herodotus

eported which the Persians tell, Perseus himself was an Assyrian andbecame a Hellene, whereas the ancestors of Perseus were not Hellenes;and as for the ancestors of Acrisios, who (according to this account)belonged not to Perseus in any way by kinship, they say that thesewere, as the Hellenes report, Egyptians. 55. Let it suffice to havesaid so much about these matters; and as to the question how and bywhat exploits being Egyptians they received the sceptres of royaltyover the Dorians, we will omit these things, since others have toldabout them; but the things with which other narrators have not dealt,of these I will make mention.56. These are the royal rights which have been given by the Spartansto their kings, namely, two priesthoods, of Zeus Lakedaimon and ZeusUranios;[37] and the right of making war against whatsoever land theyplease, and that no man of the Spartans shall hinder this right, or ifhe do, he shall be subject to the curse; and that when they go onexpeditions the kings shall go out first and return last; that ahundred picked men shall be their guard upon expeditions; and thatthey shall use in their goings forth to war as many cattle as theydesire, and take both the hides and the backs of all that aresacrificed. 57. These are their privileges in war; and in peacemoreover things have been assigned to them as follows:--if anysacrifice is performed at the public charge, it is the privilege ofthe kings to sit down at the feast before all others, and that theattendants shall begin with them first, and serve to each of them aportion of everything double of that which is given to the otherguests, and that they shall have the first pouring of libations andthe hides of the animals slain in sacrifice; that on every new moonand seventh day of the month there shall be delivered at the publiccharge to each one of these a full-grown victim in the temple ofApollo, and a measure[38] of barley-groats and a Laconian"quarter"[39] of wine; and that at all the games they shall have seatsof honour specially set apart for them: moreover it is their privilegeto appoint as protectors of strangers[40] whomsoever they will of thecitizens, and to choose each two "Pythians:" now the Pythians are mensent to consult the god at Delphi, and they eat with the kings at thepublic charge. And if the kings do not come to the dinner, it is therule that there shall be sent out for them to their houses twoquarts[41] of barley-groats for each one and half a pint[42] of wine;but if they are present, double shares of everything shall be giventhem, and moreover they shall be honoured in this same manner whenthey have been invited to dinner by private persons. The kings also,it is ordained, shall have charge of the oracles which are given, butthe Pythians also shall have knowledge of them. It is the rulemoreover that the kings alone give decision on the following casesonly, that is to say, about the maiden who inherits her father's