Pausanias Analysis

When Agesipolis died childless, the kingship passed on to Cleombrotus, and under his command they fought against the Boeotians at Leuctra. Cleombrotus himself, a good and courageous man, fell at the very onset of the battle. Indeed, it seems that divine power especially desires, in cases of great misfortune, to remove beforehand the leader from the action, just as previously it took away the Athenian general Hippocrates, son of Ariphron, at Delium, and later Leosthenes in Thessaly.

Of Cleombrotus' sons, the elder, Agesipolis, offered nothing of great note to memory, whereas the younger, Cleomenes, succeeded to the throne after his brother's death. Cleomenes had two sons, Acrotatus and, later, Cleonymus; fate brought about Acrotatus' death even before that of Cleomenes himself. After Cleomenes subsequently died, a dispute arose over the kingship between Cleonymus, Cleomenes' son, and Areus, the son of Acrotatus. Thereupon, the elders judged that the hereditary kingship belonged to Areus, son of Acrotatus, and not to Cleonymus.

Cleonymus, driven away from the kingship, felt excessive bitterness in his heart. The ephors tried to soothe him by granting him honors of other sorts and appointed him as commander of armies, endeavoring to prevent him from ever becoming an enemy to Sparta. Despite this, he ultimately dared many hostile actions against his homeland and even brought Pyrrhus, the son of Aeacides, into their territory.

During the reign of Acrotatus as king in Sparta, Antigonus, the son of Demetrius, marched against Athens by land and sea. To aid the Athenians, the Egyptians sent a fleet under the command of Patroclus, and the Lacedaemonians also went forth in full force, appointing their king, Areus, as their leader.

When Antigonus had blockaded Athens and was preventing their allies from entering the city, Patroclus sent messengers urging the Lacedaemonians and their king Areus to initiate battle against Antigonus. He claimed that once they had begun the attack, he himself would fall upon the Macedonians from behind. Prior to that, he stated, it was not reasonable for himself and his Egyptian sailors to advance by land against Macedonians. The Lacedaemonians, indeed, resolved to risk battle both out of goodwill toward the Athenians and from a desire to accomplish some notable deed worthy of remembrance by future generations.

Areus, moreover, when provisions had been exhausted by his troops, led the army back again; for he considered it sensible to reserve rash actions for his own affairs, rather than squander them thoughtlessly upon those of strangers. As for the Athenians, who withstood him for a very long time, Antigonus made peace, on condition that he introduced a garrison into their Museum. After some time passed, Antigonus himself willingly withdrew the garrison. To Areus was born a son, Acrotatus; to Acrotatus was born another Areus, who, after living about eight years, died of illness.

For there remained of Eurysthenes' household only Leonidas, son of Cleonymus, a man now utterly advanced in years; to him the Lacedaemonians gave the kingship. Now Leonidas had his greatest enemy in Lysander, a descendant of Lysander the son of Aristocritus. This Lysander won over to his side Cleombrotus, who had married the daughter of Leonidas, and after gaining Cleombrotus' support, he brought charges against Leonidas, accusing him, among other grievances, of having sworn oaths as a young man to his father Cleonymus aimed at the destruction of Sparta.

Thus Leonidas was deprived of his kingship, and Cleombrotus held the office in his stead. Had Leonidas yielded to anger and departed in the same manner as Demaratus son of Ariston, going perhaps to the king in Macedonia or to Egypt, he would have received no benefit, even had the Spartans later regretted their decision. Instead, after being sentenced to exile by his fellow citizens, he traveled to Arcadia. A few years afterward, the Lacedaemonians recalled him home and reinstated him once more as king.

The daring and courage with which Cleomenes son of Leonidas performed his other exploits, and how after him the Spartans ceased to be ruled by kings, I have already previously explained through my account of Aratus the Sicyonian; my narrative then included also the manner of Cleomenes' death in Egypt.