Agesilaus

So, after reading a speech which Lysander had left behind him in book form,—a speech which Cleon of Halicarnassus had composed, but which Lysander had intended to adopt and pronounce before the people in advocacy of a revolution and change in the form of government,—Agesilaüs wished to publish it. But one of the senators, who had read the speech and feared its ability and power, advised the king not to dig Lysander up again, but rather to bury the speech with him, to which advice Agesilaüs listened and held his peace.[*](Cf. the Lysander, chapter xxx.)

And as for those who were in opposition to him, he would do them no open injury, but would exert himself to send some of them away from time to time as generals and commanders, and would show them up if they proved base and grasping in their exercise of authority; then, contrariwise, when they were brought to trial, he would come to their aid and exert himself in their behalf, and so would make them friends instead of enemies, and bring them over to his side, so that no one was left to oppose him.

For Agesipolis, the other king, since he was the son of an exile,[*](Pausanias, who was impeached in 395 B.C., went into voluntary exile, and was condemned to death.) in years a mere stripling, and by nature gentle and quiet, took little part in affairs of state. And yet he too was brought under the sway of Agesilaüs. For the Spartan kings eat together in the same phiditium, or public mess,[*](Cf. the Lycurgus, xii. 1 f.) whenever they are at home.

Accordingly, knowing that Agesipolis was prone to love affairs, just as he was himself, Agesilaüs would always introduce some discourse about the boys who were of an age to love. He would even lead the young king’s fancy toward the object of his own affections, and share with him in wooing and loving, these Spartan loves having nothing shameful in them, but being attended rather with great modesty, high ambition, and an ardent desire for excellence, as I have written in my life of Lycurgus.[*](Chapters xvii. 1; xviii. 4.)

Having thus obtained very great influence in the city, he effected the appointment of Teleutias, his half-brother on his mother’s side, as admiral. Then he led an army to Corinth, and himself, by land, captured the long walls, while Teleutias, with his fleet, seized the enemy’s ships and dockyards. Then coming suddenly upon the Argives,[*](Plutarch confuses the expedition of 393 B.C. (Xenophon, Hell. iv. 4. 19) with that of 390 B.C. (Xenophon, Hell. iv. 5, 1 ff.).) who at that time held Corinth, and were celebrating the Isthmian games, he drove them away just as they had sacrificed to the god, and made them abandon all their equipment for the festival.

At this, the exiles from Corinth who were in his army begged him to hold the games. This, however, he would not do, but remained at hand while they held the games from beginning to end, and afforded them security. Afterwards, when he had departed, the Isthmian games were held afresh by the Argives, and some contestants won their victories a second time, while some were entered in the lists as victors in the first contests, but as vanquished in the second.

In this matter Agesilaüs declared that the Argives had brought down upon themselves the charge of great cowardice, since they regarded the conduct of the games as so great and august a privilege, and yet had not the courage to fight for it. He himself thought that moderation ought to be observed in all these matters, and sought to improve the local choirs and games. These he always attended, full of ambitious ardour, and was absent from no contest in which either boys or girls competed. Those things, however, for which he saw the rest of the world filled with admiration, he appeared not even to recognize.