§47παραλαβὼν γὰρ τὴν πόλιν ἐκβεβαρβαρωμένην καὶ διὰ τὴν Φοινίκων ἀρχὴν οὔτε τοὺς Ἕλληνας προσδεχομένην οὔτε τέχνας ἐπισταμένην οὔτʼ ἐμπορίῳ χρωμένην οὔτε λιμένα κεκτημένην ταῦτά τε πάντα διώρθωσε καὶ πρὸς τούτοις καὶ χώραν πολλὴν προσεκτήσατο καὶ τείχη προσπεριεβάλετο καὶ τριήρεις ἐναυπηγήσατο καὶ ταῖς ἄλλαις κατασκευαῖς οὕτως ηὔξησε τὴν πόλιν ὥστε μηδεμιᾶς τῶν Ἑλληνίδων ἀπολελεῖφθαι, καὶ δύναμιν τοσαύτην ἐνεποίησεν ὥστε πολλοὺς φοβεῖσθαι τῶν πρότερον καταφρονούντων αὐτῆς. §48καίτοι τηλικαύτας ἐπιδόσεις τὰς πόλεις λαμβάνειν οὐχ οἷόν τʼ ἐστίν, ἢν μὴ τις αὐτὰς διοικῇ τοιούτοις ἤθεσιν οἵοις Εὐαγόρας μὲν εἶχεν ἐγὼ δʼ ὀλίγῳ πρότερον ἐπειράθην διελθεῖν.
For having received the city which had been reduced to barbarism and, because of the rule of the Phoenicians, neither admitted Greeks, nor knew arts, nor engaged in commerce, nor possessed a harbor, he corrected all these things, and in addition to this, he acquired much territory, built walls around it, constructed triremes, and by other improvements so increased the city that it was inferior to none of the Greek cities, and infused in it such power that many of those who previously despised it now feared it.\n And yet, it is not possible for cities to make such great advances unless someone administers them with such character as Evagoras possessed and I attempted to describe a little earlier.
ὥστʼ οὐ δέδοικα μὴ φανῶ μείζω λέγων τῶν ἐκείνῳ προσόντων, ἀλλὰ μὴ πολὺ λίαν ἀπολειφθῶ τῶν πεπραγμένων αὐτῷ. §49τίς γὰρ ἂν ἐφίκοιτο τοιαύτης φύσεως, ὃς οὐ μόνον τὴν αὑτοῦ πόλιν πλείονος ἀξίαν ἐποίησεν ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸν τόπον ὅλον τὸν περιέχοντα τὴν νῆσον ἐπὶ πραότητα καὶ μετριότητα προήγαγεν;
Therefore, I do not fear that I shall appear to speak of things greater than those belonging to him, but rather that I may fall far too short of his deeds.\n For who could attain to such a nature, who not only made his own city of greater value, but also led the whole region surrounding the island toward mildness and moderation?
πρὶν μέν γε λαβεῖν Εὐαγόραν τὴν ἀρχὴν οὕτως ἀπροσοίστως καὶ χαλεπῶς εἶχον, ὥστε καὶ τῶν ἀρχόντων τούτους ἐνόμιζον εἶναι βελτίστους οἵτινες ὠμότατα πρὸς τοὺς Ἕλληνας διακείμενοι τυγχάνοιεν· §50νῦν δὲ τοσοῦτον μεταπεπτώκασιν ὥσθʼ ἁμιλλᾶσθαι μὲν οἵτινες αὐτῶν δόξουσι φιλέλληνες εἶναι μάλιστα, παιδοποιεῖσθαι δὲ τοὺς πλείστους αὐτῶν γυναῖκας λαμβάνοντας παρʼ ἡμῶν, χαίρειν δὲ καὶ τοῖς κτήμασι καὶ τοῖς ἐπιτηδεύμασι τοῖς Ἑλληνικοῖς μᾶλλον ἢ τοῖς παρὰ σφίσιν αὐτοῖς, πλείους δὲ καὶ τῶν περὶ τὴν μουσικὴν καὶ τῶν περὶ τὴν ἄλλην παίδευσιν ἐν τούτοις τοῖς τόποις διατρίβειν ἢ παρʼ οἷς πρότερον εἰωθότες ἦσαν.
Before Evagoras took the rule, indeed, they were so unapproachable and harsh that they even considered those of their rulers to be the best who happened to be most cruelly disposed toward the Greeks;\n but now they have changed so much that they rival one another as to which of them shall seem to be the greatest lover of the Greeks, and most of them marry wives from among us and raise children, and they delight in Greek possessions and institutions more than in their own, and more of those concerned with music and the rest of education spend their time in these places than among those where they were previously accustomed to do.
καὶ τούτων ἁπάντων οὐδεὶς ὅστις οὐκ ἂν Εὐαγόραν αἴτιον εἶναι προσομολογήσειεν. §51μέγιστον δὲ τεκμήριον καὶ τοῦ τρόπου καὶ τῆς ὁσιότητος τῆς ἐκείνου· τῶν γὰρ Ἑλλήνων πολλοὶ καὶ καλοὶ κἀγαθοὶ τὰς αὑτῶν πατρίδας ἀπολιπόντες ἦλθον εἰς Κύπρον οἰκήσοντες, ἡγούμενοι κουφοτέραν καὶ νομιμωτέραν εἶναι τὴν Εὐαγόρου βασιλείαν τῶν οἴκοι πολιτειῶν·
And of all these things, there is no one who would not agree that Evagoras is the cause.\n And this is the greatest proof of both his character and his piety: many noble and good men among the Greeks, leaving their own fatherlands, came to dwell in Cyprus, believing that the kingship of Evagoras was milder and more lawful than the constitutions at home.
ὧν τοὺς μὲν ἄλλους ὀνομαστὶ διελθεῖν πολὺ ἂν ἔργον εἴη· §52Κόνωνα δὲ τὸν διὰ πλείστας ἀρετὰς πρωτεύσαντα τῶν Ἑλλήνων τίς οὐκ οἶδεν ὅτι δυστυχησάσης τῆς πόλεως ἐξ ἁπάντων ἐκλεξάμενος ὡς Εὐαγόραν ἦλθε, νομίσας καὶ τῷ σώματι βεβαιοτάτην εἶναι τὴν παρʼ ἐκείνῳ καταφυγὴν καὶ τῇ πόλει τάχιστʼ ἂν αὐτὸν γενέσθαι βοηθόν.
To go through the others of these by name would be a great task;\n but as for Conon, who because of his many virtues held the first place among the Greeks, who does not know that when our city met with misfortune, he chose Evagoras out of all others and came to him, believing that shelter with him would be the most secure for his own person and that he would most quickly become a helper to the city?
καὶ πολλὰ πρότερον ἤδη κατωρθωκὼς οὐδὲ περὶ ἑνὸς πώποτε πράγματος ἔδοξεν ἄμεινον ἢ περὶ τούτου βουλεύσασθαι· §53συνέβη γὰρ αὐτῷ διὰ τὴν ἄφιξιν τὴν εἰς Κύπρον καὶ ποιῆσαι καὶ παθεῖν πλεῖστʼ ἀγαθά.
And though he had already succeeded in many things before, he never seemed to have deliberated better about any single matter than about this;\n for it happened to him because of his arrival in Cyprus both to do and to receive the greatest goods.
πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ οὐκ ἔφθασαν ἀλλήλοις πλησιάσαντες καὶ περὶ πλείονος ἐποιήσαντο σφᾶς αὐτοὺς ἢ τοὺς πρότερον οἰκείους ὄντας.
First, they had no sooner come near to each other than they esteemed one another more than those who had previously been their intimates.
ἔπειτα περί τε τῶν ἄλλων ὁμονοοῦντες ἅπαντα τὸν χρόνον διετέλεσαν καὶ περὶ τῆς ἡμετέρας πόλεως τὴν αὐτὴν γνώμην εἶχον. §54ὁρῶντες γὰρ αὐτὴν ὑπὸ Λακεδαιμονίοις οὖσαν καὶ μεγάλῃ μεταβολῇ κεχρημένην λυπηρῶς καὶ βαρέως ἔφερον, ἀμφότεροι προσήκοντα ποιοῦντες· τῷ μὲν γὰρ ἦν φύσει πατρίς, τὸν δὲ διὰ πολλὰς καὶ μεγάλας εὐεργεσίας νόμῳ πολίτην ἐπεποίηντο.
Then, in other matters they continued to be of one mind all the time, and they held the same opinion regarding our city.\n For seeing her under the Lacedaemonians and having experienced a great change, they bore it with grief and impatience, both acting as was fitting; for to the one she was his fatherland by nature, while the other they had made a citizen by law because of many and great benefits.
σκοπουμένοις δʼ αὐτοῖς ὅπως τῶν συμφορῶν αὐτὴν ἀπαλλάξουσι, ταχὺν τὸν καιρὸν Λακεδαιμόνιο παρεσκεύασαν· ἄρχοντες γὰρ τῶν Ἑλλήνων καὶ κατὰ γῆν καὶ κατὰ θάλατταν εἰς τοῦτʼ ἀπληστίας ἦλθον, ὥστε καὶ τὴν Ἀσίαν κακῶς ποιεῖν ἐπεχείρησαν. §55λαβόντες δʼ ἐκεῖνοι τοῦτον τὸν καιρὸν καὶ τῶν στρατηγῶν τῶν βασιλέως ἀπορούντων ὅ τι χρήσωνται τοῖς πράγμασιν, ἐδίδασκον αὐτοὺς μὴ κατὰ γῆν ἀλλὰ κατὰ θάλατταν ποιεῖσθαι τὸν πόλεμον τὸν πρὸς Λακεδαιμονίους, νομίζοντες, εἰ μὲν πεζὸν στρατόπεδον καταστήσαιντο καὶ τούτῳ περιγένοιντο, τὰ περὶ τὴν ἤπειρον μόνον καλῶς ἕξειν, εἰ δὲ κατὰ θάλατταν κρατήσειαν, ἅπασαν τὴν Ἑλλάδα τῆς νίκης ταύτης μεθέξειν.
And while they were considering how they might deliver her from her misfortunes, the Lacedaemonians soon provided the opportunity; for ruling over the Greeks both by land and by sea, they reached such a pitch of greed that they even attempted to ravage Asia.\n Taking this opportunity, and when the king's generals were at a loss as to how to handle the situation, they instructed them to wage the war against the Lacedaemonians not by land but by sea, believing that if they should establish a land army and overcome them with this, only the affairs of the mainland would be in a good state, but if they should conquer by sea, the whole of Greece would share in this victory.