ἐμοὶ τῆς τῶν βίων ἅψασθαι μὲν γραφῆς συνέβη διʼ ἑτέρους, ἐπιμένειν δὲ καὶ φιλοχωρεῖν ἤδη καὶ διʼ ἐμαυτόν, ὥσπερ ἐν ἐσόπτρῳ τῇ ἱστορίᾳ πειρώμενον ἁμῶς γέ πως κοσμεῖν καὶ ἀφομοιοῦν πρὸς τὰς ἐκείνων ἀρετὰς τὸν βίον.
I began the writing of my Lives for the sake of others, but I find that I am continuing the work and delighting in it now for my own sake also, using history as a mirror and endeavouring in a manner to fashion and adorn my life in conformity with the virtues therein depicted.
οὐδὲν γὰρ ἀλλʼ ἢ συνδιαιτήσει καὶ συμβιώσει τὸ γινόμενον ἔοικεν, ὅταν ὥσπερ ἐπιξενούμενον ἕκαστον αὐτῶν ἐν μέρει διὰ τῆς ἱστορίας ὑποδεχόμενοι καὶ παραλαμβάνοντες ἀναθεωρῶμεν ὅσσος ἔην οἷός τε, τὰ κυριώτατα καὶ κάλλιστα πρὸς γνῶσιν ἀπὸ τῶν πράξεων λαμβάνοντες.
For the result is like nothing else than daily living and associating together, when I receive and welcome each subject of my history in turn as my guest, so to speak, and observe carefully how large he was and of what mien, and select from his career what is most important and most beautiful to know.
φεῦ, φεῦ· τί τούτου χάρμα μεῖζον ἂν λάβοις, καὶ πρὸς ἐπανόρθωσιν ἠθῶν ἐνεργότερον;
And oh! what greater joy than this canst thou obtain, / and more efficacious for moral improvement?
Δημόκριτος μὲν γὰρ εὔχεσθαί φησι δεῖν ὅπως εὐλόγχων εἰδώλων τυγχάνωμεν καὶ τὰ σύμφυλα καὶ τὰ χρηστὰ μᾶλλον ἡμῖν ἐκ τοῦ περιέχοντος ἢ τὰ φαῦλα καὶ τὰ σκαιὰ συμφέρηται, λόγον οὔτʼ ἀληθῆ καὶ πρὸς ἀπεράντους ἐκφέροντα δεισιδαιμονίας εἰς φιλοσοφίαν καταβάλλων·
Democritus says we ought to pray that we may be visited by phantoms which are propitious, and that from out the circumambient air such only may encounter us as are agreeable to our natures and good, rather than those which are perverse and bad, thereby intruding into philosophy a doctrine which is not true, and which leads astray into boundless superstitions.
ἡμεῖς δὲ τῇ περὶ τὴν ἱστορίαν διατριβῇ καὶ τῆς γραφῆς τῇ συνηθείᾳ παρασκευάζομεν ἑαυτούς, τὰς τῶν ἀρίστων καὶ δοκιμωτάτων μνήμας ὑποδεχομένους ἀεὶ ταῖς ψυχαῖς, εἴ τι φαῦλον ἢ κακόηθες ἢ ἀγεννὲς αἱ τῶν συνόντων ἐξ ἀνάγκης ὁμιλίαι προσβάλλουσιν, ἐκκρούειν καὶ διωθεῖσθαι, πρὸς τὰ κάλλιστα τῶν παραδειγμάτων ἵλεω καὶ πρᾳεῖαν ἀποστρέφοντες τὴν διάνοιαν.
But in my own case, the study of history and the familiarity with it which my writing produces, enables me, since I always cherish in my soul the records of the noblest and most estimable characters, to repel and put far from me whatever base, malicious, or ignoble suggestion my enforced associations may intrude upon me, calmly and dispassionately turning my thoughts away from them to the fairest of my examples.
ὧν ἐν τῷ παρόντι προκεχειρίσμεθά σοι τὸν Τιμολέοντος τοῦ Κορινθίου καὶ τὸν Αἰμιλίου Παύλου βίον,
Among these were Timoleon the Corinthian and Aemilius Paulus, whose Lives I have now undertaken to lay before my readers;
ἀνδρῶν οὐ μόνον ταῖς αἱρέσεσιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ταῖς τύχαις ἀγαθαῖς ὁμοίως κεχρημένων ἐπὶ τὰ πράγματα,
the men were alike not only in the good principles which they adopted, but also in the good fortune which they enjoyed in their conduct of affairs,
καὶ διαμφισβήτησιν παρεξόντων πότερον εὐποτμίᾳ, μᾶλλον ἢ φρονήσει τὰ μέγιστα τῶν πεπραγμένων κατώρθωσαν.
and they will make it hard for my readers to decide whether the greatest of their successful achievements were due to their good fortune or their wisdom.
τὰ μὲν Συρακοσίων πράγματα πρὸ τῆς Τιμολέοντος εἰς Σικελίαν ἀποστολῆς οὕτως εἶχεν.
The state of affairs in Syracuse, before the expedition of Timoleon into Sicily, was as follows.
ἐπεὶ Δίων μὲν ἐξελάσας Διονύσιον τὸν τύραννον εὐθὺς ἀνῃρέθη δόλῳ καὶ διέστησαν οἱ σὺν Δίωνι Συρακοσίους ἐλευθερώσαντες, ἡ δὲ πόλις ἄλλον ἐξ ἄλλου μεταβάλλουσα συνεχῶς τύραννον ὑπὸ πλήθους κακῶν μικρὸν ἀπέλειπεν ἔρημος εἶναι,
After Dion had driven out Dionysius the tyrant, he was at once treacherously slain, and those who had helped him to free Syracuse were divided among themselves. The city, therefore, was continually exchanging one tyrant for another, and owing to a multitude of ills was almost abandoned,
τῆς δʼ ἄλλης Σικελίας ἡ μὲν ἀνάστατος καὶ ἄπολις παντάπασιν ἤδη διὰ τοὺς πολέμους ὑπῆρχεν, αἱ δὲ πλεῖσται πόλεις ὑπὸ βαρβάρων μιγάδων καὶ στρατιωτῶν ἀμίσθων κατείχοντο, ῥᾳδίως προσιεμένων τὰς μεταβολὰς τῶν δυναστειῶν,
while as for the rest of Sicily, part of it was ruined and already wholly without inhabitants by reason of the wars, and most of the cities were occupied by Barbarians of mixed races and soldiers out of employment, who readily consented to the successive changes in the despotic power.
Διονύσιος ἔτει δεκάτῳ ξένους συναγαγὼν καὶ τὸν τότε κρατοῦντα τῶν Συρακοσίων Νυσαῖον ἐξελάσας, ἀνέλαβε τὰ πράγματα πάλιν καὶ καθειστήκει τύραννος ἐξ ἀρχῆς, παραλόγως μὲν ὑπὸ μικρᾶς δυνάμεως τὴν μεγίστην τῶν πώποτε τυραννίδων ἀπολέσας, παραλογώτερον δʼ αὖθις ἐκ φυγάδος καὶ ταπεινοῦ τῶν ἐκβαλόντων κύριος γενόμενος.
At last Dionysius, in the tenth year of his exile, collected mercenaries, drove out Nisaeus; who was at that time master of Syracuse, recovered the power again, and established himself as tyrant anew; he had been unaccountably deprived by a small force of the greatest tyranny that ever was, and now more unaccountably still he had become, from a lowly exile, master of those who drove him forth.
οἱ μὲν οὖν ὑπομείναντες ἐν τῇ πόλει τῶν Συρακοσίων ἐδούλευον οὔτʼ ἄλλως ἐπιεικεῖ τυράννῳ καὶ τότε παντάπασιν ὑπὸ συμφορῶν ἀπηγριωμένῳ τὴν ψυχήν,
Accordingly, those of the Syracusans who remained in the city were the slaves of a tyrant who at all times was unreasonable, and whose spirit at this time was rendered altogether savage by misfortunes,
οἱ δὲ βέλτιστοι καὶ γνωριμώτατοι πρὸς Ἱκέτην τραπέντες τὸν δυναστεύοντα τῶν Λεοντίνων ἐπέτρεψαν αὑτοὺς ἐκείνῳ καὶ στρατηγὸν εἵλοντο τοῦ πολέμου, βελτίω μὲν οὐδενὸς ὄντα τῶν ὁμολογουμένως τυράννων, ἑτέραν δʼ οὐκ ἔχοντες ἀποστροφὴν, καὶ πιστεύσαντες Συρακουσίῳ τὸ γένος ὄντι καὶ κεκτημένῳ δύναμιν ἀξιόμαχον πρὸς τὸν τύραννον.
but the best and most distinguished of them had recourse to Hicetas the ruler of Leontini, put themselves under his protection, and chose him their general for the war; not that he was better than any acknowledged tyrant, but because they had no other refuge, and felt confidence in one who was a Syracusan by birth and possessed a force that was able to cope with that of Dionysius.
ἐν τούτῳ δὲ Καρχηδονίων στόλῳ μεγάλῳ παραγενομένων εἰς Σικελίαν καὶ τοῖς πράγμασιν ἐπαιωρουμένων φοβηθέντες οἱ Σικελιῶται πρεσβείαν ἐβούλοντο πέμπειν εἰς τὴν Ἑλλάδα καὶ παρὰ Κορινθίων βοήθειαν αἰτεῖν,
Meanwhile the Carthaginians came with a large armament to Sicily and were watching their opportunity, and the Sicilian Greeks, in their fright, wished to send an embassy to Greece and ask for assistance from the Corinthians,
οὐ μόνον διὰ τὴν συγγένειαν οὐδʼ ἀφʼ ὧν ἤδη πολλάκις εὐεργέτηντο πιστεύοντες ἐκείνοις, ἀλλὰ καὶ καθόλου τὴν πόλιν ὁρῶντες φιλελεύθερον καὶ μισοτύραννον οὖσαν ἀεί, καὶ τῶν πολέμων τοὺς πλείστους καὶ μεγίστους πεπολεμηκυῖαν οὐχ ὑπὲρ ἡγεμονίας καὶ πλεονεξίας, ἀλλʼ ὑπὲρ τῆς τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἐλευθερίας.
not only because they trusted them on account of their kinship and in consequence of the many benefits they had already received from them, but also in general because they saw that the city was always a lover of freedom and a hater of tyrants, and had waged the most and greatest of her wars, not for supremacy and aggrandizement, but for the liberty of the Greeks.
ὁ δʼ Ἱκέτης, ἅτε δὴ τῆς στρατηγίας ὑπόθεσιν τὴν τυραννίδα πεποιημένος, οὐ τὴν Συρακουσίων ἐλευθερίαν, κρύφα μὲν ἤδη πρὸς τοὺς Καρχηδονίους διείλεκτο, φανερῶς δὲ τοὺς Συρακουσίους ἐπῄνει καὶ τοὺς πρέσβεις εἰς Πελοπόννησον συνεξέπεμψεν,
Hicetas, however, since he had made a tyranny for himself, and not the freedom of Syracuse, his sole object in taking the field, had already held secret conferences with the Carthaginians; yet openly he commended the plan of the Syracusans and joined them in sending the embassy to Peloponnesus,
οὐ βουλόμενος ἐλθεῖν συμμαχίαν ἐκεῖθεν, ἀλλʼ ἐάν, ὅπερ εἰκὸς ἦν, οἱ Κορίνθιοι διὰ τὰς Ἑλληνικὰς ταραχὰς καὶ ἀσχολίας ἀπείπωσι τὴν βοήθειαν, ἐλπίζων ῥᾷον ἐπὶ τοὺς Καρχηδονίους τὰ πράγματα μετάξειν καὶ χρήσεσθαι συμμάχοις καὶ συναγωνισταῖς ἐκείνοις ἐπὶ τοὺς Συρακουσίους ἢ κατὰ τοῦ τυράννου, ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ὀλίγον ὕστερον ἐξηλέγχθη.
not because he wished that an allied force should come from there, but because he hoped that if, as was likely, the Corinthians should refuse their assistance because the disturbed condition of Greece kept them busy at home, he might more easily turn the control of affairs into the hands of the Carthaginians and use these invaders as allies and helpers in a struggle against the Syracusans or against Dionysius. This, then, was fully proved a little later.
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