§1.132.1καὶ φανερὸν μὲν εἶχον οὐδὲν οἱ Σπαρτιᾶται σημεῖον, οὔτε οἱ ἐχθροὶ οὔτε ἡ πᾶσα πόλις, ὅτῳ ἂν πιστεύσαντες βεβαίως ἐτιμωροῦντο ἄνδρα γένους τε τοῦ βασιλείου ὄντα καὶ ἐν τῷ παρόντι τιμὴν ἔχοντα (Πλείσταρχον γὰρ τὸν Λεωνίδου ὄντα βασιλέα καὶ νέον ἔτι ἀνεψιὸς ὢν ἐπετρόπευεν),
And the Spartans, neither his enemies nor the entire city, had any clear evidence on which they could rely to punish securely a man who was of the royal family and held a high office at the present time (for being his cousin, he was the guardian of Pleistarchus, the son of Leonidas, who was king and still young).
§1.132.2ὑποψίας δὲ πολλὰς παρεῖχε τῇ τε παρανομίᾳ καὶ ζηλώσει τῶν βαρβάρων μὴ ἴσος βούλεσθαι εἶναι τοῖς παροῦσι, τά τε ἄλλα αὐτοῦ ἀνεσκόπουν, εἴ τί που ἐξεδεδιῄτητο τῶν καθεστώτων νομίμων, καὶ ὅτι ἐπὶ τὸν τρίποδά ποτε τὸν ἐν Δελφοῖς, ὃν ἀνέθεσαν οἱ Ἕλληνες ἀπὸ τῶν Μήδων ἀκροθίνιον, ἠξίωσεν ἐπιγράψασθαι αὐτὸς ἰδίᾳ τὸ ἐλεγεῖον τόδε· "
Ἑλλήνων ἀρχηγὸς ἐπεὶ στρατὸν ὤλεσε Μήδων,
Παυσανίας Φοίβῳ μνῆμ’ ἀνέθηκε τόδε. "
But he gave many grounds for suspicion by his lawlessness and his imitation of the barbarians, showing that he did not wish to be equal to his contemporaries; and they examined his other conduct, to see if he had in any way deviated from the established customs, and especially because he had once presumed to have this elegiac couplet inscribed on his own private account on the tripod at Delphi, which the Greeks had dedicated as the first-fruits of their spoils from the Medes: "When the leader of the Greeks destroyed the army of the Medes, Pausanias dedicated this monument to Phoebus.
§1.132.3τὸ μὲν οὖν ἐλεγεῖον οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι ἐξεκόλαψαν εὐθὺς τότε ἀπὸ τοῦ τρίποδος τοῦτο καὶ ἐπέγραψαν ὀνομαστὶ τὰς πόλεις ὅσαι ξυγκαθελοῦσαι τὸν βάρβαρον ἔστησαν τὸ ἀνάθημα· τοῦ μέντοι Παυσανίου ἀδίκημα καὶ τότ’ ἐδόκει εἶναι, καὶ ἐπεί γε δὴ ἐν τούτῳ καθειστήκει, πολλῷ μᾶλλον παρόμοιον πραχθῆναι ἐφαίνετο τῇ παρούσῃ διανοίᾳ.
"The Lacedaemonians immediately at that time erased this elegiac couplet from the tripod and inscribed by name the cities which had joined in overthrowing the barbarian and had set up the offering; however, even at that time this was thought to be an offense on the part of Pausanias, and now that he was placed in his present situation, it seemed much more to be a deed of a similar character to his present design.
§1.132.4ἐπυνθάνοντο δὲ καὶ ἐς τοὺς Εἵλωτας πράσσειν τι αὐτόν, καὶ ἦν δὲ οὕτως· ἐλευθέρωσίν τε γὰρ ὑπισχνεῖτο αὐτοῖς καὶ πολιτείαν, ἢν ξυνεπαναστῶσι καὶ τὸ πᾶν ξυγκατεργάσωνται.
They were also learning that he was negotiating something with the Helots, and indeed it was so; for he was promising them freedom and citizenship, if they would join in the rebellion and help to accomplish the whole plan.
§1.132.5ἀλλ’ οὐδ’ ὣς οὐδὲ τῶν Εἱλώτων μηνυταῖς τισὶ πιστεύσαντες ἠξίωσαν νεώτερόν τι ποιεῖν ἐς αὐτόν, χρώμενοι τῷ τρόπῳ ᾧπερ εἰώθασιν ἐς σφᾶς αὐτούς, μὴ ταχεῖς εἶναι περὶ ἀνδρὸς Σπαρτιάτου ἄνευ ἀναμφισβητήτων τεκμηρίων βουλεῦσαί τι ἀνήκεστον, πρίν γε δὴ αὐτοῖς, ὡς λέγεται, ὁ μέλλων τὰς τελευταίας βασιλεῖ ἐπιστολὰς πρὸς Ἀρτάβαζον κομιεῖν, ἀνὴρ Ἀργίλιος, παιδικά ποτε ὢν αὐτοῦ καὶ πιστότατος ἐκείνῳ, μηνυτὴς γίγνεται, δείσας κατὰ ἐνθύμησίν τινα ὅτι οὐδείς πω τῶν πρὸ ἑαυτοῦ ἀγγέλων πάλιν ἀφίκετο, καὶ παρασημηνάμενος σφραγῖδα, ἵνα, ἢν ψευσθῇ τῆς δόξης ἢ καὶ ἐκεῖνός τι μεταγράψαι αἰτήσῃ, μὴ ἐπιγνῷ, λύει τὰς ἐπιστολάς, ἐν αἷς ὑπονοήσας τι τοιοῦτον προσεπεστάλθαι καὶ αὑτὸν ηὗρεν ἐγγεγραμμένον κτείνειν.
But even so, not even believing certain informers from among the Helots did they think fit to take any drastic measure against him, following the custom which they are always accustomed to use among themselves, not to be hasty in deciding anything irreparable about a Spartan citizen without indisputable proofs, until indeed, as it is said, the man who was about to carry to Artabazus the last letters for the King, a man of Argilus, who had once been his favorite and was most faithful to him, became an informer. Fearing from a certain reflection that none of the messengers before him had ever returned, and having counterfeited the seal so that, if he should be mistaken in his suspicion or if Pausanias should ask to rewrite something, he might not be discovered, he opened the letters, in which, having suspected that some such thing was additionally commanded, he found himself also written down to be killed.