Plutarch: Lives of the noble Grecians and Romans
no need of private. Yet in his acts he was not constant to his
doctrine, but sometimes out of ambition, and sometimes out of
private pique, he let himself be carried away; and particularly in
this case of the Thebans, he not only saved Phoebidas, but
persuaded the Lacedaemonians to take the fault upon themselves, and
to retain the Cadmea, putting a garrison into it, and to put the
government of Thebes into the hands of Archias and Leontidas, who
had been betrayers of the castle to them.
This excited strong suspicion that what Phoebidas did was by
Agesilaus's order, which was corroborated by after occurrences.
For when the Thebans had expelled the garrison, and asserted their
liberty, he, accusing them of the murder of Archias and Leontidas,
who indeed were tyrants, though in name holding the office of
Polemarchs, made war upon them. He sent Cleombrotus on that
errand, who was now his fellow king, in the place of Agesipolis,
who was dead, excusing himself by reason of his age; for it was
forty years since he had first borne arms, and he was consequently
exempt by the law; meanwhile the true reason was, that he was
ashamed, having so lately fought against tyranny in behalf of the
Phliasians, to fight now in defense of a tyranny against the
Thebans.
One Sphodrias, of Lacedaemon, of the contrary faction to Agesilaus,
was governor in Thespiae, a bold and enterprising man, though he
had perhaps more of confidence than wisdom. This action of
Phoebidas fired him, and incited his ambition to attempt some great
enterprise, which might render him as famous as he perceived the
taking of the Cadmea had made Phoebidas. He thought the sudden
capture of the Piraeus, and the cutting off thereby the Athenians
from the sea, would be a matter of far more glory. It is said,
too, that Pelopidas and Melon, the chief captains of Boeotia, put
him upon it; that they privily sent men to him, pretending to be of
the Spartan faction, who, highly commending Sphodrias, filled him
with a great opinion of himself, protesting him to be the only man
in the world that was fit for so great an enterprise. Being thus
stimulated, he could hold no longer, but hurried into an attempt as
dishonorable and treacherous as that of the Cadmea, but executed
with less valor and less success; for the day broke whilst he was
yet in the Thriasian plain, whereas he designed the whole exploit
to have been done in the night. As soon as the soldiers perceived
the rays of light reflecting from the temples of Eleusis, upon the
first rising of the sun, it is said that their hearts failed them;
nay, he himself, when he saw that he could not have the benefit of
the night, had not courage enough to go on with his enterprise;
but, having pillaged the country, he returned with shame to
Thespiae. An embassy was upon this sent from Athens to Sparta, to
complain of the breach of peace; but the ambassadors found their
journey needless, Sphodrias being then under process by the
magistrates of Sparta. Sphodrias durst not stay to expect
judgment, which he found would be capital, the city being highly
incensed against him, out of the shame they felt at the business,
and their desire to appear in the eyes of the Athenians as
fellow-sufferers; in the wrong, rather than accomplices in its
being done.
This Sphodrias had a son of great beauty named Cleonymus, to whom
Archidamus, the son of Agesilaus, was extremely attached.
Archidamus, as became him, was concerned for the danger of his
friend's father, but yet he durst not do anything openly for his
assistance, he being one of the professed enemies of Agesilaus.
But Cleonymus having solicited him with tears about it, as knowing
Agesilaus to be of all his father's enemies the most formidable,
the young man for two or three days followed after his father with
such fear and confusion, that he durst not speak to him. At last,
the day of sentence being at hand, he ventured to tell him, that
Cleonymus had entreated him to intercede for his father Agesilaus,
though well aware of the love between the two young men, yet did
not prohibit it, because Cleonymus from his earliest years had been
looked upon as a youth of very great promise; yet he gave not his
son any kind or hopeful answer in the case, but coldly told him,
that he would consider what he could honestly and honorably do in
it, and so dismissed him. Archidamus, being ashamed of his want of
success, forbore the company of Cleonymus, whom he usually saw
several times every day. This made the friends of Sphodrias to
think his case desperate, till Etymocles, one of Agesilaus's
friends, discovered to them the king's mind, namely, that he
abhorred the fact, but yet he thought Sphodrias a gallant man, such
as the commonwealth much wanted at that time. For Agesilaus used
to talk thus concerning the cause, out of a desire to gratify his
son. And now Cleonymus quickly understood, that Archidamus had
been true to him, in using all his interest with his father; and
Sphodrias's friends ventured to be forward in his defense. The
truth is, that Agesilaus was excessively fond of his children; and
it is to him the story belongs, that when they were little ones, he
used to make a horse of a stick, and ride with them; and being
caught at this sport by a friend, he desired him not to mention it,
till he himself were the father of children.
Meanwhile, Sphodrias being acquitted, the Athenians betook
themselves to arms, and Agesilaus fell into disgrace with the
people; since to gratify the whims of a boy, he had been willing to
pervert justice, and make the city accessory to the crimes of
private men, whose most unjustifiable actions had broken the peace
of Greece. He also found his colleague, Cleombrotus, little
inclined to the Theban war; so that it became necessary for him to
waive the privilege of his age, which he before had claimed, and to
lead the army himself into Boeotia; which he did with variety of
success, sometimes conquering, and sometimes conquered; insomuch
that receiving a wound in a battle, he was reproached by
Antalcidas, that the Thebans had paid him well for the lessons he
had given them in fighting. And, indeed, they were now grown far
better soldiers than ever they had been, being so continually kept
in training, by the frequency of the Lacedaemonian expeditions
against them. Out of the foresight of which it was, that anciently
Lycurgus, in three several laws, forbade them to make many wars
with the same nation, as this would be to instruct their enemies in
the art of it. Meanwhile, the allies of Sparta were not a little
discontented at Agesilaus, because this war was commenced not upon
any fair public ground of quarrel, but merely out of his private
hatred to the Thebans; and they complained with indignation, that
they, being the majority of the army, should from year to year be
thus exposed to danger and hardship here and there, at the will of
a few persons. It was at this time, we are told, that Agesilaus,
to obviate the objection, devised this expedient, to show the
allies were not the greater number. He gave orders that all the
allies, of whatever country, should sit down promiscuously on one
side, and all the Lacedaemonians on the other: which being done,
he commanded a herald to proclaim, that all the potters of both
divisions should stand out; then all the blacksmiths; then all the
masons; next the carpenters; and so he went through all the
handicrafts. By this time almost all the allies were risen, but of
the Lacedaemonians not a man, they being by law forbidden to learn
any mechanical business; and now Agesilaus laughed and said, "You
see, my friends, how many more soldiers we send out than you do."
When he brought back his army from Boeotia through Megara, as he
was going up to the magistrate's office in the Acropolis, he was
suddenly seized with pain and cramp in his sound leg, and great
swelling and inflammation ensued. He was treated by a Syracusan
physician, who let him blood below the ankle; this soon eased his
pain, but then the blood could not be stopped, till the loss of it
brought on fainting and swooning; at length, with much trouble, he
stopped it. Agesilaus was carried home to Sparta in a very weak
condition, and did not recover strength enough to appear in the
field for a long time after.
Meanwhile, the Spartan fortune was but ill; they received many
losses both by sea and land; but the greatest was that at Tegyrae,
when for the first time they were beaten by the Thebans in a set
battle.
All the Greeks were, accordingly, disposed to a general peace, and
to that end ambassadors came to Sparta. Among these was
Epaminondas, the Theban, famous at that time for his philosophy and
learning, but he had not yet given proof of his capacity as a
general. He, seeing all the others crouch to Agesilaus, and court
favor with him, alone maintained the dignity of an ambassador, and
with that freedom that became his character, made a speech in
behalf not of Thebes only, from whence he came, but of all Greece,
remonstrating, that Sparta alone grew great by war, to the distress
and suffering of all her neighbors. He urged, that a peace should
be made upon just and equal terms, such as alone would be a lasting
one, which could not otherwise be done, than by reducing all to
equality. Agesilaus, perceiving all the other Greeks to give much
attention to this discourse, and to be pleased with it, presently
asked him, whether he thought it a part of this justice and
equality that the Boeotian towns should enjoy their independence.
Epaminondas instantly and without wavering asked him in return,
whether he thought it just and equal that the Laconian towns should
enjoy theirs. Agesilaus started from his seat and bade him once
for all speak out and say whether or not Boeotia should be
independent. And when Epaminondas replied once again with the same
inquiry, whether Laconia should be so, Agesilaus was so enraged
that, availing himself of the pretext he immediately struck the
name of the Thebans out of the league, and declared war against
them. With the rest of the Greeks he made a peace, and dismissed
them with this saying, that what could be peaceably adjusted,
should; what was otherwise incurable, must be committed to the
success of war, it being a thing of too great difficulty to provide
for all things by treaty. The Ephors upon this dispatched their
orders to Cleombrotus, who was at that time in Phocis, to march
directly into Boeotia, and at the same time sent to their allies
for aid. The confederates were very tardy in the business, and
unwilling to engage, but as yet they feared the Spartans too much
to dare to refuse. And although many portents, and prodigies of
ill presage, which I have mentioned in the life of Epaminondas,
had appeared; and though Prothous, the Laconian, did all he could
to hinder it, yet Agesilaus would needs go forward, and prevailed
so, that the war was decreed. He thought the present juncture of
affairs very advantageous for their revenge, the rest of Greece
being wholly free, and the Thebans excluded from the peace. But
that this war was undertaken more upon passion than judgment, the
event may prove; for the treaty was finished but the fourteenth of
Scirophorion, and the Lacedaemonians received their great overthrow
at Leuctra, on the fifth of Hecatombaeon, within twenty days.
There fell at that time a thousand, Spartans, and Cleombrotus their
king, and around him the bravest men of the nation; particularly,
the beautiful youth, Cleonymus the son of Sphodrias, who was thrice
struck down at the feet of the king, and as often rose, but was
slain at the last.
This unexpected blow, which fell so heavy upon the Lacedaemonians,