γένους μὲν δὴ τοῦ Εὐρυσθένους, καλουμένων δὲ Ἀγιαδῶν, Κλεομένης ὁ Λεωνίδου βασιλεὺς ὕστατος ἐγένετο ἐν Σπάρτῃ· τὰ δὲ ἐς τὴν οἰκίαν τὴν ἑτέραν τοιάδε ἤκουσα εἶναι. Προκλῆς ὁ Ἀριστοδήμου τῷ παιδὶ ὄνομα τίθεται Σόον. Εὐρυπῶντα δὲ τὸν Σόου φασὶν ἐς τοσοῦτον ἀφικέσθαι δόξης ὡς καὶ τὴν οἰκίαν ταύτην Εὐρυπωντίδας ὄνομα ἀπʼ αὐτοῦ λαβεῖν, Προκλείδας ἐς ἐκεῖνον καλουμένους.
Εὐρυπῶντος δὲ υἱὸς γίνεται Πρύτανις. ἐπὶ μὲν δὴ Πρυτάνιδος τοῦ Εὐρυπῶντος τὸ ἔχθος τε Λακεδαιμονίοις ἤρξατο τὸ ἐς Ἀργείους καὶ ἔτι τοῦ ἐγκλήματος τούτου πρότερον Κυνουρεῦσιν ἐπολέμησαν· τὰς δὲ ἐφεξῆς ταύτῃ γενεάς, Εὐνόμου τε τοῦ Πρυτάνιδος καὶ Πολυδέκτου τοῦ Εὐνόμου βασιλευόντων, ἐν εἰρήνῃ διετέλεσεν οὖσα ἡ Σπάρτη.
Χάριλλος δὲ ὁ Πολυδέκτου τήν τε γῆν ἐδῄωσεν Ἀργείοις— οὗτος γὰρ καὶ ὁ ἐς τὴν Ἀργολίδα ἐσβαλών—καὶ ἔτεσιν οὐ πολλοῖς ὕστερον ὑπὸ ἡγεμόνι Χαρίλλῳ γίνεται καὶ ἡ Σπαρτιατῶν ἐπὶ Τεγεάτας ἔξοδος, ὅτε οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι Τεγεάτας αἱρήσειν ἤλπισαν καὶ ἀποτεμεῖσθαι τῆς Ἀρκαδίας τὸ Τεγεατῶν πεδίον, ὑπούλῳ μαντεύματι ἐπελθόντες.
μετὰ δὲ Χάριλλον τελευτήσαντα Νίκανδρος ὁ Χαρίλλου διαδέχεται τὴν ἀρχήν· καὶ τὰ Μεσσηνίων ἐς Τήλεκλον τὸν τῆς ἑτέρας βασιλέα οἰκίας ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ τῆς Λιμνάδος συμβάντα ἐπὶ Νικάνδρου γίνεται βασιλεύοντος. ἐσέβαλε δὲ καὶ ἐς τὴν Ἀργολίδα ὁ Νίκανδρος στρατιᾷ καὶ τὰ πολλὰ ἐκάκωσε τῆς χώρας· μετασχόντες δὲ Ἀσιναῖοι Λακεδαιμονίοις τοῦ ἔργου δίκην μετʼ οὐ πολὺ Ἀργείοις ἀπέδοσαν σὺν μεγάλῳ πατρίδος τε ὀλέθρῳ καὶ φυγῇ τῇ σφετέρᾳ.
Θεόπομπον δὲ τὸν Νικάνδρου βασιλεύσαντα μετὰ Νίκανδρον μέλλει καὶ αὖθις ὁ λόγος μοι προσθήσειν προελθόντι ἐς τὴν Μεσσηνίαν συγγραφήν. Θεοπόμπου δὲ ἔτι ἔχοντος τὴν ἀρχὴν ἐν Σπάρτῃ γίνεται καὶ ὁ περὶ τῆς Θυρεάτιδος καλουμένης χώρας Λακεδαιμονίοις ἀγὼν πρὸς Ἀργείους, Θεόπομπος δὲ αὐτὸς οὐ μετέσχε τοῦ ἔργου γήρᾳ καὶ ὑπὸ λύπης τὸ πλέον· Ἀρχίδαμον γὰρ Θεοπόμπου ζῶντος ἔτι ἐπιλαμβάνει τὸ χρεών.
οὐ μὴν ἄπαις ἐτελεύτησεν ὁ Ἀρχίδαμος, Ζευξίδαμον δὲ ἀπολιπὼν υἱόν. Ζευξιδάμου δὲ Ἀναξίδαμος ὁ παῖς ἐκδέχεται τὴν ἀρχήν· ἐπὶ τούτου Μεσσήνιοι φεύγουσιν ἐκ Πελοποννήσου, πολέμῳ τὸ δεύτερον κρατηθέντες ὑπὸ Σπαρτιατῶν. Ἀναξιδάμου δὲ υἱὸς ἐγένετο Ἀρχίδαμος, Ἀρχιδάμου δὲ Ἀγησικλῆς· καί σφισιν ὑπῆρξεν ἀμφοτέροις τὸν βίον διατελέσαι πάντα ἐν ἡσυχίᾳ καὶ πολέμων οὖσιν ἐκτός.
Ἀρίστωνι δὲ τῷ Ἀγησικλέους ἀγαγομένῳ γυναῖκα ἥντινα παρθένον μὲν τῶν ἐν Λακεδαίμονι εἶναί φασιν αἰσχίστην, γυναικῶν δὲ τὸ εἶδος καλλίστην ὑπὸ Ἑλένης γενέσθαι, ταύτην ἀγαγομένῳ τῷ Ἀρίστωνι ἐγένετο υἱὸς Δημάρατος ἐν μόνοις μησὶν ἑπτά· καὶ αὐτῷ μετὰ τῶν ἐφόρων καθημένῳ τηνικαῦτα ἐν βουλῇ ἦλθεν οἰκέτης ἀπαγγέλλων τετέχθαι οἱ παῖδα. Ἀρίστων δὲ ἐπῶν τῶν ἐν Ἰλιάδι ἐς τὴν Εὐρυσθέως γένεσιν πεποιημένος λήθην ἢ μηδὲ ἀρχὴν συνεὶς αὐτῶν οὐκ ἔφη τῶν μηνῶν ἕνεκα αὑτοῦ τὸν παῖδα εἶναι.
τοῦτον μὲν δὴ τῶν εἰρημένων μετάνοια ἔλαβεν ὕστερον· Δημάρατον δὲ βασιλεύοντα καὶ τά τε ἄλλα εὐδοκιμοῦντα ἐν Σπάρτῃ καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν Πεισιστρατιδῶν Κλεομένει συνελευθερώσαντα Ἀθηναίους ἥ τε Ἀρίστωνος ἀγνωμοσύνη καὶ τὸ ἔχθος τὸ Κλεομένους ἐποίησεν ἰδιώτην. καὶ τοῦ μὲν παρὰ βασιλέα Δαρεῖον ἐλθόντος ἐς Πέρσας ἐπὶ πολὺν ἐν τῇ Ἀσίᾳ χρόνον διαμεῖναι τοὺς ἀπογόνους φασί·
Λεωτυχίδης δὲ ἀντὶ Δημαράτου γενόμενος βασιλεὺς μετέσχε μὲν Ἀθηναίοις καὶ Ἀθηναίων τῷ στρατηγῷ Ξανθίππῳ τῷ Ἀρίφρονος τοῦ ἔργου τοῦ πρὸς Μυκάλῃ, ἐστράτευσε δὲ ὕστερον τούτων καὶ ἐπὶ τοὺς Ἀλευάδας ἐς Θεσσαλίαν· καί οἱ καταστρέψασθαι Θεσσαλίαν πᾶσαν ἐξὸν ἅτε ἀεὶ νικῶντι ἐν ταῖς μάχαις, δῶρα ἔλαβε παρὰ τῶν Ἀλευαδῶν.
ὑπαγόμενος δὲ ἐν Λακεδαίμονι ἐς δίκην ἔφυγεν ἐθελοντὴς ἐς Τεγέαν. καὶ ὁ μὲν αὐτόθι τὴν Ἀθηνᾶν τὴν Ἀλέαν ἱκέτευε, Λεωτυχίδου δὲ ὁ μὲν παῖς Ζευξίδαμος ζῶντος ἔτι Λεωτυχίδου καὶ οὐ πεφευγότος πω τελευτᾷ νόσῳ, Ἀρχίδαμος δὲ ὁ Ζευξιδάμου μετὰ Λεωτυχίδην ἀπελθόντα ἐς Τεγέαν ἔσχε τὴν ἀρχήν. οὗτος Ἀρχίδαμος Ἀθηναίοις μάλιστα ἐκάκωσε τὴν χώραν στρατῷ τε ἐσβάλλων ἐς γῆν τὴν Ἀττικὴν ἀνὰ πᾶν ἔτος καὶ ὁπότε ἐσβάλοι διὰ πάσης ἐπεξῄει φθείρων καὶ Πλαταιέων Ἀθηναίοις ὄντων εὔνων πολιορκίᾳ τὸ ἄστυ εἷλεν.
οὐ μὴν τὸν πόλεμόν γε τὸν Πελοποννησίων καὶ Ἀθηναίων γενέσθαι συνέσπευσεν. ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐς ὅσον δυνάμεως ἧκε, διαμεῖναί σφισιν ἔπρασσε τὰς σπονδάς. Σθενελαΐδας δὲ ἔς τε ἄλλα ὢν οὐκ ἀδύνατος ἐν Λακεδαίμονι καὶ ἐφορεύων ἐν τῷ τότε τοῦ πολέμου μάλιστα ἐγένετο αἴτιος· καὶ ὁ πόλεμος οὗτος εὖ τὴν Ἑλλάδα ἔτι βεβηκυῖαν διέσεισεν ἐκ βάθρων, καὶ ὕστερον Φίλιππος ὁ Ἀμύντου σαθρὰν ἤδη καὶ οὐ παντάπασιν ὑγιῆ προσκατήρειψεν αὐτήν.
Thus of the race of Eurysthenes, known as the Agids, Cleomenes, son of Leonidas, was the last king in Sparta. The history of the other house, as I have been informed, is as follows. Procles, the son of Aristodemus, had a son whom he named Sous, and Sous had a son Eurypon, who is said to have become so famous that the family were named Eurypontids after him, instead of Proclids, as they had been called before.
Eurypon had a son, Prytanis, in whose reign the hostility of Lacedaemon to Argos first broke out. Even before this quarrel the Lacedaemonians had made war on the Cynurians. But in the succeeding generations, while Eunomus, son of Prytanis, and Polydectes, son of Eunomus, sat upon the throne, Sparta remained at peace.
But Charillus, son of Polydectes, ravaged the Argive territory, and not many years afterwards he led the Spartan expedition against Tegea, at the time when the Lacedaemonians, lured on by a deceitful oracle, hoped to capture that city, and so to sever the Tegean plain from Arcadia.
On the death of Charillus his son Nicander succeeded to the throne. It was in the reign of Nicander that the Messenians murdered Teleclus, the king of the other house, in the sanctuary of the Lady of the Lake. Nicander also invaded Argolis, and laid most of the country waste. For the share which the Asinaeans took in this Lacedaemonian invasion, they were soon afterwards punished by the Argives with exile and the total ruin of their country. 5. An account of Theopompus, who succeeded his father, Nicander, on the throne, will be given when I come to treat of Messenia. He was still reigning when the Lacedaemonians fought the Argives for the possession of the Thyrean district. In that conflict the king, broken by age and still more by sorrow, took no part; for he had lived to see his son Archidamus cut off before him. However, Archidamus did not die childless, but left a son Zeuxidamus, who was succeeded on the throne by his son Anaxidamus.
It was in the reign of Anaxidamus that the Messenians, after being vanquished a second time by the Spartans, were driven forth from Peloponnese into exile. Anaxidamus had a son Archidamus, and Archidamus had a son Agesicles, and both father and son were privileged to spend all their days in quietness and peace.
Aristo, son of Agesicles, married a woman who is said to have been the foulest maid and the fairest wife in Lacedaemon, for Helen transformed her. Only seven months after Aristo wedded her she bore him a son Demaratus. He was sitting with the ephors in council when a servant came with tidings that a child was born to him. But Aristo, forgetting the verses in the Iliad about the birth of Eurystheus, or perhaps because he had never heard of them, said that considering the number of months the child was not his. He afterwards repented of his words; but his thoughtlessness, coupled with the hatred of Cleomenes, sufficed to drive his son Demaratus from the throne, on which he had won for himself a fair reputation, particularly by aiding Cleomenes to free Athens from the Pisistratids. Demaratus betook himself to the court of King Darius in Persia, and they say that his descendants long survived in Asia.
Leotychides, being made king in room of Demaratus, fought at the battle of Mycale on the side of the Athenians, who were commanded by Xanthippus, the son of Ariphron. Afterwards he marched into Thessaly against the Aleuads; but when he might have conquered the whole of Thessaly, for victory always attended his arms, he suffered himself to be bribed by the Aleuads. Being impeached at home he withdrew into exile at Tegea, where he took sanctuary in the temple of Athena Alea. His son Euxidamus had died before his father’s banishment, leaving, however, a son Archidamus, who, when Leotychides retired to Tegea, succeeded to the throne. 9. This Archidamus wrought sad havoc in Attica, invading it year after year, and marching from one end of it to the other with fire and sword. He also besieged and took the town of Plataea, which had been on kindly terms with Athens. It is fair to add that he had not been one of the promoters of the war, but had done all in his power to maintain the treaty. 10. The chief instigator of the war was one Sthenelaidas, a man of some influence in Sparta, who happened to be ephor at the time. Greece had been stable and strong before, but this war shook it to its foundations, and afterwards Philip, son of Amyntas, brought the rickety and decaying structure with a crash to the ground.
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