καταβαίνοντι δʼ αὐτῷ πρὸς τὰς Ἑλληνικὰς πράξεις ἐπὶ θάλατταν Πέρσης ἀνὴρ Ἐπιξύης ὄνομα, σατραπεύων τῆς ἄνω Φρυγίας, ἐπεβούλευσε, παρεσκευακὼς ἔκπαλαι Πισίδας τινὰς ἀποκτενοῦντας, ὅταν ἐν τῇ καλουμένῃ κώμῃ Λεοντοκεφάλῳ γενόμενος καταυλισθῇ. τῷ δὲ λέγεται καθεύδοντι μεσημβρίας τὴν μητέρα τῶν θεῶν ὄναρ φανεῖσαν εἰπεῖν· ὦ Θεμιστόκλεις, ὑστέρει κεφαλῆς λεόντων, ἵνα μὴ λέοντι περιπέσῃς. ἐγὼ δὲ ἀντὶ τούτου σε αἰτῶ θεράπαιναν Μνησιπτολέμαν.
Now as he was going down to the sea on his commission to deal with Hellenic affairs, a Persian, Epixyes by name, satrap of Upper Phrygia, plotted against his life, having for a long time kept certain Pisidians in readiness to slay him whenever he should reach the village called Lion’s Head, and take up his night’s quarters there. But while Themistocles was asleep at midday before, it is said that the Mother of the Gods appeared to him in a dream and said: O Themistocles, shun a head of lions, that thou mayest not encounter a lion. And for this service to thee, I demand of thee Mnesiptolema to be my handmaid.
διαταραχθεὶς οὖν ὁ Θεμιστοκλῆς προσευξάμενος τῇ θεῷ τὴν μὲν λεωφόρον ἀφῆκεν, ἑτέρᾳ δὲ περιελθὼν καὶ παραλλάξας τὸν τόπον ἐκεῖνον ἤδη νυκτὸς οὔσης κατηυλίσατο.
τῶν δὲ τὴν σκηνὴν κομιζόντων ὑποζυγίων ἑνὸς εἰς τὸν ποταμὸν ἐμπεσόντος, οἱ τοῦ Θεμιστοκλέους οἰκέται τὰς αὐλαίας διαβρόχους γενομένας ἐκπετάσαντες ἀνέψυχον. οἱ δὲ Πισίδαι τὰ ξίφη λαβόντες ἐν τούτῳ προσεφέροντο, καὶ τὰ ψυχόμενα πρὸς τὴν σελήνην οὐκ ἀκριβῶς ἰδόντες ᾠήθησαν εἶναι τὴν σκηνὴν τὴν Θεμιστοκλέους κἀκεῖνον ἔνδον εὑρήσειν ἀναπαυόμενον.
Much disturbed, of course, Themistocles, with a prayer of acknowledgment to the goddess, forsook the highway, made a circuit by another route, and passing by that place, at last, as night came on, took up his quarters. Now, since one of the beasts of burden which carried the equipage of his tent had fallen into the river, the servants of Themistocles hung up the curtains which had got wet, and were drying them out. The Pisidians, at this juncture, sword in hand, made their approach, and since they could not see distinctly by the light of the moon what it was that was being dried, they thought it was the tent of Themistocles, and that they would find him reposing inside.
ὡς δʼ ἐγγὺς γενόμενοι τὴν αὐλαίαν ἀνέστελλον, ἐπιπίπτουσιν αὐτοῖς οἱ παραφυλάσσοντες καὶ συλλαμβάνουσι. διαφυγὼν δὲ τὸν κίνδυνον οὕτω καὶ θαυμάσας τὴν ἐπιφάνειαν τῆς θεοῦ ναὸν κατεσκεύασεν ἐν Μαγνησίᾳ Δινδυμήνης καὶ τὴν θυγατέρα Μνησιπτολέμαν ἱέρειαν ἀπέδειξεν.
But when they drew near and lifted up the hanging, they were fallen upon by the guards and apprehended. Thus Themistocles escaped the peril, and because he was amazed at the epiphany of the goddess, he built a temple in Magnesia in honor of Dindymene, and made his daughter Mnesiptolema her priestess.
ὡς δʼ ἦλθεν εἰς Σάρδεις καὶ σχολὴν ἄγων ἐθεᾶτο τῶν ἱερῶν τὴν κατασκευὴν καὶ τῶν ἀναθημάτων τὸ πλῆθος, εἶδε δὲ ἐν μητρὸς ἱερῷ τὴν καλουμένην ὑδροφόρον κόρην χαλκῆν, μέγεθος δίπηχυν, ἣν αὐτὸς ὅτε τῶν Ἀθήνησιν ὑδάτων ἐπιστάτης ἦν, ἑλὼν τοὺς ὑφαιρουμένους τὸ ὕδωρ καὶ παροχετεύοντας, ἀνέθηκεν ἐκ τῆς ζημίας ποιησάμενος, εἴτε δὴ παθών τι πρὸς τὴν αἰχμαλωσίαν τοῦ ἀναθήματος εἴτε βουλόμενος ἐνδείξασθαι τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις, ὅσην ἔχει τιμὴν καὶ δύναμιν ἐν τοῖς βασιλέως πράγμασι, λόγον τῷ Λυδίας σατράπῃ προσήνεγκεν αἰτούμενος ἀποστεῖλαι τὴν κόρην εἰς τὰς Ἀθήνας.
When he had come to Sardis and was viewing at his leisure the temples built there and the multitude of their dedicatory offerings, and saw in the temple of the Mother the so-called Water-carrier,—a maid in bronze, two cubits high, which he himself, when he was water commissioner at Athens, had caused to be made and dedicated from the fines he exacted of those whom he convicted of stealing and tapping the public water,—whether it was because he felt some chagrin at the capture of the offering, or because he wished to show the Athenians what honor and power he had in the King’s service, he addressed a proposition to the Lydian satrap and asked him to restore the maid to Athens.
χαλεπαίνοντος δὲ τοῦ βαρβάρου καὶ βασιλεῖ γράψειν φήσαντος ἐπιστολήν, φοβηθεὶς ὁ Θεμιστοκλῆς εἰς τὴν γυναικωνῖτιν κατέφυγε καὶ τὰς παλλακίδας αὐτοῦ θεραπεύσας χρήμασιν ἐκεῖνόν τε κατεπράϋνε τῆς ὀργῆς καὶ πρὸς τὰ ἄλλα παρεῖχεν ἑαυτὸν εὐλαβέστερον, ἤδη καὶ τὸν φθόνον τῶν βαρβάρων δεδοικώς. οὐ γὰρ πλανώμενος περὶ τὴν Ἀσίαν, ὥς φησι Θεόπομπος, ἀλλʼ ἐν Μαγνησίᾳ μὲν οἰκῶν, καρπούμενος δὲ δωρεὰς μεγάλας καὶ τιμώμενος ὅμοια Περσῶν τοῖς ἀρίστοις, ἐπὶ πολὺν χρόνον ἀδεῶς διῆγεν, οὐ πάνυ τι τοῖς Ἑλληνικοῖς πράγμασι βασιλέως προσέχοντος ὑπʼ ἀσχολιῶν περὶ τὰς ἄνω πράξεις.
But the Barbarian was incensed and threatened to write a letter to the King about it; whereat Themistocles was afraid, and so had recourse to the women’s chambers, and, by winning the favour of the satrap’s concubines with money, succeeded in assuaging his anger. Thereafter he behaved more circumspectly, fearing now even the jealousy of the Barbarians. For he did not wander about over Asia, as Theopompus says, but had a house in Magnesia, and gathered in large gifts, and was honored like the noblest Persians, and so lived on for a long time without concern, because the King paid no heed at all to Hellenic affairs, owing to his occupation with the state of the interior.
ὡς δʼ Αἴγυπτός τε ἀφισταμένη βοηθούντων Ἀθηναίων καὶ τριήρεις Ἑλληνικαὶ μέχρι Κύπρου καὶ Κιλικίας ἀναπλέουσαι καὶ Κίμων θαλαττοκρατῶν ἐπέστρεψεν αὐτὸν ἀντεπιχειρεῖν τοῖς Ἕλλησι καὶ κωλύειν αὐξανομένους ἐπʼ αὐτόν, ἤδη δὲ καὶ δυνάμεις ἐκινοῦντο καὶ στρατηγοὶ διεπέμποντο καὶ κατέβαινον ἀγγελίαι πρὸς Θεμιστοκλέα, τῶν Ἑλληνικῶν ἐξάπτεσθαι κελεύοντος βασιλέως καὶ βεβαιοῦν τὰς ὑποσχέσεις,
But when Egypt revolted with Athenian aid, and Hellenic triremes sailed up as far as Cyprus and Cilicia, and Cimon’s mastery of the sea forced the King to resist the efforts of the Hellenes and to hinder their hostile growth; and when at last forces began to be moved, and generals were despatched hither and thither, and messages came down to Themistocles saying that the King commanded him to make good his promises by applying himself to the Hellenic problem,
οὔτε διʼ ὀργήν τινα παροξυνθεὶς κατὰ τῶν πολιτῶν οὔτε ἐπαρθεὶς τιμῇ τοσαύτῃ καὶ δυνάμει πρὸς τὸν πόλεμον, ἀλλʼ ἴσως μὲν οὐδʼ ἐφικτὸν ἡγούμενος τὸ ἔργον, ἄλλους τε μεγάλους τῆς Ἑλλάδος ἐχούσης στρατηγοὺς τότε καὶ Κίμωνος ὑπερφυῶς εὐημεροῦντος ἐν τοῖς πολεμικοῖς, τὸ δὲ πλεῖστον αἰδοῖ τῆς τε δόξης τῶν πράξεων τῶν ἑαυτοῦ καὶ τῶν τροπαίων ἐκείνων, ἄριστα βουλευσάμενος ἐπιθεῖναι τῷ βίῳ τὴν τελευτὴν πρέπουσαν,
then, neither embittered by anything like anger against his former fellow-citizens, nor lifted up by the great honor and power he was to have in the war, but possibly thinking his task not even approachable, both because Hellas had other great generals at the time, and especially because Cimon was so marvelously successful in his campaigns; yet most of all out of regard for the reputation of his own achievements and the trophies of those early days; having decided that his best course was to put a fitting end to his life,
ἔθυσε τοῖς θεοῖς, καὶ τοὺς φίλους συναγαγὼν καὶ δεξιωσάμενος, ὡς μὲν ὁ πολὺς λόγος, αἷμα ταύρειον πιών, ὡς δʼ ἔνιοι, φάρμακον ἐφήμερον προσενεγκάμενος, ἐν Μαγνησίᾳ κατέστρεψε πέντε πρὸς τοῖς ἑξήκοντα βεβιωκὼς ἔτη καὶ τὰ πλεῖστα τούτων ἐν πολιτείαις καὶ ἡγεμονίαις. τὴν δʼ αἰτίαν τοῦ θανάτου καὶ τὸν τρόπον πυθόμενον βασιλέα λέγουσιν ἔτι μᾶλλον θαυμάσαι τὸν ἄνδρα καὶ τοῖς φίλοις αὐτοῦ καὶ οἰκείοις χρώμενον διατελεῖν φιλανθρώπως.
he made a sacrifice to the gods, then called his friends together, gave them a farewell clasp of his hand, and, as the current story goes, drank bull’s blood, or as some say, took a quick poison, and so died in Magnesia, in the sixty-fifth year of his life, most of which had been spent in political leadership. They say that the King, on learning the cause and the manner of his death, admired the man yet more, and continued to treat his friends and kindred with kindness.
ἀπέλιπε δὲ Θεμιστοκλῆς παῖδας ἐκ μὲν Ἀρχίππης τῆς Λυσάνδρου τοῦ Ἀλωπεκῆθεν Ἀρχέπτολιν καὶ Πολύευκτον καὶ Κλεόφαντον, οὗ καὶ Πλάτων ὁ φιλόσοφος ὡς ἱππέως ἀρίστου, τἆλλα δʼ οὐδενὸς ἀξίου γενομένου μνημονεύει. τῶν δὲ πρεσβυτάτων Νεοκλῆς μὲν ἔτι παῖς ὢν ὑφʼ ἵππου δηχθεὶς ἀπέθανε, Διοκλέα δὲ Λύσανδρος ὁ πάππος υἱὸν ἐποιήσατο.
Themistocles left three sons by Archippe, the daughter of Lysander, of the deme Alopece, namely: Archeptolis, Polyeuctus and Cleophantus, the last of whom Plato the philosopher mentions as a capital horseman, but good for nothing else. One of his two oldest sons, Neocles, died in boyhood from the bite of a horse, and Diocles was adopted by his grandfather Lysander.
θυγατέρας δὲ πλείους ἔσχεν, ὧν Μνησιπτολέμαν μὲν ἐκ τῆς ἐπιγαμηθείσης γενομένην Ἀρχέπτολις ὁ ἀδελφὸς οὐκ ὢν ὁμομήτριος ἔγημεν, Ἰταλίαν δὲ Πανθοίδης ὁ Χῖος, Σύβαριν δὲ Νικομήδης ὁ Ἀθηναῖος· Νικομάχην δὲ Φρασικλῆς ὁ ἀδελφιδοῦς Θεμιστοκλέους, ἤδη τετελευτηκότος ἐκείνου, πλεύσας εἰς Μαγνησίαν ἔλαβε παρὰ τῶν ἀδελφῶν, νεωτάτην δὲ πάντων τῶν τέκνων Ἀσίαν ἔθρεψε.
He had several daughters, of whom Mnesiptolema, born of his second wife, became the wife of Archeptolis her half-brother, Italia of Panthoides the Chian, and Sybaris of Nicomedes the Athenian. Nicomache was given in marriage by her brothers to Phrasicles, the nephew of Themistocles, who sailed to Magnesia after his uncle’s death, and who also took charge of Asia, the youngest of all the children.
καὶ τάφον μὲν αὐτοῦ λαμπρὸν ἐν τῇ ἀγορᾷ Μάγνητες ἔχουσι· περὶ δὲ τῶν λειψάνων οὔτʼ Ἀνδοκίδῃ προσέχειν ἄξιον ἐν τῷ Πρὸς τοὺς ἑταίρους λέγοντι, φωράσαντας τὰ λείψανα διαρρῖψαι τοὺς Ἀθηναίους (ψεύδεται γὰρ ἐπὶ τὸν δῆμον παροξύνων τοὺς ὀλιγαρχικούς)̓, ὅ τε Φύλαρχος, ὥσπερ ἐν τραγῳδίᾳ τῇ ἱστορίᾳ μονονοὺ μηχανὴν ἄρας καὶ προαγαγὼν Νεοκλέα τινὰ καὶ Δημόπολιν, υἱοὺς Θεμιστοκλέους, ἀγῶνα βούλεται κινεῖν καὶ πάθος, ὃ οὐδʼ ἂν ὁ τυχὼν ἀγνοήσειεν ὅτι πέπλασται.
The Magnesians have a splendid tomb of Themistocles in their market place; and with regard to his remains, Andocides is worthy of no attention when he says, in his Address to his Associates, that the Athenians stole away those remains and scattered them abroad, for he is trying by his lies to incite the oligarchs against the people; and Phylarchus, too, when, as if in a tragedy, he all but erects a theatrical machine for this story, and brings into the action a certain Neocles, forsooth, and Demopolis, sons of Themistocles, wishes merely to stir up tumultuous emotion; his tale even an ordinary person must know is fabricated.
Διόδωρος δʼ ὁ περιηγητὴς ἐν τοῖς Περὶ μνημάτων εἴρηκεν ὡς ὑπονοῶν μᾶλλον ἢ γινώσκων, ὅτι περὶ τὸν μέγαν λιμένα τοῦ Πειραιῶς ἀπὸ τοῦ κατὰ τὸν Ἄλκιμον ἀκρωτηρίου πρόκειταί τις οἷον ἀγκών, καὶ κάμψαντι τοῦτον ἐντός, ᾗ τὸ ὑπεύδιον τῆς θαλάττης, κρηπίς ἐστιν εὐμεγέθης καὶ τὸ περὶ αὐτὴν βωμοειδὲς τάφος τοῦ Θεμισκοκλέους.
Diodorus the Topographer, in his work On Tombs, says, by conjecture rather than from actual knowledge, that near the large harbor of the Piraeus a sort of elbow juts out from the promontory opposite Alcimus, and that as you round this and come inside where the water of the sea is still, there is a basement of goodly size, and that the altar-like structure upon this is the tomb of Themistocles.
οἴεται δε καὶ Πλάτωνα τὸν κωμικὸν αὐτῷ μαρτυρεῖν ἐν τούτοις· ὁ σὸς δὲ τύμβος ἐν καλῷ κεχωσμένος / τοῖς ἐμπόροις πρόσρησις ἔσται πανταχοῦ, / τούς τʼ ἐκπλέοντας εἰσπλέοντάς τʼ ὄψεται, / χὠπόταν ἅμιλλα τῶν νεῶν θεάσεται. /
τοῖς δʼ ἀπὸ γένους τοῦ Θεμιστοκλέους καὶ τιμαί τινες ἐν Μαγνησίᾳ φυλαττόμεναι μέχρι τῶν ἡμετέρων χρόνων ἦσαν, ἃς ἐκαρποῦτο Θεμιστοκλῆς Ἀθηναῖος, ἡμέτερος συνήθης καὶ φίλος παρʼ Ἀμμωνίῳ τῷ φιλοσόφῳ γενόμενος.
And he thinks that the comic poet Plato is a witness in favour of his view when he says:— Thy tomb is mounded in a fair and sightly place; / The merchantmen shall ever hail it with glad cry; / It shall behold those outward, and those inwardbound, / And all the emulous rivalry of racing ships. / For the lineal descendants of Themistocles there were also certain dignities maintained in Magnesia down to my time, and the revenues of these were enjoyed by a Themistocles of Athens who was my intimate and friend in the school of Ammonius the philosopher.
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