§2.57.1Μαντινεῖς τοίνυν τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἐγκαταλιπόντες τὴν μετὰ τῶν Ἀχαιῶν πολιτείαν ἐθελοντὴν Αἰτωλοῖς ἐνεχείρισαν αὑτοὺς καὶ τὴν πατρίδα, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Κλεομένει.
Mantineans then at first, having abandoned their political union with the Achaeans, voluntarily surrendered themselves and their country to the Aetolians, and after this to Cleomenes.
§2.57.2γεγονότες δʼ ἐπὶ τοιαύτης προαιρέσεως καὶ μετέχοντες τῆς Λακεδαιμονίων πολιτείας ἔτει τετάρτῳ πρότερον τῆς Ἀντιγόνου παρουσίας ἑάλωσαν κατὰ κράτος ὑπὸ τῶν Ἀχαιῶν, Ἀράτου πραξικοπήσαντος αὐτῶν τὴν πόλιν.
Having adopted such a policy and sharing in the Lacedaemonian constitution, in the fourth year before the arrival of Antigonus, they were taken by force by the Achaeans, Aratus having taken their city by a coup.
§2.57.3ἐν ᾧ καιρῷ τοσοῦτον ἀπέσχον τοῦ παθεῖν τι δεινὸν διὰ τὴν προειρημένην ἁμαρτίαν ὡς καὶ περιβόητον συνέβη γενέσθαι τὸ πραχθὲν διὰ τὴν ὀξύτητα τῆς κατὰ τὴν προαίρεσιν ἀμφοτέρων μεταβολῆς.
At which time they were so far from suffering any terrible fate because of their aforementioned error, that what was done actually happened to become celebrated because of the suddenness of the change of mind on both sides.
§2.57.4ἅμα γὰρ τῷ κατασχεῖν τὴν πόλιν Ἄρατος παραυτίκα μὲν τοῖς ὑφʼ αὑτὸν ταττομένοις παρήγγελλε μηδένα μηδενὸς ἅπτεσθαι τῶν ἀλλοτρίων, §2.57.5ἑξῆς δὲ τούτοις τοὺς Μαντινέας συναθροίσας παρεκάλεσε θαρρεῖν καὶ μένειν ἐπὶ τῶν ἰδίων· ὑπάρξειν γὰρ αὐτοῖς τὴν ἀσφάλειαν πολιτευομένοις μετὰ τῶν Ἀχαιῶν.
For immediately upon occupying the city, Aratus at once ordered those under his command that no one should touch anyone else's property; and next to this, having assembled the Mantineans, he exhorted them to be of good courage and to remain in their own homes; for safety would be theirs if they lived as citizens with the Achaeans.
§2.57.6τοῖς δὲ Μαντινεῦσιν ἀνυπονοήτου καὶ παραδόξου φανείσης τῆς ἐλπίδος, παραυτίκα πάντες ἐπὶ τῆς ἐναντίας ἐγένοντο γνώμης.
And when this hope appeared unexpected and contrary to expectation to the Mantineans, immediately all of them adopted the opposite opinion.
§2.57.7καὶ πρὸς οὓς μικρῷ πρότερον μαχόμενοι πολλοὺς μὲν τῶν ἀναγκαίων ἐπεῖδον ἀπολλυμένους, οὐκ ὀλίγους δʼ αὐτῶν βιαίοις τραύμασι περιπεσόντας, τούτους εἰς τὰς ἰδίας οἰκίας εἰσαγόμενοι καὶ ποιησάμενοι σφίσι καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἀναγκαίοις ὁμεστίους, οὐδὲν ἀπέλειπον τῆς μετʼ ἀλλήλων φιλοφροσύνης.
And those against whom they had been fighting a little earlier, beholding many of their relatives perish and not a few of them suffer severe wounds—these very men they received into their own houses and made them members of the same hearth with themselves and their other relatives, leaving nothing undone in the way of mutual friendliness.
§2.57.8καὶ τοῦτʼ εἰκότως ἐποίουν· οὐ γὰρ οἶδʼ εἴ τινες ἀνθρώπων εὐγνωμονεστέροις ἐνέτυχον πολεμίοις οὐδʼ εἴ τινες ἀβλαβέστερον ἐπάλαισαν τοῖς μεγίστοις δοκοῦσιν εἶναι συμπτώμασι Μαντινέων διὰ τὴν Ἀράτου καὶ τῶν Ἀχαιῶν εἰς αὐτοὺς φιλαν
And they did this with good reason; for I do not know if any men have met with more generous enemies, or if any have struggled with what are thought to be the greatest disasters more harmlessly than the Mantineans, on account of the kind... of Aratus and the Achaeans toward them.