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The herald on his arrival found the Lacedaemonians drawn up in their
old position, and their leaders quarrelling with one another.
Pausanias and Euryanax had gone on urging Amompharetus not to
endanger the lives of his men by staying behind while the others drew
off, but without succeeding in persuading him; until at last the
dispute had waxed hot between them just at the moment when the Athenian
herald arrived. At this point Amompharetus, who was still
disputing, took up with both his hands a vast rock, and placed it at
the feet of Pausanias, saying - "With this pebble I give my vote
not to run away from the strangers." (By "strangers" he meant
barbarians.) Pausanias, in reply, called him a fool and a madman,
and, turning to the Athenian herald, who had made the inquiries with
which he was charged, bade him tell his countrymen how he was
occupied, and ask them to approach nearer, and retreat or not
according to the movements of the Spartans.
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