Pausanias Analysis

Before writing my account of the war and of all that destiny caused each side to suffer or to achieve in its course, I wished to make clear one matter concerning the historical context, and particularly the achievements of the man of Messene. For this war was fought by the Lacedaemonians and their allies against the Messenians and their supporters; yet it was not named after its aggressors, as were the Persian and Peloponnesian wars, but instead after the misfortunes of the defeated people, thus called Messenian—just as the war at Ilium earned the name "Trojan" from the sufferers rather than "Greek" from the attackers. Regarding this war of the Messenians, Rhianus of Bene composed an epic poem, as did Myron of Priene; and there also exists a prose account of this war by Myron.

Certainly, no one has written a complete, continuous account from beginning to end of the entire course of the war; rather, each historian chose only the portion which pleased him. One author composed the capture of Ampheia and subsequent events, extending not far beyond the death of Aristodemus. Rhianus, however, did not touch at all upon this first conflict, and recorded instead only those later developments, long afterward, that led to the revolt of the Messenians from the Lacedaemonians; even these he did not recount fully, but focused mainly upon the events following the battle which was fought near the trench called the "Great."

Now, concerning the Messenian Aristomenes—for it was chiefly on his account that I related the whole dispute between Rhianus and Myron—this Aristomenes, who first and above all others raised the name of Messene to its height of honor, the historian from Priene introduced him into his narrative. But in Rhianus' poem Aristomenes is no less prominent than Achilles is in Homer's Iliad. Thus, since their accounts differed so greatly, I was left to follow one of these accounts rather than both simultaneously; and Rhianus appeared to me to present a narrative more plausible with respect to the date of Aristomenes.

One can observe in other passages also that Myron was not concerned beforehand whether his statements might seem false and improbable, and not least in this work on Messenia. For he made Aristomenes slay Theopompus, the king of the Lacedaemonians, somewhat before the death of Aristodemus. But we know that Theopompus did not die beforehand, either in battle or otherwise, until the war had completely ended.

This Theopompus was also the one who brought the war to its conclusion. My assertion is supported by Tyrtaeus' elegiac verses, which say: "to our king dear to the gods, Theopompus, whom we seized wide-rich Messene." Aristomenes, in my opinion at least, belongs to the later war; I shall deal with what concerns him at the appropriate place in my narrative.

The Messenians, at that time hearing of the events at Ampheia from those who had escaped from its capture, gathered together from their cities at Stenykleros. When the people had assembled in assembly, various magistrates spoke, and last of all the king addressed them, urging them neither to be discouraged by the capture of Ampheia, as though the entire war had already been decided by it, nor to fear the military preparations of the Lacedaemonians as surpassing their own. For he said that, although the Spartans had long and practiced experience in warfare, the Messenians had the stronger motivation, which naturally leads brave men to greater deeds, and could count upon greater support from the gods, being defenders of their own territory and not initiators of injustice.