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Diodorus Siculus · Bibliotheca Historica §15.19.1-15.19.4

Spartan Bid for Hegemony and Alliance with Amyntas

Passage 431 of 723 · Greek

Summary

As Sparta abandoned Asia to assert dominance over Greece, King Amyntas of Macedonia allied with Sparta against Olynthus over a territorial dispute, while a policy disagreement arose between the two Spartan kings regarding Greek hegemony.

§15.19.1Λακεδαιμόνιοι δὲ μετὰ τὸν τοῦ Γλῶ καὶ τοῦ Ταχῶ θάνατον τὰς μὲν κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν πράξεις ἀπέγνωσαν, τὰ δὲ κατὰ τὴν Ἑλλάδα συσκευαζόμενοι, καὶ τῶν πόλεων ἃς μὲν πειθοῖ προσαγόμενοι, ἃς δὲ διὰ τῆς τῶν φυγάδων καθόδου βίᾳ χειρούμενοι, φανερῶς ἤδη τὴν ἡγεμονίαν τῆς Ἑλλάδος εἰς ἑαυτοὺς μεθίστασαν παρὰ τὰς κοινὰς συνθήκας τὰς ἐπʼ Ἀνταλκίδου γενομένας συνεπιλαβομένου τοῦ Περσῶν βασιλέως.
After the death of Glos and Tachos, the Lacedaemonians gave up their undertakings in Asia, but, organizing the affairs in Greece and bringing some of the cities over by persuasion while subduing others by force through the restoration of exiles, they were already openly transferring the hegemony of Greece to themselves, contrary to the common treaties made under Antalcidas with the cooperation of the Persian king.
§15.19.2κατὰ δὲ τὴν Μακεδονίαν Ἀμύντου τοῦ βασιλέως ἡττηθέντος ὑπὸ Ἰλλυριῶν καὶ τὰ κατὰ τὴν ἀρχὴν ἀπογνόντος, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις τῷ δήμῳ τῶν Ὀλυνθίων δωρησαμένου πολλὴν τῆς ὁμόρου χώρας διὰ τὴν ἀπόγνωσιν τῆς ἑαυτοῦ δυναστείας, τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ὁ δῆμος ὁ τῶν Ὀλυνθίων τὰς προσόδους ἐλάμβανε τὰς ἐκ τῆς δοθείσης χώρας, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτʼ ἀνελπίστως τοῦ βασιλέως ἀναλαβόντος ἑαυτὸν καὶ τὴν ὅλην ἀρχὴν ἀνακτησαμένου οἱ μὲν Ὀλύνθιοι τὴν χώραν ἀπαιτηθέντες οὐχ οἷοι ἦσαν ἀποδιδόναι.
In Macedonia, when King Amyntas had been defeated by the Illyrians and had given up hope for his kingdom, and moreover, because of despair for his own power, had gifted much of the neighboring territory to the people of the Olynthians, at first the people of the Olynthians received the revenues from the given land; but after this, when the king unexpectedly recovered himself and regained his entire kingdom, the Olynthians, on being asked to return the territory, were not willing to restore it.
§15.19.3διόπερ Ἀμύντας ἰδίαν τε δύναμιν συνεστήσατο καὶ τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους ποιησάμενος συμμάχους ἔπεισεν ἐξαποστεῖλαι στρατηγὸν καὶ δύναμιν ἀξιόλογον ἐπὶ τοὺς Ὀλυνθίους.
Therefore, Amyntas both gathered a private force and, having made the Lacedaemonians his allies, persuaded them to dispatch a general and a noteworthy force against the Olynthians.
οἱ δὲ Λακεδαιμόνιοι κρίναντες ἀντέχεσθαι τῶν ἐπὶ Θρᾴκης τόπων, κατέλεξαν στρατιώτας ἔκ τε τῶν πολιτῶν καὶ παρὰ τῶν συμμάχων τοὺς ἅπαντας ὑπὲρ μυρίους· παραδόντες δὲ τὴν δύναμιν Φοιβίδᾳ τῷ Σπαρτιάτῃ προσέταξαν συμμαχεῖν τῷ Ἀμύντᾳ καὶ μετʼ ἐκείνου πολεμῆσαι τοὺς Ὀλυνθίους.
The Lacedaemonians, judging that they should hold onto the regions of Thrace, enrolled soldiers both from their citizens and from their allies, in all more than ten thousand; and delivering the force to Phoebidas the Spartan, they ordered him to ally with Amyntas and with him to make war on the Olynthians.
ἑτέραν δὲ δύναμιν ἐπὶ Φλιουντίους ἐκπέμψαντες καὶ μάχῃ νικήσαντες ἠνάγκασαν ὑποταγῆναι τοὺς Φλιουντίους τοῖς Λακεδαιμονίοις.
And having sent out another force against the Phliasians and defeated them in battle, they forced the Phliasians to submit to the Lacedaemonians.
§15.19.4κατὰ δὲ τοῦτον τὸν χρόνον οἱ βασιλεῖς τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων διεφέροντο πρὸς ἀλλήλους ταῖς αἱρέσεσιν· Ἀγησίπολις μὲν γάρ, εἰρηνικὸς ὢν καὶ δίκαιος, ἔτι δὲ καὶ συνέσει διαφέρων, ἔφη δεῖν ἐμμένειν τοῖς ὅρκοις καὶ παρὰ τὰς κοινὰς συνθήκας μὴ καταδουλοῦσθαι τοὺς Ἕλληνας· ἀδοξεῖν γὰρ ἀπεφήνατο τὴν Σπάρτην τοῖς μὲν Πέρσαις ἐκδότους πεποιημένην τοὺς κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν Ἕλληνας, αὐτὴν δὲ συσκευαζομένην τὰς κατὰ τὴν Ἑλλάδα πόλεις, ἐν ταῖς κοιναῖς συνθήκαις ὀμόσασαν τηρήσειν αὐτονόμους.
At this time, the kings of the Lacedaemonians differed from each other in their policies; for Agesipolis, being peaceful and just, and moreover outstanding in intelligence, said that they ought to abide by their oaths and not enslave the Greeks contrary to the common treaties; for he declared that Sparta brought ill repute upon itself by having delivered the Greeks in Asia to the Persians, while itself organizing the cities in Greece, which it had sworn in the common treaties to keep autonomous.
ὁ δʼ Ἀγησίλαος, ὢν φύσει δραστικός, φιλοπόλεμος ἦν καὶ τῆς τῶν Ἑλλήνων δυναστείας ἀντείχετο.
But Agesilaus, being by nature active, was fond of war and held onto the dominion over the Greeks.

Notes

  1. 15.19.1συνεπιλαβομένου τοῦ Περσῶν βασιλέως — A genitive absolute construction consisting of the noun βασιλέως and the participle συνεπιλαβομένου. It expresses the Persian king's cooperation or assistance in the making of the common treaty (the Peace of Antalcidas).
  2. 15.19.2ἀναλαβόντος ἑαυτὸν — An idiomatic expression where the verb ἀναλαμβάνω combined with the reflexive pronoun ἑαυτόν means 'to recover oneself' or 'to regain one's strength/position'.
  3. 15.19.4ἀδοξεῖν γὰρ ἀπεφήνατο τὴν Σπάρτην — An accusative-with-infinitive construction introduced by the verb ἀπεφήνατο (he declared). τὴν Σπάρτην is the subject accusative of the infinitive ἀδοξεῖν (to bring ill repute). The subsequent participles πεποιημένην (having delivered) and συσκευαζομένην (organizing/subduing) agree with τὴν Σπάρτην in the accusative feminine singular.

Cite this passage

Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica §15.19.1-15.19.4. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0060.tlg001.humanitext-grc4:15.19.1-15.19.4

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