§34.40.1Quinctius plus ex timore hostium quam ex re ipsa spei nactus, per triduum insequens territavit eos nunc proeliis lacessendo, nunc operibus intersaepiendo quaedam, ne exitus ad fugam esset.
Quinctius, conceiving greater hope from the fear of the enemies than from the actual situation, kept them in terror during the following three days, now by provoking them in battles, now by blocking certain passages with siege-works so that there might be no way to escape.
§34.40.2his comminationibus compulsus tyrannus Pythagoram rursus oratorem misit; quem Quinctius primo aspernatus excedere castris iussit, dein suppliciter orantem advolutumque genibus tandem audivit.
Compelled by these threats, the tyrant sent Pythagoras again as an envoy; whom Quinctius at first rejected and ordered to leave the camp, but then, as he suppliantly entreated and threw himself at his knees, he finally listened to him.
§34.40.3prima oratio fuit omnia permittentis arbitrio Romanorum; §34.40.4dein cum ea velut vana et sine effectu nihil proficeret, eo deducta est res, ut iis condicionibus, quae ex scripto paucis ante diebus editae erant, indutiae fierent, pecuniaque et obsides accepti.
The first speech was that of one who submitted everything to the decision of the Romans; then, since this gained nothing, being as it were idle and without effect, the matter was brought to the point that a truce was made on those conditions which had been published in writing a few days before, and the money and hostages were accepted.
§34.40.5dum oppugnatur tyrannus, Argivi, nuntiis aliis super alios adferentibus tantum non iam captam Lacedaemonem esse erecti et ipsi, §34.40.6simul eo, quod Pythagoras cum parte validissima praesidii excesserat contempta paucitate eorum, qui in arce erant, duce Archippo quodam praesidium expulerunt; §34.40.7Timocratem Pellenensem, quia clementer praefuerat, vivum fide data emiserunt.
While the tyrant was being attacked, the Argives, as message upon message brought the news that Lacedaemon was all but already captured, were themselves also encouraged, and at the same time, because Pythagoras had departed with the strongest part of the garrison, despising the small number of those who remained in the citadel, they expelled the garrison under the leadership of a certain Archippus; Timocrates of Pellene, because he had ruled mildly, they let go alive on a pledge of safety.
huic laetitiae Quinctius supervenit pace data tyranno dimissisque ab Lacedaemone Eumene et Rhodiis et L. Quinctio fratre ad classem.
Upon this scene of joy Quinctius arrived, peace having been granted to the tyrant, and Eumenes, the Rhodians, and his brother Lucius Quinctius having been sent away from Lacedaemon to the fleet.