that with common counsel and a common force we might conduct him to
Athens and render back to him that which we formerly took away."

92. Thus they spoke; but the majority of the allies did not approve of
their words. The rest however kept silence, but the Corinthian
Socles[78] spoke as follows: (a) "Surely now the heaven shall be below
the earth, and the earth raised up on high above the heaven, and men
shall have their dwelling in the sea, and fishes shall have that
habitation which men had before, seeing that ye, Lacedemonians, are
doing away with free governments[79] and are preparing to bring back
despotism again into our cities, than which there is no more unjust or
more murderous thing among men. For if in truth this seems to you to
be good, namely that the cities should be ruled by despots, do ye
yourselves first set up a despot in your own State, and then endeavour
to establish them also for others: but as it is, ye are acting
unfairly towards your allies, seeing that ye have had no experience of
despots yourselves and provide with the greatest care at Sparta that
this may never come to pass. If however ye had had experience of it,
as we have had, ye would be able to contribute juster opinions of it
than at present. (b) For the established order of the Corinthian State
was this:--the government was an oligarchy, and the oligarchs, who
were called Bacchiadai, had control over the State and made marriages
among themselves.[80] Now one of these men, named Amphion, had a
daughter born to him who was lame, and her name was Labda. This
daughter, since none of the Bacchiadai wished to marry her, was taken
to wife by Aëtion the son of Echecrates, who was of the deme of Petra,
but by original descent a Lapith and of the race of Caineus. Neither
from this wife nor from another were children born to him, therefore
he set out to Delphi to inquire about offspring; and as he entered,
forthwith the prophetess addressed him in these lines: