Cornelius Nepos
100-24 BCE
Trans RMBullard
Latin (Republican Era/Golden Age of Latin Literature)
CORNELI NEPOTIS PAVSANIAS
[1] Pausanias Lacedaemonius magnus homo,
[Pausanias the Spartan, was a great man,]
sed varius in omni genere vitae fuit:
[but he was so shifty in every respect of his life:]
nam ut virtutibus eluxit,
[you see, by the very same fashion as he profitted greatly from his good qualities,]
sic vitiis est obrutus.
[he was thusly undone by his bad ones.]
Huius illustrissimum est proelium apud Plataeas.
[His most illustrious role in battle occurred at Plataea.]
2 Namque illo duce Mardonius, satrapes regius, natione Medus, regis gener, in primis omnium Persarum et manu fortis et consilii plenus,
[By which account, Mardonius was the leader of the opposing side, he also being the son in law of the king, and a Mede by nationality, with a strong arm and also full of advice among the leading men of all the Persians,]
cum CC milibus peditum, quos viritim legerat,
[and with 200,000 infantry that he had previously selected down to the very man,]
et XX equitum haud ita magna manu Graeciae fugatus est,
[and 200 of his armored horsemen, but they were put to flight by the strong arm of Greece]
eoque ipse dux cecidit proelio.
[and the commander himself fell to his death in this battle.]
Qua victoria elatus plurima miscere coepit
[After he was promoted by this victory, he began to engage in more affairs,]
et maiora concupiscere.
[and he desired for even greater ones.]
3 Sed primum in eo est reprehensus,
[But in the beginning, he was charged at this time,]
quod [cum] ex praeda tripodem aureum Delphis posuisset epigrammate scripto,
[that he had taken a golden tripod as plunder from Delphi, which had an epigram written,]
in quo haec erat sententia:
[on which there was the following pronouncement:]
suo ductu barbaros apud Plataeas esse deletos,
[that barbarians were defeated on the field of Plataea, by his leadership,]
eiusque victoriae ergo Apollini id donum dedisse.
[and that he had this as a gift to Apollo, in celebration of his victory.]
4 Hos versus Lacedaemonii exsculpserunt
[The Spartans wrote these verses down]
neque aliud scripserunt quam nomina earum civitatum,
[and they did not write anything other than the names of their cities,]
quarum auxilio Persae erant victi.
[the ones that had been defeated by the aid of Persia.]
[2] Post id proelium eundem Pausaniam cum classe communi Cyprum atque Hellespontum miserunt,
[After this very battle, they sent Pausanias with a national fleet to Cyprus and the Hellespont too,]
ut ex his regionibus barbarorum praesidia depelleret.
[with the mission of stamping out garrisons of the barbarians from these areas.]
2 Pari felicitate in ea re usus elatius se gerere coepit maioresque appetere res.
[In similar good fortune, and now experienced in this affair, he began to devote himself more diligently, and to seek greater assignments.]
Nam cum Byzantio expugnato cepisset complures Persarum nobiles
[You see, when he had previously began to take a great deal of Persian nobles captive, after he had besieged Byzantium,]
atque in his nonnullos regis propinquos,
[and on top of these, many relatives of the king,]
hos clam Xerxi remisit,
[he secretly sent these men back to Xerxes,]
simulans ex vinclis publicis effugisse,
[pretending that they had made an escape from the state's prisons,]
et cum his Gongylum Eretriensem,
[and alongside these men, a man named Gongylos of Eretries]
qui litteras regi redderet,
[who brought his letters to the kings,]
in quibus haec fuisse scripta Thucydides memoriae prodidit:
[in which Thucydides relates by memory that the following things were written:]
3 `Pausanias, dux Spartae, quos Byzantii ceperat,
postquam propinquos tuos cognovit, tibi muneri misit seque tecum affinitate coniungi cupit.
["Pausanias, the commander of Sparta, has sent the men whom he had previously captured at Byzantium, after he learned that they were relatives of yours, as a token to you, and he desires to be allowed to marry into your family.]
Quare, si tibi videtur, des ei filiam tuam nuptum.
[For that reason, if it seems acceptable to you, please grant your daughter as a bride to him.]
4 Id si feceris,
[Should you agree to do this,]
et Spartam et ceteram Graeciam sub tuam potestatem se adiuvante te redacturum pollicetur.
[he will promise to bring both Sparta and the rest of Greece
under your power, in accompaniment with your aid.]
His de rebus si quid geri volueris,
[Should you wish anything to be carried out concerning these affairs,]
certum hominem ad eum mittas face, cum quo colloquatur.'
[be sure to send a trusted man to him, and he will speak with this man."]
5 Rex tot hominum salute tam sibi necessariorum magnopere gavisus confestim cum epistula Artabazum ad Pausaniam mittit,
[The king, enormously overjoyed, sent so great a number of his underlings to Pausanias, immediately, and including Artabazus with a letter]
in qua eum collaudat petit,
[in which he sought to return his praise,]
ne cui rei pareat ad ea efficienda,
[in fear that he not agree to a matter of things to be done,]
quae pollicetur:
[that is, the things he promised:]
si perfecerit, nullius rei a se repulsam laturum.
[if he should do this, he would be allowed whatever he wanted without rejection.]
6 Huius Pausanias voluntate cognita alacrior ad rem gerendam factus,
[When this plan of Pausanias was recognized, and he had grown more passionate about carrying the affair out,]
in suspicionem cecidit Lacedaemoniorum.
[he incurred the suspicion of the Spartans.]
Quo facto domum revocatus, accusatus capitis absolvitur,
[After this happened, he was called home, and though accused of a capital crime, he was acquitted,]
multatur tamen pecunia;
[though he had to pay a monetary fine;]
quam ob causam ad classem remissus non est.
[and on that account, he was not reassigned to command over the fleet.]
[3] At ille post non multo sua sponte ad exercitum rediit
[But he not only returned, very much by his own volition, to military duty,]
et ibi non callida,
[though out of enthusiasm at that point,]
sed dementi ratione cogitata patefecit.
[but rather he revealed his true intention, which as a strange one.]
Non enim mores patrios solum, sed etiam cultum vestitumque mutavit.
[You see, he not only altered the customs of his forefathers, but even his style of dress and religion.]
2 Apparatu regio utebatur, veste Medica;
[He began to like a king, and dress like a Mede;]
satellites Medi et Aegyptii sequebantur,
[He was followed by henchmen from Media and Egypt,]
epulabatur more Persarum luxuriosius,
[he began to dine more luxuriously, in the fashion of the Persians,]
quam, qui aderant, perpeti possent.
[as these, which had happened, could carry on and on.]
3 Aditum petentibus conveniundi non dabat,
[He did not give passage to those seeking to accompany him,]
superbe respondebat, crudeliter imperabat.
[he gave haughty replies, and cruel commands.]
Spartam redire nolebat:
[he no longer wished to return to Sparta:]
Colonas, qui locus in agro Troade est se contulerat:
ibi consilia cum patriae tum sibi inimica capiebat.
[he settled himself in Colonae, which was located in the Troad territory: there, he began to seize upon plans that, at that time, posed a threat to his nation.]
4 Id postquam Lacedaemonii rescierunt,
[After the Spartans realized this,]
legatos cum clava ad eum miserunt,
[they sent ambassaders to him, with a nailed board,]
in qua more illorum erat scriptum:
[upon which, in accordance to their customs, was written:]
nisi domum reverteretur, se capitis eum damnaturos.
[that unless he returned home, they would have to condemn him to death.]
5 Hoc nuntio commotus,
[Deeply troubled by this message,]
sperans se etiam tum pecunia
et potentia instans periculum posse depellere,
[hoping and intending to manage to beat down them down, even at that time, with his money and influence,]
domum rediit.
[he returned home.]
Huc ut venit,
[When he arrived there,]
ab ephoris in vincla publica est coniectus;
[he was tied up in chains, in public, by the ephors;]
licet enim legibus eorum cuivis ephoro hoc facere regi.
[you see, it's allowed for their ephor to do this even to anyone, even the king.]
Hinc tamen se expedivit;
[Nevertheless, he sped himself off from there;]
neque eo magis carebat suspicione.
[nor did he leave any more suspicion from there.]
Nam opinio manebat eum cum rege habere societatem.
[You see, opinion remained that he had alliance with the ruling king.]
6 Est genus quoddam hominum,
[There was a particular race of men,]
quod Hilotae vocatur,
[named the Helots,]
quorum magna multitudo agros Lacedaemoniorum colit
[whose great number tills the fields of the Spartans]
servorumque munere fungitur.
[and serves the function of slaves.]
Hos quoque sollicitare spe libertatis existimabatur.
[Also, their hopes of liberty seemed to worry them.]
7 Sed quod harum rerum nullum erat apertum crimen,
[But none of these affairs was an open crime,]
quo argui posset,
[to which he could be held to account,]
non putabant de tali tamque claro viro suspicionibus oportere iudicari et exspectandum,
[and they did not think that it would be appropriate for a case to tried involving such a great and distinguished man, on the account of suspicions, nor did they expect it to happen,]
dum se ipsa res aperiret.
[until the moment when the affair revealed itself.]
[4] Interim Argilius quidam adulescentulus, quem puerum Pausanias amore venerio dilexerat,
cum epistulam ab eo ad Artabazum accepisset,
[In the meantime, a young man named Argilius, whom Pausanias had been intimately involved since he was boy,]
eique in suspicionem venisset aliquid in ea de se esse scriptum,
[and had grown suspicious that something had been written about him, on these matters,]
quod nemo eorum redisset,
[something which none of these men had yet revealed,]
qui super tali causa eodem missi erant,
[I mean, the men above who had been commissioned at the same time, and for such a reason,]
vincla epistulae laxavit
[he broke the locks of his letter]
signoque detracto cognovit,
[and after removing the seal, he learned]
si pertulisset, sibi esse pereundum.
[that if he had indeed presented the opportunity, he was obligated to see carried out.]
2 Erant in eadem epistula,
quae ad ea pertinebant, quae inter regem Pausaniamque convenerant.
[There were things in the very same letter, things which pertained to these matters, and which had been transacted between the king and Pausanias.]
Has ille litteras ephoris tradidit.
[That man just described turned over these letters to the ephors.]
3 Non est praetereunda gravitas Lacedaemoniorum hoc loco.
[The severity of the Spartans was no matter to ignore at this point.]
Nam ne huius quidem indicio impulsi sunt,
[You see, they in fact were not put in straits by the designs of this man,]
ut Pausaniam comprehenderent,
[that is, on the matter of how they could to take Pausanias into custody,]
neque prius vim adhibendam putaverunt,
[nor did they think that they must be forced to react violently,]
quam se ipse indicasset.
[given the fact that the man had just revealed himself.]
4 Itaque huic indici, quid fieri vellent, praeceperunt.
[And so, they decided upon this plan of action, which is what they desired to bring about.]
Fanum Neptuni est Taenari,
[There is a shrine in Taenaris dedicated to Neptune,]
quod violari nefas putant Graeci.
[one which the Greeks think is the utmost sacrilege to desecrate.]
Eo ille confugit in araque consedit.
[Our protagonist fled there, and sat remaining in the altar.]
Hanc iuxta locum fecerunt sub terra,
[They constructed this place next to an underground location,]
ex quo posset audiri,
[from where it could be heard,]
si quis quid loqueretur cum Argilio.
[whether someone was saying anything with Argilius.]
Huc ex ephoris quidam descenderunt.
[Men chosen from the ephors moved down to that place.]
5 Pausanias ut audivit Argilium confugisse in aram,
[As soon as Pausanius heard that Argilius had fled as well to the altar,]
perturbatus venit eo.
[he, completely panicked, went to the same place.]
Quem cum supplicem dei videret in ara sedentem, quaerit,
[As soon as he saw him sitting as a supplicant in the god's altar, he asked:]
causae quid sit tam repentini consilii.
["What's the reason for so unexpected an action?"]
6 Huc ille, quid ex litteris comperisset, aperit.
[The other in response revealed to him what he had just found out from his letters.]
Modo magis Pausanias perturbatus orare coepit,
[And now, Pausanias, even more shocked, began to pray,]
ne enuntiaret nec se meritum de illo optime proderet:
[that he would not speak out, nor would not betray a man so illustrious like himself:]
quod si eam veniam sibi dedisset
[but if he had found a way to forgive him]
tantisque implicatum rebus sublevasset,
[and could have pardoned his being implicated in such dangerous affairs,]
magno ei praemio futurum.
[the reward would be tremendous for him in the future.]
[5] His rebus ephori cognitis satius putarunt in urbe eum comprehendi.
[The ephors, when they had been more than satisfied by these statements, decided to have him taken into custody in the city.]
Quo cum essent profecti et Pausanias placato Argilio, ut putabat,
Lacedaemonem reverteretur,
[Whereby, when they approached, and Pausanias, having won over Argilius, as he thought, returned to Sparta,]
in itinere, cum iam in eo esset,
[on the journey, where he had already been in the middle of,
ut comprehenderetur,
ex vultu cuiusdam ephori, qui eum admoneri cupiebat, insidias sibi fieri intellexit.
[he then deduced from the face of one of the ephors, who desired to warn him, and figured out that the trap set for him.]
2 Itaque paucis ante gradibus, quam qui eum sequebantur, in aedem Minervae, quae Chalcioicos vocatur, confugit.
[And so, being a few steps ahead of the the men who were following him, he suddenly fled into the temple of Minerva, at the time named the Chalceoecus.]
Hinc ne exire posset,
[So that he could find no means of escape from here,]
statim ephori valvas eius aedis obstruxerunt tectumque sunt demoliti,
[the ephors immediately walled up the doors of this temple, and demolished the roof,]
quo celerius sub divo interiret.
[from which he quickly met his death in the open air.]
3 Dicitur eo tempore matrem Pausaniae vixisse eamque iam magno natu,
postquam de scelere filii comperit, in primis ad filium claudendum lapidem ad introitum aedis attulisse.
[It is said that, at that time, Pausanias' mother had still been alive, and that after she, learned about her now-grown son's crime, had brought the very first stone among those that had been gathered to block the entrance of the temple.]
4 Hic cum semianimis de templo elatus esset confestim animam efflavit.
[He, along with those dying, was drag down from the temple, and immediately exhausted the very last breath of his life.]
Sic Pausanias magnam belli gloriam turpi morte maculavit.
[In this way, Pausanias stained the tremendous glory he gained in battle, with his disgraceful death.]
5 Cuius mortui corpus cum eodem nonnulli dicerent inferri oportere,
[Some say that, at that time, his dead body had to be carried out,]
quo ii, qui ad supplicium essent dati,
[that is, to a place for men who had been condemned to death,]
displicuit pluribus,
[which displeased a great deal of people,]
et procul ab eo loco infoderunt,
[and they buried a grave for him far away from that aforesaid location,]
quo erat mortuus.
[I mean, the place where he had died.]
Inde posterius dei Delphici responso erutus
[After that, he was dug about, on account of the mandate by the god of Delphi, much later on,]
atque eodem loco sepultus est, ubi vitam posuerat.
[and was buried in the very same place where he had lost his life.]
