Pausanias Analysis

When the Messenians had withdrawn into Eira and were shut out from the rest of their land except for the parts along the sea preserved for them by the Pylians and the Methonaeans, they began raiding both Laconia and their own territory, now regarding even this land as hostile. They gathered together in separate bands, as chance might allow; and Aristomenes himself assembled his chosen followers, numbering three hundred, and led them forth.

Indeed, the Messenians were driving away the property of the Lacedaemonians and carrying off whatever each was able; they consumed grain, livestock, and wine whenever they seized it, but furniture and people they exchanged for money. Thus the Lacedaemonians passed a decree—since they seemed rather to be farming for those in Eira than for themselves—that, as long as the war lasted, Messenia and the neighboring parts of Laconia should be left uncultivated.

After this, there was a famine in Sparta, and at the same time as the famine, civil strife arose; for those who possessed property in that region could not tolerate seeing their own lands lie uncultivated. Tyrtaeus reconciled these disputes among them. Aristomenes, meanwhile, taking his chosen troops, made his departure around late evening, and because of his great speed, he arrived at Amyclae before sunrise. He captured and plundered the settlement of Amyclae and withdrew again before the Spartans could march out to help.

Afterward, he continued to devastate the land until, having fought against more than half of the Spartan infantry companies and both Spartan kings, he suffered many wounds while defending himself; struck on the head by a stone, his vision began swimming. When he fell, the Spartans rushed upon him together and seized him alive. About fifty of his companions were also captured at that time. The Spartans resolved to cast all these men into the Ceadas—the pit into which they throw those upon whom they inflict the most severe punishments.

The other Messenians, rushing in, perished immediately; but Aristomenes was protected by one of the gods both on other occasions and especially at this moment. Those who glorify Aristomenes' deeds declare that when he was thrown into the Ceadas, an eagle flew beneath him and supported him with its wings, carrying him down safely to the bottom without injury to his body or sustaining any wound. Indeed, even from that place, the divine power was later to reveal to him a way of escape.

When he reached the bottom of the pit, he lay down and, wrapping the cloak tightly around him, awaited what he was certain would inevitably be his death. But after the third day he heard a noise and uncovering himself—by now his eyes had adjusted enough to the darkness—he saw a fox touching the corpses. Suspecting that the animal had some entrance, he waited until the fox drew near him, and as it approached, he seized it. Whenever the animal turned toward him, he thrust forward his cloak with his other hand, allowing it something to bite. He followed the fox closely as it darted about; through most places he struggled to keep pace, and in particularly narrow spots he was guided by it as it pulled him onward. Finally, after some time, he saw a hole large enough for the fox to slip through, and daylight shining beyond it.

As for the foxhole, it was destined to receive the girl, after she had been freed by Aristomenes; Aristomenes himself, however—for the opening could not provide an exit even for him—enlarged it with his hands and managed to return safely to his home at Eira. Extraordinary indeed was his fate, both in having fallen prisoner in such a manner—for his spirit and daring deeds were so great that no one could have expected Aristomenes to become captive—and more astonishing still, clearly demonstrating above all else that his rescue from the Ceadas was not without divine intervention.