§20.84.1οἱ δὲ Ῥόδιοι μέχρι μέν τινος πρέσβεις ἐκπέμποντες ἠξίουν μηδὲν πρᾶξαι κατὰ τῆς πόλεως ἀνήκεστον· ὡς δʼ οὐδεὶς αὐτοῖς προσεῖχεν, ἀπογνόντες τὰς διαλύσεις ἐξέπεμψαν πρεσβευτὰς πρὸς Πτολεμαῖον καὶ Λυσίμαχον καὶ Κάσανδρον, ἀξιοῦντες βοηθεῖν, ὡς τῆς πόλεως προπολεμούσης ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν.
The Rhodians, for a certain time, kept sending envoys and requesting that nothing irremediable be done against their city; but when no one paid attention to them, despairing of a settlement, they dispatched envoys to Ptolemy, Lysimachus, and Cassander, asking them to send aid on the ground that the city was fighting in their defense.
§20.84.2τῶν δʼ ἐν τῇ πόλει κατοικούντων παροίκων καὶ ξένων δόντες ἐξουσίαν τοῖς βουλομένοις συναγωνίζεσθαι τοὺς λοιποὺς ἀχρήστους ἐκ τῆς πόλεως ἐξέπεμψαν, ἅμα μὲν τῆς τῶν ἀναγκαίων ἐνδείας προνοηθέντες, ἅμα δὲ καὶ τοῦ μηδένα τῇ καταστάσει δυσχεραίνοντα γίνεσθαι τῆς πόλεως προδότην.
To those of the resident aliens and foreigners dwelling in the city who wished to fight on their side, they granted permission, but the rest who were useless they sent out of the city, at once taking forethought for the scarcity of provisions, and at the same time ensuring that no one, through discontent with the situation, should become a traitor to the city.
ἀριθμὸν δὲ ποιησάμενοι τῶν δυναμένων ἀγωνίζεσθαι πολιτῶν μὲν εὗρον περὶ ἑξακισχιλίους, τῶν δὲ παροίκων καὶ ξένων εἰς χιλίους.
When they made an enrollment of those able to fight, they found about six thousand of the citizens, and of the resident aliens and foreigners about one thousand.
§20.84.3ἐψηφίσαντο δὲ καὶ τῶν δούλων τοὺς ἄνδρας ἀγαθοὺς γενομένους ἐν τοῖς κινδύνοις ἀγοράσαντας παρὰ τῶν δεσποτῶν ἐλευθεροῦν καὶ πολίτας εἶναι· ἔγραψαν δὲ καὶ τῶν τελευτησάντων ἐν τῷ πολέμῳ τὰ μὲν σώματα δημοσίᾳ θάπτεσθαι, τοὺς δὲ γονεῖς καὶ παῖδας τρέφεσθαι λαμβάνοντας τὴν χορηγίαν ἀπὸ τοῦ κοινοῦ ταμιείου, καὶ τὰς μὲν παρθένους δημοσίᾳ προικίζεσθαι, τοὺς δʼ υἱοὺς ἐν ἡλικίᾳ γενομένους ἐν τῷ θεάτρῳ στεφανῶσαι τοῖς Διονυσίοις πανοπλίᾳ.
They also decreed that those of the slaves who proved themselves brave in dangers should be purchased from their masters, set free, and made citizens; and they enacted that the bodies of those who died in the war should be buried at public expense, and that their parents and children should be maintained with support taken from the public treasury, and that their daughters should be given dowries from the public funds, while their sons, when they reached manhood, should be crowned with a full suit of armor in the theater at the Dionysia.
§20.84.4διὰ δὲ τούτων ἐκκαλεσάμενοι τὰς ἁπάντων προθυμίας εἰς τὸ τοὺς κινδύνους ὑπομένειν εὐψύχως, ἐποιήσαντο καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τὴν ἐνδεχομένην παρασκευήν.
By these measures, having aroused the enthusiasm of all to endure dangers courageously, they also made all other possible preparations.
ὁμονοοῦντος γὰρ τοῦ πλήθους οἱ μὲν εὔποροι χρήματʼ εἰσέφερον, οἱ δὲ τεχνῖται τὰς αὑτῶν ἐπιστήμας παρείχοντο πρὸς τὴν τῶν ὅπλων κατασκευήν, ἅπας δʼ ἦν ἐνεργός, τῇ φιλοτιμίᾳ τοὺς ἄλλους ὑπερθέσθαι σπεύδων.
For since the multitude was of one mind, the wealthy contributed money, the artisans offered their own skills for the manufacture of weapons, and everyone was active, striving in rivalry to surpass the others.
§20.84.5διόπερ οἱ μὲν ἐγίνοντο περὶ τοὺς ὀξυβελεῖς καὶ πετροβόλους, οἱ δὲ περὶ τὴν τῶν ἄλλων κατασκευήν, τινὲς δὲ τὰ πεπονηκότα τῶν τειχῶν ἐπεσκεύαζον, πλεῖστοι δὲ λίθους πρὸς τὰ τείχη φέροντες ἐσώρευον.
Therefore, some were busy with the catapults and ballistae, others with the manufacture of other weapons, some repaired the damaged parts of the walls, and the majority carried stones to the walls and piled them up.
ἐξέπεμψαν δὲ καὶ τῶν ἄριστα πλεουσῶν νεῶν τρεῖς ἐπὶ τοὺς πολεμίους καὶ τοὺς παρακομίζοντας αὐτοῖς ἀγορὰς ἐμπόρους.
They also dispatched three of their best-sailing ships against the enemy and the merchants who were conveying supplies to them.
§20.84.6αὗται δὲ παραδόξως ἐπιφανεῖσαι πολλὰ μὲν πλοῖα τῶν ἐπὶ τὴν προνομὴν τῆς χώρας ὠφελείας χάριν πλεόντων ἐμπόρων κατεπόντισαν, οὐκ ὀλίγα δὲ καὶ πρὸς τὸν αἰγιαλὸν κατασπῶσαι συνέκαυσαν καὶ τῶν αἰχμαλώτων τὰ δυνάμενα δοῦναι λύτρον παρεκόμιζον εἰς τὴν πόλιν· συνέθεντο γὰρ οἱ Ῥόδιοι πρὸς τὸν Δημήτριον ὥστε ἀλλήλοις διδόναι λύτρον ἐλευθέρου μὲν χιλίας δραχμάς, δούλου δὲ πεντακοσίας.
These, appearing unexpectedly, sank many vessels of the merchants sailing for the sake of plunder from the countryside, and dragging not a few to the shore, they burned them, and brought back to the city those of the captives who were able to pay ransom; for the Rhodians had made an agreement with Demetrius that they should pay to each other a ransom of one thousand drachmae for a free man and five hundred for a slave.