Passage 4.6.1
πρὶν δὲ ἢ συγγράφειν με τὸν πόλεμον καὶ ὁπόσα πολεμοῦσιν ἑκατέροις ὁ δαίμων παθεῖν ἢ δρᾶσαι παρεσκεύασε, διακρῖναί τι καὶ ἡλικίας ἔργα πέρι ἠθέλησα ἀνδρὸς Μεσσηνίου. τὸν γὰρ πόλεμον τοῦτον γενόμενον μὲν Λακεδαιμονίων καὶ τῶν συμμάχων πρὸς Μεσσηνίους καὶ τοὺς ἐπικούρους, ὀνομασθέντα δὲ οὐκ ἀπὸ τῶν ἐπιστρατευσάντων ὥσπερ γε ὁ Μηδικὸς καὶ ὁ Πελοποννήσιος, Μεσσήνιον δὲ ἀπὸ τῶν συμφορῶν, καθὰ δὴ καὶ τὸν ἐπὶ Ἰλίῳ κληθῆναι Τρωικὸν καὶ οὐχ Ἑλληνικὸν ἐξενίκησεν, τοῦτον γὰρ τῶν Μεσσηνίων τὸν πόλεμον Ῥιανός τε ἐν τοῖς ἔπεσιν ἐποίησεν ὁ Βηναῖος καὶ ὁ Πριηνεὺς Μύρων· λόγοι δὲ πεζοὶ Μύρωνός ἐστιν ἡ συγγραφή.
Before writing my account of the war and of all that destiny caused each side to suffer or to achieve in its course, I wished to make clear one matter concerning the historical context, and particularly the achievements of the man of Messene. For this war was fought by the Lacedaemonians and their allies against the Messenians and their supporters; yet it was not named after its aggressors, as were the Persian and Peloponnesian wars, but instead after the misfortunes of the defeated people, thus called Messenian—just as the war at Ilium earned the name "Trojan" from the sufferers rather than "Greek" from the attackers. Regarding this war of the Messenians, Rhianus of Bene composed an epic poem, as did Myron of Priene; and there also exists a prose account of this war by Myron.