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Thereupon his enemies brought him up before the Ephors, and made it a
charge against him that he had allowed himself to be bribed, and on
that account had not taken Argos when he might have captured it
easily. To this he answered - whether truly or falsely I cannot say
with certainty - but at any rate his answer to the charge was that "so
soon as he discovered the sacred precinct which he had taken to belong
to Argos, he directly imagined that the oracle had received its
accomplishment; he therefore thought it not good to attempt the town,
at the least until he had inquired by sacrifice, and ascertained if the
god meant to grant him the place, or was determined to oppose his
taking it. So he offered in the temple of Juno, and when the omens
were propitious, immediately there flashed forth a flame of fire from
the breast of the image; whereby he knew of a surety that he was not to
take Argos. For if the flash had come from the head, he would have
gained the town, citadel and all; but as it shone from the breast, he
had done so much as the god intended." And his words seemed to the
Spartans so true and reasonable, that he came clear off from his adversaries.
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