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Diodorus Siculus · Bibliotheca Historica §11.37.1-11.37.7

Fate of the Ionians and the Siege of Sestus

Passage 38 of 723 · Greek

Summary

The Greeks debate the relocation of the Ionians and Aeolians, leading to the Ionians remaining in Asia and the Athenian siege of Sestus, which concludes the Persian War. It also records contemporary events in Italy, including a Roman victory and the execution of Spurius Cassius.

§11.37.1οἱ δὲ περὶ Λεωτυχίδην καὶ Ξάνθιππον ἀποπλεύσαντες εἰς Σάμον τοὺς μὲν Ἴωνας καὶ τοὺς Αἰολεῖς συμμάχους ἐποιήσαντο, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ἔπειθον αὐτοὺς ἐκλιπόντας τὴν Ἀσίαν εἰς τὴν Εὐρώπην μετοικισθῆναι.
Leotychides and Xanthippus and their men, having sailed to Samos, made the Ionians and Aeolians their allies, and after this tried to persuade them to abandon Asia and migrate to Europe.
ἐπηγγέλλοντο δὲ τὰ μηδίσαντα τῶν ἐθνῶν ἀναστήσαντες δώσειν ἐκείνοις τὴν χώραν· §11.37.2καθόλου γὰρ μένοντας αὐτοὺς ἐπὶ τῆς Ἀσίας τοὺς μὲν πολεμίους ὁμόρους ἕξειν, πολὺ ταῖς δυνάμεσιν ὑπερέχοντας, τοὺς δὲ συμμάχους ὄντας διαποντίους μὴ δυνήσεσθαι τὰς βοηθείας εὐκαίρους αὐτοῖς ποιήσασθαι.
And they promised that they would drive out the nations which had sided with the Medes and give their territory to them; for if they remained in Asia, they would have as neighbors enemies who were far superior in strength, while their allies, being across the sea, would not be able to send them timely assistance.
οἱ δὲ Αἰολεῖς καὶ οἱ Ἴωνες ἀκούσαντες τῶν ἐπαγγελιῶν ἔγνωσαν πείθεσθαι τοῖς Ἕλλησι, καὶ παρεσκευάζοντο πλεῖν μετʼ αὐτῶν εἰς τὴν Εὐρώπην.
The Aeolians and Ionians, hearing these promises, decided to obey the Greeks and prepared to sail with them to Europe.
§11.37.3οἱ δʼ Ἀθηναῖοι μετανοήσαντες εἰς τοὐναντίον πάλιν μένειν συνεβούλευον, λέγοντες ὅτι κἂν μηδεὶς αὐτοῖς τῶν ἄλλων Ἑλλήνων βοηθῇ, μόνοι Ἀθηναῖοι συγγενεῖς ὄντες βοηθήσουσιν· ὑπελάμβανον δὲ ὅτι κοινῇ κατοικισθέντες ὑπὸ τῶν Ἑλλήνων οἱ Ἴωνες οὐκέτι μητρόπολιν ἡγήσονται τὰς Ἀθήνας.
But the Athenians, changing their minds, advised them back to the contrary to remain, saying that even if no other of the Greeks should help them, the Athenians alone, being their kinsmen, would help them; for they suspected that if the Ionians were settled in common by the Greeks, they would no longer regard Athens as their mother city.
διόπερ συνέβη μετανοῆσαι τοὺς Ἴωνας καὶ κρῖναι μένειν ἐπὶ τῆς Ἀσίας.
Consequently, it happened that the Ionians changed their minds and decided to remain in Asia.
§11.37.4τούτων δὲ πραχθέντων συνέβη τὴν δύναμιν τῶν Ἑλλήνων σχισθῆναι,καὶ τοὺς μὲν Λακεδαιμονίους εἰς τὴν Λακωνικὴν ἀποπλεῦσαι, τοὺς δὲ Ἀθηναίους μετὰ τῶν Ἰώνων καὶ τῶν νησιωτῶν ἐπὶ Σηστὸν ἀπᾶραι.
When these things had been done, it happened that the force of the Greeks was divided, and the Lacedaemonians sailed away to Laconia, while the Athenians, with the Ionians and the islanders, set sail for Sestus.
§11.37.5Ξάνθιππος δὲ ὁ στρατηγὸς εὐθὺς ἐκ κατάπλου προσβολὰς τῇ πόλει ποιησάμενος εἷλε Σηστόν, καὶ φρουρὰν ἐγκαταστήσας τοὺς μὲν συμμάχους ἀπέλυσεν, αὐτὸς δὲ μετὰ τῶν πολιτῶν ἀνέκαμψεν εἰς τὰς Ἀθήνας.
Xanthippus the general, immediately upon sailing into port, made attacks on the city and took Sestus, and having established a garrison, he dismissed the allies, while he himself, with the citizens, returned to Athens.
§11.37.6ὁ μὲν οὖν Μηδικὸς ὀνομασθεὶς πόλεμος γενόμενος διετὴς τοῦτο ἔσχε τὸ πέρας.
So the war called Median, which lasted two years, came to this end.
τῶν δὲ συγγραφέων Ἡρόδοτος ἀρξάμενος πρὸ τῶν Τρωικῶν χρόνων γέγραφε κοινὰς σχεδόν τι τὰς τῆς οἰκουμένης πράξεις ἐν βίβλοις ἐννέα, καταστρέφει δὲ τὴν σύνταξιν εἰς τὴν περὶ Μυκάλην μάχην τοῖς Ἕλλησι πρὸς τοὺς Πέρσας καὶ Σηστοῦ πολιορκίαν.
Among the historians, Herodotus, beginning before the Trojan times, wrote what was practically a general history of the inhabited world in nine books, and he brings his narrative to a close with the battle of Mycale between the Greeks and the Persians, and the siege of Sestus.
§11.37.7κατὰ δὲ τὴν Ἰταλίαν Ῥωμαῖοι πρὸς τοὺς Οὐολούσκους πολεμήσαντες καὶ μάχῃ νικήσαντες πολλοὺς ἀνεῖλον.
In Italy, the Romans, having waged war against the Volscians and having conquered them in battle, slew many of them.
Σπόριος δὲ Κάσσιος, ὁ κατὰ τὸν προηγούμενον ἐνιαυτὸν ὑπατεύσας, δόξας ἐπιθέσθαι τυραννίδι καὶ καταγνωσθείς, ἀνῃρέθη.
And Spurius Cassius, who had been consul in the preceding year, having been suspected of aiming at a tyranny and having been condemned, was put to death.
ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἐπράχθη κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν ἐνιαυτόν.
These, then, were the events of this year.

Notes

  1. 11.37.1ἔπειθον — The imperfect tense is used here to denote a continued attempt or "conative imperfect" ("tried to persuade"), as the persuasion was not yet completed.
  2. 11.37.2καθόλου γὰρ μένοντας αὐτοὺς — Part of an infinitive clause in indirect discourse. The accusative αὐτοὺς is the subject accusative of the infinitives ἕξειν and δυνήσεσθαι, and the participle μένοντας agreeing with it expresses a conditional force ("if they remained").
  3. 11.37.3μητρόπολιν ἡγήσονται τὰς Ἀθήνας — The verb ἡγέομαι ("to regard, consider") takes a double accusative construction, "to regard A as B". Here, τὰς Ἀθήνας (Athens) is the object (A) and μητρόπολιν (mother city) is the predicate accusative (B).

Cite this passage

Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica §11.37.1-11.37.7. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0060.tlg001.humanitext-grc4:11.37.1-11.37.7

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