Restoration of Royalty In Sparta
The party, however, at Sparta who were the original
note
instigators of the outbreak could not make up
their minds to give way. They once more therefore determined to commit a crime of the most
impious description, having first corrupted some of the
younger men. It was an ancestral custom that, at a certain
sacrifice, all citizens of military age should join fully armed in
a procession to the temple of Athene of the Brazen-house,
while the Ephors remained in the sacred precinct and completed the sacrifice. As the young men therefore were
conducting the procession, some of them suddenly fell upon
the Ephors, while they were engaged with the sacrifice, and
slew them. The enormity of this crime will be made apparent
by remembering that the sanctity of this temple was such, that
it gave a safe asylum even to criminals condemned to death;
whereas its privileges were now by the cruelty of these
audacious men treated with such contempt, that the whole of
the Ephors were butchered round the altar and the table of the
goddess. In pursuance of their purpose they next killed one
of the elders, Gyridas, and drove into exile those who had
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spoken against the Aetolians. They then chose some of
their own body as Ephors, and made an alliance with the
Aetolians. Their motives for doing all this, for incurring the
enmity of the Achaeans, for their ingratitude to the Macedonians,
and generally for their unjustifiable conduct towards all, was
before everything else their devotion to Cleomenes, and the
hopes and expectations they continued to cherish that he
would return to Sparta in safety. So true it is that men who
have the tact to ingratiate themselves with those who
surround them can, even when far removed, leave in their
hearts very effective materials for kindling the flame of a
renewed popularity. This people for instance, to say nothing
of other examples, after nearly three years of constitutional
government, following the banishment of Cleomenes, without
once thinking of appointing kings at Sparta, no sooner heard
of the death of Cleomenes than they were eager—populace
and Ephors alike—to restore kingly rule. note
Accordingly the Ephors who were in sympathy with the conspirators, and who had
made the alliance with Aetolia which I just now mentioned, did
so. One of these kings so restored they appointed in accordance with the regular and legal succession, namely Agesipolis.
note He was a child at the time, a son of Agesipolis, and grandson of
that Cleombrotus who had become king, as the
next of kin to this family, when Leonidas was
driven from office. As guardian of the young king they elected
Cleomenes, son of Cleombrotus and brother of Agesipolis.
Of the other royal house there were surviving two sons of note
Archidamus, son of Eudamidas, by the daughter
of Hippodemon; as well as Hippodemon himself, the son of Agesilaus, and several other members of
the same branch, though somewhat less closely connected
than those I have mentioned. But these were all passed
over, and Lycurgus was appointed king, none of whose
ancestors had ever enjoyed that title. A present of a
talent to each of the Ephors made him "descendant of
Hercules" and king of Sparta. So true is it all the world
over that such nobility note is a mere question of a little money.
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The result was that the penalty for their folly had to be paid,
not by the third generation, but by the very authors of this
royalist restoration.
