I know how difficult it is to write an
 appreciation of Agesilaus that shall be worthy of his virtue and glory.
 Nevertheless the attempt must be made. For it would not be seemly that so
 good a man, just because of his perfection, should receive no tributes of
 praise, however inadequate.

Now concerning his high birth what greater and
 nobler could be said than this, that even to-day the line of his descent
 from Heracles 
 is traced through the roll of his ancestors, and those no simple citizens,
 but kings and sons of kings?

Nor are they open to the reproach that though they were kings, they ruled
 over a petty state. On the contrary, as their family is honoured above all
 in their fatherland, so is their state glorious above all in Greece ; thus they are not first in the
 second rank, but leaders in a community of leaders.

On one account his fatherland and his family are worthy to be praised
 together, for never at any time has the state been moved by jealousy of
 their pre-eminence to attempt the overthrow of their government, and never
 at any time have the kings striven to obtain greater powers than were
 conferred on them originally at their succession to the throne. For this
 reason, while no other government — democracy, oligachy, despotism or
 kingdom — can can lay claim to an unbroken existence, this kingdom alone
 stands fast continually.

However, there are not wanting signs that even
 before his reign began Agesilaus was deemed worthy to be king. For on the
 death of King Agis there was a struggle for the throne between Leotychidas,
 as the son of Agis, and Agesilaus, as the son of Archidamus. The state
 decided in favour of Agesilaus, judging him to be the more eligible in point
 of birth and character alike. Surely to have been pronounced worthy of the
 highest privilege by the best men in the mightiest state is proof sufficient
 of his virtue, at least before he began to reign.

I will now give an account of the achievements
 of his reign, for I believe that his deeds will throw the clearest light on
 his qualities.
 Now Agesilaus was still a young man when he gained the throne. He had been but a short
 time in power when the news leaked out that the king of the Persians was
 assembling a great navy and army for an attack on the Greeks.

While the Lacedaemonians and their allies were considering the matter,
 Agesilaus declared, that if they would give him thirty Spartans, two
 thousand newly enrolled citizens, and a contingent of six thousand allies,
 he would cross to Asia and try to
 effect a peace, or, in case the barbarian wanted to fight, would keep him so
 busy that he would have no time for an attack on the Greeks.

His eagerness to pay back the Persian in his own coin for the former invasion
 of Greece , his determination to
 wage an offensive rather than a defensive war, and his wish to make the
 enemy pay for it rather than the Greeks, were enough to arouse an immediate
 and widespread enthusiasm for his project. But what appealed most to the
 imagination was the idea of entering on a struggle not to save Greece , but to subdue Asia .

And what of his strategy after he had received
 the army and had sailed out? A simple narrative of his actions will
 assuredly convey the clearest impression of it.

This, then, was his first act in Asia . Tissaphernes had sworn the following oath to
 Agesilaus: If you will arrange an armistice to last until the return of the
 messengers whom I will send to the King, I will do my utmost to obtain
 independence for the Greek cities in Asia ; and Agesilaus on his part had sworn to observe the
 armistice honestly, allowing three months for the transaction. What
 followed?

Tissaphernes forthwith broke his oath, and instead of arranging a peace,
 applied to the King for a large army in addition to that which he had
 before. As for Agesilaus, though well aware of this, he none the less
 continued to keep the armistice.

I think, therefore, that here we have his first noble achievement. By showing
 up Tissaphernes as a perjurer, he made him distrusted everywhere; and,
 contrariwise, by proving himself to be a man of his word and true to his
 agreements, he encouraged all, Greeks and barbarians alike, to enter into an
 agreement with him whenever he wished it.

The arrival of the new army emboldened
 Tissaphernes to send an ultimatum to Agesilaus, threatening was unless
 he withdrew from Asia ; and the
 allies and the Lacedaemonians present made no concealment of their
 chagrin, believing that the strength of Agesilaus was weaker than the
 Persian king’s armament. But Agesilaus with a beaming face bade the
 envoys of Tissaphernes inform their master that he was profoundly
 grateful to him for his perjury, by which he had gained the hostility of
 the gods for himself and had made them allies of the Greeks.

Without a moment’s delay he gave the word to his troops to pack up in
 preparation for a campaign, and warned the cities that lay on the lines
 of march to Caria to have their
 markets ready stocked. He advised by letter the Greeks of Ionia , the Aeolid and the Hellespont , to send their contingents
 for the campaign to his headquarters at Ephesus .

Now Tissaphernes reflected that Agesilaus was
 without cavalry, while Caria was a
 difficult country for mounted men, and he thought that Agesilaus was wroth
 with him on account of his deceit. Concluding, therefore, that his estate in
 Caria was the real object of
 the coming attack, he sent the whole of his infantry across to that district
 and took his cavalry round into the plain of the Maeander , confident that he could ride
 down the Greeks before they reached the country where cavalry could not
 operate.

But instead of marching on Caria ,
 Agesilaus forthwith turned round and made for Phrygia . Picking up the various forces that met him on the
 route, he proceeded to reduce the cities and captured a vast quantity of
 booty by sudden attacks.

This achievement also was thought to be a
 proof of sound generalship, that when war was declared and cozening in
 consequence became righteous and fair dealing, he showed Tissaphernes to be
 a child at deception. It was thought, too, that he made shrewd use of this
 occasion to enrich his friends.

For the accumulation of plunder was so great that things were selling for
 next to nothing. So he gave his friends the word to buy, saying that he was
 shortly going down to the coast with his army. The
 auctioneers were ordered to have a schedule made of the prices obtained and
 to give delivery of the goods. Thus without capital outlay, and without any
 loss to the treasury, all his friends made a prodigious amount of money.

Further, whenever deserters offered to give information where plunder might
 be taken, they naturally went to the king. In such a case he took care that
 the capture should be effected by his friends, so that they might at one and
 the same time make money and add to their laurels. The immediate result was
 that he had many ardent suitors for his friendship.

Recognizing that a country plundered and
 depopulated could not long support an army, whereas an inhabited and
 cultivated land would yield inexhaustible supplies, he took pains not only
 to crush his enemies by force, but also to win them over by gentleness.

He would often warn his men not to punish their prisoners as criminals, but
 to guard them as human beings; and often when shifting camp, if he noticed
 little children, the property of merchants, left behind — many merchants
 offered children for sale because they thought they would not be able to
 carry and feed them — he looked after them too, and had them conveyed to
 some place of refuge.

Again, he arranged that prisoners of war who were too old to accompany the
 army were to be looked after, that they might not fall a prey to dogs or
 wolves. It thus came about that he won the goodwill not only of those who
 heard of these facts, but even of the prisoners themselves. In his
 settlement with the cities that he won over, he invariably excused them from
 all servile duties and required only such obedience as freemen owe to their
 rules; and by his clemency he made himself master of fortresses impregnable
 to assault.

However, since a campaign in the plains was
 impossible even in Phrygia ,
 owing to Pharnabazus’ cavalry, he decided that he must raise a mounted
 force, if he was to avoid continually running away from the enemy. He
 therefore enrolled the wealthiest men in all the cities thereabouts as
 breeders of horses, and issued a proclamation that

anyone who supplied a horse and arms and an efficient man should be exempt
 from personal service. In this way he brought it about that every one of
 them carried out these requirements with the zeal of a man in quest of
 someone to die in his stead. He also specified cities that were to furnish
 contingents of cavalry, feeling sure that from the horsebreeding cities
 riders proud of their horsemanship would be forthcoming. This again was
 considered an admirable stroke on his part, that no sooner had he raised his
 cavalry than it became a powerful body ready for action.

At the first sign of spring he collected
 the whole of his forces at Ephesus . With a view to their training he offered prizes
 for the cavalry squadron that rode best, and for the company of heavy
 infantry that reached the highest level of physical fitness. He also offered
 prizes to the targeteers and the archers who showed the greatest efficiency
 in their particular duties. Thereupon one might see every gymnasium crowded
 with the men exercising, the racecourse thronged with cavalrymen riding, and
 the javelin-men and archers shooting at the mark.

Indeed he made the whole city in which he was quartered a sight to see. For
 the market was full of arms and horses of all sorts on sale, and the
 coppersmiths, carpenters, workers in iron, cobblers, and painters were all
 busy making weapons of war, so that you might have thought that the city was
 really a war factory.

And an inspiring sight it would have been to watch Agesilaus and all his
 soldiers behind him returning garlanded from the gymnasium and dedicating
 their garlands to Artemis. For where men reverence the gods, train
 themselves in warfare and practise obedience, there you surely find high
 hopes abounding.

Moreover, believing that contempt for the enemy would kindle the fighting
 spirit, he gave instructions to his heralds that the barbarians captured in
 the raids should be exposed for sale naked. So when his soldiers saw them
 white because they never stripped, and fat and lazy through constant riding
 in carriages, they believed that the war would be exactly like fighting with
 women.
 He also gave notice to the troops that he
 would immediately lead them by the shortest route to the most fertile parts
 of the country, so that he might at once find them preparing themselves in
 body and mind for the coming struggle.

Tissaphernes, however, believed that in saying this he meant to deceive him
 again, and that now he would really invade Caria . Accordingly he sent his infantry across into
 Caria as before, and stationed
 his cavalry in the plain of the Maeander . But Agesilaus did not play false: in accordance
 with his notice he marched straight to the neighbourhood of Sardis ; and for three days his route
 lay through a country bare of enemies, so that he supplied his army with
 abundance of provisions.

On the fourth day the enemy’s cavalry came up. Their leader told the officer
 in command of the baggage-train to cross the river Pactolus and encamp.
 The cavalry, meantime, catching sight of the Greek camp-followers
 plundering in scattered bands, killed a large number of them. On
 noticing this, Agesilaus ordered his cavalry to go to their help. The
 Persians in turn, seeing the supports coming, gathered in a mass and
 confronted them with the full strength of their horse.

Then Agesilaus, realising that the enemy’s infantry was not yet up, while he
 had all his resources on the spot, thought the moment was come to join
 battle if he could. Therefore, after offering sacrifice, he led forward
 the battle line immediately against the opposing cavalry, the heavy
 infantrymen of ten years service having orders to run to close quarters
 with the enemy, while the targeteers were to lead the advance at the
 double. He also sent word to the cavalry to attack in the knowledge that
 he himself was following with the whole army.

The charge of the cavalry was met by the flower of the Persians: but as soon
 as the full weight of the attack fell on them, they swayed, and some were
 cut down immediately in the river, while the rest fled. The Greeks followed
 up their success and captured their camp. The targeteers naturally fell to
 pillaging; but Agesilaus drew the lines of his camp round so as to enclose
 the property of all, friends and foes alike.

On hearing that there was confusion among the
 enemy, because everyone put the blame for what had happened on his
 neighbour, he advanced forthwith on Sardis . There he began burning and pillaging the suburbs,
 and meantime issued a proclamation calling on those who wanted freedom to
 join his standard, and challenging any who claimed a right to Asia to seek a decision between themselves
 and the liberators by an appeal to arms.

As no one came out to oppose him, he prosecuted the campaign henceforward in
 complete confidence: he beheld the Greeks, compelled erstwhile to
 cringe, now honoured by their oppressors; caused those who arrogantly
 claimed for themselves the honours paid to the gods to shrink even from
 looking the Greeks in the face; rendered the country of his friends
 inviolate, and stripped the enemy’s country so thoroughly that in two
 years he consecrated to the god at Delphi more than two hundred talents as tithe.

But the Persian king, believing that
 Tissaphernes was responsible for the bad turn in his affairs, sent down
 Tithraustes and beheaded Tissaphernes. After this the outlook became still
 more hopeless for the barbarians, while Agesilaus received large accessions
 of strength. For all the nations of the empire sent embassies seeking his
 friendship, and the desire for freedom caused many to revolt to him, so that
 not Greeks alone, but many barbarians also now acknowledged the leadership
 of Agesilaus.

His conduct at this juncture also merits
 unstinted admiration. Though ruler of countless cities on the mainland,
 and master of islands — for the state had now added the fleet to his
 command — becoming daily more famous and more powerful; placed in a
 position to make what use he would of his many opportunities; and
 designing and expecting to crown his achievements by dissolving the
 empire that had attacked Greece 
 in the past: he suppressed all thought of these things, and as soon as
 he received a request from the home government to come to the aid of his
 fatherland, he obeyed the call of the state, just as though he were
 standing in the Ephor’s palace alone before the Five, thus showing clearly that
 he would not take the whole earth in exchange for his fatherland, nor
 new-found friends for old, and that he scorned to choose base and secure
 gains rather than that which was right and honourable, even though it
 was dangerous.

Throughout the time that he remained in his
 command, another achievement of his showed beyond question how admirable was
 his skill in kingcraft. Having found all the cities that he had gone out to
 govern rent by faction in consequence of the political disturbances that
 followed on the collapse of the Athenian empire, he brought it about by the
 influence of his presence that the communities lived in unbroken harmony and
 prosperity without recourse to banishment or executions.

Therefore the Greeks in Asia mourned
 his departure as though they were bidding farewell not merely to a ruler,
 but to a father or a comrade. And at the end they showed that their
 affection was unfeigned. At any rate they went with him voluntarily to aid
 Sparta , knowing as they did
 that they must meet an enemy not inferior to themselves. This then was the
 end of his activities in Asia .

After crossing the Hellespont , he passed through the very
 same tribes as the Persian king with his mighty host; and the distance that
 had been traversed by the barbarian in a year was covered by Agesilaus in
 less than a month. For he had no intention of arriving too late to aid his
 fatherland.

When he had passed through Macedonia 
 and reached Thessaly , the people of
 Larisa , Crannon,
 Scotussa and Pharsalus, who were allies of the Boeotians, all the
 Thessalians, in fact, except those who happened to be in exile at the time,
 followed at his heels and kept molesting him. For a time he led the army in
 a hollow square, with one half of the cavalry in front and the other half in
 the rear; but finding his progress hampered by Thessalian attacks on his
 rearguard, he sent round all the cavalry from the vanguard to the rear,
 except his own escort.

When the two forces faced one another in line of battle, the Thessalians,
 believing it inexpedient to engage heavy infantry with cavalry, wheeled
 round and slowly retired, their enemy following very cautiously. Agesilaus,
 noticing the errors into which both sides were falling, now sent round his
 own escort of stalwart horsemen, with orders to bid the others to charge at
 full speed, and to do the same themselves, and not to give the enemy a
 chance of rallying. As for the Thessalians, on seeing the unexpected charge
 they either did not rally at all, or were captured in the attempt to do so
 with their horses broadside to the enemy.

Polycharmus the Pharsalian, commander of the cavalry, did indeed turn, and
 fell fighting along with those about him. Hereupon ensued a wild flight, so
 that some of the enemy were killed and some were taken prisoners: at any
 rate they never halted until they reached Mt. Narthacium.

On that day Agesilaus set up a trophy between Pras and Narthacium, and here
 for the moment he paused, mightily pleased with his exploit, since he had
 defeated an enemy inordinately proud of his horsemanship with the cavalry
 that he had himself created.
 On the morrow he crossed the Achaean mountains
 in Phthia , and now his route led
 him through friendly country till he reached the borders of Boeotia .

Here he found arrayed against him the Thebans, Athenians, Argives,
 Corinthians, Aenianians, Euboeans, and both the Locrian tribes. Without
 a moment’s delay, in full view of the enemy, he drew up his army for
 battle. In addition to the army that he had brought with him he had a
 regiment and a half of Lacedaemonians, and of the local allies only the
 Phocians and Orchomenians.

Now I am not going to say that his forces were far inferior in numbers and in
 quality, and that nevertheless he accepted battle. That statement, I
 think, would but show a want of common sense in Agesilaus and my own
 folly in praising a leader who wantonly jeopardised interests of vital
 moment. On the contrary — and this is what I do admire him for — he
 brought into the field an army not a whit inferior to the enemy’s; he so
 armed it that it looked one solid mass of bronze and scarlet; he took
 care to render his men

capable of meeting all calls on their endurance; he filled their hearts with
 confidence that they were able to withstand any and every enemy; he inspired
 them all with an eager determination to out-do one another in valour; and
 lastly he filled all with anticipation that many good things would befall
 them, if only they proved good men. For he believed that men so prepared
 fight with all their might; nor in point of fact did he deceive himself.

I will describe the battle, for there has been
 none like it in our time. The two armies met in the plain of Coronea , Agesilaus advancing from the
 Cephisus, the Thebans and their allies from Helicon. Their eyes told them
 that the opposing lines of battle were exactly matched in strength, and the
 number of cavalry on both sides was about the same. Agesilaus was on the
 right wing of his army and had the Orchomenians on his extreme left. On the
 other side the Thebans themselves were on the right wing and the Argives
 held the left.

As they approached both sides for a time maintained complete silence, but
 when they were about a furlong apart, the Thebans raised the battle-cry and
 rushed forward at the double. The distance between them was still about one
 hundred yards when the mercenary troops under Herippidas, consisting of the

men who had gone with Agesilaus from home and some of the Cyreians, dashed
 out in turn from their main body, closely followed by Ionians, Aeolians and
 Hellespontines. All these took part in the dash, and coming within
 spear-thrust put to flight the force in front of them. As for the Argives,
 they fled towards Helicon without awaiting the attack of Agesilaus. And now
 some of the mercenaries were in the act of crowning Agesilaus with a wreath,
 when a man reported to him that the Thebans had cut their way through the
 Orchomenians and were among the baggage train. So he immediately wheeled his
 main body and advanced against them; and the Thebans in their turn, seeing
 that their allies had sought refuge at the foot of Mt. Helicon, and wanting
 to break through and join their friends, made a strong move forward.

At this juncture one may say without fear of
 contradiction that Agesilaus showed courage; but the course that he adopted
 was not the safest. For he might have allowed the men who were trying to
 break through to pass, and then have followed them and annihilated those in
 the rear. Instead of doing that he made a furious frontal attack on the
 Thebans. Thrusting shield against shield, they shoved and fought and killed
 and fell. There was no shouting, nor was there silence, but the strange
 noise that wrath and battle together will produce. In the end some of the
 Thebans broke through and reached Helicon, but many fell during the retreat.

The victory lay with Agesilaus; but he himself
 had been carried wounded to his battle-line, when some horsemen rode up, and
 told him that eighty of the enemy retaining their arms had taken cover in
 the temple, and they asked what they should do. Though wounded in every part
 of his body with every sort of weapon, he did not forget his duty towards
 the gods, but gave orders that these men should be suffered to go
 whithersoever they wished, and would not suffer them to be harmed, and
 charged his escort of cavalry to conduct them to a place of safety.

Now that the fighting was at an end, a weird
 spectacle met the eye, as one surveyed the scene of the conflict — the earth
 stained with blood, friend and foe lying dead side by side, shields smashed
 to pieces, spears snapped in two, daggers bared of their sheaths, some on
 the ground, some embedded in the bodies, some yet gripped by the hand.

Then, as the day was far spent, having dragged the enemy’s dead within their battle line,
 they supped and slept. Early next morning Agesilaus ordered Gylis, the
 polemarch, to draw up the army in battle order and to set up a trophy,
 and to command every man to wear a wreath in honour of the god and all the flute-players
 to play.

Now while they were carrying out these orders
 the Thebans sent a herald, asking leave to bury their dead under protection
 of a truce. And so a truce was made, and Agesilaus left for home, choosing,
 instead of supreme power in Asia ,
 to rule and to be ruled at home according to the constitution.

Some time afterwards, finding that the Argives
 were enjoying the fruits of their land, that they had appropriated
 Corinth and were finding
 the war a pleasant occupation, he made an expedition against them. He first
 laid waste all their territory, then crossed to Corinth by the pass and captured the walls leading to
 Lechaeum. Having thus unbarred the gates of Peloponnese , he returned home for the festival of
 Hyacinthus and joined in singing the paean in
 honour of the god, taking the place assigned to him
 by the choirmaster.

After a time, discovering that the Corinthians
 were keeping all their cattle safe in Peiraeum , and sowing and reaping the crops throughout that
 district, and — what he thought most serious — that the Boeotians were
 finding this route convenient for sending support to the Corinthians, with
 Creusis as their base, he marched against Peiraeum . Seeing that it was strongly guarded, he moved his
 camp after the morning meal to a position before the capital, as though the
 city was about to surrender.

But becoming aware that supports had been hurriedly poured into the city
 during the night from Peiraeum , he turned about at daybreak and captured
 Peiraeum , finding it
 undefended, and everything in it, along with the fortresses that stood
 there, fell into his hands. Having done this, he returned home.

After these events, the Achaeans, who were
 zealous advocates of the alliance, begged him to join them in an expedition
 against Acarnania . And when the
 Acarnanians attacked him in a mountain pass he seized the heights above
 their heads with his light infantry, fought
 an engagement and, after inflicting severe losses on them, set up a trophy;
 nor did he cease until he had induced the Acarnanians, Aetolians and Argives
 to enter into friendship with the Achaeans and alliance with himself.

When the enemy sent embassies desiring peace,
 Agesilaus opposed the peace until he forced Corinth and Thebes to restore to their homes the citizens who had been
 exiled on account of their sympathy with the
 Lacedaemonians. And again later, having led an expedition in person against
 Phleius, he also restored the Phleiasian exiles who had suffered in the same
 cause. Possibly some may censure these actions on other grounds, but at
 least it is obvious that they were prompted by a spirit of true comradeship.

It was in the same spirit that he subsequently 
 made an expedition against Thebes , to relieve the Lacedaemonians in that city when
 their opponents had taken to murdering them. Finding the city protected on
 all sides by a trench and stockade, he crossed the Pass of Cynoscephalae , and laid waste the country
 up to the city walls, offering battle to the Thebans both on the plain and
 on the hills, if they chose to fight. In the following year he made another
 expedition against Thebes , and,
 after crossing the stockade and trenches at Scolus, laid waste the rest of
 Boeotia .

Up to this time he and his city enjoyed
 unbroken success; and though the following years brought a series of
 troubles, it cannot be said that they were incurred under the leadership of
 Agesilaus. On the other hand, after the disaster at Leuctra, when his
 adversaries in league with the Mantineans were murdering his friends and
 acquaintances in Tegea , and a
 coalition of all Boeotia ,
 Arcadia and Elis had been formed,
 he took the field with the Lacedaemonian forces only, thus disappointing the
 general expectation that the Lacedaemonians would not even go outside their
 own borders for a long time to come. It was not until he had laid waste the
 country of those who had murdered his friends that he returned home once
 more.

After this Sparta was attacked by all the Arcadians, Argives, Eleians
 and Boeotians, who had the support of the Phocians, both the Locrian
 peoples, the Thessalians, Aenianians, Acarnanians and Euboeans. In addition
 the slaves and many of the outlander communities were in revolt, and at
 least as many of the Spartan nobles had fallen in the battle of Leuctra as
 survived. He kept the city safe notwithstanding, and that though it was
 without walls, not going out into the open where the advantage would have
 lain wholly with the enemy, and keeping his army strongly posted where the
 citizens would have the advantage; for he believed that he would be
 surrounded on all sides if he came out into the plain, but that if he made a
 stand in the defiles and the heights, he would be master of the situation.

After the retirement of the enemy, none will
 deny that his conduct was marked by good sense. The marching and riding
 incidental to active service were no longer possible to a man of his years,
 but he saw that the state must have money if she was to gain an ally
 anywhere. So he applied himself to the business of raising money. At home he
 did all that ingenuity could suggest; and, if he saw any prospect of serving
 the state abroad, shrank from no measures that circumstances called for, and
 he was not ashamed to go out, not as a general, but as an envoy.

And even as an envoy he accomplished work worthy of a great general. For
 instance, Autophradates laying siege to Ariobarzanes, an ally of Sparta , at Assos , took to his heels from fear of
 Agesilaus. Cotys for his part, besieging Sestos , while it was still in the hands of Ariobarzanes,
 broke up the siege and made off. With good reason, therefore, might the
 victorious envoy have set up a trophy once again to record these bloodless
 successes.

Again, Mausolus, laying siege to both these places with a fleet of a hundred
 vessels, was induced, not indeed by fear, but by persuasion, to sail for
 home. In this affair too his success was admirable; for those who considered
 that they were under an obligation to him and those who fled before him,
 both paid. Yet again, Tachos and Mausolus (another of those who contributed
 money to Sparta , owing to his
 old ties of hospitality with Agesilaus), sent him home with a magnificent
 escort.

Subsequently, when he was now about eighty
 years of age, he became aware that the king of Egypt was bent on war with Persia , and was possessed of large forces of infantry and
 cavalry and plenty of money. He was delighted when a summons for help
 reached him from the Egyptian king, who actually promised him the chief
 command.

For he believed that at one stroke he would repay the Egyptian for his good
 offices to Sparta , would again
 set free the Greeks in Asia , and
 would chastise the Persian for his former hostility, and for demanding now,
 when he professed to be an ally of Sparta , that her claim to Messene should be given up.

However, when this suitor for his assistance failed to give him the command
 Agesilaus felt that he had been grossly deceived, and was in doubt what he
 ought to do. At this juncture first a portion of the Egyptian troops,
 operating as a separate army, revolted from the king, and then the rest of
 his forces deserted him. The king left Egypt and fled in terror to Sidon in Phoenicia , while the Egyptians split up into two parties, and
 each chose its own king.

Agesilaus now realised that if he helped neither king, neither of them would
 pay the Greeks their wages, neither would provide a market, and the
 conqueror, whichever he proved to be, would be hostile, but if he
 co-operated with one of them, that one, being under an obligation to him,
 would in all probability adopt a friendly attitude. Accordingly, having
 decided which of them showed the stronger signs of being a friend to the
 Greeks, he took the field with him. He inflicted a crushing defeat on the
 enemy of the Greeks, and helped to establish his rival; and so having made
 him the friend of Sparta , and
 having received a great sum of money in addition,
 he sailed home, though it was mid-winter, with all haste, in order that the
 state might be in a position to take action against her enemies in the
 coming summer.

Such, then, is the record of my hero’s deeds,
 so far as they were done before a crowd of witnesses. Actions like these
 need no proofs; the mere mention of them is enough and they command
 belief immediately. But now I will attempt to show the virtue that was
 in his soul, the virtue through which he wrought those deeds and loved
 all that is honourable and put away all that is base.

Agesilaus had such reverence for religion,
 that even his enemies considered his oaths and his treaties more to be
 relied on than their own friendship with one another: for there were times
 when they shrank from meeting together, and yet would
 place themselves in the power of Agesilaus. And lest anyone should think
 this statement incredible, I wish to name the most famous among them.
 Spithridates the Persian, for example, knew that

Pharnabazus was negotiating for a marriage with the Great King’s daughter,
 and intended to take his, Spithridates’, daughter as a concubine.
 Regarding this as an outrage, he delivered himself, his wife, his
 children and all that he had into Agesilaus’ hands. Cotys, ruler of the
 Paphlagonians, who had disobeyed

the command of the Great King, though it was accompanied with the symbol of
 friendship, feared that he would be seized and either be
 fined heavily or even put to death; but he too, trusting in the
 armistice with Agesilaus, came to his camp and having entered into
 alliance elected to take the field at Agesilaus’ side with a thousand
 horse and two thousand targeteers.

And Pharnabazus too came and parleyed with Agesilaus, and made agreement with
 him that if he were not himself appointed the Persian general, he would
 revolt from the Great King. But, he said, if I become general, I shall
 make war on you, Agesilaus, with all my might. He used this language in
 full confidence that nothing contrary to the terms of the armistice would
 happen to him. So great and so noble a treasure has every man, and above all
 a general, who is upright and trustworthy and is known to be so. So much,
 then, for the virtue of Piety.

Next comes his Justice in money matters. Of
 this what proofs can be more convincing than the following? No man ever made
 any complaint that he had been defrauded by Agesilaus: but many acknowledged
 that they had received many benefits from him. One who delighted to give
 away his own for the good of others could not possibly be minded to defraud
 others at the price of disgrace. For if he had coveted money it would have
 cost him far less trouble to keep his own than to take what did not belong
 to him.

A man who would not leave unpaid debts of gratitude, which are not
 recoverable in the courts, cannot have been minded to commit thefts that are
 forbidden by law. And Agesilaus held it wrong not only to repudiate a debt
 of gratitude, but, having greater means, not to render in return a much
 greater kindness.

Again, with what show of reason could embezzlement of public property be
 charged against a man who bestowed on his fatherland the rewards due to
 himself? And is it not a striking proof of his freedom from avarice that he
 was able to get money from others, whenever he wanted, for the purpose of
 rendering financial assistance to the state or his friends?

For had he been in the habit of selling his favours or taking payment for his
 benefactions, no one would have felt that he owed him anything. It is the
 recipient of unbought, gratuitous benefits who is always glad to oblige his
 benefactor in return for the kindness he has received and in acknowledgment
 of the trust reposed in him as a worthy and faithful guardian of a
 favour.

Further, is it not certain that the man who by
 a noble instinct refused to take more and preferred to take less than
 his just share was far beyond the reach of covetousness? Now when the
 state pronounced him sole heir to the property of Agis, he gave half of
 it to his mother’s kinsfolk, because he saw that they were in want; and
 all Lacedaemon bears witness
 that my statement is true.

On receiving from Tithraustes an offer of gifts unnumbered if only he would
 leave his country, Agesilaus answered: Among us,
 Tithraustes, a ruler’s honour requires him to enrich his army rather
 than himself, and to take spoils rather than gifts from the
 enemy.

Again, among all the pleasures that prove too
 strong for many men, who can mention one to which Agesilaus yielded?
 Drunkenness, he thought, should be avoided like madness, overeating like
 idleness. Moreover, he received a
 double ration at the public meals, but instead of consuming both portions
 himself, he distributed both and left neither for himself, holding that the
 purpose of this double allowance to the king was not to provide him with a
 heavy meal, but to give him the opportunity of honouring whomsoever he
 would.

As for sleep, it was not
 his master, but the servant of his activities; and unless he occupied
 the humblest bed among his comrades, he could not conceal his shame: for
 he thought that a ruler’s superiority over ordinary men should be shown
 not by weakness but by endurance.

There were things, to be sure, of which he was
 not ashamed to take more than his share — for instance, the summer’s
 heat and the winter’s cold: and
 whenever his army was faced with a hard task, he toiled willingly beyond
 all others, believing that all such actions were an encouragement to the
 men. Not to labour the point, Agesilaus gloried in hard work, and showed
 a strong distaste for indolence.

His habitual control of his affections surely
 deserves a tribute of admiration, if worthy of mention on no other
 ground. That he should keep at arms’ length those whose intimacy he did
 not desire may be thought only human. But he loved Megabates, the
 handsome son of Spithridates, with all the intensity of an ardent
 nature. Now it is the custom among
 the Persians to bestow a kiss on those whom they honour. Yet when
 Megabates attempted to kiss him, Agesilaus resisted his advances with
 all his might — an act of punctilious moderation surely!

Megabates, feeling himself slighted, tried no more to kiss him, and Agesilaus
 approached one of his companions with a request that he would persuade
 Megabates to show him honour once again. Will you kiss him, asked his
 companion, if Megabates yields? After a deep silence, Agesilaus gave his
 reply: By the twin gods, no, not if I were straightway to be the fairest
 and strongest and fleetest man on earth! By all the gods I swear that I
 would rather fight that same battle over again than that everything I see
 should turn into gold.

What opinion some hold in regard to these matters I know well enough; but for
 my part I am persuaded that many more men can gain the mastery over
 their enemies than over impulses such as these. No doubt when these things are known to few,
 many have a right to be sceptical: but we all know this, that the
 greater a man’s fame, the fiercer is the light that beats on all his
 actions; we know too that no one ever
 reported that he had seen Agesilaus do any such thing, and that no
 scandal based on conjecture would have gained credence; for it was not
 his

habit, when abroad, to lodge apart in a private house, but he was always
 either in a temple, where conduct of this sort is, of course,
 impossible, or else in a public place where all men’s eyes became
 witnesses of his rectitude. If I speak this falsely against the
 knowledge of the Greek world, I am in no way praising my hero; but I am
 censuring myself.

As for Courage, he seems to me to have
 afforded clear proofs of that by always engaging himself to fight against
 the strongest enemies of his state and of Greece , and by always placing himself in the forefront of
 the struggle.

When the enemy were willing to join battle with him, it was not by
 their panic flight that he won victory, but it was after overcoming them in
 stubborn fighting that he set up a trophy, leaving behind him imperishable
 memorials of his own valour, and bearing in his own body visible tokens of
 the fury of his fighting, so that not by hearsay but by the evidence of
 their own eyes men could judge what manner of man he was.

In truth the trophies of Agesilaus are not to be counted by telling how many
 he set up; the number of his campaigns is the number of them. His mastery
 was in no way less complete when the enemy were unwilling to accept battle,
 but it was gained at less risk and with more profit to the state and to the
 allies. So in the Great Games the unchallenged champion is crowned no less
 than he who has fought to conquer.

Of his Wisdom I find the evidence in every one
 of his deeds. Towards his fatherland he behaved in such a manner that, being
 entirely obedient to her, he won the obedience of the citizens, and by his
 zeal for his comrades he held the unquestioning devotion of his friends: and
 as for his troops, he gained at once their obedience and their affection.
 Surely nothing is wanting to the strength of that battle-line in which
 obedience results in perfect discipline, and affection for the general
 produces faithful promptitude.

As for the enemy, though they were forced to hate, he gave them no chance to
 disparage him. For he contrived that his allies always had the better of
 them, by the use of deception when occasion offered, by anticipating their
 action if speed was necessary, by hiding when it suited his purpose, and by
 practising all the opposite methods when dealing with enemies to those which
 he applied when dealing with friends.

Night, for example, was to him as day, and day as night, for he
 often veiled his movements so completely that none could guess where he was,
 whither he was going, or what he meant to do. Thus he made even strong
 positions untenable to the enemy, turning one, scaling another, snatching a
 third by stealth.

On the march, whenever he knew that the enemy could bring him to an
 engagement if they chose, he would lead his army in close order, alert and
 ready to defend himself, moving on as quietly as a modest maiden, since he
 held that this was the best means of maintaining calm, of avoiding panic,
 confusion, and blundering, and of guarding against a surprise attack.

And so, by using such methods, he was
 formidable to his enemies, and inspired his friends with strength and
 confidence. Thus he was never despised by his foes, never brought to account
 by the citizens, never blamed by his friends, but throughout his career he
 was praised and idolised by all the world.

Of his Patriotism it would be a long task to
 write in complete detail, for there is no single action of his, I think,
 that does not illustrate that quality. To speak briefly, we all know that
 when Agesilaus thought he would be serving his fatherland he never shirked
 toil, never shrank from danger, never spared money, never excused himself on
 the score of bodily weakness or old age; but believed
 that it is the duty of a good king to do as much good as possible to his
 subjects.

Among the greatest services he rendered to his fatherland I reckon the fact
 that, though the most powerful man in the state, he was clearly a devoted
 servant of the laws. For who would be minded to disobey when he saw the king
 obeying? Who would turn revolutionist, thinking himself defrauded of his
 due, when he knew that the king was ready to yield in accordance with the
 laws?

Here was a man whose behaviour to his political opponents was that of a
 father to his children: though he would chide them for their errors he
 honoured them when they did a good deed, and stood by them when any disaster
 befell them, deeming no citizen an enemy, willing to praise all, counting
 the safety of all a gain, and reckoning the destruction even of a man of
 little worth as a loss. He clearly reckoned that if the citizens should
 continue to live in peaceful submission to the laws, the fatherland would
 always prosper and that she would be strong when the Greeks were prudent.

Again, if it is honourable in one who is a
 Greek to be a friend to the Greeks, what other general has the world seen
 unwilling to take a city when he thought that it would be sacked, or who
 looked on victory in a war against Greeks as a disaster?

Now when a report reached Agesilaus that eight Lacedaemonians and near ten
 thousand of the enemy had fallen at the battle of Corinth , instead of showing pleasure,
 he actually exclaimed: Alas for thee, Hellas ! those who now lie dead were enough to defeat all
 the barbarians in battle had they lived!

And when the Corinthian exiles told him that the city was about to be
 surrendered to them and pointed to the engines with which they were
 confident of taking the walls, he would not make an assault, declaring that
 Greek cities ought not to be enslaved, but chastened. And if, he added,
 we are going to annihilate the erring members of our own race, let us
 beware lest we lack men to help in the conquest of the barbarians.

Or again, if it is honourable to hate the
 Persian because in old days he set out to enslave Greece , and now allies himself with that
 side which offers him the prospect of working the greater mischief, makes
 gifts to those who, as he believes, will injure the Greeks most in return,
 negotiates the peace that he thinks most certain to produce war among us —
 well, everyone can see these things, but who except Agesilaus has ever
 striven either to bring about the revolt of a tribe from the Persian, or to
 save a revolting tribe from destruction, or by some means or other to
 involve the Great King in trouble so that he will be unable to annoy the
 Greeks? Nay, when his fatherland was actually at war with Greeks, he did not
 neglect the common good of Greece ,
 but went out with a fleet to do what harm he could to the barbarian.

Another quality that should not go unrecorded
 is his urbanity. For although he held honour in fee, and had power at his
 beck, and to these added sovereignty — sovereignty not plotted against but
 regarded with affection — yet no traces of arrogance could have been
 detected in him, whereas signs of a fatherly affection and readiness to
 serve his friends, even if unsought, were evident.

He delighted, moreover, to take his part in light talk, yet he showed an
 eager sympathy with friends in all their serious concerns. Thanks to his
 optimism, good humour, and cheerfulness he was a centre of attraction to
 many, who came not merely for purposes of business, but to pass the day more
 pleasantly. Little inclined to boastfulness himself, he heard without
 annoyance the self-praise of others, thinking that, by indulging in it, they
 did no harm and gave earnest of high endeavour.

On the other hand, one must not omit a reference to the dignity that he
 showed on appropriate occasions. Thus, when the Persian envoy who came with
 Calleas, the Lacedaemonian, handed him a letter from the Great King
 containing offers of friendship and hospitality, he declined to accept it.
 Tell his Majesty, he said to the bearer, that there is no need for him to
 send me private letters, but, if he gives proof of friendship for Lacedaemon , and goodwill towards
 Greece , I on my part will be
 his friend with all my heart. But if he is found plotting against them, let
 him not hope to have a friend in me, however many letters I may receive.

In this contempt for the king’s hospitality, as nothing in comparison with
 the approval of the Greeks, I find one more reason for praising
 Agesilaus. Admirable too was his opinion that it is not for the ruler
 with the deeper coffers and the longer roll of subjects to set himself
 above his rival, but for him who is the better leader of the better
 people.

Again, an instance of his foresight that I
 find worthy of praise is this: believing it to be good for Greece that as many satraps as
 possible should revolt from the king, he was not prevailed on either by
 gifts or by the king’s power to accept his hospitality, but was careful
 not to give cause to those who wanted to revolt for mistrusting him.

There is yet another side of his character
 that everyone must admire. It was the belief of the Persian king that by
 possessing himself of colossal wealth, he would put all things in subjection
 to himself. In this belief he tried to engross all the gold, all the silver
 and all the most costly things in the world. Agesilaus, on the contrary,
 adopted such a simple style in his home that he needed none of these things.

If anyone doubts this, let him mark what sort of a house contented him, and
 in particular, let him look at the doors: one might imagine that they were
 the very doors that Aristodemus, the descendant of Heracles set up with his own hands in the
 days of his home-coming. Let him try to picture the scene within; note how
 he entertained on days of sacrifice, hear how his daughter used to go down
 to Amyclae in a public
 car.

And so, thanks to this nice adjustment of his expenditure to his income, he
 was never compelled to commit an act of injustice for the sake of money.
 Doubtless it is thought noble to build oneself fortresses impregnable to
 an enemy: but in my judgment it is far nobler to fortify one’s own soul
 against all the assaults of lucre, of pleasure, and of fear.

I will next point out the contrast between his
 behaviour and the imposture of the Persian king. In the first place the
 Persian thought his dignity required that he should be seldom seen:
 Agesilaus delighted to be constantly visible, believing that, whereas
 secrecy was becoming to an ugly career, the light shed lustre on a life of
 noble purpose.

In the second place, the one prided himself on being difficult of approach:
 the other was glad to make himself accessible to all. And the one affected
 tardiness in negotiation: the other was best pleased when he could dismiss
 his suitors quickly with their requests granted.

In the matter of personal comfort, moreover,
 it is worth noticing how much simpler and how much more easily satisfied
 were the tastes of Agesilaus. The Persian king has vintners scouring every
 land to find some drink that will tickle his palate; an army of cooks
 contrives dishes for his delight; and the trouble his lackeys take that he
 may sleep is indescribable. But Agesilaus, thanks to his love of toil,
 enjoyed any drink that was at hand and any food that came his way; and any
 place was good enough to give him soft repose.

Nor was he happy only in this behaviour: he was also proud to reflect that,
 while he was surrounded with good cheer, he saw the barbarian constrained to
 draw from the ends of the world the material for his enjoyment, if he would
 live without discomfort.

And it cheered his heart to know that he could accommodate himself to the
 divine ordering of the world, whereas he saw his rival shunning heat and
 shunning cold through weakness of character, imitating the life, not of
 brave men, but of the weakest of the brutes.

Surely, too, he did what was seemly and
 dignified when he adorned his own estate with works and possessions worthy
 of a man, keeping many hounds and war horses, but persuaded his sister
 Cynisca to breed chariot horses, and showed by her victory that such a stud
 marks the owner as a person of wealth, but not necessarily of merit.

How clearly his true nobility comes out in his opinion that a victory in the
 chariot race over private citizens would add not a whit to his renown; but
 if he held the first place in the affection of the people, gained the most
 friends and best all over the world, outstripped all others in serving his
 fatherland and his comrades and in punishing his adversaries, then he would
 be victor in the noblest and most splendid contests, and would gain high
 renown both in life and after death.

Such, then, are the qualities for which I
 praise Agesilaus. These are the marks that distinguish him, say, from the
 man who, lighting on a treasure, becomes wealthier but not wiser in
 business, or from the man who wins victory through an outbreak of sickness
 among the enemy, and adds to his success but not to his knowledge of
 strategy. The man who is foremost in endurance when the hour comes for toil,
 in valour when the contest calls for courage, in wisdom when the need is for
 counsel — he is the man, I think, who may fairly be regarded as the perfect
 embodiment of goodness.

If line and rule are a noble discovery of man as aids to the production of
 good work, I think that the virtue of Agesilaus may well stand as a noble
 example for those to follow who wish to make moral goodness a habit. For who
 that imitates a pious, a just, a sober, a self-controlled man, can come to
 be unrighteous, unjust, violent, wanton? In point of fact, Agesilaus prided
 himself less on reigning over others than on ruling himself, less on leading
 the people against their enemies than on guiding them to all virtue.

However, let it not be thought, because one
 whose life is ended is the theme of my praise, that these words are
 meant for a funeral dirge. They are far more truly the language
 of eulogy. In the first place the words now applied to him are the very
 same that he heard in his lifetime. And, in the second place, what theme
 is less appropriate to a dirge than a life of fame and a death
 well-timed? What more worthy of eulogies than victories most glorious
 and deeds of sovereign worth?

Justly may the man be counted blessed who was in love with glory from early
 youth and won more of it than any man of his age; who, being by nature very
 covetous of honour, never once knew defeat from the day that he became a
 king; who, after living to the utmost limit of human life, died without one
 blunder to his account, either concerning the men whom he led or in dealing
 with those on whom he made war.

I propose to go through the story of his
 virtue again, and to summarize it, in order that the praise of it may be
 more easily remembered.
 Agesilaus reverenced holy places even when
 they belonged to an enemy, thinking that he ought to make allies of the gods
 no less in hostile than in friendly countries.
 To suppliants of the gods, even if his foes,
 he did no violence, believing it unreasonable to call robbers of temples
 sacrilegious and yet to consider those who dragged suppliants from altars
 pious men.

My hero never failed to dwell on his opinion
 that the gods have pleasure in righteous deeds no less than in holy
 temples.
 In the hour of success he was not puffed up
 with pride, but gave thanks to the gods. He offered more sacrifices when
 confident than prayers when in doubt.
 He was wont to look cheerful when in fear, and
 to be humble when successful.

Of his friends he welcomed most heartily not
 the most powerful, but the most devoted.
 He hated not the man who defended himself when
 injured, but such as showed no gratitude for a favour.
 He rejoiced to see the avaricious poor and to
 enrich the upright, desiring to render right more profitable than wrong.

It was his habit to associate with all sorts
 and conditions of men, but to be intimate with the good.
 Whenever he heard men praise or blame others,
 he thought that he gained as much insight into the character of the critics
 as of the persons they criticized.
 If friends proved deceivers he forebore to
 blame their victims, but he heaped reproaches on those who let an enemy
 deceive them; and he pronounced deception clever or wicked according as it
 was practised on the suspicious or the confiding.

The praise of those who were prepared to
 censure faults they disapproved was pleasing to him, and he never resented
 candour, but avoided dissimulation like a snare.
 Slanderers he hated more than thieves, deeming
 loss of friends graver than loss of money.

The mistakes of private persons he judged leniently, because few interests
 suffer by their incompetence; but the errors of rulers he treated as
 serious, since they lead to many troubles.
 Kingship, he held, demands not indolence, but
 manly virtue.

He would not allow a statue of himself to be
 set up, though many wanted to give him one, but on memorials of his mind
 he laboured unceasingly, thinking the one to be the sculptor’s work, the
 other his own, the one appropriate to the rich, the other to the good.

In the use of money he was not only just but
 generous, thinking that a just man may be content to leave other men’s
 money alone, but the generous man is required also to spend his own in
 the service of others. He was ever
 god-fearing, believing that they who are living life well are not yet
 happy, but only they who have died gloriously are blessed.

He held it a greater calamity to neglect that
 which is good knowingly than in ignorance.
 No fame attracted him unless he did the right
 work to achieve it.
 He seemed to me one of the few men who count
 virtue not a task to be endured but a comfort to be enjoyed. At any rate
 praise gave him more pleasure than money.
 Courage, as he displayed it, was joined with
 prudence rather than boldness, and wisdom he cultivated more by action than
 in words.

Very gentle with friends, he was very
 formidable to enemies; and while he resisted fatigue obstinately, he yielded
 most readily to a comrade, though fair deeds appealed more to his heart than
 fair faces.
 To moderation in times of prosperity he added
 confidence in the midst of danger.

His urbanity found its habitual expression not
 in jokes but in his manner; and when on his dignity, he was never arrogant,
 but always reasonable; at least, if he showed his contempt for the haughty,
 he was humbler than the average man. For he prided himself on the simplicity
 of his own dress and the splendid equipment of his army, on a strict
 limitation of his own needs and a boundless generosity to his friends.

Added to this, he was the bitterest of adversaries, but the mildest of
 conquerors; wary with enemies, but very compliant to friends.
 While ever ensuring security to his own side,
 he ever made it his business to bring to nought the designs of his enemy.

By his relatives he was described as devoted
 to his family, by his intimates as an unfailing friend, by those who served him as unforgetful, by the
 oppressed as a champion, by his comrades in danger as a saviour second to
 the gods. 
 In one respect, I think, he was unique.

He proved that, though the bodily strength decays, the vigour of good men’s
 souls is ageless. At any rate, he never wearied in the pursuit of great
 and noble glory so long as his body could support the vigour of his
 soul.

What man’s youth, then, did not seem weaker than his old age? For who in his
 prime was so formidable to his foes as Agesilaus at the very limit of
 human life? Whose removal brought such welcome relief to the enemy as
 the death of Agesilaus, despite his years? Who gave such confidence to
 allies as Agesilaus, though now on the threshold of death? What young
 man was more regretted by his friends than Agesilaus, though he died
 full of years?

So complete was the record of his service to his fatherland that it did not
 end even when he died: he was still a bountiful benefactor of the state when
 he was brought home to be laid in his eternal resting-place, and, having
 raised up monuments of his virtue throughout the world, was buried with
 royal ceremony in his own land.