Delphi Complete Works of Polybius

by Polybius

  53. At the same time the Cnossians sent an embassy to the Rhodians, and persuaded them to send them the ships that were under the command of Polemocles, and to launch three undecked vessels besides and send them also to Crete. The Rhodians having complied, and the vessels having arrived at Crete, the people of Eleutherna suspecting that one of their citizens named Timarchus had been put to death by Polemocles to please the Cnossians, first proclaimed a right of reprisal against the Rhodians, and then went to open war with them.

  The people of Lyttos, too, a short time before this, met with an irretrievable disaster. At that time the political state of Crete as a whole was this. The Cnossians, in league with the people of Gortyn, had a short time previously reduced the whole island under their power, with the exception of the city of Lyttos; and this being the only city which refused obedience, they resolved to go to war with it, being bent upon removing its inhabitants from their homes, as an example and terror to the rest of Crete. Accordingly at first the whole of the other Cretan cities were united in war against Lyttos: but presently when some jealousy arose from certain trifling causes, as is the way with the Cretans, they separated into hostile parties, the peoples of Polyrrhen, Cere, and Lappa, along with the Horii and Arcades, forming one party and separating themselves from connexion with the Cnossians, resolved to make common cause with the Lyttians. Among the people of Gortyn, again, the elder men espoused the side of Cnossus, the younger that of Lyttos, and so were in opposition to each other. Taken by surprise by this disintegration of their allies, the Cnossians fetched over a thousand men from Aetolia in virtue of their alliance: upon which the party of the elders in Gortyn immediately seized the citadel; introduced the Cnossians and Aetolians; and either expelled or put to death the young men, and delivered the city into the hands of the Cnossians. And at the same time, the Lyttians having gone out with their full forces on an expedition into the enemy’s territory, the Cnossians got information of the fact, and seized Lyttos while thus denuded of its defenders. The children and women they sent to Cnossus; and having set fire to the town, thrown down its buildings, and damaged it in every possible way, returned. When the Lyttians reached home from their expedition, and saw what had happened, they were struck with such violent grief that not a man of the whole host had the heart to enter his native city; but one and all having marched round its walls, with frequent cries and lamentations over their misfortune and that of their country, turned back again towards the city of Lappa. The people of Lappa gave them a kind and entirely cordial reception; and having thus in one day become cityless and aliens, they joined these allies in their war against the Cnossians. Thus at one fell swoop was Lyttos, a colony of Sparta and allied with the Lacedaemonians in blood, the most ancient of the cities in Crete, and by common consent the mother of the bravest men in the island, utterly cut off.

  [1] νέων, τὴν δὲ πόλιν ἐνεχείρισαν τοῖς Κνωσίοις. κατὰ δὲ τοὺς αὐτοὺς καιροὺς Λυττίων ἐξωδευκότων εἰς τὴν πολεμίαν πανδημεί, συννοήσαντες οἱ Κνώσιοι τὸ γεγονὸς καταλαμβάνονται τὴν Λύττον, ἔρημον οὖσαν τῶν βοηθησόντων: [2] καὶ τὰ μὲν τέκνα καὶ τὰς γυναῖκας εἰς Κνωσὸν ἀπέπεμψαν, τὴν δὲ πόλιν ἐμπρήσαντες καὶ κατασκάψαντες καὶ λωβησάμενοι κατὰ πάντα τρόπον ἐπανῆλθον. [3] οἱ δὲ Λύττιοι παραγενόμενοι πρὸς τὴν πόλιν ἀπὸ τῆς ἐξοδείας, καὶ συνθεασάμενοι τὸ συμβεβηκός, οὕτως περιπαθεῖς ἐγένοντο ταῖς ψυχαῖς ὥστε μηδ᾽ εἰσελθεῖν μηδένα τολμῆσαι τῶν παρόντων εἰς τὴν πατρίδα: [4] πάντες δὲ περιπορευθέντες αὐτὴν κύκλῳ, καὶ πολλάκις ἀνοιμώξαντες καὶ κατολοφυράμενοι τήν τε τῆς πατρίδος καὶ τὴν αὑτῶν τύχην, αὖθις ἐξ ἀναστροφῆς ἐπανῆλθον εἰς τὴν τῶν Λαππαίων πόλιν. [5] φιλανθρώπως δ᾽ αὐτοὺς καὶ μετὰ πάσης προθυμίας τῶν Λαππαίων ὑποδεξαμένων, οὗτοι μὲν ἀντὶ πολιτῶν ἀπόλιδες ἐν ἡμέρᾳ μιᾷ καὶ ξένοι γεγονότες ἐπολέμουν πρὸς τοὺς Κνωσίους ἅμα τοῖς συμμάχοις. [6] Λύττος δ᾽ ἡ Λακεδαιμονίων μὲν ἄποικος οὖσα καὶ συγγενής, ἀρχαιοτάτη δὲ τῶν κατὰ Κρήτην πόλεων, ἄνδρας δ᾽ ὁμολογουμένως ἀρίστους ἀεὶ τρέφουσα Κρηταιέων, οὕτως ἄρδην καὶ παραλόγως ἀνηρπάσθη.

  55. But the peoples of Polyrrhen and Lappa and all their allies, seeing that the Cnossians clung to the alliance of the Aetolians, and that the Aetolians were at war with King Philip and the Achaeans, sent ambassadors to the two latter asking for their help and to be admitted to alliance with them. Both requests were granted: they were admitted into the roll of allies, and assistance was sent to them, consisting of four hundred Illyrians under Plator, two hundred Achaeans, and a hundred Phocians; whose arrival was of the utmost advantage to the interest of Polyrrhenia and her allies: for in a brief space of time they shut the Eleuthernaeans and Cydonians within their walls, and compelled the people of Aptera to forsake the alliance of the Cnossians and share their fortunes. When these results had been obtained, the Polyrrhenians and their allies joined in sending to the aid of Philip and the Achaeans five hundred Cretans, the Cnossians having sent a thousand to the Aetolians a short time before; both of which contingents took part in the existing war on their respective sides. Nay more, the exiled party of Gortyn seized the harbour of Phaestus, and also by a sudden and bold attack occupied the port of Gortyn itself; and from these two places as bases of operation they carried on the war with the party in the town. Such was the state of Crete.

  [1] Πολυρρήνιοι δὲ καὶ Λαππαῖοι καὶ πάντες οἱ τούτων σύμμαχοι, θεωροῦντες τοὺς Κνωσίους ἀντεχομένους τῆς τῶν Αἰτωλῶν συμμαχίας, τοὺς δ᾽ Αἰτωλοὺς ὁρῶντες πολεμίους ὄντας τῷ τε βασιλεῖ Φιλίππῳ καὶ τοῖς Ἀχαιοῖς, πέμπουσι πρέσβεις πρός τε τὸν βασιλέα καὶ τοὺς Ἀχαιοὺς περὶ βοηθείας καὶ συμμαχίας. [2] οἱ δ᾽ Ἀχαιοὶ καὶ Φίλιππος εἴς τε τὴν κοινὴν συμμαχίαν αὐτοὺς προσεδέξαντο καὶ βοήθειαν ἐξαπέστειλαν, Ἰλλυριοὺς μὲν τετρακοσίους, ὧν ἡγεῖτο Πλάτωρ, Ἀχαιοὺς δὲ διακοσίους, Φωκέας ἑκατόν. [3] οἳ καὶ παραγενόμενοι μετ᾽ οὐ πολὺ πάλιν ἀπέπλευσαν μεγάλην ποιήσαντες ἐπίδοσιν τοῖς Πολυρρηνίοις καὶ τοῖς τούτων συμμάχοις: [4] πάνυ γὰρ ἐν βραχεῖ χρόνῳ τειχήρεις καταστήσαντες τούς τ᾽ Ἐλευθερναίους καὶ Κυδωνιάτας, ἔτι δὲ τοὺς Ἀπτεραίους, ἠνάγκασαν ἀποστάντας τῆς τῶν Κνωσίων συμμαχίας κοινωνῆσαι σφίσι τῶν αὐτῶν ἐλπίδων. τούτων δὲ γενομένων, [5] ἐξαπέστειλαν Πολυρρήνιοι μὲν καὶ μετὰ τούτων οἱ σύμμαχοι Φιλίππῳ καὶ τοῖς Ἀχαιοῖς πεντακοσίους Κρῆτας, Κνώσιοι δὲ μικρῷ πρότερον ἐξαπεστάλκεισαν χιλίους τοῖς Αἰτωλοῖς. οἳ καὶ συνεπολέμουν ἀμφοτέροις τὸν ἐνεστῶτα πόλεμον. [6] κατελάβοντο δὲ καὶ τὸν λιμένα τῶν Φαιστίων οἱ τῶν Γορτυνίων φυγάδες: ὁμοίως �
�ὲ καὶ τὸν αὐτῶν τῶν Γορτυνίων παραβόλως διακατεῖχον, καὶ προσεπολέμουν ἐκ τούτων ὁρμώμενοι τῶν τόπων τοῖς ἐν τῇ πόλει.

  56. About the same time Mithridates also declared war against the people of Sinope; which proved to be the beginning and occasion of the disaster which ultimately befell the Sinopeans. Upon their sending an embassy with a view to this war to beg for assistance from the Rhodians, the latter decided to elect three men, and to grant them a hundred and forty thousand drachmae with which to procure supplies needed by the Sinopeans. The men so appointed got ready ten thousand jars of wine, three hundred talents of prepared hair, a hundred talents of made-up bowstring, a thousand suits of armour, three thousand gold pieces, and four catapults with engineers to work them. The Sinopean envoys took these presents and departed; for the people of Sinope, being in great anxiety lest Mithridates should attempt to besiege them both by land and sea, were making all manner of preparations with this view. Sinope lies on the right-hand shore of the Pontus as one sails to Phasis, and is built upon a peninsula jutting out into the sea: it is on the neck of this peninsula, connecting it with Asia, which is not more than two stades wide, that the city is so placed as to entirely close it up from sea to sea; the rest of the peninsula stretches out into the open sea, — a piece of flat land from which the town is easily accessible, but surrounded by a steep coast offering very bad harbourage, and having exceedingly few spots admitting of disembarkation. The Sinopeans then were dreadfully alarmed lest Mithridates should blockade them, by throwing up works against their town on the side towards Asia, and by making a descent on the opposite side upon the low ground in front of the town: and they accordingly determined to strengthen the line of the peninsula, where it was washed by the sea, by putting up wooden defences and erecting palisades round the places accessible from the sea; and at the same time by storing weapons and stationing guards at all points open to attack: for the whole area is not large, but is capable of being easily defended and by a moderate force.

  Such was the situation at Sinope at the time of the commencement of the Social war, — to which I must now return.

  [1] τὰ μὲν οὖν κατὰ τὴν Κρήτην ἐν τούτοις ἦν: περὶ δὲ τοὺς καιροὺς τούτους καὶ Μιθριδάτης ἐξήνεγκε Σινωπεῦσι πόλεμον, καί τις οἷον ἀρχὴ τότε καὶ πρόφασις ἐγένετο τῆς ἐπὶ τὸ τέλος ἀχθείσης ἀτυχίας Σινωπεῦσιν. [2] εἰς δὲ τὸν πόλεμον τοῦτον πρεσβευσάντων αὐτῶν πρὸς Ῥοδίους καὶ παρακαλούντων βοηθεῖν, ἔδοξε τοῖς Ῥοδίοις προχειρίσασθαι τρεῖς ἄνδρας, καὶ δοῦναι τούτοις δραχμῶν δεκατέτταρας μυριάδας, τοὺς δὲ λαβόντας παρασκευάσαι τὰ πρὸς τὴν χρείαν ἐπιτήδεια τοῖς Σινωπεῦσιν. [3] οἱ δὲ κατασταθέντες ἡτοίμασαν οἴνου κεράμια μύρια, τριχὸς εἰργασμένης τάλαντα τριακόσια, νεύρων εἰργασμένων ἑκατὸν τάλαντα, πανοπλίας χιλίας, χρυσοῦς ἐπισήμους τρισχιλίους, ἔτι δὲ λιθοφόρους τέτταρας καὶ τοὺς ἀφέτας τούτοις. [4] ἃ καὶ λαβόντες οἱ τῶν Σινωπέων πρέσβεις ἐπανῆλθον. ἦσαν γὰρ οἱ Σινωπεῖς ἐν ἀγωνίᾳ μὴ πολιορκεῖν σφᾶς ὁ Μιθριδάτης ἐγχειρήσῃ καὶ κατὰ γῆν καὶ κατὰ θάλατταν: διὸ καὶ τὰς παρασκευὰς πρὸς τοῦτο τὸ μέρος ἐποιοῦντο πάσας. [5] ἡ δὲ Σινώπη κεῖται μὲν ἐν τοῖς δεξιοῖς μέρεσι τοῦ Πόντου παρὰ τὸν εἰς Φᾶσιν πλοῦν, οἰκεῖται δ᾽ ἐπί τινος χερρονήσου προτεινούσης εἰς τὸ πέλαγος, ἧς τὸν μὲν αὐχένα τὸν συνάπτοντα πρὸς τὴν Ἀσίαν, ὅς ἐστιν οὐ πλεῖον δυεῖν σταδίων, ἡ πόλις ἐπικειμένη διακλείει κυρίως: [6] τὸ δὲ λοιπὸν τῆς χερρονήσου πρόκειται μὲν εἰς τὸ πέλαγος, ἔστι δ᾽ ἐπίπεδον καὶ πανευέφοδον ἐπὶ τὴν πόλιν, κύκλῳ δ᾽ ἐκ θαλάττης ἀπότομον καὶ δυσπροσόρμιστον καὶ παντελῶς ὀλίγας ἔχον προσβάσεις. [7] διόπερ ἀγωνιῶντες οἱ Σινωπεῖς μήποτε κατὰ τὴν ἀπὸ τῆς Ἀσίας πλευρὰν ὁ Μιθριδάτης συστησάμενος ἔργα, καὶ κατὰ τὴν ἀπέναντι ταύτης ὁμοίως ποιησάμενος ἀπόβασιν κατὰ θάλατταν εἰς τοὺς ὁμαλοὺς καὶ τοὺς ὑπερκειμένους τῆς πόλεως τόπους, ἐγχειρήσῃ πολιορκεῖν αὐτούς, [8] ἐπεβάλοντο τῆς χερρονήσου κύκλῳ τὸ νησίζον ὀχυροῦν, ἀποσταυροῦντες καὶ περιχαρακοῦντες τὰς ἐκ θαλάττης προσβάσεις, ἅμα δὲ καὶ βέλη καὶ στρατιώτας τιθέντες ἐπὶ τοὺς εὐκαίρους τῶν τόπων: [9] ἔστι γὰρ τὸ πᾶν μέγεθος αὐτῆς οὐ πολύ, τελέως δ᾽ εὐκατακράτητον καὶ μέτριον.

  57. King Philip started from Macedonia with his army for Thessaly and Epirus, being bent on taking that route in his invasion of Aetolia. And at the same time Alexander and Dorimachus, having succeeded in establishing an intrigue for the betrayal of Aegira, had collected about twelve hundred Aetolians into Oeanthe, which is in Aetolia, exactly opposite the above-named town; and, having prepared vessels to convey them across the gulf, were waiting for favourable weather for making the voyage in fulfilment of their design. For a deserter from Aetolia, who had spent a long time at Aegira, and had had full opportunity of observing that the guards of the gate towards Aegium were in the habit of getting drunk, and keeping their watch with great slackness, had again and again crossed over to Dorimachus; and, laying this fact before him, had invited him to make the attempt, well knowing that he was thoroughly accustomed to such practices. The city of Aegira lies on the Peloponnesian coast of the Corinthian gulf, between the cities of Aegium and Sicyon, upon some strong and inaccessible heights, facing towards Parnassus and that district of the opposite coast, and standing about seven stades back from the sea. At the mouth of the river which flows past this town Dorimachus dropped anchor under cover of night, having at length obtained favourable weather for crossing. He and Alexander, accompanied by Archidamus the son of Pantaleon and the main body of the Aetolians, then advanced towards the city along the road leading from Aegium. But the deserter, with twenty of the most active men, having made his way by a shorter cut than the others over the cliffs where there was no road, owing to his knowledge of the locality, got into the city through a certain water-course and found the guards of the gate still asleep. Having killed them while actually in their beds, and cut the bolts of the gates with their axes, they opened them to the Aetolians. Having thus surprised the town, they behaved with a conspicuous want of caution, which eventually saved the people of Aegira, and proved the destruction of the Aetolians themselves. They seemed to imagine that to get within the gates was all there was to do in occupying an enemy’s town; and accordingly acted as I shall now describe.

  [1] καὶ τὰ μὲν περὶ Σινώπης ἐν τούτοις ἦν. ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς Φίλιππος, ἀναζεύξας ἐκ Μακεδονίας μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως — ἐν γὰρ ταύταις ταῖς ἐπιβολαῖς ἀπελίπαμεν ἄρτι τὸν συμμαχικὸν πόλεμον — ὥρμησεν ἐπὶ Θετταλίας καὶ τῆς Ἠπείρου, σπεύδων ταύτῃ ποιήσ�
�σθαι τὴν εἰσβολὴν τὴν εἰς Αἰτωλίαν. [2] Ἀλέξανδρος δὲ καὶ Δωρίμαχος κατὰ τὸν καιρὸν τοῦτον ἔχοντες πρᾶξιν κατὰ τῆς τῶν Αἰγειρατῶν πόλεως, ἁθροίσαντες τῶν Αἰτωλῶν περὶ χιλίους καὶ διακοσίους εἰς Οἰάνθειαν τῆς Αἰτωλίας, ἣ κεῖται καταντικρὺ τῆς προειρημένης πόλεως, καὶ πορθμεῖα τούτοις ἑτοιμάσαντες, πλοῦν ἐτήρουν πρὸς τὴν ἐπιβολήν. [3] τῶν γὰρ ηὐτομοληκότων τις ἐξ Αἰτωλίας, καὶ πλείω χρόνον διατετριφὼς παρὰ τοῖς Αἰγειράταις, καὶ συντεθεωρηκὼς τοὺς φυλάττοντας τὸν ἀπ᾽ Αἰγίου πυλῶνα μεθυσκομένους καὶ ῥᾳθύμως διεξάγοντας τὰ κατὰ τὴν φυλακήν, [4] πλεονάκις παραβαλλόμενος καὶ διαβαίνων πρὸς τοὺς περὶ Δωρίμαχον ἐξεκέκλητο πρὸς τὴν πρᾶξιν αὐτούς, ἅτε λίαν οἰκείους ὄντας τῶν τοιούτων ἐγχειρημάτων. [5] ἡ δὲ τῶν Αἰγειρατῶν πόλις ἔκτισται μὲν τῆς Πελοποννήσου κατὰ τὸν Κορινθιακὸν κόλπον μεταξὺ τῆς Αἰγιέων καὶ Σικυωνίων πόλεως, κεῖται δ᾽ ἐπὶ λόφων ἐρυμνῶν καὶ δυσβάτων, νεύει δὲ τῇ θέσει πρὸς τὸν Παρνασσὸν καὶ ταῦτα τὰ μέρη τῆς ἀντίπερα χώρας, ἀπέχει δὲ τῆς θαλάττης ὡς ἑπτὰ στάδια. [6] παραπεσόντος δὲ πλοῦ τοῖς περὶ τὸν Δωρίμαχον, ἀνήχθησαν καὶ καθορμίζονται νυκτὸς ἔτι πρὸς τὸν παρὰ τὴν πόλιν καταρρέοντα ποταμόν. [7] οἱ μὲν οὖν περὶ τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον καὶ Δωρίμαχον, ἅμα δὲ τούτοις Ἀρχίδαμον τὸν Πανταλέοντος υἱόν, ἔχοντες περὶ αὑτοὺς τὸ πλῆθος τῶν Αἰτωλῶν, προσέβαινον πρὸς τὴν πόλιν κατὰ τὴν ἀπ᾽ Αἰγίου φέρουσαν ὁδόν. [8] ὁ δ᾽ αὐτόμολος, ἔχων εἴκοσι τοὺς ἐπιτηδειοτάτους, διανύσας ταῖς ἀνοδίαις τοὺς κρημνοὺς θᾶττον τῶν ἄλλων διὰ τὴν ἐμπειρίαν, καὶ διαδὺς διά τινος ὑδρορροίας, ἔτι κοιμωμένους κατέλαβε τοὺς ἐπὶ τοῦ πυλῶνος. [9] κατασφάξας δ᾽ αὐτοὺς ἀκμὴν ἐν ταῖς κοίταις ὄντας, καὶ διακόψας τοῖς πελέκεσι τοὺς μοχλούς, ἀνέῳξε τοῖς Αἰτωλοῖς τὰς πύλας. [10] οἱ δὲ παρεισπεσόντες λαμπρῶς ἀπερινοήτως ἐχρήσαντο τοῖς πράγμασιν. ὃ καὶ παραίτιον ἐγένετο τοῖς μὲν Αἰγειράταις τῆς σωτηρίας, τοῖς δ᾽ Αἰτωλοῖς τῆς ἀπωλείας. [11] ὑπολαμβάνοντες γὰρ τοῦτο τέλος εἶναι τοῦ κατασχεῖν ἀλλοτρίαν πόλιν, τὸ γενέσθαι τῶν πυλώνων ἐντός, τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον