did not; until at last the warder fearing the threats, for he was one
of the Helots, gave him a knife. Then Cleomenes, when he had received
the steel, began to maltreat himself from the legs upwards: for he
went on cutting his flesh lengthways from the legs to the thighs and
from the thighs to the loins and flanks, until at last he came to the
belly; and cutting this into strips he died in that manner. And this
happened, as most of the Hellenes report, because he persuaded the
Pythian prophetess to advise that which was done about Demaratos; but
as the Athenians alone report, it was because when he invaded Eleusis
he laid waste the sacred enclosure of the goddesses;[65] and according
to the report of the Argives, because from their sanctuary dedicated
to Argos he caused to come down those of the Argives who had fled for
refuge from the battle and slew them, and also set fire to the grove
itself, holding it in no regard. 76. For when Cleomenes was consulting
the Oracle at Delphi, the answer was given him that he should conquer
Argos; so he led the Spartans and came to the river Erasinos, which is
said to flow from the Stymphalian lake; for this lake, they say,
running out into a viewless chasm, appears again above ground in the
land of Argos; and from thence onwards this water is called by the
Argives Erasinos: having come, I say, to this river, Cleomenes did
sacrifice to it; and since the sacrifices were not at all favourable
for him to cross over, he said that he admired the Erasinos for not
betraying the men of its country, but the Argives should not even so
escape. After this he retired back from thence and led his army down
to Thyrea; and having done sacrifice to the Sea by slaying a bull, he
brought them in ships to the land of Tiryns and Nauplia. 77. Being
informed of this, the Argives came to the rescue towards the sea; and
when they had got near Tiryns and were at the place which is called
Hesipeia,[66] they encamped opposite to the Lacedemonians leaving no
very wide space between the armies. There the Argives were not afraid