§6.61.1ταῦτα μὲν δὴ οὕτω γίνεται.
These things indeed happened in this way.
τότε δὲ τὸν Κλεομένεα ἐόντα ἐν τῇ Αἰγίνῃ καὶ κοινὰ τῇ Ἑλλάδι ἀγαθὰ προεργαζόμενον ὁ Δημάρητος διέβαλε, οὐκ Αἰγινητέων οὕτω κηδόμενος ὡς φθόνῳ καὶ ἄγῃ χρεώμενος.
But at that time, Demaratus slandered Cleomenes while he was in Aegina and working beforehand for the common good of Greece, not out of care for the Aeginetans so much as being driven by envy and malice.
Κλεομένης δὲ νοστήσας ἀπʼ Αἰγίνης ἐβούλευε τὸν Δημάρητον παῦσαι τῆς βασιληίης, διὰ πρῆγμα τοιόνδε ἐπίβασιν ἐς αὐτὸν ποιεύμενος.
Cleomenes, having returned from Aegina, planned to depose Demaratus from the kingship, making an attack on him on the basis of the following matter.
Ἀρίστωνι βασιλεύοντι ἐν Σπάρτῃ καὶ γήμαντι γυναῖκας δύο παῖδες οὐκ ἐγίνοντο.
To Ariston, who was king in Sparta and had married two wives, no children were born.
§6.61.2καὶ οὐ γὰρ συνεγινώσκετο αὐτὸς τούτων εἶναι αἴτιος, γαμέει τρίτην γυναῖκα· ὧδε δὲ γαμέει.
And since he did not acknowledge himself to be the cause of this, he married a third wife; and he married her in this way.
ἦν οἱ φίλος τῶν Σπαρτιητέων ἀνήρ, τῷ προσέκειτο τῶν ἀστῶν μάλιστα ὁ Ἀρίστων.
He had a friend among the Spartans, to whom Ariston was most closely attached of all the citizens.
τούτῳ τῷ ἀνδρὶ ἐτύγχανε ἐοῦσα γυνὴ καλλίστη μακρῷ τῶν ἐν Σπάρτῃ γυναικῶν, καὶ ταῦτα μέντοι καλλίστη ἐξ αἰσχίστης γενομένη.
This man happened to have a wife who was by far the most beautiful of the women in Sparta, and that too after having become the most beautiful from having been the ugliest.
§6.61.3ἐοῦσαν γάρ μιν τὸ εἶδος φλαύρην ἡ τροφὸς αὐτῆς, οἷα ἀνθρώπων τε ὀλβίων θυγατέρα καὶ δυσειδέα ἐοῦσαν, πρὸς δὲ καὶ ὁρῶσα τοὺς γονέας συμφορὴν τὸ εἶδος αὐτῆς ποιευμένους, ταῦτα ἕκαστα μαθοῦσα ἐπιφράζεται τοιάδε· ἐφόρεε αὐτὴν ἀνὰ πᾶσαν ἡμέρην ἐς τὸ τῆς Ἑλένης ἱρόν.
For, as her appearance was ugly, her nurse, seeing that she was the daughter of wealthy people and yet deformed, and moreover seeing that her parents considered her appearance a misfortune, after considering each of these things, devised the following plan: she carried her every day to the temple of Helen.
τὸ δʼ ἐστὶ ἐν τῇ Θεράπνῃ καλεομένῃ ὕπερθε τοῦ Φοιβηίου ἱροῦ.
This temple is in the place called Therapne, above the temple of Phoebaeum.
ὅκως δὲ ἐνείκειε ἡ τροφός, πρός τε τὤγαλμα ἵστα καὶ ἐλίσσετο τὴν θεὸν ἀπαλλάξαι τῆς δυσμορφίης τὸ παιδίον.
Whenever the nurse carried her there, she would stand her before the image and entreat the goddess to rid the child of her ugliness.
§6.61.4καὶ δή κοτε ἀπιούσῃ ἐκ τοῦ ἱροῦ τῇ τροφῷ γυναῖκα λέγεται ἐπιφανῆναι, ἐπιφανεῖσαν δὲ ἐπειρέσθαι μιν ὅ τι φέρει ἐν τῇ ἀγκάλῃ, καὶ τὴν φράσαι ὡς παιδίον φορέει, τὴν δὲ κελεῦσαί οἱ δέξαι, τὴν δὲ οὐ φάναι·
And it is said that once, as the nurse was leaving the temple, a woman appeared to her, and having appeared, she asked her what she was carrying in her arms; and the nurse said that she was carrying a child.
ἀπειρῆσθαι γάρ οἱ ἐκ τῶν γειναμένων μηδενὶ ἐπιδεικνύναι· τὴν δὲ πάντως ἑωυτῇ κελεύειν ἐπιδέξαι.
Then the woman ordered her to show it to her, but the nurse refused, saying that she had been forbidden by the parents to show it to anyone; but the woman ordered her by all means to show it to her.
§6.61.5ὁρῶσαν δὲ τὴν γυναῖκα περὶ πολλοῦ ποιευμένην ἰδέσθαι, οὕτω δὴ τὴν τροφὸν δέξαι τὸ παιδίον·
Seeing that the woman made it a matter of great importance to see it, the nurse thus showed the child.
τὴν δὲ καταψῶσαν τοῦ παιδίου τὴν κεφαλὴν εἶπαι ὡς καλλιστεύσει πασέων τῶν ἐν Σπάρτῃ γυναικῶν.
And the woman, caressing the child's head, said that she would become the most beautiful of all the women in Sparta.
ἀπὸ μὲν δὴ ταύτης τῆς ἡμέρης μεταπεσεῖν τὸ εἶδος.
From that day indeed, her appearance changed.
γαμέει δὲ δή μιν ἐς γάμου ὥρην ἀπικομένην Ἄγητος ὁ Ἀλκείδεω, οὗτος δὴ ὁ τοῦ Ἀρίστωνος φίλος.
And when she reached the age for marriage, Agetus the son of Alceides, this very friend of Ariston, married her.