Pausanias, Description of Greece, W.H.S. Jones (Translator), H.A. Ormerod (Translator), 4.5

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[1]
The Lacedaemonians say that they went to war because Polychares was not surrendered to them, and on account of the murder of Teleclus; even before this they had been suspicious on account of the wrongdoing of Cresphontes in the matter of the lot. The Messenians make the reply that I have already given with regard to Teleclus, and point to the fact that the sons of Aristodemus helped to restore Aepytus the son of Cresphontes, which they would never have done if they had been at variance with Cresphontes.

[2] They say that they did not surrender Polychares to the Lacedaemonians for punishment because they also had not surrendered Euaephnus, but that they offered to stand trial at the meeting of the league before the Argives, kinsmen of both parties, and to submit the matter to the court at Athens called the Areopagus, as this court was held to exercise an ancient jurisdiction in cases pertaining to murder.

[3] They say that these were not the reasons of the Lacedaemonians in going to war, but that they had formed designs on their country through covetousness, as in others of their actions, bringing forward against them their treatment of the Arcadians and of the Argives; for in both cases they have never been satisfied with their continual encroachments. When Croesus sent them presents they were the first to become friends with the barbarian, after he had reduced the other Greeks of Asia Minor and all the Dorians who live on the Carian mainland.

[4] They point out too that when the Phocian leaders had seized the temple at Delphi , the kings and every Spartan of repute privately, and the board of ephors and senate publicly, had a share of the god's property. As the most convincing proof that the Lacedaemonians would stick at nothing for the sake of gain, they reproach them with their alliance with Apollodorus, who became tyrant in Cassandreia.

[5] I could not introduce into the present account the reasons why the Messenians have come to regard this as so bitter a reproach. Although the courage of the Messenians and the length of time for which they fought differ from the facts of the tyranny of Apollodorus, in their disastrous character the sufferings of the people of Cassandreia would not fall far short of the Messenian.

[6]
These then are the reasons for the war which the two sides allege. An embassy then came from the Lacedaemonians to demand the surrender of Polychares. The Messenian kings replied to the ambassadors that after deliberation with the people they would send the findings to Sparta and after their departure they themselves summoned the citizens to a meeting. The views put forward differed widely, Androcles urging the surrender of Polychares as guilty of an impious and abominable crime. Antiochus among other arguments urged against him that it would be the most piteous thing that Polychares should suffer before the eyes of Euaephnus, and enumerated in detail all that he would have to undergo.

[7] Finally the supporters of Androcles and of Antiochus were so carried away that they took up arms. But the battle did not last long, for the party of Antiochus, far outnumbering the other, killed Androcles and his principal supporters, Antiochus, now sole king, sent to Sparta that he was ready to submit the matter to the courts which I have already mentioned. But the Lacedaemonians are said to have made no reply to the bearers of the letter.

[8]
Not many months later Antiochus died and his son Euphaes succeeded to the kingdom. The Lacedaemonians, without sending a herald to declare war on the Messenians or renouncing their friendship beforehand, had made their preparations secretly and with all the concealment possible; they first took an oath that neither the length of the war, should it not be decided soon, nor their disasters, however great they might be, would deter them until they won the land of Messenia by the sword.

[9] After taking this oath, they attacked Ampheia by night, appointing Alcamenes the son of Teleclus leader of the force. Ampheia is a small town in Messenia near the Laconian border, of no great size, but situated on a high hill and possessing copious springs of water. It seemed generally a suitable base for the whole war. The gates being open and the town not garrisoned, they took it and killed the Messenians captured there, some still in their beds and others who had taken refuge at the sanctuaries and altars of the gods when they realized what had happened. Those who escaped were few.

[10] This was the first attack which the Lacedaemonians made on the Messenians, in the second year of the ninth Olympiad,¹ when Xenodocus of Messenia won the short foot-race. In Athens there were not as yet the archons appointed annually by lot for at first the people deprived the descendants of Melanthus, called Medontidae, of most of their power, transforming the kingship into a constitutional office; afterwards they limited their tenure of office to ten years. At the time of the seizure of Ampheia, Aesimides the son of Aeschylus was holding his fifth year office at Athens .

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

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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.) — 4.5 focus

[1]
Λακεδαιμόνιοι μὲν δὴ Πολυχάρους τε ἕνεκα οὐκ ἐκδοθέντος σφίσι καὶ διὰ τὸν Τηλέκλου φόνον, καὶ πρότερον ἔτι ὑπόπτως ἔχοντες διὰ τὸ Κρεσφόντου κακούργημα ἐς τὸν κλῆρον, πολεμῆσαι λέγουσι· Μεσσήνιοι δὲ περὶ Τηλέκλου ἀντιλέγουσι τὰ εἰρημένα ἤδη μοι καὶ Αἴπυτον τὸν Κρεσφόντου συγκαταχθέντα ἀποφαίνουσιν ὑπὸ Ἀριστοδήμου τῶν παίδων, ὃ μήποτʼ ἂν ποιῆσαι σφᾶς Κρεσφόντῃ γε ὄντας διαφόρους.

[2] Πολυχάρην δὲ ἐκδοῦναι μὲν ἐπὶ τιμωρίᾳ Λακεδαιμονίοις οὔ φασιν, ὅτι μηδὲ ἐκεῖνοι σφίσιν Εὔαιφνον, ἐθέλειν μέντοι παρὰ Ἀργείοις συγγενέσιν οὖσιν ἀμφοτέρων ἐν Ἀμφικτυονίᾳ διδόναι δίκας, ἐπιτρέπειν δὲ καὶ τῷ Ἀθήνῃσι δικαστηρίῳ, καλουμένῳ δὲ Ἀρείῳ πάγῳ, ὅτι δίκας τὰς φονικὰς τὸ δικαστήριον τοῦτο ἐδόκει δικάζειν ἐκ παλαιοῦ.

[3] Λακεδαιμονίους δὲ οὐ διὰ ταῦτα πολεμῆσαί φασιν, ὑπὸ πλεονεξίας δὲ τῇ σφετέρᾳ τε ἐπιβουλεῦσαι καὶ ἄλλα ἐργάσασθαι, προφέροντες μέν σφισι τὰ Ἀρκάδων, προφέροντες δὲ καὶ τὰ Ἀργείων, ὡς οὔποτε ἐσχήκασι κόρον ἀποτεμνόμενοι τῆς χώρας αἰεί τι ἑκατέρων· Κροίσῳ τε αὐτοῖς δῶρα ἀποστείλαντι γενέσθαι φίλους βαρβάρῳ πρώτους, ἀφʼ οὗ γε τούς τε ἄλλους 0 τοὺς ἐν τῇ Ἀσίᾳ κατεδουλώσατο Ἕλληνας καὶ ὅσοι Δωριεῖς ἐν τῇ Καρικῇ κατοικοῦσιν ἠπείρῳ.

[4] ἀποφαίνουσι δὲ καὶ ἡνίκα οἱ Φωκέων δυνάσται τὸ ἱερὸν τὸ ἐν Δελφοῖς κατειλήφασιν, ἰδίᾳ τε κατὰ ἄνδρα τοὺς βασιλεύοντας ἐν Σπάρτῃ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τοὺς ἐπʼ ἀξιώματος καὶ κοινῇ τῶν τε ἐφόρων τὴν ἀρχὴν καὶ τὴν γερουσίαν μετασχόντας τῶν τοῦ θεοῦ. πρό τε δὴ πάντων, ὡς οὐδὲν ἂν τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους κέρδους ἕνεκα ὀκνήσαντας, τὴν συμμαχίαν ὀνειδίζουσί σφισι τὴν πρὸς Ἀπολλόδωρον τὸν ἐν Κασσανδρείᾳ τυραννήσαντα.

[5] ἀνθʼ ὅτου δὲ Μεσσήνιοι τὸ ὄνειδος ἥγηνται τοῦτο οὕτω πικρόν, οὔ μοι τῷ λόγῳ τῷ παρόντι ἦν ἐπεισάγεσθαι· ὅτι γὰρ μὴ τῶν Μεσσηνίων τὸ εὔψυχον καὶ χρόνου μῆκος ὃν ἐπολέμησαν διάφορα ἐγένετο τῆς Ἀπολλοδώρου τυραννίδος, ἔς γε τὰς συμφορὰς οὐ πολλῷ τινι ἀποδέοι ἂν ἃ οἱ Κασσανδρεῖς πεπόνθασι.

[6]
ταῦτα μὲν δὴ αἴτια ἑκάτεροι τοῦ πολέμου γενέσθαι λέγουσι· τότε δὲ πρεσβεία Λακεδαιμονίων ἥκουσα ἐξῄτει Πολυχάρην. οἱ δὲ τῶν Μεσσηνίων βασιλεῖς τοῖς μὲν πρέσβεσιν ἀπεκρίναντο ὅτι βουλευσάμενοι μετὰ τοῦ δήμου τὰ δόξαντα ἐπιστελοῦσιν ἐς Σπάρτην, αὐτοὶ δὲ ἐκείνων ἀπελθόντων ἐς ἐκκλησίαν τοὺς πολίτας συνῆγον. αἱ δὲ γνῶμαι διάφοροι παρὰ πολὺ ἐγίνοντο, Ἀνδροκλέους μὲν ἐκδιδόναι Πολυχάρην ὡς ἀνόσιά τε καὶ πέρα δεινῶν εἰργασμένον· Ἀντίοχος δὲ 0 ἄλλα τε ἀντέλεγε καὶ τὸ ἁπάντων οἴκτιστον, εἰ Πολυχάρης ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς πείσεται τοῖς Εὐαίφνου, καταριθμούμενος ὅσα καὶ οἷα ἦν ἀνάγκη παθεῖν.

[7] τέλος δὲ ἐς τοσοῦτο προήχθησαν οἵ τε Ἀνδροκλεῖ καὶ οἱ τῷ Ἀντιόχῳ συσπεύδοντες ὥστε καὶ τὰ ὅπλα ἔλαβον. οὐ μὴν ἐς μακράν γε προῆλθέ σφισιν ἡ μάχη· περιόντες γὰρ ἀριθμῷ καὶ πολὺ οἱ σὺν Ἀντιόχῳ τόν τε Ἀνδροκλέα καὶ τῶν περὶ αὐτὸν τοὺς λόγου μάλιστα ἀξίους ἀποκτείνουσιν. Ἀντίοχος δὲ βασιλεύων ἤδη μόνος ἔπεμπεν ἐς Σπάρτην ὡς ἐπιτρέπειν ἐθέλοι τοῖς δικαστηρίοις ἃ ἤδη λέλεκταί μοι· Λακεδαιμόνιοι δὲ οὐ λέγονται τοῖς κομίσασι τὰ γράμματα ἀποκρίνασθαι.

[8]
μησὶ δὲ οὐ πολλοῖς ὕστερον Ἀντιόχου τελευτήσαντος Εὐφαὴς ὁ Ἀντιόχου παρέλαβε τὴν ἀρχήν. Λακεδαιμόνιοι δὲ οὔτε κήρυκα ἀποστέλλουσι προεροῦντα Μεσσηνίοις πόλεμον οὔτε προαπειπάμενοι τὴν φιλίαν, κρύφα δὲ καὶ μάλιστα ὡς ἐδύναντο ἐν ἀπορρήτῳ παρασκευασάμενοι, προομνύουσιν ὅρκον μήτε τοῦ πολέμου μῆκος, ἢν μὴ διʼ ὀλίγου κριθῇ, μήτε τὰς συμφοράς, εἰ μεγάλαι πολεμοῦσι γένοιντο, ἀποστρέψειν σφᾶς πρὶν ἢ κτήσαιντο χώραν τὴν Μεσσηνίαν δοριάλωτον.

[9] ταῦτα προομόσαντες ἔξοδον νύκτωρ ἐποιοῦντο ἐπὶ Ἄμφειαν, Ἀλκαμένην τὸν Τηλέκλου τῆς στρατιᾶς ἡγεμόνα ἀποδείξαντες. ἡ δὲ Ἄμφεια πρὸς τῇ Λακωνικῇ πόλισμα ἦν ἐν τῇ Μεσσηνίᾳ, μεγέθει μὲν οὐ μέγα, ἐπὶ λόφου δὲ ὑψηλοῦ κείμενον, καὶ ὑδάτων πηγὰς εἶχεν ἀφθόνους· ἐδόκει δὲ καὶ ἄλλως ἐς τὸν πάντα πόλεμον ὁρμητήριόν σφισιν ἐπιτήδειον ἡ Ἄμφεια 0 εἶναι. καὶ τό τε πόλισμα αἱροῦσι πυλῶν ἀνεῳγμένων καὶ φυλακῆς οὐκ ἐνούσης καὶ τῶν Μεσσηνίων τοὺς ἐγκαταληφθέντας φονεύουσι, τοὺς μὲν ἔτι ἐν ταῖς εὐναῖς, τοὺς δὲ ὡς ᾔσθοντο πρός τε ἱερὰ θεῶν καὶ βωμοὺς καθημένους ἱκέτας· ὀλίγοι δὲ καὶ οἱ διαφυγόντες ἐγένοντο.

[10] ταύτην Λακεδαιμόνιοι πρώτην ἐπὶ Μεσσηνίους ἔξοδον ἐποιήσαντο ἔτει δευτέρῳ τῆς ἐνάτης Ὀλυμπιάδος, ἣν Ξενοδόκος Μεσσήνιος ἐνίκα στάδιον· Ἀθήνῃσι δὲ οὐκ ἦσάν πω τότε οἱ τῷ κλήρῳ κατʼ ἐνιαυτὸν ἄρχοντες· τοὺς γὰρ ἀπὸ Μελάνθου, καλουμένους δὲ Μεδοντίδας, κατʼ ἀρχὰς μὲν ἀφείλοντο ὁ δῆμος τῆς ἐξουσίας τὸ πολὺ καὶ ἀντὶ βασιλείας μετέστησαν ἐς ἀρχὴν ὑπεύθυνον, ὕστερον δὲ καὶ προθεσμίαν ἐτῶν δέκα ἐποίησαν αὐτοῖς τῆς ἀρχῆς. τότε δὲ ὑπὸ τὴν κατάληψιν τῆς Ἀμφείας Αἰσιμίδης Ἀθηναίοις ἦρχεν ὁ Αἰσχύλου πέμπτον ἔτος.

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.) — 4.5 focus

[1] The Lacedaemonians say that they went to war because Polykhares was not surrendered to them, and on account of the murder of Teleklos; even before this they had been suspicious on account of the wrongdoing of Kresphontes in the matter of the lot. The Messenians make the reply that I have already given with regard to Teleklos, and point to the fact that the sons of Aristodemos helped to restore Aipytos the son of Kresphontes, which they would never have done if they had been at variance with Kresphontes.

[2] They say that they did not surrender Polykhares to the Lacedaemonians for punishment because they also had not surrendered Euaephnus, but that they offered to stand trial at the meeting of the league before the Argives, kinsmen of both parties, and to submit the matter to the court in Athens called the Areiopagos, as this court was held to exercise an ancient jurisdiction in cases pertaining to murder.

[4] They point out too that when the leaders of Phokis had seized the temple at Delphi, the kings and every Spartan of repute privately, and the board of ephors and senate publicly, had a share of the god’s property. As the most convincing proof that the Lacedaemonians would stick at nothing for the sake of gain, they reproach them with their alliance with Apollodoros, who became tyrant in Cassandreia.

[5] I could not introduce into the present account the reasons why the Messenians have come to regard this as so bitter a reproach. Although the courage of the Messenians and the length of time for which they fought differ from the facts of the tyranny of Apollodoros, in their disastrous character the sufferings of the people of Cassandreia would not fall far short of the Messenian.

[6] These then are the reasons for the war which the two sides allege. An embassy then came from the Lacedaemonians to demand the surrender of Polykhares. The Messenian kings replied to the ambassadors that after deliberation with the people they would send the findings to Sparta and after their departure they themselves summoned the citizens to a meeting. The views put forward differed widely, Androkles urging the surrender of Polykhares as guilty of an impious and abominable crime. Antiokhos among other arguments urged against him that it would be the most piteous thing that Polykhares should suffer before the eyes of Euaephnus, and enumerated in detail all that he would have to undergo.

[7] Finally the supporters of Androkles and of Antiokhos were so carried away that they took up arms. But the battle did not last long, for the party of Antiokhos, far outnumbering the other, killed Androkles and his principal supporters, Antiokhos, now sole king, sent to Sparta that he was ready to submit the matter to the courts which I have already mentioned. But the Lacedaemonians are said to have made no reply to the bearers of the letter.

[8] Not many months later Antiokhos died and his son Euphaes succeeded to the kingdom. The Lacedaemonians, without sending a herald to declare war on the Messenians or renouncing their friendship beforehand, had made their preparations secretly and with all the concealment possible; they first took an oath that neither the length of the war, should it not be decided soon, nor their disasters, however great they might be, would deter them until they won the land of Messenia by the sword.

[9] After taking this oath, they attacked Ampheia by night, appointing Alkamenes the son of Teleklos leader of the force. Ampheia is a small town in Messenia near the Laconian border, of no great size, but situated on a high hill and possessing copious springs of water. It seemed generally a suitable base for the whole war. The gates being open and the town not garrisoned, they took it and killed the Messenians captured there, some still in their beds and others who had taken refuge at the sanctuaries and altars of the gods when they realized what had happened. Those who escaped were few.

[10] This was the first attack which the Lacedaemonians made on the Messenians, in the second year of the ninth Olympiad, when Xenodocus of Messenia won the short foot-race. In Athens the office of an archon [ arkhōn] who is annually appointed by lot did not yet exist, At first, the people deprived the descendants of Melanthos, called Medontidai, of most of their power, transforming the kingship into a constitutional office; afterwards they limited their tenure of office to ten years. At the time of the seizure of Ampheia, Aesimides the son of Aeschylus was holding his fifth year office in Athens.

Notes on the current edition

Description of Greece

1. B.C. 743.

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 4.5

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

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