§4.35.1Μοθώνη δέ, πρὶν ἢ τὴν στρατιὰν ἐς Τροίαν ἀθροισθῆναι καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ πρὸς Ἰλίῳ πολέμου καλουμένη Πήδασος, μεταβέβληκεν ὕστερον τὸ ὄνομα, ὡς μὲν αὐτοὶ Μοθωναῖοι λέγουσιν, ἀπὸ τῆς Οἰνέως θυγατρός·
Mothone, which was called Pedasus before the army was assembled for Troy and during the war against Ilium, later changed its name, as the Mothonaeans themselves say, after the daughter of Oeneus.
Οἰνεῖ γὰρ τῷ Πορθάονος μετὰ ἅλωσιν Ἰλίου παρὰ Διομήδην ἀναχωρήσαντι ἐς Πελοπόννησον θυγατέρα φασὶν ἐκ παλλακῆς Μοθώνην γενέσθαι·
For they say that to Oeneus, the son of Porthaon, who after the capture of Ilium withdrew to the Peloponnese to Diomedes, a daughter Mothone was born of a concubine.
δόξῃ δὲ ἐμῇ δέδωκε τῷ χωρίῳ τὸ ὄνομα ὁ Μόθων λίθος.
But in my opinion, the stone Mothon gave the name to the place.
οὗτος δέ σφισι καὶ ὁ ποιῶν τὸν λιμένα ἐστί· τόν τε γὰρ ἔσπλουν στενώτερον ταῖς ναυσὶν ἐργάζεται παρήκων ὕφαλος καὶ ἅμα μὴ ἐκ βυθοῦ ταράσσεσθαι τὸν κλύδωνα ἔρυμα ἕστηκεν.
And this is also what makes the harbor for them; for extending as a reef, it makes the entrance narrower for ships, and at the same time stands as a barrier so that the wave is not stirred up from the deep.
§4.35.2ἐδήλωσα δὲ καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἔμπροσθεν λόγοις ὅτι Ναυπλιεῦσιν ἐπὶ λακωνισμῷ διωχθεῖσι Δαμοκρατίδα βασιλεύοντος ἐν Ἄργει Μοθώνην Λακεδαιμόνιοι διδόασι καὶ ὡς οὐδὲ ἐκ τῶν Μεσσηνίων κατελθόντων ἐγένετο οὐδὲν ἐς αὐτοὺς νεώτερον·
I have also shown in my earlier accounts that the Lacedaemonians gave Mothone to the Nauplians when they were expelled on the charge of Laconian sympathies while Damocratidas was king in Argos, and how even after the restoration of the Messenians no harm came to them.
ἦσαν δὲ οἱ Ναυπλιεῖς ἐμοὶ δοκεῖν Αἰγύπτιοι τὰ παλαιότερα, παραγενόμενοι δὲ ὁμοῦ Δαναῷ ναυσὶν ἐς τὴν Ἀργολίδα ὕστερον γενεαῖς τρισὶν ὑπὸ Ναυπλίου τοῦ Ἀμυμώνης κατῳκίσθησαν ἐν Ναυπλίᾳ.
The Nauplians were, in my opinion, Egyptians in ancient times, and having arrived with Danaus by ships in Argolis, they were settled three generations later in Nauplia by Nauplius, the son of Amymone.
§4.35.3Μοθωναίοις δὲ βασιλεὺς μὲν Τραϊανὸς ἔδωκεν ἐλευθέρους ὄντας ἐν αὐτονομίᾳ πολιτεύεσθαι· τὰ δὲ ἔτι παλαιότερα μόνοις σφίσι Μεσσηνίων τῶν ἐπὶ θαλάσσῃ τοιόνδε ἀτύχημα ἰδίᾳ συνέβη γενέσθαι.
To the Mothonaeans, the Emperor Trajan granted that they should govern themselves in autonomy as a free people; but in still older times, they alone of the Messenians on the coast had the misfortune to experience the following disaster.
τὰ ἐν Ἠπείρῳ τῇ Θεσπρωτίδι ὑπὸ ἀναρχίας ἐφθάρη· Δηιδαμείᾳ γὰρ τῇ Πύρρου παῖδες οὐκ ἐγένοντο, ἀλλὰ ὡς τελευτᾶν ἔμελλεν, ἐπιτρέπει τῷ δήμῳ τὰ πράγματα.
The affairs of Epirus in Thesprotia were ruined by anarchy; for Deidameia, the daughter of Pyrrhus, had no children, and when she was about to die, she entrusted the government to the people.
θυγάτηρ δὲ ἦν Πύρρου τοῦ Πτολεμαίου τοῦ Ἀλεξάνδρου τοῦ Πύρρου·
She was the daughter of Pyrrhus, son of Ptolemy, son of Alexander, son of Pyrrhus.
§4.35.4τὰ δὲ ἐς Πύρρον τὸν Αἰακίδου πρότερον ἔτι ἐν τῷ λόγῳ τῷ ἐς Ἀθηναίους ἐδήλωσα, Προκλῆς δὲ ὁ Καρχηδόνιος τύχης μὲν χρηστῆς ἕνεκα καὶ διὰ λαμπρότητα ἔργων ἔνεμεν Ἀλεξάνδρῳ τᾷ Φιλίππου πλέον, τάξαι δὲ ὁπλίτας τε καὶ ἱππικὸν καὶ στρατηγήματα ἐπὶ ἄνδρας πολεμίους εὑρεῖν Πύρρον ἔφασκεν ἀμείνονα γενέσθαι.
The matters concerning Pyrrhus, the son of Aeacus, I have already shown before in my account of the Athenians; but Procles the Carthaginian, on account of good fortune and the brilliance of his deeds, assigned more to Alexander, the son of Philip, yet asserted that Pyrrhus was superior in drawing up infantry and cavalry and in inventing stratagems against enemy forces.
§4.35.5Ἠπειρῶται δὲ ὡς ἐπαύσαντο βασιλεύεσθαι, τά τε ἄλλα ὁ δῆμος ὕβριζε καὶ ἀκροᾶσθαι τῶν ἐν ταῖς ἀρχαῖς ὑπερεώρων· καὶ σφᾶς οἱ Ἰλλυριοὶ τὰ πρὸς τοῦ Ἰονίου τὴν Ἤπειρον ὑπεροικοῦντες παρεστήσαντο ἐξ ἐπιδρομῆς.
When the Epirotes ceased to be ruled by kings, the people became insolent in other matters and neglected to obey those in authority; and the Illyrians, who dwelt above the part of Epirus near the Ionian Sea, subdued them by a sudden incursion.
οὐ γάρ πω δημοκρατίαν ἴσμεν ἄλλους γε ἢ Ἀθηναίους αὐξήσαντας, Ἀθηναῖοι δὲ προήχθησαν ἐπὶ μέγα ἀπʼ αὐτῆς· συνέσει γὰρ οἰκείᾳ τὸ Ἑλληνικὸν ὑπερεβάλλοντο καὶ νόμοις τοῖς καθεστηκόσιν ἐλάχιστα ἠπείθουν.
For we do not yet know of any others than the Athenians who made democracy flourish, and the Athenians were raised to great heights by it; for in their native intelligence they surpassed the Greek world, and disobeyed established laws least of all.
§4.35.6οἱ δὲ Ἰλλυριοί, ἀρχῆς τε γεγευμένοι καὶ ἐπιθυμοῦντες ἀεὶ τοῦ πλείονος, ναῦς τε ἐπήξαντο καὶ ἐληίζοντο ἄλλους τε ὡς ἑκάστους τύχοιεν καὶ ἐς τὴν Μοθωναίαν σχόντες ὡρμίσαντο οἷα ἐς φιλίαν·
The Illyrians, having tasted power and always desiring more, built ships and plundered others as they happened to meet them, and having put in at the territory of Mothone, anchored as if in a friendly country.
στείλαντες δὲ ἄγγελον ἐς τὴν πόλιν ἄγειν σφίσιν οἶνον ἐπὶ τὰ πλοῖα ἐδεήθησαν.
They sent a messenger to the city and requested them to bring wine to their ships.
ὡς δὲ ἄγοντες ἀφίκοντο ἄνδρες οὐ πολλοί, τόν τε οἶνον ὠνοῦντο ἐπιτιμώντων τῶν Μοθωναίων καὶ αὐτοί σφισιν ἐπίπρασκον ὧν ἐπήγοντο.
When a few men arrived bringing it, they bought the wine at the price the Mothonaeans set, and themselves sold to them some of the goods they brought.