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Diodorus Siculus · Bibliotheca Historica §12.80.1-12.80.8

Spartan-Argive Peace and Oligarchic Coup in Argos

Passage 174 of 723 · Greek

Summary

The chapter records the change of magistrates in Athens and Rome, the peace between Argos and Sparta, a short-lived oligarchic coup in Argos, a battle between Phocians and Locrians, Athenian conquests including Melos, and the outbreak of war between Rome and the Fidenates.

§12.80.1τοῦ δʼ ἐνιαυσίου χρόνου διεληλυθότος Ἀθήνησι μὲν ἦρχεν Ἀντιφῶν, ἐν Ῥώμῃ δʼ ἀντὶ τῶν ὑπάτων χιλίαρχοι τέτταρες κατεστάθησαν, Γάιος Φούριος καὶ Τίτος Κοΐντιος, ἔτι δὲ Μάρκος Ποστούμιος καὶ Αὖλος Κορνήλιος.
When the space of a year had elapsed, Antiphon was archon in Athens, and in Rome, in place of the consuls, four military tribunes were established: Gaius Furius, Titus Quinctius, and furthermore, Marcus Postumius and Aulus Cornelius.
ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Ἀργεῖοι καὶ Λακεδαιμόνιοι διαπρεσβευσάμενοι πρὸς ἀλλήλους εἰρήνην ἐποιήσαντο καὶ συμμαχίαν συνέθεντο.
Under their administration, the Argives and the Lacedaemonians sent envoys to one another and concluded peace and entered into an alliance.
§12.80.2διόπερ οἱ Μαντινεῖς ἀποβαλόντες τὴν ἀπὸ τῶν Ἀργείων βοήθειαν ἠναγκάσθησαν ὑποταγῆναι τοῖς Λακεδαιμονίοις.
Consequently, the Mantineans, having lost the aid from the Argives, were compelled to subject themselves to the Lacedaemonians.
περὶ δὲ τοὺς αὐτοὺς χρόνους ἐν τῇ πόλει τῶν Ἀργείων οἱ κατʼ ἐκλογὴν κεκριμένοι τῶν πολιτῶν χίλιοι συνεφώνησαν, καὶ τὴν μὲν δημοκρατίαν ἔγνωσαν καταλύειν, ἀριστοκρατίαν δʼ ἐξ αὑτῶν καθιστάναι.
About the same time, in the city of Argos, the thousand select citizens who had been chosen by election conspired together, and resolved to dissolve the democracy and to establish an aristocracy from among themselves.
§12.80.3ἔχοντες δὲ πολλοὺς συνεργοὺς διὰ τὸ προέχειν τῶν πολιτῶν ταῖς οὐσίαις καὶ ταῖς ἀνδραγαθίαις, τὸ μὲν πρῶτον συλλαβόντες τοὺς δημαγωγεῖν εἰωθότας ἀπέκτειναν, τοὺς δʼ ἄλλους καταπληξάμενοι κατέλυσαν τοὺς νόμους καὶ διʼ ἑαυτῶν τὰ δημόσια διῴκουν.
Since they had many accomplices because they surpassed the other citizens in wealth and valor, they first of all seized and put to death those who were accustomed to lead the people, and having terrified the rest, they dissolved the laws and administered the public affairs by themselves.
διακατασχόντες δὲ ταύτην τὴν πολιτείαν μῆνας ὀκτὼ κατελύθησαν, τοῦ δήμου συστάντος ἐπʼ αὐτούς· διὸ καὶ τούτων ἀναιρεθέντων ὁ δῆμος ἐκομίσατο τὴν δημοκρατίαν.
Although they maintained this government for eight months, they were overthrew when the common people rose up against them; therefore, these men having been removed, the people recovered their democracy.
§12.80.4ἐγένετο δὲ καὶ ἑτέρα κίνησις κατὰ τὴν Ἑλλάδα· καὶ Φωκεῖς γὰρ πρὸς Λοκροὺς διενεχθέντες παρατάξει ἐκρίθησαν διὰ τὴν οἰκείαν ἀνδρείαν· ἐνίκησαν γὰρ Φωκεῖς ἀνελόντες Λοκρῶν πλείους χιλίων.
Another movement also occurred in Greece; for the Phocians, having quarreled with the Locrians, decided the issue in a pitched battle through their own valor; for the Phocians won, having slain more than a thousand of the Locrians.
§12.80.5Ἀθηναῖοι δὲ Νικίου στρατηγοῦντος εἷλον δύο πόλεις, Κύθηρα καὶ Νίσαιαν· τήν τε Μῆλον ἐκπολιορκήσαντες πάντας ἡβηδὸν ἀπέσφαξαν, παῖδας δὲ καὶ γυναῖκας ἐξηνδραποδίσαντο.
The Athenians, under the command of Nicias, captured two cities, Cythera and Nisaea; and having reduced Melos by siege, they slaughtered all the adult males, and enslaved the children and women.
§12.80.6καὶ τὰ μὲν κατὰ τοὺς Ἕλληνας ἐν τούτοις ἦν.
Such was the state of affairs among the Greeks.
κατὰ δὲ τὴν Ἰταλίαν Φιδηνᾶται μέν, παραγενομένων εἰς τὴν πόλιν αὐτῶν πρέσβεων ἐκ τῆς Ῥώμης, ἐπὶ μικραῖς αἰτίαις ἀνεῖλον τούτους.
In Italy, however, when envoys from Rome arrived in their city, the Fidenates put them to death on trifling pretexts.
§12.80.7ἐφʼ οἷς οἱ Ῥωμαῖοι παροξυνθέντες ἐψηφίσαντο πολεμεῖν, καὶ προχειρισάμενοι δύναμιν ἀξιόλογον εἵλοντο δικτάτωρα Ἄνιον Αἰμίλιον καὶ μετὰ τούτου κατὰ τὸ ἔθος Αὖλον Κορνήλιον ἵππαρχον.
Exasperated by these acts, the Romans voted for war, and having prepared a noteworthy force, they chose Anius Aemilius as dictator, and with him, according to custom, Aulus Cornelius as master of the horse.
§12.80.8ὁ δʼ Αἰμίλιος παρασκευασάμενος τὰ πρὸς τὸν πόλεμον, ἀνέζευξε μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως ἐπὶ τοὺς Φιδηνάτας.
Aemilius, having prepared what was necessary for the war, set out with his army against the Fidenates.
ἀντιταξαμένων δὲ τῶν Φιδηνατῶν ἐγένετο μάχη ἐπὶ πολὺν χρόνον ἰσχυρά, καὶ πολλῶν παρʼ ἀμφοτέροις πεσόντων ἰσόρροπος ὁ ἀγὼν ἐγένετο.
When the Fidenates drew themselves up against him, a fierce battle took place for a long time, and since many fell on both sides, the contest was indecisive.

Notes

  1. §12.80.2οἱ κατʼ ἐκλογὴν κεκριμένοι — The participle κεκριμένοι (those chosen), accompanied by the prepositional phrase κατʼ ἐκλογὴν (by selection), functions substantively with the article οἱ, while the following τῶν πολιτῶν (of the citizens) is a partitive genitive depending on it. Together they tightly qualify the noun χίλιοι (the thousand).
  2. §12.80.3διὰ τὸ προέχειν — A causal construction of the preposition διά followed by the accusative of the articular infinitive τὸ προέχειν (surpassing). The subject of the infinitive is omitted because it is identical with the subject of the main clause. τῶν πολιτῶν is a genitive of comparison governed by προέχειν, and ταῖς οὐσίαις καὶ ταῖς ἀνδραγαθίαις are datives of respect.
  3. §12.80.7ἐφʼ οἷς — A relative phrase consisting of the preposition ἐπί (against / on account of) and the neuter plural relative pronoun οἷς. The antecedent is not a single word but the entire preceding event (the slaughter of the Roman envoys by the Fidenates), meaning 'at these things'.

Cite this passage

Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica §12.80.1-12.80.8. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0060.tlg001.humanitext-grc4:12.80.1-12.80.8

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