Pausanias Analysis

The Lacedaemonians were deeply grieved by the disaster that had occurred, having lost many notable and worthy men in the battle. Furthermore, the situation appeared hopeless to them with respect to their entire expectation for the war. For this reason, they sent messengers to Delphi to consult the oracle. When these envoys arrived, the Pythia declared this oracle to them: "Phoebus commands you not only to rely upon deeds of war with your hand, but the people hold the Messenian land by deceit, and by the same arts through which they prevailed, they shall themselves be conquered."

Since the kings and ephors were eager to devise some stratagem for this situation, but could not discover one, they resolved instead to imitate the craft of Odysseus at Troy. They sent a hundred men into Ithome, ostensibly as deserters, who were actually to gather information on the enemy's plans. To make the deception convincing, these men's supposed defection had been publicly condemned. But as soon as they arrived, Aristodemus immediately sent them away, asserting that the wrongdoings of the Lacedaemonians might be new, but their tricks were very old indeed.

Having failed in their enterprise, the Lacedaemonians then attempted a second plan, trying to dissolve the alliance of the Messenians. But since the Arcadians objected—for the ambassadors had first come to them—they thus halted their march against Argos. Aristodemus, upon learning what the Lacedaemonians were plotting, himself also sent messengers to inquire of the god, and the Pythia gave them this oracle:

The god grants you glory in war, yet beware treacheries, lest the deceptive ambush of Sparta rise superior as your enemy. For surely Ares shall hold their finely crafted armor and the crown of dances inhabited by bitter dwellers, when two by chance shall disclose the hidden ambuscade. But this sacred day shall not behold its consummation before that which naturally is flax shall reach its ordained end. At that time Aristodemus and the seers were utterly unable to interpret this utterance; yet, not many years later, the god was destined to reveal it and bring it fully to pass.

At that time another event befell the Messenians, as follows. The daughter of Lykiskos, who had moved his residence to Sparta, happened to die; she was the very girl he had taken with him when fleeing Messene. While he was repeatedly visiting the tomb of his daughter, a group of Arcadian horsemen, ambushing him, captured him. Being led back to Ithome and brought before the assembly, he defended himself by arguing that he had not left the country in betrayal, but rather had followed the instruction given by the oracle regarding his child—namely, that she was not genuinely his own.

Making this defense, he was not believed to be telling the truth until the woman who at that time held the priesthood of Hera came forward into the theater. She confessed openly that she herself had given birth to the child and had secretly handed it over to the wife of Lykiskos. She declared, "I have come now to reveal that which was hidden and to resign my priesthood voluntarily." She spoke thus because there was an established custom in Messenia whereby, if any child of the priestess or priest should die prematurely, the priesthood must pass to another. Therefore, believing the woman spoke the truth, they selected another priestess to serve the goddess in her place and declared that Lykiskos had acted understandably.

Afterwards, since it was now the twentieth year of the war, they determined once again to send messengers to Delphi to inquire about victory. Asking their question, the Pythia responded with the oracle: "The god grants the land of Messene, along with the glory of war, to the first to set ten times two tripods around the altar of Zeus Ithomatas—for so has Zeus granted. But deception lies before you, and vengeance follows afterward, so you shall deceive even heaven itself. Act as fate requires; ruin shall befall others before you."

When they heard these things, they thought that the oracle had been given concerning themselves and that victory in war was being granted to them; for while they held within their walls the sanctuary of Ithome, they believed the Lacedaemonians would not surpass them by being the first to dedicate the offering. Therefore, they intended to make wooden tripods, as they did not possess enough money to craft bronze ones. But someone from Delphi revealed the oracle to Sparta. Although the Lacedaemonians collectively considered it, they were unable to find a clever solution. However, Oibalos—

He was otherwise not notable, but intelligent, as he demonstrated through his stratagem: having crafted one hundred tripods of clay in a casual manner, he concealed them in a leather sack and carried nets along with them, appearing to be a hunter. Because he was unknown and unrecognized by the majority of the Lacedaemonians, it was easier for him to escape the attention of the Messenians. Having mixed among farmers, he entered Ithome alongside them, and as soon as night fell, he dedicated the clay tripods to the god. He then returned to Sparta to report this to the Lacedaemonians.

When the Messenians saw it, however, they were greatly dismayed and concluded—as indeed it was—that it was from the Spartans. Nevertheless, Aristodemus tried to encourage them, both by speaking whatever seemed fitting in the circumstances, and by placing around the altar of Zeus Ithomatas the wooden tripods—for they already had been crafted. It happened, moreover, that Ophioneus, the blind prophet, gained his sight in the most extraordinary and inexplicable way; a severe pain seized his head, and from this he recovered his sight.