§20.9.1ὅτι ἀμηχανοῦντα τὸν Πύρρον καὶ πόρους παντοδαποὺς ἐπιζητοῦντα ὁρῶντες οἱ κάκιστοι καὶ ἀνοσιώτατοι τῶν φίλων, Εὐήγορος Θεοδώρου καὶ Βάλακρος Νικάνδρου καὶ Δείναρχος Νικίου, τῶν ἀθέων καὶ ἐξαγίστων δογμάτων ζηλωταί, πόρον ὑποτίθενται χρημάτων ἀνοσίων, τοὺς ἱεροὺς ἀνοῖξαι τῆς Περσεφόνης θησαυρούς.
That, seeing Pyrrhus in perplexity and seeking all kinds of resources, the most wicked and impious of his friends, Euegorus son of Theodorus, Balacrus son of Nicander, and Deinarchus son of Nicias, adherents of atheistic and cursed doctrines, suggested an impious resource of money, namely, to open the sacred treasures of Persephone.
§20.9.2ἦν γὰρ ἱερὸν ἐν τῇ πόλει ταύτῃ ἅγιον καὶ πολὺν χρυσὸν ἐκ παντὸς τοῦ χρόνου πεφυλαγμένον ἄθικτον ἔχον, ἐν ᾧ χρυσός τις ἄβυσσος, ἀόρατος τοῖς πολλοῖς κατὰ γῆς κείμενος.
For there was in this city a holy temple having much gold kept untouched from all time, in which there was a certain bottomless gold, invisible to the majority, lying under the earth.
ὑπὸ τούτων ἐξαπατηθεὶς τῶν κολάκων καὶ διὰ τὴν ἀνάγκην κρείττονα παντός, τοῖς εἰσηγησαμένοις τὴν γνώμην ἀνδράσι διακόνοις τῆς ἱεροσυλίας ἐχρήσατο, καὶ τὸν ἐξελαθέντα χρυσὸν ἐκ τοῦ ἱεροῦ ναυσὶν ἐνθέμενος μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων χρημάτων ἀπέστειλεν εἰς Τάραντα πολλῆς μεστὸς εὐθυμίας γενόμενος.
Deceived by these flatterers and due to the necessity that is stronger than everything, Pyrrhus employed the men who had introduced the opinion as ministers of the temple-robbery, and having put the gold taken out of the temple into ships, he sent it to Tarentum along with the other money, becoming full of great cheer.
ετ συιδας ς. ϝ. Πύρρος. ἡ δὲ δικαία πρόνοια τὴν αὑτῆς δύναμιν ἀπεδείξατο.
And in Suidas, under the entry Pyrrhus: But just Providence demonstrated her own power.
ὡς γὰρ ἀνήχθησαν αἱ νῆες ἀπὸ τοῦ λιμένος, τὴν μὲν ἀπόγειον αὖραν λαβοῦσαι προέκοψαν· ἄνεμος δʼ ἐναντίος γενόμενος καὶ διʼ ὅλης νυκτὸς κατασχὼν ἃς μὲν κατέκλυσεν, ἃς δʼ εἰς τὸν τῆς Σικελίας πορθμὸν ἐξέβαλεν, ἐν αἷς δὲ παρεκομίζετο τὰ ἀναθήματα καὶ ὁ προσενεχθεὶς ἐκ τῶν ἀναθημάτων χρυσὸς ἐπὶ τοὺς Λοκροὺς ἐξώκειλεν αἰγιαλούς· καὶ τοὺς μὲν πλέοντας ἐν αὐταῖς ἐν τῇ παλιρροίᾳ τῶν κυμάτων κατακλυζομένους διέφθειρε, τὰ δʼ ἱερὰ χρήματα διασπασθεισῶν τῶν νεῶν ἐπὶ τὰς ἔγγιστα τῶν Λοκρῶν θῖνας ἐξέβρασεν.
For when the ships were launched from the harbor, having caught the land breeze they made progress; but a contrary wind arose and, prevailing through the whole night, sank some of them, and cast others out into the strait of Sicily, while those in which the votive offerings and the gold brought from the offerings were being carried were wrecked upon the shores of Locri; and it destroyed the men sailing in them, drowning them in the undertow of the waves, but the sacred money, when the ships were shattered, was washed up on the nearest shores of Locri.
§20.9.3ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς καταπλαγεὶς ἅπαντα τὸν κόσμον καὶ τοὺς θησαυροὺς ἀπέδωκε τῇ θεῷ ὡς παραιτησόμενος αὐτῆς διὰ τοῦτο τὸν χόλον· νήπιος, οὐδὲ τὸ ᾔδει, ὃ οὐ πείσεσθαι ἔμελλεν.
The king, being struck with terror, restored all the ornaments and the treasures to the goddess, as if intending to deprecate her anger through this; foolish man, he did not even know this, that he was not going to be heard.
οὐ γάρ τʼ αἶψα θεῶν τρέπεται νόος αἰὲν ἐόντων, §20.9.4ὡς Ὁμήρῳ εἴρηται.
"For not quickly is the mind of the ever-living gods turned," as it is said by Homer.
ἀλλʼ ἐπειδὴ τῶν ἱερῶν ἐτόλμησεν ἅψασθαι χρημάτων καὶ πόρον ὑποθέσθαι πολέμων, ἀνόνητον ἐποίησε τὴν ἔννοιαν αὐτοῦ τὸ δαιμόνιον, ἵνα παράδειγμα καὶ παίδευμα πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις γένοιτο τοῖς μεθʼ ἑαυτόν.
But since he dared to touch the sacred money and to propose it as a resource for wars, the deity made his purpose unprofitable, so that he might become an example and a lesson to all men after him.