Delphi Complete Works of Pausanias

by Pausanias

  [5.2] They say that they did not surrender Polychares to the Lacedaemonians for punishment because they also had not surrendered Euaephnus, but that they offered to stand trial at the meeting of the league before the Argives, kinsmen of both parties, and to submit the matter to the court at Athens called the Areopagus, as this court was held to exercise an ancient jurisdiction in cases pertaining to murder.

  [3] Λακεδαιμονίους δὲ οὐ διὰ ταῦτα πολεμῆσαί φασιν, ὑπὸ πλεονεξίας δὲ τῇ σφετέρᾳ τε ἐπιβουλεῦσαι καὶ ἄλλα ἐργάσασθαι, προφέροντες μέν σφισι τὰ Ἀρκάδων, προφέροντες δὲ καὶ τὰ Ἀργείων, ὡς οὔποτε ἐσχήκασι κόρον ἀποτεμνόμενοι τῆς χώρας αἰεί τι ἑκατέρων: Κροίσῳ τε αὐτοῖς δῶρα ἀποστείλαντι γενέσθαι φίλους βαρβάρῳ πρώτους, ἀφ᾽ οὗ γε τούς τε ἄλλους τοὺς ἐν τῇ Ἀσίᾳ κατεδουλώσατο Ἕλληνας καὶ ὅσοι Δωριεῖς ἐν τῇ Καρικῇ κατοικοῦσιν ἠπείρῳ.

  [5.3] They say that these were not the reasons of the Lacedaemonians in going to war, but that they had formed designs on their country through covetousness, as in others of their actions, bringing forward against them their treatment of the Arcadians and of the Argives; for in both cases they have never been satisfied with their continual encroachments. When Croesus sent them presents they were the first to become friends with the barbarian, after he had reduced the other Greeks of Asia Minor and all the Dorians who live on the Carian mainland.

  [4] ἀποφαίνουσι δὲ καὶ ἡνίκα οἱ Φωκέων δυνάσται τὸ ἱερὸν τὸ ἐν Δελφοῖς κατειλήφασιν, ἰδίᾳ τε κατὰ ἄνδρα τοὺς βασιλεύοντας ἐν Σπάρτῃ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τοὺς ἐπ᾽ ἀξιώματος καὶ κοινῇ τῶν τε ἐφόρων τὴν ἀρχὴν καὶ τὴν γερουσίαν μετασχόντας τῶν τοῦ θεοῦ. πρό τε δὴ πάντων, ὡς οὐδὲν ἂν τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους κέρδους ἕνεκα ὀκνήσαντας, τὴν συμμαχίαν ὀνειδίζουσί σφισι τὴν πρὸς Ἀπολλόδωρον τὸν ἐν Κασσανδρείᾳ τυραννήσαντα.

  [5.4] They point out too that when the Phocian leaders had seized the temple at Delphi, the kings and every Spartan of repute privately, and the board of ephors and senate publicly, had a share of the god’s property. As the most convincing proof that the Lacedaemonians would stick at nothing for the sake of gain, they reproach them with their alliance with Apollodorus, who became tyrant in Cassandreia.

  [5] ἀνθ᾽ ὅτου δὲ Μεσσήνιοι τὸ ὄνειδος ἥγηνται τοῦτο οὕτω πικρόν, οὔ μοι τῷ λόγῳ τῷ παρόντι ἦν ἐπεισάγεσθαι: ὅτι γὰρ μὴ τῶν Μεσσηνίων τὸ εὔψυχον καὶ χρόνου μῆκος ὃν ἐπολέμησαν διάφορα ἐγένετο τῆς Ἀπολλοδώρου τυραννίδος, ἔς γε τὰς συμφορὰς οὐ πολλῷ τινι ἀποδέοι ἂν ἃ οἱ Κασσανδρεῖς πεπόνθασι.

  [5.5] I could not introduce into the present account the reasons why the Messenians have come to regard this as so bitter a reproach. Although the courage of the Messenians and the length of time for which they fought differ from the facts of the tyranny of Apollodorus, in their disastrous character the sufferings of the people of Cassandreia would not fall far short of the Messenian.

  [6] ταῦτα μὲν δὴ αἴτια ἑκάτεροι τοῦ πολέμου γενέσθαι λέγουσι: τότε δὲ πρεσβεία Λακεδαιμονίων ἥκουσα ἐξῄτει Πολυχάρην. οἱ δὲ τῶν Μεσσηνίων βασιλεῖς τοῖς μὲν πρέσβεσιν ἀπεκρίναντο ὅτι βουλευσάμενοι μετὰ τοῦ δήμου τὰ δόξαντα ἐπιστελοῦσιν ἐς Σπάρτην, αὐτοὶ δὲ ἐκείνων ἀπελθόντων ἐς ἐκκλησίαν τοὺς πολίτας συνῆγον. αἱ δὲ γνῶμαι διάφοροι παρὰ πολὺ ἐγίνοντο, Ἀνδροκλέους μὲν ἐκδιδόναι Πολυχάρην ὡς ἀνόσιά τε καὶ πέρα δεινῶν εἰργασμένον: Ἀντίοχος δὲ ἄλλα τε ἀντέλεγε καὶ τὸ ἁπάντων οἴκτιστον, εἰ Πολυχάρης ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς πείσεται τοῖς Εὐαίφνου, καταριθμούμενος ὅσα καὶ οἷα ἦν ἀνάγκη παθεῖν.

  [5.6] These then are the reasons for the war which the two sides allege. An embassy then came from the Lacedaemonians to demand the surrender of Polychares. The Messenian kings replied to the ambassadors that after deliberation with the people they would send the findings to Sparta and after their departure they themselves summoned the citizens to a meeting. The views put forward differed widely, Androcles urging the surrender of Polychares as guilty of an impious and abominable crime. Antiochus among other arguments urged against him that it would be the most piteous thing that Polychares should suffer before the eyes of Euaephnus, and enumerated in detail all that he would have to undergo.

  [7] τέλος δὲ ἐς τοσοῦτο προήχθησαν οἵ τε Ἀνδροκλεῖ καὶ οἱ τῷ Ἀντιόχῳ συσπεύδοντες ὥστε καὶ τὰ ὅπλα ἔλαβον. οὐ μὴν ἐς μακράν γε προῆλθέ σφισιν ἡ μάχη: περιόντες γὰρ ἀριθμῷ καὶ πολὺ οἱ σὺν Ἀντιόχῳ τόν τε Ἀνδροκλέα καὶ τῶν περὶ αὐτὸν τοὺς λόγου μάλιστα ἀξίους ἀποκτείνουσιν. Ἀντίοχος δὲ βασιλεύων ἤδη μόνος ἔπεμπεν ἐς Σπάρτην ὡς ἐπιτρέπειν ἐθέλοι τοῖς δικαστηρίοις ἃ ἤδη λέλεκταί μοι: Λακεδαιμόνιοι δὲ οὐ λέγονται τοῖς κομίσασι τὰ γράμματα ἀποκρίνασθαι.

  [5.7] Finally the supporters of Androcles and of Antiochus were so carried away that they took up arms. But the battle did not last long, for the party of Antiochus, far outnumbering the other, killed Androcles and his principal supporters, Antiochus, now sole king, sent to Sparta that he was ready to submit the matter to the courts which I have already mentioned. But the Lacedaemonians are said to have made no reply to the bearers of the letter.

  [8] μησὶ δὲ οὐ πολλοῖς ὕστερον Ἀντιόχου τελευτήσαντος Εὐφαὴς ὁ Ἀντιόχου παρέλαβε τὴν ἀρχήν. Λακεδαιμόνιοι δὲ οὔτε κήρυκα ἀποστέλλουσι προεροῦντα Μεσσηνίοις πόλεμον οὔτε προαπειπάμενοι τὴν φιλίαν, κρύφα δὲ καὶ μάλιστα ὡς ἐδύναντο ἐν ἀπορρήτῳ παρασκευασάμενοι, προομνύουσιν ὅρκον μήτε τοῦ πολέμου μῆκος, ἢν μὴ δι᾽ ὀλίγου κριθῇ, μήτε τὰς συμφοράς, εἰ μεγάλαι πολεμοῦσι γένοιντο, ἀποστρέψειν σφᾶς πρὶν ἢ κτήσαιντο χώραν τὴν Μεσσηνίαν δοριάλωτον.

  [5.8] Not many months later Antiochus died and his son Euphaes succeeded to the kingdom. The Lacedaemonians, without sending a herald to declare war on the Messenians or renouncing their friendship beforehand, had made their preparations secretly and with all the concealment possible; they first took an oath that neither the length of the war, should it not be decided soon, nor their disasters, however great they might be, would deter them until they won the land of Messenia by the sword.

  [9] ταῦτα προομόσαντες ἔξοδον νύκτωρ ἐποιοῦντο ἐπὶ Ἄμφειαν, Ἀλκαμένην τὸν Τηλέκλου τῆς στρατιᾶς ἡγεμόνα ἀποδείξαντες. ἡ δὲ Ἄμφεια πρὸς τῇ Λακω�
�ικῇ πόλισμα ἦν ἐν τῇ Μεσσηνίᾳ, μεγέθει μὲν οὐ μέγα, ἐπὶ λόφου δὲ ὑψηλοῦ κείμενον, καὶ ὑδάτων πηγὰς εἶχεν ἀφθόνους: ἐδόκει δὲ καὶ ἄλλως ἐς τὸν πάντα πόλεμον ὁρμητήριόν σφισιν ἐπιτήδειον ἡ Ἄμφεια εἶναι. καὶ τό τε πόλισμα αἱροῦσι πυλῶν ἀνεῳγμένων καὶ φυλακῆς οὐκ ἐνούσης καὶ τῶν Μεσσηνίων τοὺς ἐγκαταληφθέντας φονεύουσι, τοὺς μὲν ἔτι ἐν ταῖς εὐναῖς, τοὺς δὲ ὡς ᾔσθοντο πρός τε ἱερὰ θεῶν καὶ βωμοὺς καθημένους ἱκέτας: ὀλίγοι δὲ καὶ οἱ διαφυγόντες ἐγένοντο.

  [5.9] After taking this oath, they attacked Ampheia by night, appointing Alcamenes the son of Teleclus leader of the force. Ampheia is a small town in Messenia near the Laconian border, of no great size, but situated on a high hill and possessing copious springs of water. It seemed generally a suitable base for the whole war. The gates being open and the town not garrisoned, they took it and killed the Messenians captured there, some still in their beds and others who had taken refuge at the sanctuaries and altars of the gods when they realized what had happened. Those who escaped were few.

  [10] ταύτην Λακεδαιμόνιοι πρώτην ἐπὶ Μεσσηνίους ἔξοδον ἐποιήσαντο ἔτει δευτέρῳ τῆς ἐνάτης Ὀλυμπιάδος, ἣν Ξενοδόκος Μεσσήνιος ἐνίκα στάδιον: Ἀθήνῃσι δὲ οὐκ ἦσάν πω τότε οἱ τῷ κλήρῳ κατ᾽ ἐνιαυτὸν ἄρχοντες: τοὺς γὰρ ἀπὸ Μελάνθου, καλουμένους δὲ Μεδοντίδας, κατ᾽ ἀρχὰς μὲν ἀφείλοντο ὁ δῆμος τῆς ἐξουσίας τὸ πολὺ καὶ ἀντὶ βασιλείας μετέστησαν ἐς ἀρχὴν ὑπεύθυνον, ὕστερον δὲ καὶ προθεσμίαν ἐτῶν δέκα ἐποίησαν αὐτοῖς τῆς ἀρχῆς. τότε δὲ ὑπὸ τὴν κατάληψιν τῆς Ἀμφείας Αἰσιμίδης Ἀθηναίοις ἦρχεν ὁ Αἰσχύλου πέμπτον ἔτος.

  [5.10] This was the first attack which the Lacedaemonians made on the Messenians, in the second year of the ninth Olympiad, when Xenodocus of Messenia won the short foot-race. In Athens there were not as yet the archons appointed annually by lot for at first the people deprived the descendants of Melanthus, called Medontidae, of most of their power, transforming the kingship into a constitutional office; afterwards they limited their tenure of office to ten years. At the time of the seizure of Ampheia, Aesimides the son of Aeschylus was holding his fifth year office at Athens.

  6. πρὶν δὲ ἢ συγγράφειν με τὸν πόλεμον καὶ ὁπόσα πολεμοῦσιν ἑκατέροις ὁ δαίμων παθεῖν ἢ δρᾶσαι παρεσκεύασε, διακρῖναί τι καὶ ἡλικίας ἔργα πέρι ἠθέλησα ἀνδρὸς Μεσσηνίου. τὸν γὰρ πόλεμον τοῦτον γενόμενον μὲν Λακεδαιμονίων καὶ τῶν συμμάχων πρὸς Μεσσηνίους καὶ τοὺς ἐπικούρους, ὀνομασθέντα δὲ οὐκ ἀπὸ τῶν ἐπιστρατευσάντων ὥσπερ γε ὁ Μηδικὸς καὶ ὁ Πελοποννήσιος, Μεσσήνιον δὲ ἀπὸ τῶν συμφορῶν, καθὰ δὴ καὶ τὸν ἐπὶ Ἰλίῳ κληθῆναι Τρωικὸν καὶ οὐχ Ἑλληνικὸν ἐξενίκησεν, τοῦτον γὰρ τῶν Μεσσηνίων τὸν πόλεμον Ῥιανός τε ἐν τοῖς ἔπεσιν ἐποίησεν ὁ

  Βηναῖος καὶ ὁ Πριηνεὺς Μύρων: λόγοι δὲ πεζοὶ Μύρωνός ἐστιν ἡ συγγραφή.

  [6.1] VI. Before I wrote the history of the war and all the sufferings and actions that heaven prepared in it for both sides, I wished to reach a decision regarding the age of a certain Messenian. This war was fought between the Lacedaemonians with their allies and the Messenians with their supporters, but received its name not from the invaders like the Persian and Peloponnesian wars, but was called Messenian from their disasters, just as the name Trojan war, rather than Greek, came to be universally applied to the war at Troy. An account of this war of the Messenians has been given by Rhianus of Bene in his epic, and by Myron of Priene. Myron’s history is in prose.

  [2] συνεχῶς μὲν δὴ τὰ πάντα ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἐς τοῦ πολέμου τὴν τελευτὴν οὐδετέρῳ διήνυσται: μέρος δὲ ᾧ ἑκάτερος ἠρέσκετο, ὁ μὲν τῆς τε Ἀμφείας τὴν ἅλωσιν καὶ τὰ ἐφεξῆς συνέθηκεν οὐ πρόσω τῆς Ἀριστοδήμου τελευτῆς, Ῥιανὸς δὲ τοῦδε μὲν τοῦ πρώτου τῶν πολέμων οὐδὲ ἥψατο ἀρχήν: ὁπόσα δὲ χρόνῳ συνέβη τοῖς Μεσσηνίοις ἀποστᾶσιν ἀπὸ Λακεδαιμονίων, ὁ δὲ καὶ ταῦτα μὲν οὐ τὰ πάντα ἔγραψε, τῆς μάχης δὲ τὰ ὕστερα ἣν ἐμαχέσαντο ἐπὶ τῇ τάφρῳ τῇ καλουμένῃ Μεγάλῃ.

  [6.2] Neither writer achieved a complete and continuous account of the whole war from its beginning to the end, but only of the part which each selected: Myron narrated the capture of Ampheia and subsequent events down to the death of Aristodemus; Rhianus did not touch this first war at all. He described the events that in time befell the Messenians after their revolt from the Lacedaemonians, not indeed the whole of them, but those subsequent to the battle which they fought at the Great Trench, as it is called.

  [3] ἄνδρα οὖν Μεσσήνιον — τούτου γὰρ δὴ ἕνεκα τὸν πάντα ἐποιησάμην Ῥιανοῦ καὶ Μύρωνος λόγον — Ἀριστομένην, ὃς καὶ πρῶτος καὶ μάλιστα τὸ Μεσσήνης ὄνομα ἐς ἀξίωμα προήγαγε, τοῦτον τὸν ἄνδρα ἐπεισήγαγε μὲν ὁ Πριηνεὺς ἐς τὴν συγγραφήν, Ῥιανῷ δὲ ἐν τοῖς ἔπεσιν οὐδὲν Ἀριστομένης ἐστὶν ἀφανέστερος ἢ Ἀχιλλεὺς ἐν Ἰλιάδι Ὁμήρῳ. διάφορα οὖν ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον εἰρηκότων, προσέσθαι μὲν τὸν ἕτερόν μοι τῶν λόγων καὶ οὐχ ἅμα ἀμφοτέρους ὑπελείπετο, Ῥιανὸς δέ μοι ποιῆσαι μᾶλλον ἐφαίνετο εἰκότα ἐς τὴν Ἀριστομένους ἡλικίαν:

  [6.3] The Messenian, Aristomenes, on whose account I have made my whole mention of Rhianus and Myron, was the man who first and foremost raised the name of Messene to renown. He was introduced by Myron into his history, while to Rhianus in his epic Aristomenes is as great a man as is the Achilles of the Iliad to Homer. As their statements differ so widely, it remained for me to adopt one or other of the accounts, but not both together, and Rhianus appeared to me to have given the more probable account as to the age of Aristomenes.

  [4] Μύρωνα δὲ ἐπί τε ἄλλοις καταμαθεῖν ἔστιν οὐ προορώμενον εἰ ψευδῆ τε καὶ οὐ πιθανὰ δόξει λέγειν καὶ οὐχ ἥκιστα ἐν τῇδε τῇ Μεσσηνίᾳ συγγραφῇ. πεποίηκε γὰρ ὡς ἀποκτείνειε Θεόπομπον τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων τὸν βασιλέα Ἀριστομένης ὀλίγον πρὸ τῆς Ἀριστοδήμου τελευτῆς: Θεόπομπον δὲ οὔτε μάχης γινομένης οὔτε ἄλλως προαποθανόντα ἴσμεν πρὶν ἢ διαπολεμηθῆναι τὸν πόλεμον.

  [6.4] One may realize in others of his works that Myron gives no heed to the question of his statements seeming to lack truth and credibility, and particularly in this Messenian history. For he has made Aristomenes kill Theopompu
s, the king of the Lacedaemonians, shortly before the death of Aristodemus but we know that Theopompus was not killed either in battle or in any other way before the war was concluded.

  [5] οὗτος δὲ ὁ Θεόπομπος: ἦν καὶ ὁ πέρας ἐπιθεὶς τῷ πολέμῳ: μαρτυρεῖ δέ μοι καὶ τὰ ἐλεγεῖα τῶν Τυρταίου λέγοντα “ἡμετέρῳ βασιλῆι θεοῖσι φίλῳ Θεοπόμπῳ,

  ὃν διὰ Μεσσήνην εἵλομεν εὐρύχορον.

  “Tyrtaeus, unknown location.ὁ τοίνυν Ἀριστομένης δόξῃ γε ἐμῇ γέγονεν ἐπὶ τοῦ πολέμου τοῦ ὑστέρου: καὶ τὰ ἐς αὐτόν, ἐπειδὰν ἐς τοῦτο ὁ λόγος ἀφίκηται, τηνικαῦτα ἐπέξειμι.

  [6.5] It was this Theopompus who put an end to the war, and my evidence is the lines of Tyrtaeus, which say:–

  To our king beloved of the gods, Theopompus, through whom we took Messene with wide dancing-grounds. Tyrtaeus, unknown location.

  Aristomenes then in my view belongs to the time of the second war, and I will relate his history when I come to this.

  [6] οἱ δὲ Μεσσήνιοι τότε, ὡς τὰ περὶ τὴν Ἄμφειαν ἤκουον παρ᾽ αὐτῶν τῶν ἀποσωθέντων ἐκ τῆς ἁλώσεως, συνελέγοντο ἐς Στενύκληρον ἀπὸ τῶν πόλεων. ἀθροισθέντος δὲ ἐς ἐκκλησίαν τοῦ δήμου καὶ ἄλλοι τῶν ἐν τέλει καὶ τελευταῖος ὁ βασιλεὺς παρεκελεύετο μήτε τῆς Ἀμφείας καταπεπλῆχθαι τὴν πόρθησιν, ὡς τὸν πάντα ἤδη κεκριμένον δι᾽ αὐτῆς πόλεμον, μήτε ὡς τῆς σφετέρας κρείσσονα τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων δεδοικέναι τὴν παρασκευήν: μελέτην μὲν γὰρ ἐκείνοις τῶν πολεμικῶν ἐκ χρόνου πλείονος, σφίσι δὲ εἶναι τήν τε ἀνάγκην ἰσχυροτέραν ἀνδράσιν ἀγαθοῖς γίνεσθαι καὶ τὸ εὐμενέστερον ἔσεσθαι παρὰ τῶν θεῶν ἀμύνουσι τῇ οἰκείᾳ καὶ οὐκ ἀδικίας ἄρχουσιν.