Delphi Complete Works of Pausanias

by Pausanias

  [18.1] XVIII. 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.

  [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.

  [18.2] 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.

  [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.

  [18.3] 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.

  [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.

  [18.4] 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.

  [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 κατ᾽ 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.

  [18.5] 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.

  [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 ὑπ᾽ αὐτῆς: ὀψὲ δέ ποτε ὀπήν τε εἶδεν ἀλώπεκι ἐς διάδυσιν ἱκανὴν καὶ φέγγος δι᾽ αὐτῆς.

  [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.

  [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.

  [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.

  19. Λακεδαιμονίοις δὲ παραυτίκα μὲν �
�πὸ ἀνδρῶν ἀπηγγέλλετο αὐτομόλων, ὡς Ἀριστομένης ἐπανήκοι σῶς: νομιζομένου δὲ ἀπίστου κατὰ ταὐτὰ ἢ εἴ τινα τεθνεῶτα ἐλέγετο ἀναβιῶναι, παρ᾽ αὐτοῦ τοιόνδε Ἀριστομένους ὑπῆρξεν ἐς πίστιν. Κορίνθιοι Λακεδαιμονίοις δύναμιν ὡς συνεξαιρήσοντας τὴν Εἶραν ἀποστέλλουσι.

  [19.1] XIX. 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.

  [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.

  [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.

  [3] ἔθυσε δὲ καὶ τῷ Διὶ τῷ Ἰθωμάτᾳ τὴν θυσίαν ἣν ἑκατομφόνια ὀνομάζουσιν. αὕτη δὲ καθεστήκει μὲν ἐκ παλαιοτάτου, θύειν δὲ αὐτὴν Μεσσηνίων ἐνομίζετο ὁπόσοι πολεμίους ἄνδρας κατεργάσαιντο ἑκατόν. Ἀριστομένει δέ, ὅτε ἐπὶ Κάπρου σήματι ἐμαχέσατο, θύσαντι ἑκατομφόνια πρῶτον, δεύτερα ἤδη θῦσαι καὶ ὁ ἐν τῇ νυκτὶ τῶν Κορινθίων παρέσχε φόνος. τοῦτον μὲν δὴ λέγουσι καὶ ἐπὶ ταῖς ὕστερον θῦσαι καταδρομαῖς θυσίαν τρίτην, Λακεδαιμόνιοι δὲ — ἐπῄει γὰρ

  [19.3] He also made the sacrifice called the Offering for the hundred slain to Zeus of Ithome. This was an old-established custom, all Messenians making it who had slain their hundred enemies. Aristomenes first offered it after the battle at the Boar’s Tomb, his second offering was occasioned by the slaughter of the Corinthians in the night. It is said that he made a third offering as the result of his later raids.

  [4] Ὑακίνθια — πρὸς τοὺς ἐν τῇ Εἴρᾳ τεσσαράκοντα ἐποιήσαντο ἡμερῶν σπονδάς: καὶ αὐτοὶ μὲν ἀναχωρήσαντες οἴκαδε ἑώρταζον, Κρῆτες δὲ τοξόται — μετεπέμψαντο γὰρ ἔκ τε Λύκτου καὶ ἑτέρων πόλεων μισθωτούς — οὗτοί σφισιν ἀνὰ τὴν Μεσσηνίαν ἐπλανῶντο. Ἀριστομένην οὖν, ἅτε ἐν σπονδαῖς ἀπωτέρω τῆς Εἴρας γενόμενον καὶ προϊόντα ἀδεέστερον, ἑπτὰ ἄνδρες ἀπὸ τῶν τοξοτῶν τούτων ἐλόχησαν,

  συλλαβόντες δὲ τοῖς ἱμᾶσιν οἷς εἶχον ἐπὶ ταῖς φαρέτραις δέουσιν:

  [19.4] Now the Lacedaemonians, as the festival of Hyacinthus was approaching, made a truce of forty days with the men of Eira. They themselves returned home to keep the feast, but some Cretan archers, whom they had summoned as mercenaries from Lyctus and other cities, were patrolling Messenia for them. Aristomenes then, in view of the truce, was at a distance from Eira and was advancing somewhat carelessly, when seven of these archers laid an ambush for him. They captured him and bound him with the thongs which they had on their quivers, as evening was coming on.

  [5] ἑσπέρα γὰρ ἐπῄει. δύο μὲν οὖν ἐς Σπάρτην ἀπ᾽ αὐτῶν ἐλθόντες Λακεδαιμονίοις Ἀριστομένην εὐηγγελίζοντο ἡλωκέναι: οἱ λοιποὶ δὲ ἀποχωροῦσιν ἐς ἀγρὸν τῶν ἐν τῇ Μεσσηνίᾳ. ἐνταῦθα ᾤκει κόρη σὺν μητρὶ παρθένος, πατρὸς ὀρφανή. τῇ δὲ προτέρᾳ νυκτὶ εἶδεν ὄψιν ἡ παῖς: λέοντα ἐς τὸν ἀγρὸν λύκοι σφίσιν ἤγαγον δεδεμένον καὶ οὐκ ἔχοντα ὄνυχας, αὐτὴ δὲ τοῦ δεσμοῦ τὸν λέοντα ἀπέλυσε καὶ ἀνευροῦσα ἔδωκε τοὺς ὄνυχας, οὕτω τε διασπασθῆναι τοὺς λύκους ἔδοξεν ὑπὸ τοῦ λέοντος.

  [19.5] So two of them went to Sparta, bringing the glad news that Aristomenes had been captured. The rest went to one of the farms in Messenia, where there dwelt a fatherless girl with her mother. On the previous night the girl had seen a dream. Wolves brought a lion to their farm bound and without talons; but she herself loosed the lion from his bonds and found and gave to him his talons, and thus it seemed that the wolves were torn in pieces by the lion.

  [6] τότε δὲ ὡς τὸν Ἀριστομένην ἐσάγουσιν οἱ Κρῆτες, συνεφρόνησεν ἡ παρθένος ὕπαρ ἥκειν τὸ ἐν τῇ νυκτί οἱ πεφηνὸς καὶ ἀνηρώτα τὴν μητέρα ὅστις εἴη: μαθοῦσα δὲ ἐπερρώσθη τε καὶ ἀπιδοῦσα ἐς αὐτὸν τὸ προσταχθὲν συνῆκεν. οἶνον οὖν τοῖς Κρησὶν ἐγχέουσα ἀνέδην, ὡς σφᾶς ἡ μέθη κατελάμβανεν, ὑφαιρεῖται τοῦ μάλιστα ὑπνωμένου τὸ ἐγχειρίδιον: τὰ μὲν δὴ δεσμὰ τοῦ Ἀριστομένους ἔτεμεν ἡ παρθένος, ὁ δὲ παραλαβὼν τὸ ξίφος ἐκείνους διειργάσατο. ταύτην τὴν παρθένον λαμβάνει γυναῖκα Γόργος Ἀριστομένους: ἐδίδου δὲ Ἀριστομένης τῇ παιδὶ ἐκτίνων σῶστρα, ἐπεὶ Γόργῳ οὐκ ἦν πω δέκατον καὶ ὄγδοον ἔτος, ὅτε ἔγημεν.

  [19.6] And now when the Cretans brought in Aristomenes, the girl realized that the dream of the night had come true, and asked her mother who he was. On learning she was encouraged, and looking intently at him understood what she had been bidden to do. Accordingly she plied the Cretans with wine, and when they were overcome with drunkenness she stole away the dagger of the man who was sleeping most heavily. Then the girl cut the bonds of Aristomenes, and he took the sword and despatched the men. This maiden was taken to wife by Gorgus the son of Aristomenes. Aristomenes gave him to the girl as a recompense for saving his life, for Gorgus had not yet completed his eighteenth year when he wedded her.

  SECOND MESSENIAN WAR, HISTORY CONT.

  20. ἑνδεκάτῳ δὲ ἔτει τῆς πολιορκίας τήν τε Εἶραν ἐπέπρωτο ἁλῶναι καὶ ἀναστάτους γενέσθαι Μεσσηνίους, καὶ δή σφισιν ἐπετέλεσεν ὁ θεὸς Ἀριστομένει καὶ Θεόκλῳ χρησθέν τι. τούτοις γὰρ ἐλθοῦσιν ἐς

  Δελφοὺς μετὰ τὴν ἐπὶ τῇ τάφρῳ πληγὴν καὶ ἐπερομένοις ὑπὲρ σωτηρίας τοσόνδε εἶπεν ἡ Πυθία:”εὖτ
ε τράγος πίνῃσι Νέδης ἑλικόρροον ὕδωρ,

  οὐκέτι Μεσσήνην ῥύομαι: σχεδόθεν γὰρ ὄλεθρος.

  “

  [20.1] XX. But in the eleventh year of the siege it was fated that Eira should be taken and the Messenians dispersed, and the god fulfilled for them an oracle given to Aristomenes and Theoclus. They had come to Delphi after the disaster at the Trench and asked concerning safety, receiving this reply from the Pythia:

  Whensoever a he-goat drinks of Neda’s winding stream, no more do I protect Messene, for destruction is at hand.

  [2] εἰσὶ δὲ αἱ πηγαὶ τῆς Νέδας ἐν ὄρει τῷ Λυκαίῳ: προελθὼν δὲ ὁ ποταμὸς διὰ τῆς Ἀρκάδων καὶ ἐπιστρέψας αὖθις ἐς τὴν Μεσσηνίαν ὁρίζει τὰ ἐπὶ θαλάσσῃ Μεσσηνίοις καὶ Ἠλείοις τὴν γῆν. τότε δὲ οἳ μὲν τοὺς αἶγας τοὺς ἄρρενας ἐδεδοίκεσαν μὴ πίνωσιν ἀπὸ τῆς Νέδας: τοῖς δὲ ἄρα ὁ δαίμων προεσήμαινε τοιόνδε. τὸ δένδρον τὸν ἐρινεόν εἰσιν Ἑλλήνων οἳ καλοῦσιν ὀλύνθην, Μεσσήνιοι δὲ αὐτοὶ τράγον. τότε οὖν πρὸς τῇ Νέδᾳ πεφυκὼς ἐρινεὸς οὐκ ἐς εὐθὺ ηὔξητο, ἀλλὰ ἔς τε τὸ ῥεῦμα ἐπέστρεφε καὶ τοῦ ὕδατος ἄκροις τοῖς φύλλοις ἐπέψαυε.

  [20.2] The springs of the Neda are in Mount Lycaeus. The river flows through the land of the Arcadians and turning again towards Messenia forms the boundary on the coast between Messenia and Elis. Then they were afraid of the he-goats drinking from the Neda, but it appeared that what the god foretold to them was this. Some of the Greeks call the wild fig-tree olynthe, but the Messenians themselves tragos (he-goat). Now at that time a wild fig-tree growing on the bank of the Neda had not grown straight up, but was bending towards the stream and touching the water with the tips of its leaves.