XI. IPHICRATES.
Iphicrates eminent for skill in military discipline, I. His acts in Thrace, at Corinth, against the Lacedaemonians, in Egypt, and against Epaminondas, II. His abilities and character, III.
1. Iphicrates Atheniensis non tam magnitudine rerum gestarum quam disciplina militari nobilitatus est. fuit enim talis dux, ut non solum aetatis suae cum primis compararetur, sed ne de maioribus natu quidem quisquam anteponeretur. [2] multum vero in bello est versatus, saepe exercitibus praefuit, nusquam culpa male rem gessit, semper consilio vicit tantumque eo valuit, ut multa in re militari partim nova attulerit, partim meliora fecerit. [3] namque ille pedestria arma mutavit. cum ante illum imperatorem maximis clipeis, [4] brevibus hastis, minutis gladiis uterentur, ille e contrario peltam pro parma fecit (a quo postea peltastae pedites appellati sunt, qui antea hoplitae appellabantur), ut ad motus concursusque essent leviores, hastae modum duplicavit, gladios longiores fecit. idem genus loricarum novum instituit et pro sertis atque aeneis linteas dedit. quo facto expeditiores milites reddidit: nam pondere detracto, quod aeque corpus tegeret et leve esset, curavit.
I. IPHICRATES of Athens has become renowned, not so much for the greatness of his exploits, as for his knowledge of military tactics; for he was such a leader, that he was not only comparable to the first commanders of his own time, but no one even of the older generals could be set above him. He was much engaged in the field; he often had. the command of armies; he never miscarried in an undertaking by his own fault; he was always eminent for invention, and such was his excellence in it, that he not only introduced much that was new into the military art, but made many improvements in what existed before. He altered the arms of the infantry; for whereas, before he became a commander, they used very large shields, short spears, and small swords, he, on the contrary, introduced the pelta instead of the parma (from which the infantry were afterwards called peltastae), that they might be more active in movements and encounters; he doubled the length of the spear, and made the swords also longer. He likewise changed the character of their cuirasses, and gave them linen ones instead of those of chain-mail and brass; a change by which he rendered the soldiers more active; for, diminishing the weight, he provided what would equally protect the body, and be light.
2. Bellum cum Thraecibus gessit, Seuthem, socium Atheniensium, in regnum restituit. apud Corinthum tanta severitate exercitui praefuit, ut nullae umquam in Graecia neque exercitatiores copiae neque magis dicto audientes fuerint duci, [2] in eamque consuetudinem adduxit, ut, cum proelii signum ab imperatore esset datum, sine ducis opera sic ordinatae consisterent, ut singuli a peritissimo imperatore dispositi viderentur. [3] hoc exercitu moram Lacedaemoniorum interfecit, quod maxime tota celebratum est Graecia. iterum eodem bello omnes copias eorum fugavit, quo facto magnam adeptus est gloriam. [4] cum Artaxerxes Aegyptio regi bellum inferre voluit, Iphicraten ab Atheniensibus ducem petivit, quem praeficeret exercitui conducticio, cuius numerus duodecim milium fuit. quem quidem sic omni disciplina militari erudivit, ut, quem ad modum quondam Fabiani milites Romae appellati sunt, sic Iphicratenses apud Graecos in summa laude fuerint. [5] idem subsidio Lacedaemoniis profectus Epaminondae retardavit impetus. nam nisi eius adventus appropinquasset, non prius Thebani Sparta abscessissent, quam captam incendio delessent.
II. He made war upon the Thracians, and restored Seuthes, the ally of the Athenians, to his throne. At Corinth he commanded the army with so much strictness, that no troops in Greece were ever better disciplined, or more obedient to the orders of their leader; and he brought them to such a habit, that when the signal for battle was given them by their general, they would stand so regularly drawn up, without any trouble on the part of the commander, that they seemed to have been severally posted by the most skilful captain. With this army he cut off a mora of the Lacedaemonians; an exploit which was highly celebrated through all Greece. In this war, too, he defeated all their forces a second time, by which success he obtained great glory.
Artaxerxes, when he had resolved to make war upon the king of Egypt, asked the Athenians to allow Iphicrates to be his general, that he might place him at the head of his army of mercenaries, the number of whom was twelve thousand. This force he so instructed in all military discipline, that as certain Roman soldiers were formerly called Fabians, so the Iphicrateans were in the highest repute among the Greeks.
Going afterwards to the relief of the Lacedaemonians, he checked the efforts of Epaminondas; for, had not he been drawing near, the Thebans would not have retreated from Sparta until they had taken and destroyed it by fire.
3. Fuit autem et animo magno et corpore imperatoriaque forma, ut ipso aspectu cuivis iniceret admirationem sui, [2] sed in labore nimis remissus parumque patiens, ut Theopompus memoriae prodidit, bonus vero civis fideque magna. quod cum in aliis rebus declaravit, tum maxime in Amyntae Macedonis liberis tuendis. namque Eurydice, mater Perdiccae et Philippi, cum his duobus pueris Amynta mortuo ad Iphicraten confugit eiusque opibus defensa est. [3] vixit ad senectutem placatis in se suorum civium animis. causam capitis semel dixit, bello sociali, simul cum Timotheo, eoque iudicio est absolutus. [4] Menesthea filium reliquit ex Thraessa natum, Coti regis filia, is cum interrogaretur, utrum pluris, patrem matremne, faceret, ‘matrem’ inquit. id cum omnibus mirum videretur, at ille ‘merito’ inquit ‘facio: nam pater, quantum in se fuit, Thraecem me genuit, contra ea mater Atheniensem.’
III. He was a man of large mind and large body, and of an appearance indicating the commander so that by his very look he inspired every one with admiration of him. But in action he was too remiss, and too impatient of continued exertion, as Theopompus has recorded. Yet he was a good citizen, and a person of very honourable feelings, as he showed, not only in other transactions, but also in protecting the children of Amyntas the Macedonian; for Eurydice, the mother of Perdiccas and Philip, fled with these two boys, after the death of Amyntas, to Iphicrates, and was secure under his power. He lived to a good old age, with the feelings of his countrymen well affected towards him.
He was once brought to trial for his life, at the time of the Social war, together with Timotheus, and was acquitted.
He left a son named Menestheus, whom he had by a Thracian woman, the daughter of King Cotys. When this son was asked whether he had more regard for his father or his mother, he replied, “For his mother.” As this answer appeared strange to all who heard it, he added, “I do so with justice; for my father, as far as was in his power, made me a Thracian, but my mother, as far as she could, made me an Athenian.”
XII. CHABRIAS.
Chabrias becomes celebrated for a new mode of fighting, I. His acts in Egypt and Cyprus; his command of the Egyptian fleet, II. His recal; he lived but little at home in consequence of the envious feelings of his countrymen, III. He is killed in the Social war, IV.
1. Chabrias Atheniensis. hic quoque in summis habitus est ducibus resque multas memoria dignas gessit. sed ex iis elucet maxime inventum eius in proelio, quod apud Thebas fecit, cum Boeotis subsidio venisset. [2] namque in eo victoria fidentem summum ducem Agesilaum, fugatis iam ab eo conducticiis catervis, eo frustratus est, quod reliquam phalangem loco vetuit cedere obnixoque genu scuto, proiecta hasta impetum excipere hostium docuit. id novum Agesilaus contuens progredi non est ausus suosque iam incurrentes tuba revocavit. [3] hoc usque eo tota Graecia fama celebratum est, ut illo statu Chabrias sibi statuam fieri voluerit, quae publice ei ab Atheniensibus in foro constituta est. ex quo factum est ut postea athletae ceterique artifices iis statibus in statuis ponendis uterentur, quibus victoriam essent adepti.
I. CHABRIAS the Athenian was also numbered among the most eminent generals, and performed many acts worthy or record. But of these the most famous is his manoeuvre in the battle which he fought near Thebes, when he had gone to the relief of the Boeotians; for in that engagement, when the great general Agesilaus felt sure of victory, and the mercenary troops had been put to flight by him, Chabrias forbade the rest of his phalanx to quit their ground, and instructed them to rec
eive the attack of the enemy with the knee placed firmly against the shield, and the spear stretched out. Agesilaus, observing this new plan, did not dare to advance, and called off his men, as they were rushing forward, with sound of trumpet. This device was so extolled by fame throughout Greece, that Chabrias chose to have the statue, which was erected to him at the public charge by the Athenians in the forum, made in that posture. Hence it happened that wrestlers, and other candidates for public applause, adopted, in the erection of their statues, those postures in which they had gained a victory.
2. Chabrias autem multa in Europa bella administravit, cum dux Atheniensium esset; in Aegypto sua sponte gessit: nam Nectenebin adiutum profectus regnum ei constituit. [2] fecit idem Cypri, sed publice ab Atheniensibus Euagorae adiutor datus, neque prius inde discessit, quam totam insulam bello devinceret: qua ex re Athenienses magnam gloriam sunt adepti. [3] interim bellum inter Aegyptios et Persas conflatum est. Athenienses cum Artaxerxe societatem habebant, Lacedaemonii cum Aegyptiis, a quibus magnas praedas Agesilaus, rex eorum, faciebat. id intuens Chabrias, cum in re nulla Agesilao cederet, sua sponte eos adiutum profectus Aegyptiae classi praefuit, pedestribus copiis Agesilaus.
II. Chabrias also, when he was general of the Athenians, carried on many wars in Europe; and he engaged in one in Egypt of his own accord; for setting out to assist Nectanabis, he secured him the throne. He performed a similar exploit in Cyprus, but he was then publicly sent to support Evagoras; nor did he return from thence till he had conquered the whole island; from which achievement the Athenians obtained great glory.
In the meantime a war broke out between the Egyptians and Persians, when the Athenians formed an alliance with Artaxerxes, and the Lacedaemonians with the Egyptians, from whom their king Agesilaus received a large share of spoil. Chabrias, seeing Agesilaus’s good fortune, and thinking himself in no respect inferior to him, set out to assist them of his own accord, and took the command of the Egyptian fleet, while Agesilaus held that of the land forces.
3. Tum praefecti regis Persae legatos miserunt Athenas questum, quod Chabrias adversum regem bellum gereret cum Aegyptiis. Athenienses diem certam Chabriae praestituerunt, quam ante domum nisi redisset, capitis se illum damnaturos denuntiarunt. hoc ille nuntio Athenas rediit, neque ibi diutius est moratus, quam fuit necesse. [2] non enim libenter erat ante oculos suorum civium, quod et vivebat laute et indulgebat sibi liberalius, quam ut invidiam vulgi posset effugere. [3] est enim hoc commune vitium magnis liberisque civitatibus, ut invidia gloriae comes sit et libenter de iis detrahant, quos eminere videant altius, neque animo aequo pauperes alienam opulentiam intueantur. itaque Chabrias, quoad ei licebat, plurimum aberat. [4] neque vero solus ille aberat Athenis libenter, sed omnes fere principes fecerunt idem, quod tantum se ab invidia putabant afuturos, quantum a conspectu suorum recesserint. itaque Conon plurimum Cypri vixit, Iphicrates in Thraecia, Timotheus Lesbi, Chares Sigei, dissimilis quidem Chares horum et factis et moribus, sed tamen Athenis et honoratus et potens.
III. In consequence, the officers of the king of Persia sent deputies to Athens, to complain that Chabrias was warring against their king on the side of the Egyptians. The Athenians then prescribed a certain day to Chabrias, before which if he did not return home, they declared that they would condemn him to die. On receiving this communication he returned to Athens; but did not stay there longer than was necessary; for he did not willingly continue under the eyes of his countrymen, as he was accustomed to live splendidly, and to indulge himself too freely to be able to escape the envy of the populace. For this is a common fault in great and free states, that envy is the attendant on glory, and that the people willingly detract from those whom they see raised above others; nor do the poor contemplate with patience the lot of others who are grown rich. Chabrias, therefore, when he could, was generally away from home. Nor was he the only one that willingly absented himself from Athens, but almost all their great men did the same, for they thought that they should be as far removed from envy as they were distant from their native country. Conon, in consequence, lived very much in Cyprus, Iphicrates in Thrace, Timotheus in Lesbos, Chares at Sigeum. Chares, indeed, differed from the others in conduct and character, but was nevertheless both distinguished and powerful at Athens.
4. Chabrias autem periit bello sociali tali modo. oppugnabant Athenienses Chium. erat in classe Chabrias privatus, sed omnes, qui in magistratu erant, auctoritate anteibat, eumque magis milites quam qui praeerant suspiciebant. [2] quae res ei maturavit mortem. nam dum primus studet portum intrare gubernatoremque iubet eo derigere navem, ipse sibi perniciei fuit: cum enim eo penetrasset, ceterae non sunt secutae. quo facto circumfusus hostium concursu cum fortissime pugnaret, navis rostro percussa coepit sidere. [3] hinc refugere cum posset, si se in mare deiecisset, quod suberat classis Atheniensium, quae excpieret natantes, perire maluit quam armis abiectis navem relinquere, in qua fuerat vectus. id ceteri facere noluerunt, qui nando in tutum pervenerunt. at ille, praestare honestam mortem existimans turpi vitae, comminus pugnans telis hostium interfectus est.
IV. Chabrias lost his life in the Social war, in the following manner. The Athenians were besieging Chios; Chabrias was on board the fleet as a private man, but had more influence than all who were in command; and the soldiers looked up to him more than to those who were over them. This circumstance hastened his death; for while he was anxious to be the first to enter the harbour, and ordered the captain to steer the vessel towards it, he was the occasion of his own death, since, after he had made his way into it, the other ships did not follow. Upon which, being surrounded by a body of the enemy, his ship, while he was fighting with the utmost bravery, was struck with the beak of one of the enemy’s vessels, and began to sink. Though he might have escaped from the danger, if he had cast himself into the sea, for the fleet of the Athenians was at hand to take him up as he swam, he chose rather to die, than to throw away his arms and abandon the vessel in which he had sailed. The others would not act in a similar manner, but gained a place of safety by swimming. He, on the other hand, thinking an honourable death preferable to a dishonourable life, was killed with the weapons of the enemy, while he was fighting hand to hand with them.
XIII. TIMOTHEUS.
The merits and acts of Timotheus, I. A statue erected to him on his victory over the Lacedaemonians, II. Is appointed, at an advanced age, as an adviser to Menestheus; is accused by Chares, and condemned, III. His son Conon obliged to repair the walls of Athens; attachment of Jason to Timotheus, IV.
1. Timotheus, Cononis filius, Atheniensis. hic a patre acceptam gloriam multis auxit virtutibus: fuit enim disertus, impiger, laboriosus, rei militaris peritus neque minus civitatis regendae. [2] multa huius sunt praeclare facta, sed haec maxime illustria. Olynthios et Byzantios bello subegit. Samum cepit: in quo oppido oppugnando superiore bello Athenienses mille et ducenta talenta consumpserant, id ille sine ulla publica impensa populo restituit. adversus Cotum bella gessit ab eoque mille et ducenta talenta praedae in publicum rettulit. [3] Cyzicum obsidione liberavit. Ariobarzani simul cum Agesilao auxilio profectus est, a quo cum Laco pecuniam numeratam accepisset, ille cives suos agro atque urbibus augeri maluit quam id sumere, cuius partem domum suam quisque ferre posset. itaque accepit Crithoten et Sestum.
I. TIMOTHEUS, the son of Conon, a native of Athens, increased the glory which he inherited from his father by many excellent qualities of his own; for he was eloquent, active, persevering, skilled in military affairs, and not less so in managing those of the state. Many honourable actions of his are recorded, the following are the most famous. He subdued the Olynthians and Byzantians by force of arms; he took Samos, on the siege of which, in a previous war, the Athenians had spent twelve hundred talents. This sum he restored to the people without any expense to them; for he carried on a war against Cotys, and thence brought twelve hundred talents’ worth of spoil into the public treasury. He relieved Cyzicus from a siege; he went with Agesilaus to the assistance of Ariobarzanes; but while the Lacedaemonians received ready money
from him in requital, he chose rather to have his countrymen enriched with lands and towns, than to take that of which he himself might carry a share to his own home; and he accordingly received from him Crithote and Sestos.
2. Idem classi praefectus circumvehens Peloponnesum, Laconicen populatus, classem eorum fugavit Corcyram sub imperium Atheniensium redegit sociosque dein adiunxit Epirotas, Athamanas, Chaonas omnesque eas gentes, quae mare illud adiacent. [2] quo facto Lacedaemonii de diutina contentione destiterunt et sua sponte Atheniensibus imperii maritimi principatum concesserunt, pacemque iis legibus constituerunt, ut Athenienses mari duces essent. quae victoria tantae fuit Atticis laetitiae, ut tum primum arae Paci publice sint factae eique deae pulvinar sit institutum. [3] cuius laudis ut memoria maneret, Timotheo publice statuam in foro posuerunt. qui honos huic uni ante id tempus contigit, ut, cum patri populus statuam posuisset, filio quoque daret. sic iuxta posita recens filii veterem patria renovavit memoriam.
II. Being made commander of the fleet, and sailing round the Peloponnesus, he laid waste Laconia, and defeated its naval force. He also reduced Corcyra under the power of the Athenians, and attached to them, as allies, the Epirots, the Athamanians, the Chaonians, and all those nations which lie on the sea. After this occurrence, the Lacedaemonians desisted from the protracted struggle, and yielded, of their own accord, the sovereignty at sea to the Athenians, making peace upon these terms, “that the Athenians should be commanders by sea.” This victory gave so much delight to the Athenians, that altars were then first publicly erected to Peace, and a pulvinar decreed to that goddess. And that the remembrance of this glorious action might be preserved, they raised a statue to Timotheus in the forum at the public expense. Such an honour, that, after the people had erected a statue to the father, they should also present one to the son, happened, down to that period, to him alone. Thus the new statue of the son, placed close by the other, revived old recollections of the father.
Delphi Complete Works of Cornelius Nepos Page 39