Pausanias, Description of Greece, W.H.S. Jones (Translator), H.A. Ormerod (Translator), 7.10

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[1]
Such were the events that took place on this occasion. The most impious of all crimes, the betrayal for private gain of fatherland and fellow-citizens, was destined to be the beginning of woes for the Achaeans as for others, for it has never been absent from Greece since the birth of time. In the reign of Dareius, the son of Hystaspes, the king of Persia ¹, the cause of the Ionians was ruined because all the Samian captains except eleven betrayed the Ionian fleet.

[2] After reducing Ionia the Persians enslaved Eretria also, the most famous citizens turning traitors, Philagrus, the son of Cyneas, and Euphorbus, the son of Alcimachua. When Xerxes invaded Greece ², Thessaly was betrayed by Aleuades,³ and Thebes by Attaginus and Timegenidas, who were the foremost citizen of Thebes . After the Peloponnesian war, Xenias of Elis attempted to betray Elis to the Lacedaemonians under Agis,

[3] and the so-called “friends” of Lysander at no time relaxed their efforts to hand over their countries to him. In the reign of Philip, the son of Amyntas, Lacedaemon is the only Greek city to be found that was not betrayed; the other cities in Greece were ruined more by treachery than they had been previously by the plague. Alexander, the son of Philip, was so favoured by fortune that he had little need worth mentioning of traitors.

[4] But when the Greeks suffered defeat at Lamia ⁴, Antipater, in his eagerness to cross over to the war in Asia , wished to patch up a peace quickly, and it mattered nothing to him if he left free Athens and the whole of Greece . But Demades and the other traitors at Athens persuaded Antipater to have no kindly thoughts towards the Greeks, and by frightening the Athenian people were the cause of Macedonian garrisons being brought into Athens and most other cities.

[5] My statement is confirmed by the following fact. The Athenians after the disaster in Boeotia did not become subjects of Philip, although they lost two thousand prisoners in the action and one thousand killed. But when about two hundred at most fell at Lamia they were enslaved by the Lacedaemonians. So the plague of treachery never failed to afflict Greece , and it was an Achaean, Callicrates, who at the time I speak of made the Achaeans completely subject to Rome . But the beginning of their troubles proved to be Perseus and the destruction by the Romans of the Macedonian empire.

[6]
Perseus, the son of Philip, who was at peace with Rome in accordance with a treaty his father Philip had made, resolved to break the oaths, and leading an army against the Sapaeans and their king Abrupolis, allies of the Romans, made their country desolate. These Sapaeans Archilochus⁵ mentions in an iambic line.

[7] The Macedonians and Perseus were conquered because of this wrong done to the Sapaeans, and afterwards ten Roman senators were sent to arrange the affairs of Macedonia in the best interests of the Romans. When they came to Greece , Callicrates curried favour with them, no form of flattery, whether in word or in deed, being too gross for him to use. One member of the commission, a most dishonorable man, Callicrates so captivated that he actually persuaded him to attend the meeting of the Achaean League.

[8] When he entered the assembly he declared that while Perseus was at war with Rome the most influential Achaeans, besides helping him generally, had supplied him with money. So he required the Achaeans to condemn them to death. After their condemnation, he said, he would himself disclose the names of the culprits. His words were regarded as absolutely unfair, and the members present demanded that, if certain Achaeans had sided with Perseus, their individual names should be mentioned, it being unreasonable to condemn them before this was done.

[9] Thereupon the Roman, as he was getting the worst of the argument, brazenly asserted that every Achaean who had held the office of general was included in his accusation, since one and all had favoured the cause of the Macedonians and Perseus. This he said at the bidding of Callicrates. After him rose Xenon, a man of great repute among the Achaeans, and said “The truth about this accusation is as follows. I myself have served the Achaeans as their general, but I am guilty neither of treachery to Rome nor of friendship to Perseus. I am therefore ready to submit to trial either before the Achaean diet or before the Romans themselves.” This frank speech was prompted by a clear conscience,

[10] but the Roman at once grasped the pretext, and sent for trial before the Roman court all those whom Callicrates accused of supporting Perseus. Never before had Greeks been so treated, for not even the most powerful of the Macedonians, Philip, the son of Amyntas, and Alexander, despatched by force to Macedonia the Greeks who were opposed to them, but allowed them to plead their case before the Amphictyons⁶.

[11] But on this occasion it was decided to send up to Rome every one of the Achaean people, however innocent, whom Callicrates chose to accuse. They amounted to over a thousand men. The Romans, holding that all these had already been condemned by the Achaeans, distributed them throughout Etruria and its cities, and though the Achaeans sent embassy after embassy to plead on behalf of the men, no notice was taken of the petitions.

[12] Sixteen years later⁷, when the number of Achaeans in Italy was reduced to three hundred at most, the Romans set them free, considering that their punishment was sufficient. But those who ran away, either at once when they were being brought up to Rome , or later on from the cities to which the Romans sent them, were saved from punishment by no defence if they were recaptured.

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.) — 7.10 focus

[1]
τότε μὲν δὴ ἐς τοσοῦτο ἐπράχθη· τολμημάτων δὲ τὸ ἀνοσιώτατον, τὴν πατρίδα καὶ ἄνδρας προδιδόναι πολίτας ἐπὶ οἰκείοις κέρδεσιν, ἔμελλε καὶ Ἀχαιοῖς κακῶν ἄρξειν, οὔποτε ἐκ τοῦ χρόνου παντὸς τὴν Ἑλλάδα ἐκλιπόν. ἐπὶ μέν γε Δαρείου τοῦ Ὑστάσπου βασιλεύοντος Περσῶν Ἴωσι τὰ πράγματα ἐφθάρη Σαμίων πλὴν ἑνός τε καὶ δέκα ἀνδρῶν τῶν ἄλλων τριηράρχων τὸ ναυτικὸν τὸ Ἰώνων προδόντων·

[2] μετὰ δὲ Ἴωνας κεχειρωμένους ἠνδραποδίσαντο καὶ Ἐρέτριαν Μῆδοι, προδόται δὲ ἐγένοντο οἱ εὐδοκιμοῦντες μάλιστα ἐν Ἐρετρίᾳ Φίλαγρος Κυνέου καὶ Εὔφορβος Ἀλκιμάχου. Ξέρξῃ δὲ ἐπὶ τὴν Ἑλλάδα ἐλαύνοντι Θεσσαλία τε διʼ Ἀλευάδου προεδόθη, Θήβας δὲ Ἀτταγῖνος καὶ Τιμηγενίδας προδιδόασι φερόμενοι τὰ πρῶτα ἐν Θήβαις. 0 Πελοποννησίων δὲ καὶ Ἀθηναίων πολεμησάντων Ξενίας Ἠλεῖος ἐπεχείρησεν Ἦλιν Λακεδαιμονίοις καὶ Ἄγιδι προδοῦναι, οἵ τε Λυσάνδρου καλούμενοι ξένοι χρόνον

[3] οὐδένα ἀνίεσαν πατρίδας ἐγχειρίζοντες Λυσάνδρῳ τὰς ἑαυτῶν. κατὰ δὲ τὴν Φιλίππου βασιλείαν τοῦ Ἀμύντου Λακεδαίμονα πόλεων μόνην οὐ προδοθεῖσαν τῶν ἐν Ἕλλησιν εὕροι τις ἄν· αἱ δὲ ἄλλαι πόλεις αἱ ἐν τῇ Ἑλλάδι ὑπὸ προδοσίας μᾶλλον ἢ ὑπὸ νόσου πρότερον τῆς λοιμώδους ἐφθάρησαν. Ἀλεξάνδρῳ δὲ τῷ Φιλίππου παρέσχεν ἡ εὐτυχία μικρὰ ἀνδρῶν προδοτῶν καὶ οὐκ ἄξια λόγου προσδεηθῆναι.

[4] ἐπεὶ δὲ τὸ ἐν Λαμίᾳ πταῖσμα ἐγένετο Ἕλλησιν, Ἀντίπατρος μέν, ἅτε διαβῆναι ποιούμενος σπουδὴν πρὸς τὸν ἐν τῇ Ἀσίᾳ πόλεμον, ἐβούλετο εἰρήνην ἐν τάχει συντίθεσθαι, καί οἱ διέφερεν οὐδὲν εἰ Ἀθήνας τε ἐλευθέραν καὶ τὴν πᾶσαν Ἑλλάδα ἀφήσει· Δημάδης δὲ καὶ ὅσον προδοτῶν Ἀθήνῃσιν ἄλλο ἦν, ἀναπείθουσιν Ἀντίπατρον μηδὲν ἐς Ἕλληνας φρονῆσαι φιλάνθρωπον, ἐκφοβήσαντες δὲ Ἀθηναίων τὸν δῆμον ἔς τε Ἀθήνας καὶ πόλεων τῶν ἄλλων τὰς πολλὰς ἐγένοντο αἴτιοι Μακεδόνων ἐσαχθῆναι φρουράς.

[5] βεβαιοῖ δέ μοι καὶ τόδε τὸν λόγον· Ἀθηναῖοι γὰρ μετὰ τὸ ἀτύχημα τὸ ἐν Βοιωτοῖς οὐκ ἐγένοντο Φιλίππου κατήκοοι, ἁλόντων μέν σφισι δισχιλίων, ὡς ἐκρατήθησαν, παρὰ τὸ ἔργον, χιλίων δὲ φονευθέντων· ἐν Λαμίᾳ δὲ περὶ διακοσίους πεσόντων καὶ οὐ πλέον τι, Μακεδόσιν ἐδουλώθησαν. οὕτω μὲν οὔποτε τὴν Ἑλλάδα ἐπέλειπον οἱ ἐπὶ προδοσίᾳ νοσήσαντες· Ἀχαιοὺς δὲ ἀνὴρ Ἀχαιὸς Καλλικράτης τηνικαῦτα ἐς ἅπαν ἐποίει Ῥωμαίοις ὑποχειρίους. ἀρχὴ δέ σφισιν ἐγίνετο κακῶν 0 Περσεὺς καὶ ἡ Μακεδόνων ἀρχὴ καταλυθεῖσα ὑπὸ Ῥωμαίων.

[6]
Περσεῖ τῷ Φιλίππου πρὸς Ῥωμαίους ἄγοντι εἰρήνην κατὰ συνθήκας, ἃς ὁ πατήρ οἱ Φίλιππος ἐποιήσατο, ἐπῆλθεν ὑπερβῆναι τοὺς ὅρκους καὶ ἐπί τε Σαπαίους καὶ Σαπαίων τὸν βασιλέα Ἀβρούπολιν στράτευμα ἀγαγὼν ἐποίησεν ἀναστάτους Ῥωμαίων συμμάχους ὄντας· Σαπαίων δὲ τούτων καὶ Ἀρχίλοχος ἐν ἰάμβῳ μνήμην ἔσχε.

[7] Μακεδόνων δὲ καὶ Περσέως κεχειρωμένων πολέμῳ διὰ τὸ ἐς Σαπαίους ἀδίκημα, ἄνδρες τῆς Ῥωμαίων βουλῆς δέκα ἐπέμφθησαν καταστησόμενοι πρὸς τὸ ἐπιτηδειότατον Ῥωμαίοις τὰ ἐν Μακεδονίᾳ. ἥκοντας δὲ ἐς τὴν Ἑλλάδα ὑπήρχετο ὁ Καλλικράτης οὔτε ἔργον τῶν ἐς τὴν κολακείαν οὔτε λόγον οὐδένα ἐς αὐτοὺς παριείς· ἕνα δέ τινα ἐξ αὐτῶν ἄνδρα οὐδαμῶς ἐς δικαιοσύνην πρόθυμον, τοῦτον τὸν ἄνδρα προσεποιήσατο ὁ Καλλικράτης ἐς τοσοῦτον ὥστε αὐτὸν καὶ ἐς τὸ συνέδριον ἐσελθεῖν τὸ Ἀχαιῶν ἔπεισεν.

[8] ὁ δὲ ὡς ἐς τὸν σύλλογον ἐσῆλθεν, ἔλεγεν ὡς πολεμοῦντι πρὸς Ῥωμαίους Περσεῖ χρήματα οἱ δυνατώτατοι τῶν Ἀχαιῶν παράσχοιεν, συνάραιντο δὲ καὶ ἐς τὰ ἄλλα· ἐκέλευσεν οὖν καταγνῶναι τοὺς Ἀχαιοὺς θάνατον· εἰ δὲ ἐκεῖνοι καταγνοῖεν, τότε καὶ αὐτὸς τὰ ὀνόματα ἐρεῖν ἔφασκε τῶν ἀνδρῶν. λέγειν τε δὴ ἐδόκει παντάπασιν ἄδικα καὶ αὐτὸν ἠξίουν οἱ ἐς τὸν σύλλογον ἐληλυθότες ἤδη, εἰ Περσεῖ τὰ αὐτὰ Ἀχαιῶν τινες ἔπραξαν, ὀνομαστὶ αὐτῶν ἑκάστου μνησθῆναι, πρότερον δὲ οὐ σφᾶς καταγινώσκειν εἰκὸς εἶναι.

[9] ἔνθα δὴ ὡς ἠλέγχετο ὁ Ῥωμαῖος, 0 ἀπετόλμησεν εἰπεῖν ὡς οἱ ἐστρατηγηκότες Ἀχαιῶν ἐνέχονται πάντες τῇ αἰτίᾳ· πάντας γὰρ φρονῆσαι τὰ Μακεδόνων τε καὶ Περσέως. ὁ μὲν δὴ ταῦτα ἔλεγεν ὑπὸ διδασκαλίᾳ Καλλικράτους· ἀναστὰς δὲ μετʼ αὐτὸν Ξένων— ἦν δὲ ὁ Ξένων οὗτος οὐκ ἐλαχίστου λόγου παρὰ Ἀχαιοῖς— “οὕτωσ” ἔφη “κατὰ τὴν αἰτίαν ἔχει ταύτην· ἐστρατήγησα μὲν Ἀχαιῶν καὶ ἐγώ, ἀδικίας δὲ οὐδὲν ἐς Ῥωμαίους οὔτε εὐνοίας μοι μέτεστιν ἐς Περσέα· καὶ τοῦδε ἕνεκα ἐθέλω μὲν ἐν συνεδρίῳ τῷ Ἀχαιῶν, ἐθέλω δὲ καὶ ἐν αὐτοῖς Ῥωμαίοις ὑπέχειν κρίσιν.” ὁ μὲν δὴ ὑπὸ συνειδότος ἐπαρρησιάζετο ἀγαθοῦ·

[10] ὁ δὲ ἐπελάβετο αὐτίκα ὁ Ῥωμαῖος τῆς προφάσεως, καὶ ὁπόσοις Καλλικράτης ἐπῆγεν αἰτίαν Περσεῖ σφᾶς φρονῆσαι τὰ αὐτά, ἀνέπεμπεν ἐν δικαστηρίῳ κρίσιν τῷ Ῥωμαίων ὑφέξοντας. ὃ μή πω κατειλήφει πρότερον Ἕλληνας· οὐδὲ γὰρ παρὰ Μακεδόνων οἱ ἰσχύσαντες μέγιστον, Φίλιππος Ἀμύντου καὶ Ἀλέξανδρος, τοὺς ἀνθεστηκότας σφίσιν Ἑλλήνων ἐς Μακεδονίαν ἐβιάσαντο ἀποσταλῆναι, διδόναι δὲ αὐτοὺς ἐν Ἀμφικτύοσιν εἴων λόγον.

[11] τότε δὲ ἐκ τοῦ Ἀχαιῶν ἔθνους ὅντινα καὶ ἀναίτιον Καλλικράτης ἐθελήσειεν αἰτιάσασθαι, ἀνάγεσθαι πάντα τινὰ ἐκεκύρωτο ἐς Ῥώμην· καὶ ἐγένοντο ὑπὲρ χιλίους οἱ ἀναχθέντες. τούτους ὑπὸ Ἀχαιῶν οἱ Ῥωμαῖοι προκατεγνῶσθαι νομίζοντες ἔς τε Τυρσηνίαν καὶ ἐς τὰς ἐκεῖ διέπεμψαν πόλεις, καὶ Ἀχαιῶν ἄλλοτε ἄλλας ὑπὲρ τῶν ἀνδρῶν πρεσβείας τε καὶ ἱκεσίας ἐπιπεμπόντων λόγον ἐποιοῦντο οὐδένα.

[12] ἑπτακαιδεκάτῳ δὲ ὕστερον 0 ἔτει τριακοσίους ἢ καὶ ἐλάσσονας, οἳ μόνοι περὶ Ἰταλίαν Ἀχαιῶν ἔτι ἐλείποντο, ἀφιᾶσιν, ἀποχρώντως κολασθῆναι σφᾶς ἡγούμενοι. ὅσοι δὲ ἀποδράντες ᾤχοντο ἢ εὐθὺς ἡνίκα ἀνήγοντο ἐς Ῥώμην ἢ ὕστερον ἐκ τῶν πόλεων ἐς ἃς ὑπὸ Ῥωμαίων ἐπέμφθησαν, πρόφασις οὐδεμία ἦν τούτους ἁλόντας μὴ ὑποσχεῖν δίκην.

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.) — 7.10 focus

[1] Such were the events that took place on this occasion. The most impious of all crimes, the betrayal for private gain of fatherland and fellow-citizens, was destined to be the beginning of woes for the Achaeans as for others, for it has never been absent from Greece since the birth of time. In the reign of Dareios, the son of Hystaspes, the king of the Persians [ Persai], the cause of the Ionians was ruined because all the Samian captains except eleven betrayed the Ionian fleet.

[2] After reducing Ionia the Persians enslaved Eretria also, the most famous citizens turning traitors, Philagrus, the son of Cyneas, and Euphorbos, the son of Alkimakhos. When Xerxes invaded Greece, Thessaly was betrayed by Aleuades, and Thebes by Attaginos and Timegenidas, who were the foremost citizen of Thebes. After the Peloponnesian war, Xenias of Elis attempted to betray Elis to the Lacedaemonians under Agis,

[3] and the so-called “friends” of Lysander at no time relaxed their efforts to hand over their countries to him. In the reign of Philip, the son of Amyntas, Lacedaemon is the only Greek city to be found that was not betrayed; the other cities in Greece were ruined more by treachery than they had been previously by the plague. Alexander, the son of Philip, was so favored by fortune that he had little need worth mentioning of traitors.

[4] But when the Greeks suffered defeat at Lamia, Antipatros, in his eagerness to cross over to the war in Asia, wished to patch up a peace quickly, and it mattered nothing to him if he left free Athens and the whole of Greece. But Demades and the other traitors in Athens persuaded Antipatros to have no kindly thoughts towards the Greeks, and by frightening the Athenian people were the cause of Macedonian garrisons being brought into Athens and most other cities.

[5] My statement is confirmed by the following fact. The Athenians after the disaster in Boeotia did not become subjects of Philip, although they lost two thousand prisoners in the action and one thousand killed. But when about two hundred at most fell at Lamia they were enslaved by the Lacedaemonians. So the plague of treachery never failed to afflict Greece, and it was an Achaean, Kallikrates, who at the time I speak of made the Achaeans completely subject to Rome. But the beginning of their troubles proved to be Perseus and the destruction by the Romans of the Macedonian empire.

[6] Perseus, the son of Philip, who was at peace with Rome in accordance with a treaty his father Philip had made, resolved to break the oaths, and leading an army against the Sapaeans and their king Abrupolis, allies of the Romans, made their country desolate. These Sapaeans Archilochus mentions in an iambic line.

[7] The Macedonians and Perseus were conquered because of this wrong done to the Sapaeans, and afterwards ten Roman senators were sent to arrange the affairs of Macedonia in the best interests of the Romans. When they came to Greece, Kallikrates curried favor with them, no form of flattery, whether in word or in deed, being too gross for him to use. One member of the commission, a most dishonorable man, Kallikrates so captivated that he actually persuaded him to attend the meeting of the Achaean League.

[9] Thereupon the Roman, as he was getting the worst of the argument, brazenly asserted that every Achaean who had held the office of general was included in his accusation, since one and all had favored the cause of the Macedonians and Perseus. This he said at the bidding of Kallikrates. After him rose Xenon, a man of great repute among the Achaeans, and said “The truth about this accusation is as follows. I myself have served the Achaeans as their general, but I am guilty neither of treachery to Rome nor of friendship to Perseus. I am therefore ready to submit to trial either before the Achaean diet or before the Romans themselves.” This frank speech was prompted by a clear conscience,

[10] but the Roman at once grasped the pretext, and sent for trial before the Roman court all those whom Kallikrates accused of supporting Perseus. Never before had Greeks been so treated, for not even the most powerful of the Macedonians, Philip, the son of Amyntas, and Alexander, despatched by force to Macedonia the Greeks who were opposed to them, but allowed them to plead their case before the Amphiktyones.

[11] But on this occasion it was decided to send up to Rome every one of the Achaean people, however innocent, whom Kallikrates chose to accuse. They amounted to over a thousand men. The Romans, holding that all these had already been condemned by the Achaeans, distributed them throughout Etruria and its cities, and though the Achaeans sent embassy after embassy to plead on behalf of the men, no notice was taken of the petitions.

[12] Sixteen years later, when the number of Achaeans in Italy was reduced to three hundred at most, the Romans set them free, considering that their punishment was sufficient. But those who ran away, either at once when they were being brought up to Rome, or later on from the cities to which the Romans sent them, were saved from punishment by no defence if they were recaptured.

Notes on the current edition

Description of Greece

1. 494 B.C.

2. 480 B.C.

3. Sylburg would read Ἀλευαδῶν, “by the Aleuads.”

4. 322 B.C.

5. Fr. 49 (Bergk).

6. 167 B.C.

7. 151 B.C.

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 7.10

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

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