Greek passages split into sentences with English translation
| Passage | Sentence | Greek | English | Era | Skepticism |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4.17.1 | 1 | ἔστι δὲ Αἴγιλα τῆς Λακωνικῆς, ἔνθα ἱερὸν ἵδρυται ἅγιον Δήμητρος. | Aigila is a place in Lakonia, where there stands a sanctuary sacred to Demeter. | ? | ? |
| 4.17.1 | 2 | ἐνταῦθα ἐπιστάμενος ὁ Ἀριστομένης καὶ οἱ σὺν αὐτῷ τὰς γυναῖκας ἀγούσας ἑορτὴν ἀμύνεσθαι τῶν γυναικῶν οὐκ ἄνευ τῆς θεοῦ προαχθεισῶν. | Here Aristomenes and his men, knowing that women were celebrating a festival and intending to defend themselves, met resistance from the women, who must have been inspired by the goddess herself. | ? | ? |
| 4.17.1 | 3 | λαμβάνουσιν οἱ πολλοὶ τῶν Μεσσηνίων τραύματα μαχαίραις τε, αἷς τὰ ἱερεῖα αἱ γυναῖκες ἔθυον, καὶ ὀβελοῖς, οἷς τὰ κρέα ἔπειρον ὀπτῶσαι· | Many of the Messenians received wounds from the knives with which the women were sacrificing the animals, and also from the spits used for roasting and skewering meat. | ? | ? |
| 4.17.1 | 4 | τὸν δὲ Ἀριστομένην τύπτουσαι ταῖς δᾳσὶ ζῶντα αἱροῦσιν. | Aristomenes himself, struck with torches, was captured alive. | ? | ? |
| 4.17.1 | 5 | ἀπεσώθη δὲ ὅμως τῆς αὐτῆς ἐκείνης νυκτὸς ἐς τὴν Μεσσηνίαν. | Even so, he managed to escape back to Messenia that very night. | ? | ? |
| 4.17.1 | 6 | ἀφεῖναι δὲ αὐτὸν ἱέρεια τῆς Δήμητρος αἰτίαν ἔσχεν Ἀρχιδάμεια· ἀφῆκε δὲ οὐκ ἐπὶ χρήμασιν, ἀλλὰ ἐρῶσα ἔτυχεν αὐτοῦ πρότερον ἔτι, | The priestess of Demeter, Archidameia, was the reason he was released; she freed him not for money, but because she had previously been in love with him. | ? | ? |
| 4.17.1 | 7 | προὐφασίζετο δὲ ὡς Ἀριστομένης διακούσας τὰ δεσμὰ ἀποδρὰς οἴχοιτο. | Nevertheless, she claimed that Aristomenes had loosened his bonds and fled after overhearing a conversation. | ? | ? |
| 4.17.10 | 1 | Ἀριστομένης δὲ μετὰ τὴν μάχην τοὺς διαπεφευγότας τῶν Μεσσηνίων συνήθροιζε, καὶ Ἀνδανίαν μὲν καὶ εἴ τι ἄλλο ἐν μεσογαίᾳ πόλισμα ἔπεισε τὰ πολλὰ ἐκλείπειν, ἐς δὲ τὴν Εἶραν τὸ ὄρος ἀνοικίζεσθαι. | After the battle Aristomenes gathered together the Messenians who had escaped and persuaded most of the inhabitants of Andania and any other towns in the interior country to abandon them, settling instead upon the mountain called Eira. | ? | ? |
| 4.17.10 | 2 | συνεληλαμένοις δὲ ἐς τοῦτο τὸ χωρίον προσεκάθηντο οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι πολιορκίᾳ σφᾶς αὐτίκα ἐξαιρήσειν νομίζοντες· | When the Messenians had collected in this place, the Lacedaemonians immediately took up a position against them, thinking they would soon reduce them by siege. | ? | ? |
| 4.17.10 | 3 | ἀντήρκεσαν δὲ ὅμως οἱ Μεσσήνιοι καὶ μετὰ τὴν ἐν τῇ τάφρῳ συμφορὰν ἑνί τε καὶ δέκα ἔτεσιν ἀμυνόμενοι. | Nevertheless, despite the disaster at the trench, the Messenians held out while continually defending themselves for eleven years. | ? | ? |
| 4.17.11 | 1 | τὸν δὲ χρόνον τῆς πολιορκίας γενέσθαι τοσοῦτον δηλοῖ καὶ τάδε ἔπη Ῥιανοῦ πεποιημένα ἐς τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους· | That the duration of the siege was indeed long is indicated also by the following verses composed by Rhianus concerning the Lacedaemonians: | ? | ? |
| 4.17.11 | 2 | οὔρεος ἀργεννοῖο περὶ πτύχας ἐστρατόωντο χείματά τε ποίας τε δύω καὶ εἴκοσι πάσας· | "Around the folds of the silvery mountain they campaigned for two and twenty seasons, winters and grass-times all together." | ? | ? |
| 4.17.11 | 3 | χειμῶνας γὰρ καὶ θέρη κατέλεξε, πόας εἰπὼν τὸν χλωρὸν σῖτον ἢ ὀλίγον πρὸ ἀμητοῦ. | For he counted winters and summers, calling "grass-times" the green corn or the crop slightly before harvest. | ? | ? |
| 4.17.2 | 1 | τρίτῳ δὲ ἔτει τοῦ πολέμου μελλούσης γίνεσθαι συμβολῆς ἐπὶ τῇ καλουμένῃ Μεγάλῃ τάφρῳ καὶ Μεσσηνίοις Ἀρκάδων βεβοηθηκότων ἀπὸ πασῶν τῶν πόλεων, Ἀριστοκράτην τὸν Ἱκέτα Τραπεζούντιον, βασιλέα τῶν Ἀρκάδων καὶ στρατηγὸν ὄντα ἐν τῷ τότε, διαφθείρουσιν οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι χρήμασι. | In the third year of the war, when battle was about to occur at the place called the Great Trench, the Arcadians from all their cities had come to help the Messenians, and Aristocrates son of Hicetas of Trapezus, who was king of the Arcadians and at this time their general, was bribed with money by the Lacedaemonians, who thus corrupted him. | ? | ? |
| 4.17.2 | 2 | πρῶτοι γὰρ ὧν ἴσμεν Λακεδαιμόνιοι πολεμίῳ ἀνδρὶ δῶρα ἔδοσαν, καὶ ὤνιον πρῶτοι κατεστήσαντο εἶναι τὸ κράτος τὸ ἐν τοῖς ὅπλοις· | The Lacedaemonians were, as far as we know, the first to give gifts to a hostile leader, and they were the first to establish the practice of purchasing victory in war. | ? | ? |
| 4.17.3 | 1 | πρὶν δὲ ἢ παρανομῆσαι Λακεδαιμονίους ἐς τὸν Μεσσηνίων πόλεμον καὶ Ἀριστοκράτους τοῦ Ἀρκάδος τὴν προδοσίαν, ἀρετῇ τε οἱ μαχόμενοι καὶ τύχαις ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ διεκρίνοντο. | But until the Lacedaemonians committed unlawful deeds in the Messenian war, and before the treachery of Aristocrates the Arcadian, those engaged in the fighting were distinguished both by valor and by fortunes sent from the god. | ? | ? |
| 4.17.3 | 2 | φαίνονται δὲ οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι καὶ ὕστερον, ἡνίκα ἐπὶ Αἰγὸς ποταμοῖς ταῖς Ἀθηναίων ναυσὶν ἀνθώρμουν, ἄλλους τε τῶν στρατηγούντων Ἀθηναίοις καὶ Ἀδείμαντον ἐξωνησάμενοι. | Afterwards, the Lacedaemonians are shown again, at the time when they attacked the ships of the Athenians at Aegospotami, to have bribed others among the Athenian generals, and Adeimantus in particular. | ? | ? |
| 4.17.4 | 1 | περιῆλθε μέντοι καὶ αὐτοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους ἀνὰ χρόνον ἡ Νεοπτολέμειος καλουμένη τίσις. | Yet in due time the Lacedaemonians themselves also experienced the so-called "punishment of Neoptolemus." | ? | ? |
| 4.17.4 | 2 | Νεοπτολέμῳ γὰρ τῷ Ἀχιλλέως, ἀποκτείναντι Πρίαμον ἐπὶ τῇ ἐσχάρᾳ τοῦ Ἑρκείου, συνέπεσε καὶ αὐτὸν ἐν Δελφοῖς πρὸς τῷ βωμῷ τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνος ἀποσφαγῆναι· | Neoptolemus, son of Achilles, had slain Priam upon the altar of Zeus Herkeios, and afterwards he himself was likewise slain at Delphi at the altar of Apollo. | ? | ? |
| 4.17.4 | 3 | καὶ ἀπὸ τούτου τὸ παθεῖν ὁποῖόν τις καὶ ἔδρασε Νεοπτολέμειον τίσιν ὀνομάζουσι. | Due to this occurrence, the suffering of one who endures a fate similar to that he has previously inflicted is called the "punishment of Neoptolemus." | ? | ? |
| 4.17.5 | 1 | τοῖς οὖν Λακεδαιμονίοις, ὅτε δὴ μάλιστα ἤνθησαν καὶ Ἀθηναίων τε τὸ ναυτικὸν καθῃρήκεσαν καὶ Ἀγησίλαος κεχείρωτο τὰ πολλὰ ἤδη τῆς Ἀσίας, τότε σφίσι τὴν ἀρχὴν πᾶσαν οὐκ ἐξεγένετο ἀφελέσθαι τὸν Μῆδον, ἀλλὰ σφᾶς ὁ βάρβαρος περιῆλθε τῷ ἐκείνων εὑρήματι, ἐς Κόρινθον καὶ Ἄργος καὶ ἐς Ἀθήνας τε καὶ Θήβας χρήματα ἀποστείλας· | Thus the Lacedaemonians, precisely at the time when they flourished greatly, having subdued the naval power of the Athenians, while Agesilaus had already secured control over most of Asia, could not succeed in entirely overthrowing the empire of the Medes. | ? | ? |
| 4.17.5 | 2 | ὅ τε ὀνομαζόμενος Κορινθιακὸς πόλεμος ἀπὸ τούτων ἐξήφθη τῶν χρημάτων, ὡς ἀπολείπειν Ἀγησίλαον ἀναγκασθῆναι τὰ ἐν τῇ Ἀσίᾳ. | Instead, the Barbarian outmaneuvered them by employing their own invention against them, dispatching money to Corinth, Argos, Athens, and Thebes. | ? | ? |
| 4.17.6 | 1 | Λακεδαιμονίοις μὲν τὸ ἐς Μεσσηνίους σόφισμα ὁ δαίμων ἔμελλεν αὐτοῖς ἀποφανεῖν συμφοράν· | But for the Lacedaemonians, this stratagem against the Messenians the divinity was already preparing to turn into a disaster. | ? | ? |
| 4.17.6 | 2 | Ἀριστοκράτης δὲ ὡς τὰ χρήματα ἐδέξατο ἐκ Λακεδαίμονος, τὸ μὲν παραυτίκα ἔκρυπτεν ἐς τοὺς Ἀρκάδας οἷα ἐπεβούλευε, μελλόντων δὲ ἐς χεῖρας ἤδη συνέρχεσθαι, τηνικαῦτα ἐξεφόβησεν αὐτοὺς ὡς ἐν δυσχωρίᾳ τέ εἰσιν ἀπειλημμένοι καὶ ἀναχώρησις οὐκ ἔσται αὐτοῖς, ἢν κρατηθῶσιν, τά τε ἱερά σφισιν οὐκ ἔφη γεγονέναι κατὰ γνώμην. | Aristocrates, after receiving money from Sparta, for the moment kept secret from the Arcadians the treachery he planned against them. | ? | ? |
| 4.17.6 | 3 | ἐκέλευεν οὖν πάντα τινά, ἐπειδὰν αὐτὸς σημήνῃ, φυγῇ χρῆσθαι. | But when the battle was about to begin, he suddenly alarmed them, saying that they were caught in a difficult position, that retreat would be impossible if they were defeated, and claiming also that the sacrifices had not proved favorable for them. | ? | ? |
| 4.17.7 | 1 | ὡς δὲ οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι συνέμισγον καὶ ἦσαν ἐς τὸ κατʼ αὐτοὺς οἱ Μεσσήνιοι τετραμμένοι, ἐνταῦθα Ἀριστοκράτης ἀρχομένης τῆς μάχης ἀπῆγε τοὺς Ἀρκάδας, | But when the Lacedaemonians joined battle and the Messenians were directing their attention to them, at this moment Aristocrates, as soon as the battle had commenced, withdrew the Arcadians. | ? | ? |
| 4.17.7 | 2 | καὶ τοῖς Μεσσηνίοις τό τε ἀριστερὸν καὶ μέσον ἠρήμωτο· οἱ γὰρ Ἀρκάδες σφίσιν εἶχον ἀμφότερα ἅτε ἀπόντων μὲν Ἠλείων τῆς μάχης, ἀπόντων δὲ Ἀργείων καὶ Σικυωνίων. | Thus the left wing and the centre of the Messenians were left isolated; for the Arcadians had occupied both positions, since both the Eleans were absent from the battle, as likewise were the Argives and Sicyonians. | ? | ? |
| 4.17.7 | 3 | προσεξειργάσθη δὲ καὶ ἄλλο τῷ Ἀριστοκράτει· διὰ γὰρ Μεσσηνίων ἐποιεῖτο τὴν φυγήν. | Aristocrates also committed another treachery: he directed his flight straight through the ranks of the Messenians. | ? | ? |
| 4.17.8 | 1 | οἱ δὲ πρὸς τὸ ἀνέλπιστον τῶν παρόντων ἐγένοντο ἔκφρονες καὶ ἅμα ὑπὸ τῆς διεξόδου τῆς κατὰ σφᾶς τῶν Ἀρκάδων ἐταράσσοντο, ὥστε αὐτῶν ἐδέησαν οἱ πολλοὶ καὶ ἐπιλαθέσθαι τῶν ἐν χερσίν· | Faced with circumstances they had not expected, they became panic-stricken and, at the same time, were confounded by the Arcadians' withdrawal from their side, so that most of them even forgot the weapons in their hands. | ? | ? |
| 4.17.8 | 2 | ἀντὶ γὰρ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων ἐπιφερομένων ἤδη πρὸς τοὺς Ἀρκάδας ἀφεώρων φεύγοντας, καὶ οἱ μὲν παραμεῖναί σφισιν ἱκέτευον, οἱ δὲ καὶ λοιδορίαις ἐς αὐτοὺς ὡς ἐς ἄνδρας προδότας καὶ οὐ δικαίους ἐχρῶντο. | Instead of charging upon the Lacedaemonians, they found themselves watching as the Arcadians were already fleeing, and some of them begged them to remain, while others hurled insults at them, accusing them of betrayal and injustice. | ? | ? |
| 4.17.9 | 1 | Λακεδαιμονίοις δὲ ἥ τε κύκλωσις τῶν Μεσσηνίων μονωθέντων ἐγένετο οὐ χαλεπὴ καὶ νίκην ἑτοιμοτάτην πασῶν καὶ ἀπονώτατα ἀνείλοντο. | When the Messenians became isolated, the encircling of them was no difficult task for the Lacedaemonians, and they gained a victory that was both exceedingly easy and without trouble of any kind. | ? | ? |
| 4.17.9 | 2 | Ἀριστομένης δὲ καὶ οἱ σὺν αὐτῷ συνέμειναν μὲν καὶ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων τοὺς μάλιστα ἐγκειμένους ἀνείργειν ἐπειρῶντο, ὀλίγοι δὲ ὄντες οὐ μεγάλα ὠφέλουν. | Aristomenes and those with him maintained their resistance and made an effort to repel the Spartans who pressed them hardest, but as they were few, their actions brought little benefit. | ? | ? |
| 4.17.9 | 3 | τῶν δὲ Μεσσηνίων τοῦ μὲν δήμου τοσοῦτον πλῆθος ἀνηλώθησαν, ὡς τὰ πρῶτα Λακεδαιμονίων δεσπότας ἀντὶ δούλων ἔσεσθαι νομίζοντας τότε μηδὲ ἐς τὴν σωτηρίαν αὐτὴν ἔτι ἔχειν ἐλπίδα· | Of the Messenians, such a great number of common people perished that those who had at first thought they might reverse their fate, becoming masters over the Lacedaemonians instead of slaves, now lost even any hope of survival itself. | ? | ? |
| 4.17.9 | 4 | ἀπέθανον δὲ καὶ τῶν πρωτευόντων ἄλλοι τε καὶ Ἀνδροκλῆς καὶ Φίντας καὶ λόγου μάλιστα ἀξίως ἀγωνισάμενος Φάνας, ὃς πρότερον τούτων ἔτι δολίχου νίκην Ὀλυμπίασιν ἦν ἀνῃρημένος. | Among the leaders who died were Androcles and Phintas, and especially Phanas, who fought with exceptional distinction and who had previously gained an Olympic victory in the long race. | ? | ? |