§4.4.1ἔτι δʼ αὐτοῦ παρεπιδημοῦντος ἐν τῇ Μεσσήνῃ, συνεγγίσαντες τῇ πόλει νυκτὸς οἱ πειραταὶ καὶ προσβαλόντες κλίμακας ἐξέκοψαν τὸ Χυρῶνος καλούμενον ἐπαύλιον, καὶ τοὺς μὲν ἀμυνομένους ἀπέσφαξαν, τοὺς δὲ λοιποὺς τῶν οἰκετῶν δήσαντες καὶ τὰ κτήνη μετʼ αὐτῶν ἀπήγαγον.
While he was still staying in Messene, the pirates approached the city by night, and applying scaling-ladders, ransacked the farm called Chyron's; they slaughtered those who defended themselves, and binding the rest of the servants, drove them off along with the cattle.
§4.4.2οἱ δὲ τῶν Μεσσηνίων ἔφοροι, πάλαι μὲν ἐπί τε τοῖς γινομένοις καὶ τῇ παρεπιδημίᾳ τοῦ Δωριμάχου διαλγοῦντες, τότε δὲ καὶ προσενυβρίζεσθαι δόξαντες, ἀνεκαλοῦντʼ αὐτὸν εἰς τὰς συναρχίας.
The ephors of the Messenians, who had long been deeply grieved by what was happening and by the presence of Dorimachus, and now felt that they were being further insulted, summoned him to the magistrates' office.
§4.4.3ἐν ᾧ καιρῷ Σκύρων, ὃς ἦν μὲν ἔφορος τότε τῶν Μεσσηνίων, εὐδοκίμει δὲ καὶ κατὰ τὸν ἄλλον βίον παρὰ τοῖς πολίταις, συνεβούλευε μὴ προίεσθαι τὸν Δωρίμαχον ἐκ τῆς πόλεως, ἐὰν μὴ τὰ μὲν ἀπολωλότα πάντα τοῖς Μεσσηνίοις ἀποκαταστήσῃ, περὶ δὲ τῶν τεθνεώτων δωσιδίκους παράσχῃ τοὺς ἠδικηκότας.
On this occasion, Skyron, who was then an ephor of the Messenians and otherwise highly esteemed among the citizens for his general conduct, advised them not to let Dorimachus leave the city unless he restored all the lost property to the Messenians and surrendered the wrongdoers to stand trial for the dead.
§4.4.4πάντων δʼ ἐπισημηναμένων ὡς δίκαια λέγοντος τοῦ Σκύρωνος, διοργισθεὶς ὁ Δωρίμαχος εὐήθεις αὐτοὺς ἔφη τελέως ὑπάρχειν, εἰ Δωρίμαχον οἴονται νῦν προπηλακίζειν, ἀλλʼ οὐ τὸ κοινὸν τῶν Αἰτωλῶν· καὶ καθόλου δεινὸν ἡγεῖτο τὸ γινόμενον, καὶ κοινῆς αὐτοὺς ἐπιστροφῆς ἔφη τεύξεσθαι, καὶ τοῦτο πείσεσθαι δικαίως.
When everyone applauded Skyron's words as just, Dorimachus became furious and said that they were utterly foolish if they thought they were now insulting Dorimachus and not the Aetolian League; and in general he regarded what was happening as a grave outrage, saying that they would face a collective retribution, and would suffer this justly.
§4.4.5ἦν δέ τις κατʼ ἐκείνους τοὺς καιροὺς ἄνθρωπος ἀσυρὴς ἐν τῇ Μεσσήνῃ, τῶν ἐξηρμένων τὸν ἄνδρα κατὰ πάντα τρόπον, ὄνομα Βαβύρτας, ᾧ τις εἰ περιέθηκε τὴν καυσίαν καὶ χλαμύδα τοῦ Δωριμάχου, μὴ οἷόν τʼ εἶναι διαγινώσκειν· §4.4.6ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον ἐξωμοίωτο κατά τε τὴν φωνὴν καὶ τἄλλα μέρη τοῦ σώματος τῷ προειρημένῳ.
Now there was at that time in Messene a worthless fellow named Baburtas, who in every way resembled Dorimachus so perfectly that if one were to put Dorimachus's causia and chlamys on him, it would be impossible to tell them apart; so closely did he resemble the aforementioned man in his voice and the other parts of his body.
καὶ τοῦτʼ οὐκ ἐλάνθανε τὸν Δωρίμαχον.
And Dorimachus was well aware of this.
§4.4.7ὁμιλοῦντος οὖν [αὐτοῦ] ἀνατατικῶς τότε καὶ μάλʼ ὑπερηφάνως τοῖς Μεσσηνίοις, περιοργισθεὶς ὁ Σκύρων "νομίζεις γὰρ ἡμῖν" ἔφη "σοῦ μέλειν ἢ τῆς σῆς ἀνατάσεως, Βαβύρτα; "ῥηθέντος δὲ τούτου, §4.4.8παραυτίκα μὲν εἴξας ὁ Δωρίμαχος τῇ περιστάσει συνεχώρησε πάντων ἐπιστροφὴν ποιήσεσθαι τῶν γεγονότων ἀδικημάτων τοῖς Μεσσηνίοις· §4.4.9ἐπανελθὼν δʼ εἰς τὴν Αἰτωλίαν οὕτω πικρῶς ἤνεγκε καὶ βαρέως τὸ ῥηθὲν ὡς οὐδεμίαν ἄλλην ἔχων εὔλογον πρόφασιν διʼ αὐτὸ τοῦτο τοῖς Μεσσηνίοις ἐξέκαυσε τὸν πόλεμον.
So, when Dorimachus was talking to the Messenians in a threatening and very arrogant manner, Skyron, losing his temper, said, "Do you think we care about you or your threats, Baburtas?" When this was said, Dorimachus, yielding immediately to the circumstances, agreed to make amends to the Messenians for all the outrages that had occurred; but on returning to Aetolia, he took what had been said so bitterly and heavily that, although he had no other reasonable pretext, he kindled the war against the Messenians for this very reason.