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52.
The Lacedaemonians say (but no poet agrees) that it was Aristodemus son of Aristomachus son of Cleodaeus son of Hyllus, and not his sons, who led them to that land which they now possess.
[2]
After no long time Aristodemus' wife, whose name was Argeia, bore him offspring; they say she was daughter of Autesion son of Tisamenus son of Thersander son of Polynices; she bore him twins; Aristodemus lived to see the children, then died of a sickness.
[3]
The Lacedaemonians of that day planned to follow their custom and make the eldest of the children king. But the children were identical in all respects, so the Lacedaemonians did not know which to choose; when they could not judge between them, or perhaps even before this, they asked the mother.
[4]
She said she knew no better than the Lacedaemonians which was the elder; she knew perfectly well, but she said this because she desired that by some means both might be made kings. The Lacedaemonians were at a loss, so they sent to Delphi to inquire how they should deal with the matter.
[5]
The priestess bade them make both children kings but give greater honor to the elder. When the priestess gave this response, the Lacedaemonians knew no better than before how to discover the elder child, and a man of Messenia, whose name was Panites, gave them advice:
[6]
he advised them to watch the mother and see which of the children she washed and fed before the other; if she was seen to do this always in the same order, they would then have all that they sought and desired to discover; but if she changed her practice haphazardly, then it would be manifest to the Lacedaemonians that she know no more than they did, and they must have recourse to some other means.
[7]
Then the Spartans did as the Messenian advised; as they watched the mother of Aristodemus' children, they found her always preferring the elder when she fed and washed them, since she did not know why she was being watched. So they took the child that was preferred by its mother and brought it up at public expense as the first-born; and they called it Eurysthenes, and the other Procles.
[8]
They say that when these two brothers grew to manhood, they feuded with each other as long as they lived, and their descendants continued to do likewise.
Herodotus, with an English translation by A. D. Godley. Cambridge. Harvard University Press. 1920.
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References (27 total)
- Commentary references to this page (3):
- Cross-references to this page
(9):
- Raphael Kühner, Bernhard Gerth, Ausführliche Grammatik der griechischen Sprache, KG 3.1.3
- Harper's, Eurysthĕnes
- A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890), E´PHORI
- A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890), GEROU´SIA
- William Watson Goodwin, Syntax of the Moods and Tenses of the Greek Verb, Chapter IV
- Smith's Bio, Argeia
- Smith's Bio, Aristo'machus
- Smith's Bio, Aute'sion
- Smith's Bio, Eury'sthenes
- Cross-references in notes to this page
(3):
- Apollodorus, Library, Apollod. 2.8
- Xenophon, Agesilaus, Xen. Ages. 8
- Thomas R. Martin, An Overview of Classical Greek History from Mycenae to Alexander, The Late Archaic City-State
- Cross-references in general dictionaries to this page (12):
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