AGESILAUS
By Xenophon
Translation by H. G. Dakyns
Dedicated To
Rev. B. Jowett, M.A.
Master of Balliol College
Regius Professor of Greek in the University of Oxford
The Agesilaus summarises the life of his Spartan friend and king, whom
he met after the events of the Anabasis.
Table of
Contents:
AGESILAUS
An Encomium
The date of Agesilaus's death is uncertain—360 B.C. (Grote,
"H. G." ix. 336); 358 B.C. (Curt. iv. 196, Eng. tr.)
To write the praises of
Agesilaus in language equalling his virtue and renown is, I know, no
easy task; yet must it be essayed; since it were but an ill requital of
pre-eminence, that, on the ground of his perfection, a good man should
forfeit the tribute even of imperfect praise.
As touching, therefore, the
excellency of his birth, what weightier, what nobler testimony can be
adduced than this one fact? To the commemorative list of famous ancestry
is added to-day the name (1) Agesilaus as holding this or that numerical
descent from Heracles, and these ancestors no private persons, but kings
sprung from the loins of kings. Nor is it open to the gainsayer to
contend that they were kings indeed but of some chance city. Not so, but
even as their family holds highest honour in their fatherland, so too is
their city the most glorious in Hellas, whereby they hold, not primacy
over the second best, but among leaders they have leadership.
(1) Or, "even to-day, in the proud bead-roll of his ancestry he stands
commemorated, in numerical descent from Heracles."
And herein it is open to us to
praise both his fatherland and his family. It is notable that never
throughout these ages has Lacedaemon, out of envy of the privilege
accorded to her kings, tried to dissolve their rule; nor ever yet
throughout these ages have her kings strained after greater powers than
those which limited their heritage of kingship from the first.
Wherefore, while all other forms of government, democracies and
oligarchies, tyrannies and monarchies, alike have failed to maintain
their continuity unbroken, here, as the sole exception, endures
indissolubly their kingship. (2)
(2) See "Cyrop." I. i. 1.
And next in token of an
aptitude for kingship seen in Agesilaus, before even he entered upon
office, I note these signs. On the death of Agis, king of Lacedaemon,
there were rival claimants to the throne. Leotychides claimed the
succession as being the son of Agis, and Agesilaus as the son of
Archidamus. But the verdict of Lacedaemon favoured Agesilaus as being in
point of family and virtue unimpeachable, (3) and so they set him on the
throne. And yet, in this princeliest of cities so to be selected by the
noblest citizens as worthy of highest privilege, argues, methinks
conclusively, an excellence forerunning exercise of rule. (4)
(3) For this matter see "Hell." III. iii. 1-6; V. iv. 13; Plut.
"Ages." iii. 3 (Cloigh, iv. 3 foll.); Paus. iii. 3.
(4) See Aristides ("Rhet." 776), who quotes the passage for its
measured cadence.
And so I pass on at once to
narrate the chief achievements of his reign, since by the light of deeds
the character of him who wrought them will, if I mistake not, best shine
forth.
Agesilaus was still a youth (5)
when he obtained the kingdom, and he was still but a novice in his
office when the news came that the king of Persia was collecting a
mighty armament by sea and land for the invasion of Hellas. The
Lacedaemonians and their allies sat debating these matters, when
Agesilaus undertook to cross over into Asia. He only asked for thirty
Spartans and two thousand New Citizens, (6) besides a contingent of the
allies six thousand strong; with these he would cross over into Asia and
endeavour to effect a peace; or, if the barbarian preferred war, he
would leave him little leisure to invade Hellas.
(5) B.C. 399; according to Plut. ("Ages." ad fin.) he was forty-three,
and therefore still "not old." See "Hell." III. iv. 1 for the
startling news, B.C. 396.
(6) For the class of Neodamodes, see Arnold's note to Thuc. v. 34
(Jowett, "Thuc." ii. 307); also Thuc. vii. 58; "Hell." I. iii. 15.
The proposal was welcomed with
enthusiasm on the part of many. They could not but admire the eagerness
of their king to retaliate upon the Persian for his former invasions of
Hellas by counter-invasion on his own soil. They liked the preference
also which he showed for attacking rather than awaiting his enemy's
attack, and his intention to carry on the war at the expense of Persia
rather than that of Hellas; but it was the perfection of policy, they
felt, so to change the arena of battle, with Asia as the prize of
victory instead of Hellas. If we pass on to the moment when he had
received his army and set sail, I can conceive no clearer exposition of
his generalship than the bare narration of his exploits.
The scene is Asia, and this his
first achievement. Tissaphernes had sworn an oath to Agesilaus on this
wise: if Agesilaus would grant him an armistice until the return of
certain ambassadors whom he would send to the king, he (Tissaphernes)
would do his utmost to procure the independence of the Hellenic cities
in Asia. And Agesilaus took a counter oath: without fraud or covin to
observe the armistice during the three months (7) necessary to that
transaction. But the compact was scarcely made when Tissaphernes gave
the lie to the solemn undertaking he had sworn to. So far from effecting
peace, he begged the King to send him a large armament in addition to
that which he already had. As to Agesilaus, though he was well aware of
these proceedings, he adhered loyally to the armistice.
(7) See Grote, "H. G." x. 359; "Hell." III. iv. 5.
And for myself, I look upon
this as the first glorious achievement of the Spartan. By displaying the
perjury of Tissaphernes he robbed him of his credit with all the world;
by the exhibition of himself in contrast as a man who ratified his oath
and would not gainsay an article of his agreement, he gave all men,
Hellenes and barbarians alike, encouragement to make covenant with him
to the full extent of his desire.
When Tissaphernes, priding
himself on the strength of that army which had come down to aid him,
bade Agesilaus to be gone from Asia or to prepare for war, (8) deep was
the vexation depicted on the faces of the Lacedaemonians there present
and their allies, as they realised that the scanty force of Agesilaus
was all too small to cope with the armaments of Persia. But the brow of
their general was lit with joy as gaily he bade the ambassadors take
back this answer to Tissaphernes: "I hold myself indebted to your master
for the perjury whereby he has obtained to himself the hostility of
heaven, and made the gods themselves allies of Hellas." And so without
further pause he published a general order to his soldiers to pack their
baggage and prepare for active service; and to the several cities which
lay on the line of march to Caria, the order sped to have their markets
in readiness; while to the men of Ionia and the Aeolid and the
Hellespont he sent despatches bidding them send their contingents to
Ephesus to join in the campaign.
(8) Lit. "When Tissaphernes, priding himself... bade Agesilaus be
gone... deep was the annoyance felt."
Tissaphernes meanwhile was
influenced by the fact that Agesilaus had no cavalry, and that Caria was
a hilly district unsuited for that arm. Moreover, as he further
bethought him, Agesilaus must needs be wroth with him for his deceit.
What could be clearer, therefore, than that he was about to make a dash
at the satrap's home in Caria? Accordingly he transported the whole of
his infantry into Caria and marched his cavalry round the while into the
plain of the Maeander, persuaded that he would trample the Hellenes
under the hoofs of his horses long before they reached the district
where no cavalry could operate.
But Agesilaus, instead of
advancing upon Caria, turned right about and marched in the direction of
Phrygia. Picking up the various forces that met him on his progress, he
passed onwards, laying city after city at his feet, and by the
suddenness of his incursion capturing enormous wealth.
Here was an achievement which
showed the genius of a general, as all agreed. When once war as
declared, and the arts of circumvention and deceit were thereby
justified, he had proved Tissaphernes to be a very bade in subtlety; (9)
and with what sagacity again did he turn the circumstances to account
for the enrichment of his friends. Owing to the quantity of wealth
captured, precious things were selling for a mere song. Thereupon he
gave his friends warning to make their purchases, adding that he should
at once march down to the sea-coast at the head of his troops. The
quartermasters meanwhile received orders to make a note of the
purchasers with the prices of the articles, and to consign the goods.
The result was that, without prior disbursement on their part, or
detriment to the public treasury, his friends reaped an enormous
harvest. Moreover, when deserters came with offers to disclose hidden
treasures, and naturally enough laid their proposal before the king
himself, he took care to have the capture of these treasures effected by
his friends, which would enable them to do a stroke of business, and at
the same time redound to their prestige. For this reason he was not long
in discovering many an eager aspirant to his friendship.
(9) See below, xi. 4; "Mem." III. i. 6; IV. ii. 15; "Cyrop." I. vi.
31; Plut. "Ages." xi. (Clough, iv. 10).
But a country pillaged and
denuded of inhabitants would not long support an army. That he felt. A
more perennial source of supply was surely to be found in waving
cornfields and thickly clustering homesteads. So with infinite pains he
set himself not merely to crush his foes by force, but also to win them
to his side by gentleness. In this spirit he often enjoined upon his
soldiers to guard their captives as fellow-men rather than take
vengeance upon them as evildoers; (10) or, on a change of quarters, if
aware of little children left behind by the dealers (since the men often
sold them in the belief that it would be impossible to carry them away
and rear them), he would show concern in behalf of these poor waifs and
have them conveyed to some place of safety; or he would entrust them to
the care of fellow-prisoners also left behind on account of old age; in
no case must they be left to ravening dogs and wolves. In this way he
won the goodwill not only of those who heard tell of these doings but of
the prisoners themselves. And whenever he brought over a city to his
side, he set the citizens free from the harsher service of a bondsman to
his lord, imposing the gentler obedience of a freeman to his ruler.
Indeed, there were fortresses impregnable to assault which he brought
under his power by the subtler force of human kindness.
(10) See Grote, vol. ix. p. 365 foll.
But when, in Phrygia even, the
freedom of his march along the flats was hampered by the cavalry of
Pharnabazus, he saw that if he wished to avoid a skulking warfare under
cover, a force of cavalry was indispensable. Accordingly he enlisted the
wealthiest members of every city in those parts to breed and furnish
horses; with this saving clause, however: that the individual who
furnished a horse and arms with a good rider should be exempt from
service himself. By this means he engendered an eagerness to discharge
the obligation, not unlike that of the condemned man, casting about to
discover some one to die in his place. (11) He further ordered some of
the states themselves to furnish contingents of mounted troopers, and
this in the conviction that from such training-centres he would
presently get a pick of cavaliers proud of their horsemanship. And thus
once more he won golden opinions by the skill with which he provided
himself with a body of cavalry in the plenitude of strength and ripe for
active service.
(11) Instead of the plain {zetoie} of the parallel passage ("Hell."
III. iv. 15) the encomiast prefers the poetical {masteuoi}.
On the approach of early spring
(12) he collected his whole armament at Ephesus, and set himself to the
work of training it. With that object he proposed a series of prizes:
one set for the cavalry squadron which rode best, another for the heavy
infantry divisions which presented the best physique, another again for
various light troops, peltasts, and bowmen, which showed themselves most
efficient in their respective duties.
(12) B.C. 395; see "Hell." III. iv. 16; Plut. "Marcel." (Clough, ii.
262); Polyb. xii. 20, 7.
Thereupon it was a sight to see
the gymnasiums thronged with warriors going through their exercises, the
racecourses crowded with troopers on prancing steeds, the archers and
the javelin men shooting at the butts. Nay, the whole city in which he
lay was transformed into a spectacle itself, so filled to overflowing
was the market-place with arms and armour of every sort, and horses, all
for sale. Here were coppersmiths and carpenters, ironfounders and
cobblers, painters and decorators—one and all busily engaged in
fabricating the implements of war; so that an onlooker might have
thought the city of Ephesus itself a gigantic arsenal. It would have
kindled courage in the breast of a coward to see the long lines of
soldiers, with Agesilaus at their head, all garlanded as they marched in
proud procession from the gymnasiums and dedicated their wreaths to our
Lady Artemis. Since, where these three elements exist—reverence towards
heaven, practice in military affairs, and obedience to command—all else
must needs be full of happy promise.
But seeing that contempt for
the foe is calculated to infuse a certain strength in face of battle, he
ordered his criers to strip naked the barbarians captured by his
foraging parties, and so to sell them. The soldiers who saw the white
skins of these folk, unused to strip for toil, soft and sleek and
lazy-looking, as of people who could only stir abroad in carriages,
concluded that a war with women would scarcely be more formidable. Then
he published a further order to the soldiers: "I shall lead you at once
by the shortest route to the stronghold (13) of the enemy's territory.
Your general asks you to keep yourselves on the alert in mind and body,
as men about to enter the lists of battle on the instant."
(13) Or, "the richest parts of the country," viz. Lydia; Plut. "Ages."
x.
But Tissaphernes was persuaded
that this was all talk on his part for the purpose of outwitting him a
second time: now certainly Agesilaus would make an incursion into Caria.
So once again the satrap transported his infantry over into that country
just has he had done before, and as before he posted his cavalry in the
plain of the Maeander.
This time, however, Agesilaus
was true to his word. In accordance with his published order he advanced
straight upon the region of Sardis, and, during a three days' march
through a country where not an enemy was to be seen, provided his army
with abundant supplies. On the fourth day the enemy's cavalry came up.
The Persian general ordered the commandant of his baggage train to cross
the Pactolus and encamp, whilst his troopers, who had caught sight of
the camp followers of the Hellenes scattered in search of booty, put
many of them to the sword. Agesilaus, aware how matters were going,
ordered his cavalry to the rescue, and the Persians on their side,
seeing the enemy's supports approaching, collected and formed up in line
to receive them with the serried squadrons of their cavalry. And now
Agesilaus, conscious that his enemy's infantry had not as yet arrived,
whilst on his side no element in his preparation was lacking, felt that
the moment was come to join battle if he could. Accordingly he
sacrificed and advanced against the opposing lines of cavalry. A
detachment of heavy infantry, the ten-years-service men, had orders to
close with them at the run, while the light infantry division were told
to show them the way at a swinging pace. At the same time he passed the
order along the line of his cavalry to charge in reliance of the support
of himself and the main body in their rear. Charge they did, these
troopers, and the pick of Persian cavalry received them bravely, but in
face of the conjoint horror of the attack they swerved, and some were
cut down at once in the river-bed, while others sought safety in flight.
The Hellenes followed close on the heels of the flying foe, and captured
his camp. Here the peltasts, not unnaturally, fell to pillaging,
whereupon Agesilaus formed a cordon of troops, round the property of
friends and foes alike, and so encamped.
Presently hearing that the
enemy were in a state of disorder, the result of every one holding his
fellow responsible for what had happened, he advanced without further
stay on Sardis. Having arrived, he fell to burning and ravaging the
suburbs, while at the same time he did not fail to make it known by
proclamation that those who asked for freedom should join his standard;
or if there were any who claimed a right of property in Asia he
challenged them to come out and meet her liberators in fair fight and
let the sword decide between them. Finding that no one ventured to come
out to meet him, his march became for the future a peaceful progress.
All around him he beheld Hellenes who formerly were forced to bow the
knee to brutal governors now honoured by their former tyrants, while
those who had claimed to enjoy divine honours were so humbled by him
that they scarce dared to look a Hellene in the face. Everywhere he
saved the territory of his friends from devastation, and reaped the
fruits of the enemy's soil to such good effect that within two years he
was able to dedicate as a tithe to the god at Delphi more than one
hundred talents. (14)
(14) = 25,000 pounds nearly.
It was then that the Persian
king, believing that Tissaphernes was to blame for the ill success of
his affairs, sent down Tithraustes and cut off the satrap's head. After
this the fortunes of the barbarians grew still more desperate, whilst
those of Agesilaus assumed a bolder front. On all side embassies from
the surrounding nations came to make terms of friendship, and numbers
even came over to him, stretching out eager arms to grasp at freedom. So
that Agesilaus was now no longer the chosen captain of the Hellenes
only, but of many Asiatics.
And here we may pause and
consider what a weight of admiration is due to one who, being now ruler
over countless cities of the continent, and islands also (since the
state had further entrusted the navy to his hands), just when he had
reached this pinnacle of renown and power, and might look to turn to
account his thronging fortunes; when, too, which overtops all else, he
was cherishing fond hopes to dissolve that empire which in former days
had dared to march on Hellas;—at such a moment suffered himself not to
be overmastered by these promptings, but on receipt of a summons of the
home authorities to come to the assistance of the fatherland, obeyed the
mandate of his state as readily (15) as though he stood confronted face
to face with the Five in the hall of ephors; and thus gave clear proof
that he would not accept the whole earth in exchange for the land of his
fathers, nor newly-acquired in place of ancient friends, nor base gains
ingloriously purchased rather than the perilous pursuit of honour and
uprightness. (16)
(15) Cf. Hor. "Od." III. v. 50.
(16) See Pindar, "Olymp." vi. 14.
And, indeed, glancing back at
the whole period during which he remained in the exercise of his
authority, no act of deeper significance in proof of his kingly
qualities need be named than this. He found the cities which he was sent
out to govern each and all a prey to factions, the result of
constitutional disturbances consequent on the cessation of the Athenian
empire, and without resort to exile or sanguinary measures he so
disposed them by his healing presence that civil concord and material
prosperity were permanently maintained. Therefore it was that the
Hellenes in Asia deplored his departure, (17) as though they had lost,
not simply a ruler, but a father or bosom friend, and in the end they
showed that their friendship was of no fictitious character. At any
rate, they voluntarily helped him to succour Lacedaemon, though it
involved, as they knew, the need of doing battle with combatants of
equal prowess with themselves. So the tale of his achievements in Asia
has an end.
(17) See Plut. "Ages." xv.
He crossed the Hellespont and
made his way through the very tribes traversed by the Persian (1) with
his multitudinous equipment in former days, and the march which cost the
barbarian a year was accomplished by Agesilaus in less than a single
month. He did not want to arrive a day too late to serve his fatherland.
And so passing through Macedonia he arrived in Thessaly, and here the
men of Larissa, Crannon, Scotussa, and Pharsalus, who were allies of the
Boeotians, and indeed all the Thessalians, with the exception of those
who were in exile at the time, combined to dog his steps and do him
damage. For a while he led his troops in a hollow square, posting one
half of his cavalry in the van and the other half on his rear, but
finding his march hindered by frequent attacks of the Thessalians on his
hindmost divisions, he sent round the mass of his cavalry from the
vanguard to support his rear, reserving only his personal escort. (2)
And now in battle order the rival squadrons faced each other; when the
Thessalians, not liking a cavalry engagement in face of heavy infantry,
wheeled and step by step retreated; their opponents with much demureness
following. Then Agesilaus, detecting the common error under which both
parties laboured, sent round his own bodyguard of stalwart troopers with
orders to their predecessors (an order they would act upon themselves)
to charge the enemy at full gallop and not give him a chance to rally.
The Thessalians, in face of this unexpected charge, either could not so
much as rally, or in the attempt to do so were caught with their horses'
flanks exposed to the enemy's attack. Polycharmus, the Pharsalian, a
commandant of cavalry, did indeed succeed in wheeling, but was cut down
with those about him sword in hand. This was the signal for a flight so
extraordinary that dead and dying lined the road, and the living were
captured wholesale, nor was a halt made until the pursuers reached Mount
Narthacius. Here, midway between Pras and Narthacius, Agesilaus erected
a trophy, and here for the moment he halted in unfeigned satisfaction at
his exploit, since it was from an antagonist boasting the finest cavalry
in the world that he had wrested victory with a body of cavalry
organised by himself.
(1) I.e. "Xerxes."
(2) I.e. "the Three hundred." See Thuc. v. 72; "Pol. Lac." xiii. 6.
Next day, crossing the mountain
barrier of Achaea Phthiotis, his march lay through friendly territory
for the rest of the way as far as the frontiers of Boeotia. Here he
found the confederates drawn up in battle line. They consisted of the
Thebans, the Athenians, the Argives, the Corinthians, the Aenianians,
the Euboeans, and both divisions of the Locrians. (3) He did not
hesitate, but openly before their eyes drew out his lines to give them
battle. He had with him a division (4) and a half of Lacedaemonians, and
from the seat of war itself the allied troops of the Phocians and the
men of Orchomenus only, besides the armament which he had brought with
him from Asia.
(3) See "Hell." IV. ii. 7.
(4) Lit. "mora."
I am not going to maintain that
he ventured on the engagement in spite of having far fewer and inferior
forces. Such an assertion would only reveal the senselessness of the
general (5) and the folly of the writer who should select as
praiseworthy the reckless imperilling of mighty interests. On the
contrary, what I admire is the fact that he had taken care to provide
himself with an army not inferior to that of his enemy, and had so
equipped them that his cohorts literally gleamed with purple and bronze.
(6) He had taken pains to enable his soldiers to undergo the fatigue of
war, he had filled their breasts with a proud consciousness that they
were equal to do battle with any combatants in the world, and what was
more, he had infused a wholesome rivalry in those about him to prove
themselves each better than the rest. He had filled all hearts with
sanguine expectation of great blessings to descend on all, if they
proved themselves good men. Such incentives, he thought, were best
calculated to arouse enthusiasm in men's souls to engage in battle with
the enemy. And in this expectation he was not deceived.
(5) Lit. "Agesilaus."
(6) See "Cyrop." VI. iv. 1.
I proceed to describe the
battle, for in certain distinctive features it differed from all the
battles of our day. The contending forces met on the plain of Coronea,
Agesilaus and his troops approaching from the Cephisus, the Thebans and
their allies from the slopes of the Helicon. These masses of infantry,
as any eye might see, were of duly balanced strength, while as near as
could be the cavalry on either side was numerically the same. Agesilaus
held the right of his own army, and on his extreme left lay the men of
Orchomenus. On the opposite side the Thebans themselves formed their own
right and the Argives held their left. While the two armies approached a
deep silence prevailed on either side, but when they were now a single
furlong's (7) space apart the Thebans quickened to a run, and, with a
loud hurrah, dashed forward to close quarters. And now there was barely
a hundred yards (8) between them, when Herippidas, with his foreign
brigade, rushed forward from the Spartan's battle lines to meet them.
This brigade consisted partly of troops which had served with Agesilaus
ever since he left home, with a portion of the Cyreians, besides
Ionians, Aeolians, and their neighbours on the Hellespont. All these
took part in the forward rush of the attack just mentioned, and coming
within spear-thrust they routed that portion of the enemy in front of
them. The Argives did not even wait for Agesilaus and his division, but
fled towards Helicon, and at that moment some of his foreign friends
were on the point of crowning Agesilaus with the wreath of victory, when
some one brought him word that the Thebans had cut through the division
from Orchomenus and were busy with the baggage-train. Accordingly he at
once deployed his division and advanced by counter-march against them.
The Thebans on their side, seeing that their allies had scattered on
Helicon, and eager to make their way back to join their friends, began
advancing sturdily.
(7) Lit. "a stade."
(8) Lit. "three plethra."
To assert that Agesilaus at
this crisis displayed real valour is to assert a thing indisputable, but
for all that the course he adopted was not the safest. It was open to
him to let the enemy pass in their effort to rejoin their friends, and
that done to have hung upon their heels and overmastered their rear
ranks, but he did nothing of the sort: what he did was, to crash front
to front against the Thebans. And so with shields interlocked they
shoved and fought and fought and shoved, dealing death and yielding
life. There was no shouting, nor yet was there even silence, but a
strange and smothered utterance, such as rage and battle vent. (9) At
last a portion of the Thebans forced their way through towards Helicon,
but many were slain in that departure.
(9) Or, "as the rage and fury of battle may give vent to." See
"Cyrop." VII. i. 38-40. A graphic touch omitted in "Hell." IV.
iii. 19.
Victory remained with Agesilaus.
Wounded himself, they bore him back to his own lines, when some of his
troopers came galloping up to tell him that eighty of the enemy had
taken refuge with their arms (10) under cover of the Temple, (11) and
they asked what they ought to do. He, albeit he had received wounds all
over him, having been the mark of divers weapons, did not even so forget
his duty to God, and gave orders to let them go whithersoever they
chose, nor suffered them to be ill-treated, but ordered his bodyguard of
cavalry to escort them out of reach of danger.
(10) I.e. "they had kept their arms."
(11) See Plut. "Ages." xix.; Paus. ix. 34.
And now that the battle had
ceased, it was a sight to see where the encounter took place, the earth
bedabbled with gore, the dead lying cheek by jowl, friend and foe
together, and the great shields hacked and broken to pieces, and the
spears snapped asunder, the daggers lying bare of sheaths, some on the
ground, some buried in the bodies, some still clutched in the dead men's
hands. For the moment then, seeing that it was already late in the day,
they dragged together the corpses of their slain apart from those of the
enemy (12) and laid them within the lines, and took their evening meal
and slept; but early next morning Agesilaus ordered Gylis, the polemarch,
to marshal the troops in battle order and to set up a trophy, while each
man donned a wreath in honour of the god, and the pipers piped. So they
busied themselves, but the Thebans sent a herald asking leave to bury
their dead under cover of a truce. And so it came to pass that a truce
was made, and Agesilaus departed homewards, having chosen, in lieu of
supreme greatness in Asia, to rule, and to be ruled, in obedience to the
laws at home.
(12) Reading, {tous ek ton polemion nekrous}, after Weiske.
It was after this (13) that his
attention was drawn to the men of Argos. They had appropriated Corinth,
and were reaping the fruits of their fields at home. The war to them was
a merry jest. Accordingly he marched against them; and having ravaged
their territory throughout, he crossed over by the pass (14) down upon
Corinth and captured the long walls leading to Lechaeum. And so having
thrown open the gates of Peloponnese he returned home in time for the
Hyacinthia, (15) where, in the post assigned to him by the master of the
chorus, he shared in the performance of the paean in honour of the god.
(13) B.C. 393.
(14) {kata ta stena}. See "Hell." IV. iv. 19. {kata Tenean}, according
to Koppen's emendation.
(15) See Grote, "H. G." v. 208; Herod. ix. 7; "Hell." IV. v. 10.
Later on, it being brought to
his notice that the Corinthians were keeping all their cattle safely
housed in the Peiraeum, sowing the whole of that district, and gathering
in their crops; and, which was a matter of the greatest moment, that the
Boeotians, with Creusis as their base of operations, could pour their
succours into Corinth by this route—he marched against Peiraeum. Finding
it strongly guarded, he made as if the city of Corinth were about to
capitulate, and immediately after the morning meal shifted his ground
and encamped against the capital. Under cover of night there was a rush
from Peiraeum to protect the city, which he was well aware of, and with
break of day he turned right about and took Peiraeum, defenceless as it
lay, capturing all that it contained, with the various fortresses
within; and having so done retired homewards.
After these exploits (16) the
Achaeans were urgent for an alliance, and begged him to join them in an
expedition against Acarnania. In the course of this the Acarnanians
attacked him in a defile. Storming the heights above his head with his
light troops, (17) he gave them battle, and slew many of them, and set
up a trophy, nor stayed his hand until he had united the Acarnanians,
the Aetolians, and the Argives, (18) in friendship with the Achaeans and
alliance with himself.
(16) B.C. 390-389?
(17) See "Hell." IV. vi. 9-11, where it is expressly stated that the
action was won by the Spartan hoplites. See Hartman, "An. Xen."
(cap. xi. "De Agesilao libello"), p. 263, for other discrepancies
between the historian and the encomiast.
(18) See perhaps "Hell." IV. iv. 19; vii. 2 foll.
When the enemy, being desirous
of peace, sent an embassy, it was Agesilaus who spoke against the peace,
(19) until he had forced the states of Corinth and of Thebes to welcome
back those of them who, for Lacedaemon's sake, had suffered banishment.
(19) I.e. "of Antalcidas, B.C. 387." See "Hell." V. i. 36; Grote, "H.
G." ix. 537 note.
And still later, (20) again, he
restored the exiles of the Phliasians, who had suffered in the same
cause, and with that object marched in person against Phlius, a
proceeding which, however liable to censure on other grounds, showed
unmistakable attachment to his party. (21)
(20) B.C. 383 and 380; see "Hell." V. ii. 10; iii. 10.
(21) See "Hell." V. iii. 16.
Thus, when the adverse faction
had put to death those of the Lacedaemonians then in Thebes, he brought
succour to his friends, and marched upon Thebes. (22) Finding the entire
country fenced with ditch and palisading, he crossed Cynoscephalae (23)
and ravaged the district right up to the city itself, giving the Thebans
an opportunity of engaging him in the plain or upon the hills, as they
preferred. And once more, in the ensuing year, (24) he marched against
Thebes, and now surmounting these palisades and entrenchments at Scolus,
(25) he ravaged the remainder of Boeotia.
(22) B.C. 378.
(23) See "Hell." V. iv. 34 foll.; for the site see Breitenbach, ad
loc.
(24) B.C. 377.
(25) See "Hell." V. iv. 47.
Hitherto fortune had smiled in
common upon the king himself and upon his city. And as for the disasters
which presently befell, no one can maintain that they were brought about
under the leadership of Agesilaus. But the day came when, after the
disaster which had occurred at Leuctra, the rival powers in conjunction
with the Mantineans fell to massacring his friends and adherents (26) in
Tegea (the confederacy between all the states of Boeotia, the Arcadians,
and the Eleians being already an accomplished fact). Thereupon, with the
forces of Lacedaemon alone, (27) he took the field, and thus belied the
current opinion that it would be a long while before the Lacedaemonians
ventured to leave their own territory again. Having ravaged the country
of those who had done his friends to death, he was content, and returned
home.
(26) Or intimates.
(27) B.C. 370. See "Hell."VI. v. 21.
After this Lacedaemon was
invaded by the united Arcadians, Argives, Eleians, and Boeotians, who
were assisted by the Phocians, both sections of the Locrians, the
Thessalians, Aenianians, Acarnanians, and Euboeans; moreover, the slaves
had revolted and several of the provincial cities; (28) while of the
Spartans themselves as many had fallen on the field of Leuctra as
survived. But in spite of all, he safely guarded the city, and that too
a city without walls and bulwarks. Forbearing to engage in the open
field, where the gain would lie wholly with the enemy, he lay stoutly
embattled on ground where the citizens must reap advantage; since, as he
doggedly persisted, to march out meant to be surrounded on every side;
whereas to stand at bay where every defile gave a coign of vantage,
would give him mastery complete. (29)
(28) Lit. "perioecid"; see Plut. "Ages." xxxii. (Clough, iv. 39);
"Hell." VI. v. 32.
(29) Is this parallel to "Hell." VII. v. 10, or "Hell." VI. v. 28?
According to the historian, Agesilaus adopted similar tactics on
both occasions (in B.C. 369 and B.C. 362 alike). The encomiast
after his manner appears to treat them as one. Once and again his
hero "cunctando restituit rem," but it was by the same strategy.
After the invading army had
retired, no one will gainsay the sound sense of his behaviour. Old age
debarred him from active service on foot or horse, and what the city
chiefly needed now, he saw, was money, if she looked to gain allies. To
the task therefore of providing that he set himself. Everything that
could be done by stopping at home he deftly turned his hand to; or when
the call arose and he could better help his country by departure he had
no false pride; he set off on foreign service, not as general, but as
ambassador. Yet on such embassy he achieved acts worthy of the greatest
general. Autophradates (30) was besieging Ariobarzanes, (31) who was an
ally of Sparta, in Assos; but before the face of Agesilaus he fled in
terror and was gone. Cotys, (32) besieging Sestos, which still adhered
to Ariobarzanes, broke up the siege and departed crestfallen. Well might
the ambassador have set up a trophy in commemoration of the two
bloodless victories. Once more, Mausolus (33) was besieging both the
above-named places with a squadron of one hundred sail. He too, like,
and yet unlike, the former two, yielded not to terror but to persuasion,
and withdrew his fleet. These, then, were surely admirable achievements,
since those who looked upon him as a benefactor and those who fled from
before him both alike made him the richer by their gifts.
(30) Satrap of Lydia.
(31) Satrap of Propontis or Hellespontine Phrygia.
(32) Satrap of Paphlagonia, king of Thrace. Iphicrates married his
daughter. See Grote, "H. G." x. 410.
(33) Satrap of Caria.
Tachos, (34) indeed, and
Mausolus gave him a magnificent escort; and, for the sake of his former
friendship with Agesilaus, the latter contributed also money for the
state of Lacedaemon; and so they sped him home.
(34) King of Egypt.
And now the weight of, may be,
fourscore years was laid upon him, (35) when it came under his
observation that the king of Egypt, (36) with his hosts of foot and
horse and stores of wealth, had set his heart on a war with Persia.
Joyfully he learned that he himself was summoned by King Tachos, and
that the command-in-chief of all the forces was promised to him. By this
one venture he would achieve three objects, which were to requite the
Egyptian for the benefits conferred on Lacedaemon; to liberate the
Hellenes in Asia once again; and to inflict on the Persian a just
recompense, not only for the old offences, but for this which was of
to-day; seeing that, while boasting alliance with Sparta, he had
dictatorially enjoined the emancipation of Messene. (37) But when the
man who had summoned him refused to confer the proffered generalship,
Agesilaus, like one on whom a flagrant deception has been practised,
began to consider the part he had to play. Meanwhile a separate division
(38) of the Egyptian armies held aloof from their king. Then, the
disaffection spreading, all the rest of his troops deserted him; whereat
the monarch took flight and retired in exile to Sidon in Phoenicia,
leaving the Egyptians, split in faction, to choose to themselves a pair
of kings. (39) Thereupon Agesilaus took his decision. If he helped
neither, it meant that neither would pay the service-money due to his
Hellenes, that neither would provide a market, and that, whichever of
the two conquered in the end, Sparta would be equally detested. But if
he threw in his lot with one of them, that one would in all likelihood
in return for the kindness prove a friend. Accordingly he chose between
the two that one who seemed to be the truer partisan of Hellas, and with
him marched against the enemy of Hellas and conquered him in a battle,
crushing him. His rival he helped to establish on the throne, and having
made him a friend to Lacedaemon, and having acquired vast sums besides,
he turned and set sail homewards, even in mid-winter, hastening so that
Sparta might not lie inactive, but against the coming summer be alert to
confront the foe.
(35) Or, "But to pass on, he was already, may be, eighty years of age,
when it came under his observation...."
(36) This same Tachos.
(37) See "Hell." VII. i. 36; iv. 9.
(38) I.e. "the army under Nectanebos." See Diod. xv. 92; Plut. "Ages."
xxxvii. (Clough, iv. 44 foll.)
(39) I.e. "Nectanebos and a certain Mendesian."
Such, then, is the chronicle of
this man's achievements, or of such of them as were wrought in the
presence of a thousand witnesses. Being of this sort they have no need
of further testimony; the mere recital of them is sufficient, and they
at once win credence. But now I will endeavour to reveal the excellence
indwelling in his soul, the motive power of his acts, in virtue of which
he clung to all things honourable and thrust aside all baseness.
Agesilaus showed such reverence
for things divine that even his enemies regarded his oaths and solemn
treaties as more to be relied on than the tie of friendship amongst
themselves. These same men, who would shrink from too close intercourse
with one another, delivered themselves into the hands of Agesilaus
without fear. And lest the assertion should excite discredit, I may name
some illustrious examples. Such was Spithridates the Persian, who knew
that Pharnabazus, (1) whilst negotiating to marry the daughter of the
great king, was minded to seize his own daughter unwedded. Resenting
such brutality, Spithridates delivered up himself, his wife, his
children, and his whole power, into the hands of Agesilaus. Cotys (2)
also, the ruler of Paphlagonia, had refused to obey a summons from the
king, although he sent him the warrant of his right hand; (3) then fear
came upon him lest he should be seized, and either be heavily fined or
die the death; yet he too, simply trusting to an armistice, came to the
camp of Agesilaus and made alliance, and of his own accord chose to take
the field with Agesilaus, bringing a thousand horsemen and two thousand
targeteers. Lastly, Pharnabazus (4) himself came and held colloquy with
Agesilaus, and openly agreed that if he were not himself appointed
general-in-chief of the royal forces he would revolt from the king.
"Whereas, if I do become general," he added, "I mean to make war upon
you, Agesilaus, might and main," thus revealing his confidence that, say
what he might, nothing would befall him contrary to the terms of truce.
Of so intrinsic a value to all, and not least to a general in the field,
is the proud possession of an honest and God-fearing character, known
and recognised. Thus far, as touching the quality of piety.
(1) See "Hell." III. iv. 10; Plut. "Ages." xi. (Clough, iv. 9).
(2) See "Hell." IV. i. 3; Plut. "Ages." xi. (Clough, iv. 13).
(3) Diod. xvi. 34.
(4) See "Hell." IV. i. 37.
To speak next of his justice
(1) in affairs of money. As to this, what testimony can be more
conclusive than the following? During the whole of his career no charge
of fraudulent dealing was ever lodged against Agesilaus; against which
set the many-voiced acknowledgment of countless benefits received from
him. A man who found pleasure in giving away his own for the benefit of
others was not the man to rob another of his goods at the price of
infamy. Had he suffered from this thirst for riches it would have been
easier to cling to what belonged to him than to take that to which he
had no just title. This man, who was so careful to repay debts of
gratitude, where (2) the law knows no remedy against defaulters, was not
likely to commit acts of robbery which the law regards as criminal. And
as a matter of act Agesilaus judged it not only wrong to forgo repayment
of a deed of kindness, but, where the means were ample, wrong also not
to repay such debts with ample interest.
(1) See Muller and Donaldson, "Hist. Gk. Lit." ii. 196, note 2.
(2) Or, "a state of indebtedness beyond the reach of a tribunal." See
"Cyrop." I. ii. 7.
The charge of embezzlement,
could it be alleged, would no less outrage all reason in the case of one
who made over to his country the benefit in full of grateful offerings
owed solely to himself. Indeed the very fact that, when he wished to
help the city or his friends with money, he might have done so by the
aid of others, goes a long way to prove his indifference to the lure of
riches; since, had he been in the habit of selling his favour, or of
playing the part of benefactor for pay, there had been no room for a
sense of indebtedness. (3) It is only the recipient of gratuitous
kindness who is ever ready to minister to his benefactor, both in return
for the kindness itself and for the confidence implied in his selection
as the fitting guardian of a good deed on deposit. (4)
(3) Or, "no one would have felt to owe him anything."
(4) See "Cyrop." VI. i. 35; Rutherford, "New Phrynichus," p. 312.
Again, who more likely to put a
gulf impassable between himself and the sordid love of gain (5) than he,
who nobly preferred to be stinted of his dues (6) rather than snatch at
the lion's share unjustly? It is a case in point that, being pronounced
by the state to be the rightful heir to his brother's (7) wealth, he
made over one half to his maternal relatives because he saw that they
were in need; and to the truth of this assertion all Lacedaemon is
witness. What, too, was his answer to Tithraustes when the satrap
offered him countless gifts if he would but quit the
country?"Tithraustes, with us it is deemed nobler for a ruler to enrich
his army than himself; it is expected of him to wrest spoils from the
enemy rather than take gifts."
(5) Or, "base covetousness."
(6) Or reading, {sun auto to gennaio} (with Breitenbach), "in
obedience to pure generosity." See "Cyrop." VIII. iii. 38.
(7) I.e. Agis. See Plut. "Ages." iv.
Or again, reviewing the divers
pleasures which master human beings, I defy any one to name a single one
to which Agesilaus was enslaved: Agesilaus, who regarded drunkenness as
a thing to hold aloof from like madness, and immoderate eating like the
snare of indolence. Even the double portion (1) allotted to him at the
banquet was not spent on his own appetite; rather would he make
distribution of the whole, retaining neither portion for himself. In his
view of the matter this doubling of the king's share was not for the
sake of surfeiting, but that the king might have the wherewithal to
honour whom he wished. And so, too, sleep (2) he treated not as a
master, but as a slave, subservient to higher concerns. The very couch
he lay upon must be sorrier than that of any of his company or he would
have blushed for shame, since in his opinion it was the duty of a leader
to excel all ordinary mortals in hardihood, not in effeminacy. Yet there
were things in which he was not ashamed to take the lion's share, as,
for example, the sun's heat in summer, or winter's cold. Did occasion
ever demand of his army moil and toil, he laboured beyond all others as
a thing of course, believing that such ensamples are a consolation to
the rank and file. Or, to put the patter compendiously, Agesilaus
exulted in hard work: indolence he utterly repudiated.
(1) See "Pol. Lac." xv. 4. See J. J. Hartman, "An. Xen." 257.
(2) See Hom. "Il." ii. 24, {ou khro pannukhion eudein boulephoron
andra}, "to sleep all night through beseemeth not one that is a
counsellor."—W. Leaf.
And, as touching the things of
Aphrodite, if for nothing else, at any rate for the marvel of it, the
self-restraint of the man deserves to be put on record. It is easy to
say that to abstain from that which excites no desire is but human; yet
in the case of Megabates, the son of Spithridates, he was moved by as
genuine a love as any passionate soul may feel for what is lovely. Now,
it being a national custom among the Persians to salute those whom they
honour with a kiss, Megabates endeavoured so to salute Agesilaus, but
the latter with much show of battle, resisted—"No kiss might he accept."
(3) I ask whether such an incident does not reveal on the face of it the
self-respect of the man, and that of no vulgar order. (4) Megabates, who
looked upon himself as in some sense dishonoured, for the future
endeavoured not to offend in like sort again. (5) Whereupon Agesilaus
appealed to one who was his comrade to persuade Megabates again to
honour him with his regard; and the comrade, so appealed to, demanding,
"If I persuade him, will you bestow on him a kiss?" Agesilaus fell into
a silence, but presently exclaimed: "No, by the Twins, not if I might
this very instant become the swiftest-footed, strongest, and handsomest
of men. (6) And as to that battle I swear by all the gods I would far
rather fight it over again than that everything on which I set my eyes
might turn to gold." (7)
(3) See Plut. "Ages." (Clough, iv. p. 13 foll.)
(4) Reading, {kai lian gennikon}; or, "a refinement of self-respect,"
"a self-respect perhaps even over-sensitive."
(5) Lit. "made no further attempt to offer kisses."
(6) See Plut. "Ages." ii. (Clough, iv. p. 2): "He is said to have been
a little man of a contemptible presence."
(7) See Plut. "Ages." xi. (Clough, iv. p. 14); "Parall. Min." v; Ovid.
"Met." xi. 102 foll.
What construction some will put
upon the story I am well aware, but for myself I am persuaded that many
more people can master their enemeis than the foes we speak of. (8)
Doubtless such incidents when known to but few may well be discredited
by many, but here we are in the region of establishing facts, seeing
that the more illustrious a man is the less can his every act escape
notice. As to Agesilaus no eye-witness has ever reported any unworthy
behaviour, nor, had he invented it, would his tale have found credence,
since it was not the habit of the king, when abroad, to lodge apart in
private houses. He always lay up in some sacred place, where behaviour
of the sort was out of the question, or else in public, with the eyes of
all men liable to be called as witnesses to his sobriety. For myself, if
I make these statements falsely against the knowledge of Hellas, this
were not in any sense to praise my hero, but to dispraise myself.
(8) Or, "than the seductions in question."
Nor, in my opinion, were those
obscure proofs of courage and true manliness which he furnished by his
readiness ever to wage war against the strongest enemies, whether of
Sparta or of Hellas, placing himself in the forefront of the contests
decided on. If the enemy cared to join issue in fair field he would not
chance upon a victory won by panic, but in stubborn battle, blow for
blow, he mastered him; and set up trophies worthy of the name, seeing
that he left behind him imperishable monuments of prowess, and bore away
on his own body indelible marks of the fury with which he fought; (1) so
that, apart from hearsay, by the evidence of men's eyes his valour stood
approved.
(1) Or, "visible signs of the spirit," etc. See Plut. "Ages." xxxvi.
And amongst these we must not
deem them trophies alone which he actually set up, but reckon the many
campaigns which he undertook, since they were victories truly, even when
the enemy refused to encounter him, victories devoid of danger, yet
fraught with even more solid advantage to the state of Sparta and her
fellow-combatants; just as in our games we crown as victor him who walks
over the field (2) no less than him who conquers by dint of battle.
(2) Or, "without striking a blow." Lit. "without the dust of the
arena, 'sine pulvere.'" See Thuc. iv. 73, {akoniti}.
And to speak next of his
wisdom, (3) I suppose there is not one of all his doings but must
illustrate it;—this man whose bearing towards his fatherland was such
that by dint of implicit obedience (he grew to so greate a height of
power), (4) whose zeal in the service of his comrades won for him the
unhesitating attachment of his friends, who infused into the hearts of
his soldiers a spirit, not of discipline only, but of self-devotion to
their chief. And yet surely that is the strongest of all battle-lines
(5) in which obedience creates tactical efficiency, and alacrity in the
field springs out of loyal affection for the general.
(3) Or, "his sagacity."
(4) The words {pleiston iskhue} are supplied from Plutarch ("Ages."
iv.), who quotes the passage, "What Xenophon tells us of him, that
by complying with, and, as it were, ruled by his country, he grew
into such great power with them, that he could do what he pleased,
is meant," etc. (Clough, iv. p. 4). The lacuna in the MS. was
first noted, I believe, by Weiske. See Breitenbach's note ad loc.
(5) See "Cyrop." VII. i. 30; "Econ." xxi. 7.
Enemies he had to cope with,
who had little excuse to disparage, however much they might be compelled
to hate their opponent, seeing that he was for ever contriving to give
his allies some advantage over them—by sheer deception, if occasion
offered; now anticipating them if speed were requisite; now skulking in
corners if concealment served; in all points observing one rule of
behaviour to his friends and another towards his foes. By turning night
into day and day into night (6) he drew so close a veil of mystery over
his movements that frequently there was no saying where he was, or
whither he would go, or what he might do next. The fastnesses of the
enemy he transformed into so many weaknesses, (7) passing this one by,
and scaling that, and stealing like a thief into a third.
(6) See "Hell." VI. i. 15; "Pol. Lac." v. 7; "Cyrop." I. v. 12.
(7) Or, "the strongholds of the enemy might to all intents and
purposes have been open places."
When he was on the march, and
was well aware that an enemy might, if he chose, deliver battle, his
habit was to lead his troops in compact battle order ready to confront
emergencies, with soft, slow step, advancing, as it were, with maidenly
demureness, (8) for in such procedure, as he believed, lay the secret of
true calm, engendering a dauntless self-assurance, imperturbable,
unerring, impervious to treacherous assault. Therefore by such behaviour
he was a terror to the enemy, whilst he infused courage and strength in
the hearts of his friends, so that throughout his life he continued to
be a man whom his foes dared not despise, whom his fellow-citizens cared
not to arraign, within the circle of his friends held blameless, the
idol and admiration of the outer world. (9)
(8) See above, ii. 3; "Pol. Lac." iii. 5.
(9) Cf. Tacitus's phrase concerning Titus, "deliciae humani generis."
To describe his patriotism (1)
point by point in detail were a tedious story, since, as I suppose,
there is not one of his several achievements but must finally resolve
itself into that. For, to put it briefly, we all know well that where
Agesilaus expected in any way to benefit his country there was no toil
he shrank from, no danger he avoided, no money he stinted, no excuse
whether of age or body he admitted, but deemed it ever the true function
of a good king (2) to shower blessings to the utmost on the subjects of
his rule.
(1) Lit. "love for his own city."
(2) Or, "regarded it as the cardinal virtue of a real prince." See
"Mem." III. ii. 3.
And for my part I hold it as
chief among the magnificent benefits so conferred by him upon his
country that, being the most powerful member of the state, he made no
secret of his absolute submission to the laws, (3) since what lesser
man, seeing the king's obedience, would take (4) on himself to disobey?
Who, in discontentment at his own poor lot, would venture on revolution,
knowing that the king himself could condescend to constitutional
control? And that, too, a king who bore himself towards political
opponents with a paternal mildness. (5) If he rebuked them sharply for
their misdemeanours, he none the less honoured their high endeavours,
and proved himself a present help to them in time of trouble. (6) No
citizen could be his personal foe; of that he was assured. His desire
was to commend them one and all alike, counting the common salvation of
all a gain, and reckoning it as a loss if even a mean man perished. For
thus he reasoned, nor made a secret of the conclusion he had come to: so
long as her citizens continued tranquilly adherent to the laws the
happiness of Sparta was secure. (7) And for the rest Sparta would once
again be strong on that day when the states of Hellas should learn
wisdom.
(3) Or, "he was at the same time the most obvious in his allegiance to
the laws."
(4) Lit. "would have taken on himself... would have ventured on
revolution."
(5) Lit. "as a father to his children."
(6) Or, "and was ready to stand by their side in time of trouble."
(7) Or, "For this was the clear tenor of his thought, that by tranquil
continuance within the laws the citizens of Sparta might secure
her happiness. And as to power, Sparta, etc." See "Mem." II. vi.
27.
And if, by admission, it is
noble for every Hellene to be a lover of his fellow-Hellenes, yet we
must fare far afield to find another instance of a general who,
expecting to sack some city, would have refused to seize the prize; or
who regarded victory in a war waged against fellow-Hellenes as a species
of calamity. Yet this man when a message was brought him concerning the
battle at Corinth, (8) in which but eight Lacedaemonians had fallen, but
of their opponents ten thousand nearly, showed no sign of exultation,
but sighed, saying, "Alas for Hellas! since those who now lie in their
graves, were able, had they lived, to conquer the hosts of Asia." (9)
Again, when some Corinthian exiles informed him that their city was ripe
for surrender, and showed him the engines by which they were confident
they would take the walls, he refused to make the assault, saying that
Hellene cities ought not to be reduced to slavery, but brought back to a
better mind, (10) and added, "For if we lop off our offending members,
haply we may deprive ourselves of the means to master the barbarians."
(8) B.C. 394. See "Hell." IV. ii. 9-23; Diod. xiv. 83; Grote, "H. G."
ix. 429.
(9) Lit. "all the barbarians."
(10) See "Econ." i. 23.\
Again, if it is a sacred duty
to hate the Persian, who of old set out on a campaign to enslave Hellas;
the Persian, who to-day makes alliance with these (no matter to him
which the party, provided it will help him to work the greater mischief
(11)); or gives presents to those (who will take them and do the
greatest harm to his foes the Hellenes); or else concocts a peace that
shall presently involve us in internecine war, as he anticipates:—but
why dwell on facts so patent? —I ask, did ever Hellene before Agesilaus
so enter heart and soul upon his duty; whether it were to help some
tribe to throw off the Persian yoke, or to save from destruction a
revolted district, or if nothing else, at any rate to saddle the Persian
with such troubles of his own that he should cease to trouble Hellas? An
ardent hater of Persia surely was he, who, when his own country was at
war with Hellenes, did not neglect the common good of Hellas, but set
sail to wreak what harm he might upon the barbarians. (12)
(11) Or, "the worse the mischief he can work, the better the side."
(12) See Isocr. "Ep." ix. "To Archidamus," S. 11-14.
To turn to another side, that
grace of manner which was his, claims more than passing recognition.
Here was a man to whom honour was vouchsafed and power present, and who,
to crown all else, held in his hands the sceptre of sovereignty—a
kingship not plotted against, but respected and beloved. Yet there was
no trace of arrogance to be seen in him, but of tender affection and
courteous service to his friends proof in abundance without seeking.
Witness the zest with which he shared in the round of lovers' talk; (1)
the zeal with which he threw himself into the serious concerns (2) of
friends. By dint of a hopeful and cheery disposition and unflagging
gaiety of heart he attracted to his side a throng of visitors, who came,
not simply for the transaction of some private interest, but rather to
pass away the day in pleasant sort. Though little apt himself to use
high-swelling words, it did not annoy him to hear others sounding their
own praises, which he regarded as a harmless weakness, the pledge at
least of high endeavour (3) in the future.
(1) See "Hell." V. iii. 20; "Cyrop." I. iv. 27; "Econ." ii. 7; Plut.
"Ages." ii.; xx.; Lyc. xx.
(2) Or, "he would discuss graver matters, according to the humour of
his friends."
(3) Or, "of courageous conduct," "noble manhood."
But that he was capable of
lofty sentiment and at the right season must not be overlooked. Thus
when a letter reached him from the king (I speak of that which was
brought by the Persian agent in company with Calleas (4) of Lacedaemon,
proposing terms of hospitality and friendship with the Persian monarch),
he disdained to accept it, telling the bearer to take back to the king
this answer: "He need not be at pains to send him letters in private,
but if he could prove himself a friend to Lacedaemon and the well-wisher
of Hellas he should have no cause to blame the ardour of his
friendship," but added, "if your king be detected plotting, let him not
think to find a friend in me. No, not if he sends me a thousand
letters." For my part, then, I hold it praiseworthy that, by comparison
with pleasing his fellow-Hellenes, Agesilaus scorned such friendship.
And this, too, among his tenets I find admirable: the truer title to
self-congratulation belonged not to the millionaire, the master of many
legions, but to him rather, who, being himself a better man, commanded
the allegiance of better followers.
(4) See "Hell." IV. i. 15; Plut. "Apophth. Lac." p. 777; Grote, "H.
G." x. 402.
And this, in proof of mental
forecast, I must needs praise in him. Holding to the belief that the
more satraps there were who revolted from the king the surer the gain to
Hellas, he did not suffer himself to be seduced, either by gifts or by
the mightiness in his power, to be drawn into bonds of friendship with
the king, but took precaution rather not to abuse their confidence who
were willing to revolt.
And lastly, as beyond all
controversy admirable, note this contrast: First, the Persian, who,
believing that in the multitude of his riches he had power to lay all
things under his feet, would fain have swept into his coffers all the
gold and all the silver of mankind: for him, and him alone, the
costliest and most precious things of earth. And then this other, who
contrariwise so furnished his establishment as to be totally independent
of every adventitious aid. (5) And if any one doubts the statement, let
him look and see with what manner of dwelling-place he was contented;
let him view the palace doors: these are the selfsame doors, he might
well imagine, which Aristodemus, (6) the great-great-grandson of
Heracles, took and set up in the days of the return. Let him endeavour
to view the furniture inside; there he will perceive how the king
feasted on high holy days; and he will hear how the king's own daughter
was wont to drive to Amyclae in a public basket-carriage. (7) Thus it
was that by the adjustment of expenditure to income he was never driven
to the commission of any unjust deed for money's sake. And yet if it be
a fine thing to hold a fortress impregnable to attack, I count it a
greater glory that a man should hold the fortress of his soul inviolable
against the assaults of riches, pleasures, fears.
(5) Or, "of all such external needs."
(6) See Herod. vi. 52.
(7) See Plut. "Ages." xix. (Clough, iv. p. 23); the words {e thugater
autou} were supplied from this passage by Casaubon.
I will here state to what
extent the style of living which he presented stands out in striking
contrast to the ostentatious manner of the Persian. (1) In the first
place, if the latter made a solemn affectation of being but seldom seen,
Agesilaus delighted to live in the eye of day, believing that seclusion
might accord well enough as a screen for shameless conduct, but to a
life of nobleness and beauty (2) heaven's light added new ornament. (3)
And next, if the one prided himself on being unapproachable, the other
rejoiced in being accessible to all the world; the one, with his airs
and graces, was pleased to transact business slowly, the other was never
so happy as when he could satisfy the demands of a petitioner without
waste of time. (4)
(1) Or, "how he presented his own manner in antithesis to the false
pretences of the Persian." For {alazoneia} see "Mem." I. vii. 1;
Aristot. "N. E." iv. 7; Theophr. "Char." vi.
(2) Lit. "a life striving towards beauteousness."
(3) Or, "added but greater lustre."
(4) Lit. "could satisfy and dismiss his petitioners without delay."
Again, it is worthy of
observation how much easier and simpler to satisfy was the standard of
comfort which the Spartan aimed at. (5) For the Persian, men must
compass sea and land to discover some beverage which he will care to
drink; he needs ten thousand pastrycooks to supply the kick-shaws he
will deign to eat; and to procure him the blessing of sleep no tongue
can describe what a world of trouble must be taken. But Agesilaus was a
lover of toil, and therefore not so dainty; the meanest beverage was
sweet to his lips, and pleasant enough to his taste was the chance fare
of the moment; and for the purpose of refreshing slumber every place
alike conducive. It was not merely that to fare thus gave him pure
pleasure, but in the sense of contrast lay a double satisfaction. Here
was he roaming earth freely in the midst of a world of delight, (6) and
there lay the Persian, under his eyes, who to escape a life of pain must
drag together from the uttermost parts of earth the separate ingredients
for his pleasure. It was another source of joy that to himself it was
given to confront the appointed order of the universe (7) without pain;
while through weakness of soul his rival, it was plain to see, was
driven to flee away from heat and cold, and to shape his life, not by
the pattern of brave men, but of some mean and defenceless animal. (8)
(5) See Herod. i. 135, for the luxury of the Persians and for the
refinements of civilisation. See "Mem." II. i. 10; "Cyrop." VIII.
i. 40.
(6) Or, "in a round of festivity."
(7) See Plut. "Ages." xiv. (Clough, iv. p. 17); "Apophth. Lac." p.
102; Eur. "Supp." 214, 215.
{de ou truphomen, theou kataskeuen bio
dontos toiauten, oisin ouk arkei tade};
(8) Or, "the most defenceless of God's creatures." Lit. "the weakest
of animals."
And what a fine trait this was
in him, and betokening how lofty a sentiment, that, being content to
adorn his own house with works and possessions suited to a man, and
being devoted to the breeding of dogs and horses in large numbers for
the chase and warfare, he persuaded his sister Cynisca to rear chariot
horses, (9) and thus by her victory (10) showed that to keep a stud of
that sort, however much it might be a mark of wealth, was hardly a proof
of manly virtue. And surely in the following opinion we may discern
plainly the generosity of him who entertained it. To win victories over
private persons in a chariot race does not add one tittle to a man's
renown. He, rather, who holds his city dear beyond all things else, who
has himself sunk deep into the heart of her affections, who has obtained
to himself all over the world a host of friends and those the noblest,
who can outdo his country and comrades alike in the race of kindliness,
and his antagonists in vengeance—such a man may, in a true sense, be
said to bear away the palm of victory in conquests noble and
magnificent; living and in death to him belongs transcendent fame.
(9) I.e. "for the games."
(10) I.e. "at Olympia." Cynisca, according to Pausanias (iii. 8), was
the first woman who won a prize at Olympia. See also Plut. "Ages."
xx. (Clough, iv. p. 23).
It is as possessiong qualities
such as these that I praise Agesilaus. And in these matters he was not
like a man who chances upon a treasure and thereby becomes wealthier,
albeit none the more skilful in economy; nor yet like him who, when a
plague has fallen upon an enemy, wrests a victory, whereby he may add to
his reputation for success, but not for strategy. Rather was his example
that of one who in each emergency will take the lead; at a crisis where
toil is needful, by endurance; or in the battle-lists of bravery by
prowess; or when the function of the counsellor is uppermost, by the
soundness of his judgment. Of such a man I say, he has obtained by
warrant indefeasible the title peerless.
And if, as a means towards good
workmanship, we count among the noble inventions of mankind the rule and
the plummet, (1) no less happily shall we, who desire to attain a manly
excellence, find in the virtue of Agesilaus a pattern and example. He
was God-fearing, he was just in all his dealings, sound of soul and
self-controlled. How then shall we who imitate him become his opposite,
unholy, unjust, tyrannical, licentious? And, truth to say, this man
prided himself, not so much on being a king over others as on ruling
himself, (2) not so much on leading his citizens to attack the enemy as
on guiding them to embrace all virtue.
(1) See Aeschin. "c. Ctes." p. 52, 25; Plat. "Phileb." 56 B.
(2) See Plut. "Apophth. Lac." p. 104.
Yet let it not be supposed,
because he whom we praise has finished life, that our discourse must
therefore be regarded as a funeral hymn. (3) Far rather let it be named
a hymn of praise, since in the first place it is only the repetition,
now that he is dead, of a tale familiar to his ears when living. And in
the next place, what is more remote from dirge and lamentation than a
life of glory crowned by seasonable death? What more deserving of song
and eulogy than resplendent victories and deeds of highest note? Surely
if one man rather than another may be accounted truly blest, it is he
who, from his boyhood upwards, thirsted for glory, and beyond all
contemporary names won what he desired; who, being gifted with a nature
most emulous of honour, remained from the moment he was king
unconquered; who attained the fullest term of mortal life and died
without offence (4) committed, whether as concerning those at whose head
he marched, or as towards those others against whom he fought in war.
(3) See Symonds' "Greek Poets," ch. v.
(4) As to the word {anamartetos} so translated, see Breitenbach, Exc.
ad x. 4 of his edition.
It only remains for me, under
the form of headings, (1) to review the topic of this great man's
virtue, in hopes that thus his eulogy may cling to the memory more
lastingly.
(1) Or, as others think, "in a summary."
Agesilaus reverenced the
shrines and sacred places even of the enemy. We ought, he said, to make
the gods our allies on hostile no less than on friendly soil.
He would do no violence to a
suppliant, no, not even if he were his own foe; since how irrational
must it be to stigmatise robbers of temples as sacrilegious and yet to
regard him who tears the suppliant from the altar as a pious person.
One tenet he never wearied of
repeating: the gods, he said, are not less pleased with holy deeds than
with pure victims.
In the day of his prosperity
his thoughts were not raised higher than befits a man; he gave thanks to
the gods; and offered more victims when he had nothing to fear than he
registered vows in time of apprehension.
He was accustomed in the midst
of anxiety to wear an aspect of gaiety, but, when the victory was won,
of gentleness.
Amongst friends his warmest
greeting was reserved, not for the most powerful, but for the most
ardent; and if he hated, it was not him who, being evil entreated,
retaliated, but one who, having had kindness done to him, seemed
incapable of gratitude.
He rejoiced when sordid greed
was rewarded with poverty; and still more if he might himself enrich a
righteous man, since his wish was to render uprightness more profitable
than iniquity.
He made it a practice to
associate with all kinds of people, but to be intimate only with the
best.
As he listened to the praise of
this man, or the censure of another, he felt that he learnt quite as
much about the character of the speakers themselves as of those whom
they discussed.
To be cheated by a friend was
scarcely censurable, but he could find no condemnation strong enough for
him who was outwitted by a foe. Or again, to dupe the incredulous might
argue wit, but to take in the unsuspecting was veritably a crime.
The praise of a critic who had
courage to point out his defects pleased him; and plainness of speech
excited in him no hostility. It was against the cunning rather of the
secretive person that he guarded himself, as against a hidden snare.
The calumniator he detested
more than the robber or the thief, in proportion as the loss of friends
is greater than the loss of money. (2)
(2) Mr. R. W. Taylor aptly quotes "Othello," III. iii. 157—
"Who steals my purse steals trash; 'tis something, nothing;
'Twas mine, 'tis his, and has been slave to thousands;
But he that filches from me my good name
Robs me of that which not enriches him
And makes me poor indeed."
The errors of private persons
he bore with gently, but those of rulers he looked upon as grave; since
the mischief wrought in the one case was so small, and so large in the
other. The proper attribute of royalty was, he maintained, not an
avoidance of responsibility, but a constant striving after nobleness.
(3)
(3) On the word {kalokagathia} so translated, see Demosth. 777, 5.
Whilst he would not suffer any
image (4) of his bodily form to be set up (though many wished to present
him with a statue), he never ceased elaborating what should prove the
monument of his spirit, holding that the former is the business of a
statuary, the latter of one's self. Wealth might procure the one, he
said, but only a good man could produce the other.
(4) See Plut. "Ages." ii. (Clough, iv. p. 2); also Plut. "Ap. Lac." p.
115; ib. p. 103; Cic. "ad Div." V. xii. 7.
As for riches, he employed them
not with justice merely, but with liberality, holding that for a just
man it is sufficient if he let alone the things of others, but of a
liberal man it is required that he should take of his own and give to
supply another's needs.
He was ever subject to
religious fear, (5) believing that no man during his lifetime, however
well he lives, can be counted happy; it is only he who has ended his
days with glory of whom it can be said that he has attained at last to
blessedness. (6)
(5) See "Cyr." III. iii. 58, and for the word {deisidaimon}, see Jebb,
"Theophr. Char." p. 263 foll.; Mr. Ruskin, Preface to "Bibl.
Past." vol. i. p. xxv.
(6) See Herod. i. 34; Soph. "Oed. Tyr." 1529; and Prof. Jebb's note ad
loc.
In his judgment it was a
greater misfortune to neglect things good and virtuous, knowing them to
be so, than in ignorance. Nor was he enamoured of any reputation, the
essentials of which he had not laboriously achieved. (7)
(7) Or, "for which he did not qualify himself by the appropriate
labour."
He was one of the small band,
as it seemed to me, who regard virtue, not as a thing to be patiently
endured, (8) but as a supreme enjoyment. At any rate, to win the praise
of mankind gave him a deeper pleasure than the acquisition of wealth;
and he preferred to display courage far rather in conjunction with
prudence than with unnecessary risks, and to cultivate wisdom in action
more than by verbal discussion.
(8) Or, "as a system of stoical endurance," "a kind of stoicism." But
we must not let Xenophon, who is a Socratic, talk of the Stoa. If
we knew certainly that the chapter was a much later production,
the language would be appropriate enough.
Very gentle to his friends, to
his enemies he was most terrible. Whilst he could hold out against toil
and trouble with the best, nothing pleased him better than yielding to
his comrades. But passion was kindled in him by beauty of deed rather
than of person. (9)
(9) Or, "beauteous deeds rather than bodily splendour."
Skilled in the exercise of
self-command in the midst of external welfare, he could be stout of
heart enough in stress of danger.
Urbanity he practised, not with
jest and witticism, but by the courtesy of his demeanour.
In spite of a certain
haughtiness, he was never overbearing, but rich in saving common sense.
At any rate, while pouring contempt upon arrogance, he bore himself more
humbly than the most ordinary man. In fact, what he truly took a pride
in was the simplicity of his own attire, in contrast with the splendid
adornment of his troops; or, again, in the paucity of his own wants,
combined with a bountiful liberality towards his friends.
Besides all this, as an
antagonist he could hit hard enough, but no one ever bore a lighter hand
when the victory was won. (10)
(10) Lit. "he was the heaviest of antagonists and the lightest of
conquerors."
The same man, whom an enemy
would have found it hard to deceive, was pliability itself in the
concerns of his friends. Whilst for ever occupied in laying these on a
secure foundation, he made it a ceaseless task to baffle the projects of
the national foe.
The epithets applied to him are
significant. His relatives found in him a kinsman who was more than
kind. To his intimates he appeared as a friend in need who is a friend
indeed. To the man who had done him some service, of tenacious memory.
To the victim of injustice, a knight-errant. And to those who had
incurred danger by his side, a saviour second only to the gods.
It was given to this man, as it
appears to me, to prove exceptionally that though strength of body may
wax old the vigour of a man's soul is exempt from eld. Of him, at any
rate, it is true that he never shrank from the pursuit of great and
noble objects, so long as (11) his body was able to support the vigour
of his soul. Therefore his old age appeared mightier than the youth of
other people. It would be hard to discover, I imagine, any one who in
the prime of manhood was as formidable to his foes as Agesilaus when he
had reached the limit of mortal life. Never, I suppose, was there a
foeman whose removal came with a greater sense of relief to the enemy
than that of Agesilaus, though a veteran when he died. Never was there a
leader who inspired stouter courage in the hearts of fellow-combatants
than this man with one foot planted in the grave. Never was a young man
snatched from a circle of loving friends with tenderer regret than this
old graybeard.
(11) Reading, {megalon kai kalon ephiemenos, eos kai to soma, k.t.l.}
See Breitenbach.
The benefactor of his
fatherland, absolutely to the very end; with bounteous hand, even in the
arms of death, dealing out largesse (12) to the city which he loved. And
so they bore him home to his eternal resting-place; (13) this hero, who,
having raised to himself many a monument of his valour over the broad
earth, came back to find in the land of his fathers a sepulture worthy
of a king. (14)
(12) See above, ii. 31.
(13) See for this remarkable phrase, Diod. i. 51.
(14) See "Pol. Lac." xv. 9.
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