ἐν τούτῳ δὲ Καρχηδόνιοι καταπλέουσιν εἰς τὸ Λιλύβαιον ἄγοντες ἑπτὰ μυριάδας στρατοῦ καὶ τριήρεις διακοσίας καὶ πλοῖα χίλια κομίζοντα μηχανὰς καὶ τέθριππα καὶ σῖτον ἄφθονον καὶ τὴν ἄλλην παρασκευήν, ὡς οὐκέτι ποιησόμενοι κατὰ μέρος τὸν πόλεμον, ἀλλʼ ὁμοῦ πάσης Σικελίας ἐξελάσοντες τοὺς Ἕλληνας·
Meanwhile the Carthaginians put in at Lilybaeum with an army of seventy thousand men, two hundred triremes, and a thousand transports carrying engines of war, four-horse chariots, grain in abundance, and other requisite equipment. Their purpose was, not to carry on the war by piece-meal any more, but at one time to drive the invading Greeks out of all Sicily;
ἦν γὰρ ἡ δύναμις ἐπαρκοῦσα καὶ μὴ νοσοῦντας μηδὲ διεφθαρμένους ὑπʼ ἀλλήλων συλλαβέσθαι Σικελιώτας.
for their force would have been sufficient to capture the native Greeks, even though they had not been politically weak and utterly ruined by one another.
πυθόμενοι δὲ πορθεῖσθαι τὴν ἐπικράτειαν αὐτῶν, εὐθὺς ὀργῇ πρὸς τοὺς Κορινθίους ἐχώρουν Ἀσδρούβα τε καὶ Ἀμίλκα στρατηγούντων.
And on learning that the territory which they controlled was being ravaged by the Corinthians, they were furious, and straightway marched against them under the command of Hasdrubal and Hamilcar.
τῆς δὲ ἀγγελίας ὀξέως εἰς Συρακούσας ἀφικομένης οὕτω κατεπλάγησαν οἱ Συρακούσιοι πρὸς τὸ μέγεθος τῆς δυνάμεως ὥστε μόλις τῷ Τιμολέοντι τρισχιλίους ἀπὸ τοσούτων μυριάδων ὅπλα λαβόντας τολμῆσαι συνεξελθεῖν.
Tidings of this coming quickly to Syracuse, the Syracusans were so terrified at the magnitude of the enemy’s forces that only three thousand out of so many tens of thousands could with difficulty be brought to pluck up courage, take their arms, and go forth with Timoleon.
οἱ δὲ μισθοφόροι τετρακισχίλιοι τὸ πλῆθος ἦσαν καὶ τούτων αὖθις ὅσον χίλιοι καθʼ ὁδὸν ἀποδειλιάσαντες ἀνεχώρησαν, ὡς οὐχ ὑγιαίνοντος τοῦ Τιμολέοντος, ἀλλὰ μαινομένου παρʼ ἡλικίαν καὶ πρὸς ἑπτὰ μυριάδας πολεμίων μετὰ πεντακισχιλίων πεζῶν καὶ χιλίων ἱππέων βαδίζοντος, καὶ διαρτῶντος ὁδὸν ἡμερῶν ὀκτὼ τὴν δύναμιν ἀπὸ τῶν Συρακουσῶν, ὅθεν οὔτε σωθῆναι τοῖς φεύγουσιν οὔτε ταφῆναι τοῖς πεσοῦσιν αὐτῶν ὑπάρξει,
Furthermore, the mercenaries were only four thousand in number; and of these, again, about a thousand played the coward on the march and went back to Syracuse, declaring that Timoleon was not in his right mind, but was more crazy than his years would lead one to expect, and was marching against seventy thousand of the enemy with five thousand foot and a thousand horse, and was taking his force a march of eight days away from Syracuse, so that those of them who fled from the field would find no safety, and those who fell upon it would have no burial.
τούτους μὲν οὖν Τιμολέων κέρδος ἡγεῖτο πρὸ τῆς μάχης φανεροὺς γεγονότας, τοὺς δὲ ἄλλους ἐπιρρώσας κατὰ τάχος ἦγε πρὸς τὸν Κρίμησον ποταμόν, ὅπου καὶ τοὺς Καρχηδονίους ἤκουσε συνάπτειν.
As for these men, then, Timoleon counted it gain that they had shown what they were before the battle; the rest he encouraged and led them with all speed to the river Crimesus, where he heard that the Carthaginians also were concentrating.
ἀναβαίνοντι δὲ αὐτῷ πρὸς λόφον, ὃν ὑπερβαλόντες ἔμελλον κατόψεσθαι τὸ στράτευμα καὶ τὴν δύναμιν τῶν πολεμίων, ἐμβάλλουσιν ἡμίονοι σέλινα κομίζοντες·
As he was marching up a hill, from the crest of which they expected to look down upon the camp and the forces of the enemy, there met them by chance some mules laden with parsley;
καὶ τοῖς στρατιώταις εἰσῆλθε πονηρὸν εἶναι τὸ σημεῖον, ὅτι τὰ μνήματα τῶν νεκρῶν εἰώθαμεν ἐπιεικῶς στεφανοῦν σελίνοις· καὶ παροιμία τις ἐκ τούτου γέγονε, τὸν ἐπισφαλῶς νοσοῦντα δεῖσθαι σελίνου.
and it occurred to the soldiers that the sign was a bad one, because we are generally accustomed to wreath the tombs of the dead with parsley; and this has given rise to a proverb, namely, that one who is dangerously sick needs only parsley.
βουλόμενος οὖν αὐτοὺς ἀπαλλάξαι τῆς δεισιδαιμονίας καὶ τὴν δυσελπιστίαν ἀφελεῖν ὁ Τιμολέων, ἐπιστήσας τὴν πορείαν ἄλλα τε πρέποντα τῷ καιρῷ διελέχθη, καὶ τὸν στέφανον αὐτοῖς ἔφη πρὸ τῆς νίκης κομιζόμενον αὐτομάτως εἰς τὰς χεῖρας ἥκειν, ᾧ Κορίνθιοι στεφανοῦσι τοὺς Ἴσθμια νικῶντας, ἱερὸν καὶ πάτριον τὸ στέμμα τοῦ σελίνου νομίζοντες.
Accordingly, wishing to free them from their superstitious fears and take away their despondency, Timoleon halted them on their march, and after discoursing otherwise as befitted the occasion, said also that the wreath for their victory had come into their hands in advance and of its own accord, the wreath with which Corinthians crown the victors at the Isthmian games, considering the garland of parsley to be traditionally sacred in their country.
ἔτι γὰρ τότε τῶν Ἰσθμίων, ὥσπερ νῦν τῶν Νεμείων, τὸ σέλινον ἦν στέφανος, οὐ πάλαι δὲ ἡ πίτυς γέγονεν.
For at that time parsley was still used for wreaths at the Isthmian, as it is now at the Nemean games, and it was not long ago that the pine came into use instead.
ἐντυχὼν οὖν ὁ Τιμολέων, ὥσπερ εἴρηται, τοῖς στρατιώταις καὶ λαβὼν τῶν σελίνων κατεστέψατο πρῶτος αὐτός, εἶτα οἱ περὶ αὐτὸν ἡγεμόνες καὶ τὸ πλῆθος.
Accordingly, when Timoleon had addressed his soldiers, as I have said, he took of the parsley amid crowned himself with it first, and then the captains and the common soldiers about him did the same.
οἱ δὲ μάντεις κατιδόντες ἀετοὺς δύο προσφερομένους, ὧν ὁ μὲν δράκοντα τοῖς ὄνυξιν ἔφερε διαπεπαρμένον, ὁ δὲ ἵπτατο κεκλαγὼς μέγα καὶ θαρραλέον, ἐπεδείκνυον τοῖς στρατιώταις, καὶ πρὸς εὐχὰς θεῶν καὶ ἀνακλήσεις ἐτράποντο πάντες.
Moreover, the soothsayers, observing two eagles coming up on the wing, one of which bore a serpent pierced with its talons, while the other flew with a loud and inspiring cry, pointed them out to the soldiers, and all betook themselves to invoking the gods with prayers.
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