Erato   

Amphitryon; whereby it appears that I have reason on my side, and am
right in saying, "up to Perseus." If we follow the line of Danad,
daughter of Acrisius, and trace her progenitors, we shall find that
the chiefs of the Dorians are really genuine Egyptians. In the
genealogies here given I have followed the common Greek accounts.
According to the Persian story, Perseus was an Assyrian who became
a Greek; his ancestors, therefore, according to them, were not Greeks.
They do not admit that the forefathers of Acrisius were in any way
related to Perseus, but say they were Egyptians, as the Greeks
likewise testify.
Enough however of this subject. How it came to pass that Egyptians
obtained the kingdoms of the Dorians, and what they did to raise
themselves to such a position, these are questions concerning which,
as they have been treated by others, I shall say nothing. I proceed to
speak of points on which no other writer has touched.
The prerogatives which the Spartans have allowed their kings are
the following. In the first place, two priesthoods, those (namely)
of Lacedaemonian and of Celestial Jupiter; also the right of making
war on what country soever they please, without hindrance from any
of the other Spartans, under pain of outlawry; on service the
privilege of marching first in the advance and last in the retreat,
and of having a hundred picked men for their body guard while with the
army; likewise the liberty of sacrificing as many cattle in their
expeditions as it seems them good, and the right of having the skins
and the chines of the slaughtered animals for their own use.
Such are their privileges in war; in peace their rights are as
follows. When a citizen makes a public sacrifice the kings are given
the first seats at the banquet; they are served before any of the
other guests, and have a double portion of everything; they take the
lead in the libations; and the hides of the sacrificed beasts belong
to them. Every month, on the first day, and again on the seventh of
the first decade, each king receives a beast without blemish at the
public cost, which he offers up to Apollo; likewise a medimnus of
meal, and of wine a Laconian quart. In the contests of the Games
they have always the seat of honour; they appoint the citizens who
have to entertain foreigners; they also nominate, each of them, two of
the Pythians, officers whose business it is to consult the oracle at
Delphi, who eat with the kings, and, like them, live at the public
charge. If the kings do not come to the public supper, each of them
must have two choenixes of meal and a cotyle of wine sent home to
him at his house; if they come, they are given a double quantity of
each, and the same when any private man invites them to his table.
They have the custody of all the oracles which are pronounced; but the
Pythians must likewise have knowledge of them. They have the whole
decision of certain causes, which are these, and these only:- When a
maiden is left the heiress of her father's estate, and has not been
betrothed by him to any one, they decide who is to marry her; in all
matters concerning the public highways they judge; and if a person
wants to adopt a child, he must do it before the kings. They
likewise have the right of sitting in council with the
eight-and-twenty senators; and if they are not present, then the
senators nearest of kin to them have their privileges, and give two
votes as the royal proxies, besides a third vote, which is their own.
Such are the honours which the Spartan people have allowed their
kings during their lifetime; after they are dead other honours await
them. Horsemen carry the news of their death through all Laconia,
while in the city the women go hither and thither drumming upon a
kettle. At this signal, in every house two free persons, a man and a
woman, must put on mourning, or else be subject to a heavy fine. The
Lacedaemonians have likewise a custom at the demise of their kings
which is common to them with the barbarians of Asia- indeed with the
greater number of the barbarians everywhere- namely, that when one
of their kings dies, not only the Spartans, but a certain number of
the country people from every part of Laconia are forced, whether they