Key to Easy Latin Stories for beginners/Part IV/XIX
XIX.— A DIFFICULTY.
Which is the eldest?
217.The wife of Aristodemus, king of the Spartans, bore twins. But Aristodemus died in a short time. Then the Lacedaemonians decided that he should be named king who was the elder of the boys. But since they did not know which of the two they should choose, since they were alike and of the same age, they questioned the mother. But she said that 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.