ἐκ τούτου Ξέρξης μὲν περίφοβος γενόμενος εὐθὺς ἐπὶ τὸν Ἑλλήσποντον ἠπείγετο, Μαρδόνιος δὲ τοῦ στρατοῦ τὸ δοκιμώτατον ἔχων περὶ τριάκοντα μυριάδας ὑπελείπετο, καὶ φοβερὸς ἦν ἀπʼ ἰσχυρᾶς τῆς περὶ τὸ πεζὸν ἐλπίδος ἀπειλῶν τοῖς Ἕλλησι καὶ γράφων τοιαῦτα·
At this Xerxes grew exceeding fearful, and hurried straight to the Hellespont; but Mardonius, with the flower of the army, to the number of three hundred thousand men, was left behind. He was a formidable adversary, and because his confidence in his infantry was strong, he wrote threateningly to the Hellenes, saying:
νενικήκατε θαλασσίοις ξύλοις χερσαίους ἀνθρώπους οὐκ ἐπισταμένους κώπην ἐλαύνειν· ἀλλὰ νῦν πλατεῖα μὲν ἡ Θετταλῶν γῆ, καλὸν δὲ τὸ Βοιώτιον πεδίον ἀγαθοῖς ἱππεῦσι καὶ ὁπλίταις ἐναγωνίσασθαι. πρὸς δὲ Ἀθηναίους ἔπεμψεν ἰδίᾳ γράμματα καὶ λόγους παρὰ βασιλέως, τήν τε πόλιν αὐτοῖς ἀναστήσειν ἐπαγγελλομένου καὶ χρήματα πολλὰ δώσειν καὶ τῶν Ἑλλήνων κυρίους καταστήσειν ἐκποδὼν τοῦ πολέμου γενομένους.
Ye have conquered with your maritime timbers landsmen who know not how to ply the oar; but now, broad is the land of Thessaly and fair the plain of Boeotia for brave horsemen and men-at-arms to contend in. But to the Athenians he sent separate letters and proposals from the King, who promised to rebuild their city, give them much money, and make them lords of the Hellenes, if only they would cease fighting against him.
οἱ δὲ Λακεδαιμόνιοι πυθόμενοι ταῦτα καὶ δείσαντες ἔπεμψαν Ἀθήναζε πρέσβεις, δεόμενοι τῶν Ἀθηναίων, ὅπως παῖδας μὲν καὶ γυναῖκας εἰς Σπάρτην ἀποστείλωσι, τοῖς δὲ πρεσβυτέροις τροφὰς παρʼ αὐτῶν λαμβάνωσιν· ἰσχυρὰ γὰρ ἦν ἀπορία περὶ τὸν δῆμον ἀπολωλεκότα καὶ τὴν χώραν καὶ τὴν πόλιν.
When the Lacedaemonians learned this, they took flight, and sent an embassy to Athens, begging the Athenians to despatch their wives and children to Sparta, and to accept from her a support for their aged and infirm; for great was the distress among the people, since it had so recently lost both land and city.
οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ τῶν πρέσβεων ἀκούσαντες, Ἀριστείδου ψήφισμα γράψαντος, ἀπεκρίναντο θαυμαστὴν ἀπόκρισιν, τοῖς μὲν πολεμίοις συγγνώμην ἔχειν φάσκοντες, εἰ πάντα πλούτου καὶ χρημάτων ὤνια νομίζοιεν, ὧν κρεῖττον οὐδὲν ἴσασιν, ὀργίζεσθαι δὲ Λακεδαιμονίοις, ὅτι τὴν πενίαν καὶ τὴν ἀπορίαν τὴν νῦν παροῦσαν Ἀθηναίοις μόνον ὁρῶσι, τῆς δʼ ἀρετῆς καὶ τῆς φιλοτιμίας ἀμνημονοῦσιν ἐπὶ σιτίοις ὑπὲρ τῆς Ἑλλάδος ἀγωνίζεσθαι παρακαλοῦντες.
However, after listening to the embassy, on motion of Aristides, they answered with an admirable answer, declaring that they could be tolerant with their foes for supposing that everything was to be bought for wealth and money, since their foes could conceive of nothing higher than these things; but they were indignant at the Lacedaemonians for having an eye only to the penury and indigence that now reigned at Athens, and for being so unmindful of the valor and ambition of the Athenians as to exhort them to contend for Hellas merely to win their rations.
ταῦτα γράψας Ἀριστείδης καὶ τοὺς πρέσβεις εἰς τὴν ἐκκλησίαν παραγαγών, Λακεδαιμονίοις μὲν ἐκέλευσε φράζειν, ὡς οὐκ ἔστι χρυσοῦ τοσοῦτον πλῆθος οὔθʼ ὑπὲρ γῆν οὔθʼ ὑπὸ γῆν, ὅσον Ἀθηναῖοι δέξαιντο ἂν πρὸ τῆς τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἐλευθερίας. τοῖς δὲ παρὰ Μαρδονίου τὸν ἥλιον δείξας, ἄχρι ἂν οὗτος, ἔφη, ταύτην πορεύηται τὴν πορείαν, Ἀθηναῖοι πολεμήσουσι Πέρσαις ὑπὲρ τῆς δεδῃωμένης χώρας καὶ τῶν ἠσεβημένων καὶ κατακεκαυμένων ἱερῶν.
When Aristides had made this motion and had introduced the waiting embassies into the Assembly, he bade the Lacedaemonians tell their people that there was not bulk of gold above or below ground so large that the Athenians would take it in payment for the freedom of the Hellenes; and to the messengers of Mardonius he said, pointing to the sun: As long as yonder sun journeys his appointed journey, so long will the Athenians wage war against the Persians in behalf of the land which has been ravaged by them and of the temples which they have defiled and consumed with fire.
ἔτι δὲ ἀρὰς θέσθαι τοὺς ἱερεῖς ἔγραψεν, εἴ τις ἐπικηρυκεύσαιτο Μήδοις ἢ τὴν συμμαχίαν ἀπολίποι τῶν Ἑλλήνων. ἐμβαλόντος δὲ Μαρδονίου τὸ δεύτερον εἰς τὴν Ἀττικήν, αὖθις εἰς Σαλαμῖνα διεπέρασαν. Ἀριστείδης δὲ πεμφθεὶς εἰς Λακεδαίμονα τῆς μὲν βραδυτῆτος αὐτοῖς ἐνεκάλει καὶ τῆς ὀλιγωρίας, προεμένοις αὖθις τῷ βαρβάρῳ τὰς Ἀθήνας, ἠξίου δὲ πρὸς τὰ ἔτι σωζόμενα τῆς Ἑλλάδος βοηθεῖν.
Still further, he made a motion that the priests should solemnly curse all who came to a parley with the Medes or forsook the alliance of the Hellenes. When Mardonius for the second time invaded Attica, again the people crossed over to Salamis. Then Aristides, who had been sent as envoy to Lacedaemon, inveighed against their sluggishness and indifference, in that they had once more abandoned Athens to the Barbarian, and demanded that they go to the aid of what was still left of Hellas.
ταῦτα ἀκούσαντες οἱ Ἔφοροι μεθʼ ἡμέραν μὲν ἐδόκουν παίζειν καὶ ῥᾳθυμεῖν ἑορτάζοντες· ἦν γὰρ αὐτοῖς Ὑακίνθια· νυκτὸς δὲ πεντακισχιλίους Σπαρτιατῶν ἐπιλέξαντες, ὧν ἕκαστος ἑπτὰ περὶ αὑτὸν εἵλωτας εἶχεν, ἐξέπεμψαν οὐκ εἰδότων τῶν Ἀθηναίων. ἐπεὶ δὲ πάλιν ἐγκαλῶν ὁ Ἀριστείδης προσῆλθεν, οἱ δὲ σὺν γέλωτι ληρεῖν αὐτὸν ἔφασκον καὶ καθεύδειν, ἤδη γὰρ ἐν Ὀρεστείῳ τὸν στρατὸν εἶναι πορευόμενον ἐπὶ τοὺς ξένους (ξένους γὰρ ἐκάλουν τοὺς Πέρσασς),
On hearing this, the Ephors, as long as it was day, publicly disported themselves in easygoing festival fashion; for it was their festival of the Hyacinthia. But in the night they selected five thousand Spartans, each of whom had seven Helots to attend upon him, and sent them forth without the knowledge of the Athenians. So when Aristides came before them with renewed invectives, they laughed and said he was but a sleepy babbler, for that their army was already in Arcadia on its march against the strangers (they called the Persians strangers).
οὐ κατὰ καιρὸν ἔφη παίζειν αὐτοὺς ὁ Ἀριστείδης, ἀντὶ τῶν πολεμίων τοὺς φίλους ἐξαπατῶντας. ταῦθʼ οἱ περὶ τὸν Ἰδομενέα λέγουσιν. ἐν δὲ τῷ ψηφίσματι τοῦ Ἀριστείδου πρεσβευτὴς οὐκ αὐτός, ἀλλὰ Κίμων καὶ Ξάνθιππος καὶ Μυρωνίδης φέρονται.
But Aristides declared they were jesting out of all season, forasmuch as they were deceiving their friends instead of their enemies. This is the way Idomeneus tell the story. But in the decree which Aristides caused to be passed, he himself is not named as envoy, but Cimon, Xanthippus, and Myronides.
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