§2.8.1τῷ δὲ τῆς Πειθοῦς ἱερῷ τὸ ἐγγὺς τέμενος ἀνειμένον βασιλεῦσι Ῥωμαίων οἰκία ποτὲ ἦν Κλέωνος τυράννου· Κλεισθένης μὲν γὰρ ὁ Ἀριστωνύμου τοῦ Μύρωνος ἐχόντων ἔτι τὴν κάτω πόλιν Σικυωνίων ἐτυράννησε, Κλέων δὲ ἐν τῇ νῦν πόλει.
The nearby sacred precinct dedicated to the Roman emperors, which is close to the temple of Persuasion, was once the house of Cleon the tyrant; for Cleisthenes, the son of Aristonymus, the son of Myron, became tyrant while the Sicyonians still held the lower city, but Cleon in the present city.
πρὸ ταύτης τῆς οἰκίας ἡρῷόν ἐστιν Ἀράτου μέγιστα Ἑλλήνων ἐργασαμένου τῶν ἐφʼ αὑτοῦ· ἔχει δὲ ὧδε τὰ ἐς αὐτόν.
In front of this house is a hero-shrine of Aratus, who accomplished the greatest deeds among the Greeks of his own time; and the story concerning him is as follows.
§2.8.2μετὰ Κλέωνα μοναρχήσαντα ἐνέπεσε τῶν ἐν τέλει πολλοῖς ἐπιθυμία τυραννίδος οὕτω δή τι ἀκάθεκτος ὡς καὶ ἄνδρας δύο Εὐθύδημον καὶ Τιμοκλείδαν ὁμοῦ τυραννῆσαι.
After Cleon had ruled as sole monarch, a desire for tyranny fell upon many of those in authority, so unrestrainable indeed that even two men, Euthydemus and Timocleidas, ruled as tyrants together.
τούτους μὲν οὖν ἐξέβαλεν ὁ δῆμος, Κλεινίαν τὸν πατέρα Ἀράτου προστησάμενος· ἔτεσι δὲ ὕστερον οὐ πολλοῖς ἐτυράννησεν Ἀβαντίδας.
Now the people expelled these, having set up Clineas, the father of Aratus, as their leader; but not many years later Abantidas became tyrant.
Κλεινίᾳ μὲν οὖν συνεβεβήκει πρότερον ἔτι ἡ τελευτή· Ἄρατον δὲ Ἀβαντίδας φυγάδα ἐποίησεν, ἢ καὶ αὐτὸς ἀπεχώρησεν Ἄρατος ἐθελοντής.
To Clineas, indeed, death had already occurred even before this; and Abantidas made Aratus an exile, or Aratus himself departed voluntarily.
Ἀβαντίδαν μὲν οὖν κτείνουσιν ἄνδρες τῶν ἐπιχωρίων, τύραννος δὲ αὐτίκα ἐγεγόνει ὁ Ἀβαντίδου πατὴρ Πασέας· §2.8.3Νικοκλῆς δὲ ἐκεῖνον ἀνελὼν ἐτυράννησεν αὐτός.
Now some of the local people killed Abantidas, but immediately Paseas, the father of Abantidas, became tyrant; and Nicocles, having slain him, became tyrant himself.
ἐπὶ τοῦτον τὸν Νικοκλέα Ἄρατος ἀφικόμενος Σικυωνίων φυγάσι καὶ Ἀργείοις μισθωτοῖς τοὺς μὲν ἔλαθεν ἅτε ἐν σκότῳ—νύκτωρ γὰρ δὴ τὴν ἐπιχείρησιν ἐποιεῖτο—, τοὺς δὲ καὶ βιασάμενος τῶν φυλασσόντων ἐγένετο ἐντὸς τείχους· καὶ —ὑπέφαινε γὰρ ἕως ἤδη—προσλαβὼν τὸν δῆμον ἐπὶ τὴν οἰκίαν σπουδῇ τὴν τυραννικὴν τρέπεται.
Aratus, having come against this Nicocles with exiles of the Sicyonians and Argive mercenaries, eluded some of the guards under cover of darkness—for indeed he made the attempt by night—and having forced his way past others, got inside the wall; and—for dawn was already beginning to show—taking the people to his side, he hurried toward the tyrant's house.
καὶ ταύτην μὲν εἷλεν οὐ χαλεπῶς, ὁ δὲ Νικοκλῆς αὐτὸς ἔλαθεν ἀποδράς.
And this he captured without difficulty, but Nicocles himself escaped and eluded him.
Σικυωνίοις δὲ ἀπέδωκεν Ἄρατος ἐξ ἴσου πολιτεύεσθαι διαλλάξας τοῖς φεύγουσιν, οἰκίας μὲν φυγάσι καὶ ὅσα τῶν κτημάτων ἄλλα ἐπέπρατο ἀποδούς, τιμὴν δὲ τοῖς πριαμένοις διέλυσεν αὐτός.
Aratus restored to the Sicyonians an equal citizenship, having reconciled them with the exiles, returning to the exiles their houses and whatever other possessions had been sold, and he himself paid the value to those who had bought them.
§2.8.4καὶ—ἦν γὰρ δέος τοῖς πᾶσιν Ἕλλησι Μακεδόνων καὶ Ἀντιγόνου Φίλιππον ἐπιτροπεύοντος τὸν Δημητρίου—, τοῦδε ἕνεκα τοὺς Σικυωνίους ἐς τὸ Ἀχαιῶν συνέδριον ἐσήγαγε Δωριεῖς ὄντας.
And—for there was a fear among all the Greeks of the Macedonians and of Antigonus, who was guardian of Philip, the son of Demetrius—for this reason he led the Sicyonians, although they were Dorians, into the assembly of the Achaeans.
αὐτίκα δὲ στρατηγὸς ὑπὸ τῶν Ἀχαιῶν ᾕρητο, καὶ σφᾶς ἐπὶ Λοκροὺς τοὺς Ἀμφισσέας ἀγαγὼν καὶ ἐς τὴν Αἰτωλῶν πολεμίων ὄντων τὴν γῆν ἐπόρθησε· Κόρινθον δὲ ἔχοντος Ἀντιγόνου καὶ φρουρᾶς Μακεδόνων ἐνούσης τοὺς Μακεδόνας τῷ αἰφνιδίῳ τῆς ἐπιθέσεως κατέπληξε καὶ ἄλλους τε κρατήσας μάχῃ διέφθειρε καὶ Περσαῖον ἐπὶ τῇ φρουρᾷ τεταγμένον, ὃς παρὰ Ζήνωνα τὸν Μνασέου κατὰ μάθησιν σοφίας ἐφοίτησεν.
And immediately he was chosen general by the Achaeans, and having led them against the Locrians of Amphissa and into the land of the Aetolians, who were hostile, he ravaged it; and when Antigonus held Corinth and a Macedonian garrison was in it, he struck terror into the Macedonians by the suddenness of his attack, and having conquered them in battle, he destroyed them along with others and Persaeus, who was appointed over the garrison, who had attended Zenon, the son of Mnaseas, for the learning of philosophy.
§2.8.5ἐλευθερώσαντος δὲ Ἀράτου Κόρινθον προσεχώρησαν μὲν ἐς τὸ συνέδριον Ἐπιδαύριοι καὶ Τροιζήνιοι οἱ τὴν Ἀργολίδα Ἀκτὴν οἰκοῦντες καὶ τῶν ἐκτὸς ἰσθμοῦ Μεγαρεῖς, συμμαχίαν δὲ πρὸς Ἀχαιοὺς Πτολεμαῖος ἐποιήσατο.
And when Aratus had freed Corinth, the Epidaurians and Troezenians, who inhabit the Argolic Coast, and the Megarians outside the Isthmus, joined the assembly, and Ptolemy made an alliance with the Achaeans.
Λακεδαιμόνιοι δὲ καὶ Ἆγις ὁ Εὐδαμίδου βασιλεὺς ἔφθησαν μὲν Πελλήνην ἑλόντες ἐξ ἐπιδρομῆς, ἥκοντι δὲ Ἀράτῳ καὶ τῇ στρατιᾷ συμβαλόντες ἐκρατήθησαν καὶ τὴν Πελλήνην ἐκλιπόντες ἀναχωροῦσιν οἴκαδε ὑπόσπονδοι.
But the Lacedaemonians and Agis, the son of Eudamidas, their king, anticipated them by taking Pellene by an inroad, but when Aratus and his army arrived, they were defeated in conflict, and having abandoned Pellene, they withdrew home under a truce.
§2.8.6Ἄρατος δέ, ὥς οἱ τὰ ἐν Πελοποννήσῳ προεκεχωρήκει, δεινὸν ἡγεῖτο Πειραιᾶ καὶ Μουνυχίαν, ἔτι δὲ Σαλαμῖνα καὶ Σούνιον ἐχόμενα ὑπὸ Μακεδόνων περιοφθῆναι, καὶ—οὐ γὰρ ἤλπιζε δύνασθαι πρὸς βίαν αὐτὰ ἐξελεῖν—Διογένην πείθει τὸν ἐν τοῖς φρουροῖς ἄρχοντα ἀφεῖναι τὰ χωρία ἐπὶ ταλάντοις πεντήκοντα καὶ ἑκατόν, καὶ τῶν χρημάτων συνετέλεσεν αὐτὸς Ἀθηναίοις ἕκτον μέρος.
But Aratus, as his affairs in the Peloponnese had succeeded, thought it a terrible thing that the Piraeus and Munychia, and also Salamis and Sunium, should be left in the possession of the Macedonians, and—for he did not expect to be able to take them by force—he persuaded Diogenes, the commander of the garrison, to give up the places for one hundred and fifty talents, and of this money he himself contributed a sixth part for the Athenians.
ἔπεισε δὲ καὶ Ἀριστόμαχον τυραννοῦντα ἐν Ἄργει δημοκρατίαν ἀποδόντα Ἀργείοις ἐς τὸ Ἀχαϊκὸν συντελεῖν, Μαντίνειάν τε Λακεδαιμονίων ἐχόντων εἷλεν.
He also persuaded Aristomachus, who was tyrant in Argos, to restore democracy to the Argives and to join the Achaean League, and he took Mantinea when the Lacedaemonians held it.
ἀλλὰ γὰρ οὐ πάντα ἀνθρώπῳ τελεῖται κατὰ γνώμην, εἰ δὴ καὶ Ἄρατον κατέλαβεν ἀνάγκη γενέσθαι Μακεδόνων καὶ Ἀντιγόνου σύμμαχον· ἐγένετο δὲ οὕτως.
But indeed, not all things are accomplished for a man according to his mind, since a necessity befell even Aratus to become an ally of the Macedonians and Antigonus; and it happened in this way.