Pausanias, Description of Greece, W.H.S. Jones (Translator), H.A. Ormerod (Translator), 3.8

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

View: By Section

← Previous Next →

[1]
Archidamus left sons when he died, of whom Agis was the elder and inherited the throne instead of Agesilaus. Archidamus had also a daughter, whose name was Cynisca; she was exceedingly ambitious to succeed at the Olympic games, and was the first woman to breed horses and the first to win an Olympic victory. After Cynisca other women, especially women of Lacedaemon , have won Olympic victories, but none of them was more distinguished for their victories than she.

[2] The Spartans seem to me to be of all men the least moved by poetry and the praise of poets. For with the exception of the epigram upon Cynisca, of uncertain authorship, and the still earlier one upon Pausanias that Simonides wrote on the tripod dedicated at Delphi , there is no poetic composition to commemorate the doings of the royal houses of the Lacedaemonians.

[3]
In the reign of Agis the son of Archidamus the Lacedaemonians had several grievances against the people of Elis , being especially exasperated because they were debarred from the Olympic games and the sanctuary at Olympia . So they dispatched a herald commanding the people of Elis to grant home-rule to Lepreum and to any other of their neighbors¹ that were subject to them. The people of Elis replied that, when they saw the cities free that were neighbors of Sparta , they would without delay set free their own subjects; whereupon the Lacedaemonians under king Agis invaded the territory of Elis .

[4] On this occasion there occurred an earthquake, and the army retired home after advancing as far as Olympia and the Alpheus but in the next year Agis devastated the country and carried off most of the booty. Xenias, a man of Elis who was a personal friend of Agis and the state-friend² of the Lacedaemonians, rose up with the rich citizens against the people but before Agis and his army could come to their aid, Thrasydaeus, who at this time championed the interests of the popular party at Elis , overthrew in battle Xenias and his followers and cast them out of the city.

[5] When Agis led back his army, he left behind Lysistratus, a Spartan, with a portion of his forces, along with the Elean refugees, that they might help the Lepreans to ravage the land. In the third year of the war³ the Lacedaemonians under Agis again prepared to invade the territory of Elis. So Thrasydaeus and the Eleans, reduced to dire extremities, agreed to forgo their supremacy over their neighbors, to dismantle the fortifications of their city, and to allow the Lacedaemonians to sacrifice to the god and to compete in the games at Olympia .

[6] Agis used also to make continual incursions into Attica , and established the fortified post at Decelea to annoy the Athenians.⁴ When the Athenian navy was destroyed at Aegospotami ,⁵ Lysander, the son of Aristocritus, and Agis violated the oaths which the Lacedaemonians as a state had sworn by the gods to the Athenians, and it was on their own initiative, and without the approval of the Spartan state, that they put before their allies the proposal to destroy Athens root and branch.

[7] Such were the most remarkable military achievements of Agis. The rash remark that Ariston made about Demaratus was also made by Agis about his son Leotychides; at the suggestion of some evil spirit he said in the hearing of the ephors that he did not believe Leotychides to be his son. Yet Agis, too, repented afterwards; he was at the time being carried home sick from Arcadia , and when he reached Heraea , he not only called the people to witness that he sincerely believed Leotychides to be his very own son, but also with prayers and tears charged them to take the tidings to the Lacedaemonians.

[8]
After the death of Agis, Agesilaus tried to keep Leotychides from the throne, recalling to the minds of the Lacedaemonians what Agis once said about Leotychides. But the Arcadians from Heraea arrived and bore witness for Leotychides, stating what they had heard the dying Agis say.

[9] Yet further fuel for the controversy between Agesilaus and Leotychides was supplied by the oracle that was delivered at Delphi to this effect:—

Sparta beware! though haughty, pay heed to the warning I give thee.

Never let thy sound limbs give birth to a kingdom that lame is.

Too long then shalt thou lie in the clutches of desperate hardships;

Turmoil of war shall arise, o'erwhelming men in its billows.

[10] Leotychides on this occasion said that these words pointed to Agesilaus, who was lame in one of his feet, while Agesilaus interpreted them as alluding to the illegitimacy of Leotychides. Although they might have done so, the Lacedaemonians did not refer the disputed point to Delphi ; the reason was in my opinion that Lysander, the son of Aristocritus, an active supporter of Agesilaus, would have him king at all costs.

Description of Greece. Pausanias. W.H.S. Jones (Translator), H.A. Ormerod (Translator). Cambridge, MA. 1918-1935.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by The Annenberg CPB/Project.

Current edition Perseus

Description of Greece (English) (Pausanias. Pausanias Description of Greece, Volumes 1-4. Jones, W.H.S. (William Henry Samuel), translator; Ormerod, Henry Arderne, translator. London, New York: W. Heinemann, G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1918-1935.)

Editions (1)

Ἑλλάδος Περιηγήσεως Perseus (Pausanias. Pausaniae Graeciae descriptio, Volumes 1-3. Spiro, Friedrich, editor. Leipzig: Teubner, 1903.) — 3.8 focus

[1]
Ἀρχιδάμου δὲ ὡς ἐτελεύτα καταλιπόντος παῖδας Ἆγίς τε πρεσβύτερος ἦν ἡλικίᾳ καὶ παρέλαβεν ἀντὶ Ἀγησιλάου τὴν ἀρχήν. ἐγένετο δὲ Ἀρχιδάμῳ καὶ θυγάτηρ, ὄνομα μὲν Κυνίσκα, φιλοτιμότατα δὲ ἐς τὸν ἀγῶνα ἔσχε τὸν Ὀλυμπικόν καὶ πρώτη τε ἱπποτρόφησε γυναικῶν καὶ νίκην ἀνείλετο Ὀλυμπικὴν πρώτη. Κυνίσκας δὲ ὕστερον γυναιξὶ καὶ ἄλλαις καὶ μάλιστα ταῖς ἐκ Λακεδαίμονος γεγόνασιν Ὀλυμπικαὶ νῖκαι, ὧν ἡ ἐπιφανεστέρα ἐς τὰς νίκας οὐδεμία ἐστὶν αὐτῆς.

[2] δοκοῦσι δὲ οἱ Σπαρτιᾶταί μοι ποίησιν καὶ ἔπαινον τὸν ἀπʼ αὐτῆς ἥκιστα ἀνθρώπων θαυμάσαι· ὅτι γὰρ μὴ τῇ Κυνίσκᾳ τὸ ἐπίγραμμα ἐποίησεν ὅστις δή, καὶ ἔτι πρότερον Παυσανίᾳ τὸ ἐπὶ τῷ τρίποδι Σιμωνίδης τῷ ἀνατεθέντι ἐς Δελφούς, ἄλλο δέ γε παρὰ ἀνδρὸς ποιητοῦ Λακεδαιμονίων τοῖς βασιλεῦσιν οὐδέν ἐστιν ἐς μνήμην.

[3]
ἐπὶ δὲ Ἄγιδος τοῦ Ἀρχιδάμου βασιλεύοντος Λακεδαιμονίοις ἄλλα τε ἐγένετο ἐς Ἠλείους ἐγκλήματα καὶ τοῦ ἀγῶνος τοῦ Ὀλυμπικοῦ καὶ ἱεροῦ τοῦ Ὀλυμπίασιν ὑπʼ αὐτῶν εἰργόμενοι μάλιστα ἤχθοντο. ἀποστέλλουσιν οὖν κήρυκα ἐπίταγμα φέροντα Ἠλείοις Λεπρεάτας τε αὐτονόμους ἀφιέναι καὶ ὅσοι τῶν περιοίκων ἄλλοι σφίσιν ἦσαν ὑπήκοοι. ἀποκριναμένων δὲ Ἠλείων ὡς 0 ἐπειδὰν τὰς περιοικίδας τῆς Σπάρτης πόλεις ἴδωσιν ἐλευθέρας, οὐδὲ αὐτοὶ μελλήσουσιν ἔτι ἀφιέναι τὰς ἑαυτῶν, οὕτω Λακεδαιμόνιοι καὶ ὁ βασιλεὺς Ἆγις ἐσβάλλουσιν ἐς τὴν Ἠλείαν.

[4] τότε μὲν δὴ τοῦ θεοῦ σείσαντος ὀπίσω τὸ στράτευμα ἀπεχώρησεν ἄχρι Ὀλυμπίας καὶ τοῦ Ἀλφειοῦ προελθόντες· τῷ δὲ ἐφεξῆς ἔτει τήν τε χώραν ἐδῄωσεν ὁ Ἆγις καὶ ἤλασε τῆς λείας τὴν πολλήν. Ξενίας δὲ ἀνὴρ Ἠλεῖος Ἄγιδί τε ἰδίᾳ ξένος καὶ Λακεδαιμονίων τοῦ κοινοῦ πρόξενος ἐπανέστη τῷ δήμῳ σὺν τοῖς τὰ χρήματα ἔχουσι· πρὶν δὲ Ἆγιν καὶ τὸν στρατὸν ἀφῖχθαί σφισιν ἀμύνοντας, Θρασυδαῖος προεστηκὼς τότε τοῦ Ἠλείων δήμου μάχῃ Ξενίαν καὶ τοὺς σὺν αὐτῷ κρατήσας ἐξέβαλεν ἐκ τῆς πόλεως.

[5] Ἆγις δὲ ὡς ἀπήγαγεν ὀπίσω τὴν στρατιάν, Λυσίστρατον Σπαρτιάτην καὶ μοῖράν τε τῆς δυνάμεως καὶ Ἠλείων καταλείπει τοὺς φυγάδας, κακουργεῖν σφᾶς ὁμοῦ Λεπρεάταις τὴν χώραν. τρίτῳ δὲ ἔτει τοῦ πολέμου Λακεδαιμόνιοι μὲν καὶ Ἆγις παρεσκευάζοντο ὡς ἐς τὴν Ἠλείαν καὶ τότε ἐσβαλοῦντες· οἱ δὲ Ἠλεῖοι καὶ Θρασυδαῖος—κεκακωμένοι γὰρ ἐς τὸ ἔσχατον ἦσαν— συγχωροῦσι μήτε τῶν περιοίκων ἔτι ἄρχειν καὶ τοῦ ἄστεως κατερεῖψαι τὸ τεῖχος, Λακεδαιμονίους τε ἐν Ὀλυμπίᾳ καὶ θύειν τῷ θεῷ καὶ τὸν ἀγῶνα ἐξεῖναί σφισιν ἀγωνίζεσθαι.

[6] ἐνέβαλλε δὲ καὶ ἐς τὴν Ἀττικὴν συνεχῶς ὁ Ἆγις στρατιᾷ καὶ ἐπετείχισε φρούριον Ἀθηναίοις τὸ ἐν Δεκελείᾳ· καταλυθέντος δὲ ἐν Αἰγὸς ποταμοῖς τοῦ Ἀθηναίων ναυτικοῦ Λύσανδρος ὁ
Ἀριστοκρίτου καὶ Ἆγις ὅρκους μὲν θεῶν ὑπερέβησαν, οὓς ὤμοσαν Ἀθηναίοις ἐν κοινῷ Λακεδαιμόνιοι, κατὰ σφᾶς δὲ αὐτοὶ καὶ οὐ μετὰ Σπαρτιατῶν τοῦ κοινοῦ τὸ βούλευμα ἐς τοὺς συμμάχους ἐξήνεγκαν ἐκκόψαι προρρίζους τὰς Ἀθήνας.

[7] τὰ μὲν οὖν ἐς πόλεμον μάλιστα ἐπίσημα τοιαῦτα ὑπῆρχε τῷ Ἄγιδι· προπέτειαν δὲ τὴν Ἀρίστωνος ἐς Δημάρατον καὶ Ἆγις ἐς τὸν παῖδα ἔσχε Λεωτυχίδην, καί οἱ κατά τινα οὐκ ἀγαθὸν δαίμονα ἐσῆλθεν ἐς ἐπήκοον τῶν ἐφόρων εἰπεῖν ὡς οὐχ αὑτοῦ νομίζοι Λεωτυχίδην. ἐπέλαβε μέντοι καὶ Ἆγιν μετάνοια ὕστερον, καὶ—ἔφερον γὰρ τηνικαῦτα οἴκαδε ἐξ Ἀρκαδίας αὐτὸν νοσοῦντα—ὡς ἐγίνετο ἐν Ἡραίᾳ, καὶ τὸ πλῆθος μάρτυρας ἐποιεῖτο ἦ μὴν Λεωτυχίδην ἑαυτοῦ παῖδα ἡγεῖσθαι καί σφισι σὺν ἱκεσίᾳ τε καὶ δακρύοις ἐπέσκηπτε πρὸς Λακεδαιμονίους ταῦτα ἀπαγγέλλειν.

[8]
μετὰ δὲ Ἆγιν ἀποθανόντα ἀπήλαυνεν Ἀγησίλαος τῆς βασιλείας Λεωτυχίδην, ἐς μνήμην ἄγων Λακεδαιμονίοις τὰ ὑπὸ Ἄγιδός ποτε λεχθέντα ἐς τὸν Λεωτυχίδην. ἀφίκοντο δὲ καὶ οἱ ἐξ Ἡραίας Ἀρκάδες καὶ ἦσαν τῷ Λεωτυχίδῃ μάρτυρες ὁπόσα Ἄγιδος τελευτῶντος ἤκουσαν.

[9] τῷ δὲ Ἀγησιλάῳ καὶ Λεωτυχίδῃ παρέσχεν ἐς πλέον τὸ μάντευμα ἀντιλογίαν τὸ ἐκ Δελφῶν, γεγονὸς μὲν ἐκεῖ, ἔχον δὲ οὕτω·

φράζεο δή, Σπάρτη, καίπερ μεγάλαυχος ἐοῦσα,

μὴ σέθεν ἀρτίποδος βλάστῃ χωλὴ βασιλεία.

δηρὸν γὰρ μόχθοι σε κατασχήσουσιν ἄελπτοι

φθερσιβρότου τʼ ἐπὶ κῦμα κυκωόμενον πολέμοιο.

[10] τότε οὖν Λεωτυχίδης μὲν ἐς Ἀγησίλαον ταῦτα ἔφασκεν εἰρῆσθαι, τὸν γὰρ δὴ ἕτερον τῶν ποδῶν ἐπεπήρωτο ὁ Ἀγησίλαος· Ἀγησίλαος δὲ ἐς Λεωτυχίδην αὐτὰ ἔτρεπεν οὐ γνήσιον ὄντα Ἄγιδος. Λακεδαιμόνιοι δέ, καίπερ ἐπὶ σφίσιν ὄν, οὐκ ἐπανήγαγον τὸ ἀμφισβήτημα ἐς Δελφούς· αἴτιος δʼ ἐμοὶ δοκεῖν Λύσανδρος ἐγένετο ὁ Ἀριστοκρίτου Ἀγησιλάῳ συσπεύδων ἐξ ἅπαντος τὴν βασιλείαν γενέσθαι.

Translations (1)

English (Jones and Ormerod; retranslated Gregory Nagy, CHS, 2018) (OCR draft) Experimental (CHS Pausanias Reader retranslation by Gregory Nagy, based on Jones and Ormerod, with marked Greek terms, notes, quotations, and bibliographic attributions preserved.) — 3.8 focus

[1] Arkhidamos left sons when he died, of whom Agis was the elder and inherited the throne instead of Agesilaos. Arkhidamos had also a daughter, whose name was Kyniska; she was exceedingly ambitious to succeed at the Olympic games, and was the first woman to breed horses and the first to win an Olympic victory. After Kyniska other women, especially women of Lacedaemon, have won Olympic victories, but none of them was more distinguished for their victories than she.

[2] The Spartans seem to me to be of all men the least moved by poetry and the praise of poets. For with the exception of the epigram upon Kyniska, of uncertain authorship, and the still earlier one upon Pausanias that Simonides wrote on the tripod dedicated at Delphi, there is no poetic composition to commemorate the doings of the royal houses of the Lacedaemonians.

[3] In the reign of Agis the son of Arkhidamos the Lacedaemonians had several grievances against the people of Elis, being especially exasperated because they were debarred from the Olympic games and the sanctuary at Olympia. So they dispatched a herald commanding the people of Elis to grant home-rule to Lepreum and to any other of their neighbors that were subject to them. The people of Elis replied that, when they saw the cities free that were neighbors of Sparta, they would without delay set free their own subjects; whereupon the Lacedaemonians under king Agis invaded the territory of Elis.

[4] On this occasion there occurred an earthquake, and the army retired home after advancing as far as Olympia and the Alpheus but in the next year Agis devastated the country and carried off most of the loot. Xenias, a man of Elis who was a personal friend of Agis and the state-friend of the Lacedaemonians, rose up with the rich citizens against the people but before Agis and his army could come to their aid, Thrasydaeus, who at this time championed the interests of the popular party at Elis, overthrew in battle Xenias and his followers and cast them out of the city.

[5] When Agis led back his army, he left behind Lysistratos, a Spartan, with a portion of his forces, along with the refugees from Elis, that they might help the Lepreans to ravage the land. In the third year of the war the Lacedaemonians under Agis again prepared to invade the territory of Elis. So Thrasydaeus and the people of Elis, reduced to dire extremities, agreed to forgo their supremacy over their neighbors, to dismantle the fortifications of their city, and to allow the Lacedaemonians to sacrifice to the god and to compete in the games at Olympia.

[6] Agis used also to make continual incursions into Attica, and established the fortified post at Decelea to annoy the Athenians. When the Athenian navy was destroyed at Aigospotamoi, Lysander, the son of Aristokritos, and Agis violated the oaths which the Lacedaemonians as a state had sworn by the gods to the Athenians, and it was on their own initiative, and without the approval of the Spartan state, that they put before their allies the proposal to destroy Athens root and branch.

[7] Such were the most remarkable military achievements of Agis. The rash remark that Ariston made about Demaratos was also made by Agis about his son Leotykhides; at the suggestion of some evil spirit he said in the hearing of the ephors that he did not believe Leotykhides to be his son. Yet Agis, too, repented afterwards; he was at the time being carried home sick from Arcadia, and when he reached Heraia, he not only called the people to witness that he sincerely believed Leotykhides to be his very own son, but also with prayers and tears charged them to take the tidings to the Lacedaemonians.

[8] After the death of Agis, Agesilaos tried to keep Leotykhides from the throne, recalling to the minds of the Lacedaemonians what Agis once said about Leotykhides. But the Arcadians from Heraia arrived and bore witness for Leotykhides, stating what they had heard the dying Agis say.

[9] Yet further fuel for the controversy between Agesilaos and Leotykhides was supplied by the oracle that was delivered at Delphi to this effect:

“Sparta beware! though haughty, pay heed to the warning I give thee.
Never let thy sound limbs give birth to a kingdom that lame is.
Too long then shalt thou lie in the clutches of desperate hardships;
Turmoil of war shall arise, o’erwhelming men in its billows.”

[10] Leotykhides on this occasion said that these words pointed to Agesilaos, who was lame in one of his feet, while Agesilaos interpreted them as alluding to the illegitimacy of Leotykhides. Although they might have done so, the Lacedaemonians did not refer the disputed point to Delphi; the reason was in my opinion that Lysander, the son of Aristokritos, an active supporter of Agesilaos, would have him king at all costs.

Notes on the current edition

Description of Greece

1. The cities of the Perioeci (a word which means “neighbors”), who were personally free men but had had no political rights.

2. Proxenos ; that is, he represented Spartan interests in Elis .

3. 398 B.C.

4. 413 B.C.

5. 405 B.C.

New Alexandria Commentaries

Gregory Nagy, Editors: Angelia Hanhardt and Keith DeStone, Web producer: Noel Spencer, Consultant for images: Jill Curry Robbins, \[\[Noel gives this a separate URN\]\]

Pausanias Description of Greece 3.8

W.H.S. Jones (Translator), H.A. Ormerod (Translator)

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Current edition Perseus

Notes on the current edition

New Alexandria Commentaries

Stable identifiers