Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War 3.68

[1] Thus spake the Thebans. And the Lacedaemonian judges, conceiving their interrogatory to stand well, namely, whether they had received any benefit by them or not in this present war, for they had indeed intreated them both at other times, according to the ancient league of Pausanias after the Medan war, to stand neutral, and also a little before the siege the Plataeans had rejected their proposition of being common friends to both sides according to the same league, taking themselves, in respect of these their just offers, to be now discharged of the league and to have received evil at their hands, caused them one by one to be brought forth and, having asked them again the same question, whether they had any way benefited the Lacedaemonians and their confederates in this present war or not, as they answered not led them aside and slew them, not exempting any.

[2] Of the Plataeans themselves they slew no less than two hundred; of the Athenians who were besieged with them, twenty-five.

[3] The women they made slaves; and the Thebans assigned the city for a year, or thereabouts, for a habitation to such Megareans as in sedition had been driven from their own and to all those Plataeans which, living, were of the Theban faction. But afterwards, pulling it all down to the very foundation, they built a hospital in the place near the temple of Juno of two hundred foot diameter with chambers on every side in circle both above and below, using therein the roofs and doors of the Plataeans' buildings. And of the rest of the stuff that was in the city wall, as brass and iron, they made bedsteads and dedicated them to Juno, to whom also they built a stone chapel of a hundred foot over.

[4] The land they confiscated and set it to farm afterwards for ten years to the Thebans. So far were the Lacedaemonians alienated from the Plataeans, especially, or rather altogether, for the Thebans' sake, whom they thought useful to them in the war now on foot.

[5] So ended the business at Plataea in the fourscore and thirteenth year after their league made with the Athenians.

[1] Such were the words of the Thebans. The Lacedaemonian judges decided that the question, whether they had received any service from the Plataeans in the war, was a fair one for them to put; as they had always invited them to be neutral, agreeably to the original covenant of Pausanias after the defeat of the Mede , and had again definitely offered them the same conditions before the blockade. This offer having been refused, they were now, they conceived, by the loyalty of their intention released from their covenant; and having, as they considered, suffered evil at the hands of the Plataeans, they brought them in again one by one and asked each of them the same question, that is to say, whether they had done the Lacedaemonians and allies any service in the war; and upon their saying that they had not, took them out and slew them all without exception.

[2] The number of Plataeans thus massacred was not less than two hundred, with twenty-five Athenians who had shared in the siege. The women were taken as slaves.

[3] The city the Thebans gave for about a year to some political emigrants from Megara , and to the surviving Plataeans of their own party to inhabit, and afterwards razed it to the ground from the very foundations, and built on to the precinct of Hera an inn two hundred feet square, with rooms all round above and below, making use for this purpose of the roofs and doors of the Plataeans: of the rest of the materials in the wall, the brass and the iron, they made couches which they dedicated to Hera, for whom they also built a stone chapel of a hundred feet square. The land they confiscated and let out on a ten-years' lease to Theban occupiers.

[4] The adverse attitude of the Lacedaemonians—in the whole Plataean affair was mainly adopted to please the Thebans, who were thought to be useful in the war at that moment raging.

[5] Such was the end of Plataea in the ninety-third year after she became the ally of Athens .

So redeten die Thebaner. Die Lakedämonier aber als
Richter glaubten, sie hätten die Frage bereits richtig gestellt, ob sie nämlich
während der Dauer dieses Krieges irgend einen Dienst von jenen
erfahren hätten — weil sie nämlich schon in der Zeit vor diesem Kriege
das Ersuchen an sie gestellt hätten, sich gemäß dem Bunde, den
Pausanias nach der Besiegung der Meder mit ihnen geschlossen hatte, ruhig
zu verhalten, und weil jene auch später die Anträge, die ihnen vor der
Einschließung ihrer Stadt gemacht wurden, nämlich sich jenem Bunde
gemäß neutral zu verhalten, nicht angenommen hätten. Demnahc
glaubten die Lakedämonier, daß jene wegen Nichterfüllung dieser
gere chten Forderung schon nicht mehr als Verbündete zu betrachten seien
und überdies; ihnen bereits Schaden zugefügt hätten. Sie ließen also
jeden einzeln vorführen und fragten ihn nochmals, ob er den
Lakedämoniern und ihren Bundesgenossen während dieses Krieges irgend
einen Dienst erwiesen habe, und wie er dieß verneinte, wurde er
abseits geführt und hingerichtet. Verschont aber wurde nicht Einer.
So starben von den Platäern selbst nicht weniger als zweihundert und
dazu sünsuudzwanzig Athener, welche die Belagerung mit ausgehalten
hatten; die Weiber verkauften sie als Sklavinnen. Die Stadt selbst
gaben die Thebaner ungefähr ein Jahr lang Bürgern von Megara-^)
zu bewohnen, die in Folge innerer Zwiste waren ausgetrieben worden,
wie auch denjenigen Platäern, die zu ihrer Partei gehalten und noch
am Leben waren. Später aber machten sie die ganze Stadt dem
Boden gleich und bauten neben dem Tempel der Hera eine Her- ^{1 2}
berge von zweihundert Fuß Länge, rings herum und unten und oben ³
mit Gemächern, und verwendeten dazu die Dächer und Thürpfosten
der Platäer. Von dem Uebrigen, was sich an Erz und Eisen in der
Stadt fand, machten sie Ruhebetten und weihten sie der Hera und
bauten dieser auch einen steinernen Tempel von hundert Fuß Länge.
Grund und Boden erklärten sie für Gemeindeland und verpachteten es
auf zehn Jahre, wovon der Nutzen den Thebanern zufiel. Wie denn
wohl auch überhaupt der Thebaner wegen sich die Lakedämonier so hart
gegen die Platäer gezeigt haben, weil sie glaubten, jene würden ihnen
in dem gegenwärtigen Kriege von Nutzen sein. Dieß Ende nahm es
mit Platäa im drei und neunzigsten Jahre, seitdem sie
Bundesgenossen der Athener geworden waren (519 v. Chr. G.)>

LXVIII. Ainsi parlèrent les Thébains. Les juges lacédémoniens crurent que le mieux pour eux était de s’en tenir à la question proposée : « Si les Platéens leur avaient rendu quelque service pendant la guerre. » En effet, ils les avaient engagés primitivement à rester en repos, conformément au traité conclu avec Pausanias, après l’invasion des Mèdes ; puis, avant l’investissement de la place, ils leur avaient proposé de rester neutres, d’après les stipulations du même traité, ce qui n’avait pas été accepté : ils pensaient donc que les Platéens, en rompant le traité, s’étaient, de propos délibéré, exposés au mal qu’on leur avait fait. Ils les firent venir, et demandèrent de nouveau à chacun d’eux : « si, dans le cours de la guerre, ils avaient fait quelque bien aux Lacédémoniens et à leurs alliés. » Sur leur réponse négative, ils étaient emmenés et mis à mort. Personne ne fut excepté. Il n’y eut pas moins de deux cents Platéens égorgés ; vingt-cinq Athéniens, assiégés avec eux, subirent le même sort ; les femmes furent réduites en servitude.

Quant à la ville, les Thébains la donnèrent à habiter, pendant un an environ, à des Mégariens chassés de leur patrie par une sédition, et à ceux des Platéens leurs partisans qui avaient survécu ; mais ensuite ils la rasèrent tout entière jusqu’aux fondements. Avec les matériaux, ils élevèrent, près du temple de Junon, une hôtellerie de deux cents pieds de long, ayant tout autour des appartements hauts et bas. Ils firent entrer dans cette construction les toits et les portes des mai- sons de Platée ; ils employèrent le fer et l’airain à des lits qui furent consacrés à Junon, et bâtirent en l’honneur de cette déesse un temple de pierre de cent pieds. Les terres furent confisquées et affermées pour dix ans au profit des Thébains.

Si les Lacédémoniens traitèrent les Platéens avec une telle rigueur, ce fut en quelque sorte, ou plutôt ce fut uniquement pour complaire aux Thébains, dont ils croyaient avoir besoin dans la guerre qui venait alors de commencer.

Ainsi périt Platée, quatre-vingt-treize ans après être entrée dans l’alliance d’Athènes.

Ainsi parlèrent les Thébains. Les juges lacédémo-niens décidèrent qu’on s’en tiendrait à la question de savoir si, dans le cours de la guerre, les Platéens leur avaient rendu quelque service. A leur avis, pour se conformer à l’ancien traité conclu par Pausanias après la défaite des Mèdes, ils auraient dû rester en repos avant la guerre, et plus tard accepter la proposition de demeurer neutres aux termes du même traite; ce à quoi ils n’avaient pas voulu consentir. Ils pensaient que les Platéens, en repoussant leurs justes exigences, s'étaient mis en dehors des traités et s’étaient attiré leur infortune. Es les firent donc comparaître l’un après l’autre et leur demandèrent si, dans le cours de la guerre actuelle, ils avaient rendu quelque service aux Lacédémoniens et à leurs alliés. Sur leur réponse négative, on les emmenait à la mort. Il n’y en eut aucun d'excepté. On égorgea de la sorte non moins de deux cents Platéens, outre vingt-cinq Athéniens qui avaient soutenu le siège avec eux. Les femmes furent réduites en esclavage.

Quant à la ville, les Thébains la donnèreüt à habiter pour une année à des Mégariens exilés pour cause de sédition ¹ et à ceux des Platéens qui s’étaient déclarés pour eux et n’avaient pas été enveloppés dans la ruine de leur patrie. Plus tard ils rasèrent complètement Platée. Avec les matériaux, ils construisirent près du temple de Junon un hospice de deux cents pieds en long et en large, avec deux étages de logements ² . Ils employèrent à cette construction la charpente et les portes des maisons de Platée. Les ustensiles d'airain et de fer trouvés dans la ville servirent à faire des lits consacrés à Junon. Un temple de marbre, large de cent pieds, fut aussi élevé en l’honneur de cette déesse. Les terres furent confisquées et affermées pour dix ans au profit des Thébains.

Le motif principal, pour ne pas dire Tunique, du peu de sympathie que les Lacédémoniens témoignèrent pour Platée, fut le désir de complaire aux Thébains, dont ils croyaient avoir besoin pour la guerre commencée récemment.

Ainsi périt Platée, quatre-vingt-treize ans après qu’elle était entrée dans l'alliance d’Athènes ³ .

[1] Such was the speech of the Thebans. And the Lacedaemonian judges decided that their question, whether they had received any benefit from the Plataeans in the war, would be a fair one for them to put; for they had at all other times urged them, they claimed, to maintain neutrality in accordance with the old covenant which they had made with Pausanias after the Persian defeat; and when afterwards, before the investment of Plataea was undertaken, their proposal to the Plataeans that they remain neutral in accordance with the earlier agreement had not been accepted, ¹ they thought themselves thenceforth released from all obligations of the treaty because their own intentions had been honourable, and considered that they had been wronged by the Plataeans. So they caused them to come forward again, one at a time, and asked them the same question, whether they had rendered any good service to the Lacedaemonians and their allies in the war, and when they said “no” they led them off and slew them, exempting no one.

[2] The number of the Plataeans that perished was not less than two hundred, and of the Athenians who had taken part in the siege twenty-five;

[3] and the women were sold as slaves. As for the city itself, they gave occupation of it for about a year to some men of Megara who had been driven out in consequence of a sedition, and also to such of the surviving Plataeans as favoured the Lacedaemonian cause. Afterwards, however, they razed it entirely ² to the ground, and built, in the neighbourhood of the sanctuary of Hera, an inn two hundred feet square, with rooms all around, above and below, using for this purpose the roofs and doors of the Plataeans; and with the rest of the material inside the walls, articles of copper and iron, they fashioned couches, which they dedicated to Hera; and they also built for her a stone temple one hundred feet long.

[4] But the land they confiscated and leased for ten years, and the Thebans occupied it. Indeed it was almost wholly for the sake of the Thebans that the Lacedaemonians in all their dealings with the Plataeans showed themselves so thoroughly hostile to them, thinking that the Thebans would be serviceable in the war then just beginning.

[5] Such was the fate of Plataea, in the ninety-third year after they became allies of Athens. ³

[1] To this effect then spoke the Thebans. The Lacedaemonian judges, thinking that the question, would be a fair one for them to put, because they had all along requested them, as they said, to remain quiet according to the original covenant of Pausanias, after the [retreat of the] Mede; and when afterwards they made to them the proposal which they did before they were besieged—to be neutral, according to the terms of that compact—in consequence of their not receiving it, they considered that on the strength of their own just wish they were now released from covenant with them, and had received evil at their hands. Accordingly, bringing each of them forward, and asking the same question, when they said they had not, they led them away and killed them, not excepting one.

[2] Of the Plataeans themselves they slew not less than two hundred, and of the Athenians twenty-five, who were besieged with them;

[3] the women they sold as slaves. As for the city, the Thebans gave it for about a year to some of the Megareans to inhabit, who had been banished by party influence, and to such of the Plataeans on their own side as still survived. Afterwards they razed the whole of it to the ground, from the very foundations, and built to the sacred precinct of Juno an inn two hundred feet square, with rooms all round, above and below, making use of the roofs and doors of the Plataeans; and with the rest of the furniture, in brass and iron, that was ¹ within the wall, they made couches and dedicated them to Juno, building also in her honour a stone chapel of one hundred feet square. The land they confiscated, and let out for ten years, its occupiers being Thebans.

[4] And nearly throughout the whole business it was on account of the Thebans that the Lacedaemonians were so averse to the Plataeans; for they considered them to be of service for the war which had then but recently broken out.

[5] Such then was the end of Plataea, in the ninety-third year after they became allies of the Athenians.

[1] Atque Thebani quidem haec dixerunt. Lacedaemonii vero judices, existimantes suam interrogationem sibi recte processuram, num beneficium aliquod ab ipsis iu hoc bello accepissent, quoniam et superiori tempore eos rogaverant, ut ex veteri Pausaniae post bellum Medicum fcedere quiescerent, atque etiam conditiones, quas postea, antequam circumvallarentur, iis obtulerant, ut videlicet ex illius foederis formula communes essent, accipere noluerant, rati, se propter sua justa postulata ab illis neglecta jam ut foedere solutos ab illis violatos, singulos eorum productos, et eodem modo rursus interrogatos, num aliquo beneficio Lacedaemonios eorumque socios in hoc bello affecissent, quotiens negarent, illinc abductos interficiebant, et nullum exemerunt.

[2] Necarunt autem ipsorum quidem Plataeensium non pauciores ducentis, Atheniensium vero viginti et quinque, qui una pbsessi erant; foeminas autem in servitutem abduxerunt.

[3] Urbem vero Thebani Megarensibus quibusdam, qui propter seditionem domo profugerant, et Plataeensibus, qui supererant, quique secum son-serant, per annum circiter dederunt incolendam; postea vero quum eam totam funditus evertissent, prope Junonis templum exstruxerunt deversorium quoquoversus ducenum pedum, domiciliis infra supraque circumdatum, et tectis et januis ipsis Plataeensium usi eunt et e reliqua supellectile, quae in moenibus erat, aenea et ferrea, lectos construxerunt, quos Junoni consecrarunt, templumque lapideum centum pedum eidem aedificarunt. Agrum vero publicatum et ad decem annop locatum Thebani colebant.

[4] Propemodum autein vel per omnia in Plataeensium rebus Lacedaemonii ita fuerunt aversi Thebanorum gratia, quod ipsos in bello, quod tum modo oriebatur, sibi utiles fore putarent.

[5] lies igitur, quae ad Plataeam gestae sunt, nonagesimo tertio anno a societate cum Atheniensibus inita hunc exitum habuerunt.

[1] So biete ich denn, obschon ich, wie anfangs gesagt, den mächtigsten Staat vertrete, der eher zum Angriff als zur Abwehr berufen erscheint, in Erwägung der Folgen die Hand zum Nachgeben. Warum auch in thörichter Rachsucht sich selber den grössten Schaden zufügen oder in der Verblendung der Leidenschaft hinsichtlich des Schicksals, dem man nicht gebieten kann, sich ebenso als eigenen Herren dünken, wie in seinen eigenen Entschliessungen, und nicht lieber der Billigkeit sich fügen? Folget nun auch ihr meinem Beispiel, eh' ihr euch dazu vor dem Feinde, nicht mehr vor Landsleuten bequemen müsst. Denn das ist keine Schande, dem eigenen Volksgenossen sich zu fügen, nicht blos der Dorier dem Dorier, oder der Chalcidenser seinem Stammverwandten, sondern wir alle als Nachbarn, als Bewohner der einen, von der Natur umgrenzten Heimat, als Träger des gemeinsamen Namens Sikelioten. Unsere Kriege, wenn es sein soll, müssen wir fortan für uns allein führen, oder auch sie beilegen, wie es uns gemeinsam recht dünkt, wider den Fremdling aber, wenn er kommt, in vernünftiger Eintracht zusammenhalten, so gewiss die Niederlage der Einzelnen dem Ganzen Gefahr bringt; Bundesgenossen aber oder Schiedsrichter sollen nie mehr ins Land gerufen werden. Bei diesem Verfahren werden wir für jetzt Sicilien der frohen Aussicht nicht berauben, der Athener und des Bürgerkrieges mit einemmale los zu werden, und in Zukunft in unabhängiger Freiheit und vom Ausland weniger behelligt darin wohnen.

Di tanta forza fu l' arringa de’ Tebani. Ma i giudici lacedemoni avvisavano che in quella domanda , — se durante questa guerra avessero ricevuto alcun bene dai Mitelenei — troverebbero il loro vantaggio : sì perchè avevano in altro tempo fatto loro quella si speciosa richiesta di starsene tranquilli, conforme gli accordi stabiliti amicamente con Pausania dopo la ritirata del Medo ; sì perchè anche posteriormente, prima di cingerli di mura, li avevano confortati ad esser neutrali. E siccome i Plateesi non vi aderirono, i giudici spartani, per un giusto sentimento tutto loro proprio, credendosi offesi e non più con essi in alleanza , li fecero citare ad uno ad uno, domandando loro — se avessero nel corso della guerra felto nulla di bene agli Spartani e agli alleati —: qualora dicessero di no , li menavano a morte senza averne eccettuato veruno. De’ Plateesi ne uccisero non meno di dugento ; degli Ateniesi, che vi erano insieme con loro assediati, venticinque; e fecero schiave le donne. ITebani poi concessero per circa un anno la città ad abitare a quei di Megara, che a causa della sedizione ne erano banditi ; ed a quei Plateesi loro partigiani che erano restati vivi. Ma poi demolironla ed agguagliaronla al suolo, e fabbricarono accanto al tempio di Giunone un albergo di dugento piedi per ogni lato , che aveva in giro due ordini di piani, e v' impiegarono i tetti e le imposte de’ Plateesi, Con le altre suppellettili in bronzo e ferro, che erano dentro le mura , fabbricarono de’ letti che consacrarono a Giunone, a cui pure edificarono di pietra un tempio di cento piedi Pubblicato poscia il terreno, lo allogarono per dieci anni, ed i Tebani lo coltivavano. Forse , anzi certamente si erano i Lacedemoni così alienati dai Plateesi per amor dd Tebani, credendoli utili a sè rispetto alla guerra allora allora incominciata. Così finirono le cose de’Plateesi l’anno novantesimoterzo da che avevano stretto lega con gli Ateniesi.