- 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-grc2:8.33.1-8.33.4
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-31
Prompted by the decline of Megalopolis, Pausanias discusses the rise and fall of great historical cities and geographical changes, reflecting on the transience of human affairs and the mighty power of fortune.
εἰ δὲ ἡ Μεγάλη πόλις προθυμίᾳ τε τῇ πάσῃ συνοικισθεῖσα ὑπὸ Ἀρκάδων καὶ ἐπὶ μεγίσταις τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἐλπίσιν ἐς αὐτὴν κόσμον τὸν ἅπαντα καὶ εὐδαιμονίαν τὴν ἀρχαίαν ἀφῄρηται καὶ τὰ πολλά ἐστιν αὐτῆς ἐρείπια ἐφʼ ἡμῶν, θαῦμα οὐδὲν ἐποιησάμην, εἰδὼς τὸ δαιμόνιον νεώτερα ἀεί τινα ἐθέλον ἐργάζεσθαι, καὶ ὁμοίως τὰ πάντα τά τε ἐχυρὰ καὶ τὰ ἀσθενῆ καὶ τὰ γινόμενά τε καὶ ὁπόσα ἀπόλλυνται μεταβάλλουσαν τὴν τύχην, καὶ ὅπως ἂν αὐτῇ παριστῆται1 μετὰ ἰσχυρᾶς ἀνάγκης ἄγουσαν.2
But if Megalopolis, which was founded as a joint settlement by the Arcadians with all enthusiasm, and with the greatest hopes among the Greeks, has been stripped of all its splendor and its ancient prosperity, and in our time the greater part of it is in ruins, I did not wonder at all, knowing that the divine power is always willing to work some new thing, and that fortune changes all things alike, both the strong and the weak, both those that are coming into being and those that perish, and leads them with strong necessity in whatever way it may present itself to her.
Μυκῆναι μέν γε, τοῦ πρὸς Ἰλίῳ πολέμου τοῖς Ἕλλησιν ἡγησαμένη, καὶ Νῖνος, ἔνθα ἦν Ἀσσυρίοις βασίλεια, καὶ Βοιώτιαι Θῆβαι προστῆναι τοῦ Ἑλληνικοῦ ποτε ἀξιωθεῖσαι, αἱ μὲν ἠρήμωνται πανώλεθροι, τὸ δὲ ὄνομα τῶν Θηβῶν ἐς ἀκρόπολιν μόνην καὶ οἰκήτορας καταβέβηκεν οὐ πολλούς. τὰ δὲ ὑπερηρκότα πλούτῳ τὸ ἀρχαῖον, Θῆβαί τε αἱ Αἰγύπτιοι καὶ ὁ Μινύης Ὀρχομενὸς καὶ ἡ Δῆλος τὸ κοινὸν Ἑλλήνων ἐμπόριον, αἱ μὲν ἀνδρὸς ἰδιώτου μέσου δυνάμει χρημάτων καταδέουσιν ἐς εὐδαιμονίαν, ἡ Δῆλος δέ, ἀφελόντι3 τοὺς ἀφικνουμένους παρʼ Ἀθηναίων ἐς τοῦ ἱεροῦ τὴν φρουράν, Δηλίων γε ἕνεκα ἔρημός ἐστιν ἀνθρώπων.
Indeed, Mycenae, which led the Greeks in the war against Ilium, and Ninus, where the palace of the Assyrians was, and Boeotian Thebes, which was once deemed worthy to stand at the head of the Greek world, have on the one hand been utterly destroyed and laid waste, and the name of Thebes has come down to the acropolis alone and to a few inhabitants. On the other hand, those which of old surpassed in wealth, namely Egyptian Thebes, Orchomenus of the Minyae, and Delos, the common mart of the Greeks, are on the one hand inferior in prosperity even to the wealth of an ordinary man of moderate means, while Delos, if one removes those who come from Athens for the guard of the sanctuary, is, as far as the Delians themselves are concerned, destitute of men.
Βαβυλῶνος δὲ τοῦ μὲν Βήλου τὸ ἱερὸν λείπεται, Βαβυλῶνος δὲ ταύτης, ἥντινα εἶδε πόλεων τῶν τότε μεγίστην ἥλιος, οὐδὲν ἔτι ἦν εἰ μὴ τεῖχος, καθὰ καὶ Τίρυνθος τῆς ἐν τῇ Ἀργολίδι. ταῦτα μὲν δὴ ἐποίησεν ὁ δαίμων εἶναι τὸ μηδέν· ἡ δὲ Ἀλεξάνδρου πόλις ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ καὶ ἡ Σελεύκου παρὰ τῷ Ὀρόντῃ χθές τε ᾠκισμέναι καὶ πρῴην ἐς τοσοῦτο ἐπιδεδώκασι μεγέθους καὶ εὐδαιμονίας, ὅτι σφᾶς ἡ τύχη δεξιοῦται.
Of Babylon, the temple of Belus remains, but of this Babylon, which the sun once saw as the greatest of the cities of that time, nothing was still left but the wall, just as of Tiryns in Argolis. These things indeed the divine power has made to be nothing; while the city of Alexander in Egypt and that of Seleucus on the Orontes, founded yesterday and the day before, have increased to such a degree of size and prosperity because fortune favors them.
ἐπιδείκνυται δὲ καὶ ἐν τῷδε ἔτι τὴν ἰσχὺν μείζονα καὶ θαύματος πλείονος ἢ κατὰ συμφορὰς καὶ εὐπραγίας πόλεων· Λήμνου γὰρ πλοῦν ἀπεῖχεν οὐ πολὺν Χρύση νῆσος, ἐν ᾗ καὶ τῷ Φιλοκτήτῃ γενέσθαι συμφορὰν ἐκ τοῦ ὕδρου φασί· ταύτην κατέλαβεν ὁ κλύδων πᾶσαν, καὶ κατέδυ τε ἡ Χρύση καὶ ἠφάνισται κατὰ τοῦ βυθοῦ. νῆσον δὲ ἄλλην καλουμένην Ἱερὰν τόνδε οὐκ ἦν χρόνον.4 οὕτω μὲν τὰ ἀνθρώπινα πρόσκαιρά τε καὶ οὐδαμῶς ἐστιν ἐχυρά·
And fortune displays her power even greater and of more wonder in this than in the disasters and successes of cities; for the island of Chryse was not a long voyage distant from Lemnos, on which they say that Philoctetes met with his misfortune from the water-snake; this island the flood completely engulfed, and Chryse sank and disappeared into the depths. And another island called Hiera did not exist at that time. Thus human affairs are transitory and in no way secure.
- 8.33.1ὅπως ἂν αὐτῇ παριστῆται
The clause ὅπως ἄν with the subjunctive παριστῆται functions as an adverbial clause meaning 'in whatever way it may present itself to her' or 'as it pleases her,' emphasizing the arbitrary or subjective will of fortune.
- 8.33.1εἰδὼς τὸ δαιμόνιον... τὴν τύχην μεταβάλλουσαν... ἄγουσαν
The participle εἰδώς ('knowing') takes a series of accusative-and-participle constructions instead of infinitives as its complements. The expressions τὸ δαιμόνιον... ἐθέλον ἐργάζεσθαι ('the divine power wishing to work...'), τὴν τύχην... μεταβάλλουσαν ('fortune changing...'), and ἄγουσαν ('leading...') are coordinated as the direct objects of εἰδώς.
- 8.33.2ἀφελόντι
The dative participle ἀφελόντι (from ἀφαιρέω) is a 'dative of reference' or conditional dative, meaning 'if one removes' or 'if one sets aside (those coming from Athens).'
- 8.33.4τόνδε οὐκ ἦν χρόνον
The accusative of duration or point of time τόνδε... χρόνον with οὐκ ἦν. It indicates that the island did not exist 'at that time' (implying it appeared later).