§8.50.1ἅτε δὲ ἤδη τῶν Ἀχαιῶν ἀφορώντων ἐς αὐτὸν καὶ τὰ πάντα ἐκεῖνον ποιουμένων, τοῖς τεταγμένοις αὐτῶν ἐν τῷ πεζῷ μετέβαλε τῶν ὅπλων τὴν σκευήν· φοροῦντας γὰρ μικρὰ δοράτια καὶ ἐπιμηκέστερα ὅπλα κατὰ τοὺς Κελτικοὺς θυρεοὺς ἢ τὰ γέρρα τὰ Περσῶν, ἔπεισε θώρακάς τε ἐνδύεσθαι καὶ ἐπιτίθεσθαι κνημῖδας, πρὸς δὲ ἀσπίσιν Ἀργολικαῖς χρῆσθαι καὶ τοῖς δόρασι μεγάλοις.
Since the Achaians already looked to him and entrusted everything to him, he changed the equipment of the weapons of those who were stationed among their infantry; for as they wore small javelins and rather long shields like the Celtic thureoi or the Persian gerrha, he persuaded them to put on breastplates and to fit on greaves, and furthermore to use Argolic shields and large spears.
§8.50.2Μαχανίδου δὲ ἐν Λακεδαίμονι ἀναφύντος τυράννου καὶ αὖθις πολέμου τοῖς Ἀχαιοῖς πρὸς Λακεδαιμονίους καὶ Μαχανίδαν συνεστηκότος, ἡγεῖτο μὲν τοῦ Ἀχαϊκοῦ Φιλοποίμην· γινομένης δὲ πρὸς Μαντινείᾳ μάχης Λακεδαιμονίων μὲν οἱ ψιλοὶ τοὺς ἀσκεύους τῶν Ἀχαιῶν νικῶσι καὶ φεύγουσιν αὐτοῖς ἐπέκειτο ὁ Μαχανίδας, τῇ δὲ φάλαγγι ὁ Φιλοποίμην τῶν πεζῶν τρέπεται τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων τοὺς ὁπλίτας καὶ ἀναχωροῦντι ἀπὸ τῆς διώξεως Μαχανίδᾳ συντυχὼν ἀποκτίννυσιν αὐτόν.
When Machanidas arose as tyrant in Lacedaemon, and war was again established for the Achaians against the Lacedaemonians and Machanidas, Philopoemen commanded the Achaian force; and when a battle took place near Mantinea, the light-armed of the Lacedaemonians defeated the unarmed of the Achaians, and Machanidas pressed upon them as they fled, but Philopoemen with the phalanx of the infantry routed the hoplites of the Lacedaemonians, and meeting Machanidas as he was returning from the pursuit, he killed him.
Λακεδαιμονίοις δὲ ἠτυχηκόσι τῇ μάχῃ περιεγεγόνει μείζων ἢ κατὰ τὸ πταῖσμα εὐτυχία, γεγονόσιν ἐλευθέροις ἀπὸ τοῦ τυράννου.
For the Lacedaemonians who had been unfortunate in the battle, there resulted a fortune greater than their defeat, as they became free from the tyrant.
§8.50.3μετὰ δὲ οὐ πολὺ ἀγόντων Νέμεια Ἀργείων ἔτυχε μὲν τῶν κιθαρῳδῶν τῷ ἀγῶνι ὁ Φιλοποίμην παρών· Πυλάδου δὲ Μεγαλοπολίτου μὲν ἀνδρὸς γένος, κιθαρῳδοῦ δὲ τῶν ἐφʼ αὑτοῦ δοκιμωτάτου καὶ ἀνῃρημένου Πυθικὴν νίκην, τότε ᾄδοντος Τιμοθέου νόμον τοῦ Μιλησίου Πέρσας καὶ καταρξαμένου τῆς ᾠδῆς
"
Κλεινὸν ἐλευθερίας τεύχων μέγαν Ἑλλάδι κόσμον,
"
ἀπεῖδεν ἐς τὸν Φιλοποίμενα τὸ Ἑλληνικὸν καὶ ἐπεσημήναντο τῷ κρότῳ φέρειν ἐς ἐκεῖνον τὸ ᾆσμα.
Not long afterwards, when the Argives were holding the Nemean games, Philopoemen happened to be present at the contest of the citharodes; and when Pylades, who was of Megalopolitan race, and the most renowned citharode of his time, having also won a Pythian victory, was then singing the Persians, a nomos of Timotheus of Miletus, and had begun the song "Fashioning for Greece the glorious, great ornament of freedom, "the Greeks turned their eyes to Philopoemen, and indicated by their applause that the song referred to him.
τοιοῦτο ἐς Θεμιστοκλέα ἄλλο ἐν Ὀλυμπίᾳ πυνθάνομαι συμβῆναι· καὶ γὰρ Θεμιστοκλέους ἐς τιμὴν ἐπανέστη τὸ ἐν Ὀλυμπίᾳ θέατρον.
I learn that another such thing happened to Themistocles at Olympia; for the theater at Olympia rose up in honor of Themistocles.
§8.50.4Φίλιππος δὲ ὁ Δημητρίου Μακεδόνων βασιλεύς, ὃς καὶ Ἄρατον φαρμάκῳ τὸν Σικυώνιον ἀπέκτεινεν, ἀπέστειλεν ἄνδρας ἐς Μεγάλην πόλιν φονεῦσαί σφισι Φιλοποίμενα ἐντειλάμενος· ἁμαρτὼν δὲ ἀνὰ τὴν Ἑλλάδα ἐμισήθη πᾶσαν.
Philip, the son of Demetrius and king of the Macedonians, who also killed Aratus of Sicyon with poison, sent men to Megalopolis, having commanded them to assassinate Philopoemen for him; but having failed, he was hated throughout the whole of Greece.
Θηβαῖοι δὲ κεκρατηκότες μάχῃ Μεγαρέας καὶ ἤδη τοῦ Μεγαρικοῦ τείχους ἐπιβαίνοντες, ἀπάτῃ τῶν Μεγαρέων μετελθόντων αὐτοὺς ὡς ἥκοι Φιλοποίμην σφίσιν ἐς τὴν πόλιν, ἐς τοσοῦτο εὐλαβείας προῆλθον ὡς οἴκαδε ἀποχωρῆσαι καταλιπόντες ἄπρακτον τοῦ πολέμου τὸ ἔργον.
The Thebans, having defeated the Megarians in battle and already mounting the Megarian wall, when the Megarians tricked them by pretending that Philopoemen had come to their city for them, proceeded to such a degree of caution that they retreated home, leaving the work of the war unfinished.
§8.50.5ἐν δὲ Λακεδαίμονι αὖθις ἐπανέστη τύραννος Νάβις, ὃς Πελοποννησίων πρώτοις ἐπέθετο Μεσσηνίοις· ἐπελθὼν δέ σφισιν ἐν νυκτὶ καὶ οὐδαμῶς τὴν ἔφοδον ἐλπίζουσιν εἷλε μὲν πλὴν τῆς ἀκροπόλεως τὸ ἄστυ, ἀφικομένου δὲ ἐς τὴν ὑστεραίαν στρατιᾷ Φιλοποίμενος ἐξέπεσεν ὑπόσπονδος ἐκ Μεσσήνης.
In Lacedaemon, Nabis arose again as tyrant, who first of the Peloponnesians attacked the Messenians; and falling upon them by night, when they were by no means expecting the attack, he captured the city except for the acropolis, but when Philopoemen arrived on the next day with an army, Nabis retreated from Messene under a truce.
§8.50.6Φιλοποίμην δέ, ὡς ἐξῆκέν οἱ στρατηγοῦντι ὁ χρόνος καὶ ἄρχειν ἄλλοι τῶν Ἀχαιῶν ᾕρηντο, αὖθις ἐς Κρήτην διέβη καὶ ἐπεκούρησε Γορτυνίοις πολέμῳ πιεζομένοις.
And Philopoemen, when his time of being general expired and the Achaians had chosen others to command, crossed over again to Crete and aided the Gortynians who were hard pressed by war.
ποιουμένων δὲ ἐν ὀργῇ διὰ τὴν ἀποδημίαν τῶν Ἀρκάδων αὐτόν, ἐπάνεισί τε ἐκ Κρήτης καὶ Ῥωμαίους πόλεμον κατελάμβανεν ἐπανῃρημένους πρὸς Νάβιν.
When the Arcadians were in anger because of his absence, he returned from Crete and found that the Romans had resumed the war against Nabis.
§8.50.7παρεσκευασμένων δὲ ἐπὶ τὸν Νάβιν ναυτικὸν τῶν Ῥωμαίων, ὁ Φιλοποίμην ὑπὸ προθυμίας μεθέξειν ἔμελλε τοῦ ἀγῶνος· ἅτε δὲ ἐς ἅπαν ἀπείρως θαλάσσης ἔχων τριήρους ἔλαθεν ἐπιβὰς ῥεούσης, ὥστε καὶ ἐσῆλθε Ῥωμαίους καὶ τὸ ἄλλο συμμαχικὸν μνήμη τῶν ἐπῶν ὧν ἐν καταλόγῳ πεποίηκεν Ὅμηρος ἐπὶ τῇ Ἀρκάδων ἀμαθίᾳ τῇ ἐς θάλασσαν.
When the Romans had prepared a fleet against Nabis, Philopoemen because of his eagerness was about to take part in the contest; but since he was entirely inexperienced in matters of the sea, he embarked on a leaky trireme without realizing it, so that there came upon the Romans and the other allies the memory of the verses which Homer made in the Catalogue concerning the ignorance of the Arcadians regarding the sea.
§8.50.8ἡμέραις δὲ ὕστερον τῆς ναυμαχίας οὐ πολλαῖς Φιλοποίμην καὶ ὁ σὺν αὐτῷ λόχος φυλάξαντες νύκτα ἀσέληνον τὸ στρατόπεδον τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων κατεμπιπρᾶσιν ἐν Γυθίῳ.
Not many days after the sea-fight, Philopoemen and the division with him, having watched for a moonless night, set fire to the camp of the Lacedaemonians at Gythium.
ἐνταῦθα ἀπέλαβεν ἐν δυσχωρίαις Νάβις Φιλοποίμενά τε αὐτὸν καὶ ὅσοι περὶ αὐτὸν τῶν Ἀρκάδων ἦσαν· ἦσαν δὲ ἄλλως μὲν ἀγαθοὶ τὰ ἐς πόλεμον, ἀριθμὸν δὲ οὐ πολλοί.
There Nabis cut off Philopoemen himself and those of the Arcadians who were about him in difficult ground; they were otherwise brave in matters of war, but not many in number.
§8.50.9Φιλοποίμην δὲ τὴν τάξιν, ἣν τεταγμένους ἀπῆγεν ὀπίσω, ταύτην ὑπαλλάξας τὰ μάλιστα ἰσχυρὰ τῶν χωρίων πρὸς αὑτοῦ καὶ οὐ πρὸς τῶν πολεμίων ἐποίησεν εἶναι· κρατήσας δὲ τῇ μάχῃ Νάβιν καὶ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων ἐν τῇ νυκτὶ καταφονεύσας πολλούς, δόξης ἔτι ἐς πλέον παρὰ τοῖς Ἕλλησιν ἤρθη.
But Philopoemen, having changed the formation which he was leading back in retreat, made the strongest of the places to be in his own favor and not in that of the enemy; and having defeated Nabis in the battle and slain many of the Lacedaemonians during the night, he was raised to still greater glory among the Greeks.
§8.50.10μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Νάβις μὲν ἐς εἰρημένον χρόνον σπονδὰς παρὰ Ῥωμαίων εὑράμενος τελευτᾷ, πρὶν ἤ οἱ τοῦ πολέμου τὰς ἀνοχὰς ἐξήκειν, ὑπὸ ἀνδρὸς Καλυδωνίου κατὰ δὴ συμμαχίας πρόφασιν ἥκοντος, πολεμίου δὲ τῷ ἔργῳ καὶ ἐπʼ αὐτὸ ἐσταλμένου τοῦτο ὑπὸ τῶν Αἰτωλῶν.
After these things, Nabis, having obtained a truce from the Romans for a specified time, died before the cessation of the war expired for him, being killed by a Calydonian man who had come indeed under the pretext of alliance, but was in fact an enemy and had been dispatched for this very purpose by the Aetolians.