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Diodorus Siculus · Bibliotheca Historica §15.23.1-15.23.5

Surrender of Olynthus and Zenith of Spartan Hegemony

Passage 435 of 723 · Greek

Summary

The new general Polybiadas forces the Olynthians to surrender and join the Spartan alliance, leading Sparta's hegemony to its peak on both land and sea. The King of Persia and Dionysius seek their friendship.

§15.23.1τοῦ δʼ ἐνιαυσίου χρόνου διεληλυθότος Ἀθήνησι μὲν ἦν ἄρχων Πυθέας, ἐν Ῥώμῃ δʼ ἀντὶ τῶν ὑπάτων χιλίαρχοι ἓξ κατεστάθησαν, Τίτος Κοΐνκτιος, Λεύκιος Σερουίλιος, Λεύκιος Ἰούλιος, Ἀκύλλιος, Λεύκιος Λοκρήτιος, Σερούιος Σουλπίκιος, παρὰ δὲ Ἠλείοις Ὀλυμπιὰς ἤχθη ἑκατοστή, καθʼ ἣν ἐνίκα στάδιον Διονυσόδωρος Ταραντῖνος.
When the year's time had elapsed, Pytheas was archon at Athens, and in Rome, instead of consuls, six military tribunes were appointed: Titus Quinctius, Lucius Servilius, Lucius Julius, Acilius, Lucius Lucretius, and Servius Sulpicius; and among the Eleans, the hundredth Olympiad was celebrated, in which Dionysodorus of Tarentum won the stadion race.
§15.23.2ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Ἀγησίπολις ὁ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων βασιλεὺς ἐτελεύτησε νόσῳ, βασιλεύσας ἔτη δεκατέσσαρα· τὴν δὲ ἀρχὴν διαδεξάμενος Κλεόμβροτος ὁ ἀδελφὸς ἐβασίλευσεν ἔτη ἐννέα.
Under their term of office, Agesipolis, the king of the Lacedaemonians, died of illness, having ruled for fourteen years; and his brother Cleombrotus, having succeeded to the rule, reigned for nine years.
Λακεδαιμόνιοι δὲ Πολυβιάδαν στρατηγὸν καταστήσαντες ἐξαπέστειλαν εἰς τὸν πρὸς Ὀλυνθίους πόλεμον.
The Lacedaemonians appointed Polybiadas as general and dispatched him to the war against the Olynthians.
§15.23.3οὗτος δὲ παραλαβὼν τὰς δυνάμεις, καὶ τὸν πόλεμον ἐνεργῶς ἅμα καὶ στρατηγικῶς διοικῶν, ἐποίει πολλὰ προτερήματα.
He, having taken over the forces and conducting the war both actively and with strategic skill, achieved many successes.
αἰεὶ δὲ μᾶλλον εὐημερῶν καὶ πλείοσι μάχαις νικήσας συνέκλεισε τοὺς Ὀλυνθίους εἰς πολιορκίαν· τέλος δὲ καταπληξάμενος τοὺς πολεμίους προσέταξεν ὑποταγῆναι Λακεδαιμονίοις.
Constantly gaining the upper hand and winning in several battles, he shut up the Olynthians into a state of siege; finally, having terrified the enemy, he ordered them to submit to the Lacedaemonians.
ἐγγραφέντων δὲ τῶν Ὀλυνθίων εἰς τὴν τῶν Σπαρτιατῶν συμμαχίαν, πολλαὶ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων πόλεων ἔσπευσαν εἰς τὴν τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων ἡγεμονίαν καταλεχθῆναι.
When the Olynthians were enrolled in the alliance of the Spartans, many of the other cities also hastened to be registered under the hegemony of the Lacedaemonians.
διὸ καὶ κατὰ τούτους τοὺς καιροὺς πλεῖστον ἴσχυσαν Λακεδαιμόνιοι, καὶ τῆς Ἑλλάδος ἔσχον τὴν ἡγεμονίαν κατὰ γῆν ἅμα καὶ κατὰ θάλατταν.
Therefore, at this time the Lacedaemonians were at their peak of power, and held the hegemony of Greece both by land and by sea.
§15.23.4Θηβαῖοι μὲν γὰρ ὑπῆρχον ἔμφρουροι, Κορίνθιοι δὲ καὶ Ἀργεῖοι διὰ τοὺς προγεγονότας πολέμους ὑπῆρχον τεταπεινωμένοι, Ἀθηναῖοι δὲ διὰ τὰς τῶν καταπολεμουμένων κληρουχίας ἠδόξουν ἐν τοῖς Ἕλλησιν· οἱ δὲ Λακεδαιμόνιοι τῆς τε πολυανθρωπίας καὶ τῆς ἐν τοῖς ὅπλοις μελέτης πολλὴν πρόνοιαν ἐπεποίηντο, καὶ φοβεροὶ πᾶσιν ὑπῆρχον διὰ τὴν δύναμιν τῆς ἡγεμονίας.
For the Thebans had a garrison in their midst, the Corinthians and Argives had been humbled because of the previous wars, and the Athenians were in disrepute among the Greeks because of their cleruchies established in the territories of those they had subdued; but the Lacedaemonians had taken great thought for their large population and for training in arms, and were feared by all because of the power of their hegemony.
§15.23.5διόπερ οἱ μέγιστοι τῶν τότε δυναστῶν, λέγω δὲ τὸν Περσῶν βασιλέα καὶ τὸν Σικελίας δυνάστην Διονύσιον, ἐθεράπευον τὴν Σπαρτιατῶν ἡγεμονίαν καὶ συμμαχίαν ἔσπευδον συντίθεσθαι πρὸς αὐτούς.
For this reason, the greatest rulers of that time—I mean the King of the Persians and Dionysius, the ruler of Sicily—paid court to the Spartan hegemony and hastened to conclude an alliance with them.

Notes

  1. 15.23.4τῶν καταπολεμουμένων — Present passive participle in the genitive plural, used substantively to mean 'those who were being subdued'. It functions as an objective genitive modifying the noun κληρουχίας ('allotments of land'), referring to the Athenian cleruchies established in the territories of subdued peoples.
  2. 15.23.4τῆς τε πολυανθρωπίας καὶ τῆς ἐν τοῖς ὅπλοις μελέτης — The genitives depend on the periphrastic verbal phrase πρόνοιαν ἐπεποίηντο ('had taken thought for'). The noun πρόνοια ('forethought, care') naturally governs a genitive, which is maintained in this verbal combination.
  3. 15.23.5λέγω δὲ τὸν Περσῶν βασιλέα καὶ τὸν Σικελίας δυνάστην Διονύσιον — While explaining the preceding subject in the nominative (οἱ μέγιστοι τῶν τότε δυναστῶν), the introduction of the parenthetical verb λέγω ('I mean') shifts the case of the appositive elements (the King of Persia and Dionysius) into the accusative (τὸν ... βασιλέα / τὸν ... δυνάστην) instead of the nominative.

Cite this passage

Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica §15.23.1-15.23.5. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0060.tlg001.humanitext-grc4:15.23.1-15.23.5

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