τοῖς δὲ Μεσσηνίοις μετὰ τὴν μάχην πονηρὰ γίνεσθαι τὰ πράγματα ἤρχετο· δαπάνῃ τε γὰρ χρημάτων ἀπειρήκεσαν, ἃ τῶν πόλεων ἀνήλισκον ἐς τὰς φρουράς, καὶ οἱ δοῦλοι παρὰ τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους ηὐτομόλουν, τοῖς δὲ καὶ νόσος ἐνέπεσε καὶ ταραχὰς μὲν παρέσχεν ὡς εἴη λοιμώδης, οὐ μὴν ἐς ἅπαντάς γε ἐχώρησεν. βουλευομένοις δὲ πρὸς τὰ παρόντα ἐδόκει τὰ μὲν πολλὰ πολίσματα τὰ ἐς μεσόγαιαν πάντα ἐκλείπειν, ἐς δὲ τὸ ὄρος ἀνοικίζεσθαι τὴν Ἰθώμην.
ἦν δὲ καὶ πόλισμα αὐτόθι οὐ μέγα, ὃ καὶ Ὅμηρόν φασιν ἔχειν ἐν καταλόγῳ· καὶ Ἰθώμην κλιμακόεσσαν. / ἐς τοῦτο τὸ πόλισμα ἀνῳκίζοντο, ἐπεκτείνοντες τὸν ἀρχαῖον περίβολον ἔρυμα εἶναι πᾶσιν αὔταρκες. ἦν δὲ τὸ χωρίον καὶ ἄλλως ἐχυρόν· ἡ γὰρ Ἰθώμη μεγέθει τε οὐδενὸς ἀποδεῖ τῶν ὀρῶν ὁπόσα ἐντός ἐστιν ἰσθμοῦ καὶ δύσβατος κατὰ τοῦτο μάλιστα ἦν.
ἐδόκει δὲ καὶ θεωρὸν πέμψαι σφίσιν ἐς Δελφούς. ἀποστέλλουσιν οὖν Τῖσιν τὸν Ἄλκιδος, καὶ ἀξιώματι οὐδενὸς ὕστερον καὶ ὅτι προσκεῖσθαι μαντικῇ μάλιστα ἐνομίζετο. τοῦτον τὸν Τῖσιν ἐπανιόντα ἐκ Δελφῶν λοχῶσιν ἄνδρες Λακεδαιμονίων ἀπὸ τῆς ἐν Ἀμφείᾳ φρουρᾶς· λοχήσαντες δὲ—οὐ γὰρ ὑπεῖκεν αἰχμάλωτος γενέσθαι— περιμένοντα οὖν ἀμύνεσθαι καὶ ἀνθεστηκότα ἐτίτρωσκον, ἐς ὃ γίνεται βοή σφισιν ἐξ ἀφανοῦς “τὸν χρησμοφόρον μέθες.”
καὶ Τῖσις μὲν ὡς ἀπεσώθη τάχιστα ἐς Ἰθώμην καὶ τὴν μαντείαν παρὰ τὸν βασιλέα ἀνήνεγκε, μετʼ οὐ πολὺ ὑπὸ τῶν τραυμάτων τελευτᾷ· τοὺς δὲ Μεσσηνίους συναθροίσας ὁ Εὐφαὴς ἐπεδείκνυ τὸν χρησμόν· κόρην ἄχραντον νερτέροισι δαίμοσι, / κλήρῳ λαχοῦσαν Αἰπυτιδῶν ἀφʼ αἵματος, / θυηπολεῖτε νυκτέροισιν ἐν σφαγαῖς. / ἢν δὲ σφαλῆτε, καὶ παρʼ ἀλλοίου τότε / θύειν, διδόντος ἐς σφαγὴν ἑκουσίως. /
ταῦτα τοῦ θεοῦ δηλώσαντος αὐτίκα ἐκληροῦντο ὅσαι παρθένοι τοῦ Αἰπυτιδῶν γένους ἦσαν· καὶ ἐπελάμβανε γὰρ Λυκίσκου θυγατέρα ὁ κλῆρος, ταύτην Ἐπήβολος ὁ μάντις ἀπηγόρευεν ὡς οὐ δέοι θύειν, οὐ γὰρ εἶναι Λυκίσκου· τὴν δὲ γυναῖκα ἣ Λυκίσκῳ συνῴκησεν, ὡς τεκεῖν οὔκουν οἵα τε ἦν, τὴν παῖδα ὑποβαλέσθαι. ἐν ὅσῳ δὲ οὗτος ἀνεδίδασκε τὰ ἐς αὐτήν, ἐν τοσῷδε ὁ Λυκίσκος ἀπαγόμενος ἅμα καὶ τὴν παρθένον ηὐτομόλησεν ἐς Σπάρτην.
ἐχόντων δὲ ἀθύμως τῶν Μεσσηνίων ὡς Λυκίσκον ἀποδράντα ᾔσθοντο, ἐνταῦθά σφισιν Ἀριστόδημος ἀνὴρ καὶ γένους τοῦ Αἰπυτιδῶν καὶ Λυκίσκου τῇ τε ἄλλῃ δόξῃ καὶ τὰ ἐς πόλεμον ἐπιφανέστερος ἐδίδου τὴν θυγατέρα ἑκὼν θῦσαι. τὰ δὲ ἀνθρώπων καὶ οὐχ ἥκιστα τὸ πρόθυμον ἡ πεπρωμένη κατὰ ταὐτὰ ἐπικρύπτει καὶ εἰ ψηφῖδα ἐπιλαβοῦσα ἰλὺς ποταμοῦ, ὅπου καὶ τότε Ἀριστοδήμῳ διασώσασθαι Μεσσήνην ἀγώνισμα ποιουμένῳ ἐμπόδιον ἐπήγαγε τοιόνδε.
ἀνὴρ τῶν Μεσσηνίων—τὸ δὲ ὄνομα οὐ λέγουσιν—ἐρῶν ἔτυχε τοῦ Ἀριστοδήμου τῆς θυγατρός, τότε δὲ ἤδη ἔμελλε καὶ γυναῖκα ἄξεσθαι. οὗτος κατʼ ἀρχὰς μὲν ἐς ἀμφισβήτησιν Ἀριστοδήμῳ προῆλθεν, ἐκεῖνον μὲν ἐγγυήσαντά οἱ μηκέτι εἶναι κύριον τῆς παιδός, αὐτὸς δὲ ἐγγυησάμενος κυριώτερος ἐκείνου γίνεσθαι. δεύτερα δὲ ὡς τοῦτο οὐχ ἑώρα οἱ κατορθούμενον, ἐπʼ ἀναίσχυντον τρέπεται λόγον·
ξυγγενέσθαι τε τῇ παιδὶ καὶ κύειν ἐξ αὐτοῦ. τέλος δὲ ἐς τοσοῦτον Ἀριστόδημον προήγαγεν ὡς ἐκμανέντα ὑπὸ τοῦ θυμοῦ τὴν θυγατέρα ἀποκτεῖναι· μετὰ δὲ ἀνέτεμνε καὶ ἐπεδείκνυεν αὐτὴν οὐκ ἔχουσαν ἐν γαστρί. παρὼν δὲ Ἐπήβολος ἐκέλευεν ἄλλον τινὰ τὸν θυγατέρα ἐπιδώσοντα γενέσθαι· τῆς γὰρ τοῦ Ἀριστοδήμου πλέον εἶναί σφισιν ἀποθανούσης οὐδέν· φονεῦσαι γὰρ τὸν πατέρα αὐτήν, θεοῖς δὲ οἷς ἡ Πυθία προσέταξεν οὐ θῦσαι.
τοιαῦτα εἰπόντος τοῦ μάντεως τὸ πλῆθος τῶν Μεσσηνίων ὥρμησεν ἀποκτενοῦντες τὸν μνηστῆρα τῆς παιδός, ὡς Ἀριστοδήμῳ τε μίασμα εἰκαῖον προσάψαντα καὶ σφίσι τῆς σωτηρίας τὴν ἐλπίδα ἀμφίβολον πεποιηκότα. ἢν δὲ ὁ ἀνὴρ οὗτος ἐς τὰ μάλιστα τῷ Εὐφαεῖ φίλος· πείθει οὖν τοὺς Μεσσηνίους Εὐφαὴς τόν τε χρησμὸν ἔχειν τέλος ἀποθανούσης τῆς παιδὸς καὶ σφίσιν ἀποχρᾶν τὰ ὑπὸ Ἀριστοδήμου πεποιημένα.
λέγοντος δὲ ταῦτα ἔφασαν τὰ ὄντα λέγειν ὅσοι τοῦ Αἰπυτιδῶν γένους ἦσαν· ἀπεῖναι γάρ σφισι τὸ δέος τὸ ἐπὶ τῇ θυγατρὶ ἕκαστος ἔσπευδε. καὶ οἱ μὲν τοῦ βασιλέως τῇ παραινέσει πειθόμενοι τὴν ἐκκλησίαν διαλύουσι καὶ ἀπʼ αὐτῆς πρός τε θυσίας θεῶν καὶ ἑορτὴν τρέπονται·
After this battle the Messenians began to find themselves in evil case. They were exhausted by the expense of maintaining the garrisons in the towns, and their slaves deserted to the Lacedaemonians. Sickness, too, broke out among them, and being of the nature of the plague, it spread confusion and alarm, though it did not attack the whole population. In these circumstances it was resolved to abandon all of the numerous inland towns, and to settle on Mount Ithome. There was already a small town there which they say is mentioned by Homer in the Catalogue :— And ladder-like Ithome. To this town they moved up, and in it they settled, extending the ancient circuit so as to afford a sufficient protection to all. The place was naturally strong ; for Ithome is as high as any mountain in Peloponnese, and at this side it was especially inaccessible. 2. They resolved also to send a sacred envoy to Delphi. So they despatched Tisis, son of Alcis, because he was a man of the first quality, and was believed to be a great adept in divination. On his way back from Delphi he fell into an ambush which was laid for him by some Lacedaemonian soldiers belonging to the garrison of Amphea. As he would not submit to be taken prisoner, but stood on his defence, his enemies wounded him till a voice from the unseen cried to them, ‘Let go the bearer of the oracle.’ Tisis reached Ithome and reported the oracle to the king, and not long afterwards he died of his wounds. But Euphaes assembled the Messenians and laid the oracle before them :— A spotless maiden to the gods below, Chosen by lot, of the blood of the Aepytids, Shall ye sacrifice in nocturnal slaughter. But if ye are balked, then take a daughter of another race And sacrifice her, if her sire give her freely to be slain.
After this declaration of the god, all the maidens of the race of the Aepytids cast lots, and the lot fell on the daughter of Lyciscus. But the soothsayer Epebolis forbade that she should be sacrificed ; for he said that she was not the daughter of Lyciscus, but a supposititious child foisted on him by his barren wife. While he was unfolding the girl’s history, Lyciscus deserted to Sparta, taking the girl with him.
In the midst of the gloom which the news of his flight spread among the Messenians, Aristodemus freely offered his daughter as a victim. He was one of the race of the Aepytids, and more distinguished than Lyciscus both in peace and war. But the affairs and especially the purposes of man are hidden by Fate as a pebble is hidden by the slime of a river. Thus when Aristodemus had set his heart on saving Messenia, fate interposed the following obstacle.
There was a man of Messenia (his name is not told) who loved the daughter of Aristodemus, and was just about to make her his wife. He at first argued with Aristodemus that by betrothing his daughter he had relinquished his rights over her, and that these rights had now vested in himself as her betrothed husband. But, seeing that this had no effect, he resorted to an impudent device, declaring that the girl was with child by him. At last he worked up Aristodemus so far that in a frenzy of passion he killed his daughter; then he cut her open and showed that she was not with child. Epebolus, who was present, desired that some one else should offer his daughter ; for the death of the daughter of Aristodemus, he said, profited them nothing, seeing that her father had murdered her instead of sacrificing her to the gods, to whom the Pythian priestess had commanded that sacrifice should be made. At these words of the soothsayer the crowd rushed upon the girl’s suitor to kill him, because they thought he had stained Aristodemus with needless guilt, and jeopardised their own chance of safety. But he was a great friend of Euphaes, and Euphaes persuaded the Messenians that the oracle was fulfilled by the death of the girl, and that what Aristodemus had done was enough. All the men of the Aepytid race protested that he spoke the truth; for every one of them was anxious to save his daughter from the peril in which she stood. So the people hearkened to the king’s advice, broke up the assembly, and betook themselves to sacrifice and feasting.
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