12.10. The Messenians, when they saw them, were greatly disturbed, thinking, rightly enough, that they were from the Lacedaemonians. Nevertheless Aristodemus encouraged them, saying what the occasion demanded, and setting up the wooden tripods, which had already been made, round the altar of the god of Ithome. It happened also that Ophioneus, the seer who had been blind from birth, received his sight in the most remarkable way. He was seized with a violent pain in the head, and thereupon received his sight.
12.10. Μεσσηνίους δέ, ὡς εἶδον, ἐτάραξε μὲν μεγάλως, καὶ εἴκαζον—ὥσπερ ἦν—παρὰ Λακεδαιμονίων εἶναι· παρεμυθεῖτο δὲ ὅμως αὐτοὺς ὁ Ἀριστόδημος λέγων ἄλλα τε ἃ ἐν τοῖς παροῦσιν εἰκὸς ἦν καὶ τοὺς ξυλίνους τρίποδας—ἐπεποίηντο γὰρ ἤδη —περὶ τοῦ Ἰθωμάτα τὸν βωμὸν ἔστησε. συνέβη δὲ καὶ Ὀφιονέα τὸν μάντιν τοῦτον, τὸν ἐκ γενετῆς τυφλόν, ἀναβλέψαι παραλόγως δὴ μάλιστα ἀνθρώπων· ἐπέλαβε γὰρ τῆς κεφαλῆς ἄλγημα αὐτὸν ἰσχυρόν, καὶ ἀνέβλεψεν ἀπʼ αὐτοῦ.
13.1. Next, as fate was already inclining towards the conquest of the Messenians, the god revealed to them the future. For the armed statue of Artemis, which was all of bronze, let its shield fall. And as Aristodemus was about to sacrifice the victims to Zeus of Ithome, the rams of their own accord leapt towards the altar, and dashing their horns violently against it were killed by the force of the blow. A third portent befell them. The dogs assembled together and howled every night, and at last fled together to the camp of the Lacedaemonians.
13.1. τὰ δὲ ἐντεῦθεν—ἔρρεπε γὰρ ἤδη τὸ χρεὼν ἐς ἅλωσιν τῶν Μεσσηνίων—προεσήμαινεν αὐτοῖς τὰ μέλλοντα ὁ θεός. τό τε γὰρ τῆς Ἀρτέμιδος ἄγαλμα, ὂν χαλκοῦν καὶ αὐτὸ καὶ τὰ ὅπλα, παρῆκε τὴν ἀσπίδα· καὶ Ἀριστοδήμου τῷ Διὶ τῷ Ἰθωμάτᾳ θύειν μέλλοντος τὰ ἱερεῖα, οἱ κριοὶ ἐπὶ τὸν βωμὸν αὐτόματοι καὶ βίᾳ τὰ κέρατα ἐνράξαντες ἀποθνήσκουσιν ὑπὸ τῆς πληγῆς. τρίτον δὲ ἄλλο συνέβη σφίσιν· οἱ κύνες συνιόντες ἐς τὸ αὐτὸ ἀνὰ πᾶσαν νύκτα ὠρύοντο, τέλος δὲ καὶ ἀπεχώρησαν ἀθρόοι πρὸς τὸ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων στρατόπεδον.
13.2. Aristodemus was alarmed by this and by the following dream which came to him. He thought that he was about to go forth armed to battle and the victims' entrails were lying before him on a table, when his daughter appeared, wearing a black robe and showing her breast and belly cut open; when she appeared she flung down what was on the table, stripped him of his arms, and instead set a golden crown on his head and put a white robe about him.
13.2. ταῦτά τε δὴ τὸν Ἀριστόδημον ἐτάρασσε καὶ ὀνείρατος ὄψις ἐπιγενομένη τοιάδε. ἔδοξεν ἐξιέναι οἱ μέλλοντι ἐς μάχην καὶ ὡπλισμένῳ τῶν ἱερείων τὰ σπλάγχνα ἐπὶ τραπέζῃ προκεῖσθαι, τὴν δέ οἱ θυγατέρα ἐπιφανῆναι μέλαιναν ἐσθῆτα ἔχουσαν καὶ φαίνουσαν τό τε στέρνον καὶ τὴν γαστέρα ἀνατετμημένα, ἀναφανεῖσαν δὲ ἀπορρῖψαι μὲν τὰ ἀπὸ τῆς τραπέζης, ἀφελέσθαι δὲ αὐτοῦ τὰ ὅπλα, ἀντὶ τούτων δὲ στέφανον ἐπιθεῖναι χρυσοῦν καὶ ἱμάτιον ἐπιβαλεῖν λευκόν.
13.3. Aristodemus, who was already in despair, thought the dream foretold the end of life for him, because the Messenians used to carry out their chiefs for burial wearing a crown and dressed in white garments. Then he received news that Ophioneus the seer could no longer see but had suddenly become blind, as he was at first. Then they understood the oracle, that by the two starting forth from the ambush and again meeting their doom the Pythia meant the eyes of Ophioneus.
13.3. ἔχοντος δὲ Ἀριστοδήμου τά τε ἄλλα ἀθύμως καὶ τὸν ὄνειρον ἡγουμένου προλέγειν οἱ τοῦ βίου τελευτήν, ὅτι οἱ Μεσσήνιοι τῶν ἐπιφανῶν τὰς ἐκφορὰς ἐποιοῦντο ἐστεφανωμένων καὶ ἱμάτια ἐπιβεβλημένων λευκά, ἀπαγγέλλει τις Ὀφιονέα τὸν μάντιν οὐχ ὁρᾶν ἔτι ἀλλʼ ἐξαίφνης γενέσθαι τυφλόν, ὥσπερ γε καὶ ἦν τὸ ἐξ ἀρχῆς. συνιᾶσι δὴ καὶ τοῦ χρησμοῦ τότε, ὡς τοὺς ἀναδύντας δύο ἐκ τοῦ λόχου καὶ ἐς τὸ χρεὼν αὖθις ἐλθόντας τοῦ Ὀφιονέως τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς εἶπεν ἡ Πυθία.
13.4. Then Aristodemus, reckoning up his private sorrows, that to no purpose he had become the slayer of his daughter, and seeing that no hope of safety remained for his country, slew himself upon the tomb of his child. He had done all that human calculation could do to save the Messenians, but fortune brought to naught both his achievements and his plans. He had reigned six years and a few months when he died.
13.4. ἐνταῦθα Ἀριστόδημος τά τε οἰκεῖα ἀναλογιζόμενος, ὡς οὐδὲν ὠφέλιμον γένοιτο φονεὺς θυγατρός, καὶ τῇ πατρίδι οὐχ ὁρῶν ἔτι ὑποῦσαν σωτηρίας ἐλπίδα, ἐπικατέσφαξεν ἑαυτὸν τῆς παιδὸς τῷ τάφῳ, τὰ μὲν ἐς ἀνθρώπου λογισμὸν ἥκοντα Μεσσηνίους σώσας, τῆς τύχης δὲ ἐς τὸ μηδὲν ἀγαγούσης τά τε ἔργα αὐτοῦ καὶ τὰ βουλεύματα. ἀπέθανε δὲ βασιλεύσας ἔτη τε ἓξ καὶ ἐκ τοῦ ἑβδόμου μῆνας ἐπιλαβὼν ⟨οὐ⟩ πολλούς.
13.5. The Messenians were plunged into despair, and were even ready to send to the Lacedaemonians to ask mercy, so demoralized were they by the death of Aristodemus. Their pride, however, prevented them from doing this. But they met in the assembly and chose not a king, but Damis as general with absolute power. He selected Cleonnis and Phyleus as colleagues, and even with their present resources made ready to join battle. For he was forced to this by the blockade, and above all by famine and by the consequent terror that they would be destroyed by want.
13.5. τοῖς δὲ Μεσσηνίοις ἀπεγνωκέναι τὰ πράγματα παρίστατο, ὥστε καὶ ὥρμησαν ἱκεσίαν ἐς τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους ἀποστέλλειν· οὕτω σφόδρα κατέπληξεν αὐτοὺς ἡ τοῦ Ἀριστοδήμου τελευτή. καὶ τοῦτο μὲν ὁ θυμὸς ἐπέσχεν αὐτοὺς μὴ ποιῆσαι· συλλεγέντες δὲ ἐς ἐκκλησίαν βασιλέα μὲν οὐδένα, Δᾶμιν δὲ στρατηγὸν αὐτοκράτορα εἵλοντο. ὁ δὲ Κλέοννίν τε αὑτῷ καὶ Φυλέα ἑλόμενος συνάρχοντας παρεσκευάζετο ὡς καὶ ἐκ τῶν παρόντων συνάψων [ἐς] μάχην· ἐπηνάγκαζε γὰρ ἥ τε πολιορκία καὶ οὐχ ἥκιστα ὁ λιμὸς καὶ ἀπʼ αὐτοῦ δέος, μὴ καὶ προδιαφθαρῶσιν ὑπὸ ἐνδείας.
13.6. Even then the Messenians were not inferior in courage and brave deeds, but all their generals were killed and their most notable men. After this they held out for some five months, but as the year was coming to an end deserted Ithome, the war having lasted twenty years in all, as is stated in the poems of Tyrtaeus:But in the twentieth year they left their rich tilled lands, and fled from out the lofty mountains of Ithome.
13.6. ἀρετῇ μὲν δὴ καὶ τολμήμασιν οὐδὲ τότε ἀπεδέησε τὰ τῶν Μεσσηνίων· ἀπέθανον δὲ οἵ τε στρατηγοί σφισιν ἅπαντες καὶ τῶν ἄλλων οἱ λόγου μάλιστα ἄξιοι. τὸ δὲ ἀπὸ τούτου μῆνας μέν που πέντε μάλιστα ἀντέσχον, περὶ δὲ τὸν ἐνιαυτὸν λήγοντα ἐξέλιπον τὴν Ἰθώμην, πολεμήσαντες ἔτη τὰ πάντα εἴκοσι, καθὰ καὶ Τυρταίῳ πεποιημένα ἐστίν·εἰκοστῷ δʼ οἱ μὲν κατὰ πίονα ἔργα λιπόντεςφεῦγον Ἰθωμαίων ἐκ μεγάλων ὀρέων.
13.7. This war came to an end in the first year of the fourteenth Olympiad, when Dasmon of Corinth won the short footrace. At Athens the Medontidae were still holding the archonship as a ten years' office, Hippomenes having completed his fourth year.
13.7. ὁ δὲ πόλεμος ἔλαβεν οὗτος τέλος ἔτει πρώτῳ τῆς τετάρτης καὶ δεκάτης Ὀλυμπιάδος, ἣν Δάσμων Κορίνθιος ἐνίκα στάδιον, Ἀθήνῃσι Μεδοντιδῶν τὴν ἀρχὴν ἔτι ἐχόντων τὴν δεκέτιν καὶ ἔτους Ἱππομένει τετάρτου τῆς ἀρχῆς ἠνυσμένου.
14.1. All the Messenians who had ties with Sicyon and Argos and among any of the Arcadians retired to these states, but those who belonged to the family of the Priests and performed the mysteries of the Great Goddesses, to Eleusis. The majority of the common people were scattered in their native towns, as before.
14.1. Μεσσηνίων δὲ ὅσοις μὲν ἔτυχον ἐν Σικυῶνι οὖσαι καὶ ἐν Ἄργει προξενίαι καὶ παρὰ τῶν Ἀρκάδων τισίν, οὗτοι μὲν ἐς ταύτας τὰς πόλεις ἀπεχώρησαν, ἐς Ἐλευσῖνα δὲ οἱ τοῦ γένους τῶν ἱερέων καὶ θεαῖς ταῖς Μεγάλαις τελοῦντες τὰ ὄργια· ὁ δὲ ὄχλος ὁ πολὺς κατὰ τὰς πατρίδας ἕκαστοι τὰς ἀρχαίας ἐσκεδάσθησαν.
14.2. The Lacedaemonians first razed Ithome to the ground, then attacked and captured the remaining towns. Of the spoils they dedicated bronze tripods to the god of Amyclae. A statue of Aphrodite stands under the first tripod, of Artemis under the second, of Kore or Demeter under the third.
14.2. Λακεδαιμόνιοι δὲ πρῶτα μὲν τὴν Ἰθώμην καθεῖλον ἐς ἔδαφος, ἔπειτα καὶ τὰς λοιπὰς πόλεις ἐπιόντες ᾕρουν. ἀνέθεσαν δὲ καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν λαφύρων τῷ Ἀμυκλαίῳ τρίποδας χαλκοῦς· Ἀφροδίτης ἄγαλμά ἐστιν ἑστηκὸς ὑπὸ τῷ τρίποδι τῷ πρώτῳ, Ἀρτέμιδος δὲ ὑπὸ τῷ δευτέρῳ, Κόρης δὲ ἢ Δήμητρος ὑπὸ τῷ τρίτῳ.
14.3. Dedicating these offerings at Amyclae, they gave to the people of Asine, who had been driven out by the Argives, that part of Messenia on the coast which they still occupy; to the descendants of Androcles (he had a daughter, who with her children had fled at his death and come to Sparta) they assigned the part called Hyamia.
14.3. ταῦτα μὲν δὴ ἀνέθεσαν ἐνταῦθα, τῆς δὲ γῆς τῆς Μεσσηνίας Ἀσιναίοις μὲν ἀνεστηκόσιν ὑπὸ Ἀργείων διδόασιν ἐπὶ θαλάσσῃ ταύτην ἣν καὶ νῦν ἔτι οἱ Ἀσιναῖοι νέμονται· τοῖς δὲ Ἀνδροκλέους ἀπογόνοις—ἦν γὰρ δὴ καὶ θυγάτηρ Ἀνδροκλεῖ καὶ παῖδες τῆς θυγατρός, φεύγοντες δὲ ὑπὸ τὴν τελευτὴν τοῦ Ἀνδροκλέους ᾤχοντο ἐς Σπάρτην— τούτοις τὴν Ὑαμίαν καλουμένην ἀπονέμουσι.
14.4. The Messenians themselves were treated in this way: First they exacted an oath that they would never rebel or attempt any kind of revolution. Secondly, though no fixed tribute was imposed on them, they used to bring the half of all the produce of their fields to Sparta. It was also ordained that for the funerals of the kings and other magistrates men should come from Messene with their wives in black garments, and a penalty was laid on those who disobeyed.
14.4. τὰ δὲ ἐς αὐτοὺς Μεσσηνίους παρὰ Λακεδαιμονίων ἔσχεν οὕτως. πρῶτον μὲν αὐτοῖς ἐπάγουσιν ὅρκον μήτε ἀποστῆναί ποτε ἀπʼ αὐτῶν μήτε ἄλλο ἐργάσασθαι νεώτερον μηδέν· δεύτερα δὲ φόρον μὲν οὐδένα ἐπέταξαν εἰρημένον, οἳ δὲ τῶν γεωργουμένων τροφῶν σφισιν ἀπέφερον ἐς Σπάρτην πάντων τὰ ἡμίσεα. προείρητο δὲ καὶ ἐπὶ τὰς ἐκφορὰς τῶν βασιλέων καὶ ἄλλων τῶν ἐν τέλει καὶ ἄνδρας ἐκ τῆς Μεσσηνίας καὶ τὰς γυναῖκας ἐν ἐσθῆτι ἥκειν μελαίνῃ· καὶ τοῖς παραβᾶσιν ἐπέκειτο ποινή.
14.5. As to the wanton punishments which they inflicted on the Messenians, this is what is said in Tyrtaeus' poems:Like asses worn by their great burdens, bringing of dire necessity to their masters the half of all the fruits the corn-land bears.That they were compelled to share their mourning, he shows by the following:Wailing for their masters, they and their wives alike, whensoever the baneful doom of death came upon any.
14.5. ⟨ἐς⟩ τιμωρίας δὲ ἃς ὕβριζον ἐς τοὺς Μεσσηνίους, Τυρταίῳ πεποιημένα ἐστὶνὥσπερ ὄνοι μεγάλοις ἄχθεσι τειρόμενοι,δεσποσύνοισι φέροντες ἀναγκαίης ὑπὸ λυγρῆςἥμισυ πᾶν ὅσσων καρπὸν ἄρουρα φέρει.ὅτι δὲ καὶ συμπενθεῖν ἔκειτο αὐτοῖς ἀνάγκη, δεδήλωκεν ἐν τῷδε·δεσπότας οἰμώζοντες, ὁμῶς ἄλοχοί τε καὶ αὐτοί,εὖτέ τινʼ οὐλομένη μοῖρα κίχοι θανάτου.
14.6. In these straits the Messenians, foreseeing no kindness from the Lacedaemonians, and thinking death in battle or a complete migration from Peloponnese preferable to their present lot, resolved at all costs to revolt. They were incited to this mainly by the younger men, who were still without experience of war but were of high spirit and preferred death in a free country, even though slavery might bring happiness in all else.
14.6. τοιούτων οὖν οἱ Μεσσήνιοι κατειληφότων καὶ ἅμα ἐς τὰ μέλλοντα οὐδὲν ἐνορῶντες παρὰ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων φιλάνθρωπον, πρό τε δὴ τῶν παρόντων τεθνάναι μαχομένους ἢ καὶ τὸ παράπαν ἐκ Πελοποννήσου φεύγοντας οἴχεσθαι νομίζοντες αἱρετώτερα, ἀφίστασθαι πάντως ἐγίνωσκον. ἐνῆγον δὲ οὐχ ἥκιστα ἐς τοῦτο καὶ οἱ νεώτεροι, πολέμου μὲν ἔτι ἀπείρως ἔχοντες, λαμπροὶ δὲ ὄντες τὰ φρονήματα καὶ ἀποθανεῖν προτιμῶντες ἐν ἐλευθέρᾳ τῇ πατρίδι, εἰ καὶ τὰ ἄλλα εὐδαιμόνως δουλεύειν παρείη.
14.7. Of the young men who had grown up in Messenia the best and most numerous were round Andania, and among them was Aristomenes, who to this day is worshipped as a hero among the Messenians. They think that even the circumstances of his birth were notable, for they assert that a spirit or a god united with his mother, Nicoteleia, in the form of a serpent. I know that the Macedonians tell a similar story about Olympias, and the Sicyonians about Aristodama, but there is this difference:
14.7. ἐπετράφη δὲ νεότης καὶ ἀλλαχοῦ τῆς Μεσσηνίας, οἱ δὲ ἄριστοι καὶ ἀριθμὸν πλεῖστοι περὶ τὴν Ἀνδανίαν, ἐν δὲ αὐτοῖς καὶ Ἀριστομένης, ὃς καὶ νῦν ἔτι ὡς ἥρως ἔχει παρὰ Μεσσηνίοις τιμάς. καί οἱ καὶ τὰ τῆς γενέσεως ἐπιφανέστερα ὑπάρξαι νομίζουσι· Νικοτελείᾳ γὰρ τῇ μητρὶ αὐτοῦ δαίμονα ἢ θεὸν δράκοντι εἰκασμένον συγγενέσθαι λέγουσι. τοιαῦτα δὲ καὶ Μακεδόνας ἐπὶ Ὀλυμπιάδι καὶ ἐπὶ Ἀριστοδάμᾳ Σικυωνίους οἶδα εἰρηκότας, διάφορα δὲ τοσόνδε ἦν·
14.8. The Messenians do not make Aristomenes the son of Heracles or of Zeus, as the Macedonians do with Alexander and Ammon, and the Sicyonians with Aratus and Asclepius. Most of the Greeks say that Pyrrhus was the father of Aristomenes, but I myself know that in their libations the Messenians call him Aristomenes son of Nicomedes. He then, being in the full vigor of youth and courage, with others of the nobles incited them to revolt. This was not done openly at first, but they sent secretly to Argos and to the Arcadians, to ask if they were ready to help unhesitatingly and no less energetically than in the former war.
14.8. Μεσσήνιοι γὰρ οὐκ ἐσποιοῦσιν Ἀριστομένην Ἡρακλεῖ παῖδα ἢ Διί, ὥσπερ Ἀλέξανδρον Ἄμμωνι οἱ Μακεδόνες καὶ Ἄρατον Ἀσκληπιῷ Σικυώνιοι· Ἀριστομένει δὲ πατέρα Ἑλλήνων μὲν οἱ πολλοὶ Πύρρον φασὶν εἶναι, Μεσσηνίους δὲ οἶδα αὐτὸς ἐπὶ ταῖς σπονδαῖς Ἀριστομένην Νικομήδους καλοῦντας. οὗτος μὲν οὖν ἀκμάζων ἡλικίᾳ καὶ τόλμῃ καὶ ἄλλοι τῶν ἐν τέλει παρώξυνον ἐπὶ τὴν ἀπόστασιν· ἐπράσσετο δὲ ταῦτα οὐκ εὐθὺς ἐκ τοῦ φανεροῦ, κρύφα δὲ ἐς Ἄργος καὶ παρὰ τοὺς Ἀρκάδας ἀπέστελλον, εἴ σφισιν ἀπροφασίστως καὶ μηδὲν ἐνδεεστέρως ἢ ἐπὶ τοῦ πολέμου τοῦ προτέρου ἀμῦναι θελήσουσιν.
15.1. When all their preparations were made for the war, the readiness of their allies exceeding expectation (for now the hatred which the Argives and Arcadians felt for the Lacedaemonians had blazed up openly), they revolted in the thirty-ninth year after the capture of Ithome, and in the fourth year of the twenty-third Olympiad, when Icarus of Hyreresia won the short footrace. At Athens the archonship was now of annual tenure, and Tlesias held office.
15.1. ὡς δὲ τά τε ἄλλα ἐς τὸν πόλεμον ἕτοιμα ἦν αὐτοῖς καὶ τὰ ἀπὸ τῶν συμμάχων προθυμότερα ἢ προσεδόκων—καὶ γὰρ Ἀργείοις ἤδη καὶ Ἀρκάσι λαμπρῶς τὸ ἐς τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους ἔχθος ἐξῆπτο—οὕτως ἀπέστησαν ἔτει τριακοστῷ μὲν καὶ ἐνάτῳ μετὰ Ἰθώμης ἅλωσιν, τετάρτῳ δὲ τῆς τρίτης Ὀλυμπιάδος καὶ εἰκοστῆς, ἣν Ἴκαρος Ὑπερησιεὺς ἐνίκα στάδιον· Ἀθήνῃσι δὲ οἱ κατʼ ἐνιαυτὸν ἦσαν ἤδη τότε ἄρχοντες, καὶ Ἀθηναίοις Τλησίας ἦρχεν.
15.2. Tyrtaeus has not recorded the names of the kings then reigning in Lacedaemon, but Rhianos stated in his epic that Leotychides was king at the time of this war. I cannot agree with him at all on this point. Though Tyrtaeus makes no statement, he may be regarded as having done so by the following; there are lines of his which refer to the first war:Around it they fought unceasingly for nineteen years, ever maintaining a stout heart, the warrior fathers of our fathers.
15.2. ἐν δὲ Λακεδαίμονι οἵ τινες τηνικαῦτα ἔτυχον βασιλεύοντες, Τυρταῖος μὲν τὰ ὀνόματα οὐκ ἔγραψε, Ῥιανὸς δʼ ἐποίησεν ἐν τοῖς ἔπεσι Λεωτυχίδην βασιλέα ἐπὶ τοῦδε εἶναι τοῦ πολέμου. Ῥιανῷ μὲν οὖν ἔγωγε οὐδαμῶς κατά γε τοῦτο συνθήσομαι· Τυρταῖον δὲ καὶ οὐ λέγοντα ὅμως εἰρηκέναι τις ἂν ἐν τῷδε ἡγοῖτο. ἐλεγεῖα γὰρ ἐς τὸν πρότερόν ἐστιν αὐτῷ πόλεμον·ἀμφʼ αὐτῇ δʼ ἐμάχοντʼ ἐννέα καὶ δέκʼ ἔτηνωλεμέως, αἰεὶ ταλασίφρονα θυμὸν ἔχοντες,αἰχμηταὶ πατέρων ἡμετέρων πατέρες.
15.3. It is obvious then that the Messenians went to war now in the second generation after the first war, and the sequence of time shows that the kings of Sparta at that time were Anaxander the son of Eurycrates, son of Polydorus, and of the other house Anaxidamus the son of Zeuxidamus, son of Archidamus, son of Theopompus. I go as far as the third in descent from Theopompus, because Archidamus the son of Theopompus died before his father, and the kingdom of Theopompus passed to his grandson, Zeuxidamus. But Leotychides clearly succeeded Demaratus the son of Ariston, Ariston being sixth in descent from Theopompus.
15.3. δῆλα οὖν ἐστιν ὡς ὕστερον τρίτῃ γενεᾷ τὸν πόλεμον οἱ Μεσσήνιοι τόνδε ἐπολέμησαν, ἀποδείκνυσί τε τοῦ χρόνου τὸ συνεχὲς βασιλεύοντας τηνικαῦτα ἐν Σπάρτῃ Ἀνάξανδρον Εὐρυκράτους τοῦ Πολυδώρου, τῆς δὲ οἰκίας τῆς ἑτέρας Ἀναξίδαμον Ζευξιδάμου τοῦ Ἀρχιδάμου τοῦ Θεοπόμπου. κατέβην δὲ ἐς ἀπόγονον Θεοπόμπου τέταρτον, ὅτι Ἀρχίδαμος ὁ Θεοπόμπου προαπέθανε τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ ἐς Ζευξίδαμον υἱιδοῦν ὄντα ἡ Θεοπόμπου περιῆλθεν ἀρχή. Λεωτυχίδης δὲ μετὰ Δημάρατον βασιλεύσας φαίνεται τὸν Ἀρίστωνος· Θεοπόμπου δὲ Ἀρίστων ἀπόγονος ἕβδομος.
15.4. In the first year after the revolt the Messenians engaged the Lacedaemonians at a place called Derae in Messenia, both sides being without their allies. Neither side won a clear victory, but Aristomenes is said to have achieved more than it seemed that one man could, so that, as he was of the race of the Aepytidae, they were for making him king after the battle. As he declined, they appointed him general with absolute power.
15.4. τότε δὲ οἱ Μεσσήνιοι Λακεδαιμονίοις συμβάλλουσιν ἐν Δέραις καλουμέναις τῆς σφετέρας, ἔτει πρώτῳ μετὰ τὴν ἀπόστασιν· ἀπῆσαν δὲ ἀμφοτέροις οἱ σύμμαχοι. καὶ νίκη μὲν ἐγένετο οὐδετέρων σαφής, Ἀριστομένην δὲ ἔργα φασὶν ἀποδείξασθαι πλέον τι ἢ ἄνδρα ἕνα εἰκὸς ἦν, ὥστε καὶ βασιλέα μετὰ τὴν μάχην ᾑροῦντο αὐτόν, ἦν γὰρ καὶ γένους τῶν Αἰπυτιδῶν·
15.5. It was the view of Aristomenes that any man would be ready to die in battle if he had first done deeds worthy of record, but that it was his own especial task at the very beginning of the war to prove that he had struck terror into the Lacedaemonians and that he would be more terrible to them for the future. With this purpose he came by night to Lacedaemon and fixed on the temple of Athena of the Brazen House a shield inscribed “The Gift of Aristomenes to the Goddess, taken from Spartans.”
15.5. παραιτουμένου τε, οὕτω στρατηγὸν αὐτοκράτορα εἵλοντο. Ἀριστομένει δὲ παρίστατο μηδʼ ἂν ἄλλον ἀπαξιῶσαι παθεῖν τι ἐν πολέμῳ δράσαντα ἄξια μνήμης· αὑτῷ μέντοι καὶ πρὸ παντὸς ἐνόμιζεν εἶναι, ἔτι ἀρχομένου τοῦ πολέμου Λακεδαιμονίους καταπλήξαντα φαίνεσθαι καὶ ἐς τὰ μέλλοντά σφισι φοβερώτερον. ἅτε δὲ οὕτως ἔχων, ἀφικόμενος νύκτωρ ἐς τὴν Λακεδαίμονα ἀνατίθησιν ἀσπίδα πρὸς τὸν τῆς Χαλκιοίκου ναόν· ἐπεγέγραπτο δὲ Ἀριστομένην ἀπὸ Σπαρτιατῶν διδόναι τῇ θεῷ.
15.6. The Spartans received an oracle from Delphi that they should procure the Athenian as counsellor. So they sent messengers to Athens to announce the oracle, asking for a man to advise what they must do. The Athenians, who were not anxious either that the Lacedaemonians should add to their possessions the best part of Peloponnese without great dangers, or that they themselves should disobey the god, made their plans accordingly. There was a man Tyrtaeus, a teacher of letters, who was considered of poor intellect and was lame in one foot. Him they sent to Sparta. On his arrival he recited his poems in elegiacs and anapaests to the nobles in private and to all whom he could collect.
15.6. ἐγένετο δὲ καὶ Λακεδαιμονίοις μάντευμα ἐκ Δελφῶν τὸν Ἀθηναῖον ἐπάγεσθαι σύμβουλον. ἀποστέλλουσιν οὖν παρὰ τοὺς Ἀθηναίους τόν τε χρησμὸν ἀπαγγελοῦντας καὶ ἄνδρα αἰτοῦντας παραινέσοντα ἃ χρή σφισιν. Ἀθηναῖοι δὲ οὐδέτερα θέλοντες, οὔτε Λακεδαιμονίους ἄνευ μεγάλων κινδύνων προσλαβεῖν μοῖραν τῶν ἐν Πελοποννήσῳ τὴν ἀρίστην οὔτε αὐτοὶ παρακοῦσαι τοῦ θεοῦ, πρὸς ταῦτα ἐξευρίσκουσι· καὶ ἦν γὰρ Τυρταῖος διδάσκαλος γραμμάτων νοῦν τε ἥκιστα ἔχειν δοκῶν καὶ τὸν ἕτερον τῶν ποδῶν χωλός, τοῦτον ἀποστέλλουσιν ἐς Σπάρτην. ὁ δὲ ἀφικόμενος ἰδίᾳ τε τοῖς ἐν τέλει καὶ συνάγων ὁπόσους τύχοι καὶ τὰ ἐλεγεῖα καὶ τὰ ἔπη σφίσι τὰ ἀνάπαιστα ᾖδεν.
15.7. A year after the fight at Derae, both sides being joined by their allies, they prepared to join battle at the Boar's Tomb, as it is called. The Messenians had the Eleians and Arcadians and also succors from Argos and from Sicyon. They were joined by all the Messenians who had previously been in voluntary exile, together with those from Eleusis, whose hereditary task it was to perform the rites of the Great Goddesses, and the descendants of Androcles. These indeed were their most zealous supporters.
15.7. ἐνιαυτῷ δὲ ὕστερον τοῦ περὶ τὰς Δέρας ἀγῶνος, ἡκόντων ἀμφοτέροις καὶ τῶν συμμάχων, παρεσκευάζοντο ὡς μάχην συνάψοντες ἐπὶ τῷ καλουμένῳ Κάπρου σήματι. Μεσσηνίοις μὲν οὖν Ἠλεῖοι καὶ Ἀρκάδες, ἔτι δὲ ἐξ Ἄργους ἀφίκετο καὶ Σικυῶνος βοήθεια. παρῆσαν δὲ καὶ ὅσοι πρότερον τῶν Μεσσηνίων ἔφευγον ἑκουσίως, ἐξ Ἐλευσῖνός τε, οἷς πάτριον δρᾶν τὰ ὄργια τῶν Μεγάλων θεῶν, καὶ οἱ Ἀνδροκλέους ἀπόγονοι· καὶ γὰρ οἱ συσπεύσαντες μάλιστά σφισιν ἦσαν οὗτοι.
15.8. The Corinthians came to fight on the side of the Lacedaemonians, and some of the Lepreans owing to their hatred of the Eleians. But the people of Asine were bound by oaths to both sides. This spot, the Boar's Tomb, lies in Stenyclerus of Messenia, and there, as is said, Heracles exchanged oaths with the sons of Neleus over the pieces of a boar.
15.8. Λακεδαιμονίοις δὲ ἦλθον Κορίνθιοι συμμαχήσοντες καὶ Λεπρεατῶν τινες κατὰ ἔχθος τὸ Ἠλείων· Ἀσιναίοις δὲ ὅρκοι πρὸς ἀμφοτέρους ἦσαν. τὸ δὲ χωρίον τοῦτο, Κάπρου σῆμα, ἔστι μὲν ἐν Στενυκλήρῳ τῆς Μεσσηνίας, Ἡρακλέα δὲ αὐτόθι ὅρκον ἐπὶ τομίων κάπρου τοῖς Νηλέως παισὶ δοῦναι καὶ λαβεῖν παρὰ ἐκείνων λέγουσιν.
16.1. Sacrifice was offered by the seers on both sides before the battle; on the Lacedaemonian side by Hecas, descendant and namesake of the Hecas who had come with the sons of Aristodemus to Sparta, on the Messenian side by Theoclus, who was descended from Eumantis, an Eleian of the house of the Iamidae, whom Cresphontes had brought to Messene. Then in the presence of the seers both sides were spurred by greater ardor for the fight.
16.1. ὡς δὲ ἀμφοτέροις προεθύσαντο οἱ μάντεις, Λακεδαιμονίοις μὲν Ἕκας ἀπόγονός τε καὶ ὁμώνυμος Ἕκα τοῦ σὺν τοῖς Ἀριστοδήμου παισὶν ἐλθόντος ἐς Σπάρτην, τοῖς δὲ Μεσσηνίοις Θέοκλος—ἐγεγόνει δὲ ὁ Θέοκλος οὗτος ἀπὸ Εὐμάντιδος, Εὔμαντιν δὲ ὄντα Ἠλεῖον τῶν Ἰαμιδῶν Κρεσφόντης ἐπηγάγετο ἐς Μεσσήνην—τότε δὲ παρόντων καὶ τῶν μάντεων σὺν φρονήματι ἀμφότεροι μᾶλλον ἠπείγοντο ἐς τὴν μάχην.
16.2. All showed the zeal that befitted their age and strength, but Anaxander, the Lacedaemonian king, and his Spartan guard above all. On the Messenian side the descendants of Androcles, Phintas and Androcles, and their company tried to acquit themselves like brave men. Tyrtaeus and the chief priests of the Great Goddesses took no part in the action, but urged on the hindmost on their own sides.
16.2. καὶ ἦν μὲν καὶ τὰ τῶν ἄλλων πρόθυμα, ὡς ἡλικίας ἕκαστος εἶχεν ἢ ῥώμης, μάλιστα δὲ Ἀνάξανδρός τε ὁ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων βασιλεὺς καὶ οἱ περὶ αὐτὸν τῶν Σπαρτιατῶν· παρὰ Μεσσηνίων δὲ οἱ Ἀνδροκλέους ἀπόγονοι Φίντας καὶ Ἀνδροκλῆς καὶ οἱ συντεταγμένοι σφίσιν ἐπειρῶντο ἄνδρες ἀγαθοὶ γίνεσθαι. Τυρταῖος δὲ καὶ οἱ τῶν θεῶν ἱεροφάνται τῶν Μεγάλων ἔργου μὲν ἥπτοντο οὐδενός, τοὺς τελευταίους δὲ τῆς ἑαυτῶν ἑκάτεροι στρατιᾶς ἐπήγειρον.
16.3. As to Aristomenes himself he had with him eighty picked men of the Messenians of the same age as himself, each one of them thinking it the highest honor that he had been thought worthy of a place in the troop with Aristomenes. They were quick to understand each other's movements, especially those of their leader, when he began or contemplated any manoeuvre. They themselves with Aristomenes were at first hard pressed in face of Anaxander and the Lacedaemonian champions, but receiving wounds unflinchingly and slowing every form of desperate courage they repulsed Anaxander and his men by their long endurance and valor.
16.3. κατὰ δὲ αὐτὸν Ἀριστομένην εἶχεν οὕτω. λογάδες περὶ αὐτὸν ὀγδοήκοντα ἦσαν Μεσσηνίων, ἡλικίαν τε γεγονότες ἐκείνῳ τὴν αὐτὴν καὶ ἕκαστος προτετιμῆσθαι μεγάλως νομίζων ὅτι ἠξίωτο Ἀριστομένει συντετάχθαι· ἦσαν δὲ καὶ αἰσθέσθαι διʼ ὀλίγου δεινοὶ τά τε παρʼ ἀλλήλων καὶ μάλιστα ἐκείνου καὶ ἀρχομένου τι δρᾶν καὶ ἔτι μέλλοντος. οὗτοι μὲν πρῶτον καὶ αὐτοὶ καὶ Ἀριστομένης πόνον εἶχον πολὺν κατʼ Ἀνάξανδρον καὶ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων τεταγμένοι τοὺς ἀρίστους· λαμβάνοντες δὲ τραύματα ἀφειδῶς καὶ ἐς πᾶν προϊόντες ἀπονοίας τῷ τε χρόνῳ καὶ τοῖς τολμήμασιν ἐτρέψαντο τοὺς περὶ Ἀνάξανδρον.
16.4. As they fled, Aristomenes ordered another Messenian troop to undertake the pursuit. He himself attacked the enemies' line where it was firmest, and after breaking it at this point sought a new point of assault. Soon successful here, he was the more ready to assail those who stood their ground, until he threw into confusion the whole line of the Lacedaemonians themselves and of their allies. They were now running without shame and without waiting for one another, while he assailed them with a terror that seemed more than one man's fury could inspire.
16.4. τούτοις μὲν δὴ φεύγουσι διώκειν ἐπέταξεν ὁ Ἀριστομένης ἕτερον τῶν Μεσσηνίων λόχον· αὐτὸς δὲ ὁρμήσας πρὸς τὸ μάλιστα ἀνθεστηκός, ὡς ἐβιάσατο καὶ τούτους, ἐπʼ ἄλλους ἐτράπετο αὖθις. ταχὺ δὲ καὶ τούτους ὠσάμενος ἑτοιμότερον ἤδη πρὸς τοὺς ὑπομένοντας ἐπεφέρετο, ἐς ὃ πᾶσαν τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων τὴν τάξιν καὶ αὐτῶν ⟨καὶ⟩ τῶν συμμάχων συνέχεε· καὶ οὐχὶ σὺν αἰδοῖ φευγόντων οὐδὲ ἀναμένειν θελόντων ἔτι ἀλλήλους, ἐπέκειτό σφισι φοβερώτερος ἢ κατὰ ἀνδρὸς ἑνὸς εἶναι μανίαν.
16.5. There was a wild pear-tree growing in the plain, beyond which Theoclus the seer forbade him to pass, for he said that the Dioscuri were seated on the tree. Aristomenes, in the heat of passion, did not hear all that the seer said, and when he reached the tree, lost his shield, and his disobedience gave to the Lacedaemonians an opportunity for some to escape from the rout. For he lost time trying to recover his shield.
16.5. ἔνθα δὴ καὶ παρʼ ἀχράδα πεφυκυῖάν που τοῦ πεδίου, παρὰ ταύτην Ἀριστομένην οὐκ εἴα παραθεῖν ὁ μάντις Θέοκλος· καθέζεσθαι γὰρ τοὺς Διοσκούρους ἔφασκεν ἐπὶ τῇ ἀχράδι. Ἀριστομένης δὲ εἴκων τῷ θυμῷ καὶ οὐκ ἀκροώμενος τὰ πάντα τοῦ μάντεως ὡς κατὰ τὴν ἀχράδα ἐγίνετο, ἀπόλλυσι τὴν ἀσπίδα, Λακεδαιμονίοις τε τὸ ἁμάρτημα τοῦ Ἀριστομένους παρέσχεν αὐτῶν ἀποσωθῆναί τινας ἐκ τῆς φυγῆς· διέτριψε γὰρ τὴν ἀσπίδα ἀνευρεῖν πειρώμενος.
16.6. The Lacedaemonians were thrown into despair after this blow and purposed to put an end to the war. But Tyrtaeus by reciting his poems contrived to dissuade them, and filled their ranks from the Helots to replace the slain. When Aristomenes returned to Andania, the women threw ribbons and flower blossoms over him, singing also a song which is sung to this day:To the middle of Stenyclerus' plain and to the hilltop Aristomenes followed after the Lacedaemonians.
16.6. Λακεδαιμονίων δὲ ἐχόντων ἀθύμως μετὰ τὴν πληγὴν καὶ ὡρμημένων καταθέσθαι τὸν πόλεμον, Τυρταῖός τε ἐλεγεῖα ᾄδων μετέπειθεν αὐτοὺς καὶ ἐς τοὺς λόχους ἀντὶ τῶν τεθνεώτων κατέλεγεν ἄνδρας ἐκ τῶν εἱλώτων. Ἀριστομένει δέ, ὡς ἀνέστρεψεν ἐς τὴν Ἀνδανίαν, ταινίας αἱ γυναῖκες καὶ τὰ ὡραῖα ἐπιβάλλουσαι τῶν ἀνθῶν ἐπέλεγον ᾆσμα τὸ καὶ ἐς ἡμᾶς ἔτι ᾀδόμενονἔς τε μέσον πεδίον Στενυκλήριον ἔς τʼ ὄρος ἄκρονεἵπετʼ Ἀριστομένης τοῖς Λακεδαιμονίοις.ἀνεσώσατο δὲ καὶ τὴν ἀσπίδα ἐκείνην, ἔς τε Δελφοὺς ἀφικόμενος καὶ ὥς οἱ προσέταξεν ἡ Πυθία καταβὰς ἐς τὸ ἄδυτον ἱερὸν τοῦ Τροφωνίου τὸ ἐν Λεβαδείᾳ.
16.7. He recovered his shield also, going to Delphi and descending into the holy shrine of Trophonius at Lebadeia, as the Pythia bade. Afterwards he took the shield to Lebadeia and dedicated it, and I myself have seen it there among the offerings. The device on it is an eagle with both wings outspread to the rim. Now on his return from Boeotia having learnt of the shield at the shrine of Trophonius and recovered it, he at once engaged in greater deeds.
16.7. ὕστερον δὲ τὴν ἀσπίδα ἀνέθηκεν ἐς Λεβάδειαν φέρων, ᾗ δὴ καὶ αὐτὸς εἶδον ἀνακειμένην· ἐπίθημα δέ ἐστιν αὐτῆς ἀετὸς τὰ πτερὰ ἑκατέρωθεν ἐκτετακὼς ἐς ἄκραν τὴν ἴτυν. τότε δὲ Ἀριστομένης ὡς ἐπανῆκεν ἐκ Βοιωτίας εὑρών τε παρὰ τῷ Τροφωνίῳ καὶ κομισάμενος τὴν ἀσπίδα, αὐτίκα ἔργων μειζόνων ἥπτετο.
16.8. Collecting a force of Messenians, together with his own picked troop, he waited for night and went to a city of Laconia whose ancient name in Homer's Catalogue is Pharis, but is called Pharae by the Spartans and neighboring people. Arriving here he killed those who offered resistance and surrounding the cattle started to drive them off to Messene. On the way he was attacked by Lacedaemonian troops under king Anaxander, but put them to flight and began to pursue Anaxander; but he stopped the pursuit when wounded in the buttocks with a javelin; he did not, however, lose the booty which he was driving away.
16.8. συλλέξας δὲ ἄλλους τε τῶν Μεσσηνίων καὶ τοὺς περὶ ἑαυτὸν ἅμα ἔχων λογάδας, φυλάξας τὰ μετὰ ἑσπέραν ἦλθεν ἐπὶ πόλιν τῆς Λακωνικῆς, τὸ μὲν ἀρχαῖον ὄνομα καὶ ἐν Ὁμήρου καταλόγῳ Φᾶριν, ὑπὸ δὲ τῶν Σπαρτιατῶν καὶ προσοίκων καλουμένην Φαράς· ἐπὶ ταύτην ἀφικόμενος τούς τε πειρωμένους ἀμύνεσθαι διέφθειρε καὶ λείαν περιβαλλόμενος ἀπήλαυνεν ἐς τὴν Μεσσήνην. Λακεδαιμονίων δὲ ὁπλιτῶν καὶ Ἀναξάνδρου τοῦ βασιλέως ἐπιθεμένων καθʼ ὁδόν, ἐτρέψατό τε καὶ τούτους καὶ διώκειν τὸν Ἀνάξανδρον ὥρμητο· βληθεὶς δὲ ἀκοντίῳ τὸν γλουτὸν τὴν δίωξιν ἐπέσχεν, οὐ μέντοι τὴν λείαν γε ἣν ἤλαυνεν ἀφῃρέθη.
16.9. After waiting only for the wound to heal, he was making an attack by night on Sparta itself, but was deterred by the appearance of Helen and of the Dioscuri. But he lay in wait by day for the maidens who were performing the dances in honor of Artemis at Caryae, and capturing those who were wealthiest and of noblest birth, carried them off to a village in Messenia, entrusting them to men of his troop to guard, while he rested for the night.
16.9. διαλιπὼν δὲ ὅσον ἀκεσθῆναι τὸ τραῦμα, ἐς μὲν αὐτὴν Σπάρτην ἔξοδον ποιούμενος νύκτωρ ἀπετράπετο ὑπὸ φασμάτων Ἑλένης καὶ Διοσκούρων, τὰς δʼ ἐν Καρύαις παρθένους χορευούσας τῇ Ἀρτέμιδι. ἐλόχησε μεθʼ ἡμέραν καὶ συνέλαβεν ὅσαι χρήμασιν αὐτῶν καὶ ἀξιώματι πατέρων προεῖχον· ἀγαγὼν δὲ ἐς κώμην τῆς Μεσσηνίας τὴν νύκτα ἀνεπαύετο, ἀνδράσι τῶν ἐκ τοῦ λόχου τὴν φρουρὰν ἐπιτρέψας τῶν παρθένων.
16.10. There the young men, intoxicated, I suppose, and without any self-control, attempted to violate the girls. When Aristomenes attempted to deter them from an action contrary to Greek usage, they paid no attention, so that he was compelled to kill the most disorderly. He released the captives for a large ransom, maidens, as when he captured them.
16.10. ἐνταῦθα ὑπὸ μέθης οἱ νεανίσκοι δοκεῖν ἐμοὶ καὶ ἄλλως ἀκρατῶς ἔχοντες λογισμοῦ πρὸς βίαν ἐτρέποντο τῶν παρθένων, Ἀριστομένους δὲ ἀπείργοντος οὐ νομιζόμενα Ἕλλησι δρῶντας οὐδένα ἐποιοῦντο λόγον, ὥστε ἠναγκάσθη καὶ ἀποκτεῖναι τοὺς παροινοῦντας μάλιστα ἐξ αὐτῶν. τὰς δὲ αἰχμαλώτους λαβὼν ἀπέλυσε χρημάτων πολλῶν, παρθένους ὥσπερ γε καὶ εἷλεν.
17.1. There is a place Aegila in Laconia, where is a sanctuary sacred to Demeter. Aristomenes and his men knowing that the women were keeping festival there... the women were inspired by the goddess to defend themselves, and most of the Messenians were wounded with the knives with which the women sacrificed the victims and the spits on which they pierced and roasted the meat. Aristomenes was struck with the torches and taken alive. Nevertheless he escaped to Messenia during the same night. Archidameia, the priestess of Demeter, was charged with having released him, not for a bribe but because she had been in love with him before; but she maintained that Aristomenes had escaped by burning through his bonds.
17.1. ἔστι δὲ Αἴγιλα τῆς Λακωνικῆς, ἔνθα ἱερὸν ἵδρυται ἅγιον Δήμητρος. ἐνταῦθα ἐπιστάμενος ὁ Ἀριστομένης καὶ οἱ σὺν αὐτῷ τὰς γυναῖκας ἀγούσας ἑορτὴν ἀμύνεσθαι τῶν γυναικῶν οὐκ ἄνευ τῆς θεοῦ προαχθεισῶν λαμβάνουσιν οἱ πολλοὶ τῶν Μεσσηνίων τραύματα μαχαίραις τε, αἷς τὰ ἱερεῖα αἱ γυναῖκες ἔθυον, καὶ ὀβελοῖς, οἷς τὰ κρέα ἔπειρον ὀπτῶσαι· τὸν δὲ Ἀριστομένην τύπτουσαι ταῖς δᾳσὶ ζῶντα αἱροῦσιν. ἀπεσώθη δὲ ὅμως τῆς αὐτῆς ἐκείνης νυκτὸς ἐς τὴν Μεσσηνίαν. ἀφεῖναι δὲ αὐτὸν ἱέρεια τῆς Δήμητρος αἰτίαν ἔσχεν Ἀρχιδάμεια· ἀφῆκε δὲ οὐκ ἐπὶ χρήμασιν, ἀλλὰ ἐρῶσα ἔτυχεν αὐτοῦ πρότερον ἔτι, προὐφασίζετο δὲ ὡς Ἀριστομένης διακούσας τὰ δεσμὰ ἀποδρὰς οἴχοιτο.
17.2. In the third year of the war, when an engagement was about to take place at what is called The Great Trench, and the Messenians had been joined by Arcadians from all the cities, the Lacedaemonians bribed Aristocrates the son of Hicetas of Trapezus, who was then king and general of the Arcadians. The Lacedaemonians were the first of whom we know to give bribes to an enemy, and the first to make victory in war a matter of purchase.
17.2. τρίτῳ δὲ ἔτει τοῦ πολέμου μελλούσης γίνεσθαι συμβολῆς ἐπὶ τῇ καλουμένῃ Μεγάλῃ τάφρῳ καὶ Μεσσηνίοις Ἀρκάδων βεβοηθηκότων ἀπὸ πασῶν τῶν πόλεων, Ἀριστοκράτην τὸν Ἱκέτα Τραπεζούντιον, βασιλέα τῶν Ἀρκάδων καὶ στρατηγὸν ὄντα ἐν τῷ τότε, διαφθείρουσιν οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι χρήμασι. πρῶτοι γὰρ ὧν ἴσμεν Λακεδαιμόνιοι πολεμίῳ ἀνδρὶ δῶρα ἔδοσαν, καὶ ὤνιον πρῶτοι κατεστήσαντο εἶναι τὸ κράτος τὸ ἐν τοῖς ὅπλοις·
17.3. Before the Lacedaemonians committed this crime in the Messenian war in the matter of the treachery of Aristocrates the Arcadian, the decision in battle was reached by valor and the fortune of heaven. Again it is clear that at a later date, when they were lying opposite the Athenian fleet at Aegospotami, the Lacedaemonians bought Adeimantus and other Athenian generals.
17.3. πρὶν δὲ ἢ παρανομῆσαι Λακεδαιμονίους ἐς τὸν Μεσσηνίων πόλεμον καὶ Ἀριστοκράτους τοῦ Ἀρκάδος τὴν προδοσίαν, ἀρετῇ τε οἱ μαχόμενοι καὶ τύχαις ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ διεκρίνοντο. φαίνονται δὲ οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι καὶ ὕστερον, ἡνίκα ἐπὶ Αἰγὸς ποταμοῖς ταῖς Ἀθηναίων ναυσὶν ἀνθώρμουν, ἄλλους τε τῶν στρατηγούντων Ἀθηναίοις καὶ Ἀδείμαντον ἐξωνησάμενοι.
17.4. However in course of time the punishment of Neoptolemus, as it is called, came upon the Lacedaemonians themselves in their turn. Now it was the fate of Neoptolemus the son of Achilles, after killing Priam on the altar of Zeus Herkeios (Of the Courtyard), himself to be slain by the altar of Apollo in Delphi. Thenceforward to suffer what a man has himself done to another is called the Punishment of Neoptolemus.
17.4. περιῆλθε μέντοι καὶ αὐτοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους ἀνὰ χρόνον ἡ Νεοπτολέμειος καλουμένη τίσις. Νεοπτολέμῳ γὰρ τῷ Ἀχιλλέως, ἀποκτείναντι Πρίαμον ἐπὶ τῇ ἐσχάρᾳ τοῦ Ἑρκείου, συνέπεσε καὶ αὐτὸν ἐν Δελφοῖς πρὸς τῷ βωμῷ τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνος ἀποσφαγῆναι· καὶ ἀπὸ τούτου τὸ παθεῖν ὁποῖόν τις καὶ ἔδρασε Νεοπτολέμειον τίσιν ὀνομάζουσι.
17.5. So in the case of the Lacedaemonians, when they were at the height of their power after the destruction of the Athenian fleet, and Agesilaus had already reduced the greater part of Asia, they were unable to capture the whole empire of the Persians but the barbarian overreached them with their own invention, sending money to Corinth, Argos, Athens and Thebes as the result of this bribery the so-called Corinthian war broke out, compelling Agesilaus to abandon his conquests in Asia.
17.5. τοῖς οὖν Λακεδαιμονίοις, ὅτε δὴ μάλιστα ἤνθησαν καὶ Ἀθηναίων τε τὸ ναυτικὸν καθῃρήκεσαν καὶ Ἀγησίλαος κεχείρωτο τὰ πολλὰ ἤδη τῆς Ἀσίας, τότε σφίσι τὴν ἀρχὴν πᾶσαν οὐκ ἐξεγένετο ἀφελέσθαι τὸν Μῆδον, ἀλλὰ σφᾶς ὁ βάρβαρος περιῆλθε τῷ ἐκείνων εὑρήματι, ἐς Κόρινθον καὶ Ἄργος καὶ ἐς Ἀθήνας τε καὶ Θήβας χρήματα ἀποστείλας· ὅ τε ὀνομαζόμενος Κορινθιακὸς πόλεμος ἀπὸ τούτων ἐξήφθη τῶν χρημάτων, ὡς ἀπολείπειν Ἀγησίλαον ἀναγκασθῆναι τὰ ἐν τῇ Ἀσίᾳ.
17.6. Thus it was the purpose of heaven to turn the trick employed by the Lacedaemonians against the Messenians to their own destruction. After receiving the money from Lacedaemon, Aristocrates concealed his plot from the Arcadians for the present, but when they were about to come into action, he alarmed them by saying that they were caught in a difficult place and there would be no means of retreat for them, if defeated, also that the offerings had not been satisfactory. He ordered everyone therefore to take to flight when he gave the signal.
17.6. Λακεδαιμονίοις μὲν τὸ ἐς Μεσσηνίους σόφισμα ὁ δαίμων ἔμελλεν αὐτοῖς ἀποφανεῖν συμφοράν· Ἀριστοκράτης δὲ ὡς τὰ χρήματα ἐδέξατο ἐκ Λακεδαίμονος, τὸ μὲν παραυτίκα ἔκρυπτεν ἐς τοὺς Ἀρκάδας οἷα ἐπεβούλευε, μελλόντων δὲ ἐς χεῖρας ἤδη συνέρχεσθαι, τηνικαῦτα ἐξεφόβησεν αὐτοὺς ὡς ἐν δυσχωρίᾳ τέ εἰσιν ἀπειλημμένοι καὶ ἀναχώρησις οὐκ ἔσται αὐτοῖς, ἢν κρατηθῶσιν, τά τε ἱερά σφισιν οὐκ ἔφη γεγονέναι κατὰ γνώμην. ἐκέλευεν οὖν πάντα τινά, ἐπειδὰν αὐτὸς σημήνῃ, φυγῇ χρῆσθαι.
17.7. When the Lacedaemonians were about to close and the Messenians were occupied on their own front, then Aristocrates withdrew the Arcadians as the battle began, leaving the Messenian left and center without troops. For the Arcadians occupied both positions in the absence of the Eleians from the battle and of the Argives and Sicyonians. To complete his work Aristocrates caused his men to fly through the Messenians.
17.7. ὡς δὲ οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι συνέμισγον καὶ ἦσαν ἐς τὸ κατʼ αὐτοὺς οἱ Μεσσήνιοι τετραμμένοι, ἐνταῦθα Ἀριστοκράτης ἀρχομένης τῆς μάχης ἀπῆγε τοὺς Ἀρκάδας, καὶ τοῖς Μεσσηνίοις τό τε ἀριστερὸν καὶ μέσον ἠρήμωτο· οἱ γὰρ Ἀρκάδες σφίσιν εἶχον ἀμφότερα ἅτε ἀπόντων μὲν Ἠλείων τῆς μάχης, ἀπόντων δὲ Ἀργείων καὶ Σικυωνίων. προσεξειργάσθη δὲ καὶ ἄλλο τῷ Ἀριστοκράτει· διὰ γὰρ Μεσσηνίων ἐποιεῖτο τὴν φυγήν.
17.8. They were amazed at the unexpected state of affairs, and moreover were thrown into confusion by the passage of the Arcadians through their ranks, so that they almost forgot what lay before them; for instead of the advance of the Lacedaemonians they watched the Arcadian retirement, some begging them to stand by them, others cursing them for traitors and scoundrels.
17.8. οἱ δὲ πρὸς τὸ ἀνέλπιστον τῶν παρόντων ἐγένοντο ἔκφρονες καὶ ἅμα ὑπὸ τῆς διεξόδου τῆς κατὰ σφᾶς τῶν Ἀρκάδων ἐταράσσοντο, ὥστε αὐτῶν ἐδέησαν οἱ πολλοὶ καὶ ἐπιλαθέσθαι τῶν ἐν χερσίν· ἀντὶ γὰρ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων ἐπιφερομένων ἤδη πρὸς τοὺς Ἀρκάδας ἀφεώρων φεύγοντας, καὶ οἱ μὲν παραμεῖναί σφισιν ἱκέτευον, οἱ δὲ καὶ λοιδορίαις ἐς αὐτοὺς ὡς ἐς ἄνδρας προδότας καὶ οὐ δικαίους ἐχρῶντο.
17.9. It was not difficult for the Lacedaemonians to surround the Messenians thus isolated, and they won without trouble the easiest of victories. Aristomenes and his men held together and tried to check the fiercest of the Lacedaemonian assaults but, being few in number, were unable to render much assistance. So great were the numbers of the people of the Messenians slain that in lieu of their former thoughts of becoming the masters instead of the slaves of the Lacedaemonians they now despaired of safety itself. Among the chieftains killed were Androcles and Phintas, and Phanas after the most glorious resistance. He had previously been victorious in the long foot race at Olympia.
17.9. Λακεδαιμονίοις δὲ ἥ τε κύκλωσις τῶν Μεσσηνίων μονωθέντων ἐγένετο οὐ χαλεπὴ καὶ νίκην ἑτοιμοτάτην πασῶν καὶ ἀπονώτατα ἀνείλοντο. Ἀριστομένης δὲ καὶ οἱ σὺν αὐτῷ συνέμειναν μὲν καὶ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων τοὺς μάλιστα ἐγκειμένους ἀνείργειν ἐπειρῶντο, ὀλίγοι δὲ ὄντες οὐ μεγάλα ὠφέλουν. τῶν δὲ Μεσσηνίων τοῦ μὲν δήμου τοσοῦτον πλῆθος ἀνηλώθησαν, ὡς τὰ πρῶτα Λακεδαιμονίων δεσπότας ἀντὶ δούλων ἔσεσθαι νομίζοντας τότε μηδὲ ἐς τὴν σωτηρίαν αὐτὴν ἔτι ἔχειν ἐλπίδα· ἀπέθανον δὲ καὶ τῶν πρωτευόντων ἄλλοι τε καὶ Ἀνδροκλῆς καὶ Φίντας καὶ λόγου μάλιστα ἀξίως ἀγωνισάμενος Φάνας, ὃς πρότερον τούτων ἔτι δολίχου νίκην Ὀλυμπίασιν ἦν ἀνῃρημένος.
17.10. Aristomenes collected the Messenian survivors after the battle and persuaded them to desert Andania and most of the other towns that lay in the interior and to settle on Mount Eira. When they had been driven to this spot, the Lacedaemonians sat down to besiege them, thinking that they would soon reduce them. Nevertheless the Messenians maintained their resistance for eleven years after the disaster at the Trench.
17.10. Ἀριστομένης δὲ μετὰ τὴν μάχην τοὺς διαπεφευγότας τῶν Μεσσηνίων συνήθροιζε, καὶ Ἀνδανίαν μὲν καὶ εἴ τι ἄλλο ἐν μεσογαίᾳ πόλισμα ἔπεισε τὰ πολλὰ ἐκλείπειν, ἐς δὲ τὴν Εἶραν τὸ ὄρος ἀνοικίζεσθαι. συνεληλαμένοις δὲ ἐς τοῦτο τὸ χωρίον προσεκάθηντο οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι πολιορκίᾳ σφᾶς αὐτίκα ἐξαιρήσειν νομίζοντες· ἀντήρκεσαν δὲ ὅμως οἱ Μεσσήνιοι καὶ μετὰ τὴν ἐν τῇ τάφρῳ συμφορὰν ἑνί τε καὶ δέκα ἔτεσιν ἀμυνόμενοι.
17.11. The length of the siege is proved by these lines of the poet Rhianus, regarding the Lacedaemonians:In the folds of the white mountain were they encamped, for two and twenty winters and green herbs.He reckons winters and summers, by “green herbs” meaning the green corn or the time just before harvest.
17.11. τὸν δὲ χρόνον τῆς πολιορκίας γενέσθαι τοσοῦτον δηλοῖ καὶ τάδε ἔπη Ῥιανοῦ πεποιημένα ἐς τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους·οὔρεος ἀργεννοῖο περὶ πτύχας ἐστρατόωντοχείματά τε ποίας τε δύω καὶ εἴκοσι πάσας·χειμῶνας γὰρ καὶ θέρη κατέλεξε, πόας εἰπὼν τὸν χλωρὸν σῖτον ἢ ὀλίγον πρὸ ἀμητοῦ.
18.1. Settling on Eira and cut off from the rest of Messenia, except in so far as the people of Pylos and Mothone maintained the coastal districts for them, the Messenians plundered both Laconia and their own territory, regarding it now as enemy country. The men taking part in the raids were drawn from all sources, and Aristomenes raised the number of his chosen troop to three hundred.
18.1. Μεσσήνιοι δὲ ὡς ἐς τὴν Εἶραν ⟨ἀνῳκίσθησαν,⟩ τῆς δὲ ἄλλης ἐξείργοντο πλὴν ὅσον σφίσιν οἱ Πύλιοι τὰ ἐπὶ θαλάσσῃ καὶ οἱ Μοθωναῖοι διέσωζον, [ἢ] ἐλῄστευον τήν τε Λακωνικὴν καὶ τὴν σφετέραν, πολεμίαν ἤδη καὶ ταύτην νομίζοντες· ἄλλοι τε δὴ συνίσταντο ἐς τὰς καταδρομάς, ὡς ἕκαστοι τύχοιεν, καὶ Ἀριστομένης δὲ τοὺς περὶ αὑτὸν λογάδας ἐς τριακοσίων ἀριθμὸν προήγαγεν.
18.2. They harried and plundered whatever Lacedaemonian property they could; when corn, cattle and wine were captured, they were consumed, but movable property and men were sold. The Lacedaemonians, as their labours were more profitable to the men at Eira than to themselves, accordingly resolved that Messenia and the neighboring part of Laconia should be left uncultivated during the war.
18.2. ἦγον μὲν δὴ τὰ Λακεδαιμονίων καὶ ἔφερον ὅ τι καὶ δύναιτο αὐτῶν ἕκαστος, ἑλόντες δὲ σῖτον καὶ βοσκήματα καὶ οἶνον ἀνήλισκον, ἔπιπλα δὲ καὶ ἀνθρώπους ἀπεδίδοσαν χρημάτων· ὥστε καὶ ἐποιήσαντο οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι δόγμα, ἅτε τοῖς ἐν τῇ Εἴρᾳ μᾶλλον ἢ σφίσιν αὐτοῖς γεωργοῦντες, τὴν Μεσσηνίαν καὶ τῆς Λακωνικῆς τὴν προσεχῆ, ἕως ἂν πολεμῶσιν, ἐᾶν ἄσπορον.
18.3. As a result scarcity arose in Sparta, and with it revolution. For those who had property here could not endure its lying idle. Their differences were being composed by Tyrtaeus, when Aristomenes and his troop, starting in the late evening and by rapid movement reaching Amyclae before sunrise, captured and plundered the town, retiring before a force from Sparta could come to its relief.
18.3. καὶ ἀπὸ τούτου σιτοδεία ἐγένετο ἐν Σπάρτῃ καὶ ὁμοῦ τῇ σιτοδείᾳ στάσις· οὐ γὰρ ἠνείχοντο οἱ ταύτῃ τὰ κτήματα ἔχοντες τὰ σφέτερα ἀργὰ εἶναι. καὶ τούτοις μὲν τὰ διάφορα διέλυε Τυρταῖος· Ἀριστομένης δὲ ἔχων τοὺς λογάδας τὴν μὲν ἔξοδον περὶ βαθεῖαν ἐποιήσατο ἑσπέραν, ἔφθη δὲ ὑπὸ τάχους τὴν ἐς Ἀμύκλας ἀνύσας πρὸ ἀνίσχοντος ἡλίου, καὶ Ἀμύκλας τὸ πόλισμα εἷλέ τε καὶ διήρπασε καὶ τὴν ἀποχώρησιν ἐποιήσατο πρὶν ἢ τοὺς ἐκ τῆς Σπάρτης προσβοηθῆσαι.
18.4. He continued to overrun the country afterwards, until in an engagement with more than half the Lacedaemonian infantry and both the kings he received various wounds while defending himself and was struck on the head by a stone, so that his eyes became dizzy. When he fell a number of the Lacedaemonians closed upon him and took him alive with some fifty of his followers. The Lacedaemonians resolved to fling them all into the Ceadas, into which they throw men punished for the greatest crimes.
18.4. κατέτρεχε δὲ καὶ ὕστερον τὴν χώραν, ἐς ὃ Λακεδαιμονίων λόχοις πλέον ἢ τοῖς ἡμίσεσι καὶ τοῖς βασιλεῦσιν ἀμφοτέροις συμβαλὼν ἄλλα τε ἔσχεν ἀμυνόμενος τραύματα καὶ πληγέντι ὑπὸ λίθου τὴν κεφαλὴν αὐτῷ σκοτοδινιῶσιν οἱ ὀφθαλμοί. καὶ πεσόντα ἀθρόοι τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων ἐπιδραμόντες ζῶντα αἱροῦσιν· ἥλωσαν δὲ καὶ τῶν περὶ αὐτὸν ἐς πεντήκοντα. τούτους ἔγνωσαν οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι ῥῖψαι πάντας ἐς τὸν Κεάδαν· ἐμβάλλουσι δὲ ἐνταῦθα οὓς ἂν ἐπὶ μεγίστοις τιμωρῶνται.
18.5. The rest of the Messenians were killed at once as they fell, but Aristomenes now as on other occasions was preserved by one of the gods. His panegyrists say that, when Aristomenes was thrown into the Ceadas, an eagle flew below him and supported him with its wings, bringing him to the bottom without any damage to his body and without wound. Even from here, as it seems, it was the will of heaven to show him a means of escape.
18.5. οἱ μὲν δὴ ἄλλοι Μεσσηνίων ἐσπίπτοντες ἀπώλλυντο αὐτίκα, Ἀριστομένην δὲ ἔς τε τὰ ἄλλα θεῶν τις καὶ δὴ καὶ τότε ἐφύλασσεν· οἱ δὲ ἀποσεμνύνοντες τὰ κατʼ αὐτὸν Ἀριστομένει φασὶν ἐμβληθέντι ἐς τὸν Κεάδαν ὄρνιθα τὸν ἀετὸν ὑποπέτεσθαι καὶ ἀνέχειν ταῖς πτέρυξιν, ἐς ὃ κατήνεγκεν αὐτὸν ἐς τὸ πέρας οὔτε πηρωθέντα οὐδὲν τοῦ σώματος οὔτε τραῦμά τι λαβόντα. ἔμελλε δὲ ἄρα καὶ αὐτόθεν ὁ δαίμων ἔξοδον ἀποφαίνειν αὐτῷ.
18.6. For when he came to the bottom of the chasm he lay down, and covering himself with his cloak awaited the death that fate had surely decreed. But after two days he heard a noise and uncovered, and being by this time able to see through the gloom, saw a fox devouring the dead bodies. Realizing that the beast must have some entrance, he waited for the fox to come near him, and then seized it. Whenever it turned on him he used one hand to hold out his cloak for it to bite. For the most part he kept pace with it as it ran, but over the more difficult ground he was dragged along by it. At last he saw a hole big enough for a fox to get through and daylight showing through it.
18.6. καὶ ὁ μὲν ὡς ἐς τὸ τέρμα ἦλθε τοῦ βαράθρου, κατεκλίθη τε καὶ ἐφελκυσάμενος τὴν χλαμύδα ἀνέμενεν ὡς πάντως οἱ ἀποθανεῖν πεπρωμένον· τρίτῃ δὲ ὕστερον ἡμέρᾳ ψόφου τε αἰσθάνεται καὶ ἐκκαλυψάμενος—ἐδύνατο δὲ ἤδη διὰ τοῦ σκότους διορᾶν—ἀλώπεκα εἶδεν ἁπτομένην τῶν νεκρῶν. ὑπονοήσας δὲ ἔσοδον εἶναι τῷ θηρίῳ ποθέν, ἀνέμενεν ἐγγύς οἱ τὴν ἀλώπεκα γενέσθαι, γενομένης δὲ λαμβάνεται· τῇ δὲ ἑτέρᾳ χειρί, ὁπότε ἐς αὐτὸν ἐπιστρέφοιτο, τὴν χλαμύδα προὔβαλλέν οἱ καὶ δάκνειν παρεῖχε. τὰ μὲν δὴ πλείω θεούσῃ συνέθει, τὰ δὲ ἄγαν δυσέξοδα καὶ ἐφείλκετο ὑπʼ αὐτῆς· ὀψὲ δέ ποτε ὀπήν τε εἶδεν ἀλώπεκι ἐς διάδυσιν ἱκανὴν καὶ φέγγος διʼ αὐτῆς.
18.7. The fox, when released by Aristomenes, made of presumably, to its earth. But Aristomenes enlarged the hole, which was not large enough to let him through, with his hands and reached his home at Eira in safety, having undergone a remarkable chance in the matter of his capture, for his courage and prowess were so high that no one would have expected Aristomenes to be made a prisoner. Still more remarkable, and a convincing example of divine assistance, was his escape from the Ceadas.
18.7. καὶ τὴν μέν, ὡς ἀπὸ τοῦ Ἀριστομένους ἠλευθερώθη, τὸ φωλίον ἔμελλεν ὑποδέξεσθαι· Ἀριστομένης δὲ—οὐ γάρ τι ἡ ὀπὴ καὶ τούτῳ παρέχειν ἐδύνατο ἔξοδον—εὐρυτέραν τε ταῖς χερσὶν ἐποίησε καὶ οἴκαδε ἐς τὴν Εἶραν ἀποσώζεται, παραδόξῳ μὲν τῇ τύχῃ καὶ ἐς τὴν ἅλωσιν χρησάμενος, τὸ γάρ οἱ φρόνημα ἦν καὶ τὰ τολμήματα μείζονα ἢ ὡς ἐλπίσαι τινὰ Ἀριστομένην αἰχμάλωτον ἂν γενέσθαι, παραδοξοτέρα δέ ἐστι καὶ πάντων προδηλότατα οὐκ ἄνευ θεοῦ ἡ ἐκ τοῦ Κεάδα σωτηρία.
19.1. The Lacedaemonians at once received information from deserters that Aristomenes had returned in safety. Though they thought it as incredible as the news that anyone had risen from the dead, their belief was ensured by the following action on the part of Aristomenes himself. The Corinthians were sending a force to assist the Lacedaemonians in the reduction of Eira.
19.1. Λακεδαιμονίοις δὲ παραυτίκα μὲν ὑπὸ ἀνδρῶν ἀπηγγέλλετο αὐτομόλων, ὡς Ἀριστομένης ἐπανήκοι σῶς· νομιζομένου δὲ ἀπίστου κατὰ ταὐτὰ ἢ εἴ τινα τεθνεῶτα ἐλέγετο ἀναβιῶναι, παρʼ αὐτοῦ τοιόνδε Ἀριστομένους ὑπῆρξεν ἐς πίστιν. Κορίνθιοι Λακεδαιμονίοις δύναμιν ὡς συνεξαιρήσοντας τὴν Εἶραν ἀποστέλλουσι.
19.2. Learning from his scouts that their march discipline was lax and that their encampments were made without precaution, Aristomenes attacked them by night. He slew most of them while the rest were still sleeping, and killed the leaders Hypermenides, Achladaeus, Lysistratus and Sidectus. And having plundered the generals' tent, he made it clear to the Spartans that it was Aristomenes and no other Messenian who had done this.
19.2. τούτους παρὰ τῶν κατασκόπων πυνθανόμενος ὁ Ἀριστομένης τῇ πορείᾳ τε ἀτακτότερον χρῆσθαι καὶ ταῖς στρατοπεδείαις ἀφυλάκτως, ἐπιτίθεται νύκτωρ σφίσι· καὶ τῶν τε ἄλλων καθευδόντων ἔτι ἐφόνευσε τοὺς πολλοὺς καὶ τοὺς ἡγεμόνας Ὑπερμενίδην καὶ Ἀχλαδαῖον καὶ Λυσίστρατον καὶ Σίδεκτον ἀποκτίννυσι. διαρπάσας δὲ καὶ τὴν σκηνὴν τὴν στρατηγίδα παρέστησεν εὖ εἰδέναι Σπαρτιάταις ὡς Ἀριστομένης καὶ οὐκ ἄλλος Μεσσηνίων ἐστὶν ὁ ταῦτα εἰργασμένος.