ὁ μὲν οὖν Κλεόμβροτος οὐδὲν εἶχεν εἰπεῖν, ἀλλʼ ἠπορημένος ἐκάθητο καί σιωπῶν ἡ δὲ Χιλωνίς, ἡ τοῦ Λεωνίδου θυγάτηρ, πρότερον μὲν ἀδικουμένῳ τῷ πατρὶ συνηδικεῖτο, καί τοῦ Κλεομβρότου τὴν βασιλείαν παραλαβόντος ἀποστᾶσα τὴν τοῦ πατρὸς συμφορὰν ἐθεράπευε, καί παρόντι μὲν συνικέτευε, φεύγοντος δὲ πενθοῦσα καὶ χαλεπῶς ἔχουσα πρὸς τὸν Κλεόμβροτον διετέλει, τότε δὲ αὖ πάλιν ταῖς τύχαις συμμεταβάλλουσα μετὰ τοῦ ἀνδρὸς ἱκέτις ὤφθη καθεζομένη, περιβεβληκυῖα τὰς χεῖρας ἐκείνῳ καί τῶν παιδίων τὸ μὲν ἔνθεν, τὸ δʼ ἔνθεν ὑφʼ αὑτὴν ἔχουσα.
Cleombrotus, on his part, had naught to say for himself, but sat perplexed and speechless; Chilonis, however, the daughter of Leonidas, who before this had felt herself wronged in the wrongs done to her father, and when Cleombrotus was made king had left him and ministered to her father in his misfortunes,—sharing his suppliant life while he was in the city, and in his exile continually grieving for him and cherishing bitter thoughts of Cleombrotus—at this time changed back again with the changed fortunes of the men, and was seen sitting as a suppliant with her husband, her arms thrown about him, and a little child clinging to her on either side.
θαυμαζόντων δὲ πάντων καί δακρυόντων ἐπὶ τῇ χρηστότητι καί φιλοστοργίᾳ τῆς γυναικός, ἁψαμένη τῶν πέπλων καί τῆς κόμης ἀτημελῶς ἐχόντων, τοῦτο, εἶπεν, ὦ πάτερ, ἐμοὶ τὸ σχῆμα καί τὴν ὄψιν οὐχ ὁ Κλεομβρότου περιτέθεικεν ἔλεος, ἀλλʼ ἀπὸ τῶν σῶν κακῶν καί τῆς σῆς φυγῆς μεμένηκέ μοι σύντροφον καί σύνοικον τὸ πένθος, πότερον οὖν δεῖ με σοῦ βασιλεύοντος ἐν Σπάρτῃ καί νικῶντος ἐγκαταβιῶναι ταύταις ταῖς συμφοραῖς, ἢ λαβεῖν ἐσθῆτα λαμπρὰν καί βασιλικήν, ἐπιδοῦσαν ὑπὸ σοῦ τὸν παρθένιον ἄνδρα φονευόμενον;
All beholders were moved to wonder and tears at the fidelity and devotion of the woman, who, touching her robes and her hair, alike unkempt, said: This garb, my father, and this appearance, are not due to my pity for Cleombrotus; nay, ever since thy sorrows and thine exile grief has been my steadfast mate and companion. Must I, then, now that thou art king in Sparta and victorious over thine enemies, continue to live in this sad state, or put on the splendid attire of royalty, after seeing the husband of my youth slain at thy hands?
ὃς εἰ μὴ παραιτεῖταί σε μηδὲ πείθει τέκνων καί γυναικὸς δάκρυσι, χαλεπωτέραν ἢ σὺ βούλει δίκην ὑφέξει τῆς κακοβουλίας ἐπιδὼν ἐμὲ τὴν φιλτάτην αὐτῷ προαποθανοῦσαν. τίνι γὰρ ἐμὲ δεῖ ζῆν παρρησίᾳ πρὸς τὰς ἄλλας γυναῖκας, ᾗ μήτε παρʼ ἀνδρὸς δεομένῃ μήτε παρὰ πατρὸς ἔλεός ἐστιν; ἀλλὰ καί γυνὴ καί θυγάτηρ συνατυχεῖν καί συνατιμάζεσθαι τοῖς ἐμαυτῆς ἐγενόμην.
That husband, unless he persuades and wins thee over by the tears of his wife and children, will pay a more grievous penalty for his evil designs than thou desirest, for he shall see me, his most beloved one, dead before he is. For with what assurance could I live and face the other women, I, whose prayers awakened no pity in either husband or father? Nay, both as wife and as daughter I was born to share only the misfortune and dishonour of the men nearest and dearest to me.
τούτῳ μὲν οὖν εἰ καί τις ἦν λόγος εὐπρεπής, ἐγὼ τοῦτον ἀφειλόμην τότε σοὶ συνεξετασθεῖσα καὶ καταμαρτυρήσασα τῶν ὑπὸ τούτου γενομένων σὺ δὲ αὐτῷ τὸ ἀδίκημα ποιεῖς εὐαπολόγητον, οὕτω μέγα καί περιμάχητον ἀποφαίνων τὸ βασιλεύειν ὥστε διʼ αὐτὸ καί γαμβροὺς φονεύειν καί τέκνων ἀμελεῖν εἶναι δίκαιον.
As for my husband, even if he had some plausible excuse for his course, I robbed him of it at that time by taking thy part and testifying to what he had done; but thou makest his crime an easy one to defend by showing men that royal power is a thing so great and so worth fighting for that for its sake it is right to slay a son-in-law and ignore a child.
ἡ μὲν Χιλωνὶς τοιαῦτα ποτνιωμένη τό τε πρόσωπον ἐπὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν ἐπέθηκε τοῦ Κλεομβρότου, καί τὸ βλέμμα διεφθαρμένον καί συντετηκὸς ὑπὸ λύπης περιήνεγκεν εἷς τοὺς παρόντας. ὁ δὲ Λεωνίδας διαλεχθεὶς τοῖς φίλοις τὸν μὲν Κλεόμβροτον ἐκέλευσεν ἀναστάντα φεύγειν, τῆς δὲ παιδὸς μένειν ἐδεῖτο καί μὴ καταλιπεῖν ἑαυτόν οὕτω φιλοῦντα καί δεδωκότα χάριν τὴν τοῦ ἀνδρὸς αὐτῇ σωτηρίαν.
Uttering such supplications Chilonis rested her face upon the head of Cleombrotus and turned her eyes, all melted and marred with grief, upon the bystanders. Then Leonidas, after conference with his friends, bade Cleombrotus leave his asylum and go into exile, but begged his daughter to remain, and not to abandon him, since he loved her so much, and had made her a free gift of her husband’s life.
οὐ μὴν ἔπεισεν, ἀλλʼ ἀνισταμένῳ τῷ ἀνδρὶ θάτερον τῶν παιδίων ἐγχειρίσασα, θάτερον δʼ Ἀναλαβοῦσα καί προσκυνήσασα τὸν βωμὸν τοῦ θεοῦ συνεξῆλθεν, ὥστε εἰ μὴ πάνυ διεφθαρμένος ἦν ὑπὸ κενῆς δόξης ὁ Κλεόμβροτος, εὐτύχημα ἂν ἡγήσατο τὴν φυγὴν αὑτῷ τῆς βασιλείας μεῖζον εἶναι διὰ τὴν γυναῖκα. μεταστησάμενος δὲ τὸν Κλεόμβροτον ὁ Λεωνίδας καὶ τοὺς πρώτους ἐφόρους ἐκβαλὼν τῆς ἀρχῆς, ἑτέρους δὲ ποιησάμενος, εὐθὺς ἐπεβούλευε τῷ Ἄγιδι.
He could not persuade her, however, but when her husband rose to go she put one of her children in his arms, took up the other one herself, and went forth in his company after an obeisance to the altar of the god; so that if Cleombrotus had not been wholly corrupted by vain ambition, he would have considered that exile was a greater blessing for him than the kingdom, because it restored to him his wife. After removing Cleombrotus from his asylum, Leonidas expelled the officiating ephors from their office, appointed others in their place, and at once began to lay plots against the life of Agis.
καί πρῶτον μὲν ἔπειθεν αὐτὸν ἀναστῆναι καὶ συμβασιλεύειν, ὡς δεδωκότων συγγνώμην τῶν πολιτῶν συνεξηπατῆσθαι γὰρ ὑπὸ τοῦ Ἀγησιλάου νέον ὄντα καί φιλότιμον. ἐκείνου δὲ ὑφορωμένου καί κατὰ χώραν μένοντος αὐτὸς μὲν ἐπαύσατο φενακίζων καί κατειρωνευόμενος, Ἀμφάρης δὲ καί Δαμοχάρης καί Ἀρκεσίλαος ἀναβαίνοντες εἰώθεσαν αὐτῷ διαλέγεσθαι· καί ποτε καί παραλαβόντες ἐπὶ λουτρὸν ἀπὸ τοῦ ἱεροῦ κατήγαγον καί λουσάμενον πάλιν εἷς τὸ ἱερὸν κατέστησαν.
To begin with, he tried to persuade Agis to leave his asylum and share the royal power with him, assuring Agis that the citizens had pardoned him, because, being a young man and ambitious, he had been one of those whom Agesilaüs had completely deceived. But Agis continued to be suspicious and would not leave his asylum. So Leonidas himself stopped trying to cheat and play tricks upon him, but Amphares, Damochares, and Arcesilaüs did not. They were wont to go up to the temple and verse with Agis; and once they actually took him in charge and brought him down from the temple for a bath, and after he had bathed, restored him again to the temple.
καί ἦσαν πάντες μὲν αὐτῷ συνήθεις, ὁ δὲ Ἀμφάρης καί κεχρημένος ἔναγχος ἱμάτια καί ποτήρια τῶν πολυτελῶν παρὰ τῆς Ἀγησιστράτας ἐπεβούλευε διὰ ταῦτα τῷ βασιλεῖ καί ταῖς γυναιξὶν ὡς ἀποστερήσων. καί μάλιστά γε αὐτὸς ὑπακοῦσαι τῷ Λεωνίδᾳ λέγεται καί παροξῦναι τοὺς ἐφόρους, ὧν καί αὐτὸς εἷς ἦν.
They were all comrades of his, but Amphares had also borrowed recently some costly vestures and beakers from Agesistrata, and therefore plotted to destroy the king and the women, that he might not have to return what he had borrowed. And he, certainly, more than anyone else, as we are told, followed the counsels of Leonidas and embittered the ephors, of whom he was one, against Agis.
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