History of the Peloponnesian War

They likewise ordered them to drive out the curse of Minerva of the Brazen-House; which was of the following kind.

When Pausanias the Lacedaemonian, after being sent for by the Spartans for the first time from his command in the Hellespont, and brought to trial, was acquitted by them as not guilty, he was not sent out again in a public capacity; but in a private capacity, of his own accord, he took a trireme of Hermione, without the authority of the Lacedaemonians, and came to the Hellespont; nominally, to join in the war of the Greeks; but really, to carry out his measures with the king; which he had undertaken, in the first instance, from a desire of sovereignty over Greece.

Now it was from the following fact that he first established a claim for service with the king, and made a commencement of the whole business.