§19.53.1Κάσανδρος δὲ συστησάμενος ἱκανὴν δύναμιν ἀνέζευξεν ἐκ τῆς Μακεδονίας, σπεύδων Ἀλέξανδρον τὸν Πολυπέρχοντος ἐκβαλεῖν ἐκ τῆς Πελοποννήσου· οὗτος γὰρ ἦν λοιπὸς μετὰ δυνάμεως τῶν ἀντιπρασσόντων καὶ κατειλήφει πόλεις τε καὶ τόπους ἐπικαίρους.
Cassander, having assembled a sufficient force, set out from Macedonia, eager to expel Alexander, the son of Polyperchon, from the Peloponnese; for this man was the last of his opponents who remained with an army, and he had seized opportunistic cities and places.
τὴν μὲν οὖν Θεσσαλίαν ἀσφαλῶς διῆλθεν, τὰς δʼ ἐν Πύλαις παρόδους εὑρὼν ὑπʼ Αἰτωλῶν φυλαττομένας μόγις τούτους βιασάμενος παρῆλθεν εἰς τὴν Βοιωτίαν.
Now he passed through Thessaly in safety, but finding the passes at Thermopylae guarded by the Aetolians, he forced his way through them with difficulty and advanced into Boeotia.
§19.53.2μεταπεμψάμενος δὲ πανταχόθεν τοὺς διασωζομένους τῶν Θηβαίων ἐνεχείρει κατοικίζειν τὰς Θήβας, ὑπολαβὼν κάλλιστον ἔχειν καιρὸν πόλιν διωνομασμένην καὶ διὰ τὰς πράξεις καὶ διὰ τοὺς παραδεδομένους περὶ αὐτῆς μύθους ἀναστῆσαι καὶ διὰ τὴν εὐεργεσίαν ταύτην τυχεῖν ἀθανάτου δόξης.
And having summoned from all quarters those of the Thebans who had survived, he set about resettling Thebes, conceiving that he had a most excellent opportunity to restore a city renowned both for its achievements and for the myths handed down concerning it, and that through this benefaction he would obtain immortal glory.
§19.53.3συμβέβηκε δὲ τὴν πόλιν ταύτην πλείσταις καὶ μεγίσταις κεχρῆσθαι μεταβολαῖς, οὐκ ὀλιγάκις ἀνάστατον γεγενημένην· περὶ ὧν οὐκ ἀνοίκειον ἐν κεφαλαίοις εἰπεῖν.
For it has happened that this city has experienced the greatest and most numerous changes, having been laid waste not a few times; concerning which it is not out of place to speak in summary.
§19.53.4μετὰ γὰρ τὸν ἐπὶ Δευκαλίωνος κατακλυσμὸν Κάδμου κτίσαντος τὴν ἀπʼ αὐτοῦ προσαγορευθεῖσαν Καδμείαν συνῆλθεν ἐπʼ αὐτὴν λαὸς ὃν τινὲς μὲν Σπαρτὸν προσηγόρευσαν διὰ τὸ πανταχόθεν συναχθῆναι, τινὲς δὲ Θηβαγενῆ διὰ τὸ τὴν ἀρχὴν ἐκ τῆς προειρημένης πόλεως ὄντα διὰ τὸν κατακλυσμὸν ἐκπεσεῖν καὶ διασπαρῆναι.
For after the flood of Deucalion, when Cadmus had founded the city called Cadmeia after him, there gathered to it a people whom some called Sparti because they had been collected from all quarters, and others Thebagenes because, being originally from the aforementioned city, they had been driven out and scattered by the flood.
§19.53.5τοὺς οὖν τότε κατοικήσαντας ὕστερον Ἐγχελεῖς καταπολεμήσαντες ἐξέβαλον, ὅτε δὴ συνέβη καὶ τοὺς περὶ Κάδμον εἰς Ἰλλυριοὺς ἐκπεσεῖν.
Now those who inhabited it at that time were later defeated and expelled by the Encheleians in war, at which very time it happened that Cadmus and his followers also fled to the Illyrians.
μετὰ δὲ ταῦτʼ Ἀμφίονος καὶ Ζήθου κρατησάντων τοῦ τόπου καὶ τότε πρῶτον τὸ ἄστυ κτισάντων, καθάπερ καὶ ὁ ποιητής φησιν
"οἳ πρῶτοι Θήβης ἕδος ἔκτισαν ἑπταπύλοιο"
τὸ δεύτερον οἱ κατοικήσαντες τὸν τόπον ἐξέπεσον κατελθόντος Πολυδώρου τοῦ Κάδμου καὶ καταφρονήσαντος τῶν πραγμάτων διὰ τὴν γενομένην τῷ Ἀμφίονι περὶ τὰ τέκνα συμφοράν.
After this, when Amphion and Zethus had gained possession of the place and then for the first time built the city, even as the poet says: "Who first established the seat of seven-gated Thebes," for the second time those who inhabited the place were expelled, when Polydorus, the son of Cadmus, returned and gained control of affairs because of the disaster that had befallen Amphion regarding his children.
§19.53.6ἑξῆς δὲ τῶν ἀπογόνων τούτου βασιλευόντων καὶ τῆς ὅλης χώρας ἤδη Βοιωτίας καλουμένης ἀπὸ Βοιωτοῦ τοῦ Μελανίππης μὲν καὶ Ποσειδῶνος υἱοῦ, δυναστεύσαντος δὲ τῶν τόπων, τὸ τρίτον ἐκπίπτουσιν οἱ Θηβαῖοι τῶν ἐξ Ἄργους ἐπιγόνων ἐκπολιορκησάντων τὴν πόλιν.
Subsequently, while his descendants were reigning and the whole country was already called Boeotia after Boeotus, the son of Melanippe and Poseidon, who had ruled over those regions, for the third time the Thebans were expelled when the Epigoni from Argos took the city by siege.
§19.53.7τῶν δʼ ἐκπεσόντων οἱ διασωθέντες κατέφυγον μὲν εἰς Ἀλαλκομενίαν καὶ τὸ Τιλφώσιον ὄρος, τῶν δὲ Ἀργείων ἀποχωρησάντων ἐπανῆλθον εἰς τὴν πατρίδα.
Of those who were expelled, the survivors fled to Alalcomenia and Mount Tilphossium, but when the Argives withdrew, they returned to their native land.
μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα κατὰ τὸν Ἰλιακὸν πόλεμον ἐκστρατευσάντων τῶν Θηβαίων εἰς τὴν Ἀσίαν οἱ καταλειφθέντες ἐξέπεσον μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων Βοιωτῶν ὑπὸ Πελασγῶν.
After this, however, during the Trojan War, when the Thebans made an expedition into Asia, those who were left behind were expelled, along with the other Boeotians, by the Pelasgians.
§19.53.8οὐκ ὀλίγοις δὲ μετὰ ταῦτα περιπεσόντες συμπτώμασι μόγις μετὰ τετάρτην γενεὰν κατὰ τὸν γενόμενον ἐπὶ τῶν κοράκων χρησμὸν ἀπῆλθον εἰς τὴν Βοιωτίαν καὶ τὰς Θήβας κατῴκησαν.
After this, having met with no small misfortunes, they returned to Boeotia with difficulty after the fourth generation, according to the oracle concerning the crows, and inhabited Thebes.
ἀπὸ δὲ τούτων τῶν χρόνων διαμενούσης τῆς πόλεως ἐπʼ ἔτη σχεδὸν ὀκτακόσια καὶ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον τῶν Θηβαίων τοῦ παρʼ αὐτῶν ἔθνους προστάντων, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τῆς τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἡγεμονίας ἀμφισβητησάντων Ἀλέξανδρος ὁ Φιλίππου κατὰ κράτος ἐκπολιορκήσασκατέσκαψεν.
From those times the city continued for about eight hundred years, and at first the Thebans were leaders of their own nation, and afterwards disputed for the hegemony of the Greeks, until Alexander, the son of Philip, took it by storm and razed it to the ground.