τῷ βάθρῳ δὲ τῷ ὑπὸ τὸν ἵππον τὸν δούρειον ἐπίγραμμα μέν ἐστιν ἀπὸ δεκάτης τοῦ Μαραθωνίου ἔργου τεθῆναι τὰς εἰκόνας· εἰσὶ δὲ Ἀθηνᾶ τε καὶ Ἀπόλλων καὶ ἀνὴρ τῶν στρατηγησάντων Μιλτιάδης· ἐκ δὲ τῶν ἡρώων καλουμένων Ἐρεχθεύς τε καὶ Κέκροψ καὶ Πανδίων, καὶ Λεώς τε καὶ Ἀντίοχος ὁ ἐκ Μήδας Ἡρακλεῖ γενόμενος τῆς Φύλαντος, ἔτι δὲ Αἰγεύς τε καὶ παίδων τῶν Θησέως Ἀκάμας, οὗτοι μὲν καὶ φυλαῖς Ἀθήνῃσιν ὀνόματα κατὰ μάντευμα ἔδοσαν τὸ ἐκ Δελφῶν· ὁ δὲ Μελάνθου Κόδρος καὶ Θησεὺς καὶ Νηλεύς , οὗτοι δὲ οὐκέτι τῶν ἐπωνύμων εἰσί.
τοὺς μὲν δὴ κατειλεγμένους Φειδίας ἐποίησε, καὶ ἀληθεῖ λόγῳ δεκάτη καὶ οὗτοι τῆς μάχης εἰσίν· Ἀντίγονον δὲ καὶ τὸν παῖδα Δημήτριον καὶ Πτολεμαῖον τὸν Αἰγύπτιον χρόνῳ ὕστερον ἀπέστειλαν ἐς Δελφούς, τὸν μὲν Αἰγύπτιον καὶ εὐνοίᾳ τινὶ ἐς αὐτόν, τοὺς δὲ Μακεδόνας τῷ ἐς αὐτοὺς δέει.
πλησίον δὲ τοῦ ἵππου καὶ ἄλλα ἀναθήματά ἐστιν Ἀργείων, οἱ ἡγεμόνες τῶν ἐς Θήβας ὁμοῦ Πολυνείκει στρατευσάντων, Ἄδραστός τε ὁ Ταλαοῦ καὶ Τυδεὺς Οἰνέως καὶ οἱ ἀπόγονοι Προίτου Καπανεὺς Ἱππόνου καὶ Ἐτέοκλος ὁ Ἴφιος, Πολυνείκης τε καὶ ὁ Ἱππομέδων ἀδελφῆς Ἀδράστου παῖς· Ἀμφιαράου δὲ καὶ ἅρμα ἐγγὺς πεποίηται καὶ ἐφεστηκὼς Βάτων ἐπὶ τῷ ἅρματι ἡνίοχός τε τῶν ἵππων καὶ τῷ Ἀμφιαράῳ καὶ ἄλλως προσήκων κατὰ οἰκειότητα· τελευταῖος δὲ Ἀλιθέρσης ἐστὶν αὐτῶν.
οὗτοι μὲν δὴ Ὑπατοδώρου καὶ Ἀριστογείτονός εἰσιν ἔργα, καὶ ἐποίησαν σφᾶς, ὡς αὐτοὶ Ἀργεῖοι λέγουσιν, ἀπὸ τῆς νίκης ἥντινα ἐν Οἰνόῃ τῇ Ἀργείᾳ αὐτοί τε καὶ Ἀθηναίων ἐπίκουροι Λακεδαιμονίους ἐνίκησαν. ἀπὸ δὲ τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἐμοὶ δοκεῖν ἔργου καὶ τοὺς Ἐπιγόνους ὑπὸ Ἑλλήνων καλουμένους ἀνέθεσαν οἱ Ἀργεῖοι· κεῖνται γὰρ δὴ εἰκόνες καὶ τούτων, Σθένελος καὶ Ἀλκμαίων, κατὰ ἡλικίαν ἐμοὶ δοκεῖν πρὸ Ἀμφιλόχου τετιμημένος, ἐπὶ δὲ αὐτοῖς Πρόμαχος καὶ Θέρσανδρος καὶ Αἰγιαλεύς τε καὶ Διομήδης· ἐν μέσῳ δὲ Διομήδους καὶ τοῦ Αἰγιαλέως ἐστὶν Εὐρύαλος.
ἀπαντικρὺ δὲ αὐτῶν ἀνδριάντες εἰσὶν ἄλλοι· τούτους δὲ ἀνέθεσαν οἱ Ἀργεῖοι τοῦ οἰκισμοῦ τοῦ Μεσσηνίων Θηβαίοις καὶ Ἐπαμινώνδᾳ μετασχόντες. ἡρώων δέ εἰσιν αἱ εἰκόνες, Δαναὸς μὲν βασιλέων ἰσχύσας τῶν ἐν Ἄργει μέγιστον, Ὑπερμήστρα δὲ ἅτε καθαρὰ χεῖρας μόνη τῶν ἀδελφῶν· παρὰ δὲ αὐτὴν καὶ ὁ Λυγκεὺς καὶ ἅπαν τὸ ἐφεξῆς αὐτῶν γένος τὸ ἐς Ἡρακλέα τε καὶ ἔτι πρότερον καθῆκον ἐς Περσέα.
Ταραντίνων δὲ οἱ ἵπποι οἱ χαλκοῖ καὶ αἰχμάλωτοι γυναῖκες ἀπὸ Μεσσαπίων εἰσίν, ὁμόρων τῇ Ταραντίνων βαρβάρων, Ἀγελάδα δὲ ἔργα τοῦ Ἀργείου. Τάραντα δὲ ἀπῴκισαν μὲν Λακεδαιμόνιοι, οἰκιστὴς δὲ ἐγένετο Σπαρτιάτης Φάλανθος. στελλομένῳ δὲ ἐς ἀποικίαν τῷ Φαλάνθῳ λόγιον ἦλθεν ἐκ Δελφῶν· ὑετοῦ αὐτὸν αἰσθόμενον ὑπὸ αἴθρᾳ, τηνικαῦτα καὶ χώραν κτήσεσθαι καὶ πόλιν.
τὸ μὲν δὴ παραυτίκα οὔτε ἰδίᾳ τὸ μάντευμα ἐπισκεψάμενος οὔτε πρὸς τῶν ἐξηγητῶν τινα ἀνακοινώσας κατέσχε ταῖς ναυσὶν ἐς Ἰταλίαν· ὡς δέ οἱ νικῶντι τοὺς βαρβάρους οὐκ ἐγίνετο οὔτε τινὰ ἑλεῖν τῶν πόλεων οὔτε ἐπικρατῆσαι χώρας, ἐς ἀνάμνησιν ἀφικνεῖτο τοῦ χρησμοῦ, καὶ ἀδύνατα ἐνόμιζέν οἱ τὸν θεὸν χρῆσαι· μὴ γὰρ ἄν ποτε ἐν καθαρῷ καὶ αἰθρίῳ τῷ ἀέρι ὑσθῆναι. καὶ αὐτὸν ἡ γυνὴ ἀθύμως ἔχοντα —ἠκολουθήκει γὰρ οἴκοθεν—τά τε ἄλλα ἐφιλοφρονεῖτο καὶ ἐς τὰ γόνατα ἐσθεμένη τὰ αὑτῆς τοῦ ἀνδρὸς τὴν κεφαλὴν ἐξέλεγε τοὺς φθεῖρας· καί πως ὑπὸ εὐνοίας δακρῦσαι παρίσταται τῇ γυναικὶ ὁρώσῃ τοῦ ἀνδρὸς ἐς οὐδὲν προχωροῦντα τὰ πράγματα.
προέχει δὲ ἀφειδέστερον τῶν δακρύων καὶ—ἔβρεχε γὰρ τοῦ Φαλάνθου τὴν κεφαλήν—συνίησί τε τῆς μαντείας—ὄνομα γὰρ δὴ ἦν Αἴθρα τῇ γυναικί—καὶ οὕτω τῇ ἐπιούσῃ νυκτὶ Τάραντα τῶν βαρβάρων εἷλε μεγίστην καὶ εὐδαιμονεστάτην τῶν ἐπὶ θαλάσσῃ πόλεων. Τάραντα δὲ τὸν ἥρω Ποσειδῶνός φασι καὶ ἐπιχωρίας νύμφης παῖδα εἶναι, ἀπὸ δὲ τοῦ ἥρωος τεθῆναι τὰ ὀνόματα τῇ πόλει τε καὶ τῷ ποταμῷ· καλεῖται γὰρ δὴ Τάρας κατὰ τὰ αὐτὰ τῇ πόλει καὶ ὁ ποταμός.
On the pedestal below the Wooden Horse is an inscription stating that the statues were made out of a tithe of the spoils taken at the battle of Marathon. The statues are those of Athena, Apollo, and one of the generals, Miltiades. Of the heroes, as they are called, there are Erechtheus, Cecrops, Pandion, Leos, and Antiochus, the son of Hercules by Meda, daughter of Phylas, also Aegeus and Acamas, one of the sons of Theseus. These gave names to tribes at Athens, in accordance with a Delphic oracle ; but Codrus, son of Melanthus, Theseus, and Phyleus are not of the number of the heroes who gave their names to tribes. The statues I have enumerated were made by Phidias, and they really do form part of the tithe of the battle-spoils. But the statues of Antigonus, his son Demetrius, and Ptolemy the Egyptian, were sent to Delphi by the Athenians at a later time; that of the Egyptian was sent out of friendship for him, but the statues of the Macedonians were sent because they were feared.
Near the horse are other offerings of the Argives, representing the leaders of the army that marched to Thebes with Polynices, namely, Adrastus, son of Talaus, and Tydeus, son of Oeneus, and the descendants of Proetus, to wit, Capaneus, son of Hipponous, and Eteoclus, son of Iphis, also Polynices, and Hippomedon, a son of Adrastus’ sister. Near them is represented the chariot of Amphiaraus with Baton, the charioteer and kinsman of Amphiaraus, standing in it. Last of all is Alitherses. These are works of Hypatodorus and Aristogiton, and they were made, as the Argives themselves declare, from the spoils of the victory which the Argives and their Athenian allies won over the Lacedaemonians at Oenoe in Argolis. From the spoils of the same battle, I believe, were made the statues of the Epigoni, as the Greeks call them, which the Argives dedicated. For there are statues of the Epigoni also, namely Sthenelus and Alcmaeon, who, I suppose, was preferred to Amphilochus on the ground of his age ; also Promachus, Thersander, Aegialeus, and Diomede; and between Diomede and Aegialeus is Euryalus. Opposite them are other statues, dedicated by the Argives for the share they took with Epaminondas and the Thebans in founding Messene: they are statues of heroes, namely, Danaus, the most powerful king who ever reigned in Argos, and Hypermnestra, because she alone of all her sisters kept her hands clean of blood ; and beside her is Lynceus, and the whole race from them up to Hercules, and still further back to Perseus.
The bronze horses and the captive women are offerings of the Tarentines from spoils taken from the Messapians, a barbarous people on the borders of the Tarentine territory: the statues are works of Agelades the Argive. Tarentum is a Lacedaemonian colony: the founder was Phalanthus, a Spartan. As he was setting out to found a colony, an oracle came to him from Delphi telling him that he would gain a country and a city when he should feel rain under a cloudless sky (aithra). At first, without inquiring into the meaning of the oracle himself, or communicating it to one of the interpreters, he put in with his ships to Italy. But when, in spite of his victories over the barbarians, he could not take any of their cities, or make himself master of the country, he remembered the oracle, and thought that the god had predicted what could never come to pass; for never surely could rain fall under a clear bright sky. In his despondency his wife, who had followed him from home, caressed him: in particular she laid his head on her lap and loused him; and somehow for the love she bore him, she fell a-weeping to see that his fortunes were at a standstill. Now, as she shed tears freely and wetted her husband’s head, he perceived the meaning of the oracle, for his wife’s name was Aethra ; and that very night he took Tarentum, the greatest and wealthiest of all the cities of the barbarians on the sea.
They say that the hero Taras was a son of Poseidon and a native nymph, and that both the city and the river were named after him ; for, like the city, the river is called Taras.
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