Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: September 26, 2025
"It ill becomes you," replied Demaratus, "to be so solicitous about Greece, when you have involved your own house in so many dissensions and calamities." He was so convinced by this seasonable reproach, that he immediately sent for his son home, and by Demartatus's mediation prevailed with him to return.
No sooner was this conspiracy agreed upon than Leotychides propagated everywhere the report that the birth of Demaratus was spurious. The Spartans attached the greatest value to legitimacy, they sent to consult the Pythian and Cleomenes, through the aid of Colon, a powerful citizen of Delphi, bribed the oracle to assert the illegitimacy of his foe. Demaratus was deposed.
That such a vast force could be resisted was not even supposed to be conceivable by the blinded monarch. But Demaratus, the exiled king of Sparta, told him he would be resisted unto death, a statement which was received with derision. The mere provisioning this great host for a single day impoverished the country. But there was no help, for to mortal eyes the success of Xerxes was certain.
Demaratus was lord of Corinth in the land of Greece. This Demaratus had a son who, having been driven from Corinth by strife among the citizens, came to Tarquinii that is in the land of Etruria, and dwelt there. And having married a wife, he had two sons born to him, Lucumo and Aruns.
After this disgraceful scene, Alexander, with his mother Olympias, retired into Epirus, where he left her, and proceeded to the country of the Illyrians. About the same time Demaratus of Corinth, an old friend of the family, and privileged to speak his mind freely, came on a visit to Philip. After the first greetings were over, Philip enquired whether the states of Greece agreed well together.
It is related that when he first took his seat upon the royal throne of Persia, under the golden canopy, Demaratus, an old friend and companion of Alexander, burst into tears, and exclaimed that the Greeks who had died before that day had lost the greatest of pleasures, because they had not seen Alexander seated on the throne of Darius.
If all the rest of Greece were to submit to you, leaving the Spartans alone, and if they should find themselves unable to muster more than a thousand men, they would give you battle." Xerxes expressed great surprise at this assertion, and thought that Demaratus could not possibly mean what he seemed to say. "I appeal to yourself," said he; "would you dare to encounter, alone, ten men?
They took no notice of him, and he returning, told Xerxes how few they were, and how unconcerned. Xerxes then sent for Demaratus, an exiled king of Sparta in his camp, and asked what these things meant. 'O king! said Demaratus, 'this is what I told you of yore, when you laughed at my words.
And if a domain, that would satiate the ambition of the most craving of your earlier tyrants, fall to Demaratus, what would be the splendid satrapy in which the conqueror of Plataea might plant his throne?" "In truth, my renown and my power are greater than those ever possessed by Demaratus," said the Spartan musingly.
Their remonstrances being seconded by Demaratus, Cleomenes found it necessary to abandon the expedition and return home. The exiled king took refuge at the Persian court. The unexpected retreat of the Peloponnesian army delivered the Athenians from their most formidable enemy, and they lost no time in turning their arms against their other foes.
Word Of The Day
Others Looking