§18.1εὐθὺς μὲν οὖν ὁ Κίμων κατελθὼν ἔλυσε τὸν πόλεμον καὶ διήλλαξε τὰς πόλεις·
Immediately upon his return, then, Cimon put an end to the war and reconciled the cities.
γενομένης δʼ εἰρήνης ὁρῶν τοὺς Ἀθηναίους ἡσυχίαν ἄγειν μὴ δυναμένους, ἀλλὰ κινεῖσθαι καὶ αὐξάνεσθαι ταῖς στρατείαις βουλομένους, ἵνα μὴ τοῖς Ἕλλησι διοχλῶσι μηδὲ περὶ τὰς νήσους ἢ Πελοπόννησον ἀναστρεφόμενοι ναυσὶ πολλαῖς αἰτίας ἐμφυλίων πολέμων καὶ συμμαχικῶν ἐγκλημάτων ἀρχὰς ἐπισπάσωνται κατὰ τῆς πόλεως, §18.2ἐπλήρου διακοσίας τριήρεις ὡς ἐπʼ Αἴγυπτον καὶ Κύπρον αὖθις ἐκστρατευσόμενος, ἅμα μὲν ἐμμελετᾶν τοῖς πρὸς τοὺς βαρβάρους ἀγῶσι βουλόμενος τοὺς Ἀθηναίους, ἅμα δʼ ὠφελεῖσθαι δικαίως τὰς ἀπὸ τῶν φύσει πολεμίων εὐπορίας εἰς τὴν Ἑλλάδα κομίζοντας.
But when peace was made, seeing that the Athenians were unable to remain quiet, but wished to be in motion and to enlarge themselves by military expeditions, and in order that they might not annoy the Greeks nor, by cruising with many ships around the islands or the Peloponnese, draw upon their city accusations of civil wars and causes for complaints from the allies, he manned two hundred triremes, intending to campaign again against Egypt and Cyprus, wishing on the one hand to train the Athenians in struggles against the barbarians, and on the other hand to benefit them justly by bringing into Greece the riches taken from those who were their natural enemies.
ἤδη δὲ παρεσκευασμένων ἁπάντων καὶ τοῦ στρατοῦ παρὰ ταῖς ναυσὶν ὄντος ὄναρ εἶδεν ὁ Κίμων.
And when all things were now prepared and the army was by the ships, Cimon saw a dream.
§18.3ἐδόκει κύνα θυμουμένην ὑλακτεῖν πρὸς αὐτόν, ἐκ δὲ τῆς ὑλακῆς μεμιγμένον ἀφεῖσαν ἀνθρώπου φθόγγον εἰπεῖν· "
στεῖχε· φίλος γὰρ ἔσῃ καὶ ἐμοὶ καὶ ἐμοῖς σκυλάκεσσιν. "
οὕτω δὲ δυσκρίτου τῆς ὄψεως οὔσης Ἀστύφιλος ὁ Ποσειδωνιάτης, μαντικὸς ἀνὴρ καὶ συνήθης τῷ Κίμωνι, φράζει θάνατον αὐτῷ προσημαίνειν τὴν ὄψιν, οὕτω διαιρῶν· κύων ἀνθρώπῳ, πρὸς ὃν ὑλακτεῖ, πολέμιος· πολεμίῳ δʼ οὐκ ἄν τις μᾶλλον ἢ τελευτήσας φίλος γένοιτο· τὸ δὲ μῖγμα τῆς φωνῆς Μῆδον ἀποδηλοῖ τὸν ἐχθρόν· §18.4ὁ γὰρ Μήδων στρατὸς Ἕλλησιν ὁμοῦ καὶ βαρβάροις μέμικται.
It seemed to him that a wrathful female dog was barking at him, and emitting from its barking a mixed human voice, it said: "Go on; for you shall be a friend to both me and my whelps." This vision being so difficult to interpret, Astyphilus of Poseidonia, a seer and intimate friend of Cimon, told him that the vision portended his death, explaining it thus: a dog is an enemy to the man at whom it barks; and to an enemy, one cannot become a friend more than by dying; and the mixture of the voice clearly indicates the Mede as the enemy; for the army of the Medes is a mixture of Greeks and barbarians.
μετὰ δὲ ταύτην τὴν ὄψιν αὐτοῦ τῷ Διονύσῳ θύσαντος ὁ μὲν μάντις ἀπέτεμε τὸ ἱερεῖον, τοῦ δʼ αἵματος τὸ πηγνύμενον ἤδη μύρμηκες πολλοὶ λαμβάνοντες κατὰ μικρὸν ἔφερον πρὸς τὸν Κίμωνα καὶ τοῦ ποδὸς περὶ τὸν μέγαν δάκτυλον περιέπλαττον, ἐπὶ πολὺν χρόνον λανθάνοντες.
After this vision, when Cimon sacrificed to Dionysus, the seer cut the victim, and many ants, taking up the blood which was already congealing, carried it little by little towards Cimon and plastered it around the great toe of his foot, remaining unnoticed for a long time.
ἅμα δέ πως ὅ τε Κίμων τῷ γινομένῳ προσέσχε καὶ παρῆν ὁ θύτης ἐπιδεικνύμενος αὐτῷ τὸν λοβὸν οὐκ ἔχοντα κεφαλήν.
At about the same time, Cimon noticed what was happening, and the sacrificer came forward, showing him that the liver had no head.
ἄλλʼ οὐ γὰρ ἦν ἀνάδυσις τῆς στρατείας ἐξέπλευσε, καὶ τῶν νεῶν ἑξήκοντα μὲν ἀπέστειλεν εἰς Αἴγυπτον, ταῖς δʼ ἄλλαις πάλιν ἔπλει.
But since there was no drawing back from the expedition, he set sail, and sent sixty of the ships to Egypt, while with the others he cruised again.
§18.5καὶ καταναυμαχήσας Φοινισσῶν νεῶν καὶ Κιλισσῶν βασιλικὸν στόλον ἀνεκτᾶτο τε τὰς ἐν κύκλῳ πόλεις καὶ τοῖς περὶ Αἴγυπτον ἐφήδρευεν, οὐδὲν μικρόν, ἀλλʼ ὅλης ἐπινοῶν τῆς βασιλέως ἡγεμονίας κατάλυσιν, καὶ μάλιστα ὅτι τοῦ Θεμιστοκλέους ἐπυνθάνετο δόξαν εἶναι καὶ δύναμιν ἐν τοῖς βαρβάροις μεγάλην, ὑποδεδεγμένου βασιλεῖ κινοῦντι τὸν Ἑλληνικὸν πόλεμον στρατηγήσειν.
And having defeated a royal fleet of Phoenician and Cilician ships in a sea-fight, he recovered the cities in the neighborhood and watched the events in Egypt, planning nothing small, but rather the destruction of the king's entire empire, and especially because he heard that the reputation and power of Themistocles were great among the barbarians, who had promised the king that he would take command when the king renewed the Greek war.
§18.6Θεμιστοκλῆς μὲν οὖν οὐχ ἥκιστα λέγεται τὰς Ἑλληνικὰς πράξεις ἀπογνούς, ὡς οὐκ ἂν ὑπερβαλόμενος τὴν Κίμωνος εὐτυχίαν καὶ ἀρετήν, ἑκὼν τελευτῆσαι, Κίμων δὲ μεγάλων ἐπαιρόμενος ἀρχὰς ἀγώνων καὶ περὶ Κύπρον συνέχων τὸ ναυτικὸν ἔπεμψεν εἰς Ἄμμωνος ἄνδρας ἀπόρρητόν τινα μαντείαν ποιησομένους παρὰ τῷ θεῷ· γινώσκει γὰρ οὐδεὶς ὑπὲρ ὧν ἐπέμφθησαν, §18.7οὐδὲ χρησμὸν αὐτοῖς ὁ θεὸς ἐξήνεγκεν, ἀλλʼ ἅμα τῷ προσελθεῖν ἐκέλευσεν ἀπιέναι τοὺς θεοπρόπους· αὐτὸν γὰρ ἤδη τὸν Κίμωνα παρʼ ἑαυτῷ τυγχάνειν ὄντα.
Themistocles indeed is said, largely because he despaired of the Greek cause and felt he could not surpass the good fortune and virtue of Cimon, to have voluntarily ended his own life. Cimon, on his part, raised up by the beginnings of great struggles, and keeping his fleet around Cyprus, sent men to the oracle of Ammon to obtain some secret oracle from the god; for no one knows for what purpose they were sent, nor did the god deliver any oracle to them, but as soon as they approached, he ordered the messengers to depart, saying that Cimon himself was already present with him.
ταῦτα ἀκούσαντες οἱ θεοπρόποι κατέβαινον ἐπὶ θάλασσαν· γενόμενοι δὲ ἐν τῷ στρατοπέδῳ τῶν Ἑλλήνων, ὃ τότε περὶ Αἴγυπτον ἦν, ἐπύθοντο τεθνάναι τὸν Κίμωνα·
Having heard this, the messengers went down to the sea; and when they arrived at the camp of the Greeks, which was then around Egypt, they learned that Cimon was dead.
καὶ τὰς ἡμέρας πρὸς τὸ μαντεῖον ἀνάγοντες ἔγνωσαν ᾐνιγμένην τὴν τελευτὴν τοῦ ἀνδρός, ὡς ἤδη παρὰ θεοῖς ὄντος.
And tracing back the days to the time of the oracle, they realized that his death had been enigmatically declared, as he was indeed already among the gods.