Plutarch's Lives, Volume 3 (of 4)

by Plutarch

Kleombrotus, the other Spartan king, was at this time in the Phokian territory at the head of an army. The Ephors now at once sent orders to him to cross the Theban frontier, while they assembled a force from all the allied cities, who were most reluctant to serve, and objected strongly to the war, yet dared not express their discontent or disobey the Lacedæmonians. Many sinister omens were observed, which we have spoken of in the life of Epameinondas, and Prothous the Laconian openly opposed the whole campaign; yet Agesilaus would not desist, but urged on the war against Thebes, imagining that now, when all the other states were standing aloof, and Thebes was entirely isolated, he had a more favourable opportunity than might ever occur again for destroying that city. The dates of this war seem to prove that it was begun more out of ill-temper than as a consequent of any definite plan; for the peace was ratified in Lacedæmon with the other cities on the fourteenth of the month Skirophorion; and on the fifth of the next month, Hekatombæon, only twenty days afterwards, the Spartans were defeated at Leuktra. A thousand Lacedæmonians perished, among them Kleombrotus the king, and with him the flower of the best families in Sparta. There fell also the handsome son of Sphodrias, Kleonymus, who fought before the king, and was thrice struck to the ground and rose again before he was slain by the Thebans.

XXIX. In spite of the unparalleled disaster which had befallen the Lacedæmonians, for the Theban victory was the most complete ever won by one Greek state over another, the courage of the vanquished is nevertheless as much to be admired as that of the victors. Xenophon remarks that the conversation of good and brave men, even when jesting or sitting at table, is always worth remembering, and it is much more valuable to observe how nobly all really brave and worthy men bear themselves when in sorrow and misfortune. When the news of the defeat at Leuktra arrived at Sparta, the city was celebrating the festival of the Gymnopædia, and the chorus of grown men was going through its usual solemnity in the theatre. The Ephors, although the news clearly proved that all was lost and the state utterly ruined, yet would not permit the chorus to abridge its performance, and forbade the city to throw off its festal appearance. They privately communicated the names of the slain to their relatives, but they themselves calmly continued to preside over the contest of the choruses in the theatre, and brought the festival to a close as though nothing unusual had occurred. Next morning, when all men knew who had fallen and who had survived, one might see those whose relations had been slain, walking about in public with bright and cheerful countenances: but of those whose relatives survived, scarce one showed himself in public, but they sat at home with the women, as if mourning for the dead; or if any one of them was forced to come forth, he looked mournful and humbled, and walked with cast-down eyes. Yet more admirable was the conduct of the women, for one might see mothers receiving their sons who had survived the battle with silence and sorrow, while those whose children had fallen proceeded to the temples to return thanks to the gods, and walked about the city with a proud and cheerful demeanour.

XXX. Yet, when their allies deserted them, and when the victorious Epameinondas, excited by his success, was expected to invade Peloponnesus, many Spartans remembered the oracle about the lameness of Agesilaus, and were greatly disheartened and cast down, fearing that they had incurred the anger of Heaven, and that the misfortunes of the city were due to their own conduct in having excluded the sound man from the throne, and chosen the lame one; the very thing which the oracle had bidden them beware of doing. Nevertheless, Agesilaus was so powerful in the state, and so renowned for wisdom and courage, that they gladly made use of him as their leader in the war, and also employed him to settle a certain constitutional difficulty which arose about the political rights of the survivors of the battle. They were unwilling to disfranchise all these men, who were so numerous and powerful, because they feared that if so they would raise a revolution in the city. For the usual rule at Sparta about those who survive a defeat is, that they are incapable of holding any office in the state; nor will any one give them his daughter in marriage; but all who meet them strike them, and treat them with contempt. They hang about the city in a squalid and degraded condition, wearing a cloak patched with pieces of a different colour, and they shave one half of their beards, and let the other half grow. Now, at the present crisis it was thought that to reduce so many citizens to this condition, especially when the state sorely required soldiers, would be an absurd proceeding; and consequently, Agesilaus was appointed lawgiver, to decide upon what was to be done. He neither altered the laws, nor proposed any new ones, but laid down his office of lawgiver at once, with the remark, that the laws must be allowed to sleep for that one day, and afterwards resume their force. By this means he both preserved the laws, retained the services of the citizens for the state, and saved them from infamy. With the intention of cheering up the young men, and enabling them to shake off their excessive despondency, he led an army into Arcadia. He was careful to avoid a battle, but captured a small fort belonging to the people of Mantinea, and overran their territory; thus greatly raising the spirits of the Spartans, who began to pluck up courage, and regard their city as not altogether ruined.

XXXI. After this, Epameinondas invaded Laconia with the army of the Thebans and their allies, amounting in all to no less than forty thousand heavy-armed soldiers. Many light troops and marauders accompanied this body, so that the whole force which entered Laconia amounted in all to seventy thousand men. This took place not less than six hundred years after the Dorians had settled in Lacedæmon; and through all that time these were the first enemies which the country had seen; for no one before this had dared to invade it. Now, however, the Thebans ravaged the whole district with fire and sword, and no one came out to resist them, for Agesilaus would not allow the Lacedæmonians to fight against what Theopompus calls 'such a heady torrent of war,' but contented himself with guarding the most important parts of the city itself, disregarding the boastful threats of the Thebans, who called upon him by name to come out and fight for his country, since he was the cause of all its misfortunes, because he had begun the war.

Agesilaus was also distracted by the disorderly and excited state of the city itself, for the old men were in an agony of grief, resentment, and wounded honour, while the women could not be kept quiet, but were wrought to frenzy, by hearing the cries of the enemy, and seeing the fires which they lighted. He also suffered much at the thought of his own dishonour; for when he had ascended the throne, Sparta was the greatest and most powerful city in Greece, and now he beheld her shorn of all her glories, and his favourite boast, that no Laconian woman had ever seen the smoke of an enemy's fire rendered signally untrue. We are told that when some Athenian was disputing with Antalkidas about the bravery of their respective nations, and saying, "We have often chased you away from the Kephissus," Antalkidas answered, "Yes, but we have never had to chase you away from the Eurotas." This is like the answer made by some Spartan of less distinction to an Argive, who said, "Many of you Spartans lie buried in Argive soil," to which he replied, "But none of you are buried in Laconia."

XXXII. We are told at this time Antalkidas was one of the Ephors, and became so much alarmed that he sent his family away to the island of Kythera. Agesilaus, when the enemy attempted to cross the river and force their way into the city, abandoned most part of it, and drew up his forces on the high hills in the centre. At that time the river Eurotas was in high flood, as much snow had fallen, and the excessive cold of the water, as well as the strength of the stream, rendered it hard for the Thebans to cross. Epameinondas marched first, in the front rank of the phalanx; and some of those who were present pointed him out to Agesilaus, who is said to have gazed long at him, saying merely, "O thou man of great deeds."

Epameinondas was eager to assault the city itself, and to place a trophy of victory in its streets; but as he could not draw Agesilaus into a battle, he drew off his forces, and again laid waste the country. Meanwhile, in Lacedæmon itself, a body of two hundred men, of doubtful fidelity, seized the Issorium, where the temple of Artemis stands, which is a strong and easily defensible post. The Lacedæmonians at once wished to attack them, but Agesilaus, fearing that some deep-laid conspiracy might break out, ordered them to remain quiet. He himself, dressed simply in his cloak, unarmed, and attended only by one slave, went up to the two hundred, and, in a loud voice, told them that they had mistaken their orders; that they had not been ordered to go thither, nor yet to go all together in a body, but that some were to be posted there, pointing to some other place, and the rest elsewhere in the city. They, hearing his commands, were delighted, imagining that their treason was undiscovered, and immediately marched to the places which he indicated. Agesilaus at once occupied the Issorium with troops which he could trust, and in the ensuing night seized and put to death fifteen of the leaders of the two hundred. Another more important conspiracy was betrayed to him, whose members, full Spartan citizens, were met together in one house to arrange revolutionary schemes. At such a crisis it was equally impossible to bring these men to a regular trial, and to allow them to carry on their intrigues. Agesilaus therefore, after taking the Ephors into his confidence, put them all to death untried, though before that time no Spartan had ever been executed without a trial.

As many of the Periœki and helots who had been entrusted with arms escaped out of the city and deserted to the enemy, which greatly disheartened the Spartans, he ordered his servants to visit the quarters of these soldiers at daybreak every morning, and wherever any one was gone, to hide his arms, so that the number of deserters might not be known.

We are told by some historians that the Thebans left Laconia because the weather became stormy, and their Arcadian allies began to melt away from them. Others say that they spent three entire months in the country, and laid nearly all of it waste. Theopompus relates that when the Bœotarchs had decided to leave the country, Phrixus, a Spartan, came from Agesilaus and offered them ten talents to be gone, thus paying them for doing what they had long before determined to do of their own accord.

XXXIII. I cannot tell, however, how it was that Theopompus discovered this fact, and that no other historian mentions it. All writers agree, nevertheless, in declaring that at this crisis Sparta was saved by Agesilaus, who proved himself superior to party-spirit and desire of personal distinction, and steadily refused to risk an engagement. Yet he never was able to restore the city to the glorious and powerful condition which it had previously held, for Sparta, like an athlete who has been carefully trained throughout his life, suddenly broke down, and never recovered her former strength and prosperity. It is very natural that this should have happened, for the Spartan constitution was an excellent one for promoting courage, good order, and peace within the city itself; but when Sparta became the head of a great empire to be maintained by the sword, which Lykurgus would have thought a totally useless appendage to a well-governed and prosperous city, it utterly failed.