to war openly against the Spartans, whom he defeated
in several battles.

With his small army, he even pressed forward toward the city of Sparta,
and camped within sight of its dwellings. The Spartan women could thus
see a very unusual sight,--the light of the enemies' fires.

To frighten the Spartans still more, Aristomenes went secretly into the
city one dark night, stole into the principal temple, and there hung up
the arms he had taken during the war.

These weapons were arranged so as to form what the Greeks called a
trophy, and right under them Aristomenes boldly wrote his name in
letters so large that all could see it.

When morning dawned, and the Spartans came as usual into the temple to
offer up their morning prayer and sacrifice, they were astonished and
dismayed at the sight of this trophy. Aristomenes' bravery was so great
that they despaired of conquering him without divine aid, and so they
sent to ask an oracle what they should do.

The oracle answered that the Spartans would be victorious if they
marched to war under the command of an Athenian general. Now, the
Spartans were a proud people, and did not like to ask aid of any one;
but they made up their minds to obey this command, and so sent a
messenger to Athens to ask for a good leader.

Whether the Athenians, who were well known for their love of joking,
wished to make fun of the Spartans, or whether they wanted to show them
that the bodily beauty and strength which the Spartans prized so highly
was not everything, no one now knows. The fact is, however, that the
Athenians sent the Spartans a poor, lame schoolmaster, called Tyr-tae'us,
to lead them in battle. This man had never handled a weapon in his life,
and the Spartans were very angry when he placed himself at their head
with a lyre instead of a sword; but when he suddenly began to sing one
of those war songs which make one's blood tingle, it roused their
patriotism to such a point that all were ready to conquer or die, and
their scorn was soon changed to deep admiration.

Fired by these patriotic songs, and by the stirring music the lame
schoolmaster played, the Spartans fought better than ever before,
overcame the Messenians, and came home in triumph with their prisoners,
among whom was the brave Aristomenes.

As it was then usual to put all prisoners of war to death, the Spartans
threw all the Messenians down into a horrible pit called the Ce'a-das.
This was a dark hole of great depth