- Source
- Pausanias. Pausaniae Graeciae descriptio, Volumes 1-3. Spiro, Friedrich, editor. Leipzig: Teubner, 1903.
- Translation
- AI-generated (gemini-3.5-flash) — machine translation; may contain errors
- Languages
- 日本語 · English · 简体中文 · 한국어
- CTS URN
- urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:8.11.7-8.11.12
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-30
The author describes the death of Epaminondas and his tomb, and introduces historical anecdotes where he, Hannibal, and the Athenians were deceived by ambiguous oracles concerning homonymous places.
ὡς δὲ ἐτέτρωτο ὁ Ἐπαμινώνδας, ἐκκομίζουσιν ἔτι ζῶντα ἐκ τῆς παρατάξεως αὐτόν· ὁ δὲ τέως μὲν τὴν χεῖρα ἔχων ἐπὶ τῷ τραύματι ἐταλαιπώρει καὶ ἐς τοὺς μαχομένους ἀφεώρα—ὁπόθεν δὲ ἀπέβλεπεν ἐς αὐτούς, ὠνόμαζον Σκοπὴν οἱ ἔπειτα—, λαβόντος δὲ ἴσον τοῦ ἀγῶνος πέρας,1 οὕτω τὴν χεῖρα ἀπέσχεν ἀπὸ τοῦ τραύματος· καὶ αὐτὸν ἀφέντα τὴν ψυχὴν ἔθαψαν ἔνθα σφίσιν ἐγένετο ἡ συμβολή.
When Epaminondas was wounded, they carried him out of the battle line while still alive; and for a time, holding his hand over the wound, he endured the pain and looked toward those who were fighting—the place from which he looked back at them, those of later times called Scope (the Lookout)—but when the contest came to an equal end, then at last he removed his hand from the wound; and when he gave up his life, they buried him where the clash had occurred for them.
τῷ τάφῳ δὲ κίων τε ἐφέστηκε καὶ ἀσπὶς ἐπʼ αὐτῷ δράκοντα ἔχουσα ἐπειργασμένον· ὁ μὲν δὴ δράκων ἐθέλει σημαίνειν γένους τῶν Σπαρτῶν καλουμένων εἶναι τὸν Ἐπαμινώνδαν, στῆλαι δέ εἰσιν ἐπὶ τῷ μνήματι, ἡ μὲν ἀρχαία καὶ ἐπίγραμμα ἔχουσα Βοιώτιον, τὴν δὲ αὐτήν τε ἀνέθηκεν2 Ἀδριανὸς βασιλεὺς καὶ ἐποίησε τὸ ἐπίγραμμα τὸ ἐπʼ αὐτῇ.
On the grave stands a column, and upon it is a shield with a dragon carved on it; the dragon is meant to signify that Epaminondas belonged to the race of those called Spartoi. There are stelai upon the tomb, one ancient and having a Boeotian inscription, and the other Emperor Hadrian himself dedicated, and he also composed the inscription upon it.
τὸν δὲ Ἐπαμινώνδαν3 τῶν παρʼ Ἕλλησι στρατηγίας ἕνεκα εὐδοκιμησάντων μάλιστα ἐπαινέσαι τις ἂν ἢ ὕστερόν γε οὐδενὸς ποιήσαιτο· Λακεδαιμονίων μὲν γὰρ καὶ Ἀθηναίων τοῖς ἡγεμόσι πόλεών τε ἀξίωμα ὑπῆρχεν ἐκ παλαιοῦ καὶ οἱ στρατιῶται φρονήματός τι ἦσαν ἔχοντες, Θηβαίους δὲ Ἐπαμινώνδας ἀθύμους τὰς γνώμας καὶ ἄλλων ἀκούειν εἰωθότας ἀπέφηνεν ἐν οὐ πολλῷ πρωτεύοντας.
As for Epaminondas, one might praise him most of those who won renown among the Greeks for generalship, or at least place him second to none; for while the leaders of the Lacedaemonians and Athenians had the prestige of their cities from of old, and their soldiers possessed some pride, Epaminondas showed the Thebans, who were discouraged in spirit and accustomed to obey others, to be foremost in a short time.
ἐγεγόνει δὲ τῷ Ἐπαμινώνδᾳ μαντεία πρότερον ἔτι ἐκ Δελφῶν πέλαγος αὐτὸν φυλάσσεσθαι· καὶ ὁ μὲν τριήρους τε μὴ ἐπιβῆναι μηδὲ ἐπὶ νεὼς φορτίδος πλεῦσαι δεῖμα εἶχε, τῷ δὲ ἄρα Πέλαγος δρυμὸν καὶ οὐ θάλασσαν προέλεγεν ὁ δαίμων. χωρία δὲ τὰ ὁμώνυμα καὶ Ἀννίβαν ὕστερον τὸν Καρχηδόνιον καὶ πρότερον ἔτι Ἀθηναίους ἠπάτησεν.
Now an oracle had come to Epaminondas even earlier from Delphi to beware of Pelagos; and he was afraid to board a trireme or to sail on a merchant vessel, but the divinity was foretelling “Pelagos” as the oak wood and not the sea. And places of the same name deceived Hannibal the Carthaginian later, and even earlier the Athenians.
Ἀννίβᾳ γὰρ χρησμὸς ἀφίκετο παρὰ Ἄμμωνος ὡς ἀποθανὼν γῇ καλυφθήσεται τῇ Λιβύσσῃ. ὁ μὲν δὴ ἤλπιζεν ἀρχήν τε τὴν Ῥωμαίων καθαιρήσειν καὶ οἴκαδε ἐς τὴν Λιβύην ἐπανελθὼν τελευτήσειν γήρᾳ τὸν βίον. Φλαμινίου δὲ τοῦ Ῥωμαίου ποιουμένου σπουδὴν ἑλεῖν ζῶντα αὐτόν, ἀφικόμενος παρὰ Προυσίαν ἱκέτης καὶ ἀπωσθεὶς ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ ἀνεπήδα τε ἐπὶ τὸν ἵππον καὶ γυμνωθέντος τοῦ ξίφους τιτρώσκεται τὸν δάκτυλον. προελθόντι δέ οἱ στάδια οὐ πολλὰ πυρετός τε ἀπὸ τοῦ τραύματος καὶ ἡ τελευτὴ τριταίῳ4 συνέβη· τὸ δὲ χωρίον ἔνθα ἀπέθανε καλοῦσιν οἱ Νικομηδεῖς Λίβυσσαν.
For to Hannibal an oracle had come from Ammon that when he died he would be covered by Libyan earth. He indeed hoped that he would destroy the Roman empire and return home to Libya to end his life in old age. But when Flamininus the Roman made haste to capture him alive, he came to Prusias as a suppliant, and being rejected by him, he leaped upon his horse, and as his sword was bared, he wounded his finger. When he had gone forward not many stadia, a fever resulted from the wound, and his death occurred on the third day; and the place where he died the Nicomedians call Libyssa.
Ἀθηναίοις δὲ μάντευμα ἐκ Δωδώνης Σικελίαν ἦλθεν οἰκίζειν, ἡ δὲ οὐ πόρρω τῆς πόλεως ἡ Σικελία λόφος ἐστὶν οὐ μέγας· οἱ δὲ οὐ συμφρονήσαντες τὸ εἰρημένον ἔς τε ὑπερορίους στρατείας προήχθησαν καὶ ἐς τὸν Συρακοσίων πόλεμον. ἔχοι δʼ ἄν τις καὶ πλέονα τοῖς εἰρημένοις ἐοικότα ἄλλα ἐξευρεῖν.
And to the Athenians an oracle came from Dodona to colonize Sicily, but “Sicily” was a small hill not far from the city; and they, not understanding what was said, were led on to campaigns beyond the borders and to the war with the Syracusans. One might find other examples similar to those mentioned, and even more of them.
- 8.11.7λαβόντος δὲ ἴσον τοῦ ἀγῶνος πέρας
Genitive absolute. The adjective ἴσον functions as a predicative modifier of πέρας, meaning "when the contest reached an equal (or undecided) end." This clause explains the reason why Epaminondas kept holding his wound and waiting for the battle's outcome until that moment.
- 8.11.8τὴν δὲ αὐτήν τε ἀνέθηκεν
The phrase τὴν δὲ, which stands in contrast to ἡ μὲν in the preceding clause, serves as the direct object (accusative) of the verb ἀνέθηκεν. αὐτήν is intensive ("it itself" or "he himself"). It is most naturally interpreted as "and the other [stele] itself Emperor Hadrian dedicated."
- 8.11.9τὸν δὲ Ἐπαμινώνδαν
The accusative τὸν δὲ Ἐπαμινώνδαν placed at the beginning of the sentence is the common direct object of the subsequent potential optatives ἐπαινέσαι τις ἂν and ποιήσαιτο. It is fronted (prolepsis) for topicalization to introduce the praise of Epaminondas.
- 8.11.11τριταίῳ
The adjective τριταῖος ("on the third day") agrees in the dative with the personal pronoun οἱ ("to him") and functions adverbially to mean "on the third day." This is a characteristic Greek idiom where adjectives of time or day-count agree with the person concerned to express when an event occurred.