—On the crossing of Xerxes into Europe (chaps. 1-4). —On the battle of Thermopylae (chaps. 5-11). —On the naval battle which Xerxes fought against the Greeks (chaps. 12-13). —How Themistocles outgeneralled Xerxes and the Greeks conquered the barbarians in the naval battle of Salamis (chaps. 14-18). —How Xerxes, leaving Mardonius behind as commander, withdrew with a portion of his army to Asia (chap. 19). —How the Carthaginians with great armaments made war upon Sicily (chaps. 20-21). —How Gelon, after outgeneralling the barbarians, slew some of them and took others captive (chaps. 22-23). —How Gelon, when the Carthaginians sued for peace, exacted money of them and then concluded the peace (chaps. 24-26). —Judgement passed on the Greeks who distinguished themselves in the war (chap. 27). —The battle of the Greeks against Mardonius and the Persians about Plataea and the victory of the Greeks (chaps. 27-39). —The war which the Romans waged against the Aequi and the inhabitants of Tusculum (chap. 40). —On the construction of the Peiraeus by Themistocles (chaps. 41-50). —On the aid which king Hiero dispatched to the Cymaeans (chap. 51). —On the war which arose between the Tarantini and the Iapyges (chap. 52). —How Thrasydaeus, the son of Theron and tyrant of the Acragantini, was defeated by the Syracusans and lost his overlordship (chap. 53). —How Themistocles, who had fled for safety to Xerxes and was put on trial for his life, was set at liberty (chaps. 54-59). —How the Athenians freed the Greek cities throughout Asia (chaps. 60-62). —On the earthquake that occurred in Laconia (chap. 63). —On the revolt of the Messenians and Helots against the Lacedaemonians (chaps. 63-64). —How the Argives razed Mycenae to the ground and made the city desolate (chap. 65). —How the Syracusans overthrew the royal line of Gelon (chaps. 67-68). —How Xerxes was slain by treachery and Artaxerxes became king (chap. 69). —On the revolt of the Egyptians against the Persians (chap. 71). —On the civil discords which took place among the Syracusans (chaps. 72-73). —How the Athenians defeated in war the Aeginetans and Corinthians (chaps. 78-79). —How the Phocians made war on the Dorians (chap. 79). —How Myronides the Athenian with a few soldiers defeated the Boeotians who far outnumbered them (chaps. 81-82). —On the campaign of Tolmides against Cephallenia (chap. 84). —On the war in Sicily between the Egestaeans and Lilybaeans (chap. 86). —On the framing of the law of petalism by the Syracusans (chap. 87). —The campaign of Pericles against the Peloponnesus (chap. 88). —The campaign of the Syracusans against Tyrrhenia (chap. 88). —On the Palici, as they are called, in Sicily (chap. 89). —On the defeat of Ducetius and his astounding escape from death (chaps. 91-92).

1

The preceding Book, which is the tenth of our narrative, closed with the events of the year just before the crossing of Xerxes into Europe and the formal deliberations which the general assembly of the Greeks held in Corinth on the alliance between Gelon and the Greeks; and in this Book we shall supply the further course of the history, beginning with the campaign of Xerxes against the Greeks, and we shall stop with the year which precedes the campaign of the Athenians against Cyprus under the leadership of Cimon.2 [2]

Calliades was archon in Athens, and the Romans made Spurius Cassius and Proculus Verginius Tricostus consuls, and the Eleians celebrated the Seventy-fifth Olympiad, that in which Astylus of Syracuse won the “stadion.” It was in this year that king Xerxes made his campaign against Greece, for the following reason. [3] Mardonius the Persian was a cousin of Xerxes and related to him by marriage, and he was also greatly admired by the Persians because of his sagacity and courage. This man, being elated by pride and at the height of his physical vigour, was eager to be the leader of great armaments; consequently he persuaded Xerxes to enslave the Greeks, who had ever been enemies of the Persians. [4] And Xerxes, being won over by him and desiring to drive all the Greeks from their homes, sent an embassy to the Carthaginians to urge them to join him in the undertaking and closed an agreement with them, to the effect that he would wage war upon the Greeks who lived in Greece, while the Carthaginians should at the same time gather great armaments and subdue those Greeks who lived in Sicily and Italy. [5] In accordance, then, with their agreements, the Carthaginians, collecting a great amount of money, gathered mercenaries from both Italy and Liguria and also from Galatia and Iberia3; and in addition to these troops they enrolled men of their own race from the whole of Libya and of Carthage; and in the end, after spending three years in constant preparation, they assembled more than three hundred thousand foot-soldiers and two hundred war vessels.

Xerxes, vying with the zeal displayed by the Carthaginians, surpassed them in all his preparations to the degree that he excelled the Carthaginians in the multitude of peoples at his command. And he began to have ships built throughout all the territory along the sea that was subject to him, both Egypt and Phoenicia and Cyprus, Cilicia and Pamphylia and Pisidia, and also Lycia, Caria, Mysia, the Troad, and the cities on the Hellespont, and Bithynia, and Pontus. Spending a period of three years, as did the Carthaginians, on his preparations, he made ready more than twelve hundred warships. [2] He was aided in this by his father Darius, who before his death had made preparations of great armaments; for Darius, after Datis, his general, had been defeated by the Athenians at Marathon, had continued to be angry with the Athenians for having won that battle. But Darius, when already about to cross over4 against the Greeks, was stopped in his plans by death, whereupon Xerxes, induced both by the design of his father and by the counsel of Mardonius, as we have stated, made up his mind to wage war upon the Greeks. [3]

Now when all preparations for the campaign had been completed, Xerxes commanded his admirals to assemble the ships at Cyme and Phocaea, and he himself collected the foot and cavalry forces from all the satrapies and advanced from Susa. And when he had arrived at Sardis, he dispatched heralds to Greece, commanding them to go to all the states and to demand of the Greeks water and earth.5 [4] Then, dividing his army, he sent in advance a sufficient number of men both to bridge the Hellespont and to dig a canal through Athos6 at the neck of the Cherronesus, in this way not only making the passage safe and short for his forces but also hoping by the magnitude of his exploits to strike the Greeks with terror before his arrival. Now the men who had been sent to make ready these works completed them with dispatch, because so many labourers co-operated in the task. [5] And the Greeks, when they learned of the great size of the Persian armaments, dispatched ten thousand hoplites into Thessaly to seize the passes of Tempe; Synetus7 commanded the Lacedaemonians and Themistocles the Athenians. These commanders dispatched ambassadors to the states and asked them to send soldiers to join in the common defence of the passes; for they eagerly desired that all the Greek states should each have a share in the defence and make common cause in the war against the Persians. [6] But since the larger number of the Thessalians and other Greeks who dwelt near the passes had given the water and earth to the envoys of Xerxes when they arrived, the two generals despaired of the defence at Tempe and returned to their own soil.

And now it will be useful to distinguish those Greeks who chose the side of the barbarians, in order that, incurring our censure here, their example may, by the obloquy visited upon them, deter for the future any who may become traitors to the common freedom. [2] The Aenianians, Dolopians, Melians,8 Perrhaebians, and Magnetans took the side of the barbarians even while the defending force was still at Tempe, and after its departure the Achaeans of Phthia, Locrians, Thessalians, and the majority of the Boeotians went over to the barbarians. [3] But the Greeks who were meeting in congress at the Isthmus9 voted to make the Greeks who voluntarily chose the cause of the Persians pay a tithe to the gods, when they should be successful in the war, and to send ambassadors to those Greeks who were neutral to urge them to join in the struggle for the common freedom. [4] Of the latter, some joined the alliance without reservation, while others postponed any decision for a considerable time, clinging to their own safety alone and anxiously waiting for the outcome of the war; the Argives, however, sending ambassadors to the common congress, promised to join the alliance if the congress would give them a share in the command. [5] To them the representatives declared plainly that, if they thought it a more terrible thing to have a Greek as general than a barbarian as master, they would do well to remain neutral, but if they were ambitious to secure the leadership of the Greeks, they should, it was stated, first have accomplished deeds deserving of this leadership and then strive for such an honour. After these events, when the ambassadors sent by Xerxes came to Greece and demanded both earth and water, all10 the states manifested in their replies the zeal they felt for the common freedom. [6]

When Xerxes learned that the Hellespont had been bridged and the canal11 had been dug through Athos, he left Sardis and made his way toward the Hellespont; and when he had arrived at Abydus, he led his army over the bridge into Europe. And as he advanced through Thrace, he added to his forces many soldiers from both the Thracians and neighbouring Greeks. [7] When he arrived at the city called Doriscus, he ordered his fleet to come there, and so both arms of his forces were gathered into one place. And he held there also the enumeration of the entire army, and the number of his land forces was over eight hundred thousand men, while the sum total of his ships of war exceeded twelve hundred, of which three hundred and twenty were Greek, the Greeks providing the complement of men and the king supplying the vessels. All the remaining ships were listed as barbarian; and of these the Egyptians supplied two hundred, the Phoenicians three hundred, the Cilicians eighty, the Pamphylians forty, the Lycians the same number, also the Carians eighty, and the Cyprians one hundred and fifty. [8] Of the Greeks the Dorians who dwelt off Caria, together with the Rhodians and Coans, sent forty ships, the Ionians, together with the Chians and Samians, one hundred, the Aeolians, together with the Lesbians and Tenedans, forty, the peoples of the region of the Hellespont, together with those who dwelt along the shores of the Pontus, eighty, and the inhabitants of the islands fifty; for the king had won over to his side the islands lying within the Cyanean Rocks12 and Triopium and Sunium. [9] Triremes made up the multitude we have listed, and the transports for the cavalry numbered eight hundred and fifty, and the triaconters three thousand. Xerxes, then, was busied with the enumeration of the armaments at Doriscus.

The Greeks who were in assembly, when word came to them that the Persian forces were near, took action to dispatch the ships of war with all speed to Artemisium in Euboea, recognizing that this place was well situated for meeting the enemy, and a considerable body of hoplites to Thermopylae to forestall them in occupying the passes at the narrowest part of the defile and to prevent the barbarians from advancing against Greece; for they were eager to throw their protection inside of Thermopylae about those who had chosen the cause of the Greeks and to do everything in their power to save the allies. [2] The leader of the entire expedition was Eurybiades the Lacedaemonian, and of the troops sent to Thermopylae the commander was Leonidas the king of the Spartans, a man who set great store by his courage and generalship. Leonidas, when he received the appointment, announced that only one thousand men should follow him on the campaign. [3] And when the ephors said that he was leading altogether too few soldiers against a great force and ordered him to take along a larger number, he replied to them in secret, “For preventing the barbarians from getting through the passes they are few, but for the task to which they are now bound they are many.” [4] Since this reply proved riddle-like and obscure, he was asked again whether he believed he was leading the soldiers to some paltry task. Whereupon he replied, “Ostensibly I am leading them to the defence of the passes, but in fact to die for the freedom of all; and so, if a thousand set forth, Sparta will be the more renowned when they have died, but if the whole body of the Lacedaemonians take the field, Lacedaemon will be utterly destroyed, for not a man of them, in order to save his life, will dare to turn in flight.” [5] There were, then, of the Lacedaemonians one thousand, and with them three hundred Spartiates,13 while the rest of the Greeks who were dispatched with them to Thermopylae were three thousand. [6]

Leonidas, then, with four thousand soldiers advanced to Thermopylae. The Locrians, however, who dwelt in the neighbourhood of the passes had already given earth and water to the Persians, and had promised that they would seize the passes in advance; but when they learned that Leonidas had arrived at Thermopylae, they changed their minds and went over to the Greeks. [7] And there gathered at Thermopylae also a thousand Locrians, an equal number of Melians,14 and almost a thousand Phocians, as well as some four hundred Thebans of the other party; for the inhabitants of Thebes were divided against each other with respect to the alliance with the Persians. Now the Greeks who were drawn up with Leonidas for battle, being as many in number as we have set forth, tarried in Thermopylae, awaiting the arrival of the Persians.

Xerxes, after having enumerated his armaments, pushed on with the entire army, and the whole fleet accompanied the land forces in their advance as far as the city of Acanthus, and from there the ships passed through the place where the canal had been dug into the other sea expeditiously and without loss. [2] But when Xerxes arrived at the Gulf of Melis,15 he learned that the enemy had already seized the passes. Consequently, having joined to his forces the armament there, he summoned his allies from Europe, a little less than two hundred thousand men; so that he now possessed in all not less than one million soldiers exclusive of the naval contingent.16 [3] And the sum total of the masses who served on the ships of war and who transported the food and general equipment was not less than that of those we have mentioned, so that the account usually given of the multitude of the men gathered together by Xerxes need cause no amazement; for men say that the unfailing rivers ran dry because of the unending stream of the multitude, and that the seas were hidden by the sails of the ships. However this may be, the greatest forces of which any historical record has been left were those which accompanied Xerxes. [4]

After the Persians had encamped on the Spercheius River, Xerxes dispatched envoys to Thermopylae to discover, among other things, how the Greeks felt about the war with him; and he commanded them to make this proclamation: “King Xerxes orders all to give up their arms, to depart unharmed to their native lands, and to be allies of the Persians; and to all Greeks who do this he will give more and better lands than they now possess.” [5] But when Leonidas heard the commands of the envoys, he replied to them: “If we should be allies of the king we should be more useful if we kept our arms, and if we should have to wage war against him, we should fight the better for our freedom if we kept them; and as for the lands which he promises to give, the Greeks have learned from their fathers to gain lands, not by cowardice, but by valour.”

The king, on hearing from his envoys the replies of the Greeks, sent for Demaratus, a Spartan who had been exiled from his native land and taken refuge with him, and with a scoff at the replies he asked the Laconian, “Will the Greeks flee more swiftly than my horses can run, or will they dare to face such armaments in battle?” [2] And Demaratus, we are told, replied, “You yourself are not unacquainted with the courage of the Greeks, since you use Greek forces to quell such barbarians as revolt. So do not think that those who fight better than the Persians to maintain your sovereignty, will risk their lives less bravely against the Persians to maintain their own freedom.” But Xerxes with a scoff at him ordered Demaratus to stay by his side in order that he might witness the Lacedaemonians in flight. [3]

Xerxes with his army came against the Greeks at Thermopylae. And he put the Medes in front of all the other peoples, either because he preferred them by reason of their courage or because he wished to destroy them in a body; for the Medes still retained a proud spirit, the supremacy which their ancestors had exercised having only recently been overthrown. [4] And he also designated together with the Medes the brothers and sons of those who had fallen at Marathon, believing that they would wreak vengeance upon the Greeks with the greatest fury. The Medes, then, having been drawn up for battle in the manner we have described, attacked the defenders of Thermopylae; but Leonidas had made careful preparation and massed the Greeks in the narrowest part of the pass.

The fight which followed was a fierce one, and since the barbarians had the king as a witness of their valour and the Greeks kept in mind their liberty and were exhorted to the fray by Leonidas, it followed that the struggle was amazing. [2] For since the men stood shoulder to shoulder in the fighting and the blows were struck in close combat, and the lines were densely packed, for a considerable time the battle was equally balanced. But since the Greeks were superior in valour and in the great size of their shields, the Medes gradually gave way; for many of them were slain and not a few wounded. The place of the Medes in the battle was taken by Cissians and Sacae, selected for their valour, who had been stationed to support them; and joining the struggle fresh as they were against men who were worn out they withstood the hazard of combat for a short while, but as they were slain and pressed upon by the soldiers of Leonidas, they gave way. [3] For the barbarians used small round or irregularly shaped shields, by which they enjoyed an advantage in open fields, since they were thus enabled to move more easily, but in narrow places they could not easily inflict wounds upon an enemy who were formed in close ranks and had their entire bodies protected by large shields, whereas they, being at a disadvantage by reason of the lightness of their protective armour, received repeated wounds. [4]

At last Xerxes, seeing that the entire area about the passes was strewn with dead bodies and that the barbarians were not holding out against the valour of the Greeks, sent forward the picked Persians known as the “Immortals,” who were reputed to be pre-eminent among the entire host for their deeds of courage. But when these also fled after only a brief resistance, then at last, as night fell, they ceased from battle, the barbarians having lost many dead and the Greeks a small number.

On the following day Xerxes, now that the battle had turned out contrary to his expectation, choosing from all the peoples of his army such men as were reputed to be of outstanding bravery and daring, after an earnest exhortation announced before the battle that if they should storm the approach he would give them notable gifts, but if they fled the punishment would be death. [2] These men hurled themselves upon the Greeks as one mighty mass and with great violence, but the soldiers of Leonidas closed their ranks at this time, and making their formation like a wall took up the struggle with ardour. And so far did they go in their eagerness that the lines which were wont to join in the battle by turns would not withdraw, but by their unintermitted endurance of the hardship they got the better and slew many of the picked barbarians. [3] The day long they spent in conflict, vying with one another; for the older soldiers challenged the fresh vigour of the youth, and the younger matched themselves against the experience and fame of their elders. And when finally even the picked barbarians turned in flight, the barbarians who were stationed in reserve blocked the way and would not permit the picked soldiers to flee; consequently they were compelled to turn back and renew the battle. [4]

While the king was in a state of dismay, believing that no man would have the courage to go into battle again, there came to him a certain Trachinian, a native of the region, who was familiar with the mountainous area. This man was brought into the presence of Xerxes and undertook to conduct the Persians by way of a narrow and precipitous path, so that the men who accompanied him would get behind the forces of Leonidas, which, being surrounded in this manner, would be easily annihilated. [5] The king was delighted, and heaping presents upon the Trachinian he dispatched twenty thousand soldiers with him under cover of night. But a certain man among the Persians named Tyrrhastiadas, a Cymaean by birth, who was honourable and upright in his ways, deserting from the camp of the Persians in the night came to Leonidas, who knew nothing of the act of the Trachinian, and informed him.

The Greeks, on hearing of this, gathered together about the middle of the night and conferred about the perils which were bearing down on them. And although some declared that they should relinquish the pass at once and make their way in safety to the allies, stating that any who remained in the place could not possibly come off with their lives, Leonidas, the king of the Lacedaemonians, being eagerly desirous to win both for himself and for the Spartans a garland of great glory, gave orders that the rest of the Greeks should all depart and win safety for themselves, in order that they might fight together with the Greeks in the battles which still remained; but as for the Lacedaemonians, he said, they must remain and not abandon the defence of the pass, for it was fitting that those who were the leaders of Hellas should gladly die striving for the meed of honour.17 [2] Immediately, then, all the rest departed, but Leonidas together with his fellow citizens performed heroic and astounding deeds; and although the Lacedaemonians were but few (he detained only the Thespiaeans) and he had all told not more than five hundred men, he was ready to meet death on behalf of Hellas. [3]

After this the Persians who were led by the Trachinian, after making their way around the difficult terrain, suddenly caught Leonidas between their forces, and the Greeks, giving up any thought of their own safety and choosing renown instead, with one voice asked their commander to lead them against the enemy before the Persians should learn that their men had made their way around them. [4] And Leonidas, welcoming the eagerness of his soldiers, ordered them to prepare their breakfast quickly, since they would dine in Hades, and he himself, in accordance with the order he had given, took food, believing that by so doing he could keep his strength for a long time and endure the strain of contest. When they had hastily refreshed themselves and all were ready, he ordered the soldiers to attack the camp, slaying any who came in their way, and to strike for the very pavilion of the king.

The soldiers, then, in accordance with the orders given them, forming in a compact body fell by night upon the encampment of the Persians, Leonidas leading the attack18; and the barbarians, because of the unexpectedness of the attack and their ignorance of the reason for it, ran together from their tents with great tumult and in disorder, and thinking that the soldiers who had set out with the Trachinian had perished and that the entire force of the Greeks was upon them, they were struck with terror. [2] Consequently many of them were slain by the troops of Leonidas, and even more perished at the hands of their comrades, who in their ignorance took them for enemies. For the night prevented any understanding of the true state of affairs, and the confusion, extending as it did throughout the entire encampment, occasioned, we may well believe, great slaughter; since they kept killing one another, the conditions not allowing of a close scrutiny, because there was no order from a general nor any demanding of a password nor, in general, any recovery of reason. [3] Indeed, if the king had remained at the royal pavilion, he also could easily have been slain by the Greeks and the whole war would have reached a speedy conclusion; but as it was, Xerxes had rushed out to the tumult, and the Greeks broke into the pavilion and slew almost to a man all whom they caught there. [4] So long as it was night they wandered throughout the entire camp seeking Xerxes—a reasonable action; but when the day dawned and the entire state of affairs was made manifest, the Persians, observing that the Greeks were few in number, viewed them with contempt; the Persians did not, however, join battle with them face to face, fearing their valour, but they formed on their flanks and rear, and shooting arrows and hurling javelins at them from every direction they slew them to a man. Now as for the soldiers of Leonidas who guarded the passes of Thermopylae, such was the end of life they met.

The merits of these men, who would not regard them with wonder? They with one accord did not desert the post to which Greece had assigned them, but gladly offered up their own lives for the common salvation of all Greeks, and preferred to die bravely rather than to live shamefully. The consternation or the Persians also, no one could doubt that they felt it. [2] For what man among the barbarians could have conceived of that which had taken place? Who could have expected that a band of only five hundred ever had the daring to charge against the hundred myriads? Consequently what man of later times might not emulate the valour of those warriors who, finding themselves in the grip of an overwhelming situation, though their bodies were subdued, were not conquered in spirit? These men, therefore, alone of all of whom history records, have in defeat been accorded a greater fame than all others who have won the fairest victories. For judgement must be passed upon brave men, not by the outcome of their actions, but by their purpose; in the one case Fortune is mistress, in the other it is the purpose which wins approval. [3] What man would judge any to be braver than were those Spartans who, though not equal in number to even the thousandth part of the enemy, dared to match their valour against the unbelievable multitudes? Nor had they any hope of overcoming so many myriads, but they believed that in bravery they would surpass all men of former times, and they decided that, although the battle they had to fight was against the barbarians, yet the real contest and the award of valour they were seeking was in competition with all who had ever won admiration for their courage. [4] Indeed they alone of those of whom we have knowledge from time immemorial chose rather to preserve the laws of their state than their own lives, not feeling aggrieved that the greatest perils threatened them, but concluding that the greatest boon for which those who practise valour should pray is the opportunity to play a part in contests of this kind. [5] And one would be justified in believing that it was these men who were more responsible for the common freedom of the Greeks than those who were victorious at a later time in the battles against Xerxes; for when the deeds of these men were called to mind, the Persians were dismayed whereas the Greeks were incited to perform similar courageous exploits. [6]

And, speaking in general terms, these men alone of the Greeks down to their time passed into immortality because of their exceptional valour. Consequently not only the writers of history but also many of our poets have celebrated their brave exploits; and one of them is Simonides, the lyric poet, who composed the following encomium19 in their praise, worthy of their valour:“ Of those who perished at Thermopylae All glorious is the fortune, fair the doom;
Their grave's an altar, ceaseless memory's theirs
Instead of lamentation, and their fate
Is chant of praise. Such winding-sheet as this
Nor mould nor all-consuming time shall waste.
This sepulchre of valiant men has taken
The fair renown of Hellas for its inmate.
And witness is Leonidas, once king
Of Sparta, who hath left behind a crown
Of valour mighty and undying fame.
”Simonides fr. 4 （Bergk）

Now that we have spoken at sufficient length of the valour of these men we shall resume the course of our narrative. Xerxes, now that he had gained the passes in the manner we have described and had won, as the proverb runs, a “Cadmeian victory,”20 had destroyed only a few of the enemy, while he had lost great numbers of his own troops. And after he had become master of the passes by means of his land forces, he resolved to make trial of contest at sea. [2] At once, therefore, summoning the commander of the fleet, Megabates, he ordered him to sail against the naval force of the Greeks and to make trial, with all his fleet, of a sea-battle against them. [3] And Megabates, in accordance with the king's orders, set out from Pydne in Macedonia with all the fleet and put in at a promontory of Magnesia which bears the name of Sepias. At this place a great wind arose and he lost more than three hundred warships and great numbers of cavalry transports and other vessels. And when the wind ceased, he weighed anchor and put in at Aphetae in Magnesia. From here he dispatched two hundred triremes, ordering the commanders to take a roundabout course and, by keeping Euboea on the right, to encircle the enemy. [4]

The Greeks were stationed at Artemisium in Euboea and had in all two hundred and eighty triremes; of these ships one hundred and forty were Athenian and the remainder were furnished by the rest of the Greeks. Their admiral was Eurybiades the Spartan, and Themistocles the Athenian supervised the affairs of the fleet; for the latter, by reason of his sagacity and skill as a general, enjoyed great favour not only with the Greeks throughout the fleet but also with Eurybiades himself, and all men looked to him and harkened to him eagerly. [5] And when a meeting of the commanders of the ships was held to discuss the engagement, the rest of them all favoured waiting to receive the advance of the enemy; but Themistocles alone expressed the opposite opinion, showing them that it was to their advantage to sail against the enemy with the whole fleet in one array; for in this way, he declared, they would have the upper hand, attacking as they would with their ships in a single body an enemy whose formation was broken by disorder, as it must be, for they would be issuing out of many harbours at some distance apart. In the end the Greeks followed the opinion of Themistocles and sailed against the enemy with the entire fleet. [6] And since the barbarians put out from many harbours, at the outset Themistocles, engaging with the scattered Persians, sank many ships and not a few he forced to turn in flight and pursued as far as the land; but later, when the whole fleet had gathered and a fierce battle ensued, each side gained the superiority in one part of the line but neither won a complete victory, and at nightfall the engagement was broken off.

After the battle a great storm arose and destroyed many ships which were anchored outside the harbour, so that it appeared as if Providence were taking the part of the Greeks in order that, the multitude of the barbarians' ships having been lessened, the Greek force might become a match for them and strong enough to offer battle. As a result the Greeks grew ever more bold, whereas the barbarians became ever more timorous before the conflicts which faced them. Nevertheless, recovering themselves after the shipwreck, they put out with all their ships against the enemy. [2] And the Greeks, with fifty Attic triremes added to their number, took position opposed to the barbarians. The sea-battle which followed was much like the fighting at Thermopylae; for the Persians were resolved to overwhelm the Greeks and force their way through the Euripus,21 while the Greeks, blocking the narrows, were fighting to preserve their allies in Euboea.22 A fierce battle ensued and many ships were lost on both sides, and nightfall compelled them to return to their respective harbours. The prize of valour, we are told, in both battles was accorded to the Athenians for the Greeks and to the Sidonians for the barbarians. [3]

After this the Greeks, on hearing of the course events had taken at Thermopylae and discovering that the Persians were advancing by land against Athens, became dispirited; consequently they sailed off to Salamis and awaited events there. [4] The Athenians, surveying the dangers threatening each and every inhabitant of Athens, put on boats their children and wives and every useful article they could and brought them to Salamis. [5] And the Persian admiral, on learning that the enemy had withdrawn, set sail for Euboea with his entire fleet, and taking the city of the Histiaeans by storm he plundered and ravaged their territory.

While these events were taking place, Xerxes set out from Thermopylae and advanced through the territory of the Phocians, sacking the cities and destroying all property in the countryside. Now the Phocians had chosen the cause of the Greeks, but seeing that they were unable to offer resistance, the whole populace deserted all their cities and fled for safety to the rugged regions about Mount Parnassus. [2] Then the king passed through the territory of the Dorians, doing it no harm since they were allies of the Persians. Here he left behind a portion of his army and ordered it to proceed to Delphi, to burn the precinct of Apollo and to carry off the votive offerings, while he advanced into Boeotia with the rest of the barbarians and encamped there. [3] The force that had been dispatched to sack the oracle had proceeded as far as the shrine of Athena Pronaea, but at that spot a great thunderstorm, accompanied by incessant lightning, suddenly burst from the heavens, and more than that, the storm wrenched loose huge rocks and hurled them into the host of the barbarians; the result was that large numbers of the Persians were killed and the whole force, dismayed at the intervention of the gods, fled from the region. [4] So the oracle of Delphi, with the aid of some divine Providence, escaped pillage. And the Delphians, desiring to leave to succeeding generations a deathless memorial of the appearance of the gods among men, set up beside the temple of Athena Pronaea23 a trophy on which they inscribed the following elegiac lines:“ To serve as a memorial to war,
The warder-off of men, and as a witness
To victory the Delphians set me up,
Rendering thanks to Zeus and Phoebus who
Thrust back the city-sacking ranks of Medes
And threw their guard about the bronze-crowned shrine.
” [5]

Meanwhile Xerxes, as he passed through Boeotia, laid waste the territory of the Thespiaeans and burned Plataea which was without habitants; for the residents of these two cities had fled in a body into the Peloponnesus. After this he entered Attica and ravaged the countryside, and then he razed Athens to the ground and sent up in flames the temples of the gods. And while the king was concerned with these affairs, his fleet sailed from Euboea to Attica, having sacked on the way both Euboea and the coast of Attica.

During this time the Cercyraeans, who had fitted out sixty triremes, were waiting off the Peloponnesus, being unable, as they themselves allege, to round the promontory at Malea, but, as certain historians tell us, anxiously awaiting the turn of the war, in order that, if the Persians prevailed, they might then give them water and earth, while if the Greeks were victorious, they would get the credit of having come to their aid.24 [2] But the Athenians who were waiting in Salamis, when they saw Attica being laid waste with fire and heard that the sacred precinct of Athena25 had been razed, were exceedingly disheartened. And likewise great fear gripped the other Greeks who, driven from every quarter, were now cooped up in the Peloponnesus alone. Consequently they thought it desirable that all who had been charged with command should meet in council and deliberate regarding the kind of place that would best serve their purpose in fighting a naval battle. [3] Many ideas of various kinds were expressed. The Peloponnesians, thinking only of their own safety, declared that the contest should be held at the Isthmus; for it had been strongly fortified with a wall, and so, if they should suffer any reverse in the battle, the defeated would be able to withdraw for refuge into the most suitable place of safety available, the Peloponnesus, whereas, if they cooped themselves up in the little island of Salamis, perils would beset them from which it would be difficult for them to be rescued. [4] But Themistocles counselled that the contest of the ships be held at Salamis, for he believed that those who had few ships to fight with would have many advantages, in the narrows of Salamis, against a vastly superior number of vessels. And speaking generally, he showed that the region about the Isthmus would be altogether unsuitable for the sea-battle; for the contest would take place on the open sea, and the Persians because of the room for manoeuvring would easily subdue the small force of ships by their vastly superior numbers. And by presenting in like fashion many other facts pertinent to the occasion he persuaded all present to cast their votes with him for the plan he recommended.

When at last a decision was reached by all to fight the sea-battle at Salamis, the Greeks set about making the preparations necessary to meet the Persians and the peril of battle. Accordingly Eurybiades, accompanied by Themistocles, undertook to encourage the crews and incite them to face the impending struggle. However, the crews would not heed them, but since they were one and all dismayed at the magnitude of the Persian forces, not a man of them paid any attention to his commander, every one being intent upon sailing from Salamis to the Peloponnesus. [2] And the army of the Greeks on land was no whit less terrified by the armament of the enemy, and not only the loss at Thermopylae of their most illustrious warriors caused them dismay, but also the disasters which were taking place in Attica before their very eyes were filling the Greeks with utter despair. [3] Meanwhile the members of the congress of the Greeks, observing the unrest of the masses and the dismay prevailing everywhere, voted to build a wall across the Isthmus. The works were completed speedily because of the enthusiasm and the multitude of those engaged in the task; but while the Peloponnesians were strengthening the wall, which extended a distance of forty stades, from Lechaeum to Cenchreae, the forces which were inactive at Salamis, together with the entire fleet, were so terror-stricken that they no longer obeyed the orders of their commanders.

Themistocles, perceiving that the admiral, Eurybiades, was unable to overcome the mood of his forces, and yet recognizing that the narrow quarters at Salamis could be a great aid in achieving the victory, contrived the following ruse: He induced a certain man to desert to Xerxes and to assure him that the ships at Salamis were going to slip away from that region and assemble at the Isthmus. [2] Accordingly the king, believing the man because what he reported was in itself plausible, made haste to prevent the naval forces of the Greeks from making contact with their armies on land. Therefore he at once dispatched the Egyptian fleet with orders to block the strait which separates Salamis from the territory of Megaris.26 The main body of his ships he dispatched to Salamis, ordering it to establish contact with the enemy and by fighting there decide the issue. The triremes were drawn up by peoples one after another, in order that, speaking the same language and knowing one another, the several contingents might assist each other with alacrity. [3] When the fleet had been drawn up in this manner, the right wing was held by the Phoenicians and the left by the Greeks who were associated with the Persians.

The commanders of the Ionian contingents of the Persian fleet sent a man of Samos to the Greeks to inform them of what the king had decided to do and of the disposition of his forces for battle, and to say that in the course of the battle they were going to desert from the barbarians. [4] And when the Samian had swum across without being observed and had informed Eurybiades about this plan, Themistocles, realizing that his stratagem had worked out as he had planned, was beside himself with joy and exhorted the crews to the fight; and as for the Greeks, they were emboldened by the promise of the Ionians, and although the circumstances were compelling them to fight against their own preference, they came down eagerly in a body from Salamis to the shore in preparation for the sea-battle.

When at last Eurybiades and Themistocles had completed the disposition of their forces, the left wing was held by the Athenians and Lacedaemonians, who in this way would be opposed to the ships of the Phoenicians; for the Phoenicians possessed a distinct superiority by reason both of their great number and of the experience in seamanship which they inherited from their ancestors. [2] The Aeginetans and Megarians formed the right wing, since they were generally considered to be the best seamen after the Athenians and it was believed that they would show the best spirit, seeing that they alone of the Greeks would have no place of refuge in case any reverse should occur in the course of the battle. The centre was held by the rest of the Greek forces.

This, then, was the battle-order in which the Greeks sailed out, and they occupied the strait between Salamis and the Heracleium27; [3] and the king gave order to his admiral to advance against the enemy, while he himself moved down the coast to a spot directly opposite Salamis from which he could watch the course of the battle. [4] The Persians, as they advanced, could at the outset maintain their line, since they had plenty of space; but when they came to the narrow passage, they were compelled to withdraw some ships from the line, creating in this way much disorder. [5] The admiral, who was leading the way before the line and was the first to begin the fighting, was slain after having acquitted himself valiantly. When his ship went down, disorder seized the barbarian fleet, for there were many now to give orders, but each man did not issue the same commands. Consequently they halted the advance, and holding back their ships, they began to withdraw to where there was plenty of room. [6] The Athenians, observing the disorder among the barbarians, now advanced upon the enemy, and some of their ships they struck with their rams, while from others they sheared off the rows of oars; and when the men at the oars could no longer do their work, many Persian triremes, getting sidewise to the enemy, were time and again severely damaged by the beaks of the ships. Consequently they ceased merely backing water, but turned about and fled precipitately.

While the Phoenician and Cyprian ships were being mastered by the Athenians, the vessels of the Cilicians and Pamphylians, and also of the Lycians, which followed them in line, at first were holding out stoutly, but when they saw the strongest ships taking to flight they likewise abandoned the fight. [2] On the other wing the battle was stubbornly fought and for some time the struggle was evenly balanced; but when the Athenians had pursued the Phoenicians and Cyprians to the shore and then turned back, the barbarians, being forced out of line by the returning Athenians, turned about and lost many of their ships. [3] In this manner, then, the Greeks gained the upper hand and won a most renowned naval victory over the barbarians; and in the struggle forty ships were lost by the Greeks, but more than two hundred by the Persians, not including those which were captured together with their crews. [4]

The king, for whom the defeat was unexpected, put to death those Phoenicians who were chiefly responsible for beginning the flight, and threatened to visit upon the rest the punishment they deserved. And the Phoenicians, frightened by his threats, first put into port on the coast of Attica, and then, when night fell, set sail for Asia. [5] But Themistocles, who was credited for having brought about the victory, devised another stratagem no less clever than the one we have described. For, since the Greeks were afraid to battle on land against so many myriads of Persians, he greatly reduced the number of the Persian troops in the following manner: he sent to Xerxes the attendant of his own sons to inform him that the Greeks were about to sail to the bridge of boats28 and to destroy it. [6] Accordingly the king, believing the report because it was plausible, became fearful lest he should be cut off from the route whereby he could get back to Asia, now that the Greeks controlled the sea, and decided to cross over in all possible haste from Europe into Asia, leaving Mardonius behind in Greece with picked cavalry and infantry, the total number of whom was not less than four hundred thousand.29 Thus Themistocles by the use of two stratagems brought about signal advantages for the Greeks.

These were the events that took place in Greece at this time.

Now that we have described at sufficient length the events in Europe, we shall shift our narrative to the affairs of another people. The Carthaginians, we recall,30 had agreed with the Persians to subdue the Greeks of Sicily at the same time and had made preparations on a large scale of such materials as would be useful in carrying on a war. And when they had made everything ready, they chose for general Hamilcar, having selected him as the man who was held by them in the highest esteem. [2] He assumed command of huge forces, both land and naval, and sailed forth from Carthage with an army of not less than three hundred thousand men and a fleet of over two hundred ships of war, not to mention many cargo ships for carrying supplies, numbering more than three thousand. Now as he was crossing the Libyan sea he encountered a storm and lost the vessels which were carrying the horses and chariots. And when he came to port in Sicily in the harbour of Panormus31 he remarked that he had finished the war; for he had been afraid that the sea would rescue the Siceliotes from the perils of the conflict. [3] He took three days to rest his soldiers and to repair the damage which the storm had inflicted on his ships, and then advanced together with his host against Himera, the fleet skirting the coast with him. And when he had arrived near the city we have just mentioned, he pitched two camps, the one for the army and the other for the naval force. All the warships he hauled up on land and threw about them a deep ditch and a wooden palisade, and he strengthened the camp of the army, which he placed so that it fronted the city, and prolonged so that it took in the area from the wall extending along the naval camp as far as the hills which overhung the city. [4] Speaking generally, he took control of the entire west side, after which he unloaded all the supplies from the cargo vessels and at once sent off all these boats, ordering them to bring grain and the other supplies from Libya and Sardinia. [5] Then, taking his best troops, he advanced to the city, and routing the Himerans who came out against him and slaying many of them, he struck the inhabitants of the city with terror. Consequently Theron, the ruler of the Acragantini, who with a considerable force was standing by to guard Himera, in fear hastily sent word to Syracuse, asking Gelon to come to his aid as rapidly as possible.

Gelon, who had likewise held his army in readiness, on learning that the Himerans were in despair set out from Syracuse with all speed, accompanied by not less than fifty thousand foot-soldiers and over five thousand cavalry. He covered the distance swiftly, and as he drew near the city of the Himerans he inspired boldness in the hearts of those who before had been dismayed at the forces of the Carthaginians. [2] For after pitching a camp which was appropriate to the terrain about the city, he not only fortified it with a deep ditch and a palisade but also dispatched his entire body of cavalry against such forces of the enemy as were ranging over the countryside in search of booty. And the cavalry, unexpectedly appearing to men who were scattered without military order over the countryside, took prisoner as many as each man could drive before him. And when prisoners to the number of more than ten thousand had been brought into the city, not only was Gelon accorded great approbation but the Himerans also came to hold the enemy in contempt. [3] Following up what he had already accomplished, all the gates which Theron through fear had formerly blocked up were now, on the contrary, opened up by Gelon through his contempt of the enemy, and he even constructed additional ones which might prove serviceable to him in case of urgent need.

In a word Gelon, excelling as he did in skill as a general and in shrewdness, set about at once to discover how he might without any risk to his army outgeneral the barbarians and utterly destroy their power. And his own ingenuity was greatly aided by accident, because of the following circumstance. [4] He had decided to set fire to the ships of the enemy; and while Hamilcar was occupied in the naval camp with the preparation of a magnificent sacrifice to Poseidon,32 cavalrymen came from the countryside bringing to Gelon a letter-carrier who was conveying dispatches from the people of Selinus, in which was written that they would send the cavalry for that day for which Hamilcar had written to dispatch them. [5] The day was that on which Hamilcar planned to celebrate the sacrifice. And on that day Gelon dispatched cavalry of his own, who were under orders to skirt the immediate neighbourhood and to ride up at daybreak to the naval camp, as if they were the allies from Selinus, and when they had once got inside the wooden palisade, to slay Hamilcar and set fire to the ships. He also sent scouts to the hills which overlook the city, ordering them to raise the signal as soon as they saw that the horsemen were inside the wall. For his part, at daybreak he drew up his army and awaited the sign which was to come from the scouts.

At sunrise the cavalrymen rode up to the naval camp of the Carthaginians, and when the guards admitted them, thinking them to be allies, they at once galloped to where Hamilcar was busied with the sacrifice, slew him, and then set fire to the ships; thereupon the scouts raised the signal and Gelon advanced with his entire army in battle order against the Carthaginian camp. [2] The commanders of the Phoenicians in the camp at the outset led out their troops to meet the Siceliotes and as the lines closed they put up a vigorous fight; at the same time in both camps they sounded with the trumpets the signal for battle and a shout arose from the two armies one after the other, each eagerly striving to outdo their adversaries in the volume of their cheering. [3] The slaughter was great, and the battle was swaying back and forth, when suddenly the flames from the ships began to rise on high and sundry persons reported that the general had been slain; then the Greeks were emboldened and with spirits elated at the rumours and by the hope of victory they pressed with greater boldness upon the barbarians, while the Carthaginians, dismayed and despairing of victory, turned in flight. [4]

Since Gelon had given orders to take no prisoners, there followed a great slaughter of the enemy in their flight, and in the end no less than one hundred and fifty thousand of them were slain. All who escaped the battle and fled to a strong position at first warded off the attackers, but the position they had seized had no water, and thirst compelled them to surrender to the victors. [5] Gelon, who had won a victory in a most remarkable battle and had gained his success primarily by reason of his own skill as a general, acquired a fame that was noised abroad, not only among the Siceliotes, but among all other men as well; [6] for memory recalls no man before him who had used a stratagem like this, nor one who had slain more barbarians in one engagement or had taken so great a multitude of prisoners.

Because of this achievement many historians compare this battle with the one which the Greeks fought at Plataea and the stratagem of Gelon with the ingenious schemes of Themistocles, and the first place they assign, since such exceptional merit was shown by both men, some to the one and some to the other. [2] And the reason is that, when the people of Greece on the one hand and those of Sicily on the other were struck with dismay before the conflict at the multitude of the barbarian armies, it was the prior victory of the Sicilian Greeks which gave courage to the people of Greece when they learned of Gelon's victory; and as for the men in both affairs who held the supreme command, we know that in the case of the Persians the king escaped with his life and many myriads together with him, whereas in the case of the Carthaginians not only did the general perish but also everyone who participated in the war was slain, and, as the saying is, not even a man to bear the news got back alive to Carthage. [3] Furthermore, of the most distinguished of the leaders of the Greeks, Pausanias and Themistocles, the former was put to death by his fellow citizens because of his overweening greed of power and treason, and the latter was driven from every corner of Greece and fled for refuge to Xerxes, his bitterest enemy, on whose hospitality he lived to the end of his life; whereas Gelon after the battle received greater approbation every year at the hands of the Syracusans, grew old in the kingship, and died in the esteem of his people, and so strong was the goodwill which the citizens felt for him that the kingship was maintained for three members of this house.33

However, now that these men, who enjoy a well deserved fame, have received from us also the eulogies they merit, we shall pass on to the continuation of the preceding narrative.

Now it so happened that Gelon won his victory on the same day that Leonidas and his soldiers were contesting against Xerxes at Thermopylae,34 as if the deity intentionally so arranged that both the fairest victory and the most honourable defeat should take place at the same time. [2] After the battle at the city of the Himerans twenty warships made their escape from the fight, being those which Hamilcar, to serve his routine requirements, had not hauled up on shore. Consequently, although practically all the rest of the combatants were either slain or taken prisoner, these vessels managed to set sail before they were noticed. But they picked up many fugitives, and while heavily laden on this account, they encountered a storm and were all lost. A handful only of survivors got safely to Carthage in a small boat to give their fellow citizens a statement which was brief: “All who crossed over to Sicily have perished.” [3]

The Carthaginians, who had suffered a great disaster so contrary to their hopes, were so terror-stricken that every night they kept vigil guarding the city, in the belief that Gelon with his entire force must have decided to sail forthwith against Carthage. [4] And because of the multitude of the lost the city went into public mourning, while privately the homes of citizens were filled with wailing and lamentation. For some kept inquiring after sons, others after brothers, while a very large number of children who had lost their fathers, alone now in the world, grieved at the death of those who had begotten them and at their own desolation through the loss of those who could succour them. And the Carthaginians, fearing lest Gelon should forestall them in crossing over to Libya, at once dispatched to him as ambassadors plenipotentiary their ablest orators and counsellors.

As for Gelon, after his victory he not only honoured with gifts the horsemen who had slain Hamilcar but also decorated with rewards for prowess all others who had played the part of men. The fairest part of the booty he put to one side, since he wished to embellish the temples of Syracuse with the spoils; as for the rest of the booty, much of it he nailed to the most notable of the temples in Himera, and the rest of it, together with the captives, he divided among the allies, apportioning it in accordance with the number who had served with him. [2] The cities put the captives allotted to them in chains and used them for building their public works. A very great number was received by the Acragantini, who embellished their city and countryside; for so great was the multitude of prisoners at their disposal that many private citizens had five hundred captives in their homes. A contributing reason for the vast number of the captives among them was not only that they had sent many soldiers into the battle, but also that, when the flight took place, many of the fugitives turned into the interior, especially into the territory of the Acragantini, and since every man of them was taken captive by the Acragantini, the city was crammed full of the captured. [3] Most of these were handed over to the state, and it was these men who quarried the stones of which not only the largest temples of the gods were constructed but also the underground conduits were built to lead off the waters from the city; these are so large that their construction is well worth seeing, although it is little thought of since they were built at slight expense. The builder in charge of these works, who bore the name of Phaeax, brought it about that, because of the fame of the construction, the underground conduits got the name “Phaeaces” from him. [4] The Acragantini also built an expensive kolumbethra,35 seven stades in circumference and twenty cubits deep. Into it the waters from rivers and springs were conducted and it became a fish-pond, which supplied fish in great abundance to be used for food and to please the palate; and since swans also in the greatest numbers settled down upon it, the pool came to be a delight to look upon. In later years, however, the pool became choked up through neglect and was destroyed by the long passage of time; [5] but the entire site, which was fertile, the inhabitants planted in vines and in trees of every description placed close together, so that they derived from it great revenues.

Gelon, after dismissing the allies, led the citizens of Syracuse back home, and because of the magnitude of his success he was enthusiastically received not only among his fellow citizens but also throughout the whole of Sicily; for he brought with him such a multitude of captives that it looked as if the island had made the whole of Libya captive.

And at once there came to him ambassadors from both the cities and rulers which had formerly opposed him, asking forgiveness for their past mistakes and promising for the future to carry out his every command. With all of them he dealt equitably and concluded alliances, bearing his good fortune as men should, not toward them alone but even toward the Carthaginians, his bitterest foes. [2] For when the ambassadors who had been dispatched from Carthage came to him and begged him with tears to treat them humanely, he granted them peace, exacting of them the expense he had incurred for the war, two thousand talents of silver, and requiring them further to build two temples in which they should place copies of the treaty. [3] The Carthaginians, having unexpectedly gained their deliverance, not only agreed to all this but also promised to give in addition a gold crown to Damarete, the wife of Gelon. For Damarete at their request had contributed the greatest aid toward the conclusion of the peace, and when she had received the crown of one hundred gold talents from them, she struck a coin which was called from her a Damareteion. This was worth ten Attic drachmas and was called by the Sicilian Greeks, according to its weight, a pentekontalitron.36 [4]

Gelon treated all men fairly, primarily because that was his disposition, but not the least motive was that he was eager to make all men his own by acts of goodwill. For instance, he was making ready to sail to Greece with a large force and to join the Greeks in their war against the Persians. [5] And he was already on the point of setting out to sea, when certain men from Corinth put in at Syracuse and brought the news that the Greeks had won the sea-battle at Salamis and that Xerxes and a part of his armament had retreated from Europe. Consequently he stopped his preparations for departure, while welcoming the enthusiasm of the soldiers; and then he called them to an assembly, issuing orders for each man to appear fully armed. As for himself, he came to the assembly not only with no arms but not even wearing a tunic and clad only in a cloak, and stepping forward he rendered an account of his whole life and of all he had done for the Syracusans; [6] and when the throng shouted its approval at each action he mentioned and showed especially its amazement that he had given himself unarmed into the hands of any who might wish to slay him, so far was he from being a victim of vengeance as a tyrant that they united in acclaiming him with one voice Benefactor and Saviour and King.37 [7] After this incident Gelon built noteworthy temples to Demeter and Core38 out of the spoils, and making a golden tripod39 of sixteen talents value he set it up in the sacred precinct at Delphi as a thank-offering to Apollo. At a later time he purposed to build a temple to Demeter at Aetna, since she had none in that place; but he did not complete it, his life having been cut short by fate. [8]

Of the lyric poets Pindar was in his prime in this period. Now these are in general the most notable events which took place in this year. 40

While Xanthippus was archon in Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Quintus Fabius Silvanus and Servius Cornelius Tricostus.41 At this time the Persian fleet, with the exception of the Phoenician contingent, after its defeat in the sea-battle of Salamis lay at Cyme. Here it passed the winter, and at the coming of summer it sailed down the coast to Samos to keep watch on Ionia; and the total number of the ships in Samos exceeded four hundred. Now they were keeping watch upon the cities of the Ionians who were suspected of hostile sentiments. [2]

Throughout Greece, after the battle of Salamis, since the Athenians were generally believed to have been responsible for the victory, and on this account were themselves exultant, it became manifest to all that they were intending to dispute with the Lacedaemonians for the leadership on the sea; consequently the Lacedaemonians, foreseeing what was going to happen, did all they could to humble the pride of the Athenians. When, therefore, a judgement was proposed to determine the prizes to be awarded for valour, through the superior favour they enjoyed they caused the decision to be that of states Aegina had won the prize, and of men Ameinias of Athens, the brother of Aeschylus the poet; for Ameinias, while commanding a trireme, had been the first to ram the flagship of the Persians, sinking it and killing the admiral. [3] And when the Athenians showed their anger at this undeserved humiliation, the Lacedaemonians, fearful lest Themistocles should be displeased at the outcome and should devise some great evil against them and the Greeks, honoured him with double the number of gifts awarded to those who had received the prize of valour. And when Themistocles accepted the gifts, the Athenians in assembly removed him from the generalship and bestowed the office upon Xanthippus the son of Ariphron.

When the estrangement which had arisen between the Athenians and the other Greeks became noised abroad, there came to Athens ambassadors from the Persians and from the Greeks. Now those who had been dispatched by the Persians bore word that Mardonius the general assured the Athenians that, if they should choose the cause of the Persians, he would give them their choice of any land in Greece, rebuild their walls and temples, and allow the city to live under its own laws; but those who had been sent from the Lacedaemonians begged the Athenians not to yield to the persuasions of the barbarians but to maintain their loyalty toward the Greeks, who were men of their own blood and of the same speech. [2] And the Athenians replied to the barbarians that the Persians possessed no land rich enough nor gold in sufficient abundance which the Athenians would accept in return for abandoning the Greeks; while to the Lacedaemonians they said that as for themselves the concern which they had formerly held for the welfare of Greece they would endeavour to maintain hereafter also, and of the Lacedaemonians they only asked that they should come with all speed to Attica together with all their allies. For it was evident, they added, that Mardonius, now that the Athenians had declared against him, would advance with his army against Athens. And this is what actually took place. [3] For Mardonius, who was stationed in Boeotia with all his forces, at first attempted to cause certain cities in the Peloponnesus to come over to him, distributing money among their leading men, but afterwards, when he learned of the reply the Athenians had given, in his rage he led his entire force into Attica. [4] Apart from the army Xerxes had given him he had himself gathered many other soldiers from Thrace and Macedonia and the other allied states, more than two hundred thousand men. [5] With the advance into Attica of so large a force as this, the Athenians dispatched couriers bearing letters to the Lacedaemonians, asking their aid; and since the Lacedaemonians still loitered and the barbarians had already crossed the border of Attica, they were dismayed, and again, taking their children and wives and whatever else they were able to carry off in their haste, they left their native land and a second time fled for refuge to Salamis. [6] And Mardonius was so angry with them that he ravaged the entire countryside, razed the city to the ground, and utterly destroyed the temples that were still standing.

When Mardonius and his army had returned to Thebes, the Greeks gathered in congress decreed to make common cause with the Athenians and advancing to Plataea in a body, to fight to a finish for liberty, and also to make a vow to the gods that, if they were victorious, the Greeks would unite in celebrating the Festival of Liberty on that day42 and would hold the games of the Festival in Plataea. [2] And when the Greek forces were assembled at the Isthmus, all of them agreed that they should swear an oath about the war, one that would make staunch the concord among them and would compel them nobly to endure the perils of the battle. [3] The oath ran as follows: “I will not hold life dearer than liberty, nor will I desert the leaders, whether they be living or dead, but I will bury all the allies who have perished in the battle; and if I overcome the barbarians in the war, I will not destroy any one of the cities which have participated in the struggle43; nor will I rebuild any one of the sanctuaries which have been burnt or demolished, but I will let them be and leave them as a reminder to coming generations of the impiety of the barbarians.” [4] After they had sworn the oath, they marched to Boeotia through the pass of Cithaeron, and when they had descended as far as the foothills near Erythrae, they pitched camp there. The command over the Athenians was held by Aristeides, and the supreme command by Pausanias, who was the guardian44 of the son of Leonidas.

When Mardonius learned that the enemy's army was advancing in the direction of Boeotia, he marched forth from Thebes, and when he arrived at the Asopus River he pitched a camp, which he strengthened by means of a deep ditch and surrounded with a wooden palisade. The total number of the Greeks approached one hundred thousand men, that of the barbarians some five hundred thousand.45 [2] The first to open the battle were the barbarians, who poured out upon the Greeks by night and charged with all their cavalry upon the camp. The Athenians observed them in time and with their army in battle formation boldly advanced to meet them, and a mighty battle ensued. [3] In the end all the rest of the Greeks put to flight the barbarians who were arrayed against them; but the Megarians alone, who faced the commander of the cavalry and the best horsemen the Persians had, being hard pressed in the fighting, though they did not leave their position, sent some of their men as messengers to the Athenians and Lacedaemonians asking them to come to their aid with all speed. [4] Aristeides quickly dispatched the picked Athenians who constituted his body-guard, and these, forming themselves into a compact body and falling on the barbarians, rescued the Megarians from the perils which threatened them, slew of the Persians both the commander of the cavalry and many others, and put the remainder to flight.

The Greeks, now that they had shown their superiority so brilliantly in a kind of dress rehearsal, were encouraged to hope for a decisive victory; and after this encounter they moved their camp from the foot-hills to a place which was better suited to a complete victory. [5] For on the right was a high hill, on the left the Asopus River, and the space between was held by the camp, which was fortified by the natural impregnability of the general terrain. [6] Thus for the Greeks, who had laid their plans wisely, the limited space was a great aid to their victory, since the Persian battle-line could not be extended to a great length, and the result was, as the event was to show, that no use could be made of the many myriads of the barbarians. Consequently Pausanias and Aristeides, placing their confidence in the position they held, led the army out to battle, and when they had taken positions in a manner suitable to the terrain they advanced against the enemy.

Mardonius, having been forced to increase the depth of his line, arranged his troops in the way that he thought would be to his advantage, and raising the battle-cry, advanced to meet the Greeks. The best soldiers were about him and with these he led the way, striking at the Lacedaemonians who faced him; he fought gallantly and slew many of the Greeks. The Lacedaemonians, however, opposed him stoutly and endured every peril of battle willingly, and so there was a great slaughter of the barbarians. [2] Now so long as Mardonius and his picked soldiers continued to bear the brunt of the fighting, the barbarians sustained the shock of battle with good spirit; but when Mardonius fell, fighting bravely, and of the picked troops some were slain and others wounded, their spirits were dashed and they began to flee. [3] When the Greeks pressed hard upon them, the larger part of the barbarians fled for safety within the palisade, but as for the rest of the army, the Greeks serving with Mardonius withdrew to Thebes, and the remainder, over four hundred thousand in number, were taken in hand by Artabazus, a man of repute among the Persians, who fled in the opposite direction, and withdrew by forced marches toward Phocis.

Since the barbarians were thus separated in their flights, so the body of the Greeks was similarly divided; for the Athenians and Plataeans and Thespiaeans after those who had set out for Thebes, and the Corinthians and Sicyonians and the Phliasians and certain others followed after the forces which were retreating with Artabazus; and the Lacedaemonians together with the rest pursued the soldiers who had taken refuge within the palisade and trounced them spiritedly. [2] The Thebans received the fugitives, added them to their forces, and then set upon the pursuing Athenians ; a sharp battle took place before the walls, the Thebans fighting brilliantly, and not a few on both sides, but at last this body overcome by the Athenians and took refuge again within Thebes. [3]

After this the Athenians withdrew to the aid of the Lacedaemonians and joined with them in assaulting the walls against those Persians who had taken refuge within the camp; both sides put up a vigorous contest, the barbarians fighting bravely from the fortified positions they held and the Greeks storming the wooden walls, and many were wounded as they fought desperately, while not a few were also slain by the multitude of missiles and met death with stout hearts. [4] Nevertheless the powerful onset of the Greeks could be withstood neither by the wall the barbarians had erected not by their great numbers, but resistance of every kind was forced to give way; for it was a case of rivalry between the foremost peoples of Greece, the Lacedaemonians and the Athenians, who were buoyed up by reason of their former victories and supported by confidence in their valour. [5] In the end the barbarians were overpowered, and they found no mercy even though they pled to be taken prisoner. For the Greek general, Pausanias, observing how superior the barbarians were in number, took pains to prevent anything due to miscalculation from happening, the barbarians being many times more numerous than the Greeks; consequently he had issued orders to take no man prisoner, and soon there was an incredible number of dead. And in the end, when the Greeks had slaughtered more than one hundred thousand of the barbarians, they reluctantly ceased slaying the enemy.

After the battle had ended in the way we have described, the Greeks buried their dead, of which there were more than ten thousand. And after dividing up the booty according to the number of the soldiers, they made their decision as to the award for valour, and in response to the urging of Aristeides they bestowed the prize for cities upon Sparta and for men upon Pausanias the Lacedaemonian. Meanwhile Artabazus with as many as four hundred thousand of the fleeing Persians made his way through Phocis into Macedonia, availing himself of the quickest routes, and got back safely together with the soldiers into Asia. [2]

The Greeks, taking a tenth part of the spoils, made a gold tripod46 and set it up in Delphi as a thank-offering to the God, inscribing on it the following couplet:

“ This is the gift the saviours of far-flung Hellas upraised here, Having delivered their states from loathsome slavery's bonds. ”47Inscriptions were also set up for the Lacedaemonians who died at Thermopylae; for the whole body of them as follows:“

Here on a time there strove with two hundred myriads of foemen Soldiers in number but four thousand from Pelops' fair Isle; ”and for the Spartans alone as follows:“ To Lacedaemon's folk, O stranger, carry the message, How we lie here in this place, faithful and true to their laws. ”48 [3]

In like manner the citizen-body of the Athenians embellished the tombs of those who had perished in the Persian War, held the Funeral Games then for the first time, and passed a law that laudatory addresses upon men who were buried at the public expense should be delivered by speakers selected for each occasion. [4]

After the events we have described Pausanias the general advanced with the army against Thebes and demanded for punishment the men who had been responsible for the alliance of Thebes with the Persians. And the Thebans were so overawed by the multitude of their enemy and by their prowess in battle, that the men most responsible for their desertion from the Greeks agreed of their own accord to being handed over, and they all received at the hands of Pausanias the punishment of death.

Also in Ionia the Greeks fought a great battle with the Persians on the same day as that which took place in Plataea, and since we propose to describe it, we shall take up the account of it from the beginning. [2] Leotychides the Lacedaemonian and Xanthippus49 the Athenian, the commanders of the naval force, after the battle of Salamis collected the fleet in Aegina, and after spending some days there they sailed to Delos with two hundred and fifty triremes. And while they lay at anchor there, ambassadors came to them from Samos asking them to liberate the Greeks of Asia. [3] Leotychides took counsel with the commanders, and after they had heard all the Samians had to say, they decided to undertake to liberate the cities and speedily sailed forth from Delos. When the Persian admirals, who were then at Samos, learned that the Greeks were sailing against them, they withdrew from Samos with all their ships, and putting into port at Mycale in Ionia they hauled up their ships, since they saw that the vessels were unequal to offering battle, and threw about them a wooden palisade and a deep ditch; despite these defences they also summoned land forces from Sardis and the neighbouring cities and gathered in all about one hundred thousand men. Furthermore, they made ready all the other equipment that is useful in war, believing that the Ionians also would go over to the enemy. [4] Leotychides advanced with all the fleet ready for action against the barbarians at Mycale, dispatching in advance a ship carrying a herald who had the strongest voice of anyone in the fleet. This man had been ordered to sail up to the enemy and to announce in a loud voice, “The Greeks, having conquered the Persians, are now come to liberate the Greek cities of Asia.” [5] This Leotychides did in the belief that the Greeks in the army of the barbarians would revolt from the Persians and that great confusion would arise in the camp of the barbarians; and that is what actually happened. For as soon as the herald approached the ships which had been hauled up on the shore, and made the announcement as he had been ordered, it came about that the Persians lost confidence in the Greeks and that the Greeks began to agree among themselves about revolting.

After the Greeks under Leotychides had found out how the Greeks in the Persians' camp felt, they disembarked their forces. And on the following day, while they were making preparation for battle, the rumour came to them of the victory which the Greeks had won over the Persians at Plataea. [2] At this news Leotychides, after calling an assembly, exhorted his troops to the battle, and among the other considerations which he presented to them he announced in histrionic manner the victory of Plataea, in the belief that he would make more confident those who were about to fight. And marvellous indeed was the outcome. For it has become known that it was on the same day that the two battles took place, the one which was fought at Mycale and the other which occurred at Plataea. [3] It would seem, therefore, that Leotychides had not yet learned of the victory, but that he was deliberately inventing the military success and did so as a stratagem; for the great distance separating the places proved that the transmission of the message was impossible. [4] But the leaders of the Persians, placing no confidence in the Greeks of their own forces, took away their arms and gave them to men who were friendly to them; and then they called all the soldiers together and told them that Xerxes was coming in person to their aid with a great armament, inspiring them thereby with courage to face the peril of the battle.

When both sides had drawn out their troops in battle-order and were advancing against each other, the Persians, observing how few the enemy were, disdained them and bore down on them with great shouting. [2] Now the Samians and Milesians had decided unanimously beforehand to support the Greek cause and were pushing forward all together at the double; and as their advance brought them in sight of the Greek army, although the Ionians thought that the Greeks would be encouraged, the result was the very opposite. [3] For the troops of Leotychides, thinking that Xerxes was come from Sardis with his army and advancing upon them, were filled with fear, and confusion and division among themselves arose in the army, some saying that they should take to their ships with all speed and depart and others that they should remain and boldly hold their lines. While they were still in disorder, the Persians came in sight, equipped in a manner to inspire terror and bearing down on them with shouting. [4] The Greeks, having no respite for deliberation, were compelled to withstand the attack of the barbarians.

At the outset both sides fought stoutly and the battle was indecisive, great numbers falling in both armies; but when the Samians and Milesians put in their appearance,50 the Greeks plucked up courage, whereas the barbarians were filled with terror and broke in flight. [5] A great slaughter followed, as the troops of Leotychides and Xanthippus pressed upon the beaten barbarians and pursued them as far as the camp; and Aeolians participated in the battle, after the issue had already been decided, as well as many other peoples of Asia, since an overwhelming desire for their liberty entered the hearts of the inhabitants of the cities of Asia. [6] Therefore practically all of them gave no thought either to hostages51 or to oaths, but they joined with the other Greeks in slaying the barbarians in their flight. This was the manner in which the Persians suffered defeat, and there were slain of them more than forty thousand, while of the survivors some found refuge in the camp and others withdrew to Sardis. [7] And when Xerxes learned of both the defeat in Plataea and the rout of his own troops in Mycale, he left a portion of his armament in Sardis to carry on the war against the Greeks, while he himself, in bewilderment, set out with the rest of his army on the way to Ecbatana.

Leotychides and Xanthippus now sailed back to Samos and made allies of the Ionians and Aeolians, and then they endeavoured to induce them to abandon Asia and to move their homes to Europe. They promised to expel the peoples who had espoused the cause of the Medes and to give their lands to them; [2] for as a general thing, they explained, if they remained in Asia, they would always have the enemy on their borders, an enemy far superior in military strength, while their allies, who lived across the sea, would be unable to render them any timely assistance. When the Aeolians and Ionians had heard these promises, they resolved to take the advice of the Greeks and set about preparing to sail with them to Europe. [3] But the Athenians changed to the opposite opinion and advised them to stay where they were, saying that even if no other Greeks should come to their aid, the Athenians, as their kinsmen, would do so independently. They reasoned that, if the Ionians were given new homes by the Greeks acting in common they would no longer look upon Athens as their mother-city. It was for this reason that the Ionians changed their minds and decided to remain in Asia. [4]

After these events it came to pass that the armament of the Greeks was divided, the Lacedaemonians sailing back to Laconia and the Athenians together with the Ionians and the islanders52 weighing anchor for Sestus. [5] And Xanthippus the general, as soon as he reached that port, launched assaults upon Sestus and took the city, and after establishing a garrison in it he dismissed the allies and himself with his fellow citizens returned to Athens. [6]

Now the Median War, as it has been called, after lasting two years, came to the end which we have described. And of the historians, Herodotus, beginning with the period prior to the Trojan War, has written in nine books a general history of practically all the events which occurred in the inhabited world, and brings his narrative to an end with the battle of the Greeks against the Persians at Mycale and the siege of Sestus. [7]

In Italy the Romans waged a war against the Volscians, and conquering them in battle slew many of them. And Spurius Cassius, who had been consul the preceding year,53 because he was believed to be aiming at a tyranny and was found guilty, was put to death.

These, then, were the events of this year. 54

When Timosthenes was archon at Athens, in Rome Caeso Fabius and Lucius Aemilius Mamercus succeeded to the consulship. During this year throughout Sicily an almost complete peace pervaded the island, the Carthaginians having finally been humbled, and Gelon had established a beneficent rule over the Sicilian Greeks and was providing their cities with a high degree of orderly government and an abundance of every necessity of life. [2] And since the Syracusans had by law put an end to costly funerals and done away with the expense which customarily had been incurred for the dead, and there had been specified in the law even the altogether inexpensive obsequies, King Gelon, desiring to foster and maintain the people's interest in all matters, kept the law regarding burials intact in his own case; [3] for when he fell ill and had given up hope of life, he handed over the kingship to Hieron, his eldest brother, and respecting his own burial he gave orders that the prescriptions of the law should be strictly observed. Consequently at his death his funeral was held by his successor to the throne just as he had ordered it. [4] His body was buried on the estate of his wife in the Nine Towers, as it is called, which is a marvel to men by reason of its strong construction. And the entire populace accompanied his body from the city, although the place was two hundred stades distant. [5] Here he was buried, and the people erected a noteworthy tomb and accorded Gelon the honours which belong to heroes; but at a later time the monument was destroyed by the Carthaginians in the course of a campaign against Syracuse, while the towers were thrown down by Agathocles55 out of envy. Nevertheless, neither the Carthaginians out of enmity nor Agathocles out of his native baseness, nor any other man has ever been able to deprive Gelon of his glory; [6] for the just witness of history has guarded his fair fame, heralding it abroad with piercing voice for evermore. It is indeed both just and beneficial to society that history should heap imprecations upon base men who have held positions of authority, but should accord immortal remembrance to those who have been beneficent rulers; for in this way especially, it will be found, many men of later generations will be impelled to work for the general good of mankind. [7]

Now Gelon reigned for seven years, and Hieron his brother succeeded him in the rule and reigned over the Syracusans eleven years and eight months.56

In Greece the Athenians after the victory at Plataea brought their children and wives back to Athens from Troezen and Salamis, and at once set to work fortifying the city and were giving their attention to every other means which made for its safety. [2] But the Lacedaemonians, observing that the Athenians had gained for themselves great glory by the actions in which their navy had been engaged, looked with suspicion upon their growing power and decided to prevent the Athenians from rebuilding their walls. [3] They at once, therefore, dispatched ambassadors to Athens who would ostensibly advise them not at present to fortify the city, as not being of advantage to the general interests of the Greeks; for, they pointed out, if Xerxes should return with larger armaments than before he would have walled cities ready to hand outside the Peloponnesus which he would use as bases and thus easily subjugate the Greeks. And when no attention was paid to their advice, the ambassadors approached the men who were building the wall and ordered them to stop work immediately. [4]

While the Athenians were at a loss what they should do, Themistocles, who enjoyed at that time the highest favour among them, advised them to take no action; for he warned them that if they had recourse to force, the Lacedaemonians could easily march up against them together with the Peloponnesians and prevent them from fortifying the city. [5] But he told the Council in confidence that he and certain others would go as ambassadors to Lacedaemon to explain the matter of the wall to the Lacedaemonians; and he instructed the magistrates, when ambassadors should come from Lacedaemon to Athens, to detain them until he himself should return from Lacedaemon, and in the meantime to put the whole population to work fortifying the city. In this manner, he declared to them, they would achieve their purpose.

After the Athenians had accepted the plan of Themistocles, he and the ambassadors set out for Sparta, and the Athenians began with great enthusiasm to build the walls, sparing neither houses nor tombs.57 And everyone joined in the task, both children and women and, in a word, every alien and slave, no one of them showing any lack of zeal. [2] And when the work was being accomplished with amazing speed both because of the many workmen and the enthusiasm of them all, Themistocles was summoned by the chief magistrates58 and upbraided for the building of the walls; but he denied that there was any construction, and urged the magistrates not to believe empty rumours but to dispatch to Athens trustworthy ambassadors, from whom, he assured them, they would learn the truth; and as surety for them he offered himself and the ambassadors who had accompanied him. [3] The Lacedaemonians, following the advice of Themistocles, put him and his companions under guard and dispatched to Athens their most important men who were to spy out whatever matter should arouse their curiosity. But time had passed, and the Athenians had already got so far along with the construction that, when the Lacedaemonian ambassadors arrived in Athens and with denunciations and threats of violence upbraided them, the Athenians took them into custody, saying that they would release them only when the Lacedaemonians in turn should release the ambassadors who accompanied Themistocles. [4] In this manner the Laconians were outgeneralled and compelled to release the Athenian ambassadors in order to get back their own. And Themistocles, having by means of so clever a stratagem fortified his native land speedily and without danger, enjoyed high favour among his fellow citizens. [5]

While the events we have described were taking place, a war broke out between the Romans and the Aequi and the inhabitants of Tusculum, and meeting the Aequi in battle the Romans overcame them and slew many of the enemy, and then they took Tusculum after a siege and occupied the city of the Aequi. 59

At the close of the year the archon in Athens was Adeimantus, and in Rome the consuls elected were Marcus Fabius Vibulanus and Lucius Valerius Publius. At this time Themistocles, because of his skill as a general and his sagacity, was held in esteem not only by his fellow citizens but by all Greeks. [2] He was, therefore, elated over his fame and had recourse to many other far more ambitious undertakings which would serve to increase the dominant position of his native state. Thus the Peiraeus, as it is called, was not at that time a harbour, but the Athenians were using as their ship-yard the bay called Phaleric, which was quite small; and so Themistocles conceived the plan of making the Peiraeus into a harbour, since it would require only a small amount of construction and could be made into a harbour, the best and largest in Greece. [3] He also hoped that when this improvement had been added to what the Athenians possessed, the city would be able to compete for the hegemony at sea; for the Athenians possessed at that time the largest number of triremes and through an unbroken succession of battles at sea which the city had waged had gained experience and renown in naval conflicts. [4] Furthermore, he reasoned that they would have the Ionians on their side because they were kinsmen, and that with their aid the Athenians would liberate the other Greeks of Asia, who would then turn in goodwill to the Athenians because of this benefaction, and that all the Greeks of the islands, being immensely impressed by the magnitude of their naval strength, would readily align themselves with the people which had the power both to inflict the greatest injury and to bestow the greatest advantages. [5] For he saw that the Lacedaemonians, though excellently equipped so far as their land forces were concerned, had no natural talent for fighting on ships.

Now as Themistocles pondered these matters, he decided that he should not make public announcement of his plan, knowing with certainty that the Lacedaemonians would endeavour to stop it; and so he announced to the citizens in Assembly that he wished both to advise upon and to introduce important matters which were also to the advantage of the city. But what these matters were, he added, it was not in the public interest to state openly, but it was fitting that a few men should be charged with putting them into effect; and he therefore asked the people to select two men in whom they had the greatest confidence and to entrust to them to pass upon the matter in question. [2] The people acceded to his advice, and the Assembly chose two men, Aristeides and Xanthippus, selecting them not only because of their upright character, but also because they saw that these men were in active rivalry with Themistocles for glory and leadership and were therefore opposed to him. [3] These men heard privately from Themistocles about his plan and then declared to the Assembly that what Themistocles had disclosed to them was of great importance, was to the advantage of the state, and was feasible. [4]

The people admired the man and at the same time harboured suspicions of him, lest it should be with the purpose of preparing some sort of tyranny for himself that he was embarking upon plans of such magnitude and importance, and they urged him to declare openly what he had decided upon. But he made the same reply, that it was not to the interests of the state that there should be a public disclosure of his intentions. [5] Thereupon the people were far the more amazed at the man's shrewdness and greatness of mind, and they urged him to disclose his ideas secretly to the Council, assuring him that, if that body decided that what he said was feasible and advantageous, then they would advise it to carry his plan to completion. [6] Consequently, when the Council learned all the details and decided that what he said was for the advantage of the state and was feasible, the people, without more ado, agreed with the Council, and Themistocles received authority to do whatever he wished. And every man departed from the Assembly in admiration of the high character of the man, being also elated in spirit and expectant of the outcome of the plan.

Themistocles, having received authority to proceed and enjoying every assistance ready at hand for his undertakings, again conceived a way to deceive the Lacedaemonians by a stratagem; for he was fully assured that just as the Lacedaemonians had interfered with the building of the wall about the city, they would in the same manner endeavour to obstruct the plans of the Athenians in the case of the making of the harbour. [2] Accordingly he decided to dispatch ambassadors to the Lacedaemonians to show them how it was to the advantage of the common interests of Greece that it should possess a first-rate harbour in view of the expedition which was to be expected on the part of the Persians. When he had in this way somewhat dulled the impulse of the Spartans to interfere, he devoted himself to that work, and since everybody enthusiastically co-operated it was speedily done and the harbour was finished before anyone expected. [3] And Themistocles persuaded the people each year to construct and add twenty triremes to the fleet they already possessed, and also to remove the tax upon metics and artisans, in order that great crowds of people might stream into the city from every quarter and that the Athenians might easily procure labour for a greater number of crafts. Both these policies he considered to be most useful in building up the city's naval forces. The Athenians, therefore, were busy over the matters we have described.

The Lacedaemonians, having appointed Pausanias, who had held the command at Plataea, admiral of their fleet, instructed him to liberate the Greek cities which were still held by barbarian garrisons. [2] And taking fifty triremes from the Peloponnesus and summoning from the Athenians thirty commanded by Aristeides, he first of all sailed to Cyprus and liberated those cities which still had Persian garrisons; [3] and after this he sailed to the Hellespont and took Byzantium, which was held by the Persians, and of the other barbarians some he slew and others he expelled, and thus liberated the city, but many important Persians whom he captured in the city he turned over to Gongylus of Eretria to guard. Ostensibly Gongylus was to keep these men for punishment, but actually he was to get them off safe to Xerxes; for Pausanias had secretly made a pact of friendship with the king and was about to marry the daughter of Xerxes, his purpose being to betray the Greeks. [4] The man who was acting as negotiator in this affair was the general Artabazus, and he was quietly supplying Pausanias with large sums of money to be used in corrupting such Greeks as could serve their ends.

The plan of Pausanias, however, was brought to light and he got his punishment in the following manner. [5] For Pausanias emulated the luxurious life of the Persians and dealt with his subordinates in the manner of a tyrant, so that they were all angry with him, and especially those Greeks who had been assigned to some command. [6] Consequently, while many, as they mingled together in the army both by peoples and by cities, were railing at the harshness of Pausanias, some Peloponnesians60 deserted him and sailed back to the Peloponnesus, and dispatching ambassadors to Sparta they lodged an accusation against Pausanias; and Aristeides the Athenian, making wise use of the opportunity, in the course of his public conferences with the states won them over and by his personal intimacy with them made them adherents of the Athenians.61 But even more did matters play by mere chance into the hands of the Athenians by reason of the following facts.

Pausanias had stipulated that the men who carried the messages from him to the king should not return and thus become betrayers of their secret communications; consequently, since they were being put to death by the receivers of the letters, no one of them was ever returning alive. [2] So one of the couriers, reasoning from this fact, opened his letters, and discovering that his inference was correct as to the killing of all who carried the messages, he turned the letters over to the ephors. [3] But when the ephors were loath to believe this, because the letters had been turned over to them already opened, and demanded further and more substantial proof, the man offered to produce Pausanias acknowledging the facts in person. [4] Consequently he went to Taenarum, and seating himself as a suppliant at the shrine of Poseidon he set up a tent with two rooms and concealed the ephors and certain other Spartans; and when Pausanias came to him and asked why he was a suppliant, the man upbraided him for directing in the letter that he should be put to death. [5] Pausanias said that he was sorry and went on to ask the man to forgive the mistake; he even implored him to help keep the matter secret, promising him great gifts, and the two then parted. As for the ephors and the others with them, although they had learned the precise truth, at that time they held their peace, but on a later occasion, when the Lacedaemonians were taking up the matter together with the ephors, Pausanias learned of it in advance, acted first, and fled for safety into the temple of Athena of the Brazen House.62 [6] And while the Lacedaemonians were hesitating whether to punish him now that he was a suppliant, we are told that the mother of Pausanias, coming to the temple, neither said nor did anything else than to pick up a brick and lay it against the entrance of the temple, and after she had done this she returned to her home. [7] And the Lacedaemonians, falling in with the mother's decision, walled up the entrance and in this manner forced Pausanias to meet his end through starvation.63 Now the body of the dead man was turned over to his relatives for burial; but the divinity showed its displeasure at the violation of the sanctity of suppliants, [8] for once when the Lacedaemonians were consulting the oracle at Delphi about some other matters, the god replied by commanding them to restore her suppliant to the goddess. [9] Consequently the Spartans, thinking the oracle's command to be impracticable, were at a loss for a considerable time, being unable to carry out the injunction of the god. Concluding, however, to do as much as was within their power, they made two bronze statues of Pausanias and set them up in the temple of Athena.

As for us, since throughout our entire history we have made it our practice in the case of good men to enhance their glory by means of the words of praise we pronounce over them, and in the case of bad men, when they die, to utter the appropriate obloquies, we shall not leave the turpitude and treachery of Pausanias to go uncondemned. [2] For who would not be amazed at the folly of this man who, though he had been a benefactor of Greece, had won the battle of Plataea, and had performed many other deeds which won applause, not only failed to safeguard the esteem he enjoyed but by his love of the wealth and luxury of the Persians brought dishonour upon the good name he already possessed? [3] Indeed, elated by his successes he came to abhor the Laconian manner of life and to imitate the licentiousness and luxury of the Persians, he who least of all had reason to emulate the customs of the barbarians; for he had not learned of them from others, but in person by actual contact he had made trial of them and was aware how greatly superior with respect to virtue his ancestors' way of life was to the luxury of the Persians. [4]

And in truth because of his own baseness Pausanias not only himself received the punishment he deserved, but he also brought it about that his countrymen lost the supremacy at sea. In comparison, for instance, take the fine tact of Aristeides in dealing with the allies: when they took note of it, both because of his affability toward his subordinates and his uprightness in general, it caused them all as with one impulse to incline toward the Athenian cause. [5] Consequently the allies no longer paid any heed to the commanders who were sent from Sparta, but in their admiration of Aristeides they eagerly submitted to him in every matter and thus brought it about that he received the supreme command by sea without having to fight for it.

At once, then, Aristeides advised all the allies as they were holding a general assembly to designate the island of Delos64 as their common treasury and to deposit there all the money they collected, and towards the war which they suspected would come from the Persians to impose a levy upon all the cities according to their means, so that the entire sum collected would amount to five hundred and sixty talents.65 [2] And when he was appointed to allocate the levy, he distributed the sum so accurately and justly that all the cities consented to it. Consequently, since he was considered to have accomplished an impossible thing, he won for himself a very high reputation for justice, and because he excelled in that virtue he was given the epithet of “the Just.” [3] Thus at one and the same time the baseness of Pausanias deprived his countrymen of the supremacy on the sea, and the all-round virtue of Aristeides caused Athens to gain the leadership which she had not possessed before.

These, then, were the events of this year. 66

When Phaedon was archon in Athens, the Seventy-sixth Olympiad was celebrated, that in which Scamandrius of Mytilene won the “stadion,” and in Rome the consuls were Caeso Fabius and Spurius Furius Menellaeus.67 [2] In the course of this year Leotychides, the king of the Lacedaemonians, died after a reign of twenty-two years, and he was succeeded on the throne by Archidamus, who ruled for forty-two years. And there died also Anaxilas, the tyrant of Rhegium and Zancle,68 after a rule of eighteen years, and he was succeeded in the tyranny by Micythus, who was entrusted with the position on the understanding that he would restore it to the sons of Anaxilas, who were not yet of age. [3] And Hieron, who became king of the Syracusans after the death of Gelon, observing how popular his brother Polyzelus was among the Syracusans and believing that he was waiting to seize69 the kingship, was eager to put him out of the way, and so, enlisting foreign soldiers and gathering about his person an organized body of mercenaries, he thought that by these means he could hold the kingship securely. [4] And so, when the Sybarites were being besieged by the Crotoniates and called on Hieron for help, he enrolled many soldiers in the army, which he then put under the command of his brother Polyzelus in the belief that he would be slain by the Crotoniates. [5] When Polyzelus, suspecting what we have mentioned, refused to undertake the campaign, Hieron was enraged at his brother, and when Polyzelus took refuge with Theron, the tyrant of Acragas, he began making preparation for war upon Theron. [6]

Subsequently to these events, Thrasydaeus the son of Theron was governing the city of Himera more harshly than was proper, and the result was that the Himerans became altogether alienated from him. [7] Now they rejected the idea of going to his father and entering an accusation with him, since they did not believe they would have in him a fair listener; but they dispatched to Hieron ambassadors, who presented their complaints against Thrasydaeus and offered to hand Himera over to Hieron and join him in his attack upon Theron. [8] Hieron, however, having decided to be at peace with Theron, betrayed the Himerans and disclosed to him their secret plans. Consequently Theron, after examining into the reported plan and finding the information to be true, composed his differences with Hieron and restored Polyzelus to the favour he had previously enjoyed, and then he arrested his opponents, who were many, among the Himerans and put them to death.

Hieron removed the people of Naxos70 and Catana from their cities and sent there settlers of his own choosing, having gathered five thousand from the Peloponnesus and added an equal number of others from Syracuse; and the name of Catana he changed to Aetna, and not only the territory of Catana but also much neighbouring land which he added to it he portioned out in allotments, up to the full sum of ten thousand settlers. [2] This he did out of a desire, not only that he might have a substantial help ready at hand for any need that might arise, but also that from the recently founded state of ten thousand men he might receive the honours accorded to heroes. And the Naxians and Catanians whom he had removed from their native states he transferred to Leontini and commanded them to make their homes in that city along with the native population. [3] And Theron, seeing that after the slaughter of the Himerans the city was in need of settlers, made a mixed multitude there, enrolling as its citizens both Dorians and any others who so wished. [4] These citizens lived together on good terms in the state for fifty-eight years; but at the expiration of this period the city was conquered and razed to the ground by the Carthaginians71 and has remained without inhabitants to this day. 72

When Dromocleides was archon in Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Marcus Fabius and Gnaeus Manlius. In this year the Lacedaemonians, now that for no good reason they had lost the command of the sea, were resentful; consequently they were incensed at the Greeks who had fallen away from them and continued to threaten them with the appropriate punishment. [2] And when a meeting of the Gerousia73 was convened, they considered making war upon the Athenians for the sake of regaining the command of the sea. [3] Likewise, when the general Assembly was convened, the younger men and the majority of the others were eager to recover the leadership, believing that, if they could secure it, they would enjoy great wealth, Sparta in general would be made greater and more powerful, and the estates of its private citizens would receive a great increase of prosperity. [4] They kept calling to mind also the ancient oracle in which the god commanded them to beware lest their leadership should be a “lame” one, and the oracle, they insisted, meant nothing other than the present; for “lame” indeed their rule would be if, having two leaderships,74 they should lose one of them. [5]

Since practically all the citizens had been eager for this course of action and the Gerousia was in session to consider these matters, no one entertained the hope that any man would have the temerity to suggest any other course. [6] But a member of the Gerousia, Hetoemaridas by name, who was a direct descendant of Heracles and enjoyed favour among the citizens by reason of his character, undertook to advise that they leave the Athenians with their leadership, since it was not to Sparta's interest, he declared, to lay claim to the sea. He was able to bring pertinent arguments in support of his surprising proposal, so that, against the expectation of all, he won over both the Gerousia and the people. [7] And in the end the Lacedaemonians decided that the opinion of Hetoemaridas was to their advantage and abandoned their zest for the war against the Athenians. [8] As for the Athenians, at first they expected to have a great war with the Lacedaemonians for the command of the sea, and for this reason were building additional triremes, raising a large sum of money, and dealing honourably with their allies; but when they learned of the decision of the Lacedaemonians, they were relieved of their fear of war and set about increasing the power of their city. 75

When Acestorides was archon in Athens, in Rome Caeso Fabius and Titus Verginius succeeded to the consulship. And in this year Hieron, the king of the Syracusans, when ambassadors came to him from Cumae in Italy and asked his aid in the war which the Tyrrhenians, who were at that time masters of the sea, were waging against them, he dispatched to their aid a considerable number of triremes. [2] And after the commanders of this fleet had put in at Cumae, joining with the men of that region they fought a naval battle with the Tyrrhenians, and destroying many of their ships and conquering them in a great sea-fight, they humbled the Tyrrhenians and delivered the Cumaeans from their fears, after which they sailed back to Syracuse. 76

When Menon was archon in Athens, the Romans chose as consuls Lucius Aemilius Mamercus and Gaius Cornelius Lentulus, and in Italy a war broke out between the Tarantini and the Iapygians. [2] For these peoples, disputing with each other over some land on their borders, had been engaging for some years in skirmishings and in raiding each other's territory, and since the difference between them kept constantly increasing and frequently resulted in deaths, they finally went headlong into out-and-out contention. [3] Now the Iapygians not only made ready the army of their own men but they also joined with them an auxiliary force of their neighbours, collecting in this way a total body of more than twenty thousand soldiers; and the Tarantini, on learning of the great size of the army gathered against them, both mustered the soldiers of their state and added to them many more of the Rhegians, who were their allies. [4] A fierce battle took place and many fell on both sides, but in the end the Iapygians were victorious. When the defeated army split in the flight into two bodies, the one retreating to Tarentum and the other fleeing to Rhegium, the Iapygians, following their example, also divided. [5] Those who pursued the Tarantini, the distance being short, slew many of the enemy, but those who were pressing after the Rhegians were so eager that they broke into Rhegium together with the fugitives and took possession of the city. 77

The next year Chares was archon in Athens, and in Rome the consuls elected were Titus Menenius and Gaius Horatius Pulvillus, and the Eleians celebrated the Seventy-seventh Olympiad, that in which Dandes of Argos won the “stadion.” In this year in Sicily Theron, the despot of Acragas, died after a reign of sixteen years, and his son Thrasydaeus succeeded to the throne. [2] Now Theron, since he had administered his office equitably, not only enjoyed great favour among his countrymen during his life-time, but also upon his death he was accorded the honours which are paid to heroes; but his son, even while his father was still living, was violent and murderous, and after his father's death ruled over his native city without respect for the laws and like a tyrant. [3] Consequently he quickly lost the confidence of his subjects and was the constant object of plots, living a life of execration; and so he soon came to an end befitting his own lawlessness. For Thrasydaeus after the death of his father Theron gathered many mercenary soldiers and enrolled also citizens of Acragas and Himera, and thus got together in all more than twenty thousand cavalry and infantry. [4] And since he was preparing to make war with these troops upon the Syracusans, Hieron the king made ready a formidable army and marched upon Acragas. A fierce battle took place, and a very large number fell, since Greeks were marshalled against Greeks. [5] Now the fight was won by the Syracusans, who lost some two thousand men against more than four thousand for their opponents. Thereupon Thrasydaeus, having been humbled, was expelled from his position, and fleeing to Nisaean Megara,78 as it is called, he was there condemned to death and met his end; and the Acragantini, having now recovered their democratic form of government, sent ambassadors to Hieron and secured peace. [6]

In Italy war broke out between the Romans and the Veiians and a great battle was fought at the site called Cremera.79 The Romans were defeated and many of them perished, among their number, according to some historians, being the three hundred Fabii, who were of the same gens and hence were included under the single name.80

These, then, were the events of this year. 81

When Praxiergus was archon in Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Aulus Verginius Tricostus and Gaius Servilius Structus. At this time the Eleians, who dwelt in many small cities, united to form one state which is known as Elis. [2] And the Lacedaemonians, seeing that Sparta was in a humbled state by reason of the treason of their general Pausanias, whereas the Athenians were in good repute because no one of their citizens had been found guilty of treason, were eager to involve Athens in similar discreditable charges. [3] Consequently, since Themistocles was greatly esteemed by the Athenians and enjoyed great fame for his high character, they accused him of treason, maintaining that he had been a close friend of Pausanias and had agreed with him that together they would betray Greece to Xerxes. [4] They also carried on conversations with the enemies of Themistocles, inciting them to lodge an accusation against him, and gave them money; and they explained that, when Pausanias decided to betray the Greeks, he disclosed the plan he had to Themistocles and urged him to participate in the project, and that Themistocles neither agreed to the request nor decided that it was his duty to accuse a man who was his friend. [5] At any rate a charge was brought against Themistocles, but at the time he was not found guilty of treason. Hence at first after he was absolved he stood high in the opinion of the Athenians; for his fellow citizens were exceedingly fond of him on account of his achievements. But afterwards those who feared the eminence he enjoyed, and others who were envious of his glory forgot his services to the state, and began to exert themselves to diminish his power and to lower his presumption.

First of all they removed Themistocles from Athens, employing against him what is called ostracism, an institution which was adopted in Athens after the overthrow of the tyranny of Peisistratus and his sons; and the law was as follows.82 [2] Each citizen wrote on a piece of pottery (ostracon) the name of the man who in his opinion had the greatest power to destroy the democracy; and the man who got the largest number of ostraca was obliged by the law to go into exile from his native land for a period of five years.83 [3] The Athenians, it appears, passed such a law, not for the purpose of punishing wrongdoing, but in order to lower through exile the presumption of men who had risen too high. Now Themistocles, having been ostracized in the manner we have described, fled as an exile from his native city to Argos. [4] But the Lacedaemonians, learning of this and considering that Fortune had given them a favourable moment to attack Themistocles, again dispatched ambassadors to Athens. These accused Themistocles of complicity in the treason of Pausanias, and asserted that his trial, since their crimes affected all Greece, should not be held privately among the Athenians alone but rather before the General Congress of the Greeks which, according to custom, was to meet at that time.84 [5]

And Themistocles, seeing that the Lacedaemonians were bent upon defaming and humbling the Athenian state, and that the Athenians were anxious to clear themselves of the charge against them, assumed that he would be turned over to the General Congress. [6] This body, he knew, made its decisions, not on the basis of justice, but out of favour to the Lacedaemonians, inferring this not only from its other actions but also from what it had done in making the awards for valour.85 For in that instance those who controlled the voting showed such jealousy of the Athenians that, although these had contributed more triremes than all the others who took part in the battle, they made them out to be no whit better than the rest of the Greeks. [7] These, then, were the reasons why Themistocles distrusted the members of the Congress. Furthermore, it was from the speech in his own defence which Themistocles had made in Athens on the former occasion that the Lacedaemonians had got the basis for the accusation they afterwards made. [8] For in that defence Themistocles had acknowledged that Pausanias had sent letters to him, urging him to share in the act of treason, and using this as the strongest piece of evidence in his behalf, he had established that Pausanias would not have urged him, unless he had opposed his first request.

It was for these reasons, as we have stated above,86 that Themistocles fled from Argos to Admetus, the king of the Molossians; and taking refuge at Admetus' hearth he became his suppliant. The king at first received him kindly, urged him to be of good courage, and, in general, assured him that he would provide for his safety; [2] but when the Lacedaemonians dispatched some of the most distinguished Spartans as ambassadors to Admetus and demanded the person of Themistocles for punishment, stigmatizing him as the betrayer and destroyer of the whole Greek world, and when they went further and declared that, if Admetus would not turn him over to them, they together with all the Greeks would make war on him, then indeed the king, fearing on the one hand the threats and yet pitying the suppliant and seeking to avoid the disgrace of handing him over, persuaded Themistocles to make his escape with all speed without the knowledge of the Lacedaemonians and gave him a large sum of gold to meet his expenses on the flight. [3] And Themistocles, being persecuted as he was on every side, accepted the gold and fled by night out of the territory of the Molossians, the king furthering his flight in every way; and finding two young men, Lyncestians by birth, who were traders and therefore familiar with the roads, he made his escape in their company. [4] By travelling only at night he eluded the Lacedaemonians, and by virtue of the goodwill of the young men and the hardship they endured for him he made his way to Asia. Here Themistocles had a personal friend, Lysitheides by name, who was highly regarded for his fame and wealth, and to him he fled for refuge. [5]

Now it so happened that Lysitheides was a friend of Xerxes the king and on the occasion of his passage through Asia Minor had entertained the entire Persian host.87 Consequently, since he enjoyed an intimate acquaintance with the king and yet wished out of mercy to save Themistocles, he promised to co-operate with him in every way. [6] But when Themistocles asked that he lead him to Xerxes, at first he demurred, explaining that Themistocles would be punished because of his past activities against the Persians; later, however, when he realized that it was for the best, he acceded, and unexpectedly and without harm he got him through safe to Persia. [7] For it was a custom among the Persians that when one conducted a concubine to the king one brought her in a closed wagon, and no man who met it interfered or came face to face with the passenger; and it came about that Lysitheides availed himself of this means of carrying out his undertaking. [8] After preparing the wagon and embellishing it with costly hangings he put Themistocles in it; and when he had got him through in entire safety, he came into the presence of the king, and after he had conversed with him cautiously he received pledges from the king that he would do Themistocles no wrong. Then Lysitheides introduced him to the presence of the king, who, when he had allowed Themistocles to speak and learned that he had done the king no wrong, absolved him from punishment.

But when it seemed that the life of Themistocles had unexpectedly been saved by an enemy, he fell again into even greater dangers for the following reasons. Mandane was the daughter of the Darius88 who had slain the Magi and the full sister of Xerxes, and she enjoyed high esteem among the Persians. [2] She had lost her sons at the time Themistocles had defeated the Persian fleet in the sea-battle at Salamis and sorely grieved over the death of her children, and because of her great affliction she was the object of the pity of the people [3] When she learned of the presence of Themistocles, she went to the palace clad in raiment of mourning and with tears entreated her brother to wreak vengeance upon Themistocles. And when the king paid no heed to her, she visited in turn the noblest Persians with her request and, speaking generally, spurred on the people to vengeance upon Themistocles. [4] When the mob rushed to the palace and with loud shouts demanded the person of Themistocles for punishment, the king replied that he would form a jury of the noblest Persians and that its verdict would be carried out. [5] This decision was approved by all, and since a considerable time was given to make the preparations for the trial, Themistocles meanwhile learned the Persian language, and using it in his defence he was acquitted of the charges. [6] And the king was overjoyed that Themistocles had been saved and honoured him with great gifts; so, for example, he gave him in marriage a Persian woman, who was of outstanding birth and beauty and, besides, praised for her virtue, and [she brought as her dower] not only a multitude of household slaves for their service but also of drinking-cups of every kind and such other furnishings as comport with a life of pleasure and luxury.89 [7] Furthermore, the king made him a present also of three cities which were well suited for his support and enjoyment, Magnesia upon the Maeander River, which had more grain than any city of Asia, for bread, Myus for meat, since the sea there abounded in fish, and Lampsacus, whose territory contained extensive vineyards, for wine.

Themistocles, being now relieved of the fear which he had felt when among Greeks, the man who had unexpectedly, on the one hand, been driven into exile by those who had profited most by the benefits he had bestowed and, on the other, had received benefits from those who had suffered the most grievously at his hands, spent his life in the cities we have mentioned, being well supplied with all the good things that conduce to pleasure, and at his death he was given a notable funeral in Magnesia and a monument that stands even to this day. [2] Some historians say that Xerxes, desiring to lead a second expedition against Greece, invited Themistocles to take command of the war, and that he agreed to do so and received from the king guaranties under oath that he would not march against the Greeks without Themistocles. [3] And when a bull had been sacrificed and the oaths taken, Themistocles, filling a cup with its blood, drank it down and immediately died. They add that Xerxes thereupon relinquished that plan of his, and that Themistocles by his voluntary death left the best possible defence that he had played the part of a good citizen in all matters affecting the interests of Greece. [4]

We have come to the death of one of the greatest of the Greeks, about whom many dispute whether it was because he had wronged his native city and the other Greeks that he fled to the Persians, or whether, on the contrary, his city and all the Greeks, after enjoying great benefits at his hands, forgot to be grateful for them but unjustly plunged him, their benefactor, into the uttermost perils. [5] But if any man, putting envy aside, will estimate closely not only the man's natural gifts but also his achievements, he will find that on both counts Themistocles holds first place among all of whom we have record. Therefore one may well be amazed that the Athenians were willing to rid themselves of a man of such genius.

What other man, while Sparta still had the superior strength and the Spartan Eurybiades held the supreme command of the fleet, could by his singlehanded efforts have deprived Sparta of that glory? Of what other man have we learned from history that by a single act he caused himself to surpass all the commanders, his city all the other Greek states, and the Greeks the barbarians? In whose term as general have the resources been more inferior and the dangers they faced greater? [2] Who, facing the united might of all Asia, has found himself at the side of his city when its inhabitants had been driven from their homes,90 and still won the victory? Who in time of peace has made his fatherland powerful by deeds comparable to his? Who, when a gigantic war enveloped his state, brought it safely through and by the one single ruse of the bridge91 reduced the land armament of the enemy by half, so that it could be easily vanquished by the Greeks? [3] Consequently, when we survey the magnitude of his deeds and, examining them one by one, find that such a man suffered disgrace at the hands of his city, whereas it was by his deeds that the city rose to greatness, we have good reason to conclude that the city which is reputed to rank highest among all cities in wisdom and fair-dealing acted towards him with great cruelty. [4]

Now on the subject of the high merits of Themistocles, even if we have dwelt over-long on the subject in this digression, we believed it not seemly that we should leave his great ability unrecorded.

While these events were taking place, in Italy Micythus, who was ruler of Rhegium and Zancle, founded the city of Pyxus. 92

When Demotion was archon in Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Publius Valerius Publicola and Gaius Nautius Rufus. In this year the Athenians, electing as general Cimon the son of Miltiades and giving him a strong force, sent him to the coast of Asia to give aid to the cities which were allied with them and to liberate those which were still held by Persian garrisons. [2] And Cimon, taking along the fleet which was at Byzantium and putting in at the city which is called Eion,93 took it from the Persians who were holding it and captured by siege Scyros, which was inhabited by Pelasgians and Dolopes; and setting up an Athenian as the founder of a colony he portioned out the land in allotments.94 [3] After this, with a mind to begin greater enterprises, he put in at the Peiraeus, and after adding more triremes to his fleet and arranging for general supplies on a notable scale, he at that time put to sea with two hundred triremes; but later, when he had called for additional ships from the Ionians and everyone else, he had in all three hundred. [4] So sailing with the entire fleet to Caria he at once succeeded in persuading the cities on the coast which had been settled from Greece to revolt from the Persians, but as for the cities whose inhabitants spoke two languages95 and still had Persian garrisons, he had recourse to force and laid siege to them; then, after he had brought over to his side the cities of Caria, he likewise won over by persuasion those of Lycia. [5] Also, by taking additional ships from the allies, who were continually being added, he still further increased the size of his fleet.

Now the Persians had composed their land forces from their own peoples, but their navy they had gathered from both Phoenicia and Cyprus and Cilicia, and the commander of the Persian armaments was Tithraustes, who was an illegitimate son of Xerxes. [6] And when Cimon learned that the Persian fleet was lying off Cyprus, sailing against the barbarians he engaged them in battle, pitting two hundred and fifty ships against three hundred and forty. A sharp struggle took place and both fleets fought brilliantly, but in the end the Athenians were victorious, having destroyed many of the enemy ships and captured more than one hundred together with their crews. [7] The rest of the ships escaped to Cyprus, where their crews left them and took to the land, and the ships, being bare of defenders, fell into the hands of the enemy.

Thereupon Cimon, not satisfied with a victory of such magnitude, set sail at once with his entire fleet against the Persian land army, which was then encamped on the bank of the Eurymedon River.96 And wishing to overcome the barbarians by a stratagem, he manned the captured Persian ships with his own best men, giving them tiaras for their heads and clothing them in the Persian fashion generally. [2] The barbarians, so soon as the fleet approached them, were deceived by the Persian ships and garb and supposed the triremes to be their own. Consequently they received the Athenians as if they were friends. And Cimon, night having fallen, disembarked his soldiers, and being received by the Persians as a friend, he fell upon their encampment. [3] A great tumult arose among the Persians, and the soldiers of Cimon cut down all who came in their way, and seizing in his tent Pherendates, one of the two generals of the barbarians and a nephew of the king, they slew him; and as for the rest of the Persians, some they cut down and others they wounded, and all of them, because of the unexpectedness of the attack, they forced to take flight. In a word, such consternation as well as bewilderment prevailed among the Persians that most of them did not even know who it was that was attacking them. [4] For they had no idea that the Greeks had come against them in force, being persuaded that they had no land army at all; and they assumed that it was the Pisidians, who dwelt in neighbouring territory and were hostile to them, who had come to attack them. Consequently, thinking that the attack of the enemy was coming from the mainland, they fled to their ships in the belief they were in friendly hands. [5] And since it was a dark night without a moon, their bewilderment was increased all the more and not a man was able to discern the true state of affairs. [6] Consequently, after a great slaughter had occurred on account of the disorder among the barbarians, Cimon, who had previously given orders to the soldiers to come running to the torch which would be raised, had the signal raised beside the ships, being anxious lest, if the soldiers should scatter and turn to plundering, some miscarriage of his plans might occur. [7] And when the soldiers had all been gathered at the torch and had stopped plundering, for the time being they withdrew to the ships, and on the following day they set up a trophy and then sailed back to Cyprus, having won two glorious victories, the one on land and the other on the sea; for not to this day has history recorded the occurrence of so unusual and so important actions on the same day by a host that fought both afloat and on land.

After Cimon had won these great successes by means of his own skill as general and his valour, his fame was noised abroad not only among his fellow citizens but among all other Greeks as well. For he had captured three hundred and forty ships, more than twenty thousand men, and a considerable sum of money. [2] But the Persians, having met with so great reverses, built other triremes in greater number, since they feared the growing might of the Athenians. For from this time the Athenian state kept receiving significant enhancement of its power, supplied as it was with an abundance of funds and having attained to great renown for courage and for able leadership in war. [3] And the Athenian people, taking a tenth part of the booty, dedicated it to the god, and the inscription which they wrote upon the dedication they made ran as follows97:“ E'en from the day when the sea divided Europe from Asia,
And the impetuous god, Ares, the cities of men
Took for his own, no deed such as this among earth-dwelling mortals
Ever was wrought at one time both upon land and at sea.
These men indeed upon Cyprus sent many a Mede to destruction,
Capturing out on the sea warships a hundred in sum
Filled with Phoenician men; and deeply all Asia grieved o'er them,
Smitten thus with both98 hands, vanquished by war's mighty power.
”99 100

Such, then, were the events of this year.

When Phaeon was archon in Athens, in Rome the consulship was taken over by Lucius Furius Mediolanus and Marcus Manilius Vaso. During this year101 a great and incredible catastrophe befell the Lacedaemonians; for great earthquakes occurred in Sparta, and as a result the houses collapsed from their foundations and more than twenty thousand Lacedaemonians perished. [2] And since the tumbling down of the city and the falling in of the houses continued uninterruptedly over a long period, many persons were caught and crushed in the collapse of the walls and no little household property was ruined by the quake. [3] And although they suffered this disaster because some god, as it were, was wreaking his anger upon them, it so happened that other dangers befell them at the hands of men for the following reasons. [4] The Helots and Messenians, although enemies of the Lacedaemonians, had remained quiet up to this time, since they stood in fear of the eminent position and power of Sparta; but when they observed that the larger part of them had perished because of the earthquake, they held in contempt the survivors, who were few. Consequently they came to an agreement with each other and joined together in the war against the Lacedaemonians. [5] The king of the Lacedaemonians, Archidamus, by his personal foresight not only was the saviour of his fellow citizens even during the earthquake, but in the course of the war also he bravely fought the aggressors. [6] For instance, when the terrible earthquake struck Sparta, he was the first Spartan to seize his armour and hasten from the city into the country, calling upon the other citizens to follow his example. [7] The Spartans obeyed him and thus those who survived the shock were saved and these men King Archidamus organized into an army and prepared to make war upon the revolters.

The Messenians together with the Helots at first advanced against the city of Sparta, assuming that they would take it because there would be no one to defend it; but when they heard that the survivors were drawn up in a body with Archidamus the king and were ready for the struggle on behalf of their native land, they gave up this plan, and seizing a stronghold in Messenia they made it their base of operations and from there continued to overrun Laconia. [2] And the Spartans, turning for help to the Athenians, received from them an army; and they gathered troops as well from the rest of their allies and thus became able to meet their enemy on equal terms. At the outset they were much superior to the enemy, but at a later time, when a suspicion arose that the Athenians were about to go over to the Messenians, they broke the alliance with them, stating as their reason that in the other allies they had sufficient men to meet the impending battle. [3] The Athenians, although they believed that they had suffered an affront, at the time did no more than withdraw; later, however, their relations to the Lacedaemonians being unfriendly, they were more and more inclined to fan the flames of hatred. Consequently the Athenians took this incident as the first cause of the estrangement of the two states, and later on they quarrelled and, embarking upon great wars, filled all Greece with vast calamities. But we shall give an account of these matters severally in connection with the appropriate periods of time. [4] At the time in question the Lacedaemonians together with their allies marched forth against Ithome and laid siege to it. And the Helots, revolting in a body from the Lacedaemonians, joined as allies with the Messenians, and at one time they were winning and at another losing. And since for ten years no decision could be reached in the war, for that length of time they never ceased injuring each other. 102

The following year Theageneides was archon in Athens, and in Rome the consuls elected were Lucius Aemilius Mamercus and Lucius Julius Iulus, and the Seventy-eighth Olympiad was celebrated, that in which Parmenides of Posidonia won the “stadion.” In this year a war broke out between the Argives and Mycenaeans for the following reasons. [2] The Mycenaeans, because of the ancient prestige of their country, would not be subservient to the Argives as the other cities of Argolis were, but they maintained an independent position and would take no orders from the Argives; and they kept disputing with them also over the shrine of Hera103 and claiming that they had the right to administer the Nemean Games104 by themselves. Furthermore, when the Argives voted not to join with the Lacedaemonians in the battle at Thermopylae unless they were given a share in the supreme command, the Mycenaeans were the only people of Argolis who fought at the side of the Lacedaemonians. [3] In a word, the Argives were suspicious of the Mycenaeans, fearing lest, if they got any stronger, they might, on the strength of the ancient prestige of Mycenae, dispute the right of Argos to the leadership. Such, then, were the reasons for the bad blood between them; and from of old the Argives had ever been eager to exalt their city, and now they thought they had a favourable opportunity, seeing that the Lacedaemonians had been weakened and were unable to come to the aid of the Mycenaeans. Therefore the Argives, gathering a strong army from both Argos and the cities of their allies, marched against the Mycenaeans, and after defeating them in battle and shutting them within their walls, they laid siege to the city. [4] The Mycenaeans for a time resisted the besiegers with vigour, but afterwards, since they were being worsted in the fighting and the Lacedaemonians could bring them no aid because of their own wars and the disaster that had overtaken them in the earthquakes, and since there were no other allies, they were taken by storm through lack of support from outside. [5] The Argives sold the Mycenaeans into slavery, dedicated a tenth part of them to the god, and razed Mycenae. So this city, which in ancient times had enjoyed such felicity, possessing great men and having to its credit memorable achievements, met with such an end, and has remained uninhabited down to our own times.

These, then, were the events of this year. 105

When Lysistratus was archon in Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Lucius Pinarius Mamertinus and Publius Furius Fifron.106 In this year Hieron, the king of the Syracusans, summoning to Syracuse the sons of Anaxilas, the former tyrant of Zancle, and giving them great gifts, reminded them of the benefactions Gelon had rendered their father, and advised them, now that they had come of age, to require an accounting of Micythus, their guardian, and themselves to take over the government of Zancle. [2] And when they had returned to Rhegium and required of their guardian an accounting of his administration, Micythus, who was an upright man, gathered together the old family friends of the children and rendered so honest an accounting that all present were filled with admiration of both his justice and good faith; and the children, regretting the steps they had taken, begged Micythus to take back the administration and to conduct the affairs of the state with a father's power and position. [3] Micythus, however, did not accede to the request, but after turning everything over to them punctiliously and putting his own goods aboard a boat he set sail from Rhegium, accompanied by the goodwill of the populace; and reaching Greece he spent the rest of his life in Tegea in Arcadia, enjoying the approval of men. [4] And Hieron, the king of the Syracusans, died in Catana and received the honours which are accorded to heroes, as having been the founder of the city.107 He had ruled eleven years, and he left the kingdom to his brother Thrasybulus, who ruled over the Syracusans for one year. 108

When Lysanias was archon in Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Appius Claudius and Titus Quinctius Capitolinus. During this year Thrasybulus, the king of the Syracusans, was driven from his throne, and since we are writing a detailed account of this event, we must go back a few years and set forth clearly the whole story from the beginning. [2]

Gelon, the son of Deinomenes, who far excelled all other men in valour and strategy and out-generalled the Carthaginians, defeated these barbarians in a great battle, as has been told109; and since he treated the peoples whom he had subdued with fairness and, in general, conducted himself humanely toward all his immediate neighbours, he enjoyed high favour among the Sicilian Greeks. [3] Thus Gelon, being beloved by all because of his mild rule, lived in uninterrupted peace until his death. But Hieron, the next oldest among the brothers,110 who succeeded to the throne, did not rule over his subjects in the same manner; [4] for he was avaricious and violent and, speaking generally, an utter stranger to sincerity and nobility of character. Consequently there were a good many who wished to revolt, but they restrained their inclinations because of Gelon's reputation and the goodwill he had shown towards all the Sicilian Greeks. [5] After the death of Hieron, however, his brother Thrasybulus, who succeeded to the throne, surpassed in wickedness his predecessor in the kingship. For being a violent man and murderous by nature, he put to death many citizens unjustly and drove not a few into exile on false charges, confiscating their possessions into the royal treasury; and since, speaking generally, he hated those he had wronged and was hated by them, he enlisted a large body of mercenaries, preparing in this way a legion with which to oppose the citizen soldiery. [6] And since he kept incurring more and more the hatred of the citizens by outraging many and executing others, he compelled the victims to revolt. Consequently the Syracusans, choosing men who would take the lead, set about as one man to destroy the tyranny, and once they had been organized by their leaders they clung stubbornly to their freedom. [7] When Thrasybulus saw that the whole city was in arms against him, he at first attempted to stop the revolt by persuasion; but after he observed that the movement of the Syracusans could not be halted, he gathered together both the colonists whom Hieron had settled in Catana and his other allies, as well as a multitude of mercenaries, so that his army numbered all told almost fifteen thousand men. [8] Then, seizing Achradine, as it is called, and the Island,111 which was fortified,112 and using them as bases, he began a war upon the revolting citizens.

The Syracusans at the outset seized a part of the city which is called Tyche,113 and operating from there they dispatched ambassadors to Gela, Acragas, and Selinus, and also to Himera and the cities of the Siceli in the interior of the island, asking them to come together with all speed and join with them in liberating Syracuse. [2] And since all these cities acceded to this request eagerly and hurriedly dispatched aid, some of them infantry and cavalry and others warships fully equipped for action, in a brief time there was collected a considerable armament with which to aid the Syracusans. Consequently the Syracusans, having made ready their ships and drawn up their army for battle, demonstrated that they were ready to fight to a finish both on land and on sea. [3] Now Thrasybulus, abandoned as he was by his allies and basing his hopes only upon the mercenaries, was master only of Achradine and the Island, whereas the rest of the city was in the hands of the Syracusans. And after this Thrasybulus sailed forth with his ships against the enemy, and after suffering defeat in the battle with the loss of numerous triremes, he withdrew with the remaining ships to the Island. [4] Similarly he led forth his army also from Achradine and drew them up for battle in the suburbs, but he suffered defeat and was forced to retire with heavy losses back to Achradine. In the end, giving up hope of maintaining the tyranny, he opened negotiations with the Syracusans, came to an understanding with them, and retired under a truce to Locri.114 [5] The Syracusans, having liberated their native city in this manner, gave permission to the mercenaries to withdraw from Syracuse, and they liberated the other cities, which were either in the hands of tyrants or had garrisons, and re-established democracies in them. [6] From this time the city enjoyed peace and increased greatly in prosperity, and it maintained its democracy for almost sixty years, until the tyranny which was established by Dionysius.115 [7] But Thrasybulus, who had taken over a kingship which had been established on so fair a foundation, disgracefully lost his kingdom through his own wickedness, and fleeing to Locri he spent the rest of his life there in private station. [8]

While these events were taking place, in Rome this year for the first time four tribunes were elected to office, Gaius Sicinius, Lucius Numitorius, Marcus Duillius, and Spurius Acilius. 116

With the passing of this year, in Athens Lysitheus was archon, and in Rome the consuls elected were Lucius Valerius Publicola and Titus Aemilius Mamercus. During this year, in Asia Artabanus, an Hyrcanian by birth, who enjoyed the greatest influence at the court of King Xerxes and was captain of the royal body-guard, decided to slay Xerxes and transfer the kingship to himself. He communicated the plot to Mithridates the eunuch, who was the king's chamberlain and enjoyed his supreme confidence, and he, since he was also a relative of Artabanus as well as his friend, agreed to the plot. [2] And Artabanus, being led at night by Mithridates into the king's bed-chamber, slew Xerxes and then set out after the king's sons. These were three in number, Darius the eldest and Artaxerxes, who were both living in the palace, and the third, Hystaspes, who happened to be away from home at the time, since he was administering the satrapy of Bactria. [3] Now Artabanus, coming while it was yet night to Artaxerxes, told him that his brother Darius had murdered his father and was shifting the kingship to himself. [4] He counselled him, therefore, before Darius should seize the throne, to see to it that he should not become a slave through sheer indifference but that he should ascend the throne after punishing the murderer of his father; and he promised to get the body-guard of the king to support him in the undertaking. [5] Artaxerxes fell in with the advice and at once, with the help of the body-guard, slew his brother Darius. And when Artabanus saw how his plan was prospering, he called his own sons to his side and crying out that now was his time to win the kingship he strikes Artaxerxes with his sword. [6] Artaxerxes, being wounded merely and not seriously hurt by the blow, held off Artabanus and dealing him a fatal blow killed him. Thus Artaxerxes, after being saved in this unexpected fashion and having taken vengeance upon the slayer of his father, took over the kingship of the Persians. So Xerxes died in the manner we have described, after having been king of the Persians for more than twenty years, and Artaxerxes succeeded to the kingship and ruled for forty years. 117

When Archedemides was archon in Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Aulus Verginius and Titus Minucius,118 and the Seventy-ninth Olympiad was celebrated, that in which Xenophon of Corinth119 won the “stadion.” In this year the Thasians revolted from the Athenians because of a quarrel over mines120; but they were forced to capitulate by the Athenians and compelled to subject themselves again to their rule. [2] Similarly also, when the Aeginetans revolted, the Athenians, intending to reduce them to subjection, undertook the siege of Aegina; for this state, being often successful in its engagements at sea, was puffed up with pride and was also well provided with both money and triremes, and, in a word, was constantly at odds with the Athenians. [3] Consequently they sent an army against it and laid waste its territory, and then, laying siege to Aegina, they bent every effort on taking it by storm. For, speaking generally, the Athenians, now that they were making great advances in power, no longer treated their allies fairly, as they had formerly done, but were ruling them harshly and arrogantly. [4] Consequently most of the allies, unable longer to endure their severity, were discussing rebellion with each other, and some of them, scorning the authority of the General Congress,121 were acting as independent states. [5]

While these events were taking place, the Athenians, who were now masters of the sea, dispatched ten thousand colonists to Amphipolis, recruiting a part of them from their own citizens and a part from the allies. They portioned out the territory in allotments, and for a time held the upper hand over the Thracians, but at a later time, as a result of their further advance into Thrace, all who entered the country of the Thracians were slain122 by a people known as the Edones. 123

When Tlepolemus was archon in Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Titus Quinctius and Quintus Servilius Structus. This year Artaxerxes, the king of the Persians, who had just recovered the throne,124 first of all punished those who had had a part in the murder of his father and then organized the affairs of the kingdom to suit his own personal advantage. [2] Thus with respect to the satraps then in office, those who were hostile to him he dismissed and from his friends he chose such as were competent and gave the satrapies to them. He also concerned himself with both the revenues and the preparation of armaments, and since in general his administration of the entire kingdom was mild, he enjoyed the favour of the Persians to a high degree. [3]

But when the inhabitants of Egypt learned of the death of Xerxes and of the general attempt upon the throne and the disorder in the Persian kingdom, they decided to strike for their liberty. At once, then, mustering an army, they revolted from the Persians, and after expelling the Persians whose duty it was to collect the tribute from Egypt, they set up as king a man named Inaros. [4] He at first recruited soldiers from the native Egyptians, but afterwards he gathered also mercenaries from the other nations and amassed a considerable army. He dispatched ambassadors also to the Athenians to effect an alliance, promising them that, if they should liberate the Egyptians, he would give them a share in the kingdom and grant them favours many times greater than the good service they had rendered. [5] And the Athenians, having decided that it was to their advantage to humble the Persians as far as they could and to attach the Egyptians closely to themselves against the unpredictable shiftings of Fortune, voted to send three hundred triremes to the aid of the Egyptians. [6] The Athenians, therefore, with great enthusiasm set about the preparation of the expedition. As for Artaxerxes, when he learned of the revolt of the Egyptians and their preparations for war, he concluded that he must surpass the Egyptians in the size of his armaments. So he at once began to enrol soldiers from all the satrapies, build ships, and give his attention to every other kind of preparation.

These were the events of this year in Asia and Egypt.

In Sicily, as soon as the tyranny of Syracuse had been overthrown and all the cities of the island had been liberated, the whole of Sicily was making great strides toward prosperity. For the Sicilian Greeks were at peace, and the land they cultivated was fertile, so that the abundance of their harvests enabled them soon to increase their estates and to fill the land with slaves and domestic animals and every other accompaniment of prosperity, taking in great revenues on the one hand and spending nothing upon the wars to which they had been accustomed. [2] But later on they were again plunged into wars and civil strife for the following reasons. After the Syracusans had overthrown the tyranny of Thrasybulus, they held a meeting of the Assembly, and after deliberating on forming a democracy of their own they all voted unanimously to make a colossal statue of Zeus the Liberator and each year to celebrate with sacrifices the Festival of Liberation and hold games of distinction on the day on which they had overthrown the tyrant and liberated their native city; and they also voted to sacrifice to the gods, in connection with the games, four hundred and fifty bulls and to use them for the citizens' feast. [3] As for all the magistracies, they proposed to assign them to the original citizens, but the aliens who had been admitted to citizenship under Gelon they did not see fit to allow to share in this dignity, either because they judged them to be unworthy or because they were suspicious lest men who had been brought up in the way of tyranny and had served in war under a monarch might attempt a revolution. And that is what actually happened. For Gelon had enrolled as citizens more than ten thousand foreign mercenaries, and of these there were left at the time in question more than seven thousand.

These aliens resented their being excluded from the dignity attending magistracies and with one accord revolted from the Syracusans, and they seized in the city both Achradine and the Island, both these places having their own well-built fortifications. [2] The Syracusans, who were again plunged into disorder, held possession of the rest of the city; and that part of it which faced Epipolae they blocked off by a wall and made their own position very secure; for they at once easily cut off the rebels from access to the countryside and soon caused them to be in want of provisions. [3] But though in number the mercenaries were inferior to the Syracusans, yet in experience of warfare they were far superior; consequently, when attacks took place here and there throughout the city and isolated encounters, the mercenaries regularly had the upper hand in the combats, but since they were shut off from the countryside, they were in want of equipment and short of food.

Such were the events in Sicily of this year. 125

When Conon was archon in Athens, in Rome the consulship was held by Quintus Fabius Vibulanus and Tiberius Aemilius Mamercus. This year Artaxerxes, the king of the Persians, appointed Achaemenes, who was a son of Darius and his own uncle, to be commander in the war against the Egyptians; and turning over to him more than three hundred thousand soldiers, counting both cavalry and infantry, he commanded him to subdue the Egyptians. [2] Now Achaemenes, when he had entered Egypt, pitched his camp near the Nile, and when he had rested his army after the march, he made ready for battle; but the Egyptians, having gathered their army from Libya and Egypt, were awaiting the auxiliary force of the Athenians. [3] After the Athenians had arrived in Egypt with two hundred ships and had been drawn up with the Egyptians in battle order against the Persians, a mighty struggle took place. And for a time the Persians with their superior numbers maintained the advantage, but later, when the Athenians seized the offensive, put to flight the forces opposing them, and slew many of them, the remainder of the barbarians turned to flight en masse. [4] There was much slaughter in the course of the flight, and finally the Persians, after losing the larger part of their army, found refuge in the White Fortress,126 as it is called, while the Athenians, who had won the victory by their own deeds of valour, pursued the barbarians as far as the aforesaid stronghold and did not hesitate to besiege it. [5]

Artaxerxes, on learning of the defeat of his troops, at first sent some of his friends with a large sum of money to Lacedaemon and asked the Lacedaemonians to make war upon the Athenians, thinking that if they complied the Athenian troops who had won the victory in Egypt would sail back to Athens in order to defend their native city. [6] When the Lacedaemonians, however, neither accepted money nor paid any attention whatever to the requests of the Persians, Artaxerxes despaired of getting any aid from the Lacedaemonians and set about preparing other armaments. In command of them he placed Artabazus and Megabyzus, men of outstanding merit, and dispatched them to make war upon the Egyptians. 127

When Euthippus was archon in Athens, the Romans chose as consuls Quintus Servilius and Spurius Postumius Albinus. During this year, in Asia Artabazus and Megabyzus, who had been dispatched to the war against the Egyptians, set out from Persia with more than three hundred thousand soldiers, counting both cavalry and infantry. [2] When they arrived in Cilicia and Phoenicia, they rested their land forces after the journey and commanded the Cyprians and Phoenicians and Cilicians to supply ships. And when three hundred triremes had been made ready, they fitted them out with the ablest marines and arms and missiles and everything else that is useful in naval warfare. [3] So these leaders were busy with their preparations and with giving their soldiers training and accustoming every man to the practice of warfare, and they spent almost this entire year in this way. [4] Meanwhile the Athenians in Egypt were besieging the troops which had taken refuge near Memphis in the White Fortress; but since the Persians were putting up a stout defence, they were unable to take the stronghold and so spent the year in the siege.

In Sicily the Syracusans, in their war upon the mercenaries who had revolted, kept launching attack after attack upon both Achradine and the Island, and they defeated the rebels in a sea-battle, but on land they were unable to expel them from the city because of the strength of these two places. [2] Later, however, after an open battle had been fought on land, the soldiers engaged on both sides fighting spiritedly, finally, although both armies suffered not a few casualties, victory lay with the Syracusans. And after the battle the Syracusans honoured with the prize of valour the elite troops, six hundred in number, who were responsible for the victory, giving them each a mina128 of silver. [3]

While these events were taking place, Ducetius, the leader of the Siceli, harbouring a grudge against the inhabitants of Catana because they had robbed the Siceli of their land, led an army against them. And since the Syracusans had likewise sent an army against Catana, they and the Siceli joined in portioning out the land in allotments among themselves and made war upon the settlers who had been sent by Hieron when he was ruler of Syracuse.129 The Catanians opposed them with arms, but were defeated in a number of engagements and were expelled from Catana, and they took possession of what is now Aetna, which was formerly called Inessa; and the original inhabitants of Catana, after a long period, got back their native city. [4]

After these events the peoples who had been expelled from their own cities while Hieron was king, now that they had assistance in the struggle, returned to their fatherlands and expelled from their cities the men who had wrongfully seized for themselves the habitations of others; among these were inhabitants of Gela, Acragas, and Himera. [5] In like manner Rhegians along with Zanclians expelled the sons of Anaxilas, who were ruling over them, and liberated their fatherlands.130 Later on Geloans, who had been the original settlers of Camarina, portioned that land out in allotments. And practically all the cities, being eager to make an end of the wars, came to a common decision, whereby they made terms with the mercenaries in their midst; they then received back the exiles and restored the cities to the original citizens,131 but to the mercenaries who because of the former tyrannical governments were in possession of the cities belonging to others, they gave permission to take with them their own goods and to settle one and all in Messenia. [6] In this manner, then, an end was put to the civil wars and disorders which had prevailed throughout the cities of Sicily, and the cities, after driving out the forms of government which aliens had introduced, with almost no exceptions portioned out their lands in allotments among all their citizens. 132

When Phrasicleides was archon in Athens, the Eightieth Olympiad was celebrated, that in which Toryllas the Thessalian won the “stadion”; and the Romans elected as consuls Quintus Fabius and Titus Quinctius Capitolinus. During this year, in Asia the Persian generals who had passed over to Cilicia made ready three hundred ships, which they fitted out fully for warfare, and then with their land force they advanced overland through Syria and Phoenicia; and with the fleet accompanying the army along the coast, they arrived at Memphis in Egypt. [2] At the outset they broke the siege of the White Fortress, having struck the Egyptians and the Athenians with terror; but later on, adopting a prudent course, they avoided any frontal encounters and strove to bring the war to an end by the use of stratagems. Accordingly, since the Attic ships lay moored at the island known as Prosopitis, they diverted by means of canals the river which flowed around the island, and thus made the island a part of the mainland. [3] When the ships thus all of a sudden came to rest on dry land, the Egyptians in alarm left the Athenians in the lurch and came to terms with the Persians. The Athenians, being now without allies and seeing that their ships had become useless, set fire to them to prevent their falling into the hands of the enemy, and then themselves, undismayed at the alarming plight they were in, fell to exhorting one another to do nothing unworthy of the fights they had won in the past. [4] Consequently, with a display of deeds of valour surpassing in heroism the men who perished in Thermopylae in defence of Greece, they stood ready to fight it out with the enemy. But the Persian generals, Artabazus and Megabyzus, taking note of the exceptional courage of their foes and reasoning that they would be unable to annihilate such men without sacrificing many myriads of their own, made a truce with the Athenians whereby they should with impunity depart from Egypt. [5] So the Athenians, having saved their lives by their courage, departed from Egypt, and making their way through Libya to Cyrene got safely back, as by a miracle, to their native land.133 [6]

While these events were taking place, in Athens Ephialtes the son of Sophonides, who, being a popular leader, had provoked the masses to anger against the Areopagites, persuaded the Assembly to vote to curtail the power of the Council of the Areopagus and to destroy the renowned customs which their fathers had followed. Nevertheless, he did not escape the punishment for attempting such lawlessness, but he was done to death by night and none ever knew how he lost his life. 134

At the conclusion of this year Philocles was archon in Athens, and in Rome Aulus Postumius Regulus and Spurius Furius Mediolanus succeeded to the consulship. During this year a war arose between the Corinthians and Epidaurians on the one hand and the Athenians on the other, and the Athenians took the field against them and after a sharp battle were victorious. [2] With a large fleet they put in at a place called Halieis, landed on the Peloponnesus, and slew not a few of the enemy.135 But the Peloponnesians rallied and gathered a strong force, and it came to a battle with the Athenians near the place called Cecryphaleia136 in which the Athenians were again victorious. [3] After such successes the Athenians, seeing that the Aeginetans were not only puffed up over their former achievements but also hostile to Athens, decided to reduce them by war. [4] Therefore the Athenians dispatched a strong fleet against them. The inhabitants of Aegina, however, who had great experience in fighting at sea and enjoyed a great reputation therefor, were not dismayed at the superiority of the Athenians, but since they had a considerable number of triremes and had built some new ones, they engaged the Athenians in battle, but were defeated with the loss of seventy ships; and, their spirits crushed by so great a disaster, they were forced to join the league which paid tribute to Athens. This was accomplished for the Athenians by their general Leocrates, who was engaged in the war with the Aeginetans nine months in all. [5]

While these events were taking place, in Sicily the king of the Siceli, Ducetius, a man of famous family and influential at this time, founded the city of Menaenum and distributed the neighbouring territory among the settlers, and making a campaign against the strong city of Morgantina and reducing it, he won fame among his own people. 137

At the close of the year Bion was archon in Athens, and in Rome Publius Servilius Structus and Lucius Aebutius Albas succeeded to the consulship. During this year a quarrel arose between the Corinthians and Megarians over land on their borders and the cities went to war. [2] At first they kept making raids on each other's territory and engaging in clashes of small parties; but as the quarrel increased, the Megarians, who were increasingly getting the worse of it and stood in fear of the Corinthians, made allies of the Athenians. [3] As a result the cities were again equal in military strength, and when the Corinthians together with Peloponnesians advanced into Megaris with a strong army, the Athenians sent troops to the aid of the Megarians under the command of Myronides, a man who was admired for his valour. A fierce engagement took place which lasted a long time and each side matched the other in deeds of courage, but at last victory lay with the Athenians, who slew many of the enemy. [4] And after a few days there was another fierce battle at Cimolia, as it is called, and again the Athenians were victorious and slew many of the enemy.

The Phocians went to war with the Dorians, who are the original stock of the Lacedaemonians and dwell in the three cities, Cytinium, Boeum and Erineus, which lie at the base of Mt. Parnassus. [5] Now at first they subdued the Dorians by force of arms and occupied their cities; but after this the Lacedaemonians, because of their kinship, dispatched Nicomedes, the son of Cleomenes, to the aid of the Dorians. He had fifteen hundred Lacedaemonians and ten thousand men from the rest of the Peloponnesians. [6] So Nicomedes, who was the guardian of Pleistonax the king, who was still a child, came to the aid of the Dorians with this large army, and after inflicting a defeat upon the Phocians and recovering the cities they had seized, he made peace between the Phocians and the Dorians.

When the Athenians learned that the Lacedaemonians had concluded the war against the Phocians and were about to make their return home, they decided to attack the Lacedaemonians while on the march. Accordingly they dispatched an army against them, including in it Argives and Thessalians; and with the intention of falling upon them with fifty ships and fourteen thousand men, they occupied the passes about Mt. Geraneia. [2] But the Lacedaemonians, having information of the plans of the Athenians, took the route to Tanagra in Boeotia. The Athenians advanced into Boeotia and formed in line of battle, and a fierce struggle took place; and although in the fighting the Thessalians deserted to the Lacedaemonians, nonetheless the Athenians and the Argives fought the battle through and not a few fell in both armies before night put an end to the struggle. [3] After this, when a large supply-train was on its way from Attica for the Athenians, the Thessalians decided to attack it, and taking their evening meal at once, they intercepted by night the supply-train. [4] The Athenians who were guarding the train were unaware that the Thessalians had changed sides and received them as friends, so that many conflicts of various kinds broke out around the convoy. For at first the Thessalians, who had been welcomed by the enemy in their ignorance, kept cutting down all whom they met, and being an organized band engaging with men who had fallen into confusion they slew many of the guards. [5] But the Athenians in the camp, when they learned of the attack of the Thessalians, came up with all speed, and routing the Thessalians at the first charge, they were making a great slaughter of them. [6] The Lacedaemonians, however, now came to the rescue of the Thessalians with their army in battle order, and a pitched battle between the two armies ensued, and such was their rivalry that many were slain on both sides. And finally, since the battle ended in a tie, both the Lacedaemonians and the Athenians laid claim to the victory. However, since night intervened and the victory was still a matter of dispute, each sent envoys to the other and they concluded a truce of four months.138 139

When the year ended, in Athens Mnesitheides was archon, and in Rome the consuls elected were Lucius Lucretius and Titus Veturius Cicurinus. During this year the Thebans, who had been humbled because of their alliance with Xerxes,140 sought a way by which they might recover both their ancient influence and reputation. [2] Consequently, since all the Boeotians held the Thebans in disdain and no longer paid any attention to them, the Thebans asked the Lacedaemonians to aid them in winning for their city the hegemony over all Boeotia; and they promised that in return for this favour they would make war by themselves upon the Athenians, so that it would no longer be necessary for the Spartans to lead troops beyond the border of the Peloponnesus. [3] And the Lacedaemonians [assented], judging the proposal to be to their advantage and believing that, if Thebes should grow in strength, she would be a kind of counterweight to the increasing power of the Athenians; consequently, since they had at the time a large army in readiness at Tanagra, they increased the extent of the circuit wall of Thebes and compelled the cities of Boeotia to subject themselves to the Thebans. [4] The Athenians, however, being eager to break up the plan of the Lacedaemonians, made ready a large army and elected as general Myronides the son of Callias. He enrolled the required number of citizens and gave them orders, announcing a day on which he planned to march forth from the city. [5] And when the appointed time arrived and some of the soldiers had not put in appearance at the specified rendezvous, he took those who had reported and advanced into Boeotia. And when certain of his officers and friends said that he should wait for the tardy men, Myronides, who was not only a sagacious general but energetic as well, replied that he would not do so; for, he declared, men who of their own choice are late for the departure will in battle also play an ignoble and cowardly part, and will therefore not withstand the perils of war in defence of their country either, whereas the men who presented themselves ready for service on the appointed day gave clear evidence that they would not desert their posts in the war. And this is what actually took place; [6] for leading forth soldiers who were few in number but the bravest in courage, he drew them up in Boeotia against a vastly superior force and utterly defeated his opponents.

In my opinion this action was in no way inferior to any of the battles fought by the Athenians in former times; for neither the victory at Marathon nor the success over the Persians at Plataea nor the other renowned exploits of the Athenians seem in any way to surpass the victory which Myronides won over the Boeotians. [2] For of those other battles, some were fought against barbarians and others were gained with the aid of allies, but this struggle was won by the Athenians single-handed in pitched battle, and they were pitted against the bravest warriors to be found among the Greeks. [3] For in staunchness in the face of perils and in the fierce contests of war the Boeotians are generally believed to be surpassed by no other people; at any rate, sometime after this the Thebans at Leuctra and Mantineia,141 when they unaided confronted all the Lacedaemonians and their allies, won for themselves the highest reputation for courage, and contrary to expectation became the leading nation of all Greece. [4] And yet, although this battle of Myronides has become famous, none of our historians has described either the way it was fought or the disposition of the troops engaged in it.142 Myronides, then, after defeating the Boeotians in a remarkable battle, came to rival the reputations of the most renowned commanders before his time, namely, Themistocles, Miltiades, and Cimon. [5] Myronides after this victory took Tanagra by siege, levelled its walls, and then he passed through all Boeotia, breaking it up and destroying it,143 and dividing the booty among his soldiers he loaded them all down with spoil in abundance.

The Boeotians, exasperated by the wasting of their land, sprang to arms as a nation and when they had taken the field constituted a great army. A battle took place at Oenophyta in Boeotia, and since both sides withstood the stress of the conflict with stout hearts, they spent the day in fighting; but after a severe struggle the Athenians put the Boeotians to flight and Myronides became master of all the cities of Boeotia with the exception of Thebes. [2] After this he marched out of Boeotia and led his army against the Locrians who are known as Opuntian.144 These he overpowered at the first attack, and taking hostages from them he then entered Parnasia. [3] In like manner as he had done with the Locrians, he also subdued the Phocians, and after taking hostages he marched into Thessaly, finding fault with the Thessalians for their act of treachery and ordering them to receive back their exiles; and when the Pharsalians would not open their gates to him, he laid siege to the city. [4] But since he could not master the city by force and the Pharsalians held out for a long time against the siege, for the present he gave up his designs regarding Thessaly and returned to Athens. Thus Myronides, who had performed great deeds in a short space of time, won among his fellow citizens the renown which was so widely acclaimed.

These, then, were the events of this year. 145

While Callias was archon in athens, in Elis the Eighty-first Olympiad was celebrated, that in which Polymnastus of Cyrene won the “stadion,” and in Rome the consuls were Servius Sulpicius and Publius Volumnius Amentinus. [2] During this year Tolmides, who was commander of the naval forces and vied with both the valour and fame of Myronides, was eager to accomplish a memorable deed. [3] Consequently, since in those times no one had very yet laid waste Laconia, he urged the Athenian people to ravage the territory of the Spartans, and he promised that by taking one thousand hoplites aboard the triremes he would with them lay waste Laconia and dim the fame of the Spartans. [4] When the Athenians acceded to his request, he then, wishing to take with him secretly a larger number of hoplites, had recourse to the following cunning subterfuge. The citizens thought that he would enrol for the force the young men in the prime of youth and most vigorous in body; but Tolmides, determined to take with him in the campaign not merely the stipulated one thousand, approached every young man of exceptional hardihood and told him that he was going to enrol him; it would be better, however, he added, for him to go as a volunteer than be thought to have been compelled to serve under compulsion by enrolment. [5] When by this scheme he had persuaded more than three thousand to enrol voluntarily and saw that the rest of the youth showed no further interest, he then enrolled the thousand he had been promised from all who were left. [6]

When all the other preparations for his expedition had been made, Tolmides set out to sea with fifty triremes and four thousand hoplites, and putting in at Methone in Laconia, he took the place; and when the Lacedaemonians came to defend it, he withdrew, and cruising along the cost to Gytheium, which was a seaport of the Lacedaemonians, he seized it, burned the city and also the dockyards of the Lacedaemonians, and ravaged its territory. [7] From here he set out to sea and sailed to Zacynthos which belonged to Cephallenia; he took the island and won over all the cities on Cephallenia, and then sailed across to the opposite mainland and put in at Naupactus. This city he likewise seized at the first assault and in it he settled the prominent Messenians whom the Lacedaemonians had allowed to go free under a truce. [8] At this time, it may be explained, the Lacedaemonians had finally overcome both the Helots and Messenians, with whom they had been at war over a long period,146 and the Messenians they had allowed to depart from Ithome under a truce, as we have said, but of the Helots they had punished those who were responsible for the revolt and had enslaved the rest. 147

When Sosistratus was archon in Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Publius Valerius Publicola and Gaius Clodius Regillus. In this year Tolmides was occupied in Boeotia and the Athenians elected as general a man of the aristocracy, Pericles the son of Xanthippus, and giving him fifty triremes and a thousand hoplites, sent him against the Peloponnesus. [2] He ravaged a large part of the Peloponnesus, and then sailed across to Acarnania and won over to Athens all the cities with the exception of Oeniadae. So the Athenians during this year controlled a very large number of cities and won great fame for valour and generalship. 148

When Ariston was archon in Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Quintus Fabius Vibulanus and Lucius Cornelius Curitinus. This year the Athenians and Peloponnesians agreed to a truce of five years, Cimon the Athenian having conducted the negotiations. [2]

In Sicily a war arose between the peoples of Egesta and Lilybaeum over the land on the Mazarus River, and in a sharp battle which ensued both cities lost heavily but did not slacken their rivalry. [3] And after the enrolment of citizens which had taken place in the cities149 and the redistribution of the lands, since many had been added to the roll of citizens without plan and in a haphazard fashion, the cities were in an unhealthy state and falling back again into civil strife and disorders; and it was especially in Syracuse that this malady prevailed. [4] For a man by the name of Tyndarides, a rash fellow full of effrontery, began by gathering about him many of the poor, and organizing them into an armed unit he proceeded to make of them a personal bodyguard ready for an attempt to set up a tyranny. But after this, when it was evident that he was grasping after supreme power, he was brought to trial and condemned to death. [5] But while he was being led off to prison, the men upon whom he had lavished his favours rushed together and laid hands upon those who were arresting him. And in the confusion which arose throughout the city the most respectable citizens, who had organized themselves, seized the revolutionists and put them to death along with Tyndarides. And since this sort of thing kept happening time and again and there were men whose hearts were set on a tyranny, the people were led to imitate the Athenians and to establish a law very similar to the one they had passed on ostracism.150

Now among the Athenians each citizen was required to write on a potsherd (ostracon) the name of the man who, in his opinion, was most able through his influence to tyrannize over his fellow citizens; but among the Syracusans the name of the most influential citizen had to be written on an olive leaf, and when the leaves were counted, the man who received the largest number of leaves had to go into exile for five years. [2] For by this means they thought that they would humble the arrogance of the most powerful men in these two cities; for, speaking generally, they were not exacting from violators of the law a punishment for a crime committed, but were effecting a diminution of the influence and growing power of the men in question. Now while the Athenians called this kind of legislation ostracism, from the way it was done, the Syracusans used the name petalism.151 [3] This law remained in force among the Athenians for a long time, but among the Syracusans it was soon repealed for the following reasons. [4] Since the most influential men were being sent into exile, the most respectable citizens and such as had it in their power, by reason of their personal high character, to effect many reforms in the affairs of the commonwealth were taking no part in public affairs, but consistently remained in private life because of their fear of the law, attending to their personal fortunes and leaning towards a life of luxury; whereas it was the basest citizens and such as excelled in effrontery who were giving their attention to public affairs and inciting the masses to disorder and revolution. [5] Consequently, since factional quarrels were again arising and the masses were turning to wrangling, the city fell back into continuous and serious disorders. For a multitude of demagogues and sycophants was arising, the youth were cultivating cleverness in oratory, and, in a word, many were exchanging the ancient and sober way of life for the ignoble pursuits; wealth was increasing because of the peace, but there was little if any concern for concord and honest conduct. [6] As a result the Syracusans changed their minds and repealed the law of petalism, having used it only a short while.

Such, then, was the state of affairs in Sicily. 152

When Lysicrates was archon in Athens, in Rome the consuls elected were Gaius Nautius Rutilus and Lucius Minucius Carutianus. During this year Pericles, the general of the Athenians, landed in the Peloponnesus and ravaged the territory of the Sicyonians. [2] And when the Sicyonians came out against him in full force and a battle was fought, Pericles was victorious, slew many as they fled, and shut them up in their city, to which he laid siege. But when he was unable by making assaults upon the walls to take the city, and when, besides, the Lacedaemonians sent aid to the besieged, he withdrew from Sicyon; then he sailed to Acarnania, where he overran the territory of Oeniadae, amassed much booty, and then sailed away from Acarnania. [3] After this he arrived at the Cherronesus153 and portioned out the land in allotments to one thousand citizens. While these events were taking place, Tolmides, the other154 general, passed over into Euboea and divided it and the land of the Naxians among another thousand citizens. [4]

As for the events in Sicily, since the Tyrrhenians were practising piracy at sea, the Syracusans chose Phayllus as admiral and sent him to Tyrrhenia. He sailed at first to the island known as Aethaleia155 and ravaged it, but he secretly accepted a bribe of money from the Tyrrhenians and sailed back to Sicily without having accomplished anything worthy of mention. [5] The Syracusans found him guilty of treachery and exiled him, and choosing another general, Apelles, they dispatched him with sixty triremes against the Tyrrhenians. He overran the coast of Tyrrhenia and then passed over to Cyrnus,156 which was held at those times by the Tyrrhenians, and after sacking many places in this island and subduing Aethaleia, he returned to Syracuse accompanied by a multitude of captives and not a little other spoil. [6] And after this Ducetius, the leader of the Siceli, gathered all the cities which were of the same race, with the exception of Hybla, into one and a common federation; and being an energetic man, he was always grasping after innovations, and so he gathered a large army from the Sicilian League and removed the city of Menae, which was his native state, and planted it in the plain. Also near the sacred precinct of the Palici, as they are called, he founded an important city, which he named Palice after the gods just mentioned.

Since we have spoken of these gods, we should not omit to mention both the antiquity and the incredible nature of the shrine, and, in a word, the peculiar phenomenon of The Craters,157 as they are called. The myth relates that this sacred area surpasses all others in antiquity and the reverence paid to it, and many marvels there are reported by tradition. [2] For first of all there are craters which are not at all large in size, but they throw up extraordinary streams of water from a depth beyond telling and have very much the nature of cauldrons which are heated by a strong fire and throw up boiling water. [3] Now the water that is thrown up gives the impression of being boiling hot, but this is not known for certain because of the fact that no man dares touch it; for the amazement caused by the spout of water is so great that men believe the phenomenon to be due to some divine power. [4] For not only does the water give out a strongly sulphurous smell but the yawning mouth emits a mighty and terrifying roar; and what is still more astonishing than this, the water neither pours over nor recedes, but has a motion and force in its current that lifts it to a marvellous height. [5] Since so divine a majesty pervades the sacred area, the most sacred oaths are taken there and men who swear falsely are immediately overtaken by the punishment of heaven; thus certain men have lost their sight when they depart from the sacred precinct. [6] And so great is the awe of the deities of this shrine, that men who are pressing claims, when, for instance, they are being overborne by a person of superior dignity, have their claims adjudicated on the strength of the preliminary examination of the witnesses supported by oaths taken in the name of these deities. This sacred area has also been recognized for some time as a place of sanctuary and has been a source of great aid to luckless slaves who have fallen into the hands of brutal masters; [7] for if they have fled there for refuge, their masters have no power to remove them by force, and they remain there protected from harm until their masters, having gained their consent upon conditions of humane treatment and having given pledges, supported by such oaths, to fulfil their agreements, lead them away. [8] And history records no case, out of all who have given slaves such a pledge as this, of a violation; so faithful to their slaves does the awe in which these gods are held make those who have taken the oath. And the sacred area, which lies on a plain meet for a god, has been appropriately embellished with colonnades and every other kind of lounging-place.—But let what we have said suffice for this subject, and we shall return to the narrative at the point where our history broke off.

Ducetius, after founding Palice and enclosing it with strong walls, portioned out the neighbouring countryside in allotments. And it came to pass that this city, on account of the fertility of the soil and the multitude of colonists, enjoyed a rapid growth. [2] It did not, however, prosper for long, but was razed to the ground and has remained without habitation until our own day; regarding this we shall give a detailed account in connection with the appropriate period of time.158 [3]

Such, then, was the state of affairs in Sicily. In Italy, fifty-eight years after the Crotoniates had destroyed Sybaris, a Thessalian159 gathered together the Sybarites who remained and founded Sybaris anew; it lay between two rivers, the Sybaris and the Crathis. [4] And since the settlers possessed a fertile land they quickly advanced in wealth. But they had possessed the city only a few years when they were again driven out of Sybaris, regarding which event we shall undertake to give a detailed account in the following Book.160161 162

When Antidotus was archon in Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Lucius Postumius and Marcus Horatius. During this year Ducetius, who held the leadership of the Siceli, seized the city of Aetna, having treacherously slain its leader, and then he moved with an army into the territory of the Acragantini and laid siege to Motyum, which was held by a garrison of Acragantini; and when the Acragantini and the Syracusans came to the aid of the city, he joined battle with them, was successful, and drove them both out of their camps. [2] But since at the time winter was setting in, they separated and returned to their homes; and the Syracusans found their general Bolcon, who was responsible for the defeat and was thought to have had secret dealings with Ducetius, guilty of treason and put him to death. With the beginning of summer they appointed a new general, to whom they assigned a strong army with orders to subdue Ducetius. [3] This general, setting out with his army, came upon Ducetius while he was encamped near Nomae; a fierce struggle ensued and many fell on both sides, but with difficulty the Syracusans overpowered and routed the Siceli, slaying many of them as they fled. Of those who survived the battle the larger number found safety in the strongholds of the Siceli, but a few chose to share the hopes of Ducetius. [4] While these things were taking place, the Acragantini forced the capitulation of the stronghold of Motyum, which was held by the Siceli who stayed with Ducetius, and then, uniting their troops with the Syracusans who had already won the victory, they now camped together. As for Ducetius, now that he had been completely crushed by his defeat and that some of his soldiers were deserting and others plotting against him, he had come to the depths of despair.

Finally, when Ducetius saw that his remaining friends were about to lay hands upon him, he anticipated them by slipping away at night and riding off to Syracuse. And while it was still night he entered the market-place of the Syracusans, and seating himself at the altars he became a suppliant of the city, placing both his person and the land which he controlled at the disposition of the Syracusans. [2] When the multitude poured into the market-place in amazement at the unexpected event, the magistrates called a meeting of the Assembly and laid before it the question of what should be done with Ducetius. [3] Some of those who were accustomed to curry favour with the people advised that they should punish him as an enemy and inflict on him for his misdeeds the appropriate penalty; but the more fairminded of the elder citizens came forward and declared it as their opinion that they should spare the suppliant and show due regard for Fortune and the wrath of the gods. The people should consider, they continued, not what punishment Ducetius deserved, but what action was proper for the Syracusans; for to slay the victim of Fortune was not fitting, but to maintain reverence for the gods as well as to spare the suppliant was an act worthy of the magnanimity of the people. [4] The people thereupon cried out as with one voice from every side to spare the suppliant. The Syracusans, accordingly, released Ducetius from punishment and sent him off to Corinth, ordering him to spend his life in that city and also giving him sufficient means for his support. [5]

Since we are now at the year preceding the campaign of the Athenians against Cyprus under the leadership of Cimon, pursuant to the plan announced at the beginning of this Book163 we herewith bring it to an end.

1 480 B.C.

2 That is, the Book covers the years 480-451 B.C.

3 Gaul and Spain.

4 i.e. from Asia into Europe via the Northern Aegean.

5 The submission of water and earth was a token of fealty or non-resistance.

6 A Persian fleet had been wrecked off the promontory of Mt. Athos in 492 B.C.

7 Hdt. 7.173 gives the name as Euaenetus.

8 The inhabitants of Malis (also called Melis) in S. Thessaly, not of the island Melos in the southern Aegean.

9 At Corinth.

10 That is, all the states which had joined the alliance.

11 The use of this canal “is problematic; and its existence has been questioned in ancient as well as modern times, but is guaranteed by Thucydides and by vestiges still visible” (Munro in Camb. Anc. Hist. 4, p. 269).

12 At the entrance to the Black Sea; Triopium and Sunium are the promontories of Caria and Attica respectively.

13 Full citizens of the state of Sparta proper.

14 See 3.2, note.

15 Diodorus, in his eagerness to recount the safe passage of the fleet through the canal, has anticipated. He now returns to the march from the European side of the Hellespont.

16 The size of Xerxes' army has been often discussed. Munro (Camb. Anc. Hist. 4, pp. 271 ff.) concludes that Xerxes had one hundred and eighty thousand combatants and a fleet of some seven hundred and thirty warships.

17 The heroism of the Spartans has been depreciated by Munro (Camb. Anc. Hist. 4, pp. 297 ff.) who thinks that Leonidas believed he had “one day more.”

18 Hdt. 7.223 knows nothing of this assault by the Greeks upon the Persian camp, and it is of course altogether incredible; he says that the fighting began about the time “when the market-place is crowded,” i.e. in the forenoon, on the initiative of the Persians.

19 Frag. 4 (Bergk). “Encomium” is not to be taken in the technical sense it had in the fifth century B.C. There is considerable reason to think that the following lines were part of a poem sung at the shrine of the fallen in Sparta. See C. M. Bowra in Class. Phil. 28 (1933), pp. 277-281.

20 The reference is to the dearly won victory of the Thebans over the “Seven,” described in Book 4.65. The phrase is defined by Diodorus himself in Book 22 fr. 6.

21 The straits between Euboea and the mainland.

22 Hdt. 8.4 says that the Euboeans asked the fleet to remain at Artemisium until they could get their families and possessions off the island.

23 This temple of Athena Pronaea (“of the fore-shrine”) lay just outside the shrine of Apollo (Paus. 10.8.6).

24 Hdt. 7.168 says the same thing about the Cercyraeans, but with more bitterness. They later alleged that the etesian winds prevented their rounding Cape Malea.

25 The temenos of Athena was the entire Acropolis.

26 This closed the route by which the Greeks could move west and south to the Peloponnesus; the Persian fleet already blocked the straits to the east.

27 The Heracleium was a shrine of Heracles on the mainland where only a narrow passage separated the island from Attica (Plut. Them. 13.1).

28 Over the Hellespont (chap. 3.6).

29 We are told in chap. 28.4 that the size of the army was “more than two hundred thousand,” and in chap. 30.1 that it was “about five hundred thousand.”

30 Cp. chap. 1.

31 Palermo.

32 Although Diodorus states below that Hamilcar was slain in battle, Hdt. 7.179 says that he threw himself into the fire on which he was pouring libations and offering whole victims in order to bring victory. If this self-immolation is authentic, the god to whom he was sacrificing was in all probability the Phoenician Melcarth, the Biblical Moloch.

33 Gelon and his two brothers Hieron and Thrasybulus; cp. chap. 67. Diodorus, as a native Sicilian, has not let the opportunity escape him of magnifying the exploits of his fellow countrymen.

34 Hdt. 7.166 says that the battle of Himera took place on the same day as the battle of Salamis.

35 “Swimming-bath.”

36 i.e. a “fifty-litra,” the litra being a silver coin of Sicily.

37 This acclaim recognized his rule as constitutional, not “tyrannical.”

38 The two chief deities of Sicily; cp. Book 5.2.

39 The Scholia to Pind. P. 1.152 give the inscription, which has been attributed to Simonides (fr. 106 Diehl, 170 Edmonds); the text and translation are from Edmonds:“ φαμὶ Γέλων᾽, Ἱέρωνα, Πολύζαλον, Θρασύβουλον, παῖδας Δεινομένεος, τοὺς τρίποδας θέμεναι ἐξ ἑκατὸν λιτρᾶν καὶ πεντήκοντα ταλάντων Δαμαρετίου χρυσοῦ, τᾶς δεκάτας δεκάταν, βάρβαρα νικάσαντας ἔθνη: πολλὰν δὲ παρασχεῖν σύμμαχον Ἕλλασιν χεῖρ᾽ ἐς ἐλευθερίαν. ”“I say that Gelo, Hiero, Polyzalus, and Thrasybulus, sons of Deinomenes, dedicated these tripods out of fifty talents and a hundred litres of the gold of Damarete, being a tithe of the tithe of the booty they had of their victory over the Barbarian nations when they gave a great army to fight beside the Greeks for freedom.”

40 479 B.C.

41 Silvanus is an error for Vibulanus and Tricostus for Cossus.

42 This Day of Freedom was commemorated every four years at Plataea, probably on the 27th of August. On the date see Munro in the Camb. Anc. Hist. 4, pp. 339 f.

43 Lyc. 81 gives the same oath with some slight variations, adding at this point: “and I will exact a tithe of all who have chosen the part of the barbarian.” In the light of Diodorus' own statement in chap. 3.3, the clause may well have been in the oath.

44 And therefore regent.

45 The size of the Greek army is probably slightly exaggerated, that of the Persian greatly.

46 The gold tripod proper was carried off by the Phocians in the Sacred War. But the bronze pillar, eighteen feet high, which supported it and was composed of three intertwined serpents, was removed by the emperor Constantine and is still to be seen in the Atmeidan (formerly Hippodrome) in Instanbul. It carries the names of thirty-one Greek states which took part in the Persian Wars, and the opening words of the inscription as well as the statement of Thuc. 1.132 show that it was a memorial for the entire war, and not for the battle of Plataea alone, as the context of Diodorus would suggest and as the geographer Pausanias (Paus. 5.23.1; Paus. 10.13.9） specifically states.

47 This inscription is found in Diodorus, and is dubiously attributed to Simonides (frag. 102 Diehl; 168 Edmonds).

48 Hdt. 7.228 states that these two inscriptions were set up at Thermopylae, as indeed they were. They are commonly ascribed to Simonides (frags. 91, 92 Diehl; 118, 119 Edmonds, both of whom prefer the text of Herodotus).

49 The father of Pericles.

50 Ephorus, whom Diodorus was following here, was an Ionian and so exaggerates the part played by the Samians and Milesians in the victory.

51 Held by the Persians as sureties of the faithfulness of the Greek contingents to their oaths of loyalty to the Persians.

52 The Greeks dwelling on the islands of the Aegean Sea.

53 480 B.C.

54 478 B.C.

55 Tyrant of Syracuse, 317-289 B.C. Diodorus (Books 19, 21, 22) is the chief source on his career.

56 485-478 and 478-467 B.C. respectively.

57 i.e. in their search for building material.

58 In Sparta; presumably the ephors.

59 477 B.C.

60 i.e. the allies of Sparta, who of course supplied all the warships.

61 It was undoubtedly the contacts which Aristeides established at this time and the confidence he aroused which led the Athenians to entrust him with the delicate task of fixing the contribution each city should make to the Confederacy (cp. chap. 47).

62 The famous shrine in Sparta.

63 Thuc. 1.134 says that he was removed from the temple just before death to avoid the pollution of the shrine.

64 That is, the temple of Apollo on that island.

65 According to Thuc. 1.96.2 and Plut. Arist. 24.3 and Plut. Arist. 24.3 the first assessment amounted to four hundred and sixty talents. The latest and fullest treatment of this subject is B. D. Meritt, H. T. Wade-Gery, M.F. McGregor, The Athenian Tribute Lists, Vol. 1 (1939).

66 476 B.C.

67 This should probably be Medullinus.

68 The earlier name of Messene in Sicily.

69 As of a third competitor waiting to fight the victor.

70 The city north of Syracuse on the coast.

71 In 408 B.C.

72 475 B.C.

73 The Spartan Senate, composed of thirty members.

74 i.e. by land and by sea.

75 474 B.C.

76 473 B.C.

77 472 B.C.

78 Megara in Greece as contrasted with Hyblaean Megara in Sicily.

79 The traditional date is 477 B.C.

80 This is one of the most famous of the legends of early Roman history. Diodorus gives the sensible account that this was a battle between the Romans and the Etruscans for the control of the right bank of the Tiber, and many Fabii fell in the struggle. But in some way the Fabian gens dressed up the story so that in later tradition only Fabii and their clients were fighting Rome's battle for “bridgeheads” on the Tiber (cp. Dionysius Hal. 9.19-21; Livy 2.50).

81 471 B.C.

82 The institution of ostracism was incorporated in one of the laws of Cleisthenes, and was passed in 507 B.C. but first used, according to Aristotle (Aristot. Ath. Pol. 22), twenty years later, “when the people had gained self-confidence.” Professor T. Leslie Shear has kindly allowed me to see an as yet unpublished paper of his, “Ostracism and the Ostraka from the Agora,” which he prepared in 1941. Whereas Carcopino for the second edition of his L'Ostracisme athénien (1935) had 62 examples of the ballots used in Athenian ostracophoria (the balloting), the collection from the Agora now totals 503, and in 1937 a well on the North Slope yielded an additional 191 pieces. There are names of persons who were never ostracized and of many persons who are otherwise unknown. The accuracy of Aristotle's statement that the institution was first used in 487 B.C. is borne out against Walker's theory (Camb. Anc. Hist. 4, p. 152) that there may well have been instances of its use before the Battle of Marathon in 490 B.C.

83 The period was ten years (Diodorus has probably confused the Athenian institution with a similar one of Syracuse where the term of exile was five years (cp. chap. 87.1)), and a total of 6000 votes was required.

84 The ostracism of Themistocles took place in the period 472-470 B.C. (Walker in the Camb. Anc. Hist. 5, pp. 62 f.), and this attack on him by the Spartans a year or so later. Thucydides (Thuc. 1.135) states that he was to be recalled to Athens for trial, whether before the Assembly (so E. Meyer) or the Areopagus (Wilamowitz) is not clear. Modern writers generally reject Diodorus' account that his trial was to have been before the General Congress of the Hellenic League. It is not impossible, however, that such a suggestion was first made by the Spartans, but was not pressed when the Athenians offered to recall him to Athens for trial. Plutarch (Plut. Arist. 21) states that a Hellenic League to prosecute the war against the Persians, meeting annually, was established in 479. It is clear that Diodorus was thinking of the General Congress of this league and not of that of the Peloponnesian League (cp. J. A. O. Larsen in Class. Phil. 28 (1933), pp. 263-265).

85 Cp. chap. 27.2.

86 There is no reference for this statement.

87 Plutarch (Plut. Them. 26) calls him Nicogenes; the man who entertained Xerxes' army is named Pythius by Herodotus (Hdt. 7.27); Thucydides does not mention him.

88 Darius the Great.

89 This marriage of Themistocles to a noble Persian lady is attested only by Diodorus and is almost certainly fictitious.

90 The Athenians all took refuge on the island of Salamis after the Persians had passed Thermopylae; cp. chap. 13.3 f.

91 Cp. chap. 19.5-6.

92 470 B.C.

93 In describing the successes of Cimon, Diodorus has compressed the events of some ten years into one; Eion was taken in 476 B.C. and the battle of the Eurymedon took place in 467 or 466 B.C.

94 This was an Athenian cleruchy, which differed from a colony in that the cleruchists did not lose their Athenian citizenship and did not necessarily reside on their allotments.

95 It is to be presumed that Greek was their second language and so they were non-Greek or at least mixed in race.

96 In Pisidia, at least 125 miles from Cyprus.

97 The inscription is attributed to Simonides (frag. 103 Diehl; 171 Edmonds).

98 “To do a thing with both hands was to do it earnestly and thoroughly; there is a double intention here, the hands being also 'arms' military and naval” (Edmonds).

99 The contents of the three preceding chapters reveal Diodorus in the worst light. The inscription referred to a battle off Cyprus in 449 B.C. and had nothing to do with the battle of the Eurymedon, and Cimon could not have fought at Cyprus in the day and been at the Eurymedon in time to land his men by nightfall. Moreover, great generals do not win battles by such comic-opera stratagems. The reliable description of the battle is in Plut. Cimon 12-13. See E. Meyer, Forschungen, 2, pp. 7 ff.; Walker in Camb. Anc. Hist. 5, pp. 54 ff.

100 469 B.C.

101 The correct date is 464 B.C.

102 468 B.C.

103 The famous Heraeum, situated at about the same distance from Mycenae and Argos in the hills south of the former. In it was later a celebrated statue of Hera, of gold and ivory, by Polycleitus.

104 These Games had been first under the supervision of the city of Cleonae. The question of their supervision must have been in the air at this time, since it was transferred to Argos in 460 B.C.

105 467 B.C.

106 Fifron is a corruption of Fusus.

107 Cp. chap. 49.

108 466 B.C.

109 Cp. chaps. 21 ff.

110 Deinomenes had four sons, Gelon, Hieron, Polyzelus, and Thrasybulus.

111 Achradine was the height north of the city and the Island is Ortygia, on which the palace and public buildings were located.

112 As a matter of fact Achradine also was fortified.

113 This section adjoined Achradine on the west.

114 Epizephyrian Locri on the toe of Italy.

115 In 406 B.C.; cp. Book 13.95 ff.

116 465 B.C.

117 464 B.C.

118 Titus Numicius Priscus, according to Livy 2.63.

119 A victory celebrated by Pind. O. 13.

120 Those of Mt. Pangaeus (now Pirnari) on the mainland, which yielded both gold and silver. The seizure of these mines by Philip of Macedon in 357 B.C., from which he derived in time an income of 1000 talents a year, laid the financial basis for the rise of Macedonia to supreme power in Greece.

121 Of the Delian League; cp. chap. 47.

122 In the battle of Drabescus; cp. Book 12.68.2, Thuc. 1.100.

123 463 B.C.

124 Cp. chap. 69.

125 462 B.C.

126 According to Thucydides (Thuc. 1.104) this was a part of the city of Memphis.

127 461 B.C.

128 About four pounds sterling.

129 Cp. chap. 49.1.

130 Cp. chap. 48.

131 i.e. to the descendants of the first settlers.

132 460 B.C.

133 “The most of them perished,” says Thucydides (Thuc. 1.110).

134 459 B.C.

135 Halieis is on the Argolic Gulf, near Hermione. Thucydides (Thuc. 1.105) says that the Athenians were defeated.

136 An island off Epidaurus.

137 458 B.C.

138 This was the battle of Tanagra. Thucydides (Thuc. 1.108), in contradiction to Diodorus, states that the Lacedaemonians were victorious; at any rate they returned home via the Isthmus without any further opposition on the part of the Athenians.

139 457 B.C.

140 During the Persian invasion.

141 In 371 and 362 B.C. respectively.

142 Thucydides (Thuc. 1.108) mentions the battle of Tanagra (supra, chap. 80) and that of Oenophyta (supra, chap 83), but not this engagement, and the authority of Diodorus' account is questioned generally by modern historians. What Diodorus did was to mistake two accounts of the same battle (of Oenophyta) for two battles (cp. Busolt, Griech. Gesch. 3. 1, p. 319).

143 This refers to the dissolution of the Boeotian League, under the hegemony of Thebes, which had just been re-established by the Spartans (chap. 81.3).

144 The Locrians on the Strait of Euboea, so named after their capital Opus.

145 456 B.C.

146 The beginning of the war is described in chap. 64 under the year 469, which is five years too early.

147 455 B.C.

148 454 B.C.

149 Cp. chap. 76.

150 Cp. chap. 55.

151 From petalon (“leaf”).

152 453 B.C.

153 The Thracian, in 447 B.C.

154 i.e. in active command.

155 Elba.

156 Corsica.

157 The Greek word means “Mixing Bowls.” These geysers near Mt. Aetna are mentioned by Vergil (Verg. Aen. 9.585) and described at length by Macrobius Sat. 5.19.15 ff.

158 There is no further mention of Palice in the extant portions of Diodorus.

159 Presumably one of the Thessalians mentioned in Book 12.10.2.

160 Book 12.9 ff.

161 The year 452 B.C. is lacking.

162 451 B.C.

163 Cp. chap. 1.1.