθησαν. ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις Φάλαικος μὲν ὁ τῶν Φωκέων στρατηγὸς, διαβληθεὶς ὅτι πολλὰ τῶν ἱερῶν χρημάτων κέκλοφεν, ἐξέπεσεν ἐκ τῆς ἀρχῆς, ἀντὶ δὲ τούτου στρατηγῶν αἱρεθέντων τριῶν, Δεινοκράτους καὶ Καλλίου καὶ Σωφάνους, ἐγένετο ζήτησις τῶν ἱερῶν χρημάτων καὶ λόγον τοὺς κεχειρικότας οἱ Φωκεῖς ἀπῄτουν· ἦν δὲ πλεῖστα διῳκηκὼς Φίλων. οὗτος δʼ οὐ δυνάμενος ἀποδοῦναι τὸν λόγον κατεδικάσθη καὶ στρεβλωθεὶς ὑπὸ τῶν στρατηγῶν τοὺς μετέχοντας τῆς κλοπῆς ἐμήνυσεν, αὐτὸς δὲ ταῖς ἐσχάταις αἰκίαις περιπεσὼν οἰκείαν τῆς ἀσεβείας ἔσχε τὴν τοῦ βίου καταστροφήν. οἱ δὲ νοσφισάμενοι τὰ χρήματα τὰ σωζόμενα καὶ περιόντα τῶν ἐκ τῆς κλοπῆς ἀπέδωκαν, αὐτοὶ δʼ ἐθανατώθησαν ὡς ἱερόσυλοι. τῶν δὲ προγεγενημένων στρατηγῶν ὁ μὲν πρῶτος ἄρξας Φιλόμηλος ἀπέσχετο τῶν ἀναθημάτων, ὁ δὲ δεύτερος,προσαγορευόμενος μὲν Ὀνόμαρχος, ἀδελφὸς δʼ ὢν Φιλομήλου, πλεῖστα τῶν τοῦ θεοῦ χρημάτων κατεδαπάνησε, τρίτος δὲ Φάυλλος ὁ ἀδελφὸς Ὀνομάρχου στρατηγήσας οὐκ ὀλίγα τῶν ἀναθημάτων κατέκοψεν εἰς τὰς τῶν ξένων μισθοφοράς. τὰς γὰρ ἀνατεθείσας ὑπὸ Κροίσου τοῦ Λυδῶν βασιλέως χρυσᾶς πλίνθους, οὔσας ἑκατὸν καὶ εἴκοσι διταλάντους, κατέκοψεν εἰς νόμισμα, φιάλας δὲ χρυσᾶς τριακοσίας καὶ ἑξήκοντα διμναίους καὶ λέοντα χρυσοῦν καὶ γυναῖκα, τριάκοντα ταλάντων χρυσοῦ σταθμὸν ἀγόντων τῶν πάντων· ὥστε τὸ πᾶν κατακοπὲν χρυσίον εἰς ἀργυρίου λόγον ἀναγομένων τῶν χρημάτων εὑρίσκεσθαι τάλαντα τετρακισχίλια· τῶν δʼ ἀργυρῶν ἀναθημάτων τῶν τε ὑπὸ Κροίσου καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἁπάντων ἀνατεθέντων τοὺς πάντας στρατηγοὺς δεδαπανηκέναι τάλαντα πλείω τῶν ἑξακισχιλίων, προστιθεμένων δὲ καὶ τῶν χρυσῶν ἀναθημάτων ὑπερβάλλειν τὰ μύρια τάλαντα. οὐδʼ ὅσα λάινος οὐδὸς ἀφήτορος ἐντὸς ἐέργει Φοίβου Ἀπόλλωνος Πυθοῖ ἐνὶ πετρηέσσῃ. τῶν δὲ στρατιωτῶν ἐγχειρούντων σκάπτειν τὰ περὶ τὸν τρίποδα σεισμοὶ μεγάλοι γενόμενοι τοῖς Φωκεῦσι φόβον ἐπέστησαν, φανερῶς δὲ τῶν θεῶν προσημαινόντων τὴν κατὰ τῶν ἱεροσύλων κόλασιν ἀπέστησαν τῶν ἔργων. ὁ δὲ τῆς παρανομίας ταύτης ἡγεμὼν Φίλων ὁ προειρημένος ταχὺ τῷ δαιμονίῳ τὰς προσηκούσας δίκας ἐξέτισε.
When Themistocles was archon at Athens, at Rome Gaius Cornelius and Marcus Popilius succeeded to the consular office. During their term of office the Boeotians, after sacking much of the Phocian territory about the city named Hya, defeated their enemies and slew about seventy of them. After this the Boeotians, having come to grips near Coroneia with the Phocians, were defeated and lost many men. When the Phocians now seized several cities of considerable size in Boeotia, the Boeotians took the field and destroyed the grain in enemy territory, but were defeated on the return journey. While these things were going on, Phalaecus, the general of the Phocians, who was accused of stealing many of the sacred properties, was removed from his command. Three generals having been chosen to replace him, Democrates, Callias, and Sophanes, an investigation into the sacred property took place and the Phocians called upon those who had administered it to render an accounting. The man who had been in charge of most of it was Philon. Since he was unable to render a proper accounting, he was adjudged guilty, and after being tortured by the generals disclosed the names of his accomplices in the theft, while he himself, after being subjected to the utmost torments, obtained the kind of death that suited his impiety. Those who had diverted the properties to their own use restored whatever balance they still possessed of the stolen property and were themselves put to death as temple-robbers. Of the generals who had been in office previously, the first to hold the office, Philomelus, had kept his hands off the dedications, but the second, named Onomarchus, brother of Philomelus, squandered much of the god's money, while the third, Phayllus, the brother of Onomarchus, when he became general, struck into coin a large number of the dedications in order to pay the mercenaries. For he coined for currency one hundred twenty gold bricks which had been dedicated by Croesus king of the Lydians weighing two talents each, and three hundred sixty golden goblets weighing two minae each, and golden statues of a lion and of a woman, weighing in all thirty talents of gold, so that the sum total of gold that was coined into money, referred to the standard of silver, is found to be four thousand talents, while of the silver offerings, those dedicated by Croesus and all the others, all three generals had spent more than six thousand talents' worth, and if to these were added the gold dedications, the sum surpassed ten thousand talents. Some of the historians say that the pillaged property was not less than the sums acquired by Alexander in the treasure chambers of the Persians. The generals on the staff of Phalaecus took steps even to dig up the temple, because some one said that there was a treasure chamber in it containing much gold and silver, and they zealously dug up the ground about the hearth and tripod. The man who gave information about the treasure offered as witness the most famous and ancient of poets Homer, who says in a certain passage: "Nor all the wealth beneath the stony floor that lies Where Phoebus, archer god, in rocky Pytho dwells." But as the soldiers attempted to dig about the tripod, great earthquakes occurred and roused fear in the hearts of the Phocians, and since the gods clearly indicated in advance the punishment they would visit upon the temple-robbers, the soldiers desisted from their efforts. The leader of this sacrilege, the aforementioned Philon, was promptly punished as he deserved for his crime against the god.
§ 16.57
τῆς δὲ τῶν ἱερῶν χρημάτων φθορᾶς τὴν μὴν ὅλην ἐπιγραφὴν ἔσκον Φωκεῖς, μετέσχον δὲ τῆς αἱρέσεως Ἀθηναῖοι καὶ Λακεδαιμόνιοι συμμαχήσαντες τοῖς Φωκεῦσι καὶ οὐ κατὰ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν ἐκπεμπομένων στρατιωτῶν τοὺς μισθοὺς λαβόντες. οὕτω δὲ τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις ὁ χρόνος οὗτος ἤνεγκεν ἐξαμαρτάνειν εἰς τὸ δαιμόνιον ὥστε μικρὸν ἀνώτερον τῶν Δελφικῶν καιρῶν Ἰφικράτους διατρίβοντος περὶ Κόρκυραν μετὰ ναυτικῆς δυνάμεως καὶ Διονυσίου τοῦ Συρακοσίων δυνάστου πέμψαντος εἰς Ὀλυμπίαν καὶ Δελφοὺς ἀγάλματα ἐκ χρυσοῦ καὶ ἐλέφαντος δεδημιουργημένα περιτυχὼν ταῖς κομιζούσαις αὐτὰ ναυσὶν ὁ Ἰφικράτης καὶ κρατήσας αὐτῶν διεπέμψατο πρὸς τὸν δῆμον ἐπερωτῶν τί χρὴ πράττειν, οἱ δʼ Ἀθηναῖοι προσέταξαν αὐτῷ μὴ τὰ τῶν θεῶν ἐξετάζειν, ἀλλὰ σκοπεῖν ὅπως τοὺς στρατιώτας διαθρέψει. Ἰφικράτης μὲν οὖν ὑπακούσας τῷ δόγματι τῆς πατρίδος ἐλαφυροπώλησε τὸν τῶν θεῶν κόσμον· ὁ δὲ τύραννος ὀργισθεὶς τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις ἔγραψε πρὸς αὐτοὺς ἐπιστολὴν τοιαύτην. Διονύσιος Ἀθηναίων τῇ βουλῇ καὶ τῷ δήμῳ εὖ μὲν πράττειν οὐκ ἐπιτήδειόν ἐστι γράφειν, ἐπεὶ τοὺς θεοὺς καὶ κατὰ γῆν καὶ κατὰ θάλατταν ἱεροσυλεῖτε καὶ τὰ ἀγάλματα τὰ εἰς ἀνάθεσιν ὑφʼ ἡμῶν τοῖς θεοῖς ἀπεσταλμένα παρελόμενοι κατεκόψατε καὶ περὶ τοὺς μεγίστους τῶν θεῶν ἠσεβήκατε, περὶ τὸν Ἀπόλλωνα τὸν ἐν Δελφοῖς καὶ τὸν Δία τὸν Ὀλύμπιον. Ἀθηναῖοι μὲν οὖν περὶ τὸ θεῖον τοιαῦτʼ ἔπραξαν, καὶ ταῦτα εὐχόμενοι τὸν Ἀπόλλωνα πατρῷον αὐτῶν εἶναι καὶ πρόγονον· Λακεδαιμόνιοι δὲ τῷ περὶ Δελφοὺς μαντείῳ χρησάμενοι καὶ τὴν θαυμαζομένην παρὰ πᾶσι πολιτείαν διὰ τούτου κτησάμενοι καὶ περὶ τῶν μεγίστων ἔτι καὶ νῦν τὸν θεὸν ἐπερωτῶντες ἐτόλμησαν τοῖς τὸ ἱερὸν συλήσασι κοινωνῆσαι τῆς παρανομίας.
Although the loss of the sacred property was ascribed entirely to the Phocians, the Athenians and the Lacedemonians, who were fighting on the side of the Phocians and received pay out of all proportion to the number of soldiers they sent out, shared in the seizure. This period brought it to pass for the Athenians that they sinned against the divine powers to such an extent that, shortly before the Delphian affair, as Iphicrates was tarrying near Corcyra with a naval force and Dionysius the tyrant of Syracuse had shipped to Olympia and to Delphi statues cunningly wrought in gold and ivory, Iphicrates, chancing to fall in with the ships that were conveying these statues, seized them and sent word to the Athenian people inquiring what he should do with them; whereat the Athenians instructed him not to raise questions about what concerned the gods but to give his attention to seeing that his soldiers were well fed. Now Iphicrates, obeying the decision of his country, sold as booty the works of art belonging to the gods. The tyrant, filled with rage at the Athenians, wrote them a letter of the following tenor: "Dionysius to the Senate and Assembly of the Athenians: It is inappropriate to wish you to do well since you are committing sacrilege against the gods both on land and on sea, and, having made off with the statues which had been sent by us to be dedicated to the gods, you have turned them into coin and have committed impiety toward the greatest of the gods, Apollo, whose abode is Delphi, and Olympian Zeus." Such now was the conduct of the Athenians toward the divine powers, and that too though they boasted that Apollo was their tutelary god and progenitor. And the Lacedemonians, though they had consulted the oracle of Apollo at Delphi and through it come to possess their constitution which is admired of all the world, though even now they still interrogate the god on matters of supreme importance, had the effrontery to become partners in crime of those who had pillaged the sanctuary.
§ 16.58
κατὰ δὲ τὴν Βοιωτίαν οἱ μὲν Φωκεῖς τρεῖς πόλεις ἔχοντες ὠχυρωμένας, Ὀρχομενὸν καὶ Κορώνειαν καὶ Κορσίας, ἐκ τούτων ἐποιοῦντο τὴν ἐπὶ τοὺς Βοιωτοὺς στρατείαν. εὐπορούμενοι δὲ μισθοφόρων τήν τε χώραν ἐδῄουν καὶ κατὰ τὰς ἐπιθέσεις καὶ συμπλοκὰς περιεγίνοντο τῶν ἐγχωρίων. διόπερ οἱ Βοιωτοὶ θλιβόμενοι μὲν τῷ πολέμῳ καὶ πολλοὺς τῶν στρατιωτῶν ἀπολωλεκότες, χρημάτων δὲ ἀπορούμενοι πρέσβεις ἐξέπεμψαν πρὸς τὸν Φίλιππον ἀξιοῦντες βοηθῆσαι. ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς ἡδέως ὁρῶν τὴν ταπείνωσιν αὐτῶν καὶ βουλόμενος τὰ Λευκτρικὰ φρονήματα συστεῖλαι τῶν Βοιωτῶν ὀλίγους ἀπέστειλε στρατιώτας, αὐτὸ μόνον φυλαττόμενος τὸ μὴ δοκεῖν περιορᾶν τὸ μαντεῖον σεσυλημένον. τῶν δὲ Φωκέων οἰκοδομούντων φρούριον περὶ τὰς ὀνομαζομένας Ἄβας, καθʼ ἅς ἐστιν Ἀπόλλωνος ἅγιον ἱερόν, ἐστράτευσαν ἐπʼ αὐτοὺς οἱ Βοιωτοί. εὐθὺ δʼ αὐτῶν οἱ μὲν εἰς τὰς ἔγγιστα πόλεις φυγόντες διεσπάρησαν, οἱ δʼ εἰς τὸν νεὼ τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνος καταφυγόντες εἰς πεντακοσίους ἀπώλοντο. πολλὰ μὲν οὖν καὶ ἄλλα θεῖα περὶ τοὺς Φωκεῖς συνέβη γενέσθαι περὶ τούτους τοὺς χρόνους, μάλιστα δὲ τὸ μέλλον λέγεσθαι. οἱ γὰρ εἰς τὸν νεὼ καταφυγόντες ὑπέλαβον διὰ τῆς τῶν θεῶν ἐπικουρίας σωθήσεσθαι, τοὐναντίον δὲ θείᾳ τινὶ προνοίᾳ τῆς προσηκούσης τοῖς ἱεροσύλοις τιμωρίας ἔτυχον· πολλῆς γὰρ οὔσης στιβάδος περὶ τὸν νεὼ καὶ πυρὸς ἐν ταῖς σκηναῖς τῶν πεφευγότων ἀπολελειμμένου συνέβη τῆς στιβάδος ἐκκαυθείσης τοσαύτην ἐξαφθῆναι φλόγα παραδόξως ὥστε τὸν ναὸν καὶ τοὺς καταπεφευγότας εἰς αὐτὸν Φωκεῖς ζῶντας καταφλεχθῆναι. τοῖς γὰρ ἱεροσύλοις ἔδοξε τὸ θεῖον μὴ διδόναι τὴν ἐκ τῆς ἱκεσίας συγχωρουμένην ἀσφάλειαν.
In Boeotia the Phocians, who held three strongly fortified cities, Orchomenus, Coroneia, and Corsiae, conducted from these their campaign against the Boeotians. Being well supplied with mercenaries they pillaged the country and in their thrusts and engagements proved superior to the inhabitants of the place. As a consequence the Boeotians, feeling the pinch of war and the loss of great numbers of their men, but having no financial resources, sent envoys to Philip with a request for assistance. The king, pleased to see their discomfiture and disposed to humble the Boeotians' pride over Leuctra, dispatched few men, being on his guard against one thing only — lest he be thought to be indifferent to the pillaging of the oracle. As the Phocians were engaged in building a fortress near the place named Abae, at which is a holy shrine of Apollo, the Boeotians took the field against them. Some of the Phocians straightway fled to the nearest cities and dispersed, while others took refuge in the temple of Apollo and perished to the number of five hundred. Now many other divine visitations fell to the lot of the Phocians about this period, and in particular the one that I am about to relate. The men who had taken refuge in the temple supposed that their lives would be saved through the intervention of the gods, but on the contrary through some divine Providence they met with the punishment temple-robbers well deserve. For there was a quantity of rushes about the temple, and a fire had been left behind in the tents of the men who had fled, with the result that the rushes caught fire and such a great conflagration was touched off so miraculously that the temple was consumed and the Phocians who had fled to it for refuge were burned alive. Indeed it became apparent that the gods do not extend to temple-robbers the protection generally accorded to suppliants.
§ 16.59
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησιν Ἀρχίου Ῥωμαῖοι κατέστησαν ὑπάτους Μάρκον Αἰμίλιον καὶ Τίτον Κοΐνκτιον. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων ὁ Φωκικὸς πόλεμος, διαμείνας ἔτη δέκα, κατελύθη τόνδε τὸν τρόπον. Βοιωτῶν καὶ Φωκέων τεταπεινωμένων διὰ τὸ μῆκος τοῦ πολέμου Φωκεῖς μὲν πρέσβεις ἐξαπέστειλαν εἰς Λακεδαίμονα περὶ βοηθείας, Σπαρτιᾶται δὲ χιλίους ὁπλίτας ἐξέπεμψαν στρατηγὸν ἐπιστήσαντες Ἀρχίδαμον τὸν βασιλέα. Βοιωτῶν δὲ παραπλησίως τούτοις διαπρεσβευσαμένων πρὸς Φίλιππον περὶ συμμαχίας ὁ Φίλιππος παραλαβὼν τοὺς Θετταλοὺς ἧκεν εἰς τὴν Λοκρίδα μετὰ πολλῆς δυνάμεως. καταλαβὼν δὲ Φάλαικον πάλιν τῆς στρατηγίας ἠξιωμένον καὶ τὸ τῶν μισθοφόρων ἔχοντα πλῆθος παρεσκευάζετο παρατάξει κρῖναι τὸν πόλεμον· ὁ δὲ Φάλαικος ἐν τῇ Νικαίᾳ διατρίβων καὶ θεωρῶν αὑτὸν οὐκ ἀξιόμαχον ὄντα διεπρεσβεύσατο πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα περὶ διαλύσεων. γενομένης δʼ ὁμολογίας ὥστε τὸν Φάλαικον μετὰ τῶν στρατιωτῶν ἀπελθεῖν ὅποι βούλοιτο, οὗτος μὲν ὑπόσπονδος εἰς τὴν Πελοπόννησον ἀπεχώρησε μετὰ τῶν μισθοφόρων, ὄντων ὀκτακισχιλίων, οἱ δὲ Φωκεῖς συντριβέντες ταῖς ἐλπίσι παρέδωκαν ἑαυτοὺς τῷ Φιλίππῳ. ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς ἄνευ μάχης ἀνελπίστως καταλύσας τὸν ἱερὸν πόλεμον συνήδρευε μετὰ Βοιωτῶν καὶ Θετταλῶν. ἔκρινεν οὖν συναγαγεῖν τὸ τῶν Ἀμφικτυόνων συνέδριον καὶ τούτῳ τὴν περὶ τῶν ὅλων διάγνωσιν ἐπιτρέψαι.
When Archias was archon at Athens, the Romans elected Marcus Aemilius and Titus Quinctius consuls. During their term of office the Phocian War, after lasting for ten years, was terminated in the following manner. Since the Boeotians and the Phocians were utterly dejected by the length of the war, the Phocians dispatched envoys to Lacedemon asking for reinforcements, and the Spartans sent a thousand hoplites in charge of whom as general they placed their king Archidamus. Similarly the Boeotians sent an embassy to Philip proposing an alliance, and Philip, after taking over the Thessalians, entered Locris with a large army. And when he had overtaken Phalaecus, who had again been granted the generalship and had the main body of the mercenaries, Philip prepared to decide the war by a pitched battle. But Phalaecus, who was tarrying in Nicaea and saw that he was no match for Philip, sent ambassadors to the king to treat for an armistice. An agreement was reached whereby Phalaecus with his men should depart whithersoever he wished, and he then, under terms of the truce, withdrew to the Peloponnese with his mercenaries to the number of eight thousand, but the Phocians, whose hopes were now completely crushed, surrendered to Philip. The king, having without a battle unexpectedly terminated the Sacred War, sat in council with the Boeotians and the Thessalians. As a result he decided to call a meeting of the Amphictyonic Council and leave to it the final decision on all the issues at stake.
§ 16.60
ἔδοξεν οὖν τοῖς συνέδροις μεταδοῦναι τῷ Φιλίππῳ καὶ τοῖς ἀπογόνοις αὐτοῦ τῆς Ἀμφικτυονίας καὶ δύο ψήφους ἔχειν, ἃς πρότερον οἱ καταπολεμηθέντες Φωκεῖς εἶχον· τῶν δʼ ἐπὶ Φωκεῦσι τριῶν πόλεων περιελεῖν τὰ τείχη καὶ μηδεμίαν κοινωνίαν εἶναι τοῖς Φωκεῦσι τοῦ ἱεροῦ μηδὲ τοῦ Ἀμφικτυονικοῦ συνεδρίου· μὴ ἐξεῖναι δὲ αὐτοῖς μήτε ἵππους μήτε ὅπλα κτήσασθαι, μέχρις ἂν οὗ τὰ χρήματα ἐκτίσωσι τῷ θεῷ τὰ σεσυλημένα· τοὺς δὲ πεφευγότας τῶν Φωκέων καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν μετεσχηκότων τῆς ἱεροσυλίας ἐναγεῖς εἶναι καὶ ἀγωγίμους πάντοθεν· τὰς δὲ πόλεις ἁπάσας τῶν Φωκέων κατασκάψαι καὶ μετοικίσαι εἰς κώμας, ὧν ἑκάστην μὴ πλεῖον ἔχειν οἰκιῶν πεντήκοντα, μηδʼ ἔλαττον διεστάναι σταδίου τὰς κώμας ἀπʼ ἀλλήλων· ἔχειν δὲ Φωκεῖς τὴν χώραν καὶ φέρειν κατʼ ἐνιαυτὸν τῷ θεῷ φόρον τάλαντα ἑξήκοντα, μέχρις ἂν ἐκτίσωσι τὰ ἀπογραφέντα χρήματα κατὰ τὴν ἱεροσυλίαν· τιθέναι δὲ καὶ τὸν ἀγῶνα τῶν Πυθίων Φίλιππον μετὰ Βοιωτῶν καὶ Θετταλῶν διὰ τὸ Κορινθίους μετεσχηκέναι τοῖς Φωκεῦσι τῆς εἰς τὸ θεῖον παρανομίας· τοὺς δὲ Ἀμφικτύονας καὶ τὸν Φίλιππον τὰ ὅπλα τῶν Φωκέων καὶ τῶν μισθοφόρων καταπετροκοπῆσαι καὶ τὰ λείψανα αὐτῶν κατακαῦσαι καὶ τοὺς ἵππους ἀποδόσθαι. ἀκολούθως δὲ τούτοις διέταξαν οἱ Ἀμφικτύονες τὰ περὶ τὴν ἐπιμέλειαν τοῦ μαντείου καὶ τἄλλα πάντα τὰ πρὸς εὐσέβειαν καὶ κοινὴν εἰρήνην καὶ ὁμόνοιαν τοῖς Ἕλλησιν ἀνήκοντα. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Φίλιππος μὲν τὰ δεδογμένα τοῖς Ἀμφικτύοσι συγκαταστήσας καὶ πρὸς πάντας φιλοφρονηθεὶς ἐπανῆλθεν εἰς Μακεδονίαν, οὐ μόνον δόξαν εὐσεβείας καὶ ἀρετῆς στρατηγικῆς περιπεποιημένος, ἀλλὰ καὶ πρὸς τὴν μέλλουσαν αὔξησιν αὐτῷ γίνεσθαι μεγάλα προκατεσκευασμένος. ἐπεθύμει γὰρ τῆς Ἑλλάδος ἀποδειχθῆναι στρατηγὸς αὐτοκράτωρ καὶ τὸν πρὸς Πέρσας ἐξενεγκεῖν πόλεμον· ὅπερ καὶ συνέβη γενέσθαι. ἀλλὰ περὶ μὲν τούτων ἐν τοῖς οἰκείοις χρόνοις τὰ κατὰ μέρος ἀναγράψομεν, νῦν δʼ ἐπὶ τὸ συνεχὲς τῆς ἱστορίας τρεψόμεθα.
The members of the Council then passed a decree admitting Philip and his descendants to the Amphictyonic Council and according him two votes which formerly had been held by the Phocians, now defeated in war. They also voted that the three cities in the possession of the Phocians should have their walls removed and that the Phocians should have no participation in the shrine of Delphi or in the Council of the Amphictyons; that they should not be permitted to acquire either horses or arms until they should have repaid to the god the monies they had pillaged; that those of the Phocians who had fled and any others who had had a share in the robbing the sanctuary were to be under a curse and subject to arrest wherever they might be; that all the cities of the Phocians were to be razed and the men moved to villages, no one of which should have more than fifty houses, and the villages were to be not less than a stade distant from one another; that the Phocians were to possess their territory and to pay each year to the god a tribute of sixty talents until they should have paid back the sums entered in the registers at the time of the pillaging of the sanctuary. Philip, furthermore, was to hold the Pythian games together with the Boeotians and Thessalians, since the Corinthians had shared with the Phocians in the sacrilege committed against the god. The Amphictyons and Philip were to hurl the arms of the Phocians and their mercenaries down the crags and burn what remained of them and to sell the horses. In similar tenor the Amphictyons laid down regulations for the custody of the oracle and other matters affecting due respect for the gods and the general peace and concord of the Greeks. Thereafter, when Philip had helped the Amphictyons give effect to their decrees and had dealt courteously with all, he returned to Macedonia, having not merely won for himself a reputation piety and excellent generalship, but having also made important preparations for the aggrandizement that was destined to be his. For he was ambitious to be designated general of Hellas in supreme command and as such to prosecute the war against the Persians. And this was what actually came to pass. But these events we shall record severally in their proper periods; we shall now proceed with the thread of our narrative.
§ 16.61
δίκαιον δʼ εἶναι νομίζομεν πρῶτον ἀναγράψαι τὴν ἐκ θεῶν γενομένην τοῖς εἰς τὸ μαντεῖον παρανενομηκόσι κόλασιν, ὅλως γὰρ οὐ μόνον τοῖς αὐθένταις τῆς ἱεροσυλίας, ἀλλὰ καὶ πᾶσι τοῖς προσαψαμένοις μόνον τῆς παρανομίας ἀπαραίτητος ἐκ τοῦ δαιμονίου ἐπηκολούθησε τιμωρία. ὁ μὲν γὰρ ἀρχιτέκτων τῆς καταλήψεως τοῦ ἱεροῦ Φιλόμηλος κατά τινα περίστασιν πολεμικὴν ἑαυτὸν κατεκρήμνισεν, ὁ δὲ ἀδελφὸς αὐτοῦ Ὀνόμαρχος διαδεξάμενος τὴν τῶν ἀπονοηθέντων στρατηγίαν μετὰ τῶν συμπαραταξαμένων ἐν Θετταλίᾳ Φωκέων καὶ μισθοφόρων κατακοπεὶς ἐσταυρώθη. ὁ δὲ τρίτος καὶ πλεῖστα τῶν ἀναθημάτων κατακόψας Φάυλλος πολυχρονίῳ νόσῳ νοσήσας οὐδʼ ἀπολυθῆναι συντόμως τῆς τιμωρίας ἠδυνήθη. ὁ δʼ ἐπὶ πᾶσι Φάλαικος τὰ λείψανα τῆς ἱεροσυλίας ἀναλαβὼν ἐν πλάναις καὶ μεγάλοις φόβοις καὶ κινδύνοις ἐφʼ ἱκανὸν χρόνον ἐβίωσεν, οὐχ ἵνα μακαριώτερος γένηται τῶν συνασεβησάντων, ἀλλʼ ἵνα πλείω χρόνον στρεβλωθεὶς καὶ πολλοῖς διὰ τὴν ἀτυχίαν γενόμενος γνώριμος περιβόητον ἔχῃ τὴν συμφοράν. οὗτος γὰρ μετὰ τὴν ἐκ τῆς ὁμολογίας φυγὴν μετὰ τῶν μισθοφόρων τὸ μὲν πρῶτον διέτριβεν περὶ τὴν Πελοπόννησον, συνέχων τοὺς στρατιώτας ἐκ τῶν ἱεροσυληθέντων λειψάνων, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ἐν Κορίνθῳ μισθωσάμενος πλοῖα φορτηγὰ μεγάλα καὶ τέσσαρας ἔχων ἡμιολίας παρεσκευάζετο πρὸς τὸν εἰς Ἰταλίαν καὶ Σικελίαν πλοῦν, νομίζων ἐν τούτοις τοῖς τόποις ἢ καταλήψεσθαί τινα πόλιν ἢ τεύξεσθαι μισθοφορίας· ἐτύγχανε γὰρ Λευκανοῖς πρὸς Ταραντίνους συνεστηκὼς πόλεμος. πρὸς δὲ τοὺς συμπλέοντας ἔφη μετάπεμπτος πλεῖν ὑπὸ τῶν ἐξ Ἰταλίας καὶ Σικελίας.
But first it is only right, so we think, to record the punishment which was visited by the gods upon those who had committed the outrage on the oracle. For, speaking generally, it was not merely the perpetrators of the sacrilege but all persons who had the slightest connection with the sacrilege that were hounded by the inexorable retribution sent of Heaven. In fact the man who first schemed for the seizure of the shrine, Philomelus, in a crisis of the war hurled himself over a cliff, while his brother Onomarchus, after taking over the command of his people, now become desperate, was cut to pieces in a battle in Thessaly, along with the Phocians and mercenaries of his command, and crucified. The third in succession and the one who coined into money most of the dedications, Phayllus, fell ill of a lingering disease and so was unable even to secure a quick release from his punishment. And the last of all, Phalaecus, who had gathered the remnants of the pillaged property, passed his life for a considerable length of time wandering about in great fear and danger, though it was not Heaven's intent that he should be happier than those who participated with him in the sacrilege, but that by being tortured longer and by becoming known to many for his misfortunes, his sad fate might become notorious. For when he had taken flight with his mercenaries following the agreement, he first sojourned in the Peloponnese, supporting his men on the last remnants of the pillaging, but later he hired vessels prepared for the voyage to Italy and Sicily, thinking that in these regions he would either seize some city or obtain service for pay, for a war was in progress, as it chanced, between the Lucanians and the Tarentines. To his fellow passengers he had been summoned by the people of Italy and Sicily.
§ 16.62
ἐκπλεύσαντος δʼ αὐτοῦ καὶ πελαγίου γενομένου στρατιῶταί τινες τῶν ἐν τῷ μεγίστῳ πλοίῳ κομιζομένων,ᾧπερ αὐτὸς ὁ Φάλαικος ἐνέπλει, λόγον ἀλλήλοις ἐδίδοσαν ὑπονοοῦντες μηδένα μεταπέμψασθαι σφᾶς· οὔτε γὰρ ἡγεμόνας ἑώρων ἀπὸ τῶν ἐπικαλουμένων συμπλέοντας οὔθʼ ὁ πλοῦς ἦν ὀλίγος, ἀλλὰ πολὺς ὑπέκειτο καὶ χαλεπός. διόπερ ἀπιστοῦντες ἅμα τοῖς λεγομένοις καὶ φοβούμενοι τὴν διαπόντιον στρατείαν συνίσταντο καὶ μάλισθʼ οἱ τὰς ἡγεμονίας ἔχοντες τῶν μισθοφόρων. τέλος δὲ σπασάμενοι τὰ ξίφη καὶ καταπληξάμενοι τόν τε Φάλαικον καὶ τὸν κυβερνήτην ἠνάγκασαν εἰς τοὐπίσω πάλιν ἀποπλεῖν. τὸ δʼ αὐτὸ καὶ τῶν ἐν τοῖς ἄλλοις πλοίοις κομιζομένων ποιησάντων κατέπλευσαν εἰς τὴν Πελοπόννησον. ἀθροισθέντες δʼ εἰς Μαλέαν ἄκραν τῆς Λακωνικῆς ἐκεῖ κατέλαβον ἐκ Κρήτης καταπεπλευκότας Κνωσσίους πρέσβεις ἐπὶ συναγωγῇ μισθοφόρων· ὧν διαλεχθέντων τῷ τε Φαλαίκῳ καὶ τοῖς ἡγεμόσι καὶ δόντων ἀξιολόγους τοὺς μισθοὺς μετὰ τούτων ἅπαντες ἐξέπλευσαν. κατάραντες δὲ τῆς Κρήτης εἰς Κνωσσὸν εὐθὺς ἐξ ἐφόδου πόλιν κατελάβοντο τὴν καλουμένην Λύκτον. τοῖς δὲ Λυκτίοις ἐκ τῆς πατρίδος ἐκπεπτωκόσι παράδοξος καὶ σύντομος ἐφάνη βοήθεια. περὶ γὰρ τοὺς αὐτοὺς χρόνους Ταραντίνων διαπολεμούντων πρὸς Λευκανοὺς καὶ πρὸς Λακεδαιμονίους, ὄντας προγόνους ἑαυτῶν, πεμψάντων πρέσβεις περὶ βοηθείας οἱ μὲν Σπαρτιᾶται διὰ τὴν συγγένειαν προθύμως ἔχοντες συμμαχῆσαι ταχέως δύναμιν ἤθροιζον πεζικήν τε καὶ ναυτικὴν καὶ ταύτης στρατηγὸν ἀπέδειξαν Ἀρχίδαμον τὸν βασιλέα· μελλόντων δʼ ἀπαίρειν εἰς τὴν Ἰταλίαν, ἠξίωσαν οἱ Λύκτιοι πρῶτον αὐτοῖς βοηθῆσαι· οἱ δὲ Λακεδαιμόνιοι πεισθέντες καὶ πλεύσαντες εἰς τὴν Κρήτην τοὺς μισθοφόρους ἐνίκησαν, τοῖς δὲ Λακτίοις ἀνέσωσαν τὴν πατρίδα.
When he had sailed out of the harbour and was on the high seas, some of the soldiers who were in the largest ship, on which Phalaecus himself was a passenger, conferred with one another because they suspected that no one had sent for them. For they could see on board no officers sent by the peoples who were soliciting aid, and the voyage in prospect was not short, but long and dangerous. Accordingly, since they not only distrusted what they had been told but also feared the overseas campaign, they conspired together, above all those who had commands among the mercenary troops. Finally drawing their swords and menacing Phalaecus and the pilot they forced them to reverse their course. And when those who were sailing in the other boats also did the same, they put in again at a Peloponnesian harbour. Then they gathered at the Malean promontory in Laconia and there found Cnossian envoys who had sailed in from Crete to enlist mercenaries. After these envoys had conversed with Phalaecus and the commanders and had offered rather high pay, they all sailed off with them. Having made port at Cnossus in Crete, they immediately took by storm the city called Lyctus. But to the Lyctians, who had been expelled from their native land, there appeared a miraculous and sudden reinforcement. For at about the same time the people of Tarentum were engaged in prosecuting a war against the Lucanians and had sent to the Lacedemonians, who were the stock of their ancestors, envoys soliciting help, whereupon the Spartans, who were willing to join them because of their relationship, quickly assembled an army and navy and as general in command of it appointed King Archidamus. But as they were about to set sail for Italy, a request came from the Lyctians to help them first. Consenting to this, the Lacedemonians sailed to Crete, defeated the mercenaries and restored to the Lyctians their native land.
§ 16.63
μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ὁ μὲν Ἀρχίδαμος πλεύσας εἰς τὴν Ἰταλίαν καὶ συμμαχήσας τοῖς Ταραντίνοις ἔν τινι μάχῃ διαγωνισάμενος λαμπρῶς ἐτελεύτησεν, ἀνὴρ κατὰ μὲν τὴν στρατηγίαν καὶ τὸν ἄλλον βίον ἐπαινούμενος, κατὰ δὲ τὴν πρὸς Φωκεῖς συμμαχίαν μόνην βλασφημούμενος, ὡς μάλιστʼ αἴτιος γεγονὼς τῆς τῶν Δελφῶν καταλήψεως. Ἀρχίδαμος μὲν οὖν ἐβασίλευσε τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων ἔτη τρία πρὸς τοῖς εἴκοσι, τὴν δʼ ἀρχὴν διαδεξάμενος Ἆγις ὁ υἱὸς ἐβασίλευσεν ἔτη δεκαπέντε. ἔπειτα οἱ μὲν Ἀρχιδάμου μισθοφόροι μετεσχηκότες τῆς τοῦ μαντείου συλήσεως ὑπὸ τῶν Λευκανῶν κατηκοντίσθησαν, ὁ δὲ Φάλαικος ἐκπεσὼν ἐκ τῆς Λύκτου Κυδωνίαν πολιορκεῖν ἐπεχείρησεν. κατασκευάσαντος δὲ αὐτοῦ μηχανὰς πολιορκητικὰς καὶ προσάγοντος τῇ πόλει, κεραυνῶν πεσόντων αὗται μὲν ὑπὸ τοῦ θείου πυρὸς κατεφλέχθησαν, τῶν δὲ μισθοφόρων πολλοὶ παραβοηθοῦντες ταῖς μηχαναῖς ὑπὸ τοῦ πυρὸς διεφθάρησαν· ἐν οἷς ἦν καὶ ὁ στρατηγὸς Φάλαικος. ἔνιοι δέ φασιν αὐτὸν προσκόψαντά τινι τῶν μισθοφόρων ὑπὸ τούτου σφαγῆναι. οἱ δὲ περιλειφθέντες τῶν μισθοφόρων ἀναληφθέντες ὑπὸ Ἠλείων φυγάδων εἰς τὴν Πελοπόννησον ἐκομίσθησαν καὶ μετὰ τούτων ἐπολέμουν πρὸς Ἠλείους. Ἀρκάδων δὲ συναγωνισαμένων τοῖς Ἠλείοις καὶ μάχῃ νικησάντων τοὺς φυγάδας πολλοὶ μὲν τῶν μισθοφόρων ἀνῃρέθησαν, οἱ δὲ περιλειφθέντες εἰς τετρακισχιλίους ἐζωγρήθησαν. διελομένων δὲ τῶν τε Ἀρκάδων καὶ Ἠλείων τοὺς αἰχμαλώτους οἱ μὲν Ἀρκάδες τοὺς ἑαυτοῖς μερισθέντας ἅπαντας ἐλαφυροπώλησαν, οἱ δʼ Ἠλεῖοι διὰ τὴν εἰς τὸ μαντεῖον παρανομίαν ἀπέσφαξαν.
After this Archidamus sailed to Italy and joined forces with the Tarentines but lost his life fighting gallantly in battle. He was praised for his ability as a general and for his conduct on the whole, though in the matter of the Phocian alliance alone he was severely criticized as the one who was chiefly responsible for the seizure of Delphi. Now Archidamus was king of the Lacedemonians for twentythree years, and Agis his son succeeded to the throne and ruled for fifteen years. After the death of Archidamus his mercenaries, who had participated in plundering the shrine, were shot down by the Lucanians, whereas Phalaecus, now that he had been driven out of Lyctus, attempted to besiege Cydonia. He had constructed siege engines and was bringing them up against the city when lightning descended and these structures were consumed by the divine fire, and many of the mercenaries in attempting to save the engines perished in the flames. Among them was the general Phalaecus. But some say that he offended one of the mercenaries and was slain by him. The mercenaries who survived were taken into their service by Eleian exiles, were then transported to the Peloponnese, and with these exiles were engaged in war against the people of Elis. When the Arcadians joined the Eleians in the struggle and defeated the exiles in battle, many of the mercenaries were slain and the remainder, about four thousand, were taken captive. After the Arcadians and the Eleians had divided up the prisoners, the Arcadians sold as booty all who had been apportioned to them, while the Eleians executed their portion because of the outrage committed against the oracle.
§ 16.64
οἱ μὲν οὖν τῆς ἱεροσυλίας μετασχόντες τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον ὑπὸ τοῦ δαιμονίου τιμωρίας ἠξιώθησαν. αἱ δʼ ἐπισημόταται πόλεις κοινωνήσασαι τῆς παρανομίας ὕστερον ὑπʼ Ἀντιπάτρου καταπολεμηθεῖσαι τὴν ἡγεμονίαν ἅμα καὶ τὴν ἐλευθερίαν ἀπέβαλον. αἱ δὲ τῶν ἐν Φωκεῦσιν ἡγεμόνων γυναῖκες περιθέμεναι τοὺς χρυσοῦς ἐκ Δελφῶν ὅρμους οἰκείας τῆς ἀσεβείας τιμωρίας ἔτυχον· ἡ μὲν γὰρ τὸν τῆς Ἑλένης γεγενημένον φορέσασα εἰς ἑταιρικὴν αἰσχύνην ἐνέπεσε καὶ τὸ κάλλος προέβαλε τοῖς ἐξυβρίζειν προαιρουμένοις, ἡ δὲ τὸν τῆς Ἐριφύλης περιθεμένη τῆς οἰκίας ὑπὸ τοῦ πρεσβυτάτου τῶν υἱῶν ὑπὸ μανίας ἐμπυρισθείσης μετὰ ταύτης ζῶσα κατεφλέχθη. οἱ μὲν οὖν τοῦ δαιμονίου καταφρονεῖν τολμήσαντες τὸν εἰρημένον τρόπον ὑπὸ τῶν θεῶν τιμωρίας ἠξιώθησαν, ὁ δὲ τῷ μαντείῳ βοηθήσας Φίλιππος ἀπὸ τούτων τῶν χρόνων ἀεὶ μᾶλλον αὐξόμενος τὸ τελευταῖον διὰ τὴν εἰς τὸ θεῖον εὐσέβειαν ἡγεμὼν ἀπεδείχθη τῆς Ἑλλάδος πάσης καὶ μεγίστην βασιλείαν τῶν κατὰ τὴν Εὐρώπην περιεποιήσατο. ἡμεῖς δὲ ἀρκούντως διεληλυθότες τὸν ἱερὸν πόλεμον ἐπάνιμεν ἐπὶ τὰς ἑτερογενεῖς πράξεις.
Now the participants in the sacrilege met in this fashion with their just retribution from the deity. And the most renowned cities because of their part in the outrage were later defeated in war by Antipater, and lost at one and the same time their leadership and their freedom. The wives of the Phocian commanders who had worn the gold necklaces taken from Delphi met with punishment befitting their impiety. For one of them who had worn the chain which had belonged to Helen of Troy sank to the shameful life of a courtesan and flung her beauty before any who chose wantonly to abuse it, and another, who put on the necklace of Eriphyle, had her house set on fire by her eldest son in a fit of madness and was burned alive in it. Thus those who had the effrontery to flout the deity met just retribution in the manner I have described at the hands of the gods, while Philip who rallied to the support of the oracle added continually to his strength from that time on and finally because of his reverence for the gods was appointed commander of all Hellas and acquired for himself the largest kingdom in Europe. Now that we have reported in sufficient detail the events of the Sacred war, we shall return to events of a different nature.
§ 16.65
κατὰ γὰρ τὴν Σικελίαν Συρακόσιοι στασιάζοντες πρὸς ἀλλήλους καὶ τυραννίσι πολλαῖς καὶ ποικίλαις δουλεύειν ἀναγκαζόμενοι πρέσβεις ἐξέπεμψαν εἰς Κόρινθον, ἀξιοῦντες αὐτοῖς ἀποστεῖλαι στρατηγὸν τὸν ἐπιμελησόμενον τῆς πόλεως καὶ καταλύσοντα τὴν τῶν τυραννεῖν ἐπιβαλομένων πλεονεξίαν. οἱ δὲ κρίνοντες δίκαιον εἶναι τοῖς ἀπογόνοις βοηθεῖν ἐψηφίσαντο πέμπειν στρατηγὸν Τιμολέοντα Τιμαινέτου, πρωτεύοντα τῶν πολιτῶν ἀνδρείᾳ τε καὶ συνέσει στρατηγικῇ καὶ καθόλου πάσαις ταῖς ἀρεταῖς κεκοσμημένον. ἴδιον δέ τι συνέβη περὶ τὸν ἄνδρα συμπεσεῖν, ὃ συνελάβετο αὐτῷ πρὸς τὴν τῆς στρατηγίας αἵρεσιν. Τιμοφάνης γὰρ ὁ ἀδελφὸς αὐτοῦ προέχων τῶν Κορινθίων πλούτῳ τε καὶ τόλμῃ πάλαι μὲν ἦν φανερὸς τυραννίδος ὀρεγόμενος, τότε δὲ τοὺς ἀπόρους ἀναλαμβάνων καὶ πανοπλίαις κατασκευαζόμενος καὶ τοὺς πονηροτάτους ἔχων μεθʼ ἑαυτοῦ κατὰ τὴν ἀγορὰν περιῄει, οὐ προσποιούμενος ὅτι τύραννός ἐστι, τὰ δὲ τῆς τυραννίδος ἔργα διαπραττόμενος. ὁ δὲ Τιμολέων ἀλλοτριώτατος ὢν μοναρχίας τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἐπεχείρει πείθειν τὸν ἀδελφὸν ἀποστῆναι τῆς ἐπιβολῆς, ὡς δʼ οὐχ ὑπήκουεν, ἀλλʼ αἰεὶ καὶ μᾶλλον ἐπετείνετο τῇ τόλμῃ, ἀδυνατῶν αὐτὸν λόγῳ διορθώσασθαι περιπατοῦντα κατὰ τὴν ἀγορὰν ἀπέσφαξεν. θορύβου δὲ γενομένου καὶ τῶν πολιτῶν συνδραμόντων διά τε τὸ παράδοξον καὶ τὴν δεινότητα τῆς πράξεως στάσις ἐγίνετο. οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἔφασαν δεῖν ὡς ἐμφύλιον φόνον πεπραχότα τὸν Τιμολέοντα τυγχάνειν τῆς ἐκ τῶν νόμων τιμωρίας, οἱ δὲ τοὐναντίον ἀπεφαίνοντο δεῖν ἐπαινεῖν τὸν ἄνδρα ὡς τυραννοκτόνον. τῆς δὲ γερουσίας συνεδρευούσης ἐν τῷ βουλευτηρίῳ καὶ τῆς περὶ τὴν πρᾶξιν ἀμφισβητήσεως ἐπὶ τὸ συνέδριον ἀναπεμφθείσης οἱ μὲν ἐχθροὶ τοῦ Τιμολέοντος κατηγόρουν, οἱ δὲ χαριέστεροι συνηγοροῦντες συνεβούλευον σώζειν τὸν ἄνδρα. ἀκρίτου δʼ ἔτι τῆς ζητήσεως οὔσης κατέπλευσαν ἐκ τῶν Συρακουσσῶν οἱ πρέσβεις καὶ τῇ γερουσίᾳ τὰς ἐντολὰς δηλώσαντες ἠξίουν τὴν ταχίστην ἀποστεῖλαι τὸν στρατηγόν. ἔδοξεν οὖν τῷ συνεδρίῳ πέμπειν τὸν Τιμολέοντα καὶ πρὸς τὸ κατορθῶσαι τὴν πρᾶξιν ξένας τινὰς καὶ παραδόξους αἱρέσεις αὐτῷ προέθηκαν· διεβεβαιώσαντο γάρ, ἐὰν μὲν καλῶς ἄρξῃ τῶν Συρακοσίων, κρίνειν αὐτὸν τυραννοκτόνον, ἐὰν δὲ πλεονεκτικώτερον, ἀδελφοῦ φονέα. ὁ δὲ Τιμολέων οὐχ οὕτω διὰ τὸν ἐπικρεμασθέντα φόβον ὑπὸ τῆς γερουσίας ὡς διὰ τὴν ἀρετὴν καλῶς καὶ συμφερόντως προέστη τῶν κατὰ τὴν Σικελίαν πραγμάτων· Καρχηδονίους μὲν γὰρ κατεπολέμησε, τὰς δὲ κατεσκαμμένας ὑπὸ τῶν βαρβάρων Ἑλληνίδας πόλεις ἀπεκατέστησεν εἰς τὴν ἐξ ἀρχῆς κατάστασιν, πᾶσαν δὲ Σικελίαν ἠλευθέρωσε, καθόλουδὲ τὰς Συρακούσσας καὶ τὰς ἄλλας Ἑλληνίδας πόλεις παραλαμβάνων ἐρήμους ἐποίησε πολυανθρωπίᾳ διενεγκεῖν. ἀλλὰ περὶ μὲν τούτων τὰ κατὰ μέρος μικρὸν ὕστερον ἐν τοῖς οἰκείοις χρόνοις ἀναγράψομεν, νῦν δʼ ἐπὶ τὸ συνεχὲς τῆς ἱστορίας μεταβιβάσομεν τὸν λόγον.
In Sicily the Syracusans, who were engaged in civil strife and were forced to live as slaves under many varied tyrannies, sent ambassadors to Corinth with the request that the Corinthians should dispatch to them as general a man who would administer their city and curb the ambitions of those who aimed to become tyrants. The Corinthians, concluding that it was only right to assist people who were offshoots of themselves, voted to send as general Timoleon, son of Timaenetus, a man of highest prestige amongst his fellow citizens for bravery and sagacity as a general and, in a word, splendidly equipped with every virtue. A peculiar coincidence befell him which contributed toward his being chosen to the generalship. 3 Timophanes, his brother, a man of outstanding wealth and effrontery amongst the Corinthians, had for some time past been clearly aiming at a tyranny and at the moment was winning the poor to his cause and laying up a store of suits of armour and parading about the market-place accompanied by a band of ruffians, not actually claiming to be tyrant but practising the arts of tyranny. 4 Timoleon, who was much averse to the rule of one man, first attempted to dissuade his brother from his overt attempt, but when the latter refused to heed and continued all the more his headstrong career, Timoleon, being unable by reasoning with him to make him mend his ways, put him to death as he was promenading in the market-place. 5 A scuffle ensued and a mob of citizens came surging up stirred by the surprising character and the enormity of the deed, and dissension broke out. One side claimed that as the perpetrator of a kinmurder Timoleon should receive the punishment prescribed by the laws, whereas the other party asserted just the opposite, that they should applaud him as a tyrannicide. 6 When the senate met to deliberate in the council chamber and the matter in dispute was referred to the session, Timoleon's personal enemies denounced him, while those more favourably inclined rallied to his cause and counselled letting him go free. 7 While the investigation was still unsettled there sailed into the harbour from Syracuse the ambassadors who, having made known their mission to the senate, requested them to dispatch with all speed the general they needed. 8 The session accordingly voted to send Timoleon and, in order to ensure the success of the project, they proposed a strange and amazing alternative to him. They affirmed categorically that if he ruled the Syracusans fairly, they adjudged him a tyrannicide, but if too ambitiously, a murderer of his brother.9 Timoleon, not so much in fear of the threat imposed on him by the senate as because of his native virtue, administered the government in Sicily fairly and profitably. For he subdued in war the Carthaginians, restored to their original state the Greek cities which had been razed by the barbarians, and made all Sicily independent; in a word, having found Syracuse and the other Greek cities depopulated when he took them over, he made them notably populous. These matters, however, we shall record severally below in their proper periods; now we shall return to the thread of our narrative.
§ 16.66
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος γὰρ Ἀθήνησιν Εὐβούλου Ῥωμαῖοι κατέστησαν ὑπάτους Μάρκον Φάβιον καὶ Σερούιον Σουλπίκιον. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Τιμολέων ὁ Κορίνθιος προκεχειρισμένος ὑπὸ τῶν πολιτῶν ἐπὶ τὴν ἐν Συρακούσσαις στρατηγίαν παρεσκευάζετο πρὸς τὸν εἰς τὴν Σικελίαν ἔκπλουν. ἑπτακοσίους μὲν οὖν ξένους ἐμισθώσατο, στρατιωτῶν δὲ τέσσαρας τριήρεις πληρώσας καὶ ταχυναυτούσας τρεῖς ἐξέπλευσεν ἐκ Κορίνθου. ἐν παράπλῳ δὲ παρὰ Λευκαδίων καὶ Κορκυραίων τρεῖς ναῦς προσλαβόμενος ἐπεραιοῦτο δέκα ναυσὶ τὸν Ἰόνιον καλούμενον πόρον. ἴδιον δέ τι καὶ παράδοξον συνέβη γενέσθαι τῷ Τιμολέοντι κατὰ τὸν πλοῦν, τοῦ δαιμονίου συνεπιλαβομένου τῆς ἐπιβολῆς καὶ προσημαίνοντος τὴν ἐσομένην περὶ αὐτὸν εὐδοξίαν καὶ λαμπρότητα τῶν πράξεων· διʼ ὅλης γὰρ τῆς νυκτὸς προηγεῖτο λαμπὰς καιομένη κατὰ τὸν οὐρανὸν μέχρι οὗ συνέβη τὸν στόλον εἰς τὴν Ἰταλίαν καταπλεῦσαι. ὁ δὲ Τιμολέων προακηκοὼς ἦν ἐν Κορίνθῳ τῶν τῆς Δήμητρος καὶ Κόρης ἱερειῶν ὅτι κατὰ τὸν ὕπνον αὐταῖς αἱ θεαὶ προήγγειλαν συμπλεύσεσθαι τοῖς περὶ τὸν Τιμολέοντα κατὰ τὸν πλοῦν τὸν εἰς τὴν ἱερὰν αὐτῶν νῆσον. διόπερ ὁ Τιμολέων καὶ οἱ συμπλέοντες περιχαρεῖς ἦσαν, ὡς τῶν θεῶν συνεργουσῶν αὐτοῖς. τὴν δʼ ἀρίστην τῶν νεῶν καθιερώσας ταῖς θεαῖς ὁ Τιμολέων ὠνόμασεν αὐτὴν Δήμητρος καὶ Κόρης ἱεράν. καταπλεύσαντος δὲ τοῦ στόλου χωρὶς κινδύνων εἰς Μεταπόντιον τῆς Ἰταλίας ἐπικατέπλευσε Καρχηδονία τριήρης ἔχουσα πρεσβευτὰς Καρχηδονίους. οὗτοι δʼ ἐντυχόντες τῷ Τιμολέοντι διεμαρτύραντο μὴ κατάρχειν πολέμου μηδʼ ἐπιβαίνειν τῇ Σικελίᾳ. ὁ δὲ Τιμολέων, ἐπικαλουμένων αὐτὸν τῶν Ῥηγίνων καὶ συμμαχήσειν ἐπαγγελλομένων, ἐξέπλευσεν εὐθέως ἐκ τοῦ Μεταποντίου σπεύδων φθάσαι τὴν περὶ αὐτὸν φήμην· σφόδρα γὰρ εὐλαβεῖτο μήποτε Καρχηδόνιοι θαλασσοκρατοῦντες κωλύσωσιν αὐτὸν εἰς Σικελίαν διαπλεῦσαι. οὗτος μὲν οὖν κατὰ σπουδὴν ἐτέλει τὸν εἰς Ῥήγιον πλοῦν.
When Eubulus was archon at Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Marcus Fabius and Servius Sulpicius. In this year Timoleon the Corinthian, who had been chosen by his fellow-citizens to command in Syracuse, made ready for his expedition to Sicily. He enrolled seven hundred mercenaries and, putting his men aboard four triremes and three fast-sailing ships, set sail from Corinth. As he coasted along he picked up three additional ships from the Leucadians and the Corcyraeans, and so with ten ships he crossed the Ionian Sea. During this voyage, a peculiar and strange event happened to Timoleon. Heaven came to the support of his venture and foretold his coming fame and the glory of his achievements, for all through the night he was preceded by a torch blazing in the sky up to the moment when the squadron made harbour in Italy. Now Timoleon had heard already in Corinth from the priestesses of Demeter and Persephone that, while they slept, the goddesses had told them that they would accompany Timoleon on his voyage to their sacred island. He and his companions were, in consequence, delighted, recognizing that the goddesses were in fact giving them their support. He dedicated his best ship to them, calling it "The Sacred Ship of Demeter and Persephone." Encountering no hazards, the squadron put in at Metapontum in Italy, and so, shortly after, did a Carthaginian trireme also bringing Carthaginian ambassadors. Accosting Timoleon, they warned him solemnly not to start a war or even to set foot in Sicily. But the people of Rhegium were calling him and promised to join him as allies, and so Timoleon quickly put out from Metapontum hoping to outstrip the report of his coming. Since the Carthaginians controlled the seas, he was afraid that they would prevent his crossing over to Sicily. He was, then, hastily completing his passage to Rhegium.
§ 16.67
Καρχηδόνιοι δὲ βραχὺ πρὸ τούτων τῶν καιρῶν πυθόμενοι τὸ μέγεθος τοῦ κατὰ Σικελίαν ἐσομένου πολέμου ταῖς μὲν κατὰ Σικελίαν συμμαχίσι πόλεσι φιλανθρώπως προσεφέροντο καὶ πρὸς τοὺς κατὰ τὴν νῆσον τυράννους τὴν διαφορὰν καταλύσαντες φιλίαν συνέθεντο, μάλιστα δὲ πρὸς Ἱκέταν τὸν τῶν Συρακοσίων δυναστεύοντα διὰ τὸ τοῦτον πλεῖον ἰσχύειν, αὐτοὶ δὲ πολλὴν δύναμιν ναυτικήν τε καὶ πεζικὴν παρασκευασάμενοι διεβίβασαν εἰς Σικελίαν, Ἄννωναστρατηγὸν ἐπιστήσαντες. εἶχον δὲ μακρὰς ναῦς ἑκατὸν καὶ πεντήκοντα, στρατιώτας δὲ πεζοὺς μὲν πεντακισμυρίους, ἅρματα δὲ τριακόσια, συνωρίδας δὲ ὑπὲρ τὰς δισχιλίας, χωρὶς δὲ τούτων ὅπλα καὶ βέλη παντοδαπὰ καὶ μηχανὰς πολιορκητικὰς παμπληθεῖς καὶ σίτου καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἐπιτηδείων πλῆθος ἀνυπέρβλητον. ἐπὶ πρώτην δὲ τὴν τῶν Ἐντελλίνων πόλιν ἐλθόντες τήν τε χώραν ἐδῄωσαν καὶ τοὺς ἐγχωρίους εἰς πολιορκίαν συνέκλεισαν. οἱ δὲ τὴν πόλιν κατοικοῦντες Καμπανοὶ καταπλαγέντες τὸ μέγεθος τῆς δυνάμεως ἐξέπεμψαν εἰς τὰς ἄλλας πόλεις τὰς ἀλλοτρίως διακειμένας πρὸς Καρχηδονίους περὶ βοηθείας. τῶν μὲν οὖν ἄλλων οὐδεὶς ὑπήκουσεν, οἱ δὲ τὴν Γαλερίαν πόλιν οἰκοῦντες ἐξέπεμψαν αὐτοῖς στρατιώτας ὁπλίτας χιλίους. τούτοις δʼ ὑπαντήσαντες οἱ Φοίνικες καὶ περιχυθέντες τῷ πλήθει πάντας κατέκοψαν. οἱ δὲ τὴν Αἴτνην κατοικοῦντες Καμπανοὶ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον παρεσκευάζοντο συμμαχίαν ἐκπέμπειν εἰς τὴν Ἔντελλαν διὰ τὴν συγγένειαν, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τὴν τῶν Γαλερίνων συμφορὰν ἀκούσαντες ἔκριναν ἡσυχίαν ἄγειν.
Shortly before this, the Carthaginians on their part had come to see that there would be a serious war in Sicily and began making friendly representations to the cities in the island which were their allies. Renouncing their opposition to the tyrants throughout the island, they established friendship with them, and particularly they addressed themselves to Hicetas, the most powerful of these, because he had the Syracusans under his control. They prepared and transported to Sicily a large sea and land force of their own, and appointed Hanno to the command as general. They had one hundred and fifty battleships, fifty thousand infantry, three hundred war chariots, over two thousand extra teams of horses, and besides all this, armour and missiles of every description, numerous siege engines, and an enormous supply of food and other materials of war. Advancing first on Entella, they devastated the countryside and blockaded the country people inside the city. The Campanians who occupied the city were alarmed at the odds against them and appealed for help to the other cities that were hostile to the Carthaginians. Of these, none responded except the city of Galeria. These people sent them a thousand hoplites, but the Phoenicians intercepted them, overwhelmed them with a large force, and cut them all down. The Campanians who dwelt in Aetna were at first also ready to send reinforcements to Entella because of kinship, but when they heard of the disaster to the troops from Galeria, they decided to make no move.
§ 16.68
τοῦ δὲ Διονυσίου κυριεύοντος τῶν Συρακουσσῶν Ἱκέτας ἔχων περὶ ἑαυτὸν ἀξιόλογον δύναμιν ἐστράτευσεν ἐπὶ τὰς Συρακούσσας καὶ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον χάρακα βαλόμενος περὶ τὸ Ὀλυμπιεῖον διεπολέμει τῷ κρατοῦντι τῆς πόλεως τυράννῳ, χρονιζούσης δὲ τῆς πολιορκίας καὶ τῶν ἐπιτηδείων ἐκλιπόντων ὁ μὲν Ἱκέτας ἀνέζευξεν εἰς Λεοντίνους (ἐκ ταύτης γὰρ ὡρμᾶτο τῆς πόλεως)· ὁ δὲ Διονύσιος ἐπακολουθήσας αὐτοῖς καὶ καταλαβὼν τὴν οὐραγίαν συνεστήσατο μάχην. ὁ δʼ Ἱκέτας ἐπιστρέψας ἐπὶ τὸν Διονύσιον συνῆψε μάχην καὶ πλείους τῶν τρισχιλίων μισθοφόρων ἀνελὼν τοὺς λοιποὺς φυγεῖν ἠνάγκασεν. ὀξεῖ δὲ τῷ διωγμῷ χρησάμενος καὶ συνεισπεσὼν τοῖς φεύγουσιν εἰς τὴν πόλιν ἐκράτησε τῶν Συρακουσσῶν πλὴν τῆς Νήσου. καὶ τὰ μὲν περὶ τὸν Ἱκέταν καὶ Διονύσιον ἐν τούτοις ἦν. Τιμολέων δὲ μετὰ τὴν κατάληψιν τῶν Συρακουσσῶν τρισὶν ἡμέραις ὕστερον κατέπλευσεν εἰς τὸ Ῥήγιον καὶ καθωρμίσθη πλησίον τῆς πόλεως. ἐπικαταπλευσάντων δὲ καὶ τῶν Καρχηδονίων εἴκοσι τριήρεσι καὶ τῶν Ῥηγίνων συνεργούντων τῷ Τιμολέοντι καὶ κοινὴν ἐκκλησίαν ἐν τῇ πόλει συναγαγόντων καὶ περὶ συλλύσεως δημηγορούντων οἱ μὲν Καρχηδόνιοι διαλαβόντες τὸν Τιμολέοντα πεισθήσεσθαι τὸν εἰς Κόρινθον ἀπόπλουν ποιήσασθαι ῥᾳθύμως εἶχον τὰ κατὰ τὰς φυλακάς, ὁ δὲ Τιμολέων οὐδεμίαν ἔμφασιν διδοὺς τοῦ δρασμοῦ αὐτὸς μὲν πλησίον τοῦ βήματος ἔμεινε, λάθρᾳ δὲ παρήγγειλε τὰς ἐννέα ναῦς ἀποπλεῦσαι τὴν ταχίστην. περισπωμένων δὲ τῶν Καρχηδονίων ταῖς ψυχαῖς περὶ τοὺς ἐγκαθέτως δημηγοροῦντας μακρῶς τῶν Ῥηγίνων ἔλαθεν ὁ Τιμολέων διαδρὰς ἐπὶ τὴν ὑπολελειμμένην ναῦν καὶ ταχέως ἐξέπλευσεν. οἱ δὲ Καρχηδόνιοι καταστρατηγηθέντες ἐπεβάλοντο διώκειν τοὺς περὶ τὸν Τιμολέοντα. ἐκείνων δὲ προειληφότων ἱκανὸν διάστημα καὶ τῆς νυκτὸς ἐπιλαβούσης ἔφθασαν οἱ περὶ τὸν Τιμολέοντα ἀποπλεύσαντες εἰς τὸ Ταυρομένιον. ὁ δὲ τῆς πόλεως ταύτης ἡγούμενος, διὰ παντὸς πεφρονηκὼς τὰ τῶν Συρακοσίων, Ἀνδρόμαχος, φιλοφρόνως ὑπεδέξατο τοὺς διωκομένους καὶ πολλὰ συνεβάλετο πρὸς τὴν σωτηρίαν αὐτῶν. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ὁ μὲν Ἱκέτας ἀναλαβὼν τῶν στρατιωτῶν τοὺς ἀρίστους πεντακισχιλίους ἐστράτευσεν ἐπὶ τοὺς Ἀδρανίτας ἀντιπράττοντας αὐτῷ καὶ πλησίον τῆς πόλεως κατεστρατοπέδευσεν· ὁ δὲ Τιμολέων προσλαβόμενος παρὰ τῶν Ταυρομενίων στρατιώτας ἀνέζευξεν ἐκ τοῦ Ταυρομενίου, τοὺς ἅπαντας ἔχων οὐ πλείους τῶν χιλίων. ἀρχομένης δὲ τῆς νυκτὸς ἀφορμήσας καὶ διανύσας ἐπὶ τὸ Ἄδρανον δευτεραῖος ἀνελπίστως ἐπέθετο τοῖς περὶ τὸν Ἱκέταν δειπνοποιουμένοις· παρεισπεσὼν δʼ εἰς τὴν παρεμβολὴν καὶ φονεύσας πλείους τῶν τριακοσίων, ζωγρήσας δὲ περὶ ἑξακοσίους τῆς παρεμβολῆς ἐκράτησε. τούτῳ δὲ τῷ στρατηγήματι ἕτερον ἐπεισάγων παραχρῆμα ἐπὶ τὰς Συρακούσσας ἀφώρμησε καὶ δρομαῖος τὴν ὁδὸν διανύσας ἀπροσδοκήτως προσέπεσε ταῖς Συρακούσσαις, καταταχήσας τοὺς ἀπὸ τῆς τροπῆς φεύγοντας. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἐπράχθη κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν ἐνιαυτόν.
Now at the time when Dionysius was still master of Syracuse, Hicetas had taken the field against it with a large force, and at first constructing a stockaded camp at the Olympiaeum carried on war against the tyrant in the city, but as the siege dragged on and provisions ran out, he started back to Leontini, for that was the city which served as his base. Dionysius set out in hot pursuit and overtook his rear, attacking it at once, but Hicetas wheeled upon him, joined battle, and having slain more than three thousand of the mercenaries, put the rest to flight. Pursuing sharply and bursting into the city with the fugitives, he got possession of all Syracuse except the Island. Such was the situation as regards Hicetas and Dionysius. Three days after the capture of Syracuse, Timoleon put in at Rhegium and anchored off the city. The Carthaginians promptly turned up with twenty triremes, but the people of Rhegium helped Timoleon to escape the trap. They called a general assembly in the city and staged a formal debate on the subject of a settlement. The Carthaginians expected that Timoleon would be prevailed upon to sail back to Corinth and kept a careless watch. He, however, giving no hint of an intention to slip away, remained close to the tribunal, but secretly ordered nine of his ships to put to sea immediately. Then, while the Carthaginians concentrated their attention on the intentionally long-winded Rhegians, Timoleon stole away unnoticed to his remaining ship and quickly sailed out of the harbour. The Carthaginians, though outmanoeuvred, set out in pursuit, but his fleet had gained a substantial lead, and as night fell it was able to reach Tauromenium before being overtaken.8 Andromachus, who was the leading man of this city and had constantly favoured the Syracusan cause, welcomed the fugitives hospitably and did much to ensure their safety. 9 Hicetas now put himself at the head of five thousand of his best soldiers and marched against the Adranitae, who were hostile to him, encamping near their city. Timoleon added to his force some soldiers from Tauromenium and marched out of that city, having all told no more than a thousand men. 10 Setting out at nightfall, he reached Adranum on the second day, and made a surprise attack on Hicetas's men while they were at dinner. Penetrating their defences he killed more than three hundred men, took about six hundred prisoners, and became master of the camp.11 Capping this manoeuvre with another, he proceeded forthwith to Syracuse. Covering the distance at full speed, he fell on the city without warning, having made better time than those who were routed and fleeing. Such were the events that took place in this year.
§ 16.69
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησι Λυκίσκου Ῥωμαῖοι κατέστησαν ὑπάτους Μάρκον Οὐαλέριον καὶ Μάρκον Ποπίλιον, Ὀλυμπιὰς δʼ ἤχθη ἑκατοστὴ καὶ ἐνάτη, καθʼ ἣν ἐνίκα στάδιον Ἀριστόλοχος Ἀθηναῖος. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Ῥωμαίοις μὲν πρὸς Καρχηδονίους πρῶτον συνθῆκαι ἐγένοντο. κατὰ δὲ τὴν Καρίαν Ἰδριεὺς ὁ δυνάστης τῶν Καρῶν ἐτελεύτησεν ἄρξας ἔτη ἑπτά, τὴν δὲ ἀρχὴν διαδεξαμένη Ἄδα ἡ ἀδελφὴ καὶ γυνὴ ἐδυνάστευσεν ἔτη τέσσαρα. κατὰ δὲ τὴν Σικελίαν Τιμολέων μὲν Ἀδρανίτας καὶ Τυνδαρίτας εἰς συμμαχίαν προσλαβόμενος στρατιώτας οὐκ ὀλίγους παρʼ αὐτῶν παρέλαβεν, ἐν δὲ ταῖς Συρακούσσαις πολλὴ ταραχὴ κατεῖχε τὴν πόλιν Διονυσίου μὲν τὴν Νῆσον ἔχοντος, Ἱκέτα δὲ τῆς Ἀχραδινῆς καὶ Νέας πόλεως κυριεύοντος, Τιμολέοντος δὲ τὰ λοιπὰ τῆς πόλεως παρειληφότος, καὶ Καρχηδονίων τριήρεσι μὲν ἑκατὸν καὶ πεντήκοντα καταπεπλευκότων εἰς τὸν μέγαν λιμένα, πεζοῖς δὲ στρατιώταις πεντακισμυρίοις κατεστρατοπεδευκότων. διόπερ τῶν περὶ τὸν Τιμολέοντα καταπεπληγμένων τὸ πλῆθος τῶν πολεμίων ἄλογός τις καὶ παράδοξος ἐγένετο μεταβολή· πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ Μάρκος ὁ τῶν Καταναίων τύραννος δύναμιν ἀξιόλογον ἔχων προσέθετο τῷ Τιμολέοντι, ἔπειτα πολλὰ τῶν φρουρίων ὀρεγόμενα τῆς ἐλευθερίας ἀπέκλινε πρὸς αὐτόν, τὸ δὲ τελευταῖον Κορίνθιοι δέκα ναῦς πληρώσαντες χρήματά τε πορίσαντες ἐξαπέστειλαν εἰς τὰς Συρακούσσας. ὧν πραχθέντων Τιμολέων μὲν ἐθάρρησεν, οἱ δὲ Καρχηδόνιοι φοβηθέντες ἀπέπλευσαν ἐκ τοῦ λιμένος ἀλόγως καὶ μετὰ πάσης τῆς δυνάμεως εἰς τὴν ἰδίαν ἐπικράτειαν ἀπηλλάγησαν. μονωθέντος δὲ τοῦ Ἱκέτα Τιμολέων περιγενόμενος τῶν πολεμίων ἐκράτησε τῶν Συρακουσσῶν. εὐθὺς δὲ καὶ τὴν Μεσσήνην μετατεθειμένην πρὸς Καρχηδονίους ἀνεκτήσατο. καὶ τὰ μὲν κατὰ Σικελίαν ἐν τούτοις ἦν. κατὰ δὲ τὴν Μακεδονίαν Φίλιππος πατρικὴν ἔχθραν διαδεδεγμένος πρὸς Ἰλλυριοὺς καὶ τὴν διαφορὰν ἀμετάθετον ἔχων ἐνέβαλεν εἰς τὴν Ἰλλυρίδα μετὰ πολλῆς δυνάμεως. πορθήσας δὲ τὴν χώραν καὶ πολλὰ τῶν πολισμάτων χειρωσάμενος μετὰ πολλῶν λαφύρων ἐπανῆλθεν εἰς τὴν Μακεδονίαν. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα παρελθὼν εἰς τὴν Θετταλίαν καὶ τοὺς τυράννους ἐκ τῶν πόλεων ἐκβαλὼν ἰδίους ταῖς εὐνοίαις ἐποιήσατο τοὺς Θετταλούς· ἤλπιζε γὰρ τούτους ἔχων συμμάχους καὶ τοὺς Ἕλληνας ῥᾳδίως εἰς εὔνοιαν προτρέψασθαι· ὅπερ καὶ συνέβη γενέσθαι. εὐθὺς γὰρ οἱ πλησιόχωροι τῶν Ἑλλήνων συνενεχθέντες τῇ τῶν Θετταλῶν κρίσει συμμαχίαν προθύμως πρὸς αὐτὸν ἐποιήσαντο.
When Lyciscus was archon at Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Marcus Valerius and Marcus Publius, and the one hundred and ninth Olympiad was celebrated, in which Aristolochus the Athenian won the foot-race. In this year the first treaty was concluded between the Romans and the Carthaginians. In Caria, Idrieus, the ruler of the Carians, died after ruling seven years, and Ada, his sister and wife, succeeding him, ruled for four years. In Sicily, Timoleon took the Adranitae and the Tyndaritae into his alliance and received not a few reinforcements from them. Great confusion reigned in Syracuse, where Dionysius held the Island, Hicetas Achradina and Neapolis, and Timoleon the rest of the city, while the Carthaginians had put in to the Great Harbour with a hundred and fifty triremes and encamped with fifty thousand men on the shore. Timoleon and his men viewed the odds against them with dismay, but the prospect took a sudden and surprising change for the better. First Marcus, the tyrant of Catania, came over to Timoleon with a considerable army, and then many of the outlying Syracusan forts declared for him in a move to gain their independence. On top of all this, the Corinthians manned ten ships, supplied them with money, and dispatched them to Syracuse. Thereupon Timoleon plucked up courage but the Carthaginians took alarm and unaccountably sailed out of the harbour, returning with all their forces to their own territory. Hicetas was left isolated, while Timoleon victoriously occupied Syracuse. Then he proceeded to recover Messana, which had gone over to the Carthaginians. Such was the state of affairs in Sicily. In Macedonia, Philip had inherited from his father a quarrel with the Illyrians and found no means of reconciling the disagreement. He therefore invaded Illyria with a large force, devastated the countryside, captured many towns, and returned to Macedonia laden with booty. Then he marched into Thessaly, and by expelling tyrants from the cities won over the Thessalians through gratitude. With them as his allies, he expected that the Greeks too would easily be won over also to his favour; and that is just what happened. The neighbouring Greeks straightway associated themselves with the decision of the Thessalians and became his enthusiastic allies.
§ 16.70
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησι Πυθοδότου Ῥωμαῖοι κατέστησαν ὑπάτους Γάιον Πλαύτιον καὶ Τίτον Μάλλιον. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Τιμολέων καταπληξάμενος Διονύσιον τὸν τύραννον ἔπεισεν αὐτὸν παραδοῦναι τὴν ἀκρόπολιν καὶ τὴν ἀρχὴν ἀποθέμενον ἀπελθεῖν εἰς Πελοπόννησον ὑπόσπονδον, ἔχοντα τὰ ἴδια χρήματα. οὗτος μὲν οὖν διʼ ἀνανδρίαν καὶ ταπεινότητα ψυχῆς τήν τε περιβόητον τυραννίδα καὶ δεδεμένην, ὡς ἔφασαν, ἀδάμαντι τὸν εἰρημένον τρόπον ἀπέλιπε καὶ κατεβίωσεν ἀπορούμενος ἐν Κορίνθῳ, τὸν δʼ ἴδιον βίον καὶ τὴν μεταβολὴν ἔσχε παράδειγμα τοῖς καυχωμένοις ἀφρόνως ἐπὶ ταῖς εὐτυχίαις· ὁ γὰρ ἔχων τετρακοσίας τριήρεις μετʼ ὀλίγον ἐν μικρῷ στρογγύλῳ πλοίῳ κατέπλευσεν εἰς τὴν Κόρινθον, περίβλεπτον ἔχων τὴν τῆς μεταβολῆς ὑπερβολήν. Τιμολέων δὲ παραλαβὼν τὴν Νῆσον καὶ φρούρια τὰ τῷ Διονυσίῳ πρότερον ὑπακούοντα τὰς μὲν κατὰ τὴν Νῆσον ἀκροπόλεις καὶ τὰ τυραννεῖα κατέσκαψε, τοῖς δὲ φρουρίοις ἀπέδωκε τὴν ἐλευθερίαν. εὐθὺς δὲ καὶ νομογραφεῖν ἤρξατο, τιθεὶς δημοκρατικοὺς νόμους καὶ τὰ περὶ τῶν ἰδιωτικῶν συμβολαίων δίκαια καὶ τἄλλα πάντα ἀκριβῶς διέταξε, πλείστην φροντίδα τῆς ἰσότητος ποιούμενος. κατέστησε δὲ καὶ τὴν κατʼ ἐνιαυτὸν ἐντιμοτάτην ἀρχήν, ἣν ἀμφιπολίαν Διὸς Ὀλυμπίου καλοῦσιν Συρακόσιοι· καὶ ᾑρέθη πρῶτος ἀμφίπολος Διὸς Ὀλυμπίου Καλλιμένης Ἀλκάδα καὶ τὸ λοιπὸν διετέλεσαν οἱ Συρακόσιοι τοὺς ἐνιαυτοὺς ἐπιγράφοντες τούτοις τοῖς ἄρχουσι μέχρι τῶνδε τῶν ἱστοριῶν γραφομένων καὶ τῆς κατὰ τὴν πολιτείαν ἀλλαγῆς· τῶν γὰρ Ῥωμαίων μεταδόντων τοῖς Σικελιώταις τῆς πολιτείας ἡ τῶν ἀμφιπόλων ἀρχὴ ἐταπεινώθη, διαμείνασα ἔτη πλείω τῶν τριακοσίων. καὶ τὰ μὲν κατὰ τὴν Σικελίαν ἐν τούτοις ἦν.
When Pythodotus was archon at Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Gaius Plautius and Titus Manlius. In this year Timoleon frightened the tyrant Dionysius into surrendering the citadel, resigning his office and retiring under a safe-conduct to the Peloponnese, but retaining his private possessions. Thus, through cowardice and meanness, he lost that celebrated tyranny which had been, as people said, bound with fetters of steel, and spent the remaining years of his life in poverty at Corinth, furnishing in his life and misfortune an example to all who vaunt themselves unwisely on their successes. He who had possessed four hundred triremes arrived shortly after in Corinth in a small tub of a freighter, conspicuously displaying the enormity of the change in his fortunes. Timoleon took over the Island and the forts which had formerly belonged to Dionysius. He razed the citadel and the tyrant's palace on the Island, and restored the independence of the fortified towns. Straightway he set to work on a new code of laws, converting the city into a democracy, and specified in exact detail the law of contracts and all such matters, paying special attention to equality. He instituted also the annual office that is held in highest honour, which the Syracusans call the "amphipoly" of Zeus Olympius. To this, the first priest elected was Callimenes, the son of Alcadas, and henceforth the Syracusans continued to designate the years by these officials down to the time of my writing this history and of the change in their form of government. For when the Romans shared their citizenship with the Greeks of Sicily, the office of these priests became insignificant, after having been important for over three hundred years. Such was the condition of affairs in Sicily.
§ 16.71
κατὰ δὲ τὴν Μακεδονίαν Φίλιππος τὰς ἐπὶ Θρᾴκῃ πόλεις Ἑλληνίδας εἰς εὔνοιαν προκαλεσόμενος ἐστράτευσεν ἐπὶ Θρᾴκην. Κερσοβλέπτης γὰρ ὁ βασιλεὺς τῶν Θρᾳκῶν διετέλει τὰς ἐφʼ Ἑλλησπόντῳ πόλεις ὁμορούσας τῇ Θρᾴκῃ καταστρεφόμενος καὶ τὴν χώραν καταφθείρων. βουλόμενος οὖν ἐμφράξαι τῶν βαρβάρων τὴν ὁρμὴν ἐστράτευσεν ἐπʼ αὐτοὺς σὺν πολλῇ δυνάμει. νικήσας δὲ πλείοσι μάχαις τοὺς Θρᾷκας τοῖς μὲν καταπολεμηθεῖσι βαρβάροις προσέταξε δεκάτας τελεῖν τοῖς Μακεδόσιν, αὐτὸς δʼ ἐν τοῖς ἐπικαίροις τόποις κτίσας ἀξιολόγους πόλεις ἔπαυσε τοῦ θράσους τοὺς Θρᾷκας. διόπερ αἱ τῶν Ἑλλήνων πόλεις ἀπολυθεῖσαι τῶν φόβων εἰς τὴν συμμαχίαν τοῦ Φιλίππου προθυμότατα κατετάχθησαν. τῶν δὲ συγγραφέων Θεόπομπος ὁ Χῖος ἐν τῇ τῶν Φιλιππικῶν ἱστορίᾳ κατέταξε τρεῖς βύβλους περιεχούσας Σικελικὰς πράξεις· ἀρξάμενος δὲ ἀπὸ τῆς Διονυσίου τοῦ πρεσβυτέρου τυραννίδος διῆλθε χρόνον ἐτῶν πεντήκοντα καὶ κατέστρεψεν εἰς τὴν ἔκπτωσιν Διονυσίου τοῦ νεωτέρου. εἰσὶ δὲ αἱ βύβλοι τρεῖς, ἀπὸ τῆς μιᾶς τεσσαρακοστῆς ἄχρι τῆς τρίτης καὶ τεσσαρακοστῆς.
In Macedonia, Philip conceived a plan to win over the Greek cities in Thrace to his side, and marched into that region. Cersobleptes, who was the king of the Thracians, had been following a policy of reducing the Hellespontine cities bordering on his territory and of ravaging their territories. With the aim of putting a stop to the barbarian attacks Philip moved against them with a large force. He overcame the Thracians in several battles and imposed on the conquered barbarians the payment of a tithe to the Macedonians, and by founding strong cities at key places made it impossible for the Thracians to commit any outrages in the future. So the Greek cities were freed from this fear and gladly joined Philip's alliance. Theopompus of Chios, the historian, in his Philippica, included three books dealing with affairs in Sicily. Beginning with the tyranny of Dionysius the Elder he covered a period of fifty years, closing with the expulsion of the younger Dionysius. These three books are XLI XLIII.
§ 16.72
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησι Σωσιγένους Ῥωμαῖοι κατέστησαν ὑπάτους Μάρκον Οὐαλέριον καὶ Μάρκον Γναῖον Πόπλιον. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Ἀρύμβας ὁ τῶν Μολοττῶν βασιλεὺς ἐτελεύτησεν ἄρξας ἔτη δέκα, ἀπολιπὼν υἱὸν τὸν Πύρρου πατέρα Αἰακίδην· τὴν δʼ ἀρχὴν διεδέξατο Ἀλέξανδρος ὁ ἀδελφὸς Ὀλυμπιάδος, συνεργήσαντος Φιλίππου τοῦ Μακεδόνος. κατὰ δὲ τὴν Σικελίαν Τιμολέων μὲν ἐστράτευσεν ἐπὶ Λεοντίνους· εἰς ταύτην γὰρ τὴν πόλιν Ἱκέτας κατεπεφεύγει μετὰ δυνάμεως ἀξιολόγου. τὸ μὲν οὖν πρῶτον προσέβαλε τῇ Νέᾳ καλουμένῃ πόλει· μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα πολλῶν στρατιωτῶν ἐν τῇ πόλει συγκεκλεισμένων καὶ ῥᾳδίως ἀπὸ τῶν τειχῶν ἀμυνομένων ἄπρακτος γενόμενος ἔλυσε τὴν πολιορκίαν. παρελθὼν δὲ πρὸς πόλιν Ἔγγυον, τυραννουμένην ὑπὸ Λεπτίνου, προσβολὰς συνεχεῖς ἐποιεῖτο βουλόμενος τὸν μὲν Λεπτίνην ἐκβαλεῖν ἐκ τῆς πόλεως, τοῖς δʼ Ἐγγυΐνοις τὴν ἐλευθερίαν ἀποδοῦναι. περὶ ταῦτα δὲ τοῦ Τιμολέοντος ὄντος Ἱκέτας πανδημεὶ στρατεύσας ἐκ τῶν Λεοντίνων ἐπολιόρκει τὰς Συρακούσσας, πολλοὺς δὲ τῶν στρατιωτῶν ἀποβαλὼν ταχέως ἐπανῆλθεν εἰς τοὺς Λεοντίνους. ὁ δὲ Τιμολέων καταπληξάμενος τὸν Λεπτίνην τοῦτον μὲν ὑπόσπονδον ἐξέπεμψεν εἰς τὴν Πελοπόννησον, ἐνδεικνύμενος τοῖς Ἕλλησι τὰς τῶν καταπολεμηθέντων τυράννων ἐκπτώσεις. οὔσης δὲ καὶ τῆς τῶν Ἀπολλωνιατῶν πόλεως ὑπὸ τὸν Λεπτίνην παραλαβὼν τὴν Ἀπολλωνίαν ταύτῃ τε καὶ τῇ τῶν Ἐγγυΐνων ἀπέδωκε τὴν αὐτονομίαν.
When Sosigenes was archon at Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Marcus Valerius and Marcus Gnaeus Publius. In this year, Arymbas king of the Molossians died after a rule of ten years, leaving a son Aeacides, Pyrrhus's father, but Alexander the brother of Olympias succeeded to the throne with the backing of Philip of Macedon. In Sicily, Timoleon made an expedition against Leontini, for this was the city where Hicetas had taken refuge with a substantial army. He launched an assault on the part called Neapolis, but since the soldiers in the city were numerous and had an advantage in fighting from the walls, he accomplished nothing and broke off the siege. Passing on to the city Engyum, which was controlled by the tyrant Leptines, he assailed it with repeated attacks in the hope of expelling Leptines and restoring to the city its freedom. Taking advantage of his preoccupation, Hicetas led out his entire force and attempted to lay siege to Syracuse, but lost many of his men and hastily retreated back to Leontini. Leptines was frightened into submission, and Timoleon shipped him off to the Peloponnese under a safe-conduct, giving the Greeks tangible evidence of the results of his programme of defeating and expelling tyrants. The city of Apollonia had also been under Leptines. On taking it, Timoleon restored its autonomy as well as that of the city of Engyum.
§ 16.73
ἀπορούμενος δὲ χρημάτων εἰς τὰς τῶν ξένων μισθοδοσίας ἐξαπέστειλε στρατιώτας χιλίους μετὰ τῶν ἀξιολογωτάτων ἡγεμόνων εἰς τὴν τῶν Καρχηδονίων ἐπικράτειαν. οὗτοι δὲ πολλὴν χώραν πορθήσαντες καὶ λαφύρων πλῆθος κομίσαντες παρέδωκαν τῷ Τιμολέοντι. ὁ δὲ λαφυροπωλήσας τὴν λείαν καὶ χρημάτων πλῆθος ἀθροίσας ἔδωκε τοῖς μισθοφόροις εἰς πλείω χρόνον τοὺς μισθούς. ἐκράτησε δὲ καὶ τῆς Ἐντέλλης καὶ τοὺς τὰ Καρχηδονίων μάλιστα φρονοῦντας πεντεκαίδεκα θανατώσας τοῖς ἄλλοις ἀπένειμε τὴν ἐλευθερίαν. τοῦ δὲ Τιμολέοντος αὐξομένου τῇ τε δυνάμει καὶ τῇ κατὰ τὴν στρατηγίαν δόξῃ αἱ μὲν Ἑλληνίδες πόλεις αἱ κατὰ τὴν Σικελίαν ἅπασαι προθύμως ὑπετάγησαν τῷ Τιμολέοντι διὰ τὸ πάσαις τὰς αὐτονομίας ἀποδιδόναι, τῶν δὲ Σικελῶν καὶ Σικανῶν καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν ὑπὸ τοὺς Καρχηδονίους τεταγμένων πολλαὶ διεπρεσβεύοντο πόλεις, σπεύδουσαι παραληφθῆναι πρὸς τὴν συμμαχίαν. Καρχηδόνιοι δὲ τοὺς κατὰ τὴν Σικελίαν στρατηγοὺς ὁρῶντες ἀγεννῶς τὸν πόλεμον διοικοῦντας ἔκριναν ἑτέρους ἀποστέλλειν μετὰ δυνάμεων μεγάλων. εὐθὺς οὖν τῶν πολιτῶν κατέλεγον τοὺς ἀρίστους εἰς τὴν στρατείαν καὶ τῶν Λιβύων τοὺς εὐθέτους ἐστρατολόγουν, χωρὶς δὲ τούτων προχειρισάμενοι χρημάτων πλῆθος μισθοφόρους ἐξενολόγουν Ἴβηρας καὶ Κελτοὺς καὶ Λίγυας· ἐναυπηγοῦντο δὲ καὶ ναῦς μακρὰς καὶ φορτηγοὺς πολλὰς ἤθροιζον καὶ τὴν ἄλλην παρασκευὴν ἀνυπέρβλητον ἐποιοῦντο.
Lacking funds to pay his mercenaries, he sent a thousand men with his best officers into the part of Sicily ruled by the Carthaginians. They pillaged a large area, and, carrying off a large amount of plunder, delivered it to Timoleon. Selling this and realizing a large sum of money, he paid his mercenaries for a long term of service. He took Entella also and, after putting to death the fifteen persons who were the strongest supporters of the Carthaginians, restored the rest to independence. As his strength and military reputation grew, all the Greek cities in Sicily began to submit themselves voluntarily to him, thanks to his policy of restoring to all their autonomy. Many too of the cities of the Sicels and the Sicanians and the rest who were subject to the Carthaginians approached him through embassies in a desire to be included in his alliance. The Carthaginians recognized that their generals in Sicily were conducting the war in a spiritless manner and decided to send out new ones, together with heavy reinforcements. Straightway they made a levy for the campaign from among their noblest citizens and made suitable drafts among the Libyans. Furthermore, appropriating a large sum of money, they enlisted mercenaries from among the Iberians, Celts, and Ligurians. They were occupied also with the construction of battleships. They assembled many freighters and manufactured other supplies in enormous quantities.
§ 16.74
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησι Νικομάχου Ῥωμαῖοι κατέστησαν ὑπάτους Γάιον Μάρκιον καὶ Τίτον Μάλλιον Τορκουᾶτον. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Φωκίων μὲν ὁ Ἀθηναῖος κατεπολέμησε Κλείταρχον τὸν Ἐρετρίας τύραννον καθεσταμένον ὑπὸ Φιλίππου. κατὰ δὲ τὴν Καρίαν Πιζώδαρος ὁ νεώτερος τῶν ἀδελφῶν ἐξέβαλεν ἐκ τῆς δυναστείας Ἄδαν καὶ ἐδυνάστευσεν ἔτη πέντε ἕως ἐπὶ τὴν Ἀλεξάνδρου διάβασιν εἰς τὴν Ἀσίαν. Φίλιππος δὲ ἀεὶ μᾶλλον αὐξόμενος ἐπὶ τὴν Πέρινθον ἐστράτευσεν, ἐναντιουμένην μὲν ἑαυτῷ, πρὸς δὲ Ἀθηναίους ἀποκλίνουσαν. συστησάμενος δὲ πολιορκίαν καὶ μηχανὰς προσάγων τῇ πόλει καθʼ ἡμέραν ἐκ διαδοχῆς προσέβαλλεν τοῖς τείχεσιν. ὀγδοηκονταπήχεις δὲ πύργους κατασκευάσας, ὑπεραίροντας πολὺ τῶν κατὰ τὴν Πέρινθον πύργων, ἐξ ὑπεροχῆς κατεπόνει τοὺς πολιορκουμένους· ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ διὰ τῶν κριῶν σαλεύων τὰ τείχη καὶ διὰ τῆς μεταλλείας ὑπορύττων ἐπὶ πολὺ μέρος τὸ τεῖχος κατέβαλεν. ἀμυνομένων δὲ τῶν Περινθίων εὐρώστως καὶ ταχὺ τεῖχος ἕτερον ἀντοικοδομησάντων ἀγῶνες θαυμαστοὶ καὶ τειχομαχίαι συνίσταντο. μεγάλης δὲ φιλοτιμίας ἐξ ἀμφοτέρων συνισταμένης ὁ μὲν βασιλεὺς πολλοὺς ἔχων καὶ παντοδαποὺς ὀξυβελεῖς διὰ τούτων τοὺς ἐπὶ τῶν ἐπάλξεων διαγωνιζομένους διέφθειρεν, οἱ δὲ Περίνθιοι πολλοὺς καθʼ ἡμέραν ἀποβάλλοντες συμμαχίαν καὶ βέλη καὶ καταπέλτας παρὰ τῶν Βυζαντίων προσελάβοντο. ἐξισωθέντες οὖν πάλιν τοῖς πολεμίοις ἀνεθάρρησαν καὶ τετολμηκότως τοὺς ὑπὲρ τῆς πατρίδος κινδύνους ὑπέμενον. οὐ μὴν ὁ βασιλεὺς ἔληγε τῆς φιλοτιμίας, ἀλλὰ διελόμενος τὰς δυνάμεις εἰς πλείω μέρη συνεχῶς ἐκ διαδοχῆς ἐτειχομάχει καὶ καθʼ ἡμέραν καὶ νύκτωρ. τρισμυρίους δʼ ἔχων στρατιώτας καὶ βελῶν καὶ μηχανῶν πολιορκητικῶν πλῆθος, ἔτι δὲ τὰς ἄλλας μηχανὰς ἀνυπερβλήτους κατεπόνει τοὺς πολιορκουμένους.
When Nicomachus was archon at Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Gaius Marcius and Titus Manlius Torquatus. In this year, Phocion the Athenian defeated and expelled Cleitarchus, the tyrant of Eretria who had been installed by Philip. In Caria, Pizodarus, the younger of the brothers, ousted Ada from her rule as dynast and held sway for five years until Alexander's crossing over into Asia. Philip, whose fortunes were constantly on the increase, made an expedition against Perinthus, which had resisted him and inclined toward the Athenians. He instituted a siege and advancing engines to the city assailed the walls in relays day after day. He built towers eighty cubits high, which far overtopped the towers of Perinthus, and from a superior height kept wearing down the besieged. He rocked the walls with battering rams and undermined them with saps, and cast down a long stretch of the wall. The Perinthians fought stoutly in their own defence and quickly threw up a second wall; many admirable feats were performed in the open and on the fortifications. Both sides displayed great determination. The king, for his part, rained destruction with numerous and varied catapults upon the men fighting steadfastly along the battlements, while the Perinthians, although their daily losses were heavy, received reinforcements of men, missiles, and artillery from Byzantium. When they had again become a match for the enemy, they took courage and resolutely bore the brunt of battle for their homeland. Still the king persevered in his determination. He divided his forces into several divisions and with frequent reliefs kept up a continuous attack on the walls both day and night. He had thirty thousand men and a store of missiles and siege engines besides other machines in plenty, and kept up a steady pressure against the besieged people.
§ 16.75
τῆς δὲ πολιορκίας πολυχρονίου γινομένης καὶ τῶν κατὰ τὴν πόλιν πολλῶν μὲν ἀναιρουμένων, οὐκ ὀλίγων δὲ τραυματιζομένων, τῶν δʼ ἐπιτηδείων ἐκλειπόντων προσδόκιμος ἦν ἡ τῆς πόλεως ἅλωσις. οὐ μὴν ἡ τύχη γε περιεῖδε τὴν τῶν κινδυνευόντων σωτηρίαν, ἀλλὰ παράδοξον αὐτοῖς κατεσκεύασε βοήθειαν. τῆς γὰρ τοῦ βασιλέως αὐξήσεως διαβεβοημένης κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν ὁ βασιλεὺς ὑφορώμενος τὴν τοῦ Φιλίππου δύναμιν ἔγραψε πρὸς τοὺς ἐπὶ θαλάττῃ σατράπας βοηθεῖν Περινθίοις παντὶ σθένει. διόπερ οἱ σατράπαι συμφρονήσαντες ἐξέπεμψαν εἰς τὴν Πέρινθον μισθοφόρων πλῆθος καὶ χρήματα δαψιλῆ καὶ σῖτον ἱκανὸν καὶ βέλη καὶ τἄλλα πάντα πρὸς τὴν τοῦ πολέμου χρείαν. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ Βυζάντιοι τοὺς ἀρίστους τῶν παρʼ ἑαυτοῖς ἡγεμόνων καὶ στρατιωτῶν ἐξαπέστειλαν. ἐφαμίλλων δὲ τῶν δυνάμεων γενομένων καὶ τοῦ πολέμου καινοποιηθέντος πάλιν ἡ πολιορκία φιλοτιμίαν ἐλάμβανεν ἀνυπέρβλητον. ὁ μὲν γὰρ Φίλιππος τοῖς κριοῖς τύπτων τὰ τείχη συνεχῶς κατέβαλλε καὶ διὰ τῶν ὀξυβελῶν ἀνείργων τοὺς ἐπὶ τῶν ἐπάλξεων ἅμα μὲν διὰ τῶν πεπτωκότων τειχῶν ἀθρόως τοῖς στρατιώταις εἰσέπιπτεν, ἅμα δὲ διὰ τῶν κλιμάκων πρὸς τὰ γεγυμνωμένα τῶν τειχῶν προσέβαινε· διὸ καὶ τῆς μάχης ἐκ χειρὸς οὔσης οἱ μὲν ἀπέθνησκον, οἱ δὲ τραύμασι πολλοῖς περιέπιπτον. τὰ δὲ τῆς νίκης ἔπαθλα προεκαλεῖτο τὰς τῶν ἀγωνιζομένων ἀνδραγαθίας· οἱ μὲν γὰρ Μακεδόνες ἐλπίζοντες εὐδαίμονα πόλιν διαρπάσειν καὶ δωρεαῖς ὑπὸ τοῦ Φιλίππου τιμηθήσεσθαι διὰ τὴν τοῦ λυσιτελοῦς ἐλπίδα τοῖς δεινοῖς ἐνεκαρτέρουν, οἱ δὲ πολιορκούμενοι τὰ τῆς ἁλώσεως δεινὰ πρὸ ὀφθαλμῶν ἔχοντες ὑπέμενον εὐψύχως τὸν ὑπὲρ τῆς σωτηρίας κίνδυνον.
So the siege dragged on. The numbers mounted of dead and wounded in the city and provisions were running short. The capture of the city was imminent. Fortune, however, did not neglect the safety of those in danger but brought them an unexpected deliverance. Philip's growth to power had been reported in Asia, and the Persian king, viewing this power with alarm, wrote to his satraps on the coast to give all possible assistance to the Perinthians. They consequently took counsel and sent off to Perinthus a force of mercenaries, ample funds, and sufficient stocks of food, missiles, and other materials required for operations. Similarly the people of Byzantium also sent them their best officers and soldiers. So the armies were again well matched, and as the fighting was resumed, the siege was waged with supreme determination. Philip constantly battered the walls with his rams, making breaches in them, and as his catapults cleared the battlements of defenders, he would at the same moment drive through the breached walls with his soldiers in close formation and assail with scaling ladders the portions of the walls which he had cleared. Then hand-to hand combat ensued and some were slain outright, others fell under many wounds. The rewards of victory challenged the daring of the contestants, for the Macedonians hoped to have a wealthy city to sack and to be rewarded by Philip with gifts, the hope of profit steeling them against danger, while the Perinthians had before their eyes the horrors of capture and sustained with great courage the battle for their deliverance.
§ 16.76
συνεβάλλετο δὲ τοῖς πολιορκουμένοις ἡ φύσις τῆς πόλεως πολλὰ πρὸς τὴν ὑπὲρ τῶν ὅλων νίκην. ἡ γὰρ Πέρινθος κεῖται μὲν παρὰ θάλατταν ἐπί τινος αὐχένος ὑψηλοῦ χερρονήσου σταδιαῖον ἐχούσης τὸν αὐχένα, τὰς δʼ οἰκίας ἔχει πεπυκνωμένας καὶ τοῖς ὕψεσι διαφερούσας. αὗται δὲ ταῖς οἰκοδομαῖς αἰεὶ κατὰ τὴν εἰς τὸν λόφον ἀνάβασιν ἀλλήλων ὑπερέχουσι καὶ τὸ σχῆμα τῆς ὅλης πόλεως θεατροειδὲς ἀποτελοῦσι. διόπερ τῶν τειχῶν συνεχῶς καταβαλλομένων οὐδὲν ἠλαττοῦντο· διοικοδομοῦντες γὰρ τοὺς στενωποὺς ταῖς αἰεὶ κατωτάταις οἰκίαις ὥσπερ ὀχυροῖς τισι τείχεσιν ἐχρῶντο. διόπερ ὁ Φίλιππος μετὰ πολλῶν πόνων καὶ κινδύνων τοῦ τείχους κρατήσας ἰσχυρότερον εὕρισκε τὸ τεῖχος τὸ διὰ τῶν οἰκιῶν αὐτομάτως ἡτοιμασμένον. πρὸς δὲ τούτοις ἐκ τοῦ Βυζαντίου πάντων τῶν πρὸς τὸν πόλεμον χρησίμων ἑτοίμως χορηγουμένων ἐμέρισε τὰς δυνάμεις εἰς δύο μέρη καὶ τοὺς μὲν ἡμίσεις τῶν στρατιωτῶν ἀπέλιπεν ἐπὶ τῆς πολιορκίας, ἐπιστήσας αὐτοῖς τοὺς ἀρίστους ἡγεμόνας, τοὺς δʼ ἄλλους παραλαβὼν αὐτὸς προσέπεσεν ἄφνω τῷ Βυζαντίῳ καὶ πολιορκίαν ἰσχυρὰν συνεστήσατο. οἱ δὲ Βυζάντιοι τῶν τε στρατιωτῶν καὶ τῶν βελῶν καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν χρησίμων παρὰ τοῖς Περινθίοις ὄντων εἰς πολλὴν ἐνέπιπτον ἀμηχανίαν. καὶ τὰ μὲν περὶ Περινθίους καὶ Βυζαντίους ἐν τούτοις ἦν. τῶν δὲ συγγραφέων Ἔφορος μὲν ὁ Κυμαῖος τὴν ἱστορίαν ἐνθάδε κατέστροφεν εἰς τὴν Περίνθου πολιορκίαν· περιείληφε δὲ τῇ γραφῇ πράξεις τάς τε τῶν Ἑλλήνων καὶ βαρβάρων ἀρξάμενος ἀπὸ τῆς τῶν Ἡρακλειδῶν καθόδου· χρόνον δὲ περιέλαβε ἐτῶν σχεδὸν ἑπτακοσίων καὶ πεντήκοντα καὶ βύβλους γέγραφε τριάκοντα, προοίμιον ἑκάστῃ προθείς. Δίυλλος δʼ ὁ Ἀθηναῖος τῆς δευτέρας συντάξεως ἀρχὴν πεποίηται τῆς Ἐφόρου ἱστορίας τὴν τελευτὴν καὶ τὰς ἑξῆς πράξεις συνείρει τάς τε τῶν Ἑλλήνων καὶ τῶν βαρβάρων μέχρι τῆς Φιλίππου τελευτῆς.
The natural setting of the city greatly aided the besieged Perinthians towards a decisive victory. It lies by the sea on a sort of high peninsula with an isthmus one furlong across, and its houses are packed close together and very high. In their construction along the slope of the hill they overtop one another and thus give the city the general aspect of a theatre. In spite of the constant breaches in the fortifications, consequently, the Perinthians were not defeated, for they blocked up the alley-ways and utilized the lowest tier of houses each time as though it were a wall of defence. When Philip with much labour and hard fighting mastered the city wall, he found that the houses afforded a stronger one, ready made by Fortune. Since, in addition, the city's every need was promptly met by supplies coming to Perinthus from Byzantium, he split his forces in two, and leaving one division under his best officers to continue the operations before Perinthus, marched himself with the other and, making a sudden attack on Byzantium, enclosed that city also in a tight siege. Since their men and weapons and war equipment were all at Perinthus, the people of Byzantium found themselves seriously embarrassed. Such was the situation at Perinthus and Byzantium. Ephorus of Cyme, the historian, closed his history at this point with the siege of Perinthus, having included in his work the deeds of both the Greeks and the barbarians from the time of the return of the Heracleidae. He covered a period of almost seven hundred and fifty years, writing thirty books and prefacing each with an introduction. Diyllus the Athenian began the second section of his history with the close of Ephorus's and made a connected narrative of the history of Greeks and barbarians from that point to the death of Philip.
§ 16.77
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησι Θεοφράστου Ῥωμαῖοι μὲν ὑπάτους κατέστησαν Μάρκον Οὐαλέριον καὶ Αὖλον Κορνήλιον, Ὀλυμπιὰς δʼ ἤχθη δεκάτη πρὸς ταῖς ἑκατόν, καθʼ ἣν ἐνίκα στάδιον Ἀντικλῆς Ἀθηναῖος. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Φιλίππου Βυζάντιον πολιορκοῦντος Ἀθηναῖοι μὲν ἔκριναν τὸν Φίλιππον λελυκέναι τὴν πρὸς αὐτοὺς συντεθεῖσαν εἰρήνην· εὐθὺς δὲ καὶ δύναμιν ναυτικὴν ἀξιόλογον ἐξέπεμψαν βοηθήσουσαν τοῖς Βυζαντίοις. ὁμοίως δὲ τούτοις Χῖοι καὶ Κῷοι καὶ Ῥόδιοι καί τινες ἕτεροι τῶν Ἑλλήνων συμμαχίαν ἐξέπεμψαν τοῖς Βυζαντίοις. διόπερ ὁ Φίλιππος καταπλαγεὶς τῇ συνδρομῇ τῶν Ἑλλήνων τήν τε πολιορκίαν τῶν πόλεων ἔλυσε καὶ πρὸς Ἀθηναίους καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους Ἕλληνας τοὺς ἐναντιουμένους συνέθετο τὴν εἰρήνην. κατὰ δὲ τὴν Σικελίαν Καρχηδόνιοι μὲν μεγάλας παρασκευὰς εἰς τὸν πόλεμον πεποιημένοι διεβίβασαν τὰς δυνάμεις εἰς τὴν Σικελίαν. εἶχον δὲ τοὺς πάντας σὺν τοῖς προϋπάρχουσιν ἐν τῇ νήσῳ πεζοὺς μὲν πλείους τῶν ἑπτακισμυρίων, ἱππεῖς δὲ καὶ ἅρματα καὶ συνωρίδας οὐκ ἐλάττους τῶν μυρίων, ναῦς δὲ μακρὰς μὲν διακοσίας, φορτηγοὺς δὲ τὰς τοὺς ἵππους τε καὶ βέλη καὶ σῖτον καὶ τἄλλα κομιζούσας πλείους τῶν χιλίων. Τιμολέων δὲ πυθόμενος τὸ μέγεθος τῆς τῶν πολεμίων δυνάμεως οὐ κατεπλάγη τοὺς βαρβάρους, καίπερ εἰς ὀλίγους στρατιώτας συνεσταλμένος. ἔχων δὲ πόλεμον πρὸς Ἱκέταν διελύσατο πρὸς αὐτὸν καὶ προσλαβόμενος τοὺς μετὰ τούτου στρατιώτας οὐ μετρίως ηὔξησε τὴν ἰδίαν δύναμιν.
When Theophrastus was archon at Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Marcus Valerius and Aulus Cornelius, and the one hundred and tenth Olympiad was celebrated, in which Anticles the Athenian won the foot-race. In this year, seeing that Philip was besieging Byzantium, the Athenians voted that he had broken his treaty with them and promptly dispatched a formidable fleet to aid that city. Besides them, the Chians, Coans, Rhodians, and some others of the Greeks sent reinforcements also. Philip was frightened by this joint action, broke off the siege of the two cities, and made a treaty of peace with the Athenians and the other Greeks who opposed him. In the west, the Carthaginians prepared great stores of war materials and transported their forces to Sicily. They had all told, including the forces previously on the island, more than seventy thousand infantry; cavalry, war-chariots, and extra teams of horses amounting to not less than ten thousand; two hundred battleships; and more than a thousand freighters carrying the horses, weapons, food and everything else. Timoleon was not daunted, however, although he learned the size of the hostile force while he himself was reduced to a handful of soldiers. He was still at war with Hicetas, but came to terms with him and took over his troops, thus materially increasing his own army.
§ 16.78
ἔδοξε δʼ αὐτῷ τὸν πρὸς τοὺς Φοίνικας ἀγῶνα συστήσασθαι κατὰ τὴν τῶν Καρχηδονίων ἐπικράτειαν, ὅπως τὴν μὲν τῶν συμμάχων χώραν ἀσινῆ διαφυλάξῃ, τὴν δʼ ὑπὸ τοὺς βαρβάρους οὖσαν καταφθείρῃ. εὐθὺς οὖν τούς τε μισθοφόρους καὶ Συρακοσίους καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους συμμάχους ἀθροίσας καὶ κοινὴν ἐκκλησίαν συναγαγὼν παρώρμησε τοῖς οἰκείοις λόγοις τὰ πλήθη πρὸς τὸν ὑπὲρ τῶν ὅλων ἀγῶνα· πάντων δʼ ἀποδεξαμένων τοὺς λόγους καὶ βοώντων ἄγειν τὴν ταχίστην ἐπὶ τοὺς βαρβάρους προῆγεν ἔχων τοὺς σύμπαντας οὐ πλείους τῶν μυρίων καὶ δισχιλίων. ἤδη δʼ αὐτοῦ κατὰ τὴν Ἀκραγαντίνην ὄντος παραδόξως ἐνέπεσε τῇ στρατιᾷ ταραχὴ καὶ στάσις. τῶν γὰρ μισθοφόρων τις ὄνομα Θρασίος, σεσυληκὼς τὸ ἐν Δελφοῖς ἱερὸν μετὰ τῶν Φωκέων, ἀπονοίᾳ δὲ καὶ θράσει διαφέρων, ἀκόλουθον τοῖς πρότερον τετολμημένοις πρᾶξιν ἐπετελέσατο. τῶν γὰρ ἄλλων σχεδὸν ἁπάντων τῶν μετασχόντων τῆς εἰς τὸ μαντεῖον παρανομίας τετευχότων ὑπὸ τοῦ δαιμονίου τῆς προσηκούσης τιμωρίας, καθάπερ μικρῷ πρότερον ἀνεγράψαμεν, μόνος οὗτος διαλεληθὼς τὸ θεῖον ἐπεχείρησε τοὺς μισθοφόρους παρορμᾶν πρὸς ἀπόστασιν. ἔφη γὰρ τὸν Τιμολέοντα παραφρονοῦντα πρὸς ὁμολογουμένην ἀπώλειαν ἄγειν τοὺς στρατιώτας· ἑξαπλασίους γὰρ ὄντας τοὺς Καρχηδονίους καὶ πάσαις ταῖς παρασκευαῖς ἀνυπερβλήτους ὑπάρχοντας ἐπαγγέλλεται νικήσειν, ἐναποκυβεύων ταῖς τῶν μισθοφόρων ψυχαῖς, οὐδὲ τοὺς ὀφειλομένους μισθοὺς πολλοῦ χρόνου διὰ τὴν ἀπορίαν ἀποδεδωκώς. συνεβούλευεν οὖν ἀνακάμπτειν εἰς τὰς Συρακούσσας καὶ τοὺς μισθοὺς ἀπαιτεῖν, ἐπὶ δὲ στρατείαν ἀπεγνωσμένην μὴ συνακολουθεῖν.
He decided to commence the struggle with the Carthaginians in their own territory so as to keep intact the land of his allies while wasting that which was subject that barbarians. He assembled his mercenaries immediately, together with the Syracusans and his allies, called a general assembly, and encouraged his audience with appropriate words to face the decisive struggle. When all applauded and shouted, urging him to lead them immediately against the barbarians, he took the field with not more than twelve thousand men in all. He had reached the territory of Agrigentum when unexpected confusion and discord broke out in his army. One of his mercenaries named Thrasius, who had been with the Phocians when they plundered the shrine at Delphi and was remarkable for his mad recklessness, now perpetrated an act that matched his former outrages. While almost all the rest who had participated in the sacrilege against the oracle had received from the deity their due punishment, as we reported a little earlier, he who alone had eluded divine vengeance attempted to incite the mercenaries to desert. He said that Timoleon was out of his mind and was leading his men to certain destruction. The Carthaginians were six times their number and were immeasurably superior in every sort of equipment, but Timoleon was nevertheless promising that they would win, gambling with the lives of the mercenaries whom for a long time because of lack of funds he had not even been able to pay. Thrasius recommended that they should return to Syracuse and demand their pay, and not follow Timoleon any further on a hopeless campaign.
§ 16.79
τῶν δὲ μισθοφόρων ἀσμένως τοὺς λόγους δεχομένων καὶ νεωτερίζειν ἐπιχειρούντων μόγις πολλὰ δεηθεὶς αὐτῶν ὁ Τιμολέων καὶ δωρεὰς ἐπαγγελλόμενος κατέπαυσε τὴν ταραχήν. ὅμως δὲ τῷ Θρασίῳ χιλίων συνακολουθησάντων τὴν μὲν τούτων κόλασιν εἰς ἕτερον ἀνεβάλετο καιρόν, γράψας δὲ πρὸς τοὺς ἐν Συρακούσσαις φίλους προσδέξασθαι αὐτοὺς φιλοφρόνως καὶ τοὺς μισθοὺς ἀποδοῦναι τὴν μὲν ταραχὴν πᾶσαν εἰς τέλος κατέσβεσε, τῶν δʼ ἀπειθησάντων ἀφείλατο τὴν ἐκ τῆς νίκης εὐδοξίαν. αὐτὸς δὲ τοὺς ἄλλους ταῖς φιλανθρώποις ἐντεύξεσιν εἰς τὴν προϋπάρχουσαν εὔνοιαν ἀποκαταστήσας προῆγεν ἐπὶ τοὺς πολεμίους οὐ μακρὰν στρατοπεδεύοντας. συναγαγὼν δʼ εἰς τὴν ἐκκλησίαν τοὺς στρατιώτας καὶ διὰ τῶν λόγων θάρσος παραστήσας τοῖς πλήθεσι διῆλθε μὲν τὴν τῶν Φοινίκων ἀνανδρίαν, ὑπέμνησε δὲ τῆς Γέλωνος εὐημερίας. πάντων δὲ καθάπερ τινὶ μιᾷ φωνῇ βοώντων ἐπιθέσθαι τοῖς βαρβάροις καὶ κατάρχεσθαι τῆς μάχης, κατὰ τύχην ὑποζυγίων σέλινα κομιζόντων εἰς τὰς στιβάδας ὁ Τιμολέων ἔφη δέχεσθαι τὸν οἰωνὸν τῆς νίκης· τὸν γὰρ Ἰσθμιακὸν στέφανον ἐκ σελίνου συνίστασθαι. οἱ δὲ στρατιῶται παραγγείλαντος τοῦ Τιμολέοντος ἐκ τῶν σελίνων πλέξαντες στεφάνους καὶ ταῖς κεφαλαῖς περιθέντες προῆγον μετὰ χαρᾶς, ὡς τῶν θεῶν προσημαινόντων αὐτοῖς τὴν νίκην· ὅπερ καὶ συνέβη γενέσθαι· περιεγένοντο γὰρ ἀνελπίστως τῶν πολεμίων οὐ μόνον διὰ τὰς ἰδίας ἀνδραγαθίας, ἀλλὰ καὶ διὰ τὴν τῶν θεῶν συνεργίαν. ὁ μὲν γὰρ Τιμολέων ἐκτάξας τὴν δύναμιν κατέβαινεν ἀπό τινων λόφων ἐπὶ τὸν Κρίμισον ποταμὸν καὶ μυρίων ἤδη διαβεβηκότων ἐξ ἐφόδου τούτοις ἐπέρραξε, τεταγμένος αὐτὸς ἐπὶ μέσης τῆς φάλαγγος. γενομένης δὲ μάχης καρτερᾶς καὶ τῶν Ἑλλήνων ὑπερεχόντων ταῖς τε ἀρεταῖς καὶ ταῖς εὐχειρίαις πολὺς ἐγίνετο φόνος τῶν βαρβάρων. ἤδη δὲ φευγόντων τῶν διαβεβηκότων ἡ πᾶσα δύναμις τῶν Καρχηδονίων περαιωθεῖσα τὸ ῥεῖθρον διωρθώσατο τὴν τῶν ἰδίων ἧτταν.
The mercenaries received his speech with enthusiasm and were on the point of mutiny, but Timoleon with some difficulty quieted the disturbance by urgent pleading and the offer of gifts. Even so, a thousand men did go off with Thrasius, but he put off their punishment till a later time, and by writing to his friends in Syracuse to receive them kindly and to pay them their arrears he brought the unrest to an end, but also stripped the disobedient men of all credit for the victory. With the rest, whose loyalty he had regained by tactful handling, he marched against the enemy who were encamped not far away. Calling an assembly of the troops, he encouraged them with an address, describing the cowardice of the Phoenicians and recalling the success of Gelon. Just at the moment when all as with one voice were clamouring to attack the barbarians and to begin the battle, it chanced that pack animals came carrying wild celery for their bedding, and Timoleon declared that he accepted the omen of his victory, for the crown at the Isthmian games is woven of this. On his suggestion, the soldiers plaited crowns out of celery and with their heads wreathed advanced cheerfully in the confidence that the god foretold their victory. And that, as a matter of fact, is how it was, for unpredictably, incredible to tell, they got the better of the enemy not only through their own valour but also through the gods' specific assistance. Timoleon deployed his forces and advanced down from a line of little hills to the river Crimisus, where ten thousand of the enemy had already crossed. These he shattered at the first outset, taking his own position in the centre of his line. There was a sharp fight, but as the Greeks were superior both in bravery and in skill, there was great slaughter of the barbarians. The rest began to flee, but the main body of the Carthaginians crossed the river in the mean time and restored the situation.
§ 16.80
καινοποιηθείσης δὲ τῆς μάχης καὶ τῶν Φοινίκων τῷ πλήθει περιχεομένων τοὺς Ἕλληνας ἄφνω πολὺς ἐκ τοῦ περιέχοντος ὄμβρος κατερράγη καὶ χαλάζης εὐμεγέθους πλῆθος, ἀστραπαί τε καὶ βρονταὶ μετὰ πνευμάτων μεγάλων κατέσκηπτον· καὶ τούτων ἁπάντων θυελλοφορουμένων τοῖς μὲν Ἕλλησι κατὰ νώτου, τοῖς δὲ βαρβάροις κατὰ πρόσωπον οἱ μὲν περὶ τὸν Τιμολέοντα τὸ σύμπτωμα ῥᾳδίως ὑπέμενον, οἱ δὲ Φοίνικες τὸ μέγεθος τῆς περιστάσεως φέρειν ἀδυνατοῦντες, ἅμα δὲ καὶ τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἐπικειμένων, πρὸς φυγὴν ὥρμησαν. πάντων δʼ ἐπὶ τὸν ποταμὸν τρεπομένων, ἀναμὶξ ἱππέων τε καὶ πεζῶν, καὶ τῶν ἁρμάτων ἅμα τούτοις φυρομένων οἱ μὲν ὑπʼ ἀλλήλων συμπατούμενοι καὶ τοῖς τῶν συμμάχων ξίφεσι καὶ λόγχαις περιπειρόμενοι τὴν συμφορὰν ἔσχον ἀβοήθητον, οἱ δʼ ὑπὸ τῶν παρὰ τοῖς πολεμίοις ἱππέων εἰς τὸ τοῦ ποταμοῦ ῥεῖθρον ἀγεληδὸν συνελαυνόμενοι καὶ κατὰ νώτου τὰς πληγὰς λαμβάνοντες ἀπέθνησκον. πολλοὶ δὲ ἄνευ πολεμίας πληγῆς διεφθείροντο σωρευομένων τῶν σωμάτων διά τε τὸν φόβον καὶ τὸ πλῆθος καὶ διὰ τὰς ἐν τῷ ῥείθρῳ δυσχερείας. τὸ δὲ μέγιστον, λάβρων γεγενημένων τῶν ὄμβρων ὁ ποταμὸς βιαιοτέρῳ τῷ ῥεύματι καταφερόμενος πολλοὺς ἐβάπτιζε καὶ μετὰ τῶν ὅπλων διανηχομένους διέφθειρε. τέλος δὲ τῶν Καρχηδονίων οἱ μὲν τὸν ἱερὸν λόχον ἀναπληροῦντες καὶ τὸν μὲν ἀριθμὸν ὄντες δισχίλιοι καὶ πεντακόσιοι, ταῖς δʼ ἀρεταῖς καὶ δόξαις, ἔτι δὲ ταῖς οὐσίαις πρωτεύοντες ἅπαντες ἀγωνισάμενοι λαμπρῶς κατεκόπησαν. τῶν δʼ ἄλλων τῶν συστρατευομένων αὐτοῖς ἀπέθανον πλείους τῶν μυρίων, αἰχμάλωτοι δʼ ἐλήφθησαν οὐκ ἐλάττους τῶν μυρίων καὶ πεντακισχιλίων. τῶν δὲ ἁρμάτων τὰ μὲν πολλὰ συνετρίβη κατὰ τὸν ἀγῶνα, διακόσια δʼ ἥλω· τὰ δὲ σκευοφόρα καὶ τὰ ζεύγη καὶ τὰ πλήθη τῶν ἁμαξῶν ὑποχείρια τοῖς Ἕλλησιν ἐγένετο. τῶν δʼ ὅπλων τὰ πολλὰ μὲν ὑπὸ τοῦ ποταμοῦ διεφθάρη, ἐπὶ δὲ τὴν τοῦ Τιμολέοντος σκηνὴν χίλιοι μὲν θώρακες, ἀσπίδες δὲ πλείους τῶν μυρίων ἀπηνέχθησαν. τούτων δʼ ὕστερον τὰ μὲν ἐν τοῖς ἐν Συρακούσσαις ναοῖς ἀνετέθη, τὰ δὲ τοῖς συμμάχοις διεμερίσθη, τινὰ δʼ εἰς Κόρινθον Τιμολέων ἀπέστειλε, προστάξας εἰς τὸ τοῦ Ποσειδῶνος ἱερὸν ἀναθεῖναι.
As the battle was renewed, the Phoenicians were overwhelming the Greeks with their superior numbers when, suddenly, from the heavens sheets of rain broke and a storm of great hailstones, while lightning flashed and thunder roared and the wind blew in fierce gusts. All of this tempest buffeted the backs of the Greeks but struck the faces of the barbarians, so that, though Timoleon's soldiers were not much inconvenienced by the affair, the Phoenicians could not stand the force of circumstances, and as the Greeks continued to attack them, they broke into flight. As all sought the river together — horse and foot intermingled, while the chariots added to the confusion — some perished helplessly trodden under foot or pierced by the swords or lances of their comrades, while others were herded by Timoleon's cavalry into the bed of the river and were struck down from behind. Many died without an enemy's stroke as the bodies piled up in the panic. There was crowding and it was difficult to keep one's feet in the stream. Worst of all, as the rain came down heavily, the river swept downstream as a raging torrent and carried the men with it, drowning them as they struggled to swim in their heavy armour. In the end, even the Carthaginians who composed the Sacred Battalion, twenty-five hundred in number and drawn from the ranks of those citizens who were distinguished for valour and reputation as well as for wealth, were all cut down after a gallant struggle. In the other elements of their army, more than ten thousand soldiers were killed and no less than fifteen thousand were taken captive. Most of the chariots were destroyed in the battle but two hundred were taken. The baggage train, with the draught animals and most of the wagons, fell into the hands of the Greeks. Most of the armour was lost in the river, but a thousand breastplates and more than ten thousand shields were brought to the tent of Timoleon. Of these, some were dedicated later in the temples at Syracuse, some were distributed among the allies, and some were sent home by Timoleon to Corinth with instructions to dedicate them in the sanctuary of Poseidon.
§ 16.81
πολλῶν δὲ καὶ χρημάτων καταληφθέντων διὰ τὸ τοὺς Καρχηδονίους ἐσχηκέναι πλῆθος ἐκπωμάτων ἀργυρῶν τε καὶ χρυσῶν, ἔτι δὲ τὸν ἄλλον κόσμον ὑπερβάλλοντα διὰ τὸ μέγεθος τῆς παρʼ αὐτοῖς εὐπορίας ἅπαντα συνεχώρησε τοῖς στρατιώταις ἔχειν ἔπαθλα τῆς ἀνδραγαθίας. τῶν δὲ Καρχηδονίων οἱ διαφυγόντες τὸν ἐν τῇ μάχῃ κίνδυνον μόγις εἰς τὸ Λιλύβαιον διεσώθησαν. τοσαύτη δʼ αὐτοὺς κατάπληξις καὶ δέος κατεῖχεν ὥστε μὴ τολμᾶν εἰς τὰς ναῦς ἐμβαίνειν μηδʼ ἀποπλεῖν εἰς τὴν Λιβύην, ὡς διὰ τὴν τῶν θεῶν ἀλλοτριότητα πρὸς αὐτοὺς ὑπὸ τοῦ Λιβυκοῦ πελάγους καταποθησομένους. οἱ δʼ ἐν τῇ Καρχηδόνι τὸ μέγεθος πυθόμενοι τῆς συμφορᾶς συνετρίβησαν ταῖς ψυχαῖς καὶ συντόμως ὑπελάμβανον ἥξειν ἐπʼ αὐτοὺς τὸν Τιμολέοντα μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως. εὐθὺ δὲ Γέσκωνα τὸν Ἄννωνος πεφυγαδευμένον κατήγαγον καὶ στρατηγὸν ἀπέδειξαν διὰ τὸ δοκεῖν τόλμῃ τε καὶ στρατηγίᾳ διαφέρειν. αὐτοὶ δʼ ἔκριναν πολιτικοῖς μὲν σώμασι μὴ διακινδυνεύειν, μισθοφόρους δὲ ἀλλοεθνεῖς ἀθροίζειν καὶ μάλιστα Ἕλληνας· ὑπακούσεσθαι δʼ αὐτοῖς πρὸς τὴν στρατείαν πολλοὺς ὑπελάμβανον διὰ τὸ μέγεθος τῆς μισθοφορᾶς καὶ τὴν εὐπορίαν τῆς Καρχηδόνος. εἰς δὲ τὴν Σικελίαν τοὺς εὐθέτους πρέσβεις ἐξέπεμψαν, προστάξαντες ἐφʼ οἷς ἂν ᾖ δυνατὸν συνθέσθαι τὴν εἰρήνην.
The battle yielded a great store of wealth also, because the Carthaginians had with them an abundance of silver and gold drinking vessels; these, as well as the rest of the personal property which was very numerous because of the wealth of the Carthaginians, Timoleon allowed the soldiers to keep as rewards for their gallantry. For their part, the Carthaginians who escaped from the battle made their way with difficulty to safety at Lilybaeum. Such consternation and terror possessed them that they did not dare embark in their ships and sail to Libya, persuaded that they would be swallowed up by the Libyan Sea because their gods had forsaken them. In Carthage itself, when news of the extent of the disaster had come, all were crushed in spirit and took it for granted that Timoleon would come against them directly with his army. They wasted no time in recalling from exile Gisco the son of Hanno and appointing him general, for they thought that he best combined the qualities of boldness and military skill. They voted not to risk the lives of citizens in the future but to enlist foreign mercenaries, especially Greeks who, they thought, would answer the call in large numbers because of the high rate of pay and the wealth of Carthage; and they sent skilled envoys to Sicily with instructions to make peace on whatever terms proved possible.
§ 16.82
τοῦ δʼ ἔτους τούτου διελθόντος Ἀθήνησι μὲν ἦρχε Λυσιμαχίδης, ἐν Ῥώμῃ δʼ ὕπατοι καθειστήκεισαν Κόιντος Σερουίλιος καὶ Μάρκος Ῥουτίλιος. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Τιμολέων ἐπανελθὼν εἰς Συρακούσσας πρῶτον μὲν τοὺς ἐγκαταλιπόντας αὐτὸν μισθοφόρους τοὺς μετὰ Θρασίου πάντας ἐκ τῆς πόλεως ὡς προδότας ὄντας ἐξέβαλεν. οὗτοι δʼ εἰς τὴν Ἰταλίαν διαβάντες καὶ χωρίον τι παραθαλάττιον ἐν τῇ Βρεττίᾳ καταλαβόμενοι διήρπασαν. οἱ δὲ Βρέττιοι παροξυνθέντες εὐθὺς μετὰ δυνάμεως πολλῆς ἐστράτευσαν ἐπʼ αὐτοὺς καὶ τὸ χωρίον ἐκπολιορκήσαντες ἅπαντας κατηκόντισαν. οἱ μὲν οὖν καταλιπόντες τὸν Τιμολέοντα μισθοφόροι τῆς ἰδίας παρανομίας ἐπάθλου τοιαύτης συμφορᾶς ἔτυχον· ὁ δὲ Τιμολέων Ποστόμιον τὸν Τυρρηνὸν δώδεκα λῃστρίσι τοὺς πλέοντας ληιζόμενον καὶ καταπλεύσαντα εἰς Συρακούσσας ὡς φίλον συλλαβὼν ἐθανάτωσεν. ὑπεδέξατο δὲ καὶ τοὺς ὑπὸ Κορινθίωνἐκπεμφθέντας οἰκήτορας φιλοφρόνως, ὄντας τὸν ἀριθμὸν πεντακισχιλίους. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τῶν Καρχηδονίων διαπρεσβευσαμένων καὶ πολλὰ δεηθέντων συνεχώρησεν αὐτοῖς τὴν εἰρήνην ὥστε τὰς μὲν Ἑλληνίδας πόλεις ἁπάσας ἐλευθέρας εἶναι, τὸν δὲ Λύκον καλούμενον ποταμὸν ὅριον εἶναι τῆς ἑκατέρων ἐπικρατείας· μὴ ἐξεῖναι δὲ Καρχηδονίοις βοηθῆσαι τοῖς τυράννοις τοῖς πολεμοῦσι πρὸς Συρακοσίους. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τὸν μὲν Ἱκέταν καταπολεμήσας ἐθανάτωσε, τοὺς δʼ ἐν Αἴτνῃ Καμπανοὺς ἐκπολιορκήσας διέφθειρε. καὶ Νικόδημον μὲν τὸν Κεντοριπίνων τύραννον καταπληξάμενος ἐξέβαλεν ἐκ τῆς πόλεως, Ἀπολλωνιάδην δὲ τὸν Ἀγυριναίων δυνάστην παύσας τῆς τυραννίδος τοὺς ἐλευθερωθέντας Συρακοσίους ἐποίησε. καθόλου δὲ πάντας τοὺς κατὰ τὴν νῆσον τυράννους ῥιζοτομήσας καὶ τὰς πόλεις ἐλευθερώσας εἰς τὴν συμμαχίαν προσεδέξατο. κηρύξαντος δʼ αὐτοῦ κατὰ τὴν Ἑλλάδα διότι Συρακόσιοι διδόασι χώραν καὶ οἰκίας τοῖς βουλομένοις μετέχειν τῆς ἐν Συρακούσσαις πολιτείας πολλοὶ πρὸς τὴν κληρουχίαν Ἕλληνες ἀπήντησαν· τέλος δὲ οἰκήτορες ἀπεδείχθησαν εἰς μὲν τὴν Συρακοσίαν τὴν ἀδιαίρετον τετρακισμύριοι, εἰς δὲ τὴν Ἀγυριναίαν μύριοι διὰ τὸ μέγεθος καὶ κάλλος τῆς χώρας. εὐθὺ δὲ καὶ τοὺς προϋπάρχοντας νόμους ἐν ταῖς Συρακούσσαις, οὓς συνέγραψε Διοκλῆς, διώρθωσε. καὶ τοὺς μὲν περὶ τῶν ἰδιωτικῶν συμβολαίων ἢ κληρονομιῶν εἴασεν ἀμεταθέτους, τοὺς δὲ περὶ τῶν δημοσίων νενομοθετημένους πρὸς τὴν ἰδίαν ὑπόστασιν ὥς ποτʼ ἐδόκει συμφέρειν διώρθωσεν. ἐπιστάτης δʼ ἦν καὶ διορθωτὴς τῆς νομοθεσίας Κέφαλος ὁ Κορίνθιος, ἀνὴρ ἐν παιδείᾳ καὶ συνέσει δεδοξασμένος. ἀπὸ δὲ τούτων γενόμενος τοὺς μὲν Λεοντίνους εἰς Συρακούσσας μετῴκισεν, εἰς δὲ τὴν Καμαριναίαν οἰκήτορας προσθεὶς ἐπηύξησε τὴν πόλιν.
At the end of this year, Lysimachides became archon at Athens, and in Rome there were elected as consuls Quintus Servilius and Marcus Rutilius. In this year, Timoleon returned to Syracuse and promptly expelled from the city as traitors all the mercenaries who had abandoned him under the leadership of Thrasius. These crossed over into Italy, and coming upon a coastal town in Bruttium, sacked it. The Bruttians, incensed, immediately marched against them with a large army, stormed the place, and shot them all down with javelins. Those who had abandoned Timoleon were rewarded by such misfortune for their own wickedness. Timoleon himself seized and put to death Postumius the Etruscan, who had been raiding sea traffic with twelve corsairs, and had put in at Syracuse as a friendly city. He received the new settlers sent out by the Corinthians kindly, to the number of five thousand. Then, when the Carthaginians sent envoys and pleaded with them urgently, he granted them peace on the terms that all the Greek cities should be free, that the river Lycus should be the boundary of their respective territories, and that the Carthaginians might not give aid to the tyrants who were at war with Syracuse. After this, he concluded his war with Hicetas and put him to death, and then attacked the Campanians in Aetna and wiped them out. Likewise he overbore Nicodemus, tyrant of Centuripae, and ousted him from that city; and putting an end to the tyranny of Apolloniades in Agyrium he gave Syracusan citizenship to its freed inhabitants. In a word, all of the tyrants throughout the island were uprooted and the cities were set free and taken into his alliance. He made proclamation in Greece that the Syracusans would give land and houses to those who wished to come and share in their state, and many Greeks came to receive their allotments. Ultimately forty thousand settlers were assigned to the vacant land of Syracuse and ten thousand to that of Agyrium, because of its extent and quality. At this time, also, Timoleon revised the existing laws of Syracuse, which Diocles had composed. Those concerning private contracts and inheritance he allowed to remain unaltered, but he amended those concerned with public affairs in whatever way seemed advantageous to his own concept. Chairman and director of this legislative programme was Cephalus the Corinthian, a man distinguished for education and intelligence. When his hands were free of this matter, Timoleon transferred the people of Leontini to Syracuse, but sent additional settlers to Camarina and enlarged the city.
§ 16.83
καθόλου δὲ πάντα τὰ κατὰ τὴν Σικελίαν εἰρηνικῶς καταστήσας ἐποίησε τὰς πόλεις ταχὺ λαβεῖν πολλὴν αὔξησιν πρὸς εὐδαιμονίαν. ἐκ πολλοῦ γὰρ χρόνου διὰ τὰς στάσεις καὶ τοὺς ἐμφυλίους πολέμους, ἔτι δὲ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν ἐπανισταμένων αἰεὶ τυράννων αἱ μὲν πόλεις ἔρημοι τῶν οἰκητόρων ἦσαν, αἱ δὲ χῶραι διὰ τὴν ἀργίαν ἐξηγρίωντο καὶ καρπῶν ἡμέρων ἄφοροι καθειστήκεισαν· τότε δὲ διὰ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν ἐπιπολασάντων οἰκητόρων καὶ διὰ τὴν πολυχρόνιον ἐπιγεγενημένην εἰρήνην ἐξημερώθησαν ταῖς ἐργασίαις καὶ πολλοὺς καὶ παντοδαποὺς ἐξήνεγκαν καρπούς. τούτους δʼ οἱ Σικελιῶται λυσιτελῶς πιπράσκοντες τοῖς ἐμπόροις ταχὺ προσανέδραμον ταῖς οὐσίαις. τοιγαροῦν διὰ τὴν ἐκ τούτων εὐπορίαν πολλὰ καὶ μεγάλα κατεσκευάσθη κατʼ ἐκείνους τοὺς χρόνους ἀναθήματα, ἐν μὲν ταῖς Συρακούσσαις ὁ κατὰ τὴν Μῆσον οἶκος ὁ ἑξηκοντάκλινος ὀνομαζόμενος, τῶν κατὰ τὴν Σικελίαν ἔργων ὑπεραίρων τῷ μεγέθει καὶ τῇ κατασκευῇ, ὃν κατεσκεύασε μὲν Ἀγαθοκλῆς ὁ δυνάστης, διὰ δὲ τὸ βάρος τῶν ἔργων ὑπεραίρων τοὺς τῶν θεῶν ναοὺς ἐπισημασίας ἔτυχεν ὑπὸ τοῦ δαιμονίου κεραυνωθείς, οἵ τε παρὰ τὸν μικρὸν λιμένα πύργοι, τὰς μὲν ἐπιγραφὰς ἔχοντες ἐξ ἑτερογενῶν λίθων, σημαίνοντες δὲ τὴν τοῦ κατασκευάσαντος αὐτοὺς προσηγορίαν Ἀγαθοκλέους, ὁμοίως δὲ τούτοις μικρὸν ὕστερον ὑπὸ Ἱέρωνος τοῦ βασιλέως τό τε κατὰ τὴν ἀγορὰν Ὀλυμπιεῖον καὶ ὁ πλησίον τοῦ θεάτρου βωμός, τὸ μὲν μῆκος ὢν σταδίου, τὸ δʼ ὕψος καὶ πλάτος ἔχων τούτῳ κατὰ λόγον. ἐν δὲ ταῖς ἐλάττοσι πόλεσιν, ἐν αἷς ἡ τῶν Ἀγυριναίων καταριθμεῖται, μετασχοῦσα τῆς τότε κληρουχίας διὰ τὴν προειρημένην ἐκ τῶν καρπῶν εὐπορίαν, θέατρον μὲν κατεσκεύασε μετὰ τὸ τῶν Συρακοσίων κάλλιστον τῶν κατὰ Σικελίαν, θεῶν τε ναοὺς καὶ βουλευτήριον καὶ ἀγοράν, ἔτι δὲ πύργων ἀξιολόγους κατασκευὰς καὶ τάφους πυραμίδων πολλῶν καὶ μεγάλων διαφόρων ταῖς φιλοτεχνίαις.
So, having established peaceful conditions everywhere throughout Sicily, he caused the cities to experience a vast growth of prosperity. For many years, because of domestic troubles and border wars, and still more because of the numbers of tyrants who kept constantly appearing, the cities had become destitute of inhabitants and the open country had become a wilderness for lack of cultivation, producing no useful crops. But now new settlers streamed into the land in great numbers, and as a long period of peace set in, the fields were reclaimed for cultivation and bore abundant crops of all sorts. These the Siceliot Greeks sold to merchants at good prices and rapidly increased their wealth. It was by reason of the funds so acquired that many large constructions were completed in that period. There was, first, the structure in Syracuse on the Island called the "Hall of the Sixty Couches," which surpassed all the other buildings of Sicily in size and grandeur. This was built by Agathocles the despot, and since, in its pretentiousness, it went beyond the temples of the gods, so it received a mark of Heaven's displeasure in being struck by lightning. Then there were the towers along the shore of the Little Harbour with their mosaic inscriptions of varicoloured stones, proclaiming the name of their founder, Agathocles. Comparable to these but a little later, in the time of Hiero the king, there was built the Olympieium in the market and the altar beside the theatre, a stade in length and proportionally high and broad. Among the lesser cities is to be reckoned Agyrium, but since it shared in the increase of settlers due to this agricultural prosperity, it built the finest theatre in Sicily after that of Syracuse, together with temples of the gods, a council chamber, and a market. There were also memorable towers, as well as pyramidal monuments of architectural distinction marking graves, many and great.
§ 16.84
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησι Χαρώνδου τὴν ὕπατον ἀρχὴν διεδέξαντο Λεύκιος Αἰμίλιος καὶ Γάιος Πλώτιος. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Φίλιππος ὁ βασιλεὺς τοὺς πλείστους τῶν Ἑλλήνων εἰς φιλίαν προηγμένος ἐφιλοτιμεῖτο καὶ τοὺς Ἀθηναίους καταπληξάμενος ἀδήριτον ἔχειν τὴν ἡγεμονίαν τῆς Ἑλλάδος. διόπερ ἄφνω καταλαβόμενος Ἐλάτειαν πόλιν καὶ τὰς δυνάμεις εἰς ταύτην ἀθροίσας διέγνω πολεμεῖν τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις. ἀπαρασκεύων δʼ ὄντων αὐτῶν διὰ τὴν συντεθειμένην εἰρήνην ἤλπιζε ῥᾳδίως περιποιήσεσθαι τὴν νίκην· ὅπερ καὶ συνετελέσθη. καταληφθείσης γὰρ τῆς Ἐλατείας ἧκόν τινες νυκτὸς ἀπαγγέλλοντες τὴν κατάληψιν τῆς πόλεως καὶ διότι ταχέως ἥξει Φίλιππος μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως εἰς τὴν Ἀττικήν. οἱ δὲ στρατηγοὶ τῶν Ἀθηναίων διὰ τὸ παράδοξον τῆς πράξεως καταπλαγέντες τούς τε σαλπικτὰς μετεπέμποντο καὶ σημαίνειν προσέταττον διʼ ὅλης τῆς νυκτός. τῆς δὲ φήμης εἰς πᾶσαν οἰκίαν διαδοθείσης ἡ μὲν πόλις ὀρθὴ διὰ τὸν φόβον ἦν, ὁ δὲ δῆμος ἅπας ἅμʼ ἡμέρᾳ συνέδραμεν εἰς τὸ θέατρον πρὸ τοῦ συγκαλέσαι τοὺς ἄρχοντας ὡς ἦν ἔθος. ὡς δʼ ἧκον οἱ στρατηγοὶ καὶ τὸν μηνύσαντα παρῆγον κἀκεῖνος εἶπεν, σιωπὴ μὲν καὶ φόβος κατεῖχε τὸ θέατρον καὶ τῶν εἰωθότων δημηγορεῖν οὐδεὶς ἐτόλμα συμβουλεῦσαι· πλεονάκις δὲ τοῦ κήρυκος καλέσαντος τοὺς ἐροῦντας ὑπὲρ τῆς κοινῆς σωτηρίας οὐδεὶς παρῄει σύμβουλος. ἀπορίας οὖν μεγάλης οὔσης καὶ καταπλήξεως ἀπέβλεπε τὸ πλῆθος ἐπὶ τὸν Δημοσθένην. ὁ δʼ καταβὰς καὶ τὸν δῆμον παρακαλέσας θαρρεῖν ἀπεφαίνετο δεῖν παραχρῆμα πρέσβεις ἀποστέλλειν εἰς τὰς Θήβας καὶ παρακαλεῖν τοὺς Βοιωτοὺς κοινῇ τὸν ὑπὲρ τῆς ἐλευθερίας ἀγῶνα τίθεσθαι· πρὸς γὰρ τοὺς ἄλλους συμμάχους ὁ καιρὸς οὐ συνεχώρει πέμπειν πρεσβείας περὶ τῆς συμμαχίας. ἐν ἡμέραις γὰρ δυσὶ προσδόκιμος ἦν ὁ βασιλεὺς ἥξειν εἰς τὴν Ἀττικὴν καὶ τῆς ὁδοιπορίας οὔσης διὰ τῆς Βοιωτίας ἡ παρὰ τῶν Βοιωτῶν συμμαχία μόνη κατελείπετο, φανεροῦ γʼ ὄντος ὅτι Φίλιππος, φίλος ὢν καὶ σύμμαχος Βοιωτοῖς, τούτους ἐν παρόδῳ πειράσεται παραλαβεῖν εἰς τὸν κατʼ Ἀθηναίων πόλεμον.
When Charondes was archon at Athens, Lucius Aemilius and Gaius Plautius succeeded to the consulship. In this year, Philip the king, having won most of the Greeks over to friendship with him, was ambitious to gain the uncontested leadership of Greece by terrifying the Athenians into submission. Therefore he suddenly seized the city of Elateia, concentrated his forces there and adopted a policy of war with Athens. He expected to have no trouble in defeating them, since their reliance on the existing peace treaty made them unprepared for hostilities; and that is how it worked out. For after Elateia had been occupied, persons came at night to Athens reporting the occupation and stating that Philip would march immediately into Attica with his army. Taken aback by this unexpected development, the Athenian generals summoned the trumpeters and ordered them to keep blowing the alarm signal the whole night through. The news spread into every household and the city was tense with terror, and at dawn the whole people flocked to the theatre even before the archons had made their customary proclamation. When the generals came and introduced the messenger and he had told his story, silence and terror gripped the assembly and none of the usual speakers dared propose a course of action. Again and again the herald called for someone to speak for the common safety, but no one came forward with a proposal. In utter perplexity and dismay, the crowd kept their eyes on Demosthenes. Finally he came down from his seat, and bidding the people take heart gave it as his opinion that they must straightway send envoys to Thebes and invite the Boeotians to join them to make a struggle for freedom. There was no time to send envoys to their other allies invoking the treaties of alliance, since in two days the king could be expected to enter Attica. As his way led through Boeotia, the support of the Boeotians was their only recourse, especially since Philip was at that time the friend and ally of the Boeotians and would evidently try to take them along as he marched past to the war against Athens.
§ 16.85
τοῦ δὲ δήμου τὸν λόγον ἀποδεξαμένου καὶ τοῦ περὶ τῆς πρεσβείας ψηφίσματος ὑπὸ Δημοσθένους γραφέντος ὁ μὲν δῆμος ἐζήτει τὸν δυνατώτατον εἰπεῖν· ὁ δὲ Δημοσθένης ὑπήκουσε προθύμως πρὸς τὴν χρείαν. τέλος δʼ ὀξέως πρεσβεύσας καὶ πείσας ἐπανῆλθεν εἰς τὰς Ἀθήνας. ὁ δὲ δῆμος τῇ τῶν Βοιωτῶν συμμαχίᾳ διπλασάσας τὴν προϋπάρχουσαν δύναμιν ἀνεθάρρησε ταῖς ἐλπίσιν. εὐθὺ δὲ καὶ στρατηγοὺς κατέστησε τοὺς περὶ Χάρητα καὶ Λυσικλέα καὶ πανδημεὶ μετὰ τῶν ὅπλων ἐξέπεμψε τοὺς στρατιώτας εἰς τὴν Βοιωτίαν. τῶν δὲ νέων ἁπάντων προθύμως εἰς τὸν ἀγῶνα καταντώντων οὗτοι μὲν κατὰ σπουδὴν ὁδοιπορήσαντες ἧκον εἰς Χαιρώνειαν τῆς Βοιωτίας· οἱ δὲ Βοιωτοὶ θαυμάσαντες τὴν ὀξύτητα τῆς τῶν Ἀθηναίων παρουσίας καὶ αὐτοὶ σπουδῆς οὐδὲν ἐλλείποντες ἀπήντησαν μετὰ τῶν ὅπλων καὶ κοινῇ στρατοπεδεύσαντες ὑπέμενον τὴν τῶν πολεμίων ἔφοδον. Φίλιππος δὲ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἐξέπεμψεν ἐπὶ τὸ κοινὸν τῶν Βοιωτῶν πρέσβεις, ὧν ἦν ἐπιφανέστατος Πύθων. οὗτος γὰρ διαβεβοημένος ἐπὶ τῇ τοῦ λόγου δεινότητι καὶ συγκριθεὶς παρὰ τοῖς Βοιωτοῖς κατὰ τὴν περὶ τῆς συμμαχίας δημηγορίαν πρὸς Δημοσθένην τῶν μὲν ἄλλων ἐπρώτευσεν, τούτου δὲ ἐφάνη καταδεέστερος. καὶ ὁ Δημοσθένης δὲ αὐτὸς ὡς μέγα τι κατειργασμένος ἐν τοῖς συγγεγραμμένοις ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ λόγοις συμνύνεται τῇ πρὸς τὸν ῥήτορα τοῦτον δημηγορίᾳ ἐν οἷς λέγειτότʼ ἐγὼ μὲν τῷ Πύθωνι θρασυνομένῳ καὶ πολλῷ ῥέοντι καθʼ ὑμῶν οὐχ ὑπεχώρησα. μετὰ δὲ ταῦθʼ ὁ Φίλιππος ἀποτυχὼν τῆς τῶν Βοιωτῶν συμμαχίας οὐδὲν ἧττον ἔκρινε πρὸς ἀμφοτέρους διαγωνίσασθαι· διὸ καὶ προσαναμείνας τοὺς ἀφυστεροῦντας τῶν συμμάχων ἧκεν εἰς τὴν Βοιωτίαν, ἔχων πεζοὺς μὲν πλείους τῶν τρισμυρίων, ἱππεῖς δὲ οὐκ ἔλαττον τῶν δισχιλίων. ἀμφοτέρων δὲ πρὸς τὴν μάχην εὐτρεπῶν γενομένων τοῖς μὲν φρονήμασι καὶ ταῖς προθυμίαις, ἔτι δὲ ταῖς ἀνδραγαθίαις ἐφάμιλλοι καθειστήκεισαν, τῷ δὲ πλήθει καὶ τῇ κατὰ τὴν στρατηγίαν ἀρετῇ προεῖχεν ὁ βασιλεύς. πολλὰς γὰρ καὶ ποικίλας παρατάξεις ἠγωνισμένος καὶ ἐν ταῖς πλείσταις μάχαις νενικηκὼς μεγάλην εἶχεν ἐμπειρίαν τῶν κατὰ πόλεμον ἔργων. παρὰ δὲ τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις οἱ μὲν ἀγαθώτατοι τῶν στρατηγῶν ἐτετελευτήκεισαν, Ἰφικράτης καὶ Χαβρίας, ἔτι δὲ Τιμόθεος, τῶν δʼ ὑπολελειμμένων Χάρης πρωτεύων οὐδὲν διέφερε τῶν τυχόντων ἰδιωτῶν κατὰ τὴν ἐν τῷ στρατηγεῖν ἐνέργειαν καὶ βουλήν.
When the people accepted the proposal and the decree authorizing the embassy had been drafted by Demosthenes, they turned to the search for their most eloquent representative. Demosthenes willingly answered the call to service. He carried out the mission vigorously and returned to Athens at last having secured the adhesion of the Thebans. Now that they had doubled their existing armed forces by the foreign alliance, the Athenians recovered their confidence. At once they designated Chares and Lysicles as generals and sent forth their entire army under arms into Boeotia. All their youth reported eager for battle and advanced with forced marches as far as Chaeroneia in Boeotia. Impressed by the promptness of the Athenian arrival and themselves no less ready to act decisively, the Boeotians joined them with their weapons and, brigaded together, all awaited the approach of the enemy. Philip's first move was to send envoys to the Boeotian League, the most eminent of whom was Pytho. He was celebrated for his eloquence, but judged by the Boeotians in this contest for their allegiance against Demosthenes, he surpassed all the other speakers, to be sure, but was clearly inferior to him. And Demosthenes himself in his speeches parades his success against this orator as a great accomplishment, where he says: "I did not then give ground before Pytho in spite of his confidence and his torrent of words against you." So Philip failed to get the support of the Boeotians, but nevertheless decided to fight both of the allies together. He waited for the last of his laggard confederates to arrive, and then marched into Boeotia. His forces came to more than thirty thousand infantry and no less than two thousand cavalry. Both sides were on the edge for the battle, high-spirited and eager, and were well matched in courage, but the king had the advantage in numbers and in generalship. He had fought many battles of different sorts and had been victorious in most cases, so that he had a wide experience in military operations. On the Athenian side, the best of their generals were dead — Iphicrates, Chabrias, and Timotheus too — and the best of those who were left, Chares, was no better than any average soldier in the energy and discretion required of a commander.
§ 16.86
ἅμα δʼ ἡμέρᾳ τῶν δυνάμεων ἐκταττομένων ὁ μὲν βασιλεὺς τὸν υἱὸν Ἀλέξανδρον, ἀντίπαιδα τὴν ἡλικίαν ὄντα, διάδηλον δὲ τὴν ἀνδρείαν καὶ τὴν ὀξύτητα τῆς ἐνεργείας ἔχοντα, κατέστησεν ἐπὶ θάτερον τῶν κεράτων, παρακαταστήσας αὐτῷ τῶν ἡγεμόνων τοὺς ἀξιολογωτάτους· αὐτὸς δὲ τοὺς ἐπιλέκτους ἔχων μεθʼ ἑαυτοῦ τὴν ἡγεμονίαν εἶχε τοῦ ἑτέρου μέρους καὶ τὰς κατὰ μέρος τάξεις οἰκείως τοῖς παροῦσι καιροῖς διεκόσμησεν. οἱ δʼ Ἀθηναῖοι κατʼ ἔθνος τὴν διαίρεσιν τῆς τάξεως ποιησάμενοι τοῖς μὲν Βοιωτοῖς τὸ ἕτερον μέρος παρέδωκαν, αὐτοὶ δὲ τοῦ λοιποῦ τὴν ἡγεμονίαν εἶχον. γενομένης δὲ μάχης καρτερᾶς ἐπὶ πολὺν χρόνον καὶ πολλῶν πιπτόντων παρʼ ἀμφοτέροις μέχρι μέν τινος ὁ ἀγὼν ἀμφιδοξουμένας εἶχε τὰς ἐλπίδας τῆς νίκης. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τοῦ Ἀλεξάνδρου φιλοτιμουμένου τῷ πατρὶ τὴν ἰδίαν ἀνδραγαθίαν ἐνδείξασθαι καὶ φιλοτιμίας ὑπερβολὴν οὐκ ἀπολείποντος, ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ πολλῶν αὐτῷ συναγωνιζομένων ἀνδρῶν ἀγαθῶν πρῶτος τὸ συνεχὲς τῆς τῶν πολεμίων τάξεως ἔρρηξε καὶ πολλοὺς καταβαλὼν κατεπόνει τοὺς καθʼ αὑτὸν τεταγμένους. τὸ δʼ αὐτὸ καὶ τῶν παραστατῶν αὐτῷ ποιησάντων τὸ συνεχὲς αἰεὶ τῆς τάξεως παρερρήγνυτο. πολλῶν δὲ σωρευομένων νεκρῶν οἱ περὶ τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον πρῶτοι βιασάμενοι τοὺς καθʼ αὑτοὺς ἐτρέψαντο. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα καὶ ὁ βασιλεὺς αὐτὸς προκινδυνεύων καὶ τῆς νίκης τὴν ἐπιγραφὴν οὐδʼ αὐτῷ παραχωρῶν Ἀλεξάνδρῳ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἐξέωσε τῇ βίᾳ τοὺς ἀντιτεταγμένους, ἔπειτα δὲ καὶ φεύγειν συναναγκάσας αἴτιος ἐγένετο τῆς νίκης. τῶν δʼ Ἀθηναίων ἔπεσον μὲν ἐν τῇ μάχῃ πλείους τῶν χιλίων, ἥλωσαν δʼ οὐκ ἐλάττους τῶν δισχιλίων. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τῶν Βοιωτῶν πολλοὶ μὲν ἀνῃρέθησαν, οὐκ ὀλίγοι δʼ ἐζωγρήθησαν. μετὰ δὲ τὴν μάχην ὁ Φίλιππος τρόπαιον στήσας καὶ τοὺς νεκροὺς εἰς ταφὴν συγχωρήσας ἐπινίκια τοῖς θεοῖς ἔθυσε καὶ τοὺς ἀνδραγαθήσαντας κατὰ τὴν ἀξίαν ἐτίμησεν.
The armies deployed at dawn, and the king stationed his son Alexander, young in age but noted for his valour and swiftness of action, on one wing, placing beside him his most seasoned generals, while he himself at the head of picked men exercised the command over the other; individual units were stationed where the occasion required. On the other side, dividing the line according to nationality, the Athenians assigned one wing to the Boeotians and kept command of the other themselves. Once joined, the battle was hotly contested for a long time and many fell on both sides, so that for a while the struggle permitted hopes of victory to both. Then Alexander, his heart set on showing his father his prowess and yielding to none in will to win, ably seconded by his men, first succeeded in rupturing the solid front of the enemy line and striking down many he bore heavily on the troops opposite him. As the same success was won by his companions, gaps in the front were constantly opened. Corpses piled up, until finally Alexander forced his way through the line and put his opponents to flight. Then the king also in person advanced, well in front and not conceding credit for the victory even to Alexander; he first forced back the troops stationed before him and then by compelling them to flee became the man responsible for the victory. More than a thousand Athenians fell in the battle and no less than two thousand were captured. Likewise, many of the Boeotians were killed and not a few taken prisoners. After the battle Philip raised a trophy of victory, yielded the dead for burial, gave sacrifices to the gods for victory, and rewarded according to their deserts those of his men who had distinguished themselves.
§ 16.87
λέγουσι δέ τινες ὅτι καὶ παρὰ τὸν πότον πολὺν ἐμφορησάμενος ἄκρατον καὶ μετὰ τῶν φίλων τὸν ἐπινίκιον ἄγων κῶμον διὰ μέσων τῶν αἰχμαλώτων ἐβάδιζεν ὑβρίζων διὰ λόγων τὰς τῶν ἀκληρούντων δυστυχίας. Δημάδην δὲ τὸν ῥήτορα κατʼ ἐκεῖνον τὸν καιρὸν ἐν τοῖς αἰχμαλώτοις ὄντα χρήσασθαι παρρησίᾳ καὶ λόγον ἀποφθέγξασθαι δυνάμενον ἀναστεῖλαι τὴν τοῦ βασιλέως ἀσέλγειαν. φασὶ γὰρ εἰπεῖν αὐτόν, βασιλεῦ, τῆς τύχης σοι περιθείσης πρόσωπον Ἀγαμέμνονος αὐτὸς οὐκ αἰσχύνῃ πράττων ἔργα Θερσίτου; τὸν δὲ Φίλιππον τῇ τῆς ἐπιπλήξεως εὐστοχίᾳ κινηθέντα τοσοῦτο μεταβαλεῖν τὴν ὅλην διάθεσιν ὥστε τοὺς μὲν στεφάνους ἀπορρῖψαι, τὰ δὲ συνακολουθοῦντα κατὰ τὸν κῶμον σύμβολα τῆς ὕβρεως ἀποτρίψασθαι, τὸν δʼ ἄνδρα τὸν χρησάμενον τῇ παρρησίᾳ θαυμάσαι καὶ τῆς αἰχμαλωσίας ἀπολύσαντα πρὸς ἑαυτὸν ἀναλαβεῖν ἐντίμως. τέλος δʼ ὑπὸ τοῦ Δημάδου καθομιληθέντα ταῖς Ἀττικαῖς χάρισι πάντας ἀπολῦσαι τοὺς αἰχμαλώτους ἄνευ λύτρων, καθόλου δʼ ἀποθέμενον τὴν ἐκ τῆς νίκης ὑπερηφανίαν πρέσβεις ἀποστεῖλαι πρὸς τὸν δῆμον τῶν Ἀθηναίων καὶ συνθέσθαι πρὸς αὐτοὺς φιλίαν τε καὶ συμμαχίαν, εἰς δὲ τὰς Θήβας φρουρὰν ἐγκαταστήσαντα συγχωρῆσαι τὴν εἰρήνην τοῖς Βοιωτοῖς.
The story is told that in the drinking after dinner Philip downed a large amount of unmixed wine and forming with his friends a comus in celebration of the victory paraded through the midst of his captives, jeering all the time at the misfortunes of the luckless men. Now Demades, the orator, who was then one of the captives, spoke out boldly and made a remark able to curb the king's disgusting exhibition. He is said to have remarked: "O King, when Fortune has cast you in the role of Agamemnon, are you not ashamed to act the part of Thersites?" Stung by this well-aimed shaft of rebuke, Philip altered his whole demeanour completely. He cast off his garland, brushed aside the symbols of pride that marked the communicates, expressed admiration for the man who dared to speak so plainly, freed him from captivity and gave him a place in his own company with every mark of honour. Addressed by Demades with Attic charm, he ended by releasing all of the Athenian prisoners without ransom and, altogether abandoning the arrogance of victory, sent envoys to the people of Athens and concluded with them a treaty of friendship and alliance. With the Boeotians he concluded peace but maintained a garrison in Thebes.
§ 16.88
οἱ δʼ Ἀθηναῖοι μετὰ τὴν ἧτταν Λυσικλέους μὲν τοῦ στρατηγοῦ θάνατον κατέγνωσαν Λυκούργου τοῦ ῥήτορος κατηγορήσαντος. οὗτος γὰρ τῶν τότε ῥητόρων μέγιστον ἔχων ἀξίωμα καὶ δώδεκα μὲν ἔτη τὰς προσόδους τῆς πόλεως διοικήσας ἐπαινουμένως, βίον δʼ ἐζηκὼς ἐπʼ ἀρετῇ περιβόητον πικρότατος ἦν ἐν τοῖς λόγοις κατήγορος. γνοίη δʼ ἄν τις αὐτοῦ τὴν ἐν τοῖς λόγοις ἀξίαν καὶ πικρίαν ἐν οἷς τοῦ Λυσικλέους κατηγορῶν λέγει, Ἐστρατήγεις, ὦ Λύσικλες, καὶ χιλίων μὲν πολιτῶν τετελευτηκότων, δισχιλίων δʼ αἰχμαλώτων γεγονότων, τροπαίου δὲ κατὰ τῆς πόλεως ἑστηκότος, τῆς δʼ Ἑλλάδος ἁπάσης δουλευούσης, καὶ τούτων ἁπάντων γεγενημένων σοῦ ἡγουμένου καὶ στρατηγοῦντος τολμᾷς ζῆν καὶ τὸ τοῦ ἡλίου φῶς ὁρᾶν καὶ εἰς τὴν ἀγορὰν ἐμβάλλειν, ὑπόμνημα γεγονὼς αἰσχύνης καὶ ὀνείδους τῇ πατρίδι. ἴδιον δέ τι συνέβη γενέσθαι κατὰ τοὺς ὑποκειμένους χρόνους. καθʼ ὃν γὰρ καιρὸν ἡ περὶ τὴν Χαιρώνειαν ἐγένετο μάχη, ἑτέρα παράταξις συνέστη κατὰ τὴν Ἰταλίαν τῇ αὐτῇ ἡμέρᾳ καὶ ὥρᾳ διαπολεμούντων μὲν Ταραντίνων πρὸς Λευκανούς, συναγωνιζομένου δὲ τοῖς Ταραντίνοις Ἀρχιδάμου τοῦ Λακεδαιμονίων βασιλέως, ὅτε συνέβη καὶ αὐτὸν ἀναιρεθῆναι τὸν Ἀρχίδαμον. οὗτος μὲν οὖν ἦρξε τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων ἔτη εἴκοσι τρία, τὴν δὲ βασιλείαν διαδεξάμενος ὁ υἱὸς Ἄγις ἦρξεν ἔτη ἐννέα. ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις Τιμόθεος ὁ τῆς Ἡρακλείας τῆς ἐν τῷ Πόντῳ τύραννος ἐτελεύτησε δυναστεύσας ἔτη πεντεκαίδεκα, τὴν δὲ τυραννίδα διαδεξάμενος ὁ ἀδελφὸς Διονύσιος ἦρξεν ἔτη δυσὶ πλείω τῶν τριάκοντα.
After this defeat, the Athenians condemned to death the general Lysicles on the accusation of Lycurgus, the orator. Lycurgus had the highest repute of the politicians of his time, and since he had won praise for his conduct of the city's finances over a period of twelve years and lived in general a life renowned for rectitude, he proved to be a very stern prosecutor. One can judge of his character and austerity in the passage in his accusation where he says: "You were general, Lysicles. A thousand citizens have perished and two thousand were taken captive. A trophy stands over your city's defeat, and all of Greece is enslaved. All of this happened under your leadership and command, and yet you dare to live and to look on the sun and even to intrude into the market, a living monument of our country's shame and disgrace." There was an odd coincidence in the period under review. At the same time as the battle took place at Chaeroneia, another battle occurred in Italy on the same day and at the same hour between the people of Tarentum and the Lucanians. In the service of Tarentum was Archidamus, the Lacedemonian king, and it happened that he was himself killed. He had ruled the Lacedemonians for twenty-three years; his son Agis succeeded to the throne and ruled for nine years. At this time, also, Timotheus the tyrant of Heracleia-Pontica died after having been in power for fifteen years. His brother Dionysius succeeded to the tyranny and ruled for thirty-two years.
§ 16.89
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησι Φρυνίχου Ῥωμαῖοι κατέστησαν ὑπάτους Τῖτον Μάλλιον Τορκουᾶτον καὶ Πόπλιον Δέκιον. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Φίλιππος ὁ βασιλεὺς πεφρονηματισμένος τῇ περὶ Χαιρώνειαν νίκῃ καὶ τὰς ἐπιφανεστάτας πόλεις καταπεπληγμένος ἐφιλοτιμεῖτο γενέσθαι πάσης τῆς Ἑλλάδος ἡγεμών. διαδοὺς δὲ λόγον ὅτι βούλεται πρὸς Πέρσας ὑπὲρ τῶν Ἑλλήνων πόλεμον ἄρασθαι καὶ λαβεῖν παρʼ αὐτῶν δίκας ὑπὲρ τῆς εἰς τὰ ἱερὰ γενομένης παρανομίας ἰδίους τοὺς Ἕλληνας ταῖς εὐνοίαις ἐποιήσατο. φιλοφρονούμενος δὲ πρὸς ἅπαντας καὶ ἰδίᾳ καὶ κοινῇ ταῖς πόλεσιν ἀπεφαίνετο βούλεσθαι διαλεχθῆναι περὶ τῶν συμφερόντων. διόπερ ἐν Κορίνθῳ τοῦ κοινοῦ συνεδρίου συναχθέντος διαλεχθεὶς περὶ τοῦ πρὸς Πέρσας πολέμου καὶ μεγάλας ἐλπίδας ὑποθεὶς προετρέψατο τοὺς συνέδρους εἰς πόλεμον. τέλος δὲ τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἑλομένων αὐτὸν στρατηγὸν αὐτοκράτορα τῆς Ἑλλάδος μεγάλας παρασκευὰς ἐποιεῖτο πρὸς τὴν ἐπὶ τοὺς Πέρσας στρατείαν. διατάξας δʼ ἑκάστῃ πόλει τὸ πλῆθος τῶν εἰς συμμαχίαν στρατιωτῶν ἐπανῆλθεν εἰς τὴν Μακεδονίαν. καὶ τὰ μὲν περὶ Φίλιππον ἐν τούτοις ἦν.
When Phrynichus was archon at Athens, the Romans installed as consuls Titus Manlius Torquatus and Publius Decius. In this year King Philip, proudly conscious of his victory at Chaeroneia and seeing that he had dashed the confidence of the leading Greek cities, conceived of the ambition to become the leader of all Greece. He spread the word that he wanted to make war on the Persians in the Greeks' behalf and to punish them for the profanation of the temples, and this won for him the loyal support of the Greeks. He showed a kindly face to all in private and in public, and he represented to the cities that he wished to discuss with them matters of common advantage. A general congress was, accordingly, convened at Corinth. He spoke about the war against Persia and by raising great expectations won the representatives over to war. The Greeks elected him the general plenipotentiary of Greece, and he began accumulating supplies for the campaign. He prescribed the number of soldiers that each city should send for the joint effort, and then returned to Macedonia. This was the state of affairs as regards Philip.
§ 16.90
κατὰ δὲ τὴν Σικελίαν Τιμολέων ὁ Κορίνθιος ἅπαντα τοῖς Συρακοσίοις καὶ τοῖς Σικελιώταις κατωρθωκὼς ἐτελεύτησε, στρατηγήσας ἔτη ὀκτώ. οἱ δὲ Συρακόσιοι μεγάλως ἀποδεδεγμένοι τὸν ἄνδρα διά τε τὴν ἀρετὴν καὶ τὸ μέγεθος τῶν εὐεργεσιῶν μεγαλοπρεπῶς ἔθαψαν αὐτὸν καὶ κατὰ τὴν ἐκφορὰν ἀθροισθέντος τοῦ πλήθους τόδε τὸ ψήφισμα ἀνηγόρευσεν ὁ Δημήτριος ὃς ἦν μεγαλοφωνότατος τῶν τότε κηρύκων· ἐψήφισται ὁ δᾶμος τῶν Συρακοσίων Τιμολέοντα Τιμαινέτου Κορίνθιον τόνδε θάπτειν μὲν ἀπὸ διακοσιᾶν μνᾶν, τιμᾶσθαι δὲ εἰς τὸν ἅπαντα χρόνον ἀγώνεσσι μουσικοῖς καὶ ἱππικοῖς καὶ γυμνικοῖς, ὅτι τοὺς τυράννους καταλύσας καὶ τοὺς βαρβάρους καταπολεμήσας καὶ τὰς μεγίστας τῶν Ἑλληνίδων πόλεων ἀνοικίσας αἴτιος ἐγενήθη τᾶς ἐλευθερίας τοῖς Σικελιώταις. περὶ δὲ τοὺς αὐτοὺς καιροὺς Ἀριοβαρζάνης μὲν ἐτελεύτησεν βασιλεύσας ἔτη εἴκοσι καὶ ἕξ, τὴν δὲ βασιλείαν διαδεξάμενος Μιθριδάτης ἦρξεν ἔτη πέντε πρὸς τοῖς τριάκοντα. Ῥωμαῖοι δὲ πρὸς Λατίνους καὶ Καμπανοὺς παραταξάμενοι περὶ πόλιν Σούεσσαν ἐνίκησαν καὶ τῶν ἡττηθέντων μέρος τῆς χώρας ἀφείλοντο. ὁ δὲ κατωρθωκὼς τὴν μάχην Μάλλιος ὁ ὕπατος ἐθριάμβευσεν.
In Sicily, Timoleon the Corinthian died; he had put in order all the affairs of the Syracusans and the other Siceliot Greeks, and had been their general for eight years. The Syracusans revered him greatly because of his ability and the extent of his services to them and gave him a magnificent funeral. As the body was borne out in the presence of all the people the following decree was proclaimed by that Demetrius who had the most powerful voice of all the criers of his time: "The people of Syracuse have voted to bury this Timoleon son of Timaenetus, of Corinth, at a cost of two hundred minas, and to honour him to the end of time with musical, equestrian, and gymnastic games, because he destroyed the tyrants, defeated the barbarians, and resettled the mightiest of Greek cities, and so became the author of freedom for the Greeks of Sicily." In this year, also, Ariobarzanes died after ruling for twenty-six years and Mithridates, succeeding him, ruled for thirty-five. The Romans were victorious in a battle against the Latins and Campanians in the vicinity of Suessa and annexed part of the territory of the vanquished. Manlius, the consul who had won the victory, celebrated a triumph.
§ 16.91
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησι Πυθοδώρου Ῥωμαῖοι μὲν κατέστησαν ὑπάτους Κόιντον Πόπλιον καὶ Τιβέριον Αἰμίλιον Μάμερκον, Ὀλυμπιὰς δʼ ἤχθη πρώτη πρὸς ταῖς ἑκατὸν καὶ δέκα, καθʼ ἣν ἐνίκα στάδιον Κλεόμαντις Κλειτόριος. ἔστεπται μὲν ὁ ταῦρος, ἔχει τέλος, ἔστιν ὁ θύσων. ὁ μὲν οὖν Φίλιππος σκολιῶς ἔχοντος τοῦ χρησμοῦ πρὸς τὸ ἴδιον συμφέρον ἐξεδέχετο τὸ λόγιον, ὡς τοῦ μαντείου προλέγοντος τὸν Πέρσην ἱερείου τρόπον τυθήσεσθαι· τὸ δʼ ἀληθὲς οὐχ οὕτως εἶχεν, ἀλλὰ τοὐναντίον ἐσήμαινεν ἐν πανηγύρει καὶ θεῶν θυσίαις τὸν Φίλιππον ὥσπερ τὸν ταῦρον ἐστεμμένον σφαγήσεσθαι. οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ δόξας συμμαχεῖν αὐτῷ τοὺς θεοὺς περιχαρὴς ἦν, ὡς τῆς Ἀσίας ὑπὸ Μακεδόνας ἐσομένης αἰχμαλώτου. εὐθὺς οὖν θυσίας μεγαλοπρεπεῖς ἐπετέλει τοῖς θεοῖς καὶ τῆς θυγατρὸς Κλεοπάτρας τῆς ἐξ Ὀλυμπιάδος συνετέλει γάμους καὶ ταύτην Ἀλεξάνδρῳ συνῴκισε τῷ βασιλεῖ τῶν Ἠπειρωτῶν, ἀδελφῷ δὲ ὄντι γνησίῳ τῆς Ὀλυμπιάδος. ἅμα δὲ ταῖς τῶν θεῶν τιμαῖς βουλόμενος ὡς πλείστους τῶν Ἑλλήνων μετασχεῖν τῆς εὐωχίας ἀγῶνάς τε μουσικοὺς μεγαλοπρεπεῖς ἐποίει καὶ λαμπρὰς ἑστιάσεις τῶν φίλων καὶ ξένων. διόπερ ἐξ ἁπάσης τῆς Ἑλλάδος μετεπέμπετο τοὺς ἰδιοξένους καὶ τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ φίλοις παρήγγειλε παραλαμβάνειν τῶν ἀπὸ τῆς ξένης γνωρίμων ὡς πλείστους. σφόδρα γὰρ ἐφιλοτιμεῖτο φιλοφρονεῖσθαι πρὸς τοὺς Ἕλληνας καὶ διὰ τὰς δεδομένας αὐτῷ τῆς ὅλης ἡγεμονίας τιμὰς ταῖς προσηκούσαις ὁμιλίαις ἀμείβεσθαι.
When Pythodorus was archon at Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Quintus Publius and Tiberius Aemilius Mamercus, and the one hundred and eleventh celebration of the Olympic Games took place, in which Cleomantis of Cleitor won the foot-race. In this year, King Philip, installed as leader by the Greeks, opened the war with Persia by sending into Asia as an advance party Attalus and Parmenion, assigning to them a part of his forces and ordering them to liberate the Greek cities, while he himself, wanting to enter upon the war with the god's approval, asked the Pythia whether he would conquer the king of the Persians. She gave him the following response: "Wreathed is the bull. All is done. There is also the one who will smite him." Now Philip found this response ambiguous but accepted it in a sense favourable to himself, namely that the oracle foretold that the Persian would be slaughtered like a sacrificial victim. Actually, however, it was not so, and it meant that Philip himself in the midst of a festival and holy sacrifices, like the bull, would be stabbed to death while decked with a garland. In any event, he thought that the gods supported him and was very happy to think that Asia would be made captive under the hands of the Macedonians. Straightway he set in motion plans for gorgeous sacrifices to the gods joined with the wedding of his daughter Cleopatra, whose mother was Olympias; he had given her in marriage to Alexander king of Epirus, Olympias' own brother. He wanted as many Greeks as possible to take part in the festivities in honour of the gods, and so planned brilliant musical contests and lavish banquets for his friends and guests. Out of all Greece he summoned his personal guest-friends and ordered the members of his court to bring along as many as they could of their acquaintances from abroad. He was determined to show himself to the Greeks as an amiable person and to respond to the honours conferred when he was appointed to the supreme command with appropriate entertainment.
§ 16.92
τέλος δὲ πολλῶν πανταχόθεν πρὸς τὴν πανήγυριν συρρεόντων καὶ τῶν ἀγώνων καὶ γάμων συντελουμένων ἐν Αἰγέαις τῆς Μακεδονίας οὐ μόνον κατʼ ἄνδρα τῶν ἐπιφανῶν ἐστεφάνωσαν αὐτὸν χρυσοῖς στεφάνοις, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν ἀξιολόγων πόλεων αἱ πλείους, ἐν αἷς ἦν καὶ ἡ τῶν Ἀθηναίων. ἀναγορευομένου δὲ τοῦ στεφάνου τούτου διὰ τοῦ κήρυκος τὸ τελευταῖον εἶπεν, ἄν τις ἐπιβουλεύσας Φιλίππῳ τῷ βασιλεῖ καταφύγῃ πρὸς Ἀθηναίους, παραδόσιμον εἶναι τοῦτον. διὰ δὲ τῆς αὐτοματιζούσης φήμης ὥσπερ θείᾳ τινὶ προνοίᾳ διεσήμαινε τὸ δαιμόνιον τὴν ἐσομένην ἐπιβουλὴν εὐθὺς τῷ Φιλίππῳ. φρονεῖτε νῦν αἰθέρος ὑψηλότερον καὶ μεγάλων πεδίων ἀρούρας, φρονεῖθʼ ὑπερβαλλόμενοι δόμων δόμους, ἀφροσύνᾳ πρόσω βιοτὰν τεκμαιρόμενοι. ὁ δʼ ἀμφιβάλλει ταχύπουν κέλευθον ἕρπων σκοτίαν, ἄφνω δʼ ἄφαντος προσέβα μακρὰς ἀφαιρούμενος ἐλπίδας θνατῶν πολύμοχθος Ἅιδας ὁ δὲ Φίλιππος ἡσθεὶς ἐπὶ τοῖς ἀπηγγελμένοις ὅλως ἦν καὶ τελείως φερόμενος τῇ διανοίᾳ πρὸς τὴν τοῦ Περσῶν βασιλέως καταστροφήν, ἅμα δὲ καὶ τὸν πυθόχρηστον χρησμὸν ἀνελογίζετο, παραπλησίαν ἔχοντα διάνοιαν τοῖς ὑπὸ τοῦ τραγῳδοῦ ῥηθεῖσι. τέλος δὲ τοῦ πότου διαλυθέντος καὶ τῶν ἀγώνων κατὰ τὴν ὑστεραίαν τὴν ἀρχὴν λαμβανόντων τὸ μὲν πλῆθος ἔτι νυκτὸς οὔσης συνέτρεχεν εἰς τὸ θέατρον, ἅμα δʼ ἡμέρᾳ τῆς πομπῆς γινομένης σὺν ταῖς ἄλλαις ταῖς μεγαλοπρεπέσι κατασκευαῖς εἴδωλα τῶν δώδεκα θεῶν ἐπόμπευε ταῖς τε δημιουργίαις περιττῶς εἰργασμένα καὶ τῇ λαμπρότητι τοῦ πλούτου θαυμαστῶς κεκοσμημένα· σὺν δὲ τούτοις αὐτοῦ τοῦ Φιλίππου τρισκαιδέκατον ἐπόμπευε θεοπρεπὲς εἴδωλον, σύνθρονον ἑαυτὸν ἀποδεικνύντος τοῦ βασιλέως τοῖς δώδεκα θεοῖς.
So great numbers of people flocked together from all directions to the festival, and the games and the marriage were celebrated in Aegae in Macedonia.a Not only did individual notables crown him with golden crowns but most of the important cities as well, and among them Athens. As this award was being announced by the herald, he ended with the declaration that if anyone plotted against King Philip and fled to Athens for refuge, he would be delivered up. The casual phrase seemed like an omen sent by Providence to let Philip know that a plot was coming. There were other like words also spoken, seemingly divinely inspired, which forecast the king's death. At the state banquet, Philip ordered the actor Neoptolemus, matchless in the power of his voice and in his popularity, to present some well-received pieces, particularly such as bore on the Persian campaign. The artist thought that his piece would be taken as appropriate to Philip's crossing and intended to rebuke the wealth of the Persian king, great and famous as it was, (suggesting) that it could some day be overturned by fortune. Here are the words that he first sang: "Your thoughts reach higher than the air; You dream of wide fields' cultivation. The homes you plan surpass the homes That men have known, but you do err, Guiding your life afar. But one there is who'll catch the swift, Who goes a way obscured in gloom, And sudden, unseen, overtakes And robs us of our distant hopes — Death, mortals' source of many woes." He continued with the rest of the song, all of it dealing with the same theme. Philip was enchanted with the message and was completely occupied with the thought of the overthrow of the Persian king, for he remembered the Pythian oracle which bore the same meaning as the words quoted by the tragic actor. Finally the drinking was over and the start of the games set for the following day. While it was still dark, the multitude of spectators hastened into the theatre and at sunrise the parade formed. Along with lavish display of every sort, Philip included in the procession statues of the twelve gods wrought with great artistry and adorned with a dazzling show of wealth to strike awe in the beholder, and along with these was conducted a thirteenth statue, suitable for a god, that of Philip himself, so that the king exhibited himself enthroned among the twelve gods.
§ 16.93
τοῦ δὲ θεάτρου πληρωθέντος αὐτὸς ὁ Φίλιππος ᾔει λευκὸν ἔχων ἱμάτιον καὶ προστεταχὼς τοὺς δορυφόρους μακρὰν ἀφεστῶτας ἀφʼ ἑαυτοῦ συνακολουθεῖν· ἐνεδείκνυτο γὰρ πᾶσιν ὅτι τηρούμενος τῇ κοινῇ τῶν Ἑλλήνων εὐνοίᾳ τῆς τῶν δορυφόρων φυλακῆς οὐκ ἔχει χρείαν. τηλικαύτης δʼ οὔσης περὶ αὐτὸν ὑπεροχῆς καὶ πάντων ἐπαινούντων ἅμα καὶ μακαριζόντων τὸν ἄνδρα παράδοξος καὶ παντελῶς ἀνέλπιστος ἐφάνη κατὰ τοῦ βασιλέως ἐπιβουλὴ καὶ θάνατος. ἵνα δὲ σαφὴς ὁ περὶ τούτων γένηται λόγος, προεκθησόμεθα τὰς αἰτίας τῆς ἐπιβουλῆς. Παυσανίας ἦν τὸ μὲν γένος Μακεδὼν ἐκ τῆς Ὀρεστίδος καλουμένης, τοῦ δὲ βασιλέως σωματοφύλαξ καὶ διὰ τὸ κάλλος φίλος γεγονὼς τοῦ Φιλίππου. οὗτος ὁρῶν ὑπὸ τοῦ βασιλέως ἀγαπώμενον ἕτερον Παυσανίαν ὁμώνυμον ἑαυτῷ ὀνειδιστικοῖς πρὸς αὐτὸν ἐχρήσατο λόγοις, φήσας ἀνδρόγυνον εἶναι καὶ τοὺς τῶν βουλομένων ἔρωτας ἑτοίμως προσδέχεσθαι. ὁ δὲ τὴν ἐκ τῆς λοιδορίας ὕβριν οὐκ ἐνέγκας τὸ μὲν παρὸν κατεσιώπησεν, Ἀττάλῳ δέ τινι τῶν φίλων ἐπικοινωσάμενος περὶ τῶν μελλόντων πράττεσθαι ἑκουσίως καὶ παραδόξως ἑαυτὸν ἐκ τοῦ ζῆν μετέστησεν. μετʼ ὀλίγας γὰρ ἡμέρας τοῦ Φιλίππου πρὸς Πλευρίαν τὸν τῶν Ἰλλυριῶν βασιλέα διαγωνιζομένου πρὸ τοῦ βασιλέως στὰς ἁπάσας τὰς φερομένας ἐπʼ αὐτὸν πληγὰς ἀνεδέξατο τῷ ἰδίῳ σώματι καὶ μετήλλαξεν. διαβοηθείσης δὲ τῆς πράξεως ὁ μὲν Ἄτταλος, εἷς ὢν τῶν ἐξ αὐλῆς καὶ πολὺ δυναμένων παρὰ τῷ βασιλεῖ, ἐκάλεσεν ἐπὶ δεῖπνον τὸν Παυσανίαν καὶ πολὺν ἐμφορήσας ἄκρατον παρέδωκεν αὐτοῦ τὸ σῶμα τοῖς ὀρεωκόμοις εἰς ὕβριν καὶ παροινίαν ἑταιρικήν. ὁ δὲ ἀνανήψας ἐκ τῆς μέθης καὶ τῇ τοῦ σώματος ὕβρει περιαλγὴς γενόμενος τοῦ Ἀττάλου κατηγόρησεν ἐπὶ τοῦ βασιλέως. ὁ δὲ Φίλιππος παρωξύνθη μὲν ἐπὶ τῇ παρανομίᾳ τῆς πράξεως, διὰ δὲ τὴν πρὸς Ἄτταλον οἰκειότητα καὶ τὴν εἰς τὸ παρὸν αὐτοῦ χρείαν οὐκ ἐβούλετο μισοπονηρεῖν· ἦν γὰρ ὁ Ἄτταλος τῆς μὲν ἐπιγαμηθείσης γυναικὸς ὑπὸ τοῦ βασιλέως Κλεοπάτρας ἀδελφιδοῦς, ἐπὶ δὲ τῆς προαπεσταλμένης δυνάμεως εἰς τὴν Ἀσίαν στρατηγὸς προκεχειρισμένος, ἐν δὲ τοῖς πολεμικοῖς ἀγῶσιν ἀνδρεῖος. διόπερ ὁ βασιλεὺς πραῧναι βουλόμενος τοῦ Παυσανίου τὴν ἐπὶ τῷ πάθει γεγενημένην δικαίαν ὀργὴν δωρεὰς ἀξιολόγους ἀπένειμεν αὐτῷ καὶ κατὰ τὴν σωματοφυλακίαν προῆγεν αὐτὸν ἐντίμως.
Every seat in the theatre was taken when Philip appeared wearing a white cloak, and by his express orders his bodyguard held away from him and followed only at a distance, since he wanted to show publicly that he was protected by the goodwill of all the Greeks, and had no need of a guard of spearmen. Such was the pinnacle of success that he had attained, but as the praises and congratulations of all rang in his ears, suddenly without warning the plot against the king was revealed as death struck. We shall set forth the reasons for this in order that our story may be clear. There was a Macedonian Pausanias who came of a family from the district Orestis.He was a bodyguard of the king and was beloved of him because of his beauty. When he saw that the king was becoming enamoured of another Pausanias (a man of the same name as himself), he addressed him with abusive language, accusing him of being a hermaphrodite and prompt to accept the amorous advances of any who wished. Unable to endure such an insult, the other kept silent for the time, but, after confiding to Attalus, one of his friends, what he proposed to do, he brought about his own death voluntarily and in a spectacular fashion. For a few days after this, as Philip was engaged in battle with Pleurias, king of the Illyrians, Pausanias stepped in front of him and, receiving on his body all the blows directed at the king, so met his death. The incident was widely discussed and Attalus, who was a member of the court circle and influential with the king, invited the first Pausanias to dinner and when he had plied him till drunk with unmixed wine, handed his unconscious body over to the muleteers to abuse in drunken licentiousness. So he presently recovered from his drunken stupor and, deeply resenting the outrage to his person, charged Attalus before the king with the outrage. Philip shared his anger at the barbarity of the act but did not wish to punish Attalus at that time because of their relationship, and because Attalus's services were needed urgently. He was the nephew of the Cleopatra whom the king had just married as a new wife and he had been selected as a general of the advanced force being sent into Asia, for he was a man valiant in battle. For these reasons, the king tried to mollify the righteous anger of Pausanias at his treatment, giving him substantial presents and advancing him in honour among his bodyguards.
§ 16.94
ὁ δὲ Παυσανίας ἀμετάθετον φυλάττων τὴν ὀργὴν ἔσπευδε μὴ μόνον παρὰ τοῦ πράξαντος λαβεῖν τιμωρίαν, ἀλλὰ καὶ παρὰ τοῦ μὴ τιμωροῦντος αὐτῷ. συνεπελάβετο δὲ ταύτης τῆς προαιρέσεως μάλιστα ὁ σοφιστὴς Ἑρμοκράτης. τοῦ γὰρ Παυσανίου σχολάζοντος αὐτῷ καὶ κατὰ τὴν διατριβὴν πυθομένου πῶς ἄν τις γένοιτο ἐπιφανέστατος, ὁ σοφιστὴς ἀπεκρίθη εἰ τὸν τὰ μέγιστα πράξαντα ἀνέλοι· τῇ γὰρ περὶ τούτου μνήμῃ συμπεριληφθήσεσθαι καὶ τὸν τὴν ἀναίρεσιν αὐτοῦ ποιησάμενον. ἀνενέγκας δὲ πρὸς τὴν ἰδίαν ὀργὴν τὸν λόγον καὶ διὰ τὸν θυμὸν οὐδεμίαν τῆς γνώμης ὑπέρθεσιν ποιησάμενος ἐν αὐτοῖς τοῖς ὑποκειμένοις ἀγῶσι τὴν ἐπιβουλὴν συνεστήσατο τοιῷδέ τινι τρόπῳ. ἵππους παραστησάμενος ταῖς πύλαις παρῆλθε πρὸς τὰς εἰς τὸ θέατρον εἰσόδους ἔχων κεκρυμμένην Κελτικὴν μάχαιραν. τοῦ δὲ Φιλίππου τοὺς παρακολουθοῦντας φίλους κελεύσαντος προεισελθεῖν εἰς τὸ θέατρον καὶ τῶν δορυφόρων διεστώτων, ὁρῶν τὸν βασιλέα μεμονωμένον προσέδραμε καὶ διὰ τῶν πλευρῶν διανταίαν ἐνέγκας πληγὴν τὸν μὲν βασιλέα νεκρὸν ἐξέτεινεν, αὐτὸς δʼ ἐπὶ τὰς πύλας καὶ τοὺς ἡτοιμασμένους πρὸς τὴν φυγὴν ἔθεεν ἵππους. εὐθὺς δὲ τῶν σωματοφυλάκων οἱ μὲν πρὸς τὸ σῶμα τοῦ βασιλέως ὥρμησαν, οἱ δʼ ἐπὶ τὸν τοῦ σφαγέως διωγμὸν ἐξεχύθησαν, ἐν οἷς ὑπῆρχον καὶ Λεόννατος καὶ Περδίκκας καὶ Ἄτταλος. ὁ δὲ Παυσανίας προλαβὼν τῆς διώξεως ἔφθασεν ἂν ἐπὶ τὸν ἵππον ἀναπηδήσας, εἰ μὴ τῆς ὑποδέσεως περὶ ἄμπελόν τινα περιπλακείσης ἔπεσεν. διόπερ οἱ περὶ τὸν Περδίκκαν καταλαβόντες αὐτὸν ἐκ τῆς γῆς ἀνιστάμενον καὶ συγκεντήσαντες ἀνεῖλον.
Pausanias, nevertheless, nursed his wrath implacably, and yearned to avenge himself, not only on the one who had done him wrong, but also on the one who failed to avenge him. In this design he was encouraged especially by the sophist Hermocrates. He was his pupil, and when he asked in the course of his instruction how one might become most famous, the sophist replied that it would be by killing the one who had accomplished most, for just as long as he was remembered, so long his slayer would be remembered also. Pausanias connected this saying with his private resentment, and admitting no delay in his plans because of his grievance he determined to act under cover of the festival in the following manner. He posted horses at the gates of the city and came to the entrance of the theatre carrying a Celtic dagger under his cloak. When Philip directed his attending friends to precede him into the theatre, while the guards kept their distance, he saw that the king was left alone, rushed at him, pierced him through his ribs, and stretched him out dead; then ran for the gates and the horses which he had prepared for his flight. Immediately one group of the bodyguards hurried to the body of the king while the rest poured out in pursuit of the assassin; among these last were Leonnatus and Perdiccas and Attalus. Having a good start, Pausanias would have mounted his horse before they could catch him had he not caught his boot in a vine and fallen. As he was scrambling to his feet, Perdiccas and the rest came up with him and killed him with their javelins.
§ 16.95
Φίλιππος μὲν οὖν μέγιστος γενόμενος τῶν καθʼ ἑαυτὸν ἐπὶ τῆς Εὐρώπης βασιλέων καὶ διὰ τὸ μέγεθος τῆς ἀρχῆς ἑαυτὸν τοῖς δώδεκα θεοῖς σύνθρονον καταριθμήσας τοιαύτης ἔτυχε τῆς τοῦ βίου καταστροφῆς, ἄρξας ἔτη τέσσαρα πρὸς τοῖς εἴκοσι. δοκεῖ δʼ οὗτος ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐλαχίστας μὲν εἰς τὴν μοναρχίαν ἀφορμὰς παρειληφέναι, μεγίστην δὲ τῶν παρʼ Ἕλλησι μοναρχιῶν κατακτήσασθαι, ηὐξηκέναι δὲ τὴν ἡγεμονίαν οὐχ οὕτω διὰ τῆς ἐν τοῖς ὅπλοις ἀνδραγαθίας ὡς διὰ τῆς ἐν τοῖς λόγοις ὁμιλίας καὶ φιλοφροσύνης. φασὶ δὲ καὶ αὐτὸν τὸν Φίλιππον σεμνύνεσθαι μᾶλλον ἐπὶ τῇ στρατηγικῇ συνέσει καὶ τοῖς διὰ τῆς ὁμιλίας ἐπιτεύγμασιν ἤπερ ἐπὶ τῇ κατὰ τὰς μάχας ἀνδρείᾳ· τῶν μὲν γὰρ κατὰ τοὺς ἀγῶνας κατορθωμάτων μετέχειν ἅπαντας τοὺς στρατευομένους, τῶν δὲ διὰ τῆς ὁμιλίας γινομένων ἐπιτευγμάτων αὐτὸν μόνον λαμβάνειν τὴν ἐπιγραφήν. ἡμεῖς δʼ ἐπειδὴ πάρεσμεν ἐπὶ τὴν Φιλίππου τελευτήν, ταύτην μὲν τὴν βίβλον αὐτοῦ περιγράψομεν κατὰ τὴν ἐν ἀρχῇ πρόθεσιν, τῆς δʼ ἐχομένης ἀρχὴν τὴν Ἀλεξάνδρου παράληψιν τῆς βασιλείας ποιησάμενοι πειρασόμεθα περιλαβεῖν ἁπάσας αὐτοῦ τὰς πράξεις ἐν μιᾷ βίβλῳ.
Such was the end of Philip, who had made himself the greatest of the kings in Europe in his time, and because of the extent of his kingdom had made himself a throned companion of the twelve gods. He had ruled twenty-four years. He is known to fame as one who with but the slenderest resources to support his claim to a throne won for himself the greatest empire in the Greek world, while the growth of his position was not due so much to his prowess in arms as to his adroitness and cordiality in diplomacy. Philip himself is said to have been prouder of his grasp of strategy and his diplomatic successes than of his valour in actual battle. Every member of his army shared in the successes which were won in the field but he alone got credit for victories won through negotiation. Now that we have come to the death of Philip, we shall conclude this book here according to our original statement. Beginning the next one with Alexander's accession as king we shall try to include all of his career in one book.
— Book 17 —
§ 17.arg
τῶν Διοδώρου βύβλων τῆς ἑπτακαιδεκάτης εἰς δύο διῃρημένης ἡ πρώτη περιέχει τάδε. ὡς Ἀλέξανδρος διαδεξάμενος τὴν βασιλείαν κατέστησε τὰ κατὰ τὴν ἀρχήν. ὡς τὰ νεωτερίζοντα τῶν ἐθνῶν ἀνεκτήσατο. ὡς Θήβας κατασκάψας καὶ φόβον ἐπιστήσας τοῖς Ἕλλησι στρατηγὸς αὐτοκράτωρ τῆς Ἑλλάδος ᾑρέθη. ὡς διαβὰς εἰς τὴν Ἀσίαν τοὺς σατράπας ἐνίκησε περὶ τὸν ἐν Φρυγίᾳ Γρανικὸν ποταμόν. ὡς Μίλητον καὶ Ἁλικαρνασσὸν ἐξεπολιόρκησεν. μάχη Δαρείου πρὸς Ἀλέξανδρον ἐν Ἰσσῷ τῆς Κιλικίας καὶ νίκη Ἀλεξάνδρου. Τύρου πολιορκία καὶ Αἰγύπτου παράληψις καὶ πάροδος εἰς Ἄμμωνα τοῦ βασιλέως. παράταξις ἐν Ἀρβήλοις Ἀλεξάνδρου πρὸς Δαρεῖον καὶ νίκη Ἀλεξάνδρου. μάχη Ἀντιπάτρου πρὸς Λακεδαιμονίους καὶ νίκη Ἀντιπάτρου.h( deute/ra perie/xei ta/de. Ἀρβήλων ἅλωσις ὑπʼ Ἀλεξάνδρου καὶ κατάληψις πολλῶν χρημάτων. ἀνάληψις τῆς δυνάμεως ἐν Βαβυλῶνι καὶ δωρεαὶ τοῖς ἀνδραγαθήσασι. παρουσία τῶν ἀποσταλέντων μισθοφόρων καὶ συμμάχων. διάταξις καὶ κατασκευὴ τῆς δυνάμεως. ὡς Ἀλέξανδρος παρέλαβε Σοῦσαν καὶ τοὺς ἐν αὐτῇ θησαυρούς. ὡς τῶν παρόδων ἐγκρατὴς ἐγένετο καὶ τῶν ὀνομαζομένων Σουσιάδων Πυλῶν ἐκράτησεν. ὡς τοὺς ἀκρωτηριασθέντας Ἑλλήνων εὐεργέτησε καὶ τὴν Περσέπολιν παραλαβὼν διήρπασεν. ὡς κωμάσας ἐνέπρησε τὰ βασίλεια. Δαρείου θάνατος ὑπὸ Βήσσου. Ἀλεξάνδρου στρατεία εἰς τὴν Ὑρκανίαν καὶ τῶν ἐν αὐτῇ φυομένων παραδόξων ἀπαγγελία. ὡς Ἀλέξανδρος ἐπὶ Μάρδους στρατεύσας κατεπολέμησε τὸ ἔθνος. ὡς Θάληστρις ἡ τῶν Ἀμαζονίδων βασιλεύουσα συνέμιξεν Ἀλεξάνδρῳ. ὡς ὁ βασιλεὺς ἀνίκητον ἑαυτὸν εἶναι νομίσας ἐζήλωσε τὴν τῶν Περσῶν τρυφήν. στρατεία Ἀλεξάνδρου πρὸς τοὺς ἀφεστηκότας Ἀρείους καὶ ἅλωσις τῆς Πέτρας. ἐπιβουλὴ τοῦ βασιλέως καὶ κόλασις τῶν ἐπιθεμένων, ὧν οἱ ἐπιφανέστατοι Παρμενίων καὶ Φιλώτας. στρατεία Ἀλεξάνδρου εἰς τοὺς Παροπανισάδας καὶ τὰ πραχθέντα κατʼ αὐτήν. ἡ γενομένη ἐν Ἀρείοις μονομαχία καὶ παράληψις τοῦ ἔθνους. Βήσσου τοῦ ἀνελόντος Δαρεῖον θάνατος. ὡς Ἀλέξανδρος διὰ τῆς ἀνύδρου πορευθεὶς πολλοὺς ἀπέβαλε τῶν στρατιωτῶν. ὡς τοὺς Βραγχίδας τὸ παλαιὸν ὑπὸ Περσῶν μετοικισθέντας εἰς τὰ ἔσχατα τῆς βασιλείας ὡς προδότας τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἀνεῖλεν Ἀλέξανδρος. ὡς ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐπὶ Σογδιανοὺς καὶ Σκύθας ἐστράτευσεν. ὡς οἱ πρωτεύοντες Σογδιανῶν ἀπαγόμενοι πρὸς τὸν θάνατον παραδόξως ἐσώθησαν. ὡς Ἀλέξανδρος ἀποστάντας τοὺς Σογδιανοὺς κατεπολέμησε καὶ κατέσφαξεν αὐτῶν πλείους τῶν δώδεκα μυριάδων. ὡς Βακτριανοὺς ἐκόλασε καὶ Σογδιανοὺς τὸ δεύτερον ἐχειρώσατο καὶ πόλεις ἔκτισεν εὐκαίρως πρὸς τὰς τῶν ἀφισταμένων κολάσεις. ἀπόστασις τρίτη Σογδιανῶν καὶ ἅλωσις τῶν εἰς τὴν Πέτραν καταφυγόντων. περὶ τοῦ ἐν Βασίστοις κυνηγίου καὶ τοῦ πλήθους τῶν ἐν αὐτῷ θηρίων. περὶ τῆς εἰς τὸν Διόνυσον ἁμαρτίας καὶ τῆς παρὰ τὸν πότον ἀναιρέσεως Κλείτου. περὶ τῆς Καλλισθένους τελευτῆς. στρατεία τοῦ βασιλέως εἰς τοὺς καλουμένους Ναύτακας καὶ φθορὰ τῆς δυνάμεως ὑπὸ πολλῆς χιόνος. ὡς Ἀλέξανδρος ἐρασθεὶς Ῥωξάνης τῆς Ὀξυάρτου ἔγημεν αὐτὴν καὶ τῶν φίλων πολλοὺς ἔπεισε γῆμαι τὰς τῶν ἐπισήμων βαρβάρων θυγατέρας. παρασκευὴ τῆς ἐπὶ Ἰνδοὺς στρατείας. ἐμβολὴ εἰς τὴν Ἰνδικὴν καὶ ἀναίρεσις ἄρδην τοῦ πρώτου ἔθνους πρὸς κατάπληξιν τῶν ἄλλων. ὡς τὴν Νυσίαν ὀνομαζομένην πόλιν εὐεργέτησε διὰ τὴν ἀπὸ Διονύσου συγγένειαν. ὡς Μάσσακα πόλιν ὀχυρὰν ἐκπορθήσας τοὺς μισθοφόρους ἅπαντας λαμπρῶς ἀγωνισαμένους κατέκοψεν. ὡς τὴν Ἄορνον καλουμένην Πέτραν, ἀνάλωτον ἀεὶ γεγενημένην, ἐξεπολιόρκησεν. ὡς Ταξίλην μὲν τὸν βασιλέα τῶν Ἰνδῶν προσηγάγετο, Πῶρον δὲ μεγάλῃ παρατάξει νικήσας καὶ τοῦ σώματος κρατήσας, ἀπέδωκε τὴν βασιλείαν αὐτῷ διʼ ἀνδραγαθίαν. ἀπαγγελία τῶν κατὰ τὴν χώραν παραδόξων ὄφεών τε καὶ τῶν φυομένων καρπῶν. ὡς τὰ πλησιόχωρα τῶν ἐθνῶν τὰ μὲν προσηγάγετο, τὰ δὲ κατεπολέμησεν. ὡς τὴν ὑπὸ Σωπείθην τεταγμένην ἐχειρώσατο. περὶ τῆς εὐνομίας τῶν ἐν ταύτῃ τῇ χώρᾳ πόλεων. περὶ τῆς ἀρετῆς τῶν δωρηθέντων Ἀλεξάνδρῳ κυνῶν. περὶ τῆς ἀφηγήσεως τοῦ Ἰνδῶν βασιλέως. ὡς τοῦ Ἀλεξάνδρου βουλομένου διαβῆναι τὸν Γάγγην ποταμὸν καὶ στρατεύειν ἐπὶ τοὺς Γανδαρίδας ὀνομαζομένους οἱ Μακεδόνες οὐχ ὑπήκουσαν. ὡς ὅρια θέμενος τῆς στρατείας ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐπῆλθε τὰ λοιπὰ τῶν Ἰνδῶν. ὡς διὰ τοῦ Ἰνδοῦ ποταμοῦ κατέπλευσεν ἐπὶ τὸν κατὰ μεσημβρίαν Ὠκεανόν, καὶ τοξευθεὶς ἐκινδύνευσεν. περὶ τῆς γενομένης μονομαχίας ἐκ προκλήσεως. περὶ τῶν καταπολεμηθέντων Ἰνδῶν ἐξ ἀμφοτέρων τῶν μερῶν τοῦ ποταμοῦ μέχρι τοῦ Ὠκεανοῦ. περὶ τῶν παραδόξων καὶ νομίμων παρὰ τοῖς ἐγχωρίοις καὶ τῶν θηριώδη βίον ἐχόντων. ὡς οἱ τὸν Ὠκεανὸν πλεύσαντες συνέμιξαν Ἀλεξάνδρῳ παρὰ θάλατταν ἐστρατοπεδευκότι καὶ τὰ κατὰ τὸν πλοῦν ἀπήγγειλαν. ὡς πάλιν ἐκπλεύσαντες πολλὴν τῆς παραθαλαττίας χώρας παρέπλευσαν. ὡς τῶν Περσῶν τρισμυρίους νεανίσκους ἐπιλέξας καὶ παιδεύσας τὰ πολεμικὰ τῶν ἔργων ἀντίταγμα κατεσκεύασε τῇ Μακεδονικῇ φάλαγγι. ὡς Ἅρπαλος διὰ τὴν τρυφὴν καὶ τὰς ὑπερβολὰς τῶν δαπανημάτων διαβληθεὶς ἔφυγεν ἐκ Βαβυλῶνος καὶ τοῦ δήμου τῶν Ἀθηναίων ἱκέτης ἐγένετο. ὡς διαδρὰς ἐκ τῆς Ἀττικῆς ἀνῃρέθη καὶ τῶν χρημάτων ἑπτακόσια μὲν τάλαντα παρέθετο τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις, τετρακισχίλια δὲ καὶ μισθοφόρους ὀκτακισχιλίους περὶ Ταίναρον τῆς Λακωνικῆς ἀπέλιπεν. ὡς Ἀλέξανδρος τοὺς γεγηρακότας τῶν Μακεδόνων χρεολυτήσας καὶ καταναλώσας μύρια τάλαντα ἀπέλυσεν εἰς τὰς πατρίδας. ὡς στασιαζόντων τῶν Μακεδόνων ἐκόλασε τοὺς αἰτίους. ὡς Πευκέστης ἤγαγε πρὸς Ἀλέξανδρον ἐκ τῶν Περσῶν ἐπιλέξας τοξότας καὶ σφενδονήτας μυρίους. ὡς τὰς τάξεις ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐποίησεν ἀναμίξας τοῖς Μακεδόσι Πέρσας. ὡς τοῖς ἐπιγόνοις παισὶ μυρίοις οὖσι τὰς δαπάνας καὶ παιδείας μισθοὺς ἅπασιν ἐχορήγει. ὡς Λεωσθένης ἤρξατο κινεῖν τὸν πρὸς Μακεδόνας πόλεμον. ὡς Ἀλέξανδρος ἐπὶ Κοσσαίους ἐστράτευσεν. ὡς πορευομένου τοῦ βασιλέως εἰς Βαβυλῶνα προεῖπον οἱ Χαλδαῖοι τῷ Ἀλεξάνδρῳ τελευτήσειν αὐτόν, ἐὰν εἰς τὴν Βαβυλῶνα εἰσέλθῃ. ὡς ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐν ἀρχῇ μὲν κατεπλάγη καὶ παρήλλαξε τὴν Βαβυλῶνα, ὕστερον δʼ ὑπὸ τῶν Ἑλληνικῶν φιλοσόφων πεισθεὶς κατήντησεν εἰς τὴν πόλιν. περὶ τοῦ πλήθους τῶν παραγενομένων πρεσβειῶν. περὶ τῆς Ἡφαιστίωνος ταφῆς καὶ τοῦ πλήθους τῶν εἰς αὐτὴν δαπανηθέντων χρημάτων. περὶ τῶν σημείων τῶν γεγενημένων Ἀλεξάνδρῳ καὶ τῆς τελευτῆς αὐτοῦ.
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§ 17.1
ἡ μὲν πρὸ ταύτης βύβλος, οὖσα τῆς ὅλης συντάξεως ἑξκαιδεκάτη, τὴν ἀρχὴν ἔσχεν ἀπὸ τῆς Φιλίππου τοῦ Ἀμύντου βασιλείας· περιελήφθησαν δʼ ἐν αὐτῇ πράξεις αἱ μὲν τοῦ Φιλίππου πᾶσαι μέχρι τῆς τελευτῆς, αἱ δὲ τῶν ἄλλων βασιλέων τε καὶ ἐθνῶν καὶ πόλεων ὅσαι γεγόνασι κατὰ τοὺς τῆς βασιλείας ταύτης χρόνους, ὄντας ἐτῶν εἴκοσι καὶ τεσσάρων. ἐν ταύτῃ δὲ τὰς συνεχεῖς πράξεις ἀναγράφοντες ἀρξόμεθα μὲν ἀπὸ τῆς Ἀλεξάνδρου βασιλείας, περιλαβόντες δὲ τὰ τούτῳ τῷ βασιλεῖ πραχθέντα μέχρι τῆς τελευτῆς συναναγράψομεν καὶ τὰ ἅμα τούτοις συντελεσθέντα ἐν τοῖς γνωριζομένοις μέρεσι τῆς οἰκουμένης· οὕτω γὰρ μάλιστα ὑπολαμβάνομεν τὰς πράξεις εὐμνημονεύτους ἔσεσθαι, κεφαλαιωδῶς τεθείσας καὶ συνεχὲς ἐχούσας ταῖς ἀρχαῖς τὸ τέλος. ἐν ὀλίγῳ δὲ χρόνῳ μεγάλας πράξεις οὗτος ὁ βασιλεὺς κατειργάσατο καὶ διὰ τὴν ἰδίαν σύνεσίν τε καὶ ἀνδρείαν ὑπερεβάλετο τῷ μεγέθει τῶν ἔργων πάντας τοὺς ἐξ αἰῶνος τῇ μνήμῃ παραδεδομένους βασιλεῖς· ἐν ἔτεσι γὰρ δώδεκα καταστρεψάμενος τῆς μὲν Εὐρώπης οὐκ ὀλίγα, τὴν δὲ Ἀσίανσχεδὸν ἅπασαν εἰκότως περιβόητον ἔσχε τὴν δόξαν καὶ τοῖς παλαιοῖς ἥρωσι καὶ ἡμιθέοις ἰσάζουσαν. ἀλλὰ γὰρ οὐκ ἀναγκαῖον ἡμῖν ἐν τῷ προοιμίῳ προλαμβάνειν τι τῶν κατωρθωμένων τούτῳ τῷ βασιλεῖ· αὐταὶ γὰρ αἱ κατὰ μέρος πράξεις ἱκανῶς μηνύσουσι τὸ μέγεθος τῆς δόξης αὐτοῦ. Ἀλέξανδρος οὖν γεγονὼς κατὰ πατέρα μὲν ἀφʼ Ἡρακλέους, κατὰ δὲ μητέρα τῶν Αἰακιδῶν οἰκείαν ἔσχε τὴν φύσιν καὶ τὴν ἀρετὴν τῆς τῶν προγόνων εὐδοξίας. ἡμεῖς δὲ τοὺς ἁρμόττοντας τῇ γραφῇ χρόνους παραθέντες ἐπὶ τὰς οἰκείας τῆς ὑποκειμένης ἱστορίας πράξεις τρεψόμεθα.
The preceding book, which was the sixteenth of the Histories, began with the coronation of Philip the son of Amyntas and included his whole career down to his death, together with those events connected with other kings, peoples and cities which occurred in the years of his reign, twenty-four in number. In this book we shall continue the systematic narrative beginning with the accession of Alexander, and include both the history of this king down to his death as well as contemporary events in the known parts of the world. This is the best method, I think, of ensuring that events will be remembered, for thus the material is arranged topically, and each story is told without interruption. Alexander accomplished great things in a short space of time, and by his acumen and courage surpassed in the magnitude of his achievements all kings whose memory is recorded from the beginning of time. In twelve years he conquered no small part of Europe and practically all of Asia, and so acquired a fabulous reputation like that of the heroes and demigods of old. But there is really no need to anticipate in the introduction any of the accomplishments of this king; his deeds reported one by one will attest sufficiently the greatness of his glory. On his father's side Alexander was a descendant of Heracles and on his mother's he could claim the blood of the Aeacids, so that from his ancestors on both sides he inherited the physical and moral qualities of greatness. Pointing out as we proceed the chronology of events, we shall pass on to the happenings which concern our history.
§ 17.2
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος γὰρ Ἀθήνησιν Εὐαινέτου Ῥωμαῖοι κατέστησαν ὑπάτους Λεύκιον Φούριον καὶ Γάιον Μάνιον. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Ἀλέξανδρος διαδεξάμενος τὴν βασιλείαν πρῶτον μὲν τοὺς φονεῖς τοῦ πατρὸς τῆς ἁρμοζούσης τιμωρίας ἠξίωσε, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τῆς ταφῆς τοῦ γονέως τὴν ἐνδεχομένην ἐπιμέλειαν ποιησάμενος κατέστησε τὰ κατὰ τὴν ἀρχὴν πολὺ κάλλιον ἢ πάντες προσεδόκησαν. νέος γὰρ ὢν παντελῶς καὶ διὰ τὴν ἡλικίαν ὑπό τινων καταφρονούμενος πρῶτον μὲν τὰ πλήθη οἰκείοις λόγοις παρεστήσατο πρὸς εὔνοιαν· ἔφη γὰρ ὄνομα μόνον διηλλάχθαι βασιλέως, τὰς δὲ πράξεις χειρισθήσεσθαι μηδὲν καταδεέστερον τῆς ἐπὶ τοῦ πατρὸς γενομένης οἰκονομίας· ἔπειτα ταῖς πρεσβείαις χρηματίσας φιλανθρώπως παρεκάλεσε τοὺς Ἕλληνας τηρεῖν τὴν πρὸς αὐτὸν πατροπαράδοτον εὔνοιαν. τῶν δὲ στρατιωτῶν πυκνὰς ποιησάμενος ἐξοπλισίας μελέτας τε καὶ γυμνασίας πολεμικὰς εὐπειθῆ κατεσκεύασε τὴν δύναμιν. ἔχων δὲ τῆς βασιλείας ἔφεδρον Ἄτταλον τὸν ἀδελφὸν Κλεοπάτρας τῆς ἐπιγαμηθείσης ὑπὸ Φιλίππου τοῦτον ἔκρινεν ἐκ τοῦ ζῆν μεταστῆσαι· καὶ γὰρ ἐτύγχανε παιδίον ἐκ τῆς Κλεοπάτρας γεγονὸς τῷ Φιλίππῳ τῆς τελευτῆς τοῦ βασιλέως ὀλίγαις πρότερον ἡμέραις. ὁ δʼ Ἄτταλος προαπεσταλμένος ἦν εἰς τὴν Ἀσίαν στρατηγὸς τῶν δυνάμεων μετὰ Παρμενίωνος, εὐεργετικὸς δʼ ὢν καὶ ταῖς ὁμιλίαις ἐκθεραπεύων τοὺς στρατιώτας μεγάλης ἐτύγχανεν ἀποδοχῆς ἐν τῷ στρατοπέδῳ. εὐλόγως οὖν τοῦτον εὐλαβεῖτο μήποτε τῆς ἀρχῆς ἀντιποιήσηται, συνεργοὺς λαβὼν τῶν Ἑλλήνων τοὺς ἐναντιουμένους ἑαυτῷ. διόπερ τῶν φίλων προχειρισάμενος Ἑκαταῖον ἐξαπέστειλεν εἰς τὴν Ἀσίαν μετὰ τῶν ἱκανῶν στρατιωτῶν, δοὺς ἐντολὰς μάλιστα μὲν ἀγαγεῖν ζῶντα τὸν Ἄτταλον, ἐὰν δὲ τοῦτο μὴ δύνηται κατεργάσασθαι, δολοφονῆσαι τὸν ἄνδρα τὴν ταχίστην. οὗτος μὲν οὖν διαβὰς εἰς τὴν Ἀσίαν καὶ συμμίξας τοῖς περὶ τὸν Παρμενίωνα καὶ Ἄτταλον ἐπετήρει τὸν καιρὸν τῆς προκεχειρισμένης πράξεως.
When Evaenetus was archon at Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Lucius Furius and Gaius Manius. In this year Alexander, succeeding to the throne, first inflicted due punishment on his father's murderers, and then devoted himself to the funeral of his father. He established his authority far more firmly than any did in fact suppose possible, for he was quite young and for this reason not uniformly respected, but first he promptly won over the Macedonians to his support by tactful statements. He declared that the king was changed only in name and that the state would be run on principles no less effective than those of his father's administration. Then he addressed himself to the embassies which were present and in affable fashion bade the Greeks maintain towards him the loyalty which they had shown to his father. He busied his soldiers with constant training in the use of their weapons and with tactical exercises, and established discipline in the army. A possible rival for the throne remained in Attalus, who was the brother of Cleopatra, the last wife of Philip, and Alexander determined to kill him. As a matter of fact, Cleopatra had borne a child to Philip a few days before his death. Attalus had been sent on ahead into Asia to share the command of the forces with Parmenion and had acquired great popularity in the army by his readiness to do favours and his easy bearing with the soldiers. Alexander had good reason to fear that he might challenge his rule, making common cause with those of the Greeks who opposed him, and selected from among his friends a certain Hecataeus and sent him off to Asia with a number of soldiers, under orders to bring back Attalus alive if he could, but if not, to assassinate him as quickly as possible. So he crossed over into Asia, joined Parmenion and Attalus and awaited an opportunity to carry out his mission.
§ 17.3
Ἀλέξανδρος δὲ πυθόμενος πολλοὺς τῶν Ἑλλήνων μετεώρους εἶναι πρὸς καινοτομίαν εἰς πολλὴν ἀγωνίαν ἐνέπιπτεν. Ἀθηναῖοι μὲν γὰρ Δημοσθένους δημαγωγοῦντος κατὰ τῶν Μακεδόνων τήν τε Φιλίππου τελευτὴν ἀσμένως ἤκουσαν καὶ τῆς ἡγεμονίας τῶν Ἑλλήνων οὐκ ἐξεχώρουν τοῖς Μακεδόσι, διαπρεσβευσάμενοι δὲ πρὸς Ἄτταλον ἐν ἀπορρήτοις συνετίθεντο κοινοπραγίαν καὶ πολλὰς τῶν πόλεων προετρέποντο τῆς ἐλευθερίας ἀντέχεσθαι· Αἰτωλοὶ δὲ κατάγειν τοὺς ἐξ Ἀκαρνανίας φυγάδας ἐψηφίσαντο διὰ Φιλίππου πεῖραν εἰληφότας τῆς φυγῆς. Ἀμβρακιῶται δὲ πεισθέντες Ἀριστάρχῳ τὴν μὲν ὑπὸ Φιλίππου κατασταθεῖσαν φρουρὰν ἐξέβαλον, τὴν δὲ πόλιν ἐποίησαν δημοκρατεῖσθαι· ὁμοίως δὲ τούτοις Θηβαῖοι τὴν μὲν ἐν τῇ Καδμείᾳ φρουρὰν ἐκβαλεῖν ἐψηφίσαντο, τῷ δʼ Ἀλεξάνδρῳ μὴ συγχωρεῖν τὴν τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἡγεμονίαν. Ἀρκάδες δὲ οὔτε Φιλίππῳ συνεχώρησαν τὴν ἡγεμονίαν μόνοι τῶν Ἑλλήνων οὔτʼ Ἀλεξάνδρῳ προσέσχον· τῶν δʼ ἄλλων Πελοποννησίων Ἀργεῖοι καὶ Ἠλεῖοι καὶ Λακεδαιμόνιοι καί τινες ἕτεροι πρὸς τὴν αὐτονομίαν ὥρμησαν. τῶν δὲ ὑπεροικούντων τὴν Μακεδονίαν ἐθνῶν οὐκ ὀλίγα πρὸς ἀπόστασιν ὥρμα καὶ πολλὴ ταραχὴ κατεῖχε τοὺς τῇδε κατοικοῦντας βαρβάρους. ἀλλʼ ὅμως τηλικούτων πραγμάτων καὶ τοσούτων φόβων κατεχόντων τὴν βασιλείαν Ἀλέξανδρος νέος ὢν παντελῶς ἅπαντα τὰ κατὰ τὴν ἀρχὴν δυσχερῆ παραδόξως καὶ συντόμως κατεστήσατο· οὓς μὲν γὰρ πειθοῖ διὰ τῆς ὁμιλίας προσηγάγετο, οὓς δὲ φόβῳ διωρθώσατο, τινὰς δὲ βίᾳ χειρωσάμενος ὑπηκόους ἐποιήσατο.
Alexander knew that many of the Greeks were anxious to revolt, and was seriously worried. In Athens, where Demosthenes kept agitating against Macedon, the news of Philip's death was received with rejoicing, and the Athenians were not ready to concede the leading position among the Greeks to Macedon. They communicated secretly with Attalus and arranged to co operate with him, and they encouraged many of the cities to strike for their freedom. The Aetolians voted to restore those of the Acarnanians who had experienced exile because of Philip. The Ambraciots were persuaded by one Aristarchus to expel the garrison placed in their city by Philip and to transform their government into a democracy. Similarly, the Thebans voted to drive out the garrison in the Cadmeia and not to concede to Alexander the leadership of the Greeks. The Arcadians alone of the Greeks had never acknowledged Philip's leadership nor did they now recognize that of Alexander. Otherwise in the Peloponnese the Argives and Eleians and Lacedemonians, with others, moved to recover their independence. Beyond the frontiers of Macedonia, many tribes moved toward revolt and a general feeling of unrest swept through the natives in that quarter. But, for all the problems and fears that beset his kingdom on every side, Alexander, who had only just reached manhood, brought everything into order impressively and swiftly. Some he won by persuasion and diplomacy, others he frightened into keeping the peace, but some had to be mastered by force and so reduced to submission.
§ 17.4
πρώτους δὲ Θετταλοὺς ὑπομνήσας τῆς ἀρχαίας ἀφʼ Ἡρακλέους συγγενείας καὶ λόγοις φιλανθρώποις, ἔτι δὲ μεγάλαις ἐπαγγελίαις μετεωρίσας ἔπεισε τὴν πατροπαράδοτον ἡγεμονίαν τῆς Ἑλλάδος αὐτῷ συγχωρῆσαι κοινῷ τῆς Θετταλίας δόγματι. μετὰ δὲ τούτους τὰ συνορίζοντα τῶν ἐθνῶν εἰς τὴν ὁμοίαν εὔνοιαν προσαγαγόμενος παρῆλθεν εἰς Πύλας καὶ τὸ τῶν Ἀμφικτυόνων συνέδριον συναγαγὼν ἔπεισεν ἑαυτῷ κοινῷ δόγματι δοθῆναι τὴν τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἡγεμονίαν. τοῖς δʼ Ἀμβρακιώταις διαπρεσβευομένοις καὶ φιλανθρώπως ὁμιλήσας ἔπεισεν αὐτοὺς βραχεῖ προειληφέναι τὴν μέλλουσαν ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ δίδοσθαι μετὰ προθυμίας αὐτονομίαν. πρὸς δὲ τὴν κατάπληξιν τῶν ἀπειθούντων ἦγε τὴν δύναμιν τῶν Μακεδόνων κεκοσμημένην καταπληκτικῶς. ὀξείαις δὲ ταῖς ὁδοιπορίαις χρησάμενος ἧκεν εἰς τὴν Βοιωτίαν καὶ πλησίον τῆς Καδμείας καταστρατοπεδεύσας ἐπέστησε πολὺν φόβον τῇ πόλει τῶν Θηβαίων. καθʼ ὃν δὴ χρόνον Ἀθηναῖοι πυθόμενοι τὴν εἰς Βοιωτίαν πάροδον τοῦ βασιλέως τῆς προϋπαρχούσης καταφρονήσεως ἀπέστησαν· ἡ γὰρ ὀξύτης τοῦ νεανίσκου καὶ ἡ διὰ τῶν πράξεων ἐνέργεια τοὺς ἀλλοτριοφρονοῦντας μεγάλως ἐξέπληττεν. διόπερ Ἀθηναῖοι τὰ μὲν ἀπὸ τῆς χώρας ἐψηφίσαντο κατακομίζειν, τῶν δὲ τειχῶν τὴν ἐνδεχομένην ἐπιμέλειαν ποιεῖσθαι. πρὸς δὲ τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον πρέσβεις ἐξαπέστειλαν, ἀξιοῦντες συγγνώμην ἔχειν, εἰ τὴν ἡγεμονίαν μὴ ταχέως συγχωροῦσιν. ἐν δὲ τοῖς πρέσβεσι καὶ Δημοσθένης ἐκπεμφθεὶς οὐ συνῆλθε μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων πρὸς τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον, ἀλλʼ ἐκ τοῦ Κιθαιρῶνος ἀνέκαμψεν εἰς τὰς Ἀθήνας, εἴτε διὰ τὰ πεπολιτευμένα κατὰ Μακεδόνων φοβηθείς, εἴτε βουλόμενος τῷ βασιλεῖ τῶν Περσῶν ἄμεμπτον αὑτὸν διαφυλάττειν. πολλὰ γὰρ χρήματά φασιν αὐτὸν εἰληφέναι παρὰ Περσῶν, ἵνα πολιτεύηται κατὰ Μακεδόνων· περὶ ὧν καὶ τὸν Αἰσχίνην φασὶν ὀνειδίζοντα τῷ Δημοσθένει κατά τινα λόγον τὴν δωροδοκίαν εἰπεῖν,νῦν μέντοι τὴν δαπάνην ἐπικέκλυκεν αὐτοῦ τὸ βασιλικὸν χρυσίον. ἔσται δὲ οὐδὲ τοῦθʼ ἱκανόν· οὐδεὶς γὰρ πώποτε πλοῦτος τρόπου πονηροῦ περιεγένετο. ὁ δὲ Ἀλέξανδρος τοῖς πρέσβεσι τῶν Ἀθηναίων φιλανθρώπους ἀποκρίσεις δοὺς ἀπέλυσε τοῦ πολλοῦ φόβου τὸν δῆμον. τοῦ δʼ Ἀλεξάνδρου παραγγείλαντος εἰς Κόρινθον ἀπαντᾶν τάς τε πρεσβείας καὶ τοὺς συνέδρους, ἐπειδὴ συνῆλθον οἱ συνεδρεύειν εἰωθότες, διαλεχθεὶς ὁ βασιλεὺς καὶ λόγοις ἐπιεικέσι χρησάμενος ἔπεισε τοὺς Ἕλληνας ψηφίσασθαι στρατηγὸν αὐτοκράτορα τῆς Ἑλλάδος εἶναι τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον καὶ συστρατεύειν ἐπὶ τοὺς Πέρσας ὑπὲρ ὧν εἰς τοὺς Ἕλληνας ἐξήμαρτον. τυχὼν δὲ ταύτης τῆς τιμῆς ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐπανῆλθε μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως εἰς Μακεδονίαν.
First he dealt with the Thessalians, reminding them of his ancient relationship to them through Heracles and raising their hopes by kindly words and by rich promises as well, and prevailed upon them by formal vote of the Thessalian League to recognize as his the leadership of Greece which he had inherited from his father. Next he won over the neighbouring tribes similarly, and so marched down to Pylae, where he convened the assembly of the Amphictyons and had them pass a resolution granting him the leadership of the Greeks. He gave audience to the envoys of the Ambraciots and, addressing them in friendly fashion, convinced them that they had been only a little premature in grasping the independence that he was on the point of giving them voluntarily. In order to overawe those who refused to yield otherwise, he set out at the head of the army of the Macedonians in full battle array. With forced marches he arrived in Boeotia and encamping near the Cadmeia threw the city of the Thebans into a panic. As the Athenians immediately learned that the king had passed into Boeotia, they too abandoned their previous refusal to take him seriously. So much the rapid moves and energetic action of the young man shook the confidence of those who opposed him. The Athenians, accordingly, voted to bring into the city their property scattered throughout Attica and to look to the repair of their walls, but they also sent envoys to Alexander, asking forgiveness for tardy recognition of his leadership. Even Demosthenes was included among the envoys; he did not, however, go with the others to Alexander, but turned back at Cithaeron and returned to Athens, whether fearful because of the anti-Macedonian course that he had pursued in politics, or merely wishing to leave no ground of complaint to the king of Persia. He was generally believed to have received large sums of money from that source in payment for his efforts to check the Macedonians, and indeed Aeschines is said to have referred to this in a speech when he taunted Demosthenes with his venality: "At the moment, it is true, his extravagance has been glutted by the king's gold, but even this will not satisfy him; no wealth has ever proved sufficient for a greedy character." Alexander addressed the Athenian envoys kindly and freed the people from their acute terror. Then he called a meeting at Corinth of envoys and delegates, and when the usual representatives came, he spoke to them in moderate terms and had them pass a resolution appointing him general plenipotentiary of the Greeks and undertaking themselves to join in an expedition against Persia seeking satisfaction for the offences which the Persians had committed against Greece. Successful in this, the king returned to Macedonia with his army.
§ 17.5
ἡμεῖς δʼ ἐπεὶ τὰ κατὰ τὴν Ἑλλάδα διήλθομεν, μεταβιβάσομεν τὸν λόγον ἐπὶ τὰς κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν πράξεις. μετὰ γὰρ τὴν Φιλίππου τελευτὴν Ἄτταλος τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἐπεχείρει νεωτερίζειν καὶ πρὸς Ἀθηναίους συνετίθετο κοινοπραγίαν κατʼ Ἀλεξάνδρου, ὕστερον δὲ μετανοήσας τὴν μὲν ἀποδοθεῖσαν αὐτῷ παρὰ Δημοσθένους ἐπιστολὴν τηρήσας ἀπέστειλε πρὸς Ἀλέξανδρον καὶ λόγοις φιλανθρώποις ἐπειρᾶτο τὰς καθʼ αὑτοῦ διαβολὰς ἀποτρίβεσθαι· τοῦ δʼ Ἑκαταίου κατὰ τὰς τοῦ βασιλέως ἐντολὰς δολοφονήσαντος τὸν Ἄτταλον ἡ μὲν κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν τῶν Μακεδόνων δύναμις ἐπαύσατο τοῦ μετεωρίζεσθαι πρὸς ἀπόστασιν, τοῦ μὲν Ἀττάλου πεφονευμένου, τοῦ δὲ Παρμενίωνος οἰκειότατα διακειμένου πρὸς Ἀλέξανδρον. περὶ δὲ τῆς τῶν Περσῶν βασιλείας μέλλοντας ἡμᾶς ἀναγράφειν ἀναγκαῖόν ἐστι βραχὺ τοῖς χρόνοις προαναλαβεῖν τὴν ἱστορίαν. Φιλίππου γὰρ ἔτι βασιλεύοντος ἦρχε τῶν Περσῶν Ὦχος καὶ προσεφέρετο τοῖς ὑποτεταγμένοις ὠμῶς καὶ βιαίως. μισουμένου δὲ αὐτοῦ διὰ τὴν χαλεπότητα τῶν τρόπων Βαγώας ὁ χιλίαρχος, εὐνοῦχος μὲν ὢν τὴν ἕξιν, πονηρὸς δὲ καὶ πολεμικὸς τὴν φύσιν, ἀνεῖλε φαρμάκῳ τὸν Ὦχον διά τινος ἰατροῦ, τὸν δὲ νεώτατον τῶν υἱῶν τοῦ βασιλέως Ἀρσὴν εἰσήγαγεν εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν. ἀνεῖλε δὲ καὶ τοὺς ἀδελφοὺς τοῦ βασιλέως, ὄντας νέους παντελῶς, ὅπως μονωθεὶς ὁ νεανίσκος μᾶλλον ὑπήκοος αὐτῷ γένηται. τοῦ δὲ μειρακίου ταῖς γενομέναις παρανομίαις προσκόπτοντος καὶ φανεροῦ καθεστῶτος ὅτι τιμωρήσεται τὸν αὐθέντην τῶν ἀνομημάτων φθάσας αὐτοῦ τὰς ἐπιβουλὰς ὁ Βαγώας ἀνεῖλε τὸν Ἀρσὴν μετὰ τῶν τέκνων τρίτον ἔτος ἤδη βασιλεύοντα. ἐρήμου δʼ ὄντος τοῦ βασιλέως οἴκου καὶ μηδενὸς ὄντος τοῦ κατὰ γένος διαδεξομένου τὴν ἀρχήν, προχειρισάμενος ἕνα τῶν φίλων Δαρεῖον ὄνομα τούτῳ συγκατεσκεύασε τὴν βασιλείαν. οὗτος δʼ ἦν υἱὸς μὲν Ἀρσάνου τοῦ Ὀστάνου, ὃς ἦν ἀδελφὸς Ἀρταξέρξου τοῦ Περσῶν βασιλεύσαντος. ἴδιον δέ τι συνέβη περὶ τὸν Βαγώαν γενέσθαι καὶ μνήμης ἄξιον· χρώμενος γὰρ τῇ συνήθει μιαιφονίᾳ τὸν Δαρεῖον ἐπεβάλετο διὰ φαρμακείας ἀνελεῖν· μηνυθείσης δὲ τῆς ἐπιβουλῆς ὁ βασιλεὺς ὡς ἐπί τινι φιλανθρωπίᾳ προσκαλεσάμενος τὸν Βαγώαν καὶ δοὺς τὸ ποτήριον ἠνάγκασε πιεῖν τὸ φάρμακον.
Now that we have described what took place in Greece, we shall shift our account to the events in Asia. Here, immediately after the death of Philip, Attalus actually had set his hand to revolt and had agreed with the Athenians to undertake joint action against Alexander, but later he changed his mind. Preserving the letter which had been brought to him from Demosthenes, he sent it off to Alexander and tried by expressions of loyalty to remove from himself any possible suspicion. Hecataeus, however, following the instructions of the king literally, had him killed by treachery, and thereafter the Macedonian forces in Asia were free from any incitement to revolution, Attalus being dead and Parmenion completely devoted to Alexander. As our narrative is now to treat of the kingdom of the Persians, we must go back a little to pick up the thread. While Philip was still king, Ochus ruled the Persians and oppressed his subjects cruelly and harshly. Since his savage disposition made him hated, the chiliarch Bagoas, a eunuch in physical fact but a militant rogue in disposition, killed him by poison administered by a certain physician and placed upon the throne the youngest of his sons, Arses. He similarly made away with the brothers of the new king, who were barely of age, in order that the young man might be isolated and tractable to his control. But the young king let it be known that he was offended at Bagoas's previous outrageous behaviour and was prepared to punish the author of these crimes, so Bagoas anticipated his intentions and killed Arses and his children also while he was still in the third year of his reign. The royal house was thus extinguished, and there was no one in the direct line of descent to claim the throne. Instead Bagoas selected a certain Dareius, a member of the court circle, and secured the throne for him. He was the son of Arsanes, and grandson of that Ostanes who was a brother of Artaxerxes, who had been king. As to Bagoas, an odd thing happened to him and one to point a moral. Pursuing his habitual savagery he attempted to remove Dareius by poison. The plan leaked out, however, and the king, calling upon Bagoas, as it were, to drink to him a toast and handing him his own cup compelled him to take his own medicine.
§ 17.6
ἠξιώθη δὲ τῆς βασιλείας ὁ Δαρεῖος δοκῶν πολὺ προέχειν ἀνδρείᾳ Περσῶν· Ἀρταξέρξου γάρ ποτε τοῦ βασιλέως πολεμοῦντος πρὸς Καδουσίους καί τινος τῶν Καδουσίων ἐπʼ ἀλκῇ καὶ ἀνδρείᾳ διαβεβοημένου προκαλεσαμένου τὸν βουλόμενον Περσῶν μονομαχῆσαι ἄλλος μὲν οὐδεὶς ἐτόλμησεν ὑπακοῦσαι, μόνος δὲ Δαρεῖος ὑποστὰς τὸν κίνδυνον τὸν προκαλεσάμενον ἀπέκτεινεν καὶ ὑπὸ μὲν τοῦ βασιλέως μεγάλαις ἐτιμήθη δωρεαῖς, παρὰ δὲ τοῖς Πέρσαις τὸ πρωτεῖον τῆς ἀνδρείας ἀπηνέγκατο. διὰ ταύτην δὴ τὴν ἀνδραγαθίαν ἄξιος τῆς βασιλείας νομισθεὶς παρέλαβε τὴν ἀρχὴν περὶ τούτους τοὺς χρόνους, ἐν οἷς Φιλίππου τελευτήσαντος διεδέξατο τὴν βασιλείαν Ἀλέξανδρος. τοιοῦτον δʼ ἄνδρα τῆς τύχης παραδούσης ἀντίπαλον τῇ κατʼ Ἀλέξανδρον ἀρετῇ συνέβη πολλοὺς καὶ μεγάλους ἀγῶνας συστῆναι περὶ τοῦ πρωτείου. ἀλλὰ περὶ μὲν τούτων αἱ κατὰ μέρος πράξεις ἕκαστα δηλώσουσιν· ἡμεῖς δʼ ἐπὶ τὸ συνεχὲς τῆς ἱστορίας τρεψόμεθα.
Dareius's selection for the throne was based on his known bravery, in which quality he far surpassed the other Persians. Once when King Artaxerxes was campaigning against the Cadusians, one of them with a wide reputation for strength and courage challenged a volunteer among the Persians to fight in single combat with him. No other dared accept, but Dareius alone entered the contest and slew the challenger, being honoured in consequence by the king with rich gifts, while among the Persians he was conceded the first place in prowess, It was because of this prowess that he was thought worthy to take over the kingship. This happened about the same time as Philip died and Alexander became king. Such was the man whom fate had selected to be the antagonist of Alexander's genius, and they opposed one another in many and great struggles for the supremacy. These our detailed narrative will describe in each case. And we may now proceed with our story.
§ 17.7
Δαρεῖος γὰρ παραλαβὼν τὴν βασιλείαν πρὸ μὲν τῆς Φιλίππου τελευτῆς ἐφιλοτιμεῖτο τὸν μέλλοντα πόλεμον εἰς τὴν Μακεδονίαν ἀποστρέψαι· ἐκείνου δὲ τελευτήσαντος ἀπελύθη τῆς ἀγωνίας, καταφρονήσας τῆς Ἀλεξάνδρου νεότητος. ἐπεὶ δʼ ἡ διὰ τῶν πράξεων ἐνέργεια καὶ ὀξύτης ἐποίησε μὲν τὴν τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἡγεμονίαν πᾶσαν ἀναλαβεῖν καὶ τὴν ἀρετὴν τοῦ νεανίσκου γενέσθαι περιβόητον, τότε δὴ νουθετηθεὶς τοῖς ἔργοις ὁ Δαρεῖος ἐπιμέλειαν μεγάλην ἐποιεῖτο τῶν δυνάμεων, τριήρεις τε πολλὰς κατασκευαζόμενος καὶ πολλὰς δυνάμεις ἀξιολόγους συνιστάμενος, ἡγεμόνας τε τοὺς ἀρίστους προκρίνων, ἐν οἷς ὑπῆρχε καὶ Μέμνων ὁ Ῥόδιος, διαφέρων ἀνδρείᾳ καὶ συνέσει στρατηγικῇ. τούτῳ δὲ δοὺς ὁ βασιλεὺς μισθοφόρους πεντακισχιλίους προσέταξε παρελθεῖν ἐπὶ πόλιν Κύζικον καὶ πειρᾶσθαι ταύτην χειρώσασθαι. οὗτος μὲν οὖν μετὰ τοσούτων στρατιωτῶν προῆγε διὰ τῆς Ἴδης. τὸ δʼ ὄρος τοῦτο μυθολογοῦσί τινες τυχεῖν ταύτης τῆς προσηγορίας ἀπὸ τῆς Μελισσέως Ἴδης. μέγιστον δʼ ὑπάρχον τῶν κατὰ τὸν Ἑλλήσποντον ἔχει κατὰ τὸ μέσον ἄντρον θεοπρεπές, ἐν ᾧ φασι κριθῆναι τὰς θεὰς ὑπʼ Ἀλεξάνδρου. γενέσθαι δʼ ἐν τούτῳ λέγεται καὶ τοὺς Ἰδαίους Δακτύλους, οὓς σίδηρον ἐργάσασθαι πρώτους, μαθόντας τὴν ἐργασίαν παρὰ τῆς τῶν θεῶν μητρός. ἴδιον δέ τι καὶ παράδοξον συμβαίνει γίνεσθαι περὶ τοῦτο τὸ ὄρος. κατὰ γὰρ τὴν τοῦ κυνὸς ἐπιτολὴν ἐπʼ ἄκρας τῆς κορυφῆς διὰ τὴν νηνεμίαν τοῦ περιέχοντος ἀέρος ὑπερπετῆ γίνεσθαι τὴν ἄκραν τῆς τῶν ἀνέμων πνοῆς, ὁρᾶσθαι δὲ τὸν ἥλιον ἔτι νυκτὸς οὔσης ἀνατέλλοντα, τὰς ἀκτῖνας οὐκ ἐν κυκλοτερεῖ σχήματι γεγραμμένον, ἀλλὰ τὴν φλόγα κατὰ πολλοὺς τόπους ἔχοντα διεσπαρμένην, ὥστε δοκεῖν πυρὰ πλείω θιγγάνειν τοῦ τῆς γῆς ὁρίζοντος. μετʼ ὀλίγον δὲ συνάγεται ταῦτα πρὸς ἓν μέγεθος, ἕως ἂν γένηται τρίπλεθρον διάστημα· καὶ τότʼ ἤδη τῆς ἡμέρας ἐπιλαβούσης τὸ φαινόμενον τοῦ ἡλίου μέγεθος πληρωθὲν τὴν τῆς ἡμέρας διάθεσιν κατασκευάζει. ὁ δʼ οὖν Μέμνων διελθὼν τὴν ὀρεινὴν ἄφνω τῇ πόλει τῶν Κυζικηνῶν προσέπεσεν καὶ παρʼ ὀλίγον αὐτῆς ἐκυρίευσεν· ἀποπεσὼν δὲ τῆς ἐπιβολῆς τὴν χώραν αὐτῶν ἐπόρθησε καὶ πολλῶν λαφύρων ἐκυρίευσεν. ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις Παρμενίων Γρύνιον μὲν πόλιν ἑλὼν κατὰ κράτος ἐξηνδραποδίσατο, Πιτάνην δὲ πολιορκοῦντος αὐτοῦ Μέμνων ἐπιφανεὶς καὶ καταπληξάμενος τοὺς Μακεδόνας ἔλυσε τὴν πολιορκίαν. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Κάλλας μὲν ἔχων Μακεδόνας καὶ μισθοφόρους στρατιώτας ἐν τῇ Τρῳάδι συνῆψε μάχην πρὸς τοὺς Πέρσας, ὄντας πολλαπλασίους, καὶ λειφθεὶς ἀπεχώρησεν εἰς τὸ Ῥοίτειον. καὶ τὰ μὲν κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν ἐν τούτοις ἦν.
Dareius became king before the death of Philip and thought to turn the coming war back upon Macedonia, but when Philip died, Dareius was relieved of his anxiety and despised the youth of Alexander. Soon, however, when Alexander's vigour and rapidity of action had secured for him the leadership of all Greece and made evident the ability of the young man, then Dareius took warning and began to pay serious attention to his forces. He fitted out a large number of ships of war and assembled numerous strong armies, choosing at the same time his best commanders, among whom was Memnon of Rhodes, outstanding in courage and in strategic grasp. The king gave him five thousand mercenaries and ordered him to march to Cyzicus and to try to get possession of it. With this force, accordingly, Memnon marched on across the range of Mt. Ida. Some tell the story that this mountain got its name from Ida, the daughter of Melisseus. It is the highest mountain in the region of the Hellespont and there is in its midst a remarkable cave in which they say the goddesses were judged by Alexander. On this mountain are supposed to have lived the Idaean Dactyls who first worked iron, having learned the skill from the Mother of the Gods. An odd occurrence has been observed in connection with this mountain which is known nowhere else. About the time of the rising of the Dog-Star, if one stands upon the highest peak, the stillness of the surrounding atmosphere gives the impression that the summit is elevated above the motion of the winds, and the sun can be seen rising when it is still night. Its rays are not circumscribed in a circle orb but its flame is dispersed in many places, so that you would think that there were many patches of fire burning along the horizon. Presently, then, these draw together into one huge flame the width of which reaches three plethra. Finally, as the day dawns, the usually observed size of the sun's ball is attained and produces normal daylight. Memnon traversed this mountain and suddenly falling upon the city of Cyzicus came within an ace of taking it. Failing in this, he wasted its territory and collected much booty. While he was thus occupied, Parmenion took by storm the city of Grynium and sold its inhabitants as slaves, but when he besieged Pitane Memnon appeared and frightened the Macedonians into breaking off the siege. Later Callas with a mixed force of Macedonians and mercenaries joined battle in the Troad against a much larger force of Persians and, finding himself inferior, fell back on the promontory of Rhoeteium. That was the situation in Asia.
§ 17.8
Ἀλέξανδρος δὲ τὰς κατὰ τὴν Ἑλλάδα ταραχὰς καταπαύσας ἐστράτευσεν ἐπὶ τὴν Θρᾴκην καὶ πολλὰ μὲν ἔθνη Θρᾴκια ταραττόμενα καταπληξάμενος ὑποταγῆναι κατηνάγκασεν, ἐπῆλθεν δὲ καὶ τὴν Παιονίαν καὶ τὴν Ἰλλυρίδα καὶ τὰς ὁμόρους ταύταις χώρας καὶ πολλοὺς τῶν κατοικούντων βαρβάρων ἀφεστηκότας χειρωσάμενος ὑπηκόους πάντας τοὺς πλησιοχώρους βαρβάρους ἐποιήσατο. περὶ ταῦτα δʼ ὄντος αὐτοῦ παρῆσάν τινες ἀπαγγέλλοντες πολλοὺς τῶν Ἑλλήνων νεωτερίζειν καὶ πολλὰς τῆς Ἑλλάδος πόλεις πρὸς ἀπόστασιν ὡρμηκέναι, μάλιστα δὲ Θηβαίους. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτοις ὁ βασιλεὺς παροξυνθεὶς ἐπανῆλθεν εἰς τὴν Μακεδονίαν, σπεύδων τὰς κατὰ τὴν Ἑλλάδα παῦσαι ταραχάς. Θηβαίων δὲ τὴν ἐν τῇ Καδμείᾳ φρουρὰν ἐκβάλλειν φιλοτιμουμένων καὶ πολιορκούντων τὴν ἄκραν ἧκεν ὁ βασιλεὺς ἄφνω πρὸς τὴν πόλιν καὶ κατεστρατοπέδευσε πλησίον τῶν Θηβῶν μετὰ πάσης τῆς δυνάμεως. οἱ δὲ Θηβαῖοι πρὸ μὲν τῆς τοῦ βασιλέως παρουσίας τὴν Καδμείαν τάφροις βαθείαις καὶ σταυρώμασι πυκνοῖς περιέλαβον ὥστε μήτε βοήθειαν αὐτοῖς δύνασθαι μήτʼ ἀγορὰν εἰσπέμψαι, πρὸς δὲ Ἀρκάδας καὶ Ἀργείους, ἔτι δὲ Ἠλείους πρεσβεύσαντες ἠξίουν βοηθεῖν. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ πρὸς Ἀθηναίους περὶ συμμαχίας ἐπρέσβευον καὶ παρὰ Δημοσθένους ὅπλων πλῆθος ἐν δωρεαῖς λαβόντες τοὺς ἀνόπλους καθώπλιζον. τῶν δʼ ἐπὶ τὴν βοήθειαν παρακεκλημένων οἱ μὲν ἐν Πελοποννήσῳ στρατιώτας ἐξέπεμψαν ἐπὶ τὸν Ἰσθμὸν καὶ διατρίβοντες ἐκαραδόκουν, προσδοκίμου τοῦ βασιλέως ὄντος. Ἀθηναῖοι δʼ ἐψηφίσαντο μὲν βοηθεῖν τοῖς Θηβαίοις, πεισθέντες ὑπὸ Δημοσθένους, οὐ μέντοι γε τὴν δύναμιν ἐξέπεμψαν, καραδοκοῦντες τὴν ῥοπὴν τοῦ πολέμου. ὁ δὲ τῆς ἐν τῇ Καδμείᾳ φρουρᾶς ἡγούμενος Φιλώτας ὁρῶν τοὺς Θηβαίους μεγάλας παρασκευὰς ποιουμένους πρὸς τὴν πολιορκίαν καὶ τὰ τείχη φιλοτιμότερον κατεσκεύασεν καὶ βελῶν παντοδαπῶν πλῆθος ἡτοιμάζετο.
Now that the unrest in Greece had been brought under control, Alexander shifted his field of operations into Thrace. Many of the tribes in this region had risen but, terrified by his appearance, felt constrained to make their submission. Then he swung west to Paeonia and Illyria and the territories that bordered on them. Many of the local tribesmen had revolted, but these he overpowered, and established his control over all the natives in the area. This task was not yet finished when messengers reached him reporting that many of the Greeks were in revolt. Many cities had actually taken steps to throw off the Macedonian alliance, the most important of these being Thebes. At this intelligence, the king was roused to return in haste to Macedonia in his anxiety to put an end to the unrest in Greece. The Thebans sought first of all to expel the Macedonian garrison from the Cadmeia and laid siege to this citadel; this was the situation when the king appeared suddenly before the city and encamped with his whole army near by. Before the king's arrival, the Thebans had had time to surround the Cadmeia with deep trenches and heavy stockades so that neither reinforcements nor supplies could be sent in,5 and they had sent an appeal to the Arcadians, Argives, and Eleians for help. They appealed for support from the Athenians also, and when they received from Demosthenes a free gift of weapons, they equipped all of their citizens who lacked heavy armour. 6 Of those who were asked for reinforcements, however, the Peloponnesians sent soldiers as far as the Isthmus and waited to see what would happen, since the king's arrival was now expected, and the Athenians, under the influence of Demosthenes, voted to support the Thebans, but failed to send out their forces, waiting to see how the war would go. 7 In the Cadmeia, the garrison commander Philotas observed the Thebans making great preparations for the siege, strengthened his walls as well as he could, and made ready a stock of missiles of all sorts.
§ 17.9
ἐπεὶ δʼ ὁ βασιλεὺς ἀνελπίστως ἐκ τῆς Θρᾴκης ἧκε μετὰ πάσης τῆς δυνάμεως, αἱ μὲν συμμαχίαι τοῖς Θηβαίοις δισταζομένην εἶχον τὴν παρουσίαν, ἡ δὲ τῶν πολεμίων δύναμις ὁμολογουμένην καὶ φανερὰν ἐποιεῖτο τὴν ὑπεροχήν. τότε δὲ συνεδρεύσαντες οἱ ἡγεμόνες προεβουλεύσαντο περὶ τοῦ πολέμου καὶ πᾶσιν ἔδοξεν ὑπὲρ τῆς αὐτονομίας διαγωνίζεσθαι. τοῦ δὲ πλήθους ἐπικυρώσαντος τὴν γνώμην ἅπαντες μετὰ πολλῆς προθυμίας εἶχον ἑτοίμως διακινδυνεύειν. ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἡσυχίαν ἦγε, διδοὺς μετανοίας χρόνον εἰς τὸ βουλεύσασθαι καὶ νομίζων μὴ τολμήσειν μίαν πόλιν πρὸς τηλικαύτην δύναμιν παρατάξασθαι. εἶχε γὰρ ὁ Ἀλέξανδρος κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν καιρὸν πεζοὺς μὲν πλείους τῶν τρισμυρίων, ἱππεῖς δʼ οὐκ ἐλάττους τρισχιλίων, πάντας δʼ ἐνηθληκότας τοῖς πολεμικοῖς κινδύνοις καὶ συνεστρατευμένους Φιλίππῳ καὶ σχεδὸν ἐν πάσαις ταῖς μάχαις ἀηττήτους γεγονότας· ὧν δὴ ταῖς ἀρεταῖς καὶ προθυμίαις πεποιθὼς Ἀλέξανδρος ἐπεβάλετο καταλῦσαι τὴν τῶν Περσῶν ἡγεμονίαν. εἰ μὲν οὖν οἱ Θηβαῖοι τοῖς καιροῖς εἴξαντες διεπρεσβεύοντο πρὸς τοὺς Μακεδόνας ὑπὲρ εἰρήνης καὶ συνθέσεως, ἡδέως ἂν ὁ βασιλεὺς προσεδέξατο τὰς ἐντεύξεις καὶ πάντα ἂν ἀξιούμενος συνεχώρησεν· ἐπεθύμει γὰρ τὰς κατὰ τὴν Ἑλλάδα ταραχὰς ἀποτριψάμενος ἀπερίσπαστον ἔχειν τὸν πρὸς τοὺς Πέρσας πόλεμον· νῦν δὲ δόξας ὑπὸ τῶν Θηβαίων καταφρονεῖσθαι διέγνω τὴν πόλιν ἄρδην ἀνελεῖν καὶ τῷ φόβῳ τούτῳ τὰς ὁρμὰς τῶν ἀφίστασθαι τολμώντων ἀποτρέψαι. διόπερ τὴν δύναμιν ἑτοίμην κατασκευάσας πρὸς τὸν κίνδυνον ἐκήρυξε τὸν βουλόμενον Θηβαίων ἀπιέναι πρὸς αὐτὸν καὶ μετέχειν τῆς κοινῆς τοῖς Ἕλλησιν εἰρήνης. οἱ δὲ Θηβαῖοι διαφιλοτιμηθέντες ἀντεκήρυξαν ἀπό τινος ὑψηλοῦ πύργου τὸν βουλόμενον μετὰ τοῦ μεγάλου βασιλέως καὶ Θηβαίων ἐλευθεροῦν τοὺς Ἕλληνας καὶ καταλύειν τὸν τῆς Ἑλλάδος τύραννον παριέναι πρὸς αὐτούς. ὅθεν Ἀλέξανδρος περιαλγὴς γενόμενος εἰς ὑπερβάλλουσαν ὀργὴν προῆλθεν καὶ πάσῃ τιμωρίᾳ τοὺς Θηβαίους μετελθεῖν ἔκρινεν. οὗτος μὲν οὖν ἀποθηριωθεὶς τὴν ψυχὴν μηχανάς τε πολιορκητικὰς συνεστήσατο καὶ τἄλλα πρὸς τὸν κίνδυνον παρεσκευάζετο,
So when the king appeared suddenly out of Thrace with all his army, the alliances of the Thebans had furnished them with only a hesitant support while the power of their opponents possessed an obvious and evident superiority. Nevertheless their leaders assembled in council and prepared a resolution about the war; they were unanimous in deciding to fight it out for their political freedom. The measure was passed by the assembly, and with great enthusiasm all were ready to see the thing through. At first the king made no move, giving the Thebans time to think things over and supposing that a single city would never dare to match forces with such an army. For at that time Alexander had more than thirty thousand infantry and no less than three thousand cavalry, all battle-seasoned veterans of Philip's campaigns who had hardly experienced a single reverse. This was the army on the skill and loyalty of which he relied to overthrow the Persian empire. If the Thebans had yielded to the situation and had asked the Macedonians for peace and an alliance, the king would have accepted their proposals with pleasure and would have conceded everything they asked, for he was eager to be rid of these disturbances in Greece so that he might without distraction pursue the war with Persia. Finally, however, he realized that he was despised by the Thebans, and so decided to destroy the city utterly and by this act of terror take the heart out of anyone else who might venture to rise against him. He made his forces ready for battle, then announced through a herald that any of the Thebans who wished might come to him and enjoy the peace which was common to all the Greeks. In response, the Thebans with equal spirit proclaimed from a high tower that anyone who wished to join the Great King and Thebes in freeing the Greeks and destroying the tyrant of Greece should come over to them. This epithet stung Alexander. He flew into a towering rage and declared that he would pursue the Thebans with the extremity of punishment. Raging in his heart, he set to constructing siege engines and to preparing whatever else was necessary for the attack.
§ 17.10
οἱ δʼ Ἕλληνες πυνθανόμενοι τὸ μέγεθος τῶν περὶ τοὺς Θηβαίους κινδύνων ἐδυσφόρουν ἐπὶ ταῖς προσδοκωμέναις περὶ αὐτῶν συμφοραῖς, οὐ μὴν βοηθεῖν γʼ ἐτόλμων τῇ πόλει διὰ τὸ προπετῶς καὶ ἀβούλως εἰς ὁμολογουμένην ἀπώλειαν ἑαυτὴν δεδωκέναι. οἱ δὲ Θηβαῖοι ταῖς μὲν εὐτολμίαις προθύμως ἀνεδέχοντο τοὺς κινδύνους, φήμαις δέ τισι μάντεων καὶ θεῶν σημείοις ἠποροῦντο. πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ ἐν τῷ τῆς Δήμητρος ἱερῷ λεπτὸν ἀράχνης ὕφασμά τι διαπεπετασμένον ὤφθη, τὸ μὲν μέγεθος ἔχον ἱματίου, κύκλῳ δὲ περιφαῖνον ἶριν τῇ κατʼ οὐρανὸν ἐοικυῖαν. σημεῖον τόδε πᾶσι θεοὶ φαίνουσι βροτοῖσι, Βοιωτοῖς δὲ μάλιστα καὶ οἳ περιναιετάουσι. ἱστὸς ὑφαινόμενος ἄλλῳ κακόν, ἄλλῳ ἄμεινον. τοῦτο μὲν οὖν τὸ σημεῖον ἐγένετο τρισὶ μησὶν ἀνωτέρω τῆς Ἀλεξάνδρου παρουσίας ἐπὶ τὰς Θήβας, ὑπʼ αὐτὴν δὲ τὴν ἔφοδον τοῦ βασιλέως οἱ κατὰ τὴν ἀγορὰν ἀνδριάντες ἐφάνησαν ἱδρῶτας ἀφιέντες καὶ μεστοὶ σταλαγμῶν μεγάλων. χωρὶς δὲ τούτων ἧκόν τινες τοῖς ἄρχουσιν ἀπαγγέλλοντες τὴν ἐν Ὀγχηστῷ λίμνην μυκήματι παραπλήσιον φωνὴν ἀφιέναι, τῇ δὲ Δίρκῃ κατὰ τὴν ἐπιφάνειαν τοῦ ὕδατος αἱματοειδῆ φρίκην ἐπιτρέχειν. ἕτεροι δὲ ἧκον ἐκ Δελφῶν μηνύοντες ὅτι ὁ ἀπὸ Φωκέων ναός, ὃν ἱδρύσαντο Θηβαῖοι, ᾑματωμένην ἔχων τὴν ὀροφὴν ὁρᾶται. οἱ δὲ ἐπὶ τὴν τῶν σημείων διάκρισιν ἀσχολούμενοι σημαίνειν ἔφασαν τὸ μὲν ὕφασμα θεῶν ἀπὸ τῆς πόλεως χωρισμόν, τὸ δὲ τῆς ἴριδος χρῶμα πραγμάτων ποικίλων χειμῶνα, τὸν δὲ τῶν ἀνδριάντων ἱδρῶτα ὑπερβάλλουσαν κακοπάθειαν, τὸ δʼ ἐν πλείοσι τόποις φαινόμενον αἷμα φόνον πολὺν κατὰ τὴν πόλιν ἐσόμενον. συνεβούλευον οὖν τῶν θεῶν φανερῶς σημαινόντων τὴν ἐσομένην τῇ πόλει συμφορὰν μὴ συγκαταβαίνειν εἰς τὸ διὰ μάχης κρίνειν τὸν πόλεμον, ἑτέραν δὲ διάλυσιν ζητεῖν διὰ λόγων ἀσφαλεστέραν. οὐ μὴν οἱ Θηβαῖοί γε ταῖς ψυχαῖς ἐμαλακύνοντο, τοὐναντίον δὲ τοῖς θυμοῖς προαχθέντες ἀνεμίμνησκον ἀλλήλους τὴν ἐν Λεύκτροις εὐημερίαν καὶ τῶν ἄλλων παρατάξεων ἐν αἷς θαυμαστῶς ταῖς ἰδίαις ἀνδραγαθίαις ἀνελπίστους νίκας περιεποιήσαντο. οἱ μὲν οὖν Θηβαῖοι τοῖς παραστήμασιν ἀνδρειότερον μᾶλλον ἢ φρονιμώτερον χρησάμενοι προέπεσον εἰς πάνδημον τῆς πατρίδος ὄλεθρον·
Elsewhere in Greece, as people learned the seriousness of the danger hanging over the Thebans, they were distressed at their expected disaster but had no heart to help them, feeling that the city by precipitate and ill-considered action had consigned itself to evident annihilation. In Thebes itself, however, men accepted their risk willingly and with good courage, but they were puzzled by certain sayings of prophets and portents of the gods. First there was the light spider's web in the sanctuary of Demeter which was observed to have spread itself out to the size of an himation, and which all about shone iridescent like a rainbow in the sky. About this, the oracle at Delphi gave them the response: "The gods to mortals all have sent this sign; To the Boeotians first, and to their neighbours." The ancestral oracle of Thebes itself had given this response: "The woven web is bane to one, to one a boon." This sign had occurred three months before Alexander's descent on the city, but at the very moment of the king's arrival the statues in the agora were seen to burst into perspiration and be covered with great drops of moisture. More than this, people reported to the city officials that the marsh at Onchestus was emitting a sound very like a bellow, while at Dirce a bloody ripple ran along the surface of the water. Finally, travellers coming from Delphi told how the temple which the Thebans had dedicated from the Phocian spoils was observed to have blood-stains on its roof. Those who made a business of interpreting such portents stated that the spider web signified the departure of the gods from the city, its iridescence meant a storm of mixed troubles, the sweating of the statues was the sign of an overwhelming catastrophe, and the appearance of blood in many places foretold a vast slaughter throughout the city. They pointed out that the gods were clearly predicting disaster for the city and recommended that the outcome of the war should not be risked upon the battlefield, but that a safer solution be sought for in negotiations. Still the Thebans' spirits were not daunted. On the contrary they were so carried away with enthusiasm that they reminded one another of the victory at Leuctra and of the other battles where their own fighting qualities had won unhoped for victories to the astonishment of the Greek world. They indulged their nobility of spirit bravely rather than wisely, and plunged headlong into the total destruction of their country.
§ 17.11
ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς ἐν τρισὶ ταῖς πάσαις ἡμέραις ἑτοιμασάμενος τὰ πρὸς τὴν πολιορκίαν τὰς δυνάμεις διείλετο εἰς τρία μέρη καὶ τὸ μὲν τοῖς χαρακώμασι τοῖς πρὸ τῆς πόλεως κατεσκευασμένοις προσβάλλειν ἔταξε, τὸ δὲ τοῖς Θηβαίοις ἀντιτάττεσθαι, τὸ δὲ τρίτον ἐφεδρεύειν τῷ πονοῦντι μέρει τῆς δυνάμεως καὶ διαδέχεσθαι τὴν μάχην. οἱ δὲ Θηβαῖοι τοὺς μὲν ἱππεῖς ἐντὸς τοῦ χαρακώματος ἔταξαν, τοὺς δʼ ἐλευθερωθέντας οἰκέτας καὶ τοὺς φυγάδας καὶ τοὺς μετοίκους τοῖς πρὸς τὰ τείχη βιαζομένοις ἀντέταξαν, αὐτοὶ δὲ τοῖς μετὰ τοῦ βασιλέως Μακεδόσι πολλαπλασίοις οὖσι συνάπτειν μάχην πρὸ τῆς πόλεως ἡτοιμάζοντο. τέκνα δὲ καὶ γυναῖκες συνέτρεχον εἰς τὰ ἱερὰ καὶ τοὺς θεοὺς ἱκέτευον σῶσαι τὴν πόλιν ἐκ τῶν κινδύνων. ὡς δʼ ἤγγισαν οἱ Μακεδόνες καὶ τοῖς τεταγμένοις μέρεσιν ἕκαστοι προσέπεσον, αἱ μὲν σάλπιγγες ἐσήμαινον τὸ πολεμικόν, αἱ δὲ παρʼ ἀμφοτέροις δυνάμεις ὑφʼ ἕνα καιρὸν συνηλάλαξαν καὶ τὰ κοῦφα τῶν βελῶν ἐπὶ τοὺς πολεμίους ἔβαλον. ταχὺ δὲ τούτων ἐξαναλωθέντων καὶ πάντων εἰς τὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ ξίφους μάχην συμπεσόντων μέγας ἀγὼν συνίστατο. οἱ μὲν γὰρ Μακεδόνες διὰ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν ἀνδρῶν καὶ τὸ βάρος τῆς φάλαγγος δυσυπόστατον εἶχον τὴν βίαν, οἱ δὲ Θηβαῖοι ταῖς τῶν σωμάτων ῥώμαις ὑπερέχοντες καὶ τοῖς ἐν τοῖς γυμνασίοις συνεχέσιν ἀθλήμασιν, ἔτι δὲ τῷ παραστήματι τῆς ψυχῆς πλεονεκτοῦντες ἐνεκαρτέρουν τοῖς δεινοῖς. διὸ καὶ παρʼ ἀμφοτέροις πολλοὶ μὲν κατετιτρώσκοντο, οὐκ ὀλίγοι δʼ ἔπιπτον ἐναντίας λαμβάνοντες πληγάς. ὁμοῦ δʼ ἦν κατὰ τὰς ἐν τοῖς ἀγῶσι συμπλοκὰς μυγμὸς καὶ βοὴ καὶ παρακελευσμός, παρὰ μὲν τοῖς Μακεδόσι μὴ καταισχῦναι τὰς προγεγενημένας ἀνδραγαθίας, παρὰ δὲ τοῖς Θηβαίοις μὴ περιιδεῖν τέκνα καὶ γυναῖκας καὶ γονεῖς ὑπὲρ ἀνδραποδισμοῦ κινδυνεύοντας καὶ τὴν πατρίδα πανοίκιον ὑπὸ τοὺς Μακεδόνων θυμοὺς ὑποπεσοῦσαν, μνησθῆναι δὲ τῆς ἐν Λεύκτροις καὶ ἐν Μαντινείᾳ μάχης καὶ τῶν παρὰ πᾶσι περιβοήτων ἀνδραγαθημάτων. ἐπὶ πολὺν μὲν οὖν χρόνον ἰσόρροπος ἦν ἡ μάχη διὰ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῆς τῶν ἀγωνιζομένων ἀνδρείας.
Now the king in the course of only three days made everything ready for the assault. He divided his forces into three parts and ordered one to take the palisades which had been erected before the city, the second to face the Theban battle line, and the third as a reserve to support any hard pressed unit of his forces and to enter the battle in its turn. For their part, the Thebans stationed the cavalry within the palisades, assigned their enfranchised slaves, along with refugees and resident aliens, to face those who drove at the walls, and themselves made ready to fight before the city with the Macedonian force about the king which was many times their number. Their children and wives flocked to the temples and implored the gods to rescue city from its dangers. When the Macedonians approached and each division encountered the opposing force of Thebans, the trumpets blew the call to arms and the troops on both sides raised the battle cry in unison and hurled their missiles at the enemy. These were soon expended and all turned to the use of the sword at close quarters, and a mighty struggle ensued. The Macedonians exerted a force that could hardly be withstood because of the numbers of their men and the weight of the phalanx, but the Thebans were superior in bodily strength and in their constant training in the gymnasium. Still more, in exaltation of spirit they were lifted out of themselves and became indifferent to personal danger. Many were wounded in both armies and not a few fell facing the blows of the enemy. The air was filled with the roar of fighters locked in the struggle, moans and shouts and exhortations: on the Macedonian side, not to be unworthy of their previous exploits, and on the Theban, not to forget children and wives and parents threatened with slavery and their every household lying exposed to the fury of the Macedonians, and to remember the battles of Leuctra and of Mantineia and the glorious deeds which were household words throughout Greece. So for a long time the battle remained evenly poised because of the surpassing valour of the contestants.
§ 17.12
μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ὁ Ἀλέξανδρος ὁρῶν τοὺς μὲν Θηβαίους ἑτοίμως ὑπὲρ τῆς ἐλευθερίας ἀγωνιζομένους, τοὺς δὲ Μακεδόνας κάμνοντας τῇ μάχῃ προσέταξε τοὺς ἐπὶ τῆς ἐφεδρίας τεταγμένους διαδέξασθαι τὸν ἀγῶνα. οἱ μὲν οὖν Μακεδόνες ἄφνω προσπεσόντες τοῖς Θηβαίοις κατακόποις βαρεῖς ἐπέκειντο τοῖς πολεμίοις καὶ πολλοὺς ἀνῄρουν. οὐ μὴν οἱ Θηβαῖοι τῆς νίκης ἐξεχώρουν, τοὐναντίον δὲ τῇ φιλοτιμίᾳ προαχθέντες πάντων τῶν δεινῶν κατεφρόνουν. ἐπὶ τοσοῦτο δὲ ταῖς ἀνδραγαθίαις προέβησαν ὥστε βοᾶν ὅτι Μακεδόνες ὁμολογοῦσιν ἥττους εἶναι Θηβαίων, καὶ τῶν ἄλλων πάντων εἰωθότων ἐν ταῖς διαδοχαῖς τῶν πολεμίων δεδιέναι τοὺς ἀκεραίους τῶν ἐφεδρευόντων οὗτοι μόνοι τότε θρασύτεροι πρὸς τοὺς κινδύνους ὑπῆρξαν, ὅθʼ οἱ πολέμιοι διαδοχὴν ἐξέπεμψαν τοῖς καταπονουμένοις ὑπὸ τῆς κακοπαθείας. ἀνυπερβλήτου δὲ τῆς φιλοτιμίας γινομένης ὁ βασιλεὺς κατανοήσας τινὰ πυλίδα καταλελειμμένην ὑπὸ τῶν φυλάκων ἐξαπέστειλε Περδίκκαν μετὰ στρατιωτῶν ἱκανῶν καταλαβέσθαι ταύτην καὶ παρεισπεσεῖν εἰς τὴν πόλιν. τούτου δὲ ταχὺ τὸ προσταχθὲν ποιήσαντος οἱ μὲν Μακεδόνες διὰ τῆς πυλίδος παρεισέπεσον εἰς τὴν πόλιν, οἱ δὲ Θηβαῖοι καταπεπονηκότες μὲν τὴν πρώτην φάλαγγα τῶν Μακεδόνων, ἀντιταχθέντες δʼ εὐρώστως τῇ δευτέρᾳ εὐέλπιδες ἦσαν περὶ τῆς νίκης· ὡς δὲ κατενόησαν μέρος τῆς πόλεως κατειλημμένον, εὐθὺς ἀνεχώρησαν ἐντὸς τῶν τειχῶν. ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις οἱ μὲν τῶν Θηβαίων ἱππεῖς ὁμοίως τοῖς πεζοῖς συνέτρεχον εἰς τὴν πόλιν καὶ πολλοὺς μὲν τῶν ἰδίων συμπατοῦντες διέφθειρον, αὐτοὶ δὲ τεταραγμένως εἰσίππευον εἰς τὴν πόλιν, ἐν δὲ ταῖς διεξόδοις καὶ τάφροις τοῖς οἰκείοις ὅπλοις περιπίπτοντες ἐτελεύτων. οἱ δὲ τὴν Καδμείαν φρουροῦντες ἐκχυθέντες ἐκ τῆς ἀκροπόλεως ἀπήντων τοῖς Θηβαίοις καὶ τεταραγμένοις ἐπιπεσόντες πολὺν ἐποίουν φόνον.
At length Alexander saw that the Thebans were still fighting unflinchingly for their freedom, but that his Macedonians were wearying in the battle, and ordered his reserve division to enter the struggle. As this suddenly struck the tired Thebans, it bore heavily against them and killed many. Still the Thebans did not concede the victory, but on the contrary, inspired by the will to win, despised all dangers. They had the courage to shout that the Macedonians now openly confessed to being their inferiors. Under normal circumstances, when an enemy attacks in relays, it is usual for soldiers to fear the fresh strength of the reinforcements, but the Thebans alone then faced their dangers ever more boldly, as the enemy sent against them new troops for those whose strength flagged with weariness. So the Theban spirit proved unshakable here, but the king took note of a postern gate that had been deserted by its guards and hurried Perdiccas with a large detachment of troops to seize it and penetrate into the city. He quickly carried out the order and the Macedonians slipped through the gate into the city, while the Thebans, having worn down the first assault wave of the Macedonians, stoutly faced the second and still had high hopes of victory. When they knew that a section of the city had been taken, however, they began immediately to withdraw within the walls, 5 but in this operation their cavalry galloped along with the infantry into the city and trampled upon and killed many of their own men; they themselves rode into the city in disorder and, encountering a maze of narrow alleys and trenches, lost their footing and fell and were killed by their own weapons. At the same time the Macedonian garrison in the Cadmeia burst out of the citadel, engaged the Thebans, and attacking them in their confusion made a great slaughter among them.
§ 17.13
τῆς δὲ πόλεως τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον καταλαμβανομένης πολλαὶ καὶ ποικίλαι περιστάσεις ἐντὸς τῶν τειχῶν ἐγίνοντο. οἱ μὲν γὰρ Μακεδόνες διὰ τὴν ὑπερηφανίαν τοῦ κηρύγματος πικρότερον ἢ πολεμικώτερον προσεφέροντο τοῖς Θηβαίοις καὶ μετὰ πολλῆς ἀπειλῆς ἐπιφερόμενοι τοῖς ἠτυχηκόσιν ἀφειδῶς ἀνῄρουν πάντας τοὺς περιτυγχάνοντας. οἱ δὲ Θηβαῖοι τὸ φιλελεύθερον τῆς ψυχῆς διαφυλάττοντες τοσοῦτον ἀπεῖχον τοῦ φιλοζωεῖν ὥστʼ ἐν ταῖς ἀπαντήσεσι συμπλέκεσθαι καὶ τὰς παρὰ τῶν πολεμίων ἐπισπᾶσθαι πληγάς· ἑαλωκυίας γὰρ τῆς πόλεως οὐδεὶς Θηβαίων ἑωράθη δεηθεὶς τῶν Μακεδόνων φείσασθαι τοῦ ζῆν οὐδὲ προσέπιπτον τοῖς τῶν κρατούντων γόνασιν ἀγεννῶς. ἀλλʼ οὔτε τὸ τῆς ἀρετῆς πάθος ἠλεεῖτο παρὰ τοῖς πολεμίοις οὔτε τὸ τῆς ἡμέρας μῆκος ἤρκει πρὸς τὴν ὠμότητα τῆς τιμωρίας, πᾶσα δὲ ἡ πόλις ἐξεφορεῖτο παιδίων ὁμοῦ καὶ παρθένων ἑλκομένων καὶ τὸ τῆς τεκούσης οἰκτρὸν ἐπιβοωμένων ὄνομα· Καθόλου δὲ τῶν οἴκων σὺν ὅλαις ταῖς συγγενείαις ἁρπαζομένων πάνδημος ὑπῆρχε τῆς πόλεως ἀνδραποδισμός. τῶν δὲ ὑπολελειμμένων Θηβαίων οἱ μὲν κατατετρωμένοι τὰ σώματα καὶ λιποψυχοῦντες συνεπλέκοντο τοῖς πολεμίοις, συναποθνήσκοντες τῇ τῶν ἐχθρῶν ἀπωλείᾳ, οἱ δὲ κλάσματι δόρατος ἐρειδόμενοι συνήντων τοῖς ἐπιφερομένοις καὶ διαγωνιζόμενοι τὸν ὕστατον ἀγῶνα προετίμων τὴν ἐλευθερίαν τῆς σωτηρίας. πολλοῦ δὲ φόνου γενομένου καὶ τῆς πόλεως κατὰ πάντα τόπον νεκρῶν πληρουμένης οὐκ ἦν ὅστις ἰδὼν οὐκ ἂν ἠλέησε τὰς τύχας τῶν ἀκληρούντων. καὶ γὰρ τῶν Ἑλλήνων Θεσπιεῖς καὶ Πλαταιεῖς, ἔτι δʼ Ὀρχομένιοι καί τινες ἄλλοι τῶν ἀλλοτρίως διακειμένων πρὸς τοὺς Θηβαίους συστρατευόμενοι τῷ βασιλεῖ συνεισέπεσον εἰς τὴν πόλιν καὶ τὴν ἰδίαν ἔχθραν ἐν τοῖς τῶν ἠτυχηκότων ἀκληρήμασιν ἐναπεδείκνυντο. διὸ καὶ πάθη πολλὰ καὶ δεινὰ κατὰ τὴν πόλιν ὁρᾶν ἦν γινόμενα· Ἕλληνες γὰρ ὑφʼ Ἑλλήνων ἀνηλεῶς ἀνῃροῦντο καὶ συγγενεῖς ὑπὸ τῶν κατὰ γένος προσηκόντων ἐφονεύοντο, μηδεμίαν ἐντροπὴν τῆς ὁμοφώνου διαλέκτου παρεχομένης. τέλος δὲ τῆς νυκτὸς ἐπικαταλαβούσης αἱ μὲν οἰκίαι διηρπάγησαν, τέκνα δὲ καὶ γυναῖκες καὶ οἱ γεγηρακότες εἰς τὰ ἱερὰ καταπεφευγότες μετὰ τῆς ἐσχάτης ὕβρεως ἀπήγοντο.
So while the city was being taken, many and varied were the scenes of destruction within the walls. Enraged by the arrogance of the Theban proclamation, the Macedonians pressed upon them more furiously than is usual in war, and shrieking curses flung themselves on the wretched people, slaying all whom they met without sparing any. The Thebans, for their part, clinging desperately to their forlorn hope of victory, counted their lives as nothing and when they met a foeman, grappled with him and drew his blows upon themselves. In the capture of the city, no Theban was seen begging the Macedonians to spare his life, nor did they in ignoble fashion fall and cling to the knees of their conquerors. But neither did the agony of courage elicit pity from the foe nor did the day's length suffice for the cruelty of their vengeance. All the city was pillaged. Everywhere boys and girls were dragged into captivity as they wailed piteously the names of their mothers. In sum, households were seized with all their members, and the city's enslavement was complete. Of the men who remained, some, wounded and dying, grappled with the foe and were slain themselves as they destroyed their enemy; others, supported only by a shattered spear, went to meet their assailants and, in their supreme struggle, held freedom dearer than life. As the slaughter mounted and every corner of the city was piled high with corpses, no one could have failed to pity the plight of the unfortunates. For even Greeks — Thespians, Plataeans and Orchomenians and some others hostile to the Thebans who had joined the king in the campaign — invaded the city along with him and now demonstrated their own hatred amid the calamities of the unfortunate victims. So it was that many terrible things befell the city. Greeks were mercilessly slain by Greeks, relatives were butchered by their own relatives, and even a common dialect induced no pity. In the end, when night finally intervened, the houses had been plundered and children and women and aged persons who had fled into the temples were torn from sanctuary and subjected to outrage without limit.
§ 17.14
τῶν δὲ Θηβαίων ἀνῃρέθησαν μὲν ὑπὲρ τοὺς ἑξακισχιλίους, αἰχμάλωτα δὲ σώματα συνήχθη πλείω τῶν τρισμυρίων, χρημάτων δὲ ἄπιστον πλῆθος διεφορήθη. ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς τοὺς μὲν τελευτήσαντας τῶν Μακεδόνων ἔθαψε, πλείους ὄντας τῶν πεντακοσίων, τοὺς δὲ συνέδρους τῶν Ἑλλήνων συναγαγὼν ἐπέτρεψε τῷ κοινῷ συνεδρίῳ πῶς χρηστέον τῇ πόλει τῶν Θηβαίων. προτεθείσης οὖν βουλῆς τῶν ἀλλοτρίως διακειμένων τοῖς Θηβαίοις τινὲς ἐπεχείρουν συμβουλεύειν ἀπαραιτήτοις τιμωρίαις δεῖν περιβαλεῖν αὐτούς, ἀπεδείκνυον δʼ αὐτοὺς τὰ τῶν βαρβάρων πεφρονηκότας κατὰ τῶν Ἑλλήνων· καὶ γὰρ ἐπὶ Ξέρξου συμμαχοῦντας τοῖς Πέρσαις ἐστρατευκέναι κατὰ τῆς Ἑλλάδος καὶ μόνους τῶν Ἑλλήνων ὡς εὐεργέτας τιμᾶσθαι παρὰ τοῖς βασιλεῦσι τῶν Περσῶν καὶ πρὸ τῶν βασιλέων τοῖς πρεσβεύουσι τῶν Θηβαίων τίθεσθαι θρόνους. πολλὰ δὲ καὶ ἄλλα τοιαῦτα διελθόντες παρώξυναν τὰς τῶν συνέδρων ψυχὰς κατὰ τῶν Θηβαίων καὶ πέρας ἐψηφίσαντο τὴν μὲν πόλιν κατασκάψαι, τοὺς δʼ αἰχμαλώτους ἀποδόσθαι, τοὺς δὲ φυγάδας τῶν Θηβαίων ἀγωγίμους ὑπάρχειν ἐξ ἁπάσης τῆς Ἑλλάδος καὶ μηδένα τῶν Ἑλλήνων ὑποδέχεσθαι Θηβαῖον. ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς ἀκολούθως τῇ τοῦ συνεδρίου γνώμῃ τὴν μὲν πόλιν κατασκάψας πολὺν ἐπέστησε φόβον τοῖς ἀφισταμένοις τῶν Ἑλλήνων, τοὺς δʼ αἰχμαλώτους λαφυροπωλήσας ἤθροισεν ἀργυρίου τάλαντα τετρακόσια καὶ τεσσαράκοντα.
Over six thousand Thebans perished, more than thirty thousand were captured, and the amount of property plundered was unbelievable. The king gave burial to the Macedonian dead, more than five hundred in number, and then calling a meeting of the representatives of the Greeks put before the common council the question what should be done with the city of the Thebans. When the discussion was opened, certain men who were hostile to the Thebans began to recommend that they should be visited with the direst penalties, and they pointed out that they had taken the side of the barbarians against the Greeks. For in the time of Xerxes they had actually joined forces with the Persians and campaigned against Greece, and alone of the Greeks were honoured as benefactors by the Persian kings, so that the ambassadors of the Thebans were seated on thrones set in front of the kings. They related many other details of similar tenor and so aroused the feelings of the council against the Thebans that it was finally voted to raze the city, to sell the captives, to outlaw the Theban exiles from all Greece, and to allow no Greek to offer shelter to a Theban. The king, in accordance with the decree of the council, destroyed the city, and so presented possible rebels among the Greeks with a terrible warning. By selling off the prisoners he realized a sum of four hundred and forty talents of silver.
§ 17.15
μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα εἰς τὰς Ἀθήνας ἐξαπέστειλε τοὺς ἐξαιτήσοντας τῶν ῥητόρων δέκα τοὺς κατʼ αὐτοῦ πεπολιτευμένους, ὧν ὑπῆρχον ἐπιφανέστατοι Δημοσθένης καὶ Λυκοῦργος. συναχθείσης οὖν ἐκκλησίας καὶ τῶν πρεσβευτῶν εἰσαχθέντων εἰς τὸ πλῆθος ὁ μὲν δῆμος ἀκούσας τῶν λόγων εἰς πολλὴν ἀγωνίαν καὶ ἀπορίαν ἐνέπεσεν. ἅμα μὲν γὰρ ἔσπευδε τὸ τῆς πόλεως ἀξίωμα τηρεῖν, ἅμα δὲ διὰ τὴν Θηβαίων ἀπώλειαν ἐκπεπληγμένος τὸ δεινὸν περίφοβος καθειστήκει, νουθετούμενος τοῖς τῶν πλησιοχώρων ἀτυχήμασι. πολλῶν δὲ λόγων γινομένων κατὰ τὴν ἐκκλησίαν Φωκίων μὲν ὁ χρηστός, ἀντιπολιτευόμενος τοῖς περὶ τὸν Δημοσθένην, ἔφη δεῖν τοὺς ἐξαιτουμένους μιμήσασθαι τὰς Λεὼ κόρας καὶ τὰς Ὑακινθίδας καὶ τὸν θάνατον ἑκουσίως ὑπομεῖναι ἕνεκα τοῦ μηδὲν ἀνήκεστον παθεῖν τὴν πατρίδα καὶ τὴν ἀνανδρίαν καὶ δειλίαν ὠνείδιζε τῶν μὴ βουλομένων ὑπὲρ τῆς πόλεως τελευτᾶν· ὁ δὲ δῆμος τοῦτον μὲν τοῖς θορύβοις ἐξέβαλε, προσάντως ἀκούων τοὺς λόγους, Δημοσθένους δὲ λόγον πεφροντισμένον διελθόντος ὁ δῆμος εἰς συμπάθειαν τῶν ἀνδρῶν προαχθεὶς φανερὸς ἦν σώζειν βουλόμενος τοὺς ἄνδρας. ἐπὶ τελευτῆς δὲ Δημάδης, πεπεισμένος ὑπὸ τῶν περὶ Δημοσθένην, ὥς φασι, πέντε ταλάντοις ἀργυρίου, συνεβούλευε μὲν σώζειν τοὺς κινδυνεύοντας, παρανέγνω δὲ ψήφισμα γεγραμμένον φιλοτέχνως· περιεῖχε γὰρ παραίτησιν τῶν ἀνδρῶν καὶ ἐπαγγελίαν τοῦ κολάζειν κατὰ τοὺς νόμους, ἂν ὦσιν ἄξιοι τιμωρίας. ὁ μὲν οὖν δῆμος ἀποδεξάμενος τὴν ἐπίνοιαν τοῦ Δημάδου τό τε ψήφισμα ἐκύρωσε καὶ τὸν Δημάδην μεθʼ ἑτέρων ἀπέστειλε πρεσβευτὴν πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα, δοὺς ἐντολὴν καὶ περὶ τῶν Θηβαίων φυγάδων ἀξιῶσαι τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον συγχωρῆσαι τῷ δήμῳ τοὺς πεφευγότας Θηβαίους ὑποδέχεσθαι. ὁ δὲ Δημάδης πρεσβεύσας καὶ τῇ τοῦ λόγου δεινότητι πάντα κατεργασάμενος ἔπεισε τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον ἀπολῦσαι τοὺς ἄνδρας τῶν ἐγκλημάτων καὶ τἄλλα πάντα συγχωρῆσαι τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις.
After this he sent men to Athens to demand the surrender of ten political leaders who had opposed his interest, the most prominent of whom were Demosthenes and Lycurgus. So an assembly was convened and the ambassadors were introduced, and after they had spoken, the people were plunged into deep distress and perplexity. They were anxious to uphold the honour of their city but at the same time they were stunned with horror at the destruction of Thebes and, warned by the calamities of their neighbours, were alarmed in face of their own danger. After many had spoken in the assembly, Phocion, the "Good," who was opposed to the party of Demosthenes, said that the men demanded should remember the daughters of Leos and Hyacinthus and gladly endure death so that their country would suffer no irremediable disaster, and he inveighed against the faint-heartedness and cowardice of those who would not lay down their lives for their city. The people nevertheless rejected his advice and riotously drove him from the stand, and when Demosthenes delivered a carefully prepared discourse, they were carried away with sympathy for their leaders clearly wished to save them. In the end, Demades, influenced, it is reported, by a bribe of five silver talents from Demosthenes's supporters, counselled them to save those whose lives were threatened, and read a decree that had been subtly worded. It contained a plea for the men and a promise to impose the penalty prescribed by the law, if they deserved punishment. The people approved the suggestion of Demades, passed the decree and dispatched a delegation including Demades as envoys to the king, instructing them to make a plea to Alexander in favour of the Theban fugitives as well, that he would allow the Athenians to provide a refuge for them. On this mission, Demades achieved all his objectives by the eloquence of his words and prevailed upon Alexander to absolve the men from the charges against them and to grant all the other requests of the Athenians.
§ 17.16
μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ὁ μὲν βασιλεὺς ἐπανελθὼν μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως εἰς τὴν Μακεδονίαν συνήγαγε τοὺς ἡγεμόνας τῶν στρατιωτῶν καὶ τοὺς ἀξιολογωτάτους τῶν φίλων καὶ προέθηκε βουλὴν περὶ τῆς εἰς τὴν Ἀσίαν διαβάσεως, πότε χρὴ στρατεύειν καὶ τίνι τρόπῳ χειριστέον τὸν πόλεμον. τῶν δὲ περὶ τὸν Ἀντίπατρον καὶ Παρμενίωνα συμβουλευόντων πρότερον παιδοποιήσασθαι καὶ τότε τοῖς τηλικούτοις ἐγχειρεῖν ἔργοις, δραστικὸς ὢν καὶ πρὸς πᾶσαν πράξεως ἀναβολὴν ἀλλοτρίως διακείμενος ἀντεῖπε τούτοις· αἰσχρὸν γὰρ ὑπάρχειν ἀπεφαίνετο τὸν ὑπὸ τῆς Ἑλλάδος ἡγεμόνα καθεσταμένον τοῦ πολέμου καὶ πατρικὰς ἀνικήτους δυνάμεις παρειληφότα καθῆσθαι γάμους ἐπιτελοῦντα καὶ τέκνων γενέσεις ἀναμένοντα. διδάξας οὖν αὐτοὺς περὶ τοῦ συμφέροντος καὶ παρορμήσας διὰ τῶν λόγων πρὸς τοὺς ἀγῶνας θυσίας μεγαλοπρεπεῖς τοῖς θεοῖς συνετέλεσεν ἐν Δίῳ τῆς Μακεδονίας καὶ σκηνικοὺς ἀγῶνας Διὶ καὶ Μούσαις, οὓς Ἀρχέλαος ὁ προβασιλεύσας πρῶτος κατέδειξε. τὴν δὲ πανήγυριν ἐφʼ ἡμέρας ἐννέα συνετέλεσεν, ἑκάστῃ τῶν Μουσῶν ἐπώνυμον ἡμέραν ἀναδείξας. σκηνὴν δὲ κατασκευασάμενος ἑκατοντάκλινον τούς τε φίλους καὶ τοὺς ἡγεμόνας, ἔτι δὲ τοὺς ἀπὸ τῶν πόλεων πρέσβεις παρέλαβεν ἐπὶ τὴν εὐωχίαν. λαμπραῖς δὲ παρασκευαῖς χρησάμενος καὶ πολλοὺς μὲν ἑστιάσας, πάσῃ δὲ τῇ δυνάμει διαδοὺς ἱερεῖα καὶ τἄλλα τὰ πρὸς τὴν εὐωχίαν ἀνήκοντα προσανέλαβε τὸ στρατόπεδον.
Thereupon the king returned with his army to Macedonia, assembled his military commanders and his noblest Friends and posed for discussion the plan for crossing over to Asia. When should the campaign be started and how should he conduct the war? Antipater and Parmenion advised him to produce an heir first and then to turn his hand to so ambitious an enterprise, but Alexander was eager for action and opposed to any postponement, and spoke against them. It would be a disgrace, he pointed out, for one who had been appointed by Greece to command the war, and who had inherited his father's invincible forces, to sit at home celebrating a marriage and awaiting the birth of children. He then proceeded to show them where their advantage lay and by appeals aroused their enthusiasm for the contests which lay ahead. He made lavish sacrifices to the gods at Dium in Macedonia and held the dramatic contests in honour of Zeus and the Muses which Archelaus, one of his predecessors, had instituted. He celebrated the festival for nine days, naming each day after one of the Muses. He erected a tent to hold a hundred couches and invited his Friends and officers, as well as the ambassadors from the cities, to the banquet. Employing great magnificence, he entertained great numbers in person besides distributing to his entire force sacrificial animals and all else suitable for the festive occasion, and put his army in a fine humour.
§ 17.17
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησι Κτησικλέους Ῥωμαῖοι μὲν ὑπάτους κατέστησαν Γάιον Σουλπίκιον καὶ Λεύκιον Παπίριον. Ἀλέξανδρος δὲ μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως πορευθεὶς ἐπὶ τὸν Ἑλλήσποντον διεβίβασε τὴν δύναμιν ἐκ τῆς Εὐρώπης εἰς τὴν Ἀσίαν. αὐτὸς δὲ μακραῖς ναυσὶν ἑξήκοντα καταπλεύσας πρὸς τὴν Τρῳάδα χώραν πρῶτος τῶν Μακεδόνων ἀπὸ τῆς νεὼς ἠκόντισε μὲν τὸ δόρυ, πήξας δʼ εἰς τὴν γῆν καὶ αὐτὸς ἀπὸ τῆς νεὼς ἀφαλλόμενος παρὰ τῶν θεῶν ἀπεφαίνετο τὴν Ἀσίαν δέχεσθαι δορίκτητον. καὶ τοὺς μὲν τάφους τῶν ἡρώων Ἀχιλλέως τε καὶ Αἴαντος καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἐναγίσμασι καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις τοῖς πρὸς εὐδοξίαν ἀνήκουσιν ἐτίμησεν, αὐτὸς δὲ τὸν ἐξετασμὸν τῆς ἀκολουθούσης δυνάμεως ἀκριβῶς ἐποιήσατο. εὑρέθησαν δὲ πεζοὶ Μακεδόνες μὲν μύριοι καὶ δισχίλιοι, σύμμαχοι δὲ ἑπτακισχίλιοι, μισθοφόροι δὲ πεντακισχίλιοι, καὶ τούτων ἁπάντων Παρμενίων εἶχε τὴν ἡγεμονίαν. Ὀδρύσαι δὲ καὶ Τριβαλλοὶ καὶ Ἰλλυριοὶ συνηκολούθουν ἑπτακισχίλιοι, τοξοτῶν δὲ καὶ τῶν Ἀγριάνων καλουμένων χίλιοι, ὥστε τοὺς ἅπαντας εἶναι πεζοὺς τρισμυρίους καὶ δισχιλίους. ἱππεῖς δʼ ὑπῆρχον Μακεδόνες μὲν χίλιοι καὶ ὀκτακόσιοι, Φιλώτου τοῦ Παρμενίωνος ἡγουμένου, Θετταλοὶ δὲ χίλιοι καὶ ὀκτακόσιοι, ὧν ἡγεῖτο Κάλλας ὁ Ἁρπάλου, τῶν δʼ ἄλλων Ἑλλήνων οἱ πάντες ἑξακόσιοι, ὧν ἡγεῖτο Ἐρίγυιος, Θρᾷκες δὲ πρόδρομοι καὶ Παίονες ἐννακόσιοι, Κάσανδρον ἔχοντες ἡγεμόνα, ὥστε τοὺς σύμπαντας ὑπάρχειν ἱππεῖς τετρακισχιλίους καὶ πεντακοσίους. οἱ μὲν οὖν μετʼ Ἀλεξάνδρου διαβάντες εἰς τὴν Ἀσίαν τοσοῦτοι τὸ πλῆθος ἦσαν. οἱ δʼ ἐπὶ τῆς Εὐρώπης ἀπολελειμμένοι στρατιῶται, ὧν Ἀντίπατρος εἶχε τὴν ἡγεμονίαν, πεζοὶ μὲν ὑπῆρχον μύριοι καὶ δισχίλιοι, ἱππεῖς δὲ χίλιοι καὶ πεντακόσιοι. τοῦ δὲ βασιλέως ἀναζεύξαντος ἐκ τῆς Τρῳάδος καὶ καταντήσαντος πρὸς τὸ τέμενος τῆς Ἀθηνᾶς ὁ μὲν θύτης Ἀλέξανδρος κατανοήσας πρὸ τοῦ νεὼ κειμένην εἰκόνα χαμαὶ τοῦ Φρυγίας ποτὲ σατραπεύσαντος Ἀριοβαρζάνου καί τινων οἰωνῶν αἰσίων ἄλλων ἐπιγενομένων προσῆλθε τῷ βασιλεῖ καὶ νικήσειν αὐτὸν ἱππομαχίᾳ μεγάλῃ διεβεβαιοῦτο καὶ μάλιστʼ, ἂν τύχῃ περὶ τὴν Φρυγίαν ἀγωνισάμενος. προσετίθει δὲ καὶ διότι ταῖς ἰδίαις χερσὶν ἀποκτενεῖ μαχόμενος ἐν παρατάξει στρατηγὸν ἐπιφανῆ τῶν πολεμίων· ταῦτα γὰρ αὐτῷ προσημαίνειν τοὺς θεοὺς καὶ μάλιστα τὴν Ἀθηνᾶν, ἣν καὶ συνεργήσειν ἐν τοῖς εὐημερήμασιν.
When Ctesicles was archon at Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Gaius Sulpicius and Lucius Papirius. Alexander advanced with his army to the Hellespont and transported it from Europe to Asia. He personally sailed with sixty fighting ships to the Troad, where he flung his spear from the ship and fixed it in the ground, and then leapt ashore himself the first of the Macedonians, signifying that he received Asia from the gods as a spear-won prize. He visited the tombs of the heroes Achilles, Ajax, and the rest and honoured them with offerings and other appropriate marks of respect, and then proceeded to make an accurate count of his accompanying forces. There were found to be, of infantry, twelve thousand Macedonians, seven thousand allies, and five thousand mercenaries, all of whom were under the command of Parmenion. Odrysians, Triballians, and Illyrians accompanied him to the number of seven thousand; and of archers and the so called Agrianians one thousand, making up a total of thirty-two thousand foot soldiers. Of cavalry there were eighteen hundred Macedonians, commanded by Philotas son of Parmenion; eighteen hundred Thessalians, commanded by Callas son of Harpalus; six hundred from the rest of Greece under the command of Erigyius; and nine hundred Thracian and Paeonian scouts with Cassander in command, making a total of forty-five hundred cavalry. These were the men who crossed with Alexander to Asia. The soldiers who were left behind in Europe under the command of Antipater numbered twelve thousand foot and fifteen hundred horse. As the king began his march out of the Troad and came to the sanctuary of Athena, the sacrificant named Alexander noticed in front of the temple a statue of Ariobarzanes, a former satrap of Phrygia, lying fallen on the ground, together with some other favourable omens that occurred. He came to the king and affirmed that he would be victor in a great cavalry battle and especially if he happened to fight within the confines of Phrygia; he added that the king with his own hands would slay in battle a distinguished general of the enemy. Such, he said, were the portents the gods disclosed to him, and particularly Athena who would help him in his success.
§ 17.18
ὁ δʼ Ἀλέξανδρος ἀποδεξάμενος τὴν τοῦ μάντεως πρόρρησιν τῇ μὲν Ἀθηνᾷ λαμπρὰν ἐπετέλεσε θυσίαν καὶ τὸ μὲν ἴδιον ὅπλον ἀνέθηκε τῇ θεῷ, τῶν δʼ ἐν τῷ νεῷ κειμένων ὅπλων τὸ κράτιστον ἀναλαβὼν καὶ τούτῳ καθοπλισθεὶς ἐχρήσατο κατὰ τὴν πρώτην μάχην, ἣν διὰ τῆς ἰδίας ἀνδραγαθίας κρίνας περιβόητον ἔσχε τὴν νίκην. ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν ὕστερον ἡμέραις ὀλίγαις ἐπράχθη. οἱ δὲ τῶν Περσῶν σατράπαι καὶ στρατηγοὶ τοῦ μὲν κωλῦσαι τῶν Μακεδόνων τὴν διάβασιν ὑστέρησαν, ἀθροισθέντες δʼ ἐβουλεύοντο πῶς χρὴ διαπολεμεῖν τοῖς περὶ Ἀλέξανδρον. Μέμνων μὲν οὖν ὁ Ῥόδιος, διαβεβοημένος ἐπὶ συνέσει στρατηγικῇ, συνεβούλευε κατὰ στόμα μὲν μὴ διακινδυνεύειν, τὴν δὲ χώραν φθείρειν καὶ τῇ σπάνει τῶν ἀναγκαίων εἴργειν τοὺς Μακεδόνας τῆς εἰς τοὔμπροσθεν πορείας, διαβιβάζειν δὲ καὶ δυνάμεις εἰς τὴν Μακεδονίαν ναυτικάς τε καὶ πεζικὰς καὶ τὸν ὅλον πόλεμον εἰς τὴν Εὐρώπην μεταγαγεῖν. ὁ δʼ ἀνὴρ οὗτος ἄριστα μὲν συνεβούλευεν, ὡς ἐκ τῶν ἀποτελεσμάτων ἐγενήθη φανερόν, οὐ μὴν ἔπεισε τοὺς ἄλλους ἡγεμόνας, ὡς ἀνάξια συμβουλεύων τῆς Περσῶν μεγαλοψυχίας. διόπερ ἐπικρατούσης τῆς τοῦ διαγωνίζεσθαι γνώμης οὗτοι μὲν τὰς πανταχόθεν δυνάμεις μεταπεμψάμενοι καὶ πολλαπλάσιοι γενόμενοι τῶν Μακεδόνων προῆγον ἐπὶ Φρυγίας τῆς ἐφʼ Ἑλλησπόντου. κατεστρατοπέδευσαν δὲ παρὰ τὸν Γρανικὸν ποταμόν, προβαλλόμενοι τὸ ῥεῖθρον τοῦ προειρημένου ποταμοῦ.
Alexander welcomed the prediction of the seer and made a splendid sacrifice to Athena, dedicating his own armour to the goddess. Then, taking the finest of the panoplies deposited in the temple, he put it on and used it in his first battle. And this he did in fact decide through his own personal fighting ability and won a resounding victory. But this did not take place till a few days later. Meanwhile, the Persian satraps and generals had not acted in time to prevent the crossing of the Macedonians, but they mustered their forces and took counsel how to oppose Alexander. Memnon, the Rhodian, famed for his military competence, advocated a policy of not fighting a pitched battle, but of stripping the countryside and through the shortage of supplies preventing the Macedonians from advancing further, while at the same time they sent naval and land forces across to Macedonia and transferred the impact of war to Europe. This was the best counsel, as after-events made clear, but, for all that, Memnon failed to win over the other commanders, since his advice seemed beneath the dignity of the Persians. So they decided to fight it out, and summoning forces from every quarter and heavily outnumbering the Macedonians, they advanced in the direction of Hellespontine Phrygia. They pitched camp by the river Granicus, using the bed of the river as a line of defence.
§ 17.19
ὁ δὲ Ἀλέξανδρος πυθόμενος τὴν συνδρομὴν τῶν βαρβαρικῶν δυνάμεων προῆγε καὶ σύντομον τὴν πορείαν ποιησάμενος ἀντεστρατοπέδευσε τοῖς πολεμίοις, ὥστε ἀνὰ μέσον ῥεῖν τῶν παρεμβολῶν τὸν Γρανικόν. οἱ μὲν οὖν βάρβαροι τὴν ὑπώρειαν κατειλημμένοι τὴν ἡσυχίαν ἦγον, κεκρικότες τοῖς πολεμίοις ἐπιθέσθαι κατὰ τὴν διάβασιν τοῦ ποταμοῦ· καὶ διεσπασμένης τῆς τῶν Μακεδόνων φάλαγγος ῥᾳδίως προτερήσειν ὑπελάμβανον ἐν τῇ μάχῃ· ὁ δὲ Ἀλέξανδρος τεθαρρηκὼς ἅμʼ ἡμέρᾳ περαιώσας τὴν δύναμιν ἔφθασε τοὺς πολεμίους ἐκτάξας τὴν δύναμιν ἡρμοσμένως πρὸς τὸν ἀγῶνα. οἱ δὲ βάρβαροι πρὸς ὅλην τὴν τάξιν τῶν Μακεδόνων ἔστησαν τὸ πλῆθος τῶν ἱππέων καὶ διὰ τούτων προκινεῖν τὴν μάχην διεγνώκεισαν. τὸ μὲν οὖν εὐώνυμον μέρος εἶχε Μέμνων ὁ Ῥόδιος καὶ Ἀρσαμένης ὁ σατράπης ἔχοντες τοὺς ἰδίους ἱππεῖς, μετὰ δὲ τούτους Ἀρσίτης ἐτέτακτο τοὺς ἐκ Παφλαγονίας ἔχων ἱππεῖς, ἔπειτα Σπιθροβάτης ὁ Ἰωνίας σατράπης Ὑρκανῶν ἱππέων ἡγούμενος· τὸ δὲ δεξιὸν κέρας ἐπεῖχον χίλιοι μὲν Μῆδοι, δισχίλιοι δὲ οἱ μετὰ Ῥεομίθρους ἱππεῖς καὶ Βακτριανοὶ τούτοις ἴσοι· τὸν δὲ μέσον τόπον ἐπεῖχον οἱ τῶν ἄλλων ἐθνῶν ἱππεῖς, πολλοὶ μὲν τὸν ἀριθμὸν ὄντες, ἐπίλεκτοι δὲ ταῖς ἀρεταῖς. οἱ δὲ πάντες ἱππεῖς ὑπῆρχον πλείους τῶν μυρίων. οἱ δὲ πεζοὶ τῶν Περσῶν ἦσαν μὲν οὐκ ἐλάττους τῶν δέκα μυριάδων, ὄπισθεν δʼ ἐπιτεταγμένοι τὴν ἡσυχίαν ἦγον, ὡς τῶν ἱππέων ἱκανῶν ὄντων καταπονῆσαι τοὺς Μακεδόνας. τῶν δʼ ἱππέων παρʼ ἀμφοτέροις προθύμως εἰς τὸν κίνδυνον συμπεσόντων τὸ μὲν εὐώνυμον μέρος ἐπέχοντες οἱ τῶν Θετταλῶν ἱππεῖς Παρμενίωνος ἡγουμένου τεθαρρηκότως ἐδέχοντο τὴν ἐπιφορὰν τῶν καθʼ αὑτοὺς τεταγμένων, Ἀλέξανδρος δὲ τοὺς ἀρίστους τῶν ἱππέων κατὰ τὸ δεξιὸν κέρας ἔχων μεθʼ αὑτοῦ πρῶτος ἐφίππευσε τοῖς Πέρσαις καὶ συμπλακεὶς τοῖς πολεμίοις πολὺν ἐποιεῖτο φόνον.
When Alexander learned of the concentration of the Persian forces, he advanced rapidly and encamped opposite the enemy, so that the Granicus flowed between the encampments. The Persians, resting on high ground, made no move, intending to fall upon the foes as he crossed the river, for they supposed they could easily carry the day when the Macedonian phalanx was divided. But Alexander at dawn boldly brought his army across the river and deployed in good order before they could stop him. In return, they posted their mass of horsemen all along the front of the Macedonians since they had decided to press the battle with these. Memnon of Rhodes and satrap Arsamenes held the left wing each with his own cavalry; Arsites was stationed next with the horsemen from Paphlagonia; then came Spithrobates satrap of Ionia at the head of the Hyrcanian cavalry. The right wing was held by a thousand Medes and two thousand horse with Rheomithres as well as Bactrians of like number. Other national contingents occupied the centre, numerous and picked for their valour. In all, the cavalry amounted to more than ten thousand. The Persian foot soldiers were not fewer than one hundred thousand, but they were posted behind the line and did not advance since the cavalry was thought to be sufficient to crush the Macedonians. As the horse of each side joined battle spiritedly, the command of Parmenion gallantly met the attack of the troops posted opposite them; and Alexander, who had the finest of the riders on the right wing with him, personally led the attack upon the Persians and closing with them, began to inflict substantial losses upon them.
§ 17.20
τῶν δὲ βαρβάρων εὐρώστως ἀγωνιζομένων καὶ τοὺς ἑαυτῶν θυμοὺς ταῖς τῶν Μακεδόνων ἀρεταῖς ἀντιταττόντων ἡ τύχη συνήγαγεν εἰς ἕνα τόπον τοὺς ἀρίστους εἰς τὴν ὑπὲρ τῆς νίκης κρίσιν. ὁ γὰρ τῆς Ἰωνίας σατράπης Σπιθροβάτης, γένει μὲν ὢν Πέρσης, Δαρείου δὲ τοῦ βασιλέως γαμβρός, ἀνδρείᾳ δὲ διαφέρων, μετὰ μεγάλης δυνάμεως ἱππέων ἐπέρραξε τοῖς Μακεδόσιν, ἔχων δὲ συναγωνιστὰς τεταγμένους τεσσαράκοντα συγγενεῖς ἀρεταῖς διαφόρους ἐνέκειτο τοῖς ἀνθεστηκόσι καὶ θρασέως ἀγωνιζόμενος οὓς μὲν ἀνῄρει τῶν ἀνθισταμένων, οὓς δὲ κατετραυμάτιζε. δυσυποστάτου δὲ τῆς περὶ αὐτὸν οὔσης βίας ὁ Ἀλέξανδρος ἐπιστρέψας τὸν ἵππον ἐπὶ τὸν σατράπην ἐφίππευσε τῷ βαρβάρῳ. ὁ δὲ Πέρσης νομίσας παρὰ τῶν θεῶν αὐτῷ δεδόσθαι τὸν τῆς μονομαχίας καιρόν, εἰ συμβήσεται διὰ τῆς ἰδίας ἀνδραγαθίας ἐλευθερωθῆναι τῶν μεγίστων φόβων τὴν Ἀσίαν καὶ τὴν περιβόητον Ἀλεξάνδρου τόλμαν ταῖς ἰδίαις χερσὶ καταλυθῆναι καὶ τὴν τῶν Περσῶν δόξαν μὴ καταισχυνθῆναι φθάνει βαλὼν τὸ σαυνίον ἐπὶ τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον καὶ οὕτω μετὰ σφοδρᾶς εἰσπεσὼν ῥύμης καὶ βιαίως τὸ δόρυ ὠσάμενος διαρρήξας τε τήν τε ἀσπίδα Ἀλεξάνδρου καὶ τὴν δεξιὰν ἐπωμίδα διήλασε διὰ τοῦ θώρακος. ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς τὸ μὲν βέλος τῷ βραχίονι παρελκόμενον ἀπέρριψε, τῷ δʼ ἵππῳ προσβαλὼν τὰ κέντρα καὶ τῇ ῥύμῃ τῆς φορᾶς συνεργῷ χρησάμενος εἰς μέσον τοῦ σατράπου τὸ στῆθος ἐνήρεισε τὸ ξυστόν. οὗ συντελεσθέντος αἱ μὲν πλησίον τάξεις παρʼ ἀμφοτέροις διὰ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῆς ἀνδρείας ἀνεβόησαν, τῆς δʼ ἐπιδορατίδος περὶ τὸν θώρακα συντριβείσης καὶ τοῦ θραύσματος ἀποπηδήσαντος ὁ μὲν Πέρσης σπασάμενος τὸ ξίφος ἐπὶ τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον ἐπεφέρετο, ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς διαλαβὼν τὸ ξυστὸν ἔφθασεν ἐνερεῖσαι τῷ προσώπῳ καὶ διήλασε τὴν πληγήν. καθʼ ὃν δὴ χρόνον ὁ ἀδελφὸς τοῦ πεσόντος Ῥωσάκης προσιππεύσας κατήνεγκε τῷ ξίφει κατὰ τῆς κεφαλῆς Ἀλεξάνδρου οὕτως ἐπικίνδυνον πληγὴν ὥστε τὸ μὲν κράνος διαπτύξαι, τοῦ δὲ χρωτὸς βραχέως ἐπιψαῦσαι. κατὰ δὲ τὴν αὐτὴν διαίρεσιν ἐπιφέροντος ἄλλην πληγὴν τοῦ Ῥωσάκου Κλεῖτος ὁ μέλας ἐπικαλούμενος προσελάσας τὸν ἵππον ἀπέκοψε τὴν χεῖρα τοῦ βαρβάρου.
But the Persians resisted bravely and opposed their spirit to the Macedonian valour, as Fortune brought together in one and the same place the finest fighters to dispute the victory. The satrap of Ionia Spithrobates, a Persian by birth and son-in law of King Dareius, a man of superior courage, hurled himself at the Macedonian lines with a large body of cavalry, and with an array of forty companions, all Royal Relatives of outstanding valour, pressed hard on the opposite line and in a fierce attack slew some of his opponents and wounded others. As the force of this attack seemed dangerous, Alexander turned his horse toward the satrap and rode at him. To the Persian, it seemed as if this opportunity for a single combat was god-given. He hoped that by his individual gallantry Asia might be relieved of its terrible menace, the renowned daring of Alexander arrested by his own hands, and the glory of the Persians saved from disgrace. He hurled his javelin first at Alexander with so mighty an impulse and so powerful a cast that he pierced Alexander's shield and right epomis and drove through the breastplate. The king shook off the weapon as it dangled by his arm, then applying spurs to his horse and employing the favouring momentum of his charge drove his lance squarely into the satrap's chest. At this, adjacent ranks in both armies cried out at the superlative display of prowess. The point, however, snapped off against the breastplate and the broken shaft recoiled, and the Persian drew his sword and drove at Alexander; but the king recovered his grip upon his lance in time to thrust at the man's face and drive the blow home. The Persian fell, but just at this moment, Rhosaces, his brother, galloping up brought his sword down on Alexander's head with such a fearsome blow that it split his helmet and inflicted a slight scalp wound. As Rhosaces aimed another blow at the same break, Cleitus, surnamed the Black, dashed up on his horse and cut off the Persian's arm.
§ 17.21
περὶ δʼ ἀμφοτέρων τῶν πεσόντων οἱ συγγενεῖς ἀθρόοι συστραφέντες τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἠκόντιζον ἐπὶ τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον, ἔπειτα δὲ καὶ συστάδην μαχόμενοι πάντα κίνδυνον ὑπέμενον ὑπὲρ τοῦ φονεῦσαι τὸν βασιλέα. ὁ δὲ καίπερ πολλοῖς καὶ μεγάλοις κινδύνοις συνεχόμενος ὅμως οὐκ ἐνικᾶτο τοῖς πλήθεσι τῶν πολεμίων, ἀλλὰ δύο μὲν ἔχων εἰς τὸν θώρακα πληγάς, μίαν δὲ εἰς τὸ κράνος, τρεῖς δʼ εἰς τὸ καθαιρεθὲν ὅπλον ἐκ τοῦ νεὼ τῆς Ἀθηνᾶς ὅμως οὐκ ἐνεδίδου, ἀλλὰ τῷ παραστήματι τῆς ψυχῆς ἐπαιρόμενος παντὸς δεινοῦ κατεξανίστατο. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἐπιφανῶν ἡγεμόνων παρʼ αὐτὸν ἐν τοῖς Πέρσαις ἔπεσον πλείους, ὧν ἦσαν ἐπιφανέστατοι Ἀτιζύης καὶ Φαρνάκης ὁ τῆς Δαρείου γυναικὸς ἀδελφός, ἔτι δὲ Μιθροβουζάνης ὁ Καππαδοκῶν ἡγούμενος. διὸ καὶ πολλῶν ἡγεμόνων ἀναιρεθέντων καὶ τῶν Περσικῶν τάξεων ἁπασῶν ὑπὸ τῶν Μακεδόνων ἡττωμένων πρῶτον μὲν οἱ κατὰ τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον τεταγμένοι φυγεῖν ἠναγκάσθησαν, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τραπέντων ὁ μὲν βασιλεὺς ὁμολογούμενον τῆς ἀνδραγαθίας τὸ πρωτεῖον ἀπηνέγκατο καὶ τῆς ὅλης νίκης ἔδοξε μάλιστʼ αἴτιος γεγονέναι, μετὰ δὲ τοῦτον οἱ τῶν Θετταλῶν ἱππεῖς ἄριστα ταῖς εἴλαις χρώμενοι καὶ διαφόρως ἀγωνισάμενοι μεγάλην ἐπʼ ἀνδρείᾳ δόξαν ἔσχον. μετὰ δὲ τὴν τῶν ἱππέων τροπὴν οἱ πεζοὶ συμβαλόντες ἀλλήλοις ὀλίγον χρόνον ἠγωνίσαντο· οἱ γὰρ βάρβαροι διὰ τὴν τῶν ἱππέων τροπὴν καταπλαγέντες καὶ ταῖς ψυχαῖς ἐνδόντες πρὸς φυγὴν ὥρμησαν. ἀνῃρέθησαν δὲ τῶν Περσῶν οἱ πάντες πεζοὶ μὲν πλείους τῶν μυρίων, ἱππεῖς δὲ οὐκ ἐλάττους δισχιλίων, ἐζωγρήθησαν δʼ ὑπὲρ τοὺς δισμυρίους. μετὰ δὲ τὴν μάχην ὁ βασιλεὺς τοὺς τετελευτηκότας ἔθαψε μεγαλοπρεπῶς, σπεύδων διὰ ταύτης τῆς τιμῆς τοὺς στρατιώτας προθυμοτέρους κατασκευάσαι πρὸς τοὺς ἐν ταῖς μάχαις κινδύνους. αὐτὸς δʼ ἀναλαβὼν τὴν δύναμιν προῆγε διὰ τῆς Λυδίας, καὶ τὴν μὲν τῶν Σαρδιανῶν πόλιν καὶ τὰς ἀκροπόλεις, ἔτι δὲ τοὺς ἐν αὐταῖς θησαυρούς, παρέλαβε Μιθρίνους τοῦ σατράπου παραδόντος ἑκουσίως.
The Relatives now pressed in a solid body about the two fallen men; at first they rained their javelins on Alexander, and then closing went all out to slay the king. But exposed as he was to many and fierce attacks he nevertheless was not overborne by the numbers of the foe. Though he took two blows on the breastplate, one on the helmet, and three on the shield which he had taken down from the temple of Athena, he still did not give in, but borne up by an exaltation of spirit surmounted every danger. After this, several of the other noble Persians fighting against him fell, of whom the most illustrious were Atizyes and Pharnaces, brother of Dareius's queen, and also Mithrobuzanes who commanded the Cappadocians. Now that many of their commanders had been slain and all the Persian squadrons were worsted by the Macedonians, those facing Alexander were put to flight first, and then the others also. Thus the king by common consent won the palm for bravery and was regarded as the chief author of the victory, and next to him the Thessalian cavalry won a great reputation for valour because of the skilful handling of their squadrons and their unmatched fighting quality. After the rout of the cavalry, the foot soldiers engaged one another in a contest that was soon ended. For the Persians, dismayed by the route of the cavalry and shaken in spirit, were quick to flee. The total of the Persian infantry killed was more than ten thousand; of the cavalry not less than two thousand; and there were taken alive upwards of twenty thousand. After the battle the king gave magnificent obsequies to the dead, for he thought it important by this sort of honour to create in his men greater enthusiasm to face the hazards of battle. Recovering his forces, Alexander led them down through Lydia and took over the city of the Sardians with its citadels and, what is more, the treasures stored therein, for Mithrines the satrap surrendered them without resistance.
§ 17.22
εἰς δὲ τὴν Μίλητον συμπεφευγότων τῶν διασωθέντων ἐκ τῆς μάχης Περσῶν μετὰ Μέμνονος τοῦ στρατηγοῦ ὁ μὲν βασιλεὺς πλησίον τῆς πόλεως στρατοπεδεύσας καθʼ ἡμέραν συνεχεῖς προσβολὰς τοῖς τείχεσιν ἐκ διαδοχῆς ἐποιεῖτο, οἱ δὲ πολιορκούμενοι τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ῥᾳδίως ἀπὸ τῶν τειχῶν ἠμύνοντο, πολλῶν μὲν στρατιωτῶν ἠθροισμένων εἰς τὴν πόλιν, βελῶν δὲ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν εἰς τὴν πολιορκίαν χρησίμων δαψιλῆ χορηγίαν ἔχοντες· ἐπεὶ δὲ ὁ βασιλεὺς φιλοτιμότερον ταῖς τε μηχαναῖς ἐσάλευε τὰ τείχη καὶ τὴν πολιορκίαν ἐνεργεστάτην ἐποιεῖτο κατὰ γῆν ἅμα καὶ κατὰ θάλατταν οἵ τε Μακεδόνες διὰ τῶν πιπτόντων τειχῶν εἰσεβιάζοντο, τηνικαῦτα κατισχυόμενοι πρὸς φυγὴν ἐτράποντο. εὐθὺ δʼ οἱ Μιλήσιοι μεθʼ ἱκετηριῶν τῷ βασιλεῖ προσπίπτοντες παρέδωκαν σφᾶς αὐτοὺς καὶ τὴν πόλιν. τῶν δὲ βαρβάρων οἱ μὲν ὑπὸ τῶν Μακεδόνων ἀνῃρέθησαν, οἱ δὲ τῆς πόλεως ἐκπίπτοντες ἔφευγον, οἱ δʼ ἄλλοι πάντες ἥλωσαν. ὁ δʼ Ἀλέξανδρος τοῖς μὲν Μιλησίοις φιλανθρώπως προσηνέχθη, τοὺς δʼ ἄλλους ἅπαντας ἐξηνδραποδίσατο. τῆς δὲ ναυτικῆς δυνάμεως οὔσης ἀχρήστου καὶ δαπάνας μεγάλας ἐχούσης κατέλυσε τὸ ναυτικὸν πλὴν ὀλίγων νεῶν, αἷς ἐχρῆτο πρὸς τὴν παρακομιδὴν τῶν πολιορκητικῶν ὀργάνων, ἐν αἷς ἦσαν αἱ παρʼ Ἀθηναίων νῆες συμμαχίδες εἴκοσιν.
Since the Persian survivors of the battle together with the general Memnon had taken refuge in Miletus, the king set up camp near the city and every day, using his men in relays, made continuous assaults on the walls. At first the besieged easily defended themselves from the walls, for many soldiers were gathered in from the city, and they had abundant provision of missiles and other things useful for the emergency. But when the king, in a more determined fashion, brought up siege engines and rocked the walls and pressed the siege very actively both by land and by sea, and the Macedonians forced an entry through the crumbling walls, then at last yielding to superior force, they took to flight. Immediately the Milesians, falling before the king with suppliant olive boughs, put themselves and their city into his hands. Some of the Persians were slain by the Macedonians, others, breaking out of the city, sought refuge in flight, and all the remainder were taken captive.5 Alexander treated the Milesians kindly but sold all the rest as slaves. Since the naval force was now useless and entailed great expense, he dismissed the fleet with the exception of a few ships which he employed for the transport of his siege engines. Among these was the Athenian contingent of twenty ships.
§ 17.23
ἔνιοι δὲ λέγουσι τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον στρατηγικῶς ἐπινοῆσαι τὴν τοῦ στόλου κατάλυσιν· προσδοκίμου γὰρ ὄντος τοῦ Δαρείου καὶ μελλούσης μεγάλης παρατάξεως συντελεῖσθαι νομίσαι τοὺς Μακεδόνας ἐκθυμότερον ἀγωνιεῖσθαι παραιρεθείσης τῆς κατὰ τὴν φυγὴν ἐλπίδος. τὸ δʼ αὐτὸ πρᾶξαι κατὰ τὴν ἐπὶ Γρανικῷ μάχην· κατὰ νώτου γὰρ λαβεῖν τὸν ποταμόν, ὅπως μηδεὶς ἐπιβάληται φεύγειν προδήλου τῆς ἀπωλείας οὔσης τῶν διωκομένων ἐν τῷ τοῦ ποταμοῦ ῥείθρῳ. καὶ γὰρ κατὰ τοὺς ὕστερον χρόνους Ἀγαθοκλέα τὸν Συρακοσίων βασιλέα μιμησάμενον τὴν Ἀλεξάνδρου στρατηγίαν ἀνέλπιστον καὶ μεγάλην νίκην περιποιήσασθαι· διαβάντα γὰρ αὐτὸν εἰς Λιβύην μετʼ ὀλίγης δυνάμεως καὶ τὰς ναῦς ἐμπρήσαντα παρελέσθαι μὲν τῶν στρατιωτῶν τὰς ἐκ τοῦ φεύγειν ἐλπίδας, συναναγκάσαι δὲ γενναίως ἀγωνίσασθαι καὶ διὰ τοῦτο Καρχηδονίων ἀντιταχθέντων πολλαῖς μυριάσι νικῆσαι. μετὰ δὲ τὴν ἅλωσιν τῆς Μιλήτου τὸ πλῆθος τῶν Περσῶν καὶ τῶν μισθοφόρων, ἔτι δʼ οἱ πρακτικώτατοι τῶν ἡγεμόνων συνέδραμον εἰς τὴν Ἁλικαρνασσόν. αὕτη δὲ ἡ πόλις μεγίστη τῶν κατὰ τὴν Καρίαν ἦν, βασίλεια μὲν ἐσχηκυῖα τὰ Καρῶν, ἀκροπόλεσι δὲ καλῶς κεκοσμημένη. κατὰ δὲ τὸν αὐτὸν καιρὸν Μέμνων μὲν τήν τε γυναῖκα καὶ τὰ τέκνα πρὸς Δαρεῖον ἔπεμψε καὶ τούτῳ παραθέμενος ἅμα μὲν ὑπέλαβε τῆς ἀσφαλείας αὐτῶν καλῶς πεπρονοῆσθαι, ἅμα δὲ τὸν βασιλέα καλοὺς ὁμήρους ἔχοντα προθυμότερον ἐμπιστεύσειν αὐτῷ τὴν τῶν ὅλων ἡγεμονίαν· ὅπερ καὶ συνέβη γενέσθαι. εὐθὺς γὰρ ὁ Δαρεῖος ἔπεμψεν ἐπιστολὰς πρὸς τοὺς κατὰ θάλατταν οἰκοῦντας, προστάττων ἅπαντας ὑπακούειν τῷ Μέμνονι. διόπερ οὗτος παραλαβὼν τὴν τῶν ὅλων ἡγεμονίαν παρεσκευάζετο πάντα τὰ χρήσιμα πρὸς πολιορκίαν ἐν τῇ πόλει τῶν Ἁλικαρνασσέων.
There are those who say that Alexander's strategic conception was sound, when he dismissed his fleet. For Dareius was still to be reckoned with and there was bound to be a great battle, and he judged that the Macedonians would fight more desperately if he deprived them of all hope of escape by flight. He employed the same device, they say, at the battle of the Granicus, where he placed the stream at his rear, for no one could think of flight when destruction of any who were followed into the bed of the river was a certainty. There is also, they note, in later years the case of Agathocles, king of the Syracusans, who copied the strategy of Alexander and won an unexpected and decisive victory. He had crossed to Libya with a small force and by burning his ships deprived his men of any hope of escape by flight, thus constraining them to fight like heroes and thereby win a victory over the Carthaginians, who had an army numbering many tens of thousands. After the capture of Miletus, the bulk of the Persians and mercenaries, as well as the most enterprising of the commanders, concentrated their forces at Halicarnassus. This was the largest city in Caria, containing the palace of the kings of the Carians, and was well provided with interior fortresses. About the same time Memnon sent his wife and children to Dareius, because he calculated that leaving them in the king's care was a good way to ensure their safety, while at the same time the king, now that he had good hostages, would be more willing to entrust Memnon with the supreme command. And so it turned out. For Dareius straightway sent letters to those who dwelt next the sea, directing them one and all to take orders from Memnon. Accordingly, having assumed the supreme command, he made all the necessary dispositions for a siege in the city of the Halicarnassians.
§ 17.24
ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς Ἀλέξανδρος τὰ μὲν πολιορκητικὰ τῶν ὀργάνων καὶ σῖτον κατὰ θάλατταν ἐκόμισεν ἐπὶ τὴν Ἁλικαρνασσόν, αὐτὸς δὲ μετὰ πάσης τῆς δυνάμεως προῆγεν ἐπὶ Καρίας καὶ τὰς ἐν τῇ παρόδῳ πόλεις προσήγετο ταῖς φιλανθρωπίαις· μάλιστα δʼ εὐεργέτει τὰς Ἑλληνίδας πόλεις, ποιῶν αὐτὰς αὐτονόμους καὶ ἀφορολογήτους, προσεπιλέγων ὅτι τῆς τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἐλευθερώσεως ἕνεκα τὸν πρὸς Πέρσας πόλεμον ἐπανῄρηται. ὄντι δʼ αὐτῷ κατὰ τὴν ὁδοιπορίαν ἀπήντησέν τι γύναιον, ὄνομα μὲν Ἄδα, γένει δὲ προσήκουσα τῇ Καρῶν ἀρχῇ. ἐντυχούσης δʼ αὐτῆς περὶ τῆς προγονικῆς δυναστείας καὶ δεηθείσης βοηθῆσαι ταύτην μὲν ἐκέλευσε παραλαβεῖν τὴν τῆς Καρίας ἀρχήν, τοὺς δὲ Κᾶρας ἰδίους ἐποιήσατο ταῖς εὐνοίαις διὰ τὴν τῆς γυναικὸς ταύτης εὐεργεσίαν· εὐθὺς γὰρ αἱ πόλεις ἅπασαι πρεσβείας ἀποστέλλουσαι χρυσοῖς στεφάνοις ἐτίμησαν τὸν βασιλέα καὶ πάντα συμπράττειν ἐπηγγείλαντο. ὁ δὲ Ἀλέξανδρος πλησίον τῆς πόλεως στρατοπεδεύσας συνεστήσατο πολιορκίαν ἐνεργὸν καὶ καταπληκτικήν. τὸ μὲν γὰρ πρῶτον τοῖς τείχεσι προσβολὰς συνεχεῖς ἐκ διαδοχῆς ἐποιεῖτο καὶ διημέρευεν ἐν τοῖς κινδύνοις· μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα παντοδαπὰς μηχανὰς ἐπιστήσας καὶ τὰς πρὸ τῆς πόλεως τάφρους χωστρίσι χελώναις ἀναπληρώσας διὰ τῶν κριῶν ἐσάλευε τοὺς πύργους καὶ τὰ μεταξὺ μεσοπύργια. καταβαλὼν δὲ μέρος τι τοῦ τείχους τὸ λοιπὸν ἤδη διὰ τῆς ἐκ χειρὸς μάχης ἐβιάζετο διὰ τοῦ πτώματος εἰς τὴν πόλιν εἰσπεσεῖν. Μέμνων δὲ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον τοὺς προσβάλλοντας τοῖς τείχεσι Μακεδόνας ῥᾳδίως ἠμύνετο, πολλῶν ὄντων ἐν τῇ πόλει στρατιωτῶν· κατὰ δὲ τὰς τῶν ὀργάνων προσβολὰς μετὰ πολλῶν στρατιωτῶν ἐκχεόμενος ἐκ τῆς πόλεως νυκτὸς πῦρ ἐνέβαλλε ταῖς μηχαναῖς. μεγάλων δʼ ἀγώνων πρὸ τῆς πόλεως συνισταμένων οἱ μὲν Μακεδόνες ταῖς ἀρεταῖς πολὺ προεῖχον, οἱ δὲ Πέρσαι τῷ πλήθει καὶ ταῖς παρασκευαῖς ἐπλεονέκτουν· συνήργουν γὰρ αὐτοῖς οἱ ἀπὸ τῶν τειχῶν συναγωνιζόμενοι καὶ τοῖς ὀξυβελέσι καταπέλταις οὓς μὲν ἀπέκτεινον τῶν πολεμίων, οὓς δὲ κατετίτρωσκον.
King Alexander had his siege engines and provisions conveyed by sea to Halicarnassus while he himself with all his army marched into Caria, winning over the cities that lay on his route by kind treatment. He was particularly generous to the Greek cities, granting them independence and exemption from taxation, adding the assurance that the freedom of the Greeks was the object for which he had taken upon himself the war against the Persians. On his journey he was met by a woman named Ada, who belonged by blood to the ruling house of Caria. When she presented a petition to recover the position of her ancestors and requested his assistance, he gave orders that she should become the ruler of Caria. Thus he won the loyal support of the Carians by the favour that he bestowed on this woman. For straightway all the cities sent missions and presented the king with golden crowns and promised to cooperate with him in everything. Alexander encamped near the city and set in motion an active and formidable siege. At first he made continued assaults on the walls with relays of attackers and spent whole days in active fighting. Later he brought up all sorts of engines of war, filled in the trenches in front of the city with the aid of sheds to protect the workers, and rocked the towers and the curtains between them with his battering rams. Whenever he overthrew a portion of the wall, he attempted by hand-to hand fighting to force an entry into the city overthrow rubble. But Memnon at first easily beat off the Macedonians assaulting the walls, for he had large numbers of men in the city. Where the siege engines were attacking, he issued from the city at night with numbers of soldiers and applied fire to the machines. Fierce fights occurred in front of the city, in which the Macedonians showed far superior prowess, but the Persians had the advantage of numbers and of fire power. For they had the support of men who fought from the walls using engines to shoot darts, with which they killed some of the enemy and disabled others.
§ 17.25
ὁμοῦ δὲ αἵ τε σάλπιγγες ἐσήμαινον παρʼ ἀμφοτέροις τὸ πολεμικὸν καὶ βοὴ πανταχόθεν ἐγίνετο, συνεπισημαινομένων τῶν στρατιωτῶν ταῖς παρʼ ἑκατέρων ἀνδραγαθίαις. οἱ μὲν γὰρ τὴν ἐν ταῖς μηχαναῖς αἰρομένην εἰς ὕψος φλόγα κατέπαυον, οἱ δʼ εἰς χεῖρας συμπλεκόμενοι πολὺν ἐποίουν φόνον, ἄλλοιδʼ ἐντὸς τῶν πιπτόντων τειχῶν ἀντῳκοδόμουν ἕτερα τείχη πολὺ τῶν προϋπαρχόντων βαρύτερα ταῖς κατασκευαῖς. τῶν δʼ ἡγεμόνων τῶν περὶ τὸν Μέμνονα προκινδυνευόντων καὶ μεγάλας δωρεὰς διδόντων τοῖς ἀνδραγαθοῦσιν ἀνυπέρβλητος φιλοτιμία παρʼ ἀμφοτέροις ἐγίνετο περὶ τῆς νίκης. διὸ καὶ παρῆν ὁρᾶν τοὺς μὲν τραύμασιν ἐναντίοις περιπίπτοντας καὶ κατὰ τὰς λιποψυχίας ἀποφερομένους ἐκ τῆς μάχης, τοὺς δὲ περιβαίνοντας τὰ πίπτοντα σώματα καὶ περὶ τῆς τούτων ἀναιρέσεως μεγάλους ἀγῶνας συνισταμένους, ἄλλους δὲ διὰ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῶν δεινῶν ἐνδιδόντας ἤδη καὶ διὰ τῆς ὑπὸ τῶν ἡγεμόνων παρακλήσεως πάλιν θαρροῦντας καὶ νεαροὺς ταῖς ψυχαῖς γινομένους. τέλος δὲ πρὸς αὐταῖς ταῖς πύλαις ἔπεσόν τινες τῶν Μακεδόνων καὶ σὺν αὐτοῖς Νεοπτόλεμος ἡγεμών, ἀνὴρ ἐπιφανής. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα δύο μὲν πύργων εἰς ἔδαφος καθῃρημένων καὶ δυεῖν μεσοπυργίων ἐρριμμένων τῶν μὲν Περδίκκου στρατιωτῶν τινες μεθυσθέντες προπετῶς νυκτὸς προσέβαλλον τοῖς τῆς ἀκροπόλεως τείχεσιν· οἱ δὲ περὶ τὸν Μέμνονα συννοήσαντες τὴν ἀπειρίαν τῶν προσβαλλόντων καὶ ἐπεξελθόντες καὶ τῷ πλήθει πολὺ προέχοντες ἐτρέψαντο τοὺς Μακεδόνας καὶ πολλοὺς ἀνῄρουν. γνωσθέντος δὲ τοῦ συμβεβηκότος ἐξεβοήθουν πολλοὶ τῶν Μακεδόνων καὶ μεγάλης μάχης γενομένης καὶ τῶν περὶ τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον ἐπιφανέντων οἱ μὲν Πέρσαι βιασθέντες συνεκλείσθησαν εἰς τὴν πόλιν, ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς τοὺς πεσόντας πρὸ τοῦ τείχους Μακεδόνας διακηρυκευσάμενος ᾔτησεν ὑποσπόνδους. Ἐφιάλτης μὲν οὖν καὶ Θρασύβουλος οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι συμμαχοῦντες τοῖς Πέρσαις συνεβούλευον μὴ διδόναι τοὺς νεκροὺς πρὸς ταφήν, ὁ δὲ Μέμνων συνεχώρησε.
At the same moment, the trumpets sounded the battle signal on both sides and cheers came from all parts as the soldiers applauded in concert the feats of brave men on one side or the other. Some tried to put out the fires that rose aloft among the siege engines; others joined with the foe in close combat and wrought great slaughter; others erected secondary walls behind those which crumbled, heavier by far in construction than the preceding. The commanders under Memnon took their places in the front line and offered great rewards to those who distinguished themselves, so that the desire for victory rose very high on both sides. There could be seen men encountering frontal wounds or being carried unconscious out of the battle, others standing over the fallen bodies of their companions and struggling mightily to recover them, while others who were on the point of yielding to the storm of terrors were again put in heart by the appeals of their officers and were renewed in spirit. At length, some of the Macedonians were killed at the very gates, among them an officer Neoptolemus, a man of distinguished family. Presently two towers were levelled with the ground and two curtains overthrown, and some of Perdiccas's soldiers, getting drunk, made a wild night attack on the walls of the citadel. Memnon's men noticed the awkwardness of these attackers and issuing forth themselves in considerably larger numbers routed the Macedonians and killed many of them. As this situation became known, large numbers of Macedonians rushed up to help and a great struggle took place, and when Alexander and his staff came up, the Persians, forced back, were confined within the city, and the king through a herald asked for a truce to recover the Macedonians who had fallen in front of the walls. Now Ephialtes and Thrasybulus, Athenians fighting on the Persian side, advised not to give up the dead bodies for burial, but Memnon granted the request.
§ 17.26
μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Ἐφιάλτης βουλευομένων τῶν ἡγεμόνων συνεβούλευε μὴ περιμένειν ἕως ἂν ἁλούσης τῆς πόλεως αἰχμάλωτοι καταστῶσιν, ἀλλʼ αὐτοὺς τοὺς ἡγεμόνας προκινδυνεύοντας τῶν μισθοφόρων ἐπιθέσθαι τοῖς πολεμίοις. ὁ δὲ Μέμνων ὁρῶν τὸν Ἐφιάλτην πρὸς ἀρετὴν ὁρμώμενον καὶ μεγάλας ἔχων ἐλπίδας ἐν αὐτῷ διὰ τὴν ἀνδρείαν καὶ τὴν τοῦ σώματος ῥώμην συνεχώρησεν αὐτῷ πράττειν ὃ βούλοιτο. ὁ δὲ δισχιλίους τῶν μισθοφόρων ἐπιλέκτους ἀναλαβὼν καὶ τοῖς ἡμίσεσι διαδοὺς δᾷδας ἡμμένας, τοὺς δʼ ἄλλους ἀντιτάξας τοῖς πολεμίοις ἄφνω τὰς πύλας πάσας ἀνεπέτασεν. ἅμα δʼ ἡμέρᾳ μετὰ τούτων ἐκχυθεὶς τοῖς μὲν μηχανήμασιν ἐνῆκε πῦρ καὶ παραχρῆμα πολλὴν συνέβη γενέσθαι φλόγα, τῶν δʼ ἄλλων ἐν βαθείᾳ φάλαγγι πεπυκνωμένων αὐτὸς προηγεῖτο καὶ τοῖς ἐκβοηθοῦσι Μακεδόσιν ἐπέρραξεν. ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς κατανοήσας τὸ γινόμενον τοὺς μὲν προμάχους τῶν Μακεδόνων πρώτους ἔταξε, ἐφέδρους δʼ ἔστησε τοὺς ἐπιλέκτους· ἐπὶ δὲ τούτοις τρίτους ἐπέταξεν ἑτέρους τοὺς ταῖς ἀνδραγαθίαις ὑπεράγοντας. αὐτὸς δὲ πρὸ πάντων τούτων ἡγούμενος ὑπέστη τοὺς πολεμίους, δόξαντας διὰ τὸ βάρος ἀκαταγωνίστους εἶναι. ἐξέπεμψε δὲ καὶ τοὺς κατασβέσοντας τὴν φλόγα καὶ βοηθήσοντας ταῖς μηχαναῖς. ἅμα δὲ παρʼ ἀμφοτέροις τῆς τε βοῆς ἐξαισίου γινομένης καὶ τῶν σαλπίγγων σημαινουσῶν τὸ πολεμικὸν μέγας ἀγὼν συνέστη διὰ τὰς ἀρετὰς τῶν ἀγωνιζομένων καὶ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῆς φιλοτιμίας. τὸ μὲν οὖν πῦρ ἐκώλυσαν οἱ Μακεδόνες ἐπινεμηθῆναι, κατὰ δὲ τὴν μάχην ἐπλεονέκτουν οἱ περὶ τὸν Ἐφιάλτην· οὗτος γὰρ πολὺ προέχων τῶν ἄλλων τῇ τοῦ σώματος ῥώμῃ πολλοὺς ἀνῄρει τῶν εἰς χεῖρας ἐρχομένων. οἵ τʼ ἐφεστῶτες ἐπὶ τῷ προσφάτως ἀντικατασκευασθέντι τείχει πολλοὺς ἀνῄρουν πυκνοῖς τοῖς βέλεσι χρώμενοι· ἑκατὸν γὰρ πηχῶν τὸ ὕψος πύργος ξύλινος κατεσκεύαστο, πλήρης καταπελτῶν ὀξυβελῶν. πολλῶν δὲ Μακεδόνων πιπτόντων καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἀναχωρούντων διὰ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν βελῶν, τοῦ τε Μέμνονος πολλαπλασίοις στρατιώταις ἐπιβοηθοῦντος καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ βασιλεὺς εἰς πολλὴν ἀμηχανίαν ἐνέπιπτεν.
After this at a council of the commanders, Ephialtes advised them not to wait till the city was taken and they found themselves captives; he proposed that the leaders of the mercenaries should go out themselves in the front rank and lead an attack on the enemy. Memnon recognized that Ephialtes was eager to prove himself and, having great hopes of him because of his courage and bodily strength, allowed him to do as he wished. Accordingly he collected two thousand picked men and, giving half of them lighted torches and forming the others so as to meet the enemy, he suddenly threw all the gates wide open. It was daybreak, and sallying forth with his band he employed the one group to set fire to the siege engines, causing a great conflagration to flame up at once, while he personally led the rest deployed in a dense phalanx many ranks deep and charged the Macedonians as they issued forth to help extinguish the fire. When the king saw what was happening, he placed the best fighters of the Macedonians in front and he posted a third group also consisting of others who had a good record for stout fighting. He himself at the head of all took command and made a stand against the enemy, who had supposed that because of their mass they would be invincible. He also sent men out to extinguish the fire and to rescue the siege engines. As violent shouts arose at the same time on both sides and the trumpets sounded the attack, a terrific contest ensued because of the valour of the contestants and their consummate fighting spirit. The Macedonians prevented the fire from spreading, but Ephialtes's men had the advantage in the battle, and he himself, who had far greater bodily strength than the rest, slew with his own hand many who traded blows with him. From the top of the recently erected replacement wall, the defenders slew many of the Macedonians with dense showers of missiles — for there had been erected a wood tower, a hundred cubits high, which was filled with dart-hurling catapults. As many Macedonians fell and the rest recoiled before the thick fire of missiles, Memnon threw himself into the battle with heavy reinforcements and even Alexander found himself quite helpless.
§ 17.27
ἔνθα δὴ τῶν ἐκ τῆς πόλεως κατισχυόντων παραδόξως ὁ κίνδυνος παλίντροπον τὴν μάχην ἔσχεν. οἱ γὰρ πρεσβύτατοι τῶν Μακεδόνων, διὰ μὲν τὴν ἡλικίαν ἀπολελυμένοι τῶν κινδύνων, συνεστρατευμένοι δὲ Φιλίππῳ καὶ πολλὰς μάχας κατωρθωκότες, ὑπὸ τῶν καιρῶν εἰς ἀλκὴν προεκλήθησαν, φρονήματι δὲ καὶ ταῖς κατὰ πόλεμον ἐμπειρίαις πολὺ προέχοντες τοῖς μὲν φυγομαχοῦσι νεωτέροις πικρῶς ὠνείδισαν τὴν ἀνανδρίαν, αὐτοὶ δὲ συναθροισθέντες καὶ συνασπίσαντες ὑπέστησαν τοὺς δοκοῦντας ἤδη νενικηκέναι. τέλος δὲ τόν τε Ἐφιάλτην καὶ πολλοὺς ἄλλους ἀνελόντες τοὺς λοιποὺς ἠνάγκασαν εἰς τὴν πόλιν συμφυγεῖν. οἱ δὲ Μακεδόνες τῆς νυκτὸς ἐπιλαβούσης τοῖς φεύγουσι συνεισέπεσον ἐντὸς τῶν τειχῶν· τοῦ δὲ βασιλέως κελεύσαντος σημῆναι τὸ ἀνακλητικὸν ἀνεχώρησαν εἰς τὸ στρατόπεδον. οἱ δὲ περὶ τὸν Μέμνονα στρατηγοὶ καὶ σατράπαι συνελθόντες ἔγνωσαν τὴν μὲν πόλιν ἐκλιπεῖν, εἰς δὲ τὴν ἀκρόπολιν τοὺς ἀρίστους τῶν στρατιωτῶν καταστήσαντες μετὰ τῆς ἁρμοζούσης χορηγίας τὸν λοιπὸν ὄχλον καὶ τὰ χρήματα ἀπεκόμισαν εἰς τὴν Κῶν. ὁ δʼ Ἀλέξανδρος ἅμʼ ἡμέρᾳ γνοὺς τὸ γεγενημένον τὴν μὲν πόλιν κατέσκαψε, τῇ δʼ ἀκροπόλει περιέθηκε τεῖχος καὶ τάφρον ἀξιόλογον· αὐτὸς δὲ μέρος τῆς δυνάμεως μετὰ στρατηγῶν ἐξέπεμψεν εἰς τὴν μεσόγειον, προστάξας τὰ συνεχῆ τῶν ἐθνῶν χειροῦσθαι. οὗτοι μὲν οὖν ἐνεργῶς πολεμήσαντες, πᾶσαν τὴν χώραν μέχρι τῆς μεγάλης Φρυγίας καταστρεψάμενοι, διέθρεψαν τοὺς στρατιώτας ἐκ τῆς πολεμίας· ὁ δʼ Ἀλέξανδρος τὴν παραθαλαττίαν πᾶσαν μέχρι Κιλικίας χειρωσάμενος πολλὰς πόλεις κατεκτήσατο καὶ φρούρια καρτερὰ φιλοτιμότερον πολιορκήσας τῇ βίᾳ κατεπόνησεν, ἐν οἷς ἑνὸς παραδόξως ἐκράτησε, περὶ οὗ διὰ τὴν ἰδιότητα τῆς περιπετείας οὐκ ἄξιον παραλιπεῖν.
Just at that moment as the men from the city were prevailing, the tide of battle was surprisingly reversed. For the oldest Macedonians, who were exempt from combat duty by virtue of their age, but who had served with Philip on his campaigns and had been victorious in many battles, were roused by the emergency to show their valour, and, being superior in pride and war experience, sharply rebuked the faintheartedness of the youngsters who wished to avoid the battle. Then they closed ranks with their shields overlapping and confronted the foe, who thought himself already victorious. They succeeded in slaying Ephialtes and many others, and finally forced the rest to take refuge in the city. Night had already fallen as the Macedonians pushed within the walls along with their fleeing enemies, but the king ordered the trumpeter to sound the recall and they withdrew to their camp.5 Memnon, however, assembled his generals and satraps, held a meeting, and decided to abandon the city. They installed their best men in the acropolis with sufficient provision and conveyed the rest of the army and the stores to Cos. 6 When Alexander at daybreak learned what had taken place he razed the city and surrounded the citadel with a formidable wall and trench. A portion of his force under certain generals he dispatched into the interior with orders to subdue the neighbouring tribes. These commanders, campaigning vigorously, subdued the whole region as far as greater Phrygia, supporting their men on the land. 7 Alexander, for his part, overran the litoral as far as Cilicia, acquiring many cities and actively storming and reducing the strong points. One of these he captured surprisingly with such a curious reversal of fortune that the account of it cannot be omitted.
§ 17.28
τῆς γὰρ Λυκίας περὶ τὰς ἐσχατιὰς πέτραν μεγάλην ὀχυρότητι διαφέρουσαν ᾤκουν οἱ Μαρμαρεῖς ὀνομαζόμενοι, οἵτινες παριόντος Ἀλεξάνδρου τὸ χωρίον ἐπέθεντο τοῖς κατὰ τὴν οὐραγίαν Μακεδόσι καὶ συχνοὺς ἀνελόντες πολλὰ τῶν σωμάτων καὶ τῶν ὑποζυγίων ἀφήρπασαν. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτοις ὁ βασιλεὺς παροξυνθεὶς συνεστήσατο πολιορκίαν καὶ πᾶσαν εἰσεφέρετο σπουδὴν βίᾳ κρατῆσαι τοῦ χωρίου. οἱ δὲ Μαρμαρεῖς ἀνδρείᾳ διαφέροντες καὶ τῇ τῶν τόπων ἐρυμνότητι πιστεύοντες ὑπέμενον εὐρώστως τὴν πολιορκίαν. ἐπὶ μὲν οὖν ἡμέρας δύο συνεχεῖς ἐγίνοντο προσβολαὶ καὶ φανερὸς ἦν ὁ βασιλεὺς οὐκ ἀποστησόμενος ἕως ἂν ἕλῃ τὴν πέτραν. οἱ δὲ πρεσβύτεροι τῶν Μαρμαρέων τὸ μὲν πρῶτον συνεβούλευον τοῖς νέοις παυσαμένοις τῆς βίας ἐφʼ οἷς ἦν δυνατὸν συλλυθῆναι πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα· οὐ πειθομένων δʼ αὐτῶν, ἀλλὰ πάντων φιλοτιμουμένων συναποθανεῖν τῇ τῆς πατρίδος ἐλευθερίᾳ παρεκάλεσαν αὐτοὺς τέκνα μὲν καὶ γυναῖκας καὶ τοὺς γεγηρακότας ἀνελεῖν, αὐτοὺς δὲ τοὺς δυναμένους διὰ τῆς ἀλκῆς σώζεσθαι νυκτὸς διὰ μέσων τῶν πολεμίων διεκπεσεῖν καὶ καταφυγεῖν εἰς τὴν πλησίον ὀρεινήν. συγκαταθεμένων δὲ τῶν νέων καὶ προσταξάντων κατʼ οἰκίαν ἑκάστους μετὰ τῆς συγγενείας ἀπολαύσαντας τῶν προσηνεστάτων βρωτῶν τε καὶ ποτῶν ὑπομεῖναι τὸ δεινὸν ἔδοξε τοῖς νέοις, οὖσιν ὡς ἑξακοσίοις, τοῦ μὲν φονεύειν τοὺς προσήκοντας ἀποσχέσθαι, τὰς δʼ οἰκίας ἐμπρῆσαι καὶ διὰ τῶν πυλῶν ἐκχυθέντας εἰς τὴν ὀρεινὴν ἀποχωρῆσαι. οὗτοι μὲν οὖν τὰ δεδογμένα συντελέσαντες ταῖς ἰδίαις ἑστίαις ἑκάστους ἐποίησαν ἐνταφῆναι, αὐτοὶδὲ διὰ μέσων τῶν περιεστρατοπεδευκότων ἔτι νυκτὸς οὔσης διεκπεσόντες ἔφυγον εἰς τὴν πλησίον ὀρεινήν. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἐπράχθη κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν ἐνιαυτόν.
Near the frontiers of Lycia there is a great rock fortress of unusual strength inhabited by people named Marmares. As Alexander marched by, these people attacked the Macedonian rear guard and killed many, carrying off as booty numerous men and pack animals. The king was enraged at this, established a siege, and exerted every effort to take the place by force. The Marmares were very brave and had confidence in the strength of their fortifications, and manfully withstood the attack. For two whole days there were constant assaults and it was clear that the king would not leave until he had captured the "rock." First, then, the older men of the Marmares advised their younger countrymen to end their resistance and make peace with the king on whatever terms were possible. They would have none of this, however, but all were eager to die together simultaneously with the end of the freedom of their state, so next the elders urged upon them that they should kill with their own hands their children and wives and aged relatives, and those who were strong enough to save themselves should break out through the midst of the enemy at night and take refuge in the neighbouring mountain. The young men agreed, and consequently gave orders to go each to his own house and there, enjoying the best of food and drink with their families, await the dread event. Some of them, however (these were about six hundred), decided not to kill their relatives with their own hands, but to burn them in the houses, and so issuing forth from the gates to make their way to the mountain. These carried out their decision and so caused each family to be entombed at its own hearth, while they themselves slipped through the midst of the enemy encamped about them and made their way to the nearby hills under cover of darkness. This is what happened in this year.
§ 17.29
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησι Νικοκράτους ἐν Ῥώμῃ τὴν ὕπατον ἀρχὴν διεδέξατο Καίσων Οὐαλλέριος καὶ Λεύκιος Παπίριος. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Δαρεῖος χρημάτων πλῆθος ἐξέπεμψε τῷ Μέμνονι καὶ τοῦ πολέμου παντὸς ἀπέδειξε στρατηγόν. ὁ δὲ μισθοφόρων πλῆθος ἀθροίσας καὶ τριακοσίας ναῦς πληρώσας ἐνεργῶς διῴκει τὰ κατὰ τὸν πόλεμον. Χῖον μὲν οὖν προσηγάγετο· πλεύσας δʼ ἐπὶ Λέσβον Ἄντισσαν μὲν καὶ Μήθυμναν καὶ Πύρραν καὶ Ἐρεσσὸν ῥᾳδίως ἐχειρώσατο, τὴν δὲ Μιτυλήνην μεγάλην οὖσαν καὶ παρασκευαῖς μεγάλαις καὶ πλήθει τῶν ἀμυνομένων ἀνδρῶν κεχορηγημένην πολλὰς ἡμέρας πολιορκήσας καὶ πολλοὺς τῶν στρατιωτῶν ἀποβαλὼν μόγις εἷλε κατὰ κράτος. εὐθὺ δὲ τῆς περὶ τὸν στρατηγὸν ἐνεργείας διαβοηθείσης αἱ πλείους τῶν Κυκλάδων νήσων διεπρεσβεύοντο. προσπεσούσης δὲ φήμης εἰς τὴν Ἑλλάδα διότι Μέμνων μετὰ τοῦ στόλου μέλλει πλεῖν ἐπʼ Εὐβοίας αἱ μὲν κατὰ τὴν νῆσον ταύτην πόλεις περίφοβοι καθειστήκεισαν, οἱ δὲ τὰ τῶν Περσῶν αἱρούμενοι τῶν Ἑλλήνων, ἐν οἷς ὑπῆρχον καὶ Σπαρτιᾶται, μετέωροι ταῖς ἐλπίσιν ἐγίνοντο πρὸς καινοτομίαν. ὁ δὲ Μέμνων χρήμασι διαφθείρων πολλοὺς τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἔπεισε κοινωνεῖν τῶν Περσικῶν ἐλπίδων. οὐ μὴν ἡ τύχη γʼ εἴασεν ἐπὶ πλέον προελθεῖν τὴν τἀνδρὸς ἀρετήν· ὁ γὰρ Μέμνων περιπεσὼν ἀρρωστίᾳ καὶ πάθει παραβόλῳ συσχεθεὶς μετήλλαξε καὶ τῇ τούτου τελευτῇ συνετρίβη καὶ τὰ τοῦ Δαρείου πράγματα.
When Nicocrates was archon at Athens, Caeso Valerius and Lucius Papirius became consuls at Rome. In this year Dareius sent money to Memnon and appointed him commanding general of the whole war. He gathered a force of mercenaries, manned three hundred ships, and pursued conflict vigorously. He secured Chios, and then coasting along to Lesbos easily mastered Antissa and Methymna and Pyrrha and Eressus. Mitylene also, large and possessd of rich stores of supplies as well as plenty of fighting men, he nevertheless captured with difficulty by assault after a siege of many days and with the loss of many of his soldiers. News of the general's activity spread like wildfire and most of the Cyclades sent missions to him. As word came to Greece that Memnon was about to sail to Euboea with his fleet, the cities of that island became alarmed, while those Greeks who were friendly to Persia, notably Sparta, began to have high hopes of a change in the political situation. Memnon distributed bribes freely and won many Greeks over to share the Persian hopes, but Fortune nevertheless put an end to his career. He fell ill and died, seized by a desperate malady, and with his death Dareius's fortunes also collapsed.
§ 17.30
προσεδόκησε μὲν γὰρ ὁ βασιλεὺς μεταθήσεσθαι αὐτὸν τὸν πάντα πόλεμον ἐκ τῆς Ἀσίας εἰς τὴν Εὐρώπην· ὡς δʼ ἤκουσε τὴν Μέμνονος τελευτήν, συνήγαγε τῶν φίλων συνέδριον καὶ προέθηκε βουλὴν πότερον δεῖ στρατηγοὺς καὶ στρατιὰν καταπέμπειν ἐπὶ θάλατταν ἢ τὸν βασιλέα μετὰ πάσης τῆς δυνάμεως καταβάντα διαγωνίζεσθαι τοῖς Μακεδόσιν. ἔνιοι μὲν οὖν ἔφασαν δεῖν αὐτὸν τὸν βασιλέα παρατάττεσθαι καὶ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν Περσῶν ἀπεφαίνοντο προθυμότερον ἀγωνιεῖσθαι· Χαρίδημος δʼ Ἀθηναῖος, ἀνὴρ θαυμαζόμενος ἐπʼ ἀνδρείᾳ καὶ δεινότητι στρατηγίας, συνεστράτευτο μὲν Φιλίππῳ τῷ βασιλεῖ καὶ πάντων τῶν ἐπιτευγμάτων ἀρχηγὸς καὶ σύμβουλος γεγονὼς ἦν, συνεβούλευεν δὲ τῷ Δαρείῳ μὴ προπετῶς ἀποκυβεῦσαι περὶ τῆς βασιλείας, ἀλλʼ αὐτὸν μὲν τὸ βάρος καὶ τὴν τῆς Ἀσίας ἀρχὴν συνέχειν, ἐπὶ δὲ τὸν πόλεμον ἀποστέλλειν στρατηγὸν πεῖραν δεδωκότα τῆς ἰδίας ἀρετῆς. δύναμιν δʼ ἱκανὴν εἶναι δέκα μυριάδων, ἧς τὸ τρίτον Ἕλληνας ποιῆσαι μισθοφόρους, καὶ διʼ ἐμφάσεως αὐτὸς ἀνεδέχετο κατορθώσειν τὴν ἐπιβολὴν ταύτην. τὸ μὲν οὖν πρῶτον ὁ βασιλεὺς συγκατετίθετο τοῖς λεγομένοις, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τῶν φίλων γενναιότερον ἀντειπόντων καὶ τὸν Χαρίδημον εἰς ὑποψίαν ἀγόντων ὅτι τῆς στρατηγίας ὀρέγεται τυχεῖν, ὅπως τοῖς Μακεδόσι προδῷ τὴν Περσῶν ἡγεμονίαν, ὁ μὲν Χαρίδημος παροργισθεὶς καὶ προχειρότερον ὀνειδίσας τὴν Περσῶν ἀνανδρίαν ἐποίησεν ἐπὶ πλεῖον προσκόψαι τὸν βασιλέα τοῖς λόγοις, τοῦ θυμοῦ δὲ τὸ συμφέρον ἀφαιρουμένου ὁ μὲν Δαρεῖος ἐπιλαβόμενος τῆς τοῦ Χαριδήμου ζώνης κατὰ τὸν τῶν Περσῶν νόμον παρέδωκε τοῖς ὑπηρέταις καὶ προσέταξεν ἀποκτεῖναι, ὁ δὲ Χαρίδημος ἀπαγόμενος ἐπὶ τὸν θάνατον ἀνεβόησεν μεταμελήσειν ταῦτα ταχὺ τῷ βασιλεῖ καὶ τῆς ἀδίκου τιμωρίας αὐτοῦ σύντομον ἕξειν τὴν κόλασιν, ἐπιδόντα τὴν κατάλυσιν τῆς βασιλείας. Χαρίδημος μὲν οὖν μεγάλων ἐλπίδων ἐκπεσὼν διὰ παρρησίαν ἄκαιρον τοιαύτην ἔσχε τὴν τοῦ βίου καταστροφήν· ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς ἀνέντος τοῦ θυμοῦ τὴν ψυχὴν εὐθὺς μετενόησε καὶ κατεμέμψατο ἑαυτὸν ὡς τὰ μέγιστα ἡμαρτηκότα. ἀλλʼ οὐ γὰρ ἦν δυνατὸν τὸ γεγονὸς διὰ τῆς βασιλικῆς ἐξουσίας ἀγένητον κατασκευάσαι. διόπερ ὀνειροπολούμενος ταῖς Μακεδόνων ἀρεταῖς καὶ τὴν ἐνέργειαν τὴν Ἀλεξάνδρου πρὸ ὀφθαλμῶν λαμβάνων ἐζήτει στρατηγὸν ἀξιόχρεων τὸν διαδεξόμενον τὴν τοῦ Μέμνονος ἡγεμονίαν· οὐ δυνάμενος δʼ εὑρεῖν αὐτὸς ἠναγκάζετο καταβαίνειν εἰς τὸν ὑπὲρ τῆς βασιλείας κίνδυνον.
The king had counted on Memnon's transferring the impact of the war from Asia into Europe, but learning of his death called a session of his Council of Friends and laid before them the alternatives, either to send generals with an army down to the coast or for himself, the king, to march down with all his armed forces and fight the Macedonians in person. Some said that the king must join in battle personally, and they argued that the Persians would fight better in that event. Charidemus, however, the Athenian, a man generally admired for his bravery and skill as a commander — he had been a comrade-in arms of King Philip and had led or counselled all his successes — recommended that Dareius should on no account stake his throne rashly on a gamble, but should keep in his own hands the reserve strength and the control of Asia while sending to the war a general who had given proof of his ability. One hundred thousand men would be an adequate force, so long as a third of these were Greek mercenaries, and Charidemus hinted that he himself would assume the responsibility for the success of the plan. The kings moved by his arguments at first but his Friends opposed them stoutly, and even brought Charidemus into suspicion of wanting to get the command so that he could betray the Persian empire to the Macedonians. At this, Charidemus became angry and made free with slurs on Persian lack of manliness. This offended the king, and as his wrath blinded him to his advantage, he seized Charidemus by the girdle according to the custom of the Persians, turned him over to the attendants, and ordered him put to death. So Charidemus was led away, but as he went to his death, he shouted that the king would soon change his mind and would receive a prompt requital for this unjust punishment, becoming the witness of the overthrow of the kingdom. Charidemus's prospects had been high, but he missed their fulfilment because of his ill-timed frankness and he ended his life in this fashion. Once the king's passion had cooled he promptly regretted his act and reproached himself for having made a serious mistake, but all his royal power was not able to undo what was done. He was haunted by dreams of the Macedonian fighting qualities and the vision of Alexander in action was constantly before his eyes. He searched for a competent general to take over Memnon's command but could find no one, and finally felt constrained to go down himself to take part in the contest for the kingdom.
§ 17.31
εὐθὺς οὖν μετεπέμπετο τὰς πανταχόθεν δυνάμεις καὶ προσέταξεν ἀπαντᾶν εἰς Βαβυλῶνα καὶ τῶν φίλων καὶ τῶν συγγενῶν ἐπελέγετο τοὺς εὐθέτους, ὧν τοῖς μὲν τὰς ἁρμοζούσας ἡγεμονίας κατεμέριζε, τοὺς δὲ μεθʼ αὑτοῦ κινδυνεύειν προσέταττεν. ὡς δʼ ὁ τῆς στρατείας ἀφωρισμένος χρόνος προσεγένετο, κατήντησαν ἅπαντες εἰς τὴν Βαβυλῶνα. ὁ δʼ ἀριθμὸς ἦν τῶν στρατιωτῶν πεζοὶ μὲν πλείους τῶν τετταράκοντα μυριάδων, ἱππεῖς δὲ οὐκ ἐλάττους τῶν δέκα μυριάδων. Δαρεῖος μὲν οὖν μετὰ τοσαύτης δυνάμεως ἀναζεύξας ἐκ Βαβυλῶνος προῆγεν ἐπὶ Κιλικίας, ἔχων μεθʼ ἑαυτοῦ τήν τε γυναῖκα καὶ τὰ τέκνα, υἱὸν καὶ δύο θυγατέρας, καὶ τὴν μητέρα· Ἀλέξανδρος δὲ πρὸ μὲν τῆς Μέμνονος τελευτῆς πυνθανόμενος Χῖον καὶ τὰς ἐν Λέσβῳ πόλεις κεχειρῶσθαι, τὴν δὲ Μιτυλήνην κατὰ κράτος ἡλωκυῖαν, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις τὸν Μέμνονα τριακοσίαις τριήρεσι καὶ πεζῇ δυνάμει μέλλοντα στρατεύειν ἐπὶ Μακεδονίαν, τῶν δʼ Ἑλλήνων τοὺς πλείους ἑτοίμους εἶναι πρὸς ἀπόστασιν οὐ μετρίως ἠγωνία, ὡς δʼ ἧκόν τινες ἀπαγγέλλοντες τὴν Μέμνονος τελευτήν, ἀπελύθη τῆς πολλῆς ἀγωνίας. μετʼ ὀλίγον δὲ εἰς ἀρρωστίαν βαρυτέραν ἐμπεσὼν καὶ χαλεπῷ πάθει συνεχόμενος συνεκάλεσε τοὺς ἰατρούς. τῶν μὲν οὖν ἄλλων ἕκαστος δυσχερῶς εἶχε πρὸς τὴν θεραπείαν, Φίλιππος δʼ Ἀκαρνὰν τὸ γένος παραβόλοις καὶ συντόμοις θεραπείαις χρώμενος ἐπηγγείλατο διὰ φαρμακείας λύσειν τὴν νόσον. ἀσμένως δὲ τοῦ βασιλέως ὑπακούσαντος διὰ τὸ λέγεσθαι Δαρεῖον μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως ἐκ Βαβυλῶνος ὡρμηκέναι ὁ μὲν ἰατρὸς δοὺς φάρμακον πιεῖν καὶ συνεργὸν λαβὼν τὴν φύσιν τοῦ κάμνοντος καὶ τὴν τύχην εὐθὺς ἀπήλλαξε τῆς νόσου τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον. οὗτος μὲν οὖν παραδόξως ἐκφυγὼν τὸν κίνδυνον καὶ τὸν ἰατρὸν τιμήσας μεγαλοπρεπῶς κατέταξεν αὐτὸν εἰς τοὺς εὐνουστάτους τῶν φίλων.
He wasted no time in summoning his forces from all directions and ordered them to muster in Babylon. He canvassed his Friends and Relatives and selected those who were suitable, giving to some commands suited to their abilities and ordering others to fight at his side as his personal staff. When the time set for the march had come, they had all arrived in Babylon. The number of the soldiers was over four hundred thousand infantry and not less than one hundred thousand cavalry. This was the force with which Dareius marched out of Babylon in the direction of Cilicia; he had with him his wife and children — a son and two daughters — and his mother. As to Alexander, he had been watching how, prior to his death, Memnon had won over Chios and the cities in Lesbos and had taken Mitylene by storm. He learned that Memnon planned to carry the war into Macedonia with three hundred ships of war and a land army also, while the greater part of the Greeks were ready to revolt. This caused him no little anxiety, but when persons came with the news of Memnon's death, he was relieved of this fear; but shortly thereafter he became seriously ill, and afflicted by severe pain, sent for his physicians. All the rest were hesitant to treat him, but Philip the Acarnanian offered to employ risky but quick-acting remedies and by the use of drugs to break the hold of the disease. This proposal the king accepted gladly, for he had heard that Dareius had already left Babylon with his army. The physician gave him a drug to drink and, aided by the natural strength of the sufferer as well as by Fortune, promptly relieved Alexander of the trouble. Making an astonishing recovery, the king honoured the physician with magnificent gifts and assigned him to the most loyal category of Friends.
§ 17.32
ἡ δὲ μήτηρ τοῦ βασιλέως ἔγραψε πρὸς τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον τά τε ἄλλα τῶν χρησίμων καὶ διότι φυλάξασθαι προσήκει τὸν Λυγκηστὴν Ἀλέξανδρον. οὗτος δʼ ὢν ἀνδρείᾳ διάφορος καὶ φρονήματος πλήρης καὶ συμπαρακολουθῶν τῷ βασιλεῖ μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων φίλων ἐπιστεύετο. πολλῶν δὲ καὶ ἄλλων εὐλόγων συνδραμόντων πρὸς ταύτην τὴν διαβολὴν συλληφθεὶς καὶ δεθεὶς εἰς φυλακὴν παρεδόθη, ὡς τευξόμενος δικαστηρίου. ὁ δὲ Ἀλέξανδρος πυθόμενος τὸν Δαρεῖον ὀλίγων ἡμερῶν ὁδὸν ἀπέχειν Παρμενίωνα μὲν μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως ἀπέστειλεν προκαταληψόμενον τὰς παρόδους καὶ τὰς ὀνομαζομένας Πύλας· οὗτος δʼ ἐπιβαλὼν τοῖς τόποις καὶ τοὺς προκατειληφότας τὰς δυσχωρίας βαρβάρους βιασάμενος κύριος ἐγένετο τῶν παρόδων. Δαρεῖος δὲ βουλόμενος εὔζωνον ποιῆσαι τὴν δύναμιν τὰ μὲν σκευοφόρα καὶ τὸν περιττὸν ὄχλον εἰς Δαμασκὸν τῆς Συρίας ἀπέθετο, τὸν δʼ Ἀλέξανδρον πυθόμενος τὰς δυσχωρίας προκατειληφέναι καὶ νομίσας αὐτὸν μὴ τολμᾶν ἐν τῷ πεδίῳ διαγωνίζεσθαι προῆγεν ἐπʼ αὐτὸν σύντομον τὴν ὁδοιπορίαν ποιούμενος. οἱ δʼ ἐγχώριοι τῆς μὲν τῶν Μακεδόνων ὀλιγότητος καταφρονήσαντες, τὸ δὲ πλῆθος τῆς τῶν Περσῶν στρατιᾶς καταπεπληγμένοι καταλιπόντες τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον προσέθεντο τῷ Δαρείῳ καὶ τάς τε τροφὰς καὶ τὴν ἄλλην παρασκευὴν μετὰ πολλῆς προθυμίας ἐχορήγουν τοῖς Πέρσαις καὶ διὰ τῆς ἰδίας κρίσεως προεσήμαινον τοῖς βαρβάροις τὴν νίκην. ὁ δʼ Ἀλέξανδρος τὴν μὲν Ἰσσὸν πόλιν ἀξιόλογον καταπληξάμενος ἐχειρώσατο·
Alexander's mother wrote at this time to him, giving him other useful advice and warning him to be on his guard against the Lyncestian Alexander. This was a man distinguished for bravery and high spirit who accompanied the king in the group of Friends in a trusted capacity. There were many other plausible circumstances joining to support the charge, and so the Lyncestian was arrested and bound and placed under guard, until he should face a court. Alexander learned that Dareius was only a few days march away, and sent off Parmenion with a body of troops to seize the passage of the so called . . . Gates.When the latter reached the place, he forced out the Persians who were holding the pass and remained master of it. Dareius decided to make his army mobile and diverted his baggage train and the non-combatants to Damascus in Syria; then, learning that Alexander was holding the passes and thinking that he would never dare to fight in the plain, made his way quickly to meet him. The people of the country, who had little respect for the small numbers of the Macedonians but were much impressed with the great size of the Persian army, abandoned Alexander and came over to Dareius. They brought the Persians food and other materials with great goodwill, and mentally predicted victory for them. Alexander, however, occupied Issus, a considerable city, which was terrified into submission.
§ 17.33
τῶν δὲ κατασκόπων ἀπαγγειλάντων αὐτῷ τριάκοντα σταδίους ἀπέχειν τὸν Δαρεῖον καὶ συντεταγμένῃ τῇ δυνάμει προσιέναι καταπληκτικῶς, ὑπολαβὼν παρὰ τῶν θεῶν αὐτῷ δεδόσθαι τὸν καιρὸν ὥστε μιᾷ παρατάξει νικήσαντα καταλῦσαι τὴν Περσῶν ἡγεμονίαν τοὺς μὲν στρατιώτας τοῖς οἰκείοις λόγοις παρεκάλεσεν ἐπὶ τὸν περὶ τῶν ὅλων ἀγῶνα, τὰ δὲ τάγματα τῶν στρατιωτῶν καὶ τὰς τῶν ἱππέων εἴλας οἰκείως τοῖς ὑποκειμένοις τόποις διατάξας τοὺς μὲν ἱππεῖς ἐπέστησε πρὸ πάσης τῆς στρατιᾶς, τὴν δὲ τῶν πεζῶν φάλαγγα κατόπιν ἐφεδρεύειν προσέταξεν. αὐτὸς δὲ προηγούμενος τοῦ δεξιοῦ μέρους ἀπήντα τοῖς πολεμίοις, ἔχων μεθʼ ἑαυτοῦ τοὺς κρατίστους τῶν ἱππέων· τὸ δʼ εὐώνυμον μέρος ἐπεῖχον οἱ τῶν Θετταλῶν ἱππεῖς, πολὺ τῶν ἄλλων διαφέροντες ταῖς τε ἀνδραγαθίαις καὶ ταῖς ἐμπειρίαις. ὡς δʼ αἱ δυνάμεις ἐντὸς βέλους ἐγίνοντο, τοῖς μὲν περὶ τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον ἐπέρριψαν οἱ βάρβαροι τοσοῦτον πλῆθος βελῶν ὥστε διὰ τὴν πυκνότητα τῶν βαλλομένων ἀλλήλοις συγκρουόντων ἀσθενεστέρας γίνεσθαι τὰς πληγάς. τῶν δὲ σαλπικτῶν παρʼ ἀμφοτέροις τὸ πολεμικὸν σημαινόντων οἱ Μακεδόνες πρῶτοι συναλαλάξαντες βοὴν ἐξαίσιον ἐποίησαν, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τῶν βαρβάρων ἀντιφθεγξαμένων συνήχησε μὲν ἡ σύνεγγυς ὀρεινὴ πᾶσα, τὸ δὲ μέγεθος τῆς βοῆς ὑπερῆρε τὴν προγεγενημένην κραυγήν, ὡς ἂν πεντήκοντα μυριάδων μιᾷ φωνῇ συνηχουσῶν. ὁ δʼ Ἀλέξανδρος πάντῃ τὴν ὄψιν βάλλων καὶ σπεύδων κατιδεῖν τὸν Δαρεῖον ἅμα τῷ κατανοῆσαι παραχρῆμα μετὰ τῶν περὶ αὐτὸν ἱππέων ἐπʼ αὐτὸν ἐφέρετο τὸν βασιλέα, σπεύδων οὐχ οὕτω καταπροτερῆσαι τῶν Περσῶν ὡς τὸ διʼ αὑτοῦ περιποιήσασθαι τὴν νίκην. ἅμα δὲ τούτῳ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἁπάντων ἱππέων συμπεσόντων ἀλλήλοις καὶ πολλοῦ φόνου γινομένου ἡ μὲν μάχη διὰ τὰς τῶν ἀγωνιζομένων ἀρετὰς ἀμφίδοξον εἶχε τὴν τῶν ὅλων κρίσιν· ἐταλαντεύετο γὰρ δεῦρο κἀκεῖσε, τῆς τροπῆς ἐναλλὰξ γινομένης. οὔτε γὰρ ἀκοντίσας οὔτε πατάξας οὐδεὶς ἄπρακτον ἔσχε τὴν πληγήν, ὡς ἂν διὰ τὸ πλῆθος ἑτοίμου τοῦ σκοποῦ κειμένου. διὸ καὶ πολλοὶ τραύμασιν ἐναντίοις περιτυγχάνοντες ἔπιπτον καὶ μέχρι τῆς ἐσχάτης ἀναπνοῆς θυμομαχοῦντες τὸ ζῆν πρότερον ἢ τὴν ἀρετὴν ἐξέλειπον.
When his scouts reported that Dareius was only thirty stades away and advancing in alarming fashion with his forces drawn up for battle, a frightening spectacle, Alexander grasped that this was a god-given opportunity to destroy the Persian power in a single victory. He roused his soldiers with appropriate words for a decisive effort and marshalled the battalions of foot and the squadrons of horse appropriately to the location. He set the cavalry along the front of the whole army, and ordered the infantry phalanx to remain in reserve behind it. He himself advanced at the head of the right wing to the encounter, having with him the best of the mounted troops. The Thessalian horse was on the left, and this was outstanding in bravery and skill. When the armies were within missile range, the Persians launched at Alexander such a shower of missiles that they collided with one another in the air, so thickly did they fly, and weakened the force of their impact. On both sides the trumpeters blew the signal of attack and then the Macedonians first raised an unearthly shout followed by the Persians answering, so that the whole hillside bordering the battlefield echoed back the sound, and this second roar in volume surpassed the Macedonian warcry as five hundred thousand men shouted with one voice. Alexander cast his glance in all directions in his anxiety to see Dareius, and as soon as he had identified him, he drove hard with his cavalry at the king himself, wanting not so much to defeat the Persians as to win the victory with his own hands. By now the rest of the cavalry on both sides was engaged and many were killed as the battle raged indecisively because of the evenly matched fighting qualities of the two sides. The scales inclined now one way, now another, as the lines swayed alternately forward and backward. No javelin cast or sword thrust lacked its effect as the crowded ranks offered a ready target. Many fell with wounds received as they faced the enemy and their fury held to the last breath, so that life failed them sooner than courage.
§ 17.34
οἱ δὲ ἑκάστης τάξεως ἡγεμόνες τῶν ὑποτεταγμένων προαγωνιζόμενοι διὰ τῆς ἰδίας ἀρετῆς τοὺς πολλοὺς ἀνδραγαθεῖν προετρέψαντο. διὸ καὶ παρῆν ὁρᾶν πολλὰς μὲν διαθέσεις τραυμάτων γινομένας, ποικίλους δὲ καὶ μεγάλους ἀγῶνας συνισταμένους ὑπὲρ τῆς νίκης. Ὀξάθρης δʼ ὁ Πέρσης, ἀδελφὸς μὲν ὢν Δαρείου, κατὰ δὲ τὴν ἀνδρείαν ἐπαινούμενος, ὡς εἶδεν τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον ἀκατασχέτως ἱέμενον ἐπὶ τὸν Δαρεῖον, ἐφιλοτιμήθη τῆς αὐτῆς τύχης κοινωνῆσαι τἀδελφῷ. ἀναλαβὼν οὖν τοὺς ἀρίστους τῶν ἱππέων τῶν μεθʼ ἑαυτοῦ τεταγμένων μετὰ τούτων ἐπέρραξε τοῖς περὶ τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον καὶ νομίσας τὸ φιλάδελφον τῆς ψυχῆς οἴσειν αὐτῷ περιβόητον παρὰ Πέρσαις δόξαν προεμάχετο τοῦ Δαρείου τεθρίππου καὶ μετʼ ἐμπειρίας εὐτόλμως τοῖς πολεμίοις συμπλεκόμενος πολλοὺς ἀπέκτεινε. τῶν δὲ περὶ τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον ὑπερβαλλομένων ταῖς ἀνδραγαθίαις περὶ μὲν τὸ τοῦ Δαρείου τέθριππον ταχὺ νεκρῶν ἐσωρεύθη πλῆθος· πάντες γὰρ ἐφιέμενοι τοῦ βασιλέως ψαῦσαι πρὸς ἀλλήλους ἐκθυμότατα διηγωνίζοντο καὶ τοῦ ζῆν οὐδεμίαν ἐποιοῦντο φειδώ. ἔπεσον δʼ ἐν τῷ κινδύνῳ τούτῳ πολλοὶ τῶν παρὰ Πέρσαις ἐπιφανῶν ἡγεμόνων, ἐν οἷς ὑπῆρχεν Ἀντιξύης καὶ Ῥεομίθρης καὶ ὁ τῆς Αἰγύπτου σατράπης Τασιάκης. ὁμοίως δὲ πολλῶν καὶ παρὰ τοῖς Μακεδόσι πεσόντων συνέβη καὶ αὐτὸν τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον τρωθῆναι τὸν μηρόν, περιχυθέντων αὐτῷ τῶν πολεμίων. οἱ δὲ τὸν τοῦ Δαρείου τεθρίππου ζυγὸν ἐπέχοντες ἵπποι, τραυματιζόμενοι πυκνῶς καὶ διὰ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν περὶ αὐτοὺς σωρευομένων νεκρῶν πτυρόμενοι, τὰ μὲν χαλινὰ διεσείοντο, παρʼ ὀλίγον δὲ καὶ αὐτὸν τὸν Δαρεῖον εἰς τοὺς πολεμίους ἐξήνεγκαν. διὸ καὶ κινδυνεύων ἐσχάτως ὁ βασιλεὺς αὐτὸς ἥρπασε τοὺς ῥυτῆρας, συναναγκαζόμενος λῦσαι τὴν σεμνότητα τῆς προστασίας καὶ τὸν παρὰ Πέρσαις τοῖς βασιλεῦσι κείμενον νόμον ὑπερβῆναι. προσήχθη δὲ καὶ τέθριππον ἕτερον ὑπὸ τῶν ὑπηρετῶν τῷ Δαρείῳ καὶ κατὰ τὴν εἰς τοῦτο μετάβασιν ταραχῆς γενομένης ὁ μὲν Δαρεῖος ἐπικειμένων τῶν πολεμίων εἰς ἔκπληξιν καὶ δέος ἐνέπιπτεν, οἱ δὲ Πέρσαι τὸν βασιλέα κατανοήσαντες ταραττόμενον εἰς φυγὴν ὥρμησαν. τὸ δʼ αὐτὸ καὶ τῶν ἐχομένων ἱππέων ποιησάντων ταχὺ πάντες ἐτράπησαν. τῆς δὲ φυγῆς οὔσης ἐν τόποις στενοῖς καὶ τραχέσι συμπίπτοντες ἀλλήλους συνεπάτουν καὶ πολλοὶ χωρὶς πολεμίας πληγῆς ἀπέθνησκον. ἔκειντο γὰρ ὁμοῦ σωρευθέντες οἱ μὲν ἄνευ τῶν ὅπλων, οἱ δὲ τηροῦντες τὰς πανοπλίας· τινὲς δὲ γεγυμνωμένα τὰ ξίφη διαφυλάξαντες τοὺς περὶ ταῦτα ἀναπειρομένους ἀνῄρουν· οἱ δὲ πλεῖστοι εἰς τὰ πεδία διεκπεσόντες διὰ τούτων ἀπὸ κράτους ἐλαύνοντες τοὺς ἵππους εἰς τὰς συμμαχίδας πόλεις κατέφευγον. ἡ δὲ τῶν Μακεδόνων φάλαγξ καὶ τὸ τῶν Περσῶν πεζὸν στράτευμα βραχὺν χρόνον ἐν τῇ μάχῃ διέμεινεν· προηττημένων γὰρ τῶν ἱππέων οἱονεί τις προαγὼν ἐγεγόνει τῆς ὅλης νίκης. πάντων δὲ τῶν βαρβάρων ταχὺ τραπέντων καὶ τοσούτων μυριάδων ἐν στενοῖς τόποις τὴν φυγὴν ποιουμένων ταχὺ πᾶς ὁ συνεχὴς τόπος νεκρῶν ἐπληρώθη.
The officers of each unit fought valiantly at the head of their men and by their example inspired courage in the ranks. One could see many forms of wounds inflicted, furious struggles of all sorts inspired by the will to win. The Persian Oxathres was the brother of Dareius and a man highly praised for his fighting qualities; when he saw Alexander riding at Dareius and feared that he would not be checked, he was seized with the desire to share his brother's fate. Ordering the best of the horsemen in his company to follow him, he threw himself with them against Alexander, thinking that this demonstration of brotherly love would bring him high renown among the Persians. He took up the fight directly in front of Dareius's chariot and there engaging the enemy skilfully and with a stout heart slew many of them. The fighting qualities of Alexander's group were superior, however, and quickly many bodies lay piled high about the chariot. No Macedonian had any other thought than to strike the king, and in their intense rivalry to reach him took no thought for their lives. Many of the noblest Persian princes perished in this struggle, among them Antizyes and Rheomithres and Tasiaces, the satrap of Egypt. Many of the Macedonians fell also, and Alexander himself was wounded in the thigh, for the enemy pressed about him. The horses which were harnessed to the yoke of Dareius's chariot were covered with wounds and terrified by the piles of dead about them. They refused to answer to their bridles, and came close to carrying off Dareius into the midst of the enemy, but the king himself, in extreme peril, caught up the reins, being forced to throw away the dignity of his position and to violate the ancient custom of the Persian kings. A second chariot was brought up by Dareius's attendants and in the confusion as he changed over to it in the face of constant attack he fell into a panic terror. Seeing their king in this state, the Persians with him turned to flee, and as each adjacent unit in turn did the same, the whole Persian cavalry was soon in full retreat. As their route took them through narrow defiles and over rough country, they clashed and trampled on one another and many died without having received a blow from the enemy. For men lay piled up in confusion, some without armour, others in full battle panoply. Some with their swords still drawn killed those who spitted themselves upon them. Most of the cavalry, however, bursting out into the plain and driving their horses at full gallop succeeded in reaching the safety of the friendly cities. Now the Macedonian phalanx and the Persian infantry were engaged only briefly, for the rout of the cavalry had been, as it were, a prelude of the whole victory. Soon all of the Persians were in retreat and so many tens of thousands were making their escape through narrow passes the whole countryside was soon covered with bodies.
§ 17.35
νυκτὸς δʼ ἐπιλαβούσης οἱ μὲν Πέρσαι ῥᾳδίως διεσπάρησαν εἰς πολλοὺς τόπους, οἱ δὲ Μακεδόνες παυσάμενοι τοῦ διωγμοῦ πρὸς ἁρπαγὴν ὥρμησαν καὶ μάλιστα περὶ τὰς βασιλικὰς σκηνὰς διὰ τὸ πλῆθος τῆς πολυτελείας ἠσχολοῦντο. διόπερ πολὺς μὲν ἄργυρος, οὐκ ὀλίγος δὲ χρυσός, παμπληθεῖς δὲ καὶ πολυτελεῖς ἐσθῆτες ἐκ τῆς βασιλικῆς γάζης διεφοροῦντο. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τῶν τοῦ βασιλέως φίλων καὶ συγγενῶν καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἡγεμόνων οὐκ ὀλίγος διηρπάγη πλοῦτος. οὐ μόνον γὰρ αἱ τῆς βασιλικῆς οἰκίας, ἀλλὰ καὶ αἱ τῶν συγγενῶν καὶ φίλων γυναῖκες ἐφʼ ἁρμάτων ὀχούμεναι καταχρύσων συνηκολούθουν κατά τι πάτριον ἔθος τῶν Περσῶν· ἑκάστη δὲ τούτων διὰ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τοῦ πλούτου καὶ τῆς τρυφῆς περιήγετο πλῆθος πολυδαπάνου κατασκευῆς καὶ γυναικείου κόσμου. πάθος δʼ ἦν δεινότατον περὶ τὰς αἰχμαλωτιζομένας γυναῖκας. αἱ γὰρ πρότερον διὰ τρυφὴν ἐπʼ ἀπήναις πολυτελέσι μόγις κατακομιζόμεναι καὶ γυμνὸν μέρος τοῦ σώματος οὐδὲν φαίνουσαι, τότε μονοχίτωνες καὶ τὰς ἐσθῆτας περιρρήττουσαι μετʼ ὀδυρμῶν ἐκ τῶν σκηνῶν ἐξεπήδων, ἐπιβοώμεναι θεοὺς καὶ προσπίπτουσαι τοῖς τῶν κρατούντων γόνασι. περιαιρούμεναι δὲ ταῖς χερσὶ τρεμούσαις τὸν τοῦ σώματος κόσμον καὶ τὰς κόμας ἀνειμέναι διὰ τόπων τραχέων ἔθεον καὶ πρὸς ἀλλήλας συντρέχουσαι βοηθοὺς ἐπεκαλοῦντο τὰς παρʼ ἑτέρων ἐπικουρίας δεομένας. ἦγον δʼ αὐτὰς οἱ μὲν ἀπὸ τῆς κόμης ἐπισπώμενοι τὰς ἠτυχηκυίας, οἱ δὲ τὰς ἐσθῆτας περιρηγνύντες καὶ γυμνοῖς τοῖς σώμασιν ἐπιβάλλοντες τὰς χεῖρας καὶ ταῖς στάθμαις τῶν δοράτων τύπτοντες καὶ τὰ τιμιώτατα καὶ περιβόητα τῶν βαρβάρων ταῖς τῆς τύχης δωρεαῖς ὑβρίζοντες.
When night fell, the remainder of the Persian army easily succeeded in scattering in various directions while the Macedonians gave over the pursuit and turned to plunder, being particularly attracted by the royal pavilions because of the mass of wealth that was there. This included much silver, no little gold, and vast numbers of rich dresses from the royal treasure, which they took, and likewise a great store of wealth belonging to the King's Friends, Relatives, and military commanders. Not only the ladies of the royal house but also those of the King's Relatives and Friends, borne on gilded chariots, had accompanied the army according to an ancestral custom of the Persians, and each of them had brought with her a store of rich future and feminine adornment, in keeping with their vast wealth and luxury. The lot of these captured women was pathetic in the extreme. They who previously from daintiness only with reluctance had been conveyed in luxurious carriages and had exposed no part of their bodies unveiled now burst wailing out of the tents clad only in a single chiton, rending their garments, calling on the gods, and falling at the knees of the conquerors. Flinging off their jewelry with trembling hands and with their hair flying, they fled for their lives over rugged ground and, collecting into groups, they called to help them those who were themselves in need of help from others. Some of their captors dragged this unfortunates by the hair, others, ripping off their clothing, drove them with blows of their hands or spear-butts against their naked bodies, thus outraging the dearest and proudest of the Persian possessions by virtue of Fortune's generosity to them.
§ 17.36
οἱ δʼ ἐπιεικέστατοι τῶν Μακεδόνων τὴν μεταβολὴν τῆς τύχης ὁρῶντες συμπαθεῖς ἐγίνοντο καὶ τὰς τῶν ἀκληρούντων συμφορὰς ἠλέουν, αἷς τὰ μὲν προσήκοντα καὶ μεγάλα μακρὰν ἀπήρτητο, τὰ δʼ ἀλλόφυλα καὶ πολέμια παρῆν σύνεγγυς καὶ πρὸς ἀτυχῆ καὶ ἐπονείδιστον αἰχμαλωσίαν παρώρμητο. μάλιστα δὲ τοὺς παρόντας εἰς δάκρυα καὶ συμπάθειαν ἤγαγεν ἡ Δαρείου μήτηρ καὶ γυνὴ καὶ δύο θυγατέρες ἐπίγαμοι καὶ υἱὸς παῖς τὴν ἡλικίαν. ἐπὶ γὰρ τούτων ἡ μεταβολὴ τῆς τύχης καὶ τὸ μέγεθος τῶν ἀνελπίστων ἀκληρημάτων ἐν ὄψει κείμενον εὐλόγως τοὺς ὁρῶντας ἐποίει συμπάσχειν τοῖς ἠτυχηκόσι. περὶ μὲν γὰρ Δαρείου πότερον ζῇ καὶ περίεστιν ἢ καὶ μετὰ τῆς τῶν ἄλλων φθορᾶς ἀπόλωλεν οὐκ ἐγίνωσκον, ἑώρων δὲ τὴν σκηνὴν διαρπάζοντας ἐνόπλους πολεμίους ἄνδρας, ἀγνοοῦντας μὲν τὰς ἡλωκυίας, πολλὰ δὲ διὰ τὴν ἄγνοιαν ἀπρεπῆ πράττοντας, καὶ τὸ σύνολον ὅλην τὴν Ἀσίαν αἰχμάλωτον μεθʼ αὑτῶν γεγενημένην καὶ ταῖς μὲν τῶν σατραπῶν γυναιξὶ προσπιπτούσαις καὶ δεομέναις βοηθεῖν οὐχ οἷον συνεπιλαβέσθαι τινὸς ἴσχυον, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐταὶ ταύτας ἠξίουν συνεπικουρῆσαι τοῖς ἑαυτῶν ἀκληρήμασιν. οἱ δὲ τοῦ βασιλέως παῖδες καταλαβόμενοι τὴν τοῦ Δαρείου σκηνὴν τἀκείνου λουτρὰ καὶ δεῖπνα παρεσκευάζοντο καὶ λαμπάδων πολλὴν πυρὰν ἅψαντες προσεδέχοντο τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον, ὅπως ἀπὸ τοῦ διωγμοῦ γενόμενος καὶ καταλαβὼν ἑτοίμην πᾶσαν τὴν παρασκευὴν τοῦ Δαρείου οἰωνίσηται τὴν ὅλην τῆς Ἀσίας ἡγεμονίαν. κατὰ δὲ τὴν μάχην ἐτελεύτησαν τῶν βαρβάρων πεζοὶ μὲν πλείους τῶν δέκα μυριάδων, ἱππεῖς δʼ οὐκ ἐλάττους τῶν μυρίων, τῶν δὲ Μακεδόνων πεζοὶ μὲν εἰς τριακοσίους, ἱππεῖς δὲ περὶ ἑκατὸν καὶ πεντήκοντα. ἡ μὲν οὖν ἐν Ἰσσῷ τῆς Κιλικίας μάχη τοιοῦτον ἔσχε τὸ τέλος.
Now the most prudent of the Macedonians looked on this reversal of Fortune with compassion and felt pity for the case of those who had seen their former lot so violently changed; everything belonging to their high rank was far removed from them, and they were encompassed by what was foreign and hostile. (This, however, was not the attitude of most of the soldiery,) and the women were herded off into a luckless and humiliating captivity. What particularly moved to tears of pity those who saw it was the family most Dareius, his mother, wife, two daughters of marriageable age, and a son who was a mere boy. In their case, the change in fortune and the magnitude of their loss of position, incredible as it were, was a spectacle that might well inspire compassion in those who beheld it. They knew nothing of Dareius, whether he lived and survived or had perished in the general disaster, but they saw their tent plundered by armed men who were unaware of the identity of their captives and committed many improper acts through ignorance. They saw the whole of Asia taken prisoner with them, and as the wives of the satraps fell at their feet and implored their help, they were not able to assist any one of them, but themselves sought the assistance of the others in their own misfortunes. The royal pages now took over the tent of Dareius and prepared Alexander's bath and dinner and, lighting a great blaze of torches, waited for him, that he might return from the pursuit and, finding ready for him all the riches of Dareius, take it as an omen for his conquest of the empire of all Asia. In the course of the battle there died on the Persian side more than one hundred thousand infantry and not less than ten thousand cavalry; on the Macedonian side, the casualties were three hundred infantry and one hundred and fifty cavalry. This was the conclusion of the battle at Issus of Cilicia.
§ 17.37
τῶν δὲ βασιλέων Δαρεῖος μὲν κατὰ κράτος ἡττημένος εἰς φυγὴν ὥρμησεν καὶ μεταλαμβάνων ἄλλον ἐξ ἄλλου τῶν ἀρίστων ἵππων κατὰ κράτος ἤλαυνε, διαφυγεῖν σπεύδων τὰς Ἀλεξάνδρου χεῖρας καὶ τῶν ἄνω σατραπειῶν ἅψασθαι προαιρούμενος· Ἀλέξανδρος δὲ μετὰ τῆς ἑταιρικῆς ἵππου καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἀρίστων ἱππέων ἐποιεῖτο τὸν διωγμόν, σπεύδων ἐγκρατὴς γενέσθαι τοῦ Δαρείου. διανύσας δὲ σταδίους διακοσίους ἀνέκαμψεν εἰς τὴν παρεμβολὴν περὶ μέσας νύκτας, τοῖς δὲ λουτροῖς θεραπεύσας τὸν ἐκ τῆς κακοπαθείας κόπον ἐτρέπετο πρὸς ἄνεσιν καὶ δειπνοποιίαν. πρὸς δὲ τὴν γυναῖκα καὶ τὴν μητέρα τοῦ Δαρείου προσελθών τις ἀπήγγειλεν ὅτι πάρεστιν Ἀλέξανδρος ἀπὸ τοῦ διωγμοῦ, τὸν Δαρεῖον ἐσκυλευκώς. ἔνθα δὴ κραυγῆς μεγάλης καὶ κλαυθμοῦ περὶ τὰς γυναῖκας γενομένου καὶ τοῦ πλήθους τῶν αἰχμαλώτων διὰ τὴν ἀπαγγελίαν συμπενθοῦντος καὶ πολὺν ὀδυρμὸν προϊεμένου, πυθόμενος ὁ βασιλεὺς τὸ περὶ τὰς γυναῖκας πάθος ἐξέπεμψεν ἕνα τῶν φίλων Λεοννάτον καταπαύσοντα τὴν ταραχὴν καὶ παραμυθησόμενον τὰς περὶ τὴν Σισύγγαμβριν καὶ δηλώσοντα διότι Δαρεῖος μὲν ζῇ, ὁ δʼ Ἀλέξανδρος ἐπιμέλειαν αὐτῶν ποιήσεται τὴν προσήκουσαν καὶ διότι πρῲ βούλεται προσαγορεῦσαί τε αὐτὰς καὶ διὰ τῶν ἔργων ἀποδείξασθαι τὴν ἰδίαν φιλανθρωπίαν. αἱ μὲν οὖν αἰχμαλωτίδες προσπεσούσης αὐταῖς παραδόξου καὶ παντελῶς ἀπηλπισμένης εὐτυχίας τόν τε Ἀλέξανδρον ὡς θεὸν προσεδέξαντο καὶ τῶν ὀδυρμῶν ἀπηλλάγησαν. ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς ἅμʼ ἡμέρᾳ λαβὼν ἕνα τῶν φίλων τὸν μάλιστα τιμώμενον Ἡφαιστίωνα παρῆλθε πρὸς τὰς γυναῖκας. ἐχόντων δʼ ἀμφοτέρων ἐσθῆτας μὲν ὁμοίας, τῷ μεγέθει δὲ καὶ κάλλει προέχοντος τοῦ Ἡφαιστίωνος ἡ Σισύγγαμβρις τοῦτον ὑπολαβοῦσα εἶναι τὸν βασιλέα προσεκύνησεν· διανευόντων δʼ αὐτῇ τῶν παρεστώτων καὶ τῇ χειρὶ δεικνύντων τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον ἡ μὲν Σισύγγαμβρις αἰδεσθεῖσα τὴν ἄγνοιαν πάλιν ἐξ ἀρχῆς προσεκύνει τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον, ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς ὑπολαβὼν εἶπεν μηδὲν φροντίσῃς, ὦ μῆτερ· καὶ γὰρ καὶ οὗτος Ἀλέξανδρός ἐστιν. οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ τὴν πρεσβῦτιν μητέρα προσαγορεύσας διὰ τῆς φιλανθρωποτάτης προσηγορίας προεσήμαινε τοῖς προητυχηκόσι τὴν μέλλουσαν ἔσεσθαι φιλανθρωπίαν. διαβεβαιωσάμενος δʼ αὐτὴν ὑπάρξειν δευτέραν μητέρα τοῖς ἔργοις εὐθὺς ἐκύρωσε τὴν διὰ τῶν λόγων ἐπαγγελίαν.
The kings, however, were still occupied. When he knew that he was decisively defeated, Dareius gave himself up to flight and mounting in turn one after another of his best horses galloped on at top speed, desperately seeking to escape from Alexander's grasp and anxious to reach the safety of the upper satrapies. Alexander followed him with the companion cavalry and the best of the other horsemen, eager to get possession of Dareius's person. He continued on for two hundred furlongs and then turned back, returning to his camp about midnight. Having dispelled his weariness in the bath, he turned to relaxation and to dinner. Someone came to the wife and the mother of Dareius and told them that Alexander had come back from the pursuit after stripping Dareius of his arms. At this, a great outcry and lamentation arose among the women; and the rest of the captives, joining in their sorrow at the news, sent up a loud wail, so that the king heard it and sent Leonnatus, one of his friends, to quiet the uproar and to reassure Sisyngambris by explaining that Dareius was still alive and that Alexander would show them the proper consideration. In the morning he would come to address them and to demonstrate his kindness by deeds. As they heard this welcome and altogether unexpected good news, the captive women hailed Alexander as a god and ceased from their wailing. So at daybreak, the king took with him the most valued of his Friends, Hephaestion, and came to the women. They both were dressed alike, but Hephaestion was taller and more handsome. Sisyngambris took him for the king and did him obeisance. As the others present made signs to her and pointed to Alexander with their hands she was embarrassed by her mistake, but made a new start and did obeisance to Alexander. He, however, cut in and said, "Never mind, Mother. For actually he too is Alexander." By thus addressing the aged woman as "Mother," with this kindliest of terms he gave the promise of coming benefactions to those who had been wretched a moment before. Assuring Sisyngambris that she would be his second mother he immediately ratified in action what he had just promised orally.
§ 17.38
περιέθηκε γὰρ αὐτῇ κόσμον τε βασιλικὸν καὶ τὸ προγεγονὸς ἀξίωμα ταῖς προσηκούσαις τιμαῖς ἀποκατέστησε· τὴν μὲν γὰρ θεραπείαν αὐτῇ πᾶσαν τὴν δοθεῖσαν ὑπὸ Δαρείου παρέδωκεν, ἰδίαν δʼ ἄλλην οὐκ ἐλάττονα τῆς προϋπαρχούσης προσεδωρήσατο καὶ τῆς μὲν τῶν παρθένων ἐκδόσεως βέλτιον τῆς Δαρείου κρίσεως ἐπηγγείλατο προνοήσεσθαι, τὸν παῖδα δὲ θρέψειν ὡς υἱὸν ἴδιον καὶ βασιλικῆς τιμῆς ἀξιώσειν. προσκαλεσάμενος δʼ αὐτὸν καὶ φιλήσας, ὡς εἶδεν ἀδεῶς βλέψαντα καὶ μηδὲν ὅλως καταπλαγέντα, πρὸς τοὺς περὶ τὸν Ἡφαιστίωνα εἶπεν ὅτι ὁ παῖς ὢν ἓξ ἐτῶν καὶ τὴν ἀρετὴν ὑπὲρ τὴν ἡλικίαν προφαίνων πολλῷ βελτίων ἐστὶ τοῦ πατρός. περὶ δὲ τῆς Δαρείου γυναικὸς καὶ τῆς περὶ αὐτὴν σεμνότητος πρόνοιαν ἕξειν ἔφησεν ὅπως μηδὲν ἀνάξιον πάθῃ τῆς προγεγενημένης εὐδαιμονίας. πολλὰ δὲ καὶ ἄλλα πρὸς ἔλεον καὶ φιλανθρωπίαν διαλεχθεὶς ἐποίησε τὰς γυναῖκας διὰ τὸ μέγεθος τῆς ἀνελπίστου χαρᾶς εἰς ἀκατάσχετα προπεσεῖν δάκρυα. ἐπὶ δὲ πᾶσι τοῖς προειρημένοις δοὺς τὴν δεξιὰν οὐ μόνον ὑπὸ τῶν εὖ παθόντων ἐπαίνων ἐτύγχανεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ παρὰ πᾶσι τοῖς συστρατευομένοις περιβόητον ἔσχε τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῆς ἐπιεικείας. καθόλου δʼ ἔγωγε νομίζω πολλῶν καὶ καλῶν ἔργων ὑπʼ Ἀλεξάνδρου συντετελεσμένων μηδὲν τούτων μεῖζον ὑπάρχειν μηδὲ μᾶλλον ἄξιον ἀναγραφῆς καὶ μνήμης ἱστορικῆς εἶναι. αἱ μὲν γὰρ τῶν πόλεων πολιορκίαι καὶ παρατάξεις καὶ τὰ ἄλλα τὰ κατὰ τὸν πόλεμον προτερήματα τὰ πλείονα διὰ τύχην ἢ διʼ ἀρετὴν ἐπιτυγχάνεται, ὁ δʼ ἐν ταῖς ἐξουσίαις εἰς τοὺς ἐπταικότας ἔλεος μεριζόμενος διὰ μόνης τῆς φρονήσεως γίνεται. οἱ πλεῖστοι γὰρ διὰ τὴν εὐτυχίαν ἐπαίρονται μὲν ταῖς εὐπραξίαις, ὑπερήφανοι δʼ ἐν ταῖς εὐτυχίαις γινόμενοι τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης καὶ κοινῆς ἀσθενείας ἐπιλανθάνονται· διὸ καὶ τοὺς πλείστους ὁρᾶν ἔστι τὴν εὐτυχίαν ὥσπερ τι βαρὺ φορτίον φέρειν ἀδυνατοῦντας. Ἀλέξανδρος μὲν οὖν, καίπερ πολλαῖς γενεαῖς προγεγονὼς τοῦ καθʼ ἡμᾶς βίου, τυγχανέτω καὶ παρὰ τῶν μεταγενεστέρων δικαίου καὶ πρέποντος ταῖς ἰδίαις ἀρεταῖς ἐπαίνου.
He decked her with her royal jewelry and restored her to her previous dignity, with its proper honours. He made over to her all her former retinue of servants which she had been given by Dareius and added more in addition not less in number than the preceding. He promised to provide for the marriage of the daughters even more generously than Dareius had promised and to bring up the boy as his own and to show him royal honour. He called the boy to him and kissed him, and as he saw him fearless in countenance and not frightened at all, he remarked to Hephaestion that at the age of six years the boy showed a courage beyond his years and was much braver than his father. As to the wife of Dareius, he said that he would see that her dignity should be so maintained that she would experience nothing inconsistent with her former happiness. He added many other assurances of consideration and generosity, so that the women broke out into uncontrolled weeping, so great was their unexpected joy. He gave them his hand as pledge of all this and was not only showered with praises by those who had been helped, but won universal recognition throughout his own army for his exceeding propriety of conduct. In general I would say that of many good deeds done by Alexander there is none that is greater or more worthy of record and mention in history than this. Sieges and battles and the other victories scored in war are due for the most part either to Fortune or valour, but when one in a position of power shows pity for those who have been overthrown, this is an action due only to wisdom. Most people are made proud by their successes because of their good fortune and, becoming arrogant in their success, are forgetful of the common weakness of mankind. You can see how very many are unable to bear success, just as if it were a heavy burden. Although Alexander lived many generations before our time, let him continue to receive in future ages also the just and proper praise for his good qualities.
§ 17.39
Δαρεῖος δὲ διανύσας εἰς Βαβυλῶνα καὶ τοὺς ἀπὸ τῆς ἐν Ἰσσῷ μάχης διασωζομένους ἀναλαβὼν οὐκ ἔπεσε τῷ φρονήματι, καίπερ μεγάλῃ περιπεπτωκὼς συμφορᾷ, ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον ἔγραψεν ἀνθρωπίνως φέρειν τὴν εὐτυχίαν καὶ τοὺς αἰχμαλώτους ἀλλάξασθαι χρημάτων πλῆθος λαβόντα· προσετίθει δὲ καὶ τῆς Ἀσίας τὴν ἐντὸς Ἅλυος χώραν καὶ πόλεις συγχωρήσειν, ἐὰν βουληθῇ γενέσθαι φίλος. ὁ δʼ Ἀλέξανδρος συναγαγὼν τοὺς φίλους καὶ τὴν μὲν ἀληθινὴν ἐπιστολὴν ἀποκρυψάμενος, ἑτέραν δὲ γράψας ῥέπουσαν πρὸς τὸ ἑαυτῷ συμφέρον προσήνεγκε τοῖς συνέδροις καὶ τοὺς πρέσβεις ἀπράκτους ἐξαπέστειλεν. διόπερ ὁ Δαρεῖος ἀπογνοὺς τὴν διὰ τῶν ἐπιστολῶν σύνθεσιν παρασκευὰς μεγάλας ἐποιεῖτο πρὸς τὸν πόλεμον καὶ τοὺς μὲν κατὰ τὴν τροπὴν ἀποβεβληκότας τὰς πανοπλίας καθώπλιζεν, ἄλλους δʼ ἐπιλεγόμενος εἰς στρατιωτικὰς τάξεις κατέγραφε· τὰς δʼ ἐκ τῶν ἄνω σατραπειῶν δυνάμεις, ἃς ἀπολελοιπὼς ἦν διὰ τὴν ὀξύτητα τῆς στρατείας, μετεπέμπετο. καὶ τέλος τοσαύτην εἰσηνέγκατο σπουδὴν εἰς τὴν κατασκευὴν τῆς δυνάμεως ὥστε διπλασίαν γενέσθαι τῆς ἐν Ἰσσῷ παραταξαμένης· ὀγδοήκοντα μὲν γὰρ μυριάδες πεζῶν, εἴκοσι δʼ ἱππέων ἠθροίσθησαν καὶ χωρὶς ἁρμάτων δρεπανηφόρων πλῆθος. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἐπράχθη κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν ἐνιαυτόν.
Dareius hurried to Babylon and gathered together the survivors of the battle at Issus. He was not crushed in spirit in spite of the tremendous setback he had received, but wrote to Alexander advising him to bear his success as one who was only human and to release the captives in return for a large ransom. He added that he would yield to Alexander the territory and cities of Asia west of the Halys River if he would sign a treaty of friendship with him. Alexander summoned his Friends to a council and concealed the real letter. Forging another more in accord with his interests he introduced it to his advisers and sent the envoys away empty handed. So Dareius gave up the attempt to reach an agreement with Alexander by diplomatic means and set to work on vast preparations for war. He re-equipped those who had lost their armour in the defeat and he enlisted others and assigned them to military units. He sent for the levies from the upper satrapies, which he had previously left unemployed because of the haste of the last campaign. He took such pains over the constitution of the army that he ended up with one twice the size of that which had been engaged at Issus. He assembled eight hundred thousand infantry and two hundred thousand cavalry, and a force of scythe-bearing chariots in addition. These were the events of this year.
§ 17.40
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησι Νικηράτου Ῥωμαῖοι κατέστησαν ὑπάτους Μάρκον Ἀτίλιον καὶ Μάρκον Οὐαλέριον, Ὀλυμπιὰς δʼ ἤχθη δευτέρα πρὸς ταῖς ἑκατὸν καὶ δέκα, καθʼ ἣν ἐνίκα Γρύλος Χαλκιδεύς. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Ἀλέξανδρος μετὰ τὴν ἐν Ἰσσῷ νίκην τοὺς μὲν τελευτήσαντας ἔθαψεν, ἐν οἷς καὶ τῶν πολεμίων τοὺς ἐν ταῖς ἀνδραγαθίαις θαυμασθέντας· μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τοῖς θεοῖς μεγαλοπρεπεῖς θυσίας συντελέσας καὶ τοὺς ἐν τῇ μάχῃ κατʼ ἀρετὴν διαφόρους γενομένους τιμήσας ταῖς ἀξίαις ἑκάστους δωρεαῖς ἐφʼ ἡμέρας τινὰς ἀνέλαβε τὴν δύναμιν. ἔπειτα προάγων ἐπʼ Αἰγύπτου καὶ καταντήσας εἰς τὴν Φοινίκην τὰς μὲν ἄλλας πόλεις παρέλαβεν, ἑτοίμως τῶν ἐγχωρίων προσδεξαμένων αὐτόν· οἱ δὲ Τύριοι βουλομένου τοῦ βασιλέως τῷ Ἡρακλεῖ τῷ Τυρίῳ θῦσαι προπετέστερον διεκώλυσαν αὐτὸν τῆς εἰς τὴν πόλιν εἰσόδου. τοῦ δʼ Ἀλεξάνδρου χαλεπῶς ἐνέγκαντος καὶ διαπειλησαμένου πολεμήσειν τὴν πόλιν οἱ Τύριοι τεθαρρηκότως ὑπέμενον τὴν πολιορκίαν, ἅμα μὲν Δαρείῳ χαριζόμενοι καὶ τὴν πρὸς αὐτὸν εὔνοιαν βεβαίαν τηροῦντες καὶ νομίζοντες μεγάλας δωρεὰς ἀντὶ ταύτης τῆς χάριτος ἀντιλήψεσθαι παρὰ τοῦ βασιλέως, ἐπισπώμενοι μὲν τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον εἰς πολυχρόνιον καὶ ἐπικίνδυνον πολιορκίαν, διδόντες δʼ ἄνεσιν τῷ Δαρείῳ πρὸς τὰς παρασκευάς, ἅμα δὲ καὶ πιστεύοντες τῇ τε ὀχυρότητι τῆς νήσου καὶ ταῖς ἐν αὐτῇ παρασκευαῖς, ἔτι δὲ τοῖς ἀπογόνοις αὐτῶν Καρχηδονίοις. ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς ὁρῶν κατὰ θάλατταν μὲν δυσπολιόρκητον οὖσαν τὴν πόλιν διά τε τὴν παρασκευὴν τῶν κατὰ τὸ τεῖχος ἔργων καὶ τὴν ὑπάρχουσαν ἐν αὐτῇ δύναμιν ναυτικήν, κατὰ δὲ γῆν σχεδὸν ἀπραγμάτευτον οὖσαν διὰ τὸ τέτταρσι σταδίοις διείργεσθαι τῆς ἠπείρου ὅμως ἔκρινε συμφέρειν πάντα κίνδυνον καὶ πόνον ὑπομένειν ὑπὲρ τοῦ μὴ καταφρονηθῆναι τὴν τῶν Μακεδόνων δύναμιν ὑπὸ μιᾶς καὶ τῆς τυχούσης πόλεως. εὐθὺς οὖν καθαιρῶν τὴν παλαιὰν λεγομένην Τύρον καὶ πολλῶν μυριάδων κομιζουσῶν τοὺς λίθους χῶμα κατεσκεύαζε δίπλεθρον τῷ πλάτει. πανδημεὶ δὲ προσλαβόμενος τοὺς κατοικοῦντας τὰς πλησίον πόλεις ταχὺ διὰ τὰς πολυχειρίας ἠνύετο τὰ τῶν ἔργων.
When Niceratus was archon at Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Marcus Atilius and Marcus Valerius, and the one hundred and twelfth Olympic Games were held, in which Grylus of Chalcis was the victor. In this year, Alexander buried the dead from his victory at Issus, including even those of the Persians who had distinguished themselves by courage. Then he performed rich sacrifices to the gods and rewarded those who had borne themselves well in battle with gifts appropriate to each, and rested the army for some days. Then he marched on towards Egypt, and as he came into Phoenicia, received the submission of all the other cities, for their inhabitants accepted him willingly. At Tyre, however, when the king wished to sacrifice to the Tyrian Heracles, the people overhastily barred him from entering the city; Alexander became angry and threatened to resort to force, but the Tyrians cheerfully faced the prospect of a siege. They wanted to gratify Dareius and keep unimpaired their loyalty to him, and thought also that they would receive great gifts from the king in return for such a favour. They would draw Alexander into a protracted and difficult siege and give Dareius time for his military preparations, and at the same time they had confidence in the strength of their island and the military forces in it. They also hoped for help from their colonists, the Carthaginians. The king saw that the city could hardly be taken by sea because of the engines mounted along its walls and the fleet that it possessed, while from the land it was almost unassailable because it lay four furlongs away from the coast. Nevertheless he determined to run every risk and make every effort to save the Macedonian army from being held in contempt by a single undistinguished city. Immediately he demolished what was called Old Tyre and set many tens of thousands of men to work carrying stones to construct a mole two plethra in width. He drafted into service the entire population of the neighbouring cities and the project advanced rapidly because the workers were numerous.
§ 17.41
οἱ δὲ Τύριοι τὸ μὲν πρῶτον προσπλέοντες τῷ χώματι κατεγέλων τοῦ βασιλέως, εἰ τοῦ Ποσειδῶνος ἑαυτὸν δοκεῖ περιέσεσθαι· μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα παραδόξως τοῦ χώματος αὐξομένου τέκνα μὲν καὶ γυναῖκας καὶ τοὺς γεγηρακότας εἰς Καρχηδόνα διακομίζειν ἐψηφίσαντο, τοὺς δʼ ἀκμάζοντας ταῖς ἡλικίαις ἐπέλεξαν πρὸς τὴν τειχομαχίαν καὶ ναυμαχίαν ἑτοίμως παρεσκεύαζον, ἔχοντες τριήρεις ὀγδοήκοντα. τέλος δὲ τῶν τέκνων καὶ γυναικῶν μέρος μὲν ἔφθασαν ὑπεκθέμενοι πρὸς τοὺς Καρχηδονίους, καταταχούμενοι δʼ ὑπὸ τῆς πολυχειρίας καὶ ταῖς ναυσὶν οὐκ ὄντες ἀξιόμαχοι συνηναγκάσθησαν ὑπομεῖναι πανδημεὶ τὴν πολιορκίαν. ἔχοντες δὲ πολλὴν δαψίλειαν καταπελτῶν καὶ τῶν ἄλλων μηχανῶν τῶν πρὸς πολιορκίαν χρησίμων ἑτέρας πολλαπλασίους κατεσκεύασαν ῥᾳδίως διὰ τῶν ἐν τῇ Τύρῳ μηχανοποιῶν καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τεχνιτῶν παντοδαπῶν ὄντων. διὰ δὲ τούτων ὀργάνων παντοδαπῶν καὶ ξένων ταῖς ἐπινοίαις κατασκευαζομένων ἅπας μὲν ὁ περίβολος τῆς πόλεως ἐπληρώθη τῶν μηχανῶν, μάλιστα δὲ κατὰ τὸν τόπον τοῦτον ἐν ᾧ τὸ χῶμα συνήγγιζε τῷ τείχει. ὡς δʼ εἰς τὴν ἄφεσιν τοῦ βέλους διέτεινε τὸ κατασκευαζόμενον ὑπὸ τῶν Μακεδόνων ἔργον, καὶ παρὰ τῶν θεῶν τινα προεσημαίνετο τοῖς κινδυνεύουσιν. ἐκ μὲν γὰρ τοῦ πελάγους ὁ κλύδων προσεπέλασε τοῖς ἔργοις κῆτος ἄπιστον τὸ μέγεθος, ὃ προσπεσὸν τῷ χώματι κακὸν μὲν οὐδὲν εἰργάσατο, τῷ δʼ ἑτέρῳ μέρει τοῦ σώματος προσανακεκλιμένον ἐπὶ πολὺν χρόνον ἔμενε καὶ πολλὴν κατάπληξιν παρείχετο τοῖς θεωμένοις τὸ παράδοξον, πάλιν δʼ εἰς τὸ πέλαγος νηξάμενον εἰς δεισιδαιμονίαν ἀμφοτέρους προηγάγετο· ἑκάτεροι γὰρ ὡς τοῦ Ποσειδῶνος αὐτοῖς βοηθήσειν μέλλοντος διέκρινον τὸ σημεῖον, ῥέποντες ταῖς γνώμαις πρὸς τὸ ἴδιον συμφέρον. ἐγίνετο δὲ καὶ ἄλλα σημεῖα παράδοξα, δυνάμενα διατροπὴν καὶ φόβον τοῖς ὄχλοις παρασχέσθαι. κατὰ γὰρ τὰς τροφὰς παρὰ τοῖς Μακεδόσιν οἱ διακλώμενοι τῶν ἄρτων αἱματοειδῆ τὴν πρόσοψιν εἶχον. ἑωρακέναι δέ τις ἔφησεν ὄψιν καθʼ ἣν ὁ Ἀπόλλων ἔλεγε μέλλειν ἑαυτὸν ἐκλιπεῖν τὴν πόλιν. τοῦ δὲ πλήθους ὑπονοήσαντος ὅτι πεπλακὼς εἴη τὸν λόγον χαριζόμενος Ἀλεξάνδρῳ καὶ διὰ τοῦτο τῶν νεωτέρων ὁρμησάντων ἐπὶ τὸ λιθοβολῆσαι τὸν ἄνθρωπον οὗτος μὲν διὰ τῶν ἀρχόντων ἐκκλαπεὶς καὶ καταφυγὼν εἰς τὸ τοῦ Ἡρακλέους ἱερὸν διέφυγε τὴν τιμωρίαν διὰ τὴν ἱκεσίαν, οἱ δὲ Τύριοι δεισιδαιμονήσαντες χρυσαῖς σειραῖς προσέδησαν τὸ τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνος ξόανον τῇ βάσει, ἐμποδίζοντες, ὡς ᾤοντο, τοῦ θεοῦ τὸν ἐκ τῆς πόλεως χωρισμόν.
At first, the Tyrians sailed up to the mole and mocked the king, asking if he thought that he would get the better of Poseidon. Then, as the work proceeded with unexpected rapidity, they voted to transport their children and women and old men to Carthage, assigned the young and able-bodied to the defence of the walls, and made ready for a naval engagement with their eighty triremes. They did succeed in getting a part of their children and women to safety with the Carthaginians, but they were outstripped by the abundance of Alexander's labour force, and, not being able to stop his advance with their ships, were compelled to stand the siege with almost their whole preparation still in the city. They had a wealth of catapults and other engines employed for sieges and they had no difficulty in constructing more because of engineers and artisans of all sorts who were in the city. All kinds of novel devices were fashioned by them, so that the entire circuit of the walls was covered with machines, especially on that side where the mole was approaching the city. As the Macedonian construction came within range or missiles, portents were sent by the gods to them in their danger. Out of the sea a tidal wave tossed a sea-monster of incredible size into the midst of the Macedonian operations. It crashed into the mole but did it no harm, remained resting a portion of its body against it for a long time and then swam off into the sea again. This strange event threw both sides into superstition, each imagining that the portent signified that Poseidon would come to their aid, for they were swayed by their own interest in the matter. There were other strange happenings too, calculated to spread confusion and terror among the people. At the distribution of rations on the Macedonian side, the broken pieces of bread had a bloody look. Someone reported, on the Tyrian side, that he had seen a vision in which Apollo told him that he would leave the city. Everyone suspected that the man had made up the story in order to curry favour with Alexander, and some of the younger citizens set out to stone him; he was, however, spirited away by the magistrates and took refuge in the sanctuary of Heracles, where as a suppliant he escaped the people's wrath, but the Tyrians were so credulous that they tied the xoanon of Apollo to its base with golden cords, preventing, as they thought, the god from leaving the city.
§ 17.42
μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα οἱ μὲν Τύριοι τὴν αὔξησιν τοῦ χώματος εὐλαβηθέντες ἐπλήρωσαν πολλὰ τῶν ἐλαττόνων σκαφῶν ὀξυβελῶν τε καὶ καταπελτῶν καὶ τοξοτῶν καὶ σφενδονητῶν ἀνδρῶν καὶ προσπλεύσαντες τοῖς ἐργαζομένοις τὸ χῶμα πολλοὺς μὲν κατέτρωσαν, οὐκ ὀλίγους δὲ ἀπέκτειναν· εἰς ἀνόπλους γὰρ καὶ πυκνοὺς πολλῶν καὶ παντοίων βελῶν φερομένων οὐδεὶς ἡμάρτανεν, ἑτοίμων καὶ ἀφυλάκτων τῶν σκοπῶν κειμένων. συνέβαινε γὰρ οὐ μόνον κατὰ πρόσωπον τὰ φερόμενα βέλη προσπίπτειν, ἀλλὰ καὶ πρὸς τὰ νῶτα τῶν ἀντιπροσώπων ὄντων ἐν στενῷ χώματι διικνεῖσθαι καὶ μηδένα δύνασθαι διαφυλάξασθαι τοὺς ἐξ ἀμφοτέρων τῶν μερῶν κατατιτρώσκοντας. ὁ δʼ Ἀλέξανδρος τὸ παράλογον τῆς συμφορᾶς βουλόμενος ὀξέως διορθώσασθαι, πληρώσας πάσας τὰς ναῦς καὶ καθηγούμενος αὐτὸς ἔπλει κατὰ σπουδὴν ἐπὶ τὸν λιμένα τῶν Τυρίων καὶ τὴν ἐπάνοδον τῶν Φοινίκων ὑπετέμνετο. οἱ δὲ βάρβαροι φοβηθέντες μήποτε κυριεύσας τῶν λιμένων καταλάβηται τὴν πόλιν ἔρημον οὖσαν στρατιωτῶν, κατὰ πολλὴν σπουδὴν ἀνέπλεον εἰς τὴν Τύρον. ἀμφοτέρων δὲ διὰ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῆς φιλοτιμίας ταῖς εἰρεσίαις πυκναῖς χρωμένων καὶ τῶν Μακεδόνων ἤδη πλησιαζόντων τοῖς λιμέσιν οἱ Φοίνικες παρʼ ὀλίγον μὲν ἦλθον τοῦ πάντες ἀπολέσθαι, παρεισπεσόντες δʼ ὅμως τῇ βίᾳ καὶ τὰς τελευταίας ναῦς ἀποβαλόντες διεσώθησαν εἰς τὴν πόλιν. ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς μεγάλης ἐπιβολῆς ἀποτυχὼν πάλιν προσεκαρτέρει τῷ χώματι καὶ τῷ πλήθει τῶν νεῶν παρείχετο τοῖς ἐργαζομένοις τὴν ἀσφάλειαν. τῶν δʼ ἔργων πλησιαζόντων τῇ πόλει καὶ τῆς ἁλώσεως προσδοκωμένης ἀργέστης ἄνεμος μέγας ἐπεγένετο καὶ τοῦ χώματος πολὺ μέρος ἐλυμήνατο. ὁ δʼ Ἀλέξανδρος εἰς ἀμηχανίαν ἐμπίπτων διὰ τὴν αὐτόματον τῶν ἔργων φθορὰν μετεμέλετο μὲν ἐπὶ τῇ τῆς πολιορκίας ἐπιβολῇ, ὅμως δὲ τῇ φιλοτιμίᾳ προαγόμενος ἐκ τῆς ὀρεινῆς ἐκκόπτων ὑπερμεγέθη δένδρα παρεκόμιζε καὶ σὺν αὐτοῖς τοῖς κλάδοις ἐγχώσας ἐνέφραξε τὴν βίαν τοῦ κλύδωνος. ταχὺ δʼ ἀποκαταστήσας τὰ πεπονηκότα τοῦ χώματος καὶ τῇ πολυχειρίᾳ προκόψας εἰς βέλους ἄφεσιν ἐπέστησε τὰς μηχανὰς ἐπʼ ἄκρον τὸ χῶμα καὶ τοῖς μὲν πετροβόλοις κατέβαλλε τὰ τείχη, τοῖς δʼ ὀξυβελέσιν ἀνεῖργε τοὺς ἐπὶ τῶν ἐπάλξεων ἐφεστῶτας· συνηγωνίζοντο δὲ τούτοις οἵ τε τοξόται καὶ σφενδονῆται καὶ πολλοὺς τῶν ἐν τῇ πόλει παραβοηθοῦντας κατετίτρωσκον.
Now the Tyrians were alarmed at the advance of the mole, and they equipped many small vessels with both light and heavy catapults together with archers and slingers, and, attacking the workers on the mole, wounded many and killed not a few. As missiles of all sorts in large numbers rained upon unarmed and densely packed men, no soldier missed his mark since the targets were exposed and unsuspecting. The missiles struck not only from the front but also from the back, as men were working on both sides of a rather narrow structure and no one could protect himself from those who shot from two directions. Alexander moved immediately to rectify what threatened to be a shocking disaster, and manning all his ships and taking personal command of them, made with all speed for the harbour of Tyre to cut off the retreat of the Phoenicians. They in turn were terrified lest he seize the harbour and capture the city while it was empty of soldiers, and rowed back to Tyre as fast as they could. Both fleets plied their oars at a fast stroke in a fury of determination, and the Macedonians were already nearing the entrance, but the Phoenicians, by a narrow margin, escaped losing their whole force and, thrusting their way in, got safely to the city with the loss only of the ships at the tail of the column. So the king failed of this important objective, but nevertheless pushed on with the mole, protecting his workers with a thick screen of ships. As his engines drew close to the city and its capture seemed imminent, a powerful north-west gale blew up and damaged a large part of the mole. Alexander was at a loss to deal with the harm done to his project by the forces of nature and thought of give up the siege attempt, but driven by ambition he sent to the mountain and felling huge trees, he brought them branches and all and, placing them besides the mole, broke the force of the waves. It was not long before he had restored the collapsed parts of the mole, and pushing on with an ample labour force until he came within missiles' range, he moved his engines out to the end of the causeway, and attacked the walls with his stone throwers, while he employed his light catapults against the men stationed along the battlements. The archers and slingers joined in the barrage, and wounded many in the city who rushed to the defence.
§ 17.43
οἱ δὲ Τύριοι χαλκεῖς ἔχοντες τεχνίτας καὶ μηχανοποιοὺς κατεσκεύασαν φιλότεχνα βοηθήματα. πρὸς μὲν γὰρ τὰ καταπελτικὰ βέλη τροχοὺς κατεσκεύασαν διειλημμένους πυκνοῖς διαφράγμασι, τούτους δὲ διά τινος μηχανῆς δινεύοντες τὰ μὲν συνέτριβον, τὰ δὲ παρέσυρον τῶν βελῶν, πάντων δὲ τὴν ἐκ τῆς βίας φορὰν ἐξέλυον· τοὺς δʼ ἐκ τῶν πετροβόλων φερομένους λίθους δεχόμενοι μαλακαῖς τισι καὶ συνενδιδούσαις κατασκευαῖς ἐπράυνον τὴν ἐκ τῆς ὀργανικῆς βίας δύναμιν. ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς ἅμα τῇ κατὰ τὸ χῶμα προσβολῇ παντὶ τῷ στόλῳ περιέπλει τὴν πόλιν καὶ τὰ τείχη περιεσκέπτετο καὶ φανερὸς ἦν πολιορκήσων τὴν πόλιν κατὰ γῆν ἅμα καὶ κατὰ θάλατταν. τῶν δὲ Τυρίων ἀνταναχθῆναι μὲν τῷ στόλῳ μηκέτι τολμώντων, τρισὶ δὲ ναυσὶν ὁρμούντων πρὸ τοῦ λιμένος ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐπιπλεύσας αὐταῖς καὶ πάσας συντρίψας ἐπανῆλθεν ἐπὶ τὴν ἰδίαν στρατοπεδείαν. οἱ δὲ Τύριοι βουλόμενοι διπλασιάσαι τὴν ἀπὸ τῶν τειχῶν ἀσφάλειαν, ἀποστήσαντες πέντε πήχεις ἕτερον τεῖχος ᾠκοδόμουν δέκα πηχῶν τὸ πλάτος καὶ τὴν ἀνὰ μέσον τῶν τειχῶν σύριγγα λίθων καὶ χώματος ἐπλήρουν. ὁ δʼ Ἀλέξανδρος τὰς τριήρεις ζευγνύων καὶ μηχανὰς παντοδαπὰς αὐταῖς ἐπιστήσας κατέβαλεν ἐπὶ πλέθρον τοῦ τείχους· καὶ διὰ τοῦ πτώματος εἰσέπιπτον εἰς τὴν πόλιν. οἱ δὲ Τύριοι τοὺς εἰσβιαζομένους πυκνοῖς βέλεσι βάλλοντες μόγις ἀπεστρέψαντο καὶ τὸ πεπτωκὸς μέρος τοῦ τείχους ἀνῳκοδόμησαν νυκτὸς ἐπιλαβούσης. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τοῦ χώματος συνάψαντος τῷ τείχει καὶ τῆς πόλεως χερρονήσου γενομένης πολλοὺς καὶ μεγάλους ἀγῶνας συνέβαινε γίνεσθαι κατὰ τὴν τειχομαχίαν. οἱ μὲν γὰρ τὸ δεινὸν ἔχοντες ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς καὶ τὴν ἐκ τῆς ἁλώσεως συμφορὰν ἀναλογιζόμενοι ταῖς ψυχαῖς οὕτω παρέστησαν πρὸς τὸν κίνδυνον ὥστε τοῦ θανάτου καταφρονῆσαι. τῶν γὰρ Μακεδόνων προσαγόντων πύργους ὑψηλοὺς ἴσους τοῖς τείχεσι καὶ διὰ τούτων τὰς ἐπιβάθρας ἐπιβαλλόντων καὶ θρασέως ταῖς ἐπάλξεσιν ἐπιβαινόντων οἱ μὲν Τύριοι διὰ τὴν ἐπίνοιαν τῶν ὀργανοποιῶν πολλὰ πρὸς τὴν τειχομαχίαν εἶχον βοηθήματα. χαλκευσάμενοι γὰρ εὐμεγέθεις τριόδοντας παρηγκιστρωμένους τούτοις ἔτυπτον ἐκ χειρὸς τοὺς ἐπὶ τῶν πύργων καθεστῶτας. ἐμπηγνυμένων δὲ εἰς τὰς ἀσπίδας τούτων καὶ κάλους ἐχόντων προσδεδεμένους εἷλκον πρὸς ἑαυτοὺς ἐπιλαμβανόμενοι τῶν κάλων. ἀναγκαῖον οὖν ἦν ἢ προΐεσθαι τὰ ὅπλα καὶ γυμνουμένους τὰ σώματα κατατιτρώσκεσθαι πολλῶν φερομένων βελῶν ἢ τηροῦντας τὰ ὅπλα διὰ τὴν αἰσχύνην πίπτειν ἀφʼ ὑψηλῶν πύργων καὶ τελευτᾶν. ἄλλοι δʼ ἁλιευτικὰ δίκτυα τοῖς ἐπὶ τῶν ἐπιβαθρῶν διαμαχομένοις ἐπιρριπτοῦντες καὶ τὰς χεῖρας ἀχρήστους ποιοῦντες κατέσπων καὶ περιεκύλιον ἀπὸ τῆς ἐπιβάθρας ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν.
The Tyrians had bronze workers and machinists, and contrived ingenious counter-measures. Against the projectiles from the catapults they made wheels with many spokes, and, setting these to rotate by a certain device, they destroyed some of the missiles and deflected other, and broke the force of all. They caught the balls from the stone throwers in soft and yielding materials and so weakened their force. While this attack was going on from the mole, the king sailed around the city with his whole fleet and inspected the walls, and made it clear that he was about to attack the city alike by land and sea. The Tyrians did not dare to put to sea again with their whole fleet but kept three ships moored at the harbour mouth. The king, however, sailed up to these, sank them all, and so returned to his camp. Wanting to double the security of their walls, the Tyrians built a second one at a distance of five cubits within the first; this was ten cubits in thickness, and the passage between the walls they filled with stones and earth, but Alexander lashed triremes together, mounted his various siege engines upon them, and overthrew the wall for the space of a plethron. Through this breach the Macedonians burst into the city, but the Tyrians rained on them a shower of missiles and managed to turn them back, and when night came, they rebuilt the fallen part of the wall. Now the causeway had reached the wall and made the city mainland, and sharp fighting took place along the walls. The Tyrians had the present danger before their eyes and easily imagined what a disaster the actual capture of the city would be, so that they spent themselves so freely in the contest as to despise mortal danger. When the Macedonians moved up towers as high as the walls and in this way, extending bridges, boldly assaulted the battlements, the Tyrians fell back on the ingenuity of their engineers and applied many counter-measures to meet the assault. They forged great tridents armed with barbs and struck with these at close range the assailants standing on the towers. These stuck in the shields, and as ropes were attached to the tridents, they could haul on the ropes and pull them in. Their victims were faced the alternative of releasing their arms and exposing their bodies to be wounded by the missiles which showered upon them, or clinging to their shields for shame and perishing in the fall from the lofty towers. Other Tyrians cast fishing nets over those Macedonians who were fighting their way across the bridges and, making their hands helpless, pulled them off and tumbled them down from bridge to earth.
§ 17.44
ἕτερον δʼ ἐπενόησαν εὕρεμα φιλότεχνον κατὰ τῆς τῶν Μακεδόνων ἀνδρείας, διʼ οὗ τοὺς ἀρίστους τῶν πολεμίων ἀμηχάνοις καὶ δειναῖς περιέβαλον τιμωρίαις. κατασκευάσαντες γὰρ ἀσπίδας χαλκᾶς καὶ σιδηρᾶς καὶ ταύτας πληρώσαντες ἄμμου φλογὶ πολλῇ συνεχῶς ὑπέκαιον καὶ διάπυρον κατεσκεύαζον τὴν ἄμμον. ταύτην δὲ διά τινος μηχανῆς τοῖς θρασύτατα μαχομένοις ἐπερρίπτουν καὶ ταῖς ἐσχάταις συμφοραῖς περιέβαλλον τοὺς ὑποπεσόντας· διὰ γὰρ τῶν θωράκων καὶ τῶν ὑποδυτῶν παρεισπίπτουσα ἡ ἄμμος καὶ διὰ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῆς θερμασίας λυμαινομένη τὰς σάρκας ἀβοήθητον ἐποίει τὸ ἀτύχημα. διὸ καὶ παραπλησίως τοῖς βασανιζομένοις πᾶσαν δεητικὴν φωνὴν προϊέμενοι τοὺς μὲν ἐπικουρήσοντας οὐκ εἶχον, αὐτοὶ δὲ διὰ τὴν δεινότητα τοῦ πάθους εἰς μανιώδεις διαθέσεις ἐμπίπτοντες ἐτελεύτων, ἐλεεινῷ καὶ ἀμηχάνῳ πάθει περιπίπτοντες. ἅμα δὲ καὶ πῦρ ἐπερρίπτουν καὶ σαυνία καὶ λίθους ἐπέβαλλον οἱ Φοίνικες καὶ τῷ πλήθει τῶν βελῶν κατεπόνουν τὰς ἀρετὰς τῶν ἀνθισταμένων καὶ ταῖς μὲν δρεπανηφόροις κεραίαις τὰς τῶν κριῶν ὁρμιστηρίας ὑποτέμνοντες ἄχρηστον τὴν τῶν ὀργάνων βίαν ἐποίουν, ταῖς δὲ πυρφόροις μύδρους μεγάλους διαπύρους ἐπέβαλλον εἰς τὸ πλῆθος τῶν πολεμίων καὶ διὰ τὴν πυκνότητα τῶν ἀνδρῶν οὐχ ἡμάρτανον τῶν σκοπῶν, τοῖς δὲ κόραξι καὶ ταῖς σιδηραῖς χερσὶν ἀνήρπαζον τοὺς τοῖς θωρακείοις ἐφεστῶτας. τῇ δὲ πολυχειρίᾳ πάσας τὰς μηχανὰς ἐνεργεῖς ποιοῦντες πολλοὺς τῶν βιαζομένων ἀπέκτεννον.
They thought of another ingenious device also to offset the Macedonian fighting qualities, by which they involved the bravest of the enemy in a horrible torment which could not be avoided. They fashioned shields of bronze and iron and, filling them with sand, roasted them continuously over a strong fire and made the sand red hot. By means of a certain apparatus they then scattered this over those Macedonians who were fighting most boldly and brought those within its range into utter misery. The sand sifted down under breastplates and shirts, and scorching the skin with the intense heat inflicted upon them irremediable disaster. They shrieked supplications like those under torture and there was no one to help them, but with the excruciating agony they fell into madness and died, the victims of a pitiable and helpless lot. At the same time, the Phoenicians poured down fire and flung javelins and stones, and by the volume of their missiles weakened the resolution of the attackers. They let down long poles or spars equipped with concave cutting edges and cut the ropes supporting the rams, thus rendering these instruments useless. With their fire-throwers they discharged huge red-hot masses of metal into the press of the enemy, and where so many men were packed together they did not miss their mark. With "crows" and "iron hands" they dragged over the edge many who were stationed behind the breastworks on the towers. With many hands at work they kept all their engines busy and caused many deaths among the besiegers.
§ 17.45
ἀνυπερβλήτου δὲ τῆς ἐκπλήξεως οὔσης καὶ τῆς ἐν τοῖς ἀγῶσι δεινότητος ἀνυποστάτου γινομένης οὐδʼ ὣς ἔληγον τῆς τόλμης οἱ Μακεδόνες, ἀλλὰ τοὺς ἀεὶ πίπτοντας ὑπερβαίνοντες οὐκ ἐνουθετοῦντο ταῖς τῶν ἄλλων συμφοραῖς. ὁ δʼ Ἀλέξανδρος ἐπιστήσας ἐπὶ τοὺς ἁρμόζοντας τόπους τοὺς πετροβόλους καταπέλτας καὶ λίθους μεγάλους ἀφιεὶς ἐσάλευε τὰ τείχη, τοῖς δʼ ὀξυβελέσιν ἀπὸ τῶν πύργων τῶν ξυλίνων ἐκβάλλων βελῶν παντοδαπῶν πλῆθος δεινῶς κατετίτρωσκε τοὺς ἐφεστῶτας τοῖς τείχεσιν. ἀντιμηχανώμενοι δὲ πρὸς ταῦτα οἱ Τύριοι πρὸ μὲν τῶν τειχῶν μαρμαρίνους τροχοὺς ἵστανον καὶ διά τινων ὀργάνων τούτους δινεύοντες τὰ φερόμενα βέλη καταπελτικὰ συνέτριβον καὶ εἰς τὰ πλάγια μέρη παράγοντες ἀπράκτους ἐποίουν τὰς τῶν ἀφιεμένων πληγάς. πρὸσδὲ τούτοις βύρσας καὶ διπλᾶς διφθέρας πεφυκωμένας καταράπτοντες εἰς ταύτας ἀπεδέχοντο τὰς ἀπὸ τῶν πετροβόλων πληγάς· καὶ μαλακῆς τῆς ἐνδόσεως γινομένης ἐξελύετο τῶν φερομένων πετρῶν ἡ βία. καθόλου δὲ οἱ Τύριοι πάντα τρόπον εὐρώστως ἀμυνόμενοι καὶ κατευποροῦντες τοῖς βοηθήμασι κατεθάρρησαν τῶν πολεμίων καὶ τὸ τεῖχος καὶ τὰς ἐντὸς τῶν πύργων στάσεις ἀπολιπόντες ἐπʼ αὐτὰς ὠθοῦντο τὰς ἐπιβάθρας καὶ ταῖς τῶν πολεμίων ἀνδραγαθίαις ἀντέταττον τὰς ἑαυτῶν ἀρετάς. διὸ καὶ συμπλεκόμενοι τοῖς πολεμίοις καὶ τὴν μάχην ἐκ χειρὸς συνιστάμενοι μέγαν ἀγῶνα τὸν ὑπὲρ τῆς πατρίδος συνίσταντο καί τινες πελέκεσι τῶν ἀπαντώντων τὸ προσπεσὸν μέρος τοῦ σώματος ἀπέκοπτον· ἔνθα δὴ τῶν παρὰ τοῖς Μακεδόσιν ἡγεμόνων τις, ὄνομα μὲν Ἄδμητος, διαφέρων δὲ ἀνδρείᾳ καὶ σώματος ῥώμῃ, τεθαρρηκὼς τὴν βίαν τῶν Τυρίων ὑπέστη καὶ πληγεὶς πελέκει μέσην τὴν κεφαλὴν παραχρῆμα κατέστρεψε τὸν βίον ἡρωικῶς. ὁ δʼ Ἀλέξανδρος ὁρῶν τῇ μάχῃ τῶν Τυρίων κατισχυομένους τοὺς Μακεδόνας ἀνεκαλέσατο τῇ σάλπιγγι τοὺς στρατιώτας νυκτὸς ἤδη γενομένης. καὶ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἔκρινε λῦσαι τὴν πολιορκίαν καὶ τὴν στρατείαν ἐπὶ τὴν Αἴγυπτον ποιεῖσθαι· μετανοήσας δὲ πάλιν καὶ νομίσας αἰσχρὸν εἶναι παραχωρῆσαι Τυρίοις τῆς κατὰ τὴν πολιορκίαν δόξης καὶ τῶν φίλων ἕνα μόνον ὁμογνωμονοῦντα λαβὼν Ἀμύνταν τὸν Ἀνδρομένους πάλιν πρὸς τὴν πολιορκίαν ἐτρέπετο.
They caused extreme terror by all of this and the fury of their fighting became hardly resistible, but the Macedonians did not lose their boldness. As those in front kept falling, those behind moved up and were not deterred by the sufferings of their comrades. Alexander mounted the stone-throwing catapults in proper places and made the walls rock with the boulders that they threw. With the dart-throwers on the wooden towers he kept up a constant fire of all kinds of missiles and terribly punished the defenders of the walls. In response, the Tyrians rigged marble wheels in front of the walls and causing these to rotate by some mechanism they shattered the flying missiles of the catapults and, deflecting them from their course, rendered their fire ineffective. In addition, they stitched up hides or pairs of skins and stuffed them with seaweed so as to receive the blows of the stones on these. As these were soft and yielding, the force of the flying stones was lessened. In sum, the Tyrians defended themselves strongly in all regards and showed themselves well provided with the means of defence. They were bold in face of their enemies, and left the shelter of the walls and their position with within the towers to push out onto the very bridges and match the courage of the Macedonians with their own valour. They grappled with the enemy and, fighting hand to hand, put up a stout battle for their city. Some of them used axes to chop off any part of the body of an opponent that presented itself. There was one of the Macedonian commanders named Admetus who was a conspicuously brave and powerful man. He withstood the fury of the Tyrians with high courage and died heroically, killed instantly when his skull was split by the stroke of an axe. Alexander saw that the Macedonians were held in check by the resistance of the Tyrians, and, as it was now night, recalled his soldiers by a trumpet call. His first impulse was to break off the siege and march on to Egypt, but he changed his mind as he reflected that it would be disgraceful to leave the Tyrians with all the glory of the operation. He found support in only one of his Friends, Amyntas the son of Andromenes, but turned again to the attack.
§ 17.46
παρακαλέσας δὲ τοὺς Μακεδόνας ἑαυτοῦ μὴ λειφθῆναι κατʼ ἀνδρείαν ἁπάσας τὰς ναῦς πολεμικῶς κατασκευάσας προσέβαλλε τοῖς τείχεσιν ἐκθύμως κατὰ γῆν ἅμα καὶ κατὰ θάλατταν. κατανοήσας δὲ περὶ τὰ νεώρια τὸ τεῖχος ἀσθενέστερον ὑπάρχειν τούτῳ προσήγαγε τὰς τριήρεις ἐζευγμένας καὶ φερούσας τὰς ἀξιολογωτάτας μηχανάς. ἐνταῦθα δὲ ἐτόλμησεν ἐπιτελέσασθαι πρᾶξιν οὐδʼ αὐτοῖς τοῖς ὁρῶσι πιστευομένην· ἐπιβάθραν γὰρ ἀπὸ τοῦ ξυλίνου πύργου τοῖς τῆς πόλεως τείχεσιν ἐπιβαλὼν διὰ ταύτης μόνος ἐπέβη τῷ τείχει, οὔτε τὸν ἀπὸ τῆς τύχης φθόνον εὐλαβηθεὶς οὔτε τὴν τῶν Τυρίων δεινότητα καταπλαγείς, ἀλλὰ τὴν καταγωνισαμένην τοὺς Πέρσας δύναμιν ἔχων θεωρὸν τῆς ἰδίας ἀνδραγαθίας τοῖς μὲν ἄλλοις Μακεδόσιν ἀκολουθεῖν προσέταξεν, αὐτὸς δὲ καθηγούμενος τῶν εἰς χεῖρας βιαζομένων τοὺς μὲν τῷ δόρατι, τοὺς δὲ τῇ μαχαίρᾳ τύπτων ἀπέκτεινεν, ἐνίους δʼ αὐτῇ τῇ περιφερείᾳ τῆς ἀσπίδος ἀνατρέπων ἐπισχεῖν τοῦ πολλοῦ θράσους ἐποίησε τοὺς πολεμίους. ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις καθʼ ἕτερον μέρος ὁ κριὸς τύπτων κατέβαλε πολὺ μέρος τοῦ τείχους· διὰ δὲ τοῦ πτώματος εἰσπεσόντων τῶν Μακεδόνων καὶ τῶν περὶ τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον διὰ τῆς ἐπιβάθρας διαβάντων ἐπὶ τὸ τεῖχος ἡ μὲν πόλις κατείληπτο, οἱ δὲ Τύριοι πρὸς ἀλκὴν τραπέντες καὶ παρακαλέσαντες ἀλλήλους ἐνέφραξαν τοὺς στενωποὺς καὶ μαχόμενοι πλὴν ὀλίγων ἅπαντες κατεκόπησαν, ὄντες πλείους τῶν ἑπτακισχιλίων. ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς τέκνα μὲν καὶ γυναῖκας ἐξηνδραποδίσατο, τοὺς δὲ νέους πάντας, ὄντας οὐκ ἐλάττους τῶν δισχιλίων, ἐκρέμασε. σώματα δʼ αἰχμάλωτα τοσαῦτα τὸ πλῆθος εὑρέθη ὥστε τῶν πλείστων εἰς Καρχηδόνα κεκομισμένων τὰ ὑπολειφθέντα γενέσθαι πλείω τῶν μυρίων καὶ τρισχιλίων. Τύριοι μὲν οὖν γενναιότερον μᾶλλον ἢ φρονιμώτερον ὑποστάντες τὴν πολιορκίαν τοσαύταις περιέπεσον συμφοραῖς, πολιορκηθέντες μῆνας ἑπτά. ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς τοῦ μὲν Ἀπόλλωνος τὰς χρυσᾶς σειρὰς καὶ τὰ δεσμὰ περιελόμενος παρήγγειλεν ὀνομάζειν τὸν θεὸν τοῦτον Ἀπολλὼ φιλαλέξανδρον, τῷ δὲ Ἡρακλεῖ μεγαλοπρεπεῖς θυσίας συντελέσας καὶ τοὺς ἀνδραγαθήσαντας τιμήσας, ἔτι δὲ τοὺς τετελευτηκότας μεγαλοπρεπῶς θάψας τῆς μὲν Τυρίων πόλεως κατέστησε βασιλέα τὸν ὀνομαζόμενον Βαλώνυμον, περὶ οὗ τὰ κατὰ μέρος οὐκ ἄξιον παραλιπεῖν διὰ τὸ τῆς περιπετείας παράδοξον.
Alexander addressed the Macedonians, calling on them to dare no less than he. Fitting out his ships for fighting, he began a general assault upon the walls by land and sea and this was pressed furiously. He saw that the wall on the side of the naval base was weaker than elsewhere, and brought up to that point his triremes lashed together and supporting his best siege engines. Now he performed a feat of daring which was hardly believable even to those who saw it. He flung a bridge across from a wooden tower to the city walls and crossing by it alone gained a footing on the wall, neither concerned for the envy of Fortune nor fearing the menace of the Tyrians. Having as witness of his prowess the great army which had defeated the Persians, he ordered the Macedonians to follow him, and leading the way he slew some of those who came within reach with his spear, and others by a blow of his sabre. He knocked down still others with the rim of his shield, and put an end to the high confidence of the enemy. Simultaneously in another part of the city the battering ram, put to its work, brought down a considerable stretch of wall; and when the Macedonians entered through this breach and Alexander's party poured over the bridge on to the wall, the city was taken. The Tyrians, however, kept up the resistance with mutual cries of encouragement and blocked the alleys with barricades, so that all except a few were cut down fighting, in number more than seven thousand. The king sold the women and children into slavery and crucified all the men of military age. These were not less than two thousand. Although most of the non-combatants had been removed to Carthage, those who remained to become captives were found to be more than thirteen thousand. So Tyre had undergone the siege bravely rather than wisely and come into such misfortunes, after a resistance of seven months. The king removed the golden chains and fetters from Apollo and gave orders that the god should be called "Apollo Philalexander." He carried out magnificent sacrifices to Heracles, rewarded those of his men who had distinguished themselves, and gave a lavish funeral for his own dead. He installed as king of Tyre a man named Ballonymus, the story of whose career I cannot omit because it is an example of a quite astonishing reversal of fortune.
§ 17.47
τοῦ γὰρ προϋπάρχοντος βασιλέως Στράτωνος διὰ τὴν πρὸς Δαρεῖον φιλίαν ἐκπεσόντος ἐκ τῆς ἀρχῆς ὁ Ἀλέξανδρος ἔδωκεν ἐξουσίαν Ἡφαιστίωνι καταστῆσαι βασιλέα τῆς Τύρου τῶν ἰδιοξένων ὃν ἂν προαιρῆται. τὸ μὲν οὖν πρῶτον οὗτος εὐδοκήσας τῷ ξένῳ, παρʼ ᾧ τὴν ἐπισταθμίαν ἐπεποίητο κεχαρισμένως, τοῦτον ἐπεβάλετο κύριον ἀναγορεῦσαι τῆς πόλεως· ὁ δὲ πλούτῳ μὲν καὶ δόξῃ διαφέρων τῶν πολιτῶν, οὐδεμίαν δὲ συγγένειαν ἔχων πρὸς τοὺς προγεγονότας βασιλεῖς οὐκ ἐδέξατο τὴν δωρεάν. τοῦ δʼ Ἡφαιστίωνος ἐπιτρέψαντος αὐτῷ τὴν ἐκλογὴν ποιήσασθαι ἐκ τοῦ γένους τῶν βασιλέων ἔφησεν εἶναί τινα τῆς βασιλικῆς οἰκίας ἀπόγονον τὰ μὲν ἄλλα σώφρονα καὶ ἀγαθὸν ἄνδρα, πένητα δὲ καθʼ ὑπερβολήν. συγχωρήσαντος δὲ τοῦ Ἡφαιστίωνος τούτῳ τὴν δυναστείαν ὁ λαβὼν τὴν ἐπιτροπὴν κατήντησεν ἐπὶ τὸν ὠνομασμένον μετὰ βασιλικῆς ἐσθῆτος καὶ κατέλαβεν αὐτὸν ἔν τινι κήπῳ μισθοῦ μὲν ἀντλοῦντα, ῥάκεσι δὲ τοῖς τυχοῦσιν ἐσθῆτι χρώμενον. δηλώσας δὲ τὴν περιπέτειαν καὶ περιθεὶς τὴν βασιλικὴν στολὴν καὶ τὸν ἄλλον τὸν ἁρμόζοντα κόσμον ἀνήγαγεν αὐτὸν εἰς τὴν ἀγορὰν καὶ ἀπέδειξε βασιλέα τῶν Τυρίων. ἀσμένως δὲ τοῦ πλήθους προσδεξαμένου καὶ τὸ παράδοξον τῆς τύχης θαυμάσαντος οὗτος μὲν φίλος γενόμενος Ἀλεξάνδρῳ τὴν βασιλείαν ἔσχε παράδειγμα τοῖς ἀγνοοῦσι τὴν τῆς τύχης παράδοξον μεταβολήν· ἡμεῖς δʼ ἐπεὶ τὰ περὶ τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον διήλθομεν, μεταληψόμεθα τὴν διήγησιν.
The former king, Straton, was deprived of his throne because of his friendship for Dareius, and Alexander invited Hephaestion to nominate as king of Tyre any personal guest-friend whom he wished. At first he favoured the host with whom he found pleasant lodging, and proposed that he should be designated master of the city. He was prominent among the citizens in wealth and position, but not being related to those who had been kings he would not accept the offer. Hephaestion then asked him to make a choice from among the members of the royal family, and he said that he knew a man of royal descent who was wise and good in all respects, but he was poor in the extreme. Hephaestion nevertheless agreed that he should be given the royal power, and the one who had been given the choice went off to find the man he had named, bearing with him the royal dress, and came upon him drawing water for hire in a garden, dressed in common rags. He informed him of the transformation in his position, dressed him in the king's robe, and gave him the other appropriate trappings of office. Then he conducted him to the market place and proclaimed him king of Tyre. Everyone accepted him with enthusiasm and marvelled at the vicissitudes of Fortune. Thus he became a Friend of Alexander's and took over the kingdom, an instructive example to those who do not know the incredible changes which Fortune can effect. Now that we have described Alexander's activity, we shall turn our narrative in another direction.
§ 17.48
κατὰ γὰρ τὴν Εὐρώπην Ἄγις μὲν ὁ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων βασιλεὺς τῶν ἐκ τῆς ἐν Ἰσσῷ μάχης διασωθέντων μισθοφόρων ἀναλαβὼν ὀκτακισχιλίους νεωτέρων πραγμάτων ἀντείχετο, χαριζόμενος Δαρείῳ. προσλαβὼν δὲ παρὰ τούτου καὶ ναῦς καὶ χρημάτων πλῆθος ἔπλευσεν εἰς Κρήτην καὶ τῶν πόλεων τὰς πλείους χειρωσάμενος ἠνάγκασε τὰ Περσῶν αἱρεῖσθαι. Ἀμύντας δʼ ὁ φυγὼν ἐκ Μακεδονίας καὶ πρὸς Δαρεῖον ἀναβὰς συνηγωνίσατο μὲν τοῖς Πέρσαις ἐν τῇ Κιλικίᾳ, διασωθεὶς δʼ ἐκ τῆς ἐν Ἰσσῷ παρατάξεως μετὰ τετρακισχιλίων μισθοφόρων καὶ πρὸ τῆς Ἀλεξάνδρου παρουσίας διανύσας εἰς Τρίπολιν τῆς Φοινίκης ἐπέλεξεν ἐκ τοῦ παντὸς στόλου τὰς ἀρκούσας ναῦς εἰς τὸν πλοῦν τοῖς ἰδίοις στρατιώταις, τὰς δʼ ἄλλας ἐνέπρησε. διαπλεύσας δʼ εἰς τὴν Κύπρον καὶ προσλαβόμενος στρατιώτας καὶ ναῦς διέπλευσεν εἰς τὸ Πηλούσιον. τῆς δὲ πόλεως ἐγκρατὴς γενόμενος ἀπέφαινεν ἑαυτὸν ὑπὸ Δαρείου τοῦ βασιλέως ἀπεστάλθαι στρατηγὸν διὰ τὸ τὸν ἡγούμενον τῆς Αἰγύπτου σατράπην συναγωνιζόμενον ἐν Ἰσσῷ τῆς Κιλικίας πεπτωκέναι. ἀναπλεύσας δʼ εἰς Μέμφιν τὸ μὲν πρῶτον πρὸ τῆς πόλεως παραταξάμενος τοῖς ἐγχωρίοις ἐνίκησε· μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα πρὸς ἁρπαγὴν τῶν στρατιωτῶν τραπέντων ἐπεξελθόντες ἐκ τῆς πόλεως ἐπέθεντο τοῖς ἀτάκτως διαρπάζουσι τὰς ἐπὶ τῆς χώρας κτήσεις καὶ τόν τε Ἀμύνταν ἀπέκτειναν καὶ τοὺς μετʼ αὐτοῦ πάντας ἄρδην ἀνεῖλον. Ἀμύντας μὲν οὖν μεγάλαις ἐπιβολαῖς ἐγχειρήσας καὶ παρʼ ἐλπίδα σφαλεὶς τοιοῦτον ἔσχε τοῦ βίου τὸ τέλος. ὁμοίως δὲ τούτῳ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἡγεμόνων καὶ στρατηγῶν τινες ἐκ τῆς ἐν Ἰσσῷ μάχης μετὰ στρατιωτῶν διασωθέντες ἀντείχοντο τῶν Περσικῶν ἐλπίδων. οἱ μὲν γὰρ πόλεις ἐπικαίρους καταλαμβανόμενοι διεφύλαττον ταύτας τῷ Δαρείῳ, οἱ δʼ ἔθνη προσαγόμενοι καὶ δυνάμεις περὶ αὑτοὺς παρασκευαζόμενοι τὰς ἁρμοζούσας χρείας τοῖς ὑποκειμένοις καιροῖς παρείχοντο. οἱ δὲ σύνεδροι τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἐψηφίσαντο πέμψαι πρέσβεις πεντεκαίδεκα στέφανον φέροντας χρυσοῦν παρὰ τῆς Ἑλλάδος ἀριστεῖον Ἀλεξάνδρῳ καὶ συνησθησομένους τῇ κατὰ Κιλικίαν νίκῃ. Ἀλέξανδρος δὲ στρατεύσας ἐπὶ Γάζαν φρουρουμένην ὑπὸ Περσῶν καὶ δίμηνον προσεδρεύσας εἷλε κατὰ κράτος τὴν πόλιν.
In Europe, Agis king of Sparta engaged the services of those mercenaries who had escaped from the battle at Issus, eight thousand in number, and sought to change the political situation in Greece in favour of Dareius. He received from the Persian king ships and money and sailed to Crete, where he captured most of the cities and forced them to take the Persian side. That Amyntas who had fled from Macedonia and had gone up to Dareius had fought on the Persian side in Cilicia. He escaped, however, from the battle at Issus with four thousand mercenaries and got to Tripolis in Phoenicia before Alexander's arrival. Here he chose from the whole Persian fleet enough ships to transport his soldiers, and burned the rest. He sailed over to Cyprus, took on additional soldiers and ships, and continued on down to Pelusium. Becoming master of that city, he proclaimed that he had been sent by King Dareius as military commander because the satrap of Egypt had been killed fighting at Issus in Cilicia. He sailed up the river to Memphis and defeated the local forces in a battle before the city, but then, as his soldiers turned to plunder, the Egyptians issued out of the city, attacked his men as they were scattered looting estates located in the countryside, and killed Amyntas and all who came with him to the last man. And that was the end of Amyntas, who had set his hand to great undertakings and failed when he had every prospect of success. His experience was paralleled by those of the other officers and troop leaders who escaped at the head of their military units from the battle at Issus and attempted to maintain the Persian cause. Some got to important cities and held them for Dareius, others raised tribes and furnishing themselves with troops from them performed appropriate duties in the time under review. The delegates of the League of Corinth voted to send fifteen envoys with a golden wreath as a prize of valour from Greece to Alexander, instructing them to congratulate him on his victory in Cilicia. Alexander, in the meantime, marched down to Gaza, which was garrisoned by the Persians, and took the city by storm after a siege of two months.
§ 17.49
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησιν Ἀριστοφάνους ἐν Ῥώμῃ κατεστάθησαν ὕπατοι Σπούριος Ποστόμιος καὶ Τῖτος Οὐετούριος. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Ἀλέξανδρος ὁ βασιλεὺς τὰ περὶ τὴν Γάζαν διοικήσας Ἀμύνταν μὲν μετὰ δέκα νεῶν εἰς Μακεδονίαν ἐξέπεμψε, προστάξας τῶν νέων τοὺς εὐθέτους ἐπιλέξαι πρὸς στρατείαν, αὐτὸς δὲ μετὰ πάσης τῆς δυνάμεως παρῆλθεν εἰς Αἴγυπτον καὶ παρέλαβε πάσας τὰς ἐν αὐτῇ πόλεις χωρὶς κινδύνων· οἱ γὰρ Αἰγύπτιοι τῶν Περσῶν ἠσεβηκότων εἰς τὰ ἱερὰ καὶ βιαίως ἀρχόντων ἄσμενοι προσεδέξαντο τοὺς Μακεδόνας. καταστήσας δὲ τὰ κατὰ τὴν Αἴγυπτον προῆλθεν εἰς Ἄμμωνος, βουλόμενος χρήσασθαι τῷ θεῷ. κατὰ μέσην δὲ τὴν ὁδὸν ἀπήντησαν αὐτῷ πρέσβεις παρὰ Κυρηναίων στέφανον κομίζοντες καὶ μεγαλοπρεπῆ δῶρα, ἐν οἷς ἦγον ἵππους τε πολεμιστὰς τριακοσίους καὶ πέντε τέθριππα τὰ κράτιστα. ὁ δὲ τούτους μὲν ἀποδεξάμενος φιλίαν καὶ συμμαχίαν συνέθετο πρὸς αὐτούς, αὐτὸς δὲ μετὰ τῶν συναποδημούντων προῆγεν ἐπὶ τὸ ἱερόν· καὶ διανύσας ἐπὶ τὴν ἔρημον καὶ ἄνυδρον, ὑδρευσάμενος διῄει τὴν χώραν ἔχουσαν ἄμμου μέγεθος ἀέριον. ἐν ἡμέραις δὲ τέσσαρσιν ἐξαναλωθέντων τῶν κομιζομένων ὑδάτων εἰς δεινὴν σπάνιν παρεγένοντο. εἰς ἀθυμίαν οὖν πάντων ἐμπεσόντων ἄφνω πολὺς ὄμβρος ἐξ οὐρανοῦ κατερράγη, τὴν ὑπάρχουσαν τῶν ὑγρῶν ἔνδειαν παραδόξως διωρθούμενος· διὸ καὶ τὸ συμβὰν ἔδοξεν ἀνελπίστως σωθεῖσι θεῶν προνοίᾳ γεγονέναι. ὑδρευσάμενοι δʼ ἔκ τινος κοιλάδος, ἐπὶ τέσσαρας ἡμέρας ἔχοντες ἀρκοῦσαν τὴν βοήθειαν καὶ διελθόντες ἡμέρας τέσσαρας διεξεπέρασαν τὴν ἄνυδρον. ἀδήλου δὲ τῆς ὁδοῦ καθεστώσης διὰ τὸ πλῆθος τῆς ἄμμου οἱ καθηγούμενοι τῆς ὁδοῦ προσήγγειλαν τῷ βασιλεῖ διότι κόρακες δεξιοὶ κλάζοντες τὴν τρίβον τῆς ἐπὶ τὸ ἱερὸν φερούσης ἀτραποῦ προσημαίνουσιν. οἰωνισάμενος δὲ τὸ συμβαῖνον ὁ Ἀλέξανδρος καὶ διαλαβὼν δέχεσθαι τὸν θεὸν ἀσμένως τὴν παρουσίαν αὐτοῦ προῆγε κατὰ σπουδήν. καὶ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον κατήνυσεν ἐπὶ τὴν πικρὰν καλουμένην λίμνην, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα πορευθεὶς σταδίους ἑκατὸν παρήλλαξε τὰς ἐπικαλουμένας Ἄμμωνος πόλεις· ἐντεῦθεν δʼ ὁδοιπορήσας μίαν ἡμέραν συνήγγισε τῷ τεμένει.
In the archonship of Aristophanes at Athens, the consuls at Rome were Spurius Postumius and Titus Veturius. In this year King Alexander set in order the affairs of Gaza and sent off Amyntas with ten ships to Macedonia, with orders to enlist the young men who were fit for military service. He himself with all his army marched on to Egypt and secured the adhesion of all its cities without striking a blow. For since the Persians had committed impieties against the temples and had governed harshly, the Egyptians welcomed the Macedonians. Having settled the affairs of Egypt, Alexander went off to the Temple of Ammon, where he wished to consult the oracle of the god. When he had advanced half way along the coast, he was met by envoys from the people of Cyrene, who brought him a crown and magnificent figures, among which were three hundred chargers and five handsome four-horse chariots. He received the envoys cordially and made a treaty of friendship and alliance with them; then he continued with his travelling companions on to the temple. When he came to the desert and waterless part, he took on water and began to cross a country covered with an infinite expanse of sand. In four days their water had given out and they suffered from fearful thirst. All fell into despair, when suddenly a great storm of rain burst from the heavens, ending their shortage of water in a way which had not been foreseen, and which, therefore, seemed to those so unexpectedly rescued to have been due to the action of divine Providence. They refilled their containers from a hollow in the ground, and again with a four days' supply in case marched for four days and came out of the desert.at one point, when their road could not be traced because of the sand dunes, the guide pointed out to the king that crows cawing on their right were calling their attention to the route which led to the temple. Alexander took this for an omen, and thinking that the god was pleased by his visit pushed on with speed. First he came to the so called Bitter Lake, and then, proceeding another hundred furlongs, he passed by the Cities of Ammon. Then, after a journey of one day, he approached the sanctuary.
§ 17.50
ἡ δὲ περὶ τὸ ἱερὸν τοῦτο χώρα περιέχεται ὑπὸ ἐρήμου καὶ ἀνύδρου τῆς ἀμμώδους, πάσης φιλανθρωπίας ἐστερημένης. αὐτὴ δʼ ἐπὶ μῆκος καὶ πλάτος ἐπὶ σταδίους πεντήκοντα παρήκουσα πολλοῖς μὲν καὶ καλοῖς ὕδασι ναματιαίοις διαρρεῖται, δένδρων δὲ παντοδαπῶν καὶ μάλιστα καρπίμων πληθύει· καὶ τὸν μὲν ἀέρα τῇ κράσει παραπλήσιον ἔχει ταῖς ἐαριναῖς ὥραις, τόποισδὲ καυματώδεσι περιεχομένη μόνη παρηλλαγμένην παρέχεται τοῖς ἐνδιατρίβουσι τὴν εὐκρασίαν. τὸ μὲν οὖν τέμενός φασιν ἱδρύσασθαι Δαναὸν τὸν Αἰγύπτιον, τὴν δὲ ἱερὰν τοῦ θεοῦ χώραν περιοικοῦσι κατὰ μὲν τὴν μεσημβρίαν καὶ δύσιν Αἰθίοπες, κατὰ δὲ τὴν ἄρκτον Λιβύων νομαδικὸν ἔθνος καὶ πρὸς τὴν μεσόγειον ἀνῆκον τὸ τῶν Νασαμώνων ὀνομαζομένων ἔθνος. τῶν δʼ Ἀμμωνίων κωμηδὸν οἰκούντων κατὰ μέσην αὐτῶν τὴν χώραν ἀκρόπολις ὑπάρχει τριπλοῖς ὠχυρωμένη τοῖς τείχεσι· καὶ ταύτης ὁ μὲν πρῶτος περίβολος ἔχει τῶν ἀρχαίων δυναστῶν βασίλεια, ὁ δʼ ἕτερος τὴν γυναικωνῖτιν αὐλὴν καὶ τὰς τῶν τέκνων καὶ γυναικῶν καὶ συγγενῶν οἰκήσεις καὶ φυλακτήρια τῶν σκοπῶν, ἔτι δὲ τὸν τοῦ θεοῦ σηκὸν καὶ τὴν ἱερὰν κρήνην, ἀφʼ ἧς τὰ τῷ θεῷ προσφερόμενα τυγχάνει τῆς ἁγνείας, ὁ δὲ τρίτος τὰς τῶν δορυφόρων καταλύσεις καὶ τὰ φυλακτήρια τῶν τὸν τύραννον δορυφορούντων. καθίδρυται δὲ τῆς ἀκροπόλεως ἐκτὸς οὐ μακρὰν ἕτερος ναὸς Ἄμμωνος πολλοῖς καὶ μεγάλοις δένδροις σύσκιος. τούτου δὲ πλησίον ὑπάρχει κρήνη διὰ τὸ συμβεβηκὸς ὀνομαζομένη Ἡλίου κρήνη· αὕτη δὲ τὸ ὕδωρ ἔχει συμμεταβαλλόμενον αἰεὶ ταῖς ἡμεριναῖς ὥραις παραδόξως. ἅμʼ ἡμέρᾳ γὰρ ἐξίησι τὴν πηγὴν χλιαράν, προϊούσης δὲ τῆς ἡμέρας τῇ προσθέσει τῶν ὡρῶν ἀνάλογον καταψύχεται, τοῦ μεσημβρινοῦ δὲ καύματος ἀκμάζει τῇ ψυχρότητι· πάλιν δὲ ἀνάλογον ἀπολήγει πρὸς τὴν ἑσπέραν καὶ τῆς νυκτὸς ἐπιλαβούσης ἀναθερμαίνεται μέχρι μέσων νυκτῶν καὶ τὸ λοιπὸν ἀπολήγει, μέχρι ἂν ἅμα τῷ φωτὶ πρὸς τὴν ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἀποκατασταθῇ τάξιν. τὸ δὲ τοῦ θεοῦ ξόανον ἐκ σμαράγδων καί τινων ἄλλων πολυτελῶν λίθων περιέχεται καὶ τὴν μαντείαν ἰδιάζουσαν παντελῶς ποιεῖται. ἐπὶ νεὼς γὰρ περιφέρεται χρυσῆς ὑπὸ ἱερέων ὀγδοήκοντα· οὗτοι δʼ ἐπὶ τῶν ὤμων φέροντες τὸν θεὸν προάγουσιν αὐτομάτως ὅπου ποτʼ ἂν ἄγῃ τὸ τοῦ θεοῦ νεῦμα τὴν πορείαν. συνακολουθεῖ δὲ πλῆθος παρθένων καὶ γυναικῶν παιᾶνας ᾀδουσῶν κατὰ πᾶσαν τὴν ὁδὸν καὶ πατρίῳ καθυμνούντων ᾠδῇ τὸν θεόν.
The land where this temple lies is surrounded by a sandy desert and waterless waste, destitute of anything good for man. The oasis is fifty furlongs in length and breadth and is watered by many fine springs, so that it is covered with all sorts of trees, especially those valued for their fruit. It has a moderate climate like our spring and, surrounded as it is by very hot regions, alone furnishes to its people a contrasting mildness of temperature. It is said that the sanctuary was built by Danaus the Egyptian. The land, which is sacred to the god, is occupied on the south and west by Ethiopians, and on the north by the Libyans, a nomadic people, and the so called Nasamonians who reach on into the interior. All the people of Ammon dwell in villages. In the midst of their country there is a fortress secured by triple walls. The innermost circuit encloses the palace of the ancient rulers; the next, the women's court, the dwellings of the children, women, and relatives, and the guardrooms of the scouts, as well as the sanctuary of the godand the sacred spring, from the waters of which offerings addressed to the god take on holiness; the outer circuit surrounds the barracks of the king's guards and the guardrooms of those who protect the person of the ruler. Outside of the fortress at no great distance there is another temple of Ammon shaded by many large trees, and near this is the spring which is called the Spring of the Sun from its behaviour. Its waters change in temperature oddly in accordance with the times of day. At sunrise it sends forth a warm stream, but as the day advances it grows cooler proportionally with the passage of the hours, until under the noonday heat it reaches the extreme degree of cold. Then again in the same proportion it grows warmer toward evening and as the night advances it continues to heat up until midnight when again the trend is reversed, and at daybreak once more the waters have returned to their original temperature. The image of the god is encrusted with emeralds and other precious stones, and answers those who consult the oracle in a quite peculiar fashion. It is carried about upon a golden boat by eighty priests, and these, with the god on their shoulders, go without their own volition wherever the god directs their path. A multitude of girls and women follows them singing hymns as they go and praising the god in a traditional hymn.
§ 17.51
τοῦ δʼ Ἀλεξάνδρου διὰ τῶν ἱερέων εἰσαχθέντος εἰς τὸν νεὼν καὶ τὸν θεὸν κατανοήσαντος ὁ μὲν προφητεύων ἀνὴρ πρεσβύτερος τὴν ἡλικίαν προσελθὼν αὐτῷ, χαῖρε, εἶπεν, ὦ παῖ· καὶ ταύτην παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ ἔχε τὴν πρόσρησιν. ὁ δʼ ὑπολαβών, δέχομαι, φησίν, ὦ πάτερ, καὶ τὸ λοιπὸν κεκλήσομαι σός. ἀλλʼ εἰπέ μοι εἴ μοι δίδως τὴν ἁπάσης τῆς γῆς ἀρχήν. τοῦ δὲ ἱερέως προσελθόντος τῷ σηκῷ καὶ τῶν ἀνδρῶν τῶν αἰρόντων τὸν θεὸν κινηθέντων τεταγμένοις τισὶ τῆς φωνῆς συμβόλοις ὁ μὲν ἀνεῖπεν βεβαίως αὐτῷ διδόναι τὸν θεὸν τὴν αἴτησιν, ὁ δʼ Ἀλέξανδρος ὑπολαβών, τὸ λοιπόν, εἶπεν, ὦ δαῖμον, ἀπόφηναί μοι τῶν ζητουμένων, εἰ πάντας ἤδη μετελήλυθα τοὺς γενομένους φονεῖς τοῦ πατρὸς ἤ τινες διαλελήθασιν. ὁ δὲ προφήτης ἀνεβόησεν εὐφήμει· οὐδένα γὰρ ἀνθρώπων ὑπάρχειν τὸν δυνησόμενον ἐπιβουλεῦσαι τῷ γεννήσαντι αὐτόν, τοὺς δὲ τοῦ Φιλίππου φονεῖς ἅπαντας τετευχέναι τιμωρίας. τεκμήρια δʼ ἔσεσθαι τῆς ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ γενέσεως τὸ μέγεθος τῶν ἐν ταῖς πράξεσι κατορθωμάτων· καὶ γὰρ πρότερον ἀήττητον αὐτὸν γεγονέναι καὶ μετὰ ταῦτʼ ἔσεσθαι διὰ παντὸς ἀνίκητον. ὁ δʼ Ἀλέξανδρος ἡσθεὶς ἐπὶ τοῖς κεχρησμῳδημένοις καὶ τὸν θεὸν μεγαλοπρεπέσιν ἀναθήμασι τιμήσας ἐπανῆλθεν εἰς τὴν Αἴγυπτον.
When Alexander was conducted by the priests into the temple and had regarded the god for a while, the one who held the position of prophet, an elderly man, came to him and said, "Rejoice, son; take this form of address as from the god also." He replied, "I accept, father; for the future I shall be called thy son. But tell me if thou givest me the rule of the whole earth." The priest now entered the sacred enclosure and as the bearers now lifted the god and were moved according to certain prescribed sounds of the voice, the prophet cried that of a certainty the god had granted him his request, and Alexander spoke again: "The last, O spirit, of my questions now answer; have I punished all those who were the murderers of my father or have some escaped me?" The prophet shouted: "Silence! There is no mortal who can plot against the one who begot him. All the murders of Philip, however, have been punished. The proof of his divine birth will resist in the greatness of his deeds; as formerly he has been undefeated, so now he will be unconquerable for all time." Alexander was delighted with these responses. He honoured the god with rich gifts and returned to Egypt.
§ 17.52
κρίνας δʼ ἐν ταύτῃ πόλιν μεγάλην κτίσαι προσέταξε τοῖς ἐπὶ τὴν ἐπιμέλειαν ταύτην καταλειπομένοις ἀνὰ μέσον τῆς τε λίμνης καὶ τῆς θαλάσσης οἰκίσαι τὴν πόλιν. διαμετρήσας δὲ τὸν τόπον καὶ ῥυμοτομήσας φιλοτέχνως τὴν πόλιν ἀφʼ αὑτοῦ προσηγόρευσεν Ἀλεξάνδρειαν, εὐκαιρότατα μὲν κειμένην πλησίον τοῦ Φάρου λιμένος, εὐστοχίᾳ δὲ τῆς ῥυμοτομίας ποιήσας διαπνεῖσθαι τὴν πόλιν τοῖς ἐτησίοις ἀνέμοις καὶ τούτων πνεόντων μὲν διὰ τοῦ μεγίστου πελάγους, καταψυχόντων δὲ τὸν κατὰ τὴν πόλιν ἀέρα πολλὴν τοῖς κατοικοῦσιν εὐκρασίαν καὶ ὑγίειαν κατεσκεύασεν. καὶ τὸν μὲν περίβολον αὐτῆς ὑπεστήσατο τῷ τε μεγέθει διαφέροντα καὶ κατὰ τὴν ὀχυρότητα θαυμάσιον· ἀνὰμέσον γὰρ ὢν μεγάλης λίμνης καὶ τῆς θαλάσσης δύο μόνον ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς ἔχει προσόδους στενὰς καὶ παντελῶς εὐφυλάκτους. τὸν δὲ τύπον ἀποτελῶν χλαμύδι παραπλήσιον ἔχει πλατεῖαν μέσην σχεδὸν τὴν πόλιν τέμνουσαν καὶ τῷ τε μεγέθει καὶ κάλλει θαυμαστήν· ἀπὸ γὰρ πύλης ἐπὶ πύλην διήκουσα τεσσαράκοντα μὲν σταδίων ἔχει τὸ μῆκος, πλέθρου δὲ τὸ πλάτος, οἰκιῶν δὲ καὶ ἱερῶν πολυτελέσι κατασκευαῖς πᾶσα κεκόσμηται. προσέταξεν δʼ ὁ Ἀλέξανδρος καὶ βασίλεια κατασκευάσαι θαυμαστὰ κατὰ τὸ μέγεθος καὶ βάρος τῶν ἔργων. οὐ μόνον δʼ ὁ Ἀλέξανδρος, ἀλλὰ καὶ οἱ μετʼ αὐτὸν βασιλεύσαντες Αἰγύπτου μέχρι τοῦ καθʼ ἡμᾶς βίου σχεδὸν ἅπαντες πολυτελέσι κατασκευαῖς ηὔξησαν τὰ βασίλεια. καθόλου δʼ ἡ πόλις τοσαύτην ἐπίδοσιν ἔλαβεν ἐν τοῖς ὕστερον χρόνοις ὥστε παρὰ πολλοῖς αὐτὴν πρώτην ἀριθμεῖσθαι τῶν κατὰ τὴν οἰκουμένην· καὶ γὰρ κάλλει καὶ μεγέθει καὶ προσόδων πλήθει καὶ τῶν πρὸς τρυφὴν ἀνηκόντων πολὺ διαφέρει τῶν ἄλλων. τὸ δὲ τῶν κατοικούντων οἰκητόρων αὐτὴν πλῆθος ὑπερβάλλει τοὺς ἐν ταῖς ἄλλαις πόλεσιν οἰκήτορας· καθʼ ὃν γὰρ ἡμεῖς παρεβάλομεν χρόνον εἰς Αἴγυπτον, ἔφασαν οἱ τὰς ἀναγραφὰς ἔχοντες τῶν κατοικούντων εἶναι τοὺς ἐν αὐτῇ διατρίβοντας ἐλευθέρους πλείους τῶν τριάκοντα μυριάδων, ἐκ δὲ τῶν προσόδων τῶν κατʼ Αἴγυπτον λαμβάνειν τὸν βασιλέα πλείω τῶν ἑξακισχιλίων ταλάντων. ὁ δʼ οὖν βασιλεὺς Ἀλέξανδρος ἐπιστήσας τινὰς τῶν φίλων ἐπὶ τὴν κατασκευὴν τῆς Ἀλεξανδρείας καὶ διοικήσας ἅπαντα τὰ κατὰ τὴν Αἴγυπτον ἐπανῆλθε μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως εἰς τὴν Συρίαν.
He decided to found a great city in Egypt, and gave orders to the men left behind with this mission to build the city between the marsh and the sea. He laid out the site and traced the streets skilfully and ordered that the city should be called after him Alexandria. It was conveniently situated near the harbour of Pharos, and by selecting the right angle of the streets, Alexander made the city breathe with the etesian winds so that as these blow across a great expanse of sea, they cool the air of the town, and so he provided its inhabitants with a moderate climate and good health. Alexander also laid out the walls so that they were at once exceedingly large and marvellously strong. Lying between a great marsh and the sea, it affords by land only two approaches, both narrow and very easily blocked. In shape, it is similar to a chlamys, a and it is approximately bisected by an avenue remarkable for its size and beauty. From gate to gate it runs a distance of forty furlongs; it is a plethron in width, and is bordered throughout its length with rich facades of houses and temples. Alexander gave orders to build a palace notable for its size and massiveness. And not only Alexander, but those who after him ruled Egypt down to our own time, with few exceptions have enlarged this with lavish additions. The city in general has grown so much in later times that many reckon it to be the first city of the civilized world, and it is certainly far ahead of all the rest in elegance and extent and riches and luxury. The number of its inhabitants surpasses that of those in other cities. At the time when we were in Egypt, those who kept the census returns of the population said that its free residents were more than three hundred thousand, and that the king received from the revenues of the country more than six thousand talents. However that may be, King Alexander charged certain of his Friends with the construction of Alexandria, settled all the affairs of Egypt, and returned with his army to Syria.
§ 17.53
Δαρεῖος δὲ πυθόμενος αὐτοῦ τὴν παρουσίαν συνηθροίκει μὲν τὰς πανταχόθεν δυνάμεις καὶ πάντα τὰ πρὸς τὴν παράταξιν χρήσιμα κατεσκεύαστο. τὰ μὲν γὰρ ξίφη καὶ τὰ ξυστὰ πολὺ μείζω τῶν προγεγενημένων ἐποίησε διὰ τὸ δοκεῖν διὰ τούτων πολλὰ τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον ἐν τῇ περὶ Κιλικίαν μάχῃ πεπλεονεκτηκέναι· κατεσκεύασε δὲ καὶ ἅρματα δρεπανηφόρα διακόσια πρὸς κατάπληξιν καὶ φόβον τῶν πολεμίων εὐθέτως ἐπινενοημένα. τούτων γὰρ ἑκάστου παρʼ ἑκάτερον τῶν σειροφόρων ἵππων ἐξέκειτο προσηλωμένα τῷ ζυγῷ ξύστρα παραμήκη τρισπίθαμα, τὴν ἐπιστροφὴν τῆς ἀκμῆς ἔχοντα πρὸς τὴν κατὰ πρόσωπον ἐπιφάνειαν, πρὸς δὲ ταῖς κατακλείσεσι τῶν ἀξόνων ἐπʼ εὐθείας ἄλλα δύο, τὴν μὲν τομὴν ὁμοίαν ἔχοντα πρὸς τὴν κατὰ πρόσωπον ἐπιφάνειαν τοῖς προτέροις, τὸ δὲ μῆκος μείζω καὶ πλατύτερα· συνήρμοστο δὲ ταῖς τούτων ἀρχαῖς δρέπανα. πᾶσαν δὲ τὴν δύναμιν ἔν τε ὅπλοις ἐπισήμοις καὶ ἡγεμόνων ἀρεταῖς κοσμήσας ἀνέζευξεν ἐκ τῆς Βαβυλῶνος ἔχων πεζοὺς μὲν περὶ ὀγδοήκοντα μυριάδας, ἱππεῖς δὲ οὐκ ἐλάττους τῶν εἴκοσι μυριάδων. κατὰ δὲ τὴν ὁδοιπορίαν δεξιὸν μὲν ἔχων τὸν Τίγριν, ἀριστερὸν δὲ τὸν Εὐφράτην προῄει διὰ χώρας εὐδαίμονος καὶ δυναμένης τοῖς κτήνεσι δαψιλῆ χορτάσματα παρασχέσθαι, τῷ δὲ πλήθει τῶν στρατιωτῶν ἱκανὰς τροφὰς χορηγῆσαι. ἔσπευδε γὰρ περὶ τὴν Νίνον ποιήσασθαι τὴν παράταξιν, εὐθετωτάτων ὄντων τῶν περὶ αὐτὴν πεδίων καὶ πολλὴν εὐρυχωρίαν παρεχομένων τῷ μεγέθει τῶν ἠθροισμένων ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ δυνάμεων. καταστρατοπεδεύσας δὲ περὶ κώμην τὴν ὀνομαζομένην Ἄρβηλα τὰς δυνάμεις ἐνταῦθα καθʼ ἡμέραν ἐξέταττε καὶ τῇ συνεχεῖ διατάξει καὶ μελέτῃ κατεσκεύασεν εὐπειθεῖς· σφόδρα γὰρ ἠγωνία μήποτε πολλῶν καὶ ἀσυμφώνων ἐθνῶν ἠθροισμένων ταῖς διαλέκτοις ταραχή τις γένηται κατὰ τὴν παράταξιν.
By the time he heard of his arrival, Dareius had already assembled his forces from all directions and made everything ready for battle. He had fashioned swords and lances much longer than his earlier types because it was thought Alexander had had a great advantage in this respect in the battle in Cilicia. He had also constructed two hundred scythe-bearing chariots well designed to astonish and terrify the enemy. From each of these there projected out beyond the trace horses scythes three spans long, attached to the yoke, and presenting their cutting edges to the front. At the axle housings there were two more scythes pointing straight out with their cutting edges turned to the front like the others, but longer and broader. Curved blades were fitted to the ends of these. All of the force the king adorned with shining armour and with brilliant commanders. As he marched out of Babylon, he had with him eight hundred thousand infantry and no less than two hundred thousand cavalry. He kept the Tigris on the right of his route and the Euphrates on the left, and proceeded through a rich country capable of furnishing ample fodder for the animals and food enough for so many soldiers. He had in mind to deploy for battle in the vicinity of Nineveh, since the plains there were well suited to his purpose and afforded ample manoeuvre room for the huge forces at his disposal. Pitching camp at a village named Arbela, he drilled his troops daily and made them well disciplined by continued training and practice. He was most concerned lest some confusion should arise in the battle from the numerous peoples assembled who differed in speech.
§ 17.54
περὶ δὲ διαλύσεως καὶ πρότερον μὲν ἐξέπεμψε πρεσβευτὰς πρὸς Ἀλέξανδρον, ἐκχωρῶν αὐτῷ τῆς ἐντὸς Ἅλυος ποταμοῦ χώρας, καὶ προσεπηγγέλλετο δώσειν ἀργυρίου τάλαντα δισμύρια. ὡς δʼ οὐ προσεῖχεν αὐτῷ, πάλιν ἐξέπεμψεν ἄλλους πρέσβεις, ἐπαινῶν μὲν αὐτὸν ἐπὶ τῷ καλῶς κεχρῆσθαι τῇ τε μητρὶ καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις αἰχμαλώτοις, ἀξιῶν δὲ φίλον γενέσθαι καὶ λαβεῖν τὴν ἐντὸς Εὐφράτου χώραν καὶ τάλαντʼ ἀργυρίου τρισμύρια καὶ τὴν ἑτέραν τῶν ἑαυτοῦ θυγατέρων γυναῖκα, καθόλου δὲ γενόμενον γαμβρὸν καὶ τάξιν υἱοῦ λαβόντα καθάπερ κοινωνὸν γενέσθαι τῆς ὅλης βασιλείας. ὁ δʼ Ἀλέξανδρος εἰς τὸ συνέδριον παραλαβὼν πάντας τοὺς φίλους καὶ περὶ τῶν προτιθεμένων αἱρέσεων ἀνακοινωσάμενος ἠξίου τὴν ἰδίαν γνώμην ἕκαστον μετὰ παρρησίας ἀποφήνασθαι. τῶν μὲν οὖν ἄλλων οὐδεὶς ἐτόλμα συμβουλεῦσαι διὰ τὸ μέγεθος τῆς ὑποκειμένης ζητήσεως, Παρμενίων δὲ πρῶτος εἶπεν, ἐγὼ μὲν ὢν Ἀλέξανδρος ἔλαβον ἂν τὰ διδόμενα καὶ τὴν σύνθεσιν ἐποιησάμην. ὁ δʼ Ἀλέξανδρος ὑπολαβὼν εἶπεν, κἀγὼ εἰ Παρμενίων ἦν ἔλαβον ἄν. καθόλου δὲ καὶ ἄλλοις μεγαλοψύχοις λόγοις χρησάμενος καὶ τοὺς μὲν λόγους τῶν Περσῶν ἀποδοκιμάσας, προτιμήσας δὲ τὴν εὐδοξίαν τῶν προτεινομένων δωρεῶν τοῖς μὲν πρέσβεσιν ἀπόκρισιν ἔδωκεν ὡς οὔθʼ ὁ κόσμος δυεῖν ἡλίων ὄντων τηρῆσαι δύναιτʼ ἂν τὴν ἰδίαν διακόσμησίν τε καὶ τάξιν οὔθʼ ἡ οἰκουμένη δύο βασιλέων ἐχόντων τὴν ἡγεμονίαν ἀταράχως καὶ ἀστασιάστως διαμένειν ἂν δύναιτο. διόπερ ἀπαγγέλλειν αὐτοὺς ἐκέλευσε τῷ Δαρείῳ, εἰ μὲν τῶν πρωτείων ὀρέγεται, διαμάχεσθαι πρὸς αὐτὸν περὶ τῆς τῶν ὅλων μοναρχίας· εἰ δὲ δόξης καταφρονῶν προκρίνει τὴν λυσιτέλειαν καὶ τὴν ἐκ τῆς ῥᾳστώνης τρυφήν, αὐτὸς μὲν Ἀλεξάνδρῳ ποιείτω τὰ προσταττόμενα, ἄλλων δὲ ἄρχων βασιλευέτω, συγχωρουμένης αὐτῷ τῆς ἐξουσίας ὑπὸ τῆς Ἀλεξάνδρου χρηστότητος. τὸ δὲ συνέδριον διαλύσας καὶ τὴν δύναμιν ἀναλαβὼν προῆγεν ἐπὶ τὴν τῶν πολεμίων στρατοπεδείαν. ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις τῆς τοῦ Δαρείου γυναικὸς ἀποθανούσης ὁ Ἀλέξανδρος ἔθαψεν αὐτὴν μεγαλοπρεπῶς.
On the other hand, just as he had previously sent envoys to Alexander to treaty for peace, offering to concede to him the land west of the Halys River, and also to give him twenty thousand talents of silver, but Alexander would not agree, so now again Dareius sent other envoys praising Alexander for his generous treatment of Dareius's mother and the other captives and inviting him to become a friend. He offered him all the territory west of the Euphrates, thirty thousand talents of silver, and the hand of one of his daughters. Alexander would become Dareius's son-in law and occupy the place of a son, while sharing in the rule of the whole empire. Alexander brought together all his Friends into a council and laid before them the alternatives. He urged each to speak his own mind freely. None of the rest, however, dared to give an opinion in a matter of this importance, but Parmenion spoke up and said" "If I were Alexander, I should accept what was offered and make a treaty." Alexander cut in and said: "So should I, if I were Parmenion." He continued with proud words and refuted the arguments of the Persians, preferring glory to the gifts which were extended to him. Then he told the envoys that the earth could not preserve its plan and order if there were two suns nor could the inhabited world remain calm and free from war so long as two kings shared the rule. He bade them tell Dareius that, if he desired the supremacy, he should do battle with him to see which of them would have sole and universal rule. If, on the other hand, he despised glory and chose profit and luxury with a life of ease, then let him obey Alexander, but be king over all other rulers, since this privilege was granted him by Alexander's generosity. Alexander dismissed the council and ordering his forces to resume their march, he advanced on the camp of the enemy. At this juncture the wife of Dareius died and Alexander gave her a sumptuous funeral.
§ 17.55
Δαρεῖος δὲ τῶν ἀποκρίσεων ἀκούσας καὶ τὴν διὰ τῶν λόγων σύνθεσιν ἀπογνοὺς τὴν μὲν δύναμιν καθʼ ἡμέραν συνέταττε καὶ πρὸς τὴν ἐν τοῖς κινδύνοις εὐηκοΐαν ἑτοίμην κατεσκεύαζε, τῶν δὲ φίλων Μαζαῖον μὲν μετὰ στρατιωτῶν ἐπιλέκτων ἐξαπέστειλε παραφυλάξοντα τὴν διάβασιν τοῦ ποταμοῦ καὶ τὸν πόρον προκαταληψόμενον, ἑτέρους δʼ ἐξέπεμψε τὴν χώραν πυρπολήσοντας διʼ ἧς ἀναγκαῖον ἦν διελθεῖν τοὺς πολεμίους· ἐνόμιζε γὰρ τῷ μὲν ῥεύματι τοῦ ποταμοῦ προβλήματι χρῆσθαι πρὸς τὴν ἔφοδον τῶν Μακεδόνων. τούτων δʼ ὁ μὲν Μαζαῖος ὁρῶν ἀδιάβατον ὄντα τὸν ποταμὸν διά τε τὸ βάθος καὶ τὴν σφοδρότητα τοῦ ῥεύματος τῆς μὲν τούτου φυλακῆς ἠμέλησε, τοῖς δὲ τὴν χώραν πυρπολοῦσι συνεργήσας καὶ πολλὴν γῆν διαφθείρας ὑπέλαβεν ἄβατον ἔσεσθαι τοῖς πολεμίοις διὰ τὴν σπάνιν τῆς τροφῆς. ὁ δʼ Ἀλέξανδρος παραγενόμενος πρὸς τὴν διάβασιν τοῦ Τίγρεως ποταμοῦ καὶ τὸν πόρον ὑπό τινων ἐγχωρίων μαθὼν διεβίβασε τὴν δύναμιν οὐ μόνον ἐπιπόνως, ἀλλὰ καὶ παντελῶς ἐπικινδύνως. τοῦ γὰρ πόρου τὸ μὲν βάθος ἦν ὑπὲρ τῶν μαστῶν, τοῦ δὲ ῥεύματος ἡ ὀξύτης πολλοὺς τῶν διαβαινόντων παρέσυρεν καὶ τὴν βάσιν τῶν σκελῶν παρῃρεῖτο, τό τε ῥεῦμα τοῖς ὅπλοις ἐμπῖπτον πολλούς τε παρέφερε καὶ τοῖς ἐσχάτοις κινδύνοις περιέβαλλεν. ὁ δʼ Ἀλέξανδρος πρὸς τὴν σφοδρότητα τοῦ ῥεύματος ἀντιμηχανώμενος παρήγγειλε πᾶσι τὰς χεῖρας ἀλλήλοις συμπλέκειν καὶ τὴν ὅλην τῶν σωμάτων πυκνότητα ποιεῖν ζεύγματι παραπλησίαν. παραβόλου δὲ γενομένης τῆς διαβάσεως καὶ τῶν Μακεδόνων μόγις διασωθέντων τὴν μὲν ἡμέραν ταύτην προσανέλαβε τὴν δύναμιν, τῇ δʼ ὑστεραίᾳ συντεταγμένην ἔχων τὴν στρατιὰν προῆγεν ἐπὶ τοὺς πολεμίους καὶ σύνεγγυς γενόμενος τῶν Περσῶν κατεστρατοπέδευσεν.
Dareius heard Alexander's answer and gave up any hope of a diplomatic settlement. He continued drilling his troops each day and brought their battle discipline to a satisfactory state. He sent off one of his Friends, Mazaeus, with a picked body of men to guard the crossing of the river and to seize and hold the ford. Other troops he sent out to scorch the earth over which the enemy must come. He thought of using the bed of the Tigris as a defence against the advance of the Macedonians. Mazaeus, however, looked upon the river as uncrossable because of its depth and the swiftness of the current, and neglected to guard it. Instead he joined forces with those who were burning the countryside, and having wasted a great stretch of it, judged that it would be unusable by the enemy because of the lack of forage. Alexander, nevertheless, when he came to the crossing of the Tigris River, learned of the ford from some of the local natives, and transferred his army to the east bank. This was accomplished not only with difficulty but even at substantial risk. The depth of the water at the ford was above a man's breast and the force of the current swept away many who were crossing and deprived them of their footing, and as the water struck their shields, it bore many off their course and brought them into extreme danger. But Alexander contrived a defence against the violence of the river. He ordered all to lock arms with each other and to construct a sort of bridge out of the compact union of their persons. Since the crossing had been hazardous and the Macedonians had had a narrow escape, Alexander rested the army that day, and on the following he deployed it and led it forward toward the enemy, then pitched camp not far from the Persians.
§ 17.56
ἀναλογιζόμενος δὲ τὸ πλῆθος τῆς τῶν Περσῶν δυνάμεως καὶ τὸ μέγεθος τῶν ἐπικειμένων κινδύνων, ἔτι δὲ τὴν περὶ τῶν ὅλων κρίσιν ἐν χερσὶν οὖσαν διηγρύπνησε τὴν νύκτα συνεχόμενος τῇ περὶ τοῦ μέλλοντος φροντίδι· ὑπὸ δὲ τὴν ἑωθινὴν φυλακὴν τραπεὶς εἰς ὕπνον οὕτως ἐκοιμήθη βαθέως ὥστε τῆς ἡμέρας ἐπιγενομένης μὴ δύνασθαι διεγερθῆναι. τὸ μὲν οὖν πρῶτον οἱ φίλοι τὸ συμβὰν ἡδέως ἑώρων, νομίζοντες τὸν βασιλέα πρὸς τὸν ὑποκείμενον κίνδυνον εὐτονώτερον ἔσεσθαι τετευχότα πολλῆς ἀνέσεως· ὡς δʼ ὁ μὲν χρόνος προέβαινεν, ὁ δʼ ὕπνος συνεῖχε τὸν βασιλέα, Παρμενίων πρεσβύτατος ὢν τῶν φίλων ἀφʼ ἑαυτοῦ πρόσταγμα διέδωκε τοῖς πλήθεσιν ἑτοιμάζεσθαι τὰ πρὸς τὴν μάχην. οὐκ ἀνιεμένου δʼ αὐτοῦ προσελθόντες οἱ φίλοι μόγις διήγειραν τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον. θαυμαζόντων δʼ ἐπὶ τῷ συμβεβηκότι πάντων καὶ τὴν αἰτίαν ἀκοῦσαι βουλομένων ἔφησεν ὁ Ἀλέξανδρος Δαρεῖον εἰς ἕνα τόπον ἠθροικότα τὰς δυνάμεις ἀπολελυκέναι πάσης ἀγωνίας αὐτόν· μιᾷ γὰρ ἡμέρᾳ κριθέντα περὶ τῶν ὅλων παύσεσθαι τῶν πόνων καὶ πολυχρονίων κινδύνων. οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ παρακαλέσας τοὺς ἡγεμόνας τοῖς οἰκείοις λόγοις καὶ πρὸς τοὺς ἐπιφερομένους κινδύνους εὐθαρσεῖς καταστήσας προῆγε τὴν δύναμιν συντεταγμένην ἐπὶ τοὺς βαρβάρους, τῆς τῶν πεζῶν φάλαγγος τὰς τῶν ἱππέων εἴλας προτάξας.
Casting over in his mind the number of the Persian forces and the decisive nature of the impending battle, since success or failure lay now entirely in the strength of their arms, Alexander lay awake throughout the night occupied with concern for the next day. About the morning watch he fell asleep, and slept so soundly that he could not be wakened when the sun rose. At first his Friends were delighted, thinking that the king would be all the keener for the battle for his thorough relaxation. As time passed, however, and sleep continued to possess him, Parmenion, the senior among the Friends, issued on his own responsibility the order to the troops to make ready for the battle, and since his sleep continued, the Friends came to Alexander and at last succeeded in waking him. As all expressed astonishment at the matter and pressed him to tell the reason for his unconcern, Alexander said that Dareius had freed him from all anxiety by assembling all his forces into one place. Now in one day the decision would be reached on all issues, and they would be saved toils and dangers extending over a long period of time. Nevertheless, Alexander summoned his officers and encouraged them for the battle which they faced with suitable words, and then led out his army deployed for battle against the Persians, ordering the cavalry squadrons to ride ahead of the infantry phalanx.
§ 17.57
ἐπὶ μὲν οὖν τὸ δεξιὸν κέρας ἔταξε τὴν βασιλικὴν εἴλην, ἧς εἶχε τὴν ἡγεμονίαν Κλεῖτος ὁ μέλας ὀνομαζόμενος, ἐχομένους δὲ ταύτης τοὺς ἄλλους φίλους, ὧν ἡγεῖτο Φιλώτας ὁ Παρμενίωνος, ἑξῆς δὲ τὰς ἄλλας ἱππαρχίας ἑπτὰ τεταγμένας ὑπὸ τὸν αὐτὸν ἡγεμόνα. ὄπισθεν δὲ τούτων ὑπετάγη τὸ τῶν ἀργυρασπίδων πεζῶν τάγμα, διαφέρον τῇ τε τῶν ὅπλων λαμπρότητι καὶ τῇ τῶν ἀνδρῶν ἀρετῇ· καὶ τούτων ἡγεῖτο Νικάνωρ ὁ Παρμενίωνος. ἐχομένην δὲ τούτων ἔστησε τὴν Ἐλιμιῶτιν καλουμένην στρατηγίαν, ἧς Κοῖνος ἡγεῖτο, ἑξῆς δὲ τὴν τῶν Ὀρεστῶν καὶ Λυγκηστῶν τάξιν ἔστησε, Περδίκκου τὴν στρατηγίαν ἔχοντος. καὶ τὴν μὲν ἐχομένην στρατηγίαν Μελέαγρος εἶχε, τὴν δὲ συνεχῆ ταύτης Πολυπέρχων, τεταγμένων ὑπʼ αὐτὸν τῶν ὀνομαζομένων Στυμφαίων. Φίλιππος δʼ ὁ Βαλάκρου τὴν συνεχῆ ταύτης στρατηγίαν ἐπλήρου καὶ τῆς μετὰ ταύτην Κρατερὸς ἡγεῖτο. τῶν δὲ προειρημένων ἱππέων τὴν συνεχῆ τάξιν ἀπεπλήρουν οἱ ἀπὸ Πελοποννήσου καὶ Ἀχαΐας συστρατεύσαντες ἱππεῖς καὶ Φθιῶται καὶ Μαλιεῖς, ἔτι δὲ Λοκροὶ καὶ Φωκεῖς, ὧν ἡγεῖτο Ἐρίγυιος ὁ Μιτυληναῖος. ἑξῆς δʼ εἱστήκεισαν Θετταλοί, Φίλιππον μὲν ἔχοντες ἡγεμόνα, ἀνδρείᾳ δὲ καὶ τῇ τῶν εἰλῶν ἱππασίᾳ πολὺ προέχοντες τῶν ἄλλων. ἐχομένους δὲ τούτων τοὺς ἐκ Κρήτης τοξότας ἔταξε καὶ τοὺς ἐκ τῆς Ἀχαΐας μισθοφόρους. ἐφʼ ἑκατέρου δὲ τοῦ κέρατος ἐπικάμπιον ἐποίησε τὴν τάξιν, ὅπως μὴ δύνωνται κυκλοῦν οἱ πολέμιοι τῷ πλήθει τῶν στρατιωτῶν τὴν ὀλιγότητα τῶν Μακεδόνων. πρὸς δὲ τὰς τῶν δρεπανηφόρων ἁρμάτων ἐπιφορὰς μηχανώμενος ὁ βασιλεὺς παρήγγειλε τοῖς ἐν τῇ φάλαγγι πεζοῖς, ὅταν πλησιάζῃ τὰ τέθριππα, συνασπίσαι καὶ ταῖς σαρίσαις τὰς ἀσπίδας τύπτειν, ὅπως διὰ τὸν ψόφον πτυρόμενα τὴν εἰς τοὐπίσω ποιήσηται φοράν, τοῖς δὲ βιαζομένοις διδόναι διαστήματα, διʼ ὧν ποιήσονται τὴν διέξοδον ἀκίνδυνον τοῖς Μακεδόσιν. αὐτὸς δὲ τοῦ δεξιοῦ μέρους ἡγούμενος καὶ λοξὴν τὴν τάξιν ποιούμενος διʼ ἑαυτοῦ τὴν ὅλην κρίσιν τοῦ κινδύνου ποιεῖσθαι διεγνώκει.
On the right wing Alexander stationed the royal squadron under the command of Cleitus the Black (as he was called), and next to this the other Friends under the command of Parmenion's son Philotas, then in succession the other seven squadrons under the same commander. Behind these was stationed the infantry battalion of the Silver Shields, distinguished for the brilliance of their armour and the valour of the men; they were led by Nicanor, the son of Parmenion. Next to them was the battalion from Elimiotis, as it was called, under the command of Coenus; next he stationed the battalion of the Orestae and the Lyncestae, of which Perdiccas held the command. Meleager commanded the next battalion and Polyperchon the one after that, the people called Stymphaeans being under him. Philip the son of Balacrus held the next command and, after him, Craterus. As for the cavalry, the line of the squadrons which I have mentioned was continued with the combined Peloponnesian and Achaean horse, then cavalry from Phthiotis and Malis, then Locrians and Phocians, all under the command of Erigyius of Mitylene. Next were posted the Thessalians who had Philip as their commander; they were far superior to the rest in their fighting qualities and in their horsemanship. And next to these he stationed the Cretan archers and the mercenaries from Achaia. On both flanks he kept his wings back so that the enemy with their superior numbers could not envelop the shorter line of the Macedonians. Against the threat of the scythed chariots, he ordered the infantry of the phalanx to join shields as soon as these went into action against them and to beat the shields with their spears, creating such a din as to frighten the horses into bolting to the rear, or, if they persevered, to open gaps in the ranks such that they might ride through harmlessly. He himself took personal command of the right wing and advancing obliquely planned to settle the issue of the battle by his own actions.
§ 17.58
ὁ δὲ Δαρεῖος κατὰ τὰς τῶν ἐθνῶν περιοχὰς τὴν ἔκταξιν πεποιημένος κατά τε τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον τεταγμένος προῆγεν ἐπὶ τοὺς πολεμίους. ὡς δʼ ἐπλησίαζον ἀλλήλαις αἱ δυνάμεις, οἱ μὲν σαλπικταὶ παρʼ ἀμφοτέροις ἐσήμαινον τὸ πολεμικόν, οἱ δʼ ἄνδρες μετὰ πολλῆς βοῆς ἀλλήλοις ἐπεφέροντο. καὶ πρῶτον τὰ δρεπανηφόρα τῶν ἁρμάτων ἀπὸ κράτους ἐλαυνόμενα πολλὴν ἔκπληξιν καὶ φόβον τοῖς Μακεδόσιν ἐπέστησεν· καὶ γὰρ Μαζαῖος ὁ τῶν ἱππέων ἡγούμενος πυκναῖς ταῖς εἴλαις σὺν τοῖς δρεπανηφόροις ἐπήλαυνε, καταπληκτικωτέραν ποιῶν τὴν ἐπιφορὰν τῶν δρεπανηφόρων. τῆς δὲ φάλαγγος συνασπιζούσης καὶ κατὰ τὰς τοῦ βασιλέως παραγγελίας ταῖς σαρίσαις πάντων τυπτόντων τὰς ἀσπίδας συνέβαινε ψόφον πολὺν γίνεσθαι. διόπερ τὰ πολλὰ τῶν ἁρμάτων πτυρομένων τῶν ἵππων ἐστρέφετο καὶ τὴν ῥύμην ἀκατάσχετον ποιοῦντα πρὸς τοὺς ἰδίους βιαίως ἀνέστρεφε. τῶν δʼ ἄλλων προσπεσόντων τῇ φάλαγγι καὶ τῶν Μακεδόνων ποιούντων ἀξιόλογα διαστήματα διὰ τούτων φερόμενα τὰ μὲν συνηκοντίσθη, τὰ δὲ διεξέπεσεν, ἔνια δὲ τῇ βίᾳ τῆς ῥύμης φερόμενα καὶ ταῖς τῶν σιδήρων ἀκμαῖς ἐνεργῶς χρησάμενα πολλὰς καὶ ποικίλας διαθέσεις θανάτων ἀπειργάζετο. τοιαύτη γὰρ ἦν ἡ ὀξύτης καὶ βία τῶν κεχαλκευμένων πρὸς ἀπώλειαν ὅπλων ὥστε πολλῶν μὲν βραχίονας σὺν αὐταῖς ταῖς ἀσπίσιν ἀποκόπτεσθαι, οὐκ ὀλίγων δὲ τραχήλους παρασύρεσθαι καὶ τὰς κεφαλὰς πίπτειν ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν βλεπόντων ἔτι τῶν ὀμμάτων καὶ τῆς τοῦ προσώπου διαθέσεως διαφυλαττομένης, ἐνίων δὲ τὰς πλευρὰς ἐπικαιρίοις τομαῖς ἀναρήττεσθαι καὶ θανάτους ὀξεῖς ἐπιφέρεσθαι.
Dareius based his formation for battle on the characteristics of his national contingents, and posting himself opposite Alexander gave the command to advance on the Macedonians. As the lines approached each other, the trumpeters on both sides sounded the attack and the troops charged each other with a loud shout. First the scythed chariots swung into action at full gallop and created great alarm and terror among the Macedonians, especially since Mazaeus in command of the cavalry made their attack more frightening by supporting with his dense squadrons of horse. As the phalanx joined shields, however, all beat upon their shields with their spears as the king had commanded and a great din arose. As the horses shied off, most of the chariots were turned about and bore hard with irresistible impact against their own ranks. Others continued on against the Macedonian lines, but as the soldiers opened wide gaps in their ranks the chariots were channelled through these. In some instances the horses were killed by javelin casts and in others they rode through and escaped, but some of them, using the full force of their momentum and applying their steel blades actively, wrought death among the Macedonians in many and various forms. Such was the keenness and the force of the scythes ingeniously contrived to do harm that they severed the arms of many, shields and all, and in no small number of cases they cut through necks and sent heads tumbling to the ground with the eyes still open and the expression of the countenance unchanged, and in other cases they sliced through ribs with mortal gashes and inflicted a quick death.
§ 17.59
ὡς δʼ ἤγγισαν ἀλλήλαις αἱ δυνάμεις καὶ διὰ τῶν τόξων καὶ σφενδονῶν, ἔτι δὲ τῶν ἀκοντιζομένων σαυνίων τὰ ῥιπτούμενα βέλη παρανήλωτο, πρὸς τὴν ἐκ χειρὸς μάχην κατήντησαν. καὶ πρῶτον τῶν ἱππέων συστησαμένων ἀγῶνα καὶ τῶν Μακεδόνων τῷ δεξιῷ κέρατι διαγωνιζομένων ὁ μὲν Δαρεῖος τοῦ λαιοῦ κέρατος ἡγούμενος συναγωνιστὰς εἶχε τοὺς συγγενεῖς ἱππεῖς, ἐπιλέκτους ταῖς ἀρεταῖς καὶ ταῖς εὐνοίαις, χιλίους ἐν μιᾷ περιειλημμένους εἴλῃ. οὗτοι δὲ θεατὴν ἔχοντες τῆς ἰδίας ἀνδραγαθίας τὸν βασιλέα τὸ πλῆθος τῶν ἐπʼ αὐτὸν φερομένων βελῶν προθύμως ἐξεδέχοντο. συνῆσαν δὲ τούτοις οἵ τε μηλοφόροι, διάφοροι ταῖς ἀνδραγαθίαις καὶ πολλοὶ κατὰ τὸ πλῆθος, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις Μάρδοι καὶ Κοσσαῖοι, ταῖς τε τῶν σωμάτων ὑπεροχαῖς καὶ ταῖς λαμπρότησι τῶν ψυχῶν θαυμαζόμενοι. συνηγωνίζοντο δὲ τούτοις οἵ τε περὶ τὰ βασίλεια διατρίβοντες καὶ τῶν Ἰνδῶν οἱ κράτιστοι κατʼ ἀνδρείαν. οὗτοι μὲν οὖν μετὰ πολλῆς βοῆς ἐπιρράξαντες τοῖς πολεμίοις ἐκθύμως ἠγωνίζοντο καὶ τῷ πλήθει κατεπόνουν τοὺς Μακεδόνας· Μαζαῖος δὲ τὸ δεξιὸν ἔχων κέρας καὶ μετὰ τῶν ἀρίστων ἱππέων διαγωνιζόμενος εὐθὺς κατὰ τὴν πρώτην ἔφοδον τῶν ἀνθεστώτων ἀνεῖλεν οὐκ ὀλίγους, δισχιλίους δὲ Καδουσίους καὶ χιλίους τῶν Σκυθῶν ἱππεῖς ἐπιλέκτους ἐξέπεμψε, προστάξας περιιππεῦσαι τὸ κέρας τὸ τῶν πολεμίων καὶ προσελάσαντας τῇ παρεμβολῇ τῆς ἀποσκευῆς κυριεῦσαι. ὧν ὀξέως ποιησάντων τὸ προσταχθὲν καὶ παρεισπεσόντων εἰς τὴν στρατοπεδείαν τῶν Μακεδόνων τῶν αἰχμαλώτων τινὲς ἁρπάσαντες ὅπλα συνήργουν τοῖς Σκύθαις καὶ διήρπαζον τὰς ἀποσκευάς· βοὴ δʼ ἦν καὶ ταραχὴ διὰ τὸ παράδοξον καθʼ ὅλην τὴν παρεμβολήν. αἱ μὲν οὖν ἄλλαι τῶν αἰχμαλωτίδων πρὸς τοὺς βαρβάρους ἀπεχώρουν, ἡ δὲ μήτηρ τοῦ Δαρείου Σισύγγαμβρις παρακαλουσῶν αὐτὴν τῶν αἰχμαλωτίδων οὐ προσέσχεν, ἀλλʼ ἐφʼ ἡσυχίας ἔμεινε φιλοφρόνως, οὔτε τῷ παραδόξῳ τῆς τύχης πιστεύσασα οὔτε τὴν πρὸς Ἀλέξανδρον εὐχαριστίαν λυμαινομένη. τέλος δὲ οἱ Σκύθαι πολλὴν τῆς ἀποσκευῆς διαρπάσαντες ἀφίππευσαν πρὸς τοὺς περὶ Μαζαῖον καὶ τὴν εὐημερίαν ἀπήγγειλαν. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τῶν περὶ Δαρεῖον τεταγμένων ἱππέων τινὲς καταπονήσαντες τῷ πλήθει τοὺς ἀνθεστῶτας Μακεδόνας φεύγειν ἠνάγκασαν.
As the main bodies now neared each other and, employing bows and slings and throwing javelins, expended their missiles, they turned to hand to hand fighting. The cavalry first joined battle, and as the Macedonians were on the right wing, Dareius, who commanded his own left, led his kinsman cavalry against them. These were men chosen for courage and for loyalty, the whole thousand included in one squadron. Knowing that the king was watching their behaviour, they cheerfully faced all of the missiles which were cast in his direction. With them were engaged the Apple Bearers, brave and numerous, and in addition to these Mardi and Cossaei, who were admired for their strength and daring, as well as all the household troops belonging to the palace and the best fighters among the Indians. They all raised a loud battle cry and, attacking, engaged the enemy valiantly and pressed hard upon the Macedonians because of their superior numbers. Mazaeus was in command of the Persian right wing with the best of the cavalry under him and killed not a few of his opponents at the first onslaught, but sent off two thousand Cadusii and a thousand picked Scythian horsemen with orders to ride around the enemy's flank and to continue on to their camp and capture the baggage. This they did promptly, and as they burst into the camp of the Macedonians, some of the captives seized weapons and aided the Scythians in seizing the baggage. There was shouting and confusion throughout the whole camp area at this unexpected event. Most of the female captives rushed off to welcome the Persians, but the mother of Dareius, Sisyngambris, did not heed when the women called upon her, but remained placidly where she was, since she neither trusted the uncertain turns of Fortune nor would sully her gratitude toward Alexander. Finally, after the Scythians had rounded up much of the baggage, they rode off to Mazaeus to report their success. During this time, also, part of the cavalry of Dareius in superior numbers continued their pressure on the opposing Macedonians and forced them to give ground.
§ 17.60
δευτέρου δὲ προτερήματος τοῖς Πέρσαις γενομένου ὁ μὲν Ἀλέξανδρος σπεύδων διʼ ἑαυτοῦ τὴν ἧτταν διορθώσασθαι τῶν ἰδίων μετὰ τῆς βασιλικῆς εἴλης καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν ἐπιφανεστάτων ἱππέων ἐπʼ αὐτὸν ἤλαυνε τὸν Δαρεῖον. ὁ δὲ τῶν Περσῶν βασιλεὺς δεξάμενος τὴν ἐπιφορὰν τῶν πολεμίων αὐτὸς μὲν ἐφʼ ἅρματος ἀγωνιζόμενος ἠκόντιζεν εἰς τοὺς ἐπιφερομένους, πολλῶν δʼ αὐτῷ συναγωνιζομένων καὶ τῶν βασιλέων ἐπʼ ἀλλήλους ἱεμένων ὁ μὲν Ἀλέξανδρος ἀκοντίσας ἐπὶ τὸν Δαρεῖον τούτου μὲν ἥμαρτεν, τοῦ δὲ παρεστῶτος ἡνιόχου τοῦ βασιλέως κατατυχὼν κατέβαλεν. τῶν δὲ περὶ τὸν Δαρεῖον ἀναβοησάντων οἱ πορρώτερον ἀφεστηκότες ὑπέλαβον αὐτὸν τὸν βασιλέα πεπτωκέναι· καὶ τούτων τῆς φυγῆς ἀρξαμένων οἱ συνεχεῖς συνείποντο καὶ τὸ συνεστὸς αἰεὶ τῷ Δαρείῳ σύνταγμα κατʼ ὀλίγον παρερρήγνυτο. διὸ καὶ τῆς ἑτέρας πλευρᾶς παραγυμνωθείσης τῶν συναγωνιζομένων καὶ αὐτὸς καταπλαγεὶς πρὸς φυγὴν ὥρμησεν. τούτων δὲ οὕτως φευγόντων καὶ τοῦ κονιορτοῦ τῶν ἱππέων πρὸς ὕψος αἰρομένου καὶ τῶν περὶ τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον ἐκ ποδὸς ἑπομένων διὰ τὸ πλῆθος καὶ τὴν πυκνότητα τοῦ κονιορτοῦ συνιδεῖν μὲν οὐκ ἦν τὸν Δαρεῖον ὅποι ποιεῖται τὴν φυγήν, στεναγμὸς δὲ τῶν πιπτόντων ἀνδρῶν καὶ κτύπος τῶν ἱππέων, ἔτι δὲ τῶν μαστίγων συνεχὴς ψόφος ἐγίνετο. ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις Μαζαῖος ὁ τοῦ δεξιοῦ κέρατος ἡγούμενος, πλείστους ἔχων καὶ κρατίστους ἱππεῖς, βαρὺς ἐπέκειτο τοῖς κατʼ αὐτὸν τεταγμένοις· Παρμενίων δὲ μετὰ τῶν Θετταλῶν ἱππέων καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν μετʼ αὐτοῦ κινδυνευόντων ὑπέστη τοὺς πολεμίους. τὸ μὲν οὖν πρῶτον λαμπρῶς ἀγωνιζόμενος διὰ τὰς ἀρετὰς τῶν Θετταλῶν προετέρει· τῶν δὲ περὶ τὸν Μαζαῖον τῷ τε πλήθει καὶ βάρει τοῦ συστήματος ἐγκειμένων κατεπονεῖτο τὸ τῶν Μακεδόνων ἱππικόν. πολλοῦ δὲ φόνου γινομένου καὶ τῆς τῶν βαρβάρων βίας δυσυποστάτου γινομένης ὁ Παρμενίων ἐξέπεμψέ τινας τῶν περὶ αὐτὸν ἱππέων πρὸς τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον, λέγων κατὰ τάχος βοηθῆσαι. ὀξέως δὲ τούτων τὸ παραγγελθὲν πραττόντων καὶ τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον πυθομένων πολὺ τῆς τάξεως ἀπεσπάσθαι κατὰ τὸν διωγμὸν οὗτοι μὲν ἐπανῆλθον ἄπρακτοι, ὁ δὲ Παρμενίων ταῖς τῶν Θετταλῶν εἴλαις χρώμενος ἐμπειρότατα καὶ πολλοὺς καταβαλὼν μόλις ἐτρέψατο τοὺς βαρβάρους, μάλιστα καταπλαγέντας τῇ κατὰ τὸν Δαρεῖον φυγῇ.
This was a second success for the Persians, and Alexander saw that it was time for him to offset the discomfiture of his forces by his own intervention with the royal squadron and the rest of the elite horse guards, and rode hard against Dareius. The Persian king received their attack and fighting from a chariot hurled javelins against his opponents, and many supported him. As the kings approached each other, Alexander flung a javelin at Dareius and missed him, but struck the driver standing beside him and knocked him to the ground. A shout went up at this from the Persians around Dareius, and those at a greater distance thought that the king had fallen. They were the first to take to flight, and they were followed by those next to them, and steadily, little by little, the solid ranks of Dareius's guard disintegrated. As both flanks became closed, the king himself was alarmed and retreated. The flight thus became general. Dust raised by the Persian cavalry rose to a height, and as Alexander's squadrons followed on their heels, because of their numbers and the thickness of the dust, it was impossible to tell in what direction Dareius was fleeing. The air was filled with the groans of the fallen, the din of the cavalry, and the constant sound of lashing of whips. At this time Mazaeus, the commander of the Persian right wing, with the most and the best of the cavalry, was pressing hard on those opposing him, but Parmenion with the Thessalian cavalry and the rest of his forces put up a stout resistance. For a time, fighting brilliantly, he even seemed to have the upper hand thanks to the fighting qualities of the Thessalians, but the weight and numbers of Mazaeus's command brought the Macedonian cavalry into difficulties. A great slaughter took place, and despairing of withstanding the Persian power, Parmenion sent off some of his horsemen to Alexander, begging him to come to their support quickly. They carried out their orders with dispatch, but finding that Alexander was already in full pursuit at a great distance from the battlefield they returned without accomplishing their mission. Nevertheless Parmenion handled the Thessalian squadrons with the utmost skill and finally, killing many of the enemy, routed the Persians who were by now much disheartened by the withdrawal of Dareius.
§ 17.61
ὁ δὲ Δαρεῖος τῇ στρατηγίᾳ διαφέρων καὶ συνεργὸν ἔχων τὸ πλῆθος τοῦ κονιορτοῦ τὴν ἀποχώρησιν οὐχ ὁμοίαν τοῖς ἄλλοις βαρβάροις ἐποιεῖτο, εἰς τοὐναντίον δὲ μέρος ὁρμήσας καὶ κρυπτομένην ἔχων διὰ τὸν ἐξαιρόμενον κονιορτὸν τὴν ἰδίαν ἀποχώρησιν ἀκινδύνως αὐτός τε διέφυγεν τούς τε μεθʼ ἑαυτοῦ πάντας εἰς τὰς κατόπιν κειμένας τῶν Μακεδόνων κώμας διέσωσε. τέλος δὲ πάντων τῶν βαρβάρων πρὸς φυγὴν ὁρμησάντων καὶ τῶν Μακεδόνων τοὺς ἐσχάτους ἀεὶ κτεινόντων ταχὺ πᾶς ὁ πλησίον τοῦ πεδίου τόπος νεκρῶν ἐπληρώθη. διὸ καὶ τῶν βαρβάρων ἐν ταύτῃ τῇ μάχῃ κατεκόπησαν οἱ πάντες ἱππεῖς τε καὶ πεζοὶ πλείους τῶν ἐννέα μυριάδων· τῶν δὲ Μακεδόνων ἀνῃρέθησαν μὲν εἰς πεντακοσίους, τραυματίαι δʼ ἐγένοντο παμπληθεῖς, ἐν οἷς καὶ τῶν ἐπιφανεστάτων ἡγεμόνων Ἡφαιστίων μὲν εἰς τὸν βραχίονα ξυστῷ βληθεὶς ἐτρώθη, τῶν σωματοφυλάκων ἡγούμενος, τῶν δὲ στρατηγῶν Περδίκκας καὶ Κοῖνος, ἔτι δὲ Μενίδας καί τινες ἕτεροι τῶν ἐπιφανῶν ἡγεμόνων. ἡ μὲν οὖν περὶ Ἄρβηλα γενομένη παράταξις τοιοῦτον ἔσχε τὸ πέρας.
Dareius was a clever strategist. He took advantage of the great cloud of dust and did not withdraw to the rear like the other barbarians, but swinging in the opposite direction and covering his movement by the dust, got away safely himself and brought all his troops into villages which lay behind the Macedonian position. Finally all the Persians had fled, and as the Macedonians kept slaughtering the stragglers, before long the whole region in which the battle had taken place was covered with dead. On the Persian side in the battle fell, cavalry and infantry together, more than ninety thousand. About five hundred of the Macedonians were killed and there were very many wounded. Of the most prominent group of commanders, Hephaestion was wounded with a spear thrust in the arm; he had commanded the bodyguards. Perdiccas and Coenus, of the general's group, were also wounded, so also Menidas and others of the higher commanders. That was the outcome of the battle near Arbela.
§ 17.62
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησιν Ἀριστοφῶντος ἐν Ῥώμῃ διεδέξαντο τὴν ὑπατικὴν ἀρχὴν Γάιος Δομέττιος καὶ Αὖλος Κορνήλιος. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων εἰς τὴν Ἑλλάδα τῆς περὶ Ἄρβηλα μάχης διαδοθείσης πολλαὶ τῶν πόλεων ὑφορώμεναι τὴν αὔξησιν τῶν Μακεδόνων ἔγνωσαν, ἕως ἔτι τὰ Περσῶν πράγματα διαμένει, τῆς ἐλευθερίας ἀντέχεσθαι· βοηθήσειν γὰρ αὐτοῖς Δαρεῖον καὶ χρημάτων τε πλῆθος χορηγήσειν πρὸς τὸ δύνασθαι ξενικὰς μεγάλας δυνάμεις συνίστασθαι καὶ τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον μὴ δυνήσεσθαι διαιρεῖν τὰς δυνάμεις. εἰ δὲ περιόψονται τοὺς Πέρσας καταπολεμηθέντας, μονωθήσεσθαι τοὺς Ἕλληνας καὶ μηκέτι δυνήσεσθαι φροντίσαι τῆς ἑαυτῶν ἐλευθερίας. προεκαλέσατο δὲ πρὸς τὴν ἀπόστασιν τοὺς Ἕλληνας καὶ ὁ περὶ τὴν Θρᾴκην νεωτερισμὸς κατὰ τοὺς ὑποκειμένους καιροὺς γενόμενος· Μέμνων γὰρ ὁ καθεσταμένος στρατηγὸς τῆς Θρᾴκης, ἔχων δύναμιν καὶ φρονήματος ὢν πλήρης, ἀνέσεισε μὲν τοὺς βαρβάρους, ἀποστάτης δὲ γενόμενος Ἀλεξάνδρου καὶ ταχὺ μεγάλης δυνάμεως κυριεύσας φανερῶς ἀπεκαλύψατο πρὸς τὸν πόλεμον. διόπερ Ἀντίπατρος πᾶσαν ἀναλαβὼν τὴν δύναμιν προῆλθε διὰ Μακεδονίας εἰς Θρᾴκην καὶ διεπολέμει πρὸς τὸν Μέμνονα. τούτου δὲ περὶ ταῦτʼ ὄντος οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι καιρὸν ἔχειν ὑπολαβόντες τοῦ παρασκευάσασθαι τὰ πρὸς τὸν πόλεμον παρεκάλουν τοὺς Ἕλληνας συμφρονῆσαι περὶ τῆς ἐλευθερίας. Ἀθηναῖοι μὲν οὖν, παρὰ πάντας τοὺς ἄλλους Ἕλληνας ὑπʼ Ἀλεξάνδρου προτιμώμενοι, τὴν ἡσυχίαν ἦγον· Πελοποννησίων δʼ οἱ πλείους καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τινὲς συμφρονήσαντες ἀπεγράψαντο πρὸς τὸν πόλεμον καὶ κατὰ δύναμιν τῶν πόλεων καταγράφοντες τῶν νέων τοὺς ἀρίστους κατέλεξαν στρατιώτας πεζοὺς μὲν οὐκ ἐλάττους τῶν δισμυρίων, ἱππεῖς δὲ περὶ δισχιλίους. τὴν δʼ ἡγεμονίαν ἔχοντες Λακεδαιμόνιοι πανδημεὶ πρὸς τὸν ὑπὲρ τῶν ὅλων κίνδυνον ὥρμησαν, Ἄγιδος τοῦ βασιλέως τὴν πάντων ἔχοντος ἡγεμονίαν.
When Aristophon was archon at Athens, the consular office at Rome was assumed by Gaius Domitius and Aulus Cornelius. In this year word was brought to Greece about the battle near Arbela, and many of the cities became alarmed at the growth of Macedonian power and decided that they should strike for their freedom while the Persian cause was still alive. They expected that Dareius would help them and send them much money so that they could gather great armies of mercenaries, while Alexander would not be able to divide his forces. If, on the other hand, they watched idly while the Persians were utterly defeated, the Greeks would be isolated and never again be able to think of recovering their freedom. There was also an upheaval in Thrace at just this time which seemed to offer the Greeks an opportunity for freeing themselves. Memnon, who had been designated governor-general there, had a military force and was a man of spirit. He stirred up the tribesmen, revolted against Alexander, quickly possessed a large army, and was openly bent upon war. Antipater was forced to mobilize his entire army and to advance through Macedonia into Thrace to settle with him. While Antipater was occupied with this, the Lacedemonians thought that the time had come to undertake a war and issued an appeal to the Greeks to unite in defence of their freedom. The Athenians had been favoured beyond all the other Greeks by Alexander and did not move. Most of the Peloponnesians, however, and some of the northern Greeks reached an agreement and signed an undertaking to go to war. According to the capacity of the individual cities they enlisted the best of their youth and enrolled as soldiers not less than twenty thousand infantry and about two thousand cavalry. The Lacedemonians had the command and led out their entire levy for the decisive battle, their king Agis having the position of commander in chief.
§ 17.63
Ἀντίπατρος δὲ πυθόμενος τὴν τῶν Ἑλλήνων συνδρομὴν τὸν μὲν ἐν τῇ Θρᾴκῃ πόλεμον ὥς ποτʼ ἦν δυνατὸν κατέλυσεν, εἰς δὲ τὴν Πελοπόννησον ἧκε μετὰ πάσης τῆς δυνάμεως. προσλαβόμενος δὲ καὶ παρὰ τῶν συμμαχούντων Ἑλλήνων στρατιώτας ἤθροισε τοὺς ἅπαντας οὐκ ἐλάττους τῶν τετρακισμυρίων. γενομένης δὲ παρατάξεως μεγάλης ὁ μὲν Ἄγις μαχόμενος ἔπεσεν, οἱ δὲ Λακεδαιμόνιοι πολὺν μὲν ἐκθύμως χρόνον ἀγωνιζόμενοι διεκαρτέρουν, τῶν δὲ συμμάχων βιασθέντων καὶ αὐτοὶ τὴν ἀναχώρησιν εἰς τὴν Σπάρτην ἐποιήσαντο. ἀνῃρέθησαν δʼ ἐν τῇ μάχῃ τῶν μὲν Λακεδαιμονίων καὶ τῶν συμμάχων πλείους τῶν πεντακισχιλίων καὶ τριακοσίων, τῶν δὲ μετʼ Ἀντιπάτρου τρισχίλιοι καὶ πεντακόσιοι. ἴδιον δέ τι συνέβη καὶ περὶ τὴν τοῦ Ἄγιδος τελευτὴν γενέσθαι· ἀγωνισάμενος γὰρ λαμπρῶς καὶ πολλοῖς τραύμασιν ἐναντίοις περιπεσὼν ὑπὸ τῶν στρατιωτῶν εἰς τὴν Σπάρτην ἀπεκομίζετο· περικατάληπτος δὲ γενόμενος καὶ τὰ καθʼ ἑαυτὸν ἀπογνοὺς τοῖς μὲν ἄλλοις στρατιώταις προσέταξεν ἀπιέναι τὴν ταχίστην καὶ διασώζειν αὑτοὺς εἰς τὴν τῆς πατρίδος χρείαν, αὐτὸς δὲ καθοπλισθεὶς καὶ εἰς γόνυ διαναστὰς ἠμύνατο τοὺς πολεμίους καί τινας καταβαλὼν καὶ συνακοντισθεὶς κατέστρεψε τὸν βίον, ἄρξας ἔτη ἐννέα. ἡμεῖς δὲ διεληλυθότες τὰ πραχθέντα κατὰ τὴν Εὐρώπην ἐν μέρει τὰ κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν συντελεσθέντα διέξιμεν.
When Antipater learned of this Greek mobilization, he ended the Thracian campaign on what terms he could and marched down into the Peloponnesus with his entire army. He added soldiers from those of the Greeks who were still loyal and built up his force until it numbered not less than forty thousand. When it came to a general engagement, Agis was struck down fighting, but the Lacedemonians fought furiously and maintained their position for a long time; when the Greek allies were forced out of position they themselves fell back on Sparta. More than five thousand three hundred of the Lacedemonians and their allies were killed in the battle, and three thousand five hundred of Antipater's troops. An interesting event occurred in connection with Agis's death. He had fought gloriously and fell with many frontal wounds. As he was being carried by his soldiers back to Sparta, he found himself surrounded by the enemy. Despairing of his own life, he ordered the rest to make their escape with all speed and to save themselves for the service of their country, but he himself armed and rising to his knees defended himself, killed some of the enemy and was himself slain by a javelin cast; he had reigned nine years. (This is the end of the first half of the seventeenth book.) Now that we have run through the events in Europe, we may in turn pass on to what occurred in Asia.
§ 17.64
Δαρεῖος μὲν γὰρ ἡττηθεὶς ἐν τῇ περὶ Ἄρβηλα παρατάξει τὴν φυγὴν ἐπὶ τὰς ἄνω σατραπείας ἐποιήσατο, σπεύδων τῷ διαστήματι τῶν τόπων λαβεῖν ἀναστροφὴν καὶ χρόνον ἱκανὸν εἰς παρασκευὴν δυνάμεως. τὸ μὲν οὖν πρῶτον εἰς Ἐκβάτανα τῆς Μηδείας διανύσας ἐνταῦθα διέτριβεν καὶ τοὺς μὲν ἐκ τῆς φυγῆς ἀνασωζομένους ἀνεδέχετο, τοὺς δὲ ἀνόπλους καθώπλιζεν. μετεπέμπετο δὲ καὶ στρατιώτας ἐκ τῶν πλησιοχώρων ἐθνῶν καὶ πρὸς τοὺς ἐκ Βάκτροις καὶ ταῖς ἄνω σατραπείαις σατράπας καὶ στρατηγοὺς διεπέμπετο, παρακαλῶν διαφυλάττειν τὴν πρὸς αὐτὸν εὔνοιαν. Ἀλέξανδρος δὲ μετὰ τὴν νίκην θάψας τοὺς τετελευτηκότας ἐπέβαλε τοῖς Ἀρβήλοις καὶ πολλὴν μὲν εὗρεν ἀφθονίαν τῆς τροφῆς, οὐκ ὀλίγον δὲ κόσμον καὶ γάζαν βαρβαρικήν, ἀργυρίου δὲ τάλαντα τρισχίλια. συλλογισάμενος δὲ τὴν μέλλουσαν ἔσεσθαι φθορὰν τοῦ περιέχοντος ἀέρος διὰ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν νεκρῶν εὐθὺς ἀνέζευξε καὶ κατήντησε μετὰ πάσης τῆς δυνάμεως εἰς Βαβυλῶνα. τῶν δʼ ἐγχωρίων προθύμως ὑποδεξαμένων αὐτὸν καὶ κατὰ τὰς ἐπισταθμίας λαμπρῶς ἑστιώντων τοὺς Μακεδόνας ἀνέλαβε τὴν δύναμιν ἐκ τῆς προγεγενημένης ταλαιπωρίας. πλείους δὲ τῶν τριάκοντα ἡμερῶν ἐνδιέτριψε τῇ πόλει διά τε τὴν δαψίλειαν τῶν ἐπιτηδείων καὶ τὴν φιλοξενίαν τῶν ἐγχωρίων. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τὴν μὲν ἄκραν παρέδωκε τηρεῖν Ἀγάθωνι τῷ Πυδναίῳ, συστήσας αὐτῷ Μακεδόνας στρατιώτας ἑπτακοσίους· Ἀπολλόδωρον δὲ τὸν Ἀμφιπολίτην καὶ Μένητα τὸν Πελλαῖον ἀπέδειξε στρατηγοὺς τῆς τε Βαβυλῶνος καὶ τῶν σατραπειῶν μέχρι Κιλικίας, δοὺς δὲ αὐτοῖς ἀργυρίου τάλαντα χίλια προσέταξε ξενολογεῖν στρατιώτας ὡς πλείστους. Μιθρίνῃ δὲ τῷ παραδόντι τὴν ἐν Σάρδεσιν ἄκραν Ἀρμενίαν ἔδωκεν. ἐκ δὲ τῶν ληφθέντων χρημάτων τῶν μὲν ἱππέων τῶν Μακεδόνων ἑκάστῳ ἓξ μνᾶς ἐδωρήσατο, τῶν δὲ συμμάχων πέντε, τῶν δʼ ἐκ τῆς φάλαγγος Μακεδόνων δύο, τοὺς δὲ ξένους διμήνου μισθοφοραῖς ἐτίμησε πάντας.
After his defeat in the battle near Arbela, Dareius directed his course to the upper satrapies, seeking by putting distance between himself and Alexander to gain a respite and time enough to organize an army. He made his way first to Ecbatana in Media and paused there, picking up the stragglers from the battle and rearming those who had lost their weapons. He sent around to the neighbouring tribes demanding soldiers, and he posted couriers to the satraps and generals in Bactria and the upper satrapies, calling upon them to preserve their loyalty to him. After the battle, Alexander buried his dead and entered Arbela, finding there abundant stores of food, no little barbaric dress and treasure, and three thousand talents of silver. Judging that the air of the region would be polluted by the multitude of unburied corpses, he continued his advance immediately and arrived with his whole army at Babylon. Here the people received him gladly, and furnishing them billets feasted the Macedonians lavishly. Alexander refreshed his army from its private labours and remained more than thirty days in the city because food was plentiful and the population friendly. At this time he designated Agathon of Pydna to guard the citadel, assigning to him seven hundred Macedonian soldiers. He appointed Apollodorus of Amphipolis and Menes of Pella as military governors of Babylon and the other satrapies as far as Cilicia, giving them one thousand talents of silver with instructions to enlist as many soldiers as possible. He assigned Armenia as a province to Mithrines, who had surrendered to him the citadel of Sardes. From the money which was captured he distributed to each of the cavalrymen six minas, to each of the allied cavalrymen five, and to the Macedonians of the phalanx two, and he gave to all the mercenaries two months' pay.
§ 17.65
τοῦ δὲ βασιλέως ἀναζεύξαντος ἐκ τῆς Βαβυλῶνος καὶ κατὰ τὴν πορείαν ὄντος ἧκον πρὸς αὐτὸν παρὰ μὲν Ἀντιπάτρου πεμφθέντες ἱππεῖς μὲν Μακεδόνες πεντακόσιοι, πεζοὶ δὲ ἑξακισχίλιοι, ἐκ δὲ Θρᾴκης ἱππεῖς μὲν ἑξακόσιοι, Τραλλεῖς δὲ τρισχίλιοι καὶ πεντακόσιοι, ἐκ δὲ Πελοποννήσου πεζοὶ μὲν τετρακισχίλιοι, ἱππεῖς δὲ βραχὺ λείποντες τῶν χιλίων, ἐκ δὲ τῆς Μακεδονίαστῶν φίλων τοῦ βασιλέως υἱοὶ πεντήκοντα πρὸς τὴν σωματοφυλακίαν ὑπὸ τῶν πατέρων ἀπεσταλμένοι. ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς τούτους παραλαβὼν προῆγε καὶ κατήντησεν ἑκταῖος εἰς τὴν Σιττακινὴν ἐπαρχίαν. τῆς δὲ χώρας ταύτης πολλὴν ἀφθονίαν ἐχούσης τῶν ἐπιτηδείων πάντων ἐν ταύτῃ πλείους ἡμέρας ἔμεινεν, ἅμα μὲν σπεύδων ἐκ τῆς κατὰ τὴν ὁδοιπορίαν ταλαιπωρίας ἀναλαβεῖν τὴν δύναμιν, ἅμα δὲ τῆς στρατιωτικῆς τάξεως διανοούμενος ἐπιμεληθῆναι καὶ τὰς ἡγεμονίας ἀναβιβάσαι καὶ τὴν δύναμιν ἰσχυροποιῆσαι τῷ τε πλήθει καὶ ταῖς ἀρεταῖς τῶν ἡγεμόνων. συντελέσας δὲ τὰ δεδογμένα καὶ μετὰ πολλῆς ἐπιμελείας περὶ τῶν ἀριστίων κρίσιν ποιησάμενος καὶ πολλοὺς ἀπὸ τῆς μεγάλης ἡγεμονίας ἐπὶ μεγάλας ἐξουσίας ἀναβιβάσας πάντας τοὺς ἡγεμόνας εἰς ἀξίωμα μεῖζον καὶ στοργὴν ἰσχυρὰν πρὸς ἑαυτὸν προήγαγεν. ἐπεμελήθη δὲ καὶ τῆς ἰδιωτικῆς τῶν στρατιωτῶν διατάξεως καὶ πολλὰ πρὸς τὴν εὐχρηστίαν ἐπινοησάμενος ἐπὶ τὸ κρεῖττον διωρθώσατο. κατασκευάσας δὲ πᾶσαν τὴν στρατιὰν εὐνοίᾳ τε πρὸς τὸν ἡγούμενον διαφέρουσαν καὶ πρὸς τὰ παραγγελλόμενα πειθαρχοῦσαν, ἔτι δὲ ταῖς ἀνδραγαθίαις ὑπερβάλλουσαν ἐπὶ τοὺς ὑπολειπομένους ἀγῶνας ὥρμησεν. εἰς δὲ τὴν Σουσιανὴν καταντήσας ἀκινδύνως παρέλαβε τὰ περιβόητα ἐν Σούσοις βασίλεια, ἑκουσίως Ἀβουλεύτου τοῦ σατράπου παραδόντος αὐτῷ τὴν πόλιν, ὡς μὲν ἔνιοι γεγράφασι, προστάξαντος Δαρείου τοῖς πεπιστευμένοις ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ. τοῦτο δὲ πρᾶξαι τὸν βασιλέα τῶν Περσῶν, ὅπως ὁ μὲν Ἀλέξανδρος εἰς περισπασμοὺς ἀξιολόγους καὶ παραλήψεις ἐπιφανεστάτων πόλεων καὶ θησαυρῶν μεγάλων ἐμπεσὼν ἐν ἀσχολίαις ὑπάρχῃ, ὁ δὲ Δαρεῖος τῇ φυγῇ λαμβάνῃ χρόνον εἰς τὴν τοῦ πολέμου παρασκευήν.
After the king had marched out of Babylon and while he was still on the road, there came to him, sent by Antipater, five hundred Macedonian cavalry and six thousand infantry, six hundred Thracian cavalry and three thousand five hundred Trallians, and from the Peloponnese four thousand infantry and little less than a thousand cavalry. From Macedonia also came fifty sons of the king's Friends sent by their fathers to serve as bodyguards. The king welcomed all of these, continued his march, and on the sixth day crossed over into the province of Sittacene. This was a rich country abounding in provisions of all sorts, and he lingered here for a number of days, at once anxious to rest his army from the fatigue of their long marches and concerned to review the organization of his army. He wanted to advance some officers and to strengthen the forces by the number and the ability of the commanders. This he effected. He scrutinized closely the reports of good conduct and promoted many from a high military command to an even higher responsibility, so that by giving all the commanders greater prestige he bound them to himself by strong ties of affection. He also examined the situation of the individual soldiers and introduced many improvements by considering which was useful. He brought the whole force up to an outstanding devotion to its commander and obedience to his commands, and to a high degree of effectiveness, looking toward the battles to come. From there he entered Susiane without opposition and took over the fabulous palace of the kings. The satrap Abuletes surrendered the city to him voluntarily, and some have written that he did this in compliance with orders given by Dareius to his trusted officials. The king Persia hoped by this policy, it is suggested, that Alexander would be kept busy with dazzling distractions and the acquisition of brilliant cities and huge treasures, while he, Dareius, won time by his flight to prepared for a renewed warfare.
§ 17.66
ὁ δὲ Ἀλέξανδρος παραλαβὼν τὴν πόλιν καὶ τοὺς ἐν τοῖς βασιλείοις θησαυροὺς εὗρεν ἀσήμου χρυσοῦ καὶ ἀργύρου πλείω τῶν τετρακισμυρίων ταλάντων. ταῦτα δὲ ἐκ πολλῶν χρόνων οἱ βασιλεῖς ἄθικτα διετήρησαν, πρὸς τὰ παράλογα τῆς τύχης ἀπολιπόντες αὑτοῖς καταφυγάς. χωρὶς δὲ τούτων ὑπῆρχεν ἐνακισχίλια τάλαντα χρυσοῦ χαρακτῆρα δαρεικὸν ἔχοντα. ἴδιον δέ τι συνέβη γενέσθαι τῷ βασιλεῖ κατὰ τὴν παράληψιν τῶν χρημάτων. καθίσαντος γὰρ αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ τὸν βασιλικὸν θρόνον καὶ τούτου μείζονος ὄντος ἢ κατὰ τὴν συμμετρίαν τοῦ σώματος, τῶν παίδων τις ἰδὼν τοὺς πόδας ἀπολείποντας πολὺ τοῦ κατὰ τὸν θρόνον ὑποβάθρου βαστάσας τὴν Δαρείου τράπεζαν ὑπέθηκε τοῖς ποσὶν αἰωρουμένοις. ἁρμοστῆς δὲ γενομένης ὁ μὲν βασιλεὺς ἀπεδέξατο τὴν τοῦ πράξαντος εὐστοχίαν, τῶν δὲ παρεστώτων τις τῷ θρόνῳ εὐνοῦχος κινηθεὶς τὴν ψυχὴν τῇ μεταβολῇ τῆς τύχης ἐδάκρυσεν. ὃν ἰδὼν ὁ Ἀλέξανδρος ἤρετο, τί κακὸν ἰδὼν γεγονὸς κλαίεις; ὁ δὲ εὐνοῦχος ἔφησε, νῦν μὲν σός εἰμι δοῦλος, πρότερον δὲ Δαρείου, καὶ φύσει φιλοδέσποτος ὢν ἤλγηκα ἰδὼν τὸ παρʼ ἐκείνῳ μάλιστα τιμώμενον νῦν ἄτιμον γεγονὸς σκεῦος. ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς διὰ τῆς ἀποκρίσεως λαβὼν ἔννοιαν τῆς ὅλης κατὰ τὴν Περσικὴν βασιλείαν μεταβολῆς ὑπέλαβεν ἑαυτὸν ὑπερήφανόν τι πεποιηκέναι καὶ τῆς πρὸς τὰς αἰχμαλωτίδας ἐπιεικείας ἀλλοτριώτατον. διόπερ προσκαλεσάμενος τὸν θέντα τὴν τράπεζαν ἐπέταξεν ἆραι πάλιν. ἐνταῦθα παρεστὼς Φιλώτας, ἀλλʼ οὐχ ὕβρις ἐστίν, εἶπεν, τὸ μὴ ὑπὸ σοῦ προσταχθέν, ἀλλὰ δαίμονός τινος ἀγαθοῦ προνοίᾳ καὶ βουλήσει. ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς οἰωνισάμενος τὸ ῥηθὲν προσέταξεν ἐᾶν κειμένην ὑπὸ τῷ θρόνῳ τὴν τράπεζαν.
Alexander entered the city and found the treasure in the palace to include more than forty thousand talents of gold and silver bullion, which the kings had accumulated unused over a long period of time as a protection against the vicissitudes of Fortune. In addition there were nine thousand talents of minted gold in the form of darics. A curious thing happened to the king when he was shown the precious objects. He seated himself upon the royal throne, which was larger than the proportions of his body. When one of the pages saw that his feet were a long way from reaching the footstool which belonged to the throne, he picked up Dareius's table and placed it under the dangling legs. This fitted, and the king was pleased by the aptness of the boy, but a eunuch standing by was troubled in his heart at this reminder of the changes of Fortune and wept. Alexander noticed him and asked, "What wrong have you seen that you are crying?" The eunuch replied, "Now I am your slave as formerly I was the slave of Dareius. I am by nature devoted to my masters and I was grieved at seeing what was most held in honour by your predecessor now become an ignoble piece of furniture." This answer reminded the king how great a change had come over the Persian kingdom. He saw that he had committed an act of arrogance quite the reverse of his gentleness to the captives, and calling the page who had placed the table ordered him to remove it. Then Philotas, who was present, said, "But this was not insolence, for the action was not commanded by you; it occurred through the providence and design of a good spirit." So the king took this remark for an omen, and ordered the table to be left standing at the foot of the throne.
§ 17.67
μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τὴν μὲν Δαρείου μητέρα καὶ τὰς θυγατέρας καὶ τὸν υἱὸν ἀπέλιπεν ἐν Σούσοις καὶ παρακατέστησε τοὺς διδάξοντας τὴν Ἑλληνικὴν διάλεκτον, αὐτὸς δὲ μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως ἀναζεύξας τεταρταῖος ἐπὶ τὸν Τίγριν ποταμὸν ἀφίκετο. ὃς ῥέων ἀπὸ τῆς Οὐξίων ὀρεινῆς τὸ μὲν πρῶτον φέρεται διὰ χώρας τραχείας καὶ χαράδραις μεγάλαις διειλημμένης ἐπὶ σταδίους χιλίους, ἔπειτα διαρρεῖ χώραν πεδιάδα, πραϋνόμενος αἰεὶ μᾶλλον, καὶ διελθὼν σταδίους ἑξακοσίους ἐξίησιν εἰς τὴν κατὰ Πέρσας θάλασσαν. διαβὰς δὲ τὸν Τίγριν προῆγεν ἐπὶ τὴν Οὐξίων χώραν,οὖσαν πάμφορον καὶ δαψιλέσιν ὕδασι διαρρεομένην καὶ πολλοὺς καὶ παντοδαποὺς ἐκφέρουσαν καρπούς· διὸ καὶ τῆς ὡρίμου ξηραινομένης ὀπώρας παντοδαπὰ πλάσματα χρήσιμα πρὸς ἀπόλαυσιν οἱ τὸν Τίγριν πλέοντες ἔμποροι κατάγουσιν εἰς τὴν Βαβυλωνίαν. καταλαβὼν δὲ τὰς παρόδους φυλαττομένας ὑπὸ Μαδέτου, συγγενοῦς μὲν ὄντος Δαρείου, δύναμιν δὲ ἔχοντος ἀξιόλογον, κατεσκέψατο τὴν ὀχυρότητα τῶν τόπων. ἀπαροδεύτων δʼ ὄντων κρημνῶν τῶν ἐγχωρίων τις ἀνήρ, Οὔξιος μὲν τὸ γένος, ἔμπειρος δὲ τῶν τόπων, ἐπηγγείλατο τῷ βασιλεῖ διά τινος στενῆς ἀτραποῦ καὶ παραβόλου ἄξειν τοὺς στρατιώτας, ὥστε ὑπερδεξίους γενέσθαι τῶν πολεμίων. ὁ δʼ Ἀλέξανδρος προσδεξάμενος τοὺς λόγους τούτῳ μὲν συναπέστειλε τοὺς ἱκανοὺς στρατιώτας, αὐτὸς δὲ τὴν δίοδον κατασκευάσας ἐφʼ ὧν ἦν ἐνδεχόμενον ἐκ διαδοχῆς προσέβαλε τοῖς ἐπὶ τῶν παρόδων ἐφεστηκόσιν. ἐνεργῶς δὲ τοῦ κινδύνου συνεστῶτος καὶ τῶν βαρβάρων περισπωμένων περὶ τὸν ἀγῶνα παραδόξως οἱ πεμφθέντες ἐφάνησαν ὑπερδέξιοι τοῖς τὴν πάροδον φυλάττουσι. καταπλαγέντων δὲ τῶν βαρβάρων καὶ πρὸς φυγὴν ὁρμησάντων ἐγκρατὴς ἐγένετο τῆς διεξόδου καὶ ταχέως πασῶν τῶν κατὰ τὴν Οὐξιανὴν πόλεων.
After this Alexander left Dareius's mother, his daughters, and his son in Susa, providing them with persons to teach them the Greek language, and marching on with his army on the fourth day reached the Tigris River. This flows down from the mountains of the Uxii and passes at first for a thousand furlongs through rough country broken by great gorges, but then traverses a level plain and becomes ever quieter, and after six hundred furlongs empties into the Persian sea. This he crossed, and entered the country of the Uxii, which was rich, watered by numerous streams, and productive of many fruits of all kinds. At the season when the ripe fruit is dried, the merchants who sail on the Tigris are able to bring down to Babylonia all sorts of confections good for the pleasures of the table. Alexander found the passages guarded by Madetes, a cousin of Dareius, with a substantial force, and he saw at once the difficulty of the place. The sheer cliffs offered no passage, but an Uxian native who knew the country offered to lead soldiers by a narrow and hazardous path to a position above the enemy. Alexander accepted the proposal and sent off with him a body of troops, while he himself expedited the move as far as possible and attacked the defenders in waves. The assault was pressed vigorously and the Persians were preoccupied with the struggle when to their astonishment above their heads appeared the flying column of the Macedonians. The Persians were frightened and took to their heels. Thus Alexander won the pass and soon after took all the cities in Uxiane.
§ 17.68
ἐντεῦθεν δʼ ἀναζεύξας προῆγεν ἐπὶ τὴν Περσίδα καὶ πεμπταῖος ἧκεν ἐπὶ τὰς Σουσιάδας καλουμένας πέτρας. ταύτας δὲ προκατειληφὼς ἦν ὁ Ἀριοβαρζάνης μετὰ στρατιωτῶν πεζῶν μὲν δισμυρίων καὶ πεντακισχιλίων, ἱππέων δὲ τριακοσίων. ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς δόξας τῇ βίᾳ κρατήσειν τῆς πύλης προῆγε διὰ τόπων στενῶν καὶ τραχέων οὐδενὸς παρενοχλοῦντος. οἱ δὲ βάρβαροι μέχρι μέν τινος εἴων αὐτὸν διαπορεύεσθαι τὰς παρόδους, ἐπεὶ δὲ εἰς μέσας τὰς δυσχωρίας ἧκον, ἄφνω τὴν ἐπίθεσιν ἐποιοῦντο καὶ πολλοὺς μὲν ἁμαξιαίους λίθους ἐπεκύλιον, οἳ προσπίπτοντες ἄφνω τοῖς Μακεδόσιν ἀθρόοις πολλοὺς διέφθειρον, οὐκ ὀλίγοι δʼ ἀπὸ τῶν κρημνῶν ἀκοντίζοντες εἰς πεπυκνωμένους οὐκ ἀπετύγχανον τῶν σκοπῶν· ἄλλοι δʼ ἐκ χειρὸς τοῖς λίθοις βάλλοντες τοὺς βιαζομένους τῶν Μακεδόνων ἀνέστελλον. πολλὰ δʼ αὐτοῖς τῆς δυσχωρίας συνεργούσης ἐπλεονέκτουν καὶ συχνοὺς μὲν ἀπέκτεννον, οὐκ ὀλίγους δὲ κατετίτρωσκον. ὁ δʼ Ἀλέξανδρος τῇ δεινότητι τοῦ πάθους ἀδυνατῶν βοηθεῖν καὶ θεωρῶν μηδένα τῶν πολεμίων μήτε τεθνηκότα μήτε ὅλως τετρωμένον, τῶν δὲ ἰδίων ἀπολωλότας μὲν πολλούς, κατατετρωμένους δὲ σχεδὸν ἅπαντας τοὺς προσβάλλοντας ἀνεκαλέσατο τῇ σάλπιγγι τοὺς στρατιώτας ἀπὸ τῆς μάχης. ἀναχωρήσας δὲ ἀπὸ τῶν παρόδων σταδίους τριακοσίους κατεστρατοπέδευσε καὶ παρὰ τῶν ἐγχωρίων ἐπυνθάνετο μή τις ἑτέρα ἐστὶ διεκβολή. πάντων δʼ ἀποφαινομένων δίοδον μὲν μηδεμίαν ἄλλην ὑπάρχειν, περίοδον δὲ εἶναι πολλῶν ἡμερῶν αἰσχρὸν εἶναι νομίσας ἀτάφους ἀπολιπεῖν τοὺς τετελευτηκότας καὶ τὴν αἴτησιν τῶν νεκρῶν οὖσαν ὁρῶν ἀσχήμονα καὶ περιέχουσαν ἥττης ὁμολόγησιν προσέταξεν ἀναγαγεῖν ἅπαντας τοὺς αἰχμαλώτους. ἐν δὲ τούτοις ἧκεν ὑπαγόμενος ἀνὴρ δίγλωττος, εἰδὼς τὴν Περσικὴν διάλεκτον· οὗτος δὲ ἑαυτὸν ἀπεφαίνετο Λύκιον μὲν εἶναι τὸ γένος, αἰχμάλωτον δὲ γενόμενον ποιμαίνειν κατὰ τὴν ὑποκειμένην ὀρεινὴν ἔτη πλείω· διʼ ἣν αἰτίαν ἔμπειρον γενέσθαι τῆς χώρας καὶ δύνασθαι τὴν δύναμιν ἀγαγεῖν διὰ τῆς καταδένδρου καὶ κατόπιν ποιῆσαι τῶν τηρούντων τὰς παρόδους. ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς μεγάλαις δωρεαῖς τιμήσειν ἐπαγγειλάμενος τὸν ἄνδρα τούτου καθηγουμένου διῆλθεν ἐπιπόνως τὴν ὀρεινὴν νυκτὸς πολλὴν μὲν πατήσας χιόνα, πᾶσαν δὲ κρημνώδη χώραν περάσας, χαράδραις βαθείαις καὶ πολλαῖς φάραγξι διειλημμένην. ἐπιφανεὶς δὲ ταῖς προφυλακαῖς τῶν πολεμίων τοὺς μὲν πρώτους κατέκοψε, τοὺς δʼ ἐπὶ τῆς δευτέρας φυλακῆς τεταγμένους ἐζώγρησε, τοὺς δὲ τρίτους τρεψάμενος ἐκράτησε τῶν παρόδων καὶ τοὺς πλείστους τῶν περὶ τὸν Ἀριοβαρζάνην ἀπέκτεινε.
Thereafter Alexander marched on in the direction of Persis and on the fifth day came to the so called Susian Rocks. Here the passage was held by Ariobarzanes with a force of twenty-five thousand infantry and three hundred cavalry. The king first thought to force his way through and advanced to the pass through narrow defiles in rough country, but without opposition. The Persians allowed him to proceed along the pass for some distance, but when he was about half-way through the hard part, they suddenly attacked him and rolled down from above huge boulders, which falling suddenly upon the massed ranks of the Macedonians killed many of them. Many of the enemy threw javelins down from the cliffs into the crowd, and did not miss their mark. Still others coming to close quarters flung stones at the Macedonians who pressed on. The Persians had a tremendous advantage because of the difficulty of the country, killed many and injured not a few. Alexander was quite helpless to avert the sufferings of his men and seeing that no one of the enemy was killed or even wounded, while of his own force many were slain and practically all the attacking force were disabled, he recalled the soldiers from the battle with a trumpet signal. Withdrawing from the pass for a distance of three hundred furlongs, he pitched camp and from the natives sought to learn whether there was any other route through the hills. All insisted that there was no other way through, although it was possible to go around them at the cost of several days' travel. It seemed to Alexander, however, discreditable to abandon his dead and unseemly to ask for them, since this carried with it the acknowledgement of defeat, so he ordered all his captives to be brought up. Among these came hopefully a man who was bilingual, and knew the Persian language. He said that he was a Lycian, had been brought there as a captive, and had pastured goats in these mountains for a number of years. He had come to know the country well and could lead a force of men over a path concealed by bushes and bring them to the rear of the Persians guarding the pass. The king promised that he would load him with gifts, and under his direction Alexander did make his way over the mountain at night struggling through deep snow. The route crossed a very broken country, seamed by deep ravines and many gorges. Coming into sight of the enemy outposts, he cut down their first line and captured those who were stationed in the second position, then routed the third line and won the pass, and killed most of the troops of Ariobarzanes.
§ 17.69
μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ἐπὶ τὴν Περσέπολιν προάγων κατὰ τὴν ὁδὸν ἐπιστολὴν ἐκομίσατο παρὰ τοῦ κυριεύοντος τῆς πόλεως Τιριδάτου. ἐν ταύτῃ δʼ ἦν γεγραμμένον ὅτι ἐὰν παραγενόμενος φθάσῃ τοὺς ἐπιβαλλομένους διατηρῆσαι Δαρείῳ τὴν Περσέπολιν, κύριος ἔσται ταύτης ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ παραδοθείσης. διόπερ ὁ Ἀλέξανδρος κατὰ σπουδὴν ἦγε τὴν δύναμιν καὶ τὸν Ἀράξην ποταμὸν ζεύξας διεβίβασε τοὺς στρατιώτας. προάγοντος δὲ τοῦ βασιλέως θέαμα παράδοξον καὶ δεινὸν ὤφθη, μισοπονηρίαν μὲν περιέχον κατὰ τῶν πραξάντων, ἔλεον δὲ καὶ συμπάθειαν ἐπιφέρον πρὸς τοὺς ἀνήκεστα πεπονθότας. ἀπήντησαν γὰρ αὐτῷ μεθʼ ἱκετηριῶν Ἕλληνες ὑπὸ τῶν πρότερον βασιλέων ἀνάστατοι γεγονότες, ὀκτακόσιοι μὲν σχεδὸν τὸν ἀριθμὸν ὄντες, ταῖς δʼ ἡλικίαις οἱ πλεῖστοι μὲν γεγηρακότες, ἠκρωτηριασμένοι δὲ πάντες, οἱ μὲν χεῖρας, οἱ δὲ πόδας, οἱ δὲ ὦτα καὶ ῥῖνας· τῶν δʼ ἐπιστήμας ἢ τέχνας εἰδότων καὶ ἐν παιδείᾳ προκεκοφότων τὰ μὲν ἄλλα τῶν ἀκρωτηρίων ἀπεκέκοπτο, αὐτὰ δὲ μόνα τὰ συνεργοῦντα πρὸς τὰς ἐπιστήμας ἀπελέλειπτο· ὥστε πάντας ὁρῶντας τὰ τῆς ἡλικίας ἀξιώματα καὶ τὰς περιεχούσας τὰ σώματα συμφορὰς ἐλεεῖν τὰς τύχας τῶν ἀκληρούντων, μάλιστα δὲ αὐτὸν τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον συμπαθῆ γενέσθαι τοῖς ἠτυχηκόσι καὶ μὴ δύνασθαι κατασχεῖν τὰ δάκρυα. ἀναβοησάντων δὲ ἅμα ἁπάντων καὶ τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον ἀξιούντων ἀμῦναι ταῖς ἰδίαις συμφοραῖς ὁ μὲν βασιλεὺς προσκαλεσάμενος τοὺς προεστηκότας καὶ τῆς αὑτοῦ μεγαλοψυχίας ἀξίως τιμήσας ἐπηγγείλατο πολλὴν πρόνοιαν ποιήσασθαι τῆς ἐπʼ οἶκον ἀνακομιδῆς. οἱ δὲ συνελθόντες καὶ βουλευσάμενοι προέκριναν τὴν αὐτόθι μονὴν τῆς εἰς οἶκον ἀνακομιδῆς. ἀνασωθέντας μὲν γὰρ αὑτοὺς διασπαρήσεσθαι κατʼ ὀλίγους καὶ περιόντας ἐν ταῖς πόλεσιν ἐπονείδιστον ἕξειν τὴν ἐκ τῆς τύχης ἐπήρειαν· μετʼ ἀλλήλων δὲ βιοῦντας, τὴν ὁμοίαν συμφορὰν ἔχοντας, παραμύθιον ἕξειν τῆς ἰδίας ἀκληρίας τὴν τῶν ἄλλων τῆς ἀκληρίας ὁμοιότητα. διὸ καὶ πάλιν ἐντυχόντες τῷ βασιλεῖ καὶ τὴν ἰδίαν κρίσιν δηλώσαντες ἐδέοντο πρὸς ταύτην τὴν ὑπόστασιν οἰκείαν παρέχεσθαι βοήθειαν. ὁ δὲ Ἀλέξανδρος συγκαταθέμενος τοῖς δεδογμένοις τρισχιλίας μὲν ἑκάστῳ δραχμὰς ἐδωρήσατο καὶ στολὰς ἀνδρείας πέντε καὶ γυναικείας ἴσας, ζεύγη δὲ βοϊκὰ δύο καὶ πρόβατα πεντήκοντα καὶ πυρῶν μεδίμνους πεντήκοντα· ἐποίησεν δὲ καὶ ἀτελεῖς αὐτοὺς παντὸς βασιλικοῦ φόρου καὶ τοῖς ἐπιστάταις προσέταξε φροντίζειν ὅπως μηδʼ ὑφʼ ἑνὸς ἀδικῶνται. Ἀλέξανδρος μὲν οὖν ἀκολούθως τῇ κατʼ αὐτὸν ἐπιεικείᾳ τοιαύταις εὐεργεσίαις τὰς τῶν ἠτυχηκότων συμφορὰς διωρθώσατο.
Now he set out on the road to Persepolis, and while he was on the road received a letter from the governor of the city, whose name was Tiridates. It is stated that if he arrived ahead of those who planned to defend the city for Dareius, he would become master of it, for Tiridates would betray it to him. Accordingly Alexander led his army on by forced marches; he bridged the Araxes River and so brought his men to the other bank. At this point in his advance the king was confronted by a strange and dreadful sight, one to provoke indignation against the perpetrators and sympathetic pity for the unfortunate victims. He was met by Greeks bearing branches of supplication. They had been carried away from their homes by previous kings of Persia and were about eight hundred in number, most of them elderly. All had been mutilated, some lacking hands, some feet, and some ears and noses. They were persons who had acquired skills or crafts and made good progress in their instruction; then their other extremities had been amputated and they were left only those which were vital to their profession. All the soldiers, seeing their venerable years and the losses which their bodies had suffered, pitied the lot of the wretches. Alexander most of all was affected by them and unable to restrain his tears. They all cried with one voice and besought Alexander to help them in their misfortunes. The king called their leaders to come forward and, greeting them with a respect in keeping with his own greatness of spirit, promised to make it a matter of utmost concern that they should be restored to their homes. They gathered to debate the matter, and decided that it would be better for them to remain where they were rather than to return home. If they were brought back safely, they would be scattered in small groups, and would find their abuse at the hands of Fortune an object of reproach as they lived on in their cities. If, however, they continued living together, as companions in misfortune, they would find a solace for their mutilation in the similar mutilation of the others. So they again appeared before the king, told them of their decision, and asked him to give them help appropriate to this proposal.8 Alexander applauded their decision and gave each of them three thousand drachmae, five men's robes and the same number for women, two yoke of oxen, fifty sheep, and fifty bushels of wheat. He made them also exempt from all royal taxes and charged his administrative officials to see that they were harmed in no way. 9 Thus Alexander mitigated the lot of these unfortunate persons by such benefactions in keeping his natural kindness.
§ 17.70
τὴν δὲ Περσέπολιν, μητρόπολιν οὖσαν τῆς Περσῶν βασιλείας, ἀπέδειξε τοῖς Μακεδόσι πολεμιωτάτην τῶν κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν πόλεων καὶ τοῖς στρατιώταις ἔδωκεν εἰς διαρπαγὴν χωρὶς τῶν βασιλείων. πλουσιωτάτης δʼ οὔσης τῶν ὑπὸ τὸν ἥλιον καὶ τῶν ἰδιωτικῶν οἴκων πεπληρωμένων ἐκ πολλῶν χρόνων παντοίας εὐδαιμονίας οἱ Μακεδόνες ἐπῄεσαν τοὺς μὲν ἄνδρας πάντας φονεύοντες, τὰς δὲ κτήσεις διαρπάζοντες, πολλὰς μὲν τοῖς πλήθεσιν ὑπαρχούσας, κατασκευῆς δὲ καὶ κόσμου παντοίου γεμούσας. ἔνθα δὴ πολὺς μὲν ἄργυρος διεφορεῖτο, οὐκ ὀλίγος δὲ χρυσὸς διηρπάζετο, πολλαὶ δὲ καὶ πολυτελεῖς ἐσθῆτες, αἱ μὲν θαλασσίαις πορφύραις, αἱ δὲ χρυσοῖς ἐνυφάσμασι πεποικιλμέναι, τοῖς κρατοῦσιν ἔπαθλα καθίσταντο. τὰ δὲ μεγάλα καὶ κατὰ πᾶσαν τὴν οἰκουμένην περιβόητα βασίλεια πρὸς ὕβριν καὶ παντελῆ φθορὰν ἀπεδέδεικτο. οἱ δὲ Μακεδόνες ἐνημερεύσαντες ταῖς ἁρπαγαῖς τὴν ἄπληστον τοῦ πλείονος ἐπιθυμίαν οὐκ ἐδύναντο πληρῶσαι. τοσαύτη γὰρ ἦν τῆς πλεονεξίας ὑπερβολὴ κατὰ τὰς τούτων ἁρπαγὰς ὥστε καὶ πρὸς ἀλλήλους διαμάχεσθαι καὶ πολλοὺς ἀναιρεῖν τῶν τὰ πολλὰ τῆς ἁρπαγῆς ἐξιδιοποιουμένων· τινὲς δὲ τὰ πολυτελέστατα τῶν εὑρισκομένων τοῖς ξίφεσι διακόπτοντες τὰς ἰδίας ἀπεκόμιζον μερίδας, ἔνιοι δὲ τὰς τῶν ἐπιβαλλόντων τοῖς ἀμφισβητουμένοις χεῖρας ἀπέκοπτον, συνεκφερόμενοι τοῖς θυμοῖς· τὰς δὲ γυναῖκας σὺν αὐτοῖς τοῖς κόσμοις πρὸς βίαν ἀπῆγον, τὴν αἰχμαλωσίαν δουλαγωγοῦντες· ἡ μὲν οὖν Περσέπολις ὅσῳ τῶν ἄλλων πόλεων ὑπερεῖχεν εὐδαιμονίᾳ, τοσοῦτον ὑπερεβάλετο τὰς ἄλλας τοῖς ἀτυχήμασιν.
Persepolis was the capital of the Persian kingdom. Alexander described it to the Macedonians as the most hateful of the cities of Asia, and gave it over to his soldiers to plunder, all but the palaces. It was the richest city under the sun and the private houses had been furnished with every sort of wealth over the years. The Macedonians raced into it slaughtering all the men whom they met and plundering the residences; many of the houses belonged to the common people and were abundantly supplied with furniture and wearing apparel of every kind. Here much silver was carried off and no little gold, and many rich dresses gay with sea purple or with gold embroidery became the prize of the victors. The enormous palaces, famed throughout the whole civilized world, fell victim to insult and utter destruction. The Macedonians gave themselves up to this orgy of plunder for a whole day and still could not satisfy their boundless greed for more. Such was their exceeding lust for loot withal that they fought with each other and killed many of their fellows who had appropriated a greater portion of it. The richest of the finds some cut through with their swords so that each might have his own part. Some cut off the hands of those who were grasping at disputed property, being driven mad by their passions. They dragged off women, clothes and all, converting their captivity into slavery. As Persepolis had exceeded all other cities in prosperity, so in the same measure it now exceeded all others in misery.
§ 17.71
ὁ δὲ Ἀλέξανδρος παρελθὼν εἰς τὴν ἄκραν παρέλαβε τοὺς ἐν αὐτῇ θησαυρούς. οὗτοι δέ, ἀπὸ Κύρου τοῦ πρώτου Περσῶν βασιλεύσαντος μέχρι τῶν ὑποκειμένων καιρῶν ἠθροισμένων τῶν προσόδων, ἔγεμον ἀργυρίου τε καὶ χρυσίου· εὑρέθησαν γὰρ ἐν αὐτοῖς δώδεκα μυριάδες ταλάντων, εἰς ἀργυρίου λόγον αγομένου τοῦ χρυσίου. βουλόμενος δὲ τῶν χρημάτων ἃ μὲν μεθʼ ἑαυτοῦ κομίζειν πρὸς τὰς εἰς τὸν πόλεμον χρείας, ἃ δʼ εἰς Σοῦσα καταθέσθαι καὶ φυλάττειν ἐν ταύτῃ τῇ πόλει μετεπέμψατο ἐκ Βαβυλῶνος καὶ Μεσοποταμίας, ἔτι δʼ ἐκ Σούσων ἡμιόνων πλῆθος, τῶν μὲν ἀχθοφόρων, τῶν δὲ ζευγιτῶν, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις καμήλους ἀχθοφόρους τρισχιλίας καὶ διὰ τούτων πάντα ἀπεκόμισεν εἰς τοὺς προκριθέντας τόπους· σφόδρα γὰρ ἀλλοτρίως ἔχων πρὸς τοὺς ἐγχωρίους ἠπίστει τε αὐτοῖς καὶ τὴν Περσέπολιν εἰς τέλος ἔσπευδε καταφθεῖραι. οὐκ ἀνοίκειον δʼ εἶναι νομίζομεν περὶ τῶν ἐν ταύτῃ τῇ πόλει βασιλείων διὰ τὴν πολυτέλειαν τῆς κατασκευῆς βραχέα διελθεῖν. οὔσης γὰρ ἄκρας ἀξιολόγου περιείληφεν αὐτὴν τριπλοῦν τεῖχος, οὗ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἀναλήμματι πολυδαπάνῳ κατεσκεύαστο καὶ τὸ ὕψος εἶχε πηχῶν ἑκκαίδεκα ἐπάλξεσι κεκοσμημένον, τὸ δὲ δεύτερον τὴν μὲν ἄλλην κατασκευὴν ὁμοίαν ἔχει τῷ προειρημένῳ, τὸ δʼ ὕψος διπλάσιον. ὁ δὲ τρίτος περίβολος τῷ σχήματι μέν ἐστι τετράπλευρος, τὸ δὲ τούτου τεῖχος ὕψος ἔχει πηχῶν ἑξήκοντα, λίθῳ σκληρῷ καὶ πρὸς διαμονὴν αἰωνίαν εὖ πεφυκότι κατεσκευασμένον. ἑκάστη δὲ τῶν πλευρῶν ἔχει πύλας χαλκᾶς καὶ παρʼ αὐτὰς σταυροὺς χαλκοῦς εἰκοσιπήχεις, οὓς μὲν πρὸς τὴν ἐκ τῆς θέας κατάπληξιν, ἃς δὲ πρὸς ἀσφάλειαν ἡρμοσμένας. ἐν δὲ τῷ πρὸς ἀνατολὰς μέρει τῆς ἄκρας τέτταρα πλέθρα διεστηκὸς ὄρος ἐστὶν τὸ καλούμενον βασιλικόν, ἐν ᾧ τῶν βασιλέων ὑπῆρχον οἱ τάφοι. πέτρα γὰρ ἦν κατεξαμμένη καὶ κατὰ μέσον οἴκους ἔχουσα πλείονας, ἐν οἷς σηκοὶ τῶν τετελευτηκότων ὑπῆρχον, πρόσβασιν μὲν οὐδεμίαν ἔχοντες χειροποίητον, ὑπὸ ὀργάνων δέ τινων χειροποιήτων ἐξαιρομένων τῶν νεκρῶν δεχόμενοι τὰς ταφάς. κατὰ δὲ τὴν ἄκραν ταύτην ἦσαν καταλύσεις βασιλικαὶ καὶ στρατηγικαὶ πλείους πολυτελεῖς ταῖς κατασκευαῖς καὶ θησαυροὶ πρὸς τὴν τῶν χρημάτων παραφυλακὴν εὐθέτως κατεσκευασμένοι.
Alexander ascended to the citadel terrace and took possession of the treasure there. This had been accumulated from the state revenues, beginning with Cyrus, the first king of the Persians, down to that time, and the vaults were packed full of silver and gold. The total was found to be one hundred and twenty thousand talents, when the gold was estimated in terms of silver. Alexander wanted to take some money with him to meet the costs of the war, and to deposit the rest in Susa and keep it under guard in that city. Accordingly he sent for a vast number of mules from Babylon and Mesopotamia, as well as from Susa itself, both pack and harness animals as well as three thousand pack camels. By these means Alexander transported everything to the desired places. He felt bitter enmity to the inhabitants He did not trust them, and he meant to destroy Persepolis utterly. I think that it is not inappropriate to speak briefly about the palace area of the city because of the richness of its buildings. The citadel is a noteworthy one, and is surrounded by a triple wall. The first part of this is built over an elaborate foundation. It is sixteen cubits in height and is topped by battlements. The second wall is in all other respects like the first but of twice the height. The third circuit is rectangular in plan, and is sixty cubits in height, built of a stone hard and naturally durable. Each of the sides contains a gate with bronze doors, beside each of which stand bronze poles twenty cubits high; these were intended to catch the eye of the beholder, but the gates were for security. At the eastern side of the terrace at a distance of four plethra is the so called royal hill in which were the graves of the kings. This was a smooth rock hollowed out into many chambers in which were the sepulchres of the dead kings. These have no other access but receive the sarcophagi of the dead which are lifted by certain mechanical hoists. Scattered about the royal terrace were residences of the kings and members of the royal family as well as quarters for the great nobles, all luxuriously furnished, and buildings suitably made for guarding the royal treasure.
§ 17.72
ὁ δʼ Ἀλέξανδρος ἐπινίκια τῶν κατορθωμάτων ἐπιτελῶν θυσίας τε μεγαλοπρεπεῖς τοῖς θεοῖς συνετέλεσεν καὶ τῶν φίλων λαμπρὰς ἑστιάσεις ἐποιήσατο. καὶ δή ποτε τῶν ἑταίρων εὐωχουμένων καὶ τοῦ μὲν πότου προβαίνοντος, τῆς δὲ μέθης προϊούσης κατέσχε λύσσα ἐπὶ πολὺ τὰς ψυχὰς τῶν οἰνωμένων. ὅτε δὴ καὶ μία τῶν παρουσῶν γυναικῶν, ὄνομα μὲν Θαΐς, Ἀττικὴ δὲ τὸ γένος, εἶπεν κάλλιστον Ἀλεξάνδρῳ τῶν κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν πεπραγμένων ἔσεσθαι, ἐὰν κωμάσας μετʼ αὐτῶν ἐμπρήσῃ τὰ βασίλεια καὶ τὰ Περσῶν περιβόητα γυναικῶν χεῖρες ἐν βραχεῖ καιρῷ ποιήσωσιν ἄφαντα. τούτων δὲ ῥηθέντων εἰς ἄνδρας νέους καὶ διὰ τὴν μέθην ἀλόγως μετεωριζομένους, ὡς εἰκός, ἄγειν τις ἀνεβόησε καὶ δᾷδας ἅπτειν καὶ τὴν εἰς τὰ τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἱερὰ παρανομίαν ἀμύνασθαι παρεκελεύετο. συνεπευφημούντων δὲ καὶ ἄλλων καὶ λεγόντων μόνῳ τὴν πρᾶξιν ταύτην προσήκειν Ἀλεξάνδρῳ καὶ τοῦ βασιλέως συνεξαρθέντος τοῖς λόγοις πάντες ἀνεπήδησαν ἐκ τοῦ πότου καὶ τὸν ἐπινίκιον κῶμον ἄγειν Διονύσῳ παρήγγειλαν. ταχὺ δὲ πλήθους λαμπάδων ἀθροισθέντος καὶ γυναικῶν μουσουργῶν εἰς τὸν πότον παρειλημμένων μετʼ ᾠδῆς καὶ αὐλῶν καὶ συρίγγων προῆγεν ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐπὶ τὸν κῶμον, καθηγουμένης τῆς πράξεως Θαΐδος τῆς ἑταίρας. αὕτη δὲ μετὰ τὸν βασιλέα πρώτη τὴν δᾷδα καιομένην ἠκόντισεν εἰς τὰ βασίλεια· καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ταὐτὰ πραξάντων ταχὺ πᾶς ὁ περὶ τὰ βασίλεια τόπος κατεφλέχθη διὰ τὸ μέγεθος τῆς φλογὸς καὶ τὸ πάντων παραδοξότατον, τὸ Ξέρξου τοῦ Περσῶν βασιλέως γενόμενον ἀσέβημα περὶ τὴν ἀκρόπολιν τῶν Ἀθηναίων μία γυνὴ πολῖτις τῶν ἀδικηθέντων ἐν παιδιᾷ πολλοῖς ὕστερον ἔτεσι μετῆλθε τοῖς αὐτοῖς πάθεσιν.
Alexander held games in honour of his victories. He performed costly sacrifices to the gods and entertained his friends bountifully. While they were feasting and the drinking was far advanced, as they began to be drunken a madness took possession of the minds of the intoxicated guests. At this point one of the women present, Thais by name and Attic by origin, said that for Alexander it would be the finest of all his feats in Asia if he joined them in a triumphal procession, set fire to the palaces, and permitted women's hands in a minute to extinguish the famed accomplishments of the Persians. This was said to men who were still young and giddy with wine, and so, as would be expected, someone shouted out to form the comus and to light torches, and urged all to take vengeance for the destruction of the Greek temples. Others took up the cry and said that this was a deed worthy of Alexander alone. When the king had caught fire at their words, all leaped up from their couches and passed the word along to form a victory procession in honour of Dionysus. Promptly many torches were gathered. Female musicians were present at the banquet, so the king led them all out for the comus to the sound of voices and flutes and pipes, Thais the courtesan leading the whole performance. She was the first, after the king, to hurl her blazing torch into the palace. As the others all did the same, immediately the entire palace area was consumed, so great was the conflagration. It was most remarkable that the impious act of Xerxes, king of the Persians, against the acropolis of at Athens should have been repaid in kind after many years by one woman, a citizen of the land which had suffered it, and in sport.
§ 17.73
Ἀλέξανδρος δὲ ἀπὸ τούτων γενόμενος τὰς κατὰ τὴν Περσίδα πόλεις ἐπῆλθεν καὶ τὰς μὲν βίᾳ χειρωσάμενος, τὰς δὲ διὰ τὴν ἰδίαν ἐπιείκειαν προσαγόμενος ἀνέζευξεν ἐπὶ τὸν Δαρεῖον. οὗτος δʼ ἐπεβάλετο μὲν ἀθροίζειν τὰς ἐκ τῆς Βακτριανῆς καὶ τῶν ἄλλων σατραπειῶν δυνάμεις, καταταχούμενος δὲ καὶ μετὰ τρισμυρίων Περσῶν τε καὶ μισθοφόρων Ἑλλήνων τὴν φυγὴν εἰς Βάκτρα ποιούμενος ὑπὸ Βήσσου τοῦ Βάκτρων σατράπου κατὰ τὴν ἀναχώρησιν συλληφθεὶς ἐδολοφονήθη. ἄρτι δʼ αὐτοῦ τετελευτηκότος Ἀλέξανδρος μετὰ τῶν ἱππέων ἐπιδιώκων καὶ τὸν Δαρεῖον τετελευτηκότα καταλαβὼν τῆς βασιλικῆς ταφῆς ἠξίωσεν. ὡς δʼ ἔνιοι γεγράφασιν, ἔμπνουν ἔτι καταλαβὼν τοῖς μὲν ἀτυχήμασιν αὐτοῦ συνήλγησε, παρακληθεὶς δὲ ὑπὸ τοῦ Δαρείου μετελθεῖν τὸν φόνον καὶ καθομολογήσας ἐδίωξε τὸν Βῆσσον. ἐκείνου δὲ πολὺ προειληφότος καὶ συμφυγόντος εἰς τὴν Βακτριανὴν ἐπανῆλθεν ἀπογνοὺς τὸν τῶν πολεμίων διωγμόν. καὶ τὰ μὲν κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν ἐν τούτοις ἦν. κατὰ δὲ τὴν Εὐρώπην Λακεδαιμόνιοι μὲν ἐπταικότες μεγάλῃ παρατάξει διὰ τὴν συμφορὰν ἠναγκάσθησαν διαπρεσβεύεσθαι πρὸς Ἀντίπατρον· ἐκείνου δὲ ἐπὶ τὸ κοινὸν τῶν Ἑλλήνων συνέδριον τὴν ἀπόκρισιν ἀποστείλαντος οἱ μὲν σύνεδροι συνήχθησαν εἰς Κόρινθον καὶ πολλῶν ῥηθέντων λόγων πρὸς ἑκάτερον μέρος ἔδοξεν αὐτοῖς ἀκέραιον τὴν κρίσιν ἐπὶ τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον ἀναπέμψαι. ὁ μὲν οὖν Ἀντίπατρος ὁμήρους ἔλαβε τοὺς ἐπιφανεστάτους τῶν Σπαρτιατῶν πεντήκοντα, οἱ δὲ Λακεδαιμόνιοι πρέσβεις ἐξέπεμψαν εἰς τὴν Ἀσίαν,ἀξιοῦντες αὑτοῖς δοῦναι συγγνώμην ἐπὶ τοῖς ἠγνοημένοις.
When all this was over, Alexander visited the cities of Persis, capturing some by storm and winning over others by his own fair dealing. Then he set out after Dareius. The Persian king had planned to bring together the armed forces of Bactria and the other satrapies, but Alexander was too quick for him. Dareius directed his flight toward the city of Bactra with thirty thousand Persians and Greek mercenaries, but in the course of this retirement he was seized and murdered by Bessus, the satrap of Bactria. Just after his death, Alexander rode up in hot pursuit with his cavalry, and, finding him dead, gave him a royal funeral. Some, however, have written that Alexander found him still breathing and commiserated with him on his disasters. Dareius urged him to avenge his death, and Alexander, agreeing, set out after Bessus, but the satrap had a long start and got away into Bactria, so Alexander suspended the chase and returned. That was the situation in Asia. In Europe the Lacedemonians were forced by their defeat in a decisive battle to make overtures to Antipater. He referred his reply to the council of the Hellenic League. When the delegates came together in Corinth, there was a long discussion on both sides, and they decided to pass the issue on without a decision to Alexander.6 Antipater took as hostages fifty of the most notable of the Spartiates, and the Lacedemonians sent envoys to Asia asking forgiveness for their mistakes.
§ 17.74
τοῦ δʼ ἔτους τούτου διεληλυθότος Ἀθήνησι μὲν ἦρχε Κηφισοφῶν, ἐν Ῥώμῃ δὲ κατεστάθησαν ὕπατοι Γάιος Οὐαλλέριος καὶ Μάρκος Κλώδιος. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Βῆσσος μὲν μετὰ τὴν Δαρείου τελευτὴν μετὰ Ναβάρνου καὶ Βαρξάεντος καὶ πολλῶν ἄλλων διαφυγὼν τὰς Ἀλεξάνδρου χεῖρας διήνυσε μὲν εἰς τὴν Βακτριανήν, ἀποδεδειγμένος δὲ ταύτης σατράπης ὑπὸ Δαρείου καὶ τοῖς πλήθεσι γεγονὼς γνώριμος διὰ τὴν ἀρχὴν παρεκάλει τὰ πλήθη τῆς ἐλευθερίας ἀντέχεσθαι· ἀπεδείκνυε δὲ τὴν χώραν αὐτοῖς πολλὰ συνεργήσειν οὖσαν δυσείσβολον καὶ πλῆθος ἱκανὸν ἔχουσαν ἀνδρῶν εἰς κατάκτησιν τῆς αὐτονομίας. ἐπαγγελλόμενος δὲ καθηγήσασθαι τοῦ πολέμου καὶ τὸ πλῆθος πείσας ἀνέδειξεν ἑαυτὸν βασιλέα. οὗτος μὲν οὖν στρατιώτας τε κατέγραφε καὶ πλῆθος ὅπλων κατεσκεύαζε καὶ τἄλλα φιλοτίμως πρὸς τὴν κατεπείγουσαν χρείαν παρεσκευάζετο· Ἀλέξανδρος δὲ ὁρῶν τοὺς Μακεδόνας τέλος τῆς στρατείας τὴν Δαρείου τελευτὴν τάττοντας καὶ μετεώρους ὄντας πρὸς τὴν εἰς τὴν πατρίδα ἐπάνοδον τούτους μὲν ἀθροίσας εἰς ἐκκλησίαν καὶ λόγοις οἰκείοις παρορμήσας εὐπειθεῖς πρὸς τὴν ὑπολειπομένην στρατείαν παρεσκεύασεν, τοὺς δʼ ἀπὸ τῶν Ἑλληνίδων πόλεων συμμαχήσαντας συναγαγὼν καὶ περὶ τῶν πεπραγμένων ἐπαινέσας ἀπέλυσε μὲν τῆς στρατείας, ἐδωρήσατο δὲ τῶν μὲν ἱππέων ἑκάστῳ τάλαντον, τῶν δὲ πεζῶν μνᾶς δέκα, χωρὶς δὲ τούτων τούς τε ὀφειλομένους μισθοὺς ἀπέλυσε καὶ τοὺς κατὰ τὴν ἀνακομιδὴν μέχρι τῆς εἰς τὰς πατρίδας καθόδου προσέθηκεν· τῶν δʼ ἑλομένων μένειν ἐν τῇ στρατιᾷ τῇ μετὰ τοῦ βασιλέως ἔδωκεν ἑκάστῳ τρία τάλαντα. μεγάλαις δὲ δωρεαῖς ἐτίμησε τοὺς στρατιώτας ἅμα μὲν φύσει μεγαλόψυχος ὤν, ἅμα δὲ τῇ διώξει τοῦ Δαρείου πολλῶν χρημάτων κεκυριευκώς· παρὰ μὲν γὰρ τῶν γαζοφυλακούντων παρέλαβεν ὀκτακισχιλίων ταλάντων ἀριθμόν, χωρὶς δὲ τούτων τὰ νεμηθέντα τοῖς στρατιώταις σὺν τῷ κόσμῳ καὶ τοῖς ἐκπώμασιν ὑπῆρχε μύρια καὶ τρισχίλια τάλαντα, τὰ δὲ διακλαπέντα καὶ ἁρπαχθέντα πλείω τῶν εἰρημένων ὑπενοεῖτο.
After this year was over, Cephisophoron became archon at Athens, and Gaius Valerius and Marcus Clodius consuls in Rome. In this year, now that Dareius was dead, Bessus with Nabarnes and Barxaes and many others of the Iranian nobles got to Bactria, eluding the hands of Alexander. Bessus had been appointed satrap of this region by Dareius and being known to everyone because of his administration, now called upon the population to defend their freedom. He pointed out that the nature of their country would assist them very much, since the region was hard for an enemy to penetrate and furnished enough men for them to establish their independence. He proclaimed that he would take personal command of the war and designated himself king, with the approval of the people. Then he set to work enrolling soldiers, manufacturing an adequate stock of weapons, and busily making everything ready for the approaching time of need. Alexander, for his part, was aware that the Macedonians regarded Dareius's death as the end of the campaign and were impatient to go home. He called them all to a meeting and, addressing them with effective arguments, made them willing to follow him in the part of the war which remained, but he assembled the allied troops from the Greek cities and praising them for their services released them from their military duty. He gave to each of the cavalry a talent and to each of the infantry ten minas. Besides this he paid them their wages up to date and added more to cover the period of their march back until they should return to their homes. To those who would remain with him in the royal army, he gave a bonus of three talents each. He treated the soldiers with such lavishness in part because of his native generosity and in part because he had come into possession of very much money in the course of his pursuit of Dareius. He had received from the royal treasures the sum of eight thousand talents. Apart from this, what was distributed to the soldiers, including clothing and goblets, came to thirteen thousand talents, while what was stolen or taken as plunder was thought to be even more still.
§ 17.75
ὁ δὲ Ἀλέξανδρος ἀναζεύξας ἐπὶ τὴν Ὑρκανίαν τριταῖος κατεστρατοπέδευσε πλησίον πόλεως τῆς ὀνομαζομένης Ἑκατονταπύλου. εὐδαίμονος δʼ αὐτῆς οὔσης καὶ πάντων τῶν πρὸς ἀπόλαυσιν ἀνηκόντων πολλῆς ἀφθονίας ὑπαρχούσης ἐνταῦθα τὴν δύναμιν ἀνέλαβεν ἐπί τινας ἡμέρας. διελθὼν δὲ σταδίους ἑκατὸν καὶ πεντήκοντα κατεστρατοπέδευσε πλησίον πέτρας μεγάλης· ὑπὸ δὲ τὴν ῥίζαν αὐτῆς ἄντρον ὑπῆρχε θεοπρεπές, ἐξ οὗ μέγας ποταμὸς ἐξέπιπτεν ὁ καλούμενος Στιβοίτης. οὗτος δὲ λάβρῳ τῷ ῥεύματι φερόμενος ἐπὶ τρεῖς σταδίους σχίζεται διπλοῦς περί τινα πέτραν μαστοειδῆ, ἔχουσαν ὑφʼ αὑτὴν χάσμα γῆς παμμέγεθες· εἰς δὲ τοῦτο καταράττων μετὰ πολλοῦ ψόφου καὶ γινόμενος ἀφρώδης διὰ τῆς πρὸς τὴν πέτραν πληγῆς φέρεται ὑπὸ γῆν σταδίους τριακοσίους, ἔπειτα πάλιν ἀνοίγει τὰς ἐκβολάς. ὁ δʼ Ἀλέξανδρος μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως ἐμβαλὼν εἰς τὴν τῶν Ὑρκανῶν χώραν πάσας τὰς ἐν αὐτῇ πόλεις ἐχειρώσατο μέχρι τῆς Κασπίας καλουμένης θαλάττης, ἣν Ὑρκανίαν τινὲς ὀνομάζουσιν. ἐν ταύτῃ δέ φασι πολλοὺς μὲν καὶ μεγάλους ὄφεις γεννᾶσθαι, ἰχθῦς δὲ παντοδαποὺς πολὺ τῇ χροιᾷ τῶν παρʼ ἡμῖν διαλλάττοντας. διεξιὼν δὲ τὴν Ὑρκανίαν κατήντησε πρὸς τὰς καλουμένας Εὐδαίμονας καὶ πρὸς ἀλήθειαν οὔσας κώμας· πολὺ γὰρ τοῖς καρποῖς ἡ χώρα τούτων ὑπεράγει τῶν παρὰ τοῖς ἄλλοις. τῶν μὲν γὰρ ἀμπέλων φασὶν ἑκάστην μετρητὴν φέρειν οἴνου, τῶν δὲ συκίνων δένδρων ἔνια καρποφορεῖν ἰσχάδων ξηρῶν μεδίμνους δέκα. τὸν δʼ ἐν τῷ θερισμῷ παραλειφθέντα σῖτον ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν πεσόντα βλαστάνειν ἄσπορον ὄντα καὶ πρὸς τὸ τέλος ἄγειν δαψιλῆ καρπόν. ἔστι δὲ καὶ δένδρον παρὰ τοῖς ἐγχωρίοις παραπλήσιον δρυῒ κατὰ τὴν ἐπιφάνειαν, ἀπὸ δὲ τῶν φύλλων ἀπολεῖβον μέλι· καὶ τοῦτό τινες συνάγοντες δαψιλῆ τὴν ἀπόλαυσιν αὐτοῦ ποιοῦνται. ἔστι δὲ καὶ ζῷον κατὰ τὴν χώραν ἐπτερωμένον, ὃ καλεῖται μὲν ἀνθρηδών, λειπόμενον δὲ μεγέθει μελίττης μεγίστην ἔχει τὴν ὠφέλειαν· ἐπινεμόμενον γὰρ τὴν ὀρεινὴν ἄνθη παντοῖα δρέπεται καὶ ταῖς κοιλάσι πέτραις καὶ τοῖς κεραυνοβόλοις τῶν δένδρων ἐνδιατρῖβον κηροπλαστεῖ καὶ κατασκευάζει χύμα διάφορον τῇ γλυκύτητι, τοῦ παρʼ ἡμῖν μέλιτος οὐ πολὺ λειπόμενον.
Alexander started out for Hyrcania and on the third day encamped near a city called Hecatonpylus, This was a wealthy city with a profusion of everything contributing to pleasure, so he rested his army there for some days. Then, advancing one hundred and fifty furlongs, he encamped near a huge rock; under its base there was a marvellous cave from which flowed a great river known as the Stiboeites. This tumbles out with a rapid current for a distance of three furlongs, and then divides into two courses on either side of a breast-shaped "rock," beneath which there is a vast cavern. Into this the river plunges with a great river, foaming from its clash against the rock. After flowing underground a distance of three hundred furlongs, it again breaks its way to the surface. Alexander entered Hyrcania with his army and took possession of all the cities there as far as the so called Caspian Sea, which some name the Hyrcanian. In this they say are spawned many large serpents and fish of all sorts quite different in colour from ours. He passed through Hyrcania and came to the Fortunate Villages, as they are called, and truly such they are, for their land produces crops far more generously than elsewhere. They say that each vine produces a metretes of wine, while there are some fig trees which produce ten medimni of dried figs. The grain which is overlooked at the harvest and falls to the ground germinates without being sown and brings of the maturity an abundant harvest. There is a tree known to the natives like an oak in appearance, from the leaves of which honey drips; this some collect and take their pleasure from it abundantly. There is a winged animal in this country which they call anthredon, smaller than the bee but very useful. It roams the mountains gathering nectar from every kind of flower. Dwelling in hollow rocks and lightning-blasted trees it forms combs of wax and fashions a liquor of surpassing sweetness, not far inferior to our honey.
§ 17.76
Ἀλέξανδρος δὲ τὴν Ὑρκανίαν καὶ τὰ συνορίζοντα τῶν ἐθνῶν ταύτῃ τῇ χώρᾳ προσηγάγετο· καὶ πολλοὶ τῶν συμπεφευγότων ἡγεμόνων τῷ Δαρείῳ παρέδωκαν αὑτούς· οἷς ἐπεικῶς προσενεχθεὶς μεγάλην δόξαν ἐπιεικείας ἀπηνέγκατο· εὐθὺ γὰρ οἱ Δαρείῳ συνεστρατευμένοι τῶν Ἑλλήνων ὄντες περὶ χιλίους καὶ πεντακοσίους ἀνδρείᾳ τε διαφέροντες, παρέδοσαν ἑαυτοὺς Ἀλεξάνδρῳ καὶ συγγνώμης ἀξιωθέντες κατετάχθησαν εἰς τὰς τάξεις ἐπὶ ταῖς αὐταῖς μισθοφοραῖς. ὁ δʼ Ἀλέξανδρος ἐπελθὼν τὴν παραθαλάσσιον τῆς Ὑρκανίας ἐνέβαλεν εἰς τὴν χώραν τῶν ὀνομαζομένων Μάρδων. οὗτοι γὰρ ἀλκῇ διαφέροντες ὑπερεφρόνησαν τὴν αὔξησιν τοῦ βασιλέως καὶ οὐδεμιᾶς ἐντεύξεως ἢ τιμῆς ἠξίωσαν αὐτόν, προκαταλαβόμενοι δὲ τὰς εἰσβολὰς στρατιώταις ὀκτακισχιλίοις τεθαρρηκότως τὴν τῶν Μακεδόνων ἔφοδον ὑπέμενον. ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς ἐπιπεσὼν αὐτοῖς καὶ συνάψας μάχην τοὺς πλείους μὲν κατέκοψε, τοὺς δὲ λοιποὺς εἰς τὰς δυσχωρίας κατεδίωξε. πυρπολοῦντος δʼ αὐτοῦ τὴν χώραν καὶ τῶν τοὺς βασιλικοὺς ἵππους ἀγόντων παίδων βραχὺ τοῦ βασιλέως χωρισθέντων ἐπιβαλόντες τινὲς τῶν βαρβάρων ἀφήρπασαν Βουκεφάλαν τὸν ἄριστον τῶν ἵππων. οὗτος δʼ ἐδόθη δῶρον μὲν ὑπὸ Δημαράτου τοῦ Κορινθίου, συνηγώνιστο δὲ τῷ βασιλεῖ πάντας τοὺς κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν ἀγῶνας. γυμνὸς δʼ ὢν ἔτι τὸν πωλοδαμαστὴν μόνον προσεδέχετο, τυχὼν δὲ τῆς βασιλικῆς σκευῆς οὐδὲ τοῦτον ἔτι προσίετο, μόνῳ δὲ Ἀλεξάνδρῳ παρίστατο καὶ συγκαθίει τὸ σῶμα πρὸς τὴν ἀνάβασιν. ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς διὰ τὴν ἀρετὴν τοῦ ζῴου δυσφορήσας τὴν μὲν χώραν δενδροτομεῖν προσέταξε, διὰ δὲ τῶν ὁμοφώνων τοῖς ἐγχωρίοις κηρύττειν ὡς ἂν μὴ τὸν ἵππον ἀποδῶσι, τήν τε χώραν εἰς τέλος ὄψονται κατεφθαρμένην τούς τʼ ἐνοικοῦντας πανδημεὶ κατεσφαγμένους. τῶν δʼ ἀπειλῶν ὀξέως ἐπιτελουμένων καταπλαγέντες οἱ βάρβαροι τὸν ἵππον ἀποκατέστησαν καὶ μετʼ αὐτοῦ πολυτελέστατα δῶρα προσεκόμισαν, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις καὶ πεντήκοντʼ ἄνδρας ἀπέστειλαν, δεόμενοι τυχεῖν συγγνώμης. ὁ δʼ Ἀλέξανδρος τοὺς μὲν ἀξιολογωτάτους τῶν ἀνδρῶν ἔλαβεν ὁμήρους.
Thus Alexander acquired Hyrcania and the tribes which were its neighbours, and many of the Iranian commanders who had fled with Dareius came to him and gave themselves up. He received them kindly and gained wide repute for fair dealing; for instance, the Greeks who had served with Dareius, one thousand five hundred in number, and accomplished soldiers, also promptly turned themselves over to Alexander, and receiving a full pardon for their previous hostility were assigned to units of his army on the same pay scale as the rest. Alexander followed the coastline to the west and entered the country of the people known as Mardians. They prided themselves on their fighting ability and thinking little of Alexander's growth in power sent him no petition or mark of honour, but held the passes with eight thousand soldiers and confidently awaited the Macedonian approach. The king attacked them and joining battle killed most of them and drove the rest into the fastnesses of the mountains. As he was wasting the countryside with fire and the pages who led the royal horses were at a little distance from the king, some of the natives made a sudden rush and carried off the best one of them. This animal had come to Alexander as a gift from Demaratus of Corinth and had carried the king in all of his battles in Asia. So long as he was not caparisoned, he would permit only the groom to mount him, but when he had received the royal trappings, he would no longer allow even him, but for Alexander alone stood quietly and even lowered his body to assist in the mounting. Because of the superior qualities of this animal the king was infuriated at his loss and ordered that every tree in the land be felled, while he proclaimed to the natives through interpreters that if the horse were not returned, they should see the country laid waste to its furthest limit and its inhabitants slaughtered to a man. As he began immediately to carry out these threats, the natives were terrified and returned the horse and sent with it their costliest gifts. They sent also fifty men to beg forgiveness. Alexander took the most important of these as hostages.
§ 17.77
ἐπανελθόντος δʼ αὐτοῦ πάλιν εἰς τὴν Ὑρκανίαν ἧκεν πρὸς αὐτὸν ἡ βασίλισσα τῶν Ἀμαζόνων, ὄνομα μὲν Θάλληστρις, βασιλεύουσα δὲ τῆς μεταξὺ τοῦ Φάσιδος καὶ Θερμώδοντος χώρας. ἦν δὲ τῷ τε κάλλει καὶ τῇ τοῦ σώματος ῥώμῃ διαφέρουσα καὶ παρὰ τοῖς ὁμοεθνέσι θαυμαζομένη κατʼ ἀνδρείαν, καὶ τὸ μὲν πλῆθος τῆς στρατιᾶς ἐπὶ τῶν ὅρων τῆς Ὑρκανίας ἀπολελοιπυῖα, μετὰ δὲ τριακοσίων Ἀμαζονίδων κεκοσμημένων πολεμικοῖς ὅπλοις παραγενομένη. τοῦ δὲ βασιλέως θαυμάζοντος τό τε παράδοξον τῆς παρουσίας καὶ τὸ ἀξίωμα τῶν γυναικῶν καὶ τὴν Θάλληστριν ἐρομένου τίνα χρείαν ἔχουσα πάρεστιν, ἀπεφαίνετο παιδοποιίας ἕνεκεν ἥκειν. ἐκεῖνον μὲν γὰρ τῶν ἁπάντων ἀνδρῶν διὰ τὰς πράξεις ἄριστον ὑπάρχειν, αὑτὴν δὲ τῶν γυναικῶν ἀλκῇ τε καὶ ἀνδρείᾳ διαφέρειν· εἰκὸς οὖν τὸ γεννηθὲν ἐκ δυεῖν γονέων πρωτευόντων ὑπερέξειν ἀρετῇ τῶν ἄλλων ἀνθρώπων. καὶ πέρας ἡσθεὶς ὁ βασιλεὺς καὶ προσδεξάμενος τὴν ἔντευξιν αὐτῆς καὶ συμπεριενεχθεὶς ἡμέρας τρεισκαίδεκα τιμήσας τε ἀξιολόγοις δώροις ἐξαπέστειλεν εἰς τὴν οἰκείαν. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα δόξας ἤδη κεκρατηκέναι τῆς ἐπιβολῆς καὶ τὴν βασιλείαν ἀδήριτον ἔχειν ἤρξατο ζηλοῦν τὴν Περσικὴν τρυφὴν καὶ τὴν πολυτέλειαν τῶν Ἀσιανῶν βασιλέων. καὶ πρῶτον μὲν περὶ τὴν αὐλὴν εἶχε ῥαβδούχους Ἀσιαγενεῖς, ἔπειτα τοὺς ἐπιφανεστάτους τῶν Ἀσιανῶν ἀνδρῶν δορυφορεῖν ἔταξεν, ἐν οἷς ἦν καὶ ὁ Δαρείου ἀδελφὸς Ὀξάθρης. εἶτα τό τε Περσικὸν διάδημα περιέθετο καὶ τὸν διάλευκον ἐνεδύσατο χιτῶνα καὶ τὴν Περσικὴν ζώνην καὶ τἄλλα πλὴν τῶν ἀναξυρίδων καὶ τοῦ κάνδυος. διέδωκε δὲ καὶ τοῖς ἑταίροις περιπορφύρους στολὰς καὶ τοῖς ἵπποις Περσικὰς σκευὰς περιέθηκε. πρὸς δὲ τούτοις τὰς παλλακίδας ὁμοίως τῷ Δαρείῳ περιήγετο, τὸν μὲν ἀριθμὸν οὔσας οὐκ ἐλάττους πλήθει τῶν κατὰ τὸν ἐνιαυτὸν ἡμερῶν, κάλλει δὲ διαπρεπεῖς ὡς ἂν ἐξ ἁπασῶν τῶν κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν γυναικῶν ἐπιλελεγμένας. αὗται δὲ ἑκάστης νυκτὸς περιῄεσαν τὴν κλίνην τοῦ βασιλέως, ἵνα τὴν ἐκλογὴν αὐτὸς ποιήσηται τῆς μελλούσης αὐτῷ συνεῖναι. τούτοις μὲν οὖν τοῖς ἐθισμοῖς Ἀλέξανδρος σπανίως ἐχρῆτο, τοῖς δὲ προϋπάρχουσι κατὰ τὸ πλεῖστον ἐνδιέτριβε, φοβούμενος τὸ προσκόπτειν τοῖς Μακεδόσιν.
When Alexander returned to Hyrcania, there came to him the queen of the Amazons name Thallestris, who ruled all the country between the rivers Phasis and Thermodon. She was remarkable for beauty and for bodily strength, and was admired by her countrywomen for bravery. She had left the bulk of her army on the frontier of Hyrcania and had arrived with an escort of three hundred Amazons in full armour. The king marvelled at the unexpected arrival and the dignity of the women. When he asked Thallestris why she had come, she replied that it was for the purpose of getting a child. He had shown himself the greatest of all men in his achievements, and she was superior to all women in strength and courage, so that presumably the offspring of such outstanding parents would surpass all other mortals in excellence. At this the king was delighted and granted her request and consorted with her for thirteen days, afterwards he honoured her with fine gifts and sent her home. It seemed to Alexander that he had accomplished his objective and now held his kingdom without contest, and he began to imitate the Persian luxury and the extravagant display of the kings of Asia. First he installed ushers of Asiatic race in his court, and then he ordered the most distinguished persons to act as his guards; among these was Dareius' brother Oxathres. Then he put on the Persian diadem and dressed himself in the white robe and the Persian sash and everything else except the trousers and the long-sleeved upper garment. He distributed to his companions cloaks with purple borders and dressed the horses in Persian harness. In addition to all this, he added concubines to his retinue in the manner of Dareius, in number not less than the days of the year and outstanding in beauty as selected from all the women of Asia. Each night these paraded around the couch of the king so that he might select the one with whom he would lie that night. Alexander, as a matter of fact, employed these customs rather sparingly and kept for the most part to his accustomed routine, not wishing to offend the Macedonians.
§ 17.78
ὅμως δὲ πολλῶν αὐτῷ μεμψιμοιρούντων τούτους μὲν ταῖς δωρεαῖς ἐθεράπευεν, αὐτὸς δὲ πυθόμενος τὸν Ἀρείας σατράπην Σατιβαρζάνην ἀνῃρηκέναι μὲν τοὺς καταλελειμμένους ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ στρατιώτας, συμφρονεῖν δὲ Βήσσῳ καὶ κεκρικέναι μετʼ αὐτοῦ διαπολεμεῖν Μακεδόσιν ἐστράτευσεν ἐπʼ αὐτόν. ὁ δὲ Σατιβαρζάνης τὴν μὲν δύναμιν ἤθροισεν εἰς Χορτάκανα, πόλιν ἐπιφανεστάτην τῶν ἐν τούτοις τοῖς τόποις καὶ φυσικῇ διαφέρουσαν ὀχυρότητι, τοῦ δὲ βασιλέως ἐγγίσαντος κατεπλάγη τό τε μέγεθος τῆς δυνάμεως καὶ τὰς διαβεβοημένας τῶν Μακεδόνων ἀνδραγαθίας. διόπερ αὐτὸς μὲν μετὰ δισχιλίων ἱππέων ἐξίππευσε πρὸς Βῆσσον, παρακαλέσων βοηθεῖν κατὰ τάχος, τοῖς δʼ ἄλλοις παρήγγειλε καταφυγεῖν εἰς ὄρος καλούμενον, ἔχον πολλὰς δυσχωρίας καὶ καταφυγὰς εὐθέτους τοῖς μὴ τολμῶσι κατὰ στόμα διακινδυνεύειν. ὧν πραξάντων τὸ παραγγελθὲν ὁ βασιλεὺς τῇ συνήθει φιλοτιμίᾳ χρησάμενος καὶ τοὺς καταφυγόντας εἴς τινα πέτραν ὀχυρὰν καὶ μεγάλην πολιορκήσας ἐνεργῶς ἠνάγκασεν ἑαυτοὺς παραδοῦναι. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα πάσας τὰς κατὰ τὴν σατραπείαν ταύτην πόλεις ἐν τριάκονθʼ ἡμέραις κατακτησάμενος προῆγεν ἐκ τῆς Ὑρκανίας καὶ διανύσας εἰς τὰ βασίλεια τῆς Δραγγινῆς ἐνταῦθα διέτριβε καὶ τὴν δύναμιν ἀνελάμβανε.
Many, it is true, did reproach him for these things, but he silenced them with gifts. At this juncture he learned that the satrap of Areia, Satibarzanes, had put to death the soldiers who were left with him, had made common cause with Bessus and with him had decided to attack the Macedonians, so Alexander set out against the man. This Satibarzanes had brought his forces into Chortacana, a notable city of that region and one of great natural strength, but as the king approached, he became alarmed at the size of the latter's forces and at the fighting reputation of the Macedonians. He himself with two thousand horsemen rode off to the protection of Bessus, asking him to send help with all speed, but told his other followers to take refuge in a mountain called . . ., which afforded difficult terrain and a secure refuge for those who did not dare to meet their eyes face to face. After they had done so, and had secured themselves upon a steep and high "rock," the king with his accustomed spirit invested the place, attacked them vigorously, and compelled them to surrender. In the course of thirty days thereafter, he brought into the submission all the cities of the satrapy. Then he left Hyrcania and marched to the capital of Drangine, where he paused and rested his army.
§ 17.79
κατὰ δὲ τούτους τοὺς καιροὺς περιέπεσε πράξει μοχθηρᾷ καὶ τῆς ἰδίας χρηστότητος ἀλλοτρίᾳ. τῶν γὰρ φίλων τις τοῦ βασιλέως ὄνομα Δίμνος, μεμψιμοιρήσας τῷ βασιλεῖ περί τινων καὶ τῷ θυμῷ προπεσών, ἐπιβουλὴν συνεστήσατο κατʼ αὐτοῦ. ἔχων δʼ ἐρώμενον Νικόμαχον τοῦτον ἔπεισε κοινωνῆσαι τῆς ἐπιβουλῆς. οὗτος δὲ νέος ὢν παντελῶς ἀνεκοινώσατο τὴν πρᾶξιν τῷ ἀδελφῷ Κεβαλίνῳ. ὁ δὲ φοβηθεὶς μὴ φθάσῃ τις τῶν συνειδότων καὶ δηλώσῃ τὴν ἐπιβουλὴν τῷ βασιλεῖ, αὐτὸς ἔκρινε μηνῦσαι. παρελθὼν οὖν ἐπὶ τὴν αὐτὴν καὶ συντυχὼν Φιλώτᾳ καὶ διαλεχθεὶς παρεκελεύετο τὴν ταχίστην ἀπαγγεῖλαι τῷ βασιλεῖ τὴν πρᾶξιν. ὁ δὲ Φιλώτας εἴτε καὶ διὰ τὸ κοινωνεῖν τῆς ἐπιβουλῆς εἴτε καὶ διὰ ῥᾳθυμίαν τὸν ῥηθέντα λόγον ἀργῶς ἐδέξατο καὶ παρελθὼν πρὸς τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον καὶ πολλῆς καὶ παντοδαπῆς κοινολογίας μετασχὼν οὐδὲν τῶν ὑπὸ Κεβαλίνου ῥηθέντων ἀπήγγειλεν. ἐξελθὼν δὲ πρὸς τὸν Κεβαλῖνον εἶπεν ὅτι καιρὸν ἐπιτήδειον οὐκ ἔσχε διασαφῆσαι, ἐπηγγέλλετο δὲ τῇ ὑστεραίᾳ συντεύξεσθαι μόνῳ τῷ βασιλεῖ καὶ πάντα δηλώσειν τὰ ῥηθέντα. τὸ δὲ αὐτὸ πράξαντος τοῦ Φιλώτου καὶ τῇ ὑστεραίᾳ ὁ Κεβαλῖνος, εὐλαβηθεὶς μὴ διʼ ἑτέρου μηνύσεως γενομένης αὐτὸς κινδυνεύσῃ, τὸν μὲν Φιλώταν παρέπεμψε, τῶν τὲ βασιλικῶν τινι παίδων προσελθὼν καὶ τὰ κατὰ μέρος ἀπαγγείλας ἠξίωσε τὴν ταχίστην ἀπαγγεῖλαι τῷ βασιλεῖ. ὁ δὲ τὸν μὲν Κεβαλῖνον εἰς τὴν ὁπλοθήκην εἰσαγαγὼν ἀπέκρυψεν, αὐτὸς δὲ τῷ βασιλεῖ μεταξὺ λουομένῳ προσελθὼν ἀπήγγειλε τὰ ῥηθέντα καὶ διότι τὸν Κεβαλῖνον παρʼ ἑαυτῷ φυλάττει. ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς καταπλαγεὶς εὐθὺς τόν τε Δίμνον συνέλαβε καὶ μαθὼν ἅπαντα μετεπέμψατο τόν τε Κεβαλῖνον καὶ τὸν Φιλώταν. ἀνακρινομένων δʼ ἁπάντων καὶ τῆς πράξεως ἐξεταζομένης ὁ μὲν Δίμνος ἑαυτὸν κατέσφαξε, τοῦ δὲ Φιλώτου ῥᾳθυμίαν μὲν ἑαυτοῦ προσομολογήσαντος, τὴν δʼ ἐπιβουλὴν ἀπαρνουμένου τὴν κρίσιν ὑπὲρ τούτου τοῖς Μακεδόσιν ἐπέτρεψεν.
At this same time, Alexander stumbled into a base action which was quite foreign to his goodness of nature. One of the king's Friends named Dimnus found fault with him for some reason, and in a rash fit of anger formed a plot against him. He had a beloved named Nicomachus and persuaded him to take part in it. Being very young, the boy disclosed the plan to his brother Cebalinus, who, however, was terrified lest one of the conspirators should get ahead of the rest in revealing the plot to the king, and decided himself to be the informer. He went to the court, met Philotas and talked with him, and urged him to tell the whole story to the king as quickly as he could. It may be that Philotas was actually a party to the plot; he may merely have been slow to act. At all events, he heard Cebalinus with indifference, and although he visited Alexander and took part in a long conversation on a variety of subjects, said no word about what had just been told him. When he returned to Cebalinus, he said that he had not found a suitable occasion to mention it, but would surely see the king alone the next day and tell him everything. Philotas did the same thing on the next day also, and Cebalinus, to insure himself against someone else betraying the plot and put him in danger, dropped Philotas and accosted one of the royal pages, telling him all that had happened and begging him to report it to the king immediately. The page brought Cebalinus into the armoury and hid him there, went on in to the king as he was bathing and told him the story, adding that he had Cebalinus concealed in the vicinity. The king's reaction was sharp. He arrested Dimnus at once and learned everything from him; then he sent for Cebalinus and Philotas. The whole story was investigated and the fact established. Dimnus stabbed himself on the spot, but Philotas, while acknowledging his carelessness, nevertheless denied that he had any part in the plot and agreed to leave judgement concerning him to the Macedonians.
§ 17.80
πολλῶν δὲ ῥηθέντων λόγων οἱ Μακεδόνες κατέγνωσαν τοῦ Φιλώτου καὶ τῶν συγκαταιτιαθέντων θάνατον· ἐν οἷς ὑπῆρχε Παρμενίων ὁ πρῶτος εἶναι δοκῶν τῶν Ἀλεξάνδρου φίλων, τότε δὲ οὐ παρών, ἀλλὰ δόξας διὰ τοῦ ἰδίου υἱοῦ Φιλώτου πεποιῆσθαι τὴν ἐπιβουλήν. ὁ μὲν οὖν Φιλώτας, βασανισθεὶς πρότερον καὶ ὁμολογήσας τὴν ἐπιβουλήν, κατὰ τὸ τῶν Μακεδόνων ἔθος μετὰ τῶν συγκαταγνωσθέντων ἐθανατώθη. ὁμοίως δὲ τούτῳ καὶ ὁ Λυγκιστὴς Ἀλέξανδρος, αἰτίαν ἔχων ἐπιβεβουλευκέναι τῷ βασιλεῖ, τριετῆ μὲν χρόνον ἐν φυλακῇ τηρούμενος διετέλεσε, διὰ τὴν πρὸς Ἀντίγονον οἰκειότητα τετευχὼς ἀναβολῆς, τότε δʼ εἰς τὴν τῶν Μακεδόνων κρίσιν παραχθεὶς καὶ κατὰ τὴν ἀπολογίαν ἀπορηθεὶς λόγων ἐθανατώθη. ὁ δʼ Ἀλέξανδρος ἐκπέμψας τινὰς ἐπὶ δρομάδων καμήλων καὶ φθάσας τὴν φήμην τῆς περὶ τὸν Φιλώταν τιμωρίας τὸν πατέρα τοῦ Φιλώτου Παρμενίωνα ἐδολοφόνησε, τεταγμένον μὲν τῆς Μηδείας ἄρχοντα, πεπιστευμένον δὲ τοὺς βασιλικοὺς θησαυροὺς ἐν Ἐκβατάνοις, ἔχοντας ταλάντων ὀκτωκαίδεκα μυριάδας. ὁ δʼ Ἀλέξανδρος ἐπιλεξάμενος ἐκ τῶν Μακεδόνων τοὺς ἀλλοτρίας κατʼ αὐτοῦ προϊεμένους φωνὰς καὶ τοὺς ἠγανακτηκότας ἐπὶ τῷ τοῦ Παρμενίωνος θανάτῳ, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις τοὺς ἐν ταῖς ἀποσταλείσας εἰς Μακεδονίαν ἐπιστολαῖς ἀλλότριόν τι γεγραφότας τοῖς οἰκείοις περὶ τῶν τῷ βασιλεῖ συμφερόντων εἰς ἓν κατέλεξε σύστημα καὶ προσηγόρευσεν ἀτάκτων τάγμα, ὅπως μὴ διὰ τὰς τούτων ἀκαίρους φωνὰς καὶ παρρησίας τὸ λοιπὸν πλῆθος τῶν Μακεδόνων συνδιαφθείρηται.
After many arguments had been heard, the Macedonians condemned Philotas and the other accused persons to death. Among these was Parmenion, he who seemed to be the first of Alexander's Friends; he was not with the army, but it was thought that he had contrived the conspiracy by means of his son Philotas. Philotas, then, was first tortured and confessed to the plot, and then was killed in the Macedonian manner with the other condemned persons. This was the occasion for bringing up the case of Alexander the Lyncestian. He was charged with the crime of plotting against the king and had been kept for three years under guard. He had been delayed a hearing because of his relationship to Antigonus, but now he was brought before the court of the Macedonians and was put to death, lacking words to defend himself. Alexander dispatched riders on racing camels, who travelled faster than the report of Philotas's punishment and murdered his father Parmenion. He had been appointed governor of Media and was in charge of the royal treasures in Ecbatana, amounting to one hundred and eighty thousand talents. Alexander selected from among the Macedonians those who made remarks hostile to him and those who were distressed at the death of Parmenion, as well as those who wrote in letters sent home to Macedonia to their relatives anything contrary to the king's interests. These he assembled into one unit which he called the Disciplinary Company, so that the rest of the Macedonians might not be corrupted by their improper remarks and criticism.
§ 17.81
ἀπὸ δὲ τούτων γενόμενος καὶ τὰ κατὰ τὴν Δραγγινὴν καταστήσας ἀνέζευξε μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως ἐπὶ τοὺς πρότερον μὲν Ἀριμασπούς, νῦν δʼ Εὐεργέτας ὀνομαζομένους διὰ τοιαύτας τινὰς αἰτίας. Κῦρος ὁ τὴν Μήδων ἀρχὴν μεταστήσας εἰς Πέρσας ἔν τινι στρατείᾳ περιληφθεὶς ἐν ἐρήμῳ χώρᾳ καὶ πάσῃ σπάνει τῶν ἀναγκαίων ἦλθε μὲν ἐπὶ τοὺς ἐσχάτους κινδύνους, διὰ τὴν ἔνδειαν τῆς τροφῆς ἀναγκαζομένων τῶν στρατιωτῶν ἀλλήλους σαρκοφαγεῖν, τῶν δʼ Ἀριμασπῶν τρισμυρίας ἁμάξας σίτου γεμούσας παρακομισάντων σωθεὶς παραδόξως ἀτελείαις τε καὶ ἄλλαις δωρεαῖς ἐτίμησε τὸ ἔθνος καὶ τὴν προϋπάρχουσαν προσηγορίαν ἀφελόμενος προσηγόρευσεν Εὐεργέτας. τότε δὲ Ἀλέξανδρος εἰς τὴν τούτων χώραν στρατεύσας καὶ τῶν ἐγχωρίων φιλοφρόνως αὐτὸν προσδεξαμένων ἐτίμησε τὸ ἔθνος ταῖς ἁρμοζούσαις δωρεαῖς. τὸ δʼ αὐτὸ καὶ τῶν ὁμόρων τῶν ὀνομαζομένων Κεδρωσίων ποιησάντων καὶ τούτους ταῖς πρεπούσαις χάρισιν ἠμείψατο. ἀμφοτέρων δὲ τῶν εἰρημένων ἐθνῶν τὴν στρατηγίαν Τιριδάτῃ παρέδωκεν. περὶ ταῦτα δὲ αὐτοῦ διατρίβοντος ἧκόν τινες ἀπαγγέλλοντες ὅτι Σατιβαρζάνης ἐκ τῆς Βακτριανῆς μετὰ δυνάμεως πολλῆς ἱππικῆς παραγενόμενος εἰς τὸ τῶν Ἀρίων ἔθνος ἀπέστησε τοὺς ἐγχωρίους ἀπʼ Ἀλεξάνδρου. ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς ἀκούσας τὸ γεγονὸς ἀπέστειλεν ἐπʼ αὐτὸν μέρος τῆς δυνάμεως, στρατηγοὺς ἐπιστήσας Ἐριγυιὸν καὶ Στασάνορα, αὐτὸς δὲ τὴν Ἀραχωσίαν καταστρεψάμενος ὀλίγαις ἡμέραις ὑπήκοον ἐποίησεν.
After his hands were free of this affair and he had settled things in Drangine, Alexander marched with his army against a people who used to be called Arimaspians but are now known as Benefactors for the following reason. That Cyrus who had transferred the rule from the Medes to the Persians was once engaged in a campaign in the desert and running out of provisions was brought into extreme danger, so that for lack of food the soldiers were constrained to eat each other, when the Arimaspians appeared bringing thirty thousand wagons laden with provisions. Saved from utter despair, then, Cyrus gave them exemption from taxation and other marks of honour, and abolishing their former appellation, named them Benefactors. So now, when all led his army into their country, they received him kindly and he honoured the tribe with suitable gifts. Their neighbours, the so called Cedrosians, did the same, and them too he rewarded with appropriate favours. He gave the administration of these two peoples to Tiridates. While he was thus occupied reports were brought to him that Satibarzanes had returned from Bactria with a large force of cavalry to Areia, and had caused the population to revolt from Alexander. At this news, the king dispatched against him a portion of his army under the command of Erigyius and Stasanor, while he himself conquered Arachosia and in a few days made it subject to him.
§ 17.82
τοῦ δʼ ἐνιαυσίου χρόνου διεληλυθότος Ἀθήνησι μὲν ἦρχεν Εὐθύκριτος, ἐν Ῥώμῃ δὲ τὴν ὑπατικὴν ἀρχὴν διεδέξαντο Λεύκιος Πλάτιος καὶ Λεύκιος Παπίριος, Ὀλυμπιὰς δʼ ἤχθη τρίτη πρὸς ταῖς ἑκατὸν δέκα, καθʼ ἣν ἐνίκα στάδιον Κλείτων Μακεδών. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Ἀλέξανδρος ἐστράτευσεν ἐπὶ τοὺς ὀνομαζομένους Παροπανισάδας. ἡ δὲ τούτων χώρα κεῖται μὲν ὑπʼ αὐτὰς τὰς ἄρκτους, χιονοβολεῖται δὲ πᾶσα καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἔθνεσι δυσεπίβατός ἐστι διὰ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τοῦ ψύχους. ἡ πλείστη δὲ πεδιὰς οὖσα καὶ ἄξυλος πολλαῖς κώμαις διείληπται. αὗται δὲ τὰς τῶν οἰκιῶν στέγας ἔχουσιν ἐκ πλίνθων εἰς ὀξὺ συνηγμένων ἐχούσας καμάραν· κατὰ δὲ μέσην τὴν ὀροφὴν ἀπολελειμμένης διαυγείας διὰ ταύτης ὁ καπνὸς ἐκφέρεται καὶ πανταχόθεν τῆς οἰκοδομίας περιεχούσης οἱ κατοικοῦντες πολλῆς σκέπης τυγχάνουσιν. οἱ δʼ ἐγχώριοι διὰ τὸ πλῆθος τῆς χιόνος τὸ πλέον μέρος τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ ταῖς οἰκίαις ἐνδιατρίβουσι, παρεσκευασμένας ἔχοντες τὰς ἰδίας τροφάς· τὰς δʼ ἀμπέλους καὶ τὰ καρποφόρα τῶν δένδρων περιχώσαντες καὶ τὴν τοῦ χειμῶνος ὥραν ἐάσαντες πάλιν ἀναστέλλουσι τὴν γῆν κατὰ τὸν τοῦ βλαστοῦ καιρόν. ἅπασα δʼ ἡ τῆς χώρας φύσις οὔτε χλωρὰν οὔθʼ ἥμερον ἔχει πρόσοψιν, ἀλλὰ λευκὴν καὶ ἀνταυγῆ διὰ τὴν χιόνα καὶ τὸν ἐν αὐτῇ πηγνύμενον κρύσταλλον. διόπερ οὔτʼ ὀρνέου προσκαθίζοντος οὔτε θηρίου διοδεύοντος ἄξενα καὶ ἀνεπίβατα πάντα τὰ μέρη τῆς χώρας ὑπῆρχεν. ἀλλʼ ὅμως ὁ βασιλεὺς τούτων ἁπάντων ἀντιπραττόντων τῇ στρατιᾷ τῇ συνήθει τόλμῃ καὶ καρτερίᾳ τῶν Μακεδόνων περιεγίνετο τῆς τοπικῆς δυστραπελείας. διὸ δὴ πολλοὶ τῶν στρατιωτῶν καὶ τῶν ἐκτὸς τῆς τάξεως συνακολουθούντων ἐξαδυνατοῦντες ἀπελείποντο· ἔνιοι δὲ διὰ τὴν τῆς χιόνος ἀνταύγειαν καὶ σκληρότητα τῆς ἀναβαλλομένης ἀνακλάσεως ἐφθείροντο τὴν ὅρασιν. σαφὲς δʼ οὐδὲν ἐκ διαστήματος ἦν ἰδεῖν, ἀλλὰ μόνῳ τῷ καπνῷ δηλουμένων τῶν κωμῶν ἐλάμβανον οἱ Μακεδόνες οὗ κατοικοῦσιν ἐφιστάμενοι. τούτῳ δὲ τῷ τρόπῳ τῶν κωμῶν ἁλισκομένων, καὶ τῶν στρατιωτῶν τῷ πλήθει τῆς ὠφελείας διορθουμένων τὴν κακοπάθειαν ταχὺ πάντων τῶν ἐγχωρίων ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐκυρίευσεν.
When this year was over, Euthycritus became archon at Athens and at Rome Lucius Platius and Lucius Papirius became consuls. The one hundred and thirteenth Olympic Games were held. In this year Alexander marched against so called Paropanisadae, whose country lies in the extreme north; it is snow-covered and not easily approached by other tribe because of the extreme cold. The most of it is a plain and woodless, and divided up among many villages. These contain houses with roofs of tile drawn up at the top into a peaked vault. In the middle of each roof an aperture is left through which smoke escapes, and since the building is enclosed all around the people find ample protection against the weather. Because of the depth of the snow, they spend the most of the year indoors, having their own supplies at hand. They heap up soil about vines and fruit trees, and leave it so for the winter season, removing the earth again at the time of budding. The landscape nowhere shows any verdure or cultivation; all is white and dazzling because of the snow and the ice which form in it. No bird, therefore, alights there nor does any animal pass, and all parts of the country are unvisited and inaccessible. The king, nevertheless, in spite of all those obstacles confronting the army, exercised the customary boldness and hardihood of the Macedonians and surmounted the difficulties of the region. Many of the soldiers and of the camp followers became exhausted and were left behind. Some too because of the glare of the snow and the hard brilliance of the reflected light lost their sight. Nothing could be seen clearly from a distance. It was only as the villages were revealed by their smoke that the Macedonians discovered where the dwellings were, even when they were standing right on top of them. By this method the villages were taken and the soldiers recovered from their hardships amidst a plenty of provisions. Before long the king made himself master of all the population.
§ 17.83
μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα παρελθὼν πλησίον τοῦ Καυκάσου κατεστρατοπέδευσεν, ὅ τινες Παροπάνισον ὄρος προσαγορεύουσι. τὸ δʼ ὄρος τοῦτο κατὰ πλάτος διελθὼν ἐν ἡμέραις ἑκκαίδεκα πόλιν ἔκτισε κατὰ τὴν εἰσβολὴν τὴν φέρουσαν εἰς τὴν Ἰνδικήν, ἣν ὠνόμασεν Ἀλεξάνδρειαν. κατὰ δὲ μέσον τὸν Καύκασον ἔστι πέτρα δέκα σταδίων ἔχουσα τὴν περίμετρον, τεττάρων δὲ σταδίων τὸ ὕψος, ἐν ᾗ καὶ τὸ Προμηθέως σπήλαιον ἐδείκνυθʼ ὑπὸ τῶν ἐγχωρίων καὶ ἡ τοῦ μυθολογηθέντος ἀετοῦ κοίτη καὶ τὰ τῶν δεσμῶν σημεῖα. ὁ δʼ Ἀλέξανδρος καὶ ἄλλας πόλεις ἔκτισεν, ἡμέρας ὁδὸν ἀπέχουσας τῆς Ἀλεξανδρείας. κατῴκισε δʼ εἰς ταύτας τῶν μὲν βαρβάρων ἑπτακισχιλίους, τῶν δʼ ἐκτὸς τάξεως συνακολουθούντων τρισχιλίους καὶ τῶν μισθοφόρων τοὺς βουλομένους. αὐτὸς δὲ ἀναλαβὼν τὴν δύναμιν προῆγεν εἰς τὴν Βακτριανήν, ἀκούων τὸν Βῆσσον διάδημά τε ἀνειληφέναι καὶ δυνάμεις ἀθροίζειν. καὶ τὰ μὲν περὶ Ἀλέξανδρον ἐν τούτοις ἦν. οἱ δʼ εἰς τὴν Ἀρίαν ἀπεσταλμένοι στρατηγοὶ καταλαβόντες τοὺς ἀφεστηκότας δυνάμεις ἀξιολόγους ἠθροικότας καὶ στρατηγὸν ἔχοντας Σατιβαρζάνην, ἄνδρα στρατηγικὸν καὶ ἀνδρείᾳ διαφέροντα, κατεστρατοπέδευσαν πλησίον τῶν πολεμίων. γινομένων δὲ πολλάκις ἀκροβολισμῶν μέχρι μέν τινος μάχαι κατʼ ὀλίγους ἐγίνοντο, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα παρατάξεως γενομένης καὶ τῶν βαρβάρων ἰσόμαχον ποιούντων τὸν κίνδυνον ὁ τῶν ἀποστατῶν στρατηγὸς Σατιβαρζάνης, ἀφελὼν ταῖς χερσὶ τὸ περὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν κράνος καὶ δείξας αὑτὸν ὃς ἦν, προεκαλέσατο τὸν βουλόμενον τῶν στρατηγῶν μονομαχῆσαι. ὑπακούσαντος δὲ τοῦ Ἐριγυιοῦ καὶ γενομένης μάχης ἡρωικῆς συνέβη νικῆσαι τὸν Ἐριγυιόν. οἱ δὲ βάρβαροι διὰ τὸν τοῦ στρατηγοῦ θάνατον καταπλαγέντες καὶ λαβόντες τὴν ἀσφάλειαν παρέδωκαν ἑαυτοὺς τῷ βασιλεῖ. Βῆσσος δʼ ἑαυτὸν ἀναδεδειχὼς βασιλέα τοῖς θεοῖς ἔθυσε καὶ τοὺς φίλους παραλαβὼν εἰς τὴν εὐωχίαν κατὰ τὸν πότον διηνέχθη πρός τινα τῶν ἑταίρων, ὄνομα Βαγωδάραν. τῆς δὲ φιλοτιμίας ἐπὶ πλέον προελθούσης ὁ μὲν Βῆσσος παροξυνθεὶς ἐπεβάλετο τὸν Βαγωδάραν ἀνελεῖν καὶ ὑπὸ τῶν φίλων πεισθεὶς μετενόησεν. ὁ δὲ τὸν κίνδυνον ἐκφυγὼν νυκτὸς ἔφυγε πρὸς τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον. τῇ δὲ τούτου σωτηρίᾳ καὶ ταῖς δοθησομέναις ὑπʼ Ἀλεξάνδρου δωρεαῖς προκληθέντες οἱ μέγιστοι τῶν ἡγεμόνων συνεφρόνησαν καὶ συλλαβόντες τὸν Βῆσσον ἀπήγαγον πρὸς τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον. ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς τούτους μὲν ἐτίμησεν ἀξιολόγοις δωρεαῖς, τὸν δὲ Βῆσσον παρέδωκε τῷ ἀδελφῷ τοῦ Δαρείου καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις συγγενέσιν εἰς τιμωρίαν. οἱ δὲ πᾶσαν ὕβριν καὶ αἰκίαν προσενεγκάμενοι καὶ τὸ σῶμα κατὰ λεπτὸν συγκόψαντες τὰ μέλη διεσφενδόνησαν.
Now in his advance Alexander encamped near the Caucasus, which some call Mt. Paropanisum. In sixteen days he marched across this range from side to side, and founded a city in the pass which leads down to Media, calling it Alexandria. In the midst of the Caucasus there is a "rock" ten furlongs in perimeter and four furlongs in height, in which the cave of Prometheus was pointed out by the natives, as well as the nesting place of the eagle in the story and the marks of the chains. Alexander founded other cities also at the distance of a day's march from Alexandria. Here he settled seven thousand natives, three thousand of the camp followers, and volunteers from among the mercenaries. Then he marched his forces into Bactria, since news came that Bessus had assumed the diadem and was enrolling an army. Such was the state of Alexander's affairs. The generals who had been sent back to Areia found that the rebels had gathered substantial forces under the command of Satibarzanes, who was distinguished both for generalship and for personal bravery, and they encamped near them. There was constant skirmishing for a time, and numerous small engagements; then it came to a general battle. The Iranians were holding their own when their general Satibarzanes raised his hands and removed his helmet so that all could see who he was, and challenged any of the Macedonian generals who wished to fight with him alone. Erigyius accepted and a contest of heroic nature ensued, which resulted in Erigyius's victory. Disheartened at the death of their commander, the Iranians sought their safety in surrender, and gave themselves up to Alexander. Bessus proclaimed himself king, sacrificed to the gods, and invited his friends to a banquet. In the course of the drinking, he fell into an argument with one of them, Bagodaras by name. As the quarrel increased, Bessus lost his temper and proposed to put Bagodaras to death, but was persuaded by his friends to think better of it.8 Bagodaras, however, saved from this danger, escaped by night to Alexander. His safe reception and the gifts promised by Alexander attracted Bessus's leading generals. They banded together, seized Bessus, and carried him off to Alexander. 9 The king gave them substantial gifts, and turned Bessus over to Dareius's brother and his other relatives for punishment. They inflicted upon him every humiliation and abuse, and cutting his body up into little pieces they scattered them abroad.
§ 17.84
ἐπὶ δὲ τούτοις γενομένων τῶν ὅρκων ἡ μὲν βασίλισσα τὴν μεγαλοψυχίαν τοῦ Ἀλεξάνδρου θαυμάσασα δῶρά τε κράτιστα ἐξέπεμψε καὶ πᾶν τὸ προσταττόμενον ποιήσειν ἐπηγγείλατο. οἱ δὲ μισθοφόροι παραχρῆμα κατὰ τὰς ὁμολογίας ἐκ τῆς πόλεως ἀπελθόντες καὶ σταδίους ὀγδοήκοντα προελθόντες ἀνεπικωλύτως κατεστρατοπέδευσαν, οὐδεμίαν ἔννοιαν λαμβάνοντες τοῦ μέλλοντος. ὁ δʼ Ἀλέξανδρος ἀμετάθετον ἔχων τὴν πρὸς τοὺς μισθοφόρους ἀλλοτριότητα διεσκευασμένην ἔχων τὴν δύναμιν ἐπηκολούθησε τοῖς βαρβάροις καὶ προσπεσὼν αὐτοῖς ἄφνω πολὺν ἐποίει φόνον. οἱ δὲ μισθοφόροι τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἐβόων παρὰ τοὺς ὅρκους αὑτοὺς πολεμεῖσθαι καὶ τοὺς ἀσεβουμένους ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ θεοὺς ἐπεκαλοῦντο· ὁ δʼ Ἀλέξανδρος μεγάλῃ τῇ φωνῇ πρὸς αὐτοὺς ἀνεβόησεν ὅτι συνεχώρησεν αὐτοῖς ἐκ τῆς πόλεως ἀπελθεῖν, οὐ φίλους εἶναι διὰ παντὸς Μακεδόνων. οἱ δὲ μισθοφόροι τὸ μέγεθος τῶν κινδύνων οὐ καταπλαγέντες συνεφράξαντο καὶ τὴν ὅλην τάξιν ποιήσαντες κυκλοτερῆ τά τε τέκνα καὶ τὰς γυναῖκας εἰς μέσον ἀπέλαβον, ὥστε πανταχόθεν τοῖς προσμαχομένοις ἀσφαλῶς ἀντιτάττεσθαι. ἀπονοηθέντων δʼ αὐτῶν καὶ διὰ τὴν τόλμαν καὶ διὰ τὴν ἐν τοῖς ἀγῶσιν ἀρετὴν ἰσχυρὰν μάχην συστησαμένων καὶ τῶν Μακεδόνων φιλοτιμουμένων μὴ λειφθῆναι τῆς τῶν βαρβάρων ἀνδραγαθίας μεγάλην κατάπληξιν εἶχεν ὁ κίνδυνος. ἐκ χειρὸς γὰρ τῆς μάχης οὔσης καὶ συμπλεκομένων τῶν ἀγωνιζομένων ἀλλήλοις πολλαὶ καὶ παντοῖαι διαθέσεις θανάτων καὶ τραυμάτων ἐγίνοντο· οἱ γὰρ Μακεδόνες ταῖς σαρίσαις ἀναρρήσσοντες τὰς τῶν βαρβάρων πέλτας τὰς ἀκμὰς τοῦ σιδήρου τοῖς πνεύμοσιν ἐνήρειδον, οἱ δὲ μισθοφόροι τὰς λόγχας ἀκοντίζοντες εἰς ἀθρόους τοὺς πολεμίους οὐχ ἡμάρτανον, σύνεγγυς κειμένου τοῦ σκοποῦ. διὸ καὶ πολλῶν μὲν τραυματιζομένων, οὐκ ὀλίγων δὲ τελευτώντων αἱ γυναῖκες τὰ τῶν πεσόντων ὅπλα λαμβάνουσαι συνηγωνίζοντο τοῖς ἀνδράσιν· ἡ γὰρ ὀξύτης τοῦ κινδύνου καὶ τὸ τῆς ἐνεργείας δεινὸν ἠνάγκαζεν αὐτὰς παρὰ φύσιν τρέπεσθαι πρὸς ἀλκήν. διὸ καὶ τινὲς μὲν αὐτῶν καθοπλισθεῖσαι συνήσπιζον τοῖς ἰδίοις ἀνδράσι, τινὲς δὲ ἄνευ ὅπλων ἐμπίπτουσαι τῶν ἀσπίδων ἐπελαμβάνοντο καὶ πολλὰ τοὺς πολεμίους ἐνεπόδιζον. τέλος δὲ πάντες μετὰ τῶν γυναικῶν ἀγωνισάμενοι καὶ κατακοπέντες ὑπὸ τοῦ πλήθους τὸν ἔνδοξον θάνατον τῆς ἀγεννοῦς φιλοζωίας ἠλλάξαντο. ὁ δὲ Ἀλέξανδρος τόν τε ἀχρεῖον καὶ ἄνοπλον ὄχλον καὶ τῶν γυναικῶν τὰς ὑπολειφθείσας ἀπάγων τοὺς ἱππεῖς συνεπέστησεν.
A truce was concluded on these terms, and the queen, impressed by Alexander's generosity, sent him valuable gifts and promised to follow his orders in everything. The mercenaries straightway under the terms of the truce left the city and encamped without interference at a distance of eighty furlongs, without an inkling of what would happen. Alexander, nevertheless, nursed an implacable hostility toward them; he held his forces in readiness, followed them, and falling upon them suddenly wrought a great slaughter. At first they kept shouting that this attack was in contravention of the treaty and they called to witness the gods against whom he had transgressed. Alexander shouted back that he had granted them the right to leave the city but not that of being friends of the Macedonians forever. Not daunted at the greatness of their danger, the mercenaries joined ranks and, forming a full circle, placed their children and women in the centre so that they might effectively face those who were attacking from all directions. Filled with desperate courage and fighting stoutly with native toughness and the experience of previous contests, they were opposed by Macedonians anxious not to show themselves inferior to barbarians in fighting ability, so that the battle was a scene of horror. They fought hand to hand, and as the contestants engaged each other every form of death and wounds was to be seen. The Macedonians thrust with their long spears through the light shields of the mercenaries and pressed the iron points on into their lungs, while they in turn flung their javelins into the close ranks of their enemies and could not miss the mark, so near was the target. As many were wounded and not a few killed, the women caught up the weapons of the fallen and fought beside their men, since the acuteness of the danger and the fierceness of the action forced them to be brave beyond their nature. Some of them, clad in armour, sheltered behind the same shields as their husbands, while others rushed in without armour, grasped the opposing shields, and hindered their use by the enemy. Finally, fighting women and all, they were overborne by numbers and cut down, winning a glorious death in preference to basely saving their lives at any cost. Alexander removed the feeble and unarmed together with the surviving women to another place, and put the cavalry in charge of them.
§ 17.85
πολλὰς δὲ καὶ ἄλλας πόλεις ἐκπολιορκήσας καὶ τοὺς ἀντιταττομένους ἀνελὼν προῆγεν ἐπὶ τὴν πέτραν τὴν Ἄορνον καλουμένην· εἰς γὰρ ταύτην οἱ περιλειφθέντες τῶν ἐγχωρίων διὰ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῆς ὀχυρότητος καταπεφεύγεισαν. λέγεται γὰρ τὸ παλαιὸν Ἡρακλέα ταύτην τὴν πέτραν ἐπιβαλόμενον πολιορκεῖν ἀποστῆναι διά τινας ἐπιγενομένους σεισμοὺς μεγάλους καὶ διοσημείας. ὁ δʼ Ἀλέξανδρος πυθόμενος περὶ τούτων ἔτι μᾶλλον παρωξύνθη πολιορκῆσαι τὸ ὀχύρωμα καὶ διαμιλληθῆναι τῇ τοῦ θεοῦ δόξῃ. ἡ δὲ πέτρα τὸν μὲν περίβολον εἶχε σταδίων ἑκατόν, τὸ δʼ ὕψος ἑκκαίδεκα, τὴν δʼ ἐπιφάνειαν ὁμαλὴν καὶ πάντῃ περιφερῆ· καὶ τὸ μὲν πρὸς μεσημβρίαν μέρος αὐτῆς προσέκλυζεν ὁ Ἰνδὸς ποταμός, μέγιστος ὢν τῶν κατὰ τὴν Ἰνδικήν, τὰ δʼ ἄλλα μέρη περιείχετο φάραγξι βαθείαις καὶ κρημνοῖς ἀπροσίτοις. τοῦ δὲ Ἀλεξάνδρου κατασκεψαμένου τὴν δυσχωρίαν καὶ τὴν ἐκ βίας ἅλωσιν ἀπογνόντος ἧκέν τις πρὸς αὐτὸν πρεσβύτης μετὰ δυεῖν υἱῶν. οὗτος δʼ ὢν πένης παντελῶς καὶ πολὺν χρόνον ἐντεθραμμένος τοῖς τόποις κατῴκει μὲν ἔν τινι σπηλαίῳ τρεῖς στιβάδας ἔχοντι κατὰ τὴν πέτραν ἐντετμημένας, ἐν αἷς ὁ γέρων μετὰ τῶν υἱῶν ἐναυλιζόμενος ἐμπειρίαν περιεπεποίητο τῶν τόπων. οὗτος οὖν προσελθὼν τῷ βασιλεῖ καὶ τὰ περὶ ἑαυτὸν δηλώσας ἐπηγγείλατο καθηγήσεσθαι διὰ τῆς δυσχωρίας καὶ ποιήσειν αὐτὸν ὑπερδέξιον γενέσθαι τῶν κατειλημμένων τὴν πέτραν βαρβάρων. ὁ δὲ Ἀλέξανδρος ἐπαγγειλάμενος μεγάλας δωρεὰς δώσειν καὶ τῷ πρεσβύτῃ χρησάμενος ὁδηγῷ πρῶτον μὲν τὴν πάροδον τὴν εἰς τὴν πέτραν φέρουσαν κατελάβετο καὶ μηδεμιᾶς οὔσης ἄλλης ἐξόδου συνέκλεισε τοὺς βαρβάρους εἰς ἀβοήθητον πολιορκίαν· ἔπειτα τῇ πολυχειρίᾳ χώσας τὴν φάραγγα κατὰ τὴν ῥίζαν τῆς πέτρας, προσελθὼν ἐνεργῆ πολιορκίαν συνεστήσατο, συνεχῶς ἐφʼ ἡμέρας ἑπτὰ καὶ τὰς ἴσας νύκτας ἐκ διαδοχῆς τὰς προσβολὰς ποιούμενος. τὸ μὲν οὖν πρῶτον οἱ βάρβαροι διὰ τὰς τῶν τόπων ὑπεροχὰς προετέρουν καὶ πολλοὺς ἀνῄρουν τῶν προπετῶς βιαζομένων· τοῦ δὲ χώματος συντελεσθέντος καὶ τῶν ὀξυβελῶν καταπελτῶν καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ὀργάνων ἐπισταθέντων, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις τοῦ βασιλέως φανεροῦ καθεστῶτος ὡς οὐκ ἀποστήσεται τῆς πολιορκίας οἱ μὲν Ἰνδοὶ κατεπλάγησαν, ὁ δʼ Ἀλέξανδρος ἐμφρόνως προϊδόμενος τὸ μέλλον ἐξέλιπεν τὴν ἐν τῇ παρόδῳ κατειλημμένην φυλακήν, διδοὺς ἔξοδον τοῖς βουλομένοις ἐκ τῆς πέτρας ἀναχωρεῖν. οἱ δὲ βάρβαροι φοβηθέντες τάς τε τῶν Μακεδόνων ἀρετὰς καὶ τὴν τοῦ βασιλέως φιλοτιμίαν νυκτὸς ἐξέλιπον τὴν πέτραν.
After he had taken a number of other cities by storm and had slaughtered their defenders, he came to the "rock" called Aornus. Here the surviving natives had taken refuge because of its great strength. It is said that Heracles of old thought to lay siege to this "rock" but refrained because of the occurrence of certain sharp earthquake shocks and other divine signs, and this made Alexander even more eager to capture the stronghold when he heard it, and so to rival the god's reputation. The circumference of the "rock" was one hundred furlongs, and its height sixteen. Its surface was even and circular on all sides. Its southern side was washed by the Indus River, the largest of those in India, and on the other sides it was surrounded by deep gorges and sheer cliffs. Alexander surveyed these difficulties and decided that its forcible capture was impossible, but then there came at once him an old man with two sons. He lived in extreme poverty and had for a long time supported himself in the region, occupying a cave in which three beds had been cut out of the rock.a Here the old man camped with his sons, and had come to know the country intimately. When he appeared before the king, he told his story and offered to guide the king through the hills and bring him to a point where he would be above the people who occupied the rock. Alexander promised him rich gifts. Using the old man as a guide, he first occupied the path which led up to the rock; since there was no other egress, he had thus enclosed the defenders in a hopeless siege. Then he put many hands to work filling up the chasm at the foot of the rock, drew near to it, and mounted a vigorous attack, assaulting continuously for seven days and seven nights with relays of troops. At first the defenders had the advantage because of holding the higher ground, and they killed many of those who attacked rashly. As the embankment was finished, however, and the dart-throwing catapults and other engines were emplaced, and the king also made it evident that he would not break off the siege, the Indians were alarmed, and Alexander, craftily anticipating what would happen, removed the guard which had been left in the path, allowing those who wished to withdraw from the rock. In fear of the Macedonian fighting qualities and the king's determination, the Indians left the rock under cover of darkness.
§ 17.86
ὁ δʼ Ἀλέξανδρος τοῖς κενοῖς τοῦ πολέμου καταστρατηγήσας τοὺς Ἰνδοὺς χωρὶς κινδύνου ἐκυρίευσε τῆς πέτρας. καὶ τῷ μὲν ὁδηγήσαντι τὰς ὡμολογημένας δωρεὰς ἀπέδωκεν, αὐτὸς δὲ ἀνέζευξε μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως. καθʼ ὃν καιρὸν Ἀφρίκης τις Ἰνδός, ἔχων μὲν στρατιώτας δισμυρίους, ἐλέφαντας δὲ πεντεκαίδεκα, διέτριβε περὶ τὸν τόπον. τοῦτον δέ τινες ἀνελόντες καὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν αὐτοῦ πρὸς Ἀλέξανδρον ἐνέγκαντες διὰ ταύτης τῆς εὐεργεσίας περιεποιήσαντο τὰς ἰδίας σωτηρίας. ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς τούτους τε προσηγάγετο καὶ τῶν ἐλεφάντων πλανωμένων κατὰ τὴν χώραν ἐκυρίευσεν. αὐτὸς δὲ παρελθὼν ἐπὶ τὸν Ἰνδὸν ποταμὸν καὶ καταλαβὼν τάς τε τριακοντόρους κατεσκευασμένας καὶ τὸν πόρον ἐζευγμένον τριάκοντα μὲν ἡμέρας ἀνέλαβε τὴν δύναμιν καὶ τοῖς θεοῖς μεγαλοπρεπεῖς συντελέσας θυσίας διεβίβασε τὴν στρατιὰν καὶ περιέπεσε παραδόξῳ περιπετείᾳ. Ταξίλου γὰρ τοῦ βασιλέως προτετελευτηκότος υἱὸς αὐτοῦ Μῶφις διαδεξάμενος τὴν ἀρχὴν διεπέμψατο μὲν καὶ πρότερον πρὸς Ἀλέξανδρονἐν τῇ Σογδιανῇ διατρίβοντα, ἐπαγγελλόμενος αὐτῷ συστρατεύειν ἐπὶ τοὺς ἀντιταττομένους τῶν Ἰνδῶν καὶ τότε πρέσβεις ἀποστείλας ἔφησεν αὐτῷ παραδιδόναι τὴν βασιλείαν. ἀπέχοντος δὲ τεσσαράκοντα σταδίους τοῦ βασιλέως ἐκτάξας τὴν δύναμιν ὡς εἰς πόλεμον καὶ τοὺς ἐλέφαντας κοσμήσας ἀπήντα μετὰ τῶν φίλων. ὁ δὲ Ἀλέξανδρος ὁρῶν προσιοῦσαν μεγάλην δύναμιν ἐκτεταγμένην πολεμικῶς καὶ δόξας τὸν Ἰνδὸν ἐπιβούλως πεποιῆσθαι τὰς ἐπαγγελίας, ὅπως ἀπαρασκεύοις τοῖς Μακεδόσιν ἐπίθηται, τοῖς μὲν σαλπιγκταῖς παρεκελεύσατο σημαίνειν τὸ πολεμικόν, τοὺς δὲ στρατιώτας ἐκτάξας ἀπήντα τοῖς Ἰνδοῖς. ὁ δὲ Μῶφις ὁρῶν τὴν ταραχὴν τῶν Μακεδόνων καὶ τὸ γεγονὸς συλλογιζόμενος τὴν μὲν δύναμιν κατέλιπεν, αὐτὸς δὲ μετὰ ὀλίγων προϊππεύσας καὶ τὴν ἄγνοιαν τῶν Μακεδόνων διορθωσάμενος παρέδωκεν ἑαυτόν τε καὶ τὴν δύναμιν τῷ βασιλεῖ. ἡσθεὶς δὲ ὁ Ἀλέξανδρος τήν τε βασιλείαν ἀπέδωκεν αὐτῷ καὶ τὸ λοιπὸν διετέλει τούτῳ φίλῳ καὶ συμμάχῳ χρώμενος καὶ μετωνόμασεν αὐτὸν Ταξίλην. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἐπράχθη κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν ἐνιαυτόν.
So Alexander employed the false alarms of war to outgeneral the Indians and to gain possession of the "rock" without fighting. He gave the promised reward to his guide and marched off with his army. About this time, a certain Indian named Aphrices with twenty thousand troops and fifteen elephants was encamped in the vicinity. Some of his followers killed him and cut off his head and brought it to Alexander, and saved their own lives by this favour. The king took them into his service, and rounded up the elephants, which were wandering about the countryside. Alexander now advanced to the Indus River and found his thirty-oared boats in readiness and fully equipped, and the stream spanned by a floating bridge. He rested his army for thirty days and offered splendid sacrifices to the gods, and then moved his army across and experienced a startling fright and relief. Taxiles, the king, had died, and his son Mophis had succeeded to the throne. He had sent word to Alexander earlier when he was in Sogdiana, promising to join him in a campaign against his enemies among the Indians, and now he stated through his messengers that he turned his kingdom over to him. When Alexander was still forty furlongs off, Mophis deployed his force as if for war and marched forward, his elephants gaily caparisoned, surrounded by his Friends. Alexander saw a great army in warlike array approaching and concluded at once that the Indian's promises were made in order to deceive him, so that the Macedonians might be attacked before they had time to prepare themselves. He ordered the trumpeters to sound the call to arms, and when the soldiers had found their battle stations, marched against the Indians.6 Mophis saw the excited activity of the Macedonians and guessed the reason. He left his army and accompanied only by a few horsemen galloped forward, corrected the misapprehension of the Macedonians, and gave himself and his army over to the king. 7 Alexander, much relieved, restored his kingdom to him and thereafter held him as a friend and ally. He also changed name to Taxiles. That is what happened in that year.
§ 17.87
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησι Χρέμητος Ῥωμαῖοι κατέστησαν ὑπάτους Πόπλιον Κορνήλιον καὶ Αὖλον Ποστούμιον. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Ἀλέξανδρος ἐν τῇ Ταξίλου χώρᾳ προσαναλαβὼν τὴν δύναμιν ἐστράτευσεν ἐπὶ Πῶρον τὸν τῶν πλησιοχώρων Ἰνδῶν βασιλέα. οὗτος δʼ εἶχε πεζοὺς μὲν πλείους τῶν πεντακισμυρίων, ἱππεῖς δὲ περὶ τρισχιλίους, ἅρματα δὲ πλείω τῶν χιλίων, ἐλέφαντας δὲ ἑκατὸν καὶ τριάκοντα. ἐπεποίητο δὲ καὶ ἕτερον τῶν πλησιοχώρων βασιλέα σύμμαχον, ὃς ὠνομάζετο Ἐμβίσαρος, εἶχε δὲ δύναμιν οὐ πολὺ λειπομένην τῆς τοῦ Πώρου. ὁ δὲ Ἀλέξανδρος ἀκούσας τοῦτον τὸν βασιλέα τετρακοσίους ἀπέχειν σταδίους ἔκρινε πρὸ τῆς τούτου παρουσίας ἐπιβαλεῖν τῷ Πώρῳ. ἐγγίσαντος δὲ αὐτοῦ τοῖς Ἰνδοῖς ὁ Πῶρος πυθόμενος πλησίον εἶναι τοὺς πολεμίους εὐθὺς ἐξέταξε τὴν δύναμιν καὶ τοὺς μὲν ἱππεῖς ἐπὶ τὰ κέρατα διεμέρισεν, τοὺς δʼ ἐλέφαντας καταπληκτικῶς κεκοσμημένους κατὰ μέτωπον ἐν ἴσοις διαστήμασιν ἔστησεν· ἀνὰ μέσον δὲ τῶν θηρίων τοὺς λοιποὺς ὁπλίτας ἔταξεν, οἷς συντεταγμένον ἦν παραβοηθεῖν τοῖς θηρίοις καὶ διακωλύειν ἐκ τῶν πλαγίων εἰσακοντίζειν. ἡ μὲν οὖν ὅλη σύνταξις αὐτῶν ὑπῆρχε πόλει παραπλήσιος τὴν πρόσοψιν· ἡ μὲν γὰρ τῶν ἐλεφάντων στάσις τοῖς πύργοις, οἱ δὲ ἀνὰ μέσον τούτων στρατιῶται τοῖς μεσοπυργίοις ὡμοίωντο· ὁ δὲ Ἀλέξανδρος κατανοήσας τὴν τῶν πολεμίων τάξιν πρὸς ταύτην τὴν διακόσμησιν οἰκείως ἐξέταξε τὴν δύναμιν.
In the archonship of Chremes at Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Publius Cornelius and Aulus Postumius. In this year Alexander repaired his army in the land of Taxiles and then marched against Porus, the king of the neighbouring Indians. He had more than fifty thousand infantry, about three thousand cavalry, more than a thousand chariots of war, and one hundred and thirty elephants. He had enlisted the support of a second king of the neighbouring regions, whose name was Embisarus; he had an army little smaller than that of Porus. When Alexander received word that this king was four hundred furlongs away, he decided to attack Porus before the arrival of his ally. As he approached, Porus learned of his advance and deployed his forces promptly. He stationed his cavalry upon both flanks, and arranged his elephants, arrayed so as to strike terror in an opponent, in a single line at equal intervals along his front. Between these beasts he placed the rest of his infantry, with the mission of helping them and preventing their being attacked with javelins from the sides. His whole array looked very much like a city, for the elephant resembled towers, and the soldiers between them curtain walls. Alexander viewed the enemy's dispositions and arranged his own troops appropriately.
§ 17.88
γενομένης δὲ μάχης τὸ μὲν πρῶτον τοῖς ἱππεῦσιν ἅπαντα σχεδὸν τὰ ἅρματα τῶν Ἰνδῶν διεφθάρη· μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τῶν ἐλεφάντων ταῖς τε τῶν σωμάτων ὑπεροχαῖς καὶ ταῖς ἀλκαῖς δεόντως χρωμένων οἱ μὲν ὑπὸ τῶν θηρίων συμπατούμενοι μετὰ τῶν ὅπλων θραυομένων τῶν ὀστῶν ἀπώλλυντο, οἱ δὲ ταῖς προνομαῖς περιλαμβανόμενοι καὶ πρὸς ὕψος ἐξαρθέντες πάλιν πρὸς τὴν γῆν ἐράττοντο καὶ δεινοῖς θανάτοις περιέπιπτον, πολλοὶ δὲ τοῖς ὀδοῦσι συγκεντούμενοι καὶ διʼ ὅλων τῶν σωμάτων τιτρωσκόμενοι παραχρῆμα τοῦ ζῆν ἐστερίσκοντο. τῶν δὲ Μακεδόνων εὐρώστως ὑπομενόντων τὸ δεινὸν καὶ τοὺς ἀνὰ μέσον τῶν θηρίων ταῖς σαρίσαις ἀναιρούντων ἰσόρροπος ἦν ἡ μάχη. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τῶν θηρίων συνακοντιζομένων καὶ διὰ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν τραυμάτων περιοδύνων γινομένων οἱ μὲν περιβεβηκότες αὐτοῖς Ἰνδοὶ κρατεῖν τῆς ὁρμῆς τῶν ζῴων οὐκ ἴσχυον· ἐκνεύοντα γὰρ εἰς τοὺς ἰδίους ταῖς ὁρμαῖς ἀκατασχέτως ἐφέρετο καὶ τοὺς φίλους συνεπάτει· ταραχῆς δὲ πολλῆς γινομένης ὁ Πῶρος συνιδὼν τὸ γινόμενον καὶ τεταγμένος ἐπὶ τοῦ κρατίστου τῶν ἐλεφάντων ἤθροισε περὶ αὑτὸν τεσσαράκοντα τῶν θηρίων τὰ μήπω τεταραγμένα καὶ τῶν βάρει τῶν ἐλεφάντων ἐπιβαλὼν τοῖς πολεμίοις πολὺν ἐποίει φόνον, ἅτε καὶ τῇ ῥώμῃ τοῦ σώματος πολὺ προέχων τῶν συστρατευομένων· τὸ γὰρ μῆκος ἦν πηχῶν πέντε, τὸ δʼ εὖρος ὑπῆρχεν ὁ θώραξ αὐτοῦ διπλάσιος τῶν ἄλλων τῶν εὐρωστίᾳ διαφερόντων. διόπερ τὰ βαλλόμενα σαυνία τοιαύτην εἶχε δύναμιν ὥστε μὴ πολὺ λείπεσθαι τῶν καταπελτικῶν βελῶν. τῶν δʼ ἀντιτεταγμένων Μακεδόνων καταπεπληγμένων τὴν ἀνδραγαθίαν τοῦ Πώρου ὁ Ἀλέξανδρος μεταπεμψάμενος τοὺς τοξότας καὶ τὰ ψιλικὰ τῶν ταγμάτων προσέταξεν ἅπαντας βάλλειν ἐπὶ τὸν Πῶρον. ταχὺ δὲ τῶν στρατιωτῶν πραξάντων τὸ παραγγελθὲν καὶ βελῶν ἅμα πολλῶν ἐνεχθέντων ἐπὶ τὸν Ἰνδὸν καὶ πάντων ἐπιτυγχανόντων διὰ τὸ μέγεθος τοῦ σκοποῦ ὁ μὲν Πῶρος ἡρωικῶς ἀγωνισάμενος καὶ διὰ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν τραυμάτων γενόμενος ἔξαιμος ἐλιποψύχησεν καὶ περικλασθεὶς περὶ τὸ θηρίον πρὸς τὴν γῆν κατηνέχθη. διαδοθείσης δὲ φήμης ὅτι τετελεύτηκεν ὁ βασιλεύς, τὸ λοιπὸν πλῆθος τῶν Ἰνδῶν πρὸς φυγὴν ὥρμησεν.
The fighting began, and practically all of the Indians' chariots were put out of action by Alexander's cavalry. Then the elephants came into play, trained to make good use of their height and strength. Some of the Macedonians were trodden under foot, armour and all, by the beasts and died, their bones crushed. Others were caught up by the elephants' trunks and, lifted on high, were dashed back down to the ground again, dying a fearful death. Many soldiers were pierced through by the tusks and died instantly, run through the whole body. Nevertheless the Macedonians faced the frightening experience manfully. They used their long spears to good effect against the Indians stationed beside the elephants, and kept the battle even. Then, as javelins began to find their marks in the sides of the great beasts and they felt the pains of the wounds, the Indian riders were no longer able to control their movements. The elephants veered and, no longer manageable, turned upon their own ranks and trampled friendly troops. As his formations grew more confused, Porus observed what was happening. He was mounted on the largest of the elephants and gathered about him forty others which were not yet out of hand, then attacked the enemy with their combined weight and inflicted many losses. He was himself outstanding in bodily strength beyond any of his followers, being five cubits in height and with a breadth of chest double that of his mightiest soldiers. His javelins were flung with such force that they were little inferior to the darts of the catapults. The Macedonians who opposed him were amazed at his fighting ability, but Alexander called up the bowmen and other light armed troops and ordered them to concentrate their fire upon Porus. This was done promptly. Many weapons flew toward the Indian at the same time and none missed its mark because of his great size. He continued to fight heroically until, fainting from loss of blood from his many wounds, he collapsed upon his elephant and fell to the ground. The word went about that the king was killed, and the rest of the Indians fled.
§ 17.89
ἐν δὲ τῇ φυγῇ πολλοῦ φόνου γενομένου ὁ μὲν Ἀλέξανδρος ἐπιφανεῖ μάχῃ νικήσας ἀνεκαλέσατο τῇ σάλπιγγι τοὺς στρατιώτας. ἔπεσον δὲ ἐν τῇ μάχῃ τῶν Ἰνδῶν πλείους τῶν μυρίων καὶ δισχιλίων, ἐν οἷς ὑπῆρχον καὶ δύο υἱοὶ τοῦ Πώρου καὶ οἱ στρατηγοὶ καὶ οἱ ἐπιφανέστατοι τῶν ἡγεμόνων. ζῶντες δὲ ἄνδρες ἑάλωσαν ὑπὲρ τοὺς ἐνακισχιλίους, ἐλέφαντες δὲ ὀγδοήκοντα. αὐτὸς δὲ ὁ Πῶρος ἔμπνους ὢν παρεδόθη τοῖς Ἰνδοῖς πρὸς τὴν θεραπείαν. τῶν δὲ Μακεδόνων ἔπεσον μὲν ἱππεῖς διακόσιοι καὶ ὀγδοήκοντα, πεζοὶ δὲ πλείους τῶν ἑπτακοσίων. ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς τοὺς μὲν τετελευτηκότας ἔθαψε, τοὺς δὲ ἀνδραγαθήσαντας κατὰ τὴν ἀξίαν ἐτίμησεν, αὐτὸς δὲ Ἡλίῳ ἔθυσεν ὡς δεδωκότι τὰ πρὸς ἀνατολὴν μέρη καταστρέψασθαι. τῆς δὲ πλησίον ὀρεινῆς ἐχούσης πολλὴν μὲν ἐλάτην εὔτροφον, οὐκ ὀλίγην δὲ κέδρον καὶ πεύκην, ἔτι δὲ τῆς ἄλλης ὕλης ναυπηγησίμου πλῆθος ἄφθονον κατεσκεύασε ναῦς ἱκανάς· διενοεῖτο γὰρ ἐπὶ τὸ τέρμα τῆς Ἰνδικῆς παραγενόμενος καὶ πάντας τοὺς ἐγχωρίους καταστρεψάμενος διὰ τοῦ ποταμοῦ καταπλεῖν εἰς τὸν Ὠκεανόν. ἔκτισε δὲ δύο πόλεις, τὴν μὲν πέραν τοῦ ποταμοῦ καθʼ ὃν τόπον αὐτὸς διέβη, τὴν δὲ ἄλλην ἐν ᾧ τόπῳ τὸν Πῶρον ἐνίκησεν. ταχὺ δὲ τῶν ἔργων κατασκευασθέντων διὰ τὴν πολυχειρίαν τὸν μὲν Πῶρον θεραπευθέντα βασιλέα κατέστησε διὰ τὴν ἀρετὴν ἧς πρότερον ἦρχε χώρας, τὴν δὲ δύναμιν ἐπὶ τριάκοντα ἡμέρας ἀνέλαβε, πολλῆς ἀφθονίας οὔσης τῶν ἐπιτηδείων.
Many were slain in their flight, but then Alexander, satisfied with his brilliant victory, ordered the trumpets to sound the recall. Of the Indians, there fell in the battle more than twelve thousand, among whom were the two sons of Porus and his best generals and officers. Above nine thousand men were taken alive, together with eighty elephants. Porus himself was still breathing, and was turned over to the Indians for medical attention. On the Macedonian side, the losses were two hundred and eighty cavalry and more than seven hundred infantry. The king buried the dead, rewarded those who had distinguished themselves in accordance with their deserts, and sacrificed to Helius who had given him the eastern regions to conquer. There were mountains not far away where grew thriving firs in quantity, together with no little cedar and pine and an ample supply of other woods suitable for shipbuilding, and Alexander constructed a large number of ships. He intended to reach the borders of India and to subdue all of its inhabitants, and then to sail downstream to the Ocean. He founded two cities, one beyond the river where he had crossed and the other on the spot where he had defeated Porus. These were built quickly because there was a plentiful supply of labour. When Porus had recovered, Alexander appointed him, in recognition of his valour, king over the country where he formerly ruled. The Macedonian army rested for thirty days in the midst of a vast plenty of provisions.
§ 17.90
ἴδιον δέ τι κατὰ τὴν ὀρεινὴν τὴν πλησίον ὑπῆρχε. χωρὶς γὰρ τῆς πρὸς ναυπηγίαν ὕλης εἶχεν ἡ χώρα πολλοὺς καὶ παρηλλαγμένους τοῖς μεγέθεσιν ὄφεις, ὄντας ἑκκαιδεκαπήχεις, πιθήκων τε γένη πολλὰ καὶ τοῖς μεγέθεσι διαλλάττοντα, ὧν τὴν τέχνην τῆς θήρας αὐτὸ τὸ ζῷον ὑφηγεῖτο. μιμητικὸν γὰρ ὑπάρχον πάσης πράξεως βίᾳ μὲν οὐ ῥᾳδίως χειροῦται διά τε τὴν ἰσχὺν τῶν σωμάτων καὶ διὰ τὴν τῆς ψυχῆς ἀγχίνοιαν· τῶν δὲ κυνηγῶν οἱ μὲν μέλιτι τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ἀλείφονται, οἱ δὲ βλεπόντων τῶν θηρίων ὑποδοῦνται, τινὲς δὲ ταῖς κεφαλαῖς κάτοπτρα περιτιθέασιν, καὶ τοῖς μὲν ὑποδήμασι παραθέντες δεσμοὺς ἀπολείπουσιν, ἀντὶ δὲ τοῦ μέλιτος ἰξὸν ὑποβάλλουσι, τοῖς δὲ κατόπτροις ἐπίσπαστρα καθάπτουσι. διόπερ ὅταν βούλωνται τὰ ζῷα τὰς πράξεις τῶν ὁραθέντων ἐπιτελεῖν, ἀδυνατεῖ, τῶν μὲν βλεφάρων κεκολλημένων, τῶν δὲ ποδῶν δεδεμένων, τῶν δὲ σωμάτων κατεχομένων· ὅθεν εὐχείρωτα πρὸς τὴν θήραν γίνεται. ὁ δὲ Ἀλέξανδρος τὸν ὑστερηκότα τῆς τοῦ Πώρου συμμαχίας βασιλέα ὄνομα Σασιβισάρην καταπληξάμενος ἠνάγκασε ποιεῖν τὸ προσταττόμενον, αὐτὸς δὲ μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως περάσας τὸν ποταμὸν προῆγε διὰ χώρας ἀρετῇ διαφερούσης· δένδρων γὰρ εἶχε γένη διαλλάττοντα καὶ τὸ μὲν ὕψος ἔχοντα πηχῶν ἑβδομήκοντα, τὸ δὲ πάχος μόγις ὑπὸ τεσσάρων ἀνδρῶν περιλαμβανόμενα, τριῶν δὲ πλέθρων σκιὰν ποιοῦντα. εἶχε δὲ καὶ ἡ χώρα ὄφεων πλῆθος, μικρῶν μὲν τοῖς μεγέθεσι, ταῖς δὲ ποικιλίαις ἐξηλλαγμένων· οἱ μὲν γὰρ χαλκοειδεῖς ῥάβδους ἐπέφαινον, οἱ δὲ τὴν λόφην δασεῖαν εἶχον τριχώδη, διὰ δὲ τῶν δηγμάτων ὀξεῖς θανάτους ἀπειργάζοντο. τὸν δὲ πληγέντα πόνοι δεινοὶ συνεῖχον καὶ ῥύσις ἱδρῶτος αἱματοειδοῦς κατεῖχε. διόπερ οἱ Μακεδόνες δεινῶς ὑπὸ τῶν δηγμάτων ἀπαλλάττοντες τὰς κλίνας ἀπὸ τῶν δένδρων ἐξήρτων καὶ τὸ πλεῖστον τῆς νυκτὸς διηγρύπνουν. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα παρὰ τῶν ἐγχωρίων μαθόντες τὴν ἀντιφάρμακον ῥίζαν ἀπελύθησαν τῶν δεινῶν.
Odd phenomena were observed in these mountains. In addition to the wood for shipbuilding, the region contained a large number of snakes remarkable for their size; they reached a length of sixteen cubits. There were also many varieties of monkey, differing in size, which had themselves taught the Indians the method of their capture. They imitate every action that they see, but cannot well be taken by force because of their strength and cleverness. The hunters, however, in the sight of the beasts, smear their eyes with honey, or fasten sandals about their ankles, or hang mirrors about their necks. Then they go away, having attached fastenings to the shoes, having substituted birdlime for honey, and having fastened slip nooses to the mirrors. So when the animals try to imitate what they had seen, they are rendered helpless, their eyes stuck together, their feet bound fast, and their bodies held immovable. That is the way in which they become easy to catch. Sasibisares, the king who had not moved in time to help Porus in the battle, was frightened, and Alexander forced him to accept his orders. Then Alexander resumed his march to the east, crossed the river, and continued on through a region of remarkable fertility. It possessed strange kinds of trees which reached a height of seventy cubits, were so thick that they could scarcely be embraced by four men, and cast a shadow of three plethra. The country possessed a multitude of snakes, small and variously coloured. Some of them looked like bronze rods, others had thick, shaggy crests, and their bites brought sudden death. The person bitten suffered fearful pains and was covered with a bloody sweat. The Macedonians, who were much affected by the bites, slung their hammocks from trees and remained awake most of the night. Later, however, they learned from the natives the use of a medicinal root and were freed from these fears.
§ 17.91
προϊόντος δὲ αὐτοῦ μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως ἧκόν τινες ἀπαγγέλλοντες ὅτι Πῶρος ὁ βασιλεύς, ἀνεψιὸς ὢν τοῦ καταπεπολεμημένου Πώρου, τὴν βασιλείαν ἀπολιπὼν πέφευγεν εἰς τὸ τῶν Γανδαριδῶν ἔθνος. ὁ δὲ Ἀλέξανδρος παροξυνθεὶς Ἡφαιστίωνα μὲν ἐξέπεμψεν εἰς τὴν τούτου χώραν μετὰ δυνάμεως καὶ προσέταξε τὴν βασιλείαν παραδοῦναι τῷ μεθʼ αὑτοῦ Πώρῳ· αὐτὸς δʼ εἰς τὸ τῶν Ἀδρεστῶν καλουμένων ἔθνος στρατεύσας καὶ τῶν πόλεων ἃς μὲν βίᾳ χειρωσάμενος, ἃς δὲ πειθοῖ προσαγαγόμενος εἰς τὴν τῶν Καθαίων χώραν παρεγένετο. παρὰ δὲ τούτοις νόμιμον ἦν τὰς γυναῖκας τοῖς ἀνδράσι συγκατακαίεσθαι· τοῦτο δʼ ἐκυρώθη τὸ δόγμα παρὰ τοῖς βαρβάροις διὰ μίαν γυναῖκα φαρμάκοις ἀνελοῦσαν τὸν ἄνδρα. ὁ δʼ οὖν βασιλεὺς τὴν μεγίστην καὶ ὀχυρωτάτην πόλιν μετὰ πολλῶν κινδύνων ἐκπολιορκήσας ἐνέπρησεν. ἄλλην δʼ ἀξιόλογον πολιορκοῦντος αὐτοῦ καὶ μεθʼ ἱκετηριῶν δεηθέντων τῶν Ἰνδῶν ἀπέλυσε τῶν κινδύνων αὐτούς. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτʼ ἐστράτευσεν ἐπὶ τὰς ὑπὸ Σωπείθην τεταγμένας πόλεις, εὐνομουμένας καθʼ ὑπερβολήν. τά τε γὰρ ἄλλα πρὸς δόξαν πολιτεύονται καὶ τὸ κάλλος παρʼ αὐτοῖς τιμιώτατον νενόμισται. διόπερ ἐκ νηπίου παρʼ αὐτοῖς τὰ βρέφη διακρίνεται καὶ τὰ μὲν ἄρτια καὶ τὴν φύσιν ἔχοντα πρὸς εὐπρέπειαν καὶ ἰσχὺν εὔθετον τρέφεται, τὰ δὲ καταδεῆ τοῖς σώμασιν ἀνάξια τροφῆς ἡγούμενοι διαφθείρουσιν. ἀκολούθως δὲ τούτοις καὶ τοὺς γάμους ποιοῦνται προικὸς μὲν καὶ τῆς ἄλλης πολυτελείας ἀφροντιστοῦντες, κάλλους δὲ καὶ τῆς τοῦ σώματος ὑπεροχῆς μόνον φροντίζοντες. διόπερ οἱ πλεῖστοι τῶν ἐν ταύταις ταῖς πόλεσι κατοικούντων διαφέρουσι τῶν ἄλλων ἀξιώμασιν. παρὰ δὲ πάντας ὁ βασιλεὺς Σωπείθης περίβλεπτος ὢν ἐπὶ τῷ κάλλει καὶ τῷ μήκει τοὺς τέτταρας πήχεις ὑπεράγων προῆλθε μὲν ἐκ τῆς πόλεως τῆς ἐχούσης τὰ βασίλεια, παραδοὺς δʼ αὑτὸν καὶ τὴν βασιλείαν Ἀλεξάνδρῳ πάλιν ταύτην ἀπέλαβε διὰ τὴν τοῦ κρατοῦντος ἐπιείκειαν. ὁ δὲ Σωπείθης μετὰ πολλῆς προθυμίας τὴν μὲν δύναμιν ἅπασαν ἐπί τινας ἡμέρας λαμπρῶς εἱστίασε,
As he continued his march, word came to Alexander that King Porus (a cousin of the Porus who had been defeated) had left his kingdom and fled to the people of Gandara. This annoyed Alexander, and he sent Hephaestion with an army into his country and ordered that the kingdom should be transferred to the friendly Porus. He campaigned against the people known as the Adrestians, and got possession of their cities, partly by force and partly by agreement. Then he came into the country of the Cathaeans, among whom it was the custom for wives to be cremated together with their husbands. This law had been put into effect there because of a woman who had killed her husband with poison. 4b Here he captured their greatest and strongest city after much fighting and burned it. He was in process of besieging another notable city when the Indians came to him with suppliant branches and he spared them further attack. Next he undertook a campaign against the cities under the rule of Sopeithes. These are exceedingly well-governed. All the functions of this state are directed toward the acquiring of good repute, and beauty is valued there more than anything. 5 From birth, their children are subjected to a process of selection. Those who are well formed and designed by nature to have a fine appearance and bodily strength are reared, while those who are bodily deficient are destroyed as not worth bringing up. 6 So they plan their marriages without regard to dower or any other financial consideration, but consider only beauty and physical excellence. 7 In consequence, most of the inhabitants of these cities enjoy a higher reputation than those elsewhere. Their king Sopeithes was strikingly handsome and tall beyond the rest, being over four cubits in height. He came out of his capital city and gave over himself and his kingdom to Alexander, but received it back through the kindness of the conqueror.8 Sopeithes with great goodwill feasted the whole army bountifully for several days.
§ 17.92
τῷ δʼ Ἀλεξάνδρῳ πολλὰ καὶ μεγάλα δῶρα παραστήσας κύνας ἔδωκεν ἑκατὸν καὶ πεντήκοντα τοῖς μεγέθεσι καὶ ταῖς ἀλκαῖς καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις προτερήμασι θαυμαζομένους, οὓς ἔφασαν ταῖς τίγρεσιν ἐπιμεμῖχθαι. βουλόμενος δὲ τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον διὰ τῶν ἔργων λαβεῖν πεῖραν τῆς τῶν κυνῶν ἀρετῆς εἰσήγαγεν εἴς τι περίφραγμα λέοντα τέλειον καὶ τῶν δοθέντων κυνῶν δύο τοὺς εὐτελεστάτους προέβαλε τῷ λέοντι· τούτων δὲ κατισχυομένων ὑπὸ τοῦ θηρίου δύο ἑτέρους εἰς2αφῆκεν. τῶν δὲ τεττάρων περιγινομένων τοῦ λέοντος πεμφθείς τις ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ μετὰ μαχαίρας ἀφῄρει τὸ δεξιὸν σκέλος ἑνὸς τῶν κυνῶν. τοῦ δὲ βασιλέως ἀναβοήσαντος καὶ τῶν σωματοφυλάκων προσδραμόντων καὶ τῆς τοῦ Ἰνδοῦ χειρὸς ἐπιλαβομένων ὁ μὲν Σωπείθης τρεῖς ἀντὶ τούτου δώσειν ἐπηγγείλατο, ὁ δὲ κυνηγὸς ἐπιλαβόμενος τοῦ σκέλους ἔτεμνεν ἡσυχῇ κατʼ ὀλίγον. ὁ δὲ κύων οὔτε κλαγγὴν οὔτε μυγμὸν προέμενος, ἀλλὰ τοὺς ὀδόντας ἐμπεπρικὼς ἔμενεν ἕως ὅτου γενόμενος ἔξαιμος ἐναπέθανε τῷ θηρίῳ.
To Alexander he presented many impressive gifts, among them one hundred and fifty dogs remarkable for their size and courage and other good qualities. People said that they had a strain of tiger blood. He wanted Alexander to test their mettle in action, and he brought into a ring a full grown lion and two of the poorest of the dogs. He set these on the lion, and when they were having a hard time of it he released two others to assist them. The four were getting the upper hand over the lion when Sopeithes sent in a man with a scimitar who hacked at the right leg of one of the dogs. At this Alexander shouted out indignantly and the guards rushed up and seized the arm of the Indian, but Sopeithes said that he would give him three other dogs for that one, and the handler, taking a firm grip on the leg, severed it slowly. The dog, in the meanwhile, uttered neither yelp nor whimper, but continued with his teeth clamped shut until, fainting with loss of blood, he died on top of the lion.
§ 17.93
ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις ἧκεν Ἡφαιστίων μετὰ τῆς συναπεσταλμένης δυνάμεως πολλὴν τῆς Ἰνδικῆς καταπεπολεμηκώς. τοῦτον μὲν οὖν διὰ τὰς ἀνδραγαθίας ἐπῄνεσεν· αὐτὸς δὲ εἰς τὴν Φηγέως δυναστείαν ἐμβαλὼν καὶ τῶν ἐγχωρίων ἀσμένως τὴν τῶν Μακεδόνων παρουσίαν προσδεξαμένων καὶ τοῦ Φηγέως μετὰ δώρων πολλῶν ἀπαντήσαντος τήν τε βασιλείαν ἔχειν συνεχώρησε καὶ ξενισθεὶς μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως ἐπὶ δύο ἡμέρας λαμπρῶς ἐπὶ τὸν Ὕφασιν ποταμὸν προῆγεν, οὗ τὸ μὲν πλάτος ἦν σταδίων ἑπτά, τὸ δὲ βάθος ἓξ ὀργυιῶν, τὸ δὲ ῥεῦμα σφοδρὸν καὶ δυσδιάβατον. ἀκούσας δὲ τοῦ Φηγέως περὶ τῆς πέραν τοῦ Ἰνδοῦ ποταμοῦ χώρας ὅτι δώδεκα μὲν ἡμερῶν ἔχει δίοδον ἔρημον, μετὰ δὲ ταύτην εἶναι ποταμὸν τὸν ὀνομαζόμενον Γάγγην, τὸ μὲν πλάτος τριάκοντα καὶ δυεῖν σταδίων, τὸ δὲ βάθος μέγιστον τῶν κατὰ τὴν Ἰνδικήν, πέραν δὲ τούτου κατοικεῖν τό τε τῶν Ταβραισίων καὶ Γανδαριδῶν ἔθνος, τούτων δὲ βασιλεύειν Ξανδράμην, ἔχοντα δισμυρίους μὲν ἱππεῖς, πεζῶν δὲ εἴκοσι μυριάδας, ἅρματα δὲ δισχίλια, ἐλέφαντας δὲ πολεμικῶς κεκοσμημένους τετρακισχιλίους, ἀπιστήσας δὲ τοῖς λεγομένοις προσεκαλέσατο τὸν Πῶρον καὶ περὶ τῶν προσαγγελλομένων τἀκριβὲς διεπυνθάνετο. ὁ δὲ τἄλλα μὲν ὑπάρχειν ἅπαντα ἀληθῆ διεβεβαιοῦτο, τὸν δὲ βασιλέα τῶν Γανδαριδῶν ἔφησεν εὐτελῆ παντελῶς εἶναι καὶ ἄδοξον ὡς ἂν κουρέως υἱὸν νομιζόμενον εἶναι. εὐπρεπῆ γὰρ ὄντα τὸν τούτου πατέρα μεγάλως ὑπὸ τῆς βασιλίσσης ἀγαπηθῆναι καὶ τοῦ βασιλέως διὰ τῆς γυναικὸς δολοφονηθέντος εἰς τοῦτον περιστῆναι τὴν βασιλείαν. ὁ δʼ Ἀλέξανδρος, καίπερ ὁρῶν δυσεπίτευκτον τὴν ἐπὶ τοὺς Γανδαρίδας στρατείαν οὖσαν, ὅμως οὐκ ἀφίστατο τῆς φιλοτιμίας, ἀλλὰ πιστεύων ταῖς τῶν Μακεδόνων ἀρεταῖς καὶ τοῖς χρησμοῖς ἐλπίδας εἶχε κρατήσειν τῶν βαρβάρων· τὴν μὲν γὰρ Πυθίαν ἀνίκητον αὐτὸν ὠνομακέναι, τὸν δʼ Ἄμμωνα συγκεχωρηκέναι τὴν ἁπάσης τῆς γῆς ἐξουσίαν.
While all this was going on, Hephaestion returned with his army from his mission, having conquered a big piece of India. Alexander commended him for his success, then invaded the kingdom of Phegeus where the inhabitants cheerfully accepted the appearance of the Macedonians. Phegeus himself met the king with many gifts and Alexander confirmed him in his rule. Alexander and the army were feasted bountifully for two days, and then advanced to the Hyphasis River, the width of which was seven furlongs, the depth six fathoms, and the current violent. This was difficult to cross. He questioned Phegeus about the country beyond the Indus River, and learned that there was a desert to traverse for twelve days, and then the river called Ganges, which was thirty-two furlongs in width and the deepest of all the Indian rivers. Beyond this in turn dwelt the peoples of the Tabraesians and the Gandaridae, whose king was Xandrames. He had twenty thousand cavalry, two hundred thousand infantry, two thousand chariots, and four thousand elephants equipped for war. Alexander doubted this information and sent for Porus, and asked him what was the truth of these reports. Porus assured the king that all the rest of the account was quite correct, but that the king of the Gandaridae was an utterly common and undistinguished character, and was supposed to be the son of a barber. His father had been handsome and was greatly loved by the queen; when she had murdered her husband, the kingdom fell to him. Alexander saw that the campaign against the Gandaridae would not be easy, but he was not discouraged. He had confidence in the fighting qualities of his Macedonians, as well as in the oracles which he had received, and expected that he would be victorious. He remembered that the Pythia had called him "unconquerable," and Ammon had given him the rule of the whole world.
§ 17.94
ὁρῶν δὲ τοὺς στρατιώτας ταῖς συνεχέσι στρατείαις καταπεπονημένους καὶ σχεδὸν ὀκταετῆ χρόνον ἐν πόνοις καὶ κινδύνοις τεταλαιπωρηκότας ὑπέλαβεν ἀναγκαῖον εἶναι τὰ πλήθη τοῖς ἁρμόζουσι λόγοις προτρέψασθαι πρὸς τὴν ἐπὶ τοὺς Γανδαρίδας στρατείαν. πολλὴ μὲν γὰρ φθορὰ τῶν στρατιωτῶν ἐγεγόνει καὶ λύσις οὐδεμία τῶν πολέμων ἠλπίζετο· καὶ τῶν μὲν ἵππων διὰ τὴν συνέχειαν τῆς ὁδοιπορίας τὰς ὁπλὰς ὑποτετρῖφθαι συνέβαινε, τῶν δὲ ὅπλων τὰ πλεῖστα κατεξάνθαι καὶ τὸν μὲν Ἑλληνικὸν ἱματισμὸν ἐκλελοιπέναι, συναναγκάζεσθαι δὲ βαρβαρικοῖς ὑφάσμασι χρῆσθαι, συντεμόντας τὰ τῶν Ἰνδῶν περιβλήματα. κατὰ τύχην δὲ καὶ χειμῶνες ἄγριοι κατερράγησαν ἐφʼ ἡμέρας ἑβδομήκοντα καὶ βρονταὶ συνεχεῖς καὶ κεραυνοὶ κατέσκηπτον. ἃ δὴ λογιζόμενος ἐναντιοῦσθαι ταῖς ἰδίαις ἐπιβολαῖς μίαν εἶχεν ἐλπίδα τῆς ἐπιθυμίας, εἰ τοὺς στρατιώτας διὰ τῆς εὐεργεσίας εἰς εὔνοιαν μεγάλην προαγάγοιτο. διόπερ λεηλατεῖν μὲν αὐτοῖς συνεχώρησε τὴν πολεμίαν χώραν, γέμουσαν παντοίας ὠφελείας· ἐν αἷς δʼ ἡμέραις ἡ δύναμις περὶ τὴν προνομὴν ἠσχολεῖτο, συναγαγὼν τὰς γυναῖκας τῶν στρατιωτῶν καὶ τοὺς ἐξ αὐτῶν γεγονότας παῖδας ταύταις μὲν συνεστήσατο κατὰ μῆνα διδόναι σῖτον, τοῖς δὲ παισὶν ἐπιφορὰς ταγματικὰς ἀπένειμε κατὰ τοὺς τῶν πατέρων συλλογισμούς. ὡς δʼ ἐπανῆλθον οἱ στρατιῶται πολλῶν πλῆθος ἀγαθῶν ἐκ τῆς προνομῆς εὑρηκότες συνῆγε πάντας εἰς ἐκκλησίαν. διελθὼν δὲ λόγον πεφροντισμένον περὶ τῆς ἐπὶ τοὺς Γανδαρίδας στρατείας καὶ τῶν Μακεδόνων οὐδαμῶς συγκαταθεμένων ἀπέστη τῆς ἐπιβολῆς.
Alexander observed that his soldiers were exhausted with their constant campaigns. They had spent almost eight years among toils and dangers, and it was necessary to raise their spirits by an effective appeal if they were to undertake the expedition against the Gandaridae. There had been many losses among the soldiers, and no relief from fighting was in sight. The hooves of the horses had been worn thin by steady marching. The arms and armour were wearing out, and Greek clothing was quite gone. They had to clothe themselves in foreign materials, recutting the garments of the Indians. This was the season also, as luck would have it, of the heavy rains. These had been going on for seventy days, to the accompaniment of continuous thunder and lightning. All this he accounted adverse to his project, and he saw only one hope of gaining his wish, if he might gain the soldiers' great goodwill through gratitude. Accordingly he allowed them to ravage the enemy's country, which was full of every good thing. During these days when the army was busy foraging, he called together the wives of the soldiers and their children; to the wives he undertook to give a monthly ration, to the children he distributed a service bonus in proportion to the military records of their fathers. When the soldiers returned laden with wealth from their expedition, he brought them together to a meeting. He delivered a carefully prepared speech about the expedition against the Gandaridae but the Macedonians did not accept it, and he gave up the undertaking.
§ 17.95
κρίνας δʼ ἐπὶ ταύτης τοὺς ὅρους θέσθαι τῆς στρατείας πρῶτον μὲν τῶν δώδεκα θεῶν βωμοὺς πεντήκοντα πηχῶν ᾠκοδόμησεν, ἔπειτα τριπλασίαν τῆς προϋπαρχούσης στρατοπεδείαν περιβαλόμενος ὤρυξε τάφρον τὸ μὲν πλάτος πεντήκοντα ποδῶν, τὸ δὲ βάθος τεσσαράκοντα· τὴν δʼ ἀναβολὴν ἐντὸς τῆς τάφρου σωρεύσας τεῖχος ἀξιόλογον ᾠκοδόμησε. προσέταξε δὲ τοῖς μὲν πεζοῖς κατασκηνώσεις ἑκάστῳ δύο στιβάδας πενταπήχεις ἐχούσας οἰκοδομῆσαι, τοῖς δʼ ἱππεῦσι πρὸς ταύταις καὶ δύο φάτνας τῶν εἰθισμένων διπλασίας, ἀκολούθως δὲ καὶ τἄλλα τὰ καταλείπεσθαι μέλλοντα τοῖς μεγέθεσιν αὐξῆσαι. ταῦτα δὲ πράττειν ἤμελλεν, ἅμα μὲν ἡρωικὴν βουλόμενος ποιήσασθαι στρατοπεδείαν, ἅμα δὲ τοῖς ἐγχωρίοις ἀπολιπεῖν σημεῖα μεγάλων ἀνδρῶν, ἀποφαίνοντα ῥώμας σωμάτων ὑπερφυεῖς. ἀπὸ δὲ τούτων γενόμενος μετὰ πάσης τῆς δυνάμεως ταῖς αὐταῖς ὁδοῖς πορευθεὶς ἀνέκαμψεν ἐπὶ τὸν Ἀκεσίνην ποταμόν· καταλαβὼν δὲ τὰ σκάφη νεναυπηγημένα καὶ ταῦτα καταρτίσας ἕτερα προσεναυπηγήσατο. κατὰ δὲ τοῦτον τὸν χρόνον ἧκον ἐκ τῆς Ἑλλάδος σύμμαχοι καὶ μισθοφόροι διὰ τῶν στρατηγῶν ἠγμένοι, πεζοὶ μὲν πλείους τρισμυρίων, ἱππεῖς δʼ οὐ πολὺ λείποντες τῶν ἑξακισχιλίων, ἐκομίσθησαν δὲ καὶ πανοπλίαι διαπρεπεῖς πεζοῖς μὲν δισμυρίοις καὶ πεντακισχιλίοις, φαρμάκων δʼ ἰατρικῶν ἑκατὸν τάλαντα. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν διέδωκε τοῖς στρατιώταις. τῆς δὲ ναυτικῆς παρασκευῆς συντελεσθείσης καὶ διακοσίων μὲν ἀφράκτων ἡτοιμασμένων, ὀκτακοσίων δὲ ὑπηρετικῶν τὰς μὲν παρὰ τὸν ποταμὸν κτισθείσας πόλεις ὠνόμασε τὴν μὲν διὰ τὸ τῷ πολέμῳ κρατῆσαι Νίκαιαν, τὴν δʼ ἀπὸ τοῦ τελευτήσαντος ἵππου κατὰ τὴν πρὸς Πῶρον μάχην Βουκεφάλαν.
Thinking how best to mark the limits of his campaign at this point, he first erected altars of the twelve gods each fifty cubits high and then traced the circuit of a camp thrice the size of the existing one. Here he dug a ditch fifty feet wide and forty feet deep, and throwing up the earth on the inside, constructed out of it a substantial wall. He directed the infantry to construct huts each containing two beds five cubits long, and the cavalry, in addition to this, to build two mangers twice the normal size. In the same way, everything else which could be left behind was exaggerated in size. His idea in this was to make a camp of heroic proportions and to leave to the natives evidence of men of huge stature, displaying the strength of giants. After all this had been done, Alexander marched back with all his army to the Acesines River by the same route by which he had come. There he found the ships built which he had ordered. He fitted these out and built others. At this juncture there arrived from Greece allied and mercenary troops under their own commanders, more than thirty thousand infantry and a little less than six thousand cavalry. They brought with them elegant suits of armour for twenty-five thousand foot soldiers, and a hundred talents of medical supplies. These he distributed to the soldiers. Now the naval flotilla was ready; he had prepared two hundred open galleys and eight hundred service ships. He gave names to the two cities which had been founded on either side of the river, calling one of them Nicaea in celebration of his victory in war, and the other Bucephala in honour of his horse, who had died in the battle against Porus.
§ 17.96
αὐτὸς δὲ μετὰ τῶν φίλων ἐμβὰς εἰς τὰς ναῦς τὸν διὰ τοῦ ποταμοῦ πλοῦν ἐπὶ τὸν Ὠκεανὸν τὸν κατὰ μεσημβρίαν ἐποιεῖτο. τὸ δὲ πολὺ μέρος τῆς δυνάμεως παρὰ τὸν ποταμὸν ὡδοιπόρει, προηγουμένου Κρατεροῦ καὶ Ἡφαιστίωνος. ὡς δʼ ἦλθον ἐπὶ τὴν Ἀκεσίνου καὶ Ὑδάσπου συμβολήν, ἐκβιβάσας τοὺς στρατιώτας προῆγεν ἐπὶ τοὺς ὀνομαζομένους Σίβους. τούτους δέ φασιν ἀπογόνους εἶναι τῶν μεθʼ Ἡρακλέους ἐπὶ τὴν Ἄορνον πέτραν στρατευσάντων καὶ τῆς μὲν πολιορκίας ἀποτυχόντων, ἐν τούτῳ δὲ τῷ τόπῳ κατοικισθέντων ὑφʼ Ἡρακλέους. τοῦ δʼ Ἀλεξάνδρου καταστρατοπεδεύσαντος πλησίον ἐπιφανεστάτης πόλεως προῆλθον οἱ δόξῃ πρωτεύοντες τῶν πολιτῶν. ἐντυχόντες δὲ τῷ βασιλεῖ καὶ τὴν συγγένειαν ἀνανεωσάμενοι πάντα ποιήσειν ἔφασαν μετὰ προθυμίας ὡς ἂν συγγενεῖς ὄντες καὶ δῶρα προσεκόμισαν μεγαλοπρεπῆ. ὁ δὲ Ἀλέξανδρος ἀποδεξάμενος αὐτῶν τὴν εὔνοιαν καὶ τὰς πόλεις ἀποδείξας ἐλευθέρας προῆγεν ἐπὶ τὰ συνορίζοντα τῶν ἐθνῶν. καταλαβὼν δὲ τοὺς ὀνομαζομένους Ἀγαλασσεῖς ἠθροικότας πεζοὺς μὲν τετρακισμυρίους, ἱππεῖς δὲ τρισχιλίους, συνάψας αὐτοῖς μάχην καὶ νικήσας τοὺς μὲν πλείστους κατέκοψεν, τοὺς δὲ λοιποὺς συμφυγόντας εἰς τὰς πλησίον πόλεις ἐκπολιορκήσας ἐξηνδραποδίσατο. τῶν δὲ ἄλλων ἐγχωρίων συναθροισθέντων δισμυρίους μὲν καταφυγόντας εἰς πόλιν μεγάλην κατὰ κράτος εἷλε, τῶν δʼ Ἰνδῶν διαφραξάντων τοὺς στενωποὺς καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν οἰκιῶν μαχομένων εὐρώστως βιαζόμενος ἀπέβαλε τῶν Μακεδόνων οὐκ ὀλίγους. διὰ δὲ τὴν ὀργὴν ἐμπρήσας τὴν πόλιν συγκατέκαυσε τοὺς πλείστους· τῶν δʼ ἐγχωρίων τῶν ὑπολειπομένων εἰς τρισχιλίους συμφυγόντας εἰς τὴν ἀκρόπολιν καὶ μεθʼ ἱκετηριῶν δεηθέντας ἀπέλυσεν.
He himself embarked with his Friends, and sailed down the river toward the southern Ocean. The bulk of his army marched along the bank of the river, under the command of Craterus and Hephaestion. When they came to the junction of the Acesines and the Hydaspes, he disembarked his soldiers and led them against the people called Sibians. They say that these are the descendants of the soldiers who came with Heracles to the rock of Aornus and were unsuccessful in its siege, and then were settled in this spot by him. Alexander encamped beside a very fine city, and the leading notables of the citizens came out to see him. They were brought before the king, renewed their ties of kinship, and undertook to help him enthusiastically in every way, as being his relatives. They also brought him magnificent gifts. Alexander accepted their goodwill, declared their cities to be free, and marched on against the next tribes. He found that the Agalasseis, as they were called, were drawn up in battle formation. Their strength was forty thousand infantry and three thousand cavalry. He engaged them and, conquering, cut down most of them. Those who escaped into the neighbouring cities he besieged, captured, and sold as slaves. Other groups of natives had collected also. He took by storm a large city in which twenty thousand persons had taken refuge. The Indians barricaded the streets and fought stoutly from the houses, and he lost not a few Macedonians in pressing his victory home. This made him angry. He set fire to the city and burned up most of the inhabitants with it. The remaining natives to the number of three thousand had fled to the citadel, whence they appealed for mercy with suppliant branches. Alexander pardoned them.
§ 17.97
αὐτὸς δὲ πάλιν μετὰ τῶν φίλων ἐμβὰς εἰς τὰς ναῦς διὰ τοῦ ποταμοῦ τὸν πλοῦν ἐποιεῖτο μέχρι τῆς συμβολῆς τῶν προειρημένων ποταμῶν καὶ τοῦ Ἰνδοῦ. μεγάλων δὲ ῥείθρων εἰς ἕνα τόπον συρραττόντων ἴλιγγες πολλαὶ καὶ φοβεραὶ συνίσταντο καὶ τὰ σκάφη συστρέφουσαι διέφθειρον. τῆς δὲ τοῦ ῥεύματος βίας ὀξείας καὶ σφοδρᾶς οὔσης καὶ τῆς τῶν κυβερνητῶν τέχνης κατισχυομένης δύο μὲν μακραὶ ναῦς κατέδυσαν, τῶν δὲ ἄλλων πλοίων οὐκ ὀλίγα πρὸς τὴν γῆν ἐξέπεσε. τῆς δὲ ναυαρχίδος καταρράκτῃ μεγάλῳ περιπεσούσης ὁ βασιλεὺς εἰς τὸν ἔσχατον ἦλθε κίνδυνον. διὸ καὶ τοῦ θανάτου πρὸ ὀφθαλμῶν ὄντος ὁ μὲν Ἀλέξανδρος ἀποθέμενος τὴν ἐσθῆτα γυμνῷ τῷ σώματι τῆς ἐνδεχομένης ἀντείχετο βοηθείας, οἱ δὲ φίλοι παρενήχοντο, σπεύδοντες ὑποδέξασθαι περιτρεπομένης τῆς νεὼς τὸν βασιλέα. πολλῆς δὲ ταραχῆς περὶ τὴν ναῦν οὔσης καὶ τῶν μὲν ἀνδρῶν ἀντιταττομένων τῇ τοῦ ῥεύματος βίᾳ, τοῦ δὲ ποταμοῦ κατισχύοντος πᾶσαν ἀνθρωπίνην ἐπίνοιάν τε καὶ δύναμιν μόγις ὁ Ἀλέξανδρος μετὰ τῶν νεῶν εἰς τὴν γῆν ἐξέπεσεν. σωθεὶς δὲ παραδόξως τοῖς θεοῖς ἔθυσεν ὡς μεγίστους ἐκπεφευγὼς κινδύνους καὶ πρὸς ποταμὸν ὁμοίως Ἀχιλλεῖ διαγωνισάμενος.
Again he embarked with his Friends upon the ships and continued his voyage down the river until he came to the confluence of the rivers named above with the Indus. As these mighty streams flowed together, many dangerous eddies were created and these, making the ships collide with each other, caused much damage. The current was swift and violent and overcame the skill of the helmsmen. Two of the galleys were sunk and not a few of the other vessels ran aground. The flagship was swept into a great cataract and the king was brought into extreme danger. With death staring him in the face, Alexander flung off his clothing and leaping into the water naked saved himself as best he could. His Friends swam with him, concerned to help the king to safety now that his ship was foundering. Aboard the ship itself there was wild confusion. The crew struggled against the might of the water but the river was superior to all human skill and power. Nevertheless, Alexander and the ships with him got safely ashore with difficulty. Thus narrowly escaping, he sacrificed to the gods as having come through mortal danger, reflecting that he, like Achilles, had done battle with a river.
§ 17.98
μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα στρατεύσας ἐπὶ Συδράκας καὶ τοὺς ὀνομαζομένους Μαλλούς, ἔθνη πολυάνθρωπα καὶ μάχιμα, κατέλαβε τοὺς ἐγχωρίους ἠθροικότας πεζοὺς μὲν πλείους τῶν ὀκτακισμυρίων, ἱππεῖς δὲ μυρίους, ἅρματα δʼ ἑπτακόσια. οὗτοι πρὸ μὲν τῆς Ἀλεξάνδρου παρουσίας ἐπολέμουν ἀλλήλοις, ὡς δʼ ὁ βασιλεὺς ἤγγισε τῇ χώρᾳ, συνεφρόνησαν καὶ μυρίας παρθένους δόντες καὶ λαβόντες διὰ τῆς ἐπιγαμίας ταύτης διηλλάγησαν. οὐ μὴν συγκατέβησαν εἰς παράταξιν, ἀλλὰ πάλιν στασιάσαντες ὑπὲρ τῆς ἡγεμονίας εἰς τὰς σύνεγγυς πόλεις ἀπεχώρησαν. ὁ δʼ Ἀλέξανδρος τῇ πρώτῃ πόλει πλησιάσας ἐξ ἐφόδου διενοεῖτο πολιορκεῖν ταύτην. ἔνθα δὴ τῶν τερατοσκόπων τις Δημοφῶν ὄνομα προσελθὼν αὐτῷ διά τινων οἰωνῶν ἔφη προδηλοῦσθαι τῷ βασιλεῖ μέγαν κίνδυνον ἐκ τραύματος ἐσόμενον ἐν τῇ πολιορκίᾳ. διόπερ ἠξίου τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον ἀφεῖναι μὲν ταύτην τὴν πόλιν ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος, ἐφʼ ἑτέρας δὲ πράξεις ἐπιβάλλειν τὸν νοῦν. ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς τούτῳ μὲν ἐπέπληξεν ὡς ἐμποδίζοντι τὴν ἀρετὴν τῶν ἀγωνιζομένων, αὐτὸς δὲ διατάξας τὰ περὶ τὴν πολιορκίαν πρῶτος ἡγεῖτο πρὸς τὴν πόλιν, φιλοτιμούμενος αὐτὴν διὰ τῆς βίας χειρώσασθαι. τῶν δὲ μηχανικῶν ὀργάνων ὑστερούντων πρῶτος διακόψας πυλίδα καὶ παρεισπεσὼν εἰς τὴν πόλιν πολλοὺς μὲν κατέβαλε, τοὺς δὲ λοιποὺς τρεψάμενος συνεδίωξεν εἰς τὴν ἀκρόπολιν. τῶν δὲ Μακεδόνων περὶ τὴν τειχομαχίαν ἔτι διατριβόντων ἁρπάσας κλίμακα καὶ τοῖς τῆς ἄκρας τείχεσι προσερείσας καὶ τὴν πέλτην ὑπὲρ τῆς κεφαλῆς ἔχων προσανέβαινε. τῆς δὲ κατὰ τὴν ἐνέργειαν ὀξύτητος φθανούσης τοὺς προμαχομένους τῶν βαρβάρων ταχέως ἐπέβη τῷ τείχει. τῶν δʼ Ἰνδῶν εἰς χεῖρας μὲν ἐλθεῖν οὐ τολμώνων, ἐκ διαστήματος δὲ ἀκοντιζόντων καὶ τοξευόντων ὁ μὲν βασιλεὺς ὑπὸ τοῦ πλήθους τῶν βελῶν κατεπονεῖτο, οἱ δὲ Μακεδόνες δύο κλίμακας προσθέντες διὰ τούτων προσανέβαινον ἀθρόοι καὶ συντριβεισῶν ἀμφοτέρων ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν κατηνέχθησαν.
Next Alexander undertook a campaign against the Sydracae and the people known as Mallians, populous and warlike tribes. He found them mobilized in force, eighty thousand infantry, ten thousand cavalry, and seven hundred chariots. Before the arrival of Alexander they had been at war with each other; but as he approached, they patched up their quarrel and made peace, giving and receiving ten thousand young women to establish a friendly relationship through marriage. Even so they did not come out to fight together but fell into a dispute over the command and retired into the neighbouring cities. Alexander neared the first city and thought to take it by storm, but one of the seers, named Demophon, came to him and reported that there had been revealed to him by numerous portents a great danger which would come to the king from a wound in the course of the operation. He begged Alexander to leave that city alone for the present and to turn his mind to other activities. The king scolded him for dampening the enthusiasm of the soldiers, and then, disposing his army for the attack, led the way in person to the city, eager to reduce it by force. The engines of war were slow to come up, but he broke open a postern gate and was the first to burst into the city. He struck down many defenders and, driving the others before him, pursued them to the citadel. The Macedonians were still busy fighting along the wall. Alexander seized a ladder, leaned it against the walls of the citadel, and clambered up holding a light shield above his head. So quick was he to act that he reached the top of the wall before the defenders could forestall him. The Indians did not dare to come within his reach, but flung javelins and shot arrows at him from a distance. He was staggering under the weight of their blows when the Macedonians raised two ladders and swarmed up in a mass, but both broke and the soldiers tumbled back upon the ground.
§ 17.99
ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς ἐρημωθεὶς πάσης βοηθείας ἐτόλμησεν ἐπιτελέσαι πρᾶξιν παράδοξον καὶ μνήμης ἀξίαν. τὸ γὰρ ἀπὸ τοῦ τείχους ἀπελθεῖν ἄπρακτον πρὸς τοὺς ἰδίους ἀνάξιον κρίνας ὑπάρχειν τῆς ἰδίας εὐπραξίας καθήλατο μετὰ τῶν ὅπλων μόνος εἰς τὴν πόλιν. συνδραμόντων δʼ ἐπʼ αὐτὸν τῶν Ἰνδῶν ὑπέστη τεθαρρηκότως τὴν τῶν βαρβάρων ἐπιφοράν· προβαλλόμενος δʼ ἐκ τῶν δεξιῶν δένδρον τι παρʼ αὐτὸ τὸ τεῖχος ἐρριζωμένον, ἐκ δὲ τῶν εὐωνύμων αὐτὸ τὸ τεῖχος ἠμύνετο τοὺς Ἰνδούς, οὕτω τῷ θυμῷ παραστὰς ὡς ἄν τις βασιλεὺς τηλικούτων ἤδη ἀπειργασμένων ἀνδραγαθήσειε, τὴν ἐσχάτην τοῦ βίου καταστροφὴν εὐκλεεστάτην γενέσθαι φιλοτιμούμενος. πολλὰς μὲν γὰρ εἰς τὸ κράνος ἐλάμβανε πληγάς, οὐκ ὀλίγας δὲ εἰς τὴν πέλτην ἐδέχετο· τέλος δὲ τοξευθεὶς ὑπὸ τὸν μαστὸν ἔπεσεν εἰς γόνυ, κατισχυθεὶς ὑπὸ τῆς πληγῆς. εὐθὺ δʼ ὁ μὲν τοξεύσας Ἰνδὸς καταφρονήσας προσέδραμε καὶ καταφέροντος αὐτοῦ πληγὴν ὁ Ἀλέξανδρος ὑπέθηκε τῇ λαγόνι τὸ ξίφος καὶ καιρίου γενομένου τοῦ τραύματος ὁ μὲν βάρβαρος ἔπεσεν, ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς ἐπιλαβόμενος τοῦ πλησίον κλάδου καὶ διαναστὰς προεκαλεῖτο τῶν Ἰνδῶν τοὺς βουλομένους διαγωνίσασθαι. κατὰ δὲ τοῦτον τὸν χρόνον Πευκέστης, εἷς τῶν ὑπασπιστῶν, διʼ ἑτέρας κλίμακος προσαναβὰς πρῶτος ὑπερήσπισε τὸν βασιλέα· μετὰ δὲ τοῦτον ἕτεροι πλείους ἐπιφανέντες καὶ καταπληξάμενοι τοὺς βαρβάρους διέσωσαν τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον. τῆς δὲ πόλεως ἁλούσης κατὰ κράτος οἱ μὲν Μακεδόνες διὰ τὸν ὑπὲρ τοῦ βασιλέως θυμὸν πάντας τοὺς περιτυχόντας ἀνῄρουν καὶ τὴν πόλιν νεκρῶν ἐπλήρωσαν. ἐπὶ πολλὰς δὲ ἡμέρας τοῦ βασιλέως ἀσχοληθέντος περὶ τὴν θεραπείαν οἱ κατὰ τὴν Βακτριανὴν καὶ Σογδιανὴν κατοικισθέντες Ἕλληνες ἐκ πολλοῦ μὲν τὸν ἐν τοῖς βαρβάροις κατοικισμὸν χαλεπῶς ἔφερον, τότε δὲ φήμης προσπεσούσης αὐτοῖς ὅτι τρωθεὶς ὁ βασιλεὺς τετελεύτηκεν ἀπέστησαν ἀπὸ τῶν Μακεδόνων. ἀθροισθέντες δὲ εἰς τρισχιλίους, κατὰ τὴν εἰς οἶκον ἀνακομιδὴν πολλὰ πονήσαντες, ὕστερον ὑπὸ τῶν Μακεδόνων κατεκόπησαν μετὰ τὴν Ἀλεξάνδρου τελευτήν.
Thus the king was left alone, and boldly took a step which was as little expected as it is worthy of mention. It seemed to him out of keeping with his tradition of success to descend from the wall to his troops without accomplishing anything. Instead, he leapt down with his armour alone inside the city. As the Indians thronged about him, he withstood their attack undismayed. He protected himself on the right by a tree which grew close by the wall and on the left by the wall itself and kept the Indians off, displaying such courage as you would expect from a king who had his record of achievement. He was eager to make this, if it were the last feat of his life, a supremely glorious one. He took many blows upon the helmet, not a few upon the shield. At length he was struck by an arrow below the breast and fell upon one knee, overborne by the blow. Straightway the Indian who had shot him, thinking that he was helpless, ran up and struck at him; Alexander thrust his sword up into the man's side, inflicting a mortal wound. The Indian fell, and the king caught hold of a branch close by and getting on his feet, defied the Indians to come forward and fight with him. At this point Peucestes, one of the guards, who had mounted another ladder, was the first to cover the king with his shield. After him a good many appeared together, which frightened the natives and saved Alexander. The city was taken by storm. In a fury at the injury to their king, the Macedonians killed all whom they met and filled the city with corpses. For many days the king lay helpless under his treatment, and the Greeks who had been settled in Bactria and Sogdiana, who had long borne unhappily their sojourn among peoples of another race and now received word that the king had died of his wounds, revolted against the Macedonians. They formed a band of three thousand men and underwent great hardship on their homeward route. Later they were massacred by the Macedonians after Alexander's death.
§ 17.100
ὁ δὲ Ἀλέξανδρος διασωθεὶς ἐκ τοῦ τραύματος καὶ θύσας τοῖς θεοῖς σωτήρια μεγάλας ἑστιάσεις τῶν φίλων ἐποιεῖτο. παρὰ δὲ τὸν πότον ἴδιόν τι συνέβη γενέσθαι καὶ μνήμης ἄξιον. ἐν γὰρ τοῖς ἑταίροις παραληφθείς τις Μακεδών, ὄνομα Κόραγος, ῥώμῃ σώματος διαφέρων καὶ πολλάκις ἐν ταῖς μάχαις ἠνδραγαθηκώς, παροξυνθεὶς ὑπὸ τῆς μέθης προεκαλέσατο μονομαχῆσαι Διώξιππον τὸν Ἀθηναῖον, ἀθλητὴν ἄνδρα καὶ ταῖς ἐπιφανεστάταις νίκαις ἐστεφανωμένον. τῶν δὲ παρακεκλημένων ἐπὶ τὸν πότον, ὡς εἰκός, συνεπιλαβομένων τῆς φιλοτιμίας καὶ τοῦ μὲν Διωξίππου συγκαταθεμένου, τοῦ δὲ βασιλέως ἡμέραν τῆς μάχης τάξαντος, ὡς ὁ τῆς μονομαχίας χρόνος ἧκεν, πολλαὶ μυριάδες ἀνδρῶν συνήχθησαν ἐπὶ τὴν θέαν. καὶ τῶν μὲν Μακεδόνων ὁμοεθνῶν ὄντων τῷ Κοράγῳ καὶ τοῦ βασιλέως συμφιλοτιμουμένου, τῶν δὲ Ἑλλήνων τῷ Διωξίππῳ συναγωνιώντων προῆλθεν εἰς τὸν ἀγῶνα ὁ μὲν Μακεδὼν πολυτελέσιν ὅπλοις κεκοσμημένος, ὁ δʼ Ἀθηναῖος γυμνὸς ὑπαληλιμμένος, ἔχων ῥόπαλον σύμμετρον. ἀμφοτέρων δὲ τῇ τε τοῦ σώματος ῥώμῃ καὶ τῇ τῆς ἀλκῆς ὑπεροχῇ θαυμαζομένων οἱονεί τις θεομαχία μέλλουσα γίνεσθαι προσεδοκήθη· ὁ μὲν γὰρ Μακεδὼν διά τε τὴν φύσιν τοῦ σώματος καὶ τὴν λαμπρότητα τῶν ὅπλων μεγάλην ἐπιφέρων κατάπληξιν Ἄρει παρεμφερὴς ὑπελαμβάνετο, ὁ δὲ Διώξιππος ὑπερέχων τε τῇ ῥώμῃ καὶ διὰ τὴν ἐκ τῆς ἀθλήσεως μελέτην, ἔτι δὲ διὰ τὴν περὶ τὸ ῥόπαλον ἰδιότητα τὴν πρόσοψιν Ἡρακλεωτικὴν εἶχεν. ὡς δʼ ἐπῆγον ἀλλήλοις, ὁ μὲν Μακεδὼν ἐκ συμμέτρου διαστήματος λόγχην ἠκόντισεν, ὁ δʼ ἕτερος βραχὺ παρεγκλίνας τὴν ἐπιφερομένην πληγὴν ἐξένευσεν. εἶθʼ ὁ μὲν τὴν Μακεδονικὴν σάρισαν προβεβλημένος ἐπεπορεύετο, ὁ δʼ ἐγγίσαντος αὐτοῦ τῷ ῥοπάλῳ πατάξας τὴν σάρισαν ἀπέθραυσεν. ὁ δὲ δυσὶν ἐλαττώμασι περιπεσὼν ἐπὶ τὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ ξίφους μάχην κατήντησεν. μέλλοντος δʼ αὐτοῦ σπᾶσθαι τὴν μάχαιραν ἔφθασε προπηδήσας καὶ τῇ μὲν εὐωνύμῳ κατέλαβε τὴν ἕλκουσαν τὸ ξίφος χεῖρα, τῇ δʼ ἄλλῃ κινήσας ἐκ τῆς βάσεως τὸν ἀντίπαλον ὑπέσυρε τὰ σκέλη. ῥιφέντος δʼ ἐπὶ γῆν ἐπιβὰς ἐπὶ τὸν τράχηλον τῷ ποδὶ καὶ τὸ ῥόπαλον ἀνατεινάμενος ἀνέβλεψεν πρὸς τοὺς θεωμένους.
Alexander recovered from his wound, sacrificed to the gods, and held a great banquet for his Friends. In the course of the drinking a curious event occurred which is worth mention. Among the king's companions there was a Macedonian named Coragus, strong in body, who had distinguished himself many times in battle. His temper was sharpened by the drink, and he challenged to single combat Dioxippus the Athenian, an athlete who had won a crown in the foremost games. As you would expect, the guests at the banquet egged them on and Dioxippus accepted. The king set a day for the contest, and when the time came, many myriads of men gathered to see the spectacle. The Macedonians and Alexander backed Coragus because he was one of them, while the Greeks favoured Dioxippus. The two advanced to the field of honour, the Macedonian clad in his expensive armour but the Athenian naked, his body oiled, carrying a wellbalanced club. Both men were fine to look upon with their magnificent physiques and their ardour for combat. Everyone looked forward, as it were, to a battle of gods. By his carriage and the brilliance of his arms, the Macedonian inspired terror as if he were Ares, while Dioxippus excelled in sheer strength and condition; still more because of his club he bore a certain resemblance to Heracles. As they approached each other, the Macedonian flung his javelin from a proper distance, but the other inclined his body slightly and avoided its impact. Then the Macedonian poised his long lance and charged, but the Greek, when he came within reach, struck the spear with his club and shattered it. After these two defeats, Coragus was reduced to continuing the battle with his sword, but as he reached for it, the other leaped upon him and seized his swordhand with his left, while with his right the Greek upset the Macedonian's balance and made his lose his footing. As he fell to the earth, Dioxippus placed his foot upon his neck and, holding his club aloft, looked to the spectators.
§ 17.101
ἀναβοήσαντος δὲ τοῦ πλήθους διά τε τὸ παράδοξον καὶ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῆς ἀνδραγαθίας ὁ μὲν βασιλεὺς προσέταξεν ἀφεῖναι καὶ τὴν θέαν διαλύσας ἀπηλλάγη, δυσφορῶν ἐπὶ τῇ τοῦ Μακεδόνος ἥττῃ. ὁ δὲ Διώξιππος ἀφεὶς τὸν πεπτωκότα καὶ περιβόητον νίκην ἀπενεγκάμενος ἀπῄει ταινιούμενος ὑπὸ τῶν ὁμοφύλων, ὡς κοινὴν πᾶσι τοῖς Ἕλλησι παρεσχημένος εὐδοξίαν. οὐ μὴν ἡ τύχη γε εἴασεν ἐπὶ πολὺν χρόνον καυχήσασθαι τὸν ἄνδρα τῇ νίκῃ. ὅ τε γὰρ βασιλεὺς ἀλλοτριώτερον αἰεὶ διετέθη πρὸς αὐτόν, οἵ τε φίλοι τοῦ Ἀλεξάνδρου καὶ πάντες οἱ περὶ τὴν αὐλὴν Μακεδόνες, φθονοῦντες αὐτοῦ τῇ ἀρετῇ, ἔπεισαν μὲν τὸν ἐπὶ τῆς διακονίας τεταγμένον ὑποβαλεῖν ὑπὸ τὸ προσκεφάλαιον χρυσοῦν ποτήριον, αὐτοὶ δὲ κατὰ τὸν ἑξῆς πότον καταιτιασάμενοι κλοπὴν καὶ ποτήριον εὑρηκέναι προσποιηθέντες εἰς αἰσχύνην καὶ ἀδοξίαν ἤγαγον τὸν Διώξιππον. ὁ δὲ θεωρῶν τὴν ἐπʼ αὐτὸν συνδρομὴν τῶν Μακεδόνων τότε μὲν ἐξῆλθεν ἐκ τοῦ πότου, μετʼ ὀλίγον δὲ ἐπὶ τὴν ἰδίαν κατάλυσιν παραγενόμενος καὶ γράψας πρὸς τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον ἐπιστολὴν περὶ τῶν καθʼ αὑτοῦ μεμηχανημένων ταύτην μὲν ἐνετείλατο τοῖς ἰδίοις δοῦναι τῷ βασιλεῖ, αὑτὸν δʼ ἐκ τοῦ ζῆν μετέστησεν, ἀβούλως μὲν εἰς τὴν μονομαχίαν συγκαταβάς, πολὺ δʼ ἀφρονεστέραν τὴν τοῦ βίου καταστροφὴν ποιησάμενος. διὸ καὶ πολλοὶ τῶν καταμεμφομένων αὐτοῦ τὴν ἄνοιαν ἐπιπλήττοντες ἔφασαν χαλεπὸν εἶναι δύναμιν μὲν σώματος ἔχειν μεγάλην, νοῦν δὲ μικρόν. ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς ἀναγνοὺς τὴν ἐπιστολὴν χαλεπῶς μὲν ἤνεγκεν ἐπὶ τῇ τἀνδρὸς τελευτῇ καὶ πολλάκις ἐπεζήτησε τὴν ἀρετὴν αὐτοῦ καὶ παρόντι μὲν οὐ χρησάμενος, ἀπόντα δὲ ἐπιποθήσας ὅτε οὐδὲν ὄφελος ἔγνω τὴν καλοκἀγαθίαν τἀνδρὸς ἐκ τῆς τῶν διαβαλόντων κακίας.
The crowd was in an uproar because of the stunning quickness and superiority of the man's skill, and the king signed to let Coragus go, then broke up the gathering and left. He was plainly annoyed at the defeat of the Macedonian. Dioxippus released his fallen opponent, and left the field winner of a resounding victory and bedecked with ribands by his compatriots, as having brought a common glory to all Greeks. Fortune, however, did not allow him to boast of his victory for long. The king continued more and more hostile to him, and Alexander's friends and all the other Macedonians about the court, jealous of the accomplishment, persuaded one of the butlers to secrete a golden cup under his pillow; then in the course of the next symposium they accused him of theft, and pretending to find the cup, placed Dioxippus in a shameful and embarrassing position. He saw that the Macedonians were in league against him and left the banquet. After a little he came to his own quarters, wrote Alexander a letter about the trick that had been played on him, gave this to his servants to take to the king, and then took his own life. He had been illadvised to undertake the single combat, but he was much more foolish to make an end of himself in this way. Hence many of those who reviled him, mocking his folly, said that it was a hard fate to have great strength of body but little sense. The king read the letter and was very angry at the man's death. He often mourned his good qualities, and the man whom he had neglected when he was alive, he regretted when he was dead. After it was no longer of use, he discovered the excellence of Dioxippus by contrast with the vileness of his accusers.
§ 17.102
ὁ δʼ οὖν Ἀλέξανδρος τὴν μὲν στρατιὰν προσέταξεν παρὰ τὸν ποταμὸν ἀντιπαράγειν ταῖς ναυσίν, αὐτὸς δὲ τὸν διὰ τοῦ ποταμοῦ κατὰ τὸν Ὠκεανὸν πλοῦν ποιούμενος κατῆρεν εἰς τὴν χώραν τῶν ὀνομαζομένων Σαμβαστῶν. οὗτοι δὲ τῷ τε πλήθει τῶν ἀνδρῶν καὶ ταῖς ἀρεταῖς οὐδενὸς τῶν Ἰνδικῶν ἐθνῶν λείπονται· οἰκοῦντες δὲ πόλεις δημοκρατουμένας καὶ τὴν ἔφοδον τῶν Μακεδόνων πυνθανόμενοι στρατιώτας ἤθροισαν πεζοὺς μὲν ἑξακισμυρίους, ἱππεῖς δὲ ἑξακισχιλίους, ἅρματα δὲ πεντακόσια. τοῦ δὲ στόλου προσπλέοντος τῷ ξένῳ καὶ παραδόξῳ τῆς παρουσίας πτοηθέντες καὶ τὴν διαβεβοημένην δόξαν τῶν Μακεδόνων καταπλαγέντες, ἔτι δὲ τῶν πρεσβυτέρων συμβουλευσάντων μὴ διαγωνίζεσθαι πεντήκοντα τοὺς ἐπιφανεστάτους πρεσβευτὰς ἐξαπέστειλαν, ἀξιοῦντες φιλανθρώπως αὐτοῖς προσενεχθῆναι. ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς ἐπαινέσας τοὺς ἄνδρας καὶ συγχωρήσας τὴν εἰρήνην δωρεαῖς τε μεγάλαις καὶ τιμαῖς ἡρωικαῖς ὑπὸ τῶν ἐγχωρίων ἐτιμήθη. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τοὺς παρὰ τὸν ποταμὸν ἐξ ἀμφοτέρων τῶν μερῶν κατοικοῦντας, ὀνομαζομένους δὲ Σόδρας καὶ Μασσανούς, προσηγάγετο. περὶ δὲ τούτους τοὺς τόπους ἔκτισε πόλιν Ἀλεξάνδρειαν κατὰ τὸν ποταμόν, μυρίους καταλέξας οἰκήτορας. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα εἰς τὴν Μουσικάνου τοῦ βασιλέως χώραν καταντήσας τόν τε δυνάστην ὑποχείριον λαβὼν ἀπέκτεινε καὶ τὸ ἔθνος ὑποχείριον ἐποίησεν. ἑξῆς δʼ εἰς τὴν Πορτικάνου δυναστείαν ἐμβαλὼν δύο μὲν ἐξ ἐφόδου πόλεις ἐξεπολιόρκησε καὶ τοῖς στρατιώταις ἐφεὶς διαρπάσαι τὰς οἰκίας ἐνέπρησεν, αὐτὸν δὲ τὸν Πορτικᾶνον εἰς χωρίον ὀχυρὸν καταφυγόντα χειρωσάμενος ἀπέκτεινε μαχόμενον. τὰς δὲ πόλεις ἁπάσας τὰς ὑπὸ τοῦτον τεταγμένας ἐκπολιορκήσας κατέσκαψε καὶ πολὺν φόβον τοῖς πλησιοχώροις ἐπέστησεν. ἑξῆς δὲ τήν τε Σάμβου βασιλείαν ἐξεπόρθησε καὶ τὰς πλείστας πόλεις ἐξανδραποδισάμενος καὶ κατασκάψας κατέκοψε τῶν βαρβάρων ὑπὲρ τὰς ὀκτὼ μυριάδας. τὸ μὲν οὖν ἔθνος τῶν ὀνομαζομένων Βραχμάνων τοιαύταις περιέπεσε συμφοραῖς· τῶν δὲ λοιπῶν μεθʼ ἱκετηριῶν δεηθέντων τοὺς αἰτιωτάτους κολάσας τοὺς λοιποὺς ἀπέλυσε τῶν ἐγκλημάτων. ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς Σάμβος μετὰ τριάκοντα ἐλεφάντων φυγὼν εἰς τὴν πέραν τοῦ Ἰνδοῦ χώραν διέφυγε τὸν κίνδυνον.
Alexander gave orders to the army to march beside the river and escort the ships, while he resumed his river voyage in the direction of the ocean and sailed down to the country of the people called Sambastae. These, in numbers of men and in good qualities, were inferior to none of the Indian peoples. They lived in cities governed in a democratic manner, and learning of the coming of the Macedonians assembled sixty thousand infantry, six thousand cavalry, and five hundred armoured chariots. When the fleet put in to them, they were amazed at the strange and unanticipated manner of its arrival and trembled at the great reputation of the Macedonians. Besides, their own men advised them not to risk a fight, so they sent out fifty of their leading citizens as envoys, begging Alexander to treat them kindly. The king praised them and agreed to a peace, and was showered with large gifts and heroic honours by them. Next Alexander received the submission of those who dwelt on either side of the river; they were called Sodrae and Massani. Here he built a city Alexandria by the river, and selected for it ten thousand inhabitants. Next he came to the country of King Musicanus; getting him into his hands he killed him and made the country subject. Then he invaded the kingdom of Porticanus, took two cities by storm, allowed the soldiers to plunder the houses, and then set them on fire. Porticanus himself escaped to a stronghold, but Alexander captured it and slew him, still fighting. Then he proceeded to take all of the other cities of his kingdom and destroyed them, and spread the terror of his name throughout the whole region. Next he ravaged the kingdom of Sambus. He enslaved the population of most of the cities and, after destroying the cities, killed more than eighty thousand of the natives. He inflicted a similar disaster upon the tribe of the Brahmins, as they are called; the survivors came supplicating him with branches in their hands, and punishing the most guilty he forgave the rest. King Sambus fled with thirty elephants into the country beyond the Indus and escaped.
§ 17.103
τῆς δʼ ἐσχάτης τῶν Βραχμάνων πόλεως, ἣν ὀνομάζουσιν Ἁρματήλια, πεφρονηματισμένης ἐπʼ ἀνδρείᾳ καὶ δυσχωρίαις ἀπέστειλεν ὀλίγους τῶν ψιλῶν, προστάξας ἐξάπτεσθαι τῶν πολεμίων καὶ ἐὰν ἐπεξίωσιν ὑποφεύγειν. οὗτοι μὲν οὖν ὄντες πεντακόσιοι καὶ προσμαχόμενοι τοῖς τείχεσι κατεφρονήθησαν. ἐπεξελθόντων δʼ ἐκ τῆς πόλεως στρατιωτῶν τρισχιλίων προσποιηθέντες καταπεπλῆχθαι πρὸς φυγὴν ὥρμησαν. ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς μετʼ ὀλίγον ὑποστὰς τοὺς διώκοντας τῶν βαρβάρων καὶ μάχην καρτερὰν συστησάμενος οὓς μὲν ἀπέκτεινε τῶν βαρβάρων, οὓς δʼ ἐζώγρησε. τῶν δὲ μετὰ τοῦ βασιλέως οὐκ ὀλίγοι τρωθέντες εἰς τοὺς ἐσχάτους ἦλθον κινδύνους· ὁ γὰρ τῶν βαρβάρων σίδηρος κεχρισμένος ἦν φαρμάκου θανασίμου δυνάμει, ᾗ πεποιθότες κατέβησαν εἰς τὴν διὰ τῆς μάχης κρίσιν. κατεσκεύαστο δὲ ἡ τοῦ φαρμάκου δύναμις ἔκ τινων ὄφεων θηρευομένων καὶ τούτων εἰς τὸν ἥλιον νεκρῶν τιθεμένων. τῆς δʼ ἐκ τοῦ καύματος θερμασίας τηκούσης τὴν τῆς σαρκὸς φύσιν ἱδρῶτας ἐκπίπτειν συνέβαινε καὶ διὰ τῆς νοτίδος συνεκκρίνεσθαι τὸν τῶν θηρίων ἰόν. διὸ καὶ τοῦ τρωθέντος εὐθὺς ἐνάρκα τὸ σῶμα καὶ μετʼ ὀλίγον ὀξεῖαι συνηκολούθουν ὀδύναι καὶ σπασμὸς καὶ τρόμος τὸν ὅλον ὄγκον κατεῖχεν, ὅ τε χρὼς ψυχρὸς καὶ πελιδνὸς ἐγίνετο καὶ διὰ τῶν ἐμέτων ἐξέπιπτεν χολή, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις ἀπὸ τοῦ τραύματος μέλας ἀφρὸς ἀπέρρει καὶ σηπεδὼν ἐγεννᾶτο. αὕτη δὲ νεμομένη ταχέως ἐπέτρεχε τοῖς καιρίοις τόποις τοῦ σώματος καὶ δεινοὺς θανάτους ἀπειργάζετο. διὸ συνέβαινε τὰ ἴσα τοῖς μεγάλα τραύματʼ εἰληφόσι καὶ τοῖς μικρὰν καὶ τὴν τυχοῦσαν ἀμυχὴν ἀναδεξαμένοις. τοιαύτῃ δʼ ἀπωλείᾳ τῶν τρωθέντων ἀπολλυμένων ἐπὶ μὲν τοῖς ἄλλοις οὐχ οὕτως ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐλυπήθη, ἐπὶ δὲ Πτολεμαίῳ τῷ ὕστερον μὲν βασιλεύσαντι, τότε δὲ ἀγαπωμένῳ μεγάλως ἠχθέσθη. ἴδιον γάρ τι καὶ παράδοξον συνέβη γενέσθαι περὶ τὸν Πτολεμαῖον, ὅ τινες εἰς θεῶν πρόνοιαν ἀνέπεμπον. ἀγαπώμενος γὰρ ὑφʼ ἁπάντων διά τε τὴν ἀρετὴν καὶ ὑπερβολὴν τῆς εἰς πάντας εὐεργεσίας, οἰκείας τοῦ φιλανθρώπου βοηθείας ἔτυχεν. ὁ γὰρ βασιλεὺς εἶδεν ὄψιν κατὰ τὸν ὕπνον, καθʼ ἣν ἔδοξεν ὁρᾶν δράκοντα βοτάνην ἐν τῷ στόματι κρατεῖν καὶ δεῖξαι ταύτης τὴν φύσιν καὶ τὴν δύναμιν καὶ τὸν τόπον ἐν ᾧ φύεται. ἐγερθεὶς οὖν ὁ Ἀλέξανδρος καὶ τὴν βοτάνην ἀναζητήσας καὶ τρίψας τό τε σῶμα τοῦ Πτολεμαίου κατέπλασε καὶ πιεῖν δοὺς ὑγιῆ κατέστησε. γνωσθείσης δὲ τῆς εὐχρηστίας καὶ οἱ λοιποὶ τυχόντες τῆς ὁμοίας θεραπείας διεσώθησαν. τὴν δὲ πόλιν τῶν Ἁρματηλίων, οὖσαν ὀχυρὰν καὶ μεγάλην, ἐπεβάλετο μὲν πολιορκεῖν, τῶν δʼ ἐγχωρίων ἀπαντησάντων μεθʼ ἱκετηριῶν καὶ παραδόντων ἑαυτοὺς ἀπέλυσεν αὐτοὺς τῆς τιμωρίας.
The last city of the Brahmins, called Harmatelia, was proud of the valour of its inhabitants and of the strength of its location. Thither he sent a small force of mobile troops with orders to engage the enemy and retire if they came out against them. These were five hundred in number, and were despised when they attacked the walls. Some three thousand soldiers issued out of the city, whereupon Alexander's task force pretended to be frightened and fled. Presently the king launched an unexpected attack against the pursuing natives and charging them furiously killed some of the natives, and captured others. A number of the king's forces were wounded, and these met a new and serious danger. The Brahmins had smeared their weapons with a drug of mortal effect; that was their source of confidence when they joined the issue of battle. The power of the drug was derived from certain snakes which were caught and killed and left in the sun. The heat melted the substance of the flesh and drops of moisture formed; in this moisture the poison of the animals was secreted. When a man was wounded, the body became numb immediately and then sharp pains followed, and convulsions and shivering shook the whole frame. The skin became cold and livid and bile appeared in the vomit, while a black froth was exuded from the wound and gangrene set in. As this spread quickly and overran to the vital parts of the body, it brought a horrible death to the victim. The same result occurred to those who had received large wounds and to those whose wounds were small, or even a mere scratch. So the wounded were dying in this fashion, and for the rest Alexander was not so much concerned, but he was deeply distressed for Ptolemy, the future king, who was much beloved by him. An interesting and quite extraordinary event occurred in the case of Ptolemy, which some attributed to divine Providence. He was loved by all because of his character and his kindnesses to all, and he obtained a succour appropriate to his good deeds. The king saw a vision in his sleep. It seemed to him that a snake appeared carrying a plant in its mouth, and showed him its nature and efficacy and the place where it grew. When Alexander awoke, he sought out the plant, and grinding it up plastered it on Ptolemy's body. He also prepared an infusion of the plant and gave Ptolemy a drink of it. This restored him to health. Now that the value of the remedy had been demonstrated, all the other wounded received the same therapy and became well. Then Alexander prepared to attack and capture the city of Harmatelia, which was large and strongly fortified, but the inhabitants came to him with suppliant branches and handed themselves over. He spared them any punishment.
§ 17.104
αὐτὸς δὲ καταπλεύσας εἰς τὸν Ὠκεανὸν μετὰ τῶν φίλων καὶ δύο νήσους ἐνταῦθα κατιδὼν ἔθυσεν ἐν αὐταῖς τοῖς θεοῖς μεγαλοπρεπῶς καὶ πολλὰ μὲν ἐκπώματα καὶ μεγάλα χρυσᾶ κατεπόντισε ταῖς σπονδαῖς συναφιείς, βωμοὺς δὲ Τηθύος καὶ Ὠκεανοῦ κατασκευάσας ὑπέλαβεν τετελευτηκέναι τὴν προκεχειρισμένην στρατείαν. ἀναζεύξας δʼ ἐντεῦθεν εἰς τοὐπίσω διὰ τοῦ ποταμοῦ παρέπλευσεν εἰς Πάταλα, πόλιν ἐπίσημον. αὕτη δὲ τὴν πολιτείαν εἶχε διατεταγμένην ὁμοίως τῇ Σπάρτῃ· ἀπὸ δύο γὰρ οἴκων ἐν αὐτῇ διεδέχοντο δύο βασιλεῖς, αἰεὶ τῶν κατὰ πόλεμον ἡγούμενοι πραττομένων, τὸ δὲ τῶν γερόντων ἀρχεῖον τῶν ὅλων προειστήκει. ὁ δʼ οὖν Ἀλέξανδρος τὰ πεπονηκότα τῶν σκαφῶν ἐνέπρησε, τὸν δὲ λοιπὸν στόλον παραδοὺς Νεάρχῳ καί τισιν ἄλλοις τῶν φίλων προσέταξε τὴν παραλίαν πᾶσαν παραπλεῦσαι διʼ Ὠκεανοῦ καὶ πάντα κατασκεψαμένους ἀπαντᾶν ἐπὶ τὰς ἐκβολὰς τοῦ Εὐφράτου ποταμοῦ. αὐτὸς δὲ ἀναλαβὼν τὴν δύναμιν ἐπῆλθε πολλὴν χώραν καὶ τοὺς μὲν ἐναντιουμένους κατεπολέμησε, τοὺς δὲ πειθαρχοῦντας φιλανθρώπως προσεδέχετο. τοὺς μὲν γὰρ Ἀβρίτας ὀνομαζομένους καὶ τοὺς τὴν Κεδρωσίαν οἰκοῦντας χωρὶς κινδύνων προσηγάγετο, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα πολλὴν μὲν ἄνυδρον, οὐκ ὀλίγην δὲ ἔρημον διελθὼν ἐπὶ τὰ Ὠρείτιδος ὅρια κατήντησεν. εἰς τρία δὲ μέρη τὴν δύναμιν διελόμενος τοῦ μὲν πρώτου μέρους ἀπέδειξεν ἡγεμόνα Πτολεμαῖον, τοῦ δὲ δευτέρου Λεοννάτον, καὶ τὴν μὲν παραθαλαττίαν λεηλατεῖν προσέταξε Πτολεμαῖον, τὴν μεσόγειον δὲ κατασῦραι Λεοννάτον,τὴν δʼ ὑπώρειαν καὶ τὴν ὀρεινὴν αὐτὸς ἐπόρθησεν. ἅμα δʼ ὑφʼ ἕνα καὶ τὸν αὐτὸν καιρὸν πολλῆς χώρας δῃουμένης ἔγεμε πᾶς τόπος πυρὸς καὶ διαρπαγῆς καὶ πολλῶν φόνων. διόπερ ταχέως οἱ μὲν στρατιῶται πολλῆς λείας ἐκυρίευσαν, τῶν δʼ ἀναιρεθέντων σωμάτων ἀριθμὸς ἐγένετο πολλῶν μυριάδων. τῇ δὲ τῶν ἐθνῶν τούτων ἀπωλείᾳ πάντες οἱ πλησιόχωροι περίφοβοι γενόμενοι προσεχώρησαν τῷ βασιλεῖ. ὁ δʼ Ἀλέξανδρος παρὰ θάλατταν ἐφιλοτιμήθη κτίσαι πόλιν καὶ λιμένα μὲν εὑρὼν ἄκλυστον, πλησίον δʼ αὐτοῦ τόπον εὔθετον ἔκτισεν ἐν αὐτῷ πόλιν Ἀλεξάνδρειαν.
Now he resumed his voyage down the river and sailed out into the Ocean with his Friends. There he discovered two islands and on them performed rich sacrifices. He threw many large cups of gold into the sea following the libations which he poured from them. He erected altars to Tethys and Oceanus and judged that his projected campaign was at an end. Setting sail from there, he proceeded back up the river to Patala, a fine city. It had a government organized very much like that of Sparta. Two kings descended from two houses inherited their office from their fathers. They had charge of all arrangements concerning war, while the council of elders was the principal administrative body. Alexander burned such of his boats as were damaged. The rest of his fleet he turned over to Nearchus and others of his Friends with orders to coast along through the Ocean and, having observed everything, to meet him at the mouth of the Euphrates River. He set his army in motion and traversed much territory and defeated his opponents, while those who submitted were received kindly. He brought over without fighting the so called Abritae and the tribesmen of Cedrosia. Then he marched through a long stretch of waterless and largely desert country as far as the frontiers of Oreitis. There he divided his force into three divisions and named as commander of the first, Ptolemy, and of the second, Leonnatus. He ordered Ptolemy to plunder the district by the sea and Leonnatus to lay waste the interior. At one and the same time much country was wasted, so that every spot was filled with fire and devastation and great slaughter. The soldiers soon became possessed of much booty, and the number of persons killed reached many myriads. By the destruction of these tribes, all their neighbours were terrified and submitted to the king. Alexander wanted to found a city by the sea. He found a sheltered harbour with suitable terrain near by, and established there a city called Alexandria.
§ 17.105
εἰς δὲ τὴν τῶν Ὠρειτῶν χώραν διὰ τῶν παρόδων παρεισελθὼν ταχέως ἅπασαν ὑπήκοον ἐποιήσατο. οἱ δὲ Ὠρεῖται τὰ μὲν ἄλλα παραπλήσια τοῖς Ἰνδοῖς ἔχουσιν, ἓν δὲ ἐξηλλαγμένον καὶ παντελῶς ἄπιστον. τῶν γὰρ τελευτησάντων παρʼ αὐτοῖς τὰ σώματα ἐκφέρουσιν οἱ συγγενεῖς γυμνοὶ λόγχας ἔχοντες, εἰς δὲ τοὺς ἐπὶ τῆς χώρας δρυμοὺς θέντες τὸ σῶμα τὸν μὲν περικείμενον τῷ νεκρῷ κόσμον περιαιροῦνται, τὸ δὲ σῶμα τοῦ τετελευτηκότος καταλείπουσι βορὰν τοῖς θηρίοις· τὰς δʼ ἐσθῆτας διελόμενοι θύουσι τοῖς κατὰ γῆν ἥρωσι καὶ τῶν οἰκείων ὑποδοχὴν ποιοῦνται. μετὰ δὲ ταῦθʼ ὁ Ἀλέξανδρος προῆγεν ἐπὶ τὴν Κεδρωσίαν, παρὰ θάλατταν τὴν πορείαν ποιούμενος, καὶ κατήντησεν εἰς ἔθνος ἄξενον καὶ παντελῶς θηριῶδες. τούς τε γὰρ ὄνυχας οἱ τῇδε κατοικοῦντες ἐκ γενετῆς αὔξουσι μέχρι γήρως καὶ τὸ τρίχωμα πεπιλωμένον ἐῶσι, τὸ δὲ χρῶμα διὰ τὴν τοῦ ἡλίου θερμότητα κατακεκαυμένον ἔχουσι καὶ δορὰς θηρίων περιβέβληνται. σιτοῦνται δὲ τὰ ἐκβαλλόμενα κήτη σαρκοφαγοῦντες καὶ τὰς οἰκήσεις κατασκευάζουσι τοὺς μὲν τοίχους ἀνοικοδομοῦντες, τὰς δʼ ὀροφὰς ἐκ τῶν τοῦ κήτους πλευρῶν, ἐξ ὧν ὀκτωκαιδεκαπήχεις δοκοὶ κατηρτίζοντο· ἀντὶ δὲ τῶν κεράμων ταῖς φολίσι τῶν ζῴων τὰς στέγας κατεκάλυπτον. ὁ δὲ Ἀλέξανδρος διελθὼν τοῦτο τὸ ἔθνος ἐπιπόνως διὰ σπάνιν τροφῆς ἐνέβαλεν εἰς χώραν ἔρημον καὶ πάντων τῶν εἰς τὸ ζῆν χρησίμων σπανίζουσαν. πολλῶν δὲ διὰ τὴν ἔνδειαν διαφθειρομένων ἥ τε δύναμις τῶν Μακεδόνων ἠθύμησεν καὶ ὁ Ἀλέξανδρος ἐνέπεσεν οὐκ εἰς τὴν τυχοῦσαν λύπην τε καὶ φροντίδα· δεινὸν γὰρ ἐφαίνετο τοὺς ἀρετῇ καὶ τοῖς ὅπλοις ἅπαντας ὑπερβαλομένους ἐν ἐρήμῳ χώρᾳ πάντων σπανίζοντας ἀκλεῶς ἀπόλλυσθαι. διόπερ εὐζώνους ἄνδρας ἐξέπεμψεν εἰς τὴν Παρθυαίαν καὶ Δραγγινὴν καὶ Ἀρίαν καὶ τὰς ἄλλας τὰς πλησιοχώρους τῇ ἐρήμῳ, προστάξας ταχέως ἀγαγεῖν ἐπὶ τὰς ἐμβολὰς τῆς Καρμανίας δρομάδας καμήλους καὶ τὰ νωτοφορεῖν εἰωθότα τῶν φορτίων, γεμίσαντας σίτου καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἐπιτηδείων. οὗτοι μὲν οὖν ὀξέως διανύσαντες πρὸς τοὺς σατράπας τούτων τῶν ἐπαρχιῶν ἐποίησαν παρακομισθῆναι πολλὴν ἀγορὰν ἐπὶ τὸν ὡρισμένον τόπον. ὁ δὲ Ἀλέξανδρος τὸ μὲν πρῶτον διὰ τὴν ἀβοήθητον ἔνδειαν πολλοὺς ἀπέβαλε τῶν στρατιωτῶν, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα κατὰ τὴν πορείαν ὄντος αὐτοῦ τῶν Ὠρειτῶν τινες ἐπιθέμενοι τοῖς περὶ τὸν Λεοννάτον τεταγμένοις καὶ συχνοὺς καταβαλόντες ἀπέφυγον εἰς τὴν ἑαυτῶν χώραν.
He advanced into country of the Oreitae through the passes and quickly brought it all into submission. These Oreitae have the same customs as the Indians in other respects, but have one part which is strange and quite unbelievable. The bodies of the dead are carried out by their relatives, who strip themselves naked and carry spears. They place the bodies in the thickets which exist in the country and remove the clothing from them, leaving them to be the prey of wild beasts. They divide up the clothing of the dead, sacrifice to the heroes of the nether world, and give a banquet to their friends. Next Alexander advanced into Cedrosia, marching near the sea, and encountered a people unfriendly and utterly brutish. Those who dwelt here let the nails of their fingers and toes grow from birth to old age. They also let their hair remain matted like felt. Their colour is burned black by the heat of the sun, and they clothe themselves in the skins of beasts. They subsist by eating the flesh of stranded whales. They build up the walls of their houses from . . . and construct roofs with whale's ribs, which furnish them rafters eighteen cubits in length. In the place of tiles, they covered their roofs with the scales of these beasts. Alexander passed through this territory with difficulty because of the shortage of provisions and entered a region which was desert, and lacking in everything which could be used to sustain life. Many died of hunger. The army of the Macedonians was disheartened, and Alexander sank into no ordinary grief and anxiety. It seemed a dreadful thing that they who had excelled all in fighting ability and in equipment for war should perish ingloriously from lack of food in a desert country. He determined, therefore, to send out swift messengers into Parthyaea and Drangine and Areia and the other areas bordering on the desert, ordering these to bring quickly to the gates of Carmania racing camels and other animals trained to carry burdens, loading them with food and other necessities. These messengers hurried to the satraps of these provinces and caused supplies to be transported in large quantities to the specified place. Alexander lost many of his soldiers, nevertheless, first because of shortages that were not relieved, and then at a later stage of this march, when some of the Oreitae attacked Leonnatus's division and inflicted severe losses, afterwards they escaped to their own territory.
§ 17.106
μόγις δὲ περάσας τὴν ἔρημον ἧκεν εἰς χώραν οἰκουμένην καὶ πάντων τῶν χρησίμων εὐποροῦσαν. ἐν ταύτῃ δὲ προσαναλαβὼν τὴν δύναμιν ἐφʼ ἑπτὰ μὲν ἡμέρας προῄει κεκοσμημένῃ τῇ δυνάμει πανηγυρικῶς καὶ Διονύσῳ κῶμον ἤγαγεν ἑορτάζων καὶ μέθῃ καὶ πότοις χρώμενος κατὰ τὴν ὁδοιπορίαν. ἀπὸ τούτων δὲ γενόμενος, ἀκούσας ὅτι πολλοὶ τῶν βιαίως καὶ ὑβριστικῶς κεχρημένων ταῖς ἐξουσίαις παρανενομήκασι, πολλοὺς τῶν τε σατραπῶν καὶ στρατηγῶν τιμωρίας ἠξίωσεν. τῆς δʼ εἰς τοὺς παρανενομηκότας ἡγεμόνας μισοπονηρίας διαβοηθείσης πολλοὶ τῶν στρατηγῶν συνειδότες ἑαυτοῖς ὕβρεις καὶ παρανομίας εἰς φόβον ἐνέπιπτον καὶ τινὲς μὲν μισθοφόρους ἔχοντες ἀφίσταντο τοῦ βασιλέως, τινὲς δὲ χρήματα συσκευασάμενοι δρασμοὺς ἐποιοῦντο. ταῦτα δὲ πυνθανόμενος ὁ βασιλεὺς πρὸς πάντας τοὺς κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν στρατηγοὺς καὶ σατράπας ἔγραψεν, ἐπειδὰν ἀναγνῶσι τὴν ἐπιστολήν, παραχρῆμα πάντας τοὺς μισθοφόρους ἀπολῦσαι. κατὰ δὲ τοῦτον τὸν καιρὸν τοῦ βασιλέως διατρίβοντος ἔν τινι παραθαλαττίῳ πόλει ὀνομαζομένῃ Σαλμοῦντι καὶ σκηνικοὺς ἀγῶνας ἐν τῷ θεάτρῳ ποιοῦντος κατέπλευσαν οἱ διʼ Ὠκεανοῦ πλεῖν τὴν παραθαλάττιον ἀπεσταλμένοι καὶ παραχρῆμα εἰς τὸ θέατρον παρελθόντες τόν τε Ἀλέξανδρον ἠσπάσαντο καὶ περὶ τῶν πεπραγμένων ἀπήγγειλαν. οἱ δὲ Μακεδόνες ἡσθέντες τῇ παρουσίᾳ τῶν ἀνδρῶν κρότῳ μεγάλῳ τὸ γεγονὸς ἐπεσημήναντο καὶ πᾶν τὸ θέατρον μεστὸν ἦν χαρᾶς ἀνυπερβλήτου. οἱ δὲ καταπεπλευκότες ἀπήγγελλον ἀμπώτεις τε καὶ πλήμας παραδόξους γίνεσθαι κατὰ τὸν Ὠκεανὸν καὶ κατὰ μὲν τὰς ἀμπώτεις παραδόξους νήσους τε ὁρᾶσθαι πολλὰς καὶ μεγάλας ἐπʼ ἄκρας τῆς παραθαλαττίου χώρας, κατὰ δὲ τὰς πλήμας ἅπαντας τοὺς προειρημένους τόπους κατακλύζεσθαι, πολλοῦ καὶ βιαίου ῥεύματος φερομένου πρὸς τὴν χέρσον, τῆς δʼ ἐπιφανείας ἀφρῷ πολλῷ λευκαινομένης. τὸ δὲ παραδοξότατον, κήτεσι πολλοῖς καὶ τὸ μέγεθος ἀπίστοις συγκεκυρηκέναι· ταῦτα δὲ φοβηθέντας αὐτοὺς τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἀπελπίσαι τὸ ζῆν ὡς αὐτίκα μάλα μετὰ τῶν σκαφῶν διαφθαρησομένους, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ἐξ ἁπάντων μιᾶς φωνῆς γινομένης καὶ διὰ τῶν ὅπλων πολλοῦ συντελουμένου ψόφου, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις τῶν σαλπίγγων ἐνιεμένων τῷ παραδόξῳ πτοηθῆναι τὰ θηρία καὶ δῦναι πρὸς βυθόν.
So with great difficulty Alexander passed through the desert and came into a well-populated country provided with everything needful. Here he rested his army, and for seven days proceeded with his troops in festive dress. He himself led a Dionysiac comus, feasting and drinking as he travelled. After this celebration was over, Alexander learned that many of his officials who had used their powers arbitrarily and selfishly had committed serious offences, and he pursued a number of his satraps and generals. As the word spread of his righteous indignation against his offending subordinates, many of the generals recalled acts of insolence or illegality which they had performed and became alarmed. Some who had mercenary troops revolted against the king's authority, and others got together sums of money and fled. As news of this was brought to the king, he wrote to all his generals and satraps in Asia, ordering them, as soon as they had read his letter, to disband all their mercenaries instantly. At this juncture the king was resting in a seaside city called Salmus and was holding a dramatic contest in the theatre, when into the harbour there sailed the fleet which had been ordered to return by way of the Ocean and to explore the coastal waters. The officer came immediately into the theatre, greeted also, and reported what they had done. The Macedonians were delighted at their arrival and welcomed their safe return with loud applause, so that the whole theatre was filled with the wildest rejoicing. The mariners told how they had encountered astonishing ebbings and flowings in the Ocean. In the former case, many large and unsuspected islands appeared along the coast, but in the latter all such places were flooded over as a copious and strong current bore in towards the land, while the surface of the water was white with much foam. But their most remarkable experience was an encounter with a large school of incredibly big whales. The sailors had been terrified and despaired of their lives, thinking that they would be dashed to pieces immediately, ships and all. But when they all shouted in unison, beating upon their shields to make a great din, and the trumpets were blow loudly in addition, the beasts were alarmed by the strange noise and plunged into the depths of the sea.
§ 17.107
ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς περὶ τούτων διακούσας τοῖς μὲν ἡγουμένοις τοῦ στόλου παρήγγειλεν ἐπὶ τὸν Εὐφράτην καταπλεῦσαι, αὐτὸς δὲ μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως πολλὴν χώραν διελθὼν συνῆψε τοῖς Σουσιανοῖς ὅροις. περὶ δὲ τοὺς καιροὺς τούτους Κάρανος ὁ Ἰνδός, ἐν φιλοσοφίᾳ μεγάλην ἔχων προκοπὴν καὶ τιμώμενος ὑπʼ Ἀλεξάνδρου, παράδοξον ἐποιήσατο τὴν τοῦ βίου καταστροφήν. βεβιωκὼς γὰρ ἔτη τρία πρὸς τοῖς ἑβδομήκοντα καὶ πάντα τὸν χρόνον ἀπείρατος γεγονὼς ἀρρωστίας ἔκρινεν ἑαυτὸν ἐκ τοῦ ζῆν μεταστῆσαι ὡς τὸ τέλειον τῆς εὐδαιμονίας παρά τε τῆς φύσεως καὶ τῆς τύχης ἀπειληφώς. καταπειραθεὶς δʼ ὑπʼ ἀρρωστίας καὶ καθʼ ἡμέραν αἰεὶ μᾶλλον βαρυνόμενος ἠξίωσε τὸν βασιλέα πυρὰν αὐτῷ μεγάλην κατασκευάσαι καὶ προσαναβάντος ἐπὶ ταύτην αὐτοῦ προστάξαι τοῖς ὑπηρέταις πῦρ ἐνεῖναι. ὁ δὲ Ἀλέξανδρος τὸ μὲν πρῶτον αὐτὸν ἀποτρέπειν ἐπειρᾶτο ταύτης τῆς ἐπιβολῆς, ὡς δʼ οὐχ ὑπήκουσεν, ὡμολόγησε συντελέσειν περὶ ὧν ἠξιωκὼς ἦν. διαγγελθείσης δὲ τῆς πράξεως ἡ μὲν πυρὰ κατεσκευάσθη, τὸ δὲ πλῆθος κατήντησεν ἐπὶ τὴν παράδοξον θέαν. ὁ δὲ Κάρανος ἀκολουθήσας τοῖς ἰδίοις δόγμασι τεθαρρηκότως ἐπέστη τῇ πυρᾷ καὶ μετὰ ταύτης καταφλεχθεὶς ἐτελεύτησεν. τῶν δὲ παρόντων οἱ μὲν μανίαν αὐτοῦ κατέγνωσαν, οἱ δὲ κενοδοξίαν ἐπὶ καρτερίᾳ, τινὲς δὲ τὴν εὐψυχίαν καὶ τὴν τοῦ θανάτου καταφρόνησιν ἐθαύμασαν. ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς τοῦτον μὲν ἔθαψε πολυτελῶς, αὐτὸς δὲ παρελθὼν εἰς Σοῦσα τὴν μὲν πρεσβυτέραν τῶν Δαρείου θυγατέρων Στάτειραν ἔγημεν, τὴν δὲ νεωτέραν Ἡφαιστίωνι συνῴκισε Δρυπῆτιν. ἔπεισε δὲ καὶ τοὺς ἐπιφανεστάτους τῶν φίλων γῆμαι καὶ συνῴκισεν αὐτοῖς τὰς εὐγενεστάτας παρθένους Περσίδας.
After this recital, the king ordered the officers of the fleet to sail on to the Euphrates, while he continued on a great distance with the army, and came to the frontier of Susiane. Here the Indian Caranus, who had advanced far in philosophy and was highly regarded by Alexander, put a remarkable end to his life. He had lived for seventy-three years without ever having experienced an illness, and now decided to remove himself from life, since he had received the utmost limit of happiness both from nature and from Fortune. He had been taken ill and each day becoming more exhausted he asked the king to erect for him a huge pyre and, after he had ascended, to order the attendants to ignite it. At first Alexander tried to dissuade him from this plan, but when he was unsuccessful, he agreed to do what was asked. After the project had become generally known, the pyre was erected, and everybody came to see the remarkable sight. True to his own creed, Caranus cheerfully mounted the pyre and perished, consumed along with it. Some of those who were present thought him mad, others vainglorious about his ability to bear pain, while others simply marvelled at his fortitude and contempt for death. The king gave Caranus a magnificent funeral and then proceeded to Susa, where he married Stateira, the elder daughter of Dareius, and gave her younger sister Drypetis as wife to Hephaestion. He prevailed upon the most prominent of his Friends to take wives also, and gave them in marriage the noblest Persian ladies.
§ 17.108
κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν καιρὸν ἧκον εἰς τὰ Σοῦσα τρισμύριοι τῶν Περσῶν, νέοι μὲν παντελῶς ταῖς ἡλικίαις, ἐπιλελεγμένοι δὲ ταῖς τῶν σωμάτων εὐπρεπείαις τε καὶ ῥώμαις. κατὰ δέ τινας ἐντολὰς τοῦ βασιλέως ἠθροισμένοι, χρόνον ἱκανὸν ἐπιστάτας καὶ διδασκάλους ἐσχηκότες τῶν πολεμικῶν ἔργων, πάντες δὲ Μακεδονικαῖς πανοπλίαις πολυτελῶς κεκοσμημένοι, παρεμβολὴν μὲν ἐποιήσαντο πρὸ τῆς πόλεως, ἐπιδειξάμενοι δὲ τῷ βασιλεῖ τὴν ἐν τοῖς ὅπλοις ἄσκησιν καὶ μελέτην ἐτιμήθησαν διαφερόντως. τῶν γὰρ Μακεδόνων πρὸς τὴν τοῦ Γάγγου ποταμοῦ διάβασιν ἀντειπόντων καὶ πολλάκις ἐν ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις καταβοώντων καὶ τὴν ἐξ Ἄμμωνος γένεσιν διασυρόντων τοῦτο τὸ σύστημα κατεσκεύασεν ἐκ μιᾶς μὲν ἡλικίας τῶν Περσῶν καὶ ὁμοίας συνεστηκός, δυνάμενον δὲ ἀντίταγμα γενέσθαι τῇ Μακεδονικῇ φάλαγγι. καὶ τὰ μὲν περὶ Ἀλέξανδρον ἐν τούτοις ἦν. Ἅρπαλος δὲ τῶν ἐν Βαβυλῶνι θησαυρῶν καὶ τῶν προσόδων τὴν φυλακὴν πεπιστευμένος, ἐπειδὴ τάχιστα ὁ βασιλεὺς εἰς τὴν Ἰνδικὴν ἐστράτευσεν, ἀπέγνω τὴν ἐπάνοδον αὐτοῦ, δοὺς δʼ ἑαυτὸν εἰς τρυφὴν καὶ πολλῆς χώρας ἀποδεδειγμένος σατράπης τὸ μὲν πρῶτον εἰς ὕβρεις γυναικῶν καὶ παρανόμους ἔρωτας βαρβάρων ἐξετράπη καὶ πολλὰ τῆς γάζης ἀκρατεστάταις ἡδοναῖς κατανάλωσεν, ἀπὸ δὲ τῆς Ἐρυθρᾶς θαλάσσης πολὺ διάστημα κομίζων ἰχθύων πλῆθος καὶ δίαιταν πολυδάπανον ἐνιστάμενος ἐβλασφημεῖτο. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτʼ ἐκ τῶν Ἀθηνῶν τὴν ἐπιφανεστάτην τῶν ἑταιρῶν ὄνομα Πυθονίκην μετεπέμψατο καὶ ζῶσάν τε αὐτὴν βασιλικαῖς δωρεαῖς ἐτίμησε καὶ μεταλλάξασαν ἔθαψε πολυτελῶς καὶ τάφον κατὰ τὴν Ἀττικὴν κατεσκεύασε πολυδάπανον. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ἄλλην ἑταίραν Ἀττικὴν ὄνομα Γλυκέραν μεταπεμψάμενος ἐν ὑπερβαλλούσῃ τρυφῇ καὶ πολυδαπάνῳ διαιτήματι διεξῆγεν· εἰς δὲ τὰ παράλογα τῆς τύχης καταφυγὰς ποριζόμενος εὐεργέτει τὸν τῶν Ἀθηναίων δῆμον. τοῦ δὲ Ἀλεξάνδρου μετὰ τὴν ἐξ Ἰνδῶν ἐπάνοδον πολλοὺς τῶν σατραπῶν κατηγορηθέντας ἀνελόντος φοβηθεὶς τὴν τιμωρίαν καὶ συσκευασάμενος ἀργυρίου μὲν τάλαντα πεντακισχίλια, μισθοφόρους δʼ ἀθροίσας ἑξακισχιλίους ἀπῆρεν ἐκ τῆς Ἀσίας καὶ κατέπλευσεν εἰς τὴν Ἀττικήν. οὐδενὸς δὲ αὐτῷ προσέχοντος τοὺς μὲν μισθοφόρους ἀπέλιπε περὶ Ταίναρον τῆς Λακωνικῆς, αὐτὸς δὲ μέρος τῶν χρημάτων ἀναλαβὼν ἱκέτης ἐγένετο τοῦ δήμου. ἐξαιτούμενος δὲ ὑπʼ Ἀντιπάτρου καὶ Ὀλυμπιάδος καὶ πολλὰ χρήματα διαδοὺς τοῖς ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ δημηγοροῦσι ῥήτορσι διέδρα καὶ κατῆρεν εἰς Ταίναρον πρὸς τοὺς μισθοφόρους. ἐκεῖθεν δὲ πλεύσας εἰς Κρήτην ὑπὸ Θίβρωνος ἑνὸς τῶν φίλων ἐδολοφονήθη. οἱ δʼ Ἀθηναῖοι τῶν τοῦ Ἁρπάλου χρημάτων λόγον ἀναζητοῦντες Δημοσθένην καὶ ἄλλους τινὰς τῶν ῥητόρων κατεδίκασαν ὡς εἰληφότας τῶν Ἁρπάλου χρημάτων.
Now there came to Susa at this time a body of thirty thousand Persians, all very young and selected for their bodily grace and strength. They had been enrolled in compliance with the king's orders and had been under supervisors and teachers in the arrest of war for as long as necessary. They were splendidly equipped with the full Macedonian armament and encamped before the city, where they were warmly commended by the king after demonstrating their skill and discipline in the use of their weapons. The Macedonians had not only mutinied when ordered to cross the Ganges River but were frequently unruly when called into an assembly and ridiculed Alexander's pretence that Ammon was his father. For these reasons Alexander had formed this unit from a single age-group of the Persians which was capable of serving as a counter-balance to the Macedonian phalanx. These were the concerns of Alexander. Harpalus had been given the custody of the treasury in Babylon and of the revenues which accrued to it, but as soon as the king had carried his campaign into India, he assumed that Alexander would never come back, and gave himself up to comfortable living. Although he had been charged as satrap with the administration of a great country, he first occupied himself with the abuse of women and illegitimate amours with the natives and squandered much of the treasure under his control on incontinent pleasure. He fetched all the long way from the Red Sea a great quantity of fish and introduced an extravagant way of life, so that he came under general criticism. Later, moreover, he sent and brought from Athens the most dazzling courtesan of the day, whose name was Pythonice. As long as she lived he gave her gifts worthy of a queen, and when she died, he gave her a magnificent funeral and erected over her grave a costly monument of the Attic type. After that, he brought out a second Attic courtesan named Glycera and kept her in exceeding luxury, providing her with a way of life which was fantastically expensive. At the same time, with an eye on the uncertainties of fortune, he established himself a place of refuge by benefactions to the Athenians. When Alexander did come back from India and put to death many of the satraps who had been charged with neglect of duty, Harpalus became alarmed at the punishment which might befall him. He packed up five thousand talents of silver, enrolled six thousand mercenaries, departed from Asia and sailed across to Attica. When no one there accepted him, he shipped his troops off to Taenarum in Laconia, and keeping some of the money with him threw himself on the mercy of the Athenians. Antipater and Olympias demanded his surrender, and although he had distributed large sums of money to those persons who spoke in his favour, he was compelled to slip away and repaired to Taenarum and his mercenaries. Subsequently he sailed over to Crete, where he was murdered by Thibron, one of his Friends. At Athens, an accounting was undertaken of the funds of Harpalus, and Demosthenes and certain other statesmen were convicted of having accepted money from this source.
§ 17.109
ὁ δὲ Ἀλέξανδρος τῶν Ὀλυμπίων ὄντων ἐκήρυξεν ἐν Ὀλυμπίᾳ τοὺς φυγάδας πάντας εἰς τὰς πατρίδας κατιέναι πλὴν τῶν ἱεροσύλων καὶ φονέων. αὐτὸς δʼ ἐπιλέξας τοὺς πρεσβυτάτους τῶν πολιτῶν ἀπέλυσε τῆς στρατείας, ὄντας ὡς μυρίους. πυνθανόμενος δὲ πολλοὺς αὐτῶν εἶναι καταδανείους ἐν ἡμέρᾳ μιᾷ τὰ δάνεια βραχὺ λείποντα τῶν μυρίων ταλάντων διέλυσεν. τῶν δʼ ἀπολειπομένων Μακεδόνων ἀπειθούντων καὶ κατὰ τὴν ἐκκλησίαν καταβοώντων παροξυνθεὶς κατηγόρησεν αὐτῶν τεθαρρηκότως. καταπληξάμενος δὲ τὸ πλῆθος ἐτόλμησεν αὐτὸς καταβὰς ἀπὸ τοῦ βήματος τοὺς αἰτιωτάτους τῆς ταραχῆς ταῖς ἰδίαις χερσὶ παραδοῦναι τοῖς ὑπηρέταις πρὸς τὴν τιμωρίαν. ἐπὶ πολὺ δὲ τῆς διαφορᾶς αὐξανομένης ὁ μὲν βασιλεὺς ἐκ τῶν ἐκλελεγμένων Περσῶν ἡγεμόνας κατέστησε καὶ τούτους προῆγεν ἐπὶ τὸ πρωτεῖον· οἱ δὲ Μακεδόνες μετανοήσαντες καὶ πολλὰ μετὰ δακρύων δεηθέντες μόγις ἔπεισαν τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον αὐτοῖς διαλλαγῆναι.
While the Olympic Games were being celebrated, Alexander had it proclaimed in Olympia that all exiles should return to their cities, except those who had been charged with sacrilege or murder. He selected the oldest of his soldiers who were Macedonians and released them from service; there were ten thousand of these. He learned that many of them were in debt, and in a single day he paid their obligations, which were little short of ten thousand talents. The Macedonians who remained with him were becoming insubordinate, and when he called them to an assembly, they interrupted him by shouting. In a fury, he denounced them without regard to his own personal risk; then, having cowed the throng, he leaped down from the platform, seized the ringleaders of the tumult with his own hands, and handed them over to his attendants for punishment. This made the soldiers' hostility even more acute, so that the king appointed generals from specially selected Persians and advanced them into positions of responsibility. At this, the Macedonians were repentant. Weeping, they urgently petitioned Alexander to forgive them, and with difficulty persuaded him to take them back into favour.
§ 17.110
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησιν Ἀντικλέους Ῥωμαῖοι κατέστησαν ὑπάτους Λεύκιον Κορνήλιον καὶ Κόιντον Ποπίλλιον. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Ἀλέξανδρος εἰς τὸν τῶν ἀπολελυμένων ἀριθμὸν ἀνεπλήρωσεν ἐκ τῶν Περσῶν καὶ χιλίους αὐτῶν εἰς τοὺς περὶ τὴν αὐλὴν ἔταξεν ὑπασπιστὰς καὶ τὸ σύνολον οὐχ ἥττους εἰς πίστιν τῶν Μακεδόνων ὑπέλαβεν. ἧκεν δὲ κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν καιρὸν καὶ Πευκέστης ἄγων Πέρσας τοξότας καὶ σφενδονήτας δισμυρίους· καταμίξας δὲ τούτους τοῖς προϋπάρχουσι στρατιώταις τῇ καινότητι τῆς καινοτομίας κατεσκεύασε τὴν ὅλην δύναμιν κεκραμένην καὶ ἁρμόζουσαν τῇ ἰδίᾳ προαιρέσει. τῶν δὲ Μακεδόνων ἐκ τῶν αἰχμαλωτίδων γεγεννηκότων υἱοὺς τὸν ἀριθμὸν τῶν παίδων ἀκριβῶς ἐσκέψατο, ὄντων δʼ αὐτῶν σχεδὸν μυρίων ἅπασι τὰς ἁρμοζούσας πρὸς τροφὴν ἐλευθέριον συντάξεις ἀπομερίσας τούτοις μὲν παιδευτὰς ἐπέστησε τοὺς διδάξοντας τὴν ἁρμόζουσαν παιδείαν, αὐτὸς δὲ ἀναλαβὼν τὴν δύναμιν προῆγεν ἐκ τῶν Σούσων καὶ διαβὰς τὸν Τίγριν ἐν ταῖς Κάραις καλουμέναις κώμαις κατεστρατοπέδευσεν. ἑξῆς δʼ ἐν ἡμέραις τέτταρσι τὴν Σιττακινὴν διανύσας ἧκεν εἰς τὰ καλούμενα Σάμβανα. ἐνταῦθα δὲ μείνας ἡμέρας ἑπτὰ καὶ προσαναλαβὼν τὴν δύναμιν τριταῖος εἰς τοὺς Κέλωνας προσαγορευομένους ἧκεν, ἐν ᾧ μέχρι νῦν διαμένει γένος Βοιώτιον, κατὰ μὲν τὴν Ξέρξου στρατείαν ἀνάστατον γεγονός, μεμνημένον δʼ ἔτι τῶν πατρίων νόμων· ὄντες γὰρ οὗτοι δίφωνοι τῇ μὲν ἑτέρᾳ διαλέκτῳ ἐξωμοιώθησαν τοῖς ἐγχωρίοις, τῇ δʼ ἑτέρᾳ πλείστας τῶν Ἑλληνικῶν λέξεων διετήρουν καὶ τῶν ἐπιτηδευμάτων ἔνια διεφύλαττον. τέλος δὲ προσμείνας ἡμέρας ἀνέζευξε καὶ παρεγκλίνας τὴν ὑποκειμένην ὁδὸν θέας ἕνεκεν ἦλθεν εἰς τὴν ὀνομαζομένην Βαγιστάνην, θεοπρεπεστάτην τε χώραν οὖσαν καὶ πλήρη καρπίμων δένδρων καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἁπάντων τῶν πρὸς ἀπόλαυσιν ἀνηκόντων. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα παρελθὼν εἴς τινα χώραν δυναμένην ἐκτρέφειν ἀγέλας παμπληθεῖς ἵππων, ἐν ᾗ τὸ παλαιὸν ἔφασαν ἑκκαίδεκα μυριάδας ἵππων γεγονέναι φορβάδων, κατὰ δὲ τὴν Ἀλεξάνδρου παρουσίαν ἓξ μόναι μυριάδες ἠριθμήθησαν, ἐνταῦθα διαμείνας ἡμέρας τριάκοντα ἑβδομαῖος διήνυσεν εἰς Ἐκβάτανα τῆς Μηδείας. ταύτης δέ φασι διακοσίων μὲν καὶ πεντήκοντα σταδίων τὴν περίμετρον ὑπάρχειν, βασίλεια δʼ ἔχειν τῆς ὅλης Μηδείας καὶ θησαυροὺς πολλῶν χρημάτων. ἔνθα δὴ χρόνον τινὰ τὴν δύναμιν ἀναλαβὼν ἀγῶνάς τε θυμελικοὺς ἐποίει καὶ πότους συνεχεῖς τῶν φίλων, ἐν οἷς Ἡφαιστίων ἀκαίροις μέθαις χρησάμενος καὶ περιπεσὼν ἀρρωστίᾳ τὸν βίον ἐξέλιπεν· ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς χαλεπῶς ἐνέγκας τὸ συμβὰν τὸ σῶμα τοῦ τετελευτηκότος Περδίκκᾳ παρέδωκεν εἰς Βαβυλῶνα κομίσαι, βουλόμενος ἐπιφανεστάτην αὐτοῦ ποιήσασθαι τὴν ταφήν.
In the archonship of Anticles at Athens, the Romans installed as consuls Lucius Cornelius and Quintus Popillius. In this year Alexander secured replacements from the Persians equal to the number of these soldiers whom he had released, and assigned a thousand of them to the bodyguards stationed at the court. In all respects he showed the same confidence in them as in the Macedonians. At this time Peucestes arrived with twenty thousand Persian bowmen and slingers. Alexander placed these in units with his other soldiers, and by the novelty of this innovation created a force blended and adjusted to his own idea. Since there were by now sons of the Macedonians born of captive women, he determined the exact number of these. There were about ten thousand, and he set aside for them revenues sufficient to provide them with an upbringing proper for freeborn children, and set over them teachers to give them their proper training. After this he marched with his army from Susa, crossed the Tigris, and encamped in the villages called Carae. Thence for four days he marched through Sittacene and came to the place called Sambana. There he remained seven days and, proceeding with the army, came on the third day to the Celones, as they are called. There dwells here down to our time a settlement of Boeotians who were moved in the time of Xerxes's campaign, but still have not forgotten their ancestral customs. They are bilingual and speak like the natives in the one language, while in the other they preserve most of the Greek vocabulary, and they maintain some Greek practices. After a stay of some days he resumed his march at length and diverging from the main road for the purpose of sight-seeing he entered the region called Bagistane, a magnificent country covered with fruit trees and rich in everything which makes for good living. Next he came to a land which could support enormous herds of horses, where of old they say that there were one hundred and sixty thousand horses grazing, but at the time of Alexander's visit there were counted only sixty thousand. After a stay of thirty days he resumed the march and on the seventh day came to Ecbatana of Media. They say that its circuit is two hundred and fifty stades. It contains the palace which is the capital of all Media and storehouses filled with great wealth. Here he refreshed his army for some time and staged a dramatic festival, accompanied by constant drinking parties among his friends. In the course of these, Hephaestion drank very much, fell ill, and died. The king was intensely grieved at this and entrusted his body to Perdiccas to conduct to Babylon, where he proposed to celebrate a magnificent funeral for him.
§ 17.111
ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις κατὰ τὴν Ἑλλάδα ταραχαὶ συνίσταντο καὶ πραγμάτων καινῶν κινήσεις, ἐξ ὧν ὁ Λαμιακὸς πόλεμος κληθεὶς ἔλαβε τὴν ἀρχήν, ἐκ τοιαύτης τινὸς αἰτίας. τοῦ βασιλέως προστάξαντος τοῖς σατράπαις ἅπασιν ἀπομίσθους ποιῆσαι τοὺς μισθοφόρους καὶ τούτων τὸ πρόσταγμα συντελεσάντων πολλοὶ τῆς στρατείας ἀπολελυμένοι ξένοι διέτρεχον καθʼ ὅλην τὴν Ἀσίαν πλανώμενοι καὶ τὰς ἀναγκαίας τροφὰς ἐκ τῶν προνομῶν ποριζόμενοι. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα πανταχόθεν διῆραν ἐπὶ Ταίναρον τῆς Λακωνικῆς. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τῶν Περσικῶν σατραπῶν καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἡγεμόνων οἱ περιλειφθέντες χρήματά τε καὶ στρατιώτας ἀθροίζοντες ἔπλεον ἐπὶ Ταίναρον καὶ κοινὴν δύναμιν ἤθροιζον. τὸ δὲ τελευταῖον Λεωσθένην τὸν Ἀθηναῖον, ἄνδρα ψυχῆς λαμπρότητι διάφορον καὶ μάλιστʼ ἀντικείμενον τοῖς Ἀλεξάνδρου πράγμασιν, εἵλοντο στρατηγὸν αὐτοκράτορα. οὗτος δὲ τῇ βουλῇ διαλεχθεὶς ἐν ἀπορρήτοις πεντήκοντα μὲν ἔλαβε τάλαντα πρὸς τὴν μισθοδοσίαν, ὅπλων δὲ πλῆθος ἱκανὸν εἰς τὰς κατεπειγούσας χρείας, πρὸς δὲ Αἰτωλοὺς ἀλλοτρίως ἔχοντας πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα περὶ συμμαχίας διεπρεσβεύσατο καὶ πάντα τὰ πρὸς τὸν πόλεμον παρεσκευάζετο. Λεωσθένης μὲν οὖν προορώμενος τὸ μέγεθος τοῦ πολέμου περὶ ταῦτα διέτριβεν. ὁ δʼ Ἀλέξανδρος τῶν Κοσσαίων ἀπειθούντων ἐστράτευσεν ἐπʼ αὐτοὺς εὐζώνῳ τῇ δυνάμει. τοῦτο δὲ τὸ ἔθνος ἀλκῇ διαφέρον κατοικεῖ μὲν τῆς Μηδείας τὴν ὀρεινήν, πεποιθὸς δὲ τῇ τῶν τόπων δυσχωρίᾳ καὶ ταῖς κατὰ πόλεμον ἀρεταῖς οὐδέποτε δεσπότην ἔπηλυν προσεδέδεκτο, ἀλλὰ καὶ κατὰ τὴν Περσῶν βασιλείαν διέμεινεν ἀνάλωτον καὶ τότε πεφρονηματισμένον οὐ κατεπλάγη τὴν τῶν Μακεδόνων ἀρετήν. ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς προκαταλαβόμενος τὰς παρόδους καὶ τῆς Κοσσαίας τὴν πλείστην πορθήσας καὶ κατὰ πάσας τὰς συμπλοκὰς προτερῶν πολλοὺς μὲν ἀπέκτεινε τῶν βαρβάρων, πολλαπλασίους δʼ ἐζώγρησεν. οἱ δὲ Κασσαῖοι πάντῃ νικώμενοι καὶ διὰ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν ἑαλωκότων χαλεπῶς φέροντες ἠναγκάσθησαν τῆς τῶν αἰχμαλώτων σωτηρίας τὴν δουλείαν ἀλλάξασθαι. διὸ καὶ τὰ καθʼ αὑτοὺς ἐπιτρέψαντες ἐτύγχανον εἰρήνης σὺν τῷ ποιεῖν τὸ προσταττόμενον τῷ βασιλεῖ. ὁ δὲ Ἀλέξανδρος ἐν ἡμέραις ταῖς πάσαις τεσσαράκοντα καταπολεμήσας τὸ ἔθνος καὶ πόλεις ἀξιολόγους ἐν ταῖς δυσχωρίαις κτίσας ἀνελάμβανε τὴν δύναμιν.
During this period Greece was the scene of disturbances and revolutionary movements from which arose the war called Lamian. The reason was this. The king had ordered all his satraps to dissolve their armies of mercenaries, and as they obeyed his instructions, all Asia was overrun with soldiers released from service and supporting themselves by plunder. Presently they began assembling from all directions at Taenarum in Laconia, whither came also such of the Persian satraps and generals as had survived, bringing their funds and their soldiers, so that they constituted a joint force. Ultimately they chose as supreme commander the Athenian Leosthenes, who was a man of unusually brilliant mind, and thoroughly opposed to the cause of Alexander. He conferred secretly with the council at Athens and was granted fifty talents to pay the troops and a stock of weapons sufficient to meet pressing needs. He sent off an embassy to the Aetolians, who were unfriendly to the king, looking to the establishment of an alliance with them, and otherwise made every preparation for war. So Leosthenes was occupied with such matters, being in no doubt about the seriousness of the proposed conflict, but Alexander launched a campaign with a mobile force against the Cossaeans, for they would not submit to him. This is a people outstanding in valour which occupied the mountains of Media; and relying upon the ruggedness of their country and their ability in war, they had never accepted a foreign master, but had remained unconquered throughout the whole period of the Persian kingdom, and now they were too proudly self-confident to be terrified of the Macedonian arms. The king, nevertheless, seized the routes of access into their country before they were aware of it, lay waste most of Cossaea, was superior in every engagement, and both slew many of the Cossaeans and captured many times more. So the Cossaeans were utterly defeated, and, distressed at the number of their captives, were constrained to buy their recovery at the price of national submission. They placed themselves in Alexander's hands and were granted peace on condition that they should do his bidding. In forty days at most, he had conquered this people. He founded strong cities at strategic points and rested his army.
§ 17.112
Ἀλέξανδρος καταπεπολεμηκὼς τὸ τῶν Κοσσαίων ἔθνος ἀνέζευξε μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως καὶ προῆγεν ἐπὶ Βαβυλῶνος, ἀεὶ δὲ κατὰ τὰς στρατοπεδείας διαλείπων καὶ τὴν δύναμιν ἀναλαμβάνων ἡσυχῇ προῆγεν. ἀπέχοντος δὲ αὐτοῦ τριακοσίους σταδίους τῆς Βαβυλῶνος οἱ Χαλδαῖοι καλούμενοι, μεγίστην μὲν δόξαν ἐν ἀστρολογίᾳ περιπεποιημένοι, διὰ δέ τινος αἰωνίου παρατηρήσεως προλέγειν εἰωθότες τὰ μέλλοντα, προεχειρίσαντο μὲν ἐξ ἑαυτῶν τοὺς πρεσβυτάτους καὶ μεγίστην ἐμπειρίαν ἔχοντας, διὰ δὲ τῆς τῶν ἀστέρων μαντείας γνόντες τὴν μέλλουσαν γίνεσθαι τοῦ βασιλέως τελευτὴν ἐν Βαβυλῶνι προσέταξαν μηνῦσαι τῷ βασιλεῖ τὸν κίνδυνον καὶ παρακελεύσασθαι μηδενὶ τρόπῳ τὴν εἰς τὴν πόλιν εἴσοδον ποιήσασθαι· δύνασθαι δὲ αὐτὸν ἐκφυγεῖν τὸν κίνδυνον, ἐὰν ἀναστήσῃ τὸν καθῃρημένον ὑπὸ Περσῶν τοῦ Βήλου τάφον καὶ τὴν βεβουλευμένην ὁδὸν ἐπιστήσας παρέλθῃ τὴν πόλιν. τῶν δὲ ἀποσταλέντων Χαλδαίων ὁ προκριθείς, ὄνομα Βελεφάντης, τῷ μὲν βασιλεῖ συνελθεῖν εἰς λόγους οὐκ ἐτόλμησε διὰ τὸν φόβον, Νεάρχῳ δʼ ἑνὶ τῶν Ἀλεξάνδρου φίλων κατʼ ἰδίαν ἐντυχὼν καὶ τὰ κατὰ μέρος ἀπαγγείλας ἠξίου δηλῶσαι τῷ βασιλεῖ. ὁ δʼ Ἀλέξανδροσἀκούσας παρὰ τοῦ Νεάρχου τὴν τῶν Χαλδαίων πρόρρησιν κατεπλάγη καὶ μᾶλλον ἀεὶ τὴν ἀγχίνοιαν τῶν ἀνδρῶν καὶ δόξαν ἀναλογιζόμενος ἐταράττετο τὴν ψυχήν. τέλος δὲ τοὺς πολλοὺς τῶν φίλων ἀποστείλας εἰς τὴν πόλιν αὐτὸς εἰς ἄλλην ἀτραπὸν μεταβαλὼν παρήλλαξε τὴν Βαβυλῶνα καὶ καταστρατοπεδεύσας ἀπὸ σταδίων διακοσίων ἡσυχίαν εἶχεν. πάντων δὲ θαυμαζόντων ἧκον πρὸς αὐτὸν ἄλλοι τε πλείους τῶν Ἑλλήνων καὶ τῶν φιλοσόφων οἱ περὶ τὸν Ἀνάξαρχον. οὗτοι δὲ μαθόντες τὴν αἰτίαν καὶ τοῖς ἐκ φιλοσοφίας χρησάμενοι λόγοις ἐνεργῶς τοσοῦτον μετέθηκαν αὐτὸν ὥστε καταφρονῆσαι μὲν πάσης μαντικῆς, μάλιστα δὲ τῆς παρὰ Χαλδαίοις προτιμωμένης. διόπερ ὁ βασιλεύς, ὡσπερεὶ τετρωμένος τὴν ψυχὴν καὶ τοῖς τῶν φιλοσόφων ὑγιασθεὶς λόγοις, εἰς τὴν Βαβυλῶνα μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως εἰσῆλθεν. τῶν δʼ ἐγχωρίων, καθάπερ καὶ πρότερον, φιλανθρώπως ὑποδεχομένων τοὺς στρατιώτας ἅπαντες ὥρμησαν πρὸς ἄνεσιν καὶ τρυφήν, πολλῆς τῶν ἐπιτηδείων παρεσκευασμένης δαψιλείας. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἐπράχθη κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν ἐνιαυτόν.
After the conclusion of his war with the Cossaeans, Alexander set his army in motion and marched towards Babylon in easy stages, interrupting the march frequently and resting the army. While he was still three hundred furlongs from the city, the scholars called Chaldaeans, who have gained a great reputation in astrology and are accustomed to predict future events by a method based on age-long observations, chose from their number the eldest and most experienced. By the configuration of the stars they had learned of the coming death of the king in Babylon, and they instructed their representatives to report to the king the danger which threatened. They told their envoys also to urge upon the king that he must under no circumstances make his entry into the city; that he could escape the danger if he re-erected the tomb of Belus which had been demolished by the Persians, but he must abandon his intended route and pass the city by. The leader of the Chaldaean envoys, whose name was Belephantes, was not bold enough to address the king directly but secured a private audience with Nearchus, one of Alexander's Friends, and told him everything in detail, requesting him to make it known to the king. When Alexander, accordingly, learned from Nearchus about the Chaldaeans' prophecy, he was alarmed and more and more disturbed, the more he reflected upon the ability and high reputation of these people. After some hesitation, he sent most of his Friends into Babylon, but altered his own route so as to avoid the city and set up his headquarters in a camp at a distance of two hundred furlongs. This act caused general astonishment and many of the Greeks came to see him, notably among the philosophers Anaxarchus. When they discovered the reason for his action, they plied him with arguments drawn from philosophy and changed him to the degree that he came to despise all prophetic arts, and especially that which was held in high regard by the Chaldaeans. It was as if the king had been wounded in his soul and then healed by the words of the philosophers, so that he now entered Babylon with his army. As on the previous occasion, the population received the troops hospitably, and all turned their attention to relaxation and pleasure, since everything necessary was available in profusion. These were the events of this year.
§ 17.113
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησιν Ἀγησίου Ῥωμαῖοι κατέστησαν ὑπάτους Γάιον Πόπλιον καὶ Παπίριον, Ὀλυμπιὰς δʼ ἤχθη τετάρτη πρὸς ταῖς ἑκατὸν καὶ δέκα, καθʼ ἣν ἐνίκα στάδιον Μικίνας Ῥόδιος. κατὰ δὲ τοῦτον τὸν χρόνον ἐξ ἁπάσης σχεδὸν τῆς οἰκουμένης ἧκον πρέσβεις, οἱ μὲν συγχαίροντες ἐπὶ τοῖς κατορθώμασιν, οἱ δὲ στεφανοῦντες, ἄλλοι δὲ φιλίας καὶ συμμαχίας τιθέμενοι, πολλοὶ δὲ δωρεὰς μεγαλοπρεπεῖς κομίζοντες, τινὲς δὲ ὑπὲρ τῶν ἐγκαλουμένων ἀπολογούμενοι. χωρὶς γὰρ τῶν ἀπὸ τῆς Ἀσίας ἐθνῶν καὶ πόλεων, ἔτι δὲ δυναστῶν πολλοὶ καὶ τῶν ἐκ τῆς Εὐρώπης καὶ Λιβύης κατήντησαν, ἐκ μὲν Λιβύης Καρχηδόνιοι καὶ Λιβυφοίνικες καὶ πάντες οἱ τὴν παράλιον οἰκοῦντες μέχρι τῶν Ἡρακλείων στηλῶν, ἐκ δὲ τῆς Εὐρώπης αἵ τε τῶν Ἑλλήνων πόλεις ἐξέπεμψαν καὶ Μακεδόνες, ἔτι δὲ Ἰλλυριοὶ καὶ τῶν περὶ τὸν Ἀδρίαν οἰκούντων οἱ πλείους, τά τε Θρᾴκια γένη καὶ τῶν πλησιοχώρων Γαλατῶν, ὧν τότε πρῶτον τὸ γένος ἐγνώσθη παρὰ τοῖς Ἕλλησιν. ὁ δὲ Ἀλέξανδρος ἀπογραφὴν λαβὼν τῶν πρέσβεων διέταξε τοῖς μὲν πρώτοις διδόναι τὰς ἀποκρίσεις καὶ τοῖς ἑξῆς ἅπασι. καὶ πρώτοις μὲν ἐχρημάτισε τοῖς ὑπὲρ τῶν ἱερῶν παραγεγενημένοις, δευτέροις δὲ τοῖς περὶ τῶν δωρεῶν ἥκουσιν, ἑξῆς δὲ τοῖς ἀμφισβητήσεις ἔχουσι πρὸς τοὺς ὁμόρους, τετάρτοις δὲ τοῖς περὶ τῶν ἰδιωτικῶν ἥκουσι, πέμπτοις δὲ τοῖς ἀντιλέγουσι περὶ τῆς καθόδου τῶν φυγάδων. τοῖς μὲν οὖν Ἠλείοις πρώτοις ἐχρημάτισεν, εἶτα Ἀμμωνιεῦσι καὶ Δελφοῖς καὶ Κορινθίοις, ἔτι δὲ Ἐπιδαυρίοις καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις, κατὰ τὴν δόξαν τῶν ἱερῶν προκρίνων τὰς ἐντεύξεις. πάσαις δὲ ταῖς πρεσβείαις φιλοτιμηθεὶς κεχαρισμένας δοῦναι τὰς ἀποκρίσεις εὐαρεστουμένας ἀπέλυσε κατὰ τὸ δυνατόν.
When Agesias was archon at Athens, the Romans installed as consuls Gaius Publius and Papirius, and the one hundred and fourteenth celebration of the Olympic Games took place, in which Micinas of Rhodes won the foot race. Now from practically all the inhabited world came envoys on various missions, some congratulating Alexander on his victories, some bringing him crowns, other concluding treaties of friendship and alliance, many bringing handsome presents, and some prepared to defend themselves against accusations. Apart from the tribes and cities as well as the local rulers of Asia, many of their counterparts in Europe and Libya put in an appearance; from Libya, Carthaginians and Libyphoenicians and all those who inhabit the coast as far as the Pillars of Heracles; from Europe, the Greek cities and the Macedonians also sent embassies, as well as the Illyrians and most of those who dwell about the Adriatic Sea, the Thracian peoples and even those of their neighbours the Gauls, whose people became known then first in the Greek world. Alexander drew up a list of the embassies and arranged a schedule of those to whom first he would give his reply and then the others in sequence. First he heard those who came on matters concerning religion; second, those who brought gifts; next, those who had disputes with their neighbours; fourth, those who had problems concerning themselves alone; and fifth, those who wished to present arguments against receiving back their exiles. He dealt with the Eleians first, then with the Ammonians and the Delphians and the Corinthians, as well as with the Epidaurians and the rest, receiving their petitions in the order of importance of the sanctuaries. In all cases he made every effort to deliver replies which would be gratifying, and sent everyone content so far as he was able.
§ 17.114
ἀπολύσας δὲ τὰς πρεσβείας περὶ τὴν ταφὴν ἐγίνετο τοῦ Ἡφαιστίωνος. τοσαύτην δὲ σπουδὴν ἐποιήσατο πρὸς τὴν τῆς ἐκφορᾶς ἐπιμέλειαν ὥστε μὴ μόνον τὰς προγεγενημένας παρʼ ἀνθρώποις ταφὰς ὑπερβαλέσθαι, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῖς ἐσομένοις μηδεμίαν ὑπέρθεσιν καταλιπεῖν. καὶ γὰρ ἠγάπησεν αὐτὸν μάλιστα τῶν ἐν στοργῇ φίλων δοξαζομένων καὶ μετὰ τὴν τελευτὴν ἐτίμησεν αὐτὸν ἀνυπερβλήτως. ζῶντα μὲν γὰρ προετίμησε πάντων τῶν φίλων, καίπερ Κρατεροῦ φιλίαν ἔχοντος ἐνάμιλλον. ἐπεὶ γάρ τις τῶν ἑταίρων εἶπεν μηδὲν καταδεέστερον Ἡφαιστίωνος τὸν Κρατερὸν στέργεσθαι, ἐπεφθέγξατο Κρατερὸν μὲν γὰρ εἶναι φιλοβασιλέα, Ἡφαιστίωνα δὲ φιλαλέξανδρον. τῆς δὲ Δαρείου μητρὸς κατὰ τὴν πρώτην ἔντευξιν διὰ τὴν ἄγνοιαν προσκυνούσης τὸν Ἡφαιστίωνα ὡς ὄντα βασιλέα καὶ μετὰ τὴν ἐπίγνωσιν διατρεπομένης εἶπεν, μηδὲν φροντίσῃς, ὦ μῆτερ· καὶ γὰρ καὶ οὗτος Ἀλέξανδρος. καθόλου γὰρ ὁ Ἡφαιστίων τοσαύτης ἐξουσίας καὶ φιλικῆς ἐκοινώνει παρρησίας ὡς τῆς Ὀλυμπιάδος ἀλλοτρίως ἐχούσης πρὸς αὐτὸν διὰ τὸν φθόνον καὶ κατὰ τὰς ἐπιστολὰς ἐπιτιμώσης αὐτῷ σκληρότερον καὶ ἀπειλούσης τά τε ἄλλα γράψαι πρὸς αὐτὴν ἐπιπληκτικῶς καὶ κατὰ τὴν ἐπιστολὴν ἐπὶ τελευτῆς θεῖναι ταῦτα. “καὶ πρὸς ἡμᾶς παύου διαβαλλομένη καὶ μὴ χαλέπαινε μηδὲ ἀπείλει· εἰ δὲ μή, μετρίως ἡμῖν μελήσει· οἶδας γὰρ ὅτι Ἀλέξανδρος κρείττων ἁπάντων.” ὁ δʼ οὖν βασιλεὺς τὰ πρὸς τὴν ἐκφορὰν παρασκευαζόμενος ταῖς μὲν πλησίον πόλεσι προσέταξε κατὰ δύναμιν συμβάλλεσθαι πρὸς τὸν τῆς ἐκφορᾶς κόσμον, πᾶσι δὲ τοῖς κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν οἰκοῦσι προσέταξεν τὸ παρὰ τοῖς Πέρσαις ἱερὸν πῦρ καλούμενον ἐπιμελῶς σβέσαι, μέχρι ἂν τελέσῃ τὴν ἐκφοράν· τοῦτο δὲ εἰώθασιν οἱ Πέρσαι ποιεῖν κατὰ τὰς τῶν βασιλέων τελευτάς. τὸ δὲ πλῆθος χαλεπὸν οἰωνὸν ἐτίθετο τὸ πρόσταγμα καὶ τὸ θεῖον ὑπελάμβανον προσημαίνειν τὸν τοῦ βασιλέως θάνατον. ἐγένετο δὲ καὶ ἄλλα σημεῖα παράδοξα προδηλοῦντα τὴν Ἀλεξάνδρου τελευτήν, περὶ ὧν μικρὸν ὕστερον ἐροῦμεν, ὅταν τὸν περὶ τῆς ἐκφορᾶς λόγον ἀποδῶμεν.
When the embassies had been dismissed, Alexander threw himself into preparations for the burial of Hephaestion. He showed such zeal about the funeral that it not only surpassed all those previously celebrated on earth but also left no possibility for anything greater in later ages. He had loved Hephaestion most of the group of Friends who were thought to have been high in his affections, and after his death showed him superlative honour. In his lifetime, he had preferred him to all, although Craterus had a rival claim to his love; so, for example, that when one of the companions said that Craterus was loved no less than Hephaestion, Alexander had answered that Craterus was king-loving, but Hephaestion was Alexander-loving. At their first meeting with Dareius's mother, when she from ignorance had bowed to Hephaestion supposing him to be the king and was distressed when this was called to her attention, Alexander had said: "Never mind, mother. For actually he too is Alexander." As a matter of fact, Hephaestion enjoyed so much power and freedom of speech based on this friendship that when Olympias was estranged from him because of jealousy and wrote sharp criticisms and threats against him in her letters, he felt strong enough to answer her reproachfully and ended his letter as follows: "Stop quarrelling with us and do not be angry or menacing. If you persist, we shall not be much disturbed. You know that Alexander means more to us than anything." As part of the preparations for the funeral, the king ordered the cities of the region to contribute to its splendour in accordance with their ability, and he proclaimed to all the peoples of Asia that they should sedulously quench what the Persians call the sacred fire, until such time as the funeral should be ended. This was the custom of the Persians when their kings died, and people thought that the order was an ill omen, and that heaven was foretelling the king's own death. There were also at this time other strange signs pointing to the same event, as we shall relate shortly, after we have finished the account of the funeral.
§ 17.115
τῶν γὰρ ἡγεμόνων καὶ φίλων ἕκαστος στοχαζόμενος τῆς τοῦ βασιλέως ἀρεσκείας κατεσκεύαζεν εἴδωλα διʼ ἐλέφαντος καὶ χρυσοῦ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν θαυμαζομένων παρʼ ἀνθρώποις, αὐτὸς δὲ τοὺς ἀρχιτέκτονας ἀθροίσας καὶ λεπτουργῶν πλῆθος τοῦ μὲν τείχους καθεῖλεν ἐπὶ δέκα σταδίους, τὴν δʼ ὀπτὴν πλίνθον ἀναλεξάμενος καὶ τὸν δεχόμενον τὴν πυρὰν τόπον ὁμαλὸν κατασκευάσας ᾠκοδόμησε τετράπλευρον πυράν, σταδιαίας οὔσης ἑκάστης πλευρᾶς. εἰς τριάκοντα δὲ δόμους διελόμενος τὸν τόπον καὶ καταστρώσας τὰς ὀροφὰς φοινίκων στελέχεσι τετράγωνον ἐποίησε πᾶν τὸ κατασκεύασμα. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα περιετίθει τῷ περιβόλῳ παντὶ κόσμον, οὗ τὴν μὲν κρηπῖδα χρυσαῖ πεντηρικαὶ πρῷραι συνεπλήρουν, οὖσαι τὸν ἀριθμὸν διακόσιαι τεσσαράκοντα, ἐπὶ δὲ τῶν ἐπωτίδων ἔχουσαι δύο μὲν τοξότας εἰς γόνυ κεκαθικότας τετραπήχεις, ἀνδριάντας δὲ πενταπήχεις καθωπλισμένους, τοὺς δὲ μεταξὺ τόπους φοινικίδες ἀνεπλήρουν πιληταί. ὑπεράνω δὲ τούτων τὴν δευτέραν ἐπανεῖχον χώραν δᾷδες πεντεκαιδεκαπήχεις, κατὰ μὲν τὴν λαβὴν ἔχουσαι χρυσοῦς στεφάνους, κατὰ δὲ τὴν ἐκφλόγωσιν ἀετοὺς διαπεπετακότας τὰς πτέρυγας καὶ κάτω νεύοντας, παρὰ δὲ τὰς βάσεις δράκοντας ἀφορῶντας τοὺς ἀετούς. κατὰ δὲ τὴν τρίτην περιφορὰν κατεσκεύαστο ζῴων παντοδαπῶν πλῆθος κυνηγουμένων. ἔπειτα ἡ μὲν τετάρτη χώρα κενταυρομαχίαν χρυσῆν εἶχεν, ἡ δὲ πέμπτη λέοντας καὶ ταύρους ἐναλλὰξ χρυσοῦς. τὸ δʼ ἀνώτερον μέρος ἐπεπλήρωτο Μακεδονικῶν καὶ βαρβαρικῶν ὅπλων, ὧν μὲν τὰς ἀνδραγαθίας, ὧν δὲ τὰς ἥττας σημαινόντων. ἐπὶ πᾶσι δὲ ἐφειστήκεισαν Σειρῆνες διάκοιλοι καὶ δυνάμεναι λεληθότως δέξασθαι τοὺς ἐν αὐταῖς ὄντας καὶ ᾄδοντας ἐπικήδιον θρῆνον τῷ τετελευτηκότι. τὸ δʼ ὕψος ἦν ὅλου τοῦ κατασκευάσματος πήχεις πλείους τῶν ἑκατὸν τριάκοντα. καθόλου δὲ τῶν τε ἡγεμόνων καὶ τῶν στρατιωτῶν ἁπάντων καὶ τῶν πρέσβεων, ἔτι δὲ τῶν ἐγχωρίων φιλοτιμηθέντων εἰς τὸν τῆς ἐκφορᾶς κόσμον φασὶ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν ἀναλωθέντων χρημάτων γεγονέναι πλείω τῶν μυρίων καὶ δισχιλίων ταλάντων. ἀκολούθως δὲ ταύτῃ τῇ μεγαλοπρεπείᾳ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων γενομένων κατὰ τὴν ἐκφορὰν τιμῶν τὸ τελευταῖον προσέταξεν ἅπασι θύειν Ἡφαιστίωνι θεῷ παρέδρῳ· καὶ γὰρ κατὰ τύχην ἧκεν εἷς τῶν φίλων Φίλιππος, χρησμὸν φέρων παρʼ Ἄμμωνος θύειν Ἡφαιστίωνι θεῷ. διόπερ γενόμενος περιχαρὴς ἐπὶ τῷ καὶ τὸν θεὸν κεκυρωκέναι τὴν αὐτοῦ γνώμην πρῶτος τὴν θυσίαν ἐπετέλεσεν καὶ τὸ πλῆθος λαμπρῶς ὑπεδέξατο, μύρια τὸν ἀριθμὸν θύσας ἱερεῖα παντοδαπά.
Each of the generals and Friends tried to meet the king's desires and made likenesses of Hephaestion in ivory and gold and other materials which men hold in high regard. Alexander collected artisans and an army of workmen and tore down the city wall to a distance of ten furlongs. He collected the baked tiles and levelled off the place which was to receive the pyre, and then constructed this square in shape, each side being a furlong in length. He divided up the area into thirty compartments and laying out the roofs upon the trunks of palm trees wrought the whole structure into a square shape. Then he decorated all the exterior walls. Upon the foundation course were golden prows of quinqueremes in close order, two hundred and forty in all. Upon the cat-heads each carried two kneeling archers four cubits in height, and (on the deck) armed male figures five cubits high, while the intervening spaces were occupied by red banners fashioned out of felt. Above these, on the second level, stood torches fifteen cubits high with golden wreaths about their handles. At their flaming ends perched eagles with outspread wings looking downward, while about their bases were serpents looking up at the eagles. On the third level were carved a multitude of wild animals being pursued by hunters. The fourth level carried a centauromachy rendered in gold, while the fifth showed lions and bulls alternating, also in gold. The next higher level was covered with Macedonian and Persian arms, testifying to the prowess of the one people and to the defeats of the other. On top of all stood Sirens, hollowed out and able to conceal within them persons who sang a lament in mourning for the dead. The total height of the pyre was more than one hundred and thirty cubits. All of the generals and the soldiers and the envoys and even the natives rivalled one another in contributing to the magnificence of the funeral, so, it is said, that the total expense came to over twelve thousand talents. In keeping with this magnificence and the other special marks of honour at the funeral, Alexander ended by decreeing that all should sacrifice to Hephaestion as god coadjutor. As a matter of fact, it happened just at this time that Philip, one of the Friends, came bearing a response from Ammon that Hephaestion should be worshipped as a god. Alexander was delighted that the god had ratified his own opinion, was himself the first to perform the sacrifice, and entertained everybody handsomely. The sacrifice consisted of ten thousand victims of all sorts.
§ 17.116
μετὰ δὲ τὴν ἐκφορὰν εἰς ἀνέσεις καὶ πανηγυρικὸν βίον ἐκτραπέντος τοῦ βασιλέως, δοκοῦντος ἰσχύειν τότε πλεῖστον καὶ μάλιστʼ εὐδαιμονεῖν, ἡ πεπρωμένη συνῄρει τὸν ὑπὸ τῆς φύσεως αὐτῷ συγκεχωρημένον τοῦ ζῆν χρόνον. εὐθὺ δὲ καὶ τὸ θεῖον ἐσήμαινε τὴν τελευτὴν αὐτοῦ, πολλῶν καὶ παραδόξων οἰωνῶν καὶ σημείων συντελουμένων. τοῦ γὰρ βασιλέως ἀλειφομένου καὶ τῆς βασιλικῆς ἐσθῆτος καὶ διαδήματος ἐπί τινος θρόνου τεθέντος τῶν ἐγχωρίων τις δεδεμένος ἐλύθη τὰς πέδας αὐτομάτως καὶ λαθὼν τοὺς φύλακας διῆλθε διὰ τῶν τῆς αὐλῆς θυρῶν ἀνεπικωλύτως. προσελθὼν δὲ τῷ θρόνῳ καὶ τὴν βασιλικὴν ἐνδυσάμενος ἐσθῆτα καὶ τὸ διάδημα περιθέμενος ἐκάθισεν ἐπὶ τὸν θρόνον καὶ τὴν ἡσυχίαν ἦγε. γνωσθείσης δὲ τῆς πράξεως ὁ βασιλεὺς καταπλαγεὶς τὸ παράδοξον προσῆλθε τῷ θρόνῳ καὶ χωρὶς καταπλήξεως ἡσυχῇ τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἀνέκρινε τίς ὢν καὶ τί βουλόμενος τοῦτο ἔπραξε. τοῦ δὲ εἰπόντος μηδὲν ἁπλῶς γινώσκειν τοῖς μάντεσι προσαναθέμενος περὶ τοῦ σημείου τοῦτον μὲν κατὰ τὴν ἐκείνων κρίσιν ἀπέκτεινεν, ὅπως τὰ σημαινόμενα δυσχερῆ εἰς ἐκεῖνον τρέπηται, αὐτὸς δὲ ἀναλαβὼν τὴν ἐσθῆτα καὶ θεοῖς ἀποτροπαίοις θύσας ἐν ἀγωνίᾳ καθειστήκει καὶ τῆς τῶν Χαλδαίων προρρήσεως ἐμνημόνευσε καὶ τοὺς μὲν συμπείσαντας φιλοσόφους παρελθεῖν εἰς τὴν Βαβυλῶνα κατεμέμφετο, τὴν δὲ τέχνην τῶν Χαλδαίων καὶ τὴν τῶν ἀνδρῶν ἀγχίνοιαν ἐθαύμαζε, καθόλου δὲ τοὺς ταῖς εὑρησιλογίαις κατασοφιζομένους τὴν δύναμιν τῆς πεπρωμένης ἐβλασφήμει. μετʼ ὀλίγον δὲ ἄλλο σημεῖον αὐτῷ περὶ τῆς βασιλείας τὸ δαιμόνιον ἐπέστησε. βουλομένου γὰρ αὐτοῦ θεάσασθαι τὴν περὶ τὴν Βαβυλῶνα λίμνην καὶ πλέοντος μετὰ τῶν φίλων ἔν τισιν ἀκάτοις ἐφʼ ἡμέρας μέν τινας ἀποσχισθείσης τῆς νεὼς ἀπὸ τῶν ἄλλων σκαφῶν ἐπλανήθη μόνος, ὥστε καὶ τὴν σωτηρίαν ἀπογνῶναι· ἔπειτα διά τινος αὐλῶνος στενοῦ καὶ συμπεπυκασμένου δένδρεσι διαπλέοντος καὶ τῶν μὲν ὑπερκειμένων, τοῦ δὲ διαδήματος ὑπὸ τούτων ἀρθέντος καὶ πάλιν εἰς τὴν λίμνην πεσόντος εἷς τῶν ἐρετῶν προσνηξάμενος καὶ βουλόμενος ἀσφαλῶς σῶσαι τὸ διάδημα προσέθετο τῇ κεφαλῇ καὶ προσενήξατο τῷ πλοίῳ. τρεῖς δὲ ἡμέρας καὶ τὰς ἴσας νύκτας διαπλανηθεὶς διεσώθη καὶ τὸ διάδημα περιθέμενος ἀνελπίστως πάλιν τοῖς μάντεσι προσανέφερε περὶ τῶν προσημαινομένων.
After the funeral, the king turned to amusements and festivals, but just when it seemed that he was at the peak of his power and good fortune, Fate cut off the time allowed him by nature to remain alive. Straightway heaven also began to foretell his death, and many strange portents and signs occurred. Once when the king was being rubbed with oil and the royal robe and diadem were lying on a chair, one of the natives who was kept in bonds was spontaneously freed from his fetters, escaped his guards' notice, and passed through the doors of the palace with no one hindering. He went to the royal chair, put on the royal dress and bound his head with the diadem, then seated himself upon the chair and remained quiet. As soon as the king learned of this, he was terrified at the odd event, but walked to the chair and without showing his agitation asked the man quietly who he was and what he meant by doing this. When he made no reply whatsoever, Alexander referred the portent to the seers for interpretation and put the man to death in accordance with their judgement, hoping that the trouble which was forecast by his act might light upon the man's own head. He picked up the clothing and sacrificed to the gods who avert evil, but continued to be seriously troubled. He recalled the prediction of the Chaldaeans and was angry with philosophers who had persuaded him to enter Babylon. He was impressed anew with the skill of the Chaldaeans and their insight, and generally railed at those who used specious reasoning to argue away the power of Fate. A little while later heaven sent him a second portent about his kingship. He had conceived the desire to see the great swamp of Babylonia and set sail with his friends in a number of skiffs. For some days his boat became separated from the others and he was lost and alone, fearing that he might never get out alive. As his craft was proceeding through a narrow channel where the reeds grew thickly and overhung the water, his diadem was caught and lifted from his head by one of them and then dropped into the swamp. One of the oarsmen swam after it and, wishing to return it safely, placed it on his head and so swam back to the boat. After three days and nights of wandering, Alexander found his way to safety just as he had again put on his diadem when this seemed beyond hope. Again he turned to the soothsayers for the meaning of all this.
§ 17.117
τούτων δὲ παρακελευομένων θυσίας ἐπιτελεῖν τοῖς θεοῖς μεγαλοπρεπεῖς μετὰ πάσης σπουδῆς παρεκλήθη πρός τινα τῶν φίλων Μήδιον τὸν Θετταλὸν ἐπὶ κῶμον ἐλθεῖν·κἀκεῖ πολὺν ἄκρατον ἐμφορηθεὶς ἐπὶ τελευτῆς Ἡρακλέους μέγα ποτήριον πληρώσας ἐξέπιεν. ἄφνω δὲ ὥσπερ ὑπό τινος πληγῆς ἰσχυρᾶς πεπληγμένος ἀνεστέναξε μέγα βοήσας καὶ ὑπὸ τῶν φίλων ἀπηλλάττετο χειραγωγούμενος. εὐθὺς δʼ οἱ μὲν περὶ τὴν θεραπείαν ἐκδεξάμενοι κατέκλιναν αὐτὸν καὶ προσήδρευον ἐπιμελῶς, τοῦ δὲ πάθους ἐπιτείνοντος καὶ τῶν ἰατρῶν συγκληθέντων βοηθῆσαι μὲν οὐδεὶς ἐδυνήθη, πολλοῖς δὲ πόνοις καὶ δειναῖς ἀλγηδόσι συσχεθείς, ἐπειδὴ τὸ ζῆν ἀπέγνω, περιελόμενος τὸν δακτύλιον ἔδωκε Περδίκκᾳ. τῶν δὲ φίλων ἐπερωτώντων, τίνι τὴν βασιλείαν ἀπολείπεις; εἶπεν, τῷ κρατίστῳ, καὶ προσεφθέγξατο, ταύτην τελευταίαν φωνὴν προέμενος, ὅτι μέγαν ἀγῶνα αὐτῷ ἐπιτάφιον συστήσονται πάντες οἱ πρωτεύοντες τῶν φίλων. οὗτος μὲν οὖν τὸν προειρημένον τρόπον ἐτελεύτησε βασιλεύσας ἔτη δώδεκα καὶ μῆνας ἑπτά, πράξεις δὲ μεγίστας κατεργασάμενος οὐ μόνον τῶν πρὸ αὐτοῦ βασιλευσάντων, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν ὕστερον ἐσομένων μέχρι τοῦ καθʼ ἡμᾶς βίου. ἐπεὶ δέ τινες τῶν συγγραφέων περὶ τῆς τελευτῆς τοῦ βασιλέως τούτου διαπεφωνήκασιν, ἀποφαινόμενοι διὰ φαρμάκου θανασίμου γεγονέναι τὸν θάνατον, ἀναγκαῖον ἡγούμεθα δεῖν μὴ παραλιπεῖν αὐτῶν τοὺς λόγους.
They bade him sacrifice to the gods on a grand scale and with all speed, but he was then called away by Medius, the Thessalian, one of his Friends, to take part in a comus. There he drank much unmixed wine in commemoration of the death of Heracles, and finally, filling a huge beaker, downed it at a gulp. Instantly he shrieked aloud as if smitten by a violent blow and was conducted by his Friends, who led him by the hand back to his apartments. His chamberlains put him to bed and attended him closely, but the pain increased and the physicians were summoned. No one was able to do anything helpful and Alexander continued in great discomfort and acute suffering. When he, at length, despaired of life, he took off his ring and handed it to Perdiccas. His Friends asked: "To whom do you leave the kingdom?" and he replied: "To the strongest." He added, and these were his last words, that all of his leading Friends would stage a vast contest in honour of his funeral. This was how he died after a reign of twelve years and seven months. He accomplished greater deeds than any, not only of the kings who had lived before him but also of those who were to come later down to our time. Since some historians disagree about the death of Alexander, and state that this occurred in consequence of a draught of poison, it seems necessary for us to mention their account also.
§ 17.118
φασὶ γὰρ Ἀντίπατρον ἐπὶ τῆς Εὐρώπης στρατηγὸν ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ καταλειφθέντα διενεχθῆναι πρὸς Ὀλυμπιάδα τὴν μητέρα τοῦ βασιλέως καὶ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον καταφρονεῖν αὐτῆς διὰ τὸ μὴ προσδέχεσθαι τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον τὰς κατʼ αὐτοῦ διαβολάς, ὕστερον δʼ αἰεὶ τῆς ἔχθρας αὐξομένης, τοῦ βασιλέως διὰ τὸ πρὸς τὸ θεῖον εὐσεβὲς πάντα βουλομένου τῇ μητρὶ χαρίζεσθαι, πολλὰς ἐμφάσεις διδόναι τῆς πρὸς αὐτὸν ἀλλοτριότητος· πρὸς δὲ τούτοις τῆς Παρμενίωνος καὶ Φιλώτου σφαγῆς φρίκην ἐμποιούσης τοῖς φίλοις διὰ τοῦ ἰδίου υἱοῦ τεταγμένου περὶ τὸν κύαθον δοῦναι πιεῖν θανάσιμον φάρμακον τῷ βασιλεῖ. μετὰ δὲ τὴν τελευτὴν πλεῖστον ἰσχύσαντος τῶν κατὰ τὴν Εὐρώπην καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα Κασάνδρου τοῦ υἱοῦ διαδεξαμένου τὴν βασιλείαν πολλοὺς συγγραφεῖς μὴ τολμᾶν γράψαι περὶ τῆς φαρμακείας. φανερὸν δὲ γεγονέναι Κάσανδρον διʼ αὐτῶν τῶν πράξεων ἀλλοτριώτατα διακείμενον τοῖς Ἀλεξάνδρου πράγμασι· τήν τε γὰρ Ὀλυμπιάδα φονεύσαντα ἄταφον ῥῖψαι καὶ τὰς ὑπʼ ἐκείνου κατασκαφείσας Θήβας ἀνοικίσαι μετὰ πολλῆς σπουδῆς. μετὰ δὲ τὴν τοῦ βασιλέως τελευτὴν Σισύγγαμβρις ἡ Δαρείου μήτηρ, πολλὰ καταθρηνήσασα τήν τε Ἀλεξάνδρου τελευτὴν καὶ τὴν ἑαυτῆς ἐρημίαν, ἐπὶ τῆς ἐσχάτης τοῦ βίου γραμμῆς πρὸς τροφὴν ἐγκαρτερήσασα πεμπταία κατέστρεψε τὸν βίον, ἐπιλύπως μέν, οὐκ ἀκλεῶς δὲ προεμένη τὸ ζῆν. ἡμεῖς δὲ ἐπὶ τὴν Ἀλεξάνδρου τελευτὴν παρόντες κατὰ τὴν ἐν ἀρχῇ τῆς βίβλου πρόθεσιν τὰς τῶν διαδεξαμένων πράξεις ἐν ταῖς ἑπομέναις βίβλοις πειρασόμεθα διεξιέναι.
They say that Antipater, who had been left by Alexander as viceroy in Europe, was at variance with the king's mother Olympias. At first he did not take her seriously because Alexander did not heed her complaints against him, but later, as their enmity kept growing and the king showed an anxiety to gratify his mother in everything out of piety, Antipater gave many indications of his disaffection. This was bad enough, but the murder of Parmenion and Philotas struck terror into Antipater as into all of Alexander's Friends, so by the hand of his own son, who was the king's wine-pourer, he administered poison to the king. After Alexander's death, Antipater held the supreme authority in Europe and then his son Casander took over the kingdom, so that many historians did not dare write about the drug. Casander, however, is plainly disclosed by his own actions as a bitter enemy to Alexander's policies. He murdered Olympias and threw out her body without burial, and with great enthusiasm restored Thebes, which had been destroyed by Alexander. After the king's death Sisyngambris, Dareius's mother, mourned his passing and her own bereavement, and coming to the limit of her life she refrained from food and died on the fifth day, abandoning life painfully but not ingloriously. Having reached the death of Alexander as we proposed to do at the beginning of the book, we shall try to narrate the actions of the Successors in the books which follow.
— Book 18 —
§ 18.arg
τάδε ἔνεστιν ἐν τῇ ὀκτωκαιδεκάτῃ τῶν Διοδώρου βύβλων. α. ἡ γενομένη ταραχὴ καὶ στάσις μετὰ τὴν Ἀλεξάνδρου τελευτὴν ἐν ταῖς δυνάμεσιν. β. Περδίκκου παράληψις τῆς κατὰ τὴν βασιλείαν ἐπιμελείας καὶ διαίρεσις τῶν σατραπειῶν. γ. ἀπόστασις τῶν ἐν ταῖς ἄνω σατραπείαις Ἑλλήνων καὶ ἀποστολὴ στρατηγοῦ Πίθωνος ἐπʼ αὐτούς. δ. ἀπαγγελία τῆς κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν θέσεως καὶ τῶν ἐν αὐτῇ σατραπειῶν. ε. ὡς Πίθων κατεπολέμησε τοὺς ἀποστάντας Ἕλληνας. ς. ὡς Ἀθηναῖοι πόλεμον ἐξήνεγκαν πρὸς Ἀντίπατρον τὸν ὀνομασθέντα Δαμιακόν. ζ. ὡς Λεωσθένης ἀναδειχθεὶς στρατηγὸς καὶ συστησάμενος δύναμιν ἐνίκησε μάχῃ τὸν Ἀντίπατρον καὶ συνέκλεισεν εἰς πόλιν Λάμιαν. η. Λεωσθένους τοῦ στρατηγοῦ τελευτὴ καὶ ἐπιτάφιος. θ. παράληψις τῶν σατραπειῶν ὑπὸ τῶν μεμερισμένων αὐτάς. ι. ἱππομαχία τῶν Ἑλλήνων πρὸς Λεοννάτον καὶ νίκη τῶν Ἑλλήνων. α. ὡς Ἀντίπατρος Λεοννάτου σφαγέντος ἐν τῇ μάχῃ παρέλαβε τὴν Λεοννάτου δύναμιν. β. ὡς Κλεῖτος ὁ τῶν Μακεδόνων ναύαρχος ἐνίκησε δυσὶ ναυμαχίαις τοὺς Ἕλληνας. γ. ὡς Περδίκκας Ἀριαράθην τὸν βασιλέα παρατάξει μεγάλῃ νικήσας ἐζώγρησε τὸν βασιλέα μετὰ καὶ πολλῶν ἄλλων. δ. ὡς Κρατερὸς βοηθήσας Ἀντιπάτρῳ ἐνίκησε τοὺς Ἕλληνας καὶ κατέλυσε τὸν Λαμιακὸν πόλεμον. ε. περὶ τῶν ὑπʼ Ἀντιπάτρου πραχθέντων πρὸς Ἀθηναίους καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους Ἕλληνας. ς. περὶ τῶν πραχθέντων ἐν τῷ κατὰ Κυρήνην πολέμῳ Πτολεμαίῳ. ζ. ὡς Περδίκκας ἐμβαλὼν εἰς τὴν Πισιδίαν Λαρανδεῖς μὲν ἐξηνδραποδίσατο, Ἰσαυρεῖς δὲ πολιορκήσας συνηνάγκασεν ἑαυτούς τε κατασφάξαι καὶ τὴν πόλιν ἐμπρῆσαι. η. Ἀντιπάτρου καὶ Κρατεροῦ στρατεία εἰς Αἰτωλίαν. θ. κατακομιδὴ τοῦ Ἀλεξάνδρου σώματος ἐκ Βαβυλῶνος εἰς Ἀλεξάνδρειαν καὶ τῆς κατὰ τὴν ἁρμάμαξαν πολυτελείας ἀπαγγελία. κ. ὡς Εὐμενὴς παρατάξει νικήσας Κρατερὸν κατέσφαξεν ἐν τῇ μάχῃ καὶ Νεοπτόλεμον. α. ὡς Περδίκκας εἰς Αἴγυπτον στρατεύσας ὑπὸ τῶν φίλων ἀνῃρέθη. β. ὡς τῶν βασιλέων ἐπιμελητὴς ᾑρέθη Πίθων καὶ μετʼ αὐτοῦ Ἀρριδαῖος, ὕστερον δʼ Ἀντίπατρος. γ. ὡς Ἀντίπατρος ἡγεμὼν κατασταθεὶς τῶν ὅλων ἐμερίσατο τὰς σατραπείας ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἔν Τριπαραδείσῳ τῆς Συρίας. δ. ὡς Ἀντίγονος ὑπʼ Ἀντιπάτρου κατασταθεὶς στρατηγὸς κατεπολέμησε τὸν Εὐμένη. ε. περὶ Εὐμενοῦς καὶ τῶν περὶ αὐτὸν γενομένων παραδόξων μεταβολῶν. ς. ὡς Πτολεμαῖος τήν τε Φοινίκην καὶ τὴν Κοίλην Συρίαν προσεκτήσατο. ζ. ὡς Ἀντίγονος Ἀλκέταν ἐνίκησεν ἐπιφανεῖ καρατάξει. η. Ἀντιπάτρου θάνατος καὶ τῆς βασιλικῆς δυνάμεως παράληψις ὑπὸ Πολυπέρχοντος. θ. ὡς Ἀντίγονος μετεωρισθεὶς ἐπί τε τῇ Ἀντιπάτρου τελευτῇ καὶ τοῖς ὑφʼ αὑτοῦ κατειργασμένοις ἀντεποιήσατο τῆς βασιλείας. λ. Εὐμενοῦς αὔξησις παράδοξος καὶ παράληψις τῆς τε τῶν βασιλέων ἐπιμελείας καὶ τῆς Μακεδονικῆς δυνάμεως. α. Κασάνδρου αὔξησις καὶ πόλεμος πρὸς Πολυπέρχοντα τὸν ἐπιμελητὴν τῶν βασιλέων καὶ κοινοπραγία πρὸς Ἀντίγονον. β. ὡς Εὐμενὴς ἐν Κιλικίᾳ τοὺς ἀργυράσπιδας παραλαβὼν εἰς τὰς ἄνω σατραπείας ἀπῆλθε καὶ δύναμιν ἀξιόλογον παρεσκευάσατο. γ. περὶ τῆς Εὐμενοῦς ἀγχινοίας καὶ στρατηγίας καὶ τῶν ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ πραχθέντων μέχρι τῆς τελευτῆς. δ. τὰ συμβάντα περὶ Κάσανδρον κατὰ τὴν Ἀττικὴν καὶ Νικάνορα τὸν φρουροῦντα τὴν Μουνυχίαν. ε. Φωκίωνος τοῦ χρηστοῦ προσαγορευθέντος θάνατος. ς. ὡς Πολυπέρχων Μεγαλοπολίτας πολιορκήσας καὶ πολλὰ παθὼν καὶ δράσας ἄπρακτος ἐπανῆλθεν. ζ. ὡς Κλεῖτος ὁ Πολυπέρχοντος ναύαρχος ἐνίκησε ναυμαχίᾳ Νικάνορα τὸν Κασάνδρου ναύαρχον. η. ὡς Ἀντίγονος ἐπιφανῶς νικήσας ναυμαχίᾳ τὸν Κλεῖτον ἐθαλαττοκράτησεν. θ. ὡς Εὐμενὴς ὑπὸ Σελεύκου περὶ τὴν Βαβυλῶνα συγκλεισθεὶς εἰς τοὺς ἐσχάτους κινδύνους ἐσώθη διὰ τὴν ἰδίαν ἀγχίνοιαν. μ. ὡς Πολυπέρχων καταφρονηθεὶς ὑπὸ τῶν Ἑλλήνων καὶ ταπεινωθεὶς διεπολέμει πρὸς Κάσανδρον.
—
§ 18.1
Πυθαγόρας ὁ Σάμιος καί τινες ἕτεροι τῶν παλαιῶν φυσικῶν ἀπεφήναντο τὰς ψυχὰς τῶν ἀνθρώπων ὑπάρχειν ἀθανάτους, ἀκολούθως δὲ τῷ δόγματι τούτῳ καὶ προγινώσκειν αὐτὰς τὰ μέλλοντα καθʼ ὃν ἂν καιρὸν ἐν τῇ τελευτῇ τὸν ἀπὸ τοῦ σώματος χωρισμὸν ποιῶνται. τούτοις δὲ ἔοικε συμφωνεῖν καὶ ὁ ποιητὴς Ὅμηρος, παρεισάγων τὸν Ἕκτορα κατὰ τὸν τῆς τελευτῆς καιρὸν προλέγοντα τῷ Ἀχιλλεῖ τὸν μέλλοντα συντόμως αὐτῷ συνακολουθήσειν θάνατον. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ κατὰ τοὺς νεωτέρους χρόνους ἐπὶ πολλῶν καταστρεφόντων τὸν βίον ἱστορεῖται γεγονέναι τὸ προειρημένον καὶ μάλιστα ἐπὶ τῆς Ἀλεξάνδρου τοῦ Μακεδόνος τελευτῆς. οὗτος γὰρ ἐν Βαβυλῶνι μεταλλάττων τὸν βίον, κατὰ τὴν ἐσχάτην ἀναπνοὴν ἐρωτηθεὶς ὑπὸ τῶν φίλων τίνι τὴν βασιλείαν ἀπολείπει, εἶπεν Τῷ ἀρίστῳ· προορῶμαι γὰρ ἐπιτάφιον μέγαν ἀγῶνα γενησόμενόν μοι τῶν φίλων. ὅπερ καὶ πρὸς ἀλήθειαν ἐξέβη· οἱ γὰρ ἐπιφανέστατοι τῶν φίλων ὑπὲρ τοῦ πρωτείου διενεχθέντες πολλοὺς πολέμους καὶ μεγάλους ἀγῶνας συνεστήσαντο μετὰ τὴν Ἀλεξάνδρου τελευτήν. τὰς δὲ συντελεσθείσας ὑπʼ αὐτῶν πράξεις ἡ βύβλος αὕτη περιέχουσα ποιήσει φανερὸν τὸ ῥηθὲν τοῖς φιλαναγνωστοῦσιν. ἡ μὲν γὰρ πρὸ ταύτης συντελεσθεῖσα βύβλος τὰς Ἀλεξάνδρου πράξεις ἁπάσας περιείληφε μέχρι τῆς τελευτῆς· αὕτη δὲ τὰ τοῖς διαδεξαμένοις τὴν τούτου βασιλείαν πεπραγμένα περιέχουσα τελευτὴν μὲν ἔχει τὸν προηγούμενον ἐνιαυτὸν τῆς Ἀγαθοκλέους τυραννίδος, περιείληφεν δʼ ἔτη ἑπτά.
Pythagoras of Samos and some others of the ancient philosophers declared that the souls of men are immortal, and also that, in accordance with this doctrine, souls foreknow the future at that moment in death when they are departing from the bodies. It seems that the poet Homer agreed with them, for he introduced Hector at the time of his decease foretelling to Achilles the death that was soon to come upon him. Likewise it is reported that even in more recent times what we have described above has happened in the case of many men as they were coming to the end of life, and in particular on the occasion of the death of Alexander of Macedon. When he was quitting life in Babylon and at his last breath was asked by his friends to whom he was leaving the kingdom, he said, "To the best man; for I foresee that a great combat of my friends will be my funeral games." And this actually happened; for after the death of Alexander the foremost of his friends quarrelled about the primacy and joined in many great combats. This Book, which contains an account of the deeds accomplished by these friends, will make the philosopher's saying clear to the interested reader. The preceding Book included all the acts of Alexander up to his death; this one, containing the deeds of those who succeeded to his kingdom, ends with the year before the tyranny of Agathocles and includes seven years.
§ 18.2
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος γὰρ Ἀθήνησι Κηφισοδώρου Ῥωμαῖοι μὲν κατέστησαν ὑπάτους Λεύκιον Φρούριον καὶ Δέκιον Ἰούνιον. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Ἀλεξάνδρου τοῦ βασιλέως τετελευτηκότος ἄπαιδος ἀναρχία καὶ πολλὴ στάσις ἐγένετο περὶ τῆς ἡγεμονίας. ἡ μὲν γὰρ τῶν πεζῶν φάλαγξ Ἀρριδαῖον τὸν Φιλίππου μὲν υἱόν, ψυχικοῖς δὲ πάθεσι συνεχόμενον ἀνιάτοις προῆγεν ἐπὶ τὴν βασιλείαν· οἱ δὲ μέγιστον ἔχοντες ἀξίωμα τῶν φίλων καὶ σωματοφυλάκων συνεδρεύσαντες καὶ προσλαβόμενοι τὸ τῶν ἱππέων τῶν ἑταίρων ὀνομαζομένων σύστημα τὸ μὲν πρῶτον διαγωνίζεσθαι τοῖς ὅπλοις πρὸς τὴν φάλαγγα διέγνωσαν καὶ πρέσβεις ἀπέστειλαν πρὸς τοὺς πεζοὺς ἐκ τῶν ἀξίωμα ἐχόντων ἀνδρῶν, ὧν ἦν ἐπιφανέστατος Μελέαγρος, ἀξιοῦντες πειθαρχεῖν αὐτοῖς. ὁ δὲ Μελέαγρος ὡς ἧκεν πρὸς τοὺς φαλαγγίτας, τῆς μὲν πρεσβείας οὐδεμίαν ἐποιήσατο μνείαν, τοὐναντίον δʼ ἐπαινέσας αὐτοὺς ἐπὶ τοῖς δεδογμένοις παρώξυνε κατὰ τῶν ἐναντιουμένων. διόπερ οἱ Μακεδόνες ἡγεμόνα καταστήσαντες ἑαυτῶν τὸν Μελέαγρον προῆγον πρὸς τοὺς ἀντιλέγοντας μετὰ τῶν ὅπλων. τῶν δὲ σωματοφυλάκων ἀποχωρησάντων ἐκ τῆς Βαβυλῶνος καὶ παρασκευαζομένων εἰς πόλεμον οἱ χαριέστατοι τῶν ἀνδρῶν ἔπεισαν αὐτοὺς ὁμονοῆσαι. εὐθὺ δὲ βασιλέα κατέστησαν τὸν Φιλίππου υἱὸν Ἀρριδαῖον καὶ μετωνόμασαν Φίλιππον, ἐπιμελητὴν δὲ τῆς βασιλείας Περδίκκαν, ᾧ καὶ ὁ βασιλεὺς τὸν δακτύλιον τελευτῶν δεδώκει, τοὺς δὲ ἀξιολογωτάτους τῶν φίλων καὶ σωματοφυλάκων παραλαβεῖν τὰς σατραπείας καὶ ὑπακούειν τῷ τε βασιλεῖ καὶ τῷ Περδίκκᾳ.
When Cephisodorus was archon at Athens, the Romans elected Lucius Frurius and Decius Junius consuls. During this term the throne was vacant, since Alexander the king had died without issue, and great contention arose over the leadership. The phalanx of the infantry was supporting Arrhidaeus, son of Philip, for the kingship, although he was afflicted with an incurable mental illness. The most influential of the Friends and of the Bodyguard, however, taking counsel together and joining to themselves the corps of horsemen known as the Companions, at first decided to take up arms against the phalanx and sent to the infantry envoys chosen from men of rank, of whom the most prominent was Meleager, demanding submission to their orders. Meleager, however, when he came to the men of the phalanx, made no mention of his mission but, on the contrary, praised them for the resolution that they had taken and sharpened their anger against their opponents. As a result the Macedonians made Meleager their leader and advanced under arms against those who disagreed with them; 4 but when the Bodyguard had withdrawn from Babylon and was making ready for war, the men most inclined toward conciliation persuaded the parties to come to an agreement. Straightway they made Arrhidaeus, son of Philip, their king and changed his name to Philip; Perdiccas, to whom the king had given his ring as he died, they made regent of the kingdom; and they decided that the most important of the Friends and of the Bodyguard should take over the satrapies and obey the king and Perdiccas.
§ 18.3
οὗτος δὲ παραλαβὼν τὴν τῶν ὅλων ἡγεμονίαν καὶ συνεδρεύσας μετὰ τῶν ἡγεμόνων Πτολεμαίῳ μὲν τῷ Λάγου τὴν Αἴγυπτον ἔδωκεν, Λαομέδοντι δὲ τῷ Μιτυληναίῳ Συρίαν, Φιλώτᾳ δὲ Κιλικίαν καὶ Πίθωνι μὲν Μηδίαν, Εὐμενεῖ δὲ Παφλαγονίαν καὶ Καππαδοκίαν καὶ πάσας τὰς συνοριζούσας ταύταις χώρας, ἃς Ἀλέξανδρος οὐκ ἐπῆλθεν ἐκκλεισθεὶς ὑπὸ τῶν καιρῶν, ὅτε διεπολέμει πρὸς Δαρεῖον, Ἀντιγόνῳ δὲ Παμφυλίαν καὶ Λυκίαν καὶ τὴν μεγάλην καλουμένην Φρυγίαν, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Κασάνδρῳ μὲν Καρίαν, Μελεάγρῳ δὲ Λυδίαν, Λεοννάτῳ δὲ τὴν ἐφʼ Ἑλλησπόντῳ Φρυγίαν. αὗται μὲν οὖν αἱ σατραπεῖαι τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον ἐμερίσθησαν. κατὰ δὲ τὴν Εὐρώπην Λυσιμάχῳ μὲν ἐδόθη Θρᾴκη καὶ τὰ συνορίζοντα τῶν ἐθνῶν παρὰ τὴν Ποντικὴν θάλασσαν, ἡ δὲ Μακεδονία καὶ τὰ πλησιόχωρα τῶν ἐθνῶν Ἀντιπάτρῳ προσωρίσθη. τὰς δὲ κατὰ τὴν Ασίαν παραλελειμμένας σατραπείας ἔδοξε μὴ κινεῖν, ἀλλʼ ἐᾶν ὑπὸ τοὺς αὐτοὺς ἡγεμόνας τεταγμένας· ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ Ταξίλην καὶ Πῶρον κυρίους εἶναι τῶν ἰδίων βασιλειῶν, καθάπερ αὐτὸς Ἀλέξανδρος ἦν τεταχώς. τούτων δὲ τὴν συνορίζουσαν σατραπείαν τοῖς περὶ Ταξίλην βασιλεῦσι συνεχώρησε· τὴν δὲ παρὰ τὸν Καύκασον κειμένην, ὀνομαζομένην δὲ Παροπανισαδῶν προσώρισεν Ὀξυάρτῃ τῷ Βακτριανῷ βασιλεῖ, οὗ τὴν θυγατέρα Ῥωξάνην γεγαμηκὼς ἦν Ἀλέξανδρος. καὶ Σιβυρτίῳ μὲν ἔδωκεν Ἀραχωσίαν καὶ Κεδρωσίαν, Στασάνορι δὲ τῷ Σολίῳ τὴν Ἀρίαν καὶ Δραγγινήν, Φιλίππῳ δὲ προσώρισε Βακτριανὴν καὶ Σογδιανήν, Φραταφέρνῃ δὲ Παρθυαίαν καὶ Ὑρκανίαν καὶ Πευκέστῃ μὲν Περσίδα, Τληπολέμῳ δὲ Καρμανίαν, Ἀτροπάτῃ δὲ Μηδίαν, Ἄρχωνι δὲ τὴν Βαβυλωνίαν, Ἀρκεσιλάῳ δὲ Μεσοποταμίαν. Σέλευκον δʼ ἔταξεν ἐπὶ τὴν ἱππαρχίαν τῶν ἑταίρων, οὖσαν ἐπιφανεστάτην· ταύτης γὰρ Ἡφαιστίων πρῶτος μὲν ἡγήσατο, μετὰ δὲ τοῦτον Περδίκκας, τρίτος δʼ ὁ προειρημένος Σέλευκος. ἐπὶ δὲ τὴν κατακομιδὴν τοῦ σώματος καὶ τὴν κατασκευὴν τῆς ἁρμαμάξης τῆς μελλούσης κομίζειν τὸ σῶμα τοῦ τετελευτηκότος βασιλέως εἰς Ἄμμωνα ἔταξαν Ἀρριδαῖον.
After Perdiccas had assumed the supreme command and had taken counsel with the chief men, he gave Egypt to Ptolemy, son of Lagus, Syria to Laomedon of Mitylene, Cilicia to Philotas, and Media to Pithon. To Eumenes he gave Paphlagonia and Cappadocia and all the lands bordering on these, which Alexander did not invade, having been prevented from doing so by the urgency of his affairs when he was finishing the war with Darius; to Antigonus he gave Pamphylia, Lycia, and what is called Great Phrygia; then to Asander, Caria; to Menander, Lydia; and to Leonnatus, Hellespontine Phrygia. These satrapies, then, were distributed in that way. In Europe, Thrace and the neighbouring tribes near the Pontic sea were given to Lysimachus, and Macedonia and the adjacent peoples were assigned to Antipater. Perdiccas, however, decided not to disturb the remaining satrapies in Asia but to permit them to remain under the same rulers; likewise he determined that Taxiles and Porus should be masters of their own kingdoms as Alexander himself had arranged. To Pithon he gave the satrapy next to Taxiles and the other kings; and the satrapy that lies along the Caucasus, called that of the Paropanisadae, he assigned to Oxyartes the Bactrian, whose daughter Roxane Alexander had married. He gave Arachosia and Cedrosia to Sibyrtius, Aria and Drangine to Stasanor of Soli, Bactriane and Sogdiane to Philip, Parthia and Hyrcania to Phrataphernes, Persia to Peucestes, Carmania to Tlepolemus, Media to Atropates, Babylonia to Archon, and Mesopotamia to Arcesilaus. He placed Seleucus in command of the cavalry of the Companions, a most distinguished office; for Hephaestion commanded them first, Perdiccas after him, and third the above-named Seleucus. The transportation of the body of the deceased king and the preparation of the vehicle that was to carry the body to Ammon they assigned to Arrhidaeus.
§ 18.4
κρατερὸς δὲ τῶν ἐπιφανεστάτων ἀνδρῶν ὑπάρχων ἔτυχε προαπεσταλμένος εἰς Κιλικίαν ὑπʼ Ἀλεξάνδρου μετὰ τῶν ἀπολυθέντων τῆς στρατείας, ὄντων μυρίων. ἅμα δʼ εἰληφὼς ἐντολὰς ἦν ἐγγράπτους, ἃς ἔδωκε μὲν ὁ βασιλεὺς αὐτῷ συντελέσαι, μεταλλάξαντος δʼ Ἀλεξάνδρου τοῖς διαδόχοις ἔδοξε μὴ συντελεῖν τὰ βεβουλευμένα. ὁ γὰρ Περδίκκας παραλαβὼν ἐν τοῖς ὑπομνήμασι τοῦ βασιλέως τήν τε συντέλειαν τῆς Ἡφαιστίωνος πυρᾶς, πολλῶν δεομένην χρημάτων, τάς τε λοιπὰς αὐτοῦ ἐπιβολὰς πολλὰς καὶ μεγάλας οὔσας καὶ δαπάνας ἀνυπερβλήτους ἐχούσας ἔκρινε συμφέρειν ἀκύρους ποιῆσαι. ἵνα δὲ μὴ δόξῃ διὰ τῆς ἰδίας γνώμης καθαιρεῖν τι τῆς Ἀλεξάνδρου δόξης ἐπὶ τὸ κοινὸν τῶν Μακεδόνων πλῆθος ἀνήνεγκε τὴν περὶ τούτων βουλήν. ἦν δὲ τῶν ὑπομνημάτων τὰ μέγιστα καὶ μνήμης ἄξια τάδε, χιλίας μὲν ναῦς μακρὰς μείζους τριήρων ναυπηγήσασθαι κατὰ τὴν Φοινίκην καὶ Συρίαν καὶ Κιλικίαν καὶ Κύπρον πρὸς τὴν στρατείαν τὴν ἐπὶ Καρχηδονίους καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους τοὺς παρὰ θάλατταν κατοικοῦντας τῆς τε Λιβύης καὶ Ἰβηρίας καὶ τῆς ὁμόρου χώρας παραθαλαττίου μέχρι Σικελίας, ὁδοποιῆσαι δὲ τὴν παραθαλάττιον τῆς Λιβύης μέχρι στηλῶν Ἡρακλείων, ἀκολούθως δὲ τῷ τηλικούτῳ στόλῳ λιμένας καὶ νεώρια κατασκευάσαι κατὰ τοὺς ἐπικαίρους τῶν τόπων, ναούς τε κατασκευάσαι πολυτελεῖς ἕξ, ἀπὸ ταλάντων χιλίων καὶ πεντακοσίων ἕκαστον, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις πόλεων συνοικισμοὺς καὶ σωμάτων μεταγωγὰς ἐκ τῆς Ἀσίας εἰς τὴν Εὐρώπην καὶ κατὰ τοὐναντίον ἐκ τῆς Εὐρώπης εἰς τὴν Ἀσίαν, ὅπως τὰς μεγίστας ἠπείρους ταῖς ἐπιγαμίαις καὶ ταῖς οἰκειώσεσιν εἰς κοινὴν ὁμόνοιαν καὶ συγγενικὴν φιλίαν καταστήσῃ. τοὺς δὲ προειρημένους ναοὺς ἔδει κατασκευασθῆναι ἐν Δήλῳ καὶ Δελφοῖς καὶ Δωδώνῃ, κατὰ δὲ τὴν Μακεδονίαν ἐν Δίῳ μὲν τοῦ Διός, ἐν Ἀμφιπόλει δὲ τῆς Ταυροπόλου, ἐν Κύρνῳ δὲ τῆς Ἀθηνᾶς· ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ ἐν Ἰλίῳ ταύτης τῆς θεᾶς κατασκευασθῆναι ναὸν ὑπερβολὴν ἑτέρῳ μὴ καταλείποντα. τοῦ δὲ πατρὸς Φιλίππου τάφον πυραμίδι παραπλήσιον μιᾷ τῇ μεγίστῃ κατὰ τὴν Αἴγυπτον, ἃς ἐν τοῖς ἑπτά τινες μεγίστοις ἔργοις καταριθμοῦσιν. ἀναγνωσθέντων δὲ τῶν ὑπομνημάτων οἱ Μακεδόνες, καίπερ ἀποδεδεγμένοι καλῶς τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον, ὅμως ὑπερόγκους καὶ δυσεφίκτους τὰς ἐπιβολὰς ὁρῶντες ἔκριναν μηδὲν τῶν εἰρημένων συντελεῖν. Περδίκκας δὲ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον τοὺς ταραχώδεις τῶν στρατιωτῶν καὶ μάλιστα ἀλλοτρίως ἔχοντας τὰ πρὸς αὐτὸν ἀπέκτεινεν, ὄντας τριάκοντα. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα καὶ Μελέαγρον ἐν τῇ στάσει καὶ πρεσβείᾳ προδότην γεγενημένον, ἐπιβαλόμενος οἰκείας διαβολὰς καὶ κατηγορίας, ὡς ἐπιβουλὴν κατʼ αὐτοῦ πεποιημένον ἐκόλασε. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ἐν ταῖς ἄνω σατραπείαις τῶν κατοικισθέντων Ἑλλήνων ἀποστάντων καὶ δύναμιν ἀξιόλογον συστησαμένων ἕνα τῶν ἐπιφανῶν ἀνδρῶν ἐξέπεμψε Πίθωνα, διαπολεμήσοντα πρὸς αὐτούς.
It happened that Craterus, who was one of the most prominent men, had previously been sent away by Alexander to Cilicia with those men who had been discharged from the army, ten thousand in number. At the same time he had received written instructions which the king had given him for execution; nevertheless, after the death of Alexander, it seemed best to the successors not to carry out these plans. For when Perdiccas found in the memoranda of the king orders for the completion of the pyre of Hephaestion, which required a great deal of money, and also for the other designs of Alexander, which were many and great and called for an unprecedented outlay, he decided that it was inexpedient to carry them out. But that he might not appear to be arbitrarily detracting anything from the glory of Alexander, he laid these matters before the common assembly of the Macedonians for consideration. The following were the largest and most remarkable items of the memoranda. It was proposed to build a thousand warships, larger than triremes, in Phoenicia, Syria, Cilicia, and Cyprus for the campaign against the Carthaginians and the others who live along the coast of Libya and Iberia and the adjoining coastal region as far as Sicily; to make a road along the coast of Libya as far as the Pillars of Heracles and, as needed by so great an expedition, to construct ports and shipyards at suitable places; to erect six most costly temples, each at an expense of fifteen hundred talents; and, finally, to establish cities and to transplant populations from Asia to Europe and in the opposite direction from Europe to Asia, in order to bring the largest continents to common unity and to friendly kinship by means of intermarriages and family ties. The temples mentioned above were to be built at Delos, Delphi, and Dodona, and in Macedonia a temple to Zeus at Dium, to Artemis Tauropolus at Amphipolis, and to Athena at Cyrnus. Likewise at Ilium in honour of this goddess there was to be built a temple that could never be surpassed by any other. A tomb for his father Philip was to be constructed to match the greatest of the pyramids of Egypt, buildings which some persons count among the seven greatest works of man. When these memoranda had been read, the Macedonians, although they applauded the name of Alexander, nevertheless saw that the projects were extravagant and impracticable and decided to carry out none of those that have been mentioned. Perdiccas first put to death those soldiers who were fomenters of discord and most at enmity with himself, thirty in number. After that he also punished Meleager, who had been a traitor on the occasion of the contention and his mission, using as a pretext a private quarrel and a charge that Meleager was plotting against him. Then, since the Greeks who had been settled in the upper satrapies had revolted and raised an army of considerable size, he sent one of the nobles, Pithon, to fight it out with them.
§ 18.5
ἡμεῖς δὲ πρὸς τὰς μελλούσας ἱστορεῖσθαι πράξεις οἰκεῖον εἶναι νομίζομεν ἐκθεῖναι πρότερον τάς τε αἰτίας τῆς ἀποστάσεως καὶ τῆς ὅλης Ἀσίας τὴν θέσιν καὶ τῶν σατραπειῶν τὰ μεγέθη καὶ τὰς ἰδιότητας. οὕτως γὰρ μάλιστα εὐπαρακολούθητος τοῖς ἀναγινώσκουσιν ἡ διήγησις ἔσται, πρὸ ὀφθαλμῶν τεθείσης τῆς ὅλης τοποθεσίας καὶ τῶν διαστημάτων. ἀπὸ τοίνυν τοῦ κατὰ Κιλικίαν Ταύρου συνεχὲς ὄρος διʼ ὅλης τῆς Ἀσίας διήκει μέχρι τοῦ Καυκάσου καὶ τοῦ πρὸς ἀνατολὰς Ὠκεανοῦ· τοῦτο δὲ παντοδαποῖς ἀναστήμασι λόφων διειλημμένον ἰδίας καθʼ ἕκαστον ἔχει προσηγορίας. τοῦτον δὲ τὸν τρόπον εἰς δύο μέρη διαιρουμένης τῆς Ἀσίας τὸ μὲν πρὸς τὰς ἄρκτους αὐτῆς νένευκεν, τὸ δὲ πρὸς τὴν μεσημβρίαν. ἀκολούθως δὲ τούτοις τοῖς κλίμασι τῶν ποταμῶν τὰς ῥύσεις ἐχόντων ἀντιπροσώπους οἱ μὲν εἰς τὴν Κασπίαν θάλατταν, οἱ δὲ εἰς τὸν Εὔξεινον Πόντον, ἔνιοι δὲ εἰς τὸν ὑπὸ τὰς ἄρκτους Ὠκεανὸν ἐξερεύγονται. οἱ δʼ ἀντικείμενοι τούτοις οἱ μὲν εἰς τὸν κατὰ τὴν Ἰνδικήν, οἱ δʼ ἐπὶ τὸν συνεχῆ τῆς ἠπείρου ταύτης κείμενον Ὠκεανὸν ἐκβάλλουσιν, ἔνιοι δʼ εἰς τὴν καλουμένην Ἐρυθρὰν θάλατταν καταφέρονται. ὁμοίως δὲ τούτοις διειλημμένων τῶν σατραπειῶν αἱ μὲν ἐπὶ τὴν ἄρκτον, αἱ δʼ ἐπὶ τὴν μεσημβρίαν ἔχουσι τὰς κλίσεις. καὶ πρώτη μὲν τῶν πρὸς τὴν ἄρκτον ἐστραμμένων κεῖται παρὰ τὸν Τάναϊν ποταμὸν Σογδιανὴ καὶ Βακτριανὴ καὶ τούτων ἐχομένη Ἀρία καὶ Παρθυαία καὶ Ὑρκανία, διʼ ἧς συμβαίνει περιέχεσθαι τὴν Ὑρκανίαν θάλατταν, οὖσαν καθʼ αὑτήν· μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Μηδία, πολλὰς μὲν ἔχουσα τόπων προσηγορίας, μεγίστη δʼ οὖσα πασῶν τῶν σατραπειῶν· ἑξῆς δʼ Ἀρμενία καὶ Λυκαονία καὶ Καππαδοκία, πᾶσαι τὸν ἀέρα δυσχείμερον ἔχουσαι· ταύταις δὲ συνορίζουσαι κατʼ εὐθεῖαν μὲν ἥ τε μεγάλη Φρυγία καὶ ἡ ἐφʼ Ἑλλησπόντῳ κειμένη, ἐκ δὲ τῶν πλαγίων Λυδία καὶ Καρία, ὑπερδέξιος δὲ τῆς Φρυγίας καὶ παράλληλος ἡ Πισιδικὴ καὶ ταύτης ἐχομένη Λυκία. ἐν δὲ τοῖς παρὰ θάλασσαν τόποις τούτων τῶν σατραπειῶν αἱ τῶν Ἑλλήνων πόλεις καθίδρυνται, ὧν τὰς προσηγορίας γράφειν οὐκ ἀναγκαῖον πρὸς τὴν ὑποκειμένην ὑπόθεσιν. αἱ μὲν οὖν πρὸς τὴν ἄρκτον ἐστραμμέναι σατραπεῖαι τὸν εἰρημένον τρόπον καθίδρυνται.
Considering the events that are to be narrated, I think it proper first to set forth the causes of the revolt, the situation of Asia as a whole, and the size and characteristics of the satrapies; for by placing before my readers' eyes the topography in general and the distances I shall best make the narrative easy for them to follow. Now from the Cilician Taurus a continuous range of mountains extends through the whole of Asia as far as the Caucasus and the Eastern Ocean. This range is divided by crests of varying heights, and each part has its proper name. Asia is thus separated into two parts, one sloping to the north, the other to the south. Corresponding to these slopes, the rivers flow in opposite directions. Of those on one side, some enter the Caspian Sea, some the Pontus Euxinus, and some the Northern Ocean. Of the rivers that lie opposite to these, some empty into the ocean that faces India, some into the ocean that is adjacent to this continent, and some flow into what is called the Red Sea. The satrapies likewise are divided, some sloping toward the north, the others toward the south. The first of those that face the north lie along the Tanais River: Sogdiane and Bactriane; and next to these are Aria, Parthia, and Hyrcania, by which the Hyrcanian Sea, a detached body of water, is surrounded. Next is Media, which embraces many regions with distinctive names and is the greatest of all the satrapies. Armenia, Lycaonia, and Cappadocia, all having a very wintry climate, are next. Bordering on them in a straight line are both Great Phrygia and Hellespontine Phrygia; Lydia and Caria are to the side; above Phrygia and beside it is Pisidia, with Lycia next to it. In the coastal regions of these satrapies are established the cities of the Greeks; to give their names is not necessary for our present purposes. The satrapies that face the north are situated in the way described.
§ 18.6
τῶν δὲ πρὸς μεσημβρίαν ἐστραμμένων πρώτη μὲν παρὰ τὸν Καύκασόν ἐστιν Ἰνδική, βασιλεία μεγάλη καὶ πολυάνθρωπος, οἰκουμένη δʼ ὑπὸ πλειόνων Ἰνδικῶν ἐθνῶν, ὧν ἐστι μέγιστον τὸ τῶν Γανδαριδῶν ἔθνος, ἐφʼ οὓς διὰ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν παρʼ αὐτοῖς ἐλεφάντων οὐκ ἐπεστράτευσεν ὁ Ἀλέξανδρος. ὁρίζει δὲ τὴν χώραν ταύτην καὶ τὴν ἑξῆς Ἰνδικὴν ποταμὸς ὁ ὀνομαζόμενος Γάγγης, μέγιστος ὢν τῶν περὶ τοὺς τόπους καὶ τὸ πλάτος ἔχων σταδίων τριάκοντα. ἐχομένη δὲ ταύτης ἡ λοιπὴ τῆς Ἰνδικῆς, ἣν κατεπολέμησεν ὁ Ἀλέξανδρος, παραποταμίοις ὕδασι κατάρρυτος καὶ κατὰ τὴν εὐδαιμονίαν ἐπιφανεστάτη, καθʼ ἣν ὑπῆρχε σὺν ἄλλαις πλείοσι βασιλείαις ἥ τε τοῦ Πώρου καὶ Ταξίλου δυναστεία, διʼ ἧς συμβαίνει ῥεῖν τὸν Ἰνδὸν ποταμόν, ἀφʼ οὗ τὴν προσηγορίαν ἔσχεν ἡ χώρα. ἐχομένη δὲ τῆς Ἰνδικῆς ἀφώριστο σατραπείας Ἀραχωσία καὶ Κεδρωσία καὶ Καρμανία, πρὸς δὲ ταύταις Περσίς, ἐν ᾗ τὴν Σουσιανὴν καὶ Σιττακινὴν κεῖσθαι συμβέβηκεν· ἑξῆς δὲ Βαβυλωνία μέχρι τῆς κατὰ τὴν Ἀραβίαν ἀοικήτου· ἐκ δὲ θατέρου μέρους, ἀφʼ οὗ ποιούμεθα τὴν ἀνάβασιν, Μεσοποταμία περιειλημμένη δυσὶ ποταμοῖς, τῷ τε Εὐφράτῃ καὶ Τίγριδι, διʼ οὓς τέτευχε ταύτης τῆς προσηγορίας· ἐχομένη δὲ τῆς Βαβυλωνίας Συρία ἡ ἄνω καλουμένη καὶ αἱ συνεχεῖς ταύτῃ παραθαλάττιοι Κιλικία καὶ Παμφυλία καὶ ἡ Κοίλη Συρία, καθʼ ἣν ἡ Φοινίκη περιείληπται. παρὰ δὲ τὰ πέρατα τῆς Κοίλης Συρίας καὶ τὴν συνεχῶς κειμένην ἔρημον, καθʼ ἣν ὁ Νεῖλος φερόμενος ὁρίζει Συρίαν τε καὶ τὴν Αἴγυπτον, ἀπεδέδεικτο σατραπεία πασῶν ἀρίστη καὶ προσόδους ἔχουσα μεγάλας Αἴγυπτος. πᾶσαι δʼ αὗται καυματώδεις εἰσίν, ὡς ἀντιπνέοντος τοῦ κατὰ μεσημβρίαν ἀέρος τῷ πρὸς ἄρκτους καθήκοντι. αἱ μὲν οὖν ὑπʼ Ἀλεξάνδρου καταπολεμηθεῖσαι σατραπεῖαι τὸν εἰρημένον τρόπον κείμεναι διεμερίσθησαν τοῖς ἀξιολογωτάτοις τῶν ἀνδρῶν.
Of those satrapies that face the south, the first one along the Caucasus is India, a great and populous kingdom, inhabited by many Indian nations, of which the greatest is that of the Gandaridae, against whom Alexander did not make a campaign because of the multitude of their elephants. The river Ganges, which is the deepest of the region and has a width of thirty stades, separates this land from the neighbouring part of India. Adjacent to this is the rest of India, which Alexander conquered, irrigated by water from the rivers and most conspicuous for its prosperity. Here were the dominions of Porus and Taxiles, together with many other kingdoms, and through it flows the Indus River, from which the country received its name. Next to the Indian satrapy Arachosia was marked off, and Cedrosia and Carmania, and Persia next to them, in which are Susiane and Sittacine. Next comes Babylonia extending to the Arabian Desert. On the other side, in the direction from which we make the march inland, is Mesopotamia encompassed by two rivers, the Euphrates and the Tigris, to which it owes its name. Next to Mesopotamia are Upper Syria, as it is called, and the countries adjacent thereto along the sea: Cilicia, Pamphylia, and Coele Syria, which encloses Phoenicia. Along the frontiers of Coele Syria and along the desert that lies next to it, through which the Nile makes its way and divides Syria and Egypt, the best satrapy of all and one that has the greatest revenues, was set up, Egypt. All these countries are very hot, since the air in the south is different from that which extends to the north. The satrapies, then, that were conquered by Alexander, are situated as described, and were distributed to the most noteworthy men.
§ 18.7
οἱ δʼ ἐν ταῖς ἄνω καλουμέναις σατραπείαις κατοικισθέντες Ἕλληνες ὑπʼ Ἀλεξάνδρου, ποθοῦντες μὲν τὴν Ἑλληνικὴν ἀγωγὴν καὶ δίαιταν, ἐν δὲ ταῖς ἐσχατιαῖς τῆς βασιλείας ἐξερριμμένοι, ζῶντος μὲν τοῦ βασιλέως ὑπέμενον διὰ τὸν φόβον, τελευτήσαντος δὲ ἀπέστησαν. συμφρονήσαντες δὲ καὶ ἑλόμενοι στρατηγὸν Φίλωνα τὸν Αἰνιᾶνα δύναμιν ἀξιόλογον συνεστήσαντο. πεζοὺς μὲν γὰρ εἶχον πλείους τῶν δισμυρίων, ἱππεῖς δὲ τρισχιλίους, πάντας δὲ τῶν κατὰ τὸν πόλεμον ἀγώνων πολλάκις πεῖραν εἰληφότας καὶ διαφόρους ταῖς ἀνδραγαθίαις. Περδίκκας δὲ πυθόμενος τὴν τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἀπόστασιν ἐκλήρωσεν ἐκ τῶν Μακεδόνων πεζοὺς μὲν τρισχιλίους, ἱππεῖς δὲ ὀκτακοσίους. τοῦ δὲ πλήθους ἑλόμενος στρατηγὸν Πίθωνα τὸν σωματοφύλακα μὲν Ἀλεξάνδρου γεγονότα, φρονήματος δὲ πλήρη καὶ δυνάμενον στρατηγεῖν παρέδωκε τούτῳ τοὺς ἀποκληρωθέντας. δοὺς δʼ αὐτῷ πρὸς τοὺς σατράπας ἐπιστολὰς, ἐν αἷς γεγραμμένον ἦν στρατιώτας δοῦναι τῷ Πίθωνι μυρίους μὲν πεζούς, ἱππεῖς δὲ ὀκτακισχιλίους, ἐξαπέστειλεν ἐπὶ τοὺς ἀποστάντας. ὁ δὲ Πίθων μεγαλεπίβολος ὢν ἀσμένως ὑπήκουσεν εἰς τὴν στρατείαν, διανοούμενος τοὺς μὲν Ἕλληνας ταῖς φιλανθρωπίαις προσάγεσθαι, τὴν δὲ δύναμιν τῇ τούτων συμμαχίᾳ μεγάλην ποιήσας ἰδιοπραγεῖν καὶ τῶν ἄνω σατραπειῶν δυναστεύειν. ὁ δὲ Περδίκκας ὑφορώμενος αὐτοῦ τὴν ἐπιβολήν διεκελεύσατο καταπολεμήσαντα τοὺς ἀφεστηκότας ἅπαντας ἀποκτεῖναι καὶ τὰ λάφυρα διαδοῦναι τοῖς στρατιώταις. ὁ δὲ Πίθων ἀναζεύξας μετὰ τῶν δεδομένων αὐτῷ στρατιωτῶν καὶ παρὰ τῶν σατραπῶν προσλαβόμενος τοὺς συμμάχους ἧκεν μετὰ πάσης τῆς δυνάμεως ἐπὶ τοὺς ἀφεστηκότας. διὰ δέ τινος Αἰνιᾶνος διαφθείρας Λητόδωρον, ἐπὶ τρισχιλίων στρατιωτῶν παρὰ τοῖς ἀποστάταις τεταγμένον, τοῖς ὅλοις προετέρησε. γινομένης γὰρ τῆς παρατάξεως καὶ τῆς νίκης ἀμφιδοξουμένης ὁ προδότης ἐγκαταλιπὼν τοὺς συμμάχους ἀλόγως ἀπῆλθεν ἐπί τινα λόφον, ἔχων τρισχιλίους. οἱ δʼ ἄλλοι δόξαντες τούτους πρὸς φυγὴν ὡρμηκέναι διεταράχθησαν καὶ τραπέντες ἔφυγον. ὁ δὲ Πίθων νικήσας τῇ μάχῃ διεκηρύξατο πρὸς τοὺς ἡττημένους, κελεύων τὰ μὲν ὅπλα καταθέσθαι, αὐτοὺς δὲ τὰ πιστὰ λαβόντας ἐπὶ τὰς ἰδίας κατοικίας ἀναχωρῆσαι. γενομένων δʼ ἐπὶ τούτοις ὅρκων καὶ τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἀναμιχθέντων τοῖς Μακεδόσιν ὁ μὲν Πίθων περιχαρὴς ἦν, κατὰ νοῦν αὐτῷ προχωρούντων τῶν πραγμάτων, οἱ δὲ Μακεδόνες μνησθέντες μὲν τῆς τοῦ Περδίκκου παραγγελίας, οὐδὲν δὲ φροντίσαντες τῶν γεγενημένων ὅρκων παρεσπόνδησαν τοὺς Ἕλληνας. ἀπροσδοκήτως γὰρ αὐτοῖς ἐπιθέμενοι καὶ λαβόντες ἀφυλάκτους ἅπαντας κατηκόντισαν καὶ τὰ χρήματα διήρπασαν. ὁ μὲν οὖν Πίθων διαψευσθεὶς τῶν ἐλπίδων ἀπῆλθε μετὰ τῶν Μακεδόνων πρὸς τὸν Περδίκκαν. καὶ τὰ μὲν κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν ἐν τούτοις ἦν.
The Greeks who had been settled by Alexander in the upper satrapies, as they were called, although they longed for the Greek customs and manner of life and were cast away in the most distant part of the kingdom, yet submitted while the king was alive through fear; but when he was dead they rose in revolt. After they had taken counsel together and elected Philon the Aenianian as general, they raised a considerable force. They had more than twenty thousand foot soldiers and three thousand horse, all of whom had many times been tried in the contests of war and were distinguished for their courage. When Perdiccas heard of the revolt of the Greeks, he drew by lot from the Macedonians three thousand infantry and eight hundred horsemen. As commander of the whole he selected Pithon, who had been of the Bodyguard of Alexander, a man full of spirit and able to command, and assigned to him the troops that had been drawn. After giving him letters for the satraps, in which it was written that they should furnish Pithon ten thousand footmen and eight thousand horsemen, he sent him against the rebels. Pithon, who was a man of great ambition, gladly accepted the expedition, intending to win the Greeks over through kindness, and, after making his army great through an alliance with them, to work in his own interests and become the ruler of the upper satrapies. But Perdiccas, suspecting his design, gave him definite orders to kill all the rebels when he had subdued them, and to distribute the spoils to the soldiers. Pithon, setting out with the troops that had been given to him and receiving the auxiliaries from the satraps, came upon the rebels with all his forces. Through the agency of a certain Aenianian he corrupted Letodorus, who had been made a commander of three thousand among the rebels, and won a complete victory. For when the battle was begun and the victory was doubtful, the traitor left his allies without warning and withdrew to a certain hill, taking his three thousand men. The rest, believing that these were bent on flight, were thrown into confusion, turned about, and fled. Pithon, being victorious in the battle, sent a herald to the conquered, ordering them to lay down their arms and to return to their several colonies after receiving pledges. When oaths to this effect had been sworn and the Greeks were interspersed among the Macedonians, Pithon was greatly pleased, seeing that the affair was progressing according to his intentions; but the Macedonians, remembering the orders of Perdiccas and having no regard for the oaths that had been sworn, broke faith with the Greeks. Setting upon them unexpectedly and catching them off their guard, they shot them all down with javelins and seized their possessions as plunder. Pithon then, cheated of his hopes, came back with the Macedonians to Perdiccas. This was the state of affairs in Asia.
§ 18.8
κατὰ δὲ τὴν Εὐρώπην Ῥόδιοι μὲν ἐκβαλόντες τὴν Μακεδονικὴν φρουρὰν ἠλευθέρωσαν τὴν πόλιν, Ἀθηναῖοι δὲ πρὸς Ἀντίπατρον πόλεμον ἐξήνεγκαν τὸν ὀνομασθέντα Λαμιακόν. τούτου δὲ τὰς αἰτίας ἀναγκαῖόν ἐστι προεκθέσθαι χάριν τοῦ σαφεστέρας γενέσθαι τὰς ἐν αὐτῷ συντελεσθείσας πράξεις. Ἀλέξανδρος γὰρ βραχεῖ χρόνῳ πρότερον τῆς τελευτῆς ἔκρινε κατάγειν ἅπαντας τοὺς ἐν ταῖς Ἑλληνίσι πόλεσι φυγάδας, ἅμα μὲν δόξης ἕνεκεν, ἅμα δὲ βουλόμενος ἔχειν ἐν ἑκάστῃ πόλει πολλοὺς ἰδίους ταῖς εὐνοίαις πρὸς τοὺς νεωτερισμοὺς καὶ τὰς ἀποστάσεις τῶν Ἑλλήνων. διόπερ ὑπογύων ὄντων τῶν Ὀλυμπίων ἐξέπεμψεν εἰς τὴν Ἑλλάδα Νικάνορα τὸν Σταγειρίτην, δοὺς ἐπιστολὴν περὶ τῆς καθόδου· ταύτην δὲ προσέταξεν ἐν τῇ πανηγύρει διὰ τοῦ νικήσαντος κήρυκος ἀναγνωσθῆναι τοῖς πλήθεσιν. τούτου δὲ ποιήσαντος τὸ προσταχθὲν λαβὼν ὁ κῆρυξ ἀνέγνω τὴν ἐπιστολὴν τήνδε. “βασιλεὺς Ἀλέξανδρος τοῖς ἐκ τῶν Ἐλληνίδων πόλεων φυγάσι. τοῦ μὲν φεύγειν ὑμᾶς οὐχ ἡμεῖς αἴτιοι γεγόναμεν, τοῦ δὲ κατελθεῖν εἰς τὰς ἰδίας πατρίδας ἡμεῖς ἐσόμεθα πλὴν τῶν ἐναγῶν. γεγράφαμεν δὲ Ἀντιπάτρῳ περὶ τούτων, ὅπως τὰς μὴν βουλομένας τῶν πόλεων κατάγειν ἀναγκάσῃ.” κηρυχθέντων δὲ τούτων μεγάλῳ κρότῳ ἐπεσήμηνε τὸ πλῆθος· ἀποδεξάμενοι γὰρ οἱ κατὰ τὴν πανήγυριν τὴν χάριν τοῦ βασιλέως διὰ τὴν χαρὰν ἠμείβοντο τὴν εὐεργεσίαν τοῖς ἐπαίνοις. ἦσαν δʼ οἱ φυγάδες ἀπηντηκότες ἅπαντες ἐπὶ τὴν πανήγυριν, ὄντες πλείους τῶν δισμυρίων. οἱ μὲν οὖν πολλοὶ τὴν κάθοδον τῶν φυγάδων ὡς ἐπʼ ἀγαθῷ γινομένην ἀπεδέχοντο, Αἰτωλοὶ δὲ καὶ Ἀθηναῖοι δυσχεραίνοντες τῇ πράξει χαλεπῶς ἔφερον. Αἰτωλοὶ μὲν γὰρ τοὺς Οἰνιάδας ἐκβεβληκότες ἐκ τῆς πατρίδος προσεδόκων τὴν ἐπὶ τοῖς παρανομήμασιν ἐπακολουθοῦσαν κόλασιν· καὶ γὰρ ὁ βασιλεὺς ἠπειληκὼς ἦν ὡς οὐκ Οἰνιαδῶν παῖδες, ἀλλʼ αὐτὸς ἐπιθήσει τὴν δίκην αὐτοῖς· ὁμοίως δὲ τούτοις Ἀθηναῖοι τὴν Σάμον κατακεκληρουχηκότες οὐδαμῶς τὴν νῆσον ταύτην προΐεντο. οὐκ ὄντες δʼ ἀξιόμαχοι ταῖς τούτου δυνάμεσι κατὰ μὲν τὸ παρὸν ἡσυχίαν ἦγον, ἐπιτηροῦντες καιρὸν
In Europe the Rhodians drove out their Macedonian garrison and freed their city, and the Athenians began what is called the Lamian war against Antipater. It is necessary to set forth the causes of this war in order that the events that took place in it may be made clearer. A short time before his death, Alexander decided to restore all the exiles in the Greek cities, partly for the sake of gaining fame, and partly wishing to secure many devoted personal followers in each city to counter the revolutionary movements and seditions of the Greeks. Therefore, the Olympic games being at hand, he sent Nicanor of Stageira to Greece, giving him a decree about the restoration, which he ordered him to have proclaimed by the victorious herald to the crowds at the festival. Nicanor carried out his instructions, and the herald received and read the following message: "King Alexander to the exiles from the Greek cities. We have not been the cause of your exile, but, save for those of you who are under a curse, we shall be the cause of your return to your own native cities. We have written to Antipater about this to the end that if any cities are not willing to restore you, he may constrain them." When the herald had announced this, the crowd showed its approval with loud applause; for those at the festival welcomed the favour of the king with cries of joy, and repaid his good deed with praises. All the exiles had come together at the festival, being more than twenty thousand in number. Now people in general welcomed the restoration of the exiles as a good thing, but the Aitolians had exiled the Oiniadae from their native city and expected the punishment appropriate to their wrongdoing; for the king himself had threatened that no sons of the Oiniadae, but he himself, would punish them. Likewise the Athenians, who had distributed Samos in allotments to their citizens, were by no means willing to abandon that island. Being no match, however, for the forces of the king, they remained quiet for the time being, waiting for a favourable opportunity, which Fortune quickly gave them.
§ 18.9
εὔθετον, ὃν ἡ τύχη ταχέως αὐτοῖς παρεσκεύασε· μετʼ ὀλίγον γὰρ τελευτήσαντος Ἀλεξάνδρου καὶ τῆς βασιλείας υἱοὺς διαδόχους οὐκ ἔχοντος ἐτόλμησαν ἀντιλαβέσθαι τῆς ἐλευθερίας καὶ τῆς κοινῆς τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἡγεμονίας. ἀφορμὰς δὲ ἔσχον εἰς τὸν πόλεμον τό τε πλῆθος τῶν καταλειφθέντων ὑφʼ Ἁρπάλου χρημάτων, περὶ ὧν τὰ κατὰ μέρος ἐν τῇ πρὸ ταύτης βύβλῳ διήλθομεν, ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τοὺς κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν ἀμίσθους γενομένους ὑπὸ τῶν σατραπῶν μισθοφόρους, ὄντας μὲν ὀκτακισχιλίους, διατρίβοντας δὲ περὶ Ταίναρον τῆς Πελοποννήσου. διὸ καὶ τούτους προσέταξαν ἐν ἀπορρήτοις Λεωσθένει τῷ Ἀθηναίῳ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἀναλαβεῖν αὐτοὺς ὡς ἰδιοπραγοῦντα χωρὶς τῆς τοῦ δήμου γνώμης, ὅπως ὁ μὲν Ἀντίπατρος ῥᾳθυμότερον διατεθῇ πρὸς τὰς παρασκευὰς, καταφρονῶν τοῦ Λεωσθένους, οἱ δʼ Ἀθηναῖοι σχολὴν λάβωσι καὶ χρόνον προκατασκευάσαι τι τῶν εἰς τὸν πόλεμον χρησίμων. διὸ καὶ Λεωσθένης μετὰ πολλῆς ἡσυχίας μισθωσάμενος τοὺς προειρημένους παραδόξως ἑτοίμην ἔσχε πρὸς τὰς πράξεις ἀξιόλογον δύναμιν· ἐστρατευμένοι γὰρ κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν πολὺν χρόνον καὶ πολλῶν καὶ μεγάλων ἀγώνων μετεσχηκότες ἀθληταὶ τῶν κατὰ πόλεμον ἔργων ἐγεγένηντο. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν οὕτως ἐπράττετο μήπω καλῶς ἐγνωσμένης τῆς Ἀλεξάνδρου τελευτῆς· ἐπεὶ δέ τινες ἐκ Βαβυλῶνος ἧκον αὐτόπται γεγονότες τῆς τοῦ βασιλέως μεταλλαγῆς, τότε φανερῶς ὁ δῆμος ἀπεκαλύψατο πρὸς τὸν πόλεμον καὶ τῶν μὲν Ἁρπάλου χρημάτων μέρος ἐξέπεμψε τῷ Λεωσθένει καὶ πανοπλίας οὐκ ὀλίγας καὶ παρήγγειλε μηκέτι παρακρύπτειν, ἀλλὰ φανερῶς πράττειν τι τῶν συμφερόντων. ὁ δὲ διαδοὺς τοῖς μισθοφόροις τὰς συντάξεις καὶ καθοπλίσας τοὺς ἀνόπλους παρῆλθεν εἰς Αἰτωλίαν, συνθησόμενος κοινοπραγίαν. ἀσμένως δὲ τῶν Αἰτωλῶν συνυπακουσάντων καὶ διδόντων αὐτῷ στρατιώτας ἑπτακισχιλίους ὁ μὲν Λεωσθένης διαπεμπόμενος πρός τε τοὺς Λοκροὺς καὶ Φωκεῖς καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους τοὺς πλησιοχώρους παρεκάλει τῆς αὐτονομίας ἀντέχεσθαι καὶ τῆς τῶν Μακεδόνων δεσποτείας
When Alexander died a short time thereafter and left no sons as successors to the kingdom, the Athenians ventured to assert their liberty and to claim the leadership of the Greeks. As a resource for the war they had the sum of money left by Harpalus, the story of which we told in full in the preceding Book, and likewise the mercenaries who, some eight thousand in number, had been dismissed from service by the satraps and were waiting near Taenarum in the Peloponnesus. They therefore gave secret instructions about these to Leosthenes the Athenian, ordering him at first to enrol them as if acting on his own responsibility without authority from the city, in order that Antipater, regarding Leosthenes with contempt, might be less energetic in his preparations, and the Athenians, on the other hand, might gain leisure and time for preparing some of the things necessary for the war. Accordingly Leosthenes had very quietly hired the troops mentioned above and, contrary to general belief, had secured a considerable number of men ready for action; for these men, who had campaigned throughout Asia for a long time and had taken part in many great conflicts, had become masters of warfare. Now these things were being done while the death of Alexander was not yet certainly known; but when some came from Babylon who had been eyewitnesses of the king's death, then the popular government openly disclosed its intention of war and sent Leosthenes part of the money of Harpalus and many suits of armour, bidding him no longer act in secret but do openly whatever was advantageous. After Leosthenes had distributed their pay to the mercenaries and had fully armed those who lacked armour, he went to Aitolia to arrange for common action. When the Aitolians listened to him gladly and gave him seven thousand soldiers, he sent to the Locrians and the Phocians and the other neighbouring peoples and urged them to assert their freedom and rid Greece of the Macedonian despotism.
§ 18.10
ἐλευθερῶσαι τὴν Ἑλλάδα· ὁ δὲ δῆμος τῶν Ἀθηναίων, τῶν μὲν κτηματικῶν συμβουλευόντων τὴν ἡσυχίαν ἄγειν, τῶν δὲ δημοκόπων ἀνασειόντων τὰ πλήθη καὶ παρακαλούντων ἐρρωμένως ἔχεσθαι τοῦ πολέμου, πολὺ τοῖς πλήθεσιν ὑπερεῖχον οἱ τὸν πόλεμον αἱρούμενοι καὶ τὰς τροφὰς εἰωθότες ἔχειν ἐκ τοῦ μισθοφορεῖν· οἷς ποτʼ ἔφησεν ὁ Φίλιππος τὸν μὲν πόλεμον εἰρήνην ὑπάρχειν, τὴν δὲ εἰρήνην πόλεμον. εὐθὺς οὖν οἱ μὲν ῥήτορες τὰς τῶν δημοτικῶν ὁρμὰς σωματοποιοῦντες ἔγραψαν ψήφισμα τῆς κοινῆς τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἐλευθερίας φροντίσαι τὸν δῆμον καὶ τὰς μὲν φρουρουμένας πόλεις ἐλευθερῶσαι, ναῦς δὲ παρασκευάσαι τετρήρεις μὲν τεσσαράκοντα, τριήρεις δὲ διακοσίας, στρατεύσασθαι δὲ πάντας Ἀθηναίους τοὺς μέχρι ἐτῶν τεσσαράκοντα καὶ τρεῖς μὲν φυλὰς τὴν Ἀττικὴν παραφυλάττειν, τὰς δʼ ἑπτὰ πρὸς τὰς ὑπερορίους στρατείας ἑτοίμους εἶναι. ἐκπέμψαι δὲ καὶ πρέσβεις τοὺς ἐπελευσομένους τὰς Ἑλληνίδας πόλεις καὶ διδάξοντας ὅτι καὶ πρότερον μὲν ὁ δῆμος, τὴν Ἑλλάδα πᾶσαν κοινὴν εἶναι πατρίδα κρίνων τῶν Ἑλλήνων, τοὺς ἐπὶ δουλείᾳ στρατευσαμένους βαρβάρους ἠμύνατο κατὰ θάλασσαν καὶ νῦν οἴεται δεῖν ὑπὲρ τῆς κοινῆς τῶν Ἑλλήνων σωτηρίας καὶ σώμασι καὶ χρήμασι καὶ ναυσὶ προκινδυνεύειν. κυρωθέντος δὲ τοῦ ψηφίσματος προχειρότερον ἢ συνέφερεν οἱ μὲν συνέσει διαφέροντες τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἔφασαν τὸν δῆμον τῶν Ἀθηναίων τὰ μὲν πρὸς εὐδοξίαν εὖ βεβουλεῦσθαι, τοῦ δὲ συμφέροντος διημαρτηκέναι· προεξανίστασθαι γὰρ αὐτὸν τῶν καιρῶν καὶ πρὸς ἀνικήτους καὶ μεγάλας δυνάμεις ἐπιβάλλεσθαι διακινδυνεύειν μηδεμιᾶς ἀνάγκης κατεπειγούσης καὶ φρονήσει δοκοῦντα διαφέρειν μηδὲ ταῖς περιβοήτοις τῶν Θηβαίων συμφοραῖς νενουθετῆσθαι. οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ τῶν πρέσβεων ἐπιπορευομένων τὰς πόλεις καὶ τῇ συνήθει τῶν λόγων δεινότητι παρορμώντων πρὸς τὸν πόλεμον αἱ πλεῖσται μὲν συνέθεντο τὴν συμμαχίαν,
In the Assembly at Athens, while the men of property were advising that no action be taken and the demagogues were rousing the people and urging them to prosecute the war vigorously, those who preferred war and were accustomed to make their living from paid military service were far superior in numbers. These were the men of whom Philip once said that war was peace and peace was war for them. Straightway, then, the orators gave shape to the wishes of the commons by writing a decree to the effect that the people should assume responsibility for the common freedom of the Greeks and liberate the cities that were subject to garrisons; that they should prepare forty quadriremes and two hundred triremes; that all Athenians up to the age of forty should be enrolled; that three tribes should guard Attica, and that the other seven should be ready for campaigns beyond the frontiers; that envoys should be sent to visit the Greek cities and tell them that formerly the Athenian people, convinced that all Greece was the common fatherland of the Greeks, had fought by sea great those barbarians who had invaded Greece to enslave her, and that now too Athens believed it necessary to risk lives and money and ships in defence of the common safety of the Greeks. When this decree had been ratified more promptly than was wise, those of the Greeks who were superior in understanding said that the Athenian people had counselled well for glory but had missed what was expedient; for they had left the mark before the proper time and, with no necessity compelling them, were venturing to meet forces that were great and undefeated, and moreover, although they enjoyed a reputation for excelling in judgement, they had learned nothing even from the well-known misfortunes to Thebans. Nevertheless, as the ambassadors made the circuit of the cities and roused them for war with their accustomed eloquence, most of the Greeks joined the alliance, some by national groups and some by cities.
§ 18.11
αἱ μὲν κατʼ ἔθνος, αἱ δὲ κατὰ πόλιν. τῶν δʼ ἄλλων Ἑλλήνων οἱ μὲν πρὸς Μακεδόνας ἀπέκλινον, οἱ δὲ τὴν ἡσυχίαν εἵλοντο. Αἰτωλοὶ μὲν οὖν ἅπαντες πρῶτοι συνέθεντο τὴν συμμαχίαν, καθάπερ προείρηται, μετὰ δὲ τούτους Θετταλοὶ μὲν πάντες πλὴν Πελινναίων, Οἰταῖοι δὲ πλὴν Ἡρακλεωτῶν, Ἀχαιοὶ δὲ Φθιῶται πλὴν Θηβαίων, Μηλιεῖς δὲ πλὴν Λαμιέων, ἑξῆς δὲ Δωριεῖς ἅπαντες καὶ Λοκροὶ καὶ Φωκεῖς, ἔτι δʼ Αἰνιᾶνες καὶ Ἀλυζαῖοι καὶ Δόλοπες, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις Ἀθαμᾶνες καὶ Λευκάδιοι καὶ Μολοττῶν οἱ περὶ Ἀρυπταῖον· οὗτος δʼ ὕπουλον συμμαχίαν συνθέμενος ὕστερον διὰ προδοσίας συνήργησε τοῖς Μακεδόσι. τῶν τʼ Ἰλλυριῶν καὶ Θρᾳκῶν ὀλίγοι συνέθεντο συμμαχίαν διὰ τὸ πρὸς τοὺς Μακεδόνας μῖσος. ἑξῆς δὲ συνελάβοντο τοῦ πολέμου Καρύστιοι μὲν ἐξ Εὐβοίας, τελευταῖοι δὲ τῶν Πελοποννησίων Ἀργεῖοι, Σικυώνιοι, Ἠλεῖοι, Μεσσήνιοι καὶ οἱ τὴν Ἀκτὴν κατοικοῦντες. οἱ μὲν οὖν συμμαχίαν συνθέμενοι τῶν Ἑλλήνων ὑπῆρχον οἱ προειρημένοι. ὁ δὲ δῆμος ἀπέστελλε στρατιώτας τῷ Λεωσθένει βοηθήσοντας πολιτικοὺς μὲν πεζοὺς πεντακισχιλίους, ἱππεῖς δὲ πεντακοσίους, μισθοφόρους δὲ δισχιλίους. τούτων δὲ πορευομένων διὰ τῆς Βοιωτίας ἀλλοτρίους συνέβαινεν εἶναι τοὺς Βοιωτοὺς τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις διὰ τοιαύτας τινὰς αἰτίας. Ἀλέξανδρος Θήβας κατασκάψας τὴν χώραν τοῖς περιοικοῦσι Βοιωτοῖς ἔδωκεν. οὗτοι δὲ κατακληρουχήσαντες τὰς τῶν ἠτυχηκότων κτήσεις ἐκ τῆς χώρας μεγάλας ἐλάμβανον προσόδους. διόπερ εἰδότες ὅτι κρατήσαντες Ἀθηναῖοι τῷ πολέμῳ τοῖς Θηβαίοις ἀποκαταστήσουσι τήν τε κατρίδα καὶ τὴν χώραν, ἀκέκλινον πρὸς τοὺς Μακεδόνας. στρατοπεδευόντων δʼ αὐτῶν περὶ τὰς Πλαταιὰς ὁ Λεωσθένης μέρος τῆς ἰδίας δυνάμεως ἀναλαβὼν ἧκεν εἰς τὴν Βοιωτίαν. μετὰ δὲ τῶν Ἀθηναίων παραταξάμενος πρὸς τοὺς ἐγχωρίους μάχῃ τε ἐνίκησε καὶ τρόκαιον στήσας ταχέως ἐπανῆλθεν εἰς Πύλας· ἐνταῦθα γὰρ διατρίβων χρόνον τινὰ προκατείληπτο τὰς παρόδους καὶ τὴν τῶν Μακεδόνων δύναμιν ἀνεδέχετο.
Of the rest of the Greeks, some were well disposed toward the Macedonians, others remained neutral. The Aitolians in full force were the first to join the alliance, as has been said, and after them all the Thessalians except those from Pelinnaion, the Oitaeans except the inhabitants of Heracleia, the Achaeans of Phthiotis except the people of Thebae, the Melians except those of Lamia, then in succession all the Dorians, the Locrians, and the Phocians, also the Aenianians, the Alyzaeans, and the Dolopians, and in addition the Athamanians, the Leucadians, and those of the Molossians who were subject to Aryptaeus. The last named, after making a hollow alliance, later treacherously co operated with the Macedonians. Next, the Carystians from Euboea undertook a share in the war, and finally, of the peoples of the Peloponnesus, the Argives, the Sikyonians, the Eleans, the Messenians, and those who dwell on Acte. Now those of the Greeks who joined the alliance were as I have listed them. Athens sent citizen soldiers to Leosthenes as reinforcements, five thousand foot and five hundred horse, and also two thousand mercenaries. These were to go through Boeotia, but it happened that the Boeotians were hostile to the Athenians for some such reason as the following. After Alexander had razed Thebes, he had given the land to the neighbouring Boeotians. They, having portioned out the property of the unfortunate people, were receiving a large income from the land. Therefore, since they knew that the Athenians, if they were successful in the war, would restore both fatherland and fields to the Thebans, they were inclined toward the Macedonians. While the Boeotians were in camp near Plataea, Leosthenes, taking part of his own forces, came into Boeotia. Drawing up his own men along with the Athenians against the inhabitants, he defeated the latter in battle and, after erecting a trophy, hurried back to Thermopylae. For there, where he had spent some time in occupying the passes in advance of the enemy, he intended to meet the Macedonian forces.
§ 18.12
Ἀντίπατρος δʼ ἀπολελειμμένος ὑπʼ Ἀλεξάνδρου στρατηγὸς τῆς Εὐρώπης ὡς ἐπύθετο τήν τε τοῦ βασιλέως ἐν Βαβυλῶνι τελευτὴν τήν τε τῶν σατραπειῶν διαίρεσιν, πρὸς μὲν Κρατερὸν εἰς Κιλικίαν διεπέμπετο παρακαλῶν τὴν ταχίστην βοηθῆσαι ʽοὗτος γὰρ προαπεσταλμένος εἰς Κιλικίαν ἤμελλε κατάγειν εἰς Μακεδονίαν τοὺς ἀπολελυμένους τῆς στρατείας Μακεδόνας, ὄντας ὑπὲρ τοὺς μυρίουσʼ, πρὸς δὲ Φιλώταν τὸν εἰληφότα σατραπείαν τὴν ἐφʼ Ἑλλησπόντῳ Φρυγίαν, ὁμοίως ἀξιῶν καὶ τοῦτον βοηθῆσαι καὶ μίαν τῶν ἑαυτοῦ θυγατέρων συνοικιεῖν ἐπαγγελλόμενος. πυθόμενος δὲ τὴν ὑπὸ τῶν Ἑλλήνων συνδρομὴν ἐπʼ αὐτὸν γεγενημένην, τῆς μὲν Μακεδονίας ἀπέλιπε στρατηγὸν Σίππαν, δοὺς στρατιώτας τοὺς ἱκανοὺς καὶ παραγγείλας στρατολογεῖν ὡς πλείστους· αὐτὸς δʼ ἀναλαβὼν Μακεδόνας μὲν μυρίους καὶ τρισχιλίους, ἱππεῖς δὲ ἑξακοσίους ʽἐσπάνιζε γὰρ ἡ Μακεδονία στρατιωτῶν πολιτικῶν διὰ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν ἀπεσταλμένων εἰς τὴν Ἀσίαν ἐπὶ διαδοχὴν τῆς στρατείασʼ ἀνέζευξεν ἐκ τῆς Μακεδονίας εἰς Θετταλίαν, συμπαραπλέοντος αὐτῷ τοῦ στόλου παντός, ὃν ἀπεσταλκὼς ἦν Ἀλέξανδρος παραπέμψοντα πλῆθος χρημάτων ἐκ τῶν βασιλικῶν θησαυρῶν εἰς τὴν Μακεδονίαν, οὐσῶν τῶν πασῶν τριήρων ἑκατὸν καὶ δέκα. οἱ δὲ Θετταλοὶ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον συμμαχοῦντες τῷ Ἀντιπάτρῳ πολλοὺς καὶ ἀγαθοὺς ἱππεῖς ἐξέπεμψαν αὐτῷ· ὕστερον δʼ ὑπὸ τῶν Ἀθηναίων μεταπεισθέντες ἀφίππευσαν πρὸς Λεωσθένην καὶ μετὰ τῶν Ἀθηναίων ταχθέντες διεπολέμουν ὑπὲρ τῆς τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἐλευθερίας. μεγάλης δὲ δυνάμεως ταύτης τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις προσγεγενημένης οἱ μὲν Ἕλληνες ἐκράτουν πολὺ τῶν Μακεδόνων ὑπερέχοντες, ὁ δὲ Ἀντίπατρος μάχῃ λειφθεὶς καὶ τὸ λοιπὸν οὔτε παρατάξασθαι τολμῶν οὔτʼ εἰς τὴν Μακεδονίαν ἐπανελθεῖν ἀσφαλῶς δυνάμενος κατέφυγεν εἰς πόλιν Λάμιαν. ἐν ταύτῃ δὲ τὴν δύναμιν συνέχων καὶ τὰ τείχη κατασκευάζων, ἔτι δὲ παρασκευὰς ὅπλων καὶ καταπελτῶν καὶ σίτου ποιούμενος ἐκαραδόκει τοὺς ἀπὸ τῆς Ἀσίας συμμάχους.
When Antipater, who had been left by Alexander as general of Europe, heard of the death of the king in Babylon and of the distribution of the satrapies, he sent into Cilicia to Craterus, asking him to come to his aid as soon as possible (for the latter, having been previously dispatched to Cilicia, was going to bring back to Macedonia the Macedonians who had been mustered out of service, being more than ten thousand in number). He also sent to Philotas, who had received Hellespontine Phrygia as his satrapy, asking him likewise for aid and promising him to give him one of his own daughters in marriage. As soon, however, as he learned of the movement concerted against him by the Greeks, he left Sippas as general of Macedonia, giving him a sufficient army and bidding him enlist as many men as possible, while he himself, taking thirteen thousand Macedonians and six hundred horsemen (for Macedonia was short of citizen soldiers because of the number of those who had been sent to Asia as replacements for the army), set out from Macedonia to Thessaly, accompanied by the entire fleet which Alexander had sent to convoy a sum of money from the royal treasury to Macedonia, being in all one hundred and ten triremes. At first the Thessalians were allies of Antipater and sent out to him many good horsemen; but later, won over by the Athenians, they rode off to Leosthenes and, arrayed with the Athenians, fought for the liberty of the Greeks. Now that this great force had been added to the Athenians, the Greeks, who far outnumbered the Macedonians, were successful. Antipater was defeated in battle, and subsequently, since he neither dared to engage in battle nor was able to return in safety to Macedonia, he took refuge in Lamia. He kept his troops in this city and strengthened its walls, besides preparing arms, engines, and food, while anxiously waiting for his allies from Asia.
§ 18.13
Λεωσθένης δὲ μετὰ πάσης τῆς δυνάμεως παρελθὼν πλησίον τῆς Λαμίας καὶ τὴν παρεμβολὴν ὀχυρωσάμενος τάφρῳ βαθείᾳ καὶ χάρακι τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἐκτάξας τὴν δύναμιν προσῆγε τῇ πόλει καὶ τοὺς Μακεδόνας εἰς μάχην προυκαλεῖτο. μὴ τολμώντων δὲ αὐτῶν διαγωνίσασθαι προσβολὰς καθʼ ἡμέραν τοῖς τείχεσιν ἐκ διαδοχῆς ἐποιεῖτο. ἀμυνομένων δὲ τῶν Μακεδόνων εὐρώστως πολλοὶ τῶν προπετῶς βιαζομένων Ἑλλήνων ἀπώλλυντο· δυνάμεως γὰρ ἀξιολόγου κατὰ τὴν πόλιν οὔσης καὶ βελῶν παντοδαπῶν ἀφθονίας, ἔτι δὲ τείχους πολυτελοῦς κατεσκευασμένου ῥᾳδίως οἱ πολιορκούμενοι περιεγίνοντο. ὁ δὲ Λεωσθένης ἀπογνοὺς τὴν ἐκ βίας ἅλωσιν τῆς πόλεως τὰς ἀγομένας εἰς ταύτην ἀγορὰς παρῃρεῖτο, νομίζων ῥᾳδίως τῇ σιτοδείᾳ καταπολεμήσειν τοὺς ἐγκεκλεισμένους ἐν τῇ πόλει. κατεσκεύαζε δὲ καὶ τεῖχος καὶ τάφρον ὤρυττεν μεγάλην καὶ βαθεῖαν, εἴργων τοὺς πολιορκουμένους ἀπὸ τῆς ἐξόδου. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Αἰτωλοὶ μὲν ἀξιώσαντες τὸν Λεωσθένην διά τινας ἐθνικὰς χρείας κατὰ τὸ παρὸν ἀπελθεῖν ἐπʼ οἴκου πάντες ἐπανῆλθον εἰς τὴν Αἰτωλίαν· οὕτως δὲ τῶν περὶ Ἀντίπατρον καταπονηθέντων καὶ τῆς πόλεως κινδυνευούσης ἁλῶναι διὰ τὴν προσδοκωμένην σιτοδείαν ἡ τύχη τι παράδοξον ἀπένειμε τοῖς Μακεδόσιν εὐκλήρημα. τοῦ γὰρ Ἀντιπάτρου τοῖς τὰς τάφρους ὀρύττουσιν ἐπιθεμένου καὶ συμπλοκῆς γενομένης ὁ μὲν Λεωσθένης παραβοηθῶν τοῖς ἰδίοις καὶ πληγεὶς εἰς τὴν κεφαλὴν λίθῳ παραχρῆμα μὲν ἔπεσεν καὶ λιποψυχήσας εἰς τὴν παρεμβολὴν ἀπεκομίσθη, τῇ τρίτῃ δʼ ἡμέρᾳ τελευτήσαντος αὐτοῦ καὶ ταφέντος ἡρωικῶς διὰ τὴν ἐν τῷ πολέμῳ δόξαν ὁ μὲν δῆμος τῶν Ἀθηναίων τὸν ἐπιτάφιον ἔπαινον εἰπεῖν προσέταξεν Ὑπερείδῃ τῷ πρωτεύοντι τῶν ῥητόρων τῇ τοῦ λόγου δεινότητι καὶ τῇ κατὰ τῶν Μακεδόνων ἀλλοτριότητι· κατʼ ἐκεῖνον γὰρ τὸν καιρὸν ὁ μὲν κορυφαῖος τῶν Ἀθήνησι ῥητόρων Δημοσθένης ἐπεφεύγει, καταδεδικασμένος ὡς εἰληφὼς τῶν Ἁρπαλείων χρημάτων. ἀντὶ δὲ τοῦ Λεωσθένους κατεστάθη στρατηγὸς Ἀντίφιλος, ἀνὴρ συνέσει στρατηγικῇ καὶ ἀνδρείᾳ διαφέρων. καὶ τὰ μὲν κατὰ τὴν Εὐρώπην ἐν τούτοις ἦν.
Leosthenes, when he had come near Lamia with all his forces, fortified a camp with a deep ditch and a palisade. At first he would draw up his forces, approach the city, and challenge the Macedonians to battle; then, as the latter did not dare risk an encounter, he made daily attacks on the walls with relays of soldiers. As the Macedonians defended themselves stoutly, many of the Greeks who pushed on rashly were killed; for the besieged, since there was a considerable force in the city and an abundance of all sorts of missiles, and the wall, moreover, had been constructed at great expense, easily had the better of the fighting. Leosthenes, giving up hope of capturing the city by storm, shut off all the supplies that were going into it, thinking that he would easily reduce by hunger the forces besieged in the city. He also built a wall and dug a deep, wide ditch, thereby cutting off all escape for the beleaguered troops. After this the Aitolians all returned to Aitolia, having asked Leosthenes for permission to go home for the present because of some national business. Antipater and his men, however, were nearly exhausted and the city was in danger of being taken because of the anticipated famine, when chance gave the Macedonians an unexpected turn of good fortune. For when Antipater made an attack on the men who were digging the moat and a struggle ensued, Leosthenes, coming to aid his men, was struck on the head by a stone and at once fell and was carried to camp in a swoon. On the third day he died and was buried with the honours of a hero because of the glory he had gained in war. The Athenian people caused the funeral oration to be delivered by Hypereides, foremost of the orators in eloquence and in hostility toward the Macedonians; for at that time Demosthenes, the chief of the orators of Athens, was in exile, convicted of having taken some of the money of Harpalus. In place of Leosthenes, Antiphilus was made general, a man outstanding in military genius and courage. Such was the situation in Europe.
§ 18.14
κατὰ δὲ τὴν Ἀσίαν τῶν μεμερισμένων τὰς σατραπείας Πτολεμαῖος μὲν ἀκινδύνως παρέλαβε τὴν Αἴγυπτον καὶ τοῖς μὲν ἐγχωρίοις φιλανθρώπως προσεφέρετο, παραλαβὼν δὲ ὀκτακισχίλια τάλαντα μισθοφόρους ἤθροιζε καὶ δυνάμεις παρεσκευάζετο· συνέτρεχε δὲ καὶ φίλων πλῆθος πρὸς αὐτὸν διὰ τὴν ἐπιείκειαν. πρὸς δὲ Ἀντίπατρον διαπρεσβευόμενος κοινοπραγίαν συνέθετο, σαφῶς εἰδὼς ὅτι Περδίκκας ἐπιβαλεῖται παρελέσθαι τὴν τῆς Αἰγύπτου σατραπείαν. Λυσίμαχος δʼ ἐπιβαλὼν τοῖς κατὰ τὴν Θρᾴκην τόποις καὶ καταλαβὼν Σεύθην τὸν βασιλέα κατεστρατοπεδευκότα πεζοῖς μὲν δισμυρίοις, ἱππεῦσι δʼ ὀκτακισχιλίοις οὐ κατεπλάγη τὸ μέγεθος τῆς δυνάμεως. ἔχων δὲ τοὺς σύμπαντας πεζοὺς μὲν οὐ πλείους τῶν τετρακισχιλίων, ἱππεῖς δὲ δισχιλίους συνῆψε μάχην τοῖς βαρβάροις. ταῖς μὲν οὖν ἀνδραγαθίαις προεῖχεν αὐτῶν, τοῖς δὲ πλήθεσι λειπόμενος καρτερὰν μάχην συνεστήσατο καὶ πολλοὺς μὲν τῶν ἰδίων ἀποβαλών, πολλαπλασίους δʼ ἀποκτείνας ἐπανῆλθεν εἰς τὴν στρατοπεδείαν ἀμφίδοξον ἔχων τὴν νίκην. τότε μὲν οὖν ἐχωρίσθησαν ἐκ τῶν τόπων αἱ παρʼ ἀμφοτέροις δυνάμεις καὶ παρασκευὰς μείζους ἐποιοῦντο πρὸς τὴν τῶν ὅλων ἐπίθεσιν. Λεοννάτος δέ, παραγενομένου πρὸς αὐτὸν Ἑκαταίου πρεσβευτοῦ καὶ δεομένου βοηθῆσαι τὴν ταχίστην Ἀντιπάτρῳ καὶ Μακεδόσιν, ἐπηγγείλατο συμμαχήσειν. διαβὰς οὖν εἰς τὴν Εὐρώπην καὶ καταντήσας εἰς Μακεδονίαν προσελάβετο πολλοὺς στρατιώτας Μακεδόνας· ἀθροίσας δὲ τοὺς ἅπαντας πεζοὺς μὲν πλείους τῶν δισμυρίων, ἱππεῖς δὲ χιλίους καὶ πεντακοσίους προῆγεν διὰ τῆς Θετταλίας ἐπὶ τοὺς πολεμίους.
In Asia, of those who had shared in the division of the satrapies, Ptolemy took over Egypt without difficulty and was treating the inhabitants with kindness. Finding eight thousand talents in the treasury, he began to collect mercenaries and to form an army. A multitude of friends also gathered about him on account of his fairness. With Antipater he carried on a diplomatic correspondence that led to a treaty of co operation, since he well knew that Perdiccas would attempt to wrest from him the satrapy of Egypt. Lysimachus, when he entered the Thracian region and found that the king of that country, Seuthes, had taken the field with twenty thousand infantry and eight thousand cavalry, was not frightened by the size of the army. And although he had in all no more than four thousand foot soldiers and only two thousand horsemen, he joined battle with the barbarians. In truth he was superior to them in the quality of his troops though inferior in numbers, and the battle was a stubborn one. After losing most of his own men but killing many times that number, he returned to his camp with but a doubtful claim to victory. Therefore for the moment the forces of both sides withdrew from the locality and busied themselves with greater preparations for the final conflict. As for Leonnatus, when Hecataeus came to him as envoy and begged him to aid Antipater and the Macedonians with all speed, he promised to give military aid. He crossed over, therefore, into Europe and went on to Macedonia, where he enlisted many additional Macedonian soldiers. When he had gathered together in all more than twenty thousand infantry and fifteen hundred cavalry, he led them through Thessaly against the enemy.
§ 18.15
οἱ δὲ Ἕλληνες λύσαντες τὴν πολιορκίαν καὶ τὴν στρατοπεδείαν ἐμπρήσαντες τὸν μὲν ἀχρεῖον εἰς παράταξιν ὄχλον καὶ τὰς παρασκευὰς εἰς Μελιτίαν πόλιν ἐξέπεμψαν, αὐτοὶ δʼ εὔζωνοι καὶ πρὸς μάχην ὄντες ἕτοιμοι προῆγον, ἀπαντήσοντες τοῖς περὶ Λεοννάτον πρὸ τοῦ τὸν Ἀντίπατρον συμμίξαι καὶ τὰς δυνάμεις ἀμφοτέρας εἰς ἕνα τόπον συνελθεῖν. εἶχον δὲ τοὺς σύμπαντας πεζοὺς μὲν δισμυρίους καὶ δισχιλίους· οἱ γὰρ Αἰτωλοὶ πάντες προαπηλλαχότες ἦσαν εἰς τὴν οἰκείαν καὶ τῶν ἄλλων Ἑλλήνων οὐκ ὀλίγοι κατʼ ἐκεῖνον τὸν καιρὸν ὑπῆρχον εἰς τὰς πατρίδας κεχωρισμένοι· ἱππεῖς δὲ συνεστρατεύοντο πλείους τῶν τρισχιλίων καὶ πεντακοσίων, ὧν ἦσαν Θετταλοὶ δισχίλιοι διάφοροι ταῖς ἀρεταῖς, ἐν οἷς εἶχον μάλιστα τὰς τῆς νίκης ἐλπίδας. γενομένης δʼ ἱππομαχίας ἰσχυρᾶς ἐπὶ πολὺν χρόνον καὶ τῶν Θετταλῶν διὰ τὰς ἀρετὰς ἐπικρατούντων ὁ μὲν Λεοννάτος λαμπρῶς ἀγωνισάμενος καὶ διακλεισθεὶς εἰς τόπον τελματώδη τοῖς ὅλοις ἠλαττοῦτο, πολλοῖς δὲ τραύμασι περιπεσὼν καὶ τελευτήσας ὑπὸ τῶν ἰδίων ἤρθη καὶ πρὸς τὴν ἀποσκευὴν ἀπηνέχθη τετελευτηκώς· τῇ δʼ ἱππομαχίᾳ λαμπρῶς τῶν Ἑλλήνων νενικηκότων Μένωνος ἱππαρχοῦντος τοῦ Θετταλοῦ, εὐθὺς ἡ τῶν Μακεδόνων φάλαγξ φοβουμένη τοὺς ἱππεῖς ἀπεχώρησεν ἐκ τοῦ πεδίου πρὸς τὰς ὑπερκειμένας δυσχωρίας καὶ τῇ τῶν τόπων ὀχυρότητι τὴν ἀσφάλειαν περιεποιήσατο. τῶν δὲ Θετταλῶν ἱππέων προσμαχομένων καὶ διὰ τὴν δυσχωρίαν ἀπράκτων γινομένων οἱ μὲν Ἕλληνες τρόπαιον στήσαντες καὶ τῶν νεκρῶν κυριεύσαντες ἀπηλλάγησαν ἐκ τῆς μάχης, τῇ δʼ ὑστεραίᾳ παραγενηθέντος Ἀντιπάτρου μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως καὶ συμμίξαντος τοῖς ἡττημένοις μίαν οἱ πάντες Μακεδόνες ἐποιήσαντο τὴν στρατοπεδείαν καὶ τὴν τῶν ὅλων στρατηγίαν παρέλαβεν Ἀντίπατρος. οὗτος δὲ κρίνας ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος ἡσυχίαν ἔχειν καὶ θεωρῶν τοὺς πολεμίους ἱπποκρατοῦντας τὴν μὲν διὰ τῶν ὁμαλῶν ἀποχώρησιν ἀπέγνω, διὰ δὲ τῆς δυσχωρίας προάγων καὶ τοὺς ὑπερδεξίους τόπους προκαταλαμβανόμενος ἀπεχώρησεν ἐκ τούτων τῶν τόπων. Ἀντίφιλος δὲ ὁ τῶν Ἑλλήνων στρατηγὸς ἐπιφανεῖ μάχῃ νικήσας τοὺς Μακεδόνας ἐφήδρευε περὶ Θετταλίαν διατρίβων καὶ καραδοκῶν τὴν τῶν πολεμίων ὁρμήν. καὶ τὰ μὲν κατὰ τοὺς Ἕλληνας ἐν τοιαύταις εὐημερίαις ὑπῆρχε. τῶν δὲ Μακεδόνων θαλασσοκρατούντων οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι πρὸς ταῖς ὑπαρχούσαις ναυσὶν ἄλλας κατεσκεύασαν, ὥστε γενέσθαι τὰς πάσας ἑκατὸν ἑβδομήκοντα. τῶν δὲ Μακεδονικῶν νεῶν οὐσῶν διακοσίων καὶ τεσσαράκοντα τὴν ναυαρχίαν εἶχε Κλεῖτος. οὗτος δὲ ναυμαχήσας πρὸς Ἠετίωνα τὸν Ἀθηναίων ναύαρχον ἐνίκησε δυσὶν ναυμαχίαις καὶ συχνὰς τῶν πολεμίων νεῶν διέφθειρε περὶ τὰς καλουμένας Ἐχινάδας νήσους.
The Greeks, giving up the siege and burning their camp, sent away to the town of Melitia the camp followers, who were useless in a pitched battle, and the baggage train, while they themselves went forward with light equipment and ready for battle in order to engage the forces of Leonnatus before Antipater joined them and both armies came together in one place. They had in all twenty-two thousand foot soldiers, for all the Aitolians had previously departed to their own country and not a few of the other Greeks had at that time scattered to their native states. More than thirty-five hundred horsemen took part in the campaign, two thousand being Thessalians exceptional for their courage. In these especially the Greeks trusted for victory. Now when a fierce cavalry battle had gone on for some time and the Thessalians, thanks to their valour, were gaining the upper hand, Leonnatus, after fighting brilliantly even when cut off in a swampy place, was worsted at every point. Stricken with many wounds and at the point of death, he was taken up by his followers and carried, already dead, to the baggage train. The cavalry battle having been gloriously won by the Greeks under the command of Menon the Thessalian, the Macedonian phalanx, for fear of the cavalry, at once withdrew from the plain to the difficult terrain above and gained safety for themselves by the strength of the position. When the Thessalian cavalry, which continued to attack, was unable to accomplish anything because of the rough ground, the Greeks, who had set up a trophy and gained control of the dead, left the field of battle. On the next day, however, when Antipater came up with his troops and joined the defeated, all the Macedonians united in a single camp, and Antipater took command of the whole. He decided to avoid fighting for the present and, in view of the fact that the enemy were superior in cavalry, determined not to retreat through the plain. Instead, by going through the rough country and seizing in advance any points of vantage, he made good his retreat from the region. Antiphilus, the Greek commander, having defeated the Macedonians in a glorious battle, played a waiting game, remaining in Thessaly and watching for the enemy to move. The affairs of the Greeks were thus in thriving condition, but since the Macedonians had command of the sea, the Athenians made ready other ships in addition to those which they already had, so that there were in all one hundred and seventy. Cleitus was in command of the Macedonian fleet, which numbered two hundred and forty. Engaging with the Athenian admiral Evetion he defeated him in two naval battles and destroyed a large number of the ships of the enemy near the islands that are called the Echinades.
§ 18.16
ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις Περδίκκας, ἔχων μεθʼ ἑαυτοῦ τόν τε βασιλέα Φίλιππον καὶ τὴν βασιλικὴν δύναμιν, ἐστράτευσεν ἐπὶ Ἀριαράθην τὸν Καππαδοκίας δυνάστην. οὗτος γὰρ οὐ προσέχων τοῖς Μακεδόσιν ὑπὸ μὲν Ἀλεξάνδρου παρεωράθη διὰ τοὺς περὶ Δαρεῖον ἀγῶνας καὶ περισπασμούς, ἀναστροφὴν δὲ πολυχρόνιον εἶχε κυριεύων τῆς Καππαδοκίας. διὸ καὶ πολλὰ μὲν ἐκ τῶν προσόδων χρήματα ἤθροισε, δυνάμεις δʼ ἐγχωρίους καὶ ξενικὰς μεγάλας συνεστήσατο. διὸ καὶ βασιλείας ἀντιποιούμενος ἕτοιμος ἦν πρὸς τὸν Περδίκκαν διαγωνίζεσθαι, πεζοὺς μὲν ἔχων τρισμυρίους, ἱππεῖς δὲ μυρίους πεντακισχιλίους. ὁ δὲ Περδίκκας συνάψας αὐτῷ μάχην καὶ τῇ παρατάξει νικήσας ἀνεῖλε μὲν εἰς τετρακισχιλίους, ἐζώγρησε δὲ ὑπὲρ τοὺς πεντακισχιλίους, ἐν οἷς ἦν καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ Ἀριαράθης. τοῦτον μὲν οὖν καὶ τοὺς συγγενεῖς αὐτοῦ πάντας αἰκισάμενος ἀνεσταύρωσε· τοῖς δʼ ἡττηθεῖσι συγχωρήσας τὴν ἀσφάλειαν καὶ καταστήσας τὰ κατὰ τὴν Καππαδοκίαν παρέδωκε τὴν σατραπείαν Εὐμενεῖ τῷ Καρδιανῷ, καθάπερ ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἦν μεμερισμένος. ὑπὸ δὲ τοὺς αὐτοὺς καιροὺς καὶ Κρατερὸς ἐκ Κιλικίας ἀναζεύξας ἧκεν εἰς Μακεδονίαν, βοηθήσων τοῖς περὶ τὸν Ἀντίπατρον καὶ διορθωσόμενος τὰς γεγενημένας ἥττας τῶν Μακεδόνων. ἦγε δὲ πεζοὺς μὲν τῶν εἰς Ἀσίαν Ἀλεξάνδρῳ συνδιαβεβηκότων ἑξακισχιλίους, τῶν δʼ ἐν παρόδῳ προσειλημμένων τετρακισχιλίους, Πέρσας δὲ τοξότας καὶ σφενδονήτας χιλίους, ἱππεῖς δὲ χιλίους καὶ πεντακοσίους. παρελθὼν δʼ εἰς τὴν Θετταλίαν καὶ τοῦ πρωτείου παραχωρήσας ἑκουσίως Ἀντιπάτρῳ κοινῇ μετʼ αὐτοῦ κατεστρατοπέδευσε παρὰ τὸν Πηνειὸν ποταμόν. οἱ δὲ πάντες ἠθροίσθησαν σὺν τοῖς μετὰ Λεοννάτου παραγεγενημένοις πεζοὶ μὲν πλείους τῶν τετρακισμυρίων ἐν τοῖς βαρέσιν ὅπλοις, τοξόται δὲ καὶ σφενδονῆται τρισχίλιοι,
While these things were going on, Perdiccas, taking with him King Philip and the royal army, campaigned against Ariarathes, the ruler of Cappadocia. His failure to take orders from the Macedonians had been overlooked by Alexander, owing to the struggle with Darius and its distractions, and he had enjoyed a very long respite as king of Cappadocia. As a result he had amassed a great sum of money from the revenues and had formed a large body of native troops and mercenaries. He was thus ready to enter the lists against Perdiccas in defence of his kingdom with thirty thousand infantry and fifteen thousand cavalry. Perdiccas joined battle with him, and, defeating him in the conflict, slew men to the number of four thousand and took captive more than five thousand, among them Ariarathes himself. Now the king and all his relatives Perdiccas tortured and impaled; but to the conquered people he granted immunity, and after putting in order the affairs of Cappadocia, he gave the satrapy to Eumenes of Cardia, just as it had originally been assigned. About the same time Craterus also departed from Cilicia and arrived in Macedonia to reinforce Antipater and to make good the defeats that the Macedonians had suffered. He brought with him six thousand foot soldiers from those who had crossed into Asia with Alexander and four thousand from those who had been enlisted on the march, one thousand Persian bowmen and slingers, and fifteen hundred horsemen. Entering Thessaly and freely yielding the chief command to Antipater, he shared a camp with him beside the Peneius River. Including those who had been under Leonnatus, there were gathered together in all more than forty thousand heavy armed infantry, three thousand bowmen and slingers, and five thousand cavalry.
§ 18.17
ἱππεῖς δὲ πεντακισχίλιοι. οἱ δὲ Ἕλληνες κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν καιρὸν ἀντεστρατοπέδευσαν πολὺ τοῖς πλήθεσι λειπόμενοι· πολλοὶ γὰρ αὐτῶν διὰ τὰς προγεγενημένας εὐημερίας καταφρονοῦντες τῶν πολεμίων εἰς τὰς πατρίδας ἦσαν ἀπεληλυθότες πρὸς τὴν τῶν ἰδίων ἐπίσκεψιν. διʼ ἃς αἰτίας πολλοὶ τῶν στρατιωτῶν ἀτακτούντων ὑπολοίπους εἶχον ἐν τῇ παρεμβολῇ πεζοὺς μὲν δισμυρίους καὶ πεντακισχιλίους, ἱππεῖς δὲ τρισχιλίους καὶ πεντακοσίους, ἐν οἷς μάλιστα εἶχον τὰς τῆς νίκης ἐλπίδας διά τε τὰς τῶν ἀνδρῶν ἀρετὰς καὶ διὰ τὸ πεδινὴν ὑποκεῖσθαι χώραν. τέλος δὲ τῶν περὶ Ἀντίπατρον καθʼ ἡμέραν προαγόντων τὰς δυνάμεις καὶ προκαλουμένων εἰς μάχην τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἀνέμενον τοὺς ἀπὸ τῶν πόλεων παραγενησομένους, τῶν δὲ καιρῶν κατεπειγόντων ἠναγκάζοντο συγκαταβαίνειν εἰς τὸν ὑπὲρ τῶν ὅλων κίνδυνον. ἐκτάξαντες δὲ τὴν δύναμιν καὶ σπεύδοντες διὰ τῶν ἱππέων κρῖναι τὸν πόλεμον τούτους πρὸ τῆς τῶν πεζῶν φάλαγγος ἔστησαν. γενομένης δὲ ἱππομαχίας καὶ τῶν Θετταλῶν ἱππέων πλεονεκτούντων διὰ τὰς ἀρετὰς οἱ περὶ τὸν Ἀντίπατρον ἐπήγαγον τὴν ἰδίαν φάλαγγα καὶ τοῖς πεζοῖς τῶν πολεμίων ἐπιρράξαντες πολὺν ἐποιοῦντο φόνον. οἱ δʼ Ἕλληνες τὸ βάρος καὶ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν πολεμίων οὐ δυνάμενοι φέρειν εὐθὺς ἀπεχώρησαν πρὸς τὰς δυσχωρίας, τηροῦντες τὰς τάξεις ἐπιμελῶς. διὸ καὶ δραξάμενοι τόπων ὑπερδεξίων ῥᾳδίως ἠμύναντο τοὺς Μακεδόνας, ὑπερδέξιον ἔχοντες τὴν στάσιν. οἱ δὲ τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἱππεῖς ἐπὶ τοῦ προτερήματος ὄντες, ὡς ἔγνωσαν τὴν τῶν πεζῶν ἀποχώρησιν, εὐθὺς πρὸς ἐκείνους ἀφίππευσαν. τότε μὲν οὖν τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον ἀγωνισάμενοι διελύθησαν, ῥεπούσης τῆς νίκης πρὸς τοὺς Μακεδόνας· ἀπέθανον δʼ ἐν τῇ μάχῃ τῶν μὲν Ἑλλήνων πλείους τῶν πεντακοσίων, τῶν δὲ Μακεδόνων ἑκατὸν καὶ τριάκοντα. τῇ δʼ ὑστεραίᾳ Μένων μὲν καὶ Ἀντίφιλος οἱ τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἡγεμόνες συνεδρεύσαντες ἐβουλεύσαντο πότερον ἀναμείναντες τοὺς ἀπὸ τῶν πόλεων συμμάχους καὶ καταστάντες ἀξιόμαχοι περὶ τῶν ὅλων διακρίνωνται ἢ τῷ παρόντι καιρῷ συνείξαντες πρεσβεύωνται περὶ διαλύσεως. ἔδοξεν οὖν ἀποστέλλειν κήρυκας περὶ τῆς τοῦ πολέμου καταλύσεως. πραξάντων δʼ αὐτῶν τὸ δόξαν ἀπεκρίθησαν οἱ περὶ τὸν Ἀντίπατρον κατὰ πόλεις πρεσβεύειν· οὐδενὶ γὰρ τρόπῳ κοινὴν σύλλυσιν ποιήσεσθαι. τῶν δὲ Ἑλλήνων οὐ προσδεχομένων τὰς κατὰ πόλιν διαλύσεις οἱ μὲν περὶ τὸν Ἀντίπατρον καὶ Κρατερὸν ἐπολιόρκουν τὰς ἐπὶ Θετταλίας πόλεις καὶ κατὰ κράτος ᾕρουν, μὴ δυναμένων τῶν Ἑλλήνων βοηθεῖν. διὸ καὶ τῶν πόλεων περιφόβων οὐσῶν καὶ κατʼ ἰδίαν ἑκάστης πρεσβευούσης περὶ διαλύσεως πάσαις συγχωρῶν τὴν εἰρήνην ἐπιεικῶς προσεφέρετο. διόπερ ἐμπεσούσης ὁρμῆς εἰς τὰς πόλεις ἰδίᾳ πορίζεσθαι τὴν σωτηρίαν ταχὺ πᾶσαι τῆς εἰρήνης ἔτυχον. οἱ δʼ ἀλλοτριώτατα διακείμενοι πρὸς τοὺς Μακεδόνας Αἰτωλοὶ καὶ Ἀθηναῖοι, συμμάχων ὄντες ἔρημοι, μετὰ τῶν ἰδίων στρατηγῶν ἐβουλεύοντο περὶ τοῦ πολέμου.
The Greeks who were encamped against them at this time were far inferior in numbers; for many of them, despising the enemy because of their former good fortune, had gone away to their own cities to look after their private affairs. Since many soldiers were absent from duty for this reason, there remained in camp only twenty-five thousand foot soldiers and thirty-five hundred cavalry. They placed their chief hope of victory in the latter, because the men were brave and the ground was level. At last Antipater began to draw up his forces each day and challenge the Greeks to battle. For a while these waited for their men to return from their cities, but since time was pressing, they were forced to come out and stake all. They drew up their lines, placing the cavalry in front of the phalanx of infantry, since they were eager to decide the battle by means of this arm. When the cavalry had met in battle and the Thessalian horsemen were getting the advantage because of their valour, Antipater led out his own phalanx and, rushing upon the infantry of the enemy, began to make great slaughter. The Greeks, since they were not able to withstand the weight and number of the enemy, immediately withdrew to the rough ground, carefully keeping their ranks. Thus they occupied the higher ground and easily repulsed the Macedonians thanks to their possession of the superior position. Although the Greek cavalry had gained the advantage, as soon as the horsemen learned of the withdrawal of the infantry, they at once retired toward them. Then, after such a combat as I have described, the battle was broken off, as the scales of victory swung in favour of the Macedonians. More than five hundred of the Greeks were killed in the battle, and one hundred and thirty of the Macedonians. On the next day Menon and Antiphilus, the leaders of the Greeks, came together and took counsel whether they should wait for the allies from the cities and then, when they were in position to fight on equal terms, seek a final decision, or, yielding to the present situation, should send envoys to seek a truce. They decided to dispatch heralds to treat for peace. These carried out their orders, but Antipater answered that the cities must negotiate separately, for he would by no means make a mass settlement. Since the Greeks refused to agree to peace terms city by city, Antipater and Craterus began to lay siege to the cities in Thessaly and to take them by storm, since the Greeks could not send aid to them. When the cities were thus badly frightened and each on its own account began to send envoys about a settlement, Antipater came to terms with all of them, granting them peace on easy terms. This resulted in a movement among the cities to secure their safety separately, and all quickly obtained terms of peace; but those who were most hostile to the Macedonians, the Aitolians and the Athenians, deserted by their allies, took counsel about the war with their own generals.
§ 18.18
Ἀντίπατρος δὲ διὰ ταύτης τῆς στρατηγίας διαλύσας τὸ σύστημα τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἤγαγε τὴν δύναμιν πᾶσαν ἐπὶ τοὺς Ἀθηναίους. ὁ δὲ δῆμος ἐρημωθεὶς τῆς τῶν συμμάχων βοηθείας ἐν ἀπορίᾳ πολλῇ καθειστήκει· πάντων δὲ καταφερομένων ἐπὶ τὸν Δημάδην καὶ βοώντων τοῦτον ἐκπέμπειν πρεσβευτὴν πρὸς Ἀντίπατρον ὑπὲρ τῆς εἰρήνης οὗτος μὲν καλούμενος σύμβουλος οὐχ ὑπήκουσεν· ἦν γὰρ τρὶς ἡλωκὼς παρανόμων καὶ διὰ τοῦτο γεγονὼς ἄτιμος καὶ κωλυόμενος ὑπὸ τῶν νόμων συμβουλεύειν· ἀπολαβὼν δὲ τὴν ἐπιτιμίαν ὑπὸ τοῦ δήμου παραχρῆμα ἐξεπέμφθη πρεσβευτὴς μετὰ Φωκίωνος καί τινων ἑτέρων. τοῦ δʼ Ἀντιπάτρου διακούσαντος τῶν λόγων καὶ δόντος ἀπόκρισιν ὡς ἄλλως οὐ μὴ συλλύσηται τὸν πρὸς Ἀθηναίους πόλεμον, ἐὰν μὴ τὰ καθʼ ἑαυτοὺς ἐπιτρέψωσιν αὐτῷ ʽκαὶ γὰρ ἐκείνους συγκλείσαντας εἰς Λάμιαν τὸν Ἀντίπατρον τὰς αὐτὰς ἀποκρίσεις πεποιῆσθαι πρεσβεύσαντος αὐτοῦ περὶ τῆς εἰρήνησʼ ὁ δῆμος οὐκ ὢν ἀξιόμαχος ἠναγκάσθη τὴν ἐπιτροπὴν καὶ τὴν ἐξουσίαν πᾶσαν Ἀντιπάτρῳ δοῦναι περὶ τῆς πόλεως. ὁ δὲ φιλανθρώπως αὐτοῖς προσενεχθεὶς συνεχώρησεν ἔχειν τήν τε πόλιν καὶ τὰς κτήσεις καὶ τἄλλα πάντα· τὴν δὲ πολιτείαν μετέστησεν ἐκ τῆς δημοκρατίας καὶ προσέταξεν ἀπὸ τιμήσεως εἶναι τὸ πολίτευμα καὶ τοὺς μὲν κεκτημένους πλείω δραχμῶν δισχιλίων κυρίους εἶναι τοῦ πολιτεύματος καὶ τῆς χειροτονίας, τοὺς δὲ κατωτέρω τῆς τιμήσεως ἅπαντας ὡς ταραχώδεις ὄντας καὶ πολε μικοὺς ἀπήλασε τῆς πολιτείας καὶ τοῖς βουλομένοις χώραν ἔδωκεν εἰς κατοίκησιν ἐν τῇ Θρᾴκῃ. οὗτοι μὲν οὖν ὄντες πλείους τῶν δις1μυρίων καὶ δισχιλίων μετεστάθησαν ἐκ τῆς πατρίδος, οἱ δὲ τὴν ὡρισμένην τίμησιν ἔχοντες περὶ ἐννακισχιλίους ἀπεδείχθησαν κύριοι τῆς τε πόλεως καὶ χώρας καὶ κατὰ τοὺς Σόλωνος νόμου ἐπολιτεύοντο· πάντες δὲ τὰς οὐσίας εἰάθησαν ἔχειν ἀναφαιρέτους. φρούραρχον δὲ Μένυλλον καὶ φρουρὰν ἠναγκάσθησαν δέξασθαι τὴν οὐκ ἐπιτρέψουσαν οὐδενὶ νεωτερίζειν. περὶ δὲ τῆς Σάμου τὴν ἀναφορὰν ἐπὶ τοὺς βασιλεῖς ἐποιήσαντο. Ἀθηναῖοι μὲν οὖν παρʼ ἐλπίδα φιλανθρωπευθέντες ἔτυχον τῆς εἰρήνης καὶ τὸ λοιπὸν ἀταράχως πολιτευόμενοι καὶ τὴν χώραν ἀδεῶς καρπούμενοι ταχὺ ταῖς οὐσίαις προσανέδραμον. ὁ δʼ Ἀντίπατρος ἐπανελθὼν εἰς τὴν Μακεδονίαν τὸν μὲν Κρατερὸν ταῖς ἁρμοζούσαις τιμαῖς τε καὶ δωρεαῖς ἐκόσμησε καὶ τῶν θυγατέρων μίαν συνοικίσας αὐτῷ τὴν πρεσβυτάτην Φίλαν τὴν εἰς τὴν Ἀσίαν ἐπάνοδον συγκατεσκεύασεν. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ ταῖς ἄλλαις Ἑλληνίσι πόλεσιν ἐπιεικῶς προσενεχθείς καὶ τὰ πολιτεύματα συναγαγὼν καὶ καλῶς καταστήσας ἐπαίνων καὶ στεφάνων ἔτυχεν. ὀ δὲ Περδίκκας ἀποκαταστήσας τοῖς Σαμίοις τήν τε πόλιν καὶ χώραν κατήγαγεν αὐτοὺς εἰς τὴν πατρίδα, πεφευγότας ἔτη τρισὶ πλείω τῶν τεσσαράκοντα.
Antipater, after he had destroyed the alliance of the Greeks by this device, led all his forces against the Athenians. The people, bereft of the aid of their allies, were in great perplexity. All turned to Demades and shouted that he must be sent as envoy to Antipater to sue for peace; but, although he was called on by name to give advice, he did not respond. He had been convicted three times of introducing illegal decrees, and for this reason he had been deprived of his rights as a citizen and was prevented by the laws from advising; yet, on being restored to full rights by the possible, he was at once sent as envoy along with Phocion and some others. When Antipater had heard what they had to say, he made answer that he would end the war against the Athenians on no other condition than that they surrender all their interests to his discretion; for, after they had shut Antipater up in Lamia, they had made that same reply to him when he had sent envoys about peace. The people, not being in position to fight, were forced to grant to Antipater such discretion and complete authority over the city. He dealt humanely with them and permitted them to retain their city and their possessions and everything else; but he changed the government from a democracy, ordering that political power should depend on a census of wealth, and that those possessing more than two thousand drachmas should be in control of the government and of the elections. He removed from the body of citizens all who possessed less than this amount on the ground that they were disturbers of the peace and warmongers, offering to those who wished it a place for settlement in Thrace. These men, more than twelve thousand in number, were removed from their fatherland; but those who possessed the stated rating, being about nine thousand, were designated as masters of both city and territory and conducted the government according to the constitution of Solon. All were permitted to keep their property uncurtailed. They were, however, forced to receive a garrison with Menyllus as its commander, its purpose being to prevent anyone from undertaking changes in the government. The decision in regard to Samos was referred to the kings. The Athenians, being thus humanely treated beyond their hopes, secured peace; and, since henceforth they conducted their public affairs without disturbance and enjoyed the produce of the land unmolested, they quickly made great progress in wealth. When Antipater had returned to Macedonia, he presented Craterus with suitable honours and gifts, giving him also his eldest daughter Phila in marriage, and helped him to prepare for his return to Asia. He likewise showed moderation in dealing with the other Greek cities, both reducing their citizen bodies and wisely reforming them, for which he received eulogies and crowns. Perdiccas, restoring their city and territory to the Samians, brought them back to their fatherland after they had been exiles for fortythree years.
§ 18.19
ἡμεῖς δʼ ἐπεὶ τὰς κατὰ τὸν Λαμιακὸν πόλεμον ἐπιτελεσθείσας πράξεις διήλθομεν, μεταβησόμεθα πρὸς τὸν ἐν τῇ Κυρήνῃ γενόμενον πόλεμον, ἵνα μὴ μακρὰν τοῖς χρόνοις ἀποπλανῶμεν τὸ σύνεχὲς τῆς ἱστορίας. ἀναγκαῖον δʼ ἐστὶ βραχὺ τοῖς χρόνοις προσαναδραμεῖν, ὅπως σαφεστέρας ποιήσωμεν τὰς κατὰ μέρος πράξεις. Ἁρπάλου γὰρ τὸν ἐκ τῆς Ἀσίας δρασμὸν ποιησαμένου καὶ καταπλεύσαντος εἰς Κρήτην μετὰ τῶν μισθοφόρων, καθάπερ ἐν τῇ πρὸ ταύτης βύβλῳ δεδηλώκαμεν, Θίβρων, εἷς τῶν φίλων νομιζόμενος, δολοφονήσας τὸν Ἅρπαλον κύριος ἐγένετο τῶν τε χρημάτων καὶ τῶν στρατιωτῶν, ὄντων ἑπτακισχιλίων. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τῶν νεῶν ἐγκρατὴς γενόμενος καὶ τοὺς στρατιώτας εἰς ταύτας θέμενος κατέπλευσεν εἰς τὴν χώραν τῶν Κυρηναίων. ἀνειληφὼς δὲ μεθʼ αὑτοῦ τοὺς ἐκ τῆς Κυρήνης φυγάδας καὶ τούτους ἔχων καθηγουμένους τῆς ἐπιβουλῆς διὰ τὴν τῶν τόπων ἐμπειρίαν, ἀπαντησάντων τῶν Κυρηναίων καὶ μάχης γενομένης ὁ Θίβρων νικήσας πολλοὺς μὲν ἀπέκτεινεν, οὐκ ὀλίγους δʼ ἐζώγρησε. κυριεύσας δὲ τοῦ λιμένος καὶ πολιορκήσας καὶ καταπληξάμενος τοὺς Κυρηναίους ἠνάγκασεν ὁμολογίας ποιήσασθαι ὥστε αὐτοὺς δοῦναι ἀργυρίου τάλαντα πεντακόσια, τῶν δὲ ἁρμάτων τά ἡμίση πρὸς τὰς στρατείας συνεκπέμπειν. διεπρεσβεύσατο δὲ καὶ πρὸς τὰς ἄλλας πόλεις, ἀξιῶν συμμαχεῖν ὡς μέλλοντος αὐτοῦ τὴν πλησιόχωρον Λιβύην καταστρέφεσθαι. διήρπασε δὲ καὶ τῶν ἐμπόρων τὰ καταληφθέντα χρήματα ἐν τῷ λιμένι καὶ τοῖς στρατιώταις εἰς διαρπαγὴν ἔδωκεν, ἐκκαλούμενος αὐτῶν τὰς προθυμίας εἰς τὸν πόλεμον.
Now that we have narrated all the actions in the course of the Lamian War, we shall turn to the war that took place in Cyrene, so that the course of our history may not deviate too much from the chronological sequence. But it is necessary to go back a little in time in order to make clearer the several series of events. When Harpalus had fled from Asia and sailed to Crete with the mercenaries, as we have shown in the preceding Book, Thibron, who was regarded as one of his friends, treacherously murdered him and gained control of the money and the soldiers, who numbered seven thousand. He also took possession of the ships, embarked the soldiers on them, and sailed to the land of the Cyrenians. He had taken with him the exiles from Cyrene and was using them as instructors in his project because of their knowledge of the locality. When the Cyrenians opposed him and a battle took place, Thibron was victorious, killing many and taking captive no small number. By gaining control of the harbour and besieging and frightening the Cyrenians, he forced them to come to terms, and to agree to give him five hundred talents of silver and to contribute half of their chariots to aid his campaign. He sent envoys, moreover, to the other cities, asking them to make an alliance on the ground that he was going to subdue the neighbouring parts of Libya. He also treated as spoil the property of the traders that had been captured in the port and gave it to his soldiers as plunder, calling forth their zeal for the war.
§ 18.20
οὕτω δὲ τῶν πραγμάτων τῷ Θίβρωνι προχωρούντων ἡ τύχη ταχὺ μεταβαλοῦσα ἐταπείνωσεν αὐτὸν διὰ τοιαύτας αἰτίας. τῶν ἡγεμόνων τῶν παρʼ αὐτῷ τις Κρὴς μὲν τὸ γένος, ὄνομα δὲ Μνασικλῆς, ἐμπειρίαν δʼ ἔχων τῶν πολεμικῶν πράξεων διηνέχθη πρὸς αὐτόν, ἐγκαλέσας μὲν περὶ τοῦ μερισμοῦ τῶν λαφύρων, καὶ φύσει ταραχώδης ὢν καὶ θρασὺς ηὐτομόλησε πρὸς τοὺς Κυρηναίους. κατηγορήσας δὲ πολλὰ τοῦ Θίβρωνος εἰς ὠμότητα καὶ ἀπιστίαν ἔπεισε λῦσαι τὰς ὁμολογίας καὶ τῆς ἐλευθερίας ἀντέχεσθαι. διὸ καὶ ταλάντων ἑξήκοντα μόνον ἀποδεδομένων, τῶν δὲ λοιπῶν χρημάτων οὐ διδομένων ὁ μὲν Θίβρων ἐγκαλέσας τοῖς ἀφεστηκόσι συνέλαβε τῶν Κυρηναίων τοὺς παρόντας ἐν τῷ λιμένι, ὄντας περὶ ὀγδοήκοντα, εὐθὺ δὲ τὴν δύναμιν ἐπαγαγὼν ἐπὶ τὴν πόλιν ἐπολιόρκει τὴν Κυρήνην· οὐδὲν δὲ δυνάμενος πρᾶξαι πάλιν πρὸς τὸν λιμένα ἐπανῆλθε. τῶν δὲ Βαρκαίων καὶ τῶν Ἑσπεριτῶν συμμαχούντων τῷ Θίβρωνι Κυρηναῖοι μέρος μὲν τῆς δυνάμεως ἀπέλιπον ἐν τῇ Κυρήνῃ, τῷ μέρει δὲ στρατεύσαντες ἐπόρθουν τὴν τῶν ἀστυγειτόνων χώραν. τούτων δʼ ἐπικαλεσαμένων βοηθεῖν τὸν Θίβρωνα ἅπαντας τοὺς στρατιώτας ἐξήγαγεν ἐπὶ τὴν συμμαχίαν. καθʼ ὃν δὴ χρόνον ὁ Κρὴς συλλογισάμενος τὴν ἐρημίαν τοῦ λιμένος ἔπεισε τοὺς ἐν Κυρήνῃ καταλειφθέντας ἐπιθέσθαι τῷ λιμένι. ὑπακουσάντων δʼ εὐδὺς αὐτὸς καθηγούμενος ἐπέθετο τῷ λιμένι καὶ διὰ τὴν ἀπουσίαν τοῦ Θίβρωνος ῥᾳδίως ἐγκρατὴς γενόμενος τὰ περιλειπόμενα τῶν φορτίων ἀποκατέστησε τοῖς ἐμπόροις καὶ τὸν λιμένα φιλοτίμως ἐτήρει. ὁ δὲ Θίβρων τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἀθύμως εἶχεν, ἀπολωλεκὼς τόπον ἐπίκαιρον καὶ τὰς τῶν στρατιωτῶν ἀποσκευάς· μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα θαρσήσας δαὶ τὴν πόλιν τὴν ὀνομαζομένην Ταύχειρα ἐκπολιορκήσας ἀνέδραμε ταῖς ἐλπίσι. μετʼ ὀλίγον δὲ πάλιν αὐτὸν συνέβη περιπεσεῖν μεγαλοις ἐλαττώμασιν. οἱ γὰρ ἐν ταῖς ναυσὶν ὄντες τοῦ λιμένος ἐστερημένοι, τροφῆς δὲ ἀποροῦντες εἰώθεισαν καθʼ ἡμέραν ἐπὶ τὴν χώραν ἐξιέναι καὶ τὰς τροφὰς ἐκ ταύτης πορίζεσθαι. οἱ δὲ Λίβυες ἐνεδρεύσαντες αὐτοὺς πλανωμένους κατὰ τὴν χώραν πολλοὺς μὲν ἀπέκτειναν, οὐκ ὀλίγους δʼ ἐζώγρησαν· οἱ δὲ περιλειφθέντες ἐκ τοῦ κινδύνου καταφυγόντες εἰς τὰς ναῦς ἀπέπλεον εἰς τὰς συμμαχίδας πόλεις. ἐπιγενομένου δὲ μεγάλου πνεύματος αἱ πλεῖσται μὲν ὑπὸ τῆς θαλάσσης κατεπόθησαν, τῶν δʼ ἄλλων αἱ μὲν εἰς Κύπρον, αἱ δʼ εἰς Αἴγυπτον ἀπερρίφησαν.
Although the affairs of Thibron were thus prospering, Fortune by a sudden shift humbled him through the following circumstances. One of his leaders, a Cretan by birth, whose name was Mnasicles, a man of experience in warfare, quarrelled with him, having complained about the distribution of the booty; and being contentious by nature and bold, he deserted to the Cyrenians. Moreover, he made many complaints against Thibron, charging him with cruelty and faithlessness, and persuaded the Cyrenians to break the treaty and make a bid for liberty. And so when sixty talents only had been paid, and the rest of the money was not being given, Thibron denounced the rebels, seized any Cyrenians who were in the port, some eighty in number, and then, leading his forces directly against the city, laid siege to it. As he was unable to accomplish anything, he returned to the port. Since the people of Barca and of Hesperis were allied with Thibron, the Cyrenians, leaving part of their forces in Cyrene, took the field with part and plundered the land of their neighbours. When these called on Thibron to give them aid, he led all his soldiers against the alliance. At this the Cretan, concluding that the harbour was deserted, persuaded those who were left in Cyrene to attack it. When they obeyed him, he at once made an attack on the port, leading the way himself; and, easily gaining control of it thanks to the absence of Thibron, he restored to the merchants what was left of the cargoes and zealously guarded the port. At first Thibron was disheartened, since he had lost an advantageous position and the equipment of his soldiers; but afterwards, when he had recovered his spirits and captured by siege the city called Tauchira, his hopes again rose. It chanced, however, that in a short time he again encountered great misfortunes. The crews of his ships, having been deprived of their harbour and resulting short of food, were accustomed each day to go out into the country and gather supplies there; but the Libyans ambushed them as they were wandering about the country, killed many, and took no small number captive. Those who escaped the danger fled to the ships and sailed away for the allied cities. But when a great storm overtook them, most of the ships were swallowed by the sea; of the rest, some were cast ashore in Cyprus, others in Egypt.
§ 18.21
ὁ δὲ Θίβρων τηλικαύτῃ συμφορᾷ περιπεσὼν ὅμως ἀντείχετο τοῦ πολέμου, προχειρισάμενος δὲ τῶν φίλων τοὺς εὐθέτους ἔπεμψεν εἰς τὴν Πελοπόννησον ἀναληψομένους τῶν ξένων τοὺς ἐνδιατρίβοντας περὶ Ταίναρον. ἔτι γὰρ τῶν ἀμισθώτων γενομένων πολλοὶ διεπλανῶντο ζητοῦντες τοὺς μισθοδοτήσοντας καὶ τότε περὶ Ταίναρον ὑπῆρχον πλείους τῶν δισχιλίων καὶ πεντακοσίων. τούτους δὲ οἱ πεμφθέντες ἀνέλαβον, τὸν δὲ εἰς Κυρήνην πλοῦν ἐποιοῦντο. τῆς δὲ τούτων πρότερον παρουσίας οἱ μὲν Κυρηναῖοι θαρρήσαντες τοῖς γεγονόσι προτερήμασι μάχην συνῆψαν καὶ νικήσαντες τὸν Θίβρωνα πολλοὺς τῶν στρατιωτῶν ἀπέκτειναν. διὰ δὲ τὰς ἐλαττώσεις ὁ Θίβρων ἀπογινώσκων ἤδη τὰ κατὰ τὴν Κυρήνην παραδόξως πάλιν ἐθάρρησε. τῶν γὰρ ἀπὸ Ταινάρου στρατιωτῶν καταπλευσάντων καὶ μεγάλης αὐτῷ χειρὸς προσγενομένης εὔελπις ἐγένετο τῇ ψυχῇ. οἱ δὲ Κυρηναῖοι πάλιν θεωροῦντες τὸν πόλεμον αὐξόμενον μετεπέμψαντο τὴν συμμαχίαν παρὰ τῶν πλησιοχώρων Λιβύων καὶ παρὰ τῶν Καρχηδονίων, ἀθροίσαντες δὲ τοὺς ἅπαντας μετὰ τῶν πολιτικῶν στρατιώτας τρισμυρίους ἡτοιμάζοντο παρατάξει περὶ τῶν ὅλων διακριθῆναι. γενομένης δὲ παρατάξεως μεγάλης ὁ μὲν Θίβρων νικήσας τῇ μάχῃ καὶ πολλοὺς ἀνελὼν περιχαρὴς ἦν, ὡς αὐτίκα μάλα κυριεύσων τῶν πλησίον πόλεων, οἱ δὲ Κυρηναῖοι τῶν στρατηγῶν ἁπάντων ἀνῃρημένων ἐν τῇ μάχῃ τὸν Κρῆτα Μνασικλῆν μεθʼ ἑτέρων εἵλοντο στρατηγόν. Θίβρων δʼ ἐπαρθεὶς τῇ νίκῃ τὸν λιμένα τῶν Κυρηναίων ἐπολιόρκησε καὶ τῇ Κυρήνῃ καθʼ ἡμέραν προσβολὰς ἐποιεῖτο. χρονίζοντος δὲ τοῦ πολέμου Κυρηναῖοι μὲν σπανίζοντες τροφῆς ἐστασίασαν πρὸς ἀλλήλους· ἐπικρατούντων δὲ τῶν δημοτικῶν καὶ τοὺς κτηματικοὺς ἐκβαλλόντων οἱ τῆς πατρίδος στερηθέντες ἔφυγον οἱ μὲν πρὸς Θίβρωνα, οἱ δʼ εἰς Αἴγυπτον. οὗτοι δὲ πείσαντες τὸν Πτολεμαῖον κατάγειν αὐτοὺς ἧκον ἄγοντες δύναμιν ἀξιόλογον πεζικήν τε καὶ ναυτικὴν καὶ στρατηγὸν Ὀφέλλαν· ὧν τὴν παρουσίαν ἀκούσαντες οἱ παρὰ τῷ Θίβρωνι φυγάδες, νυκτὸς ἐπιχειρήσαντες πρὸς τούτους ἀπιέναι λάθρᾳ, φωραθέντες ἅπαντες κατεκόπησαν. οἱ δὲ τῆς Κυρήνης στρατηγοῦντες δημοτικοί, φοβηθέντες τὴν τῶν φυγάδων κάθοδον, διελύσαντο πρὸς τὸν Θίβρωνα καὶ κοινῇ πολεμεῖν πρὸς τὸν Ὀφέλλαν παρεσκευάζοντο. Ὀφέλλας δὲ καταπολεμήσας τὸν Θίβρωνα καὶ ζωγρήσας, ἔτι δὲ τῶν πόλεων ἐγκρατὴς γενόμενος παρέδωκε τάς τε πόλεις καὶ τὴν χώραν Πτολεμαίῳ τῷ βασιλεῖ. οἱ μὲν οὖν Κυρηναῖοι καὶ αἱ περιοικοῦσαι πόλεις τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον ἀποβαλοῦσαι τὴν ἐλευθερίαν ὑπὸ τὴν Πτολεμαϊκὴν βασιλείαν ἐτάχθησαν.
Nevertheless Thibron, although he had encountered such a misfortune, did not give up the campaign. Selecting those of his friends who were fitted for the task, he sent them to the Peloponnesus to hire those of the mercenaries who were waiting about near Taenarum; for many of the discharged mercenaries were still roaming about seeking paymasters; and at that time there were more than twenty-five hundred of them at Taenarum. His messengers engaged these and set out upon the voyage to Cyrene. But before their arrival the Cyrenians, encouraged by their successes, joined battle and defeated Thibron, killing many of his soldiers. But when, on account of these failures, Thibron was now ready to abandon the operations against Cyrene, he unexpectedly regained courage; for as soon as the soldiers from Taenarum put into port and a large force was added to his strength, he became confident in spirit. As the Cyrenians saw the tide of war again rising, they summoned the allied forces from the neighbouring Libyans and from the Carthaginians, and having collected in all thirty thousand men including their citizen soldiers, they made ready to reach a final decision in battle. When a great battle had taken place, Thibron, having won the victory with great slaughter of the enemy, was overjoyed, believing that he would at once capture the adjacent cities; but the Cyrenians, whose commanders had all been killed in the battle, elected the Cretan Mnasicles general along with others. Thibron, elated by the victory, laid siege to the port of the Cyrenians and made daily assaults on Cyrene. As the war continued a long time, the Cyrenians, who were in want of food, quarrelled among themselves; and the commons, gaining the upper hand, drove out the rich, who, bereft of their fatherland, fled, some to Thibron, others to Egypt. The latter, after persuading Ptolemy to restore them, returned bringing with them a considerable force, both infantry and naval, with Ophellas as general. The exiles who were with Thibron, hearing of the approach of these men and attempting to go over to them secretly at night, were detected and cut down to a man. The democratic leaders of Cyrene, becoming alarmed at the return of the exiles, made terms with Thibron and prepared to fight against Ophellas in common with him; but Ophellas, after defeating and capturing Thibron and also gaining control of the cities, delivered both the cities and the country over the Ptolemy the king. Thus the Cyrenians and the surrounding cities lost their freedom and were annexed to the kingdom of Ptolemy.
§ 18.22
Περδίκκας δὲ καὶ ὁ βασιλεὺς Φίλιππος καταπεπολεμηκότες Ἀριαράθην καὶ τὴν σατραπείαν αὐτοῦ Εὐμενεῖ παραδόντες ἐχωρίσθησαν ἐκ τῆς Καππαδοκίας. καταντήσαντες δὲ εἰς τὴν Πισιδικὴν ἔκριναν ἀναστάτους ποιῆσαι δύο πόλεις, τήν τε τῶν Λαρανδέων καὶ τὴν τῶν Ἰσαυρέων· αὗται γὰρ ἔτι ζῶντος Ἀλεξάνδρου Βάλακρον τὸν Νικάνορος ἀπέκτειναν, ἀποδεδειγμένον στρατηγὸν ἅμα καὶ σατράπην. τὴν μὲν οὖν τῶν Λαρανδέων πόλιν ἐξ ἐφόδου χειρωσάμενοι καὶ τοὺς ἡβῶντας κατασφάξαντες, τοὺς δʼ ἄλλους ἐξανδραποδισάμενοι κατέσκαψαν· τὴν δὲ τῶν Ἰσαυρέων, οὖσαν ὀχυρὰν καὶ μεγάλην, ἔτι δὲ πλήθουσαν ἀλκίμων ἀνδρῶν, ἐπὶ μὲν ἡμέραις δύο πολιορκήσαντες ἐνεργῶς καὶ πολλοὺς τῶν ἰδίων ἀποβαλόντες ἀνεχώρησαν· οἱ γὰρ ἐγχώριοι βελῶν καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν πρὸς πολιορκίαν ἀνηκόντων εὐποροῦντες, ἔτι δὲ ταῖς ψυχαῖς ὑπομένοντες τὸ δεινὸν παραστατικῶς ἑτοίμως ὑπὲρ τῆς ἐλευθερίας ἀπέθνησκον. τῇ δὲ τρίτῃ πολλῶν μὲν ἀνῃρημένων, τῶν δὲ τειχῶν ἐλλειπεῖς ἐχόντων τὰς φυλακὰς διὰ τὴν σπάνιν τῶν ἀνδρῶν ἐπετελέσαντο πρᾶξιν οἱ κατὰ τὴν πόλιν ἡρωικὴν καὶ μνήμης ἀξίαν. ὁρῶντες γὰρ ἀπαραίτητον οὖσαν τὴν κατʼ αὐτῶν τιμωρίαν καὶ δύναμιν οὐκ ἔχοντες ἀξιόχρεων τὴν ἀμυνομένην τὸ μὲν ἐγχειρίσαι τὴν πόλιν καὶ τὰ κατʼ αὐτοὺς ἐπιτρέψαι τοῖς πολεμίοις οὐκ ἔκριναν, ἐμφανοῦς οὔσης τῆς μεθʼ ὕβρεως τιμωρίας, νυκτὸς δʼ ὁμοθυμαδὸν πρὸς τὸν εὐγενῆ θάνατον ὁρμήσαντες τέκνα μὲν καὶ γυναῖκας καὶ γονεῖς εἰς τὰς οἰκίας ἐγκλείσαντες ἐνέπρησαν, κοινὸν θάνατον καὶ τάφον διὰ τοῦ πυρὸς ἑλόμενοι. τῆς δὲ φλογὸς ἄφνω πρὸς ὕψος αἰρομένης οἱ μὲν Ἰσαυρεῖς τὰ κτήματα καὶ πάντα τὰ δυνάμενα τοῖς κρατοῦσιν ὠφελείας παρέχεσθαι τῷ πυρὶ παρέβαλον, οἱ δὲ περὶ τὸν Περδίκκαν θαυμάσαντες τὸ γινόμενον περιέστησαν τὴν δύναμιν καὶ κατὰ πάντα τόπον ἐβιάζοντο παρεισπεσεῖν εἰς τὴν πόλιν. τῶν δʼ ἐγχωρίων ἀπὸ τῶν τειχῶν ἀμυνομένων καὶ πολλοὺς τῶν Μακεδόνων καταβαλλόντων ἔτι μᾶλλον ὁ Περδίκκας καταπληττόμενος ἐζήτει τὴν αἰτίαν διʼ ἣν οἱ τὰς οἰκίας καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ πάντα τῷ πυρὶ παραδεδωκότες φιλοτίμως τὰ τείχη φυλάττουσι. τέλος δὲ τοῦ Περδίκκου καὶ τῶν Μακεδόνων ἀπὸ τῆς πόλεως ἀποχωρησάντων οἱ Ἰσαυρεῖς εἰς τὸ πῦρ ἑαυτοὺς ῥίψαντες ἐν ταῖς οἰκίαις συνετάφησαν τοῖς οἰκείοις. Περδίκκας δὲ νυκτὸς διελθούσης ἔδωκε τοῖς στρατιώταις τὴν πόλιν εἰς διαρπαγήν. οὗτοι δὲ τὴν φλόγα κατασβέσαντες πολὺν ἄργυρόν τε καὶ χρυσόν εὗρον, ὡς ἂν πόλεως γεγενημένης εὐδαίμονος ἐκ πολλῶν χρόνων.
Now when Perdiccas and King Philip had defeated Ariarathes and delivered his satrapy to Eumenes, they departed from Cappadocia. And having arrived in Pisidia, they determined to lay waste two cities, that of the Larandians and that of the Isaurians; for while Alexander was still alive these cities had put to death Balacrus the son of Nicanor, who had been appointed general and satrap. Now the city of the Larandians they took by assault, and after killing the men of fighting age and enslaving the rest of the population, razed it to the ground. The city of the Isaurians, however, was strongly fortified and large and moreover was filled with stout warriors; so when they had besieged it vigorously for two days and had lost many of their own men, they withdrew; for the inhabitants, who were well provided with missiles and other things needed for withstanding a siege and were enduring the dreadful ordeal with desperate courage in their hearts, were readily giving their lives to preserve their freedom. On the third day, when many had been slain and the walls had few defenders because of the lack of men, the citizens performed a heroic and memorable deed. Seeing that the punishment that hung over them could not be averted, and not having a force that would be adequate to stave the enemy off, they determined not to surrender the city and place their fate in the hands of the enemy, since in that way their punishment combined with outrage was certain; but at night all with one accord, seeking the noble kind of death, shut up their children, wives, and parents in their houses, and set the houses on fire, choosing by means of the fire a common death and burial. 5 As the blaze suddenly flared aloft, the Isaurians cast into the fire their goods and everything that could be of use to the victors; Perdiccas and his officers, astounded at what was taking place, stationed their troops about the city and made a strong effort to break into the city on all sides. 6 When now the inhabitants defended themselves from the walls and struck down many of the Macedonians, Perdiccas was even more astonished and sought the reason why men who had given their homes and all else to the flames should be so intent upon defending the walls. 7 Finally Perdiccas and the Macedonians withdrew from the city, and the Isaurians, throwing themselves into the fire, found burial in their homes along with their families. 8 When the night was over, Perdiccas gave the city to his soldiers for booty. They, when they had put out the fire, found an abundance of silver and gold, as was natural in a city that had been prosperous for a great many years.
§ 18.23
μετὰ δὲ τὴν ἀπώλειαν τῶν πόλεων ἧκον δύο γυναῖκες εἰς συνοικισμὸν τῷ Περδίκκᾳ, Νίκαιά τε ἡ Ἀντιπάτρου θυγάτηρ, ἣν αὐτὸς ὁ Περδίκκας ἦν μεμνηστευκώς, καὶ Κλεοπάτρα ἡ Ἀλεξάνδρου μὲν ἀδελφὴ γνησία, θυγάτηρ δὲ Φιλίππου τοῦ Ἀμύντου. ὁ δὲ Περδίκκας πρότερον μὲν ἦν κεκρικὼς κοινοπραγίαν Ἀντιπάτρῳ καὶ διὰ τοῦτο τὴν μνηστείαν ἐπεποίητο, μήπω τῶν κατʼ αὐτὸν πραγμάτων βεβαίως ἐστερεωμένων· ὡς δὲ παρέλαβε τάς τε βασιλικὰς δυνάμεις καὶ τὴν τῶν βασιλέων προστασίαν, μετέπεσε τοῖς λογισμοῖς. ὀρεγόμενος γὰρ βασιλείας ἔσπευδε τὴν Κλεοπάτραν γῆμαι, νομίζων διὰ ταύτης προτρέψεσθαι τοὺς Μακεδόνας συγκατάσκευάζειν αὐτῷ τὴν τῶν ὅλων ἐξουσίαν. οὔπω δὲ βουλόμενος ἀποκαλύψασθαι πρὸς τὴν ἐπιβολὴν κατὰ μὲν τὸ παρὸν ἦγε τὴν Νίκαιαν, ὅπως μὴ τὸν Ἀντίπατρον ἀλλότριον ἔχῃ ταῖς ἰδίαις ἐπιβολαῖς· μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Ἀντιγόνου τὴν προαίρεσιν αὐτοῦ κατανοήσαντος καὶ φιλίαν ἔχοντος πρὸς Ἀντίπατρον, ἔτι δὲ ὄντος τοῦ ἀνδρὸς τούτου πρακτικωτάτου τῶν ἡγεμόνων ἔκρινεν αὐτὸν ἐκποδῶν ποιήσασθαι. ἐπιβαλὼν οὖν αὐτῷ διαβολὰς ψευδεῖς καὶ κατηγορίας ἀδίκους φανερὸς ἦν ἀναιρήσων αὐτόν ὁ δʼ Ἀντίγονος συνέσει καὶ τόλμῃ διαφέρων φανερῶς μὲν ἀπεφαίνετο βούλεσθαι περὶ τῶν ἐγκαλουμένων ἀπολογήσασθαι, λάθρᾳ δὲ παρασκευασάμενος τὰ πρὸς τὸν δρασμὸν ἔλαθε μετὰ τῶν ἰδίων φίλων καὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ Δημητρίου νυκτὸς εἰσβὰς εἰς τὰς Ἀττικὰς ναῦς. ἐν δὲ ταύταις κομισθεὶς εἰς τὴν Εὐρώπην προῆγε συμμίξων Ἀντιπάτρῳ.
After the destruction of the cities there came two women to marry Perdiccas, Nicaea, the daughter of Antipater, for whose hand Perdiccas himself had sued, and Cleopatra, who was Alexander's own sister, daughter of Philip son of Amyntas. Perdiccas had formerly planned to work in harmony with Antipater, and for this reason he had pressed his suit when his position was not yet firmly established; but when he had gained control of the royal armies and the guardianship of the kings, he changed his calculations. For since he was now reaching out for the kingship, he was bent upon marrying Cleopatra, believing that he could use her to persuade the Macedonians to help him gain the supreme power. But not wishing as yet to reveal his design, he married Nicaea for the time, so that he might not render Antipater hostile to his own undertakings. Presently, however, Antigonus learned his intentions, and since Antigonus was a friend of Antipater and, moreover, the most energetic of the commanders, Perdiccas decided to put him out of the way. So, by bringing false slanders and unjust charges against him, he clearly revealed his intention of destroying him. Antigonus, however, who excelled in keenness and daring, outwardly let it be known that he wished to defend himself against these charges, but secretly he made arrangements for flight and, with his personal friends and his son Demetrius, boarded the Athenian ships unexpectedly at night. And having been brought to Europe in these, he travelled on to join forces with Antipater.
§ 18.24
κατὰ δὲ τούτους τοὺς καιροὺς Ἀντίπατρος καὶ Κρατερὸς ἐπὶ τοὺς Αἰτωλοὺς ἐστράτευσαν, ἔχοντες πεζοὺς μὲν τρισμυρίους, ἱππεῖς δὲ δισχιλίους καὶ πεντακοσίους· οὗτοι γὰρ τῶν ἐν τῷ Λαμιακῷ πολέμῳ διαπολεμησάντων ὑπόλοιποι διέμενον ἀχείρωτοι. οἱ δὲ Αἰτωλοὶ τηλικούτων δυνάμεων ἐπʼ αὐτοὺς ὡρμημένων οὐ κατεπλάγησαν ταῖς ψυχαῖς, ἀλλὰ τοὺς μὲν ἀκμάζοντας ταῖς ἡλικίαις ἀθροίσαντες εἰς μυρίους κατέφυγον εἰς τοὺς ὀρεινοὺς καὶ τραχεῖς τόπους, εἰς οὓς τέκνα καὶ γυναῖκας καὶ τοὺς γεγηρακότας καὶ τὸ τῶν χρημάτων πλῆθος ἀπέθεντο, καὶ τὰς μὲν ἀνωχύρους πόλεις ἐξέλιπον, τὰς δὲ ὀχυρότητι διαφερούσας φρουραῖς ἀξιολόγοις διαλαβόντες εὐτόλμως ὑπέμενον τὴν τῶν πολεμίων ἔφοδον.
At this time Antipater and Craterus had taken the field against the Aitolians with thirty thousand infantry and twenty-five hundred cavalry; for of those who had taken part in the Lamian War, the Aitolians alone were left unconquered. Although such great forces were sent against them, they were in no panic-stricken mood, but gathering together all who were in the full vigour of manhood to the number of ten thousand, they retired to the mountainous and rough places, in which they placed the children, the women, and the old, together with the greater part of their wealth. The cities that could not be defended they abandoned, but those that were particularly strong they secured, each with a considerable garrison, and boldly awaited the approach of the enemy.
§ 18.25
οἱ δὲ περὶ τὸν Ἀντίπατρον καὶ Κρατερὸν εἰσβαλόντες εἰς τὴν Αἰτωλίαν καὶ τὰς εὐχειρώτους πόλεις ὁρῶντες ἐρήμους ὥρμησαν ἐπὶ τοὺς ἀνακεχωρηκότας εἰς τὰς δυσχωρίας. τὸ μὲν οὖν πρῶτον οἱ Μακεδόνες πρὸς τόπους ὀχυροὺς καὶ τραχεῖς βιαζόμενοι πολλοὺς τῶν στρατιωτῶν ἀπέβαλον· ἡ γὰρ τόλμα τῶν Αἰτωλῶν προσλαβοῦσα τὴν ἐν τοῖς τόποις ὀχυρότητα ῥᾳδίως ἠμύνετο τοὺς διὰ τὴν προπέτειαν εἰς ἀβοηθήτους κινδύνους προπίπτοντας· μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τῶν περὶ Κρατερὸν στεγνὰ κατασκευασάντων καὶ συναναγκαζόντων τοὺς πολεμίους μένειν τὸν χειμῶνα καὶ διακαρτερεῖν ἐν τόποις χιονοβολουμένοις καὶ τροφῆς ἐνδεέσιν εἰς τοὺς ἐσχάτους ἦλθον κινδύνους· ἀναγκαῖον γὰρ ἦν ἢ καταβάντας ἀπὸ τῶν ὀρέων διαγωνίσασθαι πρὸς δυνάμεις πολλαπλασίους καὶ στρατηγοὺς ἐπιφανεῖς ἢ μένοντας ὑπʼ ἐνδείας καὶ κρυμοῦ διαφθαρῆναι. ἤδη δʼ αὐτῶν ἀπογινωσκόντων τὴν σωτηρίαν αὐτόματός τις λύσις τῶν κακῶν ἐφάνη, καθάπερ θεῶν τινος ἐλεοῦντος αὐτῶν τὴν εὐψυχίαν. Ἀντίγονος γὰρ ὁ πεφευγὼς ἐκ τῆς Ἀσίας συμμίξας τοῖς περὶ τὸν Ἀντίπατρον ἐδίδαξεν αὐτοὺς περὶ τῆς ὅλης ἐπιβουλῆς τοῦ Περδίκκου καὶ διότι τὴν Κλεοπάτραν γαμήσας εὐθὺς ἥξει μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως εἰς Μακεδονίαν ὡς βασιλεὺς καὶ τὴν ἡγεμονίαν αὐτῶν παραιρήσεται. οἱ δὲ περὶ τὸν Κρατερὸν καὶ Ἀντίπατρον διὰ τὸ παράδοξον τῆς προσαγγελίας καταπλαγέντες συνήδρευσαν μετὰ τῶν ἡγεμόνων. προτεθείσης οὖν βουλῆς περὶ τούτων ἔδοξεν ὁμογνωμόνως πρὸς μὲν Αἰτωλοὺς ἐφʼ οἷς ἦν δυνατὸν διαλυθῆναι, τὰς δὲ δυνάμεις κατὰ τάχος περαιοῦν εἰς τὴν Ἀσίαν καὶ τῷ μὲν Κρατερῷ τὴν τῆς Ἀσίας ἡγεμονίαν περιτιθέναι, τῷ δʼ Ἀντιπάτρῳ τὴν τῆς Εὐρώπης, πρεσβεύειν δὲ καὶ πρὸς Πτολεμαῖον περὶ κοινοπραγίας, ὄντα τοῦ μὲν Περδίκκου παντελῶς ἀλλότριον, ἑαυτοῖς δὲ φίλον, κοινῇ δὲ ἐπιβουλευόμενον. εὐθὺς οὖν πρὸς μὲν Αἰτωλοὺς διάλυσιν ἐποιήσαντο, διεγνωκότες ὕστερον αὐτοὺς καταπολεμῆσαι καὶ μεταστῆσαι πανοικίους ἅπαντας εἰς τὴν ἐρημίαν καὶ πορρωτάτω τῆς Ἀσίας κειμένην χώραν, αὐτοὶ δὲ δόγμα γράψαντες ἀκόλουθον τοϊς προειρημένοις παρεσκευάζοντο τὰ πρὸς τὴν στρατείαν. Περδίκκας δὲ τούς τε φίλους καὶ τοὺς ἡγεμόνας ἀθροίσας προέθηκε βουλὴν πότερον ἐπὶ τὴν Μακεδονίαν χρὴ στρατεύειν ἢ πρότερον ἐπὶ τὸν Πτολεμαῖον ὁρμῆσαι. πάντων δʼ ἐπενεχθέντων ἐπὶ τὸ πρότερον καταπολεμῆσαι τὸν Πτολεμαῖον, ὅπως μηδὲν ἐμπόδιον ἔχωσι τῆς κατὰ τὴν Μακεδονίαν ὁρμῆς, Εὐμενῆ μὲν ἐξέπεμψε μετὰ δυνάμεως ἀξιολόγου, προστάξας ἐφεδρεύειν τοῖς περὶ τὸν Ἑλλήσποντον τόποις καὶ τὴν διάβασιν κωλύειν, αὐτὸς δὲ ἀναλαβὼν τὴν δύναμιν ἐκ τῆς Πισιδικῆς τὴν πορείαν ἐπὶ τὴν Αἴγυπτον ἐποιεῖτο. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἐπράχθη κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν ἐνιαυτόν.
Antipater and Craterus, coming into Aitolia and finding that the cities which were easy to capture were deserted, moved against the men who had withdrawn into the difficult regions. At first, then, the Macedonians, violently attacking positions that were strongly fortified and in broken terrain, lost many of their soldiers; for the hardihood of the Aitolians joined with the strength of their positions easily turned back men who rushed headlong into dangers beyond reach of succour. Afterward, however, when Craterus had built shelters and was forcing the enemy to stay through the winter and to hold out in regions that were covered with snow and lacking in food, the Aitolians were brought into the greatest dangers; for they had either to come down from their mountains and fight against forces numbering many times their own and against famous generals, or to remain and be utterly destroyed by want and cold. When they were already giving up hope of salvation, relief from their troubles appeared of its own accord, just as if one of the gods had been moved to pity by their high courage. For Antigonus, he who had fled from Asia, joined Antipater and told him the whole plot of Perdiccas, and that Perdiccas, after marrying Cleopatra, would come at once with his army to Macedonia as king and deprive Antipater of the supreme command. Craterus and Antipater, dumbfounded by the unexpected news, met in council with their commanders. When the situation had been presented for deliberation, it was unanimously decided to make peace with the Aitolians on whatever terms were possible, to transport the armies with all speed to Asia, to assign the command of Asia to Craterus and that of Europe to Antipater, and also to send an embassy to Ptolemy to discuss concerted action, since he was utterly hostile to Perdiccas but friendly to them, and he in common with them was an object of the plot. Therefore they at once made a treaty with the Aitolians, firmly resolved to conquer them later and to move them all — men, women, and children — to the most distant desert of Asia. When they had recorded a decree embodying these plans, they made preparations for the campaign. Perdiccas, gathering his friends and generals, referred to them for consideration the question whether it was better to march against Macedonia or first to take the field against Ptolemy. When all favoured defeating Ptolemy first in order that there might be no obstacle in the way of their Macedonian campaign, he sent Eumenes off with a considerable army, ordering him to watch over the region of the Hellespont and prevent a crossing; and he himself, taking the army from Pisidia, proceeded against Egypt. Such, then, were the events of this year.
§ 18.26
ἐπ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησι Φιλοκλέους ἐν Ῥώμῃ κατεστάθησαν ὕπατοι Γάιος Σολπίκιος καὶ Γάιος Αἴλιος. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Ἀρριδαῖος ὁ κατασταθεὶς ἐπὶ τὴν κατακομιδὴν τοῦ Ἀλεξάνδρου σώματος, συντετελεκὼς τὴν ἁρμάμαξαν ἐφʼ ἧς ἔδει κατακομισθῆναι τὸ βασιλικὸν σῶμα, παρεσκευάζετο τὰ πρὸς τὴν κομιδήν. ἐπεὶ δὲ τὸ κατασκευασθὲν ἔργον, ἄξιον ὑπάρχον τῆς Ἀλεξάνδρου δόξης, οὐ μόνον κατὰ τὴν δαπάνην διήνεγκε τῶν ἄλλων, ὡς ἀπὸ πολλῶν ταλάντων κατασκευασθέν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῇ κατὰ τὴν τέχνην περιττότητι περιβόητον ὑπῆρξε, καλῶς ἔχειν ὑπολαμβάνομεν ἀναγράψαι περὶ αὐτοῦ. πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ τῷ σώματι κατεσκευάσθη χρυσοῦν σφυρήλατον ἁρμόζον καὶ τοῦτʼ ἀνὰ μέσον ἐπλήρωσαν ἀρωμάτων τῶν ἅμα δυναμένων τὴν εὐωδίαν καὶ τὴν διαμονὴν παρέχεσθαι τῶ σώματι. ἐπάνω δὲ τῆς θήκης ἐπετέθειτο καλυπτὴρ χρυσοῦς, ἁρμόζων ἀκριβῶς καὶ περιλαμβάνων τὴν ἀνωτάτω περιφέρειαν. ταύτης δʼ ἐπάνω περιέκειτο φοινικὶς διαπρεπὴς χρυσοποίκιλτος, παρʼ ἣν ἔθεσαν τὰ τοῦ μετηλλαχότος ὅπλα, βουλόμενοι συνοικειοῦν τὴν ὅλην φαντασίαν ταῖς προκατειργασμέναις πράξεσι. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα παρέστησαν τὴν τοῦτο κομιοῦσαν ἁρμάμαξαν, ἧς κατεσκεύαστο κατὰ μὲν τὴν κορυφὴν καμάρα χρυσῆ, ἔχουσα φολίδα λιθοκόλλητον, ἧς ἦν τὸ μὲν πλάτος ὀκτὼ πηχῶν, τὸ δὲ μῆκος δώδεκα, ὑπὸ δὲ τὴν ὑπωροφίαν παρʼ ὅλον τὸ ἔργον θριγκὸς χρυσοῦς, τῷ σχήματι τετράγωνος, ἔχων τραγελάφων προτομὰς ἐκτύπους, ἐξ ὧν ἤρτηντο κρίκοι χρυσοῖ διπάλαιστοι, διʼ ὧν κατακεκρέμαστο στέμμα πομπικόν, χρώμασι παντοδαποῖς διαπρεπῶς κατηνθισμένον. ἐπὶ δὲ τῶν ἄκρων ὑπῆρχε θύσανος δικτυωτός, ἔχων εὐμεγέθεις κώδωνας, ὥστʼ ἐκ πολλοῦ διαστήματος προσπίπτειν τὸν ψόφον τοῖς ἐγγίζουσι. κατὰ δὲ τὰς τῆς καμάρας γωνίας ἐφʼ ἑκάστης ἦν πλευρᾶς Νίκη χρυσῆ τροπαιοφόρος. τὸ δʼ ἐκδεχόμενον τὴν καμάραν περίστυλον χρυσοῦν ὑπῆρχεν, ἔχον Ἰωνικὰ κιονόκρανα. ἐντὸς δὲ τοῦ περιστύλου δίκτυον ἦν χρυσοῦν, τὸ πάχος τῇ πλοκῇ δακτυλιαῖον καὶ πίνακας παραλλήλους ζῳοφόρους τέσσαρας ἴσους τοῖς τοίχοις ἔχον.
When Philocles was archon in Athens, Gaius Sulpicius and Gaius Aelius were elected consuls in Rome. In this year Arrhidaeus, who had been placed in charge of bringing home the body of Alexander, having completed the vehicle on which the royal body was to be carried, was making preparations for the journey. Since the structure that had been made ready, being worthy of the glory of Alexander, not only surpassed all others in cost — it had been constructed at the expense of many talents — but was also famous for the excellence of its workmanship, I believe that it is well to describe it. First they prepared a coffin of the proper size for the body, made of hammered gold, and the space about the body they filled with spices such as could make the body sweet smelling and incorruptible. 4 Upon this chest there had been placed a cover of gold, matching it to a nicety, and fitting about its upper rim. Over this was laid a magnificent purple robe embroidered with gold, beside which they placed the arms of the deceased, wishing the design of the whole to be in harmony with his accomplishments. Then they set up next to it the covered carriage that was to carry it. At the top of the carriage was built a vault of gold, eight cubits wide and twelve long, covered with overlapping scales set with precious stones. Beneath the roof all along the work was a rectangular cornice of gold, from which projected heads of goat-stags in high relief. Gold rings two palms broad were suspended from these, and through the rings there ran a festive garland beautifully decorated in bright colours of all kinds. 6 At the ends there were tassels of network suspending large bells, so that any who were approaching heard the sound from a great distance. On each corner of the vault on each side was a golden figure of Victory holding a trophy. The colonnade that supported the vault was of gold with Ionic capitals. Within the colonnade was a golden net, made of cords the thickness of a finger, which carried four long painted tablets, their ends adjoining, each equal in length to a side of the colonnade.
§ 18.27
τούτων δʼ ὁ μὲν πρῶτος ἦν ἔχων ἅρμα τορευτὸν καὶ καθήμενον ἐπὶ τούτου τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον, μετὰ χεῖρας ἔχοντα σκῆπτρον διαπρεπές· περὶ δὲ τὸν βασιλέα μία μὲν ὑπῆρχε θεραπεία καθωπλισμένη Μακεδόνων, ἄλλη δὲ Περσῶν μηλοφόρων καὶ πρὸ τούτων ὁπλοφόροι· ὁ δὲ δεύτερος εἶχε τοὺς ἐπακολουθοῦντας τῇ θεραπείᾳ ἐλέφαντας κεκοσμημένους πολεμικῶς, ἀναβάτας ἔχοντας ἐκ μὲν τῶν ἔμπροσθεν Ἰνδούς, ἐκ δὲ τῶν ὄπισθεν Μακεδόνας καθωπλισμένους τῇ συνήθει σκευῇ, ὁ δὲ τρίτος ἱππέων εἴλας μιμουμένας τὰς ἐν ταῖς παρατάξεσι συναγωγάς, ὁ δὲ τέταρτος ναῦς κεκοσμημένας πρὸς ναυμαχίαν. καὶ παρὰ μὲν τὴν εἰς τὴν καμάραν εἴσοδον ὑπῆρχον λέοντες χρυσοῖ, δεδορκότες πρὸς τοὺς εἰσπορευομένους· ἀνὰ μέσον δὲ ἑκάστου τῶν κιόνων ὑπῆρχε χρυσοῦς ἄκανθος ἀνατείνων ἐκ τοῦ κατʼ ὀλίγον μέχρι τῶν κιονοκράνων. ἐπάνω δὲ τῆς καμάρας κατὰ μέσην τὴν κορυφὴν φοινικὶς ὑπῆρχεν ὑπαίθριος, ἔχουσα χρυσοῦν στέφανον ἐλαίας εὐμεγέθη, πρὸς ὃν ὁ ἥλιος προσβάλλων τὰς ἀκτῖνας κατεσκεύαζε τὴν αὐγὴν ἀποστίλβουσαν καὶ σειομένην, ὥστʼ ἐκ μακροῦ διαστήματος ὁρᾶσθαι τὴν πρόσοψιν ἀστραπῇ παραπλησίαν. ἡ δʼ ὑπὸ τὴν καμάραν καθέδρα δύο εἶχεν ἄξονας, οὓς περιεδίνευον τροχοὶ Περσικοὶ τέσσαρες, ὧν ὑπῆρχε τὰ μὲν πλάγια καὶ αἱ κνημίδες κατακεχρυσωμέναι, τὸ δὲ προσπῖπτον τοῖς ἐδάφεσι μέρος σιδηροῦν. τῶν δʼ ἀξόνων τὰ προέχοντα χρυσᾶ κατεσκεύαστο, προτομὰς ἔχοντα λεόντων σιβύνην ὀδὰξ κατεχούσας. κατὰ δὲ μέσον τὸ μῆκος εἶχον πόλον ἐνηρμοσμένον μηχανικῶς ἐν μέσῃ τῇ καμάρᾳ, ὥστε δύνασθαι διὰ τούτου τὴν καμάραν ἀσάλευτον εἶναι κατὰ τοὺς σεισμοὺς καὶ ἀνωμάλους τόπους. τεσσάρων δʼ ὄντων ῥυμῶν ἑκάστῳ τετραστοιχία ζευγῶν ὑπέζευκτο, τεσσάρων ἡμιόνων ἑκάστῳ ζεύγει προσδεδεμένων, ὥστε τοὺς ἅπαντας ἡμιόνους εἶναι ἑξήκοντα καὶ τέσσαρας, ἐπιλελεγμένους ταῖς τε ῥώμαις καὶ τοῖς ἀναστήμασιν. ἕκαστος δὲ τούτων ἐστεφάνωτο κεχρυσωμένῳ στεφάνῳ καὶ παρʼ ἑκατέραν τῶν σιαγόνων εἶχεν ἐξηρτημένον κώδωνα χρυσοῦν, περὶ δὲ τοὺς τραχήλους χλιδῶνας λιθοκολλήτους.
On the first of these tablets was a chariot ornamented with work in relief, and sitting in it was Alexander holding a very splendid sceptre in his hands. About the king were groups of armed attendants, one of Macedonians, a second of Persians of the bodyguard, and armed soldiers in front of them. The second tablet showed the elephants arrayed for war who followed the bodyguard. They carried Indian mahouts in front with Macedonians fully armed in their regular equipment behind them. The third tablet showed troops of cavalry as if in formation for battle; and the fourth, ships made ready for naval combat. Beside the entrance to the chamber there were golden lions with eyes turned toward those who would enter. There was a golden acanthus stretching little by little up the centre of each column from below to the capital. Above the chamber in the middle of the top under the open sky there was a purple banner blazoned with a golden olive wreath of great size, and when the sun cast upon it its rays, it sent forth such a bright and vibrant gleam that from a great distance it appeared like a flash of lightning. The body of the chariot beneath the covered chamber had two axles upon which turned four Persian wheels, the naves and spokes of which were gilded, but the part that bore upon the ground was of iron. The projecting parts of the axle were made of gold in the form of lion heads, each holding a spear in its teeth. Along the middle of their length the axles had a bearing ingeniously fitted to the middle of the chamber in such a way that, thanks to it, the chamber could remain undisturbed by shocks from rough places. There were four poles, and to each of them were fastened four teams with four mules harnessed in each team, so that in all there were sixty-four mules, selected for their strength and size. Each of them was crowned with a gilded crown, each had a golden bell hanging by either cheek, and about their necks were collars set with precious stones.
§ 18.28
ἡ μὲν οὖν ἁρμάμαξα, τοιαύτην ἔχουσα τὴν κατασκευὴν καὶ διὰ τῆς ὁράσεως μᾶλλον ἢ τῆς ἀπαγγελίας φαινομένη μεγαλοπρεπεστέρα, πολλοὺς ἐπεσπᾶτο θεωροὺς διὰ τὴν περιβόητον δόξαν· οἱ γὰρ ἐκ τῶν πόλεων καθʼ ἃς αἰεὶ γίνοιτο πανδημεὶ συνήντων καὶ πάλιν προέπεμπον, οὐκ ἐμπιμπλάμενοι τῆς κατὰ τὴν θεωρίαν τέρψεως. ἀκολούθως δὲ ταύτῃ τῇ μεγαλοπρεπείᾳ παρηκολούθει πλῆθος ὁδοποιῶν καὶ τεχνιτῶν, ἔτι δὲ τῶν στρατιωτῶν παραπεμπόντων. Ἀρριδαῖος μὲν οὖν σχεδὸν ἔτη δύο καταναλώσας περὶ τὴν κατασκευὴν τῶν ἔργων ἀπεκόμισε τὸ σῶμα τοῦ βασιλέως ἐκ Βαβυλῶνος εἰς Αἴγυπτον· Πτολεμαῖος δὲ τιμῶν τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον ἀπήντησε μετὰ δυνάμεως μέχρι τῆς Συρίας καὶ παραλαβὼν τὸ σῶμα τῆς μεγίστης φροντίδος ἠξίωσεν. ἔκρινε γὰρ ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος εἰς μὲν Ἄμμωνα μὴ παρακομίζειν, κατὰ δὲ τὴν ἐκτισμένην ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ πόλιν, ἐπιφανεστάτην οὖσαν σχεδόν τι τῶν κατὰ τὴν οἰκουμένην, ἀποθέσθαι. κατεσκεύασεν οὖν τέμενος κατὰ τὸ μέγεθος καὶ κατὰ τὴν κατασκευὴν τῆς Ἀλεξάνδρου δόξης ἄξιον, ἐν ᾧ κηδεύσας αὐτὸν καὶ θυσίαις ἡρωικαῖς καὶ ἀγῶσι μεγαλοπρεπέσι τιμήσας οὐ παρʼ ἀνθρώπων μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ παρὰ θεῶν καλὰς ἀμοιβὰς ἔλαβεν. οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἄνθρωποι διὰ τὸ τῆς ψυχῆς εὐχάριστον καὶ μεγαλόψυχον συνέτρεχον πάντοθεν εἰς τὴν Ἀλεξάνδρειαν καὶ προθύμως ἑαυτοὺς εἰς τὴν στρατείαν παρείχοντο, καίπερ τῆς βασιλικῆς δυνάμεως μελλούσης πολεμεῖν πρὸς Πτολεμαῖον, καὶ κινδύνων προδήλων καὶ μεγάλων ὄντων ὅμως ἅπαντες τὴν τούτου σωτηρίαν τοῖς ἰδίοις κινδύνοις ἑκουσίως περιεποιήσαντο· οἱ δὲ θεοὶ διὰ τὴν ἀρετὴν καὶ εἰς πάντας τοὺς φίλους ἐπιείκειαν ἐκ τῶν μεγίστων κινδύνων παραδόξως αὐτὸν διέσωσαν.
In this way the carriage was constructed and ornamented, and it appeared more magnificent when seen than when described. Because of its widespread fame it drew together many spectators; for from every city into which it came the whole people went forth to meet it and again escorted it on its way out, not becoming sated with the pleasure of beholding it. To correspond to this magnificence, it was accompanied by a crowd of roadmenders and mechanics, and also by soldiers sent to escort it. When Arrhidaeus had spent nearly two years in making ready this work, he brought the body of the king from Babylon to Egypt. Ptolemy, moreover, doing honour to Alexander, went to meet it with an army as far as Syria, and, receiving the body, deemed it worthy of the greatest consideration. He decided for the present not to send it to Ammon, but to entomb it in the city that had been founded by Alexander himself, which lacked little of being the most renowned of the cities of the inhabited earth. There he prepared a precinct worthy the glory of Alexander in size and construction. Entombing him in this and honouring him with sacrifices such as are paid to demigods and with magnificent games, he won fair requital not only from men but also from the gods. 5 For men, because of his graciousness and nobility of heart, came together eagerly from all sides to Alexandria and gladly enrolled for the campaign, although the army of the kings was about to fight against that of Ptolemy; and, even though the risks were manifest and great, yet all of them willingly took upon themselves at their personal risk the preservation of Ptolemy's safety. 6 The gods also saved him unexpectedly from the greatest dangers on account of his courage and his honest treatment of all his friends.
§ 18.29
Περδίκκας γὰρ ὑφορώμενος αὐτοῦ τὴν αὔξησιν αὐτὸς μὲν ἔκρινε μετὰ τῶν βασιλέων τῷ πλείστῳ μέρει τῆς δυνάμεως στρατεύειν ἐπὶ τὴν Αἴγυπτον, Εὐμενῆ δʼ ἐξέπεμψεν ἐπὶ τὸν Ἑλλήσποντον κωλύσοντα τοὺς περὶ τὸν Ἀντίπατρον καὶ Κρατερὸν διαβαίνειν εἰς τὴν Ἀσίαν, δοὺς αὐτῷ τὴν ἁρμόζουσαν δύναμιν. συνεξέπεμψε δὲ καὶ τῶν ἀξιολόγων ἡγεμόνων τοὺς ἱκανούς, ὧν ἦσαν ἐπιφανέστατοι Ἀλκέτας ὁ ἀδελφὸς καὶ Νεοπτόλεμος, καὶ τούτοις παρεκελεύσατο πάντα πειθαρχεῖν Εὐμενεῖ διά τε τὴν στρατηγίαν αὐτοῦ καὶ διὰ τὴν τῆς πίστεως βέβαιότητα. ὁ δʼ Εὐμενὴς μετὰ τῆς δοθείσης δυνάμεως παρελθὼν ἐπὶ τὸν Ἑλλήσποντον καὶ προκατασκευασάμενος ἐκ τῆς ἰδίας σατραπείας ἵππων πλῆθος ἐκόσμησε τὴν στρατιάν, ἐλλειπῆ καθεστῶσαν κατὰ τοῦτο τὸ μέρος. τῶν δὲ περὶ Κρατερὸν καὶ Ἀντίπατρον περαιωσάντων τὰς δυνάμεις ἐκ τῆς Εὐρώπης ὁ μὲν Νεοπτόλεμος φθονήσας τῷ Εὐμενεῖ καὶ περὶ αὑτὸν ἔχων Μακεδονικὴν δύναμιν ἀξιόλογον λάθρᾳ διεπρεσβεύσατο πρὸς τοὺς περὶ τὸν Ἀντίπατρον καὶ συνθέμενος κοινοπραγίαν ἐπεβούλευσε τῷ Εὐμενεῖ. καταφανὴς δὲ γενόμενος καὶ συναναγκασθεὶς μάχην συνάψαι αὐτός τε ἐκινδύνευσεν ἀναιρεθῆναι καὶ τὴν δύναμιν σχεδὸν ἅπασαν ἀπέβαλεν· ὁ γὰρ Εὐμενὴς νικήσας καὶ πολλοὺς ἀνελὼν τὸ λοιπόν τε πλῆθος τῶν στρατιωτῶν προσηγάγετο καὶ τὴν δύναμιν τὴν ἰδίαν οὐ μόνον διὰ τῆς νίκης ἐπηύξησεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ προσλαβόμενος Μακεδόνων ἀγαθῶν ἀνδρῶν πλῆθος. Νεοπτόλεμος πτόλεμος μὲν οὖν μετὰ τριακοσίων ἱππέων διασωθεὶς ἐκ τῆς παρατάξεως ἀφίππευσε μετὰ τούτων πρὸς τοὺς περὶ τὸν Ἀντίπατρον· οὗτοι δὲ συνεδρεύσαντες περὶ τοῦ πολέμου διέγνωσαν τὰς δυνάμεις εἰς δύο μέρη διελεῖν καὶ τὸ μὲν ἕτερον Ἀντίπατρον ἀναλαβόντα προάγειν ἐπὶ Κιλικίας, διαπολεμήσοντα πρὸς Περδίκκαν, τὸ δὲ ἄλλο μέρος ἔχοντα Κρατερὸν ἐπιβαλεῖν τοῖς περὶ τὸν Εὐμενῆ καὶ τούτους καταπολεμήσαντα καταντᾶν πρὸς Ἀντίπατρον, ὅπως εἰς ταὐτὸ συναχθεισῶν τῶν δυνάμεων καὶ τοῦ Πτολεμαίου προσληφθέντος εἰς τὴν συμμαχίαν δυνατοὶ γένωνται περιγενέσθαι τῶν βασιλικῶν δυνάμεων.
For Perdiccas, viewing with suspicion Ptolemy's increase in power, decided that he himself and the kings would make a campaign against Egypt with most of the army, but Eumenes he sent to the Hellespont to prevent Antipater and Craterus from crossing into Asia, giving him a suitable force. He also sent with him enough of the commanders of note, of whom the most prominent were his brother Alcetas and Neoptolemus; and he ordered them to obey Eumenes in all things because of his skill as general and his firm loyalty. Eumenes, with the forces that had been given him, went to the Hellespont; and there, having already prepared a large body of cavalry from his own satrapy, he marshalled his army, which had previously been deficient in that branch. When Craterus and Antipater had brought their forces across from Europe, Neoptolemus, who was jealous of Eumenes and had a considerable number of Macedonians in his following, secretly entered into negotiations with Antipater, came to an agreement with him, and plotted against Eumenes. On being discovered and forced to fight, he himself was in danger of being killed, and he lost almost all his forces; for Eumenes, after he had won the victory and had killed many, won over the remaining soldiers and increased his own power, not only by the victory but also by having acquired a large number of stout Macedonians. But Neoptolemus, who had saved himself from the battle with three hundred horsemen, rode off with them to Antipater. A council of war was held, and it was decided to divide the forces into two parts. Antipater was to take one part and set out for Cilicia to fight against Perdiccas, and Craterus with the other part was to attack Eumenes and, after defeating him, to join Antipater. In this way, when they had combined their forces and had added Ptolemy to the alliance, they might be able to overmatch the royal armies.
§ 18.30
Εὐμενὴς δὲ πυνθανόμενος προάγειν ἐπʼ αὐτὸν τοὺς πολεμίους ἤθροισε πανταχόθεν τὰς δυνάμεις καὶ μάλιστα τὴν ἱππικήν· τοῖς γὰρ πεζοῖς οὐ δυνάμενος ἐξισωθῆναι τῇ Μακεδονικῇ φάλαγγι κατεσκεύαζεν ἀξιόλογον σύστημα τῶν ἱππέων, διʼ ὧν ἤλπιζε κρατήσειν τῶν ἐναντίων. ὡς δʼ ἤγγισαν ἀλλήλαις αἱ δυνάμεις, ὁ μὲν Κρατερὸς συναγαγὼν εἰς ἐκκλησίαν τὸ πλῆθος καὶ παρορμήσας εἰς τὸν ἀγῶνα τοῖς οἰκείοις λόγοις ἔφησε διδόναι τοῖς στρατιώταις, ἐὰν κρατήσωσι τῇ μάχῃ, διαρπάσαι τῶν πολεμίων πάσας τὰς ἀποσκευάς. πάντων δὲ προθύμων γενομένων ἐξέταξε τὴν δύναμιν, τοῦ μὲν δεξιοῦ κέρατος αὐτὸς ἡγούμενος, τοῦ δʼ εὐωνύμου τὴν ἡγεμονίαν παραδοὺς Νεοπτολέμῳ. εἶχε δὲ τοὺς σύμπαντας πεζοὺς μὲν δισμυρίους, ὧν ἦσαν οἱ πλείους Μακεδόνες, διαβεβοημένοι ταῖς ἀνδραγαθίαις, ἐν οἷς εἶχε μάλιστα τὰς ἐλπίδας τῆς νίκης· ἱππεῖς δὲ συνηκολούθουν πλείους τῶν δισχιλίων. Εὐμενὴς δʼ εἶχε πεζοὺς μὲν δισμυρίους, παντοδαποὺς τοῖς γένεσιν, ἱππεῖς δὲ πεντακισχιλίους, δι’ ὧν τὸν κίνδυνον κρίνειν διεγνώκει. ἀμφοτέρων δὲ τοὺς ἱππεῖς διελομένων ἐπὶ τὰ κέρατα καὶ πολὺ πρὸ τῆς φάλαγγος προϊππευσάντων ὁ μὲν Κρατερὸς πρῶτος μετὰ τῶν ἐπιλέκτων ἐπιρράξας τοῖς πολεμίοις ἠγωνίσατο μὲν περιβλέπτως, σφαλέντος δὲ τοῦ ἵππου ἔπεσεν ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν, διὰ δὲ τὸν φυρμὸν καὶ τὴν πυκνότητα τῶν ἐφιππευόντων ἀγνοηθεὶς ὃς ἦν συνεπατήθη καὶ τὸν βίον ἀλόγως κατέστρεψεν. τῇ δὲ τούτου τελευτῇ τῶν πολεμίων ἐπαρθέντων καὶ τῷ πλήθει πανταχόθεν περιχεομένων πολὺς ἐγίνετο φόνος. καὶ τὸ μὲν δεξιὸν κέρας τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον θλιβόμενον ἠναγκάσθη καταφυγεῖν πρὸς τὴν τῶν πεζῶν φάλαγγα,
As soon as Eumenes heard that the enemy was advancing upon him, he collected his forces, particularly his cavalry, from all sides. Since he could not equal the Macedonian phalanx with his foot soldiers, he made ready a noteworthy corps of horsemen, by means of whom he hoped to defeat those opposed to him. When the forces were near each other, Craterus summoned the whole army to an assembly and spurred them to battle with suitable words, saying that, if the soldiers were victorious in battle, he would give them all the baggage of the enemy to plunder. Now that all had become eager for battle, he drew up the army, taking command of the right wing himself, and giving the command of the left to Neoptolemus. He had in all twenty thousand foot soldiers, chiefly Macedonians famed for their courage, on whom in particular he placed his hopes of victory, and more than two thousand horsemen as auxiliaries. Eumenes had twenty thousand foot soldiers, men of every race, and five thousand cavalry, by whom he had resolved to decide the encounter. After both leaders had disposed their cavalry on the wings and had ridden far in advance of the line of infantry, Craterus was the first to charge upon the enemy with his picked troops, and he fought admirably; but his horse stumbled, and he fell to the ground, where he was trampled under foot and ended his life ingloriously, unrecognized in the confusion and dense array of the charge. By his death the enemy were so encouraged that they rushed upon the mass from every side, and great slaughter ensued. The right wing, crushed in this way, was compelled to flee to the phalanx of the foot soldiers, overwhelmingly defeated.
§ 18.31
κατὰ κράτος ἡττημένον, κατὰ δὲ τὸ εὐώνυμον Νεοπτολέμου κατʼ αὐτὸν τὸν Εὐμενῆ τεταγμένου συνέστη φιλοτιμία μεγάλη τῶν ἡγεμόνων ἐπʼ ἀλλήλους ὁρμησάντων. γνωρισθέντες γὰρ ἀπό τε τῶν ἵππων καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἐπισήμων συνεπλάκησαν ἀλλήλοις καὶ τῇ καθʼ αὑτοὺς μονομαχίᾳ τὴν νίκην ἐποίησαν ἀκολουθῆσαι. τὸ μὲν οὖν πρῶτον τοῖς ξίφεσιν ἀλλήλων καθικόμενοι παράδοξον καὶ παντελῶς ἐξηλλαγμένην μονομαχίαν συνεστήσαντο· ἐκφερόμενοι γὰρ τῷ θυμῷ καὶ τῇ πρὸς ἀλλήλους δυσμενείᾳ ταῖς ἀριστεραῖς χερσὶν ἀφέντες τὰς ἡνίας ἀλλήλων ἐδράξαντο. οὗ συμβάντος οἱ μὲν ἵπποι κατὰ τὴν ὁρμὴν ὑπεξέδραμον, αὐτοὶ δʼ ἔπεσον ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν. τῆς δʼ ἐπαναστάσεως διὰ τὴν ὀξύτητα καὶ βίαν τοῦ πτώματος χαλεπῶς γινομένης ἀμφοτέροις, ἅτε καὶ τῶν ὅπλων ἐμποδιζόντων τὰ σώματα, ὁ μὲν Εὐμενὴς ἔφθασε, πρότερος διαναστάς, τοῦ Νεοπτολέμου τὴν ἰγνὺν πατάξαι. μεγάλης δὲ γενομένης διαιρέσεως καὶ σφαλείσης τῆς βάσεως ὁ μὲν πληγεὶς παραλελυμένος ἔκειτο, κωλυόμενος ὑπὸ τοῦ τραύματος διαναστῆναι· ὅμως δὲ τῆς εὐψυχίας ὑπεραγούσης τὴν τοῦ σώματος ἐλάττωσιν ἐν γόνασι βεβηκὼς ἔτρωσε τὸν ἀντίπαλον εἴς τε τὸν βραχίονα καὶ τοὺς μηροὺς τρισὶ πληγαῖς. οὐδεμιᾶς δʼ οὔσης πληγῆς καιρίου καὶ τῶν τραυμάτων ἔτι θερμῶν ὄντων ὁ Εὐμενὴς δευτέραν πληγὴν ἐπὶ τὸν τράχηλον ἐπενέγκας ἀπέκτεινε τὸν Νεοπτόλεμον.
On the left wing, however, where Neoptolemus was arrayed against Eumenes himself, there occurred a great display of ambitious rivalry as the leaders rushed full at each other. For as soon as they recognized one another by their horses and other insignia, they engaged each other in close combat; and they made the victory depend upon the duel between themselves. After the opening exchange of sword strokes they engaged in a strange and most extraordinary duel; for, carried away by their anger and their mutual hatred, they let the reins fall from their left hands and grappled each other. As a result of this, their horses were carried out from under them by their own momentum, and the men themselves fell to the ground. Although it was difficult for either of them to get up because of the suddenness and force of the fall, especially as the armour hampered their bodies, Eumenes rose up first and forestalled Neoptolemus by striking him in the back of the knee. Since the gash proved to be severe and his legs gave way, the stricken man lay disabled, prevented by his wound from rising to his feet. Yet his courage overcame the weakness of his body, and, resting on his knees, he wounded his opponent with three blows on the arm and the thighs. As none of these blows was fatal and the wounds were still fresh, Eumenes struck Neoptolemus in the neck with a second blow and slew him.
§ 18.32
ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομἐνοις καὶ τὸ λοιπὸν πλῆθος τῶν ἱππέων συμπεσὸν εἰς μάχην πολὺν ἐποίει φόνον. διὸ καὶ τῶν μὲν πιπτόντων, τῶν δὲ τραυματιζομένων τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἰσόρροπος ἦν ὁ κίνδυνος, μετὰ ταῦτα δὲ φανερᾶς γενομένης τῆς τοῦ Νεοπτολέμου τελευτῆς καὶ τῆς ἐπὶ θατέρου κέρατος τροπῆς ἅπαντες πρὸς φυγὴν ὥρμησαν καὶ καθάπερ πρὸς τεῖχος ὀχυρὸν πρὸς τὴν τῶν πεζῶν φάλαγγα κατέφυγον. ὁ δʼ Εὐμενὴς ἀρκεσθεὶς τῷ προτερήματι καὶ τῶν στρατηγικῶν σωμάτων ἀμφοτέρων κυριεύσας ἀνεκαλέσατο τῇ σάλπιγγι τοὺς στρατιώτας. στήσας δὲ τρόπαιον καὶ τοὺς νεκροὺς θάψας διεπέμψατο πρὸς τὴν τῶν ἡττημένων φάλαγγα, παρακαλῶν ἑαυτῷ προσθέσθαι καὶ διδοὺς ἐξουσίαν ἑκάστοις ὅποι βούλονται τὴν ἀποχώρησιν ποιήσασθαι. δεξαμένων δὲ τὰς διαλύσεις τῶν Μακεδόνων καὶ δόντων τὰς διὰ τῶν ὅρκων πίστεις ἔλαβον ἐξουσίαν ἔν τισι κώμαις πλησίον κειμέναις ἐπισιτίσασθαι καὶ παρεκρούσαντο τὸν Εὐμενῆ· ἀναλαβόντες γὰρ ἑαυτοὺς καὶ τὰς τροφὰς παρασκευασάμενοι νυκτὸς ἀπηλλάγησαν καὶ λαθραίως ἀπεχώρουν πρὸς τὸν Ἀντίπατρον. ὁ δʼ Εὐμενὴς ἐπεβάλετο μὲν κολάσαι τὴν ἀθεσίαν τῶν παραβεβηκότων τοὺς ὅρκους καὶ διώκειν ἐκ ποδῶν τὴν φάλαγγα, οὐδὲν δὲ δυνάμενος πρᾶξαι διά τε τὰς ἀρετὰς τῶν ἀποχωρούντων καὶ διὰ τὴν ἐκ τῶν τραυμάτων ἐλάττωσιν ἀπέγνω τὸν διωγμόν. οὗτος μὲν οὖν ἐπιφανεῖ μάχῃ νικήσας καὶ δύο μεγάλους ἡγεμόνας ἀνελὼν μεγάλης ἔτυχε δόξης.
Meanwhile the rest of the cavalry had joined battle and were making great slaughter. So, while some fell and others were wounded, the battle at first was even, but afterwards, when they became aware of the death of Neoptolemus and of the rout of the other wing, all made off and fled for refuge to the phalanx of their infantry as to a strong fortress. Eumenes, satisfied with his advantage and master of the bodies of both generals, recalled his soldiers with the sound of the trumpet. After he had set up a trophy and buried the dead, he sent to the phalanx of the vanquished, inviting them to unite with him and giving permission to them severally to withdraw to whatever places they wished. When the Macedonians had accepted the terms of surrender and had pledged their faith by oaths, they received permission to go for food to certain villages that lay near. And they deceived Eumenes; for when they had recovered their strength and collected supplies, they set out at night and went off secretly to join Antipater. Eumenes attempted to punish the faithlessness of these men who had broken their oath and to follow at the heels of the phalanx; but, owing to the hardihood of those who were retreating and to the weakness caused by his wounds, he was unable to accomplish anything and gave up the pursuit. So by winning a notable victory and by slaying two mighty leaders, Eumenes gained great glory.
§ 18.33
Ἀντίπατρος δὲ τοὺς ἀπὸ τῆς φυγῆς διασωθέντας ἐκδεξάμενος καὶ προσαναλαβὼν προῆγεν ἐπὶ Κιλικίαν, σπεύδων βοηθῆσαι τῷ Πτολεμαίῳ. Περδίκκας δὲ πυθόμενος τὴν κατὰ τὸν Εὐμενῆ νίκην πολλῷ θρασύτερος ἐγένετο πρὸς τὴν εἰς Αἴγυπτον στρατείαν· ὡς δʼ ἐγγὺς ἐγένετο τοῦ Νείλου, κατεστρατοπέδευσεν οὐ μακρὰν πόλεως Πηλουσίου. ἐπιχειρήσας δὲ διώρυγά τινα παλαιὰν ἀνακαθαίρειν καὶ τοῦ ποταμοῦ λάβρως ἐκραγέντος καὶ τὰ ἔργα λυμηναμένου πολλοὶ τῶν φίλων ἐγκαταλιπόντες ἀπεχώρησαν πρὸς τὸν Πτολεμαῖον· καὶ γὰρ φονικὸς ἦν καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἡγεμόνων περιαιρούμενος τὰς ἐξουσίας καὶ καθόλου πάντων βουλόμενος ἄρχειν βιαίως, ὁ δὲ Πτολεμαῖος τοὐναντίον εὐεργετικὸς καὶ ἐπιεικὴς καὶ μεταδιδοὺς πᾶσι τοῖς ἡγεμόσι τῆς παρρησίας, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις διειληφὼς πάντας τοὺς ἐπικαιροτάτους Αἰγύπτου τόπους φυλακαῖς ἀξιολόγοις καὶ βέλεσι παντοδαποῖς καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἅπασιν εὖ κατεσκευασμένος. διὸ καὶ κατὰ τὰς ἐπιβολὰς κατὰ τὸ πλεῖστον ἐπλεονέκτει, πολλοὺς ἔχων εὐνοοῦντας καὶ προθύμως διακινδυνεύοντας. ὁ δʼ οὖν Περδίκκας διορθούμενος τὰς ἐλαττώσεις συνήγαγε τοὺς ἡγεμόνας καὶ τοὺς μὲν δωρεαῖς, τοὺς δʼ ἐπαγγελίαις μεγάλαις, πάντας δὲ φιλανθρώποις ὁμιλίαις ἐξιδιοποιησάμενος προετρέψατο πρὸς τοὺς ἐπιφερομένους κινδύνους. παραγγείλας δὲ ἑτοίμους εἶναι πρὸς ἀναζυγὴν ὥρμησε μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως ἀφʼ ἑσπέρας, οὐδενὶ δηλώσας τὸν τόπον εἰς ὃν διεγνωκὼς ἦν καταντᾶν. τὴν δὲ νύκτα πᾶσαν ὁδοιπορήσας ἐν τάχει κατεστρατοπέδευσε παρὰ τὸν Νεῖλον πλησίον φρουρίου τινος ὃ προσηγορεύετο Καμήλων τεῖχος. διαφαινούσης δὲ τῆς ἡμέρας διεβίβαζε τὴν δύναμιν ἡγουμένων τῶν ἐλεφάντων, ἐπακολουθούντων δὲ τῶν ὑπασπιστῶν καὶ κλιμακοφόρων καὶ τῶν ἄλλων διʼ ὧν ἔμελλε τὴν τειχομαχίαν ποιεῖσθαι. ἐπὶ πᾶσι δὲ ἐπεβάλοντο οἱ κράτιστοι τῶν ἱππέων, οὓς διενοεῖτο ἐπιπέμπειν τοῖς περὶ τὸν Πτολεμαῖον, ἐὰν τύχωσιν ἐπιφαινόμενοι.
As soon as Antipater had received and enrolled those who escaped from the rout, he went on to Cilicia, making haste to go to the aid of Ptolemy. And Perdiccas, on learning of the victory of Eumenes, became much more confident in regard to the Egyptian campaign; and when he approached the Nile, he camped not far from the city of Pelusium. But when he undertook to clear out an old canal, and the river broke out violently and destroyed his work, many of his friends deserted him and went over to Ptolemy. Perdiccas, indeed, was a man of blood, one who usurped the authority of the other commanders and, in general, wished to rule all by force; but Ptolemy, on the contrary, was generous and fair and granted to all the commanders the right to speak frankly. What is more, he had secured all the most important points in Egypt with garrisons of considerable size, which had been well equipped with every kind of missile as well as with everything else. This explains why he had, as a rule, the advantage in his undertakings, since he had many persons who were well disposed to him and ready to undergo danger gladly for his sake. Still Perdiccas, in an effort to correct his deficiencies, called the commanders together, and by gifts to some, by great promises to others, and by friendly intercourse with all, won them over to his service and inspired them to meet the coming dangers. After warning them to be ready to break camp, he set out with his army at evening, disclosing to no one the point to which he intended to go. After marching all night at top speed he made camp beside the Nile near a certain fortified post that is called the Fort of Camels. And as day was dawning, he began to send the army across, the elephants in the van, then following them the shield-bearers and the ladder-carriers, and others whom he expected to use in the attack on the fort. Last of all came the bravest of the cavalry, whom he planned to send against the troops of Ptolemy if they happened to appear.
§ 18.34
μεσοπορούντων δʼ αὐτῶν ἐπεφάνησαν οἱ περὶ τὸν Πτολεμαῖον δρόμῳ προσιόντες πρὸς τὴν τοῦ πολίσματος ἐπικουρίαν. φθασάντων δʼ αὐτῶν καὶ παρεισπεσόντων εἰς τὸ χωρίον καὶ διά τε τῶν σαλπίγγων καὶ βοῆς φανερὰν ποιησάντων τὴν ἑαυτῶν παρουσίαν οἱ μὲν περὶ τὸν Περδίκκαν οὐ κατεπλάγησαν, ἀλλὰ τολμηρῶς προσῆγον τοῖς τειχίσμασιν. εὐθὺ δʼ οἱ μὲν ὑπασπισταὶ προσθέμενοι τὰς κλίμακας ἀνέβαινον, οἱ δʼ ἐπὶ τῶν ἐλεφάντων τὸν χάρακα διέσπων καὶ τὰς ἐπάλξεις ἐρρίπτουν. ὁ δὲ Πτολεμαῖος ἔχων περὶ αὐτὸν τοὺς ἀρίστους καὶ βουλόμενος προτρέψασθαι τοὺς ἄλλους ἡγεμόνας καὶ φίλους προσιέναι τοῖς δεινοῖς αὐτὸς ἀναλαβὼν τὴν σάρισαν καὶ στὰς ἐπʼ ἄκρου τοῦ προτειχίσματος τὸν μὲν ἡγούμενον τῶν ἐλεφάντων ἐξετύφλωσεν, ὑπερδέξιον ἔχων τὴν στάσιν, τὸν δὲ ἐπικαθήμενον Ἰνδὸν τραυματίαν ἐποίησεν, τοὺς δὲ διὰ τῆς κλίμακος ἀναβαίνοντας καταπεφρονηκότως τύπτων καὶ κατατραυματίζων περιεκύλισεν εἰς τὸν ποταμὸν μετὰ τῶν ὅπλων. ἀκολούθως δὲ τούτῳ καὶ τῶν φίλων τοῦ Πτολεμαίου διαγωνιζομένων τὸ μὲν ἐχόμενον θηρίον κατακοντισθέντος τοῦ κυβερνῶντος αὐτὸ Ἰνδοῦ παντελῶς ἄχρηστον ἐγένετο. ἐπὶ πολὺν δὲ χρόνον τῆς τειχομαχίας συνεστώσης οἱ μὲν περὶ τὸν Περδίκκαν ἐκ διαδοχῆς προσβάλλοντες πᾶσαν σπουδὴν εἰσεφέροντο κατὰ κράτος ἑλεῖν τὸ χωρίον, ὁ δὲ Πτολεμαῖος, αὐτὸς ἀριστεύων καὶ τοὺς φίλους παρακαλῶν ἐνδείξασθαι τὴν εὔνοιαν ἅμα καὶ τὴν ἀρετήν, ἡρωικοὺς ἀγῶνας συνεστήσατο. πολλῶν δʼ ἀπολλυμένων παρʼ ἀμφοτέροις διὰ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῆς τῶν ἡγεμόνων φιλοτιμίας καὶ τῶν περὶ τὸν Πτολεμαῖον ταῖς ὑπεροχαῖς τῶν τόπων πλεονεκτούντων, τῶν δὲ περὶ τὸν Περδίκκαν τοῖς πλήθεσιν ὑπερεχόντων, τὸ τελευταῖον ἀμφοτέρων διημερευσάντων ἐν τοῖς κινδύνοις ὁ μὲν Περδίκκας λύσας τὴν πολιορκίαν ἐπανῆλθεν εἰς τὴν ἰδίαν στρατοπεδείαν. νυκτὸς δʼ ἀναζεύξας λαθραίαν ἐποιεῖτο τὴν πορείαν καὶ κατήντησεν εἰς τὸν ἀπέναντι τόπον τῆς Μέμφεως, πρὸς ᾗ συμβαίνει σχίζεσθαι τὸν Νεῖλον καὶ ποιεῖν νῆσον δυναμένην ἀσφαλῶς δέξασθαι στρατοπεδείαν τε καὶ δύναμιν τὴν μεγίστην. εἰς ταύτην οὖν διεβίβαζε τὴν δύναμιν ἐπιπόνως τῶν στρατιωτῶν περαιουμένων διὰ τὸ βάθος τοῦ ποταμοῦ· μέχρι γὰρ τοῦ γενείου τὸ ῥεῦμα προσπῖπτον ἐσάλευε τὰ σώματα τῶν διαβαινόντων, ἅτε καὶ τῶν ὅπλων ἐμποδιζόντων τοὺς ἄνδρας.
When they were halfway over, Ptolemy and his troops did appear, coming at a run to the defence of the post. Although these got the start of the attackers, threw themselves into the fort, and made their arrival known by blasts of the trumpet and by shouts, the troops of Perdiccas were not frightened, but boldly assaulted the fortifications. At once the shield-bearers set up the scaling ladders and began to mount them, while the elephant-borne troops were tearing the palisades to pieces and throwing down the parapets. Ptolemy, however, who had the best soldiers near himself and wished to encourage the other commanders and friends to face the dangers, taking his long spear and posting himself on the top of the outwork, put out the eyes of the leading elephant, since he occupied a higher position, and wounded its Indian mahout. Then, with utter contempt of the danger, striking and disabling those who were coming up the ladders, he sent them rolling down, in their armour, into the river. Following his example, his friends fought boldly and made the beast next in line entirely useless by shooting down the Indian who was directing it. The battle for the wall lasted a long time, as the troops of Perdiccas, attacking in relays, bent every effort to take the stronghold by storm, while many heroic conflicts were occasioned by the personal prowess of Ptolemy and by his exhortations to his friends to display both their loyalty and their courage. Many men were killed on both sides, such was the surpassing rivalry of the commanders, the soldiers of Ptolemy having the advantage of the higher ground and those of Perdiccas being superior in number. Finally, when both sides had spent the whole day in the engagement, Perdiccas gave up the siege and went back to his own camp. Breaking camp at night, he marched secretly and came to the place that lies opposite Memphis, where it happens that the Nile is divided and makes an island large enough to hold with safety a camp of a very large army. To this island he began to transfer his men, the soldiers crossing with difficulty because of the depth of the river; for the water, which came up to the chins of those who were crossing, buffeted their bodies, especially as they were impeded by their equipment.
§ 18.35
ὁ δὲ Περδίκκας κατανοήσας τὴν δυσκολίαν τοῦ ῥείθρου τοὺς μὲν ἐλέφαντας τοῦ ποταμοῦ ἐκ τῶν εὐωνύμων ἐπέστησεν, ἐκδεχόμενος τὴν καταφορὰν τοῦ ποταμοῦ, καταπραϋνοῦντας τὸ ῥεῖθρον, τοὺς δʼ ἱππεῖς ἐκ τοῦ δεξιοῦ μέρους ἔταξε, διʼ ὧν ἐξεδέχετο τοὺς παραφερομένους ὑπὸ τοῦ ποταμοῦ καὶ διέσωζεν εἰς τὸ πέραν. ἴδιον δέ τι καὶ παράδοξον συνέβη γενέσθαι κατὰ τὴν διάβασιν τῆς δυνάμεως ταύτης. τῶν πρώτων γὰρ ἀσφαλῶς διαβάντων οἱ μετὰ ταῦτα περαιούμενοι μεγάλοις περιέπιπτον κινδύνοις· ὁ γὰρ ποταμὸς οὐδεμιᾶς οὔσης αἰτίας φανερᾶς πολλῷ βαθύτερος ἐγίνετο καὶ τῶν σωμάτων ὅλων καταδυομένων ἅπαντες εἰς πολλὴν ἀμηχανίαν περιέπιπτον. τῆς δὲ κατὰ τὴν πλήρωσιν αἰτίας ἐπιζητουμένης τὸ μὲν ἀληθὲς ἀσυλλόγιστον ἦν, ἔφασαν δʼ οἱ μὲν ἐν τοῖς ἄνω τόποις ἐγκεχωσμένην διώρυγα πάλιν ἐκφραχθῆναι καὶ συμμιχθεῖσαν τῷ ποταμῷ βαθύτερον πεποιηκέναι τὸν πόρον, οἱ δʼ ὄμβρους ἐν τοῖς ἄνω τόποις γενομένους αὐξῆσαι τὸ μέγεθος τοῦ Νείλου. τούτων δʼ οὐδέτερον ἦν, ἀλλὰ τοῦ πόρου τὴν μὲν πρώτην διάβασιν ἀσφαλεστέραν συνέβαινε γεγονέναι ἀκεραίου τῆς κατὰ τὴν διάβασιν ἄμμου γεγενημένης, κατὰ δὲ τὰς ἄλλας ὑπὸ τῶν προδιαβεβηκότων ἵππων τε καὶ ἐλεφάντων, ἔτι δὲ πεζῶν τοῖς μὲν ποσὶ τὴν ἄμμον πατουμένην καὶ κινουμένην ὑπὸ τοῦ ῥείθρου κατενεχθῆναι καὶ διὰ τοῦτο κοιλωθέντος τοῦ πόρου βαθυτέραν γενέσθαι τὴν διάβασιν κατὰ μέσον τὸν ποταμόν. διὰ δὲ ταύτην τὴν αἰτίαν ἀδυνατούσης τῆς λοιπῆς δυνάμεως διαβῆναι τὸν ποταμὸν ὁ Περδίκκας εἰς πολλὴν ἀπορίαν ἐνέπιπτεν καὶ τῶν μὲν διαβεβηκότων οὐκ ἀξιομάχων ὄντων τοῖς πολεμίοις, τῶν δʼ ἐν τῷ πέραν μὴ δυναμένων βοηθεῖν τοῖς ἰδίοις προσέταξεν εἰς τοὐπίσω πάλιν ἀπιέναι πάντας. διόπερ ἀναγκασθέντων ἁπάντων περαιοῦσθαι τὸ ῥεῖθρον οἱ μὲν ἐπιστάμενοι καλῶς νεῖν καὶ τοῖς σώμασιν ἰσχυρότατοι μετὰ πολλῆς κακοπαθίας διενήξαντο τὸν Νεῖλον, πολλὰ τῶν ὅπλων ἀποβαλόντες, τῶν δʼ ἄλλων διὰ τὴν ἀπειρίαν οἱ μὲν ὑπὸ τοῦ ῥείθρου κατεπόθηαν, οἱ δὲ πρὸς τοὺς πολεμίους ἐξέπεσον, οἱ πλεῖστοι δὲ παρενεχθέντες ἐπὶ πολὺν τόπον ὑπὸ τῶν ἐν τῷ ποταμῷ θηρίων κατεβρώθησαν.
But Perdiccas, seeing the difficulty caused by the current, in an effort to break the downward rush of the river, placed the elephants in line on the left, thus mitigating the strength of the current, and placed on the right side the horsemen, through whose agency he kept catching the men who were being carried away by the river and bringing them safe to the other side. A peculiar and surprising thing took place during the crossing of this army, namely, that after the first men had crossed in safety, those who tried to cross afterwards fell into great danger. For although there was no visible cause, the river became much deeper, and, their bodies being totally submerged, they would one and all become completely helpless. When they sought the cause of this rise, the truth could not be found by reasoning. Some said that somewhere upstream a canal that had been closed had been opened and, joining with the river, had made the ford deeper; others said that rain falling in the regions above had increased the volume of the Nile. It was, however, neither of these things, but what happened was that the first crossing of the ford had been freer from danger because the sand at the crossing had been undisturbed, but in the course of the other crossings by the horses and elephants which had gone over before and then by the infantry, the sand, trodden by their feet and set in motion by the current, was carried down stream, and the place of crossing being hollowed out in this way, the ford became deeper in the middle of the river. Since the rest of his army was unable to cross the river for this reason, Perdiccas was in great difficulty; and, as those who had crossed were not strong enough to fight the enemy and those on the nearer bank were not able to go to the aid of their fellows, he ordered all to come back again. When all were thus forced to cross the stream, those who knew how to swim well and were strongest of body succeeded in swimming across the Nile with great distress, after throwing away a good deal of their equipment; but of the rest, because of their lack of skill some were swallowed by the river, and others were cast up on the shore toward the enemy, but most of them, carried along for some time, were devoured by the animals in the river.
§ 18.36
ἀπολομένων δὲ πλειόνων ἢ δισχιλίων, ἐν οἷς καὶ τῶν ἐπιφανῶν τινες ἡγεμόνων ὑπῆρχον, ἀλλοτρίως τὸ πλῆθος ἔσχε πρὸς τὸν Περδίκκαν. ὁ δὲ Πτολεμαῖος τὰ σώματα τῶν πρὸς αὐτὸν ἐκπεσόντων καύσας καὶ τῆς ἁρμοζούσης κηδείας ἀξιώσας ἀπέστειλε τὰ ὀστᾶ πρὸς τοὺς οἰκείους τε καὶ φίλους τῶν τετελευτηκότων. τούτων δὲ πραχθέντων οἱ παρὰ τῷ Περδίκκᾳ Μακεδόνες πρὸς μὲν τοῦτον πολλῷ μᾶλλον ἀπεθηριώθησαν, πρὸς δὲ τὸν Πτολεμαῖον ἀπέκλιναν ταῖς εὐνοίαις. ἐπιγενομένης δὲ νυκτὸς πλήρης ἦν ἡ παρεμβολὴ κλαυθμοῦ καὶ πένθους, τοσούτων μὲν ἀνδρῶν ἀλόγως ἀπολωλότων ἄνευ πολεμίας πληγῆς καὶ τούτων οὐκ ἐλαττόνων ἢ χιλίων θηριοβρώτων γεγονότων. πολλοὶ μὲν οὖν τῶν ἡγεμόνων συνίσταντο καὶ κατηγόρουν τοῦ Περδίκκου, πᾶσα δʼ ἡ φάλαγξ τῶν πεζῶν ἀπαλλοτριωθεῖσα φανερὰν διὰ τῆς ἀπειλούσης φωνῆς τὴν ἰδίαν κατεσκεύασεν ἀλλοτριότητα. διόπερ πρῶτοι τῶν ἡγεμόνων ἀπέστησαν ὡς ἑκατόν, ὧν ἦν ἐπιφανέστατος Πίθων ὁ τοὺς ἀποστάντας Ἕλληνας καταπολεμήσας, οὐδενὸς δὲ τῶν Ἀλεξάνδρου λειπόμενος φίλων ἀρετῇ τε καὶ δόξῃ· μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα καὶ τῶν ἱππέων τινὲς συμφρονήσαντες ἐπὶ τὴν σκηνὴν τοῦ Περδίκκου κατήντησαν καὶ προσπεσόντες ἀθρόοι κατέσφαξαν τὸν Περδίκκαν. τῇ δʼ ὑστεραίᾳ γενομένης ἐκκλησίας ὁ Πτολεμαῖος καταβὰς καὶ τοὺς Μακεδόνας ἀσπασάμενος περί τε τῶν καθʼ αὑτὸν ἀπελογήσατο καὶ τῶν ἐπιτηδείων ἐκλελοιπότων ἐχορήγησε σῖτόν τε δαψιλῆ ταῖς δυνάμεσι καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἐπιτηδείων ἐπλήρωσε τὴν παρεμβολήν. μεγάλης δὲ τυγχάνων ἀποδοχῆς καὶ δυνάμενος παραλαβεῖν τὴν ἐπιμέλειαν τῶν βασιλέων διὰ τὴν τοῦ πλήθους εὔνοιαν τούτου μὲν οὐκ ὠρέχθη, τῷ δὲ Πίθωνι καὶ Ἀρριδαίῳ χάριτας ὀφείλων συγκατεσκεύασε τὴν τῶν ὅλων ἡγεμονίαν· οἱ γὰρ Μακεδόνες βουλῆς προτεθείσης περὶ τῆς ἡγεμονίας καὶ συμβουλεύσαντος Πτολεμαίου πάντες προθύμως εἵλαντο τῶν βασιλέων ἐπιμελητὰς αὐτοκράτορας Πίθωνα καὶ Ἀρριδαῖον τὸν τὸ σῶμα τοῦ βασιλέως κατακομίσαντα. Περδίκκας μὲν οὖν ἄρξας ἔτη τρία τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον ἀπέβαλε τὴν ἡγεμονίαν ἅμα καὶ τὴν ψυχήν.
Since more than two thousand men were lost, among them some of the prominent commanders, the rank and file of the army became ill disposed toward Perdiccas. Ptolemy, however, burned the bodies of those who were cast up on his side of the river and, having bestowed on them a proper funeral, sent the bones to the relatives and friends of the dead. These things having been done, the Macedonians with Perdiccas became much more exasperated with him, but they turned with favour toward Ptolemy. When night had come, the encampment was filled with lamentations and mourning, so many men having been senselessly lost without a blow from an enemy, and of these no fewer than a thousand having become food for beasts. Therefore many of the commanders joined together and accused Perdiccas, and all the phalanx of the infantry, now alienated from him, made clear their own hostility with threatening shouts. Consequently about a hundred of the commanders were the first to revolt from him, of whom the most illustrious was Pithon, who had suppressed the rebellious Greeks, a man second to none of the Companions of Alexander in courage and reputation; next, some also of the cavalry conspired together and went to the tent of Perdiccas, where they fell on him in a body and stabbed him to death. On the next day when there was an assembly of the soldiers, Ptolemy came, greeted the Macedonians, and spoke in defence of his own attitude; and as their supplies had run short, he provided at his own expense grain in abundance for the armies and filled the camp with the other needful things. Although he gained great applause and was in position to assume the guardianship of the kings through the favour of the rank and file, he did not grasp at this, but rather, since he owed a debt of gratitude to Pithon and Arrhidaeus, he used his influence to give them the supreme command. For the Macedonians, when the question of the primacy was raised in the assembly and Ptolemy advocated this course, without a dissenting voice enthusiastically elected as guardians of the kings and regents Pithon and that Arrhidaeus who had conveyed the body of Alexander. So Perdiccas, after he had ruled for three years, lost both his command and his life in the manner described.
§ 18.37
μετὰ δὲ τὴν τούτου τελευτὴν εὐθὺς ἧκόν τινες ἀπαγγέλλοντες ὅτι παρατάξεως γενομένης περὶ Καππαδοκίαν Εὐμενὴς νενίκηκε, Κρατερὸς δὲ καὶ Νεοπτόλεμος ἡττηθέντες ἀνῄρηνται. τοῦτο δʼ εἰ δυσὶ πρότερον ἡμέραις ἐγένετο τῆς Περδίκκου τελευτῆς, οὐδεὶς ἂν ἐτόλμησε τὰς χεῖρας Περδίκκᾳ προσενεγκεῖν διὰ τὸ μέγεθος τῆς εὐημερίας. οἱ δʼ οὖν Μακεδόνες πυθόμενοι τὰ περὶ τὸν Εὐμενῆ κατέγνωσαν αὐτοῦ θάνατον καὶ τῶν περὶ αὐτὸν ἐπιφανῶν ἀνδρῶν πεντήκοντα, ἐν οἷς ἦν καὶ Ἀλκέτας ὁ ἀδελφὸς τοῦ Περδίκκου. ἀπέκτειναν δὲ καὶ τῶν φίλων τοῦ Περδίκκου τοὺς μάλιστα πιστοτάτους καὶ τὴν ἀδελφὴν αὐτοῦ Ἀταλάντην, ἣν ἦν γεγαμηκὼς Ἄτταλος ὁ τοῦ στόλου τὴν ἡγεμονίαν παρειληφώς. μετὰ δὲ τὴν ἀναίρεσιν τοῦ Περδίκκου Ἄτταλος ὁ τοῦ στόλου τὴν ἡγεμονίαν ἔχων διέτριβε μὲν περὶ τὸ Πηλούσιον, ὡς δʼ ἐπύθετο τὴν τῆς γυναικὸς ἀναίρεσιν καὶ τοῦ Περδίκκου, τὸν στόλον ἀναλαβὼν ἐξέπλευσε καὶ κατήντησεν εἰς Τύρον. ὁ δὲ τῆς πόλεως ταύτης φρούραρχος Ἀρχέλαος, Μακεδὼν τὸ γένος, τὸν Ἄτταλον φιλοφρόνως ὑπεδέξατο καὶ τήν τε πόλιν παρέδωκεν αὐτῷ καὶ τὰ χρήματα, δεδομένα μὲν ὑπὸ Περδίκκου φυλάττειν, τότε δὲ δικαίως ἀποδεδομένα, τὸ δὲ πλῆθος ὄντα ταλάντων ὀκτακοσίων. ὁ δʼ Ἄτταλος ἐν τῇ Τύρῳ διατρίβων ἀνελάμβανε τῶν Περδίκκου φίλων τοὺς διασωζομένους ἐκ τῆς πρὸς τῇ Μέμφει στρατοπεδείας.
Immediately after the death of Perdiccas there came men announcing that, in a battle fought near Cappadocia, Eumenes had been victorious and Craterus and Neoptolemus had been defeated and killed. If this had become known two days before the death of Perdiccas, no one would have dared raise a hand against him because of his great good fortune. Now, however, the Macedonians, on learning the news about Eumenes, passed sentence of death upon him and upon fifty of the chief men of his following, among whom was Alcetas, the brother of Perdiccas. They also slew the most faithful of Perdiccas' friends and his sister Atalante, the wife of Attalus, the man who had received command of the fleet. After the murder of Perdiccas, Attalus, who had the command of the fleet, was waiting at Pelusium; but when he learned of the murder of his wife and of Perdiccas, he set sail and came to Tyre with the fleet. The commandant of the garrison of that city, Archelaus, who was a Macedonian by race, welcomed Attalus and surrendered the city to him and also the funds that had been given him by Perdiccas for safekeeping and had now been honourably repaid, being in amount eight hundred talents. Attalus remained in Tyre, receiving those of the friends of Perdiccas who escaped in safety from the camp before Memphis.
§ 18.38
Ἀντιπάτρου δʼ εἰς τὴν Ἀσίαν διαβεβηκότος Αἰτωλοὶ κατὰ τὰς πρὸς Περδίκκαν συνθήκας ἐστράτευσαν εἰς τὴν Θετταλίαν, ἀντιπερισπάσαι βουλόμενοι τὸν Ἀντίπατρον. εἶχον δὲ στρατιώτας πεζοὺς μὲν μυρίους καὶ δισχιλίους, ἱππεῖς δὲ τετρακοσίους, ὧν ἦν στρατηγὸς Ἀλέξανδρος Αἰτωλός. ἐν παρόδῳ δὲ τοὺς Ἀμφισσεῖς Λοκροὺς πολιορκήσαντες τήν τε χώραν αὐτῶν κατέδραμον καί τινα τῶν πλησίον πολισμάτων εἷλον. ἐνίκησαν δὲ μάχῃ τὸν Ἀντιπάτρου στρατηγὸν Πολυκλῆν καὶ τοῦτόν τε καὶ τῶν στρατιωτῶν οὐκ ὀλίγους ἀνεῖλον· τῶν δὲ ζωγρηθέντων οὓς μὲν ἀπέδοντο, οὓς δὲ ἀπελύτρωσαν. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα εἰς Θετταλίαν ἐμβαλόντες τοὺς πλείστους τῶν Θετταλῶν ἔπεισαν κοινωνεῖν τοῦ πρὸς Ἀντίπατρον πολέμου· καὶ ταχέως ἠθροίσθησαν οἱ πάντες πεζοὶ μὲν δισμύριοι πεντακισχίλιοι, ἱππεῖς δὲ χίλιοι πεντακόσιοι. τούτων δὲ προσαγομένων τὰς πόλεις Ἀκαρνᾶνες ἀλλοτρίως ἔχοντες πρὸς Αἰτωλοὺς ἐνέβαλον εἰς τὴν Αἰτωλίαν καὶ τήν τε χώραν ἐδῄουν καὶ τὰς πόλεις ἐπολιόρκουν. οἱ δὲ Αἰτωλοὶ πυθόμενοι τὰς ἰδίας πατρίδας κινδυνεύειν τοὺς μὲν ἄλλους στρατιώτας ἀπέλιπον ἐν Θετταλίᾳ, Μένωνα τὸν Φαρσάλιον ἐπιστήσαντες στρατηγόν, αὐτοὶ δὲ τοὺς πολιτικοὺς ἀναλαβόντες ἧκον συντόμως εἰς τὴν Αἰτωλίαν καὶ τοὺς Ἀκαρνᾶνας καταπληξάμενοι τὰς πατρίδας ἠλευθέρωσαν τῶν κινδύνων. τούτων δὲ περὶ ταῦτα ἀσχολουμένων Πολυπέρχων ὁ καταλελειμμένος ἐν Μακεδονίᾳ στρατηγὸς ἧκεν εἰς τὴν Θετταλίαν μετὰ δυνάμεως ἀξιολόγου, νικήσας δὲ παρατάξει τοὺς πολεμίους τόν τε στρατηγὸν Μένωνα ἀνεῖλε καὶ τῶν ἄλλων κατέκοψε τοὺς πλείστους καὶ τὴν Θετταλίαν ἀνεκτήσατο.
After the departure of Antipater for Asia, the Aitolians, in accordance with their compact with Perdiccas, made a campaign into Thessaly for the purpose of diverting Antipater. They had twelve thousand foot soldiers and four hundred horsemen, and their general was Alexander, an Aitolian. On the march they besieged the city of the Amphissian Locrians, overran their country, and captured some of the neighbouring towns. They defeated Antipater's general Polycles in battle, killing him and no small number of his soldiers. Some of those who were taken captive they sold, others they released on receiving ransoms. Invading Thessaly next, they persuaded most of the Thessalians to join them in the war against Antipater, and a force was quickly gathered, numbering in all twenty-five thousand infantry and fifteen hundred cavalry. While they were gaining the cities, however, the Acarnanians, who were hostile to the Aitolians, invaded Aitolia, where they began to plunder the land and to besiege the cities. When the Aitolians learned that their own country was in danger, they left the other troops in Thessaly, putting Menon of Pharsalus in command, while they themselves with the citizen soldiers went swiftly into Aitolia and, by striking fear into the Acarnanians, freed their native cities from danger. 6 While, however, they were engaged in these matters, Polyperchon, who had been left in Macedonia as general, came into Thessaly with a considerable army and, by defeating the enemy in a battle in which he killed the general Menon and cut most of his army to pieces, recovered Thessaly.
§ 18.39
κατὰ δὲ τὴν Ἀσίαν Ἀρριδαῖος καὶ Πίθων οἱ τῶν βασιλέων ἐπιμεληταὶ ἀναζεύξαντες ἀπὸ τοῦ Νείλου μετὰ τῶν βασιλέων καὶ τῆς δυνάμεως ἧκον εἰς Τριπαράδεισον τῆς ἄνω Συρίας. ἐνταῦθα δὲ Εὐρυδίκης τῆς βασιλίσσης πολλὰ περιεργαζομένης καὶ ταῖς τῶν ἐπιμελητῶν ἐπιβολαῖς ἀντιπραττούσης οἱ μὲν περὶ τὸν Πίθωνα δυσχρηστούμενοι καὶ τοὺς Μακεδόνας ὁρῶντες τοῖς ἐκείνης προστάγμασιν ἀεὶ μᾶλλον προσέχοντας συνήγαγον ἐκκλησίαν καὶ τὴν ἐπιμέλειαν ἀπείπαντο, οἱ δὲ Μακεδόνες ἐπιμελητὴν εἵλαντο τὸν Ἀντίπατρον αὐτοκράτορα. οὗτος δὲ μετʼ ὀλίγας ἡμέρας καταντήσας εἰς Τριπαράδεισον κατέλαβε τὴν Εὐρυδίκην στασιάζουσαν καὶ τοὺς Μακεδόνας ἀπαλλοτριοῦσαν ἀπὸ τοῦ Ἀντιπάτρου. ταραχῆς δὲ μεγάλης οὔσης ἐν ταῖς δυνάμεσι καὶ κοινῆς ἐκκλησίας συναχθείσης ὁ μὲν Ἀντίπατρος διαλεχθεὶς τοῖς πλήθεσι τὴν μὲν ταραχὴν κατέπαυσε, τὴν δʼ Εὐρυδίκην καταπληξάμενος ἔπεισε τὴν ἡσυχίαν ἄγειν. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τὰς σατραπείας ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἐμερίσατο καὶ Πτολεμαίῳ μὲν τὴν προϋπάρχουσαν προσώρισεν· ἀδύνατον γὰρ ἦν τοῦτον μεταθεῖναι διὰ τὸ δοκεῖν τὴν Αἴγυπτον διὰ τῆς ἰδίας ἀνδρείας ἔχειν οἱονεὶ δορίκτητον. καὶ Λαομέδοντι μὲν τῷ Μιτυληναίῳ Συρίαν ἔδωκε, Φιλοξένῳ δὲ τὴν Κιλικίαν, τῶν δʼ ἄνω σατραπειῶν Μεσοποταμίαν μὲν καὶ τὴν Ἀρβηλῖτιν Ἀμφιμάχῳ, τὴν δὲ Βαβυλωνίαν Σελεύκῳ, Ἀντιγένει δὲ τὴν Σουσιανὴν διὰ τὸ τοῦτον πρῶτον πεποιῆσθαι τὴν ἐπὶ τὸν Περδίκκαν ἐπίθεσιν, Πευκέστῃ δὲ τὴν Περσίδα, Τληπολέμῳ δὲ τὴν Καρμανίαν, Πίθωνι δὲ Μηδίαν, Φιλίππῳ δὲ τὴν Παρθυαίαν, Ἀρίαν δὲ καὶ Δραγγηνὴν Στασάνδρῳ τῷ Κυπρίῳ, τὴν δὲ Βακτριανὴν καὶ Σογδιανὴν Στασάνορι τῷ Σολίῳ ἀπὸ τῆς αὐτῆς ὄντι νήσου. Παροπανισάδας δὲ Ὀξυάρτῃ προσώρισε τῷ Ῥωξάνης πατρὶ τῆς Ἀλεξάνδρου γυναικός, τῆς δὲ Ἰνδικῆς τὰ μὲν συνορίζοντα Παροπανισάδαις Πίθωνι τῷ Ἀγήνορος, τὰς δʼ ἐχομένας βασιλείας τὴν μὲν παρὰ τὸν Ἰνδὸν ποταμὸν Πώρῳ, τὴν δὲ παρὰ τὸν Ὑδάσπην Ταξίλῃ ʽοὐ γὰρ ἦν τούτους τοὺς βασιλεῖς μετακινῆσαι χωρὶς βασιλικῆς δυνάμεως καὶ ἡγεμόνος ἐπιφανοῦσʼ, τῶν δὲ πρὸς τὴν ἄρκτον κεκλιμένων Καππαδοκίαν μὲν Νικάνορι, Φρυγίαν δὲ τὴν μεγάλην καὶ Λυκίαν Ἀντιγόνῳ, καθάπερ πρότερον ἔσχε, Καρίαν δὲ Κασάνδρῳ, Λυδίαν δὲ Κλείτῳ, Φρυγίαν δὲ τὴν ἐφʼ Ἑλλησπόντῳ Ἀρριδαίῳ. στρατηγὸν δὲ τῆς βασιλικῆς δυνάμεως ἀπέδειξεν Ἀντίγονον, ᾧ προστεταγμένον ἦν καταπολεμῆσαι Εὐμενῆ τε καὶ Ἀλκέταν· παρέζευξε δὲ τῷ Ἀντιγόνῳ χιλίαρχον τὸν υἱὸν Κάσανδρον, ὅπως μὴ δύνηται διαλαθεῖν ἰδιοπραγῶν. αὐτὸς δὲ τοὺς βασιλεῖς ἀναλαβὼν καὶ τὴν ἰδίαν δύναμιν προῆγεν ἐπὶ Μακεδονίαν, κατάξων τοὺς βασιλεῖς ἐπὶ τὴν πατρίδα.
In Asia Arrhidaeus and Pithon, the guardians of the kings, setting out from the Nile with the kings and the army, came to Triparadeisus in upper Syria. There Eurydice, the queen, was interfering in many matters and working against the efforts of the guardians. Pithon and his colleague were distressed by this, and when they saw that the Macedonians were paying more and more attention to her commands, they summoned a meeting of the assembly and resigned the guardianship; whereupon the Macedonians elected Antipater guardian with full power. When Antipater arrived at Triparadeisus a few days later, he found Eurydice stirring up discord and turning the Macedonians away from him. There was great disorder in the army; but a general assembly was called together, and Antipater put an end to the tumult by addressing the crowd, and by thoroughly frightening Eurydice he persuaded her to keep quiet. Thereafter he distributed the satrapies anew. To Ptolemy he assigned what was already his, for it was impossible to displace him, since he seemed to be holding Egypt by virtue of his own prowess as if it were a prize of war. He gave Syria to Laomedon of Mitylene and Cilicia to Philoxenus. Of the upper satrapies Mesopotamia and Arbelitis were given to Amphimachus, Babylonia to Seleucus, Susiane to Antigenes because he had been foremost in making the attack on Perdiccas, Persia to Peucestes, Carmania to Tlepolemus, Media to Pithon, Parthia to Philip, Aria and Drangene to Stasander of Cyprus, Bactriane and Sogdiane to Stasanor of Soli, who was from that same island. He added Paropanisadae to the domain of Oxyartes, father of Alexander's wife Roxane, and the part of India bordering on Paropanisadae to Pithon son of Agenor. Of the two neighbouring kingdoms, the one along the Indus River was assigned to Porus and that along the Hydaspes to Taxiles, for it was not possible to remove these kings without employing a royal army and an outstanding general. Of the satrapies that face the north, Cappadocia was assigned to Nicanor, Great Phrygia and Lycia to Antigonus as before, Caria to Asander, Lydia to Cleitus, and Hellespontine Phrygia to Arrhidaeus. As general of the royal army he appointed Antigonus, assigning him the task of finishing the war against Eumenes and Alcetas; but he attached his own son Cassander to Antigonus as chiliarch so that the latter might not be able to pursue his own ambitions undetected. Antipater himself with the kings and his own army went on into Macedonia in order to restore the kings to their native land.
§ 18.40
Ἀντίγονος δὲ ἐπὶ τῆς Ἀσίας ἀποδεδειγμένος στρατηγὸς διαπολεμήσων πρὸς Εὐμενῆ ἤθροισεν ἐκ τῆς χειμασίας τὰς δυνάμεις. παρασκευασάμενος δὲ τὰ πρὸς τὴν μάχην προῆγεν ἐπὶ τὸν Εὐμενῆ, διατρίβοντα περὶ Καππαδοκίαν. ὁ δʼ Εὐμενὴς, ἀποστάντος ἀπʼ αὐτοῦ τινος τῶν ἐπιφανῶν ἡγεμόνων ὀνόματι Περδίκκου, στρατοπεδεύοντος ἀπὸ τριῶν ἡμερῶν ὁδοῦ μετὰ τῶν συναποστάντων στρατιωτῶν πεζῶν μὲν τρισχιλίων, ἱππέων δὲ πεντακοσίων, ἐξέπεμψεν ἐπʼ αὐτὸν Φοίνικα τὸν Τενέδιον, ἔχοντα πεζοὺς μὲν ἐπιλέκτους τετρακισχιλίους, ἱππεῖς δὲ χιλίους. οὗτος δὲ νυκτοπορίᾳ συντόνῳ χρησάμενος προσέπεσε τοῖς ἀποστάταις ἀπροσδοκήτως περὶ δευτέραν φυλακὴν νυκτερινήν· καταλαβὼν δʼ αὐτοὺς κοιμωμένους τόν τε Περδίκκαν ἐζώγρησε καὶ τῆς δυνάμεως ἐγκρατὴς ἐγένετο. Εὐμενὴς δὲ τοὺς αἰτιωτάτους τῆς ἀποστάσεως ἡγεμόνας ἐθανάτωσε· τοὺς δὲ στρατιώτας τοῖς ἄλλοις ἀναμίξας καὶ φιλανθρώπως προσενεχθεὶς ἰδίους ταῖς εὐνοίαις ἐποιήσατο. μετὰ δὲ ταῦθʼ ὁ μὲν Ἀντίγονος διαπεμψάμενος πρὸς Ἀπολλωνίδην τινά, τῶν ἱππέων ἀφηγούμενον παρʼ Εὐμενεῖ, μεγάλαις ἐπαγγελίαις διʼ ἀπορρήτων ἔπεισε προδότην γενέσθαι καὶ κατὰ τὴν μάχην αὐτομολῆσαι. τοῦ δʼ Εὐμενοῦς στρατοπεδεύοντος τῆς Καππαδοκίας ἔν τισιν εὐθέτοις πεδίοις πρὸς ἱππομαχίαν ἐπιβαλὼν ὁ Ἀντίγονος μετὰ πάσης τῆς δυνάμεως κατελάβετο τὴν ὑπερκειμένην τῶν πεδίων ὑπωρίαν. εἶχε δʼ ὁ μὲν Ἀντίγονος κατʼ ἐκείνους τοὺς καιροὺς πεζοὺς μὲν πλείω τῶν μυρίων, ὧν ἦσαν οἱ ἡμίσεις Μακεδόνες, θαυμαστοὶ κατὰ τὰς ἀνδραγαθίας, ἱππεῖς δὲ δισχιλίους, ἐλέφαντας δὲ τριάκοντα, ὁ δʼ Εὐμενὴς πεζοὺς μὲν οὐκ ἐλάττους τῶν δισμυρίων, ἱππεῖς δὲ πεντακισχιλίους. γενομένης δὲ μάχης ἰσχυρᾶς καὶ τοῦ Ἀπολλωνίδου μετὰ τῶν περὶ αὐτὸν ἱππέων ποιήσαντος ἀλόγως ἀπὸ τῶν ἰδίων διάστασιν ἐνίκησεν ὁ Ἀντίγονος καὶ ἀνεῖλεν τῶν ἐναντίων εἰς ὀκτακισχιλίους. ἐκυρίευσε δὲ καὶ τῆς ἀποσκευῆς ἁπάσης, ὥστε τοὺς περὶ τὸν Εὐμενῆ στρατιώτας διὰ μὲν τὴν ἧτταν καταπλαγῆναι, διὰ δὲ τὴν ἀπώλειαν τῆς ἀποσκευῆς ἀθυμῆσαι.
Antigonus, who had been designated general of Asia for the purpose of finishing the war with Eumenes, collected his troops from their winter quarters. After making preparations for the battle, he set out against Eumenes, who was still in Cappadocia. Now one of Eumenes' distinguished commanders named Perdiccas had deserted him and was encamped at a distance of three days' march with the soldiers who had joined him in the mutiny, three thousand infantry and five hundred cavalry. Eumenes, accordingly, sent against him Phoenix of Tenedos with four thousand picked foot-soldiers and a thousand horsemen. 3 After a forced night march Phoenix fell unexpectedly on the deserters at about the second watch of the night, and catching them asleep, took Perdiccas alive and secured control of his troops. 4 Eumenes put to death the leaders who had been most responsible for the desertion, but by distributing the common soldiers among the other troops and treating them with kindness, he secured them as loyal supporters. 5 Thereafter Antigonus sent messages to a certain Apollonides, who commanded the cavalry in the army of Eumenes, and by great promises secretly persuaded him to become a traitor and to desert during the battle. 6 While Eumenes was encamped in a plain of Cappadocia well suited for cavalry fighting, Antigonus fell upon him with all his men and took the foothills that commanded the plain. 7 Antigonus at that time had more than ten thousand foot soldiers, half of whom were Macedonians admirable for their hardihood, two thousand mounted troops, and thirty elephants; while Eumenes commanded not less than twenty thousand infantry and five thousand cavalry. 8 But when the battle became hot and Apollonides with his cavalry unexpectedly deserted his own side, Antigonus won the day and slew about eight thousand of the enemy. He also became master of the entire supply train, so that Eumenes' soldiers were both dismayed by the defeat and despondent at the loss of their supplies.
§ 18.41
μετὰ δὲ ταῦθʼ ὁ μὲν Εὐμενὴς ἐπεβάλετο φεύγειν εἰς Ἀρμενίαν καὶ τῶν ἐν ταύτῃ κατοικούντων τινὰς πρὸς τὴν συμμαχίαν συλλαβέσθαι· καταταχούμενος δὲ καὶ τοὺς στρατιώτας ὁρῶν ἀποχωροῦντας πρὸς τὸν Ἀντίγονον κατελάβετο χωρίον ὀχυρὸν ὃ προσηγορεύετο Νῶρα. ἦν δὲ τὸ φρούριον τοῦτο παντελῶς μικρὸν διὰ τὸ τὸν περίβολον ἔχειν μὴ πλείω δυεῖν σταδίων, κατὰ δὲ τὴν ἐρυμνότητα θαυμαστόν· ἐπὶ γὰρ πέτρας ὑψηλῆς εἶχε τὰς οἰκίας συνῳκοδομημένας καὶ τὰ μὲν ὑπὸ τῆς φύσεως, τὰ δʼ ὑπὸ τῆς ἐκ τῶν χειρῶν κατασκευῆς θαυμαστῶς ὠχύρωτο. εἶχε δὲ καὶ παραθέσεις σίτου πολλοῦ καὶ ξύλων καὶ ἁλῶν ὥστʼ εἰς ἔτη πολλὰ δύνασθαι χορηγῆσαι πάντα τοῖς εἰς αὐτὴν καταφυγοῦσι. συνέφυγον δὲ μετʼ αὐτοῦ τῶν φίλων οἱ ταῖς εὐνοίαις διαφέροντες καὶ κεκρικότες συναποθνήσκειν αὐτῷ κατὰ τοὺς ἐσχάτους κινδύνους· οἱ δὲ πάντες ὑπῆρχον ἱππεῖς τε καὶ πεζοὶ περὶ ἑξακοσίους. Ἀντίγονος δὲ παραλαβὼν τὴν μετʼ Εὐμενοῦς δύναμιν καὶ τῶν σατραπειῶν καὶ τῶν ἐν ταύταις προσόδων κύριος γενόμενος, ἔτι δὲ παραλαβὼν πλῆθος χρημάτων μειζόνων πραγμάτων ὠρέγετο· οὐκέτι γὰρ οὐδεὶς τῶν κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν ἡγεμόνων ἀξιόμαχον εἶχε δύναμιν διαγωνίσασθαι πρὸς αὐτὸν περὶ τῶν πρωτείων. διὸ καὶ πρὸς Ἀντίπατρον κατὰ μὲν τὸ παρὸν προσεποιεῖτο φιλικῶς διακεῖσθαι, διεγνώκει δὲ τὰ καθʼ αὑτὸν ἀσφαλισάμενος μηκέτι προσέχειν μήτε τοῖς βασιλεῦσι μήτε Ἀντιπάτρῳ. τὸ μὲν οὖν πρῶτον περιέλαβε τοὺς καταπεφευγότας εἰς τὸ φρούριον διπλοῖς τοῖς τείχεσι καὶ τάφροις καὶ χαρακώμασι θαυμαστοῖς· μετὰ ταῦτα δʼ εἰς σύλλογον ἐλθὼν Εὐμενεῖ καὶ τὴν προϋπάρχουσαν φιλίαν ἀνανεωσάμενος ἔπειθεν αὐτὸν κοινοπραγεῖν. ὁ δὲ εἰδὼς τὴν τύχην ὀξέως μεταβάλλουσαν μείζονας ᾔτει φιλανθρωπίας τῆς περὶ αὐτὸν οὔσης περιστάσεως· ᾤετο γὰρ δεῖν αὐτῷ συγχωρηθῆναι τὰς ἐξ ἀρχῆς δεδομένας σατραπείας καὶ τῶν ἐγκλημάτων ἁπάντων ἀπόλυσιν. ὁ δὲ Ἀντίγονος περὶ μὲν τούτων ἐπὶ τὸν Ἀντίπατρον τὴν ἀναφορὰν ἐποιήσατο, τοῦ δὲ χωρίου τὴν ἱκανὴν φυλακὴν ἀπολιπὼν ὥρμησεν ἐπὶ τοὺς ἐπιπορευομένους ἡγεμόνας τῶν πολεμίων καὶ δυνάμεις ἔχοντας Ἀλκέταν τε τὸν ἀδελφὸν τοῦ Περδίκκου καὶ Ἄτταλον τὸν τοῦ στόλου παντὸς κυριεύοντα.
After this Eumenes undertook to escape into Armenia and to bring over to his alliance some of the inhabitants of that land; but as he was being overtaken and saw that his soldiers were going over to Antigonus, he occupied a stronghold called Nora. This fortress was very small with a circuit of not more than two stades, but of wonderful strength, for its buildings had been constructed close together on the top of a lofty crag, and it had been marvellously fortified, partly by nature, partly by the work of men's hands. 3 Furthermore, it contained a stock of grain, firewood, and salt, ample to supply for many years all the needs of those who took refuge there. Eumenes was accompanied in his flight by those of his friends who were exceptionally loyal and had determined to die along with him if it came to the worst straits. In all, counting both cavalry and infantry, there were about six hundred souls. 4 Now that Antigonus had taken over the army that had been with Eumenes, had become master of Eumenes' satrapies together with their revenues, and had seized a great sum of money besides, he aspired to greater things; for there was no longer any commander in all Asia who had an army strong enough to compete with him for supremacy. 5 Therefore, although maintaining for the time being a pretence of being well disposed toward Antipater, he had decided that, as soon as he had made his own position secure, he would no longer take orders either from the kings or from Antipater. 6 Accordingly he first surrounded those who had fled to the stronghold with double walls, ditches, and amazing palisades; but then he parleyed with Eumenes, renewed the former friendship, and tried to persuade him to cast his lot with him. Eumenes, however, being well aware that Fortune changes quickly, insisted upon greater concessions than his existing circumstances justified; 7 in fact, he thought that he ought to be given back the satrapies that had been originally assigned to him and be cleared of all the charges. But Antigonus referred these matters to Antipater, and then, after placing a sufficient guard about the fortress, he set out to meet those commanders of the enemy who survived and had troops, namely Alcetas, who was brother of Perdiccas, and Attalus, who commanded the whole fleet.
§ 18.42
μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ὁ Εὐμενὴς πρὸς τὸν Ἀντίπατρον πρεσβευτὰς ἀπέστειλε περὶ τῶν ὁμολογιῶν, ὧν ἦν ἡγούμενος Ἱερώνυμος ὁ τὰς τῶν διαδόχων ἱστορίας γεγραφώς. αὐτὸς δὲ πολλαῖς καὶ ποικίλαις κεχρημένος τοῦ βίου μεταβολαῖς οὐκ ἐταπεινοῦτο τῷ φρονήματι, σαφῶς εἰδὼς τὴν τύχην ὀξείας τὰς εἰς ἀμφότερα τὰ μέρη ποιουμένην μεταβολάς. ἑώρα γὰρ τοὺς μὲν τῶν Μακεδόνων βασιλεῖς κενὸν ἔχοντας τὸ τῆς βασιλείας πρόσχημα, πολλοὺς δὲ καὶ μεγάλους τοῖς φρονήμασιν ἄνδρας διαδεχομένους τὰς ἡγεμονίας, πάντας δὲ ἰδιοπραγεῖν βουλομένους. ἤλπιζεν οὖν, ὅπερ ἦν πρὸς ἀλήθειαν, πολλοὺς αὐτοῦ χρείαν ἕξειν διά τε τὴν φρόνησιν καὶ τὴν ἐμπειρίαν τῶν πολεμικῶν, ἔτι δὲ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῆς ἐν τῇ πίστει βεβαιότητος. ὁρῶν δὲ τοὺς ἵππους, διὰ τὴν ἐν τῇ στενοχωρίᾳ τραχύτητα μὴ δυναμένους γυμνάζεσθαι, πρὸς τὴν ἐν ταῖς ἱππομαχίαις χρείαν ἀχρήστους ἐσομένους ἐπενοήσατό τινα ξένην καὶ παρηλλαγμένην τῶν ἵππων γυμνασίαν. τὰς γὰρ κεφαλὰς αὐτῶν ταῖς σειραῖς ἀναδεσμεύων ἔκ τινων δοκίων ἢ παττάλων καὶ δύο ἢ τρεῖς διχάδας ἐωρήσας συνηνάγκαζεν τοῖς ὀπισθίοις ποσὶν ἐπιβεβηκέναι, τοῖς δʼ ἔμπροσθεν μόγις ψαύειν τῆς γῆς μικρὸν ἀπολείποντας· εὐθὺς οὖν ὁ μὲν ἵππος βουλόμενος στηρίζεσθαι τοῖς ἐμπροσθίοις διεπονεῖτο τῷ τε σώματι παντὶ καὶ τοῖς σκέλεσι, συμπασχόντων ἁπάντων τῶν κατὰ τὸν ὄγκον μελῶν· τοιαύτης δὲ γινομένης κινήσεως ἱδρώς τε πολὺς ἐκ τοῦ σώματος ἐξεχεῖτο καὶ τῇ τῶν πόνων ὑπερβολῇ τὴν ἀκρότητα τῶν γυμνασίων τοῖς ζῴοις περιεποιεῖτο. τοῖς δὲ στρατιώταις ἅπασι τὰς αὐτὰς τροφὰς παρείχετο, μετέχων αὐτὸς τῆς λιτότητος, καὶ διὰ τῆς ὁμοίας συμπεριφορᾶς πολλὴν εὔνοιαν ἑαυτῷ, τοῖς δὲ συμπεφευγόσι πᾶσιν ὁμόνοιαν συγκατεσκεύασε. καὶ τὰ μὲν κατὰ τὸν Εὐμενῆ καὶ τοὺς συμπεφευγότας εἰς τὴν πέτραν ἐν τούτοις ἦν.
Eumenes later sent envoys to Antipater to discuss the terms of surrender. Their leader was Hieronymus, who has written the history of the Successors. Eumenes himself, who had experienced many and various changes in the circumstances of his life, was not cast down in spirit, since he knew well that Fortune makes sudden changes in both directions. He saw, on the one hand, that the kings of the Macedonians held an empty pretence of royalty, and on the other, that many men of lofty ambitions were succeeding to the positions of command, and that each of them wished to act in his own interests. He hoped, therefore, as truly happened, that many would have need of him because of his judgement and his experience in warfare, and even more because of his unusual steadfastness to any pledge. Seeing that the horses, unable to exercise themselves because of the rough and confined space, would become unfit for use in mounted battle, Eumenes devised a certain strange and extraordinary exercise for them. Attaching their heads by ropes to beams or pegs and lifting them two or three double palms, he forced them to rest their weight upon their hind feet with their forefeet just clearing the ground. At once each horse, in effort to find footing for its forefeet, began to struggle with its whole body and with its legs, all its members sharing in the exertion. At such activity sweat poured freely from the body and thus kept the animals in top condition through their excessive labours. He gave the same rations to all the soldiers, sharing in their simple food himself; and by his unchanging affability he gained great goodwill for himself and secured harmony among all his fellow refugees. Such was the situation of Eumenes and of those who had fled to the rock with him.
§ 18.43
κατὰ δὲ τὴν Αἴγυπτον Πτολεμαῖος παραδόξως ἀποτετριμμένος τόν τε Περδίκκαν καὶ τὰς βασιλικὰς δυνάμεις τὴν μὲν Αἴγυπτον ὡσανεί τινα βασιλείαν δορίκτητον εἶχεν. ὁρῶν δὲ τήν τε Φοινίκην καὶ τὴν Κοίλην ὀνομαζομένην Συρίαν εὐφυῶς κειμένας κατὰ τῆς Αἰγύπτου πολλὴν εἰσεφέρετο σπουδὴν κυριεῦσαι τούτων τῶν τόπων. ἐξαπέστειλεν οὖν τὴν ἱκανὴν δύναμιν καὶ στρατηγόν, ἕνα τῶν φίλων προχειρισάμενος, Νικάνορα. οὗτος δὲ στρατεύσας εἰς τὴν Συρίαν Λαομέδοντα μὲν τὸν σατράπην ἐζώγρησε, τὴν δὲ Συρίαν ἅπασαν ἐχειρώσατο. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τὰς κατὰ τὴν Φοινίκην πόλεις προσαγαγόμενος καὶ ποιήσας ἐμφρούρους ἐπανῆλθεν εἰς τὴν Αἴγυπτον, σύντομον τὴν στρατείαν καὶ πρακτικὴν πεποιημένος.
As for Egypt, Ptolemy, after he had unexpectedly rid himself of Perdiccas and the royal forces, was holding that land as if it were a prize of war. Seeing that Phoenicia and Coele Syria, as it was called, were conveniently situated for an offensive against Egypt, he set about in earnest to become master of those regions. Accordingly he dispatched an adequate army with Nicanor as general, a man selected from among his friends. The latter marched into Syria, took the satrap Laomedon captive, and subdued the whole land. After he had likewise secured the allegiance of the cities of Phoenicia and placed garrisons in them, he returned to Egypt, having made a short and effective campaign.
§ 18.44
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησιν Ἀπολλοδώρου Ῥωμαῖοι κατέστησαν ὑπάτους Κόιντον Ποπίλλιον καὶ Κόιντον Πόπλιον. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Ἀντίγονος καταπεπολεμηκὼς τοὺς περὶ τὸν Εὐμενῆ ἔκρινε στρατεύειν ἐπὶ τὸν Ἀλκέταν καὶ Ἄτταλον· οὗτοι γὰρ ὑπελείποντο τῶν Περδίκκου φίλων καὶ οἰκείων ἡγεμόνες μὲν ἀξιόλογοι, στρατιώτας δʼ ἔχοντες ἱκανοὺς ἀμφισβητῆσαι πραγμάτων. ἀναζεύξας οὖν μετὰ πάσης τῆς δυνάμεως ἐκ Καππαδοκίας προῆγεν ἐπὶ τὴν Πισιδικήν, ἐν ᾗ συνέβαινε διατρίβειν τοὺς περὶ τὸν Ἀλκέταν. ὀξεῖαν δὲ καὶ παντελῶς ἐπιτεταμένην τὴν πορείαν ποιησάμενος ἐν ἡμέραις ἑπτὰ καὶ ταῖς ἴσαις νυξὶ διήνυσε σταδίους δισχιλίους καὶ πεντακοσίους εἰς τὴν ὀνομαζομένην Κρητῶν πόλιν. λαθὼν δὲ τοὺς πολεμίους διὰ τὴν ὀξύτητα τῆς πορείας καὶ γενόμενος πλησίον αὐτῶν ἀγνοούντων τὴν παρουσίαν ἔφθασεν ἀκρολοφίας τινὰς καὶ δυσχωρίας προκαταλαβόμενος. οἱ δὲ περὶ τὸν Ἀλκέταν πυθόμενοι τὴν παρουσίαν τῶν πολεμίων τὴν μὲν φάλαγγα ταχέως ἐξέταξαν, τοῖς δʼ ἱππεῦσι προσπεσόντες τοῖς τὴν ἀκρώρειαν προκατέχουσιν ἐφιλοτιμοῦντο βίᾳ κρατῆσαι καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς ἀκρολοφίας ἐκβαλεῖν. γενομένης δὲ μάχης ἰσχυρᾶς καὶ πολλῶν παρʼ ἀμφοτέρων πεσόντων ὁ μὲν Ἀντίγονος ἔχων ἱππεῖς ἑξακισχιλίους ἀπὸ κράτους ἤλαυνεν ἐπὶ τὴν τῶν ἐναντίων φάλαγγα, σπεύδων ἀποκόψαι τῶν περὶ τὸν Ἀλκέταν τὴν ἐπὶ ταύτην καταφυγήν. οὗ συντελεσθέντος οἱ μὲν ἐπὶ τῆς ἀκρωρείας ὄντες, πολὺ τοῖς τε πλήθεσιν ὑπερέχοντες καὶ τῇ δυσχωρίᾳ τῶν τόπων πλεονεκτοῦντες, ἐτρέψαντο τοὺς προσμαχομένους. οἱ δὲ περὶ τὸν Ἀλκέταν τῆς μὲν ἐπὶ τοὺς πεζοὺς καταφυγῆς ἀποκεκλεισμένοι, τῷ δὲ πλήθει τῶν πολεμίων εἰς μέσον ἀπειλημμένοι πρόδηλον εἶχον τὴν ἀπώλειαν. διὸ καὶ τῆς σωτηρίας δυσβοηθήτου γενομένης ὁ μὲν
When Apollodorus was archon at Athens, the Romans elected Quintus Popillius and Quintus Poplius to the consulship. During their term Antigonus, who had defeated Eumenes, decided to make war against Alcetas and Attalus; for these two remained from the friends and household of Perdiccas, noteworthy generals with soldiers enough to make a bid for power. Therefore Antigonus set out with all his forces from Cappadocia and pushed on toward Pisidia, where Alcetas and his army were staying. Making a forced march that strained the endurance of his men to the utmost, he traversed two thousand five hundred stades in seven days and the same number of nights, reaching Cretopolis, as it is called. He escaped the notice of the enemy because of the rapidity of his march, and drawing close to them while they were still ignorant of his coming, he stole a march on them by occupying certain rugged ridges. 3 As soon as Alcetas learned that the enemy was at hand, he drew up his phalanx at top speed and with a mounted force attacked the troops that were holding the ridge, trying with all his might to get the best of them by force and hurl them from the hill. 4 A stubborn battle was waged and many fell on both sides; then Antigonus led six thousand horsemen in a violent charge against the phalanx of the enemy in order to cut Alcetas' line of retreat to it. 5 When this manoeuvre had been successfully completed, the forces on the ridge, who were far superior in number and also had an advantage from the difficulty of the terrain, routed the attackers. Alcetas, whose retreat to the infantry had been cut off and who was caught in a trap by the superior numbers of the enemy, faced imminent destruction. Therefore now that survival itself was difficult, he abandoned many of his men and hardly escaped to the phalanx of the footmen.
§ 18.45
Ἀλκέτας πολλοὺς ἀποβαλὼν μόλις διεξέπεσε πρὸς τὴντῶν πεζῶν φάλαγγα, ὁ δʼ Ἀντίγονος ἐξ ὑπερδεξίων τόπων ἐπαγαγὼν τούς τε ἐλέφαντας καὶ πᾶσαν τὴν δύναμιν κατεπλήξατο τοὺς πολεμίους πολὺ τοῖς πλήθεσι λειπομένους· ἦσαν γὰρ οἱ σύμμαχοι πάντες πεζοὶ μὲν μύριοι καὶ ἑξακισχίλιοι, ἱππεῖς δὲ ἐννακόσιοι, οἱ δʼ Ἀντιγόνου χωρὶς τῶν ἐλεφάντων πεζοὶ μὲν πλείους τῶν τετρακισμυρίων, ἱππεῖς δὲ ὑπὲρ τοὺς ἑπτακισχιλίους. ἅμα δὲ τῶν ἐλεφάντων ἐπιόντων κατὰ μέτωπον καὶ τῶν ἱππέων διὰ τὸ πλῆθος πανταχῇ περιχεομένων, ἔτι δὲ τῶν πεζῶν πολλαπλασίων καὶ κρειττόνων ὄντων ταῖς ἀρεταῖς καὶ τὴν στάσιν ὑπερδέξιον ἐχόντων πολὺς θόρυβος καὶ φόβος κατεῖχε τοὺς περὶ τὸν Ἀλκέταν· διὰ δὲ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῆς ὀξύτητος καὶ τῆς ἐνεργείας οὐδʼ ἐκτάξαι καλῶς τὴν φάλαγγα κατίσχυσε. τροπῆς δὲ παντελοῦς γενομένης Ἄτταλος μὲν καὶ Δόκιμος καὶ Πολέμων καὶ πολλοὶ τῶν ἀξιολόγων ἡγεμόνων ἐζωγρήθησαν, Ἀλκέτας δὲ μετὰ τῶν ἰδίων ὑπασπιστῶν καὶ παίδων ἔφυγε μετὰ τῶν Πισιδῶν τῶν συστρατευομένων εἰς πόλιν Πισιδικὴν ὄνομα Τερμησσόν. ὁ δʼ Ἀντίγονος τούτους μὲν καθʼ ὁμολογίαν παραλαβὼν τοὺς λοιποὺς εἰς τὰ ἴδια τάγματα κατέταξε καὶ φιλανθρώπως αὐτοῖς χρησάμενος ηὔξησε τὴν ἰδίαν δύναμιν οὐ μετρίως. οἱ δὲ Πισίδαι τὸν ἀριθμὸν ὄντες εἰς ἑξακισχιλίους καὶ ταῖς ἀλκαῖς διαφέροντες παρεκάλουν τὸν Ἀλκέταν θαρρεῖν, ἐπαγγελλόμενοι μηδʼ ἑνί τῳ τρόπῳ ἐγκαταλείψειν αὐτόν. διέκειντο γὰρ πρὸς αὐτὸν εὐνοϊκῶς καθʼ ὑπερβολὴν διὰ τοιαύτας τινὰς αἰτίας.
Antigonus, however, led his elephants and his whole army down from a higher position and struck panic into his opponents, who were far inferior to him in number; for they were in all sixteen thousand foot and nine hundred horse, while Antigonus, in addition to the elephants, had more than forty thousand foot soldiers and above seven thousand horsemen. The elephants were now attacking the army of Alcetas from the front, and at the same time the horsemen because of superior numbers were pouring about them on all sides, while a force of infantry, which far outnumbered them and also surpassed them in valour, was holding a position above them. At this, tumult and panic began to grip Alcetas' soldiers; and because of the great rapidity and force of the attack, he was unable to draw up the phalanx properly. The rout was complete. Attalus, Docimus, Polemon, and many of the more important officers were taken captive; but Alcetas, accompanied by his own guards and attendants, escaped with his Pisidian allies to a city of Pisidia called Termessus. Antigonus obtained the surrender of all the rest by negotiation and enrolled them in his own ranks; by his kind treatment of them he brought no small addition to his forces. The Pisidians, however, who numbered six thousand and were of outstanding prowess, bade Alcetas be of good courage, promising that they would in no way fail him; for they were exceedingly well disposed to him for the following reasons.
§ 18.46
Ἀλκέτας μετὰ τὸν Περδίκκου θάνατον οὐκ ἔχων συμμάχους κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν ἔκρινε τοὺς Πισίδας εὐεργετεῖν, νομίζων ἕξειν συμμάχους πολεμικοὺς ἄνδρας καὶ χώραν ἔχοντας δυσέμβολον καὶ μεστὴν ὀχυρῶν φρουρίων. διόπερ ἐν ταῖς στρατείαις παρὰ πάντας τοὺς συμμάχους ἐτίμα περιττότερον τούτους καὶ τὰς μὲν ἐκ τῆς πολεμίας ὠφελείας ἐμέριζεν αὐτοῖς, διδοὺς τῶν λαφύρων τὰ ἡμίση, κατὰ δὲ τὰς ὁμιλίας λόγοις φιλανθρώποις χρώμενος καὶ κατὰ τὰ σύνδειπνα καθʼ ἡμέραν τοὺς ἀξιολογωτάτους ἐν μέρει παραλαμβάνων ἐπὶ τὰς ἑστιάσεις, ἔτι δὲ τιμῶν πολλοὺς δωρεαῖς ἀξιολόγοις ἰδίους ταῖς εὐνοίαις κατεσκεύασεν. διόπερ καὶ τότε τὰς ἐλπίδας ἔχοντος ἐν τούτοις Ἀλκέτου τῶν ἐλπίδων αὐτὸν οὐ διεψεύσαντο. τοῦ γὰρ Ἀντιγόνου μετὰ πάσης τῆς δυνάμεως πλησίον τῆς Τερμησσοῦ καταστρατοπεδεύσαντος καὶ τὸν Ἀλκέταν ἐξαιτοῦντος, ἔτι δὲ τῶν πρεσβυτέρων συμβουλευόντων ἐκδοῦναι συστραφέντες οἱ νεώτεροι πρὸς τοὺς γονεῖς διαστάντες ἐψηφίσαντο πᾶν ὑπομένειν δεινὸν ἕνεκα τῆς τούτου σωτηρίας. οἱ δὲ πρεσβύτεροι τὸ μὲν πρῶτον πείθειν ἐπεχείρουν τοὺς νέους μὴ διʼ ἕνα Μακεδόνα περιιδεῖν τὴν πατρίδα γινομένην δοριάλωτον· ἐπεὶ δʼ ἀμετάθετον αὐτῶν τὴν ὁρμὴν ἑώρων, λάθρᾳ συμφρονήσαντες ἐξέπεμψαν νυκτὸς πρεσβείαν πρὸς Ἀντίγονον, ἐπαγγελλόμενοι τὸν Ἀλκέταν ἢ ζῶντα παραδώσειν ἢ τετελευτηκότα. ἠξίουν δʼ αὐτὸν ἐφʼ ἡμέρας τινὰς προσβάλλοντα τῇ πόλει καὶ διʼ ἀκροβολισμῶν ἐλαφρῶν προαγόμενον τοὺς ἐκ τῆς πόλεως ὑποχωρεῖν ὡς φεύγοντα· τούτου γὰρ γενομένου καὶ τῶν νεωτέρων περὶ τὴν μάχην ἐκτὸς τῆς πόλεως ἀσχολουμένων λήψεσθαι καιρὸν οἰκεῖον ταῖς ἰδίαις ἐπιβολαῖς. ὁ δʼ Ἀντίγονος πεισθεὶς ὑπʼ αὐτῶν καὶ μακρὰν τῆς πόλεως μεταστρατοπεδεύσας διὰ τῶν ἀκροβολισμῶν προεσπᾶτο τοὺς νέους εἰς τὸν ἐκτὸς τῆς πόλεως ἀγῶνα. οἱ δὲ πρεσβύτεροι μεμονωμένον ὁρῶντες τὸν Ἀλκέταν καὶ τῶν τε δούλων τοὺς πιστοτάτους καὶ τῶν ἀκμαζόντων πολιτῶν ἐπιλέξαντες τοὺς μὴ συστρατευομένους τῷ Ἀλκέτᾳ τὴν ἐπίθεσιν ἐποιήσαντο κατὰ τὴν ἀπουσίαν τῶν νέων. ζωγρῆσαι μὲν οὖν αὐτὸν οὐ κατίσχυσαν ʽἔφθασε γὰρ αὑτὸν διαχειρισάμενος, ὅπως μὴ ζῶν ὑποχείριος γένηται τοῖς πολεμίοισʼ, τὸ δὲ σῶμα αὐτοῦ θέντες ἐπὶ κλινίδιον καὶ συγκατακαλύψαντες εὐτελεῖ τρίβωνι κατὰ τὰς πύλας ἐξήνεγκαν καὶ λαθόντες τοὺς ἀκροβολιζομένους παρέδωκαν Ἀντιγόνῳ.
Since Alcetas had had no supporters in Asia after the death of Perdiccas, he had decided to show kindness to the Pisidians, thinking that he would thus secure as allies men who were warlike and who possessed a country difficult to invade and well supplied with strongholds. For this reason during the campaigns he honoured them exceedingly above all the allies and distributed to them spoils from the hostile territory, assigning them half the booty. By employing the most friendly language in his conversation with them, by each day inviting the most important of them in turn to his table at banquets, and finally by honouring many of them with gifts of considerable value, he secured them as loyal supporters. Therefore even at this time Alcetas placed his hopes upon them, and they did not disappoint his hopes. For when Antigonus encamped near Termessus with all his army and demanded Alcetas, and even when the older men advised that he be surrendered, the younger, forming a compact group in opposition to their parents, voted to meet every danger in the interest of his safety. The older men at first tried to persuade the younger not to permit their native land to become the spoil of war for the sake of a single Macedonian; but when they saw the young men's determination was not to be shaken, after taking counsel in secret, they sent an embassy to Antigonus by night, promising to surrender Alcetas either alive or dead. They asked him to attack the city for a number of days and, drawing the defenders forward by light skirmishing, to withdraw as if in flight. They said that, when this had happened and the young men were engaged in the battle at a distance from the city, they would seize a suitable occasion for their own undertaking. Antigonus, prevailed on by them, shifted his camp a long way from the city, and by skirmishing with the young men kept drawing them into battle outside the city. When the older men saw that Alcetas had been left alone, selecting the most trustworthy of the slaves and those of the citizens in the prime of life who were not working in his behalf, they made their attempt while the young men were still away. They could not, it is true, take him alive, for he laid hands on himself first in order not to come into the power of his enemies while still living; but his body, laid on a bier and covered with a coarse cloak, they carried out through the gates and delivered to Antigonus without attracting the attention of the skirmishers.
§ 18.47
διὰ δὲ τῆς ἰδίας ἐπινοίας ἐκ τῶν κινδύνων ἐξελόμενοι τὴν πατρίδα τὸν μὲν πόλεμον ἀπεστρέψαντο, τὴν δὲ πρὸς τοὺς νέους ἀλλοτριότητα φυγεῖν οὐ κατίσχυσαν· οὗτοι γὰρ ἀπὸ τῆς μάχης ἐπανελθόντες καὶ τὸ πεπραγμένον ἀκούσαντες πρὸς τοὺς ἰδίους ἀπηγριώθησαν διὰ τὴν πρὸς Ἀλκέταν ὑπερβολὴν τῆς εὐνοίας. καὶ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον καταλαβόμενοι μέρος τῆς πόλεως ἐψηφίσαντο τὰς μὲν οἰκίας ἐμπρῆσαι, μετὰ δὲ τῶν ὅπλων ἐκχυθέντας ἐκ τῆς πόλεως καὶ τῆς ὀρεινῆς ἐχομένους πορθεῖν τὴν ὑπʼ Ἀντίγονον τεταγμένην χώραν, ὕστερον δὲ μετανοήσαντες τοῦ μὲν ἐμπρῆσαι τὴν πόλιν ἀπέσχοντο, δόντες δʼ ἑαυτοὺς εἰς λῃστείας καὶ καταδρομὰς πολλὴν τῆς πολεμίας χώραν κατέφθειραν. ὁ δʼ Ἀντίγονος παραλαβὼν τὸ σῶμα καὶ καταικισάμενος ἐπὶ τρεῖς ἡμέρας καὶ τοῦ νεκροῦ σῆψιν λαβόντος ἀφεὶς αὐτὸν ἄταφον ἀνέζευξεν ἐκ τῆς Πισιδικῆς. οἱ δὲ τῶν Τερμησσέων νέοι φυλάττοντες τὴν πρὸς τὸν ᾐκισμένον εὔνοιαν τό τε σῶμα ἀνείλαντο καὶ λαμπρῶς ἐκήδευσαν. οὕτως ἡ τῆς εὐεργεσίας φύσις, ἴδιόν τι φίλτρον ἔχουσα πρὸς τοὺς εὖ πεποιηκότας, ἀμετάθετον διαφυλάττει τὴν εἰς αὐτοὺς εὔνοιαν. ὁ δʼ οὖν Ἀντίγονος ἀναζεύξας ἐκ τῆς Πισιδικῆς προῆγεν ἐπὶ Φρυγίας μετὰ πάσης τῆς δυνάμεως. ὡς δὲ κατήντησεν εἰς Κρητῶν πόλιν, ἧκεν πρὸς αὐτὸν Ἀριστόδημος ὁ Μιλήσιος ἀπαγγέλλων ὅτι Ἀντίπατρος μὲν τετελεύτηκεν, ἡ δὲ τῶν ὅλων ἡγεμονία καὶ τῶν βασιλέων ἡ ἐπιμέλεια μεταπέπτωκεν εἰς Πολυπέρχοντα τὸν Μακεδόνα. ἡσθεὶς δʼ ἐπὶ τοῖς γεγονόσι μετέωρος ἦν ταῖς ἐλπίσι καὶ διενοεῖτο τῶν κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν ἔχεσθαι πραγμάτων καὶ τῆς κατʼ αὐτὴν ἡγεμονίας μηδενὶ παραχωρεῖν. καὶ τὰ μὲν περὶ τὸν Ἀντίγονον ἐν τούτοις ἦν.
By thus delivering their state from danger by their own devices, they averted the war, but they could not escape the disaffection of the younger men; for as soon as these on their return from the fighting heard what had happened, they became enraged at their kinsfolk on account of their own excessive devotion to Alcetas. At first they gained possession of part of the town and voted to set the buildings on fire and then, rushing from the town under arms and keeping to the mountains, to plunder the country that was subject to Antigonus; later, however, they changed their minds and refrained from burning the city, but they devoted themselves to brigandage and guerrilla warfare, ravaging much of the hostile territory. As for Antigonus, he took the body of Alcetas and maltreated it for three days; then, as the corpse began to decay, he threw it out unburied and departed from Pisidia. But the young men of Termessus, still preserving their goodwill for the victim, recovered the body and honoured it with splendid obsequies. Thus kindness in its very nature possesses the peculiar power of a love charm in behalf of benefactors, preserving unchanged men's goodwill toward them. Be that as it may, Antigonus set out from Pisidia and marched toward Phrygia with all his forces. When he had come to Cretopolis, Aristodemus of Miletus met him with the news that Antipater had died, and that the supreme command and the guardianship of the kings had fallen to Polyperchon the Macedonian. Being delighted at what had happened, he was carried away by hope and made up his mind to maintain a firm grip upon the government of Asia and to yield the rule of that continent to no one. This was the situation in regard to Antigonus.
§ 18.48
κατὰ δὲ τὴν Μακεδονίαν Ἀντιπάτρου περιπεσόντος ἀρρωστίᾳ βαρυτέρᾳ καὶ τοῦ γήρως συνεργοῦντος πρὸς τὴν ἀπόλυσιν τοῦ βίου Ἀθηναῖοι μὲν ἐξέπεμψαν πρεσβευτὴν πρὸς Ἀντίπατρον Δημάδην, δοκοῦντα καλῶς πολιτεύεσθαι τὰ πρὸς τοὺς Μακεδόνας, ἀξιοῦντες τὸν Ἀντίπατρον, καθάπερ ἦν ἐξ ἀρχῆς ὡμολογηκώς, ἐξαγαγεῖν τὴν φρουρὰν ἐκ τῆς Μουνυχίας. ὁ δʼ Ἀντίπατρος τὸ μὲν πρῶτον εὐνοϊκῶς διέκειτο πρὸς τὸν Δημάδην, ὕστερον δὲ Περδίκκου τελευτήσαντος καί τινων βασιλικῶν ἐπιστολῶν εὑρεθεισῶν ἐν τοῖς βασιλικοῖς γράμμασιν, ἐν αἷς ἦν ὁ Δημάδης παρακαλῶν τὸν Περδίκκαν κατὰ τάχος διαβαίνειν εἰς τὴν Εὐρώπην ἐπʼ Ἀντίπατρον, ἀπηλλοτριώθη πρὸς αὐτὸν καὶ κεκρυμμένην ἐτήρει τὴν ἔχθραν. διόπερ τοῦ Δημάδου κατὰ τὰς ὑπὸ τοῦ δήμου δεδομένας ἐντολὰς ἀπαιτοῦντος τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν καὶ παρρησιωδέστερον ἀπειλήσαντος περὶ τῆς φρουρᾶς ὁ μὲν Ἀντίπατρος οὐδεμίαν δοὺς ἀπόκρισιν παρέδωκε τοῖς ἐπὶ τὰς τιμωρίας τεταγμένοις αὐτόν τε τὸν Δημάδην καὶ τὸν υἱὸν Δημέαν συμπρεσβεύοντα τῷ πατρί. οὗτοι μὲν οὖν ἀπαχθέντες εἴς τι οἴκημα εὐτελὲς ἐθανατώθησαν διὰ τὰς προειρημένας αἰτίας. ὁ δʼ Ἀντίπατρος ἐσχάτως ἤδη διακείμενος ἀπέδειξεν ἐπιμελητὴν τῶν βασιλέων Πολυπέρχοντα καὶ στρατηγὸν αὐτοκράτορα, πρεσβύτατον σχεδὸν ὄντα τῶν Ἀλεξάνδρῳ συνεστρατευμένων καὶ τιμώμενον ὑπὸ τῶν κατὰ τὴν Μακεδονίαν, τὸν δʼ υἱὸν Κάσανδρον χιλίαρχον καὶ δευτερεύοντα κατὰ τὴν ἐξουσίαν. ἡ δὲ τοῦ χιλιάρχου τάξις καὶ προαγωγὴ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ὑπὸ τῶν Περσικῶν βασιλέων εἰς ὄνομα καὶ δόξαν προήχθη, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα πάλιν ὑπʼ Ἀλεξάνδρου μεγάλης ἔτυχεν ἐξουσίας καὶ τιμῆς, ὅτε καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν Περσικῶν νομίμων ζηλωτὴς ἐγένετο. διὸ καὶ Ἀντίπατρος κατὰ τὴν αὐτὴν ἀγωγὴν τὸν υἱὸν Κάσανδρον ὄντα νέον ἀπέδειξε χιλίαρχον.
As to Macedonia, after Antipater had been stricken by a rather serious illness, which old age was tending to make fatal, the Athenians sent Demades as envoy to Antipater, a man who had the reputation of serving the city well in relation to Macedonia. They requested Antipater that he, as had been agreed from the beginning, remove the garrison from Munychia. Antipater at first had been well disposed to Demades, but after the death of Perdiccas certain letters were found in the royal archives in which Demades invited Perdiccas to cross over swiftly into Europe against Antipater. At this Antipater was alienated from him and kept his enmity hidden. 3 Therefore when Demades in accordance with the instructions given him by the people demanded the fulfilment of the promise and indulged rather freely in threats about the garrison, Antipater gave him no answer but delivered Demades himself and his son Demeas, who had accompanied his father as an envoy, to those ministers who were in charge of punishments. 4 They were taken away to a common prison and put to death for the reasons mentioned above. Antipater, who was already at the point of death, appointed as guardian of the kings and supreme commander, Polyperchon, who was almost the oldest of those who had campaigned with Alexander and was held in honour by the Macedonians. Antipater also made his own son Cassander chiliarch and second in authority. 5 The position and rank of chiliarch had first been brought to fame and honour by the Persian kings, and afterwards under Alexander it gained great power and glory at the time when he became an admirer of this and all other Persian customs. For this reason Antipater, following the same course, appointed his son Cassander, since he was young, to the office of chiliarch.
§ 18.49
οὐ μὴν ὁ Κάσανδρός γε τῇ τοῦ πατρὸς τάξει συνευδοκήθη, δεινὸν ἡγούμενος εἰ τὴν τοῦ πατρὸς ἡγεμονίαν ὁ μὴ προσήκων κατὰ γένος διαδέξεται καὶ ταῦθʼ υἱοῦ γʼ ὄντος τοῦ δυναμένου πραγμάτων ἡγεῖσθαι καὶ δεδωκότος ἤδη πεῖραν ἱκανὴν ἀρετῆς τε καὶ ἀνδρείας. τὸ μὲν οὖν πρῶτον εἰς ἀγρὸν βαδίσας μετὰ τῶν φίλων τούτοις τε διελέγετο πολλὴν ἔχων εὐκαιρίαν καὶ σχολὴν περὶ τῆς τῶν ὅλων ἡγεμονίας· ἕκαστον δʼ αὐτῶν ἐκλαμβάνων κατʼ ἰδίαν προετρέπετο συγκατασκευάζειν αὐτῷ τὴν δυναστείαν καὶ μεγάλαις ἐπαγγελίαις πείσας ἑτοίμους ἐποιήσατο πρὸς τὴν κοινοπραγίαν. ἐξαπέστειλε δὲ καὶ πρὸς Πτολεμαῖον λάθρᾳ πρεσβευτάς, τήν τε φιλίαν ἀνανεούμενος καὶ παρακαλῶν συμμαχεῖν αὐτῷ καὶ ναυτικὴν δύναμιν πέμψαι τὴν ταχίστην ἐκ τῆς Φοινίκης ἐπὶ τὸν Ἑλλήσποντον. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ πρὸς τοὺς ἄλλους ἡγεμόνας καὶ πόλεις ἐξέπεμψε τοὺς προτρεψομένους ἑαυτῷ συμμαχεῖν. αὐτὸς δὲ κυνηγίαν ἐπὶ πολλὰς ἡμέρας συστησάμενος ἀνύποπτον ἑαυτὸν ἐποίει τῆς ἀποστάσεως. Πολυπέρχων δὲ παραλαβὼν τὴν τῶν βασιλέων ἐπιμέλειαν καὶ συνεδρεύσας μετὰ τῶν φίλων Ὀλυμπιάδα μὲν σὺν τῇ τῶν συνέδρων γνώμῃ μετεπέμπετο, παρακαλῶν τὴν ἐπιμέλειαν τοῦ Ἀλεξάνδρου υἱοῦ παιδὸς ὄντος παραλαβεῖν καὶ διατρίβειν ἐν Μακεδονίᾳ τὴν βασιλικὴν ἔχουσαν προστασίαν· ἡ δʼ Ὀλυμπιὰς ἐν τοῖς ἐπάνω χρόνοις ἐτύγχανεν εἰς Ἤπειρον πεφευγυῖα διὰ τὴν πρὸς Ἀντίπατρον ἀλλοτριότητα. καὶ τὰ μὲν κατὰ τὴν Μακεδονίαν ἐν τούτοις ἦν.
Cassander, however, did not approve of the arrangement made by his father, regarding it as outrageous that one not related by blood should succeed to the command of his father, and this while there was a son who was capable of directing public affairs and who had already given sufficient proof of his ability and courage. First going with his friends into the country where he had plenty of opportunity and leisure, he talked to them about the supreme command; then, taking them apart one by one, he kept urging them privately to join him in establishing his dominion, and having won them by great promises, he made them ready for the joint enterprise. He also sent envoys in secret to Ptolemy, renewing their friendship and urging him to join the alliance and to send a fleet as soon as possible from Phoenicia to the Hellespont. In like manner he sent messengers to the other commanders and cities to urge them to ally themselves with him. He himself, however, by making arrangements for a hunt to last many days, avoided suspicion of complicity in the revolt. After Polyperchon had assumed the guardianship of the kings and had consulted with his friends, with their approval he summoned Olympias, asking her to assume the care of Alexander's son, who was still a child, and to live in Macedonia with regal dignity. It so happened that some time before this Olympias had fled to Epirus as an exile because of her quarrel with Antipater. This was the state of affairs in Macedonia.
§ 18.50
κατὰ δὲ τὴν Ἀσίαν διαβοηθείσης τῆς Ἀντιπάτρου τελευτῆς ἀρχὴ πραγμάτων καινῶν ἐγίνετο καὶ κίνησις, τῶν ἐν ἐξουσίαις ὄντων ἰδιοπραγεῖν ἐπιβαλομένων. τούτων δὲ πρῶτος μὲν Ἀντίγονος προνενικηκὼς Εὐμενῆ περὶ Καππαδοκίαν καὶ τὰς μετʼ αὐτοῦ δυνάμεις παρειληφώς, καταπεπολεμηκὼς δʼ Ἀλκέταν καὶ Ἄτταλον περὶ τὴν Πισιδικὴν καὶ τὰς δυνάμεις τὰς μετʼ αὐτῶν ἀνειληφώς, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις ὑπʼ Ἀντιπάτρου τῆς Ἀσίας στρατηγὸς αὐτοκράτωρ ᾑρημένος, ἅμα δὲ καὶ μεγάλης δυνάμεως ἡγεμὼν ἀποδεδειγμένος πλήρης ἦν ὄγκου καὶ φρονήματος. περιβαλλόμενος δὲ ταῖς ἐλπίσι τὴν τῶν ὅλων ἡγεμονίαν ἔγνω μὴ προσέχειν μήτε τοῖς βασιλεῦσι μήτε τοῖς ἐπιμεληταῖς αὐτῶν· ὑπελάμβανε γὰρ αὑτὸν κρείττω δύναμιν ἔχοντα τῶν κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν θησαυρῶν κύριον ἔσεσθαι, μηδενὸς ὄντος τοῦ δυναμένου πρὸς αὐτὸν ἀντιτάξασθαι. εἶχε γὰρ κατʼ ἐκεῖνον τὸν χρόνον στρατιώτας πεζοὺς μὲν ἑξακισμυρίους, ἱππεῖς δὲ μυρίους, ἐλέφαντας δὲ τριάκοντα· χωρὶς δὲ τούτων ἑτοίμας ποιήσασθαι καὶ ἄλλας δυνάμεις ἤλπιζεν, ἂν ᾖ χρεία, δυναμένης τῆς Ἀσίας χορηγεῖν ἀνεκλείπτως τοῖς στρατολογουμένοις ξένοις τὰς μισθοφορίας. ταῦτα δὲ διανοηθεὶς Ἱερώνυμον μὲν τὸν τὰς ἱστορίας γράψαντα μετεπέμψατο, φίλον ὄντα καὶ πολίτην Εὐμενοῦς τοῦ Καρδιανοῦ τοῦ συμπεφευγότος εἰς τὸ χωρίον τὸ καλούμενον Νῶρα. τοῦτον δὲ μεγάλαις δωρεαῖς προκαλεσάμενος ἐξαπέστειλε πρεσβευτὴν πρὸς τὸν Εὐμενῆ, παρακαλῶν τῆς μὲν περὶ Καππαδοκίαν μάχης γενομένης πρὸς αὐτὸν ἐπιλαθέσθαι, γενέσθαι δὲ φίλον καὶ σύμμαχον αὐτῷ καὶ λαβεῖν δωρεὰς πολλαπλασίους ὧν πρότερον ἦν ἐσχηκὼς καὶ σατραπείαν μείζονα καὶ καθόλου πρωτεύοντα τῶν παρʼ ἑαυτοῦ φίλων κοινωνὸν ἔσεσθαι τῆς ὅλης ἐπιβολῆς. εὐθὺς δὲ καὶ τῶν φίλων συναγαγὼν συνέδριον καὶ περὶ τῆς τῶν ὅλων ἐπιβολῆς κοινωσάμενος διέγραψε τῶν ἀξιολόγων φίλων οἷς μὲν σατραπείας, οἷς δὲ στρατηγίας· πᾶσι δὲ μεγάλας ἐλπίδας ὑποθεὶς προθύμους κατεσκεύασε πρὸς τὰς ἰδίας ἐπιβολάς. διενοεῖτο γὰρ ἐπελθεῖν τὴν Ἀσίαν καὶ τοὺς μὲν προϋπάρχοντας σατράπας ἐκβαλεῖν, πρὸς δὲ τῶν ἑαυτοῦ φίλων καθιστάναι τὰς ἡγεμονίας.
In Asia, as soon as the death of Antipater was noised abroad, there was a first stirring of revolution, since each of those in power undertook to work for his own ends. Antigonus, who was foremost of these, had already won a victory over Eumenes in Cappadocia and had taken over his army, and he had also completely defeated Alcetas and Attalus in Pisidia and had annexed their troops. Moreover, he had been chosen supreme commander of Asia by Antipater, and at the same time he had been appointed general of a great army, for which reasons he was filled with pride and haughtiness. Already hopefully aspiring to the supreme power, he decided to take orders neither from the kings nor from their guardians; for he took it for granted that he himself, since he had a better army, would gain possession of the treasures of all Asia, there being no one able to stand against him. For at that time he had sixty thousand foot-soldiers, ten thousand horsemen, and thirty elephants; and in addition to these he expected to make ready other forces also if there should be need, since Asia could provide pay without end for the mercenaries he might muster. With these plans in mind he summoned Hieronymus the historian, a friend and fellow citizen of Eumenes of Cardia, who had taken refuge in the stronghold called Nora. After endeavouring to attach Hieronymus to himself by great gifts, he sent him as an envoy to Eumenes, urging the latter to forget the battle that had been fought against him in Cappadocia, to become his friend and ally, to receive gifts many times the value of what he had formerly possessed and a greater satrapy, and in general to be the first of Antigonus' friends and his partner in the whole undertaking. Antigonus also at once called a council of his friends and, after he had made them acquainted with his design for gaining imperial power, assigned satrapies to some of the more important friends and military commands to others; and by holding up great expectations to all of them, he filled them with enthusiasm for his undertakings. Indeed he had in mind to go through Asia, remove the existing satraps, and reorganize the positions of command in favour of his friends.
§ 18.51
τούτου δὲ περὶ ταῦτʼ ὄντος Ἀρριδαῖος ὁ τῆς ἐφʼ Ἑλλησπόντῳ Φρυγίας σατράπης, γνοὺς αὐτοῦ τὴν ἐπιβολήν, ἔκρινεν ἀσφαλισάμενος τὰ κατὰ τὴν ἰδίαν σατραπείαν καὶ τὰς ἀξιολογωτάτας πόλεις φρουραῖς περιλαμβάνειν. οὔσης δὲ τῆς τῶν Κυζικηνῶν πόλεως ἐπικαιροτάτης καὶ μεγίστης ἀνέζευξεν ἐπʼ αὐτὴν ἔχων πεζοὺς μὲν μισθοφόρους πλείους τῶν μυρίων, Μακεδόνας δὲ χιλίους, Πέρσας δὲ τοξότας καὶ σφενδονήτας πεντακοσίους, ἱππεῖς δὲ ὀκτακοσίους, βέλη δὲ παντοδαπὰ καὶ καταπέλτας ὀξυβελεῖς τε καὶ πετροβόλους καὶ τὴν ἄλλην χορηγίαν πᾶσαν τὴν ἀνήκουσαν πρὸς πολιορκίαν. ἄφνω δὲ προσπεσὼν τῇ πόλει καὶ τὸν πολὺν ὄχλον ἀπολαβὼν ἐπὶ τῆς χώρας εἴχετο τῆς πολιορκίας καὶ τοὺς ἐν τῇ πόλει καταπληξάμενος ἠνάγκαζε δέχεσθαι φρουράν. οἱ δὲ Κυζικηνοὶ παραδόξου τῆς ἐπιθέσεως γενομένης καὶ τῶν μὲν πλείστων ἐπὶ τῆς χώρας ἀπειλημμένων, ὀλίγων δʼ ὄντων τῶν ὑπολελειμμένων ἀπαράσκευοι παντελῶς ὑπῆρχον πρὸς τὴν πολιορκίαν. ὅμως δὲ κρίναντες ἀντέχεσθαι τῆς ἐλευθερίας φανερῶς μὲν πρέσβεις ἐξέπεμψαν τοὺς διαλεξομένους τῷ Ἀρριδαίῳ λῦσαι τὴν πολιορκίαν· ποιήσειν γὰρ πάντα τὴν πόλιν Ἀρριδαίῳ πλὴν τοῦ δέξασθαι φρουράν· λάθρᾳ δὲ τοὺς νέους ἀθροίζοντες καὶ τῶν οἰκετῶν τοὺς εὐθέτους ἐπιλεγόμενοι καθώπλιζον καὶ τὸ τεῖχος ἀνεπλήρουν τῶν ἀμυνομένων. τοῦ δὲ Ἀρριδαίου βιαζομένου δέχεσθαι φρουρὰν ἔφησαν βούλεσθαι τῷ δήμῳ προσανενεγκεῖν περὶ τούτου. συγχωρήσαντος δὲ τοῦ σατράπου λαβόντες ἀνοχὴν ταύτην τε τὴν ἡμέραν καὶ τὴν ἐπιοῦσαν νύκτα βέλτιον παρεσκευάσαντο τὰ πρὸς τὴν πολιορκίαν. ὁ δʼ Ἀρριδαῖος καταστρατηγηθεὶς καὶ τὸν οἰκεῖον ἑαυτῷ προέμενος καιρὸν διεσφάλη τῆς ἐλπίδος· οἱ γὰρ Κυζικηνοὶ πόλιν ἔχοντες ὀχυρὰν καὶ παντελῶς εὐφύλακτον ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς διὰ τὸ χερρόνησον αὐτὴν εἶναι καὶ θαλαττοκρατοῦντες ῥᾳδίως ἠμύνοντο τοὺς πολεμίους. μετεπέμποντο δὲ καὶ παρὰ Βυζαντίων στρατιώτας καὶ βέλη καὶ τἄλλα τὰ χρήσιμα πρὸς τὴν πολιορκίαν· ὧν ἅπαντα συντόμως καὶ προθύμως χορηγησάντων ἀνέλαβον ἑαυτοὺς ταῖς ἐλπίσι καὶ πρὸς τοὺς κινδύνους εὐθαρσεῖς κατέστησαν. εὐθὺ δὲ καὶ μακρὰς ναῦς καθελκύσαντες παρέπλεον τὴν παραθαλάττιον καὶ τοὺς ἀπὸ τῆς χώρας ἀναλαμβάνοντες ἀπεκόμιζον εἰς τὴν πόλιν. ταχὺ δὲ στρατιωτῶν εὐπορήσαντες καὶ πολλοὺς τῶν πολιορκούντων ἀποκτείναντες ἀπετρίψαντο τὴν πολιορκίαν. Ἀρριδαῖος μὲν οὖν καταστρατηγηθεὶς ὑπὸ τῶν Κυζικηνῶν ἄπρακτος ἐπανῆλθεν εἰς τὴν ἰδίαν σατραπείαν.
While Antigonus was engaged in these matters, Arrhidaeus, the satrap of Hellespontine Phrygia, discovering his plan, decided to provide for the safety of his own satrapy and also to secure the most considerable cities by means of garrisons. As the city of the Cyziceni was strategically most important and very large, he set out against it with an infantry force consisting of more than ten thousand mercenaries, a thousand Macedonians, and five hundred Persian bowmen and slingers. He had also eight hundred horsemen, all kinds of missiles, catapults both for bolts and for stones, and all the other equipment proper for storming a city. After falling suddenly upon the city and intercepting a great multitude in the outlying territory, he applied himself to the siege and, by terrifying those who were in the city, tried to force them to receive a garrison. Since the attack had been unexpected, most of the Cyziceni had been cut off in the country; and with only a few people left in the city, they were completely unprepared for the siege. Deciding, nevertheless, to maintain their freedom, they openly sent envoys to confer with Arrhidaeus about raising the siege, saying that the city would do anything for him except receive a garrison; but secretly, after assembling the young men and selecting the slaves who were suitable for the purpose, they armed them and manned the wall with defenders. When Arrhidaeus insisted that the city admit a garrison, the envoys said that they wished to consult the people in regard to this. As the satrap agreed, they obtained a truce, and during that day and the following night they improved their preparations for withstanding the siege. Arrhidaeus, outwitted, missed his opportunity and was balked of his expected success; for since the Cyziceni possessed a city that was strong and very easy to defend from attacks by land thanks to its being a peninsula, and since they controlled the sea, they easily warded off the enemy. Moreover, they sent for soldiers from Byzantium and for missiles and whatever else was of use for withstanding the attack. When the people of Byzantium supplied all this quickly and willingly, the Cyziceni became confident and set themselves courageously against the danger. They also launched ships of war at once and, coasting along the shore, recovered and brought back those who were in the country. Soon they had plenty of soldiers, and after killing many of the besieging force, they rid themselves of the siege. Thus Arrhidaeus, outgeneralled by the Cyziceni, returned to his own satrapy without accomplishing anything.
§ 18.52
Ἀντίγονος δὲ πυθόμενος τὴν τῶν Κυζικηνῶν πόλιν πολιορκουμένην ἔτυχε μὲν ἐν Κελαιναῖς διατρίβων, κρίνας δὲ τὴν κινδυνεύουσαν πόλιν ἰδίαν κατασκευάσασθαι πρὸς τὰς μελλούσας ἐπιβολὰς ἀπέλεξεν ἐξ ἁπάσης τῆς δυνάμεως τοὺς ἀρίστους, πεζοὺς μὲν δισμυρίους, ἱππεῖς δὲ τρισχιλίους. τούτους δὲ ἀναλαβὼν ἐν τάχει προῆγε βοηθήσων τοῖς Κυζικηνοῖς. βραχὺ δὲ τῶν καιρῶν ὑστερήσας φανερὰν μὲν ἔσχε τὴν εἰς τὴν πόλιν εὔνοιαν, τῆς δὲ ὅλης ἐπιβολῆς ἀπέτυχε. πρὸς δὲ Ἀρριδαῖον ἐξέπεμψε πρεσβευτάς, ἐγκαλῶν ὅτι πρῶτον μὲν Ἑλληνίδα πόλιν σύμμαχον οὖσαν καὶ μηδὲν ἀδικοῦσαν ἐτόλμησε πολιορκεῖν, ἔπειθʼ ὅτι φανερός ἐστιν ἀποστατήσων καὶ τὴν σατραπείαν ἑαυτῷ δυναστείαν κατασκευαζόμενος· τὸ δὲ τελευταῖον προσέταττε τῆς σατραπείας παραχωρεῖν καὶ μίαν λαβόντα πόλιν εἰς καταβίωσιν τὴν ἡσυχίαν ἄγειν. ὁ δʼ Ἀρριδαῖος διακούσας τῶν πρέσβεων καὶ τὸ τῶν λόγων ὑπερήφανον καταμεμψάμενος οὐκ ἔφη παραχωρήσειν τῆς σατραπείας, τὰς δὲ πόλεις φρουραῖς διαλαμβάνων πειράσεσθαι τοῖς ὅπλοις διαγωνίζεσθαι πρὸς αὐτόν. ἀκολούθως δὲ ταῖς ἀποκρίσεσι τὰς πόλεις ἀσφαλισάμενος μέρος τῆς δυνάμεως ἐξέπεμψε καὶ στρατηγὸν ἐπʼ αὐτῆς. τούτῳ δὲ προσέταξε συνάπτειν τοῖς περὶ τὸν Εὐμενῆ καὶ λύειν τὴν πολιορκίαν τοῦ φρουρίου καὶ τὸν Εὐμενῆ τῶν κινδύνων ἀπαλλάξαντα ποιήσασθαι σύμμαχον. Ἀντίγονος δὲ σπεύδων ἀμύνασθαι τὸν Ἀρριδαῖον ἐξέπεμψεν ἐπʼ αὐτὸν δύναμιν τὴν διαπολεμήσουσαν, αὐτὸς δὲ τὴν ἱκανὴν στρατιὰν ἀναλαβὼν προῆγεν ἐπὶ Λυδίας, βουλόμενος ἐκβαλεῖν τὸν ἐν αὐτῇ σατράπην Κλεῖτον. ὁ δὲ προϊδόμενος τὴν ἔφοδον αὐτοῦ τὰς μὲν ἀξιολογωτάτας πόλεις φρουραῖς ἠσφαλίσατο, αὐτὸς δὲ εἰς Μακεδονίαν ἐξέπλευσε, δηλώσων τοῖς τε βασιλεῦσι καὶ Πολυπέρχοντι τὴν Ἀντιγόνου τόλμαν καὶ ἀπόστασιν καὶ ἀξιώσων ἑαυτῷ βοηθεῖν. ὁ δʼ Ἀντίγονος τὴν μὲν Ἔφεσον ἐξ ἐφόδου παρέλαβε συνεργησάντων αὐτῷ τινων ἐκ τῆς πόλεως· μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα καταπλεύσαντος εἰς Ἔφεσον Αἰσχύλου τοῦ Ῥοδίου καὶ κομίζοντος ἐκ Κιλικίας ἐν τέσσαρσι ναυσὶν ἀργυρίου τάλαντα ἑξακόσια ἀπεσταλμένα εἰς Μακεδονίαν πρὸς τοὺς βασιλεῖς παρείλετο, φάσκων ἑαυτῷ χρείαν ἔχειν πρὸς τὰς τῶν ξένων μισθοφορίας. τοῦτο δὲ πράξας φανερὸς ἐγένετο πρὸς ἰδιοπραγίαν ὡρμημένος καὶ τοῖς βασιλεῦσιν ἐναντιούμενος. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα συμπολιορκήσας ἐπῄει τὰς ἑξῆς πόλεις, ἃς μὲν βίᾳ χειρούμενος, ἃς δὲ πειθοῖ προσαγόμενος.
Antigonus happened to be tarrying in Celaenae when he learned that Cyzicus was being besieged. Deciding to get possession of the endangered city in view of his forthcoming undertakings, he selected the best from all his army, twenty thousand infantry and three thousand cavalry. Taking these he set out in haste to aid the Cyziceni. He was a little too late, but he made his goodwill toward the city manifest, even though failing to gain his entire object. He sent envoys to Arrhidaeus, bringing against him these charges: first, that he had dared to besiege a Greek city that was an ally and not guilty of any offence; and second, that he clearly intended rebellion and was converting his satrapy into a private domain. Finally, he ordered him to retire from his satrapy and, retaining a single city as a residence, to remain quiet. Arrhidaeus, however, after listening to the envoys and censuring the arrogance of their words, refused to retire from his satrapy, and said that in occupying the cities with garrisons he was making the first move in his war to a finish with Antigonus. In accordance with this decision, after making the cities secure, he sent away a part of his army and a general in command of it. He ordered the latter to get in touch with Eumenes, relieve the fortress from siege, and when he had freed Eumenes from danger, make him an ally. Antigonus, who was anxious to retaliate upon Arrhidaeus, sent a force to carry on the war against him, but he himself with a sufficient army set out for Lydia, from which province he wished to expel the satrap, Cleitus. The latter, foreseeing the attack, secured the more important cities with garrisons, but he himself went by ship to Macedonia to reveal to the kings and to Polyperchon the bold revolt of Antigonus and to beg for aid. Antigonus took Ephesus at the first assault with the aid of certain confederates within the city. After this, when Aeschylus of Rhodes sailed to Ephesus conveying from Cilicia in four ships six hundred talents of silver that were being sent to Macedonia for the kings, Antigonus laid hands on it, saying that he needed it to pay his mercenaries. By doing this he made it clear that he had begun to act for his own ends and was opposing the kings. Then after storming Syme, he advanced against the cities in order, taking some of them by force and winning others by persuasion.
§ 18.53
ἡμεῖς δὲ διεληλυθότες τὰ περὶ Ἀντίγονον μεταβιβάσομεν τὴν ἀναγραφὴν ἐπὶ τὰ συμβάντα περὶ Εὐμενῆ. οὗτος γὰρ μεγάλαις καὶ παραδόξοις μεταβολαῖς χρώμενος διετέλεσεν ἀεὶ παρʼ ἐλπίδας ἀγαθῶν τε καὶ κακῶν μεταλαμβάνων. πρὸ μὲν γὰρ τούτων τῶν καιρῶν συναγωνιζόμενος Περδίκκᾳ τε καὶ τοῖς βασιλεῦσιν ἔλαβε σατραπείαν Καππαδοκίαν καὶ τοὺς συνορίζοντας ταύτῃ τόπους, ἐν οἷς μεγάλων δυνάμεων καὶ πολλῶν χρημάτων κυριεύσας περιβόητον ἔσχε τὴν εὐτυχίαν. κρατερὸν μὲν γὰρ καὶ Νεοπτόλεμον, διωνομασμένους ἡγεμόνας καὶ τὰς ἀνικήτους τῶν Μακεδόνων ἔχοντας δυνάμεις, ἐνίκησε παρατάξει καὶ αὐτοὺς κατὰ τὴν μάχην ἀνεῖλεν. δόξας δὲ ἀνυπόστατος εἶναι τηλικαύτης ἐπειράθη μεταβολῆς ὥστε ὑπʼ Ἀντιγόνου μεγάλῃ παρατάξει λειφθῆναι καὶ μετʼ ὀλίγων φίλων ἀναγκασθῆναι καταφυγεῖν εἴς τι χωρίον παντελῶς μικρόν. εἰς τοῦτο δʼ ἐγκλεισθεὶς καὶ περιληφθεὶς ὑπὸ τῶν πολεμίων διπλοῖς τείχεσιν οὐδένα βοηθὸν ἔσχε τῆς ἰδίας συμφορᾶς. ἐνιαυσίου δʼ οὔσης τῆς πολιορκίας καὶ τῆς σωτηρίας ἀπογινωσκομένης ἄφνω παράδοξος λύσις ἐφάνη τῶν ἀτυχημάτων. ὁ γὰρ πολιορκῶν τὸν Εὐμενῆ καὶ σπεύδων ἀνελεῖν Ἀντίγονος ἐκ μεταβολῆς παρεκάλεσεν αὐτὸν πρὸς κοινοπραγίαν καὶ λαβὼν διὰ τῶν ὅρκων τὰς πίστεις τῆς πολιορκίας ἀπελύθη. μετὰ δέ τινα χρόνον ἀνελπίστως διασωθεὶς τότε μὲν περὶ τὴν Καππαδοκίαν διέτριβεν ἀναλαμβάνων τοὺς προγεγονότας φίλους καὶ τοὺς κατὰ τὴν χώραν πλανωμένους τῶν συνεστρατευκότων αὐτῷ πρότερον. ἀγαπώμενος δὲ διαφερόντως ταχὺ πολλοὺς ἔσχε κοινωνοὺς τῶν αὐτῶν ἐλπίδων καὶ πρὸς τὴν μετʼ αὐτοῦ στρατείαν ὑπακούοντας. τέλος δὲ ἐν ὀλίγαις ἡμέραις χωρὶς τῶν ἐν τῷ φρουρίῳ συμπεπολιορκημένων φίλων πεντακοσίων ἔσχε στρατιώτας ἐθελοντὶ ὑπακούοντας πλείους τῶν δισχιλίων. τῆς τύχης δʼ αὐτῷ συνεργούσης τηλικαύτην ἔλαβεν αὔξησιν ὥστε παραλαβεῖν τὰς βασιλικὰς δυνάμεις καὶ προστῆναι τῶν βασιλέων πρὸς τοὺς καταλύειν αὐτῶν τὴν ἀρχὴν τετολμηκότας. ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν μικρὸν ὕστερον ἀκριβέστερον διέξιμεν ἐν τοῖς οἰκείοις καιροῖς.
Now that we have finished the activities of Antigonus, we shall turn our narrative to the fortunes of Eumenes. This man experienced great and incredible reversals of fortune, continually having a share in good and evil beyond expectation. For example, in the period preceding these events, when he was fighting for Perdiccas and the kings, he had received as his satrapy Cappadocia and the adjacent regions, in which as master of great armies and much wealth his good fortune became famous. For he defeated in a pitched battle Craterus and Neoptolemus, famous generals in command of the invincible forces of the Macedonian, and killed them on the field. But although he won the reputation of being irresistible, he experienced such a change of fortune that he was defeated by Antigonus in a great battle and compelled to take refuge with a few friends in a certain very small fortress. Shut up there and surrounded by the enemy with a double wall, he had no one to give him aid in his own misfortune. When the siege had lasted a year and hope of safety had been abandoned, there suddenly appeared an unexpected deliverance from his plight; for Antigonus, who was besieging him and bent on destroying him, changed his plan, invited him to share in his own undertakings, and after receiving an oath-bound pledge, freed him from the siege. 6 Thus unexpectedly saved after a considerable time, he stayed for the present in Cappadocia, where he gathered together his former friends and those who had once served under him and were now wandering about the country. Since he was highly esteemed, he quickly found many men to share in his expectations and to enlist for the campaign with him. 7 In the end, within a few days, in addition to the five hundred friends who had been besieged in the fortress with him, he had more than two thousand soldiers who followed him of their own free will. With the aid of Fortune he gained so great an increase in power that he took over the royal armies and championed the kings against those who had boldly tried to end their rule. But we shall relate these events in more detail a little later in their proper place.
§ 18.54
νυνὶ δʼ ἀρκούντως τὰ κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν διεληλυθότες μεταβησόμεθα πρὸς τὰς κατὰ τὴν Εὐρώπην συντελεσθείσας πράξεις. Κάσανδρος γὰρ ἀποτετευχὼς τῆς κατὰ τὴν Μακεδονίαν ἡγεμονίας οὐκ ἔπτηξεν, ἀλλʼ ἔκρινεν ἀντέχεσθαι ταύτης, αἰσχρὸν εἶναι διαλαμβάνων τὴν τοῦ πατρὸς ἀρχὴν ὑφʼ ἑτέρων διοικεῖσθαι. ὁρῶν δὲ τὴν τῶν Μακεδόνων ὁρμὴν κεκλιμένην πρὸς τὸν Πολυπέρχοντα τῶν μὲν φίλων οἷς ἐπίστευε κατʼ ἰδίαν προσδιαλεγόμενος ἐξέπεμπεν ἐπὶ τὸν Ἑλλήσποντον ἀνυπόπτως, αὐτὸς δʼ ἐφʼ ἡμέρας τινὰς σχολάσας ἐπὶ τῆς χώρας καὶ κυνήγια συνιστάμενος ἐγέννησε περὶ αὑτοῦ διάληψιν ὡς οὐκ ἀντιποιούμενος τῆς ἀρχῆς. ὡς δʼ εὐτρεπῆ πάντα ἦν αὐτῷ τὰ πρὸς τὴν ἀποδημίαν, ἔλαθεν ἀναζεύξας ἐκ τῆς Μακεδονίας. καταντήσας δʼ εἰς τὴν Χερρόνησον κἀκεῖθεν ἀναζεύξας παρῆλθεν εἰς Ἑλλήσποντον. διαπλεύσας δʼ εἰς τὴν Ἀσίαν πρὸς Ἀντίγονον ἠξίου βοηθεῖν αὐτῷ, φήσας καὶ Πτολεμαῖον ἐπηγγέλθαι συμμαχήσειν. ὁ δʼ Ἀντίγονος προθύμως αὐτὸν προσδεξάμενος ἐπηγγείλατο πάντα συμπράξειν προθύμως αὐτῷ καὶ δύναμιν παραχρῆμα δώσειν πεζικήν τε καὶ ναυτικήν. ταῦτα δʼ ἔπραττε προσποιούμενος διὰ τὴν πρὸς Ἀντίπατρον φιλίαν συνεργεῖν, τῇ δʼ ἀληθείᾳ βουλόμενος τοὺς περὶ Πολυπέρχοντα πολλοὺς καὶ μεγάλους περισπασμοὺς ἔχειν, ὅπως αὐτὸς ἀκινδύνως τὴν Ἀσίαν ἐπέλθῃ καὶ τὴν τῶν ὅλων ἡγεμονίαν εἰς αὑτὸν περιστήσῃ.
Now that we have said enough about affairs throughout Asia, we shall turn our attention to what had taken place at the same time in Europe. Although Cassander had failed to gain the ruling position in Macedonia, he was not dismayed; but he determined to maintain his claim to it, holding it disgraceful that his father's office should be administered by others. Since he perceived that the favour of the Macedonians inclined to Polyperchon, he had further private conversations with the friends in whom he most trusted and sent them to the Hellespont without arousing suspicion; and he himself, by spending several days at leisure in the country and organizing a hunt, created the general opinion that he would not try to gain the office. When everything necessary for his departure was ready, however, he set out from Macedonia unobserved. He came to the Chersonese and departing thence arrived at the Hellespont. Sailing across into Asia to Antigonus he begged him to aid him, saying that Ptolemy also had promised to be an ally. Antigonus eagerly received him and promised to co operate with him actively in every way and to give him at once a force of infantry and a fleet. In doing this he pretended to be aiding him because of his own friendship for Antipater, but in truth it was because he wished Polyperchon to be surrounded by many great distractions, so that he himself might proceed against Asia without danger and secure the supreme power for himself.
§ 18.55
ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις κατὰ μὲν τὴν Μακεδονίαν Πολυπέρχων ὁ τῶν βασιλέων ἐπιμελητὴς μετὰ τὴν ἀπαλλαγὴν τοῦ Κασάνδρου προεώρα μὲν τὸ μέγεθος τοῦ πρὸς Κάσανδρον ἐσομένου πολέμου, οὐδὲν δʼ ἄνευ τῆς τῶν φίλων γνώμης κρίνων πράττειν συνήγαγε τούς τε ἡγεμόνας ἅπαντας καὶ τῶν ἄλλων Μακεδόνων τοὺς ἀξιολογωτάτους. φανεροῦ δʼ ὄντος ὅτι Κάσανδρος μὲν σωματοποιηθεὶς ὑπʼ Ἀντιγόνου τῶν κατὰ τὴν Ἑλλάδα πόλεων ἀνθέξεται διὰ τὸ τὰς μὲν αὐτῶν πατρικαῖς φρουραῖς φυλάττεσθαι, τὰς δʼ ὑπʼ ὀλιγαρχιῶν διοικεῖσθαι, κυριευομένας ὑπὸ τῶν Ἀντιπάτρου φίλων καὶ ξένων, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις συμμαχήσειν τῷ Κασάνδρῳ Πτολεμαῖόν τε τὸν Αἰγύπτου κρατοῦντα καὶ Ἀντίγονον τὸν φανερῶς ἤδη γενόμενον ἀποστάτην τῶν βασιλέων, ἀμφοτέρους δὲ καὶ δυνάμεις μεγάλας καὶ χρημάτων ἔχειν πλῆθος, ἔτι δὲ πολλῶν ἐθνῶν καὶ πόλεων ἀξιολόγων κυριεύειν — προτεθείσης οὖν βουλῆς πῶς τούτοις πολεμητέον ἐστὶ καὶ πολλῶν καὶ ποικίλων λόγων περὶ τοῦ πολέμου ῥηθέντων ἔδοξεν αὐτοῖς τὰς μὲν κατὰ τὴν Ἑλλάδα πόλεις ἐλευθεροῦν, τὰς δʼ ἐν αὐταῖς ὀλιγαρχίας καθεσταμένας ὑπʼ Ἀντιπάτρου καταλύειν· οὕτως γὰρ ἂν μάλιστα τὸν μὲν Κάσανδρον ταπεινώσειν, ἑαυτοῖς δὲ μεγάλην δόξαν καὶ πολλὰς συμμαχίας ἀξιολόγους περιποιήσειν. εὐθὺς οὖν τοὺς ἀπὸ τῶν πόλεων παρόντας πρεσβευτὰς προσκαλεσάμενοι καὶ θαρρεῖν παρακαλέσαντες ἐπηγγείλαντο τὰς δημοκρατίας ἀποκαταστήσειν ταῖς πόλεσι καὶ τὸ κυρωθὲν δόγμα γράψαντες ἔδωκαν τοῖς πρεσβευταῖς, ὅπως κατὰ τάχος εἰς τὰς πατρίδας ἐπανελθόντες ἀπαγγείλωσι τοῖς δήμοις τὴν τῶν βασιλέων καὶ τῶν ἡγεμόνων εἰς τοὺς Ἕλληνας εὔνοιαν. ἦν δὲ τὸ διάγραμμα τοιοῦτον.
Meanwhile in Macedonia, Polyperchon, the guardian of the kings, after Cassander had slipped away, foresaw the serious character of the war that was to be fought with him, and since he had made up his mind to do nothing without the advice of his friends, he called together all the commanders and the most important of the other Macedonians. It was clear that Cassander, reinforced by Antigonus, would hold the Greek cities against them, since some of the cities were guarded by his father's garrisons and others, dominated by Antipater's friends and mercenaries, were ruled by oligarchies, and since Cassander would also gain as allies both Ptolemy the ruler of Egypt, and Antigonus, who had already openly rebelled against the kings, and each of them possessed great armies and abundant wealth and was master of many nations and cities of consequence. After the question how to fight against these had been laid before them and many shrewd suggestions had been made about the war, it was decided to free the cities throughout Greece and to overthrow the oligarchies established in them by Antipater; for in this way they would best decrease the influence of Cassander and also win for themselves great glory and many considerable allies. At once, therefore, they called together the envoys who were present from the cities, and after bidding them be of good cheer, they promised to re establish democratic governments in the cities. As soon as they had drafted the decree that had been adopted, they gave it to the envoys, in order that they might quickly return to their native cities and report to their assemblies the goodwill that the kings and the generals entertained for the Greeks. The edict was in such terms as these:
§ 18.56
“ἐπειδὴ συμβέβηκε τοῖς προγόνοις ἡμῶν πολλὰ τοὺς Ἕλληνας εὐεργετηκέναι, βουλόμεθα διαφυλάττειν τὴν ἐκείνων προαίρεσιν καὶ πᾶσι φανερὰν ποιῆσαι τὴν ἡμετέραν εὔνοιαν ἣν ἔχοντες διατελοῦμεν πρὸς τοὺς Ἕλληνας. πρότερον μὲν οὖν Ἀλεξάνδρου μεταλλάξαντος ἐξ ἀνθρώπων καὶ τῆς βασιλείας εἰς ἡμᾶς καθηκούσης, ἡγούμενοι δεῖν ἐπαναγαγεῖν πάντας ἐπὶ τὴν εἰρήνην καὶ τὰς πολιτείας ἃς Φίλιππος ὁ ἡμέτερος πατὴρ κατέστησεν, ἐπεστείλαμεν εἰς ἁπάσας τὰς πόλεις περὶ τούτων. ἐπεὶ δὲ συνέβη, μακρὰν ἀπόντων ἡμῶν, τῶν Ἑλλήνων τινὰς μὴ ὀρθῶς γινώσκοντας πόλεμον ἐξενεγκεῖν πρὸς Μακεδόνας καὶ κρατηθῆναι ὑπὸ τῶν ἡμετέρων στρατηγῶν καὶ πολλὰ καὶ δυσχερῆ ταῖς πόλεσι συμβῆναι, τούτων μὲν τοὺς στρατηγοὺς αἰτίους ὑπολάβετε γεγενῆσθαι, ἡμεῖς δὲ τιμῶντες τὴν ἐξ ἀρχῆς προαίρεσιν κατασκευάζομεν ὑμῖν εἰρήνην, πολιτείας δὲ τὰς ἐπὶ Φιλίππου καὶ Ἀλεξάνδρου καὶ τἄλλα πράττειν κατὰ τὰ διαγράμματα τὰ πρότερον ὑπʼ ἐκείνων γραφέντα. καὶ τοὺς μεταστάντας ἢ φυγόντας ὑπὸ τῶν ἡμετέρων στρατηγῶν ἐκ τῶν πόλεων ἀφʼ ὧν χρόνων Ἀλέξανδρος εἰς τὴν Ἀσίαν διέβη κατάγομεν· καὶ τοὺς ὑφʼ ἡμῶν κατελθόντας πάντα τὰ αὑτῶν ἔχοντας καὶ ἀστασιάστους καὶ ἀμνησικακουμένους ἐν ταῖς ἑαυτῶν πατρίσι πολιτεύεσθαι· καὶ εἴ τι κατὰ τούτων ἐψήφιστο, ἄκυρον ἔστω, πλὴν εἴ τινες ἐφʼ αἵματι ἢ ἀσεβείᾳ κατὰ νόμον πεφεύγασι. μὴ κατιέναι δὲ μηδὲ Μεγαλοπολιτῶν τοὺς μετὰ Πολυαινέτου ἐπὶ προδοσίᾳ φεύγοντας μηδʼ Ἀμφισσεῖς μηδὲ Τρικκαίους μηδὲ Φαρκαδωνίους μηδὲ Ἡρακλεώτας· τοὺς δʼ ἄλλους καταδεχέσθωσαν πρὸ τῆς τριακάδος τοῦ ξανθικοῦ μηνός. εἰ δέ τινα τῶν πολιτευμάτων Φίλιππος ἢ Ἀλέξανδρος ἀπέδειξαν ἑαυτοῖς ὑπεναντία, παραγινέσθωσαν πρὸς ἡμᾶς, ἵνα διορθωσάμενοι τὰ συμφέροντα καὶ ἡμῖν καὶ ταῖς πόλεσι πράττωσιν. Ἀθηναίοις δʼ εἶναι τὰ μὲν ἄλλα καθάπερ ἐπὶ Φιλίππου καὶ Ἀλεξάνδρου, Ὠρωπὸν δὲ Ὠρωπίους ἔχειν καθάπερ νῦν. Σάμον δὲ δίδομεν Ἀθηναίοις, ἐπειδὴ καὶ Φίλιππος ἔδωκεν ὁ πατήρ. ποιήσασθαι δὲ δόγμα πάντας τοὺς Ἕλληνας μηδένα μήτε στρατεύειν μήτε πράττειν ὑπεναντία ἡμῖν· εἰ δὲ μή, φεύγειν αὐτὸν καὶ γενεὰν καὶ τῶν ὄντων στέρεσθαι. προστετάχαμεν δὲ καὶ περὶ τούτων καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν Πολυπέρχοντι πραγματεύεσθαι. ὑμεῖς οὖν, καθάπερ ὑμῖν καὶ πρότερον ἐγράψαμεν, ἀκούετε τούτου· τοῖς γὰρ μὴ ποιοῦσί τι τῶν γεγραμμένων οὐκ ἐπιτρέψομεν.”
"Inasmuch as it has fallen to the lot of our ancestors to perform many acts of kindness to the Greeks, we wish to maintain their policy and to make evident to all the goodwill which we continue to have for that people. Formerly, indeed, when Alexander departed from among men and the kingship descended upon us, since we believed it necessary to restore all to peace and to the forms of government that Philip our sire established, we sent letters to all the cities in regard to these matters. But whereas it happened that, while we were far away, certain of the Greeks, being ill advised, waged war against the Macedonians and were defeated by our generals, and many bitter things befell the cities, know ye that the generals have been responsible for these hardships, but that we, holding fast to the original policy, are preparing peace for you and such governments as you enjoyed under Philip and Alexander, and that we permit you to act in all other matters according to the decrees formerly issued by them. Moreover, we restore those who have been driven out or exiled from the cities by our generals from the time when Alexander crossed into Asia; and we decree that those who are restored by us, in full possession of their property, undisturbed by faction, and enjoying a complete amnesty, shall exercise their rights as citizens in their native states; and if any measures have been passed to their disadvantage, let such measures be void, except as concerning those who had been exiled for blood guilt or impiety in accordance with the law. 5 Not to be restored are the men of Megalopolis who were exiled for treason along with Polyaenetus, nor those of Amphissa, Tricca, Pharcadon, or Heraclea; but let the cities receive back the others before the thirtieth day of Xanthicus. 6 If in any case Philip or Alexander published regulations that are inconsistent with each other, let the cities concerned present themselves before us so that, after bringing the provisions into harmony, they may follow a course of action advantageous both to us and to themselves. The Athenians shall possess everything as at the time of Philip and Alexander, save that Oropus shall belong to its own people as at present. 7 Samos we grant to Athens, since Philip our sire also gave it to them. Let all the Greeks pass a decree that no one shall engage either in war or in public opposition to us, and that if anyone disobeys, he and his family shall be exiled and his goods shall be confiscated. We have commanded Polyperchon to take in hand these and other matters. 8 Do you obey him, as we also have written to you formerly; for if anyone fails to carry out any of these injunctions, we shall not overlook him."
§ 18.57
τούτου δὲ τοῦ διαγράμματος ἐκδοθέντος καὶ πρὸς ἁπάσας τὰς πόλεις ἀποσταλέντος ἔγραψεν ὁ Πολυπέρχων πρός τε τὴν Ἀργείων πόλιν καὶ τὰς λοιπάς, προστάττων τοὺς ἀφηγησαμένους ἐπʼ Ἀντιπάτρου τῶν πολιτευμάτων φυγαδεῦσαι, τινῶν δὲ καὶ θάνατον καταγνῶναι καὶ δημεῦσαι τὰς οὐσίας, ὅπως ταπεινωθέντες εἰς τέλος μηδὲν ἰσχύσωσι συνεργεῖν Κασάνδρῳ. ἔγραψε δὲ καὶ πρὸς Ὀλυμπιάδα τὴν Ἀλεξάνδρου μητέρα, διατρίβουσαν ἐν Ἠπείρῳ διὰ τὴν πρὸς Κάσανδρον ἔχθραν, ἵνα τὴν ταχίστην εἰς Μακεδονίαν καταντήσῃ καὶ παραλαβοῦσα τὸ Ἀλεξάνδρου παιδίον ἐπιμέλειαν αὐτοῦ ποιῆται, μέχρι ἂν εἰς ἡλικίαν ἔλθῃ καὶ τὴν πατρῴαν βασιλείαν παραλάβῃ. ἔπεμψε δὲ καὶ πρὸς Εὐμενῆ, γράψας ἐπιστολὴν ἐκ τοῦ τῶν βασιλέων ὀνόματος, ὅπως πρὸς μὲν Ἀντίγονον μὴ διαλύσηται τὴν ἀλλοτριότητα, πρὸς δὲ τοὺς βασιλεῖς ἀποκλίνας εἴτε βούλεται καταντᾶν εἰς Μακεδονίαν καὶ μετʼ αὐτοῦ κοινοπραγῶν ἐπιμελητὴς εἶναι τῶν βασιλέων, εἴτε μᾶλλον προαιρεῖται μένειν ἐπὶ τῆς Ἀσίας καὶ λαβὼν δύναμιν καὶ χρήματα διαπολεμεῖν πρὸς Ἀντίγονον, φανερῶς ἤδη γεγενημένον ἀποστάτην τῶν βασιλέων. ἀποκαθιστάνειν δʼ αὐτῷ τοὺς βασιλεῖς τήν τε σατραπείαν, ἣν Ἀντίγονος ἀφῄρηται, καὶ τὰς δωρεὰς ἁπάσας ὅσας πρότερον εἶχε κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν. τὸ δʼ ὅλον ἀπεφαίνετο μάλιστα πάντων πρέπειν Εὐμενῆ τῆς βασιλικῆς οἰκίας κήδεσθαι καὶ φροντίζειν, ἀκολουθοῦντα τοῖς ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ προπεπολιτευμένοις πρὸς τὴν βασιλικὴν οἰκίαν. ἐὰν δὲ μείζονος δυνάμεως προσδέηται, καὶ αὐτὸς μετὰ τῶν βασιλέων ἀναζεύξειν ἐκ Μακεδονίας μετὰ πάσης τῆς βασιλικῆς δυνάμεως. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἐπράχθη κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν ἐνιαυτόν.
When this edict had been published and dispatched to all the cities, Polyperchon wrote to Argos and the other cities, ordering them to exile those who had been leaders of the governments in the time of Antipater — even to condemn certain of them to death and to confiscate their property — in order that these men, completely stripped of power, might be unable to co operate with Cassander in any way. He also wrote to Olympias, the mother of Alexander, who was staying in Epirus because of her quarrel with Cassander, asking her to return to Macedonia as soon as possible, to take charge of the son of Alexander, and to assume responsibility for him until he should become of age and receive his father's kingdom. He also sent to Eumenes, writing a letter in the name of the kings, urging him not to put an end to his enmity toward Antigonus, but turning from him to the kings, either to cross over to Macedonia, if he wished, and become a guardian of the kings in co operation with himself, or if he preferred, to remain in Asia and after receiving an army and money fight it out with Antigonus, who had already clearly shown that he was a rebel against the kings. He said that the kings were restoring to him the satrapy that Antigonus had taken away and all the prerogatives that he had ever possessed in Asia. Finally he set forth that it was especially fitting for Eumenes to be careful and solicitous for the royal house in conformity with his former public services in its interest. If he needed greater military power, Polyperchon promised that he himself and the kings would come from Macedonia with the entire royal army. This is what happened in that year.
§ 18.58
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησιν Ἀρχίππου Ῥωμαῖοι κατέστησαν ὑπάτους Κόιντον Αἴλιον καὶ Λεύκιον Παπίριον. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Εὐμενὴς μὲν ἄρτι τὴν ἐκ τοῦ φρουρίου πεποιημένος ἀποχώρησιν ἐκομίσατο τὰς ἐπιστολὰς τὰς ἀποσταλείσας ὑπὸ Πολυπέρχοντος, ἐν αἷς ἦν γεγραμμένον χωρὶς τῶν προειρημένων ὅτι πεντακόσια μὲν τάλαντα διδόασιν αὐτῷ δωρεὰν οἱ βασιλεῖς εἰς ἐπανόρθωσιν τῶν γεγενημένων περὶ αὐτὸν ἐλαττωμάτων καὶ διότι γράμματα ἀπέστειλαν οἱ βασιλεῖς πρὸς τοὺς ἐν τῇ Κιλικίᾳ στρατηγοὺς καὶ θησαυροφύλακας, ὅπως αὐτῷ τὰ πεντακόσια τάλαντα δῶσι καὶ τῶν ἄλλων χρημάτων ὅσα ἂν αἰτήσῃ πρός τε τὰς ξενολογίας καὶ τὰς ἄλλας τὰς κατεπειγούσας χρείας, τούς τε τῶν ἀργυρασπίδων Μακεδόνων τρισχιλίων ἀφηγουμένους, ἵνα παραδῶσιν αὑτοὺς Εὐμενεῖ καὶ τἄλλα συμπράττωσι προθύμως, ὡς ἂν ἀποδεδειγμένῳ στρατηγῷ τῆς ὅλης Ἀσίας αὐτοκράτορι. ἧκεν δὲ καὶ παρʼ Ὀλυμπιάδος αὐτῷ γράμματα, δεομένης καὶ λιπαρούσης βοηθεῖν τοῖς βασιλεῦσι καὶ ἑαυτῇ· μόνον γὰρ ἐκεῖνον πιστότατον ἀπολελεῖφθαι τῶν φίλων καὶ δυνάμενον διορθώσασθαι τὴν ἐρημίαν τῆς βασιλικῆς οἰκίας. ἠξίου δʼ αὐτὸν ἡ Ὀλυμπιὰς συμβουλεῦσαι πότερον αὐτῷ δοκεῖ συμφέρειν μένειν αὐτὴν ἐν Ἠπείρῳ καὶ μὴ πιστεύειν τοῖς αἰεὶ δοκοῦσι μὲν ἐπιμεληταῖς εἶναι, τῇ δὲ ἀληθείᾳ τὴν βασιλείαν εἰς ἑαυτοὺς μεθιστῶσιν, ἢ ἐπανέρχεσθαι. ὁ δʼ Εὐμενὴς πρὸς μὲν τὴν Ὀλυμπιάδα παραχρῆμα ἀντέγραψε, συμβουλεύων κατὰ τὸ παρὸν μένειν ἐν Ἠπείρῳ, μέχρι ἂν ὁ πόλεμος λάβῃ τινὰ κρίσιν. αὐτὸς δʼ ἀεὶ τὴν εὔνοιαν βεβαιοτάτην πρὸς τοὺς βασιλεῖς τετηρηκὼς ἔκρινεν Ἀντιγόνῳ μὲν μὴ προσέχειν ἐξιδιαζομένῳ τὴν βασιλείαν, τοῦ δὲ Ἀλεξάνδρου παιδὸς προσδεομένου βοηθείας διά τε τὴν ὀρφανίαν καὶ διὰ τὴν τῶν ἡγεμόνων πλεονεξίαν διέλαβεν ἁρμόζειν ἑαυτῷ πάντα κίνδυνον ἀναδέχεσθαι τῆς τῶν βασιλέων σωτηρίας ἕνεκα.
When Archippus was archon of Athens, the Romans elected Quintus Aelius and Lucius Papirius consuls. While these held office Eumenes, just after he had made good his retreat from the fortress, received the letters that had been dispatched by Polyperchon. They contained, apart from what has been told above, the statement that the kings were giving him a gift of five hundred talents as recompense for the losses that he had experienced, and that to effect this they had written to the generals and treasurers in Cilicia directing them to give him the five hundred talents and whatever additional money he requested for raising mercenaries and for other pressing needs. The letter also added that they were writing to the commanders of the three thousand Macedonian Silver Shields ordering them to place themselves at the disposal of Eumenes and in general to co operate wholeheartedly with him, since he had been appointed supreme commander of all Asia. There also came to him a letter from Olympias in which she begged and besought him to aid the kings and herself, saying that he alone was left, the most faithful of her friends and the one able to remedy the isolation of the royal house. Olympias asked him to advise her whether he thought it better for her to remain in Epirus and place no trust in those who were from time to time supposed to be guardians of the kings, but were in truth trying to transfer the kingdom to themselves, or to return to Macedonia. Eumenes at once replied to Olympias, advising her to remain in Epirus for the present until the war should come to some decision. As for himself, since he had always observed the most unwavering loyalty toward the kings, he decided not to take orders from Antigonus, who was trying to appropriate the kingship for himself; but since the son of Alexander was in need of help because of his orphaned state and the greediness of the commanders, he believed that it was incumbent upon himself to run every risk for the safety of the kings.
§ 18.59
εὐθὺς οὖν παραγγείλας τοῖς περὶ αὐτὸν ἀναζευγνύειν προῆγεν ἐκ Καππαδοκίας, ἔχων ἱππεῖς μὲν περὶ πεντακοσίους, πεζοὺς δὲ πλείους τῶν δισχιλίων· οὐ γὰρ ἔσχεν ἀναστροφὴν προσδέξασθαι τοὺς ἀφυστεροῦντας τῶν ἐπηγγελμένων συστρατεύσεσθαι διὰ τὸ προσάγειν παρʼ Ἀντιγόνου δύναμιν ἀξιόλογον καὶ στρατηγοὺς τοὺς περὶ Μένανδρον, κωλύσοντας αὐτὸν ἐνδιατρίβειν τῇ Καππαδοκίᾳ, πολέμιον γενόμενον τοῖς περὶ Ἀντίγονον. ἀλλὰ γὰρ ἡ δύναμις αὕτη τρισὶν ὕστερον ἡμέραις παραγενομένη καὶ τῶν καιρῶν ὑστεροῦσα ἐπεβάλετο μὲν διώκειν τοὺς μετʼ Εὐμενοῦς προάγοντας, οὐ δυναμένη δὲ καταλαβεῖν ἐπανῆλθεν εἰς Καππαδοκίαν. ὁ δʼ Εὐμενὴς συντόνους τὰς ὁδοιπορίας ποιησάμενος καὶ ταχὺ τὸν Ταῦρον ὑπερβαλὼν ἧκεν εἰς τὴν Κιλικίαν. οἱ δὲ τῶν ἀργυρασπίδων ἡγεμόνες Ἀντιγένης καὶ Τεύταμος, πειθαρχοῦντες ταῖς παρὰ τῶν βασιλέων ἐπιστολαῖς, ἀπάντησιν ἐποιήσαντο τῷ Εὐμενεῖ μετὰ τῶν φίλων ἐκ πολλοῦ διαστήματος. ἀσπασάμενοι δὲ φιλοφρόνως καὶ συγχαρέντες ἐπὶ τῷ διασεσῶσθαι παραδόξως αὐτὸν ἐκ τῶν μεγίστων κινδύνων ἐπηγγέλλοντο πάντα συμπράξειν αὐτῷ προθύμως· οἵ τε ἀργυράσπιδες Μακεδόνες, ὄντες περὶ τρισχιλίους, ὁμοίως ἀπήντησαν μετὰ φιλοφροσύνης τε καὶ ὁρμῆς. πάντες δʼ ἐθαύμαζον τὸ τῆς τύχης εὐμετάβολον καὶ παράδοξον, ὁρῶντες τούς τε βασιλεῖς καὶ τοὺς Μακεδόνας ὀλίγῳ μὲν χρόνῳ πρότερον κατεγνωκότας Εὐμενοῦς καὶ τῶν φίλων αὐτοῦ θάνατον, τότε δὲ ἐπιλαθομένους τῆς ἰδίας κρίσεως μὴ μόνον ἀθῷον ἀφεικότας τῆς τιμωρίας, ἀλλὰ καὶ πάσης τῆς βασιλείας τὴν ἡγεμονίαν αὐτῷ παραδεδωκότας. καὶ τοῦτʼ εὐλόγως ἔπασχον ἅπαντες οἱ τότε τὰς Εὐμενοῦς ἐπισκοπούμενοι περιπετείας. τίς γὰρ οὐκ ἂν λαβὼν ἔννοιαν τῆς κατὰ τὸν ἀνθρώπινον βίον ἀνωμαλίας καταπλαγείη τὴν ἐπʼ ἀμφότερα τὰ μέρη τῆς τύχης παλίρροιαν; ἢ τίς ἂν ταῖς κατὰ τὴν εὐτυχίαν ἐξουσίαις πιστεύσας ἀναλάβοι φρόνημα μεῖζον τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης ἀσθενείας; ὁ γὰρ κοινὸς βίος ὥσπερ ὑπὸ θεῶν τινος οἰακιζόμενος ἐναλλὰξ ἀγαθοῖς τε καὶ κακοῖς κυκλεῖται πάντα τὸν αἰῶνα. διόπερ παράδοξόν ἐστιν οὐκ εἰ γέγονέν τι παράλογον, ἀλλʼ εἰ μὴ πᾶν ἐστι τὸ γινόμενον ἀνέλπιστον. διὸ καὶ τὴν ἱστορίαν προσηκόντως ἄν τις ἀποδέξαιτο· τῇ γὰρ τῶν πράξεων ἀνωμαλίᾳ καὶ μεταβολῇ διορθοῦται τῶν μὲν εὐτυχούντων τὴν ὑπερηφανίαν, τῶν δʼ ἀκληρούντων τὴν ἀτυχίαν.
Immediately, therefore, Eumenes bade his men break camp and departed from Cappadocia with about five hundred horsemen and more than two thousand foot soldiers. Indeed, he did not have time to wait for the laggards among those who had promised to join him, for a considerable army was drawing near, sent from Antigonus under the general Menander to prevent Eumenes from staying in Cappadocia now that he had become an enemy of Antigonus. In fact, when this army arrived three days later, although it had missed its opportunity, it undertook to follow those who had gone with Eumenes; but since it was not able to come up with them, it returned to Cappadocia. Eumenes himself quickly passed over the Taurus by forced marches and entered Cilicia. Antigenes and Teutamus, the leaders of the Silver Shields, in obedience to the letters of the kings, came from a considerable distance to meet Eumenes and his friends. After bidding him welcome and congratulating him on his unexpected escape from very great dangers, they promised to co operate willingly with him in everything. The Macedonian Silver Shields, about three thousand in number, likewise met him with friendship and zeal. All wondered at the incredible fickleness of Fortune, when they considered that a little while before the kings and the Macedonians had condemned Eumenes and his friends to death, but now, forgetting their own decision, they not only had let him off scot-free of punishment, but also had entrusted to him the supreme command over the entire kingdom. And it was with good reason that these emotions were shared by all who then beheld the reversals in Eumenes' fortunes; for who, taking thought of the inconstancies of human life, would not be astonished at the alternating ebb and flow of fortune? Or who, putting his trust in the predominance he enjoys when Fortune favours him, would adopt a bearing too high for mortal weakness? For human life, as if some god were at the helm, moves in a cycle through good and evil alternately for all time. It is not strange, then, that some one unforeseen event has taken place, but rather that all that happens is not unexpected. This is also a good reason for admitting the claim of history, for in the inconstancy and irregularity of events history furnishes a corrective for both the arrogance of the fortunate and the despair of the destitute.
§ 18.60
ἃ καὶ τότε διανοούμενος Εὐμενὴς ἐμφρόνως τὰ καθʼ ἑαυτὸν ἠσφαλίσατο, προορώμενος τὴν τῆς τύχης καινοτομίαν. ὁρῶν γὰρ ἑαυτὸν μὲν ξένον ὄντα καὶ μηδὲν προσήκοντα βασιλικαῖς ἐξουσίαις, τοὺς δʼ ὑποταττομένους Μακεδόνας θάνατον αὐτοῦ προκατεγνωκότας, τοὺς δʼ ἐν ταῖς στρατιωτικαῖς ἡγεμονίαις διατρίβοντας φρονήματος πλήρεις ὑπάρχοντας καὶ μεγάλων πραγμάτων ὀρεγομένους ὑπέλαβεν ἔσεσθαι περὶ αὐτὸν συντόμως καταφρόνησιν ἅμα καὶ φθόνον καὶ τὸ τελευταῖον τὸν περὶ τοῦ ζῆν κίνδυνον· μηδένα γὰρ ποιήσειν ἑκουσίως τὸ προσταττόμενον ὑπὸ τῶν ἡττόνων εἶναι δοκούντων μηδὲ καρτερήσειν δεσποζόμενον ὑπὸ τῶν ὀφειλόντων ἑτέροις ὑποτάττεσθαι. δοὺς δὲ αὑτῷ περὶ τούτων λόγον πρῶτον μὲν διδομένων αὐτῷ τῶν πεντακοσίων ταλάντων κατὰ τὰς τῶν βασιλέων ἐπιστολὰς εἰς ἀνάληψιν καὶ κατασκευὴν οὐκ ἔφησε λήψεσθαι· μὴ γὰρ προσδεῖσθαι τηλικαύτης δωρεᾶς, ὡς ἂν μηδεμιᾶς αὐτοῦ σπεύδοντος τυχεῖν ἡγεμονίας. καὶ γὰρ νῦν οὐχ ἑκουσίως αὐτὸν ὑπακηκοέναι πρὸς ταύτην τὴν χρείαν, ἀλλʼ ὑπὸ τῶν βασιλέων συνηναγκάσθαι προσδέξασθαι τὴν τοιαύτην λειτουργίαν. καθόλου γὰρ διὰ τὴν συνέχειαν τῆς στρατείας μηκέτι δύνασθαι φέρειν τὰς κακοπαθίας καὶ πλάνας, καὶ ταῦτα μηδεμιᾶς ὑποκειμένης ἀρχῆς ξένῳ καὶ τῆς ὁμοεθνοῦς τοῖς Μακεδόσιν ἐξουσίας κεχωρισμένῳ. ἀπεφαίνετο δὲ αὑτὸν ἑωρακέναι κατὰ τὸν ὕπνον ὄψιν παράδοξον, ἣν ἀναγκαῖον ἡγεῖσθαι δηλῶσαι πᾶσι· δοκεῖν γὰρ αὐτὴν πολλὰ συνεργήσειν πρός τε ὁμόνοιαν καὶ τὸ κοινῇ συμφέρον. δόξαι γὰρ κατὰ τὸν ὕπνον ὁρᾶν Ἀλέξανδρον τὸν βασιλέα ζῶντα καὶ τῇ βασιλικῇ σκευῇ κεκοσμημένον χρηματίζειν καὶ τὰ προστάγματα διδόναι τοῖς ἡγεμόσι καὶ πάντα τὰ κατὰ τὴν βασιλείαν διοικεῖν ἐνεργῶς. »διόπερ οἶμαι δεῖν ἐκ τῆς βασιλικῆς γάζης κατασκευάσαι χρυσοῦν θρόνον, ἐν ᾧ τεθέντος τοῦ διαδήματος καὶ σκήπτρου καὶ στεφάνου καὶ τῆς ἄλλης κατασκευῆς ἐπιθύειν ἅμʼ ἡμέρᾳ πάντας αὐτῷ τοὺς ἡγεμόνας καὶ πλησίον τοῦ θρόνου συνεδρεύειν καὶ τὰ προστάγματα λαμβάνειν ἐκ τοῦ ὀνόματος τοῦ βασιλέως, ὡς ζῶντος καὶ προεστηκότος τῆς ἰδίας βασιλείας.«
Eumenes, who at this time also kept these things in mind, prudently made his own position secure, for he foresaw that Fortune would change again. He perceived that he himself was a foreigner and had no claim to the royal power, that the Macedonians who were now subject to him had previously decreed his death, and that those who occupied the military commands were filled with arrogance and were aiming at great affairs. He therefore understood that he would soon be despised and at the same time envied, and that his life would eventually be in danger; for no one will willingly carry out orders given by those whom he regards as his inferiors, or be patient when he has over him as masters those who ought themselves to be subject to others. Reasoning about these matters with himself, when the five hundred talents for refitting and organization were offered him in accordance with the kings' letters, he at first refused to accept them, saying that he had no need of such a gift as he had no desire to attain any position of command. Even now, he said, it was not of his own will that he had yielded with respect to his present office, but he had been compelled by the kings to undertake this great task. In any case, owing to his continuous military service, he was no longer able to endure the skirmishes and journeyings, especially since no magistracy was in prospect for one who was an alien and hence was excluded from the power that belonged of right to the Macedonians. He declared, however, that in his sleep he had seen a strange vision, which he considered it necessary to disclose to all, for he thought it would contribute much to harmony and the general good. He said that in his sleep he had seemed to see Alexander the king, alive and clad in his kingly garb, presiding over a council, giving orders to the commanders, and actively administering all the affairs of the monarchy. "Therefore," he said, "I think that we must make ready a golden throne from the royal treasure, and that after the diadem, the sceptre, the crown, and the rest of the insignia have been placed on it, all the commanders must at daybreak offer incense to Alexander before it, hold the meetings of the council in its presence, and receive their orders in the name of the king just as if he were alive and at the head of his own kingdom."
§ 18.61
πάντων δʼ ἀποδεξαμένων τοὺς λόγους ταχέως ἅπαντα κατεσκευάσθη τὰ πρὸς τὴν χρείαν, ὡς ἂν πολυχρύσου τῆς βασιλικῆς οὔσης γάζης. εὐθὺς οὖν κατασκευασθείσης μεγαλοπρεποῦς σκηνῆς ὅ τε θρόνος ἔχων τὸ διάδημα καὶ τὸ σκῆπτρον ἐτέθη καὶ τὰ ὅπλα οἷς εἰώθει χρῆσθαι καὶ κειμένης ἐσχάρας ἐχούσης πῦρ ἐπέθυον ἐκ κιβωτίου χρυσοῦ πάντες οἱ ἡγεμόνες τόν τε λιβανωτὸν καὶ τῶν ἄλλων θυμιαμάτων εὐωδῶν τὰ πολυτελέστατα καὶ προσεκύνουν ὡς θεὸν τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον. ἀκολούθως δὲ τούτοις δίφρων πολλῶν κειμένων ἐκάθιζον ἐπὶ τούτων οἱ τὰς ἡγεμονίας ἔχοντες καὶ συνεδρεύοντες ἐβουλεύοντο περὶ τῶν ἀεὶ κατεπειγόντων. ὁ δʼ Εὐμενὴς ἐν πᾶσι τοῖς χρηματιζομένοις ἴσον ἑαυτὸν τοῖς ἄλλοις ἡγεμόσιν ἀποδεικνύων καὶ πάντας ταῖς φιλανθρωποτάταις ὁμιλίαις δημαγωγῶν τόν τε καθʼ ἑαυτοῦ φθόνον ἀπετρίψατο καὶ πολλὴν εὔνοιαν ἐν τοῖς ἡγεμόσι πρὸς ἑαυτὸν κατεσκεύασεν. ἅμα δὲ καὶ τῆς κατὰ τὸν βασιλέα δεισιδαιμονίας ἐνισχυούσης ἀγαθῶν ἐλπίδων ἅπαντες ἐπληροῦντο, καθάπερ θεοῦ τινος αὐτῶν ἡγουμένου. ὁμοίως δὲ τούτοις καὶ πρὸς τοὺς ἀργυράσπιδας Μακεδόνας πολιτευόμενος ἀποδοχῆς μεγάλης ἐτύγχανεν παρʼ αὐτοῖς, ὡς ἄξιος ὢν τῆς τῶν βασιλέων φροντίδος. προχειρισάμενος δὲ τῶν φίλων τοὺς εὐθετωτάτους καὶ δοὺς χρήματα δαψιλῆ πρὸς τὴν ξενολογίαν ἐξέπεμψεν ὁρίας ἀξιολόγους μισθούς. εὐθὺς δʼ οἱ μὲν εἰς τὴν Πισιδικὴν καὶ Λυκίαν καὶ τὴν πλησιόχωρον παρελθόντες ἐξενολόγουν ἐπιμελῶς, οἱ δὲ τὴν Κιλικίαν ἐπεπορεύοντο, ἄλλοι δὲ τὴν Κοίλην Συρίαν καὶ Φοινίκην, τινὲς δὲ τὰς ἐν τῇ Κύπρῳ πόλεις. διαβοηθείσης δὲ τῆς ξενολογίας καὶ τῆς μισθοφορᾶς ἀξιολόγου προκειμένης πολλοὶ καὶ ἐκ τῶν τῆς Ἑλλάδος πόλεων ἐθελοντὶ κατήντων καὶ πρὸς τὴν στρατείαν ἀπεγράφοντο. ἐν ὀλίγῳ δὲ χρόνῳ συνήχθησαν πεζοὶ μὲν πλείους τῶν μυρίων, ἱππεῖς δὲ δισχίλιοι χωρὶς τῶν ἀργυρασπίδων καὶ τῶν μετʼ Εὐμενοῦς κατηντηκότων.
As all agreed to his proposal, everything needed was quickly made ready, for the royal treasure was rich in gold. Straightway then, when a magnificent tent had been set up, the throne was erected, upon which were placed the diadem, the sceptre, and the armour that Alexander had been wont to use. Then when an altar with a fire upon it had been put in place, all the commanders would make sacrifice from a golden casket, presenting frankincense and the most costly of the other kinds of incense and making obeisance to Alexander as to a god. After this those who exercised command would sit in the many chairs that had been placed about and take counsel together, deliberating upon the matters that from time to time required their attention. Eumenes, by placing himself on an equality with the other commanders in all the matters that were discussed and by seeking their favour through the most friendly intercourse, wore down the envy with which he had been regarded and secured for himself a great deal of goodwill among the commanders. As their reverence for the king grew stronger, they were all filled with happy expectations, just as if some god were leading them. And by conducting himself toward the Macedonian Silver Shields in a similar way, Eumenes gained great favour among them as a man worthy of the solicitude of the kings. Eumenes selected the most able of his friends, gave them ample funds, and sent them out to engage mercenaries, establishing a notable rate of pay. Some of them went at once into Pisidia, Lycia, and the adjacent regions, where they zealously enrolled troops. Others travelled through Cilicia, others through Coele Syria and Phoenicia, and some through the cities in Cyprus. Since the news of this levy spread widely and the pay offered was worthy of consideration, many reported of their own free will even from the cities of Greece and were enrolled for the campaign. In a short time more than ten thousand foot soldiers and two thousand horsemen were gathered together, not including the Silver Shields and those who had accompanied Eumenes.
§ 18.62
παραδόξου δὲ καὶ ταχείας τῆς περὶ τὸν Εὐμενῆ γενομένης αὐξήσεως Πτολεμαῖος μὲν μετὰ στόλου πλεύσας εἰς Ζεφύριον τῆς Κιλικίας διεπέμπετο πρὸς τοὺς τῶν ἀργυρασπίδων ἡγεμόνας, παρακαλῶν μὴ προσέχειν τῷ Εὐμενεῖ, καθʼ οὗ πάντες Μακεδόνες θάνατον κατέγνωσαν. ὁμοίως δὲ πρὸς τοὺς ἐπὶ τῶν ἐν Κυΐνδοις φρουρίων τεταγμένους ἐξέπεμψε, διαμαρτυρόμενος μὴ διδόναι μηδὲν τῶν χρημάτων Εὐμενεῖ καὶ τὴν ἀσφάλειαν αὐτοῖς ἐπηγγείλατο παρέξεσθαι. ἀλλὰ τούτῳ μὲν οὐδεὶς προσεῖχε διὰ τὸ τοὺς βασιλεῖς καὶ τὸν ἐπιμελητὴν αὐτῶν Πολυπέρχοντα, ἔτι δὲ Ὀλυμπιάδα τὴν Ἀλεξάνδρου μητέρα γεγραφέναι πάντα ὑπηρετεῖν Εὐμενεῖ, ὡς ὄντι τῆς βασιλείας αὐτοκράτορι στρατηγῷ. μάλιστα δʼ Ἀντιγόνῳ δυσηρέστει τότε τὰ περὶ τὴν Εὐμενοῦς προαγωγὴν καὶ τὸ μέγεθος τῆς περὶ αὐτὸν συνισταμένης ἐξουσίας· ὑπελάμβανε γὰρ ὑπὸ τοῦ Πολυπέρχοντος τοῦτον ἑαυτῷ κατασκευάζεσθαι μέγιστον ἀντίπαλον ἀποστάτῃ γεγονότι τῆς βασιλείας. διόπερ κρίνας ἐπιβουλὴν συστήσασθαι κατʼ αὐτοῦ προεχειρίσατο τῶν φίλων Φιλώταν καὶ τούτῳ μὲν ἔδωκεν ἐπιστολὴν γεγραμμένην πρός τε τοὺς ἀργυράσπιδας καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους τοὺς μετʼ Εὐμενοῦς Μακεδόνας, συνεξέπεμψε δὲ αὐτῷ καὶ ἄλλους τριάκοντα Μακεδόνας τῶν περιέργων καὶ λάλων, οἷς ἦν προστεταγμένον κατʼ ἰδίαν ἐντυχεῖν τοῖς ἡγεμόσι τῶν ἀργυρασπίδων Ἀντιγένει καὶ Τευτάμῳ καὶ διὰ τούτων συστήσασθαί τινα κατʼ Εὐμενοῦς ἐπιβουλήν, δωρεάς τε μεγάλας ἐπαγγελλομένους καὶ σατραπείας μείζονας, ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τῶν ἀργυρασπίδων τοῖς γνωριζομένοις καὶ πολίταις ἐντυγχάνειν καὶ διαφθείρειν δωρεαῖς πρὸς τὴν κατʼ Εὐμενοῦς ἐπιβουλήν. τῶν μὲν οὖν ἄλλων οὐδένα πεῖσαι κατίσχυσαν, Τεύταμος δὲ ὁ τῶν ἀργυρασπίδων ἡγεμὼν διαφθαρεὶς ἐπεβάλετο καὶ τὸν συνάρχοντα Ἀντιγένην πεῖσαι κοινωνῆσαι τῆς πράξεως. ὁ δʼ Ἀντιγένης, συνέσει καὶ πίστεως βεβαιότητι διαφέρων, οὐ μόνον ἀντεῖπεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ μετέπεισε τὸν προδιεφθαρμένον. ἐδίδαξε γὰρ αὐτὸν συμφέρειν ζῆν τὸν Εὐμενῆ μᾶλλον ἢ τὸν Ἀντίγονον· ἐκεῖνον μὲν γὰρ εἰς πλεῖον ἰσχύσαντα παρελεῖσθαι τὰς σατραπείας αὐτῶν καὶ ἀντικαταστήσειν ἐκ τῶν αὐτοῦ φίλων, Εὐμενῆ δὲ ξένον ὄντα μηδέποτʼ ἰδιοπραγῆσαι τολμήσειν, ἀλλὰ στρατηγὸν ὄντα φίλοις αὐτοῖς χρήσεσθαι καὶ συμπράξασι φυλάξειν αὐτοῖς τὰς σατραπείας, τάχα δὲ καὶ ἄλλας προσδώσειν. οἱ μὲν οὖν τὰς κατʼ Εὐμενοῦς ἐπιβουλὰς κατασκευάζοντες ἀπέτυχον τὸν προειρημένον
At Eumenes' unexpected and sudden rise to power, Ptolemy, who had sailed to Zephyrium in Cilicia with a fleet, kept sending to the commanders of the Silver Shields, exhorting them not to pay any attention to Eumenes, whom all the Macedonians had condemned to death. Likewise he sent to those who had been placed in command of the garrisons in Cyinda, protesting solemnly against their giving any of the money to Eumenes, and promised to guarantee their safety. But no one paid any attention to him because the kings and Polyperchon their guardian and also Olympias, the mother of Alexander, had written to them that they should serve Eumenes in every way, since he was the commander-in chief of the kingdom. Antigonus in particular was displeased with the advancement of Eumenes and the magnitude of the power that was being concentrated in him; for he assumed that Eumenes was being made ready by Polyperchon as the strongest antagonist of himself now that he had become a rebel against the monarchy. Deciding, therefore, to organize a plot against Eumenes, he selected Philotas, one of his friends, and gave him a letter that he had written to the Silver Shields and to the other Macedonians with Eumenes. With him he also sent thirty other Macedonians, meddlesome and talkative persons, whom he instructed to meet separately with Antigenes and Teutamus, the commanders of the Silver Shields, and through them to organize some plot against Eumenes by promising great gifts and greater satrapies. Antigonus also told them to get in touch with their acquaintances and fellow citizens among the Silver Shields and secure their support for the plot against Eumenes by corrupting them with bribes. Now although they were unable to persuade any others, Teutamus, the leader of the Silver Shields, was bribed and undertook to persuade his fellow commander, Antigenes, to share in the enterprise. Antigenes, however, who was a man of great shrewdness and trustworthiness, not only argued against this, but he even won back the man who had been bribed; for he showed him that it was to his advantage that Eumenes rather than Antigonus should remain alive. The latter, indeed, if he became more powerful, would take away their satrapies and set up some of his friends in their places; Eumenes, however, since he was a foreigner, would never dare to advance his own interests, but, remaining a general, would treat them as friends and, if they co operated with him, would protect their satrapies for them and perhaps give them others also. So those who were contriving plots against Eumenes met with failure in the way described.
§ 18.63
τρόπον· τοῦ δὲ Φιλώτου τὴν κοινὴν ἐπιστολὴν ἀναδόντος τοῖς ἡγεμόσι συνήχθησαν οἵ τε ἀργυράσπιδες καὶ οἱ ἄλλοι Μακεδόνες κατʼ ἰδίαν ἄνευ τοῦ Εὐμενοῦς καὶ τὴν ἐπιστολὴν προσέταξαν ἀναγνωσθῆναι. ἦν δʼ ἐν αὐτῇ γεγραμμένη κατηγορία μὲν τοῦ Εὐμενοῦς, παράκλησις δὲ τῶν Μακεδόνων συλλαβεῖν τὸν Εὐμενῆ ταχέως καὶ ἀποκτεῖναι· ἐὰν δὲ ταῦτα μὴ πράξωσιν, ὅτι μετὰ πάσης τῆς δυνάμεως ἥξει πολεμήσων αὐτοῖς καὶ τοῖς μὴ πειθαρχοῦσι τὴν προσήκουσαν ἐπιθήσει τιμωρίαν. ἀναγνωσθείσης δὲ τῆς ἐπιστολῆς εἰς πολλὴν ἀπορίαν ἐνέπεσον οἵ τε ἡγεμόνες καὶ οἱ Μακεδόνες πάντες· ἀναγκαῖον γὰρ ἦν αὐτοῖς ἢ πρὸς τοὺς βασιλεῖς ἀποκλίναντας ὑπʼ Ἀντιγόνου τιμωρίας τυχεῖν ἢ πειθαρχήσαντας Ἀντιγόνῳ ὑπὸ Πολυπέρχοντος καὶ τῶν βασιλέων κολασθῆναι. τοιαύτης δὲ συγχύσεως ἐπεχούσης τὰ πλήθη ἧκεν ὁ Εὐμενὴς καὶ τὴν ἐπιστολὴν ἀναγνοὺς παρεκάλεσε τοὺς Μακεδόνας πράττειν τὰ τοῖς βασιλεῦσι δεδογμένα, τῷ δὲ ἀποστάτῃ γεγονότι μὴ προσέχειν. πολλὰ δὲ διαλεχθεὶς οἰκεῖα τῆς ὑποθέσεως οὐ μόνον αὐτὸς ἀπελύθη τῶν ἐνεστώτων κινδύνων, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ πλῆθος εἰς εὔνοιαν μείζονα τῆς προϋπαρχούσης παρεστήσατο. οὗτος μὲν οὖν πάλιν εἰς ἀνελπίστους κινδύνους ἐμπεσὼν παραδόξως ἰσχυροτέραν κατεσκεύασε τὴν περὶ αὑτὸν δύναμιν. διὸ καὶ τοῖς στρατιώταις παραγγείλας ἀναζευγνύειν προῆγεν ἐπὶ Φοινίκης, σπεύδων τὰς ναῦς ἐξ ἁπασῶν τῶν πόλεων ἀθροῖσαι καὶ στόλον ἀξιόλογον κατασκευάσαι, ὅπως Πολυπέρχων μὲν προσλαβόμενος τὰς ἐκ τῆς Φοινίκης ναῦς θαλαττοκρατῇ καὶ δύνηται διαβιβάζειν ἀσφαλῶς, ὅταν βούληται, τὰς ἐκ τῆς Μακεδονίας δυνάμεις εἰς τὴν Ἀσίαν ἐπʼ Ἀντίγονον. οὗτος μὲν οὖν ἐν Φοινίκῃ διέτριβε κατασκευαζόμενος τὴν ναυτικὴν δύναμιν.
When, however, Philotas gave the commanders the letter that had been addressed to all in common, the Silver Shields and the other Macedonians came together privately without Eumenes and ordered the letter to be read. In it Antigonus had written an accusation against Eumenes and had exhorted the Macedonians to seize Eumenes quickly and put him to death. If they should not do this, he said that he would come with his whole army to wage war against them, and that upon those who refused to obey he would inflict suitable punishment. At the reading of this letter the commanders and all the Macedonians found themselves in great perplexity, for it was necessary for them either to side with the kings and receive punishment from Antigonus, or to obey Antigonus and be chastised by Polyperchon and the kings. While the troops were in this confused state, Eumenes entered and, after reading the letter, urged the Macedonians to follow the decrees of the kings and not listen to one who had become a rebel. He discussed many matters pertinent to the subject and not only freed himself from the imminent danger but also gained greater favour with the crowd than before. Thus once more Eumenes, after falling into unforeseen danger, unexpectedly made his own power greater. Therefore he ordered the soldiers to break camp and led them to Phoenicia, desiring to gather ships from all the cities and assemble a considerable fleet, so that Polyperchon, by the addition of the Phoenician ships, might have control of the sea and be able to transport the Macedonian armies safely to Asia against Antigonus whenever he wished. Accordingly he remained in Phoenicia preparing the naval force.
§ 18.64
ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις Νικάνωρ ὁ τὴν Μουνυχίαν κατέχων ἀκούων τὸν μὲν Κάσανδρον ἐκ Μακεδονίας κεχωρίσθαι πρὸς Ἀντίγονον, τὸν δὲ Πολυπέρχοντα προσδόκιμον εἶναι συντόμως ἥξειν εἰς τὴν Ἀττικὴν μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως ἠξίου τοὺς Ἀθηναίους διαφυλάττειν τὴν πρὸς τὸν Κάσανδρον εὔνοιαν. οὐθενὸς δὲ αὐτῷ προσέχοντος, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν φρουρὰν πάντων οἰομένων δεῖν ἐξάγειν τὴν ταχίστην τὸ μὲν πρῶτον παρακρουσάμενος τὸν δῆμον ἔπεισεν ὀλίγας ἡμέρας ἐπισχεῖν· πράξειν γὰρ αὐτὸν τὰ συμφέροντα τῇ πόλει· μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τῶν Ἀθηναίων ἐπί τινας ἡμέρας ἡσυχίαν ἐχόντων ἔλαθε νυκτὸς κατʼ ὀλίγους στρατιώτας εἰσαγαγὼν εἰς τὴν Μουνυχίαν, ὥστε γενέσθαι δύναμιν ἀξιόχρεων τηρεῖν τὴν φυλακὴν καὶ διαγωνίζεσθαι πρὸς τοὺς ἐπιβαλλομένους πολιορκεῖν τὴν φρουράν. οἱ δὲ Ἀθηναῖοι γνόντες τὸν Νικάνορα μηδὲν ὑγιὲς πράττοντα πρὸς μὲν τοὺς βασιλέας καὶ Πολυπέρχοντα πρεσβείαν ἐξέπεμψαν, ἀξιοῦντες βοηθεῖν αὐτοῖς κατὰ τὸ διάγραμμα τὸ γραφὲν ὑπὲρ τῆς τῶν Ἑλλήνων αὐτονομίας· αὐτοὶ δὲ πλεονάκις ἐκκλησίαν συναγαγόντες ἐβουλεύοντο πῶς χρηστέον εἴη περὶ τοῦ πρὸς Νικάνορα πολέμου. τούτων δʼ ἔτι περὶ ταῦτʼ ἀσχολουμένων ὁ Νικάνωρ, πολλοὺς ἐξενολογηκώς, λάθρᾳ νυκτὸς ἐξαγαγὼν τοὺς στρατιώτας κατελάβετο τὰ τείχη τοῦ Πειραιέως καὶ τοῦ λιμένος τὰ κλεῖθρα. οἱ δὲ Ἀθηναῖοι τὴν μὲν Μουνυχίαν οὐκ ἀπειληφότες, τὸν δὲ Πειραιᾶ προσαποβεβληκότες χαλεπῶς ἔφερον. διόπερ ἑλόμενοι πρέσβεις τῶν ἐπιφανῶν ἀνδρῶν καὶ φιλίαν ἐχόντων πρὸς Νικάνορα Φωκίωνα τὸν Φώκου καὶ Κόνωνα τὸν Τιμοθέου καὶ Κλέαρχον τὸν Ναυσικλέους ἐξαπέστειλαν, ἐγκαλοῦντες μὲν ἐπὶ τοῖς πεπραγμένοις, ἀξιοῦντες δὲ ἀποδοῦναι τὴν αὐτονομίαν αὐτοῖς κατὰ τὸ γεγενημένον διάταγμα. ὁ δὲ Νικάνωρ ἀποκρίσεις ἔδωκε πρεσβεύειν αὐτοὺς πρὸς Κάσανδρον· ὑπʼ ἐκείνου γὰρ καθεσταμένον φρούραρχον μηδαμῶς ἔχειν ἐξουσίαν ἰδιοπραγεῖν.
Meanwhile Nicanor, the commander of Munychia, on hearing that Cassander had gone from Macedonia to Antigonus and that Polyperchon was expected to come shortly into Attica with his army, asked the Athenians to continue to favour Cassander. 2 No one approved, but all thought that it was necessary to get rid even of the garrison as soon as possible. Nicanor therefore at first deceived the Assembly and persuaded them to wait for a few days, saying that Cassander would do what was for the advantage of the city; but then, while the Athenians remained inactive for a short time, he secretly introduced soldiers into Munychia by night, a few at a time, so that there was a force there strong enough to maintain the guard and fight against any who undertook to besiege the garrison. 3 The Athenians, when they found out that Nicanor was not acting honourably with them, sent an embassy to the kings and to Polyperchon, asking them to send aid in accordance with the edict that had been issued concerning the autonomy of the Greeks; and they themselves, holding frequent meetings of the Assembly, considered what ought to be done about the war with Nicanor. 4 While they were still engaged in this discussion, Nicanor, who had hired many mercenaries, made a secret sally by night and took the walls of the Piraeus and the harbour boom. The Athenians, who not only had failed to recapture Munychia but also had lost the Piraeus, were angry. 5 They therefore selected as envoys some of the prominent citizens who were friends of Nicanor — Phocion the son of Phocus, Conon the son of Timotheus, and Clearchus the son of Nausicles — and sent them to Nicanor to complain about what he had done and also to request him to restore their autonomy according to the edict that had been issued. 6 Nicanor however, answered that they should direct their mission to Cassander, since as a garrison commander appointed by Cassander he himself had no power of independent action.
§ 18.65
κατὰ δὲ τοῦτον τὸν καιρὸν ἧκεν ἐπιστολὴ Νικάνορι παρʼ Ὀλυμπιάδος, ἐν ᾗ προσέταττεν ἀποδοῦναι Ἀθηναίοις τήν τε Μουνυχίαν καὶ τὸν Πειραιᾶ. ὁ δὲ Νικάνωρ ἀκούων ὅτι μέλλουσιν οἱ βασιλεῖς καὶ Πολυπέρχων κατάγειν εἰς Μακεδονίαν τὴν Ὀλυμπιάδα καὶ τοῦ τε παιδίου τὴν ἐπιμέλειαν ἐκείνῃ παραδιδόναι καὶ τὴν προϋπάρχουσαν ἀποδοχὴν καὶ τιμὴν Ἀλεξάνδρου ζῶντος ἀποκαθιστάναι Ὀλυμπιάδι, φοβηθεὶς ἐπηγγείλατο μὲν παραδώσειν, ἀεὶ δὲ προφάσεις τινὰς ποιούμενος παρῆγε τὴν πρᾶξιν. οἱ δὲ Ἀθηναῖοι πεπολυωρηκότες ἐν τοῖς ἔμπροσθεν χρόνοις τὴν Ὀλυμπιάδα καὶ νομίσαντες τὰς μὲν ταύτῃ δεδογμένας τιμὰς ὄντως γεγονέναι, τὴν δὲ ἀπόληψιν τῆς αὐτονομίας διὰ ταύτης ἐλπίζοντες ἀκινδύνως ἔσεσθαι περιχαρεῖς ἦσαν. ἀτελέστων δʼ ἔτι τῶν ἐπαγγελιῶν οὐσῶν ᾗκεν Ἀλέξανδρος ὁ Πολυπέρχοντος υἱὸς μετὰ δυνάμεως εἰς τὴν Ἀττικήν. οἱ μὲν οὖν Ἀθηναῖοι διέλαβον αὐτὸν ἥκειν ἀποκαταστήσοντα τῷ δήμῳ τήν τε Μουνυχίαν καὶ τὸν Πειραιᾶ, τὸ δʼ ἀληθὲς οὐχ οὕτως εἶχεν, ἀλλὰ τοὐναντίον αὐτὸς ἰδίᾳ παραληψόμενος ἀμφότερα πρὸς τὰς ἐν τῷ πολέμῳ χρείας. τῶν γὰρ Ἀντιπάτρῳ γεγονότων φίλων τινές, ὧν ὑπῆρχον καὶ οἱ περὶ Φωκίωνα, φοβούμενοι τὰς ἐκ τῶν νόμων τιμωρίας ὑπήντησαν τῷ Ἀλεξάνδρῳ καὶ διδάξαντες τὸ συμφέρον ἔπεισαν αὐτὸν ἰδίᾳ κατέχειν τὰ φρούρια καὶ μὴ παραδιδόναι τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις, μέχρι ἂν ὁ Κάσανδρος καταπολεμηθῇ. ὁ δὲ Ἀλέξανδρος πλησίον τοῦ Πειραιῶς καταστρατοπεδεύσας τοὺς μὲν Ἀθηναίους οὐ παρελάμβανε πρὸς τὰς ἐντεύξεις τὰς πρὸς τὸν Νικάνορα, ἰδίᾳ δὲ συνιὼν εἰς λόγους καὶ ἐν ἀπορρήτοις διαπραττόμενος φανερὸς ἦν ἀδικεῖν μέλλων τοὺς Ἀθηναίους. ὁ δὲ δῆμος εἰς ἐκκλησίαν συνελθὼν τὰς μὲν ὑπαρχούσας ἀρχὰς κατέλυσεν, ἐκ δὲ τῶν δημοτικωτάτων τὰ ἀρχεῖα καταστήσας τοὺς ἐπὶ τῆς ὀλιγαρχίας γεγονότας ἄρχοντας κατεδίκασε τοὺς μὲν θανάτῳ, τοὺς δὲ φυγῇ καὶ δημεύσει τῆς οὐσίας· ἐν οἷς ἦν καὶ Φωκίων ὁ ἐπʼ Ἀντιπάτρου τὴν τῶν ὅλων ἀρχὴν ἐσχηκώς.
At this time a letter came at once Nicanor from Olympias, in which she ordered him to restore Munychia and the Piraeus to the Athenians. Since Nicanor had heard that the kings and Polyperchon were going to bring Olympias back to Macedonia, entrust to her the upbringing of the boy, and re establish her in the state and honour that she had enjoyed during the lifetime of Alexander, he was frightened and promised to make the restoration, but he avoided the fulfilment of the promise by constantly making excuses. The Athenians, who had had great respect for Olympias in former times and now regarded the honours that had been decreed for her as actually in effect, were filled with joy, hoping that through her favour the recovery of their autonomy might be accomplished without risk. While the promise was still unfulfilled, however, Alexander the son of Polyperchon arrived in Attica with an army. The Athenians, indeed, believed that he had come to give back Munychia and the Piraeus to the people; this, however, was not the truth, but on the contrary he had come from interested motives to take both of them himself for use in the war. Now certain Athenians who had been friends of Antipater, of whom Phocion was one, fearing the punishment due them in accordance with the laws, went to Alexander and, by showing him what was to his own advantage, persuaded him to hold the forts for himself and not deliver them to the Athenians until after the defeat of Cassander. Alexander, who had pitched his camp near the Piraeus, did not admit the Athenians to his parley with Nicanor; but by conferring with him in private and negotiating secretly, he made it evident that he did not intend to deal fairly with the Athenians. The people, coming together in an assembly, removed from office the existing magistrates, filling the offices with men from the extreme democrats; and they condemned those who had held office under the oligarchy, decreeing the death penalty for some of them, exile and confiscation of property for others, among whom was Phocion, who had held supreme authority under Antipater.
§ 18.66
οὗτοι μὲν οὖν ἐκβληθέντες ἐκ τῆς πόλεως κατέφυγον πρὸς Ἀλέξανδρον τὸν Πολυπέρχοντος καὶ διὰ τούτου τὴν σωτηρίαν ἑαυτοῖς πορίζειν ἐφιλοτιμοῦντο. προσδεχθέντες δὲ ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ φιλοφρόνως γράμματα ἔλαβον πρὸς τὸν πατέρα Πολυπέρχοντα, ὅπως μηδὲν πάθωσιν οἱ περὶ Φωκίωνα, τἀκείνου πεφρονηκότες καὶ νῦν ἐπαγγελλόμενοι πάντα συμπράξειν. ἀποστείλαντος δὲ καὶ τοῦ δήμου πρεσβείαν πρὸς τὸν Πολυπέρχοντα τὴν κατηγοροῦσαν μὲν τῶν περὶ Φωκίωνα, παρακαλοῦσαν δὲ τὴν Μουνυχίαν αὐτοῖς δοῦναι μετὰ τῆς αὐτονομίας ὁ Πολυπέρχων ἔσπευδε μὲν φρουρᾷ κατέχειν τὸν Πειραιᾶ διὰ τὸ πολλὰ δύνασθαι χρησιμεύειν τὸν λιμένα πρὸς τὰς ἐν τοῖς πολέμοις χρείας· αἰσχυνόμενος δʼ ἐναντία πράττειν τῷ ὑφʼ ἑαυτοῦ γεγραμμένῳ διαγράμματι καὶ νομίζων ἄπιστος κριθήσεσθαι παρὰ τοῖς Ἕλλησιν, ἐὰν εἰς τὴν ἐπιφανεστάτην παρανομήσῃ πόλιν, μετενόησε τῇ γνώμῃ. διακούσας δὲ τῶν πρέσβεων τοῖς μὲν παρὰ τοῦ δήμου πρεσβεύουσι φιλανθρώπως κεχαρισμένας ἔδωκεν ἀποκρίσεις, τοὺς δὲ περὶ Φωκίωνα συλλαβὼν ἀπέστειλε δεσμίους εἰς τὰς Ἀθήνας, διδοὺς τὴν ἐξουσίαν τῷ δήμῳ εἴτε βούλεται θανατοῦν εἴτʼ ἀπολῦσαι τῶν ἐγκλημάτων. συναχθείσης οὖν ἐκκλησίας ἐν ταῖς Ἀθήναις καὶ προτεθείσης κρίσεως τοῖς περὶ τὸν Φωκίωνα πολλοὶ τῶν τε φυγάδων γεγονότων ἐπʼ Ἀντιπάτρου καὶ τῶν ἀντιπολιτευομένων κατηγόρησαν αὐτῶν θανάτου. ἦν δʼ ὁ σύμπας τῆς κατηγορίας λόγος ὅτι οὗτοι παραίτιοι γεγένηνται μετὰ τὸν Λαμιακὸν πόλεμον τῆς τε δουλείας τῇ πατρίδι καὶ τῆς καταλύσεως τοῦ δήμου καὶ τῶν νόμων. ὡς δὲ τοῖς ἀπολογουμένοις ὁ καιρὸς παρεδόθη τῆς ἀπολογίας, ὁ μὲν Φωκίων ἤρξατο ποιεῖσθαι τὸν ὑπὲρ ἑαυτοῦ λόγον, τὸ δὲ πλῆθος τοῖς θορύβοις ἐξέσεισε τὴν ἀπολογίαν, ὥστʼ εἰς πολλὴν ἀπορίαν παραγενέσθαι τοὺς ἀπολογουμένους. λήξαντος δὲ τοῦ θορύβου πάλιν ὁ μὲν Φωκίων ἀπελογεῖτο, ὁ δὲ ὄχλος κατεβόα καὶ τὴν φωνὴν τοῦ κινδυνεύοντος ἐκώλυεν ἐξακούεσθαι· τὸ γὰρ πλῆθος τῶν δημοτικῶν, ἀπωσμένον τῆς πολιτείας καὶ παρʼ ἐλπίδας τετευχὸς τῆς καθόδου, πικρῶς διέκειτο πρὸς τοὺς ἀφῃρημένους τὴν αὐτονομίαν.
These men, on being driven from the city, fled to Alexander the son of Polyperchon and strove to secure safety for themselves through his good offices. They were well received by him and given letters to his father, Polyperchon, urging that Phocion and his friends should suffer no ill, since they had favoured his interests and now promised to co operate with him in every way. The Athenian people also sent an embassy to Polyperchon laying charges against Phocion and praying Polyperchon to restore to them Munychia and their autonomy. Now Polyperchon was eager to occupy the Piraeus with a garrison because the port could be of great service to him in meeting the needs of the wars; but since he was ashamed of acting contrary to the edict that he himself had issued, believing that he would be held faithless among the Greeks if he broke his word to the most famous city, he changed his purpose. When he had heard the embassies, he gave a favourable answer in friendly terms to the one sent by the people, but he arrested Phocion and his companions and sent them bound to Athens, granting the people the authority either to put them to death or to dismiss the charges as they pleased. When an assembly was called together in Athens and the case of Phocion and his fellows was brought forward, many of those who had been exiles in the days of Antipater and many of those who had been political opponents of the prisoners demanded the death penalty. The whole basis the accusation was that after the Lamian War these men had been responsible for the enslavement of the fatherland and the overthrow of the democratic constitution and laws. When opportunity was given the defendants for their defence, Phocion began to deliver a plea in his own behalf, but the mob by its tumult rejected his defence, so that the defendants were left in utter helplessness. When the tumult subsided, Phocion tried again to defend himself, but the crowd shouted him down and prevented the voice of the accused from being fully heard; for the many supporters of democracy, who had been expelled from citizenship and then, beyond their hopes, had been restored, were bitter against those who had deprived Athens of its independence.
§ 18.67
βιαζομένου δὲ τοῦ Φωκίωνος καὶ πρὸς περίστασιν ἀπεγνωσμένην ὑπὲρ τοῦ ζῆν ἀγωνιζομένου οἱ μὲν πλησίον ὄντες ἤκουον τῶν τῆς ὑποθέσεως δικαίων, οἱ δὲ μακρότερον διεστηκότες διὰ τὸ μέγεθος τῆς κραυγῆς τῶν θορυβούντων ἤκουον μὲν οὐδέν, αὐτὴν δὲ μόνην ἐθεώρουν τὴν τοῦ σώματος κίνησιν, γινομένην ἐναγώνιον καὶ ποικίλην διὰ τὸ μέγεθος τοῦ κινδύνου. τέλος δὲ ἀπογνοὺς τὴν σωτηρίαν ὁ Φωκίων ἀνεβόησε, δεόμενος αὐτοῦ μὲν καταψηφίσασθαι τὸν θάνατον, τῶν δʼ ἄλλων φείδεσθαι. ἀμεταθέτου δὲ· τῆς τοῦ πλήθους ὁρμῆς καὶ βίας οὔσης παρεπορεύοντό τινες τῶν φίλων συνηγορήσοντες τῷ Φωκίωνι, ὧν τὰς μὲν ἀρχὰς τῶν λόγων ἤκουον, ὁπότε δὲ προβαίνοντες φανεροὶ καθίσταντο τὴν ἀπολογίαν διεξιόντες, ἐξεβάλλοντο τοῖς θορύβοις καὶ ταῖς ἐναντιουμέναις κραυγαῖς. τὸ δʼ ἔσχατον πανδήμῳ φωνῇ καταχειροτονηθέντες εἰς τὸ δεσμωτήριον ἤγοντο τὴν ἐπὶ θανάτῳ. συνηκολούθουν δὲ αὐτοῖς πολλοὶ τῶν σπουδαίων ἀνδρῶν, ὀδυρόμενοι καὶ συμπάσχοντες ἐπὶ τῷ μεγέθει τῶν ἀτυχημάτων· τὸ γὰρ πρωτεύοντας ἄνδρας ταῖς δόξαις καὶ ταῖς εὐγενείαις, πολλὰ πεπραχότας ἐν τῷ ζῆν φιλάνθρωπα, μήτε λόγου μήτε κρίσεως δικαίας τυγχάνειν πολλοὺς ἦγεν εἰς ἐπίστασιν διανοίας καὶ φόβον, ἀστάτου δὲ καὶ κοινῆς ἅπασι τῆς τύχης οὔσης. πολλοὶ δὲ καὶ τῶν δημοτικῶν καὶ πικρῶς διακειμένων πρὸς αὐτὸν ἐλοιδόρουν τε ἀνηλεῶς καὶ πικρῶς ὠνείδιζον αὐτῷ τὰς συμφοράς· τὸ γὰρ ἐν ταῖς εὐτυχίαις σιωπώμενον μῖσος, ὅταν ἐκ μεταβολῆς ἐν ταῖς ἀτυχίαις ἐκραγῇ, ταῖς ὀργαῖς ἀποθηριοῦται πρὸς τοὺς μισουμένους. διὰ δὲ τῆς τοῦ κωνείου πόσεως κατὰ τὸ πάτριον ἔθος τὸν βίον καταλύσαντες ἐρρίφησαν ἄταφοι πάντες ἐκ τῶν τῆς Ἀττικῆς ὅρων. ὁ μὲν οὖν Φωκίων καὶ οἱ μετʼ αὐτοῦ διαβληθέντες τοιαύτην ἔσχον τὴν τοῦ βίου καταστροφήν.
As Phocion attempted to overcome the opposition and fought for his life in desperate circumstances, those who were near heard the justice of his plea, but those who were at a greater distance heard nothing because of the great uproar caused by the rioters and only beheld his gestures, which because of his great danger were impassioned and varied. Finally, abandoning hope of safety, Phocion shouted in a loud voice, begging them to condemn him to death but to spare the others. As the fury and violence of the mob remained unalterable, certain of Phocion's friends kept coming forward to add their pleas to his. The mob would listen to their opening words, but when, as they went on, they made it clear that they were speaking for the defence, they would be driven away by the tumult and by the jeers that greeted them. Finally by the universal voice of the people the accused were condemned and led off to the prison on the way to death. They were accompanied by many good men, mourning and sympathizing with them at their great misfortune. For that men who were second to none in reputation and birth and had done many acts of human kindness during life would obtain neither a chance to defend themselves nor a fair trial turned many to arresting thoughts and fear, Fortune being not only unstable but impartial to all alike. But many of the popular party, men who were bitter in their opposition to Phocion, kept reviling him mercilessly and cruelly charging him with their misfortunes. For when hatred, that in prosperity finds no utterance, after a change of Fortune breaks out in adversity, it loses all human semblance in its rage against its object. So when, by taking the draught of hemlock according to the ancient custom, these men had ended their lives, they were all thrown unburied beyond the boundaries of Attica. In this manner died Phocion and those who had been falsely accused with him.
§ 18.68
Κάσανδρος δὲ παρʼ Ἀντιγόνου λαβὼν ναῦς μακρὰς τριάκοντα· καὶ πέντε, στρατιώτας δὲ τετρακισχιλίους κατέπλευσεν εἰς τὸν Πειραιᾶ. προσδεχθεὶς δʼ ὑπὸ Νικάνορος τοῦ φρουράρχου παρέλαβε τὸν Πειραιᾶ καὶ τὰ κλεῖθρα τοῦ λιμένος· τὴν δὲ Μουνυχίαν αὐτὸς ὁ Νικάνωρ κατεῖχεν, μὲν ἔχων ἰδίους στρατιώτας ἱκανοὺς εἰς τὸ τηρεῖν τὸ φρούριον. Πολυπέρχων δὲ μετὰ τῶν βασιλέων ἔτυχε μὲν διατρίβων περὶ τὴν Φωκίδα, πυθόμενος δὲ τὸν εἰς Πειραιᾶ κατάπλουν τοῦ Κασάνδρου παρῆλθεν εἰς τὴν Ἀττικὴν καὶ πλησίον τοῦ Πειραιῶς κατεστρατοπέδευσεν. εἶχεν δὲ μεθʼ ἑαυτοῦ στρατιώτας πεζοὺς μὲν Μακεδόνας δισμυρίους, τῶν δʼ ἄλλων συμμάχων περὶ τετρακισχιλίους, ἱππεῖς δὲ χιλίους, ἐλέφαντας δὲ ἑξήκοντα πέντε. ἐπεβάλετο μὲν οὖν πολιορκεῖν τοὺς περὶ τὸν Κάσανδρον, σπανίζων δὲ τροφῆς καὶ τὴν πολιορκίαν ὑπολαμβάνων ἔσεσθαι πολυχρόνιον ἠναγκάσθη μέρος τῆς δυνάμεως ἀπολιπεῖν κατὰ τὴν Ἀττικὴν τὸ δυνάμενον ἔχειν τὴν τοῦ σίτου χορηγίαν, ἡγουμένου τοῦ υἱοῦ Ἀλεξάνδρου, αὐτὸς δὲ τὸ πλεῖστον τῆς δυνάμεως ἀναλαβὼν παρῆλθεν εἰς Πελοπόννησον, συναναγκάσων τοὺς Μεγαλοπολίτας πειθαρχεῖν τοῖς βασιλεῦσιν, οἳ ἐτύγχανον μὲν τὰ Κασάνδρου φρονοῦντες καὶ διὰ τῆς ὑπʼ Ἀντιπάτρου καθεσταμένης ὀλιγαρχίας διοικούμενοι.
Cassander, after receiving from Antigonus thirty-five warships and four thousand soldiers, sailed into the Piraeus. Welcomed by Nicanor, the garrison commander, he took over the Piraeus and the harbour booms, while Munychia was retained by Nicanor himself, who had enough soldiers of his own to man the fortress. Polyperchon and the kings happened to be staying in Phocis, but when Polyperchon learned of Cassander's arrival in the Piraeus, he moved into Attica and camped near the Piraeus. He had with him twenty thousand Macedonian infantry and about four thousand of the other allies, a thousand cavalry, and sixty-five elephants. It was his intention to besiege Cassander; but since he was short of supplies and supposed that the siege would be long, he was forced to leave in Attica under the command of his son Alexander the part of the army that could be supplied with food, while he himself with the larger part of the forces moved into the Peloponnesus to enforce obedience to the kings upon the people of Megalopolis, who were in sympathy with Cassander and were governed by the oligarchy that had been established by Antipater.
§ 18.69
τοῦ δὲ Πολυπέρχοντος περὶ ταῦτα διατρίβοντος ὁ Κάσανδρος ἀναλαβὼν τὸν στόλον Αἰγινήτας μὲν προσηγάγετο, τοὺς δὲ Σαλαμινίους ἀλλότρια φρονοῦντας εἰς πολιορκίαν συνέκλεισε. καθʼ ἡμέραν δὲ συνεχεῖς ποιούμενος προσβολὰς καὶ βελῶν καὶ στρατιωτῶν εὐπορῶν εἰς τοὺς ἐσχάτους κινδύνους ἤγαγε τοὺς Σαλαμινίους. κινδυνευούσης δὲ τῆς πόλεως ἁλῶναι κατὰ κράτος ὁ Πολυπέρχων ἐξέπεμψε δύναμιν ἀξιόλογον πεζικήν τε καὶ ναυτικὴν τὴν ἐπιθησομένην τοῖς πολιορκοῦσι. διόπερ ὁ Κάσανδρος καταπλαγεὶς καὶ λύσας τὴν πολιορκίαν ἀπέπλευσεν εἰς τὸν Πειραιᾶ. Πολυπέρχων δὲ βουλόμενος τὰ κατὰ τὴν Πελοπόννησον διοικῆσαι συμφερόντως παρῆλθε καὶ συναγαγὼν ἐκ τῶν πόλεων συνέδρους διελέχθη περὶ τῆς πρὸς αὐτὸν συμμαχίας. ἐξέπεμψε δὲ καὶ πρὸς τὰς πόλεις πρεσβευτάς, προστάττων τοὺς μὲν διʼ Ἀντιπάτρου καθεσταμένους ἄρχοντας ἐπὶ τῆς ὀλιγαρχίας θανατῶσαι, τοῖς δὲ δήμοις ἀποδοῦναι τὴν αὐτονομίαν. πολλῶν δʼ ὑπακουσάντων καὶ κατὰ τὰς πόλεις φόνων γινομένων καί τινων φυγαδευομένων οἱ μὲν Ἀντιπάτρου φίλοι διεφθάρησαν, τὰ δὲ πολιτεύματα τὴν ἐκ τῆς αὐτονομίας παρρησίαν ἀπέλαβον καὶ συνεμάχουν τοῖς περὶ τὸν Πολυπέρχοντα. μόνων δὲ τῶν Μεγαλοπολιτῶν διατηρούντων τὴν πρὸς Κάσανδρον φιλίαν ἔκρινε πολιορκῆσαι τὴν πόλιν αὐτῶν.
While Polyperchon was busy with these affairs, Cassander with the fleet secured the allegiance of the people of Aigina and closely invested the Salaminians, who were hostile to him. Since he made continuous onslaughts day after day and was well supplied with both missiles and men, he reduced the Salaminians to the most desperate straits. The city was already in danger of being taken by storm when Polyperchon sent a considerable force of infantry and ships to attack the besiegers. At this Cassander was alarmed, abandoned the siege, and sailed back to the Piraeus. But Polyperchon, in anxiety to settle affairs in the Peloponnesus to his own advantage, went there and discussed with delegates, whom he had gathered from the cities, the question of their alliance with himself. He also sent envoys to the cities, ordering that those who through Antipater's influence had been made magistrates in the oligarchical governments should be put to death and that the people should be given back their autonomy. Many in fact obeyed him, there were massacres throughout the cities, and some were driven into exile; the friends of Antipater were destroyed, and the governments, recovering the freedom of action that came with autonomy, began to form alliances with Polyperchon. Since the Megalopolitans alone held to their friendship with Cassander, Polyperchon decided to attack their city.
§ 18.70
οἱ δὲ Μεγαλοπολῖται γνόντες τὴν ἐπιβουλὴν τοῦ Πολυπέρχοντος ἐψηφίσαντο τὰ μὲν ἀπὸ τῆς χώρας κατάγειν εἰς τὴν πόλιν, τῶν δὲ πολιτῶν καὶ ξένων καὶ δούλων ἀριθμὸν ποιησάμενοι μυρίους καὶ πεντακισχιλίους εὗρον τοὺς δυναμένους παρέχεσθαι τὰς πολεμικὰς χρείας. εὐθὺς οὖν τοὺς μὲν εἰς τάξεις κατελόχιζον, οὓς δὲ πρὸς τὰς ὑπηρεσίας τοῖς ἔργοις καθίστανον, οὓς δʼ ἐπὶ τὴν ἐπιμέλειαν τῶν τειχῶν ἔταττον. ὑφʼ ἕνα δὲ καὶ τὸν αὐτὸν καιρὸν οἱ μὲν περὶ τὴν πόλιν τάφρον ὤρυττον βαθεῖαν, οἱ δὲ ἀπὸ τῆς χώρας χάρακα παρεκόμιζον, τινὲς δὲ τὰ πεπονηκότα τῶν τειχῶν κατεσκεύαζον, ἄλλοι δὲ περὶ τὰς ὁπλοποιίας καὶ τὴν κατασκευὴν τῶν ὀξυβελῶν καταπελτῶν ἐγίνοντο, πᾶσα δʼ ἡ πόλις ἐν ἔργοις καθειστήκει διά τε τὴν προθυμίαν τῶν ἀνδρῶν καὶ διὰ τοὺς προσδοκωμένους κινδύνους· διεβεβόητο γὰρ τό τε μέγεθος τῆς βασιλικῆς δυνάμεως καὶ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν συνακολουθούντων ἐλεφάντων καὶ δοκούντων ἀνυπόστατον ἔχειν τήν τε ἀλκὴν καὶ τὴν τοῦ σώματος ὁρμήν. ταχὺ δὲ πάντων εὐτρεπῶν γενομένων ὁ μὲν Πολυπέρχων ἧκε μετὰ πάσης τῆς δυνάμεως καὶ πλησίον τῆς πόλεως ἐστρατοπέδευσε δύο θέμενος παρεμβολάς, τὴν μὲν τῶν Μακεδόνων, τὴν δὲ τῶν συμμάχων. κατασκευάσας δὲ πύργους ξυλίνους ὑψηλοτέρους τῶν τειχῶν προσῆγε τῇ πόλει κατὰ τοὺς εὐθέτους τόπους καὶ βέλη παντοδαπὰ καὶ τοὺς ἀγωνιζομένους ἐπιστήσας ἀνέστελλε τοὺς ἐπὶ τῶν ἐπάλξεων ἀντιτεταγμένους. ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις διὰ τῶν μεταλλευόντων ὑπορύξας τὰ τείχη καὶ τὰς στήριγγας ἐμπρήσας κατέβαλε τρεῖς πύργους τοὺς μεγίστους καὶ μεσοπύργια τὰ ἴσα. μεγάλου δὲ τοῦ πτώματος καὶ παραδόξου γενομένου τὸ μὲν πλῆθος τῶν Μακεδόνων ἀνεβόησεν, οἱ δὲ κατὰ τὴν πόλιν διὰ τὴν δεινότητα τῆς πράξεως κατεπλάγησαν. ἔνθα δὴ τῶν Μακεδόνων διὰ τοῦ πτώματος εἰσπιπτόντων εἰς τὴν πόλιν οἱ Μεγαλοπολῖται διεῖλον σφᾶς αὐτοὺς καὶ τῷ μὲν ἑνὶ μέρει τοὺς πολεμίους ὑποστάντες καὶ τὴν ἐν τῷ πτώματι δυσχωρίαν συνεργὸν ἔχοντες καρτερὰν μάχην συνίσταντο, τῷ δʼ ἑτέρῳ χάρακι διελάμβανον τὸν ἐντὸς τοῦ πτώματος τόπον καὶ τεῖχος ἕτερον ἀντῳκοδόμουν, συνεχῶς ἐργαζόμενοι καὶ μεθʼ ἡμέραν καὶ νύκτωρ. ταχὺ δὲ τῶν ἔργων συντελουμένων διά τε τὴν πολυχειρίαν καὶ τὸ πλῆθος· τῆς εἰς ἅπαντα παρασκευῆς τὸ μὲν διὰ τοῦ πτώματος ἐλάττωμα συντόμως οἱ Μεγαλοπολῖται διωρθώσαντο, πρὸς δὲ τοὺς ἐπὶ τῶν ξυλίνων πύργων ἀγωνιζομένους τοῖς τε ὀξυβελέσι καταπέλταις ἐχρῶντο καὶ τοῖς σφενδονήταις καὶ τοξόταις πολλοὺς τῶν πολεμίων κατετίτρωσκον.
When the Megalopolitans learned the intention of Polyperchon, they voted to bring all their property into the city from the country. On taking a census of citizens, foreigners, and slaves, they found that there were fifteen thousand men capable of performing military service. Some of these they at once attached to military formations, others they assigned to work gangs, and others they detailed to take care of the city wall. At one and the same time one group of men was digging a deep moat about the city, and another was bringing from the country timber for a palisade; some were repairing the weakened portions of the wall, while others were engaged in making weapons and in preparing engines for hurling bolts, and the whole city was deep in activity, owing both to the spirit of the population and to the danger that was foreseen. Indeed, word had spread abroad concerning the magnitude of the royal army and the multitude of the accompanying elephants, which were reputed to possess a fighting spirit and a momentum of body that were irresistible. When all had been hastily made ready, Polyperchon arrived with his entire army and took up his position near the city, building two camps, one for the Macedonians, the other for the allies. Having constructed wooden towers higher than the walls, he brought them up to the city in those places that were convenient for the purpose, supplied them with missiles of many kinds and men to hurl these, and drove back those who were arrayed against him on the battlements. Meantime his sappers drove mines under the wall and then, by burning the mine props, caused the ruin of three very large towers and as many intervening sections of the wall. At this great and unexpected collapse the crowd of Macedonians shouted with joy, but those in the city were stunned by the seriousness of the event. Immediately the Macedonians began to pour through the breach into the city, while the Megalopolitans divided themselves, some of them opposing the enemy and, aided by the difficulty of the passage through the breach, putting up a stout fight, the rest cutting off the area inside the breach with a palisade and throwing up a second wall, applying themselves day and night without intermission to the task. Since this work was soon finished owing to the multitude of workmen and the ample supply of all the needed material, the Megalopolitans quickly made good the loss they had suffered by the breaching of the wall. Moreover, against those of the enemy who were fighting from the wooden towers they used bolt-shooting catapults, slingers, and bowmen, and mortally wounded many.
§ 18.71
πολλῶν δὲ πιπτόντων παρʼ ἀμφοτέροις καὶ κατατραυματιζομένων καὶ τῆς νυκτὸς περικαταλαβούσης ὁ μὲν Πολυπέρχων ἀνακαλεσάμενος τῇ σάλπιγγι τοὺς στρατιώτας ἐπανῆλθεν ἐπὶ τὴν ἰδίαν στρατοπεδείαν. τῇ δʼ ὑστεραίᾳ τὸν τοῦ πτώματος τόπον ἀνακαθάρας ἐποίησε βάσιμον τοῖς θηρίοις καὶ διενοεῖτο χρήσασθαι ταῖς τούτων ῥώμαις πρὸς τὴν ἅλωσιν τῆς πόλεως. οἱ δὲ Μεγαλοπολῖται Δάμιδος ἡγουμένου καὶ τούτου γεγονότος κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν μετʼ Ἀλεξάνδρου καὶ περὶ τὰς φύσεις καὶ χρείας τῶν ἐλεφάντων ἐμπειρίαν ἔχοντος οὐ μετρίως προετέρησαν. οὗτος γὰρ τὴν ἰδίαν ἐπίνοιαν ἀντίταγμα τῇ τῶν θηρίων βίᾳ κατασκευάσας ἀχρήστους ἐποίησε τὰς τῶν σωμάτων ῥώμας. θύρας γὰρ μεγάλας πλείονας ἥλοις ὀξέσι καταπυκνώσας καὶ ταύτας ἐν ὀρύγμασι ταπεινοῖς καταστρώσας καὶ τὰς ἐξοχὰς τῶν κέντρων ἐπικρυψάμενος κατέλιπε διὰ τούτων δίοδον εἰς τὴν πόλιν καὶ κατὰ μέτωπον μὲν οὐδένα τῶν στρατιωτῶν ἔστησεν, ἐκ δὲ τῶν πλαγίων ἔταξε πλῆθος ἀκοντιστῶν καὶ τοξοτῶν καὶ τῶν καταπελτικῶν βελῶν. τοῦ δὲ Πολυπέρχοντος ἀνακαθαίροντος πάντα τὸν τόπον τοῦ πτώματος καὶ τοῖς θηρίοις ἀθρόοις διὰ τούτου τὴν ἔφοδον ποιουμένου παράδοξος ἐγένετο πρᾶξις περὶ τοὺς ἐλέφαντας. οὐδενὸς γὰρ ἀπαντῶντος κατὰ στόμα τοῖς θηρίοις οἱ μὲν Ἰνδοὶ συνηνάγκαζον εἰσπίπτειν εἰς τὴν πόλιν, οἱ δʼ ἐλέφαντες τῇ ῥύμῃ προπίπτοντες ἐνέπιπτον εἰς τὰς κατακεκεντρωμένας θύρας. τραυματιζόμενοι δὲ τοὺς πόδας ὑπὸ τῶν ἥλων καὶ διὰ τὸ βάρος περιπειρόμενοι τοῖς κέντροις οὔτε προϊέναι πορρώτερον οὔτε ἀναστρέφειν διὰ τὴν δυσκινησίαν ἠδύναντο. ἅμα δὲ καὶ βελῶν παντοδαπῶν ἐκ πλαγίων φερομένων οἱ μὲν ἀπέθνησκον τῶν Ἰνδῶν, οἱ δὲ κατατραυματιζόμενοι τῆς ἐνδεχομένης χρείας ὑστεροῦντο. τὰ δὲ θηρία διά τε τὸ πλῆθος τῶν βελῶν καὶ τὴν ἰδιότητα τῆς τῶν ἥλων πληγῆς περιώδυνα γινόμενα τὴν διὰ τῶν φίλων ἐπιστροφὴν ἐποιοῦντο καὶ πολλοὺς αὐτῶν κατεπάτουν. τέλος δὲ τὸ μὲν ἀνδρειότατον αὐτῶν καὶ πλείστην ἔχον κατάπληξιν ἔπεσε, τῶν δὲ ἄλλων τὰ μὲν ἄχρηστα παντελῶς ἐγένετο, τὰ δὲ πολλοῖς τῶν ἰδίων θάνατον ἐπήνεγκεν.
When many were falling or being disabled on each side and night had closed in about them, Polyperchon recalled his troops by a trumpet signal and returned to his own camp. On the next day he cleared the area of the breach, making it passable for the elephants, whose might he planned to use in capturing the city. The Megalopolitans, however, under the leadership of Damis, who had been in Asia with Alexander and knew by experience the nature and the use of these animals, got the better of him completely. Indeed, by pitting his native wit against the brute force of the elephants, Damis rendered their physical strength useless. He studded many great frames with sharp nails and buried them in shallow trenches, concealing the projecting points; over them he left a way into the city, placing none of the troops directly in the face of it, but posting on the flanks a great many javelin throwers, bowmen, and catapults. As Polyperchon was clearing the debris from the whole extent of the breach and making an attack through it with all the elephants in a body, a most unexpected thing befell them. There being no resistance in front, the Indian mahouts did their part in urging them to rush into the city all together; but the animals, as they charged violently, encountered the spike-studded frames. Wounded in their feet by the spikes, their own weight causing the points to penetrate, they could neither go forward any farther nor turn back because it hurt them to move. At the same time some of the mahouts were killed by the missiles of all kinds that poured upon them from the flanks, and others were disabled by wounds and so lost such use of the elephants as the situation permitted. The elephants, suffering great pain because of the cloud of missiles and the natures of the wounds caused by the spikes, wheeled about through their friends and trod down many of them. Finally the elephant that was the most valiant and formidable collapsed; of the rest, some became completely useless, and others brought death to many of their own side.
§ 18.72
μετὰ δὲ τὴν εὐημερίαν ταύτην οἱ μὲν Μεγαλοπολῖται ταῖς ψυχαῖς ἐθάρρησαν, ὁ δὲ Πολυπέρχων μετανοηθεὶς ἐπὶ τῇ πολιορκίᾳ καὶ πολὺν χρόνον ἐπιμένειν οὐ δυνάμενος ἐπὶ μὲν τῆς πολιορκίας ἀπέλιπε μέρος τῆς δυνάμεως, αὐτὸς δʼ ἐφʼ ἑτέρας ἀναγκαιοτέρας πράξεις ἐτρέπετο. καὶ Κλεῖτον μὲν τὸν ναύαρχον μετὰ τοῦ στόλου παντὸς ἐξέπεμψε, προστάξας ἐφεδρεύειν τοῖς περὶ τὸν Ἑλλήσποντον τόποις καὶ κωλύειν τὰς ἐκ τῆς Ἀσίας διαβιβαζομένας δυνάμεις εἰς τὴν Εὐρώπην, προσλαβέσθαι δὲ καὶ Ἀρριδαῖον τὸν συμπεφευγότα μὲν μετὰ τῶν στρατιωτῶν εἰς τὴν τῶν Κιανῶν πόλιν, ἐχθρὸν δʼ ὄντα τοῖς περὶ Ἀντίγονον. τούτου δὲ πλεύσαντος ἐπὶ τὸν Ἑλλήσποντον καὶ προσαγαγομένου τὰς ἐν τῇ Προποντίδι πόλεις, ἔτι δὲ προσδεξαμένου τὴν μετʼ Ἀρριδαίου δύναμιν κατέπλευσεν εἰς τοὺς τόπους ἐκείνους Νικάνωρ ὁ τῆς Μουνυχίας φρούραρχος, ἐξαπεσταλμένος ὑπὸ Κασάνδρου μετὰ παντὸς τοῦ στόλου· προσελάβετο δὲ καὶ τὰς παρʼ Ἀντιγόνου ναῦς, ὥστε τὰς πάσας ἔχειν πλείους τῶν ἑκατόν. γενομένης δὲ ναυμαχίας οὐ μακρὰν τῆς τῶν Βυζαντίων πόλεως ἐνίκα ὁ Κλεῖτος καὶ κατέδυσε μὲν τῶν ἐναντίων ναῦς ἑπτακαίδεκα, εἷλε δὲ σὺν αὐτοῖς τοῖς ἀνδράσιν οὐκ ἐλάττω τῶν τεσσαράκοντα· αἱ δὲ λοιπαὶ κατέφυγον εἰς τὸν τῶν Χαλκηδονίων λιμένα. τοιαύτης δʼ εὐημερίας γενομένης τοῖς περὶ τὸν Κλεῖτον οὗτος μὲν ὑπέλαβε μηκέτι τολμήσειν τοὺς πολεμίους ναυμαχήσειν διὰ τὸ μέγεθος τῆς ἥττης, ὁ δʼ Ἀντίγονος πυθόμενος τὰ περὶ τὸν στόλον ἐλαττώματα παραδόξως διὰ τῆς ἰδίας ἀγχινοίας καὶ στρατηγίας ἀνεμαχέσατο τὸ γεγονὸς ἐλάττωμα. παρὰ γὰρ Βυζαντίων μεταπεμψάμενος νυκτὸς ναῦς ὑπηρετικὰς ταύταις μὲν διεβίβαζεν εἰς τὸ πέραν τοξότας τε καὶ σφενδονήτας καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν ψιλικῶν ταγμάτων τοὺς ἱκανούς. οὗτοι δὲ πρὸ ἡμέρας ἐπιθέμενοι τοῖς ἐκ τῶν πολεμίων νεῶν ἀποβεβῃκόσιν ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν καὶ πεζῇ κατεστρατοπεδευκόσι κατεπλήξαντο τοὺς περὶ τὸν Κλεῖτον. ταχὺ δὲ πάντων διὰ τὸν φόβον τεταραγμένων καὶ εἰς τὰς ναῦς ἐμπηδώντων πολὺς ἐγένετο θόρυβος διά τε τὰς ἀποσκευὰς καὶ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν αἰχμαλώτων. ἐν τοσούτῳ δὲ Ἀντίγονος ἐξαρτύσας τὰς μακρὰς ναῦς καὶ τῶν ἀλκιμωτάτων πεζῶν πολλοὺς ἐπιβάτας ἐπιστήσας ἀπέστειλε, παρακαλέσας τεθαρρηκότως ἐπιθέσθαι τοῖς πολεμίοις, ὡς πάντως καθʼ ἑαυτοὺς ἐσομένου τοῦ νικήματος. τοῦ δὲ Νικάνορος νυκτὸς ἀναχθέντος καὶ διαφωσκούσης τῆς ἡμέρας οὗτοι μὲν ἐπιπεσόντες ἄφνω τοῖς πολεμίοις τεθορυβημένοις εὐθὺς κατὰ τὸν πρῶτον ἐπίπλουν ἐτρέψαντο καὶ τὰς μὲν τοῖς ἐμβόλοις τύπτοντες ἀνέρρηττον, ὧν δὲ τοὺς ταρσοὺς παρέσυρον, ὧν δὲ αὐτάνδρων παραδιδομένων ἀκινδύνως ἐκυρίευον· τέλος δὲ πλὴν μιᾶς τῆς ναυαρχίδος τῶν λοιπῶν πασῶν αὐτάνδρων ἐκυρίευσαν. ὁ δὲ Κλεῖτος φυγὼν ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν καὶ καταλιπὼν τὴν ναῦν ἐπεβάλετο μὲν διὰ Μακεδονίας ἀνασώζεσθαι, περιπεσὼν δὲ στρατιώταις τισὶ τοῦ Λυσιμάχου διεφθάρη.
After this piece of good fortune the Megalopolitans were more confident, but Polyperchon repented of the siege; and as he himself could not wait there for a long time, he left a part of the army for the siege, while he himself went off about other more necessary business. He sent Cleitus the admiral out with the whole fleet, ordering him to lie in wait in the region of the Hellespont and block the forces that were being brought across from Asia into Europe. Cleitus was also to pick up Arrhidaeus, who had fled with all his soldiers to the city of the Cianoi since he was an enemy of Antigonus. After Cleitus had sailed to the Hellespont, had won the allegiance of the cities of the Propontis, and had received the army of Arrhidaeus, Nicanor, the commander of Munychia, reached that region, Cassander having sent him with his entire fleet. Nicanor had also taken over the ships of Antigonus so that he had in all more than a hundred. A naval battle took place not far from Byzantium in which Cleitus was victorious, sinking seventeen ships of the enemy and capturing not less than forty together with their crews, but the rest escaped to the harbour of Chalcedon. After such a victory Cleitus believed that the enemy would no longer dare fight at sea owing to the severity of their defeat, but Antigonus, after learning of the losses that the fleet had suffered, unexpectedly made good by his own keen wit and generalship the setback that he had encountered. Gathering auxiliary vessels from Byzantium by night, he employed them in transporting bowmen, slingers, and a sufficient number of other light-armed troops to the other shore. Before dawn they fell upon those who had disembarked from the ships of the enemy and were encamped on the land, spreading panic in the forces of Cleitus. At once these were all thrown into a tumult of fear, and when they leaped into the ships, there was great confusion because of the baggage and the large number of prisoners. At this point Antigonus, who had made his warships ready and had placed in them as marines many of his bravest infantry, sent them into the fight, urging them to fall on the enemy with confidence, since the victory would depend entirely upon them. During the night Nicanor had put to sea, and, as dawn appeared, his men fell suddenly upon the confused enemy and at once put them to flight at the first attack, destroying some of the ships by ramming them with the beaks, sweeping off the oars of others, and gaining possession of certain of them without danger when they surrendered with their crews. They finally captured all the ships together with their crews save for the one that carried the commander. Cleitus fled to the shore and abandoned his ship, endeavouring to make his way through Macedonia to safety, but he fell into the hands of certain soldiers of Lysimachus and was put to death.
§ 18.73
Ἀντίγονος μὲν οὖν τηλικαύτῃ συμφορᾷ περιβαλὼν τοὺς πολεμίους μεγάλην ἐπὶ στρατηγίᾳ καὶ συνέσει δόξαν ἀπηνέγκατο. θαλασσοκρατῆσαι δὲ ἔσπευδε καὶ τὴν τῆς Ἀσίας ἡγεμονίαν ἀδήριτον περιποιήσασθαι. διόπερ ἐξ ἁπάσης τῆς δυνάμεως ἐπιλέξας εὐζώνους πεζοὺς μὲν δισμυρίους, ἱππεῖς δὲ τετρακισχιλίους προῆγεν ἐπὶ Κιλικίας, σπεύδων τοὺς περὶ τὸν Εὐμενῆ κατακόψαι πρὸ τοῦ δύναμιν ἁδροτέραν ἀθροῖσαι. Εὐμενὴς δὲ πυθόμενος τὴν ὁρμὴν τῶν περὶ τὸν Ἀντίγονον ἐπεβάλετο μὲν τὴν Φοινίκην ἀνακτᾶσθαι τοῖς βασιλεῦσι, κατειλημμένην ἀδίκως ὑπὸ Πτολεμαίου, καταταχούμενος δʼ ὑπὸ τῶν καιρῶν ἀνέζευξεν ἐκ τῆς Φοινίκης καὶ διὰ τῆς Κοίλης Συρίας προῆγε μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως, σπεύδων τῶν ἄνω λεγομένων σατραπειῶν ἅψασθαι. περὶ δὲ τὸν Τίγριν ποταμὸν ἐπιθεμένων αὐτῷ τῶν ἐγχωρίων νυκτὸς ἀπέβαλέ τινας τῶν στρατιωτῶν. παραπλησίως δὲ καὶ κατὰ τὴν Βαβυλωνίαν ἐπιθεμένου τοῦ Σελεύκου παρὰ τὸν Εὐφράτην ποταμὸν ἐκινδύνευσε μὲν ἅπασαν ἀποβαλεῖν τὴν δύναμιν, διώρυγός τινος ῥαγείσης καὶ τῆς στρατοπεδείας ὅλης συγκλυσθείσης, ὅμως δὲ διὰ τῆς ἰδίας στρατηγίας, ἐπί τι χῶμα καταφυγὼν καὶ τὴν διώρυγα πάλιν ἀποστρέψας, διέσωσεν αὑτόν τε καὶ τὴν δύναμιν. παραδόξως δὲ τὰς τοῦ Σελεύκου χεῖρας διαφυγὼν διήνυσεν εἰς τὴν Περσίδα μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως, ἔχων πεζοὺς μὲν μυρίους καὶ πεντακισχιλίους, ἱππεῖς δὲ τρισχιλίους καὶ τριακοσίους. ἀναλαβὼν δὲ τοὺς στρατιώτας ἐκ τῆς κακοπαθίας διεπέμπετο πρός τε τοὺς σατράπας καὶ στρατηγοὺς τοὺς ἐν ταῖς ἄνω σατραπείαις, μεταπεμπόμενος στρατιώτας τε καὶ χρήματα. καὶ τὰ μὲν κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν μέχρι τούτου προέβη κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν ἐνιαυτόν.
As for Antigonus, by inflicting so disastrous a blow upon the enemy, he gained a great reputation for military genius. He now set out to gain command of the sea and to place his control of Asia beyond dispute. For this end he selected from his entire army twenty thousand lightly equipped infantry and four thousand cavalry and set out for Cilicia, hoping to destroy Eumenes before the latter should gather stronger forces. After Eumenes had news of Antigonus' move, he thought to recover for the kings Phoenicia, which had been unjustly occupied by Ptolemy; but being forestalled by events, he moved from Phoenicia and marched with his army through Coele Syria with the design of making contact with what are called the upper satrapies. Near the Tigris, however, the inhabitants fell on him by night, causing him the loss of some soldiers. Likewise in Babylonia when Seleucus attacked him near the Euphrates he was in danger of losing his whole army; for a canal was breached and his entire camp inundated, but by a piece of strategy of his own he escaped to a mound, diverted the canal to its old course, and saved himself and his army. Thus unexpectedly slipping through the hands of Seleucus, he won through into Persia with his army, which consisted of fifteen thousand infantry and thirty-three hundred cavalry. After letting the army recover from its hardships, he sent word to the satraps and generals in the upper satrapies, requesting soldiers and money. And the affairs of Asia progressed to such a point during this year.
§ 18.74
κατὰ δὲ τὴν Εὐρώπην Πολυπέρχοντος διὰ τὴν ἐλάττωσιν τῆς κατὰ τοὺς Μεγαλοπολίτας πολιορκίας καταφρονηθέντος αἱ πλεῖσται τῶν Ἑλληνίδων πόλεων ἀφιστάμεναι τῶν βασιλέων πρὸς Κάσανδρον ἀπέκλιναν. Ἀθηναίων δὲ μὴ δυναμένων ἀποτρίψασθαι τὴν φρουρὰν μήτε διὰ τοῦ Πολυπέρχοντος μήτε διʼ Ὀλυμπιάδος ἀπετόλμησέ τις τῶν ἐπαινουμένων πολιτῶν εἰπεῖν ἐν ἐκκλησίᾳ διότι συμφέρει πρὸς Κάσανδρον διαλύσασθαι. τὸ μὲν οὖν πρῶτον ἐγένετο θόρυβος, τῶν μὲν ἀντιλεγόντων, τῶν δὲ συγκατατιθεμένων τοῖς λόγοις·. ὡς δὲ ἀνεθεωρήθη τὸ συμφέρον, ἔδοξε τοῖς πᾶσι πρεσβεύειν πρὸς Κάσανδρον καὶ τίθεσθαι τὰ πρὸς αὐτὸν ὡς ἂν ᾖ δυνατόν. γενομένων δὲ πλειόνων ἐντεύξεων συνέθεντο τὴν εἰρήνην ὥστε τοὺς Ἀθηναίους ἔχειν πόλιν τε καὶ χώραν καὶ προσόδους καὶ ναῦς καὶ τἄλλα πάντα φίλους ὄντας καὶ συμμάχους Κασάνδρου, τὴν δὲ Μουνυχίαν κατὰ τὸ παρὸν κρατεῖν Κάσανδρον, ἕως ἂν διαπολεμήσῃ πρὸς τοὺς βασιλεῖς, καὶ τὸ πολίτευμα διοικεῖσθαι ἀπὸ τιμήσεων ἄχρι μνῶν δέκα, καταστῆσαι δʼ ἐπιμελητὴν τῆς πόλεως ἕνα ἄνδρα Ἀθηναῖον ὃν ἂν δόξῃ Κασάνδρῳ· καὶ ᾑρέθη Δημήτριος ὁ Φαληρεύς. οὗτος δὲ παραλαβὼν τὴν ἐπιμέλειαν τῆς πόλεως ἦρχεν εἰρηνικῶς καὶ πρὸς τοὺς πολίτας φιλανθρώπως.
In Europe, as Polyperchon had come to be regarded with contempt because of his failure at the siege of Megalopolis, most of the Greek cities deserted the kings and went over to Cassander. When the Athenians were unable to get rid of the garrison by the aid of either Polyperchon or Olympias, one of those citizens who were accepted leaders risked the statement in the Assembly that it was for the advantage of the city to come to terms with Cassander. At first a clamour was raised, some opposing and some supporting his proposal, but when they had considered more carefully what was the expedient course, it was unanimously determined to send an embassy to Cassander and to arrange affairs with him as best they could. After several conferences peace was made on the following terms: the Athenians were to retain their city and territory, their revenues, their fleet, and everything else, and to be friends and allies of Cassander; Munychia was to remain temporarily under the control of Cassander until the war against the kings should be concluded; the government was to be in the hands of those possessing at least ten minae; and whatever single Athenian citizen Cassander should designate was to be overseer of the city. Demetrius of Phalerum was chosen, who, when he became overseer, ruled the city peacefully and with goodwill toward the citizens.
§ 18.75
μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Νικάνορος καταπλεύσαντος εἰς τὸν Πειραιᾶ κεκοσμημένῳ τῷ στόλῳ τοῖς ἀπὸ τῆς νίκης ἀκροστολίοις τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἀποδοχῆς αὐτὸν ἠξίωσε μεγάλης ὁ Κάσανδρος διὰ τὰς εὐημερίας, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ὁρῶν αὐτὸν ὄγκου πλήρη καὶ πεφρονηματισμένον, ἔτι δὲ τὴν Μουνυχίαν διὰ τῶν ἑαυτοῦ στρατιωτῶν φρουροῦντα, κρίνας αὐτὸν ἀλλότρια φρονεῖν ἐδολοφόνησεν. ἐστράτευσε δὲ καὶ εἰς Μακεδονίαν καὶ πολλοὺς ἔσχε τῶν ἐγχωρίων ἀφισταμένους πρὸς αὐτόν. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ εἰς τὰς Ἑλληνίδας πόλεις ἐνέπεσέν τις ὁρμὴ τῆς Ἀντιπάτρου συμμαχίας. ὁ μὲν γὰρ Πολυπέρχων ἀργῶς ἐδόκει καὶ ἀφρόνως προστατεῖν τῆς τε βασιλείας καὶ τῶν συμμάχων, ὁ δὲ Κάσανδρος ἐπιεικῶς προσφερόμενος πᾶσι καὶ κατὰ τὰς πράξεις ἐνεργὸς ὢν πολλοὺς εἶχεν αἱρετιστὰς τῆς αὑτοῦ δυναστείας. ἐπεὶ δὲ κατὰ τὸν ἑπόμενον ἐνιαυτὸν Ἀγαθοκλῆς ἐγένετο τύραννος τῶν Συρακοσίων, ταύτην μὲν τὴν βύβλον αὐτοῦ περιγράψομεν κατὰ τὴν ἐν ἀρχῇ πρόθεσιν, τῆς δʼ ἐχομένης τὴν ἀρχὴν ἀπὸ τῆς Ἀγαθοκλέους τυραννίδος ποιησάμενοι διέξιμεν τὰς οἰκείας τῇ γραφῇ πράξεις.
Afterwards Nicanor sailed into the Piraeus with his fleet ornamented with the beaks of the ships taken at his victory. At first Cassander regarded him with great approval because of his success, but later, when he saw that he was filled with arrogance and puffed up, and that he was, moreover, garrisoning Munychia with his own men, he decided that he was planning treachery and had him assassinated. He also made a campaign into Macedonia, where he found many of the inhabitants coming over to him. The Greek cities, too, felt an impulse to join the alliance of Cassander; for Polyperchon seemed to lack both energy and wisdom in representing the kings and his allies, but Cassander, who treated all fairly and was active in carrying out his affairs, was winning many supporters of his leadership. Since Agathocles became tyrant of Syracuse in the following year, we shall bring this book to an end at this point as was proposed at the beginning. We shall begin the next Book with the tyranny of Agathocles and include in it the events that deserve commemoration in our account.
— Book 19 —
§ 19.arg
Τάδε ἔνεστιν ἐν τῇ ἐννεακαιδεκάτῃ τῶν Διοδώρου βύβλων. α. περὶ τῶν ἀφορμῶν αἷς χρησάμενος Ἀγαθοκλῆς τύραννος ἐγένετο τῶν Συρακουσίων. β. ὡς οἱ Κροτωνιατῶν φυγάδες ἐπιστρατεύσαντες ἐπὶ τὴν πατρίδα πάντες ἀνῃρέθησαν. γ. Ὀλυμπιάδος μετὰ τοῦ παιδὸς κάθοδος ἐπὶ τὴν βασιλείαν. δ. Εὐρυδίκης καὶ Φιλίππου τοῦ βασιλέως ἅλωσις καὶ θάνατος. ε. ὡς Εὐμενὴς ἔχων τοὺς ἀργυράσπιδας ἀνέβη μὲν εἰς τὰς ἄνω σατραπείας, συνήγαγε δὲ τούς τε σατράπας καὶ τὰς δυνάμεις εἰς τὴν Περσίδα. ς. ὡς Ἄτταλος καὶ Πολέμων μετὰ τῶν συνεπιθεμένων τῇ φυλακῇ ληφθέντες ἀνῃρέθησαν. ζ. ὡς Ἀντίγονος διώξας Εὐμενῆ περὶ τὸν Κοπράτην ποταμὸν ἠλαττώθη. η. ὡς εἰς Μηδίαν ἀναζεύξας ἐν ταῖς παρόδοις πολλοὺς ἀπέβαλε τῶν στρατιωτῶν. θ. παράταξις Ἀντιγόνου πρὸς Εὐμενῆ καὶ τοὺς σατράπας ἐν Παραιτάκοις. ι. ἀποχώρησις Ἀντιγόνου μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως εἰς Μηδίαν πρὸς χειμασίαν. ια. Κασάνδρου στρατεία εἰς Μακεδονίαν καὶ πολιορκία Ὀλυμπιάδος ἐν Πύδνῃ. ιβ. ὡς κατεστρατήγησεν Εὐμενὴς τοὺς περὶ Ἀντίγονον διὰ τῆς ἐρήμου πορευομένους. ιγ. Ἀντιγόνου πορεία διὰ τῆς ἐρήμου ἐπὶ τοὺς πολεμίους καὶ ἐπίθεσις τοῖς ἐν τῇ παραχειμασίᾳ θηρίοις. ιδ. ὡς παρατάξεως γενομένης Ἀντίγονος ἐκυρίευσε πάσης τῆς τῶν ἀντιταχθέντων δυνάμεως. ιε. ὡς Εὐμενῆ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἡγεμόνων τοὺς ἀλλοτρίως πρὸς αὐτὸν διατεθέντας ἀνεῖλεν. ις. ὁ γενόμενος ἐν Ῥόδῳ κατακλυσμὸς καὶ τὰ συμβάντα περὶ τὴν πόλιν ἀτυχήματα. ιζ. Πείθωνος ὑπʼ Ἀντιγόνου θάνατος καὶ τῶν διʼ αὐτὸν ἀποστάντων εἰς τὴν Μηδίαν ἀναίρεσις. ιη. Ὀλυμπιάδος ἅλωσις ὑπὸ Κασάνδρου καὶ θάνατος. ιθ. ὡς Κάσανδρος Θεσσαλονίκην ἔγημε τὴν Φιλίππου τοῦ Ἀμύντου, ἐπώνυμον δʼ ἑαυτοῦ πόλιν ἔκτισεν ἐπὶ τῆς Παλλήνης. κ. ὡς Πολυπέρχων ἀπογνοὺς τὰ πρὸς τοὺς βασιλεῖς ἔφυγεν εἰς τὴν Αἰτωλίαν. κα. ὡς Κάσανδρος τὴν τῶν Θηβαίων πόλιν ὑπʼ Ἀλεξάνδρου κατεσκαμμένην ἀποκατέστησε. κβ. περὶ τῶν ἐν τοῖς ἀρχαίοις χρόνοις συμβάντων τῇ πόλει τῶν Θηβαίων καὶ ποσάκις ἀνάστατος ἐγένετο. κγ. περὶ τῶν πραχθέντων Κασάνδρῳ κατὰ Πελοπόννησον. κδ. Ἀντιγόνου μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως κατάβασις ἐπὶ θάλατταν καὶ φυγὴ Σελεύκου πρὸς Πτολεμαῖον εἰς Αἴγυπτον. κε. σύνθεσις Πτολεμαίου καὶ Σελεύκου καὶ Κασάνδρου, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις καὶ Λυσιμάχου πρὸς τὸν κατʼ Ἀντιγόνου πόλεμον. κς. ὡς Ἀντίγονος ναῦς τε πολλὰς ἐναυπηγήσατο καὶ στρατηγοὺς ἀπέστειλεν εἴς τε τὴν Ἑλλάδα καὶ τὸν Πόντον. κζ. ὡς πρὸς Ἀλέξανδρον τὸν Πολυπέρχοντος φιλίαν συνέθετο καὶ Τύρον ἐξεπολιόρκησε καὶ ὡς Ἀλέξανδρος μετέθετο πρὸς Κάσανδρον. κη. ὡς Πολύκλειτος ὁ Πτολεμαίου ναύαρχος ἐνίκησε τοὺς Ἀντιγόνου στρατηγοὺς καὶ κατὰ γῆν καὶ κατὰ θάλατταν. κθ. περὶ τῆς Ἀγαθοκλέους στρατείας ἐπὶ Μεσσηνίους καὶ τῆς μεσιτευθείσης εἰρήνης ὑπὸ Καρχηδονίων. λ. Νουκερίας ἀπόστασις ἀπὸ Ῥωμαίων. λα. τὰ πραχθέντα τοῖς Ἀντιγόνου καὶ Κασάνδρου στρατηγοῖς περὶ τὴν Ἑλλάδα. λβ. Κασάνδρου στρατεία εἰς τὴν Αἰτωλίαν καὶ τοὺς κατὰ τὸν Ἀδρίαν τόπους. λγ. ἅλωσις περὶ Καρίαν τῆς ἀποσταλείσης ὑπὸ Κασάνδρου δυνάμεως. λδ. ὡς οἱ φυγάδες τῶν Συρακουσίων Ἀκραγαντίνους πείσαντες πολεμεῖν Ἀγαθοκλεῖ στρατηγὸν ἐκ Λακεδαίμονος Ἀκρότατον μετεπέμψαντο. λε. ὡς οὗτος μὲν παραλαβὼν τὴν ἡγεμονίαν τυραννικῶς ἄρχων διεγένετο, οἱ δʼ Ἀκραγαντῖνοι τὴν εἰρήνην ἐποιήσαντο πρὸς τὸν δυνάστην. λς. τὰ πραχθέντα Ῥωμαίοις περὶ τὴν Ἰαπυγίαν. λζ. Καλλαντιανῶν ἀπόστασις ἀπὸ Λυσιμάχου καὶ τὰ συμβάντα τοῖς ἐπὶ τὴν βοήθειαν ἀποσταλεῖσιν ὑπʼ Ἀντιγόνου. λη. ὡς Φίλιππος ἀποσταλεὶς ὑπὸ Κασάνδρου στρατηγὸς εἰς τὴν Αἰτωλίαν ἐνίκησεν Αἰτωλοὺς ἅμα καὶ τοὺς Ἠπειρώτας. λθ. ὡς Ῥωμαῖοι μάχῃ νικήσαντες Σαμνίτας μετʼ ὀλίγον Καμπανοὺς ἀποστάντας προσηγάγοντο. μ. ὡς Ἀντίγονος Πολέμωνα στρατηγὸν ἐξαπέστειλε μετὰ δυνάμεως ἐλευθερώσοντα τοὺς Ἕλληνας καὶ τὰ πραχθέντα περὶ τὴν Ἑλλάδα. μα. ἀπόστασις Κυρηναίων καὶ ἅλωσις, ἔτι δὲ Πτολεμαίου στρατεία εἰς Κύπρον καὶ Συρίαν. μβ. μάχη Δημητρίου πρὸς Πτολεμαῖον καὶ νίκη Πτολεμαίου. μγ. ἀπόστασις Τελεσφόρου τοῦ στρατηγοῦ ἀπὸ Ἀντιγόνου. μδ. τὰ περὶ τὴν Ἤπειρον καὶ τὸν Ἀδρίαν πραχθέντα Κασάνδρῳ. με. ὡς Σέλευκος παρὰ Πτολεμαίου λαβὼν δύναμιν ὀλίγην ἐκράτησε Βαβυλῶνος καὶ τὴν προϋπάρχουσαν αὐτῷ σατραπείαν ἀνεσώσατο. μς. ὡς Ἀντίγονος ἀκινδύνως παραλαβὼν Κοίλην Συρίαν δύναμιν ἐξέπεμψεν εἰς τὴν Ἀραβίαν. μζ. περὶ τῶν νομίμων οἷς χρᾶται τὰ ἔθνη τῶν Ἀράβων. μη. περὶ τῆς καλουμένης Ἀσφαλτίτιδος λίμνης. μθ. ὡς Ἀντίγονος τὸν υἱὸν Δημήτριον ἐξαπέστειλε μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως εἰς τὴν Βαβυλωνίαν. ν. περὶ τῶν πραχθέντων Ῥωμαίοις καὶ Σαμνίταις. να. ὡς Ἀγαθοκλῆς Μεσσηνίους παρακρουσάμενος τῆς πόλεως ἐκυρίευσεν. νβ. ὡς τοὺς ἀντιταξαμένους Μεσσηνίων καὶ Ταυρομενιτῶν, ἔτι δὲ Κεντοριπίνων ἀπέσφαξεν. νγ. ὡς Ἀγαθοκλῆς Δεινοκράτη καὶ τοὺς φυγάδας περὶ Γαλαρίαν ἐνίκησεν. νδ. Ῥωξάνης καὶ Ἀλεξάνδρου τοῦ βασιλέως θάνατος. νε. τὰ πραχθέντα Ῥωμαίοις κατὰ τὴν Ἰταλίαν. νς. περὶ τῆς γενομένης τοῖς Καρχηδονίοις ναυαγίας. νζ. ὡς Καρχηδόνιοι περὶ τὸν Ἱμέραν Ἀγαθοκλέα παρατάξει νικήσαντες συνέκλεισαν εἰς τὰς Συρακούσσας.
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§ 19.1
παλαιός τις παραδέδοται λόγος ὅτι τὰς δημοκρατίας οὐχ οἱ τυχόντες τῶν ἀνθρώπων, ἀλλʼ οἱ ταῖς ὑπεροχαῖς προέχοντες καταλύουσι. διὸ καὶ τῶν πόλεων ἔνιαι τοὺς ἰσχύοντας μάλιστα τῶν πολιτευομένων ὑποπτεύουσαι καθαιροῦσιν αὐτῶν τὰς ἐπιφανείας. σύνεγγυς γὰρ ἡ μετάβασις εἶναι δοκεῖ τοῖς ἐν ἐξουσίᾳ μένουσιν ἐπὶ τὴν τῆς πατρίδος καταδούλωσιν καὶ δυσχερὲς ἀποσχέσθαι μοναρχίας τοῖς διʼ ὑπεροχὴν τὰς τοῦ κρατήσειν ἐλπίδας περιπεποιημένοις· ἔμφυτον γὰρ εἶναι τὸ πλεονεκτεῖν τοῖς μειζόνων ὀρεγομένοις καὶ τὰς ἐπιθυμίας ἔχειν ἀτερματίστους. τοιγαροῦν Ἀθηναῖοι μὲν διὰ ταύτας τὰς αἰτίας τοὺς πρωτεύοντας τῶν πολιτῶν ἐφυγάδευσαν, τὸν λεγόμενον παρʼ αὐτοῖς ἐξοστρακισμὸν νομοθετήσαντες. καὶ τοῦτʼ ἔπραττον οὐχ ἵνα τῶν προγεγενημένων ἀδικημάτων λάβωσι τιμωρίαν, ἀλλʼ ὅπως τοῖς δυναμένοις παρανομεῖν ἐξουσία μὴ γένηται κατὰ τῆς πατρίδος ἐξαμαρτεῖν. τῆς γὰρ Σόλωνος φωνῆς ὥσπερ χρησμοῦ τινος ἐμνημόνευον, ἐν οἷς περὶ τῆς Πεισιστράτου τυραννίδος προλέγων ἔθηκε τόδε τὸ ἐλεγεῖον »ἀνδρῶν ἐκ μεγάλων πόλις ὄλλυται, εἰς δὲ τυράννου δῆμος ἀϊδρίῃ δουλοσύνην ἔπεσεν.« μάλιστα δὲ πάντων ἐπεπόλασεν ἡ πρὸς τὰς μοναρχίας ὁρμὴ περὶ Σικελίαν πρὸ τοῦ Ῥωμαίους κυριεῦσαι ταύτης τῆς νήσου· αἱ γὰρ πόλεις ταῖς δημαγωγίαις ἐξαπατώμεναι μέχρι τούτου τοὺς ἀσθενεῖς ἰσχυροὺς κατεσκεύαζον, ἕως δεσπόται γένωνται τῶν ἐξαπατηθέντων. ἰδιώτατα δὲ πάντων Ἀγαθοκλῆς ἐτυράννησε τῶν Συρακοσίων, ἀφορμαῖς μὲν ἐλαχίσταις χρησάμενος, ἀτυχήμασι δὲ μεγίστοις περιβαλὼν οὐ τὰς Συρακούσσας μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ πᾶσαν Σικελίαν τε καὶ Λιβύην. διʼ ἀπορίαν γὰρ βίου καὶ πραγμάτων ἀσθένειαν τὴν κεραμευτικὴν τέχνην μεταχειρισάμενος εἰς τοῦτο προῆλθε δυνάμεως ἅμα καὶ μιαιφονίας ὥστε καταδουλώσασθαι μὲν τὴν μεγίστην καὶ καλλίστην τῶν πασῶν νήσων, κατακτήσασθαι δὲ χρόνον τινὰ τῆς τε Λιβύης τὴν πλείστην καὶ μέρη τῆς Ἰταλίας, ὕβρεως δὲ καὶ σφαγῆς ἐμπλῆσαι τὰς κατὰ Σικελίαν πόλεις. οὐδεὶς γὰρ τῶν πρὸ τούτου τυράννων ἐπετελέσατό τι τοιοῦτον οὔτε τοιαύτην ὠμότητα κατὰ τῶν ὑποτεταγμένων ἔσχε. τοὺς μὲν γὰρ ἰδιώτας ἐκόλαζε πᾶσαν τὴν συγγένειαν ἀποσφάττων, παρὰ δὲ τῶν πόλεων τὰς εὐθύνας ἐλάμβανεν ἡβηδὸν μιαιφονῶν καὶ διʼ ὀλίγους τῶν ἐγκαλουμένων τοὺς πολλοὺς καὶ μηδʼ ὁτιοῦν ἀδικήσαντας ἀναγκάζων τὴν αὐτὴν ἀναδέχεσθαι συμφορὰν πανδημεὶ τῶν πόλεων θάνατον κατεγίνωσκεν. ἀλλὰ γὰρ τῆς βύβλου ταύτης σὺν τοῖς ἄλλοις περιεχούσης καὶ τὴν τυραννίδα τὴν Ἀγαθοκλέους ἀφιέμενοι τὸ περὶ αὐτῆς προλέγειν τὰ συνεχῆ τοῖς προειρημένοις προσθήσομεν, παραθέντες πρότερον τοὺς οἰκείους τῇ γραφῇ χρόνους. ἐν μὲν οὖν ταῖς προειρημέναις ὀκτωκαίδεκα βίβλοις ἀνεγράψαμεν τὰς ἀπὸ τῶν ἀρχαιοτάτων χρόνων πράξεις τὰς γεγενημένας ἐν τοῖς γνωριζομένοις μέρεσι τῆς οἰκουμένης, ἐφʼ ὅσον ἡμῖν δύναμις, ἄχρι πρὸς τὸν ἐνιαυτὸν τὸν πρὸ τῆς Ἀγαθοκλέους τυραννίδος, εἰς ὃν ἀπὸ Τροίας ἁλώσεως ἔτη συνάγεται ὀκτακόσια ἑξήκοντα ἕξ· ἐν δὲ ταύτῃ τὴν ἀρχὴν ἀπὸ τῆς δυναστείας ταύτης ποιησάμενοι καταλήξομεν εἰς τὴν ἐφʼ Ἱμέρᾳ μάχην Ἀγαθοκλεῖ πρὸς Καρχηδονίους, περιλαβόντες ἔτη ἑπτά.
An old saying has been handed down that it is not men of average ability but those of outstanding superiority who destroy democracies. For this reason some cities, suspecting those of their public men who are the strongest, take away from them their outward show of power. It seems that the step to the enslavement of the fatherland is a short one for men who continue in positions of power, and that it is difficult for those to abstain from monarchy who through eminence have acquired hopes of ruling; for it is natural that men who thirst for greatness should seek their own aggrandizement and cherish desires that know no bounds. The Athenians, for example, exiled the foremost of their citizens for this reason, having established by law what was known among them as ostracism; and this they did, not to inflict punishment for any injustice previously committed, but in order that those citizens who were strong enough to disregard the laws might not get an opportunity to do wrong at the expense of their fatherland. 4 Indeed, they used to recite as an oracle that saying of Solon in which, while foretelling the tyranny of Peisistratus, he inserts this couplet: Destruction cometh upon a city from its great men; and through ignorance the people fall into slavery to a tyrant. 5 More than anywhere else this tendency toward the rule of one man prevailed in Sicily before the Romans became rulers of that island; for the cities, deceived by demagogic wiles, went so far in making the weak strong that these became despots over those whom they had deceived. 6 The most extraordinary instance of all is that of Agathocles who became tyrant of the Syracusans, a man who had the lowest beginnings, but who plunged not only Syracuse but also the whole of Sicily and Libya into the gravest misfortunes. Although, compelled by lack of means and slender fortune, he turned his hand to the potter's trade, he rose to such a peak of power and cruelty that he enslaved the greatest and fairest of all islands, for a time possessed the larger part of Libya and parts of Italy, and filled the cities of Sicily with outrage and slaughter. No one of the tyrants before him brought any such achievements to completion nor yet displayed such cruelty toward those who had become his subjects. For example, he used to punish a private individual by slaughtering all his kindred, and to exact reckoning from cities by murdering the people from youth up; and on account of a few who were charged with a crime, he would compel the many, who had done no evil at all, to suffer the same fate, condemning to death the entire population of cities. But since this Book embraces all other events as well as the tyranny of Agathocles, we shall forgo preliminary statements about it and set forth the events that follow those already related, stating first the time covered by the account. In the preceding eighteen Books we have described to the best of our ability the events that have occurred in the known parts of the inhabited world from the earliest times down to the year before the tyranny of Agathocles, up to which time the years from the destruction of Troy are eight hundred and sixty-six; in this Book, beginning with that dynasty, we shall include events up to the battle at Himera between Agathocles and the Carthaginians, embracing a period of seven years.
§ 19.2
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος γὰρ Ἀθήνησι Δημογένους Ῥωμαῖοι μὲν κατέστησαν ὑπάτους Λεύκιον Πλώτιον καὶ Μάνιον Φούλβιον, Ἀγαθοκλῆς δʼ ὁ Συρακόσιος τύραννος ἐγένετο τῆς πόλεως. ἕνεκα δὲ τοῦ σαφεστέρας γενέσθαι τὰς κατὰ μέρος πράξεις βραχέα προαναληψόμεθα περὶ τοῦ προειρημένου δυνάστου. Καρκῖνος ὁ Ῥηγῖνος φυγὰς γενόμενος ἐκ τῆς πατρίδος κατῴκησεν ἐν Θέρμοις τῆς Σικελίας, τεταγμένης τῆς πόλεως ταύτης ὑπὸ Καρχηδονίους. ἐμπλακεὶς δὲ τῶν ἐγχωρίων τινὶ γυναικὶ καὶ ποιήσας αὐτὴν ἔγκυον συνεχῶς κατὰ τοὺς ὕπνους ἐταράττετο. διόπερ ἀγωνιῶν ὑπὲρ τῆς παιδοποιίας ἔδωκεν ἐντολὰς Καρχηδονίοις τισὶ θεωροῖς ἀναγομένοις εἰς Δελφοὺς ἐπερωτῆσαι τὸν θεὸν περὶ τοῦ γεννηθησομένου βρέφους. ὧν ἐπιμελῶς τὸ παρακληθὲν πραξάντων ἐξέπεσε χρησμὸς ὅτι μεγάλων ἀτυχημάτων ὁ γεννηθεὶς αἴτιος ἔσται Καρχηδονίοις καὶ πάσῃ Σικελίᾳ. ἃ δὴ πυθόμενος καὶ φοβηθεὶς ἐξέθηκε τὸ παιδίον δημοσίᾳ καὶ τοὺς τηρήσοντας ἵνα τελευτήσῃ παρακατέστησεν. διελθουσῶν δέ τινων ἡμερῶν τὸ μὲν οὐκ ἀπέθνησκεν, οἱ τεταγμένοι δʼ ἐπὶ τῆς φυλακῆς ὠλιγώρουν. καθʼ ὃν δὴ χρόνον ἡ μήτηρ νυκτὸς παρελθοῦσα λάθρᾳ τὸ παιδίον ἀνείλετο καὶ πρὸς αὑτὴν μὲν οὐκ ἀπήνεγκε, φοβουμένη τὸν ἄνδρα, πρὸς δὲ τὸν ἀδελφὸν Ἡρακλείδην καταθεμένη προσηγόρευσεν Ἀγαθοκλέα, τὴν ὁμωνυμίαν εἰς τὸν ἑαυτῆς ἀνενέγκασα πατέρα. παρʼ ᾧ τρεφόμενος ὁ παῖς ἐξέβη τήν τε ὄψιν εὐπρεπὴς καὶ τὸ σῶμα εὔρωστος πολὺ μᾶλλον ἢ κατὰ τὴν ἡλικίαν. ἑπταετοῦς δʼ ὄντος αὐτοῦ παρακληθεὶς ὁ Καρκῖνος ὑφʼ Ἡρακλείδου πρός τινα θυσίαν καὶ θεασάμενος τὸν Ἀγαθοκλέα παίζοντα μετά τινων ἡλικιωτῶν ἐθαύμαζε τό τε κάλλος καὶ τὴν ῥώμην, τῆς τε γυναικὸς εἰπούσης ὅτι τηλικοῦτος ἂν ἦν ὁ ἐκτεθείς, εἴπερ ἐτράφη, μεταμέλεσθαί τε ἔφη τοῖς πραχθεῖσι καὶ συνεχῶς ἐδάκρυεν. εἶθʼ ἡ μὲν γνοῦσα τὴν ὁρμὴν τἀνδρὸς συμφωνοῦσαν τοῖς πεπραγμένοις ἐξέθηκε πᾶσαν τὴν ἀλήθειαν. ὁ δʼ ἀσμένως προσδεξάμενος τοὺς λόγους τὸν μὲν υἱὸν ἀπέλαβε, τοὺς δὲ Καρχηδονίους φοβούμενος μετῴκησεν εἰς Συρακούσσας πανοίκιος· πένης δʼ ὢν ἐδίδαξε τὸν Ἀγαθοκλέα τὴν κεραμευτικὴν τέχνην ἔτι παῖδα τὴν ἡλικίαν ὄντα. καθʼ ὃν δὴ χρόνον Τιμολέων μὲν ὁ Κορίνθιος νικήσας τὴν ἐπὶ τῷ Κρημισσῷ μάχην τοὺς Καρχηδονίους μετέδωκε τῆς ἐν Συρακούσσαις πολιτείας πᾶσι τοῖς βουλομένοις. ὁ δὲ Καρκῖνος μετʼ Ἀγαθοκλέους πολιτογραφηθεὶς καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα ὀλίγον βιώσας χρόνον ἐτελεύτησεν. ἡ δὲ μήτηρ ἀνέθηκεν λιθίνην εἰκόνα τοῦ παιδὸς ἔν τινι τεμένει, πρὸς ἣν μελισσῶν ἑσμὸς προσκαθίσας ἐκηροπλάστησεν ἐπὶ τῶν ἰσχίων. τοῦ δὲ σημείου προσενεχθέντος τοῖς περὶ ταῦτʼ ἀσχολουμένοις ἀπεφήναντο πάντες κατὰ τὴν ἀκμὴν ἥξειν αὐτὸν εἰς μεγάλην ἐπιφάνειαν· ὅπερ καὶ συνετελέσθη.
When Demogenes was archon in Athens, the Romans elected to the consulship Lucius Plotius and Manius Fulvius, and Agathocles of Syracuse became tyrant of his city. In order to make clearer the series of events, we shall briefly take up the life of that dynast at an earlier point. Carcinus of Rhegium, an exile from his native city, settled in Therma in Sicily, a city that had been brought under the rule of the Carthaginians. Having formed a union with a native woman and made her pregnant, he was constantly troubled in his sleep. Being thus made anxious about the begetting of the child, he instructed certain Carthaginian envoys who were setting out for Delphi to ask the god about his expected son. They duly carried out their commission, and an oracle was given forth that the child whom he had begotten would be the cause of great misfortunes to the Carthaginians and to all Sicily. Learning this and being frightened, Carcinus exposed the infant in a public place and set men to watch him that he might die. After some days had passed the child had not died, and those who had been set to watch him began to be negligent. At this time, then, the mother came secretly by night and took the child; and, although, fearing her husband, she did not bring him to her own home, she left him with her brother Heracleides and called him Agathocles, the name of her own father. The boy was brought up in the home of Heracleides and became much fairer in face and stronger in body than was to be expected at his age. When the child was seven years old, Carcinus was invited by Heracleides to some festival and, seeing Agathocles playing with some children of his own age, wondered at his beauty and strength. On the woman's remarking that the child who had been exposed would have been of the same age if he had been brought up, he said that he regretted what he had done and began to weep incessantly. Then she, seeing that the desire of the man was in harmony with her own past act, disclosed the entire truth. Gladly hearing her words, he accepted his son, but in fear of the Carthaginians removed to Syracuse with his whole household. Since he was poor he taught Agathocles the trade of pottery while he was still a boy. At this time Timoleon the Corinthian, after having defeated the Carthaginians in the battle at the Crimisus River, conferred Syracusan citizenship on all who wished. Carcinus was enrolled as a citizen together with Agathocles, and died after living only a short time longer. The mother dedicated a stone image of her son in a certain precinct, and a swarm of bees settled upon it and built their honeycomb about its hips. When this prodigy was reported to those who devoted themselves to such matters, all of them declared that at the prime of his life the boy would attain great fame; and this prophecy was fulfilled.
§ 19.3
Δάμας γάρ τις τῶν ἐνδόξων ἀριθμούμενος ἐν Συρακούσσαις ἐρωτικῶς διετέθη πρὸς τὸν Ἀγαθοκλέα καὶ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον δαψιλῶς ἅπαντα χορηγῶν αἴτιος ἐγένετο σύμμετρον αὐτὸν οὐσίαν συλλέξασθαι, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα αἱρεθεὶς ἐπʼ Ἀκράγαντα στρατηγός, ἐπειδὴ τῶν χιλιάρχων τις ἀπέθανεν, τοῦτον εἰς τὸν ἐκείνου τόπον κατέστησεν. ὁ δὲ καὶ πρὸ τῆς στρατείας μὲν ἦν πολύσεμνος διὰ τὸ μέγεθος τῶν ὅπλων· ἐπετήδευσε γὰρ ἐν ταῖς ἐξοπλασίαις φορεῖν πανοπλίαν τηλικαύτην τὸ μέγεθος ὥστε μηδένα τῶν ἄλλων δύνασθαι ῥᾳδίως χρῆσθαι τῷ βάρει τῶν ὅπλων· πολὺ δʼ ἔτι μᾶλλον γενόμενος χιλίαρχος περιεποιήσατο δόξαν, φιλοκίνδυνος μὲν ὢν καὶ παράβολος ἐν ταῖς μάχαις, ἰταμὸς δὲ καὶ πρόχειρος ἐν ταῖς δημηγοίαις. τοῦ δὲ Δάμαντος νόσῳ τελευτήσαντος καὶ τὴν οὐσίαν καταλιπόντος τῇ γυναικὶ ταύτην ἔγημε καὶ τῶν πλουσιωτάτων εἷς ἠριθμεῖτο. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Κροτωνιάταις πολιορκουμένοις ὑπὸ Βρεττίων οἱ Συρακόσιοι δύναμιν ἁδρὰν ἔπεμψαν, ἧς ἐστρατήγει μὲν μεθʼ ἑτέρων Ἄντανδρος ὁ Ἀγαθοκλέους ἀδελφός, τῶν δʼ ὅλων εἶχε τὴν ἡγεμονίαν Ἡρακλείδης καὶ Σώστρατος, ἄνδρες ἐν ἐπιβουλαῖς καὶ φόνοις καὶ μεγάλοις ἀσεβήμασι γεγονότες τὸν πλείω τοῦ βίου· περὶ ὧν τὰ κατὰ μέρος ἡ πρὸ ταύτης περιέχει βύβλος. συνεστρατεύετο δʼ αὐτοῖς καὶ Ἀγαθοκλῆς, ἐγνωσμένος ὑπὸ τοῦ δήμου καὶ τεταγμένος ἐπὶ χιλιαρχικῆς ἡγεμονίας, ὃς τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἐν ταῖς πρὸς τοὺς βαρβάρους μάχαις γενόμενος κράτιστος ὑπὸ τῶν περὶ Σώστρατον ἀφῃρέθη τὴν τῶν ἀριστείων τιμὴν διὰ τὸν φθόνον. ἐφʼ οἷς περιαλγὴς γενόμενος αὐτοὺς ὡς διεγνωκότας ἐπιθέσθαι τυραννίδι κατηγόρησεν ἐν τῷ δήμῳ. οὐ προσεχόντων δὲ τῶν Συρακοσίων ταῖς διαβολαῖς οἱ μὲν περὶ Σώστρατον ἐδυνάστευσαν τῆς πατρίδος μετὰ τὴν ἐκ Κρότωνος ἐπάνοδον.
A certain Damas, who was counted among the notable men of Syracuse, fell in love with Agathocles and since in the beginning he supplied him lavishly with everything, was the cause of his accumulating a suitable property; and thereafter, when Damas had been elected general against Acragas and one of his chiliarchs died, he appointed Agathocles in his place. Even before his military service Agathocles had been much respected on account of the great size of his armour, for in military reviews he was in the habit of wearing equipment so heavy that no one of the others was able to use it handily because of the weight of the armour. When he became a chiliarch, he gained even more fame since he was venturesome and daring in battle and bold and ready in haranguing the people. When Damas died of illness and left his property to his wife, Agathocles married her and was counted among the richest men. Thereafter when the people of Croton were being besieged by the Bruttii, the Syracusans sent a strong force to their aid. Antandrus, the brother of Agathocles, was one of the generals of this army, but the commanders of the whole were Heracleides and Sostratus, men who had spent the greater part of their lives in plots, murders, and great impieties; their careers in detail are contained in the Book before this one. Agathocles also took part in that campaign with them, having been recognized for his ability by the people and assigned to the rank of chiliarch. Although he had distinguished himself at first in the battles with the barbarians, he was deprived of the award for his deeds of valour by Sostratus and his friends because of jealousy. Agathocles was deeply offended at them and denounced before the people their resolve to establish an autocratic government. As the people of Syracuse paid no attention to the charges, the cabal of Sostratus did gain control of their native city after the return from Croton.
§ 19.4
ὁ δʼ Ἀγαθοκλῆς ἀλλοτρίως ἔχων τὰ πρὸς αὐτοὺς τὸ μὲν πρῶτον κατέμενεν ἐν Ἰταλίᾳ μετὰ τῶν κοινοπραγούντων καὶ καταλαμβάνεσθαι τὴν τῶν Κροτωνιατῶν πόλιν ἐπιχειρήσας ἐξέπεσε καὶ μετʼ ὀλίγων εἰς Τάραντα διεσώθη. ταχθεὶς δὲ παρὰ τοῖς Ταραντίνοις ἐν τῇ τῶν μισθοφόρων τάξει καὶ πολλαῖς καὶ παραβόλοις ἐγχειρῶν πράξεσιν εἰς ὑποψίαν ἦλθε καινοτομεῖν. διόπερ ἀπολυθεὶς καὶ ταύτης τῆς στρατείας συνήθροισε τοὺς κατὰ τὴν Ἰταλίαν φυγάδας καὶ Ῥηγίνοις πολεμουμένοις ὑπὸ τῶν περὶ τὸν Ἡρακλείδην καὶ Σώστρατον ἐβοήθησεν. ἔπειτα τῆς ἐν Συρακούσσαις δυναστείας καταλυθείσης καὶ τῶν περὶ τὸν Σώστρατον φυγόντων κατῆλθεν εἰς τὴν πατρίδα. συνεκπεσόντων δὲ τοῖς δυνάσταις πολλῶν ἐνδόξων ἀνδρῶν, ὡς ἂν τῆς ὀλιγαρχίας κενοινωνηκότων τῆς τῶν ἑξακοσίων τῶν ἐπιφανεστάτων, ἐνέστη πόλεμος τοῖς φυγάσι πρὸς τοὺς ἀντεχομένους τῆς δημοκρατίας. συμμαχούντων δὲ τῶν Καρχηδονίων τοῖς περὶ τὸν Σώστρατον φυγάσιν ἐγίνοντο κίνδυνοι συνεχεῖς καὶ παρατάξεις ἁδρῶν δυνάμεων, ἐν αἷς Ἀγαθοκλῆς, ποτὲ μὲν ἰδιώτης ὤν, ποτὲ δὲ ἐφʼ ἡγεμονίας τεταγμένος, ὑπελήφθη δραστικὸς εἶναι καὶ φιλότεχνος ἐκ τοῦ πρὸς ἕκαστον τῶν καιρῶν ἐπινοεῖσθαί τι τῶν χρησίμων· ὧν ἓν ἔπραξε καὶ μάλα μνήμης ἄξιον. στρατοπεδευόντων γάρ ποτε τῶν Συρακοσίων πλησίον τῆς Γέλας αὐτὸς μὲν νυκτὸς παρεισέπεσεν εἰς τὴν πόλιν μετὰ χιλίων στρατιωτῶν, οἱ δὲ περὶ τὸν Σώστρατον ἐπιφανέντες μετὰ μεγάλης καὶ τεταγμένης δυνάμεως ἐτρέψαντο τοὺς παρεισπεπτωκότας καὶ κατέβαλον εἰς τριακοσίους. τῶν δʼ ἄλλων ἐπιβαλομένων μὲν φεύγειν διά τινος στενοῦ τόπου καὶ τὴν σωτηρίαν ἀπεγνωκότων παραδόξως αὐτοὺς Ἀγαθοκλῆς ἐκ τῶν κινδύνων ἐρρύσατο. αὐτὸς μὲν γὰρ λαμπρότατα πάντων ἀγωνισάμενος ἑπτὰ τραύμασι περιέπεσε καὶ διὰ τὸ πλῆθος τοῦ ῥυέντος αἵματος τὸ σῶμα παρελύετο· τῶν δὲ πολεμίων ἐπικειμένων παρήγγειλε τοῖς σαλπιγκταῖς ἐπʼ ἀμφότερα τὰ μέρη τοῦ τείχους παρελθόντας σημαίνειν τὸ πολεμικόν. ὧν ταχέως τὸ ῥηθὲν πραξάντων οἱ προσβοηθήσαντες ἐκ τῆς Γέλας τὸ μὲν ἀληθὲς διὰ τὸ σκότος οὐκ ἠδύναντο συνιδεῖν, ὑπολαβόντες δὲ τὴν ἄλλην δύναμιν τῶν Συρακοσίων κατʼ ἀμφότερα τὰ μέρη παρεισπεπτωκέναι τοῦ μὲν ἔτι διώκειν ἀπέστησαν, διελόμενοι δὲ τὰς τάξεις διχῇ ταχέως ἐβοήθουν, συντρέχοντες πρὸς τὸν ἦχον τῶν σαλπιγκτῶν. ἐν τοσούτῳ δὲ τυχόντες ἀνοχῆς οἱ περὶ τὸν Ἀγαθοκλέα μετὰ πάσης ἀσφαλείας διεσώθησαν εἰς τὸν χάρακα. ἐνταῦθα μὲν οὖν τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον καταστρατηγήσας τοὺς πολεμίους οὐ μόνον τοὺς σὺν αὐτῷ παραδόξως ἔσωσεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν συμμάχων ἑπτακοσίους ἄνδρας.
Since Agathocles was hostile to them, he remained at first in Italy with those who made common cause with him. Undertaking to establish himself in Croton, he was driven out and with a few others escaped to Tarentum. While among the Tarentines he was enrolled in the ranks of the mercenaries, and because he took part in many hazardous actions he was suspected of revolutionary designs. When he for this reason was released from this army also, he gathered together the exiles from all parts of Italy and went to the aid of Rhegium, which was then being attacked by Heracleides and Sostratus. Then when the cabal in Syracuse was brought to an end and the party of Sostratus was expelled, Agathocles returned to his own city. Many citizens of repute had been exiled along with the cabal on the ground that they had been members of the oligarchy of the Six Hundred Noblest, and now war arose between these exiles and those who were supporting the democracy. As the Carthaginians became allies of the exiles with Sostratus, there were constant engagements and pitched battles between strong forces, in which Agathocles, sometimes as a private soldier, sometimes appointed to a command, was credited with being energetic and ingenious, for in each emergency he contrived some helpful device. One instance of the kind is well worth mentioning. Once when the Syracusans were in camp near Gela, he stole into the city at night with a thousand men, but Sostratus with a large force in battle array appeared suddenly, routed those who had made their way in, and struck down about three hundred of them. When the remainder tried to escape through a certain narrow passage and had abandoned hope of safety, Agathocles unexpectedly saved them from the danger. Fighting most brilliantly of all, he had received seven wounds, and because of the quantity of blood he had lost, he was weak in body; but when the enemy were upon them, he ordered the trumpeters to go out to the walls on each side and sound the signal for battle. When they quickly carried out the order, those who had sallied out from Gela to give aid were not able to learn the truth because of the darkness, but supposing that the remaining force of the Syracusans had broken in on both sides, they abandoned further pursuit, divided their forces into two parts, and went quickly to meet the danger, running toward the sound made by the trumpeters. In this situation Agathocles and his men gained a respite from fighting and came safe to their fortified camp in complete security. Thus on this occasion, by outwitting the enemy in this way, he not only saved his own companions by a miracle but also seven hundred of the allies.
§ 19.5
μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ἐν ταῖς Συρακούσσαις αἱρεθέντος Ἀκεστορίδου τοῦ Κορινθίου στρατηγοῦ δόξας ἐπιθέσθαι τυραννίδι διὰ τὴν σύνεσιν ἐξέφυγε τὸν κίνδυνον. ὁ μὲν γὰρ Ἀκεστορίδης εὐλαβηθεὶς τὴν στάσιν καὶ διὰ τοῦτο οὐ βουλόμενος αὐτὸν φανερῶς ἀνελεῖν ἐκέλευεν ἐκ τῆς πόλεως μεταστῆναι καὶ τοὺς νυκτὸς κατὰ τὴν ὁδὸν ἀποκτενοῦντας ἐξαπέστειλεν. Ἀγαθοκλῆς δὲ καταστοχασάμενος πιθανῶς τὴν ἐπίνοιαν τοῦ στρατηγοῦ τῶν παίδων ἐξελέξατο τὸν ἑαυτῷ μάλιστα ἐοικότα καὶ κατὰ τὸ μέγεθος τοῦ σώματος καὶ κατὰ τὴν ὄψιν· τούτῳ δὲ δοὺς τὴν ἑαυτοῦ πανοπλίαν καὶ τὸν ἵππον, ἔτι δὲ τὴν ἐσθῆτα παρεκρούσατο τοὺς ἐπὶ τὴν ἀναίρεσιν ἀποσταλέντας. αὐτὸς δὲ ῥάκη περιβαλόμενος ἀνοδίᾳ τὴν ὁδοιπορίαν ἐποιήσατο. ἐκεῖνοι δὲ ἀπὸ τῶν ὅπλων καὶ τῶν ἄλλων συσσήμων ὑπολαβόντες εἶναι τὸν Ἀγαθοκλέα καὶ τἀκριβὲς διὰ τὸ σκότος οὐ συνιδόντες τὸν μὲν φόνον ἐπετέλεσαν, τῆς δὲ προκεχειρισμένης πράξεως διήμαρτον. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τῶν Συρακοσίων καταδεξαμένων τοὺς μετὰ Σωστράτου φυγάδας καὶ πρὸς Καρχηδονίους εἰρήνην συνθεμένων Ἀγαθοκλῆς φυγὰς ὢν ἰδίαν δύναμιν ἐν τῇ μεσογείῳ συνεστήσατο. γενόμενος δὲ φοβερὸς οὐ μόνον τοῖς πολίταις, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῖς Καρχηδονίοις ἐπείσθη κατελθεῖν εἰς τὴν πατρίδα καὶ παραχθεὶς εἰς τὸ τῆς Δήμητρος ἱερὸν ὑπὸ τῶν πολιτῶν ὤμοσε μηδὲν ἐναντιωθήσεσθαι τῇ δημοκρατίᾳ. προσποιηθεὶς δὲ τῆς δημοκρατίας προΐστασθαι καὶ δημαγωγήσας ποικίλως τὰ πλήθη στρατηγὸς κατεστάθη καὶ φύλαξ τῆς εἰρήνης, μέχρι ἂν γνησίως ὁμονοήσωσιν οἱ συνεληλυθότες εἰς τὴν πόλιν. εἰς πολλὰ γὰρ μέρη συνέβαινε διαιρεῖσθαι τὰς ἑταιρίας τῶν συνιόντων καὶ πρὸς ἀλλήλους ἑκάστοις εἶναι μεγάλας διαφοράς, μέγιστον δʼ ἦν ἀντίταγμα τοῖς περὶ τὸν Ἀγαθοκλέα τὸ τῶν ἑξακοσίων συνέδριον, κατὰ τὴν ὀλιγαρχίαν ὑφηγημένον τῆς πόλεως· οἱ προέχοντες γὰρ τῶν Συρακοσίων ταῖς δόξαις καὶ ταῖς οὐσίαις ἐν τούτοις ὑπῆρχον καταλελεγμένοι.
Thereafter, at the time when Acestorides the Corinthian had been elected general in Syracuse, Agathocles was reputed to have made an attempt at tyranny, but he escaped from this danger by his own shrewdness. For Acestorides, who was wary of factional strife and therefore was not willing to destroy him openly, ordered him to leave the city and sent out men to kill him on the road during the night. But Agathocles, who had shrewdly guessed the intention of the general, selected from his slaves the one who was most like himself in stature and face, and by equipping him with his own armour, horse, and even his own clothing, he deceived those who had been dispatched to kill him. As for himself, he put on rags and by avoiding the roads completed the journey. They, supposing from the armour and the other indications that it was Agathocles and not observing more closely because of the darkness, accomplished a murder indeed, but failed to carry out the task that had been assigned to them. Afterwards the Syracusans received back those who had been expelled with Sostratus and made peace with the Carthaginians; but Agathocles as an exile gathered together an army of his own in the interior. After he had become an object of dread not only to his own fellow citizens but also to the Carthaginians, he was persuaded to return to his own city; and at the shrine of Demeter, to which he was taken by the citizens, he swore that he would undertake nothing against the democracy. And it was by pretending to be a supporter of democracy and by winning the favour of the people in artful ways that he secured his own election as general and protector of the peace until such time as real harmony might be established among the exiles who had returned to the city. For it happened that the political clubs of those who were holding meetings were divided into many factions and that important differences of opinion existed among them; but the chief group opposed to Agathocles was the society of the Six Hundred, which had directed the city in the time of the oligarchy; for the Syracusans who were first in reputation and in property had been enrolled in this society.
§ 19.6
ὁ δʼ οὖν Ἀγαθοκλῆς ἐπιθυμητὴς ὢν δυναστείας πολλὰς ἀφορμὰς ἔσχεν εἰς τὸ συντελέσαι τὸ βουλευθέν. οὐ μόνον γὰρ στρατηγὸς ὢν κύριος τῆς δυνάμεως ἦν, ἀλλὰ καὶ προσαγγελθέντος ὅτι τινὲς τῶν ἀποστατῶν ἐν τῇ μεσογείῳ πρὸς Ἐρβίτῃ συνάγουσι δύναμιν, ἐξουσίαν ἔλαβεν ἀνυπόπτως καταγράφειν οὓς προαιροῖτο στρατιώτας. διὸ καὶ προσποιηθεὶς στρατεύειν ἐπὶ τὴν Ἐρβίταν κατέλεξεν εἰς τάξεις τούς τʼ ἐκ Μοργαντίνης καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν ἐν τῇ μεσογείῳ πόλεων τοὺς αὐτῷ πρότερον συμπορευθέντας πρὸς Καρχηδονίους. οὗτοι γὰρ πάντες πρὸς Ἀγαθοκλέα μὲν εὐνούστατα διέκειντο, πολλὰ προευεργετημένοι κατὰ τὰς στρατείας, πρὸς δὲ τοὺς ἐν Συρακούσσαις ὀλιγαρχίας κεκοινωνηκότας ἑξακοσίους ἀεὶ πολεμικῶς εἶχον καὶ καθόλου τὸν δῆμον ἐμίσουν, ἀναγκαζόμενοι ποιεῖν τὸ προσταττόμενον. τούτων δʼ ὄντων μὲν τὸν ἀριθμὸν εἰς τρισχιλίους, ταῖς δʼ ὁρμαῖς καὶ ταῖς προαιρέσεσιν εὐθετωτάτων πρὸς τὴν κατάλυσιν τῆς δημοκρατίας προσεπελέξατο καὶ τῶν πολιτῶν τοὺς διὰ πενίαν καὶ φθόνον ἐναντιουμένους ταῖς τῶν ἰσχυόντων ἐπιφανείαις. ὡς δʼ αὐτῷ πάντʼ ἦν εὐτρεπῆ, τοῖς μὲν στρατιώταις παρήγγειλεν ἀπαντᾶν ἅμʼ ἡμέρᾳ εἰς τὸ Τιμολεόντιον, αὐτὸς δὲ μεταπεμπόμενος τοὺς περὶ Πείσαρχον καὶ Διοκλέα, τοὺς δοκοῦντας προεστάναι τῆς τῶν ἑξακοσίων ἑταιρίας, ὡς περί τινων κοινῇ συμφερόντων διαλεξόμενος, ἐπειδὴ παρεγένοντο παραλαβόντες τῶν φίλων εἰς τεσσαράκοντα, προσποιηθεὶς ἑαυτὸν ἐπιβουλεύεσθαι συνελάμβανεν ἅπαντας καὶ κατηγόρησε μὲν αὐτῶν ἐν τοῖς στρατιώταις, φήσας ὑπὸ τῶν ἑξακοσίων ἁρπάζεσθαι διὰ τὴν πρὸς τὸν δῆμον εὔνοιαν, καὶ κατωδύρετο τὴν περὶ αὐτὸν τύχην. παροξυνομένου δὲ τοῦ πλήθους καὶ βοῶντος μηκέτι μέλλειν, ἀλλʼ ἐκ χειρὸς ἐπιθεῖναι τοῖς ἀδικήσασι τὴν δίκην, τοῖς μὲν σαλπιγκταῖς παρήγγειλε σημαίνειν τὸ πολεμικόν, τοῖς δὲ στρατιώταις ἀναιρεῖν τοὺς αἰτίους καὶ διαρπάζειν τὰς κτήσεις τῶν ἑξακοσίων καὶ τῶν τούτοις κοινοπραγούντων. ὁρμησάντων δὲ πάντων ἐπὶ τὴν ἁρπαγὴν ἡ πόλις ἐπληρώθη ταραχῆς καὶ μεγάλων ἀτυχημάτων· οἱ μὲν γὰρ χαριέστατοι τῶν πολιτῶν, ἀγνοοῦντες τὸν καθʼ αὑτῶν κεκυρωμένον ὄλεθρον, ἐξεπήδων ἐκ τῶν οἰκιῶν εἰς τὰς ὁδούς, μαθεῖν σπεύδοντες τὸν θόρυβον, οἱ δὲ στρατιῶται τὰ μὲν διὰ τὴν πλεονεξίαν, τὰ δὲ διὰ τὸν θυμὸν ἠγριωμένοι τὰς ψυχὰς ἀνῄρουν τοὺς διὰ τὴν ἄγνοιαν γυμνὰ τὰ σώματα τῶν ἀμυνομένων ὅπλων παρεχομένους.
Agathocles, who was greedy for power, had many advantages for the accomplishment of his design. Not only as general was he in command of the army, but moreover, when news came that some rebels were assembling an army in the interior near Erbita, without rousing suspicion he obtained authority to enrol as soldiers what men he chose. Thus by feigning a campaign against Herbita he enrolled in the army the men of Morgantina and the other cities of the interior who had previously served with him against the Carthaginians. All these were very firmly attached to Agathocles, having received many benefits from him during the campaigns, but they were unceasingly hostile to the Six Hundred, who had been magistrates of the oligarchy in Syracuse, and hated the populace in general because they were forced to carry out its orders. These soldiers numbered about three thousand, being both by inclination and by deliberate choice most suitable tools for the overthrow of the democracy. To them he added those of the citizens who because of poverty and envy were hostile to the pretensions of the powerful. As soon as he had everything ready, he ordered the soldiers to report at daybreak at the Timoleonteum; and he himself summoned Peisarchus and Diocles, who were regarded as the leaders of the society of the Six Hundred, as if he wished to consult them on some matter of common interest. When they had come bringing with them some forty of their friends, Agathocles, pretending that he himself was being plotted against, arrested all of them, accused them before the soldiers, saying that he was being seized by the Six Hundred because of his sympathy for the common people, and bewailed his fate. When, however, the mob was aroused and with a shout urged him not to delay but to inflict the just penalty on the wrongdoers out of hand, he gave orders to the trumpeters to give the signal for battle and to the soldiers to kill the guilty persons and to plunder the property of the Six Hundred and their supporters. All rushed out to take part in the plunder, and the city was filled with confusion and great calamity; for the members of the aristocratic class, not knowing the destruction that had been ordained for them, were dashing out of their homes into the streets in their eagerness to learn the cause of the tumult, and the soldiers, made savage both by greed and by anger, kept killing these men who, in their ignorance of the situation, were presenting their bodies bare of any arms that would protect them.
§ 19.7
διαληφθέντων δὲ τῶν στενωπῶν κατὰ μέρος ὑπὸ τῶν στρατιωτῶν οἱ μὲν κατὰ τὰς ὁδούς, οἱ δʼ ἐν ταῖς οἰκίαις ἐφονεύοντο. πολλοὶ δὲ καὶ τῶν μηδʼ ὁτιοῦν διαβεβλημένων ἀνῃροῦντο, δεόμενοι μαθεῖν τὴν αἰτίαν τῆς ἀπωλείας. καθωπλισμένον γὰρ πλῆθος ἐξουσίαν προσλαβὸν οὐ διέκρινε φίλον ἢ πολέμιον, ἀλλὰ παρʼ οὗ πλέον ὠφεληθήσεσθαι διειλήφει, τοῦτον ἐχθρὸν ἡγεῖτο. διὸ καὶ παρῆν ὁρᾶν πᾶσαν τὴν πόλιν πεπληρωμένην ὕβρεως καὶ φόνων καὶ παντοίων ἀνομημάτων. οἱ μὲν γὰρ διὰ τὰς προϋπαρχούσας ἔχθρας οὐδεμιᾶς ἐπηρείας ἀπείχοντο κατὰ τῶν μισουμένων, ἔχοντες ἐξουσίαν διατιθέναι πᾶν τὸ κεχαρισμένον τῷ θυμῷ· οἱ δὲ ταῖς τῶν εὐπόρων σφαγαῖς οἰόμενοι τὰς ἰδίας ἀπορίας ἐπανορθώσασθαι πᾶν ἐμηχανῶντο πρὸς τὸν κατʼ αὐτῶν ὄλεθρον. οἱ μὲν γὰρ τὰς αὐλίους θύρας ἐξέκοπτον, οἱ δὲ διὰ κλιμάκων ἐπὶ τὰς ὀροφὰς προσανέβαινον, ἄλλοι δὲ διηγωνίζοντο πρὸς τοὺς ἀπὸ τῶν στεγῶν ἀμυνομένους. οὐ μὴν οὐδὲ τοῖς εἰς τὰ τεμένη καταφυγοῦσιν ἡ τῶν θεῶν ἱκετεία παρείχετο τὴν ἀσφάλειαν, ἀλλʼ ἡ πρὸς θεοὺς εὐσέβεια ἐνικᾶτο πρὸς ἀνθρώπων. καὶ ταῦτʼ ἐτόλμων ἐν εἰρήνῃ καὶ πατρίδι παρανομεῖν Ἕλληνες καθʼ Ἑλλήνων, οἰκεῖοι κατὰ συγγενῶν, οὐ φύσιν, οὐ σπονδάς, οὐ θεοὺς ἐντρεπόμενοι, ἐφʼ οἷς οὐχ ὅτι φίλος, ἀλλὰ καὶ παντελῶς ἐχθρός, μέτριός γε τὴν ψυχήν, οὐκ ἔστιν ὅστις
The narrow passages were severally occupied by soldiers, and the victims were murdered, some in the streets, some in their houses. Many, too, against whom there had been no charge whatever, were slain when they sought to learn the cause of the massacre. For the armed mob having seized power did not distinguish between friend and foe, but the man from whom it had concluded most profit was to be gained, him it regarded as an enemy. Therefore one could see the whole city filled with outrage, slaughter, and all manner of lawlessness. For some men because of longexisting hatred abstained from no form of insult against the objects of their enmity now that they had the opportunity to accomplish whatever seemed to gratify their rage; others, thinking by the slaughter of the wealthy to redress their own poverty, left no means untried for their destruction. Some broke down the doors of houses, others mounted to the housetops on ladders, still others struggled against men who were defending themselves from the roofs; not even to those who fled into the temples did their prayers to the gods bring safety, but reverence due the gods was overthrown by men. In time of peace and in their own city Greeks dared commit these crimes against Greeks, relatives against kinsfolk, respecting neither common humanity nor solemn compacts nor gods, crimes such that there is no one — I do not say no friend but not even any deadly enemy if he but have a spark of compassion in his soul — who would not pity the fate of the victims.
§ 19.8
οὐκ ἂν τὴν τῶν πασχόντων τύχην ἐλεήσειεν. πᾶσαι μὲν γὰρ αἱ πύλαι τῆς πόλεως ἐκλείσθησαν, πλείους δὲ τῶν τετρακισχιλίων ἀνῃρέθησαν αὐθημερόν, τοῦτο μόνον ἐγκληθέντες ὅτι χαριέστεροι τῶν ἄλλων ἦσαν. τῶν δὲ φυγόντων οἱ μὲν ἐπὶ τὰς πύλας ὁρμήσαντες συνελήφθησαν, οἱ δὲ κατὰ τῶν τειχῶν ῥίπτοντες αὑτοὺς εἰς τὰς ἀστυγείτονας πόλεις διεσώθησαν, τινὲς δὲ διὰ τὸν φόβον ἀπρονοήτως ἁλλόμενοι κατεκρημνίσθησαν. τὸ δὲ πλῆθος ἦν τῶν ἐκπεσόντων ἐκ τῆς πατρίδος ὑπὲρ τοὺς ἑξακισχιλίους, ὧν οἱ πλεῖστοι κατέφυγον πρὸς τοὺς Ἀκραγαντίνους κἀκεῖ τῆς καθηκούσης ἐπιμελείας ἠξιώθησαν. οἱ δὲ περὶ τὸν Ἀγαθοκλέα διημερεύσαντες ἐν τοῖς τῶν πολιτῶν φόνοις οὐδὲ τῆς εἰς γυναῖκας ὕβρεως καὶ παρανομίας ἀπέσχοντο, ἀλλὰ παρὰ τῶν ἐκπεφευγότων τὸν θάνατον ἱκανὴν ὑπελάμβανον λήψεσθαι τιμωρίαν τὴν εἰς τοὺς συγγενεῖς ἐπήρειαν· δεινότερα γὰρ θανάτου τοὺς μὲν ἄνδρας καὶ πατέρας εἰκὸς ἦν πείσεσθαι γυναικῶν ὕβρεις καὶ παρθένων αἰσχύνας ἀναλογιζομένους. ἀφʼ ὧν ἡμῖν περιαιρετέον ἐστὶ τὴν ἐπίθετον καὶ συνήθη τοῖς συγγραφεῦσι τραγῳδίαν, μάλιστα μὲν διὰ τὸν τῶν παθόντων ἔλεον, ἔπειτα καὶ διὰ τὸ μηθένα τῶν ἀναγινωσκόντων ἐπιζητεῖν ἀκοῦσαι τὰ κατὰ μέρος, ἐν ἑτοίμῳ τῆς γνώσεως οὔσης. οἱ γὰρ μεθʼ ἡμέραν ἐν ταῖς ὁδοῖς καὶ κατὰ τὴν ἀγορὰν σφάττειν τολμῶντες τοὺς μηδὲν ἀδικοῦντας οὐ προσδέονται τοῦ δηλώσοντος τί νύκτωρ ἔπραττον καθʼ αὑτοὺς ἐν ταῖς οἰκίαις καὶ πῶς προσεφέροντο παρθένοις ὀρφαναῖς καὶ γυναιξὶν ἐρήμοις μὲν οὔσαις τῶν βοηθησόντων, πεπτωκυίαις δʼ ὑπʼ ἐξουσίαν αὐτοκράτορα τῶν ἐχθίστων. ὁ δʼ Ἀγαθοκλῆς δυεῖν ἡμερῶν διελθουσῶν ἐπειδή ποτʼ ἐπληρώθη τοῦ κατὰ τῶν πολιτῶν φόνου, τοὺς ζωγρηθέντας ἀθροίσας Δεινοκράτην μὲν ἀφῆκε διὰ τὴν προγεγενημένην φιλίαν, τῶν ἄλλων δὲ τοὺς μὲν ἀλλοτριώτατα διακειμένους ἀνεῖλε, τοὺς δὲ λοιποὺς ἐφυγάδευσε.
All the gates of the city were closed, and more than four thousand persons were slain on that day whose only crime was to be of gentler birth than the others. Of those who fled, some who rushed for the gates were arrested, while others who cast themselves from the walls escaped to the neighbouring cities; some, however, who in panic cast themselves down before they looked, crashed headlong to their doom. The number of those who were driven from their native city was more than six thousand, most of whom fled to the people of Acragas where they were accorded proper care. The party of Agathocles spent the day in the murder of their fellow citizens, nor did they abstain from outrage and crime against women, but they thought that those who had escaped death would be sufficiently punished by the violation of their kindred. For it was reasonable to suppose that the husbands and fathers would suffer something worse than death when they thought of the violence done their wives and the shame inflicted upon their unmarried daughters. We must keep our accounts of these events free from the artificially tragic tone that is habitual with historians, chiefly because of our pity for the victims, but also because no one of our readers has a desire to hear all the details when his own understanding can readily supply them. For men who by day in the streets and throughout the market place were bold to butcher those who had done no harm need no writer to set forth what they did at night when by themselves in the homes, and how they conducted themselves toward orphaned maidens and toward women who were bereft of any to defend them and had fallen into the absolute power of their direst enemies. As for Agathocles, when two days had passed, since he was now sated with the slaughter of his fellow citizens, after gathering together the prisoners, he let Deinocrates go because of their former friendship, but of the others he killed those who were most bitterly hostile and exiled the rest.
§ 19.9
μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα συναγαγὼν ἐκκλησίαν κατηγόρησε μὲν τῶν ἑξακοσίων καὶ τῆς ὑπʼ αὐτῶν προγεγενημένης ὀλιγαρχίας, καθαρὰν δὲ φήσας τὴν πόλιν πεποιηκέναι τῶν δυναστεύειν ἐπιχειρούντων ἀπεφαίνετο τῷ δήμῳ τὴν αὐτονομίαν εἰλικρινῆ παραδιδόναι καὶ βούλεσθαί ποτε τῶν πόνων ἀπολυθεὶς ἰδιωτεύειν ἴσος ὢν πᾶσι. καὶ ταῦτα λέγων τὸ μὲν χλαμύδιον αὑτοῦ περιέσπασε, τὸ δʼ ἱμάτιον μεταλαβὼν ἀπῄει, τῶν πολλῶν ἑαυτὸν ἀποδείξας ἕνα. ταῦτα δʼ ἔπραττε τὸν δημοτικὸν ὑποκρινόμενος καὶ σαφῶς εἰδὼς τοὺς πλείους τῶν ἐκκλησιαζόντων μετεσχηκότας τῶν ἀσεβημάτων καὶ διὰ τοῦτο μηδέποτʼ ἂν βουληθέντας ἄλλῳ τὴν στρατηγίαν ἐγχειρίσαι. εὐθὺ γοῦν οἱ διαπεφορηκότες τὰ τῶν ἠτυχηκότων ἐβόων μὴ καταλιπεῖν ἑαυτούς, ἀλλὰ προσδέξασθαι τὴν τῶν ὅλων ἐπιμέλειαν. ὁ δὲ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἡσυχίαν εἶχεν, εἶτα τοῦ πλήθους βιαιότερον ἐγκειμένου προσδέξασθαι μὲν ἔφησε τὴν στρατηγίαν, μὴ μέντοι γε μετʼ ἄλλων ἄρξειν· οὐ γὰρ ὑπομενεῖν, ὧν ἂν ἕτεροι παρανομήσωσι, τούτων αὐτὸν συνάρχοντα λόγον ἀποδιδόναι κατὰ τοὺς νόμους. συγχωρήσαντος δὲ τοῦ πλήθους μοναρχεῖν οὗτος μὲν ἐχειροτονήθη στρατηγὸς αὐτοκράτωρ καὶ τὸ λοιπὸν φανερῶς ἐδυνάστευε καὶ τῆς πόλεως ἐπιμέλειαν ἐποιεῖτο, τῶν δʼ ἀκεραίων Συρακοσίων οἱ μὲν διὰ τὸν φόβον ἠναγκάζοντο καρτερεῖν, οἱ δʼ ὑπὸ τοῦ πλήθους κατισχυόμενοι τὴν ἔχθραν εἰς κενὸν οὐκ ἐτόλμων ἐνδείκνυσθαι. πολλοὶ δὲ καὶ τῶν ἀπόρων καὶ κατάχρεων ἄσμενοι τὴν μεταβολὴν προσεδέξαντο· ἐπηγγέλλετο γὰρ Ἀγαθοκλῆς κατὰ τὴν ἐκκλησίαν καὶ χρεῶν ἀποκοπὰς ποιήσεσθαι καὶ τοῖς πένησι χώραν δωρήσεσθαι. ἀπὸ δὲ τούτων γενόμενος τοῦ μὲν ἔτι φονεύειν ἢ κολάζειν τινὰς ἀπέστη, μεταβαλόμενος δʼ εἰς τοὐναντίον εὐγνωμόνως τοῖς πλήθεσι προσεφέρετο καὶ πολλοὺς μὲν εὐεργετῶν, οὐκ ὀλίγους δʼ ἐπαγγελίαις μετεωρίζων, πάντας δὲ λόγοις φιλανθρώποις δημαγωγῶν οὐ μετρίας ἀποδοχῆς ἐτύγχανεν. ἔχων δὲ τηλικαύτην δυναστείαν οὔτε διάδημα ἀνέλαβεν οὔτε δορυφόρους εἶχεν οὔτε δυσεντευξίαν ἐζήλωσεν, ἅπερ εἰώθασι ποιεῖν σχεδὸν ἅπαντες οἱ τύραννοι. ἐπεμελήθη δὲ καὶ τῶν προσόδων καὶ τῆς τῶν ὅπλων καὶ βελῶν παρασκευῆς, ἔτι δὲ πρὸς ταῖς ὑπαρχούσαις μακραῖς ναυσὶν ἑτέρας ἐναυπηγήσατο. προσελάβετο δὲ καὶ τῶν ἐν τῇ μεσογείῳ χωρίων καὶ πόλεων τὰς πλείστας. καὶ τὰ μὲν κατὰ Σικελίαν ἐν τούτοις ἦν.
Next he called together the Assembly and accused the Six Hundred and the oligarchy that they had brought into existence, saying that he had cleansed the state of those men who were trying to become her masters; and he proclaimed that he was restoring liberty undefiled to the people, and that he wished to be relieved at last of his burdens and become a private citizen on terms of equality with all. As he said this, he tore off his military cloak and, assuming civil garb, set out to leave, showing that he himself was one of the many. But in doing this he was merely playing the part of a democrat with full knowledge that the majority of the members of the Assembly had had a share in his unholy acts and for this reason would not be willing to vote the generalship to anyone else. At any rate, those who had plundered the property of the victims instantly cried out, begging him not to leave them but to accept the general administration of the state. At first he maintained silence; then, as the mob pressed more insistently upon him, he said that he accepted the generalship, but that he would not rule jointly with others, for he would not consent as one member of a board to be held legally accountable for acts illegally committed by the others. Since the majority agreed that he should rule alone, he was elected general with absolute power, and thereafter he openly exercised authority and governed the city. Of the Syracusans who were uncorrupted, some were forced to endure in patience because of their fears, and others, outmatched by the mob, did not venture to make an unavailing display of their hostility. On the other hand, many of those who were poor and involved in debt welcomed the revolution, for Agathocles promised in the Assembly both to abolish debts and to distribute land to the poor. When he had finished with these matters, he made an end of further slaughter and punishment. With a complete change of humour he showed himself affable to the common people and won no slight popularity by aiding many, by encouraging no small number with promises, and by currying favour from all by philanthropic words. Although he possessed such power, he neither assumed a diadem, nor employed a bodyguard, nor affected a haughty demeanour, as is the custom of almost all tyrants. He kept a careful watch over the public revenues and over the preparation of armour and weapons, and he had warships constructed in addition to those already at hand. He also gained control of most of the regions and cities of the interior. This, then, was the situation in Sicily.
§ 19.10
κατὰ δὲ τὴν Ἰταλίαν Ῥωμαῖοι μὲν ἔννατον ἔτος ἤδη διεπολέμουν πρὸς Σαυνίτας καὶ κατὰ μὲν τοὺς ἔμπροσθεν χρόνους μεγάλαις δυνάμεσιν ἦσαν διηγωνισμένοι, τότε δὲ εἰς τὴν πολεμίαν εἰσβολὰς ποιούμενοι μέγα μὲν οὐδὲν οὐδὲ μνήμης ἄξιον διεπράξαντο, διετέλουν δὲ τοῖς τε φρουρίοις προσβολὰς ποιούμενοι καὶ τὴν χώραν λεηλατοῦντες. ἐπόρθησαν δὲ καὶ τῆς Ἀπουλίας τὴν Δαυνίαν πᾶσαν καὶ προσαγαγόμενοι Κανυσίους ὁμήρους παρʼ αὐτῶν ἔλαβον. προσέθηκαν δὲ καὶ δύο φυλὰς ταῖς προυπαρχούσαις, τήν τε Φαλέρναν καὶ τὴν Ὠφεντῖναν. ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις Κροτωνιᾶται πρὸς μὲν Βρεττίους διελύσαντο, πρὸς δὲ τοὺς ἐκπεπτωκότας τῶν πολιτῶν ὑπὸ τῆς δημοκρατίας διὰ τὴν πρὸς Ἡρακλείδην καὶ Σωσίστρατον κοινωνίαν, περὶ ἧς ἐν τῇ προτέρᾳ βύβλῳ τὰ κατὰ μέρος διήλθομεν, δεύτερον ἔτος ἤδη πολεμοῦντες Πάρωνα καὶ Μενέδημον, ἄνδρας ἐπιφανεῖς, στρατηγοὺς ἐχειροτόνησαν. οἱ δὲ φυγάδες ἐκ Θουρίων ὁρμήσαντες καὶ προσλαβόντες μισθοφόρους τριακοσίους ἐπεχείρησαν μὲν νυκτὸς παρεισπίπτειν εἰς τὴν πατρίδα, ἀποκρουσθέντες δʼ ὑπὸ τῶν Κροτωνιατῶν κατεστρατοπέδευσαν ἐπὶ τῶν μεθορίων τῆς Βρεττίων χώρας, μετʼ ὀλίγον δὲ τῆς πολιτικῆς δυνάμεως ἐπελθούσης πολλαπλασίου πάντες μαχόμενοι κατεσφάγησαν. ἡμεῖς δʼ ἐπεὶ τὰ περὶ Σικελίαν καὶ τὴν Ἰταλίαν διεληλύθαμεν, διαβιβάσομεν τὸν λόγον ἐπὶ τὰ λοιπὰ μέρη τῆς Εὐρώπης.
In Italy the Romans were now in the ninth year of their war with the Samnites. Although in the previous period they had fought with large forces, at this time they accomplished nothing great or worthy of mention by the incursions that they were making upon the hostile territory; yet they did not cease attacking the strongholds and plundering the country. In Apulia also they plundered all Daunia and won back the Canusians, from whom they took hostages. They added two new tribes to those already existing: Falerna and Oufentina. While this was going on, the people of Croton made peace with the Bruttii, but they were still waging war against those of their own citizens who had been exiled by the democracy because of their alliance with Heracleides and Sostratus, about which we have told in detail in the preceding Book. This war was now in second year, Paron and Menedemus, both outstanding men, having been elected generals. The exiles, setting out from Thurii and taking with them three hundred mercenaries, tried to enter their native city by night, were driven off by the people of Croton, and encamped on the boundaries of the land of the Bruttii. Soon afterwards, however, they were attacked by the army of citizens, which far outnumbered them, and all were slaughtered in the fight. Now that we have finished the affairs of Sicily and Italy, we turn to the remaining parts of Europe.
§ 19.11
κατὰ γὰρ τὴν Μακεδονίαν Εὐρυδίκη τῆς βασιλείας προεστηκυῖα καὶ πυνθανομένη τὴν Ὀλυμπιάδα παρασκευάζεσθαι πρὸς τὴν κάθοδον πρὸς μὲν Κάσανδρον εἰς Πελοπόννησον ἀπέστειλε βιβλιαφόρον, ἀξιοῦσα βοηθεῖν τὴν ταχίστην, τῶν δὲ Μακεδόνων τοὺς πρακτικωτάτους ἀνακαλουμένη δωρεαῖς καὶ μεγάλαις ἐπαγγελίαις ἰδίους ταῖς εὐνοίαις κατεσκεύαζε. Πολυπέρχων δὲ δύναμιν ἤθροισε προσλαβόμενος Αἰακίδην τὸν Ἠπειρώτην καὶ κατήγαγεν Ὀλυμπιάδα μετὰ τοῦ Ἀλεξάνδρου παιδὸς ἐπὶ τὴν βασιλείαν. ἀκούων οὖν Εὐρυδίκην ἐν Εὐίοις τῆς Μακεδονίας οὖσαν μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως ὥρμησεν ἐπʼ αὐτήν, σπεύδων μιᾷ μάχῃ κρῖναι τὰ πράγματα. ἀντιταχθέντων δὲ ἀλλήλοις τῶν στρατοπέδων οἱ Μακεδόνες ἐντραπέντες τὸ τῆς Ὀλυμπιάδος ἀξίωμα καὶ τῶν εὐεργεσιῶν ἀναμιμνησκόμενοι τῶν Ἀλεξάνδρου μετεβάλοντο. Φίλιππος μὲν οὖν ὁ βασιλεὺς εὐθὺς ἥλω μετὰ τῆς θεραπείας, ἡ δʼ Εὐρυδίκη μετὰ Πολυκλέους, ἑνὸς τῶν συμβούλων, εἰς Ἀμφίπολιν ἀποχωροῦσα συνελήφθη. τοῦτον δὲ τὸν τρόπον Ὀλυμπιὰς τῶν βασιλικῶν σωμάτων κυριεύσασα καὶ χωρὶς κινδύνων τὴν βασιλείαν παραλαβοῦσα τὴν εὐτυχίαν οὐκ ἤνεγκεν ἀνθρωπίνως, ἀλλὰ τήν τʼ Εὐρυδίκην καὶ τὸν ἄνδρα Φίλιππον τὸ μὲν πρῶτον εἰς φυλακὴν καταθεμένη κακουχεῖν ἐπεχείρησε· περιοικοδομήσασα γὰρ αὐτῶν ἐν βραχεῖ τόπῳ τὰ σώματα διὰ μιᾶς στενῆς ὑποδοχῆς ἐχορήγει τὰ ἀναγκαῖα· ἐπὶ πολλὰς δʼ ἡμέρας παρανομήσασα τοὺς ἠτυχηκότας, ἐπειδὴ παρὰ τοῖς Μακεδόσιν ἠδόξει διὰ τὸν πρὸς τοὺς πάσχοντας ἔλεον, τὸν μὲν Φίλιππον προσέταξε Θρᾳξί τισιν ἐκκεντῆσαι, βασιλέα γεγενημένον ἓξ ἔτη καὶ μῆνας τέσσαρας, τὴν δʼ Εὐρυδίκην παρρησιαζομένην καὶ βοῶσαν αὐτῇ μᾶλλον προσήκειν ἤπερ Ὀλυμπιάδι τὴν βασιλείαν ἔκρινε μείζονος ἀξιῶσαι τιμωρίας. εἰσέπεμψεν οὖν αὐτῇ ξίφος καὶ βρόχον καὶ κώνειον καὶ συνέταξε τούτων ᾧ βούλοιτο καταχρήσασθαι πρὸς τὸν θάνατον, οὔτε τὸ προγεγενημένον ἀξίωμα τῆς παρανομουμένης ἐντραπεῖσα τὸ παράπαν οὔτε τῆς κοινῆς τύχης εἰς οἶκτον ἐλθοῦσα. τοιγαροῦν τῆς ὁμοίας μεταβολῆς τυχοῦσα τῆς ὠμότητος ἀξίαν ἔσχε τὴν τοῦ βίου καταστροφήν. Εὐρυδίκη μὲν γὰρ κατευξαμένη παρόντος τοῦ κομίσαντος τῶν ὁμοίων δωρεῶν Ὀλυμπιάδα τυχεῖν τὸν μὲν ἄνδρα περιέστειλεν, ἐπιμεληθεῖσα τῶν τραυμάτων ὥς ποθʼ ὁ καιρὸς συνεχώρει, ἑαυτὴν δʼ ἀνακρεμάσασα τῇ ζώνῃ κατέστρεψε τὸν βίον, οὔτε δακρύσασα τὴν αὑτῆς τύχην οὔτε τῷ μεγέθει τῶν συμπτωμάτων ταπεινωθεῖσα. Ὀλυμπιὰς δὲ τούτων διαφθαρέντων ἀνεῖλε μὲν τὸν Νικάνορα τὸν ἀδελφὸν τοῦ Κασάνδρου, κατέστρεψε δὲ τὸν Ἰόλλου τάφον, μετερχομένη, καθάπερ ἔφησε, τὸν Ἀλεξάνδρου θάνατον, ἐπέλεξε δὲ καὶ τῶν Κασάνδρου φίλων τοὺς ἐπιφανεστάτους ἑκατὸν Μακεδόνας, οὓς ἅπαντας ἀπέσφαξεν. ἐν τοιούτοις δὲ παρανομήμασι πληροῦσα τὸν ἑαυτῆς θυμὸν ταχὺ πολλοὺς τῶν Μακεδόνων ἐποίησε μισῆσαι τὴν ὠμότητα· πάντες γὰρ ἀνεμιμνήσκοντο τῶν Ἀντιπάτρου λόγων, ὃς καθάπερ χρησμῳδῶν ἐπὶ τῆς τελευτῆς παρεκελεύσατο μηδέποτε συγχωρῆσαι γυναικὶ τῆς βασιλείας προστατῆσαι. τὰ μὲν οὖν κατὰ Μακεδονίαν τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον διοικηθέντα πρόδηλον εἶχε τὴν ἐσομένην μεταβολήν.
In Macedonia, when Eurydice, who had assumed the administration of the regency, heard that Olympias was making preparations for a return, she sent a courier into the Peloponnesus to Cassander, begging him to come to her aid as soon as possible; and, by plying the most active of the Macedonians with gifts and great promises, she was trying to make them personally loyal to herself. But Polyperchon, with Aeacides of Epirus as his ally, collected an army and restored Olympias and the son of Alexander to the throne. So, as soon as he heard that Eurydice was at Euia in Macedonia with her army, he hastened against her with the intention of deciding the campaign in a single battle. When, however, the armies were drawn up facing each other, the Macedonians, out of respect for the position of Olympias and remembering the benefits that they had received from Alexander, changed their allegiance. King Philip with his court was captured at once, while Eurydice was taken as she was making her way to Amphipolis with Polycles, one of her counsellors. But after Olympias had thus captured the royal persons and had seized the kingdom without a fight, she did not carry her good fortune as a human being should, but first she placed Eurydice and her husband Philip under guard and began to maltreat them. Indeed she walled them up in a small space and supplied them with what was necessary through a single narrow opening. But after she had for many days unlawfully treated the unfortunate captives, she ordered certain Thracians to stab Philip to death, who had been king for six years and four months; but she judged that Eurydice, who was expressing herself without restraint and declaring that the kingdom belonged to herself rather than to Olympias, was worthy of greater punishment. She therefore sent to her a sword, a noose, and some hemlock, and ordered her to employ whichever of these she pleased as a means of death, neither displaying any respect whatever for the former dignity of the victim whom she was unlawfully treating, nor moved to pity for the fate that is common to all. Accordingly, when she herself met with a similar reversal, she experienced a death that was worthy of her cruelty. Eurydice, indeed, in the presence of the attendant prayed that like gifts might fall to the lot of Olympias. She next laid out the body of her husband, cleansing its wounds as well as circumstances permitted, then ended her life by hanging herself with her girdle, neither weeping for her own fate nor humbled by the weight of her misfortunes. After these two had been made away with, Olympias killed Nicanor, Cassander's brother, and overturned the tomb of Iollas, avenging, as she said, the death of Alexander. She also selected the hundred most prominent Macedonians from among the friends of Cassander and slaughtered them all. But by glutting her rage with such atrocities, she soon caused many of the Macedonians to hate her ruthlessness; for all of them remembered the words of Antipater, who, as if uttering a prophecy on his death bed, advised them never to permit a woman to hold first place in the kingdom. This situation, then, in the internal affairs of Macedonia gave clear indication of the impending revolution.
§ 19.12
κατὰ δὲ τὴν Ἀσίαν Εὐμενὴς μὲν ἔχων τοὺς ἀργυράσπιδας Μακεδόνας καὶ τὸν ἀφηγούμενον αὐτῶν Ἀντιγένην παρεχείμασε μὲν τῆς Βαβυλωνίας ἐν ταῖς ὀνομαζομέναις Καρῶν κώμαις, πρὸς δὲ Σέλευκον καὶ Πίθωνα πρέσβεις ἀπέστειλεν, ἀξιῶν βοηθεῖν τοῖς βασιλεῦσι καὶ μετʼ αὐτοῦ συναγωνίσασθαι πρὸς Ἀντίγονον. τούτων δʼ ὁ μὲν Πίθων τῆς Μηδίας, ὁ δʼ ἕτερος τῆς Βαβυλωνίας σατράπης ἀπεδέδεικτο, καθʼ ὃν καιρὸν ἡ δευτέρα διαίρεσις ἐγενήθη τῶν σατραπειῶν ἐν Τριπαραδείσῳ. οἱ δὲ περὶ Σέλευκον τοῖς μὲν βασιλεῦσιν ἔφασαν βούλεσθαι παρέχεσθαι χρείας, Εὐμενεῖ μέντοι γε μηδέποθʼ ὑπομενεῖν ποιοῦντας τὸ προσταττόμενον, οὗ Μακεδόνες συνελθόντες κατέγνωσαν θάνατον. πολλὰ δὲ πρὸς ταύτην τὴν προαίρεσιν διαλεχθέντες συνεξέπεμψαν παρʼ αὑτῶν πρεσβευτὴν πρὸς Ἀντιγένην καὶ τοὺς ἀργυράσπιδας, ἀξιοῦντες ἀφιστάναι τῆς ἡγεμονίας Εὐμενῆ. τῶν δὲ Μακεδόνων οὐ προσεχόντων τοῖς λόγοις Εὐμενὴς ἐπαινέσας αὐτῶν τὴν προθυμίαν ἀνέζευξε μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως καὶ παραγενηθεὶς ἐπὶ τὸν Τίγριν ποταμὸν κατεστρατοπέδευσε, τῆς Βαβυλῶνος ἀπέχων σταδίους τριακοσίους. καὶ πρόθεσιν μὲν εἶχεν εἰς Σοῦσα ποιεῖσθαι τὴν πορείαν, διανοούμενος τὰς ἐκ τῶν ἄνω σατραπειῶν δυνάμεις μεταπέμπεσθαι καὶ τοῖς βασιλικοῖς θησαυροῖς χρήσασθαι πρὸς τὰς κατεπειγούσας χρείας. ἠναγκάζετο δὲ τὸν ποταμὸν διαβαίνειν διὰ τὸ τὴν μὲν κατόπιν χώραν προνενομεῦσθαι, τὴν δὲ πέραν ἀκέραιον εἶναι καὶ δαψιλεῖς δύνασθαι παρέχεσθαι τροφὰς τῷ στρατοπέδῳ. συναγαγόντος οὖν αὐτοῦ πλοῖα πανταχόθεν πρὸς τὴν διάβασιν οἱ περὶ Σέλευκον καὶ Πίθωνα κατέπλευσαν δυσὶ μὲν τριήρεσι, κοντωτοῖς δὲ πλείοσιν· ἔτι γὰρ τὰ σκάφη ταῦτα περιῆν ἐκ τῶν ὑπʼ Ἀλεξάνδρου ναυπηγηθέντων περὶ Βαβυλῶνα.
In Asia Eumenes with the Macedonian Silver Shields and their commander Antigenes wintered in the villages of Babylonia known as the villages of the Carians. He sent embassies to Seleucus and Pithon asking them to aid the kings and to join him in the struggle against Antigonus. Of these men, Pithon had been appointed satrap of Media and the other had been named satrap of Babylonia at the time when the second distribution of satrapies was made at Triparadeisus. Seleucus said that he was willing to be of service to the kings, but that nevertheless he would never consent to carrying out the orders of Eumenes, whom the Macedonians in assembly had condemned to death. After much discussion in respect to this policy, they sent an ambassador from themselves to Antigenes and the Silver Shields, asking them to remove Eumenes from his command. Since the Macedonians paid no heed to this message, Eumenes, after praising their loyalty, set out with the army and pitched camp on reaching the Tigris River at a distance of three hundred stades from Babylon. It was his purpose to direct his course to Susa, where he intended to summon the armies from the upper satrapies and to make use of the royal treasure for his urgent needs. He was forced, however, to cross the river because the country behind him had been plundered, whereas that on the other side was untouched and able to furnish abundant food for his army. When he, accordingly, had gathered boats from all sides for the crossing, Seleucus and Pithon sailed down with two triremes and a good many punts, for these craft still survived from those that had been built by Alexander near Babylon.
§ 19.13
ταῦτα δὲ προσαγαγόντες πρὸς τὴν ἔκβασιν πάλιν ἐπεχείρουν τοὺς Μακεδόνας πείθειν ἀποστῆσαι τὸν Εὐμενῆ τῆς στρατηγίας καὶ μὴ προάγειν καθʼ αὑτῶν ἄνδρα ξένον καὶ πλείστους Μακεδόνας ἀνῃρηκότα. οὐδενὶ δὲ τρόπῳ τῶν περὶ τὸν Ἀντιγένη πειθομένων οἱ περὶ Σέλευκον προσπλεύσαντες πρός τινα διώρυγα παλαιὰν ἀνέρρηξαν τὴν ἀρχὴν αὐτῆς, ὑπὸ τοῦ χρόνου συγκεχωσμένην. περικλυσθείσης δὲ τῆς τῶν Μακεδόνων στρατοπεδείας καὶ πάντῃ τοῦ συνεχοῦς τόπου λιμνάσαντος ἐκινδύνευσεν ἅπαν ἀπολέσθαι τὸ στρατόπεδον ὑπὸ τῆς πλήμης. ἐκείνην μὲν οὖν τὴν ἡμέραν ἔμειναν ἐφʼ ἡσυχίας, ἀπορούμενοι πῶς χρηστέον τοῖς πράγμασι· τῇ δʼ ὑστεραίᾳ παραστησάμενοι τὰ κοντωτὰ πλοῖα, περὶ τριακόσια τὸν ἀριθμὸν ὄντα, διεβίβασαν τὸ κράτιστον τῆς δυνάμεως οὐδενὸς παρενοχλοῦντος κατὰ τὴν ἔκβασιν· οἱ γὰρ περὶ Σέλευκον ἱππεῖς μόνον εἶχον καὶ τούτους πολὺ τοῖς ἀριθμοῖς λειπομένους τῶν ἐναντίων. νυκτὸς δὲ ἤδη καταλαμβανούσης Εὐμενὴς μὲν ἀγωνιῶν ὑπὲρ τῆς ἀποσκευῆς πάλιν εἰς τοὐπίσω διεβίβασε τοὺς Μακεδόνας, εἰσηγησαμένου δέ τινος τῶν ἐγχωρίων ἐπεβάλετό τινα τόπον ἀνακαθαίρειν, διʼ οὑ ῥᾴδιον ἦν ἀποστρέψαι τὴν διώρυγα καὶ βάσιμον κατασκευάσαι τὴν πλησίον χώραν. ἃ δὴ συνιδόντες οἱ περὶ Σέλευκον καὶ βουλόμενοι τὴν ταχίστην αὐτοὺς ἐκ τῆς ἰδίας σατραπείας ἀπαλλάξαι πρέσβεις ἀπέστειλαν ὑπὲρ ἀνοχῶν, συγχωρήσαντες τὴν διάβασιν. εὐθὺ δὲ καὶ βυβλιαφόρους ἀπέστειλαν πρὸς Ἀντίγονον εἰς Μεσοποταμίαν, ἀξιοῦντες ἥκειν τὴν ταχίστην μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως, πρὶν ἢ καταβῆναι τοὺς σατράπας μετὰ τῶν δυνάμεων. Εὐμενὴς δὲ διαβὰς τὸν Τίγριν καὶ παραγενόμενος εἰς τὴν Σουσιανὴν εἰς τρία μέρη διεῖλε τὴν δύναμιν διὰ τὴν τοῦ σίτου σπάνιν. ἐπιπορευόμενος δὲ τὴν χώραν κατὰ μέρος σίτου μὲν παντελῶς ἐσπάνιζεν, ὄρυζαν δὲ καὶ σήσαμον καὶ φοίνικα διέδωκε τοῖς στρατιώταις, δαψιλῶς ἐχούσης τῆς χώρας τοὺς τοιούτους καρπούς. πρὸς δὲ τοὺς ἐν ταῖς ἄνω σατραπείαις ἡγεμόνας ἦν μὲν καὶ πρότερον ἀπεσταλκὼς τὰς παρὰ τῶν βασιλέων ἐπιστολάς, ἐν αἷς ἦν γεγραμμένον πάντα πειθαρχεῖν Εὐμενεῖ, καὶ τότε δὲ βυβλιαφόρους ἀπέστειλεν, ἀξιῶν ἀπαντᾶν εἰς τὴν Σουσιανὴν ἅπαντας μετὰ τῶν ἰδίων δυνάμεων, καθʼ ὃν δὴ χρόνον συνέβη κἀκείνους ἠθροικέναι τὰ στρατόπεδα καὶ συνδεδραμηκέναι πρὸς ἀλλήλους διʼ ἑτέρας αἰτίας, ὑπὲρ ὧν ἀναγκαῖον προειπεῖν.
Directing these craft to the landing place, Seleucus and Pithon again tried to persuade the Macedonians to remove Eumenes from his command and to cease preferring against their own interests a man who was a foreigner and who had killed very many Macedonians. But when Antigenes and his men were in no way persuaded, Seleucus sailed off to a certain ancient canal and cleared its intake, which had been filled up in the course of time. Since the Macedonian camp was surrounded by water and the neighbouring land on all sides was now inundated, there was danger that the entire encamped army would be destroyed by the flood. On that day the Macedonians remained inactive, not knowing how to deal with the situation; but on the next day they brought up the punts, about three hundred in number, and carried the best part of the army across, no one hindering them at the landing; for Seleucus had cavalry only and that too far inferior in number to its opponents. But when night was overtaking them, Eumenes, since he was anxious about the baggage, got the Macedonians back across the river; and under the guidance of one of the inhabitants of the region he began to excavate a certain place through which it was easy to turn the canal and make the neighbouring land passable. Seleucus saw this, and since he wished to get them out of his satrapy as soon as possible, he sent envoys to propose a truce, conceding to Eumenes his passage across the river. But at the same time he also sent dispatch carriers into Mesopotamia to Antigonus, asking him to come with his army as soon as possible before the satraps should arrive with their forces. Eumenes, however, after crossing the Tigris and arriving in Susiane, divided his army into three parts because of the dearth of food. Marching through the country in separate columns, he was completely without grain, but he distributed to his soldiers rice, sesame, and dates, since the land produced such fruits as these in plenty. He had already sent to the commanders of the upper satrapies the letter from the kings in which it was written that they should obey Eumenes in every way; and at this time he again sent couriers bidding the satraps all to assemble in Susiane each with his own army. But it happened that at this very time they had themselves mobilized their forces and had assembled for other reasons, with which it is necessary to deal first.
§ 19.14
Πίθων σατράπης μὲν ἀπεδέδεικτο Μηδίας, στρατηγὸς δὲ τῶν ἄνω σατραπειῶν ἁπασῶν γενόμενος Φιλώταν μὲν τὸν προϋπάρχοντα Παρθυαίας στρατηγὸν ἀπέκτεινε, τὸν δὲ αὑτοῦ ἀδελφὸν Εὔδαμον ἀντὶ τούτου κατέστησεν. οὗ γενομένου συνέδραμον οἱ λοιποὶ σατράπαι πάντες, φοβηθέντες μὴ τὸ παραπλήσιον πάθωσιν, ὄντος τοῦ Πίθωνος κινητικοῦ καὶ μεγάλα ταῖς ἐπιβολαῖς περιβαλομένου. περιγενόμενοι δʼ αὐτοῦ μάχῃ καὶ πολλοὺς τῶν συναγωνισαμένων ἀνελόντες ἐξήλασαν ἐκ τῆς Παρθυαίας. κἀκεῖνος τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἀνεχώρησεν εἰς Μηδίαν, μετʼ ὀλίγον δʼ εἰς τὴν Βαβυλῶνα παραγενόμενος παρεκάλει τὸν Σέλευκον βοηθεῖν αὐτῷ καὶ κοινωνεῖν τῶν αὐτῶν ἐλπίδων. διὰ δὴ ταύτας τὰς αἰτίας τῶν ἄνω σατραπῶν συνηθροικότων εἰς τὸ αὐτὸ τὰ στρατόπεδα παρῆσαν οἱ παρʼ Εὐμενοῦς βυβλιαφόροι πρὸς ἑτοίμας τὰς δυνάμεις. ἦν δὲ τῶν ἡγεμόνων ἐπιφανέστατος μὲν καὶ κοινῷ δόγματι πάντων τὴν στρατηγίαν παραλαβὼν Πευκέστης, γεγενημένος Ἀλεξάνδρου σωματοφύλαξ καὶ προηγμένος ὑπὸ τοῦ βασιλέως δι’ ἀνδρείαν. σατραπείαν δʼ εἶχεν ἔτη πλείονα τῆς Περσίδος καὶ μεγάλης ἀποδοχῆς ἐτύγχανε παρὰ τοῖς ἐγχωρίοις. διʼ ἃς αἰτίας φασὶ καὶ τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον αὐτῷ μόνῳ Μακεδόνων συγχωρῆσαι Περσικὴν φορεῖν στολήν, χαρίζεσθαι βουλόμενον τοῖς Πέρσαις καὶ διὰ τούτου νομίζοντα κατὰ πάνθʼ ἕξειν τὸ ἔθνος ὑπήκοον. εἶχε δὲ τότε Πέρσας τοξότας μὲν καὶ σφενδονήτας μυρίους, τοὺς δὲ εἰς τὴν Μακεδονικὴν τάξιν καθωπλισμένους παντοδαποὺς τρισχιλίους, ἱππεῖς δʼ Ἕλληνας μὲν καὶ Θρᾷκας ἑξακοσίους, Πέρσας δὲ πλείους τῶν τετρακοσίων. πολέμων δʼ ὁ Μακεδών, Καρμανίας σατράπης ἀποδεδειγμένος, εἶχε πεζοὺς μὲν χιλίους πεντακοσίους, ἱππεῖς δʼ ἑπτακοσίους. καὶ Σιβύρτιος μὲν τῆς Ἀραχωσίας ἡγούμενος παρείχετο πεζοὺς μὲν χιλίους, ἱππεῖς δὲ δέκα πρὸς τοῖς ἑξακοσίοις, Ἀνδρόβαζος δʼ ἐκ Παροπανισαδῶν, τοῦ Ὀξυάρτου κυριεύοντος τῆς σατραπείας, ἀπέσταλτο μετὰ πεζῶν μὲν χιλίων καὶ διακοσίων, ἱππέων δὲ τετρακοσίων. Στάσανδρος δʼ ὁ τῆς Ἀρίας καὶ Δραγγινῆς σατράπης, προσειληφὼς καὶ τοὺς ἐκ τῆς Βακτριανῆς, εἶχε πεζοὺς μὲν χιλίους πεντακοσίους, ἱππεῖς δὲ χιλίους. ἐκ δὲ τῆς Ἰνδικῆς Εὔδαμος παρεγένετο μεθʼ ἱππέων μὲν πεντακοσίων, πεζῶν δὲ τριακοσίων, ἐλεφάντων δὲ ἑκατὸν εἴκοσι· τὰ δὲ θηρία ταῦτα παρέλαβε μετὰ τὴν Ἀλεξάνδρου τελευτὴν δολοφονήσας Πῶρον τὸν βασιλέα. οἱ δὲ πάντες μετὰ τῶν σατραπῶν ἠθροίσθησαν πεζοὶ μὲν πλείους τῶν μυρίων ὀκτακισχιλίων ἑπτακοσίων, ἱππεῖς δὲ τετρακισχίλιοι ἑξακόσιοι.
Pithon had been appointed satrap of Media, but when he became general of all the upper satrapies, he put to death Philotas, the former general of Parthia, and set up his own brother Eudamus in his place. At this all the other satraps joined forces, fearing that they might suffer a similar fate since Pithon was seditious and had included great undertakings in his plans. But they got the better of him in a battle, killed many of his supporters, and drove him out of Parthia. At first he withdrew to Media, but after a little he went on to Babylon, where he invited Seleucus to aid him and to share in his expectations. So, since the upper satraps had for this reason concentrated their armies in a single place, the couriers from Eumenes found the forces ready. The most eminent of the commanders and the one who by common consent had assumed command of all the forces was Peucestes, who had been a Bodyguard of Alexander and had been promoted by the king because of his courage. He had held the satrapy of Persia for many years and had gained great favour with the inhabitants. They say that for this reason Alexander permitted him alone of the Macedonians to wear the Persian raiment, wishing to please the Persians and believing that through Peucestes he could keep the nation in all respects obedient. At this time Peucestes had ten thousand Persian archers and slingers, three thousand men of every origin equipped for service in the Macedonian array, six hundred Greek and Thracian cavalry, and more than four hundred Persian horsemen. Tlepolemus the Macedonian, who had been appointed satrap of Carmania, had one thousand five hundred foot soldiers and seven hundred mounted men. Sibyrtius, the commander of Arachosia, brought a thousand foot and six hundred and ten horse. Androbazus had been dispatched from Paropanisadae, of which satrapy Oxyartes was governor, with twelve hundred infantry and four hundred cavalry. Stasander, the satrap of Aria and Drangine, who brought also the troops from Bactriane, had fifteen hundred infantry and a thousand horse. From India came Eudamus with five hundred horsemen, three hundred footmen, and one hundred and twenty elephants. These beasts he had secured after the death of Alexander by treacherously slaying King Porus. In all there were assembled with the satraps more than eighteen thousand seven hundred infantry and four thousand six hundred cavalry.
§ 19.15
ἐπεὶ δὲ παρεγενήθησαν εἰς τὴν Σουσιανὴν πρὸς τοὺς περὶ τὸν Εὐμενῆ, συνήγαγον ἐκκλησίαν κοινήν, ἐν ᾗ πολλὴν συνέβη γενέσθαι φιλοτιμίαν ὑπὲρ τῆς ἡγεμονίας. Πευκέστης μὲν γὰρ διά τε τὸ πλῆθος τῶν συναγωνιζομένων καὶ τὴν παρʼ Ἀλεξάνδρου προαγωγὴν ἑαυτὸν ᾤετο δεῖν ἔχειν τὴν τῶν πάντων ἡγεμονίαν, Ἀντιγένης δὲ τῶν ἀργυρασπίδων Μακεδόνων στρατηγῶν ἔφη δεῖν δοθῆναι τὴν ἐξουσίαν τῆς αἱρέσεως τοῖς μετʼ αὐτοῦ Μακεδόσιν, συγκαταπεπολεμηκόσιν Ἀλεξάνδρῳ τὴν Ἀσίαν καὶ γεγονόσι διὰ τὰς ἀρετὰς ἀνικήτοις. Εὐμενὴς δὲ φοβούμενος μὴ διὰ τὴν πρὸς ἀλλήλους στάσιν εὐχείρωτοι κατασταθῶσιν Ἀντιγόνῳ, συνεβούλευεν ἕνα μὲν μὴ καθιστᾶν ἡγεμόνα, πάντας δὲ τοὺς προκεκριμένους ὑπὸ τοῦ πλήθους σατράπας καὶ στρατηγοὺς εἰς τὴν βασιλικὴν αὐλὴν συνιόντας καθʼ ἡμέραν βουλεύεσθαι κοινῇ περὶ τῶν συμφερόντων· ἕστατο γὰρ Ἀλεξάνδρῳ τετελευτηκότι σκηνὴ καὶ κατὰ ταύτην θρόνος, πρὸς ᾧ θύοντες εἰώθεισαν συνεδρεύειν περὶ τῶν κατεπειγόντων. πάντων δὲ διασημαινομένων τὸ ῥηθὲν ὡς συμφέρον εἰρημένον συνῆγε καθʼ ἡμέραν συνέδριον οἷόν τινος δημοκρατουμένης πόλεως. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα παρελθόντων αὐτῶν εἰς Σοῦσα παρὰ τῶν θησαυροφυλακούντων Εὐμενὴς ἔλαβε χρημάτων πλῆθος ὅσον ἦν ἱκανὸν εἰς τὰς χρείας· μόνῳ γὰρ τούτῳ διὰ τῶν ἐπιστολῶν οἱ βασιλεῖς συνετετάχεισαν διδόναι καθʼ ὅ, τι ἂν αὐτὸς προαιρῆται. μισθοδοτήσας δὲ τοὺς Μακεδόνας εἰς ἓξ μῆνας Εὐδάμῳ τῷ τοὺς ἐλέφαντας καταγαγόντι τοὺς ἐκ τῆς Ἰνδικῆς ἔδωκε διακόσια τάλαντα, τῷ μὲν λόγῳ πρὸς τὰς τῶν θηρίων δαπάνας, τῷ δʼ ἔργῳ διὰ τῆς δωρεᾶς ταύτης θεραπεύων τὸν ἄνδρα· ᾧ γὰρ ἂν τῶν στασιαζόντων οὗτος προσθοῖτο, μεγίστην ἐποιεῖτο ῥοπήν, καταπληκτικῆς οὔσης τῆς τῶν θηρίων χρείας. τῶν δʼ ἄλλων σατραπῶν ἕκαστος ἔτρεφε τοὺς ἐκ τῆς ὑφʼ ἑαυτὸν χώρας συνηκολου- θηκότας. Εὐμενὴς μὲν οὖν ἐν τῇ Σουσιανῇ διατρίβων ἀνελάμβανε τὴν δύναμιν, Ἀντίγονος δὲ παραχειμάσας ἐν τῇ Μεσοποταμίᾳ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον διενοήθη τοὺς περὶ τὸν Εὐμενῆ διώκειν ἐκ ποδὸς πρὶν αὐξηθῆναι, ὡς δʼ ἤκουσε τοὺς σατράπας καὶ τὰς μετʼ αὐτῶν δυνάμεις συνεληλυθυίας τοῖς Μακεδόσιν, ἐπέσχε τὴν σπουδὴν καὶ τήν τε δύναμιν ἀνελάμβανε καὶ προσκατέγραφε στρατιώτας· ἑώρα γὰρ τὸν πόλεμον μεγάλων στρατοπέδων καὶ παρασκευῆς οὐ τῆς τυχούσης προσδεόμενον.
When the satraps had come into Susiane and had joined Eumenes, they called together a general assembly in which there was found to be a good deal of rivalry for the chief command. Peucestes thought that because of the number of soldiers who followed him on the campaign and because of his high rank under Alexander he ought to have the supreme command; but Antigenes, who was general of the Silver Shields, said that the right to make the selection ought to be granted to his Macedonians, since they had conquered Asia with Alexander and had been unconquered because of their valour. Eumenes, however, fearing that through their rivalry with each other they would become an easy prey for Antigonus, advised that they should not set up a single commander, but that all the satraps and generals who had been selected by the mass of the army should gather in the royal tent each day and take counsel together about what was to the common advantage. For a tent had been set up for Alexander although he was dead, and in the tent a throne, before which they were accustomed to make offerings and then to sit as a council in regard to matters that demanded attention. Since all approved his proposal as made in the general interest, he called a council each day like that of some city ruling itself on democratic principles. Later, when they arrived at Susa, Eumenes received from those in charge of the treasury a sum of money sufficient for his needs; for it was to him alone that the kings in their letter had ordered the treasurers to give whatever sum he should ask. After paying the Macedonians for six months, he gave two hundred talents to Eudamus, who had brought down the elephants from India, saying that this was for the cost of maintaining the animals, but really trying to win the favour of the man by this gift; for he would tip the scales decisively in favour of any one of the rivals to whom he might attach himself, since the employment of the beasts strikes terror. Each of the other satraps provided for the support of the troops who had followed him from the territory under his command. While Eumenes remained in Susiane refreshing his forces, Antigonus, who had wintered in Mesopotamia, at first had planned to follow Eumenes close on his heels before his strength should be increased; but on hearing that the satraps and their armies had joined the Macedonians, he checked his speed and began to refresh his forces and to enrol additional soldiers, for he perceived that the war called for large armies and for no ordinary preparation.
§ 19.16
ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις Ἄτταλος καὶ Πολέμων καὶ Δόκιμος, ἔτι δὲ Ἀντίπατρος καὶ Φιλώτας, οἱ μετὰ τῆς Ἀλκέτου δυνάμεως ἁλόντες ἡγεμόνες, ἐφυλάττοντο μὲν ἔν τινι φρουρίῳ καθʼ ὑπερβολὴν ὀχυρῷ, ἀκούσαντες δὲ τοὺς περὶ τὸν Ἀντίγονον εἰς τὰς ἄνω σατραπείας ποιεῖσθαι τὴν πορείαν, νομίζοντες εὔθετον ἔχειν καιρόν, ἔπεισάν τινας τῶν τηρούντων αὐτοὺς λῦσαι, κυριεύσαντες δὲ ὅπλων ἐπέθεντο τῇ φυλακῇ περὶ μέσας νύκτας. αὐτοὶ μὲν οὖν ὀκτὼ τὸν ἀριθμὸν ὄντες, τηρούμενοι δὲ ὑπὸ στρατιωτῶν τετρακοσίων, διαφέροντες δὲ ταῖς τόλμαις καὶ ταῖς εὐχειρίαις διὰ τὴν μετʼ Ἀλεξάνδρου στρατείαν Ξενοπείθη μὲν τὸν φρούραρχον συναρπάσαντες ὑπὲρ τὸ τεῖχος ἔρριψαν, σταδιαῖον ἐχούσης τῆς πέτρας ὕψος, τῶν δʼ ἄλλων τοὺς μὲν κατασφάξαντες, τοὺς δὲ ἐκβαλόντες ἐνεπύρισαν τὰς οἰκίας. τῶν δʼ ἔξωθεν καραδοκούντων προσελάβοντο τὸν ἀριθμὸν εἰς πεντήκοντα. τοὺ δὲ φρουρίου σίτου τε πλῆθος καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἐπιτηδείων ἔχοντος ἐβουλεύοντο πότερον χρὴ μένειν καὶ χρῆσθαι τῇ τῶν τόπων ὀχυρότητι, καραδοκοῦντας τὴν παρʼ Εὐμενοῦς βοήθειαν, ἢ φυγόντας τὴν ταχίστην ἀλᾶσθαι κατὰ τὴν χώραν, καιροτηροῦντας τὰς μεταβολάς. γιγνομένης δὲ πλείονος ἀντιλογίας Δόκιμος μὲν ἐκχωρεῖν συνεβούλευεν, οἱ δὲ περὶ τὸν Ἄτταλον οὐκ ἔφασαν δυνήσεσθαι κακοπαθεῖν διὰ τὴν ἐν τοῖς δεσμοῖς γενομένην κακουχίαν. τούτων δὲ πρὸς ἀλλήλους διισταμένων ἔφθασαν ἐκ τῶν σύνεγγυς φρουρίων συνδραμόντες στρατιῶται πεζοὶ μὲν πλείους τῶν πεντακοσίων, ἱππεῖς δὲ τετρακόσιοι, χωρὶς δὲ τούτων ἐκ τῶν ἐγχωρίων ἄλλοι παντοδαποὶ πλείους τῶν τρισχιλίων, οἳ στρατηγὸν ἐξ ἑαυτῶν καταστήσαντες περιεστρατοπέδευσαν τὸ χωρίον. παραδόξως δὲ πάλιν αὐτῶν κατακλεισθέντων Δόκιμος μὲν κατάβασίν τινα κατανοήσας ἀφύλακτον διεπρεσβεύσατο πρὸς τὴν Ἀντιγόνου γυναῖκα Στρατονίκην, οὖσαν πλησίον τῶν τόπων, καὶ δεύτερος διὰ ταύτης ἐκπηδήσας αὐτὸς μὲν οὐκ ἔτυχε πίστεως, ἀλλʼ εἰς φυλακὴν παρεδόθη, ὁ δὲ συγκαταβὰς αὐτῷ καθηγησάμενος τοῖς πολεμίοις ἀνήγαγεν εἰς τὸ χωρίον οὐκ ὀλίγους καὶ κατελάβετο μίαν τῶν ὀρθίων πετρῶν. οἱ δὲ περὶ τὸν Ἄτταλον πολὺ λειπόμενοι τοῖς πλήθεσι διὰ τὰς ἀρετὰς ἀντείχοντο καὶ καθʼ ἡμέραν ἀγωνιζόμενοι διεκαρτέρουν· πολιορκηθέντες δὲ ἐνιαυτὸν καὶ μῆνας τέσσαρας ἥλωσαν κατὰ κράτος.
While these things were happening, Attalus, Polemon, and Docimus, together with Antipater and Philotas, the commanders who had been captured along with the army of Alcetas, were being kept under guard in a certain exceedingly strong fortress; but when they heard that Antigonus was leading his expedition into the upper satrapies, believing that they had a favourable opportunity, they persuaded certain of their custodians to release them, and then, gaining possession of arms, they set upon the guard at about midnight. They themselves numbered only eight and were guarded by four hundred soldiers, but they excelled in daring and dexterity, thanks to their service with Alexander. They laid violent hands upon Xenopeithes, the captain of the garrison, and threw him from the wall at a point where the cliff was six hundred feet high; and then, after slaughtering some of the remaining guards and casting the others down, they set fire to the buildings. From those who had been standing aside to observe the outcome they increased their number to fifty. Since the stronghold held a large amount of grain and other provisions, they took counsel together whether they ought to remain and take advantage of the strength of the position, awaiting the aid to be expected from Eumenes, or should flee as quickly as possible and move about the country while waiting for a change in the situation. There was a considerable argument, for Docimus advised flight while Attalus declared that he would not be able to endure hardship because of the bad physical condition that had been caused by his imprisonment. But while they were disputing with each other, troops had already assembled from the adjacent fortresses, more than five hundred foot soldiers and four hundred horsemen; and in addition, others had come from the native peoples, men of every kind to a number exceeding three thousand, who had selected a commander from their own ranks and encamped about the stronghold. When they had unexpectedly been shut in again, Docimus, who had learned that a certain way of descent was unguarded, sent an ambassador to Antigonus' wife Stratonice, who was in the neighbourhood. When he and one companion escaped by arrangement with her, he was accorded no confidence but was handed over to a guard; and the man who had gone out with him became a guide for the enemy, conducted a considerable number of them into the stronghold, and occupied one of the peaks. Although the followers of Attalus were far outnumbered, their courage enabled them to hold their ground, and keeping up the fight day after day they resisted stubbornly; only after they had been besieged for a year and four months were they taken by assault.
§ 19.17
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησι Δημοκλείδου Ῥωμαῖοι μὲν ὑπάτους κατέστησαν Γάιον Ἰούνιον καὶ Κόιντον Αἰμίλιον, ὀλυμπιὰς δʼ ὑπῆρχεν ἕκτη πρὸς ταῖς ἑκατὸν καὶ δέκα, καθʼ ἣν ἐνίκα στάδιον Δεινομένης Λάκων. περὶ δὲ τούτους τοὺς καιροὺς Ἀντίγονος μὲν ἐκ τῆς Μεσοποταμίας ἀναζεύξας ἧκεν εἰς τὴν Βαβυλωνίαν κἀκεῖ συνέθετο κοινοπραγίαν Σελεύκῳ καὶ Πίθωνι· προσλαβόμενος δὲ καὶ παρὰ τούτων στρατιώτας ἔζευξε πλοίοις τὸν Τίγριν ποταμὸν καὶ περαιώσας τὰς δυνάμεις ὥρμησεν ἐπὶ τοὺς πολεμίους. οἱ δὲ περὶ τὸν Εὐμενῆ πυθόμενοι τὰ πεπραγμένα Ξενοφίλῳ μὲν τῷ τὴν ἐν Σούσοις ἄκραν φυλάττοντι ἐκέλευσαν μήτε τῶν χρημάτων Ἀντιγόνῳ δοῦναί τι μήτʼ εἰς λόγους ἔρχεσθαι, αὐτοὶ δὲ τὰς δυνάμεις ἀναλαβόντες ὥρμησαν ἐπὶ τὸν Τίγριν ποταμόν, ἀπέχοντα Σούσων ὁδὸν ἡμέρας, ᾗ τῆς ὀρεινῆς ἐκρεῖ τῆς ὑπὸ τῶν αὐτονόμων κατεχομένης, οὓς Οὐξίους προσαγορεύουσι, πλάτος μὲν κατὰ πολλοὺς μὲν τόπους τριῶν σταδίων, ἔστι δὲ ὅτε καὶ τεσσάρων, βάθος δὲ κατὰ μέσον τὸ ῥεῦμα πρὸς τὰ μεγέθη τῶν ἐλεφάντων, καὶ φερόμενος μὲν ἀπὸ τῆς ὀρεινῆς ἐπὶ σταδίους ἑπτακοσίους εἰς τὴν Ἐρυθρὰν ἐξερεύγεται θάλασσαν, ἔχει δὲ καὶ θαλάσσιον ἰχθὺν πολὺν καὶ θηρία τῶν πελαγίων, ἃ φαίνεται μάλιστα περὶ κυνὸς ἀνατολάς. τοῦτον δὲ τὸν ποταμὸν προβαλόμενοι καὶ πᾶσαν τὴν παραποταμίαν ἀπὸ τῶν πηγῶν ἕως τῆς θαλάσσης φυλακαῖς διαλαβόντες ἀνέμενον τὴν τῶν πολεμίων ἔφοδον. προσδεομένης δὲ τῆς φυλακῆς διὰ τὸ μῆκος στρατιωτῶν οὐκ ὀλίγων οἱ περὶ τὸν Εὐμενῆ καὶ Ἀντιγένη ἠξίωσαν τὸν Πευκέστην ἐκ τῆς Περσίδος μεταπέμψασθαι τοξότας μυρίους. ὁ δὲ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον οὐ προσεῖχεν αὐτοῖς, μεμψιμοιρῶν ἐπὶ τῷ μὴ τετευχέναι τῆς στρατηγίας, ὕστερον δὲ δοὺς αὑτῷ λόγον συνεχώρησεν ὅτι κρατήσαντος Ἀντιγόνου συμβήσεται καὶ τὴν σατραπείαν αὐτὸν ἀποβαλεῖν καὶ περὶ τοῦ σώματος κινδυνεῦσαι. ἀγωνιῶν οὖν ὑπὲρ αὑτοῦ καὶ τῆς στρατηγίας μᾶλλον τεύξεσθαι νομίζων ὡς πλείστους ἔχων στρατιώτας προσήγαγεν, καθάπερ ἠξίουν, τοξότας μυρίους. ἀπέχοντες δʼ ἔνιοι τῶν Περσῶν ὁδὸν ἡμερῶν τριάκοντα τὸ παραγγελθὲν αὐθημερὸν ἤκουον διὰ τὸ φιλοτεχνηθὲν περὶ τὰς φυλακάς· ὅπερ οὐ καλῶς ἔχει παραδραμεῖν. τῆς γὰρ Περσίδος οὔσης αὐλωνοειδοῦς καὶ σκοπὰς ἐχούσης ὑψηλὰς καὶ πυκνὰς ἐπὶ τούτων ἐφειστήκεισαν οἱ μέγιστον φθεγγόμενοι τῶν ἐγχωρίων· διῃρημένων γὰρ τῶν τόπων εἰς φωνῆς ἀκοὴν οἱ παραλαμβάνοντες τὸ παραγγελθὲν ὁμοίως ἑτέροις παρεδίδοσαν, εἶτʼ ἐκεῖνοι πάλιν ἄλλοις, ἕως εἰς τὸ τέρμα τῆς σατραπείας τὸ δοθὲν παραδοθῇ.
When Democleides was archon at Athens, the Romans elected Gaius Junius and Quintus Aemilius consuls. This was the one hundred and sixteenth celebration of the Olympic Games, at which Deinomenes the Laconian won the footrace. At this time Antigonus set out from Mesopotamia and came into Babylonia, where he made an agreement for common action with Seleucus and Pithon. He received soldiers from them also, made a pontoon bridge over the Tigris River, took his army across, and set out against the enemy. When Eumenes learned what had taken place, he ordered Xenophilus, who was guarding the citadel of Susa, not to give any of the money to Antigonus nor to have any conference with him. Eumenes himself with his forces set out for the Tigris River, which is a day's march from Susa at the place where it flows out of the mountainous country that is occupied by the unconquered tribesmen called the Uxii. Its width in many places is three stades, and in some places even four; and in the middle of the stream the depth is about the height of an elephant. After flowing along for some seven hundred stades from the mountains, it empties into the Red Sea, and it contains abundant salt-water fishes as well as sharks, which appear just about the time of the rising of the Dog-Star. Keeping this river in front of them as a protection and holding the bank from its source to the sea with pickets, they awaited the onset of the enemy. Since this guard because of its length required no small number of soldiers, Eumenes and Antigenes requested Peucestes to summon ten thousand bowmen from Persia. At first he paid no heed to them, since he still bore a grudge for not having received the generalship; but later, reasoning with himself, he admitted that should Antigonus be victorious the result would be that he himself would lose his satrapy and also be in danger of his life. In his anxiety, therefore, about himself, and thinking also that he would be more likely to gain the command if he had as many soldiers as possible, he brought up ten thousand bowmen as they requested. Although some of the Persians were distant a thirty days' journey, they all received the order on that very day, thanks to the skilful arrangement of the posts of the guard, a matter that it is not well to pass over in silence. Persia is cut by many narrow valleys and has many lookout posts that are high and close together, on which those of the inhabitants who had the loudest voices had been stationed. Since these posts were separated from each other by the distance at which a man's voice can be heard, those who received the order passed it on in the same way to the next, and then these in turn to others until the message had been delivered at the border of the satrapy.
§ 19.18
τῶν δὲ περὶ τὸν Εὐμενῆ καὶ Πευκέστην ταῦτα διοικούντων Ἀντίγονος, ἐπειδὴ προάγων μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως ἧκεν εἰς Σοῦσα τὸ βασίλειον, Σέλευκον μὲν ἀπέδειξε τῆς χώρας σατράπην καὶ δοὺς αὐτῷ στρατιώτας προσέταξε πολιορκεῖν τὴν ἄκραν ἀπειθοῦντος δὲ Ξενοφίλου τοῦ θησαυροφύλακος, αὐτὸς δὲ μετὰ τῆς στρατιᾶς ἀνέζευξεν ἐπὶ τοὺς πολεμίους, οὔσης τῆς ὁδοῦ καυματώδους καὶ παντελῶς ἐπικινδύνου ξενικαῖς δυνάμεσι διελθεῖν. διὸ καὶ τὰς πορείας ἠναγκάζοντο νυκτὸς ποιεῖσθαι καὶ στρατοπεδεύεσθαι περὶ τὸν ποταμὸν πρὶν ἥλιον ἀνατέλλειν. οὐ μὴν ἠδυνήθη γε κατὰ πάντα ἄθικτος γενέσθαι τῶν κατὰ τὴν χώραν κακῶν, ἀλλὰ καίπερ ἐνδεχομένως ἅπαντα πράξας συχνοὺς ἀπέβαλε τῶν στρατιωτῶν διὰ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τοῦ καύματος, ἅτε καὶ τῆς ὥρας οὔσης περὶ κυνὸς ἀνατολάς. ἐπεὶ δὲ παρεγενήθη πρὸς τὸν Κοπράτην ποταμόν, τὰ πρὸς τὴν διάβασιν παρεσκευάζετο. οὗτος δὲ ἔκ τινος ὀρεινῆς ῥέων ἐξέπιπτεν εἰς τὸν Πασιτίγριν, ὃς ἀπεῖχε τῆς Εὐμενοῦς στρατοπεδείας σταδίους ὀγδοήκοντα καὶ τὸ μὲν πλάτος εἶχεν ὡς ἂν τεσσάρων πλέθρων, ὀξὺς δὲ ὢν ἐν τῇ καταφορᾷ προσεδεῖτο πλοίων ἢ ζεύγματος. καταλαβὼν δʼ ὀλίγα πλοῖα κοντωτὰ διεβίβασεν ἐν τούτοις τινὰς τῶν πεζῶν, προστάξας τάφρον ὀρύττειν καὶ χάρακα βαλομένους ὑποδέχεσθαι τὴν λοιπὴν δύναμιν. Εὐμενὴς δὲ πυθόμενος παρὰ τῶν κατασκόπων τὴν ἐπιβολὴν τῶν πολεμίων, διαβὰς τὸ ζεῦγμα τοῦ Τίγριδος μετὰ στρατιωτῶν μὲν πεζῶν τετρακισχιλίων, ἱππέων δὲ χιλίων τριακοσίων κατέλαβε διαβεβηκότας τῶν Ἀντιγόνου πεζοὺς μὲν πλείους τῶν τρισχιλίων, ἱππεῖς δὲ τετρακοσίους καὶ τῶν εἰωθότων σποράδην διαβαίνειν ἐπὶ τὰς προνομὰς οὐκ ἐλάττους ἑξακισχιλίων. ἄφνω δὲ προσπεσὼν τεθορυβημένοις τοὺς μὲν ἄλλους εὐθὺς ἐτρέψατο, τῶν δὲ Μακεδόνων τοὺς ὑποστάντας τῇ βίᾳ καὶ τῷ πλήθει κατισχύσας φυγεῖν εἰς τὸν ποταμὸν πάντας κατηνάγκασε. πάντων δὲ ὁρμησάντων ἐπὶ τὰ πλοῖα ταῦτα μὲν ὑπὸ τοῦ πλήθους τῶν ἐπιβάντων κατεποντίσθη, τῶν δὲ διανήχεσθαι τολμησάντων οἱ πλεῖστοι μὲν ὑπὸ τοῦ ῥεύματος παρενεχθέντες διεφθάρησαν, ὀλίγοι δὲ διεσώθησαν. οἱ δὲ ἄπειροι τοῦ κολυμβᾶν ὄντες τὴν αἰχμαλωσίαν τῆς ἐν τῷ ποταμῷ τελευτῆς προκρίναντες ἥλωσαν, εἰς τετρακισχιλίους ὄντες. Ἀντίγονος δὲ θεωρῶν τοσοῦτο πλῆθος ἀπολλύμενον βοηθῆσαι μὲν οὐκ ἴσχυσε διὰ
While Eumenes and Peucestes were engaged in these matters, Antigonus advanced with his army and came to Susa, the capital. He appointed Seleucus satrap of that country, gave him troops, and ordered him to lay siege to the citadel, since the treasurer, Xenophilus, refused to accept his orders. He himself with his army broke camp and set out against the enemy although the road was very hot and very dangerous for a foreign army to traverse. For this reason they were forced to march at night and make camp near the river before sunrise. Nevertheless, he was not able to escape altogether untouched by the hardships characteristic of the country; although he did everything in his power, he lost a large number of men because of the extreme heat, for it was in fact the season when the Dog-Star rises. When he reached the Coprates River, he began to make preparations for crossing. This river, running from a certain mountainous region, enters the Pasitigris, which was at a distance of about eighty stades from Eumenes' camp. It is about four plethra in width, but since it is swift in current, it required boats or a bridge. Seizing a few punts, he sent some of the infantry across in them, ordering them to dig a moat and build a palisade in front of it, and to receive the rest of the army. But as soon as Eumenes heard from scouts of the enemy's move, he crossed the pontoon bridge over the Tigris with four thousand foot soldiers and thirteen hundred horsemen and surprised the soldiers of Antigonus who had crossed — more than three thousand foot soldiers, four hundred cavalry, and not less than six thousand of those soldiers who were in the habit of crossing in scattered groups in search of forage. Falling suddenly upon them while they were in disorder, Eumenes routed the rest of them at once, and those of the Macedonians who resisted he overcame by his onset and by weight of numbers and compelled them all to flee to the river. They all rushed to the boats, but these were submerged by the great number of the men who embarked, and most of those who ventured to swim were carried away by the current and drowned, only a few getting safely over. Those who did not know how to swim, preferring captivity to death in the river, were taken prisoners to the number of four thousand. Antigonus, although he saw that great number being destroyed, could not go to their aid on account of his lack of boats.
§ 19.19
τὴν τῶν πλοίων σπάνιν, ἀδύνατον δὲ εἶναι νομίζων τὴν διάβασιν ἀνέζευξεν ἐπὶ πόλεως Βαδάκης, ἣ κεῖται παρὰ τὸν Εὔλαιον ποταμόν. οὔσης δὲ τῆς ὁδοιπορίας ἐμπύρου διὰ τὸ μέγεθος τῶν καυμάτων διεφθάρη τε πολλὰ σώματα καὶ τὸ στρατόπεδον εἰς ἀθυμίαν ἐνέπεσεν. οὐ μὴν ἀλλʼ ἐν τῇ προειρημένῃ πόλει μείνας ἡμέρας τινὰς καὶ τὸ στρατόπεδον ἐκ τῆς κακοπαθείας ἀναλαβὼν ἔκρινε συμφέρειν ἀναζευγνύειν εἰς Ἐκβάτανα τῆς Μηδικῆς κἀκεῖθεν ὁρμώμενος κατακτᾶσθαι τὰς ἄνω σατραπείας. οὐσῶν δʼ ὁδῶν δύο τῶν φερουσῶν εἰς Μηδίαν ἑκατέρᾳ προσῆν τι δυσχερές· ἡ μὲν γὰρ ἐπὶ Κόλωνος ὑπῆρχε καλὴ καὶ βασιλική, καυματώδης δὲ καὶ μακρά, παρεκτείνουσα σχεδὸν ἐφʼ ἡμέρας τεσσαράκοντα, ἡ δὲ διὰ τῶν Κοσσαίων ἐθνῶν χαλεπὴ μὲν καὶ στενὴ καὶ παράκρημνος καὶ διὰ πολεμίας, ἔτι δὲ τῶν ἀναγκαίων σπανίζουσα, σύντομος δὲ καὶ κατεψυγμένη. οὐ ῥᾴδιον δʼ ἐστὶ ταύτην παρελθεῖν στρατόπεδον ἄνευ τοῦ πεῖσαι τοὺς τὴν ὀρεινὴν οἰκοῦντας βαρβάρους· αὐτόνομοι γὰρ ὄντες ἐκ παλαιῶν χρόνων κατοικοῦσιν ἐν σπηλαίοις, προσφέρονται δὲ βαλάνους καὶ μύκητας, ἔτι δὲ τεταριχευμένα κρέα τῶν ἀγρίων ζῴων. τούτους Ἀντίγονος πεῖσαι μὲν ἢ δωροδοκεῖν ἀγεννὲς ἡγεῖτο, τηλικαύτης αὐτῷ δυνάμεως συνακολουθούσης, προχειρισάμενος δὲ τῶν πελταστῶν τοὺς ἐπισημοτάτους καὶ τοὺς τοξότας καὶ τοὺς σφενδονήτας καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους ψιλοὺς εἰς δύο μέρη διελόμενος τοὺς μὲν Νεάρχῳ παρέδωκε, προστάξας προάγειν καὶ τὰ στενὰ καὶ τὰς δυσχωρίας προκαταλαμβάνεσθαι, τοὺς δὲ ἄλλους παρʼ ὅλην τὴν ὁδὸν τάξας αὐτὸς μὲν μετὰ τῆς φάλαγγος προῆγεν, ἐπὶ δὲ τῆς οὐραγίας ἔταξε Πίθωνα. οἱ μὲν οὖν μετὰ Νεάρχου προαποσταλέντες ὀλίγας μὲν σκοπὰς προκατελάβοντο, τῶν δὲ πολλῶν καὶ μάλιστα ἀναγκαίων τόπων ὑστερήσαντες συχνοὺς ἀπέβαλον καὶ μόλις διεξέπεσαν ἐπικειμένων τῶν βαρβάρων. οἱ δὲ περὶ τὸν Ἀντίγονον ἐπειδή ποθʼ ἧκον ἐπὶ τὰς δυσχωρίας, ἀβοηθήτοις κινδύνοις περιέπιπτον. οἱ γὰρ ἐγχώριοι τῶν τόπων ἔμπειροι καθεστῶτες καὶ τοὺς κρημνοὺς προκατειληφότες ἐπεκύλιον τοῖς ὁδοιποροῦσι πέτρας συνεχεῖς καὶ μεγάλας· ἅμα δὲ καὶ τοῖς τόξοις πυκνοῖς χρώμενοι κατετίτρωσκον τοὺς μήτε ἀμύνασθαι μήτʼ ἐκκλῖναι τὰ βέλη δυναμένους διὰ τὴν δυσχωρίαν τῶν τόπων. κρημνώδους δʼ οὔσης καὶ δυσβάτου τῆς ὁδοῦ συνέβαινε τούς τε ἐλέφαντας καὶ τοὺς ἱππεῖς, ἔτι δὲ τοὺς ἐν τοῖς βαρέσιν ὅπλοις κινδυνεύειν ἅμα καὶ πονεῖν, ἀδυνατοῦντας ἑαυτοῖς βοηθῆσαι. εἰς τοιαύτην δʼ ἀμηχανίαν συγκλεισθεὶς Ἀντίγονος μετεμέλετο μὲν ἐπὶ τῷ μὴ πεισθῆναι τοῖς περὶ Πίθωνα, συμβουλεύουσι χρημάτων πρίασθαι τὴν πάροδον· οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ πολλοὺς ἀποβαλὼν καὶ τοῖς ὅλοις κινδυνεύσας διεσώθη μόγις ἐνναταῖος εἰς τὴν οἰκουμένην τῆς Μηδίας.
Believing that the crossing was impossible, Antigonus set out toward the city of Badace, which is situated on the bank of the Eulaeus River. Since the march was scorching hot because of the intensity of the sun's rays, many soldiers perished, and the army became discouraged. Nevertheless, after staying in the above mentioned city for a few days and letting the army recover from its sufferings, he decided that the best course was to march to Ecbatana in Media and with that as a base to gain control of the upper satrapies. There were two roads leading into Media, each having a disadvantage: the road leading to Colon was a good royal highway, but it was hot and long, extending for almost forty days' march; while the other, which passed through the Cossaean tribes, was difficult and narrow, skirting precipices and passing through enemy territory, and moreover lacking in supplies, but it was short and cool. It is not easy for an army to follow this route without having gained the consent of the tribesmen who inhabited the mountain ranges. These men, who have been independent from ancient times, live in caves, eating acorns and mushrooms, and also the smoked flesh of wild beasts. Since Antigonus regarded it as beneath his dignity to use persuasion on these people or to make them presents when he had so great an army following him, he selected the finest of the peltasts and divided the bowmen, the slingers, and the other light-armed troops into two bodies, one of which he gave to Nearchus, ordering him to go on ahead and occupy in advance the places that were narrow and difficult. After arranging the other group along the entire line of march, he himself advanced with the phalanx, putting Pithon in command of the rear guard. Now Nearchus' detachment going on ahead occupied a few of the lookouts; but since they were too late in the case of most of them and those the most important, they lost many men and barely made their way through with the barbarians pressing hard upon them. As for the troops led by Antigonus, whenever they came to these difficult passes, they fell into dangers in which no aid could reach them. For the natives, who were familiar with the region and had occupied the heights in advance, kept rolling great rocks in quick succession upon the marching troops; and at the same time, sending arrows thick and fast, they wounded men who were able neither to turn aside the missiles nor to avoid them because of the difficulties of the terrain. Since the road was precipitous and nearly impassable, the elephants, the cavalry, and even the heavy armed soldiers found themselves forced at the same time to face death and to toil hard, without being able to help themselves. Caught in such toils, Antigonus regretted that he had not heeded Pithon when he advised him to purchase the right of passage with money; nevertheless, after losing many men and endangering the entire undertaking, he came with difficulty on the ninth day safe into the settled part of Media.
§ 19.20
τὸ δὲ στρατόπεδον διὰ τὴν συνέχειαν τῶν κακῶν καὶ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῆς κακοπαθίας ἐν αἰτίαις εἶχε τὸν Ἀντίγονον, ὥστε φωνὰς προΐεσθαι δυσχερεῖς· ἐν ἡμέραις γὰρ τεσσαράκοντα τρισὶ μεγάλοις ἀτυχήμασι περιεπεπτώκεισαν. οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ φιλανθρώπως ὁμιλήσας τοῖς στρατιώταις ὁ Ἀντίγονος καὶ κατασκευασάμενος δαψιλῆ χορηγίαν πάντων τῶν ἐπιτηδείων ἀνέλαβε τὴν δύναμιν ἐκ τῆς κακοπαθίας. Πίθωνα δʼ ἐξαπέστειλε κελεύσας περιελθεῖν πᾶσαν τὴν Μηδίαν καὶ συνάγειν ὡς πλείστους ἱππεῖς τε καὶ πολεμιστὰς ἵππους, ἔτι δὲ ὑποζυγίων πλῆθος. τῆς δὲ χώρας ταύτης ἀεὶ τετραπόδων γεμούσης ῥᾳδίως τὸ παραγγελθὲν συντελέσας ὁ Πίθων ἧκεν ἄγων ἱππεῖς μὲν δισχιλίους, ἵππους δὲ σὺν ταῖς κατασκευαῖς πλείους χιλίων, τῶν δʼ ὑποζυγίων τοσοῦτον ἀριθμὸν ὥστε δύνασθαι καθοπλίσαι πᾶν τὸ στρατόπεδον, καὶ προσέτι τάλαντα πεντακόσια τῶν βασιλικῶν χρημάτων. ὁ δʼ Ἀντίγονος τοὺς μὲν ἱππεῖς εἰς τάξεις κατέστησε, τοὺς δʼ ἵππους τοῖς ἀπολωλεκόσι διαδοὺς καὶ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν ὑποζυγίων διαχαρισάμενος ἀνεκτήσατο τὴν παρὰ τῶν στρατιωτῶν εὔνοιαν.
The soldiers of Antigonus, however, because of the continuous misfortunes and their own extreme misery, became so critical of him that they let fall hostile remarks; for in forty days they had met with three great disasters. Nevertheless, by mingling with the soldiers on friendly terms and by making ready an abundant supply of all provisions, he restored the army from its miserable state. He sent Pithon out, ordering him to go through all Media and gather as many horsemen and war horses as he could, and also a quantity of baggage animals. As that land always abounds in four-footed beasts, Pithon readily accomplished his mission and returned bringing two thousand horsemen, more than a thousand horses with their trappings, a sufficient number of beasts of burden to equip the entire army, and in addition to this, five hundred talents of the royal treasure. Antigonus organized the horsemen in troops, and by giving horses to men who had lost their own and by distributing most of the pack animals as presents, he regained the goodwill of the soldiers.
§ 19.21
οἱ δὲ περὶ τὸν Εὐμενῆ σατράπαι καὶ στρατηγοὶ πυθόμενοι τοὺς πολεμίους ἐν τῇ Μηδίᾳ στρατοπεδεύειν, διέστησαν πρὸς ἀλλήλους. Εὐμενὴς μὲν γὰρ καὶ Ἀντιγένης ὁ τῶν ἀργυρασπίδων ἡγούμενος καὶ πάντες οἱ τὴν ἀπὸ θαλάσσης ἀνάβασιν πεποιημένοι πάλιν ᾤοντο δεῖν ἐπὶ θάλατταν καταβαίνειν, οἱ δʼ ἐκ τῶν ἄνω σατραπειῶν καταβεβηκότες ἀγωνιῶντες ὑπὲρ τῶν ἰδίων ἔφασαν δεῖν ἀντέχεσθαι τῶν ἄνω τόπων. αὐξομένης δὲ τῆς διαφορᾶς Εὐμενὴς ὁρῶν ὅτι διαιρεθέντος τοῦ στρατοπέδου κατʼ ἰδίαν ἑκάτερον τῶν μερῶν οὐκ ἀξιόμαχόν ἐστι, συνεχώρησε τοῖς καταβεβηκόσι σατράπαις. ἀναζεύξαντες οὖν ἀπὸ τοῦ Πασιτίγριος προῆγον τῆς Περσίδος εἰς Περσέπολιν τὸ βασίλειον, οὔσης τῆς ὁδοιπορίας ἡμερῶν εἴκοσι καὶ τεσσάρων, ἧς ἦν ἡ πρώτη μὲν ἕως τῆς καλουμένης Κλίμακος κοίλη, καυματώδης δὲ καὶ σπανίζουσα τῶν ἐπιτηδείων, ἡ λοιπὴ δὲ μετέωρος καὶ τὸν ἀέρα παντελῶς ὑγιεινὸν ἔχουσα καὶ πλήρης τῶν ἐπετείων καρπῶν· αὐλῶνάς τε γὰρ εἶχε πυκνοὺς καὶ συσκίους καὶ παραδείσων φυτείας ποικίλας, ἔτι δὲ παντοδαπῶν δένδρων φυσικὰς συναγκίας καὶ ῥύσεις ὑδάτων, ὥστε τοὺς ὁδοιποροῦντας μετὰ πολλῆς τέρψεως ἐνδιατρίβειν τόποις ἡδίστοις πρὸς ἀνάπαυσιν. ἦν δὲ καὶ λείας παντοδαπῆς πλῆθος, ἣν μεταπεμπόμενος Πευκέστης παρὰ τῶν ἐγχωρίων διεδίδου δαψιλῆ τοῖς στρατιώταις, ἐκκαλούμενος αὐτῶν τὴν εὔνοιαν. κατοικοῦσι δὲ ταύτην τὴν χώραν τῶν Περσῶν οἱ μαχιμώτατοι, πάντες ὄντες τοξόται καὶ σφενδονῆται, πολυανθρωπίᾳ τε πολὺ διαφέρειν συμβαίνει τὴν χώραν ταύτην τῶν ἄλλων σατραπειῶν.
When the satraps and generals with Eumenes learned that the enemy was encamped in Media, they disagreed among themselves; for Eumenes, Antigenes, who commanded the Silver Shields, and all those who had made the march up from the sea, believed that they should go back to the coast; but those who had come down from the satrapies, anxious about their own private affairs, asserted that it was essential to maintain control of the upper country. As the disagreement became more violent, Eumenes, seeing that if the army should be divided neither part would be capable of fighting by itself, deferred to the wishes of the satraps who had come from the interior. Leaving the Pasitigris, accordingly, they proceeded to Persepolis, the capital of Persia, a march of twenty-four days. The first part of the road as far as the so called Ladder was through an enclosed valley, torrid and lacking in provisions, but the rest was over high land, blessed with a very healthful climate and full of the fruits appropriate to the season. For there were glens heavily overgrown and shady, cultivated trees of various kinds in parks, also natural converging glades full of trees of every sort and streams of water, so that travellers lingered with delight in places pleasantly inviting repose. Also there was an abundance of cattle of every kind, which Peucestes gathered together from the inhabitants and distributed without stint to the soldiers, seeking their goodwill. But those who inhabited this country were the most warlike of the Persians, every man being a bowman and a slinger, and in density of population, too, this country far surpassed the other satrapies.
§ 19.22
ὡς δέ ποθʼ ἧκον εἰς Περσέπολιν τὸ βασίλειον, Πευκέστης μὲν, ὢν ταύτης τῆς χώρας στρατηγός, θυσίαν ἐπετέλεσε μεγαλοπρεπῆ τοῖς θεοῖς καὶ Ἀλεξάνδρῳ καὶ Φιλίππῳ, μεταπεμψάμενος δὲ ἐξ ὅλης σχεδὸν τῆς Περσίδος ἱερείων καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν εἰς εὐωχίαν καὶ πανήγυριν χρησίμων πλῆθος εἱστίασε τὴν δύναμιν. ἐπλήρωσε δὲ τῆς τῶν πανηγυριζόντων θυσίας κύκλους τέσσαρας ἐντὸς ἀλλήλων ὄντας καὶ περιεχομένους ὑφʼ ἑνὸς τοῦ μεγίστου· εἶναι δὲ συνέβαινε τοῦ μὲν ἐκτὸς τὴν περίμετρον δέκα σταδίων, ἣν ἀνεπλήρουν οἵ τε μισθοφόροι καὶ συμμάχων τὸ πλῆθος, τοῦ δὲ δευτέρου σταδίων ὀκτώ, καθʼ ὃν ὑπῆρχον οἵ τε ἀργυράσπιδες Μακεδόνες καὶ τῶν ἑταίρων οἱ μετʼ Ἀλεξάνδρου στρατεύσαντες, τοῦ δʼ ἑξῆς τὴν μὲν περιφέρειαν σταδίων τεσσάρων, τὸν δὲ τόπον ἀναπληροῦσθαι κατακειμένων τῶν τε δευτέρων ἡγεμόνων καὶ τῶν ἔξω τάξεως καὶ φίλων καὶ στρατηγῶν καὶ τῶν ἱππέων· τοῦ δʼ ἐπὶ πᾶσιν, ὄντος δυεῖν σταδίων, διειλήφεισαν τὰς κλισίας οἵ τε στρατηγοὶ καὶ οἱ τὰς ἱππαρχίας ἔχοντες, ἔτι δὲ τῶν Περσῶν οἱ μάλιστα τιμώμενοι. ἐν μέσῳ δὲ τούτων ὑπῆρχον βωμοὶ θεῶν καὶ Ἀλεξάνδρου καὶ Φιλίππου. καὶ τὰς μὲν κλισίας συνέβαινεν ἐκ φυλλάδος κατεσκευάσθαι, κεκαλυμμένας αὐλαίαις καὶ παντοδαποῖς περιστρώμασι, χορηγούσης τῆς Περσίδος δαψιλῆ πάντα τὰ πρὸς τρυφὴν καὶ ἀπόλαυσιν, διεστηκέναι δὲ τοὺς κύκλους ἀπʼ ἀλλήλων ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον ὥστε μηδὲν μὲν παρενοχλεῖσθαι τοὺς ἑστιωμένους,
When they had arrived in Persepolis, the capital, Peucestes, who was general of this land, performed a magnificent sacrifice to the gods and to Alexander and Philip; and, after gathering from almost the whole of Persia a multitude of sacrificial animals and of whatever else was needed for festivities and religious gatherings, he gave a feast to the army. With the company of those participating he filled four circles, one within the other, with the largest circle inclosing the others. The circuit of the outer ring was of ten stades and was filled with the mercenaries and the mass of the allies; the circuit of the second was of eight stades, and in it were the Macedonian Silver Shields and those of the Companions who had fought under Alexander; the circuit of the next was of four stades and its area was filled with reclining men — the commanders of lower rank, the friends and generals who were unassigned, and the cavalry; lastly in the inner circle with a perimeter of two stades each of the generals and hipparchs and also each of the Persians who was most highly honoured occupied his own couch. In the middle of these there were altars for the gods and for Alexander and Philip. The couches were formed of heaps of leaves covered by hangings and rugs of every kind, since Persia furnished in plenty everything needed for luxury and enjoyment; and the circles were sufficiently separated from each other so that the banqueters should not be crowded and that all the provisions should be near at hand.
§ 19.23
πλησίον δʼ εἶναι πάσας τὰς παρασκευάς. πάντων δὲ κατὰ τρόπον ὑπηρετουμένων ἐπεσημαίνετο τὸ πλῆθος τὴν τοῦ Πευκέστου προθυμίαν καὶ φανερὸς ἦν ἐπιδεδωκὼς πολὺ πρὸς εὔνοιαν. ἃ δὴ θεωρῶν Εὐμενὴς καὶ συλλογιζόμενος τὸν Πευκέστην πολιτεύεσθαι πρὸς τὸ πλῆθος τῆς στρατηγίας ὀρεγόμενον, ἐπλάσατο ψευδεῖς ἐπιστολάς, διὰ δὲ τούτων τούς τε στρατιώτας εὐθαρσεῖς πρὸς τὰς μάχας κατεσκεύασεν καὶ τοῦ Πευκέστου τὸν ὄγκον καὶ τὸ πρόσχημα ταπεινώσας ἑαυτὸν εἰς ὕψος ἤγαγε καὶ προσδοκίαν ἐλπίδων ἀγαθῶν παρὰ τοῖς πλήθεσιν. ἦν δʼ ὁ νοῦς τῶν γεγραμμένων ὅτι τὸ μὲν Ἀλεξάνδρου παιδίον Ὀλυμπιὰς παραλαβοῦσα κεκόμισται καὶ τὴν Μακεδονίας βασιλείαν κυρίως, ἀναιρεθέντος Κασάνδρου, Πολυπέρχων δὲ διαβέβηκεν εἰς Ἀσίαν πρὸς Ἀντίγονον ἔχων τῆς βασιλικῆς δυνάμεως τὴν κρατίστην καὶ τοὺς ἐλέφαντας, ἔστι δὲ προσάγων ἤδη περὶ Καππαδοκίαν. ἡ δʼ ἐπιστολὴ Συρίοις γεγραμμένη γράμμασιν ἀπέσταλτο παρὰ Ὀρόντου τοῦ σατραπείαν μὲν ἔχοντος Ἀρμενίας, φίλου δὲ ὄντος Πευκέστῃ. πιστευθείσης δὲ τῆς ἐπιστολῆς διὰ τὴν συνήθειαν τὴν προϋπάρχουσαν τοῖς σατράπαις ὁ μὲν Εὐμενὴς ἐκέλευσε περιενεγκεῖν καὶ δεῖξαι τοῖς τε ἡγεμόσι καὶ τῶν ἄλλων στρατιωτῶν τοῖς πλείστοις, τὸ δὲ στρατόπεδον ἅπαν μετετέθη ταῖς διανοίαις καὶ πάντες ἀπέβλεπον πρὸς τὰς Εὐμενοῦς ἐλπίδας, ὡς τούτου δυνησομένου καὶ προάγειν διὰ τῶν βασιλέων οὓς ἂν βούληται καὶ δίκας λαβεῖν παρὰ τῶν ἀδικούντων. μετὰ δὲ τὴν εὐωχίαν Εὐμενὴς βουλόμενος καταπλήξασθαι τοὺς ἀπειθοῦντας ἢ στρατηγίας ὀρεγομένους παρήγαγεν εἰς κρίσιν Σιβύρτιον, ὃς ἦν τῆς μὲν Ἀραχωσίας σατράπης, Πευκέστου δὲ μάλιστα φίλος, ἔλαθε δὲ αὐτὸν τῶν ἱππέων τινὰς ἀποστείλας εἰς Ἀραχώτας· καὶ τὰς ἀποσκευὰς κελεύσας παρελέσθαι εἰς τηλικούτους περιέστησε κινδύνους ὥστε, εἰ μὴ λαθὼν διέδρα,
While all were being duly served, the crowd applauded the generosity of Peucestes, and it was clear that he had made a great advance in popularity. But Eumenes, seeing this and reasoning that Peucestes was playing up to the crowd in furtherance of his desire for the chief command, had fabricated a false letter, through which he made the soldiers confident of the outcome of the battles and, by lowering the pomp and circumstance of Peucestes, improved his own standing and increased his prospects of success in the eyes of the crowd. The purport of what he had written was that Olympias, associating Alexander's son with herself, had recovered firm control of the kingdom of Macedonia after slaying Cassander, and that Polyperchon had crossed into Asia against Antigonus with the strongest part of the royal army and the elephants and was already advancing in the neighbourhood of Cappadocia. The letter, written in the Syrian writing, was sent from Orontes, who held the satrapy of Armenia and who was a friend of Peucestes. Since the letter was believed because of the previous friendship between the satraps, Eumenes ordered it to be carried around and shown to the commanders and also to most of the other soldiers. The sentiment of the entire encampment was changed and all began to turn their attention to Eumenes' prospects in the belief that he would be able by help of the kings both to promote whomever he wished and to exact punishment from those who wronged him. After the feast Eumenes, in his desire to overawe those who did not obey him or who craved a command, brought to trial Sibyrtius, who was satrap of Arachosia and a very close friend of Peucestes. Without Sibyrtius' knowledge, Eumenes sent some horsemen into Arachosia, and by ordering the seizure of his baggage, he brought him into such danger that, if he had not escaped secretly, he would have been condemned to death by the assembly.
§ 19.24
θανάτῳ περιέπεσεν ἂν ὑπὸ τοῦ πλήθους. τούτῳ δὲ τῷ τρόπῳ τοὺς μὲν ἄλλους καταπληξάμενος, ἑαυτῷ δʼ ὄγκον καὶ πρόσχημα μέγα περιποιήσας μετεβάλετο πάλιν καὶ τὸν Πευκέστην λόγοις φιλανθρώποις καὶ μεγάλαις ἐπαγγελίαις προσαγαγόμενος εὔνουν ἐαυτῷ καὶ πρόθυμον κατεσκεύασεν εἰς τὸ τοῖς βασιλεῦσι συναγωνίζεσθαι. σπεύδων δὲ καὶ παρὰ τῶν ἄλλων σατραπῶν καὶ στρατηγῶν ὥσπερ ὅμηρα λαβεῖν τοῦ μὴ καταλείψειν αὐτόν, προσεποιήθη χρημάτων σπανίζειν καὶ παρεκάλεσεν ἕκαστον κατὰ δύναμιν δανεῖσαι τοῖς βασιλεῦσι. λαβὼν δὲ παρʼ ὧν ἐδόκει συμφέρειν ἡγεμόνων τετρακόσια τάλαντα τοὺς πρότερον ὑπόπτους ὄντας ἐπιβουλεύειν ἢ καταλείψειν πιστοτάτους φύλακας ἔσχε τοῦ σώματος καὶ συναγωνιστάς. οὕτως δὲ αὐτοῦ περὶ τούτων πρὸς τὸ μέλλον στρατηγοῦντος ἧκόν τινες ἐκ Μηδίας ἀπαγγέλλοντες ὅτι μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως Ἀντίγονος τὴν ἀνάζευξιν ἐπὶ τῆς Περσίδος εἴη πεποιημένος. ἃ δὴ πυθόμενος καὶ αὐτὸς ἀνέζευξε, διεγνωκὼς ἀπαντᾶν τοῖς πολεμίοις καὶ διακινδυνεύειν. κατὰ δὲ τὴν ὁδοιπορίαν δευτεραῖος θυσίαν ἐπετέλεσε τοῖς θεοῖς καὶ τὴν δύναμιν εὐωχήσας πολυτελῶς τὰ μὲν πλήθη πρὸς εὔνοιαν προεκαλέσατο, αὐτὸς δὲ κατὰ τὴν μέθην συμπεριενεχθεὶς τῶν παραληφθέντων τοῖς εἰς τὸ πίνειν ὁρμήσασιν ἐνέπεσεν εἰς ἀρρωστίαν. διόπερ ἡμέρας τινὰς ἐπέσχε τῆς πορείας, καταβαρούμενος ὑπὸ τοῦ πάθους· ἡ δὲ δύναμις ἐν ἀθυμίᾳ καθειστήκει, τῶν μὲν πολεμίων προσδοκωμένων ταχέως συνάψειν, τοῦ δʼ ἱκανωτάτου τῶν στρατηγῶν ὑπὸ τῆς νόσου πιεζουμένου. οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ τοῦ πάθους κριθέντος ἐπειδὴ βραχέως αὑτὸν προσανέλαβε, προῆγε μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως ἀφηγουμένου Πευκέστου καὶ Ἀντιγένους, αὐτὸς δὲ φορίῳ κομιζόμενος ἐπηκολούθει τοῖς οὐραγοῦσιν, ὅπως μὴ διὰ τὸν θόρυβον καὶ τὴν στενοχωρίαν παρενοχλοῖτο.
After Eumenes had frightened the others in this manner and had surrounded himself with pomp and circumstance, he changed once more and, having won Peucestes over with kind words and great promises, rendered him loyal toward himself and eager to join in the struggle in behalf of the kings. Desiring to exact from the other satraps and generals hostages, as it were, to prevent their deserting him, he pretended to be in need of money and called on each of them to lend all the money he could to the kings. By taking four hundred talents from those leaders from whom he considered it expedient, he converted men whom he had formerly suspected of plotting against him or of intending to abandon him into most faithful guards of his person and partners in the contest. While Eumenes was making these strategic moves with an eye to the future, there came men from Media with information that Antigonus and his army had broken camp and set out for Persia. When he heard this, he also set out, having made up his mind to meet the enemy and risk the issue. On the second day of the journey he performed a sacrifice to the gods and entertained the army sumptuously; the large majority he had indeed encouraged to loyalty, but he himself during the drinking bout was led on by those of the invited guests who were eagerly engaged in drinking, and he became ill. For this reason he delayed the march for some days, since he was overcome by his ailment; and the army was disheartened, for the enemy were expected to engage them shortly and the ablest of their generals was handicapped by his illness. Nevertheless, when the attack had passed its crisis and he had recovered a little, Eumenes advanced with the army, which Peucestes and Antigenes were leading, while he himself, carried in a litter, followed the rearguard so that he might not be disturbed by the confusion and the congestion of the road.
§ 19.25
ὡς δʼ ἡμέρας ὁδὸν ἀπέσχον ἀπʼ ἀλλήλων τὰ στρατόπεδα, κατασκόπους ἔπεμψαν ἀμφότεροι καὶ μαθόντες τὰ πλήθη καὶ τὰς προαιρέσεις τῶν πολεμίων παρεσκευάσαντο μὲν πρὸς τὸν κίνδυνον, διελύθησαν δὲ χωρὶς μάχης· προβεβλημένοι γὰρ ἀμφότεροι ποταμόν τινα καὶ χαράδραν ἐξέταξαν μὲν τὰς δυνάμεις, διὰ δὲ τὰς τῶν τόπων δυσχωρίας οὐκ ἠδυνήθησαν διαγωνίσασθαι. καταστρατοπεδεύσαντες δʼ ἀλλήλων ἀπὸ σταδίων τριῶν ἐπὶ μὲν ἡμέρας τέσσαρας ἀκροβολιζόμενοι καὶ προνομεύοντες τὴν χώραν διετέλεσαν, πάντων σπανίζοντες, τῇ πέμπτῃ δʼ Ἀντίγονος πρεσβευτὰς ἐξαπέστειλε πρός τε τοὺς σατράπας καὶ τοὺς Μακεδόνας, ἀξιῶν Εὐμενεῖ μὲν μὴ προσέχειν, ἑαυτῷ δὲ πιστεύειν· συγχωρήσειν γὰρ ἔφη τοῖς μὲν σατράπαις ἔχειν τὰς ἰδίας σατραπείας, τῶν δὲ ἄλλων τοῖς μὲν χώραν πολλὴν δώσειν, τοὺς δὲ εἰς τὰς πατρίδας ἀποστελεῖν μετὰ τιμῆς καὶ δωρεῶν, τοὺς δὲ στρατεύεσθαι βουλομένους διανεμεῖν εἰς τὰς ἑκάστῳ καθηκούσας τάξεις. τῶν δὲ Μακεδόνων οὐ προσεχόντων τοῖς λόγοις, ἀλλὰ καὶ προσαπειλούντων τοῖς πρεσβευταῖς Εὐμενὴς παρελθὼν ἐπῄνεσέν τε αὐτοὺς καὶ λόγον εἶπε τῶν παραδεδομένων μὲν καὶ παλαιῶν, οὐκ ἀνοίκειον δὲ τῆς περιστάσεως. ἔφη γὰρ ἐρασθέντα λέοντα παρθένου διαλεχθῆναι τῷ πατρὶ τῆς κόρης ὑπὲρ τοῦ γάμου, τὸν δὲ πατέρα λέγειν ὡς ἕτοιμος μέν ἐστιν αὐτῷ δοῦναι, δεδοικέναι δὲ τοὺς ὄνυχας καὶ τοὺς ὀδόντας, μήποτε γήμας καὶ παροξυνθεὶς διά τινα αἰτίαν προσενέγκηται τῇ παρθένῳ θηριωδῶς. τοῦ δὲ λέοντος ἐξελόντος τούς τε ὄνυχας καὶ τοὺς ὀδόντας τὸν πατέρα, θεωρήσαντα πάντα διʼ ὧν ἦν φοβερὸς ἀποβεβληκότα, τύπτοντα τῷ ξύλῳ ῥᾳδίως ἀποκτεῖναι. τὸ παραπλήσιον οὖν ποιεῖν καὶ τὸν Ἀντίγονον· μέχρι τούτου γὰρ ποιεῖσθαι τὰς ἐπαγγελίας ἕως ἂν τῆς δυνάμεως κυριεύσῃ καὶ κολάσῃ τηνικαῦτα τοὺς ἀφηγουμένους. ἐπισημαινομένου δὲ τοῦ πλήθους ὡς ὀρθῶς λέγοντος τότε μὲν ἔλυσε τὴν ἐκκλησίαν·
When the armies were a day's march from each other, they both sent scouts, and after learning the size and the intentions of the enemy, they both made ready for the fray; but they separated without a battle; for each had drawn up his army with a river and a ravine in front of him, and because of the difficulty of the terrain they were not able to come to blows. The armies, encamped at a distance of three stades from each other for four days, continued to skirmish and to plunder the country, for they were entirely without supplies; but on the fifth day Antigonus sent envoys to the satraps and the Macedonians, urging them not to obey Eumenes but to put trust in himself. He said that he would allow the satraps to keep their own satrapies, that to some of the Macedonians he would give a large gift of land, would send back others to their homes with honours and gifts, and would assign to appropriate posts those who wished to serve in his army. When, however, the Macedonians paid no heed to these offers and even threatened the envoys, Eumenes came forward and praised them and told them a tale, one of the traditional time-worn stories it is true, but one not unsuited to the situation. He said that a lion, having fallen in love with a maiden, spoke to the girl's father about marriage. The father said that he was ready to give her to him, but that he was afraid of the lion's claws and teeth, fearing that after he had married her he might lose his temper about something and turn on the maiden in the manner of a beast. When, however, the lion had pulled out his claws and his teeth, the father, perceiving that the lion had thrown away everything which had made him formidable, killed him easily with a club. "It is this same sort of thing," he added, "that Antigonus is doing now; 7 he will only keep his promises until he becomes master of the army, and in that very moment will execute its leaders." While the crowd was shouting approval and saying "Right," he dismissed the assembly.
§ 19.26
νυκτὸς δὲ ἐπιγενομένης ἧκόν τινες ηὐτομοληκότες μὲν ἐκ τῆς Ἀντιγόνου στρατοπεδείας, λέγοντες δʼ ὅτι παρήγγειλε τοῖς στρατιώταις Ἀντίγονος ἀναζευγνύειν περὶ δευτέραν φυλακήν. ὁ δʼ Εὐμενὴς συλλογιζόμενος ἀληθῶς ὑπέλαβε τοὺς πολεμίους ἀποχωρήσειν εἰς τὴν Γαβηνήν· αὕτη γὰρ ἀπέχουσα τριῶν ἡμερῶν ὁδὸν ἀκέραιος ἦν καὶ πλήρης καρπῶν καὶ χορτασμάτων καὶ καθόλου τῶν δυναμένων χορηγῆσαι τὰ ἐπιτήδεια μεγάλαις δυνάμεσι δαψιλῶς. πρὸς δὲ τούτοις τοῖς ἀγαθοῖς ὁ τόπος αὐτὸς συνήργει, ποταμοὺς ἔχων καὶ χαράδρας δυσεξόδους. σπεύδων οὖν φθάσαι τοὺς πολεμίους τὸ ὅμοιον ἔπραξε. τῶν μὲν μισθοφόρων τινὰς χρήμασι πείσας ἐξέπεμψεν ὡς αὐτομόλους, συντάξας λέγειν ὅτι διέγνωκεν Εὐμενὴς νυκτὸς ἐπιτίθεσθαι τῷ χάρακι· αὐτὸς δὲ τὴν μὲν ἀποσκευὴν προαπέστειλε, τοῖς δὲ στρατιώταις παρήγγειλε τὴν ταχίστην δειπνοποιησαμένοις ἀναζευγνύειν. ὧν ἁπάντων ὀξέως συντελεσθέντων Ἀντίγονος ἀκούσας τῶν αὐτομόλων ὅτι μάχεσθαι νυκτὸς διεγνώκασιν οἱ πολέμιοι, τῆς μὲν πορείας ἀπέσχετο, διέτασσε δὲ τὴν δύναμιν εἰς τὸν κίνδυνον. τοῦ δὲ περὶ ταῦτα θορυβουμένου καὶ περὶ τοῦ μέλλοντος ἀγωνιῶντος ἔλαθον οἱ περὶ τὸν Εὐμενῆ προλαβόντες καὶ τὴν ὁδοιπορίαν ποιούμενοι κατὰ τάχος εἰς τὴν Γαβηνήν. ὁ δʼ Ἀντίγονος μέχρι μέν τινος ἐν τοῖς ὅπλοις συνεῖχε τὴν δύναμιν, ὡς δὲ παρὰ τῶν κατασκόπων ἐπύθετο τὴν ἀποχώρησιν τῶν ἐναντίων, γνοὺς αὑτὸν κατεστρατηγημένον οὐδὲν ἧττον ἀντείχετο τῆς αὐτῆς προαιρέσεως. παραγγείλας οὖν τοῖς στρατιώταις ἀναζευγνύειν, προῆγε σύντονον τὴν πορείαν ποιούμενος καὶ διωγμῷ παραπλήσιον. προέχοντος δʼ Εὐμενοῦς δύο φυλακὰς ὁρῶν ὅτι καταλαβεῖν οὐ ῥᾴδιόν ἐστι τῇ δυνάμει πάσῃ τοὺς τοσοῦτο προειληφότας, ἐπενόησέ τι τοιοῦτο. τὴν μὲν ἄλλην δύναμιν παραδοὺς Πίθωνι προσέταξε κατὰ σχολὴν ἀκολουθεῖν, αὐτὸς δὲ τοὺς ἱππεῖς ἀναλαβὼν ἤλαυνεν ἀπὸ ῥυτῆρος καὶ περιλαβὼν ἅμʼ ἡμέρᾳ τὴν οὐραγίαν τῶν πολεμίων καταβαίνουσαν ἀπό τινος ἀκρολοφίας ἐπέστη ταῖς ἀκρωρείαις, φανερὸς ὢν τοῖς ἐναντίοις. οἱ δὲ περὶ τὸν Εὐμενῆ θεωρήσαντες ἐξ ἱκανοῦ διαστήματος τῶν πολεμίων ἱππεῖς καὶ δόξαντες εἶναι πλησίον ἅπασαν τὴν δύναμιν, τῆς μὲν πορείας ἐπέσχον, τὴν δὲ στρατιὰν διέτασσον, ὡς αὐτίκα τῆς παρατάξεως γενησομένης. οἱ μὲν οὖν ἡγεμόνες ἀμφοτέρων τῶν στρατοπέδων τὸν προειρημένον τρόπον ἀλλήλους κατεστρατήγησαν, ὥσπερ προαγωνιζόμενοι περὶ συνέσεως καὶ δεικνύοντες ὅτι τὰς ἐλπίδας ἐν αὑτοῖς ἀντἔχουσι τῆς νίκης. ὁ δʼ οὖν Ἀντίγονος διὰ ταύτης τῆς ἐπινοίας ἐκώλυσε μὲν τοὺς πολεμίους προάγειν εἰς τοὔμπροσθεν, αὑτῷ δὲ δοὺς ἄνεσιν εἰς τὸ προσδέξασθαι τὴν δύναμιν, ἐπειδὴ τὸ στρατόπεδον ἧκεν, ἅπαν ἐξέταξεν εἰς μάχην καὶ κατέβαινε συντεταγμένος ἐπὶ τοὺς πολεμίους καταπληκτικῶς.
That night, however, there appeared certain deserters from Antigonus' army with the report that Antigonus had given his soldiers orders to break camp at about the second watch. Eumenes, on considering the matter, concluded rightly that the enemy intended to withdraw into Gabene, as this place, distant about three days' march, was unplundered and filled with grain, fodder, and in general with that which could amply supply the provisions for a great army. Furthermore, the terrain itself supplemented these advantages, since it had rivers and ravines that were hard to cross. Being anxious, therefore, to occupy this place before the enemy, he imitated him. He caused certain mercenaries, whose consent he had won by money, to go away as if they were deserting, ordering them to say that Eumenes had decided to attack the camp during that night. He himself, however, sent the baggage on ahead and ordered the soldiers to break camp after having taken a very hasty meal. When all this had been swiftly accomplished, Antigonus, who had heard from the deserters that the enemy had decided to fight during the night, postponed his departure and drew up his forces for the battle. While he was distracted by these operations and concentrating on the coming battle, he failed to notice that Eumenes had got the start of him and was marching at top speed for Gabene. For some time Antigonus kept his army under arms; but when he learned from his scouts that his opponent had departed, although he knew that he had been outgeneralled, none the less he held to his original purpose. So, ordering his soldiers to break camp, he led them on a forced march that resembled a pursuit. Eumenes, however, had a start of two watches; therefore Antigonus, knowing that it was not easy to overtake with his whole army a force that was so far ahead, devised a stratagem as follows. He gave the rest of the army to Pithon and ordered him to follow at leisure, but he himself with the cavalry pursued at top speed; and overtaking the rearguard of the enemy at daybreak just as it was coming down from some hilly country, he took position on the ridges, where he was visible to the enemy. When Eumenes from a considerable distance beheld cavalry of the enemy and supposed that the entire army was near, he halted the march and drew up his army on the assumption that there would be an engagement immediately. Thus in the manner described the generals of the two armies each outwitted the other as if they were taking part in a preliminary contest of skill and showing that each placed his hope of victory in himself. In any case, Antigonus by this device prevented the enemy from going forward while securing for himself a respite in which to bring up his army, and then when the army arrived, he drew it all up for battle and marched down in awe-inspiring array against the enemy.
§ 19.27
εἶχε δὲ τοὺς σύμπαντας σὺν τοῖς διὰ Πίθωνος καὶ Σελεύκου προσγεγενημένοις πεζοὺς μὲν πλείους τῶν δισμυρίων ὀκτακισχιλίων, ἱππεῖς δʼ ὀκτακισχιλίους πεντακοσίους, ἐλέφαντας δὲ ἑξήκοντα πέντε. Διηλλαγμέναις δʼ ἐχρήσαντο ταῖς τάξεσιν οἱ στρατηγοί, διαμιλλώμενοι καὶ περὶ τῆς ἐν τούτοις ἐμπειρίας πρὸς ἀλλήλους. Εὐμενὴς μὲν γὰρ ἐπὶ τοῦ λαιοῦ κέρατος ἔταξεν Εὔδημον τὸν καταγαγόντα τοὺς ἐλέφαντας ἐξ Ἰνδῶν, ἔχοντα τὸ περὶ αὐτὸν ἄγημα τῶν ἱππέων, ὄντων ἑκατὸν πεντήκοντα, πρόταγμα δὲ τούτων εἴλας δύο ξυστοφόρων ἐπιλέκτων, βάθος ἐχούσας ἱππέων πεντήκοντα. καὶ συνῆψε μὲν τούτους τοῖς ὑπερδεξίοις τῆς ὑπωρίας, ἑξῆς δὲ τούτοις Στάσανδρον τὸν στρατηγὸν ἔταξεν ἔχοντα τοὺς ἰδίους ἱππεῖς ἐννακοσίους πεντήκοντα. μετὰ δὲ τούτους ἔστησεν Ἀμφίμαχον τὸν Μεσοποταμίας σατράπην, ᾧ συνηκολούθουν ἱππεῖς ἑξακόσιοι, συνάπτοντας δὲ τούτοις τοὺς ἐξ Ἀραχωτῶν ἱππεῖς ἑξακοσίους, ὧν ἡγεῖτο πρότερον μὲν Σιβύρτιος, διὰ δὲ τὴν ἐκείνου φυγὴν μετειλήφει τὴν ἡγεμονίαν Κεφάλων. ἑξῆς δʼ ἦσαν πεντακόσιοι μὲν ἐκ Παροπανισαδῶν, οἱ δὲ τούτοις ἴσοι Θρᾷκες ἐκ τῶν ἄνω κατοικιῶν. πρὸ δὲ τούτων ἁπάντων ἔταξεν ἐλέφαντας μὲν ἐν ἐπικαμπίῳ τεσσαράκοντα πέντε, τοξότας δὲ καὶ σφενδονήτας ἐν τοῖς τῶν θηρίων διαστήμασι τοὺς ἱκανούς. τοῦτον δὲ τὸν τρόπον ὀχυρωσάμενος τὸ λαιὸν κέρας συνῆψεν αὐτῷ τὴν φάλαγγα. ταύτης δὲ τὸ ἄκρον ἐπεῖχον οἱ ξένοι, πλείους ὄντες τῶν ἑξακισχιλίων, τὸ δʼ ἑξῆς οἱ καθωπλισμένοι μὲν εἰς τὰ Μακεδονικά, παντοδαποὶ δʼ ὄντες τοῖς ἔθνεσιν, εἰσπεντακισχιλίους.
Including reinforcements brought by Pithon and Seleucus, Antigonus had in all more than twenty-eight thousand foot soldiers, eight thousand five hundred horsemen, and sixty-five elephants. The generals employed different formations in drawing up the armies, vying with each other in regard to their competence in tactical skill as well. On his left wing Eumenes stationed Eudamus, who had brought the elephants from India, with his squadron of one hundred and fifty horsemen, and as an advance guard for them two troops of selected mounted lancers with a strength of fifty horsemen. He placed them in contact with the higher land of the base of the hill, and next to them he put Stasander, the general, who had his own cavalry to the number of nine hundred and fifty. After them he stationed Amphimachus, the satrap of Mesopotamia, whom six hundred horsemen followed, and in contact with these were the six hundred horsemen from Arachosia, whose leader formerly had been Sibyrtius, but, because of the latter's flight, Cephalon had assumed command of them. Next were five hundred from Paropanisadae and an equal number of Thracians from the colonies of the upper country. In front of all these he drew up forty-five elephants in a curved line with a suitable number of bowmen and slingers in the spaces between the animals. When Eumenes had made the left wing strong in this way, he placed the phalanx beside it. The outer end of this consisted of the mercenaries, who numbered more than six thousand; next were about five thousand men who had been equipped in the Macedonian fashion although they were of all races.
§ 19.28
μετὰ δὲ τούτους ἐτάχθησαν οἱ Μακεδόνες ἀργυράσπιδες, ὄντες μὲν πλείους τρισχιλίων, ἀνίκητοι δὲ καὶ διὰ τὰς ἀρετὰς πολὺν φόβον παρεχόμενοι τοῖς πολεμίοις. ἐπὶ πᾶσι δὲ τοὺς ἐκ τῶν ὑπασπιστῶν, ὄντας πλείους τρισχιλίων, ἀφηγουμένου τούτων τε ἅμα καὶ τῶν ἀργυρασπίδων Ἀντιγένους καὶ Τευτάμου. πρὸ δὲ πάσης τῆς φάλαγγος ἔστησεν ἐλέφαντας τεσσαράκοντα καὶ τὰ τούτων διαστήματα τοῖς ψιλικοῖς τάγμασιν ἀνεπλήρωσεν. ἐπὶ δὲ τοῦ δεξιοῦ κέρατος ἐξέταξε τοὺς ἱππεῖς, ἐχομένους μὲν τῆς φάλαγγος τοὺς ἐκ Καρμανίας ὀκτακοσίους, ὧν Τληπόλεμος σατράπης ἡγεῖτο, ἑξῆς δὲ τοὺς καλουμένους ἑταίρους ἐννακοσίους καὶ τὸ Πευκέστου καὶ Ἀντιγένους ἄγημα, τριακοσίους ἔχον ἱππεῖς μιᾷ περιειλημμένους εἴλῃ, ἐπʼ ἄκρου δὲ τοῦ κέρατος τὸ Εὐμενοῦς ἄγημα, τοὺς ἴσους ἔχον ἱππεῖς, καὶ τούτων πρόταγμα τῶν Εὐμενοῦς παίδων εἴλας δύο, συνεστηκυίας ἑκατέρας ἐξ ἱππέων πεντήκοντα, καὶ πλαγίας φυλαττούσας ἔξω τοῦ κέρατος εἴλας τέσσαρας, ἐν αἷς ἦσαν ἱππεῖς ἐπίλεκτοι διακόσιοι. χωρὶς δὲ τούτων ἀπὸ πασῶν τῶν ἱππαρχιῶν ἐπιλελεγμένους τοῖς τάχεσι καὶ ταῖς ῥώμαις ἱππεῖς τριακοσίους ἔστησε κατόπιν τοῦ περὶ αὐτὸν ἀγήματος. παρὰ δὲ τὴν ὅλην τοῦ κέρατος τάξιν προέταξεν ἐλέφαντας τεσσαράκοντα. ἡ δὲ πᾶσα δύναμις ἦν τῶν περὶ τὸν Εὐμενῆ πεζοὶ μὲν τρισμύριοι πεντακισχίλιοι, ἱππεῖς δὲ ἑξακισχίλιοι ἑκατόν, ἐλέφαντες δὲ ἑκατὸν τεσσαρεσκαίδεκα.
After them he drew up the Macedonian Silver Shields, more than three thousand in number, undefeated troops, the fame of whose exploits caused much fear among the enemy, and finally the men from the hypaspists, more than three thousand, with Antigenes and Teutamus leading both them and the Silver Shields. In front of the whole phalanx he placed forty elephants, filling the spaces between them with light armed soldiers. On the right wing he stationed cavalry: next to the phalanx, eight hundred from Carmania led by the satrap Tlepolemus, then the nine hundred called the Companions and the squadron of Peucestes and Antigenes, which contained three hundred horsemen arranged in a single unit. At the outer end of the wing was Eumenes' squadron with the same number of horsemen, and as an advance-guard for them two troops of Eumenes' slaves, each composed of fifty mounted men, while at an angle beyond the end of the wing and guarding it were four troops, in which there were two hundred selected horsemen. In addition to these, three hundred men selected from all the cavalry commands for swiftness and strength were stationed by Eumenes behind his own squadron. Along the whole of the wing he drew up forty elephants. The entire army of Eumenes consisted of thirty-five thousand foot soldiers, sixty-one hundred horsemen, and one hundred and fourteen elephants.
§ 19.29
Ἀντίγονος δʼ ἐκ μετεώρων τόπων κατιδὼν τὴν τῶν πολεμίων τάξιν πρὸς ταύτην ἁρμοζόντως διεκόσμησε τὴν ἰδίαν δύναμιν. ὁρῶν γὰρ τὸ τῶν ἐναντίων δεξιὸν κέρας ὠχυρωμένον τοῖς τε θηρίοις καὶ τοῖς κρατίστοις τῶν ἱππέων ἀντέταξε τοὺς ἐλαφροτάτους τῶν ἱππέων, οἳ κατὰ στόμα μὲν ἤμελλον φυγομαχήσειν ἀραιοὶ διαστάντες, ἐκ μεταβολῆς δὲ διαγωνιεῖσθαι καὶ τούτῳ τῷ τρόπῳ ποιήσειν ἄπρακτον τῶν ἐναντίων τοῦτο τὸ μέρος ᾧ μάλιστα ἐπίστευον. ἔστησε δʼ ἐπὶ ταύτης τῆς φάλαγγος τούς τε ἐκ Μηδίας καὶ Παρθυαίας ἀφιπποτοξότας καὶ λογχοφόρους, ὄντας μὲν χιλίους, πεφυκότας δʼ εὖ πρὸς τὴν ἐκ μεταβολῆς κρίσιν, ἑξῆς δὲ τοὺς ἀπὸ θαλάσσης συναναβεβηκότας Ταραντίνους δισχιλίους καὶ διακοσίους, ἐπιλέκτους ἐν ἐνέδραις καὶ καλῶς διακειμένους ταῖς εὐνοίαις πρὸς αὐτόν, τοὺς δʼ ἀπὸ Φρυγίας καὶ Λυδίας χιλίους, τοὺς δὲ μετὰ Πίθωνος χιλίους πεντακοσίους καὶ τοὺς μετὰ Λυσανίου ξυστοφόρους τετρακοσίους, ἐπὶ πᾶσι δὲ τούς τε ἀμφίππους ὀνομαζομένους καὶ τοὺς ἐκ τῶν ἄνω κατοικούντων Θρᾳκῶν ὀκτακοσίους. καὶ τὸ μὲν εὐώνυμον κέρας ὑπὸ τούτων ἐπληροῦτο τῶν ἱππέων, ὧν ἁπάντων Πίθων εἶχε τὴν ἡγεμονίαν· τῶν δὲ πεζῶν πρῶτοι μὲν ἐτάχθησαν οἱ ξένοι, πλείους ὄντες τῶν ἐννακισχιλίων, μετὰ δὲ τούτους Λύκιοι καὶ Παμφύλιοι τρισχίλιοι, παντοδαποὶ δʼ εἰς τὰ Μακεδονικὰ καθωπλισμένοι πλείους τῶν ὀκτακισχιλίων, ἐπὶ πᾶσι δὲ Μακεδόνες οὐ πολὺ ἐλάττους τῶν ὀκτακισχιλίων, οὓς ἔδωκεν Ἀντίπατρος καθʼ ὃν καιρὸν ἐπιμελητὴς ἀπεδείχθη τῆς βασιλείας. τῶν δʼ ἱππέων πρῶτοι μὲν ἦσαν ἐπὶ τοῦ δεξιοῦ κέρατος συνάπτοντες τῇ φάλαγγι μισθοφόροι παντοδαποὶ πεντακόσιοι, ἑξῆς δὲ Θρᾷκες χίλιοι, παρὰ δὲ τῶν συμμάχων πεντακόσιοι, ἐχόμενοι δὲ τούτων οἱ προσαγορευθέντες ἑταῖροι χίλιοι, Δημήτριον ἔχοντες ἡγεμόνα τὸν Ἀντιγόνου, τότε πρώτως μέλλοντα συναγωνίζεσθαι τῷ πατρί. ἐπʼ ἄκρου δὲ τοῦ κέρατος ἦν τὸ ἄγημα τῶν ἱππέων τριακοσίων, μεθʼ ὧν καὶ αὐτὸς ἐκινδύνευε· πρόταγμα δὲ τούτων ἐκ τῶν ἰδίων παίδων εἶλαι τρεῖς ὑπῆρχον καὶ ταύταις ἴσαι παράλληλοι, συναγωνιζομένων αὐτοῖς Ταραντίνων ἑκατόν. παρὰ δὲ τὸ κέρας πᾶν ἐξέταξε τοὺς κρατίστους τῶν ἐλεφάντων τριάκοντα, ποιήσας δʼ ἐπικάμπιον, καὶ τὰ διαστήματα τούτων συνεπλήρωσε τοῖς ψιλοῖς τάγμασιν ἐπιλέκτοις· τῶν δʼ ἄλλων θηρίων τὰ πλείω μὲν τῆς φάλαγγος προέστησεν, ὀλίγα δὲ μετὰ τῶν ἱππέων τῶν ἐν τοῖς εὐωνύμοις μέρεσι. τοῦτον δὲ τὸν τρόπον ἐκτάξας τὸ στρατόπεδον κατέβαινεν ἐπὶ τοὺς πολεμίους, λοξὴν ποιήσας τὴν τάξιν· τὸ μὲν γὰρ δεξιὸν κέρας, ᾧ μάλιστα ἐπίστευεν, προεβάλετο, τὸ δʼ ἕτερον ὑπεστείλατο, διεγνωκὼς ᾧ μὲν φυγομαχεῖν, ᾧ δὲ διαγωνίζεσθαι.
As Antigonus looked down from a high position, he saw the battle line of his enemy and disposed his own army accordingly. Seeing that the right wing of the enemy had been strengthened with the elephants and the strongest of the cavalry, he arrayed against it the lightest of his horsemen, who, drawn up in open order, were to avoid a frontal action but maintain a battle of wheeling tactics and in this way thwart that part of the enemies' forces in which they had the greatest confidence. On this wing he stationed the mounted archers and lancers from Media and Parthia, a thousand in number, men well trained in the execution of the wheeling movement; and next he placed the twenty-two hundred Tarentines who had come up with him from the sea, men selected for their skill in ambushing, and very well disposed to himself, the thousand cavalry from Phrygia and Lydia, the fifteen hundred with Pithon, the four hundred lancers with Lysanias, and in addition to all these, the cavalry who are called the "two-horse men," and the eight hundred cavalry from the colonists established in the upper country. The left wing was made up of these cavalrymen, all of whom were under the command of Pithon. Of the infantry, more than nine thousand mercenaries were placed first, next to them three thousand Lycians and Pamphylians, then more than eight thousand mixed troops in Macedonian equipment, and finally the nearly eight thousand Macedonians, whom Antipater had given him at the time when he was appointed regent of the kingdom. The first of the horsemen on the right wing adjacent to the phalanx were five hundred mercenaries of mixed origin, then a thousand Thracians, five hundred from the allies, and next to them the thousand known as the Companions with Antigonus' son Demetrius as commander, now about to fight in company with his father for the first time. At the outer end of the wing was the squadron of three hundred horsemen with whom Antigonus himself was entering the battle. As an advance guard for these there were three troops from his own slaves, and parallel to them were as many units reinforced by a hundred Tarentines. Along the whole wing he drew up the strongest thirty of the elephants, making a curved line, and he filled the interval between them with selected light armed men. Most of the other elephants he placed before the phalanx, but a few were with the cavalry on the left wing. When he had drawn up the army in this fashion, he advanced down the hill against the enemy keeping an oblique front, for he thrust forward the right wing, in which he had most confidence, and held the left back, having determined to avoid battle with the one and to decide the contest with the other.
§ 19.30
ἐπεὶ δὲ σύνεγγυς ἀλλήλων ἐγένετο τὰ στρατόπεδα καὶ τὸ σύσσημον ἤρθη παρʼ ἀμφοτέροις, ἐπηλάλαξαν μὲν αἱ δυνάμεις ἐπαλλὰξ πλεονάκις, ἐσήμηναν δʼ οἱ σαλπιγκταὶ τὸ πολεμικόν. πρῶτοι δʼ οἱ μετὰ Πίθωνος ἱππεῖς, στερεὸν μὲν οὐδὲν οὐδʼ ἀξιόλογον ἔχοντες πρόφραγμα περὶ αὐτούς, ὑπερέχοντες δὲ τῶν ἀντιτεταγμένων τῷ τε πλήθει καὶ ταῖς ἐλαφρότησιν, ἐπειρῶντο χρήσασθαι τοῖς ἰδίοις προτερήμασι. τὸ μὲν γὰρ κατὰ στόμα διακινδυνεύειν πρὸς ἐλέφαντας οὐκ ἀσφαλὲς ἐνόμιζον, περιιππεύσαντες δὲ τὸ κέρας καὶ πλαγίοις ἐμβαλόντες πυκνοῖς τοῖς βέλεσι κατετίτρωσκον, αὐτοὶ μὲν διὰ τὰς ἐλαφρότητας οὐδὲν πάσχοντες, μεγάλα δὲ βλάπτοντες τοὺς διὰ τὰ βάρη μήτʼ ἐκδιῶξαι δυναμένους μήτʼ ἀναχωρεῖν, ὅταν καιρὸς παραγγείλῃ. Εὐμενὴς δʼ ὁρῶν πιεζούμενον τὸ κέρας τῷ πλήθει τῶν ἀφιπποτοξοτῶν μετεπέμψατο παρʼ Εὐδάμου τοῦ τὸ λαιὸν κέρας ἔχοντος τοὺς ἐλαφροτάτους τῶν ἱππέων, ἐξαγαγὼν δὲ ἐπὶ κέρας τὴν ὅλην τάξιν τοῖς μὲν ψιλοῖς καὶ τοῖς ἐλαφροτάτοις τῶν ἱππέων εἰσέβαλεν εἰς τοὺς ἐναντίους, ἐπακολουθούντων δὲ καὶ τῶν θηρίων ῥᾳδίως τρεψάμενος τοὺς περὶ τὸν Πίθωνα κατεδίωξε μέχρι τῆς ὑπωρίας. ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις συνέβη καὶ τοὺς πεζοὺς ἐφʼ ἱκανὸν μὲν χρόνον φαλαγγομαχεῖν πρὸς ἀλλήλους, τὸ δὲ τελευταῖον πολλῶν πεσόντων παρʼ ἀμφοτέροις ἐπικρατῆσαι τοὺς παρʼ Εὐμενεῖ τεταγμένους διὰ τὰς τῶν ἀργυρασπίδων Μακεδόνων ἀρετάς· οὗτοι γὰρ ταῖς μὲν ἡλικίαις ἤδη προβεβήκεισαν, διὰ δὲ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν κινδύνων διέφερον ταῖς τόλμαις καὶ ταῖς εὐχειρίαις, ὥστε μηδένα δύνασθαι κατὰ στόμα τὴν βίαν ὑποστῆναι. διὸ καὶ τότε τρισχίλιοι μὲν ὄντες οἱονεὶ στόμωμα καθειστήκεισαν πάσης τῆς δυνάμεως. Ἀντίγονος δʼ ὁρῶν τό τε εὐώνυμον κέρας τῶν ἰδίων πεφευγότας καὶ τὴν φάλαγγα πᾶσαν τετραμμένην τοῖς μὲν συμβουλούουσιν ἀποχωρεῖν πρὸς τὴν ὀρεινὴν καὶ τοὺς ἀπὸ τῆς φυγῆς σωζομένους ἀναλαμβάνειν, ἄθραυστον ἔχοντα τὸ περὶ αὐτὸν μέρος τῆς δυνάμεως, οὐ προσέσχε, τῷ δὲ παρὰ τοῦ καιροῦ δοθέντι προτερήματι δεξιῶς χρησάμενος καὶ τοὺς φεύγοντας τῶν ἰδίων ἔσωσε καὶ τῆς νίκης ἔτυχεν. οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἀργυράσπιδες οἱ παρʼ Εὐμενεῖ καὶ τὸ λοιπὸν πλῆθος τῶν πεζῶν ὡς τάχιστα ἐτρέψατο τοὺς ἀντιτεταγμένους, ἐπεδίωκεν μέχρι τῆς πρότερον ὑπωρίας· ὁ δʼ Ἀντίγονος γενομένου διαστήματος ἐν τῇ τῶν πολεμίων τάξει διιππεύσας μέρει τῶν ἱππέων ἐνέβαλεν εἰς πλαγίους τοὺς περὶ Εὔδαμον τεταγμένους ἐπὶ τοῦ λαιοῦ κέρατος. ταχὺ δὲ διὰ τὸ παράδοξον τρεψάμενος τοὺς ἐναντίους καὶ πολλοὺς ἀνελὼν διαπέστειλε τῶν ἱππέων τοὺς ἐλαφροτάτους καὶ διὰ τούτων ἀνεκαλέσατο τοὺς φεύγοντας καὶ παρὰ τὴν ὑπωρίαν πάλιν εἰς τάξιν κατέστησεν. καὶ γὰρ οἱ περὶ τὸν Εὐμενῆ πυθόμενοι τὴν τῶν ἰδίων τροπὴν ἀνεκαλοῦντο τῇ σάλπιγγι τοὺς διώκοντας, σπεύδοντες
When the armies were close to each other and the signal had been raised in each of them, the troops shouted the battle-cry alternately several times and the trumpeters gave the signal for battle. First Pithon's cavalry, who had no stability or any advance-guard worth mentioning yet were superior to those arrayed against them in numbers and in mobility, began trying to make use of their own advantages. They did not consider it safe to make a frontal attack against elephants, yet by riding out around the wing and making an attack on the flanks, they kept inflicting wounds with repeated flights of arrows, suffering no harm themselves because of their mobility but causing great damage to the beasts, which because of their weight could neither pursue nor retire when the occasion demanded. When Eumenes, however, observed that the wing was hard pressed by the multitude of mounted archers, he summoned the most lightly equipped of his cavalry from Eudamus, who had the left wing. Leading the whole squadron in a flanking movement, he made an attack upon his opponents with light armed soldiers and the most lightly equipped of the cavalry. Since the elephants also followed, he easily routed the forces of Pithon, and pursued them to the foothills. At the same time that this was going on, it so happened that the infantry for a considerable time had been engaged in a battle of phalanxes, but finally, after many had fallen on both sides, Eumenes' men were victorious because of the valour of the Macedonian Silver Shields. 6 These warriors were already well on in years, but because of the great number of battles they had fought they were outstanding in hardihood and skill, so that no one confronting them was able to withstand their might. Therefore, although there were then only three thousand of them, they had become, so to speak, the spearhead of the whole army. 7 Although Antigonus saw that his own left wing had been put to flight and that the entire phalanx had been defeated, he did not heed those who advised him to retire to the mountains and furnish a rallying point for those who escaped from the rout, while keeping the part of the army under his immediate command an unbroken unit; but rather, by cleverly taking advantage of the opportunities offered by the situation, he both saved the fugitives and gained the victory. 8 For as soon as Eumenes' Silver Shields and the remaining body of his infantry had routed those who opposed them, they pursued them as far as the nearer hills; 9 but Antigonus, now that a break was thus caused in the line of his enemy, charged through with a detachment of cavalry, striking on the flank the troops who had been stationed with Eudamus on the left wing. Because the attack was unexpected, he quickly put to flight those who faced him, destroying many of them; then he sent out the swiftest of his mounted men and by means of them he assembled those of his soldiers who were fleeing and once more formed them into a line along the foothills. As soon as Eumenes learned of the defeat of his own soldiers he recalled the pursuers by a trumpet signal, for he was eager to aid Eudamus.
§ 19.31
βοηθῆσαι τοῖς περὶ τὸν Εὔδαμον. ἤδη δὲ τῆς ὥρας οὔσης περὶ λύχνων ἁφὰς ἀμφότεροι τοὺς φεύγοντας ἀνακαλεσάμενοι πάλιν πᾶσαν ἐξέταττον τὴν δύναμιν· τοσαύτης φιλονεικίας ὑπῆρχον πλήρεις οὐχ οἱ στρατηγοὶ μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ πλήθη τῶν ἀγωνιζομένων. τῆς δὲ νυκτὸς οὔσης αἰθρίου καὶ πανσελήνου καὶ τῶν δυνάμεων ἀντιπαραγουσῶν ἀλλήλαις ὡς ἂν ἐν τέτταρσι πλέθροις ὁ ψόφος τῶν ὅπλων καὶ τῶν ἵππων ὁ φρυαγμὸς ἐν χερσὶν ἐδόκει πᾶσιν εἶναι τοῖς ἀντιτεταγμένοις. ὡς δὲ παράγοντες ἀπέσχον ἀπὸ τῶν ἐν τῇ μάχῃ πεπτωκότων ὡς τριάκοντα σταδίους, ἡ μὲν ὥρα κατελάμβανεν μεσονύκτιος, κακῶς δὲ διέκειντο ἀμφότεροι διά τε τὴν ὁδοιπορίαν καὶ τὴν ἐν τῇ μάχῃ κακοπάθειαν, ἔτι δὲ τὴν ἀσιτίαν, ὥστε ἡναγκάσθησαν ἀφέμενοι τῆς μάχης καταστρατοπεδεῦσαι. Εὐμενὴς μὲν οὖν ἐπεχείρει ἀναζευγνύειν ἐπὶ τῶν νεκρῶν, σπεύδων κρατεῖν τῆς τούτων ἀναιρέσεως καὶ τὴν νίκην ἀναμφισβήτητον περιποιήσασθαι. οὐ προσεχόντων δὲ τῶν στρατιωτῶν, ἀλλὰ βοώντων ἐπὶ τὴν ἰδίαν ἀποσκευὴν ἀναχωρεῖν μακρὰν ἀπέχουσαν ἠναγκάσθη πεισθῆναι τῷ πλήθει· οὔτε γὰρ τοῖς στρατιώταις δυνατὸν ἦν πικρῶς ἐπιτιμᾶν, ἀμφισβητούντων πολλῶν τῆς στρατηγίας, οὔτε τὸν καιρὸν ἐπιτῄδειον ἑώρα κολάζειν τοὺς ἀπειθοῦντας. ὁ δʼ Ἀντίγονος τοὐναντίον χωρὶς δημαγωγίας βεβαίως ἔχων τὴν ἡγεμονίαν ἐβιάσατο μὲν τὸ πλῆθος ἐπὶ τῶν νεκρῶν στρατοπεδεῦσαι, κύριος δὲ γενόμενος τῆς τούτων ταφῆς ἠμφισβήτει τῆς νίκης, ἀποφαινόμενος προτερεῖν ἐν ταῖς μάχαις τὸ τῶν πεσόντων κυριεῦσαι. ἀνῃρέθησαν δʼ ἐν τῇ μάχῃ τῶν μὲν Ἀντιγόνου πεζοὶ μὲν εἰς τρισχιλίους ἑπτακοσίους, ἱππεῖς δὲ πεντήκοντα τέσσαρες, τραυματίαι δʼ ἐγένοντο πλείους τῶν τετρακισχιλίων· τῶν δʼ Ευμενοῦς ἔπεσον πεζοὶ μὲν πεντακόσιοι τεσσαράκοντα, ἱππεῖς δʼ ὀλίγοι παντελῶς, τραυματίαι δʼ ἐγένοντο πλείους τῶν ἐννακοσίων.
Although it was already lamp-lighting time, both rallied their fleeing troops and began to put their entire forces in battle or once more, such zeal for victory filled not only the generals but also the mass of the contestants. Since the night was clear and lighted by a full moon and the armies were forming parallel to each other at a distance of about four plethra, the clatter of arms and the snorting of the horses seemed close at hand to all the contestants. But as they were moving from column into line, being distant about thirty stades from those who had fallen in the battle, the hour of midnight overtook them, and both armies were so exhausted by marching, by their suffering in the battle, and by lack of food, that they were forced to give up the battle and go into camp. Eumenes undertook to march back to the dead, desiring to control the disposal of the bodies and to put his claim to victory beyond dispute. When, however, the soldiers would not listen to him, insisting with shouts that they return to their own baggage train, which was some distance away, he was forced to yield to the majority; for he was not able to punish the soldiers severely when there were many who disputed his right to command, and he saw that the time was not suitable for chastising those who disobeyed. On the other hand, Antigonus, who firmly held the command without need of courting popular favour, forced his army to make camp by the bodies; and since he gained control of their burial, he claimed the victory, declaring that to possess the fallen is to be victorious in battle. In this battle three thousand seven hundred foot and fifty-four horse from the army of Antigonus were slain and more than four thousand men were wounded; five hundred and forty of Eumenes' infantry and very few of his cavalry fell, and the wounded were more than nine hundred.
§ 19.32
ὁ δʼ Ἀντίγονος μετὰ τὴν ἐκ τῆς μάχης ἀποχώρησιν ὁρῶν τοὺς στρατιώτας ἀθυμοῦντας διέγνω τὴν ταχίστην ἀναζευγνύειν ὡς πορρωτάτω τῶν πολεμίων. βουλόμενος δʼ εὔζωνον ποιῆσαι τὴν δύναμιν πρὸς τὴν ἀποχώρησιν τοὺς μὲν τραυματίας καὶ τὰ βαρύτατα τῆς ἀποσκευῆς προαπέστειλεν εἴς τινα τῶν πλησίον πόλεων, τοὺς δὲ νεκροὺς ἅμʼ ἡμέρᾳ θάψας καὶ παρακατασχὼν τὸν παρὰ τῶν πολεμίων ἥκοντα κήρυκα περὶ τῆς τῶν νεκρῶν ἀναιρέσεως παρήγγειλε τῆς ὥρας δειπνοποιεῖσθαι. τῆς δʼ ἡμέρας διελθούσης τὸν μὲν κήρυκα ἀπ έπεμψε, δοὺς εἰς τὴν αὔριον τὴν ἀναίρεσιν, αὐτὸς δὲ πρώτης φυλακῆς ἀρχομένης ἀνέζευξε μετὰ πάσης τῆς δυνάμεως καὶ συντόνους τὰς πορείας ποιούμενος ἀπέστη μὲν τῶν πολεμίων μακράν, ἔσχε δὲ χώραν ἀκεραίαν εἰς ἀνάληψιν τοῦ στρατοπέδου· διήνυσε γὰρ ἕως Γαμάργων τῆς Μηδίας, οὔσης τῆς χώρας ὑπὸ Πίθωνα καὶ δυναμένης μεγάλαις δυνάμεσι πρὸς διατροφὴν δαψιλῶς ἅπαντα χορηγῆσαι. Εὐμενὴς δὲ διὰ τῶν κατασκόπων πυθόμενος τὴν ἀναχώρησιν τῶν περὶ Ἀντίγονον τοῦ μὲν διώκειν ἀπέστη διὰ τὸ καὶ τοὺς ἰδίους στρατιώτας ἐν ἀσιτίᾳ καὶ κακοπαθείαις μεγάλαις γεγονέναι, περὶ δὲ τὴν ἀναίρεσιν τῶν τετελευτηκότων γενόμενος ἐπεμελήθη τῆς ταφῆς μεγαλοπρεπῶς. ἔνθα δὴ συνέβη γενέσθαι πρᾶγμα παράδοξον καὶ πολὺ τῶν παρʼ Ἕλλησι νομίμων ἐξηλλαγμένον.
When after leaving the battle Antigonus saw that his men were disheartened, he decided to move as far as possible from the enemy with the utmost speed. Wishing to have the army unencumbered for the retirement, he sent the wounded men and the heaviest part of the baggage ahead to one of the neighbouring cities. He began to bury the dead at dawn and detained the herald who had come from the enemy to treat for the recovery of the bodies; and he ordered his men to eat dinner at once. When the day had passed he sent the herald back, assigning the removal of the bodies to the next morning, but he himself at the beginning of the first watch broke camp with the whole army, and by making forced marches withdrew a long distance from the enemy and gained an unplundered country in which to refresh his soldiers. He went, indeed, as far as Gamarga in Media, a land that was subject to Pithon and that was able to supply great armies abundantly with everything needed for their support. When Eumenes learned through scouts of the departure of Antigonus, he refrained from following him because his own soldiers also had lacked food and had suffered great hardship; but he attended to the taking up of the dead and saw to it that they received a magnificent burial. Then an event took place that was amazing and very different from Greek custom.
§ 19.33
Κητεὺς γὰρ ὁ τῶν ἐκ τῆς Ἰνδικῆς ἀπηντηκότων στρατηγὸς ἀνῃρέθη μὲν ἐν τῇ μάχῃ λαμπρῶς ἀγωνισάμενος, ἀπέλιπε δὲ δύο γυναῖκας συνακολουθούσας ἐν τῷ στρατοπέδῳ, τὴν μὲν νεόγαμον, τὴν δὲ ὀλίγοις ἔτεσι πρότερον συνοικήσασαν, ἀμφοτέρας δὲ φιλοστόργως πρὸς αὐτὸν διακειμένας. ὄντος δὲ παλαιοῦ νόμου παρὰ τοῖς Ἰνδοῖς τοὺς γαμοῦντας καὶ τὰς γαμουμένας παρθένους μὴ διὰ τῆς τῶν γονέων κρίσεως ποιεῖσθαι τὸν γάμον, ἀλλὰ πείσαντας ἀλλήλους, τὸν μὲν ἔμπροσθεν χρὸνον τῆς μνηστείας γενομένης διὰ νεωτέρων ταῖς ἡλικίαις ὡς ἐπὶ πολὺ συνέβαινε διαπίπτειν τὰς κρίσεις καὶ ταχὺ μεταμελομένων ἀμφοτέρων πολλὰς τῶν γυναικῶν διαφθείρεσθαι καὶ διʼ ἀκρασίαν φιλοστοργεῖν ἑτέρους, τέλος δὲ μὴ δυναμένας εὐσχημόνως ἀπολιπεῖν τοὺς ἐξ ἀρχῆς προκριθέντας διὰ φαρμάκων ἀναιρεῖν τοὺς συνοικοῦντας, καὶ τὴν χώραν δʼ οὐκ ὀλίγας ἀφορμὰς αὐταῖς δοῦναι, πολλὰς καὶ ποικίλας φέρουσαν φθαρτικὰς δυνάμεις, ἐξ ὧν ἐνίας προσχρωσθείσας μόνον τοῖς ἐδέσμασιν ἢ ποτηρίοις ἐπιφέρειν τὴν ἀπώλειαν. ἐπιπολαζούσης δὲ τῆς ῥᾳδιουργίας καὶ πολλῶν ἀναιρουμένων τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον, ἐπειδὴ κολάζοντες τὰς αἰτίας τῶν κακῶν οὐκ ἠδυνήθησαν ἀποτρέψαι τὰς ἄλλας τῶν ἀδικημάτων, νόμον ἔθεσαν ὅπως συγκατακαίωνται τοῖς τετελευτηκόσιν ἀνδράσιν αἱ γυναῖκες πλὴν τῶν ἐγκύων ἢ τῶν ἐχουσῶν τέκνα· τὴν δὲ μὴ βουλομένην τῷ δόγματι πιθαρχεῖν χήραν μὲν εἶναι διὰ τέλους καὶ θυσιῶν καὶ τῶν ἄλλων νομίμων εἴργεσθαι διὰ παντὸς ὡς ἀσεβοῦσαν. τούτων δὲ νομοθετηθέντων εἰς τοὐναντίον τὴν παρανομίαν τῶν γυναικῶν μεταβαλεῖν συνέβη· διὰ γὰρ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῆς ἀτιμίας ἑκάστης ὑπομενούσης ἑκουσίως τὸν θάνατον οὐ μόνον προνοεῖσθαι τῆς τῶν συνοικούντων ἀσφαλείας ὡς κοινῆς οὔσης, ἀλλὰ καὶ πρὸς ἀλλήλας ἁμιλλᾶσθαι καθάπερ ὑπὲρ τῆς μεγίστης εὐδοξίας.
Ceteus, the general of the soldiers who had come from India, was killed in the battle after fighting brilliantly, but he left two wives who had accompanied him in the army, one of them a bride, the other married to him some years before, but both of them loving him deeply. It is an ancient custom among the Indians that the men who marry and the maidens who are married do not do so as a result of the decision of their parents but by mutual persuasion. Formerly, since the wooing was done by persons who were too young, it often happened that, the choice turning out badly, both would quickly regret their act, and that many wives were first seduced, then through wantonness gave their love to other men, and finally, not being able without disgrace to leave the mates whom they had first selected, would kill their husbands by poison. The country, indeed, furnished no few means for this, since it produced many and varied deadly poisons, some of which when merely spread upon the food or the wine cups cause death. But when this evil became fashionable and many were murdered in this way, the Indians, although they punished those guilty of the crime, since they were not able to deter the others from wrongdoing, established a law that wives, except such as were pregnant or had children, should be cremated along with their deceased husbands, and that one who was not willing to obey this law should not only be a widow for life but also be entirely debarred from sacrifices and other religious observances as unclean. When these laws had been established, the lawlessness of the women changed into the opposite, for as each one because of the great loss of caste willingly met death, they not only cared for the safety of their husbands as if it were their own, but they even vied with each other as for a very great honour.
§ 19.34
ὃ καὶ τότε συνέβη· τοῦ γὰρ νόμου μίαν κελεύοντος συγκατακάεσθαι παρῆσαν ἀμφότεραι πρὸς τὴν τοῦ Κητέως ταφήν, ὑπὲρ τοῦ συναποθανεῖν ὡς ὑπὲρ ἀριστίου συμφιλοτιμούμεναι. τῶν δὲ στρατηγῶν διακρινόντων ἡ νεωτέρα μὲν ἀπεφαίνετο τὴν ἑτέραν ἔγκυον εἶναι καὶ διὰ τοῦτο μὴ δύνασθαι χρήσασθαι τῷ νόμῳ, ἡ δὲ πρεσβυτέρα δικαιότερον ἀπεφαίνετο εἶναι τὴν προέχουσαν τοῖς χρόνοις προέχειν καὶ τῇ τιμῇ· καὶ γὰρ ἐπὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἁπάντων θεωρεῖσθαι τοὺς πρεσβυτέρους πολὺ προέχοντας τῶν νεωτέρων εἰς ἐντροπὴν καὶ τιμήν. οἱ δʼ οὖν στρατηγοὶ διὰ τῶν μαιεύεσθαι δυναμένων γνόντες τὴν πρεσβυτέραν ἔγκυον οὖσαν προέκριναν τὴν νεωτέραν. οὗ συμβάντος ἡ μὲν ἀποτυχοῦσα τῆς κρίσεως ἀπῄει μετὰ κλαυθμοῦ, καταρρήξασα τὸ περὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν διάδημα καὶ τὰς τρίχας σπαράσσουσα, καθαπερεί τινος συμφορᾶς μεγάλης προσηγγελμένης· ἡ δὲ ἐπὶ τῇ νίκῃ περιχαρὴς ἀπῄει πρὸς τὴν πυράν, στεφανουμένη μὲν μίτραις ὑπὸ τῶν οἰκείων γυναικῶν, κεκοσμημένη δὲ διαπρεπῶς ὥσπερ εἴς τινα γάμον προεπέμπετο ὑπὸ τῶν συγγενῶν, ᾀδόντων ὕμνον εἰς τὴν ἀρετὴν αὐτῆς. ὡς δὲ ἐγγὺς ἐγενήθη τῆς πυρᾶς, περιαιρουμένη τὸν κόσμον ἑαυτῆς διεδίδου τοῖς οἰκείοις καὶ φίλοις, ὡς ἂν εἴποι τις, καταλείπουσα τοῖς ἀγαπῶσι μνημεῖον. ὁ δὲ κόσμος ἦν περὶ μὲν τὰς χεῖρας δακτυλίων τε πλῆθος ἐνδεδεμένων λίθοις πολυτελέσι καὶ διηλλαγμένοις τοῖς χρώμασι, περὶ δὲ τὴν κεφαλὴν χρυσῶν ἀστερίσκων οὐκ ὀλίγος ἀριθμὸς παντοδαποῖς λίθοις διειλημμένων, περὶ δὲ τὸν τράχηλον ὅρμων πλῆθος, τῶν μὲν ἐλασσόνων, τῶν δʼ ἐκ τοῦ κατʼ ὀλίγον ἀεὶ καθʼ ὑπέρθεσιν μειζόνων. τὸ δὲ τελευταῖον ἀσπασαμένη τοὺς οἰκείους ὑπὸ τἀδελφοῦ μὲν ἐπὶ τὴν πυρὰν ἀνεβιβάσθη, ὑπὸ δὲ τοῦ συνδραμόντος ἐπὶ τὴν θέαν πλήθους θαυμασθεῖσα κατέστρεψεν ἡρωικῶς τὸν βίον· ἡ μὲν γὰρ δύναμις ἐν τοῖς ὅπλοις πᾶσα πρὶν ἅπτεσθαι τὴν πυρὰν τρὶς περιῆλθεν, αὐτὴ δὲ τἀνδρὶ παρακλιθεῖσα καὶ κατὰ τὴν τοῦ πυρὸς ὁρμὴν οὐδεμίαν φωνὴν ἀγεννῆ προεμένη προεκαλέσατο τῶν ὁρώντων τοὺς μὲν εἰς ἔλεον, τοὺς δὲ εἰς ὑπερβολὴν ἐπαίνων. οὐ μὴν ἀλλʼ ἔνιοι τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἐπετίμων τοῖς νομίμοις ὡς ἀγρίοις οὖσι καὶ χαλεποῖς. ὁ δʼ Εὐμενὴς ἀπὸ τῆς τῶν τετελευτηκότων ταφῆς γενόμενος ἀνέζευξεν ἐκ τῶν Παραιτάκων εἰς τὴν Γαβηνήν, οὖσαν ἀκέραιον καὶ δυναμένην πάντα δαψιλῆ ταῖς δυνάμεσι παρέχεσθαι. ἀπέχειν δὲ συνέβαινε τὴν χώραν ταύτην τῶν περὶ Ἀντίγονον διὰ μὲν τῆς οἰκουμένης πορευομένῳ σταθμοὺς εἴκοσι πέντε, διὰ δὲ τῆς ἐρήμου καὶ ἀνύδρου σταθμοὺς ἐννέα. οἱ μὲν οὖν περὶ Εὐμενῆ καὶ τὸν Ἀντίγονον τοσοῦτον ἀλλήλων διεστῶτες ἐν τούτοις τοῖς τόποις παρεχείμαζον ἅμα καὶ τὰς δυνάμεις ἀνελάμβανον.
Such rivalry appeared on this occasion. Although the law ordered only one of Ceteus' wives to be cremated with him, both of them appeared at his funeral, contending for the right of dying with him as for a prize of valour. When the generals undertook to decide the matter, the younger wife claimed that the other was pregnant and for that reason could not take advantage of the law; and the elder asserted that more justly should the one who had the precedence in years have precedence in honour, for in all other matters those who are older are regarded as having great precedence over the younger in respect and honour. The generals, ascertaining from those skilled in midwifery that the elder was pregnant, decided for the younger. When this happened, the one who had lost the decision departed weeping, rending the wreath that was about her head and tearing her hair, just as if some great disaster had been announced to her; but the other, rejoicing in her victory, went off to the pyre crowned with fillets that her maidservants bound upon her head, and magnificently dressed as if for a wedding she was escorted by her kinsfolk, who sang a hymn in honour of her virtue. As she drew near the pyre, she stripped off her ornaments and gave them to her servants and friends, leaving keepsakes, as one might say, to those who loved her. These were the ornaments: upon her hands a number of rings set with precious stones of various colours, about her head no small number of golden stars interspersed with stones of every kind, and about her neck numerous necklaces, some of them smaller, the others each a little larger in a constant progression. Finally, after taking leave of the household, she was assisted to mount the pyre by her brother, and while the multitude that had gathered for the spectacle watched with amazement, she ended her life in heroic fashion. For the entire army under arms marched three times about the pyre before it was lighted, and she herself, reclining beside her husband and letting no ignoble cry escape her during the onset of the fire, stirred some of those who beheld her to pity, others to extravagant praise. Nevertheless some of the Greeks denounced the custom as barbarous and cruel. When Eumenes had completed the burial of the dead, he moved the army from among the Paraetaceni into Gabene, which was unplundered and capable of supplying everything in abundance for the armies. It happened that this country was a twenty-five days' march from Antigonus if one went through inhabited country, but if one went through waterless desert, a march of nine days. In these regions and at this distance from each other Eumenes and Antigonus passed the winter and at the same time refreshed their men.
§ 19.35
κατὰ δὲ τὴν Εὐρώπην Κάσανδρος μὲν ἐν Πελοποννήσῳ Τεγέαν πολιορκῶν καὶ πυθόμενος τήν τε Ὀλυμπιάδος κάθοδον εἰς Μακεδονίαν καὶ τὴν Εὐρυδίκης καὶ Φιλίππου τοῦ βασιλέως ἀναίρεσιν, ἔτι δὲ τὰ περὶ τὸν Ἰόλλα τἀδελφοῦ τάφον συμβεβηκότα πρὸς μὲν τοὺς Τεγεάτας διελύσατο, τὴν δὲ δύναμιν ἀναλαβὼν προῆγεν ἐπὶ Μακεδονίαν, καταλιπὼν τοὺς συμμάχους ἐν πολλῇ ταραχῇ· ἐφήδρευε γὰρ ταῖς ἐν Πελοποννήσῳ πόλεσιν Ἀλέξανδρος ὁ Πολυπέρχοντος ἔχων στρατόπεδον. Αἰτωλοὶ δὲ χαρίζεσθαι βουλόμενοι τῇ τε Ὀλυμπιάδι καὶ Πολυπέρχοντι τὰ περὶ τὰς Πύλας στενὰ κατελάβοντο καὶ τῆς παρόδου τὸν Κάσανδρον ἀπέκλεισαν. ὁ δὲ βιάζεσθαι μὲν πρὸς τόπους δυσεμβόλους ἀπέγνω, παρασκευασάμενος δὲ πλοῖα καὶ σχεδίας ἔκ τε τῆς Εὐβοίας καὶ τῆς Λοκρίδος ἐπεραίωσε τὴν δύναμιν εἰς τὴν Θετταλίαν. ἀκούων δὲ περὶ τὴν Περραιβίαν προκαθῆσθαι Πολυπέρχοντα μετὰ στρατοπέδου Κάλλαν μὲν ἀπέστειλε στρατηγὸν μετὰ δυνάμεως, προστάξας διαπολεμεῖν τοῖς μετὰ Πολυπέρχοντος. Δεινίας δὲ τὰ στενὰ προκαταληψόμενος, ἀπαντήσας τοῖς ὑπʼ Ὀλυμπιάδος ἐξαποσταλεῖσι στρατιώταις ἔφθασε τῶν παρόδων κυριεύσας. Ὀλυμπιὰς δὲ πυθομένη Κάσανδρον μετὰ μεγάλης δυνάμεως πλησίον εἶναι τῆς Μακεδονίας, Ἀριστόνουν μὲν ἀπέδειξε στρατηγόν, κελεύσασα δικπολεμεῖν τοῖς περὶ Κάσανδρον, αὐτὴ δὲ παρῆλθεν εἰς Πύδναν ἔχουσα τὸν υἱὸν τὸν Ἀλεξάνδρου καὶ τὴν μητέρα αὐτοῦ Ῥωξάνην καὶ Θετταλονίκην τὴν Φιλίππου τοῦ Ἀμύντου θυγατέρα, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις Δηιδάμειάν τε τὴν Αἰακίδου θυγατέρα τοῦ βασιλέως τῶν Ἠπειρωτῶν, Πύρρου δὲ τοῦ πρὸς Ῥωμαίους ὕστερον πολεμήσαντος ἀδελφήν, καὶ τὰς Ἀττάλου θυγατέρας, ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν ἀξιολογωτάτων φίλων τοὺς συγγενεῖς, ὥστʼ ἀθροισθῆναι περὶ αὐτὴν πλῆθος μὲν πολὺ σωμάτων, ἀχρείων δʼ εἰς πόλεμον τῶν πλείστων· οὐδὲ γὰρ τροφῆς ἱκανὸν ἦν πλῆθος τοῖς μέλλουσι πολιορκίαν ὑπομένειν πολυχρόνιον. ὧν ἁπάντων πρόδηλον ἐχόντων τὸν κίνδυνον οὐδὲν ἧττον ἐνταῦθα διέγνω μένειν, ἐλπίζουσα αὐτῇ βοηθήσειν κατὰ θάλασσαν Ἑλλήνων τε καὶ Μακεδόνων πολλούς. συνῆσαν δʼ αὐτῇ τῶν τʼ ἐξ Ἀμβρακίας ἱππέων τινὲς καὶ τῶν περὶ τὴν αὐλὴν εἰωθότων διατρίβειν στρατιωτῶν οἱ πλείους, ἔτι δὲ τῶν μετὰ Πολυπέρχοντος ἐλεφάντων οἱ καταλειφθέντες· τῶν μὲν γὰρ ἄλλων θηρίων τῶν κατὰ τὴν προτέραν ἐμβολὴν εἰς Μακεδονίαν Κάσανδρος ἐκεκυριεύκει.
In Europe when Cassander, who was besieging Tegea in the Peloponnesus, learned of the return of Olympias to Macedonia and of the murder of Eurydice and King Philip, and moreover what had befallen the tomb of his brother Iollas, he came to terms with the people of Tegea and set out for Macedonia with his army, leaving his allies in complete confusion; for Polyperchon's son Alexander with an army was waiting to attack the cities of the Peloponnesus. The Aitolians, who wished to please Olympias and Polyperchon, had occupied the pass at Thermopylae and barred Cassander from the passage. Cassander decided against forcing his way through this region, which was difficult to attack, but he secured boats and barges from Euboea and Locris and transported his army to Thessaly. Hearing that Polyperchon and his army were in position in Perrhaebia, he dispatched his general Callas with an army, ordering him to carry on the war with Polyperchon. Deinias, however, in order to occupy the passes, went to meet the soldiers who had been sent out by Olympias and gained control of the defiles ahead of them. But Olympias, on learning that Cassander and a large army were near Macedonia, designated Aristonous general, ordering him to fight Cassander, and she herself went to Pydna accompanied by the following: Alexander's son, his mother Roxane, and Thessalonice, daughter of Philip son of Amyntas; also Deidameia, daughter of Aeacides king of the Epirotes and sister of that Pyrrhus who later fought against the Romans, the daughters of Attalus, and finally the kinsfolk of Olympias' other more important friends. Thus there were gathered about her a large number of persons, but persons for the most part useless in war; and there was not a sufficient supply of food for people who were about to endure a very long siege. Although the risk involved in all these circumstances was clear, none the less she decided to remain there, hoping that many Greeks and Macedonians would come to her aid by sea. She had with her some of the Ambracian horse and most of the soldiers who were accustomed to serve about the court, also those of Polyperchon's elephants that remained, for Cassander had gained possession of the rest of the elephants in his previous expedition into Macedonia.
§ 19.36
ὃς τότε διελθὼν τὰ κατὰ Περραιβίαν στενὰ καὶ παραγενόμενος πλησίον τῆς Πύδνης τὴν μὲν πόλιν περιεχαράκωσεν ἐκ θαλάττης εἰς θάλατταν, παρὰ δὲ τῶν συμμαχεῖν βουλομένων μετεπέμπετο ναῦς καὶ βέλη παντοδαπὰ καὶ μηχανάς, διανοούμενος πολιορκεῖν τοὺς μετʼ Ὀλυμπιάδος καὶ κατὰ γῆν καὶ κατὰ θάλασσαν. πυθόμενος δʼ Αἰακίδην τὸν Ἠπειρωτῶν βασιλέα μετὰ δυνάμεως μέλλειν βοηθήσειν Ὀλυμπιάδι, στρατηγὸν ἐξέπεμψεν Ἀταρρίαν, δοὺς στρατόπεδον καὶ συντάξας ἀπαντᾶν τοῖς Ἠπειρώταις. οὗ ταχὺ τὸ προσταχθὲν ποιήσαντος καὶ τὰς ἐξ Ἠπείρου παρόδους προκαταλαβομένου συνέβη τὸν Αἰακίδην ἄπρακτον γενέσθαι. καὶ γὰρ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν Ἠπειρωτῶν ἀκουσίως ἐστράτευσεν ἐπὶ Μακεδονίας καὶ στάσιν ἐποίει κατὰ τὴν παρεμβολήν· ὁ δὲ Αἰακίδης ἐκ παντὸς τρόπου βουλόμενος βοηθεῖν Ὀλυμπιάδι τοὺς μὲν ἀλλοτρίως διακειμένους ἀπέλυσε τῆς στρατείας, τοὺς δὲ συγκινδυνεύειν βουλομένους ἀναλαβὼν προθυμίαν μὲν εἶχε τοῦ διακινδυνεύειν, οὐκ ἀξιόμαχος δʼ ἦν ὡς ἂν ὀλίγου καταλελειμμένου τοῦ περὶ αὐτὸν συστήματος. οἱ δὲ χωρισθέντες τῶν Ἠπειρωτῶν εἰς τὰς πατρίδας κατεστασίασαν ἀπόντα τὸν βασιλέα καὶ κοινῷ δόγματι φυγὴν αὐτοῦ καταγνόντες πρὸς Κάσανδρον ἐποιήσαντο συμμαχίαν. ὅπερ οὐδέποτε γενέσθαι συνέβη κατὰ τὴν Ἤπειρον ἀφʼ οὗ Νεοπτόλεμος ὁ Ἀχιλλέως ἐβασίλευσε τῆς χώρας· ἀεὶ γὰρ παῖς παρὰ πατρὸς διαδεχόμενος τὴν δυναστείαν ἐναπέθνησκε ταῖς βασιλείαις μέχρι τῶνδε τῶν καιρῶν. Κασάνδρου δὲ παραλαβόντος τὴν Ἤπειρον τῇ συμμαχίᾳ καὶ πέμψαντος εἰς αὐτὴν ἐπιμελητὴν ἅμα καὶ στρατηγὸν Λυκίσκον οἱ πρότερον κατὰ Μακεδονίαν διστάζοντες περὶ τῆς συμμαχίας ἀπήλπισαν μὲν τὰ κατʼ Ὀλυμπιάδα πράγματα, τῷ δὲ Κασάνδρῳ προσέθεντο. μιᾶς δʼ οὔσης αὐτῇ βοηθείας τῆς παρὰ Πολυπέρχοντος συνέβη καὶ ταύτην συντριβῆναι παραδόξως· ὁ γὰρ ὑπὸ Κασάνδρου πεμφθεὶς στρατηγὸς Κάλλας ἐπειδὴ πλησίον γενόμενος τοῦ Πολυπέρχοντος κατεστρατοπέδευσεν ἐν τῇ Περραιβίᾳ, διέφθειρε τῶν μετʼ αὐτοῦ στρατιωτῶν τοὺς πλείστους χρήμασιν, ὥστε ὀλίγους τοὺς μάλιστα πιστοὺς ἀπολειφθῆναι. αἱ μὲν οὖν Ὀλυμπιάδος ἐλπίδες ἐν ὀλίγῳ χρόνῳ τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον ἐταπεινώθησαν.
Cassander, going through the passes of Perrhaebia and arriving near Pydna, surrounded the city from sea to sea with a stockade and requisitioned ships, missile weapons of all sorts, and engines of war from those who wished to become his allies, with the intention of laying siege to Olympias by land and sea. Being informed that Aeacides king of the Epirotes was about to come to the aid of Olympias with an army, he sent out Atarrhias as general, giving him an army and ordering him to meet the Epirotes. Atarrhias carried out his orders quickly and by occupying the passes from Epirus succeeded in holding Aeacides inactive. Indeed, most of the Epirotes set out for Macedonia against their will and were mutinying in the camp; and Aeacides, who wished at all costs to aid Olympias, by releasing from the army those who were disaffected and taking those who wished to share the fortunes of war with him, although he showed his zeal for a fight to the finish, was not a match for his opponents because few of his army remained. Those of the Epirotes who went back to their native land rebelled against their absent king, condemned him to exile by a public decree, and made an alliance with Cassander. This was something that had never happened in Epirus from the time when Neoptolemus the son of Achilles was king of the land; for sons had always succeeded to their fathers' authority and had died on the throne up to this time. Cassander received Epirus in his alliance and sent Lyciscus to it as regent and general, at which the people throughout Macedonia who had previously held apart from the alliance abandoned the fortunes of Olympias in despair and joined themselves to Cassander. Her only hope of aid was from Polyperchon, and this was also unexpectedly crushed; for when Callas, who had been sent by Cassander as general, drew near Polyperchon in Perrhaebia and camped there, he corrupted most of Polyperchon's soldiers by bribes so that there remained only a few and these the most faithful. Thus Olympias' hopes were humbled in a brief time.
§ 19.37
κατὰ δὲ τὴν Ἀσίαν Ἀντίγονος μὲν χειμάζων ἐν Γαδαμάλοις τῆς Μηδίας καὶ θεωρῶν τὴν ἑαυτοῦ δύναμιν ἀσθενεστέραν οὖσαν τῆς τῶν πολεμίων ἔσπευδεν ἀνελπίστως αὐτοῖς ἐπιθέσθαι καὶ καταστρατηγῆσαι. ἐτύγχανον δʼ οὗτοι τὴν χειμασίαν ἔχοντες ἐν πολλοῖς μέρεσι διεζευγμένην, ὥστʼ ἐνίους ἀπʼ ἀλλήλων ἀπέχειν ὁδὸν ἡμερῶν ἕξ. τὸ μὲν οὖν διὰ τῆς οἰκουμένης χώρας ὁδοιπορεῖν ἀπεδοκίμασε διὰ τὸ καὶ μακρὰν εἶναι καὶ τοῖς πολεμίοις εὐθεώρητον, τὸ δὲ τολμῆσαι διὰ τῆς ἐρήμου καὶ ἀνύδρου προάγειν ἐπίπονον μὲν ἔκρινεν, εἰς δὲ τὴν βεβουλευμένην ἐπιβολὴν χρησιμώτατον· οὐ μόνον γὰρ διὰ ταύτης συντόμως ἦν ἐλθεῖν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ῥᾳδίως λαθεῖν ἀπροσδοκήτως ἐπιπεσόντα τοῖς διὰ τὴν ἄγνοιαν διερριμμένοις κατὰ κώμας καὶ ῥᾳθυμοῦσι. ταῦτα δὲ διανοηθεὶς τοῖς μὲν στρατιώταις παρήγγειλεν ἑτοίμους εἶναι πρὸς ἀνάζευξιν καὶ παρασκευάσασθαι δέχʼ ἡμερῶν ἄπυρα σιτία, αὐτὸς δὲ δια δοὺς λόγον ἐπʼ Ἀρμενίας προάξειν ἄφνω παρὰ τὴν πάντων ὑπόληψιν ὥρμησε διὰ τῆς ἐρήμου, τῆς ὥρας οὔσης περὶ χειμερινὰς τροπάς. κατὰ δὲ τὰς στρατοπεδείας παρήγγειλε τῆς ἡμέρας μὲν τὰ πυρὰ κάειν, τῆς δὲ νυκτὸς κατασβεννύναι τελέως, ὅπως μή τινες ἐκ τῶν μετεώρων κατανοήσαντες ἀπαγγείλωσι τὸ γινόμενον τοῖς πολεμίοις· ἦν γὰρ ἡ μὲν ἔρημος πᾶσα σχεδὸν πεδιάς, περιείχετο δὲ ὑπὸ λόφων ὑψηλῶν, ἀφʼ ὧν ῥᾴδιον ἦν ἐκ πολλοῦ διαστήματος συνορᾶν τὴν αὐγὴν τοῦ πυρός. ἐπιπόνως δὲ τῆς δυνάμεως πένθʼ ἡμέρας ὁδοιπορούσης οἱ μὲν στρατιῶται διά τε τὸ ψῦχος καὶ τὰς ἀναγκαίας χρείας ἔκαον πῦρ μεθʼ ἡμέραν τε καὶ νύκτωρ ἐν ταῖς στρατοπεδείαις. ὃ δὴ συνιδόντες τινὲς τῶν παρὰ τὴν ἔρημον οἰκούντων ἔπεμψαν τοὺς ἀπαγγελοῦντας αὐθημερὸν τοῖς περὶ Εὐμενῆ καὶ Πευκέστην, δόντες δρομάδας καμήλους· διατείνει γὰρ τὸ ζῷον τοῦτο σταδίους οὐ πολὺ ἐλάττους χιλίων πεντακοσίων.
In Asia Antigonus, who was wintering in Gadamala in Media, seeing that his force was weaker than that of the enemy, was anxious to get the better of them by attacking them without warning. It happened that the enemy were occupying winter quarters which were divided in many parts, so that some of the detachments were six days' march distant from others. So Antigonus disapproved of the idea of marching through the inhabited country because the route was long and easily observed by the enemy, and decided that to venture the journey through the waterless desert although difficult, would be most suitable for the attack that he had planned; for not only was it possible to go quickly by that route, but it was also easy to escape attention and fall unexpectedly upon an army that, because ignorant of his movements, would be scattered among villages and at its ease. Having formed this plan he ordered the soldiers to be ready to break camp and to prepare ten days' supply of food that would not require cooking. He himself, after spreading the report that he was going to lead the army against Armenia, suddenly and contrary to the assumption of all set out across the desert, it being about this time of the winter solstice. He gave orders to build the fires in the camps by day, but to extinguish them completely at night, so that no one seeing them from the higher ground might take word to the enemy of what was happening; for almost the entire desert was a plain, but it was surrounded by high hills from which it was easy to see the gleam of fire from a great distance. After the army had been marching five days with great suffering, the soldiers because of the cold and to satisfy their urgent needs burned fires in the camps both by day and by night. On seeing this, certain of those who lived near the desert sent men to report it on the same day to Eumenes and Peucestes, giving them dromedaries, for this animal can travel continuously for almost fifteen hundred stades.
§ 19.38
οἱ δὲ περὶ τὸν Πευκέστην πυθόμενοι κατὰ μέσην τὴν ὁδὸν ἑωρᾶσθαι τὴν στρατοπεδείαν, διέγνωσαν ἀναχωρεῖν εἰς τοὺς ἐσχάτους τόπους τῆς χειμασίας, φοβούμενοι μὴ καταληφθῶσιν ὑπὸ τῶν πολεμίων πρὶν ἢ συνελθεῖν πανταχόθεν τὴν συμμαχοῦσαν δύναμιν. ὧν ὁρῶν τὴν ἀθυμίαν Εὐμενὴς θαρρεῖν παρεκελεύετο καὶ μένειν ἐπὶ τῶν ὅρων τῆς ἐρήμου· εὑρηκέναι γὰρ τρόπον δι’ οὗ ποιήσει τὸν Ἀντίγονον ὕστερον ἡμέραις τρισὶν ἢ τέτταρσι παραγενέσθαι· τούτου δὲ γενομένου τὴν μὲν ἑαυτῶν δύναμιν ῥᾳδίως ἀθροισθήσεσθαι, τοὺς δὲ πολεμίους καταπεπονημένους καὶ πάντων ἐνδεεῖς ὄντας ὑποχειρίους γενήσεσθαι. πάντων δὲ θαυμασάντων τὸ παράδοξον τῆς ἐπαγγελίας καὶ ζητούντων μαθεῖν τί ποτʼ ἔσται τὸ δυνάμενον κωλῦσαι προάγειν τοὺς ἐναντίους, προσέταξεν ἀκολουθεῖν ἑαυτῷ πάντας τοὺς ἡγεμόνας μετὰ τῶν ἰδίων στρατιωτῶν, ἔχοντας ἐν ἀγγείοις πλείοσι πῦρ. ἐκλεξάμενος δὲ τῆς μετεώρου χώρας τόπον ἐστραμμένον ἐπὶ τὴν ἔρημον καὶ πρὸς τὴν ἀποθεώρησιν πανταχόθεν εὐφυῆ, σημεῖα θέμενος περιέλαβεν ὡς ἂν ἑβδομήκοντα σταδίων περιφέρειαν. διελὼν δὲ τόπους ἑκάστῳ τῶν συνακολουθούντων συνέταξε νυκτὸς πῦρ κάειν διαστάντας ὡς ἂν εἴκοσι πήχεις καὶ κατὰ μὲν τὴν πρώτην φυλακὴν πολλὴν φλόγα ποιεῖν ὡς ἂν ἐγρηγορότων ἔτι καὶ πρὸς θεραπείαν καὶ δεῖπνον παρασκευαζομένων, τῆς δὲ δευτέρας ἐλάττω, καὶ τῆς τρίτης ἀπολιπεῖν ὀλίγα παντελῶς ὥστε δοκεῖν εἶναι τοῖς ἐξ ἀποστήματος θεωροῦσιν ἀληθινὴν στρατοπεδείαν. τῶν δὲ στρατιωτῶν ποιησάντων τὸ προσταχθὲν κατενόησάν τινες τὰ πυρὰ τῶν νεμομένων μὲν τὴν ἀπεναντίον ὀρεινήν, φίλων δʼ ὄντων Πίθωνι τῷ Μηδίας σατράπῃ. δόξαντες δὲ πρὸς ἀλήθειαν εἶναι στρατοπεδείαν, καταδραμόντες εἰς τὸ πεδίον ἀπήγγειλαν τοῖς περὶ τὸν Ἀντίγονον καὶ Πίθωνα. οἱ δὲ διὰ τὸ παράδοξον καταπλαγέντες καὶ τῆς ὁδοιπορίας ἐπισχόντες ἐβουλεύοντο πῶς χρηστέον τοῖς προσηγγελμένοις· ἦν γὰρ ἐπικίνδυνον τὸ πεπονηκότας καὶ πάντων ἐνδεεῖς συνηγμένοις ἤδη τοῖς πολεμίοις καὶ πάντων εὐποροῦσι συμβαλεῖν. ὑπολαβόντες δὲ προδοσίαν γεγενῆσθαι καὶ προακηκοότας τὸ μέλλον τοὺς πολεμίους ἠθροῖσθαι, τὸ μὲν ἐπʼ εὐθείας προάγειν ἀπέγνωσαν, εἰς δεξιὰ δὲ κλίναντες προῆγον ἐφʼ ἑκάτερα μέρη τῆς οἰκουμένης χώρας, βουλόμενοι τὴν δύναμιν ἐκ τῆς κακοπαθίας ἀναλαβεῖν.
When Peucestes learned that a camp had been seen in the middle of the route, he made up his mind to withdraw to the most distant part of the territory in which they were wintering, for he was afraid that they might be overtaken by the enemy before the allied force assembled from all directions. Seeing his lack of spirit, Eumenes urged him to take courage and to remain on the borders of the desert; for, he said, he had found a way through which he would delay Antigonus' arrival by three or four days. If this took place, he added, their own force would easily be assembled, and the enemy would be delivered over into their hands when utterly worn out and lacking everything. While all were wondering at this strange promise and were trying to learn what in the world it would be that could prevent the enemy from advancing, he ordered all the commanders to follow him with their own soldiers bringing fire in many jars. He then selected a place in the higher ground that faced toward the desert and was well situated to be clearly visible from every direction and by setting up markers laid out a space with a perimeter of seventy stades. Assigning an area to each of those who followed him, he ordered them at night to light fires about twenty cubits apart and to keep the flames bright in the first watch as if men were still awake and busy with the care of their bodies and the preparation of food, but dimmer in the second watch, and in the third watch to leave only a very few, so that to those who watched from a distance it would seem to be a genuine camp. The soldiers carried out the directions. The flames were seen by some of those who pastured flocks on the hills opposite and who were friendly toward Pithon, the satrap of Media. Believing that this truly was a camp, they hurried down into the plain and carried the news to Antigonus and Pithon. These were astonished at this unexpected news and halted the march while they took counsel how they should use this information, for it was dangerous to lead an army that had been undergoing hardship and was in need of everything against hostile forces that were already assembled and were well provided with everything. Believing that there had been treachery and that the enemy had assembled because they knew in advance what was to happen, they gave up the plan of going straight forward and, turning to the right, went to unplundered parts of the inhabited country, since they wished to refresh the army after its hardships.
§ 19.39
Εὐμενὴς δὲ τὸν προειρημένον τρόπον καταστρατηγήσας τοὺς πολεμίους μετεπέμπετο πανταχόθεν τοὺς διερριμμένους τῶν στρατιωτῶν καὶ χειμάζοντας ἐν ταῖς κώμαις. βαλόμενος δὲ χάρακα καὶ τάφρῳ βαθείᾳ τὴν παρεμβολὴν ὀχυρώσας ὑπεδέχετο μὲν τοὺς ἀεὶ καταντῶντας τῶν συμμάχων, ἐπλήρωσε δὲ τὴν στρατοπεδείαν πάντων τῶν ἐπιτηδείων. ὁ δʼ Ἀντίγονος διελθὼν τὴν ἔρημον καὶ πυθόμενος παρὰ τῶν ἐγχωρίων σχεδὸν τὴν μὲν ἄλλην δύναμιν ἅπασαν συνεληλυθέναι τοῖς περὶ τὸν Εὐμενῆ, τοὺς δʼ ἐλέφαντας μέλλειν ἀναζευγνύειν ἐκ τῆς χειμασίας καὶ πλησίον εἶναι μεμονωμένους πάσης βοηθείας, ἀπέστειλεν ἐπʼ αὐτοὺς ἱππεῖς λογχοφόρους μὲν Μήδους δισχιλίους, Ταραντίνους δὲ διακοσίους, τῶν δὲ πεζῶν τοὺς ψιλοὺς ἅπαντας· ἤλπιζε γὰρ μεμονωμένοις τοῖς θηρίοις τὴν ἐπίθεσιν ποιησάμενος τούτων τε ῥᾳδίως κυριεύσειν καὶ τῶν πολεμίων παρελεῖσθαι τὸ κράτιστον μέρος τῆς δυνάμεως. ὁ δʼ Εὐμενὴς καταστοχασάμενος τὸ μέλλον ἀπέστειλεν ἐπὶ τὴν βοήθειαν ἱππεῖς μὲν τοὺς κρατίστους χιλίους καὶ πεντακοσίους, πεζοὺς δὲ ψιλοὺς τρισχιλίους. ἐπιφανέντων δὲ πρότερον τῶν Ἀντιγόνου στρατιωτῶν οἱ τῶν ἐλεφάντων ἡγεμόνες τάξαντες εἰς πλινθίον τὰ θηρία προῆγον, ἐν μέσῳ μὲν ἀπειληφότες τὰ σκευοφόρα, κατὰ δὲ τὴν οὐραγίαν ἔχοντες συναγωνιζομένους ἱππεῖς οὐ πλείους τετρακοσίων. ἐπιπεσόντων δʼ αὐτοῖς τῶν πολεμίων παντὶ τῷ βάρει καὶ βιαιότερον ἐπικειμένων οἱ μὲν ἱππεῖς ἐτράπησαν ὑπὸ τοῦ πλήθους καταπονηθέντες, οἱ δʼ ἐπὶ τῶν ἐλεφάντων ἐφεστηκότες τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἀντεῖχον καὶ διεκαρτέρουν πανταχόθεν κατατιτρωσκόμενοι, βλάψαι δʼ οὐδὲν τοὺς πολεμίους δυνάμενοι. ἤδη δʼ αὐτῶν καταπονουμένων ἀνελπίστως ἐπιφανέντες οἱ παρʼ Εὐμενοῦς ἐξήρπασαν αὐτοὺς ἐκ τῶν κινδύνων. μετὰ δʼ ἡμέρας ὀλίγας ἐν τεσσαράκοντα σταδίοις ἀντιστρατοπεδευουσῶν τῶν δυνάμεων ἐξέταξαν ἀμφότεροι τὸ στρατόπεδον εἰς μάχην, ὡς περὶ τῶν ὅλων κρίσεως ἐσομένης.
When Eumenes had outgeneralled the enemy in the manner described, he called together from all sides those of his soldiers who had been widely scattered while wintering in the villages. After building a palisade as a protection and strengthening the encampment by a deep ditch, he received those of the allies who came down from time to time, and he filled the camp with all the necessary supplies. But Antigonus, having got across the desert, learned from the inhabitants that, although almost all the rest of Eumenes' army had assembled, the elephants were slow in leaving their winter quarters and were near at hand, cut off from all assistance. He sent cavalry against them — two thousand Median lancers and two hundred Tarentines — and all his light infantry, for he hoped that, by attacking the elephants when they were isolated, he could easily gain control of them and deprive the enemy of the strongest element in his army. Eumenes, however, guessing what was on foot, sent to the rescue fifteen hundred of the strongest cavalry and three thousand light infantry. Since the soldiers of Antigonus arrived first, the commanders of the elephants arranged them in a square and advanced, placing the baggage train in the centre and in the rear the cavalry that accompanied the elephants, consisting of a force of not more than four hundred men. As the enemy fell upon them with all its weight and pressed ever more heavily, the cavalry was routed, overwhelmed by numbers; but those who were in charge of the elephants resisted at first and held firm even though they were receiving wounds from all directions and were not able to injure the enemy in return in any way; and then, when they were now becoming exhausted, the troops sent by Eumenes suddenly appeared and rescued them from their danger. A few days later, when the armies were encamped opposite each other at a distance of forty stades, each general drew up his army for battle, expecting to decide the issue.
§ 19.40
Ἀντίγονος μὲν οὖν τοὺς ἱππεῖς ἐπὶ τὰ κέρατα διελόμενος τὸ μὲν εὐώνυμον μέρος Πίθωνι παρέδωκε, τὸ δὲ δεξιὸν τῷ υἱῷ Δημητρίῳ, μεθʼ οὗ καὶ αὐτὸς διαγωνίζεσθαι διεγνώκει· τοὺς δὲ πεζοὺς εἰς μέσον καταστήσας παρέταξε παρʼ ὅλην τὴν δύναμιν τοὺς ἐλέφαντας, πληρώσας τὰ διαστήματα τοῖς ψιλικοῖς τάγμασιν. ὁ δὲ πᾶς ἀριθμὸς ἦν αὐτοῦ τῆς δυνάμεως πεζοὶ μὲν δισμύριοι δισχίλιοι, ἱππεῖς δʼ ἐννακισχίλιοι σὺν τοῖς ἐκ Μηδίας προσκαταγραφεῖσι, θηρία δὲ ἑξήκοντα καὶ πέντε. ὁ δʼ Εὐμενὴς πυθόμενος τὸν Ἀντίγονον ἐπὶ τοῦ δεξιοῦ κέρατος τετάχθαι μετὰ τῶν ἀρίστων ἱππέων, καὶ αὐτὸς ἀντετάξατο, ἐπὶ τὸ λαιὸν κέρας ἐπιστήσας τοὺς ἀρίστους· καὶ γὰρ τῶν σατραπῶν τοὺς πλείστους ἐνταῦθα κατέστησεν μετὰ τῶν συναγωνιζομένων αὐτοῖς ἱππέων ἐπιλέκτων καὶ αὐτὸς μετὰ τούτων ἔμελλε κινδυνεύειν· συνῆν δʼ αὐτοῖς καὶ Μιθριδάτης ὁ Ἀριοβαρζάνου μὲν υἱός, ἀπόγονος δʼ ἑνὸς τῶν ἑπτὰ Περσῶν τῶν συγκαθελόντων τὸν μάγον Σμέρδιν, ἀνὴρ ἀνδρείᾳ διαφέρων καὶ τεθραμμένος ἐκ παιδὸς στρατιωτικῶς. πρὸ δὲ τοῦ κέρατος παντὸς ἔταξεν ἐν ἐπικαμπίῳ τοὺς κρατίστους τῶν ἐλεφάντων ἑξήκοντα καὶ τὰ διαστήματα τοῖς ψιλοῖς διέλαβε τάγμασι. τῶν δὲ πεζῶν πρώτους μὲν ἔταξε τοὺς ὑπασπιστάς, εἶτα τοὺς ἀργυράσπιδας, ἐπὶ πᾶσι δὲ τοὺς ξένους καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τοὺς εἰς τὰ Μακεδονικὰ καθωπλισμένους, καὶ πρὸ τούτων ἐλέφαντας καὶ τῶν ψιλῶν τοὺς ἱκανούς. ἐπὶ δὲ τὸ δεξιὸν κέρας τάξας τῶν ἱππέων καὶ τῶν ἐλεφάντων τοὺς ἀσθενεστέρους ἀπέδειξεν ἡγεμόνα τῶν πάντων Φίλιππον· τούτῳ δὲ διεκελεύσατο φυγομαχεῖν καὶ τὴν ἀπὸ θατέρου μέρους κρίσιν ἀποθεωρεῖν. οἱ δὲ σύμπαντες ἦσαν μετʼ Εὐμενοῦς κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν καιρὸν πεζοὶ μὲν τρισμύριοι ἑξακισχίλιοι ἑπτακόσιοι, ἱππεῖς δὲ ἑξακισχίλιοι, ἐλέφαντες δὲ ἑκατὸν τεσσαρεσκαίδεκα.
Antigonus placed his cavalry on the wings, giving the command of the left to Pithon and that of the right to his own son Demetrius, beside whom he himself planned to fight. He stationed the foot soldiers in the centre and extended the elephants across the whole front, filling the spaces between them with light armed troops. The total number of his army was twenty-two thousand foot, nine thousand horse including the additional troops enlisted in Media, and sixty-five elephants. When Eumenes learned that Antigonus had taken his place on the right with his best cavalry, he drew up his army against him, stationing his best troops on the left wing. In fact, he placed there most of the satraps with the selected bodies of cavalry that accompanied them in battle, and he himself intended to take part in the fight along with them. There was also present with them Mithridates, the son of Ariobarzanes and a descendant of one of the seven Persians who slew the Magian Smerdis, a man remarkable for courage and trained from childhood as a soldier. In front of the whole wing he drew up in a curved line the sixty strongest of the elephants and screened the interval with light troops. Of the foot soldiers he placed first the hypaspists, then the Silver Shields, and finally the mercenaries and those of the other soldiers who were armed in the Macedonian fashion. In front of the infantry he stationed elephants and an adequate force of his light troops. On the right wing he drew up the weaker of the cavalry and of the elephants, putting all of them under the command of Philip, whom he ordered to avoid battle and to observe the outcome on the other wing. In all there were in Eumenes' army at this time thirty-six thousand seven hundred foot soldiers, six thousand horsemen and one hundred and fourteen elephants.
§ 19.41
μικρὸν δὲ πρὸ τῆς παρατάξεως Ἀντιγένης ὁ τῶν ἀργυρασπίδων στρατηγὸς ἔπεμψεν ἕνα τῶν Μακεδόνων ἱππέων ἐπὶ τὴν φάλαγγα τῶν ἐναντίων, προστάξας πλησίον παραγενόμενον ἀναβοῆσαι. οὗτος δὲ προσιππεύσας μόνος εἰς φωνῆς ἀκοὴν, καθʼ ὃ μέρος ἡ φάλαγξ ἦν τῶν παρʼ Ἀντιγόνου Μακεδόνων, ἀνεβόησεν «Ἐπὶ τοὺς πατέρας, ὦ κακαὶ κεφαλαί, τοὺς μετὰ Φιλίππου καὶ Ἀλεξάνδρου τὰ ὅλα κατειργασμένους;» οὓς μετʼ ὀλίγον ὄψονται καὶ τῶν βασιλέων καὶ τῶν προγεγονότων ἀγώνων ἀξίους. καὶ γὰρ ἐτύγχανον κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν καιρὸν τῶν ἀργυρασπίδων οἱ νεώτατοι μὲν περὶ τὰ ἑξήκοντα ἔτη, τῶν δʼ ἄλλων οἱ πλείους μὲν περὶ τὰ ἑβδομήκοντα, τινὲς δὲ καὶ πρεσβύτεροι, πάντες δὲ ταῖς ἐμπειρίαις καὶ ταῖς ῥώμαις ἀνυπόστατοι· τοσαύτη περὶ αὐτοὺς ἦν εὐχειρία καὶ τόλμα διὰ τὴν συνέχειαν τῶν κινδύνων. γενομένου δὲ τοῦ κηρύγματος καθότι προείρηται, παρὰ μὲν τοῖς περὶ Ἀντίγονον ἐγίνοντο φωναὶ δυσχερεῖς, ὅτι συναναγκάζοιντο πρὸς συγγενεῖς καὶ πρεσβυτέρους διαμάχεσθαι, παρὰ δὲ τοῖς μετʼ Εὐμενοῦς παρατασσομένοις παρακελευσμὸς καὶ βοὴ τὴν ταχίστην ἄγειν ἐπὶ τοὺς πολεμίους. ὧν Εὐμενὴς ὁρῶν τὴν προθυμίαν ἦρεν τὸ σύσσημον, διʼ ὧν παρεστήσατο τοὺς μὲν σαλπιγκτὰς τὸ πολεμικὸν σημαίνειν, τὴν δὲ δύναμιν ἀλαλάξαι πᾶσαν.
A short time before the battle Antigenes, the general of the Silver Shields, sent one of the Macedonian horsemen toward the hostile phalanx, ordering him to draw near to it and make proclamation. This man, riding up alone to within earshot opposite the place where the phalanx of Antigonus' Macedonians was stationed, shouted: "Wicked men, are you sinning against your fathers, who conquered the whole world under Philip and Alexander?" and added that in a little while they would see that these veterans were worthy both of the kings and of their own past battles. At this time the youngest of the Silver Shields were about sixty years old, most of the others about seventy, and some even older; but all of them were irresistible because of experience and strength, such was the skill and daring acquired through the unbroken series of their battles. When this proclamation had been delivered as we have said, there arose from the soldiers of Antigonus angry cries to the effect that they were being forced to fight against their kinsfolk and their elders, but from the ranks of Eumenes there came a cheer and a demand that he lead them against the enemy as soon as possible. When Eumenes saw their enthusiasm, he gave the sign by which he directed the trumpeters to sound the signal for combat and the whole army to raise the battle cry.
§ 19.42
συνῆψε δὲ μάχην πρῶτον μὲν τὰ θηρία, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα καὶ τὸ τῶν ἱππέων πλῆθος. τοῦ δὲ πεδίου πολλὴν εὐρυχωρίαν ἔχοντος καὶ παντὸς ὑπάρχοντος ἀργοῦ διὰ τὴν ἐν αὐτῷ διήκουσαν ἁλμυρίδα τοσοῦτον συνέβη ὑπὸ τῶν ἱππέων ἐξαίρεσθαι κονιορτὸν ὥστε μηδένα δύνασθαι ῥᾳδίως συνορᾶν ἐξ ὀλίγου διαστήματος τὸ γινόμενον. ὃ δὴ κατανοήσας Ἀντίγονος ἀπέστειλε τοὺς ἐκ Μηδίας ἱππεῖς καὶ τῶν Ταραντίνων τοὺς ἱκανοὺς ἐπὶ τὴν ἀποσκευὴν τῶν πολεμίων· ἤλπιζε γάρ, ὅπερ ἦν ἀληθές, διὰ μὲν τὸν κονιορτὸν λήσεσθαι, διὰ δὲ τὴν ἅλωσιν τῆς ἀποσκευῆς ἀκονητὶ κρατῆσαι τῶν πολεμίων. οἱ δὲ πεμφθέντες περιιππεύσαντες τὸ κέρας τῶν ἐναντίων καὶ λαθόντες ἐπέθεντο τοῖς σκευοφόροις, ἀπέχουσι τῆς μάχης ὡς πέντε σταδίους· εὑρόντες δʼ αὐτὴν πλήρη μὲν ὄχλου πρὸς μάχην ἀχρήστου, τοὺς δʼ ἀμυνομένους ὀλίγους ταχὺ τοὺς ἀντιστάντας τρεψάμενοι τῶν ἄλλων ἁπάντων ἐκυρίευσαν. ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις Ἀντίγονος μὲν συνάψας μάχην τοῖς ἀντιτεταγμένοις καὶ μετὰ πλήθους ἱππέων ἐπιφανεὶς κατεπλήξατο Πευκέστην τὸν τῆς Περσίδος σατράπην, ὃς μετὰ τῶν περὶ ἑαυτὸν ἱππέων ἔξω τοῦ κονιορτοῦ διδοὺς ἑαυτὸν συνεπεσπάσατο καὶ τῶν ἄλλων εἰς χιλίους πεντακοσίους. Εὐμενὴς δὲ μετʼ ὀλίγων ἀπολειφθεὶς ἐπʼ ἄκρου τοῦ κέρατος τὸ μὲν εἶξαι τῇ τύχῃ καὶ φυγεῖν αἰσχρὸν διέλαβεν, τὸ δὲ τηροῦντα τὴν δεδομένην ὑπὸ τῶν βασιλέων πίστιν γενναίᾳ προαιρέσει συναποθανεῖν προκρίνας ἐπʼ αὐτὸν ἐώσατο τὸν Ἀντίγονον. γενομένης δʼ ἱππομαχίας καρτερᾶς καὶ τῶν μὲν μετʼ Εὐμενοῦς ταῖς προθυμίαις προεχόντων, τῶν δὲ μετʼ Ἀντιγόνου τῷ πλήθει περιγινομένων πολλοὶ παρʼ ἀμφοτέρων ἔπιπτον· ὅτε δὴ συνέβη καὶ τῶν ἐλεφάντων πρὸς ἀλλήλους ἀγωνιζομένων πεσεῖν τῶν Εὐμενοῦς τὸν προηγούμενον, συμπλακέντα τῷ κρατίστῳ τῶν ἀντιτεταγμένων. διόπερ Εὐμενὴς ὁρῶν τοὺς μετʼ αὐτοῦ πανταχόθεν ἐλαττουμένους ἐξῆγεν ἐκ τῆς μάχης τοὺς ὑπολελειμμένους ἱππεῖς καὶ παρελθὼν ἐπὶ θάτερον κέρας ἀνελάμβανε τοὺς μετὰ Φιλίππου τεταγμένους, οἷς ἦν παρηγγελκὼς φυγομαχεῖν. ἡ μὲν οὖν τῶν ἱππέων μάχη τοιοῦτον ἔσχε τὸ τέλος.
The first to join in battle were the elephants, and after them the main body of the cavalry. Since the plain was of great extent and entirely uncultivated because of the salt that permeated it, such a cloud of dust was raised by the cavalry that from a little distance one could not easily see what was happening. When Antigonus perceived this, he dispatched the Median cavalry and an adequate force of Tarentines against the baggage of the enemy; for he hoped, as indeed happened, that this manoeuvre might not be discovered because of the dust, and that by the capture of the baggage he might prevail over the enemy without labour. The detachment rode around the flank of their opponents and without being noticed attacked the baggage train, which was about five stades distant from the battle. They found that it was packed with a multitude of persons who were useless for fighting but had few defenders, and after quickly defeating those who resisted, they captured all the others. While this was taking place, Antigonus joined battle with those who were opposite him and by appearing with a large number of cavalry struck panic into Peucestes, satrap of Persia, who in retiring from the dust cloud with his own cavalry drew away fifteen hundred others as well. Eumenes, although he and a few troopers were left unsupported at the extremity of the wing, regarded it as shameful to yield to fortune and flee; preferring to die while still upholding with noble resolution the trust that had been given him by the kings, he forced his way toward Antigonus himself. A fierce cavalry battle ensued, in which Eumenes' men were superior in spirit but those of Antigonus had the advantage in number, and many were falling on both sides. It was at this time, while the elephants also were struggling against each other, that Eumenes' leading elephant fell after having been engaged with the strongest of those arrayed against it. Thereupon Eumenes, seeing that his forces were everywhere having the worst of it, led what remained of the cavalry out of the battle and went around to the other wing, where he assumed command of those troops whom he had assigned to Philip and had ordered to avoid fighting. This was the outcome of the cavalry engagement.
§ 19.43
τῶν δὲ πεζῶν οἱ μὲν ἀργυράσπιδες συμφράξαντες καὶ βιαιότερον τοῖς ἀντιτεταγμένοις ἐπιπεσόντες τοὺς μὲν ἐν χειρῶν νόμῳ διέφθειραν, τοὺς δὲ συνηνάγκασαν φυγεῖν. ἀκατάσχετοι δὲ ταῖς ὁρμαῖς γενόμενοι καὶ πρὸς πᾶσαν τὴν τῶν ἐναντίων φάλαγγα διαγωνιδάμενοι τοσοῦτον ταῖς εὐχειρίαις καὶ ῥώμαις ὑπερεῖχον ὥσθʼ ἑαυτῶν μὲν ἀποβαλεῖν μηθένα, τῶν δʼ ἐναντίων ἀνελεῖν μὲν ὑπὲρ τοὺς πεντακισχιλίους, τρέψασθαι δὲ τοὺς πεζοὺς πάντας, ὄντας πολλαπλασίους. Εὐμενὴς δὲ πυθόμενος τὴν μὲν ἀποσκευὴν ἡλωκέναι, τοὺς δʼ ἱππεῖς τοὺς μετὰ Πευκέστου μὴ μακρὰν ἀπέχειν, ἐπεχείρησεν ἀθροίζειν ἅπαντας καὶ πάλιν ἱππομαχεῖν πρὸς Ἀντίγονον· ἤλπιζε γὰρ μάχῃ κρατήσας οὐ μόνον τὴν ἰδίαν ἀποσκευὴν σώσειν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν τῶν πολεμίων προσλήψεσθαι. τῶν δὲ περὶ τὸν Πευκέστην οὐχ ὑπακουόντων, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὐναντίον πορρωτέρω τὴν ἀποχώρησιν ποιουμένων ἐπί τινα τόπον, ἅμα δὲ καὶ νυκτὸς καταλαμβανούσης ἠναγκάσθη συνεῖξαι τῷ καιρῷ. Ἀντίγονος δὲ τοὺς ἱππεῖς εἰς δύο μέρη διελόμενος τοὺς μὲν αὐτὸς ἔχων ἐφήδρευε τοῖς περὶ τὸν Εὐμενῆ, τὴν ὁρμὴν αὐτῶν ἀποθεωρῶν, τοὺς δʼ ἄλλους παραδοὺς Πίθωνι προσέταξεν ἐπιθέσθαι τοῖς ἀργυράσπισι μεμονωμένοις τῆς τῶν ἱππέων βοηθείας. ταχὺ δʼ αὐτοῦ τὸ προσταχθὲν συντελοῦντος οἱ Μακεδόνες εἰς πλινθίον ἑαυτοὺς ποιήσαντες ἀσφαλῶς ἀπεχώρησαν ἐπὶ τὸν ποταμὸν καὶ τῶν περὶ τὸν Πευκέστην κατηγόρουν ὡς αἰτίων γεγενημένων τῆς τῶν ἱππέων ἥττης. καταντησάντων δὲ καὶ τῶν περὶ τὸν Εὐμενῆ περὶ λύχνων ἁφὰς συνελθόντες ἐβουλεύοντο τί χρὴ πράττειν. οἱ μὲν οὖν σατράπαι τὴν ταχίστην ἔφησαν δεῖν ἀποχωρεῖν εἰς τὰς ἄνω σατραπείας, ὁ δʼ Εὐμενὴς ἀπεφαίνετο μένειν καὶ διαγωνίζεσθαι, τῆς μὲν τῶν ἐναντίων φάλαγγος συντετριμμένης, τῆς δὲ τῶν ἱππέων δυνάμεως ἐφαμίλλου παρʼ ἀμφοτέροις οὔσης. οἱ δὲ Μακεδόνες οὐδετέροις ἔφασαν ὑπακούσεσθαι, τῆς ἀποσκευῆς αὐτῶν ἡλωκυίας καὶ παρὰ τοῖς πολεμίοις ὄντων τέκνων καὶ γυναικῶν καὶ πολλῶν ἄλλων ἀναγκαίων σωμάτων. τότε μὲν οὖν διελύθησαν οὐδεμίαν συμπεφωνημένην γνώμην βεβαιώσαντες· μετὰ δὲ ταῦθʼ οἱ Μακεδόνες λάθρᾳ διαπρεσβευσάμενοι πρὸς Ἀντίγονον τὸν μὲν Εὐμενῆ συναρπάσαντες παρέδωκαν, τὰς δʼ ἀποσκευὰς κομισάμενοι καὶ πίστεις λαβόντες κατετάχθησαν εἰς τὸ στρατόπεδον. τὸ παραπλήσιον δʼ οἵ τε σατράπαι καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἡγεμόνων τε καὶ στρατιωτῶν οἱ πλεῖστοι, τὸν στρατηγὸν ἐγκαταλιπόντες, τῆς ἰδίας ἀσφαλείας μόνον ἐφρόντισαν.
As for the infantry, the Silver Shields in close order fell heavily upon their adversaries, killing some of them in hand to hand fighting and forcing others to flee. They were not to be checked in their charge and engaged the entire opposing phalanx, showing themselves so superior in skill and strength that of their own men they lost not one, but of those who opposed them they slew over five thousand and routed the entire force of foot soldiers, whose numbers were many times their own. When Eumenes learned that his baggage train was taken but that the cavalry force of Peucestes was not far away, he tried to collect all his mounted men and renew the cavalry battle against Antigonus; for he hoped, if superior in battle, not only to save his own baggage, but also to capture that of the enemy. Since Peucestes, however, would not listen to him but on the contrary retired still farther to a certain river, and since night was now coming on, Eumenes was forced to yield to the situation. Antigonus divided his cavalry into two bodies with one of which he himself lay in wait for Eumenes, watching for his first move; but the other he gave to Pithon and ordered him to attack the Silver Shields now that they had been cut off from their cavalry support. When Pithon promptly carried out his orders, the Macedonians formed themselves into a square and withdrew safely to the river, where they accused Peucestes of being responsible for the defeat of the mounted forces. After Eumenes joined them at about the time for lighting lamps, they took counsel together what should be done. The satraps, indeed, said that it was necessary to retire to the upper satrapies as rapidly as possible, but Eumenes declared that they should stay and fight it out, for the phalanx of the enemy had been shattered and the cavalry forces on the two sides were equal. The Macedonians, however, refused to heed either party since their baggage had been taken, and their children, their wives, and many other relatives were in the hands of the enemy. The meeting accordingly broke up without having adopted any generally approved plan, whereupon the Macedonians secretly entered into negotiations with Antigonus, seized and surrendered Eumenes, recovered their baggage, and after receiving pledges were enrolled in Antigonus' army. In the same way the satraps and most of the other commanders and soldiers deserted their general, thinking only of their own safety.
§ 19.44
Ἀντίγονος δὲ παραδόξως κυριεύσας τοῦ τʼ Εὐμενοῦς καὶ πάσης τῆς ἀντιτεταγμένης δυνάμεως Ἀντιγένην μὲν τὸν τῶν ἀργυρασπίδων ἡγούμενον συλλαβὼν καὶ καταθέμενος εἰς σειρὸν ζῶντα κατέκαυσεν, Εὔδημον δὲ τὸν ἐξ Ἰνδῶν καταγαγόντα τοὺς ἐλέφαντας καὶ Κελβανὸν καί τινας ἄλλους τῶν ἀλλοτρίως ἀεὶ πρὸς αὐτὸν ἐχόντων ἀνεῖλεν. Εὐμενῆ δὲ παραδοὺς εἰς φυλακὴν ἐβουλεύετο πῶς αὐτῷ χρηστέον εἴη. ἔσπευδε γὰρ ἔχειν μεθʼ αὑτοῦ στρατηγὸν ἀγαθὸν καὶ χάριτος ὑπόχρεων, οὐ λίαν δʼ ἐπίστευεν αὐτοῦ ταῖς ἐπαγγελίαις διὰ τὴν πρὸς Ὀλυμπιάδα καὶ τοὺς βασιλεῖς φιλίαν· καὶ γὰρ πρότερον σωθεὶς ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ περὶ Νῶρα τῆς Φρυγίας οὐδὲν ἧττον τοῖς βασιλεῦσι προθυμότατα συνηγωνίσατο. ὁρῶν δὲ καὶ τὴν τῶν Μακεδόνων ὁρμὴν ἀπαραίτητον οὖσαν πρὸς τὴν κατʼ Εὐμενοῦς τιμωρίαν ἀνεῖλε τὸν ἄνδρα· διὰ δὲ τὴν προγεγενημένην φιλίαν καύσας τὸ σῶμα καὶ καταθέμενος εἰς ἀγγεῖον τὰ ὀστᾶ πρὸς τοὺς οἰκείους ἀπέστειλεν. ἀνήχθη δʼ ἐν τοῖς τραυματίαις αἰχμάλωτος καὶ ὁ τὰς ἱστορίας συνταξάμενος Ἱερώνυμος ὁ Καρδιανός, ὃς τὸν μὲν ἔμπροσθεν χρόνον ὑπʼ Εὐμενοῦς τιμώμενος διετέλεσεν, μετὰ δὲ τὸν ἐκείνου θάνατον ὑπʼ Ἀντιγόνου ἐτύγχανε φιλανθρωπίας καὶ πίστεως. ὁ δʼ Ἀντίγονος τὴν δύναμιν ἅπασαν ἀναλαβὼν εἰς Μηδίαν αὐτὸς μὲν ἔν τινι κώμῃ παρεχείμασεν οὔσῃ πλησίον Ἐκβατάνων, ἐν ᾗ τῆς χώρας ἐκείνης ἐστὶ τὰ βασίλεια, τοὺς δὲ στρατιώτας ἐπιδιεῖλεν εἰς ἅπασαν τὴν σατραπείαν καὶ μάλιστα εἰς τὴν ἐπαρχίαν τὴν προσαγορευομένην Ῥάγας, ἣ ταύτην τὴν προσηγορίαν ἔσχεν ἀπὸ τῶν γενομένων περὶ αὐτὴν ἀτυχημάτων ἐν τοῖς ἔμπροσθεν χρόνοις· πλείστας γὰρ ἔχουσα πόλεις τῶν ἐν ἐκείνοις τοῖς τόποις καὶ μάλιστʼ εὐδαιμονούσας τηλικούτους ἔσχε σεισμοὺς ὥστε καὶ τὰς πόλεις καὶ τοὺς ἐνοικοῦντας ἅπαντας ἀφανισθῆναι, καθόλου δὲ τὴν χώραν ἀλλοιωθῆναι καὶ ποταμοὺς ἀντὶ τῶν προϋπαρχόντων ἄλλους φανῆναι καὶ λίμνας.
Now that Antigonus had unexpectedly mastered Eumenes and all the army that had been opposing him, he seized Antigenes, the commander of the Silver Shields, put him into a pit, and burned him alive. He slew Eudamus, who had brought the elephants from India, and Celbanus, as well as certain others of those who had always been hostile to him. Putting Eumenes under guard, he considered how best to dispose of him. He wished, indeed, to have at his side a man who was a good general and who would be under obligations to him, but he had little faith in Eumenes' promises because of the latter's loyalty to Olympias and the kings; in fact, on the previous occasion, after Eumenes had been spared by Antigonus at Nora in Phrygia, he had none the less supported the kings most whole-heartedly. When Antigonus saw also that the ardent desire of the Macedonians for the punishment of Eumenes was not to be turned aside, he put him to death; but because of his former friendship for him, he burned his body, and after placing his bones in an urn, he sent them to his relatives. Among the wounded there was also brought in as a captive the historian Hieronymus of Cardia, who hitherto always had been held in honour by Eumenes, but after Eumenes' death enjoyed the favour and confidence of Antigonus. After Antigonus had taken his entire army into Media, he himself spent the winter in a village that is near Ecbatana, where the capital of this country is situated, but he distributed the soldiers throughout the entire satrapy and particularly in the eparchy called Rhagae, which had received this name from a catastrophe that had occurred there in former times. Of all the lands in that part of the world, its cities had been the most numerous and the most prosperous, but it had experienced so violent an earthquake that both the cities and all their inhabitants vanished, and, in general, the land was altered and new rivers and marshy lakes appeared in place of the former ones.
§ 19.45
κατὰ δὲ τούτους τοὺς χρόνους συνέβη γενέσθαι περὶ τὴν Ῥοδίων πόλιν τὸν τρίτον κατακλυσμόν, ὃς πολλοὺς τῶν ἐνοικούντων διέφθειρεν. ὧν ὁ μὲν πρῶτος ὀλίγα τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἐνώχλησεν, ὡς ἂν τῆς πόλεως οὔσης νεοκτίστου καὶ διὰ τοῦτο πολλὴν εὐρυχωρίαν ἐχούσης, ὁ δὲ δεύτερος μείζων ἐγένετο καὶ πλείω σώματα διέφθειρεν. ὁ δὲ τελευταῖος ἐπέπεσε μὲν ἔαρος ἀρχομένου, καταρραγέντων ἐξαίφνης μεγάλων ὄμβρων καὶ χαλάζης ἀπίστου τὸ μέγεθος· μνααῖαι γὰρ ἔπιπτον, ἔστι δʼ ὅτε καὶ μείζους, ὥστε πολλὰς μὲν τῶν οἰκιῶν συμπίπτειν διὰ τὸ βάρος, οὐκ ὀλίγους δὲ καὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἀπόλλυσθαι· θεατροειδοῦς δʼ οὔσης τῆς Ῥόδου καὶ τὰς ἐγκλίσεις τῶν ὑδάτων κατὰ τὸ πλεῖστον εἰς ἕνα τόπον ποιουμένης εὐθὺς τὰ ταπεινὰ τῆς πόλεως ἐπληροῦτο, τῶν μὲν ὀχετῶν διὰ τὸ δοκεῖν παρεληλυθέναι τὸν χειμῶνα κατημελημένων, τῶν δʼ ἐν τοῖς τείχεσιν ὀβελίσκων συμφραχθέντων. τοῦ δʼ ὕδατος παραδόξως ἀθροιζομένου πᾶς μὲν ὁ περὶ τὸ δεῖγμα καὶ Διονύσιον τόπος ἐπεπλήρωτο, πρὸς δὲ τὸ Ἀσκληπιεῖον ἤδη τοῦ λιμνάζοντος τόπου προσιόντος ἐκπλαγεῖς μὲν ἦσαν ἅπαντες, πρὸς δὲ τὴν σωτηρίαν διαφόροις ἐχρῶντο κρίσεσιν. οἱ μὲν γὰρ αὐτῶν εἰς τὰ πλοῖα συνέφυγον, οἱ δʼ ἐπὶ τὸ θέατρον ἀνέδραμον, τινὲς δὲ τῶν περικαταλαμβανομένων ὑπὸ τοῦ δεινοῦ διαποροῦντες ἐπὶ τοὺς ὑψηλοτάτους βωμοὺς καὶ τὰς τῶν ἀνδριάντων βάσεις προσανέβησαν. κινδυνευούσης δὲ τῆς πόλεως ἄρδην μετὰ τῶν κατοικούντων ἀπολέσθαι βοήθειά τις αὐτόματος ἐγένετο· τοῦ γὰρ τείχους ῥαγέντος ἐπὶ πολὺν τόπον ἐξέπεσε ταύτῃ τὸ συνεστηκὸς ὕδωρ εἰς τὴν θάλασσαν καὶ ταχὺ πάλιν ἕκαστος εἰς τὴν προϋπάρχουσαν τάξιν ἀποκατέστη. συνήργησε δὲ τοῖς κινδυνεύουσι καὶ τὸ μεθʼ ἡμέραν γενέσθαι τὸν κατακλυσμόν· οἱ γὰρ πλεῖστοι φθάσαντες ἐξεπήδησαν ἐκ τῶν οἰκιῶν εἰς τοὺς μετεώρους τόπους τῆς πόλεως· πρὸς δὲ τούτοις τὸ μὴ πλινθίνας εἶναι τὰς οἰκίας, ἀλλὰ λιθίνας καὶ διὰ τοῦτο τοὺς ἐπὶ τὰ στέγη καταφυγόντας ἀσφαλῶς διασωθῆναι. ὅμως δὲ τηλικούτων ἀτυχημάτων γενομένων σώματα μὲν διεφθάρη πλείω τῶν πεντακοσίων, οἰκίαι δὲ αἱ μὲν τελέως ἔπεσον, αἱ δὲ διεσείσθησαν. καὶ τὰ μὲν περὶ τὴν Ῥόδον συμβάντα τοιοῦτον ἔσχε τὸν κίνδυνον.
At this time occurred the third inundation of the city of Rhodes, which destroyed many of its inhabitants. Of these floods, the first did little damage to the population since the city was newly founded and therefore contained much open space; the second was greater and caused the death of more persons. The last befell at the beginning of spring, great rain storms suddenly bursting forth with hail of incredible size. Indeed, hail-stones fell weighing a mina and sometimes more, so that many of the houses collapsed because of the weight, and no small number of the inhabitants were killed. Since Rhodes is shaped like a theatre and since the streams of water were thus deflected chiefly into a single region, the lower parts of the city were straightway flooded; for, because it was thought that the rainy season of winter had passed, the drains had been neglected and the drainage openings through the city walls had become clogged. The water that suddenly gathered filled the whole region about the Market and the Temple of Dionysus; and then, as the flood was already advancing to the Temple of Asclepius, all were struck with fear and began to follow various plans for gaining safety. Some of them fled to ships, others ran to the theatre; certain of those overthrown by the calamity in their extremity climbed upon the highest altars and the bases of statues. When the city and all its inhabitants were in danger of being utterly destroyed, relief of a sort came of itself; for, as the walls gave way over a long stretch, the water that had been confined poured out through this opening into the sea, and each man soon returned again to his former place. It was to the advantage of those who were endangered that the flood came by day, for most of the people escaped in time from their houses to the higher parts of the city; and also that the houses were not constructed of sun-dried brick but of stone and that for this reason those who took refuge upon the roofs were safe. Yet in this great disaster more than five hundred persons lost their lives, while some houses collapsed completely and others were badly shaken. Such was the disaster which befell Rhodes.
§ 19.46
Ἀντίγονος δὲ χειμάζων ἐν τῇ Μηδίᾳ καὶ πυθόμενος Πίθωνα πολλοὺς τῶν ἐν τῇ χειμασίᾳ στρατιωτῶν ἐπαγγελίαις καὶ δωρεαῖς ἰδίους κατασκευάζειν καὶ διανοεῖσθαι νεωτερίζειν, τὴν μὲν ἰδίαν προαίρεσιν ἐπεκρύψατο, προσποιηθεὶς δὲ ἀπιστεῖν τοῖς διαβάλλουσι τούτοις μὲν πολλῶν ἀκουόντων ἐπετίμησεν ὡς διιστάνουσι τὴν φιλίαν, πρὸς δὲ τοὺς ἐκτὸς διέδωκε λόγον ὅτι μέλλει καταλιπεῖν τῶν ἄνω σατραπειῶν στρατηγὸν Πίθωνα καὶ δύναμιν ἱκανὴν τὴν παρέξουσαν τὴν ἀσφάλειαν. ἔγραψε δὲ καὶ πρὸς αὐτὸν ἐπιστολήν, ἀξιῶν ἥκειν τὴν ταχίστην, ὅπως κατὰ πρόσωπον περὶ τῶν ἀναγκαίων κοινολογησάμενος ταχέως τὴν ἐπὶ θάλασσαν κατάβασιν ποιήσηται. ταῦτα δʼ ἐμηχανήσατο σπεύδων τῆς μὲν ἀληθοῦς ὑποψίας αὐτὸν ἀποστῆσαι, πεῖσαι δʼ ὡς σατράπην καταλειφθησόμενον ἐλθεῖν εἰς χεῖρας· μετὰ βίας γὰρ συλλαβεῖν οὐ ῥᾴδιον ἦν ἄνδρα καὶ παρʼ Ἀλεξάνδρῳ προαγωγῆς διʼ ἀρετὴν τετευχότα καὶ κατʼ ἐκεῖνον τὸν καιρὸν σατράπην μὲν ὄντα τῆς Μηδίας, πεπολιτευμένον δὲ πρὸς ἅπαν τὸ στρατόπεδον. ὁ δὲ Πίθων ἐτύγχανε μὲν ἐν τοῖς ἐσχάτοις μέρεσι τῆς Μηδίας χειμάζων καὶ πλῆθος ἤδη διεφθαρκὼς τῶν ἐπαγγελλομένων συναποστήσεσθαι, γραφόντων δʼ αὐτῷ τῶν φίλων περὶ τῶν Ἀντιγόνου προαιρέσεων καὶ μεγάλας ὑπογραφόντων ἐλπίδας ἐξαπατηθεὶς κεναῖς προσδοκίαις ἧκε πρὸς Ἀντίγονον. ὁ δὲ κυριεύσας τοῦ σώματος καὶ κατηγορίαν ποιησάμενος ἐν τοῖς μετέχουσι τοῦ συνεδρίου ῥᾳδίως κατεδίκασε καὶ παραχρῆμα ἀπέκτεινεν. συναγαγὼν δὲ τὸ στρατόπεδον εἰς ἕνα τόπον σατράπην μὲν ἀπέδειξε τῆς Μηδίας Ὀροντοβάτην Μῆδον, στρατηγὸν δὲ Ἱππόστρατον, ἔχοντα πεζοὺς μὲν ξένους τρισχιλίους πεντακοσίους. αὐτὸς δὲ ἀναλαβὼν τὴν δύναμιν παρῆλθεν εἰς Ἐκβάτανα. ἐνταῦθα δὲ παραλαβὼν ἀσήμου ἀργύρου τάλαντα πεντακισχίλια προῆγεν ἐπὶ τῆς Περσίδος, οὔσης τῆς ἀναβάσεως ὡς ἂν εἴκοσιν ἡμερῶν εἰς τὸ βασίλειον, ὃ καλεῖται Περσέπολις.
When Antigonus, who was wintering in Media, was informed that Pithon was winning the support of many of the soldiers in the winter quarters by promises and gifts and that he planned to revolt, he concealed his own intentions and, pretending not to believe those who were spreading the charges, he rebuked them, in the hearing of many, for trying to disrupt his friendship, and caused a report to be spread abroad that he was about to leave Pithon as general of the upper satrapies with an army sufficient for their safety. He even wrote to Pithon himself a letter asking him to come as soon as possible, so that he might discuss the necessary matters with him in person and then quickly make his journey to the sea. He devised this plan because he wished to prevent Pithon from suspecting the truth and to persuade him to come within reach on the assumption that he was about to be left behind as satrap; for it was no easy matter to arrest a man by force who had gained preferment for merit while serving under Alexander and who at that very time was satrap of Media and had curried favour with the entire army. Pithon, who was wintering in the most distant parts of Media, had already corrupted a large number who promised to join him in the revolt, but when his friends wrote to him about the plans of Antigonus and hinted at his own great prospects, he was deceived by empty expectations and came to Antigonus. The latter, when he had gained possession of his person and had accused him before the members of the council, easily won a conviction and had him executed at once. Then, gathering the army into one place, he appointed Orontobates, a Mede, satrap of Media, but he made Hippostratus general with an infantry force of thirty-five hundred mercenaries. . . . Antigonus himself moved to Ecbatana with his army. There he took possession of five thousand talents of uncoined silver and then led the army into Persia, the march to the capital, which is called Persepolis, lasting about twenty days.
§ 19.47
τοῦ δʼ Ἀντιγόνου καθʼ ὁδὸν ὄντος οἱ τοῦ Πίθωνος φίλοι καὶ μετεσχηκότες τῆς ἐπιβουλῆς, ὧν ἦσαν ἐπιφανέστατοι Μελέαγρος καὶ Μενοίτας, ἤθροισαν τοὺς πλανωμένους τῶν Εὐμενοῦς τε καὶ Πίθωνος συνήθων, εἰς ὀκτακοσίους ἱππεῖς. καὶ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον τὴν χώραν ἐλεηλάτουν τῶν μὴ βουλομένων συναφίστασθαι Μήδων, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα πυθόμενοι καταπεφρονηκότως στρατοπεδεύειν τόν τε Ἱππόστρατον καὶ τὸν Ὀροντοβάτην ἐπέθεντο νυκτὸς τῇ παρεμβολῇ. καὶ παρʼ ὀλίγον μὲν ἐκράτησαν τῆς ἐπιβολῆς, ὑπὸ δὲ τοῦ πλήθους κατισχυόμενοι καί τινας τῶν στρατιωτῶν πείσαντες συναποστῆναι πάλιν ἀπεχώρησαν. εὔζωνοι δʼ ὄντες καὶ πάντες ἵπποις χρώμενοι τάς τε καταδρομὰς ἀπροσδοκήτους ἐποιοῦντο καὶ τὴν χώραν ταραχῆς ἐπλήρωσαν. μετὰ δέ τινα χρόνον συγκλεισθέντες εἴς τινα τόπον κρημνοῖς περιεχόμενον οἱ μὲν αὐτῶν ἀνῃρέθησαν, οἱ δʼ ἐζωγρήθησαν. τῶν δὲ ἡγεμόνων Μελέαγρος καὶ Ὀκράνης ὁ Μῆδος καί τινες τῶν ἀξιολόγων ἀνδρῶν ὑποστάντες ἀνῃρέθησαν. καὶ τὰ μὲν περὶ τοὺς ἀποστάντας ἐν Μηδίᾳ τοιαύτην ἔσχε τὴν κατάστασιν.
While Antigonus was on the march, Pithon's friends who had shared in his conspiracy, of whom the most notable were Meleager and Menoetas, collected the scattered comrades of Eumenes and of Pithon to the number of eight hundred mounted men. At first they harried the territory of those Medes who refused to join the revolt, but afterwards, on learning that Hippostratus and Orontobates were encamped with no thought of danger, they set upon the camp by night. They almost took the outer works, but were overcome by numbers and withdrew after winning certain of the soldiers to join the revolt. 3 Since these were without heavy equipment and were all mounted on horses, their raids were unexpected, and the country was filled with confusion. After some time, however, they were hemmed up in a narrow place that was surrounded by cliffs, where some of them were killed and the others were taken alive. 4 Meleager and Ocranes the Mede, who were among the commanders, and some of the outstanding men were killed while resisting the attack. This was the outcome of the revolt in Media.
§ 19.48
ὁ δʼ Ἀντίγονος ἐπειδὴ τάχιστʼ ἦλθεν εἰς τὴν Περσίδα, τιμῆς μὲν ὑπὸ τῶν ἐγχωρίων ἠξιώθη βασιλικῆς ὡς ἂν κύριος ὢν ὁμολογουμένως τῆς Ἀσίας, αὐτὸς δὲ μετὰ τῶν φίλων συνεδρεύσας ἐβουλεύετο περὶ τῶν σατραπειῶν. τὴν μὲν οὖν Καρμανίαν εἴασεν ἔχειν Τληπόλεμον καὶ τὴν Βακτριανὴν ὁμοίως Στασάνορα· οὐ γὰρ ῥᾴδιον ἦν τούτους διʼ ἐπιστολῆς ἐκβαλεῖν, εὖ τὰ πρὸς τοὺς ἐγχωρίους πεπολιτευμένους καὶ πολλοὺς ἔχοντας συναγωνιστάς. εἰς δὲ τὴν Ἀρίαν ἀπέστειλεν Εὔιτον· τελευτήσαντος δὲ μετʼ ὀλίγον χρόνον ἀντικατέστησεν Εὐαγόραν, ἄνδρα καὶ κατʼ ἀνδρείαν καὶ σύνεσιν θαυμαζόμενον. Ὀξυάρτην δὲ τὸν Ῥωξάνης πατέρα τὴν ἐν Παροπανισάδαις σατραπείαν εἴασεν ἔχειν, καθὰ καὶ πρότερον εἶχεν· οὐδὲ γὰρ τοῦτον ἦν ἐκβαλεῖν δυνατὸν ἄνευ χρόνου πολλοῦ καὶ δυνάμεως ἁδρᾶς. μετεπέμψατο δὲ καὶ Σιβύρτιον ἐξ Ἀραχωτῶν, εὖ διακείμενον τὰ πρὸς αὐτόν, καὶ τήν τε σατραπείαν ἔχειν συνεχώρησε καὶ τῶν ἀργυρασπίδων συνέστησε τοὺς ταραχωδεστάτους, τῷ μὲν λόγῳ πρὸς τὰς ἐν τῷ πολέμῳ χρείας, τῷ δʼ ἔργῳ πρὸς ἀπώλειαν· κατʼ ἰδίαν γὰρ ἐνετείλατο κατʼ ὀλίγους αὐτῶν εἰς τοιαύτας χρείας ἀποστέλλειν ἐν αἷς ἔμελλον ἀπολεῖσθαι. ἐν δὲ τούτοις εἶναι συνέβαινε καὶ τοὺς Εὐμενῆ παραδόντας, ὥστε τῶν εἰς τὸν στρατηγὸν παρανομημάτων συντόμως αὐτοῖς ἐπιστῆναι τιμωρίαν· αἱ γὰρ ἀσεβεῖς χρεῖαι τοῖς μὲν δυνάσταις διὰ τὴν ἐξουσίαν γίνονται λυσιτελεῖς, τοῖς δʼ ὑπακούσασιν ἰδιώταις μεγάλων κακῶν ὡς ἐπίπαν αἴτιαι καθίστανται. ὁ δʼ οὖν Ἀντίγονος ὁρῶν τὸν Πευκέστην παρὰ τοῖς Πέρσαις μεγάλης ἀποδοχῆς τυγχάνοντα τὸ μὲν πρῶτον παρείλετο τὴν σατραπείαν αὐτοῦ. τῶν δὲ ἐγχωρίων ἀγανακτούντων, ἑνὸς δὲ τῶν ἐπιφανεστάτων Θεσπίου καὶ παρρησίαν ἀγαγόντος ὡς οὐχ ὑπακουσομένων Περσῶν ἑτέρῳ, τοῦτον μὲν ἀπέκτεινεν, Ἀσκληπιόδωρον δὲ κατέστησε τῆς Περσίδος ὕπαρχον καὶ τοὺς ἱκανοὺς στρατιώτας παρέδωκεν· Πευκέστην δʼ εἰς ἄλλας ἐλπίδας ἀγαγὼν καὶ κενῶς μετεωρίσας ἐξήγαγεν ἐκ τῆς χώρας. ποιουμένου δʼ αὐτοῦ τὴν πορείαν ἐπὶ Σούσων ἀπήντησεν αὐτῷ ἐπὶ τῷ Πασιτίγρι ποταμῷ Ξενόφιλος ὁ κυριεύων τῶν ἐν Σούσοις χρημάτων, ἀπεσταλμένος ὑπὸ Σελεύκου πᾶν ποιῆσαι τὸ προστασσόμενον. τοῦτον μὲν οὖν προσδεξάμενος προσεποιεῖτο τιμᾶν ἐν τοῖς μεγίστοις τῶν φίλων, εὐλαβούμενος μὴ μετανοήσας πάλιν αὐτὸν ἀποκλείσῃ· αὐτὸς δὲ παραλαβὼν τὴν ἐν Σούσοις ἄκραν κατέλαβεν ἐν αὐτῇ τήν τε χρυσῆν ἀναδενδράδα καὶ πλῆθος ἄλλων κατασκευασμάτων, τῶν πάντων συναγομένων εἰς μύρια καὶ πεντακισχίλια τάλαντα. ἠθροίσθη δʼ αὐτῷ καὶ ἄλλο πλῆθος χρημάτων ἔκ τε τῶν στεφάνων καὶ τῶν ἄλλων δωρεῶν, ἔτι δὲ ἐκ τῶν λαφύρων· ταῦτα γὰρ ἦσαν πεντακισχίλια τάλαντα, καὶ κατὰ τὴν Μηδίαν ἄλλα τοσαῦτα χωρὶς τῶν ἐν Σούσοις θησαυρῶν, ὥστε τὰ πάντα συναχθῆναι τάλαντα δισμύρια πεντακισχίλια. καὶ τὰ μὲν περὶ Ἀντίγονον ἐν τούτοις ἦν.
As soon as Antigonus came into Persia, he was granted the dignity of kingship by the inhabitants as if he was the acknowledged lord of Asia, and he himself sitting in council with his friends considered the question of the satrapies. He permitted Tlepolemus to retain Carmania, and likewise Stasanor to retain Bactriane, for it was not easy to remove them by sending a message since they had conducted themselves well toward the inhabitants and had many supporters. He sent Evitus to Aria, but when Evitus died soon afterwards he put Evagoras in his place, a man admired for both courage and shrewdness. He permitted Oxyartes, the father of Roxane, to keep the satrapy in Paropanisadae as before, for he too could not be removed without a long campaign and a strong army. From Arachosia he summoned Sibyrtius, who was well disposed to him, permitted him to retain the satrapy, and assigned to him the most turbulent of the Silver Shields, ostensibly that they might be useful in the war, but in reality to insure their destruction; for he privately directed the satrap to send a few of them at a time on duties in which they were bound to be killed. Among them there were, as it happened, those who had betrayed Eumenes, so that punishment for their treachery to their general came upon them speedily. Unholy acts, in truth, are of advantage to princes because of their power, but to private individuals who have merely obeyed orders they are usually the cause of great evil. Now Antigonus, perceiving that Peucestes was enjoying great favour among the Persians, first took his satrapy away from him. Then when the Persians were angry, and when Thespius, one of their leading men, even said frankly that the Persians would not obey anyone else, Antigonus had this man killed and set up Asclepiodorus as ruler of Persia, giving him a sufficient number of soldiers. As for Peucestes, Antigonus, after leading him on to hope for other things and filling him with vain expectations, removed him from the country. While Antigonus himself was journeying to Susa, he was met at the Pasitigris River by Xenophilus, the supervisor of the treasury at Susa, who had been sent by Seleucus with orders to carry out Antigonus' every command. Antigonus received him and pretended to honour him among his closest friends, taking care lest he change his mind and shut him out again. When he himself had occupied the citadel of Susa, he found in it the golden climbing vine and a great number of other objects of art, weighing all told fifteen thousand talents. There was collected for him, besides, a great amount of money from the crowns and the other gifts, and also from the spoils. This came to five thousand talents; and there was another equal amount in Media apart from the treasury in Susa, so that in all twenty-five thousand talents were gathered together. Such was the state of the affairs of Antigonus.
§ 19.49
ἡμεῖς δὲ διεληλυθότες τὰ κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν πραχθέντα μεταβιβάσομεν τὸν λόγον ἐπὶ τὴν Εὐρώπην καὶ τὰ συνεχῆ τῶν προειρημένων διέξιμεν. ὁ γὰρ Κάσανδρος εἰς Πύδναν τῆς Μακεδονίας συγκεκλεικὼς Ὀλυμπιάδα προσβολὰς μὲν τοῖς τείχεσιν ἠδυνάτει ποιεῖσθαι διὰ τοὺς χειμῶνας, περιστρατοπεδεύσας δὲ τὴν πόλιν καὶ χάρακα βαλόμενος ἀπὸ θαλάσσης εἰς θάλασσαν, ἔτι δὲ ἐφορμῶν τῷ λιμένι πάντα βουλόμενον ἐπικουρῆσαι διεκώλυεν. ταχὺ δὲ τῶν ἐπιτηδείων ἐξαναλωθέντων τοσαύτην περὶ τοὺς ἔνδον κατεσκεύασεν ἔνδειαν ὥστʼ ἐκλυθῆναι τὸ παράπαν· εἰς τοῦτο γὰρ ἦλθον ἀνάγκης ὥστε τῷ μὲν στρατιώτῃ σιτομετρεῖν χοίνικας πέντε τοῦ μηνός, τοῖς δʼ ἐλέφασι τοῖς κατακλεισθεῖσι διδόναι πρίοντας τὰς δοκούς, τὰ δʼ ὑποζύγια καὶ τοὺς ἵππους κατακόψαι πρὸς διατροφήν. τοιαύτης δὲ περιστάσεως κατεχούσης τὴν πόλιν καὶ τῆς Ὀλυμπιάδος ἔτι προσανεχούσης ταῖς ἔξωθεν ἐλπίσιν οἱ μὲν ἐλέφαντες ὑπὸ τῆς ἐνδείας διεφθάρησαν, τῶν δʼ ἱππέων οἱ μὲν ἔξω τάξεως ὄντες οὐ σιτομετρούμενοι τὸ παράπαν σχεδὸν ἅπαντες ἐτελεύτησαν, οὐκ ὀλίγοι δὲ καὶ τῶν στρατιωτῶν τῆς ὁμοίας καταστροφῆς ἔτυχον. ἔνιοι δὲ τῶν βαρβάρων, τῆς φύσεως κατισχυούσης τὴν εὐλάβειαν, ἐσαρκοφάγουν ἀναλεγόμενοι τὰ σώματα τῶν ἀποθνησκόντων. ταχὺ δὲ τῆς πόλεως πληρουμένης νεκρῶν οἱ προεστηκότες τοῦ περὶ τὴν βασίλισσαν συστήματος τὰ μὲν κατώρυττον τῶν σωμάτων, τὰ δʼ ὑπὲρ τῶν τειχῶν ἐξερρίπτουν, ὥστʼ εἶναι καὶ τὴν θέαν τὴν τούτων ἀπεχθῆ καὶ τὴν δυσωδίαν ἀνυπομένητον μὴ μόνον γυναιξὶ βασιλίσσαις καὶ τρυφῆς οἰκείαις, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν στρατιωτῶν τοῖς εἰωθόσι κακοπαθεῖν.
Now that we have completed the account of events in Asia, we shall turn our attention to Europe and set forth what took place there following the events previously described. Although Cassander had shut Olympias into Pydna in Macedonia, he was not able to assault the walls because of the winter storms, but by encamping about the city, throwing up a palisade from sea to sea, and blockading the port, he prevented any who might wish to aid the queen from doing so. And as supplies were rapidly exhausted, he created such famine among those within that they were completely incapacitated. In truth, they were brought to such extreme need that they gave each soldier five choenices of grain per month, sawed up wood and fed the sawdust to the imprisoned elephants, and slaughtered the pack animals and horses for food. While the situation of the city was so serious and while Olympias was still clinging to hopes of rescue from outside, the elephants died from lack of nourishment, the horsemen that were not in the ranks and did not receive any food whatever nearly all perished, and no small number of the soldiers also met the same fate. Some of the non-Greeks, their natural needs overcoming their scruples, found flesh to eat by collecting the bodies of the dead. Since the city was being quickly filled with corpses, those in charge of the queen's company, though they buried some of the bodies, threw others over the city wall. The sight of these was horrible, and their stench was unbearable, not merely to ladies who were of the queen's court and addicted to luxury, but also to those of the soldiers who were habituated to hardship.
§ 19.50
τοῦ δʼ ἔαρος ἀρχομένου καὶ τῆς ἐνδείας ἀεὶ μᾶλλον αὐξανομένης συνέδραμον πολλοὶ τῶν στρατιωτῶν καὶ τὴν Ὀλυμπιάδα παρεκάλουν αὐτοὺς ἀφεῖναι διὰ τὴν ἀπορίαν. ἡ δὲ οὔτε σιτομετρεῖν αὐτοὺς δυναμένη τὸ παράπαν οὔτε τὴν πολιορκίαν λῦσαι συνεχώρησεν ἀπαλλάττεσθαι. ὁ δὲ Κάσανδρος προσδεξάμενος ἅπαντας τοὺς αὐτομολήσαντας καὶ φιλανθρώπως χρησάμενος διαπέστειλεν ἐπὶ τὰς πόλεις· ἤλπιζε γὰρ παρὰ τούτων πυθομένους τοὺς Μακεδόνας τὴν Ὀλυμπιάδος ἀσθένειαν ἀπελπιεῖν αὐτῆς τὰ πράγματα. οὐ κακῶς δʼ αὐτοῦ στοχασαμένου περὶ τοῦ μέλλοντος οἱ μὲν συναγωνίζεσθαι διεγνωκότες τοῖς πολιορκουμένοις μετενόησαν καὶ πρὸς Κάσανδρον ἀπεχώρησαν, μόνοι δὲ τῶν ἐν Μακεδονίᾳ τὴν εὔνοιαν διεφύλαξαν Ἀριστόνους καὶ Μόνιμος, ὧν Ἀριστόνους μὲν Ἀμφιπόλεως ἐκυρίευεν, ὁ δʼ ἕτερος Πέλλης. ἡ δʼ Ὀλυμπιὰς ὁρῶσα τοὺς μὲν πλείους μεταθεμένους πρὸς Κάσανδρον, τοὺς δʼ ὑπολοίπους τῶν φίλων οὐκ ἰσχύοντας βοηθεῖν, ἐπεχείρησε πεντήρη ναῦν κατασπᾶν καὶ διὰ ταύτης αὑτήν τε καὶ τοὺς φίλους σώζειν. αὐτομόλου δέ τινος τὸ γινόμενον ἀπαγγείλαντος τοῖς πολεμίοις ὁ μὲν Κάσανδρος ἐπιπλεύσας ἐκυρίευσε τοῦ σκάφους, ἡ δʼ Ὀλυμπιὰς ἀπογνοῦσα τὰ καθʼ αὑτὴν πρέσβεις ἐξέπεμψε περὶ διαλύσεων. οἰομένου δὲ δεῖν τοῦ Κασάνδρου τὰ καθʼ αὑτὴν ἐπιτρέπειν μόγις ἔπεισεν ὥστε μόνην ἐξαίρετον λαβεῖν τὴν τοῦ σώματος ἀσφάλειαν. Κάσανδρος δὲ κυριεύσας τῆς πόλεως ἐξέπεμψε τοὺς παραληψομένους τήν τε Πέλλαν καὶ τὴν Ἀμφίπολιν. ὁ μὲν οὖν τῆς Πέλλης κυριεύων Μόνιμος ἀκούσας τὰ συμβάντα περὶ τὴν Ὀλυμπιάδα παρέδωκε τὴν πόλιν· ὁ δʼ Ἀριστόνους τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἀντέχεσθαι τῶν πραγμάτων διεγνώκει, στρατιώτας τε συχνοὺς ἔχων καὶ προσφάτως εὐημερηκώς· ὀλίγαις γὰρ ἔμπροσθεν ἡμέραις παραταξάμενος πρὸς τὸν Κασάνδρου στρατηγὸν Κρατεύαν τοὺς πλείστους μὲν ἀνεῖλε τῶν ἀντιταχθέντων, αὐτὸν δὲ τὸν Κρατεύαν μετὰ δισχιλίων φυγόντα τῆς Βισαλτίας εἰς Βεδύνδια περιστρατοπεδεύσας ἐξεπολιόρκησε καὶ τὰ ὅπλα παρελόμενος ὑπόσπονδον ἀφῆκε. διὰ δὲ ταῦτα ἐπαιρόμενος καὶ τὸν Εὐμενοῦς θάνατον ἀγνοῶν, ἔτι δὲ τοὺς περὶ Ἀλέξανδρον καὶ Πολυπέρχοντα νομίζων συνεπιλήψεσθαι τὴν Ἀμφίπολιν οὐκ ἔφη παραδώσειν. ἐπεὶ δὲ ἔγραψε πρὸς αὐτὸν Ὀλυμπιὰς ἀπαιτοῦσα τὴν πίστιν καὶ κελεύουσα παραδοῦναι, διαλαβὼν ἀναγκαῖον εἶναι τὸ προστασσόμενον ποιεῖν, τήν τε πόλιν ἐνεχείρισε καὶ τὰ πιστὰ περὶ τῆς ἀσφαλείας ἔλαβεν.
As spring came on and their want increased from day today, many of the soldiers gathered together and appealed to Olympias to let them go because of the lack of supplies. Since she could neither issue any food at all nor break the siege, she permitted them to withdraw. Cassander, after welcoming all the deserters and treating them in most friendly fashion, sent them to the various cities; for he hoped that when the Macedonians learned from them how weak Olympias was, they would despair of her cause. And he was not mistaken in his surmise about what would happen: those who had resolved to fight on the side of the besieged forces changed their minds and went over to Cassander; and the only men in Macedonia to preserve their loyalty were Aristonous and Monimus, of whom Aristonous was ruler of Amphipolis and Monimus of Pella. But Olympias, when she saw that most of her friends had gone over to Cassander and that those who remained were not strong enough to come to her aid, attempted to launch a quinquereme and by this means to save herself and her friends. When, however, a deserter brought news of this attempt to the enemy and Cassander sailed up and took the ship, Olympias, recognizing that her situation was beyond hope, sent envoys to treat of terms. When Cassander gave his opinion that she must put all her interests into his hands, she with difficulty persuaded him to grant the single exception that he guarantee her personal safety. As soon as he had gained possession of the city, he sent men to take over Pella and Amphipolis. Now Monimus, the ruler of Pella, on hearing the fate of Olympias, surrendered his city; but Aristonous at first was minded to cling to his position, since he had many soldiers and had recently enjoyed a success. That is, a few days before this in a battle against Cassander's general Cratevas he had killed most of those who faced him, and when Cratevas himself with two thousand men had fled to Bedyndia in Bisaltia, he invested him, took him by siege, and dismissed him on terms after taking away his arms. Aristonous, encouraged by this and ignorant of the death of Eumenes, believing, moreover, that Alexander and Polyperchon would support him, refused to surrender Amphipolis. But when Olympias wrote to him demanding his loyalty and ordering him to surrender, he perceived that it was necessary to do as ordered and delivered the city to Cassander, receiving pledges for his own safety.
§ 19.51
ὁ δὲ Κάσανδρος ὁρῶν περὶ τὸν Ἀριστόνουν ὑπάρχον ἀξίωμα διὰ τὴν παρʼ Ἀλεξάνδρου προαγωγὴν καὶ σπεύδων ἐκ ποδῶν ποιεῖν τοὺς δυναμένους νεωτερίζειν ἐπανεῖλε τὸν ἄνδρα διὰ τῶν Κρατεύα συγγενῶν. προετρέψατο δὲ καὶ τοὺς οἰκείους τῶν ἀνῃρημένων ὑπʼ Ὀλυμπιάδος ἐν κοινῇ τῶν Μακεδόνων ἐκκλησίᾳ κατηγορεῖν τῆς προειρημένης γυναικός. ὧν ποιησάντων τὸ προσταχθὲν καὶ τῆς μὲν Ὀλυμπιάδος οὔτε παρούσης οὔτε ἐχούσης τοὺς ἀπολογησομένους οἱ μὲν Μακεδόνες κατεγίνωσκον αὐτῆς θάνατον, ὁ δὲ Κάσανδρος πέμψας τινὰς τῶν φίλων πρὸς τὴν Ὀλυμπιάδα συνεβούλευε λάθρᾳ φυγεῖν, ἐπαγγελλόμενος αὐτῇ ναῦν παρασκευάσειν καὶ διακομιεῖν εἰς τὰς Ἀθήνας. τοῦτο δʼ ἔπραττεν οὐ τῆς σωτηρίας προνοούμενος, ἀλλʼ ἵνα καθʼ αὑτῆς φυγὴν καταγνοῦσα καὶ διαφθαρεῖσα κατὰ τὸν πλοῦν δόξῃ δικαίᾳ περιπεπτωκέναι τιμωρίᾳ· εὐλαβεῖτο γὰρ ἅμα καὶ τὸ περὶ αὐτὴν ἀξίωμα καὶ τὸ τῶν Μακεδόνων εὐμετάβολον. τῆς δὲ Ὀλυμπιάδος οὐ φαμένης φεύξεσθαι, τοὐναντίον δʼ ἑτοίμης οὔσης ἐν πᾶσι Μακεδόσι κριθῆναι ὁ Κάσανδρος φοβηθεὶς μήποτε τὸ πλῆθος ἀκοῦον τῆς βασιλίσσης ἀπολογουμένης καὶ τῶν Ἀλεξάνδρου καὶ Φιλίππου πρὸς ἅπαν ἔθνος εὐεργεσιῶν ἀναμιμνησκόμενον μετανοήσῃ, διακοσίους τῶν στρατιωτῶν τοὺς ἐπιτηδειοτάτους ἀπέστειλε πρὸς αὐτήν, προστάξας ἀνελεῖν τὴν ταχίστην. οὗτοι μὲν οὖν παρεισπεσόντες εἰς τὴν βασιλικὴν οἰκίαν, ὡς ἴδον τὴν Ὀλυμπιάδα, καταιδεσθέντες τὸ περὶ αὐτὴν ἀξίωμα πάλιν ἀπεχώρησαν ἄπρακτοι· οἱ δὲ τῶν ἀνῃρημένων συγγενεῖς, Κασάνδρῳ τε χαρίζεσθαι βουλόμενοι καὶ τοῖς τετελευτηκόσιν ἀμῦναι, κατέσφαξαν τὴν βασίλισσαν, οὐδεμίαν ἀγεννῆ καὶ γυναικείαν προεμένην ἀξίωσιν. Ὀλυμπιὰς μὲν οὖν, μέγιστον τῶν καθʼ αὑτὴν ἐσχηκυῖα ἀξίωμα καὶ γεγενημένη θυγάτηρ μὲν Νεοπτολέμου τοῦ βασιλέως τῶν Ἠπειρωτῶν, ἀδελφὴ δὲ Ἀλεξάνδρου τοῦ στρατεύσαντος εἰς Ἰταλίαν, ἔτι δὲ γυνὴ μὲν Φιλίππου τοῦ πλεῖστον ἰσχύσαντος τῶν πρὸ αὐτοῦ κατὰ τὴν Εὐρώπην δυναστευσάντων, μήτηρ δὲ Ἀλεξάνδρου τοῦ πλεῖστα καὶ κάλλιστα κατεργασαμένου τοιαύτης καταστροφῆς ἔτυχε.
Cassander, seeing that Aristonous was respected because of the preferment he had received from Alexander, and being anxious to put out of the way any who were able to lead a revolt, caused his death through the agency of the kinsfolk of Cratevas. He also urged the relatives of those whom Olympias had slain to accuse the aforesaid woman in the general assembly of the Macedonians. They did as he had ordered; and, although Olympias was not present and had none to speak in her defence, the Macedonians condemned her to death. Cassander, however, sent some of his friends to Olympias advising her to escape secretly, promising to provide a ship for her and to carry her to Athens. He acted thus, not for the purpose of securing her safety, but in order that she, condemning herself to exile and meeting death on the voyage, might seem to have met a punishment that was deserved; for he was acting with caution both because of her rank and because of the fickleness of the Macedonians. As Olympias, however, refused to flee but on the contrary was ready to be judged before all the Macedonians, Cassander, fearing that the crowd might change its mind if it heard the queen defend herself and was reminded of all the benefits conferred on the entire nation by Alexander and Philip, sent to her two hundred soldiers who were best fitted for such a task, ordering them to slay her as soon as possible. They, accordingly, broke into the royal house, but when they beheld Olympias, overawed by her exalted rank, they withdrew with their task unfulfilled. But the relatives of her victims, wishing to curry favour with Cassander as well as to avenge their dead, murdered the queen, who uttered no ignoble or womanish plea. Such was the end of Olympias, who had attained to the highest dignity of the women of her day, having been daughter of Neoptolemus, king of the Epirotes, sister of the Alexander who made a campaign into Italy, and also wife of Philip, who was the mightiest of all who down to this time had ruled in Europe, and mother of Alexander, whose deeds were the greatest and most glorious.
§ 19.52
Κάσανδρος δέ, κατὰ νοῦν αὐτῷ τῶν πραγμάτων προχωρούντων, περιελάμβανε ταῖς ἐλπίσι τὴν Μακεδόνων βασιλείαν. διὸ καὶ Θεσσαλονίκην ἔγημε, τὴν Φιλίππου μὲν θυγατέρα, Ἀλεξάνδρου δὲ ἀδελφὴν ὁμοπάτριον, σπεύδων οἰκεῖον αὑτὸν ἀποδεῖξαι τῆς βασιλικῆς συγγενείας. ἔκτισε δὲ καὶ πόλιν ἐπὶ τῆς Παλλήνης ὁμώνυμον αὐτοῦ Κασάνδρειαν, εἰς ἣν τάς τε ἐκ τῆς Χερρονήσου πόλεις συνῴκισε καὶ τὴν Ποτίδαιαν, ἔτι δὲ τῶν σύνεγγυς χωρίων οὐκ ὀλίγα· κατῴκισε δʼ εἰς αὐτὴν καὶ τῶν Ὀλυνθίων τοὺς διασωζομένους, ὄντας οὐκ ὀλίγους. πολλῆς δὲ χώρας προσορισθείσης τοῖς Κασανδρεῦσι καὶ ταύτης ἀγαθῆς, ἔτι δὲ τοῦ Κασάνδρου πολλὰ συμφιλοτιμηθέντος εἰς τὴν αὔξησιν ταχὺ μεγάλην ἐπίδοσιν ἔλαβεν ἡ πόλις καὶ πλεῖστον ἴσχυσε τῶν ἐν Μακεδονίᾳ. ὁ δὲ Κάσανδρος διεγνώκει μὲν ἀνελεῖν Ἀλεξάνδρου τὸν παῖδα καὶ τὴν μητέρα αὐτοῦ Ῥωξάνην, ἵνα μηδεὶς ᾖ διάδοχος τῆς βασιλείας· κατὰ δὲ τὸ παρὸν θεωρῆσαι βουλόμενος τοὺς τῶν πολλῶν λόγους, τίνες ἔσονται περὶ τῆς Ὀλυμπιάδος ἀναιρέσεως, ἅμα δʼ οὐδὲν πεπυσμένος τῶν περὶ Ἀντίγονον τὴν μὲν Ῥωξάνην μετὰ τοῦ παιδὸς εἰς φυλακὴν παρέδωκε, μεταγαγὼν εἰς τὴν ἄκραν τὴν ἐν Ἀμφιπόλει, τάξας τε ἐπʼ αὐτῆς Γλαυκίαν τινὰ τῶν πιστευομένων· ἀπέσπασε δὲ καὶ τοὺς εἰωθότας παῖδας συντρέφεσθαι καὶ τὴν ἀγωγὴν οὐκέτι βασιλικήν, ἀλλʼ ἰδιώτου τοῦ τυχόντος οἰκείαν ἐκέλευε γίνεσθαι. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα βασιλικῶς ἤδη διεξάγων τὰ κατὰ τὴν ἀρχὴν Εὐρυδίκην μὲν καὶ Φίλιππον τοὺς βασιλεῖς, ἔτι δὲ Κύνναν, ἣν ἀνεῖλεν Ἀλκέτας, ἔθαψεν ἐν Αἰγαιαῖς, καθάπερ ἔθος ἦν τοῖς βασιλεῦσι. τιμήσας δὲ τοὺς τετελευτηκότας ἐπιταφίοις ἀγῶσι κατέγραφε τῶν Μακεδόνων τοὺς εὐθέτους, διεγνωκὼς εἰς Πελοπόννησον στρατεύειν. τούτου δὲ περὶ ταῦτʼ ὄντος Πολυπέρχων ἐτύγχανε μὲν πολιορκούμενος ἐν Ἀζωρίῳ τῆς Περραιβίας, ἀκούσας δὲ τὴν Ὀλυμπιάδος τελευτὴν καὶ τελέως ἀπελπίσας τὰ κατὰ Μακεδονίαν ἐξεπήδησεν ἐκ τῆς πόλεως μετʼ ὀλίγων, πορευθεὶς δὲ ἐκ τῆς Θεσσαλίας καὶ παραλαβὼν τοὺς περὶ τὸν Αἰακίδην ἀπεχώρησεν εἰς τὴν Αἰτωλίαν, ὑπολαβὼν ἀσφαλέστατα καραδοκήσειν ἐνταῦθα τὰς τῶν πραγμάτων μεταβολάς· καὶ γὰρ ἐτύγχανεν οἰκείως ἔχων πρὸς τοῦτο τὸ ἔθνος.
As for Cassander, now that his affairs had succeeded according to his intentions, he began to embrace in his hopes the Macedonian kingdom. For this reason he married Thessalonice, who was Philip's daughter and Alexander's half-sister, since he desired to establish a connection with the royal house. He also founded on Pallene a city called Cassandreia after his own name, uniting with it as one city the cities of the peninsula, Potidaea, and a considerable number of the neighbouring towns. He also settled in this city those of the Olynthians who survived, not few in number. Since a great deal of land, and good land too, was included within the boundaries of Cassandreia, and since Cassander was very ambitious for the city's increase, it quickly made great progress and became the strongest of the cities of Macedonia. Cassander had determined to do away with Alexander's son and the son's mother, Roxane, so that there might be no successor to the kingdom; but for the present, since he wished to observe what the common people would say about the slaying of Olympias and since he had no news of Antigonus' success, he placed Roxane and the child in custody, transferring them to the citadel of Amphipolis, in command of which he placed Glaucias, one of his most trusted henchmen. Also he took away the pages who, according to custom, were being brought up as companions of the boy, and he ordered that he should no longer have royal treatment but only such as was proper for any ordinary person of private station. After this, already conducting himself as a king in administering the affairs of the realm, he buried Eurydice and Philip, the queen and king, and also Cynna, whom Alcetas had slain, in Aegae as was the royal custom. After honouring the dead with funeral games, he enrolled those of the Macedonians who were fit for military service, for he had decided to make a campaign into the Peloponnesus. While Cassander was engaged with these matters, Polyperchon was being besieged in Azorius in Perrhaebia, but on hearing of the death of Olympias he finally, despairing of success in Macedonia, escaped from the city with a few followers. Leaving Thessaly and taking over the troops led by Aeacides, he withdrew into Aitolia, believing that he could wait there with greatest safety and observe the changes in the situation; for as it chanced he was on friendly terms with this people.
§ 19.53
Κάσανδρος δὲ συστησάμενος ἱκανὴν δύναμιν ἀνέζευξεν ἐκ τῆς Μακεδονίας, σπεύδων Ἀλέξανδρον τὸν Πολυπέρχοντος ἐκβαλεῖν ἐκ τῆς Πελοποννήσου· οὗτος γὰρ ἦν λοιπὸς μετὰ δυνάμεως τῶν ἀντιπρασσόντων καὶ κατειλήφει πόλεις τε καὶ τόπους ἐπικαίρους. τὴν μὲν οὖν Θεσσαλίαν ἀσφαλῶς διῆλθεν, τὰς δʼ ἐν Πύλαις παρόδους εὑρὼν ὑπʼ Αἰτωλῶν φυλαττομένας μόγις τούτους βιασάμενος παρῆλθεν εἰς τὴν Βοιωτίαν. μεταπεμψάμενος δὲ πανταχόθεν τοὺς διασωζομένους τῶν Θηβαίων ἐνεχείρει κατοικίζειν τὰς Θήβας, ὑπολαβὼν κάλλιστον ἔχειν καιρὸν πόλιν διωνομασμένην καὶ διὰ τὰς πράξεις καὶ διὰ τοὺς παραδεδομένους περὶ αὐτῆς μύθους ἀναστῆσαι καὶ διὰ τὴν εὐεργεσίαν ταύτην τυχεῖν ἀθανάτου δόξης. συμβέβηκε δὲ τὴν πόλιν ταύτην πλείσταις καὶ μεγίσταις κεχρῆσθαι μεταβολαῖς, οὐκ ὀλιγάκις ἀνάστατον γεγενημένην· περὶ ὧν οὐκ ἀνοίκειον ἐν κεφαλαίοις εἰπεῖν. μετὰ γὰρ τὸν ἐπὶ Δευκαλίωνος κατακλυσμὸν Κάδμου κτίσαντος τὴν ἀπʼ αὐτοῦ προσαγορευθεῖσαν Καδμείαν συνῆλθεν ἐπʼ αὐτὴν λαὸς ὃν τινὲς μὲν Σπαρτὸν προσηγόρευσαν διὰ τὸ πανταχόθεν συναχθῆναι, τινὲς δὲ Θηβαγενῆ διὰ τὸ τὴν ἀρχὴν ἐκ τῆς προειρημένης πόλεως ὄντα διὰ τὸν κατακλυσμὸν ἐκπεσεῖν καὶ διασπαρῆναι. τοὺς οὖν τότε κατοικήσαντας ὕστερον Ἐγχελεῖς καταπολεμήσαντες ἐξέβαλον, ὅτε δὴ συνέβη καὶ τοὺς περὶ Κάδμον εἰς Ἰλλυριοὺς ἐκπεσεῖν. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτʼ Ἀμφίονος καὶ Ζήθου κρατησάντων τοῦ τόπου καὶ τότε πρῶτον τὸ ἄστυ κτισάντων, καθάπερ καὶ ὁ ποιητής φησιν οἳ πρῶτοι Θήβης ἕδος ἔκτισαν ἑπταπύλοιο τὸ δεύτερον οἱ κατοικήσαντες τὸν τόπον ἐξέπεσον κατελθόντος Πολυδώρου τοῦ Κάδμου καὶ καταφρονήσαντος τῶν πραγμάτων διὰ τὴν γενομένην τῷ Ἀμφίονι περὶ τὰ τέκνα συμφοράν. ἑξῆς δὲ τῶν ἀπογόνων τούτου βασιλευόντων καὶ τῆς ὅλης χώρας ἤδη Βοιωτίας καλουμένης ἀπὸ Βοιωτοῦ τοῦ Μελανίππης μὲν καὶ Ποσειδῶνος υἱοῦ, δυναστεύσαντος δὲ τῶν τόπων, τὸ τρίτον ἐκπίπτουσιν οἱ Θηβαῖοι τῶν ἐξ Ἄργους ἐπιγόνων ἐκπολιορκησάντων τὴν πόλιν. τῶν δʼ ἐκπεσόντων οἱ διασωθέντες κατέφυγον μὲν εἰς Ἀλαλκομενίαν καὶ τὸ Τιλφώσιον ὄρος, τῶν δὲ Ἀργείων ἀποχωρησάντων ἐπανῆλθον εἰς τὴν πατρίδα. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα κατὰ τὸν Ἰλιακὸν πόλεμον ἐκστρατευσάντων τῶν Θηβαίων εἰς τὴν Ἀσίαν οἱ καταλειφθέντες ἐξέπεσον μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων Βοιωτῶν ὑπὸ Πελασγῶν. οὐκ ὀλίγοις δὲ μετὰ ταῦτα περιπεσόντες συμπτώμασι μόγις μετὰ τετάρτην γενεὰν κατὰ τὸν γενόμενον ἐπὶ τῶν κοράκων χρησμὸν ἀπῆλθον εἰς τὴν Βοιωτίαν καὶ τὰς Θήβας κατῴκησαν. ἀπὸ δὲ τούτων τῶν χρόνων διαμενούσης τῆς πόλεως ἐπʼ ἔτη σχεδὸν ὀκτακόσια καὶ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον τῶν Θηβαίων τοῦ παρʼ αὐτῶν ἔθνους προστάντων, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τῆς τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἡγεμονίας ἀμφισβητησάντων Ἀλέξανδρος ὁ Φιλίππου κατὰ κράτος ἐκπολιορκήσασκατέσκαψεν.
But Cassander, after assembling an adequate force, set out from Macedonia, desiring to drive Polyperchon's son Alexander from the Peloponnesus; for of those who opposed Cassander he alone was left with an army, and he had occupied strategically situated cities and districts. Cassander crossed Thessaly without loss, but when he found the pass at Thermopylae guarded by Aitolians, he with difficulty dislodged them and entered Boeotia. Summoning from all sides those of the Thebans who survived, he undertook to re-establish Thebes, for he assumed that this was a most excellent opportunity to set up once more a city that had been widely known both for its achievements and for the myths that had been handed down about it; and he supposed that by this benevolent act he would acquire undying fame. The fact is that this city has experienced very many changes of fortune and has been destroyed on no few occasions; and it will not be out of place to recount here the chief events of its history. When, after the flood that occurred in the days of Deucalion, Cadmus built the Cadmeia, which was called after his name, there came together there with him a folk whom some call the Spartoi because they had been gathered together from all sides, and others the Thebagenes because they were originally from Thebes but had been driven out and scattered by the flood. Be that as it may, these people then settled in the city but later the Encheleans defeated them in war and drove them out, at which time Cadmus and his followers also were driven to Illyria. Later Amphion and Zethus became masters of the site and then built the lower city for the first time, as the poet says: First by them was established Thebes of the seven gates. Then the inhabitants of the place were exiled a second time, for Polydorus, son of Cadmus, came back and was dissatisfied with the situation because of the misfortunes that had befallen Amphion in connection with his children. Next, when Polydorus' own descendants were kings and the whole country had already received the name Boeotia from Boeotus, who was the son of Melanippe and Poseidon and had been ruler of the region, the Thebans for the third time suffered exile, for the Epigoni from Argos took the city by siege. The survivors of those driven out took refuge in Alalcomenia and on Mount Tilphosium, but after the Argives had departed they returned to their native city. After that, when the Thebans had gone to Asia for the Trojan War, those who were left behind were expelled along with the rest of the Boeotians by Pelasgians. Thereafter they met with many misfortunes, and only with difficulty in the fourth generation according to the prophecy of the ravens did they return to Boeotia and re-establish Thebes. From that time the city persisted for nearly eight hundred years, the Thebans at first becoming the leaders of their own people and later disputing for the leadership of the Greeks, until Alexander, son of Philip, captured the city by storm and destroyed it.
§ 19.54
εἰκοστῷ δʼ ἔτει ὕστερον Κάσανδρος φιλοδοξῆσαι βουλόμενος καὶ πείσας τοὺς Βοιωτοὺς ἀνέστησε τὴν πόλιν τοῖς διασωζομένοις τῶν Θηβαίων. συνεπελάβοντο δὲ καὶ τῶν Ἑλληνίδων πόλεων τοῦ συνοικισμοῦ πολλαὶ διά τε τὸν πρὸς τοὺς ἠτυχηκότας ἔλεον καὶ διὰ τὴν δόξαν τῆς πόλεως· Ἀθηναῖοι μὲν γὰρ τὸ πολὺ μέρος τοῦ τείχους ἀνέστησαν καὶ τῶν ἄλλων οἱ μὲν ᾠκοδόμησαν κατὰ δύναμιν, οἱ δὲ καὶ χρήματα πρὸς τὰς κατεπειγούσας χρείας ἀπέστειλαν οὐ μόνον τῶν ἐκ τῆς Ἑλλάδος, ἀλλὰ καὶ Σικελίας, ἔτι δʼ Ἰταλίας. Θηβαῖοι μὲν οὖν τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον ἐκομίσαντο τὴν πατρίδα. Κάσανδρος δὲ μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως ἀναζεύξας ἐπὶ Πελοποννήσου καὶ καταλαβὼν Ἀλέξανδρον τὸν Πολυπέρχοντος διειληφότα τὸν Ἰσθμὸν φυλακαῖς παρῆλθεν εἰς Μέγαρα. ἐνταῦθα δὲ κατασκευάσας σχεδίας ἐπὶ μὲν τούτων τοὺς ἐλέφαντας διεβίβασεν εἰς Ἐπίδαυρον, ἐν δὲ πλοίοις τὴν ἄλλην δύναμιν. παρελθὼν δὲ ἐπὶ τὴν τῶν Ἀργείων πόλιν ταύτην μὲν ἠνάγκασεν ἀποστᾶσαν τῆς Ἀλεξάνδρου συμμαχίας αὐτῷ προσθέσθαι, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τὰς ἐν τῇ Μεσσήνῃ πόλεις προσηγάγετο πλὴν Ἰθώμης καὶ τὴν Ἑρμιονίδα διʼ ὁμολογίας παρέλαβεν. τοῦ δʼ Ἀλεξάνδρου μὴ συγκαταβαίνοντος εἰς παράταξιν ἀπολιπὼν ἐπὶ τὸν ἰσθμὸν Γερανίας στρατιώτας δισχιλίους καὶ στρατηγὸν Μόλυκκον ἐπανῆλθεν εἰς Μακεδονίαν.
In the twentieth year thereafter Cassander in his desire for glory, after first obtaining the consent of the Boeotians, rebuilt the city for those of the Thebans who survived. Many of the Greek cities shared in the resettlement both because of their pity for the unfortunate and because of the glory of the city. The Athenians, for example, rebuilt the greater part of the wall, and of the other Greeks, not alone from Greece itself but from Sicily and Italy as well, some erected buildings to the extent of their ability, and others sent money for the pressing needs. In this way the Thebans recovered their city. To return to Cassander, he set out with his army for the Peloponnesus, but on finding that Alexander, son of Polyperchon, had blocked the Isthmus with guards, he turned aside to Megara. There he constructed barges upon which he transported the elephants to Epidaurus, taking the rest of the army in boats. Coming to the city of the Argives, he forced it to abandon its alliance with Alexander and to join him, after which he won over the cities of Messenia except Ithome, and gained Hermionis through negotiation. As Alexander, however, did not come out to fight, he left at the end of the Isthmus toward Gerania two thousand soldiers commanded by Molyccus and returned to Macedonia.
§ 19.55
τοῦ δʼ ἔτους τούτου διεληλυθότος Ἀθήνησι μὲν ἦρχε Πραξίβουλος, ἐν Ῥώμῃ δὲ κατέστησαν ὕπατοι Ναύτιος Σπόριος καὶ Μάρκος Πόπλιος. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Ἀντίγονος τῆς μὲν Σουσιανῆς ἀπέλιπε σατράπην Ἀσπίσαν, ἕνα τῶν ἐγχωρίων, αὐτὸς δὲ τὰ χρήματα πάντα διαγνοὺς κατακομίζειν ἐπὶ θάλασσαν, ἁμάξας καὶ καμήλους παρεσκευάσατο καὶ μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως ἔχων ταῦτα προῆγεν ἐπὶ τῆς Βαβυλωνίας. ἐν ἡμέραις δʼ εἴκοσι καὶ δυσὶν αὐτοῦ καταντήσαντος εἰς Βαβυλῶνα Σέλευκος ὁ τῆς χώρας σατράπης δωρεαῖς τε βασιλικαῖς ἐτίμησε τὸν Ἀντίγονον καὶ τὴν δύναμιν ἅπασαν εἱστίασεν. τοῦ δʼ Ἀντιγόνου λόγους ἀπαιτοῦντος τῶν προσόδων οὐκ ἔφησεν ὀφείλειν ὑπὲρ ταύτης τῆς χώρας ὑπέχειν εὐθύνας, ἣν Μακεδόνες αὐτῷ δεδώκασι διὰ τὰς γεγενημένας ἐξ αὐτοῦ χρείας Ἀλεξάνδρου ζῶντος. τῆς δὲ διαφορᾶς καθʼ ἡμέραν αὐξομένης ὁ Σέλευκος ἀναλογιζόμενος τὰ Πίθωνι συμβάντα περιδεὴς ἦν μήποτε προφάσεως λαβόμενος ὁ Ἀντίγονος ἀνελεῖν αὐτὸν ἐπιχειρήσῃ· ἐῴκει γὰρ τοὺς ἐν ἀξιώμασι τῶν ἀνδρῶν ὄντας καὶ δυναμένους πραγμάτων ἀντιλαμβάνεσθαι πάντας σπεύδειν ἐκ ποδῶν ἀπαλλάσσειν. ταῦτʼ οὖν εὐλαβηθεὶς ἐξεπήδησεν μετὰ πεντήκονθʼ ἱππέων, διανοούμενος εἰς Αἴγυπτον ἀποχωρεῖν πρὸς Πτολεμαῖον· διεβεβόητο γὰρ ἡ τούτου χρηστότης καὶ τὸ πρὸς τοὺς καταφυγόντας ἐπʼ αὐτὸν ἐκτενὲς καὶ φιλάνθρωπον. ὁ δʼ Ἀντίγονος ἀκούσας περιχαρὴς ἦν ἐπὶ τῷ δοκεῖν αὐτὸς μὲν μὴ συνηναγκάσθαι προσενεγκεῖν τὰς χεῖρας ἀνδρὶ φίλῳ καὶ συνηγωνισμένῳ προθύμως, τὸν Σέλευκον δʼ αὐτὸν αὑτοῦ καταγνόντα φυγὴν παραδεδωκέναι τὴν σατραπείαν χωρὶς ἀγώνων καὶ κινδύνων. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα προσελθόντων αὐτῷ τῶν Χαλδαίων καὶ προλεγόντων ὡς, εἰ τὸν Σέλευκον ἐκ τῶν χειρῶν ἀφήσει, συμβήσεται τήν τʼ Ἀσίαν πᾶσαν ὑποχείριον γενέσθαι καὶ αὐτὸν Ἀντίγονον ἐν τῇ πρὸς ἐκεῖνον παρατάξει καταστρέψειν τὸν βίον, μεταμεληθεὶς τοῖς πεπραγμένοις ἐξέπεμψε τοὺς διώξοντας· οἳ μέχρι τινὸς ἐπακολουθήσαντες ἐπανῆλθον ἄπρακτοι. ὁ δʼ Ἀντίγονος ἐν τοῖς ἄλλοις καταφρονεῖν εἰωθὼς τῶν τοιούτων προρρήσεων οὐ μετρίως ἐκινήθη τότε, καταπλαγεὶς τὸ ἀξίωμα τῶν ἀνδρῶν· μεγάλη γάρ τις ἐμπειρία περὶ τούτους εἶναι δοκεῖ καὶ παρατήρησις τῶν ἄστρων ἀκριβεστάτη. ἀποφαίνονται γὰρ πολλὰς μυριάδας ἐτῶν ὑπάρχειν ἐξ οὗ παρʼ αὐτοῖς ἐστιν ἡ περὶ ταῦτα σπουδή· δοκοῦσι δὲ καὶ Ἀλεξάνδρῳ προειπεῖν ὅτι παρελθὼν εἰς Βαβυλῶνα τελευτήσει. ὁμοίως δὲ τῇ περὶ Ἀλεξάνδρου προρρήσει συνέβη καὶ τὴν περὶ Σελεύκου τελεσθῆναι κατὰ τὰς τῶν ἀνδρῶν τούτων ἀποφάσεις· περὶ ἧς τὰ κατὰ μέρος ἐροῦμεν, ὅταν ἐπὶ τοὺς οἰκείους χρόνους ἐπιβαλώμεθα.
When this year had passed, Praxibulus was archon at Athens and in Rome Nautius Spurius and Marcus Poplius were consuls. While these held office Antigonus left Aspisas, a native, as satrap of Susiane, while he himself, having decided to convey all the money to the sea, prepared waggons and camels and, taking the treasure, set out for Babylonia with the army. In twenty-two days he arrived in Babylon, and Seleucus, the satrap of the country, honoured him with gifts suitable for a king and feasted the whole army. When Antigonus, however, demanded an accounting for the revenues, Seleucus answered that he was not bound to undergo a public investigation of his administration of this country which the Macedonians had given him in recognition of his services rendered while Alexander was alive. As the dispute grew more serious each day, Seleucus, reasoning from the fate of Pithon, feared that Antigonus would some day seize a pretext and undertake to destroy him; for Antigonus seemed eager to put out of the way all of his associates who were of high rank and were capable of claiming a share in the government. Therefore to avoid this, he escaped with fifty horsemen, intending to retire into Egypt to Ptolemy; for word had spread abroad of Ptolemy's kindness and of his cordiality and friendliness toward those who fled to him. When Antigonus learned of the flight, he was pleased, since it seemed that he himself had been spared the necessity of laying violent hands upon a man who had been his friend and had actively co-operated with him, and that Seleucus, by condemning himself to exile, had surrendered his satrapy without struggle or danger. But then the Chaldean astrologers came to him and foretold that if ever he let Seleucus escape from his hands, the consequence would be that all Asia would become subject to Seleucus, and that Antigonus himself would lose his life in a battle against him. At this, Antigonus repented his former course and sent men to pursue Seleucus, but they, after tracking him for a certain distance, returned with their mission unaccomplished. Although Antigonus was accustomed to despise prophecies of this kind on other occasions, he was not a little troubled at this time, being disturbed by the reputation of the men, for they are reputed to possess a great deal of experience and to make most exact observations of the stars. Indeed they declare that for many myriads of years the study of these matters has been pursued among them. It is also believed that they foretold to Alexander, that, if he entered Babylon, he would die. And just as was the case with the prophecy about Alexander, it came to pass that this prophecy in regard to Seleucus was fulfilled according to the assertion of these men. Of this we shall speak in detail when we come to the proper period.
§ 19.56
ὁ δʼ οὖν Σέλευκος διασωθεὶς εἰς τὴν Αἴγυπτον φιλανθρωπίας τε πάσης ἐτύγχανε παρὰ Πτολεμαίῳ καὶ κατηγορίαν ἐποιεῖτο πικρὰν Ἀντιγόνου, λέγων ὅτι διέγνωκεν πάντας τοὺς ἐν ἀξιώμασιν ὄντας καὶ μάλιστα τοὺς Ἀλεξάνδρῳ συνεστρατευκότας ἐκβαλεῖν ἐκ τῶν σατραπειῶν καὶ τούτων ἀποδείξεις ἔφερε τήν τε Πίθωνος ἀναίρεσιν καὶ τὴν Πευκέστου τῆς Περσίδος ἀφαίρεσιν καὶ τὰ περὶ αὐτὸν συμβάντα· πάντας γὰρ οὐδὲν ἠδικηκότας, ἀλλὰ καὶ χρείας πολλὰς καὶ μεγάλας ἐν τῇ φιλίᾳ παρεσχημένους ἀρετῆς ὑπομεμενηκέναι πρόστιμον. διεξῄει δὲ καὶ τὰ μεγέθη τῶν περὶ αὐτὸν δυνάμεων καὶ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν χρημάτων, ἔτι δὲ τὰς προσφάτους εὐτυχίας, ἐξ ὧν ὑπεδείκνυεν ὑπερήφανον γεγενημένον καὶ ταῖς ἐλπίσι περιειληφότα πᾶσαν τὴν Μακεδόνων βασιλείαν. διὰ δὲ τοιούτων λόγων προτρεψάμενος τὸν Πτολεμαῖον ἑτοιμάζεσθαι τὰ πρὸς τὸν πόλεμον ἐξέπεμψέ τινας τῶν φίλων εἰς τὴν Εὐρώπην, προστάξας πειρᾶσθαι τοῖς ὁμοίοις λόγοις ἐχθροὺς Ἀντιγόνου καταστῆσαι Κάσανδρόν τε καὶ Λυσίμαχον. ὧν ταχὺ τὸ κελευσθὲν συντελεσάντων ἀρχὴ διαφορᾶς ἐφύετο καὶ μεγάλων πολέμων. ὁ δʼ Ἀντίγονος ἐκ τῶν εἰκότων συλλογισάμενος τὴν Σελεύκου προαίρεσιν ἐξέπεμψε πρεσβευτὰς πρός τε Πτολεμαῖον καὶ Λυσίμαχον καὶ Κάσανδρον, ἀξιῶν διαφυλάσσειν τὴν προϋπάρχουσαν φιλίαν· τῆς δὲ Βαβυλωνίας καταστήσας σατράπην Πίθωνα τὸν ἐκ τῆς Ἰνδικῆς καταβεβηκότα μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως ἀνέζευξεν, ἐπὶ τῆς Κιλικίας τὴν πορείαν ποιούμενος. ὡς δʼ εἰς Μάλον παρεγένετο, διεμέρισε τὴν δύναμιν εἰς παραχειμασίαν μετὰ δύσιν Ὠρίωνος. παρέλαβε δὲ καὶ τὰ ἐν Κυΐνδοις χρήματα, τάλαντα μύρια. χωρὶς δὲ τούτων ἐκπίπτειν ἐκ τῶν προσόδων αὐτῷ τῶν κατʼ ἐνιαυτὸν τάλαντα μύρια χίλια. διόπερ συνέβαινεν αὐτὸν φοβερὸν εἶναι καὶ διὰ τὸ μέγεθος τῶν δυνάμεων καὶ διὰ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν χρημάτων.
Seleucus, arriving safely in Egypt, met with nothing but kindness from Ptolemy. He bitterly accused Antigonus, saying that Antigonus had determined to remove from their satrapies all who were men of rank and in particular those who had served under Alexander; as examples of this he mentioned the slaying of Pithon, the removal of Peucestes from Persia, and his own experiences; for all of these men, who were guiltless of wrongdoing and had even performed great services out of friendship, had been patiently awaiting a reward for virtue. He reviewed also the magnitude of Antigonus' armed forces, his vast wealth, and his recent successes, and went on to intimate that in consequence he had become arrogant and had encompassed in his ambitious plans the entire kingdom of the Macedonians. When by such arguments he had induced Ptolemy to prepare for war, he sent certain of his friends to Europe, directing them to try by similar arguments to convert Cassander and Lysimachus into enemies of Antigonus. They quickly carried out their instructions, and the seed of a quarrel and of great wars began to grow. But Antigonus, who had deduced by reasoning from probabilities what course of action Seleucus was following, sent envoys to Ptolemy, Lysimachus, and Cassander, urging them to maintain the existing friendship. He next established as satrap of Babylonia that Pithon who had come from India, and then, setting out with his army, he marched toward Cilicia. He arrived at Malus and, after the setting of Orion, divided the army for passing the winter. He also took the money at Cyinda, which amounted to ten thousand talents. Apart from this there fell to him from the annual revenue eleven thousand talents. As a result he was a formidable antagonist both because of the size of his armies and because of the amount of his wealth.
§ 19.57
προάγοντος δʼ εἰς τὴν ἄνω Συρίαν Ἀντιγόνου παρεγένοντο πρέσβεις παρά τε Πτολεμαίου καὶ Λυσιμάχου καὶ Κασάνδρου. οὗτοι δʼ εἰσαχθέντες εἰς τὸ συνέδριον ἠξίουν Καππαδοκίαν μὲν καὶ Λυκίαν Κασάνδρῳ δοθῆναι, Φρυγίαν δὲ τὴν ἐφʼ Ἑλλησπόντῳ Λυσιμάχῳ, Συρίαν δὲ πᾶσαν Πτολεμαίῳ, Βαβυλωνίαν δὲ Σελεύκῳ, τῶν δὲ θησαυρῶν, οὓς παρέλαβεν μετὰ τὴν πρὸς Εὐμενῆ μάχην, ποιήσασθαι μερισμόν· καὶ γὰρ αὐτοὺς κεκοινωνηκέναι τοῦ πολέμου. εἰ δὲ μηδὲν τούτων ποιήσει, συστάντες ἅπαντες ἔφασαν πολεμήσειν αὐτῷ. τοῦ δʼ Ἀντιγόνου τραχύτερον ἀποκριναμένου καὶ τὰ πρὸς πόλεμον εἰπόντος παρασκευάζεσθαι συνέβη τοὺς πρέσβεις ἀπράκτους ἐπανελθεῖν. μετὰ δὲ ταῦθʼ οἱ μὲν περὶ Πτολεμαῖον καὶ Λυσίμαχον, ἔτι δὲ Κάσανδρον συμμαχίαν πρὸς ἀλλήλους ποιησάμενοι δυνάμεις τε συνῆγον καὶ παρασκευὰς ὅπλων τε καὶ βελῶν καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν χρησίμων ἐποίουν· Ἀντίγονος δὲ ὁρῶν ἐφʼ ἑαυτὸν συνεστηκότας πολλοὺς καὶ μεγάλους τοῖς ἀξιώμασιν ἄνδρας καὶ συλλογιζόμενος τὸ μέγεθος τοῦ φυομένου πολέμου τά τʼ ἔθνη καὶ πόλεις καὶ δυνάστας προσεκαλεῖτο εἰς συμμαχίαν. Ἀγησίλαον μὲν οὖν πρὸς τοὺς ἐν Κύπρῳ βασιλεῖς, εἰς δὲ Ῥόδον Ἰδομενέα καὶ Μοσχίωνα, Πτολεμαῖον δὲ τὸν ἀδελφιδοῦν μετὰ δυνάμεως εἰς Καππαδοκίαν ἀπέστειλεν, ἵνα λύσῃ μὲν Ἀμισσοῦ τὴν πολιορκίαν καὶ τοὺς ὑπὸ Κασάνδρου πεμφθέντας εἰς Καππαδοκίαν ἐκβάλῃ πάντας, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις ὅπως παραγενόμενος εἰς Ἑλλήσποντον ἐφεδρεύῃ τοῖς περὶ Κάσανδρον, ἂν ἐπιχειρῇ διαβαίνειν ἐκ τῆς Εὐρώπης. Ἀριστόδημον δὲ τὸν Μιλήσιον εἰς Πελοπόννησον ἐξέπεμψεν ἔχοντα χίλια τάλαντα· τούτῳ δὲ συνετέτακτο συνθέσθαι φιλίαν πρὸς Ἀλέξανδρον καὶ Πολυπέρχοντα καὶ ξενολογήσαντα τοὺς ἱκανοὺς διαπολεμεῖν Κασάνδρῳ. αὐτὸς δὲ πᾶσαν τὴν Ἀσίαν, ἧς ἦν κύριος, διέλαβε πυρσοῖς καὶ βυβλιαφόροις, δι’ ὧν ὀξέως ἤμελλεν ὑπηρετεῖσθαι πάντα.
While Antigonus was going into upper Syria, envoys arrived from Ptolemy, Lysimachus, and Cassander. When they had been brought into the council, they demanded that Cappadocia and Lycia be given to Cassander, Hellespontine Phrygia to Lysimachus, all Syria to Ptolemy, and Babylonia to Seleucus, and that Antigonus should divide the treasures that he had captured after the battle with Eumenes, since they too had had a share in the war. They said that if he did none of these things, they would all join in waging war on him. Antigonus answered rather harshly and bade them make ready for war, with the result that the envoys went away with their mission unaccomplished. At this Ptolemy, Lysimachus, and Cassander, after making a mutual alliance, gathered their forces and prepared stocks of arms, missiles, and the other needful things. But now that Antigonus saw that many men of great repute had combined against him, and computed the extent of the war that was springing up, he summoned the nations, cities, and rulers to join his alliance. He sent Agesilaus to the kings in Cyprus, Idomeneus and Moschion to Rhodes, and his own nephew Ptolemy with an army to Cappadocia to raise the siege of Amisus, to drive out all who had been sent by Cassander into Cappadocia, and finally to take a position on the Hellespont and lie in wait for Cassander if he should try to cross over from Europe. He sent Aristodemus of Miletus to the Peloponnesus with a thousand talents, instructing him to establish friendship with Alexander and Polyperchon and, after raising an adequate force of mercenaries, to carry on the war against Cassander. He himself established at intervals throughout all that part of Asia of which he was master a system of firesignals and dispatch-carriers, by means of which he expected to have quick service in all his business.
§ 19.58
ἀπὸ δὲ τούτων γενόμενος ἀνέζευξεν ἐπὶ Φοινίκην, σπεύδων ναυτικὴν δύναμιν συστήσασθαι· συνέβαινε γὰρ τοὺς μὲν πολεμίους τότε θαλασσοκρατεῖν ναῦς πολλὰς ἔχοντας, αὐτῷ δὲ τὸ παράπαν οὐδʼ ὀλίγας εἶναι. στρατοπεδεύσας δὲ ἐν Τύρῳ τῆς Φοινίκης καὶ πολιορκῆσαι διανοούμενος τὴν Τύρον μετεπέμπετο τοὺς βασιλεῖς τῶν Φοινίκων καὶ τοὺς ὑπάρχους τῆς Συρίας. καὶ τοὺς μὲν βασιλεῖς προετρέψατο συνεπιλαβέσθαι ναυπηγίας, ἐπειδὴ τὰς ναῦς τὰς ἐκ Φοινίκης ἁπάσας μετὰ τῶν πληρωμάτων Πτολεμαῖος εἶχεν ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ· τοῖς δʼ ὑπάρχοις ἐκέλευσεν ἑτοιμάσαι κατὰ τάχος πυρῶν μὲν μεδίμνων μυριάδας τετρακοσίας πεντήκοντα· τοσοῦτο γὰρ εἰς τὸν ἐνιαυτὸν ἐγίνετο δαπάνημα. αὐτὸς δὲ πανταχόθεν ἀθροίσας ὑλοτόμους καὶ πρίστας, ἔτι δὲ ναυπηγοὺς κατεκόμιζε τὴν ὕλην ἐπὶ θάλασσαν ἐκ τοῦ Λιβάνου, τεμνόντων μὲν αὐτὴν καὶ πριζόντων ἀνδρῶν ὀκτακισχιλίων, κατακομιζόντων δὲ ζευγῶν χιλίων. τὸ δʼ ὄρος τοῦτο παρήκει μὲν παρά τε τὴν Τρίπολιν καὶ Βυβλίαν, ἔτι δὲ Σιδωνίαν, πλῆρες δʼ ἐστὶ ξύλων κεδρίνων καὶ κυπαρισσίνων θαυμαστῶν τό τε κάλλος καὶ μέγεθος. ναυπηγεῖα δʼ ἀπέδειξε τρία μὲν κατὰ τὴν Φοινίκην, ἔν τε Τριπόλει καὶ Βύβλῳ καὶ Σιδῶνι, τέταρτον δὲ περὶ Κιλικίαν, κομιζομένης τῆς ὕλης ἐκ τοῦ Ταύρου. ἦν δὲ καὶ περὶ Ῥόδον ἄλλο, συγχωρήσαντος τοῦ δήμου κατασκευάζειν ναῦς ἀπὸ τῆς ὕλης τῆς εἰσκομιζομένης. τοῦ δʼ Ἀντιγόνου περὶ ταῦτα ὄντος καὶ πλησίον τῆς θαλάσσης κατεστρατοπεδευκότος ἧκεν ἐξ Αἰγύπτου Σέλευκος μετὰ νεῶν ἑκατὸν κεκοσμημένων βασιλικῶς καὶ πλεουσῶν ἱκανῶς. ποιουμένου δʼ αὐτοῦ τὸν παράπλουν παρʼ αὐτὴν τὴν στρατοπεδείαν καταπεφρονηκότως οἵ τε ἐκ τῶν συμμαχίδων πόλεων καὶ πάντες οἱ κοινοπραγοῦντες τοῖς περὶ Ἀντίγονον ἄθυμοι καθειστήκεισαν· πρόδηλον γὰρ ἦν ὅτι θαλασσοκρατοῦντες οἱ πολέμιοι πορθήσουσι τοὺς τοῖς ἐναντίοις κοινοπραγοῦντας ἀπὸ τῆς πρὸς Ἀντίγονον φιλίας. ὁ δʼ Ἀντίγονος τούτους μὲν παρεκάλει θαρρεῖν, διαβεβαιούμενος ἐν ταύτῃ τῇ θερίᾳ ἀναπλευσεῖσθαι ναυσὶ πεντακοσίαις.
After attending to these matters, Antigonus set out for Phoenicia, hastening to organize a naval force; for it so happened that his enemies then ruled the sea with many ships, but that he had, altogether, not even a few. Camping at Old Tyre in Phoenicia and intending to besiege Tyre, he called together the kings of the Phoenicians and the viceroys of Syria. He instructed the kings to assist him in building ships, since Ptolemy was holding in Egypt all the ships from Phoenicia with their crews. He ordered the viceroys to prepare quickly four and a half million measures of wheat . . ., for such was the annual consumption. He himself collected wood cutters, sawyers, and shipwrights from all sides, and carried wood to the sea from Lebanon. There were eight thousand men employed in cutting and sawing the timber and one thousand pair of draught animals in transporting it. This mountain range extends along the territory of Tripolis, Byblus, and Sidon, and is covered with cedar and cypress trees of wonderful beauty and size. He established three shipyards in Phoenicia — at Tripolis, Byblus, and Sidon — and a fourth in Cilicia, the timber for which was brought from Mount Taurus. There was also another in Rhodes, where the state agreed to make ships from imported timber. While Antigonus was busy with these matters and after he had established his camp near the sea, Seleucus arrived from Egypt with a hundred ships, which were royally equipped and which sailed excellently. As he sailed contemptuously along past the very camp, men from the allied cities and all who were co-operating with Antigonus were downhearted; for it was very clear that, since the enemy dominated the sea, they would plunder the lands of those who aided their opponents out of friendship for Antigonus. Antigonus, however, bade them be of good courage, affirming that in that very summer he would take the sea with five hundred vessels.
§ 19.59
ὄντος δʼ αὐτοῦ περὶ ταῦτα παρῆν Ἀγησίλαος ὁ πεμφθεὶς εἰς Κύπρον πρεσβευτής, ἀπαγγέλλων ὅτι Νικοκρέων μὲν καὶ τῶν ἄλλων οἱ κράτιστοι βασιλεῖς πρὸς Πτολεμαῖον πεποίηνται συμμαχίαν, ὁ δὲ Κιτιεὺς καὶ Λαπίθιος, ἔτι δὲ Μαριεὺς καὶ Κερυνίτης τὴν πρὸς αὐτὸν φιλίαν συντέθεινται. ἀκούσας δὲ ταῦτα τρισχιλίους μὲν στρατιώτας καὶ στρατηγὸν Ἀνδρόνικον κατέλιπεν ἐπὶ τῆς πολιορκίας, αὐτὸς δὲ μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως ἀναζεύξας τήν τʼ Ἰόππην καὶ Γάζαν ἀπειθούσας κατὰ κράτος εἷλε καὶ τοὺς μὲν καταληφθέντας Πτολεμαίου στρατιώτας ἐπιδιεῖλεν εἰς τὰς ἰδίας τάξεις, εἰς δὲ τὰς πόλεις παρεισήγαγε φρουρὰν τὴν ἀναγκάσουσαν πειθαρχεῖν τοὺς ἐνοικοῦντας. αὐτὸς δʼ ἐπανελθὼν εἰς τὴν πρὸς Παλαιτύρῳ στρατοπεδείαν παρεσκευάζετο τὰ πρὸς τὴν πολιορκίαν. Ἐπὶ δὲ τῶν καιρῶν τούτων Ἀρίστων ὁ πιστευθεὶς ὑπʼ Εὐμενοῦς τῶν ὀστῶν τῶν Κρατεροῦ παρέδωκεν εἰς ταφὴν αὐτὰ Φίλᾳ τῇ πρότερον μὲν Κρατερῷ συνοικούσῃ, τότε δὲ Δημητρίῳ τῷ Ἀντιγόνου. αὕτη δʼ ἡ γυνὴ συνέσει δοκεῖ διενηνοχέναι· τούς τε γὰρ ταραχώδεις τῶν ἐν τῷ στρατοπέδῳ κατέπαυεν ἁρμοζόντως πολιτευομένη πρὸς ἕκαστον, τάς τε ἀδελφὰς καὶ θυγατέρας τῶν ἀπόρων ἐξεδίδου τοῖς ἰδίοις δαπανήμασι, πολλοὺς δὲ καὶ τῶν διαβολαῖς περιπιπτόντων μὴ δικαίαις ἀπήλλασσε τῶν κινδύνων. λέγεται δὲ καὶ Ἀντίπατρον τὸν πατέρα αὐτῆς, ὃς δοκεῖ γεγονέναι φρονιμώτατος τῶν ἐν δυναστείαις γεγονότων κατὰ τὴν αὐτὴν ἡλικίαν, κόρης οὔσης ἔτι τῆς Φίλας συμβουλεύεσθαι πρὸς ταύτην περὶ τῶν μεγίστων. μηνύσει δʼ ἀκριβέστερον τὸ τῆς γυναικὸς ἦθος προϊὼν ὁ λόγος καὶ τὰ πράγματα λαμβάνοντα μεταβολὴν καὶ κρίσιν ἐσχάτην τῆς περὶ Δημήτριον βασιλείας. καὶ τὰ μὲν περὶ Ἀντίγονον καὶ Φίλαν τὴν Δημητρίου γυναῖκα τοιαῦτʼ ἦν.
While Antigonus was thus engaged, Agesilaus, the envoy whom he had sent to Cyprus, arrived with the information that Nicocreon and the most powerful of the other kings had made an alliance with Ptolemy, but that the kings of Cition, Lapithus, Marion, and Cerynia had concluded a treaty of friendship with himself. On learning this, Antigonus left three thousand soldiers under Andronicus to carry on the siege, but he himself set out with the army and took by storm Joppa and Gaza, cities that had refused obedience. The soldiers of Ptolemy whom he captured he distributed among his own ranks, but he placed in each city a garrison to force the inhabitants to obey him. He himself then went back to the camp at Old Tyre and made preparations for the siege. At this time Ariston, to whose care the bones of Craterus had been entrusted by Eumenes, gave them for burial to Phila, who had formerly been the wife of Craterus, but now was married to Demetrius, the son of Antigonus. This woman seems to have been of exceptional sagacity; for example, she would quell the trouble-makers in the camp by dealing with each individual in a manner appropriate to his case, she would arrange marriages at her own expense for the sisters and daughters of the poor, and she would free from jeopardy many who had been trapped by false accusations. It is even said that her father Antipater, who is reputed to have been the wisest of the rulers of his own time, used to consult with Phila about the most important matters when she was still a child. But the character of the woman will be more clearly revealed by my narrative as it progresses and by the events that brought change and a final crisis to the reign of Demetrius. This was the situation of the affairs of Antigonus and of Phila, the wife of Demetrius.
§ 19.60
τῶν δὲ πεμφθέντων ὑπʼ Ἀντιγόνου στρατηγῶν Ἀριστόδημος μὲν πλεύσας εἰς τὴν Λακωνικὴν καὶ λαβὼν παρὰ τῶν Σπαρτιατῶν ἐξουσίαν ξενολογεῖν, στρατιώτας ἤθροισεν ὀκτακισχιλίους ἐκ τῆς Πελοποννήσου. ἐντυχὼν δὲ Ἀλεξάνδρῳ καὶ Πολυπέρχοντι φιλίαν συνέθετο πρὸς αὐτοὺς ὑπὲρ Ἀντιγόνου καὶ Πολυπέρχοντα μὲν στρατηγὸν ἀπέδειξε τῆς Πελοποννήσου, τὸν δὲ Ἀλέξανδρον ἔπεισεν εἰς τὴν Ἀσίαν πλεῦσαι πρὸς Ἀντίγονον. ὁ δʼ ἕτερος τῶν στρατηγῶν Πτολεμαῖος πορευθεὶς μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως εἰς Καππαδοκίαν καὶ καταλαβὼν Ἀμισσὸν πολιορκουμένην ὑπʼ Ἀσκληπιοδώρου τοῦ Κασάνδρου στρατηγοῦ τὴν μὲν πόλιν ἐκ τῶν κινδύνων ἐρρύσατο, τοὺς δὲ περὶ τὸν Ἀσκληπιόδωρον ὑποσπόνδους ἀφεὶς ἀνεκτήσατο τὴν σατραπείαν. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα πορευθεὶς διὰ Βιθυνίας καὶ Ζιβύτην τὸν βασιλέα τῶν Βιθυνῶν καταλαβὼν πολιορκοῦντα τήν τε τῶν Ἀστακηνῶν καὶ Χαλκηδονίων πόλιν συνηνάγκασε λῦσαι τὴν πολιορκίαν. ποιησάμενος δὲ συμμαχίαν πρός τε τὰς πόλεις ταύτας καὶ πρὸς τὸν Ζιβύτην, ἔτι δὲ λαβὼν ὁμήρους προῆγεν ἐπὶ Ἰωνίας καὶ Λυδίας· ἐγεγράφει γὰρ Ἀντίγονος αὐτῷ βοηθεῖν τῇ παραλίῳ κατὰ τάχος, ὡς τοῦ Σελεύκου τὸν πλοῦν ἐνταῦθα ποιησομένου. ὡς δέ ποθʼ ἧκε πλησίον τῶν προειρημένων τόπων, Σέλευκος ἔτυχε μὲν πολιορκῶν Ἐρυθράς, πυθόμενος δὲ τὴν τῶν πολεμίων δύναμιν πλησίον οὖσαν ἀπέπλευσεν ἄπρακτος.
Of the generals who had been sent out by Antigonus, Aristodemus sailed to Laconia and, on receiving permission from the Spartans to recruit mercenaries, enrolled eight thousand soldiers from the Peloponnesus. Meeting Alexander and Polyperchon, he established friendship between them and Antigonus. He appointed Polyperchon general of the Peloponnesus, and he persuaded Alexander to sail to Antigonus in Asia. The other general, Ptolemy, proceeded with his army to Cappadocia where he found Amisus under siege by Asclepiodorus, a general of Cassander. He delivered the city from danger and recovered the satrapy after dismissing Asclepiodorus and his men under a truce. Thereafter advancing through Bithynia and finding Zibytes, the king of the Bithynians, laying siege to the city of the Astacenians and the Chalcedonians, he forced him to abandon the siege. After making alliances with these cities and with Zibytes and also taking hostages from them, he proceeded toward Ionia and Lydia; for Antigonus had written ordering him to go quickly to the support of the coast, since Seleucus was about to make a naval expedition into that region. It so happened that, as he finally drew near to this area, Seleucus was laying siege to Erythrae, but when he heard that the hostile force was near, he sailed away with nothing accomplished.
§ 19.61
Ἀντίγονος δὲ παραγενομένου πρὸς αὐτὸν Ἀλεξάνδρου τοῦ Πολυπέρχοντος πρὸς μὲν τοῦτον συνέθετο φιλίαν, αὐτὸς δὲ συναγαγὼν τῶν τε στρατιωτῶν καὶ τῶν παρεπιδημούντων κοινὴν ἐκκλησίαν κατηγόρησε Κασάνδρου, προφερόμενος τήν τε Ὀλυμπιάδος ἀναίρεσιν καὶ τὰ συμβάντα περὶ Ῥωξάνην καὶ τὸν βασιλέα. πρὸς δὲ τούτοις ἔλεγεν ὡς Θεσσαλονίκην μὲν βιασάμενος ἔγημεν, φανερῶς δὲ ἐξιδιάζεται τὴν Μακεδόνων βασιλείαν, ἔτι δὲ ὡς Ὀλυνθίους ὄντας πολεμιωτάτους Μακεδόνων κατῴκισεν εἰς τὴν ὁμώνυμον ἑαυτοῦ πόλιν καὶ Θήβας ἀνέστησε τὰς ὑπὸ Μακεδόνων κατασκαφείσας. συναγανακτούντων δὲ τῶν ὄχλων ἔγραψε δόγμα καθʼ ὃ τὸν Κάσανδρον ἐψηφίσατο πολέμιον εἶναι, ἐὰν μὴ τάς τε πόλεις καθέλῃ καὶ τὸν βασιλέα καὶ τὴν μητέρα τὴν Ῥωξάνην προαγαγὼν ἐκ τῆς φυλακῆς ἀποδῷ τοῖς Μακεδόσι καὶ τὸ σύνολον ἐὰν μὴ πειθαρχῇ τῷ καθεσταμένῳ στρατηγῷ καὶ τῆς βασιλείας παρειληφότι τὴν ἐπιμέλειαν Ἀντιγόνῳ. εἶναι δὲ καὶ τοὺς Ἕλληνας ἅπαντας ἐλευθέρους, ἀφρουρήτους, αὐτονόμους. ἐπιψηφισαμένων δὲ τῶν στρατιωτῶν τὰ ῥηθέντα διαπέστειλε πανταχῇ τοὺς κομιοῦντας τὸ δόγμα· τοὺς μὲν γὰρ Ἕλληνας ὑπελάμβανε διὰ τὴν ἐλπίδα τῆς ἐλευθερίας προθύμους ἕξειν συναγωνιστὰς εἰς τὸν πόλεμον, τοὺς δʼ ἐν ταῖς ἄνω σατραπείαις στρατηγοὺς καὶ σατράπας, ὑπόπτως ἔχοντας ὡς Ἀντιγόνου καταλῦσαι διεγνωκότος τοὺς ἀπὸ Ἀλεξάνδρου βασιλεῖς, αὐτοῦ φανερῶς τὸν ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν πόλεμον ἀναδεχομένου πάντας μεταπεσεῖσθαι ταῖς γνώμαις καὶ τοῖς παραγγελλομένοις ἑτοίμως ὑπακούσεσθαι. ἀπὸ δὲ τούτων γενόμενος Ἀλεξάνδρῳ μὲν δοὺς πεντακόσια τάλαντα καὶ περὶ τῶν μελλόντων εἰς μεγάλας ἀγαγὼν ἐλπίδας ἐξαπέστειλεν εἰς Πελοπόννησον· αὐτὸς δὲ παρὰ Ῥοδίων μεταπεμψάμενος ναῦς καὶ τῶν ναυπηγηθεισῶν τὰς πλείστας καταρτίσας ἐπέπλευσε τῇ Τύρῳ. θαλασσοκρατῶν δὲ καὶ διακωλύων σῖτον εἰσάγεσθαι προσεκαρτέρησε μὲν ἐνιαυτὸν καὶ τρεῖς μῆνας, εἰς ἔνδειαν δὲ δεινὴν ἀγαγὼν τοὺς ἐγκατακεκλεισμένους τοῖς μὲν παρὰ Πτολεμαίου στρατιώταις συνεχώρησεν ἀπελθεῖν ἔχουσι τὰ ἑαυτῶν, τὴν δὲ πόλιν διʼ ὁμολογίας παραλαβὼν φρουρὰν τὴν διαφυλάξουσαν εἰς αὐτὴν εἰσήγαγεν.
Antigonus, after Polyperchon's son Alexander had come to him, made a pact of friendship with him, and then, calling a general assembly of the soldiers and of the aliens who were dwelling there, laid charges against Cassander, bringing forward the murder of Olympias and the treatment of Roxane and the king. Moreover, he said that Cassander had married Thessalonice by force, and was clearly trying to establish his own claim to the Macedonian throne; and also that, although the Olynthians were very bitter enemies of the Macedonians, Cassander had re-established them in a city called by his own name and had rebuilt Thebes, which had been razed by the Macedonians. When the crowd showed that it shared his wrath, he introduced a decree according to the terms of which it was voted that Cassander was to be an enemy unless he destroyed these cities again, released the king and his mother Roxane from imprisonment and restored them to the Macedonians, and, in general, yielded obedience to Antigonus the duly established general who had succeeded to the guardianship of the throne. It was also stated that all the Greeks were free, not subject to foreign garrisons, and autonomous. When the soldiers had voted in favour of these measures, Antigonus sent men in every direction to carry the decree, for he believed that through their hope of freedom he would gain the Greeks as eager participants with him in the war, and that the generals and satraps in the upper satrapies, who had suspected that he was determined to depose the kings who inherited from Alexander, would, if he publicly took upon himself the war in their behalf, all change their minds and promptly obey his orders. Having finished these matters, he gave Alexander five hundred talents and, after leading him to hope for great things to come, sent him back to the Peloponnesus. He himself, after summoning ships from Rhodes and equipping most of those that had been built, sailed against Tyre. Although he pressed the siege with vigour for a year and three months, controlling the sea and preventing food from being brought in, yet after he had reduced the besieged to extreme want, he permitted the soldiers who had come from Ptolemy to depart each with his own possessions; but when the city capitulated, he introduced into it a garrison to watch it closely.
§ 19.62
ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις Πτολεμαῖος μὲν ἀκούσας τὰ δεδογμένα τοῖς μετʼ Ἀντιγόνου Μακεδόσι περὶ τῆς τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἐλευθερίας ἔγραψε καὶ αὐτὸς τὰ παραπλήσια, βουλόμενος εἰδέναι τοὺς Ἕλληνας ὅτι φροντίζει τῆς αὐτονομίας αὐτῶν οὐχ ἧττον Ἀντιγόνου· οὐ γὰρ μικρὰν ῥοπὴν ὁρῶντες οὖσαν ἑκάτεροι προσλαβέσθαι τὴν τῶν Ἑλλήνων εὔνοιαν διημιλλῶντο πρὸς ἀλλήλους περὶ τῆς εἰς τούτους εὐεργεσίας. προσελάβετο δʼ εἰς τὴν συμμαχίαν καὶ τὸν τῆς Καρίας σατράπην Κάσανδρον, ἰσχύοντα καὶ πόλεις ἔχοντα τεταγμένας ὑφʼ ἑαυτὸν οὐκ ὀλίγας. προαπεσταλκὼς δὲ τοῖς ἐν Κύπρῳ βασιλεῦσι στρατιώτας τρισχιλίους ἐξέπεμψε τότε δύναμιν ἁδράν, σπεύδων συναναγκάσαι τοὺς ἐναντιοπραγοῦντας ποιεῖν τὸ προστασσόμενον. Μυρμιδόνα μὲν οὖν τὸν Ἀθηναῖον ἀπέστειλε μετὰ στρατιωτῶν μυρίων, Πολύκλειτον δὲ μετὰ νεῶν ἑκατόν, τῶν δὲ πάντων στρατηγὸν Μενέλαον τὸν ἀδελφόν. οὗτοι δὲ πλεύσαντες εἰς Κύπρον κἀκεῖ καταλαβόντες Σέλευκον μετὰ τοῦ στόλου συνήδρευσαν βουλευόμενοι τί χρὴ πράττειν. ἔδοξεν οὖν αὐτοῖς Πολύκλειτον μετὰ πεντήκοντα νεῶν πλεῖν εἰς Πελοπόννησον καὶ διαπολεμεῖν τοῖς περὶ Ἀριστόδημον καὶ Ἀλέξανδρον, ἔτι δὲ Πολυπέρχοντα, Μυρμιδόνα δὲ καὶ τοὺς ξένους εἰς Καρίαν, βοηθήσοντας τοῖς περὶ τὸν Κάσανδρον πολεμουμένοις ὑπὸ Πτολεμαίου τοῦ στρατηγοῦ, τοὺς δὲ περὶ τὸν Σέλευκον καὶ Μενέλαον ὑπολειφθέντας ἐν Κύπρῳ μετὰ Νικοκρέοντος τοῦ βασιλέως καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν συμμαχούντων διαπολεμεῖν τοῖς ἐναντιουμένοις. τοῦτον δὲ τὸν τρόπον τῆς δυνάμεως διαμερισθείσης οἱ περὶ Σέλευκον Κερυνίαν μὲν καὶ Λάπιθον ἐξεπολιόρκησαν, Στασίοικον δὲ τὸν βασιλέα τῶν Μαριέων προσαγαγόμενοι τὸν Ἀμαθουσίων δυνάστην ἠνάγκασαν ὅμηρα δοῦναι, τὴν δὲ τῶν Κιτίων πόλιν οὐ δυνάμενοι προσαγαγέσθαι συνεχῶς ἐπολιόρκουν πάσῃ τῇ δυνάμει. κατὰ τοῦτον δὲ τὸν καιρὸν πρὸς Ἀντίγονον κατέπλευσαν ἐξ Ἑλλησπόντου ναῦς τεσσαράκοντα Θεμίσωνος ναυαρχοῦντος· ὁμοίως δὲ ἐξ Ἑλλησπόντου καὶ Ῥόδου κατήγαγε σκάφη Διοσκουρίδης ὀγδοήκοντα. προϋπῆρχον δʼ αὐτῷ κατηρτισμέναι ναῦς τῶν ἐν Φοινίκῃ ναυπηγηθεισῶν αἱ πρῶται συντελεσθεῖσαι· αὗται δʼ ἦσαν σὺν ταῖς ἐν Τύρῳ καταληφθείσαις ἑκατὸν καὶ εἴκοσιν, ὥστε τὰς πάσας περὶ αὐτὸν ἠθροῖσθαι ναῦς μακρὰς ἐξηρτυμένας διακοσίας τεσσαράκοντα· τούτων δʼ ἦσαν τετρήρεις μὲν ἐννενήκοντα πεντήρεις δὲ δέκα, ἐννήρεις δὲ τρεῖς, δεκήρεις δὲ δέκα, ἄφρακτοι δὲ τριάκοντα. διελόμενος δὲ τὸν στόλον πεντήκοντα μὲν ναῦς ἐξέπεμψεν εἰς Πελοπόννησον, τῶν δʼ ἄλλων ναύαρχον καταστήσας Διοσκουρίδην τὸν ἀδελφιδοῦν προσέταξε περιπλεῖν τοῖς τε συμμάχοις παρεχόμενον τὴν ἀσφάλειαν καὶ τῶν νήσων τὰς μήπω μετεχούσας τῆς συμμαχίας προσαγόμενον. τὰ μὲν οὖν κατὰ τὸν Ἀντίγονον ἐν τούτοις ἦν.
While these things were going on, Ptolemy, who had heard what had been decreed by the Macedonians with Antigonus in regard to the freedom of the Greeks, published a similar decree himself, since he wished the Greeks to know that he was no less interested in their autonomy than was Antigonus. Each of them, indeed, perceiving that it was a matter of no little moment to gain the goodwill of the Greeks, rivalled the other in conferring favours upon this people. Ptolemy also brought into his alliance Asander, satrap of Caria, who was strong and had a considerable number of cities subject to him. To the kings on Cyprus, to whom he had previously sent three thousand soldiers, he now dispatched a strong army, for he was anxious to force those who were opposing to carry out his commands. Myrmidon the Athenian, therefore, was sent with ten thousand men, and Polycleitus with a hundred ships, while Menelaus, his own brother, was made commander of the whole force. When these had sailed to Cyprus and there had found Seleucus and his fleet, they met together and considered what they ought to do. They decided that Polycleitus with fifty ships should sail to the Peloponnesus and carry on the war against Aristodemus, Alexander, and Polyperchon; that Myrmidon and the mercenaries should go to Caria to aid Asander, who was being attacked by Ptolemy the general; and that Seleucus and Menelaus, left in Cyprus with King Nicocreon and the other allies, should carry on the war against those who opposed them. After the forces had been divided in this way, Seleucus took Cerynia and Lapithus, secured the support of Stasioecus, king of the Marienses, forced the ruler of the Amathusii to give a guaranty, and laid unremitting siege with all his forces to the city of the Citienses, which he had not been able to induce to join him. At about this time forty ships under the command of Themison came to Antigonus from the Hellespont, and likewise Dioscorides put in with eighty vessels from the Hellespont and Rhodes. The first to be finished of the ships that had been made in Phoenicia were also at hand fully equipped; including those captured at Tyre, they were one hundred and twenty, so that in all there were gathered together about Antigonus two hundred and forty fully equipped ships of war. Of these there were ninety with four orders of oarsmen, ten with five, three with nine, ten with ten, and thirty undecked boats. Dividing this naval force, he sent fifty ships to the Peloponnesus, and ordered his nephew, Dioscorides, whom he had made commander of the rest, to make a circuit of the sea, guaranteeing the safety of the allies and winning the support of the islands that had not yet joined the alliance. Such was the state of Antigonus' affairs.
§ 19.63
ἡμεῖς δʼ ἐπεὶ τὰ κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν πραχθέντα διήλθομεν, ἐν μέρει πάλιν τὰ κατὰ τὴν Εὐρώπην διέξιμεν. Ἀπολλωνίδης γὰρ ὁ ταχθεὶς ὑπὸ Κασάνδρου στρατηγὸς ἐπὶ τῆς Ἀργείων πόλεως ἐξοδεύσας εἰς Ἀρκαδίαν νυκτὸς ἐκυρίευσε τῆς τῶν Στυμφαλίων πόλεως· περὶ ταῦτα δʼ αὐτοῦ διατρίβοντος τῶν Ἀργείων οἱ πρὸς Κάσανδρον ἀλλοτρίως ἔχοντες ἐπεκαλέσαντο τὸν Πολυπέρχοντος Ἀλέξανδρον, ἐπαγγελλόμενοι παραδώσειν τὴν πόλιν. τοῦ δʼ Ἀλεξάνδρου βραδύνοντος Ἀπολλωνίδης φθάσας κατήντησεν εἰς Ἄργος. τῶν δʼ ἐναντιουμένων καταλαβὼν εἰς πεντακοσίους συνηδρευκότας ἐν τῷ πρυτανείῳ τούτους μὲν ἀποκλείσας τῆς ἐξόδου ζῶντας κατέκαυσε, τῶν δʼ ἄλλων τοὺς μὲν πλείους ἐφυγάδευσεν, ὀλίγους δὲ συλλαβὼν ἀπέκτεινε. Κάσανδρος δὲ πυθόμενος τὸν Ἀριστοδήμου κατάπλουν εἰς Πελοπόννησον καὶ τὸ συνηθροισμένον πλῆθος τῶν ξένων τὸ μὲν πρῶτων ἐπεχείρησεν ἀφιστάναι τὸν Πολυπέρχοντα τῆς Ἀντιγόνου φιλίας· οὐχ ὑπακουόντων δʼ αὐτῶν συναγαγὼν δύναμιν ἧκε διὰ τῆς Θετταλίας εἰς Βοιωτίαν. ἐνταῦθα δὲ συνεπιλαβόμενος τοῖς Θηβαίοις τῆς τῶν τειχῶν οἰκοδομίας παρῆλθεν εἰς Πελοπόννησον· καὶ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον Κεγχρεὰς ἐκπολιορκήσας ἐδῄωσε τὴν χώραν τῶν Κορινθίων, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα δύο φρούρια κατὰ κράτος ἑλὼν τοὺς ὑπʼ Ἀλεξάνδρου καθεσταμένους φρουροὺς ὑποσπόνδους ἀφῆκεν. ἑξῆς δὲ τῇ τῶν Ὀρχομενίων πόλει προσβολὰς ποιησάμενος καὶ παρεισαχθεὶς ὑπὸ τῶν ἀλλοτρίως ἐχόντων πρὸς Ἀλέξανδρον τῆς μὲν πόλεως φυλακὴν ἀπέλιπε, τῶν δὲ φίλων τῶν Ἀλεξάνδρου καταφυγόντων εἰς τὸ τῆς Ἀρτέμιδος ἱερὸν ἔδωκε τὴν ἐξουσίαν τοῖς πολίταις ὃ βούλοιντο πρᾶξαι. οἱ μὲν οὖν Ὀρχομένιοι τοὺς ἱκέτας βιαίως ἀναστήσαντες ἅπαντας ἀνεῖλον παρὰ τὰ κοινὰ τῶν Ἑλλήνων νόμιμα.
Now that we have related the events that took place in Asia, we shall in turn discuss the affairs of Europe. Apollonides, who had been appointed general over Argos by Cassander, made a raid into Arcadia by night and captured the city of the Stymphalians. But while he was engaged in this, those of the Argives who were hostile to Cassander sent for Alexander, Polyperchon's son, promising to hand the city over to him. Alexander, however, delayed, and Apollonides arrived back in Argos before him. Finding about five hundred of his antagonists gathered in the prytaneion, he prevented them from leaving the building and burned them alive. He exiled most of the others, but arrested and killed a few. When Cassander learned of Aristodemus' arrival in the Peloponnesus and of the multitude of mercenaries that he had collected there, his first effort was to turn Polyperchon from his alliance with Antigonus. When Polyperchon, however, would not listen to him, he brought his army through Thessaly into Boeotia. After aiding the Thebans in building their walls, he went on into the Peloponnesus. First he took Cenchreae and plundered the fields of the Corinthians. Then, after taking two fortresses by storm, he dismissed under a truce the garrisons that had been placed in them by Alexander. Next he attacked the city of Orchomenus. Being admitted by the faction hostile to Alexander, he installed a garrison in the city, and when the friends of Alexander took refuge in the shrine of Artemis, he permitted the citizens to treat them as they wished. The people of Orchomenus, accordingly, dragged the suppliants away by force and slew them all, contrary to the universal custom of the Greeks.
§ 19.64
ὁ δὲ Κάσανδρος παρελθὼν εἰς τὴν Μεσσηνίαν καὶ καταλαβὼν φρουρουμένην ὑπὸ Πολυπέρχοντος τὴν πόλιν τὸ μὲν πολιορκεῖν αὐτὴν ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος ἀπέγνω, παρελθὼν δʼ εἰς Ἀρκαδίαν Δάμιν μὲν ἐπιμελητὴν τῆς Μεγάλης πόλεως ἀπέλιπεν, αὐτὸς δὲ παρελθὼν εἰς τὴν Ἀργείαν καὶ θεὶς τὸν τῶν Νεμέων ἀγῶνα τὴν εἰς Μακεδονίαν ἐπάνοδον ἐποιήσατο. τούτου δὲ χωρισθέντος Ἀλέξανδρος ἐπιὼν τὰς ἐν Πελοποννήσῳ πόλεις μετʼ Ἀριστοδήμου τὰς μὲν ὑπὸ Κασάνδρου καθεσταμένας φρουρὰς ἐκβαλεῖν ἐπειρᾶτο, ταῖς δὲ πόλεσιν ἀποκαθιστᾶν τὴν ἐλευθερίαν. ἃ δὴ πυθόμενος ὁ Κάσανδρος ἔπεμψε πρὸς αὐτὸν Πρεπέλαον, ἀξιῶν Ἀντιγόνου μὲν ἀποστῆναι, συμμαχεῖν δʼ αὐτῷ γνησίως. τοῦτο δʼ αὐτοῦ πράξαντος στρατηγίαν δώσειν ἔφησε πάσης Πελοποννήσου καὶ δυνάμεως ἀποδείξειν κύριον, ἔτι δὲ κατʼ ἀξίαν τιμήσειν. ὁ δʼ Ἀλέξανδρος ὁρῶν αὑτῷ συγχωρούμενον οὗ χάριν ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἐπολέμει πρὸς Κάσανδρον, συμμαχίαν ποιησάμενος ἀπεδείχθη στρατηγὸς Πελοποννήσου. ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις Πολύκλειτος ὁ πεμφθεὶς ὑπὸ τῶν περὶ Σέλευκον ἐκ Κύπρου πλεύσας κατῆρεν εἰς Κεγχρεάς, ἀκούσας δὲ τὴν Ἀλεξάνδρου μετάθεσιν καὶ θεωρῶν μηδὲν ὑπάρχον πολέμιον σύστημα τὸν πλοῦν ἐπὶ Παμφυλίας ἐποιήσατο. ἐντεῦθεν δὲ παρακομισθεὶς εἰς Ἀφροδισιάδα τῆς Κιλικίας, ὡς ἤκουσεν ὅτι Θεόδοτος μὲν ὁ Ἀντιγόνου ναύαρχος ἐκ Πατάρων τῆς Δυκίας παραπλεῖ ταῖς ἀπὸ Ῥόδου ναυσίν, ἐχούσαις ἀπὸ Καρίας πληρώματα, καὶ διότι περίλαος μετὰ στρατιωτῶν παράγει πεζῇ, παρεχόμενος τῷ στόλῳ τῆς ἀγωγῆς τὴν ἀσφάλειαν, ἀμφοτέρους κατεστρατήγησε. τοὺς μὲν γὰρ στρατιώτας ἀποβιβάσας ἔκρυψεν ἐν εὐθέτῳ τόπῳ, καθʼ ὃν ἀναγκαῖον ἦν τοὺς πολεμίους τὴν πάροδον ποιήσασθαι, αὐτὸς δὲ πάσαις ταῖς ναυσὶν ἐπιπλεύσας καὶ πρὸ αὑτοῦ λαβὼν ἀκρωτήριον ἐπετήρει τὴν τῶν πολεμίων παρουσίαν. ἐμπεσόντων δὲ πρῶτον τῶν πεζῶν εἰς τὴν ἐνέδραν συνέβη τόν τε περίλαον ἁλῶναι καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τοὺς μὲν πεσεῖν μαχομένους, οὓς δὲ ζωγρηθῆναι. ἐπιχειρούντων δὲ τῶν ἀπὸ Ῥόδου νεῶν παραβοηθεῖν τοῖς ἰδίοις ἐπιπλεύσας ὁ Πολύκλειτος ἄφνω συντεταγμένῳ τῷ στόλῳ ῥᾳδίως ἐτρέψατο τεταραγμένους τοὺς πολεμίους. διόπερ συνέβη τάς τε ναῦς ἁλῶναι πάσας καὶ τῶν ἀνδρῶν οὐκ ὀλίγους, ἐν οἷς καὶ αὐτὸν τὸν Θεόδοτον τραυματίαν γενόμενον μετʼ ὀλίγας ἡμέρας τελευτῆσαι. Πολύκλειτος μὲν οὖν χωρὶς κινδύνων τηλικαῦτα πλεονεκτήσας ἀπέπλευσεν εἰς Κύπρον, ἐντεῦθεν δʼ εἰς Πηλούσιον· ὁ δὲ Πτολεμαῖος τοῦτον μὲν ἐπαινέσας δωρεαῖς μεγάλαις ἐτίμησε καὶ πολὺ μᾶλλον προῆγεν ὡς ἀρχηγὸν γεγονότα μεγάλου προτερήματος, τὸν δὲ περίλαον καὶ τῶν ἄλλων αἰχμαλώτων τινὰς ἀπέλυσεν, ἐλθούσης περὶ τούτων πρεσβείας παρʼ Ἀντιγόνου. αὐτὸς δὲ παρῆλθεν ἐπὶ τὸ καλούμενον Ἔκρηγμα κἀκεῖ συνελθὼν εἰς λόγους Ἀντιγόνῳ πάλιν ἀπῆλθεν, οὐ συγχωροῦντος Ἀντιγόνου τὰ ἀξιούμενα.
Cassander passed on into Messenia, but finding the city garrisoned by Polyperchon, he temporarily relinquished his plan of laying siege to it. Passing over into Arcadia, he left Damis as governor of Megalopolis, while he himself, after going into Argolis and presiding at the Nemean games, returned into Macedonia. After he had gone, Alexander visited the cities of the Peloponnesus accompanied by Aristodemus and tried to drive out the garrisons that had been established by Cassander and to restore freedom to the cities. As soon as Cassander learned this, he sent Prepelaus to Alexander, asking him to desert Antigonus and conclude with himself an alliance in due form. He said that if he did this, he would give him the command of all the Peloponnesus, make him general of an army, and honour him according to his deserts. Alexander, since he saw that the thing for which he had originally made war against Cassander was being granted to him, made the alliance and was appointed general of the Peloponnesus. While all this was taking place, Polycleitus, who had been sent by Seleucus from Cyprus, sailed into Cenchreae, but when he heard of Alexander's change in allegiance and saw that there was no hostile force in existence, he sailed for Pamphylia. He sailed along the coast from Pamphylia to Aphrodisias in Cilicia; and, hearing that Theodotus, the admiral of Antigonus, was sailing from Patara in Lycia in Rhodian ships with Carian crews, and that Perilaus was accompanying him with an army on land, thus securing the safety of the fleet in its voyage, he outgeneralled both of them. Disembarking his soldiers, he concealed them in a suitable place where it was necessary for the enemy to pass, taking cover behind a promontory while awaiting the coming of the enemy. The army was first to fall into the ambush; Perilaus was captured, some of the rest fell while fighting, and others were taken prisoners. When the Rhodian ships tried to go to the aid of their own forces, Polycleitus sailed up suddenly with his fleet drawn up for battle and easily routed the disorganized enemy. The result was that all the ships were captured and a considerable number of the men also, among them Theodotus himself, who was wounded and a few days later died. After Polycleitus had gained so great an advantage without danger, he sailed away to Cyprus and thence to Pelusium. Ptolemy praised him, honoured him with great gifts, and gave him much greater preferment as having been the author of an important victory. He released Perilaus and some of the other captives when an envoy in their behalf came from Antigonus. He himself went to Ecregma, as it is called, where he conferred with Antigonus, returning again since Antigonus would not agree to his demands.
§ 19.65
ἡμεῖς δὲ διεληλυθότες τὰ πραχθέντα τῶν Ἑλλήνων τῆς Εὐρώπης περὶ τὴν Ἑλλάδα καὶ Μακεδονίαν ἐν μέρει διέξιμεν περὶ τῶν πρὸς ἑσπέραν νευόντων μερῶν. Ἀγαθοκλῆς γὰρ ὁ τῶν Συρακοσίων δυνάστης κατέχων φρούριον τῶν Μεσσηνίων ἐπηγγείλατο λαβὼν παρʼ αὐτῶν τριάκοντα τάλαντα παραδώσειν τὸν τόπον. δόντων δὲ τῶν Μεσσηνίων τἀργύριον οὐ μόνον διεψεύσατο τοὺς πιστεύσαντας τῆς ἐπαγγελίας, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν Μεσσήνην αὐτὴν ἐπεχείρησε καταλαβέσθαι. πυθόμενος γὰρ μέρος τι τοῦ τείχους ἐν αὐτῇ πεπτωκέναι πεζῇ μὲν τοὺς ἱππεῖς ἀπέστειλεν ἐκ Συρακουσσῶν, αὐτὸς δʼ ἀναλαβὼν ναῦς ἡμιολίας νυκτὸς κατέπλευσε πλησίον τῆς πόλεως. προαισθομένων δὲ τῶν προἐπιβουλευομένων ταύτης μὲν τῆς ἐπιβολῆς ἀπέτυχεν, ἐπὶ δὲ τὰς Μύλας πλεύσας καὶ πολιορκήσας τὸ φρούριον διʼ ὁμολογίας παρέλαβε. καὶ τότε μὲν εἰς Συρακούσσας ἐχωρίσθη, κατὰ δὲ τὰς τῶν καρπῶν συγκομιδὰς πάλιν ἐστράτευσεν ἐπὶ τὴν Μεσσήνην. πλησίον δὲ τῆς πόλεως στρατοπεδεύσας καὶ προσβολὰς συνεχεῖς ποιούμενος οὐδὲν ἀξιόλογον ἴσχυσε βλάψαι τοὺς πολεμίους· καὶ γὰρ τῶν ἐκ Συρακουσσῶν φυγάδων πολλοὶ συνεδεδραμήκεισαν εἰς τὴν πόλιν, οἳ καὶ διὰ τὴν ἰδίαν ἀσφάλειαν καὶ διὰ τὸ πρὸς τὸν τύραννον μίσος ἐκθύμως ἠγωνίζοντο. καθʼ ὃν δὴ χρόνον ἧκον ἐκ Καρχηδόνος πρέσβεις, οἳ τῷ μὲν Ἀγαθοκλεῖ περὶ τῶν πραχθέντων ἐπετίμησαν ὡς παραβαίνοντι τὰς συνθήκας, τοῖς δὲ Μεσσηνίοις εἰρήνην παρεσκεύασαν καὶ τὸ φρούριον ἀναγκάσαντες ἀποκαταστῆσαι τὸν τύραννον ἀπέπλευσαν εἰς τὴν Λιβύην. ὁ δʼ Ἀγαθοκλῆς παρελθὼν εἰς Ἀβάκαινον πόλιν σύμμαχον, τοὺς δοκοῦντας ἀλλοτρίως ἔχειν τὰ πρὸς αὐτὸν ἀπέσφαξεν, ὄντας πλείους τῶν τεσσαράκοντα. ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις Ῥωμαῖοι μὲν διαπολεμοῦντες Σαμνίταις Φερέντην, πόλιν τῆς Ἀπουλίας, κατὰ κράτος εἷλον. οἱ δὲ τὴν Νουκερίαν τὴν Ἀλφατέρναν καλουμένην οἰκοῦντες πεισθέντες ὑπό τινων τῆς μὲν Ῥωμαίων φιλίας ἀπέστησαν, πρὸς δὲ τοὺς Σαμνίατας συμμαχίαν ἐποιήσαντο.
Now that we have related the deeds of the European Greeks in Greece and Macedonia, we shall consider in due order the history of the western regions. Agathocles, the dynast of Syracuse, who was holding a fort of the Messenians, promised to surrender the position on receiving from them thirty talents; but when the Messenians gave him the money, he not only failed to keep his promise to those who had put faith in him, but he also undertook to capture Messene itself. On learning that a certain section of the wall of the city was in ruins, he sent his cavalry by land from Syracuse while he himself sailed close to the city by night with light vessels. Since, however, the intended victims of the plot learned of it beforehand, this attack failed; but he sailed to Mylae and besieged the fort, which surrendered by capitulation. He then departed for Syracuse, but at the time of the harvest he made another expedition against Messene. He camped near the city and made repeated attacks, but he was not able to inflict any considerable damage upon his enemies, for many of the exiles from Syracuse had taken refuge in the city, and these fought furiously both for the sake of their own safety and because of their hatred for the tyrant. At this time there came envoys from Carthage, who censured Agathocles for what he had done on the ground that he had violated the treaty. They also secured peace for the people of Messene, and then, when they had forced the tyrant to restore the fort, they sailed back to Libya. Agathocles, however, went on to Abacaenon, an allied city, where he put to death those who appeared to be hostile to him, being more than forty in number. While these things were taking place, the Romans in their war with the Samnites took Ferentum, a city of Apulia, a by storm. The inhabitants of Nuceria, which is called Alfaterna, yielding to the persuasion of certain persons, abandoned their friendship for Rome and made an alliance with the Samnites.
§ 19.66
τοῦ δʼ ἔτους τούτου διελθόντος Ἀθήνησι μὲν ἦρχε Νικόδωρος, ἐν Ῥώμῃ δʼ ἦσαν ὕπατοι Λεύκιος Παπείριος τὸ τέταρτον καὶ Κόιντος Πόπλιος τὸ δεύτερον. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Ἀριστόδημος μὲν ὁ κατασταθεὶς ὑπʼ Ἀντιγόνου στρατηγὸς ὡς ἐπύθετο τὴν Ἀλεξάνδρου τοῦ Πολυπέρχοντος ἀπόστασιν, ἐπὶ τοῦ κοινοῦ τῶν Αἰτωλῶν δικαιολογησάμενος προετρέψατο τὰ πλήθη βοηθεῖν τοῖς Ἀντιγόνου πράγμασιν, αὐτὸς δὲ μετὰ τῶν μισθοφόρων διαβὰς ἐκ τῆς Αἰτωλίας εἰς Πελοπόννησον κατέλαβεν Ἀλέξανδρόν τε καὶ τοὺς Ἠλείους πολιορκοῦντας τὴν Κυλλήνην, εὐκαίρως δὲ τοῖς κινδυνεύουσιν ἐπιφανεὶς ἔλυσε τὴν πολιορκίαν. καταλιπὼν δʼ ἐνταῦθα τοὺς παρεξομένους τῷ φρουρίῳ τὴν ἀσφάλειαν ἀνέζευξεν εἰς τὴν Ἀχαΐαν καὶ Πάτρας μὲν ἠλευθέρωσε φρουρουμένας ὑπὸ τῶν Κασάνδρου στρατιωτῶν, Αἴγιον δὲ ἐκπολιορκήσας τῆς τε φρουρᾶς ἐκυρίευσε καὶ τοῖς Αἰγιεῦσι κατὰ δόγμα τὴν ἐλευθερίαν βουλόμενος ἀποκαταστῆσαι διὰ ταύτην τὴν περίστασιν ἐκωλύθη· τῶν γὰρ στρατιωτῶν τραπέντων πρὸς ἁρπαγὴν πολλοὶ μὲν ἀπεσφάγησαν τῶν Αἰγιέων, πλεῖσται δὲ τῶν οἰκιῶν διεφθάρησαν. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα διαπλεύσαντος εἰς Αἰτωλίαν αὐτοῦ Δυμαῖοι, φρουρὰν ἔχοντες παρὰ Κασάνδρου, διετείχισαν τὴν πόλιν, ὥστε κατʼ ἰδίαν οὖσαν ἀπὸ τῆς ἀκροπόλεως διεζεῦχθαι. παρακαλέσαντες δʼ ἀλλήλους ἀντέχεσθαι τῆς αὐτονομίας περιεστρατοπέδευσαν τὴν ἄκραν καὶ συνεχεῖς προσβολὰς ἐποιοῦντο ἃ δὴ πυθόμενος ὁ Ἀλέξανδρος ἧκεν μετὰ δυνάμεως καὶ βιασάμενος ἐντὸς τοῦ τείχους ἐκυρίευσε τῆς πόλεως, τῶν δὲ Δυμαίων τοὺς μὲν ἀπέσφαξεν, τοὺς δʼ εἰς φυλακὴν ἀπέθετο, πολλοὺς δὲ ἐφυγάδευσεν. οἱ δὲ περιλειφθέντες ἀπαλλαγέντος ἐκ τῆς πόλεως Ἀλεξάνδρου χρόνον μέν τινα τὴν ἡσυχίαν ἦγον, καταπεπληγμένοι τὸ μέγεθος τῆς συμφορᾶς, ἅμα δὲ καὶ συμμάχων ὄντες ἔρημοι· μετὰ δέ τινα χρόνον ἐξ Αἰγίου τοὺς Ἀριστοδήμου μισθοφόρους μεταπεμψάμενοι πάλιν ἐπέθεντο τῇ φρουρᾷ καὶ κυριεύσαντες τῆς ἄκρας τὴν μὲν πόλιν ἠλευθέρωσαν, τῶν δὲ καταλειφθέντων τοὺς πλείστους ἀποσφάξαντες συνανεῖλαν καὶ τῶν ἰδίων πολιτῶν ὅσοι πρὸς Ἀλέξανδρον εἶχον φιλίαν.
After this year had passed, Nicodorus was archon at Athens, and at Rome Lucius Papirius was consul for the fourth time and Quintus Publius for the second. While these held office, Aristodemus, who had been made general by Antigonus, on learning of the defection of Polyperchon's son Alexander, presented his own side of the matter to the common assembly of the Aitolians and persuaded the majority to support the fortunes of Antigonus. He himself, however, with his mercenaries crossed from Aitolia to the Peloponnesus, where he found Alexander and the Eleans laying siege to Cyllene, and, arriving at a moment opportune for the endangered people, raised the siege. Leaving troops there to insure the safety of the stronghold, he advanced into Achaia and freed Patrae, which was subject to a garrison of Cassander's troops. After a successful siege of Aegium he became master of its garrison; but, although he wished to establish freedom for the people of Aegium according to the decree, he was blocked by the following incident: for while the soldiers were engaged in pillaging, many of the Aegienses were killed and very many of their buildings were destroyed. Thereafter, when Aristodemus had sailed to Aitolia, the Dymaeans, who were subject to a garrison sent by Cassander, cut off their city by a dividing wall in such a way that it was isolated and separated from the citadel. Then, after encouraging each other to assert their freedom, they invested the citadel and made unremitting attacks upon it. But Alexander on learning of this came with his army, forced his way within the wall, and became master of the city, slaying some of the Dymaeans, imprisoning others, and sending many into exile. When Alexander had departed from the city, the survivors remained quiet for some time, stunned by the magnitude of the disaster and also bereft of allies. After a little while, however, they summoned from Aegium the mercenaries of Aristodemus and once more made an attack on the garrison. Taking the citadel, they freed the city; and when they had massacred most of those who had been left there, they likewise slew all those of their own citizens who maintained friendship with Alexander.
§ 19.67
ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πρασσομένοις Ἀλέξανδρος μὲν ὁ Πολυπέρχοντος ἐκ Σικυῶνος ἀναζευγνύων μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως ὑπʼ Ἀλεξίωνος τοῦ Σικυωνίου καί τινων ἄλλων προσποιουμένων εἶναι φίλων ἀνῃρέθη, ἡ δὲ γυνὴ Κρατησίπολις διαδεξαμένη τὰ πράγματα συνεῖχε τὸ στρατόπεδον, ἀγαπωμένη διαφερόντως ὑπὸ τῶν στρατιωτῶν διὰ τὰς εὐεργεσίας· διετέλει γὰρ βοηθοῦσα τοῖς ἀτυχοῦσι καὶ πολλοὺς τῶν ἀπόρων ὑπολαμβάνουσα. ἦν δὲ περὶ αὐτὴν καὶ σύνεσις πραγματικὴ καὶ τόλμα μείζων ἢ κατὰ γυναῖκα· τῶν γὰρ Σικυωνίων καταφρονησάντων αὐτῆς διὰ τὴν τοῦ ἀνδρὸς τελευτὴν καὶ συνδραμόντων μετὰ τῶν ὅπλων ἐπὶ τὴν ἐλευθερίαν παραταξαμένη καὶ νικήσασα πολλοὺς μὲν ἀνεῖλε, συλλαβοῦσα δὲ περὶ τριάκοντα τὸν ἀριθμὸν ἀνεσταύρωσεν. ἀσφαλισαμένη δὲ τὰ κατὰ τὴν πόλιν ἐδυνάστευε τῶν Σικυωνίων, ἔχουσα πολλοὺς στρατιώτας ἑτοίμους εἰς πάντα κίνδυνον. καὶ τὰ μὲν περὶ Πελοπόννησον ἐν τούτοις ἦν. Κάσανδρος δʼ ὁρῶν τοὺς Αἰτωλοὺς συναγωνιζομένους μὲν Ἀντιγόνῳ, πόλεμον δʼ ἔχοντας ὅμορον πρὸς Ἀκαρνᾶνας ἔκρινε συμφέρειν ἅμα συμμάχους μὲν Ἀκαρνᾶνας ποιήσασθαι, ταπεινῶσαι δὲ τοὺς Αἰτωλούς. διόπερ ἀναζεύξας ἐκ Μακεδονίας μετὰ δυνάμεως μεγάλης ἧκεν εἰς Αἰτωλίαν καὶ κατεστρατοπέδευσεν περὶ τὸν καλούμενον Καμπύλον ποταμόν· συναγαγὼν δὲ τοὺς Ἀκαρνᾶνας εἰς κοινὴν ἐκκλησίαν καὶ διελθὼν ὅτι πόλεμον ἔχουσιν ὅμορον ἐκ παλαιῶν χρόνων, συνεβούλευεν ἐκ τῶν ἀνοχύρων καὶ μικρῶν χωρίων εἰς ὀλίγας πόλεις μετοικῆσαι, ὅπως μὴ διεσπαρμένης τῆς οἰκήσεως ἀδυνατῶσιν ἀλλήλοις βοηθεῖν καὶ πρὸς τὰς ἀπροσδοκήτους τῶν πολεμίων ἐπιθέσεις δυσχερῶς ἀθροίζωνται. πεισθέντων δὲ τῶν Ἀκαρνάνων οἱ πλεῖστοι μὲν εἰς Στράτον πόλιν συνῴκησαν, ὀχυρωτάτην οὖσαν καὶ μεγίστην, Οἰνιάδαι δὲ καί τινες ἄλλοι συνῆλθον ἐπὶ Σαυρίαν, Δεριεῖς δὲ μεθʼ ἑτέρων εἰς Ἀγρίνιον. ὁ δὲ Κάσανδρος ἀπολιπὼν στρατηγὸν Λυκίσκον μετὰ τῶν ἱκανῶν στρατιωτῶν τούτῳ μὲν παρήγγειλε βοηθεῖν Ἀκαρνᾶσιν, αὐτὸς δὲ μετὰ δυνάμεως παρελθὼν ἐπὶ Λευκάδος τὴν πόλιν διὰ πρεσβείας προσηγάγετο. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τὴν ὁρμὴν ἐπὶ τὸν Ἀδρίαν ποιησάμενος Ἀπολλωνίαν ἐξ ἐφόδου παρέλαβεν. εἰς δὲ τὴν Ἰλλυρίδα προελθὼν καὶ διαβὰς τὸν Ἕβρον ποταμὸν παρετάξατο πρὸς Γλαυκίαν τὸν Ἰλλυριῶν βασιλέα. περιγενόμενος δὲ τῇ μάχῃ πρὸς μὲν τοῦτον συνθήκας ἐποιήσατο, καθʼ ἃς οὐκ ἐξῆν τῷ Γλαυκίᾳ στρατεύειν ἐπὶ τοὺς Κασάνδρου συμμάχους, τὴν δὲ τῶν Ἐπιδαμνίων πόλιν προσαγαγόμενος καὶ φρουρὰν ἐγκαταστήσας ἐπανῆλθεν εἰς Μακεδονίαν.
While this was taking place, Polyperchon's son Alexander, as he was setting out from Sikyon with his army, was killed by Alexion of Sikyon and certain others who pretended to be friends. His wife, Cratesipolis, however, succeeded to his power and held his army together, since she was most highly esteemed by the soldiers for her acts of kindness; for it was her habit to aid those who were in misfortune and to assist many of those who were without resources. She possessed, too, skill in practical matters and more daring than one would expect in a woman. Indeed, when the people of Sikyon scorned her because of her husband's death and assembled under arms in an effort to gain their freedom, she drew up her forces against them and defeated them with great slaughter, but arrested and crucified about thirty. When she had a firm hold on the city, she governed the Sikyonians, maintaining many soldiers, who were ready for any emergency. Such, then, was the situation in the Peloponnesus. When Cassander saw that the Aitolians were supporting Antigonus and were also engaged in a border war with the Acarnanians, he decided that it was to his advantage at a single stroke to make the Acarnanians his allies and to humble the Aitolians. For this reason, setting out from Macedonia with a large army, he moved into Aitolia and camped beside the river called the Campylus. When he had summoned the Acarnanians to a common assembly and had related to them in detail how they had been engaged in border warfare from ancient days, he advised them to move from their villages, which were small and unfortified, into a few cities so that they would no longer, because their homes were scattered, be powerless to aid each other and find difficulty in assembling to meet the unexpected raids of their enemies. The Acarnanians were persuaded, and most of them came to live together in Stratus, since this was their strongest and largest city; but the Oiniadae and some others gathered at Sauria, and the Derians and the rest settled at Agrinium. Cassander left Lyciscus in command with adequate troops, ordering him to aid the Acarnanians; but he himself moved upon Leucas with an army and secured the allegiance of the city through an embassy. Thereafter, directing his campaign to the Adriatic, he took Apollonia at the first assault. Advancing into Illyria and crossing the Hebrus River, he drew up his army against Glaucias, the king of the Illyrians. 7 Being successful in the battle, he made a treaty with the king according to which Glaucias was not to wage war on Cassander's allies; then he himself, after securing the city of Epidamnus and establishing a garrison therein, returned to Macedonia.
§ 19.68
ἀπαλλαγέντος δὲ ἐκ τῆς Αἰτωλίας τοῦ Κασάνδρου συστραφέντες τῶν Αἰτωλῶν εἰς τρισχιλίους καὶ περιχαρακώσαντες Αγρίνιον ἐπολιόρκουν, τῶν δὲ κατοικούντων τὸ χωρίον ὁμολογίας ποιησαμένων ὥστε τὴν μὲν πόλιν παραδοῦναι, τῆς δʼ ἀσφαλείας τυχόντας αὐτοὺς ἀπαλλαγῆναι, οὗτοι μὲν πιστεύοντες ταῖς σπονδαῖς ἀπῄεσαν, οἱ δʼ Αἰτωλοὶ παραβάντες τὰς συνθήκας καὶ καταδιώξαντες τοὺς οὐδὲν ἐλπίζοντας πείσεσθαι δεινὸν πλὴν ὀλίγων πάντας ἀπέσφαξαν. ὁ δὲ Κάσανδρος παραγενόμενος εἰς Μακεδονίαν, καὶ πυθόμενος πολεμεῖσθαι τὰς ἐν Καρίᾳ πόλεις ὅσαι συνεμάχουν τοῖς περὶ Πτολεμαῖον καὶ Σέλευκον, ἐξέπεμψε δύναμιν εἰς τὴν Καρίαν, ἅμα μὲν βουλόμενος βοηθεῖν τοῖς συμμάχοις, ἅμα δὲ σπεύδων εἰς περισπασμοὺς ἐμβαλεῖν Ἀντίγονον, ἵνα μὴ σχολὴν ἔχῃ διαβαίνειν εἰς τὴν Εὐρώπην. ἔγραψε δὲ καὶ πρὸς Δημήτριον τὸν Φαληρέα καὶ Διονύσιον τὸν φρουροῦντα τὴν Μουνυχίαν, προστάττων εἴκοσι ναῦς εἰς Λῆμνον ἐκπέμψαι. ἀποστειλάντων δʼ αὐτῶν εὐθὺς τὰ σκάφη καὶ ναύαρχον ἐπʼ αὐτῶν Ἀριστοτέλη οὗτος μὲν καταπλεύσας εἰς Λῆμνον καὶ μεταπεμψάμενος Σέλευκον μετὰ στόλου τοὺς Λημνίους ἔπειθεν ἀποστῆναι τῶν περὶ Ἀντίγονον· οὐ προσεχόντων δʼ αὐτῶν τήν τε χώραν ἐδῄωσε καὶ τὴν πόλιν περιχαρακώσας ἐπολιόρκει. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Σέλευκος μὲν ἀπέπλευσεν εἰς Κῶν, Διοσκουρίδης δὲ κατασταθεὶς ναύαρχος ὑπʼ Ἀντιγόνου, πυθόμενος τὸν πλοῦν Σελεύκου, κατῆρεν εἰς Λῆμνον καὶ τὸν μὲν Ἀριστοτέλη ἐξέβαλεν ἐκ τῆς νήσου, τῶν δὲ νεῶν τὰς πλείους αὐτάνδρους εἷλε. Κάσανδρος δὲ καὶ Πρεπέλαος ἀφηγοῦντο μὲν τῆς ὑπὸ Κασάνδρου πεμφθείσης δυνάμεως εἰς τὴν Καρίαν, πυθόμενοι δὲ Πτολεμαῖον τὸν Ἀντιγονου στρατηγὸν τὴν δύναμιν εἰς παραχειμασίαν διῃρηκέναι καὶ αὐτὸν ἀσχολεῖσθαι περὶ τὴν ταφὴν τοῦ πατρός, Εὐπόλεμον ἀπέστειλαν ἐνεδρεῦσαι τοῖς πολεμίοις περὶ Κάπριμα τῆς Καρίας· συνεξέπεμψαν δʼ αὐτῷ πεζοὺς μὲν ὀκτακισχιλίους, ἱππεῖς δὲ διακοσίους. καθʼ ὃν δὴ χρόνον Πτολεμαῖος παρά τινων αὐτομόλων ἀκούσας τὴν προαίρεσιν τῶν πολεμίων ἤθροισε μὲν τῶν πλησίον χειμαζόντων στρατιωτῶν πεζοὺς μὲν ὀκτακισχιλίους τριακοσίους, ἱππεῖς δʼ ἑξακοσίους. ἀνελπίστως δὲ περὶ μέσας νύκτας ἐπιβαλὼν τῷ χάρακι τῶν ἐναντίων καὶ καταλαβὼν ἀφυλάκτους καὶ κοιμωμένους αὐτόν τε τὸν Εὐπόλεμον ἐζώγρησε καὶ τοὺς στρατιώτας συνηνάγκασε παραδοῦναι σφᾶς αὐτούς. τὰ μὲν οὖν συμβάντα περὶ τοὺς ἀποσταλέντας ὑπὸ Κασάνδρου στρατηγοὺς εἰς τὴν Ἀσίαν τοιαῦτʼ ἦν.
When Cassander had departed from Aitolia, the Aitolians, gathering together to the number of three thousand, invested Agrinium and began a siege. The inhabitants of the place came to terms with them, agreeing to surrender the city and depart under safe conduct; but when, trusting in the treaty, they were leaving, the Aitolians violated the terms, pursued hotly after these men while they were anticipating no danger, and slaughtered all but a few of them. When Cassander had arrived in Macedonia and heard that war was being waged on all the cities in Caria that were allied to Ptolemy and Seleucus, he sent an army into Caria, for he both wished to aid his allies and at the same time was eager to force Antigonus into distracting undertakings so that he might not have leisure for crossing over into Europe. He also wrote to Demetrius of Phalerum and to Dionysius, who commanded the garrison on Munychia, bidding them dispatch twenty ships to Lemnos. They at once sent the boats with Aristotle in command of them. After the latter had sailed to Lemnos and had summoned Seleucus and a fleet, he undertook to persuade the Lemnians to revolt from Antigonus; but as they did not assent, he ravaged their land, invested the city, and began a siege. Afterwards, however, Seleucus sailed off to Cos; and Dioscurides, who had been made admiral by Antigonus, on learning of Seleucus' departure, swooped down upon Lemnos, drove Aristotle himself from the island, and captured most of his ships together with their crews. 5 Asander and Prepelaus were in command of the expedition sent by Cassander into Caria; and, on being informed that Ptolemaeus, the general of Antigonus, had divided his army for wintering and was himself engaged in burying his father, they dispatched Eupolemus to lie in wait for the enemy near Caprima in Caria, sending with him eight thousand foot soldiers and two hundred horse. 6 But at this time Ptolemaeus, who had heard from some deserters of the plan of the enemy, gathered from the troops who were wintering near by eight thousand three hundred foot soldiers and six hundred horse. 7 Falling unexpectedly upon the fortified camp of the enemy about midnight and catching them off guard and asleep, he captured Eupolemus himself alive and forced the soldiers to give themselves up. This, then, is what befell the generals who were sent by Cassander into Asia.
§ 19.69
Ἀντίγονος δʼ ὁρῶν τὸν Κάσανδρον ἀντεχόμενον τῆς Ἀσίας Δημήτριον μὲν τὸν υἱὸν ἀπέλιπεν ἐν τῇ Συρίᾳ, προστάξας ἐνεδρεύειν τοὺς περὶ Πτολεμαῖον, οὓς ὑπώπτευεν ἐκ τῆς Αἰγύπτου προάξειν μετὰ δυνάμεως ἐπὶ Συρίας, συναπέλιπε δʼ αὐτῷ πεζοὺς μὲν ξένους μυρίους, Μακεδόνας δὲ δισχιλίους, Λυκίους δὲ καὶ Παμφυλίους πεντακοσίους, Πέρσας δὲ τοξότας καὶ σφενδονήτας τετρακοσίους, ἱππεῖς δὲ πεντακισχιλίους, ἐλέφαντας δὲ πλείους τῶν τεσσαράκοντα. παρακατέστησε δʼ αὐτῷ καὶ συμβούλους τέσσαρας, Νέαρχόν τε τὸν Κρῆτα καὶ Πίθωνα τὸν Ἀγήνορος, ὃς καταβεβήκει πρότερον ὀλίγαις ἡμέραις ἐκ Βαβυλῶνος, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις Ἀνδρόνικόν τε τὸν Ὀλύνθιον καὶ Φίλιππον, ἄνδρας πρεσβυτέρους καὶ συνεστρατευκότας Ἀλεξάνδρῳ πᾶσαν τὴν στρατείαν· ἦν γὰρ Δημήτριος ἔτι νέος τὴν ἡλικίαν, ὡς ἂν γεγονὼς ἔτη δύο πρὸς τοῖς εἴκοσιν. αὐτὸς δὲ τὴν ἄλλην δύναμιν ἀνέλαβε καὶ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ὑπερβάλλων τὸν Ταῦρον καὶ περιπεσὼν χιόνι πολλῇ συχνοὺς ἀπέβαλε τῶν στρατιωτῶν. διὸ καὶ πάλιν ἀναστρέψας εἰς τὴν Κιλικίαν καὶ μεταλαβὼν ἕτερον καιρὸν διεξῆλθε μὲν ἀσφαλέστερον τὸ προειρημένον ὄρος, παραγενόμενος δʼ εἰς Κελαινὰς τῆς Φρυγίας διεῖλε τὸ στρατόπεδον εἰς χειμασίαν. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τὸν στόλον ἐκ Φοινίκης μετεπέμψατο Μηδίου ναυαρχοῦντος, ὃς περιτυχὼν ταῖς Πυδναίων ναυσίν, οὔσαις τριάκοντα ἕξ, καὶ καταναυμαχήσας αὐτάνδρων τῶν σκαφῶν ἐκυρίευσεν. καὶ τὰ μὲν περὶ τὴν Ἑλλάδα καὶ τὴν Ἀσίαν ἐν τούτοις ἦν.
When Antigonus perceived that Cassander was trying to win Asia for himself, he left his son Demetrius in Syria, ordering him to lie in wait for Ptolemy, whom he suspected of intending to advance from Egypt with an army against Syria; with Demetrius he left an infantry force consisting of ten thousand mercenaries, two thousand Macedonians, five hundred Lycians and Pamphylians, and four hundred Persian archers and slingers, a cavalry force of five thousand, and forty-three elephants. He assigned to him four counsellors: Nearchus of Crete, Pithon, son of Agenor, who had returned a few days before from Babylon, also Andronicus of Olynthus and Philip, men advanced in years who had accompanied Alexander on his whole campaign; for Demetrius was still youthful, being twenty-two years of age. Antigonus himself, taking the rest of the army, first tried to cross the Taurus Range, where he encountered deep snow and lost large numbers of his soldiers. Turning back therefore into Cilicia and seizing another opportunity, he crossed the aforesaid range in greater safety; and, on reaching Celaenae in Phrygia, he divided his army for wintering. Thereafter he summoned from Phoenicia his fleet under the command of Medius, who fell in with the ships of the Pydnaeans, thirty-six in number, defeated them in an engagement, and captured the vessels together with their crews. This was the situation in Greece and in Asia.
§ 19.70
κατὰ δὲ τὴν Σικελίαν οἱ τῶν Συρακοσίων φυγάδες διατρίβοντες ἐν Ἀκράγαντι παρεκάλουν τοὺς προεστηκότας τῆς πόλεως μὴ περιορᾶν Ἀγαθοκλέα συσκευαζόμενον τὰς πόλεις· αἱρετώτερον γὰρ εἶναι πρὸ τοῦ τὸν τύραννον ἰσχυρὸν γενέσθαι διαπολεμεῖν ἑκουσίως ἢ περιμείναντας αὐτοῦ τὴν αὔξησιν ἐξ ἀνάγκης πρὸς ἰσχυρότερον διαγωνίζεσθαι. δοξάντων δʼ αὐτῶν ἀληθῆ λέγειν ὁ μὲν δῆμος τῶν Ἀκραγαντίνων ἐψηφίσατο τὸν πόλεμον καὶ Γελῴους μὲν καὶ Μεσσηνίους εἰς τὴν συμμαχίαν προσελάβοντο, εἰς δὲ τὴν Λακεδαιμονίαν τῶν φυγάδων τινὰς ἐξέπεμψαν, ἐντειλάμενοι πειρᾶσθαι στρατηγὸν ἄγειν τὸν δυνάμενον πραγμάτων ἀφηγήσασθαι· τοὺς γὰρ πολιτικοὺς ὑπώπτευον ὡς ὄντας οἰκείους τυραννίδος, τοὺς δʼ ἔξωθεν ὑπελάμβανον δικαίως ποιήσεσθαι τὴν τῶν ὅλων ἐπιμέλειαν, ἀναμιμνησκόμενοι τῆς Τιμολέοντος τοῦ Κορινθίου στρατηγίας. οἱ δὲ πεμφθέντες ὥς ποθʼ ἧκον εἰς τὴν Λακωνικήν, εὗρον Ἀκρότατον τὸν Κλεομένους τοῦ βασιλέως υἱὸν προσκεκοφότα πολλοῖς τῶν νέων καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ξενικῶν πραγμάτων ὀρεγόμενον. τῶν γὰρ Λακεδαιμονίων μετὰ τὴν πρὸς Ἀντίπατρον μάχην ἀπολυόντων τῆς ἀτιμίας τοὺς ἐκ τῆς ἥττης διασωθέντας μόνος ἐνέστη τῷ δόγματι. διόπερ αὐτὸν συνέβη καὶ τῶν ἄλλων οὐκ ὀλίγοις προσκόψαι, μάλιστα δʼ οἷς ἦν τῶν νόμων τὰ πρόστιμα· οὗτοι γὰρ συστραφέντες πληγάς τε ἐνεφόρησαν αὐτῷ καὶ διετέλουν ἐπιβουλεύοντες. διὰ ταῦτα δὴ ξενικῆς ἡγεμονίας ἐπιθυμῶν ἀσμένως ὑπήκουσε τοῖς Ἀκραγαντίνοις. τὴν δʼ ἀποδημίαν ποιησάμενος ἄνευ τῆς τῶν ἐφόρων γνώμης ἀνήχθη ναυσὶν ὀλίγαις, ὡς διαίρων ἐπʼ Ἀκράγαντος. ἀπενεχθεὶς δʼ ὑπʼ ἀνέμων εἰς τὸν Ἀδρίαν κατῆρε μὲν εἰς τὴν τῶν Ἀπολλωνιατῶν χώραν, καταλαβὼν δὲ τὴν πόλιν πολιορκουμένην ὑπὸ Γλαυκίου τοῦ βασιλέως τῶν Ἰλλυριῶν ἔλυσε τὴν πολιορκίαν, πείσας τὸν βασιλέα συνθήκας ποιήσασθαι πρὸς τοὺς Ἀπολλωνιάτας. ἐντεῦθεν δὲ πλεύσας εἰς Τάραντα καὶ παρακαλέσας τὸν δῆμον συνελευθεροῦν Συρακοσίους, ἔπεισε ψηφίσασθαι ναυσὶν εἴκοσι βοηθεῖν· διὰ γὰρ τὴν συγγένειαν καὶ τὸ τῆς οἰκίας σχῆμα προσένεμον τοῖς λόγοις αὐτοῦ πίστιν τε μεγάλην καὶ βάρος.
In Sicily those of the Syracusan exiles who were tarrying in Acragas urged the rulers of that city not to watch complacently while Agathocles organized the cities; for it was better, they said, to fight it out of their own free will before the tyrant became strong than to await the increase of his power and then be forced to struggle against him when he had grown stronger. Since they seemed to speak the truth, the popular assembly of the Acragantines voted for the war, added the people of Gela and Messene to the alliance, and sent some of the exiles to Lacedemon, instructing them to try to bring back a general capable of taking charge of affairs; for they were suspicious of their own statesmen as being inclined toward tyranny, but, remembering the generalship of Timoleon the Corinthian, assumed that leaders from abroad would honestly devote themselves to the common cause. The envoys, when they arrived in Laconia, found that Acrotatus, the son of King Cleomenes, had given offence to many of the younger men and for this reason was eager for activity away from home. This was because, when the Lacedemonians after the battle against Antipater relieved from ignominy those who had survived the defeat, he alone opposed the decree. He thus gave offence to many others and in particular to those who were subject to the penalties of the laws; indeed, these persons gathered together and gave him a beating, and they were constantly plotting against him. Being therefore anxious for a foreign command, he gladly accepted the invitation of the men from Acragas. Taking his departure from the state without the consent of the ephors, he set sail with a few ships as if to cross to Acragas. He was, however, carried by the winds into the Adriatic and landed in the territory of Apollonia. Finding that city besieged by Glaucias, the king of the Illyrians, he brought the siege to an end, persuading the king to make a treaty with the people of Apollonia. Thence he sailed to Tarentum, where he urged the people to join in freeing the Syracusans; and he persuaded them to vote to assist with twenty ships; for because of ties of kinship and on account of the dignity of his family, they ascribed to his words a high degree of sincerity and great importance.
§ 19.71
τῶν δὲ Ταραντίνων περὶ τὴν παρασκευὴν ὄντων αὐτὸς συνεκπλεύσας εἰς τὸν Ἀκράγαντα παρέλαβε τὴν στρατηγίαν καὶ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον μετεωρήσας τὰ πλήθη μεγάλαις ἐλπίσι παρεστήσατο πάντας προσδοκᾶν σύντομον κατάλυσιν τοῦ τυράννου, τοῦ δὲ χρόνου προϊόντος πρᾶξιν μὲν οὐδεμίαν οὔτε τῆς πατρίδος οὔτε τῆς περὶ τὸ γένος ἐπιφανείας ἀξίαν διεπράξατο, τοὐναντίον δὲ φονικὸς ὢν καὶ τῶν τυράννων ὠμότερος προσέκοπτε τοῖς πλήθεσι. πρὸς δὲ τούτοις τὴν πάτριον δίαιταν μετέβαλεν καὶ ταῖς ἡδοναῖς ἐνετρύφησεν οὕτως ἀσελγῶς ὥστε Πέρσην εἶναι δοκεῖν καὶ οὐ Σπαρτιάτην. ἐπεὶ δὲ τῶν προσόδων τὸ πλεῖον μέρος ἀνήλωσεν τὰ μὲν πολιτευόμενος, τὰ δὲ διανοσφιζόμενος τέλος Σωσίστρατον, ἐπιφανέστατον τῶν φυγάδων, πολλάκις δυνάμεων ἀφηγησάμενον, ἐπὶ τὸ δεῖπνον παραλαβὼν ἐδολοφόνησεν, ἐγκαλέσαι μὲν ἁπλῶς οὐδʼ ὁτιοῦν ἔχων, ἐκ ποδῶν δὲ ποιήσασθαι σπεύδων δραστικὸν ἄνδρα καὶ δυνάμενον ἐφεδρεῦσαι τοῖς κακῶς προϊσταμένοις τῆς ἡγεμονίας. διαβοηθείσης δὲ τῆς πράξεως εὐθὺς οἵ τε φυγάδες συνέτρεχον ἐπʼ αὐτὸν καὶ πάντες οἱ λοιποὶ διετέθησαν ἀλλοτρίως καὶ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἀπέστησαν αὐτὸν τῆς στρατηγίας, μετʼ ὀλίγον δὲ καὶ βάλλειν τοῖς λίθοις ἐπεχείρησαν· διόπερ φοβηθεὶς τὴν τοῦ πλήθους ὁρμὴν νυκτὸς ἔφυγε καὶ λαθὼν διῆρεν εἰς τὴν Λακωνικήν. τούτου δʼ ἀπαλλαγέντος Ταραντῖνοι μὲν ἀπεσταλκότες εἰς Σικελίαν τὸν στόλον μετεπέμψαντο, Ἀκραγαντῖνοι δὲ καὶ Γελῷοι καὶ Μεσσήνιοι κατέλυσαν τὸν πρὸς Ἀγαθοκλέα πόλεμον, μεσιτεύσαντος τὰς συνθήκας Ἀμίλκου τοῦ Καρχηδονίου. ἦσαν δὲ τὰ κεφάλαια τῶν συντεθέντων τοιάδε, τῶν Ἑλληνίδων πόλεων τῶν κατὰ Σικελίαν Ἡράκλειαν μὲν καὶ Σελινοῦντα καὶ πρὸς ταύταις Ἱμέραν ὑπὸ Καρχηδονίοις τετάχθαι, καθὰ καὶ προϋπῆρχον, τὰς δʼ ἄλλας πάσας αὐτονόμους εἶναι, τὴν ἡγεμονίαν ἐχόντων Συρακοσίων.
While the Tarentines were engaged in their preparations, Acrotatus immediately sailed to Acragas where he assumed the office of general. At first he buoyed up the common people with great expectations and caused all to anticipate a speedy overthrow of the tyrant; however, as time advanced, he accomplished nothing worthy either of his fatherland or of the distinction of his family, but on the contrary, being bloodthirsty and more cruel than the tyrants, he continually gave offence to the common people. Moreover, he abandoned his native manner of living and devoted himself so unrestrainedly to pleasure that he seemed to be a Persian and not a Spartan. 4 When he had squandered the larger part of the revenue, partly by his public activity, partly by private peculation, he finally invited to dinner Sosistratus, who was the most distinguished of the exiles and had often commanded armies, and treacherously killed him, not having any charge whatever to bring against him and yet being eager to put out of the way a man who was accustomed to act and who was capable of keeping under surveillance those who misused positions of leadership. 5 When this deed became known, the exiles at once began to join forces against Acrotatus, and all the rest were alienated from him. First they removed him from his generalship, and soon afterwards they attempted to stone him, whereupon, terrified by the popular uprising, he took flight by night and sailed secretly to Laconia. 6 After his departure the Tarentines, who had sent their fleet to Sicily, recalled it; and the peoples of Acragas, Gela, and Messene brought their war against Agathocles to an end, Hamilcar the Carthaginian acting as mediator in making the treaty. 7 The chief points of the agreement were as follows: of the Greek towns in Sicily, Heraclea, Selinus, and Himera were to be subject to the Carthaginians as they had been before, and all the others were to be autonomous under the hegemony of Syracuse.
§ 19.72
μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Ἀγαθοκλῆς ὁρῶν ἔρημον οὖσαν τὴν Σικελίαν στρατοπέδων πολεμίων ἀδεῶς προσήγετο τὰς πόλεις καὶ τὰ χωρία. ταχὺ δὲ πολλῶν ἐγκρατὴς γενόμενος ἰσχυρὰν κατεσκευάσατο τὴν δυναστείαν· καὶ γὰρ συμμάχων πλῆθος καὶ προσόδους ἁδρὰς καὶ στρατόπεδον ἀξιόλογον περιεποιήσατο. χωρὶς γὰρ τῶν συμμάχων καὶ τῶν ἐκ Συρακουσσῶν καταγραφέντων εἰς τὴν στρατείαν μισθοφόρους ἐπιλέκτους εἶχε πεζοὺς μὲν μυρίους, ἱππεῖς δὲ τρισχιλίους πεντήκοντα. ἐποιήσατο δὲ καὶ παρασκευὴν ὅπλων καὶ βελῶν παντοδαπῶν, εἰδὼς τοὺς Καρχηδονίους ἐπιτετιμηκότας τῷ Ἀμίλκᾳ περὶ τῶν συνθηκῶν, συντόμως δὲ πρὸς αὐτὸν τὸν πόλεμον ἐξοίσοντας. καὶ τὰ μὲν περὶ Σικελίαν ἐν τούτοις τοῖς χρόνοις τοιαύτην ἔσχε τὴν κατάστασιν. κατὰ δὲ τὴν Ἰταλίαν Σαμνῖται διαπολεμοῦντες Ῥωμαίοις ἔτη πλείονα περὶ τῆς ἡγεμονίας Πληστικὴν μὲν φρουρὰν ἔχουσαν Ῥωμαϊκὴν ἐξεπολιόρκησαν, Σωρανοὺς δʼ ἔπεισαν κατασφάξαι μὲν τοὺς παρʼ αὐτοῖς Ῥωμαίους, συμμαχίαν δὲ πρὸς Σαμνίτας συνθέσθαι. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Ῥωμαίων Σατικόλαν πολιορκούντων ἐπεφάνησαν μετὰ δυνάμεως ἁδρᾶς, σπεύδοντες λῦσαι τὴν πολιορκίαν· γενομένης οὖν μάχης ἰσχυρᾶς πολλοὶ μὲν παρʼ ἀμφοτέρων ἀνῃρέθησαν, τέλος δὲ ἐπὶ τοῦ προτερήματος ἐγένοντο Ῥωμαῖοι. μετὰ δὲ τὴν μάχην ἐκπολιορκήσαντες τὴν πόλιν ἐπῄεσαν ἀδεῶς τὰ πλησίον πολίσματα καὶ χωρία προσαγόμενοι. τοῦ δὲ πολέμου περὶ τὰς ἐν Ἀπουλίᾳ πόλεις συνεστῶτος οἱ μὲν Σαμνῖται πάντας τοὺς ἐν ἡλικίᾳ στρατείας ὄντας καταγράψαντες ἐστρατοπέδευσαν πλησίον τῶν πολεμίων, ὡς περὶ τῶν ὅλων κριθησόμενοι. ἃ δὴ πυθόμενος ὁ δῆμος τῶν Ῥωμαίων καὶ διαγωνιάσας περὶ τοῦ μέλλοντος δύναμιν προέπεμψε πολλήν. εἰωθότες δʼ ἐν τοῖς ἐπικινδύνοις καιροῖς αὐτοκράτορα τοῦ πολέμου καθιστᾶν τινὰ τῶν ἀξιολόγων ἀνδρῶν προεχειρίσαντο τότε Κόιντον Φάβιον καὶ μετʼ αὐτοῦ Κόιντον Αὔλιον ἵππαρχον. οὗτοι δὲ τὰς δυνάμεις παραλαβόντες παρετάξαντο πρὸς τοὺς Σαμνίτας περὶ τὰς καλουμένας Λαυστόλας καὶ πολλοὺς τῶν στρατιωτῶν ἀπέβαλον. τροπῆς δὲ γενομένης καθʼ ἅπαν τὸ στρατόπεδον ὁ μὲν Αὔλιος καταισχυνθεὶς ἐπὶ τῇ φυγῇ μόνος ὑπέστη τῷ τε πλήθει τῶν πολεμίων, οὐ κρατήσειν ἐλπίζων, ἀλλʼ ἀήττητον τὴν πατρίδα τὸ καθʼ αὑτὸν μέρος ἀποδεικνύων. οὗτος μὲν οὖν οὐ μετασχὼν τοῖς πολίταις τῆς κατὰ τὴν φυγὴν αἰσχύνης ἰδίᾳ περιεποιήσατο θάνατον ἔνδοξον· οἱ δὲ Ῥωμαῖοι φοβηθέντες μὴ τὰ κατὰ τὴν Απουλίαν πράγματα τελέως ἀποβάλωσιν, ἀποικίαν ἐξέπεμψαν εἰς Λουκερίαν πόλιν ἐπιφανεστάτην τῶν ἐν τοῖς τόποις. ἐκ ταύτης δὲ ὁρμώμενοι διεπολέμουν τοῖς Σαμνίταις, οὐ κακῶς τῆς ἀσφαλείας προνοησάμενοι· διὰ γὰρ ταύτην τὴν πόλιν οὐ μόνον ἐν τούτῳ τῷ πολέμῳ προετέρησαν, ἀλλὰ καὶ κατὰ τοὺς μετὰ ταῦτα γενομένους ἕως τῶν καθʼ ἡμᾶς χρόνων διετέλεσαν ὁρμητηρίῳ χρώμενοι κατὰ τῶν πλησίον ἐθνῶν.
Afterwards, however, when Agathocles perceived that Sicily was clear of hostile armies, he began unhampered to subject the cities and strongholds to himself. Mastering many of them quickly, he made his power secure; in fact, he built up for himself a host of allies, ample revenues, and a considerable army. Indeed, without counting the allies and those of the Syracusans who had enlisted for military service, he had picked a mercenary force comprising ten thousand foot soldiers and thirty-five hundred horse. Moreover, he prepared a store of weapons and of missiles of all kinds, since he knew that the Carthaginians, who had censured Hamilcar for the terms of peace, would shortly wage war against him. This was the situation of Sicilian affairs at this time. In Italy the Samnites, fighting bitterly against the Romans for supremacy in a struggle lasting many years, took by siege Plestice, which had a Roman garrison, and persuaded the people of Sora to slay the Romans who were among them and to make an alliance with themselves. Next, as the Romans were besieging Saticula, the Samnites suddenly appeared with a strong army intent on raising the siege. A great battle then took place in which many were slain on both sides, but eventually the Romans gained the upper hand. After the battle the Romans carried the siege of the city to completion and then advanced at will, subjecting the near-by towns and strongholds. Now that the struggle for the cities of Apulia had been joined, the Samnites enrolled all who were of age for military service and encamped near the enemy as if intending to decide the whole issue. When the Roman people learned this, they became anxious about what was impending and sent out a large army. As it was their custom in a dangerous crisis to appoint as military dictator one of their eminent men, they now elected Quintus Fabius and with him Quintus Aulius as master-of horse. These, after assuming command of the army, took the field and fought against the Samnites at Laustolae, as it is called, losing many of their soldiers. As panic spread through the whole army, Aulius, in shame at the flight, stood alone against the mass of the enemy, not that he hoped to prevail, but he was maintaining his fatherland undefeated as far as he was concerned. Thus he, by not sharing with his fellow citizens in the disgrace of flight, gained a glorious death for himself alone; but the Romans, fearing that they might completely lose control throughout Apulia, sent a colony to Luceria, which was the most noteworthy of the cities of that region. Using it as a base, they continued the war against the Samnites, having made no mean provision for their future security; for not only were the Romans victorious in this war because of this city, but also in the wars that have subsequently taken place down to our own time they have continued to use Luceria as a base of operations against the neighbouring peoples.
§ 19.73
τῶν δὲ κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν ἐνιαυτὸν πράξεων τέλος ἐχουσῶν Ἀθήνησι μὲν παρέλαβε τὴν ἀρχὴν Θεόφραστος, ἐν Ῥώμῃ δʼ ὕπατοι κατεστάθησαν Μάρκος Πόπλιος καὶ Γάιος Σουλπίκιος. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Καλλαντιανοὶ κατοικοῦντες ἐν τοῖς ἐν ἀριστερᾷ μέρεσι τοῦ Πόντου καὶ φρουρὰν ἔχοντες παρὰ Λυσιμάχου ταύτην ἐξέβαλον καὶ τῆς αὐτονομίας ἀντείχοντο. ὡσαύτως δὲ τήν τε τῶν Ἰστριανῶν πόλιν καὶ τὰς ἄλλας τὰς πλησιοχώρους· ἐλευθερώσαντες συνέθεντο συμμαχίαν ὡς κοινῇ πολεμεῖν τῷ δυνάστῃ· προσελάβοντο δʼ εἰς τὴν φιλίαν τῶν τε Θρᾳκῶν καὶ Σκυθῶν τοὺς ὁμοροῦντας, ὥστε τὸ πᾶν εἶναι σύστημα βάρος ἔχον καὶ δυνάμενον ἁδραῖς δυνάμεσιν ἀντιτάσσεσθαι. ὁ δὲ Λυσίμαχος πυθόμενος τὰ πεπραγμένα μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως ὥρμησεν ἐπὶ τοὺς ἀφεστηκότας. ποιούμενος δὲ τὴν πορείαν διὰ τῆς Θρᾴκης καὶ τὸν Αἷμον ὑπερβαλὼν κατεστρατοπέδευσε πλησίον τῆς Ὀδησσοῦ. πολιορκίαν δὲ συστησάμενος ταχὺ τοὺς ἔνδον κατεπλήξατο καὶ διʼ ὁμολογίας παρέλαβε τὴν πόλιν. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τῷ παραπλησίῳ τρόπῳ τοὺς Ἰστριανοὺς ἀνακτησάμενος ἀνέζευξεν ἐπὶ Καλλαντιανούς. καθʼ ὃν δὴ χρόνον ἧκον οἵ τε Σκύθαι καὶ Θρᾷκες σὺν πολλῇ δυνάμει βοηθήσοντες τοῖς συμμάχοις κατὰ τὰς συνθήκας. οἷς ἀπαντήσας Λυσίμαχος καὶ συμβαλὼν ἐξ ἐφόδου τοὺς μὲν Θρᾷκας καταπληξάμενος ἔπεισε μεταθέσθαι, τοὺς δὲ Σκύθας ἐκ παρατάξεως νικήσας καὶ πολλοὺς ἀνελὼν τούτων μὲν τοὺς ὑπολειφθέντας ἐδίωξεν ἐκτὸς τῶν ὅρων, τὴν δὲ τῶν Καλλαντιανῶν πόλιν περιστρατοπεδεύσας συνεστήσατο πολιορκίαν, φιλοτιμούμενος ἐκ παντὸς τρόπου κολάσαι τοὺς αἰτίους τῆς ἀποστάσεως. περὶ ταῦτα δʼ ὄντος αὐτοῦ παρῆσάν τινες ἀπαγγέλλοντες ὅτι δύο δυνάμεις ἀπέσταλκεν Ἀντίγονος ἐπὶ βοήθειαν τοῖς Καλλαντιανοῖς, τὴν μὲν πεζῇ, τὴν δὲ κατὰ θάλασσαν, καὶ διότι τῷ μὲν στόλῳ Λύκων ὁ στρατηγὸς παραπέπλευκεν εἰς τὸν Πόντον, Παυσανίας δʼ ἔχων οὐκ ὀλίγους στρατιώτας περὶ τὸ καλούμενον Ἱερὸν κατεστρατοπέδευσεν. ἐφʼ οἷς ὁ Λυσίμαχος διαταραχθεὶς ἐπὶ μὲν τῆς πολιορκίας ἀπέλιπεν τοὺς ἱκανοὺς στρατιώτας, τὸ δὲ κράτιστον τῆς δυνάμεως ἀναλαβὼν αὐτὸς ἠπείγετο, σπεύδων συνάψαι τοῖς πολεμίοις. παραγενόμενος δὲ ἐπὶ τὴν κατὰ τὸν Αἷμον ὑπερβολὴν εὗρε Σεύθην τὸν βασιλέα τῶν Θρᾳκῶν ἀφεστηκότα πρὸς Ἀντίγονον μετὰ πολλῶν στρατιωτῶν φυλάσσοντα τὰς παρόδους. συνάψας δʼ αὐτῷ μάχην ἐφʼ ἱκανὸν χρόνον τῶν τε ἰδίων ἀπέβαλεν οὐκ ὀλίγους καὶ τῶν πολεμίων ἀνελὼν παμπληθεῖς ἐβιάσατο τοὺς βαρβάρους. ἐπιφανεὶς δὲ καὶ τοῖς περὶ τὸν Παυσανίαν καὶ καταλαβὼν αὐτοὺς εἰς δυσχωρίας συμπεφευγότας ταύτας τʼ ἐξεπολιόρκησε καὶ Παυσανίαν ἀνελὼν τῶν στρατιωτῶν οὓς μὲν ἐλύτρωσεν, οὓς δὲ εἰς τὰς ἰδίας τάξεις διένειμεν. τὰ μὲν οὖν περὶ Λυσίμαχον ἐν τούτοις ἦν.
When the activities of this year had come to an end, Theophrastus obtained the archonship in Athens, and Marcus Publius and Gaius Sulpicius became consuls in Rome. While these were in office, the people of Callantia, who lived on the left side of the Pontus and who were subject to a garrison that had been sent by Lysimachus, drove out this garrison and made an effort to gain autonomy. In like manner they freed the city of the Istrians and other neighbouring cities, and formed an alliance with them binding them to fight together against the prince. They also brought into the alliance those of the Thracians and Scythians whose lands bordered upon their own, so that the whole was a union that had weight and could offer battle with strong forces. As soon, however, as Lysimachus learned what had taken place, he set out against the rebels. After marching through Thrace and crossing the Haemus Mountains, he encamped near Odessus. Beginning a siege, he quickly frightened the inhabitants and took the city by capitulation. Next, after recovering the Istrians in a similar way, he set out against the Callantians. At this very time the Scythians and the Thracians arrived with large forces to aid their allies in accordance with the treaty. Lysimachus, meeting them and engaging them at once, terrified the Thracians and induced them to change sides; but the Scythians he defeated in a pitched battle, slaying many of them and pursuing the survivors beyond the frontiers. Then, encamping about the city of the Callantians, he laid siege to it, since he was very eager to chastise in every way those who were responsible for the revolt. While he was thus engaged, there came certain men bringing word that Antigonus had sent two expeditions to the support of the Callantians, one by land and one by sea, that the general Lycon with the fleet had sailed through into the Pontus, and that Pausanias with a considerable number of soldiers was in camp at a place called Hieron. Perturbed at this, Lysimachus left an adequate body of soldiers to carry on the siege; but with the strongest part of the army he himself pushed on, intent on making contact with the enemy. When, however, he reached the pass over the Haemus, he found Seuthes, the Thracian king, who had gone over to Antigonus, guarding the crossing with many soldiers. Engaging him in a battle that lasted a considerable time, Lysimachus lost not a few of his own men; but he destroyed a vast number of the enemy and overpowered the barbarians. He also came suddenly upon the forces of Pausanias, catching them after they had taken refuge in a place difficult of access. This he captured; and, after slaying Pausanias, he dismissed some of the soldiers on receiving ransom and enrolled others in his own army. This was the situation of Lysimachus.
§ 19.74
ὁ δʼ Ἀντίγονος ἀποτυχὼν ταύτης τῆς ἐπιβολῆς ἐξέπεμψε Τελεσφόρον εἰς Πελοπόννησον, δοὺς αὐτῷ πεντήκοντα ναῦς καὶ στρατιώτας τοὺς ἱκανούς, καὶ τὰς πόλεις ἐλευθεροῦν ἐνετείλατο· τοῦτο γὰρ πράξας ἤλπιζε πίστιν κατασκευάζειν παρὰ τοῖς Ἕλλησιν ὅτι πρὸς ἀλήθειαν φροντίζει τῆς αὐτονομίας αὐτῶν, καὶ ἅμα γινώσκειν ὑπέλαβε τὰ Κασάνδρου πράγματα. ὁ δὲ Τελεσφόρος ἐπειδὴ τάχιστα κατέπλευσεν εἰς τὴν Πελοπόννησον, ἐπῆλθε τὰς ὑπʼ Ἀλεξάνδρου φρουρουμένας πόλεις καὶ πάσας ἠλευθέρωσε πλὴν Σικυῶνος καὶ Κορίνθου· ἐν ταύταις γὰρ Πολυπέρχων διέτριβεν δυνάμεις ἁδρὰς ἔχων καὶ πιστεύων ταύταις τε καὶ ταῖς τῶν τόπων ὀχυρότησιν. ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις Φίλιππος ὑπὸ Κασάνδρου πεμφθεὶς στρατηγὸς εἰς τὸν πρὸς Αἰτωλοὺς πόλεμον ὡς τάχισθʼ ἧκεν εἰς τὴν Ἀκαρνανίαν μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως, τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἐπεχείρει λεηλατεῖν τὴν Αἰτωλίαν, μετʼ ὀλίγον δὲ πυθόμενος Αἰακίδην τὸν Ἠπειρώτην εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν κατεληλυθότα καὶ δύναμιν ἁδρὰν συνηθροικότα ταχέως ὥρμησεν ἐπʼ αὐτόν· ἔσπευδε γὰρ κατʼ ἰδίαν διαγωνίσασθαι πρὶν ἢ συμμίξαι τὴν τῶν Αἰτωλῶν δύναμιν. εὑρὼν δὲ τοὺς Ἠπειρώτας ἑτοίμους εἰς μάχην ἐξ ἐφόδου συνῆψεν εἰς χεῖρας καὶ πολλοὺς μὲν ἀνεῖλεν, οὐκ ὀλίγους δʼ ἐζώγρησεν, ἐν οἷς συνέβαινεν εἶναι καὶ τῶν αἰτίων τῆς τοῦ βασιλέως καθόδου περὶ πεντήκοντα τὸν ἀριθμόν, οὓς δήσας ἀπέστειλε πρὸς Κάσανδρον. τῶν δὲ περὶ τὸν Αἰακίδην ἀθροισθέντων ἐκ τῆς φυγῆς καὶ τοῖς Αἰτωλοῖς συμμιξάντων πάλιν ἐπελθὼν ὁ Φίλιππος μάχῃ ἐκράτησεν καὶ πολλοὺς ἀνεῖλεν, ἐν οἷς ἦν καὶ Αἰακίδης ὁ βασιλεύς. ἐν ὀλίγαις δʼ ἡμέραις τηλικαῦτα ποιήσας προτερήματα κατεπλήξατο πολλοὺς τῶν Αἰτωλῶν ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον ὥστε τὰς ἀνοχύρους πόλεις ἐκλιπεῖν, εἰς δὲ τὰ δυσβατώτατα τῶν ὀρῶν συμφυγεῖν μετὰ τέκνων καὶ γυναικῶν. καὶ τὰ μὲν περὶ τὴν Ἑλλάδα πραχθέντα τοιοῦτον ἔσχε τὸ τέλος.
Antigonus, after he had failed in this undertaking, dispatched Telesphorus into the Peloponnesus, giving him fifty ships and a suitable force of infantry, and he ordered him to free the cities, for he hoped by doing this to establish among the Greeks the belief that he truly was concerned for their independence; and at the same time he gave him a hint to note the activities of Cassander. As soon as Telesphorus had reached port in the Peloponnesus, he advanced upon the cities that were occupied by Alexander's garrisons and freed all of them except Sicyon and Corinth; for in these cities Polyperchon had his quarters, maintaining strong forces and trusting in these and in the strength of the positions. While this was being done, Philip, who had been sent by Cassander to the war against the Aetolians as commander, immediately on arriving in Acarnania with his army undertook to plunder Aetolia, but soon, hearing that Aeacides the Epirote had returned to his kingdom and had collected a strong army, he set out very quickly against him, for he was eager to bring this struggle to an end separately before the army of the Aetolians joined forces with the king. Although he found the Epirotes ready for battle, he attacked them at once, slaying many and taking captive no small number, among whom there chanced to be about fifty of those responsible for the return of the king; these he bound and sent to Cassander. As Aeacides and his men rallied from the fight and joined the Aetolians, Philip again advanced and overpowered them in battle, slaying many, among whom was King Aeacides himself. By gaining such victories a few days Philip so terrified many of the Aetolians that they abandoned their unfortified cities and fled to the most inaccessible of their mountains with their children and their women. Such was the outcome of the campaign in Greece.
§ 19.75
κατὰ δὲ τὴν Ἀσίαν Κάσανδρος ὁ τῆς Καρίας κυριεύων πιεζούμενος τῷ πολέμῳ διελύσατο πρὸς Ἀντίγονον ἐφʼ ᾧ τοὺς μὲν στρατιώτας παραδώσει πάντας Ἀντιγόνῳ, τὰς δʼ Ἑλληνίδας πόλεις αὐτονόμους ἀφήσει, τὴν δὲ σατραπείαν ἣν πρότερον εἶχε δωρεὰν καθέξει, βέβαιος ὢν φίλος Ἀντιγόνῳ. δοὺς δὲ περὶ τούτων ὅμηρον Ἀγάθωνα τὸν ἀδελφὸν καὶ μετʼ ὀλίγας ἡμέρας μεταμεληθεὶς ἐπὶ ταῖς συνθήκαις τὸν μὲν ἀδελφὸν ἐξέκλεψεν ἐκ τῆς ὁμηρίας, πρὸς δὲ Πτολεμαῖον καὶ Σέλευκον διαπρεσβευσάμενος ἠξίου βοηθεῖν τὴν ταχίστην. ἐφʼ οἷς Ἀντίγονος δεινοπαθήσας δύναμιν ἀπέστειλεν ἐπὶ τὴν ἐλευθέρωσιν τῶν πόλεων καὶ κατὰ γῆν καὶ κατὰ θάλασσαν, τοῦ μὲν στόλου ναύαρχον ἀποδείξας Μήδιον, τοῦ δὲ στρατοπέδου καταστήσας στρατηγὸν Δόκιμον. οὗτοι δὲ παραγενόμενοι πρὸς τὴν πόλιν τῶν Μιλησίων τούς τε πολίτας ἐκάλουν ἐπὶ τὴν ἐλευθερίαν καὶ τὴν φρουρουμένην ἄκραν ἐκπολιορκήσαντες εἰς αὐτονομίαν ἀποκατέστησαν τὸ πολίτευμα. περὶ ταῦτα δʼ ὄντων τούτων Ἀντίγονος Τράλλεις ἐξεπολιόρκησεν· εἰς δὲ Καῦνον παρελθὼν καὶ τὸν στόλον μεταπεμψάμενος εἷλε καὶ ταύτην τὴν πόλιν πλὴν τῆς ἄκρας· ταύτην δὲ περιχαρακώσας, καθʼ ὃ μέρος ἦν προσμάχεσθαι, συνεχεῖς προσβολὰς ἐποιεῖτο. ἐπὶ δὲ τὴν Ἰασὸν πόλιν ἐκπεμφθεὶς Πτολεμαῖος μετὰ δυνάμεως ἱκανῆς ἠνάγκασε προσθέσθαι τοῖς περὶ Ἀντίγονον. αὗται μὲν οὖν τῆς Καρίας οὖσαι τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον ὑπετάγησαν Ἀντιγόνῳ. μετʼ ὀλίγας δʼ ἡμέρας ἐλθόντων πρὸς αὐτὸν πρεσβευτῶν παρʼ Αἰτωλῶν καὶ Βοιωτῶν πρὸς μὲν τούτους συμμαχίαν συνέθετο, τῷ δὲ Κασάνδρῳ συνελθὼν εἰς λόγους ὑπὲρ εἰρήνης περὶ τὸν Ἑλλήσποντον ἀπῆλθεν ἄπρακτος, οὐ δυναμένων αὐτῶν οὐδαμῶς συμφωνῆσαι. διόπερ ὁ Κάσανδρος ἀπογνοὺς τὰς διαλύσεις διέγνω τῶν κατὰ τὴν Ἑλλάδα πάλιν πραγμάτων ἀντέχεσθαι. ἀναζεύξας οὖν μετὰ τριάκοντα νεῶν εἰς Ὠρεὸν ἐπολιόρκει τὴν πόλιν. ἐνεργῶς δʼ αὐτοῦ ταῖς προσβολαῖς χρωμένου καὶ τοῦ πολίσματος ἤδη κατὰ κράτος ἁλισκομένου παρεγένετο βοηθήσων τοῖς Ὠρίταις Τελεσφόρος μὲν ἐκ Πελοποννήσου μετὰ νεῶν εἴκοσι καὶ στρατιωτῶν χιλίων, Μήδιος δʼ ἐκ τῆς Ἀσίας ἔχων ναῦς ἑκατόν. οὗτοι δʼ ὁρῶντες ἐφορμούσας τῷ λιμένι τὰς τοῦ Κασάνδρου ναῦς πῦρ ἐνῆκαν καὶ τέσσαρας μὲν κατέκαυσαν, παρʼ ὀλίγον δὲ καὶ πάσας διέφθειραν· τοῖς δʼ ἐλαττουμένοις παραγενομένης βοηθείας ἐξ Ἀθηνῶν ἐπέπλευσαν οἱ περὶ Κάσανδρον καταφρονοῦσι τοῖς πολεμίοις. συμβαλόντες δʼ αὐτοῖς μίαν μὲν κατέδυσαν, τρεῖς δʼ αὐτάνδρους ἔλαβον. καὶ τὰ μὲν πραχθέντα περὶ τὴν Ἑλλάδα καὶ τὸν Πόντον τοιαῦτʼ ἦν.
In Asia, Asander, the ruler of Caria, being hard pressed by the war, came to terms with Antigonus, agreeing to transfer to him all his soldiers, to relinquish the Greek cities and leave them autonomous, and to hold as a grant the satrapy that he had formerly had, remaining a steadfast friend of Antigonus. Having given his brother Agathon as a hostage for the fulfilment of these terms and then after a few days having repented of the agreement, he secretly removed his brother from custody and sent emissaries to Ptolemy and Seleucus, begging them to aid him as soon as possible. Antigonus, enraged at this, dispatched a force both by sea and by land to liberate the cities, appointing Medius admiral of the fleet and making Docimus general of the army. These men, coming to the city of the Milesians, encouraged the citizens to assert their freedom; and, after taking by siege the citadel, which was held by a garrison, they restored the independence of the government. While they were thus engaged, Antigonus besieged and took Tralles; then, proceeding to Caunus and summoning the fleet, he captured that city also except for its citadel. Investing this, he kept making continuous attacks on the side where it was most easily assailed. Ptolemaeus, who had been sent to Issus with an adequate force, compelled that city to support Antigonus. In this way, then, these cities, which were in Caria, were made subject to Antigonus. A few days later, when ambassadors came to the latter from the Aetolians and the Boeotians, he made an alliance with them; but, when he entered into negotiations with Cassander about peace in the Hellespontine region, he accomplished nothing since they could in no way agree. For this reason Cassander gave up hope of settlement and decided to play a part once more in the affairs of Greece. Setting out for Oreus, therefore, with thirty ships, he laid siege to the city. While he was vigorously attacking and was already at the point of taking the city by storm, reinforcements appeared for the people of Oreus: Telesphorus from the Peloponnesus with twenty ships and a thousand soldiers, and Medius from Asia with a hundred ships. They saw the ships of Cassander blockading the harbour and threw fire into them, burning four and almost destroying them all; but when reinforcements for the defeated came from Athens, Cassander sailed out against the enemy, who were off their guard. When they met, he sank one ship and seized three with their crews. Such were the activities in Greece and the Pontus.
§ 19.76
κατὰ δὲ τὴν Ἰταλίαν Σαμνῖται μὲν μετὰ πολλῆς δυνάμεως ἐπῄεσαν πορθοῦντες τῶν κατʼ Ἰταλίαν πόλεων ὅσαι τοῖς ἐναντίοις συνηγωνίζοντο, οἱ δʼ ὕπατοι τῶν Ῥωμαίων μετὰ στρατοπέδου παραγενόμενοι παραβοηθεῖν ἐπειρῶντο τοῖς κινδυνεύουσιν τῶν συμμάχων. ἀντεστρατοπεδεύσαντο δὲ τοῖς πολεμίοις περὶ Κίνναν πόλιν καὶ ταύτην μὲν εὐθὺς ἐρύσαντο τῶν ἐπικειμένων φόβων, μετʼ ὀλίγας δʼ ἡμέρας ἐκταξάντων ἀμφοτέρων τὰς δυνάμεις ἐγένετο μάχη καρτερὰ καὶ συχνοὶ παρʼ ἀμφοτέροις ἔπεσον. τὸ δὲ τέλος οἱ Ῥωμαῖοι βιασάμενοι κατὰ κράτος περιεγένοντο τῶν πολεμίων, ἐπὶ πολὺν δὲ χρόνον χρησάμενοι τῷ διωγμῷ πλείους τῶν μυρίων ἀνεῖλον. καὶ τῆς μάχης ἀγνοουμὲνης ἔτι Καμπανοὶ μὲν καταφρονήσαντες τῶν Ῥωμαίων ἀπέστησαν, ὁ δὲ δῆμος εὐθὺς δύναμίν τε τὴν ἱκανὴν ἐξέπεμψεν ἐπʼ αὐτοὺς καὶ στρατηγὸν αὐτοκράτορα Γάιον Μάνιον καὶ μετʼ αὐτοῦ κατὰ τὸ πάτριον ἔθος Μάνιον Φούλβιον ἵππαρχον. τούτων δὲ πλησίον τῆς Καπύης καταστρατοπεδευσάντων οἱ Καμπανοὶ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἐπεχείρουν ἀγωνίζεσθαι, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα πυθόμενοι τὴν τῶν Σαμνιτῶν ἧτταν καὶ νομίσαντες πάσας τὰς δυνάμεις ἥξειν ἐπʼ αὐτοὺς διελύσαντο πρὸς Ῥωμαίους· τοὺς γὰρ αἰτίους τῆς ταραχῆς ἐξέδωκαν, οἳ προτεθείσης κρίσεως οὐ περιμείναντες τὴν ἀπόφασιν αὑτοὺς ἀνεῖλαν. αἱ δὲ πόλεις τυχοῦσαι συγγνώμης εἰς τὴν προϋπάρχουσαν συμμαχίαν ἀποκατέστησαν.
In Italy, the Samnites were advancing with a large army, destroying whatever cities in Campania were supporting their enemies; and the Roman consuls, coming up with an army, were trying to aid those of their allies who were in danger. They took the field against the enemy near Tarracina and at once relieved that city from its immediate fears; then a few days later, when both sides had drawn up their armies, a hard-fought battle took place and very many fell on both sides. Finally the Romans, pressing on with all their strength, got the better of their enemies and, pushing the pursuit for a long time, slew more than ten thousand. While this battle was still unknown to them, the Campanians, scorning the Romans, rose in rebellion; but the people at once sent an adequate force against them with the dictator Gaius Manius as commander and accompanying him, according to the national custom, Manius Fulvius as master-of horse. When these were in position near Capua, the Campanians at first endeavoured to fight; but afterwards, hearing of the defeat of the Samnites and believing that all the forces would come against themselves, they made terms with the Romans. They surrendered those guilty of the uprising, who without awaiting the judgement of the trial that was instituted killed themselves. But the cities gained pardon and were reinstated in their former alliance.
§ 19.77
τοῦ δʼ ἔτους τούτου διελθόντος Ἀθήνησι μὲν ἦρχε Πολέμων, ἐν Ῥώμῃ δʼ ὑπῆρχον ὕπατοι Λεύκιος Παπείριος τὸ πέμπτον καὶ Γάιος Ἰούνιος, ἤχθη δὲ καὶ ὀλυμπιὰς κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν ἐνιαυτὸν ἑβδόμη πρὸς ταῖς ἑκατὸν καὶ δέκα, καθʼ ἣν ἐνίκα στάδιον Παρμενίων Μιτυληναῖος. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων τῶν χρόνων Ἀντίγονος ἀπέστειλεν εἰς τὴν Ἑλλάδα στρατηγὸν Πτολεμαῖον τοὺς Ἕλληνας ἐλευθερώσοντα, συνέπεμψε δʼ αὐτῷ ναῦς μὲν μακρὰς ἑκατὸν καὶ πεντήκοντα, Μήδιον ἐπιστήσας ναύαρχον, στρατιώτας δὲ πεζοὺς μὲν πεντακισχιλίους, ἱππεῖς δὲ πεντακοσίους. ἐποιήσατο δὲ καὶ πρὸς Ῥοδίους συμμαχίαν καὶ προσελάβετο παρʼ αὐτῶν ναῦς ἐξηρτισμένας πρὸς τὸν πόλεμον δέκα πρὸς τὴν τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἐλευθέρωσιν. ὁ δὲ Πτολεμαῖος μετὰ παντὸς τοῦ στόλου καταπλεύσας τῆς Βοιωτίας εἰς τὸν Βαθὺν καλούμενον λιμένα παρὰ μὲν τοῦ κοινοῦ τῶν Βοιωτῶν προσελάβετο στρατιώτας πεζοὺς μὲν δισχιλίους διακοσίους, ἱππεῖς δὲ χιλίους τριακοσίους. μετεπέμψατο δὲ καὶ τὰς ἐξ Ὠρεοῦ ναῦς καὶ τειχίσας τὸν Σαλγανέα συνήγαγεν ἐνταῦθα πᾶσαν τὴν δύναμιν· ἤλπιζε γὰρ προσδέξασθαι τοὺς Χαλκιδεῖς, οἵπερ μόνοι τῶν Εὐβοέων ὑπὸ τῶν πολεμίων ἐφρουροῦντο. ὁ δὲ Κάσανδρος ἀγωνιῶν ὑπὲρ τῆς Χαλκίδος τὴν Ὠρεοῦ πολιορκίαν ἔλυσεν, εἰς δὲ τὴν Χαλκίδα παρῆλθεν καὶ τὰς δυνάμεις μετεπέμπετο. Ἀντίγονος δὲ πυθόμενος περὶ τὴν Εὔβοιαν ἐφεδρεύειν ἀλλήλοις τὰ στρατόπεδα, μετεπέμψατο τὸν Μήδιον εἰς τὴν Ἀσίαν μετὰ τοῦ στόλου, εὐθὺς δὲ καὶ τὰς δυνάμεις ἀναλαβὼν προῆγεν ἐφʼ Ἑλλησπόντῳ κατὰ τάχος, ὡς διαβησόμενος εἰς Μακεδονίαν, ὅπως ἢ μένοντος Κασάνδρου περὶ τὴν Εὔβοιαν αὐτὸς ἔρημον καταλάβῃ Μακεδονίαν τῶν ἀμυνομένων ἢ τῇ βασιλείᾳ βοηθῶν ἀποβάλῃ τὰ κατὰ τὴν Ἑλλάδα πράγματα. ὁ δὲ Κάσανδρος συνιδὼν τὴν ἐπίνοιαν αὐτοῦ Πλείσταρχον μὲν ἀπέλιπεν ἐπὶ τῆς ἐν Χαλκίδι φρουρᾶς, αὐτὸς δὲ μετὰ πάσης τῆς δυνάμεως ἀναζεύξας Ὠρωπὸν μὲν κατὰ κράτος εἷλε, Θηβαίους δʼ εἰς τὴν αὑτοῦ συμμαχίαν κατέστησεν· πρὸς δὲ τοὺς ἄλλους Βοιωτοὺς ἀνοχὰς ποιησάμενος καὶ καταλιπὼν ἐπὶ τῆς Ἑλλάδος στρατηγὸν Εὐπόλεμον ἀπῆλθεν εἰς Μακεδονίαν, ἀγωνιῶν περὶ τῆς τῶν πολεμίων διαβάσεως. ὁ δʼ Ἀντίγονος ἐπειδὴ κατήντησεν εἰς τὴν Προποντίδα, διεπρεσβεύσατο πρὸς Βυζαντίους, ἀξιῶν μετέχειν τῆς συμμαχίας. παραγενομένων δὲ καὶ παρὰ Λυσιμάχου πρεσβευτῶν καὶ παρακαλούντων μηδὲν ποιεῖν μήτε κατʼ αὐτοῦ μήτε κατὰ Κασάνδρου τοῖς μὲν Βυζαντίοις ἔδοξε μένειν ἐφʼ ἡσυχίας καὶ τηρεῖν τὴν πρὸς ἀμφοτέρους εἰρήνην ἅμα καὶ φιλίαν. ὁ δʼ Ἀντίγονος δυσχρηστούμενος ἐπὶ τούτοις, ἅμα δὲ καὶ τῆς χειμερινῆς ὥρας συγκλειούσης διέδωκε τοὺς στρατιώτας κατὰ πόλι εἰς τὴν χειμασίαν.
When this year had passed, Polemon was archon in Athens, and in Rome the consuls were Lucius Papirius for the fifth time and Gaius Iunius; and in this year the Olympic Games were celebrated for the one hundred and seventeenth time, Parmenion of Mitylene winning the footrace. In this year Antigonus ordered his general Ptolemaeus into Greece to set the Greeks free and sent with him one hundred and fifty warships, placing Medius in command of them as admiral, and an army of five thousand foot and five hundred horse. Antigonus also made an alliance with the Rhodians and received from them for the liberation of the Greeks ten ships fully equipped for war. Ptolemaeus, putting in with the entire fleet at the harbour of Boeotia known as Bathys, received from the Boeotian League two thousand two hundred foot soldiers and one thousand three hundred horse. He also summoned his ships from Oreus, fortified Salganeus, and gathered there his entire force; for he hoped to be admitted by the Chalcidians, who alone of the Euboeans were garrisoned by the enemy. But Cassander, in his anxiety for Chalcis, gave up the siege of Oreus, moved to Chalcis, and summoned his forces. When Antigonus heard that in Euboea the armed forces were watching each other, he recalled Medius to Asia with the fleet, and at once with his armies set out at top speed for the Hellespont as if intending to cross over into Macedonia, in order that, if Cassander remained in Euboea, he might himself occupy Macedonia while it was stripped of defenders, or that Cassander, going to the defence of his kingdom, might lose his supremacy in Greece. But Cassander, perceiving Antigonus' plan, left Pleistarchus in command of the garrison in Chalcis and setting out himself with all his forces took Oropus by storm and brought the Thebans into his alliance. Then, after making a truce with the other Boeotians and leaving Eupolemus as general for Greece, he went into Macedonia, for he was apprehensive of the enemy's crossing. As for Antigonus, when he came to the Propontis, he sent an embassy to the Byzantines, asking them to enter the alliance. But there had arrived envoys from Lysimachus also who were urging them to do nothing against either Lysimachus or Cassander; and the Byzantines decided to remain neutral and to maintain peace and friendship toward both parties. Antigonus, because he had been foiled in these undertakings and also because the winter season was closing in upon him, distributed his soldiers among the cities for the winter.
§ 19.78
ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις Κορκυραῖοι μὲν βοηθήσαντες Ἀπολλωνιάταις καὶ τοῖς Ἐπιδαμνίοις τοὺς μὲν στρατιώτας Κασάνδρου ὑποσπόνδους ἀφῆκαν, τῶν δὲ πόλεων Ἀπολλωνίαν μὲν ἠλευθέρωσαν, Ἐπίδαμνον δὲ Γλαυκίᾳ τῷ τῶν Ἰλλυριῶν βασιλεῖ παρέδωκαν. ὁ δʼ Ἀντιγόνου στρατηγὸς Πτολεμαῖος χωρισθέντος εἰς Μακεδονίαν Κασάνδρου καταπληξάμενος τοὺς φρουροῦντας τὴν Χαλκίδα παρέλαβε τὴν πόλιν καὶ τοὺς Χαλκιδεῖς ἀφῆκεν ἀφρουρήτους, ὥστε γενέσθαι φανερὸν ὡς πρὸς ἀλήθειαν Ἀντίγονος ἐλευθεροῦν προῄρηται τοὺς Ἕλληνας· ἐπίκαιρος γὰρ ἡ πόλις ἐστὶ τοῖς βουλομένοις ἔχειν ὁρμητήριον πρὸς τὸ διαπολεμεῖν περὶ τῶν ὅλων. ὁ δʼ οὖν Πτολεμαῖος ἐκπολιορκήσας Ὠρωπὸν παρέδωκε τοῖς Βοιωτοῖς καὶ τοὺς Κασάνδρου στρατιώτας ὑποχειρίους ἔλαβε. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Ἐρετριεῖς καὶ Καρυστίους εἰς τὴν συμμαχίαν προσλαβόμενος ἐστράτευσεν εἰς τὴν Ἀττικήν, Δημητρίου τοῦ Φαληρέως ἐπιστατοῦντος τῆς πόλεως. οἱ δʼ Ἀθηναῖοι τὸ μὲν πρῶτον λάθρᾳ διεπέμποντο πρὸς Ἀντίγονον, ἀξιοῦντες ἐλευθερῶσαι τὴν πόλιν· τότε δὲ τοῦ Πτολεμαίου παραγενηθέντος πλησίον τῆς πόλεως θαρρήσαντες ἠνάγκασαν τὸν Δημήτριον ἀνοχὰς ποιήσασθαι καὶ πρεσβείας ἀποστέλλειν πρὸς Ἀντίγονον περὶ συμμαχίας. ὁ δὲ Πτολεμαῖος ἀναζεύξας ἐκ τῆς Ἀττικῆς εἰς τὴν Βοιωτίαν τήν τε Καδμείαν εἷλε καὶ τὴν φρουρὰν ἐκβαλὼν ἠλευθέρωσε τὰς Θήβας. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα πορευθεὶς εἰς τὴν Φωκίδα καὶ τὰς μὲν πλείους τῶν πόλεων προσαγόμενος ἐξέβαλε πανταχόθεν τὰς Κασάνδρου φρουράς· ἐπῆλθε δὲ καὶ τὴν Λοκρίδα καὶ τῶν Ὀπουντίων τὰ Κασάνδρου φρονούντων συνεστήσατο πολιορκίαν καὶ συνεχεῖς προσβολὰς ἐποιεῖτο.
While these things were going on, the Corcyraeans, who had gone to the aid of the people of Apollonia and Epidamnus, dismissed Cassander's soldiers under a truce; and of these cities they freed Apollonia, but Epidamnus they gave over to Glaucias, the king of the Illyrians. After Cassander had departed for Macedonia, Antigonus' general Ptolemaeus, striking fear into the garrison that was holding Chalcis, took the city; and he left the Chalcidians without a garrison in order to make it evident that Antigonus in very truth proposed to free the Greeks, for the city is well placed for any who wish to have a base from which to carry through a war for supremacy. However that may be, when Ptolemaeus had taken Oropus by siege, he gave it back to the Boeotians and made captive the troops of Cassander. Thereafter, having received the people of Eretria and Carystus into the alliance, he moved into Attica, where Demetrius of Phalerum was governing the city. At first the Athenians kept sending secretly to Antigonus, begging him to free the city; but then, taking courage when Ptolemaeus drew near the city, they forced Demetrius to make a truce and to send envoys to Antigonus about an alliance. Ptolemaeus, moving from Attica into Boeotia, took the Cadmea, drove out the garrison, and freed Thebes. After this he advanced into Phocis where he won over most of the cities and from all of these expelled the garrisons of Cassander. He also marched against Locris; and, since the Opuntians belonged to the party of Cassander, he began a siege and made continuous attacks.
§ 19.79
τῆς δʼ αὐτῆς θερίας Κυρηναῖοι μὲν ἀποστάντες Πτολεμαίου τὴν ἄκραν περιεστρατοπέδευσαν, ὡς αὐτίκα μάλα τὴν φρουρὰν ἐκβαλοῦντες, παραγενομένων δὲ πρεσβευτῶν ἐκ τῆς Ἀλεξανδρείας καὶ παρακαλούντων παύσασθαι τῆς φιλοτιμίας τούτους μὲν ἀπέκτειναν, τὴν δʼ ἄκραν ἐνεργέστερον ἐπολιόρκουν. ἐφʼ οἷς παροξυνθεὶς ὁ Πτολεμαῖος ἀπέστειλεν Ἄγιν στρατηγὸν μετὰ δυνάμεως πεζῆς, ἐξέπεμψε δὲ καὶ στόλον τὸν συλληψόμενον τοῦ πολέμου, ναύαρχον ἐπιστήσας Ἐπαινετόν. ὁ δὲ Ἄγις ἐνεργῶς διαπολεμήσας τοῖς ἀφεστηκόσιν ἐκυρίευσε κατὰ κράτος τῆς πόλεως καὶ τοὺς μὲν αἰτίους τῆς ἀποστάσεως δήσας ἀπέστειλεν εἰς τὴν Ἀλεξάνδρειαν καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τὰ ὅπλα παρελόμενος καὶ τὰ κατὰ τὴν πόλιν διοικήσας ὥς ποτʼ ἔδοξεν αὐτῷ συμφέρειν ἐπανῆλθεν εἰς τὴν Αἴγυπτον. Πτολεμαῖος δέ, τῶν περὶ Κυρήνην αὐτῷ κατὰ νοῦν ἀπηντηκότων, διῆρεν ἐκ τῆς Αἰγύπτου μετὰ δυνάμεως εἰς τὴν Κύπρον ἐπὶ τοὺς ἀπειθοῦντας τῶν βασιλέων. Πυγμαλίωνα δὲ εὑρὼν διαπρεσβευόμενον πρὸς Ἀντίγονον ἀνεῖλε, Πράξιππον δὲ τὸν τῆς Λαπιθίας βασιλέα καὶ τὸν τῆς Κερυνίας δυνάστην ὑποπτεύσας ἀλλοτρίως ἔχειν συνέλαβε Στασιοίκου τοῦ Μαλιέως· καὶ τὴν μὲν πόλιν κατέσκαψε, τοὺς δʼ ἐνοικοῦντας μετήγαγεν εἰς Πάφον. ταῦτα δὲ διαπραξάμενος τῆς μὲν Κύπρου κατέστησε στρατηγὸν Νικοκρέοντα, παραδοὺς τάς τε πόλεις καὶ τὰς προσόδους τῶν ἐκπεπτωκότων βασιλέων, αὐτὸς δὲ μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως ἐκπλεύσας ἐπὶ Συρίας τῆς ἄνω καλουμένης Ποσείδιον καὶ Ποταμοὺς Καρῶν ἐκπολιορκήσας. διήρπασεν. ἑτοίμως δὲ πλεύσας ἐπὶ Κιλικίας Μάλον εἷλε καὶ τοὺς ἐγκαταληφθέντας ἐλαφυροπώλησεν. ἐπόρθησε δὲ καὶ τὴν ἐγγὺς χώραν καὶ τὸ στρατόπεδον ὠφελείας ἐμπλήσας ἀπέπλευσεν εἰς τὴν Κύπρον. ἐπολιτεύετο δὲ πρὸς τοὺς στρατιώτας, οὕτως ἐκκαλούμενος αὐτῶν τὰς προθυμίας εἰς τοὺς ἐπιφερομένους κινδύνους.
In that same summer the people of Cyrene revolted from Ptolemy, invested the citadel, and seemed on the point of immediately casting out the garrison; and, when envoys came from Alexandria and bade them cease from their sedition, they killed them and continued the attack on the citadel with greater vigour. Enraged at them, Ptolemy dispatched Agis as general with a land army and also sent a fleet to take part in the war, placing Epaenetus in command. Agis attacked the rebels with vigour and took the city by storm. Those who were guilty of the sedition he bound and sent to Alexandria; and then, after depriving the others of their arms and arranging the affairs of the city in whatever way seemed best to himself, he returned to Egypt. But Ptolemy, now that the matter of Cyrene had been disposed of according to his wishes, crossed over with an army from Egypt into Cyprus against those of the kings who refused to obey him. Finding that Pygmalion was negotiating with Antigonus, he put him to death; and he arrested Praxippus, king of Lapithia and ruler of Cerynia, whom he suspected of being ill disposed toward himself, and also Stasioecus, ruler of Marion, destroying the city and transporting the inhabitants to Paphos. After accomplishing these things, he appointed Nicocreon as general of Cyprus, giving him both the cities and the revenues of the kings who had been driven out; but he himself with his army, sailing toward Upper Syria, as it is called, captured and sacked Poseidium and Potami Caron. Sailing without delay to Cilicia, he took Malus and sold as booty those who were captured there. He also plundered the neighbouring territory and, after sating his army with spoil, sailed back to Cyprus. His playing up to the soldiers in this way was designed to evoke enthusiasm in face of the encounters that were approaching.
§ 19.80
Δημήτριος δὲ ὁ Ἀντιγόνου διέτριβεν ἀεὶ περὶ Κοίλην Συρίαν, ἐφεδρεύων ταῖς τῶν Αἰγυπτίων δυνάμεσιν. ὡς δʼ ἤκουσε τὰς τῶν πόλεων ἁλώσεις Πίθωνα μὲν ἐπὶ τῶν τόπων κατέλιπε στρατηγόν, δοὺς αὐτῷ τοὺς ἐλέφαντας καὶ τὰ βαρέα τῶν ταγμάτων, αὐτὸς δʼ ἀναλαβὼν τούς τε ἱππεῖς καὶ τὰ ψιλικὰ τάγματα προῆγεν ἐπὶ Κιλικίας συντόμως, βοηθήσων τοῖς κινδυνεύουσιν. ὑστερήσας δὲ τῶν καιρῶν καὶ καταλαβὼν ἀποπεπλευκότας τοὺς πολεμίους ἐπανῆλθε συντόμως ἐπὶ τὸ στρατόπεδον, ἀποβεβληκὼς τῶν ἵππων τοὺς πλείους κατὰ τὴν ὁδοιπορίαν· διέτεινε γὰρ ἓξ ἡμέραις ἀπὸ Μάλου σταθμοὺς εἴκοσι καὶ τέσσαρας, ὥστε διὰ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῆς κακοπαθίας μήτε σκευοφόρον ἀκολουθῆσαι μηδένα μήτε τοὺς ἱπποκόμους. ὁ δὲ Πτολεμαῖος, κατὰ νοῦν αὐτῷ τῶν πραγμάτων ἀπηντηκότων, τότε μὲν ἀπῆρεν εἰς Αἴγυπτον, μετʼ ὀλίγον δὲ χρόνον παροξυνόμενος ὑπὸ Σελεύκου διὰ τὴν πρὸς Ἀντίγονον ἀλλοτριότητα διέγνω στρατεύειν ἐπὶ Κοίλην Συρίαν καὶ παρατάττεσθαι τοῖς περὶ τὸν Δημήτριον. συναγαγὼν οὖν πανταχόθεν τὰς δυνάμεις ἀνέζευξεν ἀπὸ Ἀλεξανδρείας εἰς Πηλούσιον, ἔχων πεζοὺς μὲν μυρίους ὀκτακισχιλίους, ἱππεῖς δὲ τετρακισχιλίους, ὧν ἦσαν οἱ μὲν Μακεδόνες, οἱ δὲ μισθοφόροι, Αἰγυπτίων δὲ πλῆθος, τὸ μὲν κομίζον βέλη καὶ τὴν ἄλλην παρασκευήν, τὸ δὲ καθωπλισμένον καὶ πρὸς μάχην χρήσιμον. ἀπὸ δὲ Πηλουσίου διὰ τῆς ἐρήμου διελθὼν κατεστρατοπέδευσε πλησίον τῶν πολεμίων περὶ τὴν παλαιὰν Γάζαν τῆς Συρίας. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ Δημήτριος μεταπεμψάμενος πανταχόθεν τοὺς ἐκ τῆς χειμασίας στρατιώτας εἰς τὴν παλαιὰν Γάζαν ὑπέμεινε τὴν τῶν ἐναντίων ἔφοδον.
Now Antigonus' son Demetrius was staying on in Coele Syria lying in wait for the Egyptian armies. But when he heard of the capture of the cities, he left Pithon as general in charge of the region, giving him the elephants and the heavy-armed units of the army; and he himself, taking the cavalry and the light-armed units, moved rapidly toward Cilicia to give aid to those who were in danger. Arriving after the opportunity had passed and finding that the enemy had sailed away, he went rapidly back to his camp, having lost most of his horses during the march; for in six days' march towards Malus he covered twenty-four stages, with the result that on account of the excessive hardship not one of his sutlers or of his grooms kept up the pace. Ptolemy, since his undertakings had turned out as he wished, now sailed away to Egypt; but after a little while, spurred on by Seleucus because of his hostility toward Antigonus, he decided to make a campaign into Coele Syria and take the field against the army of Demetrius. He therefore gathered together his forces from all sides and marched from Alexandria to Pelusium with eighteen thousand foot and four thousand horse. Of his army some were Macedonians and some were mercenaries, but a great number were Egyptians, of whom some carried the missiles and the other baggage but some were armed and serviceable for battle. Marching through the desert from Pelusium, he camped near the enemy at Old Gaza in Syria. Demetrius, who had likewise summoned his soldiers to Old Gaza from their winter quarters on all sides, awaited the approach of his opponents.
§ 19.81
τῶν δὲ φίλων αὐτῷ συμβουλευόντων μὴ παρατάττεσθαι πρὸς ἡγεμόνα τηλικοῦτον καὶ δύναμιν μείζω, τούτοις μὲν οὐ προσεῖχεν, εἰς δὲ τὸν κίνδυνον παρεσκευάζετο τεθαρρηκώς, καίπερ νέος ὢν παντελῶς καὶ τηλικαύτην μάχην μέλλων ἀγωνίζεσθαι χωρὶς τοῦ πατρός. συναγαγόντος δʼ ἐν τοῖς ὅπλοις ἐκκλησίαν αὐτοῦ καὶ στάντος ἐπί τινος ἀναστήματος μετὰ ἀγωνίας καὶ διατροπῆς ὁ μὲν ὄχλος ἀνεβόησε μιᾷ φωνῇ θαρρεῖν καὶ πρὸ τοῦ τὸν κήρυκα καταπαῦσαι τοὺς θορυβοῦντας ἅπαντες σιωπὴν παρείχοντο. οὔτε γὰρ στρατιωτικὸν ἔγκλημα ὑπῆρχε περὶ αὐτὸν οὔτε πολιτικόν, ἅτε προσφάτως ἐφʼ ἡγεμονίας τεταγμένον· ὅπερ εἴωθε γίγνεσθαι τοῖς παλαιοῖς στρατηγοῖς, ὅταν ἐκ πολλῶν προφάσεων ἓν ἔγκλημα πρὸς ἕνα καιρὸν ἀθροίζηται· τὸ γὰρ πλῆθος ἀεὶ δυσάρεστον ἐπὶ τῶν αὐτῶν μένον καὶ πᾶν τὸ μὴ πλεονάζον κεχαρισμένην ἔχει τὴν μεταβολήν· τοῦ τε πατρὸς ἤδη γεγηρακότος αἱ τῆς βασιλείας ἐλπίδες εἰς τὴν τούτου διαδοχὴν ἦγον ἅμα τὴν ἀρχὴν καὶ τὴν τῶν ὄχλων εὔνοιαν. ἦν δὲ καὶ τῷ κάλλει καὶ τῷ μεγέθει διάφορος, ἔτι δὲ κεκοσμημένος ὅπλοις βασιλικοῖς εἶχε πολλὴν ὑπεροχὴν καὶ κατάπληξιν, διʼ ἧς εἰς ἐλπίδας ἁδρὰς ἦγε τοὺς πολλούς· πρὸς δὲ τούτοις πρᾳότης τις ἦν περὶ αὐτόν, ἁρμόζουσα νέῳ βασιλεῖ, δι’ ἧς εἰς προθυμίαν ἐξεκαλεῖτο πάντας, ὥστε καὶ τοὺς ἐκτὸς τάξεως συνδραμεῖν ἐπὶ τὴν ἀκρόασιν, συναγωνιῶντας τῇ νεότητι καὶ τῇ μελλούσῃ γίνεσθαι κρίσει διὰ τῆς παρατάξεως. οὐ μόνον γὰρ πρὸς πλείονας ἤμελλε διακινδυνεύειν, ἀλλὰ καὶ πρὸς ἡγεμόνας σχεδὸν μεγίστους, Πτολεμαῖον καὶ Σέλευκον· οὗτοι γὰρ πάντας τοὺς πολέμους Ἀλεξάνδρῳ συστρατευσάμενοι καὶ πολλάκις καθʼ αὑτοὺς δυνάμεων ἡγησάμενοι μέχρι τῶν καιρῶν τούτων ὑπῆρχον ἀνίκητοι. ὁ δʼ οὖν Δημήτριος παρακαλέσας τὰ πλήθη τοῖς οἰκείοις λόγοις καὶ δωρεάς τε δώσειν κατὰ τὴν ἀξίαν καὶ τὰ λάφυρα συγχωρήσειν ἐπαγγειλάμενος ἐξέταξε τὴν δύναμιν εἰς τὴν μάχην.
Although his friends were urging him not to take the field against so great a general and a superior force, Demetrius paid no heed to them but confidently prepared for the conflict even though he was very young and was about to engage in so great a battle apart from his father. When he had called together an assembly under arms and, anxious and agitated, had taken his position on a raised platform, the crowd shouted with a single voice, bidding him be of good courage; and then, before the herald bade the shouting men cease their tumult, they all became silent. For, because he had just been placed in command, neither soldiers nor civilians had for him any ill will such as usually develops against generals of long standing when at a particular time many minor irritations are combined in a single mass grievance; for the multitude becomes exacting when it remains under the same authority, and every group that is not preferred welcomes change. Since his father was already an old man, the hopes of the kingdom, centring upon his succession, were bringing him the command and at the same time the goodwill of the multitude. Moreover, he was outstanding both in beauty and in stature, and also when clad in royal armour he had great distinction and struck men with awe, whereby he created great expectations in the multitude. Furthermore, there was in him a certain gentleness becoming to a youthful king, which won for him the devotion of all, so that even those outside the ranks ran together to hear him, feeling sympathetic anxiety on account of his youth and the critical struggle that impended. For he was about to fight a decisive battle not only against more numerous forces, but also against generals who were almost the greatest, Ptolemy and Seleucus. Indeed, these generals, who had taken part with Alexander in all his wars and had often led armies independently, were unconquered up to this time. At all events, Demetrius, after encouraging the crowd with words suitable to the occasion and promising to give gifts to them as they were deserved and to yield the booty to the soldiers, drew up his army for the battle.
§ 19.82
ἐπὶ μὲν οὖν τὸ λαιὸν κέρας ἔταξε, καθʼ ὃ τὸν κίνδυνον αὐτὸς ἤμελλε ποιεῖσθαι, πρώτους μὲν τοὺς περὶ αὐτὸν ἱππεῖς ἐπιλέκτους διακοσίους, ἐν οἷς ἦσαν οἵ τε ἄλλοι φίλοι πάντες καὶ Πίθων ὁ συνεστρατευμένος μὲν Ἀλεξάνδρῳ, συγκαθιστάμενος δὲ ὑπʼ Ἀντιγόνου στρατηγὸς καὶ τῶν ὅλων μέτοχος. πρόταγμα δὲ τρεῖς εἴλας ἱππέων ἔταξεν καὶ πλαγιοφυλάκους τὰς ἴσας καὶ χωρὶς ἔξω τοῦ κέρατος ἀπολελυμένας τρεῖς Ταραντίνων, ὥστʼ εἶναι τοὺς περὶ τὸ σῶμα τεταγμένους ἱππεῖς ξυστοφόρους μὲν πεντακοσίους, Ταραντίνους δὲ ἑκατόν. ἑξῆς δʼ ἔταξε τῶν ἱππέων τοὺς καλουμένους μὲν ἑταίρους, ὄντας δὲ τὸν ἀριθμὸν ὀκτακοσίους, μετὰ δὲ τούτους παντοδαποὺς ἱππεῖς οὐκ ἐλάττους τῶν χιλίων πεντακοσίων. πρὸ παντὸς δὲ τοῦ κέρατος ἔστησε τῶν ἐλεφάντων τριάκοντα καὶ τὰ διαστήματα αὐτῶν ἐπλήρωσε τοῖς ψιλικοῖς τάγμασιν, ὧν ἦσαν ἀκοντισταὶ μὲν καὶ τοξόται χίλιοι, σφενδονῆται δὲ Πέρσαι πεντακόσιοι. τὸ μὲν οὖν εὐώνυμον κέρας οὕτω κατασκευάσας διενοεῖτο τούτῳ κρίνειν τὴν μάχην. ἐχομένην δʼ ἔστησε τὴν τῶν πεζῶν φάλαγγα, συνεστῶσαν ἐξ ἀνδρῶν μυρίων χιλίων· τούτων δὲ ἦσαν Μακεδόνες μὲν δισχίλιοι, Λύκιοι δὲ καὶ Παμφύλιοι χίλιοι, μισθοφόροι δʼ ὀκτακισχίλιοι. ἐπὶ δὲ τὸ δεξιὸν κέρας ἔταξε τοὺς λοιποὺς ἱππεῖς χιλίους πεντακοσίους, ὧν Ἀνδρόνικος ἡγεῖτο. τούτῳ δʼ ἦν συντεταγμένον λοξὴν φυλάττειν τὴν στάσιν καὶ φυγομαχεῖν, καραδοκοῦντα τὴν διʼ αὐτοῦ γινομένην κρίσιν. τοὺς δὲ λοιποὺς τῶν ἐλεφάντων τρεισκαίδεκα ἔστησε πρὸ τῆς τῶν πεζῶν φάλαγγος, μίξας εἰς τὰ διαστήματα τῶν ψιλῶν τοὺς ἱκανούς. Δημήτριος μὲν οὖν διεκόσμησε τὴν ἰδίαν δύναμιν τὸν τρόπον τοῦτον.
On the left wing, where he himself was going to take part in the battle, he placed first the two hundred selected horsemen of his guard, among whom were all his other friends and, in particular, Pithon, who had campaigned with Alexander and had been made by Antigonus co-general and partner in the whole undertaking. As an advanced guard he drew up three troops of cavalry and the same number as guards on the flank, and in addition to these and stationed separately outside the wing, three troops of Tarentines; thus those that were drawn up about his person amounted to five hundred horsemen armed with the lance and one hundred Tarentines. Next he posted those of the cavalry who were called the Companions, eight hundred in number, and after them no less than fifteen hundred horsemen of all kinds. In front of the whole wing he stationed thirty of his elephants, and he filled the intervals between them with units of lightarmed men, of whom a thousand were javelin-throwers and archers and five hundred were Persian slingers. In this fashion then he formed the left wing, with which he intended to decide the battle. Next to it he drew up the infantry phalanx composed of eleven thousand men, of whom two thousand were Macedonians, one thousand were Lycians and Pamphylians, and eight thousand were mercenaries. On the right wing he drew up the rest of his cavalry, fifteen hundred men commanded by Andronicus. This officer was ordered to hold his line back at an angle and avoid fighting, awaiting the outcome of the conflict fought by Demetrius. The thirteen other elephants he stationed in front of the phalanx of the infantry with the normal complement of light troops in the intervals. In this manner, then, Demetrius arrayed his army.
§ 19.83
οἱ δὲ περὶ τὸν Πτολεμαῖον καὶ Σέλευκον τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἔταξαν ἰσχυρὰν τὴν εὐώνυμον τάξιν, ἀγνοοῦντες τῶν ἐναντίων τὴν ἐπιβολήν· μαθόντες δὲ παρὰ τῶν κατασκόπων τὸ γεγονὸς ταχέως ἐξέταξαν τὴν δύναμιν ὅπως τὸ δεξιὸν κέρας ἰσχὺν ἔχον καὶ δύναμιν τὴν κρατίστην διαγωνίσηται πρὸς τοὺς μετὰ Δημητρίου τεταγμένους ἐν τοῖς εὐωνύμοις μέρεσιν. ἔταξαν δὲ ἐπὶ τοῦ κέρατος τούτου τῶν ἱππέων τοὺς κρατίστους τρισχιλίους, ἐν οἷς καὶ αὐτοὶ διεγνώκεισαν ἀγωνίσασθαι. προέταξαν δὲ τῆς στάσεως ταύτης τοὺς κομίζοντας χάρακα σεσιδηρωμένον καὶ δεδεμένον ἀλύσεσιν, ὃν παρεσκευάσαντο πρὸς τὴν τῶν ἐλεφάντων ἔφοδον· ταθέντος γὰρ τούτου ῥᾴδιον ἦν εἴργειν τὰ θηρία τῆς εἰς τοὔμπροσθεν πορείας. προέταξαν δὲ τοῦ κέρατος τούτου καὶ τὰ ψιλικὰ τάγματα, παραγγείλαντες τοῖς τε ἀκοντισταῖς καὶ τοξόταις συνεχῶς κατατιτρώσκειν τὰ θηρία καὶ τοὺς ἐπʼ αὐτοῖς ἀναβεβηκότας. τοῦτον δὲ τὸν τρόπον ὀχυρωσάμενοι τὸ δεξιὸν κέρας καὶ τὴν ἄλλην δύναμιν ἐκτάξαντες ἐνδεχομένως ἐπῆγον τοῖς πολεμίοις μετὰ πολλῆς κραυγῆς. Ἀντεπαγόντων δὲ καὶ τῶν ἐναντίων τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἐπʼ ἄκρων τῶν κεράτων ἱππομαχία συνέστη τῶν προτεταγμένων ἱππέων, ἐν οἷς πολὺ προετέρουν οἱ περὶ τὸν Δημήτριον. μετʼ ὀλίγον δὲ τῶν περὶ Πτολεμαῖον καὶ Σέλευκον περιιππευσάντων τὸ κέρας καὶ βιαιότερον ἐπενεχθέντων ὀρθαῖς ταῖς εἴλαις συνέστη καρτερὰ μάχη διὰ τὰς ἑκατέρων προθυμίας. κατὰ μὲν οὖν τὴν πρώτην ἔφοδον τοῖς ξυστοῖς ἀγωνισάμενοι τούτων τε τὰ πλεῖστα συνέτριψαν καὶ τῶν ἀγωνιζομένων οὐκ ὀλίγους κατετραυμάτισαν· κατὰ δὲ τὴν δευτέραν ἀναστροφὴν εἰς τὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ ξίφους μάχην ὥρμησαν καὶ συμπλεκόμενοι πολλοὺς ἀλλήλων ἀνῄρουν, οἵ τε ἡγεμόνες αὐτοὶ πρὸ πάντων κινδυνεύοντες προετρέποντο τοὺς ὑποτεταγμένους εὐρώστως ὑπομένειν τὸ δεινόν, οἵ τʼ ἐπὶ τῶν κεράτων ἱππεῖς, ἅπαντες ἐπιλελεγμένοι κατʼ ἀρετήν, ἡμιλλῶντο πρὸς ἀλλήλους, θεατὰς ἔχοντες τῆς ἀνδρείας τοὺς συναγωνιζομένους στρατηγούς.
Ptolemy and Seleucus at first made strong the left part of their line, not knowing the intention of the enemy; but when they learned from scouts the formation he had adopted, they quickly reformed their army in such a way that their right wing should have the greatest strength and power and be matched against those arrayed with Demetrius on his left. They drew up on this wing the three thousand strongest of their cavalry, along with whom they themselves had decided to fight. In front of this position they placed the men who were to handle the spiked devices made of iron and connected by chains that they had prepared against the onset of the elephants; for when this contrivance had been stretched out, it was easy to prevent the beasts from moving forward. In front of this wing they also stationed their light-armed units, ordering the javelin-men and archers to shoot without ceasing at the elephants and at those who were mounted upon them. When they had made their right wing strong in this manner and had drawn up the rest of their army as circumstances permitted, they advanced upon the enemy with a great shout. Their opponents also advanced; and first there was a cavalry action on the extreme wings between the troops of the advance guards in which the men of Demetrius had much the better of it. But after a little, when Ptolemy and Seleucus had ridden around the wing and charged upon them more heavily with cavalry drawn up in depth, there was severe fighting because of the zeal of both sides. In the first charge, indeed, the fighting was with spears, most of which were shattered, and many of the antagonists were wounded; then, rallying again, the men rushed into battle at sword's point, and, as they were locked in close combat, many were slain on each side. The very commanders, endangering themselves in front of all, encouraged those under their command to withstand the danger stoutly; and the horsemen upon the wings, all of whom had been selected for bravery, vied with each other since as witnesses of their valour they had their generals, who were sharing the struggle with them.
§ 19.84
ἐπὶ πολὺν δὲ χρόνον τῆς ἱππομαχίας οὔσης ἐφαμίλλου τὰ θηρία διὰ τῶν Ἰνδῶν εἰς τὸν ἀγῶνα παρορμηθέντα μέχρι μέν τινος προῆγεν καταπληκτικῶς, ὡς οὐδενὸς ὑποστησομένου· ὡς δʼ ἐπὶ τὸν σεσιδηρωμένον χάρακα κατήντησε, τὸ μὲν πλῆθος τῶν ἀκοντιστῶν καὶ τοξοτῶν συνεχῶς βαλλόντων κατετίτρωσκε τὰ σώματα τῶν ἐλεφάντων καὶ τοὺς ἐπʼ αὐτοῖς ἀναβεβηκότας· βιαζομένων δὲ τῶν Ἰνδῶν καὶ κολαζόντων τὰ θηρία τινὰ μὲν αὐτῶν περιεπείροντο τῷ φιλοτεχνηθέντι χάρακι καὶ ταῖς πληγαῖς καὶ πυκνότησι τῶν τιτρωσκόντων περιώδυνα γινόμενα ἐποίει θόρυβον. τὸ γὰρ γένος τοῦτο κατὰ μὲν τοὺς ὁμαλοὺς καὶ μαλακοὺς τόπους ἀνυπόστατον παρέχεται κατὰ στόμα τὴν ῥώμην, ἐν δὲ τοῖς τραχέσι καὶ δυσβάτοις τελέως ἄπρακτον ἔχει τὴν ἀλκὴν διὰ τὴν τῶν ποδῶν μαλακότητα. διὸ καὶ τότε τῶν περὶ Πτολεμαῖον συνετῶς προεωραμένων τὸ μέλλον ἐκ τοῦ χάρακος τῆς πήξεως ἄπρακτον ἐποίει τὴν βίαν αὐτῶν. τέλος δὲ τῶν πλείστων Ἰνδῶν κατακοντισθέντων ὑποχειρίους συνέβη γενέσθαι πάντας τοὺς ἐλέφαντας. οὗ τελεσθέντος οἱ πολλοὶ τῶν περὶ τὸν Δημήτριον ἱππέων καταπλαγέντες πρὸς φυγὴν ὥρμησαν· αὐτὸς δὲ μετʼ ὀλίγων ἀπολειφθεὶς καὶ δεόμενος ἑκάστου στῆναι καὶ μὴ καταλιπεῖν αὐτόν, ὡς οὐδεὶς προσεἶχε, συναποχωρεῖν ἠναγκάζετο. μέχρι μὲν οὖν Γάζης οἱ πολλοὶ τῶν ἱππέων συνακολουθοῦντες ὑπήκουον καὶ κατέστησαν εἰς τάξεις, ὥστε μηδένα ῥᾳδίως τολμᾶν προσάγειν τῶν εἰκῇ διωκόντων· τὸ γὰρ πεδίον εὐρύχωρον ὂν καὶ μαλακὸν συνήργει τοῖς βουλομένοις ἐν τάξει ποιεῖσθαι τὴν ἀποχώρησιν. συνείποντο δὲ καὶ πεζῶν οἱ βουληθέντες λιπεῖν τὰς τάξεις καὶ χωρὶς τῶν ὅπλων διασώζειν ἑαυτοὺς ἐλαφρούς. παραλλάσσοντος δὲ αὐτοῦ Γάζαν περὶ ἡλίου δύσιν ἀπολιπόντες τῶν ἱππέων τινὲς παρῆλθον εἰς τὴν πόλιν, ἐκκομίσαι βουλόμενοι τὰς ἀποσκευάς. ἀνοιχθεισῶν οὖν τῶν πυλῶν καὶ πλήθους ὑποζυγίων ἀθροισθέντος, ἔτι δʼ ἑκάστου πρώτου σπεύδοντος ἐξαγαγεῖν τὰ σκευοφόρα τοσοῦτον θόρυβον γενέσθαι συνέβη περὶ τὰς πύλας ὥστε τῶν περὶ Πτολεμαῖον ἐπιόντων μηδένα δύνασθαι φθάσαι συγκλείσαντα. διόπερ εἰσπεσόντων τῶν πολεμίων ἐντὸς τοῦ τείχους ἡ πόλις ὑποχείριος ἐγένετο τοῖς περὶ Πτολε- μαῖον.
After the cavalry battle had continued for a long time on equal terms, the elephants, urged on into the combat by their Indian mahouts, advanced for a certain distance in a way to inspire terror, just as if no one were going to withstand them. When, however, they came up to the barrier of spikes, the host of javelin-throwers and archers, who were sending their missiles unremittingly, began to wound severely the elephants themselves and those who were mounted upon them; and while the mahouts were forcing the beasts forward and were using their goads, some of the elephants were pierced by the cleverly devised spikes and, tormented by their wounds and by the concentrated efforts of the attackers, began to cause disorder. For on smooth and yielding ground these beasts display in direct onset a might that is irresistible, but on terrain that is rough and difficult their strength is completely useless because of the tenderness of their feet. Thus, too, on this occasion, since Ptolemy shrewdly foresaw what would result from the setting up of the spikes, he rendered the power of the elephant unavailing. The final outcome was that, after most of the mahouts had been shot down, all the elephants were captured. When this happened, most of Demetrius' horsemen were panic-stricken and rushed into flight; and he himself was left with a few and then, since no one heeded him when he begged them each to stand and not desert him, was forced to leave the field with the rest. Now as far as Gaza most of the cavalry who were following with him listened to orders and remained in formation, so that no one of those who were pursuing at random lightly risked attacking; for the plain was open and yielding, and favourable to men who wished of the withdraw in formation. There followed also those of the infantry who preferred to leave their lines and, abandoning their heavy arms, save themselves by travelling light. But as Demetrius was passing Gaza at about sunset, some of the cavalry dropped out and entered the city since they wished to carry away their baggage. Then, when the gates were opened and a large number of pack animals were gathered together and when each man tried to lead out his own beasts first, there arose such confusion around the gates that when the troops of Ptolemy came up no one was able to close the gates in time. Hence the enemy dashed within the walls, and the city came into the possession of Ptolemy.
§ 19.85
τῆς δὲ μάχης τοιοῦτο τὸ τέλος λαβούσης Δημήτριος μὲν διέτεινεν εἰς Ἄζωτον περὶ μέσας νύκτας, διελθὼν σταδίους ἑβδομήκοντα καὶ διακοσίους. ἐντεῦθεν δὲ κήρυκα περὶ τῆς τῶν νεκρῶν ἀναιρέσεως ἐξέπεμψεν, σπεύδων ἐκ παντὸς τρόπου τῆς ἐπιβαλλούσης κηδείας ἀξιῶσαι τοὺς τετελευτηκότας· ἐτύγχανον γὰρ οἱ πλεῖστοι τῶν φίλων πεπτωκότες, ὧν ἦσαν ἐπιφανέστατοι Πίθων τε ὁ μετέχων τῆς στρατηγίας ἐπʼ ἴσης αὐτῷ καὶ Βοιωτὸς πολὺν χρόνον συνεζηκὼς Ἀντιγόνῳ τῷ πατρὶ καὶ μετεσχηκὼς παντὸς ἀπορρήτου· κατὰ δὲ τὴν παράταξιν ἔπεσον μὲν πλείους τῶν πεντακοσίων, ὧν ἦσαν οἱ πλείους ἱππεῖς τῶν ἐπιφανῶν ἀνδρῶν, ἑάλωσαν δʼ ὑπὲρ ὀκτακισχιλίους. οἱ δὲ περὶ Πτολεμαῖον καὶ Σέλευκον δόντες τὴν ἀναίρεσιν τῶν νεκρῶν τήν τε ἁλοῦσαν βασιλικὴν ἀποσκευὴν καὶ τῶν αἰχμαλώτων τοὺς περὶ τὴν αὐλὴν εἰωθότας διατρίβειν χωρὶς λύτρων ἀπέστειλαν πρὸς Δημήτριον· οὐ γὰρ περὶ τούτων ἔφασαν διαφέρεσθαι πρὸς Ἀντίγονον, ἀλλʼ ὅτι τοῦ πολέμου γενομένου κοινοῦ πρότερον μὲν πρὸς Περδίκκαν, ὕστερον δὲ πρὸς Εὐμενῆ τὰ μέρη τῆς δορικτήτου χώρας οὐκ ἀποδοίη τοῖς φίλοις καὶ συνθέμενος φιλίαν πρὸς αὐτὸν τοὐναντίον ἀφέλοιτο τὴν σατραπείαν τῆς Βαβυλωνίας Σελεύκου παρὰ πάντα τὰ δίκαια. ὁ δὲ Πτολεμαῖος τοὺς μὲν ἁλόντας στρατιώτας ἀποστείλας εἰς Αἴγυπτον προσέταξεν ἐπὶ τὰς νομαρχίας διελεῖν, αὐτὸς δὲ θάψας τῶν ἰδίων τοὺς ἐν τῇ μάχῃ τελευτήσαντας ἅπαντας μεγαλοπρεπῶς μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως ἐπῄει τῶν κατὰ Φοινίκην πόλεων τὰς μὲν πολιορκῶν, τὰς δὲ πειθοῖ προσαγόμενος. Δημήτριος δὲ δύναμιν οὐκ ἔχων ἀξιόχρεων πρὸς μὲν τὸν πατέρα βυβλιαφόρον ἀπέστειλεν, ἀξιῶν βοηθεῖν τὴν ταχίστην· αὐτὸς δὲ παρελθὼν εἰς Τρίπολιν τῆς Φοινίκης μετεπέμπετό τε τοὺς ἐκ Κιλικίας στρατιώτας καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ὅσοι παρεφύλαττον ἢ πόλεις ἢ φρούρια μακρὰν ἀφεστῶτα τῶν πολεμίων.
After the battle had ended in this fashion, Demetrius reached Azotus about the middle of the night, covering two hundred and seventy stades. Thence he sent a herald about the burial of the dead since he was very anxious at any cost to honour those who had perished with the funeral that was their due; for it happened that most of his friends had fallen, the most distinguished of whom were Pithon, who had shared the command on equal terms with himself, and Boeotus, who for a long time had lived with his father Antigonus and had shared in all his state secrets. In the battle there had fallen more than five hundred men, the majority of whom were cavalry and men of distinction; and more than eight thousand had been captured. Ptolemy and Seleucus permitted the recovery of the dead, and they returned to Demetrius without ransom the royal baggage, which had been captured, and those of the prisoners who had been accustomed to be in attendance at the court; for, they said, it was not about these that they were at variance with Antigonus but because, although he and they had made war in command, first against Perdiccas and later again Eumenes, he had not turned over to his companions their share of the captured territory, and again because, after making a compact of friendship with Seleucus, he had nevertheless taken away from him his satrapy of Babylonia contrary to all right. Ptolemy sent the captured soldiers off into Egypt, ordering them to be distributed among the nomes; but he himself, after giving a magnificent burial to all those of his own men who had died in the battle, went with his forces against the cities of Phoenicia, besieging some of them and winning others by persuasion. But Demetrius, since he did not have a sufficiently strong army, sent a messenger to his father, asking him to aid him as quickly as possible. He himself, moving to Tripolis in Phoenicia, summoned the soldiers from Cilicia and also those of his other men who were guarding cities or strongholds far removed from the enemy.
§ 19.86
Πτολεμαῖος δὲ κρατῶν τῶν ὑπαίθρων Σιδῶνα μὲν προσηγάγετο, τῆς δὲ Τύρου πλησίον στρατοπεδεύσας παρεκάλεσεν Ἀνδρόνικον τὸν φρούραρχον παραδοῦναι τὴν πόλιν καὶ δωρείας τε καὶ τιμὰς ἁδρὰς ἐπηγγείλατο δοῦναι. ὁ δὲ φήσας μηδενὶ τρόπῳ προδώσειν τὴν δεδομένην ὑπʼ Ἀντιγόνου καὶ Δημητρίου πίστιν, ἐλοιδόρησε φορτικῶς τὸν Πτολεμαῖον. ὕστερον δὲ στασιασάντων τῶν στρατιωτῶν ἐκπεσὼν ἐκ Τύρου καὶ γενόμενος ὑποχείριος προσεδόκα μὲν τιμωρίας τεύξεσθαι διά τε τὴν γενομένην λοιδορίαν καὶ διὰ τὸ μὴ βεβουλῆσθαι τὴν Τύρον παραδοῦναι· οὐ μὴν ὅ γε Πτολεμαῖος ἐμνησικάκησεν, ἀλλὰ τοὐναντίον δοὺς δωρεὰς εἶχε περὶ αὑτόν, ἕνα τῶν φίλων ποιησάμενος καὶ προάγων ἐντίμως. ἦν γὰρ ὁ δυνάστης οὗτος καθʼ ὑπερβολὴν ἐπιεικὴς καὶ συγγνωμονικός, ἔτι δʼ εὐεργετικός. ὅπερ καὶ μάλιστʼ αὐτὸν ηὔξησε καὶ πολλοὺς ἐποίησεν ἐπιθυμεῖν κοινωνῆσαι τῆς φιλίας. καὶ γὰρ τὸν Σέλευκον ἐκ τῆς Βαβυλωνίας ἐκπεσόντα φιλοτίμως ὑπεδέξατο καὶ κοινὴν παρείχετο τούτῳ τε καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις φίλοις τὴν περὶ αὐτὸν εὐδαιμονίαν. διὸ καὶ τότε παρακαλοῦντος αὐτὸν Σελεύκου δοῦναι στρατιώτας τοὺς ἀναβησομένους εἰς Βαβυλῶνα προθύμως ὡμολόγησε καὶ προσεπηγγείλατο πάντα συμπράξειν μέχρι ἀνακτήσαιτο τὴν προϋπάρχουσαν σατραπείαν. καὶ τὰ μὲν κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν ἐν τούτοις ἦν.
Ptolemy, after he had gained control of the open country, first won Sidon to his side; and then, camping near Tyre, he summoned Andronicus, the commander of the garrison, to surrender the city, and he promised to give him gifts and abundant honours. Andronicus, however, said that he would in no wise betray the trust that had been placed in him by Antigonus and Demetrius, and he vilely insulted Ptolemy. Later, when his soldiers mutinied and he was expelled from the city and fell into the hands of Ptolemy, he expected to receive punishment both for the insults and for his unwillingness to surrender Tyre. But in truth Ptolemy bore no malice; on the contrary, he gave him gifts and kept him in his court, making him one of his friends and advancing him in honour. For indeed, that prince was exceptionally gentle and forgiving and inclined toward deeds of kindness. It was this very thing that most increased his power and made many men desire to share his friendship. For example, when Seleucus had been driven from Babylonia, he received him with friendship; and he used to share his own prosperity with him and with his other friends. Therefore on this occasion also, when Seleucus asked him to give him soldiers for an expedition into Babylonia, he readily consented; and in addition, he promised to aid him in every way until he should regain the satrapy that had formerly been his. Such was the situation of affairs in Asia.
§ 19.87
κατὰ δὲ τὴν Εὐρώπην Τελεσφόρος μὲν ὁ Ἀντιγόνου ναύαρχος διατρίβων περὶ Κόρινθον, ἐπειδὴ Πτολεμαῖον ἑώρα μᾶλλον ἑαυτοῦ προαγόμενον καὶ τῶν κατὰ τὴν Ἑλλάδα πραγμάτων πιστευόμενον ἁπάντων, ἐγκαλέσας Ἀντιγόνῳ περὶ τούτων τὰς μὲν ναῦς ἃς εἶχεν ἀπέδοτο, τῶν δὲ στρατιωτῶν τοὺς βουλομένους κοινωνεῖν τῆς προαιρέσεως ἀναλαβὼν ἴδια πράγματα συνίστατο. παρελθὼν γὰρ εἰς Ἦλιν ὡς ἔτι φυλάττων τὴν πρὸς Ἀντίγονον φιλίαν, τὴν ἀκρόπολιν ἐνετείχισε καὶ τὴν πόλιν κατεδουλώσατο. ἐσύλησεν δὲ καὶ τὸ ἱερὸν τὸ κατὰ τὴν Ὀλυμπίαν καὶ συναγαγὼν ἀργυρίου πλείω τῶν πεντήκοντα ταλάντων ξένους ἐμισθοῦτο. Τελεσφόρος μὲν οὖν ζηλοτυπήσας τὴν προαγωγὴν Πτολεμαίου τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον ἐγένετο προδότης τῆς πρὸς Ἀντίγονον φιλίας. Πτολεμαῖος δʼ ὁ Ἀντιγόνου στρατηγὸς ἦν μὲν τεταγμένος ἐπὶ τῶν κατὰ τὴν Ἑλλάδα πραγμάτων, πυθόμενος δὲ τὴν ἀπόστασιν τὴν Τελεσφόρου καὶ τὴν κατάληψιν τῆς Ἠλείων πόλεως, ἔτι δὲ τὴν σύλησιν τῶν κατὰ τὴν Ὀλυμπίαν χρημάτων παρῆλθεν εἰς Πελοπόννησον μετὰ δυνάμεως. καταντήσας δʼ εἰς Ἦλιν καὶ τὴν ἐντετειχισμένην ἀκρόπολιν κατασκάψας τήν τε ἐλευθερίαν ἀπέδωκε τοῖς Ἠλείοις καὶ τὰ χρήματα ἀποκατέστησεν τῷ θεῷ. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τὸν Τελεσφόρον πείσας παρέλαβεν τὴν Κυλλήνην, φρουρουμένην ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ, καὶ τοῖς Ἠλείοις ἀποκατέστησεν.
In Europe, Antigonus' admiral Telesphorus, who was tarrying near Corinth, when he saw Ptolemaeus preferred to himself and entrusted with all affairs throughout Greece, charged Antigonus with this, sold what ships he had, enlisted such of the soldiers as volunteered to join his cause, and organized an enterprise of his own. Entering Elis as if still preserving his friendship for Antigonus, he fortified the citadel and enslaved the city. He even plundered the sacred precinct at Olympia and, after collecting more than five hundred talents of silver, began hiring mercenaries. In this manner then, Telesphorus, because he was jealous of the advancement of Ptolemaeus, betrayed the friendship of Antigonus. Ptolemaeus, the general of Antigonus, had been placed in charge of affairs throughout Greece; and he, on hearing of the revolt of Telesphorus, the capture of the city of the Eleans, and the plundering of the wealth of Olympia, moved into the Peloponnesus with an army. When he had come into Elis and levelled the citadel that had been fortified, he gave the Eleans back their freedom and restored the treasure to the god. Then by winning Telesphorus' consent he recovered Cyllene, which the latter had garrisoned, and restored it to the Eleans.
§ 19.88
ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πρασσομένοις Ἠπειρῶται τελευτήσαντος Αἰακίδου τοῦ βασιλέως αὐτῶν Ἀλκέτᾳ τὴν βασιλείαν παρέδωκαν, ὃς ἦν πεφυγαδευμένος μὲν ὑπὸ Ἀρύμβου τοῦ πατρός, ἀλλοτρίως δὲ διακείμενος πρὸς Κάσανδρον. διὸ καὶ Λυκίσκος ὁ τεταγμένος ἐπὶ τῆς Ἀκαρνανίας στρατηγὸς ὑπὸ Κασάνδρου παρῆλθε μετὰ δυνάμεως εἰς τὴν Ἤπειρον, ἐλπίδας ἔχων ῥᾳδίως τὸν Ἀλκέταν ἀποστήσειν τῆς ἀρχῆς ἀσυντάκτων ἔτι τῶν κατὰ τὴν βασιλείαν ὄντων. καταστρατοπεδεύσαντος δʼ αὐτοῦ περὶ Κασσωπίαν πόλιν Ἀλκέτας τοὺς μὲν υἱοὺς Ἀλέξανδρον καὶ Τεῦκρον ἀπέστειλεν ἐπὶ τὰς πόλεις, διακελευσάμενος στρατολογεῖν ὡς πλείστους, αὐτὸς δὲ μεθʼ ἧς εἶχε δυνάμεως ἀναζεύξας, ἐπειδὴ πλησίον ἐγένετο τῶν πολεμίων, ἀνέμενε τὴν τῶν υἱῶν παρουσίαν. τῶν δὲ περὶ Λυκίσκον ἐπικειμένων καὶ πολὺ τοῖς πλήθεσιν ὑπερεχόντων οἱ μὲν Ἠπειρῶται καταπλαγέντες προσεχώρησαν τοῖς πολεμίοις, ὁ δʼ Ἀλκέτας καταλειφθεὶς κατέφυγεν εἰς Εὐρυμενὰς πόλιν Ἠπειρωτικήν. ἐνταῦθα δʼ αὐτοῦ πολιορκουμένου παρεγενήθησαν οἱ περὶ τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον βοήθειαν φέροντες τῷ πατρί. γενομένης οὖν μάχης ἰσχυρᾶς ἀνῃρέθησαν πολλοὶ τῶν στρατιωτῶν, ἐν οἷς ἦσαν ἄλλοι τέ τινες τῶν ἀξιολόγων ἀνδρῶν καὶ Μίκυθος ὁ στρατηγὸς καὶ Λύσανδρος Ἀθηναῖος ὁ κατασταθεὶς ἐπὶ τῆς Λευκάδος ὑπὸ Κασάνδρου. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Δεινίου βοηθήσαντος τοῖς ἐλαττουμένοις ἐγένετο δευτέρα μάχη, καθʼ ἣν οἱ μὲν περὶ Ἀλέξανδρον καὶ Τεῦκρον ἡττηθέντες ἔφυγον εἴς τι χωρίον ἐρυμνὸν μετὰ τοῦ πατρός, ὁ δὲ Λυκίσκος Εὐρυμενὰς ἐκπολιορκήσας καὶ διαρπάσας κατέσκαψε·
While this was happening, the Epirotes, their king Aeacides being dead, gave the kingship to Alcetas, who had been banished by his father Arymbus and who was hostile to Cassander. For this reason, Lyciscus, who had been placed as general over Acarnania by Cassander, entered Epirus with an army, hoping to remove Alcetas easily from his throne while the affairs of the kingdom were still in disorder. While Lyciscus was in camp before Cassopia, Alcetas sent his sons Alexander and Teucer to the cities, ordering them to levy as many soldiers as possible; and he himself, taking the field with what force he had, came near the enemy and awaited the return of his sons. However, since the forces of Lyciscus were at hand and were far superior in number, the Epirotes were frightened and went over to the enemy; and Alcetas, deserted, fled for refuge to Eurymenae, a city of Epirus. While he was being besieged there, Alexander came up bringing reinforcements to his father. A violent battle took place in which many of the soldiers were slain, among whom were certain others of the followers of Lyciscus and in particular the general Micythus and Lysander, an Athenian who had been put in charge of Leucas by Cassander. But afterwards, when Deinias brought reinforcements to the defeated army, there was another battle, in which Alexander and Teucer were defeated and fled with their father to a certain stronghold, while Lyciscus took Eurymenae, plundered it, and destroyed it.
§ 19.89
καθʼ ὃν δὴ χρόνον Κάσανδρος ἀκηκοὼς μὲν τὴν τῶν ἰδίων ἧτταν, ἀγνοῶν δὲ τὸ μετὰ ταῦτα γεγονὸς εὐτύχημα κατὰ σπουδὴν ἧκεν εἰς τὴν Ἤπειρον βοηθήσων τοῖς περὶ Λυκίσκον. καταλαβὼν δʼ αὐτοὺς ἐπὶ τοῦ προτερήματος γεγονότας πρὸς μὲν Ἀλκέταν διαλυσάμενος φιλίαν συνέθετο, τῆς δὲ δυνάμεως μέρος ἀναλαβὼν ἀνέζευξεν εἰς τὸν Ἀδρίαν, πολιορκήσων Ἀπολλωνιάτας, ὅτι τὴν φρουρὰν ἐκβαλόντες τὴν αὐτοῦ προσέθεντο τοῖς Ἰλλυριοῖς. οὐ μὴν οἵ γε ἐν τῇ πόλει κατεπλάγησαν, ἀλλὰ βοήθειαν μεταπεμψάμενοι παρὰ τῶν ἄλλων συμμάχων πρὸ τῶν τειχῶν παρετάξαντο. γενομένης δὲ καρτερᾶς μάχης ἐπὶ πολὺν χρόνον οἱ μὲν Ἀπολλωνιᾶται τοῖς πλήθεσιν ὑπερέχοντες τοὺς ἀντιτεταγμένους φυγεῖν ἠνάγκασαν, ὁ δὲ Κάσανδρος πολλοὺς στρατιώτας ἀποβαλὼν καὶ δύναμιν μὲν οὐκ ἔχων περὶ αὑτὸν ἀξιόχρεω, τὴν δὲ χειμερινὴν ὥραν θεωρῶν ἐπανῆλθεν εἰς Μακεδονίαν. τούτου δὲ χωρισθέντος Λευκάδιοι προσλαβόμενοι βοήθειαν παρὰ Κορκυραίων ἐξέβαλον τὴν φρουρὰν τοῦ Κασάνδρου. οἱ δʼ Ἠπειρῶται χρόνον μέν τινα διέμενον ὑπʼ Ἀλκέτου βασιλευόμενοι, χρωμένου δʼ αὐτοῦ χαλεπώτερον τοῖς πλήθεσιν αὐτόν τε κατέσφαξαν καὶ δύο τῶν υἱῶν παῖδας ὄντας τὴν ἡλικίαν Ἠσιονέα καὶ Νίσον.
At this time Cassander, who had heard of the defeat of his forces but did not know of the victory that had followed, moved into Epirus in haste to assist Lyciscus. On finding that the latter had gained the upper hand, he made terms and established friendship with Alcetas; and then, taking a part of his army, he moved to the Adriatic to lay siege to Apollonia because the people of that city had driven out his garrison and gone over to the Illyrians. Those in the city, however, were not frightened, but summoned aid from their other allies and drew up their army before the walls. In a battle, which was hard fought and long, the people of Apollonia, who were superior in number, forced their opponents to flee; and Cassander, who had lost many soldiers, since he did not have an adequate army with him and saw that the winter was at hand, returned into Macedonia. After his departure, the Leucadians, receiving help from the Corcyraeans, drove out Cassander's garrison. For some time the Epirotes continued to be ruled by Alcetas; but then, since he was treating the common people too harshly, they murdered him and two of his sons, Esioneus and Nisus, who were children.
§ 19.90
κατὰ δὲ τὴν Ἀσίαν Σέλευκος μετὰ τὴν γενομένην ἧτταν Δημητρίῳ περὶ Γάζαν τῆς Συρίας ἀναλαβὼν παρὰ Πτολεμαίου πεζοὺς μὲν οὐ πλείους τῶν ὀκτακοσίων, ἱππεῖς δὲ περὶ διακοσίους ἀνέζευξεν ἐπὶ Βαβυλῶνος, ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον μεμετεωρισμένος ταῖς ἐλπίσιν ὥστʼ εἰ καὶ μηδεμίαν εἶχε δύναμιν τὸ παράπαν, μετὰ τῶν φίλων καὶ τῶν ἰδίων παίδων τὴν εἰς τοὺς ἄνω τόπους ἀνάβασιν ποιεῖσθαι· ὑπελάμβανε γὰρ τοὺς μὲν Βαβυλωνίους διὰ τὴν προϋπάρχουσαν εὔνοιαν ἑτοίμως αὐτῷ προσθήσεσθαι, τοὺς δὲ περὶ Ἀντίγονον μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως μακρὰν ἀπεσπασμένους παραδεδωκέναι καιρὸν οἰκεῖον ταῖς ἰδίαις ἐπιβολαῖς. τοιαύτης δʼ οὔσης τῆς περὶ αὐτὸν ὁρμῆς οἱ συνόντες φίλοι θεωροῦντες ὅτι μετʼ αὐτῶν μέν εἰσι παντελῶς ὀλίγοι συστρατεύοντες, τοῖς δὲ πολεμίοις ἐφʼ οὓς προάγουσι καὶ δυνάμεις ὑπάρχουσιν ἕτοιμοι μεγάλαι καὶ χορηγίαι λαμπραὶ καὶ συμμάχων πλῆθος, οὐ μετρίως ἠθύμουν. οὓς ὁρῶν καταπεπληγμένους ὁ Σέλευκος παρεκάλει, διδάσκων ὅτι τοὺς Ἀλεξάνδρῳ συνεστρατευκότας καὶ διʼ ἀρετὴν ὑπʼ ἐκείνου προηγμένους προσήκει μὴ πάντως δυνάμει καὶ χρήμασι πεποιθότας ἀντέχεσθαι πραγμάτων, ἀλλʼ ἐμπειρίᾳ καὶ συνέσει, διʼ ὧν κἀκεῖνος τὰ μεγάλα καὶ παρὰ πᾶσι θαυμαζόμενα κατειργάσατο. πιστεύειν δὲ δεῖν καὶ ταῖς τῶν θεῶν προρρήσεσι τὸ τέλος ἔσεσθαι τῆς στρατείας ἄξιον τῆς ἐπιβολῆς· ἐν μὲν γὰρ Βραγχίδαις αὐτοῦ χρηστηριαζομένου τὸν θεὸν προσαγορεῦσαι Σέλευκον βασιλέα, τὸν δὲ Ἀλέξανδρον καθʼ ὕπνον ἐπιστάντα φανερῶς διασημᾶναι περὶ τῆς ἐσομένης ἡγεμονίας, ἧς δεῖ τυχεῖν αὐτὸν προϊόντος τοῦ χρόνου. πρὸς δὲ τούτοις ἀπεφαίνετο διότι πάντα γίνεται τὰ καλὰ καὶ παρʼ ἀνθρώποις θαυμαζόμενα διὰ πόνων καὶ κινδύνων. ἐπολιτεύετο δὲ καὶ πρὸς τοὺς συστρατεύοντας καὶ κατεσκεύαζεν αὑτὸν ἴσον ἅπασιν, ὥσθʼ ἕκαστον αἰδεῖσθαι καὶ τὸ παράβολον τῆς τόλμης ἑκουσίως ὑπομένειν.
In Asia, after the defeat of Demetrius at Gaza in Syria, Seleucus, receiving from Ptolemy no more than eight hundred foot soldiers and about two hundred horse, set out for Babylon. He was so puffed up with great expectations that, even if he had had no army whatever, he would have made the expedition into the interior with his friends and his own slaves; for he assumed that the Babylonians, on account of the goodwill that had previously existed, would promptly join him, and that Antigonus, by withdrawing to a great distance with his army, had given him a suitable opportunity for his own enterprises. While such was his own enthusiasm, those of his friends who accompanied were no little disheartened when they saw that the men who were making the campaign with them were very few and that the enemy against whom they were going possessed large armies ready for service, magnificent resources, and a host of allies. When Seleucus saw that they were terror-stricken, he encouraged them, saying that men who had campaigned with Alexander and had been advanced by him because of their prowess ought not to rely solely on armed force and wealth when confronting difficult situations, but upon experience and skill, the means whereby Alexander himself had accomplished his great and universally admired deeds. He added that they ought also to believe the oracles of the gods which had foretold that the end of his campaign would be worthy of his purpose; for, when he had consulted the oracle in Branchidae, the god had greeted him as King Seleucus, and Alexander standing beside him in a dream had given him a clear sign of the future leadership that was destined to fall to him in the course of time. Moreover, he pointed out that everything that is good and admired among men is gained through toil and danger. But he also sought the favour of his fellow soldiers and put himself on an equality with them all in such a way that each man respected him and willingly accepted the risk of the daring venture.
§ 19.91
ἐπεὶ δὲ προάγων κατήντησεν εἰς Μεσοποταμίαν, τῶν ἐν Κάραις κατῳκισμένων Μακεδόνων οὓς μὲν ἔπεισεν, οὓς δʼ ἐβιάσατο συστρατεύειν αὐτῷ. ὡς δʼ εἰς τὴν Βαβυλωνίαν ἐνέβαλεν, οἱ πλείους τῶν ἐγχωρίων ἀπήντων καὶ προστιθέμενοι πᾶν ἔφασαν αὐτῷ τὸ δοκοῦν συμπράξειν· τετραετῆ γὰρ χρόνον γεγονὼς σατράπης τῆς χώρας ταύτης πᾶσι προσενήνεκτο καλῶς, ἐκκαλούμενος τὴν εὔνοιαν τοῦ πλήθους καὶ πόρρωθεν προπαρασκευαζόμενος τοὺς συμπράξοντας, ἐὰν αὐτῷ δοθῇ καιρὸς ἀμφισβητεῖν ἡγεμονίας. προσεχώρησε δʼ αὐτῷ καὶ Πολύαρχος, τεταγμένος ἐπί τινος διοικήσεως, μετὰ στρατιωτῶν πλειόνων ἢ χιλίων. οἱ δὲ διαφυλάττοντες τὴν πρὸς Ἀντίγονον φιλίαν, ὁρῶντες ἀκατάσχετον οὖσαν τὴν τοῦ πλήθους ὁρμήν, συνέφευγον εἰς τὴν ἄκραν, ἧς φύλαξ ἀπεδέδεικτο Δίφιλος. ὁ δὲ Σέλευκος συστησάμενος πολιορκίαν καὶ κατὰ κράτος ἑλὼν τὴν ἄκραν ἐκομίσατο τὰ φυλαττόμενα σώματα τῶν φίλων καὶ τῶν παίδων, ὅσοι παρεδόθησαν εἰς φυλακὴν παρʼ Ἀντιγόνου μετὰ τὴν ἐκ Βαβυλῶνος εἰς Αἴγυπτον ἀποχώρησιν. ἀπὸ δὲ τούτων γενόμενος στρατιώτας συνήγαγεν καὶ συναγοράσας ἵππους ἀνεδίδου τοῖς δυναμένοις χρᾶσθαι. πᾶσι δὲ φιλανθρώπως ὁμιλῶν καὶ καθιστὰς εἰς ἀγαθὰς ἐλπίδας ἑτοίμους εἶχε καὶ προθύμους ἐν πάσῃ περιστάσει τοὺς συγκινδυνεύοντας. Σέλευκος μὲν οὖν τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον ἀνεκτήσατο τὴν Βαβυλωνίαν.
When in his advance he entered Mesopotamia, he persuaded some of the Macedonians who were settled at Carae to join his forces, and compelled the rest. When he pushed into Babylonia, most of the inhabitants came to meet him, and, declaring themselves on his side, promised to aid him as he saw fit; for, when he had been for four years satrap of that country, he had shown himself generous to all, winning the goodwill of the common people and long in advance securing men who would assist him if an opportunity should ever be given to him to make a bid for supreme power. He was joined also by Polyarchus, who had been placed in command of a certain district, with more than a thousand soldiers. When those who remained loyal to Antigonus saw that the impulse of the people could not be checked, they took refuge together in the citadel, of which Diphilus had been appointed commander. But Seleucus, by laying siege to the citadel and taking it by storm, recovered the persons of all his friends and slaves who had been placed there under guard by the order of Antigonus after Seleucus' own departure from Babylon into Egypt. When he had finished this, he enlisted soldiers, and, having brought up horses, he distributed them to those who were able to handle them. Associating with all on friendly terms and raising high hopes in all, he kept his fellow adventurers ready and eager under every condition. In this way, then, Seleucus regained Babylonia.
§ 19.92
Νικάνορος δὲ τοῦ περὶ Μηδίαν στρατηγοῦ συναγαγόντος ἐπʼ αὐτὸν ἔκ τε Μηδίας καὶ Περσίδος καὶ τῶν σύνεγγυς τόπων στρατιώτας πεζοὺς μὲν πλείους τῶν μυρίων, ἱππεῖς δὲ περὶ ἑπτακισχιλίους ὥρμησεν κατὰ σπουδὴν ἀπαντήσων τοῖς πολεμίοις. εἶχε δὲ τοὺς σύμπαντας πεζοὺς μὲν πλείους τῶν τρισχιλίων, ἱππεῖς δὲ τετρακοσίους. διαβὰς δὲ τὸν Τίγριν ποταμὸν καὶ πυνθανόμενος ὀλίγων ἡμερῶν ὁδὸν ἀπέχειν τοὺς πολεμίους, ἔκρυψε τοὺς στρατιώτας ἐν τοῖς πλησίον ἕλεσι, διανοούμενος ἀπροσδόκητον ποιήσασθαι τὴν ἐπίθεσιν. ὁ δὲ Νικάνωρ ἐπειδὴ παραγενηθεὶς ἐπὶ τὸν Τίγριν ποταμὸν οὐχ ηὕρισκε τοὺς πολεμίους, κατεστρατοπέδευσε πρός τινι βασιλικῷ σταθμῷ, νομίζων αὐτοὺς πεφευγέναι μακρότερον. ἐπιγενομένης δὲ νυκτὸς καὶ τῶν περὶ Νικάνορα καταπεφρονηκότως καὶ ῥᾳθύμως ἐχόντων τὰ περὶ τὰς φυλακὰς ἐπιπεσὼν ὁ Σέλευκος ἄφνω πολλὴν ταραχὴν καὶ κατάπληξιν κατεσκεύασε· συναψάντων γὰρ μάχην τῶν Περσῶν συνέβη τόν τε σατράπην αὐτῶν Εὔαγρον πεσεῖν καί τινας τῶν ἄλλων ἡγεμόνων. οὗ συμβάντος οἱ πλείους τῶν στρατιωτῶν τὰ μὲν τὸν κίνδυνον καταπεπληγμένοι, τὰ δὲ προσκόπτοντες τοῖς ὑπʼ Ἀντιγόνου πραττομένοις μετεβάλοντο πρὸς Σέλευκον. ὁ δὲ Νικάνωρ μετʼ ὀλίγων ἀπολειφθεὶς καὶ δεδιὼς μὴ παραδοθῇ τοῖς πολεμίοις, ἔφυγε μετὰ τῶν φίλων διὰ τῆς ἐρήμου. Σέλευκος δὲ δυνάμεως ἁδρᾶς κυριεύσας καὶ φιλανθρώπως πᾶσι προσφερόμενος ῥᾳδίως προσηγάγετο τήν τε Σουσιανὴν καὶ Μηδίαν καί τινας τῶν σύνεγγυς τόπων· περί τε τῶν διῳκημένων ἔγραψε πρὸς Πτολεμαῖον καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους φίλους, ἔχων ἤδη βασιλικὸν ἀνάστημα καὶ δόξαν ἀξίαν ἡγεμονίας.
But when Nicanor, the general in Media, gathered about him from Media and Persia and the neighbouring lands more than ten thousand foot soldiers and about seven thousand horse, Seleucus set out at full speed to oppose the enemy. He himself had in all more than three thousand foot and four hundred horse. He crossed the Tigris River; and, on hearing that the enemy were a few days' march distant, he hid his soldiers in the adjacent marshes, intending to make his attack a surprise. When Nicanor arrived at the Tigris River and did not find the enemy, he camped at one of the royal stations, believing that they had fled to a greater distance than was the case. When night was come and the army of Nicanor was keeping a perfunctory and negligent guard, Seleucus fell on them suddenly, causing great confusion and panic; for it happened that when the Persians had joined battle, their satrap Evager fell together with some of the other leaders. When this occurred, most of the soldiers went over to Seleucus, in part because they were frightened at the danger but in part because they were offended by the conduct of Antigonus. Nicanor, who was left with only a few men and feared lest he be delivered over to the enemy, took flight with his friends through the desert. But Seleucus, now that he had gained control of a large army and was comporting himself in a way gracious to all, easily won over Susiane, Media, and some of the adjacent lands; and he wrote to Ptolemy and his other friends about his achievements, already possessing a king's stature and a reputation worthy of royal power.
§ 19.93
ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις Πτολεμαῖος μὲν διέτριβε περὶ Κοίλην Συρίαν, νενικηκὼς Δημήτριον τὸν Ἀντιγόνου παρατάξει μεγάλῃ. ὃν πυνθανόμενος ἐκ Κιλικίας ἀνεστραφέναι καὶ στρατοπεδεύειν περὶ τὴν ἄνω Συρίαν, προεχειρίσατο τῶν περὶ αὑτὸν φίλων Κίλλην τὸν Μακεδόνα· τούτῳ δὲ δοὺς δύναμιν ἱκανὴν προσέταξεν ἐκδιῶξαι τὸν Δημήτριον τὸ παράπαν ἐκ τῆς Συρίας ἢ περικαταλαβόντα συντρῖψαι. τούτου δʼ ὄντος κατὰ πορείαν Δημήτριος διὰ τῶν σκοπῶν ἀκούσας τὸν Κίλλην στρατοπεδεύειν καταπεφρονηκότως περὶ Μυοῦντα, τὴν μὲν ἀποσκευὴν ἀπέλιπε, τοὺς δὲ στρατιώτας εὐζώνους παραλαβὼν νυκτὸς πορείαν σύντομον ἐποιήσατο, προσπεσὼν δὲ τοῖς πολεμίοις ἑωθινῆς φυλακῆς ἄφνω τῆς τε δυνάμεως ἄνευ μάχης ἐκυρίευσεν καὶ αὐτὸν τὸν στρατηγὸν ἐζώγρησε. τηλικούτου δʼ εὐτυχήματος γεγενημένου τὴν ἧτταν ἀναμαχήσασθαι διειλήφει. οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ τὸν Πτολεμαῖον ὑπολαμβάνων ἥξειν ἐπʼ αὐτὸν μετὰ πάσης τῆς δυνάμεως, ἐστρατοπέδευσε προβλήματα τῆς παρεμβολῆς ποιησάμενος ἕλη καὶ λίμνας. ἔγραψε δὲ καὶ πρὸς τὸν πατέρα περὶ τοῦ γενομένου κατορθώματος, καὶ παρακαλῶν αὐτὸν ἢ δύναμιν ἀποστεῖλαι τὴν ταχίστην ἢ καὶ αὐτὸν παραβαλεῖν εἰς τὴν Συρίαν. ὁ δʼ Ἀντίγονος ἐτύγχανε μὲν ὢν ἐν Κελαιναῖς τῆς Φρυγίας, κομισάμενος δὲ τὴν ἐπιστολὴν ἐχάρη διαφερόντως ἐπὶ τῷ δοκεῖν τὸν υἱὸν νέον ὄντα κατωρθωκέναι διʼ αὑτοῦ καὶ φαίνεσθαι βασιλείας ἄξιον. αὐτὸς δὲ τὴν δύναμιν ἀναλαβὼν ἀνέζευξεν ἐκ τῆς Φρυγίας καὶ τὸν Ταῦρον ὑπερβαλὼν ὀλίγαις ἡμέραις συνέμιξε τοῖς περὶ τὸν Δημήτριον. Πτολεμαῖος δὲ πυθόμενος τὴν Ἀντιγόνου παρουσίαν καὶ συναγαγὼν τοὺς ἡγεμόνας καὶ φίλους ἐβουλεύετο πότερον συμφέρει μένειν καὶ ἀγωνίζεσθαι περὶ τῶν ὅλων κατὰ Συρίαν ἢ προάγειν εἰς Αἴγυπτον καὶ πολεμεῖν ἐκεῖθεν, καθάπερ καὶ πρότερον Περδίκκᾳ. πάντες οὖν συνεβούλευον μὴ διακινδυνεύειν πρὸς δύναμιν πολλαπλασίονα καὶ θηρίων πλῆθος, ἔτι δὲ στρατηγὸν ἀήττητον· εὐχερέστερον γὰρ πολλῷ διαγωνιεῖσθαι κατὰ τὴν Αἴγυπτον, ταῖς τε χορηγίαις ὑπερέχοντα καὶ τόπων ὀχυρότητι πιστεύοντα. διὸ καὶ κρίνας ἐκλιπεῖν τὴν Συρίαν κατέσκαψε τὰς ἀξιολογωτάτας τῶν κεκρατημένων πόλεων, Ἄκην μὲν τῆς Φοινίκης Συρίας, Ἰόππην δὲ καὶ Σαμάρειαν καὶ Γάζαν τῆς Συρίας, αὐτὸς δὲ τὴν δύναμιν ἀναλαβὼν καὶ τῶν χρημάτων ὅσα δυνατὸν ἦν ἄγειν ἢ φέρειν ἐπανῆλθεν εἰς Αἴγυπτον.
Meanwhile Ptolemy remained in Coele Syria after having conquered Antigonus' son Demetrius in a great battle. On hearing that Demetrius had returned from Cilicia and was encamped in Upper Syria, he chose from the friends who were with him Cilles the Macedonian; 2 and, giving him an adequate army, he ordered him to drive Demetrius completely out of Syria or to entrap and crush him. While Cilles was on the way, Demetrius, hearing from spies that he was carelessly encamped at Myus, left his baggage behind and with his soldiers in light equipment made a forced march; then, falling suddenly upon the enemy during the early morning watch, he captured the army without a battle and took the general himself prisoner. By achieving such a success he believed that he had wiped out the defeat. 3 Nevertheless, assuming that Ptolemy would march against him with all his army, he went into camp, using as the outworks of his defence swamps and marshes. He also wrote to his father about the success that had been gained, urging him either to send an army as soon as possible or to cross over into Syria himself. 4 Antigonus chanced to be in Celaenae in Phrygia; and, on receiving the letter, he rejoiced greatly that his son, young as he was, seemed to have got out of his difficulties by himself and to have shown himself worthy to be a king. He himself with his army set out from Phrygia, crossed the Taurus, and within a few days joined Demetrius. 5 Ptolemy, however, on hearing of the arrival of Antigonus, called together his leaders and friends and took counsel with them whether it was better to remain and reach a final decision in Syria or to withdraw to Egypt and carry on the war from there as he had formerly done against Perdiccas. 6 Now all advised him not to risk a battle against an army that was many times stronger and had a larger number of elephants as well as against an unconquered general; for, they said, it would be much easier for him to settle the war in Egypt where he had plenty of supplies and could trust to the difficulty of the terrain. 7 Deciding, therefore, to leave Syria, he razed the most noteworthy of the cities that he had captured: Ake in Phoenician Syria, and Ioppe, Samaria, and Gaza in Syria; then he himself, taking the army and what of the booty it was possible to drive or carry, returned into Egypt.
§ 19.94
Ἀντίγονος δʼ ἀκινδύνως ἀνακτησάμενος τήν τε Συρίαν πᾶσαν καὶ Φοινίκην ἐπεβάλετο στρατεύειν ἐπὶ τὴν χώραν τῶν Ἀράβων τῶν καλουμένων Ναβαταίων. κρίνας γὰρ τὸ ἔθνος τοῦτο τῶν ἑαυτοῦ πραγμάτων ἀλλότριον εἶναι, προεχειρίσατο τῶν αὑτοῦ φίλων Ἀθήναιον, δοὺς δʼ αὐτῷ πεζοὺς μὲν εὐζώνους τετρακισχιλίους, ἱππεῖς δὲ τοὺς ἐπιτηδείους εἰς δρόμον ἑξακοσίους συνέταξεν ἐπιθέσθαι τοῖς βαρβάροις ἄφνω καὶ τὴν λείαν πᾶσαν ἀποτεμέσθαι. χρήσιμον δʼ ἐστὶ τῶν ἀγνοούντων ἕνεκα διελθεῖν τὰ νόμιμα τῶν Ἀράβων τούτων, οἷς χρώμενοι δοκοῦσι τὴν ἐλευθερίαν διαφυλάττειν. ἔχουσι τοίνυν τὸν βίον ὑπαίθριον, πατρίδα καλοῦντες τὴν ἀοίκητον τὴν μήτε ποταμοὺς ἔχουσαν μήτε κρήνας δαψιλεῖς, ἐξ ὧν δυνατὸν στρατόπεδον πολέμιον ὑδρεύσασθαι. νόμος δʼ ἐστὶν αὐτοῖς μήτε σῖτον σπείρειν μήτε φυτεύειν μηδὲν φυτὸν καρποφόρον μήτε οἴνῳ χρᾶσθαι μήτε οἰκίαν κατασκευάζειν· ὃς δʼ ἂν παρὰ ταῦτα ποιῶν εὑρίσκηται, θάνατον αὐτῷ πρόστιμον εἶναι. χρῶνται δὲ τῷ νόμῳ τούτῳ διαλαμβάνοντες τοὺς ταῦτα κτωμένους ἀναγκασθήσεσθαι ῥᾳδίως ὑπὸ τῶν δυνατῶν ἕνεκα τῆς τούτων χρείας ποιεῖν τὸ προστασσόμενον. τρέφουσι δʼ αὐτῶν οἱ μὲν καμήλους, οἱ δὲ πρόβατα, τὴν ἔρημον ἐπινέμοντες. οὐκ ὀλίγων δʼ ὄντων Ἀραβικῶν ἐθνῶν τῶν τὴν ἔρημον ἐπινεμόντων οὗτοι πολὺ τῶν ἄλλων προέχουσι ταῖς εὐπορίαις, τὸν ἀριθμὸν ὄντες οὐ πολὺ πλείους τῶν μυρίων· εἰώθασι γὰρ αὐτῶν οὐκ ὀλίγοι κατάγειν ἐπὶ θάλασσαν λιβανωτόν τε καὶ σμύρναν καὶ τὰ πολυτελέστατα τῶν ἀρωμάτων, διαδεχόμενοι παρὰ τῶν κομιζόντων ἐκ τῆς Εὐδαίμονος καλουμένης Ἀραβίας. φιλελεύθεροι δέ εἰσι διαφερόντως καὶ ὅταν πολεμίων δύναμις ἁδρὰ προσίῃ, φεύγουσιν εἰς τὴν ἔρημον, ταύτῃ χρώμενοι ὀχυρώματι· ἄνυδρος γὰρ οὖσα τοῖς μὲν ἄλλοις ἀνεπίβατός ἐστι, τούτοις δὲ κατεσκευακόσιν ἀγγεῖα κατὰ γῆς ὀρυκτὰ κεκονιαμένα μόνοις παρέχεται μὴν ἀσφάλειαν. τῆς γὰρ γῆς οὔσης τῆς μὲν ἀργελλώδους, τῆς δὲ πέτραν ἐχούσης μαλακὴν ὀρύγματα μεγάλα ποιοῦσιν ἐν αὐτῇ, ὧν τὰ μὲν στόμια μικρὰ παντελῶς κατασκευάζουσι, κατὰ βάθους δʼ ἀεὶ μᾶλλον εὐρυχωρῆ ποιοῦντες τὸ τελευταῖον τηλικοῦτʼ ἀποτελοῦσι τὸ μέγεθος ὥστε γίνεσθαι πλευρὰν ἑκάστην πλέθρου. ταῦτα δὲ τὰ ἀγγεῖα πληροῦντες ὕδατος ὀμβρίου τὰ στόματʼ ἐμφράττουσι καὶ ποιοῦντες ἰσόπεδον τῇ λοιπῇ χώρᾳ σημεῖα καταλείπουσιν ἑαυτοῖς μὲν γιγνωσκόμενα, τοῖς δʼ ἄλλοις ἀνεπινόητα. ποτίζουσι δὲ καὶ τὴν λείαν διʼ ἡμερῶν τριῶν, ὅπως ἐν ταῖς ἀνυδρίαις καὶ φυγαῖς μὴ προσδέωνται συνεχῶν ὑδάτων. αὐτοὶ δὲ χρῶνται τροφῇ κρέασι καὶ γάλακτι καὶ τῶν ἐκ τῆς γῆς φυομένων τοῖς ἐπιτηδείοις· φύεται γὰρ παρʼ αὐτοῖς τὸ πέπερι καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν δένδρων μέλι πυλὺ τὸ καλούμενον ἄγριον, ᾧ χρῶνται ποτῷ μεθʼ ὕδατος. ἔστι δὲ καὶ ἄλλα γένη τῶν Ἀράβων, ὧν ἔνια καὶ γεωργεῖ μιγνύμενα τοῖς φορολογουμένοις καὶ μετέχει τῶν αὐτῶν τοῖς Σύροις πλὴν τοῦ πατασκηνοῦν ἐν οἰκίαις.
Now that Antigonus without a fight had gained possession of all Syria and Phoenicia, he desired to make a campaign against the land of the Arabs who are called Nabataeans. Deciding that this people was hostile to his interests, he selected one of his friends, Athenaeus, gave him four thousand light foot-soldiers and six hundred horsemen fitted for speed, and ordered him to set upon the barbarians suddenly and cut off all their cattle as booty. For the sake of those who do not know, it will be useful to state in some detail the customs of these Arabs, by following which, it is believed, they preserve their liberty. They live in the open air, claiming as native land a wilderness that has neither rivers nor abundant springs from which it is possible for a hostile army to obtain water. It is their custom neither to plant grain, set out any fruit-bearing tree, use wine, nor construct any house; and if anyone is found acting contrary to this, death is his penalty. They follow this custom because they believe that those who possess these things are, in order to retain the use of them, easily compelled by the powerful to do their bidding. Some of them raise camels, others sheep, pasturing them in the desert. While there are many Arabian tribes who use the desert as pasture, the Nabataeans far surpass the others in wealth although they are not much more than ten thousand in number; 5 for not a few of them are accustomed to bring down to the sea frankincense and myrrh and the most valuable kinds of spices, which they procure from those who convey them from what is called Arabia Eudaemon. 6 They are exceptionally fond of freedom; and, whenever a strong force of enemies comes near, they take refuge in the desert, using this as a fortress; for it lacks water and cannot be crossed by others, but to them alone, since they have prepared subterranean reservoirs lined with stucco, it furnishes safety. 7 As the earth in some places is clayey and in others is of soft stone, they make great excavations in it, the mouths of which they make very small, but by constantly increasing the width as they dig deeper, they finally make them of such size that each side has a length of one plethrum. 8 After filling these reservoirs with rain water, they close the openings, making them even with the rest of the ground, and they leave signs that are known to themselves but are unrecognizable by others. 9 They water their cattle every other day, so that, if they flee through waterless places, they may not need a continuous supply of water. They themselves use as food flesh and milk and those of the plants that grow from the ground which are suitable for this purpose; 10 for among them there grow the pepper and plenty of the so called wild honey from trees, which they drink mixed with water. There are also other tribes of Arabs, some of whom even till the soil, mingling with the tribute-paying peoples, and have the same customs as the Syrians, except that they do not dwell in houses.
§ 19.95
τὰ μὲν οὖν νόμιμα τῶν Ἀράβων τοιαῦτʼ εἶναι συμβέβηκεν. ὑπογύου δʼ αὐτοῖς οὔσης πανηγύρεως, εἰς ἣν εἰώθασιν οἱ περίοικοι καταντᾶν οἱ μὲν ἀποδωσόμενοι τῶν φορτίων, οἱ δʼ ἀγοράσοντές τι τῶν αὐτοῖς χρησίμων, εἰς ταύτην ἐπορεύθησαν, ἀπολιπόντες ἐπί τινος πέτρας τὰς κτήσεις καὶ τοὺς πρεσβυτάτους, ἔτι δὲ τέκνα καὶ γυναῖκας. τὸ δὲ χωρίον ὑπῆρχεν ὀχυρὸν μὲν καθʼ ὑπερβολήν, ἀτείχιστον δὲ καὶ τῆς οἰκουμένης ἀπέχον δυεῖν ἡμερῶν ὁδόν. οἱ δὲ περὶ τὸν Ἀθήναιον παρατηρήσαντες τοῦτον τὸν καιρὸν ὥρμησαν ἐπὶ τὴν πέτραν εὔζωνον ἔχοντες τὴν δύναμιν· διανύσαντες δʼ ἀπὸ τῆς Ἰδουμαίας ἐπαρχίας ἐν ἡμέραις τρισὶ καὶ νυξὶ ταῖς ἴσαις σταδίους δισχιλίους καὶ διακοσίους ἔλαθον τοὺς Ἄραβας περὶ μέσας νύκτας καταλαβόμενοι τὴν πέτραν. εὐθὺς δὲ τῶν ἐγκατειλημμένων οὓς μὲν ἀνῄρουν, οὓς δʼ ἐζώγρουν, ἐνίους δὲ τραυματίας ἀπέλιπον καὶ τοῦ μὲν λιβανωτοῦ καὶ τῆς σμύρνης συνεσκευάσαντο τὸ πλεῖον μέρος, ἀργυρίου δὲ περὶ πεντακόσια τάλαντα. ἐνδιατρίψαντες δʼ οὐ πλείω χρόνον φυλακῆς ἑωθινῆς εὐθὺς ἀνέστρεψαν κατὰ σπουδήν, διαλαμβάνοντες ὑπὸ τῶν βαρβάρων διωχθήσεσθαι. διατείναντες δὲ σταδίους διακοσίους κατεστρατοπέδευσαν, ὄντες κατάκοποι καὶ ῥᾳθύμως ἔχοντες τὰ περὶ τὰς φυλακάς, ὡς ἂν νομίζοντες μὴ πρότερον δύνασθαι τοὺς πολεμίους ἐλθεῖν δυεῖν ἢ τριῶν ἡμερῶν. οἱ δʼ Ἄραβες πυθόμενοι παρὰ τῶν ἑωρακότων τὸ στρατόπεδον παραχρῆμα ἠθροίσθησαν καὶ τὴν πανήγυριν ἀπολιπόντες ἧκον ἐπὶ τὴν πέτραν· παρὰ δὲ τῶν τραυματιῶν μαθόντες τὰ γεγονότα κατὰ σπουδὴν ἐδίωκον τοὺς Ἕλληνας. τῶν δὲ περὶ τὸν Ἀθήναιον στρατοπεδευσάντων καταπεφρονηκότως καὶ διὰ τὸν κόπον ἐν ὕπνῳ καθεστώτων ἔλαθόν τινες τῶν αἰχμαλώτων διαδράντες, παρʼ ὧν οἱ Ναβαταῖοι μαθόντες τὰ κατὰ τοὺς πολεμίους ἐπέθεντο τῇ στρατοπεδείᾳ περὶ τρίτην φυλακήν, ὄντες οὐκ ἐλάσσω ὀκτακισχιλίων. καὶ τοὺς πλείους μὲν ἐν ταῖς κοίταις ὄντας ἔτι κατέσφαξαν, τοὺς δὲ διεγειρομένους καὶ χωροῦντας εἰς ὅπλα κατηκόντιζον· καὶ πέρας οἱ μὲν πεζοὶ πάντες ἀνῃρέθησαν, τῶν δὲ ἱππέων διεσώθησαν εἰς πεντήκοντα καὶ τούτων οἱ πλείους τραυματίαι. οἱ μὲν οὖν περὶ τὸν Ἀθήναιον ἐν ἀρχῇ κατορθώσαντες ἐξ ὑστέρου διὰ τὴν ἑαυτῶν ἀβουλίαν τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον ἐσφάλησαν· ταῖς γὰρ εὐτυχίαις εἴωθεν ὡς ἐπίπαν ἀκολουθεῖν ῥᾳθυμία καὶ καταφρόνησις. διόπερ ἔνιοι προσηκόντως ὑπολαμβάνουσιν εὐχερέστερον ὑπάρχειν συμφορὰς ἐνεγκεῖν ἐπιδεξίως ἢ τὰς εὐμεγέθεις εὐημερίας ἐμφρόνως· αἱ μὲν γὰρ διὰ τὸν περὶ τοῦ μέλλοντος φόβον ἐπαναγκάζουσιν ἐπιμελεῖσθαι, αἱ δὲ διὰ τὸ προγεγονὸς εὐτύχημα προτρέπονται καταφρονεῖν πάντων.
It appears that such are the customs of the Arabs. But when the time draws near for the national gathering at which those who dwell round about are accustomed to meet, some to sell goods and others to purchase things that are needful to them, they travel to this meeting, leaving on a certain rock their possessions and their old men, also their women and their children. This place is exceedingly strong but unwalled, and it is distant two days' journey from the settled country. After waiting for this season, Athenaeus set out for the rock with his army in light marching order. Covering the twenty-two hundred stades from the district of Idumaea in three days and the same number of nights, he escaped the attention of the Arabs and seized the rock at about midnight. Of those that were caught there, some he slew at once, some he took as prisoners, and others who were wounded he left behind; and of the frankincense and myrrh he gathered together the larger part, and about five hundred talents of silver. Delaying no longer than the early morning watch, he at once departed at top speed, expecting to be pursued by the barbarians. When he and his men had marched without pause for two hundred stades, they made camp, being tired and keeping a careless watch as if they believed that the enemy could not come before two or three days. But when the Arabs heard from those who had seen the expedition, they at once gathered together and, leaving the place of assembly, came to the rock; then, being informed by the wounded of what had taken place, they pursued the Greeks at top speed. While the men of Athenaeus were encamped with little thought of the enemy and because of their weariness were deep in sleep, some of their prisoners escaped secretly; and the Nabataeans, learning from them the condition of the enemy, attacked the camp at about the third watch, being no less than eight thousand in number. Most of the hostile troops they slaughtered where they lay; the rest they slew with their javelins as they awoke and sprang to arms. In the end all the foot-soldiers were slain, but of the horsemen about fifty escaped, and of these the larger part were wounded. And so Athenaeus, after being successful at first, later because of his own folly failed in this manner; for carelessness and indifference are, in general, wont to follow success. For this reason some rightly believe that it is easier to meet disaster with skill than very great success with discretion; for disaster, because of the fear of what is to follow, forces men to be careful, but success, because of the previous good fortune, tempts men to be careless about everything.
§ 19.96
οἱ δὲ Ναβαταῖοι τοὺς πολεμίους κολάσαντες ἀνδρωδῶς αὐτοὶ μὲν ἐπανῆλθον εἰς τὴν πέτραν τὰ σφέτερα κεκομισμένοι, πρὸς δʼ Ἀντίγονον ἐπιστολὴν γράψαντες Συρίοις γράμμασι τῶν μὲν περὶ Ἀθήναιον κατηγόρουν, ὑπὲρ ἑαυτῶν δὲ ἀπελογοῦντο. ὁ δʼ Ἀντίγονος ἀντέγραψεν αὐτοῖς, προσμαρτυρῶν ὡς δικαίως μὲν ἠμύναντο, τῶν δὲ περὶ Ἀθήναιον κατήγορει, φάσκων παρὰ τὰς δεδομένας ἐντολὰς ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ πεποιῆσθαι τὴν ἐπίθεσιν. τοῦτο δʼ ἔπραττε κρύπτων τὴν ἑαυτοῦ προαίρεσιν καὶ βουλόμενος ὑπαγαγέσθαι τοὺς βαρβάρους εἰς ῥᾳθυμίαν, ὅπως ἀνελπίστως ἐπιθέμενος κρατήσῃ τῆς ἐπιβολῆς· οὐ γὰρ ῥᾴδιον ἦν ἄνευ δόλου τινὸς ἀνδρῶν περιγενέσθαι νομάδα βίον ἐζηλωκότων καὶ καταφυγὴν ἀπρόσιτον ἐχόντων τὴν ἔρημον. οἱ δʼ Ἄραβες περιχαρεῖς μὲν ἦσαν ἐπὶ τῷ δοκεῖν ἀπολελύσθαι μεγάλων φόβων, οὐ μὴν παντελῶς ἐπίστευόν γε τοῖς Ἀντιγόνου λόγοις, ἀλλὰ τὰς ἐλπίδας ἔχοντες ἀμφιδοξουμένας σκοποὺς μὲν κατέστησαν ἐπὶ τῶν λόφων, ἀφʼ ὧν ἦν ῥᾴδιον συνορᾶν πόρρωθεν τὰς εἰς τὴν Ἀραβίαν ἐμβολάς, αὐτοὶ δὲ συνταξάμενοι τὰ περὶ ἑαυτοὺς προσηκόντως ἐκαραδόκουν τὸ ἀποβησόμενον. ὁ δʼ Ἀντίγονος φιλοποιησάμενος χρόνον τινὰ τοὺς βαρβάρους καὶ νομίσας αὐτοὺς ἐξηπατημένους παραδεδωκέναι τὸν καθʼ αὑτῶν καιρόν, ἐξέλεξεν ἐξ ἁπάσης τῆς δυνάμεως πεζοὺς μὲν ψιλοὺς καὶ πρὸς δρόμον εὖ πεφυκότας τετρακισχιλίους, ἱππεῖς δὲ πλείους τῶν τετρακισχιλίων καὶ τούτοις μὲν παρήγγειλε φέρειν ἄπυρα σῖτα πλειόνων ἡμερῶν, Δημήτριον δὲ τὸν υἱὸν καταστήσας ἡγεμόνα πρώτης φυλακῆς ἐξέπεμψε, προστάξας κολάσαι τοὺς Ἄραβας καθʼ ὃν ἂν δύνηται τρόπον. οὗτος μὲν οὖν ἐφʼ ἡμέρας τρεῖς ἀνοδίᾳ πορευόμενος
When the Nabataeans had manfully punished the enemy they themselves returned to the rock with the property that they had recovered; but to Antigonus they wrote a letter in Syrian characters in which they accused Athenaeus and vindicated themselves. Antigonus replied to them, agreeing that they had been justified in defending themselves; but he found fault with Athenaeus, saying that he had made the attack contrary to the instructions that had been given. He did this, hiding his own intentions and desiring to delude the barbarians into a sense of security so that, by making an unexpected attack, he might accomplish his desire; for it was not easy without some deception to get the better of men who zealously pursued a nomadic life and possessed the desert as an inaccessible refuge. The Arabs were highly pleased because they seemed to have been relieved of great fears; yet they did not altogether trust the words of Antigonus, but, regarding their prospects as uncertain, they placed watchmen upon the hills from which it was easy to see from a distance the passes into Arabia, and they themselves, after having arranged their affairs in proper fashion, anxiously awaited the issue. But Antigonus when he had treated the barbarians as friends for some time and believed that they had been thoroughly deceived and thus had given him his opportunity against themselves, selected from his whole force four thousand foot-soldiers, who were lightly armed and well fitted by nature for rapid marching, and more than four thousand mounted men. He ordered them to carry several days' supply of food that would not require cooking, and, after placing his son Demetrius in command, he sent them off during the first watch, ordering him to punish the Arabs in whatever way he could.
§ 19.97
ἔσπευδε λαθεῖν τοὺς βαρβάρους, οἱ δὲ σκοποὶ κατανοήσαντες πολεμίαν δύναμιν εἰσβεβληκυῖαν ἐσήμηναν τοῖς Ναβαταίοις διὰ τῶν συγκειμένων πυρσῶν· διόπερ οἱ βάρβαροι νομίσαντες συντόμως ἥκειν τοὺς Ἕλληνας, εἰς μὲν τὴν πέτραν ἀπέθεντο τὰς ἀποσκευὰς καὶ φυλακὴν τὴν ἱκανὴν ἐπέστησαν, οὔσης μιᾶς ἀναβάσεως χειροποιήτου, αὐτοὶ δὲ διελόμενοι τὴν λείαν ἄλλοι κατʼ ἄλλους τόπους ἀπήλαυνον εἰς τὴν ἔρημον. Δημήτριος δὲ παραγενόμενος εἰς τὴν πέτραν καὶ τὴν λείαν καταλαβὼν ἀπηλλαγμένην προσβολὰς συνεχεῖς ἐποιεῖτο τῷ χωρίῳ. ἀμυνομένων δὲ τῶν ἔνδον εὐρώστως καὶ περιγιγνομένων ῥᾳδίως διὰ τὴν ὑπεροχὴν τῶν τόπων τότε μὲν μέχρι δείλης ἀγωνισάμενος ἀνεκαλέσατο τῇ σάλπιγγι τοὺς στρατιώτας· τῇ δʼ ὑστεραίᾳ προσαγαγόντος αὐτοῦ τῇ πέτρᾳ τῶν βαρβάρων τις ἀνεβόησεν “βασιλεῦ Δημήτριε, τί βουλόμενος ἢ τίνος ἀναγκάζοντος πολεμεῖς ἡμᾶς, οἰκοῦντας ἐν ἐρημίᾳ καὶ τόποις οὔθʼ ὕδωρ ἔχουσιν οὔτε σῖτον οὔτε οἶνον οὔτʼ ἄλλο τι ἁπλῶς οὐδὲν τῶν παρʼ ὑμῖν εἰς τὴν χρείαν ἀνηκόντων; ἡμεῖς γὰρ οὐδενὶ τρόπῳ προσιέμενοι δουλεύειν συμπεφεύγαμεν εἰς χώραν σπανίζουσαν πάντων τῶν ἐν τοῖς ἄλλοις χρησίμων καὶ βίον εἱλόμεθα ζῆν ἔρημον καὶ θηριώδη παντελῶς, οὐδὲν ὑμᾶς βλάπτοντες. ἀξιοῦμεν οὖν καὶ σὲ καὶ τὸν πατέρα μὴ ἀδικεῖν ἡμᾶς, ἀλλὰ λαβόντας δωρεὰς παρʼ ἡμῶν ἀπαγαγεῖν τὸ στρατόπεδον καὶ φίλους νομίζειν Ναβαταίους εἰς τὸν λοιπὸν χρόνον. οὔτε γὰρ βουλόμενος δύνασαι μένειν ἐνταῦθα πλείους ἡμέρας, ἀπορούμενος ὕδατος καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἐπιτηδείων ἁπάντων, οὔθʼ ἡμᾶς δύνασαι συναναγκάσαι βίον ζῆν ἕτερον, ἀλλά τινας αἰχμαλώτους ἕξεις δούλους ἀθύμους καὶ ζῆν οὐκ ἂν ὑπομείναντας ἐν ἄλλοις νομίμοις.” ῥηθέντων δὲ τοιούτων λόγων Δημήτριος μὲν ἀπαγαγὼν τὴν στρατιὰν ἐκέλευσεν αὐτοὺς πρέσβεις ἀποστέλλειν περὶ τούτων· οἱ δὲ Ἄραβες ἐξέπεμψαν τοὺς πρεσβυτάτους, οἳ παραπλήσια τοῖς προειρημένοις διελθόντες ἔπεισαν δεξάμενον δῶρα τὰ πολυτελέστατα τῶν παρʼ αὐτοῖς διαλύσασθαι.
Demetrius, therefore, advanced for three days through regions with no roads, striving not to be observed by the barbarians; but the lookouts, having seen that a hostile force had entered, informed the Nabataeans by means of prearranged fire signals. The barbarians, having thus learned at once that the Greeks had come, sent their property to the rock and posted there a garrison that was strong enough since there was a single artificial approach; and they themselves divided their flocks and drove them into the desert, some into one place and some into another. Demetrius, on arriving at the rock and finding that the flocks had been removed, made repeated assaults upon the stronghold. Those within resisted stoutly, and easily had the upper hand because of the height of the place; and so on this day, after he had continued the struggle until evening, he recalled his soldiers by a trumpet call. On the next day, however, when he had advanced upon the rock, one of the barbarians called to him, saying: "King Demetrius, with what desire or under what compulsion do you war against us who live in the desert and in a land that has neither water nor grain nor wine nor any other thing whatever of those that pertain to the necessities of life among you? For we, since we are in no way willing to be slaves, have all taken refuge in a land that lacks all the things that are valued among other peoples and have chosen to live a life in the desert and one altogether like that of wild beasts, harming you not at all. We therefore beg both you and your father to do us no injury but, after receiving gifts from us, to withdraw your army and henceforth regard the Nabataeans as your friends. For neither can you, if you wish, remain here many days since you lack water and all the other necessary supplies, nor can you force us to live a different life; but you will have a few captives, disheartened slaves who would not consent to live among strange ways." When words such as these had been spoken, Demetrius withdrew his army and ordered the Arabs to send an embassy about these matters. They sent their oldest men, who, repeating arguments similar to those previously uttered, persuaded him to receive as gifts the most precious of their products and to make terms with them.
§ 19.98
ὁ μὲν οὖν Δημήτριος λαβὼν ὁμήρους καὶ τὰς ὁμολογηθείσας δωρεὰς ἀνέζευξεν ἀπὸ τῆς πέτρας· διατείνας δὲ σταδίους τριακοσίους κατεστρατοπέδευσε πλησίον τῆς Ἀσφαλτίτιδος λίμνης, ἧς τὴν φύσιν οὐκ ἄξιον παραδραμεῖν ἀνεπισήμαντον. κεῖται γὰρ κατὰ μέσην τὴν σατραπείαν τῆς Ἰδουμαίας, τῷ μὲν μήκει παρεκτείνουσα σταδίους μάλιστά που πεντακοσίους, τῷ δὲ πλάτει περὶ ἑξήκοντα. τὸ δʼ ὕδωρ ἔχει διάπικρον καὶ καθʼ ὑπερβολὴν δυσῶδες, ὥστε μήτʼ ἰχθὺν δύνασθαι τρέφειν μήτʼ ἄλλο τῶν καθʼ ὕδατος εἰωθότων ζῴων εἶναι. ἐμβαλλόντων δʼ εἰς αὐτὴν ποταμῶν μεγάλων τῇ γλυκύτητι διαφόρων τούτων μὲν περιγίνεται κατὰ τὴν δυσωδίαν, ἐξ αὑτῆς δὲ μέσης ἐκφυσᾷ κατʼ ἐνιαυτὸν ἀσφάλτου στερεᾶς μέγεθος ποτὲ μὲν μεῖζον ἢ τρίπλεθρον, ἔστι δʼ ὅτʼ οὐ πολὺ λειπόμενον πλέθρου· ἐφʼ ᾧ δὴ συνήθως οἱ περιοικοῦντες βάρβαροι τὸ μὲν μεῖζον καλοῦσι ταῦρον, τὸ δὲ ἔλασσον μόσχον. ἐπιπλεούσης δὲ τῆς ἀσφάλτου πελαγίας ὁ τόπος φαίνεται τοῖς ἐξ ἀποστήματος θεωροῦσιν οἱονεί τις νῆσος. τὴν δʼ ἔκπτωσιν φανερὰν συμβαίνει γίνεσθαι πρὸ ἡμερῶν εἴκοσι· κύκλῳ γὰρ τῆς λίμνης ἐπὶ πολλοὺς σταδίους ὀσμὴ τῆς ἀσφάλτου προσπίπτει μετὰ πνεύματος μοχθηροῦ καὶ πᾶς ὁ περὶ τὸν τόπον ἄργυρος καὶ χρυσὸς καὶ χαλκὸς ἀποβάλλει τὴν ἰδιότητα τοῦ χρώματος. ἀλλʼ αὕτη μὲν ἀποκαθίσταται πάλιν, ἐπειδὰν ἀναφυσηθῆναι συμβῇ πᾶσαν τὴν ἄσφαλτον· ὁ δὲ πλησίον τόπος ἔμπυρος ὢν καὶ δυσώδης ποιεῖ τὰ σώματα τῶν περιοικούντων ἐπίνοσα καὶ παντελῶς ὀλιγοχρόνια. ἀγαθὴ δʼ ἐστὶ φοινικόφυτος ὅσην αὐτῆς συμβαίνει διειλῆφθαι ποταμοῖς χρησίμοις ἢ πηγαῖς δυναμέναις ἀρδεύειν. γίνεται δὲ περὶ τοὺς τόπους τούτους ἐν αὐλῶνί τινι καὶ τὸ καλούμενον βάλσαμον, ἐξ οὗ πρόσοδον ἁδρὰν εἶναι συμβαίνει, οὐδαμοῦ μὲν τῆς ἄλλης οἰκουμένης εὑρισκομένου τοῦ φυτοῦ, τῆς δʼ ἐξ αὐτοῦ χρείας εἰς φάρμακα τοῖς ἰατροῖς καθʼ ὑπερβολὴν εὐθετούσης.
Demetrius received hostages and the gifts that had been agreed upon and departed from the rock. After marching for three hundred stades, he camped near the Dead Sea, the nature of which ought not to be passed over without remark. It lies along the middle of the satrapy of Idumaea, extending in length about five hundred stades and in width about sixty. Its water is very bitter and of exceedingly foul odour, so that it can support neither fish nor any of the other creatures usually found in water. Although great rivers whose waters are of exceptional sweetness flow into it, it prevails over these by reason of its foulness; and from its centre each year it sends forth a mass of solid asphalt, sometimes more than three plethra in area, sometimes a little less than one plethrum. When this happens the barbarians who live near habitually call the larger mass a bull and the smaller one a calf. When the asphalt is floating on the sea, its surface seems to those who see it from a distance just like an island. It appears that the ejection of the asphalt is indicated twenty days in advance, for on every side about the sea for a distance of many stades the odour of the asphalt spreads with a noisome exhalation, and all the silver, gold, and bronze in the region lose their proper colours. These, however, are restored as soon as all the asphalt has been ejected; but the neighbouring region is very torrid and ill smelling, which makes the inhabitants sickly in body and exceedingly short-lived. Yet the land is good for raising palm trees in whatever part it is crossed by serviceable rivers or is supplied with springs that can irrigate it. In a certain valley in this region there grows what is called balsam, from which there is a great income since nowhere else in the inhabited world is this plant found, and its use as a drug is very important to physicians.
§ 19.99
τὴν δʼ ἐκπίπτουσαν ἄσφαλτον οἱ περιοικοῦντες ἐξ ἀμφοτέρων τῶν μερῶν τὴν λίμνην διαρπάζουσι πολεμικῶς διακείμενοι πρὸς ἀλλήλους, ἄνευ πλοίων ἰδιαζόντως τὴν κομιδὴν ποιούμενοι. παρασκευασάμενοι γὰρ δέσμας καλάμων εὐμεγέθεις ἐμβάλλουσιν εἰς τὴν λίμνην· ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων ἐπικάθηνται οὐ πλείω τριῶν, ὧν δύο μὲν ἔχοντες προσδεδεμένας πλάτας κωπηλατοῦσιν, εἷς δὲ φορῶν τόξα τοὺς προσπλέοντας κωπηλατοῦσιν, εἷς δὲ φορῶν τόξα τοὺς προσπλέοντας ἐκ τοῦ πέραν ἢ βιάζεσθαι τολμῶντας ἀμύνεται. ὅταν δὲ πλησίον γένωνται τῆς ἀσφάλτου, πελέκεις ἔχοντες ἐπιπηδῶσι καὶ καθάπερ μαλακῆς πέτρας ἀποκόπτοντες γεμίζουσι τὴν δέσμην, εἶτα ἀποπλέουσιν εἰς τοὐπίσω. ἂν δέ τις αὐτῶν ἀποπέσῃ τῆς δέσμης διαλυθείσης μὴ δυνάμενος νεῖν, οὐ καταδύεται καθάπερ ἐν τοῖς ἄλλοις ὕδασιν, ἀλλὰ ἐπινήχεται τοῖς ἐπισταμένοις ὁμοίως. φύσει γὰρ τοῦτο τὸ ὑγρὸν παραδέχεται βάρος ὃ συμβαίνει μετέχειν αὐξήσεως ἢ πνεύματος, ἔξω τῶν στερεῶν, ἃ τὴν πυκνότητα δοκεῖ παραπλησίαν ἔχειν ἀργύρῳ καὶ χρυσῷ καὶ μολύβδῳ καὶ τοῖς ὁμοίοις· καὶ ταῦτα μὲν πολὺ βραδύτερον καταφέρεται τῶν ἐν ταῖς ἄλλαις λίμναις ῥιπτουμένων. ταύτην δʼ ἔχοντες οἱ βάρβαροι πρόσοδον ἀπάγουσι τὴν ἄσφαλτον εἰς τὴν Αἴγυπτον καὶ πωλοῦσιν εἰς τὰς ταριχείας τῶν νεκρῶν· μὴ μιγνυμένης γὰρ ταύτης τοῖς λοιποῖς ἀρώμασιν οὐ δυνατὸν γενέσθαι τὴν τῶν σωμάτων φυλακὴν πολυχρόνιον.
When the asphalt has been ejected, the people who live about the sea on both sides carry it off like plunder of war since they are hostile to each other, making the collection without boats in a peculiar fashion. They make ready large bundles of reeds and cast them into the sea. On these not more than three men take their places, two of whom row with oars, which are lashed on, but one carries a bow and repels any who sail against them from the other shore or who venture to interfere with them. When they have come near the asphalt they jump upon it with axes and, just as it were soft stone, they cut out pieces and load them on the raft, after which they sail back. If the raft comes to pieces and one of them who does not know how to swim falls off, he does not sink as he would in other waters, but stays afloat as well as do those who know. For this liquid by its nature supports heavy bodies that have the power of growth or of breathing, except for solid ones that seem to have a density like that of silver, gold, lead, and the like; and even these sink much more slowly than do these exact bodies if they are cast into other lakes. The barbarians who enjoy this source of income take the asphalt to Egypt and sell it for the embalming of the dead; for unless this is mixed with the other aromatic ingredients, the preservation of the bodies cannot be permanent. 1
§ 19.100
ὁ δʼ Ἀντίγονος, ἐπανελθόντος τοῦ Δημητρίου καὶ τὰ κατὰ μέρος τῶν πεπραγμένων ἀπαγγείλαντος, ἐπὶ μὲν τῇ συνθέσει τῇ πρὸς τοὺς Ναβαταίους ἐπετίμησεν αὐτῷ, λέγων ὅτι πολλῷ θρασυτέρους πεποίηκε τοὺς βαρβάρους ἐάσας ἀτιμωρήτους· δόξειν γὰρ αὐτοὺς τετευχέναι συγγνώμης οὐ διʼ ἐπιείκειαν, ἀλλὰ διʼ ἀδυναμίαν τοῦ κρατῆσαι· ἐπὶ δὲ τῷ κατασκέψασθαι τὴν λίμνην καὶ δοκεῖν εὑρηκέναι τινὰ τῇ βασιλείᾳ πρόσοδον ἐπαινέσας ἐπὶ μὲν ταύτης ἐπιμελητὴν ἔταξεν Ἱερώνυμον τὸν τὰς ἱστορίας συγγράψαντα, τούτῳ δὲ συνετέτακτο πλοῖα παρασκευάσασθαι καὶ πᾶσαν τὴν ἄσφαλτον ἀναλαβόντα συνάγειν εἴς τινα τόπον. οὐ μὴν ἀπέβη γε καὶ τὸ τέλος κατὰ τὴν ἐλπίδα τοῖς περὶ τὸν Ἀντίγονον· οἱ γὰρ Ἄραβες συστραφέντες εἰς ἑξακισχιλίους, ἐπιπλεύσαντες ἐν ταῖς δέσμαις ἐπὶ τοὺς ἐν τοῖς πλοίοις, σχεδὸν ἅπαντας κατετόξευσαν. ἐξ οὗ δὴ συνέβη τὸν Ἀντίγονον ἀπογνῶναι τὰς προσόδους ταύτας διὰ τὸ γεγονὸς παράπτωμα καὶ διὰ τὸ τὸν νοῦν ἔχειν πρὸς ἑτέροις μείζοσι. παρεγένετο γὰρ κατὰ τούτους τοὺς καιροὺς βυβλιαφόρος ἔχων ἐπιστολὴν παρὰ Νικάνορος τοῦ στρατηγοῦ τῆς τε Μηδίας καὶ τῶν ἄνω σατραπειῶν· ἐν ταύτῃ δʼ ἦν γεγραμμένον περί τε τῆς ἀναβάσεως τῆς Σελεύκου καὶ τῶν γεγονότων περὶ αὐτὸν ἀτυχημάτων. διόπερ ἀγωνιῶν ὁ Ἀντίγονος περὶ τῶν ἄνω σατραπειῶν ἐξέπεμψε Δημήτριον τὸν υἱὸν ἔχοντα πεζοὺς Μακεδόνας μὲν πεντακισχιλίους, μισθοφόρους δὲ μυρίους, ἱππεῖς δὲ τετρακισχιλίους· συνετέτακτο δʼ αὐτῷ μέχρι Βαβυλῶνος ἀναβῆναι καὶ τὴν σατραπείαν ἀνακτησάμενον καταβαίνειν συντόμως ἐπὶ θάλασσαν. ὁ μὲν οὖν Δημήτριος ὁρμήσας ἐκ Δαμασκοῦ τῆς Συρίας τὸ συνταχθὲν ὑπὸ τοῦ πατρὸς ἐπετέλει μετὰ σπουδῆς· ὁ δὲ καθεσταμένος ὑπὸ Σελεύκου τῆς Βαβυλωνίας στρατηγὸς Πατροκλῆς πυθόμενος περὶ Μεσοποταμίαν εἶναι τοὺς πολεμίους, ὑπομεῖναι μὲν τὴν ἔφοδον αὐτῶν οὐκ ἐτόλμησεν, ὀλίγους ἔχων περὶ αὑτόν, ἀλλὰ τοῖς μὲν ἄλλοις προσέταξεν ἐκλιπεῖν τὴν πόλιν καὶ τοὺς μὲν αὐτῶν διαβάντας τὸν Εὐφράτην φυγεῖν εἰς τὴν ἔρημον, τοὺς δὲ περάσαντας τὸν Τίγριν ἀπελθεῖν εἰς τὴν Σουσιανὴν πρὸς Εὐτελῆ καὶ τὴν Ἐρυθρὰν θάλατταν, αὐτὸς δὲ μεθʼ ὧν εἶχε στρατιωτῶν προβολαῖς χρώμενος ῥεύμασι ποταμῶν καὶ διώρυξιν ἀνεστρέφετο περὶ τὴν σατραπείαν, ἅμα μὲν ἐφεδρεύων τοῖς πολεμίοις, ἅμα δὲ πέμπων πρὸς Σέλευκον εἰς Μηδίαν περὶ τῶν ἀεὶ συντελουμένων καὶ παρακαλῶν βοηθεῖν τὴν ταχίστην. ὁ δὲ Δημήτριος ἐπειδὴ παραγενόμενος εἰς Βαβυλῶνα τὴν πόλιν ἐκλελειμμένην εὗρεν, πολιορκεῖν ἐπεχείρει τὰς ἀκροπόλεις. ὧν τὴν ἑτέραν ἑλὼν ἔδωκε τοῖς ἰδίοις στρατιώταις εἰς διαρπαγήν· τὴν δʼ ἑτέραν πολιορκήσας ἡμέρας τινάς, ἐπειδὴ χρόνου προσεδεῖτο, Ἀρχέλαον μὲν ἕνα τῶν φίλων ἀπέλιπε στρατηγὸν ἐπὶ τῆς πολιορκίας, δοὺς αὐτῷ πεζοὺς μὲν πεντακισχιλίους, ἱππεῖς δὲ χιλίους, αὐτὸς δέ, τοῦ χρόνου συντρέχοντος ἐν ᾧ συντεταγμένον ἦν τὴν ἄφοδον αὐτῷ ποιήσασθαι, μετὰ τῆς λοιπῆς δυνάμεως τὴν ἐπὶ θάλασσαν κατάβασιν ἐποιεῖτο.
Antigonus, when Demetrius returned and made a detailed report of what he had done, rebuked him for the treaty with the Nabataeans, saying that he had made the barbarians much bolder by leaving them unpunished, since it would seem to them that they had gained pardon not through his kindness but through his inability to overcome them; but he praised him for examining the lake and apparently having found a source of revenue for the kingdom. In charge of this he placed Hieronymus, the writer of the history, and instructed him to prepare boats, collect all the asphalt, and bring it together in a certain place. But the result was not in accord with the expectations of Antigonus; for the Arabs, collecting to the number of six thousand and sailing up on their rafts of reeds against those on the boats, killed almost all of them with their arrows. As a result, Antigonus gave up this source of revenue because of the defeat he had suffered and because his mind was engaged with other and weightier matters. For there came to him at this time a dispatch-bearer with a letter from Nicanor, the general of Media and the upper satrapies. In this letter was written an account of Seleucus' march inland and of the disasters that had been suffered in connection with him. Therefore Antigonus, worried about the upper satrapies, sent his son Demetrius with five thousand Macedonian and ten thousand mercenary foot-soldiers and four thousand horse; and he ordered him to go up as far as Babylon and then, after recovering the satrapy, to come down to the sea at full speed. So Demetrius, having set out from Damascus in Syria, carried out his father's orders with zeal. Patrocles, who had been established as general of Babylonia by Seleucus, hearing that the enemy was on the frontiers of Mesopotamia, did not dare await their arrival since he had few men at hand; but he gave orders to the civilians to leave the city, bidding some of them cross the Euphrates and take refuge in the desert and some of them pass over the Tigris and go into Susiane to Euteles and to the Red Sea; and he himself with what soldiers he had, using river courses and canals as defences, kept moving about in the satrapy, watching the enemy and at the same time sending word into Media to Seleucus about what was taking place from time to time and urging him to send aid as soon as possible. When Demetrius on his arrival at Babylon found the city abandoned, he began to besiege the citadels. He took one of these and delivered it to his own soldiers for plundering; the other he besieged for a few days and then, since the capture required time, left Archelaus, one of his friends, as general for the siege, giving him five thousand infantry and one thousand cavalry, while he himself, the time being close at hand at which he had been ordered to return, made the march down to the sea with the rest of his army.
§ 19.101
ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις κατὰ μὲν τὴν Ἰταλίαν Ῥωμαίων διαπολεμούντων τὸν πρὸς Σαμνίτας πόλεμον συνεχεῖς ἐγίνοντο προνομαὶ τῆς χώρας καὶ πολιορκίαι πόλεων καὶ δυνάμεων ἐν ὑπαίθρῳ στρατοπεδεῖαι· τὰ γὰρ μαχιμώτατα τῶν κατὰ τὴν Ἰταλίαν ἐθνῶν περὶ ἡγεμονίας φιλοτιμούμενα παντοίους συνίσταντο κινδύνους. οἱ μὲν οὖν τῶν Ῥωμαίων ὕπατοι μέρος τῆς δυνάμεως ἀναλαβόντες ἀντεστρατοπέδευσαν ταῖς τῶν πολεμίων παρεμβολαῖς καὶ πρὸς μὲν μάχην καιρὸν ἐπετήρουν οἰκεῖον, ταῖς δὲ συμμαχίσι πόλεσι παρείχοντο τὴν ἀσφάλειαν. τὸ δὲ λοιπὸν στρατόπεδον ἀναλαβὼν Κόιντος Φάβιος, ὃς ἦν αὐτοκράτωρ ᾑρημένος, τήν τε Φρεγελλανῶν πόλιν εἷλε καὶ τῶν ἀλλοτρίως διακειμένων πρὸς τὴν Ῥώμην τοὺς ἐπιφανεστάτους ἐζώγρησεν. τούτους δὲ τὸν ἀριθμὸν ὄντας πλείους τῶν διακοσίων ἀπήγαγεν εἰς Ῥώμην καὶ προαγαγὼν εἰς τὴν ἀγορὰν ῥαβδίσας ἐπελέκησε κατὰ τὸ πάτριον ἔθος. μετʼ ὀλίγον δὲ ἐμβαλὼν εἰς τὴν τῶν πολεμίων χώραν Καλατίαν καὶ τὴν Νωλάνων ἀκρόπολιν ἐξεπολιόρκησεν καὶ λαφύρων μὲν πλῆθος ἀπέδοτο, τοῖς δὲ στρατιώταις πολλὴν τῆς χώρας κατεκληρούχησεν. ὁ δὲ δῆμος, κατὰ νοῦν τῶν πραγμάτων αὐτῷ προχωρούντων, ἀποικίαν ἀπέστειλεν εἰς τὴν νῆσον τὴν Ποντίαν καλουμένην.
While this was taking place, in Italy the Romans were charge on their war with the Samnites, and there were repeated raids through the country, sieges of cities, and encampments of armies in the field, for the two most war-like of the peoples of Italy were struggling as rivals for the supremacy and meeting in conflicts of every sort. Now the Roman consuls with part of the army had taken a position in the face of the encampments of the enemy and were awaiting an opportune time for battle while at the same time furnishing protection to the allied cities. With the rest of the army Quintus Fabius, who had been chosen dictator, captured the city of the Fregellani and made prisoners the chief men among those who were hostile to the Romans. These to the number of more than two hundred he took to Rome; and, bringing them into the Forum, he beat them with rods and beheaded them according to the ancestral custom. Soon afterwards, entering the hostile territory, he took by siege Calatia and the citadel of Nola; and he sold a large amount of spoil but allotted much of the land to his soldiers. The people, since matters were progressing according to their will, sent a colony to the island that is called Pontia. 1
§ 19.102
ἐν δὲ τῇ Σικελίᾳ τῆς εἰρήνης ἄρτι γεγενημένης Ἀγαθοκλεῖ πρὸς τοὺς Σικελιώτας πλὴν Μεσσηνίων οἱ μὲν φυγάδες τῶν Συρακοσίων ἠθροίσθησαν εἰς τὴν Μεσσήνην, ταύτην ὁρῶντες λοιπὴν οὖσαν τῶν ἀλλοτρίως ἐχουσῶν πρὸς τὸν δυνάστην, ὁ δʼ Ἀγαθοκλῆς σπεύδων αὐτῶν καταλῦσαι τὸ σύστημα Πασίφιλον στρατηγὸν ἐξαπέστειλε μετὰ δυνάμεως εἰς τὴν Μεσσήνην, ἐντειλάμενος ἐν ἀπορρήτοις ἃ χρὴ πράττειν. οὗτος δὲ ἀπροσδοκήτως ἐμβαλὼν εἰς τὴν χώραν καὶ πολλῶν αἰχμαλώτων καὶ τῆς ἄλλης λείας ἐγκρατὴς γενόμενος ἠξίου τοὺς Μεσσηνίους βούλεσθαι τὴν φιλίαν καὶ μὴ συναναγκάζεσθαι τοῖς πολεμιωτάτοις αὐτοῦ διαλύεσθαι. οἱ δὲ Μεσσήνιοι λαβόντες ἐλπίδας τοῦ χωρὶς κινδύνων ἀπολυθήσεσθαι τοῦ πολέμου τούς τε φυγάδας τοὺς ἐκ Συρακουσσῶν ἐξέβαλον καὶ τὸν Ἀγαθοκλέα παραγενόμενον μετὰ δυνάμεως προσεδέξαντο. ὁ δὲ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον φιλανθρώπως αὐτοῖς προσεφέρετο καὶ τοὺς φυγάδας ἔπεισεν καταδέξασθαι τοὺς συ στρατευομένους μὲν αὐτῷ, πεφυγαδευμένους δὲ νόμῳ ὑπὸ τῶν Μεσσηνίων. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τοὺς ἐναντιουμένους ἐν τοῖς ἔμπροσθεν χρόνοις τῇ δυναστείᾳ μεταπεμψάμενος ἔκ τε Ταυρομενίου καὶ τῆς Μεσσήνης ἅπαντας ἀπέσφαξεν, οὐκ ἐλάττους ὄντας ἑξακοσίων· διανοούμενος γὰρ πόλεμον ἐκφέρειν τοῖς Καρχηδονίοις πᾶν τὸ διακείμενον ἀλλοτρίως κατὰ τὴν Σικελίαν ἐκ ποδῶν ἐποιεῖτο. οἱ δὲ Μεσσήνιοι τῶν ξένων τοὺς εὐνουστάτους αὐτοῖς καὶ δυναμένους ἀμύνασθαι τὸν τύραννον ἐκβεβληκότες ἐκ τῆς πόλεως καὶ τῶν πολιτῶν τοὺς ἀλλοτρίως ἔχοντας πρὸς τὸν δυνάστην ὁρῶντες ἀνῃρημένους, ἔτι δὲ τοὺς ἐπὶ κακουργίᾳ καταδεδικασμένους ἠναγκασμένοι καταδέξασθαι μετεμέλοντο μὲν ἐπὶ τοῖς πεπραγμένοις, ἠναγκάζοντο δὲ καρτερεῖν, καταπεπληγμένοι τὴν ὑπεροχὴν τῶν κρατούντων. ὁ δʼ Ἀγαθοκλῆς τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἀνέζευξεν ἐπʼ Ἀκράγαντος, διανοούμενος καὶ ταύτην τὴν πόλιν συσκευάσασθαι· τῶν δὲ Καρχηδονίων καταπλευσάντων ναυσὶν ἑξήκοντα ταύτης μὲν τῆς προθέσεως ἀπέστη, τὴν δὲ χώραν τὴν ὑπὸ Καρχηδονίους ἐπιὼν ἐλεηλάτει καὶ τῶν φρουρίων ἃ μὲν ᾕρει κατὰ κράτος, ἃ δὲ διʼ ὁμολογίας προσήγετο.
In Sicily, where peace had just been established between Agathocles and the Sicilians except the Messenians, the exiles of Syracuse gathered in Messene since they saw that this was the only city remaining of those that were hostile to the dynast; but Agathocles, who was eager to break up their group, sent Pasiphilus with an army to Messene as general, telling him in secret instructions what he should do. Pasiphilus, entering the region unexpectedly and gaining possession of many prisoners and much other booty, urged the Messenians to choose friendship with him and not be forced to seek terms in common with his bitterest foes. The Messenians, gaining hope of a bloodless termination of the war, expelled the Syracusan exiles and welcomed Agathocles when he came near with his army. At first he treated them in a friendly manner and persuaded them to receive back the exiles who were in his army, men who had been legally banished by the Messenians. But then he brought together from Tauromenium and Messene those who had previously been opposed to his rule and put them all to death, being no less than six hundred in number; for his intention was to wage war on the Carthaginians, and he was getting rid of all opposition throughout Sicily. When the Messenians had driven out of the city those non-citizens who were most favourably disposed to them and best able to protect them from the tyrant, and saw that those of their own citizens who were opposed to the dynast had been put to death, and when, moreover, they had been forced to receive back men who had been convicted of crime, they regretted what they had done; but they were forced to submit, since they were completely cowed by the superior power of those who had become their masters. Agathocles first set out for Acragas, intending to organize that city also in his own interest; when, however, the Carthaginians sailed in with sixty ships, he abandoned that purpose; but he entered the territory subject to the Carthaginians and plundered it, taking some of the fortified places by force and winning others by negotiation.
§ 19.103
ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πρασσομένοις Δεινοκράτης ὁ τῶν Συρακοσίων φυγάδων ἡγούμενος πρὸς μὲν τοὺς Καρχηδονίους διεπέμπετο, βοηθεῖν ἀξιῶν πρὶν ἢ τὸν Ἀγαθοκλέα πᾶσαν ὑφʼ ἑαυτὸν ποιήσασθαι Σικελίαν, αὐτὸς δὲ προσδεξάμενος τοὺς ἐκ Μεσσήνης ἐκβεβλημένους φυγάδας, ἔχων ἁδρὰν δύναμιν, ἀπέστειλέν τινα τῶν περὶ αὑτὸν Νυμφόδωρον, δοὺς μέρος τῶν στρατιωτῶν, ἐπὶ τὴν Κεντοριπίνων πόλιν· ταύτην γὰρ φρουρουμένην ὑπʼ Ἀγαθοκλέους τῶν πολιτικῶν τινες ἐπηγγείλαντο παραδώσειν, ἐφʼ ὅτῳ τὴν αὐτονομίαν δοθῆναι τῷ δήμῳ. παρεισπεσόντος δʼ εἰς τὴν πόλιν αὐτοῦ νυκτὸς οἱ προεστῶτες τῆς φρουρᾶς αἰσθόμενοι τὸ γεγονὸς αὐτόν τε τὸν Νυμφόδωρον ἀνεῖλον καὶ τοὺς βιαζομένους ἐντὸς τοῦ τείχους. ταύτης δὲ τῆς ἀφορμῆς λαβόμενος Ἀγαθοκλῆς ἐνεκάλεσέ τε τοῖς Κεντοριπίνοις καὶ τοὺς δόξαντας αἰτίους γεγονέναι τοῦ νεωτερισμοῦ πάντας ἀπέσφαξε. περὶ ταῦτα δʼ ὄντος τοῦ δυνάστου Καρχηδόνιοι καταπλεύσαντες εἰς τὸν μέγαν λιμένα τῶν Συρακοσίων πεντήκοντα σκάφεσιν ἄλλο μὲν οὐδὲν ἠδυνήθησαν πρᾶξαι, δυσὶ δὲ περιπεσόντες φορτηγοῖς πλοίοις τὴν μὲν ἐξ Ἀθηνῶν κατέδυσαν, τῶν δʼ ἐπιπλεόντων τὰς χεῖρας ἀπέκοψαν. δοξάντων δʼ αὐτῶν ὠμῶς κεχρῆσθαι μηδʼ ὁτιοῦν ἀδικοῦσι ταχὺ τὸ δαιμόνιον αὐτοῖς ἐπεσήμαινεν· εὐθὺ γὰρ τοῦ στόλου τινὲς νῆες ἀποσχισθεῖσαι περὶ τὴν Βρεττίαν ἑάλωσαν ὑπὸ τῶν Ἀγαθοκλέους στρατηγῶν καὶ τὸ παραπλήσιον οἱ ζωγρηθέντες τῶν Φοινίκων ἔπαθον οἷς ἔπραξαν εἰς τοὺς ἁλόντας.
While this was taking place, Deinocrates, the leader of the Syracusan exiles, sent a message to the Carthaginians, asking them to send aid before Agathocles should bring all Sicily under his sway; and he himself, since he had a strong army after receiving those exiles who had been driven out of Messene, dispatched one of his friends, Nymphodorus, with part of the soldiers to the city of the Centoripini. Although this city was garrisoned by Agathocles, some of its chief men had promised to betray it on condition that the people be given autonomy. But when Nymphodorus broke into the city by night, the commanders of the garrison, perceiving what had taken place, slew both the man himself and those who pressed fiercely on within the walls. Seizing upon this opportunity, Agathocles brought accusations against the Centoripini and slaughtered all who were thought to have been guilty of the sedition. While the dynast was thus engaged, the Carthaginians sailed into the great harbour of Syracuse with fifty light boats. They were able to do nothing more, but falling upon two merchant ships from Athens, they sank the ships themselves and cut off the hands of the crews. They had clearly treated with cruelty men who had done them no harm at all, and the gods quickly gave them a sign of this; for immediately, when some of the ships were separated from the fleet in the vicinity of Brettia, they were captured by the generals of Agathocles, and those of the Phoenicians who were taken alive suffered a fate similar to that with they had inflicted upon their captives.
§ 19.104
οἱ δὲ περὶ τὸν Δεινοκράτην φυγάδες, ἔχοντες πεζοὺς μὲν ὑπὲρ τοὺς τρισχιλίους, ἱππεῖς δὲ οὐκ ἐλάττους δισχιλίων, τὴν καλουμένην Γαλερίαν κατελάβοντο, τῶν πολιτῶν ἑκουσίως ἐπικαλεσαμένων, καὶ τοὺς μὲν Ἀγαθοκλέους ἐξέβαλον, αὐτοὶ δὲ πρὸ τῆς πόλεως ἐστρατοπέδευσαν. Ἀγαθοκλέους δὲ ταχέως ἀποστείλαντος ἐπʼ αὐτοὺς Πασίφιλον καὶ Δημόφιλον μετὰ στρατιωτῶν πεντακισχιλίων ἐγένετο μάχη πρὸς τοὺς φυγάδας, ὧν ἠγεῖτο Δεινοκράτης καὶ Φιλωνίδης, τὰ κέρατα διειληφότες. ἐφʼ ἱκανὸν μὲν οὖν χρόνον ἰσόρροπος ἦν ὁ κίνδυνος, φιλοτίμως ἀμφοτέρων τῶν στρατοπέδων ἀγωνιζομένων· τοῦ δʼ ἑτέρου τῶν στρατηγῶν Φιλωνίδου πεσόντος καὶ τοῦ κατὰ τοῦτον μέρους τραπέντος ἠναγκάσθη καὶ Δεινοκράτης ἀποχωρῆσαι. οἱ δὲ περὶ τὸν Πασίφιλον τούτων τε πολλοὺς κατὰ τὴν φυγὴν ἀνεῖλον καὶ τὴν Γαλερίαν ἀνακτησάμενοι τοὺς αἰτίους τῆς ἀποστάσεως ἐκόλασαν. Ἀγαθοκλῆς δὲ πυνθανόμενος τοὺς Καρχηδονίους τὸν Ἔκνομον καλούμενον λόφον ἐν τῇ Γελῴα κατειληφέναι, διέγνω πάσῃ τῇ δυνάμει διαγωνίσασθαι. ὁρμήσας δʼ ἐπʼ αὐτοὺς καὶ πλησίον γενόμενος προεκαλεῖτο εἰς μάχην, ἐπηρμένος τῇ προγεγενημένῃ νίκῃ. οὐ τολμώντων δὲ τῶν βαρβάρων παρατάξασθαι νομίσας ἀκονιτὶ κρατεῖν τῶν ὑπαίθρων ἐπανῆλθεν εἰς τὰς Συρακούσσας καὶ τῶν ναῶν τοὺς ἐπιφανεστάτους τοῖς σκύλοις ἐκόσμησεν. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἐπράχθη κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν ἐνιαυτὸν ὧν ἡμεῖς ἐδυνήθημεν ἐφικέσθαι.
The exiles who were with Deinocrates, having more than three thousand foot-soldiers and not less than two thousand mounted men, occupied the place called Galeria, the citizens of their own free will inviting them; and they exiled the followers of Agathocles, but they themselves encamped before the city. When, however, Agathocles quickly dispatched against them Pasiphilus and Demophilus with five thousand soldiers, a battle was fought with the exiles, who were led by Deinocrates and Philonides, each in command of a wing. For some time the conflict was evenly balanced, both of the armies fighting with zest; but when one of the generals, Philonides, fell and his part of the army was put to flight, Deinocrates also was forced to withdraw. Pasiphilus killed many of his opponents during the flight and, after gaining possession of Galeria, punished those guilty of the uprising. Agathocles, on hearing that the Carthaginians had seized the hill called Ecnomus in the territory of Gela, decided to fight them to a finish with his whole army. When he had set out against them and had drawn near, he challenged them to battle since he was elated by his previous victory. But the barbarians not venturing to meet him in battle, he assumed that he now completely dominated the open country without a fight and went off to Syracuse, where he decorated the chief temples with the spoils. These are the events of this year that we have been able to discover.
§ 19.105
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησι Σιμωνίδου Ῥωμαῖοι μὲν ὑπάτους κατέστησαν Μάρκον Οὐαλλέριον καὶ Πόπλιον Δέκιον. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων οἱ περὶ Κάσανδρον καὶ Πτολεμαῖον καὶ Λυσίμαχον διαλύσεις ἐποιήσαντο πρὸς Ἀντίγονον καὶ συνθήκας ἔγραψαν. ἐν δὲ ταύταις ἦν Κάσανδρον μὲν εἶναι στρατηγὸν τῆς Εὐρώπης, μέχρι ἂν Ἀλέξανδρος ὁ ἐκ Ῥωξάνης εἰς ἡλικίαν ἔλθῃ, καὶ Λυσίμαχον μὲν τῆς Θρᾴκης κυριεύειν, Πτολεμαῖον δὲ τῆς Αἰγύπτου καὶ τῶν συνοριζουσῶν ταύτῃ πόλεων κατά τε τὴν Λιβύην καὶ τὴν Ἀραβίαν, Ἀντίγονον δὲ ἀφηγεῖσθαι τῆς Ἀσίας πάσης, τοὺς δὲ Ἕλληνας αὐτονόμους εἶναι. οὐ μὴν ἐνέμεινάν γε ταῖς ὁμολογίαις ταύταις, ἀλλʼ ἕκαστος αὐτῶν προφάσεις εὐλόγους ποριζόμενος πλεονεκτεῖν ἐπειρᾶτο. Κάσανδρος δὲ ὁρῶν Ἀλέξανδρον τὸν ἐκ Ῥωξάνης αὐξόμενον καὶ κατὰ τὴν Μακεδονίαν λόγους ὑπό τινων διαδιδομένους ὅτι καθήκει προάγειν ἐκ τῆς φυλακῆς τὸν παῖδα καὶ τὴν πατρῴαν βασιλείαν παραδοῦναι, φοβηθεὶς ὑπὲρ ἑαυτοῦ προσέταξε Γλαυκίᾳ τῷ προεστηκότι τῆς τοῦ παιδὸς φυλακῆς τὴν μὲν Ῥωξάνην καὶ τὸν βασιλέα κατασφάξαι καὶ κρύψαι τὰ σώματα, τὸ δὲ γεγονὸς μηδενὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἀπαγγεῖλαι. ποιήσαντος δʼ αὐτοῦ τὸ προσταχθὲν οἱ περὶ Κάσανδρον καὶ Λυσίμαχον καὶ Πτολεμαῖον, ἔτι δʼ Ἀντίγονον ἀπηλλάγησαν τῶν ἀπὸ τοῦ βασιλέως προσδοκωμένων φόβων· οὐκέτι γὰρ ὄντος οὐδενὸς τοῦ διαδεξομένου τὴν ἀρχὴν τὸ λοιπὸν ἕκαστος τῶν κρατούντων ἐθνῶν ἢ πόλεων βασιλικὰς εἶχεν ἐλπίδας καὶ τὴν ὑφʼ ἑαυτὸν τεταγμένην χώραν εἶχεν ὡσανεί τινα βασιλείαν δορίκτητον. τὰ μὲν οὖν κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν καὶ τὴν Εὐρώπην καὶ τὰ περὶ τὴν Ἑλλάδα καὶ Μακεδονίαν ἐν τούτοις ἦν. κατὰ δὲ τὴν Ἰταλίαν Ῥωμαῖοι δυνάμεσιν ἁδραῖς πεζῶν τε καὶ ἱππέων ἐστράτευσαν ἐπὶ Πολλίτιον, Μαρρουκίνων οὖσαν πόλιν. ἀπέστειλαν δὲ καὶ τῶν πολιτῶν εἰς ἀποικίαν καὶ κατῴκισαν τὴν προσαγορευομένην Ἰντέραμναν.
When Simonides was archon in Athens, the Romans elected to the consulship Marcus Valerius and Publius Decius. While these held office, Cassander, Ptolemy, and Lysimachus came to terms with Antigonus and made a treaty. In this it was provided that Cassander be general of Europe until Alexander, the son of Roxane, should come of age; that Lysimachus rule Thrace, and that Ptolemy rule Egypt and the cities adjacent thereto in Libya and Arabia; that Antigonus have first place in all Asia; and that the Greeks be autonomous. However, they did not abide by these agreements but each of them, putting forward plausible excuses, kept seeking to increase his own power. Now Cassander perceived that Alexander, the son of Roxane, was growing up and that word was being spread throughout Macedonia by certain men that it was fitting to release the boy from custody and give him his father's kingdom; and, fearing for himself, he instructed Glaucias, who was in command of the guard over the child, to murder Roxane and the king and conceal their bodies, but to disclose to no one else what had been done. When Glaucias had carried out the instructions, Cassander, Lysimachus, and Ptolemy, and Antigonus as well, were relieved of their anticipated danger from the king; for henceforth, there being no longer anyone to inherit the realm, each of those who had rule over nations or cities entertained hopes of royal power and held the territory that had been placed under his authority as if it were a kingdom won by the spear. This was the situation in Asia and in Greece and Macedonia. In Italy the Romans with strong forces of foot and horse took the field against Pollitium, a city of the Marrucini. They also sent some of their citizens as a colony and settled the place called Interamna.
§ 19.106
κατὰ δὲ τὴν Σικελίαν ἀεὶ μᾶλλον αὐξομένου Ἀγαθοκλέους καὶ δυνάμεις ἁδροτέρας ἀθροίζοντος Καρχηδόνιοι πυνθανόμενοι τὸν δυνάστην συσκευαζόμενον τὰς ἐν τῇ νήσῳ πόλεις, ταῖς δὲ δυνάμεσιν ὑπερέχοντα τῶν σφετέρων στρατιωτῶν ἔδοξαν ἐνεργέστερον ἅψασθαι τοῦ πολέμου. εὐθὺς οὖν τριήρεις μὲν κατήρτησαν τριάκοντα πρὸς ταῖς ἑκατόν, στρατηγὸν δὲ προχειρισάμενοι τῶν παρʼ αὐτοῖς ἐπιφανεστάτων Ἀμίλκαν ἔδωκαν αὐτῷ τῶν μὲν πολιτικῶν στρατιωτῶν δισχιλίους, ἐν οἷς ἦσαν πολλοὶ καὶ τῶν ἐπιφανῶν, τῶν δʼ ἀπὸ τῆς Λιβύης μυρίους, ἐκ δὲ τῆς Τυρρηνίας μισθοφόρους χιλίους καὶ ζευγίππας διακοσίους, ἔτι δὲ Βαλιάρας σφενδονήτας χιλίους, ὁμοίως δὲ χρημάτων πλῆθος καὶ βελῶν καὶ σίτου καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν εἰς πόλεμον χρησίμων τὴν καθήκουσαν παρασκευήν. ἀναχθέντος δʼ ἐκ τῆς Καρχηδόνος τοῦ στόλου παντὸς καὶ γενομένου πελαγίου χειμὼν ἐξαίφνης ἐπιπεσὼν ἑξήκοντα μὲν τριήρεις ἠφάνισε, διακόσια δὲ τῶν σιτηγῶν πλοίων διέφθειρεν· ὁ δὲ λοιπὸς στόλος μεγάλοις περιπεσὼν χειμῶσι μόλις διεσώθη πρὸς τὴν Σικελίαν. ἀπώλοντο δὲ καὶ τῶν ἐπιφανῶν Καρχηδονίων οὐκ ὀλίγοι, διʼ οὓς συνέβη τὴν πόλιν δημόσιον ἄρασθαι πένθος· εἰώθασι γάρ, ἐπειδὰν μείζων τις ἀτυχία γένηται περὶ τὴν πόλιν, μέλασι σακκίοις κατακαλύπτειν τὰ τείχη. Ἀμίλκας δʼ ὁ στρατηγὸς ἀναλαβὼν τοὺς διασωθέντας ἐκ τοῦ χειμῶνος μισθοφόρους συνῆγε καὶ τῶν κατὰ Σικελίαν συμμάχων ἐστρατολόγει τοὺς εὐθέτους. παρέλαβε δὲ καὶ τὰς προϋπαρχούσας δυνάμεις καὶ πάντων τῶν εἰς πόλεμον εὐθέτων ἐπιμέλειαν ποιησάμενος ἐν ὑπαίθρῳ συνεῖχε τὰ στρατόπεδα, πεζοὺς μὲν ἔχων περὶ τοὺς τετρακισμυρίους, ἱππεῖς δὲ σχεδὸν πεντακισχιλίους. ταχὺ δὲ τὴν γεγενημένην ἀτυχίαν διορθωσάμενος καὶ δόξας ἀγαθὸς εἶναι τῶν μὲν συμμάχων τὰς ψυχὰς προκαταπεπληγμένας ἀνεκτήσατο, τοῖς δὲ πολεμίοις οὐ τὴν τυχοῦσαν ἀγωνίαν ἐπέστησεν.
In Sicily, where Agathocles was constantly increasing in power and collecting stronger forces, the Carthaginians, since they heard that the dynast was organizing the cities of the island for his own ends and that with his armed forces he surpassed their own soldiers, decided to wage the war with more energy. Accordingly they at once made ready one hundred and thirty triremes, chose as general Hamilcar, one of their most distinguished men, gave him two thousand citizen soldiers among whom were many of the nobles, ten thousand men from Libya, a thousand mercenaries and two hundred zeugippae from Etruria, a thousand Baliaric slingers, and also a large sum of money and the proper provision of missiles, food, and the other things necessary for war. After the whole fleet had sailed from Carthage and was at sea, a storm fell suddenly upon it, sank sixty triremes, and completely destroyed two hundred of the ships that were carrying supplies. The rest of the fleet, after encountering severe storms, with difficulty reached Sicily in safety. Not a few of the Carthaginian nobles were lost, for whom the city instituted public mourning; for it is their custom whenever any major disaster has befallen the city, to cover the walls with black sackcloth. Hamilcar, the general, gathered together the men who had survived the storm, enrolled mercenaries, and enlisted those troops of the Sicilian allies who were fit for service. He also took over the forces that were already in Sicily and, having attended to all things expedient for war, mustered his armies in the open country, about forty thousand foot-soldiers and nearly five thousand mounted men. Since he had quickly rectified the misfortune that he had suffered and won the reputation of being a good general, he revived the shattered spirits of his allies and presented no ordinary problem to his enemies.
§ 19.107
Ἀγαθοκλῆς δὲ τὰς τῶν Καρχηδονίων δυνάμεις ὁρῶν ὑπερεχούσας τῶν ἑαυτοῦ διέλαβε τῶν τε φρουρίων οὐκ ὀλίγα μεταθήσεσθαι πρὸς τοὺς Φοίνικας καὶ τῶν πόλεων ὅσαι προσέκοπτον αὐτῷ. μάλιστα δʼ εὐλαβεῖτο περὶ τῆς τῶν Γελῴων, πυνθανόμενος ἐν τῇ τούτων χώρᾳ πάσας εἶναι τὰς τῶν πολεμίων δυνάμεις. ἐγένετο δʼ αὐτῷ περὶ τοῦτον τὸν χρόνον καὶ περὶ τὸν στόλον οὐ μικρὸν ἐλάσσωμα· τῶν γὰρ νεῶν εἴκοσιν ἐπὶ τὸν πορθμὸν ὑποχείριοι τοῖς Καρχηδονίοις κατέστησαν σὺν αὐτοῖς ἀνδράσιν. οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ κρίνας τὴν τῶν Γελῴων πόλιν ἀσφαλίσασθαι φρουρᾷ, φανερῶς οὐκ ἐτόλμα δύναμιν εἰσαγαγεῖν, ἵνα μὴ φθάσαι συμβῇ τοὺς Γελῴους προφάσεως δεομένους καὶ τὴν πόλιν ἀποβάλῃ μεγάλας ἀφορμὰς αὐτῷ παρεχομένην. ἀπέστειλεν οὖν κατʼ ὀλίγους τῶν στρατιωτῶν ὡς ἐπί τινας χρείας, ἕως ὅτου συνέβη τῷ πλήθει πολὺ προτερῆσαι τῶν πολιτικῶν. μετʼ ὀλίγον δὲ καὶ αὐτὸς παραγενόμενος προδοσίαν ἐνεκάλεσε καὶ μετάθεσιν τοῖς Γελῴοις, εἴτε καὶ κατʼ ἀλήθειαν αὐτῶν διανοηθέντων τι πρᾶξαι τοιοῦτον, εἴτε καὶ ψευδέσι διαβολαῖς φυγάδων πεισθεὶς ἢ καὶ χρημάτων βουλόμενος εὐπορῆσαι, καὶ ἀπέσφαξε τῶν Γελῴων πλείους τῶν τετρακισχιλίων καὶ τὰς οὐσίας αὐτῶν ἀνέλαβε. προσέταξε δὲ καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις Γελῴοις πᾶσι τά τε νομίσματα καὶ τὸν ἄσημον ἄργυρόν τε καὶ χρυσὸν ἀνενεγκεῖν, διαπειλησάμενος τιμωρήσασθαι τοὺς ἀπειθήσαντας. ταχὺ δὲ πάντων πραξάντων τὸ προσταχθὲν διὰ τὸν φόβον χρημάτων τε πλῆθος ἤθροισε καὶ πᾶσι τοῖς ταττομένοις ὑφʼ ἑαυτὸν δεινὴν ἐνεποίησε κατάπληξιν. δόξας δʼ ὠμότερον κεχρῆσθαι τοῦ καθήκοντος τοῖς Γελῴοις τοὺς μὲν ἀποσφαγέντας εἰς τὰς ἐκτὸς τῶν τειχῶν τάφρους συνέχωσεν, ἐν δὲ τῇ πόλει τὴν ἱκανὴν φρουρὰν ἀπολιπὼν ἀντεστρατοπέδευσε τοῖς πολεμίοις.
As Agathocles saw that the forces of the Carthaginians were superior to his own, he surmised that not a few of the strongholds would go over to the Phoenicians, and also those of the cities that were offended with him. He was particularly concerned for the city of the Geloans since he learned that all the forces of the enemy were in their land. At about this time he also suffered a considerable naval loss, for at the straits twenty of his ships with their crews fell into the hands of the Carthaginians. Deciding nevertheless to make the city of Gela secure with a garrison, he did not venture to lead an army in openly lest the result be that the Geloans, who were looking for an excuse, forestall him and he lose the city, which provided him with great resources. He therefore sent in his soldiers a few at a time as if for particular needs until his troops far surpassed those of the city in number. Soon he himself also arrived and charged the Geloans with treason and desertion, either because they were actually planning to do something of this sort, or because he was persuaded by false charges made by exiles, or again because he wished to gain possession of wealth; and he slew more than four thousand of the Geloans and confiscated their property. He also ordered all the other Geloans to turn over to him their money and their uncoined silver and gold, threatening to punish those who disobeyed. Since all quickly carried out the command because of fear, he gathered together a large amount of money and caused a dreadful panic among all who were subject to him. Being thought to have treated the Geloans more cruelly than was proper, he heaped together in the ditches outside the walls those who had been slain; and, leaving behind in the city an adequate garrison, he took the field against the enemy.
§ 19.108
κατεῖχον δὲ Καρχηδόνιοι μὲν τὸν Ἔκνομον λόφον, ὅν φασι φρούριον γεγενῆσθαι Φαλάριδος. ἐν τούτῳ δὲ λέγεται κατεσκευακέναι τὸν τύραννον ταῦρον χαλκοῦν τὸν διαβεβοημένον πρὸς τὰς τῶν βεβασανισμένων τιμωρίας, ὑποκαιομένου τοῦ κατασκευάσματος· διὸ καὶ τὸν τόπον Ἔκνομον ἀπὸ τῆς εἰς τοὺς ἀτυχοῦντας ἀσεβείας προσηγορεῦσθαι. ἐκ δὲ θατέρου μέρους Ἀγαθοκλῆς ἕτερον τῶν Φαλάριδος γεγενημένων φρουρίων κατεῖχε, τὸ προσαγορευθὲν ἀπʼ ἐκείνου Φαλάριον. καὶ διὰ μέσων μὲν τῶν παρεμβολῶν ἦν ποταμός, ὃν ἀμφότεροι πρόβλημα τῶν πολεμίων ἐπεποίηντο, φῆμαι δὲ κατεῖχον ἐπὶ τῶν προτέρων χρόνων ὅτι δεῖ περὶ τὸν τόπον τοῦτον πλῆθος ἀνθρώπων ἐν μάχῃ διαφθαρῆναι. οὐκ ὄντος δὲ φανεροῦ παρʼ ὁποτέροις γενήσεται τὸ ἀτύχημα, συνέβαινε δεισιδαιμονεῖν τὰ στρατόπεδα καὶ πρὸς μάχην ὀκνηρῶς ἔχειν. διόπερ ἐπὶ πολὺν χρόνον οὐδέτεροι τὸν ποταμὸν ἐτόλμων διαβαίνειν ἀθρόοις στρατιώταις, ἕως ὅτου παράλογός τις αἰτία προεκαλέσατο αὐτοὺς εἰς τὸν ὁλοσχερῆ κίνδυνον. τῶν γὰρ Λιβύων κατατρεχόντων τὴν πολεμίαν Ἀγαθοκλῆς παρωξύνθη τὸ παραπλήσιον ποιῆσαι. ἀγόντων δὲ λείαν τῶν Ἑλλήνων καί τινα τῶν ἀπὸ τῆς παρεμβολῆς ὑποζυγίων ἀπαγαγόντων ἐπεξῆλθον ἐκ τοῦ Καρχηδονίων χάρακος οἱ τούτους διώξοντες. ὁ δʼ Ἀγαθοκλῆς προϊδόμενος τὸ μέλλον ἔσεσθαι παρὰ τὸν ποταμὸν ἔθηκεν ἐνέδραν ἀνδρῶν ἐπιλέκτων ταῖς ἀρεταῖς. οὗτοι δέ, τῶν Καρχηδονίων τοὺς τὴν λείαν ἄγοντας ἐπιδιωκόντων καὶ διαβάντων τὸν ποταμόν, ἐξανέστησαν ἐκ τῆς ἐνέδρας ἄφνω καὶ προσπεσόντες ἀτάκτοις ῥᾳδίως ἐτρέψαντο. φονευομένων δὲ τῶν βαρβάρων καὶ πρὸς τὴν ἰδίαν παρεμβολὴν φευγόντων Ἀγαθοκλῆς, νομίσας ἥκειν τὸν καιρὸν τοῦ διαγωνίσασθαι, πᾶσαν ἤγαγε τὴν δύναμιν ἐπὶ τὴν τῶν πολεμίων στρατοπεδείαν. προσπεσὼν δʼ αὐτοῖς ἀπροσδοκήτως καὶ ταχὺ μέρος τῆς τάφρου χώσας ἀνέσπασε τὸν χάρακα καὶ βιαζόμενος εἰς τὴν παρεμβολὴν παρεισέπεσεν. οἱ δὲ Καρχηδόνιοι διά τε τὸ παράδοξον καταπεπληγμένοι καὶ πρὸς ἔκταξιν οὐ δυνάμενοι λαβεῖν ἀναστροφήν, ὡς ἔτυχε τοῖς πολεμίοις ἀπήντων καὶ ἠγωνίζοντο. περὶ δὲ τὴν τάφρον ἀμφοτέρων ἐρρωμένως κινδυνευόντων ταχὺ πᾶς ὁ πλησίον τόπος νεκρῶν κατεστρώθη· οἵ τε γὰρ τῶν Καρχηδονίων ἐπιφανέστατοι τὴν παρεμβολὴν ὁρῶντες ἁλισκομένην ἐβοήθουν, οἵ τε περὶ τὸν Ἀγαθοκλέα τῷ προτερήματι τεθαρρηκότες καὶ νομίζοντες ἑνὶ κινδύνῳ καταλύσειν πάντα τὸν πόλεμον ἐνέκειντο τοῖς βαρβάροις.
The Carthaginians held the hill Ecnomus, which men say had been a stronghold of Phalaris. Here it is reported that the tyrant had constructed the bronze bull that has become famous, the device being heated by a fire beneath for the torment of those subjected to the ordeal; and so the place has been called Ecnomus because of the impiety practised upon his victims. On the other side Agathocles held another of the strongholds that had belonged to Phalaris, the one which was called Phalarium after him. In the space between the encamped armies was a river, which each of them used as a defence against the enemy; and sayings from earlier times were current that near this place a great number of men were destined to perish in battle. Since, however, it was not clear to which of the two sides the misfortune would happen, the armies were filled with superstitious fear and shrank from battle. Therefore for a long time neither dared to cross the river in force, until an unexpected cause brought them into general battle. The raids made by the Libyans through the enemy's country aroused Agathocles into doing the same; and while the Greeks were engaged in plundering and were driving away some beasts of burden taken from the Carthaginian camp, soldiers issued from that encampment to pursue them. Agathocles, foreseeing what was about to happen, placed beside the river an ambush of men selected for courage. These, as the Carthaginians crossed the river in their pursuit of those who were driving the beasts, sprang suddenly from the ambush, fell upon the disordered soldiers, and easily drove them back. While the barbarians were being slaughtered and were fleeing to their own camp, Agathocles, thinking that the time had come to fight to a finish, led his whole army against the camp of the enemy. Falling on them unexpectedly and quickly filling up a part of the moat, he overthrew the palisade and forced an entrance into the camp. The Carthaginians, who had been thrown into a panic by the unexpected attack and could find no opportunity for forming their lines, faced the enemy and fought against them at random. Both sides fought fiercely for the moat, and the whole place round about was quickly covered with dead; for the most notable of the Carthaginians rushed up to give aid when they saw the camp being taken, and the forces of Agathocles, encouraged by the advantage gained and believing that they would end the whole war by a single battle, pressed hard upon the barbarians.
§ 19.109
ὁ δʼ Ἀμίλκας ὁρῶν κατισχυομένους τοὺς ἑαυτοῦ καὶ τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἀεὶ πλείους παρεισπίπτοντας εἰς τὴν παρεμβολὴν ἐπέστησε τοὺς σφενδονήτας τοὺς ἐκ τῶν Βαλιαρίδων νήσων, ὄντας οὐκ ἐλάττους τῶν χιλίων. οὗτοι δὲ συνεχεῖς καὶ μεγάλους λίθους ἀφιέντες πολλοὺς μὲν ἐτραυμάτιζον, οὐκ ὀλίγους δὲ καὶ τῶν βιαζομένων ἀπέκτεινον, τῶν δὲ πλείστων τὰ σκεπάζοντα τῶν ὅπλων συνέτριβον· οἱ γὰρ ἄνδρες οὗτοι μναιαίους λίθους βάλλειν εἰωθότες μεγάλα συμβάλλονται πρὸς νίκην ἐν τοῖς κινδύνοις, ὡς ἂν ἐκ παίδων παρʼ αὐτοῖς τῆς ἐν ταῖς σφενδόναις γυμνασίας διαπονουμένης. τούτῳ δὲ τῷ τρόπῳ τοὺς Ἕλληνας ἐκ τῆς παρεμβολῆς ἐκβαλόντες ἐκράτησαν. πάλιν δὲ οἱ περὶ τὸν Ἀγαθοκλέα κατʼ ἄλλους τόπους προσβολὰς ἐποιοῦντο καὶ δὴ τῆς παρεμβολῆς ἤδη κατὰ κράτος ἁλισκομένης κατέπλευσε τοῖς Καρχηδονίοις δύναμις ἐκ Λιβύης ἀνέλπιστος. διὸ καὶ ταῖς ψυχαῖς πάλιν θαρρήσαντες οἱ μὲν ἐκ τῆς παρεμβολῆς κατὰ στόμα ἐκινδύνευον, οἱ δὲ παρόντες ἐπὶ τὴν βοήθειαν κύκλῳ περιίσταντο τοὺς Ἕλληνας. ὧν τιτρωσκομένων παραδόξως ἡ μὲν μάχη ταχὺ παλίντροπος ἐγένετο, ἔφευγον δʼ οἱ μὲν εἰς τὸν Ἱμέραν ποταμόν, οἱ δʼ εἰς τὴν παρεμβολήν. τεσσαράκοντα σταδίους δʼ ἐχούσης τῆς ἀποχωρήσεως καὶ ταῦτα σχεδὸν πάσης πεδινῆς οὔσης ἐπεδίωκον οἱ τῶν βαρβάρων ἱππεῖς, οὐκ ἔλασσον ὄντες πεντακισχιλίων. διὸ καὶ συνέβη τὸν μεταξὺ τόπον νεκρῶν πληρωθῆναι, πολλὰ συμβαλλομένου καὶ τοῦ ποταμοῦ πρὸς τὴν τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἀπώλειαν· ὑπὸ κύνα γὰρ οὔσης τῆς ὥρας καὶ τοῦ διωγμοῦ περὶ μέσον ἡμέρας γινομένου οἱ πολλοὶ τῶν φευγόντων διά τε τὸ καῦμα καὶ τὴν ἐκ τῆς φυγῆς κακοπάθειαν ἔκδιψοι γιγνόμενοι λάβρως ἔπινον, καὶ ταῦθʼ ἁλυκοῦ τοῦ ῥεύματος ὄντος. διόπερ οὐκ ἐλάττους τῶν ἐν τῷ διωγμῷ σφαγέντων εὑρέθησαν παρὰ τὸν ποταμὸν τετελευτηκότες ἄτρωτοι. ἔπεσον δʼ ἐν τῇ μάχῃ ταύτῃ τῶν μὲν βαρβάρων περὶ πεντακοσίους, τῶν δʼ Ἑλλήνων οὐκ ἐλάττους ἑπτακισχιλίων.
But when Hamilcar saw that his men were being overpowered and that the Greeks in constantly increasing numbers were making their way into the camp, he brought up his slingers, who came from the Baliaric Islands and numbered at least a thousand. By hurling a shower of great stones, they wounded many and even killed not a few of those who were attacking, and they shattered the defensive armour of most of them. For these men, who are accustomed to sling stones weighing a mina, contribute a great deal toward victory in battle, since from childhood they practise constantly with the sling. In this way they drove the Greeks from the camp and defeated them. But Agathocles continued to attack at other points, and indeed the camp was already being taken by storm when unexpected reinforcements from Libya arrived by water for the Carthaginians. Thus again gaining heart, those from the camp fought against the Greeks in front, and the reinforcements surrounded them on all sides. Since the Greeks were now receiving wounds from an unexpected quarter, the battle quickly reversed itself; and some of them fled into the Himeras River, others into the camp. The withdrawal was for a distance of forty stades; and since it was almost entirely over level country, they were hotly pursued by the barbarian cavalry, numbering not less than five thousand. As a result the space between was filled with dead; and the river itself contributed greatly to the destruction of the Greeks. Since it was the season of the Dog-Star and since the pursuit took place in the middle of the day, most of the fugitives became very thirsty because of the heat and the distress caused by the flight and drank greedily, and that too although the stream was salt. Therefore no fewer men than those killed in the pursuit itself were found dead beside the river without a wound. In this battle about five hundred of the barbarians fell, but of the Greeks no less than seven thousand.
§ 19.110
Ἀγαθοκλῆς δὲ τηλικαύτῃ συμφορᾷ περιπεσὼν τοὺς ἐκ τῆς τροπῆς διασωθέντας ἀνέλαβεν καὶ τὴν παρεμβολὴν ἐμπρήσας εἰς Γέλαν ἀπεχώρησε. διαδόντος δʼ αὐτοῦ λόγον ὡς κατὰ σπουδὴν εἰς Συρακούσσας ἀναζευγνύειν διέγνωκε, τριακόσιοι τῶν ἐκ Λιβύης ἱππέων κατὰ τὴν χώραν περιέπεσόν τισι τῶν Ἀγαθοκλέους στρατιωτῶν. ὧν εἰπόντων ὡς Ἀγαθοκλῆς εἰς Συρακούσσας ἀποκεχώρηκεν, εἰσῆλθον εἰς Γέλαν ὡς φίλοι καὶ διαψευσθέντες τῆς ἐλπίδος κατηκοντίσθησαν. ὁ δʼ Ἀγαθοκλῆς συνέκλεισεν αὑτὸν εἰς τὴν Γέλαν, οὐκ ἀδυνατῶν εἰς Συρακούσσας διασωθῆναι, βουλόμενος δὲ περισπάσαι τοὺς Καρχηδονίους πρὸς τὴν πολιορκίαν τῆς Γέλας, ἵνʼ οἱ Συρακόσιοι πολλὴν ἄδειαν σχῶσι συγκομίσαι τοὺς καρπούς, ἀναγκάζοντος τοῦ καιροῦ. ὁ δʼ Ἀμίλκας τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἐπεχείρει πολιορκεῖν τὴν Γέλαν, πυνθανόμενος δὲ ἐν ταύτῃ καὶ δύναμιν εἶναι τὴν ἀμυνομένην καὶ πάντων εὐπορεῖν τὸν Ἀγαθοκλέα ταύτης μὲν ἀπέστη τῆς ἐπιβολῆς, τὰ δὲ φρούρια καὶ τὰς πόλεις ἐπιπορευόμενος προσήγετο καὶ πᾶσιν ἐχρῆτο φιλανθρώπως, ἐκκαλούμενος τοὺς Σικελιώτας πρὸς εὔνοιαν. καὶ Καμαριναῖοι μὲν καὶ Λεοντῖνοι, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις Καταναῖοι καὶ Ταυρομενῖται παραχρῆμα πρέσβεις ἐκπέμψαντες προσέθεντο Καρχηδονίοις· μετʼ ὀλίγας δʼ ἡμέρας οἵ τε Μεσσήνιοι καὶ Ἀβακαινῖνοι καὶ συχναὶ τῶν πόλεων ἀλλήλας φθάνουσαι πρὸς Ἀμίλκαν ἀφίσταντο· τοσαύτη τοῖς ὄχλοις ἐνέπεσεν ὁρμὴ μετὰ τὴν ἧτταν διὰ τὸ πρὸς τὸν τύραννον μίσος. ὁ δʼ Ἀγαθοκλῆς ἀπαγαγὼν τὴν ὑπολελειμμένην δύναμιν εἰς Συρακούσσας τὰ πεπονηκότα τῶν τειχῶν ἐπεσκεύαζε καὶ τὸν ἀπὸ τῆς χώρας σῖτον ἀπεκόμιζε, διανοούμενος τῆς μὲν πόλεως τὴν ἱκανὴν ἀπολιπεῖν φυλακήν, τῆς δὲ δυνάμεως τὴν κρατίστην μετάγειν εἰς Λιβύην καὶ μετατιθέναι τὸν πόλεμον εἰς τὴν ἤπειρον ἐκ τῆς νήσου. ἡμεῖς δὲ κατὰ τὴν ἐν ἀρχῇ πρόθεσιν τὴν εἰς Λιβύην Ἀγαθοκλέους διάβασιν ἀρχὴν ποιησόμεθα τῆς ἑπομένης βίβλου.
Agathocles, having met with such a disaster, collected those who had survived the rout and after burning his camp withdrew into Gela. After he had given it out that he had decided to set out quickly for Syracuse, three hundred of the Libyan cavalry fell in with some of the soldiers of Agathocles in the open country. Since these said that Agathocles had departed from Syracuse, the Libyans entered Gela as friends, but they were cheated of their expectations and shot down. Agathocles, however, shut himself up in Gela, not because he was unable to go safely to Syracuse, but because he wished to divert the Carthaginians to the siege of Gela in order that the Syracusans might quite fearlessly gather in their crops as the season demanded. Hamilcar at first attempted to besiege Gela, but discovering that there were troops in the city defending it and that Agathocles had ample supplies of all kinds, he gave up the attempt; instead, by visiting the fortresses and cities, he won them over and treated all the people with kindness, seeking to win the goodwill of the Sicilians. And the people of Camarina and Leontini, also those of Catana and Tauromenium, at once sent embassies and went over to the Carthaginian; and within a few days Messene and Abacaenum and very many of the other cities vied with each other in deserting to Hamilcar, for such was the desire that came upon the common people after the defeat because of their hatred of the tyrant. But Agathocles conducted what survived of his army to Syracuse, repaired the ruined parts of the walls, and carried off the grain from the countryside, intending to leave an adequate garrison for the city, but with the strongest part of his army to cross to Libya and transfer the war from the island to the continent. But we, following the plan laid down at the beginning, will make Agathocles's expedition into Libya the beginning of the following book.
— Book 20 —
§ 20.arg
τάδε ἔνεστιν ἐν τῇ εἰκοστῇ τῶν Διοδώρου βύβλων. α. ὡς Ἀγαθοκλῆς διαβὰς εἰς Λιβύην ἐνίκησεν παρατάξει Καρχηδονίους καὶ πολλῶν πόλεων ἐκυρίευσεν. β. ὡς Κάσανδρος Αὐδολέοντι μὲν ἐβοήθησε, πρὸς δὲ Πτολεμαῖον τὸν Ἀντιγόνου στρατηγὸν ἀποστάτην γενόμενον συμμαχίαν ἐποιήσατο. γ. ὡς Πτολεμαῖος μὲν τῶν περὶ Κιλικίαν πόλεών τινας εἷλε, Δημήτριος δʼ ὁ Ἀντιγόνου ταύτας ἀνεκτήσατο. δ. ὡς Πολυπέρχων μὲν Ἡρακλέα τὸν ἐκ Βαρσίνης ἐπεχείρησε κατάγειν ἐπὶ τὴν πατρῴαν βασιλείαν, Πτολεμαῖος δὲ Νικοκρέοντα τὸν βασιλέα τῶν Παφίων ἐπανείλατο. ε. περὶ τῶν πραχθέντων ἐν μὲν τῷ Βοσπόρῳ τοῖς βασιλεῦσιν, κατὰ δὲ τὴν Ἰταλίαν Ῥωμαίοις καὶ Σαμνίταις. ς. Πτολεμαίου στρατεία ἐπὶ Κιλικίαν καὶ τὴν ἑξῆς παραθαλάττιον. ζ. Ἡρακλέους ἀναίρεσις ὑπὸ Πολυπέρχοντος. η. Ἀμίλκου τοῦ στρατηγοῦ τῶν Καρχηδονίων ἅλωσις ὑπὸ Συρακοσίων. θ. ὡς Ἀκραγαντῖνοι τοὺς Σικελιώτας ἐλευθεροῦν ἐπεχείρησαν. ι. ὡς τῶν Συρακοσίων εἴκοσι ναῦς ἥλωσαν. ια. περὶ τῆς ἐν Λιβύῃ γενομένης στάσεως καὶ τοῦ κινδύνου τοῦ περὶ τὸν Ἀγαθοκλέα. ιβ. περὶ τῶν πραχθέντων Ἀππίῳ Κλαυδίῳ κατὰ τὴν τιμητικὴν ἀρχήν. ιγ. παράδοσις Κορίνθου καὶ Σικυῶνος Πτολεμαίῳ. ιδ. Κλεοπάτρας ἐν Σάρδεσιν ἀναίρεσις. ιε. ὡς Ἀγαθοκλῆς Καρχηδονίους μὲν ἐνίκησεν μάχῃ, τὸν δὲ δυνάστην τῆς Κυρήνης Ὀφέλλαν μεταπεμψάμενος ἐπὶ κοινοπραγίαν κατέσφαξεν, καὶ τὴν μετὰ τούτου δύναμιν παρέλαβεν. ις. ὡς Καρχηδόνιοι Βορμίλκαν ἐπιθέμενον τυραννίδι κατέλυσαν. ιζ. ὡς Ἀγαθοκλέους ἀποπέμψαντος εἰς Σικελίαν τὰ λάφυρα τινὰ τῶν πλοίων ἐναυάγησεν. ιη. ὡς Ῥωμαῖοι Μαρσοῖς μὲν πολεμουμένοις ὑπὸ Σαμνιτῶν ἐβοήθησαν, ἐν δὲ τῇ Τυρρηνίᾳ Κάπριον ἐξεπολιόρκησαν. ιθ. Δημητρίου τοῦ πολιορκητοῦ κατάπλους εἰς τὸν Πειραιᾶ καὶ τῆς Μουνυχίας ἅλωσις. κ. ἐλευθέρωσις Ἀθηναίων καὶ Μεγαρέων. κα. πλοῦς ἐπὶ Κύπρον Δημητρίου καὶ μάχη πρὸς Μενέλαον τὸν στρατηγὸν καὶ Σαλαμῖνος πολιορκία. κβ. ναυμαχία Δημητρίου πρὸς Πτολεμαῖον καὶ νίκη Δημητρίου. κγ. παράληψις Κύπρου τε πάσης καὶ τῆς Πτολεμαίου δυνάμεως. κδ. ὡς μετὰ τὴν νίκην ταύτην Ἀντιγόνου καὶ Δημητρίου περιθεμένων διάδημα ζηλοτυπήσαντες οἱ λοιποὶ δυνάσται βασιλεῖς ἑαυτοὺς ἀνηγόρευσαν. κε. ὡς Ἀγαθοκλῆς Ἰτύκην ἐκπολιορκήσας διεβίβασε μέρος τῆς δυνάμεως εἰς τὴν Σικελίαν. κς. ὡς Ἀκραγαντῖνοι παραταξάμενοι πρὸς τοὺς Ἀγαθοκλέους στρατηγοὺς ἡττήθησαν. κζ. ὡς Ἀγαθοκλῆς Ἡράκλειαν μὲν καὶ Θέρμα καὶ Κεφαλοίδιον προσηγάγετο, τὴν δὲ τῶν Ἀπολλωνιατῶν χώραν καὶ πόλιν ἐξηνδραποδίσατο. κη. ὡς Ἀγαθοκλῆς ἐν Σικελίᾳ ναυμαχίᾳ μὲν ἐνίκησε Καρχηδονίους, μάχῃ δʼ Ἀκραγαντίνους. κθ. διάβασις εἰς Λιβύην Ἀγαθοκλέους τὸ δεύτερον καὶ ἧττα. λ. αἱ γενόμεναι ταραχαὶ κατὰ τὰ ἑκατέρων στρατόπεδα. λα. Ἀγαθοκλέους δρασμὸς εἰς Σικελίαν. λβ. αἱ γενόμεναι σφαγαὶ τῶν Σικελιωτῶν ὑπὸ Ἀγαθοκλέους. λγ. στρατεία Ἀντιγόνου βασιλέως μεγάλαις δυνάμεσιν ἐπʼ Αἴγυπτον. λδ. ἀπόστασις Πασιφίλου στρατηγοῦ ἀπὸ Ἀγαθοκλέους. λε. ὡς Καρχηδόνιοι συνέθεντο τὴν εἰρήνην πρὸς Ἀγαθοκλέα. λς. ὡς Ῥόδον πολιορκήσας Δημήτριος διελύσατο τὴν πολιορκίαν. λζ. ὡς Ῥωμαῖοι Σαμνίτας δυσὶ μάχαις ἐνίκησαν. λη. ὡς Δημήτριος ἀπὸ τῆς Ῥόδου πλεύσας εἰς τὴν Ἑλλάδα τὰς πλείστας πόλεις ἠλευθέρωσεν. λθ. ὡς Ἀγαθοκλῆς Λιπαραίους χρήματα ἀδίκως εἰσπραξάμενος ἀπέβαλε τὰς ναῦς ἐν αἷς ἦν τὰ χρήματα. μ. ὡς Ῥωμαῖοι τὸ μὲν ἔθνος τῶν Αἴκλων κατεπολέμησαν, πρὸς δὲ τοὺς Σαμνίτας συνέθεντο τὴν εἰρήνην. μα. τὰ πραχθέντα Κλεωνύμῳ περὶ τὴν Ἰταλίαν. μβ. διʼ ἃς αἰτίας οἱ περὶ Κάσανδρον καὶ Λυσίμαχον, ἔτι δὲ Σέλευκον καὶ Πτολεμαῖον συνδραμόντες ἐνεστήσαντο τὸν πόλεμον πρὸς Ἀντίγονον. μγ. στρατεία Κασάνδρου μὲν ἐπὶ Δημήτριον εἰς Θεσσαλίαν, Λυσιμάχου δʼ εἰς τὴν Ἀσίαν. μδ. ἀπόστασις Δοκίμου καὶ Φοίνικος τῶν στρατηγῶν ἀπʼ Ἀντιγόνου. με. ὡς Ἀντίγονος ἀντιστρατοπεδεύσας Λυσιμάχῳ πολὺ προεῖχε ταῖς δυνάμεσιν. μς. ὡς Δημήτριον τὸν υἱὸν ἐκ τῆς Ἑλλάδος μετεπέμψατο. μζ. ὡς Πτολεμαῖος μὲν ἐχειρώσατο τὰς πόλεις τὰς ἐν τῇ Κοίλῃ Συρίᾳ, Σέλευκος δʼ ἐκ τῶν ἄνω σατραπειῶν τὴν κατάβασιν ἐποιήσατο μέχρι Καππαδοκίας. μη. διάλυσις ἁπασῶν τῶν δυνάμεων εἰς χειμασίαν.
—
§ 20.1
τοῖς εἰς τὰς ἱστορίας ὑπερμήκεις δημηγορίας παρεμβάλλουσιν ἢ πυκναῖς χρωμένοις ῥητορείαις δικαίως ἄν τις ἐπιτιμήσειεν· οὐ μόνον γὰρ τὸ συνεχὲς τῆς διηγήσεως διὰ τὴν ἀκαιρίαν τῶν ἐπεισαγομένων λόγων διασπῶσιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν φιλοτίμως ἐχόντων πρὸς τὴν τῶν πράξεων ἐπίγνωσιν μεσολαβοῦσι τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν. καίτοι γε τοὺς ἐπιδείκνυσθαι βουλομένους λόγου δύναμιν ἔξεστι κατʼ ἰδίαν δημηγορίας καὶ πρεσβευτικοὺς λόγους, ἔτι δὲ ἐγκώμια καὶ ψόγους καὶ τἄλλα τὰ τοιαῦτα συντάττεσθαι· τῇ γὰρ οἰκονομίᾳ τῶν λόγων χρησάμενοι καὶ τὰς ὑποθέσεις χωρὶς ἑκατέρας ἐξεργασάμενοι κατὰ λόγον ἂν ἐν ἀμφοτέραις ταῖς πραγματείαις εὐδοκιμοῖεν. νῦν δʼ ἔνιοι πλεονάσαντες ἐν τοῖς ῥητορικοῖς λόγοις προσθήκην ἐποιήσαντο τὴν ὅλην ἱστορίαν τῆς δημηγορίας. λυπεῖ δʼ οὐ μόνον τὸ κακῶς γραφέν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ δοκοῦν ἐν τοῖς ἄλλοις ἐπιτετεῦχθαι τόπων καὶ καιρῶν τῆς οἰκείας τάξεως διημαρτηκός. διὸ καὶ τῶν ἀναγινωσκόντων τὰς τοιαύτας πραγματείας οἱ μὲν ὑπερβαίνουσι τὰς ῥητορείας, κἂν ὅλως ἐπιτετεῦχθαι δόξωσιν, οἱ δὲ διὰ τὸ μῆκος καὶ τὴν ἀκαιρίαν τοῦ συγγραφέως ἐκλυθέντες τὰς ψυχὰς τὸ παράπαν ἀφίστανται τῆς ἀναγνώσεως, οὐκ ἀλόγως τοῦτο πάσχοντες· τὸ γὰρ τῆς ἱστορίας γένος ἁπλοῦν ἐστι καὶ συμφυὲς αὑτῷ καὶ τὸ σύνολον ἐμψύχῳ σώματι παραπλήσιον, οὗ τὸ μὲν ἐσπαραγμένον ἐστέρηται τῆς ψυχικῆς χάριτος, τὸ δὲ τὴν ἀναγκαίαν σύνθεσιν ἔχον εὐκαίρως τετήρηται καὶ τῷ συμφυεῖ τῆς ὅλης περιγραφῆς ἐπιτερπῆ καὶ σαφῆ παρίστησι τὴν ἀνάγνωσιν.
One might justly censure those who in their histories insert overlong orations or employ frequent speeches; for not only do they rend asunder the continuity of the narrative by the ill-timed insertion of speeches, but also they interrupt the interest of those who are eagerly pressing on toward a full knowledge of the events. Yet surely there is opportunity for those who wish to display rhetorical prowess to compose by themselves public discourses and speeches for ambassadors, likewise orations of praise and blame and the like; for by recognizing the classification of literary types and by elaborating each of the two by itself, they might reasonably expect to gain a reputation in both fields of activity. But as it is, some writers by excessive use of rhetorical passages have made the whole art of history into an appendage of oratory. Not only does that which is poorly composed give offence, but also that which seems to have hit the mark in other respects yet has gone far astray from the themes and occasions that belong to its peculiar type. Therefore, even of those who read such works, some skip over the orations although they appear to be entirely successful, and others, wearied in spirit by the historian's wordiness and lack of taste, abandon the reading entirely; and this attitude is not without reason, for the genius of history is simple and self-consistent and as a whole is like a living organism. If it is mangled, it is stripped of its living charm; but if it retains its necessary unity, it is duly preserved and, by the harmony of the whole composition, renders the reading pleasant and clear.
§ 20.2
οὐ μὴν παντελῶς γε τοὺς ῥητορικοὺς λόγους ἀποδοκιμάζοντες ἐκβάλλομεν ἐκ τῆς ἱστορικῆς πραγματείας τὸ παράπαν· ὀφειλούσης γὰρ τῆς ἱστορίας τῇ ποικιλίᾳ κεκοσμῆσθαι κατʼ ἐνίους τόπους ἀνάγκη προσλαμβάνεσθαι καὶ τοὺς τοιούτους λόγους — καὶ ταύτης τῆς εὐκαιρίας οὐδʼ ἂν ἐμαυτὸν ἀποστερῆσαι βουληθείην — ὥσθʼ ὅταν τὰ τῆς περιστάσεως ἀπαιτῇ πρεσβευτοῦ ἢ συμβούλου δημηγορίαν ἢ τῶν ἄλλων τι τοιοῦτον, ὁ μὴ τεθαρρηκότως συγκαταβαίνων πρὸς τοὺς ἐν τοῖς λόγοις ἀγῶνας καὶ αὐτὸς ὑπαίτιος ἂν εἴη. οὐκ ὀλίγας γὰρ ἄν τις αἰτίας εὕροι, καθʼ ἃς κατὰ πολλὰ ἀναγκαίως παραληφθήσεται τὰ τῆς ῥητορείας· ἢ γὰρ πολλῶν εἰρημένων εὐστόχως καὶ καλῶς οὐ παραλειπτέον διʼ ὀλιγωρίαν τὰ μνήμης ἄξια καὶ τῇ ἱστορίᾳ κεκραμένην ἔχοντα τὴν ὠφέλειαν, ἢ μεγάλων καὶ λαμπρῶν τῶν ὑποθέσεων οὐσῶν οὐ περιορατέον ἐλάττονα τῶν ἔργων φανῆναι τὸν λόγον· ἔστι δʼ ὅτε παρὰ προσδοκίαν τοῦ τέλους ἐκβάντος ἀναγκασθησόμεθα τοῖς οἰκείοις τῆς ὑποθέσεως λόγοις χρήσασθαι χάριν τοῦ λῦσαι τὴν ἀλογίαν. ἀλλὰ περὶ μὲν τούτων ἅλις ἡμῖν ἐχέτω, περὶ δὲ τῶν ὑποκειμένων πράξεων ῥητέον, παραθέντας πρότερον τοὺς οἰκείους τῇ γραφῇ χρόνους. ἐν μὲν οὖν ταῖς προηγουμέναις βύβλοις ἀναγεγράφαμεν ἀπὸ τῶν ἀρχαιοτάτων χρόνων τὰς πράξεις τάς τε τῶν Ἑλλήνων καὶ βαρβάρων ἕως ἐπὶ τὸν προηγούμενον ἐνιαυτὸν τῆς Ἀγαθοκλέους στρατείας εἰς τὴν Λιβύην, εἰς ἣν ἀπὸ Τροίας ἁλώσεως ἔτη συνάγεται τρισὶ πλείω τῶν ὀκτακοσίων ὀγδοήκοντα· ἐν ταύτῃ δὲ τὸ συνεχὲς προστιθέντες τῆς ἱστορίας ἀρξόμεθα μὲν ἀπὸ τῆς εἰς Λιβύην διαβάσεως Ἀγαθοκλέους, καταλήξομεν δʼ εἰς τὸν ἐνιαυτὸν καθʼ ὃν οἱ βασιλεῖς συμφρονήσαντες κοινῇ διαπολεμεῖν ἤρξαντο πρὸς Ἀντίγονον τὸν Φιλίππου, περιλαβόντες ἔτη ἐννέα.
Nevertheless, in disapproving rhetorical speeches, we do not ban them wholly from historical works; for, since history needs to be adorned with variety, in certain places it is necessary to call to our aid even such passages — and of this opportunity I should not wish to deprive myself — so that, whenever the situation requires either a public address from an ambassador or a statesman, or some such thing from the other characters, whoever does not boldly enter the contest of words would himself be blameworthy. For one would find no small number of reasons for which on many occasions the aid of rhetoric will necessarily be enlisted; for when many things have been said well and to the point, one should not in contempt pass over what is worthy of memory and possesses a utility not alien to history, nor when the subject matter is great and glorious should one allow the language to appear inferior to the deeds; and there are times when, an event turning out contrary to expectation, we shall be forced to use words suitable to the subject in order to explain the seeming paradox. But let this suffice on this subject; we must now write about the events that belong to my theme, first setting forth the chronological scheme of our narrative. In the preceding Books we have written of the deeds of both the Greeks and the barbarians from the earliest times down to the year before Agathocles' Libyan campaign; the years from the sack of Troy to that event total eight hundred and eighty-three. In this Book, adding what comes next in the account, we shall begin with Agathocles' crossing into Libya, and end with the year in which the kings, after reaching an agreement with each other, began joint operations against Antigonus, son of Philip, embracing a period of nine years.
§ 20.3
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος γὰρ Ἀθήνησιν Ἱερομνήμονος Ῥωμαῖοι μὲν ὑπάτους κατέστησαν Γάιον Ἰούλιον καὶ Κόιντον Αἰμίλιον, κατὰ δὲ τὴν Σικελίαν Ἀγαθοκλῆς ἡττημένος ὑπὸ Καρχηδονίων τῇ περὶ τὸν Ἱμέραν μάχῃ καὶ τὸ πλεῖστον καὶ κράτιστον τῆς δυνάμεως ἀποβεβληκὼς συνέφυγεν εἰς τὰς Συρακούσσας. ὁρῶν δὲ τούς τε συμμάχους ἅπαντας μεταβεβλημένους καὶ τοὺς βαρβάρους πλὴν Συρακουσσῶν ἁπάσης σχεδὸν Σικελίας κυριεύοντας καὶ πολὺ προέχοντας ταῖς τε πεζικαῖς καὶ ναυτικαῖς δυνάμεσιν ἐπετελέσατο πρᾶξιν ἀνέλπιστον καὶ παραβολωτάτην. πάντων γὰρ διειληφότων μηδʼ ἐγχειρήσειν αὐτὸν τοῖς Καρχηδονίοις ἀντιταχθῆναι, διενοήσατο τῆς μὲν πόλεως ἀπολιπεῖν τὴν ἱκανὴν φυλακήν, τῶν δὲ στρατιωτῶν τοὺς εὐθέτους ἐπιλέξαι καὶ μετὰ τούτων εἰς τὴν Λιβύην διακομισθῆναι· τοῦτο γὰρ πράξας ἤλπιζε τοὺς μὲν ἐν τῇ Καρχηδόνι τετρυφηκότας ἐν εἰρήνῃ πολυχρονίῳ καὶ διὰ τοῦτʼ ἀπείρους ὄντας τῶν ἐν ταῖς μάχαις κινδύνων ὑπὸ τῶν ἐνηθληκότων τοῖς δεινοῖς ῥᾳδίως ἡττηθήσεσθαι, τοὺς δὲ κατὰ Λιβύην συμμάχους, βαρυνομένους τοῖς προστάγμασιν ἐκ πολλῶν χρόνων, λήψεσθαι καιρὸν τῆς ἀποστάσεως, τὸ δὲ μέγιστον, διαρπάσειν ἀπροσδοκήτως ἐπιφανεὶς χώραν ἀπόρθητον καὶ διὰ τὴν τῶν Καρχηδονίων εὐδαιμονίαν πεπληρωμένην παντοίων ἀγαθῶν, τὸ δʼ ὅλον ἀπὸ τῆς πατρίδος καὶ πάσης Σικελίας περισπάσειν τοὺς βαρβάρους καὶ πάντα τὸν πόλεμον μετάξειν εἰς τὴν Λιβύην· ὅπερ καὶ συνετελέσθη.
When Hieromnemon was archon in Athens, the Romans elected to the consulship Gaius Julius and Quintus Aemilius; and in Sicily Agathocles, who had been defeated by the Carthaginians in the battle at the Himeras River and had lost the largest and strongest part of his army, took refuge in Syracuse. When he saw that all his allies had changed sides and that barbarians were masters of almost all Sicily except Syracuse and were far superior in both land and sea forces, he carried out an undertaking that was unexpected and most reckless. For when all had concluded that he would not even try to take the field against the Carthaginians, he determined to leave an adequate garrison for the city, to select those of the soldiers who were fit, and with these to cross over into Libya. For he hoped that, if he did this, those in Carthage, who had been living luxuriously in long-continued peace and were therefore without experience in the dangers of battle, would easily be defeated by men who had been trained in the school of danger; that the Libyan allies of the Carthaginians, who had for a long time resented their exactions, would grasp an opportunity for revolt; most important of all, a that by appearing unexpectedly, he would plunder a land which had not been ravaged and which, because of the prosperity of the Carthaginians, abounded in wealth of every kind; and in general, that he would divert the barbarians from his native city and from all Sicily and transfer the whole war to Libya. And this last, indeed, was accomplished.
§ 20.4
τὴν γὰρ ἐπίνοιαν ταύτην οὐδενὶ τῶν φίλων δηλώσας τῆς μὲν πόλεως ἐπιμελητὴν Ἄντανδρον τὸν ἀδελφὸν κατέστησε μετὰ τῆς ἱκανῆς φυλακῆς, αὐτὸς δὲ τῶν στρατιωτῶν ἐπιλέγων τοὺς εὐθέτους κατέγραφε, τοῖς μὲν πεζοῖς παραγγέλλων ἑτοίμους εἶναι μετὰ τῶν ὅπλων, τοῖς δʼ ἱππεῦσι διακελευόμενος ἔχειν μεθʼ ἑαυτῶν χωρὶς τῆς πανοπλίας ὑπηρέσιον καὶ χαλινόν, ὅπως, ὅταν ἵππων κυριεύσῃ, τοὺς ἀναβησομένους ἑτοίμους ἔχειν, τὰ πρὸς τὴν χρείαν ἐξηρτυμένους· κατὰ γὰρ τὴν προγεγενημένην ἧτταν τῶν μὲν πεζῶν ἀπωλώλεισαν οἱ πλείους, οἱ δʼ ἱππεῖς ὑπῆρχον διασεσωσμένοι σχεδὸν ἅπαντες, ὧν τοὺς ἵππους οὐκ ἠδύνατο διακομίζειν εἰς τὴν Λιβύην. ἵνα δὲ χωρισθέντος αὐτοῦ μὴ νεωτερίζωσιν οἱ Συρακόσιοι, διεζεύγνυε τὰς συγγενείας ἀπʼ ἀλλήλων καὶ μάλιστα ἀδελφοὺς ἀπʼ ἀδελφῶν καὶ πατέρας ἀπὸ παίδων, τοὺς μὲν ἐπὶ τῆς πόλεως ἀπολείπων, τοὺς δὲ μεθʼ ἑαυτοῦ διακομίζων· πρόδηλον γὰρ ἦν ὡς οἱ μένοντες ἐν ταῖς Συρακούσσαις, κἂν ἀλλοτριώτατα τυγχάνωσι πρὸς τὸν δυνάστην διακείμενοι, διὰ τὴν πρὸς τοὺς ἀπογόνους εὔνοιαν οὐδὲν ἂν πράξειαν ἄτοπον κατὰ Ἀγαθοκλέους. ἀπορούμενος δὲ χρημάτων τά τε τῶν ὀρφανῶν παρὰ τῶν ἐπιτροπευόντων εἰσεπράξατο, φάσκων πολὺ βέλτιον ἐκείνων ἐπιτροπεύσειν καὶ τοῖς παισὶν εἰς ἡλικίαν ἐλθοῦσι πιστότερον ἀποδώσειν, ἐδανείσατο δὲ καὶ παρὰ τῶν ἐμπόρων καί τινα τῶν ἐν τοῖς ἱεροῖς ἀναθημάτων ἔλαβεν καὶ τῶν γυναικῶν τὸν κόσμον περιείλετο. ἔπειθʼ ὁρῶν καὶ τῶν εὐπορωτάτων τοὺς πλείστους δυσχεραίνοντας τοῖς πραττομένοις καὶ πρὸς αὐτὸν ἀλλοτριώτατα διακειμένους συνήγαγεν ἐκκλησίαν, ἐν ᾗ περί τε τῆς προγεγενημένης συμφορᾶς καὶ τῶν προσδοκωμένων δεινῶν κατοδυρόμενος αὐτὸς μὲν ῥᾳδίως ὑπομένειν ἔφησε τὴν πολιορκίαν, συνήθης ὢν πάσῃ κακοπαθείᾳ, ἐλεεῖν δὲ τοὺς πολίτας, εἰ συγκλεισθέντες ἀναγκασθήσονται πολιορκίαν ὑπομένειν. διεκελεύετο οὖν σώζειν ἑαυτοὺς μετὰ τῶν ἰδίων κτήσεων τοὺς μὴ βουλομένους ὑπομένειν ὅ,τι ποτʼ ἂν δοκῇ τῇ τύχῃ πάσχειν. ἐξορμησάντων δʼ ἐκ τῆς πόλεως τῶν μάλιστʼ εὐπόρων καὶ μισούντων τὸν δυνάστην τούτους μὲν ἐπαποστείλας τινὰς τῶν μισθοφόρων ἀνεῖλε καὶ τὰς οὐσίας εἰς αὑτὸν ἀνέλαβε, διὰ δὲ μιᾶς ἀνοσίου πράξεως χρημάτων εὐπορήσας καὶ τῶν ἀλλοτρίως διακειμένων πρὸς καθαρὰν ποιήσας τὴν πόλιν ἠλευθέρωσε τῶν οἰκετῶν τοὺς εὐθέτους εἰς στρατείαν.
Disclosing this intention to none of his friends, he set up his brother Antander as curator of the city with an adequate garrison; and he himself selected and enrolled those of the soldiers who were fit for service, bidding the infantry be ready with their arms, and giving special orders to the cavalry that, in addition to their full armour, they should have with them saddle-pads and bridles, in order that, when he got possession of horses, he might have men ready to mount them, equipped with what was needed for the service; for in the earlier defeat the greater part of the foot-soldiers had been killed, but almost all the horsemen had survived uninjured, whose horses he was not able to transport to Libya. In order that the Syracusans might not attempt a revolution after he had left them, he separated relatives from each other, particularly brothers from brothers and fathers from sons, leaving the one group in the city and taking the others across with him; for it was clear that those who remained in Syracuse, even if they were most ill disposed toward the tyrant, because of their affection for their relatives would do nothing unbecoming against Agathocles. Since he was in need of money he exacted the property of the orphans from those who were their guardians, saying that he would guard it much better than they and return it more faithfully to the children when they became of age; and he also borrowed from the merchants, took some of the dedications in the temples, and stripped the women of their jewels. Then, seeing that the majority of the very wealthy were vexed by his measures and were very hostile to him, he summoned an assembly in which, deploring both the past disaster and the expected hardships, he said that he himself would endure the siege easily because he was accustomed to every manner of hardship, but that he pitied the citizens if they should be shut in and forced to endure a siege. 7 He therefore ordered those to save themselves and their own possessions who were unwilling to endure whatever fortune might see fit that they should suffer. But when those who were wealthiest and most bitter against the tyrant had set out from the city, sending after them some of his mercenaries, he killed the men themselves and confiscated their property. When, through a single unholy act, he had gained an abundance of wealth and had cleared the city of those who were opposed to him, he freed those of their slaves who were fit for military service.
§ 20.5
ὡς δʼ εὐτρεπῆ πάντʼ ἦν, πληρώσας ἑξήκοντα ναῦς ἐπετήρει καιρὸν οἰκεῖον πρὸς τὸν ἔκπλουν. ἀγνοουμένης δὲ τῆς ἐπινοίας αὐτοῦ τινὲς μὲν εἰς τὴν Ἰταλίαν ὑπελάμβανον αὐτὸν στρατεύειν, τινὲς δὲ πορθήσειν τῆς Σικελίας τὴν ὑπὸ Καρχηδονίους, πάντες δὲ ἀπεγίνωσκον τῶν ἐκπλεῖν μελλόντων τὴν σωτηρίαν καὶ τοῦ δυνάστου τὴν μανίαν κατεγίνωσκον. ἐφορμούντων δὲ τῶν πολεμίων πολλαπλασίαις τριήρεσι τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἐφʼ ἡμέρας τινὰς ἠνάγκάζε συνέχειν ἑαυτοὺς ἐν ταῖς ναυσὶ τοὺς στρατιώτας, οὐ δυναμένους ἐκπλεῦσαι· ἔπειτα δὲ σιτηγῶν πλοίων τῇ πόλει προσθεόντων οἱ μὲν Καρχηδόνιοι παντὶ τῷ στόλῳ πρὸς τὰς ναῦς ἀνήχθησαν, ὁ δʼ Ἀγαθοκλῆς ἀπελπίζων ἤδη τὴν ἐπιβολήν, ὡς ἴδεν τὸ στόμα τοῦ λιμένος ἔρημον τῶν ἐφορμούντων, ἐξέπλευσεν ὀξείαις ταῖς εἰρεσίαις χρώμενος. εἶθʼ οἱ μὲν Καρχηδόνιοι πλησίον ἤδη τῶν φορτηγῶν ὄντες, ὡς ἴδον τοὺς πολεμίους ἀθρόαις ταῖς ναυσὶ πλέοντας, τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ὑπολαβόντες αὐτὸν ὡρμηκέναι πρὸς τὴν τῶν σιτηγῶν βοήθειαν, ἀνέστρεφον καὶ τὸν στόλον ἐξήρτυον εἰς ναυμαχίαν· ὡς δʼ ἐπʼ εὐθείας ἑώρων παραθέοντας καὶ πολὺ τοῦ πλοῦ προλαμβάνοντας, ἐποιοῦντο τὸν διωγμόν. ἔνθα δὴ τούτων πρὸς ἀλλήλους φιλοτιμουμένων τὰ μὲν τὴν ἀγορὰν κομίζοντα πλοῖα παραδόξως ἐκφυγόντα τὸν κίνδυνον πολλὴν εὐπορίαν ἐποίησεν ἐν ταῖς Συρακούσσαις τῶν ἐπιτηδείων, σιτοδείας ἤδη τὴν πόλιν ἐχούσης, ὁ δʼ Ἀγαθοκλῆς περικατάληπτος ἤδη γινόμενος ἐπιλαβούσης τῆς νυκτὸς ἀνελπίστου σωτηρίας ἔτυχεν. τῇ δʼ ὑστεραίᾳ τηλικαύτην ἔκλειψιν ἡλίου συνέβη γενέσθαι ὥστε ὁλοσχερῶς φανῆναι νύκτα, θεωρουμένων τῶν ἀστέρων πανταχοῦ· διόπερ οἱ περὶ τὸν Ἀγαθοκλέα, νομίσαντες καὶ τὸ θεῖον αὐτοῖς προσημαίνειν τὸ δυσχερές, ἔτι μᾶλλον ὑπὲρ τοῦ μέλλοντος ἐν ἀγωνίᾳ καθειστήκεισαν.
When everything was ready, Agathocles manned sixty ships and awaited a suitable time for the voyage. Since his purpose was unknown, some supposed that he was making an expedition into Italy, and others that he was going to plunder the part of Sicily that was under Carthaginian control; but all despaired of the safety of those who were about to sail away and condemned the prince for his mad folly. But since the enemy was blockading the port with triremes many times more numerous than his own, Agathocles at first for some days was compelled to detain his soldiers in the ships since they could not sail out; but later, when some grain ships were putting in to the city, the Carthaginians with their whole fleet made for these ships, and Agathocles, who already despaired of his enterprise, as he saw the mouth of the harbour freed of the blockading ships, sailed out, his men rowing at top speed. Then when the Carthaginians, who were already close to the cargo vessels, saw the enemy sailing with their ships in close order, assuming at first that Agathocles was hastening to the rescue of the grain ships, they turned and made their fleet ready for battle; but when he saw the ships sailing straight past and getting a long start of them, they began to pursue. Thereupon, while these were contending with each other, the ships that were bringing grain, unexpectedly escaping the danger, brought about a great abundance of provisions in Syracuse, when a scarcity of food was already gripping the city; and Agathocles, who was already at the point of being overtaken and surrounded, gained unhoped-for safety as night closed in. 5 On the next day there occurred such an eclipse of the sun that utter darkness set in and the stars were seen everywhere; wherefore Agathocles' men, believing that the prodigy portended misfortune for them, fell into even greater anxiety about the future.
§ 20.6
ἓξ δʼ ἡμέρας καὶ τὰς ἴσας νύκτας αὐτῶν πλευσάντων ὑποφαινούσης τῆς ἕω παραδόξως ὁ στόλος τῶν Καρχηδονίων οὐκ ἄπωθεν ὢν ἑωράθη. διόπερ ἀμφοτέροις ἐμπεσούσης σπουδῆς ἡμιλλῶντο πρὸς ἀλλήλους ταῖς εἰρεσίαις, οἱ μὲν Φοίνικες νομίζοντες ἅμα τῇ τῶν νεῶν ἁλώσει Συρακούσσας μὲν ὑποχειρίους ἕξειν, τὴν δὲ πατρίδα μεγάλων ἐλευθερώσειν κινδύνων· οἱ δʼ Ἕλληνες, εἰ μὴ φθάσειαν τῆς χώρας ἁψάμενοι, προκειμένην ἑώρων αὑτοῖς μὲν τιμωρίαν, τοῖς δὲ καταλειφθεῖσιν ἐν οἴκῳ τὰ τῆς δουλείας δεινά. καθορωμένης δὲ τῆς Λιβύης παρακελευσμὸς ἐγίνετο τοῖς πληρώμασι καὶ φιλοτιμίας ὑπερβολή· καὶ τάχιον μὲν ἄπλεον αἱ τῶν βαρβάρων, ἐν πολυχρονίῳ μελέτῃ τῶν ἐρετῶν διαπεπονημένων, ἱκανὸν δὲ διάστημα προεῖχον αἱ τῶν Ἑλλήνων. ὀξύτατα δὲ τοῦ πλοῦ διανυσθέντος, ἐπειδὴ πλησίον ἐγενήθησαν τῆς γῆς, συνεξέπιπτον ἀλλήλοις εἰς τὸν αἰγιαλὸν ὡσπερεί τινες ἀγωνισταί· ταῖς γὰρ ἐσχάταις τῶν Ἀγαθοκλέους αἱ πρῶται τῶν Καρχηδονίων ἐνέβαλλον ἐντὸς βέλους οὖσαι. διόπερ ἐπʼ ὀλίγον χρόνον τοῖς τε τόξοις καὶ σφενδόναις διαγωνισαμένων αὐτῶν καὶ ναυσὶν ὀλίγαις τῶν βαρβάρων συμπλακέντων οἱ περὶ τὸν Ἀγαθοκλέα προετέρουν, τὸ τῶν στρατιωτῶν ἔχοντες πλῆθος. εἶθʼ οἱ μὲν Καρχηδόνιοι πρύμναν ἀνακρουσάμενοι μικρὸν ἔξω βέλους ἐφώρμουν, ὁ δʼ Ἀγαθοκλῆς ἀποβιβάσας τὴν δύναμιν πρὸς τὰς καλουμένας Λατομίας καὶ χάρακα βαλόμενος ἐκ θαλάττης εἰς θάλατταν ἐνεώλκησε τὰς ναῦς.
After they had sailed for six days and the same number of nights, just as day was breaking, the fleet of the Carthaginians was unexpectedly seen not far away. At this both fleets were filled with zeal and vied with each other in rowing, the Carthaginians believing that as soon as they destroyed the Greek ships they would have Syracuse in their hands and at the same time free their fatherland from great dangers; and the Greeks foreseeing that, if they did not get to land first, punishment was in store for themselves and the perils of slavery for those who had been left at home. When Libya came into sight, the men on board began to cheer and the rivalry became very keen; the ships of the barbarians sailed faster since their crews had undergone very long training, but those of the Greeks had sufficient lead. The distance was covered very quickly, and when the ships drew near the land they rushed side by side for the beach like men in a race; indeed, since they were within range, the first of the Carthaginian ships were sending missiles at the last of those of Agathocles. Consequently, when they had fought for a short time with bows and slings and the barbarians had come to close quarters with a few of the Greek ships, Agathocles got the upper hand since he had his complement of soldiers. At this the Carthaginians withdrew and lay offshore a little beyond bowshot; but Agathocles, having disembarked his soldiers at the place called Latomiae, and constructed a palisade from sea to sea, beached his ships.
§ 20.7
οὕτω δὲ παράβολον ἐπιτελεσάμενος πρᾶξιν, ἄλλην ἐτόλμησε ταύτης μᾶλλον κεκινδυνευμένην. παραστησάμενος γὰρ τοὺς ἐν ἡγεμονίαις ὄντας εὐπειθεῖς πρὸς τὴν ἰδίαν ἐπιβολὴν καὶ θυσίαν ποιησάμενος Δήμητρι καὶ Κόρῃ συνήγαγεν ἐκκλησίαν κἄπειτα προελθὼν ἐπὶ τὴν δημηγορίαν ἐστεφανωμένος ἐν ἱματίῳ λαμπρῷ καὶ προδιαλεχθεὶς οἰκείως τοῖς ἐγχειρουμένοις ἔφησε ταῖς κατεχούσαις Σικελίαν θεαῖς Δήμητρι καὶ Κόρῃ πεποιῆσθαι, καθʼ ὃν καιρὸν ἐδιώχθησαν ὑπὸ Καρχηδονίων, εὐχὰς λαμπαδεύσειν ἁπάσας τὰς ναῦς. καλῶς οὖν ἔχειν τετευχότας τῆς σωτηρίας ἀποδιδόναι τὰς εὐχάς. ἀντὶ δὲ τούτων ἐπηγγέλλετο πολλαπλασίους ἀποδώσειν προθύμως αὐτῶν ἀγωνισαμένων· καὶ γὰρ τὰς θεὰς διὰ τῶν ἱερῶν προσημαίνειν νίκην τοῦ σύμπαντος πολέμου. ἅμα δὲ ταῦτα λέγοντος αὐτοῦ τῶν ὑπηρετῶν τις προσήνεγκεν ἡμμένην δᾷδα· ἣν δεξάμενος καὶ τοῖς τριηράρχοις ὁμοίως ἅπασι προστάξας ἀναδοῦναι τάς τε θεὰς ἐπεκαλέσατο καὶ πρῶτος ὥρμησεν ἐπὶ τὴν ναυαρχίδα τριήρη· στὰς δʼ ἐπὶ τὴν πρύμναν καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις τὸ παραπλήσιον ποιεῖν παρεκελεύετο. ἔνθα δὴ τῶν τριηράρχων ἁπάντων ἐνέντων τὸ πῦρ καὶ ταχὺ τῆς φλογὸς εἰς ὕψος ἀρθείσης οἱ μὲν σαλπιγκταὶ τὸ πολεμικὸν ἐσήμαινον, τὸ δὲ στρατόπεδον ἐπηλάλαξε, συνευχομένων ἁπάντων ὑπὲρ τῆς εἰς οἶκον σωτηρίας. τοῦτο δʼ ἔπραξεν Ἀγαθοκλῆς μάλιστα μὲν ἕνεκα τοῦ συναναγκάσαι τοὺς στρατιώτας ἐν τοῖς κινδύνοις ἐπιλαθέσθαι τὸ παράπαν τῆς φυγῆς· δῆλον γὰρ ὅτι τῆς ἐπὶ τὰς ναῦς καταφυγῆς ἀποκοπείσης ἐν μόνῳ τῷ νικᾶν ἕξουσι τὰς ἐλπίδας τῆς σωτηρίας· ἔπειτα καὶ δύναμιν ὀλίγην ἔχων ἐθεώρει διότι φυλάσσων μὲν τὰς ναῦς ἀναγκασθήσεται μερίζειν τὸ στρατόπεδον καὶ μηδαμῶς ἀξιόμαχος εἶναι, καταλιπὼν δʼ ἐρήμους ὑποχειρίους ποιήσει γενέσθαι Καρχηδονίοις.
When he had thus carried through a perilous enterprise, Agathocles ventured upon another even more hazardous. For after surrounding himself with those among the leaders who were ready to follow his proposal and after making sacrifice to Demeter and Core, he summoned an assembly; next he came forward to speak, crowned and clad in a splendid himation, and when he had made prefatory remarks of a nature appropriate to the undertaking, he declared that to Demeter and Core, the goddesses who protected Sicily, he had at the very moment when they were pursued by the Carthaginians vowed to offer all the ships as a burnt offering. Therefore it was well, since they had succeeded in gaining safety, that they should pay the vow. In place of these ships he promised to restore many times the number if they would but fight boldly; and in truth, he added, the goddesses by omens from the victims had foretold victory in the entire war. While he was saying this, one of his attendants brought forward a lighted torch. When he had taken this and had given orders to distribute torches likewise to all the ship captains, he invoked the goddesses and himself first set out to the trireme of the commander. Standing by the stern, he bade the others also to follow his example. Then as all the captains threw in the fire and the flames quickly blazed high, the trumpeters sounded the signal for battle and the army raised the war-cry, while all together prayed for a safe return home. This Agathocles did primarily to compel his soldiers in the midst of dangers to have no thought at all of flight; for it was clear that, if the retreat to the ships was cut off, in victory alone would they have hope of safety. Moreover, since he had a small army, he reasoned that if he guarded the ships he would be compelled to divide his forces and so be by no means strong enough to meet the enemy in battle, and if he left the ships without defenders, he would put them into the hands of the Carthaginians.
§ 20.8
οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ τῶν νεῶν ἁπασῶν φλεγομένων καὶ τοῦ πυρὸς πολὺν ἐπέχοντος τόπον ἔκπληξις κατεῖχε τοὺς Σικελιώτας. ἐν ἀρχῇ μὲν γὰρ ὑπὸ τῆς Ἀγαθοκλέους γοητείας παραλογισθέντες καὶ τῆς τῶν ἐγχειρουμένων ὀξύτητος ἀναθεώρησιν οὐ διδούσης πάντες συγκατετίθεντο τοῖς πραττομένοις· τοῦ δὲ χρόνου τὸν περὶ ἑκάστων ἀναλογισμὸν παριστάντος εἰς μεταμέλειαν ἐνέπιπτον καὶ τὸ μέγεθος τοῦ διείργοντος πελάγους ἀναλογιζόμενοι τὴν σωτηρίαν ἀπεγίνωσκον. ὁ δʼ Ἀγαθοκλῆς σπεύδων ἀπαλλάξαι τῆς ἀθυμίας τοὺς στρατιώτας ἦγε τὴν δύναμιν ἐπὶ τὴν ὀνομαζομένην Μεγάλην πόλιν, οὖσαν Καρχηδονίων. ἡ δʼ ἀνὰ μέσον χώρα, διʼ ἧς ἦν ἀναγκαῖον πορευθῆναι, διείληπτο κηπείαις καὶ παντοίαις φυτουργίαις, πολλῶν ὑδάτων διωχετευμένων καὶ πάντα τόπον ἀρδευόντων. ἀγροικίαι τε συνεχεῖς ὑπῆρχον, οἰκοδομαῖς πολυτελέσι καὶ κονιάμασι διαπεπονημέναι καὶ τὸν τῶν κεκτημένων αὐτὰς διασημαίνουσαι πλοῦτον. ἔγεμον δʼ αἱ μὲν ἐπαύλεις πάντων τῶν πρὸς ἀπόλαυσιν, ὡς ἂν τῶν ἐγχωρίων ἐν εἰρήνῃ πολυχρονίῳ τεθησαυρικότων γεννημάτων ἀφθονίαν· ἡ δὲ χώρα ἡ μὲν ἦν ἀμπελόφυτος, ἡ δὲ ἐλαιοφόρος καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν καρπίμων δένδρων ἀνάπλεως. ἐπὶ θάτερα δὲ μέρη τὸ πεδίον ἐνέμοντο βοῶν ἀγέλαι καὶ ποῖμναι καὶ τὰ πλησίον ἕλη φορβάδων ἵππων ἔγεμε. καθόλου δὲ παντοία τις ἦν ἐν τοῖς τόποις εὐδαιμονία, τῶν ἐπιφανεστάτων Καρχηδονίων διειληφότων τὰς κτήσεις καὶ τοῖς πλούτοις πεφιλοκαληκότων πρὸς ἀπόλαυσιν. διόπερ οἱ Σικελιῶται τό τε τῆς χώρας κάλλος καὶ τὴν εὐδαιμονίαν τὴν ἐν αὐτῇ θαυμάζοντες μετέωροι ταῖς ἐλπίσιν ἐγένοντο, θεωροῦντες ἄξια τῶν κινδύνων ἔπαθλα τοῖς νικῶσι προκείμενα. ὁ δʼ Ἀγαθοκλῆς ὁρῶν τοὺς στρατιώτας ἀναλαμβάνοντας αὑτοὺς ἐκ τῆς ἀθυμίας καὶ προθύμους ὄντας εἰς τοὺς κινδύνους ἐξ ἐφόδου προσέβαλλε τοῖς τείχεσιν. ἀπροσδοκήτου δὲ τῆς ἐπιθέσεως γενομένης καὶ τῶν ἔνδον διὰ τὴν ἄγνοιαν καὶ τὴν τῶν πολεμικῶν ἀπειρίαν ὀλίγον ὑποστάντων χρόνον εἷλε τὴν πόλιν κατὰ κράτος· δοὺς δὲ τοῖς στρατιώταις εἰς ἁρπαγὴν ἐνέπλησε τὴν δύναμιν ὠφελείας ἅμα καὶ θάρσους. εὐθὺ δὲ καὶ πρὸς τὸν Λευκὸν Τύνητα καλούμενον ἀναζεύξας ἐχειρώσατο τὴν πόλιν, ἀπέχουσαν Καρχηδόνος δισχιλίους σταδίους. ἀμφοτέρας δὲ τὰς ἁλούσας πόλεις οἱ μὲν στρατιῶται διαφυλάττειν ἠβούλοντο καὶ τὰς ὠφελείας εἰς αὐτὰς ἀπετίθεντο· ὁ δʼ Ἀγαθοκλῆς ἀκόλουθα τοῖς προπεπραγμένοις διανοηθεὶς καὶ διδάξας τὸ πλῆθος ὡς οὐδεμίαν συμφέρει καταφυγὴν ἀπολιπεῖν, ἕως ἂν παρατάξει νικήσωσι, κατέστρεψέ τε τὰς πόλεις καὶ κατεστρατοπέδευσεν ἐν ὑπαίθρῳ.
Nevertheless, when all the ships were aflame and the fire was spreading widely, terror laid hold upon the Sicilians. Carried away at first by the wiles of Agathocles and by the rapidity of his undertakings, which gave no time for reflection, all acquiesced in what was being done; but when time made possible detailed consideration, they were plunged into regret, and as they considered the vastness of the sea that separated them from home, they abandoned hope of safety. Agathocles, however, in an effort to rid his soldiers of their despondency, led his army against the place called Megalepolis, a city of the Carthaginians. The intervening country through which it was necessary for them to march was divided into gardens and plantations of every kind, since many streams of water were led in small channels and irrigated every part. There were also country houses one after another, constructed in luxurious fashion and covered with stucco, which gave evidence of the wealth of the people who possessed them. The farm buildings were filled with everything that was needful for enjoyment, seeing that the inhabitants in a long period of peace had stored up an abundant variety of products. Part of the land was planted with vines, and part yielded olives and was also planted thickly with other varieties of fruit-bearing trees. On each side herds of cattle and flocks of sheep pastured on the plain, and the neighbouring meadows were filled with grazing horses. In general there was a manifold prosperity in the region, since the leading Carthaginians had laid out there their private estates and with their wealth had beautified them for their enjoyment. Therefore the Sicilians, amazed at the beauty of the land and at its prosperity, were buoyed up by expectation, for they beheld prizes commensurate with their dangers ready at hand for the victors; and Agathocles, seeing that the soldiers were recovering from their discouragement and had become eager for battle, attacked the city walls by direct assault. Since the onset was unforeseen and the inhabitants, because they did not know what was happening and because they had no experience in the wars, resisted only a short time, he took the city by storm; and giving it over to his soldiers for pillage, he at a single stroke loaded his army with booty and filled it with confidence. Then, setting out immediately for White Tunis, as it is called, he subdued this city, which lies about two thousand stades from Carthage. The soldiers wished to garrison both of the captured cities and deposit the booty in them; but Agathocles, meditating actions conforming to those that had already been accomplished and telling the crowd that it was advantageous to leave behind them no places of refuge until they should have been victorious in battle, destroyed the cities and camped in the open.
§ 20.9
οἱ δʼ ἐφορμοῦντες Καρχηδόνιοι τῷ ναυστάθμῳ τῶν Σικελιωτῶν τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ὁρῶντες καομένας τὰς ναῦς περιχαρεῖς ἦσαν, ὡς διὰ τὸν ἀπʼ αὐτῶν φόβον ἠναγκασμένων τῶν πολεμίων διαφθεῖραι τὰ σκάφη· ὡς δʼ ἴδον εἰς τὴν χώραν προάγουσαν τὴν τῶν ἐναντίων δύναμιν, συλλογιζόμενοι περὶ τῶν ἀποβησομένων συμφορὰν ἰδίαν ἡγοῦντο τὴν τῶν νεῶν ἀπώλειαν. διὸ καὶ ταῖς πρῴραις δέρρεις κατεπέτασαν, ὅπερ ἀεὶ ποιεῖν εἰώθασιν, ὅταν τι κακὸν δημοσίᾳ συμβεβηκέναι δόξῃ τῇ Καρχηδονίων πόλει, ἔλαβόν τε καὶ τὰ χαλκώματα τῶν Ἀγαθοκλέους νεῶν εἰς τὰς ἰδίας τριήρεις καὶ τοὺς ἀπαγγελοῦντας ὑπὲρ τῶν συμβεβηκότων τἀκριβὲς ἐξαπέστειλαν εἰς τὴν Καρχηδόνα. πρὶν δὲ τούτους δηλῶσαι τὸ γεγονός, ἀπὸ τῆς χώρας τινὲς αἰσθόμενοι τὸν κατάπλουν τὸν Ἀγαθοκλέους ἀπήγγειλαν κατὰ σπουδὴν τοῖς Καρχηδονίοις. οἱ δʼ ἐκπλαγέντες διὰ τὸ παράδοξον ὑπέλαβον ἀπολωλέναι τὰς ἰδίας δυνάμεις ἐν Σικελίᾳ καὶ τὰς πεζικὰς καὶ τὰς ναυτικάς· οὐ γὰρ ἄν ποτε τὸν Ἀγαθοκλέα μὴ νενικηκότα τολμῆσαι καταλιπεῖν ἐρήμους βοηθείας τὰς Συρακούσσας οὐδʼ ἂν ἐπιβαλέσθαι περαιοῦν δύναμιν θαλασσοκρατούντων τῶν πολεμίων. διόπερ θόρυβος καὶ πολλὴ ταραχὴ κατεῖχε τὴν πόλιν καὶ συνδρομὴ τῶν ὄχλων εἰς τὴν ἀγορὰν ἐγίνετο καὶ βουλὴ τῆς γερουσίας ὅ,τι δέοι πράττειν. στρατόπεδον μὲν γὰρ οὐκ ἦν ἕτοιμον τὸ δυνάμενον ἀντιτάξασθαι, τὸ δὲ πολιτικὸν πλῆθος ἄπειρον ὂν πολέμου προκαταπεπτώκει ταῖς ψυχαῖς, οἱ πολέμιοι δὲ πλησίον εἶναι τῶν τειχῶν προσεδοκῶντο. ἔνιοι μὲν οὖν ἔφασαν πρεσβευτὰς ὑπὲρ εἰρήνης ἀποστέλλειν πρὸς Ἀγαθοκλέα, τοὺς αὐτοὺς ἅμα καὶ κατασκόπους ἐσομένους τῶν παρὰ τοῖς πολεμίοις, τινὲς δὲ ἀναμεῖναι μέχρι ἂν γνῶσιν ἀκριβῶς ἕκαστον τῶν πεπραγμένων. τοιαύτης δὲ συγχύσεως τὴν πόλιν ἐχούσης κατέπλευσαν οἱ πεμφθέντες ὑπὸ τοῦ ναυάρχου καὶ τὰς αἰτίας τῶν πεπραγμένων ἐδήλωσαν.
When the Carthaginians who lay at anchor off the station where the Sicilian fleet was beached saw the ships burning, they were delighted, thinking that it was through fear of themselves that the enemy had been forced to destroy his ships; but when they saw that the army of their opponents was moving into the country, as they reckoned up the consequences, they concluded that the destruction of the fleet was their own misfortune. Therefore they spread hides over the prows of their ships as they were in the habit of doing whenever it seemed that any public misfortune had befallen the city of Carthage; and, after taking the bronze beaks of the ships of Agathocles on board their own triremes, they sent to Carthage messengers to report exactly what had happened. But before these had explained the situation, the country folk who had seen the landing of Agathocles, reported it quickly to the Carthaginians. Panic-stricken at the unexpected event, they supposed that their own forces in Sicily, both army and navy, had been destroyed; for Agathocles, they believed, would never have ventured to leave Syracuse stripped of defenders unless he had been victorious, nor to transport an army across the straits while the enemy controlled the sea. Therefore panic and great confusion seized upon the city; the crowds rushed to the market place, and the council of elders consulted what should be done. In fact there was no army at hand that could take the field against the enemy; the mass of the citizens, who had had no experience in warfare, were already in despair; and the enemy was thought to be near the walls. Accordingly, some proposed to send envoys to Agathocles to sue for peace, these same men serving also as spies to observe the situation of the enemy; but some urged that they should delay until they had learned precisely what had taken place. However, while such confusion prevailed in the city, the messengers sent by the commander of the fleet sailed in and made clear the true explanation of what had happened.
§ 20.10
ἀναθαρσησάντων οὖν πάντων πάλιν ταῖς ψυχαῖς ἡ γερουσία τοὺς μὲν ναυάρχους ἅπαντας κατεμέμψατο ὅτι θαλαττοκρατοῦντες εἴασαν πολεμίαν δύναμιν ἐπιβῆναι τῆς Λιβύης, στρατηγοὺς δὲ ἀπέδειξαν τῶν δυνάμεων Ἄννωνα καὶ Βορμίλκαν, πατρῴαν ἔχθραν ἔχοντας· ἡγοῦντο γὰρ διὰ τὴν ἰδίαν τούτοις ἀπιστίαν καὶ διαφορὰν κοινὴν ἔσεσθαι τῆς πόλεως ἀσφάλειαν. πολὺ δὲ διεσφάλησαν τῆς ἀληθείας. ὁ γὰρ Βορμίλκας πάλαι μὲν ἦν ἐπιθυμητὴς τυραννίδος, οὐκ ἔχων δʼ ἐξουσίαν οὐδὲ καιρὸν οἰκεῖον ταῖς ἐπιβολαῖς τότε ἔλαβεν ἀφορμὰς ἀξιολόγους, τυχῶν τῆς στρατηγίας. αἰτία δὲ μάλιστα τούτων ἡ πρὸς τὰς τιμωρίας πικρία τῶν Καρχηδονίων· τοὺς γὰρ ἐπιφανεστάτους τῶν ἀνδρῶν ἐν μὲν τοῖς πολέμοις προάγουσιν ἐπὶ τὰς ἡγεμονίας, νομίζοντες δεῖν αὐτοὺς τῶν ὅλων προκινδυνεύειν· ὅταν δὲ τύχωσι τῆς εἰρήνης, τοὺς αὐτοὺς τούτους συκοφαντοῦσι καὶ κρίσεις ἀδίκους ἐπιφέροντες διὰ τὸν φθόνον τιμωρίαις περιβάλλουσι. διὸ καὶ τῶν ἐπὶ τὰς ἡγεμονίας ταττομένων τινὲς μὲν φοβούμενοι τὰς ἐν τῷ δικαστηρίῳ κρίσεις ἀποστάται γίνονται τῆς ἡγεμονίας, τινὲς δʼ ἐπιτίθενται τυραννίσιν· ὅπερ καὶ τότε Βορμίλκας ὁ ἕτερος τῶν στρατηγῶν ἐποίησε, περὶ οὗ μικρὸν ὕστερον ἐροῦμεν. οἱ γʼ οὖν στρατηγοὶ τῶν Καρχηδονίων ὁρῶντες τὸν καιρὸν οὐδαμῶς ἀναβολῆς οἰκεῖον τοὺς μὲν ἀπὸ τῆς χώρας καὶ τῶν συμμαχίδων πόλεων στρατιώτας οὐκ ἀνέμειναν, αὐτοὺς δὲ τοὺς πολιτικοὺς ἐξήγαγον εἰς ὕπαιθρον, ὄντας πεζοὺς μὲν οὐκ ἐλάττους τετρακισμυρίων, ἱππεῖς δὲ χιλίους, ἅρματα δὲ δισχίλια. καταλαβόμενοι δέ τινα γεώλοφον οὐ μακρὰν τῶν πολεμίων ἐξέταττον τὴν δύναμιν εἰς μάχην· καὶ τοῦ μὲν δεξιοῦ κέρατος Ἄννων εἶχε τὴν ἡγεμονίαν, συναγωνιζομένων αὐτῷ τῶν εἰς τὸν ἱερὸν λόχον συντεταγμένων, τοῦ δʼ εὐωνύμου Βορμίλκας ἡγούμενος βαθεῖαν ἐποίει τὴν φάλαγγα, κωλύοντος τοῦ τόπου παρεκτείνειν ἐπὶ πλεῖον· τὰ δʼ ἅρματα καὶ τοὺς ἱππεῖς πρὸ τῆς φάλαγγος ἔστησαν, διεγνωκότες τούτοις πρῶτον ἐμβαλεῖν καὶ τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἀποπειραθῆναι.
Now that all had regained their courage, the council reprimanded all the commanders of the fleet because, although controlling the sea, they had allowed a hostile army to set foot on Libya; and it appointed as generals of the armies Hanno and Bormilcar, men who had an inherited feud. The councillors thought, indeed, that because of the private mistrust and enmity of the generals the safety of the city as a whole would be secured; but they completely missed the truth. For Bormilcar, who had long had his heart set on tyranny but had lacked authority and a proper occasion for his attempt, now gained an excellent starting point by getting the command as general. The basic cause in this matter was the Carthaginians' severity in inflicting punishments. In their wars they advance their leading men to commands, taking it for granted that these should be first to brave danger for the whole state; but when they gain peace, they plague these same men with suits, bring false charges against them through envy, and load them down with penalties. Therefore some of those who are placed in positions of command, fearing the trials in the courts, desert their posts, but others attempt to become tyrants; and this is what Bormilcar, one of the two generals, did on this occasion; about him we shall speak a little later. But to resume, the generals of the Carthaginians, seeing that the situation was not at all consistent with delay, did not await soldiers from the country and from the allied cities; but they led the citizen soldiers themselves into the field, in number not less than forty thousand footsoldiers, one thousand horsemen, and two thousand chariots. Occupying a slight elevation not far from the enemy, they drew up their army for battle. Hanno had command of the right wing, those enrolled in the Sacred Band fighting beside him; and Bormilcar, commanding the left, made his phalanx deep since the terrain prevented him from extending it on a broader front. The chariots and the cavalry they stationed in front of the phalanx, having determined to strike with these first and test the temper of the Greeks.
§ 20.11
ὁ δʼ Ἀγαθοκλῆς κατασκεψάμενος τὰς τῶν βαρβάρων τάξεις τὸ μὲν δεξιὸν κέρας ἔδωκεν Ἀρχαγάθῳ τῷ υἱῷ, παραδοὺς αὐτῷ πεζοὺς δισχιλίους καὶ πεντακοσίους, ἑξῆς δʼ ἔταξε τοὺς Συρακοσίους, ὄντας τρισχιλίους πεντακοσίους, εἶτα μισθοφόρους Ἕλληνας τρισχιλίους, τελευταίους δὲ Σαμνίτας καὶ Τυρρηνοὺς καὶ Κελτοὺς τρισχιλίους. μετὰ δὲ τῆς θεραπείας αὐτὸς τοῦ ἡμίσους κέρατος προηγωνίζετο, χιλίοις ὁπλίταις πρὸς τὸν ἱερὸν λόχον τῶν Καρχηδονίων ἀντιτεταγμένος· τοὺς δὲ τοξότας καὶ σφενδονήτας πεντακοσίους ὄντας ἐπὶ τὰ κέρατα διεῖλεν. ὅπλα μὲν οὖν οἱ στρατιῶται μόγις εἶχον ἱκανά· τοὺς δʼ ἐκ τῶν ἀφράκτων ὁρῶν ἀνόπλους ὄντας τὰ τῶν ἀσπίδων ἔλυτρα ῥάβδοις διέτεινε καὶ τῇ φαντασίᾳ τὸν τῆς ἀσπίδος κύκλον μιμησάμενος ἀνέδωκεν αὐτοῖς πρὸς μὲν τὴν χρείαν οὐδαμῶς ἐπιτήδεια, πρὸς δὲ τὴν πόρρωθεν ὁρωμένην ὄψιν δυνάμενα δόξαν ὅπλων ἐμποιῆσαι τοῖς ἀγνοοῦσι τἀληθές. ὁρῶν δὲ τοὺς στρατιώτας καταπεπληγμένους τὸ πλῇθος τῆς βαρβαρικῆς ἵππου καὶ δυνάμεως ἀφῆκεν εἰς τὸ στρατόπεδον κατὰ πλείονας τόπους γλαῦκας, ἃς ἐκ χρόνου παρεσκεύαστο πρὸς τὰς ἀθυμίας τῶν πολλῶν· αὗται δὲ διὰ τῆς φάλαγγος πετόμεναι καὶ προσκαθίζουσαι ταῖς ἀσπίσι καὶ τοῖς κράνεσιν εὐθαρσεῖς ἐποίουν τοὺς στρατιώτας, ἑκάστων οἰωνιζομένων διὰ τὸ δοκεῖν ἱερὸν εἶναι τὸ ζῷον τῆς Ἀθηνᾶς. ταῦτα δέ, καίπερ ἄν τισι δόξαντα κενὴν ἔχειν ἐπίνοιαν, πολλάκις αἴτια γίνεται μεγάλων προτερημάτων. ὃ καὶ τότε συνέβη γενέσθαι· ἐμπεσόντος γὰρ εἰς τὰ πλήθη θάρσους καὶ διαδοθέντων λόγων ὡς τὸ θεῖον αὐτοῖς φανερῶς προσημαίνει νίκην, παραστατικώτερον τὸν κίνδυνον ὑπέμειναν.
After Agathocles had viewed the array of the barbarians, he entrusted the right wing to his son Archagathus, giving him twenty-five thousand foot-soldiers; and he drew up the Syracusans, who were thirtyfive hundred in number, then three thousand Greek mercenaries, and finally three thousand Samnites, Etruscans, and Celts. He himself with his bodyguard fought in front of the left wing, opposing with one thousand hoplites the Sacred Band of the Carthaginians. The five hundred archers and slingers he divided between the wings. There was hardly enough equipment for the soldiers; and when he saw the men of the crews unarmed he had the shield covers stretched with sticks, thus making them similar in appearance to the round shields, and distributed them to these men, of no use at all for real service but when seen from a distance capable of creating the impression of arms in the minds of men who did not know the truth. Seeing that his soldiers were frightened by the great numbers of barbarian cavalry and infantry, he let loose into the army in many places owls, which he had long since prepared as a means of relieving the discouragement of the common soldiers. The owls, flying through the phalanx and settling on the shields and helmets, encouraged the soldiers, each man regarding this as an omen because the bird is held sacred to Athena. Such things as this, although they might seem to some an inane device, have often been responsible for great successes. And so it happened on this occasion also; for when courage inspired the common soldiers and word was passed along that the deity was clearly foretelling victory for them, they awaited the battle with greater steadfastness.
§ 20.12
προεμβαλόντων γὰρ εἰς αὐτοὺς τῶν ἁρμάτων ἃ μὲν κατηκόντισαν, ἃ δʼ εἴασαν διεκπεσεῖν, τὰ δὲ πλεῖστα συνηνάγκασαν στρέψαι πρὸς τὴν τῶν πεζῶν τάξιν. παραπλησίως δὲ καὶ τὴν τῶν ἱππέων ἐπιφορὰν ὑποστάντες καὶ πολλοὺς αὐτῶν κατατιτρώσκοντες ἐποίησαν φυγεῖν εἰς τοὐπίσω. προαγωνιζομένων δʼ αὐτῶν ἐν τούτοις λαμπρῶς ἡ πεζὴ δύναμις τῶν βαρβάρων ἅπασα συνῆψεν εἰς χεῖρας. γενναίας δὲ μάχης γιγνομένης Ἄννων μὲν ἔχων συναγωνιζόμενον τὸν ἱερὸν λόχον ἐπιλέκτων ἀνδρῶν καὶ σπεύδων ποιῆσαι διʼ αὑτοῦ τὴν νίκην ἐνέκειτο βαρὺς τοῖς Ἕλλησι καὶ συχνοὺς ἀνῄρει. φερομένων δʼ ἐπʼ αὐτὸν παντοδαπῶν βελῶν οὐκ εἶκεν, ἀλλὰ καίπερ πολλοῖς τραύμασι περιπίπτων ἐβιάζετο, μέχρις ὅτου καταπονηθεὶς ἐτελεύτησε. τούτου δὲ πεσόντος οἱ μὲν ταύτῃ τεταγμένοι τῶν Καρχηδονίων ἀνετράπησαν ταῖς ψυχαῖς, οἱ δὲ περὶ τὸν Ἀγαθοκλέα μετεωρισθέντες πολὺ μᾶλλον ἐπερρώσθησαν. ἃ δὴ πυθόμενός τινων Βορμίλκας, ὁ ἕτερος στρατηγός, καὶ νομίσας παρὰ θεῶν αὐτῷ δεδόσθαι τὸν καιρὸν τοῦ λαβεῖν ἀφορμὰς πρὸς τὴν ἐπίθεσιν τῆς τυραννίδος, διελογίζετο πρὸς αὑτόν, εἰ μὲν ἡ μετὰ Ἀγαθοκλέους διαφθαρείη δύναμις, μὴ δυνήσεσθαι τὴν ἐπίθεσιν ποιήσασθαι τῇ δυναστείᾳ, τῶν πολιτῶν ἰσχυόντων, εἰ δὲ ἐκεῖνος νικήσας τὰ φρονήματα παρέλοιτο τῶν Καρχηδονίων, εὐχειρώτους μὲν ἑαυτῷ τοὺς προηττημένους ἔσεσθαι, τὸν δʼ Ἀγαθοκλέα ῥᾳδίως καταπολεμήσειν, ὅταν αὐτῷ δόξῃ. ταῦτα δὲ διανοηθεὶς ἀνεχώρησε μετὰ τῶν πρωτοστατῶν, δοὺς τοῖς μὲν πολεμίοις ἄσημον ἔκκλιμα, τοῖς δʼ ἰδίοις δηλώσας τὸν Ἄννωνος θάνατον καὶ παρακελευόμενος ἀναχωρεῖν ἐν τάξει πρὸς τὸν γεώλοφον· τοῦτο γὰρ συμφέρειν. ἐπικειμένων δὲ τῶν πολεμίων καὶ τῆς ὅλης ὑποχωρήσεως φυγῇ παραπλησίας γινομένης οἱ μὲν συνεχεῖς Λίβυες ἀπὸ κράτους ἡττῆσθαι τοὺς πρωτοστάτας νομίσαντες πρὸς φυγὴν ὥρμησαν, οἱ δὲ τὸν ἱερὸν λόχον ἔχοντες μετὰ τὸν Ἄννωνος τοῦ στρατηγοῦ θάνατον τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἀντεῖχον εὐρώστως καὶ τοὺς ἐξ αὐτῶν πίπτοντας ὑπερβαίνοντες ὑπέμενον πάντα κίνδυνον, ἐπεὶ δὲ κατενόησαν τὸ πλεῖον μέρος τῆς δυνάμεως πρὸς φυγὴν ὡρμημένον καὶ τοὺς πολεμίους περιισταμένους κατὰ νώτου, συνηναγκάσθησαν ἐκκλῖναι. διὸ καὶ τροπῆς γενομένης κατὰ πᾶν τὸ τῶν Καρχηδονίων στρατόπεδον οἱ μὲν βάρβαροι τὴν φυγὴν ἐποιοῦντο πρὸς τὴν Καρχηδόνα, Ἀγαθοκλῆς δὲ μέχρι τινὸς ἐπιδιώξας ἐπανῆλθε καὶ τὴν στρατοπεδείαν τῶν Καρχηδονίων διήρπασεν.
Indeed, when the chariots charged against them, they shot down some, and allowed others to pass through, but most of them they forced to turn back against the line of their own infantry. In the same way they withstood also the charge of the cavalry; and by bringing down many of them, they made them flee to the rear. While they were distinguishing themselves in these preliminary contests, the infantry force of the barbarians had all come to close quarters. A gallant battle developed, and Hanno, who had fighting under him the Sacred Band of selected men and was intent upon gaining the victory by himself, pressed heavily upon the Greeks and slew many of them. Even when all kinds of missiles were hurled against him, he would not yield but pushed on though suffering many wounds until he died from exhaustion. When he had fallen, the Carthaginians who were drawn up in that part of the line were disheartened, but Agathocles and his men were elated and became much bolder than before. When Bormilcar, the other general, heard of this from certain persons, thinking the gods had given him the opportunity for gaining a position from which to make a bid for the tyranny, he reasoned thus with himself: If the army of Agathocles should be destroyed, he himself would not be able to make his attempt at supremacy since the citizens would be strong; but if the former should win the victory and quench the pride of the Carthaginians, the already defeated people would be easy for him to manage, and he could defeat Agathocles readily whenever he wished. When he had reached this conclusion, he withdrew with the men of the front rank, presenting to the enemy an inexplicable retirement but making known to his own men the death of Hanno and ordering them to withdraw in formation to the high ground; for this, he said, was to their advantage. But as the enemy pressed on and the whole retreat was becoming like a rout, the Libyans of the next ranks, believing that the front rank was being defeated by sheer force, broke into flight; those, however, who were leading the Sacred Band after the death of its general Hanno, at first resisted stoutly and, stepping over the bodies of their own men as they fell, withstood every danger, but when they perceived that the greater part of the army had turned to flight and that the enemy was surrounding them in the rear, they were forced to withdraw. And so, when rout spread throughout the entire army of the Carthaginians, the barbarians kept fleeing towards Carthage; but Agathocles, after pursuing them to a certain point, turned back and plundered the camp of the enemy.
§ 20.13
ἔπεσον δʼ ἐν τῇ μάχῃ τῶν μὲν Ἑλλήνων εἰς διακοσίους, τῶν δὲ Καρχηδονίων οὐ πλείους χιλίων, ὡς δʼ ἔνιοι γεγράφασιν, ὑπὲρ τοὺς ἑξακισχιλίους. ἐν δὲ τῇ τῶν Καρχηδονίων παρεμβολῇ σὺν ταῖς ἄλλαις ὠφελείαις εὑρέθησαν ἅμαξαι πλείους, ἐν αἷς ἐκομίζετο ζεύγη χειροπεδῶν πλείω τῶν δισμυρίων· ἐξ ἑτοίμου γὰρ οἱ βάρβαροι κρατήσειν ὑπειληφότες τῶν Ἑλλήνων παρηγγέλκεισαν ἀλλήλοις ζωγρεῖν ὡς πλείστους καὶ δήσαντες εἰς συνεργασίαν ἐμβαλεῖν. ἀλλʼ, οἶμαι, τὸ δαιμόνιον ὥσπερ ἐπίτηδες τοῖς ὑπερηφάνως διαλογιζομένοις τὸ τέλος τῶν κατελπισθέντων εἰς τοὐναντίον μετατίθησιν. Ἀγαθοκλῆς μὲν οὖν Καρχηδονίους παραλόγως νικήσας τειχήρεις συνεῖχεν, ἡ τύχη δὲ ἐναλλὰξ τὰ προτερήματα τοῖς ἐλαττώμασιν ἐπεισαγαγοῦσα τοὺς ὑπερέχοντας ἴσον ἐταπείνωσε τοῖς ἡττωμένοις· ἐν Σικελίᾳ μὲν γὰρ Καρχηδόνιοι μεγάλῃ νενικηκότες παρατάξει Ἀγαθοκλέα τὰς Συρακούσσας ἐπολιόρκουν, ἐν Λιβύῃ δὲ Ἀγαθοκλῆς τηλικαύτῃ μάχῃ προτερήσας εἰς πολιορκίαν ἐνέκλεισε Καρχηδονίους, καὶ τὸ θαυμασιώτατον, ὁ δυνάστης κατὰ μὲν τὴν νῆσον ἀκεραίους ἔχων τὰς δυνάμεις ἐλείπετο τῶν βαρβάρων, ἐπὶ δὲ τῆς ἠπείρου τῷ μέρει τῆς προηττημένης στρατιᾶς περιεγένετο τῶν νενικηκότων.
There fell in this battle Greeks to the number of two hundred, and of Carthaginians not more than a thousand, but as some have written, upwards of six thousand. In the camp of the Carthaginians were found, along with other goods, many waggons, in which were being transported more than twenty thousand pairs of manacles; for the Carthaginians, having expected to master the Greeks easily, had passed the word along among themselves to take alive as many as possible and, after shackling them, to throw them into slave pens. But, I think, the divinity of set purpose in the case of men who are arrogant in their calculations, changes the outcome of their confident expectations into its contrary. Now Agathocles, having surprisingly defeated the Carthaginians, was holding them shut up within their walls; but fortune, alternating victories with defeats, humbled the victors equally with the vanquished. For in Sicily the Carthaginians, who had defeated Agathocles in a great battle, were besieging Syracuse, but in Libya Agathocles, having gained the upper hand in a battle of such importance, had brought the Carthaginians under siege; and what was most amazing, on the island the tyrant, though his armaments were unscathed, had proved inferior to the barbarians, but on the continent with a portion of his once defeated army he got the better of those who had been victorious.
§ 20.14
διόπερ οἱ Καρχηδόνιοι, νομίσαντες ἐκ θεῶν αὐτοῖς γεγονέναι τὴν συμφοράν, ἐτράπησαν πρὸς παντοίαν ἱκεσίαν τοῦ δαιμονίου καὶ νομίσαντες μάλιστα μηνίειν αὐτοῖς τὸν Ἡρακλέα τὸν παρὰ τοῖς ἀποίκοις, χρημάτων πλῆθος καὶ τῶν πολυτελεστάτων ἀναθημάτων ἔπεμψαν εἰς τὴν Τύρον οὐκ ὀλίγα. ἀποικισθέντες γὰρ ἐκ ταύτης εἰώθεισαν ἐν τοῖς ἔμπροσθεν χρόνοις δεκάτην ἀποστέλλειν τῷ θεῷ πάντων τῶν εἰς πρόσοδον πιπτόντων· ὕστερον δὲ μεγάλους κτησάμενοι πλούτους καὶ προσόδους ἀξιολογωτέρας λαμβάνοντες μικρὰ παντελῶς ἀπέστελλον, ὀλιγωροῦντες τοῦ δαιμονίου. διὰ δὲ τὴν συμφορὰν ταύτην εἰς μεταμέλειαν ἐλθόντες πάντων τῶν ἐν τῇ Τύρῳ θεῶν ἐμνημόνευον. ἔπεμψαν δὲ καὶ τοὺς ἐκ τῶν ἱερῶν χρυσοῦς ναοὺς αὐτοῖς τοῖς ἀφιδρύμασι πρὸς τὴν ἱκεσίαν, ἡγούμενοι μᾶλλον ἐξιλάσεσθαι τὴν τοῦ θεοῦ μῆνιν τῶν ἀναθημάτων πεμφθέντων ἐπὶ τὴν παραίτησιν. ᾐτιῶντο δὲ καὶ τὸν Κρόνον αὑτοῖς ἐναντιοῦσθαι, καθʼ ὅσον ἐν τοῖς ἔμπροσθεν χρόνοις θύοντες τούτῳ τῷ θεῷ τῶν υἱῶν τοὺς κρατίστους ὕστερον ὠνούμενοι λάθρᾳ παῖδας καὶ θρέψαντες ἔπεμπον ἐπὶ τὴν θυσίαν· καὶ ζητήσεως γενομένης εὑρέθησάν τινες τῶν καθιερουργημένων ὑποβολιμαῖοι γεγονότες. τούτων δὲ λαβόντες ἔννοιαν καὶ τοὺς πολεμίους πρὸς τοῖς τείχεσιν ὁρῶντες στρατοπεδεύοντας ἐδεισιδαιμόνουν ὡς καταλελυκότες τὰς πατρίους τῶν θεῶν τιμάς. διορθώσασθαι δὲ τὰς ἀγνοίας σπεύδοντες διακοσίους μὲν τῶν ἐπιφανεστάτων παίδων προκρίναντες ἔθυσαν δημοσίᾳ· ἄλλοι δʼ ἐν διαβολαῖς ὄντες ἑκουσίως ἑαυτοὺς ἔδοσαν, οὐκ ἐλάττους ὄντες τριακοσίων. ἦν δὲ παρʼ αὐτοῖς ἀνδριὰς Κρόνου χαλκοῦς, ἐκτετακὼς τὰς χεῖρας ὑπτίας ἐγκεκλιμένας ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν, ὥστε τὸν ἐπιτεθέντα τῶν παίδων ἀποκυλίεσθαι καὶ πίπτειν εἴς τι χάσμα πλῆρες πυρός. εἰκὸς δὲ καὶ τὸν Εὐριπίδην ἐντεῦθεν εἰληφέναι τὰ μυθολογούμενα παρʼ αὐτῷ περὶ τὴν ἐν Ταύροις θυσίαν, ἐν οἷς εἰσάγει τὴν Ἰφιγένειαν ὑπὸ Ὀρέστου διερωτωμένην τάφος δὲ ποῖος δέξεταί μʼ, ὅταν θάνω; πῦρ ἱερὸν ἔνδον χάσμα τʼ εὐρωπὸν χθονός. καὶ ὁ παρὰ τοῖς Ἕλλησι δὲ μῦθος ἐκ παλαιᾶς φήμης παραδεδομένος ὅτι Κρόνος ἠφάνιζε τοὺς ἰδίους παῖδας, παρὰ Καρχηδονίοις φαίνεται διὰ τούτου τοῦ νομίμου τετηρημένος.
Therefore the Carthaginians, believing that the misfortune had come to them from the gods, betook themselves to every manner of supplication of the divine powers; and, because they believed that Heracles, who was worshipped in their mother city, was exceedingly angry with them, they sent a large sum of money and many of the most expensive offerings to Tyre. Since they had come as colonists from that city, it had been their custom in the earlier period to send to the god a tenth of all that was paid into the public revenue; but later, when they had acquired great wealth and were receiving more considerable revenues, they sent very little indeed, holding the divinity of little account. But turning to repentance because of this misfortune, they bethought them of all the gods of Tyre. They even sent from their temples in supplication the golden shrines with their images, believing that they would better appease the wrath of the god if the offerings were sent for the sake of winning forgiveness. They also alleged that Cronus had turned against them inasmuch as in former times they had been accustomed to sacrifice to this god the noblest of their sons, but more recently, secretly buying and nurturing children, they had sent these to the sacrifice; and when an investigation was made, some of those who had been sacrificed were discovered to have been supposititious. When they had given thought to these things and saw their enemy encamped before their walls, they were filled with superstitious dread, for they believed that they had neglected the honours of the gods that had been established by their fathers. In their zeal to make amends for their omission, they selected two hundred of the noblest children and sacrificed them publicly; and others who were under suspicion sacrificed themselves voluntarily, in number not less than three hundred. There was in their city a bronze image of Cronus, extending its hands, palms up and sloping toward the ground, so that each of the children when placed thereon rolled down and fell into a sort of gaping pit filled with fire. It is probable that it was from this that Euripides has drawn the mythical story found in his works about the sacrifice in Tauris, in which he presents Iphigeneia being asked by Orestes: But what tomb shall receive me when I die? A sacred fire within, and earth's broad rift. Also the story passed down among the Greeks from ancient myth that Cronus did away with his own children appears to have been kept in mind among the Carthaginians through this observance.
§ 20.15
οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ τοιαύτης ἐν τῇ Λιβύῃ γεγενημένης μεταβολῆς οἱ μὲν Καρχηδόνιοι διεπέμποντο πρὸς Ἀμίλκαν εἰς τὴν Σικελίαν, ἀξιοῦντες κατὰ τάχος πέμψαι βοήθειαν, καὶ τὰ ληφθέντα χαλκώματα τῶν Ἀγαθοκλέους νεῶν ἀπέστειλαν αὐτῷ. ὁ δὲ τοῖς καταπλεύσασι παρεκελεύσατο σιωπᾶν μὲν τὴν γεγενημένην ἧτταν, διαδιδόναι δὲ λόγον εἰς τοὺς στρατιώτας ὡς Ἀγαθοκλῆς ἄρδην ἀπώλεσε καὶ τὰς ναῦς καὶ τὴν δύναμιν ἅπασαν. αὐτὸς δὲ πέμψας τινὰς τῶν παρόντων ἐκ Καρχηδόνος εἰς τὰς Συρακούσσας πρεσβευτὰς καὶ τὰ χαλκώματα συναποστείλας ἠξίου παραδιδόναι τὴν πόλιν· τὴν μὲν γὰρ δύναμιν τῶν Συρακοσίων ὑπὸ Καρχηδονίων κατακεκόφθαι, τὰς δὲ ναῦς ἐμπεπυρίσθαι· τοῖς δʼ ἀπιστοῦσιν ἀπόδειξιν παρέχεσθαι τὴν τῶν ἐμβόλων κομιδήν. τῶν δʼ ἐν τῇ πόλει πυθομένων τὴν περὶ τὸν Ἀγαθοκλέα προσηγγελμένην συμφορὰν οἱ πολλοὶ μὲν ἐπίστευσαν, οἱ προεστηκότες δὲ διστάζοντες διετήρησαν μὲν χάριν τοῦ μὴ γενέσθαι ταραχήν, τοὺς πρεσβευτὰς δὲ ταχέως ἐξέπεμψαν, τοὺς δὲ τῶν φυγάδων συγγενεῖς καὶ φίλους καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τοὺς δυσχεραίνοντας τοῖς ὑπʼ αὐτῶν πραττομένοις ἐξέβαλον ἐκ τῆς πόλεως, ὄντας οὐκ ἐλάττους ὀκτακισχιλίων. κἄπειτα τοσούτου πλήθους ἄφνω συναναγκαζομένου τὴν πατρίδα φεύγειν ἔγεμεν ἡ πόλις διαδρομῆς καὶ θορύβου καὶ γυναικείων κλαυθμῶν· οὐδεμία γὰρ ἦν οἰκία πένθους ἀκοινώνητος κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν καιρόν. οἱ μὲν γὰρ περὶ τὴν τυραννίδα τοῦ Ἀγαθοκλέους καὶ τῶν τέκνων αὐτοῦ τὴν συμφορὰν ὠδύροντο, τῶν δʼ ἰδιωτῶν οἱ μὲν τοὺς ἀπολωλέναι δοκοῦντας κατὰ Λιβύην ἔκλαιον, οἱ δὲ τοὺς ἐκπίπτοντας ἀφʼ ἑστίας καὶ πατρῴων θεῶν, οἷς οὔτε μένειν ἐξῆν οὔτʼ ἐκτὸς τῶν τειχῶν προάγειν, πολιορκούντων τῶν βαρβάρων, πρὸς δὲ τοῖς εἰρημένοις κακοῖς τηλικούτοις οὖσιν ἠναγκάζοντο νηπίους παῖδας καὶ γυναῖκας συνεφέλκεσθαι τῇ φυγῇ. ὁ δʼ Ἀμίλκας, καταφυγόντων πρὸς αὐτὸν τῶν φυγάδων, τούτοις μὲν τὴν ἀσφάλειαν παρέσχετο, τὴν δὲ δύναμιν παρασκευάσας προῆγεν ἐπὶ τὰς Συρακούσσας, ὡς αἱρήσων τὴν πόλιν διά τε τὴν ἐρημίαν καὶ διὰ τὴν προσηγγελμένην τοῖς ὑπολελειμμένοις συμφοράν.
However this may be, after such a reversal in Libya, the Carthaginians sent messengers into Sicily to Hamilcar, begging him to send aid as soon as possible; and they dispatched to him the captured bronze beaks of Agathocles' ships. Hamilcar ordered those who had sailed across to keep silent about the defeat that had been sustained, but to spread abroad to the soldiers word that Agathocles had utterly lost his fleet and his whole army. Hamilcar himself, dispatching into Syracuse as envoys some of those who had come from Carthage and sending with them the beaks, demanded the surrender of the city; for, he said, the army of the Syracusans had been cut to pieces by the Carthaginians and their ships had been burned, and the production of the beaks offered proof to those who disbelieved. When the inhabitants of the city heard the reported misfortune of Agathocles, the common people believed; the magistrates, however, being in doubt, watched closely that there might be no disorder, but they sent the envoys away at once; and the relatives and friends of the exiles and any others who were displeased with the actions of the magistrates they cast out of the city, in number not less than eight thousand. Thereupon, when so great a multitude was suddenly forced to leave its native place, the city was filled with running to and fro and with uproar and the lamentation of women; for there was no household that did not have its share of mourning at that time. Those who were of the party of the tyrant lamented at the misfortune of Agathocles and his sons; and some of the private citizens wept for the men believed to have been lost in Libya, and others for those who were being driven from hearth and ancestral gods, who could neither remain nor yet go outside the walls since the barbarians were besieging the city, and who, in addition to the aforesaid evils, which were great enough, were being compelled to drag along with them in their flight infant children and women. But when the exiles took refuge with Hamilcar, he offered them safety; and, making ready his army, he led it against Syracuse, expecting to take the city both because it was bereft of defenders and because of the disaster that had been reported to those who had been left there.
§ 20.16
προαποστείλαντος δʼ αὐτοῦ πρεσβείαν καὶ διδόντος Ἀντάνδρῳ καὶ τοῖς μετʼ αὐτοῦ, εἰ παραδιδόασι τὴν πόλιν, ἀσφάλειαν συνήδρευσαν τῶν ἡγεμόνων οἱ μάλιστα ἀξίωμα δοκοῦντες ἔχειν. ῥηθέντων οὖν πολλῶν λόγων Ἄντανδρος μὲν ᾤετο δεῖν παραδιδόναι τὴν πόλιν, ὢν ἄνανδρος φύσει καὶ τῆς τἀδελφοῦ τόλμης καὶ πράξεως ἐναντίαν ἔχων διάθεσιν· Ἐρύμνων δʼ ὁ Αἰτωλός, παρακαθεσταμένος ὑπʼ Ἀγαθοκλέους τἀδελφῷ σύνεδρος, τὴν ἐναντίαν δοὺς γνώμην ἔπεισεν ἅπαντας διακαρτερεῖν μέχρι ἂν πύθωνται τἀληθές. Ἀμίλκας δὲ μαθὼν τὰ δόξαντα τοῖς ἐν τῇ πόλει συνεπήγνυε μηχανὰς παντοίας, διεγνωκὼς προσβάλλειν. Ἀγαθοκλῆς δὲ δύο τριακοντόρους μετὰ τὴν μάχην νεναυπηγημένος τὴν ἑτέραν ἀπέστειλεν εἰς Συρακούσσας, ἐρέτας ἐμβιβάσας τοὺς κρατίστους καὶ τῶν περὶ αὐτὸν πιστευομένων φίλων ἕνα Νέαρχον, ἀπαγγελοῦντα τοῖς ἰδίοις τὴν νίκην. ἔπειτʼ εὐπλοίας γενομένης πεμπταῖοι ταῖς Συρακούσσαις νύκτωρ προσεπέλασαν καὶ στεφανωσάμενοι καὶ παιανίσαντες κατὰ τὸν πλοῦν ἅμʼ ἡμέρᾳ κατέπλεον ἐπὶ τὴν πόλιν. αἱ δὲ φυλακίδες τῶν Καρχηδονίων αἰσθόμεναι κατὰ σπουδὴν ἐπεδίωκον καὶ οὐ πολὺ προειληφότων τῶν ὑποφευγόντων ἀγὼν τῆς εἰρεσίας ἐγίνετο. ἅμα δὲ τῇ τούτων φιλοτιμίᾳ συνέβη τούς τε ἐκ τῆς πόλεως καὶ τοὺς πολιορκοῦντας αἰσθομένους συνδραμεῖν ἐπὶ τὸν λιμένα καὶ τοῖς ἰδίοις ἑκατέρους συναγωνιῶντας ἀναβοᾶν θαρρεῖν. ἤδη δὲ τῆς τριακοντόρου καταλαμβανομένης οἱ βάρβαροι μὲν ἐπηλάλαξαν, οἱ δʼ ἐκ τῆς πόλεως ἀδυνατοῦντες βοηθεῖν τοῖς θεοῖς ηὔχοντο περὶ τῆς σωτηρίας τῶν καταπλεόντων. τῆς πρῴρας δὲ τῶν διωκόντων εἰς ἐμβολὴν ἤδη φερομένης οὐκ ἄπωθεν τῆς γῆς ἔφθασε τὸ διωκόμενον σκάφος ἐντὸς βέλους γενόμενον καὶ τῶν Συρακοσίων προσβοηθησάντων ἐξέφυγε τὸν κίνδυνον. Ἀμίλκας δʼ ὁρῶν τοὺς ἐκ τῆς πόλεως διὰ τὴν ἀγωνίαν καὶ τὸ παράδοξον τῆς προσδοκωμένης ἀγγελίας ἐπὶ τὸν λιμένα συνδεδραμηκότας, ὑπολαβὼν εἶναι μέρος τι τοῦ τείχους ἀφύλακτον, ἔπεμψε τῶν στρατιωτῶν τοὺς κρατίστους μετὰ κλιμάκων. οὗτοι δʼ εὑρόντες ἐκλελειμμένας τὰς φυλακὰς ἔλαθον προσαναβάντες· καὶ σχεδὸν αὐτῶν μεσοπύργιον ἤδη κατειληφότων ἡ κατὰ τὸ σύνηθες ἐφοδία παραγενομένη κατενόησε. γενομένης δὲ μάχης οἱ μὲν ἐκ τῆς πόλεως συνέδραμον καὶ φθάσαντες τοὺς μέλλοντας τοῖς ἀναβεβηκόσι προσβοηθεῖν οὓς μὲν ἀπέκτειναν, οὓς δʼ ἀπὸ τῶν ἐπάλξεων κατεκρήμνισαν. ἐφʼ οἷς Ἀμίλκας περιαλγὴς γενόμενος ἀπήγαγε τὴν δύναμιν ἀπὸ τῆς πόλεως καὶ τοῖς εἰς Καρχηδόνα βοήθειαν ἐξέπεμψε μετὰ στρατιωτῶν πεντακισχιλίων.
After Hamilcar had sent an embassy in advance and had offered safety to Antander and those with him if they surrendered the city, those of the leaders who were held in highest esteem came together in council. After prolonged discussion Antander thought it necessary to surrender the city, since he was unmanly by nature and of a disposition the direct opposite of the boldness and energy of his brother; but Erymnon the Aitolian, who had been set up by Agathocles as co-ruler with his brother, expressing the contrary opinion persuaded all of them to hold out until they should hear the truth. When Hamilcar learned the decision of those in the city, he constructed engines of all kinds, having determined to attack. But Agathocles, who had built two thirty-oared ships after the battle, sent one of them to Syracuse, placing on board his strongest oarsmen and Nearchus, one of his trusted friends, who was to report the victory to his own people. Having had a fair voyage, they approached Syracuse during the night of the fifth day, and wearing wreaths and singing paeans as they sailed they reached the city at daybreak. But the picket ships of the Carthaginians caught sight of them and pursued them vigorously, and since the pursued had no great start, there arose a contest in rowing. While they were vying with each other, the folk of the city and the besiegers, seeing what was happening, both ran to the port, and each group, sharing in the anxiety of its own men, encouraged them with shouts. When the dispatch boat was already at the point of being taken, the barbarians raised a shout of triumph, and the inhabitants of the city, since they could give no aid, prayed the gods for the safety of those who were sailing in. But when, not far from the shore, the ram of one of the pursuers was already bearing down to deliver its blow, the pursued ship succeeded in getting inside of the range of missiles and, the Syracusans having come to its aid, escaped from the danger. But when Hamilcar saw that the inhabitants of the city, because of their anxiety and because of the surprising nature of the message they now anticipated, had run together to the port, surmising that some portion of the wall was unguarded, he advanced his strongest soldiers with scaling ladders. These, finding that the guard-posts had been abandoned, ascended without being discovered; but, when they had almost taken the wall between two towers, the guard, making its rounds according to custom, discovered them. In the fighting that ensued the men of the city ran together and arrived in advance of those who were coming to reinforce the men who had scaled the wall, of whom they killed some and hurled others down from the battlements. Hamilcar, greatly distressed at this, withdrew his army from the city and sent to those in Carthage a relief expedition of five thousand men.
§ 20.17
ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις ὁ μὲν Ἀγαθοκλῆς κρατῶν τῶν ὑπαίθρων τὰ περὶ τὴν Καρχηδόνα χωρία κατὰ κράτος ᾔρει καὶ τῶν πόλεων ἃς μὲν διὰ φόβον, ἃς δὲ διὰ τὸ πρὸς Καρχηδονίους μίσος προσηγάγετο. παρεμβολὴν δὲ πλησίον τοῦ Τύνητος ὀχυρωσάμενος καὶ τὴν ἱκανὴν ἀπολιπὼν φυλακὴν ἀνέζευξε πρὸς τὰς ἐπὶ θαλάττῃ κειμένας πόλεις. καὶ πρώτην μὲν ἑλὼν Νέαν πόλιν κατὰ κράτος φιλανθρώπως ἐχρήσατο τοῖς χειρωθεῖσιν· εἶτα παρελθὼν ἐπʼ Ἀδρύμητα πρὸς μὲν ταύτην πολιορκίαν συνεστήσατο, Αἰλύμαν δὲ τὸν βασιλέα τῶν Λιβύων εἰς συμμαχίαν προσελάβετο. ἃ δὴ πυθόμενοι οἱ Καρχηδόνιοι πᾶσαν τὴν δύναμιν προήγαγον ἐπὶ τὸν Τύνητα καὶ τῆς μὲν Ἀγαθοκλέους στρατοπεδείας ἐκυρίευσαν, τῇ πόλει δὲ μηχανὰς προσαγαγόντες συνεχεῖς προσβολὰς ἐποιοῦντο. ὁ δʼ Ἀγαθοκλῆς, ἀπαγγειλάντων τινῶν αὐτῷ τὰ περὶ τοὺς ἰδίους ἐλαττώματα, τὸ μὲν πολὺ τῆς δυνάμεως κατέλιπεν ἐπὶ τῆς πολιορκίας, τὴν δὲ θεραπείαν καὶ τῶν στρατιωτῶν ὀλίγους ἀναλαβὼν λάθρᾳ προσῆλθεν ἐπί τινα τόπον ὀρεινόν, ὅθεν ὁρᾶσθαι δυνατὸν ἦν αὐτὸν ὑπό τε τῶν Ἀδρυμητινῶν καὶ τῶν Καρχηδονίων τῶν τὸν Τύνητα πολιορκούντων. νυκτὸς δὲ συντάξας τοῖς στρατιώταις ἐπὶ πολὺν τόπον πυρὰ κάειν, δόξαν ἐν εποίησε τοῖς μὲν Καρχηδονίοις ὡς μετὰ μεγάλης δυνάμεως ἐπʼ αὐτοὺς πορευόμενος, τοῖς δὲ πολιορκουμένοις ὡς ἄλλης δυνάμεως ἁδρᾶς τοῖς πολεμίοις εἰς συμμαχίαν παραγεγενημένης. ἀμφότεροι δὲ τῷ ψεύδει τοῦ στρατηγήματος παραλογισθέντες παραλόγως ἠλαττώθησαν, οἱ μὲν τὸν Τύνητα πολιορκοῦντες φυγόντες εἰς Καρχηδόνα καὶ τὰς μηχανὰς ἀπολιπόντες, οἱ δʼ Ἀδρυμητινοὶ διὰ τὸν φόβον παραδόντες τὴν πατρίδα. Ἀγαθοκλῆς δὲ ταύτην διʼ ὁμολογίας παραλαβὼν Θάψον εἷλε κατὰ κράτος καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν ταύτῃ πόλεων ἃς μὲν ἐξεπολιόρκησεν, ἃς δὲ προσηγάγετο· τὰς ἁπάσας δὲ πόλεις πλείους τῶν διακοσίων κεχειρωμένος εἰς τοὺς ἄνω τόπους τῆς Λιβύης διενοεῖτο στρατεύειν.
Meanwhile Agathocles, who had control of the open country, was taking the strongholds about Carthage by storm; and he prevailed on some of the cities to come over to him because of fear, others because of their hatred for the Carthaginians. After fortifying a camp near Tunis and leaving there an adequate garrison, he moved against the cities situated along the sea. Taking by storm the first, Neapolis, he treated the captured people humanely; then, marching against Hadrumetum, he began a siege of that city, but received Aelymas, the king of the Libyans, into alliance. On hearing of these moves the Carthaginians brought their entire army against Tunis and captured the encampment of Agathocles; then, after bringing siege engines up to the city, they made unremitting attacks. But Agathocles, when some had reported to him the reverses suffered by his men, left the larger part of his army for the siege, but with his retinue and a few of the soldiers went secretly to a place in the mountains whence he could be seen both by the people of Hadrumetum and by the Carthaginians who were besieging Tunis. By instructing his soldiers to light fires at night over a great area, he caused the Carthaginians to believe that he was coming against them with a large army, while the besieged thought that another strong force was at hand as an ally for their enemy. Both of them, deceived by the deceptive stratagem, suffered an unexpected defeat: those who were besieging Tunis fled to Carthage abandoning their siege engines, and the people of Hadrumetum surrendered their home-land because of their fright. After receiving this city on terms, Agathocles took Thapsus by force; and of the other cities of the region some he took by storm and some he won by persuasion. When he had gained control of all the cities, which were more than two hundred in number, he had in mind to lead his army into the inland regions of Libya.
§ 20.18
ἀναζεύξαντος οὖν αὐτοῦ καὶ πλείους ἡμέρας ὁδοιποροῦντος Καρχηδόνιοι τὴν ἐκ Σικελίας διακομισθεῖσαν δύναμιν καὶ τὴν ἄλλην στρατιὰν προαγαγόντες πάλιν τὸν Τύνητα πολιορκεῖν ἐπεχείρησαν καὶ τῶν χωρίων οὐκ ὀλίγα τῶν ὑπὸ τοὺς πολεμίους ὄντων ἀνεκτήσαντο. Ἀγαθοκλῆς δέ, βιβλιαφόρων αὐτῷ παραγεγενημένων ἀπὸ τοῦ Τύνητος καὶ τὰ πεπραγμένα τοῖς Φοίνιξι διασαφούντων, εὐθὺς ἀνέστρεψεν. ὡς δʼ ἀπέσχε τῶν πολεμίων σταδίους διακοσίους, κατεστρατοπέδευσε καὶ τοῖς στρατιώταις πυρὰ κάειν ἀπηγόρευσεν. χρησάμενος δὲ νυκτοπορίᾳ προσέπεσεν ἅμʼ ἡμέρᾳ τοῖς τε προνομεύουσι τὴν χώραν καὶ τοῖς ἐκτὸς τῆς παρεμβολῆς ἄνευ τάξεως πλανωμένοις καὶ φονεύσας μὲν ὑπὲρ δισχιλίους, ζωγρήσας δʼ οὐκ ὀλίγους πολλὰ πρὸς τὸ μέλλον ἐπλεονέκτησεν. οἱ γὰρ Καρχηδόνιοι τῆς ἐκ Σικελίας προσγενομένης βοηθείας καὶ τῶν κατὰ Λιβύην συμμάχων συναγωνιζομένων ἐδόκουν ὑπερέχειν τῶν περὶ τὸν Ἀγαθοκλέα· τούτου δὲ ἐπὶ τοῦ προτερήματος γενομένου πάλιν συνεστάλη τὰ φρονήματα τῶν βαρβάρων. καὶ γὰρ Αἰλύμαν τὸν βασιλέα τῶν Λιβύων ἀποστάτην γενόμενον ἐνίκησεν μάχῃ καὶ τόν τε δυνάστην καὶ πολλοὺς τῶν βαρβάρων ἀνεῖλεν. καὶ τὰ μὲν περὶ Σικελίαν καὶ Λιβύην ἐν τούτοις ἦν.
After Agathocles had set out and had marched for a good many days, the Carthaginians, advancing with the force that had been brought across from Sicily and their other army, again undertook the siege of Tunis; and they recaptured many of the positions that were in the hands of the enemy. But Agathocles, since dispatch bearers had come to him from Tunis and disclosed what the Phoenicians had done, at once turned back. When he was at a distance of about two hundred stades from the enemy, he pitched camp and forbade his soldiers to light fires. Then, making a night march, he fell at dawn upon those who were foraging in the country and those who were wandering outside their camp in disorder, and by killing over two thousand and taking captive no small number he greatly strengthened himself for the future. For the Carthaginians, now that their reinforcements from Sicily had arrived and that their Libyan allies were fighting along with them, seemed to be superior to Agathocles; but as soon as he gained this success, the confidence of the barbarians again waned. In fact, he defeated in battle Aelymas, the king of the Libyans, who had deserted him, and slew the king and many of the barbarians. This was the situation of affairs in Sicily and Libya.
§ 20.19
κατὰ δὲ τὴν Μακεδονίαν Κάσανδρος μὲν βοηθήσας Αὐδολέοντι τῷ Παιόνων βασιλεῖ διαπολεμοῦντι πρὸς Αὐταριάτας, τοῦτον μὲν ἐκ τῶν κινδύνων ἐρρύσατο, τοὺς δὲ Αὐταριάτας σὺν τοῖς ἀκολουθοῦσι παισὶ καὶ γυναιξὶν ὄντας εἰς δισμυρίους κατῴκισεν παρὰ τὸ καλούμενον Ὀρβηλὸν ὄρος. τούτου δὲ περὶ ταῦτʼ ὄντος κατὰ μὲν τὴν Πελοπόννησον Πτολεμαῖος ὁ στρατηγὸς Ἀντιγόνου δυνάμεις πεπιστευμένος καὶ τῷ δυνάστῃ προσκόψας ὡς οὐ κατὰ τὴν ἀξίαν τιμώμενος Ἀντιγόνου μὲν ἀπέστη, πρὸς δὲ Κάσανδρον συμμαχίαν ἐποιήσατο. καταλελοιπὼς δὲ τῆς ἐφʼ Ἑλλησπόντῳ σατραπείας ἐπιστάτην Φοίνικα, ἕνα τῶν πιστοτάτων φίλων, ἀπέστειλεν αὐτῷ στρατιώτας, ἀξιῶν διαφυλάττειν τὰ φρούρια καὶ τὰς πόλεις καὶ μὴ προσέχειν Ἀντιγόνῳ. τῶν δὲ κοινῶν συνθηκῶν τοῖς ἡγεμόσι περιεχουσῶν ἐλευθέρας ἀφεῖσθαι τὰς Ἑλληνίδας πόλεις, οἱ περὶ Πτολεμαῖον τὸν Αἰγύπτου δυνάστην, ἐγκαλέσαντες Ἀντιγόνῳ διότι φρουραῖς τινας διείληφε τῶν πόλεων, πολεμεῖν παρεσκευάζοντο. καὶ τὴν μὲν δύναμιν ἐξαποστείλας Πτολεμαῖος καὶ στρατηγὸν Λεωνίδην τὰς ἐν τῇ τραχείᾳ Κιλικίᾳ πόλεις οὔσας ὑπʼ Ἀντίγονον ἐχειρώσατο, διεπέμπετο δὲ καὶ εἰς τὰς ὑπὸ Κάσανδρον καὶ Λυσίμαχον πόλεις, ἀξιῶν συμφρονεῖν ἑαυτῷ καὶ κωλύειν Ἀντίγονον ἰσχυρὸν γίνεσθαι. ὁ δʼ Ἀντίγονος τῶν υἱῶν Φίλιππον μὲν τὸν νεώτερον ἐξέπεμψεν ἐφʼ Ἑλλήσποντον, διαπολεμήσοντα Φοίνικι καὶ τοῖς ἀφεστηκόσι, Δημήτριον δʼ ἐπὶ Κιλικίαν, ὃς ἐνεργὸν ποιησάμενος τὴν στρατείαν ἐνίκησε τοὺς τοῦ Πτολεμαίου στρατηγοὺς καὶ τὰς πόλεις ἀνεκτήσατο.
In Macedonia, Cassander, going to the aid of Audoleon, king of the Paeonians, who was fighting against the Autariatae, freed the king from danger, but the Autariatae with the children and women who were following them, numbering in all twenty thousand, he settled beside the mountain called Orbelus. While he was thus engaged, in the Peloponnesus Ptolemaeus, the general of Antigonus, who had been entrusted with an army but had taken offence at the prince because, as he said, he was not being honoured according to his deserts, revolted from Antigonus and made an alliance with Cassander. And having left as governor of the satrapy along the Hellespont one of his most faithful friends, Phoenix, Ptolemaeus sent soldiers to him, bidding him garrison the strongholds and the cities and not to obey Antigonus. Since the agreements common to the leaders provided for the liberation of the Greek cities, Ptolemy, the ruler of Egypt, charged Antigonus with having occupied some of the cities with garrisons, and prepared to go to war. Sending his army and Leonides as its commander, Ptolemy subdued the cities in Cilicia Trachea which were subject to Antigonus; and he sent also to the cities that were controlled by Cassander and Lysimachus, asking them to co-operate with him and prevent Antigonus from becoming too powerful. But Antigonus sent Philip, the younger of his sons, to the Hellespont to fight it out with Phoenix and the rebels; and to Cilicia he sent Demetrius, who, carrying on the campaign with vigour, defeated the generals of Ptolemy and recovered the cities.
§ 20.20
ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις Πολυπέρχων περὶ Πελοπόννησον διατρίβων καὶ Κασάνδρῳ μὲν ἐγκαλῶν, τῆς δὲ Μακεδόνων ἡγεμονίας πάλαι ὀρεγόμενος ἐκ Περγάμου μετεπέμψατο τὸν ἐκ Βαρσίνης Ἡρακλέα, ὃς ἦν Ἀλεξάνδρου μὲν υἱός, τρεφόμενος δὲ ἐν Περγάμῳ, τὴν δʼ ἡλικίαν περὶ ἑπτακαίδεκα ἔτη γεγονώς. ὁ δʼ οὖν Πολυπέρχων διαπέμπων πολλαχοῦ πρὸς τοὺς ἰδιοξένους καὶ τοὺς ἀλλοτρίως διακειμένους πρὸς Κάσανδρον ἠξίου κατάγειν τὸ μειράκιον ἐπὶ τὴν πατρῴαν βασιλείαν. ἔγραψε δὲ καὶ πρὸς τὸ κοινὸν τῶν Αἰτωλῶν, ἀξιῶν δίοδόν τε δοῦναι καὶ συστρατεύειν, ἐπαγγελλόμενος πολλαπλασίους χάριτας ἀποδώσειν, ἐὰν συγκατάγωσι τὸ μειράκιον ἐπὶ τὴν πατρῴαν βασιλείαν. τῶν δὲ πραγμάτων αὐτῷ κατὰ νοῦν γενομένων, προθύμως θʼ ὑπακουόντων τῶν Αἰτωλῶν καὶ πολλῶν ἄλλων συντρεχόντων ἐπὶ τὴν κάθοδον τοῦ βασιλέως οἱ σύμπαντες ἠθροίσθησαν πεζοὶ μὲν ὑπὲρ τοὺς δισμυρίους, ἱππεῖς δʼ οὐκ ἐλάττους χιλίων. καὶ Πολυπέρχων μὲν περὶ τὰς εἰς τὸν πόλεμον παρασκευὰς γινόμενος χρήματά τε συνῆγε καὶ πρὸς τοὺς οἰκείως ἔχοντας τῶν Μακεδόνων διαπεμπόμενος ἠξίου συνεργεῖν.
Meanwhile Polyperchon, who was biding his time in the Peloponnesus, and who was nursing grievances against Cassander and had long craved the leadership of the Macedonians, summoned from Pergamon Barsine's son Heracles, who was the son of Alexander but was being reared in Pergamon, being about seventeen years of age. Moreover, Polyperchon, sending to his own friends in many places and to those who were at odds with Cassander, kept urging them to restore the youth to his ancestral throne. He also wrote to the Federal League of the Aitolians, begging them to grant a safe conduct and to join forces with him and promising to repay the favour many times over if they would aid in placing the youth on his ancestral throne. Since the affair proceeded as he wished, the Aitolians being in hearty agreement and many others hurrying to aid in the restoration of the king, in all there were assembled more than twenty thousand infantry and at least one thousand horsemen. Meanwhile Polyperchon, intent on the preparations for the war, was gathering money; and sending to those to Macedonians who were friendly, he kept urging them to join in the undertaking.
§ 20.21
Πτολεμαῖος δὲ τῶν ἐν Κύπρῳ πόλεων κυριεύων, ἐπειδή τινων ἐπύθετο Νικοκλέα τὸν βασιλέα τῶν Παφίων ἐν ἀπορρήτοις ἰδίᾳ πρὸς Ἀντίγονον συντεθεῖσθαι φιλίαν, ἔπεμψε τῶν φίλων Ἀργαῖον καὶ Καλλικράτην, προστάξας αὐτοῖς ἀνελεῖν τὸν Νικοκλέα· πάνυ γὰρ εὐλαβεῖτο μὴ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τινὲς ὁρμήσωσι πρὸς μεταβολήν, ὁρῶντες ἀθῴους γεγονότας τοὺς πρότερον ἀφεστηκότας. οὗτοι μὲν οὖν πλεύσαντες εἰς τὴν νῆσον καὶ παρὰ Μενελάου τοῦ στρατηγοῦ στρατιώτας λαβόντες περιέστησαν τὴν οἰκίαν τοῦ Νικοκλέους καὶ τὰ δόξαντα τῷ βασιλεῖ δηλώσαντες προσέταξαν ἑαυτὸν ἀπαλλάξαι τοῦ ζῆν. ὁ δὲ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον πρὸς τὴν ἀπολογίαν ἐτρέπετο τῶν ἐγκαλουμένων· ὡς δʼ οὐδεὶς προσεῖχεν, ἑαυτὸν ἀπέκτεινεν. Ἀξιοθέα δὲ ἡ γυνὴ τοῦ Νικοκλέους ἀκούσασα τὴν ἀνδρὸς τελευτὴν τὰς μὲν θυγατέρας τὰς ἑαυτῆς παρθένους οὔσας ἀπέσφαξεν, ὅπως μηδεὶς αὐτῶν πολέμιος κυριεύσῃ, τὰς δὲ τῶν ἀδελφῶν τῶν Νικοκλέους γυναῖκας προετρέψατο μεθʼ αὑτῆς ἑλέσθαι τὸν θάνατον, οὐδὲν συντεταχότος Πτολεμαίου περὶ τῶν γυναικῶν, ἀλλὰ συγκεχωρηκότος αὐταῖς τὴν ἀσφάλειαν. τῶν δὲ βασιλείων πεπληρωμένων φόνων καὶ συμπτωμάτων ἀπροσδοκήτων οἱ τοῦ Νικοκλέους ἀδελφοὶ συγκλείσαντες τὰς θύρας τὴν μὲν οἰκίαν ἐνέπρησαν, ἑαυτοὺς δʼ ἀπέσφαξαν. ἡ μὲν οὖν τῶν ἐν Πάφῳ βασιλέων οἰκία τραγικοῖς συγκυρήσασα πάθεσι τὸν εἰρημένον τρόπον κατελύθη. ἡμεῖς δὲ τὴν ἀπαγγελίαν τῶν κατὰ τὴν Κύπρον γεγονότων διελθόντες ἐπὶ τὰς συνεχεῖς πράξεις μεταβιβάσομεν τὸν λόγον.
Ptolemy, however, who was master of the cities of Cyprus, on learning from certain persons that Nicocles, the king of Paphos, had secretly and privately formed an alliance with Antigonus, dispatched two of his friends, Argaeus and Callicrates, ordering them to slay Nicocles; for he was taking all precautions lest any others also should hasten to shift allegiance when they saw that those were left unpunished who had previously rebelled. These two men, accordingly, after sailing to the island and obtaining soldiers from Menelaus the general, surrounded the house of Nicocles, informed him of the king's wishes and ordered him to take his own life. At first he tried to defend himself against the charges, but then, since no one heeded him, he slew himself. Axiothea, the wife of Nicocles, on learning of her husband's death, slew her daughters, who were unwed, in order that no enemy might possess them; and she urged the wives of Nicocles' brothers to choose death along with her, although Ptolemy had given no instructions in regard to the women but had agreed to their safety. When the palace had thus been filled full of death and unforeseen disaster, the brothers of Nicocles, after fastening the doors, set fire to the building and slew themselves. Thus the house of the kings of Paphos, after meeting such tragic suffering, was brought to its end in the way described. Now that we have followed to its end the tale of what took place in Cyprus, we shall turn the course of our narrative toward the events which follow.
§ 20.22
περὶ γὰρ τοὺς αὐτοὺς καιροὺς ἐν τῷ Πόντῳ μετὰ τὴν Παρυσάδου τελευτήν, ὃς ἦν βασιλεὺς τοῦ Κιμμερικοῦ Βοσπόρου, διετέλουν οἱ παῖδες αὐτοῦ διαπολεμοῦντες πρὸς ἀλλήλους ὑπὲρ τῆς ἡγεμονίας, Εὔμηλός τε καὶ Σάτυρος καὶ Πρύτανις. τούτων δὲ ὁ μὲν Σάτυρος ὢν πρεσβύτερος παρὰ τοῦ πατρὸς παρειλήφει τὴν ἀρχήν, βεβασιλευκότος ἔτη τριάκοντα ὀκτώ· ὁ δʼ Εὔμηλος φιλίαν συντεθειμένος πρός τινας τῶν πλησιοχώρων βαρβάρων καὶ δύναμιν ἁδρὰν ἠθροικὼς ἠμφισβήτει τῆς βασιλείας. ἃ δὴ πυθόμενος ὁ Σάτυρος ἀνέζευξεν ἐπʼ αὐτὸν μετὰ δυνάμεως ἁδρᾶς καὶ διαβὰς τὸν Θάτην ποταμόν, ἐπειδὴ πλησίον ἐγένετο τῶν πολεμίων, τὴν μὲν παρεμβολὴν ταῖς ἁμάξαις περιλαβὼν αἷς ἦν κεκομικὼς τὰς ἀγορὰς οὔσας παμπληθεῖς, τὴν δὲ δύναμιν ἐκτάξας αὐτὸς κατὰ μέσην ὑπῆρχε τὴν φάλαγγα, καθάπερ ἐστὶ Σκύθαις νόμιμον. συνεστρατεύοντο δʼ αὐτῷ μισθοφόροι μὲν Ἕλληνες οὐ πλείους δισχιλίων καὶ Θρᾷκες ἴσοι τούτοις, οἱ δὲ λοιποὶ πάντες ὑπῆρχον σύμμαχοι Σκύθαι, πλείους τῶν δισμυρίων, ἱππεῖς δὲ οὐκ ἐλάττους μυρίων. τῷ δʼ Εὐμήλῳ συνεμάχει μὲν Ἀριφάρνης ὁ τῶν Σιρακῶν βασιλεύς, ἱππεῖς μὲν ἔχων δισμυρίους, πεζοὺς δὲ δισχιλίους πρὸς τοῖς δισμυρίοις. γενομένης δὲ μάχης ἰσχυρᾶς Σάτυρος μὲν ἔχων περὶ ἑαυτὸν ἐπιλέκτους ἄνδρας ἱππομαχίαν συνεστήσατο πρὸς τοὺς περὶ Ἀριφάρνην ἀνθεστηκότας κατὰ μέσην τὴν τάξιν καὶ πολλῶν παρʼ ἀμφοτέροις πεσόντων τέλος ἐκβιασάμενος ἐτρέψατο τὸν βασιλέα τῶν βαρβάρων. καὶ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἐπέκειτο φονεύων τοὺς ἀεὶ καταλαμβανομένους· μετʼ ὀλίγον δὲ πυθόμενος τὸν ἀδελφὸν Εὔμηλον προτερεῖν περὶ τὸ δεξιὸν κέρας καὶ τοὺς παρʼ αὐτῷ μισθοφόρους τετράφθαι τοῦ μὲν διώκειν ἀπέστη, παραβοηθήσας δὲ τοῖς ἡττημένοις καὶ τὸ δεύτερον αἴτιος γενόμενος τῆς νίκης ἅπαν ἐτρέψατο τῶν πολεμίων τὸ στρατόπεδον, ὥστε πᾶσι γενέσθαι φανερὸν ὅτι καὶ κατὰ γένος καὶ κατʼ ἀρετὴν προσῆκον ἦν αὐτῷ διαδέχεσθαι τὴν πατρῴαν βασιλείαν.
At about this same time in the region of the Pontus, after the death of Parysades, who was king of the Cimmerian Bosporus, his sons Eumelus, Satyrus, and Prytanis were engaged in a struggle against each other for the primacy. Of these, Satyrus, since he was the eldest, had received the government from his father, who had been king for thirty-eight years; but Eumelus, after concluding a treaty of friendship with some of the barbarians who lived near by and collecting a strong army, set up a rival claim to the throne. On learning this, Satyrus set out against him with a strong army; and, after he had crossed the river Thates and drawn near the enemy, he surrounded his camp with the waggons in which he carried his abundant supplies, and drew up his army for battle, taking his own place in the centre of the phalanx as is the Scythian custom. Enrolled in his army were not more than two thousand Greek mercenaries and an equal number of Thracians, but all the rest were Scythian allies, more than twenty thousand foot-soldiers and not less than ten thousand horse. Eumelus, however, had as ally Aripharnes, the king of the Siraces, with twenty thousand horse and twenty-two thousand foot. In a stubborn battle that took place, Satyrus with picked cavalry about him charged against Aripharnes, who had stationed himself in the middle of the line; and after many had fallen on both sides, he finally forced back and routed the king of the barbarians. At first he pushed on, slaying the enemy as he overtook them; but after a little, hearing that his brother Eumelus was gaining the upper hand on the right wing and that his own mercenaries had been turned to flight, he gave up the pursuit. Going to the aid of those who had been worsted and for the second time becoming the author of victory, he routed the entire army of the enemy, so that it became clear to all that, by reason both of his birth and of his valour, it was proper that he should succeeded to the throne of his fathers.
§ 20.23
οἱ δὲ περὶ τὸν Ἀριφάρνην καὶ τὸν Εὔμηλον λειφθέντες ἐν τῇ μάχῃ συνέφυγον εἰς τὰ βασίλεια. ταῦτα δʼ ἔκειτο μὲν παρὰ τὸν Θάτην ποταμόν, ὃς περιρρέων αὐτὰ καὶ βάθος ἔχων ἱκανὸν ἐποίει δυσπρόσιτα, περιείχετο δὲ κρημνοῖς μεγάλοις, ἔτι δʼ ὕλης πλήθει, τὰς πάσας εἰς2βολὰς δύο ἔχοντα χειροποιήτους, ὧν ἡ μὲν ἦν ἐν αὐτοῖς τοῖς βασιλείοις, ὠχυρωμένη πύργοις ὑψηλοῖς καὶ προτειχίσμασιν, ἡ δʼ ἐκ θατέρου μέρους ἐν ἕλεσιν ὑπῆρχε, φρουρουμένη ξυλίνοις ἐρύμασι, διεστύλωτο δὲ δοκοῖς, ὑπεράνω δὲ τῶν ὑδάτων εἶχε τὰς οἰκήσεις. τοιαύτης δʼ οὔσης τῆς περὶ τὸν τόπον ὀχυρότητος τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ὁ Σάτυρος τήν τε χώραν τῶν πολεμίων ἐδῄωσε καὶ τὰς κώμας ἐνεπύρισεν, ἐξ ὧν αἰχμάλωτα σώματα καὶ λείας πλῆθος ἤθροισε. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ἐγχειρήσας διὰ τῶν παρόδων βιάζεσθαι, κατὰ μὲν τὸ προτείχισμα καὶ τοὺς πύργους πολλοὺς ἀποβαλὼν τῶν στρατιωτῶν ἀπεχώρησε, κατὰ δὲ τὰ ἕλη βιασάμενος ἐκράτησε τῶν ξυλίνων φρουρίων. ταῦτα δὲ διαρπάσας καὶ διαβὰς τὸν ποταμὸν ἤρξατο κόπτειν τὴν ὕλην, διʼ ἧς ἀναγκαῖον ἦν ἐλθεῖν ἐπὶ τὰ βασίλεια. τούτων δὲ ἐνεργῶς συντελουμένων Ἀριφάρνης ὁ βασιλεὺς ἀγωνιάσας μὴ κατὰ κράτος ἁλῶναι συμβῇ τὴν ἀκρόπολιν, διηγωνίζετο τολμηρότερον, ὡς ἐν μόνῳ τῷ νικᾶν κειμένης τῆς σωτηρίας. διείλετο δὲ καὶ τοὺς τοξότας ἐπʼ ἀμφότερα τὰ μέρη τῆς παρόδου, διʼ ὧν ῥᾳδίως κατετίτρωσκε τοὺς τὴν ὕλην κόπτοντας, μὴ δυναμένους μήτε προορᾶσθαι τὰ βέλη μήτʼ ἀμύνεσθαι τοὺς βάλλοντας διὰ τὴν πυκνότητα τῶν δένδρων. οἱ δὲ περὶ τὸν Σάτυρον ἐπὶ τρεῖς μὲν ἡμέρας ἔτεμνον τὴν ὕλην, ὁδοποιούμενοι καὶ διακαρτεροῦντες ἐπιπόνως· τῇ δὲ τετάρτῃ συνήγγισαν μὲν τῷ τείχει, νικώμενοι δὲ τῷ πλήθει τῶν βελῶν καὶ τῇ τῶν τόπων στενοχωρίᾳ μεγάλοις ἐλαττώμασι περιέπιπτον. Μενίσκος μὲν γὰρ ὁ τῶν μισθοφόρων ἡγεμών, ἀνὴρ καὶ συνέσει καὶ τόλμῃ διαφέρων, προσπεσὼν διὰ τῆς διόδου πρὸς τὸ τεῖχος καὶ μετὰ τῶν περὶ ἑαυτὸν λαμπρῶς ἀγωνισάμενος ἐξεβιάσθη, πολλαπλασίων ἐπʼ αὐτὸν ἐπεξελθόντων. ὃν ἰδὼν ὁ Σάτυρος κινδυνεύοντα ταχέως παρεβοήθει καὶ τὴν ἐπιφορὰν τῶν πολεμίων ὑποστὰς ἐτρώθη λόγχῃ διὰ τοῦ βραχίονος καὶ κακῶς ἀπαλλάττων ὑπὸ τοῦ τραύματος ἐπανῆλθεν εἰς τὴν παρεμβολὴν καὶ νυκτὸς ἐπιγενομένης ἐξέλιπε τὸν βίον, ἐννέα μόνον μῆνας βασιλεύσας μετὰ τὴν τοῦ πατρὸς τελευτὴν Παρυσάδου. Μενίσκος δʼ ὁ τῶν μισθοφόρων ἡγεμὼν λύσας τὴν πολιορκίαν ἀπήγαγε τὴν δύναμιν εἰς Γάργαζαν πόλιν κἀκεῖθεν τὸ τοῦ βασιλέως σῶμα διὰ τοῦ ποταμοῦ διεκόμισεν εἰς Παντικάπαιον πρὸς τὸν ἀδελφὸν Πρύτανιν.
Aripharnes and Eumelus, however, after having been defeated in the battle, escaped to the capital city. This was situated on the Thates River, which made the city rather difficult of access since the river encircled it and was of considerable depth. The city was surrounded also by great cliffs and thick woods, and had only two entrances, both artificial, of which one was within the royal castle itself and was strengthened with high towers and outworks, and the other was on the opposite side in swampy land, fortified by wooden palisades, and it rested upon piles at intervals and supported houses above the water. Since the strength of the position was so great, Satyrus at first plundered the country of the enemy and fired the villages, from which he collected prisoners and much booty. Afterwards, however, he attempted to make his way by force through the approaches. At the outworks and towers he lost many of his soldiers and withdrew, but he forced a passage through the swamp and captured the wooden barricades. After destroying these and crossing the river, he began to cut down the woods through which it was necessary to advance to reach the palace. While this was being energetically carried on, King Aripharnes, alarmed lest his citadel should be taken by storm, fought against him with great boldness since he believed that in victory alone lay hope of safety. He stationed archers on both sides of the passage, by whose aid he easily inflicted mortal wounds on the men who were cutting down the woods, for because of the density of the trees they could neither see the missiles in time nor strike back at the archers. The men of Satyrus for three days went on cutting down the woods and making a roadway, bearing up amid hardship; on the fourth day they drew near to the wall but they were overcome by the great number of missiles and by the confined space, and sustained great losses. Indeed, Meniscus, the leader of the mercenaries, a man excelling in sagacity and boldness, after pushing forward through the passage to the wall and fighting brilliantly together with his men, was forced to withdraw when a much stronger force came out against him. Seeing him in danger, Satyrus quickly came to his aid; but, while withstanding the onrush of the enemy, he was wounded with a spear through the upper arm. Grievously disabled because of the wound, he returned to the camp and when night came on he died, having reigned only nine months after the death of his father Parysades. But Meniscus, the leader of the mercenaries, giving up the siege, led the army back to the city Gargaza, whence he conveyed the king's body by way of the river to Panticapaion to his brother, Prytanis.
§ 20.24
ὃς ταφὴν συντελέσας μεγαλοπρεπῆ καὶ καταθέμενος εἰς τὰς βασιλικὰς θήκας τὸ σῶμα ταχέως ἧκεν εἰς Γάργαζαν καὶ τὴν δύναμιν ἅμα καὶ τὴν δυναστείαν παρέλαβεν. Εὐμήλου δὲ διαπρεσβευομένου περὶ μέρους τῆς βασιλείας τούτῳ μὲν οὐ προσεῖχεν, ἐν δὲ Γαργάζῃ φρουρὰν ἀπολιπὼν ἐπανῆλθεν εἰς Παντικάπαιον, ἀσφαλισόμενος τὰ κατὰ τὴν βασιλείαν. καθʼ ὃν δὴ χρόνον Εὔμηλος, συναγωνισαμένων αὐτῷ τῶν βαρβάρων, τήν τε Γάργαζαν κατελάβετο καὶ τῶν ἄλλων πολισμάτων καὶ χωρίων οὐκ ὀλίγα. ἐπιστρατεύσαντος δὲ τοῦ Πρυτάνιδος μάχῃ τε ἐνίκησε τὸν ἀδελφὸν καὶ συγκλείσας εἰς τὸν ἰσθμὸν τὸν πλησίον τῆς Μαιώτιδος λίμνης συνηνάγκασεν ὁμολογίας θέσθαι, καθʼ ἃς τούς τε στρατιώτας παρέδωκε καὶ τῆς βασιλείας ἐκχωρεῖν ὡμολόγησεν. ὡς δὲ παρεγένετο εἰς Παντικάπαιον, ἐν ᾧ τὸ βασίλειον ἦν ἀεὶ τῶν ἐν Βοσπόρῳ βασιλευσάντων, ἐπεχείρησε μὲν πάλιν ἀνακτᾶσθαι τὴν βασιλείαν, κατισχυθεὶς δὲ καὶ φυγὼν εἰς τοὺς καλουμένους Κήπους ἀνῃρέθη. Εὔμηλος δὲ μετὰ τὸν τῶν ἀδελφῶν θάνατον βουλόμενος ἀσφαλῶς θέσθαι τὰ κατὰ τὴν ἀρχὴν ἀνεῖλε τούς τε φίλους τῶν περὶ τὸν Σάτυρον καὶ Πρύτανιν, ἔτι δὲ τὰς γυναῖκας καὶ τὰ τέκνα. μόνος δὲ διέφυγεν αὐτὸν ὁ παῖς ὁ Σατύρου Παρυσάδης, νέος ὢν παντελῶς τὴν ἡλικίαν· ἐξιππεύσας γὰρ ἐκ τῆς πόλεως κατέφυγε πρὸς Ἄγαρον τὸν βασιλέα τῶν Σκυδῶν. ἀγανακτούντων δὲ τῶν πολιτῶν ἐπὶ τῷ φόνῳ τῶν οἰκείων συναγαγὼν εἰς ἐκκλησίαν τὰ πλήθη περί τε τούτων ἀπελογήσατο καὶ τὴν πάτριον πολιτείαν ἀποκατέστησεν. συνεχώρησε δὲ καὶ τὴν ἀτέλειαν ἔχειν τὴν ἐπὶ τῶν προγόνων οὖσαν τοῖς Παντικάπαιον οἰκοῦσι. προσεπηγγείλατο δὲ καὶ τῶν εἰσφορῶν ἅπαντας ἀφήσειν καὶ πολλὰ διελέχθη δημαγωγῶν τὰ πλήθη. ταχὺ δὲ πάντων εἰς τὴν προϋπάρχουσαν εὔνοιαν ἀποκαταστάντων διὰ τὰς εὐεργεσίας τὸ λοιπὸν ἐβασίλευεν ἄρχων νομίμως τῶν ὑποτεταγμένων καὶ διὰ τὴν ἀρετὴν οὐ μετρίως θαυμαζόμενος.
Prytanis, after celebrating a magnificent funeral and placing the body in the royal tombs, came quickly to Gargaza and took over both the army and the royal power. When Eumelus sent envoys to discuss a partition of the kingdom, he did not heed him but he left a garrison in Gargaza and returned to Panticapaion in order to secure the royal prerogatives for himself. During this time Eumelus with the co-operation of the barbarians captured Gargaza and several of the other cities and villages. When Prytanis took the field against him, Eumelus defeated his brother in battle; and, after shutting him up in the isthmus near the Maeotic Lake, he forced him to accept terms according to which he gave over his army and agreed to vacate his place as king. However, when Prytanis entered Panticapaion, which had always been the capital of those who had ruled in Bosporus, he tried to recover his kingdom; but he was overpowered and fled to the so called Kepoi (Gardens), where he was slain. After his brothers' death Eumelus, wishing to establish his power securely, slew the friends of Satyrus and Prytanis, and likewise their wives and children. The only one to escape him was Parysades, the son of Satyrus, who was very young; he, riding out of the city on horseback, took refuge with Agarus, the king of the Scythians. Since the citizens were angry at the slaughter of their kinsmen, Eumelus summoned the people to an assembly in which he defended himself in this matter and restored the constitution of their fathers. He even granted to them the immunity from taxation that those who lived in Panticapaion had enjoyed under his ancestors. He promised also to free all of them from special levies, and he discussed many other measures as he sought the favour of the people. When all had been promptly restored to their former goodwill by his benevolence, from that time on he continued to be king, ruling in a constitutional way over his subjects and by his excellence winning no little admiration.
§ 20.25
Βυζαντίους μὲν γὰρ καὶ Σινωπεῖς καὶ τῶν ἄλλων Ἑλλήνων τῶν τὸν Πόντον οἰκούντων τοὺς πλείστους διετέλεσεν εὐεργετῶν· Καλλαντιανῶν δὲ πολιορκουμένων ὑπὸ Λυσιμάχου καὶ πιεζουμένων τῇ σπάνει τῶν ἀναγκαίων χιλίους ὑπεδέξατο τοὺς διὰ τὴν σιτοδείαν ἐκχωρήσαντας. οἷς οὐ μόνον τῆς καταφυγῆς παρέσχετο τὴν ἀσφάλειαν, ἀλλὰ καὶ πόλιν ἔδωκε κατοικεῖν, ἐπὶ δὲ τούτοις τὴν ὀνομαζομένην Ψόαν καὶ τὴν χώραν κατεκληρούχησεν. ὑπὲρ δὲ τῶν πλεόντων τὸν Πόντον πόλεμον ἐξενέγκας πρὸς τοὺς λῃστεύειν εἰωθότας βαρβάρους Ἡνιόχους καὶ Ταύρους, ἔτι δʼ Ἀχαιοὺς καθαρὰν λῃστῶν ἀπέδειξε τὴν θάλασσαν, ὥστε μὴ μόνον κατὰ τὴν βασιλείαν, ἀλλὰ καὶ κατὰ πᾶσαν σχεδὸν τὴν οἰκουμένην, διαγγελλόντων τῶν ἐμπόρων τὴν μεγαλοψυχίαν, ἀπολαμβάνειν τῆς εὐεργεσίας καρπὸν κάλλιστον τὸν ἔπαινον. προσεκτήσατο δὲ καὶ τῆς συνοριζούσης βαρβάρου πολλὴν καὶ τὴν βασιλείαν ἐπιφανεστέραν ἐπὶ πολὺ κατεσκεύασε. καθόλου δʼ ἐπεχείρησε πάντα τὰ περὶ τὸν Πόντον ἔθνη καταστρέφεσθαι καὶ τάχα ἂν ἐκράτησε τῆς ἐπιβολῆς, εἰ μὴ σύντομον ἔσχε τὴν τοῦ βίου τελευτήν. πέντε γὰρ ἔτη καὶ τοὺς ἴσους μῆνας βασιλεύσας κατέστρεψε τὸν βίον, παραδόξῳ συμπτώματι χρησάμενος. ἐκ γὰρ τῆς Σινδικῆς ἐπανιὼν εἰς τὴν οἰκείαν καὶ σπεύδων πρός τινα θυσίαν ἤλαυνε μὲν ἐπί τινος τεθρίππου πρὸς τὰ βασίλεια, τοῦ δʼ ἅρματος ὄντος τετρακύκλου καὶ σκηνὴν ἔχοντος συνέβη τοὺς ἵππους διαταραχθέντας ἐξενεγκεῖν αὐτόν. τοῦ γὰρ ἡνιόχου μὴ δυναμένου κρατῆσαι τῶν ἡνιῶν, φοβηθεὶς μὴ κατενεχθῇ πρὸς τὰς φάραγγας, ἐπεχείρησεν ἀφάλλεσθαι· ἐμπλακέντος δὲ τοῦ ξίφους εἰς τὸν τροχόν συνεφειλκύσθη τῇ φορᾷ καὶ παραχρῆμα ἐτελεύτησεν.
For Eumelus continued to show kindness to the people of Byzantium and to those of Sinope and to most of the other Greeks who lived on the Pontus; and when the people of Callantia were besieged by Lysimachus and were hard pressed by lack of food, he took under his care a thousand who had left their homes because of the famine. Not only did he grant them a safe place of refuge, but he gave them a city in which to live and allotted to them the region called Psoancaetice. In the interests of those who sailed on the Pontus he waged war against the barbarians who were accustomed to engage in piracy, the Heniochians, the Taurians, and the Achaeans; and he cleared the sea of pirates, with the result that, not only throughout his own kingdom but even throughout almost all the inhabited world, since the merchants carried abroad the news of his nobility, he received that highest reward of welldoing — praise. He also gained possession of much of the adjacent region inhabited by the barbarians and made his kingdom far more famous. In sum, he undertook to subdue all the nations around the Pontus, and possibly he would have accomplished his purpose if his life had not been suddenly cut off. For, after he had been king for five years and an equal number of months, he died, suffering a very strange mishap. As he was returning home from Sindice and was hurrying for a sacrifice, riding to his palace in a four-horse carriage which had four wheels and a canopy, it happened that the horses were frightened and ran away with him. Since the driver was unable to manage the reins, the king, fearing lest he be carried to the ravines, tried to jump out; but his sword caught in the wheel, and he was dragged along by the motion of the carriage and died on the spot.
§ 20.26
περὶ δὲ τῆς τῶν ἀδελφῶν τελευτῆς Εὐμήλου τε καὶ Σατύρου παραδέδονται χρησμοί, μικρὸν μὲν ἠλιθιώτεροι, πιστευόμενοι δὲ παρὰ τοῖς ἐγχωρίοις. τῷ μὲν γὰρ Σατύρῳ λέγουσι χρῆσαι τὸν θεὸν φυλάξασθαι τὸν μῦν μήποτʼ αὐτὸν ἀνέλῃ. διόπερ οὔτε δοῦλον οὔτʼ ἐλεύθερον τῶν τεταγμένων ὑφʼ ἑαυτὸν εἴα τοῦτʼ ἔχειν τοὔνομα· ἔπειτα δὲ τοὺς ἐν ταῖς οἰκίαις καὶ ταῖς ἀρούραις ἐφοβεῖτο μῦς καὶ τοῖς παισὶν ἀεὶ συνέταττε τούτους ἀποκτείνειν καὶ τὰς κοίτας ἐμπλάττειν. πάντα δʼ ἐνδεχομένως αὐτοῦ ποιοῦντος οἷς ᾤετο κατισχύσειν τὸ πεπρωμένον, κατέστρεψε τὸν βίον πληγεὶς τοῦ βραχίονος εἰς τὸν μῦν. τῷ δʼ Εὐμήλῳ χρησμὸς ἦν τὴν φερομένην οἰκίαν φυλάξασθαι. ὅθεν πάλιν οὗτος εἰς οἰκίαν οὐκ εἰσῄει προχείρως μὴ προδιερευνησάντων τῶν παίδων τὴν ὀροφὴν καὶ τὰ θεμέλια. τελευτήσαντος δὲ αὐτοῦ διὰ τὴν ὀχουμένην ἐπὶ τοῦ τεθρίππου σκηνὴν ἕκαστος ὑπελάμβανε τετελέσθαι τὸν χρησμόν. καὶ περὶ μὲν τῶν ἐν τῷ Βοσπόρῳ πραχθέντων ἅλις ἡμῖν ἐχέτω. κατὰ δὲ τὴν Ἰταλίαν οἱ τῶν Ῥωμαίων ὕπατοι μετὰ δυνάμεως ἐμβαλόντες εἰς τὴν Ἰταλίαν ἐνίκησαν μάχῃ Σαμνίτας περὶ τὸ καλούμενον Τάλιον. τῶν δʼ ἡττηθέντων καταλαμβανομένων τὸν Ἱερὸν λόφον ὀνομαζόμενον τότε μὲν τῆς νυκτὸς ἐπιλαβούσης οἱ Ῥωμαῖοι πρὸς τὴν ἰδίαν στρατοπεδείαν ἀπεχώρησαν, τῇ δʼ ὑστεραίᾳ πάλιν μάχης γενομένης πολλοὶ μὲν ἀνῃρέθησαν τῶν Σαμνιτῶν, αἰχμάλωτοι δʼ ἐλήφθησαν ὑπὲρ τοὺς δισχιλίους καὶ διακοσίους. τοιούτων δὲ προτερημάτων γενομένων τοῖς Ῥωμαίοις ἀδεῶς ἤδη τῶν ὑπαίθρων συνέβαινε κυριεύειν τοὺς ὑπάτους καὶ τὰς ἀπειθούσας τῶν πόλεων χειροῦσθαι. Καταράκταν μὲν οὖν καὶ Κεραυνιλίαν ἐκπολιορκήσαντες φρουροὺς ἐπέθηκαν, τῶν δʼ ἄλλων τινὰς πείσαντες προσηγάγοντο.
About the death of the brothers, Eumelus and Satyrus, prophecies have been handed down, rather silly yet accepted among the people of the land. They say that the god had told Satyrus to be on his guard against the mouse lest it sometime cause his death. For this reason he permitted neither slave nor freeman of those assigned to his service to have this name; and he also feared domestic and field mice and was always ordering his slaves to kill them and block up their holes. But, although he did everything possible by which he thought to ward off his doom, he died, struck in the upper arm through the "mouse." In the case of Eumelus the warning was that he should be on guard against the house that is on the move. Therefore he never afterward entered a house freely unless his servants had previously examined the roof and the foundations. But when he died because of the canopy that was carried on the four-horse chariot, all agreed that the prophecy had been fulfilled. Concerning the events that took place in the Bosporus, let this suffice us. In Italy the Roman consuls with an army invaded the hostile territory and defeated the Samnites in battle at the place called Talium. When the defeated had occupied the place named the Holy Mount, the Romans for the moment withdrew to their own camp since night was coming on; but on the next day a second battle was waged in which many of the Samnites were killed and more than twenty-two hundred were taken prisoners. After such successes had been won by the Romans, it came to pass that their consuls from then on dominated the open country with impunity and overcame the cities which did not submit. Taking Cataracta and Ceraunilia by siege, they imposed garrisons upon them, but some of the other cities they won over by persuasion.
§ 20.27
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησι Δημητρίου τοῦ Φαληρέως τὴν ὕπατον ἀρχὴν ἐν Ῥώμῃ παρέλαβον Κόιντος Φάβιος τὸ δεύτερον καὶ Γάιος Μάρκιος. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Πτολεμαῖος ὁ τῆς Αἰγύπτου βασιλεύων πυθόμενος τοὺς ἰδίους στρατηγοὺς ἀποβεβληκέναι τὰς ἐν Κιλικίᾳ πόλεις, πλεύσας μετὰ δυνάμεως ἐπὶ Φασήλιδα ταύτην μὲν ἐξεπολιόρκησεν, εἰς δὲ τὴν Λυκίαν παρακομισθεὶς Ξάνθον φρουρουμένην ὑπʼ Ἀντιγόνου κατὰ κράτος εἷλεν. εἶτα τῇ Καύνῳ προσπλεύσας τὴν μὲν πόλιν παρέλαβε, τὰς δὲ ἀκροπόλεις φρουρουμένας τῇ βίᾳ κατισχύσας τὸ μὲν Ἡράκλειον ἐξεῖλε, τὸ δὲ Περσικὸν παραδόντων τῶν στρατιωτῶν ὑποχείριον ἐποιήσατο. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα εἰς τὴν Κῶν πλεύσας μετεπέμψατο Πτολεμαῖον, ὃς ὢν ἀδελφιδοῦς Ἀντιγόνου καὶ δύναμιν πεπιστευμένος τοῦτον μὲν κατέλιπε, πρὸς δὲ Πτολεμαῖον κοινοπραγίαν ἐτίθετο. πλεύσαντος δʼ ἐκ τῆς Χαλκίδος αὐτοῦ καὶ κομισθέντος εἰς Κῶν τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ὁ Πτολεμαῖος φιλανθρώπως αὐτὸν προσεδέξατο· εἶτα ὁρῶν πεφρονηματισμένον καὶ τοὺς ἡγεμόνας ὁμιλίαις καὶ δωρεαῖς ἐξιδιοποιούμενον, φοβηθεὶς μή τινα ἐπιβουλὴν μηχανήσηται, φθάσας αὐτὸν συνέλαβε καὶ πιεῖν κώνιον συνηνάγκασε. τοὺς δὲ συνηκολουθηκότας στρατιώτας ἐπαγγελίαις δημαγωγήσας κατέμιξε τοῖς μεθʼ ἑαυτοῦ στρατευομένοις.
When Demetrius of Phalerum was archon in Athens, in Rome Quintus Fabius received the consulship for the second time and Gaius Marcius for the first. While these were in office, Ptolemy, the king of Egypt, hearing that his own generals had lost the cities of Cilicia, sailed with an army to Phaselis and took this city. Then, crossing into Lycia, he took by storm Xanthus, which was garrisoned by Antigonus. Next he sailed to Caunus and won the city; and violently attacking the citadels, which were held by garrisons, he stormed the Heracleum, but he gained possession of the Persicum when its soldiers delivered it to him. Thereafter he sailed to Cos and sent for Ptolemaeus, who, although he was the nephew of Antigonus and had been entrusted by him with an army, had deserted his uncle and was offering co-operation to Ptolemy. When Ptolemaeus had sailed from Chalcis and had come to Cos, Ptolemy at first received him graciously; then, on discovering that he had become presumptuous and was trying to win over the leaders to himself by conversing with them and giving them gifts, fearing lest he should devise some plot, he forestalled this by arresting him and compelled him to drink hemlock. As for the soldiers who had followed Ptolemaeus, after Ptolemy had won their favour through promises, he distributed them among the men of his own army.
§ 20.28
ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις Πολυπέρχων μὲν ἠθροικὼς ἁδρὰν δύναμιν κατήγαγεν ἐπὶ τὴν πατρῴαν βασιλείαν Ἡρακλέα τὸν Ἀλεξάνδρου καὶ Βαρσίνης, Κάσανδρος δὲ καταστρατοπεδεύσαντος αὐτοῦ περὶ τὴν καλουμένην Στυμφαίαν ἧκεν μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως. οὐ μακρὰν δὲ τῶν παρεμβολῶν ἀπεχουσῶν ἀλλήλων καὶ τῶν Μακεδόνων οὐκ ἀηδῶς ὁρώντων τὴν κάθοδον τοῦ βασιλέως, δείσας ὁ Κάσανδρος μήποτε φύσει πρὸς μεταβολὴν ὄντες ὀξεῖς οἱ Μακεδόνες αὐτομολήσωσι πρὸς τὸν Ἡρακλέα, διεπρεσβεύσατο πρὸς Πολυπέρχοντα. καὶ περὶ μὲν τοῦ βασιλέως ἐπειρᾶτο διδάσκειν αὐτὸν ὅτι γινομένης τῆς καθόδου ποιήσει τὸ προσταττόμενον ὑφʼ ἑτέρων, συναγωνισάμενος δὲ αὐτῷ καὶ τὸν νεανίσκον ἀνελὼν παραχρῆμα μὲν ἀπολήψεται τὰς προγεγενημένας κατὰ Μακεδονίαν δωρεάς, εἶτα καὶ δύναμιν ἀναλαβὼν στρατηγὸς ἀποδειχθήσεται περὶ Πελοπόννησον καὶ πάντων τῶν ἐν τῇ δυναστείᾳ τῇ Κασάνδρου κοινωνὸς ἔσται, τιμώμενος διαφόρως. πέρας δὲ πολλαῖς καὶ μεγάλαις ἐπαγγελίαις πείσας τὸν Πολυπέρχοντα καὶ συνθήκας ἐν ἀπορρήτοις συνθέμενος προετρέψατο δολοψονῆσαι τὸν βασιλέα. ὁ δὲ Πολυπέρχων ἀνελὼν τὸν νεανίσκον καὶ φανερῶς κοινοπραγῶν τοῖς περὶ τὸν Κάσανδρον τάς τʼ ἐν τῇ Μακεδονίᾳ δωρεὰς ἐκομίσατο καὶ κατὰ τὰς ὁμολογίας παρέλαβε στρατιώτας πεζοὺς μὲν Μακεδόνας τετρακισχιλίους, ἱππεῖς δὲ Θετταλοὺς πεντακοσίους. προσλαβόμενος δὲ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τοὺς βουλομένους ἐπεχείρησε μὲν διὰ τῆς Βοιωτίας προάγειν εἰς Πελοπόννησον, ὑπὸ δὲ Βοιωτῶν καὶ Πελοποννησίων κωλυθεὶς ἀνέστρεψε καὶ προελθὼν εἰς Λοκροὺς ἐνταῦθα τὴν παραχειμασίαν ἐποιεῖτο.
Meanwhile Polyperchon, who had collected a strong army, brought back to his father's kingdom Heracles, the son of Alexander and Barsine; but when he was in camp at the place called Stymphaion, Cassander arrived with his army. As the camps were not far distant from each other and the Macedonians regarded the restoration of the king without disfavour, Cassander, since he feared lest the Macedonians, being by nature prone to change sides easily, should sometime desert to Heracles, sent an embassy to Polyperchon. As for the king, Cassander tried to show Polyperchon that if the restoration should take place he would do what was ordered by others; but, he said, if Polyperchon joined with him and slew the stripling, he would at once recover what had formerly been granted him throughout Macedonia, and then, after receiving an army, he would be appointed general in the Peloponnesus and would be partner in everything in Cassander's realm, being honoured above all. Finally he won Polyperchon over by many great promises, made a secret compact with him, and induced him to murder the king. When Polyperchon had slain the youth and was openly cooperating with Cassander, he recovered the grants in Macedonia and also, according to the agreement, received four thousand Macedonian foot-soldiers and five hundred Thessalian horse. Enrolling also those of the others who wished, he attempted to lead them through Boeotia into the Peloponnesus; but, when he was prevented by Boeotians and Peloponnesians, he turned aside, advanced into Locris, and there passed the winter.
§ 20.29
ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις Λυσίμαχος μὲν ἐν Χερρονήσῳ πόλιν ἔκτισεν ἀφʼ ἑαυτοῦ Λυσιμαχίαν καλέσας. Κλεομένης δʼ ὁ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων βασιλεὺς ἐτελεύτησεν ἄρξας ἔτη ἑξήκοντα καὶ μῆνας δέκα, τὴν δὲ βασιλείαν διαδεξάμενος ὁ Ἀρέτα υἱὸς ἦρξεν ἔτη τέσσαρα πρὸς τοῖς τεσσαράκοντα. περὶ δὲ τοὺς αὐτοὺς καιροὺς Ἀμίλκας ὁ τῶν ἐν Σικελίᾳ δυνάμεων στρατηγὸς τὰ λοιπὰ τῶν χωρίων χειρωσάμενος προῆγεν μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως ἐπὶ τὰς Συρακούσσας, ὡς καὶ ταύτας αἱρήσων κατὰ κράτος. τὴν μὲν οὖν σιτοπομπείαν διεκώλυε πολὺν ἤδη χρόνον θαλασσοκρατῶν, τοὺς δʼ ἐπὶ τῆς χώρας καρποὺς καταφθείρας ἐπεβάλετο καταλαβέσθαι τοὺς περὶ τὸ Ὀλύμπιον τόπους, κειμένους μὲν πρὸ τῆς πόλεως· εὐθὺς δὲ καὶ προσβάλλειν ἐξ ἐφόδου τοῖς τείχεσι διεγνώκει, τοῦ μάντεως εἰρηκότος αὐτῷ κατὰ τὴν ἐπίσκεψιν τῶν ἱερῶν ὅτι τῇ μετὰ ταύτην ἡμέρᾳ πάντως ἐν Συρακούσσαις δειπνήσει. οἱ δʼ ἐκ τῆς πόλεως αἰσθόμενοι τὴν ἐπίνοιαν τῶν πολεμίων ἐξέπεμψαν τῶν μὲν πεζῶν νυκτὸς περὶ τρισχιλίους καὶ τῶν ἱππέων περὶ τετρακοσίους, προστάξαντες καταλαβέσθαι τὸν Εὐρύηλον. ταχὺ δὲ τούτων τὸ παραγγελθὲν πραξάντων οἱ Καρχηδόνιοι νυκτὸς οὔσης προσῆγον, νομίζοντες λήσεσθαι τοὺς πολεμίους. ἡγεῖτο μὲν οὖν Ἀμίλκας πάντων, ἔχων τοὺς ἀεὶ περὶ ἑαυτὸν τεταγμένους, ἐπηκολούθει δὲ Δεινοκράτης, τῶν ἱππέων εἰληφὼς τὴν ἡγεμονίαν. τὸ δὲ τῶν πεζῶν στρατόπεδον εἰς δύο φάλαγγας διῄρητο, τήν τε τῶν βαρβάρων καὶ τὴν τῶν συμμαχούντων Ἑλλήνων. παρηκολούθει δὲ καὶ πλῆθος ὄχλου παντοδαπὸν ἐκτὸς τῆς τάξεως ὠφελείας ἕνεκα, χρείαν μὲν στρατιωτικὴν οὐδεμίαν παρεχόμενον, θορύβου δὲ καὶ ταραχῆς ἀλόγου γινόμενον αἴτιον, ἐξ ὧν πολλάκις ὁλοσχερέστεροι συμβαίνουσι κίνδυνοι. καὶ τότε δὲ τῶν ὁδῶν στενῶν οὐσῶν καὶ τραχειῶν οἱ μὲν τὰ σκευοφόρα κομίζοντες καὶ τῶν ἐκτὸς τῆς τάξεως συνακολουθούντων τινὲς ἐβάδιζον πρὸς ἀλλήλους φιλοτιμούμενοι περὶ τῆς ὁδοιπορίας· στενοχωρουμένου δὲ τοῦ πλήθους καὶ διὰ τοῦτό τισιν ἐγγενομένης ἁψιμαχίας καὶ πολλῶν ἑκατέροις παραβοηθούντων κραυγὴ καὶ πολὺς θόρυβος κατεῖχε τὸ στρατόπεδον. καθʼ ὃν δὴ χρόνον οἱ κατειληφότες τὸν Εὐρύηλον Συρακόσιοι μετὰ θορύβου προσιόντας τοὺς πολεμίους αἰσθόμενοι καὶ τόπους ἔχοντες ὑπερδεξίους ὥρμησαν ἐπὶ τοὺς πολεμίους. καὶ τινὲς μὲν ἐπὶ τοῖς ὑψηλοῖς ἑστῶτες ἔβαλλον τοὺς ἐπιόντας, τινὲς δὲ τοὺς εὐκαίρους τῶν τόπων καταλαβόντες ἀπέκλειον τῆς ὁδοῦ τοὺς βαρβάρους, ἄλλοι δὲ κατὰ τῶν κρημνῶν τοὺς φεύγοντας ῥίπτειν ἑαυτοὺς ἠνάγκαζον· διὰ γὰρ τὸ σκότος καὶ τὴν ἄγνοιαν ὑπελήφθησαν μεγάλῃ δυνάμει παραγεγονέναι πρὸς τὴν ἐπίθεσιν. οἱ δὲ Καρχηδόνιοι τὰ μὲν διὰ τὴν τῶν ἰδίων ταραχήν, τὰ δὲ διὰ τὴν τῶν πολεμίων ἐπιφάνειαν ἐλαττούμενοι, μάλιστα δὲ διὰ τὴν ἀπειρίαν τῶν τόπων καὶ στενοχωρίαν ἀπορούμενοι πρὸς φυγὴν ἐτράπησαν. οὐκ ἐχόντων δὲ τῶν τόπων εὐρυχωρῆ διέξοδον οἱ μὲν ὑπὸ τῶν ἰδίων ἱππέων συνεπατοῦντο πολλῶν ὄντων, οἱ δὲ πρὸς ἀλλήλους ὡς πολέμιοι διεμάχοντο, τῆς ἀγνοίας ἐπισχούσης διὰ τὴν νύκτα. Ἀμίλκας δὲ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ὑπέστη τοὺς πολεμίους εὐρώστως καὶ τοὺς περὶ αὑτὸν τεταγμένους ἠξίου συγκινδυνεύειν· μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα διὰ τὴν ταραχὴν καὶ τὸν φόβον ἐγκαταλιπόντων αὐτὸν τῶν στρατιωτῶν μονωθεὶς ὑπὸ τῶν Συρακοσίων συνηρπάγη.
While these events were taking place, Lysimachus founded a city in the Chersonesus, calling it Lysimachia after himself. Cleomenes, the king of the Lacedemonians, died after having ruled sixty years and ten months; and Areus, grandson of Cleomenes and son of Acrotatus, succeeded to the throne and ruled for forty-four years. At about this time Hamilcar, the general of the armies in Sicily, after gaining possession of the remaining outposts, advanced with his army against Syracuse, intending to take that city also by storm. He prevented the importation of grain since he had controlled the sea for a long time; and after destroying the crops on the land he now undertook to capture the region about the Olympieum, which lies before the city. Immediately on his arrival, however, he also decided to attack the walls, since the soothsayer had said to him at the inspection of the victims that on the next day he would certainly dine in Syracuse. But the people of the city, learning the intention of their enemy, sent out at night about three thousand of their infantry and about four hundred of their cavalry, ordering them to occupy Euryelus. These quickly carried out the orders; but the Carthaginians advanced during the night, believing that they would not be seen by the enemy. Now Hamilcar was in the foremost place with those who were regularly arrayed about him, and he was followed by Deinocrates, who had received command of the cavalry. The main body of the foot-soldiers was divided into two phalanxes, one composed of the barbarians and one of the Greek allies. Outside the ranks a mixed crowd of rabble also followed along for the sake of booty, men who are of no use whatever to an army, but are the source of tumult and irrational confusion, from which the most extreme dangers often arise. And on this occasion, since the roads were narrow and rough, the baggage train and some of the camp-followers kept jostling each other as they competed for the right of way; and, since the crowd was pressed into a narrow space and for this reason some became involved in brawls and many tried to help each side, great confusion and tumult prevailed in the army. At this point the Syracusans who had occupied Euryelus, perceiving that the enemy were advancing in confusion whereas they themselves occupied higher positions, charged upon their opponents. Some of them stood on the heights and sent missiles at those who were coming up, some by occupying advantageous positions forced the fleeing soldiers to cast themselves down the cliffs; for on account of the darkness and the lack of information the enemy supposed that the Syracusans had arrived with a large force for the attack. The Carthaginians, being at a disadvantage partly because of the confusion in their own ranks and partly because of the sudden appearance of the enemy, and in particular at a loss because of their ignorance of the locality and their cramped position, were driven into flight. But since there was no broad passage through the place, some of them were trodden down by their own horsemen, who were numerous, and others fought among themselves as if enemies, ignorance prevailing because of the darkness. Hamilcar at first withstood the enemy stoutly and exhorted those drawn up near him to join with him in the fighting; but afterwards the soldiers abandoned him on account of the confusion and panic, and he, left alone, was pounced upon by the Syracusans.
§ 20.30
εἰκότως δʼ ἄν τις παρασημήναιτο τὴν ἀνωμαλίαν τῆς τύχης καὶ τὸ παράλογον τῶν παρὰ τὰς ὑπολήψεις συντελουμένων παρʼ ἀνθρώποις. Ἀγαθοκλῆς μὲν γὰρ ἀνδρείᾳ διαφέρων καὶ πολλὴν δύναμιν ἐσχηκὼς τὴν συναγωνισαμένην περὶ τὸν Ἱμέραν οὐ μόνον ὑπὸ τῶν βαρβάρων ἡττήθη κατὰ κράτος, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῆς στρατιᾶς τὴν κρατίστην καὶ πλείστην ἀπέβαλεν· οἱ δὲ τειχήρεις ἀποληφθέντες ἐν ταῖς Συρακούσσαις μικρῷ μέρει τῶν προηττηθέντων οὐ μόνον τὴν πολιορκήσασαν δύναμιν ἐχειρώσαντο τῶν Καρχηδονίων, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸν στρατηγὸν Ἀμίλκαν, ἐπιφανέστατον ὄντα τῶν πολιτῶν, ἐζώγρησαν· καὶ τὸ θαυμασιώτατον, δώδεκα μυριάδας πεζῶν καὶ πεντακισχιλίους ἱππεῖς ὀλίγος ἀριθμὸς πολεμίων, προσλαβόμενος ἀπάτην καὶ τόπον, κατὰ κράτος ἥττησεν, ὥστʼ ἀληθὲς εἶναι τὸ λεγόμενον ὅτι πολλὰ τὰ κενὰ τοῦ πολέμου. μετὰ δὲ τὴν τροπὴν οἱ μὲν Καρχηδόνιοι ἄλλοι κατʼ ἄλλους τόπους διασπαρέντες μόγις εἰς τὴν ὑστεραίαν ἠθροίσθησαν, οἱ δὲ Συρακόσιοι μετὰ πολλῶν λαφύρων ἐπανελθόντες εἰς τὴν πόλιν τὸν Ἀμίλκαν παρέδοσαν τοῖς βουλομένοις λαμβάνειν παρʼ αὐτοῦ τιμωρίαν· ἀνεμιμνήσκοντο δὲ καὶ τῆς τοῦ μάντεως φωνῆς, ὃς ἔφησεν αὐτὸν εἰς τὴν ὑστεραίαν εἰς Συρακούσσας δειπνήσειν, τοῦ δαιμονίου παραγαγόντος τἀληθές. τὸν δʼ οὖν Ἀμίλκαν οἱ τῶν ἀπολωλότων συγγενεῖς δεδεμένον ἀγαγόντες διὰ τῆς πόλεως καὶ δειναῖς αἰκίαις κατʼ αὐτοῦ χρησάμενοι μετὰ τῆς ἐσχάτης ὕβρεως ἀνεῖλον. εἶθʼ οἱ μὲν τῆς πόλεως προεστηκότες ἀποκόψαντες αὐτοῦ τὴν κεφαλὴν ἀπέστειλαν τοὺς κομιοῦντας εἰς τὴν Διβύην πρὸς Ἀγαθοκλέα καὶ περὶ τῶν
One might with reason note the inconsistency of Fortune and the strange manner in which human events turn out contrary to expectation. For Agathocles, who was outstanding in courage and who had had a large army fighting in his support, not only was defeated decisively by the barbarians at the Himeras River, but he even lost the strongest and largest part of his army; whereas the garrison troops left behind in Syracuse, with only a small part of those who had previously been defeated, not only got the better of the Carthaginian army that had besieged them, but even captured alive Hamilcar, the most famous of their citizens. And what was most amazing, one hundred and twenty thousand foot-soldiers and five thousand horsemen were defeated in battle by a small number of the enemy who enlisted deception and terrain on their side; so that the saying is true that many are the empty alarms of war. After the rout the Carthaginians, scattered some here some there, were with difficulty gathered on the next day; and the Syracusans, returning to the city with much plunder, delivered Hamilcar over to those who wished to take vengeance upon him. They recalled also the word of the soothsayer who had said that Hamilcar would enter Syracuse and dine there on the next day, the divinity having presented the truth in disguise. The kinsmen of the slain, after leading Hamilcar through the city in bonds and inflicting terrible tortures upon him, put him to death with the utmost indignities. Then the rulers of the city cut off his head and dispatched men to carry it into Libya to Agathocles and report to him the successes that had been gained.
§ 20.31
γεγονότων εὐτυχημάτων ἀπαγγελοῦντας· ἡ δὲ τῶν Καρχηδονίων στρατιὰ μετὰ τὴν γενομένην συμφορὰν μαθοῦσα τὴν αἰτίαν τῶν ἀτυχημάτων μόγις ἀπηλλάγη τῶν φόβων. ἀναρχίας δʼ οὔσης διέστησαν οἱ βάρβαροι πρὸς τοὺς Ἕλληνας. οἱ μὲν οὖν φυγάδες μετὰ τῶν λοιπῶν Ἑλλήνων Δεινοκράτην στρατηγὸν ἀπέδειξαν, οἱ δὲ Καρχηδόνιοι τοῖς δευτερεύουσι τῇ μετὰ τὸν στρατηγὸν τιμῇ τὴν ἡγεμονίαν ἐνεχείρισαν. καθʼ ὃν δὴ χρόνον Ἀκραγαντῖνοι θεωροῦντες τὴν ἐν Σικελίᾳ κατάστασιν εὐφυεστάτην οὖσαν πρὸς ἐπίθεσιν ἠμφισβήτησαν τῆς κατὰ τὴν νῆσον ἡγεμονίας· ὑπελάμβανον γὰρ Καρχηδονίους μὲν μόγις ἀνθέξειν τῷ πρὸς Ἀγαθοκλέα πολέμῳ, Δεινοκράτην δʼ εὐκαταγώνιστον εἶναι συνηθροικότα φυγαδικὴν στρατιάν, τοὺς δʼ ἐν ταῖς Συρακούσσαις θλιβομένους τῇ σιτοδείᾳ μηδʼ ἐγχειρήσειν ἀμφισβητεῖν τῶν πρωτείων, τὸ δὲ μέγιστον, τὴν στρατείαν ἑαυτῶν ποιουμένων ἐπʼ ἐλευθερώσει τῶν πόλεων ἀσμένως ἅπαντας ὑπακούσεσθαι διά τε τὸ πρὸς τοὺς βαρβάρους μίσος καὶ διὰ τὴν ἔμφυτον πᾶσιν ἐπιθυμίαν τῆς αὐτονομίας. οὗτοι μὲν οὖν ἑλόμενοι στρατηγὸν Ξενόδικον καὶ τὴν ἁρμόζουσαν δόντες δύναμιν ἐξέπεμψαν ἐπὶ τὸν πόλεμον· ὁ δὲ παραχρῆμα ἐπὶ τὴν Γέλαν ὁρμήσας καὶ διά τινων ἰδιοξένων νυκτὸς εἰσαχθεὶς ἐκυρίευσε τῆς πόλεως ἅμα καὶ δυνάμεως ἁδρᾶς καὶ χρημάτων. ἐλευθερωθέντες οὖν οἱ Γελῷοι προθυμότατα πανδημεὶ συστρατεύοντες ἠλευθέρουν τὰς πόλεις. διαβοηθείσης δὲ τῆς τῶν Ἀκραγαντίνων ἐπιβολῆς κατὰ πᾶσαν τὴν νῆσον ἐνέπεσεν ὁρμὴ ταῖς πόλεσι πρὸς τὴν ἐλευθερίαν. καὶ πρῶτοι μὲν Ἐνναῖοι πέμψαντες τὴν πόλιν τοῖς Ἀκραγαντίνοις παρέδωκαν· οἱ δὲ ταύτην ἐλευθερώσαντες παρῆλθον ἐπὶ τὸν Ἐρβησσόν, φρουρᾶς ἐν αὐτῷ παραφυλαττούσης τὴν πόλιν. γενομένης δὲ μάχης ἰσχυρᾶς καὶ τῶν πολιτικῶν συνεργησάντων συνέβη τὴν φρουρὰν ἁλῶναι καὶ πολλοὺς μὲν πεσεῖν τῶν βαρβάρων, εἰς πεντακοσίους δὲ θεμένους τὰ ὅπλα παραδοῦναι σφᾶς αὐτούς.
When the Carthaginian army after the disaster had taken place learned the cause of its misfortune, it was with difficulty relieved from its fears. There being no established commander, the barbarians separated from the Greeks. Then the exiles along with the other Greeks elected Deinocrates general, and the Carthaginians gave the command to those who had been second in rank to Hamilcar. About this time the Acragantines, seeing that the situation in Sicily was most favourable for an attempt, made a bid for the leadership of the whole island; for they believed that the Carthaginians would scarcely sustain the war against Agathocles; that Deinocrates was easy to conquer since he had collected an army of exiles; that the people of Syracuse, pinched by famine, would not even try to compete for the primacy; and, what was most important, that if they took the field to secure the independence of the cities, all would gladly answer the summons both through hatred for the barbarians and through the desire for self-government that is implanted in all men. They therefore elected Xenodicus as general, gave him an army suitable for the undertaking, and sent him forth to the war. He at once set out against Gela, was admitted at night by certain personal friends, and became master of the city together with its strong army and its wealth. The people of Gela, having been thus freed, joined in his campaign very eagerly and unanimously, and set about freeing the cities. As news of the undertaking of the Acragantines spread throughout the whole island, an impulse toward liberty made itself manifest in the cities. And first the people of Enna sent to the Acragantines and delivered their city over to them; and when they had freed Enna, the Acragantines went on to Erbessus, although a garrison stationed there was keeping watch over the city. After a bitter battle had taken place in which the citizens aided the Acragantines, the garrison was captured and, although many of the barbarians fell, at least five hundred of them laid down their arms and surrendered.
§ 20.32
περὶ ταῦτα δʼ ὄντων τῶν Ἀκραγαντίνων τῶν ἐν ταῖς Συρακούσσαις καταλελειμμένων στρατιωτῶν ὑπʼ Ἀγαθοκλέους καταλαβόμενοί τινες τὴν Ἐχέτλαν ἐπόρθουν τήν τε Λεοντίνην καὶ Καμαριναίαν. κακῶς οὖν πασχουσῶν τῶν πόλεων διὰ τὸ τὴν χώραν δῃοῦσθαι καὶ τοὺς καρποὺς ἅπαντας διαφθείρεσθαι ἐμβαλὼν εἰς τοὺς τόπους ὁ Ξενόδικος Λεοντίνους μὲν καὶ Καμαριναίους ἀπήλλαξε τοῦ πολέμου, τὴν δʼ Ἐχέτλαν χωρίον ὀχυρὸν ἐκπολιορκήσας τοῖς μὲν πολίταις τὴν δημοκρατίαν ἀποκατέστησε, τοὺς δὲ Συρακοσίους κατεπλήξατο· καθόλου δʼ ἐπιπορευόμενος τά τε φρούρια καὶ τὰς πόλεις ἠλευθέρου τῆς τῶν Καρχηδονίων ἐπιστασίας. ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις Συρακόσιοι πιεζούμενοι τῇ σιτοδείᾳ καὶ πυνθανόμενοι σιτηγὰ πλοῖα μέλλοντα ποιεῖσθαι πλοῦν ἐπὶ Συρακούσσας ἐπλήρουν τριήρεις εἴκοσι, τηρήσαντες δὲ τοὺς ἐφορμεῖν εἰωθότας βαρβάρους ἀφυλάκτους ὄντας ἔλαθον ἐκπλεύσαντες καὶ παρακομισθέντες εἰς τοὺς Μεγαρεῖς ἐπετήρουν τὸν τῶν ἐμπόρων κατάπλουν. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τῶν Καρχηδονίων τριάκοντα ναυσὶν ἐκπλευσάντων ἐπʼ αὐτοὺς τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἐπεβάλοντο ναυμαχεῖν, ταχὺ δὲ πρὸς τὴν γῆν ἐκδιωχθέντες ἐξεκολύμβησαν πρός τινα ναὸν Ἥρας. γενομένης οὖν μάχης περὶ τῶν σκαφῶν καὶ τῶν Καρχηδονίων ἐπιβαλλόντων σιδηρᾶς χεῖρας καὶ βιαιότερον ἀποσπώντων ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς δέκα μὲν τριήρεις ἑάλωσαν, τὰς δʼ ἄλλας ἐκ τῆς πόλεως ἐπιβοηθήσαντές τινες διέσωσαν. καὶ τὰ μὲν περὶ Σικελίαν ἐν τούτοις ἦν.
While the Acragantines were thus engaged, some of the soldiers who had been left in Syracuse by Agathocles, after seizing Echetla, plundered Leontini and Camarina. Since the cities were suffering from the plundering of their fields and the destruction of all their crops, Xenodicus entered the region and freed the peoples of Leontini and Camarina from the war; and after taking Echetla, a walled town, by siege, he re-established democracy for its citizens and struck fear into the Syracusans; and, in general, as he advanced he liberated the strongholds and the cities from Carthaginian domination. Meantime the Syracusans, hard pressed by famine and hearing that grain ships were about to make the voyage to Syracuse, manned twenty triremes and, watching the barbarians who were accustomed to lie at anchor off the harbour to catch them off guard, sailed out unseen and coasted along to Megara, where they waited for the approach of the traders. Afterwards, however, when the Carthaginians sailed out against them with thirty ships, they first tried to fight at sea, but were quickly driven to land and leapt from their ships at a certain shrine of Hera. Then a battle took place for the ships; and the Carthaginians, throwing grappling irons into the triremes and with great force dragging them off from the shore, captured ten of them, but the others were saved by men who came to the rescue from the city. And this was the condition of affairs in Sicily.
§ 20.33
περὶ δὲ τὴν Λιβύην Ἀγαθοκλῆς, ἐπειδὴ κατέπλευσαν οἱ τὴν Ἀμίλκα κεφαλὴν κομίζοντες, ἀναλαβὼν ταύτην καὶ παριππεύσας πλησίον τῆς παρεμβολῆς τῶν πολεμίων εἰς φωνῆς ἀκοὴν ἔδειξε τοῖς πολεμίοις καὶ τὴν τῶν στρατοπέδων ἧτταν διεσάφησεν. οἱ δὲ Καρχηδόνιοι περιαλγεῖς γενόμενοι καὶ βαρβαρικῶς προσκυνήσαντες συμφορὰν ἑαυτῶν ἐποιοῦντο τὸν τοῦ βασιλέως θάνατον καὶ πρὸς τὸν ὅλον πόλεμον ἄθυμοι καθειστήκεισαν. οἱ δὲ περὶ τὸν Ἀγαθοκλέα τοῖς περὶ Λιβύην προτερήμασιν ἐπαρθέντες τηλικούτων εὐτυχημάτων προσγενομένων μετέωροι ταῖς ἐλπίσιν ἐγενήθησαν, ὡς ἀπηλλαγμένοι τῶν δεινῶν. οὐ μὴν ἡ τύχη γε εἴασε τὴν εὔροιαν μένειν ἐπὶ τῆς αὐτῆς τάξεως, ἀλλʼ ἐκ τῶν ἰδίων στρατιωτῶν τῷ δυνάστῃ τοὺς μεγίστους ἐπήνεγκε κινδύνους. Λυκίσκος γάρ τις τῶν ἐφʼ ἡγεμονίᾳ τεταγμένων, παραληφθεὶς ὑπʼ Ἀγαθοκλέους ἐπὶ τὸ δεῖπνον, οἰνωθεὶς ἐβλασφήμει τὸν δυνάστην. ὁ μὲν οὖν Ἀγαθοκλῆς διὰ τὰς ἐν τῷ πολέμῳ χρείας ἀποδεχόμενος τὸν ἄνδρα τῇ παιδιᾷ τὰ πρὸς πικρίαν λεγόμενα διέσυρεν· ὁ δʼ υἱὸς Ἀρχάγαθος χαλεπῶς φέρων ἐπετίμα τε καὶ διηπειλεῖτο. διαλυθέντος δὲ τοῦ πότου καὶ πρὸς τὴν σκηνὴν ἀπιόντων ἐλοιδόρησεν ὁ Λυκίσκος τὸν Ἀρχάγαθον εἰς τὴν τῆς μητρυιᾶς μοιχείαν· ἐδόκει γὰρ ἔχειν λάθρᾳ τοῦ πατρὸς τὴν Ἀλκίαν· τοῦτο γὰρ ἦν ὄνομα τῇ γυναικί. ὁ δʼ Ἀρχάγαθος εἰς ὀργὴν ὑπερβάλλουσαν προαχθεὶς καὶ παρά τινος τῶν ὑπασπιστῶν ἁρπάσας σιβύνην διήλασε διὰ τῶν πλευρῶν. τοῦτον μὲν οὖν παραχρῆμα τελευτήσαντα πρὸς τὴν ἰδίαν ἀπήνεγκαν σκηνὴν οἷς ἦν ἐπιμελές· ἅμα δʼ ἡμέρᾳ συνελθόντες οἱ τοῦ φονευθέντος φίλοι καὶ πολλοὶ τῶν ἄλλων στρατιωτῶν συνδραμόντες ἠγανάκτουν ἐπὶ τοῖς πραχθεῖσι καὶ θορύβου τὴν παρεμβολὴν ἐπλήρωσαν. πολλοὶ δὲ καὶ τῶν ἐφʼ ἡγεμονίαις τεταγμένων, ἐν ἐγκλήμασιν ὄντες καὶ φοβούμενοι περὶ σφῶν αὐτῶν, συνεπιθέμενοι τῷ καιρῷ στάσιν οὐ τὴν τυχοῦσαν ἐξέκαυσαν. παντὸς δὲ τοῦ στρατεύματος μισοπονηροῦντος ἕκαστοι τὰς πανοπλίας ἀνελάμβανον ἐπὶ τὴν τοῦ φονεύσαντος τιμωρίαν· καὶ πέρας τὸ πλῆθος ᾤετο δεῖν Ἀρχάγαθον ἀναιρεῖσθαι, μὴ ἐκδιδόντος δὲ τὸν υἱὸν Ἀγαθοκλέους αὐτὸν ἀντʼ ἐκείνου τὴν τιμωρίαν ὑπέχειν. ἀπῄτουν δὲ καὶ τοὺς μισθοὺς τοὺς ὀφειλομένους καὶ στρατηγοὺς ᾑροῦντο τοὺς ἀφηγησομένους τοῦ στρατοπέδου καὶ τὸ τελευταῖον τὰ τείχη κατελαμβάνοντό τινες τοῦ Τύνητος καὶ πανταχόθεν φυλακαῖς περιέλαβον τοὺς δυνάστας.
In Libya, when those who were carrying the head of Hamilcar had come into port, Agathocles took the head and, riding near the hostile camp to within hearing distance, showed it to the enemy and related to them the defeat of their expedition. The Carthaginians, deeply grieved and prostrating themselves on the ground in barbarian fashion, regarded the death of the king as their own misfortune, and they fell into deep despair in regard to the whole war. But Agathocles, who was already elated by his successes in Libya, when such strokes of fortune were now added, was borne aloft by soaring hopes, thinking himself freed from all dangers. Fortune notwithstanding did not permit success to remain long on the same side but brought the greatest danger to the prince from his own soldiers. For Lyciscus, one of those who had been placed in command, invited to dinner by Agathocles, became drunk and insulted the prince. Now Agathocles, who valued the man for his services in the war, turned aside with a joke what had been said in bitterness; but his son, Archagathus, becoming angry, censured and threatened Lyciscus. When the drinking was concluded and the men were going away to their quarters, Lyciscus taunted Archagathus on the score of his adultery with his stepmother; for he was supposed to possess Alcia, for this was the woman's name, without his father's knowledge. Archagathus, driven into an overpowering rage, seized a spear from one of the guard and thrust Lyciscus through his ribs. Now he died at once and was carried away to his own tent by those whose task it was; but at daybreak the friends of the murdered man came together, and many of the other soldiers hastened to join them, and all were indignant at what had happened and filled the camp with uproar. Many, too, of those who had been placed in command, as they also were subject to accusation and feared for themselves, turned the crisis to their own advantage and kindled no inconsiderable sedition. When the whole army was full of indignation, the troops severally donned full armour to punish the murderer; and finally the mob made up its mind that Archagathus should be put to death, and that, if Agathocles did not surrender his son, he himself should pay the penalty in his place. And they also kept demanding the pay that was due them, and they elected generals to lead the army; and finally some of them seized the walls of Tunis and surrounded the princes with guards on every side.
§ 20.34
οἱ δὲ Καρχηδόνιοι γνόντες τὴν παρὰ τοῖς πολεμίοις στάσιν ἔπεμψάν τινας ἀξιοῦντες μεταβάλλεσθαι καὶ τούς τε μισθοὺς μείζους καὶ δωρεὰς ἀξιολόγους δώσειν ἐπηγγέλλοντο. πολλοὶ μὲν οὖν τῶν ἡγεμόνων ἀπάξειν πρὸς αὐτοὺς τὴν στρατιὰν ἐπηγγείλαντο· ὁ δʼ Ἀγαθοκλῆς ὁρῶν τὴν σωτηρίαν ἐπὶ ῥοπῆς κειμένην καὶ φοβούμενος μὴ τοῖς πολεμίοις παραδοθεὶς μεθʼ ὕβρεως καταστρέψῃ τὸν βίον, ὑπέλαβε κρεῖττον εἶναι, κἂν δέῃ τι πάσχειν, ὑπὸ τῶν στρατιωτῶν ἀποθανεῖν. διόπερ ἀποθέμενος τὴν πορφύραν καὶ μεταλαβὼν ἰδιωτικὴν καὶ ταπεινὴν ἐσθῆτα παρῆλθεν εἰς τὸ μέσον. σιωπῆς οὖν γενομένης διὰ τὸ παράδοξον καὶ πολλῶν γενομένων τῶν συνδραμόντων διεξῆλθε λόγους οἰκείους τῆς περιστάσεως καὶ τῶν προκατεργασθεισῶν αὐτῷ πράξεων ἀναμνήσας ἔφησεν ἕτοιμος εἶναι τελευτᾶν, εἰ τοῦτο δόξει συμφέρειν τοῖς συστρατευομένοις· οὐδέποτε γὰρ αὐτὸν δειλίᾳ συνεσχημένον ὑπομεῖναί τι παθεῖν ἄτοπον ἕνεκα τοῦ φιλοψυχεῖν. καὶ τούτου μάρτυρας ἐκείνους ὑπάρχειν ἀποφαινόμενος ἐγύμνωσε τὸ ξίφος, ὡς σφάξων ἑαυτόν. μέλλοντος δʼ ἐπιφέρειν πληγὴν ἀνεβόησε τὸ στρατόπεδον διακωλῦον καὶ πανταχόθεν ἐγίνοντο φωναὶ τῶν ἐγκλημάτων ἀπολύουσαι. προστάττοντος δὲ τοῦ πλήθους ἀναλαβεῖν τὴν βασιλικὴν ἐσθῆτα δακρύων καὶ τοῖς ὄχλοις εὐχαριστῶν ἐνεδύετο τὸν προσήκοντα κόσμον, τοῦ πλήθους τὴν ἀποκατάστασιν κρότῳ παραμυθησαμένου. τῶν δὲ Καρχηδονίων καραδοκούντων ὡς αὐτίκα μάλα τῶν Ἑλλήνων πρὸς αὐτοὺς μεταθησομένων, Ἀγαθοκλῆς οὐ παρεὶς τὸν καιρὸν ἐξήγαγεν ἐπʼ αὐτοὺς τὴν δύναμιν. οἱ μὲν οὖν βάρβαροι νομίζοντες τοὺς ἐναντίους ἀποχωρεῖν πρὸς αὑτούς, οὐδεμίαν τῶν πρὸς ἀλήθειαν πεπραγμένων ἔννοιαν ἐλάμβανον· ὁ δʼ Ἀγαθοκλῆς ὡς ἐπλησίασε τοῖς πολεμίοις, ἄφνω τὸ πολεμικὸν προσέταξε σημαίνειν καὶ προσπεσὼν πολὺν ἐποίει φόνον. οἱ δὲ Καρχηδόνιοι παραδόξῳ συμπτώματι περιπεσόντες καὶ πολλοὺς τῶν στρατιωτῶν ἀποβαλόντες συνέφυγον εἰς τὴν παρεμβολήν. Ἀγαθοκλῆς μὲν οὖν διὰ τὸν υἱὸν εἰς τοὺς ἐσχάτους ἐλθὼν κινδύνους διὰ τῆς ἰδίας ἀρετῆς οὐ μόνον λύσιν εὗρε τῶν κακῶν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς πολεμίους ἠλάττωσεν· οἱ δὲ τῆς στάσεως μάλιστʼ αἴτιοι γενόμενοι καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ὅσοι πρὸς τὸν δυνάστην ἀλλοτρίως διέκειντο, ὑπὲρ τοὺς διακοσίους ὄντες, ἐτόλμησαν πρὸς τοὺς Καρχηδονίους αὐτομολῆσαι. ἡμεῖς δὲ τὰ περὶ Λιβύην καὶ Σικελίαν διεληλυθότες μνησθησόμεθα καὶ τῶν ἐν Ἰταλίᾳ πραχθέντων.
The Carthaginians, on learning of the discord among the enemy, sent men to them urging them to change sides, and promised to give them greater pay and noteworthy bonuses. And indeed many of the leaders did agree to take the army over to them; but Agathocles, seeing that his safety was in the balance and fearing that, if he should be delivered to the enemy, he would end his life amid insults, decided that it was better, if he had to suffer, to die at the hands of his own men. Therefore, putting aside the purple and donning the humble garb of a private citizen, he came out into the middle of the crowd. Silence fell because his action was unexpected, and when a crowd had run together, he delivered a speech suitable to the critical situation. After recalling his earlier achievements, he said that he was ready to die if that should seem best for his fellow soldiers; for never had he, constrained by cowardice, consented to endure any indignity through love of life. And declaring that they themselves were witnesses of this, he bared his sword as if to slay himself. When he was on the point of striking the blow, the army shouted bidding him to stop, and from every side came voices clearing him from the charges. And when the crowd kept pressing him to resume his royal garb, he put on the dress of his rank, weeping and thanking the people, the crowd meanwhile acclaiming his restoration with a clash of arms. While the Carthaginians were waiting intently, expecting that the Greeks would very soon come over to them, Agathocles, not missing the opportunity, led his army against them. The barbarians, believing that their opponents were deserting to them, had no idea at all of what had actually taken place; and when Agathocles had drawn near the enemy, he suddenly ordered the signal for battle to be given, fell upon them, and created great havoc. The Carthaginians, stunned by the sudden reversal, lost many of their soldiers and fled into their camp. Thus Agathocles, after having fallen into the most extreme danger on account of his son, through his own excellence not only found a way out of his difficulties, but even defeated the enemy. Those, however, who were chiefly responsible for the sedition and any of the others who were hostile to the prince, more than two hundred in number, found the courage to desert to the Carthaginians. Now that we have completed the account of events in Libya and Sicily, we shall relate what took place in Italy.
§ 20.35
τῶν γὰρ Τυρρηνῶν στρατευσάντων ἐπὶ πόλιν Σούτριον ἄποικον Ῥωμαίων οἱ μὲν ὕπατοι δυνάμεσιν ἁδραῖς ἐκβοηθήσαντες ἐνίκησαν μάχῃ τοὺς Τυρρηνοὺς καὶ συνεδίωξαν εἰς τὴν παρεμβολήν, οἱ δὲ Σαυνῖται κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν χρόνον μακρὰν ἀπηρτημένης τῆς Ῥωμαίων δυνάμεως ἀδεῶς ἐπόρθουν τῶν Ἰαπύγων τοὺς τὰ Ῥωμαίων φρονοῦντας. διόπερ ἠναγκάσθησαν οἱ ὕπατοι διαιρεῖν τὰς δυνάμεις καὶ Φάβιος μὲν ἐν τῇ Τυρρηνίᾳ κατέμεινεν, Μάρκιος δὲ ἐπὶ τοὺς Σαυνίτας ἀναζεύξας Ἀλλίφας μὲν πόλιν εἷλεν κατὰ κράτος, τοὺς δὲ πολιορκουμένους τῶν συμμάχων ἐκ τῶν κινδύνων ἐρρύσατο. ὁ δὲ Φάβιος Τυρρηνῶν πολλοῖς πλήθεσιν ἐπὶ τὸ Σούτριον συνδραμόντων ἔλαθε τοὺς πολεμίους διὰ τῆς τῶν ὁμόρων χώρας συνἐμβαλὼν εἰς τὴν ἀνωτέρω Τυρρηνίαν, ἀπόρθητον γενομένην πολλῶν χρόνων· ἐπιπεσὼν δὲ ἀνελπίστως τῆς τε χώρας πολλὴν ἐδῄωσε καὶ τοὺς ἐπελθόντας τῶν ἐγχωρίων νικήσας πολλοὺς μὲν ἀνεῖλεν, οὐκ ὀλίγους δὲ καὶ ζῶντας ὑποχειρίους ἔλαβεν. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα περὶ τὴν καλουμένην Περυσίαν δευτέρᾳ μάχῃ τῶν Τυρρηνῶν κρατήσας, πολλοὺς ἀνελὼν κατεπλήξατο τὸ ἔθνος, πρῶτος Ῥωμαίων μετὰ δυνάμεως ἐμβεβληκὼς εἰς τοὺς τόπους τούτους. καὶ πρὸς μὲν Ἀρρητινοὺς καὶ Κροτωνιάτας, ἔτι δὲ Περυσίνους ἀνοχὰς ἐποιήσατο· πόλιν δὲ τὴν ὀνομαζομένην Καστόλαν ἐκπολιορκήσας συνηνάγκασε τοὺς Τυρρηνοὺς λῦσαι τὴν τοῦ Σουτρίου πολιορκίαν.
When the Etruscans had taken the field against the city Sutrium, a Roman colony, the consuls, coming out to its aid with a strong army, defeated them in battle and drove them into their camp; but the Samnites at this time, when the Roman army was far distant, were plundering with impunity those Iapyges who supported the Romans. The consuls, therefore, were forced to divide their armies; Fabius remained in Etruria, but Marcius, setting out against the Samnites, took the city Allifae by storm and freed from danger those of the allies who were being besieged. Fabius, however, while the Etruscans in great numbers were gathering against Sutrium, marched without the knowledge of the enemy through the country of their neighbours into upper Etruria, which had not been plundered for a long time. Falling upon it unexpectedly, he ravaged a large part of the country; and in a victory over those of the inhabitants who came against him, he slew many of them and took no small number of them alive as prisoners. Thereafter, defeating the Etruscans in a second battle near the place called Perusia and destroying many of them, he overawed the nation since he was the first of the Romans to have invaded that region with an army. He also made truces with the peoples of Arretium and Crotona, likewise with those of Perusia; and, taking by siege the city called Castola, he forced the Etruscans to raise the siege of Sutrium.
§ 20.36
ἐν δὲ τῇ Ῥώμῃ κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν ἐνιαυτὸν τιμητὰς εἵλοντο καὶ τούτων ὁ ἕτερος Ἄππιος Κλαύδιος ὑπήκοον ἔχων τὸν συνάρχοντα Λεύκιον Πλαύτιον πολλὰ τῶν πατρῴων νομίμων ἐκίνησε· τῷ δήμῳ γὰρ τὸ κεχαρισμένον ποιῶν οὐδένα λόγον ἐποιεῖτο τῆς συγκλήτου. καὶ πρῶτον μὲν τὸ καλούμενον Ἄππιον ὕδωρ ἀπὸ σταδίων ὀγδοήκοντα κατήγαγεν εἰς τὴν Ῥώμην καὶ πολλὰ τῶν δημοσίων χρημάτων εἰς ταύτην τὴν κατασκευὴν ἀνήλωσεν ἄνευ δόγματος τῆς συγκλήτου· μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τῆς ἀφʼ ἑαυτοῦ κληθείσης Ἀππίας ὁδοῦ τὸ πλεῖον μέρος λίθοις στερεοῖς κατέστρωσεν ἀπὸ Ῥώμης μέχρι Καπύης, ὄντος τοῦ διαστήματος σταδίων πλειόνων ἢ χιλίων, καὶ τῶν τόπων τοὺς μὲν ὑπερέχοντας διασκάψας, τοὺς δὲ φαραγγώδεις ἢ κοίλους ἀναλήμμασιν ἀξιολόγοις ἐξισώσας κατηνάλωσεν ἁπάσας τὰς δημοσίας προσόδους, αὑτοῦ δὲ μνημεῖον ἀθάνατον κατέλιπεν, εἰς κοινὴν εὐχρηστίαν φιλοτιμηθείς. κατέμιξε δὲ καὶ τὴν σύγκλητον, οὐ τοὺς εὐγενεῖς καὶ προέχοντας τοῖς ἀξιώμασι προσγράφων μόνον, ὡς ἦν ἔθος, ἀλλὰ πολλοὺς καὶ τῶν ἀπελευθέρων υἱοὺς ἀνέμιξεν· ἐφʼ οἷς βαρέως ἔφερον οἱ καυχώμενοι ταῖς εὐγενείαις. ἔδωκε δὲ τοῖς πολίταις καὶ τὴν ἐξουσίαν ἐν ὁποίᾳ τις βούλεται φυλῇ τάττεσθαι καὶ ὅποι προαιροῖτο τιμήσασθαι. τὸ δʼ ὅλον, ὁρῶν τεθησαυρισμένον κατʼ αὐτοῦ παρὰ τοῖς ἐπιφανεστάτοις τὸν φθόνον, ἐξέκλινε τὸ προσκόπτειν τισὶ τῶν ἄλλων πολιτῶν, ἀντίταγμα κατασκευάζων τῇ τῶν εὐγενῶν ἀλλοτριότητι τὴν παρὰ τῶν πολλῶν εὔνοιαν. καὶ κατὰ μὲν τὴν τῶν ἱππέων δοκιμασίαν οὐδενὸς ἀφείλετο τὸν ἵππον, κατὰ δὲ τὴν τῶν συνέδρων καταγραφὴν οὐδένα τῶν ἀδοξούντων συγκλητικῶν ἐξέβαλεν, ὅπερ ἦν ἔθος ποιεῖν τοῖς τιμηταῖς. εἶθʼ οἱ μὲν ὕπατοι διὰ τὸν φθόνον καὶ διὰ τὸ βούλεσθαι τοῖς ἐπιφανεστάτοις χαρίζεσθαι συνῆγον τὴν σύγκλητον οὐ τὴν ὑπὸ τούτου καταλεγεῖσαν, ἀλλὰ τὴν ὑπὸ τῶν προγεγενημένων τιμητῶν καταγραφεῖσαν· ὁ δὲ δῆμος τούτοις μὲν ἀντιπράττων, τῷ δὲ Ἀππίῳ συμφιλοτιμούμενος καὶ τὴν τῶν συγγενῶν προαγωγὴν βεβαιῶσαι βουλόμενος ἀγορανόμον εἵλετο τῆς ἐπιφανεστέρας ἀγορανομίας υἱὸν ἀπελευθέρου Γναῖον Φλάυιον, ὃς πρῶτος Ῥωμαίων ἔτυχε ταύτης τῆς ἀρχῆς πατρὸς ὢν δεδουλευκότος. ὁ δʼ Ἄππιος τῆς ἀρχῆς ἀπολυθεὶς καὶ τὸν ἀπὸ τῆς συγκλήτου φθόνον εὐλαβηθεὶς προσεποιήθη τυφλὸς εἶναι καὶ κατʼ οἰκίαν ἔμενεν.
In Rome in this year censors were elected, and one of them Appius Claudius, who had his colleague, Lucius Plautius, under his influence, changed many of the laws of the fathers; for since he was following a course of action pleasing to the people, he considered the Senate of no importance. In the first place he built the Aqua Appia, as it is called, from a distance of eighty stades to Rome, and spent a large sum of public money for this construction without a decree of the Senate. Next he paved with solid stone the greater part of the Appian Way, which was named for him, from Rome to Capua, the distance being more than a thousand stades. And since he dug through elevated places and levelled with noteworthy fills the ravines and valleys, he expended the entire revenue of the state but left behind a deathless monument to himself, having been ambitious in the public interest. He also mixed the Senate, enrolling not merely those who were of noble birth and superior rank as was the custom, but also including many sons of freedmen. For this reason those were incensed with him who boasted of their nobility. He also gave each citizen the right to be enrolled in whatever tribe he wished, and to be placed in the census class he preferred. In short, seeing hatred toward himself treasured up by the most distinguished men, he avoided giving offence to any of the other citizens, securing as a counterpoise against the hostility of the nobles the goodwill of the many. At the inspection of the equestrian order he deprived no man of his horse, and in drawing up the album of the Senate he removed no one of the unworthy Senators, which it was the custom of the censors to do. Then the consuls, because of their hatred for him and their desire to please the most distinguished men, called together the Senate, not as it had been listed by him but as it had been entered in the album by the preceding censors; and the people in opposition to the nobles and in support of Appius, wishing also to establish firmly the promotion of their own class, elected to the more distinguished of the aedileships the son of a freedman, Gnaeus Flavius, who was the first Roman whose father had been a slave to gain that office. When Appius had completed his term of office, as a precaution against the ill will of the Senate, he professed to be blind and remained in his house.
§ 20.37
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησι Χαρίνου Ῥωμαῖοι μὲν τὴν ὕπατον ἀρχὴν παρέδοσαν Ποπλίῳ Δεκίῳ καὶ Κοΐντῳ Φαβίῳ, παρὰ δὲ τοῖς Ἠλείοις ὀλυμπιὰς ἤχθη ὀγδόη πρὸς ταῖς ἑκατὸν δέκα, καθʼ ἣν ἐνίκα στάσιον Ἀπολλωνίδης Τεγεάτης. κατὰ δὲ τούτους τοὺς χρόνους Πτολεμαῖος μὲν ἐκ τῆς Μύνδου πλεύσας ἁδρῷ στόλῳ διὰ νήσων ἐν παράπλῳ τὴν Ἄνδρον ἠλευθέρωσε καὶ τὴν φρουρὰν ἐξήγαγε. κομισθεὶς δʼ ἐπὶ τὸν Ἰσθμὸν Σικυῶνα καὶ Κόρινθον παρέλαβεν παρὰ Κρατησιπόλεως. τὰς δὲ αἰτίας διʼ ἃς ἐκυρίευσε πόλεων ἐπιφανῶν προδεδηλωκότες ἐν ταῖς πρὸ ταύτης βίβλοις τὸ διλογεῖν ὑπὲρ τῶν αὐτῶν παρήσομεν. ἐπεβάλετο μὲν οὖν καὶ τὰς ἄλλας Ἑλληνίδας πόλεις Πτολεμαῖος ἐλευθεροῦν, μεγάλην προσθήκην ἡγούμενος ἔσεσθαι τοῖς ἰδίοις πράγμασι τὴν τῶν Ἑλλήνων εὔνοιαν· ἐπεὶ δὲ οἱ Πελοποννήσιοι συνταξάμενοι χορηγήσειν σῖτον καὶ χρήματα τῶν ὡμολογημένων οὐδὲν συνετέλουν, ἀγανακτήσας ὁ δυνάστης πρὸς μὲν Κάσανδρον εἰρήνην ἐποιήσατο, καθʼ ἣν ἑκατέρους ἔδει κυριεύειν τῶν πόλεων ὧν εἶχον, τὴν δὲ Σικυῶνα καὶ Κόρινθον ἀσφαλισάμενος φρουρᾷ διῆρεν εἰς τὴν Αἴγυπτον. ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις Κλεοπάτρα τῷ μὲν Ἀντιγόνῳ προσκόπτουσα, τῇ δʼ αἱρέσει πρὸς τὸν Πτολεμαῖον ἀποκλίνουσα προῆγεν ἐκ Σάρδεων, ὡς διακομισθησομένη πρὸς ἐκεῖνον. ἦν δὲ ἀδελφὴ μὲν Ἀλεξάνδρου τοῦ Πέρσας καταπολεμήσαντος, θυγάτηρ δὲ Φιλίππου τοῦ Ἀμύντου, γυνὴ δὲ γεγενημένη τοῦ εἰς Ἰταλίαν στρατεύσαντος Ἀλεξάνδρου. διὰ τὴν ἐπιφάνειαν οὖν τοῦ γένους οἱ περὶ Κάσανδρον καὶ Λυσίμαχον, ἔτι δὲ Ἀντίγονον καὶ Πτολεμαῖον καὶ καθόλου πάντες οἱ μετὰ τὴν Ἀλεξάνδρου τελευτὴν ἀξιολογώτατοι τῶν ἡγεμόνων ταύτην ἐμνήστευον· ἕκαστος γὰρ τούτῳ τῷ γάμῳ συνακολουθήσειν Μακεδόνας ἐλπίζων ἀντείχετο τῆς βασιλικῆς οἰκίας, ὡς τὴν τῶν ὅλων ἀρχὴν περιστήσων εἰς ἑαυτόν. ὁ δὲ ἐπιμελητὴς τῶν Σάρδεων ἔχων παράγγελμα παρʼ Ἀντιγόνου τηρεῖν τὴν Κλεοπάτραν, διεκώλυεν αὐτῆς τὴν ἔξοδον· ὕστερον δὲ προστάξαντος τοῦ δυνάστου διά τινων γυναικῶν ἐδολοφόνησεν. ὁ δʼ Ἀντίγονος οὐ βουλόμενος λέγεσθαι κατʼ αὐτοῦ περὶ τῆς ἀναιρέσεως, τῶν γυναικῶν τινας ἐκόλασεν ὡς ἐπιβεβουλευκυίας καὶ τὰ περὶ τὴν ἐκφορὰν βασιλικῶς ἐφιλοκάλησεν. Κλεοπάτρα μὲν οὖν περιμάχητος γενομένη παρὰ τοῖς ἐπιφανεστάτοις ἡγεμόσι πρὸ τοῦ συντελεσθῆναι τὸν γάμον τοιαύτης ἔτυχε καταστροφῆς. ἡμεῖς δὲ διεληλυθότες τὰ κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν καὶ τὴν Ἑλλάδα μεταβιβάσομεν τὸν λόγον ἐπὶ τὰ ἄλλα μέρη τῆς οἰκουμένης.
When Charinus was archon at Athens, the Romans gave the consulship to Publius Decius and Quintus Fabius; and in Elis the Olympian Games were celebrated for the one hundred and eighteenth time, at which celebration Apollonides of Tegea won the foot race. At this time, while Ptolemy was sailing from Myndus with a strong fleet through the islands, he liberated Andros as he passed by and drove out the garrison. Moving on to the Isthmus, he took Sikyon and Corinth from Cratesipolis. Since the causes that explain her becoming ruler of famous cities were made clear in the preceding Book, we shall refrain from again discussing the same subject. Now Ptolemy planned to free the other Greek cities also, thinking that the goodwill of the Greeks would be a great gain for him in his own undertakings; but when the Peloponnesians, having agreed to contribute food and money, contributed nothing of what had been promised, the prince in anger made peace with Cassander, by the terms of which peace each prince was to remain master of the cities that he was holding; and after securing Sikyon and Corinth with a garrison, Ptolemy departed for Egypt. Meanwhile Cleopatra quarrelled with Antigonus and, inclining to cast her lot with Ptolemy, she started from Sardis in order to cross over to him. She was the sister of Alexander the conqueror of Persia and daughter of Philip, son of Amyntas, and had been the wife of the Alexander who made an expedition into Italy. Because of the distinction of her descent Cassander and Lysimachus, as well as Antigonus and Ptolemy and in general all the leaders who were most important after Alexander's death, sought her hand; for each of them, hoping that the Macedonians would follow the lead of this marriage, was seeking alliance with the royal house in order thus to gain supreme power for himself. The governor of Sardis, who had orders from Antigonus to watch Cleopatra, prevented her departure; but later, as commanded by the prince, he treacherously brought about her death through the agency of certain women. But Antigonus, not wishing the murder to be laid at his door, punished some of the women for having plotted against her, and took care that the funeral should be conducted in royal fashion. Thus Cleopatra, after having been the prize in a contest among the most eminent leaders, met this fate before her marriage was brought to pass. Now that we have related the events of Asia and of Greece, we shall turn our narrative to the other parts of the inhabited world.
§ 20.38
κατὰ γὰρ τὴν Λιβύην Καρχηδονίων ἐκπεμψάντων δύναμιν τὴν προσαξομένην τοὺς ἀφεστηκότας Νομάδας Ἀγαθοκλῆς ἐπὶ μὲν τοῦ Τύνητος ἀπέλιπεν Ἀρχάγαθον τὸν υἱὸν μετὰ μέρους τῆς στρατιᾶς, αὐτὸς δʼ ἀναλαβὼν τοὺς κρατίστους, πεζοὺς μὲν ὀκτακισχιλίους, ἱππεῖς δὲ ὀκτακοσίους, ζεύγη δὲ Λιβύων πεντήκοντα, κατὰ σπουδὴν ἐπηκολούθει τοῖς πολεμίοις. οἱ δὲ Καρχηδόνιοι παραγενηθέντες εἰς τοὺς Νομάδας τοὺς καλουμένους Ζούφωνας, πολλοὺς τῶν ἐγχωρίων προσηγάγοντο καὶ τῶν ἀφεστηκότων ἐνίους εἰς τὴν προϋπάρχουσαν ἀποκατέστησαν συμμαχίαν· ἐπεὶ δʼ ἤκουσαν πλησίον εἶναι τοὺς πολεμίους, κατεστρατοπέδευσαν ἐπί τινος γεωλόφου περιεχομένου ῥείθροις βαθέσι καὶ δυσπεράτοις. καὶ πρὸς μὲν τὰς ἀπροσδοκήτους ἐπιθέσεις τῶν ἐναντίων ταῦτα προεβάλοντο, τῶν δὲ Νομάδων τοὺς μάλιστʼ εὐθέτους προσέταξαν ἐπακολουθεῖν τοῖς Ἕλλησιν καὶ παρενοχλοῦντας κωλύειν αὐτῶν τὴν εἰς τοὔμπροσθεν πορείαν. ὧν ποιησάντων τὸ προσταχθὲν Ἀγαθοκλῆς ἐπὶ μὲν τούτους ἀπέστειλε τούς τε σφενδονήτας καὶ τοξότας, αὐτὸς δὲ μετὰ τῆς ἄλλης δυνάμεως ὥρμησεν ἐπὶ τὴν ἄλλην στρατοπεδείαν τῶν πολεμίων. οἱ δὲ Καρχηδόνιοι τὴν ἐπίνοιαν αὐτοῦ κατανοήσαντες ἐξήγαγον τὴν στρατιὰν ἐκ τῆς παρεμβολῆς καὶ παρατάξαντες ἕτοιμοι πρὸς μάχην καθειστήκεισαν. ἐπεὶ δʼ ἑώρων τοὺς περὶ τὸν Ἀγαθοκλέα διαβαίνοντας ἤδη τὸν ποταμόν, συντεταγμένοι ἐνέβαλον καὶ περὶ τὸ ῥεῖθρον δυσπέρατον ὑπάρχον πολλοὺς τῶν ἐναντίων ἀνῄρουν. προσβιαζομένων δὲ τῶν μετʼ Ἀγαθοκλέους οἱ μὲν Ἕλληνες ταῖς ἀρεταῖς ὑπερεῖχον, οἱ δὲ βάρβαροι τοῖς πλήθεσι περιεγίνοντο. ἔνθα δὴ τῶν στρατοπέδων ἐπὶ πολὺν χρόνον φιλοτίμως ἀγωνιζομένων οἱ παρʼ ἀμφοτέροις Νομάδες τῆς μὲν μάχης ἀφειστήκεισαν, ἐπετήρουν δὲ τὸ τέλος τοῦ κινδύνου, διεγνωκότες τῶν ἡττημένων τὰς ἀποσκευὰς διαρπάσαι. Ἀγαθοκλῆς δὲ τοὺς ἀρίστους ἔχων περὶ αὑτὸν πρῶτος ἐβιάσατο τοὺς ἀνθεστηκότας καὶ τῇ τούτων τροπῇ τοὺς λοιποὺς βαρβάρους φυγεῖν ἐποίησεν· μόνοι δὲ τῶν ἱππέων οἱ συναγωνιζόμενοι τοῖς Καρχηδονίοις Ἕλληνες, ὧν Κλίνων ἡγεῖτο, τοὺς περὶ τὸν Ἀγαθοκλέα βαρεῖς ἐπικειμένους ὑπέστησαν. ἀγωνισαμένων δʼ αὐτῶν λαμπρῶς οἱ πλεῖστοι μὲν ἀνῃρέθησαν μαχόμενοι γενναίως, οἱ δὲ περιλειφθέντες τύχῃ τινὶ διεσώθησαν.
In Libya, when the Carthaginians had sent out an army to win over the Nomads who had deserted, Agathocles left his son Archagathus before Tunis with part of the army, but he himself, selecting the strongest men — eight thousand foot, eight hundred horse, and fifty Libyan chariots — followed after the enemy at full speed. When the Carthaginians had come to the tribe of Nomads called the Zuphones, they won over many of the inhabitants and brought back some of the deserters to their former alliance, but on learning that the enemy were at hand, they camped on a certain hill, which was surrounded by streams that were deep and difficult to cross. These they used as a protection against the unexpected attacks of their opponents, but they directed the fittest of the Nomads to follow the Greeks closely and by harassing them to prevent them from advancing. When these did as they had been directed, Agathocles sent against them his slingers and bowmen, but he himself with the rest of his army advanced against the camp of the enemy. The Carthaginians on discovering his intention led their army out from their camp, drew it up, and took their positions ready for battle. But when they saw that Agathocles was already crossing the river, they attacked in formation, and at the stream, which was difficult to ford, they slew many of their opponents. However, as Agathocles pressed forward, the Greeks were superior in valour, but the barbarians had the advantage of numbers. Then when the armies had been fighting gallantly for some time, the Nomads on both sides withdrew from the battle and awaited the outcome of the struggle, intending to plunder the baggage train of those who were defeated. But Agathocles, who had his best men about him, first forced back those opposite to him, and by their rout he caused the rest of the barbarians to flee. Of the cavalry only the Greeks who, led by Clinon, were assisting the Carthaginians withstood Agathocles' heavy armed men as they advanced. Although they struggled brilliantly, most of these Greeks were slain while fighting gallantly, and those who survived were saved by mere chance.
§ 20.39
ὁ δʼ Ἀγαθοκλῆς ἀφεὶς τὸ διώκειν τούτους ὥρμησεν ἐπὶ τοὺς καταφυγόντας βαρβάρους εἰς τὴν παρεμβολὴν καὶ προσβιαζόμενος τόποις προσάντεσι καὶ δυσπροσίτοις οὐχ ἧττον ἔπασχεν ἢ διετίθει τοὺς Καρχηδονίους. οὐ μὴν ἔληγε τῆς τόλμης, ἀλλὰ τῇ νίκῃ μετεωριζόμενος ἐνέκειτο, διαλαμβάνων κατὰ κράτος αἱρήσειν τὴν στρατοπεδείαν. ἐν τοσούτῳ δὲ τὸ τέλος τῆς μάχης καραδοκοῦντες οἱ Νομάδες ταῖς μὲν τῶν Καρχηδονίων ἀποσκευαῖς οὐχ οἷοί τε ἦσαν ἐπιθέσθαι διὰ τὸ τὰς δυνάμεις ἀμφοτέρας πλησίον τῆς παρεμβολῆς ἀγωνίζεσθαι, ἐπὶ δὲ τὴν τῶν Ἑλλήνων στρατοπεδείαν ὥρμησαν, εἰδότες τὸν Ἀγαθοκλέα μακρὰν ἀπεσπασμένον. ἐρήμου δʼ αὐτῆς οὔσης τῶν δυναμένων ἀμύνασθαι ῥᾳδίως ἐπιπεσόντες τοὺς μὲν ἀντιστάντας ὀλίγους ὄντας ἀπέκτειναν, αἰχμαλώτων δὲ πλήθους καὶ τῆς ἄλλης ὠφελείας ἐκυρίευσαν. ἃ δὴ πυθόμενος ὁ Ἀγαθοκλῆς ἦγε κατὰ τάχος τὴν δύναμιν καὶ τινὰ μὲν τῶν ἀφηρπασμένων ἀνέσωσε, τῶν δὲ πλείστων οἱ Νομάδες ἐκυρίευον καὶ νυκτὸς ἐπιγενομένης μακρὰν ἑαυτοὺς ἐξετόπισαν. ὁ δὲ δυνάστης στήσας τρόπαιον τὰ μὲν λάφυρα διείλετο τοῖς στρατιώταις, ὅπως μηδεὶς ἀγανακτήσῃ περὶ τῶν ἀπολωλότων, τοὺς δʼ αἰχμαλώτους Ἕλληνας τοὺς συστρατευσαμένους τοῖς Καρχηδονίοις εἴς τι φρούριον ἀπέθετο. οὗτοι μὲν οὖν εὐλαβούμενοι τὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ δυνάστου τιμωρίαν νυκτὸς ἐπέθεντο τοῖς ἐν τῷ φρουρίῳ καὶ τῇ μάχῃ κρατούμενοι κατελάβοντο τόπον ἐρυμνόν, ὄντες οὐκ ἐλάττους τῶν χιλίων, ὧν ἦσαν Συρακόσιοι πλείους τῶν πεντακοσίων· Ἀγαθοκλῆς δὲ πυθόμενος τὸ πεπραγμένον ἧκε μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως καὶ καταβιβάσας ὑποσπόνδους τοὺς ἐπιθεμένους ἅπαντας ἀπέσφαξεν.
Agathocles, giving up the pursuit of the cavalry, attacked the barbarians who had taken refuge in the camp; and, since he had to force his way over terrain steep and difficult of access, he suffered losses no less great than those he inflicted on the Carthaginians. Nevertheless, he did not slacken his zeal, but rather, made confident by his victory, pressed on, expecting to take the camp by storm. At this the Nomads who were awaiting the outcome of the battle, not being able to fall on the baggage train of the Carthaginians since both armies were fighting near the camp, made an attack on the encampment of the Greeks, knowing that Agathocles had been drawn off to a great distance. Since the camp was without defenders capable of warding them off, they easily launched an attack, killing the few who resisted them and gaining possession of a large number of prisoners and of booty as well. On hearing this Agathocles led his army back quickly and recovered some of the spoil, but most of it the Nomads kept in their possession, and as night came on they withdrew to a distance. The prince, after setting up a trophy, divided the booty among the soldiers so that no one might complain about his losses; but the captured Greeks, who had been fighting for the Carthaginians, he put into a certain fortress. Now these men, dreading punishment from the prince, attacked those in the fortress at night and, although defeated in the battle, occupied a strong position, being in number not less than a thousand, of whom above five hundred were Syracusans. However, when Agathocles heard what had happened, he came with his army, induced them to leave their position under a truce, and slaughtered all those who had made the attack.
§ 20.40
ἀπὸ δὲ τῆς μάχης ταύτης γενόμενος καὶ πάντα τῇ διανοίᾳ σκοπούμενος πρὸς τὸ λαβεῖν τοὺς Καρχηδονίους ὑποχειρίους ἐξέπεμψε πρεσβευτὴν Ὄρθωνα τὸν Συρακόσιον πρὸς Ὀφέλλαν εἰς Κυρήνην. οὗτος δʼ ἦν μὲν τῶν φίλων τῶν συνεστρατευμένων Ἀλεξάνδρῳ, κυριεύων δὲ τῶν περὶ Κυρήνην πόλεων καὶ δυνάμεως ἁδρᾶς περιεβάλετο ταῖς ἐλπίσι μείζονα δυναστείαν. τοιαύτην οὖν αὐτοῦ διάνοιαν ἔχοντος ἧκεν ὁ παρʼ Ἀγαθοκλέους πρεσβευτής, ἀξιῶν συγκαταπολεμῆσαι Καρχηδονίους· ἀντὶ δὲ ταύτης τῆς χρείας ἐπηγγέλλετο τὸν Ἀγαθοκλέα συγχωρήσειν αὐτῷ τῶν ἐν Λιβύῃ πραγμάτων κυριεύειν. εἶναι γὰρ ἱκανὴν αὐτῷ τὴν Σικελίαν, ἵνʼ ἐξῇ τῶν ἀπὸ τῆς Καρχηδόνος κινδύνων ἀπαλλαχθέντα μετʼ ἀδείας κρατεῖν ἁπάσης τῆς νήσου· παρακεῖσθαι δὲ καὶ τὴν Ἰταλίαν αὐτῷ πρὸς ἐπαύξησιν τῆς ἀρχῆς, ἐὰν κρίνῃ μειζόνων ὀρέγεσθαι. τὴν μὲν γὰρ Λιβύην διεζευγμένην μεγάλῳ καὶ χαλεπῷ πελάγει μηδαμῶς ἁρμόζειν αὐτῷ, εἰς ἣν καὶ νῦν οὐ κατʼ ἐπιθυμίαν, ἀλλὰ κατʼ ἀνάγκην ἀφῖχθαι. ὁ δὲ Ὀφέλλας τῇ πάλαι βεβουλευμένῃ κρίσει προστεθείσης τῆς γενομένης ἐλπίδος ἀσμένως ὑπήκουσε καὶ πρὸς μὲν Ἀθηναίους περὶ συμμαχίας διεπέμπετο, γεγαμηκὼς Εὐθυδίκην τὴν Μιλτιάδου θυγατέρα τοῦ τὴν προσηγορίαν φέροντος εἰς τὸν στρατηγήσαντα τῶν ἐν Μαραθῶνι νικησάντων. διὰ δὴ ταύτην τὴν ἐπιγαμίαν καὶ τὴν ἄλλην σπουδήν, ἣν ὑπῆρχεν ἀποδεδειγμένος εἰς τὴν πόλιν, καὶ πολλοὶ τῶν Ἀθηναίων προθύμως ὑπήκουσαν εἰς τὴν στρατείαν. οὐκ ὀλίγοι δὲ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων Ἑλλήνων ἔσπευδον κοινωνῆσαι τῆς ἐπιβολῆς, ἐλπίζοντες τήν τε κρατίστην τῆς Λιβύης κατακληρουχήσειν καὶ τὸν ἐν Καρχηδόνι διαρπάσειν πλοῦτον. τὰ μὲν γὰρ κατὰ τὴν Ἑλλάδα διὰ τοὺς συνεχεῖς πολέμους καὶ τὰς τῶν δυναστῶν πρὸς ἀλλήλους φιλοτιμίας ἀσθενῆ καὶ ταπεινὰ καθειστήκει· ὥσθʼ ὑπελάμβανον μὴ μόνον ἐγκρατεῖς ἔσεσθαι πολλῶν ἀγαθῶν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν παρόντων κακῶν ἀπαλλαγήσεσθαι.
After he had finished this battle, Agathocles, examining in mind every device for bringing the Carthaginians into subjection, sent Orthon the Syracusan as an envoy into Cyrene to Ophellas. The latter was one of the companions who had made the campaign with Alexander; now, master of the cities of Cyrene and of a strong army, he was ambitious for a greater realm. And so it was to a man in this state of mind that there came the envoy from Agathocles inviting him to join him in subduing the Carthaginians. In return for this service Orthon promised Ophellas that Agathocles would permit him to exercise dominion over Libya. For, he said, Sicily was enough for Agathocles, if only it should be possible for him, relieved of danger from Carthage, to rule over all the island without fear. Moreover, Italy was close at his hand for increasing his realm if he should decide to reach after greater things. For Libya, separated by a wide and dangerous sea, did not suit him at all, into which land he had even now come through no desire but because of necessity. Ophellas, now that to his long-considered judgement was added this actual hope, gladly consented and sent to the Athenians an envoy to confer about an alliance, for Ophellas had married Euthydice, the daughter of a Miltiades who traced that name back to him who had commanded the victorious troops at Marathon. On account of this marriage and the other marks of favour which he had habitually displayed toward their city, a good many of the Athenians eagerly enlisted for the campaign. No small number also of the other Greeks were quick to join in the undertaking whence they hoped to portion out for colonization the most fertile part of Libya and to plunder the wealth of Carthage. For conditions throughout Greece on account of the continuous wars and the mutual rivalries of the princes had become unstable and straitened, and they expected not only to gain many advantages, but also to rid themselves of their present evils.
§ 20.41
ὁ δʼ οὖν Ὀφέλλας, ἐπειδὴ πάντʼ αὐτῷ πρὸς τὴν στρατείαν κατεσκεύαστο λαμπρῶς, ἐξώρμησε μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως, ἔχων πεζοὺς μὲν πλείους τῶν μυρίων, ἱππεῖς δὲ ἑξακοσίους, ἅρματα δὲ ἑκατόν, ἡνιόχους δὲ καὶ παραβάτας πλείους τῶν τριακοσίων. ἠκολούθουν δὲ καὶ τῶν ἔξω τάξεως λεγομένων οὐκ ἐλάττους μυρίων· πολλοὶ δὲ τούτων τέκνα καὶ γυναῖκας καὶ τὴν ἄλλην παρασκευὴν ἦγον, ὥστε ἐμφερῆ τὴν στρατιὰν ὑπάρχειν ἀποικίᾳ. ὀκτωκαίδεκα μὲν οὖν ἡμέρας ὁδοιπορήσαντες καὶ διελθόντες σταδίους τρισχιλίους κατεσκήνωσαν περὶ Αὐτόμαλα· ἐντεῦθεν δὲ πορευομένοις ὑπῆρχεν ὄρος ἐξ ἀμφοτέρων τῶν μερῶν ἀπόκρημνον, ἐν μέσῳ δʼ ἔχον φάραγγα βαθεῖαν, ἐξ ἧς ἀνέτεινε λισσὴ πέτρα πρὸς ὀρθὸν ἀνατείνουσα σκόπελον· περὶ δὲ τὴν ῥίζαν αὐτῆς ἄντρον ἦν εὐμέγεθες, κιττῷ καὶ σμίλακι συνηρεφές, ἐν ᾧ μυθεύουσι γεγονέναι βασίλισσαν Λάμιαν τῷ κάλλει διαφέρουσαν· διὰ δὲ τὴν τῆς ψυχῆς ἀγριότητα διατετυπῶσθαί φασι τὴν ὄψιν αὐτῆς τὸν μετὰ ταῦτα χρόνον θηριώδη. τῶν γὰρ γινομένων αὐτῇ παίδων ἁπάντων τελευτώντων βαρυθυμοῦσαν ἐπὶ τῷ πάθει καὶ φθονοῦσαν ταῖς τῶν ἄλλων γυναικῶν εὐτεκνίαις κελεύειν ἐκ τῶν ἀγκαλῶν ἐξαρπάζεσθαι τὰ βρέφη καὶ παραχρῆμα ἀποκτέννειν. διὸ καὶ καθʼ ἡμᾶς μέχρι τοῦ νῦν βίου παρὰ τοῖς νηπίοις διαμένειν τὴν περὶ τῆς γυναικὸς ταύτης φήμην καὶ φοβερωτάτην αὐτοῖς εἶναι τὴν ταύτης προσηγορίαν. ὅτε δὲ μεθύσκοιτο, τὴν ἄδειαν διδόναι πᾶσιν ἃ βούλοιντο ποιεῖν ἀπαρατηρήτως. μὴ πολυπραγμονούσης οὖν αὐτῆς κατʼ ἐκεῖνον τὸν χρόνον τὰ γινόμενα τοὺς κατὰ τὴν χώραν ὑπολαμβάνειν μὴ βλέπειν αὐτήν· καὶ διὰ τοῦτʼ ἐμυθολόγησάν τινες ὡς εἰς ἄρσιχον ἐμβάλοι τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς, τὴν ἐν οἴνῳ συντελουμένην ὀλιγωρίαν εἰς τὸ προειρημένον μέτρον μεταφέροντες, ὡς τούτου παρῃρημένου τὴν ὅρασιν. ὅτι δὲ κατὰ τὴν Λιβύην γέγονεν αὕτη καὶ τὸν Εὐριπίδην δείξαι τις ἂν μαρτυροῦντα· λέγει γὰρ τίς τοὔνομα τὸ ἐπονείδιστον βροτοῖς οὐκ οἶδε Λαμίας τῆς Λιβυστικῆς γένος;
And so Ophellas, when everything for his campaign had been prepared magnificently, set out with his army, having more than ten thousand foot-soldiers, six hundred horsemen, a hundred chariots, and more than three hundred charioteers and men to fight beside them. There followed also of those who are termed non-combatants not less than ten thousand; and many of these brought their children and wives and other possessions, so that the army was like a colonizing expedition. When they had marched for eighteen days and had traversed three thousand stades, they encamped at Automala; thence as they advanced there was a mountain, precipitous on both sides but with a deep ravine in the centre, from which extended a smooth rock that rose up to a lofty peak. At the base of this rock was a large cave thickly covered with ivy and bryony, in which according to myth had been born Lamia, a queen of surpassing beauty. But on account of the savagery of her heart they say that the time that has elapsed since has transformed her face to a bestial aspect. For when all the children born to her had died, weighed down in her misfortune and envying the happiness of all other women in their children, she ordered that the new-born babes be snatched from their mothers' arms and straightway slain. Wherefore among us even down to the present generation, the story of this woman remains among the children and her name is most terrifying to them. But whenever she drank freely, she gave to all the opportunity to do what they pleased unobserved. Therefore, since she did not trouble herself about what was taking place at such times, the people of the land assumed that she could not see. And for that reason some tell in the myth that she threw her eyes into a flask, metaphorically turning the carelessness that is most complete amid wine into the aforesaid measure, since it was a measure of wine that took away her sight. One might also present Euripides as a witness that she was born in Libya, for he says: "Who does not know the name of Lamia, Libyan in race, a name of greatest reproach among mortals?"
§ 20.42
ὁ γʼ οὖν Ὀφέλλας ἀναλαβὼν τὴν δύναμιν προῆγεν διὰ τῆς ἀνύδρου καὶ θηριώδους ἐπιπόνως· οὐ μόνον γὰρ ὕδατος ἐσπάνιζεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῆς ξηρᾶς τροφῆς ἀπολιπούσης ἐκινδύνευσεν ἅπαν ἀπολέσαι τὸ στρατόπεδον. δακέτων δὲ θηρίων παντοίων ἐπεχόντων τὰ περὶ τὰς Σύρτεις ἔρημα καὶ τῶν πλείστων ὀλέθριον ἐχόντων τὸ δῆγμα πολλῇ τῇ συμφορᾷ περιέπιπτον, ἀβοήθητον ἔχοντες τὴν ἐκ τῶν ἰατρῶν καὶ φίλων ἐπικουρίαν. καὶ γὰρ ἔνιοι τῶν ὄφεων ὁμοίαν ἔχοντες τὴν χρόαν τῇ κατʼ αὐτοὺς οὔσῃ χώρᾳ τὴν ἰδίαν φύσιν ἀπροόρατον ἐποίουν· οἷς πολλοὶ διὰ τὴν ἄγνοιαν ἐπιβαίνοντες δήγμασι θανατηφόροις περιέπιπτον. τέλος δὲ κατὰ τὴν ὁδοιπορίαν πλεῖον ἢ δύο μῆνας κακοπαθήσαντες μόγις διήνυσαν πρὸς τοὺς περὶ Ἀγαθοκλέα καὶ βραχὺ διαχωρίσαντες ἀπʼ ἀλλήλων τὴν δύναμιν κατεστρατοπέδευσαν. εἶθʼ οἱ μὲν Καρχηδόνιοι πυθόμενοι τὴν τούτων παρουσίαν κατεπλάγησαν, ὁρῶντες τηλικαύτην δύναμιν κατʼ αὐτῶν ἥκουσαν· ὁ δʼ Ἀγαθοκλῆς ἀπαντήσας τοῖς περὶ τὸν Ὀφέλλαν καὶ φιλοφρόνως ἅπαντα χορηγήσας τούτους μὲν ἠξίου τὴν στρατιὰν ἀναλαμβάνειν ἐκ τῆς κακοπαθείας, αὐτὸς δὲ ἐπιμείνας ἡμέρας ὀλίγας καὶ κατασκεψάμενος ἕκαστα τῶν πραττομένων ἐν τῇ παρεμβολῇ τῶν παρόντων, ἐπεὶ τὸ πλεῖον μέρος τῶν στρατιωτῶν ἐπὶ χορτάσματα καὶ σιτολογίαν ἐξεληλύθει, τὸν δὲ Ὀφέλλαν ἑώρα μηδὲν τῶν ὑφʼ ἑαυτοῦ βεβουλευμένων ὑπονοοῦντα, συνήγαγεν ἐκκλησίαν τῶν ἰδίων στρατιωτῶν, κατηγορήσας δὲ τοῦ παρόντος ἐπὶ τὴν συμμαχίαν ὡς ἐπιβουλεύοντος καὶ παροξύνας τὸ πλῆθος εὐθὺς διεσκευασμένην τὴν δύναμιν ἦγεν ἐπὶ τοὺς Κυρηναίους. εἶθʼ ὁ μὲν Ὀφέλλας διὰ τὸ παράδοξον καταπλαγεὶς ἐπεχείρησε μὲν ἀμύνασθαι, καταταχούμενος δὲ καὶ τὴν ὑπολελειμμένην δύναμιν οὐκ ἔχων ἀξιόχρεων μαχόμενος ἐτελεύτησεν· ὁ δʼ Ἀγαθοκλῆς συναναγκάσας τὸ λοιπὸν πλῆθος ἀποθέσθαι τὰ ὅπλα καὶ φιλανθρώποις ἐπαγγελίαις παραστησάμενος ἅπαντας κύριος ἐγένετο τῆς δυνάμεως πάσης. Ὀφέλλας μὲν οὖν ἐλπίσας μεγάλα καὶ προχειρότερον αὑτὸν πιστεύσας τοιαύτης ἔτυχε τῆς τοῦ βίου καταστροφῆς.
Now Ophellas with his army was advancing with great difficulty through a waterless land filled with savage creatures; for not only did he lack water, but since dry food also gave out, he was in danger of losing his entire army. Fanged monsters of all kinds infest the desert near the Syrtis, and the bite of most of these is fatal; therefore it was a great disaster into which they were fallen since they were not helped by remedies supplied by physicians and friends. For some of the serpents, since they had a skin very like in appearance to the ground that was beneath them, made their own forms invisible; and many of the men, treading upon these in ignorance, received bites that were fatal. Finally, after suffering great hardships on the march for more than two months, they with difficulty completed the journey to Agathocles and encamped, keeping the two forces a short distance apart. The Carthaginians, on hearing of their presence, were panic stricken, seeing that so great a force had arrived against them; but Agathocles, going to meet Ophellas and generously furnishing all needed supplies, begged him to relieve his army from its distress. He himself remained for some days and carefully observed all that was being done in the camp of the new arrivals. When the larger part of the soldiers had scattered to find fodder and food, and when he saw that Ophellas had no suspicion of what he himself had planned, he summoned an assembly of his own soldiers and, after accusing the man who had come to join the alliance as if he were plotting against himself and thus rousing the anger of his men, straightway led his army in full array against the Cyreneans. Then Ophellas, stunned by this unexpected action, attempted to defend himself; but, pressed for time, the forces that he had remaining in camp not being adequate, he died fighting. Agathocles forced the rest of the army to lay down its arms, and by winning them all over with generous promises, he became master of the whole army. Thus Ophellas, who had cherished great hopes and had rashly entrusted himself to another, met an end so inglorious.
§ 20.43
ἐν δὲ τῇ Καρχηδόνι Βορμίλκας πάλαι διανενοημένος ἐπιθέσθαι τυραννίδι καιρὸν ἐπεζήτει ταῖς ἰδίαις ἐπιβολαῖς οἰκεῖον. πολλάκις δὲ διδόντος τοῦ καιροῦ τὰς ἀφορμὰς τοῦ πράττειν τὸ βεβουλευμένον ἀεί τις αἰτία μικρὰ παρεμπίπτουσα διεκώλυεν· δεισιδαίμονες γὰρ οἱ μέλλοντες ἐγχειρεῖν ταῖς παρανόμοις καὶ μεγάλαις πράξεσι καὶ τὸ μέλλειν ἀεὶ τοῦ πράττειν καὶ τὴν ὑπέρθεσιν τῆς συντελείας προκρίνουσιν. ὃ καὶ τότε συνέβαινεν καὶ περὶ ἐκεῖνον· ἐξέπεμψε μὲν γὰρ τοὺς ἐπιφανεστάτους τῶν πολιτῶν εἰς τὴν ἐπὶ τοὺς Νομάδας στρατείαν, ἵνα μηδένα τῶν ἀξιολόγων ἔχῃ τὸν ἀντιστησόμενον, οὐκ ἐτόλμα δὲ ἀποκαλύψασθαι πρὸς τὴν τυραννίδα, μετακαλούμενος ὑπὸ τῆς εὐλαβείας. καθʼ ὃν δὲ καιρὸν Ἀγαθοκλῆς ἐπέθετο τοῖς περὶ τὸν Ὀφέλλαν, ὁρμῆσαι καὶ τοῦτον συνέβη πρὸς τὴν δυναστείαν, ἀγνοούντων ἀμφοτέρων τὰ παρὰ τοῖς πολεμίοις πραττόμενα. οὔτε γὰρ Ἀγαθοκλῆς ἔγνω τὴν ἐπίθεσιν τῆς τυραννίδος καὶ τὴν ἐν τῇ πόλει ταραχήν, ἐπεὶ ῥᾳδίως ἂν ἐκράτησε τῆς Καρχηδόνος· εἵλετο γὰρ ἂν Βορμίλκας ἐπʼ αὐτοφώρῳ γενόμενος συνεργεῖν Ἀγαθοκλεῖ μᾶλλον ἢ τοῖς πολίταις δοῦναι τὴν ἐκ τοῦ σώματος τιμωρίαν· οὔτε πάλιν οἱ Καρχηδόνιοι τὴν ἐπίθεσιν τὴν Ἀγαθοκλέους ἐπύθοντο· ῥᾳδίως γὰρ ἂν αὐτὸν ἐχειρώσαντο προσλαβόμενοι τὴν μετʼ Ὀφέλλα δύναμιν. ἀλλʼ, οἶμαι, παρʼ ἀμφοτέροις οὐκ ἀλογίστως συνέβη γενέσθαι ταύτην τὴν ἄγνοιαν, καίπερ μεγάλων μὲν οὐσῶν τῶν πράξεων, ἐγγὺς δʼ ἀλλήλων ἐπικεχειρηκότων τοῖς τηλικούτοις τολμήμασιν· ὅ τε γὰρ Ἀγαθοκλῆς ἄνδρα φίλον μέλλων ἀναιρεῖν πρὸς οὐδὲν ἐπέβαλλε τὴν διάνοιαν τῶν παρὰ τοῖς πολεμίοις συντελουμένων, ὅ τε Βορμίλκας τὴν τῆς πατρίδος ἐλευθερίαν ἀφαιρούμενος οὐδὲν ὅλως ἐπολυπραγμόνει τῶν παρὰ τοῖς ἀντιστρατοπεδεύουσιν, ὡς ἂν ἔχων προκείμενον ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ τὸ μὴ τοὺς πολεμίους ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος, ἀλλὰ τοὺς πολίτας καταπολεμῆσαι. ταύτῃ δʼ ἄν τις καὶ τὴν ἱστορίαν καταμέμψαιτο, θεωρῶν ἐπὶ μὲν τοῦ βίου πολλὰς καὶ διαφόρους πράξεις συντελουμένας κατὰ τὸν αὐτὸν καιρόν, τοῖς δʼ ἀναγράφουσιν ἀναγκαῖον ὑπάρχον τὸ μεσολαβεῖν τὴν διήγησιν καὶ τοῖς ἅμα συντελουμένοις μερίζειν τοὺς χρόνους παρὰ φύσιν, ὥστε τὴν μὲν ἀλήθειαν τῶν πεπραγμένων τὸ πάθος ἔχειν, τὴν δʼ ἀναγραφὴν ἐστερημένην τῆς ὁμοίας ἐξουσίας μιμεῖσθαι μὲν τὰ γεγενημένα, πολὺ δὲ λείπεσθαι τῆς ἀληθοῦς διαθέσεως.
In Carthage Bormilcar, who had long planned to make an attempt at tyranny, was seeking a proper occasion for his private schemes. Time and again when circumstances put him in a position to carry out what he had planned, some little cause intervened to thwart him. For those who are about to undertake lawless and important enterprises are superstitious and always choose delay rather than action, and postponement rather than accomplishment. This happened also on this occasion and in regard to this man; for he sent out the most distinguished of the citizens to the campaign against the Nomads so that he might have no man of consequence to oppose him, but he did not venture to make an open bid for the tyranny, being held back by caution. But it happened that at the time when Agathocles attacked Ophellas, Bormilcar made his effort to gain the tyranny, each of the two being ignorant of what the enemy was doing. Agathocles did not know of the attempt at tyranny and of the confusion in the city when he might easily have become master of Carthage, for when Bormilcar was discovered in the act he would have preferred to co-operate with Agathocles rather than pay the penalty in his own person to the citizens. And again, the Carthaginians had not heard of Agathocles' attack, for they might easily have overpowered him with the aid of the army of Ophellas. But I suppose that not without reason did such ignorance prevail on both sides, although the actions were on a large scale and those who had undertaken deeds of such daring were near each other. For Agathocles, when about to kill a man who was his friend, paid attention to nothing that was happening among his enemies; and Bormilcar, when depriving his fatherland of its liberty, did not concern himself at all with events in the camp of the enemy, since he had as a fixed purpose in his mind to conquer at the time, not his enemies, but his fellow citizens. At this point one might censure the art of history, when he observes that in life many different actions are consummated at the same time, but that it is necessary for those who record them to interrupt the narrative and to parcel out different times to simultaneous events contrary to nature, with the result that, although the actual experience of the events contains the truth, yet the written record, deprived of such power, while presenting copies of the events, falls far short of arranging them as they really were.
§ 20.44
ὁ δʼ οὖν Βορμίλκας ἐξετασμὸν τῶν στρατιωτῶν ποιησάμενος ἐν τῇ καλουμένῃ Νέᾳ πόλει, μικρὸν ἔξω τῆς ἀρχαίας Καρχηδόνος οὔσῃ, τοὺς μὲν ἄλλους διαφῆκε, τοὺς δὲ συνειδότας περὶ τῆς ἐπιθέσεως, ὄντας πολίτας μὲν πεντακοσίους, μισθοφόρους δὲ περὶ χιλίους, ἀνέδειξεν ἑαυτὸν τύραννον. εἰς πέντε δὲ μέρη τοὺς στρατιώτας διελόμενος ἐπῄει πάντας τοὺς ἐν ταῖς ὁδοῖς ἀπαντῶντας ἀποσφάττων. γενομένης δὲ κατὰ τὴν πόλιν ταραχῆς ἐξαισίου τὸ μὲν πρῶτον οἱ Καρχηδόνιοι τοὺς πολεμίους ὑπέλαβον παρεισπεπτωκέναι προδιδομένης τῆς πόλεως· ὡς δʼ ἐπεγνώσθη τἀληθές, συνέτρεχον οἱ νέοι καὶ εἰς τάξεις καταστάντες ὥρμησαν ἐπὶ τὸν τύραννον. ὁ δὲ Βορμίλκας τοὺς ἐν ταῖς ὁδοῖς ἀναιρῶν ὥρμησεν εἰς τὴν ἀγορὰν καὶ πολλοὺς τῶν πολιτῶν ἀνόπλους καταλαβὼν ἀπέκτεινε. τῶν δὲ Καρχηδονίων καταλαβομένων τὰς περὶ τὴν ἀγορὰν οἰκίας ὑψηλὰς οὔσας καὶ τοῖς βέλεσι πυκνοῖς χρωμένων οἱ μετέχοντες τῆς ἐπιθέσεως κατετραυματίζοντο, τοῦ τόπου παντὸς ἐμβελοῦς ὄντος. διόπερ κακοπαθοῦντες συνέφραξαν ἑαυτοὺς καὶ διὰ τῶν στενωπῶν συνεξέπεσαν εἰς τὴν Νέαν πόλιν, βαλλόμενοι συνεχῶς ἀπὸ τῶν οἰκιῶν καθʼ ἃς τυγχάνοιεν αἰεὶ γινόμενοι. καταλαβομένων δʼ αὐτῶν ὑπερδέξιόν τινα τόπον οἱ Καρχηδόνιοι τῶν πολιτῶν πάντων συνδραμόντων ἐν τοῖς ὅπλοις ἀντεστρατοπέδευσαν τοῖς ἀφεστηκόσι. τέλος δὲ πρέσβεις πέμψαντες τῶν πρεσβυτάτων τοὺς εὐθέτους καὶ τῶν ἐγκλημάτων δόντες ἄφεσιν διελύθησαν· καὶ τοῖς μὲν ἄλλοις οὐδὲν ἐμνησικάκησαν διὰ τοὺς περιεστῶτας τὴν πόλιν κινδύνους, αὐτὸν δὲ τὸν Βορμίλκαν αἰκισάμενοι δεινῶς τοῦ ζῆν ἐστέρησαν, οὐδὲν φροντίσαντες τῶν δεδομένων ὅρκων. Καρχηδόνιοι μὲν οὖν κινδυνεύσαντες τοῖς ὅλοις σφαλῆναι τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον ἐκομίσαντο τὴν πατρῴαν πολιτείαν. Ἀγαθοκλῆς δὲ πλοῖα φορτηγὰ γεμίσας τῶν λαφύρων καὶ τοὺς ἀχρήστους εἰς πόλεμον τῶν ἐκ Κυρήνης παραγενομένων ἐμβιβάσας ἀπέστειλεν εἰς Συρακούσσας. χειμώνων δʼ ἐπιγενομένων ἃ μὲν διεφθάρη τῶν πλοίων, ἃ δʼ ἐξέπεσε πρὸς τὰς κατʼ Ἰταλίαν Πιθηκούσσας νήσους, ὀλίγα δʼ εἰς τὰς Συρακούσσας διεσώθη. κατὰ δὲ τὴν Ἰταλίαν οἱ τῶν Ῥωμαίων ὕπατοι, Μαρσοῖς πολεμουμένοις ὑπὸ Σαμνιτῶν βοηθήσαντες, τῇ τε μάχῃ προετέρησαν καὶ συχνοὺς τῶν πολεμίων ἀνεῖλον. εἶτα διὰ τῆς Ὀμβρίκων χώρας διελθόντες ἐνέβαλον εἰς τὴν Τυρρηνίαν πολεμίαν οὖσαν καὶ τὸ καλούμενον Κάιριον φρούριον ἐξεπολιόρκησαν. διαπρεσβευομένων δὲ τῶν ἐγχωρίων ὑπὲρ ἀνοχῶν πρὸς μὲν Ταρκυνιήτας εἰς ἔτη τεσσαράκοντα, πρὸς δὲ τοὺς ἄλλους Τυρρηνοὺς ἅπαντας εἰς ἐνιαυτὸν ἀνοχὰς ἐποιήσαντο.
Be that as it may, when Bormilcar had reviewed the soldiers in what was called the New City, which is a short distance from Old Carthage, he dismissed the rest, but holding those who were his confederates in the plot, five hundred citizens and about a thousand mercenaries, he declared himself tyrant. Dividing his soldiers into five bands, he attacked, slaughtering those who opposed him in the streets. Since an extraordinary tumult broke out everywhere in the city, the Carthaginians at first supposed that the enemy had made his way in and that the city was being betrayed; when, however, the true situation became known, the young men ran together, formed companies, and advanced against the tyrant. But Bormilcar, killing those in the streets, moved swiftly in the market place; and finding there many of the citizens unarmed, he slaughtered them. The Carthaginians, however, after occupying the buildings about the market place, which were tall, hurled missiles thick and fast, and the participants in the uprising began to be struck down since the whole place was within range. Therefore, since they were suffering severely, they closed ranks and forced their way out through the narrow streets into the New City, being continuously struck with missiles from whatever houses they chanced at any time to be near. After these had occupied a certain elevation, the Carthaginians, now that all the citizens had assembled in arms, drew up their forces against those who had taken part in the uprising. Finally, sending as envoys such of the oldest men as were qualified and offering amnesty, they came to terms. Against the rest they invoked no penalty on account of the dangers that surrounded the city, but they cruelly tortured Bormilcar himself and put him to death, paying no heed to the oaths which had been given. In this way, then, the Carthaginians, after having been in the gravest danger, preserved the constitution of their fathers. Agathocles, loading cargo vessels with his spoil and embarking on them those of the men who had come from Cyrene who were useless for war, sent them to Syracuse. But storms arose, and some of the ships were destroyed, some were driven to the Pithecusan Islands off the coast of Italy, and a few came safe to Syracuse. In Italy the Roman consuls, going to the aid of the Marsi, against whom the Samnites were making war, were victorious in the battle and slew many of the enemy. Then, crossing the territory of the Umbrians, they invaded Etruria, which was hostile, and took by siege the fortress called Caerium. When the people of the region sent envoys to ask a truce, the consuls made a truce for forty years with the Tarquinians but with all the other Etruscans for one year.
§ 20.45
τοῦ δʼ ἐνιαυσίου χρόνου διεληλυθότος Ἀθήνησι μὲν ἦρχεν Ἀναξικράτης, ἐν Ῥώμῃ δὲ ὕπατοι κατέστησαν Ἄππιος Κλαύδιος καὶ Λεύκιος Οὐολόμνιος. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Δημήτριος μὲν ὁ Ἀντιγόνου παραλαβὼν παρὰ τοῦ πατρὸς δύναμιν ἁδρὰν πεζικήν τε καὶ ναυτικήν, ἔτι δὲ βελῶν καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν εἰς πολιορκίαν χρησίμων τὴν ἁρμόζουσαν παρασκευὴν ἐξέπλευσεν ἐκ τῆς Ἐφέσου· παράγγελμα δʼ εἶχεν ἐλευθεροῦν πάσας μὲν τὰς κατὰ τὴν Ἑλλάδα πόλεις, πρώτην δὲ τὴν Ἀθηναίων, φρουρουμένην ὑπὸ Κασάνδρου. καταπλεύσαντος δʼ αὐτοῦ μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως εἰς τὸν Πειραιᾶ καὶ πανταχόθεν προσβαλόντος ἐξ ἐφόδου καὶ κήρυγμα ποιησαμένου Διονύσιος ὁ καθεσταμένος ἐπὶ τῆς Μουνυχίας φρούραρχος καὶ Δημήτριος ὁ Φαληρεὺς ἐπιμελητὴς τῆς πόλεως γεγενημένος ὑπὸ Κασάνδρου, πολλοὺς ἔχοντες στρατιώτας, ἀπὸ τῶν τειχῶν ἠμύνοντο. τῶν δʼ Ἀντιγόνου στρατιωτῶν τινες βιασάμενοι καὶ κατὰ τὴν ἀκτὴν ὑπερβάντες ἐντὸς τοῦ τείχους παρεδέξαντο πλείους τῶν συναγωνιζομένων. τὸν μὲν οὖν Πειραιᾶ τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον ἁλῶναι συνέβη, τῶν δʼ ἔνδον Διονύσιος μὲν ὁ φρούραρχος εἰς τὴν Μουνυχίαν συνέφυγε, Δημήτριος δʼ ὁ Φαληρεὺς ἀπεχώρησεν εἰς ἄστυ. τῇ δʼ ὑστεραίᾳ πεμφθεὶς μεθʼ ἑτέρων πρεσβευτὴς ὑπὸ τοῦ δήμου πρὸς Δημήτριον καὶ περὶ τῆς αὐτονομίας διαλεχθεὶς καὶ τῆς ἰδίας ἀσφαλείας ἔτυχε παραπομπῆς καὶ τὰ κατὰ τὰς Ἀθήνας ἀπογινώσκων ἔφυγεν εἰς τὰς Θήβας, ὕστερον δὲ πρὸς Πτολεμαῖον εἰς Αἴγυπτον. οὗτος μὲν οὖν ἔτη δέκα τῆς πόλεως ἐπιστατήσας ἐξέπεσεν ἐκ τῆς πατρίδος τὸν εἰρημένον τρόπον. ὁ δὲ δῆμος τῶν Ἀθηναίων κομισάμενος τὴν ἐλευθερίαν ἐψηφίσατο τιμὰς τοῖς αἰτίοις τῆς αὐτονομίας. Δημήτριος δʼ ἐπιστήσας τοὺς πετροβόλους καὶ τὰς ἄλλας μηχανὰς καὶ τὰ βέλη προσέβαλλε τῇ Μουνυχίᾳ καὶ κατὰ γῆν καὶ κατὰ θάλατταν. ἀμυνομένων δὲ τῶν ἔνδον ἀπὸ τῶν τειχῶν εὐρώστως συνέβαινε τοὺς μὲν περὶ Διονύσιον προέχειν ταῖς δυσχωρίαις καὶ ταῖς τῶν τόπων ὑπεροχαῖς, οὔσης τῆς Μουνυχίας ὀχυρᾶς οὐ μόνον ἐκ φύσεως, ἀλλὰ καὶ ταῖς τῶν τειχῶν κατασκευαῖς, τοὺς δὲ περὶ τὸν Δημήτριον τῷ τε πλήθει τῶν στρατιωτῶν πολλαπλασίους εἶναι καὶ ταῖς παρασκευαῖς πολλὰ πλεονεκτεῖν. τέλος δʼ ἐπὶ δύο ἡμέρας συνεχῶς τῆς πολιορκίας γινομένης οἱ μὲν φρουροὶ τοῖς καταπέλταις καὶ πετροβόλοις συντιτρωσκόμενοι καὶ διαδόχους οὐκ ἔχοντες ἠλαττοῦντο, οἱ δὲ περὶ τὸν Δημήτριον ἐκ διαδοχῆς κινδυνεύοντες καὶ νεαλεῖς ἀεὶ γινόμενοι, διὰ τῶν πετροβόλων ἐρημωθέντος τοῦ τείχους, ἐνέπεσον εἰς τὴν Μουνυχίαν καὶ τοὺς μὲν φρουροὺς ἠνάγκασαν θέσθαι τὰ ὅπλα, τὸν δὲ φρούραρχον Διονύσιον ἐζώγρησαν.
When that year had come to an end, Anaxicrates was archon in Athens and in Rome Appius Claudius and Lucius Volumnius became consuls. While these held office, Demetrius, the son of Antigonus, having received from his father strong land and sea forces, also a suitable supply of missiles and of the other things requisite for carrying on a siege, set sail from Ephesus. He had instructions to free all the cities throughout Greece, but first of all Athens, which was held by a garrison of Cassander. Sailing into the Peiraeus with his forces, he at once made an attack on all sides and issued a proclamation. Dionysius, who had been placed in command of the garrison on Munychia, and Demetrius of Phalerum, who had been made military governor of the city by Cassander, resisted him from the walls with many soldiers. Some of Antigonus' men, attacking with violence and effecting an entrance along the coast, admitted many of their fellow soldiers within the wall. The result was that in this way the Peiraeus was taken; and, of those within it, Dionysius the commander fled to Munychia and Demetrius of Phalerum withdrew into the city. On the next day, when he had been sent with others as envoys by the people to Demetrius and had discussed the independence of the city and his own security, he obtained a safe-conduct for himself and, giving up the direction of Athens, fled to Thebes and later into Egypt to Ptolemy. And so this man, after he had been director of the city for ten years, was driven from his fatherland in the way described. The Athenian people, having recovered their freedom, decreed honours to those responsible for their liberation. Demetrius, however, bringing up ballistae and the other engines of war and missiles, assaulted Munychia both by land and by sea. When those within defended themselves stoutly from the walls, it turned out that Dionysius had the advantage of the difficult terrain and the greater height of his position, for Munychia was strong both by nature and by the fortifications which had been constructed, but that Demetrius was many times superior in the number of his soldiers and had a great advantage in his equipment. Finally, after the attack had continued unremittingly for two days, the defenders, severely wounded by the catapults and the ballistae and not having any men to relieve them, had the worst of it; and the men of Demetrius, who were fighting in relays and were continually relieved, after the wall had been cleared by the ballistae, broke into Munychia, forced the garrison to lay down its arms, and took the commander Dionysius alive.
§ 20.46
τούτων δὲ ὀλίγαις ἡμέραις κατευτυχηθέντων ὁ μὲν Δημήτριος κατασκάψας τὴν Μουνυχίαν ὁλόκληρον τῷ δήμῳ τὴν ἐλευθερίαν ἀποκατέστησεν καὶ φιλίαν καὶ συμμαχίαν πρὸς αὐτοὺς συνέθετο, οἱ δὲ Ἀθηναῖοι γράψαντος ψήφισμα Στρατοκλέους ἐψηφίσαντο χρυσᾶς μὲν εἰκόνας ἐφʼ ἅρματος στῆσαι τοῦ τε Ἀντιγόνου καὶ Δημητρίου πλησίον Ἁρμοδίου καὶ Ἀριστογείτονος, στεφανῶσαι δὲ ἀμφοτέρους ἀπὸ ταλάντων διακοσίων καὶ βωμὸν ἱδρυσαμένους προσαγορεῦσαι Σωτήρων, πρὸς δὲ τὰς δέκα φυλὰς προσθεῖναι δύο, Δημητριάδα καὶ Ἀντιγονίδα, καὶ συντελεῖν αὐτοῖς κατʼ ἐνιαυτὸν ἀγῶνας καὶ πομπὴν καὶ θυσίαν, ἐνυφαινόντων αὐτοὺς εἰς τὸν τῆς Ἀθηνᾶς πέπλον κατʼ ἐνιαυτόν. ὁ μὲν οὖν δῆμος ἐν τῷ Λαμιακῷ πολέμῳ καταλυθεὶς ὑπʼ Ἀντιπάτρου μετʼ ἔτη πεντεκαίδεκα παραδόξως ἐκομίσατο τὴν πάτριον πολιτείαν· ὁ δὲ Δημήτριος, φρουρουμένης τῆς Μεγαρέων πόλεως, ἐκπολιορκήσας αὐτὴν ἀπέδωκεν τὴν αὐτονομίαν τῷ δήμῳ καὶ τιμῶν ἀξιολόγων ἔτυχεν ὑπὸ τῶν εὖ παθόντων. Ἀντίγονος δέ, παραγενομένων πρὸς αὐτὸν Ἀθήνηθεν πρεσβευτῶν καὶ τό τε περὶ τῶν τιμῶν ἀναδόντων ψήφισμα καὶ περὶ σίτου καὶ ξύλων εἰς ναυπηγίαν διαλεχθέντων, ἔδωκεν αὐτοῖς πυροῦ μὲν μεδίμνων πεντεκαίδεκα μυριάδας, ὕλην δὲ τὴν ἱκανὴν ναυσὶν ἑκατόν· ἐξ Ἴμβρου δὲ τὴν φρουρὰν ἐξαγαγὼν ἀπέδωκεν αὐτοῖς τὴν πόλιν. πρὸς δὲ τὸν υἱὸν Δημήτριον ἔγραψε κελεύων τῶν μὲν συμμαχίδων πόλεων συνέδρους συστήσασθαι τοὺς βουλευσομένους κοινῇ περὶ τῶν τῇ Ἑλλάδι συμφερόντων, αὐτὸν δὲ μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως εἰς Κύπρον πλεῦσαι καὶ διαπολεμῆσαι τὴν ταχίστην πρὸς τοὺς Πτολεμαίου στρατηγούς. οὗτος μὲν οὖν συντόμως πάντα πράξας κατὰ τὰς ἐντολὰς τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ κομισθεὶς ἐπὶ Καρίας παρεκάλει τοὺς Ῥοδίους πρὸς τὸν κατὰ Πτολεμαίου πόλεμον. οὐ προσεχόντων δʼ αὐτῶν, ἀλλὰ κοινὴν εἰρήνην αἱρουμένων ἄγειν πρὸς ἅπαντας ταύτην ἀρχὴν συνέβη γενέσθαι τῷ δήμῳ τῆς πρὸς Ἀντίγονον ἀλλοτριότητος.
After gaining these successes in a few days and razing Munychia completely, Demetrius restored to the people their freedom and established friendship and an alliance with them. The Athenians, Stratocles writing the decree, voted to set up golden statues of Antigonus and Demetrius in a chariot near the statues of Harmodius and Aristogeiton, to give them both honorary crowns at a cost of two hundred talents, to consecrate an altar to them and call it the altar of the Saviours, to add to the ten tribes two more, Demetrias and Antigonis, to hold annual games in their honour with a procession and a sacrifice, and to weave their portraits in the peplos of Athena. Thus the common people, deprived of power in the Lamian War by Antipater, fifteen years afterwards unexpectedly recovered the constitution of the fathers. Although Megara was held by a garrison, Demetrius took it by siege, restored their autonomy to its people, and received noteworthy honours from those whom he had served. When an embassy had come to Antigonus from Athens and had delivered to him the decree concerning the honours conferred upon him and discussed with him the problem of grain and of timber for ships, he gave to them one hundred and fifty thousand medimni of grain and timber sufficient for one hundred ships; he also withdrew his garrison from Imbros and gave the city back to the Athenians. He wrote to his son Demetrius ordering him to call together counsellors from the allied cities who should consider in common what was advantageous for Greece, and to sail himself with his army to Cyprus and finish the war with the generals of Ptolemy as soon as possible. Demetrius, promptly doing all according to his father's orders, moved toward Caria and summoned the Rhodians for the war against Ptolemy. They did not obey, preferring to maintain a common peace with all, and this was the beginning of the hostility between that people and Antigonus.
§ 20.47
ὁ δὲ Δημήτριος παραπλεύσας εἰς Κιλικίαν κἀκεῖθεν ναῦς καὶ στρατιώτας προσλαβόμενος διέπλευσεν εἰς τὴν Κύπρον ἔχων πεζοὺς μὲν μυρίους πεντακισχιλίους, ἱππεῖς δὲ τετρακοσίους, ναῦς δὲ ταχυναυτούσας μὲν τριήρεις πλείους τῶν ἑκατὸν δέκα, τῶν δὲ βαρυτέρων στρατιωτίδων πεντήκοντα καὶ τρεῖς καὶ πόρια τῶν παντοδαπῶν ἱκανὰ τῷ πλήθει τῶν ἱππέων τε καὶ πεζῶν. καὶ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον κατεστρατοπέδευσεν ἐν τῇ παραλίᾳ τῆς Καρπασίας καὶ νεωλκήσας τὰ σκάφη χάρακι καὶ τάφρῳ βαθείᾳ τὴν παρεμβολὴν ὠχύρωσεν· ἔπειτα τοῖς πλησιοχώροις προσβολὰς ποιησάμενος εἷλε κατὰ κράτος Οὐρανίαν καὶ Καρπασίαν, τῶν δὲ νεῶν τὴν ἱκανὴν φυλακὴν ἀπολιπὼν ἀνέζευξε μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως ἐπὶ τὴν Σαλαμῖνα. ὁ δὲ τεταγμένος ὑπὸ Πτολεμαίου τῆς νήσου στρατηγὸς Μενέλαος συναγαγὼν τοὺς στρατιώτας ἐκ τῶν φρουρίων διέτριβεν ἐν Σαλαμῖνι, ἀπεχόντων δὲ τεσσαράκοντα σταδίους τῶν πολεμίων ἐξῆλθεν ἔχων πεζοὺς μὲν μυρίους καὶ δισχιλίους, ἱππεῖς δὲ περὶ ὀκτακοσίους. γενομένης δὲ μάχης ἐπʼ ὀλίγον χρόνον οἱ μὲν περὶ τὸν Μενέλαον ἐκβιασθέντες ἐτράπησαν, ὁ δὲ Δημήτριος συνδιώξας τοὺς πολεμίους εἰς τὴν πόλιν αἰχμαλώτους μὲν ἔλαβεν οὐ πολὺ ἐλάττους τρισχιλίων, ἀνεῖλε δὲ περὶ χιλίους. τοὺς δʼ ἁλόντας τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἀπολύσας τῶν ἐγκλημάτων καταδιεῖλεν εἰς τὰς τῶν ἰδίων στρατιωτῶν τάξεις· ἀποδιδρασκόντων δʼ αὐτῶν πρὸς τοὺς περὶ τὸν Μενέλαον διὰ τὸ τὰς ἀποσκευὰς ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ καταλελοιπέναι παρὰ Πτολεμαίῳ, γνοὺς ἀμεταθέτους ὄντας ἐνεβίβασεν εἰς τὰς ναῦς καὶ πρὸς Ἀντίγονον εἰς Συρίαν ἀπέστειλεν. οὗτος δὲ τοῦτον τὸν χρόνον διέτριβε περὶ τὴν ἄνω Συρίαν, πόλιν κτίζων περὶ τὸν Ὀρόντην ποταμὸν τὴν ὠνομασμένην Ἀντιγονίαν ἀφʼ ἑαυτοῦ. κατεσκεύαζε δὲ πολυτελῶς, τὴν περίμετρον ὑποστησάμενος σταδίων ἑβδομήκοντα· εὐφυὴς γὰρ ἦν ὁ τόπος ἐφεδρεῦσαι τῇ τε Βαβυλῶνι καὶ ταῖς ἄνω σατραπείαις καὶ πάλιν τῇ κάτω Συρίᾳ καὶ ταῖς ἀπʼ Αἰγύπτου σατραπείαις. οὐ μὴν πολύν γε χρόνον συνέβη μεῖναι τὴν πόλιν, Σελεύκου καθελόντος αὐτὴν καὶ μεταγαγόντος ἐπὶ τὴν κτισθεῖσαν μὲν ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ, ἀπʼ ἐκείνου δὲ κληθεῖσαν Σελεύκειαν. ἀλλὰ περὶ μὲν τούτων ἀκριβῶς ἕκαστα δηλώσομεν ἐπὶ τοὺς οἰκείους χρόνους παραγενηθέντες· τῶν δὲ κατὰ τὴν Κύπρον οἱ περὶ τὸν Μενέλαον ἡττημένοι τῇ μάχῃ τὰ μὲν βέλη καὶ τὰς μηχανὰς παρεκόμισαν ἐπὶ τὰ τείχη καὶ τοῖς στρατιώταις διαλαβόντες τὰς ἐπάλξεις παρεσκευάζοντο πρὸς τὸν κίνδυνον, ὁρῶντες καὶ τὸν Δημήτριον πρὸς πολιορκίαν ἑτοιμαζόμενον, πρὸς δὲ Πτολεμαῖον ἀπέστειλαν εἰς Αἴγυπτον τοὺς δηλώσοντας περὶ τῶν ἐλαττωμάτων καὶ ἀξιώσοντας βοηθεῖν, ὡς κινδυνευόντων αὐτῷ τῶν ἐν τῇ νήσῳ πραγμάτων.
Demetrius, after coasting along to Cilicia and there assembling additional ships and soldiers, sailed to Cyprus with fifteen thousand footsoldiers and four hundred horsemen, more than one hundred and ten swift triremes, fifty-three heavier transports, and freighters of every kind sufficient for the strength of his cavalry and infantry. First he went into camp on the coast of Carpasia, and after beaching his ships, strengthened his encampment with a palisade and a deep moat; then, making raids on the peoples who lived near by, he took by storm Urania and Carpasia; then leaving an adequate guard for the ships, he moved with his forces against Salamis. Menelaus, who had been made general of the island by Ptolemy, had gathered his soldiers from the outposts and was waiting in Salamis; but when the enemy was at a distance of forty stades, he came out with twelve thousand foot and about eight hundred horse. In a battle of short duration which occurred, the forces of Menelaus were overwhelmed and routed; and Demetrius, pursuing the enemy into the city, took prisoners numbering not much less than three thousand and killed about a thousand. At first he freed the captives of all charges and distributed them among the units of his own soldiers; but when they ran off to Menelaus because their baggage had been left behind in Egypt with Ptolemy, recognizing that they would not change sides, he forced them to embark on his ships and sent them off to Antigonus in Syria. At this time Antigonus was tarrying in upper Syria, founding a city on the Orontes River, which he called Antigonia after himself. He laid it out on a lavish scale, making its perimeter seventy stades; for the location was naturally well adapted for watching over Babylon and the upper satrapies, and again for keeping an eye upon lower Syria and the satrapies near Egypt. It happened, however, that the city did not survive very long, for Seleucus dismantled it and transported it to the city which he founded and called Seleucia after himself. But we shall make these matters clear in detail when we come to the proper time. As to affairs in Cyprus, Menelaus, after having been defeated in the battle, had missiles and engines brought to the walls, assigned positions on the battlements to his soldiers, and made ready for the fight; and since he saw that Demetrius was also making preparations for siege, he sent messengers into Egypt to Ptolemy to inform him about the defeat and to ask him to send aid as his interests on the island were in danger.
§ 20.48
Δημήτριος δὲ τήν τε τῶν Σαλαμινίων ὁρῶν πόλιν οὐκ εὐκαταφρόνητον οὖσαν καὶ στρατιωτῶν πλῆθος ὑπάρχον ἐν αὐτῇ τῶν ἀμυνομένων ἔκρινε μηχανάς τε τοῖς μεγέθεσιν ὑπεραιρούσας κατασκευάζειν καὶ καταπέλτας ὀξυβελεῖς καὶ λιθοβόλους παντοίους καὶ τὴν ἄλλην κατασκευὴν καταπληκτικήν. μετεπέμψατο δὲ καὶ τεχνίτας ἐκ τῆς Ἀσίας καὶ σίδηρον, ἔτι δʼ ὕλης πλῆθος καὶ τῆς ἄλλης χορηγίας τὴν ἐπιτήδειον κατασκευήν. ταχὺ δὲ πάντων εὐτρεπῶν αὐτῷ γενομένων συνέπηξε μηχανὴν τὴν ὀνομαζομένην ἑλέπολιν, τὸ πλάτος ἔχουσαν ἑκάστην πλευρὰν τεσσαράκοντα καὶ πέντε πήχεις, τὸ δʼ ὕψος πηχῶν ἐννενήκοντα, διειλημμένην στέγαις ἐννέα, ὑπότροχον δὲ πᾶσαν τροχοῖς στερεοῖς τέσσαρσιν ὀκταπήχεσι τὸ ὕψος. κατεσκεύασε δὲ καὶ κριοὺς ὑπερμεγέθεις καὶ χελώνας δύο κριοφόρους. τῆς δʼ ἑλεπόλεως εἰς μὲν τὰς κάτων στέγας εἰσήνεγκε πετροβόλους παντοίους, ὧν ἦσαν οἱ μέγιστοι τριτάλαντοι, εἰς δὲ τὰς μέσας καταπέλτας ὀξυβελεῖς μεγίστους, εἰς δὲ τὰς ἀνωτάτας ὀξυβελεῖς τε τοὺς ἐλαχίστους καὶ πετροβόλων πλῆθος, ἄνδρας τε τοὺς χρησομένους τούτοις κατὰ τρόπον πλείους τῶν διακοσίων. προσαγαγὼν δὲ τὰς μηχανὰς τῇ πόλει καὶ πυκνοῖς χρώμενος τοῖς βέλεσι τῇ μὲν τὰς ἐπάλξεις ἀπέσυρε τοῖς πετροβόλοις, τῇ δὲ τὰ τείχη διέσεισε τοῖς κριοῖς. ἀμυνομένων δὲ καὶ τῶν ἔνδον εὐρώστως καὶ τοῖς μηχανήμασιν ἑτέρας μηχανὰς ἀντιταττόντων ἐφʼ ἡμέρας μέν τινας ἀμφίδοξος ἦν ὁ κίνδυνος, ἀμφοτέρων κακοπαθούντων καὶ κατατραυματιζομένων· τὸ δὲ τελευταῖον τοῦ τείχους πίπτοντος καὶ τῆς πόλεως κινδυνευούσης ἁλῶναι κατὰ κράτος νυκτὸς ἐπιγενομένης ἔληξε τὰ τῆς τειχομαχίας. οἱ δὲ περὶ τὸν Μενέλαον ἀκριβῶς εἰδότες ἁλωσομένην τὴν πόλιν, εἰ μή τι καινοτομεῖν ἐπιχειρήσειαν, ἤθροισαν ὕλης ξηρᾶς πλῆθος, ταύτην δὲ περὶ τὸ μεσονύκτιον ἐμβαλόντες ταῖς τῶν πολεμίων μηχαναῖς καὶ ἅμα πάντας τοὺς πυρσοφόρους ἀπὸ τῶν τειχῶν ἀφέντες ἀνῆψαν τὰ μέγιστα τῶν ἔργων. ἄφνω δὲ τῆς φλογὸς εἰς ὕψος ἀρθείσης οἱ περὶ τὸν Δημήτριον ἐπεχείρησαν μὲν βοηθεῖν, τοῦ δὲ πυρὸς καταταχήσαντος συνέβη τὰς μηχανὰς κατακαυθῆναι καὶ πολλοὺς τῶν ἐν αὐταῖς ὄντων διαφθαρῆναι. ὁ δὲ Δημήτριος ἀποσφαλεὶς τῆς ἐλπίδος οὐδʼ ὣς ἔληγεν, ἀλλὰ προσεκαρτέρει τῇ πολιορκίᾳ καὶ κατὰ γῆν καὶ κατὰ θάλατταν, νομίζων τῷ χρόνῳ καταπολεμήσειν τοὺς πολεμίους.
Since Demetrius saw that the city of the Salaminians was not to be despised and that a large force was in the city defending it, he determined to prepare siege engines of very great size, catapults for shooting bolts and ballistae of all kinds, and the other equipment that would strike terror. He sent for skilled workmen from Asia, and for iron, likewise for a large amount of wood and for the proper complement of other supplies. When everything was made ready for him, he constructed a device called the "helepolis," which had a length of forty-five cubits on each side and a height of ninety cubits. It was divided into nine storeys, and the whole was mounted on four solid wheels each eight cubits high. He also constructed very large battering rams and two penthouses to carry them. On the lower levels of the helepolis he mounted all sorts of ballistae, the largest of them capable of hurling missiles weighing three talents; on the middle levels he placed the largest catapults, and on the highest his lightest catapults and a large number of ballistae; and he also stationed on the helepolis more than two hundred men to operate these engines in the proper manner. Bringing the engines up to the city and hurling a shower of missiles, he cleared the battlements with the ballistae and shattered the walls with the rams. Since those within resisted boldly and opposed his engines of war with other devices, for some days the battle was doubtful, both sides suffering hardships and severe wounds; and when finally the wall was falling and the city was in danger of being taken by storm, the assault was interrupted by the coming of night. Menelaus, seeing clearly that the city would be taken unless he tried something new, gathered a large amount of dry wood, at about midnight threw this upon the siege engines of the enemy, and at the same time all shot down fire-bearing arrows from the walls and set on fire the largest of the siege engines. As the flames suddenly blazed high, Demetrius tried to come to the rescue; but the flames got the start of him, with the result that the engines were completely destroyed and many of those who manned them were lost. Demetrius, although disappointed in his expectations, did not stop but pushed the siege persistently by both land and sea, believing that he would overcome the enemy in time.
§ 20.49
Πτολεμαῖος δὲ πυθόμενος τὴν τῶν ἰδίων ἧτταν ἐξέπλευσεν ἐκ τῆς Αἰγύπτου δύναμιν ἔχων ἀξιόλογον πεζικήν τε καὶ ναυτικήν. κατενεχθεὶς δὲ τῆς Κύπρου πρὸς τὴν Πάφον ἔκ τε τῶν πόλεων παρεδέξατο τὰ σκάφη καὶ παρέπλευσεν εἰς Κίτιον, τῆς Σαλαμῖνος ἀπέχον σταδίους διακοσίους. εἶχε δὲ τὰς πάσας ναῦς μακρὰς ἑκατὸν καὶ τεσσαράκοντα· τούτων δʼ ἦν ἡ μεγίστη πεντήρης, ἡ δʼ ἐλαχίστη τετρήρης· στρατιωτικὰ δὲ πόρια ταύταις ἐπηκολούθει πλείω τῶν διακοσίων, ἄγοντα πεζοὺς οὐκ ἐλάττους τῶν μυρίων. οὗτος μὲν οὖν πρὸς τὸν Μενέλαον κατὰ γῆν ἔπεμψέ τινας, διακελευόμενος τὰς ναῦς, ἂν ᾖ δυνατόν, κατὰ τάχος ἐκ τῆς Σαλαμῖνος πρὸς αὐτὸν ἀποστεῖλαι, οὔσας ἑξήκοντα· ἤλπιζε γάρ, εἰ προσλάβοι ταύτας, ῥᾳδίως κρατήσειν τῇ ναυμαχίᾳ, διακοσίοις σκάφεσιν ἀγωνιζόμενος. ὁ δὲ Δημήτριος νοήσας αὐτοῦ τὴν ἐπιβολὴν ἐπὶ μὲν τῆς πολιορκίας ἀπέλιπε μέρος τῆς δυνάμεως, τὰς δὲ ναῦς ἁπάσας πληρώσας καὶ τῶν στρατιωτῶν τοὺς κρατίστους ἐμβιβάσας βέλη καὶ πετροβόλους ἐνέθετο καὶ τῶν τρισπιθάμων ὀξυβελῶν τοὺς ἱκανοὺς ταῖς πρῴραις ἐπέστησε. κοσμήσας δὲ πολυτελῶς πρὸς ναυμαχίαν τὸν στόλον περιέπλευσε τὴν πόλιν καὶ κατὰ τὸ στόμα τοῦ λιμένος μικρὸν ἔξω βέλους ἀφεὶς τὰς ἀγκύρας διενυκτέρευσεν, ἅμα μὲν τὰς ἐκ τῆς πόλεως ναῦς κωλύων συμμῖξαι ταῖς ἄλλαις, ἅμα δὲ καραδοκῶν τὸν ἐπίπλουν τῶν πολεμίων καὶ πρὸς ναυμαχίαν ὢν ἕτοιμος. τοῦ δὲ Πτολεμαίου πλέοντος ἐπὶ τὴν Σαλαμῖνα καὶ τῶν ὑπηρετικῶν πλοίων συνεπομένων πόρρωθεν καταπληκτικὸν ὁρᾶσθαι συνέβαινε τὸν στόλον διὰ τὸ πλῆθος.
When Ptolemy heard of the defeat of his men, he sailed from Egypt with considerable land and sea forces. Reaching Cyprus at Paphos, he received ships from the cities and coasted along to Citium, which was distant from Salamis two hundred stades. He had in all one hundred and forty ships of war, of which the largest were quinqueremes and the smallest quadriremes; more than two hundred transports followed, which carried at least ten thousand footsoldiers. Ptolemy sent certain men to Menelaus by land, directing him, if possible, to send him quickly the ships from Salamis, which numbered sixty; for he hoped that, if he received these as reinforcement, he would easily be superior in the naval engagement since he would have two hundred ships in the battle. Learning of his intention, Demetrius left a part of his forces for the siege; and, manning all his ships and embarking upon them the best of his soldiers, he equipped them with missiles and ballistae and mounted on the prows a sufficient number of catapults for throwing bolts three spans in length. After making the fleet ready in every way for a naval battle, he sailed around the city and, anchoring at the mouth of the harbour just out of range, spent the night, preventing the ships from the city from joining the others, and at the same time watching for the coming of the enemy and occupying a position ready for battle. When Ptolemy sailed up toward Salamis, the service vessels following at a distance, his fleet was awe-inspiring to behold because of the multitude of its ships.
§ 20.50
ὁ δὲ Δημήτριος κατανοήσας τὸν ἐπίπλουν Ἀντισθένην μὲν τὸν ναύαρχον ἔχοντα ναῦς δέκα τῶν πεντηρικῶν ἀπέλιπε κωλύσοντα τὰς ἐκ τῆς πόλεως ναῦς ἐπεξιέναι πρὸς τὴν ναυμαχίαν, ἔχοντος τοῦ λιμένος στενὸν τὸν ἔκπλουν, τοῖς δʼ ἱππεῦσι προσέταξε παράγειν παρὰ τὸν αἰγιαλόν, ἵνʼ ἐάν τι γένηται πταῖσμα, διασώσαιεν τοὺς πρὸς τὴν γῆν διανηξομένους. αὐτὸς δʼ ἐκτάξας τὰς ναῦς ἀπήντα τοῖς πολεμίοις, ἔχων τὰς ἁπάσας ὀκτὼ πλείους τῶν ἑκατὸν σὺν ταῖς πληρωθείσαις ἐκ τῶν χωρίων τῶν ληφθέντων· τούτων δʼ ἦσαν αἱ μέγισται μὲν ἑπτήρεις, αἱ πλεῖσται δὲ πεντήρεις. καὶ τὸ μὲν εὐώνυμον κέρας ἐπεῖχον ἑπτήρεις ἑπτὰ Φοινίκων, τετρήρεις δὲ τριάκοντα τῶν Ἀθηναίων, Μηδίου τοῦ ναυάρχου τὴν ἡγεμονίαν ἔχοντος· ἐπίπλους δὲ τούτοις ἔταξεν ἑξήρεις δέκα καὶ πεντήρεις ἄλλας τοσαύτας, διεγνωκὼς ἴσως ἰσχυρὸν κατασκευάσαι τοῦτο τὸ κέρας ἐφʼ οὗ καὶ αὐτὸς ἤμελλε διαγωνίζεσθαι. κατὰ μέσην δὲ τὴν τάξιν τὰ ἐλάχιστα τῶν σκαφῶν ἔστησεν, ὧν ἡγοῦντο Θεμίσων τε ὁ Σάμιος καὶ Μαρσύας ὁ τὰς Μακεδονικὰς πράξεις συνταξάμενος. τὸ δὲ δεξιὸν εἶχε κέρας Ἡγήσιππός τε ὁ Ἁλικαρνασσεὺς καὶ Πλειστίας ὁ Κῷος, ἀρχικυβερνήτης ὢν τοῦ σύμπαντος στόλου. Πτολεμαῖος δὲ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἔτι νυκτὸς ἐπέπλει κατὰ σπουδὴν ἐπὶ τὴν Σαλαμῖνα, νομίζων φθάσαι τοὺς πολεμίους τὸν εἴσπλουν ποιησάμενος· ὡς δʼ ἡμέρας ἐπιγενομένης οὐ μακρὰν ὁ τῶν ἐναντίων στόλος ἐκτεταγμένος ἑωρᾶτο, καὶ αὐτὸς τὰ πρὸς τὴν ναυμαχίαν παρεσκευάζετο. τὰ μὲν οὖν πόρια πόρρωθεν ἐπακολουθεῖν παρήγγειλεν, τῶν δὲ ἄλλων νεῶν τὴν ἁρμόζουσαν τάξιν ποιησάμενος αὐτὸς τὸ λαιὸν κέρας διακατεῖχε, συναγωνιζομένων αὐτῷ τῶν μεγίστων σκαφῶν. τοιαύτης δὲ τῆς διατάξεως γενομένης εὐχὰς ἑκάτεροι τοῖς θεοῖς ἐποιοῦντο, καθάπερ ἦν ἔθος, διὰ τῶν κελευστῶν, συνεπιλαβομένου καὶ τοῦ πλήθους τῇ φωνῇ.
When Demetrius observed Ptolemy's approach, he left the admiral Antisthenes with ten of the quinqueremes to prevent the ships in the city from going forth for the battle, since the harbour had a narrow exit; and he ordered the cavalry to patrol the shore so that, if any wreck should occur, they might rescue those who should swim across to the land. He himself drew up the fleet and moved against the enemy with one hundred and eight ships in all, including those that had been provided with crews from the captured towns. The largest of the ships were sevens and most of them were quinqueremes. The left wing was composed of seven Phoenician sevens and thirty Athenian quadriremes, Medius the admiral having the command. Sailing behind these he placed ten sixes and as many quinqueremes, for he had decided to make strong this wing where he himself was going to fight the decisive battle. In the middle of the line he stationed the lightest of his ships, which Themison of Samos and Marsyas, who compiled the history of Macedonia, commanded. The right wing was commanded by Hegesippus of Halicarnassus and Pleistias of Cos, who was the chief pilot of the whole fleet. At first, while it was still night, Ptolemy made for Salamis at top speed, believing that he could gain an entrance before the enemy was ready; but as day broke, the fleet of the enemy in battle array was visible at no great distance, and Ptolemy also prepared for the battle. Ordering the supply ships to follow at a distance and effecting a suitable formation of the other ships, he himself took command of the left wing with the largest of his warships fighting under him. After the fleet had been disposed in this way, both sides prayed to the gods as was the custom, the signalmen leading and the crews joining in the response.
§ 20.51
οἱ δὲ δυνάσται, ὡς ἂν περὶ τοῦ βίου καὶ τῶν ὅλων μέλλοντες διακινδυνεύειν, ἐν ἀγωνίᾳ πολλῇ καθειστήκεισαν. Δημήτριος μὲν οὖν τῶν ἐναντίων ἀποσχὼν ὡς ἂν τρεῖς σταδίους ἦρεν τὸ συγκείμενον πρὸς μάχην σύσσημον, ἀσπίδα κεχρυσωμένην, φανερὰν πᾶσιν ἐκ διαδοχῆς· τὸ παραπλήσιον δὲ καὶ τῶν περὶ Πτολεμαῖον ποιησάντων ταχὺ τὸ διεῖργον διάστημα συνῃρέθη. ὡς δʼ αἵ τε σάλπιγγες τὸ πολεμικὸν ἐσήμαινον καὶ συνηλάλαξαν αἱ δυνάμεις ἀμφότεραι, φερομένων ἁπασῶν τῶν νεῶν εἰς ἐμβολὴν καταπληκτικῶς τὸ μὲν πρῶτον τοῖς τόξοις καὶ τοῖς πετροβόλοις, ἔτι δὲ τοῖς ἀκοντίσμασι πυκνοῖς χρώμενοι κατετραυμάτιζον τοὺς ὑποπίπτοντας· εἶτα συνεγγισάντων τῶν σκαφῶν καὶ μελλούσης γίνεσθαι τῆς ἐμβολῆς βιαίου οἱ μὲν ἐπὶ τῶν καταστρωμάτων συγκαθῆκαν, οἱ δʼ ἐρέται παρακληθέντες ὑπὸ τῶν κελευστῶν ἐκθυμότερον ἐνέκειντο. ἀπὸ κράτους δὲ καὶ βίας ἐλαθεισῶν τῶν νεῶν αἱ μὲν παρέσυρον ἀλλήλων τοὺς ταρσούς, ὥστε πρὸς φυγὴν καὶ διωγμὸν ἀχρήστους γίνεσθαι καὶ τοὺς ἐπιβεβηκότας ἄνδρας ὡρμηκότας πρὸς ἀλκὴν κωλύεσθαι τῆς πρὸς τὸν κίνδυνον ὁρμῆς· αἱ δὲ κατὰ πρῷραν τοῖς ἐμβόλοις συρράττουσαι πρύμναν ἀνεκρούοντο πρὸς ἄλλην ἐμβολὴν καὶ κατετραυμάτιζον ἀλλήλους οἱ ταύταις ἐφεστῶτες, ἅτε τοῦ σκοποῦ σύνεγγυς ἑκάστοις κειμένου. τινὲς δὲ τῶν τριηραρχῶν ἐκ πλαγίας ἔτυπτον καὶ τῶν ἐμβόλων δυσαποσπάστως ἐχόντων ἐπεπήδων ἐπὶ τὰς τῶν πολεμίων ναῦς, πολλὰ καὶ πάσχοντες δεινὰ καὶ διατιθέντες· οἱ μὲν γὰρ τῶν ἐγγιζόντων τοίχων ἐφαψάμενοι καὶ σφαλέντες τῆς βάσεως περιέπιπτον εἰς θάλασσαν καὶ παραχρῆμα τοῖς δόρασιν ὑπὸ τῶν ἐφεστώτων ἐφονεύοντο, οἱ δὲ κρατήσαντες τῆς ἐπιβολῆς τοὺς μὲν ἀνῄρουν, τοὺς δὲ κατὰ τὴν στενοχωρίαν ἐκβιαζόμενοι περιέτρεπον εἰς τὸ πέλαγος. ὅλως δὲ ποικίλαι καὶ παράλογοι συνίσταντο μάχαι, πολλάκις τῶν μὲν ἡττόνων ἐπικρατούντων διὰ τὴν τῶν σκαφῶν ὑπεροχήν, τῶν δὲ κρειττόνων θλιβομένων διὰ τὸ περὶ τὴν στάσιν ἐλάττωμα καὶ τὴν ἀνωμαλίαν τῶν συμβαινόντων ἐν τοῖς τοιούτοις κινδύνοις. ἐπὶ μὲν γὰρ τῶν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ἀγώνων διάδηλος ἡ ἀρετὴ γίνεται, δυναμένη τυγχάνειν τῶν πρωτείων μηδενὸς ἔξωθεν αὐτομάτου παρενοχλοῦντος· κατὰ δὲ τὰς ναυμαχίας πολλὰς καὶ ποικίλας αἰτίας συμβαίνει παραλόγως ἐλαττοῦν τοὺς διʼ ἀνδρείαν δικαίως ἂν τυχόντας τῆς νίκης.
The princes, since they were about to fight for their lives and their all, were in much anxiety. When Demetrius was about three stades distant from the enemy, he raised the battle signal that had been agreed upon, a gilded shield, and this sign was made known to all by being repeated in relays. Since Ptolemy also gave a similar signal, the distance between the fleets was rapidly reduced. When the trumpets gave the signal for battle and both forces raised the battle cry, all the ships rushed to the encounter in a terrifying manner; using their bows and their ballistae at first, then their javelins in a shower, the men wounded those who were within range; then when the ships had come close together and the encounter was about to take place with violence, the soldiers on the decks crouched down and the oarsmen, spurred on by the signalmen, bent more desperately to their oars. As the ships drove together with force and violence, in some cases they swept off each other's oars so that the ships became useless for flight or pursuit, and the men who were on board, though eager for a fight, were prevented from joining in the battle; but where the ships had met prow to prow with their rams, they drew back for another charge, and the soldiers on board shot at each other with effect since the mark was close at hand for each party. Some of the men, when their captains had delivered a broadside blow and the rams had become firmly fixed, leaped aboard the ships of the enemy, receiving and giving severe wounds; for certain of them, after grasping the rail of a ship that was drawing near, missed their footing, fell into the sea, and at once were killed with spears by those who stood above them; and others, making good their intent, slew some of the enemy and, forcing others along the narrow deck, drove them into the sea. As a whole the fighting was varied and full of surprises: many times those who were weaker got the upper hand because of the height of their ships, and those who were stronger were foiled by inferiority of position and by the irregularity with which things happen in fighting of this kind. For in contests on land, valour is made clearly evident, since it is able to gain the upper hand when nothing external and fortuitous interferes; but in naval battles there are many causes of various kinds that, contrary to reason, defeat those who would properly gain the victory through prowess.
§ 20.52
λαμπρότατα δὲ πάντων Δημήτριος ἠγωνίσατο τῆς ἑπτήρους ἐπιβεβηκὼς ἐπὶ τῇ πρύμνῃ. ἀθρόων γὰρ αὐτῷ περιχυθέντων οὓς μὲν ταῖς λόγχαις ἀκοντίζων, οὓς δὲ ἐκ χειρὸς τῷ δόρατι τύπτων ἀνῄρει· πολλῶν δὲ καὶ παντοίων βελῶν ἐπʼ αὐτὸν φερομένων ἃ μὲν προορώμενος ἐξέκλινεν, ἃ δὲ τοῖς σκεπαστηρίοις ὅπλοις ἐδέχετο. τριῶν δʼ ὑπερασπιζόντων αὐτὸν εἷς μὲν λόγχῃ πληγεὶς ἔπεσεν, οἱ δὲ δύο κατετραυματίσθησαν. τέλος δὲ τοὺς ἀντιστάντας ὁ Δημήτριος ἐκβιασάμενος καὶ τροπὴν τοῦ δεξιοῦ κέρατος ποιήσας εὐθὺ καὶ τὰς συνεχεῖς φυγεῖν ἠνάγκασεν. Πτολεμαῖος δὲ τὰ μέγιστα τῶν σκαφῶν καὶ τοὺς κρατίστους ἄνδρας ἔχων μεθʼ αὑτοῦ ῥᾳδίως ἐτρέψατο τοὺς καθʼ αὑτὸν τεταγμένους καὶ τῶν νεῶν ἃς μὲν κατέδυσεν, ἃς δὲ αὐτάνδρους εἷλεν. ὑποστρέφων δʼ ἀπὸ τοῦ νικήματος ἤλπιζε καὶ τὰς ἄλλας ῥᾳδίως χειρώσασθαι· θεωρήσας δὲ τό τε εὐώνυμον κέρας τῶν ἰδίων συντετριμμένον καὶ τὰς συνεχεῖς ἁπάσας πρὸς φυγὴν ὡρμημένας, ἔτι δὲ τοὺς περὶ τὸν Δημήτριον μετὰ βάρους ἐπιφερομένους ἀπέπλευσεν εἰς Κίτιον. Δημήτριος δὲ νικήσας τῇ ναυμαχίᾳ τῷ μὲν Νέωνι καὶ Βουρίχῳ παρέδωκε τὰ στρατιωτικὰ τῶν πλοίων, προστάξας διώκειν καὶ τοὺς ἐν τῇ θαλάττῃ διανηχομένους ἀναλαμβάνειν· αὐτὸς δὲ τὰς ἰδίας ναῦς κοσμήσας τοῖς ἀκροστολίοις καὶ τὰς ἁλούσας ἐφελκόμενος τὸν πλοῦν ἐποιεῖτο πρὸς τὸ στρατόπεδον καὶ τὸν οἰκεῖον λιμένα. κατὰ δὲ τὸν τῆς ναυμαχίας καιρὸν Μενέλαος ὁ ἐν τῇ Σαλαμῖνι στρατηγὸς πληρώσας τὰς ἑξήκοντα ναῦς ἐξαπέστειλε πρὸς βοήθειαν τῷ Πτολεμαίῳ, ναύαρχον ἐπιστήσας Μενοίτιον. γενομένου δʼ ἀγῶνος περὶ τὸ στόμα τοῦ λιμένος πρὸς τὰς ἐφορμούσας ναῦς καὶ τῶν ἐκ τῆς πόλεως βιασαμένων αἱ μὲν τοῦ Δημητρίου δέκα ναῦς ἔφυγον πρὸς τὸ πεζὸν στρατόπεδον, οἱ δὲ περὶ τὸν Μενοίτιον ἀναπλεύσαντες καὶ τῶν καιρῶν μικρὸν ὑστερήσαντες ἀνέστρεψαν πάλιν εἰς τὴν Σαλαμῖνα. τῆς δὲ ναυμαχίας τοιοῦτον τέλος λαβούσης τῶν μὲν πορίων ἥλω πλείω τῶν ἑκατόν, ἐν οἷς ἦσαν σχεδὸν στρατιῶται ὀκτακισχίλιοι· τῶν δὲ μακρῶν αὔτανδροι μὲν ἐλήφθησαν τεσσαράκοντα, διεφθάρησαν δὲ περὶ ὀγδοήκοντα, ἃς πλήρεις οὔσας θαλάττης κατήγαγον οἱ κρατήσαντες εἰς τὴν πρὸς τῇ πόλει στρατοπεδείαν. διεφθάρη δὲ καὶ τῶν Δημητρίου σκαφῶν εἴκοσι· πάντα δὲ τῆς προσηκούσης ἐπιμελείας τυχόντα παρείχετο τὰς ἁρμοζούσας χρείας.
Demetrius fought most brilliantly of all, having taken his stand on the stern of his seven. A crowd of men rushed upon him, but by hurling his javelins at some of them and by striking others at close range with his spear, he slew them; and although many missiles of all sorts were aimed at him, he avoided some that he saw in time and received others upon his defensive armour. Of the three men who protected him with shields, one fell struck by a lance and the other two were severely wounded. Finally Demetrius drove back the forces confronting him, created a rout in the right wing, and forthwith forced even the ships next to the wing to flee. Ptolemy who had with himself the heaviest of his ships and the strongest men, easily routed those stationed opposite him, sinking some of the ships and capturing others with their crews. Turning back from that victorious action, he expected easily to subdue the others also; but when he saw that the right wing of his forces had been shattered and all those next to that wing driven into flight, and further, that Demetrius was pressing on with full force, he sailed back to Citium. Demetrius, after winning the victory, gave the transports to Neon and Burichus, ordering them to pursue and pick up those who were swimming in the sea; and he himself, decking his own ships with bow and stern ornaments and towing the captured craft, sailed to his camp and his home port. At the time of the naval battle Menelaus, the general in Salamis, had manned his sixty ships and sent them as a reinforcement to Ptolemy, placing Menoetius in command. When a battle occurred at the harbour mouth with the ships on guard there, and when the ships from the city pressed forward vigorously, Demetrius' ten ships fled to the camp of the army; and Menoetius, after sailing out and arriving a little too late, returned to Salamis. In the naval battle, whose outcome was as stated, more than a hundred of the supply ships were taken, upon which were almost eight thousand soldiers, and of the warships forty were captured with their crews and about eighty were disabled, which the victors towed, full of sea water, to the camp before the city. Twenty of Demetrius' ships were disabled, but all of these, after receiving proper care, continued to perform the services for which they were suited.
§ 20.53
μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Πτολεμαῖος ἀπογνοὺς τὰ κατὰ τὴν Κύπρον ἀπῆρεν εἰς Αἴγυπτον. Δημήτριος δὲ πάσας τὰς ἐν τῇ νήσῳ πόλεις παραλαβὼν καὶ τοὺς φρουροῦντας στρατιώτας, τούτους μὲν εἰς τάξεις κατεχώρισεν, ὄντας πεζοὺς μὲν μυρίους ἑξακισχιλίους συντεταγμένους, ἱππεῖς δὲ περὶ ἑξακοσίους, πρὸς δὲ τὸν πατέρα ταχέως ἐμβιβάσας εἰς τὴν μεγίστην ναῦν τοὺς δηλώσοντας περὶ τῶν κατορθωθέντων ἐξαπέστειλεν. ὁ δʼ Ἀντίγονος πυθόμενος τὴν γεγενημένην νίκην καὶ μετεωρισθεὶς ἐπὶ τῷ μεγέθει τοῦ προτερήματος διάδημα περιέθετο καὶ τὸ λοιπὸν ἐχρημάτιζε βασιλεύς, συγχωρήσας καὶ τῷ Δημητρίῳ τῆς αὐτῆς τυγχάνειν προσηγορίας καὶ τιμῆς. ὁ δὲ Πτολεμαῖος οὐδὲν τῇ ψυχῇ ταπεινωθεὶς διὰ τὴν ἧτταν καὶ αὐτὸς ὁμοίως ἀνέλαβε τὸ διάδημα καὶ πρὸς ἅπαντας ἀνέγραφεν ἑαυτὸν βασιλέα. παραπλησίως δὲ τούτοις καὶ οἱ λοιποὶ δυνάσται ζηλοτυπήσαντες ἀνηγόρευον ἑαυτοὺς βασιλεῖς, Σέλευκος μὲν προσφάτως τὰς ἄνω σατραπείας προσκεκτημένος, Λυσίμαχος δὲ καὶ Κάσανδρος τὰς ἐξ ἀρχῆς δοθείσας μερίδας διατηροῦντες. ἡμεῖς δὲ περὶ τούτων ἱκανῶς εἰρηκότες ἐν μέρει διέξιμεν περὶ τῶν κατὰ Λιβύην καὶ Σικελίαν πραχθέντων.
Thereafter Ptolemy gave up the fight in Cyprus and returned to Egypt. Demetrius, after he had taken over all the cities of the island and their garrisons, enrolled the men in companies; and when they were organized they came to sixteen thousand foot and about six hundred horse. He at once sent messengers to his father to inform him of the successes, embarking them on his largest ship. And when Antigonus heard of the victory that had been gained, elated by the magnitude of his good fortune, he assumed the diadem and from that time on he used the style of king; and he permitted Demetrius also to assume this same title and rank. Ptolemy, however, not at all humbled in spirit by his defeat, also assumed the diadem and always signed himself king. And in a similar fashion in rivalry with them the rest of the princes also called themselves kings: Seleucus, who had recently gained the upper satrapies, and Lysimachus and Cassander, who still retained the territories originally allotted to them. Now that we have said enough about these matters, we shall relate in their turn the events that took place in Libya and in Sicily.
§ 20.54
Ἀγαθοκλῆς γὰρ πυθόμενος τοὺς προειρημένους δυνάστας ἀνῃρημένους διάδημα καὶ νομίζων μήτε δυνάμεσι μήτε χώρᾳ μήτε τοῖς πραχθεῖσι λείπεσθαι τούτων ἑαυτὸν ἀνηγόρευσε βασιλέα. καὶ διάδημα μὲν οὐκ ἔκρινεν ἔχειν· ἐφόρει γὰρ αἰεὶ στέφανον, ὃν κατὰ τὴν ἐπίθεσιν τῆς τυραννίδος ἔκ τινος ἱερωσύνης περικείμενος οὐκ ἀπέθετο περὶ τῆς δυναστείας ἀγωνιζόμενος· ἔνιοι δέ φασιν αὐτὸν ἐπιτετηδεῦσθαι τοῦτον ἐξ ἀρχῆς φορεῖν ἐπὶ τῷ μὴ λίαν αὐτὸν εὐχαίτην εἶναι. οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ τῆς προσηγορίας ταύτης ἄξιόν τι σπεύδων πρᾶξαι ἐπὶ μὲν Ἰτυκαίους ἐστράτευσεν ἀφεστηκότας· ἄφνω δʼ αὐτῶν τῇ πόλει προσπεσὼν καὶ τῶν ἐπὶ τῆς χώρας ἀπειλημμένων πολιτικῶν ζωγρήσας εἰς τριακοσίους τὸ μὲν πρῶτον διδοὺς ἄφεσιν τῶν ἐγκλημάτων ἠξίου παραδιδόναι τὴν πόλιν· οὐ προσεχόντων δὲ τῶν ἔνδον συνεπήγνυε μηχανὴν καὶ κρεμάσας ἐπʼ αὐτῇ τοὺς αἰχμαλώτους προσήγαγε τοῖς τείχεσιν. οἱ δʼ Ἰτυκαῖοι τοὺς μὲν ἠτυχηκότας ἠλέουν, πλείονα δὲ λόγον τῆς τῶν ἁπάντων ἐλευθερίας ἢ τῆς ἐκείνων σωτηρίας ποιούμενοι διέλαβον τὰ τείχη τοῖς στρατιώταις καὶ τὴν πολιορκίαν εὐγενῶς ὑπέμενον. εἶθʼ ὁ μὲν Ἀγαθοκλῆς ἐπιστήσας τῇ μηχανῇ τούς τε ὀξυβελεῖς καὶ σφενδονήτας καὶ τοξότας ἀπὸ ταύτης ἀγωνιζόμενος ἤρχετο τῆς πολιορκίας καὶ ταῖς ψυχαῖς τῶν ἔνδον ὥσπερ καυτήριά τινα προσῆγεν· οἱ δʼ ἐπὶ τῶν τειχῶν ἑστῶτες τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ὤκνουν τοῖς βέλεσι χρήσασθαι, προκειμένων αὐτοῖς σκοπῶν πολιτικῶν ἀνδρῶν, ὧν ἦσάν τινες καὶ τῶν ἐπιφανεστάτων· ἐπικειμένων δὲ τῶν πολεμίων βαρύτερον ἠναγκάζοντο τοὺς ἐπὶ τῆς μηχανῆς ὄντας ἀμύνεσθαι. ἔνθα δὴ συνέβαινε γίνεσθαι παράλογα πάθη τοῖς Ἰτυκαίοις καὶ τύχης ἐπηρεασμὸν ἐν ἀνάγκαις κειμένοις ἀνεκφεύκτοις· προβεβλημένων γὰρ τῶν Ἑλλήνων τοὺς ἡλωκότας τῶν ἐξ Ἰτύκης ἀναγκαῖον ἦν ἢ τούτων φειδομένους περιορᾶν ὑποχείριον τοῖς πολεμίοις γινομένην τὴν πατρίδα ἢ τῇ πόλει βοηθοῦντας ἀνηλεῶς φονεῦσαι πλῆθος πολιτῶν ἠτυχηκότων. ὅπερ καὶ συνέβη γενέσθαι· ἀμυνόμενοι γὰρ τοὺς πολεμίους καὶ παντοίοις βέλεσι χρώμενοι καὶ τὰ τῶν ἐφεστηκότων τῇ μηχανῇ σώματα κατῃκίσαντο καὶ τινὰς μὲν τῶν κρεμαμένων πολιτῶν κατηκόντισαν, τινὰς δὲ τοῖς ὀξυβελέσι πρὸς τῇ μηχανῇ προσκαθήλωσαν καθʼ οὕς ποτε τύχοι τοῦ σώματος τόπους, ὥστε σταυρῷ παραπλησίαν εἶναι τὴν ὕβριν ἅμα καὶ τὴν τιμωρίαν. καὶ ταῦτʼ ἐγίνετό τισιν ὑπὸ συγγενῶν ἢ φίλων, εἰ τύχοι, τῆς ἀνάγκης οὐ πολυπραγμονούσης τι τῶν παρʼ ἀνθρώποις ὁσίων.
When Agathocles heard that the princes whom we have just mentioned had assumed the diadem, since he thought that neither in power nor in territory nor in deeds was he inferior to them, he called himself king. He decided not to take a diadem; for he habitually wore a chaplet, which at the time when he seized the tyranny was his because of some priesthood and which he did not give up while he was struggling to gain the supreme power. But some say that he originally had made it his habit to wear this because he did not have a good head of hair. However this may be, in his desire to do something worthy of this title, he made a campaign against the people of Utica, who had deserted him. Making a sudden attack upon their city and taking prisoner those of the citizens who were caught in the open country to the number of three hundred, he at first offered a free pardon and requested the surrender of the city; but when those in the city did not heed his offer, he constructed a siege engine, hung the prisoners upon it, and brought it up to the walls. The Uticans pitied the unfortunate men; yet, holding the liberty of all of more account than the safety of these, they assigned posts on the walls to the soldiers and bravely awaited the assault. Then Agathocles, placing upon the engine his catapults, slingers, and bowmen, and fighting from this, began the assault, applying, as it were, branding-irons to the souls of those within the city. Those standing on the walls at first hesitated to use their missiles since the targets presented to them were their own fellowcountrymen, of whom some were indeed the most distinguished of their citizens; but when the enemy pressed on more heavily, they were forced to defend themselves against those who manned the engine. As a result there came unparalleled suffering and despiteful treatment of fortune to the men of Utica, placed as they were in dire straits from which there was no escape; for since the Greeks had set up before them as shields the men of Utica who had been captured, it was necessary either to spare these and idly watch the fatherland fall into the hands of the enemy or, in protecting the city, to slaughter mercilessly a large number of unfortunate fellow citizens. And this, indeed, is what took place; for as they resisted the enemy and employed missiles of every kind, they shot down some of the men who stationed on the engine, and they also mangled some of their fellow citizens who were hanging there, and others they nailed to the engine with the bolts at whatever places on the body the missiles chanced to strike, so that the wanton violence and the punishment almost amounted to crucifixion. And this fate befell some at the hands of kinsmen and friends, if so it chanced, since necessity is not curiously concerned for what is holy among men.
§ 20.55
ὁ δʼ Ἀγαθοκλῆς, ὁρῶν αὐτοὺς ἀπαθῶς ὡρμηκότας πρὸς τὸν κίνδυνον, περιστήσας πανταχόθεν τὴν δύναμιν καὶ κατά τινα τόπον φαύλως ᾠκοδομημένον βιασάμενος εἰσέπεσεν εἰς τὴν πόλιν. τῶν δʼ Ἰτυκαίων τῶν μὲν εἰς τὰς οἰκίας, τῶν δʼ εἰς ἱερὰ καταφευγόντων διʼ ὀργῆς αὐτοὺς ἔχων φόνου τὴν πόλιν ἐπλήρωσε. τοὺς μὲν γὰρ ἐν χειρῶν νόμῳ διέφθειρε, τοὺς δʼ ἁλόντας ἐκρέμασε, τοὺς δʼ ἐπὶ θεῶν ἱερὰ καὶ βωμοὺς καταφυγόντας διαψευσθῆναι τῆς ἐλπίδος ἐποίησεν. διαφορήσας δὲ τὰς κτήσεις καὶ φυλακὴν ἀπολιπὼν ἐπὶ τῆς πόλεως ἐστρατοπέδευσεν ἐπὶ τὴν Ἵππου καλουμένην ἄκραν, ὠχυρωμένην φυσικῶς τῇ παρακειμένῃ λίμνῃ. πολιορκήσας δὲ αὐτὴν ἐνεργῶς καὶ τῶν ἐγχωρίων ναυμαχίᾳ περιγενόμενος κατὰ κράτος εἷλε. τούτῳ δὲ τῷ τρόπῳ τὰς πόλεις χειρωσάμενος τῶν τε ἐπὶ θαλάττῃ τόπων τῶν πλείστων ἐκυρίευσεν καὶ τῶν τὴν μεσόγειον οἰκούντων πλὴν τῶν Νομάδων· ὧν τινὲς μὲν φιλίαν πρὸς αὐτὸν ἐποιήσαντο, τινὲς δʼ ἐκαραδόκουν τὴν τῶν ὅλων κρίσιν. τέτταρα γὰρ τὴν Λιβύην διείληφε γένη, Φοίνικες μὲν οἱ τὴν Καρχηδόνα τότε κατοικοῦντες, Λιβυφοίνικες δὲ πολλὰς ἔχοντες πόλεις ἐπιθαλαττίους καὶ κοινωνοῦντες τοῖς Καρχηδονίοις ἐπιγαμίας, οἷς ἀπὸ τῆς συμπεπλεγμένης συγγενείας συνέβη τυχεῖν ταύτης τῆς προσηγορίας· ὁ δὲ πολὺς λαὸς τῶν ἐγχωρίων, ἀρχαιότατος ὤν, Λίβυς ὠνομάζετο, μισῶν διαφερόντως τοὺς Καρχηδονίους διὰ τὸ βάρος τῆς ἐπιστασίας· οἱ δὲ τελευταῖοι Νομάδες ὑπῆρχον, πολλὴν τῆς Λιβύης νεμόμενοι μέχρι τῆς ἐρήμου. Ἀγαθοκλῆς δὲ τοῖς μὲν κατὰ Λιβύην συμμάχοις καὶ ταῖς δυνάμεσιν ὑπερέχων τῶν Καρχηδονίων, περὶ δὲ τῶν ἐν Σικελίᾳ πραγμάτων ἀγωνιῶν ἄφρακτα καὶ πεντηκοντόρους ναυπηγησάμενος ἐνεβίβασε στρατιώτας δισχιλίους. καταλιπὼν δὲ τῶν ἐν τῇ Λιβύῃ πραγμάτων στρατηγὸν Ἀγάθαρχον τὸν υἱὸν ἀνήχθη ταῖς ναυσίν, ἐπὶ Σικελίαν τὸν πλοῦν ποιούμενος.
But when Agathocles saw that they were cold-bloodedly intent on fighting, he put his army in position to attack from every side and, forcing an entrance at a point where the wall had been poorly constructed, broke into the city. As some of the Uticans fled into their houses, others into temples, Agathocles, enraged as he was against them, filled the city with slaughter. Some he killed in hand-to hand fighting; those who were captured he hanged, and those who had fled to temples and altars of the gods he cheated of their hopes. When he had sacked the movable property, he left a garrison in possession of the city, and led his army into position against the place called Hippu Acra, which was made naturally strong by the marsh that lay before it. After laying siege to this with vigour and getting the better of its people in a naval battle, he took it by storm. When he had conquered the cities in this way, he became master both of most of the places along the sea and of the peoples dwelling in the interior except the Nomads, of whom some arrived at terms of friendship with him and some awaited the final issue. For four stocks have divided Libya: the Phoenicians, who at that time occupied Carthage; the Libyphoenicians, who have many cities along the sea and intermarry with the Carthaginians, and who received this name as a result of the interwoven ties of kinship. Of the inhabitants the race that was most numerous and oldest was called Libyan, and they hated the Carthaginians with a special bitterness because of the weight of their overlordship; a and last were the Nomads, who pastured their herds over a large part of Libya as far as the desert. Now that Agathocles was superior to the Carthaginians by reason of his Libyan allies and his own armies but was much troubled about the situation in Sicily, he constructed light ships and penteconters and placed upon them two thousand soldiers. Leaving his son Agatharchus in command of affairs in Libya, he put out with his ships and made the voyage to Sicily.
§ 20.56
ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις Ξενόδοκος ὁ τῶν Ἀκραγαντίνων στρατηγὸς πολλὰς μὲν τῶν πόλεων ἠλευθερωκώς, ἐλπίδας δὲ μεγάλας παρεσχηκὼς τοῖς Σικελιώταις τῆς καθʼ ὅλην τὴν νῆσον αὐτονομίας ἐξήγαγε τὴν δύναμιν ἐπὶ τοὺς Ἀγαθοκλέους στρατηγούς, οὖσαν πεζῶν μὲν πλειόνων ἢ μυρίων, ἱππέων δὲ σχεδὸν χιλίων. οἱ δὲ περὶ Λεπτίνην καὶ Δημόφιλον ἐκ τῶν Συρακουσσῶν καὶ τῶν φρουρίων ἐπιλέξαντες ὅσους ἠδύναντο πλείστους ἀντεστρατοπέδευσαν πεζοῖς μὲν ὀκτακισχιλίοις καὶ διακοσίοις, ἱππεῦσι δὲ χιλίοις καὶ διακοσίοις. γενομένης οὖν παρατάξεως ἰσχυρᾶς ἡττηθεὶς ὁ Ξενόδοκος ἔφυγεν εἰς τὸν Ἀκράγαντα καὶ τῶν στρατιωτῶν ἀπέβαλεν οὐκ ἐλάττους τῶν χιλίων καὶ πεντακοσίων. οἱ μὲν οὖν Ἀκραγαντῖνοι ταύτῃ τῇ συμφορᾷ περιπεσόντες διέλυσαν ἑαυτῶν μὲν τὴν καλλίστην ἐπιβολήν, τῶν δὲ συμμάχων τὰς τῆς ἐλευθερίας ἐλπίδας· Ἀγαθοκλῆς δὲ τῆς μάχης ἄρτι γεγενημένης καταπλεύσας τῆς Σικελίας εἰς Σελινοῦντα Ἡρακλεώτας μὲν ἠλευθερωκότας τὴν πόλιν ἠνάγκασε πάλιν ὑποτάττεσθαι, παρελθὼν δὲ ἐπὶ θάτερον μέρος τῆς νήσου Θερμίτας μὲν προσαγαγόμενος ὑποσπόνδους ἀφῆκε τῶν Καρχηδονίων φρουρούντων ταύτην τὴν πόλιν, Κεφαλοίδιον δὲ ἐκπολιορκήσας Λεπτίνην μὲν ταύτης ἐπιμελητὴν ἀπέλιπεν, αὐτὸς δὲ διὰ τῆς μεσογείου ποιούμενος τὴν πορείαν ἐπεβάλετο μὲν νυκτὸς εἰς τὰ Κεντόριπα παρεισπεσεῖν εἰσδεχομένων αὐτόν τινων πολιτικῶν ἀνδρῶν, καταφανοῦς δὲ τῆς ἐπιβουλῆς γενομένης καὶ τῶν φρουρῶν παραβοηθησάντων ἐξέπεσεν ἐκ τῆς πόλεως, ἀποβαλὼν τῶν στρατιωτῶν πλείους πεντακοσίων. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτά τινων ἐκ τῆς Ἀπολλωνίας μεταπεμπομένων αὐτὸν καὶ τὴν πατρίδα προδώσειν ἐπαγγελλομένων ἧκε πρὸς τὴν πόλιν· τῶν δὲ προδοτῶν καταφανῶν γενομένων καὶ κολασθέντων κατὰ μὲν πρώτην ἡμέραν πολιορκήσας ἄπρακτος ἐγένετο, τῇ δʼ ὑστεραίᾳ πολλὰ κακοπαθήσας καὶ συχνοὺς ἀποβαλὼν μόλις εἷλε τὴν πόλιν καὶ τῶν Ἀπολλωνιατῶν τοὺς πλείστους ἀποσφάξας διήρπασε τὰς κτήσεις.
While this was happening, Xenodocus, the general of the Acragantines, having freed many of the cities and roused in the Sicilians great hopes of autonomy throughout the whole island, led his army against the generals of Agathocles. It consisted of more than ten thousand footsoldiers and nearly a thousand horsemen. Leptines and Demophilus, assembling from Syracuse and the fortresses as many men as they could, took up a position opposite him with eighty-two thousand foot-soldiers and twelve hundred horse. In a bitter fight that ensued, Xenodocus was defeated and fled to Acragas, losing not less than fifteen hundred of his soldiers. The people of Acragas after meeting with this reverse put an end to their own most noble enterprise and, at the same time, to their allies' hopes of freedom. Shortly after this battle had taken place, Agathocles put in at Selinus in Sicily and forced the people of Heraclea, who had made their city free, to submit to him once more. Having crossed to the other side of the island, he attached to himself by a treaty the people of Therma, granting safe conduct to the Carthaginian garrison. Then, after taking Cephaloedium and leaving Leptines as its governor, he himself marched through the interior and attempted to slip by night into Centuripa, where some of the citizens were to admit him. When their plan was discovered, however, and the guard came to the defence, he was thrown out of the city, losing more than five hundred of his soldiers. Thereupon, men from Apollonia having invited him and promised to betray their fatherland, he came to that city. As the traitors had become known and had been punished, he attacked the city but without effect for the first day, and on the next, after suffering heavily and losing a large number of men, he barely succeeded in taking it. After slaughtering most of the Apolloniates, he plundered their possessions.
§ 20.57
τούτου δὲ περὶ ταῦτʼ ὄντος Δεινοκράτης ὁ τῶν φυγάδων ἡγούμενος ἀναλαβὼν τὴν Ἀκραγαντίνων προαίρεσιν καὶ προστάτην αὑτὸν ἀναδείξας τῆς κοινῆς ἐλευθερίας ἐποίησε πολλοὺς ἁπανταχόθεν συνδραμεῖν πρὸς αὐτόν· οἱ μὲν γὰρ διὰ τὴν ἔμφυτον πᾶσιν ἐπιθυμίαν τῆς αὐτονομίας, οἱ δὲ διὰ τὸν Ἀγαθοκλέους φόβον προθύμως ὑπήκουον τοῖς παραγγελλομένοις. ἠθροισμένων δʼ αὐτῶν πεζῶν μὲν οὐ πολὺ ἐλάττων δισμυρίων, ἱππέων δὲ χιλίων καὶ πεντακοσίων καὶ πάντων τούτων ἐν φυγαῖς καὶ μελέταις τοῦ πονεῖν συνεχῶς γεγονότων κατεστρατοπέδευσεν ἐν ὑπαίθρῳ, προκαλούμενος τῇ μάχῃ τὸν δυνάστην. τοῦ δʼ Ἀγαθοκλέους λειπομένου πολὺ ταῖς δυνάμεσι καὶ φυγομαχοῦντος ἐκ ποδὸς ἠκολούθει συνεχῶς, ἀκονητὶ περιπεποιημένος τὴν νίκην. ἀπὸ δὲ τούτων τῶν καιρῶν τοῖς περὶ τὸν Ἀγαθοκλέα συνέβαινε πρὸς τὸ χεῖρον μεταβάλλειν οὐ μόνον τὰ κατὰ Σικελίαν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ κατὰ Λιβύην πράγματα. Ἀρχάγαθος γὰρ ὁ καταλειφθεὶς ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ στρατηγὸς μετὰ τὴν ἀναγωγὴν τοῦ πατρὸς τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἐπλεονέκτει, πέμψας εἰς τοὺς ἄνω τόπους μέρος τι τῆς δυνάμεως, ἧς ἦν ἡγεμὼν Εὔμαχος. οὗτος γὰρ Τώκας πόλιν εὐμεγέθη χειρωσάμενος πολλοὺς προσηγάγετο τῶν πλησίον κατοικούντων Νομάδων. εἶθʼ ἑτέραν ἐκπολιορκήσας, τὴν ὀνομαζομένην Φελλίνην, ἠνάγκασε πιθαρχεῖν τοὺς τὴν ἑξῆς χώραν νεμομένους, τοὺς καλουμένους Ἀσφοδελώδεις, ὄντας τῷ χρώματι παραπλησίους τοῖς Αἰθίοψι. τρίτην δʼ εἷλε Μεσχέλαν, μεγίστην οὖσαν, ᾠκισμένην δὲ τὸ παλαιὸν ὑπὸ τῶν ἐκ Τροίας ἀνακομιζομένων Ἑλλήνων, περὶ ὧν ἐν τῇ τρίτῃ βίβλῳ προειρήκαμεν, ἑξῆς δὲ τὴν ὀνομαζομένην ἄκραν Ἵππου τὴν ὁμώνυμον τῇ χειρωθείσῃ κατὰ κράτος ὑπʼ Ἀγαθοκλέους καὶ τελευταίαν τὴν προσαγορευομένην Ἀκρίδα πόλιν αὐτόνομον, ἣν ἐξανδραποδισάμενος ἐξέδωκετοῖς στρατιώταις διαρπάσαι.
While Agathocles was engaged on these matters, Deinocrates, the leader of the exiles, taking over the policy of the Acragantines and proclaiming himself champion of the common liberty, caused many to flock to him from all sides; for some eagerly gave ear to his appeals because of the desire for independence inborn in all men, and others because of their fear of Agathocles. When Deinocrates had collected almost twenty thousand foot-soldiers and fifteen hundred mounted men, all of them men who had had uninterrupted experience of exile and hardship, he camped in the open, challenging the tyrant to battle. However, when Agathocles, who was far inferior in strength, avoided battle, he speedily followed on his heels, having secured his victory without a struggle. From this time on the fortunes of Agathocles, not only in Sicily but also in Libya, suffered a change for the worse. Archagathus, who had been left by him as general, after the departure of his father at first gained some advantage by sending into the inland regions a part of the army under the command of Eumachus. This leader, after taking the rather large city of Tocae, won over many of the Nomads who dwelt near by. Then, capturing another city called Phelline, he forced the submission of those who used the adjacent country as pasture, men called the Asphodelodes, who are similar to the Ethiopians in colour. The third city that he took was Meschela, which was very large and had been founded long ago by the Greeks who were returning from Troy, about whom we have already spoken in the third Book. Next he took the place called Hippu Acra, which has the same name as that captured by storm by Agathocles, and finally the free city called Acris, which he gave to his soldiers for plundering after he had enslaved the people.
§ 20.58
ἐμπλήσας δʼ ὠφελείας τὸ στρατόπεδον κατέβη πρὸς τοὺς περὶ τὸν Ἀρχάγαθον καὶ δόξας ἀγαθὸς ἀνὴρ γεγονέναι πάλιν ἐστράτευσεν εἰς τοὺς ἄνω τῆς Λιβύης τόπους. ὑπερβαλὼν δὲ τὰς πόλεις ὧν πρότερον ἐγεγόνει κύριος, παρεισέπεσεν εἰς τὴν καλουμένην Μιλτινὴν πόλιν, ἀπροσδοκήτως ἐπιφανείς· συστραφέντων δʼ ἐπʼ αὐτὸν τῶν βαρβάρων καὶ κρατησάντων ἐν ταῖς ὁδοῖς ἐξεβλήθη παραλόγως καὶ πολλοὺς τῶν στρατιωτῶν ἀπέβαλεν. ἐντεῦθεν δʼ ἀναζεύξας προῆγεν διʼ ὄρους ὑψηλοῦ παρήκοντος ἐπὶ σταδίους διακοσίους, πλήρους δʼ ὄντος αἰλούρων, ἐν ᾧ συνέβαινε μηδὲν ὅλως πτηνὸν νεοττεύειν μήτε ἐπὶ τοῖς δένδρεσι μήτε ἐν ταῖς φάραγξι διὰ τὴν ἀλλοτριότητα τῶν προειρημένων ζῴων. διελθὼν δὲ τὴν ὀρεινὴν ταύτην ἐνέβαλεν εἰς χώραν ἔχουσαν πλῆθος πιθήκων καὶ πόλεις τρεῖς τὰς ἀπὸ τούτων τῶν ζῴων ὀνομαζομένας εἰς τὸν Ἑλληνικὸν τρόπον τῆς διαλέκτου μεθερμηνευομένας Πιθηκούσσας. ἐν δὲ ταύταις οὐκ ὀλίγα τῶν νομίμων πολὺ παρήλλαττε τῶν παρʼ ἡμῖν. τάς τε γὰρ αὐτὰς οἰκίας οἱ πίθηκοι κατῴκουν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις, θεοὶ παρʼ αὐτοῖς νομιζόμενοι καθάπερ παρʼ Αἰγυπτίοις οἱ κύνες, ἔκ τε τῶν παρεσκευασμένων ἐν τοῖς ταμιείοις τὰ ζῷα τὰς τροφὰς ἐλάμβανον ἀκωλύτως ὁπότε βούλοιντο. καὶ τὰς προσηγορίας δʼ ἐτίθεσαν οἱ γονεῖς τοῖς παισὶ κατὰ τὸ πλεῖστον ἀπὸ τῶν πιθήκων, ὥσπερ παρʼ ἡμῖν ἀπὸ τῶν θεῶν. τοῖς δʼ ἀποκτείνασι τοῦτο τὸ ζῷον ὡς ἠσεβηκόσι τὰ μέγιστα θάνατος ὥριστο πρόστιμον· διὸ δὴ καὶ παρά τισιν ἐνίσχυσεν ἐν παροιμίας μέρει λεγόμενον ἐπὶ τῶν ἀνατεὶ κτεινομένων ὅτι πιθήκου αἷμʼ ἀποτίσειαν. ὁ δʼ οὖν Εὔμαχος μίαν μὲν τούτων τῶν πόλεων ἑλὼν κατὰ κράτος διήρπασε, τὰς δὲ δύο προσηγάγετο. πυνθανόμενος δὲ τοὺς περιοικοῦντας βαρβάρους ἀθροίζειν ἐπʼ αὐτὸν μεγάλας δυνάμεις προῆγε συντονώτερον, διεγνωκὼς ἐπανιέναι πρὸς τοὺς ἐπὶ θαλάττῃ τόπους.
After sating his army with booty, he returned to Archagathus; and since he had gained a name for good service, he again led an army into the inland regions of Libya. Passing by the cities that he had previously mastered, he gained an entrance into the city called Miltine, having appeared before it without warning; but when the barbarians gathered together against him and overpowered him in the streets, he was, to his great surprise, driven out and lost many of his men. Departing thence, he marched through a high mountain range that extended for about two hundred stades and was full of wildcats, in which, accordingly, no birds whatever nested either among the trees or the ravines because of the rapacity of the aforementioned beasts. Crossing this range, he came out into a country containing a large number of apes and to three cities called from these beasts Pithecusae, if the name is translated into the Greek language. In these cities many of the customs were very different from those current among us. For the apes lived in the same houses as the men, being regarded among them as gods, just as the dogs are among the Egyptians, and from the provisions laid up in the storerooms the beasts took their food without hindrance whenever they wished. Parents usually gave their children names taken from the apes, just as we do from the gods. For any who killed this animal, as if he had committed the greatest sacrilege, death was established as the penalty. For this reason, among some there was current a proverbial saying about those slain with impunity that they were paying the penalty for a monkey's blood. However this may be, Eumachus, after taking one of these cities by storm, destroyed it, but the other two he won over by persuasion. When, however, he heard that the neighbouring barbarians were collecting great forces against him, he pushed on more vigorously, having decided to go back to the regions by the sea.
§ 20.59
μέχρι μὲν δὴ τούτων τῶν καιρῶν ἐν τῇ Λιβύῃ κατὰ νοῦν ἅπαντα τὰ πράγματα τοῖς περὶ τὸν Ἀρχάγαθον ἦν. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τῆς γερουσίας ἐν Καρχηδόνι βουλευσαμένης περὶ τοῦ πολέμου καλῶς ἔδοξε τοῖς συνέδροις τρία στρατόπεδα ποιήσαντας ἐκ τῆς πόλεως ἐκπέμψαι, τὸ μὲν ἐπὶ τὰς παραθαλαττίους πόλεις, τὸ δʼ εἰς τὴν μεσόγειον, τὸ δʼ εἰς τοὺς ἄνω τόπους. ἐνόμιζον γὰρ τοῦτο πράξαντες πρῶτον μὲν τὴν πόλιν ἀπαλλάξειν τῆς πολιορκίας, ἅμα δὲ καὶ τῆς σιτοδείας· πολλῶν γὰρ καὶ παντοδαπῶν ὄχλων συμπεφευγότων εἰς τὴν Καρχηδόνα συνέβαινε πάντων γεγονέναι σπάνιν, ἐξανηλωμένων ἤδη τῶν ἐπιτηδείων· ἀπὸ δὲ τῆς πολιορκίας οὐκ ἦν κίνδυνος, ἀπροσίτου τῆς πόλεως οὔσης διὰ τὴν ἀπὸ τῶν τειχῶν καὶ τῆς θαλάττης ὀχυρότητα· ἔπειθʼ ὑπελάμβανον καὶ τοὺς συμμάχους διαμένειν μᾶλλον πλειόνων στρατοπέδων ὄντων ἐν ὑπαίθρῳ τῶν παραβοηθούντων· τὸ δὲ μέγιστον, ἤλπιζον καὶ τοὺς πολεμίους ἀναγκασθήσεσθαι μερίζειν τὰς δυνάμεις καὶ μακρὰν ἀποσπᾶσθαι τῆς Καρχηδόνος. ἅπερ ἅπαντα κατὰ τὴν ἐπίνοιαν αὐτῶν συνετελέσθη· τρισμυρίων μὲν γὰρ στρατιωτῶν ἐκ τῆς πόλεως ἐκπεμφθέντων οἱ καταλειπόμενοι ἔμποροι οὐχ οἷον ἱκανὰ πρὸς αὐτάρκειαν εἶχον, ἀλλʼ ἐκ περιουσίας ἐχρῶντο δαψιλέσι πᾶσιν, οἵ τε σύμμαχοι τὸ πρὸ τοῦ διὰ τὸν ἀπὸ τῶν πολεμίων φόβον ἀναγκαζόμενοι προστίθεσθαι τοῖς πολεμίοις τότε πάλιν θαρρήσαντες
Up to this time all the campaign in Libya had been satisfactory to Archagathus. But after this the senate in Carthage took good counsel about the war and the senators decided to form three armies and send them forth from the city, one against the cities of the coast, one into the midland regions, and one into the interior. They thought that if they did this they would in the first place relieve the city of the siege and at the same time of the scarcity of food; for since many people from all parts had taken refuge in Carthage, there had resulted a general scarcity, the supply of provisions being already exhausted, but there was no danger from the siege since the city was inaccessible because of the protection afforded by the walls and the sea. In the second place, they assumed that the allies would continue more loyal if there were more armies in the field aiding them. And, what was most important, they hoped that the enemy would be forced to divide his forces and to withdraw to a distance from Carthage. All of these aims were accomplished according to their purpose; for when thirty thousand soldiers had been sent out from the city, the men who were left behind as a garrison not only had enough to maintain themselves, but out of their abundance they enjoyed everything in profusion; and the allies, who hitherto, because of their fear of the enemy, were compelled to make terms with him, again gained courage and hastened to return to the formerly existing friendship.
§ 20.60
ἀνέτρεχον εἰς τὴν προϋπάρχουσαν φιλίαν. ὁ δʼ Ἀρχάγαθος ὁρῶν διειλημμένην ἅπασαν τὴν Λιβύην πολεμίοις στρατοπέδοις καὶ αὐτὸς διεῖλε τὴν δύναμιν καὶ μέρος μὲν ἐξέπεμψεν εἰς τὴν παραθαλάττιον, τῆς δʼ ἄλλης στρατιᾶς ἣν μὲν Αἰσχρίωνι παραδοὺς ἐξέπεμψεν, ἧς δʼ αὐτὸς ἡγεῖτο, καταλιπὼν τὴν ἱκανὴν φυλακὴν ἐπὶ τοῦ Τύνητος. τοσούτων δὲ στρατοπέδων ἐπὶ τῆς χώρας πανταχῇ πλαζομένων καὶ προσδοκωμένης ἔσεσθαι πραγμάτων ὁλοσχεροῦς μεταβολῆς ἅπαντες ἠγωνίων, καραδοκοῦντες τὸ τέλος τῶν ἀποβησομένων. Ἄννων μὲν οὖν ἡγούμενος τοῦ κατὰ τὴν μεσόγειον στρατοπέδου θεὶς ἐνέδραν τοῖς περὶ τὸν Αἰσχρίωνα καὶ παραδόξως ἐπιθέμενος ἀνεῖλε πεζοὺς μὲν πλείους τῶν τετρακισχιλίων, ἱππεῖς δὲ περὶ διακοσίους, ἐν οἷς ἦν καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ στρατηγός· τῶν δʼ ἄλλων οἱ μὲν ἥλωσαν, οἱ δὲ διεσώθησαν πρὸς Ἀρχάγαθον, ἀπέχοντα σταδίους πεντακοσίους. Ἰμίλκων δʼ ἐπὶ τοὺς ἄνω τόπους στρατεύειν ἀποδειχθεὶς τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἐφήδρευε τῇ πόλει πρὸς τὸν Εὔμαχον, ἐφελκόμενον βαρὺ τὸ στρατόπεδον διὰ τὰς ἐκ τῶν ἁλουσῶν πόλεων ὠφελείας. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἐκταξάντων τὴν δύναμιν καὶ προκαλουμένων εἰς μάχην Ἰμίλκων μέρος μὲν τῆς στρατιᾶς κατέλιπε διεσκευασμένον ἐν τῇ πόλει, διακελευσάμενος, ὅταν αὐτὸς ἀναχωρῇ προσποιούμενος φεύγειν, ἐπεξελθεῖν τοῖς ἐπιδιώκουσιν· αὐτὸς δὲ προαγαγὼν τοὺς ἡμίσεις τῶν στρατιωτῶν καὶ μικρὸν πρὸ τῆς παρεμβολῆς συνάψας μάχην εὐθὺς ἔφευγεν ὡς καταπεπληγμένος. οἱ δὲ περὶ τὸν Εὔμαχον ἐπαρθέντες τῇ νίκῃ καὶ τῆς τάξεως οὐδὲν φροντίσαντες ἐδίωκον καὶ τεθορυβημένως τῶν ὑποχωρούντων ἐξήπτοντο· ἄφνω δὲ καθʼ ἕτερον μέρος τῆς πόλεως ἐκχυθείσης τῆς δυνάμεως κατεσκευασμένης καὶ πλήθους ἱκανοῦ πρὸς ἓν παρακέλευσμα συναλαλάξαντος κατεπλάγησαν. ἐμβαλόντων οὖν τῶν βαρβάρων εἰς ἀσυντάκτους καὶ πεφοβημένους διὰ τὸ παράδοξον, ταχὺ τροπὴν συνέβη γενέσθαι τῶν Ἑλλήνων. ὑποτεμομένων δὲ τῶν Καρχηδονίων τὴν εἰς τὴν στρατοπεδείαν ἀποχώρησιν τῶν πολεμίων ἠναγκάσθησαν οἱ περὶ τὸν Εὔμαχον καταφυγεῖν ἐπὶ τὸν πλησίον λόφον ὕδατος σπανίζοντα. περιστρατοπεδευσάντων δὲ τὸν τόπον τῶν Φοινίκων ἅμα μὲν ὑπὸ τοῦ δίψους καταπονηθέντες, ἅμα δʼ ὑπὸ τῶν πολεμίων κρατούμενοι σχεδὸν ἅπαντες ἀνῃρέθησαν· ἀπὸ μὲν γὰρ πεζῶν ὀκτακισχιλίων τριάκοντα μόνον διεσώθησαν, ἀπὸ δʼ ἱππέων ὀκτακοσίων τετταράκοντα διέφυγον τὸν κίνδυνον.
When Archagathus saw that all Libya was being occupied in sections by hostile armies, he himself also divided his army; part he sent into the coastal region, and of the rest of his forces he gave part to Aeschrion and sent him forth, and part he led himself, leaving an adequate garrison in Tunis. When so many armies were wandering everywhere in the country and when a decisive crisis in the campaign was expected, all anxiously awaited the final outcome. Now Hanno, who commanded the army of the midland region, laid an ambush for Aeschrion and fell on him suddenly, slaying more than four thousand foot-soldiers and about two hundred mounted troops, among whom was the general himself; of the others some were captured and some escaped in safety to Archagathus, who was about five hundred stades distant. As for Himilco, who had been appointed to conduct the campaign into the interior, at first he rested in a certain city lying in wait for Eumachus, who was dragging along his army heavily loaded with the spoils from the captured cities. Then when the Greeks drew up their forces and challenged him to battle, Himilco left part of his army under arms in the city, giving them orders that, when he retired in pretended flight, they should burst out upon the pursuers. He himself, leading out half of his soldiers and joining battle a little distance in front of the encampment, at once took to flight as if panicstricken. Eumachus' men, elated by their victory and giving no thought at all to their formation, followed, and in confusion pressed hard upon those who were withdrawing; but when suddenly from another part of the city there poured forth the army all ready for battle and when a great host shouted at a single command, they became panic-stricken. Accordingly, when the barbarians fell upon an enemy who had been thrown into disorder and frightened by the sudden onslaught, the immediate result was the rout of the Greeks. Since the Carthaginians cut off the enemy's return to his camp, Eumachus was forced to withdraw to the near-by hill, which was ill supplied with water. When the Phoenicians invested the place, the Greeks, who had become weak from thirst and were being overpowered by the enemy, were almost all killed. In fact, of eight thousand foot-soldiers only thirty were saved, and of eight hundred horsemen forty escaped from the battle.
§ 20.61
ὁ δʼ Ἀρχάγαθος τηλικαύτῃ συμφορᾷ περιπεσὼν ἐπανῆλθεν εἰς Τύνητα. καὶ τῶν μὲν ἐκπεμφθέντων στρατιωτῶν τοὺς περιλειπομένους μετεπέμπετο πανταχόθεν, εἰς δὲ τὴν Σικελίαν ἐξέπεμψε τοὺς δηλώσοντας τῷ πατρὶ τὰ συμβεβηκότα καὶ παρακαλέσοντας βοηθεῖν τὴν ταχίστην. τοῖς δὲ προγεγονόσιν ἀτυχήμασιν ἑτέρα τοῖς Ἕλλησιν ἐλάττωσις ἐπεγένετο· ἀπέστησαν μὲν γὰρ ἀπʼ αὐτῶν πλὴν ὀλίγων ἅπαντες οἱ σύμμαχοι, συνεστράφησαν δὲ αἱ τῶν πολεμίων δυνάμεις καὶ πλησίον ποιησάμενοι παρεμβολὰς ἐφήδρευον. Ἰμίλκων μὲν γὰρ κατελάβετο τὰ στενὰ καὶ τῶν ἀπὸ τῆς χώρας εἰσβολῶν ἀπέκλεισε τοὺς ἐναντίους, ἀπέχοντας σταδίους ἑκατόν· ἐκ δὲ θατέρου μέρους ἐστρατοπέδευσεν Ἀτάρβας ἀπὸ τεσσαράκοντα σταδίων τοῦ Τύνητος. διόπερ τῶν πολεμίων οὐ μόνον τῆς θαλάττης, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῆς χώρας κυριευόντων σιτοδείᾳ τε συνέβαινε συνέχεσθαι τοὺς Ἕλληνας καὶ τῷ φόβῳ πάντοθεν κατείχοντο. ἐν ἀθυμίᾳ δὲ δεινῇ πάντων ὄντων Ἀγαθοκλῆς ὡς ἐπύθετο τὰ κατὰ τὴν Λιβύην ἐλαττώματα, παρεσκευάσατο ναῦς τε μακρὰς ἑπτακαίδεκα, διανοούμενος βοηθεῖν τοῖς περὶ τὸν Ἀρχάγαθον. καὶ τῶν κατὰ Σικελίαν δὲ πραγμάτων ἐπὶ τὸ χεῖρον αὐτῷ μεταβεβληκότων διὰ τὸ τοὺς περὶ Δεινοκράτην φυγάδας ηὐξῆσθαι ἐπὶ πλεῖον τὸν μὲν ἐν τῇ νήσῳ πόλεμον τοῖς περὶ Λεπτίνην στρατηγοῖς ἐνεχείρισεν, αὐτὸς δὲ πληρώσας τὰς ναῦς ἐπετήρει τὸν τοῦ πλοῦ καιρόν, ἐφορμούντων τῶν Καρχηδονίων τριάκοντα ναυσί. καθʼ ὃν δὴ χρόνον ἐκ Τυρρηνίας αὐτῷ κατέπλευσαν ὀκτωκαίδεκα ναῦς ἐπὶ βοήθειαν, αἳ διὰ νυκτὸς εἰς τὸν λιμένα εἰσπεσοῦσαι τοὺς Καρχηδονίους ἔλαθον. ὁ δʼ Ἀγαθοκλῆς ταύτης τυχὼν τῆς ἀφορμῆς κατεστρατήγησε τοὺς πολεμίους, τοῖς μὲν συμμάχοις μένειν παραγγείλας μέχρι ἂν αὐτὸς ἐκπλεύσας ἐπισπάσηται τοὺς Φοίνικας πρὸς τὸν διωγμόν, αὐτὸς δέ, καθάπερ ἦν συντεθειμένος, ἐκ τοῦ λιμένος ἀνήχθη κατὰ σπουδὴν τοῖς ἑπτακαίδεκα σκάφεσιν. εἶθʼ οἱ μὲν ἐφορμοῦντες ἐδίωκον, οἱ δὲ περὶ τὸν Ἀγαθοκλέα κατανοήσαντες τοὺς Τυρρηνοὺς παραφαινομένους ἐκ τοῦ λιμένος ἄφνω τὰς ναῦς ἐπέστρεψαν καὶ καταστάντες εἰς ἐμβολὴν διεναυμάχουν τοῖς βαρβάροις. οἱ δὲ Καρχηδόνιοι διά τε τὸ παράδοξον καὶ διὰ τὸ τῶν πολεμίων εἰς μέσον ἀπολαμβάνεσθαι τὰς ἰδίας τριήρεις καταπλαγέντες ἔφυγον. εἶθʼ οἱ μὲν Ἕλληνες πέντε νεῶν αὐτάνδρων ἐκυρίευσαν, ὁ δὲ τῶν Καρχηδονίων στρατηγὸς ἁλισκομένης ἤδη τῆς ναυαρχίδος ἀπέσφαξεν ἑαυτόν, προκρίνας τὸν θάνατον τῆς προσδοκηθείσης αἰχμαλωσίας. οὐ μὴν ἐφάνη γε εὖ βεβουλευμένος· ἡ γὰρ ναῦς φοροῦ πνεύματος ἐπιλαβομένη τοῦ δόλωνος ἀρθέντος ἐξέφυγε τὸν κίνδυνον.
After meeting with so great a disaster Archagathus returned to Tunis. He summoned from all sides the survivors of the soldiers who had been sent out; and he sent messengers to Sicily to report to his father what had happened and to urge him to come to his aid with all possible speed. In addition to the preceding disasters, another loss befell the Greeks; for all their allies except a few deserted them, and the armies of the enemy gathered together and, pitching camp near by, lay in wait for them. Himilco occupied the passes and shut off his opponents, who were at a distance of a hundred stades, from the routes leading from the region; and on the other side Atarbas camped at a distance of forty stades from Tunis. Therefore, since the enemy controlled not only the sea but also the land, the Greeks both suffered from famine and were beset by fear on every side. While all were in deep despair, Agathocles, when he learned of the reverses in Libya, made ready seventeen warships intending to go to the aid of Archagathus. Although affairs in Sicily had also shifted to his disadvantage because of the increase in the strength of the exiles who followed Deinocrates, he entrusted the war on the island to Leptines as general; and he himself, manning his ships, watched for a chance to set sail, since the Carthaginians were blockading the harbour with thirty ships. Now at this very time eighteen ships arrived from Etruria as a reinforcement for him, slipping into the harbour at night without the knowledge of the Carthaginians. Gaining this resource, Agathocles outgeneralled his enemies; ordering the allies to remain until he should have sailed out and drawn the Carthaginians into the chase, he himself, just as he had planned, put to sea from the harbour at top speed with his seventeen ships. The ships on guard pursued, but Agathocles, on seeing the Etruscans appearing from the harbour, suddenly turned his ships, took position for ramming, and pitted his ships against the barbarians. The Carthaginians, terror-stricken by the surprise and because their own triremes were cut off between the enemy fleets, fled. Thereupon the Greeks captured five ships with their crews; and the commander of the Carthaginians, when his flagship was on the point of being captured, killed himself, preferring death to the anticipated captivity. But in truth he was shown by the event to have judged unwisely; for his ship caught a favouring wind, raised its jury mast and fled from the battle.
§ 20.62
Ἀγαθοκλῆς μὲν οὖν οὐδʼ ἐλπίδας ἔχων τοῦ κατὰ θάλατταν περιέσεσθαί ποτε Καρχηδονίων ἐνίκησε ναυμαχίᾳ παραδόξως καὶ τὸ λοιπὸν θαλασσοκρατῶν παρείχετο τοῖς ἐμπόροις τὴν ἀσφάλειαν. διόπερ οἱ Συρακόσιοι, πάντοθεν πρὸς αὐτοὺς κομιζομένης ἀγορᾶς, ἀντὶ τῆς τῶν ἐπιτηδείων σπάνεως ταχέως πάντων ἔσχον δαψίλειαν. ὁ δὲ δυνάστης μετεωρισθεὶς τῷ γεγονότι προτερήματι Λεπτίνην ἐξαπέστειλε λεηλατήσοντα τὴν πολεμίαν καὶ μάλιστα τὴν Ἀκραγαντίνην. ὁ γὰρ Ξενόδοκος διὰ τὴν γεγενημένην ἧτταν βλασφημούμενος ὑπὸ τῶν ἀντιπολιτευομένων ἐστασίαζε πρὸς αὐτούς. παρήγγειλε μὲν οὖν τῷ Λεπτίνῃ πειρᾶσθαι προκαλέσασθαι τὸν ἄνδρα πρὸς τὴν μάχην· ῥᾳδίως γὰρ προτερήσειν ὡς στασιαζούσης δυνάμεως καὶ προηττημένης. ὅπερ καὶ συνετελέσθη· ὁ μὲν γὰρ Λεπτίνης ἐμβαλὼν εἰς τὴν Ἀκραγαντίνην τὴν χώραν ἐδῄου, ὁ δὲ Ξενόδοκος τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἡσυχίαν εἶχεν, οὐ νομίζων αὑτὸν ἀξιόμαχον εἶναι, ὀνειδιζόμενος δὲ ὑπὸ τῶν πολιτῶν εἰς δειλίαν προήγαγε τὴν στρατιάν, τῷ μὲν ἀριθμῷ βραχὺ λειπομένην τῶν ἐναντίων, τῇ δʼ ἀρετῇ πολὺ καταδεεστέραν οὖσαν, ὡς ἂν τῆς μὲν πολιτικῆς ἐν ἀνέσει καὶ σκιατραφίᾳ γεγενημένης, τῆς δʼ ἐν ἀγραυλίᾳ καὶ συνεχέσι στρατείαις γεγυμνασμένης. διὸ καὶ μάχης γενομένης οἱ περὶ τὸν Λεπτίνην ταχὺ τοὺς Ἀκραγαντίνους τρεψάμενοι συνεδίωξαν εἰς τὴν πόλιν· ἔπεσον δʼ ἐπὶ τῆς παρατάξεως τῶν ἡττηθέντων πεζοὶ μὲν περὶ πεντακοσίους, ἱππεῖς δὲ πλείω τῶν πεντήκοντα. εἶθʼ οἱ μὲν Ἀκραγαντῖνοι δυσφοροῦντες ἐπὶ τοῖς ἐλαττώμασιν ἐν αἰτίαις εἶχον τὸν Ξενόδοκον, ὡς δι’ ἐκεῖνον δὶς ἡττημένοι· ὁ δὲ φοβηθεὶς τὰς ἐπιφερομένας εὐθύνας καὶ κρίσεις ἀπεχώρησεν εἰς τὴν Γέλαν.
Agathocles, who had no hope of ever getting the better of the Carthaginians on the sea, unexpectedly defeated them in a naval battle, and thereafter he ruled the sea and gave security to his merchants. For this reason the people of Syracuse, goods being brought to them from all sides, in place of scarcity of provisions soon enjoyed an abundance of everything. The tyrant, encouraged by the success that had been won, dispatched Leptines to plunder the country of the enemy and, in particular, that of Acragas. For Xenodocus, vilified by his political opponents because of the defeat he had suffered, was at strife with them. Agathocles therefore ordered Leptines to try to entice the man out to a battle; for, he said, it would be easy to defeat him since his army was seditious and had already been overcome. And indeed this was accomplished; for when Leptines entered the territory of Acragas and began plundering the land, Xenodocus at first kept quiet, not believing himself strong enough for battle; but when he was reproached by the citizens for cowardice, he led out his army, which in number fell little short of that of his opponents but in morale was far inferior since the citizen army had been formed amid indulgence and a sheltered way of life and the other had been trained in military service in the field and in constant campaigns. Therefore when battle was joined, Leptines quickly routed the men of Acragas and pursued them into the city; and there fell in the battle on the side of the vanquished about five hundred foot soldiers and more than fifty horsemen. Then the people of Acragas, vexed over their disasters, brought charges against Xenodocus, saying that because of him they had twice been defeated; but he, fearing the impending investigation and trial, departed to Gela.
§ 20.63
Ἀγαθοκλῆς δὲ ἐν ἡμέραις ὀλίγαις καὶ πεζῇ καὶ κατὰ θάλατταν νενικηκὼς τοὺς πολεμίους ἔθυε τοῖς θεοῖς καὶ λαμπρὰς ὑποδοχὰς τῶν φίλων ἐποιεῖτο. ἀπετίθετο δʼ ἐν τοῖς πότοις τὸ τῆς τυραννίδος ἀξίωμα καὶ τῶν τυχόντων ἰδιωτῶν ταπεινότερον ἑαυτὸν ἀπεδείκνυεν, ἅμα μὲν διὰ τῆς τοιαύτης πολιτείας θηρώμενος τὴν παρὰ τῶν πολλῶν εὔνοιαν, ἅμα δὲ διδοὺς ἐν τῇ μέθῃ καθʼ αὑτοῦ παρρησίαν ἀκριβῶς κατενόει τὴν ἑκάστου διάνοιαν, τῆς ἀληθείας ἐκφερομένης ἀπαρακαλύπτως διὰ τὸν οἶνον. ὑπάρχων δὲ καὶ φύσει γελωτοποιὸς καὶ μῖμος οὐδʼ ἐν ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις ἀπείχετο τοῦ σκώπτειν τοὺς καθημένους καί τινας αὐτῶν εἰκάζειν, ὥστε τὸ πλῆθος πολλάκις εἰς γέλωτα ἐκτρέπεσθαι, καθάπερ τινὰ τῶν ἠθολόγων ἢ θαυματοποιῶν θεωροῦντας. δορυφορούμενος δὲ ὑπὸ πλήθους εἰς τὰς ἐκκλησίας εἰσῄει μόνος, οὐχ ὁμοίως Διονυσίῳ τῷ τυράννῳ· οὗτος γὰρ ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον ἀπίστως διέκειτο πρὸς ἅπαντας ὥστε κατὰ μὲν τὸ πλεῖστον κομᾶν καὶ πωγωνοτροφεῖν, ὅπως μὴ συναναγκασθῇ τῷ τοῦ κουρέως σιδήρῳ παραβαλεῖν τὰ κυριώτατα μέρη τοῦ σώματος· εἰ δὲ καί ποτε χρεία γένοιτο τὴν κεφαλὴν ἀποκείρασθαι, περιέκαε τὰς τρίχας, μίαν ἀσφάλειαν τυραννίδος ἀποφαινόμενος τὴν ἀπιστίαν. ὁ δʼ οὖν Ἀγαθοκλῆς παρὰ τὸν πότον λαβὼν ῥυτὸν μέγαν χρυσοῦν εἶπεν ὡς οὐ πρότερον ἀπέστη τῆς κεραμευτικῆς τέχνης ἕως τοιαῦτα ἐκπωμάτων πλάσματα φιλοτεχνῶν ἐκεραμεύσατο. οὐ γὰρ ἀπηρνεῖτο τὴν ἐπιστήμην, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὐναντίον ἐκαυχᾶτο, διὰ τῆς ἰδίας ἀρετῆς ἀποφαινόμενος ἀντὶ τοῦ ταπεινοτάτου βίου τὸν ἐπιφανέστατον μετειληφέναι. καί ποτε πολιορκοῦντος αὐτοῦ τινα τῶν οὐκ ἀδόξων πόλεων καὶ τῶν ἀπὸ τοῦ τείχους βοώντων “κεραμεῦ καὶ καμινεῦ, πότε τοὺς μισθοὺς ἀποδώσεις τοῖς στρατιώταις;” ὑπολαβὼν εἶπεν “ὅταν ταύτην ἐξέλω.” οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ διὰ τὴν ἐν τοῖς πότοις εὐτραπελίαν κατανοήσας τῶν μεθυόντων τοὺς ἀλλοτρίως τὰ πρὸς τὴν δυναστείαν ἔχοντας παρέλαβεν αὐτούς ποτε κατʼ ἰδίαν πάλιν ἐπὶ τὴν ἑστίασιν καὶ τῶν ἄλλων Συρακοσίων τοὺς μάλιστα πεφρονηματισμένους, τὸν ἀριθμὸν πεντακοσίους ὄντας· οἷς περιστήσας τῶν μισθοφόρων τοὺς εὐθέτους ἅπαντας ἀπέσφαξεν. σφόδρα γὰρ εὐλαβεῖτο μὴ χωρισθέντος αὐτοῦ εἰς Λιβύην καταλύσωσι τὴν δυναστείαν, ἐπικαλεσάμενοι τοὺς μετὰ Δεινοκράτους φυγάδας. τοῦτον δὲ τὸν τρόπον ἀσφαλισάμενος τὰ κατὰ τὴν ἀρχὴν ἐξέπλευσεν ἐκ τῶν Συρακουσσῶν.
Agathocles, having within a few days defeated his enemies both on land and sea, sacrificed to the gods and gave lavish entertainments for his friends. In his drinking bouts he used to put off the pomp of tyranny and to show himself more humble than the ordinary citizens; and by seeking through a policy of this sort the goodwill of the multitude and at the same time giving men licence to speak against him in their cups he used to discover exactly the opinion of each, since through wine the truth is brought to light without concealment. But by nature also a buffoon and a mimic, not even in the meetings of the assembly did he abstain from jeering at those who were present and from portraying certain of them, so that the common people would often break out into laughter as if they were watching one of the impersonators or conjurors. With a crowd serving as his bodyguard he used to enter the assembly unattended, unlike Dionysius the tyrant. For the latter was so distrustful of one and all that as a rule he let his hair and beard grow long so that he need not submit the most vital parts of his body to the steel of the barber; and if ever it became necessary for him to have his head trimmed, he singed off the locks, declaring that the only safety of a tyrant was distrust. Now Agathocles at the drinking bout, taking a great golden cup, said that he had not given up the potters' craft until in his pursuit of art he had produced in pottery beakers of such workmanship as this. For he did not deny his trade but on the contrary used to boast of it, claiming that it was by his own ability that in place of the most lowly position in life he had secured the most exalted one. 5 Once when he was besieging a certain not inglorious city and people from the wall shouted, "Potter and furnace-man, when will you pay your soldiers?" he said in away, "when I have taken this city." 6 None the less, however, when through the jesting at drinking bouts he had discovered which of those who were flushed with wine were hostile to his tyranny he invited them individually on another occasion to a banquet, and also those of the other Syracusans who had become particularly presumptuous, in number about five hundred; and surrounding them with suitable men from his mercenaries he slaughtered them all. For he was taking very careful precautions lest, while he was absent in Libya, they should overthrow the tyranny and recall Deinocrates and the exiles. After he had made his rule secure in this way, he sailed from Syracuse.
§ 20.64
καὶ κομισθεὶς εἰς Λιβύην κατέλαβε τὸ στρατόπεδον ἐν ἀθυμίᾳ καὶ σπάνει πολλῇ· διόπερ κρίνων συμφέρειν διαγωνίζεσθαι παρεκάλεσε τοὺς στρατιώτας εἰς τὸν κίνδυνον καὶ προαγαγὼν τὴν δύναμιν ἐκτεταγμένην προεκαλεῖτο τοὺς βαρβάρους εἰς μάχην. εἶχε δὲ πεζοὺς μὲν τοὺς ἅπαντας ὑπολειπομένους Ἕλληνας ἑξακισχιλίους, Κελτοὺς δὲ καὶ Σαυνίτας καὶ Τυρρηνοὺς τούτων οὐκ ἐλάττους, Λίβυας δὲ μικρὸν ἀπολείποντας τῶν μυρίων, οὓς ἐφέδρους εἶναι συνέβαινε, συμμεταβαλλομένους ἀεὶ τοῖς καιροῖς· χωρὶς δὲ τούτων ἠκολούθουν ἱππεῖς χίλιοι πεντακόσιοι, ζεύγη δὲ Λιβύων πλείω τῶν ἑξακισχιλίων. οἱ δὲ Καρχηδόνιοι κατεστρατοπεδευκότες ἐπὶ τῶν ὑπερδεξίων καὶ δυσπροσίτων διακινδυνεύειν μὲν πρὸς ἀνθρώπους ἀπογινώσκοντας τὴν σωτηρίαν οὐκ ἔκρινον, μένοντες δʼ ἐν τῇ παρεμβολῇ καὶ πάντων εὐποροῦντες τῇ σπάνει καὶ τῷ χρόνῳ καταπολεμήσειν τοὺς ἐναντίους ἤλπιζον. ὁ δʼ Ἀγαθοκλῆς οὐ δυνάμενος μὲν αὐτοὺς εἰς τὰ πεδία προάγεσθαι, τῶν δὲ καιρῶν ἀναγκαζόντων τολμᾶν τι καὶ παραβάλλεσθαι τὴν δύναμιν ἤγαγεν ἐπὶ τὴν τῶν βαρβάρων στρατοπεδείαν. ἐπεξελθόντων οὖν τῶν Καρχηδονίων καὶ πολὺ τῷ πλήθει καὶ ταῖς δυσχωρίαις ὑπερεχόντων ἐπὶ μέν τινα χρόνον οἱ περὶ τὸν Ἀγαθοκλέα διεκαρτέρουν πάντοθεν ἐκθλιβόμενοι, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτʼ ἐνδόντων τῶν μισθοφόρων καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἠναγκάσθησαν ἀναχωρῆσαι πρὸς τὴν στρατοπεδείαν. οἱ δὲ βάρβαροι βαρέως ἐπικείμενοι τοὺς μὲν Λίβυας παρήλλαττον οὐδὲν ἐνοχλοῦντες, ἵνα τὴν εὔνοιαν αὐτῶν ἐκκαλέσωνται, τοὺς δʼ Ἕλληνας καὶ μισθοφόρους γνωρίζοντες διὰ τῶν ὅπλων ἐφόνευον, μέχρις ὅτου συνεδίωξαν εἰς τὴν παρεμβολήν. τότε μὲν οὖν ἀνῃρέθησαν Ἀγαθοκλέους εἰς τρισχιλίους· κατὰ δὲ τὴν ἐπιοῦσαν νύκτα τὰς δυνάμεις ἀμφοτέρας συνέβη περιπεσεῖν παραλόγῳ τινὶ συμφορᾷ καὶ πᾶσιν ἀνελπίστῳ.
When he arrived in Libya he found the army discouraged and in great want: deciding, therefore, that it was best to fight a battle, he encouraged the soldiers for the fray and, after leading forth the army in battle array, challenged the barbarians to combat. As infantry he had all the surviving Greeks, six thousand in number, at least as many Celts, Samnites, and Etruscans, and almost ten thousand Libyans, who, as it turned out, only sat and looked on, being always ready to change with changing conditions. In addition to these there followed him fifteen hundred horsemen and more than six thousand Libyan chariots. The Carthaginians, since they were encamped in high and inaccessible positions, decided not to risk a battle against men who had no thought of safety; but they hoped that, by remaining in their camp where they were plentifully supplied with everything, they would defeat their enemy by famine and the passage of time. But Agathocles, since he could not lure them down to the plain and since his own situation forced him to do something daring and chance the result, led his army against the encampment of the barbarians. Then when the Carthaginians came out against him, even though they were far superior in number and had the advantage of the rough terrain, Agathocles held out for some time although hard pressed on every side; but afterwards, when his mercenaries and the others began to give way, he was forced to withdraw toward his camp. The barbarians, as they pressed forward stoutly, passed by the Libyans without molesting them in order to elicit their goodwill; but recognizing the Greeks and the mercenaries by their weapons, they continued to slay them until they had driven them into their own camp. Now on this occasion about three thousand of Agathocles' men were killed; but on the following night it so happened that each army was visited by a strange and totally unexpected mishap.
§ 20.65
τῶν γὰρ Καρχηδονίων μετὰ τὴν νίκην τοὺς καλλίστους τῶν αἰχμαλώτων θυόντων χαριστήρια νυκτὸς τοῖς θεοῖς καὶ πολλοῦ πυρὸς τοὺς ἱεροκαυτουμένους ἄνδρας κατέχοντος ἐξαίφνης πνεύματος ἐπιπεσόντος συνέβη τὴν ἱερὰν σκηνὴν ἀναφθῆναι, πλησίον οὖσαν τοῦ βωμοῦ, ἀπὸ δὲ ταύτης τὴν στρατηγικὴν καὶ κατὰ τὸ συνεχὲς οὔσας τὰς τῶν ἡγεμόνων, ὥστε πολλὴν ἔκπληξιν γενέσθαι καὶ φόβον κατὰ πᾶν τὸ στρατόπεδον. τινὲς μὲν γὰρ τὸ πῦρ ἐπιχειροῦντες σβέσαι, τινὲς δὲ τὰς πανοπλίας καὶ τὰ πολυτελέστατα τῶν παρεσκευασμένων ἐκκομίζοντες ὑπὸ τῆς φλογὸς ἀπελαμβάνοντο· τῶν γὰρ σκηνῶν ἐκ καλάμου καὶ χόρτου συγκειμένων καὶ τοῦ πυρὸς ὑπὸ τοῦ πνεύματος βιαιότερον ἐκριπισθέντος ἡ παρὰ τῶν στρατιωτῶν βοήθεια κατεταχεῖτο. διὸ καὶ τῆς παρεμβολῆς ταχὺ πάσης φλεγομένης πολλοὶ μὲν ἐν στεναῖς ταῖς διόδοις ἀποληφθέντες ζῶντες κατεκαύθησαν καὶ τῆς εἰς τοὺς αἰχμαλώτους ὠμότητος παραχρῆμα τὴν κόλασιν ὑπέσχον, αὐτῆς τῆς ἀσεβείας ἴσην τὴν τιμωρίαν πορισαμένης· τοῖς δʼ ἐκ τῆς παρεμβολῆς ἐκπίπτουσι μετὰ θορύβου καὶ κραυγῆς ἕτερος μείζων ἐπηκολούθησε κίνδυνος.
While the Carthaginians after their victory were sacrificing the fairest of their captives as thank-offerings to the gods by night, and while a great blaze enveloped the men who were being offered as victims, a sudden blast of wind struck them, with the result that the sacred hut, which was near the altar, caught fire, and from this the hut of the general caught and then the huts of the leaders, which were in line with it, so that great consternation and fear sprang up throughout the whole camp. Some were trapped by the conflagration while trying to put out the fire and others while carrying out their armour and the most valued of their possessions; for, since the huts were made of reeds and straw and the fire was forcibly fanned by the breeze, the aid brought by the soldiers came too late. Thus when almost the entire camp was in flames, many, caught in the passages which were narrow, were burned alive and suffered due punishment on the spot for their cruelty to the captives, the impious act itself having brought about a punishment to match it; and as for those who dashed from the camp amid tumult and shouting, another greater danger awaited them.
§ 20.66
τῶν μὲν γὰρ Ἀγαθοκλεῖ συντεταγμένων Λιβύων εἰς πεντακισχιλίους ἀποστάντες τῶν Ἑλλήνων νυκτὸς ηὐτομόλουν πρὸς τοὺς βαρβάρους. τούτους δὲ οἱ πρὸς τὴν κατασκοπὴν ἐκπεμφθέντες ὡς ἴδον ἐπὶ τὴν παρεμβολὴν τῶν Καρχηδονίων προσάγοντας, νομίσαντες τὴν τῶν Ἑλλήνων δύναμιν ἅπασαν διεσκευασμένην ἐπιέναι, ταχὺ τοῖς στρατιώταις ἐδήλωσαν τὴν προσιοῦσαν δύναμιν. διαδοθέντος οὖν πρὸς ἅπαντας τοῦ λόγου θόρυβος ἐνέπιπτε καὶ προσδοκία τῆς τῶν πολεμίων ἐφόδου. ἑκάστου δὲ τὴν σωτηρίαν ἐν τῇ φυγῇ τιθεμένου καὶ μήτε παραγγέλματος δοθέντος ὑπὸ τῶν στρατηγῶν μήτε τάξεως οὔσης μηδεμιᾶς οἱ φεύγοντες ἐνέπιπτον ἀλλήλοις· ὧν οἱ μὲν διὰ τὸ σκότος, οἱ δὲ διὰ τὴν ἔκπληξιν ἀγνοοῦντες τοὺς οἰκείους ὡς πολεμίους ἠμύνοντο. πολλοῦ δὲ φόνου γινομένου καὶ τῆς ἀγνοίας ἐπικρατούσης οἱ μὲν ἐν χειρῶν νόμῳ διεφθάρησαν, οἱ δʼ ἐκπεπηδηκότες ἄνοπλοι καὶ τὴν φυγὴν ποιούμενοι διὰ τῶν δυσχωριῶν κατεκρημνίζοντο, τῆς ψυχῆς ἐπτοημένης διὰ τὸν ἀπροσδόκητον φόβον. τὸ δὲ τέλος πλειόνων ἢ πεντακισχιλίων ἀπολομένων τὸ λοιπὸν πλῆθος διεσώθη πρὸς τὴν Καρχηδόνα. οἱ δʼ ἐν τῇ πόλει τότε μὲν συνεξαπατηθέντες τῇ φήμῃ τῶν ἰδίων ὑπέλαβον ἡττῆσθαι μάχῃ καὶ τῆς δυνάμεως τὸ πλεῖστον διεφθάρθαι. διόπερ ἀγωνιῶντες ἀνέῳξαν τὰς πύλας καὶ μετὰ θορύβου καὶ πτοήσεως ἐδέχοντο τοὺς στρατιώτας, φοβούμενοι μὴ τοῖς ἐσχάτοις οἱ πολέμιοι συνεισπέσωσιν· ἡμέρας δὲ γενομένης μαθόντες τἀληθὲς μόλις ἀπελύθησαν τῆς τῶν δεινῶν προσδοκίας.
As many as five thousand of the Libyans who had been taken into Agathocles' army had deserted the Greeks and were going over by night to the barbarians. When those who had been sent out as scouts saw these men coming toward the Carthaginian camp, believing that the whole army of the Greeks was advancing ready for battle, they quickly reported the approaching force to their fellow soldiers. When the report had been spread through the whole force, there arose tumult and dread of the enemy's attack. Each man placed his hope of safety in flight; and since no order had been given by the commanders nor was there any formation, the fugitives kept running into each other. When some of them failed to recognize their friends because of the darkness and others because of fright, they fought against them as if they were enemies. A general slaughter took place; and while the misunderstanding still prevailed, some were slain in hand to hand fighting and others, who had sped away unarmed and were fleeing three the rough country, fell from cliffs, distraught in mind by the sudden panic. Finally after more than five thousand had perished, the rest of the multitude came safe to Carthage. But those in the city, who had also been deceived at that time by the report of their own people, supposed that they had been conquered in a battle and that the largest part of the army had been destroyed. Therefore in great anxiety they opened the city gates and with tumult and excitement received their soldiers, fearing lest with the last of them the enemy should burst in. When day broke, however, they learned the truth and were with difficulty freed from their expectation of disaster.
§ 20.67
οἱ δὲ περὶ τὸν Ἀγαθοκλέα κατὰ τὸν αὐτὸν χρόνον δι’ ἀπάτην καὶ προσδοκίαν ψευδῆ ταῖς ὁμοίαις περιέπεσον συμφοραῖς. τῶν γὰρ ἀποστατῶν Λιβύων μετὰ τὸν ἐμπυρισμὸν τῆς παρεμβολῆς καὶ τὸν γενόμενον θόρυβον οὐ τολμησάντων προάγειν, ἀλλʼ εἰς τοὐπίσω πάλιν ἐπανιόντων τῶν Ἑλλήνων τινὲς αἰσθόμενοι προσιόντας αὐτοὺς καὶ δόξαντες τὴν τῶν Καρχηδονίων δύναμιν ἥκειν ἀπήγγειλαν τοῖς περὶ τὸν Ἀγαθοκλέα πλησίον ὑπάρχειν τὸ τῶν πολεμίων στρατόπεδον. τοῦ δυνάστου δὲ παραγγείλαντος εἰς ὅπλα χωρεῖν, ἐξέπιπτον ἐκ τῆς στρατοπεδείας οἱ στρατιῶται μετὰ πολλοῦ θορύβου. ἅμα δὲ τῆς τε κατὰ τὴν παρεμβολὴν φλογὸς εἰς ὕψος ἀρθείσης καὶ τῆς τῶν Καρχηδονίων κραυγῆς ἐξακούστου γινομένης ὑπέλαβον πρὸς ἀλήθειαν τοὺς βαρβάρους ἁπάσῃ τῇ δυνάμει προσάγειν ἐπʼ αὐτούς. τῆς δʼ ἐκπλήξεως τὸ βουλεύεσθαι παραιρουμένης ἐνέπεσε φόβος εἰς τὸ στρατόπεδον καὶ πάντες πρὸς φυγὴν ὥρμησαν. εἶτα προσμιξάντων αὐτοῖς τῶν Λιβύων καὶ τῆς νυκτὸς μείζονα τὴν ἄγνοιαν φυλαττούσης οἱ περιτυγχάνοντες ἀλλήλους ὡς πολεμίους ἠμύνοντο. ὅλην δὲ τὴν νύκτα πανταχῇ διασπειρομένων αὐτῶν καὶ πανικῷ θορύβῳ συνεχομένων συνέβη πλείους τῶν τετρακισχιλίων ἀναιρεθῆναι. ἐπιγνωσθείσης δὲ μόγις τῆς ἀληθείας οἱ διασωθέντες ἐπανῆλθον εἰς τὴν παρεμβολήν. αἱ μὲν οὖν δυνάμεις ἀμφότεραι τὸν εἰρημένον τρόπον ἠτύχησαν, ἐξαπατηθεῖσαι κατὰ τὴν παροιμίαν τοῖς κενοῖς τοῦ πολέμου.
At this same time, however, Agathocles by reason of deceit and mistaken expectation met with similar disaster. For the Libyans who had deserted did not dare go on after the burning of the camp and the tumult that had arisen, but turned back again; and some of the Greeks, seeing them advancing and believing that the army of the Carthaginians had come, reported to Agathocles that the enemy's forces were near at hand. The dynast gave the order to take up arms, and the soldiers rushed from the camp with great tumult. Since at the same time the fire in the Carthaginian camp blazed high and the shouting of the Carthaginians became audible, the Greeks believed that the barbarians were in very truth advancing against them with their whole army. Since their consternation prevented deliberation, panic fell upon the camp and all began to flee. Then as the Libyans mingled with them and the darkness fostered and increased their uncertainty, those who happened to meet fought each other as if they were enemies. 4 They were scattered about everywhere throughout the whole night and were in the grip of panic fear, with the result that more than four thousand were killed. When the truth was at long last discovered, those who survived returned to their camp. Thus both armies met with disaster in the way described, being tricked, according to the proverb, by the empty alarms of war.
§ 20.68
Ἀγαθοκλῆς δέ, μετὰ τὴν γενομένην ἀτυχίαν τῶν μὲν Λιβύων ἁπάντων ἀποστάντων ἀπʼ αὐτοῦ, τῆς δὲ ὑπολειπομένης δυνάμεως ἀδυνατούσης διαπολεμεῖν πρὸς τοὺς Καρχηδονίους διέγνω τὴν Λιβύην ἐκλιπεῖν. διακομίσαι δὲ τοὺς στρατιώτας οὐχ ὑπελάμβανεν δυνήσεσθαι διὰ τὸ μήτε πόρια παρεσκευάσθαι μήτε τοὺς Καρχηδονίους ἐπιτρέψαι ποτʼ ἂν θαλασσοκρατοῦντας. διαλύσεις δʼ οὐκ ἐνόμιζε ποιήσεσθαι τοὺς βαρβάρους, πολὺ προέχοντας ταῖς δυνάμεσι καὶ διαβεβαιουμένους ταῖς τῶν πρῶτον διαβάντων ἀπωλείαις ἀποτρέψαι τοὺς ἄλλους ἐπιτίθεσθαι τῇ Λιβύῃ. ἔκρινεν οὖν μετʼ ὀλίγων λάθρᾳ ποιήσασθαι τὴν ἀναγωγὴν καὶ συνενεβίβασε τὸν νεώτερον τῶν υἱῶν Ἡρακλείδην· τὸν γὰρ Ἀρχάγαθον εὐλαβεῖτο μήποτε συνὼν τῇ μητρυιᾷ καὶ φύσει τολμηρὸς ὢν ἐπιβουλὴν κατʼ αὐτοῦ συστήσῃ. ὁ δʼ Ἀρχάγαθος ὑποπτεύσας αὐτοῦ τὴν ἐπίνοιαν παρετήρει τὸν ἔκπλουν, διανοούμενος μηνῦσαι τῶν ἡγεμόνων τοῖς διακωλύσουσι τὴν ἐπιβολήν· ἡγεῖτο γὰρ δεινὸν εἶναι τὸ τῶν μὲν κινδύνων ἑαυτὸν προθύμως μετεσχηκέναι, προαγωνιζόμενον τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ τἀδελφοῦ, τῆς δὲ σωτηρίας μόνον ἀποστερεῖσθαι, καταλειπόμενον ἔκδοτον τοῖς πολεμίοις. διὸ δὴ τοὺς περὶ τὸν Ἀγαθοκλέα μέλλοντας λάθρᾳ τὸν ἀπόπλουν ποιεῖσθαι νυκτὸς ἐμήνυσέ τισι τῶν ἡγεμόνων. οἱ δὲ συνδραμόντες οὐ μόνον διεκώλυσαν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῷ πλήθει τὴν ῥᾳδιουργίαν ἐξέθηκαν· ἐφʼ οἷς οἱ στρατιῶται περιαλγεῖς γενόμενοι συνελάβοντο τὸν δυνάστην καὶ δήσαντες παρέδωκαν εἰς
Since after this misfortune the Libyans all deserted him and the army which remained was not strong enough to wage battle against the Carthaginians, Agathocles decided to leave Libya. But he did not believe that he would be able to transport his soldiers since he had not prepared any transports and the Carthaginians would never permit it while they controlled the sea. He did not expect that the barbarians would agree to a truce because they were far superior in their armies and were determined by the destruction of those who had first come across to prevent others from attacking Libya. He decided, therefore, to make the return voyage with a few in secret, and he took on board with him the younger of his sons, Heracleides; for he was on his guard against Archagathus, lest some time this son, who was on intimate terms with his step-mother and was bold by nature, should form a conspiracy against himself. Archagathus, however, suspecting his purpose watched for the sailing with care, being determined to reveal the plot to such of the leaders as would prevent the attempt; for he thought it monstrous that, although he had shared willingly in the battles, fighting in behalf of his father and brother, yet he alone should be deprived of a safe return and left behind as a victim to the enemy. He therefore disclosed to some of the leaders that Agathocles was about to sail away in secret by night. These coming quickly together not only prevented this, but also revealed Agathocles' knavery to the rank and file; and the soldiers, becoming furious at this, seized the tyrant, bound him, and put him in custody.
§ 20.69
φυλακήν. ἀναρχίας οὖν γενομένης ἐν τῷ στρατοπέδῳ θόρυβος ἦν καὶ ταραχὴ καὶ τῆς νυκτὸς ἐπιλαβούσης διεδόθη λόγος ὡς πλησίον εἰσὶν οἱ πολέμιοι. ἐμπεσούσης δὲ πτόης καὶ φόβου πανικοῦ διεσκευασμένος ἕκαστος προῆγεν ἐκ τῆς παρεμβολῆς οὐδενὸς παραγγέλλοντος. καθʼ ὃν δὴ χρόνον οἱ τὸν δυνάστην παραφυλάττοντες οὐχ ἧττον τῶν ἄλλων ἐκπεπληγμένοι καὶ δόξαντες ὑπό τινων καλεῖσθαι ταχέως ἐξῆγον τὸν Ἀγαθοκλέα διειλημμένον δεσμοῖς. τὸ δὲ πλῆθος ὡς ἴδεν, εἰς ἔλεον ἐτράπη καὶ πάντες ἐπεβόων ἀφεῖναι. ὁ δὲ λυθεὶς καὶ μετʼ ὀλίγων ἐμβὰς εἰς τὸ πορθμεῖον ἔλαθεν ἐκπλεύσας κατὰ τὴν δύσιν τῆς Πλειάδος χειμῶνος ὄντος. οὗτος μὲν οὖν τῆς ἰδίας σωτηρίας φροντίσας ἐγκατέλιπε τοὺς υἱούς, οὓς οἱ στρατιῶται τὸν δρασμὸν ἀκούσαντες εὐθὺς ἀπέσφαξαν, καὶ στρατηγοὺς ἐξ ἑαυτῶν ἑλόμενοι διελύθησαν πρὸς Καρχηδονίους, ὥστε τὰς πόλεις ἃς εἶχον παραδοῦναι καὶ λαβεῖν τάλαντα τριακόσια καὶ τοὺς μὲν αἱρουμένους μετὰ Καρχηδονίων στρατεύειν κομίζεσθαι τοὺς ἀεὶ διδομένους μισθούς, τοὺς δʼ ἄλλους εἰς Σικελίαν διακομισθέντας λαβεῖν οἰκητήριον Σολοῦντα. τῶν μὲν οὖν στρατιωτῶν οἱ πλείους ἐμμείναντες ταῖς συνθήκαις ἔτυχον τῶν ὁμολογηθέντων· ὅσοι δὲ τὰς πόλεις διακατέχοντες ἀντεῖχον ταῖς παρʼ Ἀγαθοκλέους ἐλπίσιν, ἐξεπολιορκήθησαν κατὰ κράτος. ὧν οἱ Καρχηδόνιοι τοὺς μὲν ἡγεμόνας ἀνεσταύρωσαν, τοὺς δʼ ἄλλους δήσαντες πέδαις, ἣν διὰ τὸν πόλεμον ἐξηγρίωσαν χώραν, ἐξηνάγκαζον τοὶς ἰδίοις πόνοις πάλιν ἐξημεροῦν. Καρχηδόνιοι μὲν οὖν ἔτος τέταρτον πολεμούμενοι τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον ἐκομίσαντο τὴν ἐλευθερίαν.
Consequently, when discipline disappeared in the camp, there was tumult and confusion, and as night came on word was spread abroad that the enemy was near. When fright and panic fear fell upon them, each man armed himself and rushed forth from the encampment, no man giving orders. At this very time those who were guarding the tyrant, being no less frightened than the others and imagining that they were being summoned by somebody, hastily brought out Agathocles bound with chains. When the common soldiers saw him they were moved to pity and all shouted to let him go. When released, he embarked on the transport with a few followers and secretly sailed away, although this was in the winter at the season of the setting of the Pleiades. This man, then, concerned about his own safety, abandoned his sons, whom the soldiers among other things slew when they learned of his escape; and the soldiers selected generals from their own number and made peace with the Carthaginians on these terms: they were to give back the cities which they held and to receive three hundred talents, and those who chose to serve with the Carthaginians were to receive pay at the regular rates, and the others, when transported to Sicily, were to receive Solus as a dwellingplace. 4 Now, most of the soldiers abided by the terms and received what had been agreed upon; but all those who continued to occupy the cities because they still clung to hopes of Agathocles were attacked and taken by storm. 5 Their leaders the Carthaginians crucified; the others they bound with fetters and forced them by their own labour to bring back again into cultivation the country they had laid waste during the war. In this way, then, the Carthaginians recovered the liberty in the fourth year of the war.
§ 20.70
τῆς δʼ Ἀγαθοκλέους στρατείας εἰς Λιβύην ἐπισημήναιτʼ ἄν τις τό τε παράδοξον καὶ τὴν εἰς τὰ τέκνα γενομένην τιμωρίαν οἷον τῇ θείᾳ προνοίᾳ. ἐπὶ μὲν γὰρ τῆς Σικελίας ἡττηθεὶς καὶ τὴν πλείστην τῆς δυνάμεως ἀπολέσας ἐπὶ τῆς Λιβύης μικρῷ μέρει τοὺς προνενικηκότας κατεπολέμησεν. καὶ τὰς μὲν ἐν τῇ Σικελίᾳ πόλεις ἁπάσας ἀποβαλὼν πρὸς Συρακούσσαις ἐπολιορκεῖτο, κατὰ δὲ τὴν Λιβύην πασῶν τῶν ἄλλων πόλεων ἐγκρατὴς γενόμενος εἰς πολιορκίαν κατέκλεισε τοὺς Καρχηδονίους, τῆς τύχης ὥσπερ ἐπίτηδες ἐπιδεικνυμένης τὴν ἰδίαν δύναμιν ἐπὶ τῶν ἀπηλπισμένων. εἰς τηλικαύτην δʼ ὑπεροχὴν ἐλθόντος αὐτοῦ καὶ τὸν Ὀφέλλαν φονεύσαντος, ὄντα φίλον καὶ ξένον, φανερῶς ἐπεσημήνατο τὸ δαιμόνιον ὡς διὰ τὴν εἰς τοῦτον παρανομίαν τῶν ὕστερον αὐτῷ γεγενημένων τὸ θεῖον ἐπιστήσαι· τοῦ γὰρ αὐτοῦ μηνὸς καὶ τῆς αὐτῆς ἡμέρας Ὀφέλλαν ἀνελὼν παρέλαβε τὴν δύναμιν καὶ πάλιν τοὺς υἱοὺς ἀπολέσας ἀπέβαλε τὸ στρατόπεδον. καὶ τὸ πάντων ἰδιώτατον, ὁ θεὸς ὥσπερ ἀγαθὸς νομοθέτης διπλῆν ἔλαβε παρʼ αὐτοῦ τὴν κόλασιν· ἕνα γὰρ φίλον ἀδίκως φονεύσας δυεῖν υἱῶν ἐστερήθη, τῶν μετʼ Ὀφέλλα παραγενομένων προσενεγκάντων τὰς χεῖρας τοῖς νεανίσκοις. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἡμῖν εἰρήσθω πρὸς τοὺς καταφρονοῦντας τῶν τοιούτων.
One might well draw attention both to the almost incredible elements in Agathocles' expedition to Libya and to the punishment that befell his children as if by divine providence. For although in Sicily he had been defeated and had lost the largest part of his army, in Libya with a small portion of his forces he defeated those who had previously been victorious. And after he had lost all the cities in Sicily, he was besieged at Syracuse; but in Libya, after becoming master of all the other cities, he confined the Carthaginians by a siege, Fortune, as if of set purpose, displaying her peculiar power when a situation has become hopeless. After he had come to such a position of superiority and had murdered Ophellas although he was a friend and a guest, the divine power clearly showed that it established through his impious acts against Ophellas a portent of that which later befell him; for in the same month and on the same day on which he murdered Ophellas and took his army, he caused the death of his own sons and lost his own army. And what is most peculiar of all, the god like a good lawgiver exacted a double punishment from him; for when he had unjustly slain one friend, he was deprived of two sons, those who had been with Ophellas laying violent hands upon the young men. Let these things, then, be said as our answer to those who scorn such matters.
§ 20.71
ὁ δʼ Ἀγαθοκλῆς ἐπειδὴ διεκομίσθη ταχέως ἐκ τῆς Λιβύης εἰς τὴν Σικελίαν, μεταπεμψάμενος μέρος τῆς δυνάμεως παρῆλθεν εἰς τὴν τῶν Αἰγεσταίων πόλιν οὖσαν σύμμαχον. ἀπορούμενος δὲ χρημάτων εἰσφέρειν ἠνάγκαζε τοὺς εὐπόρους τὸ πλεῖον μέρος τῆς ὑπάρξεως, οὔσης τῆς πόλεως τότε μυριάνδρου. πολλῶν δʼ ἐπὶ τούτοις ἀγανακτούντων καὶ συντρεχόντων αἰτιασάμενος τοὺς Αἰγεσταίους ἐπιβουλεύειν αὐτῷ δειναῖς περιέβαλε συμφοραῖς τὴν πόλιν· τοὺς μὲν γὰρ ἀπορωτάτους προαγαγὼν ἐκτὸς τῆς πόλεως παρὰ τὸν Σκάμανδρον ποταμὸν ἀπέσφαξεν, τοὺς δὲ δοκοῦντας οὐσίαν κεκτῆσθαι μείζονα βασανίζων ἠνάγκαζε λέγειν ὁπόσα ἔχων τις τυγχάνει χρήματα καὶ τοὺς μὲν αὐτῶν ἐτρόχιζε, τοὺς δὲ εἰς τοὺς καταπέλτας ἐνδεσμεύων κατετόξευεν, ἐνίοις δʼ ἀστραγάλους προστιθεὶς βιαιότερον δειναῖς ἀλγηδόσι περιέβαλλεν. ἐξεῦρε δὲ καὶ ἑτέραν τιμωρίαν ἐμφερῆ τῷ Φαλάριδος ταύρῳ· κατεσκεύασε γὰρ κλίνην χαλκῆν ἀνθρωπίνου σώματος τύπου ἔχουσαν καὶ καθʼ ἕκαστον μέρος κλεισὶ διειλημμένην, εἰς ταύτην δʼ ἐναρμόζων τοὺς βασανιζομένους ὑπέκαιε ζῶντας, τούτῳ διαφερούσης τῆς κατασκευῆς ταύτης παρὰ τὸν ταῦρον, τῷ καὶ θεωρεῖσθαι τοὺς ἐν ταῖς ἀνάγκαις ἀπολλυμένους. τῶν δὲ γυναικῶν τῶν εὐπόρων τινῶν μὲν καρκίνοις σιδηροῖς τὰ σφυρὰ πιέζων συνέτεινε, τινῶν δὲ τοὺς τιτθοὺς ἀπέτεμνεν, ταῖς δʼ ἐγκύοις πλίνθους ἐπὶ τὴν ὀσφῦν ἐπιτιθεὶς τὸ ἔμβρυον ἀπὸ τοῦ βάρους ἐξέθλιβεν. τούτῳ δὲ τῷ τρόπῳ τὰ χρήματα πάντα τοῦ τυράννου ζητοῦντος καὶ μεγάλου φόβου τὴν πόλιν ἐπέχοντος τινὲς μὲν αὑτοὺς συγκατέκαυσαν ταῖς οἰκίαις, τινὲς δὲ ἀγχόνῃ τὸ ζῆν ἐξέλιπον. ἡ μὲν οὖν Αἴγεστα τυχοῦσα μιᾶς ἡμέρας ἀτυχοῦς ἡβηδὸν ἐθανατώθη. ὁ δʼ Ἀγαθοκλῆς παρθένους μὲν καὶ παῖδας εἰς τὴν Ἰταλίαν διακομίσας ἀπέδοτο τοῖς Βρεττίοις, τῆς δὲ πόλεως οὐδὲ τὴν προσηγορίαν ἀπολιπών, ἀλλὰ Δικαιόπολιν μετονομάσας ἔδωκεν οἰκητήριον τοῖς αὐτομόλοις.
When with all speed Agathocles had crossed from Libya into Sicily, he summoned a part of his army and went to the city of Segesta, which was an ally. Because he was in need of money, he forced the well-to do to deliver to him the greater part of their property, the city at that time having a population of about ten thousand. Since many were angry at this and were holding meetings, he charged the people of Segesta with conspiring against him and visited the city with terrible disasters. For instance, the poorest of the people he brought to a place outside the city beside the river Scamander and slaughtered them; but those who were believed to have more property he examined under torture and compelled each to tell him how much wealth he had; and some of them he broke on the wheel, others he placed bound in the catapults and shot forth, and by applying knucklebones with violence to some, he caused them severe pain. He also invented another torture similar to the bull of Phalaris: that is, he prepared a brazen bed that had the form of a human body and was surrounded on every side by bars; on this he fixed those who were being tortured and roasted them alive, the contrivance being superior to the bull in this respect, that those who perishing in anguish were visible. As for the wealthy women, he tortured some of them by crushing their ankles with iron pincers, he cut off the breasts of others, and by placing bricks on the lower part of the backs of those who were pregnant, he forced the expulsion of the foetus by the pressure. While the tyrant in this way was seeking all the wealth, great panic prevailed throughout the city, some burning themselves up along with their houses, and others gaining release from life by hanging. Thus Segesta, encountering a single day of disaster, suffered the loss of all her men from youth upward. Agathocles then took the maidens and children across to Italy and sold them to the Bruttians, leaving not even the name of the city; but he changed the name to Dicaeopolis and gave it as dwelling to the deserters.
§ 20.72
ἀκούσας γὰρ τὴν τῶν υἱῶν ἀναίρεσιν καὶ διʼ ὀργῆς ἔχων ἅπαντας τοὺς ἀπολελειμμένους κατὰ Λιβύην ἔπεμψε τῶν φίλων τινὰς εἰς Συρακούσσας πρὸς Ἄντανδρον τὸν ἀδελφόν, διακελευσάμενος τοὺς τῶν συστρατευσάντων ἐπὶ Καρχηδόνα συγγενεῖς ἅπαντας ἀποσφάξαι. ταχὺ δὲ τούτου τὸ προσταχθὲν ποιήσαντος ποικιλώτατον γενέσθαι συνέβη φόνον τῶν προγεγονότων· οὐ γὰρ μόνον τοὺς ἀκμάζοντας ταῖς ἡλικίαις ἀδελφοὺς ἢ πατέρας ἢ παῖδας ἐξῆγεν ἐπὶ τὸν θάνατον, ἀλλὰ καὶ πάππους καὶ τούτων, εἰ τύχοι, καὶ πατέρας περιόντας ἐσχατογήρους καὶ ταῖς ὅλαις αἰσθήσεσι διὰ τὸν χρόνον ἤδη παραλελυμένους, ἔτι δὲ νηπίους παῖδας ἐν ἀγκάλαις φερομένους καὶ τῆς ἐπιφερομένης αὐτοῖς συμφορᾶς οὐδεμίαν αἴσθησιν λαμβάνοντας. ἤγοντο δὲ καὶ γυναῖκες ὅσαι μετεῖχον οἰκειότητος ἢ συγγενείας καὶ καθόλου πᾶς ὁ μέλλων τῇ καθʼ αὑτὸν τιμωρίᾳ λύπην ἐμποιῆσαι τοῖς ἐπὶ τῆς Λιβύης ἀπολειφθεῖσι. πολλοῦ δὲ πλήθους καὶ παντοίου πρὸς τὴν θάλατταν ἀχθέντος ἐπὶ τὴν τιμωρίαν καὶ τῶν σφαγέων ἐφεστώτων δάκρυα καὶ δεήσεις καὶ θρῆνος ἐγίνετο συμφορητός, ὧν μὲν ἀνηλεῶς φονευομένων, ὧν δὲ ἐπὶ ταῖς τῶν πλησίον συμφοραῖς ἐκπληττομένων καὶ διὰ τὸ προσδοκώμενον οὐδὲν διαφερόντων ταῖς ψυχαῖς τῶν προαποθνησκόντων. τὸ δὲ πάντων χαλεπώτατον, πολλῶν ἀναιρεθέντων καὶ παρὰ τὸν αἰγιαλὸν ἐρριμμένων τῶν σωμάτων οὔτε συγγενὴς οὐδεὶς οὔτε φίλος ἐτόλμα τινὰ κηδεύειν, φοβούμενος μὴ δόξῃ προσαγγέλλειν ἑαυτὸν μετέχοντα τῆς ἐκείνων οἰκειότητος. διὰ δὲ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν φονευθέντων ἐπὶ τοῦ κύματος συνέβη τὴν θάλατταν ἐφʼ ἱκανὸν τόπον αἵματι κραθεῖσαν πόρρωθεν διαφαίνειν τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῆς τοῦ πάθους ὠμότητος.
On hearing of the murder of his sons Agathocles became enraged at all those who had been left behind in Libya, and sent some of his friends into Syracuse to Antander his brother, ordering him to put to death all the relatives of those who had taken part in the campaign against Carthage. As Antander promptly carried out the order, there occurred the most elaborately devised massacre that had taken place up to this time; for not only did they drag out to death the brothers, fathers, and sons who were in the prime of manhood, but also the grandfathers, and even the fathers of these if such survived, men who lingered on in extreme old age and were already bereft of all their senses by lapse of time, as well as infant children borne in arms who had no consciousness whatever of the fate that was bearing down upon them. They also led away any women who were related by marriage or kinship, and in sum, every person whose punishment would bring grief to those who had been left in Libya. When a crowd, large and composed of all kinds of people, had been driven to the sea for punishment and when the executioners had taken their places beside them, weeping and prayers and wailing arose mingled together, as some of them were mercilessly slaughtered and others were stunned by the misfortunes of their neighbours and because of their own imminent fate were no better in spirit than those who were being put to death before them. And what was most cruel of all, when many had been slain and their bodies had been cast out along the shore, neither kinsman nor friend dared pay the last rites to any, fearing lest he should seem to inform on himself as one who enjoyed intimacy with those who were dead. And because of the multitude of those who had been slain beside its waves, the sea, stained with blood over a great expanse, proclaimed afar the unequalled savagery of this outrage.
§ 20.73
τοῦ δʼ ἐνιαυσίου χρόνου διεληλυθότος Ἀθήνησι μὲν ἦρχε Κόροιβος, ἐν Ῥώμῃ δὲ τὴν ὕπατον ἀρχὴν παρέλαβον Κόιντος Μάρκιος καὶ Πόπλιος Κορνήλιος. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Ἀντίγονος ὁ βασιλεύς, τελευτήσαντος αὐτῷ τοῦ νεωτέρου τῶν υἱῶν Φοίνικος, τοῦτον μὲν βασιλικῶς ἔθαψε, τὸν δὲ Δημήτριον ἐκ τῆς Κύπρου μεταπεμψάμενος ἤθροιζε τὰς δυνάμεις εἰς τὴν Ἀντιγονίαν. ἔκρινε δὲ στρατεύειν ἐπὶ τὴν Αἴγυπτον. αὐτὸς μὲν οὖν τοῦ πεζοῦ στρατεύματος ἀφηγούμενος προῆγε διὰ τῆς Κοίλης Συρίας, ἔχων πεζοὺς μὲν πλείους τῶν ὀκτακισμυρίων, ἱππεῖς δὲ περὶ ὀκτακισχιλίους, ἐλέφαντας δὲ τρισὶ πλείους τῶν ὀγδοήκοντα· τῷ δὲ Δημητρίῳ παραδοὺς τὸν στόλον συνέταξε συμπαραπλεῖν ἅμα πορευομένῃ τῇ δυνάμει, παρεσκευασμένων νεῶν τῶν ἁπασῶν μακρῶν μὲν ἑκατὸν πεντήκοντα, πορίων δὲ στρατιωτικῶν ἑκατόν, ἐν οἷς ἐκομίζετο βελῶν πλῆθος. τῶν δὲ κυβερνητῶν οἰομένων δεῖν ἀπομένειν τὴν τῆς Πλειάδος δύσιν δοκοῦσαν ἔσεσθαι μεθʼ ἡμέρας ὀκτώ, τούτοις μὲν ἐπετίμησεν ὡς κατορρωδοῦσι τοὺς κινδύνους, αὐτὸς δὲ στρατοπεδεύων περὶ Γάζαν καὶ σπεύδων φθάσαι τὴν τοῦ Πτολεμαίου παρασκευὴν τοῖς μὲν στρατιώταις παρήγγειλε δέχʼ ἡμερῶν ἔχειν ἐπισίτισιν, ἐπὶ δὲ ταῖς καμήλοις ταῖς ἀθροισθείσαις ὑπὸ τῶν Ἀράβων ἐπέθηκε σίτου μυριάδας μεδίμνων τρισκαίδεκα καὶ χόρτου πλῆθος τοῖς τετράποσι· τά τε βέλη κομίζων τοῖς ζεύγεσι προῆγε διὰ τῆς ἐρήμου μετὰ κακοπαθείας διὰ τὸ πολλοὺς εἶναι τῶν τόπων τελματώδεις καὶ μάλιστα περὶ τὰ καλούμενα Βάραθρα.
When this year had passed, Coroebus became archon in Athens, and in Rome Quintus Marcius and Publius Cornelius succeeded to the consulship. While these held office King Antigonus, the younger of whose sons, Phoenix, had died, buried this son with royal honours; and, after summoning Demetrius from Cyprus, he collected his forces in Antigonia. He had decided to make a campaign against Egypt. So he himself took command of the land army and advanced through Coele Syria with more than eighty thousand foot soldiers, about eight thousand horsemen, and eighty-three elephants. Giving the fleet to Demetrius, he ordered him to follow along the coast in contact with the army as it advanced. In all there had been made ready a hundred and fifty warships and a hundred transports in which a large stock of ordnance was being conveyed. When the pilots thought it necessary to heed the setting of the Pleiades, which was expected to take place after eight days, Antigonus censured them as men afraid of danger; but he himself, since he was encamped at Gaza and was eager to forestall the preparations of Ptolemy, ordered his soldiers to provide themselves with ten days' rations, and loaded on the camels, which had been gathered together by the Arabs, one hundred and thirty thousand measures of grain and a good stock of fodder for the beasts; and, carrying his ordnance in waggons, he advanced through the wilderness with great hardship because many places in the region were swampy, particularly near the spot called Barathra.
§ 20.74
οἱ δὲ περὶ τὸν Δημήτριον ἐκ τῆς Γάζης ἐκπλεύσαντες περὶ μέσας νύκτας τὸ μὲν πρῶτον εὐδίας οὔσης ἐφʼ ἡμέρας τινὰς ταῖς ταχυναυτούσαις ναυσὶν ἐρυμούλκουν τὰ στρατιωτικὰ πόρια· ἔπειτα τῆς Πλειάδος περικαταλαμβανούσης αὐτοὺς καὶ πνεύματος ἐπιγενομένου βορίου συνέβη πολλὰ τῶν τετρηρικῶν σκαφῶν ὑπὸ τοῦ χειμῶνος κατενεχθῆναι παραβόλως ἐπὶ πόλιν Ῥαφίαν, οὖσαν δυσπροσόρμιστον καὶ τεναγώδη. τῶν δὲ πλοίων τῶν κομιζόντων τὰ βέλη τὰ μὲν ὑπὸ τοῦ χειμῶνος συγκλυσθέντα διεφθάρη, τὰ δʼ ἐπαλινδρόμησεν εἰς τὴν Γάζαν· τοῖς δὲ κρατίστοις τῶν σκαφῶν βιασάμενοι διέτειναν μέχρι τοῦ Κασίου. τοῦτο δὲ τοῦ μὲν Νείλου διέστηκεν οὐ μακράν, ἀλίμενον δέ ἐστι καὶ κατὰ τὰς χειμερίους περιστάσεις ἀπροσόρμιστον. διόπερ ἠναγκάζοντο τὰς ἀγκύρας ἀφέντες ὡς ἂν ἐν δυσὶ σταδίοις ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς ἀποσαλεύειν, ἅμα πολλοῖς περιεχόμενοι δεινοῖς· τοῦ μὲν γὰρ κλύδωνος ῥηγνυμένου τραχύτερον ἐκινδύνευον αὔτανδρα τὰ σκάφη συγκλυσθῆναι, τῆς δὲ γῆς οὔσης ἀπροσορμίστου καὶ πολεμίας οὔτε ναῦς ἀκινδύνως ἦν προσπλεῖν οὔτε τοὺς ἄνδρας προσνήξασθαι, τὸ δὲ μέγιστον, ἐλελοίπει τὸ εἰς πότον αὐτοῖς ὕδωρ, εἰς τοιαύτην τε σπάνιν κατεκλείσθησαν ὥστε εἰ μίαν ἡμέραν ὁ χειμὼν ἐπέμεινεν, πάντες ἂν τῷ δίψει διεφθάρησαν. ἐν ἀθυμίᾳ δʼ ὄντων ἁπάντων καὶ προσδοκωμένης ἤδη τῆς ἀπωλείας τὸ μὲν πνεῦμα κατέπαυσεν, ἡ δὲ μετʼ Ἀντιγόνου δύναμις καταντήσασα πλησίον τοῦ στόλου κατεστρατοπέδευσεν. ἐκβάντες οὖν ἐκ τῶν σκαφῶν καὶ προσαναλαβόντες ἑαυτοὺς ἐν τῇ στρατοπεδείᾳ προσέμενον τῶν νεῶν τὰς ἀποσπασθείσας. διεφθάρη δʼ ἐν τούτῳ τῷ σάλῳ τρία σκάφη τῶν πεντηρικῶν, ἐξ ὧν ἔνιοι τῶν ἀνδρῶν διενήξαντο πρὸς τὴν γῆν. ἔπειτα Ἀντίγονος μὲν προαγαγὼν τὴν δύναμιν πλησίον τοῦ Νείλου κατεστρατοπέδευσεν, ἀπέχων δύο σταδίους τοῦ ποταμοῦ.
As for Demetrius, after setting sail from Gaza about midnight, since the weather at first was calm for several days, he had his transports towed by the swifter ships; then the setting of the Pleiades overtook them and a north wind arose, so that many of the quadriremes were driven dangerously by the storm to Raphia, a city which affords no anchorage and is surrounded by shoals. Of the ships that were carrying his ordnance, some were overwhelmed by the storm and destroyed, and others ran back to Gaza; but pressing on with the strongest of the ships he held his course as far as Casium. This place is not very distant from the Nile, but it has no harbour and in the stormy season it is impossible to make a landing here. They were therefore compelled to cast their anchors and ride the waves at a distance of about two stades from the land, where they were at once encompassed by many dangers; for since the surf was breaking rather heavily, there was danger that the ships would founder with their crews, and since the shore was harbourless and in enemy hands, the ships could neither approach without danger, nor could the men swim ashore, and what was worst of all, the water for drinking had given out and they were reduced to such straits that, if the storm had continued for a single day more, all would have perished of thirst. When all were in despair and already expecting death, the wind fell, and the army of Antigonus came up and camped near the fleet. They therefore left the ships and recuperated in the camp while waiting for those vessels that had become separated. In this exposure to the waves three of the quinqueremes were lost, but some of the men from these swam to the shore. Then Antigonus led his army nearer to the Nile and camped at a distance of two stades from the river.
§ 20.75
Πτολεμαῖος δὲ προκατειληφὼς τοὺς εὐκαιροτάτους τόπους ἀσφαλέσι φυλακαῖς ἀπέστειλέν τινας ἐν τοῖς κοντωτοῖς, παρακελευσάμενος προσπλεῖν πλησίον τῆς ἐκβάσεως καὶ κηρύττειν ὅτι δώσει τοῖς μεταβαλομένοις ἀπʼ Ἀντιγόνου τῶν μὲν ἰδιωτῶν ἑκάστοις δύο μνᾶς, τοῖς δʼ ἐφʼ ἡγεμονίας τεταγμένοις τάλαντον. γενομένων οὖν τῶν κηρυγμάτων τοιούτων ἐνέπεσέ τις ὁρμὴ πρὸς μετάθεσιν τοῖς μετʼ Ἀντιγόνου μισθοφόροις, ἐν οἷς καὶ τῶν ἡγεμόνων πλείους προθύμους εἶναι συνέβαινε διʼ αἰτίας τινὰς εἰς τὸ μεταβολῆς ἐπιθυμεῖν. πολλῶν δὲ πρὸς αὐτὸν αὐτομολούντων ὁ μὲν Ἀντίγονος ἐπιστήσας τῷ χείλει τοῦ ποταμοῦ τοξότας καὶ σφενδονήτας καὶ πολλὰ τῶν ὀξυβελικῶν τοὺς προσπλέοντας ἐν τοῖς κοντωτοῖς ἀνέστελλε· τῶν δʼ αὐτομολούντων συλλαβών τινας δεινῶς ᾐκίσατο, βουλόμενος καταπλήξασθαι τοὺς τῆς ὁμοίας ὁρμῆς ἀντεχομένους. καὶ προσλαβὼν τὰ καθυστεροῦντα τῶν σκαφῶν προσέπλευσεν ἐπὶ τὸ καλούμενον Ψευδόστομον, νομίζων ἐνταῦθα δυνήσεσθαί τινας τῶν στρατιωτῶν ἀποβιβάσαι. εὑρὼν δὲ πρὸς αὐτῷ φυλακὴν ἰσχυρὰν καὶ τοῖς τε ὀξυβελέσι καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις παντοίοις βέλεσιν ἀνειργόμενος ἀπέπλευσε περικαταλαμβανούσης νυκτός. ἔπειτα παραγγείλας τοῖς κυβερνήταις ἀκολουθεῖν τῇ στρατηγίδι νηὶ προσέχοντας τῷ λαμπτῆρι προσέπλευσεν ἐπὶ τὸ στόμα τοῦ Νείλου τὸ καλούμενον Φατνιτικόν· ἡμέρας δὲ γενομένης, ἐπειδὴ πολλαὶ τῶν νεῶν ἀπεπλανήθησαν, ἠναγκάσθη ταύτας περιμένειν καὶ τὰς μάλιστα ταχυναυτούσας τῶν ἠκολουθηκυιῶν ἐξαποστέλλειν ἐπὶ τὴν τούτων ζήτησιν.
Ptolemy, who had occupied in advance the most strategic points with trustworthy garrisons, sent men in small boats, ordering them to approach the landing-place and proclaim that he would pay a premium to any who deserted Antigonus, two minae to each of the ordinary soldiers and one talent to each man who had been assigned to a position of command. When proclamations to that effect had been made, an urge to change sides fell upon the mercenaries of Antigonus, and it transpired that many even of their officers were inclined for one reason or another to desire a change. But when many were going over to Ptolemy, Antigonus, stationing bowmen, slingers, and many of his catapults on the edge of the river, drove back those who were drawing near in their punts; and he captured some of the deserters and tortured them frightfully, wishing to intimidate any who were contemplating such an attempt as this. After adding to his force the ships that were late in arriving, he sailed to the place called Pseudostomon, believing that he would be able to disembark some of the soldiers there. But when he found at that place a strong garrison and was held in check by bolts and other missiles of every kind, he sailed away as night was closing in. Then giving orders to the pilots to follow the ship of the general, keeping their eyes fixed on its light, he sailed to the mouth of the Nile called Phatniticum; but when day came, since many of the ships had missed their course, he was forced to wait for these and to send out the swiftest of those that had followed him to search for them.
§ 20.76
διόπερ χρόνου γενομένου πλείονος οἱ μὲν περὶ τὸν Πτολεμαῖον πυθόμενοι τὸν κατάπλουν τῶν πολεμίων ἧκον ὀξέως βοηθήσοντες καὶ τὴν δύναμιν διασκευάσαντες ἔστησαν παρὰ τὸν αἰγιαλόν· ὁ δὲ Δημήτριος ἀποτυχὼν καὶ ταύτης τῆς ἐκβάσεως καὶ τὴν συνάπτουσαν παραλίαν ἀκούων ἕλεσι καὶ λίμναις ὠχυρῶσθαι φυσικῶς ἐπαλινδρόμει παντὶ τῷ στόλῳ. εἶτʼ ἐμπεσόντος βορέου λαμπροῦ καὶ τοῦ κλύδωνος εἰς ὕψος αἰρομένου τρία μὲν σκάφη τῶν τετρηρικῶν καὶ τῶν στρατιωτικῶν πορίων ἅμα κατὰ τὸ αὐτὸ βιαιότερον ὑπὸ τοῦ κύματος ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν ἐξεβράσθη καὶ τοῖς περὶ τὸν Πτολεμαῖον ὑποχείρια κατέστη, αἱ δʼ ἄλλαι ἐκβιασαμένων τῶν πληρωμάτων διεσώθησαν πρὸς τὴν Ἀντιγόνου στρατοπεδείαν. τῶν δὲ περὶ τὸν Πτολεμαῖον διειληφότων πᾶσαν τὴν περὶ τὸν ποταμὸν ἔκβασιν φυλακαῖς ἰσχυραῖς καὶ πολλῶν μὲν σκαφῶν ποταμίων αὐτῷ παρεσκευασμένων, πάντων δὲ τούτων ἐχόντων βέλη παντοῖα καὶ τοὺς χρησομένους αὐτοῖς ἄνδρας οἱ περὶ τὸν Ἀντίγονον οὐ μετρίως ἠποροῦντο· ἡ γὰρ ναυτικὴ δύναμις ἄχρηστος ἦν αὐτοῖς προκατειλημμένου τοῦ Πηλουσιακοῦ στόματος ὑπὸ τῶν πολεμίων, τό τε πεζὸν στράτευμα τὴν ὁρμὴν ἄπρακτον εἶχε τῷ μεγέθει τοῦ ποταμοῦ διειργόμενον, τὸ δὲ μέγιστον, ἡμερῶν ἤδη συχνῶν διεληλυθυιῶν ὑπολείπειν ἤδη συνέβαινε τόν τε σῖτον καὶ τὰ χορτάσματα τοῖς κτήνεσι. διὰ δὴ ταῦτα τῆς δυνάμεως ἀθυμούσης παραλαβὼν τὸ στρατόπεδον καὶ τοὺς ἡγεμόνας Ἀντίγονος προέθηκε βουλὴν πότερον συμφέρει μένειν καὶ διαπολεμεῖν, ἢ νῦν μὲν ἐπανελθεῖν εἰς Συρίαν, ὕστερον δὲ κάλλιον παρασκευασαμένους στρατεῦσαι καθʼ ὃν ἂν χρόνον ἐλάχιστος ὁ Νεῖλος εἶναι δόξῃ. πάντων δὲ κατενεχθέντων ἐπὶ τὸ τὴν ταχίστην ἀπιέναι παρήγγειλε τοῖς στρατιώταις ἀναζευγνύειν καὶ ταχὺ πάλιν ἐπανῆλθεν εἰς τὴν Συρίαν, συμπαραπλέοντος αὐτῷ καὶ τοῦ στόλου παντός. Πτολεμαῖος δὲ μετὰ τὴν ἀπαλλαγὴν τῶν πολεμίων περιχαρὴς γενόμενος καὶ θύσας τοῖς θεοῖς χαριστήρια τοὺς φίλους εἱστία λαμπρῶς. καὶ πρὸς μὲν τοὺς περὶ Σέλευκον καὶ Λυσίμαχον καὶ Κάσανδρον ἔγραψε περὶ τῶν εὐτυχημάτων καὶ περὶ τοῦ πλήθους τῶν πρὸς αὐτὸν αὐτομολησάντων, αὐτὸς δὲ τὸ δεύτερον ἠγωνισμένος ὑπὲρ τῆς Αἰγύπτου καὶ νομίσας δορίκτητον ἔχειν τὴν χώραν ἐπανῆλθεν εἰς τὴν Ἀλεξάνδρειαν.
Since this caused considerable delay, Ptolemy, hearing of the arrival of the enemy, came quickly to reinforce his men and after drawing up his army, stationed it along the shore; but Demetrius, having failed to make this landing also and hearing that the adjacent coast was naturally fortified by swamps and marshes, retraced his course with his whole fleet. Then a strong north wind burst upon them and the billows rose high; and three of his quadriremes and in the same way some of the transports were cast violently upon the land by the waves and came into the possession of Ptolemy; but the other ships, whose crews had kept them from the shore by main force, reached the camp of Antigonus in safety. Since Ptolemy, however, had already occupied every landingplace along the river with strong guards, since many river boats had been made ready for him, and since all of these were equipped with ordnance of every kind and with men to use it, Antigonus was in no little difficulty; for his naval force was of no use to him since the Pelusiac mouth of the Nile had been occupied in advance by the enemy, and his land forces found their advance thwarted since they were checked by the width of the river, and what was of greatest importance, as many days had passed, food for the men and fodder for the beasts were falling short. Since, then, his forces for these reasons were disheartened, Antigonus called together the army and its leaders and laid before them the question whether it was better to remain and continue the war or to return for the present to Syria and later make a campaign with more complete preparation and at the time at which the Nile was supposed to be lowest. When all inclined toward the quickest possible withdrawal, he commanded the soldiers to break camp and speedily returned to Syria, the whole fleet coasting along beside him. After the departure of the enemy Ptolemy rejoiced greatly; and, when he had made a thank-offering to the gods, he entertained his friends lavishly. He also wrote to Seleucus, Lysimachus, and Cassander about his successes and about the large number of men who had deserted to him; and he himself, having finished the second struggle for Egypt and convinced that the country was his as a prize of war, returned to Alexandria.
§ 20.77
ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις Διονύσιος ὁ τῆς Ἡρακλείας τῆς ἐν τῷ Πόντῳ τύραννος ἐτελεύτησεν ἄρξας ἔτη τριάκοντα δύο, τὴν δὲ δυναστείαν διαδεξάμενοι οἱ υἱοὶ Ὀξάθρας καὶ Κλέαρχος ἦρξαν ἔτη ἑπτακαίδεκα. κατὰ δὲ τὴν Σικελίαν Ἀγαθοκλῆς ἐπῄει τὰς ὑπʼ αὐτὸν πόλεις ἀσφαλιζόμενος φρουραῖς καὶ χρήματα πραττόμενος· σφόδρα γὰρ εὐλαβεῖτο μήποτε διὰ τὰς γεγενημένας περὶ αὐτὸν ἀτυχίας ὁρμήσωσιν οἱ Σικελιῶται πρὸς τὴν αὐτονομίαν. καθʼ ὃν δὴ χρόνον Πασίφιλος ὁ στρατηγός, ἀκούσας τὴν τῶν Ἀγαθοκλέους υἱῶν ἀναίρεσιν καὶ τὰ περὶ τὴν Λιβύην ἐλαττώματα, τοῦ μὲν δυνάστου κατεφρόνησε, πρὸς δὲ Δεινοκράτην ἀποστὰς καὶ φιλίαν αὐτῷ συνθέμενος τάς τε πόλεις ἃς ἦν πεπιστευμένος διακατέσχεν καὶ τὴν μετʼ αὐτοῦ δύναμιν ἐλπίσι ψυχαγωγήσας ἀλλοτρίαν κατεσκεύασε τοῦ τυράννου. ὁ δʼ Ἀγαθοκλῆς πανταχόθεν τῶν ἐλπίδων περικοπτομένων οὕτως ἐταπεινώθη τὴν ψυχὴν ὥστε διαπρεσβεύσασθαι πρὸς Δεινοκράτην καὶ παρακαλεῖν ἐπὶ τοῖσδε συνθήκας ποιήσασθαι, ἐκχωρῆσαι μὲν τῆς δυναστείας Ἀγαθοκλέα, παραδοῦναι δὲ τὰς Συρακούσσας τοῖς πολίταις καὶ μηκέτι εἶναι φυγάδα Δεινοκράτην, ἐξαίρετα δὲ δοθῆναι τῶν ἐρυμάτων Ἀγαθοκλεῖ δύο, Θέρμα καὶ Κεφαλοίδιον καὶ τὴν χώραν τὴν τούτων.
While these events were taking place, Dionysius, the tyrant of Heraclea Pontica, died after having ruled for thirty-two years; and his sons, Oxathras and Clearchus, succeeding to the tyranny, ruled for seventeen years. In Sicily Agathocles visited the cities that were subject to him, making them secure with garrisons and exacting money from them; for he was taking extreme precautions lest, because of the misfortunes that had befallen him, the Sicilian Greeks should make an effort to gain their independence. Indeed at that very time Pasiphilus the general, having heard of the murder of Agathocles' sons and of his reverses in Libya, regarded the tyrant with contempt; and, deserting to Deinocrates and establishing friendship with him, he both kept a firm grip on the cities which had been entrusted to him and by alluring the minds of his soldiers with hopes alienated them from the tyrant. Agathocles, now that his hopes were being curtailed in every quarter, was so cast down in spirit that he sent an embassy to Deinocrates and invited him to make a treaty on these terms: that, on the one hand, got should withdraw from his position as tyrant and restore Syracuse to its citizens, and Deinocrates should no longer be an exile, and that, on the other hand, there should be given to Agathocles two designated fortresses, Therma and Cephaloedium, together with their territories.
§ 20.78
θαυμάσαι δʼ ἄν τις εἰκότως ἐν τούτοις πῶς Ἀγαθοκλῆς, ὑποστατικὸς ἐν τοῖς ἄλλοις πᾶσι γενόμενος καὶ μηδέποθʼ ἑαυτὸν ἐν ταῖς ἐσχάταις προσδοκίαις ἀπελπίσας, τότε δειλωθεὶς ἀκονιτὶ παρεχώρησε τοῖς πολεμίοις τῆς τυραννίδος, ὑπὲρ ἧς πολλοὺς καὶ μεγάλους κινδύνους προηγωνίσατο, καὶ τὸ πάντων παραλογώτατον, Συρακουσσῶν τε κυριεύσας καὶ τῶν ἄλλων πόλεων καὶ ναῦς καὶ χρήματα κεκτημένος καὶ δύναμιν σύμμετρον ἐξησθένησε τοῖς λογισμοῖς, οὐδὲν τῶν γενομένων περὶ Διονύσιον τὸν τύραννον μνησθείς. τούτου γάρ ποτε συνδιωχθέντος εἰς περίστασιν ὁμολογουμένως ἀπεγνωσμένην καὶ διὰ τὸ μέγεθος τῶν ἐπηρτημένων κινδύνων ἀπελπίσαντος μὲν τὰ κατὰ τὴν δυναστείαν, μέλλοντος δʼ ἐκ τῶν Συρακουσσῶν ἐξιππεύειν πρὸς ἑκούσιον φυγὴν Ἕλωρις ὁ πρεσβύτατος τῶν φίλων ἐπιλαβόμενος τῆς ὁρμῆς “Διονύσιε” , φησίν, “καλὸν ἐντάφιον ἡ τυραννίς.” παραπλησίω δὲ τούτῳ καὶ ὁ κηδεστὴς Μεγακλῆς ἀπεφήνατο πρὸς αὐτόν, εἰπὼν ὅτι δεῖ τὸν ἐκ τυραννίδος ἐκπίπτοντα τοῦ σκέλους ἑλκόμενον ἀπιέναι καὶ μὴ κατὰ προαίρεσιν ἀπαλλάττεσθαι. ὑπὸ δὲ τούτων τῶν παρακλήσεων ὁ Διονύσιος μετεωρισθεὶς ἐνεκαρτέρησε πᾶσι τοῖς δοκοῦσιν εἶναι δεινοῖς καὶ τὴν μὲν ἀρχὴν μείζονα κατεσκεύασεν, αὐτὸς δὲ ἐν τοῖς ταύτης καλοῖς ἐγγηράσας ἀπέλιπε τοῖς ἐκγόνοις μεγίστην τῶν κατὰ τὴν Εὐρώπην δυναστείαν.
One might with good reason express wonder at this point that Agathocles, who had shown himself resolute in every other situation and had never lost confidence in himself when his prospects were at their lowest, at this time became a coward and without a fight abandoned to his enemies the tyranny for the sake of which he had previously fought many great battles, and what was the most unaccountable of all, that while he was master of Syracuse and of the other cities and had possession of ships and wealth and an army commensurate with these, he lost all power of calculating chances, recalling not one of the experiences of the tyrant Dionysius. For instance, when that tyrant had been driven into a situation that was confessedly desperate and when, because of the greatness of the impending dangers, he had given up hope of retaining his throne and was about to ride out from Syracuse into voluntary exile, Heloris, the eldest of his friends, opposing his impulse, said, "Dionysius, tyranny is a good winding-sheet." And similarly his brother-in law, Megacles, spoke his mind to Dionysius, saying that the man who was being expelled from a tyranny ought to make his exit dragged by the leg and not to depart of his own free choice. Encouraged by these exhortations, Dionysius firmly faced all the emergencies that seemed formidable, and not only made his dominion greater, but when he himself had grown old amid its blessings, he left to his sons the greatest empire of Europe.
§ 20.79
Ἀγαθοκλῆς δʼ ἐπʼ οὐδενὶ τούτων μετεωρισθεὶς οὐδὲ τὰς ἀνθρωπίνας ἐλπίδας ἐξελέγξας τῇ πείρᾳ τηλικαύτην ἀρχὴν ἔκδοτον πεποίηται ταῖς ὁμολογίαις. ταύτας δʼ ἀσυντελέστους συνέβη γενέσθαι τῇ μὲν Ἀγαθοκλέους προαιρέσει κυρωθείσας, διὰ δὲ τὴν Δεινοκράτους πλεονεξίαν μὴ προσδεχθείσας. οὗτος γὰρ μοναρχίας ὢν ἐπιθυμητὴς τῆς μὲν ἐν ταῖς Συρακούσσαις δημοκρατίας ἀλλότριος ἦν, τῇ δὲ ἡγεμονίᾳ τῇ τότε οὔσῃ περὶ αὐτὸν εὐαρεστεῖτο· ἀφηγεῖτο γὰρ πεζῶν μὲν πλειόνων ἢ δισμυρίων, ἱππέων δὲ τρισχιλίων, πόλεων δὲ πολλῶν καὶ μεγάλων, ὥστε αὐτὸν μὲν καλεῖσθαι τῶν φυγάδων στρατηγόν, τῇ δʼ ἀληθείᾳ βασιλικὴν ἔχειν ὑπεροχήν, τῆς ἐξουσίας οὔσης περὶ αὐτὸν αὐτοκράτορος. εἰ κατέλθοι δʼ εἰς τὰς Συρακούσσας, πάντως ἀναγκαῖον ἂν ἦν ἰδιώτην ὑπάρχειν καὶ ἕνα τῶν πολλῶν ἀριθμεῖσθαι, τῆς αὐτονομίας ἀγαπώσης τὴν ἰσότητα, ἔν τε ταῖς χειροτονίαις ὑπὸ τοῦ τυχόντος δημαγωγοῦ παρευημερεῖσθαι, τοῦ πλήθους ἀντικειμένου ταῖς ὑπεροχαῖς τῶν ἀνδρῶν τῶν ἀγόντων παρρησίαν. διόπερ Ἀγαθοκλῆς μὲν δικαίως ἂν λέγοιτο λελοιπέναι τὴν τῆς τυραννίδος τάξιν, Δεινοκράτης δʼ αἴτιος εἶναι νομίζοιτο τῶν ὕστερον τῷ δυνάστῃ κατορθωθέντων. οὗτος γάρ, συνεχῶς Ἀγαθοκλέους διαπρεσβευομένου περὶ τῶν ὁμολογιῶν καὶ δεομένου συγχωρῆσαι τὰ δύο φρούρια πρὸς καταβίωσιν, ἀεὶ προφάσεις εὐλόγους κατεσκεύαζε, διʼ ὧν διέκοπτε τὰς ἐλπίδας τῶν ὁμολογιῶν, ποτὲ μὲν ἀποφαινόμενος ἐκ Σικελίας αὐτὸν ἀπαλλάττεσθαι, ποτὲ δὲ τὰ τέκνα πρὸς ὁμηρίαν αἰτῶν. ὁ δʼ Ἀγαθοκλῆς γνοὺς αὐτοῦ τὴν ἐπίνοιαν πρὸς μὲν τοὺς φυγάδας διεπέμπετο κατηγορῶν τοῦ Δεινοκράτους ὡς διακωλύοντος αὐτοῦ τυχεῖν αὐτοὺς τῆς αὐτονομίας, πρὸς δὲ Καρχηδονίους πρεσβευτὰς ἀποστείλας συνέθετο τὴν εἰρήνην ἐφʼ οἷς τὰς πόλεις κομίσασθαι τοὺς Φοίνικας πάσας τὰς πρότερον ὑπʼ αὐτοὺς γεγενημένας· ἀντὶ δὲ τούτων ἔλαβε παρὰ Καρχηδονίων χρυσίον μὲν εἰς ἀργυρίου λόγον ἀναγόμενον τριακοσίων ταλάντων, ὡς δὲ Τίμαιός φησιν, ἑκατὸν πεντήκοντα, σίτου δὲ μεδίμνων εἴκοσι μυριάδας. καὶ τὰ μὲν περὶ Σικελίαν ἐν τούτοις ἦν.
Agathocles, however, buoyed up by no such consideration and failing to test his mortal hopes by experience, was on the point of abandoning his empire, great as it was, on these terms. But as it happened, the treaty never went into effect, ratified indeed by the policy of Agathocles, but not accepted because of the ambition of Deinocrates. The latter, having set his heart upon sole rule, was hostile to the democracy in Syracuse and was well pleased with the position of leadership that he himself then had; for he commanded more than twenty thousand foot soldiers, three thousand horsemen, and many great cities, so that, although he was called general of the exiles, he really possessed the authority of a king, his power being absolute. But if he should return to Syracuse, it would inevitably be his lot to be a private citizen and be numbered as one of the many, since independence loves equality; and in the elections he might be defeated by any chance demagogue, since the crowd is opposed to the supremacy of men who are outspoken. Thus Agathocles might justly be said to have deserted his post as tyrant, and Deinocrates might be regarded as responsible for the later successes of the dynast. For Deinocrates, when Agathocles kept sending embassies to discuss the terms of peace and begging him to grant the two fortresses in which he might end his days, always trumped up specious excuses by which he cut off any hope of a treaty, now insisting that Agathocles should leave Sicily, and now demanding his children as hostages. When Agathocles discovered his purpose, he sent to the exiles and accused Deinocrates of hindering them from gaining their independence, and to the Carthaginians he sent envoys and made peace with them on terms such that the Phoenicians should regain all the cities which had formerly been subject to them, and in return for them he received from the Carthaginians gold to the value of three hundred talents of silver (or, as Timaeus says, one hundred and fifty), and two hundred thousand measures of grain. And affairs in Sicily were in this condition.
§ 20.80
κατὰ δὲ τὴν Ἰταλίαν Σαμνῖται μὲν Σώραν καὶ Καλατίαν πόλεις Ῥωμαίοις συμμαχούσας ἐκπολιορκήσαντες ἐξηνδραποδίσαντο· οἱ δʼ ὕπατοι δυνάμεσιν ἁδραῖς εἰς τὴν Ἰαπυγίαν ἐμβαλόντες πλησίον Σιλβίου πόλεως κατεστρατοπέδευσαν. φρουρουμένης δὲ αὐτῆς ὑπὸ Σαμνιτῶν συνεστήσαντο πολιορκίαν ἐφʼ ἱκανὰς ἡμέρας καὶ κατὰ κράτος ἑλόντες αἰχμάλωτα σώματα πλείω τῶν πεντακισχιλίων ἔλαβον καὶ τῶν ἄλλων λαφύρων ἱκανόν τι πλῆθος. ἀπὸ δὲ τούτων γενόμενοι τὴν τῶν Σαμνιτῶν χώραν ἐπῆλθον δενδροτομοῦντες καὶ πάντα τόπον καταφθείροντες· πολλὰ γὰρ ἔτη τῆς Ῥώμης πρὸς τοῦτο τὸ ἔθνος διαπολεμούσης ὑπὲρ τῆς ἡγεμονίας ἤλπιζον τῶν ἐπὶ τῆς χώρας κτήσεων στερήσαντες τοὺς πολεμίους ἀναγκάσειν εἶξαι τοῖς ὑπερέχουσιν. διὸ καὶ πέντε μῆνας καταναλώσαντες εἰς τὴν τῆς πολεμίας γῆς καταφθορὰν τάς τε ἐπαύλεις σχεδὸν ἁπάσας ἐπυρπόλησαν καὶ τὴν χώραν ἐξηγρίωσαν, ἀφανίσαντες πᾶν τὸ δυνάμενον ἐνεγκεῖν ἥμερον καρπόν. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τοῖς μὲν Ἀναγνίταις ἀδικήματα ποιοῦσι πόλεμον κατήγγειλαν, Φρουσίνωνα δὲ ἐκπολιορκήσαντες ἀπέδοντο τὴν χώραν.
In Italy the Samnites took Sora and Calatia, cities that were allied to the Romans, and enslaved the inhabitants; and the consuls with strong armies invaded Iapygia and camped near Silvium. This city was garrisoned by the Samnites, and the Romans began a siege which lasted a considerable number of days. Capturing the city by storm, they took prisoner more than five thousand persons and collected a considerable amount of booty besides. When they had finished with this, they invaded the country of the Samnites, cutting down the trees and destroying every district. For the Romans, who had for many years been fighting the Samnites for the primacy, hoped that if they deprived the enemy of their property in the country, it would force them to submit to the stronger. For this reason they devoted five months to the ruining of the enemy's land; and they burned nearly all the farm-buildings and laid waste the land, destroying everything that could produce cultivated fruit. Thereafter they declared war on the Anagnitae, who were acting unjustly, and taking Frusino they distributed the land.
§ 20.81
τοῦ δʼ ἐνιαυσίου χρόνου διεληλυθότος Ἀθήνησι μὲν ἦρχεν Εὐξένιππος, ἐν Ῥώμῃ δʼ ὑπῆρχον ὕπατοι Λεύκιος Ποστούμιος καὶ Τιβέριος Μινούκιος. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Ῥοδίοις ἐνέστη πόλεμος πρὸς Ἀντίγονον διὰ τοιαύτας τινὰς αἰτίας. ἡ πόλις ἡ τῶν Ῥοδίων ἰσχύουσα ναυτικαῖς δυνάμεσι καὶ πολιτευομένη κάλλιστα τῶν Ἑλλήνων περιμάχητος τοῖς δυνάσταις καὶ βασιλεῦσιν ἦν, ἑκάστου σπεύδοντος εἰς τὴν αὐτοῦ φιλίαν προσλαμβάνεσθαι. προορωμένη δὲ πόρρωθεν τὸ συμφέρον καὶ πρὸς ἅπαντας κατʼ ἰδίαν συντιθεμένη τὴν φιλίαν τῶν πρὸς ἀλλήλους τοῖς δυνάσταις πολέμων οὐ μετεῖχεν. διόπερ συνέβαινεν αὐτὴν τιμᾶσθαι μὲν ὑφʼ ἑκάστου βασιλικαῖς δωρεαῖς, ἄγουσαν δὲ πολὺν χρόνον εἰρήνην μεγάλην ἐπίδοσιν λαβεῖν πρὸς αὔξησιν· ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον γὰρ προεληλύθει δυνάμεως ὥσθʼ ὑπὲρ μὲν τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἰδίᾳ τὸν πρὸς τοὺς πειρατὰς πόλεμον ἐπαναιρεῖσθαι καὶ καθαρὰν παρέχεσθαι τῶν κακούργων τὴν θάλατταν, τὸν δὲ πλεῖστον ἰσχύσαντα τῶν μνημονευομένων Ἀλέξανδρον προτιμήσαντʼ αὐτὴν μάλιστα τῶν πόλεων καὶ τὴν ὑπὲρ ὅλης τῆς βασιλείας διαθήκην ἐκεῖ θέσθαι καὶ τἄλλα θαυμάζειν καὶ προάγειν εἰς ὑπεροχήν. οἱ δʼ οὖν Ῥόδιοι πρὸς πάντας τοὺς δυνάστας συντεθειμένοι τὴν φιλίαν διετήρουν μὲν ἑαυτοὺς ἐκτὸς ἐγκλήματος δικαίου, ταῖς δʼ εὐνοίαις ἔρεπον μάλιστα πρὸς Πτολεμαῖον· συνέβαινε γὰρ αὐτοῖς τῶν τε προσόδων τὰς πλείστας εἶναι διὰ τοὺς εἰς Αἴγυπτον πλέοντας ἐμπόρους καὶ τὸ σύνολον τρέφεσθαι τὴν πόλιν ἀπὸ ταύτης τῆς βασιλείας.
When this year had passed, Euxenippus became archon in Athens, and in Rome Lucius Postumius and Tiberius Minucius were consuls. While these held office war arose between the Rhodians and Antigonus for some such reasons as these. The city of the Rhodians, which was strong in sea power and was the best governed city of the Greeks, was a prize eagerly sought after by the dynasts and kings, each of them striving to add her to his alliance. Seeing far in advance what was advantageous and establishing friendship with each of the dynasts separately, Rhodes took no part in their wars with each other. As a result she was honoured by each of them with regal gifts and, while enjoying peace for a long time, made great steps forward. In fact she advanced to such strength that in behalf of the Greeks she by herself undertook her war against the pirates and purged the seas of these evildoers; and Alexander, the most powerful of men known to memory, honouring Rhodes above all cities, both deposited there the testament disposing of his whole realm and in other ways showed admiration for her and promoted her to a commanding position. At any rate, the Rhodians, having established pacts of friendship with all the rulers, carefully avoided giving legitimate grounds for complaint; but in displaying goodwill they inclined chiefly toward Ptolemy, for it happened that most of their revenues were due to the merchants who sailed to Egypt, and that in general the city drew its food supply from that kingdom.
§ 20.82
ὃ δὴ συνορῶν ὁ Ἀντίγονος καὶ σπεύδων αὐτοὺς ἀποσπάσαι τῆς πρὸς ἐκεῖνον ἐπιπλοκῆς τὸ μὲν πρῶτον πρεσβευτὰς ἀπέστειλε καθʼ ὃν καιρὸν ὑπὲρ τῆς Κύπρου διεπολέμει πρὸς Πτολεμαῖον, ἀξιῶν αὐτῷ συμμαχεῖν καὶ ναῦς συναποστεῖλαι τῷ Δημητρίῳ· οὐ προσεχόντων δʼ αὐτῶν ἀπέστειλέ τινα τῶν στρατηγῶν μετὰ νεῶν, συντάξας τοὺς πλέοντας εἰς Αἴγυπτον ἐκ τῆς Ῥόδου κατάγειν καὶ περιαιρεῖσθαι τὰ φορτία. τούτου δʼ ἐκβληθέντος ὑπὸ τῶν Ῥοδίων φήσας αὐτοὺς ἀδίκου κατῆρχθαι πολέμου διηπειλήσατο πολιορκήσειν δυνάμεσιν ἁδραῖς τὴν πόλιν. οἱ δὲ Ῥόδιοι τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἐψηφίσαντο μεγάλας αὐτῷ τιμὰς καὶ πέμψαντες πρέσβεις ἠξίουν μὴ βιάσασθαι τὴν πόλιν προπεσεῖν παρὰ τὰς συνθήκας εἰς τὸν πόλεμον πρὸς Πτολεμαῖον. τραχύτερον δὲ τοῦ βασιλέως ἀπαντῶντος καὶ τὸν υἱὸν Δημήτριον ἐκπέμψαντος μετὰ δυνάμεως καὶ πολιορκητικῶν ὀργάνων φοβηθέντες τὴν ὑπεροχὴν τοῦ βασιλέως τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἀπέστειλαν πρὸς τὸν Δημήτριον, φήσαντες συμπολεμήσειν Ἀντιγόνῳ πρὸς Πτολεμαῖον· ὡς δʼ ἐκεῖνος ὁμήρους ἑκατὸν ᾔτει τοὺς ἐπιφανεστάτους καὶ τοῖς λιμέσι δέχεσθαι τὸν στόλον προσέταττεν, ὑπολαβόντες ἐπιβουλεύειν αὐτὸν τῇ πόλει, τὰ πρὸς πόλεμον παρεσκευάζοντο. Δημήτριος δὲ πᾶσαν τὴν δύναμιν ἀθροίσας εἰς τὸν ἐν Λωρύμοις λιμένα στόλον ἐξήρτυε πρὸς τὸν ἐπίπλουν τὸν ἐπὶ τὴν Ῥόδον. εἶχε δὲ ναῦς μακρὰς μὲν παντοίας μεγέθει διακοσίας, ὑπηρετικὰ δὲ πλείω τῶν ἑκατὸν ἑβδομήκοντα· ἐν δὲ τούτοις ἐκομίζοντο στρατιῶται βραχὺ λειπόμενοι τῶν τετρακισμυρίων σὺν ἱππεῦσι καὶ τοῖς συμμαχοῦσι πειραταῖς. ὑπῆρχε δὲ καὶ βελῶν παντοίων πλῆθος καὶ πάντων τῶν πρὸς πολιορκίαν χρησίμων μεγάλη παρασκευή. χωρὶς δὲ τούτων ἰδιωτικὰ πόρια συνηκολούθει τῶν ταῖς ἀγοραῖς χρωμένων βραχὺ λειπόμενα τῶν χιλίων· πολλὰ γὰρ ἔτη τῆς χώρας τῆς Ῥοδίων ἀπορθήτου γεγενημένης συνέρρει πανταχόθεν πλῆθος τῶν εἰωθότων ὠφελείας ἰδίας ἡγεῖσθαι τὰ τῶν πολεμουμένων ἀτυχήματα.
Because Antigonus knew this and was intent on separating the Rhodians from their connection with Ptolemy, he first sent out envoys to them at the time when he was fighting with Ptolemy for Cyprus and asked him to ally themselves with him and to dispatch ships in company with Demetrius; and when they did not consent, he dispatched one of his generals with ships, ordering him to bring to land any merchants sailing to Egypt from Rhodes and to seize their cargoes. When this general was driven off by the Rhodians, Antigonus, declaring that they were authors of an unjust war, threatened to lay siege to the city with strong forces. The Rhodians, however, first voted great honours for him; and, sending envoys, they begged him not to force the city to rush into the war against Ptolemy contrary to their treaties. But then, when the king answered rather harshly and sent his son Demetrius with an army and siege equipment, they were so frightened by the superior power of the king that at first they sent to Demetrius, saying that they would join Antigonus in the war with Ptolemy, but when Demetrius demanded as hostages a hundred of the noblest citizens and ordered also that his fleet should be received in their harbours, concluding that he was plotting against the city, they made ready for war. Demetrius, gathering all his forces in the harbour at Loryma, made his fleet ready for the attack on Rhodes. He had two hundred warships of all sizes and more than one hundred and seventy auxiliary vessels; on these were transported not quite forty thousand soldiers besides the cavalry and the pirates who were his allies. There was also an ample supply of ordnance of all sorts and a large provision of all the things necessary for a siege. In addition there accompanied him almost a thousand privately owned ships, which belonged to those who were engaged in trade; for since the land of the Thracians had been unplundered for many years, there had gathered together from all quarters a host of those who were accustomed to consider the misfortunes of men at war a means of enriching themselves.
§ 20.83
ὁ μὲν οὖν Δημήτριος ὥσπερ εἴς τινα ναυμαχίαν ἐκτάξας τὸν στόλον καταπληκτικῶς προηγεῖσθαι μὲν ἐποίησε τὰς μακρὰς ναῦς, ἐχούσας ἐπὶ ταῖς πρῴραις τοὺς τρισπιθάμους τῶν ὀξυβελῶν, ἐπακολουθεῖν δὲ τὰς στρατιωτικὰς καὶ τὰς ἱππηγοὺς ῥυμουλκουμένας ὑπὸ τῶν ταῖς εἰρεσίαις χρωμένων, ἐπὶ πᾶσι δὲ καὶ τὰ τῶν πειρατῶν πόρια καὶ τὰ τῶν ἐμπόρων καὶ ἀγοραίων, ὑπεράγοντα τῷ πλήθει, καθάπερ προείρηται, ὥστε πάντα τὸν ἀνὰ μέσον τόπον τῆς τε νήσου καὶ τῆς ἀντικειμένης παραλίας συμπεπληρωμένον φαίνεσθαι τοῖς πλοίοις καὶ πολὺν φόβον καὶ κατάπληξιν παρέχεσθαι τοῖς ἀπὸ τῆς πόλεως θεωροῦσιν. οἱ μὲν γὰρ στρατιῶται τῶν Ῥοδίων διειληφότες τὰ τείχη τὸν ἐπίπλουν ἐκαραδόκουν τῶν πολεμίων, πρεσβῦται δὲ καὶ γυναῖκες ἀπὸ τῶν οἰκιῶν ἀφεώρων, οὔσης τῆς πόλεως θεατροειδοῦς, πάντες δὲ τό τε μέγεθος τοῦ στόλου καὶ τὴν αὐγὴν τῶν ἀποστιλβόντων ὅπλων καταπληττόμενοι περὶ τῶν ὅλων οὐ μετρίως ἠγωνίων. εἶθʼ ὁ μὲν Δημήτριος κατέπλευσεν εἰς τὴν νῆσον, ἀποβιβάσας δὲ τὴν δύναμιν κατεστρατοπέδευσεν πλησίον τῆς πόλεως, ἐκτὸς βέλους ποιησάμενος τὴν παρεμβολήν. εὐθὺς δὲ τῶν πειρατῶν καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τοὺς εὐθέτους ἐξέπεμψε πορθήσοντας τὴν νῆσον καὶ κατὰ γῆν καὶ κατὰ θάλατταν. ἐδενδροτόμησε δὲ καὶ τὴν πλησίον χώραν καὶ καθεῖλε τὰς ἐπαύλεις, ἐξ ὧν ὠχύρωσε τὴν στρατοπεδείαν, περιλαβὼν τριπλῷ χάρακι καὶ σταυρώμασι πυκνοῖς καὶ μεγάλοις, ὥστε τὴν τῶν πολεμίων βλάβην γίνεσθαι τῶν ἰδίων ἀσφάλειαν. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα πάσῃ τῇ δυνάμει καὶ τοῖς πληρώμασιν ἔχωσεν ἐν ὀλίγαις ἡμέραις τὸ μεταξὺ τῆς πόλεως διαλεῖπον πρὸς τὴν ἔκβασιν καὶ κατεσκεύασε λιμένα ταῖς ναυσὶν ἀρκοῦντα.
And so Demetrius, having drawn up his fleet as if for a naval battle in a way to inspire panic, sent forward his warships, which had on their prows the catapults for bolts three spans in length; and he had the transports for men and horses follow, towed by the ships that used oarsmen; and last of all came also the cargo-ships of the pirates and of the merchants and traders, which as we have already said, were exceedingly numerous, so that the whole space between the island and the opposite shore was seen to be filled with his vessels, which brought great fear and panic to those who were watching from the city. For the soldiers of the Rhodians, occupying their several positions on the walls, were awaiting the approach of the hostile fleet, and the old men and women were looking on from their homes, since the city is shaped like a theatre; and all, being terror-stricken at the magnitude of the fleet and the gleam of the shining armour, were not a little anxious about the final outcome. Then Demetrius sailed to the island; and after disembarking his army, he took position near the city, setting up his camp out of range of missiles. He at once sent out fit and proper men from the pirates and others to plunder the island both by land and by sea. He also cut down the trees in the region near by and destroyed the farm buildings, and with this material he fortified the camp, surrounding it with a triple palisade and with great, close-set stockades, so that the loss suffered by the enemy became a protection for his own men. After this, using the whole army and the crews, he in a few days closed with a mole the space between the city and the exit, and made a port large enough for his ships.
§ 20.84
οἱ δὲ Ῥόδιοι μέχρι μέν τινος πρέσβεις ἐκπέμποντες ἠξίουν μηδὲν πρᾶξαι κατὰ τῆς πόλεως ἀνήκεστον· ὡς δʼ οὐδεὶς αὐτοῖς προσεῖχεν, ἀπογνόντες τὰς διαλύσεις ἐξέπεμψαν πρεσβευτὰς πρὸς Πτολεμαῖον καὶ Λυσίμαχον καὶ Κάσανδρον, ἀξιοῦντες βοηθεῖν, ὡς τῆς πόλεως προπολεμούσης ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν. τῶν δʼ ἐν τῇ πόλει κατοικούντων παροίκων καὶ ξένων δόντες ἐξουσίαν τοῖς βουλομένοις συναγωνίζεσθαι τοὺς λοιποὺς ἀχρήστους ἐκ τῆς πόλεως ἐξέπεμψαν, ἅμα μὲν τῆς τῶν ἀναγκαίων ἐνδείας προνοηθέντες, ἅμα δὲ καὶ τοῦ μηδένα τῇ καταστάσει δυσχεραίνοντα γίνεσθαι τῆς πόλεως προδότην. ἀριθμὸν δὲ ποιησάμενοι τῶν δυναμένων ἀγωνίζεσθαι πολιτῶν μὲν εὗρον περὶ ἑξακισχιλίους, τῶν δὲ παροίκων καὶ ξένων εἰς χιλίους. ἐψηφίσαντο δὲ καὶ τῶν δούλων τοὺς ἄνδρας ἀγαθοὺς γενομένους ἐν τοῖς κινδύνοις ἀγοράσαντας παρὰ τῶν δεσποτῶν ἐλευθεροῦν καὶ πολίτας εἶναι· ἔγραψαν δὲ καὶ τῶν τελευτησάντων ἐν τῷ πολέμῳ τὰ μὲν σώματα δημοσίᾳ θάπτεσθαι, τοὺς δὲ γονεῖς καὶ παῖδας τρέφεσθαι λαμβάνοντας τὴν χορηγίαν ἀπὸ τοῦ κοινοῦ ταμιείου, καὶ τὰς μὲν παρθένους δημοσίᾳ προικίζεσθαι, τοὺς δʼ υἱοὺς ἐν ἡλικίᾳ γενομένους ἐν τῷ θεάτρῳ στεφανῶσαι τοῖς Διονυσίοις πανοπλίᾳ. διὰ δὲ τούτων ἐκκαλεσάμενοι τὰς ἁπάντων προθυμίας εἰς τὸ τοὺς κινδύνους ὑπομένειν εὐψύχως, ἐποιήσαντο καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τὴν ἐνδεχομένην παρασκευήν. ὁμονοοῦντος γὰρ τοῦ πλήθους οἱ μὲν εὔποροι χρήματʼ εἰσέφερον, οἱ δὲ τεχνῖται τὰς αὑτῶν ἐπιστήμας παρείχοντο πρὸς τὴν τῶν ὅπλων κατασκευήν, ἅπας δʼ ἦν ἐνεργός, τῇ φιλοτιμίᾳ τοὺς ἄλλους ὑπερθέσθαι σπεύδων. διόπερ οἱ μὲν ἐγίνοντο περὶ τοὺς ὀξυβελεῖς καὶ πετροβόλους, οἱ δὲ περὶ τὴν τῶν ἄλλων κατασκευήν, τινὲς δὲ τὰ πεπονηκότα τῶν τειχῶν ἐπεσκεύαζον, πλεῖστοι δὲ λίθους πρὸς τὰ τείχη φέροντες ἐσώρευον. ἐξέπεμψαν δὲ καὶ τῶν ἄριστα πλεουσῶν νεῶν τρεῖς ἐπὶ τοὺς πολεμίους καὶ τοὺς παρακομίζοντας αὐτοῖς ἀγορὰς ἐμπόρους. αὗται δὲ παραδόξως ἐπιφανεῖσαι πολλὰ μὲν πλοῖα τῶν ἐπὶ τὴν προνομὴν τῆς χώρας ὠφελείας χάριν πλεόντων ἐμπόρων κατεπόντισαν, οὐκ ὀλίγα δὲ καὶ πρὸς τὸν αἰγιαλὸν κατασπῶσαι συνέκαυσαν καὶ τῶν αἰχμαλώτων τὰ δυνάμενα δοῦναι λύτρον παρεκόμιζον εἰς τὴν πόλιν· συνέθεντο γὰρ οἱ Ῥόδιοι πρὸς τὸν Δημήτριον ὥστε ἀλλήλοις διδόναι λύτρον ἐλευθέρου μὲν χιλίας δραχμάς, δούλου δὲ πεντακοσίας.
For a time the Rhodians kept sending envoys and asking him to do nothing irreparable against the city; but as no one paid any heed to these, they gave up hope of a truce and sent envoys to Ptolemy, Lysimachus, and Cassander, begging them to give aid and saying that the city was fighting the war on their behalf. As to the metics and aliens who dwelt in the city, to those who wished they gave permission to join them in the fighting and the others who were of no service they sent forth from the city, partly as a precaution against scarcity of supplies, and partly that there might be no one to become dissatisfied with the situation and try to betray the city. When they made a count of those who were able to fight, they found that there were about six thousand citizens and as many as a thousand metics and aliens. They voted also to buy from their masters any slaves who proved themselves brave men in the battle, and to emancipate and enfranchise them. And they also wrote another decree, that the bodies of those who fell in the war should be given public burial and, further, that their parents and children should be maintained, receiving their support from the public treasury, that their unmarried daughters should be given dowries at the public cost, and that their sons on reaching manhood should be crowned in the theatre at the Dionysia and given a full suit of armour. When by these measures they had roused the spirits of all to endure the battles with courage, they also made what preparation was possible in regard to other matters. Since the whole people was of one mind, the rich contributed money, the craftsmen gave their skilled services for the preparation of the arms, and every man was active, each striving in a spirit of rivalry to surpass the others. Consequently, some were busy with the catapults and ballistae, others with the preparation of other equipment, some were repairing any ruined portions of the walls, and very many were carrying stones to the walls and stacking them. They even sent out three of their swiftest ships against the enemy and the merchant ships which brought provisions to him. 6 These ships on appearing unexpectedly sank many vessels belonging to merchants who had sailed for the purpose of plundering the land for their own profit, and even hauled not a few ships up on the beach and burned them. As for the prisoners, those who could pay a ransom they took into the city, for the Rhodians had made an agreement with Demetrius that each should pay the other a thousand drachmae as ransom for a free man and five hundred for a slave.
§ 20.85
πρὸς τὰς θέσεις τῶν ὀργάνων δὲ ὁ Δημήτριος ἄφθονον ἔχων ἁπάντων χορηγίαν ἤρξατο κατασκευάζειν δύο χελώνας, τὴν μὲν πρὸς τοὺς πετροβόλους, τὴν δὲ πρὸς τοὺς ὀξυβελεῖς, ἀμφοτέρας δὲ ταύτας ἐπὶ δύο πλοίων φορτηγῶν διαβεβηκυίας καὶ κατεζευγμένας, δύο δὲ πύργους τετραστέγους ὑπερέχοντας τοῖς ὕψεσι τῶν ἐπὶ τοῦ λιμένος πύργων, ἑκάτερον δὲ τούτων ἐπὶ δύο πλοίων ἴσον βεβηκότα καὶ κατειλημμένον, ὅπως ἐν τῷ προσάγειν ἡ στάσις ἑκατέρα τῶν πλευρῶν ἰσόρροπον ἔχῃ τὸ βάρος. κατεσκεύασε δὲ καὶ χάρακα πλωτὸν ἐπὶ τετραπέδων ξύλων καθηλωμένον, ὅπως προπλέων οὗτος κωλύῃ τοὺς πολεμίους ἐπιπλέοντας ἐμβολὰς διδόναι τοῖς φέρουσι τὰς μηχανὰς πλοίοις. ἐν ὅσῳ δὲ ταῦτα τὴν συντέλειαν ἐλάμβανεν, ἀθροίσας τοὺς ἁδροτάτους τῶν λέμβων καὶ τούτους καταφράξας σανίσι καὶ θυρίδας κλειστὰς κατασκευάσας ἐνέθετο μὲν τῶν τρισπιθάμων ὀξυβελῶν τοὺς πορρωτάτω βάλλοντας καὶ τοὺς τούτοις κατὰ τρόπον χρησομένους, ἔτι δὲ τοξότας Κρῆτας, τὰς δὲ ναῦς προσαγαγὼν ἐντὸς βέλους κατετίτρωσκε τοὺς κατὰ τὴν πόλιν ὑψηλότερα τὰ παρὰ τὸν λιμένα τείχη κατασκευάζοντας. οἱ δὲ Ῥόδιοι θεωροῦντες τοῦ Δημητρίου τὴν πᾶσαν ἐπιβολὴν οὖσαν ἐπὶ τὸν λιμένα καὶ αὐτοὶ τὰ πρὸς τὴν ἀσφάλειαν τούτου παρεσκευάζοντο. δύο μὲν οὖν ἔστησαν μηχανὰς ἐπὶ τοῦ χώματος, τρεῖς δʼ ἐπὶ φορτηγῶν πλοίων πλησίον τῶν κλείθρων τοῦ μικροῦ λιμένος· ἐν δὲ ταύταις ἔθηκαν πλῆθος ὀξυβελῶν καὶ πετροβόλων παντοίων τοῖς μεγέθεσιν, ὅπως, ἐάν τε ἀποβιβάζωσιν οἱ πολέμιοι πρὸς τὸ χῶμα στρατιώτας ἄν τε τὰς μηχανὰς προσάγωσι, διὰ τούτων αὐτοὺς εἴργεσθαι τῆς ἐπιβολῆς. ἐπέστησαν δὲ καὶ τοῖς ὁρμοῦσι τῶν φορτηγῶν πλοίων ἐν τῷ λιμένι βελοστάσεις οἰκείας τοῖς ἐπιτίθεσθαι μέλλουσι καταπέλταις.
Demetrius, who had an ample supply of everything required for setting up his engines of war, began to prepare two penthouses, one for the ballistae, the other for the catapults, each of them firmly mounted on two cargo vessels fastened together, and two towers of four storeys, exceeding in height the towers of the harbour, each of them mounted upon two ships of the same size and fastened there in such a way that as the towers advanced the support on each side upheld an equal weight. He also prepared a floating boom of squared logs studded with spikes, in order that as this was floated forward it might prevent the enemy from sailing up and ramming the ships that were carrying the engines of war. In the interval while these were receiving their finishing touches, he collected the strongest of the light craft, fortified them with planks, provided them with ports that could be closed, and placed upon them those of the catapults for bolts three palms long which had the longest range and the men to work them properly, and also Cretan archers; then, sending the boats within range, he shot down the men of the city who were building higher the walls along the harbour. When the Rhodians saw that the entire attack of Demetrius was aimed against the harbour, they themselves also took measures for its security. They placed two machines on the mole and three upon freighters near the boom of the small harbour; in these they mounted a large number of catapults and ballistae of all sizes, in order that if the enemy should disembark soldiers on the mole or should advance his machines, he might be thwarted in his design by this means. They also placed on such cargo ships as were at anchor in the harbour platforms suitable for the catapults that were to be mounted on them.
§ 20.86
ἀμφοτέρων δὲ τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον παρεσκευασμένων ὁ Δημήτριος τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἐπιβαλόμενος προσάγειν τὰς μηχανὰς τοῖς λιμέσιν ἐκωλύθη κλύδωνος ἐπιγενομένου τραχυτέρου· μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα νυκτὸς εὐδίας λαβόμενος ἔλαθε παραπλεύσας καὶ καταλαβόμενος ἄκρον τὸ χῶμα τοῦ μεγάλου λιμένος εὐθὺς περιεχαράκωσε τὸν τόπον καὶ διέφραξε θυρώμασι καὶ πέτροις, ἐξεβίβασε δʼ εἰς αὐτὸν στρατιώτας τετρακοσίους καὶ βελῶν πλῆθος παντοδαπῶν, ἀπέχοντος ἀπὸ τῶν τειχῶν τοῦ τόπου τούτου πέντε πλέθρα. ἔπειθʼ ἡμέρας γενομένης παρεκόμισε τὰς μηχανὰς εἰς τὸν λιμένα μετὰ σάλπιγγος καὶ κραυγῆς ταὶ τοῖς μὲν ἐλάττοσιν ὀξυβελέσι μακρὰν φερομένοις ἀνεῖργε τοὺς ἐργαζομένους τὸ παρὰ τὸν λιμένα τεῖχος, τοῖς δὲ πετροβόλοις τάς τε μηχανὰς τῶν πολεμίων καὶ τὸ διὰ τοῦ χώματος τεῖχος τῇ μὲν διέσεισε, τῇ δὲ κατέβαλεν, ἀσθενὲς ὑπάρχον καὶ ταπεινὸν ἐκείνοις τοῖς καιροῖς. ἀμυνομένων δὲ καὶ τῶν ἐκ τῆς πόλεως εὐρώστως τότε μὲν ὅλην τὴν ἡμέραν διετέλεσαν ἀμφότεροι πολλὰ κακὰ καὶ δρῶντες καὶ πάσχοντες· τῆς δὲ νυκτὸς ἤδη καταλαμβανούσης ὁ μὲν Δημήτριος ταῖς ῥυμουλκούσαις ναυσὶν ἀπήγαγε τὰς μηχανὰς πάλιν ἔξω βέλους· οἱ δὲ Ῥόδιοι ξηρᾶς ὕλης καὶ δᾳδὸς ἀκάτια πληρώσαντες καὶ πῦρ ἐνθέμενοι τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἐπιδιώξαντες προσέπλεον ταῖς μηχαναῖς ταῖς τῶν πολεμίων καὶ τὴν ὕλην ὑφῆψαν, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τῷ πλωτῷ χάρακι καὶ τοῖς βέλεσιν ἀνειρχθέντες συνηναγκάσθησαν χωρεῖν εἰς τοὐπίσω. τῆς δὲ φλογὸς ἐπισχυούσης ὀλίγοι μὲν κατασβέσαντες ἐπανῆλθον σὺν τοῖς σκάφεσιν, οἱ πλεῖστοι δὲ καιομένων τῶν ἀκατίων ἐξεκολύμβησαν. τῇ δʼ ὑστεραίᾳ κατὰ μὲν θάλατταν ὁ Δημήτριος παραπλησίαν ἐποιήσατο τὴν ἐπίθεσιν, κατὰ δὲ τὴν γῆν προσέταξεν ἅμα πανταχόθεν προσβάλλειν μετʼ ἀλαλαγμοῦ καὶ σάλπιγγος, ὅπως εἰς ἀγωνίαν καὶ φόβον ἀγάγῃ τοὺς Ῥοδίους, πολλῶν τῶν ἀντισπασμάτων ὄντων.
After both sides had made their preparations in this way, Demetrius at first endeavoured to bring his engines of war against the harbour, but he was prevented when too rough a sea arose; later on, however, taking advantage of calm weather at night, he sailed in secretly, and after seizing the end of the mole of the great harbour he at once fortified the place, cutting it off with walls of planks and stones, and landed there four hundred soldiers and a supply of ordnance of all kinds. This point was five plethra distant from the city walls. Then at daybreak he brought his engines into the harbour with the sound of trumpets and with shouts; and with the lighter catapults, which had a long range, he drove back those who were constructing the wall along the harbour, and with the ballistae he shook or destroyed the engines of the enemy and the wall across the mole, for it was weak and low at this time. But since those from the city also fought stoutly, during that whole day both sides continued to inflict and suffer severe losses; and when night was already closing in, Demetrius by means of towboats drew his engines back out of range. The Rhodians, however, filled light boats with dry pitchy wood and placed fire in them; at first they went in pursuit and, drawing near to the engines of the enemy, lighted the wood, but afterwards, repelled by the floating boom and by the missiles, they were forced to withdraw. As the fire gained force a few put it out and sailed back with their boats, but most of them plunged into the sea as their boats were consumed. On the following day Demetrius made a similar attack by sea, but he also gave orders to assail the city at the same time by land from all sides with shouts and sound of trumpet in order to throw the Rhodians into an agony of terror because of the many distractions.
§ 20.87
τοιαύτην δὲ τὴν πολιορκίαν ποιησάμενος ἐφʼ ἡμέρας ὀκτὼ τὰς μὲν μηχανὰς τὰς ἐπὶ τοῦ χώματος τοῖς ταλαντιαίοις πετροβόλοις συνέτριψε, τοῦ δὲ διατειχίσματος τὸ μεσοπύργιον σὺν αὐτοῖς τοῖς πύργοις διέσεισεν. κατελάβοντο δὲ καὶ τῶν στρατιωτῶν τινες μέρος τοῦ παρὰ τὸν λιμένα διατειχίσματος· ἐφʼ οὓς συστραφέντες οἱ Ῥόδιοι μάχην συνῆψαν καὶ πολλαπλάσιοι γενόμενοι τοὺς μὲν ἀνεῖλον, τοὺς δʼ ἐπανελθεῖν εἰς τοὐπίσω συνηνάγκασαν· συνήργει δὲ τοῖς ἐκ τῆς πόλεως ἡ τοῦ παρὰ τὸ τεῖχος τόπου τραχύτης, πολλῶν καὶ μεγάλων πετρῶν κατὰ τὸ συνεχὲς κειμένων παρὰ τὴν οἰκοδομὴν ἔξω τοῦ τείχους. τῶν δὲ τοὺς στρατιώτας τούτους κομισάντων σκαφῶν οὐκ ὀλίγων διὰ τὴν ἀγωνίαν ἐποκειλάντων οἱ Ῥόδιοι ταχέως τὰ μὲν ἀκροστόλια περιέσπασαν, ὕλην δὲ ξηρὰν καὶ δᾷδας ταῖς ναυσὶν ἐνέντες ἐνέπρησαν. τούτων δὲ περὶ ταῦτʼ ὄντων οἱ μὲν τοῦ Δημητρίου στρατιῶται πανταχοῦ περιπλέοντες κλίμακας προσέφερον τοῖς τείχεσι καὶ βιαιότερον ἐνέκειντο, συναγωνιζομένων καὶ τῶν ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς πανταχόθεν καὶ συναλαλαζόντων. ἔνθα δὴ πολλῶν παραβόλως κινδυνευσάντων καὶ συχνῶν ἀναβάντων ἐπὶ τὰ τείχη συνίστατο καρτερὰ μάχη, τῶν μὲν ἔξωθεν βιαζομένων, τῶν δʼ ἐκ τῆς πόλεως ἀθρόων παραβοηθούντων. τέλος δὲ τῶν Ῥοδίων ἐκθύμως ἀγωνιζομένων οἱ μὲν ἔπεσον τῶν προσαναβάντων, οἱ δὲ κατατραυματισθέντες ἑάλωσαν, ἐν οἷς ἦσάν τινες καὶ τῶν ἐπιφανεστάτων ἡγεμόνων. τοιούτων δὲ γενομένων τοῖς ἔξωθεν ἐλαττωμάτων ὁ μὲν Δημήτριος ἀπεκόμισε τὰς μηχανὰς εἰς τὸν ἴδιον λιμένα καὶ τὰ πεπονηκότα τῶν πλοίων καὶ μηχανῶν ἐπεσκεύασεν, οἱ δὲ Ῥόδιοι τοὺς μὲν τελευτήσαντας τῶν πολιτῶν ἔθαψαν, τὰ δὲ ὅπλα τῶν πολεμίων καὶ τὰ ἀκροστόλια τοῖς θεοῖς ἀνέθηκαν, τὰ δὲ διὰ τῶν πετροβόλων πεπτωκότα τῶν τειχῶν ἀνῳκοδόμουν.
After carrying on this kind of siege warfare for eight days, Demetrius shattered the engines of war upon the mole by means of his heavy ballistae and weakened the curtain of the cross-wall together with the towers themselves. Some of his soldiers also occupied a part of the fortifications along the harbour; the Rhodians rallying their forces joined battle against these, and now that they outnumbered the enemy, they killed some and forced the rest to withdraw. The men of the city were aided by the ruggedness of the shore along the wall, for many large rocks lay close together beside the structure outside of the wall. Of the ships which had conveyed these soldiers no small number ran aground in their ignorance; and the Rhodians at once, after stripping off the beaks, threw dry pitchy wood into the ships and burned them. While the Rhodians were so occupied, the soldiers of Demetrius sailing up on every side placed ladders against the walls and pressed on more strongly, and the troops who were attacking from the land also joined in the struggle from every side and raised the battle cry in unison. Then indeed, since many had recklessly risked their lives, and a good number had mounted the walls, a mighty battle arose, those on the outside trying to force their way in and those in the city coming to the defence with one accord. Finally, as the Rhodians contended furiously, some of the men who had mounted were thrown down and others were wounded and captured, among whom were some of their most distinguished leaders. Since such losses had befallen those who fought from the outside, Demetrius withdrew his engines of war to his own harbour and repaired the ships and engines that had been damaged; and the Rhodians buried those of their citizens who had perished, dedicated to the gods the arms of the enemy and the beaks of the ships, and rebuilt the parts of the wall that had been overthrown by the ballistae.
§ 20.88
Δημήτριος δὲ περὶ τὴν ἐπισκευὴν τῶν μηχανῶν καὶ τῶν πλοίων ἡμέρας ἑπτὰ γενόμενος καὶ πάντα τὰ πρὸς τὴν πολιορκίαν παρασκευασάμενος πάλιν ἐπέπλευσε τῷ λιμένι· πᾶσα γὰρ ἦν ἡ σπουδὴ περὶ τὸ κρατῆσαι τούτου καὶ τῆς σιτοπομπείας ἀποκλεῖσαι τοὺς κατὰ τὴν πόλιν. γενόμενος δʼ ἐντὸς βέλους τοῖς μὲν πυρφόροις πολλοῖς οὖσιν εἰς τὰ διωρμισμένα πλοῖα τῶν Ῥοδίων ἐνέβαλε, τοῖς δὲ πετροβόλοις τὰ τείχη διέσεισε, τοῖς δʼ ὀξυβελέσι τὰ φαινόμενα τῶν σωμάτων κατετίτρωσκε. συνεχοῦς οὖν καὶ καταπληκτικῆς γενομένης τῆς προσβολῆς οἱ μὲν παρὰ τοῖς Ῥοδίοις ναύκληροι διαγωνιάσαντες περὶ τῶν πλοίων κατέσβεσαν τοὺς πυρφόρους, οἱ δὲ πρυτάνεις κινδυνεύοντος ἁλῶναι τοῦ λιμένος παρεκάλεσαν τοὺς ἀρίστους τῶν πολιτῶν τὸν ὑπὲρ τῆς κοινῆς σωτηρίας ὑπομεῖναι κίνδυνον. πολλῶν οὖν προθύμως ὑπακουόντων τρεῖς ναῦς τὰς κρατίστας ἐπλήρωσαν ἐπιλέκτων ἀνδρῶν, οἷς παρήγγειλαν πειρᾶσθαι τοῖς ἐμβόλοις βυθίσαι τὰ πλοῖα τὰ τὰς μηχανὰς κομίζοντα τῶν πολεμίων. οὗτοι μὲν οὖν, καίπερ πολλῶν ἐπʼ αὐτοὺς φερομένων βελῶν, ὠσάμενοι τὸ μὲν πρῶτον τὸν σεσιδηρωμένον χάρακα διέσπασαν, τοῖς δὲ πλοίοις πολλὰς ἐμβολὰς δόντες καὶ θαλάττης αὐτὰ πληρώσαντες δύο μὲν τῶν μηχανῶν κατέβαλον, τῆς δὲ τρίτης ὑπὸ τῶν περὶ τὸν Δημήτριον εἰς τοὐπίσω τοῖς ῥύμασιν ἑλκομένης οἱ μὲν Ῥόδιοι θαρρήσαντες τοῖς κατωρθωμένοις θρασύτερον τοῦ καθήκοντος προέπιπτον εἰς τὸν κίνδυνον. διὸ πολλῶν αὐτοῖς καὶ μεγάλων νεῶν περιχυθεισῶν καὶ τοῖς ἐμβόλοις πολλὰ μέρη τῶν τοίχων ἀναρρηττουσῶν ὁ μὲν ναύαρχος Ἐξήκεστος καὶ ὁ τριήραρχος καί τινες ἄλλοι κατατραυματισθέντες ἥλωσαν, τοῦ δʼ ἄλλου πλήθους ἐκκολυμβήσαντος καὶ διανηξαμένου πρὸς τοὺς ἰδίους μία μὲν τῶν νεῶν ὑποχείριος ἐγένετο τοῖς περὶ τὸν Δημήτριον, αἱ δʼ ἄλλαι διέφυγον τὸν κίνδυνον. τοιαύτης οὖν γενομένης τῆς ναυμαχίας ὁ μὲν Δημήτριος ἄλλην μηχανὴν κατεσκεύασε τριπλασίαν τῷ ὕψει καὶ πλάτει τῆς πρότερον, προσάγοντος δʼ αὐτὴν πρὸς τὸν λιμένα νότος ἐκνεφίας ἐπιγενόμενος τὰ μὲν ὁρμοῦντα τῶν πλοίων συνέκλυσε, τὴν δὲ μηχανὴν κατέβαλε. καθʼ ὃν δὴ χρόνον οἱ Ῥόδιοι τῷ καιρῷ δεξιῶς χρησάμενοι πύλην ἀνοίξαντες ἐπέθεντο τοῖς τὸ χῶμα κατειληφόσι. γενομένης δὲ μάχης ἐπὶ πολὺν χρόνον ἰσχυρᾶς καὶ τοῦ μὲν Δημητρίου διὰ τὸν χειμῶνα μὴ δυναμένου βοηθῆσαι, τῶν δὲ Ῥοδίων ἐκ διαδοχῆς ἀγωνιζομένων ἠναγκάσθησαν οἱ τοῦ βασιλέως ἀποθέμενοι τὰ ὅπλα παραδοῦναι σφᾶς αὐτούς, ὄντες σχεδὸν τετρακόσιοι. τούτων δὲ τῶν προτερημάτων γενομένων τοῖς Ῥοδίοις κατέπλευσαν τῇ πόλει σύμμαχοι παρὰ μὲν Κνωσσίων ἑκατὸν πεντήκοντα, παρὰ δὲ Πτολεμαίου πλείους τῶν πεντακοσίων, ὧν ἦσάν τινες Ῥόδιοι μισθοφοροῦντες παρὰ τῷ βασιλεῖ. καὶ τὰ μὲν περὶ τὴν ἐν Ῥόδῳ πολιορκίαν ἐν τούτοις ἦν.
After Demetrius had spent seven days on the repair of his engines and ships and had made all his preparations for the siege, he again attacked the harbour; for his whole effort centred upon capturing this and shutting off the people of the city from their grain supplies. When he was within range, with the fire-arrows, of which he had many, he made an account on the ships of the Rhodians that lay at anchor, with his ballistae he shook the walls, and with his catapults he cut down any who showed themselves. Then when the attack had become continuous and terrifying, the Rhodian ship-captains, after a fierce struggle to save their ships, put out the fire-arrows, and the magistrates, since the harbour was in danger of being taken, summoned the noblest citizens to undergo the perils of war for the sake of the common safety. When many responded with alacrity, they manned the three staunchest ships with picked men, whom they instructed to try to sink with their rams the ships that carried the engines of the enemy. These men, accordingly, pushed forward although missiles in large numbers were speeding against them; and at first they broke through the iron studded boom, and then by delivering repeated blows with their rams upon the ships and filling them with water, they overthrew two of the engines; but when the third was drawn back with ropes by the men of Demetrius, the Rhodians, encouraged by their successes, pressed on into the battle more boldly than was prudent. And so, when many large ships crowded around them and the sides of their own ships had been shattered in many places by the rams, the admiral Execestus, the trierarch, and some others were disabled by wounds and captured; and as the rest of its crew jumped into the sea and swam to their own fellows, one of the ships came into the possession of Demetrius; but the other ships escaped from the battle. When the naval battle had turned out in this way, Demetrius constructed another machine three times the size of the former in height and width; but while he was bringing this up to the harbour, a violent storm from the south sprang up, which swept over the ships that were anchored and overthrew the engine. And at this very time the Rhodians, shrewdly availing themselves of the situation, opened a gate and sallied out upon those who had occupied the mole. A severe battle ensued lasting for a long time; and since Demetrius could not send reinforcements because of the storm, and the Rhodians, on the other hand, were fighting in relays, the king's men were forced to lay down their arms and surrender, in number above four hundred. After the Rhodians had gained these advantages there sailed in as allies for the city one hundred and fifty soldiers from the Cnossians and more than five hundred from Ptolemy, some of whom were Rhodians serving as mercenaries in the king's army. This was the state of the siege of Rhodes.
§ 20.89
κατὰ δὲ τὴν Σικελίαν Ἀγαθοκλῆς οὐ δυνάμενος διαλύσασθαι πρὸς τοὺς περὶ Δεινοκράτην φυγάδας ἀνέζευξεν ἐπʼ αὐτοὺς μεθʼ ἧς εἶχε δυνάμεως, νομίζων ἀναγκαῖον ὑπάρχειν αὐτῷ διακινδυνεύειν καὶ παραβάλλεσθαι περὶ τῶν ὅλων. συνηκολούθουν δʼ αὐτῷ πεζοὶ μὲν οὐ πλείους τῶν πεντακισχιλίων, ἱππεῖς δὲ εἰς ὀκτακοσίους. οἱ δὲ περὶ Δεινοκράτην φυγάδες ὁρῶντες τὴν τῶν πολεμίων ὁρμὴν ἄσμενοι κατήντησαν εἰς τὴν μάχην, ὄντες πολλαπλάσιοι· πεζοὶ μὲν γὰρ ὑπῆρχον πλείους τῶν δισμυρίων καὶ πεντακισχιλίων, ἱππεῖς δʼ οὐκ ἐλάττους τρισχιλίων. ἀντιστρατοπεδευσάντων δʼ αὐτῶν περὶ τὸ καλούμενον Τόργιον καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα παραταξαμένων ἐπʼ ὀλίγον μὲν χρόνον συνέστη καρτερὰ μάχη διὰ τὰς ἀμφοτέρων προθυμίας· μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τῶν πρὸς τὸν Δεινοκράτην διαφερομένων τινές, ὄντες πλείους τῶν δισχιλίων, μετεβάλοντο πρὸς τὸν τύραννον καὶ τοῖς φυγάσιν αἴτιοι κατέστησαν τῆς ἥττης. οἱ μὲν γὰρ μετʼ Ἀγαθοκλέους ὄντες πολὺ μᾶλλον ἐθάρρησαν, οἱ δὲ Δεινοκράτει συναγωνιζόμενοι κατεπλάγησαν καὶ νομίσαντες πλείους εἶναι τοὺς ἀφισταμένους πρὸς φυγὴν ὥρμησαν. εἶθʼ ὁ μὲν Ἀγαθοκλῆς διώξας αὐτοὺς μέχρι τινὸς καὶ τοῦ φονεύειν ἀποσχόμενος διεπέμψατο πρὸς τοὺς ἡττημένους, ἀξιῶν παύσασθαι μὲν τῆς διαφορᾶς, καταπορευθῆναι δʼ εἰς τὰς πατρίδας· εἰληφέναι γὰρ αὐτοὺς πεῖραν τοῦ μηδέποτʼ ἂν δύνασθαι περιγενέσθαι τοὺς φυγάδας ἀγωνιζομένους πρὸς αὐτόν, ὅτε καὶ νῦν πολλαπλασίους ὄντας αὐτοὺς ἡττῆσθαι. τῶν δὲ φυγάδων οἱ μὲν ἱππεῖς ἅπαντες ἀπὸ τῆς φυγῆς διεσώθησαν εἰς Ἄμβικας χωρίον, τῶν δὲ πεζῶν ἔνιοι μὲν νυκτὸς ἐπιγενομένης διέδρασαν, οἱ δὲ πλείους καταλαβόμενοι λόφον καὶ τὴν μὲν ἐκ τοῦ διαγωνίζεσθαι νίκην ἀπελπίσαντες, ἐπιθυμοῦντες δὲ συγγενῶν καὶ φίλων καὶ πατρίδος καὶ τῶν ἐν ταύτῃ καλῶν διελύσαντο πρὸς Ἀγαθοκλέα. λαβόντων οὖν αὐτῶν πίστεις καὶ καταβάντων ἀπό τινος ἐρυμνοῦ λόφου τὰ μὲν ὅπλα παρείλετο, τὴν δὲ δύναμιν περιστήσας ἅπαντας κατηκόντισεν, ὄντας περὶ ἑπτακισχιλίους, ὡς Τίμαιός φησιν, ὡς δʼ ἔνιοι γράφουσιν, εἰς τετρακισχιλίους· ἀεὶ γὰρ ὁ τύραννος οὗτος πίστεως μὲν καὶ τῶν ὅρκων κατεφρόνει, τὴν δʼ ἰδίαν ἰσχὺν οὐκ ἐκ τῆς περὶ αὐτὸν δυνάμεως, ἀλλʼ ἐκ τῆς τῶν ὑποτεταγμένων ἀσθενείας περιεποιεῖτο, πλεῖον δεδοικὼς τοὺς συμμάχους ἢ τοὺς πολεμίους.
In Sicily Agathocles, since he had been unable to make terms with Deinocrates and the exiles, took the field against them with what forces he had, believing that it was necessary for him to fight a battle with them and stake everything on the result. Not more than five thousand foot soldiers followed him and horsemen to the number of eight hundred. Deinocrates and the exiles, when they saw the move made by the enemy, gladly came out to meet him in battle, being many times as strong; for their foot soldiers came to more than twenty-five thousand and their cavalry to not less than three thousand. When the armies had encamped opposite each other near the place called Torgium, and then were drawn up against each other in battle array, for a short time there was a stubborn battle because of the eagerness of both sides; but then some of those who were at odds with Deinocrates, more than two thousand in number, went over to the tyrant and were responsible for the defeat of the exiles. For those who were with Agathocles gained much more confidence, and those who were fighting on the side of Deinocrates were dismayed and, overestimating the number of the deserters, broke into flight. Then Agathocles, after pursuing them for a certain distance and refraining from slaughter, sent envoys to the defeated and asked them to put an end to the quarrel and return to their native cities; for, he said, they had found by experience that the exiles would never be able to prevail in a battle with him, seeing that even on this occasion, although they were many times more numerous, they had been defeated. Of the exiles, all the horsemen survived the fight and came safe into Ambicae; but as for the foot soldiers, although some escaped when night came on, most of them after occupying a hill made terms with Agathocles, for they had lost hope of victory by fighting and longed for their relatives and friends and for their fatherland and its comforts. Now when they had received pledges of good faith and had come down from the hill-fort, such as it was, Agathocles took their arms; and then, stationing his army about them, he shot them all down, their number being about seven thousand, as Timaeus says, but as some have written, about four thousand. Indeed, this tyrant always scorned faith and his oaths; and he maintained his own power, not by the strength of his armed forces but by the weakness of his subjects, fearing his allies more than his enemies.
§ 20.90
τὴν δὲ ἀντιτεταγμένην δύναμιν οὕτω διαφθείρας προσεδέξατο τοὺς ὑπολελειμμένους τῶν φυγάδων καὶ πρὸς Δεινοκράτην διαλυθεὶς στρατηγὸν αὐτὸν μέρους τῆς δυνάμεως ἀπέδειξε καὶ διετέλεσε πιστεύων τὰ μέγιστα. θαυμάσειε δʼ ἄν τις ἐν τούτοις τὸν Ἀγαθοκλέα, πῶς πρὸς ἅπαντας ὑπόπτως ἔχων καὶ μηδέποτε μηδενὶ βεβαίως πιστεύσας πρὸς μόνον Δεινοκράτην διετήρησε τὴν φιλίαν μέχρι τελευτῆς. ὁ δὲ Δεινοκράτην προδοὺς τοὺς συμμάχους τὸν μὲν Πασίφιλον ἐν τῇ Γέλᾳ συναρπάσας ἀπέκτεινεν, τὰ δὲ φρούρια καὶ τὰς πόλεις ἐνεχείρισεν Ἀγαθοκλεῖ, διετῆ χρόνον ἀναλώσας εἰς τὴν τῶν πολεμίων παράθεσιν. κατὰ δὲ τὴν Ἰταλίαν Ῥωμαῖοι μὲν Παλιγνοὺς καταπολεμήσαντες τὴν χώραν ἀφείλοντο καί τισι τῶν δοξάντων τὰ Ῥωμαίων πεφρονηκέναι μετέδωκαν τῆς πολιτείας. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Σαμνιτῶν τὴν Φαλερνῖτιν πορθούντων ἀνέζευξαν ἐπʼ αὐτοὺς οἱ ὕπατοι καὶ γενομένης παρατάξεως προετέρησαν οἱ Ῥωμαῖοι. σημείας μὲν οὖν εἷλον εἴκοσι, στρατιώτας δʼ ἐζώγρησαν ὑπὲρ τοὺς δισχιλίους. τῶν δʼ ὑπάτων εὐθὺς ἑλόντων πόλιν Βῶλαν Γέλλιος Γάιος ὁ τῶν Σαμνιτῶν ἡγεμὼν ἐφάνη μετὰ στρατιωτῶν ἑξακισχιλίων. γενομένης δὲ μάχης ἰσχυρᾶς αὐτός τε ὁ Γέλλιος ἑάλω καὶ τῶν ἄλλων Σαμνιτῶν οἱ πλεῖστοι μὲν κατεκόπησαν, τινὲς δὲ καὶ ζῶντες συνελήφθησαν. οἱ δʼ ὕπατοι τοιούτοις προτερήμασι χρησάμενοι τῶν συμμαχίδων πόλεων τὰς ἁλούσας ἀνεκτήσαντο, Σώραν, Ἁρπίναν καὶ Σερεννίαν.
When he had destroyed in this manner the army that had been arrayed against him, Agathocles received any exiles who survived and, making terms with Deinocrates, appointed him general over part of his army and continued to entrust the most important matters to him. In this connection one might well wonder why Agathocles, who was suspicious of everyone and never completely trusted anybody, continued his friendship with Deinocrates alone until death. But Deinocrates, after betraying his allies, seized and slew Pasiphilus in Gela and handed the strongholds and the cities to Agathocles, spending two years in the delivery of the enemy. In Italy the Romans defeated the Paeligni and took their land, and to some of those who seemed well disposed toward Rome, they granted citizenship. Thereafter, since the Samnites were plundering Falernitis, the consuls took the field against them, and in the battle that followed the Romans were victorious. They took twenty standards and made prisoners of more than two thousand soldiers. The consuls at once took the city of Bola, but Gellius Gaius, the leader of the Samnites, appeared with six thousand soldiers. A hard fought battle took place in which Gellius himself was made prisoner, and of the other Samnites most were cut down but some were captured alive. The consuls, taking advantage of such victories, recovered those allied cities that had been captured: Sora, Harpina, and Serennia.
§ 20.91
τοῦ δʼ ἐνιαυσίου χρόνου διεληλυθότος Ἀθήνησι μὲν ἦρχε Φερεκλῆς, ἐν Ῥώμῃ δὲ τὴν ὑπατικὴν ἀρχὴν διεδέξαντο Πόπλιος Σεμπρώνιος καὶ Πόπλιος Σολπίκιος, ὀλυμπιὰς δʼ ἤχθη παρὰ τοῖς Ἠλείοις ἐνάτη πρὸς ταῖς ἑκατὸν δέκα, καθʼ ἣν ἐνίκα στάδιον Ἀνδρομένης Κορίνθιος. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Δημήτριος μὲν Ῥόδον πολιορκῶν, ἐπὶ ταῖς κατὰ θάλατταν προσβολαῖς ἀποτυγχάνων, ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς διέγνω τὰς ἐπιθέσεις ποιεῖσθαι. παρασκευασάμενος οὖν ὕλης παντοίας πλῆθος κατεσκεύασε μηχανὴν τὴν καλουμένην ἑλέπολιν, ὑπεραίρουσαν πολὺ τῷ μεγέθει τῶν πρὸ αὐτῆς γενομένων. ἐσχαρίου γὰρ ὄντος τετραγώνου τὴν μὲν πλευρὰν ἑκάστην ὑπεστήσατο πηχῶν σχεδὸν πεντήκοντα, συμπεπηγυῖαν ἐκ τετραγώνων ξύλων σιδήρῳ δεδεμένων· τὴν δὲ ἀνὰ μέσον χώραν διέλαβε δοκοῖς ἀλλήλων ἀπεχούσαις ὡσανεὶ πῆχυν, ὅπως παράστασις ᾖ τοῖς προωθεῖν τὴν μηχανὴν μέλλουσιν. τὸ δὲ πᾶν βάρος ἦν ὑπότροχον, στερεοῖς καὶ μεγάλοις ὀκτὼ τροχοῖς ὑπειλημμένον· τὰ γὰρ πάχη τῶν ἀψίδων ὑπῆρχε πηχῶν δυεῖν, σεσιδηρωμένα λεπίσιν ἰσχυραῖς. πρὸς δὲ τὴν ἐκ πλαγίας μετάθεσιν ἦσαν ἀντίστρεπτα πεπραγματευμένα, δι’ ὧν ἡ πᾶσα μηχανὴ ῥᾳδίως παντοίαν ὑπελάμβανε κίνησιν. ἐκ δὲ τῶν γωνιῶν ὑπῆρχον κίονες ἴσοι τῷ μήκει, βραχὺ λείποντες τῶν ἑκατὸν πηχῶν, οὕτως συννενευκότες εἰς ἀλλήλους ὡς τοῦ παντὸς κατασκευάσματος ὄντος ἐννεαστέγου τὴν μὲν πρώτην στέγην ὑπάρχειν ἀκαινῶν τεσσαράκοντα τριῶν, τὴν δʼ ἀνωτάτω ἐννέα. τὰς δὲ τρεῖς ἐπιφανεῖς πλευρὰς τῆς μηχανῆς ἔξωθεν συνεκάλυψε λεπίσι σιδηραῖς καθηλωμέναις, ἵνα μηδὲν ὑπὸ τῶν πυρφόρων βλάπτηται. θυρίδας δʼ εἶχον αἱ στέγαι κατὰ πρόσωπον, τοῖς μεγέθεσι καὶ τοῖς σχήμασι πρὸς τὰς ἰδιότητας τῶν μελλόντων ἀφίεσθαι βελῶν ἁρμοζούσας. αὗται δὲ εἶχον καλύμματα διὰ μηχανῆς ἀνασπώμενα, διʼ ὧν ἀσφάλειαν ἐλάμβανον οἱ κατὰ τὰς στέγας περὶ τὴν ἄφεσιν τῶν βελῶν ἀναστρεφόμενοι· ἦσαν μὲν γὰρ ἐκ βυρσῶν περιερραμμένα, πλήρη δὲ ἐρίων, εἰς τὸ τῇ πληγῇ ἐνδιδόναι τῶν λιθοβόλων. ἑκάστη δὲ τῶν στεγῶν εἶχε δύο κλίμακας πλατείας, ὧν τῇ μὲν πρὸς τὴν ἀνακομιδὴν τῶν χρησίμων, τῇ δὲ πρὸς τὴν κατάβασιν ἐχρῶντο πρὸς τὸ χωρὶς θορύβου πᾶν ὑπηρετεῖσθαι. οἱ δὲ μέλλοντες κινήσειν τὴν μηχανὴν ἐξελέχθησαν ἐξ ἁπάσης τῆς δυνάμεως οἱ ταῖς ῥώμαις διαφέροντες ἄνδρες τρισχίλιοι καὶ τετρακόσιοι· τούτων δʼ οἱ μὲν ἐντὸς ἀποληφθέντες, οἱ δʼ ἐκ τῶν ὄπισθεν μερῶν παριστάμενοι προεώθουν, πολλὰ τῆς τέχνης συνεργούσης εἰς τὴν κίνησιν. κατεσκεύασε δὲ καὶ χελώνας τὰς μὲν χωστρίδας, τὰς δὲ κριοφορους καὶ στοὰς διʼ ὧν ἔμελλον οἱ τοῖς ἔργοις προσιόντες ἐλεύσεσθαι καὶ πάλιν ἐπιστρέψειν ἀσφαλῶς. τοῖς δʼ ἐκ τῶν νεῶν πληρώμασιν ἀνεκάθαρε τὸν τόπον ἐπὶ σταδίους τέτταρας, διʼ ὧν ἔμελλεν προσάξειν τὰς κατασκευασθείσας μηχανάς, ὥστε γίνεσθαι τὸ ἔργον ἐπὶ μῆκος μεσοπυργίων ἓξ καὶ πύργων ἑπτά. τὸ δʼ ἠθροισμένον πλῆθος τῶν τεχνιτῶν καὶ τῶν τοῖς ἔργοις προσιόντων οὐ πολὺ ἐλείπετο τῶν τρισμυρίων.
When that year had passed, Pherecles became archon in Athens and in Rome Publius Sempronius and Publius Sulpicius received the consulship; and in Elis the Olympian Games were celebrated for the one hundred and nineteenth time, at which celebration Andromenes of Corinth won the footrace. While these held office, Demetrius, who was besieging Rhodes, failing in his assaults by sea, decided to make his attacks by land. Having provided therefore a large quantity of material of all kinds, he built an engine called the helepolis, 3 which far surpassed in size those which had been constructed before it. Each side of the square platform he made almost fifty cubits in length, framed together from squared timber and fastened with iron; the space within he divided by bars set about a cubit from each other so that there might be standing space for those who were to push the machine forward. The whole structure was movable, mounted on eight great solid wheels; the width of their rims was two cubits and these were overlaid with heavy iron plates. To permit motion to the side, pivots had been constructed, by means of which the whole device was easily moved in any direction. From each corner there extended upward beams equal in length and little short of a hundred cubits long, inclining toward each other in such a way that, the whole structure being nine storeys high, the first storey had an area of forty-three hundred square feet and the topmost storey of nine hundred. The three exposed sides of the machine he covered externally with iron plates nailed on so that it should receive no injury from fire carriers. On each storey there were ports on the front, in size and shape fitted to the individual characteristics of the missiles that were to be shot forth. These ports had shutters, which were lifted by a mechanical device and which secured the safety of the men on the platforms who were busy serving the artillery; for the shutters were of hides stitched together and were filled with wool so that they would yield to the blows of the stones from the ballistae. Each of the storeys had two wide stairways, one of which they used for bringing up what was needed and the other for descending, in order that all might be taken care of without confusion. Those who were to move the machine were selected from the whole army, three thousand four hundred men excelling in strength; some of them were enclosed within the machine while others were stationed in its rear, and they pushed it forward, the skilful design aiding greatly in its motion. He also constructed penthouses — some to protect the men who were filling the moat, others to carry rams — and covered passages through which those who were going to their labours might go and return safely. Using the crews of the ships, he cleared a space four stades wide through which he planned to advance the siege engines he had prepared, wide enough so that it covered a front of six curtains and seven towers. The number of craftsmen and labourers collected was not much less than thirty thousand.
§ 20.92
διόπερ τῇ πολυχειρίᾳ τάχιον τῆς προσδοκίας ἁπάντων ἐπιτελουμένων φοβερὸς ἦν ὁ Δημήτριος τοῖς Ῥοδίοις. οὐ μόνον γὰρ τὰ μεγέθη τῶν μηχανῶν καὶ τὸ πλῆθος τῆς ἠθροισμένης δυνάμεως ἐξέπληττεν αὐτούς, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ τοῦ βασιλέως βίαιον καὶ φιλότεχνον ἐν ταῖς πολιορκίαις. εὐμήχανος γὰρ ὢν καθʼ ὑπερβολὴν ἐν ταῖς ἐπινοίαις καὶ πολλὰ παρὰ τὴν τῶν ἀρχιτεκτόνων τέχνην παρευρίσκων ὠνομάσθη μὲν πολιορκητής, τὴν δʼ ἐν ταῖς προσβολαῖς ὑπεροχὴν καὶ βίαν τοιαύτην εἶχεν ὥστε δόξαι μηδὲν οὕτως ὀχυρὸν εἶναι τεῖχος ὃ δύναιτʼ ἂν τὴν ἀπʼ ἐκείνου τοῖς πολιορκουμένοις ἀσφάλειαν παρέχεσθαι. ἦν δὲ καὶ κατὰ τὸ μέγεθος τοῦ σώματος καὶ κατὰ τὸ κάλλος ἡρωικὸν ἀποφαίνων ἀξίωμα, ὥστε καὶ τοὺς ἀφικνουμένους τῶν ξένων θεωροῦντας εὐπρέπειαν κεκοσμημένην ὑπεροχῇ βασιλικῇ θαυμάζειν καὶ παρακολουθεῖν ἐν ταῖς ἐξόδοις ἕνεκεν τῆς θέας. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτοις ὑπῆρχε καὶ τῇ ψυχῇ μετέωρος καὶ μεγαλοπρεπὴς καὶ καταφρονῶν οὐ τῶν πολλῶν μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν ἐν ταῖς δυναστείαις ὄντων, καὶ τὸ πάντων ἰδιώτατον, κατὰ μὲν τὴν εἰρήνην ἐν μέθαις διέτριβε καὶ συμποσίοις ἔχουσιν ὀρχήσεις καὶ κώμους καὶ τὸ σύνολον ἐζήλου τὴν μυθολογουμένην ποτὲ γενέσθαι κατʼ ἀνθρώπους τοῦ Διονύσου διάθεσιν, κατὰ δὲ τοὺς πολέμους ἐνεργὸς ἦν καὶ νήφων, ὥστε παρὰ πάντας τοὺς ἐργατευομένους ἐναγώνιον παρέχεσθαι τὸ σῶμα καὶ τὴν ψυχήν. ἐπὶ γὰρ τούτου βέλη τὰ μέγιστα συνετελέσθη καὶ μηχαναὶ παντοῖαι πολὺ τὰς παρὰ τοῖς ἄλλοις γενομένας ὑπεραίρουσαι· καὶ σκάφη δὲ μέγιστα καθείλκυσεν οὗτος μετὰ τὴν πολιορκίαν ταύτην καὶ τὴν τοῦ πατρὸς τελευτήν.
As everything, therefore, because of the many hands was finished sooner than was expected, Demetrius was regarded with alarm by the Rhodians; for not only did the size of the siege engines and the number of the army which had been gathered stun them, but also the king's energy and ingenuity in conducting sieges. For, being exceedingly ready in invention and devising many things beyond the art of the master builders, he was called Poliorcetes; and he displayed such superiority and force in his attacks that it seemed that no wall was strong enough to furnish safety from him for the besieged. Both in stature and in beauty he displayed the dignity of a hero, so that even those strangers who had come from a distance, when they beheld his comeliness arrayed in royal splendour, marvelled at him and followed him as he went abroad in order to gaze at him. Furthermore, he was haughty in spirit and proud and looked down not only upon common men but also upon those of royal estate; and what was most peculiar to him, in time of peace he devoted his time to winebibbing and to drinking bouts accompanied by dancing and revels, and in general he emulated the conduct said by mythology to have been that of Dionysus among men; but in his wars he was active and sober, so that beyond all others who practised this profession he devoted both body and mind to the task. For it was in his time that the greatest weapons were perfected and engines of all kinds far surpassing those that had existed among others; and this man launched the greatest ships after this siege and after the death of his father.
§ 20.93
οἱ δὲ Ῥόδιοι θεωροῦντες τὴν προκοπὴν τῶν παρὰ τοῖς πολεμίοις ἔργων κατεσκεύασαν ἐντὸς ἕτερον τεῖχος παράλληλον τῷ μέλλοντι πονεῖν κατὰ τὰς προσβολάς. ἐχρῶντο δὲ λίθοις καθαιροῦντες τοῦ θεάτρου τὸν περίβολον καὶ τὰς πλησίον οἰκίας, ἔτι δὲ τῶν ἱερῶν ἔνια, τοῖς θεοῖς εὐξάμενοι καλλίονα κατασκευάσειν σωθείσης τῆς πόλεως. ἐξέπεμψαν δὲ καὶ τῶν νεῶν ἐννέα, διακελευσάμενοι τοὺς ἀφηγουμένους πανταχῇ πλεῖν καὶ παραδόξως ἐπιφαινομένους ἃ μὲν βυθίζειν τῶν ἁλισκομένων πλοίων, ἃ δὲ κατάγειν εἰς τὴν πόλιν. ἐκπλευσάντων δὲ τούτων καὶ τριχῇ διαιρεθέντων Δαμόφιλος μὲν ἔχων ναῦς τὰς καλουμένας παρὰ Ῥοδίοις φυλακίδας ἔπλευσεν εἰς Κάρπαθον καὶ πολλὰ μὲν πλοῖα τῶν Δημητρίου καταλαβών, ἃ μὲν τοῖς ἐμβόλοις θραύων κατεπόντιζεν, ἃ δʼ ἐπὶ τὸν αἰγιαλὸν κομίζων ἐνεπύριζεν, ἐκλεγόμενος τῶν σωμάτων τὰ χρησιμώτατα, οὐκ ὀλίγα δὲ τῶν κομιζόντων τοὺς ἐκ τῆς νήσου καρποὺς κατήγαγεν εἰς τὴν πατρίδα. Μενέδημος δὲ τριῶν ἀφηγούμενος τριημιολιῶν πλεύσας τῆς Λυκίας ἐπὶ τὰ Πάταρα καὶ καταλαβὼν ὁρμοῦσαν ναῦν τοῦ πληρώματος ἐπὶ γῆς ὄντος ἐνεπύρισε τὸ σκάφος, πολλὰ δὲ πλοῖα τῶν κομιζόντων τὴν ἀγορὰν ἐπὶ τὸ στρατόπεδον ὑποχείρια λαβὼν ἐξαπέστειλεν εἰς τὴν Ῥόδον. εἷλε δὲ καὶ τετρήρη πλέουσαν μὲν ἐκ Κιλικίας, ἔχουσαν δʼ ἐσθῆτα βασιλικὴν καὶ τὴν ἄλλην ἀποσκευήν, ἣν ἡ γυνὴ Δημητρίου Φίλα παρασκευασαμένη φιλοτιμότερον ἀπεστάλκει τἀνδρί. τὸν μὲν οὖν ἱματισμὸν ἀπέστειλεν εἰς Αἴγυπτον, οὐσῶν τῶν στολῶν ἁλουργῶν καὶ βασιλεῖ φορεῖν πρεπουσῶν, τὴν δὲ ναῦν ἐνεώλκησεν καὶ τοὺς ναύτας ἀπέδοτο τούς τʼ ἐκ τῆς τετρήρους καὶ τοὺς ἐκ τῶν ἄλλων πλοίων τῶν ἁλόντων. τῶν δʼ ὑπολοίπων νεῶν τριῶν Ἀμύντας ἡγούμενος ἔπλευσεν ἐπὶ νήσων καὶ πολλοῖς πλοίοις περιτυχὼν κομίζουσι τὰ πρὸς τὰς μηχανὰς ἁρμόζοντα τοῖς πολεμίοις ἃ μὲν αὐτῶν κατέδυσεν, ἃ δὲ κατήγαγεν εἰς τὴν πόλιν, ἐν οἷς ἑάλωσαν καὶ τεχνῖται τῶν ἀξιολόγων καὶ πρὸς βέλη καὶ καταπέλτας ἐμπειρίᾳ διαφέροντες ἕνδεκα. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ἐκκλησίας συναχθείσης συνεβούλευόν τινες τὰς εἰκόνας τὰς Ἀντιγόνου καὶ Δημητρίου κατασπάσαι, δεινὸν εἶναι λέγοντες ἐν ἴσῳ τιμᾶσθαι τοὺς πολιορκοῦντας τοῖς εὐεργέταις· ἐφʼ οἷς ὁ δῆμος ἀγανακτήσας τούτοις μὲν ὡς ἁμαρτάνουσιν ἐπετίμησεν, τῶν δὲ περὶ Ἀντίγονον τιμῶν οὐδεμίαν μετεκίνησεν, καλῶς πρός τε δόξαν καὶ τὸ συμφέρον βουλευσάμενος. ἥ τε γὰρ μεγαλοψυχία καὶ τὸ βέβαιον τῆς ἐν δημοκρατίᾳ κρίσεως παρὰ μὲν τοῖς ἄλλοις ἐπαίνων ἐτύγχανε, παρὰ δὲ τοῖς πολιορκοῦσι μεταμελείας· τὰς γὰρ κατὰ τὴν Ἑλλάδα πόλεις οὐδεμίαν ἐνδεδειγμένας εὔνοιαν εἰς τοὺς εὐεργέτας ἐλευθεροῦντες τὴν διὰ τῆς πείρας φανεῖσαν βεβαιοτάτην εἰς ἀμοιβὴν χάριτος ἐφαίνοντο καταδουλούμενοι, πρός τε τὸ παράδοξον τῆς τύχης, εἰ συμβαίη τὴν πόλιν ἁλῶναι, κατελείπετʼ αὐτοῖς πρὸς παραίτησιν τῆς τηρηθείσης ὑπʼ αὐτῶν φιλίας ἀνάμνησις. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν τοῖς Ῥοδίοις ἐπράχθη συνετῶς.
When the Rhodians saw the progress of the enemy's siege works, they built a second wall inside parallel to the one that was on the point of failing under the attacks. They used stones obtained by tearing down the theatre's outer wall and the adjacent houses, and also some of the temples, vowing to the gods that they would build finer ones when the city had been saved. They also sent out nine of their ships, giving the commanders orders to sail in every direction and, appearing unexpectedly, to sink some of the ships they intercepted and bring others to the city. After these had sailed out and had been divided into three groups, Damophilus, who had ships of the kind called by the Rhodians "guard-ships," sailed to Carpathos; and finding there many of Demetrius' ships, he sank some, shattering them with his rams, and some he beached and burnt after selecting the most useful men from their crews, and not a few of those that were transporting the grain from the island, he brought back to Rhodes. Menedemus, who commanded three light undecked ships, sailed to Patara in Lycia; and finding at anchor there a ship whose crew was on shore, he set the hull on fire; and he took many of the freighters that were carrying provisions to the army and dispatched them to Rhodes. He also captured a quadrireme that was sailing from Cilicia and had on board royal robes and the rest of the outfit that Demetrius' wife Phila had with great pains made ready and sent off for her husband. The clothing Damophilus sent to Egypt since the garments were purple and proper for a king to wear; but the ship he hauled up on land, and he sold the sailors, both those from the quadrireme and those from the other captured ships. Amyntas, who was in command of the three remaining ships, made for islands where he fell in with many freighters carrying to the enemy materials useful for the engines of war; he sank some of these and some he brought to the city. On these ships were also captured eleven famous engineers, men of outstanding skill in making missiles and catapults. Thereafter, when an assembly had been convened, some advised that the statues of Antigonus and Demetrius should be pulled down, saying that it was absurd to honour equally their besiegers and their benefactors. At this the people were angry and censured these men as erring, and they altered none of the honours awarded to Antigonus, having made a wise decision with a view both to fame and to self interest. For the magnanimity and the soundness of this action in a democracy won plaudits from all others and repentance from the besiegers; for while the latter were setting free the cities throughout Greece, which had displayed no goodwill at all toward their benefactors, they were manifestly trying to enslave the city that in practice showed itself most constant in repaying favours; and as protection against the sudden shift of fortune if the war should result in the capture of Rhodes, the Rhodians retained as a means of gaining mercy the memory of the friendship that they had preserved. These things, then, were done prudently by the Rhodians.
§ 20.94
Δημητρίου δὲ διὰ τῶν μεταλλέων ὑπορύξαντος τὸ τεῖχος τῶν αὐτομόλων τις ἐμήνυσε τοῖς πολιορκουμένοις ὡς οἱ ταῖς ὑπονομαῖς χρώμενοι σχεδὸν ἐντός εἰσι τοῦ τείχους. διόπερ οἱ Ῥόδιοι τάφρον ὀρύξαντες βαθεῖαν, παράλληλον τῷ δοκοῦντι πεσεῖσθαι τείχει, ταχὺ καὶ αὐτοὶ ταῖς μεταλλείαις χρώμενοι συνῆψαν ὑπὸ γῆν τοῖς ἐναντίοις καὶ διεκώλυσαν τῆς εἰς τοὔμπροσθεν πορείας. τῶν δὲ διορυγμάτων παρʼ ἀμφοτέροις τηρουμένων ἐπεχείρησάν τινες τῶν παρὰ τοῦ Δημητρίου διαφθείρειν χρήμασι τὸν τεταγμένον ἐπὶ τῆς φυλακῆς ὑπὸ τῶν Ῥοδίων Ἀθηναγόραν· οὗτος δʼ ἦν Μιλήσιος μὲν τὸ γένος, ὑπὸ Πτολεμαίου δʼ ἐξαπεσταλμένος ἡγεμὼν τῶν μισθοφόρων. ἐπαγγειλάμενος δὲ προδώσειν συνετάξαθʼ ἡμέραν καθʼ ἣν ἔδει παρὰ Δημητρίου πεμφθῆναί τινα τῶν ἀξιολόγων ἡγεμόνων τὸν νυκτὸς ἀναβησόμενον διὰ τοῦ ὀρύγματος εἰς τὴν πόλιν, ὅπως κατασκέψηται τὸν τόπον τὸν μέλλοντα δέξασθαι τοὺς στρατιώτας. εἰς ἐλπίδας δὲ μεγάλας ἀγαγὼν τοὺς περὶ Δημήτριον ἐμήνυσε τῇ βουλῇ· καὶ πέμψαντος τοῦ βασιλέως τῶν περὶ αὑτὸν φίλων Ἀλέξανδρον τὸν Μακεδόνα τοῦτον μὲν ἀναβάντα διὰ τῆς διώρυχος συνέλαβον οἱ Ῥόδιοι, τὸν δʼ Ἀθηναγόραν ἐστεφάνωσαν χρυσῷ στεφάνῳ καὶ δωρεὰν ἔδωκαν ἀργυρίου τάλαντα πέντε, σπεύδοντες καὶ τῶν ἄλλων μισθοφόρων καὶ ξένων ἐκκαλεῖσθαι τὴν πρὸς τὸν δῆμον εὔνοιαν.
When Demetrius had undermined the wall by using his sappers, one of the deserters informed the besieged that those who were working underground were almost within the walls. Therefore the Rhodians by digging a deep trench parallel to the wall which was expected to collapse and by quickly undertaking mining operations themselves, made contact with their opponents underground and prevented them from advancing farther. Now the mines were closely watched by both sides, and some of Demetrius' men tried to bribe Athenagoras, who had been given command of the guard by the Rhodians. This man was a Milesian by descent, sent by Ptolemy as commander of the mercenaries. Promising to turn traitor he set a day on which one of the ranking leaders should be sent from Demetrius to go by night through the mine up into the city in order to inspect the position where the soldiers would assemble. But after leading Demetrius on to great hopes, he disclosed the matter to the council; and when the king sent one of his friends, Alexander the Macedonian, the Rhodians captured him as he came up through the mine. They crowned Athenagoras with a golden crown and gave him a gift of five talents of silver, their object being to stimulate loyalty to the city on the part of the other men who were mercenaries and foreigners.
§ 20.95
Δημήτριος δὲ τῶν τε μηχανῶν αὐτῷ τέλος ἐχουσῶν καὶ τοῦ πρὸς τὸ τεῖχος τόπου παντὸς ἀνακαθαρθέντος τὴν μὲν ἑλέπολιν μέσην ἔστησε, τὰς δὲ χωστρίδας χελώνας ἐπιδιεῖλεν, οὔσας εἰς ὀκτώ· κατέστησεν δʼ εἰς ἑκάτερον μέρος τῆς μηχανῆς τέτταρας καὶ τούτων ἑκάστῃ συνῆψεν στοὰν μίαν εἰς τὸ δύνασθαι μετʼ ἀσφαλείας ἐπιτελεῖν τὸ προσταττόμενον τοὺς εἰσιόντας τε καὶ πάλιν ἐξιόντας, κριοφόρους δὲ δύο πολλαπλασίας τοῖς μεγέθεσιν· εἶχε γὰρ ἑκατέραν πηχῶν ἑκατὸν εἴκοσι, σεσιδηρωμένην καὶ τὴν ἐμβολὴν ἔχουσαν παραπλησίαν νεὼς ἐμβόλῳ, καὶ προωθουμένην μὲν εὐκινήτως, ὑπότροχον δὲ καὶ τὴν ἐναγώνιον ἐνέργειαν λαμβάνουσαν δι’ ἀνδρῶν οὐκ ἐλαττόνων ἢ χιλίων. μέλλων δὲ προσάγειν τὰς μηχανὰς τοῖς τείχεσι τοὺς μὲν πετροβόλους καὶ τοὺς ὀξυβελεῖς παρήνεγκε τῆς ἑλεπόλεως εἰς ἑκάστην στέγην τοὺς ἁρμόζοντας, ἐπὶ δὲ τοὺς λιμένας καὶ τοὺς πλησίον τόπους ἀπέστειλε τὴν ναυτικὴν δύναμιν, πρὸς δὲ τὸ λοιπὸν τεῖχος τὸ δυνάμενον προσβολὰς δέξασθαι τὸ πεζὸν στρατόπεδον ἐπιδιεῖλεν. ἔπειτα δὲ πρὸς ἓν παρακέλευσμα καὶ σημεῖον πάντων συναλαλαξάντων πανταχόθεν τῇ πόλει προσβολὰς ἐποιεῖτο. διασείοντος δʼ αὐτοῦ τοῖς κριοῖς καὶ τοῖς πετροβόλοις τὰ τείχη παρεγενήθησαν Κνιδίων πρέσβεις, ἀξιοῦντες ἐπισχεῖν καὶ πείσειν ἐπαγγελλόμενοι τοὺς Ῥοδίους δέχεσθαι τὰ δυνατώτατα τῶν προσταγμάτων. ἀνέντος δὲ τοῦ βασιλέως καὶ τῶν πρέσβεων δεῦρο κἀκεῖσε πολλὰ διαλεχθέντων πέρας οὐ δυναμένων συμφωνῆσαι πάλιν ἐνηργεῖτο τὰ τῆς πολιορκίας. καὶ Δημήτριος μὲν κατέβαλε τὸν στερεώτατον τῶν πύργων, ᾠκοδομημένον ἐκ λίθων τετραπέδων, καὶ μεσοπύργιον ὅλον διέσεισεν, ὥστε μὴ δύνασθαι τοὺς ἐν τῇ πόλει πάροδον ἔχειν ἐπὶ τὰς ἐπάλξεις κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν τόπον.
Demetrius, when his engines of war were completed and all the space before walls was cleared, stationed the helepolis in the centre, and assigned positions to the penthouses, eight in number, which were to protect the sappers. He placed four of these on each side of the helepolis and connected with each of them one covered passage so that the men who were going in and out might accomplish their assigned tasks in safety; and he brought up also two enormous penthouses in which battering rams were mounted. For each shed held a ram with a length of one hundred and twenty cubits, sheathed with iron and striking a blow like that of a ship's ram; and the ram was moved with ease, being mounted on wheels and receiving its motive power in battle from not less than a thousand men. When he was ready to advance the engines against the walls, he placed on each storey of the helepolis ballistae and catapults of appropriate size, stationed his fleet in position to attack the harbours and the adjacent area, and distributed his infantry along such parts of the wall as could be attacked. Then, when all at a single command and signal had raised the battle cry together, he launched attacks on the city from every side. While he was shaking the walls with the rams and the ballistae, Cnidian envoys arrived, asking him to withhold his attack and promising to persuade the Rhodians to accept the most feasible of his demands. The king broke off the attack, and the envoys carried on negotiations back and forth at great length; but in the end they were not able to reach any agreement, and the siege was actively resumed. Demetrius also overthrew the strongest of the towers, which was built of squared stones, and shattered the entire curtain, so that the forces in the city were not able to maintain a thoroughfare on the battlements at this point.
§ 20.96
ἐν δὲ ταῖς αὐταῖς ἡμέραις Πτολεμαῖος ὁ βασιλεὺς ἀπέστειλε τοῖς Ῥοδίοις πλοίων πλῆθος τῶν τὴν ἀγορὰν κομιζόντων, ἐν οἷς ἦσαν σίτου τριάκοντα μυριάδες ἀρταβῶν σὺν τοῖς ὀσπρίοις. προσφερομένων δʼ αὐτῶν πρὸς τὴν πόλιν ἐπεχείρησε Δημήτριος ἀποστέλλειν σκάφη τὰ κατάξοντα πρὸς τὴν αὐτοῦ στρατοπεδείαν. φοροῦ δὲ πνεύματος αὐτοῖς ἐπιγενομένου ταῦτα μὲν πλήρεσι τοῖς ἱστίοις φερόμενα κατηνέχθη πρὸς τοὺς οἰκείους λιμένας, οἱ δʼ ὑπὸ Δημητρίου πεμφθέντες ἐπανῆλθον ἄπρακτοι. ἔπεμψε δὲ τοῖς Ῥοδίοις καὶ Κάσανδρος κριθῶν μεδίμνους μυρίους καὶ Λυσίμαχος πυρῶν μεδίμνους τετρακισμυρίους καὶ κριθῶν τοὺς ἴσους. τηλικαύτης οὖν χορηγίας τοῖς κατὰ τὴν πόλιν γενομένης ἤδη κάμνοντες ταῖς ψυχαῖς οἱ πολιορκούμενοι πάλιν ἀνεθάρρησαν καὶ κρίναντες συμφέρειν ἐπιθέσθαι ταῖς μηχαναῖς τῶν πολεμίων πυρφόρων τε πλῆθος παρεσκευάσαντο καὶ τοὺς πετροβόλους καὶ τοὺς ὀξυβελεῖς ἔστησαν ἅπαντας ἐπὶ τοῦ τείχους. νυκτὸς δʼ ἐπιγενομένης περὶ δευτέραν φυλακὴν ἄφνω τοῖς μὲν πυρφόροις συνεχῶς τὴν ἑλέπολιν ἔβαλλον, τοῖς δʼ ἄλλοις βέλεσι παντοίοις χρώμενοι τοὺς ἐκεῖ συντρέχοντας κατετίτρωσκον. οἱ δὲ περὶ τὸν Δημήτριον ἀνελπίστου τῆς ἐπιθέσεως γενομένης ἀγωνιάσαντες περὶ τῶν κατασκευασθέντων ἔργων συνέτρεχον ἐπὶ τὴν βοήθειαν. ἀσελήνου δὲ τῆς νυκτὸς οὔσης οἱ μὲν πυρφόροι διέλαμπον φερόμενοι βιαίως, οἱ δʼ ὀξυβελεῖς καὶ πετροβόλοι τὴν φορὰν ἀπροόρατον ἔχοντες πολλοὺς διέφθειρον τῶν μὴ δυναμένων συνιδεῖν τὴν ἐπιφερομένην πληγήν. ἔτυχον δὲ καὶ τῶν ἀπὸ τῆς μηχανῆς λεπίδων τινὲς ἀποπεσοῦσαι, καταψιλωθέντος δὲ τοῦ τόπου προσέπιπτον οἱ πυρφόροι τῷ ξυλοφανεῖ τοῦ κατασκευάσματος. διόπερ ἀγωνιάσας ὁ Δημήτριος μήποτε τοῦ πυρὸς ἐπινεμηθέντος ἅπασαν συμβῇ τὴν μηχανὴν λυμανθῆναι, κατὰ τάχος ἐβοήθει καὶ τῷ παρασκευασθέντι ὕδατι ἐν ταῖς στεγαις ἐπειρᾶτο σβεννύναι τὴν ἐπιφερομένην φλόγα. τὸ δὲ τελευταῖον ἀθροίσας τῇ σάλπιγγι τοὺς τεταγμένους ἐπὶ τῆς κινήσεως τῶν ἔργων διὰ τούτων ἀπήγαγε τὰς μηχανὰς ἐκτὸς βέλους.
At this same period King Ptolemy dispatched to the Rhodians a large number of supply ships in which were three hundred thousand measures of grain and legumes. While these ships were on their way to the city, Demetrius attempted to dispatch ships to bring them to his own camp. But a wind favourable to the Egyptians sprang up, and they were carried along with full sails and brought into the friendly harbours, but those sent out by Demetrius returned with their mission unaccomplished. Cassander also sent to the Rhodians ten thousand measures of barley, and Lysimachus sent them forty thousand measures of wheat and the same amount of barley. Consequently, when those in the city obtained such large supplies, the besieged, who were already disheartened, regained their courage. Deciding that it would be advantageous to attack the siege engines of the enemy, they made ready a large supply of fire-bearing missiles and placed all their ballistae and catapults upon the wall. When night had fallen, at about the second watch, they suddenly began to strike the helepolis with an unremitting shower of the fire missiles, and by using other missiles of all kinds, they shot down any who rushed to the spot. Since the attack was unforeseen, Demetrius, alarmed for the siege works that had been constructed, hurried to the rescue. The night was moonless; and the fire missiles shone bright as they hurtled violently through the air; but the catapults and ballistae, since their missiles were invisible, destroyed many who were not able to see the impending stroke. It also happened that some of the iron plates of the helepolis were dislodged, and where the place was laid bare the fire missiles rained upon the exposed wood of the structure. Therefore Demetrius, fearing that the fire would spread and the whole machine be ruined, came quickly to the rescue, and with the water that had been placed in readiness on the platforms he tried to put out the spreading fire. He finally assembled by a trumpet signal the men who were assigned to move the apparatus and by their efforts dragged the machine beyond range.
§ 20.97
ἔπειτα γενομένης ἡμέρας προσέταξε τοῖς ὑπηρέταις ἀθροῖσαι τὰ βέλη τὰ πεσόντα παρὰ τῶν Ῥοδίων, ἐκ τούτων βουλόμενος συλλογίσασθαι τῶν ἐν τῇ πόλει τὴν παρασκευήν. ὧν ταχὺ τὸ προσταχθὲν ποιησάντων ἠριθμήθησαν πυρφόροι μὲν τοῖς μεγέθεσι παντοῖοι πλείους τῶν ὀκτακοσίων, ὀξυβελεῖς δὲ οὐκ ἐλάττους τῶν χιλίων πεντακοσίων. τοσούτων δὲ βελῶν ἐνεχθέντων ἐν βραχεῖ χρόνῳ νυκτὸς ἐθαύμαζε τὴν χορηγίαν τῆς πόλεως καὶ τὴν ἐν τούτοις δαψίλειαν. τότε μὲν οὖν ὁ Δημήτριος κατεσκεύασε τὰ πεπονηκότα τῶν ἔργων καὶ περί τε τὴν ταφὴν τῶν τελευτησάντων καὶ τὴν θεραπείαν τῶν τραυματιῶν ἐγίνετο. καθʼ ὃν δὴ χρόνον οἱ κατὰ τὴν πόλιν ἄνεσιν λαβόντες τῆς ἀπὸ τῶν μηχανῶν βίας ᾠκοδόμησαν τρίτον τεῖχος μηνοειδές, περιλαμβάνοντες τῇ μὲν περιφερείᾳ πάντα τὸν κινδυνεύοντα τόπον τοῦ τείχους· οὐδὲν δʼ ἧττον καὶ τάφρῳ βαθείᾳ περιέλαβον τὸ πεπτωκὸς τοῦ τείχους, ὅπως μὴ δύνηται ῥᾳδίως ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐξ ἐφόδου μετὰ βάρους εἰσπεσεῖν εἰς τὴν πόλιν. ἐξέπεμψαν δὲ καὶ ναῦς τῶν ἄριστα πλεουσῶν, Ἀμύνταν ἐπιστήσαντες ἡγεμόνα, ὃς ἐκπλεύσας πρὸς τὴν Περαίαν τῆς Ἀσίας ἐπεφάνη παραδόξως πειραταῖς τισιν ἀπεσταλμένοις ὑπὸ Δημητρίου. οὗτοι δʼ εἶχον ἄφρακτα τρία, κράτιστοι δοκοῦντες εἶναι τῶν τῷ βασιλεῖ συστρατευόντων. γενομένης δʼ ἐπʼ ὀλίγον χρόνον ναυμαχίας οἱ Ῥόδιοι βιασάμενοι τῶν νεῶν αὐτάνδρων ἐκυρίευσαν, ἐν οἷς ἦν καὶ Τιμοκλῆς ὁ ἀρχιπειρατής. ἐπέπλευσαν δὲ καὶ τῶν ἐμπόρων τισὶ καὶ παρελόμενοι κέλητας οὐκ ὀλίγους γέμοντας σίτου τούτους τε καὶ τὰ τῶν πειρατῶν ἄφρακτα κατήγαγον εἰς τὴν Ῥόδον νυκτός, λαθόντες τοὺς πολεμίους. ὁ δὲ Δημήτριος ἐπισκευάσας τὰ πεπονηκότα τῶν ἔργων προσέβαλλε τῷ τείχει τὰς μηχανὰς καὶ πᾶσι τοῖς βέλεσιν ἀφειδῶς χρώμενος τοὺς μὲν ἐπὶ ταῖς ἐπάλξεσιν ἐφεστῶτας ἀνεῖρξε, τοῖς δὲ κριοῖς τύπτων τὸ συνεχὲς τοῦ τόπου δύο μὲν μεσοπύργια κατέβαλε, περὶ δὲ τὸν πύργον τὸν ἀνὰ μέσον τούτων φιλοτιμουμένοις τοῖς ἐκ τῆς πόλεως ἰσχυροὶ καὶ συνεχεῖς ἐκ διαδοχῆς ἀγῶνες ἐγίνοντο, ὥστε καὶ τὸν στρατηγὸν αὐτῶν Ἀνανίαν ἐκθύμως ἀγωνισάμενον ἀναιρεθῆναι καὶ συχνοὺς τῶν ἄλλων στρατιωτῶν ἀποθανεῖν.
Then when day had dawned he ordered the camp followers to collect the missiles that had been hurled by the Rhodians, since he wished to estimate from these the armament of the forces with in the city. Quickly carrying out his orders, they counted more than eight hundred fire missiles of various sizes and not less than fifteen hundred catapult bolts. Since so many missiles had been hurled in a short time at night, he marvelled at the resources possessed by the city and at their prodigality in the use of these weapons. Next Demetrius repaired such of his works as had been damaged, and devoted himself to the burial of the dead and the care of the wounded. Meanwhile the people of the city, having gained a respite from the violent attacks of the siege engines, constructed a third crescent- shaped wall and included in its circuit every part of the wall that was in a dangerous condition; but none the less they dug a deep moat around the fallen portion of the wall so that the king should not be able to break into the city easily by an assault with a heavily armed force. They also sent out some of their fastest ships, installing Amyntas as commander; he, sailing to Peraea in Asia, suddenly confronted some pirates who had been sent out be by Demetrius. These had three deckless ships and were supposed to be the strongest of the pirates who were fighting as allies of the king. In the brief naval battle that ensued, the Rhodians overpowered the foe and took the ships with their crews, among whom was Timocles, the chief pirate. They also encountered some of the merchants and, seizing a fair number of light craft loaded with grain, they sent these and the undecked ships of the pirates to harbour in Rhodes by night, escaping the notice of the enemy.7 Demetrius, after he had repaired such of his equipment as was damaged, brought his siege engines up to the wall. By using all his missiles without stint, he drove back those who were stationed on the battlements, and striking with his rams a continuous portion of the wall, he overthrew two curtains; but as the city's forces fought obstinately for the tower that was between them, there were bitter and continuous encounters, one after another, with the result that their leader Ananias was killed fighting desperately and many of the soldiers were slain also.
§ 20.98
ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις Πτολεμαῖος μὲν ὁ βασιλεὺς ἀπέστειλε τοῖς Ῥοδίοις σῖτον καὶ τὴν ἄλλην ἀγορὰν οὐκ ἐλάττονα τῆς πρότερον ἐκπεμφθείσης καὶ στρατιώτας χιλίους καὶ πεντακοσίους, ὧν ἦν ἡγεμὼν Ἀντίγονος ὁ Μακεδών. καθʼ ὃν δὴ χρόνον ἧκον πρὸς τὸν Δημήτριον πρέσβεις παρά τε Ἀθηναίων καὶ τῶν ἄλλων Ἑλληνίδων πόλεων, τὸν ἀριθμὸν μὲν ὄντες ὑπὲρ τοὺς πεντήκοντα, πάντες δὲ ἀξιοῦντες διαλύσασθαι τὸν βασιλέα πρὸς τοὺς Ῥοδίους. γενομένων οὖν ἀνοχῶν καὶ πολλῶν καὶ παντοδαπῶν ῥηθέντων λόγων πρός τε τὸν δῆμον καὶ πρὸς τοὺς περὶ τὸν Δημήτριον οὐδαμῶς ἐδυνήθησαν συμφωνῆσαι· διόπερ οἱ πρέσβεις ἀπῆλθον ἄπρακτοι. Δημήτριος δὲ διανοηθεὶς νυκτὸς ἐπιθέσθαι τῇ πόλει κατὰ τὸ πεπτωκὸς τοῦ τείχους ἐπέλεξε τῶν τε μαχίμων τοὺς κρατίστους καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τοὺς εὐθέτους εἰς χιλίους καὶ πεντακοσίους. τούτους μὲν οὖν προσέταξεν ἡσυχῇ προσελθεῖν τῷ τείχει περὶ δευτέραν φυλακήν, αὐτὸς δὲ διασκευάσας παρήγγειλε τοῖς ἐφʼ ἑκάστῳ μέρει τεταγμένοις, ὅταν σημήνῃ, συναλαλάξαι καὶ προσβολὰς ποιεῖσθαι καὶ κατὰ γῆν καὶ κατὰ θάλατταν. πάντων δὲ τὸ παραγγελθὲν ποιούντων οἱ μὲν ἐπὶ τὰ πεπτωκότα τῶν τειχῶν ὁρμήσαντες τοὺς προφυλάττοντας ἐπὶ τῆς τάφρου κατασφάξαντες παρεισέπεσον εἰς τὴν πόλιν καὶ τοὺς περὶ τὸ θέατρον τόπους κατελαμβάνοντο· οἱ δὲ τῶν Ῥοδίων πρυτάνεις πυθόμενοι τὸ συμβεβηκὸς καὶ τὴν πόλιν ὁρῶντες ἅπασαν τεθορυβημένην τοῖς μὲν ἐπὶ τοῦ λιμένος καὶ τῶν τειχῶν παρήγγειλαν μένειν ἐπὶ τῆς ἰδίας τάξεως καὶ τοὺς ἔξωθεν, ἂν προσβάλωσιν, ἀμύνασθαι, αὐτοὶ δʼ ἔχοντες τὸ τῶν ἐπιλέκτων σύστημα καὶ τοὺς ἀπὸ τῆς Ἀλεξανδρείας προσφάτως καταπεπλευκότας στρατιώτας ὥρμησαν ἐπὶ τοὺς ἐντὸς τοῦ τείχους παρεισπεπτωκότας. περικαταλαβούσης δʼ ἡμέρας καὶ τοῦ Δημητρίου τὸ σύσσημον ἄραντος οἱ μὲν τῷ λιμένι προσβαλόντες καὶ τὸ τεῖχος πάντοθεν περιεστρατοπεδευκότες συνηλάλαξαν, εὐθαρσεῖς ποιοῦντες τοὺς κατειληφότας μέρος τοῦ περὶ τὸ θέατρον τόπου, ὁ δὲ κατὰ τὴν πόλιν ὄχλος παίδων καὶ γυναικῶν ἐν φόβοις ἦν καὶ δάκρυσιν, ὡς τῆς πατρίδος κατὰ κράτος ἁλισκομένης. οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ τοῖς παρεισπεσοῦσιν ἐντὸς τοῦ τείχους γενομένης μάχης πρὸς τοὺς Ῥοδίους καὶ πολλῶν παρʼ ἀμφοτέροις πεσόντων τὸ μὲν πρῶτον οὐδέτεροι τῆς ἰδίας τάξεως ἐξεχώρουν, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τῶν μὲν Ῥοδίων ἀεὶ πλειόνων γινομένων καὶ τὸν κίνδυνον ἑτοίμως ὑπομενόντων, ὡς ἂν ὑπὲρ πατρίδος καὶ τῶν μεγίστων ἀγωνιζομένων, τῶν δὲ τοῦ βασιλέως θλιβομένων Ἄλκιμος μὲν καὶ Μαντίας οἱ τὴν ἡγεμονίαν ἔχοντες πολλοῖς περιπεσόντες τραύμασιν ἐτελεύτησαν, τῶν δʼ ἄλλων οἱ πλεῖστοι οἱ μὲν ἐν χειρῶν νόμῳ διεφθάρησαν, οἱ δʼ ἥλωσαν, ὀλίγοι δὲ πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα φυγόντες διεσώθησαν. πολλοὶ δὲ καὶ τῶν Ῥοδίων ἀνῃρέθησαν, ἐν οἷς ἦν καὶ ὁ πρύτανις Δαμοτέλης ἐπʼ ἀρετῇ γενόμενος περίβλεπτος.
While these events were taking place, King Ptolemy sent to the Rhodians grain and other supplies in no less quantity than those formerly sent, and fifteen hundred soldiers, whose leader was Antigonus, the Macedonian. At this very time there came to Demetrius more than fifty envoys from the Athenians and the other Greek cities, all of them asking the king to come to terms with the Rhodians. A truce, therefore, was made; but although many arguments of all sorts were presented to the city and to Demetrius, they could in no way agree; and so the envoys returned without accomplishing their aim. Demetrius, having determined to attack the city at night through the breach in the wall, selected the strongest of his fighting men and of the rest those fitted for his purpose to the number of fifteen hundred. These, then, he ordered to advance to the wall in silence during the second watch; as for himself, when he had made his preparations, he gave orders to those stationed on each side that when he gave the signal they should raise the battle cry and make attacks both by land and sea. When they all carried out the order, those who had advanced against breaches in the walls, after dispatching the advance guards at the moat, charged past into the city and occupied the region of the theatre; but the magistrates of the Rhodians, learning what had happened and seeing that the whole city had been thrown into confusion, sent orders to those at the harbour and the walls to remain at their own posts and oppose the enemy outside if he should attack; and they themselves, with their contingent of selected men and the soldiers who had recently sailed in from Alexandria, attacked the troops who had go the within the walls. When day returned and Demetrius raised the ensign, those who were attacking the port and those who had been stationed about the while on all sides shouted the battle cry, giving encouragement to the men who had occupied part of the region of the theatre; but in the city the throng of children and women were in fear and tears, thinking that their native city was being taken by storm. Nevertheless, fighting began between those who had made their way within the wall and the Rhodians, and many fell on both sides. At first neither side withdrew from its position; but afterwards, as the Rhodians constantly added to their numbers and were prompt to face danger — as is the way with men fighting for their native land and their most precious things, — and on the other hand the king's men were in distress, Alcimus and Mantias, their commanders, expired after receiving many wounds, most of the others were killed in hand-to hand fighting or were captured, and only a few escaped to the king and survived. Many also of the Rhodians were slain, among whom was the president Damoteles, who had won great acclaim for his valour.
§ 20.99
Δημήτριος δὲ τὴν τῆς πόλεως ἅλωσιν ὑπολαβὼν ἐκ τῶν χειρῶν αὐτοῦ τὴν τύχην ἀφῃρῆσθαι πάλιν παρεσκευάζετο πρὸς τὴν πολιορκίαν. εἶτα τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτῷ γράψαντος διαλύσασθαι πρὸς Ῥοδίους ὡς ἄν ποτε δύνηται, τὸν κάλλιστον ἐπετήρει καιρόν, δώσοντα προφάσεις εὐλόγους τῆς συνθέσεως. Πτολεμαίου δὲ γράψαντος τοῖς Ῥοδίοις τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ὅτι πέμψει σίτου πλῆθος αὐτοῖς καὶ στρατιώτας τρισχιλίους, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα συμβουλεύοντος, ἐὰν ᾖ δυνατόν, μετρίως διαλύσασθαι πρὸς Ἀντίγονον, ἅπαντες ἔρεπον πρὸς τὴν εἰρήνην. καθʼ ὃν δὴ χρόνον τοῦ κοινοῦ τῶν Αἰτωλῶν ἀποστείλαντος πρεσβευτὰς περὶ διαλύσεων οἱ Ῥόδιοι συνέθεντο πρὸς Δημήτριον ἐπὶ τοῖσδε, αὐτόνομον καὶ ἀφρούρητον εἶναι τὴν πόλιν καὶ ἔχειν τὰς ἰδίας προσόδους, συμμαχεῖν δὲ Ῥοδίους Ἀντιγόνῳ πλὴν ἐὰν ἐπὶ Πτολεμαῖον στρατεύηται, καὶ δοῦναι τῶν πολιτῶν ὁμήρους ἑκατὸν οὓς ἂν ἀπογράψηται Δημήτριος πλὴν τῶν ἀρχὰς ἐχόντων.
When Demetrius realized that Fortune had snatched from his hand the capture of the city, he made new preparations for the siege. When his father thereafter wrote to him to come to terms with the Rhodians as best he could, he awaited a favourable opportunity that would provide a specious excuse for the settlement. Since Ptolemy had written to the Rhodians, first saying that he would send them a great quantity of grain and three thousand soldiers, but then advising them, if it should be possible, to make equitable terms with Antigonus, everyone inclined toward peace. At just this time the Aetolian League sent envoys to urge a settlement, and the Rhodians came to terms with Demetrius on these conditions: that the city should be autonomous and ungarrisoned and should enjoy its own revenue; that the Rhodians should be allies of Antigonus unless he should be at war with Ptolemy; and that they should give as hostages a hundred of their citizens whom Demetrius should select, those holding office being exempt.
§ 20.100
οἱ μὲν οὖν Ῥόδιοι πολιορκηθέντες ἐνιαύσιον χρόνον τούτῳ τῷ τρόπῳ κατελύσαντο τὸν πόλεμον. τοὺς δʼ ἐν τοῖς κινδύνοις ἄνδρας ἀγαθοὺς γενομένους ἐτίμησαν ταῖς ἀξίαις δωρεαῖς καὶ τῶν δούλων τοὺς ἀνδραγαθήσαντας ἐλευθερίας καὶ πολιτείας ἠξίωσαν. ἔστησαν δὲ καὶ τῶν βασιλέων εἰκόνας Κασάνδρου καὶ Λυσιμάχου καὶ τῶν δευτερευόντων μὲν ταῖς δόξαις, συμβεβλημένων δὲ μεγάλα πρὸς τὴν τῆς πόλεως σωτηρίαν. τὸν δὲ Πτολεμαῖον ἐν ἀνταποδόσει μείζονος χάριτος ὑπερβάλλεσθαι βουλόμενοι θεωροὺς ἀπέστειλαν εἰς Λιβύην τοὺς ἐπερωτήσοντας τὸ παρʼ Ἄμμωνι μαντεῖον εἰ συμβουλεύει Ῥοδίοις Πτολεμαῖον ὡς θεὸν τιμῆσαι. συγκατατιθεμένου δὲ τοῦ χρηστηρίου τέμενος ἀνῆκαν ἐν τῇ πόλει τετράγωνον, οἰκοδομήσαντες παρʼ ἑκάστην πλευρὰν στοὰν σταδιαίαν, ὃ προσηγόρευσαν Πτολεμαῖον. ἀνῳκοδόμησαν δὲ καὶ τὸ θέατρον καὶ τὰ πεπτωκότα τῶν τειχῶν καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τόπων τοὺς καθῃρημένους πολλῷ κάλλιον ἢ προϋπῆρχον. Δημήτριος δὲ κατὰ τὰς ἐντολὰς τοῦ πατρὸς διαλυσάμενος πρὸς Ῥοδίους ἐξέπλευσε μετὰ πάσης τῆς δυνάμεως καὶ κομισθεὶς διὰ νήσων κατέπλευσε τῆς Βοιωτίας εἰς Αὖλιν. σπεύδων δʼ ἐλευθερῶσαι τοὺς Ἕλληνας ʽοἱ γὰρ περὶ Κάσανδρον καὶ Πολυπέρχοντα τὸν ἔμπροσθεν χρόνον ἄδειαν ἐσχηκότες ἐπόρθουν τὰ πλεῖστα μέρη τῆς Ἑλλάδοσʼ πρῶτον μὲν τὴν Χαλκιδέων πόλιν ἠλευθέρωσε, φρουρουμένην ὑπὸ Βοιωτῶν, καὶ τοὺς κατὰ τὴν Βοιωτίαν καταπληξάμενος ἠνάγκασεν ἀποστῆναι τῆς Κασάνδρου φιλίας, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα πρὸς μὲν Αἰτωλοὺς συμμαχίαν ἐποιήσατο, πρὸς δὲ τοὺς περὶ Πολυπέρχοντα καὶ Κάσανδρον διαπολεμεῖν παρεσκευάζετο. ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις Εὔμηλος μὲν ὁ Βοσπόρου βασιλεὺς βασιλεύων ἕκτον ἔτος ἐτελεύτησε, τὴν δὲ βασιλείαν διαδεξάμενος Σπάρτακος ὁ υἱὸς ἦρξεν ἔτη εἴκοσιν.
In this way, then, the Rhodians, after they had been besieged for a year, brought the war to an end. Those who had proved themselves brave men in the battles they honoured with the prizes that were their due, and they granted freedom and citizenship to such slaves as had shown themselves courageous. They also set up statues of King Cassander and King Lysimachus, who though they held second place in general opinion, yet had made great contributions to the salvation of the city. In the case of Ptolemy, since they wanted to surpass his record by repaying his kindness with a greater one, they sent a sacred mission into Libya to ask the oracle at Ammon if it advised the Rhodians to honour Ptolemy as a god. Since the oracle approved, they dedicated in the city a square precinct, building on each of its sides a portico a stade long, and this they called the Ptolemaeum. They also rebuilt the theatre, the fallen portions of the walls, and the buildings that had been destroyed in the other quarters in a manner more beautiful than before. Now that Demetrius, in accordance with injunctions of his father, had made peace with the Rhodians, he sailed out with his whole force; and after passing through the islands, he put in at Aulis in Boeotia. Since he was intent on freeing the Greeks (for Cassander and Polyperchon having up to this time enjoyed impunity were engaged in plundering the greater part of Greece), he first freed the city of the Chalcidians, which was garrisoned by Boeotians, and by striking fear into the Boeotians, he forced them to renounce their friendship with Cassander; and after this he made an alliance with the Aetolians and began his preparations for carrying on war against Polyperchon and Cassander. While these events were taking place, Eumelus, the king of Bosporus, died in the sixth year of his reign, and his son Spartacus succeeded to the throne and reigned for twenty years.
§ 20.101
ἡμεῖς δὲ τὰ περὶ τὴν Ἑλλάδα καὶ τὴν Ἀσίαν διευκρινηκότες μεταβιβάσομεν τὸν λόγον ἐπὶ θάτερα μέρη τῆς οἰκουμένης. κατὰ μὲν γὰρ τὴν Σικελίαν Ἀγαθοκλῆς, εἰρήνην ἀγόντων τῶν Λιπαραίων, ἐπιπλεύσας αὐτοῖς ἀπροσδοκήτως εἰσεπράξατο τοὺς μηδʼ ὁτιοῦν προαδικήσαντας ἀργυρίου τάλαντα πεντήκοντα. ὅτε δὴ πολλοῖς ἔδοξε θεῖον εἶναι τὸ ῥηθησόμενον, τῆς παρανομίας τυχούσης ἐπισημασίας παρὰ τοῦ δαιμονίου. ἀξιούντων γὰρ τῶν Λιπαραίων εἰς τὰ προσελλείποντα τῶν χρημάτων δοῦναι χρόνον καὶ λεγόντων μηδέποτε τοῖς ἱεροῖς ἀναθήμασι κατακεχρῆσθαι, ὁ Ἀγαθοκλῆς βιασάμενος αὐτοὺς δοῦναι τὰ κατὰ τὸ πρυτανεῖον, ὧν εἶχον ἐπιγραφὴν τὰ μὲν Αἰόλου, τὰ δʼ Ἡφαίστου, λαβὼν παραχρῆμα ἐξέπλευσεν. πνεύματος δʼ ἐπιγενομένου τῶν νεῶν ἕνδεκα συνετρίβησαν αἱ τὰ χρήματα κομίζουσαι. διόπερ ἔδοξε πολλοῖς ὁ μὲν λεγόμενος περὶ τοὺς τόπους ἐκείνους εἶναι κύριος τῶν ἀνέμων εὐθὺς κατὰ τὸν πρῶτον πλοῦν λαβεῖν παρʼ αὐτοῦ τιμωρίαν, ὁ δὲ Ἥφαιστος ἐπὶ τῆς τελευτῆς, οἰκείως τῆς ἀσεβείας κολάσας τὸν τύραννον ἐν τῇ πατρίδι, συνωνύμως ἐπὶ θερμοῖς τοῖς ἄνθραξι κατακαύσας ζῶντα· τῆς γὰρ αὐτῆς προαιρέσεως ἦν καὶ δικαιοσύνης τὸ τῶν περὶ τὴν Αἴτνην σωζόντων τοὺς ἑαυτῶν γονεῖς ἀποσχέσθαι καὶ τὸ τοὺς ἀσεβοῦντας εἰς τὸ θεῖον διὰ τῆς ἰδίας δυνάμεως μετελθεῖν. οὐ μὴν ἀλλʼ ὑπὲρ μὲν τῆς καταστροφῆς Ἀγαθοκλέους, ὅταν πρὸς τοὺς οἰκείους χρόνους ἔλθωμεν αὐτοῦ, τὸ γενόμενον βεβαιώσει τὸ νῦν εἰρημένον· ἐφεῆς δὲ ῥητέον ἡμῖν τὰ πραχθέντα κατὰ τοὺς συνεχεῖς τῆς Ἰταλίας τόπους. Ῥωμαῖοι μὲν καὶ Σαμνῖται διαπρεσβευσάμενοι πρὸς ἀλλήλους εἰρήνην συνέθεντο, πολεμήσαντες ἔτη εἴκοσι δύο καὶ μῆνας ἕξ· τῶν δʼ ὑπάτων Πόπλιος Σεμπρώνιος μετὰ δυνάμεως ἐμβαλὼν εἰς τὴν τῶν Αἰκλῶν χώραν ἐχειρώσατο τετταράκοντα πόλεις ἐν ἡμέραις ταῖς πάσαις πεντήκοντα, ἀναγκάσας δὲ πᾶν τὸ ἔθνος ὑποτάττεσθαι Ῥωμαίοις ἐπανῆλθε καὶ θρίαμβον κατήγαγεν ἐπαινούμενον. ὁ δὲ δῆμος ὁ Ῥωμαίων πρός τε Μαρσοὺς καὶ Παλιγνούς, ἔτι δὲ Μαρρουκίνους, συμμαχίαν ἐποιήσατο.
Now that we have carefully passed in review the happenings in Greece and Asia, we shall turn our narrative toward the other parts of the inhabited world. In Sicily, although the inhabitants of the Liparaean Islands were at peace with him, Agathocles sailed against them without warning and exacted from men who had done him no prior injury whatever, fifty talents of silver. To many, indeed, what I am about to relate seemed the work of a god, since his crime received its brand from the divinity. When the Liparaeans begged him to grant them time for what was lacking in the payment and said that they had never turned the sacred offerings to profane uses, Agathocles forced them to give him the dedications in the Prytaneum, of which some bore inscriptions to Aeolus and some to Hephaestus; and taking these he at once sailed away. But a wind came up and the eleven of his ships that were carrying the money were sunk. And so it seemed to many that the god who was said in that region to be master of the winds at once on his first voyage exacted punishment from him, and that at the end Hephaestus punished him in his own country in a way that matched the tyrant's impious actions and the god's own name by burning him alive on hot coals; for it belonged to the same character and the same justice to refrain from touching those who were saving their own parents on Aetna, and with his proper power to search after those who had been guilty of impiety toward his shrine. However, as regards the disaster that befell Agathocles, when we come to the proper time, the action itself will confirm what we now have said; but we must now tell of events in the adjacent parts of Italy. The Romans and the Samnites interchanged envoys and made peace after having fought for twenty-two years and six months; and one of the consuls, Publius Sempronius, invading the country of the Aecli with an army, captured forty cities in a total of fifty days, and after forcing the entire tribe to submit to Rome, returned home and celebrated a triumph with great applause. The Roman people made alliances with the Marsi, the Paligni, and the Marrucini.
§ 20.102
τοῦ δʼ ἐνιαυσίου χρόνου διεληλυθότος Ἀθήνησι μὲν ἦρχε Λεώστρατος, ἐν Ῥώμῃ δʼ ὑπῆρχον ὕπατοι Σερούιος Κορνήλιος καὶ Λεύκιος Γενούκιος. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Δημήτριος εἶχε πρόθεσιν πρὸς μὲν τοὺς περὶ Κάσανδρον διαπολεμεῖν, τοὺς δʼ Ἕλληνας ἐλευθεροῦν καὶ πρῶτον τὰ κατὰ τὴν Ἑλλάδα διοικεῖν, ἅμα μὲν νομίζων δόξαν οἴσειν αὐτῷ μεγάλην τὴν τῶν Ἑλλήνων αὐτονομίαν, ἅμα δὲ καὶ τοὺς περὶ Πρεπέλαον ἡγεμόνας τοῦ Κασάνδρου πρότερον συντρῖψαι καὶ τότε προσάγειν ἐπʼ αὐτὴν τὴν ἡγεμονίαν, ἢ ἐπʼ αὐτὸν πορεύοιτο τὸν Κάσανδρον. τῆς δὲ τῶν Σικυωνίων πόλεως φρουρουμένης ὑπὸ τῶν Πτολεμαίου τοῦ βασιλέως στρατιωτῶν, ὧν ἦν ἐπιφανέστατος στρατηγὸς Φίλιππος, νυκτὸς ἐπιθέμενος ἀπροσδοκήτως παρεισέπεσεν ἐντὸς τοῦ τείχους. εἶτα οἱ μὲν φρουροὶ συνέφυγον εἰς τὴν ἀκρόπολιν, ὁ δὲ Δημήτριος τῆς πόλεως κυριεύσας τὸν μεταξὺ τόπον τῶν οἰκιῶν καὶ τῆς ἄκρας κατεῖχε. μέλλοντος δʼ αὐτοῦ μηχανὰς προσάγειν καταπλαγέντες τὴν μὲν ἀκρόπολιν διʼ ὁμολογίας παρέδοσαν, αὐτοὶ δʼ ἀπέπλευσαν εἰς Αἴγυπτον. ὁ δὲ Δημήτριος τοὺς Σικυωνίους εἰς τὴν ἀκρόπολιν μετοικίσας τὸ μὲν τῷ λιμένι συνάπτον μέρος τῆς πόλεως κατέσκαψεν, ἀνοχύρου παντελῶς ὄντος τοῦ τόπου, τῷ δὲ πολιτικῷ πλήθει συνεπιλαβόμενος τῆς οἰκοδομίας καὶ τὴν ἐλευθερίαν ἀποκαταστήσας τιμῶν ἰσοθέων ἔτυχε παρὰ τοῖς εὖ παθοῦσι· Δημητριάδα μὲν γὰρ τὴν πόλιν ὠνόμασαν, θυσίας δὲ καὶ πανηγύρεις, ἔτι δʼ ἀγῶνας ἐψηφίσαντο συντελεῖν αὐτῷ κατʼ ἐνιαυτὸν καὶ τὰς ἄλλας ἀπονέμειν τιμὰς ὡς κτίστῃ. ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν ὁ χρόνος διαληφθεὶς πραγμάτων μεταβολαῖς ἠκύρωσεν, οἱ δὲ Σικυώνιοι πολλῷ κρείττονα μεταλαβόντες τόπον διετέλεσαν ἐν αὐτῷ μέχρι τῶν καθʼ ἡμᾶς χρόνων ἐνοικοῦντες. ὁ γὰρ τῆς ἀκροπόλεως περίβολος ἐπίπεδος ὢν καὶ μέγας κρημνοῖς δυσπροσίτοις περιέχεται πανταχόθεν, ὥστε μηδαμῇ δύνασθαι μηχανὰς προσάγειν· ἔχει δὲ καὶ πλῆθος ὑδάτων, ἐξ οὗ κηπείας δαψιλεῖς κατεσκεύασαν, ὥστε τὴν ἐπίνοιαν τοῦ βασιλέως καὶ πρὸς ἀπόλαυσιν εἰρηνικὴν καὶ πρὸς ἀσφάλειαν πολέμου δόξαι καλῶς προεωρᾶσθαι.
When the year had come to its end, Leostratus was archon in Athens, and in Rome the consuls were Servius Cornelius and Lucius Genucius. While these held office Demetrius proposed to carry on his war with Cassander and to free the Greeks; and first he planned to establish order in the affairs of Greece, for he believed that the freeing of the Greeks would bring him great honour, and at the same time he thought it necessary to wipe out Prepelaus and the other leaders before attacking Cassander, and then to go on against Macedonia itself if Cassander did not march against him. Now the city of Sicyon was garrisoned by King Ptolemy's soldiers, commanded by a very distinguished general, Philip. Attacking this city suddenly by night, Demetrius broke his way inside the walls. Then the garrison fled to the acropolis, but Demetrius took possession of the city and occupied the region between the houses and the acropolis. While he hesitated to bring up his siege engines, the garrison in panic surrendered the acropolis on terms and the men themselves sailed off to Egypt. After Demetrius had moved the people of Sicyon into their acropolis, he destroyed the part of the city adjacent to the harbour, since its site was quite insecure; then, after he had assisted the common people of the city in building their houses and had re-established free government for them, he received divine honours from those whom he had benefited; for they called the city Demetrias, and they voted to celebrate sacrifices and public festivals and also games in his honour every year and to grant him the other honours of a founder. Time, however, whose continuity has been broken by changes of conditions, has invalidated these honours; but the people of Sicyon, having thus obtained a much better location, continue to live there down to our times. For the enclosed area of the acropolis is level and of ample size, and it is surrounded on all sides by cliffs difficult to scale, so that on no side can engines of war be brought near; moreover, it has plenty of water by the aid of which they developed rich gardens, so that the king in his design seems to have made excellent provision both for comfort in time of peace and for safety in time of war.
§ 20.103
ὁ δὲ Δημήτριος διοικήσας τὰ περὶ τοὺς Σικυωνίους ἀνέζευξε μετὰ πάσης τῆς δυνάμεως ἐπὶ τὴν Κόρινθον, ἣν ἐφρούρει Πρεπέλαος Κασάνδρου στρατηγός. τὸ μὲν οὖν πρῶτον νυκτὸς ὑπό τινων πολιτῶν εἰσαχθεὶς διά τινος πυλίδος ἐκράτησε τῆς πόλεως καὶ τῶν λιμένων. τῶν δὲ φρουρῶν καταφυγόντων τῶν μὲν εἰς τὸ καλούμενον Σισύφιον, τῶν δʼ εἰς τὸν Ἀκροκόρινθον προσαγαγὼν μηχανὰς τοῖς ὀχυρώμασι καὶ πολλὰ κακοπαθήσας εἷλε τὸ Σισύφιον κατὰ κράτος. εἶτα τῶν ἐνταῦθα συμφυγόντων πρὸς τοὺς κατειληφότας τὸν Ἀκροκόρινθον καὶ τούτους καταπληξάμενος ἠνάγκασε παραδοῦναι τὴν ἄκραν· σφόδρα γὰρ ἦν ἀνυπόστατος οὗτος ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐν ταῖς προσβολαῖς, εὐμήχανος ὑπάρχων περὶ τὴν κατασκευὴν τῶν πολιορκητικῶν ἔργων. οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ τοὺς Κορινθίους ἐλευθερώσας παρεισήγαγε φυλακὴν εἰς τὸν Ἀκροκόρινθον, βουλομένων τῶν πολιτῶν διὰ τοῦ βασιλέως τηρεῖσθαι τὴν πόλιν μέχρι ἂν ὁ πρὸς Κάσανδρον καταλυθῇ πόλεμος. καὶ Πρεπέλαος μὲν αἰσχρῶς ἐκπεσὼν ἐκ τῆς Κορίνθου πρὸς Κάσανδρον ἀπεχώρησεν, Δημήτριος δὲ παρελθὼν εἰς τὴν Ἀχαΐαν Βοῦραν μὲν κατὰ κράτος εἷλε καὶ τοῖς πολίταις ἀπέδωκε τὴν αὐτονομίαν, Σκύρον δʼ ἐν ὀλίγαις ἡμέραις παραλαβὼν ἐξέβαλε τὴν φρουράν. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτʼ ἐπʼ Ὀρχομενὸν τῆς Ἀρκαδίας στρατεύσας ἐκέλευσε τῷ τῆς φρουρᾶς ἀφηγουμένῳ Στρομβίχῳ παραδοῦναι τὴν πόλιν. οὐ προσέχοντος δʼ αὐτοῦ τοῖς λόγοις, ἀλλὰ καὶ πολλὰ λοιδοροῦντος ἀπὸ τοῦ τείχους βλασφήμως προσαγαγὼν μηχανὰς ὁ βασιλεὺς καὶ καταβαλὼν τὰ τείχη κατὰ κράτος εἷλε τὴν πόλιν. τὸν μὲν οὖν Στρόμβιχον τὸν ὑπὸ Πολυπέρχοντος καθεσταμένον φρούραρχον καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν ἀλλοτρίως διατεθέντων πρὸς αὐτὸν εἰς ὀγδοήκοντα πρὸ τῆς πόλεως ἀνεσταύρωσε, τῶν δʼ ἄλλων μισθοφόρων ἑλὼν εἰς δισχιλίους κατέμιξε τοῖς ἰδίοις στρατιώταις. μετὰ δὲ τὴν ἅλωσιν ταύτης τῆς πόλεως οἱ σύνεγγυς τὰ φρούρια κατέχοντες, ὑπολαμβάνοντες ἀδύνατον ὑπάρχειν τὸ διαφυγεῖν τὴν βίαν τοῦ βασιλέως, παρέδωκαν αὐτῷ τὰ χωρία. ὁμοίως δὲ τούτοις καὶ οἱ τὰς πόλεις φρουροῦντες, τῶν μὲν περὶ Κάσανδρον καὶ Πρεπέλαον καὶ Πολυπέρχοντα μὴ βοηθούντων, τοῦ δὲ Δημητρίου μετὰ μεγάλης δυνάμεως καὶ μηχανῶν ὑπεραγουσῶν προσιόντος, ἑκουσίως ἐξεχώρουν. καὶ τὰ μὲν περὶ Δημήτριον ἐν τούτοις ἦν.
After Demetrius had settled the affairs of the people of Sicyon, he set out with his whole army for Corinth, which was held by Prepelaus, a general of Cassander. At first, after he had been admitted at night by certain citizens through a postern gate, Demetrius gained possession of the city and its harbours. The garrison, however, fled, some to the place called Sisyphium, some to Acrocorinth; but he brought up engines of war to the fortifications and took Sisyphium by storm after suffering heavy losses. Then, when the men there fled to those who had occupied Acrocorinth, he intimidated them also and forced them to surrender the citadel; for this king was exceedingly irresistible in his assaults, being particularly skilled in the construction of siege equipment. Be that as it may, when once he had freed the Corinthians he brought a garrison into Acrocorinth, since the citizens wished the city to be protected by the king until the war with Cassander should be brought to an end. Prepelaus, ignominiously driven out of Corinth, withdrew to Cassander, but Demetrius, advancing into Achaia, took Bura by storm and restored autonomy to its citizens; then, capturing Scyrus in a few days, he cast out its garrison. After this, making a campaign against Arcadian Orchomenus, he ordered the garrison commander, Strombichus, to surrender the city. When he paid no attention to the orders but even poured much abuse upon him from the wall in an insulting manner, the king brought up engines of war, overthrew the walls, and took the city by storm. As for Strombichus, who had been made garrison-commander by Polyperchon, and at least eighty of the others who were hostile to him, Demetrius crucified them in front of the city, but having captured at least two thousand of the other mercenaries, he incorporated them with his own men. After the capture of this city, those who commanded the forts in the vicinity, assuming that it was impossible to escape the might of the king, surrendered the strongholds to him. In like fashion those also who guarded the cities withdrew of their own accord, since Cassander, Prepelaus, and Polyperchon failed to come to their aid but Demetrius was approaching with a great army and with overwhelming engines of war. This was the situation of Demetrius.
§ 20.104
κατὰ δὲ τὴν Ἰταλίαν Ταραντῖνοι πόλεμον ἔχοντες πρὸς Δευκανοὺς καὶ Ῥωμαίους ἐξέπεμψαν πρεσβευτὰς εἰς τὴν Σπάρτην, αἰτούμενοι βοήθειαν καὶ στρατηγὸν Κλεώνυμον. τῶν δὲ Δακεδαιμονίων προθύμως ἡγεμόνα δόντων τὸν αἰτούμενον καὶ τῶν Ταραντίνων χρήματα καὶ ναῦς ἀποστειλάντων ὁ μὲν Κλεώνυμος ἐπὶ Ταινάρῳ τῆς Λακωνικῆς ξενολογήσας στρατιώτας πεντακισχιλίους συντόμως κατέπλευσεν εἰς Τάραντα. ἐνταῦθα δὲ μισθοφόρους ἀθροίσας ἄλλους οὐκ ἐλάττους τῶν προτέρων κατέγραφε καὶ τοὺς πολιτικοὺς πεζοὺς μὲν πλείους τῶν δισμυρίων, ἱππεῖς δὲ δισχιλίους. προσελάβετο δὲ τῶν τε κατʼ Ἰταλίαν Ἑλλήνων τοὺς πλείστους καὶ τὸ τῶν Μεσσαπίων ἔθνος. ἁδρᾶς οὖν δυνάμεως περὶ αὐτὸν οὔσης οἱ μὲν Λευκανοὶ καταπλαγέντες φιλίαν ἐποιήσαντο πρὸς τοὺς Ταραντίνους, τῶν δὲ Μεταποντίνων οὐ προσεχόντων αὐτῷ τοὺς Λευκανοὺς ἔπεισεν ἐμβαλεῖν εἰς τὴν χώραν καὶ τῷ καιρῷ συνεπιθέμενος κατεπλήξατο τοὺς Μεταποντίνους. παρελθὼν δʼ εἰς τὴν πόλιν ὡς φίλος ἐπράξατο μὲν ἀργυρίου τάλαντα πλείω τῶν ἑξακοσίων, διακοσίας δὲ παρθένους τὰς ἐπιφανεστάτας ἔλαβεν εἰς ὁμηρίαν, οὐχ οὕτω τῆς περὶ τὴν πίστιν ἀσφαλείας χάριν, ὡς τῆς ἰδίας ἕνεκεν λαγνείας. ἀποθέμενος γὰρ τὴν Λακωνικὴν ἐσθῆτα διετέλει τρυφῶν καὶ τοὺς πιστεύσαντας αὐτῷ καταδουλούμενος· τηλικαύτας γὰρ ἔχων δυνάμεις καὶ χορηγίας οὐδὲν τῆς Σπάρτης ἄξιον ἔπραξεν. ἐπεβάλετο μὲν γὰρ ἐπὶ τὴν Σικελίαν στρατεύειν, ὡς τὴν τυραννίδα μὲν καταλύσων τὴν Ἀγαθοκλέους, τὴν δʼ αὐτονομίαν τοῖς Σικελιώταις ἀποκαταστήσων, ὑπερθέμενος δὲ ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος ταύτην τὴν στρατείαν ἔπλευσεν εἰς Κόρκυραν καὶ κρατήσας τῆς πόλεως χρημάτων τε πλῆθος εἰσεπράξατο καὶ φρουρὰν ἐγκατέστησε, διανοούμενος ὁρμητηρίῳ τούτῳ τῷ τόπῳ χρήσασθαι καὶ τοῖς περὶ τὴν Ἑλλάδα πράγμασιν ἐφεδρεύειν.
In Italy the people of Tarentum were waging war with the Lucanians and the Romans; and they sent envoys to Sparta asking for assistance and for Cleonymus as general. When the Lacedaemonians willingly granted them the leader whom they requested and the Tarentines sent money and ships, Cleonymus enrolled five thousand mercenaries at Taenarum in Laconia and sailed at once to Tarentum. After collecting there other mercenaries no less in number than those previously enrolled, he also enlisted more than twenty thousand citizens as foot-soldiers and two thousand as mounted troops. He won the support also of most of the Greeks in Italy and of the tribe of the Messapians. Then, since he had a strong army under his command, the Lucanians in alarm established friendship with the Tarentines; and when the people of Metapontum did not come over to him, he persuaded the Lucanians to invade the territory of the Metapontines and, by making a simultaneous attack himself, intimidated them. Then, entering their city as a friend, he exacted more than six hundred talents of silver; and he took two hundred maidens of the best families as hostages, not so much as a guarantee of the city's faith as to satisfy his own lust. Indeed, having discarded the Spartan garb, he lived in continued luxury and made slaves of those who had trusted in him; for although he had so strong an army and such ample supplies, he did nothing worthy of Sparta. He planned to invade Sicily as if to overthrow the tyranny of Agathocles and restore their independence to the Siciliots; but postponing this campaign for the present, he sailed to Corcyra, and after getting possession of the city exacted a great sum of money and installed a garrison, intending to use this place as a base and to await a chance to take part in the affairs in Greece.
§ 20.105
εὐθὺ δὲ καὶ πρεσβειῶν πρὸς αὐτὸν παραγενομένων παρά τε Δημητρίου τοῦ πολιορκητοῦ καὶ Κασάνδρου περὶ συμμαχίας τούτων μὲν οὐδετέρῳ προσέθετο, τοὺς δὲ Ταραντίνους καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τινὰς πυθόμενος ἀφεστηκέναι τῆς μὲν Κορκύρας τὴν ἱκανὴν φυλακὴν ἀπέλιπεν, μετὰ δὲ τῆς ἄλλης δυνάμεως ἔπλει κατὰ σπουδὴν ἐπὶ τὴν Ἰταλίαν, ὡς κολάσων τοὺς ἀπειθοῦντας. προσσχὼν δὲ τῇ χώρᾳ καθʼ ὃν τόπον ἐφύλασσον οἱ βάρβαροι, τὴν μὲν πόλιν ἑλὼν ἐξηνδραποδίσατο, τὴν δὲ χώραν ἐλεηλάτησεν. ὁμοίως δὲ τὸ καλούμενον Τριόπιον ἐκπολιορκήσας εἰς τρισχιλίους ἔλαβεν αἰχμαλώτους. καθʼ ὃν δὴ χρόνον οἱ μὲν ἀπὸ τῆς χώρας βάρβαροι συνδραμόντες ἐπέθεντο νυκτὸς τῇ στρατοπεδείᾳ καὶ μάχης γενομένης ἀνεῖλον τῶν μετὰ Κλεωνύμου πλείους τῶν διακοσίων, ἐζώγρησαν δὲ περὶ χιλίους. ἅμα δὲ τῷ κινδύνῳ τούτῳ χειμὼν ἐπιγενόμενος εἴκοσι τῶν νεῶν διέφθειρε πλησίον ὁρμουσῶν τῆς παρεμβολῆς. ὁ δὲ Κλεώνυμος δυσὶν ἐλαττώμασι τηλικούτοις περιπεσὼν ἀπέπλευσε μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως εἰς τὴν Κόρκυραν.
But soon, when envoys did come to him both from Demetrius Poliorcetes and from Cassander proposing alliances, he joined with neither of them; but when he learned that the Tarentines and some of the others were in revolt, he left an adequate garrison in Corcyra, and with the rest of his army sailed at top speed to Italy in order to punish those who defied his commands. Putting in to land in the district that was defended by the barbarians, he took the city, sold its people into slavery, and plundered the countryside. He likewise took by siege the city called Triopium, capturing about three thousand prisoners. But at this very time the barbarians throughout the region came together and attacked his camp by night, and in the battle that took place they slew more than two hundred of Cleonymus' men and made prisoners about a thousand. A storm rising at the time of the battle destroyed twenty of the ships that lay at anchor near his encampment. Having met with two such disasters, Cleonymus sailed away to Corcyra with his army.
§ 20.106
τοῦ δʼ ἐνιαυσίου χρόνου διεληλυθότος Ἀθήνησι μὲν ἦν ἄρχων Νικοκλῆς, ἐν Ῥώμῃ δὲ τὴν ὕπατον ἀρχὴν διεδέξαντο Μάρκος Λίβιος καὶ Μάρκος Αἰμίλιος. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Κάσανδρος ὁ Μακεδόνων βασιλεὺς ὁρῶν τὴν δύναμιν τῶν Ἑλλήνων αὐξομένην καὶ πάντα τὸν πόλεμον ἐπὶ τὴν Μακεδονίαν συνιστάμενον περίφοβος ἦν ὑπὲρ τοῦ μέλλοντος. διόπερ ἐξέπεμψε πρεσβευτὰς πρὸς Ἀντίγονον εἰς τὴν Ἀσίαν, ἀξιῶν διαλύσασθαι πρὸς αὐτόν. ἀποκριναμένου δʼ ἐκείνου διότι μίαν γινώσκει διάλυσιν, ἐὰν ὁ Κάσανδρος ἐπιτρέπῃ τὰ καθʼ αὑτόν, καταπλαγεὶς Λυσίμαχον ἐκ τῆς Θρᾴκης μετεπέμψατο πρὸς τὴν τῶν ὅλων κοινοπραγίαν· ἀεὶ γὰρ εἰώθει τοῦτον κατὰ τοὺς μεγίστους φόβους εἰς τὴν βοήθειαν προσλαμβάνεσθαι διά τε τὴν τἀνδρὸς ἀρετὴν καὶ διὰ τὸ τὴν βασιλείαν αὐτοῦ ὅμορον εἶναι τῇ Μακεδονίᾳ. συνεδρεύσαντες οὖν οἱ βασιλεῖς οὗτοι περὶ τοῦ κοινοῦ συμφέροντος ἐξέπεμψαν πρεσβευτὰς πρός τε Πτολεμαῖον τὸν Αἰγύπτου βασιλέα καὶ πρὸς Σέλευκον τὸν τῶν ἄνω σατραπειῶν κυριεύοντα, περί τε τῆς ὑπερηφανίας τῆς ἐν ταῖς ἀποκρίσεσιν ἐμφανίζοντες καὶ τὸν ἐκ τοῦ πολέμου κίνδυνον κοινὸν εἶναι πάντων διδάσκοντες. τῆς γὰρ Μακεδονίας κρατήσαντα τὸν Ἀντίγονον εὐθὺς ἀφελεῖσθαι καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τὰς βασιλείας· δεδωκέναι γὰρ αὐτὸν πεῖραν πλεονάκις ὅτι πλεονέκτης ἐστὶ καὶ πᾶσαν ἀρχὴν ἀκοινώνητον ποιεῖ. συμφέρειν οὖν ἅπαντας συμφρονῆσαι καὶ κοινῇ πρὸς Ἀντίγονον ἐπανελέσθαι πόλεμον. οἱ μὲν οὖν περὶ Πτολεμαῖον καὶ Σέλευκον δόξαντες ἀληθῆ λέγειν προθύμως ὑπήκουσαν καὶ συνετάξαντο πρὸς ἀλλήλους
When this year had passed, Nicocles was archon in Athens, and in Rome Marcus Livius and Marcus Aemilius received the consulship. While these held office, Cassander, the king of the Macedonians, on seeing that the power of the Greeks was increasing and that the whole war was directed against Macedonia, became much alarmed about the future. He therefore sent envoys into Asia to Antigonus, asking him to come to terms with him. But when Antigonus replied that he recognized only one basis for a settlement — Cassander's surrender of whatever he possessed, — Cassander was alarmed and summoned Lysimachus from Thrace to take concerted action in regard to their highest interests; for it was his invariable custom when facing the most alarming situations to call on Lysimachus for assistance, both because of his personal character and because his kingdom lay next to Macedonia. When these kings had taken counsel together about their common interest, they sent envoys to Ptolemy, the king of Egypt, and to Seleucus, who was ruler of the upper satrapies, revealing the arrogance of Antigonus' answer and showing that the danger arising from the war was common to all. For they said, if Antigonus should gain control of Macedonia, he would at once take their kingdoms from the others also; indeed he had given proof many times that he was grasping and regarded any command as a possession not to be shared. It would therefore, they said, be advantageous for all to make plans in common and jointly undertake a war against Antigonus. Now Ptolemy and Seleucus, believing that the statements were true, eagerly agreed and arranged with Cassander to assist one another with strong forces.
§ 20.107
βοηθεῖν ἁδραῖς δυνάμεσι· τοῖς δὲ περὶ Κάσανδρον ἔδοξε μὴ περιμένειν τὴν τῶν πολεμίων ἔφοδον, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτοὺς φθάσαντας ἐπιστρατεύειν καὶ προλαμβάνειν τὸ χρήσιμον. διόπερ ὁ Κάσανδρος Λυσιμάχῳ μὲν παρέδωκε μέρος τοῦ στρατοπέδου καὶ στρατηγὸν συνεξέπεμψεν, αὐτὸς δὲ ἀνέζευξε μετὰ τῆς λοιπῆς δυνάμεως εἰς Θετταλίαν, διαπολεμήσων Δημητρίῳ καὶ τοῖς Ἕλλησι. Λυσίμαχος δὲ μετὰ στρατοπέδου διαβὰς ἐκ τῆς Εὐρώπης εἰς τὴν Ἀσίαν Λαμψακηνοὺς μὲν καὶ Παριανοὺς ἑκουσίως προσθεμένους ἀφῆκεν ἐλευθέρους, Σίγειον δὲ ἐκπολιορκήσας φρουρὰν παρεισήγαγε. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Πρεπελάῳ μὲν τῷ στρατηγῷ δοὺς πεζοὺς ἑξακισχιλίους, ἱππεῖς δὲ χιλίους ἐξέπεμψε προσαξόμενον τὰς πόλεις τάς τε κατὰ τὴν Αἰολίδα καὶ τὴν Ἰωνίαν, αὐτὸς δὲ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἐπεχείρησε πολιορκεῖν τὴν Ἄβυδον καὶ βέλη καὶ μηχανὰς καὶ τἄλλα παρεσκευάζετο· ἐπεὶ δὲ κατὰ θάλατταν ἦλθε τοῖς πολιορκουμένοις στρατιωτῶν πλῆθος παρὰ Δημητρίου τὸ δυνάμενον τὴν ἀσφάλειαν παρέχεσθαι τῇ πόλει, ταύτης μὲν τῆς ἐπιβολῆς ἀπέστη, τὴν δʼ ἐφʼ Ἑλλησπόντῳ Φρυγίαν προσαγαγόμενος καὶ Σύνναδα πόλιν ἔχουσαν ἀποσκευὰς μεγάλας βασιλικὰς ἐπολιόρκησεν. ὅτε δὴ καὶ Δόκιμον τὸν Ἀντιγόνου στρατηγὸν πείσας κοινοπραγεῖν τά τε Σύνναδα παρέλαβε διὰ τούτου καὶ τῶν ὀχυρωμάτων ἔνια τῶν ἐχόντων τὰ βασιλικὰ χρήματα. ὁ δʼ ἐπὶ τῆς Αἰολίδος καὶ τῆς Ἰωνίας πεμφθεὶς ὑπὸ Λυσιμάχου στρατηγὸς Πρεπέλαος Ἀδραμυττίου μὲν ἐκυρίευσεν ἐν παρόδῳ, τὴν δʼ Ἔφεσον πολιορκήσας καὶ καταπληξάμενος τοὺς ἔνδον παρέλαβε τὴν πόλιν. καὶ τοὺς μὲν ἐγκαταληφθέντας τῶν Ῥοδίων ἑκατὸν ὁμήρους ἀπέστειλεν εἰς τὴν πατρίδα, τοὺς δʼ Ἐφεσίους ὑποσπόνδους ἀφῆκε, τὰς δὲ ναῦς τὰς ἐν τῷ λιμένι πάσας ἐνέπρησε διὰ τὸ θαλασσοκρατεῖν τοὺς πολεμίους καὶ τὴν ὅλην κρίσιν τοῦ πολέμου ἄδηλον ὑπάρχειν. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Τηίους μὲν καὶ Κολοφωνίους προσηγάγετο, Ἐρυθραίοις δὲ καὶ Κλαζομενίοις ἐλθούσης κατὰ θάλατταν βοηθείας τὰς μὲν πόλεις ἑλεῖν οὐκ ἠδυνήθη, τὴν δὲ χώραν αὐτῶν πορθήσας ἀνέζευξεν ἐπὶ Σάρδεις. ἐνταῦθα δὴ τὸν Ἀντιγόνου στρατηγὸν Φοίνικα καὶ Δόκιμον πείσας ἀποστῆναι τοῦ βασιλέως παρέλαβε τὴν πόλιν πλὴν τῆς ἄκρας· ταύτην γὰρ φυλάττων Φίλιππος εἷς τῶν Ἀντιγόνου φίλων βεβαίαν ἐτήρει τὴν εὔνοιαν τὴν πρὸς τὸν πεπιστευκότα. τὰ μὲν οὖν περὶ Λυσίμαχον ἐν τούτοις ἦν.
Cassander, however, thought it best not to await the attack of his enemies but to get the start of them by opening the campaign himself and seizing what he could use to advantage. Therefore Cassander gave to Lysimachus a part of his army and sent with it Prepelaus as general, while he himself moved with the rest of the army into Thessaly to carry on the war with Demetrius and the Greeks. Lysimachus with his army crossed from Europe to Asia, and since the inhabitants of Lampsacus and Parium came over to him willingly, he left them free, but when he took Sigeum by force, he installed a garrison there. Next, giving his general Prepelaus six thousand footsoldiers and a thousand horse, he sent him to win over the cities throughout Aeolis and Ionia; as for himself, he first attempted to invest Abydus and set about preparing missiles and engines and the other equipment; but when there arrived by sea to assist the besieged a large body of soldiers sent by Demetrius, a force sufficient to secure the safety of the city, he gave up this attempt and won over Hellespontine Phrygia, and also laid siege to the city of Synnada, which possessed a great royal treasure. It was at this very time that he even persuaded Docimus, the general of Antigonus, to make common cause with him, and by his aid he took Synnada and also some of the strongholds that held the royal wealth. Prepelaus, the general who had been sent by Lysimachus to Aeolis and Ionia, mastered Adramyttium as he passed by, and then, laying siege to Ephesus and frightening its inhabitants, he took the city. The hundred Rhodian hostages whom he found there he sent back to their native land; and he left the Ephesians free but burned all the ships in the harbour, since the enemy controlled the sea and the whole outcome of the war was uncertain. After this he secured the adherence of the people of Teos and of Colophon, but since reinforcements came by sea to Erythrae and Clazomenae, he could not capture these cities; however, he plundered their territory and then set out for Sardis. There, by persuading Antigonus' general Phoenix to desert the king, he gained control of the city except the acropolis; for Philip, one of the friends of Antigonus, who was guarding the citadel, held firm his loyalty toward the man who had placed trust in him. The affairs of Lysimachus were in this position.
§ 20.108
Ἀντίγονος δὲ προκεχειρισμένος ἀγῶνα μέγαν καὶ πανήγυριν ἐν Ἀντιγονίᾳ συντελεῖν πάντοθεν ἀθλητάς τε καὶ τεχνίτας τοὺς ἐπιφανεστάτους ἐπὶ μεγάλοις ἄθλοις καὶ μισθοῖς ἠθροίκει. ὡς δʼ ἤκουσε τὴν Λυσιμάχου διάβασιν καὶ τῶν στρατηγῶν τὴν ἀπόστασιν, τὸν μὲν ἀγῶνα διέλυσε, τοῖς δʼ ἀθληταῖς καὶ τοῖς τεχνίταις ἀπέδωκε μισθοὺς οὐκ ἐλάττους διακοσίων ταλάντων. αὐτὸς δὲ τὴν δύναμιν ἀναλαβὼν ὥρμησεν ἐκ τῆς Συρίας σύντομον τὴν πορείαν ποιούμενος ἐπὶ τοὺς πολεμίους. εἰς δὲ Ταρσὸν τῆς Κιλικίας ἀφικόμενος ἐξ ὧν κατεκόμισε χρημάτων ἐκ τῶν Κουΐνδων τὸ στρατόπεδον εἰς τρεῖς μῆνας ἐμισθοδότησεν. χωρὶς δὲ τούτων τρισχίλια τάλαντα μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως ἐκόμιζεν, ὅπως τοιαύτην ἔχῃ τὴν χορηγίαν, ὅταν αὐτῷ χρεία γένηται χρημάτων. ἔπειτα τὸν Ταῦρον ὑπερβαλὼν προῆγεν ἐπὶ Καππαδοκίας καὶ τοὺς ἀφεστηκότας περὶ τὴν ἄνω Φρυγίαν καὶ Λυκαονίαν ἐπιπορευόμενος πάλιν εἰς τὴν προϋπάρχουσαν συμμαχίαν ἀποκατέστησεν. καθʼ ὃν δὴ χρόνον οἱ περὶ τὸν Λυσίμαχον πυθόμενοι τὴν τῶν πολεμίων παρουσίαν συνήδρευον, βουλευόμενοι πῶς χρηστέον εἴη τοῖς ἐπιφερομένοις κινδύνοις. ἔδοξεν οὖν αὐτοῖς εἰς μὲν μάχην μὴ συγκαταβαίνειν, ἕως ἂν οἱ περὶ Σέλευκον ἐκ τῶν ἄνω σατραπειῶν καταβῶσι, τόπους δὲ ὀχυροὺς καταλαβέσθαι καὶ χάρακι καὶ τάφρῳ τὴν στρατοπεδείαν ἀσφαλισαμένους ὑπομένειν τῶν πολεμίων τὴν ἔφοδον. οὗτοι μὲν οὖν τὸ δοχθὲν αὐτοῖς ἐπετέλουν κατὰ σπουδήν. ὁ δʼ Ἀντίγονος ἐπεὶ πλησίον ἐγένετο τῶν πολεμίων, ἐκτάξας τὴν δύναμιν προεκαλεῖτο εἰς μάχην. οὐδενὸς δʼ ἐπεξιέναι τολμῶντος αὐτὸς μὲν κατελάβετο τόπους τινάς, διʼ ὧν ἀναγκαῖον ἦν τὰς τροφὰς τοῖς ἐναντίοις παρακομίζεσθαι· οἱ δὲ περὶ τὸν Λυσίμαχον φοβηθέντες μήποτε τῆς ἀγορᾶς ἀποκοπείσης ὑποχείριοι γένωνται τοῖς πολεμίοις, νυκτὸς ἀνέζευξαν καὶ διατείναντες σταδίους τετρακοσίους κατεστρατοπέδευσαν περὶ Δορύλαιον· εἶχε γὰρ τὸ χωρίον σίτου τε καὶ τῆς ἄλλης χορηγίας πλῆθος καὶ ποταμὸν παραρρέοντα δυνάμενον ἀσφάλειαν παρέχεσθαι τοῖς παρʼ αὐτὸν στρατοπεδεύουσι. βαλόμενοι δὲ στρατοπεδείαν ὠχύρωσαν τὴν παρεμβολὴν βαθείᾳ τάφρῳ καὶ τριπλῷ χάρακι.
Antigonus, who had made preparations to celebrate great games and a festival in Antigonia, had collected from all sides the most famous athletes and artists to compete for great prizes and fees. But when he heard of the crossing of Lysimachus and the desertion of his own generals, he abandoned the games but distributed to the athletes and artists not less than two hundred talents as compensation. He himself taking his army set out from Syria and made a rapid march against the enemy. Arriving at Tarsus in Cilicia, he paid the army for three months from the money he had brought down from Cyinda. Apart from this fund, he was carrying three thousand talents with the army in order that he might have this provision whenever he had need of money. Then, crossing the Taurus Range, he marched toward Cappadocia; and, advancing upon those who had deserted him in upper Phrygia and Lycaonia, he restored them again to the former alliance. At this very time Lysimachus, on hearing of the presence of the enemy, held a council considering how he ought to meet the approaching dangers. They decided not to join in battle until Seleucus should come down from the upper satrapies, but to occupy strong positions and, after making their encampment safe with palisade and ditch, to await the onslaught of the enemy. They therefore carried out their decision with vigour; but Antigonus, when he came near the enemy, drew up his army and challenged them to battle. When no one dared to issue forth, he himself occupied certain places through which it was necessary that the provisions of his opponents should be transported; and Lysimachus, fearing that if their food supply should be cut off, they would then be at the mercy of the enemy, broke camp at night, made a forced march of four hundred stades, and camped near Dorylaeum; for the stronghold had an ample store of grain and other supplies, and a river ran by it that could give protection to those who camped beside it. Pitching camp, they strengthened their encampment with a deep ditch and a triple stockade.
§ 20.109
Ἀντίγονος δὲ πυθόμενος τὴν τῶν πολεμίων ἀποχώρησιν εὐθὺς ἐπεδίωκεν αὐτοὺς καὶ πλησίον γενόμενος τῆς παρεμβολῆς, ἐπεὶ πρὸς παράταξιν οὐ συγκατέβαινον, ἤρξατο περιταφρεύειν τὴν στρατοπεδείαν καὶ καταπέλτας καὶ βέλη μετεπέμψατο, βουλόμενος αὐτὴν πολιορκῆσαι. συντελουμένων δʼ ἀκροβολισμῶν περὶ τὴν ταφρείαν καὶ τῶν περὶ τὸν Λυσίμαχον πειρωμένων ἀνείργειν τοῖς βέλεσι τοὺς ἐργαζομένους ἐν πᾶσιν προετέρουν οἱ περὶ τὸν Ἀντίγονον. ἔπειτα χρόνου γενομένου καὶ τῶν ἔργων ἤδη συντέλειαν λαμβανόντων, τῆς δὲ τροφῆς ὑπολιπούσης τοὺς πολιορκουμένους οἱ περὶ Λυσίμαχον, τηρήσαντες νύκτα χειμέριον, ἀναζεύξαντες ἐκ τῆς παρεμβολῆς διὰ τῶν ὑπερδεξίων τόπων ἀπεχώρησαν εἰς παραχειμασίαν. ὁ δʼ Ἀντίγονος ἡμέρας γενομένης ὡς εἶδε τὴν τῶν πολεμίων ἀπαλλαγήν, ἀντιπαρῆγεν αὐτὸς διὰ τῶν πεδίων. ἐπιγενομένων δὲ ὄμβρων μεγάλων καὶ τῆς χώρας οὔσης βαθυγείου καὶ πηλώδους τῶν τε ὑποζυγίων οὐκ ὀλίγα συνέβη καὶ τῶν σωμάτων τινὰ διαφθαρῆναι καὶ τὸ σύνολον ἐπιπόνως ἅπασαν τὴν δύναμιν διατεθῆναι. διόπερ ὁ βασιλεὺς ἅμα μὲν ἀναλαβεῖν βουλόμενος ἐκ τῆς κακοπαθίας τοὺς στρατιώτας, ἅμα δὲ τὴν χειμερινὴν ὥραν ὁρῶν περιλαμβάνουσαν τοῦ μὲν καταδιώκειν ἀπέστη, πρὸς δὲ τὴν χειμασίαν ἐπιλεξάμενος τοὺς εὐθετωτάτους τόπους διεῖλε κατὰ μέρη τὴν δύναμιν. πυνθανόμενος δὲ Σέλευκον καταβαίνειν ἐκ τῶν ἄνω σατραπειῶν μετὰ μεγάλης δυνάμεως, ἔπεμψέ τινας τῶν φίλων εἰς τὴν Ἑλλάδα πρὸς Δημήτριον, παρακελευόμενος ἥκειν πρὸς αὐτὸν μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως τὴν ταχίστην· σφόδρα γὰρ εὐλαβεῖτο μὴ πάντων τῶν βασιλέων ἐπʼ αὐτὸν συνδραμόντων ἀναγκασθῇ παρατάξει κρῖναι τὸν ὅλον πόλεμον πρὶν ἢ συνελθεῖν εἰς ταὐτὸν τὴν ἐκ τῆς Εὐρώπης δύναμιν. παραπλησίως δὲ καὶ Λυσίμαχος διεῖλε τὴν δύναμιν εἰς χειμασίαν ἐν τῷ καλουμένῳ Σαλωνίας πεδίῳ. ἀγορὰν δὲ πολλὴν ἐξ Ἡρακλείας μετεπέμπετο, ποιησάμενος ἐπιγαμίαν πρὸς τοὺς Ἡρακλεώτας· ἔγημε γὰρ Ἄμηστριν τὴν Ὀξυάρτου μὲν θυγατέρα, Δαρείου δὲ τοῦ βασιλέως ἀδελφιδῆν, Κρατεροῦ δὲ γυναῖκα γενομένην ὑπʼ Ἀλεξάνδρου δοθεῖσαν, τότε δυναστεύουσαν τῆς πόλεως. καὶ τὰ μὲν περὶ τὴν Ἀσίαν ἐν τούτοις ἦν.
When Antigonus learned of the departure of the enemy he at once pursued them; and, after he had approached their encampment, since they did not come out for battle, he began to surround their camp with a trench, and he sent for catapults and missiles, intending to storm it. When shots were exchanged about the excavation and Lysimachus' men tried to drive away with missiles those who were working, in every case Antigonus had the better of it. Then as time passed and the work was already nearing completion, since food was growing scarce for the besieged, Lysimachus, after waiting for a stormy night, set out from the camp and departed through the higher land to go into winter quarters. But when at daybreak Antigonus saw the departure of the enemy, he himself marched parallel with them through the plains. Great rainstorms occurred, with the result that, as the country had deep soil and became very muddy, he lost a considerable number of his pack animals and a few of his men, and in general the whole army was in serious difficulty. Therefore the king, both because he wished to restore his soldiers after their sufferings and because he saw that the winter season was at hand, gave up the pursuit; and selecting the places best suited for wintering, he divided his army into sections. But when he learned that Seleucus was coming down from the upper satrapies with a great force, he sent some of his friends into Greece to Demetrius, bidding him come to him with his army as soon as possible; for, since all the kings had united against him, he was taking every precaution not to be forced to decide the whole war in battle before the army in Europe came to join him. Similarly Lysimachus also divided his army in order to go into winter quarters in the plain called that of Salonia. He obtained ample supplies from Heraclea, having made a marriage alliance with the Heracleotes; for he had married Amestris, the daughter of Oxyartes and niece of King Darius. She had been wife of Craterus, given him by Alexander, and at the time in question was ruler of the city. Such was the situation in Asia.
§ 20.110
κατὰ δὲ τὴν Ἑλλάδα Δημήτριος διατρίβων ἐν ταῖς Ἀθήναις ἔσπευδε μυηθῆναι καὶ καταλαβεῖν τὴν ἐν Ἐλευσῖνι τελετήν. ἀπεχούσης δὲ χρόνον ἱκανὸν τῆς κατὰ νόμους ἡμέρας, καθʼ ἣν εἰώθεισαν Ἀθηναῖοι συντελεῖν τὴν τελετήν, ἔπεισε τὸν δῆμον διὰ τὰς εὐεργεσίας κινῆσαι τὸ πάτριον ἔθος. παραδοὺς οὖν αὑτὸν ἄνοπλον τοῖς ἱερεῦσι καὶ πρὸ τῆς ὡρισμένης ἡμέρας μυηθεὶς ἀνέζευξεν ἐκ τῶν Ἀθηνῶν. καὶ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον εἰς Χαλκίδα τῆς Εὐβοίας ἤθροισε τὸν στόλον καὶ τὴν πεζὴν δύναμιν· μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα πυθόμενος τοὺς περὶ Κάσανδρον προκατειλῆφθαι τὰς παρόδους, πεζῇ μὲν ἀπέγνω τὴν εἰς Θετταλίαν ποιεῖσθαι πορείαν, παραπλεύσας δὲ μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως εἰς τὸν ἐν Λαρίσῃ λιμένα καὶ τὴν δύναμιν ἐκβιβάσας τὴν μὲν πόλιν ἐξ ἐφόδου παρέλαβε, τὴν δʼ ἄκραν ἐκπολιορκήσας τοὺς μὲν φρουροὺς δήσας παρέδωκεν εἰς φυλακήν, τοῖς δὲ Λαρισαίοις τὴν αὐτονομίαν ἀποκατέστησεν. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Ἀντρῶνας μὲν καὶ Πτελεὸν προσηγάγετο, Δίον δὲ καὶ Ὀρχομενὸν μετοικίζοντος εἰς Θήβας Κασάνδρου διεκώλυσε μετοικισθῆναι τὰς πόλεις. Κάσανδρος δὲ θεωρῶν τὰ πράγματα τῷ Δημητρίῳ κατὰ νοῦν χωροῦντα Φερὰς μὲν καὶ Θήβας ἁδροτέραις φρουραῖς παρεφύλαττε, τὴν δὲ δύναμιν πᾶσαν εἰς ἕνα τόπον ἀθροίσας ἀντεστρατοπέδευσε τοῖς περὶ τὸν Δημήτριον. εἶχε δὲ τοὺς σύμπαντας πεζοὺς μὲν εἰς δισμυρίους ἐννακισχιλίους, ἱππεῖς δὲ δισχιλίους. τῷ δὲ Δημητρίῳ συνηκολούθουν ἱππεῖς μὲν χίλιοι καὶ πεντακόσιοι, πεζοὶ δὲ Μακεδόνες οὐκ ἐλάττους τῶν ὀκτακισχιλίων, μισθοφόροι δʼ εἰς μυρίους καὶ πεντακισχιλίους, ἐκ δὲ τῶν κατὰ τὴν Ἑλλάδα πόλεων δισμύριοι καὶ πεντακισχίλιοι, ψιλικὰ δὲ τάγματα καὶ πειρατῶν παντοδαπῶν τῶν συντρεχόντων ἐπὶ τοὺς πολέμους καὶ τὰς ἁρπαγὰς οὐκ ἐλάττους τῶν ὀκτακισχιλίων, ὥστʼ εἶναι τοὺς ἅπαντας πεζοὺς περὶ τοὺς πεντακισμυρίους ἑξακισχιλίους. ἀντικαθημένων δὲ τῶν στρατοπέδων ἀλλήλοις ἐπὶ πολλὰς ἡμέρας ἐκτάξεις μὲν ἐγίνοντο παρʼ ἀμφοτέροις, εἰς μάχην δὲ οὐδέτερος συγκατέβαινε, καραδοκῶν τὴν ἐπὶ τῆς Ἀσίας ἐσομένην τῶν ὅλων κρίσιν. Δημήτριος δέ, τῶν Φεραίων ἐπικαλεσαμένων αὐτόν, παρεισπεσὼν εἰς τὴν πόλιν μετὰ μέρους τῆς δυνάμεως τὴν μὲν ἄκραν ἐκπολιορκήσας ὑποσπόνδους ἀφῆκε τοὺς παρὰ Κασάνδρου στρατιώτας, τοῖς δὲ Φεραίοις τὴν ἐλευθερίαν ἀποκατέστησεν.
In Greece Demetrius, who was tarrying in Athens, was eager to be initiated and to participate in the mysteries at Eleusis. Since it was a considerable time before the legally established day on which the Athenians were accustomed to celebrate the mysteries, he persuaded the people because of his benefactions to change the custom of their fathers. And so, giving himself over unarmed to the priests, he was initiated before the regular day and departed from Athens. And first he gathered together his fleet and his land army in Chalcis of Euboea; then, learning that Cassander had already occupied the passes in advance, he gave up the attempt to advance into Thessaly by land, but sailed along the coast with the army into the port of Larisa. Disembarking the army, he captured the city at once; and taking the acropolis, he imprisoned the garrison and put them under guard, but he restored their autonomy to the people of Larisa. Thereafter he won over Antrones and Pteleum, and when Cassander would have transported the people of Dium and Orchomenus into Thebes, he prevented the transplanting of the cities. But when Cassander saw that Demetrius' undertakings were prospering, he first protected Pherae and Thebes with stronger garrisons; and then, after collecting his whole army into one place, he encamped over against Demetrius. He had in all twenty-nine thousand foot-soldiers and two thousand horsemen. Demetrius was followed by fifteen hundred horsemen, not less than eight thousand Macedonian foot-soldiers, mercenaries to the number of fifteen thousand, twenty-five thousand from the cities throughout Greece, and at least eight thousand of the light armed troops and of the freebooters of all sorts such as gather where there is fighting and plundering; so that there were in all about fifty-six thousand foot-soldiers. For many days the camps were pitched opposite each other, and the battle lines were drawn up on both sides, but neither came forward into battle since each was awaiting the decision of the whole matter that would take place in Asia. Demetrius, however, when the people of Pherae called upon him, entering their city with part of his army and taking the citadel, dismissed the soldiers of Cassander on terms and restored their liberty to the people of Pherae.
§ 20.111
ἐν τούτοις δʼ ὄντων τῶν περὶ Θεσσαλίαν ἧκον πρὸς τὸν Δημήτριον οἱ πεμφθέντες ὑπʼ Ἀντιγόνου, διασαφοῦντες τὰς παρὰ τοῦ πατρὸς ἐντολὰς καὶ παρακελευόμενοι τὴν ταχίστην διαβιβάζειν τὰς δυνάμεις εἰς τὴν Ἀσίαν. διόπερ ἀναγκαῖον ἡγησάμενος ὑπάρχειν ὁ βασιλεὺς τὸ πείθεσθαι τῷ πατρί, πρὸς μὲν Κάσανδρον διαλύσεις ἐποιήσατο, συνθέμενος εἶναι κυρίας τὰς συνθήκας, ἐὰν ὦσιν εὐάρεστοι τῷ πατρί, ἀκριβῶς μὲν εἰδὼς οὐ προσδεξόμενον αὐτὸν διὰ τὸ κεκρικέναι πάντως διὰ τῶν ὅπλων ἐπιθεῖναι τέλος τῷ συμβάντι πολέμῳ, βουλόμενος δὲ τὴν ἐκ τῆς Ἑλλάδος ἀποχώρησιν εὐσχήμονα ποιήσασθαι καὶ μὴ φυγῇ παραπλησίαν· ἐγέγραπτο γὰρ ἐν ταῖς συνθήκαις πρὸς τοῖς ἄλλοις καὶ τὸ τὰς Ἑλληνίδας πόλεις ἐλευθέρας ὑπάρχειν, οὐ τὰς κατὰ τὴν Ἑλλάδα μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰς κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν. μετὰ δὲ ταῦθʼ ὁ Δημήτριος παρασκευασάμενος πόρια πρὸς τὴν παρακομιδὴν τῶν τε στρατιωτῶν καὶ τῆς ἀποσκευῆς ἀνήχθη παντὶ τῷ στόλῳ καὶ κομισθεὶς διὰ νήσων κατέπλευσεν εἰς Ἔφεσον. ἐκβιβάσας δὲ τὴν δύναμιν καὶ στρατοπεδεύσας πλησίον τῶν τειχῶν ἠνάγκασε τὴν πόλιν εἰς τὴν προϋπάρχουσαν ἀποκαταστῆναι τάξιν καὶ τὴν μὲν ὑπὸ Πρεπελάου τοῦ Λυσιμάχου στρατηγοῦ παρεισαχθεῖσαν φρουρὰν ἀφῆκεν ὑπόσπονδον, ἰδίαν δὲ φυλακὴν εἰς τὴν ἄκραν καταστήσας παρῆλθεν εἰς Ἑλλήσποντον. καὶ Λαμψακηνοὺς μὲν καὶ Παριανούς, ἔτι δὲ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν μεταβεβλημένων πόλεών τινας ἀνεκτήσατο, ἐπὶ δὲ τὸ στόμα τοῦ Πόντου παραγενόμενος πρὸς τῷ Καλχηδονίων ἱερῷ στρατοπεδείαν περιεβάλετο καὶ τοὺς φυλάξοντας τὸν τόπον ἀπέλιπε στρατιώτας πεζοὺς μὲν τρισχιλίους, ναῦς δὲ μακρὰς τριάκοντα· τὴν δʼ ἄλλην δύναμιν διελόμενος κατὰ πόλεις διέδωκεν εἰς χειμασίαν. περὶ δὲ τούτους τοὺς χρόνους καὶ Μιθριδάτης, ὑπήκοος ὢν Ἀντιγόνῳ και δόξας ἀφίστασθαι πρὸς τοὺς περὶ Κάσανδρον, ἀνῃρέθη περὶ Κίον τῆς Μυσίας, ἄρξας αὐτῆς καὶ Ἀρρίνης ἔτη τριάκοντα καὶ πέντε· τὴν δὲ δυναστείαν διαδεξάμενος Μιθριδάτης πολλοὺς προσεκτήσατο, τῆς δὲ Καππαδοκίας καὶ Παφλαγονίας ἦρξεν ἔτη τριάκοντα ἕξ.
While affairs in Thessaly were in this state, there came to Demetrius the messengers sent by Antigonus, accurately detailing the orders of his father and bidding him take his army across into Asia as swiftly as possible. Since he regarded obedience to his father's orders as obligatory, the king came to terms with Cassander, making the condition that the agreements should be valid only if they were acceptable to his father; for although he very well knew that his father would not accept them since he had definitely made up his mind to bring an end by force of arms the war which had set in, yet Demetrius wished to make his withdrawal from Greece appear respectable and not like a flight. Indeed, it was written among other conditions in the agreement that the Greek cities were to be free, not only those of Greece but also those of Asia. Then Demetrius, after preparing ships for the transportation of the soldiers and the equipment, set sail with his whole fleet and, going through the islands, put in at Ephesus. Disembarking his army and camping near the walls, he forced the city to return to its former status; then he dismissed on terms the garrison that had been introduced by Prepelaus, the general of Lysimachus, and after stationing his own garrison on the acropolis, he went on to the Hellespont. He also recovered Lampsacus and Parium, likewise some of the other cities that had changed sides; and when he arrived at the entrance of the Pontus, he constructed a camp beside the shrine of the Chalcedonians and left to guard the region three thousand foot-soldiers and thirty warships. Then he sent the rest of the army into winter quarters, dividing it among the cities. At about this time Mithridates, who was subject to Antigonus but appeared to be shifting his allegiance to Cassander, was slain at Cius in Mysia after having ruled that city and Myrlea for thirty-five years; and Mithridates, inheriting the kingdom, added many new subjects and was king of Cappadocia and Paphlagonia for thirty-six years.
§ 20.112
ἐν δὲ ταῖς αὐταῖς ἡμέραις Κάσανδρος μετὰ τὴν ἀπαλλαγὴν τὴν Δημητρίου τὰς μὲν κατὰ τὴν Θετταλίαν πόλεις ἀνεκτήσατο, Πλείσταρχον δὲ μετὰ δυνάμεως ἐξέπεμψεν εἰς τὴν Ἀσίαν βοηθήσοντα τοῖς περὶ Λυσίμαχον. οἱ δὲ συναποσταλέντες ἦσαν πεζοὶ μὲν μύριοι δισχίλιοι, ἱππεῖς δὲ πεντακόσιοι. ὁ δὲ Πλείσταρχος ἐπειδὴ παραγενόμενος ἐπὶ τὸ στόμα τοῦ Πόντου κατέλαβε τοὺς τόπους προκατεχομένους ὑπὸ τῶν πολεμίων, ἀπογνοὺς τὴν διάβασιν παρῆλθεν εἰς Ὀδησσόν, ἣ κεῖται μεταξὺ μὲν τῆς τε Ἀπολλωνίας καὶ Καλλαντίας, κατʼ ἀντικρὺ δὲ τῆς ἐν τῷ πέραν Ἡρακλείας, ἐχούσης τι μέρος τῆς Λυσιμάχου δυνάμεως. οὐκ ἔχων δʼ ἱκανὰ πόρια πρὸς τὴν τῶν στρατιωτῶν διάβασιν τριχῇ διεμέρισε τὴν δύναμιν. τὴν μὲν οὖν πρώτην ἀποστολὴν συνέβη διασωθῆναι πρὸς τὴν Ἡράκλειαν, τὴν δὲ δευτέραν ὑπὸ τῶν περὶ τὸ στόμα τοῦ Πόντου φυλακίδων νεῶν ἁλῶναι. κατὰ τὴν τρίτην δὲ αὐτοῦ συνδιαβαίνοντος τοῦ Πλειστάρχου χειμὼν ἐπεγενήθη τηλικοῦτος ὥστε τὰ πλεῖστα τῶν σκαφῶν καὶ τῶν σωμάτων διαφθαρῆναι· καὶ γὰρ ἡ κομίζουσα ναῦς ἑξήρης τὸν στρατηγὸν συνεκλύσθη καὶ τῶν ἐν αὐτῇ πλεόντων οὐκ ἐλαττόνων ἢ πεντακοσίων τρεῖς πρὸς τοῖς τριάκοντα μόνον διεσώθησαν. ἐν δὲ τούτοις ἦν καὶ ὁ Πλείσταρχος, ναυαγίου μὲν ἐπειλημμένος, εἰς δὲ τὴν γῆν ἡμιθανὴς ἐκβεβρασμένος. οὗτος μὲν οὖν ἀποκομισθεὶς εἰς Ἡράκλειαν καὶ προσαναλαβὼν ἐκ τῆς ἀτυχίας τὸ σῶμα πρὸς Λυσίμαχον εἰς τὴν χειμασίαν ἀνέζευξε, ἀποβεβληκὼς τὸ πλεῖον τῆς δυνάμεως.
In these same days Cassander, after the departure of Demetrius, took possession of the cities of Thessaly and sent Pleistarchus with an army into Asia to aid Lysimachus. Those sent with him were twelve thousand foot-soldiers and five hundred horsemen. But when Pleistarchus came to the entrance of the Pontus, he found that the region had already been taken over by the enemy and, abandoning the crossing, he turned aside to Odessus, which lies between Apollonia and Callantia, directly opposite to Heraclea on the opposite shore, where a part of the army of Lysimachus was quartered. Since he did not have ships enough for transporting his soldiers, he divided his army into three contingents. Now the first force sent out came safe to Heraclea, but the second was captured by the guardships at the entrance to the Pontus. When Pleistarchus himself set sail with the third group, so great a tempest rose that most of the vessels and the men on them were lost; and indeed the large warship that carried the general sank, and of the not less than five hundred men who sailed in her, only thirty-three were saved. Among these was Pleistarchus who, holding to a piece of wreckage, was cast ashore half dead. He was carried to Heraclea and after recovering from the misfortune went to Lysimachus at winter quarters, having lost the larger part of his army.
§ 20.113
ἐν δὲ ταῖς αὐταῖς ἡμέραις καὶ Πτολεμαῖος ὁ βασιλεὺς ἀναζεύξας ἐξ Αἰγύπτου μετὰ δυνάμεως ἀξιολόγου τὰς μὲν ἐν τῇ Κοίλῃ Συρίᾳ πόλεις ἁπάσας ὑποχειρίους ἐποιήσατο· Σιδῶνα δὲ πολιορκοῦντος αὐτοῦ τινες παρῆσαν ἀπαγγέλλοντες ψευδῶς ὅτι παρατάξεως γενομένης τοῖς βασιλεῦσιν οἱ μὲν περὶ Λυσίμαχον καὶ Σέλευκον ἡττηθέντες ἀποκεχωρήκασιν εἰς τὴν Ἡράκλειαν, Ἀντίγονος δὲ νενικηκὼς προσάγει μετὰ δυνάμεως ἐπὶ Συρίας. παραλογισθεὶς οὖν ὑπὸ τούτων καὶ πεισθεὶς ἀληθῆ τὴν προσαγγελίαν εἶναι, πρὸς μὲν τοὺς Σιδωνίους εἰς τέτταρας μῆνας ἀνοχὰς ἐποιήσατο, τὰς δὲ χειρωθείσας πόλεις φρουραῖς ἀσφαλισάμενος ἐπανῆλθε μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως εἰς Αἴγυπτον. ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις οἱ τῶν παρὰ Λυσιμάχῳ στρατιωτῶν αὐτομολήσαντες ἐκ τῆς χειμασίας παρʼ Ἀντίγονον Αὐταριάται μὲν δισχίλιοι, Λύκιοι δὲ καὶ Παμφύλιοι περὶ ὀκτακοσίους. τούτοις μὲν οὖν Ἀντίγονος φιλανθρώπως προσενεχθεὶς τούς τε μισθοὺς ἔδωκεν, οὓς ἔφασαν ὀφείλεσθαι παρὰ Λυσιμάχου, καὶ δωρεαῖς ἐτίμησε. καθʼ ὃν δὴ χρόνον ἦλθε καὶ Σέλευκος ἐκ τῶν ἄνω σατραπειῶν διαβεβηκὼς εἰς Καππαδοκίαν μετὰ πολλῆς δυνάμεως καὶ κατασκευάσας στεγνὰ τοῖς στρατιώταις παρεχείμαζεν. εἶχε δὲ πεζοὺς μὲν εἰς δισμυρίους, ἱππεῖς δὲ σὺν τοῖς ἱπποτοξόταις περὶ μυρίους δισχιλίους, ἐλέφαντας δὲ ὀγδοήκοντα πρὸς τοῖς τετρακοσίοις, ἅρματα δὲ δρεπανηφόρα πλείω τῶν ἑκατόν. αἱ μὲν οὖν τῶν βασιλέων δυνάμεις τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον ἠθροίζοντο, κεκρικότων ἁπάντων κατὰ τὴν ἐπιοῦσαν θερίαν διὰ τῶν ὅπλων κρῖναι τὸν πόλεμον. ἡμεῖς δέ, καθάπερ ἐν ἀρχῇ προεθέμεθα, τὸν γενόμενον τούτοις τοῖς βασιλεῦσι πρὸς ἀλλήλους πόλεμον περὶ τῶν ὅλων πράξεων ἀρχὴν ποιησόμεθα τῆς ἑπομένης βίβλου.
During these same days King Ptolemy, setting out from Egypt with an army of considerable size, subjugated all the cities of Coele-Syria; but while he was besieging Sidon certain men came to him with the false report that a battle had taken place between the kings in which Lysimachus and Seleucus had been defeated, that they had withdrawn to Heraclea, and that Antigonus, after winning the victory, was advancing with an army against Syria. Consequently Ptolemy, deceived by them and believing that their report was true, made a four-month's truce with the Sidonians, secured with garrisons the cities that he had captured, and went back to Egypt with his army. At the same time as this was taking place, some of the soldiers of Lysimachus, having left their winter quarters as deserters, went over to Antigonus, namely two thousand Autariatae and about eight hundred Lycians and Pamphylians. Now Antigonus, receiving these men in kindly fashion, not only gave them the pay which they said was due them from Lysimachus but also honoured them with gifts. At this time Seleucus also arrived, having crossed over from the upper satrapies into Cappadocia with a large army, and after making huts for the soldiers he went into winter quarters near by. He had footsoldiers to the number of about twenty thousand, about twelve thousand horsemen including his mounted archers, four hundred and eighty elephants, and more than a hundred scythed chariots. In this way, then, the forces of the kings were being gathered together, since they all had determined to decide the war by force of arms during the coming summer. But, as we proposed in the beginning, we shall make the war that these kings waged against each other for supreme rule the beginning of the following book.
© 2026 Wu Ching-Yuan 吴靖远 · magalia.wiki (籬廬). Generated full-text transcript 2026-06-14 from diodorus-bibliotheke.html. Greek text & public-domain translations from their stated editions; metadata CC BY 4.0.