Page:History of Greece Vol II.djvu/347

 THE MESSKNIAN DORIANS. 331 and Eurypontids, instead of Eurystheneids and Prokleids. 1 We ee in these statements the same tone of mind as that which pervades the Panathenaic oration of Isokrates, the master of Ephorus, the facts of an unknown period, so colored as to suit an ideal of haughty Dorian exclusiveness. Again, as Eurysthenes and Prokles appear, in the picture of Ephorus, to carry their authority at once over the whole of Laconia, so too does Kresphontes over the whole of Messenia, over the entire south-western region of Peloponnesus, westward of Mount Taygetus and Cape Tasnarus, and southward of the river Neda. He sends an envoy to Pylus and Rhium, the western and southern portions of the south-western promontory of Peloponnesus, treating the entire territory as if it were one sovereignty, and inviting the inhabitants to submit under equal laws. 2 But it has already been observed, that this supposed ' Compare the two citations from Ephorus, Straho, viii. pp. 361-365. Unfortunately, a portion of the latter citation is incurably mutilated in the text : O. Miiller (History of the Dorians, book i. ch. v. 13) has proposed an ingenious conjecture, which, however, cannot be considered as trustworthy. Grosskurd, the German translator, usually skilful in these restorations, leaves the passage untouched. For a new coloring of the death of Kresphontes, adjusted by Isokrates so as to suit the purpose of the address which he puts into the mouth of Archi- damus king of Sparta, see the discourse in his works which passes under that name (Or. iv. pp. 120-122). Isokrates says that the Messenian Dorians slew Kresphontes, whose children fled as suppliants to Sparta, imploring revenge for the death of their father, and surrendering the territory to the Spartans. The Delphian god advised the latter to accept the tender, and they accordingly attacked the Messenians, avenged Kresphontes, and appro- priated the territory. IsokratGs always starts from the basis of the old legend, the triple Dorian conquest made all at once : compare Panathenaic. Or. xii. pp. 270-287. 2 Ephorus ap. Strabo, viii. p. 361. Dr. Thirlwall observes (History of Greece, ch. vii. p. 300, 2d edit.), " The Messenian Pylus seems long to have retained its independence, and to have been occupied for several centuries by one branch of the family of Neleus ; for descendants of Nestor are men- tioned as allies of the Messenians in their struggle with Sparta in the latter half of the seventh century B. c." For this assertion, Dr. Thirlwall cites Strabo (viii. p. 355). I agree with him as to the matter of fact : I see no proof that the Dorians of Stenyklerus ever ruled over what is called the Messenian Pylus ; for, of course,, if they