ἀλλʼ ἡ μὲν φιλοτιμία τοῦ Λυσάνδρου τοῖς πρώτοις καὶ ἰσοτίμοις ἦν ἐπαχθὴς μόνον. ὑπεροψίας δὲ πολλῆς ἅμα τῇ φιλοτιμίᾳ διὰ τοὺς θεραπεύοντας ἐγγενομένης τῷ ἤθει καὶ βαρύτητος, οὔτε τιμῆς οὔτε τιμωρίας μέτρον ἦν παρʼ αὐτῷ δημοτικόν, ἀλλὰ φιλίας μὲν ἆθλα καὶ ξενίας ἀνυπεύθυνοι δυναστεῖαι πόλεων καὶ τυραννίδες ἀνεξέταστοι, θυμοῦ δὲ μία πλήρωσις ἀπολέσθαι τὸν ἀπεχθόμενον· οὐδὲ γὰρ φυγεῖν ἐξῆν.
Now to the leading men, and to his equals, the ambition of Lysander was annoying merely. But since, owing to the court that was paid to him, great haughtiness and severity crept into his character along with his ambition, there was no such moderation as would become a popular leader either in his rewards or punishments, but the prizes he awarded to his friends and allies were irresponsible lordships over cities, and absolute sovereignties, while the sole punishment that could satisfy his wrath was the death of his enemy; not even exile was allowed.
ἀλλὰ καὶ Μιλησίων ὕστερον τοὺς τοῦ δήμου προϊσταμένους δεδιὼς μὴ φύγωσι, καὶ προαγαγεῖν τοὺς κεκρυμμένους βουλόμενος, ὤμοσε μὴ ἀδικήσειν· πιστεύσαντας δὲ καὶ προελθόντας ἀποσφάξαι τοῖς ὀλιγαρχικοῖς παρέδωκεν, οὐκ ἐλάττονας ὀκτακοσίων συναμφοτέρους ὄντας.
Nay, at a later time, fearing lest the active popular leaders of Miletus should go into exile, and desiring to bring from their retreats those also who were in hiding, he made oath that he would do them no harm; but when the first put faith in him and the second came forth, he delivered them all over to the oligarchs for slaughter, being no less than eight hundred of both classes.
ἦν δὲ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἐν ταῖς πόλεσι δημοτικῶν φόνος οὐκ ἀριθμητός, ἅτε δὴ μὴ κατʼ ἰδίας μόνον αἰτίας αὐτοῦ κτείνοντος, ἀλλὰ πολλαῖς μὲν ἔχθραις, πολλαῖς δὲ πλεονεξίαις τῶν ἑκασταχόθι φίλων χαριζομένου τὰ τοιαῦτα καὶ συνεργοῦντος. ὅθεν εὐδοκίμησεν Ἐτεοκλῆς ὁ Λακεδαιμόνιος εἰπὼν ὡς οὐκ ἂν ἡ Ἑλλὰς δύο Λυσάνδρους ἤνεγκε. τὸ δὲ αὐτὸ τοῦτο καὶ περὶ Ἀλκιβιάδου φησὶ Θεόφραστος εἰπεῖν Ἀρχέστρατον.
In the other cities also untold numbers of the popular party were slain, since he killed not only for his own private reasons, but also gratified by his murders the hatred and cupidity of his many friends everywhere, and shared the bloody work with them. Wherefore Eteocles the Lacedaemonian won great approval when he said that Hellas could not have borne two Lysanders. Now this same utterance was made by Archestratus concerning Alcibiades also, as Theophrastus tells us.
ἀλλʼ ἐκεῖ μὲν ὕβρις ἦν καὶ τρυφὴ σὺν αὐθαδείᾳ τὸ μάλιστα δυσχεραινόμενον· τὴν δὲ Λυσάνδρου δύναμιν ἡ τοῦ τρόπου χαλεπότης φοβερὰν ἐποίει καὶ βαρεῖαν.οἱ δὲ Λακεδαιμόνιοι τοῖς μὲν ἄλλοις οὐ πάνυ προσεῖχον ἐγκαλοῦσιν· ἐπεὶ δὲ Φαρνάβαζος ἀδικούμενος ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ τὴν χώραν ἄγοντος καὶ φέροντος ἀπέστειλεν εἰς τὴν Σπάρτην κατηγόρους, ἀγανακτήσαντες οἱ ἔφοροι τῶν μὲν φίλων αὐτοῦ καὶ συστρατήγων ἕνα Θώρακα λαβόντες ἀργύριον ἰδίᾳ κεκτημένον ἀπέκτειναν, ἐκείνῳ δὲ σκυτάλην ἔπεμψαν ἥκειν κελεύοντες.
But in his case it was insolence, and wanton self-will, that gave most offence; whereas Lysander’s power was made dreadful and oppressive by the cruelty of his disposition. The Lacedaemonians paid little heed to the rest of his accusers, but when Pharnabazus, who was outraged by Lysander’s pillaging and wasting his territory, sent men to Sparta to denounce him, the ephors were incensed, and when they found Thorax, one of Lysander’s friends and fellow-generals, with money in his private possession, they put him to death, and sent a dispatch-scroll to Lysander, ordering him home.
ἔστι δὲ ἡ σκυτάλη τοιοῦτον. ἐπὰν ἐκπέμπωσι ναύαρχον ἢ στρατηγὸν οἱ ἔφοροι, ξύλα δύο στρογγύλα μῆκος καὶ πάχος ἀκριβῶς ἀπισώσαντες, ὥστε ταῖς τομαῖς ἐφαρμόζειν πρὸς ἄλληλα, τὸ μὲν αὐτοὶ φυλάττουσι, θάτερον δὲ τῷ πεμπομένῳ διδόασι. ταῦτα δὲ τὰ ξύλα σκυτάλας καλοῦσιν.
The dispatch-scroll is of the following character. When the ephors send out an admiral or a general, they make two round pieces of wood exactly alike in length and thickness, so that each corresponds to the other in its dimensions, and keep one themselves, while they give the other to their envoy. These pieces of wood they call scytalae.
ὅταν οὖν ἀπόρρητόν τι καὶ μέγα φράσαι βουληθῶσι, βιβλίον ὥσπερ ἱμάντα μακρὸν καὶ στενὸν ποιοῦντες περιελίττουσι τὴν παρʼ αὐτοῖς σκυτάλην, οὐδὲν διάλειμμα ποιοῦντες, ἀλλὰ πανταχόθεν κύκλῳ τὴν ἐπιφάνειαν αὐτῆς τῷ βιβλίῳ καταλαμβάνοντες. τοῦτο δὲ ποιήσαντες ἃ βούλονται καταγράφουσιν εἰς τὸ βιβλίον, ὥσπερ ἐστὶ τῇ σκυτάλῃ περικείμενον· ὅταν δὲ γράψωσιν, ἀφελόντες τὸ βιβλίον ἄνευ τοῦ ξύλου πρὸς τὸν στρατηγὸν ἀποστέλλουσι.
Whenever, then, they wish to send some secret and important message, they make a scroll of parchment long and narrow, like a leathern strap, and wind it round their scytale, leaving no vacant space thereon, but covering its surface all round with the parchment. After doing this, they write what they wish on the parchment, just as it lies wrapped about the scytale; and when they have written their message, they take the parchment off and send it, without the piece of wood, to the commander.
δεξάμενος δὲ ἐκεῖνος ἄλλως μὲν οὐδὲν ἀναλέξασθαι δύναται τῶν γραμμάτων συναφὴν οὐκ ἐχόντων, ἀλλὰ διεσπασμένων, τὴν δὲ παρʼ αὑτῷ σκυτάλην λαβὼν τὸ τμῆμα τοῦ βιβλίου περὶ αὐτὴν περιέτεινεν, ὥστε, τῆς ἕλικος εἰς τάξιν ὁμοίως ἀποκαθισταμένης, ἐπιβάλλοντα τοῖς πρώτοις τὰ δεύτερα, κύκλῳ τὴν ὄψιν ἐπάγειν τὸ συνεχὲς ἀνευρίσκουσαν. καλεῖται δὲ ὁμωνύμως τῷ ξύλῳ σκυτάλη τὸ βιβλίον, ὡς τῷ μετροῦντι τὸ μετρούμενον.
He, when he has received it, cannot otherwise get any meaning out of it,—since the letters have no connection, but are disarranged,—unless he takes his own scytale and winds the strip of parchment about it, so that, when its spiral course is restored perfectly, and that which follows is joined to that which precedes, he reads around the staff, and so discovers the continuity of the message. And the parchment, like the staff, is called scytale, as the thing measured bears the name of the measure.
ὁ δὲ Λύσανδρος, ἐλθούσης τῆς σκυτάλης πρὸς αὐτὸν εἰς τὸν Ἑλλήσποντον, διεταράχθη, καὶ μάλιστα τὰς τοῦ Φαρναβάζου δεδιὼς κατηγορίας, ἐσπούδασεν εἰς λόγους αὐτῷ συνελθεῖν, ὡς λύσων τὴν διαφοράν. καὶ συνελθὼν ἐδεῖτο γράψαι περὶ αὐτοῦ πρὸς τοὺς ἄρχοντας ἑτέραν ἐπιστολὴν ὡς οὐδὲν ἠδικημένον οὐδʼ ἐγκαλοῦντα.
But Lysander, when the dispatch-scroll reached him at the Hellespont, was much disturbed, and since he feared the denunciations of Pharnabazus above all others, he hastened to hold a conference with him, hoping to compose their quarrel. At this conference he begged Pharnabazus to write another letter about him to the magistrates, stating that he had not been wronged at all, and had no complaints to make.
πρὸς Κρῆτα δὲ ἄρα, τὸ τοῦ λόγου, κρητίζων ἠγνόει τὸν Φαρνάβαζον. ὑποσχόμενος γὰρ ἅπαντα ποιήσειν, φανερῶς μὲν ἔγραψεν οἵαν ὁ Λύσανδρος ἠξίωσεν ἐπιστολήν, κρύφα δὲ εἶχεν ἑτέραν αὐτόθι γεγραμμένην. ἐν δὲ τῷ τὰς σφραγῖδας ἐπιβάλλειν ἐναλλάξας τὰ βιβλία μηδὲν διαφέροντα τῇ ὄψει, δίδωσιν ἐκείνην αὐτῷ τὴν κρύφα γεγραμμένην.
But in thus playing the Cretan against a Cretan, as the saying is, he misjudged his opponent. For Pharnabazus, after promising to do all that he desired, openly wrote such a letter as Lysander demanded, but secretly kept another by him ready written. And when it came to putting on the seals, he exchanged the documents, which looked exactly alike, and gave him the letter which had been secretly written.
ἀφικόμενος οὖν ὁ Λύσανδρος εἰς Λακεδαίμονα καὶ πορευθείς, ὥσπερ ἔθος ἐστίν, εἰς τὸ ἀρχεῖον, ἀπέδωκε τοῖς ἐφόροις τὰ γράμματα τοῦ Φαρναβάζου, πεπεισμένος ἀνῃρῆσθαι τὸ μέγιστον αὐτοῦ τῶν ἐγκλημάτων· ἠγαπᾶτο γὰρ ὁ Φαρνάβαζος ὑπὸ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων, προθυμότατος ἐν τῷ πολέμῳ τῶν βασιλέως στρατηγῶν γεγενημένος.
Accordingly, when Lysander arrived at Sparta and went, as the custom is, into the senate-house, he gave the ephors the letter of Pharnabazus, convinced that the greatest of the complaints against him was thus removed; for Pharnabazus was in high favour with the Lacedaemonians, because he had been, of all the King’s generals, most ready to help them in the war.
ἐπεὶ δὲ ἀναγνόντες οἱ ἔφοροι τὴν ἐπιστολὴν ἔδειξαν αὐτῷ, καὶ συνῆκεν ὡς οὐκ ἆρʼ Ὀδυσσεύς ἐστιν αἱμύλος μόνος, / τότε μὲν ἰσχυρῶς τεθορυβημένος ἀπῆλθεν· ἡμέραις δὲ ὀλίγαις ὕστερον ἐντυχὼν τοῖς ἄρχουσιν ἔφη δεῖν αὐτὸν εἰς Ἄμμωνος ἀναβῆναι καὶ τῷ θεῷ θῦσαι θυσίας ἃς εὔξατο πρὸ τῶν ἀγώνων.
But when the ephors, after reading the letter, showed it to him, and he understood that Odysseus, then, is not the only man of guile, / for the time being he was mightily confounded and went away. But a few days afterwards, on meeting the magistrates, he said that he was obliged to go up to the temple of Ammon and sacrifice to the god the sacrifices which he had vowed before his battles.
ἔνιοι μὲν οὖν ἀληθῶς φασιν αὐτῷ πολιορκοῦντι τὴν τῶν Ἀφυταίων πόλιν ἐν Θρᾴκῃ κατὰ τοὺς ὕπνους παραστῆναι τὸν Ἄμμωνα· διὸ καὶ τὴν πολιορκίαν ἀφείς, ὡς τοῦ θεοῦ προστάξαντος, ἐκέλευσε τοὺς Ἀφυταίους Ἄμμωνι θύειν καὶ τὸν θεὸν ἐσπούδασεν εἰς τὴν Λιβύην πορευθεὶς ἐξιλάσασθαι.
Now some say that when he was besieging the city of Aphytae in Thrace, Ammon really stood by him in his sleep; wherefore he raised the siege, declaring that the god had commanded it, and ordered the Aphytaeans to sacrifice to Ammon, and was eager to make a journey into Libya and propitiate the god.
τοῖς δὲ πλείστοις ἐδόκει πρόσχημα ποιεῖσθαι τὸν θεόν, ἄλλως δὲ τοὺς ἐφόρους δεδοικὼς καὶ τὸν οἴκοι ζυγὸν οὐ φέρων οὐδʼ ὑπομένων ἄρχεσθαι πλάνης ὀρέγεσθαι καὶ περιφοιτήσεως τινός, ὥσπερ ἵππος ἐκ νομῆς ἀφέτου καὶ λειμῶνος αὖθις ἥκων ἐπὶ φάτνην καὶ πρὸς τὸ σύνηθες ἔργον αὖθις ἀγόμενος. ἣν μὲν γὰρ Ἔφορος τῆς ἀποδημίας ταύτης αἰτίαν ἀναγράφει, μετὰ μικρὸν ἀφηγήσομαι.
But the majority believed that he made the god a pretext, and really feared the ephors, and was impatient of the yoke at home, and unable to endure being under authority, and therefore longed to wander and travel about somewhat, like a horse which comes back from unrestricted pasturage in the meadows to his stall, and is put once more to his accustomed work. Ephorus, it is true, assigns another reason for this absence abroad, which I shall mention by and by.
μόλις δὲ καὶ χαλεπῶς ἀφεθῆναι διαπραξάμενος ὑπὸ τῶν ἐφόρων ἐξέπλευσεν. οἱ δὲ βασιλεῖς ἀποδημήσαντος αὐτοῦ συμφρονήσαντες ὅτι ταῖς ἑταιρείαις τὰς πόλεις κατέχων διὰ παντὸς ἄρχει καὶ κύριός ἐστι τῆς Ἑλλάδος, ἔπρασσον ὅπως ἀποδώσουσι τοῖς δημόταις τὰ πράγματα τοὺς ἐκείνου φίλους ἐκβαλόντες.
After he had with great difficulty procured his release by the ephors, he set sail. But the kings, when he had gone abroad, became aware that by means of the societies which he had formed, he had the cities entirely in his power and was master of Hellas; they therefore took measures for deposing his friends everywhere and restoring the management of affairs to the people.
οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ πάλιν πρὸς ταῦτα κινήματος γενομένου, καὶ πρώτων τῶν ἀπὸ Φυλῆς Ἀθηναίων ἐπιθεμένων τοῖς τριάκοντα καὶ κρατούντων, ἐπανελθὼν διὰ ταχέων ὁ Λύσανδρος ἔπεισε τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους ταῖς ὀλιγαρχίαις βοηθεῖν καὶ τοὺς δήμους κολάζειν. καὶ πρώτοις τοῖς τριάκοντα πέμπουσιν ἑκατὸν τάλαντα πρὸς τὸν πόλεμον καὶ στρατηγὸν αὐτὸν Λύσανδρον.
However, fresh disturbances broke out in connection with these changes, and first of all the Athenians from Phyle attacked the Thirty and overpowered them. Lysander therefore came home in haste, and persuaded the Lacedaemonians to aid the oligarchies and chastise the democracies. Accordingly, they sent to the Thirty, first of all, a hundred talents for the war, and Lysander himself as general.
οἱ δὲ βασιλεῖς φθονοῦντες καὶ δεδιότες μὴ πάλιν ἕλῃ τὰς Ἀθήνας, ἔγνωσαν ἐξιέναι τὸν ἕτερον αὐτῶν. ἐξῆλθε δὲ ὁ Παυσανίας, λόγῳ μὲν ὑπὲρ τῶν τυράννων ἐπὶ τὸν δῆμον, ἔργῳ δὲ καταλύσων τὸν πόλεμον, ὡς μὴ πάλιν ὁ Λύσανδρος διὰ τῶν φίλων κύριος γένοιτο τῶν Ἀθηνῶν. τοῦτο μὲν οὖν διεπράξατο ῥᾳδίως· καὶ τοὺς Ἀθηναίους διαλλάξας καὶ καταπαύσας τὴν στάσιν ἀφείλετο τοῦ Λυσάνδρου τὴν φιλοτιμίαν.
But the kings were jealous of him, and feared to let him capture Athens a second time; they therefore determined that one of them should go out with the army. And Pausanias did go out ostensibly in behalf of the tyrants against the people, but really to put a stop to the war, in order that Lysander might not again become master of Athens through the efforts of his friends. This object, then, he easily accomplished, and by reconciling the Athenians and putting a stop to their discord, he robbed Lysander of his ambitious hopes.
ὀλίγῳ δὲ ὕστερον ἀποστάντων πάλιν τῶν Ἀθηναίων αὐτὸς μὲν αἰτίαν ἔλαβεν, ὡς ἐγκεχαλινωμένον τῇ ὀλιγαρχίᾳ τὸν δῆμον ἀνεὶς αὖθις ἐξυβρίσαι καὶ θρασύνασθαι, τῷ δὲ Λυσάνδρῳ προσεθήκατο δόξαν ἀνδρὸς οὐ πρὸς ἑτέρων χάριν οὐδὲ θεατρικῶς, ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὸ τῇ Σπάρτῃ συμφέρον αὐθεκάστως στρατηγοῦντος.
A short time afterwards, however, when the Athenians revolted again, he himself was censured for taking the curb of the oligarchy out of the mouth of the people, and letting them grow bold and insolent again; while Lysander won fresh repute as a man who exercised his command in downright fashion, not for the gratification of others, nor yet to win applause, but for the good of Sparta.
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