§16.1ἦν μὲν οὖν ἀπʼ ἀρχῆς φιλολάκων· καὶ τῶν γε παίδων τῶν διδύμων τὸν ἕτερον Λακεδαιμόνιον ὠνόμασε, τὸν δʼ ἕτερον Ἠλεῖον, ἐκ γυναικὸς αὐτῷ Κλειτορίας γενομένους, ὡς Στησίμβροτος ἱστορεῖ·
So Cimon was from the beginning a friend of the Lacedaemonians; and of his twin sons he named one Lacedaemonius, and the other Eleus, born to him of a woman from Cleitor, as Stesimbrotus records; for which reason, they say, Pericles often reproached them with their maternal descent.
διὸ πολλάκις τὸν Περικλέα τὸ μητρῷον αὐτοῖς γένος ὀνειδίζειν. Διόδωρος δʼ ὁ Περιηγητὴς καὶ τούτους φησὶ καὶ τὸν τρίτον τῶν Κίμωνος υἱῶν Θεσσαλὸν ἐξ Ἰσοδίκης γεγονέναι τῆς Εὐρυπτολέμου τοῦ Μεγακλέους.
But Diodorus the Topographer says that both these and the third of Cimon's sons, Thessalus, were born of Isodice, the daughter of Euryptolemus the son of Megacles.
§16.2ηὐξήθη δʼ ὑπὸ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων ἤδη τῷ Θεμιστοκλεῖ προσπολεμούντων καὶ τοῦτον ὄντα νέον ἐν Ἀθήναις μᾶλλον ἰσχύειν καὶ κρατεῖν βουλομένων.
He was advanced in influence by the Lacedaemonians, who were already hostile to Themistocles and wished that he, being young, should rather have power and dominance in Athens.
οἱ δʼ Ἀθηναῖοι τὸ πρῶτον ἡδέως ἑώρων οὐ μικρὰ τῆς πρὸς ἐκεῖνον εὐνοίας τῶν Σπαρτιατῶν ἀπολαύοντες· αὐξανομένοις γὰρ αὐτοῖς κατʼ ἀρχὰς καὶ τὰ συμμαχικὰ πολυπραγμονοῦσιν οὐκ ἤχθοντο τιμῇ καὶ χάριτι τοῦ Κίμωνος.
And the Athenians at first saw this with pleasure, reaping no small benefit from the Spartans' goodwill towards him; for in the beginning, while they were growing and active in their alliance affairs, they were not displeased at the honor and favor shown to Cimon.
§16.3τὰ γὰρ πλεῖστα διʼ ἐκείνου τῶν Ἑλληνικῶν διεπράττετο, πρᾴως μὲν τοῖς συμμάχοις, κεχαρισμένως δὲ τοῖς Λακεδαιμονίοις ὁμιλοῦντος.
For most of the affairs of the Greeks were transacted through him, as he dealt gently with the allies and acceptably with the Lacedaemonians.
ἔπειτα δυνατώτεροι γενόμενοι καὶ τὸν Κίμωνα τοῖς Σπαρτιάταις οὐκ ἠρέμα προσκείμενον ὁρῶντες ἤχθοντο.
Afterwards, when they became more powerful and saw Cimon not slightly attached to the Spartans, they were displeased.
καὶ γὰρ αὐτὸς ἐπὶ παντὶ μεγαλύνων τὴν Λακεδαίμονα πρὸς Ἀθηναίους, καὶ μάλιστα ὅτε τύχοι μεμφόμενος αὐτοῖς ἢ παροξύνων, ὥς φησι Στησίμβροτος, εἰώθει λέγειν· ἀλλʼ οὐ Λακεδαιμόνιοί γε τοιοῦτοι. §16.4ὅθεν φθόνον ἑαυτῷ συνῆγε καὶ δυσμένειάν τινα παρὰ τῶν πολιτῶν.
For he himself on every occasion magnified Lacedaemon to the Athenians, and especially when he happened to be blaming or urging them on, as Stesimbrotus says, he was accustomed to say: "But the Lacedaemonians, at least, are not like that." Hence he brought upon himself envy and a certain ill-will from the citizens.
ἡ δʼ οὖν ἰσχύσασα μάλιστα κατʼ αὐτοῦ τῶν διαβολῶν αἰτίαν ἔσχε τοιαύτην.
At any rate, the accusation which prevailed most against him had the following cause.
Ἀρχιδάμου τοῦ Ζευξιδάμου τέταρτονἔτος ἐν Σπάρτῃ βασιλεύοντος ὑπὸ σεισμοῦ μεγίστου δὴ τῶν μνημονευομένων πρότερον ἥ τε χώρα τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων χάσμασιν ἐνώλισθε πολλοῖς καὶ τῶν Ταϋγέτων τιναχθέντων κορυφαί τινες ἀπερράγησαν, αὐτὴ δʼ ἡ πόλις ὅλη συνεχύθη πλὴν οἰκιῶν πέντε, τὰς δʼ ἄλλας ἤρειψεν ὁ σεισμός.
In the fourth year of the reign of Archidamus the son of Zeuxidamus in Sparta, by a great earthquake, indeed the greatest of those recorded before, the country of the Lacedaemonians slipped into many chasms, and Taygetus being shaken, some of its peaks were torn off, and the city itself was entirely destroyed, except for five houses; the rest were thrown down by the earthquake.
§16.5ἐν δὲ μέσῃ τῇ στοᾷ γυμναζομένων ὁμοῦ τῶν ἐφήβων καὶ τῶν νεανίσκων λέγεται μικρὸν πρὸ τοῦ σεισμοῦ λαγὼν παραφανῆναι, καὶ τοὺς μὲν νεανίσκους, ὥσπερ ἦσαν ἀληλιμμένοι, μετὰ παιδιᾶς ἐκδραμεῖν καὶ διώκειν, τοῖς δʼ ἐφήβοις ὑπολειφθεῖσιν ἐπιπεσεῖν τὸ γυμνάσιον καὶ πάντας ὁμοῦ τελευτῆσαι.
In the middle of the colonnade, while the ephebes and the young men were exercising together, it is said that a little before the earthquake a hare appeared, and the young men, anointed as they were, ran out in sport and pursued it, but upon the ephebes who remained behind, the gymnasium fell, and they all perished together.
τὸν δὲ τάφον αὐτῶν ἔτι νῦν Σεισματίαν προσαγορεύουσι.
And their tomb even now they call Seismatias.
§16.6ταχὺ δὴ συνιδὼν ἀπὸ τοῦ παρόντος τὸν μέλλοντα κίνδυνον ὁ Ἀρχίδαμος, καὶ τοὺς πολίτας ὁρῶν ἐκ τῶν οἰκιῶν τὰ τιμιώτατα πειρωμένους σώζειν, ἐκέλευσε τῇ σάλπιγγι σημαίνειν, ὡς πολεμίων ἐπιόντων, ὅπως ὅτι τάχιστα μετὰ τῶν ὅπλων ἀθροίζωνται πρὸς αὐτόν.
Archidamus, quickly perceiving from the present danger that which was to come, and seeing the citizens trying to save their most precious things from their houses, ordered the trumpet to sound, as if enemies were attacking, so that they might assemble to him with their arms as quickly as possible.
ὃ δὴ καὶ μόνον ἐν τῷ τότε καιρῷ τὴν Σπάρτην διέσωσεν.
And this indeed was the only thing that saved Sparta at that crisis.
οἱ γὰρ εἵλωτες ἐκ τῶν ἀγρῶν συνέδραμον πανταχόθεν ὡς ἀναρπασόμενοι τοὺς σεσωσμένους τῶν Σπαρτιατῶν.
For the helots ran together from the fields on all sides to plunder the surviving Spartans.
§16.7ὡπλισμένους δὲ καὶ συντεταγμένους εὑρόντες ἀνεχώρησαν ἐπὶ τὰς πόλεις καὶ φανερῶς ἐπολέμουν, τῶν τε περιοίκων ἀναπείσαντες οὐκ ὀλίγους, καὶ Μεσσηνίων ἅμα τοῖς Σπαρτιάταις συνεπιθεμένων.
But finding them armed and drawn up in order, they retreated to their cities and waged open war, having persuaded not a few of the perioeci to join them, and the Messenians joining in the attack upon the Spartans.
πέμπουσιν οὖν οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι Περικλείδαν εἰς Ἀθήνας δεόμενοι βοηθεῖν, ὅν φησι κωμῳδῶν Ἀριστοφάνης καθεζόμενον ἐπὶ τοῖς βωμοῖς ὠχρὸν ἐν φοινικίδι στρατιὰν ἐπαιτεῖν.
The Lacedaemonians therefore sent Pericleidas to Athens to beg for help, whom Aristophanes, mocking him in a comedy, says sat at the altars, pale in his red cloak, begging for an army.
§16.8Ἐφιάλτου δὲ κωλύοντος καὶ διαμαρτυρομένου μὴ βοηθεῖν μηδʼ ἀνιστάναι πόλιν ἀντίπαλον ἐπὶ τὰς Ἀθήνας, ἀλλʼ ἐᾶν κεῖσθαι καὶ πατηθῆναι τὸ φρόνημα τῆς Σπάρτης, Κίμωνά φησι Κριτίας τὴν τῆς πατρίδος αὔξησιν ἐν ὑστέρῳ θέμενον τοῦ Λακεδαιμονίων συμφέροντος ἀναπείσαντα τὸν δῆμον ἐξελθεῖν βοηθοῦντα μετὰ πολλῶν ὁπλιτῶν.
When Ephialtes opposed and protested against sending help, or raising up a rival city against Athens, but rather to let the pride of Sparta lie low and be trampled upon, Critias says that Cimon, putting the aggrandizement of his own country after the interest of the Lacedaemonians, persuaded the people to march out to their aid with many hoplites.
ὁ δʼ Ἴων ἀπομνημονεύει καὶ τὸν λόγον, ᾧ μάλιστα τοὺς Ἀθηναίους ἐκίνησε, παρακαλῶν μήτε τὴν Ἑλλάδα χωλὴν μήτε τὴν πόλιν ἑτερόζυγα περιϊδεῖν γεγενημένην.
And Ion records the very speech by which he especially moved the Athenians, urging them not to suffer Greece to be lamed, nor their own city to be deprived of her yoke-fellow.