καὶ ἤδη τὸ μετὰ τοῦτο ἐς ἀνδρῶν ἀγαθῶν φορὰν ἔληξεν ἡ Ἑλλάς. Μιλτιάδης μὲν γὰρ ὁ Κίμωνος τούς τε ἐς Μαραθῶνα ἀποβάντας τῶν βαρβάρων κρατήσας μάχῃ καὶ τοῦ πρόσω τὸν Μήδων ἐπισχὼν στόλον ἐγένετο εὐεργέτης πρῶτος κοινῇ τῆς Ἑλλάδος, Φιλοποίμην δὲ ὁ Κραύγιδος ἔσχατος· οἱ δὲ πρότερον Μιλτιάδου λαμπρὰ ἔργα ἀποδειξάμενοι, Κόδρος τε ὁ Μελάνθου καὶ ὁ Σπαρτιάτης Πολύδωρος καὶ Ἀριστομένης ὁ Μεσσήνιος καὶ εἰ δή τις ἄλλος, πατρίδας ἕκαστοι τὰς αὑτῶν καὶ οὐκ ἀθρόαν φανοῦνται τὴν Ἑλλάδα ὠφελήσαντες.
Μιλτιάδου δὲ ὕστερον Λεωνίδας ὁ Ἀναξανδρίδου καὶ Θεμιστοκλῆς ὁ Νεοκλέους ἀπώσαντο ἐκ τῆς Ἑλλάδος Ξέρξην, ὁ μὲν ταῖς ναυμαχίαις ἀμφοτέραις, Λεωνίδας δὲ ἀγῶνι τῷ ἐν Θερμοπύλαις. Ἀριστείδην δὲ τὸν Λυσιμάχου καὶ Παυσανίαν τὸν Κλεομβρότου Πλαταιᾶσιν ἡγησαμένους, τὸν μὲν τὰ ὕστερον ἀφείλετο ἀδικήματα εὐεργέτην μὴ ὀνομασθῆναι τῆς Ἑλλάδος, Ἀριστείδην δὲ ὅτι ἔταξε φόρους τοῖς τὰς νήσους ἔχουσιν Ἕλλησι· πρὸ Ἀριστείδου δὲ ἦν ἅπαν τὸ Ἑλληνικὸν ἀτελὲς φόρων.
Ξάνθιππος δὲ ὁ Ἀρίφρονος καὶ Κίμων, ὁ μὲν ὁμοῦ Λεωτυχίδῃ τῷ βασιλεύοντι ἐν Σπάρτῃ τὸ Μήδων ναυτικὸν ἔφθειρεν ἐν Μυκάλῃ, Κίμωνι δὲ πολλὰ καὶ ἄξια ζήλου κατειργασμένα ἐστὶν ὑπὲρ τῶν Ἑλλήνων. τοὺς δὲ ἐπὶ τοῦ Πελοποννησιακοῦ πρὸς Ἀθηναίους πολέμου, καὶ μάλιστα αὐτῶν τοὺς εὐδοκιμήσαντας, φαίη τις ἂν αὐτόχειρας καὶ ὅτι ἐγγύτατα καταποντιστὰς εἶναι σφᾶς τῆς Ἑλλάδος.
κεκακωμένον δὲ ἤδη τὸ Ἑλληνικὸν Κόνων ὁ Τιμοθέου καὶ Ἐπαμινώνδας ἀνεκτήσατο ὁ Πολύμνιδος, ὁ μὲν ἐκ τῶν νήσων καὶ ὅσα ἐγγυτάτω θαλάσσης, Ἐπαμινώνδας δὲ ἐκ τῶν πόλεων τῶν ἀπὸ θαλάσσης ἄνω Λακεδαιμονίων τὰς φρουρὰς καὶ ἁρμοστὰς ἐκβαλόντες καὶ δεκαδαρχίας καταπαύσαντες· Ἐπαμινώνδας δὲ καὶ πόλεσιν οὐκ ἀφανέσι, Μεσσήνῃ καὶ Μεγάλῃ πόλει τῇ Ἀρκάδων, λογιμωτέραν τὴν Ἑλλάδα ἐποίησεν.
εἶναι δὲ ἁπάντων Ἑλλήνων καὶ Λεωσθένην τίθεμαι καὶ Ἄρατον εὐεργέτας· ὁ μέν γε τὸ Ἑλλήνων μισθοφορικὸν τὸ ἐν Πέρσαις περὶ πέντε που μυριάδας ἐπὶ θάλασσαν καταβάντας ναυσὶν ἐς τὴν Ἑλλάδα ἀνέσωσε καὶ ἄκοντος Ἀλεξάνδρου· τὰ δὲ ἐς Ἄρατον ἐδήλωσε δή μοι τοῦ λόγου τὰ ἐς Σικυωνίους.
τὸ δὲ ἐπίγραμμά ἐστιν ἐπὶ τῷ Φιλοποίμενι τὸ ἐν Τεγέᾳ· τοῦδʼ ἀρετὰ καὶ δόξα καθʼ Ἑλλάδα, πολλὰ μὲν ἀλκαῖς, / πολλὰ δὲ καὶ βουλαῖς ἔργα πονησαμένου, / Ἀρκάδος αἰχμητᾶ Φιλοποίμενος, ᾧ μέγα κῦδος / ἕσπετʼ ἐνὶ πτολέμῳ δούρατος ἁγεμόνι. / μανύει δὲ τρόπαια τετυγμένα δισσὰ τυράννων / Σπάρτας· αὐξομέναν δʼ ἄρατο δουλοσύναν. / ὧν ἕνεκεν Τεγέα μεγαλόφρονα Κραύγιδος υἱόν / στᾶσεν, ἀμωμήτου κράντορʼ ἐλευθερίας. / τοῦτο μὲν δὴ ἐνταῦθά ἐστιν ἐπίγραμμα·
From that day Greece ceased to be the mother of the brave.
Miltiades, son of Cimon, by defeating the barbarians who landed at Marathon, and checking the advance of the Persian host, was the first benefactor of the whole Greek people, and Philopoemen, son of Craugis, was the last. For Codrus, son of Melanthus, the Spartan Polydorus, Aristomenes the Messenian, and all the rest who did bright deeds before Miltiades, will be found to have benefited each his native country and not Greece as a whole. After Miltiades, Leonidas, son of Anaxandrides, and Themistocles, son of Neocles, drove Xerxes from Greece —Themistocles by the two sea-fights, Leonidas by the combat at Thermopylae. But Aristides, son of Lysimachus, and Pausanias, son of Cleombrotus, both of whom commanded at Plataea, forfeited the title of benefactors of Greece— Pausanias by his subsequent crimes, Aristides by imposing tribute on the Greek islands, whereas before his time the whole Greek race had been exempt from tribute. Xanthippus, son of Ariphron, along with Leotychides, king of Sparta, destroyed the fleet of the Medes at Mycale; and Cimon struck many a famous blow for Greece. But as for the men who fought in the war of the Peloponnesians against Athens, especially the men who most distinguished themselves in it, they may fitly be described as the assassins and almost the wreckers of Greece. From the low estate into which she had sunk, Greece was raised by Conon, son of Timotheus, and Epaminondas, son of Polymnis—the former chasing the Lacedaemonian garrisons and governors out of the islands and coasts, the latter out of the inland cities, and both of them putting down the decemvirates. Moreover, by founding two renowned cities, Messene and the Arcadian Megalopolis, Epaminondas made Greece yet more illustrious. Leosthenes and Aratus I also rank among the benefactors of the Greek nation. The former, in defiance of the wishes of Alexander, shipped safe back to Greece some fifty thousand Greek mercenaries, who had served in Persia, and had made their way to the coast. The history of Aratus has been already set forth by me in my description of Sicyon.
The inscription on the statue of Philopoemen at Tegea is as follows :— This man’s valour and glory are noised throughout Greece, for much by prowess And much by his counsels did he achieve. He was the Arcadian spearman, Philopoemen. Great renown Attended him as a leader of lances in war. Two trophies, won from Sparta’s tyrants, attest his fame ; And he checked the rising tide of slavery. Wherefore Tegea set up a statue of the great-hearted son of Craugis, The blameless author of freedom.
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