Diodorus Siculus, Library 8-40

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§ 11.37.1 Leotychides and Xanthippus now sailed back to Samos and made allies of the Ionians and Aeolians, and then they endeavoured to induce them to abandon Asia and to move their homes to Europe. They promised to expel the peoples who had espoused the cause of the Medes and to give their lands to them;
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§ 11.37.2 for as a general thing, they explained, if they remained in Asia, they would always have the enemy on their borders, an enemy far superior in military strength, while their allies, who lived across the sea, would be unable to render them any timely assistance. When the Aeolians and Ionians had heard these promises, they resolved to take the advice of the Greeks and set about preparing to sail with them to Europe.
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§ 11.37.3 But the Athenians changed to the opposite opinion and advised them to stay where they were, saying that even if no other Greeks should come to their aid, the Athenians, as their kinsmen, would do so independently. They reasoned that, if the Ionians were given new homes by the Greeks acting in common they would no longer look upon Athens as their mother-city. It was for this reason that the Ionians changed their minds and decided to remain in Asia.
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§ 11.37.4 After these events it came to pass that the armament of the Greeks was divided, the Lacedemonians sailing back to Laconia and the Athenians together with the Ionians and the islanders weighing anchor for Sestus.
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§ 11.37.5 And Xanthippus the general, as soon as he reached that port, launched assaults upon Sestus and took the city, and after establishing a garrison in it he dismissed the allies and himself with his fellow citizens returned to Athens.
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§ 11.37.6 Now the Median War, as it has been called, after lasting two years, came to the end which we have described. And of the historians, Herodotus, beginning with the period prior to the Trojan War, has written in nine books a general history of practically all the events which occurred in the inhabited world, and brings his narrative to an end with the battle of the Greeks against the Persians at Mycale and the siege of Sestus.
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§ 11.37.7 In Italy the Romans waged a war against the Volscians, and conquering them in battle slew many of them. And Spurius Cassius, who had been consul the preceding year, because he was believed to be aiming at a tyranny and was found guilty, was put to death. These, then, were the events of this year.
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§ 11.38.1 When Timosthenes was archon at Athens, in Rome Caeso Fabius and Lucius Aemilius Mamercus succeeded to the consulship. During this year throughout Sicily an almost complete peace pervaded the island, the Carthaginians having finally been humbled, and Gelon had established a beneficent rule over the Sicilian Greeks and was providing their cities with a high degree of orderly government and an abundance of every necessity of life.
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§ 11.38.2 And since the Syracusans had by law put an end to costly funerals and done away with the expense which customarily had been incurred for the dead, and there had been specified in the law even the altogether inexpensive obsequies, King Gelon, desiring to foster and maintain the people's interest in all matters, kept the law regarding bodies intact in his own case;
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§ 11.38.3 for when he fell ill and had given up hope of life, he handed over the kingship to Hieron, his eldest brother, and respecting his own burial he gave orders that the prescriptions of the law should be strictly observed. Consequently at his death his funeral was held by his successor to the throne just as he had ordered it.
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§ 11.38.4 His body was buried on the estate of his wife in the Nine Towers, as it is called, which is a marvel to men by reason of its strong construction. And the entire populace accompanied his body from the city, although the place was two hundred stades distant.
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§ 11.38.5 Here he was buried, and the people erected a noteworthy tomb and accorded Gelon the honours which belong to heroes; but at a later time the monument was destroyed by the Carthaginians in the course of campaign against Syracuse, while the towers were thrown down by Agathocles out of envy. Nevertheless, neither the Carthaginians out of enmity nor Agathocles of his native baseness, nor any other man has ever been able to deprive Gelon of his glory;
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§ 11.38.6 for the just witness of history has guarded his fair fame, heralding it abroad with piercing voice for evermore. It is indeed both just and beneficial to society that history should heap imprecations upon base men who have held positions of authority, but should accord immortal remembrance to those who have been beneficent rulers; for in this way especially, it will be found, many men of later generations will be impelled to work for the general good of mankind.
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§ 11.38.7 Now Gelon reigned for seven years, and Hieron his brother succeeded him in the rule and reigned over the Syracusans eleven years and eight months.
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§ 11.39.1 In Greece the Athenians after the victory at Plataea brought their children and wives back to Athens from Troezen and Salamis, and at once set to work fortifying the city and were giving their attention to every other means which made for its safety.
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§ 11.39.2 But the Lacedemonians, observing that the Athenians had gained for themselves great glory by the actions in which their navy had been engaged, looked with suspicion upon their growing power and decided to prevent the Athenians from rebuilding their walls.
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§ 11.39.3 They at once, therefore, dispatched ambassadors to Athens who would ostensibly advise them not at present to fortify the city, as not being of advantage to the general interests of the Greeks; for, they pointed out, if Xerxes should return with larger armaments than before he would have walled cities ready to hand outside the Peloponnesus which he would use as bases and thus easily subjugate the Greeks. And when no attention was paid to their advice, the ambassadors approached the men who were building the wall and ordered them to stop work immediately.
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§ 11.39.4 While the Athenians were at a loss what they should do, Themistocles, who enjoyed at that time the highest favour among them, advised them to take no action; for he warned them that if they had recourse to force, the Lacedemonians could easily march up against them together with the Peloponnesians and prevent them from fortifying the city.
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§ 11.39.5 But he told the Council in confidence that he and certain others would go as ambassadors to Lacedemon to explain the matter of the wall to the Lacedemonians; and he instructed the magistrates, when ambassadors should come from Lacedemonian to Athens, to detain them until he himself should return from Lacedemon, and in the meantime to put the whole population to work fortifying the city. In this manner, he declared to them, they would achieve their purpose.
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§ 11.40.1 After the Athenians had accepted the plan of Themistocles, he and the ambassadors set out for Sparta, and the Athenians began with great enthusiasm to build the walls, sparing neither houses nor tombs. And everyone joined in the task, both children and women and, in a word, every alien and slave, no one of them showing any lack of zeal.
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§ 11.40.2 And when the work was being accomplished with amazing speed both because of the many workmen and the enthusiasm of them all, Themistocles was summoned by the chief magistrates and upbraided for the building of the walls; but he denied that there was any construction, and urged the magistrates not to believe empty rumours but to dispatch to Athens trustworthy ambassadors, from whom, he assured them, they would learn the truth; and as surety for them he offered himself and the ambassadors who had accompanied him.
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§ 11.40.3 The Lacedemonians, following the advice of Themistocles, put him and his companions under guard and dispatched to Athens their most important men who were to spy out whatever matter should arouse their curiosity. But time had passed, and the Athenians had already got so far along with the construction that, when the Lacedemonian ambassadors arrived in Athens and with denunciations and threats of violence upbraided them, the Athenians took them into custody, saying that they would release them only when the Lacedemonians in turn should release the ambassadors who accompanied Themistocles.
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§ 11.40.4 In this manner the Laconians were outgeneralled and compelled to release the Athenian ambassadors in order to get back their own. And Themistocles, having by means of so clever a stratagem fortified his native land speedily and without danger, enjoyed high favour among his fellow citizens.
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§ 11.40.5 While the events we have described were taking place, a war broke out between the Romans and the Aequi and the inhabitants of Tusculum, and meeting the Aequi in battle the Romans overcame them and slew many of the enemy, and then they took Tusculum after a siege and occupied the city of the Aequi.
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§ 11.41.1 At the close of the year the archon in Athens was Adeimantus, and in Rome the consuls elected were Marcus Fabius Vibulanus and Lucius Valerius Publius. At this time Themistocles, because of his skill as a general and his sagacity, was held in esteem not only by his fellow citizens but by all Greeks.
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§ 11.41.2 He was, therefore, elated over his fame and had recourse to many other far more ambitious undertakings which would serve to increase the dominant position of his native state. Thus the Peiraeus, as it is called, was not at that time a harbour, but the Athenians were using as their ship-yard the bay called Phaleric, which was quite small; and so Themistocles conceived the plan of making the Peiraeus into a harbour, since it would require only a small amount of construction and could be made into a harbour, the best and largest in Greece.
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§ 11.41.3 He also hoped that when this improvement had been added to what the Athenians possessed, the city would be able to compete for the hegemony at sea; for the Athenians possessed at that time the largest number of triremes and through an unbroken succession of battles at sea which the city had waged had gained experience and renown in naval conflicts.
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§ 11.41.4 Furthermore, he reasoned that they would have the Ionians on their side because they were kinsmen, and that with their aid the Athenians would liberate the other Greeks of Asia, who would then turn in goodwill to the Athenians because of this benefaction, and that all the Greeks of the islands, being immensely impressed by the magnitude of their naval strength, would readily align themselves with the people which had the power both to inflict the greatest injury and to bestow the greatest advantages.
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§ 11.41.5 For he saw that the Lacedemonians, though excellently equipped so far as their land forces were concerned, had no natural talent for fighting on ships.
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§ 11.42.1 Now as Themistocles pondered these matters, he decided that he should not make public announcement of his plan, knowing with certainty that the Lacedemonians would endeavour to stop it; and so he announced to the citizens in Assembly that he wished both to advise upon and to introduce important matters which were also to the advantage of the city. But what these matters were, he added, it was not in the public interest to state openly, but it was fitting that a few men should be charged with putting them into effect; and he therefore asked the people to select two men in whom they had the greatest confidence and to entrust to them to pass upon the matter in question.
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§ 11.42.2 The people acceded to his advice, and the Assembly chose two men, Aristeides and Xanthippus, selecting them not only because of their upright character, but also because they saw that these men were in active rivalry with Themistocles for glory and leadership and were therefore opposed to him.
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§ 11.42.3 These men heard privately from Themistocles about the plan and then declared to the Assembly that what Themistocles had disclosed to them was of great importance, was to the advantage of the state, and was feasible.
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§ 11.42.4 The people admired the man and at the same time harboured suspicions of him, lest it should be with the purpose of preparing some sort of tyranny for himself that he was embarking upon plans of such magnitude and importance, and they urged him to declare openly what he had decided upon. But he made this reply, that it was not to the interests of the state that there should be a public disclosure of his intentions.
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§ 11.42.5 Thereupon the people were far the more amazed at the man's shrewdness and greatness of mind, and they urged him to disclose his ideas secretly to the Council, assuring him that, if that body decided that what he said was feasible and advantageous, then they would advise it to carry his plan to completion.
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§ 11.42.6 Consequently, when the Council learned all the details and decided that what he said was for the advantage of the state and was feasible, the people, without more ado, agreed with the Council, and Themistocles received authority to do whatever he wished. And every man departed from the Assembly in admiration of the high character of the man, being also elated in spirit and expectant of the outcome of the plan.
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§ 11.43.1 Themistocles, having received authority to proceed and enjoying every assistance ready at hand for his undertakings, again conceived a way to deceive the Lacedemonians by a stratagem; for he was fully assured that just as the Lacedemonians had interfered with the building of the wall about the city, they would in the same manner endeavour to obstruct the plans of the Athenians in the case of the making of the harbour.
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§ 11.43.2 Accordingly he decided to dispatch ambassadors to the Lacedemonians to show them how it was to the advantage of the common interests of Greece that it should possess a first-rate harbour in view of the expedition which was to be expected on the part of the Persians. When he had in this way somewhat dulled the impulse of the Spartans to interfere, he devoted himself to that work, and since everybody enthusiastically co operated it was speedily done and the harbour was finished before anyone expected.
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§ 11.43.3 And Themistocles persuaded the people each year to construct and add twenty triremes to the fleet they already possessed, and also to remove the tax upon metics and artisans, in order that great crowds of people might stream into the city from every quarter and that the Athenians might easily procure labour for a great number of crafts. Both these policies he considered to be most useful in building up the city's naval forces. The Athenians, therefore, were busy over the matters we have described.
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§ 11.44.1 The Lacedemonians, having appointed Pausanias, who had held the command at Plataea, admiral of their fleet, instructed him to liberate the Greek cities which were still held by barbarian garrisons.
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§ 11.44.2 And taking fifty triremes from the Peloponnesus and summoning from the Athenians thirty commanded by Aristeides, he first of all sailed to Cyprus and liberated those cities which still had Persian garrisons;
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§ 11.44.3 and after this he sailed to the Hellespont and took Byzantium, which was held by the Persians, and of the other barbarians some he slew and others he expelled, and thus liberated the city, but many important Persians whom he captured in the city he turned over to Gongylus of Eretria to guard. Ostensibly Gongylus was to keep these men for punishment, but actually he was to get them off safe to Xerxes; for Pausanias had secretly made a pact of friendship with the king and was about to marry the daughter of Xerxes, his purpose being to betray the Greeks.
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§ 11.44.4 The man who was acting as negotiator in this affair was the general Artabazus, and he was quietly supplying Pausanias with large sums of money to be used in corrupting such Greeks as could serve their ends. The plan of Pausanias, however, was brought to light and he got his punishment in the following manner.
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§ 11.44.5 For Pausanias emulated the luxurious life of the Persian and dealt with his subordinates in the manner of a tyrant, so that they were all angry with him, and especially those Greeks who had been assigned to some command.
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§ 11.44.6 Consequently, while many, as they mingled together in the army both by peoples and by cities, were railing at the harshness of Pausanias, some Peloponnesians deserted him and sailed back to the Peloponnesus, and dispatching ambassadors to Sparta they lodged an accusation against Pausanias; and Aristeides the Athenian, making wise use of the opportunity, in the course of his public conferences with the states won them over and by his personal intimacy with them made them adherents of the Athenians. But even more did matters play by mere chance into the hands of the Athenians by reason of the following facts.
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§ 11.45.1 Pausanias had stipulated that the men who carried the messages from him to the king should not return and thus become betrayers of their secret communications; consequently, since they were being put to death by the receivers of the letters, no one of them was ever returning alive.
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§ 11.45.2 So one of the couriers, reasoning from this fact, opened his letters, and discovering that his inference was correct as to the killing of all who carried the messages, he turned the letters over to the ephors.
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§ 11.45.3 But when the ephors were loath to believe this, because the letters had been turned over to them already opened, and demanded further and more substantial proof, the man offered to produce Pausanias acknowledging the facts in person.
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§ 11.45.4 Consequently he went to Taenarum, and seating himself as a suppliant at the shrine of Poseidon he set up a tent with two rooms and concealed the ephors and certain other Spartans; and when Pausanias came to him and asked why he was a suppliant, the man upbraided him for directing in the letter that he should be put to death.
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§ 11.45.5 Pausanias said that he was sorry and went on to ask the man to forgive the mistake; he even implored him to help keep the matter secret, promising him great gifts, and the two then parted. As for the ephors and the others with them, although they had learned the precise truth, at that time they held their peace, but on a later occasion, when the Lacedemonians were taking up the matter together with the ephors, Pausanias learned of it in advance, acted first, and fled for safety into the sanctuary of Athena of the Brazen House.
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§ 11.45.6 And while the Lacedemonians were hesitating whether to punish him now that he was a suppliant, we are told that the mother of Pausanias, coming to the sanctuary, neither said nor did anything else than to pick up a brick and lay it against the entrance of the sanctuary, and after she had done this she returned to her home.
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§ 11.45.7 And the Lacedemonians, falling in with the mother's decision, walled up the entrance and in this manner forced Pausanias to meet his end through starvation. Now the body of the dead man was turned over to his relatives for burial; but the divinity showed its displeasure at the violation of the sanctity of suppliants,
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§ 11.45.8 for once when the Lacedemonians were consulting the oracle at Delphi about some other matters, the god replied by commanding them to restore her suppliant to the goddess.
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§ 11.45.9 Consequently the Spartans, thinking the oracle's command to be impracticable, were at a loss for a considerable time, being unable to carry out the injunction of the god. Concluding, however, to do as much as was within their power, they made two bronze statues of Pausanias and set them up in the temple of Athena.
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§ 11.46.1 As for us, since throughout our entire history we have made it our practice in the case of good men to enhance their glory by means of the words of praise we pronounce over them, and in the case of bad men, when they die, to utter the appropriate obloquies, we shall not leave the turpitude and treachery of Pausanias to go uncondemned.
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§ 11.46.2 For who would not be amazed at the folly of this man who, though he had been a benefactor of Greece, had won the battle of Plataea, and had performed many other deeds which won applause, not only failed to safeguard the esteem he enjoyed but by his love of the wealth and luxury of the Persians brought dishonour upon the good name he already possessed?
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§ 11.46.3 Indeed, elated by his successes he came to abhor the Laconian manner of life and to imitate the licentiousness and luxury of the Persians, he who least of all had reason to emulate the customs of the barbarians; for he had not learned of them from others, but in person by actual contact he had made trial of them and was aware how greatly superior with respect to virtue his ancestors' way of life was to the luxury of the Persians.
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§ 11.46.4 And in truth because of his own baseness Pausanias not only himself received the punishment he deserved, but he also brought it about that his countrymen lost the supremacy at sea. In comparison, for instance, take the fine tact of Aristeides in dealing with the allies: when they took note of it, both because of his affability toward his subordinates and his uprightness in general, it caused them all as with one impulse to incline toward the Athenian cause.
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§ 11.46.5 Consequently the allies no longer paid any heed to the commanders who were sent from Sparta, but in their admiration of Aristeides they eagerly submitted to him in every matter and thus brought it about that he received the supreme command by sea without having to fight for it.
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§ 11.47.1 At once, then, Aristeides advised all the allies as they were holding a general assembly to designate the island of Delos as their common treasury and to deposit there all the money they collected, and towards the war which they suspected would come from the Persians to impose a levy upon all the cities according to their means, so that the entire sum collected would amount to five hundred and sixty talents.
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§ 11.47.2 And when he was appointed to allocate the levy, he distributed the sum so accurately and justly that all the cities consented to it. Consequently, since he was considered to have accomplished an impossible thing, he won for himself a very high reputation for justice, and because he excelled in that virtue he was given the epithet of “the Just.”
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§ 11.47.3 Thus at one and the same time the baseness of Pausanias deprived his countrymen of the supremacy on the sea, and the all-round virtue of Aristeides caused Athens to gain the leadership which she had not possessed before. These, then, were the events of this year.
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§ 11.48.1 When Phaedon was archon in Athens, the Seventy-sixth Olympiad was celebrated, that in which Scamandrus of Mytilene won the “stadion,” and in Rome the consuls were Caeso Fabius and Spurius Furius Menellaeus.
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§ 11.48.2 In the course of this year Leotychides, the king of the Lacedemonians, died after a reign of twenty-two years, and he was succeeded on the throne by Archidamus, who ruled for forty-two years. And there died also Anaxilas, the tyrant of Rhegium and Zancle, after a rule of eighteen years, and he was succeeded in the tyranny by Micythus, who was entrusted with the position on the understanding that he would restore it to the sons of Anaxilas, who were not yet of age.
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§ 11.48.3 And Hieron, who became king of the Syracusans after the death of Gelon, observing how popular his brother Polyzelus was among the Syracusans and believing that he was waiting to seize the kingship, was eager to put him out of the way, and so, enlisting foreign soldiers and gathering about his person an organized body of mercenaries, he thought that by these means he could hold the kingship securely.
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§ 11.48.4 And so, when the Sybarites were being besieged by the Crotoniates and called on Hieron for help, he enrolled many soldiers in the army, which he then put under the command of his brother Polyzelus in the belief that he would be slain by the Crotoniates.
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§ 11.48.5 When Polyzelus, suspecting what we have mentioned, refused to undertake the campaign, Hieron was enraged at his brother, and when Polyzelus took refuge with Theron, the tyrant of Acragas, he began making preparation for war upon Theron.
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§ 11.48.6 Subsequently to these events, Thrasydaeus the son of Theron was governing the city of Himera more harshly than was proper, and the result was that the Himerans became altogether alienated from him.
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§ 11.48.7 Now they rejected the idea of going to his father and entering an accusation with him, since they did not believe they would find in him a fair listener; but they dispatched to Hieron ambassadors, who presented their complaints against Thrasydaeus and offered to hand Himera over to Hieron and join him in his attack upon Theron.
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§ 11.48.8 Hieron, however, having decided to be at peace with Theron, betrayed the Himerans and disclosed to him their secret plans. Consequently Theron, after examining into the reported plan and finding the information to be true, composed his differences with Hieron and restored Polyzelus to the favour he had previously enjoyed, and then he arrested his opponents, who were many, among the Himerans and put them to death.
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§ 11.49.1 Hieron removed the people of Naxos and Catana from their cities and sent there settlers of his own choosing, having gathered five thousand from the Peloponnesus and added an equal number of others from Syracuse; and the name of Catana he changed to Aetna, and not only the territory of Catana but also much neighbouring land which he added to it he portioned out in allotments, up to the full sum of ten thousand settlers.
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§ 11.49.2 This he did out of a desire, not only that he might have a substantial help ready at hand for any need that might arise, but also that from the recently founded state of ten thousand men he might receive the honours accorded to heroes. And the Naxians and Catanians whom he had removed from their native states he transferred to Leontini and commanded them to make their homes in that city along with the native population.
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§ 11.49.3 And Theron, seeing that after the slaughter of the Himerans the city was in need of settlers, made a mixed multitude there, enrolling as its citizens both Dorians and any others who so wished.
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§ 11.49.4 These citizens lived together on good terms in the state for fifty-eight years; but at the expiration of this period the city was conquered and razed to the ground by the Carthaginians and has remained without inhabitants to this day.
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§ 11.50.1 When Dromocleides was archon in Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Marcus Fabius and Gnaeus Manlius. In this year the Lacedemonians, now that for no good reason they had lost the command of the sea, were resentful; consequently they were incensed at the Greeks who had fallen away from them and continued to threaten them with the appropriate punishment.
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§ 11.50.2 And when a meeting of the Gerousia was convened, they considered making war upon the Athenians for the sake of regaining the command of the sea.
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§ 11.50.3 Likewise, when the general Assembly was convened, the younger men and the majority of the others were eager to recover the leadership, believing that, if they could secure it, they would enjoy great wealth, Sparta in general would be made greater and more powerful, and the estates of its private citizens would receive a great increase of prosperity.
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§ 11.50.4 They kept calling to mind also the ancient oracle in which the god commanded them to beware lest their leadership should be a “lame” one, and the oracle, they insisted, meant nothing other than the present; for “lame” indeed their rule would be if, having two leaderships, they should lose one of them.
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§ 11.50.5 Since practically all the citizens had been eager for this course of action and the Gerousia was in session to consider these matters, no one entertained the hope that any man would have the temerity to suggest any other course.
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§ 11.50.6 But a member of the Gerousia, Hetoemaridas by name, who was a direct descendant of Heracles and enjoyed favour among the citizens by reason of his character, undertook to advise that they leave the Athenians with their leadership, since it was not to Sparta's interest, he declared, to lay claim to the sea. He was able to bring pertinent arguments in support of his surprising proposal, so that, against the expectation of all, he won over both the Gerousia and the people.
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§ 11.50.7 And in the end the Lacedemonians decided that the opinion of Hetoemaridas was to their advantage and abandoned their zest for the war against the Athenians.
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§ 11.50.8 As for the Athenians, at first they expected to have a great war with the Lacedemonians for the command of the sea, and for this reason were building additional triremes, raising a large sum of money, and dealing honourably with their allies; but when they learned of the decision of the Lacedemonians, they were relieved of their fear of war and set about increasing the power of their city.
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§ 11.51.1 When Acestorides was archon in Athens, in Rome Caeso Fabius and Titus Verginius succeeded to the consulship. And in this year Hieron, the king of the Syracusans, when ambassadors came to him from Cumae in Italy and asked his aid in the war which the Tyrrhenians, who were at that time masters of the sea, were waging against them, he dispatched to their aid a considerable number of triremes.
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§ 11.51.2 And after the commanders of this fleet had put in at Cumae, joining with the men of that region they fought a naval battle with the Tyrrhenians, and destroying many of their ships and conquering them in a great sea-fight, they humbled the Tyrrhenians and delivered the Cumaeans from their fears, after which they sailed back to Syracuse.
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§ 11.52.1 When Menon was archon in Athens, the Romans chose as consuls Lucius Aemilius Mamercus and Gaius Cornelius Lentulus, and in Italy a war broke out between the Tarantini and the Iapygians.
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§ 11.52.2 For these peoples, disputing with each other over some land on their borders, had been engaging for some years in skirmishings and in raiding each other's territory, and since the difference between them kept constantly increasing and frequently resulted in deaths, they finally went headlong into out-and out contention.
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§ 11.52.3 Now the Iapygians not only made ready the army of their own men but they also joined with them an auxiliary force of more than twenty thousand soldiers; and the Tarantini, on learning of the great size of the army gathered against them, both mustered the soldiers of the state and added to them many more of the Rhegians, who were their allies.
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§ 11.52.4 A fierce battle took place and many fell on both sides, but in the end the Iapygians were victorious. When the defeated army split in the flight into two bodies, the one retreating to Tarentum and the other fleeing to Rhegium, the Iapygians, following their example, also divided.
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§ 11.52.5 Those who pursued the Tarantini, the distance being short, slew many of the enemy, but those who were pressing after the Rhegians were so eager that they broke into Rhegium together with the fugitives and took possession of the city.
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§ 11.53.1 The next year Chares was archon in Athens, and in Rome the consuls elected were Titus Menenius and Gaius Horatius Pulvillus, and the Eleians celebrated the Seventy-seventh Olympiad, that in which Dandes of Argos won the “stadion.” In this year in Sicily Theron, the despot of Acragas, died after a reign of sixteen years, and his son Thrasydaeus succeeded to the throne.
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§ 11.53.2 Now Theron, since he had administered his office equitably, not only enjoyed great favour among his countrymen during his lifetime, but also upon his death he was accorded the honours which are paid to heroes; but his son, even while his father was still living, was violent and murderous, and after his father's death ruled over his native city without respect for the laws and like a tyrant.
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§ 11.53.3 Consequently he quickly lost the confidence of his subjects and was the constant object of plots, living a life of execration; and so he soon came to an end befitting his own lawlessness. For Thrasydaeus after the death of his father Theron gathered many mercenary soldiers and enrolled also citizens of Acragas and Himera, and thus got together in all more than twenty thousand cavalry and infantry.
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§ 11.53.4 And since he was preparing to make war with these troops upon the Syracusans, Hieron the king made ready a formidable army and marched upon Acragas. A fierce battle took place, and a very large number fell, since Greeks were marshalled against Greeks.
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§ 11.53.5 Now the fight was won by the Syracusans, who lost some two thousand men against more than four thousand for their opponents. Thereupon Thrasydaeus, having been humbled, was expelled from his position, and fleeing to Nisaean Megara, as it is called, he was there condemned to death and met his end; and the Acragantini, having now recovered their democratic form of government, sent ambassadors to Hieron and secured peace.
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§ 11.53.6 In Italy war broke out between the Romans and the Veiians and a great battle was fought at the site called Cremera. The Romans were defeated and many of them perished, among their number, according to some historians, being the three hundred Fabii, who were of the same gens and hence were included under the single name. These, then, were the events of this year.
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§ 11.54.1 When Praxigerus was archon in Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Aulus Verginius Tricostus and Gaius Servilius Structus. At this time the Eleians, who dwelt in many small cities, united to form one state which is known as Elis.
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§ 11.54.2 And the Lacedemonians, seeing that Sparta was in a humbled state by reason of the treason of their general Pausanias, whereas the Athenians were in good repute because no one of their citizens had been found guilty of treason, were eager to involve Athens in similar discreditable charges.
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§ 11.54.3 Consequently, since Themistocles was greatly esteemed by the Athenians and enjoyed high fame for his high character, they accused him of treason, maintaining that he had been a close friend of Pausanias and had agreed with him that together they would betray Greece of the Xerxes.
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§ 11.54.4 They also carried on conversations with the enemies of Themistocles, inciting them to lodge an accusation against him, and gave them money; and they explained that, when Pausanias decided to betray the Greeks, he disclosed the plan he had to Themistocles and urged him to participate in the project, and that Themistocles neither agreed to the request nor decided that it was his duty to accuse a man who was his friend.
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§ 11.54.5 At any rate a charge was brought against Themistocles, but at the time he was not found guilty of treason. Hence at first after he was absolved he stood high in the opinion of the Athenians; for his fellow citizens were exceedingly fond of him on account of his achievements. But afterwards those who feared the eminence he enjoyed, and others who were envious of his glory forgot his services to the state, and began to exert themselves to diminish his power and to lower his presumption.
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§ 11.55.1 First of all they removed Themistocles from Athens, employing against him what is called ostracism, an institution which was adopted in Athens after the overthrow of the tyranny of Peisistratus and his sons; and the law was as follows.

Via ToposText (topostext.org), a project of the Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation created by Brady Kiesling. Translated by George Booth (1635-1719) and J.C. Ferdinand Hoefer (1811-1878). Composed ca. 49 BCE. Licence: public domain. Source.