- 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-grc2:8.51.1-8.51.8
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-31
Philopoemen incorporated Sparta into the Achaian League and abolished the traditional Lycurgan laws, but was later captured alive in a conflict with the Messenians and poisoned by Dinocrates.
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 ἐς Ῥωμαίους· Φιλοποίμην δέ, καίπερ ἐν τῷ παρόντι ἰδιώτης ὤν, ἀπέκλεισαν ὅμως1 ἐπιοῦσιν αὐτοῖς τὰς πύλας.
Philopoemen, having entered Sparta around this time, forced the Lacedaemonians to contribute to the Achaian League. Not long afterwards, Titus, the commander of the Romans around Greece, and Diophanes, the son of Diaeus, a Megalopolitan, who was chosen at that time to command the Achaians, marched against Lacedaemon, bringing an accusation against the Lacedaemonians that they were plotting revolution against the Romans; but Philopoemen, although he was a private citizen at the time, nevertheless closed the gates against them as they approached.
Λακεδαιμόνιοι δὲ τούτων τε ἕνεκα καὶ ὧν ἐς ἀμφοτέρους τοὺς τυράννους ἐτόλμησεν, ἐδίδοσαν2 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.
And the Lacedaemonians, both because of these things and because of what he had dared against both tyrants, offered him the house of Nabis, worth more than a hundred talents; but he looked down upon the money and urged the Lacedaemonians to court with gifts, instead of himself, those who were persuasive to the multitude in the assembly of the Achaians, and they say that he hinted at these things to Timolaus. And he was appointed again to be general of the Achaians.
Λακεδαιμονίων δὲ τηνικαῦτα ἐς ἔμφυλον προηγμένων στάσιν, τριακοσίους μὲν τῆς στάσεως μάλιστα αἰτίους ἐξέβαλεν ἐκ Πελοποννήσου καὶ τῶν εἱλώτων 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·
When the Lacedaemonians were at that time driven into civil strife, he banished from the Peloponnese about three hundred of those who were chiefly responsible for the sedition and sold about three thousand of the helots, and he pulled down the walls of Sparta and ordered the ephebes not to practice the training according to the laws of Lycurgus, but to be trained in the same way as the ephebes of the Achaians. And to them the Romans were later destined to restore their native education.
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 παραινοῦντος3 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, ἐκείνου δὲ ἀπελθόντος τότε ἤδη κατελθεῖν τοὺς φυγάδας ἐφίησιν ἐς Σπάρτην.
When Manius and the Romans had defeated Antiochus, the descendant of Seleucus who was called Nicator, and the Syrian army with him at Thermopylae, and when Aristaenus the Megalopolitan was advising the Achaians to approve in everything what was pleasing to the Romans and not to oppose them in anything, Philopoemen looked at Aristaenus with anger and said that he himself was hastening the destined doom for Greece; and when Manius wanted to receive back the Lacedaemonian exiles, he opposed his plan, but when that man had departed, only then did he permit the exiles to return to Sparta.
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·4 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.
But as it turned out, the punishment for arrogance was destined to come round to Philopoemen as well. For indeed, when he was appointed general of the Achaians for the eighth time, he reproached a man of no small reputation that he had been taken alive by the enemy; and—since at that time there was a charge by the Achaians against the Messenians—Philopoemen dispatched Lycortas with the army to lay waste the territory of the Messenians, but he himself about three days afterwards, though possessed by a high fever and being far advanced in life, over seventy years of age, nevertheless hastened to share the work with Lycortas; and he led about sixty cavalry and targeteers.
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·
Now Lycortas and the army with him were at that time already returning to their own land, having neither done anything great to the Messenians nor suffered anything themselves; but Philopoemen—for he had been wounded in the head in the battle and had fallen from his horse—they led alive to Messene. And when they immediately assembled in an assembly, their opinions differed greatly and were by no means the same for all.
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 ἄρα Φιλοποίμενα ἀναιρήσειν ἐσπέμψας φάρμακον.
Dinocrates and those of the Messenians who were powerful in wealth urged to kill Philopoemen; but those of the common people had the greatest eagerness to save him, naming him more than the father of all Greece. But Dinocrates, even against the will of the Messenians, was destined to make away with Philopoemen by sending in poison.
Λυκόρτας δὲ μετʼ οὐ πολὺ ἀθροίσας ἔκ τε Ἀρκαδίας καὶ παρʼ Ἀχαιῶν δύναμιν ἐστράτευσεν ἐπὶ Μεσσήνην· καὶ ὁ δῆμος αὐτίκα 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.
Not long afterwards Lycortas, having gathered a force from Arcadia and from the Achaians, marched against Messene; and the common people of the Messenians immediately surrendered to the Arcadians, and those who had been responsible for the death of Philopoemen were captured and paid the penalty, except for Dinocrates, while Dinocrates took his own life. And the Arcadians carried back the bones of Philopoemen to Megalopolis.
- 8.51.1Φιλοποίμην δὲ ... ἀπέκλεισαν ὅμως
The nominative 'Philopoemen' (Φιλοποίμην) is placed at the beginning of the clause, but the main verb that follows is in the third-person plural 'closed' (ἀπέκλεισαν), creating an anacoluthon (nominative pendens). This structure implies that Philopoemen exerted his influence to have the gates closed by the Lacedaemonians, or that he acted in concert with them.
- 8.51.2ἐδίδοσαν
The imperfect tense ἐδίδοσαν of the verb δίδωμι expresses a conative action ('they were offering' or 'they tried to give'), rather than a completed action. This is consistent with the subsequent context where Philopoemen rejects the money (ὁ δὲ ὑπερεφρόνησε).
- 8.51.4Ἀντίοχον δὲ ... νικησάντων καὶ Ἀρισταίνου ... παραινοῦντος
Both Ἀντίοχον ... νικησάντων at the beginning of the sentence and the subsequent Ἀρισταίνου ... παραινοῦντος are coordinate genitive absolute constructions. They build a multi-layered background describing the circumstances under which the subject of the main clause, 'Philopoemen' (ὁ Φιλοποίμην), acted ('looked with anger', ἀπεῖδεν).
- 8.51.5ἀνδρὶ οὐ τῶν ἀδόξων ὠνείδισεν ἁλῶναι ζῶντα ὑπὸ τῶν πολεμίων αὐτόν
The verb ὠνείδισε ('reproached') governs both the person reproached in the dative (ἀνδρὶ) and the content of the reproach in an infinitive clause (accusative with infinitive, ἁλῶναι ... αὐτόν). The subject of the infinitive ἁλῶναι is the accusative pronoun αὐτόν, which refers back to the dative ἀνδρὶ.