Description of Greece

​The Arcadians, as soon as they learned of the capture of Eira, immediately ordered Aristokrates to lead them, either to save the Messenians or to perish with them. But he, since he had received gifts from Lacedaemon, neither wished to lead them nor claimed that any of the Messenians was still left for them to help.

​But when they later perceived more clearly that they survived and had been forced to leave Eira, they themselves intended to receive them around Mount Lykaion, having prepared beforehand both clothing and food, and they sent men of those in authority both to comfort the Messenians and at the same time to be guides of their march. And when they had escaped safely to Lykaion, the Arcadians entertained them and in other respects treated them kindly, and they wished both to distribute them among their cities and to redistribute the land for their sake.

​But to Aristomenes, both pity for Eira being plundered and hatred toward the Lacedaemonians suggested the following plan. Having selected from the multitude five hundred of the Messenians, whom he knew to be most unsparing of themselves, he asked them in the hearing of both the other Arcadians and Aristokrates—since he did not know that he was a traitor; for he thought that he had fled from the battle then already because of unmanliness and through cowardice, and not because of any malice, so that even in front of him he asked the five hundred—whether they would be willing to die with him to avenge their fatherland.

​And when they said they were willing, he revealed the whole matter, that he intended by all means to lead them against Sparta on the coming evening; for at that very time most of the Lacedaemonians were away at Eira, and others were visiting it, carrying and driving off the possessions of the Messenians. “And if we are able to capture and hold Sparta,” said Aristomenes, “it is possible for us, by giving back to the Lacedaemonians their own, to recover what is ours; but if we fail, we shall at least die together, having performed deeds worthy of remembrance also for posterity.”

​When he had said this, about three hundred of the Arcadians wished to take part in the daring enterprise themselves. And at that time indeed they held back from setting out, for the sacrifices did not turn out according to their wish; but on the following day they learned that their secret had been beforehand known to the Lacedaemonians and that they themselves had been betrayed a second time by Aristokrates; for Aristokrates, having immediately written down the plans of Aristomenes in a letter, and having entrusted the letter to the one of his servants whom he knew to be most loyal, sent him to Anaxandros in Sparta.

​But on his return, some Arcadian men, who had been at variance with Aristokrates even before and had also conceived some suspicion toward him at that time, lay in wait for the servant. And having caught the servant in ambush, they brought him back to the Arcadians and displayed to the assembly the reply sent back from Lacedaemon; and Anaxandros had written, saying that his former flight from the Great Trench had not been without profit from the Lacedaemonians, and that gratitude would also be added to him for the present disclosures.

​And when this was reported to everyone, the Arcadians themselves began to pelt Aristokrates with stones and urged the Messenians to do so; but they looked toward Aristomenes. And he, looking down to the ground, wept; but the Arcadians, having stoned Aristokrates to death, cast him unburied outside the borders, and set up a stele in the sanctuary of Lykaion, which said: “Time in any case found justice for an unjust king, And together with Zeus, found the traitor of Messene Easily. For it is hard for a perjured man to escape the god’s notice. Hail, King Zeus, and save Arcadia.”