48. After this Darius began to make trial of the Hellenes, what they meant to do, whether to make war with him or to deliver themselves up. He sent abroad heralds therefore, and appointed them to go some to one place and others to another throughout Hellas, bidding them demand earth and water for the king. These, I say, he sent to Hellas; and meanwhile he was sending abroad other heralds to his own tributary cities which lay upon the seacoast, and he bade them have ships of war built and also vessels to carry horses. 49. They then were engaged in preparing these things; and meanwhile when the heralds had come to Hellas, many of those who dwelt upon the mainland gave that for which the Persian made demand,872 and all those who dwelt in the islands did so, to whomsoever they came to make their demand. The islanders, I say, gave earth and water to Darius, and among them also those of Egina, and when these had done so, the Athenians went forthwith urgent against them, supposing that the Aeginetans had given with hostile purpose against themselves, in order to make an expedition against them in combination with the Persians; and also they were glad to get hold of an occasion against them. Accordingly they went backward and forwards to Sparta and accused the Aeginetans of that which they had done, as having proved themselves traitors to Hellas. 50. In consequence of this accusation Cleomenes the son of Anaxandrides, king of the Spartans, crossed over to Egina meaning to seize those of the Aeginetans who were the most guilty; but as he was attempting to seize them, certain of the Aeginetans opposed him, and among them especially Crios the son of Polycritos, who said that he should not with impunity carry off a single Aeginetan, for he was doing this (said he) without authority from the Spartan State, having been persuaded to it by the Athenians with money; otherwise he would have come and seized them in company with the other king: and this he said by reason of a message received from Demaratos. Cleomenes then as he departed from Egina, asked Crios873 what was his name, and he told him the truth; and Cleomenes said to him: “Surely now, O Ram, thou must cover over thy horns with bronze for thou wilt shortly have a great trouble to contend with.”
51. Meanwhile Demaratos the son of Ariston was staying behind in Sparta and bringing charges against Cleomenes, he also being king of the Spartans but of the inferior house; which however is inferior in no other way (for it is descended from the same ancestor), but the house of Eurysthenes has always been honoured more, apparently because he was the elder brother. 52. For the Lacedaemonians, who herein agree with none of the poets, say that Aristodemos the son of Aristomachos, the son of Cleodaios, the son of Hyllos, being their king, led them himself (and not the sons of Aristodemos) to this land which they now possess. Then after no long time the wife of Aristodemos, whose name was Argeia—she was the daughter, they say, of Autesion, the son of Tisamenes, the son of Thersander, the son of Polyneikes—she, it is said, brought forth twins; and Aristodemos lived but to see his children and then ended his life by sickness. So the Lacedaemonians of that time resolved according to established custom to make the elder of the children their king; but they did not know which of them they should take, because they were like one another and of equal size; and when they were not able to make out, or even before this, they inquired of their mother; and she said that even she herself did not know one from the other. She said this, although she knew in truth very well, because she desired that by some means both might be made kings. The Lacedaemonians then were in a strait; and being in a strait they sent to Delphi to inquire what they should do in the matter. And the Pythian prophetess bade them regard both children as their kings, but honour most the first in age.874 The prophetess, they say, thus gave answer to them; and when the Lacedaemonians were at a loss none the less how to find out the elder of them, a Messenian whose name was Panites made a suggestion to them: this Panites, I say, suggested to the Lacedaemonians that they should watch the mother and see which of the children she washed and fed before the other; and if she was seen to do this always in the same order, then they would have all that they were seeking and desiring to find out, but if she too was uncertain and did it in a different order at different times, it would be plain to them that even she had no more knowledge than any other, and they must turn to some other way. Then the Spartans following the suggestion of the Messenian watched the mother of the sons of Aristodemos and found that she gave honour thus to the firstborn both in feeding and in washing; for she did not know with that design she was being watched. They took therefore the child which was honoured by its mother and brought it up as the firstborn in the public hall,875 and to it was given the name of Eurysthenes, while the other was called Procles. These, when they had grown up, both themselves were at variance, they say, with one another, though they were brothers, throughout the whole time of their lives, and their descendants also continued after
