him for commanding and the sovereignty, had united by his education the advantage of being humane and popular.

It is surprising that Sparta, a city so renowned in point of education and policy, should conceive it proper to abate any thing of its severity and discipline in favour of the princes who were to reign; they having most need of being early habituated to the yoke of obedience, in order to their being the better qualified to command.

* Plutarch observes, that from his infancy, Agesilaus was remarkable for uniting qualities in himself which are generally incompatible; a vivacity of spirit, a vehemence, an invincible resolution in appearance, an ardent passion for being first and surpassing all others, with a gentleness, submission, and docility, that complied at a single word, and made him infinitely sensible of the slightest reprimand, so that every thing might be obtained of him from the motives of honour, but nothing by fear or violence.

He was lame; but that defect was covered by the gracefulness of his person, and still more by the gaiety with which he supported and rallied it first himself. It may even be said that the infirmity of his body set his valour and passion for glory in a stronger light; there being no labour nor enterprise however difficult, that he would refuse upon account of that inconvenience.

+ Praise, without an air of truth and sincerity, was so far from giving him pleasure, that it offended him, and was never received by him as such, but when it came from the mouths of those who upon other occasions had represented his failings to him with freedom. He would never suffer during his life that his picture should be drawn, and even in dying, expressly forbade any image to be made of him, either in colours or relievo. His reason was, that his great actions, if he had done any, would supply the place of monuments, without which all the statues in the world would do him no manner of honour. We only know that he was of small stature, which the Spartans did not affect in their kings; and Theophrastus affirms that the Ephori laid a fine upon their king Archidamus, the father of him we speak of, for having espoused a very little woman: For," said they, "she will give us puppets instead of kings."

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It has been remarked that Agesilaus, in his way of living with the Spartans, behaved better with regard to his enemies than his friends; for he never did the least wrong to the former, and often violated justice in favour of the latter. He would have been ashamed not to have honoured and rewarded his enemies, when their actions deserved it; and was not able to reprove his friends, when they committed faults. He would even support them when they were in the wrong, and upon such occasions looked upon the zeal for justice as a vain pretence to cover the refusal of serving them. And in proof of this, a short letter is cited, written by him to a judge in recommendation of a friend; the words are: "If Nicias be not guilty, acquit him for his innocence; if he be, acquit him for my "sake; but, however it be, aequit him.”

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It is understanding the rights and privileges of friendship very ill, to be capable of rendering it in this manner the accomplice of crimes, and the protectress of bad actions. It is the fundamental law of friendship, says

*In Agesil. p. 596.

Ibid. 191.

Plut. in Agesil. p. 598.

† Plut. in moral. p. 55.

Ibid. p. 603.

Cicero,* never to ask of, or grant any thing to friends, that does not consist with justice and honour: Hæc prima lex in amicitia sanciatur, ut neque rogemus res turpes, nec faciamus rogati.

Agesilaus was not so delicate in this point, at least in the beginning, and omitted no occasion of gratifying his friends, and even his enemies. By this officious and obliging conduct, supported by his extraordinary merit, he acquired great credit, and almost absolute power in the city, which ran so high as to render him suspected by his country. The Ephori, to prevent its effects, and give a check to his ambition, laid a fine upon him; alledging as their sole reason,† that he attached the hearts of the citizens to himself alone, which were the right of the republic, and ought not to be possessed but in common.

When he was declared king, he was put into possession of the whole estate of his brother Agis, of which Leotychides was deprived as a bastard. But seeing the relations of that prince, on the side of his mother Lampito, were all very poor, he divided the whole inheritance with them, and by that act of generosity acquired great reputation, and the good will of all the world, instead of the envy and hatred he might have drawn upon himself by the inheritance. These kinds of sacrifices are glorious, though rare, and can never be sufficiently esteemed.

Never was a king of Sparta so powerful as Agesilaus, and it was only, as Xenophon says, by obeying his country in every thing, that he acquired so great an authority; which seems a kind of paradox, thus explained by Plutarch. The greatest power was vested at that time in the Ephori and senate. The office of the Ephori subsisted only one year; they were instituted to limit the too great power of the kings, and to serve as a barrier against it, as we have observed elsewhere. For this reason the kings of Sparta, from their establishment, had always retained a kind of hereditary aversion for them, and continually opposed their measures. Agesilaus took a quite contrary method. Instead of being perpetually at war with them, and clashing upon all occasions with their measures, he made it his business to cultivate their good opinion, treated them always with the utmost deference and regard, never entered upon the least enterprise, without having first communicated it to them, and upon their summons quitted every thing, and repaired to the senate with the utmost promptitude and resignation. Whenever he sat upon his throne to administer justice, if the Ephori entered, he never failed to rise up to do them honBy all these instances of respect, he seemed to add new dignity to their office, whilst in reality he augmented his own power, without its being observed, and added to the sovereignty a grandeur the more solid and permanent, as it was the effect of the people's good will and esteem for him. The greatest of the Roman Emperors, as Augustus, Trajan, and Marcus Antoninus, were convinced that the utmost a prince could do to honour and exalt the principal magistrates, was only adding to his own power, and strengthening his authority, which neither should, nor can be founded in any thing but justice.

our.

Such was Agesilaus, of whom much will be said hereafter, and with whose character it was therefore necessary to begin.

*De amicit. n. 40.

† Οτι τους κοινούς πολτας, ίδιους κταται.

SECTION II.

AGESILAUS GOES TO ASIA.-LYSANDER FALLS OUT WITH HIM. AGESILAUS had scarce ascended the throne,* when accounts came from Asia, that the king of Persia was fitting out a great fleet with intent to deprive the Lacedæmonians of their empire at sea. Conon's letters, seconded by the remonstrances of Pharnabasus, who had in concert represented to Artaxerxes the power of Sparta as formidable, had made a strong impression upon that prince. From that time he had it seriously in his thoughts to humble that proud republic, by raising up its rival, and by that means re-establishing the ancient balance between them, which could alone assure his safety, by keeping them perpetually employed against each other, and thereby prevented from uniting their forces against him.

Lysander, who desired to be sent into Asia, in order to re establish his creatures and friends in the government of the cities, from which Sparta had removed them, strongly disposed Agesilaus to take upon himself the charge of the war, and to prevent the barbarian king, by attacking him remote from Greece, before he should have finished his preparations. The republic having made this proposal to him, he could not refuse it, and charged himself with the expedition against Artaxerxes, upon condition that 30 Spartan captains should be granted him, to assist him and compose his counsel, with 2000 new citizens to be chosen out of the helots who had been lately made freemen, and 6000 troops of the allies, which was immediately resolved. Lysander was placed at the head of the thirty Spartans, not only upon account of his great reputation, and the authority he had acquired, but for the particular friendship between him and Agesilaus, who was indebted to him for the throne, as well as the honour which had been lately conferred upon him of being elected generalissimo.

The glorious return of the Greeks who had followed Cyrus, and whom the whole power of Persia was not able to prevent from retreating into their own country, had inspired all Greece with a wonderful confidence in their forces, and a supreme contempt for the barbarians. In this disposition of the people, the Lacedæmonians conceived it would reproach them, to neglect so favourable a conjuncture for delivering the Greeks in Asia from their subjection to those barbarians, and for putting an end to the outrages and violences with which they were continually oppressing them. They had already attempted this by their generals Thimbron and Dercyllidas; but all their endeavours having hitherto proved ineffectual, they referred the conduct of this war to the care of Agesilaus. He promised them either to conclude a glorious peace with the Persians, or to employ them so effectually, as should leave them neither leisure nor inclination to carry the war into Greece. The king had great views, and thought of nothing less than attacking Artaxerxes in Persia itself.

When he arrived at Ephesus, Tissaphernes sent to demand what reason had induced his coming into Asia, and why he had taken up arms. He replied, that he came to aid the Greeks who inhabited there, and to re-establish them in their ancient liberty. The satrap, who was not yet prepared, preferred art to force, and assured him that his master would give the Grecian cities of Asia their liberty, provided he committed no acts of hostility

*A. M. 3608. Ant. J. C. 396. Xenoph. Hist. Græc. 1. iii. p. 495, 496. Ibid. de Agesil. p. 652. Plut. in Agesil. p. 598. In Lysand. p. 446.

+ Xenoph. 1. iii. p. 496. et 652.

till the return of the couriers. Agesilaus agreed, and the truce was sworn on both sides. Tissaphernes, who laid no great stress upon an oath, took the advantage of this delay to assemble troops on all sides. The Lacedæmonian general was apprized of it, but however kept his word; being convinced, that in affairs of state, the breach of faith can have but a very short and precarious success; whereas a reputation established upon inviolable fidelity in the observance of engagements, which the perfidy itself of other contracting parties has not power to alter, will establish a credit and confidence equally useful and glorious. In effect, Xenophon remarks that this religious observation of treaties gained him the universal esteem and opinion of the cities, whilst the different conduct of Tissaphernes entirely lost him their favour.

Agesilaus made use of this interval in acquiring an * exact knowledge of the state of the cities, and in making suitable regulations. He found great disorder every where, their government being neither democratical, as under the Athenians, nor aristocratical, as Lysander had established it. The people of the country had no communication with Agesilaus, nor had ever known him; for which reason they made no court to him, conceiving that he had the title of general for form's sake only, and that the whole power was really vested in Lysander. As no governour had ever done so much good to his friends, or hurt to his enemies, it is not wonderful that he was so much beloved by the one and feared by the other. All therefore were eager to pay their homage to him, were every day in crowds at his door, and made his train very numerous when he went abroad; whilst Agesilaus remained almost alone. Such a conduct could not fail of offending a general and king, extremely sensible and delicate in what regarded his authority; though otherwise not jealous of any one's merit, but, on the contrary, much inclined to distinguish it with his favour. He did not dissemble his disgust. He paid no regard to Lysander's recommendations, and ceased to employ him himself. Lysander presently perceived this alteration in regard to him. He discontinued his applications for his friends to the king, desired them not to visit him any more, nor attach themselves to him, but to address themselves directly to the king, and to cultivate the favour of those who in the present times had power to serve and advance their creatures. The greatest part of them gave over importuning him with their affairs, but did not cease to pay their court to him. On the contrary, they were only more assiduous than ever about his person, attended him in throngs when he took the air abroad, and regularly assisted at all his exercises. Lysander, naturally vain, and long accustomed to the homage and submission that attended absolute power, did not take sufficient care to remove the busy crowd from his person, that continually made their addresses to him with more application than ever.

This ridiculous affectation of authority and grandeur grew still more and more offensive to Agesilaus, and seemed as if intended to insult him. He resented it so highly, that, having given the most considerable commands and best governments to private officers, he appointed Lysander commissary of the stores, and distributor of provisions; and afterwards to insult; and deride the Ionians, he told them, "that they might now go and consult "this master butcher."

Lysander thought it then incumbent upon him to speak, and to come to an explanation with him. Their conversation was brief and laconic. "Cer

Plut. in Agesil. p. 599, 600. In Lysand. p. 446, 447.

"tainly, my lord," said Lysander, "you very well know how to depress "your friends."-"Yes, when they would set themselves above me; but "when they are studious of my dignity, I know also how to let them share "in it."-"But, perhaps, my lord," replied Lysander, "I have been injur"ed by false reports, and things I never did have been imputed to me. "I must beg, therefore, if it be only upon account of the strangers, who "have all of them their eyes upon us, that you would give me an employ"ment in your army, wherein you shall think me least capable of dis"pleasing, and most of serving you effectually."

The effect of this conversation was the lieutenancy of the Hellespont, which Agesilaus gave him. In this employment he retained all his resentment, without however neglecting any part of his duty, or of what conduced to the success of affairs. Some small time after, he returned to Sparta, without any marks of honour and distinction, extremely incensed against Agesilaus, and with the hope of making him perfectly sensible of it. It must be allowed, that Lysander's conduct, as we have here represented it, denotes a vanity and narrowness of mind on his side, much unworthy of his reputation. Perhaps Agesilaus carried too far his sensibility and delicacy in point of honour, and that he was a little too severe upon a friend and benefactor, whom secret animadversions, attended with openness of heart and expressions of kindness, might have reclaimed to his duty. But as shining as Lysander's merit, and as considerable as the services he had rendered Agesilaus might be, they could not all of them give him a right, not only to an equality with his king and general, but to the superiority he affected, which in some measure tended to making the other insignificant. He ought to have remembered, that it is never allowable for an inferior to forget himself, and so exceed the bounds of a just subordination. * Upon his return to Sparta, he had it seriously in his thoughts to execute a project which he had many years revolved in his mind. At Sparta there were only two families, or rather branches of the posterity of Hercules, who had a right to the throne. When Lysander had attained to that high degree of power which his great actions had acquired him, he began to see with pain a city whose glory had been so much augmented by his exploits, under the government of princes to whom he gave place neither in valour nor birth; for he was descended, as well as themselves, from Hercules. He therefore sought means to deprive those two houses of the sole succession to the crown, and to extend that right to all the other branches of the Heraclides, and even, according to some, to all the natives of Sparta; flattering himself, that if his design took effect, no Spartan could be capable of disputing that honour with him, and that he should have the preference to all others.

This ambitious project of Lysander shows that the greatest captains are often those from whom a republic has most to apprehend. Those haughty valiant spirits, accustomed to absolute power in armies, bring back with victory a daring loftiness of mind always to be dreaded in a free state. Sparta, in giving Lysander unlimited power, and leaving it for so many years in his hands, did not sufficiently consider, that nothing is more dangerous than to confide to persons of superior merit and abilities, employments of supreme authority, which naturally expose them to the temptation of rendering themselves independent, and absolute masters of power. Lysander was not proof against it, and practised secretly to open himself a way to the throne.

* Plut in Lysand. p. 447, 448. Diod. 1. xiv. p. 244, 245.