§4.26.1τὸ δὲ ἀπὸ τούτου τόν τε ἄλλον χρόνον ἐνέκειτό σφισι τὸ ἐς Λακεδαιμονίους μῖσος καὶ τὴν ἔχθραν ἐς αὐτοὺς μάλιστα ἐπεδείξαντο ἐπὶ τοῦ γενομένου Πελοποννησίοις πρὸς Ἀθηναίους πολέμου· τήν τε γὰρ Ναύπακτον ὁρμητήριον ἐπὶ τῇ Πελοποννήσῳ παρείχοντο καὶ τοὺς ἐν τῇ Σφακτηρίᾳ Σπαρτιατῶν ἀποληφθέντας Μεσσηνίων σφενδονῆται τῶν ἐκ Ναυπάκτου συνεξεῖλον.
After this, during all the rest of the time, their hatred against the Lacedaemonians pressed upon them, and they especially demonstrated their hostility toward them during the war that arose between the Peloponnesians and the Athenians; for they provided Naupactus as a base of operations against the Peloponnese, and the slingers of the Messenians from Naupactus helped to capture those of the Spartans who were cut off on Sphacteria.
§4.26.2ἐπεὶ δὲ τὸ πταῖσμα ἐγένετο τὸ Ἀθηναίων ἐν Αἰγὸς ποταμοῖς, οὕτω καὶ ἐκ Ναυπάκτου τοὺς Μεσσηνίους ἐκβάλλουσιν οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι ναυσὶν ἐπικρατοῦντες, οἳ ἐς Σικελίαν τε παρὰ τοὺς συγγενεῖς καὶ ἐς Ῥήγιον ἐστάλησαν, τὸ πλεῖστον δὲ αὐτῶν ἔς τε Λιβύην ἀφίκετο καὶ Λιβύης ἐς Εὐεσπερίτας· οἱ γὰρ Εὐεσπερῖται πολέμῳ κακωθέντες ὑπὸ βαρβάρων προσοίκων πάντα τινὰ Ἕλληνα ἐπεκαλοῦντο σύνοικον.
But when the defeat of the Athenians occurred at Aegospotami, then also the Lacedaemonians, prevailing with their ships, expelled the Messenians from Naupactus, who were dispatched both to Sicily to their kinsmen and to Rhegium, but the majority of them arrived in Libya, and of Libya, at Euesperides; for the Euesperitae, having been harassed in war by the neighboring barbarians, were calling upon every Greek to be a fellow settler.
ἐς τούτους τῶν Μεσσηνίων τὸ πολὺ ἀπεχώρησεν· ἡγεμὼν δέ σφισιν ἦν Κόμων, ὃς καὶ περὶ τὴν Σφακτηρίαν ἐστρατήγησεν αὐτοῖς.
To these, the majority of the Messenians withdrew; and their leader was Comon, who had also commanded them at Sphacteria.
§4.26.3ἐνιαυτῷ δὲ πρότερον ἢ κατορθῶσαι Θηβαίους τὰ ἐν Λεύκτροις, προεσήμαινεν ὁ δαίμων Μεσσηνίοις τὴν ἐς Πελοπόννησον κάθοδον.
¦0 But a year before the Thebans succeeded at Leuctra, the divinity portended to the Messenians their return to the Peloponnese.
τοῦτο μὲν γὰρ ἐν Μεσσήνῃ τῇ πρὸς τῷ πορθμῷ τὸν ἱερέα τοῦ Ἡρακλέους λέγουσιν ὀνείρατος ἰδεῖν ὄψιν—τὸν Ἡρακλέα ἔδοξε κληθῆναι τὸν Μάντικλον ἐπὶ ξενίᾳ ἐς Ἰθώμην ὑπὸ τοῦ Διός—, τοῦτο δὲ ἐν Εὐεσπερίταις Κόμων συγγενέσθαι νεκρᾷ τῇ μητρὶ ἐδόκει, συγγενομένου δὲ αὖθίς οἱ τὴν μητέρα ἀναβιῶναι.
On the one hand, they say that the priest of Heracles in Messene by the strait saw a vision of a dream—it seemed that Heracles was invited by Zeus to Ithome to host Manticlus—and on the other hand, in Euesperides, Comon seemed to have intercourse with his deceased mother, and after his intercourse, his mother seemed to come to life again.
καὶ ὁ μὲν ἐπήλπιζεν Ἀθηναίων δυνηθέντων ναυτικῷ κάθοδον ἔσεσθαί σφισιν ἐς Ναύπακτον· τὸ δὲ ἄρα ἐδήλου τὸ ὄνειρον ἀνασώσεσθαι Μεσσήνην.
And Comon hoped that, if the Athenians became powerful with their fleet, there would be a return for them to Naupactus; but the dream, as it turned out, indicated that Messene would be recovered.
§4.26.4ἐγένετό τε οὐ μετὰ πολὺ ἐν Λεύκτροις Λακεδαιμονίων τὸ ἀτύχημα ὀφειλόμενον ἐκ παλαιοῦ· Ἀριστοδήμῳ γὰρ τῷ βασιλεύσαντι Μεσσηνίων ἐπὶ τελευτῇ τοῦ χρησμοῦ τοῦ δοθέντος ἐστὶν
"
ἕρδʼ ὅππῃ τὸ χρεών· ἄτη δʼ ἄλλοισι πρὸ ἄλλων· "
ὡς ἐν μὲν τῷ παρόντι ἐκεῖνον δέον καὶ Μεσσηνίους κακῶς πρᾶξαι, χρόνῳ δὲ ὕστερον καὶ Λακεδαίμονα ἐπιληψομένης τῆς ἄτης.
And not long after, the misfortune of the Lacedaemonians occurred at Leuctra, which had been owed of old; for to Aristodemus, who had been king of the Messenians, at the end of the oracle that was given to him, there was this: "Do as thou must; but ruin falls on some before others"; meaning that, for the present indeed, it was necessary for him and the Messenians to fare ill, but in later time ruin would also seize Lacedaemon.
§4.26.5τότε δὲ ἐν Λεύκτροις οἱ Θηβαῖοι νενικηκότες ἀγγέλους ἐς Ἰταλίαν τε καὶ Σικελίαν καὶ παρὰ τοὺς Εὐεσπερίτας ἀπέστελλον, ἔκ τε τῆς ἄλλης, εἴ πού τις Μεσσηνίων εἴη, πανταχόθεν ἀνεκάλουν ἐς Πελοπόννησον.
Then, having conquered at Leuctra, the Thebans dispatched messengers to Italy and Sicily and to the Euesperitae, and from everywhere else, if there was any Messenian anywhere, they summoned them back to the Peloponnese.
οἱ δὲ θᾶσσον ἢ ὡς ἄν τις ἤλπισε συνελέχθησαν γῆς τε τῆς πατρίδος πόθῳ καὶ διὰ τὸ ἐς Λακεδαιμονίους μῖσος παραμεῖναν ἀεί σφισιν.
And they assembled more quickly than anyone would have expected, out of longing for their fatherland and because of their hatred toward the Lacedaemonians, which had always remained with them.
§4.26.6Ἐπαμινώνδᾳ δὲ οὔτε ἄλλως ἐφαίνετο ῥᾴδια ἀξιόμαχον πόλιν ἐποικίσαι Λακεδαιμονίοις οὔτε ὅπου χρὴ κτίσαι τῆς χώρας ἐξευρίσκει· τὴν γὰρ Ἀνδανίαν οἱ Μεσσήνιοι καὶ Οἰχαλίαν οὐκ ἔφασαν ἀνοικιεῖν, ὅτι αἱ συμφοραί σφισιν ἐγεγόνεσαν ἐνταῦθα οἰκοῦσιν.
But to Epaminondas, on the one hand it did not seem easy in any case to establish a city capable of fighting against the Lacedaemonians, nor on the other hand could he discover where in the country he ought to found it; for the Messenians said they would not rebuild Andania and Oechalia, because their disasters had occurred while they were living there.
ἀποροῦντι οὖν αὐτῷ πρεσβύτην ἄνδρα, ἱεροφάντῃ μάλιστα εἰκασμένον, νύκτωρ φασὶν ἐπιστάντα εἰπεῖν· “σοὶ μὲν δῶρά ἐστι παρʼ ἐμοῦ κρατεῖν ὅτῳ ἂν μεθʼ ὅπλων ἐπέρχῃ· καὶ ἢν ἐξ ἀνθρώπων γένῃ, ἔγωγε ὦ Θηβαῖε ποιήσω μή ποτε ἀνώνυμον μηδὲ ἄδοξόν σε γενέσθαι.
Therefore, while he was in doubt, they say that an old man, closely resembling a hierophant, stood over him at night and said: "To you indeed there are gifts from me to conquer whomever you attack with arms; and if you depart from among men, I, O Theban, will make sure that you never become nameless or without glory.
σὺ δὲ Μεσσηνίοις γῆν τε πατρίδα καὶ πόλεις ἀπόδος, ἐπειδὴ καὶ τὸ μήνιμα ἤδη σφίσι πέπαυται τὸ Διοσκούρων”. §4.26.7Ἐπαμινώνδᾳ μὲν ταῦτα ἔλεγεν, Ἐπιτέλει δὲ τῷ Αἰσχίνου τάδε ἐμήνυε—στρατηγεῖν δὲ αὐτὸν οἱ Ἀργεῖοι τὸν Ἐπιτέλην καὶ Μεσσήνην ἀνοικίζειν ᾕρηντο— τοῦτον οὖν τὸν ἄνδρα ἐκέλευεν ὁ ὄνειρος, ἔνθα ἂν τῆς Ἰθώμης εὕρῃ πεφυκυῖαν σμίλακα καὶ μυρσίνην, τὸ μέσον ὀρύξαντα αὐτῶν ἀνασῶσαι τὴν γραῦν· κάμνειν γὰρ ἐν τῷ χαλκῷ καθειργμένην θαλάμῳ καὶ ἤδη λιποψυχεῖν αὐτήν.
But do you restore to the Messenians both their fatherland and their cities, since the wrath of the Dioscuri against them has now ceased." To Epaminondas indeed he was saying these things, but to Epiteles, the son of Aeschines, he revealed the following—now the Argives had chosen this Epiteles to be general and to rebuild Messene—the dream therefore commanded this man, wherever on Ithome he should find a wild convolvulus and a myrtle growing, to dig between them and rescue the old woman; for she was suffering, shut up in a bronze chamber, and was already fainting.
ὁ δὲ Ἐπιτέλης, ὡς ἐπελάμβανεν ἡμέρα, παραγενόμενος ἐς τὸ εἰρημένον χωρίον ἐπέτυχεν ὀρύσσων ὑδρίᾳ χαλκῇ, καὶ αὐτίκα παρὰ τὸν Ἐπαμινώνδαν §4.26.8κομίσας τό τε ἐνύπνιον ἐξηγεῖτο καὶ αὐτὸν ἐκεῖνον τὸ πῶμα ἀφελόντα ἐκέλευεν ὅ τι ἐνείη σκοπεῖσθαι.
And Epiteles, as day was breaking, having come to the prescribed place, succeeded by digging in finding a bronze urn, and immediately to Epaminondas carrying [it], he related the dream and urged him to remove the lid himself and examine what was inside.
ὁ δὲ θύσας καὶ εὐξάμενος τῷ πεφηνότι ὀνείρατι ἤνοιγε τὴν ὑδρίαν, ἀνοίξας δὲ εὗρε κασσίτερον ἐληλασμένον ἐς τὸ λεπτότατον· ἐπείλικτο δὲ ὥσπερ τὰ βιβλία.
And Epaminondas, having sacrificed and prayed to the dream that had appeared, opened the urn, and having opened it, found tin beaten into the thinnest sheet; and it was rolled up like a scroll.
ἐνταῦθα τῶν Μεγάλων θεῶν ἐγέγραπτο ἡ τελετή, καὶ τοῦτο ἦν παρακαταθήκη τοῦ Ἀριστομένους.
Therein was written the ritual of the Great Gods, and this was the deposit of Aristomenes.
τοῦτον τὸν ἐπελθόντα τῷ Ἐπιτέλει καὶ Ἐπαμινώνδᾳ καθεύδουσι Καύκωνα εἶναι λέγουσιν, ὃς ἀφίκετο ἐξ Ἀθηνῶν ἐς Ἀνδανίαν παρὰ Μεσσήνην τὴν Τριόπα.
They say that this one who visited Epiteles and Epaminondas as they slept was Caucon, who had come from Athens to Andania to Messene, the daughter of Triopas.