Plutarch's Lives, Volume 3 (of 4)

by Plutarch

XXIV. This at once gave rise to a suspicion that Phœbidas was merely an agent, and that the whole plot originated with Agesilaus himself, and subsequent events confirmed this view; for as soon as the Thebans drove out the garrison and set free their city, Agesilaus made war upon them to avenge the murder of Archias and Leontidas, who had been nominally polemarchs, but in reality despots of Thebes. At this period Agesipolis was dead, and his successor Kleombrotus was despatched into Bœotia with an army; for Agesilaus excused himself from serving in that campaign on the ground of age, as it was forty years since he had first borne arms, and he was consequently exempt by law. The real reason was that he was ashamed, having so lately been engaged in a war to restore the exiled popular party at Phlius, to be seen now attacking the Thebans in the cause of despotism.

There was a Lacedæmonium named Sphodrias, one of the faction opposed to Agesilaus, who was established as Spartan governor of the town of Thespiæ, a daring and ambitious man, but hot-headed, and prone to act without due calculation. This man, who longed to achieve distinction, and who perceived that Phœbidas had made a name throughout Greece by his exploit at Thebes, persuaded himself that it would be a much more glorious deed if he were to make himself master of the Peiræus, and so by a sudden attack cut off the Athenians from the sea. It is said that this attempt originated with the Bœotarchs, Pelopidas and Mellon, who sent emissaries to Sphodrias to praise and flatter him, and point out that he alone was capable of conducting so bold an adventure. By this language, and an affectation of sympathy with Lacedæmon, these men at length prevailed on him to attempt a most unrighteous deed, and one which required considerable boldness and good fortune to ensure its success. Daylight, however, overtook Sphodrias before he had crossed the Thriasian plain, near Eleusis. All hope of surprising Peiræus by a night attack was now gone, and it is said, also, that the soldiers were alarmed and terror-stricken by certain lights which gleamed from the temples at Eleusis. Sphodrias himself, now that his enterprise had so manifestly failed, lost heart, and after hurriedly seizing some unimportant plunder, led his men back to Thespiæ. Upon this an embassy was sent from Athens to Sparta to complain of the acts of Sphodrias; but on the arrival of the ambassadors at Sparta they found that the government there were in no need of encouragement from without to proceed against Sphodrias, for they had already summoned him home to be tried for his life. Sphodrias durst not venture to return to Sparta, for he saw that his fellow-countrymen were angry with him and ashamed of his conduct towards the Athenians, and that they wished rather to be thought fellow-sufferers by his crime than accomplices in it.

XXV. Sphodrias had a son, named Kleonymus, who was still quite a youth, and who was beloved by Archidamus, the son of Agesilaus. He now assisted this youth, who was pleading his father's cause as best he might, but he could not do so openly, because Sphodrias belonged to the party which was opposed to Agesilaus. When, however, Kleonymus came to him, and besought him with tears and piteous entreaties to appease Agesilaus, because the party of Sphodrias dreaded him more than any one else, the young man, after two or three days' hesitation, at length, as the day fixed for the trial approached, mustered up courage to speak to his father on the subject, telling him that Kleonymus had begged him to intercede for his father.

Agesilaus was well aware of his son's intimacy with Kleonymus, which he had never discouraged; for Kleonymus promised to become as distinguished a man as any in Sparta. He did not on this occasion, however, hold out to his son any hopes of a satisfactory termination of the affair, but said that he would consider what would be the most fitting and honourable course to pursue. After this reply, Archidamus had not the heart to meet Kleonymus, although he had before been accustomed to see him several times daily. This conduct of his plunged the friends of Sphodrias into yet deeper despair of his cause, until Etymokles, one of the friends of Agesilaus, in a conference with them, explained that what Agesilaus really thought about the matter was, that the action itself deserved the greatest censure; but yet that Sphodrias was a brave energetic man, whom Sparta could not afford to lose.

Agesilaus used this language out of a desire to gratify his son, and from it Kleonymus soon perceived that Archidamus had been true to him in using his interest with his father; while the friends of Sphodrias became much more forward in his defence. Indeed Agesilaus was remarkably fond of children, and an anecdote is related of him, that when his children were very little he was fond of playing with them, and would bestride a reed as if it were a horse for their amusement. When one of his friends found him at this sport, he bade him mention it to no one before he himself became the father of a family.

XXVI. Sphodrias was acquitted by the court; and the Athenians, as soon as they learned this, prepared for war. Agesilaus was now greatly blamed, and was charged with having obstructed the course of justice, and having made Sparta responsible for an outrage upon a friendly Greek state, merely in order to gratify the childish caprice of his son. As he perceived that Kleombrotus was unwilling to attack the Thebans, he himself invaded Bœotia, disregarding the law under which on a former occasion he had pleaded exemption from military service on account of his age. Here he fought the Thebans with varying success; for once, when he was being borne out of action wounded, Antalkidas observed to him, "A fine return you are getting from the Thebans for having taught them how to fight against their will." Indeed, the military power of the Thebans at that time was at its height, having as it were been exercised and practised by the many campaigns undertaken against them by the Lacedæmonians. This was why Lykurgus of old, in his three celebrated rhetras, forbade the Lacedæmonians to fight often with the same people, lest by constant practice they should teach them how to fight. Agesilaus was also disliked by the allies of the Lacedæmonians, because of his hatred of Thebes and his desire to destroy that state, not on any public grounds, but merely on account of his own bitter personal dislike to the Thebans. The allies complained grievously that they, who composed the greater part of the Lacedæmonium force, should every year be led hither and thither, and exposed to great risks and dangers, merely to satisfy one man's personal pique. Hereupon we are told that Agesilaus, desiring to prove that this argument about their composing so large a part of the army was not founded on fact, made use of the following device:—He ordered all the allies to sit down in one body, and made the Lacedæmonians sit down separately. Next he gave orders, first that all the potters should stand up; and when they had risen, he ordered the smiths, carpenters, masons, and all the other tradesmen successively to do so. When then nearly all the allies had risen to their feet, the Spartans all remained seated, for they were forbidden to learn or to practise any mechanical art. At this Agesilaus smiled, and said, "You see, my men, how many more soldiers we send out than you do."

XXVII. On his return from his campaign against the Thebans, Agesilaus, while passing through Megara, was seized with violent pain in his sound leg, just as he was entering the town-hall in the Acropolis of that city. After this it became greatly swelled and full of blood, and seemed to be dangerously inflamed. A Syracusan physician opened a vein near the ankle, which relieved the pain, but the flow of blood was excessive, and could not be checked, so that he fainted away from weakness, and was in a very dangerous condition. At length the bleeding stopped, and he was conveyed home to Lacedæmon, but he remained ill, and unable to serve in the wars for a long time.

During his illness many disasters befel the Spartans both by land and by sea. Of these, the most important was the defeat at Tegyra, where for the first time they wore beaten in a fair fight by the Thebans. The Lacedæmonians were now eager to make peace with all the Greek cities, and ambassadors from all parts of Greece met at Sparta to arrange terms. Among them was Epameinondas, a man who was renowned for his culture and learning, but who had not hitherto given any proof of his great military genius. This man, perceiving that all the other ambassadors were sedulously paying their court to Agesilaus, assumed an independent attitude, and in a speech delivered before the congress declared that nothing kept the war alive except the unjust pretensions of Sparta, who gained strength from the sufferings of the other states, and that no peace could be durable unless such pretensions were laid aside, and Sparta reduced to the equality with the rest of the cities of Greece.

XXVIII. Agesilaus, observing that all the representatives of the Greek states were filled with admiration at this language, and manifested strong sympathy with the speaker, enquired whether he thought it right and just that the cities of Bœotia[188] should be left independent.

Epameinondas quickly and boldly enquired in answer, whether he thought it right to leave each of the towns in Laconia independent. At this Agesilaus leaped to his feet in a rage, and asked him to state clearly whether he meant to leave Bœotia independent. As Epameinondas in reply merely repeated his question, as to whether Agesilaus meant to leave Laconia independent, Agesilaus became furious, eagerly seized the opportunity to strike the name of Thebes out of the roll of cities with whom peace was being made, and declared war against it. He ratified a treaty of peace with the other Greek cities, and bade their representatives begone, with the remark, that such of their disputes as admitted of settlement must be arranged by peaceful negotiation, and such as could not must be decided by war; but that it was too much trouble for him to act as arbitrator between them in their manifold quarrels and disagreements.