AGESILAUS

1. Archidamus, the son of Zeuxidamus, proved himself to be an illustrious king of Sparta. When he died, he left a son Agis by Lampido, a woman of noble birth, and a much younger son, Agesilaus, ¹ whose mother was Eupolia, the daughter of Melesippidas. Since Agis was the legitimate heir to the throne, it was expected that Agesilaus would spend his life as a private citizen, and he was therefore brought up according to what Spartans term the agoge, ² an austere lifestyle, full of hardships, but also one designed to train young men to obey orders. It was for this reason, we are told, that Simonides³ applied to Sparta the epithet ‘man-taming’, because the effect of her customs was above all to make her citizens obedient and submissive to the laws, like horses which are broken in as young as possible. The law exempts any heir-apparent to the throne from the necessity of undergoing this upbringing, and so Agesilaus was exceptional in this respect, namely that by the time he came to rule he did not lack training in obeying rules. The result was that he was on much more harmonious terms with his subjects than any of the other kings, because he possessed commanding and regal qualities by nature, and from the agoge acquired kindliness as well as a regard for people.

2. When he was a member of the so-called Troops⁴ of boys brought up together, he had as his lover Lysander, ⁵ who was especially struck by his disciplined nature. Agesilaus was the most aggressive and competitive of the youngsters; he longed to be first in all things, and he had in him a vehemence and an impetuosity which defied all defeat or submission. Yet at the same time he was so gentle and ready to obey authority that he did whatever was demanded of him. He acted in this way from a sense of honour, not of fear, and what upset him was any reprimand, rather than the imposition of hardships. As for the deformity in his lame leg, the beauty of his physique in the prime of his youth made it pass almost unnoticed, and the ease and light-heartedness with which he endured it went far to compensate for the disability, since he was the first to joke and make fun of himself on this subject. In fact his lameness served to reveal his ambition even more clearly, since he never allowed himself to abandon any struggle or venture on its account. No likeness of his appearance has come down to us, because he personally forbade any; he even declared on his deathbed that there was to be no statue or painting made of him. He is described as having been a small man with a rather insignificant presence. On the other hand, thanks to his cheerfulness and positive attitude in all circumstances, as well as his sense of humour (which lacked all trace of harshness or animosity in word or look), he inspired more affection even in old age than young, handsome men. But it is worth noting that Archidamus was fined⁶ by the ephors, according to Theophrastus, for having married a small woman. They declared, ‘She will bear us kinglets instead of kings.’

3. It was during Agis' reign that Alcibiades⁷ reached Sparta from Sicily as a fugitive, and he had not been long in the city before he was accused of committing adultery with Timaea, King Agis' wife. When she bore a child, Agis refused to acknowledge it as his own, and declared that Alcibiades was the father. Duris⁸ tells us that Timaea was not at all put out by this, and that when she was at home, in the presence of her helot maids, she would under her breath call the child Alcibiades instead of Leotychidas. Also according to Duris, Alcibiades himself said that he had seduced Timaea not out of mere passion, but because he cherished the ambition that his descendants should reign over the Spartiates. It was for this reason, namely fear of Agis, that Alcibiades decamped from Sparta. As for the child [Leotychidas], he was always regarded with suspicion by Agis, and was never given the honours that a legitimate son would have received. However, when Agis fell ill, Leotychidas, on his knees, tearfully prevailed upon Agis to acknowledge him as his son in the presence of many witnesses. Even so, after Agis' death, Lysander – who, as a result of his naval victory over the Athenians, ⁹ had gained the greatest influence at Sparta – tried to promote Agesilaus' claim to the throne on the grounds that illegitimacy disqualified Leotychidas.¹⁰ Many other citizens welcomed this initiative and gave their enthusiastic support because of Agesilaus' personal qualities, and because they had shared the same upbringing in the agoge. But there was a diviner in Sparta named Diopeithes, who had an extraordinary knowledge of ancient prophecies and enjoyed a great reputation for his skill in interpreting religious matters. He declared that it was contrary to the will of heaven for a lame man to become king of Sparta, and when the matter came before a court, he cited the following oracle:

‘Though you are sound of limb, proud Sparta, beware

That from your stock there stems no lame kingship.

For then unlooked-for ordeals shall oppress you for ages,

And the man-killing, rolling waves of war.’

Lysander's reply to this was that if the Spartiates were really disturbed by the oracle, it was against Leotychidas that they should be on their guard. It did not matter to the god that a man who was literally lame should become king; the danger was that he might not be legitimate nor even a descendant of Heracles, ¹¹ and this is what ‘lame kingship' referred to. For his part Agesilaus declared that Poseidon had testified to Leotychidas’ illegitimacy, because an earthquake¹² of his had driven Agis from his bedroom, and after this more than ten months had elapsed before Leotychidas was born.

4. These were the circumstances in which Agesilaus ascended the throne. He at once proceeded to banish Leotychidas because of his illegitimacy, and to take possession of Agis' property. But observing that his relatives on his mother's side, although respectable enough, were extremely poor, he distributed half of the property among them, and in this way made sure that his inheritance should bring him credit and goodwill instead of envy and hostility. As for Xenophon's assertion that, by obeying his countrymen's will in everything, Agesilaus gained so much power that he could do what he liked, the facts are as follows. At that time the supreme power in the state was exercised by the ephors and the Elders. Ephors hold office for only a year, while Elders enjoy their distinction for life – the role of both being to curb the exercise of absolute power by the kings, as I have explained in my Lycurgus.¹³ This was why a state of perpetual feud and hostility had grown up from the very earliest times between the kings and these officeholders. Agesilaus, however, was determined to break with this tradition. Instead of opposing and clashing with these men, he cultivated them. He took no initiative without involving them, and if summoned, he hurried to the meeting at more than walking-pace. If ever the ephors appeared when he was seated on the throne and transacting business, he would rise, and on the induction of every new Elder he would send him a cloak and an ox as a mark of recognition. Thus all the time that he appeared to be honouring and exalting the dignity of their office, he was unobtrusively increasing his own authority and strengthening the power of the kingship through the goodwill which he attracted to himself.

5. In his dealings with the rest of the citizens he behaved with more principle towards his enemies than towards his friends. By this I mean that he would never act towards the former without just cause, but would sometimes associate himself with injustices committed by the latter. In the same way he was too generous not to give credit to his enemies if they were in the right, but he could not bring himself to condemn his friends if they were in the wrong, indeed he was even proud to aid and abet their offences. In short he considered that nothing done to help a friend was dishonourable. On the other hand, if any of his adversaries fell into misfortune, he would be the first to sympathize and show himself ready to help if they wished it, and in this way he won the hearts and engaged the loyalty of his whole people. So when the ephors saw this they began to be afraid of his power, and fined him¹⁴ on the ground that he was making the state's citizens into a personal following.

Now natural philosophers believe that if the forces of conflict and discord were to be eliminated from the universe, the heavenly bodies would stand still, and in the resulting complete harmony the process of motion and generation would be brought to a dead stop.¹⁵ In the same way Sparta's lawgiver¹⁶ seems to have introduced the spirit of ambition and contention into the constitution as an incitement to virtue. He wanted there always to be some point of difference between good men, and thus an element of rivalry among them. He believed that the kind of acquiescence which feebly gives way without contesting the intentions of the other side, and avoids any exertion or struggle, does not deserve the name of harmony. Some people believe that Homer, too, definitely thought the same, and that he would not have made Agamemnon rejoice on the occasion when Odysseus and Achilles are sufficiently carried away to abuse each other ‘with fearsome words’, ¹⁷ unless he thought that this rivalry and quarrelling between the chieftains would produce some large general benefit. However, it would be wrong to accept this notion unreservedly, since dissensions of this kind, if they are pushed to extremes, are harmful to states and carry great dangers with them.

6. Soon after Agesilaus had been raised to the throne, reports arrived from Asia that the Persian king was assembling a great fleet with which he intended to sweep the Spartans from the sea. Now Lysander was keen to be sent to Asia again in order to help his friends there; these were men whom he had left behind as governors and administrators of the cities, but who, because of their unjust and violent rule, were being driven out by the citizens and put to death. So he persuaded Agesilaus to undertake a campaign – to be fought on behalf of Greece, but very far from the mainland – which would cross the sea and strike first to anticipate the Persians' preparations. At the same time Lysander wrote to his friends in Asia urging them to contact Sparta calling for Agesilaus to be their general. Accordingly Agesilaus appeared before the assembly and agreed to undertake the campaign if they would give him thirty Spartiates to act as commanders and advisers, a picked body of 2,000 neodamodeis, and a force of 6,000 allied troops. Thanks to Lysander's support, the assembly readily approved all this, and dispatched Agesilaus¹⁸ at once with the thirty Spartiates. Lysander assumed the leadership of these advisers, not only because of his prestige and influence, but also because of his friendship with Agesilaus; the latter considered that in securing him this command Lysander had done him an even greater service than in raising him to the throne.

While this expedition was assembling at Geraestus, Agesilaus himself travelled with friends to Aulis, where he spent the night. As he slept, he dreamed that he heard a voice which said to him: ‘King of the Spartans, you should be aware that no man has ever been chosen as the commander of all Greece except Agamemnon in time past, and now yourself. Since you command the same people, are making war against the same enemy, and setting out from the same place, it is right that you should offer to the goddess the same sacrifice as he did here before he set sail.’ Agesilaus at once remembered how Agamemnon had sacrificed his own daughter in obedience to the soothsayers.¹⁹ However, he did not allow himself to be disturbed by the dream, but as soon as he rose he told his friends about it, and said that he intended to honour the goddess with a sacrifice which she should find appropriately pleasing, but that he would not imitate the callous insensibility of his predecessor Agamemnon. He then had a hind crowned with garlands and gave orders for the sacrifice to be performed by his own diviner, instead of the one customarily appointed for the purpose by the Boeotians. So when the Boeotarchs²⁰ heard of this, they were very angry and sent their assistants to forbid Agesilaus to offer a sacrifice in a manner contrary to the laws and customs of the Boeotians. Not content with just delivering this message, these assistants also threw the hind's thighs off the altar. Agesilaus was very disturbed as he sailed away; he was furious with the Thebans, as well as pessimistic about the omen, which could signify that his enterprise would be frustrated and the expedition fail to achieve its purpose.

7. When he arrived at Ephesus, he was immediately irked and annoyed by Lysander's power and high reputation there. There was always a crowd milling round his door, and everyone was following him about and paying court to him, as if Agesilaus were no more than the nominal commander of the expedition and held this position only as a legal fiction, while the real power, supreme authority and overall initiative rested with Lysander. In fact no [Greek] general sent to Asia ever won so much glory or made himself so feared as Lysander, nor did anyone else confer greater rewards on his friends or inflict graver injuries on his enemies. People were still very much aware of all this, and when they observed Agesilaus' simple, plain and unassuming manner, and noted that Lysander's behaviour was as brusque, harsh and overbearing as before, they absolutely grovelled before Lysander and gave him their exclusive attention. As a result, first, the other Spartiates were deeply offended when they found themselves treated as subordinates of Lysander rather than as advisers to the king. Secondly, although Agesilaus was by no means an envious man, nor one who resented honours being paid to others, still he very much cherished ambitions of his own and was determined to assert himself, and he now began to fear that any brilliant success which he might achieve would be credited to Lysander because of his reputation. He therefore proceeded as follows.²¹

First, he opposed Lysander's advice. If there was any course of action which Lysander recommended enthusiastically, he made a point of putting it aside or ignoring it and of taking up another in its place. Next, whenever he believed that someone who approached him with a request had been specifically influenced by Lysander, he sent him away empty-handed. On the same principle, any party to a lawsuit for whom Lysander expressed contempt could be sure of winning his case, while by contrast, those whom Lysander was plainly eager to help would be hard put to avoid being fined. All this was done not casually but deliberately and systematically, and when Lysander understood the reason, he made no attempt to hide it from his friends. He told them that it was on his account they were being slighted, and he urged them to go and ingratiate themselves with the king and with those who possessed more influence than himself.

8. As even these remarks and actions of Lysander's appeared to have been designed to arouse ill-feeling against the king, Agesilaus determined to assail him still further. He appointed him to be his meat-carver, and (we are told) remarked in front of a large company, ‘Now let all these petitioners go and pay court to my meat-carver.’ Lysander, upset at this, said to him, ‘I see, Agesilaus, that you know very well how to humiliate your friends.’ ‘Yes, I do,’ the king retorted, ‘or at any rate those who want to be more powerful than myself.’ Lysander continued, ‘Well, perhaps what you have said is wiser than what I have done. In that case, find me some post or some place where I can be useful to you without causing offence.’

After this, Lysander was sent to the Hellespont, and there he brought over to Agesilaus' side a Persian named Spithridates, who lived in Pharnabazus’²² territory and had ample resources at his disposal, as well as 200 horsemen. But his anger never abated; for ever afterwards he continued to nurse his resentment, and plotted to deprive the two royal families of the crown and throw open the succession to all Spartiates alike. He might even have brought about a great upheaval in consequence of this quarrel, if he had not been forestalled by death on campaign²³ in Boeotia. We may note that ambitious spirits do far more harm than good in a state, unless they can keep their aspirations within proper limits. Yet even though Lysander behaved with an insufferable arrogance, as he undoubtedly did in pursuing his ambitions without any restraint, Agesilaus could surely have devised some less objectionable way of correcting the faults of a man of his distinction and ambitious temperament. As it was, they both seem to have suffered from a similar obsession, so that the one would not acknowledge the authority of his superior, while the other could not bear being ignored by his associate.

9. At first Tissaphernes²⁴ was afraid of Agesilaus and concluded a treaty with him by which he would release the Greek cities to him and free them from the Persian king's control. But later, when he believed he had gathered a strong enough force, he declared war, and Agesilaus gladly took up the challenge. He had high hopes for the campaign, and thought it would be dreadful if Xenophon and his Ten Thousand could reach the sea and defeat the Persian king in battle²⁵ as often as they chose, while he, the leader of the Spartans, who were supreme by land and sea, could achieve no success for the Greeks to remember. So he repaid Tissaphernes' treachery with a justifiable deception of his own, and indicated that he intended to march to Caria; but once his barbarian opponent had gathered forces there, he set off to raid Phrygia.²⁶ Here he captured many cities and seized a huge quantity of loot. In this way he demonstrated to his friends that to break a solemn agreement shows contempt for the gods, whereas to outwit one's enemy at once satisfies justice, earns great glory, and combines pleasure with profit.

However, since he was short of cavalry, and his sacrificial victims proved to lack lobes, ²⁷ he fell back to Ephesus. Here he began to recruit a force of cavalry, and gave the well-to-do the alternative of furnishing a horse and rider if they did not wish to serve themselves. Many opted for this alternative, and so Agesilaus soon turned out to have a large force of aggressive horsemen instead of cowardly hoplites. In his view, Agamemnon had definitely shown great sense in accepting a good mare from a worthless rich man and then exempting him from military service.²⁸ Once, on Agesilaus' orders, the men responsible for selling off booty stripped the prisoners before offering them to buyers. As a result, the clothes found plenty of buyers, but the naked bodies – all white and tender because they had not been exposed to the sun – were derided as useless and worthless. Agesilaus, who was standing nearby, remarked, ‘These are the men you fight, and these are the things you're fighting for.’

10. At the next season for invading enemy territory, ²⁹ Agesilaus let it be known that he would march into Lydia, and on this occasion he had no intention of misleading Tissaphernes. However, the latter managed to deceive himself, for he distrusted Agesilaus on account of the trick he had played before. He concluded that this time Agesilaus really would invade Caria, because its landscape is ill-suited for cavalry operations and he was still outmatched in cavalry. But Agesilaus did exactly what he had said and marched into the plain of Sardis. Tissaphernes was obliged to return there again from Caria without delay and come to the rescue. As he advanced with his cavalry, he killed many of the Greeks who were plundering the plain in a disordered way. Agesilaus observed that the enemy's infantry had not yet arrived, while he had his whole army at hand, and so he made haste to attack. He combined his peltasts and his cavalry, and ordered them to advance at full speed and charge the enemy, while he immediately led forward the hoplites himself. The barbarians were routed, and the Greeks in hot pursuit captured their camp with great slaughter. This battle not only left the Greeks free to plunder the Great King's³⁰ territory unmolested, but it also allowed them to see Tissaphernes receive the punishment he deserved as a detestable man who was utterly hated by everyone Greek. The Great King immediately sent Tithraustes to arrest him. Tithraustes had him beheaded, and then appealed to Agesilaus to make terms and sail back to Greece, and offered him money to do this. Agesilaus replied that it was only his city that had the authority to make peace, that he took more pleasure in enriching his soldiers than himself, and that Greeks, moreover, only consider it honourable to take spoils from their enemies, not gifts. However, as he wished to oblige Tithraustes for having punished Tissaphernes, that common enemy of the Greeks, he withdrew his army into Phrygia, after accepting thirty talents from him for the expenses of the march.

While he was on his way, he received a dispatch³¹ from the authorities at home appointing him to the command of the naval forces as well as the land ones – a distinction unique to Agesilaus. He was by general consent at once the most powerful and the most famous man of his time, as even Theopompus has said somewhere, but he took more pride in his personal merits than in his command. Yet he is considered to have made a mistake at this point in delegating the command of the fleet to Peisander, when there were older and more experienced men available. In assigning this naval command Agesilaus' real purpose was to please his wife, who was Peisander's sister; hence he was acting out of family loyalty rather than in the interests of his country.

11. Agesilaus now stationed his army in the territory governed by Pharnabazus, where not only was food altogether plentiful, but he also collected a large amount of money. He advanced as far as Paphlagonia and entered into an alliance with Paphlagonia's king Cotys; Agesilaus' distinction and integrity made Cotys want to be his friend. Agesilaus was accompanied on all his journeys and campaigns by Spithridates, who had previously defected from Pharnabazus and joined him. Spithridates had a very handsome young son, Megabates, with whom Agesilaus was passionately in love, as well as a beautiful daughter of marriageable age, whom Agesilaus persuaded Cotys to marry. Cotys placed 1,000 horsemen and 2,000 peltasts under Agesilaus' command, and with these he returned to Phrygia once more and devastated Pharnabazus' territory. The latter did not dare to meet Agesilaus in the field nor to trust his own fortresses. Instead he kept most of his valuable and cherished possessions with him at all times, constantly retreating and evading and shifting his base from one part of his territory to another. Eventually Spithridates, who had watched him closely, attacked him with the help of the Spartiate Herippidas, captured his camp, and seized all his valuables. On this occasion, however, Herippidas acted severely in supervising the distribution of the spoils. He compelled the barbarians to hand over everything they had taken, then checked and scrutinized each item, and in the end so annoyed Spithridates that he immediately returned to Sardis, taking the Paphlagonians with him.

No incident, we are told, distressed Agesilaus more than this one. He was grieved at losing a gallant soldier in Spithridates, together with his by no means inconsiderable force, and he was ashamed at having incurred the charge of meanness and pennypinching from which he had always taken pride in keeping both himself and his country free. Apart from the public aspect of the affair, he was irritated beyond all measure for a more personal reason, namely his love for young Megabates, which had become deep-rooted, although in Megabates' presence he would summon up all his determination and struggle to master his passion. In fact, on one occasion when Megabates came up as if to embrace and kiss him, Agesilaus turned away.³² In his embarrassment Megabates did not repeat the attempt, and in future kept his distance when he addressed him. Agesilaus, who in turn became upset and regretted having rebuffed the kiss, pretended to be surprised, and queried what had happened to Megabates and why he no longer greeted him with a kiss. ‘It is your fault,’ Agesilaus' companions told him. ‘Instead of having the courage to stand firm and receive the attractive young man's kiss, you ran away; ³³ but even now he could still be persuaded to come close enough to you for a kiss, although this time be sure not to flinch.’ Agesilaus thought for a while in silence, and then said, ‘No, there's no need for you to persuade him. For my part, I think I would rather fight that battle of the kiss again than have all the gold I've ever seen.’ This was how he acted when Megabates was on the spot. But when he was gone, Agesilaus was still so fired with passion that it is hard to say whether he would have had the strength to refuse a kiss from him, had he all of a sudden reappeared.

12. After this Pharnabazus wanted to hold a conference with Agesilaus, and it was arranged by Apollophanes of Cyzicus, who was a guest-friend³⁴ to them both. Agesilaus arrived at the place first with his friends and, choosing a shady spot where the grass was thick, he threw himself down and awaited Pharnabazus. When the latter arrived, embroidered rugs and soft cushions were spread out for him, but seeing Agesilaus just lying there as he was, he felt embarrassed, and so he, too, simply reclined on the grassy ground, in spite of the marvellously delicate, colourful clothes he was wearing. After they had exchanged civilities, Pharnabazus had a number of just complaints to make. He pointed out that although he had rendered the Spartans many important services in their war against the Athenians, ³⁵ they were now devastating his territory. Agesilaus saw that the Spartiates with him were sufficiently ashamed to keep their eyes to the ground and were at a loss for what to say, because they realized that Pharnabazus had been badly treated. Agesilaus answered: ‘While we were on friendly terms with the [Persian] king in the past, Pharnabazus, we treated all that belongs to him in friendly fashion. Now that we have become enemies, our treatment is hostile. Since we see that you, too, want to be one of the Great King's possessions, naturally we injure him through you. But from the day you consider yourself worthy to be called a friend and ally of the Greeks, instead of a slave to the Great King, you have a right to regard this army, these weapons and ships, and all of us Greeks as the guardians of your possessions and of your liberty, without which nothing in human life is honourable or desirable.’ At this Pharnabazus explained his own intentions. ‘Should the Great King send out another general in my place, I shall be on your side. But if he gives me the command, I shall gladly fight you on his behalf and do you all the mischief in my power.’ This answer delighted Agesilaus, and as the two men rose to their feet, he took Pharnabazus by the hand and said, ‘I hope a man like you may become our friend instead of our enemy.’

13. As Pharnabazus and his friends were leaving, his son lagged behind and then ran up to Agesilaus and said with a smile, ‘I'd like to make you my guest-friend, Agesilaus’, presenting him with a javelin which he was holding in his hand. Agesilaus accepted it, and since he was pleased with the boy's looks and courteous manner, he glanced around among his entourage in case one of them might have something to make a suitable return gift for one so handsome and generous. He spotted a horse belonging to his secretary Idaeus which was wearing ornamental cheek-pieces; these he quickly removed and gave to the youngster. Agesilaus never forgot this connection, and at a later date when this son's brothers deprived him of his home and drove him into exile in the Peloponnese, he showed considerable concern for him and even helped in one of his love affairs. The Persian was in love with an Athenian boy-athlete who, because of his size and toughness, was in danger of being debarred from competing at Olympia. So he asked Agesilaus to help on the boy's behalf, and the king was willing to oblige him even in this matter, achieving a successful outcome after a good deal of trouble.³⁶

For the most part, Agesilaus was a man of strict principles who stood by the letter of the law, but in matters of friendship he considered that to maintain excessive rectitude was merely an excuse for being unhelpful. At any rate it is reported that he wrote a letter to Hidrieus the Carian, which ran as follows: ‘As for Nicias, ³⁷ if he is not guilty, acquit him; but even if he is guilty, acquit him for my sake; in any case, acquit him.’ This was how Agesilaus acted in most instances where the interests of his friends were concerned, but there were times when he exploited a situation to suit himself. One example was when he had to break camp in some confusion and left behind his boyfriend who was sick. The latter begged him and called after him as he was leaving, whereupon Agesilaus turned and remarked that it was difficult to be compassionate and prudent at the same time. Hieronymus the philosopher³⁸ recorded this story.

14. Agesilaus was now nearing the end of the second year of his command.³⁹ By this time his fame had spread within the Persian empire, and he had gained an almost legendary reputation for self-discipline, moderation, and the simplicity of his way of life. Whenever he travelled, he made a point of taking up his quarters in the most sacred precincts by himself, ⁴⁰ and so made the gods observe and witness that side of our life which few fellow humans see. Among those thousands of soldiers in Agesilaus' army, it would have been difficult to find one with a bed inferior to his, and in his resistance to the variations of heat and cold he seemed to be constituted as though nature had given him alone the power to endure consistently whatever seasons or weather heaven might send. In particular it delighted the Greek inhabitants of Asia to see their former governors and generals – who had long been intolerably harsh and had revelled in wealth and luxury – now bowing and trembling before a man who walked about in a coarse cloak, and changing their whole bearing and appearance in response to a single, curt and ‘laconic’ statement from him. Timotheus'⁴¹ line was on many men's lips: ‘Ares is lord: Greece has no fear of gold.’

15. By this time Asia was in a state of ferment, and many regions were ripe for revolt. Agesilaus re-established order among the cities there, and restored to them their proper constitutional forms of government without resorting to any executions or banishments. Next he determined to advance further and to transfer the war from the Greek seaboard, making its focus the person of the Great King and the wealth of Ecbatana and Susa, ⁴² and above all depriving the King of the leisure that allowed him to sit there and arbitrate between the Greek states in their wars and to corrupt their popular leaders. But just at this moment the Spartiate Epicydidas arrived to inform Agesilaus that Sparta had become embroiled in a great war in Greece, ⁴³ and that the ephors were summoning him with orders to give assistance at home.

Such talented Greeks, to match barbarians in cruelty!⁴⁴

How else can one describe that spirit of envy which now diverted the attention of the Greeks to forming alliances and conspiracies against one another, which laid hands on fortune as it was rising, and which turned against themselves again both the weapons being aimed at barbarians and the warfare only recently banished from Greece? I certainly cannot agree with Demaratus the Corinthian, ⁴⁵ who said that those Greeks who did not live to see Alexander seated on the throne of Darius had been deprived of a great pleasure. On the contrary, I believe that they would have been more likely to weep when they remembered that this achievement was left for Alexander and the Macedonians by those who previously squandered the lives of Greek generals on the battlefields of Leuctra, Coronea, Corinth and Arcadia.⁴⁶

At any rate nothing Agesilaus ever did was greater or nobler than his return home on this occasion, nor can a finer example be found of just obedience to higher authority. Hannibal was already in grave difficulties and on the point of being driven out of Italy, yet it was only with the greatest reluctance that he obeyed the order to return to the war at home; ⁴⁷ and Alexander, when he heard of Antipater's battle⁴⁸ with Agis, merely joked about it and remarked, ‘Gentlemen, it seems that while we have been conquering Darius here, there has been some battle of mice over there in Arcadia.’ How fortunate it was for Sparta, then, that Agesilaus so honoured her and had such respect for her laws. The moment the message (skytale) was delivered to him, although he was then at the height of his power and good fortune, he abandoned these, gave up the great hopes which beckoned him on, and immediately sailed away ‘leaving his task unfulfilled’.⁴⁹

He left many regrets behind him among his allies in Asia, and emphatically gave the lie to that saying of Erasistratus, ⁵⁰ the son of Phaeax, who remarked that Spartans are better men in public life, but Athenians in private. Agesilaus demonstrated what an excellent king and general he was, but he proved himself an even better, dearer friend and companion to those who knew him privately.

Persian coinage carried the design of an archer, and as he departed Agesilaus declared that the Great King was driving him out of Asia with 30,000 archers. This was the sum of money which had been sent to Athens and Thebes and distributed to their popular leaders, and it was their people who were at war with the Spartiates.

16. Agesilaus now proceeded to cross the Hellespont and march through Thrace. On his way he made no demands upon any of the barbarians, but merely sent envoys to each people, asking whether he should treat them as friends or as enemies as he passed through their territory. All received him in friendly fashion and did what they could to help him on his way. The one exception was the so-called Trochalians. Even Xerxes, ⁵¹ so tradition has it, gave them presents, and they now demanded of Agesilaus a hundred talents of silver and the same number of women as their price for his passage through their territory. He answered them with contempt, however. ‘Why don't they just come and take it all straight away?’ he said, and continued on. When they formed up in battle array, he attacked and routed them with great slaughter.

He also put the same question as he had done elsewhere to the king of Macedonia, who replied that he would consider the matter. ‘Let him consider it then,’ said Agesilaus, ‘while we just march on.’ The king was both amazed and alarmed by his audacity, and gave orders to let him pass as a friend. Since the Thessalians were in alliance with Sparta's enemies, Agesilaus proceeded to ravage the country, but he sent Xenocles and Scythes to Larissa in the hope of establishing friendly relations. The two men were arrested and imprisoned, however. Agesilaus' entourage was greatly offended at this, and thought that he ought to pitch camp before Larissa and lay siege to it. But he declared that it mattered more to him to lose either of these men than to conquer the whole of Thessaly, and so he made terms to recover them. We should not be surprised by this behaviour on Agesilaus' part. When the news reached him that a great battle had been fought near Corinth, and that the loss of Spartiates had only been slight, but those of the enemy very heavy, he showed no sign of pleasure or pride, but sighed deeply and said, ‘Alas for Greece, how many men have you killed with your own hands. Were they alive, they could beat absolutely all the barbarians in battle.’

However, when the Pharsalians dogged him and harassed his army with 500 horsemen, he ordered his men to attack, routed the enemy, and set up a trophy at the foot of Mount Narthacium. He was especially pleased with this victory, because with no more than a cavalry force which was entirely of his own making he defeated the proudest of horsemen.

17. At this point Diphridas, one of the ephors from Sparta, met him and gave him orders to invade Boeotia immediately. His own plan had been to do this later, after gathering reinforcements, but he saw no cause to disobey the magistrates, and remarked to those with him that the day for which they had returned from Asia was now close at hand; he also sent for two moras⁵² of the army stationed near Corinth. Meanwhile the Spartans at home, as a mark of honour to him, issued a proclamation that any young man might enlist to assist the king. When they all enlisted eagerly, the magistrates selected the fifty of finest physique and most active, and dispatched them.

Agesilaus marched through the pass of Thermopylae, crossed the territory of Phocis, which was friendly to him, and then on entering Boeotia pitched camp near Chaeronea. He observed a partial eclipse of the sun, and at the very same time learned of the death of Peisander, who had been defeated in a sea-battle off Cnidus by Pharnabazus and Conon.⁵³ He was naturally very distressed at the news, for both Peisander's sake and that of the state. However, to avoid spreading alarm or despondency among his troops as they went into battle, he ordered the naval messengers to state the opposite result and report a victory in the sea-battle. He himself appeared wearing a garland, offered up sacrifice for good news, and distributed portions of the victims to his friends.

18. When his advance had taken him as far as Coronea, he and the enemy came within sight of one another. He then drew up his troops in battle order, placing the Orchomenians on the left wing, while he led the right in person. In the opposing army the Thebans held the right wing themselves, and the Argives the left. Xenophon says that there was no other battle to match this one during his time. He was present himself fighting on Agesilaus' side, after the march from Asia with him. When the two lines first met, the shock was not very violent, nor was the fighting heavy. The Thebans quickly routed the Orchomenians, and Agesilaus made short work of the Argives. But both sets of victors turned back when they learned that their respective left wings had been broken and were in retreat. At this point Agesilaus might easily have won a victory if he had resisted the impulse to make a frontal attack on the Thebans, and instead had taken them in the rear after they had passed him. As it was, his natural ardour and fighting spirit prompted him to attack head on, with the intention of driving the men back by sheer force. But the Thebans resisted just as staunchly, and a fierce action developed all along the line, although it was fiercest where the king himself was stationed with the fifty volunteers. It was evidently their determination on the king's behalf that served to save his life. Although they fought furiously and recklessly, they could not prevent him from being wounded by many thrusts from swords and spears which pierced his armour and entered his body; but they did succeed, with great difficulty, in dragging him away alive. They formed a tight line in front of him and killed great numbers of the enemy, but suffered great numbers of casualties themselves. Since eventually it proved too difficult to break the Thebans head on, they were compelled to adopt the manoeuvre which they rejected at the beginning. They parted their ranks and allowed the enemy to pass through, and then, when the Thebans had moved beyond them and were in looser formation, the Spartans followed at the double and attacked them on both sides. But they failed to put them to rout. The Thebans withdrew to Mount Helicon, proud of their achievement in keeping their own contingent undefeated in this battle.

19. Agesilaus was suffering great pain from his many wounds, but he refused to retire to his tent until he had first been taken on a stretcher to the battle-front and seen all the dead brought within the Spartan lines. Besides this he gave orders that all those of the enemy who had taken refuge in the sanctuary should be allowed to depart. This is the nearby temple of Athena Itonia, in front of which stood a trophy erected long ago⁵⁴ by the Boeotians, after their army under Sparton defeated the Athenians and killed Tolmides there.

Early the next morning Agesilaus wanted to determine whether the Thebans would resume the fighting, so he gave orders for the soldiers to wear garlands, for the pipers to play, and for a trophy to be set up and decorated to signify a Spartan victory. When the enemy requested permission to collect their dead, he granted them a truce, and having in this way established that he had won, ⁵⁵ he proceeded to Delphi where the Pythian Games were being held. Here he took part in the procession in honour of the god, ⁵⁶ and dedicated a tenth of his spoils from Asia, an offering of a hundred talents.

When he returned home, his behaviour and lifestyle immediately earned him the citizens' affection and admiration. Unlike most commanders, he came back from abroad the same man as he had gone out. He had not become enchanted with foreign customs, nor was he restive and dissatisfied with things at home, but had just as much respect and regard for them as did men who had yet to cross the Eurotas for the first time. He made no change to his dining or bathing habits, to his care for his wife, to the style of his armour, or the furnishings of his house. In fact he even kept the doors of the house just as they were, although they were so ancient that they might appear to be the original ones put there by Aristodemus.⁵⁷

Xenophon also tells us that his daughter's cannathron was no more elaborate than any other girl's: cannathron is their term for wooden carriages carved in the shape of a griffin or goat-stag, in which girls are carried in processions. Xenophon, it is true, did not record the name of Agesilaus' daughter, and Dicaearchus remarks with some indignation that we do not know the name either of Agesilaus' daughter or of Epaminondas'⁵⁸ mother. However, I have discovered in the Spartan records that Agesilaus' wife was named Cleora, and his daughters Eupolia and Hippolyta. His spear, too, has been preserved in Sparta; it can still be seen at the present day, but is no different from other men's.

20. However, Agesilaus had noticed that some citizens took pride in breeding racehorses and gave themselves great airs in consequence, and so he persuaded his sister Cynisca to enter a chariot-team at the Olympic Games: ⁵⁹ he wanted to prove to the Greeks that to win there in this event was no proof of personal excellence, but merely the result of having money and spending it. At this time Xenophon the philosopher was a valued member of his circle, and he pressed him to send for his sons and bring them up in Sparta, ⁶⁰so that they should learn the finest of all lessons, how to take orders and to give them.

After Lysander's death Agesilaus discovered that a substantial group in opposition to himself was still in existence, formed by Lysander immediately on returning from Asia. So he set out to expose what kind of citizen Lysander had been during his lifetime. He found a speech, all about revolution and altering the constitution, left behind in a document. Cleon of Halicarnassus was the author, but Lysander was planning to take it and read it at an assembly.⁶¹ Agesilaus wanted to make the speech public, but one of the Elders who had read it and was fearful of its cunning urged him not to disinter Lysander, but rather to inter the speech with him; Agesilaus was convinced, and kept quiet. As for his opponents, he did them no open injury, but arranged that some of them should routinely be sent away as commanders and governors. By this means he exposed them if they proved unscrupulous or grasping in the exercise of their authority. Then, when they were put on trial, he would help them again and support them, and thus win them over to become friends rather than enemies, until there would be nobody to oppose him.

The other king, Agesipolis, was barely an adult. His father had been banished, ⁶² and since he himself was of a mild and modest disposition, he played little part in public life; even so, Agesilaus succeeded in bringing him too under his influence. Whenever the kings are at Sparta, they go and eat together at the same mess. Now Agesilaus knew that Agesipolis, like himself, was prone to fall in love with boys, and so he consistently turned the conversation to the subject of attractive boys, and encouraged the young king to develop the same enthusiasms and passions and to pursue relationships together. There is nothing disgraceful about these Spartan love affairs; they are highly honourable, and inspire ambition and the desire to excel, as I have described in my Lycurgus.⁶³

21. Agesilaus had now become the most powerful man in Sparta. Hence he arranged for Teleutias, his half-brother on his mother's side, to be given command of the fleet, and made an expedition against Corinth in which he captured the Long Walls⁶⁴ with his land forces, while Teleutias and the fleet [seized the enemy's ships and dockyards]. At the time Corinth was held by the Argives. At the moment when Agesilaus appeared, ⁶⁵ they were celebrating the Isthmian Games; he drove them out just after they had made a sacrifice to the god, and they left behind all their equipment. Then a number of Corinthian exiles who happened to be on the spot begged Agesilaus to take charge of the games, but he refused to do so, although he did remain there and provide security while they took charge and celebrated the festival. Later, after his departure, the Isthmian Games were celebrated again by the Argives, with the result that some of the competitors gained victories for the second time, while others were recorded as having been victorious on the first occasion but defeated on the second. Agesilaus remarked that the Argives had proved themselves by this action to be great cowards, since they regarded it as a significant honour to hold the games, yet had not shown the courage to fight for it.

For his part he thought it right to show only a moderate interest in all such celebrations. He saw to it that Sparta's choric and athletic festivals were carried out with due ceremony, he attended them with plenty of enthusiasm and interest, and he never missed a contest in which boys or girls competed.⁶⁶ But on some occasions when he saw that other people were impressed, he simply seemed baffled himself. For example, Callippides the tragic actor, who was famous throughout the Greek world and universally idolized, first came up to Agesilaus and addressed him, then made an exhibition of himself by boastfully thrusting into his entourage with the expectation that the king would initiate some cordial exchange, and finally asked, ‘Sire, do you not recognize me?’ Agesilaus stared at him and said, ‘Why, aren't you Callippidas the deicelictas?’ – using the Spartan term for men who perform mimes. On another occasion, when he was invited to listen to a man who imitated the nightingale's song, ⁶⁷ he declined and remarked, ‘I've heard the actual bird.’ The doctor Menecrates, who had been hailed as Zeus because of his success in a number of desperate cases, used this nickname with such vulgarity that he even had the impertinence to begin a letter with ‘Menecrates Zeus to King Agesilaus, greetings’, to which Agesilaus replied, ‘King Agesilaus to Menecrates, sanity’.

22. During his time on Corinthian territory⁶⁸ Agesilaus seized the temple of Hera. As he watched his soldiers taking and removing the spoils, envoys arrived from Thebes to negotiate for peace. He always hated that city, and this now struck him as the perfect opportunity to insult it, so he pretended neither to see nor hear the envoys when they presented themselves. However, this behaviour soon brought its retribution, because before these Thebans left he received news that a mora had been cut to pieces by Iphicrates.⁶⁹This was the greatest disaster that the Spartans had suffered for many years, for they lost many brave men – moreover these were hoplites overcome by peltasts, and Spartans by mercenaries.

Agesilaus immediately leapt up to render assistance, but when he learned that the men were already annihilated, he returned to the temple of Hera, and now instructed the Boeotians to reappear for negotiations. This was their chance to insult him in return, so they made no further mention of peace, but merely requested a safe conduct to Corinth. Agesilaus was enraged at this and said, ‘If you wish to see your friends exulting over their success, you can do so safely enough tomorrow.’ The next day he took the envoys with him, ravaged Corinthian territory, and advanced right up to the city itself. After this demonstration that the Corinthians dared not resist him, he dismissed the delegation. He himself collected the survivors from the mora, and led them back to Sparta. On his march he made a point of breaking camp before it was daylight and only pitching camp after dark. His object was to prevent gloating by those Arcadians who hated Sparta and maligned it.

Next, ⁷⁰ in order to oblige the Achaeans, he joined them in taking an army over to Acarnania, where he secured a great deal of plunder and defeated the Acarnanians in battle. But when the Achaeans asked him to make his winter quarters there so as to prevent the enemy from sowing their fields, he told them that his tactics would be exactly the opposite, for the enemy would be far more afraid of a war if they had their land all sown⁷¹ when summer arrived. This was exactly what happened, for when the Acarnanians heard that they were to be invaded again, they came to terms with the Achaeans.

23. Conon and Pharnabazus, with the Great King's fleet, controlled the seas and were raiding the coast of Laconia; the city-walls of Athens had also been rebuilt with money provided by Pharnabazus. In these circumstances the Spartans decided to make peace with the Great King. They sent Antalcidas to negotiate with Tiribazus, ⁷² and in the most shameful and outrageous way they handed over to the King the Greeks living in Asia, on whose behalf Agesilaus had fought his campaign. Consequently Agesilaus had no part in this infamous act, for Antalcidas was his enemy, who sought peace on any terms because in his view war would boost Agesilaus and give him unrivalled power and reputation. Nonetheless when someone said that the Spartans were ‘medizing’, Agesilaus replied that it was rather a case of the Medes ‘laconizing’.⁷³ What is more, by threatening to make war upon those states which refused to accept the peace, Agesilaus forced all the Greeks to abide by the terms demanded by the Great King. As his actions later made clear, he had the Thebans particularly in mind, since they would be weakened if they had to let Boeotia become independent.⁷⁴ So when Phoebidas committed the outrage of seizing the Cadmeia⁷⁵ at a time when peace prevailed by treaty, the Greeks were universally indignant, the Spartiates were angry, and Agesilaus' opponents in particular furiously asked Phoebidas on whose authority he had done this. The question was intended to cast suspicion on Agesilaus. But he had no hesitation in supporting Phoebidas and in stating plainly that what had to be considered was whether the action was advantageous or not; if Sparta's interests were served, then it was fine to act independently, even if nobody gave an order.

Now Agesilaus would declare that in principle justice was absolutely the first of the virtues, for courage is of no use unless it is accompanied by justice, and if everyone were to act justly then there would be no need for courage. When people said that the Great King's wish is such-and-such, Agesilaus would ask, ‘How can he be greater than I am, unless he is also more just?’ Thus his opinion was the right and noble one that justice should be as it were a regal standard, which serves to measure the superiority of one ruler to another. After the peace had been concluded, the Great King sent him a letter proposing that they become personal guest-friends, but he declined the offer and said that the public friendship between their states was sufficient, and that while this held there was no need for a private relationship. In practice, however, Agesilaus did not always observe these principles, but was often carried away by ambition and competitiveness, and above all by his feelings against the Thebans. Thus he not only saved Phoebidas, but also persuaded the state itself to take responsibility for his crime and to make the occupation of the Cadmeia official. He also arranged for Archias and Leontiadas – the men responsible for Phoebidas' entry and capture of the acropolis – to take political and administrative charge of Thebes.

24. This behaviour naturally aroused the suspicion that while Phoebidas had been the instrument, the plan had been conceived by Agesilaus, and his subsequent actions caused this accusation to be generally believed. When the Thebans drove out the garrison and liberated their city, ⁷⁶ Agesilaus charged them with the murder of Archias and Leontiadas – who were polemarchs in name, ⁷⁷ but tyrants in reality – and made war against them. By this time Agesipolis was dead, ⁷⁸ and it was his successor as king, Cleombrotus, who was sent into Boeotia in command of an army. Agesilaus declined this appointment, on the grounds that it was forty years since he had reached adulthood and so by law he was now exempt from military service.⁷⁹ The real reason, however, was that he had only recently been at war with Phlius⁸⁰ to restore its exiles, and was embarrassed to be seen now attacking Thebes on its tyrants' behalf.

Among the group opposed to Agesilaus was a certain Spartan named Sphodrias, who had been appointed harmost at Thespiae. He was a man by no means lacking in either courage or ambition, but his actions were constantly influenced by an abundance of hope rather than sound judgement. He longed to create a great name for himself, and reflection on what a renowned celebrity Phoebidas had been made by his daring at Thebes convinced him that he could achieve something even finer and more dazzling by seizing the Piraeus⁸¹ on his own initiative; his plan was to make a surprise approach from the landward side, and so deprive the Athenians of their access to the sea. It is said that this scheme was originally devised by the Boeotarchs Pelopidas and Melon. They secretly sent men to Sphodrias, who praised him and flatteringly said that he alone was capable of such a feat, thereby encouraging and inciting him to launch an exploit which was just as immoral and illegal as Phoebidas', although his daring and his good fortune turned out to be lacking too. For Sphodrias had hoped to attack the Piraeus by night, but daylight overtook him when he was still in the Thriasian plain. Then, the story goes, his soldiers took fright and panicked when they saw light coming from some of the sanctuaries at Eleusis, and he himself lost his nerve once the element of surprise was lost. So after ravaging the country for a short while, he ignominiously and ingloriously withdrew back to Thespiae. In consequence the Athenians sent a delegation to Sparta to denounce him, but they found that the magistrates had no need of their accusation to enable them to act, because they had already indicted Sphodrias on a capital charge. He decided not to stand trial, since he dreaded the anger of the citizens, who felt only shame towards the Athenians, and wanted to be regarded as their fellow victims rather than as Sphodrias' fellow criminals.

25. Sphodrias had a handsome son named Cleonymus, still a boy, with whom Archidamus, ⁸² Agesilaus' son, was in love. Archidamus, as was natural, shared Cleonymus' distress at the danger in which his father stood, but it was impossible for him to take his side openly and help, because Sphodrias was one of Agesilaus' opponents. Cleonymus came to Archidamus and begged him with tears to try and make Agesilaus supportive, since he was the person whom they had most reason to dread. For three or four days, out of fear and respect for his father, Archidamus said nothing as he followed him about. But finally, with the trial imminent, he summoned up courage to mention to Agesilaus that Cleonymus had begged his assistance with his father's case. Agesilaus knew that Archidamus was Cleonymus' lover, but had not put a stop to the relationship, since right from boyhood he had shown promise of becoming as fine a man as any. But for the moment Agesilaus held out no hope that his son's plea would produce any tangible result or concession. All he said as he went away was that he would consider what was the most honourable and appropriate course. Archidamus was embarrassed at this and stayed away from Cleonymus' company, although before he had been accustomed to see him many times daily. So Sphodrias' circle became even more despondent about his case, until in a conversation Etymocles, one of Agesilaus' friends, revealed Agesilaus' attitude to them. This was that, while he utterly condemned what Sphodrias had done, he still considered him to be a man of worth and recognized the city's need for soldiers like him. This is what Agesilaus consistently said about the case, and he did so to gratify his son. Cleonymus instantly appreciated Archidamus' efforts, while Sphodrias' friends took heart and rallied to his support. Agesilaus was in fact extremely fond of children, and there is a well-known story about him playing with them: when his children⁸³ were toddlers he used to play with them at home, riding a stick as a hobbyhorse. Seen by one of his friends, Agesilaus asked him to tell nobody until he too became the father of a family.

26. At any rate Sphodrias was acquitted. Once the Athenians heard the news they prepared to go to war, and Agesilaus became very unpopular. It was considered that he had obstructed the course of justice at the trial, implicating the city in major outrages against other Greek states – and merely to indulge a child's absurd impulses. Besides this, when he saw that Cleombrotus had little enthusiasm for making war against the Thebans, Agesilaus now disregarded the law by which he had claimed exemption from service previously, and this time invaded Boeotia himself. He inflicted losses on the Thebans, but also suffered losses in return. This caused Antalcidas to say on one occasion when Agesilaus was wounded, ‘How well the Thebans are paying you for teaching them to fight, when they had no desire to do so, and no skill either.’ In fact the Thebans, so it is said, surpassed themselves in military actions at this period because of all the training they received from the Spartans' many expeditions against them. This was why, in his three so-called rhetras, ⁸⁴ Lycurgus of old had forbidden frequent campaigns against the same people, his object being to prevent their learning how to wage war.

Sparta's allies also resented Agesilaus' conduct. In their view he was bent on destroying Thebes not on account of any public quarrel, but from some obsessive urge of his own. Accordingly, they said, they had no wish to be led hither and thither to destruction every year, especially when it was a matter of so many of them all having to follow so few Spartans. It was on this occasion, we are told, that Agesilaus used the following device to demonstrate the unimportance of their mere numbers. He ordered all the allies to sit down together at random, and the Spartans separately on their own. Next he announced that the potters should stand up first, and when they had done so, then the smiths second, then in turn carpenters, builders, and workers in every other craft. In this way almost all the allies stood up, but not one of the Spartans, since they were forbidden to practise or learn a manual craft.⁸⁵ So Agesilaus remarked with a laugh, ‘You see, my men, how many more soldiers we send out than you.’

27. When he was leading his army back from Thebes⁸⁶ and was at Megara, walking up to the city hall on the acropolis, he was seized with cramp and suffered intense pain in his sound leg. Next it swelled up and seemed to become clotted with blood, and there were signs of acute inflammation. A Syracusan doctor opened the vein below the ankle, which relieved the pain and blood poured out; but its flow could not be controlled, so that Agesilaus lost consciousness and his condition became extremely dangerous. However, it was evidently this collapse that checked his haemorrhage, and he was carried to Sparta, where he remained for a long time in a weak condition, unable to go on campaign.

During this period the Spartiates suffered many reverses by both land and sea. The most important of these was at Tegyra, where for the first time they were defeated in a pitched battle by the Thebans. So everyone was in favour of universal peace, and ambassadors from all over Greece assembled in Sparta to negotiate a settlement.⁸⁷ One of these was Epaminondas, a man who was already renowned for his culture and learning, but had not yet given any proof of his military ability. Noticing that all the others deferred to Agesilaus, he alone maintained the presence of mind to speak out freely. Accordingly he delivered a speech not on behalf of the Thebans, but of Greece as a whole. In this he demonstrated that war strengthened Sparta at the expense of everyone else's suffering; he urged that peace be secured on the basis of equality and justice, saying that it would only endure if all parties were on an equal footing.

28. Agesilaus noticed that the other Greek delegates listened to Epaminondas with exceptional attentiveness and admiration, and so he asked him if he thought it would be just and equitable for Boeotia to be made independent. Epaminondas promptly and boldly responded with another question – did Agesilaus think it just for Laconia to be made independent?⁸⁸ At this Agesilaus grew angry, jumped to his feet and asked him to state unequivocally whether he intended to make Boeotia independent, whereupon Epaminondas merely repeated his question about making Laconia independent. Agesilaus was now so furious that he was delighted to have this pretext of at once erasing the Thebans' name from the peace treaty and declaring war on them. He told the rest of the Greeks to depart now that they had settled most of their differences; peace would take care of those that could be settled, but it would be for war to deal with those that could not, since it had proved impossible to clear up and remove all their differences.

It so happened that at this time Cleombrotus was in Phocis with an army, and the ephors at once dispatched him orders to lead his forces against Thebes. They also sent round messengers to assemble contingents from their allies, who showed no enthusiasm for the campaign and resented it, although they did not yet dare to oppose or disobey the Spartans. Many distressing portents now appeared as I have noted in my Life of Epaminondas, and although Prothous the Laconian⁸⁹ opposed the campaign, Agesilaus refused to give way. Instead he forced the declaration of war, anticipating that, with all the rest of Greece standing together and the Thebans excluded from the treaty, this was the right moment to take revenge on them. However, the timing of the campaign demonstrates that it was undertaken in a spirit of anger rather than one of reason. The treaty was concluded at Sparta on the fourteenth of Scirophorion, and it was on the fifth of Hecatombeion, twenty days later, that the defeat at Leuctra occurred. A thousand Spartans fell, including King Cleombrotus, and with him the pick of the Spartiates. Among these, we are told, was Cleonymus, the handsome son of Sphodrias, who was struck down three times in front of the king, ⁹⁰ and each time got to his feet again until he died fighting the Thebans.

29. The Spartans had met with an unexpected reverse here, while for the Thebans, against all probability, it was a success unprecedented in other wars between Greeks. Even so, the courage of the defeated side was as admirable and inspiring as that of the victors. Xenophon⁹¹ rightly says that there is something worth remembering even in the remarks and comments which noble men make when they are drinking or relaxing; but it is even more valuable to mark and observe how they handle misfortune and what they say to maintain their dignity. It so happened that Sparta was celebrating a festival – the Gymnopaediae – and was full of visitors, with choirs competing in the theatre. This was when the messengers arrived from Leuctra with news of the disaster. Despite it being at once clear that this was a fatal blow to Sparta and that her supremacy was lost, the ephors did not allow a single choir to drop out nor would they change the programme for the festival; but they sent out messengers to communicate the names of the dead to their families house by house, while they themselves continued to concentrate on the arrangements for the spectacle and the choral competition. On the following morning, when everyone was aware of who was dead and who had survived, the fathers, relatives and friends of the dead went down into the agora and greeted one another, full of pride and joy, their faces radiant. Male relatives of survivors, on the other hand, stayed at home with the females, as if in mourning; any who had to go out reflected dejection and humiliation in his appearance, voice and expression. There was an even more striking contrast visible among the women. Any who had learned that her son was alive and was expecting him back from the battle remained dispirited and silent, whereas mothers of men reported killed at once made the round of the sanctuaries and visited one another in a proud, cheerful mood.⁹²

30. However, when their allies deserted them and it was expected that the victorious Epaminondas would triumphantly invade the Peloponnese, many Spartans remembered the oracles concerning the lameness of Agesilaus. They were filled with dismay and were fearful of the gods, imagining that the city's misfortunes stemmed from their banishment of the sound-footed king and preference for a lame disabled one – the very choice which the god had instructed them to weigh carefully and beware of. Yet in other respects Agesilaus had such power, courage and prestige that they continued to employ him not only as their king and commander in war, but also as their physician and arbiter in civil dilemmas. Among the latter was the problem of those who had shown cowardice in the battle, men termed tresantes⁹³ by Spartans. There was reluctance to enforce the loss of rights prescribed for them by law, since they were a large, powerful group who (it was feared) might stir up a revolution. Not only are tresantes disqualified from holding any office, but it is also a disgrace for a woman to be given to one in marriage or for a man to pick one of their female relatives as a bride. Anybody who meets them can feel free to strike them. They have to suffer going around unwashed and shabby, wearing cloaks patched with rags of different colours, and shaving one half of their moustaches but letting the other half grow. To keep an eye on a large number of such tresantes in the city was taxing when so few soldiers were available, so Agesilaus was elected as lawgiver. He neither added nor removed nor changed a word in any law, but came into the Spartan assembly and said that the laws must be allowed to sleep on that day, although from the next day onwards they would resume their force. By this means he ensured that the city kept its laws and its men their status. Then, as he was anxious to dispel the prevailing despair and despondency among the young men, he invaded Arcadia.⁹⁴ He was very careful to avoid fighting a battle with the enemy, but he did capture a small town belonging to the Mantineans and overran the territory there. In this way he made the Spartans more optimistic, and raised the happier prospect that all was not lost.

31. After this Epaminondas arrived in Laconia with his allies, a force of no less than 40,000 hoplites. Many lightly armed troops and unarmed marauders accompanied them too, so that the horde sweeping in and descending on Laconia amounted in all to 70,000. It was at least 600 years since Dorians had settled in Sparta, and throughout that time this was the first enemy force ever seen in the country; before this nobody dared to invade. Now they burst into an unravaged and inviolate territory, and burned and plundered up to the River Eurotas and the city. Not a man came out to oppose them because Agesilaus would not let the Spartans resist ‘such a surging torrent of war’, to borrow Theopompus' phrase. Instead Agesilaus clustered his hoplites in the city's central and most vital sectors, and patiently endured the threats and boasts of the Thebans, who called on him by name and challenged him to fight for his country, since he had been the cause of its misfortunes by igniting this war.

But this was not the greatest of Agesilaus' trials. He was equally distracted by the commotion within the city, with people shrieking and rushing to and fro. The older men were enraged at what was happening, and the women could not keep quiet, but went berserk when they heard the enemy's shouts and saw their campfires. He was also tormented by the thought of his own reputation. He had begun his reign when Sparta was at the height of her power; now he saw her prestige humbled, and the lie had been given to the boast (one which he had often uttered himself) that no Spartan woman had ever seen the smoke of an enemy's fire. There is a story that an Athenian remarked to Antalcidas when they were arguing about bravery, ‘At any rate we have often driven you away from the River Cephisus’, to which Antalcidas replied, ‘Yes, but we have never driven you from the River Eurotas.’ This is very like the response which a less well known Spartiate gave to an Argive who had said, ‘Many of your men lie buried in the Argolid.’ To which the Spartiate replied, ‘Yes, but not one of you lies buried in Laconia.’

32. On the present occasion, however, Antalcidas, who was an ephor, is said to have been so alarmed that he sent his children away to Cythera. When the enemy attempted to cross the river and storm the city, Agesilaus drew up his troops in front of the central, raised areas and abandoned the rest. At this time, ⁹⁵ after snowfall, the volume and height of the Eurotas were at record high levels, and the really tough obstacle for the Thebans proved to be the current rather than the cold or the harsh conditions. As Epaminondas advanced at the head of his phalanx, he was pointed out to Agesilaus, who apparently watched him for a long time, shifting his gaze as Epaminondas moved, and saying nothing more than simply, ‘There is a man determined to do great things.’ Epaminondas was eager to join battle within the city and set up a trophy there, but when he proved incapable of either dislodging Agesilaus or luring him out, he pulled back and ravaged the countryside.

Meanwhile at Sparta 200 of the men who had long been unreliable and worthless banded together and seized the Issorium, a well-protected and easily defensible position where the temple of Artemis⁹⁶ is. The Spartans wanted to expel them at once, but Agesilaus, who feared revolution, told them to stay still. He, on the other hand, protected by no more than a cloak and accompanied by only one servant, went forward himself, shouting out to the mutineers that they had misheard their orders: they had not been told to gather at the Issorium nor all stay together, but some were to take another position over there (to which he pointed), and others to go elsewhere in the city. When the men heard this, they were delighted to think that their disloyalty had gone undetected, and so they dispersed and went off to the places to which Agesilaus had ordered them. He immediately brought up other troops and seized the Issorium; then he had about fifteen of the group arrested and killed during the night. He received information about another, more serious conspiracy, which consisted of a group of Spartiates who met secretly in a house to plot revolution. At a moment of such turmoil there was no possibility of bringing these men to trial, but neither could he overlook their plotting. Accordingly, after consulting the ephors, Agesilaus had these men executed without trial, despite the fact that up to that time no Spartiate had ever been executed without trial. At this moment the Spartans were also greatly disheartened by the fact that large numbers of the perioeci and helots who had been conscripted into the army were escaping from the city and going over to the enemy. So Agesilaus instructed his servants to visit these men's quarters every morning, and to collect and hide the arms of those who had left, so that the number of desertions would not be known.

There are differing accounts of why the Thebans withdrew from Laconia. Some say that the winter weather was the cause, and the fact that the Arcadians began to leave, just slipping away at random. Others point out that the Thebans had been in the country for three whole months and had ravaged most of it. Theopompus' version is that after the Boeotarchs had already decided to leave, a Spartiate named Phrixus came to them from Agesilaus bringing ten talents to pay for the withdrawal; hence the Thebans merely carried out a longstanding decision, but with the bonus of having their expenses met by the enemy.

33. How Theopompus alone came to discover this story when others are unaware of it, I do not know. But certainly all writers agree that Sparta owed her deliverance at this time to Agesilaus, who laid aside his natural impulse to strive for success and victory, and adopted a cautious policy. This is not to say that after the defeat he was able to restore the state's power and prestige. Sparta was like a human body which is healthy in itself, but has consistently followed too strict and severe a lifestyle: just one error tipped the scales and overturned its entire success. We should not be surprised by this. The Spartans' constitution was perfectly designed to promote virtue and peace and harmony. But they then added empire and sovereignty won by force, elements which in Lycurgus' view were unnecessary for maintaining the happy life of any state; ⁹⁷ and so they were overthrown.

Agesilaus himself now declined military service because of his age, but his son Archidamus – with the help of a contingent sent from Sicily by the tyrant – defeated the Arcadians in what is known as the ‘Tearless Battle’, ⁹⁸ in which he lost none of his own men, but killed large numbers of the enemy. This victory gave clearest proof of Sparta's weakness. In the past they had regarded the defeat of their enemies as such a natural and commonplace event that the only sacrifice in the city to the gods to celebrate a victory was that of a cock; those who had taken part in the fighting did not boast, and those who learned of it showed no special elation. Even after the battle of Mantinea, which Thucydides⁹⁹ described, the man who brought the first report of the victory received no reward for the good news beyond a piece of meat, which the magistrates sent from their mess. But now, at the news of this battle and the approach of Archidamus, nobody could restrain their feelings. His father went out first to meet him, weeping for joy, and after him the magistrates; most of the older men and the women went down to the river, raising their hands and giving thanks to the gods, as if Sparta were cleared of all undeserved reproach and once again saw the light shining bright as of old. For before this battle, we are told, the men had felt so ashamed of their defeats that they would not even look their wives in the face.

34. When the city of Messene¹⁰⁰ was being established by Epaminondas' men, and its former citizens were thronging to it from all quarters, the Spartans did not dare to oppose this development, yet neither were they capable of preventing it. It was against Agesilaus that they were filled with bitter anger, because it was during his reign that they lost this territory which had benefited them for so long, one as extensive as Laconia and among the most fertile in Greece. It was for this reason too that Agesilaus refused the peace settlement which the Thebans proposed. He was so combative that, even though the territory was actually under their control, he was unwilling to cede it to them formally; as a result he was outmanoeuvred and not only failed to recover that territory, but also came near to losing Sparta itself. The occasion was when the Mantineans in their turn rebelled against the Thebans, and called in the Spartans to help.¹⁰¹ Once Epaminondas learned that Agesilaus had marched out with his forces and was approaching, he broke camp at Tegea during the night (without attracting the Mantineans' attention), headed his army for Sparta, eluded Agesilaus, and very nearly took the city suddenly when it was without defenders. However, Agesilaus was warned by Euthynus of Thespiae, according to Callisthenes (or by a Cretan in Xenophon's version). He quickly dispatched a horseman to take the news to Sparta, and soon afterwards arrived himself. It was not long before the Thebans crossed the River Eurotas and began to attack the city, but Agesilaus defended it staunchly and with an energy far beyond his years.¹⁰² He did not consider, as he had before, that this was the time for a cautious, guarded approach, but rather that the situation demanded desperate courage. He had not trusted to such tactics previously, nor attempted to apply them, but this time it was only by these means that he averted the danger. He snatched the city from Epaminondas' grasp, set up a trophy, and showed Sparta's women and children that their men were repaying their country in the noblest possible fashion for the upbringing it had given them. Archidamus was in the forefront of these defenders, conspicuous both for the depth of his courage and for the speed of his movements; he ran through the narrow streets to give support wherever the defence was hard pressed, and everywhere with a handful of others stood firm against the enemy. But it was Phoebidas' son Isadas who I think made a magnificent spectacle, admired not only by his own fellow citizens, but also by the enemy. Handsome in appearance and tall in stature, he was at the age when the human physique reaches perfection as boyhood merges into manhood. He had just anointed his body with oil and dashed out of the house naked, holding a spear in one hand and a sword in the other, but wearing neither clothes nor protective armour. Then forcing his way through the midst of the combatants, he threw himself at the ranks of the enemy, striking and laying low all who opposed him. Nobody wounded him, either because a god protected him for his valour, or because his opponents regarded him as something of superhuman size and strength. It is said that the ephors first crowned him for this feat, and then fined him 1,000 drachmas because he had dared to risk fighting without armour.

35. A few days afterwards the two sides fought a battle near Mantinea. Epaminondas had already routed the Spartans' front ranks, and was eagerly pressing forward in pursuit, when a Spartan named Anticrates faced him and struck him down. Dioscorides' story is that he used a spear, but the Spartans to this day refer to Anticrates' descendants as Machairiones because he struck the blow with a sword (machaira). Epaminondas had inspired such dread in the Spartans while he was alive that they felt an extraordinary admiration and affection for his killer; they voted honours and rewards for Anticrates himself, as well as exemption from taxes for his descendants, a privilege still being enjoyed today by one of them, a man named Callicrates.

After the battle and the death of Epaminondas the Greeks concluded a peace with one another. Agesilaus and his associates tried to exclude the Messenians from the oath on the grounds that they had no state. Then, after all the other Greeks admitted the Messenians and accepted their oaths, the Spartans withdrew and alone remained in a state of war with them in the hope of recovering Messenia. Agesilaus thus appeared harsh, implacable and insatiably fond of war, because he did everything in his power to undermine and assail a general settlement. Worse still, lack of funds forced him to burden his friends at Sparta with requests for loans and contributions. Rather, having reached this point, he should have been taking the chance to end the state's troubles. After letting go of a great empire in its entirety, with its cities and its sway over land and sea, he should not have become so frantic about possessions and revenues in Messenia.

36. He diminished his reputation still further by offering to serve as a commander for the Egyptian Tachos.¹⁰³ It was considered unworthy for a man who had once been regarded as the noblest in Greece, with a worldwide reputation, ¹⁰⁴ to put himself at the disposal of a foreigner rebelling against the Great King, and to hire out his name and distinction to serve for money acting as a mercenary commander. And in fact, now that he had passed the age of eighty and his whole body was scarred from wounds, even supposing that he had resumed the leadership of the noble undertaking to restore the freedom of the Greeks, ¹⁰⁵ his ambition would still not have been regarded as entirely blameless. Every honourable action has its proper time and season, and really it is altogether a sense of proper proportion that distinguishes good behaviour from bad. Agesilaus, however, ignored these considerations, and did not regard any public service as beneath his dignity; instead it would be unworthy of him, in his view, to live a life of inaction in Sparta sitting and waiting for death. So he used money sent him by Tachos to recruit mercenaries, embarked them on ships and set sail. As once before, he took thirty Spartiates with him as advisers.

When he reached Egypt, the king's top generals and officials at once came on board to pay their respects. Agesilaus' name and fame had aroused great interest and high expectations among Egyptians generally, and everyone thronged to catch a glimpse of him. When the sight proved to be nothing brilliant or elaborate, but a pathetic old man of slight build, wrapped in a coarse, shabby cloak, and lying on a patch of grass by the sea, they began to laugh and make fun of him, remarking that here was the perfect illustration of the saying about the mountain being in labour and then giving birth to a mouse.

When gifts of welcome were fetched and presented to him, the Egyptians were still more surprised at his unconventional behaviour because he accepted the flour, calves and geese, but declined the dried fruits, pastries and perfumes. When pressed insistently to accept these, he gave orders for them to be taken and given to his helots. However, according to Theophrastus, he did like the papyrus¹⁰⁶ used for making garlands, because the results were so neat and simple, and when he left Egypt he made the king a request to take some of it.

37. However, when Agesilaus joined Tachos who was then making preparations for his campaign, he was not offered the leadership of the entire force, but only the command of the mercenaries. An Athenian, Chabrias, was in charge of the fleet, while Tachos reserved overall command for himself. This was Agesilaus' first cause for annoyance. Then he also found himself obliged to endure Tachos' arrogant pretentiousness, which was intensely provoking. He sailed with him on an expedition against the Phoenicians, and setting aside his own dignity and natural feelings he did behave with tolerance and deference towards him, until he found the right opportunity. This came when Tachos' cousin Nectanebis, who commanded part of the forces, raised a revolt against him. Nectanebis was proclaimed king by the Egyptians, and then approached Agesilaus for help; he appealed to Chabrias, too, and offered both men great rewards. When Tachos learned of this, and begged both men to stand by him, Chabrias tried gentle persuasion to keep Agesilaus on good terms with Tachos. But Agesilaus answered, ‘You, Chabrias, came here on your own account, and so you are free to act as you choose, but I was given to the Egyptians as a commander by my country. It would be dishonourable for me to fight against those to whom I was sent as an ally, unless my country should instruct me otherwise.’ After making this declaration, he sent messengers to Sparta whom he told to denounce Tachos and support Nectanebis. Both Egyptians also sent envoys of their own to appeal to the Spartans for help, Tachos stressing that he had long been their friend and ally, and Nectanebis claiming that he would prove an even better, more active friend to them. Having heard all this, the Spartans' public response to the Egyptians was that these were matters for Agesilaus to determine; at the same time they instructed him by letter to see that he act in Sparta's interests. Consequently Agesilaus took his mercenaries and changed sides from Tachos to Nectanebis. He made his country's interests the screen for his strange and unnatural decision, one which – if this pretext be removed – is most fairly described as treachery. Whenever any question of honour arises, it is characteristic of Spartans to give priority to their country's interests; justice, as they see it and understand it, is only whatever they believe will advance Sparta.¹⁰⁷

38. When Tachos found himself deserted by his mercenaries, he fled, but then another claimant challenged Nectanebis. This man, from Mendes, was proclaimed king and advanced with the force of 100,000 that he had gathered. Nectanebis sought to reassure Agesilaus by telling him that although the enemy were strong in numbers, they were a rabble of artisans whose lack of campaign experience made them worthless. ‘It's not their numbers that make me anxious,’ Agesilaus told him, ‘it is exactly this ignorance and inexperience, which may make it difficult to outwit them. If part of your enemy's defence strategy is to suspect or anticipate what you are going to do, then they may be deceived by an unexpected trick. But an enemy that fails to suspect or anticipate allows you no scope for deception. It's the same in wrestling, where if your opponent stands still, there is no chance to throw him.’ Later the claimant from Mendes also made overtures to Agesilaus and tried to win him over. When Nectanebis took fright at this, Agesilaus urged him to engage the enemy as soon as possible rather than to attempt a long drawn out campaign against men who lacked battle experience, but still possessed the numerical superiority to encircle him, surround him with trenches, forestall him in various ways, and seize the initiative. This advice only confirmed Nectanebis in his fears and suspicions, and he withdrew to a well-defended city with a high circuit wall. Such lack of trust angered and irked Agesilaus, but he was ashamed to change sides yet again and return home without having achieved anything, so he stayed with Nectanebis and joined him within the walls.

39. When the enemy came up and began to surround the city with a trench, Nectanebis became alarmed at the prospect of a siege, and so now returned to the plan of risking a battle, with the Greeks all very much in favour, since the place lacked provisions. Agesilaus, however, would not agree to the plan, but blocked it. As a result, the Egyptians abused him even more insultingly than before and called him a traitor to their king. By this time he was able to bear their slanders more patiently, and he waited for the right moment to put his plan into effect.

This was as follows. The enemy were digging a deep trench outside the city wall, so that those within would be completely enclosed. So when the digging was almost finished, and the two ends of the trench were about to meet and encircle the city, Agesilaus waited for the evening and ordered the Greeks to take up their arms. Then he went to Nectanebis and said, ‘This is the moment when we can save ourselves, young man. I did not speak of it until the time came, for fear of spoiling our opportunity. The enemy themselves, with their own hands, have given us security. They have dug their trench so far that the finished part prevents them deploying their full strength, while the gap remaining gives us the chance of fighting them on fair and equal terms. So be eager now to prove yourself a man of courage, follow us as we charge, and save yourself and your army. Those of the enemy that we ram head on will not be able to withstand us, while the trench will prevent the rest from harming us.’ Nectanebis was filled with admiration at Agesilaus' astuteness, placed himself in the middle of the Greek ranks, attacked with them, and easily routed his opponents. Once Agesilaus had gained Nectanebis' trust, he proceeded to repeat the same tactics against the enemy, like a feint in wrestling. By variously pulling back, coming forward and swinging round, he manoeuvred the whole body of the enemy into a place with a deep canal flowing either side. He then blocked off this space in between by deploying the front of his phalanx there, and thus matched the number of men that the enemy could use against him, since it was impossible for them to outflank or surround him. Consequently, after a short resistance they were routed. Many were killed, while fugitives were dispersed and melted away.

40. After this, Nectanebis' affairs prospered and his position was definitely secure. He showed his regard and affection for Agesilaus by pressing him to stay and spend the winter with him. However, Agesilaus wanted to set off for the war at home, ¹⁰⁸ because he knew that Sparta was short of money and was employing mercenaries. So Nectanebis not only arranged a magnificent, dignified leave-taking, but also among other gifts and honours presented him with 230 talents¹⁰⁹ of silver for the war. Since it was by now winter, Agesilaus kept his ships close in to shore, and it was when they reached a deserted spot in Libya known as Menelaus' Harbour that he died, aged eighty-four.¹¹⁰ He had been king of Sparta for forty-one years. For more than thirty of these his strength and authority were unequalled, and he was regarded as king and leader of almost the whole of Greece, until the battle of Leuctra.

When other Spartans died in a foreign country, the custom was to leave their bodies there after burial, but kings' bodies were brought home.¹¹¹ So the Spartiates here embalmed the body in wax (since they could not obtain honey) and conveyed it back to Sparta. The succession passed to his son, Archidamus, and remained in the family down to Agis, who was executed by Leonidas, because he tried to restore the ancient constitution. This Agis was the fifth in descent from Agesilaus.¹¹²