Diodorus Siculus, Books 11–12.37.1: Greek History 480–431 B.C.—The Alternative Version by Peter Green

Diodorus Siculus, Books 11–12.37.1: Greek History 480–431 B.C.—The Alternative Version by Peter Green

Author:Peter Green [Green, Peter]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Published: 2006-07-14T16:00:00+00:00


BOOK 12.1.1–12.37.1: 450–431 B.C.E.

1. One might well feel at a loss when pausing to consider the anomaly inherent in human existence: namely, that of those things deemed good, not one is found bestowed on mankind in its entirety, while among evils there is none so absolute that it lacks some advantageous element. We can find demonstrations [of this principle] by considering past events, especially those of major importance.1 [2] For example, the expedition made against Hellas by Xerxes, the Great King of Persia, occasioned the greatest fear among the Greeks on account of the vastness of his forces, since it was for the issue of freedom or slavery that they would be fighting; and since the Greek cities of Asia [Minor] had already been enslaved, it was universally assumed that those of [mainland] Greece would suffer a like fate. [3] But—against all expectation—the war came to a wholly unforeseen end, so that not only were the inhabitants of Hellas freed from the dangers they had faced, but also won themselves high fame; and every Hellenic city was filled with such abundance of wealth that all men were amazed at this total reversal of fortune. [4] From this time forward for the next fifty years, indeed, Greece made huge advances in prosperity. During this period, financial plenty meant that the arts flourished as never before, and the record indicates that it was then that the greatest artists lived, including the sculptor Pheidias.2 There were likewise great advances in education: philosophy and oratory were prized throughout Greece, but above all by the Athenians. [5] {This was because the philosophers included Sokrates, Plato, and Aristotle, with their schools, while Perikles, as well as Isokrates and his students, were numbered among the orators.3} There were, too, men who have become famous as generals: Miltiades, Themistokles, Aristeides, Kimon, Myronides, and more besides, concerning whom it would take too long to write.4

2. The Athenians in particular had risen so high in prowess and renown that their name had become familiar throughout almost the whole of the inhabited world. To such a degree did they consolidate their supremacy that alone, with no help from the Lacedaemonians or [others in] the Peloponnese, they outfought vast Persian forces both on land and at sea, humbling the farfamed Persian leadership to such an extent that they compelled them, by treaty, to liberate all the cities of Asia.5 [2] But concerning these matters we have given a fuller and more particular account in two books, this and the preceding one: we shall turn now to immediate events, after first determining the chronological limits appropriate for this section. [3] In the previous book, starting from Xerxes’ campaign, we dealt with the affairs of nations down to the year preceding the Athenians’ expedition to Cyprus under Kimon’s command; in the present one we shall begin with this Athenian campaign against Cyprus, and continue as far as the war that the Athenians voted to conduct against the Syracusans.6

3. When Euthydemos was archon in Athens [450/49], the Romans elected as consuls Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus and Marcus Fabius Vibulanus.



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