Page:History of Greece Vol IX.djvu/262

 240 HISTORY OF GREECE. return ; ! bribery having been in both cases the moving impulse But Lysander was not equally fortunate. None of these oracle could be induced, by any offers, to venture upon so grave a sen- tence as that of repealing the established law of succession to the Spartan throne. It is even said that the priests of Ammon, not content with refusing his offers, came over to Sparta to denounce his proceeding ; upon which accusation Lysander was put on his trial, but acquitted. The statement that he was thus tried and ac- quitted, I think untrue. But his schemes so far miscarried, - and he was compelled to resort to another stratagem, yet still ap- pealing to the religious susceptibilities of his countrymen. There had been born some tune before, in one of the cities of the Euxine, a youth named Silenus, whose mother affirmed that he was the son of Apollo ; an assertion which found extensive credence, notwith- standing various difficulties raised by the sceptics. While making at Sparta this new birth of a son to the god, the partisans of Ly- sander also spread abroad the news that there existed sacred manuscripts and inspired records, of great antiquity, hidden and yet unread, in the custody of the Delphian priests; not to be touched or consulted until some genuine son of Apollo should come forward to claim them. With the connivance of some among the priests, certain oracles were fabricated agreeable to the views of Lysander. The plan was concerted that Silenus should present himself at Delphi, tender the proofs of Hi divine parentage, and then claim the inspection of these Mddvj records ; which the priests, after an apparently rigid scrutiny, vci'3 prepared to grant. Silenus would then read them aloud in the presence of all the spectators ; and one would be found among them, recommending to the Spartans t? choose their kings out of all the best citizens. 3 So nearly did this project approach to consummation, that Sile- nus actually presented himself at Delphi, and put in his claim. But one of the confederates either failed in his courage, or broke down, at the critical moment; so that the hidden records still remained hidden. Yet though Lysander was thus compelled tc abandon his plan, nothing was made public about it until after his 1 Plutarch, Lysand. c. 25, from EpVorus. Compare Herodot. vi, 66 ; Thucyd. v, 12. B Plutarch, Lysand. c. 26.