§10.4.17λέγεσθαι δʼ ὑπό τινων ὡς Λακωνικὰ εἴη τὰ πολλὰ τῶν νομιζομένων Κρητικῶν, τὸ δʼ ἀληθὲς εὑρῆσθαι μὲν ὑπʼ ἐκείνων, ἠκριβωκέναι δὲ τοὺς Σπαρτιάτας, τοὺς δὲ Κρῆτας ὀλιγωρῆσαι, κακωθεισῶν τῶν πόλεων καὶ μάλιστα τῆς Κνωσσίων, τῶν πολεμικῶν·
It is said by some that most of the customs reputed to be Cretan are Laconian, but the truth is that while they were invented by the former, the Spartans perfected them, whereas the Cretans neglected them, especially in military matters, because their cities, and particularly that of the Cnossians, were ruined by wars.
μεῖναι δέ τινα τῶν νομίμων παρὰ Λυττίοις καὶ Γορτυνίοις καὶ ἄλλοις τισὶ πολιχνίοις μᾶλλον ἢ παρʼ ἐκείνοις· καὶ δὴ καὶ τὰ Λυττίων νόμιμα ποιεῖσθαι μαρτύρια τοὺς τὰ Λακωνικὰ πρεσβύτερα ἀποφαίνοντας· ἀποίκους γὰρ ὄντας φυλάττειν τὰ τῆς μητροπόλεως ἔθη, ἐπεὶ ἄλλως γε εὔηθες εἶναι τὸ τοὺς βέλτιον συνεστῶτας καὶ πολιτευομένους τῶν χειρόνων ζηλωτὰς ἀποφαίνειν·
They say also that some of the customs remained among the Lyttians, Gortynians, and certain other small towns rather than among the former, and indeed, those who declare the Laconian customs to be older make the customs of the Lyttians their evidence; for they say that as colonists they preserve the customs of their mother-city, since otherwise indeed it would be silly to declare those who are better organized and governed to be imitators of those who are worse.
οὐκ εὖ δὲ ταῦτα λέγεσθαι· οὔτε γὰρ ἐκ τῶν νῦν καθεστηκότων τὰ παλαιὰ τεκμηριοῦσθαι δεῖν, εἰς τἀναντία ἑκατέρων μεταπεπτωκότων·
But, they say, this is not well said; for one should not judge antiquity from present conditions, when the circumstances of both have changed into the opposite.
καὶ γὰρ ναυκρατεῖν πρότερον τοὺς Κρῆτας, ὥστε καὶ παροιμιάζεσθαι πρὸς τοὺς προσποιουμένους μὴ εἰδέναι ἃ ἴσασιν
ὁ Κρὴς ἀγνοεῖ τὴν θάλατταν,
νῦν δʼ ἀποβεβληκέναι τὸ ναυτικόν·
For indeed, the Cretans formerly ruled the sea, so that even a proverb was used against those who pretend not to know what they do know: "The Cretan does not know the sea, "but now they have lost their navy.
ὅτι ἄποικοί τινες τῶν πόλεων γεγόνασι τῶν ἐν Κρήτῃ Σπαρτιατῶν, ἐν τοῖς ἐκείνων νομίμοις διαμένειν ἐπηναγκάσθαι· πολλὰς γοῦν τῶν ἀποικίδων μὴ φυλάττειν τὰ πάτρια, πολλὰς δὲ καὶ τῶν μὴ ἀποικίδων ἐν Κρήτῃ τὰ αὐτὰ ἔχειν τοῖς ἀποίκοις ἔθη.
Nor, because some of the cities have become colonies of the Spartans in Crete, is it the case that they were forced to remain in their customs; at any rate, many of the colonies do not preserve their ancestral customs, while many of those that are not colonies in Crete have the same customs as the colonies.
§10.4.18τῶν τε Σπαρτιατῶν τὸν νομοθέτην Λυκοῦργον πέντε γενεαῖς νεώτερον Ἀλθαιμένους εἶναι τοῦ στείλαντος τὴν εἰς Κρήτην ἀποικίαν· τὸν μὲν γὰρ ἱστορεῖσθαι Κίσσου παῖδα τοῦ τὸ Ἄργος κτίσαντος περὶ τὸν αὐτὸν χρόνον ἡνίκα Προκλῆς τὴν Σπάρτην συνῴκιζε, Λυκοῦργον δʼ ὁμολογεῖσθαι παρὰ πάντων ἕκτον ἀπὸ Προκλέους γεγονέναι·
Moreover, they say that the Spartan lawgiver Lycurgus was five generations younger than Althaemenes, who led the colony to Crete; for the latter is recorded to have been the son of Cissus, who founded Argos, at about the same time when Procles was co-founding Sparta, whereas Lycurgus is agreed by all to have been the sixth from Procles.
τὰ δὲ μιμήματα μὴ εἶναι πρότερα τῶν παραδειγμάτων μηδὲ τὰ νεώτερα τῶν πρεσβυτέρων·
And they say that the imitations are not prior to the patterns, nor the younger prior to the older.
τήν τε ὄρχησιν τὴν παρὰ τοῖς Λακεδαιμονίοις ἐπιχωριάζουσαν καὶ τοὺς ῥυθμοὺς καὶ παιᾶνας τοὺς κατὰ νόμον ᾀδομένους καὶ ἄλλα πολλὰ τῶν νομίμων Κρητικὰ καλεῖσθαι παρʼ αὐτοῖς ὡς ἂν ἐκεῖθεν ὁρμώμενα·
Also, the dance that is native among the Lacedaemonians, and the rhythms and paeans sung according to the law, and many other customs are called "Cretan" among them, as having originated from there.
τῶν δʼ ἀρχείων τὰ μὲν καὶ τὰς διοικήσεις ἔχειν τὰς αὐτὰς καὶ τὰς ἐπωνυμίας, ὥσπερ καὶ τὴν τῶν γερόντων ἀρχὴν καὶ τὴν τῶν ἱππέων (πλὴν ὅτι τοὺς ἐν Κρήτῃ ἱππέας καὶ ἵππους κεκτῆσθαι συμβέβηκεν· ἐξ οὗ τεκμαίρονται πρεσβυτέραν εἶναι τῶν ἐν Κρήτῃ ἱππέων τὴν ἀρχήν· σώζειν γὰρ τὴν ἐτυμότητα τῆς προσηγορίας· τοὺς δὲ μὴ ἱπποτροφεῖν), τοὺς ἐφόρους δὲ τὰ αὐτὰ τοῖς ἐν Κρήτῃ κόσμοις διοικοῦντας ἑτέρως ὠνομάσθαι·
And of the offices, some have both the same administration and the same names, just as the office of the elders and that of the horsemen—except that the horsemen in Crete actually happen to possess horses, from which they infer that the office of the horsemen in Crete is older, for it preserves the etymology of the name, whereas those do not keep horses—while the ephors, administering the same things as the cosmoi in Crete, are named differently.
τὰ δὲ συσσίτια ἀνδρεῖα παρὰ μὲν τοῖς Κρησὶν καὶ νῦν ἔτι καλεῖσθαι, παρὰ δὲ τοῖς Σπαρτιάταις μὴ διαμεῖναι καλούμενα ὁμοίως πρότερον· παρʼ Ἀλκμᾶνι γοῦν οὕτω κεῖσθαι
"
φοίναις δὲ καὶ ἐν θιάσοισιν
ἀνδρείων παρὰ δαιτυμόνεσσι πρέπει παιᾶνα κατάρχειν.
And the common meals are even now still called "andreia" among the Cretans, but they did not continue to be called so in the same way formerly among the Spartans; at least, in Alcman it is written thus: "And at feasts and in assemblies of the andreia, among the guests, it is fitting to begin the paean.
" §10.4.19λέγεσθαι δʼ ὑπὸ τῶν Κρητῶν ὡς καὶ παρʼ αὐτοὺς ἀφίκοιτο Λυκοῦργος κατὰ τοιαύτην αἰτίαν·
"And it is said by the Cretans that Lycurgus also came to them for the following reason.
ἀδελφὸς ἦν πρεσβύτερος τοῦ Λυκούργου Πολυδέκτης· οὗτος τελευτῶν ἔγκυον κατέλιπε τὴν γυναῖκα·
Polydectes was the elder brother of Lycurgus; when he died, he left his wife pregnant.
τέως μὲν οὖν ἐβασίλευεν ὁ Λυκοῦργος ἀντὶ τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ, γενομένου δὲ παιδὸς ἐπετρόπευεν ἐκεῖνον, εἰς ὃν ἡ ἀρχὴ καθήκουσα ἐτύγχανε·
For a time, therefore, Lycurgus reigned in place of his brother, but when a child was born, he became guardian of him, to whom the rule belonged.
λοιδορούμενος δή τις αὐτῷ σαφῶς εἶπεν εἰδέναι διότι βασιλεύσοι· λαβὼν δʼ ὑπόνοιαν ἐκεῖνος ὡς ἐκ τοῦ λόγου τούτου διαβάλλοιτο ἐπιβουλὴ ἐξ αὐτοῦ τοῦ παιδός, δείσας μὴ ἐκ τύχης ἀποθανόντος αἰτίαν αὐτὸς ἔχοι παρὰ τῶν ἐχθρῶν, ἀπῆρεν εἰς Κρήτην.
Then someone, abusing him, said clearly that he knew that Lycurgus would be king; and he, conceiving the suspicion that from this speech he might be slandered as plotting against the child, and fearing that if the child should die by chance he himself would bear the blame from his enemies, departed for Crete.
ταύτην μὲν δὴ λέγεσθαι τῆς ἀποδημίας αἰτίαν· ἐλθόντα δὲ πλησιάσαι Θάλητι μελοποιῷ ἀνδρὶ καὶ νομοθετικῷ, ἱστορήσαντα δὲ παρʼ αὐτοῦ τὸν τρόπον ὃν Ῥαδάμανθύς τε πρότερον καὶ ὕστερον Μίνως, ὡς παρὰ τοῦ Διός, τοὺς νόμους ἐκφέροι εἰς ἀνθρώπους, γενόμενον δὲ καὶ ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ καὶ καταμαθόντα καὶ τὰ ἐκεῖ νόμιμα, ἐντυχόντα δʼ, ὥς φασί τινες, καὶ Ὁμήρῳ διατρίβοντι ἐν Χίῳ, κατᾶραι πάλιν εἰς τὴν οἰκείαν, καταλαβεῖν δὲ τὸν τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ υἱὸν τὸν Πολυδέκτου Χαρίλαον βασιλεύοντα·
This, then, is said to be the cause of his journey abroad; and having come, he associated with Thaletas, a writer of songs and a man of legislative ability, and having learned from him the way in which Rhadamanthys earlier and Minos later used to bring laws to men from Zeus, and having also been in Egypt and learned the customs there, and having met, as some say, Homer also who was spending time in Chios, he put in again to his own land, and found Charilaus, the son of his brother Polydectes, reigning as king.
εἶθʼ ὁρμῆσαι διαθεῖναι τοὺς νόμους φοιτῶντα ὡς τὸν θεὸν τὸν ἐν Δελφοῖς, κἀκεῖθεν κομίζοντα τὰ προστάγματα, καθάπερ οἱ περὶ Μίνω ἐκ τοῦ ἄντρου τοῦ Διὸς παραπλήσια ἐκείνοις τὰ πλείω.
Then he set out to establish the laws, going to the god in Delphi, and bringing from there the ordinances, just as Minos and his associates brought theirs from the cave of Zeus, most of them being very similar to those.