§3.7.1γένους μὲν δὴ τοῦ Εὐρυσθένους, καλουμένων δὲ Ἀγιαδῶν, Κλεομένης ὁ Λεωνίδου βασιλεὺς ὕστατος ἐγένετο ἐν Σπάρτῃ· τὰ δὲ ἐς τὴν οἰκίαν τὴν ἑτέραν τοιάδε ἤκουσα εἶναι.
Of the house of Eurysthenes, called the Agiadae, Cleomenes the son of Leonidas was the last king in Sparta; but concerning the other house, I heard it was as follows.
Προκλῆς ὁ Ἀριστοδήμου τῷ παιδὶ ὄνομα τίθεται Σόον.
Procles the son of Aristodemus gave to his son the name Soos.
Εὐρυπῶντα δὲ τὸν Σόου φασὶν ἐς τοσοῦτον ἀφικέσθαι δόξης ὡς καὶ τὴν οἰκίαν ταύτην Εὐρυπωντίδας ὄνομα ἀπʼ αὐτοῦ λαβεῖν, Προκλείδας ἐς ἐκεῖνον καλουμένους. §3.7.2Εὐρυπῶντος δὲ υἱὸς γίνεται Πρύτανις.
And they say that Eurypon the son of Soos arrived at such a degree of fame that this house also took its name of Eurypontidae from him, having been called Procleidae after Procles before that. And Prytanis became the son of Eurypon.
ἐπὶ μὲν δὴ Πρυτάνιδος τοῦ Εὐρυπῶντος τὸ ἔχθος τε Λακεδαιμονίοις ἤρξατο τὸ ἐς Ἀργείους καὶ ἔτι τοῦ ἐγκλήματος τούτου πρότερον Κυνουρεῦσιν ἐπολέμησαν· τὰς δὲ ἐφεξῆς ταύτῃ γενεάς, Εὐνόμου τε τοῦ Πρυτάνιδος καὶ Πολυδέκτου τοῦ Εὐνόμου βασιλευόντων, ἐν εἰρήνῃ διετέλεσεν οὖσα ἡ Σπάρτη. §3.7.3Χάριλλος δὲ ὁ Πολυδέκτου τήν τε γῆν ἐδῄωσεν Ἀργείοις— οὗτος γὰρ καὶ ὁ ἐς τὴν Ἀργολίδα ἐσβαλών—καὶ ἔτεσιν οὐ πολλοῖς ὕστερον ὑπὸ ἡγεμόνι Χαρίλλῳ γίνεται καὶ ἡ Σπαρτιατῶν ἐπὶ Τεγεάτας ἔξοδος, ὅτε οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι Τεγεάτας αἱρήσειν ἤλπισαν καὶ ἀποτεμεῖσθαι τῆς Ἀρκαδίας τὸ Τεγεατῶν πεδίον, ὑπούλῳ μαντεύματι ἐπελθόντες. §3.7.4μετὰ δὲ Χάριλλον τελευτήσαντα Νίκανδρος ὁ Χαρίλλου διαδέχεται τὴν ἀρχήν· καὶ τὰ Μεσσηνίων ἐς Τήλεκλον τὸν τῆς ἑτέρας βασιλέα οἰκίας ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ τῆς Λιμνάδος συμβάντα ἐπὶ Νικάνδρου γίνεται βασιλεύοντος.
In the time of Prytanis the son of Eurypon, the hatred of the Lacedaemonians toward the Argives began, and even before this grievance they made war against the Cynurians; but during the generations succeeding this, when Eunomus the son of Prytanis and Polydectes the son of Eunomus were kings, Sparta continued to be in peace. Charillus the son of Polydectes ravaged the land of the Argives—for he was indeed the one who invaded Argolis—and not many years later, under the leadership of Charillus, there took place also the expedition of the Spartans against the Tegeans, when the Lacedaemonians hoped to capture the Tegeans and to cut off the Tegean plain from Arcadia, having marched out upon an ambiguous oracle. After Charillus died, Nicander the son of Charillus succeeded to the rule; and the events of the Messenians against Teleclus, the king of the other royal house, in the temple of Limnatis, took place when Nicander was king.
ἐσέβαλε δὲ καὶ ἐς τὴν Ἀργολίδα ὁ Νίκανδρος στρατιᾷ καὶ τὰ πολλὰ ἐκάκωσε τῆς χώρας· μετασχόντες δὲ Ἀσιναῖοι Λακεδαιμονίοις τοῦ ἔργου δίκην μετʼ οὐ πολὺ Ἀργείοις ἀπέδοσαν σὺν μεγάλῳ πατρίδος τε ὀλέθρῳ καὶ φυγῇ τῇ σφετέρᾳ. §3.7.5Θεόπομπον δὲ τὸν Νικάνδρου βασιλεύσαντα μετὰ Νίκανδρον μέλλει καὶ αὖθις ὁ λόγος μοι προσθήσειν προελθόντι ἐς τὴν Μεσσηνίαν συγγραφήν.
Nicander also invaded Argolis with an army and damaged most of the country; and the Asinaeans, having shared in the deed with the Lacedaemonians, paid the penalty to the Argives not long after, with the great destruction of their country and their own exile. Concerning Theopompus the son of Nicander, who ruled after Nicander, my account is going to add him again as I proceed into the Messenian history.
Θεοπόμπου δὲ ἔτι ἔχοντος τὴν ἀρχὴν ἐν Σπάρτῃ γίνεται καὶ ὁ περὶ τῆς Θυρεάτιδος καλουμένης χώρας Λακεδαιμονίοις ἀγὼν πρὸς Ἀργείους, Θεόπομπος δὲ αὐτὸς οὐ μετέσχε τοῦ ἔργου γήρᾳ καὶ ὑπὸ λύπης τὸ πλέον· Ἀρχίδαμον γὰρ Θεοπόμπου ζῶντος ἔτι ἐπιλαμβάνει τὸ χρεών. §3.7.6οὐ μὴν ἄπαις ἐτελεύτησεν ὁ Ἀρχίδαμος, Ζευξίδαμον δὲ ἀπολιπὼν υἱόν.
While Theopompus still held the rule in Sparta, there arose also the struggle of the Lacedaemonians against the Argives concerning the land called Thyreatis; but Theopompus himself did not share in the deed because of old age and chiefly because of grief, for fate overtook Archidamus while Theopompus was still living. However, Archidamus did not die without children, but left behind his son Zeuxidamus.
Ζευξιδάμου δὲ Ἀναξίδαμος ὁ παῖς ἐκδέχεται τὴν ἀρχήν· ἐπὶ τούτου Μεσσήνιοι φεύγουσιν ἐκ Πελοποννήσου, πολέμῳ τὸ δεύτερον κρατηθέντες ὑπὸ Σπαρτιατῶν.
After Zeuxidamus, his son Anaxidamus succeeded to the rule; in his time the Messenians fled from the Peloponnese, having been conquered a second time in war by the Spartans.
Ἀναξιδάμου δὲ υἱὸς ἐγένετο Ἀρχίδαμος, Ἀρχιδάμου δὲ Ἀγησικλῆς· καί σφισιν ὑπῆρξεν ἀμφοτέροις τὸν βίον διατελέσαι πάντα ἐν ἡσυχίᾳ καὶ πολέμων οὖσιν ἐκτός. §3.7.7Ἀρίστωνι δὲ τῷ Ἀγησικλέους ἀγαγομένῳ γυναῖκα ἥντινα παρθένον μὲν τῶν ἐν Λακεδαίμονι εἶναί φασιν αἰσχίστην, γυναικῶν δὲ τὸ εἶδος καλλίστην ὑπὸ Ἑλένης γενέσθαι, ταύτην ἀγαγομένῳ τῷ Ἀρίστωνι ἐγένετο υἱὸς Δημάρατος ἐν μόνοις μησὶν ἑπτά· καὶ αὐτῷ μετὰ τῶν ἐφόρων καθημένῳ τηνικαῦτα ἐν βουλῇ ἦλθεν οἰκέτης ἀπαγγέλλων τετέχθαι οἱ παῖδα.
The son of Anaxidamus was Archidamus, and of Archidamus, Agesicles; and it was granted to both of them to complete their whole life in quietness and being outside of wars. Ariston the son of Agesicles, having married a woman who they say was the ugliest of the maidens in Lacedaemon, but became the most beautiful in appearance of women because of Helen—Ariston, having married this woman, had a son Demaratus in only seven months; and as he was sitting then in council with the ephors, a servant came to him announcing that a child had been born to him.
Ἀρίστων δὲ ἐπῶν τῶν ἐν Ἰλιάδι ἐς τὴν Εὐρυσθέως γένεσιν πεποιημένος λήθην ἢ μηδὲ ἀρχὴν συνεὶς αὐτῶν οὐκ ἔφη τῶν μηνῶν ἕνεκα αὑτοῦ τὸν παῖδα εἶναι. §3.7.8τοῦτον μὲν δὴ τῶν εἰρημένων μετάνοια ἔλαβεν ὕστερον· Δημάρατον δὲ βασιλεύοντα καὶ τά τε ἄλλα εὐδοκιμοῦντα ἐν Σπάρτῃ καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν Πεισιστρατιδῶν Κλεομένει συνελευθερώσαντα Ἀθηναίους ἥ τε Ἀρίστωνος ἀγνωμοσύνη καὶ τὸ ἔχθος τὸ Κλεομένους ἐποίησεν ἰδιώτην.
But Ariston, having forgotten the verses in the Iliad composed about the birth of Eurystheus, or not even understanding them at all, said that because of the months the child was not his own. Repentance for the things said overtook him later; and Demaratus, while he was king and of good repute in other respects in Sparta, and had helped Cleomenes liberate the Athenians from the Peisistratidae, was made a private citizen by the thoughtlessness of Ariston and the hatred of Cleomenes.
καὶ τοῦ μὲν παρὰ βασιλέα Δαρεῖον ἐλθόντος ἐς Πέρσας ἐπὶ πολὺν ἐν τῇ Ἀσίᾳ χρόνον διαμεῖναι τοὺς ἀπογόνους φασί· §3.7.9Λεωτυχίδης δὲ ἀντὶ Δημαράτου γενόμενος βασιλεὺς μετέσχε μὲν Ἀθηναίοις καὶ Ἀθηναίων τῷ στρατηγῷ Ξανθίππῳ τῷ Ἀρίφρονος τοῦ ἔργου τοῦ πρὸς Μυκάλῃ, ἐστράτευσε δὲ ὕστερον τούτων καὶ ἐπὶ τοὺς Ἀλευάδας ἐς Θεσσαλίαν· καί οἱ καταστρέψασθαι Θεσσαλίαν πᾶσαν ἐξὸν ἅτε ἀεὶ νικῶντι ἐν ταῖς μάχαις, δῶρα ἔλαβε παρὰ τῶν Ἀλευαδῶν. §3.7.10ὑπαγόμενος δὲ ἐν Λακεδαίμονι ἐς δίκην ἔφυγεν ἐθελοντὴς ἐς Τεγέαν.
And when he went to King Darius in Persia, they say that his descendants remained in Asia for a long time. Leotychides, having become king instead of Demaratus, shared with the Athenians and the Athenian general Xanthippus the son of Ariphron in the deed at Mycale, and after these things he also marched against the Aleuadae into Thessaly; and though it was possible for him to subdue all Thessaly, since he was always victorious in the battles, he received gifts from the Aleuadae. Being brought to trial in Lacedaemon, he fled as a voluntary exile to Tegea.
καὶ ὁ μὲν αὐτόθι τὴν Ἀθηνᾶν τὴν Ἀλέαν ἱκέτευε, Λεωτυχίδου δὲ ὁ μὲν παῖς Ζευξίδαμος ζῶντος ἔτι Λεωτυχίδου καὶ οὐ πεφευγότος πω τελευτᾷ νόσῳ, Ἀρχίδαμος δὲ ὁ Ζευξιδάμου μετὰ Λεωτυχίδην ἀπελθόντα ἐς Τεγέαν ἔσχε τὴν ἀρχήν.
And he indeed was a suppliant there of Athena Alea; but of Leotychides, his son Zeuxidamus died of disease while Leotychides was still living and had not yet fled, and Archidamus the son of Zeuxidamus held the rule after Leotychides departed to Tegea.
οὗτος Ἀρχίδαμος Ἀθηναίοις μάλιστα ἐκάκωσε τὴν χώραν στρατῷ τε ἐσβάλλων ἐς γῆν τὴν Ἀττικὴν ἀνὰ πᾶν ἔτος καὶ ὁπότε ἐσβάλοι διὰ πάσης ἐπεξῄει φθείρων καὶ Πλαταιέων Ἀθηναίοις ὄντων εὔνων πολιορκίᾳ τὸ ἄστυ εἷλεν. §3.7.11οὐ μὴν τὸν πόλεμόν γε τὸν Πελοποννησίων καὶ Ἀθηναίων γενέσθαι συνέσπευσεν. ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐς ὅσον δυνάμεως ἧκε, διαμεῖναί σφισιν ἔπρασσε τὰς σπονδάς.
This Archidamus damaged the land of the Athenians the most, both by invading the Attic land with an army every year, and whenever he invaded, he went through all of it destroying, and he captured by siege the city of the Plataeans, who were well-disposed to the Athenians. He indeed did not hasten the war of the Peloponnesians and the Athenians to break out, but even as far as his power went, he worked that the treaty should remain for them.
Σθενελαΐδας δὲ ἔς τε ἄλλα ὢν οὐκ ἀδύνατος ἐν Λακεδαίμονι καὶ ἐφορεύων ἐν τῷ τότε τοῦ πολέμου μάλιστα ἐγένετο αἴτιος· καὶ ὁ πόλεμος οὗτος εὖ τὴν Ἑλλάδα ἔτι βεβηκυῖαν διέσεισεν ἐκ βάθρων, καὶ ὕστερον Φίλιππος ὁ Ἀμύντου σαθρὰν ἤδη καὶ οὐ παντάπασιν ὑγιῆ προσκατήρειψεν αὐτήν.
But Sthenelaidas, being not without power in other respects in Lacedaemon and being an ephor, was at that time the chief cause of the war; and this war shook Greece, which was still firmly established, from its foundations, and later Philip the son of Amyntas, when it was already decayed and not altogether sound, threw it down completely.