τὸ δὲ ὀνομαζόμενον παρὰ Μεσσηνίων ἱεροθέσιον ἔχει μὲν θεῶν ἀγάλματα ὁπόσους νομίζουσιν Ἕλληνες, ἔχει δὲ χαλκῆν εἰκόνα Ἐπαμινώνδου. κεῖνται δὲ καὶ ἀρχαῖοι τρίποδες· ἀπύρους αὐτοὺς καλεῖ Ὅμηρος. τὰ δὲ ἀγάλματα τὰ ἐν τῷ γυμνασίῳ ποιήματά ἐστιν ἀνδρῶν Αἰγυπτίων, Ἑρμῆς καὶ Ἡρακλῆς τε καὶ Θησεύς. τούτους μὲν δὴ τοῖς πᾶσιν Ἕλλησι καὶ ἤδη τῶν βαρβάρων πολλοῖς περί τε γυμνάσια καὶ ἐν παλαίστραις καθέστηκεν ἔχειν ἐν τιμῇ·
Αἰθίδαν δὲ ἐμαυτοῦ πρεσβύτερον ὄντα εὕρισκον, γενομένῳ δέ οἱ χρήμασιν οὐκ ἀδυνάτῳ τιμαὶ παρὰ Μεσσηνίων ὑπάρχουσιν ἅτε ἥρωι. εἰσὶ δὲ τῶν Μεσσηνίων οἳ τῷ Αἰθίδᾳ χρήματα μὲν γενέσθαι πολλὰ ἔλεγον, οὐ μέντοι τοῦτόν γε εἶναι τὸν ἐπειργασμένον τῇ στήλῃ, πρόγονον δὲ καὶ ὁμώνυμον ἄνδρα τῷ Αἰθίδᾳ· Αἰθίδαν δὲ τὸν πρότερον ἡγήσασθαι τοῖς Μεσσηνίοις φασίν, ἡνίκα ἐν τῇ νυκτὶ Δημήτριός σφισιν ὁ Φιλίππου μηδαμῶς ἐλπίσασιν αὐτός τε καὶ ἡ στρατιὰ λανθάνουσιν ἐσελθόντες ἐς τὴν πόλιν.
καὶ Ἀριστομένους δὲ μνῆμά ἐστιν ἐνταῦθα· οὐ κενὸν δὲ εἶναι τὸ μνῆμα λέγουσιν, ἀλλʼ ἐρομένου μου τρόπον τε ὅντινα καὶ ὁπόθεν Ἀριστομένους κομίσαιντο τὰ ὀστᾶ, μεταπέμψασθαι μὲν ἐκ Ῥόδου φασί, τὸν δὲ ἐν Δελφοῖς θεὸν τὸν κελεύσαντα εἶναι. πρός τε δὴ τούτοις ἐδίδασκόν με ὁποῖα ἐπὶ τῷ τάφῳ δρῶσι. ταῦρον ὅντινα ἐναγίζειν μέλλουσιν, ἀγαγόντες ἐπὶ τὸ μνῆμα ἔδησαν πρὸς τὸν ἑστηκότα ἐπὶ τῷ τάφῳ κίονα· ὁ δὲ ἅτε ἄγριος καὶ ἀήθης δεσμῶν οὐκ ἐθέλει μένειν· θορυβουμένῳ δέ οἱ καὶ σκιρτῶντι ἢν ὁ κίων κινηθῇ, Μεσσηνίοις ἐστὶν αἴσιον, οὐ κινηθέντος δὲ ἀσύμφορα ἐπαγγέλλει τὸ σημεῖον.
παραγενέσθαι δὲ Ἀριστομένην καὶ τῷ περὶ Λεῦκτρα ἀγῶνι ἐθέλουσιν οὐ μετὰ ἀνθρώπων ἔτι ὄντα, καὶ ἀμῦναί τε αὐτόν φασι Θηβαίοις καὶ μάλιστα γενέσθαι τοῦ ἀτυχήματος Λακεδαιμονίοις αἴτιον. ἐγὼ δὲ Χαλδαίους καὶ Ἰνδῶν τοὺς μάγους πρώτους οἶδα εἰπόντας ὡς ἀθάνατός ἐστιν ἀνθρώπου ψυχή, καί σφισι καὶ Ἑλλήνων ἄλλοι τε ἐπείσθησαν καὶ οὐχ ἥκιστα Πλάτων ὁ Ἀρίστωνος· εἰ δὲ ἀποδέχεσθαι καὶ οἱ πάντες ἐθελήσουσιν, ἐκεῖνό γε ἀντειπεῖν οὐκ ἔνεστι μὴ οὐ τὸν πάντα αἰῶνα Ἀριστομένει τὸ μῖσος τὸ ἐς Λακεδαιμονίους ἐνεστάχθαι.
ἃ δὲ αὐτὸς ἤκουσα ἐν Θήβαις, εἰκὸς μέν τι παρείχετο ἐς τὸν Μεσσηνίων λόγον, οὐ μὴν παντάπασί γέ ἐστιν αὐτοῖς ὡμολογηκότα. φασὶ δὲ οἱ Θηβαῖοι μελλούσης τῆς μάχης ἔσεσθαί σφισιν ἐν Λεύκτροις ἐς ἄλλα τε ἀποστεῖλαι χρηστήρια καὶ ἐρησομένους τὸν ἐν Λεβαδείᾳ θεόν. λέγεται μὲν οὖν καὶ τὰ παρὰ τοῦ Ἰσμηνίου καὶ τοῦ Πτῴου, πρὸς δὲ τὰ ἐν Ἄβαις τε χρησθέντα καὶ τὰ ἐν Δελφοῖς· Τροφώνιον δέ φασιν εἰπεῖν ἑξαμέτρῳ· πρὶν δορὶ συμβαλέειν ἐχθροῖς, στήσασθε τρόπαιον, / ἀσπίδα κοσμήσαντες ἐμήν, τὴν εἵσατο νηῷ / θοῦρος Ἀριστομένης Μεσσήνιος. αὐτὰρ ἐγώ τοι / ἀνδρῶν δυσμενέων φθίσω στρατὸν ἀσπιστάων. /
ἀφικομένου δὲ τοῦ χρησμοῦ δεηθῆναι Ξενοκράτους λέγουσιν Ἐπαμινώνδαν· ὁ δὲ τήν τε ἀσπίδα μεταπέμπεται τοῦ Ἀριστομένους καὶ ἐκόσμησεν ἀπʼ αὐτῆς τρόπαιον, ὅθεν τοῖς Λακεδαιμονίοις ἔσεσθαι σύνοπτον ἔμελλεν. ᾔδεσαν δὲ ἄρα τὴν ἀσπίδα οἱ μὲν αὐτῶν ἐν Λεβαδείᾳ καθʼ ἡσυχίαν ἑωρακότες, ἀκοῇ δὲ καὶ πάντες· ὡς δὲ ἐγένετο ἡ νίκη Θηβαίοις, ἀποδιδόασιν αὖθις τῷ Τροφωνίῳ τὸ ἀνάθημα. Ἀριστομένους δὲ καὶ χαλκοῦς ἀνδριάς ἐστιν ἐν τῷ Μεσσηνίων σταδίῳ· τοῦ θεάτρου δὲ οὐ πόρω Σαράπιδός ἐστι καὶ Ἴσιδος ἱερόν.
What the Messenians name the Place of Sacrifice contains images of all the gods recognised by the Greeks. It contains also a bronze statue of Epaminondas and ancient tripods, which Homer calls fireless. The images in the gymnasium are by Egyptians, and represent Hermes, Hercules, and Theseus. All the Greeks, and by this time many of the barbarians also, are wont to honour these three deities in gymnasiums and wrestling schools. 2... . I found that Aethidas was older than myself. And because he was a man of some property the Messenians honour him as a hero. Some of the Messenians, indeed, said that Aethidas was certainly very wealthy, but that it is not he who is sculptured on this monument, but an ancestor and namesake of his. They say that the elder Aethidas commanded the Messenians at the time when Demetrius, son of Philip, at the head of an army, made his stealthy and unlooked-for entrance into the city by night.
There is also a tomb of Aristomenes here, and they say it is not a mere cenotaph. When I inquired how and whence they brought hither the bones of Aristomenes, they said they had fetched them from Rhodes, and that it was the god at Delphi who had commanded them to do so. They told me, further, the ceremonies which they observe at the grave. The bull which is to be sacrificed they take to the tomb and tie to the pillar which stands on the grave; and the bull being wild, and not used to being tied, will not stand still. Now if in his struggles and plunges the pillar shakes, it is a good omen; but if the pillar does not move, it forebodes misfortunes.
They will have it, too, that the dead Aristomenes was present at the battle of Leuctra, and they say that he helped the Thebans, and was the chief cause of the disaster that befell the Lacedaemonians. The first people I know of who asserted that the soul of man is immortal were the Chaldeans and the Indian magicians; and some of the Greeks believed them, especially Plato, the son of Aristo. If everybody accepts this tenet, there can be no gainsaying the view that hatred of the Lacedaemonians has rankled in the heart of Aristomenes through all the ages.
A story which I heard myself at Thebes lent some countenance to the Messenian statement, though it does not entirely agree with it. The Thebans say that just before the battle of Leuctra they sent envoys to inquire of various oracles, and in particular of the oracle of the god at Lebadea (Trophonius). The replies given by the Ismenian god and the Ptoan god are still preserved, as also the oracles given at Abae and Delphi. Trophonius, they say, replied in hexameter verse :— Before you engage with the foemen, set up a trophy And adorn it with my shield, which was deposited in the temple By bold Aristomenes the Messenian. Verily I Will destroy the host of the shielded foe. When this oracle was reported, they say that Xenocrates, at the request of Epaminondas, sent for the shield of Aristomenes, and with it decorated a trophy in a place where it would be seen by the Lacedaemonians. Some of them, we may presume, knew the shield by having seen it at their leisure at Lebadea, but all knew it by hearsay. When the Thebans had gained the victory, they restored the shield to Trophonius, in whose shrine it had been dedicated. There is a bronze statue of Aristomenes in the stadium at Messene. Not far from the theatre is a sanctuary of Serapis and Isis.
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