Greece -- History -- To 146 B.C.; History, Ancient
66. Some say in addition to this that the Pythian prophetess also set
forth to him the order of things which is now established for the
Spartans; but the Lacedemonians themselves say that Lycurgos having
become guardian of Leobotes his brother's son, who was king of the
Spartans, brought in these things from Crete. For as soon as he became
guardian, he changed all the prevailing laws, and took measures that
they should not transgress his institutions: and after this Lycurgos
established that which appertained to war, namely Enomoties and Triecads
and Common Meals, 7701 and in addition to this the Ephors and the
Senate. Having changed thus, the Spartans had good laws; and to Lycurgos
after he was dead they erected a temple, and they pay him great worship.
So then, as might be supposed, with a fertile land and with no small
number of men dwelling in it, they straightway shot up and became
prosperous: and it was no longer sufficient for them to keep still; but
presuming that they were superior in strength to the Arcadians, they
consulted the Oracle at Delphi respecting conquest of the whole of
Arcadia; and the Pythian prophetess gave answer thus:
"The land of Arcadia thou askest; thou askest me much; I refuse it;
Many there are in Arcadian land, stout men, eating acorns;
These will prevent thee from this: but I am not grudging towards thee;
Tegea beaten with sounding feet I will give thee to dance in,
And a fair plain I will give thee to measure with line and divide it."
When the Lacedemonians heard report of this, they held off from the
other Arcadians, and marched against the Tegeans with fetters in their
hands, trusting to a deceitful 78 oracle and expecting that they
would make slaves of the men of Tegea. But having been worsted in the
encounter, those of them who were taken alive worked wearing the fetters
which they themselves brought with them and having "measured with line
and divided" 79 the plain of the Tegeans. And these fetters with which
they had been bound were preserved even to my own time at Tegea, hanging
about the temple of Athene Alea. 80
67. In the former war then I say they struggled against the Tegeans
continually with ill success; but in the time of Croesus and in the
reign of Anaxandrides and Ariston at Lacedemon the Spartans had at
length become victors in the war; and they became so in the following
manner:—As they continued to be always worsted in the war by the men of
Tegea, they sent messengers to consult the Oracle at Delphi and inquired
what god they should propitiate in order to get the better of the men
of Tegea in the war: and the Pythian prophetess made answer to them
that they should bring into their land the bones of Orestes the son of
Agamemnon. Then as they were not able to find the grave of Orestes,
they sent men again to go to the god and to inquire about the spot where
Orestes was laid: and when the messengers who were sent asked this, the
prophetess said as follows:
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