PABT IV.] THE THIRD INVASION OF GREECK 75
she did not even herself know the difference between them. So the Lacedaemonians, being uncertain, sent ambassadors to Delphi to consult what should be done. But the priestess of Apollo ordered that they should consider both boys as king, but honour the elder most.
Another judgment of Solomon.
218.Having received this answer, since they were no less uncertain how they should discover which of the two was the elder, a man whose name was Panites gave them advice. Now he advised the Lacedaemonians to watch the mother, and notice which of the boys she washed first, and to which she gave food first. They say that they, on watching the mother, detected her always preferring one of the boys both in feeding and washing; and that the Lacedaemonians therefore believed that this one, being preferred to the other by his mother, was the eldest. And they relate that these very brothers were always at variance throughout the whole of their lives.
XX.THE THIRD INVASION OF GREECE.
The cutting of the canal across Mount Athos.
219.Xerxes again determined to make an expedition against Greece. So having collected a large army in Asia, he remained near the Hellespont until all things should have been prepared in order that he might be able to march on Greece without risk. And first, indeed, since those who sailed round Athoa had often received loss, he ordered a canal to be made across the isthmus which is at the foot of the mountain. Now it seems to me that Xerxes ordered this canal to be dug for the sake of ostentation, wishing both to show off his own power and to leave a memorial of himself.
The cables for the bridge, and the commissariat.
220.While he is getting these things done thus, at the same time also he ordered ropes to be prepared for joining the bridges across the Hellespont, partly of papyrus, partly of
