§1Ἑν Ἀλιάρτῳ τῆς Βοιωτίας κόρη τις γίνεται κάλλει διαπρέπουσα ὄνομα Ἀριστόκλεια θυγάτηρ δʼ ἦν Θεοφάνους.
In Haliartus of Boeotia there lived a girl outstanding in beauty named Aristocleia, who was the daughter of Theophanes.
ταύτην μνῶνται Στράτων Ὀρχομένιος καὶ Καλλισθένης Ἁλιάρτιος.
Straton of Orchomenus and Callisthenes of Haliartus courted her.
πλουσιώτερος δʼ ἦν Στράτων καὶ μᾶλλόν τι τῆς παρθένου ἡττημένος· ἐτύγχανε γὰρ ἰδὼν αὐτὴν ἐν Λεβαδείᾳ λουομένην ἐπὶ τῇ κρήνῃ τῇ Ἑρκύνῃ ἔμελλε γὰρ τῷ Διὶ τῷ βασιλεῖ κανηφορεῖν.
Straton was wealthier and somewhat more deeply captivated by the maiden; for he happened to have seen her bathing at the spring of Hercyna in Lebadeia, as she was about to carry the sacred basket for Zeus the King.
ἀλλʼ ὁ Καλλισθένης γε πλέον ἐφέρετο ἦν γὰρ καὶ γένει προσήκων τῇ κόρῃ.
But Callisthenes was more favored, as he was also related by birth to the girl.
ἀπορῶν δὲ τῷ πράγματι ὁ Θεοφάνης, ἐδεδίει γὰρ τὸν Στράτωνα πλούτῳ τε καὶ γένει σχεδὸν ἁπάντων διαφέροντα τῶν Βοιωτῶν, τὴν αἵρεσιν ἐβούλετο τῷ Τροφωνίῳ ἐπιτρέψαι καὶ ὁ Στράτων, ἀνεπέπειστο γὰρ ὑπὸ τῶν τῆς παρθένου οἰκετῶν, ὡς πρὸς αὐτὸν μᾶλλον ἐκείνη ῥέποι, ἠξίου ἐπʼ αὐτῇ ποιεῖσθαι τῇ γαμουμένῃ τὴν ἐκλογήν.
Being at a loss in the matter, Theophanes—for he feared Straton, who surpassed almost all the Boeotians in wealth and birth—wished to entrust the choice to Trophonius. Straton also, having been persuaded by the maiden’s servants that she leaned more towards him, demanded that the choice be left to the bride herself.
ὡς δὲ τῆς παιδὸς ὁ Θεοφάνης ἐπυνθάνετο ἐν ὄψει πάντων, ἡ δὲ τὸν Καλλισθένην προὔκρινεν, εὐθὺς μὲν ὁ Στράτων δῆλος ἦν βαρέως φέρων τὴν ἀτιμίαν ἡμέρας δὲ διαλιπὼν δύο προσῆλθε τῷ Θεοφάνει καὶ τῷ Καλλισθέναι, ἀξιῶν τὴν φιλίαν αὐτῷ πρὸς αὐτοὺς διαφυλάττεσθαι, εἰ καὶ τοῦ γάμου ἐφθονήθη ὑπὸ δαιμονίου τινός.
When Theophanes questioned the child in the presence of all, and she preferred Callisthenes, Straton immediately made it clear that he took the dishonor heavily. Having let two days pass, he came to Theophanes and Callisthenes, requesting that his friendship with them be preserved, even if he had been begrudged the marriage by some divinity.
οἱ δʼ ἐπῄνουν τὰ λεγόμενα, ὥστε καὶ ἐπὶ τὴν ἑστίασιν τῶν γάμων παρεκάλουν αὐτόν.
They praised his words, so much so that they even invited him to the wedding feast.
ὁ δὲ παρεσκευασμένος ἑταίρων ὄχλον, καὶ πλῆθος οὐκ ὀλίγον θεραπόντων, διεσπαρμένους παρὰ τούτοις καὶ λανθάνοντας, ἕως ἡ κόρη κατὰ τὰ πάτρια ἐπὶ τὴν Κισσόεσσαν καλουμένην κρήνην κατῄει ταῖς νύμφαις τὰ προτέλεια θύσουσα, τότε δὴ συνδραμόντες πάντες οἱ λοχῶντες ἐκείνῳ συνελάμβανον αὐτήν.
But he, having prepared a crowd of companions and no small number of servants, scattered and hidden near them, waited until the girl, according to ancestral custom, went down to the spring called Cissoessa to offer the preliminary sacrifices to the nymphs; then indeed, all those in ambush running together seized her.
καὶ ὁ Στράτων γʼ εἴχετο τῆς παρθένου· ἀντελαμβάνετο δʼ ὡς εἰκὸς ὁ Καλλισθένης ἐν μέρει καὶ οἱ σὺν αὐτῷ, ἕως ἔλαθεν ἡ παῖς; ἐν χερσὶ τῶν ἀνθελκόντων διαφθαρεῖσα.
And Straton grasped the maiden; but Callisthenes, on his part, and those with him naturally held her back in turn, until before anyone realized it, the child perished in the hands of those pulling her in opposite directions.
ὁ Καλλισθένης μὲν οὖν παραχρῆμα ἀφανὴς ἐγένετο, εἴτε διαχρησάμενος ἑαυτὸν εἴτε φυγὰς ἀπελθὼν ἐκ τῆς Βοιωτίας· οὐκ εἶχε δʼ οὖν τις εἰπεῖν ὅ, τι καὶ πεπόνθοι.
Callisthenes indeed immediately disappeared, whether having taken his own life or having gone as an exile from Boeotia; at any rate, no one could say what had happened to him.
ὁ δὲ Στράτων φανερῶς ἐπικατέσφαξεν ἑαυτὸν τῇ παρθένῳ.
Straton openly slaughtered himself upon the maiden.
§2Φείδων τις τῶν Πελοποννησίων ἐπιτιθέμενος ἀρχῇ, τὴν Ἀργείων πόλιν, τὴν πατρίδα τὴν ἑαυτοῦ, ἡγεμονεύειν τῶν λοιπῶν βουλόμενος, πρῶτον ἐπεβούλευσε Κορινθίοις· πέμψας γὰρ ᾔτει παρʼ αὐτῶν νεανίας χιλίους τοὺς ἀκμῇ διαφέροντας καὶ ἀνδρείᾳ·
A certain Pheidon of Peloponnesus, aiming at supreme power and wishing the city of Argos, his own homeland, to rule over the others, first plotted against the Corinthians; for having sent messengers, he demanded from them a thousand young men outstanding in vigor and courage.
οἱ δὲ πέμπουσι τοὺς χιλίους, στρατηγὸν αὐτῶν ἀποδείξαντες Δέξανδρον.
They sent the thousand, having appointed Dexander as their general.
ἐν νῷ δʼ ἔχων ὁ Φείδων ἐπιθέσθαι τούτοις, ἵνʼ ἔχοι Κόρινθον ἀτονωτέραν καὶ τῇ πόλει χρήσαιτο, προτείχισμα γὰρ τοῦτο ἐπικαιρότατον ἔσεσθαι τῆς ὅλης Πελοποννήσου, τὴν πρᾶξιν ἀνέθετο τῶν ἑταίρων τισίν.
Pheidon, having in mind to attack them in order to make Corinth weaker and to use the city—for this would be a most timely bulwark for the whole Peloponnese—entrusted the deed to some of his companions.
ἦν δὲ καὶ Ἅβρων ἐν αὐτοῖς· οὗτος δὲ ξένος ὢν τοῦ Δεξάνδρου ἔφρασεν αὐτῷ τὴν ἐπιβουλήν.
Habron was also among them; and he, being a guest-friend of Dexander, told him of the plot.
καὶ οὕτως οἱ μὲν Φλιάσιοι πρὸ τῆς ἐπιθέσεως εἰς τὴν Κόρινθον ἐσώθησαν, Φείδων δʼ ἀνευρεῖν ἐπειρᾶτο τὸν προδόντα καὶ ἐπιμελῶς ἐζήτει.
Thus the Phliasians were saved by escaping to Corinth before the attack, and Pheidon tried to find the betrayer and searched diligently.
δείσας δʼ ὁ Ἅβρων φεύγει εἰς Κόρινθον, ἀναλαβὼν τὴν γυναῖκα καὶ τοὺς οἰκέτας, ἐν Μελίσσῳ, κώμῃ τινὶ τῆς Κορινθίων χώρας ἔνθα καὶ παῖδα γεννήσας Μέλισσον προσηγόρευσεν, ἀπὸ τοῦ τόπου θέμενος τοὔνομα αὐτῷ.
Fearing this, Habron fled to Corinth, taking his wife and servants, and settled in Melissus, a village of the Corinthian territory, where he also begot a son and called him Melissus, giving him the name from the place.
τούτου δὴ τοῦ Μελίσσου υἱὸς Ἀκταίων γίνεται, κάλλιστος καὶ σωφρονέστατος τῶν ὁμηλίκων, οὗ πλεῖστοι μὲν ἐγένοντο ἐρασταί, διαφερόντως δʼ Ἀρχίας, γένους μὲν ὢν τοῦ τῶν Ἡρακλειδῶν, πλούτῳ δὲ καὶ τῇ ἄλλῃ δυνάμει λαμπρότατος Κορινθίων.
Of this Melissus, a son Actaeon was born, the most beautiful and temperate of his peers, of whom there were very many lovers, but especially Archias, who was of the race of the Heracleidae, and the most illustrious of the Corinthians in wealth and other power.
ἐπεὶ δὲ πείθειν οὐκ ἠδύνατο τὸν παῖδα, ἔγνω βιάσασθαι καὶ συναρπάσαι τὸ μειράκιον· ἐπεκώμασεν οὖν ἐπὶ τὴν οἰκίαν τοῦ Μελίσσου, πλῆθος ἐπαγόμενος καὶ φίλων καὶ οἰκετῶν, καὶ ἀπάγειν τὸν παῖδα ἐπειρᾶτο.
When he could not persuade the boy, he decided to use force and carry off the youth; he therefore rushed in revelry to the house of Melissus, bringing a crowd of both friends and servants, and attempted to drag the boy away.
ἀντιποιουμένου δὲ τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ τῶν φίλων, ἐπεκδραμόντων δὲ καὶ τῶν γειτόνων καὶ ἀνθελκόντων, ἀνθελκόμενος ὁ Ἀκταίων διεφθάρη· καὶ οἱ μὲν οὕτως ἀπεχώρουν.
While the father and friends resisted, and the neighbors also ran out and pulled back, Actaeon, being pulled in opposite directions, perished; and they thus departed.
Μέλισσος δὲ τὸν νεκρὸν τοῦ παιδὸς εἰς τὴν ἀγορὰν τῶν Κορινθίων παρακομίσας ἐπεδείκνυε, δίκην ἀπαιτῶν παρὰ τῶν ταῦτα πραξάντων· οἱ δὲ πλέον οὐδὲν ἢ τὸν ἄνδρα ἠλέουν.
Melissus, carrying the corpse of his child into the marketplace of the Corinthians, displayed it, demanding justice from those who had done this; but they did nothing more than pity the man.
ἄπρακτος δʼ ἀναχωρήσας παρεφύλασσε τὴν πανήγυριν τῶν Ἰσθμίων, ἀναβὰς τʼ ἐπὶ τὸν τοῦ Ποσειδῶνος νεὼν κατεβόα τῶν Βακχιαδῶν καὶ τὴν τοῦ πατρὸς Ἅβρωνος εὐεργεσίαν ὑπεμίμνησκε, τούς τε θεοὺς ἐπικαλεσάμενος ῥίπτει ἑαυτὸν κατὰ τῶν πετρῶν.
Having returned without success, he waited for the festival of the Isthmian games, and having gone up to the temple of Poseidon, he cried out against the Bacchiadae and reminded them of the benefit of his father Habron, and having called upon the gods, he threw himself down from the rocks.
μετʼ οὐ πολὺ δʼ αὐχμὸς καὶ λοιμὸς κατελάμβανε τὴν πόλιν καὶ τῶν Κορινθίων περὶ ἀπαλλαγῆς χρωμένων, ὁ θεὸς ἀνεῖλε μῆνιν εἶναι Ποσειδῶνος οὐκ ἀνήσοντος, ἕως ἂν τὸν Ἀκταίωνος θάνατον μετέλθοιεν.
Not long after, drought and pestilence seized the city, and when the Corinthians consulted the oracle about relief, the god declared that it was the wrath of Poseidon, who would not let go until they should avenge the death of Actaeon.
ταῦτα πυθόμενος Ἀρχίας, αὐτὸς γὰρ θεωρὸς ἦν, εἰς μὲν τὴν Κόρινθον ἑκὼν οὐκ ἐπανῆλθε, πλεύσας δʼ εἰς τὴν Σικελίαν Συρακούσας ἔκτισε.
Having heard this, Archias—for he was himself the sacred envoy—did not return to Corinth willingly, but sailing to Sicily, he founded Syracuse.
πατὴρ δὲ γενόμενος ἐνταῦθα θυγατέρων δυεῖν, Ὀρτυγίας τε καὶ Συρακούσης, ὑπὸ τοῦ Τηλέφου δολοφονεῖται, ὃς ἐγεγόνει μὲν αὐτοῦ παιδικά, νεὼς δʼ ἀφηγούμενος συνέπλευσεν εἰς Σικελίαν.
There, having become the father of two daughters, Ortygia and Syracuse, he was treacherously murdered by Telephus, who had been his minion and had sailed with him to Sicily in command of a ship.