HERODOTUS

BOOK JX. 26-27contrariwise the Heraclidae should depart and leadtheir army away, and not seek to return to thePeloponnese till a hundred years were past. Thenour general and king Echemus, son of Phegeus' sonEeropus, offered himself and was chosen out of allthe allied host; and he fought that duel and slewHyllus. For that feat of arms the Peloponnesiansof that day granted us this also among other greatprivileges which we have never ceased to possess,that in all united campaigns we should ever leadthe army's second wing. Now with you, men ofLacedaemon, we have no rivalry, but forbear and bidyou choose the command of whichever wing you will ;but this we say, that our place is at the head of theother, as ever aforetime. And setting aside that featwhich we have rented, we are worthier than theAthenians to hold that post ;formany are the fieldson which we have fought with happy event in regardto you, men of Lacedaemon, and others besides. Itis just, therefore, that we and not the Atheniansshould hold the second wing ;for never early or latehave they achieved such feats of arms as we."27. Thus they spoke ;and thus the Athenians"replied It is our belief that we are here : gatheredin concourse for battle with the foreigner, and notfor discourses ; but since the man of Tegea has madeit his business to speak of all the valorous deeds, oldand new, which either of our nations has at any timeachieved, needs must that we prove to you how we,rather than Arcadians, have in virtue of our valouran hereditary right to the place of honour. TheseTegeans say that they slew the leader of the Heraclidaeat the Isthmus ;now when those same Hera-189