a king, nobody lamented the death of that satrap, who had no veneration for the gods, nor any regard for men; who looked upon probity and honour as empty names; who made a jest of the most sacred oaths, and believed that the whole ability and policy of a statesman consisted in knowing how to deceive others by hypocrisy, fraud, perfidy, and perjury. Tithraustes had a third writing from the king, whereby he was appointed to command the armies in the room of Tissaphernes. After having executed his commission, he sept great presents to Agesilaus, to induce him to enter more readily into his views and interest; and ordered him to be told that the cause of the war being removed, and the author of all differences put to death, nothing opposed an accommodation; that the king of Persia consented that the cities of Asia should enjoy their liberty, paying him the customary tribute, provided he would withdraw his troops, and return into Greece. Agesilaus replied that he would conclude nothing without the orders of Sparta, upon whom alone depended the peace; that as for him, he was better pleased with enriching his soldiers than himself; that the Greeks besides thought it more glorious and honourable to take spoils from their enemies, than to accept their presents. However, as he was not unwilling to satisfy Tithraustes by removing out of his province, and to express his gratitude to him for having punished the common enemy of the Greeks, he marched into Phrygia, which was the province of Pharnabasus. Tithraustes bad himself proposed that expedition to him, and paid him thirty talents for the charges of his journey.* Upon his march, he received a letter from the magistrates of Sparta, with orders to take upon him the command of the naval army, and power to depute whom he thought fit in his stead. By these new powers, he saw himself absolute commander of all the troops of that state in Asia, both by sea and land. This resolution was taken, in order that all operations being directed by one and the same head, and the two armies acting in concert, the plans for the service might be executed with more uniformity, and every thing conspire to the same end. Sparta till then had never done the honour to any of her generals, to confide to him at the same time the command of the armies by sea and land: so that all the world agreed, that he was the greatest personage of his time, and best sustained the high reputation he enjoyed. But he was a man and had his failings. The first thing he did, was to appoint Pisander his lieutenant in the fleet; in which he seemed to have committed a considerable fault; because, having about him many older and more experienced captains, without regard to the service of the public, to do honour to an ally, and to please his wife, who was the sister of Pisander, he intrusted him with the command of the fleet; that employment being much above his abilities, though he was not without merit. This is the common temptation of persons in power, who believe they possess it only for themselves and their families: as if the advantage of being related to them was a sufficient title and qualification for posts which require great abilities. They do not reflect, that they not only expose the affairs of a state to ruin by their private views, but sacrifice besides the interests of their own glory, which cannot be maintained but by successes which it would be vain to expect from instruments so ill chosen. Agesilaus continued with his army in Phrygia, upon the territories of Pharnabasus where he lived in the midst of plenty, and amassed great sums of money. From thence advancing as far as Paphlagonia, he made an alliance with king Cotis, who passionately desired his amity, from the opinion which he entertained of his faith in the observance of treaties, and his other virtues. The same motive had already induced Spithridates, one of the king's principal officers, to quit the service of Pharnabasus, and to go over to Agesilaus, to whom, since his revolt, he had rendered great service; for he had a great body of troops, and was very brave. This officer, having entered Phrygia, had laid Xenoph. Hist. Græc. I. iii, p. 501. Plut. in Agesil. P. 601. waste the whole country under Pharnabasus, who never dared to appear in the field against him, nor even to rely upon his fortresses: but carrying away whatever was most valuable and dear to him, he kept flying continually before him, and retired from one place to another, changing his camp every day. Spithridates at length taking with him some Spartan troops, with Herrippidas, the chief of the council of thirty sent by the republic to Agesilaus the second year, watched him one day so closely, and attacked him so successfully, that he made himself master of his camp, and of all the rich spoils with which it abounded. But Herippidas, injudiciously setting himself up as an inexorable comptroller, was for bringing the booty that had been sunk to an account; forced even the soldiers of Spithridates to restore what they had taken; and by visiting their tents, and searching them with an unreasonable exactitude and severity affronted Spithridates to such a degree, that he withdrew directly to Sardis with his Paphlagonians.* It is said, that in his whole expedition, nothing so sensibly affected Agesilaus as the retreat of Spithridates: for, besides his great regret for the loss of so good an officer, and such good troops, he apprehended being reproached with mean and sordid avarice: a vice equally dishonourable to himself and his country, and of which he had taken pains to avoid the slightest suspicion during his whole life. He did not think it consistent with the duty of his office to shut his eyes, through slothful ease and indolence, against all the malversations that were committed under him; but he knew at the same time, that there is an exactitude and severity, that by being carried too far, degenerates into minuteness and petulancy, and which, through an extreme affectation of virtue, becomes a real and dangerous vice. Some time after, Pharnabasus, who saw his country ravaged, demanded an interview with Agesilaus, which was negotiated by a common friend of them both. Agesilaus arrived first with his friends at the place agreed on, and sat down, in expectation of Pharnabasus, upon the turf under the shade of a tree. When Pharnabasus arrived, his people spread skins upon the ground of exceeding softness,from the length of their hair, with rich carpets of various colours, and magnificent cushions. But when he saw Agesilaus sitting simply upon the ground, without any preparation, he was ashamed of his effeminacy, and sat down also upon the grass. On this occasion the Persian pride was seen to pay homage to the Spartan modesty and simplicity.† After reciprocal salutation, Pharnabasus spoke to this effect: that he had served the Lacedæmonians in the Peloponnesian war to the utmost of his power, fought several battles for them, and supported their naval army, without giving any room to reproach him with fraud or treachery, as Tissaphernes had done: that he was surprised at their coming to attack him in his government; burning the towns, cutting down trees, and laying waste the whole country that if it were the custom of the Greeks, who made profession of honour and vir tue, to treat their friends and benefactors in such a manner, he did not know what they might mean by just and equitable. These complaints were not entirely without foundation, and were uttered with a modest but pathetic air and tone of voice. The Spartans, who attended Agesilaus, not seeing how they could be answered, cast down their eyes, and kept a profound silence. Agesilaus, who observed it, replied almost in these terms: "Lord Pharnabasus, you are not ignorant that war often arms the best friends against each other for the defence of their country. While we were such to the king your master, we treated him as a friend; but as we are become his enemies, we make open war against him, as it is just we should, and endeavour to injure him by what we do against you. However, from the instant you shall think fit to throw off the yoke of bondage, and prefer being called the friend and ally of the Greeks, before the name of the king of Persia's slave, you may reckon that all .P. A. M. 3610. Ant. J. C. 394. Xenoph. Hist. Græc. I. iv. 507-510, the troops you now behold, our arms, our ships, our persons, to the last man of us, are here only to defend your possessions, and secure your liberty, which, of all blessings, is the most precious and desirable." Pharnabasus answered, that if the king sent anc.her general in his place, and subjected him to his successor, he should very willingly accept his offer; that otherwise he would not depart from the fait, ne had sworn to him, nor quit his service. Agesilaus then taking him by the hand and rising with him, replied, "that it were the pleasure of the gods, Lord Pharnabasus, with such noble sentiments, that you were rather our friend than our enemy!" He promised to withdraw from his government, and never return into it while he could subsist elsewhere. SECTION IV.-AGESILAUS RECALLED BY THE EPHORI TO DEFEND HIS COUNTRY. AGESILAUS had been two years at the head of the ariny, and had already made the most remote provinces of Asia tremble at his name, and resound with the fame of his great wisdom, disinterestedness, moderation, intrepid valour in the greatest dangers, and invincible patience in supporting the greatest fatigues. Of the many thousand soldiers under his command, not one was worse provided, or lay harder than himself. He was so indifferent as to heat or cold, that he seemed formed only to support the most rigorous seasons, and such as it pleased God to send which are Plutarch's express words.* The most agreeable of all sights to the Greeks settled in Asia, was to see the lieutenants of the great king, his satraps and other great lords, who were formerly so haughty and untractable, relinquish their pride in the presence of a man meanly clad, and at his single word, however short and laconic, change their language and conduct, and in a manner transform themselves into different creatures. Deputies from all parts were sent by the people to form alliances with him, and his army increased every day by the troops of the barbarians that came to join him. All Asia was already in motion, and most of the provinces ready to revolt. Agesilaus had already restored order and tranquillity in all the cities, bad reinstated them in the possession of their liberty under reasonable modifications, not only without shedding of blood, but without even banishing a single person. Not content with such a progress, he had formed the design of attacking the king of Persia in the heart of his dominions, to put him in fear of his own person and the tranquillity which he enjoyed in Ecbatana and Susa, and to keep him so much employed, as to make it impracticable for him to embroil all Greece from his cabinet, by corrupting the orators and persons of the greatest authority in its cities with his presents. Tithraustes, who commanded for the king in Asia, seeing the tendency of the designs of Agesilaus, and desiring to prevent their effects, had sent Timocrates of Rhodes into Greece, with great sums of money, to corrupt the principal persons in the cities, and by their means occasion revolts against Sparta. He knew that the haughtiness of the Lacedæmonians, (for all their generals did not resemble Agesilaus, and the imperious manner in which they treated their neighbours and allies, especially since they considered themselves the masters of Greece,) had universally disgusted the people, and excited a jealousy that waited only an occasion to break out against them. This severity of governing had a natural cause in their education. Accustomed from their infancy to obey without delay or reply, first their tutors, afterwards their magistrates, they exacted a like submission from the cities in their dependence, were easily incensed by the least opposition, and by this excessive severity rendered themselves insupportable.t Tithraustes therefore did not find it difficult to draw off the allies from their party. Thebes, Argos, Corinth, entered into his measures: the deputy did not A. M. 3610. Ant. J. C. 394. Plut. in Agesil. p. 603, 604. Xenoph. in Agesil. p. 657, go to Athens. These three cities, influenced by those who governed them, made a league against the Lacedæmonians, who on their side prepared vigorously for the war. The Thebans at the same time sent deputies to the Athenians, to implore their aid, and that they would enter into the alliance. The deputies, after having slightly passed over their ancient divisions, insisted strongly upon the considerable service they had rendered Athens, in refusing to join its enemies, when they attempted its final destruction. They represented to them the favourable opportunity that offered for re-instating themselves in their ancient power, and to deprive the Lacedæmonians of the empire of Greece: that all the allies of Sparta, either in Greece or elsewhere, were weary of their severe and unjust sway, and waited only the signal to revolt: that the moment the Athenians should declare themselves, all the cities would rouse up in arms: and that the king of Persia, who had sworn the ruin of Sparta, would aid them with all his forces both by sea and land. Thrasybulus, whom the Thebans had supplied with arms and money when he undertook the re establishment of the Athenian liberty, seconded their demand with great vigour, and the aid was unanimously resolved. The Lacedæmonians on their side took the field without loss of time, and entered Phocis. Lysander wrote to Pausanias, who commanded one of the two armies, to give him notice to march early the next day to Haliartus, which he designed to besiege, and that he should be there himself at sun-rise. This letter was interceptel. Lysander, after having waited his coming up a great while, was obliged to engage, and was killed in the battle. Pausanius received this bad news on his way. He however continued his march to Haliartus, and called a council of war to deliberate on a second battle. He did not think it consistent with prudence to hazard it, and contented himself with making a truce, to remove the bodies of those who had fallen in the former fight. Upon his return to Sparta, he was cited to give an account of his conduct; and, refusing to appear, was condemned to die. But he avoided the execution of that sentence by flight, and retired to Tegeum, where he passed the remainder of his life under the shelter and protection of Minerva, to whom he had rendered himself a suppliant, and died of disease. Lysander's poverty having been discovered after his death, did great honour to his memory, when it was known, that of all the gold and riches that had passed through his hands, of a power so extensive as his had been, of so many cities under his government, and which made their court to him, in a word, of that kind of dominion and sovereignty always exercised by him, he had made no manner of advantage, for the advancement and enriching of his family. Some days before his death, two of the principal citizens of Sparta had contracted themselves to his two daughters; but when they knew in what condition he had left his affairs, they refused to marry them. The republic did not suffer so sordid a baseness to go unpunished, nor Lysander's poverty, which was the strongest proof of his justice and virtue, to be treated as an obstacle to an alliance into his family. They were fined in a great sum, publicly disgraced, and exposed to the contempt of all persons of honour. For at Sparta there were penalties established, not only for such as refused to marry, or married too late, but also for those who married amiss; and those especially were reckoned of this number, who, instead of marrying into houses of virtue, and with their own relations, had no motive but wealth and lucre in marriage. an admirable law, and highly tending to perpetuate probity and honour in families, which an impure mixture of blood and manners seldom fails to alter and efface. It must be owned, that a generous disinterestedness in the midst of all that could inflame and gratify the desire of gain, is very uncommon, and well worthy of admiration; but in Lysander, it was attended with great defects which entirely obscure its lustre. Without speaking of his imprudence in introducing gold and silver into Sparta, which he despised himself, though he rendered it estimable to his coatry, and thereby occasioned its ruin, what opinion can we have of a man, who though brave, well read in men, skilful in affairs, and f great ability in arts of government, and what is commonly called policy, yet regards probit, and justice as nothing; to whom falsehood, fraud and perfidy appear legal methods for the attainment of his ends; who does not fear, for the advancement of his friends, and the augmenting of his creatures, to commit the most flagrant injustice and oppressions, and is not ashamed to profane whatever is most sacred in religion, even to the corrupting of priests, and forging of oracles, to satiate the empty ambition of being equal to a king, and of ascending the throne. When Agesilaus was on the point of leading his troops into Persia, Epicydidas, the Spartan, arrived to let him know that Sparta was threatened with a furious war; that the ephori recalled him, and ordered him to return immedi ately for the defence of his country.* * Agesilaus did not deliberate a moment, but returned this answer immediately to the ephori, which Plutarch has transmitted to us. Agesilaus to the ephori, greeting. We have reduced part of Asia, put the barbarians to flight, and made great preparations for war in Ionia but as you order me to return, I am not far behind this letter, and should arrive before it if possible. I received not the command for myself, but my country and its allies. I know that a general does not deserve or possess that name really, but as he submits to the laws and the ephori, and obeys the magistrates."t This ready obedience of Agesilaus has been much admired and applauded, and not without reason. Hannibal, though depressed with misfortunes, and driven almost entirely out of Italy, obeyed his citizens with great reluctance, when they recalled him to deliver Carthage from the dangers that threatened it. Here a victorious prince, ready to enter the enemy's country, and to attack the king of Persia even upon his throne, almost assured of the success of his arms, on the first order of the ephori, renounces the most soothing hopes, and the most exalted expectations. He demonstrates the truth of what was said, "That at Sparta the laws ruled men, and not men the laws." On his departure he said, "that thirty thousand of the king's archers drove him out of Asia;" alluding to a species of Persian coin, which had on one side the figure of an archer, thirty thousand of which pieces of money had been dispersed in Greece to corrupt the orators and persons of greatest power in the cities. Agesilaus, in quitting Asia, where he was regretted as the common father of the people, appointed Euxenes his lieutenant, and gave him four thousand men for the defence of the country. Xenophon went with him. He left at Ephesus, with Megabyzus the guardian of Diana's temple, half the gold he had brought with him from his expedition into Persia with Cyrus, to keep it for him in trust, and in case of death, to consecrate it to the goddess. In the mean time the Lacedæmonians had raised an army, and given the command of it to Aristodemus, tutor to king Agesipolis, then an infant. Their enemies assembled to concert the operations of the war. Timolaus of Corinth said, that the Lacedemonians were like a river that grew larger as it was removed from its source: or a swarm of bees, which it is easy to destroy in their hive, but when suffered to disperse themselves they become formidable by their stings. He was therefore of opinion, that it was proper to attack them in their capital; which was approved and resolved. But the Lacedæmonians did not give them time. They took the field, and found the enemy near Ne mea, a city not very far from Corinth, where a severe battle ensued. The Lacedæmonians had the advantage, which was very considerable. Agesilaus having received this news at Amphipolis, as he was hastening to the relief of his country, sent it directly to the cities of Asia for their encouragement, and to give them hopes of his speedy return, if the success of affairs would admit it.§ * Xenoph. Hist. Græc. 1. iv. p. 513. Idem, in Agesil. p. 657. Plut. in Agesil. p. 603, 604. f Plut. in Apoph. Laconic. p. 211. Xenoph. Hist. Græc. I. iv, p. 513, Xenoph. de Exped, Cyr, l. v. p. 350. {Xenoph. p. 514-517 |