§13.6.1ὁ δὲ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων τύραννος Νάβις, ἔτος ἤδη τρίτον ἔχων τὴν ἀρχήν, ὁλοσχερὲς μὲν οὐδὲν ἐπεβάλλετο πράττειν οὐδὲ τολμᾶν διὰ τὸ πρόσφατον εἶναι τὴν ὑπὸ τῶν Ἀχαιῶν ἧτταν τοῦ Μαχανίδου,
Nabis, the tyrant of the Lacedaemonians, being now in the third year of his reign, did not attempt to undertake or venture upon any large-scale enterprise, because the defeat of Machanidas by the Achaeans was still recent.
§13.6.2καταβολὴν δʼ ἐποιεῖτο καὶ θεμέλιον ὑπεβάλλετο πολυχρονίου καὶ βαρείας τυραννίδος.
However, he was laying the foundation and placing the groundwork of a long-lasting and oppressive tyranny.
§13.6.3διέφθειρε γὰρ τοὺς λοιποὺς ἄρδην ἐκ τῆς Σπάρτης, ἐφυγάδευσε δὲ τοὺς κατὰ πλέον πλούτῳ διαφέροντας ἢ δόξῃ προγονικῇ, τὰς δὲ τούτων οὐσίας καὶ γυναῖκας διεδίδου τῶν ἄλλων τοῖς ἐπιφανεστάτοις καὶ τοῖς μισθοφόροις.
For he utterly destroyed the remaining citizens from Sparta, and banished those who were pre-eminent in wealth or ancestral glory, and distributed their properties and wives among the most prominent of the remaining citizens and his mercenaries.
§13.6.4οὗτοι δʼ ἦσαν ἀνδροφόνοι καὶ παρασχίσται, λωποδύται, τοιχωρύχοι.
And these men were murderers, corpse-desecrators, footpads, and housebreakers.
καθόλου γὰρ τοῦτο τὸ γένος ἡθροίζετο πρὸς αὐτὸν ἐπιμελῶς ἐκ τῆς οἰκουμένης, οἷς ἄβατος ἦν ἡ θρέψασα διʼ ἀσέβειαν καὶ παρανομίαν.
For in general, this class of men was diligently gathered to him from all over the inhabited world—men to whom their native land was inaccessible because of their impiety and lawlessness.
§13.6.5ὧν προστάτην [καὶ βασιλέα] αὑτὸν ἀναδείξας, καὶ χρώμενος δορυφόροις καὶ σωματοφύλαξι τούτοις, δῆλον ἔμελλε πολυχρόνιον ἔχειν τὴν ἐπʼ ἀσεβείᾳ φήμην καὶ δυναστείαν.
Having declared himself their protector [and king], and using them as his bodyguard and spear-bearers, he was clearly destined to have a long-lasting reputation for impiety and a long reign.
§13.6.6ὅς γε χωρὶς τῶν προειρημένων οὐκ ἐξηρκεῖτο φυγαδεύειν τοὺς πολίτας, ἀλλʼ οὐδὲ τοῖς φεύγουσιν οὐδεὶς τόπος ἦν ἀσφαλὴς οὐδὲ καταφυγὴ βέβαιος.
Indeed, not content with the actions mentioned above, he was not satisfied with merely banishing citizens, so that not even for the exiles was any place safe or any refuge secure.
§13.6.7τοὺς μὲν γὰρ ἐν ταῖς ὁδοῖς ἐπαποστέλλων ἀνῄρει, τοὺς δʼ ἐκ τῶν τόπων ἐπανάγοντας ἐφόνευε.
For some of them he made away with by sending agents after them on the roads, and others he slew as they were returning from their places of refuge.
§13.6.8τὸ δὲ τελευταῖον ἐν ταῖς πόλεσι τὰς σύνεγγυς οἰκίας, ὅπου τις τυγχάνοι κατοικῶν τῶν φυγάδων, μισθούμενος διʼ ἀνυπονοήτων ἀνθρώπων, εἰς ταύτας εἰσέπεμπε Κρῆτας, οἵτινες ῥήγματα ποιοῦντες ἐν τοῖς τοίχοις καὶ διὰ τῶν ὑπαρχουσῶν θυρίδων τοξεύοντες τοὺς μὲν ἑστῶτας τῶν φυγάδων, τοὺς δʼ ἀνακειμένους ἐν ταῖς ἰδίαις οἰκίαις διέφθειρον, §13.6.9ὥστε μήτε τόπον εἶναι μηδένα φύξιμον μήτε καιρὸν ἀσφαλῆ τοῖς ταλαιπώροις Λακεδαιμονίοις.
And finally, in the cities where any of the exiles happened to reside, he hired the adjoining houses through unsuspecting agents, and sent Cretans into them, who made holes in the walls and, shooting through the existing windows, killed the exiles, some of whom were standing and others reclining in their own homes, with the result that there was no place of escape nor any safe time for the wretched Lacedaemonians.
§13.6.10καὶ δὴ τῷ τοιούτῳ
Indeed, to such a...