Erato   

which he had sworn, or the trickery which had been practised on him,
at last he suffered Ariston to carry her away to his house.
Ariston hereupon put away his second wife and took for his third
this woman; and she, in less than the due time- when she had not yet
reached her full term of ten months- gave birth to a child, the
Demaratus of whom we have spoken. Then one of his servants came and
told him the news, as he sat in council with the Ephors; whereat,
remembering when it was that the woman became his wife, he counted the
months upon his fingers, and having so done, cried out with an oath,
"The boy cannot be mine." This was said in the hearing of the
Ephors; but they made no account of it at the time. The boy grew up;
and Ariston repented of what he had said; for he became altogether
convinced that Demaratus was truly his son. The reason why he named
him Demaratus was the following. Some time before these events the
whole Spartan people, looking upon Ariston as a man of mark beyond all
the kings that had reigned at Sparta before him, had offered up a
prayer that he might have a son. On this account, therefore, the
name Demaratus was given.
In course of time Ariston died; and Demaratus received the
kingdom: but it was fated, as it seems, that these words, when bruited
abroad, should strip him of his sovereignty. This was brought about by
means of Cleomenes, whom he had twice sorely vexed, once when he led
the army home from Eleusis, and a second time when Cleomenes was
gone across to Egina against such as had espoused the side of the
Medes.
Cleomenes now, being resolved to have his revenge upon
Demaratus, went to Leotychides, the son of Menares, and grandson of
Agis, who was of the same family as Demaratus, and made agreement with
him to this tenor following. Cleomenes was to lend his aid to make
Leotychides king in the room of Demaratus; and then Leotychides was to
take part with Cleomenes against the Eginetans. Now Leotychides
hated Demaratus chiefly on account of Percalus, the daughter of
Chilon, son of Demarmenus: this lady had been betrothed to
Leotychides; but Demaratus laid a plot, and robbed him of his bride,
forestalling him in carrying her off, and marrying her. Such was the
origin of the enmity. At the time of which we speak, Leotychides was
prevailed upon by the earnest desire of Cleomenes to come forward
against Demaratus and make oath "that Demaratus was not rightful
king of Sparta, since he was not the true son of Ariston." After he
had thus sworn, Leotychides sued Demaratus, and brought up against him
the phrase which Ariston had let drop when, on the coming of his
servant to announce to him the birth of his son, he counted the
months, and cried out with an oath that the child was not his. It
was on this speech of Ariston's that Leotychides relied to prove
that Demaratus was not his son, and therefore not rightful king of
Sparta; and he produced as witnesses the Ephors who were sitting
with Ariston at the time and heard what he said.
At last, as there came to be much strife concerning this matter,
the Spartans made a decree that the Delphic oracle should be asked
to say whether Demaratus were Ariston's son or no. Cleomenes set
them upon this plan; and no sooner was the decree passed than he
made a friend of Cobon, the son of Aristophantus, a man of the
greatest weight among the Delphians; and this Cobon prevailed upon
Perialla, the prophetess, to give the answer which Cleomenes wished.
Accordingly, when the sacred messengers came and put their question,
the Pythoness returned for answer "that Demaratus was not Ariston's
son." Some time afterwards all this became known; and Cobon was forced
to fly from Delphi; while Perialla the prophetess was deprived of
her office.
Such were the means whereby the deposition of Demaratus was
brought about; but his flying from Sparta to the Medes was by reason
of an affront which was put upon him. On losing his kingdom he had
been made a magistrate; and in that office soon afterwards, when the
feast of the Gymnopaediae came around, he took his station among the