§11.77.1ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησι Φρασικλείδου Ὀλυμπιὰς μὲν ἤχθη ὀγδοηκοστή, καθʼ ἣν ἐνίκα στάδιον Τορύλλας Θετταλός, Ῥωμαῖοι δʼ ὑπάτους κατέστησαν Κόιντον Φάβιον καὶ Τίτον Κοίντιον Καπιτωλῖνον.
When Phrasicleides was archon in Athens, the eightieth Olympiad was celebrated, in which Toryllas of Thessaly won the stadion race, and the Romans established Quintus Fabius and Titus Quinctius Capitolinus as consuls.
ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων κατὰ μὲν τὴν Ἀσίαν οἱ τῶν Περσῶν στρατηγοὶ διαβάντες ἐπὶ τὴν Κιλικίαν ναῦς μὲν κατεσκεύασαν τριακοσίας κεκοσμημένας καλῶς πρὸς τὴν πολεμικὴν χρείαν, τὸ δὲ πεζὸν στρατόπεδον λαβόντες προῆγον πεζῇ διὰ Συρίας καὶ Φοινίκης· συμπαραπλέοντος δὲ καὶ τοῦ στόλου τῇ πεζῇ στρατιᾷ κατήντησαν εἰς Μέμφιν τῆς Αἰγύπτου.
During their term of office, in Asia the Persian generals crossed over to Cilicia and prepared three hundred ships well equipped for the needs of war, and taking the land army, they advanced on foot through Syria and Phoenicia; and with the fleet sailing along beside the land army, they arrived at Memphis in Egypt.
§11.77.2καὶ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον τὴν πολιορκίαν τοῦ Λευκοῦ τείχους ἔλυσαν, καταπληξάμενοι τοὺς Αἰγυπτίους καὶ τοὺς Ἀθηναίους· μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ἐμφρόνως βουλευσάμενοι κατὰ στόμα μὲν παρατάττεσθαι διέκλινον, στρατηγήμασι δὲ ἐφιλοτιμοῦντο καταλῦσαι τὸν πόλεμον.
At first, they raised the siege of the White Wall, having struck terror into the Egyptians and the Athenians; but after this, taking counsel wisely, they avoided drawing up their forces face to face, and eagerly strove to bring the war to an end by stratagems.
διόπερ καὶ τῶν Ἀττικῶν νεῶν ὁρμουσῶν ἐν τῇ Προσωπίτιδι λεγομένῃ νήσῳ, τὸν περιρρέοντα ποταμὸν διώρυξι διαλαβόντες ἤπειρον ἐποίησαν τὴν νῆσον.
Therefore, when the Attic ships were moored at the island called Prosopitis, they diverted the river flowing around it by canals and made the island part of the mainland.
§11.77.3τῶν δὲ νεῶν ἄφνω καθιζουσῶν ἐπὶ ξηρὰν τὴν γῆν, οἱ μὲν Αἰγύπτιοι καταπλαγέντες ἐγκατέλιπον τοὺς Ἀθηναίους καὶ πρὸς τοὺς Πέρσας διελύσαντο· οἱ δὲ Ἀθηναῖοι συμμάχων ὄντες ἔρημοι καὶ τὰς ναῦς ὁρῶντες ἀχρήστους γεγενημένας, ταύτας μὲν ἐνέπρησαν, ὅπως μὴ τοῖς πολεμίοις ὑποχείριοι γενηθῶσιν, αὐτοὶ δὲ οὐ καταπλαγέντες τὴν δεινότητα τῆς περιστάσεως παρεκάλουν ἀλλήλους μηδὲν ἀνάξιον πρᾶξαι τῶν προκατειργασμένων ἀγώνων.
When the ships suddenly ran aground on the dry land, the Egyptians, struck with terror, abandoned the Athenians and made peace with the Persians; but the Athenians, finding themselves destitute of allies and seeing their ships rendered useless, set fire to them so that they might not fall into the hands of the enemy, and themselves, not being cowed by the dreadfulness of the situation, exhorted one another to do nothing unworthy of the struggles they had previously achieved.
§11.77.4διόπερ ταῖς ἀρεταῖς ὑπερβαλλόμενοι τοὺς ἐν Θερμοπύλαις ὑπὲρ τῆς Ἑλλάδος ἀποθανόντας, ἑτοίμως εἶχον διαγωνίζεσθαι πρὸς τοὺς πολεμίους.
Therefore, surpassing in valor those who died for Greece at Thermopylae, they were ready to fight to the end against the enemy.
οἱ δὲ στρατηγοὶ τῶν Περσῶν Ἀρτάβαζος καὶ Μεγάβυζος, ὁρῶντες τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῆς εὐτολμίας τῶν πολεμίων καὶ λογισάμενοι, διότι τούτους οὐ δυνατὸν ἀνελεῖν ἄνευ τοῦ πολλὰς μυριάδας ἀποβαλεῖν τῶν ἰδίων, σπονδὰς ἔθεντο πρὸς τοὺς Ἀθηναίους, καθʼ ἃς ἔδει χωρὶς κινδύνων ἀπελθεῖν αὐτοὺς ἐκ τῆς Αἰγύπτου.
But the Persian generals, Artabazus and Megabyzus, seeing the extreme boldness of their enemies and calculating that it was impossible to destroy them without losing many tens of thousands of their own men, made a treaty with the Athenians, according to which they were to depart from Egypt without danger.
§11.77.5οἱ μὲν οὖν Ἀθηναῖοι διὰ τὴν ἰδίαν ἀρετὴν τυχόντες τῆς σωτηρίας ἀπῆλθον ἐκ τῆς Αἰγύπτου, καὶ διὰ τῆς Λιβύης εἰς Κυρήνην ἀπελθόντες ἐσώθησαν παραδόξως εἰς τὴν πατρίδα.
The Athenians, then, having secured their safety through their own valor, departed from Egypt, and retreating through Libya to Cyrene, they were saved, contrary to expectation, and returned to their homeland.
§11.77.6ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις ἐν μὲν ταῖς Ἀθήναις Ἐφιάλτης ὁ Σοφωνίδου, δημαγωγὸς ὢν καὶ τὸ πλῆθος παροξύνας κατὰ τῶν Ἀρεοπαγιτῶν, ἔπεισε τὸν δῆμον ψηφίσματι μειῶσαι τὴν ἐξ Ἀρείου πάγου βουλήν, καὶ τὰ πάτρια καὶ περιβόητα νόμιμα καταλῦσαι.
While these things were going on, in Athens, Ephialtes, the son of Sophonides, who was a popular leader and had incited the multitude against the Areopagites, persuaded the people by a decree to curtail the council of the Areopagus and to abolish the ancestral and celebrated customs.
οὐ μὴν ἀθῷός γε διέφυγε τηλικούτοις ἀνομήμασιν ἐπιβαλόμενος, ἀλλὰ τῆς νυκτὸς ἀναιρεθεὶς ἄδηλον ἔσχε τὴν τοῦ βίου τελευτήν.
Yet he did not escape unpunished after embarking on such great lawlessness, but being assassinated in the night, his end of life remained obscure.