but somehow the family of Eurysthenes was more honoured, on account of seniority.

For the Lacedæmonians, agreeing with none of the poets, affirm that Aristodemus himself, son of Aristomachus, son of Cleodæus, son of Hyllus, being king, brought them to the country which they now inhabit, and not the sons of Aristodemus. And that after no long time Aristodemus's wife, whose name was Argia, brought forth: they say that she was daughter of Autesion, son of Tisamenes, son of Thersander, son of Polynices; and that she bore twins; and that Aristodemus, having looked on the children, died of disease: that the Lacedæmonians of that day resolved, according to custom, to make the eldest of the children king; but they knew not which to choose, since they were alike and of equal size. Being unable to determine, they then, or perhaps before, asked the mother; she replied that she herself was unable to distinguish. She said this, although she knew very well, but was desirous, if it were possible, that both should be made kings. That the Lacedæmonians were consequently in doubt, and being in doubt, sent to Delphi to inquire of the oracle what they should do in the matter. They add that the Pythian bade them consider both the children as kings; but to honour the eldest most: this answer the Pythian gave them; but the Lacedæmonians, being still in doubt how they should discover the eldest of them, a Messenian, whose name was Panites, made a suggestion to them: this Panites made the following suggestion to the Lacedæmonians, to observe which of the two children the mother would wash and feed first; and if she should be found constantly doing the same, they would then have all they were seeking for and desired to know; but if she should vary, attending to them interchangeably, it would be evident to them that she knew no more than they did; and then they must have recourse to some other expedient. Thereupon the Spartans, in pursuance of the suggestion of the Messenian, having watched the mother of Aristodemus's children, discovered that she constantly gave one the preference both in feeding and washing, she not knowing why she was watched. Therefore considering that the child which was honoured by its mother was the eldest, they educated it in the palace; and to him the name of Eurysthenes was given, and to the younger, Procles. They say that both these, though brothers, when they had reached manhood, were at variance with each other throughout the whole course of their lives; and that their descendants continued to be so. The Lacedæmonians alone of the Greeks give this account: but I now

describe these things in the way they are told by the rest of the Grecians. For they say that these kings of the Dorians up to Perseus, son of Danae, the deity being omitted, are rightly enumerated by the Greeks, and are proved to have been Greeks; for even at that time they were ranked among the Greeks: I have said up to Perseus, for this reason, and have not carried it any higher, because no surname of any mortal father is attributed to Perseus, as Amphitryon to Hercules. I have therefore with good reason, and correctly, said up to Perseus; but if we reckon their progenitors upward from Danae, daughter of Acrisius, the leaders of the Dorians will prove to have been originally Egyptians. Such is the genealogy according to the account of the Greeks. But as the account of the Persians is given, Perseus himself, being an Assyrian, became a Greek, though the ancestors of Perseus had not been so; but that the progenitors of Acrisius, being in no way related to Perseus, were Egyptians, as the Greeks also say. Let this then suffice for this subject. But why, being Egyptians, and by what exploits, they obtained the sovereignty of the Dorians, I will omit to mention, as others have spoken of these matters. But such particulars as others have not taken in hand, of these I will make mention.

The Spartans have given the following privileges to their kings: two priesthoods, that of the Lacedæmonian Jupiter, and that of the Celestial Jupiter; and to levy war against whatever country they please; and no one of the Spartans may impede this, otherwise he falls under a curse: when they march out to war, the kings go first, and retire last; and a hundred chosen men guard them in the field: during the expeditions, they sacrifice as many cattle as they please, and take as their own share the skins and chines of all the victims. These are their privileges in time of war. The others, those during peace, have been given them as follows: If any one make a public sacrifice, the kings sit first at the feast, and are first served, each receiving double of whatever is given to the other guests. They have the right of beginning the libations, and are entitled to the skins of the cattle that are sacrificed. At every new moon, and on the seventh day of the current month, a perfect victim is presented to each of them, at the public charge, for the Temple of Apollo; and a medimnus of meal, and a Laconian quart of wine. At all public games they have seats appointed by way of distinction; and it is their prerogative to appoint such citizens as they please to be Proxeni;1 and also to choose each two Pythii. 1 Officers appointed to receive and entertain foreign ambassadors.

The Pythii are persons who are sent to consult the oracle at Delphi, and are maintained with the kings at the public charge. When the kings do not come to the banquet, two choenices of flour and a cotyle of wine are sent home to each of them; but when they are present, a double portion of everything is given them; and when invited to a banquet by private persons, they are honoured in the same manner. They have the keeping of the oracles that are pronounced, but the Pythii are also privy to them. The kings alone have to determine the following matters only: With respect to a virgin heiress, who is to marry her, if her father has not betrothed her; and with respect to the public highways; and if any one desires to adopt a son, it must be done in presence of the kings. They assist at the deliberations of the senators, who are twenty-eight in number; and if they do not attend, those of the senators who are most nearly connected with them enjoy the privileges of the kings, giving two votes, and a third, their own. These privileges are given to the kings by the commonwealth of the Spartans during life; and when they die, the following: Horsemen announce through all Laconia what has happened; and women, going through the city, beat a caldron; when this accordingly is done, it is necessary for two free people of each house, a man and a woman, to make themselves squalid in token of grief; and if they_neglect to do so, heavy fines are imposed on them. The Lacedæmonians have the same custom with regard to the deaths of their kings, as the barbarians in Asia; for most of the barbarians observe the same custom with respect to the deaths of their kings. For when a king of the Lacedæmonians dies it is required that from the whole territory of Lacedæmon, besides the Spartans, a certain number of the neighbouring inhabitants should of necessity attend the funeral: when, accordingly, many thousands of these, and of the Helots and of the Spartans themselves, have assembled together in one place, they promiscuously with the women strike their foreheads vehemently, and give themselves up to unbounded lamentation, affirming that the king who died last was the best they ever had. Should one of their kings die in war, having prepared his effigy, they expose it to public view on a couch richly ornamented; and when they have buried him, no assembly takes place for ten days, nor is a meeting held for the election of magistrates, but they mourn during those days. They also resemble the Persians in this other respect: when on the death of a king another king is appointed, he, on his accession, releases whatever debts may be due from any

Spartan to the king or the public; and so among the Persians, a newly appointed king remits to all the cities the arrears of tribute then due. In this respect also the Lacedæmonians resemble the Egyptians: their heralds, musicians, and cooks succeed to their fathers' professions; so that a musician is son of a musician, a cook of a cook, and a herald of a herald; nor do others on account of the clearness of their voice apply themselves to this profession and exclude others; but they continue to practise it after their fathers. These things, then,

are so.

At that time, therefore, while Cleomenes was at Ægina, and co-operating for the common good of Greece, Demaratus accused him; not so much caring for the Æginetæ as moved by envy and hatred. But Cleomenes, having returned from Ægina, formed a plan to deprive Demaratus of the sovereignty, getting a handle against him by means of the following circumstance: When Ariston reigned in Sparta, and had married two wives, he had no children; and as he did not acknowledge himself to be the cause of this, he married a third wife; and he married her in this manner: He had a friend, who was a Spartan, to whom he was more attached than to any other of the citizens. The wife of this man happened to be by far the most beautiful of all the women in Sparta, and this, moreover, having become the most beautiful from being the most ugly. For her nurse perceiving that she was misshapen, and knowing her to be the daughter of opulent persons, and deformed, and seeing, moreover, that her parents considered her form a great misfortune, considering these several circumstances, devised the following plan: She carried her every day to the Temple of Helen, which is in the place called Therapne, above the Temple of Phoebus. When the nurse brought the child there, she stood before the image and entreated the goddess to free the child from its deformity. And it is related that one day, as the nurse was going out of the temple, a woman appeared to her, and having appeared, asked what she was carrying in her arms; and she answered that she was carrying an infant; whereupon she bade her show it to her, but the nurse refused, for she had been forbidden by the parents to show the child to any one; the woman, however, urged her by all means to show it to her, and the nurse, seeing that the woman was so very anxious to see the child, at length showed it; upon which she, stroking the head of the child with her hands, said that she would surpass all the women of Sparta in beauty; and from that day her appearance began to change. When she reached

the age for marriage, Agetus, son of Alcides, married her; this, then, was the friend of Ariston. Now love for this woman excited Ariston; he therefore had recourse to the following stratagem: He promised he would give his friend, whose wife this woman was, a present of any one thing he should choose out of all his possessions, and required his friend in return to do the like to him. He, having no apprehension on account of his wife, seeing that Ariston already had a wife, assented to the proposal; and they imposed oaths on each other on these terms. Accordingly, Ariston himself gave the thing, whatever it was, which Agetus chose out of all his treasures; and himself claiming to obtain the same compliance from him, thereupon attempted to carry off his wife with him. Agetus said that he had assented to anything but this only; nevertheless, being compelled by his oath, and circumvented by deceit, he suffered him to take her away with him. Thus, then, Ariston took to himself a third wife, having put away the second. But in too short a time, and before she had completed her ten months, this woman bore Demaratus; and as he was sitting on the bench with the Ephori, one of his servants announced to him that a son was born to him; but he, knowing the time at which he married the woman, and reckoning the months on his fingers, said with an oath, "It can not be mine." This the Ephori heard. However, at the time, they took no notice. The child grew up, and Ariston repented of what he had said, for he was fully persuaded that Demaratus was his son. He gave him the name of Demaratus for this reason: before this the Spartans had made public supplications that Ariston, whom they esteemed the most illustrious of all the kings that had ever reigned in Sparta, might have a son. For this reason the name of Demaratus 1 was given to him. In process of time Ariston died, and Demaratus obtained the sovereignty. But it was fated, as it appears, that these things, when made known, should occasion the deposition of Demaratus from the sovereignty, for Demaratus had incurred the hatred of Cleomenes, because he had before led away the army from Eleusis, and now more particularly when Cleomenes had crossed over against those Ægineta, who were inclined to Medism. Cleomenes, then, being eager to avenge himself, made a compact with Leutychides, son of Menares, son of Agis, who was of the same family with Demaratus, on condition that if he should make him king instead of Demaratus he should accompany him against the Ægineta. Leutychides had become 1 Demaratus means "" granted to the prayers of the people."