§12.6b.1νειν ἤπερ ἀπελεύθεροι.
...to appear rather than as freedmen.
τοῦτο δὲ μάλιστα περὶ τοὺς Λοκροὺς εἰκός ἐστι γεγονέναι· πολὺ γὰρ ἐκτοπίσαντες ἐκ τῶν συνειδότων καὶ προσλαβόντες συνεργὸν τὸν χρόνον, οὐχ οὕτως ἄφρονες ἦσαν ὥστε ταῦτʼ ἐπιτηδεύειν, διʼ ὧν ἔμελλον ἀνανέωσιν ποιεῖσθαι τῶν ἰδίων ἐλαττωμάτων, ἀλλὰ μὴ τοὐναντίον διʼ ὧν ἐπικαλύψειν ταῦτα.
And this is most likely to have happened in the case of the Locrians; for having removed themselves far from the knowledge of others, and having taken time as their helper, they were not so foolish as to practice those things by which they were bound to bring about a renewal of their own defects, but rather the opposite, by which they would cover them up.
§12.6b.2διὸ καὶ τὴν ὀνομασίαν τῇ πόλει τὴν ἀπὸ τῶν γυναικῶν εἰκότως ἐπέθεσαν καὶ τὴν οἰκειότητα τὴν κατὰ τὰς γυναῖκας προσεποιήθησαν, ἔτι δὲ τὰς φιλίας καὶ τὰς συμμαχίας τὰς προγονικὰς τὰς ἀπὸ τῶν γυναικῶν ἀνενεοῦντο.
Therefore, they naturally gave the city its name from the women, and claimed relationship through the women, and further renewed the ancestral friendships and alliances derived from the women.
§12.6b.3ᾗ καὶ τὸ τοὺς Ἀθηναίους πορθῆσαι τὴν χώραν αὐτῶν οὐδέν ἐστι σημεῖον ψευδῆ λέγειν τὸν Ἀριστοτέλην·
In which respect, the fact that the Athenians ravaged their territory is no proof that Aristotle speaks falsely.
§12.6b.4εὐλόγου γὰρ ὄντος ἐκ τῶν προειρημένων, εἰ καὶ δεκάκις ἦσαν οἰκέται, τοῦ προσπεποιῆσθαι τὴν τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων φιλίαν τοὺς ἐξάραντας ἐκ τῶν Λοκρῶν καὶ κατασχόντας εἰς τὴν Ἰταλίαν, εὔλογος γίνεται καὶ [ἡ] τῶν Ἀθηναίων ἀλλοτριότης ἡ πρὸς πάντας τοὺς προειρημένους, οὐχ οὕτως ἐξεταζόντων τὸ γένος ὡς τὴν προαίρεσιν.
For since it is reasonable, from what has been said, that those who departed from Locris and settled in Italy, even if they had been slaves ten times over, should have claimed the friendship of the Lacedaemonians, the hostility of the Athenians toward all the aforementioned also becomes reasonable, since they did not so much examine their birth as their purpose.
§12.6b.5νὴ Δίʼ ἀλλὰ πῶς αὐτοὶ μὲν ἐξαπέστελλον οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι τοὺς ἀκμάζοντας εἰς τὴν πατρίδα τεκνοποιίας χάριν, τοὺς δὲ Λοκροὺς τὸ παραπλήσιον οὐκ εἴων ποιεῖν;
But, by Zeus, why did the Lacedaemonians themselves send their young men back to their country for the sake of procreation, while they did not permit the Locrians to do the same?
ἕκαστα δὲ τούτων οὐ μόνον κατὰ τὸ πιθανόν, §12.6b.6ἀλλὰ καὶ κατὰ τὴν ἀλήθειαν μεγάλην ἔχει διαφοράν.
But each of these matters has a great difference, not only in probability, but also in truth.
§12.6b.7οὔτε γὰρ κωλύειν τοὺς Λοκροὺς ἔμελλον, αὐτοὶ τὸ ὅμοιον ποιοῦντες — ἄτοπον γάρ — οὐδὲ μὴν κελευόντων αὐτῶν οἱ Λοκροὶ πάντως ποιήσειν ἐκείνοις τὸ παραπλήσιον.
For they were not likely to prevent the Locrians when they themselves were doing the same—for that would be absurd—nor indeed, even if they ordered it, would the Locrians by all means have done the same as they.
§12.6b.8παρὰ μὲν γὰρ τοῖς Λακεδαιμονίοις καὶ πάτριον ἦν καὶ σύνηθες τρεῖς ἄνδρας ἔχειν τὴν γυναῖκα καὶ τέτταρας, τοτὲ δὲ καὶ πλείους ἀδελφοὺς ὄντας, καὶ τὰ τέκνα τούτων εἶναι κοινά, καὶ γεννήσαντα παῖδας ἱκανοὺς ἐκδόσθαι γυναῖκά τινι τῶν φίλων καλὸν καὶ σύνηθες.
For among the Lacedaemonians it was both ancestral and customary for three or four men to have one wife, and sometimes even more when they were brothers, and for the children of these to be in common, and after having begotten sufficient children, to give a wife in marriage to one of their friends was a noble and customary thing.
§12.6b.9διόπερ οἱ Λοκροὶ μήτε ταῖς ἀραῖς ὄντες ἔνοχοι μήτε τοῖς ὅρκοις, οἷς ὤμοσαν οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι μὴ πρότερον εἰς τὴν οἰκείαν ἐπανήξειν πρὶν ἢ τὴν Μεσσήνην κατὰ κράτος ἑλεῖν, τῆς μὲν κατὰ τὸ κοινὸν ἐξαποστολῆς εὐλόγως οὐ μετέσχον, §12.6b.10κατὰ δὲ μέρος τὰς ἐπανόδους ποιούμενοι καὶ σπανίως ἔδοσαν ἀναστροφὴν ταῖς γυναιξὶ πρὸς οἰκέτας γενέσθαι συνηθεστέραν ἢ πρὸς τοὺς ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἄνδρας, ταῖς δὲ παρθένοις καὶ μᾶλλον· ὃ καὶ τῆς ἐξαναστάσεως αἴτιον γέγονεν. —
Therefore the Locrians, being liable neither to the curses nor to the oaths by which the Lacedaemonians swore not to return to their own land before they had taken Messene by force, naturally did not share in the sending back in common, but returning individually and at rare intervals, they gave occasion for the women to become more familiar with the servants than with their original husbands, and still more so for the maidens; which indeed became the cause of their migration. —