§38.16.1εἰς αὐτὸν τὸν ὄλεθρον εἰσέφερον.
contributed them to their very ruin.
ἁπάντων δὲ τούτων ἐν ἑνὶ καιρῷ συμβαινόντων, ἡ τῶν κατὰ μέρος ἀεὶ προσπιπτόντων κατάπληξις ἀφῃρεῖτο τῶν ἀνθρώπων τὴν ὑπὲρ τῶν ὅλων ἐπίστασιν καὶ διάληψιν, διʼ ἧς ἔμελλον προνοεῖσθαι διότι πάντες εἰς πρόδηλον ὄλεθρον ἄγονται μετὰ τέκνων καὶ γυναικῶν.
But while all these things were happening at the same time, the panic caused by the successive individual events deprived men of any attention to or understanding of the whole situation, by which they would have foreseen that they were all being led to a manifest ruin along with their children and wives.
§38.16.2λοιπόν, οἷον ὑπὸ χειμάρρου τινὸς λάβρου προωθούμενοι καὶ φερόμενοι μετὰ βίας, ἐπηκολούθουν τῇ τοῦ προεστῶτος ἀγνοίᾳ καὶ παρακοπῇ.
Consequently, as if pushed and violently swept away by some rapid torrent, they followed the ignorance and madness of their leader.
§38.16.3Ἠλεῖοι μὲν γὰρ καὶ Μεσσήνιοι κατὰ χώραν ἔμειναν, προσδοκῶντες τὸν ἀπὸ τοῦ στόλου κίνδυνον· οὓς οὐδὲν ἂν τῶν παρόντων ὤνησεν, εἴπερ ἐφάνη τὸ νέφος ἐκεῖνο κατὰ τὴν ἐξ ἀρχῆς πρόθεσιν.
For the Eleans and Messenians remained in their places, expecting the danger from the fleet; whom none of the present circumstances would have helped, if that cloud had appeared according to its original intention.
§38.16.4Πατρεῖς δὲ καὶ τὸ μετὰ τούτων συντελικὸν βραχεῖ χρόνῳ πρότερον ἐπταίκει κατὰ τὴν Φωκίδα, καὶ τὸ συμβαῖνον ἦν πολλῷ τῶν κατὰ Πελοπόννησον ἐλεεινότερον.
But the Patreans and the league allied with them had suffered a defeat a short time before in Phocis, and what was happening was much more pitiable than the state of affairs in the Peloponnese.
§38.16.5οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἐκ τοῦ ζῆν παραλόγως αὑτοὺς ἐξῆγον, οἱ δʼ ἔφευγον ἐκ τῶν πόλεων ἀνοδίαις, πρὸς οὐδὲν ὡρισμένον ποιούμενοι τὴν ἀναχώρησιν διὰ τὴν ἔκπληξιν τῶν γινομένων ἐν ταῖς πόλεσιν.
For some unreasonably made away with themselves, while others fled from the cities by trackless paths, making their retreat to no fixed destination because of their panic at what was happening in the cities.
§38.16.6καὶ οἱ μὲν ἦγον ἐκδώσοντες ἀλλήλους τοῖς πολεμίοις ὡς ἀλλοτρίους γεγονότας Ῥωμαίων, οἱ δʼ ἐμήνυον καὶ κατηγόρουν τῶν πέλας, οὐδενὸς ἐπιζητοῦντος κατὰ τὸ παρὸν τὴν τοιαύτην χρείαν· οἱ δὲ μεθʼ ἱκετηρίας ἀπήντων, ὁμολογοῦντες παρεσπονδηκέναι καὶ πυνθανόμενοι τί δεῖ πάσχειν, μηδέπω μηδενὸς ἐπιζητοῦντος λόγον ὑπὲρ τούτων.
And some led others away to hand them over to the enemy as having become hostile to the Romans, while others informed against and accused their neighbors, though no one at the present required such a service; and others went out to meet them with suppliant branches, confessing that they had broken the treaty and asking what they must suffer, though as yet no one demanded an explanation for these things.
§38.16.7πάντα δʼ ἦν πλήρη παρηλλαγμένης φαρμακείας τῶν ῥιπτούντων ἑαυτοὺς εἰς τὰ φρέατα καὶ κατὰ κρημνῶν, ὥστε κατὰ τὴν παροιμίαν κἂν ἐχθρὸν ἐλεῆσαι θεασάμενον τὴν τότε περιπέτειαν τῆς Ἑλλάδος.
And everything was full of the extraordinary madness of those who threw themselves into wells and down precipices, so that, according to the proverb, even an enemy would have pitied Greece, if he had witnessed her misfortune at that time.
§38.16.8τὸν μὲν γὰρ πρὸ τοῦ χρόνον ἐσφάλλοντο καὶ τοῖς ὅλοις ἔπταιον ἐνίοτε, ποτὲ μὲν ὑπὲρ πραγμάτων διαφερόμενοι, ποτὲ δὲ παρασπονδούμενοι διὰ τῶν μονάρχων· §38.16.9κατὰ δὲ τοὺς νῦν λεγομένους καιροὺς ἠτύχησαν ἀτυχίαν ὁμολογουμένην διὰ τὴν τῶν προεστώτων ἀβουλίαν καὶ διὰ τὴν ἰδίαν ἄγνοιαν.
For in the time before this they used to err and sometimes failed in their general fortunes, sometimes disputing about public affairs, sometimes being betrayed by their monarchs; but in the times now spoken of, they suffered a universally acknowledged misfortune because of the folly of their leaders and their own ignorance.
§38.16.10οἱ δὲ Θηβαῖοι ἐκλιπόντες πανδημεὶ τὴν πόλιν ἔρημον τελέως κατέλειπον· ἐν οἷς καὶ Πυθέας εἰς Πελοπόννησον ἀποχωρήσας μετὰ γυναικὸς καὶ τῶν τέκνων ἠλᾶτο κατὰ τῆς χώρας. —
παράδοξος αὐτῷ ἐφάνη ἡ ἀπάντησις τῶν πολεμίων.
The Thebans abandoned their city in a body and left it completely deserted; among whom Pytheas also, having retreated to the Peloponnese with his wife and children, wandered about the countryside. — To him the reception by the enemy seemed unexpected.
§38.16.11ἀλλά μοι δοκεῖ κατὰ τὴν παροιμίαν κενὰ κενοὶ λογίζονται. λοιπὸν εἰκότως τοῖς τοιούτοις τὰ πρόδηλα παράδοξα φαίνεται. —
καὶ ἐβουλεύετο περὶ τῆς εἰς οἶκον ἀνακομιδῆς, §38.16.12ὅμοιον ποιῶν ὡς εἴ τις ἄπειρος ὑπάρχων τοῦ νεῖν καὶ μέλλων αὑτὸν ῥίπτειν εἰς τὸ πέλαγος περὶ μὲν τοῦ ῥῖψαι μὴ βουλεύοιτο, ῥίψας δὲ διανοοῖτο περὶ τοῦ πῶς ἂν ἐκνήξαιτο πρὸς τὴν γῆν. —
But to me it seems that, according to the proverb, 'empty men plan empty things.' Consequently, it is natural that to such men even what is obvious seems unexpected. — And he began to deliberate about returning home, acting just like someone who, being unable to swim and about to throw himself into the sea, should not deliberate about throwing himself in, but, having thrown himself in, should then think about how he might swim back to the land. —