Justin: HISTORIARVM PHILIPPICARVM T. POMPEII TROGI LIBRI XLIV IN EPITOMEN REDACTI

I. Dum Athenienses in Sicilia bellum per biennium cupidius quam felicius gerunt, interim concitor et dux eius Alcibiades absens Athenis insimulatur mysteria Cereris initiorum sacra, nullo magis quam silentio sollemnia, enuntiavisse, revocatusque a bello ad iudicium, sive conscientia sive indignitatem rei non ferens, tacitus in exsilium Elidem profectus est. Inde, ubi non damnatum se tantum, verum etiam diris per omnium sacerdotum religiones devotum cognovit, Lacedaemona se contulit ibique regem Lacedaemoniorum inpellit turbatis Atheniensibus adverso Siciliae proelio ultro bellum inferre. Quo facto omnia Graeciae regna velut ad extinguendum commune incendium concurrunt; tantum odium Athenienses inmoderati imperii crudelitate contraxerant.

1. While the Athenians were waging war in Sicily for two years more eagerly than successfully, meanwhile its instigator and leader, Alcibiades, absent from Athens, was accused of having divulged the mysteries, the sacred initiation rites of Ceres—ceremonies solemn above all for their silence—and, recalled from the war to stand trial, whether unable to bear his conscience or the indignity of the affair, he quietly set out into exile to Elis. From there, when he learned that he had been not only condemned, but also devoted with dire curses by the religious rites of all the priests, he betook himself to Lacedaemon and there impelled the king of the Lacedaemonians, with the Athenians thrown into disorder by the adverse battle in Sicily, to carry war to them of his own accord. With this done, all the kingdoms of Greece ran together as if to extinguish a common conflagration; so great a hatred had the Athenians incurred by the cruelty of their immoderate dominion.

Darius quoque, rex Persarum, memor paterni avitique in hanc urbem odii facta cum Lacedaemoniis per Pisaphernen, praefectum Lydiae, societate omnem sumptum belli pollicetur. Et erat hic quidem titulus cum Graecis coeundi; re autem vera timebat, ne victis Atheniensibus ad se Lacedaemonii arma transferrent. Quis igitur miretur tam florentes Atheniensium opes ruisse, cum ad opprimendam unam urbem totius Orientis vires concurrerent?

Darius too, king of the Persians, mindful of the paternal and ancestral hatred against this city, through Pisaphernes, prefect of Lydia, in alliance with the Lacedaemonians promises the entire expense of the war. And this indeed was a pretext for coming together with the Greeks; but in truth he feared lest, the Athenians defeated, the Lacedaemonians transfer their arms against himself. Who, then, would marvel that the so flourishing resources of the Athenians collapsed, when the forces of the whole Orient converged to crush a single city?

Non tamen inerti neque incruento cecidere bello, sed proeliati ad ultimum, victores etiam interdum consumpti magis fortunae varietate quam victi sunt. Principio belli omnes ab his etiam socii desciverant, ut fit: quo se fortuna, eodem etiam favor hominum inclinat.

They did not, however, fall in an inert nor bloodless war, but, having fought to the last, even the victors were sometimes consumed more by the variety of Fortune than by being defeated. At the beginning of the war, even all their allies had seceded, as happens: where Fortune inclines, there likewise the favor of men inclines.

II. Alcibiades quoque motum adversus patriam bellum non gregarii militis opera, sed imperatoris virtutibus adiuvat; quippe acceptis vero navibus in Asiam contendit et tributarias Atheniensium civitates auctoritate nominis sui ad defectionem conpellit. Sciebant enim domi clarum, nec exsilio videbant factum minorem, nec tam ablatum Atheniensibus ducem quam Lacedaemoniis traditum, parta qui cum amissis imperia pensaret. Sed apud Lacedaemonios virtus Alcibiadis plus invidiae quam gratiae contraxit.

2. Alcibiades likewise aided the war stirred up against his fatherland not by the work of a common soldier, but by the virtues of a general; for indeed, having actually received ships, he hastened into Asia and compelled the Athenians’ tributary cities to defection by the authority of his name. For they knew him to be renowned at home, nor did they see him made lesser by exile, nor so much a leader taken from the Athenians as handed over to the Lacedaemonians—he who would balance commands won with those lost. But among the Lacedaemonians the excellence of Alcibiades drew more envy than favor.

Itaque cum principes velut aemulum gloriae suae interficiendum insidiis mandassent, cognita re Alcibiades per uxorem Agidis regis, quam adulterio cognoverat, ad Tisaphernen, praefectum Darii regis, profugit, cui se celeriter officii comitate et obsequendi gratia insinuavit. Erat enim et aetatis flore et formae veneratione nec minus eloquentia etiam inter Athenienses insignis, sed in conciliandis amicitiarum studiis quam in retinendis vir melior, quia morum vitia sub umbra eloquentiae primo latebant. Igitur persuadet Tisapherni, ne tanta stipendia classi Lacedaemoniorum praeberet; vocandos enim in portionem muneris Ionios, quorum pro libertate, cum tributa Atheniensibus penderent, bellum susceptum sit.

And so, when the leaders, as though he were a rival of their glory, had given orders that he be killed by treachery, the matter having been discovered, Alcibiades, through the wife of King Agis—whom he had known in adultery—fled to Tissaphernes, prefect of King Darius, to whom he quickly insinuated himself by the courtesy of service and the grace of obsequiousness. For he was distinguished even among the Athenians by the bloom of his age and the veneration of his form, and no less by eloquence; but he was a better man at conciliating the pursuits of friendships than at retaining them, because the vices of his character at first lay hidden under the shade of eloquence. Therefore he persuades Tissaphernes not to furnish such great stipends to the fleet of the Lacedaemonians; for the Ionians were to be called into a share of the burden, for whose liberty, while they were paying tribute to the Athenians, the war had been undertaken.

Sed nec auxiliis nimis enixe Lacedaemonios iuvandos; quippe memorem esse debere alienam se victoriam, non suam instruere, et hactenus bellum sustinemdum, ne inopia deseratur. Nam regem Persarum dissidentibus Graecis arbitrum pacis ac belli fore, et quos suis non possit, ipsorum armis victurum; perfecto autem bello statim ei cum victoribus dimicandum. Domesticis itaque bellis Graeciam obterendam, ne externis vacet, exaequandasque vires partium et inferiores auxilio levandos.

But neither should the Lacedaemonians be assisted with auxiliaries too strenuously; for one ought to be mindful that he is equipping an alien victory, not his own, and that the war must be sustained only so far, lest through want it be deserted. For the king of the Persians, with the Greeks dissident, will be arbiter of peace and war, and those whom he cannot defeat by his own forces he will defeat by their own arms; but once the war is completed, he must immediately fight it out with the victors. Therefore Greece is to be worn down by domestic wars, lest she be free for external ones, and the strengths of the parties are to be equalized, and the inferior to be relieved by aid.

Non enim quieturos posta hanc victoriam Spartanos, quia vindices se libertatis Graeciae professi sint. Grata oratio Tissapherni fuit. Itaque commeatus maligne praebere, classem regiam non totam mittere, ne aut victoriam daret aut necessitatem deponendi belli imponeret.

For the Spartans would not keep quiet after this victory, since they had professed themselves vindicators of the liberty of Greece. The oration was pleasing to Tissaphernes. And so he provided the supplies grudgingly, and did not send the royal fleet in its entirety, lest he either give victory or impose the necessity of laying down the war.

III. Interea Alcibiades hanc operam civibus venditabat. Ad quem cum legati Atheniensium venissent, pollicetur his amicitiam regis, si res publica a populo translata ad senatum foret, sperans ut aut concordante civitate dux belli ab omnibus legeretur aut discordia inter ordines facta ab altera parte in auxilium vocaretur.

3. Meanwhile Alcibiades was touting this service to his fellow-citizens. When the envoys of the Athenians had come to him, he promises them the friendship of the king, if the commonwealth were transferred from the people to the senate, hoping that either, with the state in concord, a leader of the war might be elected by all, or, discord having arisen between the orders, he might be called in for aid by the other party.

Sed Atheniensibus inminente periculo belli maior salutis quam dignitatis cura fuit. Itaque permittente populo imperium ad senatum transfertur. Qui cum insita gentis superbia crudeliter in plebem consuleret, singulis tyrannidis sibi inpotentiam vindicantibus, ab exercitu Alcibiades exsul revocatur duxque classi constituitur.

But with the danger of war impending for the Athenians, there was a greater care for safety than for dignity. And so, with the people permitting it, the imperium was transferred to the senate. When this body, with the arrogance innate to the race, was taking cruel counsel against the plebs, each man vindicating to himself the unbridled power of a tyranny, Alcibiades, an exile, was recalled by the army and was made leader of the fleet.

Statim igitur Athenas scribit, ex continenti se cum exercitu venturum recepturumque a quadringentis iura populi, ni ipsi redderent. Hac denuntiatione optimates territi primo urbem prodere Lacedaemoniis temptavere, dein, cum id nequissent, in exsilium profecti sunt. Igitur Alcibiades intestino malo patria liberata summa cura classem instruit atque ita in bellum adversus Lacedaemonios pergit.

Immediately therefore he writes to Athens that from the mainland he would come with the army and would take back from the 400 the rights of the people, unless they themselves restored them. By this denunciation the optimates, terrified, at first attempted to betray the city to the Lacedaemonians; then, when they could not do that, they set out into exile. Therefore Alcibiades, with the fatherland freed from the internal evil, equips the fleet with the greatest care and thus proceeds to war against the Lacedaemonians.

IV. Iam Sesto Mindarus et Pharnabazus, Lacedaemoniorum duces, instructis navibus expectabant. Proelio commisso victoria penes Athenienses fuit. In eo bello maior pars exercitus et omnes ferme hostium duces caesi, naves LXXX captae.

4. Now at Sestus Mindarus and Pharnabazus, commanders of the Lacedaemonians, with the ships made ready, were waiting. The battle having been joined, the victory was with the Athenians. In that war the greater part of the army and almost all the enemy leaders were cut down; 80 ships were captured.

Interiectis atque diebus, cum bellum Lacedaemonii a mare in terram transtulissent, iterato vincuntur. His malis fracti pacem petiere, quam ne acciperent opera eorum effectum est, a quibus ea res quaestum praebebat. Interea et Syracusanorum auxilia inlatum a Karthaginiensibus Siciliae bellum domum revocacit.

After some days had intervened, when the Lacedaemonians had transferred the war from sea to land, they are defeated again. Broken by these misfortunes they sought peace; but it was brought about, by the efforts of those to whom that affair furnished profit, that they should not accept it. Meanwhile, too, the auxiliaries of the Syracusans were called home by the war in Sicily that had been brought in by the Carthaginians.

Quibus rebus destitutis Lacedaemoniis Alcibiades cum classe victrici Asiam vastat, multis locis proelia facit, ubique victor recipit civitates, quae defecerant, nonnullas capit et imperio Atheniensium adicit, atque ita prisca navali gloria vindicata, adiecta etiam laude terrestris belli, desideratus civibus suis Athenas revertitur. His omnibus proeliis ducentae naves hostium et praeda ingens capta. Ad hunc redeuntis exercitus triumphum effusa omnis multitudo obviam procedit et universos quidem milites, praecipue tamen Alcibiaden miratur; in hunc oculos civitas universa, in hunc suspensa ora convertit, hunc quasi de caelo missum et ut ipsam Victoriam contuentur; laudant quae pro patria, nec minus admirantur quae exsul contra gesserit, excusantes ipsi, iratum provocatumque fecisse.

With these resources failing the Lacedaemonians, Alcibiades with the victorious fleet lays waste Asia, makes battles in many places, everywhere as victor receives back the cities which had defected, takes some and adds them to the dominion of the Athenians; and thus, his ancient naval glory vindicated, and the praise of land-war added besides, longed-for by his fellow citizens he returns to Athens. In all these battles two hundred ships of the enemy and immense booty were captured. For the triumph of this returning army the whole multitude, poured forth, goes out to meet them and admires all the soldiers, yet especially Alcibiades; upon him the whole city fixes its eyes, to him it turns its faces held in suspense, they gaze on him as if sent from heaven and as at Victory herself; they praise the things done for the fatherland, nor do they less marvel at the things he carried on against it while an exile, themselves making excuse that he did so in anger and when provoked.

Enimvero tantum in uno viro fuisse momenti, ut maximi imperii subversi et rursum recepti auctor esset, et unde stetisset eo se victoria transferret, fieretque cum eo mira quaedam fortunae inclinatio. Igitur omnibus non humanis tantum, verum et divinis eum honoribus onerant; certant secum ipsi, utrum contumeliosius eum expulerint an revocaverint honoratius. Ipsos illi deos gratulantes tulere obviam, quorum exsecrationibus erat devotus, et cui paulo ante omnem humanam opem interdixerant, eum, si queant, in caelo posuisse cupiunt.

Indeed, so much weight resided in one man, that he was the author both of the overthrow of the greatest imperium and of its recovery in turn, and that to the side on which he stood victory transferred itself, and with him there arose a certain wondrous inclination of Fortune. Therefore they load him with all honors, not only human,
but also divine; they contend with themselves whether they expelled him more contumeliously or recalled him more honorably. The gods themselves, congratulating, they brought to meet him—by whose execrations he had been devoted—and upon whom a little before they had laid an interdict of all human aid; him they desire, if they can, to have set in the sky.

Explent contumelias honoribus, detrimenta muneribus, exsecrationes precibus. Non Siciliae illis adversa pugna in ore est, sed Graeciae victoria; non classes per illum amissae, sed adquisitae; nec Syracusarum, sed Ioniae Hellespontique meminerunt. Sic Alcibiades numquam mediocribus nec in offensam nec in favorem studiis suorum exceptus est.

They make full contumelies with honors, detriments with gifts, execrations with prayers. Not the adverse battle of Sicily is on their lips, but the victory of Greece; not the fleets lost through him, but those acquired; nor do they remember Syracuse, but Ionia and the Hellespont. Thus Alcibiades was never received by his own with moderate zeal, either in hostility or in favor.

V. Dum haec aguntur, et a Lacedaemoniis Lysander classi belloque praeficitur et in locum Tissaphernis Darius, rex Persarum, filium suum Cyrum Ioniae Lydiaeque praeposuit, qui Lacedaemonios auxiliis opibusque ad spem fortunae prioris erexit. Aucti igitur viribus Alcibiaden cum centum navibus in Asiam profectum, dum agros longa pace divites securus populatur et praedae dulcedine sine insidiarum metu sparsos milites habet, repentino adventu oppressere; tantaque caedes palantium fuit, ut plus vulneris eoo proelio Athenienses acciperent, quam superioribus dederant, et tanta desperatio apud Athenienses erat, ut ex continenti Alcibiaden ducem Conone mutarent, arbitrantes victos se non fortuuna belli, sed fraude imperatoris, apud quem plus prior offensa valuisset quam recentia beneficia; vicisse autem eum priore bello ideo tantum, ut ostenderet hostibus, quem ducem sprevissent, et ut carius eis ipsam victoriam venderet. Omnia enim credibilia in Alcibiade vigor ingenii et morum luxuria faciebat.

5. While these things are being done, Lysander is put by the Lacedaemonians in command of the fleet and the war, and, in the place of Tissaphernes, Darius, king of the Persians, set his son Cyrus over Ionia and Lydia, who raised the Lacedaemonians by aids and resources to the hope of their former fortune. Therefore, increased in strength, they overwhelmed Alcibiades, who had set out into Asia with one hundred ships, by a sudden arrival, while he, secure, was ravaging fields rich from long peace and, by the sweetness of booty, had his soldiers scattered without fear of ambush; and so great was the slaughter of the stragglers that the Athenians received more damage in that dawn battle than they had given in the earlier ones, and so great was the desperation among the Athenians that they exchanged Alcibiades as leader for Conon from the mainland, thinking themselves defeated not by the fortune of war, but by the fraud of the commander, with whom the earlier offense had prevailed more than the recent benefits; and that he had conquered in the prior war only for this reason: to show the enemies what leader they had scorned, and to sell the victory itself to them more dearly. For in Alcibiades the vigor of genius and the luxury of manners made all things believable.

Veritus itaque multitudinis impetum denuo in voluntarium exsilium proficiscitur.

Therefore, fearing the multitude's onslaught, he once more proceeds into voluntary exile.

VI. Itaque Conon Alcibiadi suffectus, habens ante oculos cui duci successisset, classem maxima industria exornat; sed navibus exercitus deerat, fortissimis quibusque in Asiae populatione amissis. Armantur tamen senes aut inpuberes pueri, et numerus militum sine exercitus robore exppletur. Sed non magnam bello moram aetas fecit inbellis; caeduntur passim aut fugientes capiuntur; tantaque strages aut occisorum aut captivorum fuit, ut Atheniensium deletum non imperium tantum, verum etiam nomen videretur.

6. Therefore Conon, substituted for Alcibiades, having before his eyes to what leader he had succeeded, equips the fleet with the greatest industry; but for the ships the army was lacking, the bravest having been lost in the depredation of Asia. Nevertheless old men and beardless boys are armed, and the number of soldiers is filled up without the strength of an army. But the unwarlike age made no great delay in war; they are cut down everywhere or, as they flee, are taken; and so great was the carnage of either the slain or the captured, that not only the dominion of the Athenians, but even their very name, seemed to have been effaced.

Quo proelio perditis et desperatis rebus ad tantam inopiam rediguntur, ut consumpta militari aetate peregrinis civitatem, servis libertatem, damnatis impunitatem darent. Eaque conluvione hominum domini antea Graeciae conscripto exercitu vix libertatem tuebantur. Iterum tamen fortunam maris experiundam decernunt.

With that battle lost and affairs despaired of, they are reduced to such indigence that, with the military age exhausted, they granted citizenship to foreigners, liberty to slaves, impunity to the condemned. And with that confluence of men, they who had formerly been lords of Greece, with a conscripted army, could scarcely defend their liberty. Yet again they decide that the fortune of the sea must be tried.

Tanta virtus animorum fuit, ut, cum paulo ante salutem desperaverint, nunc non desperent victoriam. Sed neque is miles erat, qui nomen Atheniensium tueretur, neque eae vires, quibus vincere consuerant, neque ea scientia militaris in his, quos vincula, non castra continuerant. Itaque omnes aut capti aut occisi.

Such a virtue of spirits there was that, though a little before they had despaired of safety, now they did not despair of victory. But neither was that the soldiery to guard the name of the Athenians, nor were there the forces with which they had been wont to conquer, nor that military science among those whom fetters, not camps, had kept together. And so all were either taken captive or slain.

Cum dux Conon proelio superfuisset solus, crudelitatem civium metuens cum octo navibus ad regem Cyprium concedit Euagoram.

When the leader Conon had survived the battle alone, fearing the cruelty of the citizens, he with eight ships withdrew to Evagoras, the king of Cyprus.

VII. [Lysander] autem, dux Lacedaemoniorum, rebus feliciter gestis fortunae hostium insultat. Captivas naves cum praeda bellica in triumphi modum ornatas mittit Lacedaemona ac tributarias Atheniensium civitates, quas metus dubiae belli fortunae in fide tenuerat, voluntarias recipit, nec aliud dicionis Atheniensium praeter urbem ipsam relinquit.

7. [Lysander], however, the leader of the Lacedaemonians, after affairs had been conducted felicitously, insults the fortune of the enemies. He sends to Lacedaemon the captured ships, adorned in the manner of a triumph with war-booty, and he receives as voluntary (allies) the tributary cities of the Athenians, which fear of the doubtful fortune of war had kept in loyalty, nor does he leave anything of the Athenians’ dominion except the city itself.

Quae cuncta cum Athenis nuntiata essent, omnes relictis domibus per urbem discurrere pavidi, alius alium sciscitari, auctorem nuntii requirere; non pueros inprudentia, non senes debilitas, non mulieres sexus inbecillitas domi tenet: adeo ad omnem aetatem tanti mali sensus penetraverat. in foro deinde coeunt atque ibi perpeti nocte fortunam publicam questibus iterant. Alii fratres aut filios aut parentes deflent; cognatos alii, alii amicos cognatis cariores, et cum privatis casibus querelam publicam miscent: iam se ipsos, iam ipsam patriam perituram miserioremque incolumium quam amissorum fortunam iudicantes; sibi quisque ante oculos obsidionem, famem et superbum victoremque hostem proponentes; iam ruinam urbis et incendia, iam omnium captivitatem et miserrimam servitutem recordantes; feliciores prorsus priores urbis ruinas ducentes, quae incolumibus filiis parentibusque tectorum tantum ruinae taxatae sint.

When all these things had been announced at Athens, all, having left their homes, ran through the city in panic, each questioning the other, seeking the author of the report; neither boys did imprudence, nor old men debility, nor women the imbecility of their sex keep at home: to such a degree had the sense of so great an evil penetrated to every age. Then they come together in the forum, and there through the whole night they rehearse the public fortune with laments. Some weep for brothers or sons or parents; others for kinsmen, others for friends dearer than kinsmen, and they mingle a public complaint with private misfortunes: now judging that they themselves, now that the fatherland itself, will perish, and that the lot of the unharmed is more miserable than that of those lost; each setting before his own eyes a siege, famine, and the enemy proud and victorious; now recalling the city’s ruin and fires, now the captivity of all and most wretched servitude; outright deeming the earlier ruins of the city happier, which, with sons and parents unharmed, were assessed as the ruin of roofs only.

Nunc autem non classem, in quam sicuti pridem confugiant, superesse, non exercitum, cuius virtute servati pulchriora possent moenia exstruere.

Now, however, neither a fleet remains, to which, just as formerly, they might take refuge, nor an army, by whose virtue, once preserved, they could construct fairer walls.

VIII. Sic defletae ac prope perditae urbi hostes superveniunt et obsidione circumdata obsessos fame urgent. Sciebant enim neque ex advectis copiis multum superesse, et ne novae advehi possent providerant.

8. Thus, when the city had been wept over and was nearly lost, the enemies come upon it, and, with a siege thrown around, press the besieged with famine. For they knew that not much was left of the brought-in supplies, and they had provided that new ones could not be conveyed in.

Quibus malis Athenienses fracti post longam famem et adsidua suorum funera pacem petivere, quae an dari deberet, diu inter Spartanos sociosque deliberatum. Cum multi delendum Atheniensium nomen urbemque incendio consumendam censerent, negarunt se Spartani ex duobus Graeciae oculis laterum eruturos, pacem polliciti, si demissa Piraeum versus muri bracchia deicerent navesque, quae reliquae forent, traderent, reique publica ex semet ipsis XXX rectores acciperent. In has leges traditam sibi urbem Lacedaemonii formandam Lysandro tradiderunt.

Broken by these evils, the Athenians, after a long famine and the continual funerals of their own people, sought peace, about whether it ought to be granted there was long deliberation among the Spartans and their allies. While many were of the opinion that the name of the Athenians should be blotted out and the city consumed by fire, the Spartans said they would not gouge out one of Greece’s two eyes, promising peace if they should throw down the arms of the walls lowered toward the Piraeus and hand over the ships that remained, and should accept for the commonwealth 30 rulers chosen from among themselves. The Lacedaemonians, the city having been handed over to them on these terms, consigned it to Lysander to be shaped.

Insignis hic annus et expugnatione Athenarum et morte Darii, regis Persarum, et exsilio Dionysii, Siciliae tyranni, fuit. Mutato statu Athenarum etiam civium condicio mutatur. XXX rectores rei publicae constituuntur, qui fiunt XXX tyranni.

This year was notable both for the expugnation of Athens and for the death of Darius, king of the Persians, and for the exile of Dionysius, tyrant of Sicily. With the status of Athens changed, the condition of the citizens also is changed. 30 rectors of the commonwealth are established, who become the 30 tyrants.

Quippe a principio tria milia sibi satellitum statuunt, quantum ex tot cladibus prope nec civium superferat, et quasi parvus hic ad continendam civitatem exercitus esset, septingentos milites a victoribus accipiunt. Caedes deinde civium ab Alcibiade auspicantur, ne iterum rem publicam sub obtentu liberationis invederet. Quem cum profectum ad Artaxerxen, Persarum regem, conperissent, citato itinere miserunt, qui eum interciperent; a quibus occupatus, cum occidi aperte non posset, vivus in cubiculo, in quo dormiebat, crematus est.

Indeed, from the beginning they set up for themselves three thousand bodyguards—the number that scarcely remained of citizens after so many disasters—and, as if this were a small army for restraining the city, they receive seven hundred soldiers from the victors. Then they inaugurate slaughters of citizens, beginning with Alcibiades, lest he again should attack the republic under the pretext of liberation. When they learned that he had set out to Artaxerxes, king of the Persians, they sent, at speed, men to intercept him; seized by them, since he could not be openly killed, he was burned alive in the bedroom in which he was sleeping.

IX. Liberati hoc ultoris metu tyranni miseras urbis reliquias caedibus et rapinis exhauriunt. Quod cum displicere uni ex numero suo, Therameni, didicissent, ipsum quoque ad terrorem omnium interficiunt. Fit igitur ex urbe passim omnium fuga, repleturque Graecia Atheniensium exsulibus.

9. Freed from this fear of an avenger, the tyrants drain the wretched remnants of the city by slaughters and rapines. When they learned that this displeased one of their number, Theramenes, they kill him too, as a terror to all. Therefore there is everywhere a flight of everyone from the city, and Greece is filled with Athenian exiles.

Quod etiam ipsum auxilium cum miseris eriperetur (nam Lacedaemoniorum edicto civitates exsules recipere prohibebantur), omnes se Argos et Thebas contulere; ibi non solum tutum exsilium egerunt, verum etiam spem reciperandae patriae receperunt. Erat inter exsules Thrasybulus, vir strenuus et domi nobilis, qui audendum aliquid pro patria et pro salute communi etiam cum periculo ratus, adunatis exsulibus castellum Phylen Atticorum finium occupat. Nec deerat quarundam civitatum tam crudelis casus miserantium favor.

Since even that very aid was being snatched from the wretched (for by an edict of the Lacedaemonians the cities were forbidden to receive exiles), they all betook themselves to Argos and Thebes; there they not only conducted a safe exile, but even recovered the hope of regaining their fatherland. Among the exiles was Thrasybulus, a strenuous man and noble at home, who, reckoning that something must be dared for the fatherland and for the common safety even with danger, with the exiles gathered together seizes the fortress of Phyle on the borders of the Attic territory. Nor was there lacking the favor of certain cities that pitied so cruel a case.

Itaque et Ismenias, Thebanorum princeps, etsi publicis non poterat, privatis tamen viribus adiuvabat, et Lysias, Syracusanus orator, exsul tunc, quingentos milites stipendio suo instructos in auxilium patriae communis eloquentiae misit. Fit itaque asperum proelium. Sed cum hinc pro patria summis viribus, inde pro aliena dominatione securius pugnaretur, tyranni vincuntur.

And so Ismenias, chief of the Thebans, although he could not do so with public means, nevertheless was assisting with private resources; and Lysias, a Syracusan orator, then an exile, sent five hundred soldiers, equipped at his own stipend, to the aid of the common fatherland of eloquence. Therefore a fierce battle is joined. But since on the one side men fought for their fatherland with the utmost forces, and on the other, more heedlessly for an alien domination, the tyrants are defeated.

Victi in urbem refugerunt, quam exhaustam caedibus suis etiam armis spoliant. Deinde cum omnes Athenienses proditionis suspectos haberent, demigrare eos ex urbe iubent et in bracchiis muri, quae diruta fuerant, habitare, extraneis militibus imperium tuentes. Post haec Thrasybulum corrumpere imperii societatem pollicentes conantur.

The defeated fled back into the city, which, exhausted by their own slaughters, they also despoil of arms. Then, since they held all Athenians suspected of treason, they order them to migrate out of the city and to live in the arms of the wall, which had been torn down, maintaining their rule by foreign soldiers. After this they try to bribe Thrasybulus, promising him a partnership in power.

Quod cum non contigisset, auxilia a Lacedaemoniis petivere, quibus accitis iterato proeliantur. In eo bello Critias et Hippolochus, omnium tyrannorum saevissimi, cadunt.

As this had not come to pass, they sought auxiliaries from the Lacedaemonians; and, these having been called in, they engage in battle again. In that war Critias and Hippolochus, the most savage of all tyrants, fall.

X. Ceteris victis cum exercitus eorum, ex quibus maior pars Atheniensium erat, fugeret, magna voce Thrasybulus exclamat: cur se victorem fugiant potius quam ut vindicem communis libertatis adiuvent? Civium illam meminerint aciem, non hostium esse; nec se ideo arma cepisse, ut aliqua victis adimat, sed ut adempta restituat; XXX se dominis, non civitati bellum inferre. Admonet deinde cognationis, legum, sacrorum, tum vetusti per tot bella commilitii, orat misereantur exsulum civium, si tam patienter ipsi serviant; reddant sibi patriam, accipiant libertatem.

10. With the others defeated, when their army—of which the greater part consisted of Athenians—was fleeing, Thrasybulus shouts in a loud voice: why do they flee from him as a victor rather than help him as the vindicator of the common liberty? Let them remember that that battle-line is of citizens, not of enemies; and that he did not therefore take up arms to take anything from the vanquished, but to restore what had been taken away; he is waging war upon 30 masters, not upon the state. He then reminds them of kinship, of laws, of sacred rites, then of the long-standing comradeship through so many wars; he begs that they have pity on their fellow-citizens in exile, if they themselves endure slavery so patiently; let them restore their fatherland to themselves, let them accept liberty.

His vocibus tantum promotum est, ut reversus in urbem exercitus XXX tyrannos emigrare Eleusinam iuberet, substitutis decem, qui rem publicam regerent; qui nihil exemplo prioris dominationis territi eandem viam crudelitatis adgressi sunt. Dum haec aguntur, nuntiatur Lacedaemone in bellum Athenienses exarsisse; ad quod comprimendum Pausanias rex mittitur. Qui misericordia exsulis populi permotus patriam miseris civibus restituit et decem tyrannos ex urbe Eleusinam emigrare ad ceteros iubet.

By these words so much was advanced that, upon returning into the city, the army ordered the 30 tyrants to migrate to Eleusis, ten being substituted to govern the republic; who, in no way frightened by the example of the former domination, embarked upon the same path of cruelty. While these things are being transacted, it is reported at Lacedaemon that the Athenians had flared up into war; to suppress which King Pausanias is sent. He, moved by compassion for the exiled people, restored the fatherland to the wretched citizens and orders the ten tyrants to migrate from the city to Eleusis to the rest.

Quibus rebus cum pax statuta esset, interiectis diebus repente tyranni non minus restitutos exsules quam se in exsilium actos indignantur, quasi vero aliorum libertas sua servitus esset, et bellum Atheniensibus inferunt. Sed ad conloquium veluti dominationem recepturi progressi per insidias conprehensi ut pacis victimae trucidantur. Populus, quem emigrare iusserant, in urbem revocatur.

When on these terms peace had been established, after some days had intervened, suddenly the tyrants are indignant no less at the exiles being restored than at themselves having been driven into exile, as if indeed others’ liberty were their servitude, and they bring war upon the Athenians. But advancing to a colloquy as though about to resume their domination, they are seized by treachery and butchered as victims offered to peace. The populace, whom they had ordered to emigrate, is recalled to the city.

Atque ita per multa membra civitas dissipata in unum tandem corpus redigitur, et ne qua dissensio ex ante actis nasceretur, omnes iure iurando obstringuntur, discordiarum oblivionem fore. Interea Thebani Corinthiique legatos ad Lacedaemonios mittunt, qui ex manubiis portionem praedae communis belli periculique peterent. Quibus negatis non quidem aperte bellum adversus Lacedaemonios decernunt, sed tacitis animis tantam iram concipiunt, ut subesse bellum intellegi posset.

And thus the commonwealth, dissipated through many limbs, is at length reduced into one body; and, lest any dissension should arise from things previously done, all are bound by oath that there shall be oblivion of discords. Meanwhile the Thebans and Corinthians send envoys to the Lacedaemonians to ask for a portion from the manubiae, the booty of the common war and peril. When this is denied, they do not indeed openly decree war against the Lacedaemonians, but in their silent minds they conceive such anger that it could be understood that a war lay beneath.

XI. Eodem forte tempore Darius, rex Persarum, moritur, Artaxerxe et Cyro filiis relictis. Regnum Artaxerxi, Cyro civitates, quarum praefectus erat, testamento legavit. Sed Cyro iudicium patris iniuria videbatur; itaque occulte adversus fratrem bellum parabat.

11. At the same time by chance Darius, king of the Persians, dies, with his sons Artaxerxes and Cyrus left behind. By his testament he bequeathed the kingdom to Artaxerxes, to Cyrus the cities of which he was prefect. But to Cyrus his father’s judgment seemed an injury; and so he was secretly preparing war against his brother.

Quod cum nuntiatum Artaxerxi esset, arcessitum ad se fratrem it innocentiam dissimulatione belli simuulantem conpedibus aureis vinxit interfecissetque, ni mater prohibuisset. Dimissus igitur Cyrus iam non occulte bellum, sed palam, nec per dissimulationem, sed aperta professione parare coepit; auxilia undique contrahit. Lacedaemonii memores Atheniensi bello enixa eius opera adiutos, velut ignorantes contra quem bellum pararetur, decernunt auxilia Cyro mittenda, ubi res eius exegisset, quaerentes apud Cyrum gratiam et apud Artaxerxen, si vicisset, veniae patrocinia, cum nihil adversus eum aperte decrevissent.

When this had been reported to Artaxerxes, he summoned his brother to him, who was feigning innocence by a dissimulation of war, bound him with golden fetters, and would have killed him, had not their mother forbidden. Therefore, once released, Cyrus began to prepare war not now covertly but openly, not by dissimulation but with an open profession; he draws auxiliaries from every side. The Lacedaemonians, mindful that in the Athenian war they had been aided by his exertions, as though unaware against whom the war was being prepared, resolve that auxiliaries are to be sent to Cyrus, when his situation should require it—seeking favor with Cyrus and, with Artaxerxes, if he should have prevailed, the patronage of pardon—since they had decreed nothing openly against him.

Sed cum in bello fors proelii utrumque fratrem pugnae obtulisset, prior Artaxerxes a fratre vulneratur; quem cum equi fuga periculo subtraxisset, Cyrus a cohorte regia oppressus interficitur. Sic victor Artaxerxes et praeda fraterni belli et exercitu potitur. In eo proelio decem milia Graecorum in auxilio Cyri fuere, quae et in cornu, in quo steterant, vicerunt et post mortem Cyri neque armis a tanto exercitu vinci neque dolo capi potuerunt; revertentesque inter tot indomitas nationes et barbaras gentes per tanta itineris spatia virtute se usque terminos patriae defenderunt.

But when in war the fortune of battle had offered both brothers to the fight, Artaxerxes was first wounded by his brother; and when the flight of his horses had withdrawn him from danger, Cyrus, overwhelmed by the royal cohort, was slain. Thus the victor Artaxerxes gains possession both of the spoils of the fraternal war and of the army. In that battle ten thousand Greeks were in aid of Cyrus, who both in the wing in which they stood were victorious, and after the death of Cyrus could neither be conquered by the arms of so great an army nor taken by guile; and, returning among so many untamed nations and barbarian peoples, through such expanses of journey they defended themselves by valor all the way to the borders of their fatherland.