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254 HISTORY OF GREECE. he was brought prisoner. They asked the latter, among oJber questions, what was his purpose in setting on foot the conspiracy ; to which he replied, "I wanted to be inferior to no man at Spar- ta." His punishment was not long deferred. Having been mana- cled with a clog round his neck to which his hands were made fast, he was in this condition conducted round the city, with men scourging and pricking him during the progress. His accomph'cea were treated in like manner, and at length all of them were put to death.i Such is the curious narrative, given by Xenophon, of this unsuc cessful conspiracy. He probably derived his information from Agesilaus himself ; since we cannot easily explain how he could have otherwise learnt so much about the most secret manoeuvres of the ephors, in a government proverbial for constant secrecy, like that of Sparta. The narrative opens to us a glimpse, though sadly transient and imperfect, of the internal dangers of the Spar- tan government We were aware, from earlier evidences, of great discontent prevailing among the Helots, and to a certain extent among the Perioeki. But the incident here described presents to us the first manifestation of a body of malcontents among the Spar- tans themselves ; malcontents formidable both from energy and position, hike Kinadon and the prophet Tisamenus. Of the state of disaffected feeling in the provincial townships of Laconia, an im- pressive proof is afforded by the case of that beautiful woman who was alleged to be so active in political proselytism at Aulon ; not less than by the passionate expressions of hatred revealed in the deposition of the informer himself. Though little is known about the details, yet it seems that the tendency of affaris at Sparta was to concentrate both power and property in the hands of an oligar- chy ever narrowing among the citizens ; thus aggravating the dangers at home, even at the time when the power of the state was greatest abroad, and preparing the way for that irreparable humiliation which began with the defeat of Leuktra. It can hardly be doubted that much more wide-spread discontent came to the knowledge of the ephors than that which is specially indicated in Xenophon. And such discovery may probably have been one of the motives (as had happened in 424 B. c. on occasion 1 Xenoph. Hellen. iii, 3, 11.