Ἀγαμέμνων τέ μοι δοκεῖ τῶν τότε δυνάμει προύχων καὶ οὐ τοσοῦτον τοῖς Τυνδάρεω ὅρκοις κατειλημμένους τοὺς Ἑλένης μνηστῆρας ἄγων τὸν στόλον ἀγεῖραι . λέγουσι δὲ καὶ οἱ τὰ σαφέστατα Πελοποννησίων μνήμῃ παρὰ τῶν πρότερον δεδεγμένοι Πέλοπά τε πρῶτον πλήθει χρημάτων , ἃ ἦλθεν ἐκ τῆς Ἀσίας ἔχων ἐς ἀνθρώπους ἀπόρους , δύναμιν περιποιησάμενον τὴν ἐπωνυμίαν τῆς χώρας ἔπηλυν ὄντα ὅμως σχεῖν , καὶ ὕστερον τοῖς ἐκγόνοις ἔτι μείζω ξυνενεχθῆναι , Εὐρυσθέως μὲν ἐν τῇ Ἀττικῇ ὑπὸ Ἡρακλειδῶν ἀποθανόντος , Ἀτρέως δὲ μητρὸς ἀδελφοῦ ὄντος αὐτῷ καὶ ἐπιτρέψαντος Εὐρυσθέως , ὅτ᾿ ἐστράτευε , Μυκήνας τε καὶ τὴν ἀρχὴν κατὰ τὸ οἰκεῖον Ἀτρεῖ ( τυγχάνειν δὲ αὐτὸν φεύγοντα τὸν πατέρα διὰ τὸν Χρυσίππου θάνατον ) , καὶ ὡς οὐκέτι ἀνεχώρησεν Εὐρυσθεύς , βουλομένων καὶ τῶν Μυκηναίων φόβῳ τῶν Ἡρακλειδῶν καὶ ἅμα δυνατὸν δοκοῦντα εἶναι καὶ τὸ πλῆθος τεθεραπευκότα τῶν Μυκηναίων τε καὶ ὅσων Εὐρυσθεὺς ἦρχε τὴν βασιλείαν Ἀτρέα παραλαβεῖν καὶ τῶν Περσειδῶν τοὺς Πελοπίδας μείζους καταστῆναι . ἅ μοι δοκεῖ Ἀγαμέμνων παραλαβὼν καὶ ναυτικῷ δὲ ἅμα ἐπὶ πλέον τῶν ἄλλων ἰσχύσας τὴν στρατείαν οὐ χάριτι τὸ πλέον ἤ φόβῳ ξυναγαγὼν ποιήσασθαι . φαίνεται γὰρ ναυσί τε πλείσταις αὐτὸς ἀφικόμενος καὶ Ἀρκάσι προσπαρασχών , ὡς Ὅμηρος τοῦτο δεδήλωκεν , εἴ τῳ ἱκανὸς τεκμηριῶσαι . καὶ ἐν τοῦ σκήπτρου ἅμα τῇ παραδόσει εἴρηκεν αὐτὸν " πολλῇσι νήσοισι καὶ Ἄργεϊ παντὶ ἀνάσσειν " · οὐκ ἂν οὖν νήσων ἔξω τῶν περιοικίδων ( αὗται δὲ οὐκ ἂν πολλαὶ εἶεν ) ἠπειρώτης ὢν ἐκράτει , εἰ μή τι καὶ ναυτικὸν εἶχεν . εἰκάζειν δὲ χρὴ καὶ ταύτῃ τῇ στρατείᾳ οἷα ἦν τὰ πρὸ αὐτῆς .

Then , Agamemnon , seemed to me to have gathered the fleet , more excelling the others in strength , than leading the suitors of Helen compelled by oaths of Tyndareus . But those of the Peloponnesians , having received the most accurate in account from the elders , also say that Pelops was first because of the size of his riches , which he , holding , brought into Asia to the needy men . Nevertheless , although being a foreigner , he , having aquired the title of the land , held power , and yet that later , still greater things came to pass for his descendants . For as Eurystheus , on one hand , was slain by the Herakleides in Attica , Atreus , on the other hand , was the brother of his own mother ( but he himself happened to be fleeing his father on account of the death of Chryssipus ) , to whom Eurystheus , when he was waging war , entrusted both the Mycenae and the realm , for he was a relative . And as Eurystheus no longer came back , because the Myceneans were willing it , for fear of the Herakleides , at the same time Atreus was seeming to be mighty and had tended the masses , and that he received the kingdom of all the Myceneans Eurystheus ruled , and that the Pelopides were more established than the Perseids . It seems to me that , Agamemnon , having received these things , but also at the same time having been strong in navy , and having collected over much more than the others ( not much more by grace than by fear ) made the expedition . For it appears he , both having arrived with the most ships and having supplied ships to the Arcadians , as Homer showed this , if he is sufficient proof postitive to anyone . Also at the same time in the bequeathing of the sceptre , he said that he " ruled many islands and all of Argos . " Thus , Agamemnon would not have ruled the island out of the range of the neighboring ones , ( but they would not be many ) being of the mainland , if he also did not hold any navy . But it is also necessary to infer from such an expedition what were the same sort of things before .

And it was , as I think , because Agamemnon surpassed in power the princes of his time that he was able to assemble his fleet , and not so much because Helen’s suitors , whom he led , were bound by oath to Tyndareus . It is said , furthermore , by those of the Peloponnesians who have received the clearest traditional accounts from men of former times , that it was by means of the great wealth which he brought with him from Asia into the midst of a poor people that Pelops first acquired power , and , consequently , stranger though he was , gave his name to the country , and that yet greater things fell to the lot of his descendants . For when Eurystheus set out on the expedition that resulted in his death in Attica at the hands of the Heracleidae , Atreus , his mother’s brother , who chanced to have been banished by his father for the death of Chrysippus , was intrusted by Eurystheus with Mycenae and the sovereignty because he was a kinsman ; and when Eurystheus did not return , Atreus , in accordance with the wish of the Mycenaeans , who feared the Heracleidae , and because he seemed to be a man of power and had won the favour of the multitude , received the sovereignty over the Mycenaeans and all who were under the sway of Eurystheus . And so the house of Pelops became greater than the house of Perseus . And it was , I think , because Agamemnon had inherited all this , and at the same time had become strong in naval power beyond the rest , that he was able to collect his armament , not so much by favour as by fear , and so to make the expedition . For it is clear that he himself brought the greatest number of ships , and that he had others with which to supply the Arcadians , as Homer testifies , if he is sufficient witness for anyone . And he says , in the account of the delivery of the sceptre , that Agamemnon " ruled over many islands and all Argos . " Now , if he had not had something of a fleet , he could not , as he lived on the mainland , have been lord of any islands except those on the coast , and these would not be " many . " And it is from this expedition that we must judge by conjecture what the situation was before that time .