Λῆμνον δὲ Μιλτιάδης ὁ Κίμωνος ὧδε ἔσχε. Πελασγοὶ ἐπείτε ἐκ τῆς Ἀττικῆς ὑπὸ Ἀθηναίων ἐξεβλήθησαν, εἴτε ὦν δὴ δικαίως εἴτε ἀδίκως· τοῦτο γὰρ οὐκ ἔχω φράσαι, πλὴν τὰ λεγόμενα, ὅτι Ἑκαταῖος μὲν ὁ Ἡγησάνδρου ἔφησε ἐν τοῖσι λόγοισι λέγων ἀδίκως·
ἐπείτε γὰρ ἰδεῖν τοὺς Ἀθηναίους τὴν χώρην, τὴν σφίσι αὐτοῖσι ὑπὸ τὸν Ὑμησσὸν ἐοῦσαν ἔδοσαν Πελασγοῖσι οἰκῆσαι μισθὸν τοῦ τείχεος τοῦ περὶ τὴν ἀκρόπολιν κοτὲ ἐληλαμένου, ταύτην ὡς ἰδεῖν τοὺς Ἀθηναίους ἐξεργασμένην εὖ, τὴν πρότερον εἶναι κακήν τε καὶ τοῦ μηδενὸς ἀξίην, λαβεῖν φθόνον τε καὶ ἵμερον τῆς γῆς, καὶ οὕτω ἐξελαύνειν αὐτοὺς οὐδεμίαν ἄλλην πρόφασιν προϊσχομένους τοὺς Ἀθηναίους.
ὡς δὲ αὐτοὶ Ἀθηναῖοι λέγουσι, δικαίως ἐξελάσαι. κατοικημένους γὰρ τοὺς Πελασγοὺς ὑπὸ τῷ Ὑμησσῷ, ἐνθεῦτεν ὁρμωμένους ἀδικέειν τάδε. φοιτᾶν γὰρ αἰεὶ τὰς σφετέρας θυγατέρας τε καὶ τοὺς παῖδας ἐπʼ ὕδωρ ἐπὶ τὴν Ἐννεάκρουνον· οὐ γὰρ εἶναι τοῦτον τὸν χρόνον σφίσι κω οὐδὲ τοῖσι ἄλλοισι Ἕλλησι οἰκέτας· ὅκως δὲ ἔλθοιεν αὗται, τοὺς Πελασγοὺς ὑπὸ ὕβριός τε καὶ ὀλιγωρίης βιᾶσθαι σφέας. καὶ ταῦτα μέντοι σφι οὐκ ἀποχρᾶν ποιέειν, ἀλλὰ τέλος καὶ ἐπιβουλεύοντας ἐπιχείρησιν φανῆναι ἐπʼ αὐτοφώρῳ.
ἑωυτοὺς δὲ γενέσθαι τοσούτῳ ἐκείνων ἄνδρας ἀμείνονας, ὅσῳ, παρεὸν ἑωυτοῖσι ἀποκτεῖναι τοὺς Πελασγούς, ἐπεί σφεας ἔλαβον ἐπιβουλεύοντας, οὐκ ἐθελῆσαι, ἀλλά σφι προειπεῖν ἐκ τῆς γῆς ἐξιέναι. τοὺς δὲ οὕτω δὴ ἐκχωρήσαντας ἄλλα τε σχεῖν χωρία καὶ δὴ καὶ Λῆμνον. ἐκεῖνα μὲν δὴ Ἑκαταῖος ἔλεξε, ταῦτα δὲ Ἀθηναῖοι λέγουσι.
Now Miltiades son of Kimon had thus taken possession of the Lemnos:—After the Pelasgians had been cast out of Attica by the Athenians, whether justly or unjustly,—for about this I cannot tell except the things reported, which are these:—Hecataois on the one hand, the son of Hegesander, said in his history that it was done unjustly; for he said that when the Athenians saw the land which extends below Hymettos, which they had themselves given them to dwell in, as payment for the wall built round the Acropolis in former times, when the Athenians, I say, saw that this land was made good by cultivation, which before was bad and worthless, they were seized with jealousy and with longing to possess the land, and so drove them out, not alleging any other pretext: but according to the report of the Athenians themselves they drove them out justly; for the Pelasgians being settled under Hymettos made this a starting-point and committed wrong against them as follows:—the daughters and sons of the Athenians were wont ever to go for water to the spring of Enneacrunos; for at that time neither they nor the other Hellenes as yet had household servants; and when these girls came, the Pelasgians in wantonness and contempt of the Athenians would offer them violence; and it was not enough for them even to do this, but at last they were found in the act of plotting an attack upon the city: and the narrators say that they herein proved themselves better men than the Pelasgians, inasmuch as when they might have slain the Pelasgians, who had been caught plotting against them, they did not choose to do so, but ordered them merely to depart out of the land: and thus having departed out of the land, the Pelasgians took possession of several older places and especially of Lemnos. The former story is that which was reported by Hecataios, while the latter is that which is told by the Athenians.
οἱ δὲ Πελασγοὶ οὗτοι Λῆμνον τότε νεμόμενοι καὶ βουλόμενοι τοὺς Ἀθηναίους τιμωρήσασθαι, εὖ τε ἐξεπιστάμενοι τὰς Ἀθηναίων ὁρτάς, πεντηκοντέρους κτησάμενοι ἐλόχησαν Ἀρτέμιδι ἐν Βραυρῶνι ἀγούσας ὁρτὴν τὰς τῶν Ἀθηναίων γυναῖκας, ἐνθεῦτεν δὲ ἁρπάσαντες τουτέων πολλὰς οἴχοντο ἀποπλέοντες, καί σφεας ἐς Λῆμνον ἀγαγόντες παλλακὰς εἶχον.
ὡς δὲ τέκνων αὗται αἱ γυναῖκες ὑπεπλήσθησαν, γλῶσσάν τε τὴν Ἀττικὴν καὶ τρόπους τοὺς Ἀθηναίων ἐδίδασκον τοὺς παῖδας. οἳ δὲ οὔτε συμμίσγεσθαι τοῖσι ἐκ τῶν Πελασγίδων γυναικῶν παισὶ ἤθελον, εἴ τε τύπτοιτό τις αὐτῶν τινός, ἐβοήθεόν τε πάντες καὶ ἐτιμώρεον ἀλλήλοισι· καὶ δὴ καὶ ἄρχειν τε τῶν παίδων οἱ παῖδες ἐδικαίευν καὶ πολλῷ ἐπεκράτεον.
μαθόντες δὲ ταῦτα οἱ Πελασγοὶ ἑωυτοῖσι λόγους ἐδίδοσαν· καί σφι βουλευομένοισι δεινόν τι ἐσέδυνε, εἰ δὴ διαγινώσκοιεν σφίσι τε βοηθέειν οἱ παῖδες πρὸς τῶν κουριδιέων γυναικῶν τοὺς παῖδας καὶ τούτων αὐτίκα ἄρχειν πειρῴατο, τί δὴ ἀνδρωθέντες δῆθεν ποιήσουσι.
ἐνθαῦτα ἔδοξέ σφι κτείνειν τοὺς παῖδας τοὺς ἐκ τῶν Ἀττικέων γυναικῶν. ποιεῦσι δὴ ταῦτα, προσαπολλύουσι δὲ σφέων καὶ τὰς μητέρας. ἀπὸ τούτου δὲ τοῦ ἔργου καὶ τοῦ προτέρου τούτων, τὸ ἐργάσαντο αἱ γυναῖκες τοὺς ἅμα Θόαντι ἄνδρας σφετέρους ἀποκτείνασαι, νενόμισται ἀνὰ τὴν Ἑλλάδα τὰ σχέτλια ἔργα πάντα Λήμνια καλέεσθαι.
These Pelasgians then, dwelling after that in Lemnos, desired to take vengeance on the Athenians; and having full knowledge also of the festivals of the Athenians, they got fifty-oared galleys and laid wait for the women of the Athenians when they were keeping festival to Artemis in Brauron; and having carried off a number of them from thence, they departed and sailed away home, and taking the women to Lemnos they kept them as concubines. Now when these women had children gradually more and more, they made it their practice to teach their sons both the Attic tongue and the manners of the Athenians. And these were not willing to associate with the sons of the Pelasgian women, and moreover if any of them were struck by any one of those, they all in a body came to the rescue and helped one another. Moreover the boys claimed to have authority over the other boys and got the better of them easily. Perceiving these things the Pelasgians considered the matter; and when they took counsel together, a fear came over them and they thought, if the boys were indeed resolved now to help one another against the sons of the legitimate wives, and were endeavouring already from the first to have authority over them, what would they do when they were grown up to be men? Then they determined to put to death the sons of the Athenian women, and this they actually did; and in addition to them they slew their mothers also. From this deed and from that which was done before this, which the women did when they killed Thoas and the rest, who were their own husbands, it has become a custom in Hellas that all deeds of great cruelty should be called “Lemnian deeds.”.
ἀποκτείνασι δὲ τοῖσι Πελασγοῖσι τοὺς σφετέρους παῖδάς τε καὶ γυναῖκας οὔτε γῆ καρπὸν ἔφερε οὔτε γυναῖκές τε καὶ ποῖμναι ὁμοίως ἔτικτον καὶ πρὸ τοῦ. πιεζόμενοι δὲ λιμῷ καὶ ἀπαιδίῃ ἐς Δελφοὺς ἔπεμπον λύσιν τινὰ αἰτησόμενοι τῶν παρεόντων κακῶν.
ἡ δὲ Πυθίη σφέας ἐκέλευε Ἀθηναίοισι δίκας διδόναι ταύτας τὰς ἂν αὐτοὶ Ἀθηναῖοι δικάσωσι. ἦλθόν τε δὴ ἐς τὰς Ἀθήνας οἱ Πελασγοὶ καὶ δίκας ἐπαγγέλλοντο βουλόμενοι διδόναι παντὸς τοῦ ἀδικήματος.
Ἀθηναῖοι δὲ ἐν τῷ πρυτανηίῳ κλίνην στρώσαντες ὡς εἶχον κάλλιστα καὶ τράπεζαν ἐπιπλέην ἀγαθῶν πάντων παραθέντες, ἐκέλευον τοὺς Πελασγοὺς τὴν χώρην σφίσι παραδιδόναι οὕτω ἔχουσαν.
οἱ δὲ Πελασγοὶ ὑπολαβόντες εἶπαν ἐπεὰν βορέῃ ἀνέμῳ αὐτημερὸν ἐξανύσῃ νηῦς ἐκ τῆς ὑμετέρης ἐς τὴν ἡμετέρην, τότε παραδώσομεν, ἐπιστάμενοι τοῦτο εἶναι ἀδύνατον γενέσθαι. ἡ γὰρ Ἀττικὴ πρὸς νότον κεῖται πολλὸν τῆς Λήμνου.
After the Pelasgians had killed their own sons and wives, the earth did not bear fruit for them, nor did their women or their cattle bring forth young as they did before; and being hard pressed by famine and by childlessness, they sent to Delphi to ask for a release from the evils which were upon them; and the Pythian prophetess bade them pay such penalty to the Athenians as the Athenians themselves should appoint. The Pelasgians came accordingly to Athens and professed that they were willing to pay the penalty for all the wrong which they had done: and the Athenians laid a couch in the fairest possible manner in the City Hall, and having set by it a table covered with all good things, they bade the Pelasgians deliver up to them their land in that condition. Then the Pelasgians answered and said: “When with a North Wind in one single day a ship shall accomplish the voyage from your land to ours, then we will deliver it up,” feeling assured that it was impossible for this to happen, since Attica lies far away to the South of Lemnos.
τότε μὲν τοιαῦτα· ἔτεσι δὲ κάρτα πολλοῖσι ὕστερον τούτων, ὡς ἡ Χερσόνησος ἡ ἐπʼ Ἑλλησπόντῳ ἐγένετο ὑπὸ Ἀθηναίοισι, Μιλτιάδης ὁ Κίμωνος ἐτησιέων ἀνέμων κατεστηκότων νηὶ κατανύσας ἐξ Ἐλαιοῦντος τοῦ ἐν Χερσονήσῳ ἐς Λῆμνον προηγόρευε ἐξιέναι ἐκ τῆς νήσου τοῖσι Πελασγοῖσι, ἀναμιμνήσκων σφέας τὸ χρηστήριον, τὸ οὐδαμὰ ἤλπισαν σφίσι οἱ Πελασγοὶ ἐπιτελέεσθαι.
Ἡφαιστιέες μέν νυν ἐπείθοντο, Μυριναῖοι δὲ οὐ συγγινωσκόμενοι εἶναι τὴν Χερσόνησον Ἀττικὴν ἐπολιορκέοντο, ἐς ὃ καὶ οὗτοι παρέστησαν. οὕτω δὴ τὴν Λῆμνον ἔσχον Ἀθηναῖοί τε καὶ Μιλτιάδης.
Such were the events which happened then: and very many years later, after the Chersonese which is by the Hellespont had come to be under the Athenians, Miltiades the son of Kimon, when the Etesian Winds blew steadily, accomplished the voyage in a ship from Elaius in the Chersonese to Lemnos, and proclaimed to the Pelasgians that they should depart out of the island, reminding them of the oracle, which the Pelasgians had never expected would be accomplished for them. The men of Hephaistia accordingly obeyed; but those of Myrina, not admitting that the Chersonese was Attica, suffered a siege, until at last these also submitted. Thus it was that the Athenians and Miltiades took possession of Lemnos.
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