§4.80.1τῶν γὰρ Ἀθηναίων ἐγκειμένων τῇ Πελοποννήσῳ καὶ οὐχ ἥκιστα τῇ ἐκείνων γῇ ἤλπιζον ἀποτρέψειν αὐτοὺς μάλιστα, εἰ ἀντιπαραλυποῖεν πέμψαντες ἐπὶ τοὺς ξυμμάχους αὐτῶν στρατιάν, ἄλλως τε καὶ ἑτοίμων ὄντων τρέφειν τε καὶ ἐπὶ ἀποστάσει σφᾶς ἐπικαλουμένων.
For, as the Athenians were pressing hard upon the Peloponnese, and not least upon their own territory, they hoped that they would best divert them if they should in turn harass them by sending an army against their allies, especially since these were ready to maintain them and were calling them in to revolt.
§4.80.2καὶ ἅμα τῶν Εἱλώτων βουλομένοις ἦν ἐπὶ προφάσει ἐκπέμψαι, μή τι πρὸς τὰ παρόντα τῆς Πύλου ἐχομένης νεωτερίσωσιν·
And at the same time, it was agreeable to their wish to send out some of the Helots on a pretext, lest they should make some revolutionary attempt in the present situation while Pylos was occupied.
§4.80.3ἐπεὶ καὶ τόδε ἔπραξαν φοβούμενοι αὐτῶν τὴν σκαιότητα καὶ τὸ πλῆθος (αἰεὶ γὰρ τὰ πολλὰ Λακεδαιμονίοις πρὸς τοὺς Εἵλωτας τῆς φυλακῆς πέρι μάλιστα καθειστήκει)· προεῖπον αὐτῶν ὅσοι ἀξιοῦσιν ἐν τοῖς πολέμοις γεγενῆσθαι σφίσιν ἄριστοι,κρίνεσθαι, ὡς ἐλευθερώσοντες, πεῖραν ποιούμενοι καὶ ἡγούμενοι τούτους σφίσιν ὑπὸ φρονήματος, οἵπερ καὶ ἠξίωσαν πρῶτος ἕκαστος ἐλευθεροῦσθαι, μάλιστα ἂν καὶ ἐπιθέσθαι.
For they even did this, fearing their cunning and their numbers (for indeed most of the Lacedaemonians' measures had always been established chiefly in regard to keeping watch over the Helots): they made a proclamation that those of them who claimed to have been the best in the wars for them should be selected, as being about to be emancipated, making this a test, and thinking that those who, each of them, first claimed to be emancipated would, from their high spirit, be the most likely also to attack them.
§4.80.4καὶ προκρίναντες ἐς δισχιλίους, οἱ μὲν ἐστεφανώσαντό τε καὶ τὰ ἱερὰ περιῆλθον ὡς ἠλευθερωμένοι, οἱ δὲ οὐ πολλῷ ὕστερον ἠφάνισάν τε αὐτοὺς καὶ οὐδεὶς ᾔσθετο ὅτῳ τρόπῳ ἕκαστος διεφθάρη.
And having selected about two thousand, these crowned themselves and went round the temples as having been emancipated; but the others not long after made away with them, and no one perceived in what manner each of them was destroyed.
§4.80.5καὶ τότε προθύμως τῷ Βρασίδᾳ αὐτῶν ξυνέπεμψαν ἑπτακοσίους ὁπλίτας, τοὺς δ’ ἄλλους ἐκ τῆς Πελοποννήσου μισθῷ πείσας ἐξήγαγεν.
And so at that time they eagerly sent seven hundred heavy-armed men of them with Brasidas, and the rest he led out of the Peloponnese, having persuaded them by pay.