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66Some say in addition to this that the Pythian prophetess also set forth to him the order of things which is now established for the Spartans; but the Lacedemonians themselves say that Lycurgos having become guardian of Leobotes his brother's son, who was king of the Spartans, brought in these things from Crete. For as soon as he became guardian, he changed all the prevailing laws, and took measures that they should not transgress his institutions: and after this Lycurgos established that which appertained to war, namely Enomoties and Triecads and Common Meals,[77a] and in addition to this the Ephors and the Senate. Having changed thus, the Spartans had good laws; and to Lycurgos after he was dead they erected a temple, and they pay him great worship. So then, as might be supposed, with a fertile land and with no small number of men dwelling in it, they straightway shot up and became prosperous: and it was no longer sufficient for them to keep still; but presuming that they were superior in strength to the Arcadians, they consulted the Oracle at Delphi respecting conquest of the whole of Arcadia; and the Pythian prophetess gave answer thus:
"The land of Arcadia thou askest; thou askest me much; I refuse it;
Many there are in Arcadian land, stout men, eating acorns;
These will prevent thee from this: but I am not grudging towards thee;
Tegea beaten with sounding feet I will give thee to dance in,
And a fair plain I will give thee to measure with line and divide it."
When the Lacedemonians heard report of this, they held off from the other Arcadians, and marched against the Tegeans with fetters in their hands, trusting to a deceitful[78] oracle and expecting that they would make slaves of the men of Tegea. But having been worsted in the encounter, those of them who were taken alive worked wearing the fetters which they themselves brought with them and having "measured with line and divided"[79] the plain of the Tegeans. And these fetters with which they had been bound were preserved even to my own time at Tegea, hanging about the temple of Athene Alea.[80]
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Notes
[77a] {enomotias kai triekadas kai sussitia}. The {enomotia} was the primary division of the Spartan army: of the {triekas} nothing is known for certain.
[78] {kibdelo}, properly "counterfeit": cp. ch. 75.
[79] {skhoino diametresamenoi}: whether actually, for the purpose of distributing the work among them, or because the rope which fastened them together lay on the ground like a measuring-tape, is left uncertain.
[80] Cp. ix. 70.