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Diodorus Siculus · Bibliotheca Historica §11.84.1-11.84.8

Tolmides' Expedition around the Peloponnese

Passage 85 of 723 · Greek

Summary

In the year Callias became archon in Athens, Tolmides planned an expedition to Laconia to rival Myronides' renown. Employing a clever stratagem to gather many volunteers, he set sail, devastated Lacedaemonian territory, and settled the Messenians in Naupactus.

§11.84.1ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησι Καλλίου παρὰ μὲν Ἠλείοις Ὀλυμπιὰς ἤχθη μία πρὸς ταῖς ὀγδοήκοντα, καθʼ ἣν ἐνίκα στάδιον Πολύμναστος Κυρηναῖος, ἐν Ῥώμῃ δʼ ὑπῆρχον ὕπατοι Σερούιος Σουλπίκιος καὶ Πούπλιος Οὐολούμνιος Ἀμεντῖνος.
When Callias was archon in Athens, the eighty-first Olympiad was celebrated among the Elians, in which Polymnastos of Cyrene won the stadium race, and in Rome the consuls were Servius Sulpicius and Publius Volumnius Amentinus.
§11.84.2ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Τολμίδης ὁ τεταγμένος ἐπὶ τῆς ναυτικῆς δυνάμεως, ἁμιλλώμενος πρὸς τὴν Μυρωνίδου ἀρετήν τε καὶ δόξαν, ἔσπευδεν ἀξιόλογόν τι κατεργάσασθαι.
Under these consuls, Tolmides, who had been appointed to command the naval forces, striving to rival the valor and reputation of Myronides, was eager to accomplish some noteworthy deed.
§11.84.3διὸ καὶ κατʼ ἐκείνους τοὺς καιροὺς μηδενὸς πρότερον πεπορθηκότος τὴν Λακωνικήν, παρεκάλεσε τὸν δῆμον δῃῶσαι τὴν τῶν Σπαρτιατῶν χώραν, ἐπηγγέλλετο δὲ χιλίους ὁπλίτας παραλαβὼν εἰς τὰς τριήρεις μετὰ τούτων πορθήσειν μὲν τὴν Λακωνικήν, ταπεινώσειν δὲ τὴν τῶν Σπαρτιατῶν δόξαν.
Therefore, in those times, since no one before had devastated Laconia, he urged the people to ravage the territory of the Spartans, and promised that if he took a thousand hoplites onto the triremes, he would with these both lay waste to Laconia and lower the reputation of the Spartans.
§11.84.4συγχωρησάντων δὲ τῶν Ἀθηναίων, βουλόμενος λαθραίως πλείονας ὁπλίτας ἐξαγαγεῖν, τεχνάζεταί τι τοιοῦτον.
When the Athenians agreed, wishing to lead out more hoplites secretly, he devised the following scheme.
οἱ μὲν πολῖται διελάμβανον αὐτὸν καταλέξειν εἰς τὴν στρατιὰν τῶν νέων τοὺς ἀκμάζοντας ταῖς ἡλικίαις καὶ τοῖς σώμασιν εὐρωστοτάτους· ὁ δὲ Τολμίδης σπεύδων μὴ μόνον τοὺς τεταγμένους χιλίους ἐξαγαγεῖν εἰς τὴν στρατείαν, προσιὼν ἑκάστῳ τῶν νέων καὶ τῇ ῥώμῃ διαφερόντων ἔλεγεν ὡς μέλλει καταλέγειν αὐτόν· κρεῖττον οὖν ἔφησεν ἐθελοντὴν στρατεύειν μᾶλλον ἢ διὰ τῶν καταλόγων ἀναγκασθῆναι δοκεῖν.
While the citizens supposed that he would enlist in the army those of the youth who were in the prime of life and physically strongest, Tolmides, striving to lead out on the campaign not only the assigned thousand, approached each of the young men who excelled in strength and said that he was going to enlist him; therefore, he said, it was better to serve as a volunteer rather than to appear to be compelled by the enlistment rolls.
§11.84.5ἐπεὶ δὲ πλείους τῶν τρισχιλίων τούτῳ τῷ λόγῳ συνέπεισεν ἐθελοντὴν ἀπογράφεσθαι, τοὺς δὲ λοιποὺς οὐκέτι σπεύδοντας ἑώρα, τότε τοὺς ὡμολογημένους χιλίους κατέλεξεν ἐκ τῶν ἄλλων.
When by this speech he persuaded more than three thousand to register as volunteers, and saw that the rest were no longer eager, he then enlisted the promised thousand from among the others.
§11.84.6ὡς δʼ αὐτῷ καὶ τἄλλα τὰ πρὸς τὴν στρατείαν ἡτοίμαστο, πεντήκοντα μὲν τριήρεσιν ἀνήχθη καὶ τετρακισχιλίοις ὁπλίταις, καταπλεύσας δὲ τῆς Λακωνικῆς εἰς Μεθώνην, τοῦτο μὲν τὸ χωρίον εἷλε, τῶν δὲ Λακεδαιμονίων βοηθησάντων ἀνέζευξε, καὶ παραπλεύσας εἰς τὸ Γύθειον, ἐπίνειον τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων, χειρωσάμενος δὲ καὶ ταύτην τὴν πόλιν καὶ τὰ νεώρια τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων ἐμπρήσας, τὴν χώραν ἐδῄωσεν.
When his other preparations for the campaign were also ready, he set sail with fifty triremes and four thousand hoplites, and having sailed down to Methone in Laconia, he took this place, but when the Lacedaemonians came to its defense, he withdrew, and sailing along the coast to Gytheium, the naval station of the Lacedaemonians, he subdued this city also, and having burned the dockyards of the Lacedaemonians, he ravaged the land.
§11.84.7ἐκεῖθεν δὲ ἀναχθεὶς ἔπλευσε τῆς Κεφαλληνίας εἰς Ζάκυνθον· ταύτην δὲ χειρωσάμενος καὶ πάσας τὰς ἐν τῇ Κεφαλληνίᾳ πόλεις προσαγαγόμενος, εἰς τὸ πέραν διέπλευσε καὶ κατῆρεν εἰς Ναύπακτον.
Sailing from there, he cruised to Zacynthus in Cephallenia; and having subdued this island and brought over all the cities in Cephallenia, he sailed across to the opposite mainland and put in at Naupactus.
ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ ταύτην ἐξ ἐφόδου λαβών, κατῴκισεν εἰς ταύτην Μεσσηνίων τοὺς ἐπισήμους, ὑποσπόνδους ὑπὸ Λακεδαιμονίων ἀφεθέντας·
Taking this city likewise by an immediate assault, he settled in it the prominent men of the Messenians, who had been released by the Lacedaemonians under a truce.
§11.84.8κατὰ γὰρ τὸν αὐτὸν χρόνον οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι πρὸς τοὺς Εἵλωτας καὶ Μεσσηνίους πεπολεμηκότες ἐπὶ πλέον, τότε κρατήσαντες ἀμφοτέρων τοὺς μὲν ἐξ Ἰθώμης ὑποσπόνδους ἀφῆκαν, καθότι προείρηται, τῶν δʼ Εἱλώτων τοὺς αἰτίους τῆς ἀποστάσεως κολάσαντες τοὺς ἄλλους κατεδουλώσαντο.
For at this same time the Lacedaemonians, having warred against the Helots and Messenians for a longer period, then got the upper hand over both, and released those from Ithome under a truce, as has been said before, while they punished those of the Helots who were responsible for the revolt and enslaved the rest.

Notes

  1. §11.84.4σπεύδων μὴ μόνον τοὺς τεταγμένους χιλίους ἐξαγαγεῖν — The participle `σπεύδων` here means "eager" or "striving" and takes the following infinitive `ἐξαγαγεῖν`. The negative `μή` negates the infinitive, indicating that Tolmides was striving "not only to lead out" the officially designated 1000 men (but rather to take more).
  2. §11.84.4μᾶλλον ἢ διὰ τῶν καταλόγων ἀναγκασθῆναι δοκεῖν — `δοκεῖν` ("to seem" or "to be thought") here carries the nuance of "to appear to be" or "to be regarded as." The phrase forms a contrast: "it is better to serve as a volunteer rather than to appear to have been forced by the enlistment rolls."
  3. §11.84.5τοὺς δὲ λοιποὺς οὐκέτι σπεύδοντας ἑώρα — The participle `σπεύδοντας`, unlike the earlier `σπεύδων` used of Tolmides, here means "hurrying" or "being eager" (to volunteer) and functions as a supplementary participle with the verb of seeing `ἑώρα` ("he saw the rest no longer eager to do so").
  4. §11.84.6τῆς Λακωνικῆς εἰς Μεθώνην — The genitive `τῆς Λακωνικῆς` is a partitive genitive indicating the region to which the destination belongs, meaning "into Methone of [i.e., in] Laconia."

Cite this passage

Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica §11.84.1-11.84.8. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0060.tlg001.humanitext-grc4:11.84.1-11.84.8

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