§8.4.7Ἔφορος δὲ τὸν Κρεσφόντην, ἐπειδὴ εἷλε Μεσσήνην, διελεῖν φησιν εἰς πέντε πόλεις αὐτήν, ὥστε Στενύκλαρον μὲν ἐν τῷ μέσῳ τῆς χ κειμένην ἀποδεῖξαι βασίλειον αὑτῷ, βασιλέας πέμψαι, Πύλον καὶ Ῥίον κ Ὑαμεῖτιν, ποιήσαντα ἰσονόμους πάντας τοῖς Δωριεῦσι τοὺς Μεσσηνίους· ἀγανακτούντων δὲ τῶν Δωριέων μεταγνόντα μόνον τὸν Στενύκλαρον νομίσαι πόλιν, εἰς τοῦτον δὲ καὶ τοὺς Δωριέας συναγαγεῖν πάντας.
Ephorus says that when Cresphontes took Messene, he divided it into five cities, so as to designate Stenyclarus, situated in the middle of the country, as his royal seat, and to send kings to Pylos, Rhium, and Hyameitis, having made all the Messenians equal in rights to the Dorians; but when the Dorians were indignant, he changed his mind and considered only Stenyclarus as a city, and gathered all the Dorians into this place.
§8.4.8ἡ δὲ Μεσσηνίων πόλις ἔοικε Κορίνθῳ· ὑπέρκειται γὰρ τῆς πόλεως ἑκατέρας ὄρος ὑψηλὸν καὶ ἀπότομον τείχει κοινῷ περιειλημμένον ὥστʼ ἀκροπόλει χρῆσθαι, τὸ μὲν καλούμενον Ἰθώμη τὸ δὲ Ἀκροκόρινθος·
The city of the Messenians resembles Corinth; for over each city lies a high and steep mountain, enclosed by a common wall so as to serve as an acropolis, the one being called Ithome, the other Acrocorinth.
ὥστʼ οἰκείως δοκεῖ Δημήτριος ὁ Φάριος πρὸς Φίλιππον εἰπεῖν τὸν Δημητρίου, παρακελευόμενος τούτων ἔχεσθαι τῶν πόλεων ἀμφοῖν ἐπιθυμοῦντα τῆς Πελοποννήσου· τῶν κεράτων γὰρ ἀμφοῖν
ἔφη
καθέξεις τὴν βοῦν. κέρατα μὲν λέγων τὴν Ἰθώμην καὶ τὸν Ἀκροκόρινθον, βοῦν δὲ τὴν Πελοπόννησον.
Thus Demetrius of Pharos seems to have spoken appropriately to Philip, the son of Demetrius, when he advised him to hold both of these cities if he desired the Peloponnese, saying: "For by both horns you will hold the cow." He meant Ithome and Acrocorinth by the horns, and the Peloponnese by the cow.
καὶ δὴ διὰ τὴν εὐκαιρίαν ταύτην ἀμφήριστοι γεγόνασιν αἱ πόλεις αὗται.
Indeed, because of this advantageous position, these cities have been disputed.
Κόρινθον μὲν οὖν κατέσκαψαν καὶ ἀνέστησαν πάλιν· Μεσσήνην δὲ ἀνεῖλον μὲν Λακεδαιμόνιοι, πάλιν δʼ ἀνέλαβον Θηβαῖοι καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα Φίλιππος Ἀμύντου· αἱ δʼ ἀκροπόλεις ἀοίκητοι διέμειναν.
Corinth, then, was razed and raised up again; Messene was destroyed by the Lacedaemonians, but restored again by the Thebans and afterwards by Philip, the son of Amyntas; but the acropolises remained uninhabited.
§8.4.9τὸ δʼ ἐν Λίμναις τῆς Ἀρτέμιδος ἱερόν, ἐφʼ ᾧ Μεσσήνιοι περὶ τὰς παρθένους ὑβρίσαι δοκοῦσι τὰς ἀφιγμένας ἐπὶ τὴν θυσίαν, ἐν μεθορίοις ἐστὶ τῆς τε Λακωνικῆς καὶ τῆς Μεσσηνίας, ὅπου κοινὴν συνετέλουν πανήγυριν καὶ θυσίαν ἀμφότεροι· μετὰ δὲ τὴν ὕβριν οὐ διδόντων δίκας τῶν Μεσσηνίων συστῆναί φασι τὸν πόλεμον.
The temple of Artemis at Limnae, where the Messenians are believed to have outraged the virgins who had come for the sacrifice, is on the border of Laconica and Messenia, where both peoples were performing a common festival and sacrifice; and they say that after the outrage, as the Messenians did not give satisfaction, the war was joined.
ἀπὸ δὲ τῶν Λιμνῶν τούτων καὶ τὸ ἐν τῇ Σπάρτῃ Λιμναῖον εἴρηται τῆς Ἀρτέμιδος ἱερόν.
From these Limnae, the temple of Artemis Limnatis in Sparta also gets its name.
§8.4.10πλεονάκις δʼ ἐπολέμησαν διὰ τὰς ἀποστάσεις τῶν Μεσσηνίων.
They fought several times because of the revolts of the Messenians.
τὴν μὲν οὖν πρώτην κατάκτησιν αὐτῶν φησι Τυρταῖος ἐν τοῖς ποιήμασι κατὰ τοὺς τῶν πατέρων πατέρας γενέσθαι· τὴν δὲ δευτέραν, καθʼ ἣν ἑλόμενοι συμμάχους Ἀργείους τε καὶ Ἀρκάδας καὶ Πισάτας ἀπέστησαν, Ἀρκάδων μὲν Ἀριστοκράτην τὸν Ὀρχομενοῦ βασιλέα παρεχομένων στρατηγόν, Πισατῶν δὲ Πανταλέοντα τὸν Ὀμφαλίωνος· ἡνίκα φησὶν αὐτὸς στρατηγῆσαι τὸν πόλεμον τοῖς Λακεδαιμονίοις·
Now, Tyrtaeus says in his poems that their first conquest took place in the time of their fathers' fathers; and the second, in which they revolted after choosing the Argives, Arcadians, and Pisatans as allies, the Arcadians supplying Aristocrates the king of Orchomenus as general, and the Pisatans supplying Pantaleon the son of Omphalion; at which time he says that he himself commanded the war for the Lacedaemonians.
καὶ γὰρ εἶναί φησιν ἐκεῖθεν ἐν τῇ ἐλεγείᾳ ἣν ἐπιγράφουσιν εὐνομίαν
"
αὐτὸς γὰρ Κρονίων, καλλιστεφάνου πόσις Ἥρης,
Ζεὺς Ἡρακλείδαις τήνδε δέδωκε πόλιν· οἷσιν ἅμα προλιπόντες Ἐρινεὸν ἠνεμόεντα,
εὐρεῖαν Πέλοπος νῆσον ἀφικόμεθα. "
ὥστʼ ἢ ταῦτα ἠκύρωται τὰ ἐλεγεῖα, ἢ Φιλοχόρῳ ἀπιστητέον τῷ φήσαντι Ἀθηναῖόν τε καὶ Ἀφιδναῖον, καὶ Καλλισθένει καὶ ἄλλοις πλείοσι τοῖς εἰποῦσιν ἐξ Ἀθηνῶν ἀφικέσθαι δεηθέντων Λακεδαιμονίων κατὰ χρησμόν, ὃς ἐπέταττε παρʼ Ἀθηναίων λαβεῖν ἡγεμόνα.
For he also says in the elegy which they entitle Eunomia that he is from there: "For the Son of Cronus himself, Zeus, the husband of fair-crowned Hera, has given this city to the Heracleidae; in company with whom we left windy Erineus and arrived at the broad island of Pelops." Therefore, either these elegies have been spurious, or we must disbelieve Philochorus, who said he was an Athenian and from Aphidnae, and Callisthenes and several others who said he arrived from Athens at the request of the Lacedaemonians in accordance with an oracle which commanded them to take a leader from the Athenians.
ἐπὶ μὲν οὖν τοῦ Τυρταίου ὁ δεύτερος ὑπῆρξε πόλεμος· τρίτον δὲ καὶ τέταρτον συστῆναί φασιν, ἐν ᾧ κατελύθησαν οἱ Μεσσήνιοι.
Thus the second war took place in the time of Tyrtaeus; and they say a third and fourth war were joined, in which the Messenians were utterly subdued.
ὁ δὲ πᾶς παράπλους ὁ Μεσσηνιακὸς στάδιοι ὀκτακόσιοί που κατακολπίζοντι.
The entire voyage along the Messenian coast is somewhere around eight hundred stadia if one follows the gulfs.
§8.4.11ἀλλὰ γὰρ εἰς πλείω λόγον τοῦ μετρίου πρόιμεν ἀκολουθοῦντες τῷ πλήθει τῶν ἱστορουμένων περὶ χώρας ἐκλελειμμένης τῆς πλείστης· ὅπου γε καὶ ἡ Λακωνικὴ λιπανδρεῖ κρινομένη πρὸς τὴν παλαιὰν εὐανδρίαν.
But indeed we are proceeding into more talk than is moderate by following the abundance of histories about a country most of which has been abandoned; when even Laconica is depopulated when compared with its ancient populousness.
ἔξω γὰρ τῆς Σπάρτης αἱ λοιπαὶ πολίχναι τινές εἰσι περὶ τριάκοντα τὸν ἀριθμόν· τὸ δὲ παλαιὸν ἑκατόμπολίν φασιν αὐτὴν καλεῖσθαι, καὶ τὰ ἑκατόμβαια διὰ τοῦτο θύεσθαι παρʼ αὐτοῖς κατʼ ἔτος.
For outside of Sparta, the remaining small towns are about thirty in number; but of old they say it was called "the land of a hundred cities," and that for this reason the hecatombs are sacrificed among them every year.