τῷ δὲ Παυσανίᾳ τὸ πάθος ἀγγέλλεται καθʼ ὁδὸν ἐκ Πλαταιῶν εἰς Θεσπιὰς πορευομένῳ· καὶ συνταξάμενος ἧκε πρὸς τὸν Ἁλίαρτον. ἧκε δὲ καὶ Θρασύβουλος ἐκ Θηβῶν ἄγων τοὺς Ἀθηναίους. βουλευομένου δὲ τοῦ Παυσανίου τοὺς νεκροὺς ὑποσπόνδους ἀπαιτεῖν, δυσφοροῦντες οἱ πρεσβύτεροι τῶν Σπαρτιατῶν αὐτοί τε καθʼ ἑαυτοὺς ἠγανάκτουν, καὶ τῷ βασιλεῖ προσιόντες ἐμαρτύραντο μὴ διὰ σπονδῶν ἀναιρεῖσθαι Λύσανδρον, ἀλλὰ διʼ ὅπλων περὶ τοῦ σώματος ἀγωνισαμένους καὶ νικήσαντας οὕτω τὸν ἄνδρα θάπτειν, ἡττωμένοις δὲ καλὸν ἐνταῦθα κεῖσθαι μετὰ τοῦ στρατηγοῦ.
Tidings of the disaster were brought to Pausanias while he was on the march from Plataea to Thespiae, and putting his army in battle array, he came to Haliartus. Thrasybulus also came from Thebes, leading his Athenians. But when Pausanias was minded to ask for the bodies of the dead under a truce, the elders of the Spartans could not brook it, and were angry among themselves, and coming to the king, they protested that the body of Lysander must not be taken up under cover of a truce, but by force of arms, in open battle for it; and that if they conquered, then they would give him burial, but if they were vanquished, it would be a glorious thing to be dead with their general.
ταῦτα τῶν πρεσβυτέρων λεγόντων ὁρῶν ὁ Παυσανίας μέγα μὲν ἔργον ὑπερβαλέσθαι μάχῃ τοὺς Θηβαίους ἄρτι κεκρατηκότας, ἐγγὺς δὲ τῶν τειχῶν τὸ σῶμα τοῦ Λυσάνδρου παραπεπτωκός, ὥστε χαλεπὴν ἄνευ σπονδῶν καὶ νικῶσιν εἶναι τὴν ἀναίρεσιν, ἔπεμψε κήρυκα καὶ σπεισάμενος ἀπήγαγε τὴν δύναμιν ὀπίσω.
Such were the words of the elders; but Pausanias saw that it would be a difficult matter to conquer the Thebans, flushed as they were with victory, and that the body of Lysander lay near the walls, so that its recovery would be difficult without a truce, even if they were victorious; he therefore sent a herald, and after making a truce, led his forces back.
τὸν δὲ Λύσανδρον ᾗ πρῶτον κομίζοντες ὑπὲρ τοὺς ὅρους ἐγένοντο τῆς Βοιωτίας ἐν φίλῃ καὶ συμμαχίδι χώρᾳ τῇ Πανοπέων κατέθεσαν, οὗ νῦν τὸ μνημεῖόν ἐστι παρὰ τὴν ὁδὸν εἰς Χαιρώνειαν ἐκ Δελφῶν πορευομένοις.ἐνταῦθα δὴ τῆς στρατιᾶς καταυλισαμένης λέγεταί τινα τῶν Φωκέων ἑτέρῳ μὴ παρατυχόντι τὸν ἀγῶνα διηγούμενον, εἰπεῖν ὡς οἱ πολέμιοι προσπέσοιεν αὐτοῖς τοῦ Λυσάνδρου τὸν Ὁπλίτην ἤδη διαβεβηκότος.
And as soon as they had come beyond the boundary of Boeotia with Lysander’s body, they buried it in the friendly soil of their allies, the Panopeans, where his monument now stands, by the road leading from Delphi to Chaeroneia. Here the army bivouacked and it is said that a certain Phocian, recounting the action to another who was not in it, said that the enemy fell upon them just after Lysander had crossed the Hoplites.
θαυμάσαντα δὲ Σπαρτιάτην ἄνδρα τοῦ Λυσάνδρου φίλον ἐρέσθαι τίνα λέγοι τὸν Ὁπλίτην· οὐ γὰρ εἰδέναι τοὔνομα· καὶ μὴν ἐκεῖ γε, φάναι, τοὺς πρώτους ἡμῶν οἱ πολέμιοι κατέβαλον. τὸ γὰρ παρὰ τὴν πόλιν ῥεῖθρον Ὁπλίτην καλοῦσιν. ἀκούσαντα δὲ τὸν Σπαρτιάτην ἐκδακρῦσαι καὶ εἰπεῖν ὡς ἄφευκτόν ἐστιν ἀνθρώπῳ τὸ πεπρωμένον.
Then a Spartan, who was a friend of Lysander, asked in amazement what he meant by Hoplites, for he did not know the name. Indeed it was there, said the Phocian, that the enemy slew the foremost of us; for the stream that flows past the city is called Hoplites. On hearing this, the Spartan burst into tears, and said that man could not escape his destiny.
ἦν γάρ, ὡς ἔοικε, τῷ Λυσάνδρῳ δεδομένος χρησμὸς οὕτως ἔχων· ὁπλίτην κελάδοντα φυλάξασθαί σε κελεύω / γῆς τε δράκονθʼ υἱὸν δόλιον κατόπισθεν ἰόντα. / τινὲς δὲ τὸν Ὁπλίτην οὐ πρὸς Ἁλιάρτῳ ῥεῖν λέγουσιν, ἀλλὰ πρὸς Κορώνειαν χειμάρρουν εἶναι τῷ Φιλάρῳ ποταμῷ συμφερόμενον παρὰ τὴν πόλιν, ὃν πάλαι μὲν Ὁπλίαν, νῦν δὲ Ἰσόμαντον προσαγορεύουσιν.
For Lysander, as it appears, had received an oracle running thus:— Be on thy guard, I bid thee, against a sounding Hoplites, / And an earth-born dragon craftily coming behind thee. / Some, however say that the Hoplites does not flow before Haliartus, but is a winter torrent near Coroneia, which joins the Philarus and then flows past that city; in former times it was called Hoplaas, but now Isomantus.
ὁ δὲ ἀποκτείνας τὸν Λύσανδρον Ἁλιάρτιος ἀνὴρ ὄνομα Νεόχωρος ἐπίσημον εἶχε τῆς ἀσπίδος δράκοντα· καὶ τοῦτο σημαίνειν ὁ χρησμὸς εἰκάζετο. λέγεται δὲ καὶ Θηβαίοις ὑπὸ τὸν Πελοποννησιακὸν πόλεμον ἐν Ἰσμηνίῳ γενέσθαι χρησμὸν ἅμα τήν τε πρὸς Δηλίῳ μάχην καὶ τὴν πρὸς Ἁλιάρτῳ ταύτην ἐκείνης ὕστερον ἔτει τριακοστῷ γενομένην προμηνύοντα.
Moreover, the man of Haliartus who killed Lysander, Neochorus by Dame, had a dragon as emblem on his shield, and to this, it was supposed, the oracle referred. And it is said that the Thebans also, during the Peloponnesian war, received an oracle at the sanctuary of Ismenus which indicated beforehand not only the battle at Delium, but also this battle at Haliartus, thirty years later.
ἦν δὲ τοιοῦτος· ἐσχατιὰν πεφύλαξο λύκους καμάκεσσι δοκεύων / καὶ λόφον Ὀρχαλίδην, ὃν ἀλώπηξ οὔποτε λείπει. / τὸν μὲν οὖν περὶ Δήλιον τόπον ἐσχατιὰν προσεῖπε, καθʼ ὃν ἡ Βοιωτία τῇ Ἀττικῇ σύνορός ἐστιν, Ὀρχαλίδην δὲ λόφον, ὃν νῦν Ἀλώπεκον καλοῦσιν, ἐν τοῖς πρὸς τὸν Ἑλικῶνα μέρεσι τοῦ Ἁλιάρτου κείμενον.
It ran as follows:— When thou huntest the wolf with the spear, watch closely the border, / Orchalides, too, the hill which foxes never abandon. / Now by border, the god meant the region about Delium, where Boeotia is conterminous with Attica; and by Orchalides, the hill which is now called Alopecus, or Fox-hill, in the parts of Haliartus which stretch towards Mount Helicon.
τοιαύτης δὲ τῷ Λυσάνδρῳ τῆς τελευτῆς γενομένης παραχρῆμα μὲν οὕτως ἤνεγκαν οἱ Σπαρτιᾶται βαρέως, ὥστε τῷ βασιλεῖ κρίσιν προγράψαι θανατικήν· ἣν οὐχ ὑποστὰς ἐκεῖνος εἰς Τεγέαν ἔφυγε, κἀκεῖ κατεβίωσεν ἱκέτης ἐν τῷ τεμένει τῆς Ἀθηνᾶς.
Now that Lysander had met with such an end, at the outset the Spartans were so indignant about it that they summoned the king to trial for his life; but he evaded it, and fled to Tegea, where he spent the rest of his days as a suppliant in the sanctuary of Athena.
καὶ γὰρ ἡ πενία τοῦ Λυσάνδρου τελευτήσαντος ἐκκαλυφθεῖσα φανερωτέραν ἐποίησε τὴν ἀρετήν, ἀπὸ χρημάτων πολλῶν καὶ δυνάμεως θεραπείας τε πόλεων καὶ βασιλέως τοσαύτης μηδὲ μικρὸν ἐπιλαμπρύναντος τὸν οἶκον εἰς χρημάτων λόγον, ὡς ἱστορεῖ Θεόπομπος, ᾧ μᾶλλον ἐπαινοῦντι πιστεύσειεν ἄν τις ἢ ψέγοντι, ψέγει γὰρ ἥδιον ἢ ἐπαινεῖ.
For the poverty of Lysander, which was discovered at his death, made his excellence more apparent to all, since from the vast wealth and power in his hands, and from the great homage paid him by cities and the Great King, he had not, even in the slightest degree, sought to amass money for the aggrandizement of his family. This is the testimony of Theopompus, who is more to be trusted when he praises than when he blames; for he takes more pleasure in blaming than in praising.
χρόνῳ δὲ ὕστερον Ἔφορός φησιν ἀντιλογίας τινὸς συμμαχικῆς ἐν Σπάρτῃ γενομένης, καὶ τὰ γράμματα διασκέψασθαι δεῆσαν ἃ παρʼ ἑαυτῷ κατέσχεν ὁ Λύσανδρος, ἐλθεῖν ἐπὶ τὴν οἰκίαν τὸν Ἀγησίλαον. εὑρόντα δὲ τὸ βιβλίον ἐν ᾧ γεγραμμένος ἦν ὁ περὶ τῆς πολιτείας λόγος, ὡς χρὴ τῶν Εὐρυπωντιδῶν καὶ Ἀγιαδῶν τὴν βασιλείαν ἀφελομένους εἰς μέσον θεῖναι καὶ ποιεῖσθαι τὴν αἵρεσιν ἐκ τῶν ἀρίστων,
But after some time had passed, according to Ephorus, some dispute arose at Sparta with her allies, and it became necessary to inspect the writings which Lysander had kept by him; for which purpose Agesilaus went to his house. And when he found the book containing the speech on the constitution, which argued that the kingship ought to be taken from the Eurypontidae and Agiadae and made accessible to all Spartans alike, and that the choice should be made from the best of these,
ὁρμῆσαι μὲν εἰς τοὺς πολίτας τὸν λόγον ἐξενεγκεῖν καὶ παραδεικνύναι τὸν Λύσανδρον, οἷος ὢν πολίτης διαλάθοι, Λακρατίδαν δέ, ἄνδρα φρόνιμον καὶ τότε προεστῶτα τῶν ἐφόρων, ἐπιλαβέσθαι τοῦ Ἀγησιλάου, καὶ εἰπεῖν ὡς δεῖ μὴ ἀνορύττειν τὸν Λύσανδρον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸν λόγον αὐτῷ συγκατορύττειν οὕτω συντεταγμένον πιθανῶς καὶ πανούργως.
he was eager to produce the speech before his countrymen, and show them what the real character of Lysander’s citizenship had been. But Lacratidas, a prudent man, and at that time the principal ephor, held Agesilaus back, saying that they ought not to dig Lysander up again, but rather to bury the speech along with him, since it was composed with such a subtle persuasiveness.
οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ τάς τε ἄλλας τιμὰς ἀπέδοσαν αὐτῷ τελευτήσαντι, καὶ τοὺς μνηστευσαμένους τὰς θυγατέρας, εἶτα μετὰ τὴν τελευτὴν τοῦ Λυσάνδρου πένητος εὑρεθέντος ἀπειπαμένους ἐζημίωσαν, ὅτι πλούσιον μὲν νομίζοντες ἐθεράπευον, δίκαιον δὲ καὶ χρηστὸν ἐκ τῆς πενίας ἐπιγνόντες ἐγκατέλιπον. ἦν γάρ, ὡς ἔοικεν, ἐν Σπάρτῃ καὶ ἀγαμίου δίκη καὶ ὀψιγαμίου καὶ κακογαμίου· ταύτῃ δὲ ὑπῆγον μάλιστα τοὺς ἀντὶ τῶν ἀγαθῶν καὶ οἰκείων τοῖς πλουσίοις κηδεύοντας. τὰ μὲν οὖν περὶ Λύσανδρον οὕτως ἱστορήσαμεν ἔχοντα.
However, they paid him many honors at his death. In particular, they imposed a fine upon the men who had engaged to marry his daughters, and then, after Lysander’s death, when he was discovered to be poor, had renounced the engagement. The reason given for the fine was that the men had paid court to Lysander while they thought him rich, but when his poverty showed them that he was a just and good man, they forsook him. For there was, as it appears, a penalty at Sparta not only for not marrying at all, and for a late marriage, but also for a bad marriage and to this last they subjected those especially who sought alliance with the rich, instead of with the good and with their own associates. Such, then, are the accounts we have found given of Lysander.
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