[139] 1090 B. C.
[140] Od. iii. 249, 251.
[141] His character is discreditably spoken of by Josephus, Antiq. b. xvi. c. 10. and Bell. Jud. b. i. c. 26.
[142] The cities of the Eleuthero-Lacones were at first 24 in number; in the time of Pausanias 18 only. They were kindly treated by Augustus, but subsequently they were excluded from the coast to prevent communication with strangers. Pausanias, b. iii. c. 21.
[143] From hence to the end of the section the text is corrupt. See Groskurd for an attempt to amend the text of the last sentence, which is here not translated.
[144] This quotation, as also the one which follows, are from a tragedy of Euripides, now lost.
[145] The Pirnatza.
[146] Κῆτος. Some are of opinion that the epithet was applied to Lacedæmon, because fish of the cetaceous tribe frequented the coast of Laconia.
[147] Il. i. 268.
[148] This may have taken place a little before the third Messenian war, b. c. 464, when an earthquake destroyed all the houses in Sparta, with the exception of five. Diod. Sic. b. xv. c. 66; Pliny, b. ii. c. 79.