Hellenica

After this Agis, having gone to Delphi and offered to the god the appointed tithe of his booty, on his way back fell sick at Heraea, being now an old man, and although he was still living when brought home to Lacedaemon, once there he very soon died; and he received a burial more splendid than belongs to man. When the prescribed days of mourning had been religiously observed and it was necessary to appoint a king, Leotychides, who claimed to be a son of Agis, and Agesilaus, a brother of Agis, contended for the kingship.

And Leotychides said:[*](397 B.C.) But, Agesilaus, the law directs, not that a brother, but that a son of a king, should be king; if, however, there should chance to be no son, in that case the brother would be king. It is I, then, who should be king. How so, when I am alive? Because he whom you call your father said that you were not his son. Nay, but my mother, who knows far better than he did, says even to this day that I am. But Poseidon showed that you are entirely in the wrong, for he drove your father[*](Leotychides was reputed to be the son of Alcibiades. For the incident here mentioned, cp. Plut. Alc. 23.) out of her chamber into the open by an earthquake. And time also, which is said to be the truest witness, gave testimony that the god was right; for you were born in the tenth month from the time when he fled from the chamber. Such were the words which passed between these two.

But Diopeithes, a man very well versed in oracles, said in support of Leotychides that there was also an oracle of Apollo which bade the Lacedaemonians beware of the lame kingship.[*](Agesilaus was lame.) Lysander, however, made reply to him, on behalf of Agesilaus, that he did not suppose the god was bidding them beware lest a king of theirs should get a sprain and become lame, but rather lest one who was not of the royal stock should become king. For the kingship would be lame in very truth when it was not the descendants of Heracles who were at the head of the state.

After hearing such arguments from both claimants the state chose Agesilaus king.When Agesilaus had been not yet a year in the kingly office, once while he was offering one of the appointed sacrifices in behalf of the state, the seer said that the gods revealed a conspiracy of the most[*](397 B.C.) terrible sort. And when he sacrificed again, the seer said that the signs appeared still more terrible. And upon his sacrificing for the third time, he said: Agesilaus, just such a sign is given me as would be given if we were in the very midst of the enemy. There-upon they made offerings to the gods who avert evil and to those who grant safety, and having with difficulty obtained favourable omens, ceased sacrificing. And within five days after the sacrifice was ended a man reported to the ephors a conspiracy, and Cinadon as the head of the affair.

This Cinadon was a young man, sturdy of body and stout of heart, but not one of the peers.[*](i.e., those who enjoyed full rights of citizenship, the Spartiatae.) And when the ephors asked how he had said that the plan would be carried out, the informer replied that Cinadon had taken him to the edge of the market-place and directed him to count how many Spartiatae there were in the market-place.[*](The Spartiatae, always few in number in comparison with the other elements of the Laconian population (see below), were now becoming steadily fewer by reason of constant wars and the demoralising influence of wealth and luxury.) And I, he said, after counting king and ephors and senators and about forty others, asked Why, Cinadon, did you bid me count these men? And he replied: Believe, said he, that these men are your enemies, and that all the others who are in the market-place, more than four thousand in number, are your allies. In the streets also, the informer said, Cinadon pointed out as enemies here one and there two who met them, and all the rest as allies; and of all who chanced to be on the country estates belonging to Spartiatae, while there would be one whom he would point out as an enemy, namely the master, yet there would be many on each estate named as allies.

When the ephors asked how[*](397 B.C.) many Cinadon said there really were who were in the secret of this affair, the informer replied that he said in regard to this point that those who were in the secret with himself and the other leaders were by no means many, though trustworthy; the leaders, however, put it this way, that it was they who knew the secret of all the others—Helots, freedmen, lesser Spartiatae, and Perioeci; for whenever among these classes any mention was made of Spartiatae, no one was able to conceal the fact that he would be glad to eat them raw.

When the ephors asked again: And where did they say they would get weapons? the informer replied that Cinadon said: Of course those of us who are in the army have weapons of our own, and as for the masses—he led him, he said, to the iron market, and showed him great quantities of knives, swords, spits, axes, hatchets, and sickles. And he said, the informer continued, that all those tools with which men work the land and timber and stone were likewise weapons, and that most of the other industries also had in their implements adequate weapons, especially against unarmed men. When he was asked again at what time this thing was to be done, he said that orders had been given him to stay in the city.

Upon hearing these statements the ephors came to the conclusion that he was describing a well-considered plan, and were greatly alarmed; and without even convening the Little Assembly,[*](The reference is uncertain.) as it was called, but merely gathering about them—one ephor here and another there—some of the senators, they decided to send Cinadon to Aulon along with others of the younger men, and to order him to bring back with[*](397 B.C.) him certain of the Aulonians and Helots whose names were written in the official dispatch. And they ordered him to bring also the woman who was said to be the most beautiful woman in Aulon and was thought to be corrupting the Lacedaemonians who came there, older and younger alike.

Now Cinadon had performed other services of a like sort for the ephors in the past; so this time they gave him the dispatch in which were written the names of those who were to be arrested. And when he asked which of the young men he should take with him, they said: Go and bid the eldest of the commanders of the guard to send with you six or seven of those who may chance to be at hand. In fact they had taken care that the commander should know whom he was to send, and that those who were sent should know that it was Cinadon whom they were to arrest. The ephors said this thing besides to Cinadon, that they would send three wagons, so that they would not have to bring back the prisoners on foot—trying to conceal, as far as they could, the fact that they were sending after one man—himself.

The reason they did not plan to arrest him in the city was that they did not know how great was the extent of the plot, and they wished to hear from Cinadon who his accomplices were before these should learn that they had been informed against, in order to prevent their escaping. Accordingly, those who made the arrest were to detain Cinadon, and after learning from him the names of his confederates, to write them down and send them back as quickly as possible to the ephors. And so seriously did the ephors regard the matter that they even sent a regiment of cavalry to support the men[*](397 B.C.) who had set out for Aulon.

When the man had been seized and a horseman had returned with the names of those whom Cinadon had listed, the ephors immediately proceeded to arrest the seer Tisamenus and the most influential of the others. And when Cinadon was brought back and questioned, and confessed everything and told the names of his confederates, they asked him finally what in the world was his object in undertaking this thing. He replied: I wished to be inferior to no one in Lacedaemon. Thereupon he was straightway bound fast, neck and arms, in a collar, and under scourge and goad was dragged about through the city, he and those with him. And so they met their punishment.

After this a Syracusan named Herodas, being[*](396 B.C.) in Phoenicia with a certain shipowner, and seeing Phoenician war-ships—some of them sailing in from other places, others lying there fully manned, and yet others still making ready for sea—and hearing, besides, that there were to be three hundred of them, embarked on the first boat that sailed to Greece and reported to the Lacedaemonians that the King and Tissaphernes were preparing this expedition; but whither it was bound he said he did not know.

Now while the Lacedaemonians were in a state of great excitement, and were gathering together their allies and taking counsel as to what they should do, Lysander, thinking that the Greeks would be far superior on the sea, and reflecting that the land force which went up country with Cyrus had returned safely, persuaded Agesilaus to promise, in case the Lacedaemonians would give him thirty Spartiatae, two thousand emancipated Helots,[*](396 B.C.) and a contingent of six thousand of the allies, to make an expedition to Asia. Such were the motives which actuated Lysander, but, in addition, he wanted to make the expedition with Agesilaus on his own account also, in order that with the aid of Agesilaus he might re-establish the decarchies[*](In the cities which fell under his control after the battle of Aegospotami Lysander had established oligarchical governments, the supreme power being lodged in a council of ten, corresponding to the Thirty at Athens.) which had been set up by him in the cities, but had been overthrown through the ephors, who had issued a proclamation restoring to the cities their ancient form of government.

When Agesilaus offered to undertake the campaign, the Lacedaemonians gave him everything he asked for and provisions for six months. And when he marched forth from the country after offering all the sacrifices which were required, including that at the frontier,[*](Spartan commanders always offered sacrifices to Zeus and Athena before crossing the Laconian frontier.) he dispatched messengers to the various cities and announced how many men were to be sent from each city, and where they were to report; while as for himself, he desired to go and offer sacrifice at Aulis, the place where Agamemnon had sacrificed before he sailed to Troy.

When he had reached Aulis, however, the Boeotarchs,[*](The presiding officials of the Boeotian League.) on learning that he was sacrificing, sent horsemen and bade him discontinue his sacrificing, and they threw from the altar the victims which they found already offered. Then Agesilaus, calling the gods to witness, and full of anger, embarked upon his trireme and sailed away. And when he arrived at Gerastus and had collected there as large a part of his army as he could, he directed his course to Ephesus.

When he reached Ephesus, Tissaphernes at once sent and asked him with what intent he had come.[*](396 B.C.) And he answered: That the cities in Asia shall be independent, as are those in our part of Greece. In reply to this Tissaphernes said: Then if you are willing to make a truce until I can send to the King, I think you could accomplish this object and, if you should so desire, sail back home. Indeed I should so desire, said he, if I could but think that I was not being deceived by you. But, said he, it is possible for you to receive a guarantee on this point, that in very truth and without guile, if you follow this course, we will do no harm to any part of your domain during the truce.

After this agreement had been reached, Tissaphernes made oath to the commissioners who were sent to him, Herippidas, Dercylidas, and Megillus, that in very truth and without guile he would negotiate the peace, and they in turn made oath on behalf of Agesilaus to Tissaphernes that in very truth, if he did this, Agesilaus would steadfastly observe the truce. Now Tissaphernes straightway violated the oaths which he had sworn; for instead of keeping peace he sent to the King for a large army in addition to that which he had before. But Agesilaus, though he was aware of this, nevertheless continued to abide by the truce.

Meanwhile, during the time that Agesilaus was spending in quiet and leisure at Ephesus, since the governments in the cities were in a state of confusion—for it was no longer democracy, as in the time of Athenian rule, nor decarchy, as in the time of Lysander—and since the people all knew Lysander, they beset him with requests that he should obtain from Agesilaus the granting of their petitions; and for this reason a very great crowd was continually courting and following him, so that Agesilaus appeared[*](396 B.C.) to be a man in private station and Lysander king.

Now Agesilaus showed afterwards that he also was enraged by these things; but the thirty Spartiatae[*](See 2 above.) with him were so jealous that they could not keep silence, but said to Agesilaus that Lysander was doing an unlawful thing in conducting himself more pompously than royalty. When, however, Lysander now began to introduce people to Agesilaus, the king would in every case dismiss, without granting their petitions, those who were known by him to be supported in any way by Lysander. And when Lysander found that the outcome was invariably the opposite of what he desired, he realized how the matter stood; and he no longer allowed a crowd to follow him, while he plainly told those who wanted him to give them any help that they would fare worse if he supported them.

But being distressed at his disgrace, he went to Agesilaus and said: Agesilaus, it seems that you, at least, understand how to humiliate your friends. Yes, by Zeus, I do, said he, at any rate those who wish to appear greater than I; but as for those who exalt me, if I should prove not to know how to honour them in return, I should be ashamed. And Lysander said: Well, perhaps it is indeed true that you are acting more properly than I acted. Therefore grant me this favour at least: in order that I may not be shamed by having no influence with you, and may not be in your way, send me off somewhere. For, wherever I may be, I shall endeavour to be useful to you.