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The Lacedaemonians declare, contradicting therein all the poets,
that it was king Aristodemus himself, son of Aristomachus, grandson
of Cleodaeus, and great-grandson of Hyllus, who conducted them to
the land which they now possess, and not the sons of Aristodemus.
The wife of Aristodemus, whose name (they say) was Argeia, and
who was daughter of Autesion, son of Tisamenus, grandson of
Thersander, and great-grandson of Polynices, within a little while
after their coming into the country, gave birth to twins. Aristodemus
just lived to see his children, but died soon afterwards of a disease.
The Lacedaemonians of that day determined, according to custom, to
take for their king the elder of the two children; but they were so
alike, and so exactly of one size, that they could not possibly tell
which of the two to choose: so when they found themselves unable to
make a choice, or haply even earlier, they went to the mother and
asked her to tell them which was the elder, whereupon she declared that
"she herself did not know the children apart"; although in good truth
she knew them very well, and only feigned ignorance in order that, if
it were possible, both of them might be made kings of Sparta. The
Lacedaemonians were now in a great strait; so they sent to Delphi and
inquired of the oracle how they should deal with the matter. The
Pythoness made answer, "Let both be taken to be kings; but let the
elder have the greater honour." So the Lacedaemonians were in as
great a strait as before, and could not conceive how they were to
discover which was the first-born, till at length a certain
Messenian, by name Panites, suggested to them to watch and see which
of the two the mother washed and fed first; if they found she always
gave one the preference, that fact would tell them all they wanted to
know; if, on the contrary, she herself varied, and sometimes took
the one first, sometimes the other, it would be plain that she knew as
little as they; in which case they must try some other plan. The
Lacedaemonians did according to the advice of the Messenian, and,
without letting her know why, kept a watch upon the mother; by which
means they discovered that, whenever she either washed or fed her
children, she always gave the same child the preference. So they took
the boy whom the mother honoured the most, and regarding him as the
first-born, brought him up in the palace; and the name which they
gave to the elder boy was Eurysthenes, while his brother they called
Procles. When the brothers grew up, there was always, so long as
they lived, enmity between them; and the houses sprung from their
loins have continued the feud to this day.
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