- 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-grc2:8.8.7-8.8.12
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-30
The passage describes Agesipolis' capture and dissolution of Mantinea, its subsequent restoration, the shifting alliances with the Achaean League and Rome, and Emperor Hadrian's restoration of its original name.
χρόνῳ δὲ ὕστερον Λακεδαιμονίων στρατιὰ καὶ Ἀγησίπολις ὁ Παυσανίου βασιλεὺς ἐσέβαλον ἐς τὴν Μαντινικήν. ὡς δὲ ἐκράτησεν ὁ Ἀγησίπολις τῇ μάχῃ καὶ ἐς τὸ τεῖχος κατέκλεισε τοὺς Μαντινέας, εἷλεν οὐ μετὰ πολὺ τὴν πόλιν, οὐ πολιορκίᾳ κατὰ τὸ ἰσχυρόν, τὸν δὲ Ὄφιν ποταμὸν ἀποστρέψας σφίσιν ἐς τὸ τεῖχος ὠμῆς ᾠκοδομημένον τῆς πλίνθου.1
Some time later, a Lacedaemonian army and Agesipolis, the son of Pausanias, the king, invaded the territory of Mantinea. When Agesipolis had conquered in the battle and shut up the Mantineans within their wall, he took the city not long after, not by a siege by force, but by turning the river Ophis against their wall, which had been built of unburnt brick.
ἐς μὲν δὴ μηχανημάτων ἐμβολὴν ἀσφάλειαν ἡ πλίνθος παρέχεται μᾶλλον ἢ ὁπόσα λίθου πεποιημένα ἐστίν· οἱ μὲν γὰρ κατάγνυνταί τε καὶ ἐκπηδῶσιν ἐκ τῶν ἁρμονιῶν, ἡ δὲ πλίνθος ἐκ μηχανημάτων μὲν οὐχ ὁμοίως πονεῖ, διαλύεται δὲ ὑπὸ τοῦ ὕδατος οὐχ ἧσσον ἢ ὑπὸ τοῦ ἡλίου κηρός.
Indeed, brick affords greater safety against the impact of siege engines than any structures made of stone; for stones shatter and jump out of their joints, but while brick does not suffer in the same way from engines, it is dissolved by water no less than wax by the sun.
τοῦτο οὐκ Ἀγησίπολις τὸ στρατήγημα ἐς τὸ τεῖχος τῶν Μαντινέων ἐστὶν ὁ συνείς,2 ἀλλὰ πρότερον ἔτι Κίμωνι ἐξευρέθη τῷ Μιλτιάδου Βόγην πολιορκοῦντι ἄνδρα Μῆδον καὶ ὅσοι Περσῶν Ἠιόνα τὴν ἐπὶ Στρυμόνι εἶχον· Ἀγησίπολις δὲ καθεστηκὸς καὶ ᾀδόμενον ὑπὸ Ἑλλήνων ἐμιμήσατο. ὡς δὲ εἷλε τὴν Μαντίνειαν, ὀλίγον μέν τι κατέλιπεν οἰκεῖσθαι, τὸ πλεῖστον δὲ ἐς ἔδαφος καταβαλὼν αὐτῆς κατὰ κώμας τοὺς ἀνθρώπους διῴκισε.
It was not Agesipolis who devised this stratagem against the wall of the Mantineans, but it had been invented even earlier by Cimon, the son of Miltiades, when he was besieging Boges, a Median man, and all the Persians who held Eion on the Strymon; Agesipolis merely imitated a practice that was established and celebrated among the Greeks. When he had taken Mantinea, he left some small part of it to be inhabited, but having razed most of it to the ground, he dispersed the people to live in villages.
Μαντινέας δὲ ἐκ τῶν κωμῶν κατάξειν ἐς τὴν πατρίδα ἔμελλον Θηβαῖοι μετὰ τὸ ἔργον τὸ ἐν Λεύκτροις. κατελθόντες δὲ οὐ τὰ πάντα ἐγένοντο δίκαιοι· περιληφθέντες3 δὲ ἐπικηρυκευόμενοι Λακεδαιμονίοις καὶ εἰρήνην ἰδίᾳ πρὸς αὐτοὺς ἄνευ τοῦ Ἀρκάδων κοινοῦ πράσσοντες, οὕτω διὰ τὸ δέος τῶν Θηβαίων ἐς τὴν Λακεδαιμονίων συμμαχίαν μετεβάλοντο ἐκ τοῦ φανεροῦ, καὶ τῆς Μαντινικῆς πρὸς Ἐπαμινώνδαν καὶ Θηβαίους μάχης Λακεδαιμονίων γινομένης ὁμοῦ τοῖς Λακεδαιμονίοις ἐτάξαντο οἱ Μαντινεῖς.
But the Thebans were destined to bring back the Mantineans from the villages to their native city after the action at Leuctra. Having returned, however, they did not prove entirely just in all things; when they were detected sending heralds to the Lacedaemonians and negotiating peace privately with them without the Arcadian league, they thus, out of fear of the Thebans, openly went over to the alliance of the Lacedaemonians, and when the battle of the Lacedaemonians against Epaminondas and the Thebans took place in the territory of Mantinea, the Mantineans drew up on the side of the Lacedaemonians.
τούτων δὲ ὕστερον διαφορὰ ἐγένετο Μαντινεῦσιν ἐς τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους, καὶ ἀπʼ αὐτῶν μετέστησαν ἐς τὸ Ἀχαϊκόν· καὶ Ἆγιν τὸν Εὐδαμίδου βασιλεύοντα ἐν Σπάρτῃ νικῶσιν ἀμύνοντες τῇ σφετέρᾳ, νικῶσι δὲ προσλαβόντες Ἀχαιῶν στρατιὰν καὶ Ἄρατον ἡγεμόνα ἐπʼ αὐτῇ. μετέσχον δὲ καὶ πρὸς Κλεομένην τοῦ ἔργου τοῖς Ἀχαιοῖς καὶ συγκαθεῖλον Λακεδαιμονίων τὴν ἰσχύν. Ἀντιγόνου δὲ ἐν Μακεδονίᾳ Φίλιππον τὸν Περσέως πατέρα ἔτι παῖδα ἐπιτροπεύοντος καὶ Ἀχαιοῖς ἐς τὰ μάλιστα ὄντος ἐπιτηδείου, ἄλλα τε ἐς τιμὴν αὐτοῦ Μαντινεῦσιν ἐποιήθη καὶ ὄνομα τῇ πόλει μετέθεντο Ἀντιγόνειαν.
But later than these events, a disagreement arose between the Mantineans and the Lacedaemonians, and they revolted from them to the Achaean League; and they defeated Agis, the son of Eudamidas, who was king in Sparta, while defending their own land, defeating him after receiving an army of the Achaeans and Aratus as its commander. They also took part with the Achaeans in the action against Cleomenes, and helped to overthrow the power of the Lacedaemonians. When Antigonus was regent in Macedonia for Philip, the father of Perseus, who was still a child, and was highly friendly to the Achaeans, other things also were done by the Mantineans to honor him and they changed the name of the city to Antigonea.
χρόνῳ δὲ ὕστερον Αὐγούστου πρὸς τῇ ἄκρᾳ τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνος τοῦ Ἀκτίου ναυμαχήσειν μέλλοντος Μαντινεῖς ἐμαχέσαντο ὁμοῦ Ῥωμαίοις, τὸ δὲ ἄλλο Ἀρκαδικὸν συνετάχθησαν Ἀντωνίῳ, κατʼ ἄλλο μὲν ἐμοὶ δοκεῖν4 οὐδέν, ὅτι δὲ ἐφρόνουν οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι τὰ Αὐγούστου. δέκα δὲ ὕστερον γενεαῖς ἐβασίλευσέ τε Ἀδριανὸς καὶ ἀφελὼν Μαντινεῦσι τὸ ὄνομα τὸ ἐκ Μακεδονίας ἐπακτὸν ἀπέδωκεν αὖθις Μαντίνειαν καλεῖσθαί σφισι τὴν πόλιν.
Later on, when Augustus was about to fight a naval battle near the promontory of Actian Apollo, the Mantineans fought on the side of the Romans, while the rest of the Arcadians drew up with Antony, for no other reason, in my opinion, than that the Lacedaemonians favored the cause of Augustus. Ten generations later, Hadrian became emperor, and having taken away from the Mantineans the imported name from Macedonia, he restored to them that their city should again be called Mantinea.
- 8.8.7ὠμῆς ᾠκοδομημένον τῆς πλίνθου
ὠμῆς... τῆς πλίνθου is a genitive of material ("built of unburnt brick"). The physical vulnerability of unburnt brick to water serves as the premise for the discussion detailed in section 8.8.8.
- 8.8.9τοῦτο οὐκ Ἀγησίπολις τὸ στρατήγημα ... ἐστὶν ὁ συνείς
The negative οὐκ is placed directly before Ἀγησίπολις, forming a cleft-like emphatic construction with the copula ἐστίν and the participle συνείς (aorist participle of συνίημι, "to understand, devise"), emphasizing the fact that "it was not Agesipolis who devised this stratagem."
- 8.8.10περιληφθέντες
A passive aorist participle of περιλαμβάνω ("to surround, catch, detect"). In this context, it is most naturally interpreted as "having been detected" or "caught in the act" of negotiating a separate peace with the Lacedaemonians.
- 8.8.12ἐμοὶ δοκεῖν
An absolute infinitive construction (restrictive use) using the infinitive δοκεῖν, meaning "in my opinion" or "as it seems to me."