ἐκ δὲ τούτου παρῆν εἰς τὴν Λακωνικὴν ὁ Ἐπαμεινώνδας μετὰ τῶν συμμάχων, οὐκ ἐλάττονας ἔχων τετρακισμυρίων ὁπλιτῶν, πολλοὶ δὲ καὶ ψιλοὶ καὶ ἄνοπλοι πρὸς ἁρπαγὴν συνηκολούθουν, ὥστε μυριάδας ἑπτὰ τοῦ σύμπαντος ὄχλου συνεισβαλεῖν εἰς τὴν Λακωνικήν.
After this, Epaminondas entered Laconia with his allies, having no fewer than forty thousand men-at-arms. Many light armed and unarmed troops also followed him for the sake of plunder, so that a horde of seventy thousand, all told, made this incursion into Laconia.
ἦν μὲν δὴ χρόνος οὐκ ἐλάττων ἐτῶν ἑξακοσίων ἀφʼ οὗ κατῴκουν τὴν Λακεδαίμονα Δωριεῖς· ἐν δὲ τούτῳ παντὶ τότε πρῶτον ὤφθησαν ἐν τῇ χώρᾳ πολέμιοι, πρότερον δὲ οὐδεὶς ἐτόλμησεν ἀλλὰ ἀδῄωτον καὶ ἄθικτον οὖσαν ἐμβαλόντες ἐπυρπόλουν καὶ διήρπαζον ἄχρι τοῦ ποταμοῦ καὶ τῆς πόλεως, μηδενὸς ἐπεξιόντος.
For a period of no less than six hundred years the Dorians had been living in Lacedaemon, and this was the first time in all that period that enemies had been seen in the country; before this, none had ventured there. But now they burst into an unravaged and inviolate land, and burned and plundered as far as the river and the city, and no one came out against them.
γὰρ Ἀγησίλαος οὐκ εἴα πρός τοσοῦτον, ὥς φησι Θεόπομπος, ῥεῦμα καὶ κλύδωνα πολέμου μάχεσθαι τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους, ἀλλὰ τῆς πόλεως τὰ μέσα καὶ κυριώτατα τοῖς ὁπλίταις περιεσπειραμένος ἐκαρτέρει τὰς ἀπειλὰς καὶ τὰς μεγαλαυχίας τῶν Θηβαίων, προκαλουμένων ἐκεῖνον ὀνομαστὶ καὶ διαμάχεσθαι περὶ τῆς χώρας κελευόντων, ὃς τῶν κακῶν αἴτιός ἐστιν ἐκκαύσας τὸν πόλεμον.
For Agesilaüs would not suffer the Lacedaemonians to fight against such a billowy torrent of war, to use the words of Theopompus, but surrounded the central and most commanding parts of the city with his men-at-arms, while he endured the boastful threats of the Thebans, who called upon him by name and bade him come out and fight for his country, since he had caused her misfortunes by lighting up the flames of war.
οὐχ ἧττον δὲ τούτων ἐλύπουν τὸν Ἀγησίλαον οἱ κατὰ τὴν πόλιν θόρυβοι καὶ κραυγαὶ καὶ διαδρομαὶ τῶν τε πρεσβυτέρων δυσανασχετούντων τὰ γινόμενα καὶ τῶν γυναικῶν οὐ δυναμένων ἡσυχάζειν, ἀλλὰ παντάπασιν ἐκφρόνων οὐσῶν πρός τε τὴν κραυγὴν καὶ τὸ πῦρ τῶν πολεμίων.
But this was not the worst. Agesilaüs was still more harassed by the tumults and shrieks and running about throughout the city, where the elder men were enraged at the state of affairs, and the women were unable to keep quiet, but were utterly beside themselves when they heard the shouts and saw the fires of the enemy.
ἠνία δὲ καὶ τὸ τῆς δόξης αὐτόν, ὅτι τὴν πόλιν μεγίστην παραλαβὼν καὶ δυνατωτάτην, ἑώρα συνεσταλμένον αὐτῆς τὸ ἀξίωμα καὶ τὸ αὔχημα κεκολουμένον, ᾧ καὶ αὐτὸς ἐχρήσατο πολλάκις, εἰπὼν ὅτι γυνὴ Λάκαινα καπνὸν οὐχ ἑώρακε πολέμιον, λέγεται δὲ καὶ Ἀνταλκίδας, Ἀθηναίου τινὸς ἀμφισβητοῦντος ὑπὲρ ἀνδρείας πρός αὐτὸν καὶ εἰπόντος, ἡμεῖς μέντοι πολλάκις ὑμᾶς ἀπὸ τοῦ Κηφισοῦ ἐδιώξαμεν, ὑποτυχεῖν, ἀλλʼ Ἡμεῖς γε οὐδέποτε ὑμᾶς ἀπὸ τοῦ Εὐρώτα.
He was also distressed at the thought of what his fame would be, because he had taken command of the city when she was greatest and most powerful, and now saw her reputation lowered, and her proud boast made empty, which boast he himself also had often made, saying that no Spartan woman had ever seen the smoke of an enemy’s fires. It is said also that Antalcidas, when an Athenian was disputing with him over the valour of the two peoples and said, Yet we have often driven you away from the Cephisus, replied: But we have never driven you away from the Eurotas.
παραπλησίως δὲ καὶ πρός τὸν Ἀργεῖον ἀπεκρίνατο τῶν ἀσημοτέρων τις Σπαρτιατῶν· ὁ μὲν γὰρ εἶπε· πολλοὶ ὑμῶν ἐν τῇ Ἀργολίδι κεῖνται ὁ δὲ ἀπήντησεν ὑμῶν δέ γε οὐδεὶς ἐν τῇ Λακωνικῇ.
And a similar retort was made by a Spartan of lesser note to the Argive who said, Many of you lie buried in the lands of Argos; the Spartan answered: But not a man of you in the lands of Laconia.
τότε μέντοι τὸν Ἀνταλκίδαν φασὶν ἔφορον ὄντα τοὺς παῖδας εἰς Κύθηρα ὑπεκθέσθαι, περίφοβον γενόμενον. ὁ δὲ Ἀγησίλαος, ἐπιχειρούντων διαβαίνειν τὸν ποταμὸν τῶν πολεμίων καὶ βιάζεσθαι πρὸς τὴν πόλιν, ἐκλιπὼν τὰ λοιπὰ παρετάξατο πρὸ τῶν μέσων καὶ ὑψηλῶν.
Now, however, they say that Antalcidas, who was an ephor, secretly sent his children away to Cythera, so full of fear was he. But Agesilaüs, when the enemy tried to cross the Eurotas and force their way to the city, abandoned the rest of it and drew up his forces in front of its central and lofty precincts.
ἐρρύη δὲ πλεῖστος ἑαυτοῦ καὶ μέγιστος τότε ὁ Εὐρώτας, χιόνων γενομένων, καὶ τὸ ῥεῦμα μᾶλλον ὑπὸ ψυχρότητος ἢ τραχύτητος ἐγένετο σκληρὸν καὶ χαλεπὸν τοῖς Θηβαίοις. πορευόμενον δὲ πρῶτον τῆς φάλαγγος τὸν Ἐπαμεινώνδαν ἐδείκνυσάν τινες τῷ Ἀγησιλάῳ· κἀκεῖνος, ὡς λέγεται, πολὺν χρόνον ἐμβλέψας αὐτῷ καὶ συμπαραπέμψας τὴν ὄψιν οὐδὲν ἢ τοσοῦτον μόνον εἶπεν ὢ τοῦ μεγαλοπράγμονος ἀνθρώπου.
Now, the Eurotas at this time was flowing at its fullest and deepest, since snows had fallen, and its current, even more from its coldness than its violence, was very troublesome to the Thebans. As Epaminondas was fording it at the head of his phalanx, certain ones pointed him out to Agesilaüs, and he, we are told, after fixing his gaze upon him and watching him for a long time, said but these words: O adventurous man!
ἐπεὶ δὲ φιλοτιμούμενος ὁ Ἐπαμεινώνδας ἐν τῇ πόλει μάχην συνάψαι καὶ στῆσαι τρόπαιον οὐκ ἴσχυσεν ἐξαγαγεῖν οὐδὲ προκαλέσασθαι τὸν Ἀγησίλαον, ἐκεῖνος μὲν ἀναζεύξας πάλιν ἐπόρθει τὴν χώραν, ἐν δὲ Λακεδαίμονι τῶν πάλαι τινὲς ὑπούλων καὶ πονηρῶν ὡς διακόσιοι συστραφέντες κατελάβοντο τὸ Ἰσσώριον, οὗ τὸ τῆς Ἀρτέμιδος ἱερόν ἐστιν, εὐερκῆ καὶ δυσεκβίαστον τόπον.
Epaminondas was ambitious to join battle in the city and set up a trophy of victory there, but since he could neither force nor tempt Agesilaüs out of his positions, he withdrew and began to ravage the country. Meanwhile, about two hundred of the Lacedaemonians who had long been disaffected and mutinous banded together and seized the Issorium, where the temple of Artemis stands, a well-walled and inaccessible spot.
ἐφʼ οὓς βουλομένων εὐθὺς ὠθεῖσθαι τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων, φοβηθεὶς τὸν νεωτερισμὸν ὁ Ἀγησίλαος ἐκέλευσε τοὺς μὲν ἄλλους ἡσυχίαν ἄγειν, αὐτὸς δὲ ἐν ἱματίῳ καὶ μεθʼ ἑνὸς οἰκέτου προσῄει, βοῶν ἄλλως ἀκηκοέναι τοῦ προστάγματος αὐτούς· οὐ γὰρ ἐνταῦθα κελεῦσαι συνελθεῖν οὐδὲ πάντας, ἀλλὰ τοὺς μὲν ἐκεῖ ʽδείξας ἕτερον τόπον, τοὺς δὲ ἀλλαχόσε τῆς πόλεως.
The Lacedaemonians wished to make a dash upon them at once, but Agesilaüs, fearing their insurrection, ordered the rest to keep quiet, while he himself, wearing his cloak and attended by a single servant, went towards them, crying out that they had misunderstood his orders; for he had not commanded them to assemble in that place, nor in a body, but some yonder (pointing to another spot), and some in another part of the city.
οἱ δὲ ἀκούσαντες ἥσθησαν οἰόμενοι λανθάνειν, καὶ διαστάντες ἐπὶ τοὺς τόπους οὓς ἐκεῖνος ἐκέλευσεν ἀπεχώρουν. ὁ δὲ τὸ μὲν Ἰσσώριον εὐθὺς μεταπεμψάμενος ἑτέρους κατέσχε, τῶν δὲ συστάντων ἐκείνων περὶ πεντεκαίδεκά τινας συλλαβὼν νυκτὸς ἀπέκτεινεν.
They were delighted to hear this, supposing that their design was undiscovered, and, breaking up, went off to the places which he ordered them to occupy. Then Agesilaüs at once summoned other troops and took possession of the Issorium, after which he arrested about fifteen of the conspirators who had been gathered there, and put them to death in the night.
ἄλλη δὲ μείζων ἐμηνύθη συνωμοσία καὶ σύνοδος ἀνδρῶν Σπαρτιατῶν ἐπὶ πράγμασι νεωτέροις εἰς οἰκίαν κρύφα συνερχομένων, οὓς καὶ κρίνειν ἄπορον ἦν ἐν ταραχῇ τοσαύτῃ καὶ περιορᾶν ἐπιβουλεύοντας. ἀπέκτεινεν οὖν καὶ τούτους μετὰ τῶν ἐφόρων βουλευσάμενος ὁ Ἀγησίλαος ἀκρίτους, οὐδενὸς δίχα δίκης τεθανατωμένου πρότερον Σπαρτιατῶν.
He was also informed of another and a larger conspiracy of Spartans, who met secretly in a house and there plotted revolution. It was impracticable either to bring these men to trial in a time of so much confusion, or to overlook their plots. Accordingly, Agesilaüs conferred with the ephors, and then put these men also to death without process of law, although no Spartan had ever before met with such a death.
ἐπεὶ δὲ πολλοὶ τῶν συντεταγμένων εἰς τὰ ὅπλα περιοίκων καὶ εἱλώτων ἀπεδίδρασκον ἐκ τῆς πόλεως πρὸς τοὺς πολεμίους, καὶ τοῦτο πλείστην ἀθυμίαν παρεῖχεν, ἐδίδαξε τοὺς ὑπηρέτας περὶ ὄρθρον ἐπιφοιτᾶν ταῖς στιβάσι καὶ τὰ ὅπλα τῶν ἀποκεχωρηκότων λαμβάνειν καὶ ἀποκρύπτειν, ὅπως ἀγνοῆται τὸ πλῆθος.
At this time, also, many of the provincials and Helots who had been enrolled in the army ran away from the city and joined the enemy, and this caused very deep discouragement. Agesilaüs therefore instructed his servants to go every morning before it was light to the barracks and take the arms of the deserters and hide them, that their numbers might not be known.
ἀναχωρῆσαι δὲ τοὺς Θηβαίους ἐκ τῆς Λακωνικῆς οἱ μὲν ἄλλοι λέγουσι χειμώνων γενομένων καὶ τῶν Ἀρκάδων ἀρξαμένων ἀπιέναι καὶ διαρρεῖν ἀτάκτως, οἱ δὲ τρεῖς μῆνας ἐμμεμενηκότας ὅλους καὶ τὰ πλεῖστα τῆς χώρας διαπεπορθηκότας· Θεόπομπος δέ φησιν, ἤδη τῶν βοιωταρχῶν ἐγνωκότων ἀπαίρειν, ἀφικέσθαι πρὸς αὐτοὺς Φρίξον, ἄνδρα Σπαρτιάτην, παρὰ Ἀγησιλάου δέκα τάλαντα κομίζοντα τῆς ἀναχωρήσεως μισθόν, ὥστε τὰ πάλαι δεδογμένα πράττουσιν αὐτοῖς ἐφόδιον παρὰ τῶν πολεμίων προσπεριγενέσθαι.
As for the reason why the Thebans withdrew from Laconia, most writers say that it was because winter storms came on and the Arcadians began to melt away and disband; others, because they had remained there three entire months and thoroughly ravaged most of the country; but Theopompus says that when the Theban chief magistrates had already determined to take their army back, Phrixus, a Spartan, came to them, bringing ten talents from Agesilaüs to pay for their withdrawal, so that they were only doing what they had long ago decided to do, and had their expenses paid by their enemies besides.
τοῦτο μὲν οὖν οὐκ οἶδα ὅπως ἠγνόησαν οἱ ἄλλοι, μόνος δὲ Θεόπομπος ᾔσθετο. τοῦ δὲ σωθῆναι τήν Σπάρτην τότε πάντες αἴτιον ὁμολογοῦσι γενέσθαι τὸν Ἀγησίλαον, ὅτι τῶν ἐμφύτων αὐτῷ παθῶν, φιλονεικίας καὶ φιλοτιμίας, ἀποστάς, ἐχρήσατο τοῖς πράγμασιν ἀσφαλῶς.
This story may be true, although I know not how all other writers could be ignorant of it, while Theopompus alone heard it; but, at any rate, all agree that the salvation of Sparta at this time was due to Agesilaüs, because he renounced his inherent passions of contentiousness and ambition, and adopted a policy of safety.
οὐ μέντοι τήν γε δύναμιν καὶ τήν δόξαν ἐδυνήθη τῆς πόλεως ἀναλαβεῖν ἐκ τοῦ πταίσματος, ἀλλʼ ὥσπερ σώματος ὑγιεινοῦ, λίαν δὲ ἀκριβεῖ καὶ κατησκημένῃ κεχρημένου διαίτῃ παρὰ πάντα τὸν χρόνον, ἁμαρτία μία καὶ ῥοπὴ τήν πᾶσαν ἔκλινεν εὐτυχίαν τῆς πόλεως· οὐκ ἀλόγως. πρὸς γὰρ εἰρήνην καὶ ἀρετὴν καὶ ὁμόνοιαν ἄριστα συντεταγμένῳ· πολιτεύματι προσαγαγόντες ἀρχὰς καὶ δυναστείας βιαίους, ὧν οὐδενὸς ἡγεῖτο δεῖσθαι πόλιν εὐδαιμόνως βιωσομένην ὁ Λυκοῦργος, ἐσφάλησαν.
He could not, however, restore the power and reputation of his city after its fall, for it was like a human body that is sound, indeed, but has followed all the while too strict and severe a regimen; a single error turned the scale and brought down the entire prosperity of the city. Nor was this strange. For to a civil polity best arranged for peace and virtue and unanimity they had attached empires and sovereignties won by force, not one of which Lycurgus thought needful for a city that was to live in happiness; and therefore they fell.
αὐτὸς μὲν οὖν ὁ Ἀγησίλαος ἤδη πρὸς τάς στρατείας ἀπειρήκει διὰ τὸ γῆρας, Ἀρχίδαμος δὲ ὁ υἱὸς αὐτοῦ, τήν ἐκ Σικελίας ἥκουσαν παρὰ τοῦ τυράννου βοήθειαν ἔχων, ἐνίκησεν Ἀρκάδας τήν λεγομένην ἄδακρυν μάχην οὐδεὶς γὰρ ἔπεσε τῶν μετʼ αὐτοῦ, συχνοὺς δὲ τῶν ἐναντίων ἀνεῖλεν. αὕτη μάλιστα τήν ἀσθένειαν ἤλεγξεν ἡ νίκη τῆς πόλεως.
Agesilaüs himself now declined military service on account of his years, but Archidamus his son, with assistance which came from the tyrant of Sicily, conquered the Arcadians in the so-called tearless battle, where not one of his own men fell, and he slew great numbers of the enemy. This victory, more than anything else, showed the weakness of the city.
πρότερον μὲν γὰρ οὕτω σύνηθες ἡγοῦντο καὶ προσῆκον ἔργον αὐτοῖς εἶναι τὸ νικᾶν τοὺς πολεμίους, ὥστε μήτε θύειν τοῖς θεοῖς πλὴν ἀλεκτρυόνα νικητήριον ἐν τῇ πόλει, μήτε μεγαληγορεῖν τοὺς ἀγωνισαμένους, μήτε ὑπερχαίρειν τοὺς πυνθανομένους, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῆς ἐν Μαντινείᾳ μάχης γενομένης, ἣν Θουκυδίδης γέγραφε, τῷ πρώτῳ φράσαντι τήν νίκην οἱ ἄρχοντες ἐκ φιδιτίου κρέας ἔπεμψαν εὐαγγέλιον, ἄλλο δὲ οὐδέν·
For up to this time they were wont to think the conquest of their enemies so customary and natural a thing for them to achieve, that no sacrifice for victory was offered in the city to the gods, beyond that of a cock, neither did the winners of the contest exult, nor those who heard of their victory show great joy. Nay, even after the battle at Mantinea, which Thucydides has described, the one who first announced the victory had no other reward for his glad tidings than a piece of meat sent by the magistrates from the public mess.
τότε δὲ τῆς μάχης ἀγγελθείσης καὶ τοῦ Ἀρχιδάμου προσιόντος οὐδεὶς ἐκαρτέρησεν, ἀλλὰ πρῶτος ὁ πατὴρ ἀπήντα δακρύων ὑπὸ χαρᾶς καὶ μετʼ ἐκεῖνον τὰ ἀρχεῖα, τῶν δὲ πρεσβυτέρων καὶ τῶν γυναικῶν τὸ πλῆθος ἐπὶ τὸν ποταμὸν κατῄει, τάς τε χεῖρας ὀρεγόντων καὶ θεοκλυτούντων, ὥσπερ ἀπεωσμένης τὰ παρʼ ἀξίαν ὀνείδη τῆς Σπάρτης καὶ λαμπρὸν αὖθις ἐξ ἀρχῆς τὸ φῶς ὁρώσης· ἐπεὶ πρότερόν γέ φασιν οὐδὲ ταῖς γυναιξὶν ἀντιβλέπειν τοὺς ἄνδρας αἰσχυνομένους ἐφʼ οἷς ἔπταισαν.
But now, at the news of the Arcadian victory and at the approach of Archidamus, no one could restrain himself, but first his father went to meet him, weeping for joy, and after him the chief magistrates, while the elderly men and the women went down in a throng to the river, lifting their hands to heaven and blessing the gods, as if Sparta had wiped away her unmerited disgraces and now saw the light shine bright again as of old; for before this, we are told, her men could not so much as look their wives in the face, out of shame at their disasters.
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