§4.8.1τοιαῦτα μὲν ὁ Εὐφαὴς εἶπεν· ἐπεὶ δὲ ἑκατέροις ἐσήμηναν οἱ ἡγεμόνες, Μεσσήνιοι μὲν δρόμῳ τε ἐς τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους ἐχρῶντο καὶ ἀφειδῶς αὑτῶν εἶχον ἅτε ἄνθρωποι θανατῶντες ὑπὸ τοῦ θυμοῦ, καὶ αὐτὸς ἕκαστος πρῶτος ἔσπευδεν ἄρξαι μάχης·
Euphaes spoke thus; and when the generals on both sides gave the signal, the Messenians charged at a run against the Lacedaemonians and were reckless of their lives, like men longing for death by reason of their fury, and each man himself was eager to be the first to begin the battle.
ἀντεπῄεσαν δὲ καὶ οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι σπουδῇ καὶ οὗτοι, πρόνοιαν δὲ ὅμως ἐποιοῦντο μὴ διαλυθῆναί σφισι τὴν τάξιν.
The Lacedaemonians also advanced to meet them with speed, but they nevertheless took care that their line should not be broken.
§4.8.2ὡς δὲ πλησίον ἐγίνοντο, ἀπειλαῖς ἐχρῶντο τῶν τε ὅπλων τῇ κινήσει καὶ ἐνορῶντες ἐς ἀλλήλους δεινόν· ἔς τε λοιδορίας προήγοντο οἱ μὲν οἰκέτας αὑτῶν ἤδη τοὺς Μεσσηνίους καὶ οὐδὲν ἐλευθερωτέρους ἀποκαλοῦντες τῶν εἱλώτων, οἱ δὲ ἐκείνους τῷ τε ἐγχειρήματι ἀνοσίους, ἐπεὶ πλεονεξίας ἕνεκα ἐπὶ ἄνδρας συγγενεῖς ἐπίασι, καὶ θεῶν ἀσεβεῖς ὅσοι Δωριεῦσι πατρῷοι, τῶν τε ἄλλων καὶ μάλιστα Ἡρακλέους.
When they came near, they threatened each other by the brandishing of their weapons and by looking fiercely at one another; and they proceeded to mutual insults, the one side calling the Messenians already their own servants and no freer than the helots, and the other calling them impious in their attempt, since for the sake of greed they were attacking kinsmen, and sacrilegious towards the ancestral gods of the Dorians, especially Heracles.
ἤδη τε ὁμοῦ τοῖς ὀνείδεσι καὶ ἔργων ἥπτοντο, ἀθρόοι τε πρὸς ἀθρόους ὠθισμῷ χρώμενοι μάλιστα οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι καὶ ἀνὴρ ἀνδρὶ ἐπιόντες.
And now, along with the insults, they came to blows, rushing in crowds against crowds with much pushing, especially the Lacedaemonians, and man engaging with man.
§4.8.3τέχνῃ μὲν οὖν ἐς τὰ πολεμικὰ ὁμοῦ καὶ μελέτῃ πολὺ οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι προέσχον, πρὸς δὲ καὶ τῷ πλήθει· τούς τε γὰρ περιοίκους ὑπηκόους ἤδη καὶ συνακολουθοῦντας εἶχον Ἀσιναῖοί τε οἱ Δρύοπες γενεᾷ πρότερον ὑπὸ Ἀργείων ἐκ τῆς σφετέρας ἀνεστηκότες καὶ ἥκοντες ἐς τὴν Λακεδαίμονα ἱκέται κατʼ ἀνάγκην συνεστρατεύοντο· πρὸς δὲ τοὺς ψιλοὺς τῶν Μεσσηνίων τοξότας Κρῆτας ἐπήγοντο μισθωτούς.
Now in military skill and training the Lacedaemonians were far superior, and also in numbers; for they had the perioikoi already subject and following them, and the Asinaeans, who were Dryopes and had been driven out of their own land by the Argives a generation earlier, having come as suppliants to Lacedaemon, were serving with them of necessity; and against the light-armed archers of the Messenians they brought Cretan mercenaries.
§4.8.4Μεσσηνίοις δὲ †ἐς ἅπαντα ἐς τὸ ἴσον ἥ τε ἀπόνοια καὶ τὸ ἐς τὸν θάνατον εὔθυμον· καὶ ὁπόσα μὲν πάσχοιεν, ἀναγκαῖα μᾶλλον τοῖς πατρίδα σεμνύνουσιν ἢ δεινὰ ἐνόμιζον, ἃ δὲ ἔδρων, αὐτοί τε ἡγοῦντο εἰργάσθαι μειζόνως καὶ τοῖς Λακεδαιμονίοις συμβαίνειν χαλεπώτερα.
But for the Messenians, their desperation and their readiness for death made things equal in every respect; and whatever they suffered, they regarded as necessary rather than terrible for those who honor their country, and what they did, they believed they had performed on a grander scale, and that it fell more heavily upon the Lacedaemonians.
καὶ οἱ μὲν αὐτῶν προεκπηδῶντες τῆς τάξεως τολμήματα λαμπρὰ ἀπεδείκνυντο, τοῖς δὲ καὶ ἐπικαίρως τετρωμένοις καὶ ἐμπνέουσιν ὀλίγον ὅμως ἡ ἀπόνοια ἤκμαζε.
Some of them, leaping forward from the ranks, displayed brilliant exploits of courage, and even in those who were mortally wounded and had but little breath left, their desperation was still at its height.
§4.8.5παρακλήσεις τε ἐγίνοντο, καὶ οἱ μὲν ζῶντες καὶ ἔτι ἄτρωτοι τοὺς τραυματίας παρώξυνον, πρὶν ἢ τὴν ἐσχάτην τινὶ ἐφεστηκέναι μοῖραν, ἀντιδράσαντα ὅ τι καὶ δύναιτο σὺν ἡδονῇ δέχεσθαι τὸ πεπρωμένον· οἱ δὲ ὁπότε αἴσθοιντο οἱ τραυματίαι τὴν ἰσχὺν σφᾶς ὑπολείπουσαν καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα οὐ παραμένον, διεκελεύοντο τοῖς ἀτρῶσι μὴ χείρονας ἢ αὐτοὶ γίνεσθαι μηδὲ ἐς ἀνωφελὲς τῇ πατρίδι καὶ τὴν ἐκείνων τελευτὴν καταστῆσαι.
And exhortations were made, and those who were alive and still unhurt urged on the wounded, before the final fate should stand over any of them, to retaliate as much as they could and so welcome their destiny with pleasure; while the wounded, whenever they felt their strength failing and their breath not remaining, exhorted the unhurt not to become worse than themselves, nor to render their death useless to their country.
§4.8.6Λακεδαιμόνιοι δὲ προτροπῇ μὲν ἐς ἀλλήλους οὐκ ἐχρῶντο καὶ ἐς τὰ παράδοξα τῶν τολμημάτων οὐ κατὰ ταὐτὰ ἑτοίμως τοῖς Μεσσηνίοις εἶχον· ἅτε δὲ εὐθὺς ἐκ παίδων τὰ πολεμικὰ ἐπιστάμενοι, βαθυτέρᾳ τε τῇ φάλαγγι ἐχρῶντο καὶ τοὺς Μεσσηνίους ἤλπιζον οὔτε χρόνον τὸν ἴσον καρτερήσειν ἀντιτεταγμένους οὔτε πρὸς τὸν ἐν τοῖς ὅπλοις κάματον ἢ τὰ τραύματα ἀνθέξειν.
The Lacedaemonians, on the other hand, did not use mutual exhortations, nor were they ready for unusual acts of daring in the same way as the Messenians; but knowing military matters from childhood, they used a deeper phalanx, and hoped that the Messenians would neither endure holding their ground for an equal length of time, nor hold out against the fatigue of wearing armor or against their wounds.
§4.8.7ἴδια μὲν τοιαῦτα ἐν ἑκατέρῳ τῷ στρατεύματι ἔς τε τὰ ἔργα ἦν καὶ ἐς τὰς γνώμας τῶν μαχομένων, κοινὰ δὲ ἀπʼ ἀμφοτέρων· οὔτε γὰρ ἱκεσίαις οἱ φονευόμενοι καὶ χρημάτων ὑποσχέσεσιν ἐχρῶντο, τάχα μέν που μὴ πείσειν διὰ τὸ ἔχθος ἀπεγνωκότες, τὸ δὲ πλεῖστον ἀπαξιοῦντες ὡς οὐ τὰ πρότερά γε κακιοῦσιν· οἵ τε ἀποκτείνοντες ἀπείχοντο καὶ αὐχήματος ὁμοίως καὶ ὀνειδῶν, οὐκ ἔχοντές πω βεβαίαν οὐδέτεροι τὴν ἐλπίδα εἰ κρατήσουσι.
Such individual characteristics did both armies possess as to the deeds and the minds of the combatants, but there were also things common to both: for those who were being slain did not use supplications or promises of money, perhaps despairing of persuading because of the hatred, but for the most part disdaining to behave worse than in their former deeds; and those who slew abstained alike from boasting and from insults, as neither yet had any firm hope of victory.
παραδοξότατα δὲ ἀπέθνησκον οἱ τῶν κειμένων σκυλεύειν τινὰ ἐπιχειροῦντες· ἢ γὰρ τοῦ σώματος γυμνόν τι ὑποφήναντες ἠκοντίζοντο καὶ ἐτύπτοντο οὐ προορώμενοι διὰ τὴν ἐν τῷ παρόντι ἀσχολίαν, ἢ καὶ ὑπὸ τῶν σκυλευομένων ἔτι ἐμπνεόντων διεφθείροντο.
And those met with the most unexpected death who attempted to despoil any of the fallen: for either they exposed some naked part of their body and were javelined or struck, not looking ahead because of their absorption in the task of the moment, or they were killed by those they were despoiling, who were still breathing.