prisoner. So Cleomenes summoned forth about fifty of the Argives one
by one and slew them; and it chanced that the rest who were in the
enclosure did not perceive that this was being done; for since the
grove was thick, those within did not see how it fared with those who
were without, at least until one of them climbed up a tree and saw
from above that which was being done. Accordingly they then no longer
came forth when they were called. 80. So Cleomenes thereupon ordered
all the Helots to pile up brushwood round the sacred grove; and they
obeying, he set fire to the grove. And when it was now burning, he
asked one of the deserters to what god the grove was sacred, and the
man replied that it was sacred to Argos. When he heard that, he
groaned aloud and said, "Apollo who utterest oracles, surely thou hast
greatly deceived me, saying that I should conquer Argos: I conjecture
that the oracle has had its fulfilment for me already." 81. After this
Cleomenes sent away the greater part of his army to go back to Sparta,
but he himself took a thousand of the best men and went to the temple
of Hera to sacrifice: and when he wished to sacrifice upon the altar,
the priest forbade him, saying that it was not permitted by religious
rule for a stranger to sacrifice in that place. Cleomenes however bade
the Helots take away the priest from the altar and scourge him, and he
himself offered the sacrifice. Having so done he returned back to
Sparta; 82, and after his return his opponents brought him up before
the Ephors, saying that he had received gifts and therefore had not
conquered Argos, when he might easily have conquered it. He said to
them,--but whether he was speaking falsely or whether truly I am not
able with certainty to say,--however that may be, he spoke and said
that when he had conquered the sanctuary of Argos, it seemed to him
that the oracle of the god had had its fulfilment for him; therefore
he did not think it right to make an attempt on the city, at least
until he should have had recourse to sacrifice, and should have learnt