- Source
- Diodorus Siculus. Diodori Bibliotheca Historica. Vols. 4-5 (partial). Bekker, Immanuel; Dindorf, Ludwig; Fischer, Curt Theodor; editors. Leipzig: Teubner, 1903-1906.
- Translation
- AI-generated (gemini-3.5-flash) — machine translation; may contain errors
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- 日本語 · English · 简体中文 · 한국어
- CTS URN
- urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0060.tlg001.humanitext-grc6:19.70.1-19.70.8
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-09
Acragas invites Acrotatus from Sparta as a general to oppose Agathocles. On his way, Acrotatus raises the siege of Apollonia and secures support from Tarentum.
κατὰ δὲ τὴν Σικελίαν οἱ τῶν Συρακοσίων φυγάδες διατρίβοντες ἐν Ἀκράγαντι παρεκάλουν τοὺς προεστηκότας τῆς πόλεως μὴ περιορᾶν Ἀγαθοκλέα συσκευαζόμενον τὰς πόλεις· αἱρετώτερον γὰρ εἶναι πρὸ τοῦ τὸν τύραννον ἰσχυρὸν γενέσθαι1 διαπολεμεῖν ἑκουσίως ἢ περιμείναντας αὐτοῦ τὴν αὔξησιν ἐξ ἀνάγκης πρὸς ἰσχυρότερον διαγωνίζεσθαι.
In Sicily, the Syracusan exiles living in Acragas urged the leaders of the city not to look on while Agathocles was bringing the cities into subjection. For they argued that it was preferable to wage war voluntarily before the tyrant became strong, rather than, having waited for his growth, to contend under necessity against a more powerful foe.
δοξάντων δʼ αὐτῶν2 ἀληθῆ λέγειν ὁ μὲν δῆμος τῶν Ἀκραγαντίνων ἐψηφίσατο τὸν πόλεμον καὶ Γελῴους μὲν καὶ Μεσσηνίους εἰς τὴν συμμαχίαν προσελάβοντο, εἰς δὲ τὴν Λακεδαιμονίαν τῶν φυγάδων τινὰς ἐξέπεμψαν, ἐντειλάμενοι πειρᾶσθαι στρατηγὸν ἄγειν τὸν δυνάμενον πραγμάτων ἀφηγήσασθαι·
Since they were thought to speak the truth, the people of the Acragantines voted for war and associated the Geloans and the Messenians in the alliance; and they sent some of the exiles to Lacedaemon, instructing them to try to bring back a general capable of directing affairs.
τοὺς γὰρ πολιτικοὺς ὑπώπτευον ὡς ὄντας οἰκείους τυραννίδος, τοὺς δʼ ἔξωθεν ὑπελάμβανον δικαίως ποιήσεσθαι τὴν τῶν ὅλων ἐπιμέλειαν, ἀναμιμνησκόμενοι τῆς Τιμολέοντος τοῦ Κορινθίου στρατηγίας.
For they suspected their own citizens of having a leaning toward tyranny, but supposed that outsiders would conduct the supervision of all interests justly, remembering the generalship of Timoleon the Corinthian.
οἱ δὲ πεμφθέντες ὥς ποθʼ ἧκον εἰς τὴν Λακωνικήν, εὗρον Ἀκρότατον τὸν Κλεομένους τοῦ βασιλέως υἱὸν προσκεκοφότα πολλοῖς τῶν νέων καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ξενικῶν πραγμάτων ὀρεγόμενον.
When the envoys arrived in Laconia, they found Acrotatus, the son of King Cleomenes, who had offended many of the young men and for this reason was longing for foreign undertakings.
τῶν γὰρ Λακεδαιμονίων μετὰ τὴν πρὸς Ἀντίπατρον μάχην ἀπολυόντων τῆς ἀτιμίας τοὺς ἐκ τῆς ἥττης διασωθέντας μόνος ἐνέστη τῷ δόγματι. διόπερ αὐτὸν συνέβη καὶ τῶν ἄλλων οὐκ ὀλίγοις προσκόψαι, μάλιστα δʼ οἷς ἦν τῶν νόμων τὰ πρόστιμα· οὗτοι γὰρ συστραφέντες πληγάς τε ἐνεφόρησαν αὐτῷ καὶ διετέλουν ἐπιβουλεύοντες.
For when the Lacedaemonians, after the battle against Antipater, released from disfranchisement those who had survived the defeat, he alone opposed the decree. Consequently, it happened that he offended not a few of the others, and especially those who were subject to the penalties of the laws; for these men, banding together, inflicted blows upon him and continually plotted against him.
διὰ ταῦτα δὴ ξενικῆς ἡγεμονίας ἐπιθυμῶν ἀσμένως ὑπήκουσε τοῖς Ἀκραγαντίνοις. τὴν δʼ ἀποδημίαν ποιησάμενος ἄνευ τῆς τῶν ἐφόρων γνώμης ἀνήχθη ναυσὶν ὀλίγαις, ὡς διαίρων ἐπʼ Ἀκράγαντος. ἀπενεχθεὶς δʼ ὑπʼ ἀνέμων εἰς τὸν Ἀδρίαν κατῆρε μὲν εἰς τὴν τῶν Ἀπολλωνιατῶν χώραν, καταλαβὼν δὲ τὴν πόλιν πολιορκουμένην ὑπὸ Γλαυκίου τοῦ βασιλέως τῶν Ἰλλυριῶν ἔλυσε τὴν πολιορκίαν, πείσας τὸν βασιλέα συνθήκας ποιήσασθαι πρὸς τοὺς Ἀπολλωνιάτας.
For these reasons, desiring a foreign command, he gladly listened to the Acragantines. And having made his departure without the consent of the ephors, he set sail with a few ships, intending to cross over to Acragas. But having been carried away by the winds into the Adriatic, he put in at the territory of the Apolloniates, and finding the city besieged by Glaucias, the king of the Illyrians, he raised the siege, having persuaded the king to make a treaty with the Apolloniates.
ἐντεῦθεν δὲ πλεύσας εἰς Τάραντα καὶ παρακαλέσας τὸν δῆμον συνελευθεροῦν Συρακοσίους, ἔπεισε ψηφίσασθαι ναυσὶν εἴκοσι βοηθεῖν· διὰ γὰρ τὴν συγγένειαν καὶ τὸ τῆς οἰκίας σχῆμα προσένεμον τοῖς λόγοις αὐτοῦ πίστιν τε μεγάλην καὶ βάρος.
And sailing from there to Tarentum and urging the people to help liberate the Syracusans, he persuaded them to vote to send twenty ships to assist; for because of their kinship and the prestige of his house, they attached great credibility and weight to his words.
- 19.70.1πρὸ τοῦ τὸν τύραννον ἰσχυρὸν γενέσθαι
The preposition πρό combined with the genitive article τοῦ and the infinitive γενέσθαι forms a temporal clause meaning "before...". The accusative τὸν τύραννον functions as the subject accusative of the infinitive, with ἰσχυρὸν as its predicate accusative.
- 19.70.2δοξάντων δʼ αὐτῶν
A genitive absolute construction consisting of the aorist participle δοξάντων (from δοκέω) and the pronoun αὐτῶν (referring to the exiles). The verb δοκέω is used here in the sense of "to seem" or "to be thought," taking the infinitive λέγειν as its complement, meaning "since they were thought to speak [the truth]."