Messene

For Messene furnished Nestor, the wisest of all who lived in those times;

Now, however, I shall begin with the time when the Lacedaemonians conquered the cities of Achaea and divided their territory with the Argives and the Messenians;

When, then, the Dorians who invaded the Peloponnesus divided into three parts both the cities and the lands which they had taken from their rightful owners, those of them who received Argos and Messene as their portions ordered their affairs very much as did the Hellenes in general.

Now Agesilaus requested the state to relieve him of the command of this expedition, saying that the city of the Mantineans had rendered his father many services in the wars against Messene;

Since, however, the Thebans would not agree that Messene should be subject to the Lacedaemonians, Philiscus set about collecting a large mercenary force in order to make war on the side of the Lacedaemonians.

he replied, that Messene should be independent of the Lacedaemonians and that the Athenians should draw up their ships on the land;

Just ask yourselves at what point you would begin to make your stand against Lacedaemonian injustice with more honor and generosity—with the defence of Megalopolis or with the defence of Messene.

But supposing, on the other hand, it should become clear to us that unless we let the Lacedaemonians subdue the whole of the Peloponnese, we shall not be able to take Oropus, then I think it the better policy, if I may say so, to let Oropus go, rather than sacrifice Messene and the rest of the Peloponnese to the power of Sparta.

but, on the other hand, if you are all aware that the capture of Megalopolis will be followed by an attack on Messene, I ask any of those who are now so hard on the Megalopolitans to tell me what he will advise us to do then.

But these champions of tyranny might urge that the sons of Philiades were tyrants of Messene before the compact was made, and that that was why Alexander restored them.

Therefore when Alexander, contrary to the oaths and the compacts as set forth in the general peace, restored those tyrants, the sons of Philiades, to Messene, had he any regard for justice?

The man who orders the Lacedaemonians to give up their claims to Messene, how could he pretend that he handed over Orchomenus and Coronea to Thebes because he thought it an act of justice?

and when I said yes, he made it plain—meaning this one, the younger—that he was still in Messene with you because of mourning for his brother;

The two fell in with one another in Messene at the house of Ortilokhos, where Odysseus was staying in order to recover a debt that was owing from the whole dêmos;

So far do they go in their selfish greed, so great is the cowardice which they impute to us, that they, who have time and again called upon us to make war in defense of their own territory, think we ought not to risk battle for Messene, but, in order that they may themselves cultivate their lands in security, seek to convince us that we ought to yield to the enemy a portion of our own;

Who would not censure us if, while the Messenians withstood siege for twenty years in order to retain Messene, we should so quickly withdraw from it under a treaty and should take no thought of our forefathers, but should allow ourselves to be persuaded by words to throw away this territory which they acquired by dint of struggles and wars?

and lastly, they found that Messene was theirs as a prize taken in war, for Heracles, when he had been robbed of the cattle from Erytheia, by Neleus and all his sons except Nestor, had taken the country captive and slain the offenders, but had committed the city to Nestor’s charge, believing him to be prudent, because, although the youngest of his brethren, he had taken no part in their iniquity.

for, starting with the advantage afforded by our succor of them, the descendants of Heracles—the progenitors of those who now reign in Lacedaemon—returned to the Peloponnese, took possession of Argos, Lacedaemon, and Messene, settled Sparta, and were established as the founders of all the blessings which the Lacedaemonians now enjoy.