Discovery of The Plot
During a sacrifice presided over by king Agesilaus II, the omens proved to be very bad. Xenophon bluntly indicates that the soothsayer assisting the king foresaw "a most terrible conspiracy". Several days later a man denounced the conspiracy of Cinadon to the ephors: he said that Cinadon had brought him to the agora and ordered him to count the Spartans in the crowd, which consisted of nearly 4000. It turned out that only 40 of them were Peers: a king, ephors, Gerousia, and citizens. Cinadon then pointed out that the 40 Spartans were the enemy, and the 4000 others were allies. The informer added that Cinadon had gathered around himself a number of hypomeiones who hated the Spartans:
" for whenever among these classes any mention was made of Spartiatae, no one was able to conceal the fact that he would be glad to eat them raw."(Hellenica, III, 3, 6).
The informer finished by pointing out that some conspirators were armed and the rest had access to implements such as hatchets and sickles.(Hellenica, III, 3, 7)
Panicked, the ephors did not immediately arrest Cinadon. By means of an elaborate ruse they sent him to the Elean frontier, at Aulon in Messenia. His escort was composed of young Hippeis, carefully selected by their commander. An additional detachment of cavalry was available as reinforcements. Cinadon is interrogated in the field; where he revealed the names of the principal co-conspirators who were then arrested. On his return to Sparta, he was further questioned until all his accomplices were named. Cinadon and the conspirators were then bound, flogged and dragged through the city until they were dead.
Read more about this topic: Conspiracy Of Cinadon
Famous quotes containing the words discovery of the, discovery of, discovery and/or plot:
“Next to the striking of fire and the discovery of the wheel, the greatest triumph of what we call civilization was the domestication of the human male.”
—Max Lerner (b. 1902)
“Your discovery of the contradiction caused me the greatest surprise and, I would almost say, consternation, since it has shaken the basis on which I intended to build my arithmetic.... It is all the more serious since, with the loss of my rule V, not only the foundations of my arithmetic, but also the sole possible foundations of arithmetic seem to vanish.”
—Gottlob Frege (18481925)
“The new supplants the old. Yet mens minds are stuffed with outworn bunk. Educating the young in the latest findings of authorities and scholars in the social sciences is important. It is equally important to devise ways and means for aiding the middle-aged and old to reexamine hang-over unscientific doctrines and ideas in the light of recent discovery and research.”
—Mary Barnett Gilson (1877?)
“Morality for the novelist is expressed not so much in the choice of subject matter as in the plot of the narrative, which is perhaps why in our morally bewildered time novelists have often been timid about plot.”
—Jane Rule (b. 1931)