§12.53.1ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησιν Εὐκλείδου Ῥωμαῖοι κατέστησαν ἀντὶ τῶν ὑπάτων χιλιάρχους τρεῖς, Μάρκον Μάνιον, Κόιντον Σουλπίκιον Πραιτέξτατον, Σερούιον Κορνήλιον Κόσσον.
When Euclides was archon in Athens, the Romans established three military tribunes with consular power instead of consuls: Marcus Manius, Quintus Sulpicius Praetextatus, and Servius Cornelius Cossus.
ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων κατὰ τὴν Σικελίαν Λεοντῖνοι, Χαλκιδέων μὲν ὄντες ἄποικοι, συγγενεῖς δὲ Ἀθηναίων, ἔτυχον ὑπὸ Συρακοσίων πολεμούμενοι.
Under their term of office, in Sicily, the Leontines, who were colonists of the Chalcidians and kinsmen of the Athenians, happened to be warred upon by the Syracusans.
πιεζόμενοι δὲ τῷ πολέμῳ, καὶ διὰ τὴν ὑπεροχὴν τῶν Συρακοσίων κινδυνεύοντες ἁλῶναι κατὰ κράτος, ἐξέπεμψαν πρέσβεις εἰς τὰς Ἀθήνας, ἀξιοῦντες τὸν δῆμον βοηθῆσαι τὴν ταχίστην καὶ τὴν πόλιν ἑαυτῶν ἐκ τῶν κινδύνων ῥύσασθαι.
Being hard pressed by the war, and in danger of being taken by storm due to the superiority of the Syracusans, they dispatched ambassadors to Athens, asking the people to bring them aid as quickly as possible and to rescue their city from its dangers.
§12.53.2ἦν δὲ τῶν ἀπεσταλμένων ἀρχιπρεσβευτὴς Γοργίας ὁ ῥήτωρ, δεινότητι λόγου πολὺ προέχων πάντων τῶν καθʼ ἑαυτόν.
The chief of the ambassadors sent was Gorgias the rhetorician, who far surpassed all men of his time in the power of his eloquence.
οὗτος καὶ τέχνας ῥητορικὰς πρῶτος ἐξεῦρε καὶ κατὰ τὴν σοφιστείαν τοσοῦτο τοὺς ἄλλους ὑπερέβαλεν, ὥστε μισθὸν λαμβάνειν παρὰ τῶν μαθητῶν μνᾶς ἑκατόν.
He was also the first to invent the arts of rhetoric, and in his activity as a sophist he so far excelled all others that he received a fee of one hundred minas from his pupils.
§12.53.3οὗτος οὖν καταντήσας εἰς τὰς Ἀθήνας καὶ παραχθεὶς εἰς τὸν δῆμον διελέχθη τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις περὶ τῆς συμμαχίας, καὶ τῷ ξενίζοντι τῆς λέξεως ἐξέπληξε τοὺς Ἀθηναίους ὄντας εὐφυεῖς καὶ φιλολόγους.
So, having arrived in Athens and having been introduced to the people, he addressed the Athenians concerning the alliance, and by the novelty of his style astonished the Athenians, who were naturally gifted and lovers of literature.
§12.53.4πρῶτος γὰρ ἐχρήσατο τοῖς τῆς λέξεως σχηματισμοῖς περιττοτέροις καὶ τῇ φιλοτεχνίᾳ διαφέρουσιν, ἀντιθέτοις καὶ ἰσοκώλοις καὶ παρίσοις καὶ ὁμοιοτελεύτοις καί τισιν ἑτέροις τοιούτοις, ἃ τότε μὲν διὰ τὸ ξένον τῆς κατασκευῆς ἀποδοχῆς ἠξιοῦτο, νῦν δὲ περιεργίαν ἔχειν δοκεῖ καὶ φαίνεται καταγέλαστα πλεονάκις καὶ κατακόρως τιθέμενα.
For he was the first to employ the more elaborate and highly artistic figures of speech, such as antitheses, isocola, parisa, homoioteleuta, and other such devices, which at that time, because of the novelty of their structure, were deemed worthy of approval, but now are thought to display excessive pedantry and appear ridiculous when used too frequently and to satiety.
§12.53.5τέλος δὲ πείσας τοὺς Ἀθηναίους συμμαχῆσαι τοῖς Λεοντίνοις, οὗτος μὲν θαυμασθεὶς ἐν ταῖς Ἀθήναις ἐπὶ τέχνῃ ῥητορικῇ τὴν εἰς Λεοντίνους ἐπάνοδον ἐποιήσατο.
And finally, having persuaded the Athenians to form an alliance with the Leontines, he, after being admired in Athens for his rhetorical art, made his return to Leontini.