Pausanias Analysis

Passage 8.52.1

← 8.51.8 8.52.2 →

Passage 8.52.1: Miltiades as Greece's first national benefactor; Philopoemen the last.

Historical Non-skeptical

Greek Text

καὶ ἤδη τὸ μετὰ τοῦτο ἐς ἀνδρῶν ἀγαθῶν φορὰν ἔληξεν ἡ Ἑλλάς. Μιλτιάδης μὲν γὰρ ὁ Κίμωνος τούς τε ἐς Μαραθῶνα ἀποβάντας τῶν βαρβάρων κρατήσας μάχῃ καὶ τοῦ πρόσω τὸν Μήδων ἐπισχὼν στόλον ἐγένετο εὐεργέτης πρῶτος κοινῇ τῆς Ἑλλάδος, Φιλοποίμην δὲ ὁ Κραύγιδος ἔσχατος· οἱ δὲ πρότερον Μιλτιάδου λαμπρὰ ἔργα ἀποδειξάμενοι, Κόδρος τε ὁ Μελάνθου καὶ ὁ Σπαρτιάτης Πολύδωρος καὶ Ἀριστομένης ὁ Μεσσήνιος καὶ εἰ δή τις ἄλλος, πατρίδας ἕκαστοι τὰς αὑτῶν καὶ οὐκ ἀθρόαν φανοῦνται τὴν Ἑλλάδα ὠφελήσαντες.

English Translation

After this time Greece ceased to produce successive generations of truly noble men. For Miltiades, son of Cimon, who conquered in battle the barbarians that had landed at Marathon and thus held back from advancing farther the expedition of the Medes, was the first man who served as a benefactor to Greece as a whole, while Philopoemen, son of Kraugis, was the last. Others before Miltiades—such as Codrus, son of Melanthus, and the Spartan Polydorus, and Aristomenes of Messenia and perhaps a few more—each individually achieved distinguished deeds, but they benefited their own native cities and did not in any united way benefit Greece collectively.

Proper Nouns

Messenian (Μεσσήνιος) other
Also in: 4.6.1 6.7.3 7.23.7
Medes (Μῆδοι) other Q8735
Spartan (Σπαρτιάτης) other Q369194
Aristomenes (Ἀριστομένης) person Q1258025
Cimon (Κίμων) person Q218102
Codrus (Κόδρος) person Q1750072
Kraugis (Κραύγις) person Q88466293
Melanthus (Μελάνθης) person Q5655448
Miltiades (Μιλτιάδης) person Q210350
Polydorus (Πολύδωρος) person
Philopoemen (Φιλοποίμην) person Q366117
Hellas (Ἑλλάς) place Q7798
Marathon (Μαραθών) place Q212150 Pleiades
← 8.51.8 8.52.2 →