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On the death of Lycurgus they built him a temple, and ever since they
have worshipped him with the utmost reverence. Their soil being good
and the population numerous, they sprang up rapidly to power, and
became a flourishing people. In consequence they soon ceased to be
satisfied to stay quiet; and, regarding the Arcadians as very much
their inferiors, they sent to consult the oracle about conquering the
whole of Arcadia. The Pythoness thus answered them:
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Cravest thou Arcady? Bold is thy craving. I shall not content it.
Many the men that in Arcady dwell, whose food is the acorn -
They will never allow thee. It is not I that am niggard.
I will give thee to dance in Tegea, with noisy foot-fall,
And with the measuring line mete out the glorious champaign.
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When the Lacedaemonians received this reply, leaving the rest of
Arcadia untouched, they marched against the Tegeans, carrying with
them fetters, so confident had this oracle (which was, in truth, but
of base metal) made them that they would enslave the Tegeans. The
battle, however, went against them, and many fell into the enemy's
hands. Then these persons, wearing the fetters which they had
themselves brought, and fastened together in a string, measured the
Tegean plain as they executed their labours. The fetters in which
they worked were still, in my day, preserved at Tegea where they hung
round the walls of the temple of Minerva Alea.
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