agesilaus.pdf

Agesilaus

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Xenophon

Translated by H. G. Dakyns

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Xenophon the Athenian was born 431 B.C. He was a pupil of

Socrates. He marched with the Spartans, and was exiled from

Athens. Sparta gave him land and property in Scillus, where he

lived for many years before having to move once more, to settle in

Corinth. He died in 354 B.C.

The Agesilaus summarises the life of his Spartan friend and king,

whom he met after the events of the Anabasis.

Text in brackets "{}" is my transliteration of Greek text

into English using an Oxford English Dictionary alphabet table.

The diacritical marks have been lost.

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.

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