Pausanias Analysis

The Arcadians soon learned about the capture of Eira, and immediately urged Aristocrates to lead them forth, either to save the Messenians or to perish along with them. But he, having accepted bribes from Lacedaemon, refused to lead them, and declared he knew of no Messenians still left surviving to whom they might bring aid.

Then, when they became more clearly aware that the Messenians were defeated and were abandoning Eira, the Arcadians themselves prepared to welcome them onto Mount Lycaeus, having made ready both clothing and provisions. They sent men of high rank, firstly to encourage the Messenians, and secondly to guide them on their journey. When the Messenians reached Lycaeus, the Arcadians received them kindly, welcomed them hospitably, and treated them with friendliness in all other ways. They even wished to distribute them among their various cities and to redivide the land for their sake.

Pity for the sacking of Eira and hatred against the Lacedaemonians prompted Aristomenes to devise the following plan. Selecting from the entire body of Messenians five hundred whom he knew to be especially heedless of their own lives, Aristomenes asked them in the hearing of the Arcadians and of Aristocrates, whom he did not yet recognize as a traitor—for he supposed that Aristocrates had abandoned the battle merely from cowardice and fear, not suspecting any deeper wickedness, and thus posed the question openly before his eyes to the five hundred—whether they were willing to die with him in vengeance for their country.

When they declared themselves willing, he stripped the place entirely bare, intending by all means to march on Sparta the following evening, for at that very time most of the Lacedaemonians were away at Eira, and others besides had gone there, carrying off Messenian possessions and prisoners. Aristomenes said, "If we succeed in capturing Sparta and holding it, we shall recover our own possessions by exchanging them for what belongs to the Lacedaemonians. But should we fail, we shall at least die together, having achieved deeds worthy of remembrance by posterity."

When he had said this, about three hundred of the Arcadians themselves also wished to partake in the daring attempt. At that time, however, they delayed their departure, for the sacrifices did not prove favorable to them. The following day, they realized that the Lacedaemonians had already learned of their secret plan, and that they had been betrayed yet again by Aristocrates. Aristocrates immediately had written down Aristomenes' intentions in a letter, and entrusting the letter to the most trustworthy of his servants, dispatched it to Anaxander at Sparta.

As the servant returned, he was ambushed by certain Arcadian men who had previously been hostile toward Aristocrates and who at that time also held certain suspicions against him. Having seized him by ambush, they brought this servant before the Arcadians and publicly revealed to the people the reply sent from Sparta. Anaxander had written to Aristocrates, stating that his previous flight from the Great Trench had not been without benefit from the Lacedaemonians, and further promising gratitude for the information he provided at that time.

When this news was announced openly, the Arcadians themselves stoned Aristocrates and urged the Messenians to join; but the Messenians looked instead towards Aristomenes. Aristomenes, gazing down at the ground, wept. After stoning Aristocrates to death, the Arcadians cast him beyond their borders without burial. In the precinct of Zeus Lycaeus, they erected a stele with this inscription: "In time, justice found out the unrighteous king; And swiftly, aided by Zeus, Messene discovered the traitor. It is difficult for a perjured man to escape the notice of the god. Hail, Zeus, King, and protect Arcadia."