Pausanias, Description of Greece, W.H.S. Jones (Translator), H.A. Ormerod (Translator), 4.13

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[1]
Next, as fate was already inclining towards the conquest of the Messenians, the god revealed to them the future. For the armed statue of Artemis, which was all of bronze, let its shield fall. And as Aristodemus was about to sacrifice the victims to Zeus of Ithome , the rams of their own accord leapt towards the altar, and dashing their horns violently against it were killed by the force of the blow. A third portent befell them. The dogs assembled together and howled every night, and at last fled together to the camp of the Lacedaemonians.

[2] Aristodemus was alarmed by this and by the following dream which came to him. He thought that he was about to go forth armed to battle and the victims' entrails were lying before him on a table, when his daughter appeared, wearing a black robe and showing her breast and belly cut open; when she appeared she flung down what was on the table, stripped him of his arms, and instead set a golden crown on his head and put a white robe about him.

[3] Aristodemus, who was already in despair, thought the dream foretold the end of life for him, because the Messenians used to carry out their chiefs for burial wearing a crown and dressed in white garments. Then he received news that Ophioneus the seer could no longer see but had suddenly become blind, as he was at first. Then they understood the oracle, that by the two starting forth from the ambush and again meeting their doom the Pythia meant the eyes of Ophioneus.

[4] Then Aristodemus, reckoning up his private sorrows, that to no purpose he had become the slayer of his daughter, and seeing that no hope of safety remained for his country, slew himself upon the tomb of his child. He had done all that human calculation could do to save the Messenians, but fortune brought to naught both his achievements and his plans. He had reigned six years and a few months when he died.

[5]
The Messenians were plunged into despair, and were even ready to send to the Lacedaemonians to ask mercy, so demoralized were they by the death of Aristodemus. Their pride, however, prevented them from doing this. But they met in the assembly and chose not a king, but Damis as general with absolute power. He selected Cleonnis and Phyleus as colleagues, and even with their present resources made ready to join battle. For he was forced to this by the blockade, and above all by famine and by the consequent terror that they would be destroyed by want.

[6] Even then the Messenians were not inferior in courage and brave deeds, but all their generals were killed and their most notable men. After this they held out for some five months, but as the year was coming to an end deserted Ithome , the war having lasted twenty years in all, as is stated in the poems of Tyrtaeus:

But in the twentieth year they left their rich tilled lands, and fled from out the lofty mountains of Ithome .

Tyrtaeus, unknown location.

[7] This war came to an end in the first year of the fourteenth Olympiad,¹ when Dasmon of Corinth won the short footrace. At Athens the Medontidae were still holding the archonship as a ten years' office, Hippomenes having completed his fourth year.

Description of Greece. Pausanias. W.H.S. Jones (Translator), H.A. Ormerod (Translator). Cambridge, MA. 1918-1935.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by The Annenberg CPB/Project.

Current edition Perseus

Description of Greece (English) (Pausanias. Pausanias Description of Greece, Volumes 1-4. Jones, W.H.S. (William Henry Samuel), translator; Ormerod, Henry Arderne, translator. London, New York: W. Heinemann, G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1918-1935.)

Editions (1)

Ἑλλάδος Περιηγήσεως Perseus (Pausanias. Pausaniae Graeciae descriptio, Volumes 1-3. Spiro, Friedrich, editor. Leipzig: Teubner, 1903.) — 4.13 focus

[1]
τὰ δὲ ἐντεῦθεν—ἔρρεπε γὰρ ἤδη τὸ χρεὼν ἐς ἅλωσιν τῶν Μεσσηνίων—προεσήμαινεν αὐτοῖς τὰ μέλλοντα ὁ θεός. τό τε γὰρ τῆς Ἀρτέμιδος ἄγαλμα, ὂν χαλκοῦν καὶ αὐτὸ καὶ τὰ ὅπλα, παρῆκε τὴν ἀσπίδα· καὶ Ἀριστοδήμου τῷ Διὶ τῷ Ἰθωμάτᾳ θύειν μέλλοντος τὰ ἱερεῖα, οἱ κριοὶ ἐπὶ τὸν βωμὸν αὐτόματοι καὶ βίᾳ τὰ κέρατα ἐνράξαντες ἀποθνήσκουσιν ὑπὸ τῆς πληγῆς. τρίτον δὲ ἄλλο συνέβη σφίσιν· οἱ κύνες συνιόντες ἐς τὸ αὐτὸ ἀνὰ πᾶσαν νύκτα ὠρύοντο, τέλος δὲ καὶ ἀπεχώρησαν ἀθρόοι πρὸς τὸ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων στρατόπεδον.

[2] ταῦτά τε δὴ τὸν Ἀριστόδημον ἐτάρασσε καὶ ὀνείρατος ὄψις ἐπιγενομένη τοιάδε. ἔδοξεν ἐξιέναι οἱ μέλλοντι ἐς μάχην καὶ ὡπλισμένῳ τῶν ἱερείων τὰ σπλάγχνα ἐπὶ τραπέζῃ προκεῖσθαι, τὴν δέ οἱ θυγατέρα ἐπιφανῆναι μέλαιναν ἐσθῆτα ἔχουσαν καὶ φαίνουσαν τό τε στέρνον καὶ τὴν γαστέρα ἀνατετμημένα, ἀναφανεῖσαν δὲ ἀπορρῖψαι μὲν τὰ ἀπὸ τῆς τραπέζης, ἀφελέσθαι δὲ αὐτοῦ τὰ ὅπλα, ἀντὶ τούτων δὲ στέφανον ἐπιθεῖναι χρυσοῦν καὶ ἱμάτιον ἐπιβαλεῖν λευκόν.

[3] ἔχοντος δὲ Ἀριστοδήμου τά τε ἄλλα ἀθύμως καὶ τὸν ὄνειρον ἡγουμένου προλέγειν οἱ τοῦ βίου τελευτήν, ὅτι οἱ Μεσσήνιοι τῶν ἐπιφανῶν τὰς ἐκφορὰς ἐποιοῦντο ἐστεφανωμένων καὶ ἱμάτια ἐπιβεβλημένων λευκά, ἀπαγγέλλει τις Ὀφιονέα τὸν μάντιν οὐχ ὁρᾶν ἔτι ἀλλʼ
ἐξαίφνης γενέσθαι τυφλόν, ὥσπερ γε καὶ ἦν τὸ ἐξ ἀρχῆς. συνιᾶσι δὴ καὶ τοῦ χρησμοῦ τότε, ὡς τοὺς ἀναδύντας δύο ἐκ τοῦ λόχου καὶ ἐς τὸ χρεὼν αὖθις ἐλθόντας τοῦ Ὀφιονέως τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς εἶπεν ἡ Πυθία.

[4] ἐνταῦθα Ἀριστόδημος τά τε οἰκεῖα ἀναλογιζόμενος, ὡς οὐδὲν ὠφέλιμον γένοιτο φονεὺς θυγατρός, καὶ τῇ πατρίδι οὐχ ὁρῶν ἔτι ὑποῦσαν σωτηρίας ἐλπίδα, ἐπικατέσφαξεν ἑαυτὸν τῆς παιδὸς τῷ τάφῳ, τὰ μὲν ἐς ἀνθρώπου λογισμὸν ἥκοντα Μεσσηνίους σώσας, τῆς τύχης δὲ ἐς τὸ μηδὲν ἀγαγούσης τά τε ἔργα αὐτοῦ καὶ τὰ βουλεύματα. ἀπέθανε δὲ βασιλεύσας ἔτη τε ἓξ καὶ ἐκ τοῦ ἑβδόμου μῆνας ἐπιλαβὼν οὐ πολλούς.

[5]
τοῖς δὲ Μεσσηνίοις ἀπεγνωκέναι τὰ πράγματα παρίστατο, ὥστε καὶ ὥρμησαν ἱκεσίαν ἐς τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους ἀποστέλλειν· οὕτω σφόδρα κατέπληξεν αὐτοὺς ἡ τοῦ Ἀριστοδήμου τελευτή. καὶ τοῦτο μὲν ὁ θυμὸς ἐπέσχεν αὐτοὺς μὴ ποιῆσαι· συλλεγέντες δὲ ἐς ἐκκλησίαν βασιλέα μὲν οὐδένα, Δᾶμιν δὲ στρατηγὸν αὐτοκράτορα εἵλοντο. ὁ δὲ Κλέοννίν τε αὑτῷ καὶ Φυλέα ἑλόμενος συνάρχοντας παρεσκευάζετο ὡς καὶ ἐκ τῶν παρόντων συνάψων ἐς μάχην· ἐπηνάγκαζε γὰρ ἥ τε πολιορκία καὶ οὐχ ἥκιστα ὁ λιμὸς καὶ ἀπʼ αὐτοῦ δέος, μὴ καὶ προδιαφθαρῶσιν ὑπὸ ἐνδείας.

[6] ἀρετῇ μὲν δὴ καὶ τολμήμασιν οὐδὲ τότε ἀπεδέησε τὰ τῶν Μεσσηνίων· ἀπέθανον δὲ οἵ τε στρατηγοί σφισιν ἅπαντες καὶ τῶν ἄλλων οἱ λόγου μάλιστα ἄξιοι. τὸ δὲ ἀπὸ τούτου μῆνας μέν που πέντε μάλιστα ἀντέσχον, περὶ δὲ τὸν ἐνιαυτὸν λήγοντα ἐξέλιπον τὴν Ἰθώμην,
πολεμήσαντες ἔτη τὰ πάντα εἴκοσι, καθὰ καὶ Τυρταίῳ πεποιημένα ἐστίν·

εἰκοστῷ δʼ οἱ μὲν κατὰ πίονα ἔργα λιπόντες

φεῦγον Ἰθωμαίων ἐκ μεγάλων ὀρέων.

Tyrtaeus, unknown location.

[7] ὁ δὲ πόλεμος ἔλαβεν οὗτος τέλος ἔτει πρώτῳ τῆς τετάρτης καὶ δεκάτης Ὀλυμπιάδος, ἣν Δάσμων Κορίνθιος ἐνίκα στάδιον, Ἀθήνῃσι Μεδοντιδῶν τὴν ἀρχὴν ἔτι ἐχόντων τὴν δεκέτιν καὶ ἔτους Ἱππομένει τετάρτου τῆς ἀρχῆς ἠνυσμένου.

Translations (1)

English (Jones and Ormerod; retranslated Gregory Nagy, CHS, 2018) (OCR draft) Experimental (CHS Pausanias Reader retranslation by Gregory Nagy, based on Jones and Ormerod, with marked Greek terms, notes, quotations, and bibliographic attributions preserved.) — 4.13 focus

[1] Next, as fate was already inclining towards the conquest of the Messenians, the god revealed to them the future. For the armed statue of Artemis, which was all of bronze, let its shield fall. And as Aristodemos was about to sacrifice the victims to Zeus of Ithome, the rams of their own accord leapt towards the altar, and dashing their horns violently against it were killed by the force of the blow. A third portent befell them. The dogs assembled together and howled every night, and at last fled together to the camp of the Lacedaemonians.

[2] Aristodemos was alarmed by this and by the following dream which came to him. He thought that he was about to go forth armed to battle and the victims’ entrails were lying before him on a table, when his daughter appeared, wearing a black robe and showing her breast and belly cut open; when she appeared she flung down what was on the table, stripped him of his arms, and instead set a golden garland on his head and put a white robe about him.

[3] Aristodemos, who was already in despair, thought the dream foretold the end of life for him, because the Messenians used to carry out their chiefs for burial wearing a garland and dressed in white garments. Then he received news that Ophioneus the seer could no longer see but had suddenly become blind, as he was at first. Then they understood the oracle, that by the two starting forth from the ambush and again meeting their doom the Pythia meant the eyes of Ophioneus.

[4] Then Aristodemos, reckoning up his private sorrows, that to no purpose he had become the slayer of his daughter, and seeing that no hope of safety remained for his country, slew himself upon the tomb of his child. He had done all that human calculation could do to save the Messenians, but fortune brought to naught both his achievements and his plans. He had reigned six years and a few months when he died.

[5] The Messenians were plunged into despair, and were even ready to send to the Lacedaemonians to ask mercy, so demoralized were they by the death of Aristodemos. Their pride, however, prevented them from doing this. But they met in the assembly and chose not a king, but Damis as general with absolute power. He selected Kleonnis and Phyleus as colleagues, and even with their present resources made ready to join battle. For he was forced to this by the blockade, and above all by famine and by the consequent terror that they would be destroyed by want.

[6] Even then the Messenians were not inferior in courage and brave deeds, but all their generals were killed and their most notable men. After this they held out for some five months, but as the year was coming to an end deserted Ithome, the war having lasted twenty years in all, as is stated in the poems of Tyrtaeus:

“But in the twentieth year they left their rich tilled lands, and fled from out the lofty mountains of Ithome.”

Tyrtaeus, unknown location.

[7] This war came to an end in the first year of the fourteenth Olympiad, when Dasmon of Corinth won the short foot-race. In Athens the Medontidai were still holding the title of archon [ arkhōn] as a ten years’ office, Hippomenes having completed his fourth year.

Notes on the current edition

Description of Greece

1. B.C. 724.

New Alexandria Commentaries

Gregory Nagy, Editors: Angelia Hanhardt and Keith DeStone, Web producer: Noel Spencer, Consultant for images: Jill Curry Robbins, \[\[Noel gives this a separate URN\]\]

Pausanias Description of Greece 4.13

W.H.S. Jones (Translator), H.A. Ormerod (Translator)

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