§16.1ἐπεὶ δὲ πάλιν τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους νεωτερίζειν ἀκούσας ὁ στρατηγὸς τῶν Ἀχαιῶν Διοφάνης ἐβούλετο κολάζειν, οἱ δὲ εἰς πόλεμον καθιστάμενοι διετάρασσον τὴν Πελοπόννησον, ἐπειρᾶτο πραΰνειν καὶ καταπαύειν τόν Διοφάνη τῆς ὀργῆς ὁ Φιλοποίμην, διδάσκων τόν καιρόν ὡς Ἀντιόχου τοῦ βασιλέως καὶ Ῥωμαίων ἐν τῇ Ἑλλάδι τηλικούτοις αἰωρουμένων στρατοπέδοις ἐκεῖσε χρὴ τόν ἄρχοντα τὴν γνώμην ἔχειν, τὰ δὲ οἰκεῖα μὴ κινεῖν, ἀλλὰ καὶ παριδεῖν τι καὶ παρακοῦσαι τῶν ἁμαρτανομένων.
Meanwhile, when Diophanes, the general of the Achaeans, heard that the Lacedaemonians were again revolting and wished to punish them, and they, entering into war, were throwing the Peloponnese into confusion, Philopoemen tried to pacify Diophanes and soothe his anger, explaining the crisis: that while King Antiochus and the Romans were hovering over Greece with such great armies, the leader should direct his attention there, and not disturb domestic affairs, but rather even overlook and turn a deaf ear to some of their offenses.
§16.2οὐ προσέχοντος δὲ τοῦ Διοφάνους, ἀλλʼ εἰς τὴν Λακωνικὴν ἐμβαλόντος ἅμα τῷ Τίτῳ καὶ βαδιζόντων εὐθὺς ἐπὶ τὴν πόλιν, ἀγανακτήσας ὁ Φιλοποίμην, ἔργον οὐ νόμιμον οὐδʼ ἀπηκριβωμένον ἐκ τῶν δικαίων, ἀλλὰ μέγα καὶ μεγάλῳ φρονήματι τολμήσας, εἰς τὴν Λακεδαίμονα παρῆλθε καὶ τόν τε στρατηγὸν τῶν Ἀχαιῶν καὶ τόν ὕπατον τῶν Ῥωμαίων ἰδιώτης ὢν ἀπέκλεισε, τὰς δʼ ἐν τῇ πόλει ταραχὰς ἔπαυσε καὶ κατέστησε τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους πάλιν εἰς τὸ κοινόν, ὥσπερ ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἦσαν.
But since Diophanes did not pay attention, but invaded Laconia together with Titus and they marched straight toward the city, Philopoemen, being indignant, dared a deed that was not legal nor strictly justified, but great and done with a great spirit; he entered Lacedaemon, and, though being a private citizen, shut out both the general of the Achaeans and the consul of the Romans, stopped the confusion in the city, and restored the Lacedaemonians again to the league, just as they were from the beginning.
§16.3χρόνῳ δὲ ὕστερον ἐγκαλέσας τι τοῖς Λακεδαιμονίοις στρατηγῶν ὁ Φιλοποίμην τὰς μὲν φυγὰς κατήγαγεν εἰς τὴν πόλιν, ὀγδοήκοντα δὲ Σπαρτιάτας ἀπέκτεινεν, ὡς Πολύβιός φησιν, ὡς δὲ Ἀριστοκράτης, πεντήκοντα καὶ τριακοσίους.
Sometime later, having made some charge against the Lacedaemonians while serving as general, Philopoemen brought back the exiles to the city, and put to death eighty Spartans, as Polybius says, or, as Aristocrates says, three hundred and fifty.
§16.4τὰ δὲ τείχη καθεῖλε, χώραν δὲ πολλὴν ἀποτεμόμενος προσένειμε τοῖς Μεγαλοπολίταις, ὅσοι δὲ ἦσαν ὑπὸ τῶν τυράννων ἀποδεδειγμένοι πολῖται τῆς Σπάρτης, μετῴκιζεν ἅπαντας ἀπάγων εἰς Ἀχαΐαν πλὴν τρισχιλίων τούτους δὲ ἀπειθοῦντας καὶ μὴ βουλομένους ἀπελθεῖν ἐκ τῆς Λακεδαίμονος ἐπώλησεν, εἶθʼ οἷον ἐφυβρίζων ἀπὸ τῶν χρημάτων τούτων ἐν Μεγάλῃ πόλει στοὰν ᾠκοδόμησεν.
He also threw down the walls, and having cut off much of their territory, he annexed it to the Megalopolitans; and as for all those who had been declared citizens of Sparta by the tyrants, he relocated them all, leading them away to Achaea, except for three thousand. These latter, who disobeyed and did not wish to depart from Lacedaemon, he sold, and then, as if in insult, with this money he built a colonnade in Megalopolis.
§16.5ἐμπιπλάμενος δὲ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων καὶ παρʼ ἀξίαν πεπραχόσιν ἐπεμβαίνων, τὸ περὶ τὴν πολιτείαν ἔργον ὠμότατον ἐξειργάσατο καὶ παρανομώτατον.
Glutting his anger against the Lacedaemonians and trampling on those who had fared far worse than they deserved, he executed the most cruel and unlawful deed concerning their constitution.
ἀνεῖλε γὰρ καὶ διέφθειρε τὴν Λυκούργειον ἀγωγήν, ἀναγκάσας τοὺς παῖδας αὐτῶν καὶ τοὺς ἐφήβους τὴν Ἀχαϊκὴν ἀντὶ τῆς πατρίου παιδείαν μεταβαλεῖν, ὡς οὐδέποτε μικρὸν ἐν τοῖς Λυκούργου νόμοις φρονήσοντας.
For he abolished and destroyed the Lycurgan training, forcing their children and youths to adopt the Achaean education instead of their ancestral one, believing that they would never have a submissive mind while under the laws of Lycurgus.
§16.6τότε μὲν οὖν ὑπὸ συμφορῶν μεγάλων ὥσπερ νεῦρα τῆς πόλεως ἐκτεμεῖν τῷ Φιλοποίμενι παρασχόντες, ἐγένοντο χειροήθεις καὶ ταπεινοί, χρόνῳ δʼ ὕστερον αἰτησάμενοι παρὰ Ῥωμαίων τὴν μὲν Ἀχαϊκὴν ἔφυγον πολιτείαν, ἀνέλαβον δὲ καὶ κατεστήσαντο τὴν πάτριον, ὡς ἦν ἀνυστὸν ἐκ κακῶν καὶ φθορᾶς τηλικαύτης.
At that time, therefore, having allowed Philopoemen, because of great disasters, to cut out, as it were, the sinews of their city, they became submissive and humble; but sometime later, having petitioned the Romans, they escaped the Achaean constitution, and took back and established their ancestral one, as far as was possible after such great misfortunes and ruin.