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229Two of these three hundred, it is said, namely Eurystos and Aristodemos, who, if they had made agreement with one another, might either have come safe home to Sparta together (seeing that they had been dismissed from the camp by Leonidas and were lying at Alpenoi with disease of the eyes, suffering extremely), or again, if they had not wished to return home, they might have been slain together with the rest,—when they might, I say, have done either one of these two things, would not agree together; but the two being divided in opinion, Eurystos, it is said, when he was informed that the Persians had gone round, asked for his arms and having put them on ordered his Helot to lead him to those who were fighting; and after he had led him thither, the man who had led him ran away and departed, but Eurystos plunged into the thick of the fighting, and so lost his life: but Aristodemos was left behind fainting.[230] Now if either Aristodemos had been ill[231] alone, and so had returned home to Sparta, or the men had both of them come back together, I do not suppose that the Spartans would have displayed any anger against them; but in this case, as the one of them had lost his life and the other, clinging to an excuse which the first also might have used,[232] had not been willing to die, it necessarily happened that the Spartans had great indignation against Aristodemos.
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Notes
[230] {leipopsukheonta}, a word which refers properly to bodily weakness. It has been proposed to read {philopsukheonta}, "loving his life," cp. vi. 29.
[231] {algesanta}: some good MSS. have {alogesanta}, which is adopted by Stein, "had in his ill-reckoning returned alone."
[232] {tes autes ekhomenou prophasios}.