The cast is thrown—the net expanded wide—
At night the tunnies in the snare will glide."
He, inspired by the god, uttered this prophecy; and Pisistratus, comprehending the oracle, and saying he accepted the omen, led on his army. The Athenians of the city were then engaged at their breakfast, and some of them after breakfast had betaken themselves to dice, others to sleep; so that the army of Pisistratus, falling upon them by surprise, soon put them to flight. As they were flying, Pisistratus contrived a clever stratagem to prevent their rallying again, and forced them thoroughly to disperse. He mounted his sons on horseback and sent them forward. They, overtaking the fugitives, spoke as they were ordered by Pisistratus, bidding them be of good cheer, and to depart every man to his own home. The Athenians yielded a ready obedience, and thus Pisistratus, having a third time possessed himself of Athens, secured his power, more firmly, both by the aid of auxiliary forces, and by revenues partly collected at home and partly drawn from the mines along the river Strymon. He seized as hostages the sons of the Athenians who had held out against him, and had not immediately fled, and settled them at Naxos. He moreover purified the island of Delos, in obedience to an oracle, and having dug up the dead bodies, as far as the prospect from the temple reached, he removed them to another part of Delos.
Crœsus was informed that such was, at that time, the condition of the Athenians; and that the Lacedæmonians, having extricated themselves out of great difficulties, had gained the mastery over the Tegeans in war. They had formerly been governed by the worst laws of all the people in Greece, both as regarded their dealings with one another, and in holding no intercourse with strangers. But they changed to a good government in the following manner: Lycurgus, a man much esteemed by the Spartans, having arrived at Delphi to consult the oracle, no sooner entered the temple, than the Pythian spoke as follows:
"Lycurgus, thou art come to my rich fane,
Beloved by Zeus and all the heavenly train,
But whether god or man I fear to say,
Yet god thou must be more than mortal clay."
Some men say that, besides this, the Pythian also communicated to him that form of government now established among the Spartans. But, as the Lacedæmonians themselves affirm, Lycurgus being appointed guardian to his nephew Leobotis,[3] king of Sparta, brought those institutions from Crete. For as soon as he had taken the guardianship, he altered all their customs, and took care that no one should transgress them. Afterwards he established military regulations, and instituted the ephori and senators. Thus, having changed their laws, they established good institutions in their stead. They erected a temple to Lycurgus after his death, and held him in the highest reverence. As they had a good soil and abundant population, they quickly sprang up and flourished. And now they were no longer content to live in peace; but proudly considering themselves superior to the Arcadians, they sent to consult the oracle at Delphi, touching the conquest of the whole country of the Arcadians; and the Pythian gave them this answer: "Dost thou ask of me Arcadia? thou askest a great deal; I cannot grant it thee. There are many acorn-eating men in Arcadia, who will hinder thee. But I do not grudge thee all; I will give thee Tegea to dance on with beating of the feet, and a fair plain to measure out by the rod." When the Lacedæmonians heard this answer reported, they laid aside their design against all Arcadia; and relying on an equivocal oracle, led an army against Tegea only, carrying fetters with them, as if they would surely reduce the Tegeans to slavery. But being defeated in an engagement, as many of them as were taken alive, were compelled to work, wearing the fetters they had brought, and measuring the lands of the Tegeans with a rod. Those fetters in which they were bound, were, even in my time, preserved in Tegea, suspended around the temple of Alean Minerva.
In the first war, therefore, they had constantly fought against the Tegeans with ill success, but in the time of Crœsus, and during the reign of Anaxandrides and Ariston at Lacedæmon, they at length became superior in the following manner: When they had always been worsted in battle by the Tegeans, they sent to enquire of the oracle at Delphi, what god they should propitiate, in order to become victorious over the Tegeans. The Pythian answered, they should become so, when they had brought back the bones of Orestes the son of Agamemnon. But as they were unable to find the sepulchre of Orestes, they sent again to inquire of the god in what spot Orestes lay interred, and the Pythian gave this answer to the inquiries of those who came to consult her: