Page:History of Greece Vol II.djvu/442

 426 HISTORY OF GREECi,. until some little tine after, when Alkamenes and Theopompm were kings at Sparta, and Antiochus and Androkles, sons of Phin- tas, kings of Messenia. The immediate cause of it was a private altercation between the Messenian Polychares (victor at the fourth Olympiad, B. c. 764) and the Spartan Euaephnus. Polychares, having been grossly injured by Eusephnus, and his claim for redress having been rejected at Sparta, took revenge by aggres- sions upon other Lacedaemonians ; the Messenians refused to give him up, though one of the two kings, Androkles, strongly insisted upon doing so, and maintained his opinion so" earnestly against the opposite sense of the majority and of his brother Antiochus, that a tumult arose, and he was slain. The Lacedaemonians, now resolving upon war, struck the first blow without any formal declaration, by surprising the border town of Ampheia, and put- ting its defenders to the sword. They farther overran the Messe- nian territory, and attacked some other towns, but without success. Euphaes, who had now succeeded his father Antiochus as king of Messenia, summoned the forces of the country and carried on the war against them with energy and boldness. For the first four years "of the war, the Lacedaemonians made no progress, and even incurred the ridicule of the old men of their nation as faint- hearted warriors : in the fifth year, however, they undertook a more vigorous invasion, under their two kings, Theopompus and PolydSrus. who were met by Euphaes with the full force of the Messenians. A desperate battle ensued, in which it does not seem that either side gained much advantage : nevertheless, the Messenians found themselves so much enfeebled by it, that they were forced to take refuge on the fortified mountain of Ithome, abandoning the rest of the country. In their distress, they sent to solicit counsel and protection from Delphi, but their messenger brought back the appalling answer that a virgin, of the royal race of .2Epytus, must be sacrificed for their salvation : in the tragic scene which ensues, Aristodemus puts to death his own daughter, yet without satisfying the exigencies of the oracle. The war still continued, and in the thirteenth year of it another hard- fought battle took place, in which the brave Euphaes was slain, but the result was again indecisive. Aristodemus, being elected king in his place, prosecuted the war strenuously : the fifth year of his reign is signalized by a third general battle, wherein the