Εὐρυσθένει πρεσβυτέρῳ τῶν Ἀριστοδήμου παίδων ὄντι ἡλικίαν γενέσθαι λέγουσιν υἱὸν Ἆγιν· ἀπὸ τούτου δὲ τὸ γένος τὸ Εὐρυσθένους καλοῦσιν Ἀγιάδας. ἐπὶ τούτου Πατρεῖ τῷ Πρευγένους κτίζοντι ἐν Ἀχαΐᾳ πόλιν, ἥντινα Πάτρας καὶ ἐς ἡμᾶς καλοῦσιν ἀπὸ τοῦ Πατρέως τούτου, συνεπελάβοντο Λακεδαιμόνιοι τοῦ οἰκισμοῦ. συνήραντο δὲ καὶ Γρᾷ τῷ Ἐχέλα τοῦ Πενθίλου τοῦ Ὀρέστου στελλομένῳ ναυσὶν ἐς ἀποικίαν. καὶ ὁ μὲν τὴν τῆς Ἰωνίας μεταξὺ καὶ Μυσῶν, καλουμένην δὲ Αἰολίδα ἐφʼ ἡμῶν, καθέξειν ἔμελλεν· ὁ δέ οἱ πρόγονος Πενθίλος Λέσβον τὴν ὑπὲρ τῆς ἠπείρου ταύτης νῆσον εἷλεν ἔτι πρότερον.
ἐπὶ δὲ Ἐχεστράτου τοῦ Ἄγιδος βασιλεύοντες ἐν Σπάρτῃ Κυνουρέας τοὺς ἐν ἡλικίᾳ Λακεδαιμόνιοι ποιοῦσιν ἀναστάτους, αἰτίαν ἐπενεγκόντες ὡς τὴν Ἀργολίδα συγγενῶν σφισιν ὄντων Ἀργείων λῃσταί τε ἐκ τῆς Κυνουριακῆς κακουργοῖεν καὶ αὐτοὶ καταδρομὰς ἐκ τοῦ φανεροῦ ποιοῖντο ἐς τὴν γῆν. λέγονται δὲ οἱ Κυνουρεῖς Ἀργεῖοι τὸ ἀνέκαθεν εἶναι, καὶ οἰκιστήν φασιν αὐτῶν Κύνουρον γενέσθαι τὸν Περσέως.
ἔτεσι δὲ ὕστερον οὐ πολλοῖς Λαβώτας ὁ Ἐχεστράτου τὴν ἀρχὴν ἔσχεν ἐν Σπάρτῃ. τοῦτον τὸν Λαβώταν Ἡρόδοτος ἐν τῷ λόγῳ τῷ ἐς Κροῖσον ὑπὸ Λυκούργου τοῦ θεμένου τοὺς νόμους φησὶν ἐπιτροπευθῆναι παῖδα ὄντα· Λεωβώτην δέ οἱ τίθεται τὸ ὄνομα καὶ οὐ Λαβώταν. Λακεδαιμονίοις δὲ πρῶτον τότε ἔδοξεν ἄρασθαι πρὸς Ἀργείους πόλεμον· ἐποιοῦντο δὲ ἐς αὐτοὺς ἐγκλήματα τήν τε Κυνουριακὴν ἑλόντων αὑτῶν ἀποτέμνεσθαι τοὺς Ἀργείους καὶ τοὺς περιοίκους σφῶν ὑπηκόους ὄντας ἀφιστάναι. τότε μὲν δὴ παρὰ οὐδετέρων πολεμησάντων ὅμως μνήμης ἄξιον πραχθῆναί φασιν οὐδέν·
τοὺς δὲ ἐφεξῆς βασιλεύσαντας τῆς οἰκίας ταύτης Δόρυσσον τὸν Λαβώτα καὶ Ἀγησίλαον Δορύσσου διʼ ὀλίγου σφᾶς τὸ χρεὼν ἐπέλαβεν ἀμφοτέρους. ἔθηκε δὲ καὶ Λυκοῦργος Λακεδαιμονίοις τοὺς νόμους ἐπὶ τῆς Ἀγησιλάου βασιλείας· θεῖναι δὲ αὐτὸν λέγουσιν οἱ μὲν παρὰ τῆς Πυθίας διδαχθέντα ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν, οἱ δὲ ὡς Κρητικὰ ὄντα νόμιμα ἐπαγάγοιτο. τούτους δὲ οἱ Κρῆτες τοὺς νόμους τεθῆναί σφισιν ὑπὸ Μίνω λέγουσι, βουλεύσασθαι δὲ ὑπὲρ τῶν νόμων οὐκ ἄνευ θεοῦ τὸν Μίνω. ᾐνίξατο δὲ καὶ Ὅμηρος ἐμοὶ δοκεῖν περὶ τοῦ Μίνω τῆς νομοθεσίας ἐν τοῖσδε τοῖς ἔπεσι· τῇσι δʼ ἐνὶ Κνωσσός, μεγάλη πόλις, ἔνθα τε Μίνως / ἐννέωρος βασίλευε Διὸς μεγάλου ὀαριστής. /
Λυκούργου μὲν οὖν καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἔπειτα τοῦ λόγου ποιήσομαι μνήμην· Ἀγησιλάου δὲ παῖς ἐγένετο Ἀρχέλαος. ἐπὶ τούτου Λακεδαιμόνιοι πολέμῳ κρατήσαντες πόλιν τῶν περιοικίδων ἠνδραποδίσαντο Αἴγυν, ὑποπτεύσαντες ὡς οἱ Αἰγῦται φρονοῦσι τὰ Ἀρκάδων. Χαρίλαος δὲ ὁ τῆς ἑτέρας οἰκίας βασιλεὺς συνεξεῖλε μὲν καὶ Ἀρχελάῳ τὴν Αἴγυν, ὁπόσα δὲ καὶ ἰδίᾳ Λακεδαιμονίων αὐτὸς ἔδρασεν ἡγούμενος, μνήμην καὶ τῶνδε ποιησόμεθα ὁμοῦ τῷ λόγῳ μεταβάντι ἐς τοὺς Εὐρυπωντίδας καλουμένους.
Ἀρχελάου δὲ ἦν Τήλεκλος· ἐπὶ τούτου πόλεις Λακεδαιμόνιοι τῶν περιοικίδων πολέμῳ κρατήσαντες ἐξεῖλον Ἀμύκλας καὶ Φᾶριν καὶ Γεράνθρας, ἐχόντων ἔτι Ἀχαιῶν. τούτων Φαρῖται καὶ Γερανθρᾶται τὴν ἔφοδον τῶν Δωριέων καταπλαγέντες ἀπελθεῖν ἐκ Πελοποννήσου συγχωροῦνται ὑπόσπονδοι· τοὺς δὲ Ἀμυκλαιεῖς οὐκ ἐξ ἐπιδρομῆς ἐκβάλλουσιν, ἀλλὰ ἀντισχόντας τε ἐπὶ πολὺ τῷ πολέμῳ καὶ ἔργα οὐκ ἄδοξα ἐπιδειξαμένους. δηλοῦσι δὲ καὶ οἱ Δωριεῖς τρόπαιον ἐπὶ τοῖς Ἀμυκλαιεῦσιν ἀναστήσαντες, ὡς ἐν τῷ τότε λόγου μάλιστα ἄξιον τοῦτο ὑπάρξαν σφίσιν. οὐ πολλῷ δὲ ὕστερον τούτων ἀπέθανεν ὑπὸ Μεσσηνίων Τήλεκλος ἐν Ἀρτέμιδος ἱερῷ· τὸ δὲ ἱερὸν τοῦτο ἐν μεθορίῳ τῆς τε Λακωνικῆς καὶ τῆς Μεσσηνίας ἐπεποίητο ἐν χωρίῳ καλουμένῳ Λίμναις.
Τηλέκλου δὲ ἀποθανόντος Ἀλκαμένης ἔσχεν ὁ Τηλέκλου τὴν ἀρχήν· καὶ Λακεδαιμόνιοι πέμπουσιν ἐς Κρήτην Χαρμίδαν τὸν Εὔθυος, ἄνδρα ἐν Σπάρτῃ τῶν δοκίμων, στάσεις τε καταπαύσοντα τοῖς Κρησὶ καὶ τὰ πολίσματα, ὁπόσα ἦν ἀπωτέρω θαλάσσης καὶ ἄλλως ἀσθενῆ, ταῦτα μὲν τοὺς Κρῆτας πείσοντα ἐκλιπεῖν, τὰ δὲ ἐν ἐπικαίρῳ τοῦ παράπλου συνοικιοῦντα ἀντʼ αὐτῶν. ἀνέστησαν δὲ καὶ Ἕλος ἐπὶ θαλάσσῃ πόλισμα Ἀχαιῶν ἐχόντων καὶ Ἀργείους τοῖς εἵλωσιν ἀμύναντας μάχῃ νικῶσιν.
Eurysthenes, the elder of Aristodemus’ sons, is said to have had a son Agis, from whom the house of Eurysthenes are called the Agids. In his time the Lacedaemonians assisted Patreus, son of Preugenes, in founding a city in Achaia, which is still called Patrae after him. Public aid was also given to Gras, when he set sail to found a colony. This Gras was the son of Echelas, who was the son of Penthilus, who was the son of Orestes. He was destined to occupy the country between Ionia and Mysia, which is now called Aeolis. His ancestor Penthilus before him had conquered the island of Lesbos lying off that very same coast.
When Echestratus, son of Agis, reigned in Sparta, the Lacedaemonians expelled all the Cynurians of military age, alleging as a reason that the lands of their kinsmen the Argives were harried by freebooters from Cynuria, and that the Cynurians themselves openly made raids across the border. The Cynurians are said to be Argives by descent : they say that their founder was Cynurus, son of Perseus. 3. Not many years afterwards Labotas, son of Echestratus, came to the throne of Sparta. Herodotus, in his history of Croesus, says that the young Labotas (whom, however, he calls Leobotes) had for his guardian the lawgiver Lycurgus. It was in that age that the Lacedaemonians first resolved to make war on Argos. They charged the Argives with perpetually encroaching on Cynuria, which was theirs by right of conquest, and with stirring up their vassals to revolt. In the wars of that age, they say, neither side distinguished itself by any memorable feats of arms; and the reigns of the next two kings of this house, Doryssus, son of Labotas, and Agesilaus, son of Doryssus, were soon cut short by death.
It was in the reign of Agesilaus that Lycurgus gave the Lacedaemonians their laws. Some say that in framing them he followed the instructions of the Pythian priestess: others aver that he borrowed his legislation from Crete. The Cretans maintain that the laws in question were drawn up for them by Minos, whose deliberations were assisted by the inspiration of God. An allusion to the legislation of Minos may be found, I think, in the following verses of Homer :— And among them is the mighty city of Cnosus, where Minos Reigned for nine years, the familiar friend of great Zeus. To Lycurgus I shall recur hereafter.
Agesilaus had a son Archelaus, in whose reign the Lacedaemonians after a successful war reduced the population of Aegys, one of the vassal cities, to slavery, because they suspected the people of favouring the Arcadian interest. In this conquest Archelaus was aided by Charillus, the king of the other royal house. The martial deeds performed by Charillus, when he held an independent command, will be chronicled by me when I pass to the history of the Eurypontids.
Archelaus had a son Teleclus. In his reign the Lacedaemonians, after a successful war, captured the vassal cities of Amyclae, Pharis, and Geranthrae, which up to that time had been still held by the Achaeans. The inhabitants of the two latter towns, seized with panic at the approach of the Dorians, capitulated on condition of being suffered to withdraw from Peloponnese. But the people of Amyclae were not expelled so easily ; for they offered a long and not inglorious resistance. The trophy which the Dorians erected for the fall of Amyclae proves that the victors regarded this as the proudest triumph of their arms. Not long afterwards Teleclus was assassinated by some Messenians in a sanctuary of Artemis, which stood at a place called Limnae (‘lakes’) on the frontiers of Laconia and Messenia.
The murdered king was succeeded by his son Alcamenes. The Lacedaemonians now despatched Charmidas, son of Euthys, to Crete. He was a man of standing and repute in Sparta. The object of his mission was to compose the civil dissensions that raged in Crete, to persuade the people to abandon all the towns which, on account of their distance from the sea or other circumstances, could not easily be defended, and to assist them in founding new cities conveniently situated on the coast. They also destroyed the Achaean city of Helos by the sea, and defeated in battle an Argive force which had attempted to relieve the town.
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