ὡς δὲ τά τε ἄλλα ἐς τὸν πόλεμον ἕτοιμα ἦν αὐτοῖς καὶ τὰ ἀπὸ τῶν συμμάχων προθυμότερα ἢ προσεδόκων—καὶ γὰρ Ἀργείοις ἤδη καὶ Ἀρκάσι λαμπρῶς τὸ ἐς τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους ἔχθος ἐξῆπτο—οὕτως ἀπέστησαν ἔτει τριακοστῷ μὲν καὶ ἐνάτῳ μετὰ Ἰθώμης ἅλωσιν, τετάρτῳ δὲ τῆς τρίτης Ὀλυμπιάδος καὶ εἰκοστῆς, ἣν Ἴκαρος Ὑπερησιεὺς ἐνίκα στάδιον· Ἀθήνῃσι δὲ οἱ κατʼ ἐνιαυτὸν ἦσαν ἤδη τότε ἄρχοντες, καὶ Ἀθηναίοις Τλησίας ἦρχεν.
ἐν δὲ Λακεδαίμονι οἵ τινες τηνικαῦτα ἔτυχον βασιλεύοντες, Τυρταῖος μὲν τὰ ὀνόματα οὐκ ἔγραψε, Ῥιανὸς δʼ ἐποίησεν ἐν τοῖς ἔπεσι Λεωτυχίδην βασιλέα ἐπὶ τοῦδε εἶναι τοῦ πολέμου. Ῥιανῷ μὲν οὖν ἔγωγε οὐδαμῶς κατά γε τοῦτο συνθήσομαι· Τυρταῖον δὲ καὶ οὐ λέγοντα ὅμως εἰρηκέναι τις ἂν ἐν τῷδε ἡγοῖτο. ἐλεγεῖα γὰρ ἐς τὸν πρότερόν ἐστιν αὐτῷ πόλεμον· ἀμφʼ αὐτῇ δʼ ἐμάχοντʼ ἐννέα καὶ δέκʼ ἔτη / νωλεμέως, αἰεὶ ταλασίφρονα θυμὸν ἔχοντες, / αἰχμηταὶ πατέρων ἡμετέρων πατέρες. /
δῆλα οὖν ἐστιν ὡς ὕστερον τρίτῃ γενεᾷ τὸν πόλεμον οἱ Μεσσήνιοι τόνδε ἐπολέμησαν, ἀποδείκνυσί τε τοῦ χρόνου τὸ συνεχὲς βασιλεύοντας τηνικαῦτα ἐν Σπάρτῃ Ἀνάξανδρον Εὐρυκράτους τοῦ Πολυδώρου, τῆς δὲ οἰκίας τῆς ἑτέρας Ἀναξίδαμον Ζευξιδάμου τοῦ Ἀρχιδάμου τοῦ Θεοπόμπου. κατέβην δὲ ἐς ἀπόγονον Θεοπόμπου τέταρτον, ὅτι Ἀρχίδαμος ὁ Θεοπόμπου προαπέθανε τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ ἐς Ζευξίδαμον υἱιδοῦν ὄντα ἡ Θεοπόμπου περιῆλθεν ἀρχή. Λεωτυχίδης δὲ μετὰ Δημάρατον βασιλεύσας φαίνεται τὸν Ἀρίστωνος· Θεοπόμπου δὲ Ἀρίστων ἀπόγονος ἕβδομος.
τότε δὲ οἱ Μεσσήνιοι Λακεδαιμονίοις συμβάλλουσιν ἐν Δέραις καλουμέναις τῆς σφετέρας, ἔτει πρώτῳ μετὰ τὴν ἀπόστασιν· ἀπῆσαν δὲ ἀμφοτέροις οἱ σύμμαχοι. καὶ νίκη μὲν ἐγένετο οὐδετέρων σαφής, Ἀριστομένην δὲ ἔργα φασὶν ἀποδείξασθαι πλέον τι ἢ ἄνδρα ἕνα εἰκὸς ἦν, ὥστε καὶ βασιλέα μετὰ τὴν μάχην ᾑροῦντο αὐτόν, ἦν γὰρ καὶ γένους τῶν Αἰπυτιδῶν·
παραιτουμένου τε, οὕτω στρατηγὸν αὐτοκράτορα εἵλοντο. Ἀριστομένει δὲ παρίστατο μηδʼ ἂν ἄλλον ἀπαξιῶσαι παθεῖν τι ἐν πολέμῳ δράσαντα ἄξια μνήμης· αὑτῷ μέντοι καὶ πρὸ παντὸς ἐνόμιζεν εἶναι, ἔτι ἀρχομένου τοῦ πολέμου Λακεδαιμονίους καταπλήξαντα φαίνεσθαι καὶ ἐς τὰ μέλλοντά σφισι φοβερώτερον. ἅτε δὲ οὕτως ἔχων, ἀφικόμενος νύκτωρ ἐς τὴν Λακεδαίμονα ἀνατίθησιν ἀσπίδα πρὸς τὸν τῆς Χαλκιοίκου ναόν· ἐπεγέγραπτο δὲ Ἀριστομένην ἀπὸ Σπαρτιατῶν διδόναι τῇ θεῷ.
ἐγένετο δὲ καὶ Λακεδαιμονίοις μάντευμα ἐκ Δελφῶν τὸν Ἀθηναῖον ἐπάγεσθαι σύμβουλον. ἀποστέλλουσιν οὖν παρὰ τοὺς Ἀθηναίους τόν τε χρησμὸν ἀπαγγελοῦντας καὶ ἄνδρα αἰτοῦντας παραινέσοντα ἃ χρή σφισιν. Ἀθηναῖοι δὲ οὐδέτερα θέλοντες, οὔτε Λακεδαιμονίους ἄνευ μεγάλων κινδύνων προσλαβεῖν μοῖραν τῶν ἐν Πελοποννήσῳ τὴν ἀρίστην οὔτε αὐτοὶ παρακοῦσαι τοῦ θεοῦ, πρὸς ταῦτα ἐξευρίσκουσι· καὶ ἦν γὰρ Τυρταῖος διδάσκαλος γραμμάτων νοῦν τε ἥκιστα ἔχειν δοκῶν καὶ τὸν ἕτερον τῶν ποδῶν χωλός, τοῦτον ἀποστέλλουσιν ἐς Σπάρτην. ὁ δὲ ἀφικόμενος ἰδίᾳ τε τοῖς ἐν τέλει καὶ συνάγων ὁπόσους τύχοι καὶ τὰ ἐλεγεῖα καὶ τὰ ἔπη σφίσι τὰ ἀνάπαιστα ᾖδεν.
ἐνιαυτῷ δὲ ὕστερον τοῦ περὶ τὰς Δέρας ἀγῶνος, ἡκόντων ἀμφοτέροις καὶ τῶν συμμάχων, παρεσκευάζοντο ὡς μάχην συνάψοντες ἐπὶ τῷ καλουμένῳ Κάπρου σήματι. Μεσσηνίοις μὲν οὖν Ἠλεῖοι καὶ Ἀρκάδες, ἔτι δὲ ἐξ Ἄργους ἀφίκετο καὶ Σικυῶνος βοήθεια. παρῆσαν δὲ καὶ ὅσοι πρότερον τῶν Μεσσηνίων ἔφευγον ἑκουσίως, ἐξ Ἐλευσῖνός τε, οἷς πάτριον δρᾶν τὰ ὄργια τῶν Μεγάλων θεῶν, καὶ οἱ Ἀνδροκλέους ἀπόγονοι· καὶ γὰρ οἱ συσπεύσαντες μάλιστά σφισιν ἦσαν οὗτοι.
Λακεδαιμονίοις δὲ ἦλθον Κορίνθιοι συμμαχήσοντες καὶ Λεπρεατῶν τινες κατὰ ἔχθος τὸ Ἠλείων· Ἀσιναίοις δὲ ὅρκοι πρὸς ἀμφοτέρους ἦσαν. τὸ δὲ χωρίον τοῦτο, Κάπρου σῆμα, ἔστι μὲν ἐν Στενυκλήρῳ τῆς Μεσσηνίας, Ἡρακλέα δὲ αὐτόθι ὅρκον ἐπὶ τομίων κάπρου τοῖς Νηλέως παισὶ δοῦναι καὶ λαβεῖν παρὰ ἐκείνων λέγουσιν.
When all the preparations for the war were made, and the allies showed themselves heartier than had been expected, for the hatred of the Argives and Arcadians for the Lacedaemonians was now kindled into a flame, the Messenians revolted in the thirty-eighth year after the taking of Ithome, it being the fourth year of the twenty-third Olympiad, in which Icarus of Hyperesia won the footrace. At Athens the annual archons were already instituted, and Tlesias was the archon. As to the Lacedaemonian kings at the time, Tyrtaeus does not mention their names, but Rhianus in his epic represents Leotychides as king at the time of this war. In this I cannot possibly agree with him. And though Tyrtaeus does not name, yet he may be supposed to indicate the kings in the following passage. He has these verses on the former war :— About it they fought nineteen years Ceaselessly, ever keeping up a patient spirit, They the spearmen, our fathers’ fathers. Clearly, then, this war was fought in the second generation after the first war, and chronology shows that the kings then reigning in Sparta were, of the one house, Anaxander, son of Eurycrates, son of Polydorus ; and of the other house, Anaxidamus, son of Zeuxidamus, son of Archidamus, son of Theopompus. I have carried the reckoning down to the third descendant of Theopompus, because Archidamus, son of Theopompus, died before his father, and the throne of Theopompus devolved on his son’s son Zeuxidamus. But Leotychides is known to have reigned after Demaratus, son of Aristo, and Aristo was the sixth descendant of Theopompus.
In the first year after the revolt the Messenians encountered the Lacedaemonians at a place in Messenia called Derae. Both sides were without their allies. The result was indecisive, but they say that Aristomenes displayed such prodigies of valour, that after the battle the Messenians were for electing him king, he being of the race of the Aepytids; but he deprecated the honour, so they elected him general with absolute powers. To win glory in battle by the sacrifice of life was, in the opinion of Aristomenes, what any man would be ready to do; but for himself, he considered it above all incumbent on him to strike fear into the Lacedaemonians at the opening of the war, and thus make himself a terror to them for the future. In this frame of mind he went by night to Lacedaemon, and set up against the temple of the Goddess of the Brazen House a shield with the inscription: ‘Presented by Aristomenes to the goddess from Spartan spoils.’ 3. Now the Lacedaemonians received an oracle from Delphi, bidding them take the Athenian to be their counsellor. Accordingly they sent to the Athenians to report the oracle, and begging for a man who should advise them what to do. The Athenians, reluctant to disobey the god, and yet unwilling that the Lacedaemonians should acquire the best portion of Peloponnese without any serious risk, had recourse to artifice. There was one Tyrtaeus, a schoolmaster, generally thought to be a poor-witted creature, and lame of one leg; so they sent him to Sparta. When he was come, he sang elegiacs and likewise anapaests to the great folk in private, and he gathered the common folk about him and sang to them too. 4. But a year after the battle of Derae, both sides being reinforced by their allies, they prepared to join battle at a place called the Boar’s Grave. With the Messenians were the Eleans and Arcadians, and contingents had arrived from Argos and Sicyon. With them, too, were the Messenians who had withdrawn into exile, and the hereditary celebrants of the orgies of the Great Goddesses, who had come back from Eleusis, and the descendants of Androcles ; for these last were especially zealous in the Messenian cause. The Lacedaemonians were joined by the Corinthians, and some of the people of Lepreum came out of hatred to the Eleans. The Asinaeans were bound by oaths to both sides. The place called the Boar’s Grave is at Stenyclerus in Messenia, and they say that Hercules there exchanged oaths with the sons of Neleus over the pieces of a boar.
Cite This Text