66 HISTORICAL TALES.

the war, took the usual method then adopted, and
sent to the oracle at Delphi for advice. The oracle
told them to apply to Athens for a leader. They
did so, sending an embassy to that city; and in
response to the oracle the Athenians sent them a
lame schoolmaster named Tyrteus. They did not
dare to resist the command of the god, but they had
no desire to render any actual aid to the Spartans.

However, Apollo seems to have been wiser than
the Athenians. The lame schoolmaster was an able
poet as well, and on reaching Sparta he composed a
series of war-songs which so inspirited the army
that they marched away to victory. Tyrteus was
probably not only an able poet; very likely he also
gave the Spartans good advice in the conduct of the
war, and though he did not lead their armies, he
animated them by his songs and aided them with
his advice until victory followed their career of
defeat.

For many years afterwards the war-songs of Tyr-
teus remained highly popular at Sparta, and some
of them have come down to our own days. As for
the actual history of this war, most of what we
know seems to have been written by Tyrteus, who
was thus not only the poet but the historian of the
Messenian wars.