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Diodorus Siculus · Bibliotheca Historica §11.78.1-11.78.5

Athenian Victories and the Rise of Ducetius

Passage 79 of 723 · Greek

Summary

This passage describes the outbreak of war between Athens and the Peloponnesian states (Corinth, Epidaurus, and Aegina), alongside the rise and expansion of Ducetius in Sicily.

§11.78.1τοῦ δʼ ἐνιαυσίου χρόνου διεληλυθότος Ἀθήνησι μὲν ἦν ἄρχων Φιλοκλῆς, ἐν Ῥώμῃ δὲ τὴν ὕπατον ἀρχὴν διεδέξαντο Αὖλος Ποστούμιος Ῥηγοῦλος καὶ Σπόριος Φούριος Μεδιολανός.
When the period of a year had elapsed, Philocles was archon in Athens, and in Rome Aulus Postumius Regillus and Spurius Furius Mediolanus succeeded to the consular office.
ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Κορινθίοις καὶ Ἐπιδαυρίοις πρὸς Ἀθηναίους ἐνστάντος πολέμου, ἐστράτευσαν ἐπʼ αὐτοὺς Ἀθηναῖοι, καὶ γενομένης μάχης ἰσχυρᾶς ἐνίκησαν Ἀθηναῖοι.
During their term, since a war had broken out between the Corinthians and Epidaurians on one side and the Athenians on the other, the Athenians campaigned against them, and a fierce battle took place in which the Athenians were victorious.
§11.78.2μεγάλῳδὲ στόλῳ καταπλεύσαντες πρὸς τοὺς ὀνομαζομένους Ἁλιεῖς, ἀνέβησαν εἰς τὴν Πελοπόννησον, καὶ τῶν πολεμίων ἀνεῖλον οὐκ ὀλίγους.
Sailing with a large fleet to the place called Halieis, they landed on the Peloponnese and slew not a few of the enemy.
συστραφέντων δὲ τῶν Πελοποννησίων καὶ δύναμιν ἀξιόλογον ἀθροισάντων, συνέστη μάχη πρὸς τοὺς Ἀθηναίους περὶ τὴν ὀνομαζομένην Κεκρυφάλειαν, καθʼ ἣν πάλιν ἐνίκησαν Ἀθηναῖοι.
But when the Peloponnesians united and gathered a noteworthy force, a battle took place against the Athenians near the place called Cecryphalea, in which the Athenians were again victorious.
§11.78.3τοιούτων δὲ εὐημερημάτων αὐτοῖς γενομένων, τοὺς Αἰγινήτας ὁρῶντες πεφρονηματισμένους μὲν ταῖς προγεγενημέναις πράξεσιν, ἀλλοτρίως δὲ ἔχοντας πρὸς αὐτούς, ἔγνωσαν καταπολεμῆσαι.
Since such successes had fallen to their lot, and seeing that the Aeginetans were puffed up with pride by their past achievements and were hostilely disposed toward them, they resolved to subdue them.
§11.78.4διὸ καὶ στόλον ἐπʼ αὐτοὺς ἀξιόλογον ἀποστειλάντων τῶν Ἀθηναίων, οἱ τὴν Αἴγιναν κατοικοῦντες, μεγάλην ἐμπειρίαν ἔχοντες καὶ δόξαν τῶν κατὰ θάλατταν ἀγώνων, οὐ κατεπλάγησαν τὴν ὑπεροχὴν τῶν Ἀθηναίων, ἔχοντες δὲ τριήρεις ἱκανὰς καὶ προσκατασκευάσαντες ἑτέρας, ἐναυμάχησαν, καὶ λειφθέντες ἀπέβαλον τριήρεις ἑβδομήκοντα· συντριβέντες δὲ τοῖς φρονήμασι διὰ τὸ μέγεθος τῆς συμφορᾶς, ἠναγκάσθησαν εἰς τὴν Ἀθηναίων συντέλειαν καταταχθῆναι.
Therefore, when the Athenians dispatched a noteworthy fleet against them, the inhabitants of Aegina, having great experience and reputation in naval struggles, were not terrified by the superiority of the Athenians, but having a sufficient number of triremes and having constructed additional ones, they fought a sea-battle, and being defeated, they lost seventy triremes; and having their spirits broken by the magnitude of the disaster, they were compelled to be enrolled in the Athenian confederacy.
ταῦτα μὲν οὖν Λεωκράτης ὁ στρατηγὸς κατεπράξατο τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις, τοὺς πάντας διαπολεμήσας μῆνας ἐννέα πρὸς τοὺς Αἰγινήτας.
These things, then, the general Leocrates accomplished for the Athenians, having waged war against the Aeginetans for nine months in all.
§11.78.5ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις κατὰ τὴν Σικελίαν Δουκέτιος ὁ τῶν Σικελῶν βασιλεὺς, ὠνομασμένος τὸ γένος, ἰσχύων δὲ κατʼ ἐκείνους τοὺς χρόνους, Μέναινον μὲν πόλιν ἔκτισε καὶ τὴν σύνεγγυς χώραν τοῖς κατοικισθεῖσι διεμέρισε, στρατευσάμενος δʼ ἐπὶ πόλιν ἀξιόλογον Μοργαντῖναν, καὶ χειρωσάμενος αὐτήν, δόξαν ἀπηνέγκατο παρὰ τοῖς ὁμοεθνέσι.
While these things were going on, in Sicily, Ducetius, the king of the Sicels, a man of distinguished birth and powerful in those times, founded the city of Menainon and distributed the neighboring land to the settlers; and having campaigned against the noteworthy city of Morgantina and subdued it, he won high renown among his fellow countrymen.

Notes

  1. 11.78.1τοῦ δʼ ἐνιαυσίου χρόνου διεληλυθότος — A genitive absolute construction indicating the lapse of time ("when the period of a year had elapsed"), serving as a temporal background to the main clause.
  2. 11.78.3πεφρονηματισμένους μὲν ... ἀλλοτρίως δὲ ἔχοντας — Participles serving as objective complements to τοὺς Αἰγινήτας, which is the object of the verb of perception ὁρῶντες. The former is a perfect passive participle and the latter a present active participle.
  3. 11.78.5ὠνομασμένος τὸ γένος — The noun phrase τὸ γένος is an accusative of respect (or specification) modifying the participle ὠνομασμένος ("distinguished with respect to his birth/lineage").

Cite this passage

Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica §11.78.1-11.78.5. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0060.tlg001.humanitext-grc4:11.78.1-11.78.5

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