The Deposing of Spartan Kings

Extract

Plutarch in his Life of Agis (chapter 11) describes the plots by which Lysandrus the ephor contrived to depose King Leonidas II. He meant to use against him one of the Spartan laws which forbade a member of the royal houses from begetting children by a foreign woman, and another by which he who went out of Sparta with a view to settling abroad was liable to the death penalty. But though apparently a case could be made out against Leonidas under these charges, Lysandrus did not simply proceed with the prosecution. After instructing confederates who would bring the case, he with his fellow ephors ‘waited for the sign’. What this meant Plutarch explains in these words: ἔστι δ⋯ τοι⋯νδε· δι' ⋯τ⋯ν¹ ⋯νν⋯α¹ λαβ⋯ντες οἱ ἔϕοροι ν⋯κτα καθαρ⋯ν κα⋯ ⋯σ⋯ληνον, σιωπῇ καθ⋯ζονται πρ⋯ς τ⋯ν οὐραν⋯ν ⋯ποβλ⋯ποντες. ⋯⋯ν οὖν ⋯κ μ⋯ρους τιν⋯ς εἰς ἔτερον μ⋯ρος ⋯στ⋯ρ δι⋯ξῃ, κρ⋯νουσι τοὺς βασιλεῖς, ὠς περ⋯ τ⋯ θεῖον ⋯ξαμαρτ⋯νοντας, κα⋯ καταπα⋯ουσι τ⋯ς ⋯ρχ⋯ς, μ⋯χρις ἂν ⋯κ Δελϕ⋯ν ἢ Ὀλυμπας χρησμ⋯ς ἔλθῃ τοῖς ⋯λωκ⋯σι τ⋯ν βασιλ⋯ων βοηθ⋯ν.