Pausanias, Description of Greece, ed. Friedrich Spiro, 8.51

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[1]
Φιλοποίμην δὲ ὑπὸ τὸν καιρὸν ἐσπεσὼν τοῦτον ἐς τὴν Σπάρτην ἠνάγκασεν ἐς τὸ Ἀχαϊκὸν Λακεδαιμονίους συντελέσαι. μετὰ δὲ οὐ πολὺν χρόνον Τίτος μὲν Ῥωμαίων τῶν περὶ τὴν Ἑλλάδα ἡγεμὼν καὶ Διοφάνης ὁ Διαίου Μεγαλοπολίτης, ἄρχειν ἐν τῷ τότε ᾑρημένος τῶν Ἀχαιῶν, ἤλαυνον ἐπὶ τὴν Λακεδαίμονα, ἐπενεγκόντες αἰτίαν Λακεδαιμονίοις βουλεύειν σφᾶς νεώτερα 0 ἐς Ῥωμαίους· Φιλοποίμην δέ, καίπερ ἐν τῷ παρόντι ἰδιώτης ὤν, ἀπέκλεισαν ὅμως ἐπιοῦσιν αὐτοῖς τὰς πύλας.

[2] Λακεδαιμόνιοι δὲ τούτων τε ἕνεκα καὶ ὧν ἐς ἀμφοτέρους τοὺς τυράννους ἐτόλμησεν, ἐδίδοσαν οἶκον αὐτῷ τὸν Νάβιδος ἐς πλέον ἢ τάλαντα ἑκατόν· ὁ δὲ ὑπερεφρόνησέ τε τῶν χρημάτων καὶ ἐκέλευε τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους θεραπεύειν δόσεσιν ἀνθʼ αὑτοῦ τοὺς ἐν τῷ συλλόγῳ τῶν Ἀχαιῶν πιθανοὺς τῷ πλήθει, ταῦτα δὲ ἐς Τιμόλαον αὐτῷ λέγουσιν ὑποσημαίνεσθαι. ἀπεδείχθη δὲ καὶ αὖθις Ἀχαιῶν στρατηγῆσαι.

[3] Λακεδαιμονίων δὲ τηνικαῦτα ἐς ἔμφυλον προηγμένων στάσιν, τριακοσίους μὲν τῆς στάσεως μάλιστα αἰτίους ἐξέβαλεν ἐκ Πελοποννήσου καὶ τῶν εἱλώτων τε ἀπέδοτο ὅσον τρισχιλίους, τείχη δὲ περιεῖλε τῆς Σπάρτης καὶ τοῖς ἐφήβοις προεῖπε μὴ τὰ ἐκ τῶν νόμων τῶν Λυκούργου μελετᾶν, ἐφήβοις δὲ τοῖς Ἀχαιῶν κατὰ ταὐτὰ ἀσκεῖσθαι. καὶ τοῖς μὲν ὕστερον ἀποδώσειν ἔμελλον Ῥωμαῖοι παιδείαν τὴν ἐπιχώριον·

[4] Ἀντίοχον δὲ ἀπόγονον Σελεύκου τοῦ ὀνομασθέντος Νικάτορος καὶ Σύρων τὴν σὺν αὐτῷ στρατιὰν Μανίου καὶ Ῥωμαίων ἐν Θερμοπύλαις νικησάντων καὶ Ἀρισταίνου τοῖς Ἀχαιοῖς τοῦ Μεγαλοπολίτου παραινοῦντος ἐπαινεῖν τὰ Ῥωμαίοις ἀρέσκοντα ἐπὶ παντὶ μηδὲ ἀνθίστασθαί σφισιν ὑπὲρ μηδενός, ὁ Φιλοποίμην ἀπεῖδεν ἐς τὸν Ἀρίσταινον σὺν ὀργῇ καὶ αὐτὸν τῇ Ἑλλάδι ἔφη τὴν πεπρωμένην ἐπιταχύνειν· Λακεδαιμονίων δὲ τοὺς φεύγοντας Μανίου καταδέξασθαι θέλοντος τῷ μὲν ἀντέπραξεν ἐς τὸ βούλευμα, 0 ἐκείνου δὲ ἀπελθόντος τότε ἤδη κατελθεῖν τοὺς φυγάδας ἐφίησιν ἐς Σπάρτην.

[5]
ἔμελλε δʼ ἄρα ὑπεροψίας δίκη περιήξειν καὶ Φιλοποίμενα. ὡς γὰρ δὴ τῶν Ἀχαιῶν ὄγδοον ἀπεδείχθη τότε ἡγεμών, ἀνδρὶ οὐ τῶν ἀδόξων ὠνείδισεν ἁλῶναι ζῶντα ὑπὸ τῶν πολεμίων αὐτόν· καὶ—ἦν γὰρ τηνικαῦτα ἐς Μεσσηνίους Ἀχαιοῖς ἔγκλημα—Λυκόρταν σὺν τῇ στρατιᾷ ὁ Φιλοποίμην ἀποστέλλει δῃώσοντα τῶν Μεσσηνίων τὴν χώραν, αὐτὸς δὲ τρίτῃ μάλιστα ὕστερον ἡμέρᾳ, πυρετῷ τε ἐχόμενος πολλῷ καὶ πρόσω βεβιωκὼς ἑβδομήκοντα ἐτῶν, ὅμως ἠπείγετο μετασχεῖν Λυκόρτᾳ τοῦ ἔργου· ἱππέας δὲ καὶ πελταστὰς ἦγεν ὅσον ἑξήκοντα.

[6] Λυκόρτας μὲν δὴ καὶ ὁ σὺν αὐτῷ στρατὸς ἀνέστρεφον ἤδη τηνικαῦτα ἐς τὴν οἰκείαν, οὔτε ἐργασάμενοι μέγα Μεσσηνίους οὐδὲν οὔτε αὐτοὶ παθόντες· Φιλοποίμενα δὲ—ἐβλήθη γὰρ ἐν τῇ μάχῃ τὴν κεφαλὴν καὶ ἀπέπεσεν ἀπὸ τοῦ ἵππου—ζῶντα ἐς Μεσσήνην ἄγουσιν αὐτόν. συνελθόντων δὲ αὐτίκα ἐς ἐκκλησίαν, διάφοροι παρὰ πολὺ καὶ οὐ πάντων κατὰ ταὐτὰ ἐγίνοντο αἱ γνῶμαι·

[7] Δεινοκράτης μὲν καὶ ὅσοι τῶν Μεσσηνίων ἦσαν δυνατοὶ χρήμασι, παρεκελεύοντο ἀποκτεῖναι Φιλοποίμενα· οἱ δὲ τοῦ δήμου περιποιῆσαι τὰ μάλιστα εἶχον σπουδήν, πλέον τι ἢ παντὸς τοῦ Ἑλληνικοῦ πατέρα ὀνομάζοντες. Δεινοκράτης δὲ καὶ ἀκόντων Μεσσηνίων ἔμελλεν τε ἄρα Φιλοποίμενα ἀναιρήσειν ἐσπέμψας φάρμακον.

[8] Λυκόρτας δὲ μετʼ οὐ πολὺ ἀθροίσας ἔκ τε Ἀρκαδίας καὶ παρʼ Ἀχαιῶν δύναμιν ἐστράτευσεν ἐπὶ Μεσσήνην· καὶ ὁ δῆμος αὐτίκα 0 ὁ τῶν Μεσσηνίων προσεχώρησε τοῖς Ἀρκάσι, καὶ οἱ Φιλοποίμενι αἰτίαν θανάτου παρασχόντες ἁλόντες πλὴν Δεινοκράτους ὑπέσχον τιμωρίαν οἱ ἄλλοι, Δεινοκράτης δὲ ἀφίησιν αὐτοχειρίᾳ τὴν ψυχήν. κατάγουσι δὲ καὶ ἐς Μεγάλην πόλιν τοῦ Φιλοποίμενος τὰ ὀστᾶ οἱ Ἀρκάδες.

Description of Greece. Pausanias. ed. Friedrich Spiro. Leipzig. 1903.

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Current edition Perseus

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

Translations (2)

Description of Greece Perseus (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.) — 8.51 focus

[1]
At this time Philopoemen flung himself into Sparta and forced her to join the Achaean League. Shortly afterwards Titus, the Roman commander in Greece , and Diophanes, the son of Diaeus, a Megalopolitan who had been elected general of the Achaeans, attacked Lacedaemon , accusing the Lacedaemonians of rebellion against the Romans. But Philopoemen, though at the time holding no office, shut the gates against them.

[2] For this reason, and because of his courage shown against both the despots, the Lacedaemonians offered him the house¹ of Nabis, worth more than a hundred talents. But he scorned the wealth, and bade the Lacedaemonians court with gifts, not himself, but those who could persuade the many in the meeting of the Achaeans—a suggestion, it is said, directed against Timolaus. He was again appointed general of the Achaeans.

[3] At this time the Lacedaemonians were involved in civil war, and Philopoemen expelled from the Peloponnesus three hundred who were chiefly responsible for the civil war, sold some three thousand Helots, razed the walls of Sparta , and forbade the youths to train in the manner laid down by the laws of Lycurgus, ordering them to follow the training of the Achaean youths. The Romans, in course of time,² were to restore to the Lacedaemonians the discipline of their native land.

[4] When the Romans under Manius defeated at Thermopylae Antiochus the descendant of Seleucus, named Nicator, and the Syrian army with him, Aristaenus of Megalopolis advised the Achaeans to approve the wishes of the Romans in all respects, and to oppose them in nothing. Philopoemen looked angrily at Aristaenus, and said that he was hastening on the doom of Greece . Manius wished the Lacedaemonian exiles to return, but Philopoemen opposed his plan, and only when Manius had gone away did he allow the exiles to be restored.

[5]
But, nevertheless, Philopoemen too was to be punished for his pride. After being appointed commander of the Achaeans for the eighth time, he reproached a man of no little distinction for having been captured alive by the enemy. Now at this time the Achaeans had a grievance against the Messenians, and Philopoemen, despatching Lycortas with the army to lay waste the land of the Messenians, was very anxious two or three days later, in spite of his seventy years and a severe attack of fever, to take his share in the expedition of Lycortas. He led about sixty horsemen and targeteers.

[6] Lycortas, however, and his army were already on their way back to their country, having neither suffered great harm nor inflicted it on the Messenians. Philopoemen, wounded in the head during the battle, fell from his horse and was taken alive to Messene . A meeting of the assembly was immediately held, at which the most widely divergent opinions were expressed.

[7] Deinocrates, and all the Messenians whose wealth made them influential, urged that Philopoemen should be put to death; but the popular party were keen on saving his life, calling him Father, and more than Father,³ of all the Greek people. But Deinocrates, after all, and in spite of Messenian opposition, was to bring about the death of Philopoemen, for he sent poison in to him.⁴

[8] Shortly afterwards Lycortas gathered a force from Arcadia and Achaia and marched against Messene . The Messenian populace at once went over to the side of the Arcadians, and those responsible for the death of Philopoemen were caught and punished, all except Deinocrates, who perished by his own hand. The Arcadians also brought back to Megalopolis the bones of Philopoemen.

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.) — 8.51 focus

[1] At this time Philopoimen flung himself into Sparta and forced her to join the Achaean League. Shortly afterwards Titus, the Roman commander in Greece, and Diophanes, the son of Diaios, a Megalopolitan who had been elected general of the Achaeans, attacked Lacedaemon, accusing the Lacedaemonians of rebellion against the Romans. But Philopoimen, though at the time holding no office, shut the gates against them.

[2] For this reason, and because of his courage shown against both the despots, the Lacedaemonians offered him the house of Nabis, worth more than a hundred talents. But he scorned the wealth, and ordered the Lacedaemonians to court with gifts, not himself, but those who could persuade the many in the meeting of the Achaeans—a suggestion, it is said, directed against Timolaos. He was again appointed general of the Achaeans.

[3] At this time the Lacedaemonians were involved in civil war, and Philopoimen expelled from the Peloponnesus three hundred who were chiefly responsible for the civil war, sold some three thousand Helots, razed the walls of Sparta, and forbade the youths to train in the manner laid down by the laws of Lycurgus (Lykourgos), ordering them to follow the training of the Achaean youths. The Romans, in course of time, were to restore to the Lacedaemonians the discipline of their native land.

[4] When the Romans under Manius defeated at Thermopylae Antiokhos the descendant of Seleukos, named Nicator, and the Syrian army with him, Aristainos of Megalopolis advised the Achaeans to approve the wishes of the Romans in all respects, and to oppose them in nothing. Philopoimen looked angrily at Aristainos, and said that he was hastening on the doom of Greece. Manius wished the Lacedaemonian exiles to return, but Philopoimen opposed his plan, and only when Manius had gone away did he allow the exiles to be restored.

[5] But, nevertheless, Philopoimen too was to be punished for his pride. After being appointed commander of the Achaeans for the eighth time, he reproached a man of no little distinction for having been captured alive by the enemy. Now at this time the Achaeans had a grievance against the Messenians, and Philopoimen, despatching Lykortas with the army to lay waste the land of the Messenians, was very anxious two or three days later, in spite of his seventy years and a severe attack of fever, to take his share in the expedition of Lykortas. He led about sixty horsemen and targeteers.

[6] Lykortas, however, and his army were already on their way back to their country, having neither suffered great harm nor inflicted it on the Messenians. Philopoimen, wounded in the head during the battle, fell from his horse and was taken alive to Messene. A meeting of the assembly was immediately held, at which the most widely divergent opinions were expressed.

[7] Deinokrates, and all the Messenians whose wealth made them influential, urged that Philopoimen should be put to death; but the popular party were keen on saving his life, calling him Father, and more than Father, of all the Greek people. But Deinokrates, after all, and in spite of Messenian opposition, was to bring about the death of Philopoimen, for he sent poison in to him.

[8] Shortly afterwards Lykortas gathered a force from Arcadia and Achaea and marched against Messene. The Messenian populace at once went over to the side of the Arcadians, and those responsible for the death of Philopoimen were caught and punished, all except Deinokrates, who perished by his own hand. The Arcadians also brought back to Megalopolis the bones of Philopoimen.

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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 8.51

ed. Friedrich Spiro

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