- 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-grc2:9.6.1-9.6.6
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-01
This section reviews the historical victories and defeats of Thebes against Athens and Sparta, and describes the ominous signs at the temple of Demeter that foreshadowed its destruction by Alexander after resisting Macedonian rule.
τῶν δέ σφισιν ἐν ἀγῶσι πολέμου γενομένων εὐτυχημάτων, καὶ ὡς ἑτέρως,1 τοσάδε φανερώτατα ὄντα εὕρισκον. ἐκρατήθησαν ὑπὸ Ἀθηναίων μάχῃ Πλαταιεῦσιν ἀμυνάντων, ὅτε σφᾶς ἐπέλαβεν ὑπὲρ τῶν ὅρων πολεμῆσαι τῆς χώρας·2 προσέπταισαν δὲ καὶ δεύτερον Ἀθηναίοις ἀντιταξάμενοι περὶ Πλάταιαν, ἡνίκα δοκοῦσιν ἑλέσθαι τὰ βασιλέως Ξέρξου πρὸ τῶν Ἑλληνικῶν.
Regarding the successes that befell them in the contests of war, and also the reverse, I found the following to be the most manifest. They were defeated in battle by the Athenians who were defending the Plataeans, when it befell them to wage war over the boundaries of their land; and they also met with failure a second time, when they drew themselves up against the Athenians around Plataea, at the time when they seem to have chosen the side of King Xerxes in preference to that of the Greeks.
τῆς δὲ αἰτίας ταύτης δημοσίᾳ σφίσιν οὐ μέτεστιν,3 ὅτι ἐν ταῖς Θήβαις ὀλιγαρχία καὶ οὐχὶ ἡ πάτριος πολιτεία τηνικαῦτα ἴσχυεν· εἰ γοῦν Πεισιστράτου τυραννοῦντος ἔτι ἢ τῶν παίδων Ἀθήνῃσιν ἀφίκετο ἐπὶ τὴν Ἑλλάδα ὁ βάρβαρος, οὐκ ἔστιν ὅπως οὐ καὶ Ἀθηναίους κατέλαβεν ἂν4 ἔγκλημα μηδισμοῦ.
But they have no share in this blame publicly, because at that time in Thebes an oligarchy, and not their ancestral constitution, was in power; at any rate, if the barbarian had come against Greece while Pisistratus or his sons were still playing the tyrant at Athens, there is no way that a charge of Medism would not also have overtaken the Athenians.
ὕστερον μέντοι καὶ Θηβαίοις νίκη κατʼ Ἀθηναίων ἐπὶ Δηλίῳ τῷ Ταναγραίων ἐγένετο, καὶ Ἱπποκράτης τε ὁ Ἀρίφρονος, ὃς στρατηγὸς ἦν Ἀθηναίοις, καὶ τῆς ἄλλης στρατιᾶς τὸ πολὺ ἔπεσε. Λακεδαιμονίοις δὲ παραυτίκα μὲν ἀπελθόντος τοῦ Μήδου καὶ ἄχρι τοῦ Πελοποννησίων πρὸς Ἀθηναίους πολέμου τὰ ἐκ Θηβῶν εἶχεν ἐπιτηδείως· διαπολεμηθέντος δὲ τοῦ πολέμου καὶ Ἀθηναίοις καταλυθέντος τοῦ ναυτικοῦ, μετʼ οὐ πολὺ Θηβαῖοι μετὰ Κορινθίων ἐς τὸν πρὸς Λακεδαιμονίους πόλεμον προήχθησαν.
Later, however, a victory was also won by the Thebans over the Athenians at Delium in the territory of Tanagra, and Hippocrates the son of Ariphron, who was general of the Athenians, fell along with the greater part of the rest of the army. For the Lacedaemonians, immediately after the departure of the Persian and up to the war of the Peloponnesians against the Athenians, relations from Thebes were on a favorable footing; but when the war had been fought to an end and the naval power of the Athenians had been dissolved, not long after, the Thebans along with the Corinthians were led into the war against the Lacedaemonians.
κρατηθέντες δὲ μάχῃ περὶ Κόρινθόν τε καὶ ἐν Κορωνείᾳ, νικῶσιν αὖθις ἐν Λεύκτροις ἐπιφανεστάτην νίκην ὁπόσας γενομένας Ἕλλησιν ἴσμεν κατὰ Ἑλλήνων· καὶ δεκαδαρχίας τε, ἃς Λακεδαιμόνιοι κατέστησαν ἐν ταῖς πόλεσιν, ἔπαυσαν καὶ ἁρμοστὰς τοὺς Σπαρτιάτας ἐκβάλλουσιν. ὕστερον δὲ καὶ τὸν Φωκικὸν πόλεμον, ὀνομαζόμενον δὲ ὑπὸ Ἑλλήνων ἱερόν, συνεχῶς δέκα ἔτεσιν ἐπολέμησαν.
Having been defeated in battle around Corinth and at Coroneia, they won in turn at Leuctra a most illustrious victory of all those we know to have occurred among Greeks against Greeks; and they both put an end to the decarchies which the Lacedaemonians had established in the cities, and expelled the Spartan harmosts. Afterwards, they also fought the Phocian war, called ‘sacred’ by the Greeks, continuously for ten years.
εἴρηται δέ μοι καὶ ἐν τῇ Ἀτθίδι συγγραφῇ τὸ ἐν Χαιρωνείᾳ σφάλμα συμφορὰν γενέσθαι τοῖς πᾶσιν Ἕλλησι· Θηβαίους δὲ καὶ ἐς πλέον κατέλαβεν, οἷς γε καὶ ἐσήχθη ἐς τὴν πόλιν φρουρά. Φιλίππου δὲ ἀποθανόντος καὶ ἐς Ἀλέξανδρον ἡκούσης τῆς Μακεδόνων ἀρχῆς, Θηβαίοις ἐπῆλθεν ἐξελεῖν5 τὴν φρουράν· ποιήσασι δὲ ταῦτα προεσήμαινεν αὐτίκα ὁ θεὸς τὸν ἐπιόντα ὄλεθρον, καί σφισιν ἐν Δήμητρος ἱερῷ Θεσμοφόρου σημεῖα ἐγένετο ἐναντία ἢ πρὸ τοῦ ἔργου τοῦ ἐν Λεύκτροις·
It has also been stated by me in my Attic history that the defeat at Chaeroneia became a calamity for all the Greeks; but it overtook the Thebans to an even greater degree, for whom a garrison was actually introduced into their city. But when Philip died and the rule over the Macedonians came to Alexander, the idea occurred to the Thebans to expel the garrison; and when they did this, the god immediately portended the coming destruction, and for them in the temple of Demeter Thesmophoros there occurred signs opposite to those before the action at Leuctra.
τότε μὲν γὰρ τοῦ ἱεροῦ τὰς θύρας ὑφάσματι ἀράχναι λευκῷ, κατὰ δὲ τὴν Ἀλεξάνδρου καὶ Μακεδόνων ἔφοδον μέλανι ἐξύφηναν. λέγεται δὲ καὶ Ἀθηναίοις ὗσαι τέφραν ὁ θεὸς6 ἐνιαυτῷ πρότερον πρὶν ἢ τὸν πόλεμον τὸν ἐπαχθέντα ὑπὸ Σύλλα τὰ μεγάλα σφίσιν ἐνεγκεῖν παθήματα.
For at that time, spiders wove a white web over the doors of the temple, but during the invasion of Alexander and the Macedonians, they wove a black one. It is also said that the god rained ashes upon the Athenians a year before the war brought upon them by Sulla brought great sufferings to them.
- 9.6.1τῶν δέ σφισιν ... εὐτυχημάτων, καὶ ὡς ἑτέρως
The genitive noun phrase at the beginning serves to introduce the topic and limits the scope of the subsequent pronoun τοσάδε. The phrase ὡς ἑτέρως (otherwise) is an idiomatic expression meaning "the reverse" (i.e., misfortune or defeat) in contrast to εὐτυχημάτων (successes).
- 9.6.1ὅτε σφᾶς ἐπέλαβεν ὑπὲρ τῶν ὅρων πολεμῆσαι τῆς χώρας
The verb ἐπέλαβεν (aorist of ἐπιλαμβάνω), taking the accusative σφᾶς and the infinitive πολεμῆσαι, forms an impersonal construction (or with the infinitive as the subject) meaning "it befell them to wage war."
- 9.6.2τῆς δὲ αἰτίας ταύτης δημοσίᾳ σφίσιν οὐ μέτεστιν
The impersonal verb μέτεστι governs a dative of the person possessing a share (σφίσιν, "to them") and a genitive of the thing shared (τῆς αἰτίας ταύτης, "of this blame").
- 9.6.2εἰ γοῦν ... ἀφίκετο ... κατέλαβεν ἂν
A contrary-to-fact conditional sentence referring to the past. The protasis consists of εἰ with the aorist indicative (ἀφίκετο), while the apodosis has the aorist indicative with ἄν (κατέλαβεν ἄν). The double negation οὐκ ἔστιν ὅπως οὐ modifies the entire apodosis, expressing a strong affirmation ("there is no way that... would not have").
- 9.6.5Θηβαίοις ἐπῆλθεν ἐξελεῖν
An idiomatic use of the verb ἐπέρχομαι with a dative (Θηβαίοις) and an infinitive (ἐξελεῖν), meaning "an impulse or idea came upon them to expel."
- 9.6.6λέγεται δὲ καὶ Ἀθηναίοις ὗσαι τέφραν ὁ θεὸς
The entire accusative-with-infinitive clause (ὁ θεὸς ὗσαι τέφραν Ἀθηναίοις) serves as the subject (or object of report) of the passive λέγεται (it is said). Here, ὁ θεός is the subject accusative of the infinitive ὗσαι (to rain), and the dative Ἀθηναίοις depends on the infinitive.