Greece -- History -- To 146 B.C.; History, Ancient
76. At this time then in Eleusis the rest of the allies, seeing that the
kings of the Lacedemonians did not agree and also that the Corinthians
had deserted their place in the ranks, themselves too departed and got
them away quickly. And this was the fourth time that the Dorians had
come to Attica, twice having invaded it to make war against it, and
twice to help the mass of the Athenian people,--first when they at the
same time colonised Megara (this expedition may rightly be designated as
taking place when Codros was king of the Athenians), for the second and
third times when they came making expeditions from Sparta to drive out
the sons of Peisistratos, and fourthly on this occasion, when Cleomenes
at the head of the Peloponnesians invaded Eleusis: thus the Dorians
invaded Athens then for the fourth time.
77. This army then having been ingloriously broken up, the Athenians
after that, desiring to avenge themselves, made expedition first against
the Chalkidians; and the Boeotians came to the Euripos to help the
Chalkidians. The Athenians, therefore, seeing those who had come
to help, 6401 resolved first to attack the Boeotians before the
Chalkidians. Accordingly they engaged battle with the Boeotians, and
had much the better of them, and after having slain very many they
took seven hundred of them captive. On this very same day the Athenians
passed over into Euboea and engaged battle with the Chalkidians as well;
and having conquered these also, they left four thousand holders of
allotments in the land belonging to the "Breeders of Horses": 65 now the
wealthier of the Chalkidians were called the Breeders of Horses. And
as many of them as they took captive, they kept in confinement together
with the Boeotians who had been captured, bound with fetters; and then
after a time they let them go, having fixed their ransom at two pounds
of silver apiece: 66 but their fetters, in which they had been bound,
they hung up on the Acropolis; and these were still existing even to my
time hanging on walls which had been scorched with fire by the Mede, 67
and just opposite the sanctuary which lies towards the West. The tenth
part of the ransom also they dedicated for an offering, and made of it a
four-horse chariot of bronze, which stands on the left hand as you enter
the Propylaia in the Acropolis, and on it is the following inscription:
"Matched in the deeds of war with the tribes of Boeotia and Chalkis
The sons of Athens prevailed, conquered and tamed them in fight:
In chains of iron and darkness they quenched their insolent spirit;
And to Athene present these, of their ransom a tithe."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account