Pausanias Analysis

And after the seers had offered preliminary sacrifices for both sides—on behalf of the Lacedaemonians, Hecas, a descendant and namesake of that Hecas who had come to Sparta together with the sons of Aristodemus; and on behalf of the Messenians, Theoclus, who was descended from Eumantis (this Eumantis was an Elean, one of the Iamidae, whom Cresphontes had brought into Messene)—then, indeed, with the seers themselves present, both sides, encouraged in spirit, pressed on eagerly to the battle.

And indeed the others also strove zealously, each according to his age and strength, but especially Anaxander, the king of the Lacedaemonians, and the Spartans around him. On the side of the Messenians, Phintas and Androcles, the descendants of Androcles, and those arrayed under their command likewise endeavored to show bravery. Tyrtaeus and the priests of the Great Gods took no part in the actual fighting, but each group urged on those who formed the rear ranks of their respective armies.

This was the situation around Aristomenes himself. He had chosen about eighty select Messenians around him, men who were of the same age as he, each of whom regarded it as a great honor to have been deemed worthy of serving alongside Aristomenes; and they were men notably quick to perceive one another's purposes and especially swift to grasp Aristomenes' intentions, whether he had just begun or was yet intending to act. At first these men, along with Aristomenes himself, had great difficulty, being matched against Anaxander and the elite of the Lacedaemonians; but disregarding wounds and carrying their reckless daring to every extreme, they finally overcame Anaxander's forces through persistence and bravery.

Aristomenes then commanded another division of the Messenians to pursue those who fled. He himself charged against those who still resisted strongly, and having forced these back as well, he immediately turned upon others. Quickly pushing these aside, he advanced now with even greater eagerness against those who still held their ground, until he utterly threw into confusion the whole Spartan battle-line together with their allies. As they fled without shame, no longer willing even to wait for one another, Aristomenes pressed upon them, terrifying them beyond what might be expected from the fury of a single man.

There indeed, beside a certain wild pear-tree growing somewhere on the plain, the seer Theoclus prevented Aristomenes from passing close by it, declaring that the Dioscuri were seated on the pear-tree. But Aristomenes, yielding to his anger and not wholly obeying the prophet, when he reached the pear-tree, lost his shield; and this mistake of Aristomenes allowed some of the Lacedaemonians to escape safely from the pursuit, for he wasted time attempting to recover his shield.

As the Lacedaemonians were dispirited after this defeat and inclined to abandon the war, Tyrtaeus both inspired them by reciting his elegies and enrolled helots into the companies to replace those who had died. Aristomenes, upon returning to Andania, was greeted by women who threw ribbons and blossoms of flowers upon him, chanting a song which is still sung even in our day: "To the Stenyclerian plain and the lofty mountain, Aristomenes pursued the Spartans." He also recovered that shield which he dedicated at Delphi.

Having arrived, he descended, according to the command given him by the Pythian oracle, into the sacred sanctuary of Trophonius at Lebadeia. Later, he dedicated his shield at Lebadeia, bringing it himself, and I have personally seen it placed there. Upon it is fitted an eagle, stretching out its wings on either side towards the upper rim. Then Aristomenes, when he returned from Boeotia after recovering his shield from Trophonius, immediately undertook even greater deeds.

Having gathered together other Messenians as well as the chosen warriors around himself, and waiting until after evening fell, he marched against a city in Laconia—originally named Pharis even in Homer's catalogue, but called Pharae by the Spartans and neighboring peoples. Having reached it, he slew those who sought to resist him, seized spoil, and drove it back toward Messenia. When Spartan hoplites, accompanied by their king Anaxander, attacked him on the journey, he routed these men as well and was on the point of pursuing Anaxander; but he was struck by a javelin in the buttock, which halted his pursuit. Nevertheless, he did not surrender the booty he was driving off.

After waiting only long enough for his wound to heal, he planned a night attack against Sparta itself, but was turned away by visions of Helen and the Dioscuri. So instead he laid an ambush for the maidens at Caryae dancing in honor of Artemis. Attacking by daylight, he captured those among them who excelled either by wealth or by the prominence of their fathers. He then took these maidens to a village in Messenia, where he rested during the night, assigning the guardianship of the young women to some of the men from his ambush party.

Here, it seems to me, the young men, driven by drunkenness and otherwise losing self-restraint, resorted violently to assault the maidens. Aristomenes prevented them, protesting that they were acting in ways not customary among Greeks; but they paid no heed whatsoever to him, so that he was forced even to slay those among them who were most consumed by drink. The captive maidens, whom he had taken, he later released for a large ransom, preserving them as virgins just as when he had captured them.