- 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-grc2:9.15.1-9.15.6
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-01
Epaminondas rescues the army from danger as a common soldier during the Thessalian expedition to release Pelopidas, and later, having been re-elected Boeotarch, he fights in the Peloponnese and falls at the Battle of Mantinea, honored by a monument.
μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ἐν Θεσσαλίᾳ δυναστεύων Ἀλέξανδρος Πελοπίδαν ἐλθόντα—ἀφίκετο δὲ ὡς παρὰ ἄνδρα ἰδίᾳ τε εὔνουν αὑτῷ καὶ Θηβαίων φίλον τῷ κοινῷ— παραγενόμενον δὴ τὸν Πελοπίδαν ὁ Ἀλέξανδρος δήσας εἶχεν1 ὑπὸ ἀπιστίας τε καὶ ὕβρεως· Θηβαῖοι δὲ ἐπεξιέναι παραυτίκα ἐπὶ τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον ὥρμηντο. ἡγεμόνας μὲν οὖν τῆς ἐξόδου Κλεομένην καὶ Ὕπατον ἐποιήσαντο βοιωταρχοῦντας ἐν τῷ τότε· Ἐπαμινώνδᾳ δὲ συνέβαινεν ἐν τοῖς στρατευομένοις τετάχθαι.2
After these events, Alexander, who was ruling in Thessaly, having bound Pelopidas on his arrival—who had come to him as to a man privately well-disposed to him and publicly a friend of the Thebans—Alexander, indeed, kept Pelopidas in chains out of distrust and insolence; and the Thebans immediately hastened to march out against Alexander. They made Cleomenes and Hypatus, who were Boeotarchs at that time, the leaders of the expedition; but it happened that Epaminondas was stationed among the common soldiers.
γεγονυίας δὲ ἐκτὸς Πυλῶν οἱ τῆς δυνάμεως3 ἐπιτίθεταί σφισιν ἐν δυσχωρίαις λοχήσας ὁ Ἀλέξανδρος· ὡς δὲ ἐφαίνετο ἄπορα εἶναι τὰ τῆς σωτηρίας, οὕτω δὴ ὅ τε λοιπὸς στρατὸς ἡγεμόνα ποιοῦνται τὸν Ἐπαμινώνδαν καὶ οἱ Βοιωτάρχαι παραχωροῦσιν ἑκουσίως τῆς ἀρχῆς· Ἀλέξανδρος δὲ οὔτε ἔτι ἐθάρρει τὸν πόλεμον στρατηγοῦντα ὁρῶν τοῖς ἐναντίοις Ἐπαμινώνδαν καὶ ἑκὼν Πελοπίδαν ἀφίησιν.
When the force had got outside the Gates, Alexander attacked them, having laid an ambush in difficult ground; and when there seemed to be no way of safety, then indeed the rest of the army made Epaminondas their leader, and the Boeotarchs voluntarily surrendered their command; and Alexander, seeing Epaminondas commanding the enemy, no longer had courage for the war and voluntarily released Pelopidas.
ἐν ὅσῳ δὲ ἀπῆν ὁ Ἐπαμινώνδας, Ὀρχομενίους Θηβαῖοι ποιοῦσιν ἀναστάτους ἐκ τῆς χώρας· συμφορὰν δὲ τὴν ἀνάστασιν τὴν Ὀρχομενίων ἐνόμιζεν ὁ Ἐπαμινώνδας καὶ οὔ ποτʼ ἂν ἐξεργασθῆναι τόλμημα τοιοῦτον αὐτοῦ γε παρόντος4 ἔφασκεν ὑπὸ Θηβαίων.
While Epaminondas was away, the Thebans drove the Orchomenians out of their country; Epaminondas considered the expulsion of the Orchomenians a calamity, and said that such a daring deed would never have been carried out by the Thebans if he at least had been present.
ὡς δὲ βοιωταρχεῖν αὖθις ᾕρητο καὶ στρατῷ Βοιωτῶν ἀφίκετο αὖθις ἐς Πελοπόννησον, ἐκράτησε μὲν περὶ Λέχαιον Λακεδαιμονίους μάχῃ, σὺν δέ σφισιν Ἀχαιῶν Πελληνέας καὶ Ἀθηναίων οὓς Χαβρίας ἦγεν ἐξ Ἀθηνῶν. Θηβαίοις δὲ ἦν καθεστηκὸς τοὺς μὲν ἄλλους, ὁπόσους αἰχμαλώτους ἕλοιεν, ἀφιέναι χρημάτων, τοὺς δὲ ἐκ Βοιωτῶν φεύγοντας ζημιοῦν θανάτῳ· πόλισμα οὖν ἑλὼν Σικυωνίων Φοιβίαν, ἔνθα ἦσαν τὸ πολὺ οἱ Βοιώτιοι φυγάδες συνηγμένοι, ἀφίησι τοὺς ἐγκαταληφθέντας, ἄλλην σφίσιν ἣν ἔτυχε πατρίδα ἐπονομάζων5 ἑκάστῳ.
When he was elected Boeotarch again and had arrived once more in the Peloponnese with an army of Boeotians, he defeated the Lacedaemonians in battle near Lechaeum, and with them the Pelleneans of the Achaeans and the Athenians whom Chabrias was leading from Athens. Now it was established among the Thebans to release the others, as many as they took prisoner, for money, but to punish with death those who were exiles from Boeotia; so having taken Phoebia, a small town of the Sicyonians where the Boeotian exiles had gathered for the most part, he released those who were captured, giving to each another homeland, whichever he happened to name for them.
ὡς δὲ ἀφίκετο πρὸς Μαντίνειαν τῇ στρατιᾷ, νικῶν καὶ τότε ὑπὸ ἀνδρὸς ἀπέθανεν Ἀθηναίου· καὶ Ἀθήνῃσιν ἐν ἱππέων μάχῃ τὸν Ἐπαμινώνδαν ὁ ἀνὴρ οὗτος γέγραπται φονεύων Γρύλος ὁ Ξενοφῶντος, Ξενοφῶντος δὴ τοῦ Κύρῳ ὁδοῦ μετασχόντος ἐπὶ βασιλέα Ἀρταξέρξην καὶ ὀπίσω τοῖς Ἕλλησιν ἐπὶ θάλασσαν ἡγησαμένου.
When he arrived with his army at Mantinea, though victorious even then, he was killed by an Athenian man; and at Athens, in a painting of a cavalry battle, this man is depicted killing Epaminondas—Grylus the son of Xenophon, that Xenophon who shared in the expedition with Cyrus against King Artaxerxes and led the Greeks back to the sea.
τῷ δὲ ἀνδριάντι τοῦ Ἐπαμινώνδου καὶ ἐλεγεῖα ἔπεστιν ἄλλα τε ἐς αὐτὸν λέγοντα καὶ ὅτι Μεσσήνης γένοιτο οἰκιστὴς καὶ τοῖς Ἕλλησιν ὑπάρξειεν ἐλευθερία διʼ αὐτοῦ. καὶ οὕτως ἔχει τὰ ἐλεγεῖα· "ἡμετέραις βουλαῖς Σπάρτη μὲν ἐκείρατο δόξαν, Μεσσήνη δʼ ἱερὴ τέκνα χρόνῳ δέχεται· Θήβης δʼ ὅπλοισιν Μεγάλη πόλις ἐστεφάνωται, αὐτόνομος δʼ Ἑλλὰς πᾶσʼ ἐν ἐλευθερίῃ." τούτῳ μὲν τοσαῦτα ἦν ἐς δόξαν·
On the statue of Epaminondas there are also elegiac verses, saying other things about him, and that he became the founder of Messene and that through him freedom came to the Greeks. And the elegiac verses run thus: “By our counsels Sparta has had her glory shorn, and holy Messene receives her children in course of time; by the arms of Thebes is Megalopolis crowned, and all Greece is autonomous in freedom.” For him, such great things were for his glory.
- 9.15.1δήσας εἶχεν
The combination of the participle δήσας and the verb εἶχεν is a periphrastic construction equivalent to a perfect tense, emphasizing the continued state of holding Pelopidas in chains.
- 9.15.1συνέβαινεν ... τετάχθαι
The impersonal verb συνέβαινεν followed by the infinitive τετάχθαι ('it happened that...') describes the situation where Epaminondas, not being a general, was stationed among the common soldiers.
- 9.15.2γεγονυίας ... τῆς δυνάμεως
A genitive absolute construction, where the perfect participle γεγονυίας of γίγνομαι agrees with the feminine noun δυνάμεως ('force'), meaning 'when the force had reached/got...'.
- 9.15.3οὔ ποτʼ ἂν ἐξεργασθῆναι ... αὐτοῦ γε παρόντος
An accusative with infinitive construction in indirect discourse introduced by ἔφασκεν. The particle ἂν with the infinitive ἐξεργασθῆναι represents a contrary-to-fact indicative in direct discourse, with the condition expressed by the participle clause αὐτοῦ γε παρόντος ('if he at least had been present').
- 9.15.4ἄλλην σφίσιν ἣν ἔτυχε πατρίδα ἐπονομάζων
The verb ἔτυχε ('happened to') is construed with the supplementary participle ἐπονομάζων ('naming'). The relative pronoun ἣν is attracted into its own clause with its antecedent πατρίδα ('homeland'), referring to his scheme of giving each captive a randomly chosen homeland to spare them from execution.