§34.26.1Quinctius adfirmantibus iis, si ad portas exercitus Romanus fuisset, §34.26.2non sine effectu futurum eum motum fuisse et, si propius castra admoverentur, non quieturos Argivos, misit expeditos pedites equitesque, qui circa Cylarabim — gymnasium id est minus trecentos passus ab urbe — §34.26.3cum erumpentibus a porta Lacedaemoniis proelium commiserunt atque eos haud magno certamine compulerunt in urbem.
Quinctius, since they assured him that if the Roman army had been at the gates, that movement would not have been without effect, and that if the camp were moved closer, the Argives would not remain quiet, sent light-armed infantry and cavalry, who, around Cylarabis—which is a gymnasium less than three hundred paces from the city— joined battle with the Lacedaemonians rushing out from the gate, and with no great struggle drove them back into the city.
et castra eo ipso loco ubi pugnatum erat, imperator Romanus posuit.
And the Roman general pitched camp on the very spot where the battle had been fought.
§34.26.4diem inde unum in speculis fuit, si quid novi motus oreretur; postquam oppressam metu civitatem vidit, advocat consilium de oppugnandis Argis.
Thereafter, for one day he remained on the watch to see if any new movement would arise; when he saw the city suppressed by fear, he summoned a council concerning the siege of Argos.
§34.26.5omnium principum Graeciae praeter Aristaenum eadem sententia erat, cum causa belli non alia esset, inde potissimum ordiendum bellum.
The opinion of all the chiefs of Greece, except Aristaenus, was the same: that since the cause of the war was no other than that place, the war should by all means be begun from there.
§34.26.6Quinctio id nequaquam placebat, et Aristaenum contra omnium consensum disserentem cum haud dubia approbatione audivit; §34.26.7et ipse adiecit, cum pro Argivis adversus tyrannum bellum susceptum sit, quid minus conveniens esse, quam omisso hoste Argos oppugnari?
This was by no means pleasing to Quinctius, and he heard Aristaenus arguing against the consensus of all with no doubtful approval; and he himself added: since the war had been undertaken for the Argives against the tyrant, what could be less fitting than that, leaving the enemy alone, Argos should be besieged?
§34.26.8se vero caput belli Lacedaemonem et tyrannum petiturum.
Indeed, he would seek Sparta and the tyrant, the head of the war.
et dimisso consilio frumentatum expeditas cohortes misit.
And dismissing the council, he sent light cohorts to forage.
quod maturi erat circa, demessum et convectum est; viride, ne hostes mox haberent, protritum et corruptum.
Whatever was ripe around was reaped and brought in; what was green was trampled and ruined, so that the enemy might not soon have it.
§34.26.9castra deinde movit et Parthenio superato monte praeter Tegeam tertio die ad Caryas posuit castra.
Then he moved his camp, and having crossed Mount Parthenius and passed by Tegea, on the third day he pitched camp at Caryae.
ibi, priusquam hostium intraret agrum, §34.26.10sociorum auxilia expectavit.
There, before he entered the territory of the enemy, he awaited the auxiliaries of the allies.
venerunt Macedones a Philippo mille et quingenti et Thessalorum equites quadringenti.
There came fifteen hundred Macedonians from Philip, and four hundred Thessalian horsemen.
nec iam auxilia, quorum adfatim erat, sed commeatus finitumis urbibus imperati morabantur Romanum.
It was no longer the auxiliaries, of whom there was abundance, but the provisions ordered from the neighboring cities that delayed the Roman.
§34.26.11navales quoque magnae copiae conveniebant; iam ab Leucade L. Quinctius quadraginta navibus venerat, iam Rhodiae duodeviginti tectae naves, iam Eumenes rex circa Cycladas insulas erat cum decem tectis navibus, triginta lembis mixtisque aliis minoris formae navigiis.
Large naval forces were also assembling; already Lucius Quinctius had come from Leucas with forty ships, already there were eighteen decked ships of the Rhodians, already King Eumenes was around the Cyclades islands with ten decked ships, thirty lembi, and other smaller vessels of various kinds mixed in.
§34.26.12ipsorum quoque Lacedaemoniorum exules permulti, tyrannorum iniuria pulsi, spe reciperandae patriae in castra Romana convenerunt.
Very many exiles of the Lacedaemonians themselves, expelled by the injustice of the tyrants, also assembled at the Roman camp in the hope of recovering their homeland.
§34.26.13multi autem erant, iam per aliquot aetates, ex quo tyranni tenebant Lacedaemonem, alii ab aliis expulsi.
And there were many, now for several generations since the tyrants held Lacedaemon, expelled one after another.
§34.26.14princeps erat exulum Agesipolis, cuius iure gentis regnum Lacedaemone erat, pulsus infans ab Lycurgo tyranno post mortem Cleomenis, qui primus tyrannus Lacedaemone fuit.
The chief of the exiles was Agesipolis, whose kingship in Lacedaemon was by right of birth, but who had been expelled as an infant by the tyrant Lycurgus after the death of Cleomenes, who was the first tyrant in Lacedaemon.