Plutarch: Lives of the noble Grecians and Romans
the Brazen House, together with his daughter, the wife of
Cleombrotus; for she in this occasion resolved to leave her
husband, and to follow her father. Leonidas being again cited,
and not appearing, they pronounced a sentence of deposition
against him, and made Cleombrotus king in his place.
Soon after this revolution, Lysander, his year expiring, went
out of his office, and new ephors were chosen, who gave Leonidas
assurance of safety, and cited Lysander and Mandroclidas to
answer for having, contrary to law, canceled debts, and designed
a new division of lands. They, seeing themselves in danger, had
recourse to the two kings, and represented to them, how
necessary it was for their interest and safety to act with
united authority and bid defiance to the ephors. For, indeed,
the power of the ephors, they said, was only grounded on the
dissensions of the kings, it being their privilege, when the
kings differed in opinion, to add their suffrage to whichever
they judged to have given the best advice; but when the two
kings were unanimous, none ought or durst resist their
authority, the magistrate, whose office it was to stand as
umpire when they were at variance, had no call to interfere when
they were of one mind. Agis and Cleombrotus, thus persuaded,
went together with their friends into the market-place, where,
removing the ephors from their seats, they placed others in
their room of whom Agesilaus was one; proceeding then to arm a
company of young men, and releasing many out of prison; so that
those of the contrary faction began to be in great fear of their
lives; but there was no blood spilt. On the contrary, Agis,
having notice that Agesilaus had ordered a company of soldiers
to lie in wait for Leonidas, to kill him as he fled to Tegea,
immediately sent some of his followers to defend him, and to
convey him safely into that city.
Thus far all things proceeded prosperously, none daring to
oppose; but through the sordid weakness of one man these
promising beginnings were blasted, and a most noble and truly
Spartan purpose overthrown and ruined, by the love of money.
Agesilaus, as we said, was much in debt, though in possession of
one of the largest and best estates in land; and while he gladly
joined in this design to be quit of his debts, he was not at all
willing to part with his land. Therefore he persuaded Agis,
that if both these things should be put in execution at the same
time, so great and so sudden an alteration might cause some
dangerous commotion; but if debts were in the first place
canceled, the rich men would afterwards more easily be
prevailed with to part with their land. Lysander, also, was of
the same opinion, being deceived in like manner by the craft of
Agesilaus; so that all men were presently commanded to bring in
their bonds, or deeds of obligation, by the Lacedaemonians
called Claria, into the market-place, where being laid together
in a heap, they set fire to them. The wealthy, money-lending
people, one may easily imagine, beheld it with a heavy heart;
but Agesilaus told them scoffingly, his eyes had never seen so
bright and so pure a flame.
And now the people pressed earnestly for an immediate division
of lands; the kings also had ordered it should be done; but
Agesilaus, sometimes pretending one difficulty, and sometimes
another, delayed the execution, till an occasion happened to
call Agis to the wars. The Achaeans, in virtue of a defensive
treaty of alliance, sent to demand succors, as they expected
every day that the Aetolians would attempt to enter
Peloponnesus, from the territory of Megara. They had sent
Aratus, their general, to collect forces to hinder this
incursion. Aratus wrote to the ephors, who immediately gave
order that Agis should hasten to their assistance with the
Lacedaemonian auxiliaries. Agis was extremely pleased to see
the zeal and bravery of those who went with him upon this
expedition. They were for the most part young men, and poor;
and being just released from their debts and set at liberty, and
hoping on their return to receive each man his lot of land, they
followed their king with wonderful alacrity. The cities through
which they passed, were in admiration to see how they marched
from one end of Peloponnesus to the other, without the least
disorder, and, in a manner, without being heard. It gave the
Greeks occasion to discourse with one another, how great might
be the temperance and modesty of a Laconian army in old time,
under their famous captains Agesilaus, Lysander, or Leonidas,
since they saw such discipline and exact obedience under a
leader who perhaps was the youngest man all the army. They saw
also how he was himself content to fare hardly, ready to undergo
any labors, and not to be distinguished by pomp or richness of
habit or arms from the meanest of his soldiers; and to people in
general it was an object of regard and admiration. But rich men
viewed the innovation with dislike and alarm, lest haply the
example might spread, and work changes to their prejudice in
their own countries as well.
Agis joined Aratus near the city of Corinth, where it was still
a matter of debate whether or no it were expedient to give the
enemy battle. Agis, on this occasion, showed great forwardness
and resolution, yet without temerity or presumption. He
declared it was his opinion they ought to fight, thereby to
hinder the enemy from passing the gates of Peloponnesus, but,
nevertheless, he would submit to the judgment of Aratus, not
only as the elder and more experienced captain, but as he was
general of the Achaeans, whose forces he would not pretend to
command, but was only come thither to assist them. I am not
ignorant that Baton of Sinope, relates it in another manner; he
says, Aratus would have fought, and that Agis was against it;
but it is certain he was mistaken, not having read what Aratus
himself wrote in his own justification, that knowing the people
had wellnigh got in their harvest, he thought it much better to
let the enemy pass, than put all to the hazard of a battle. And
therefore, giving thanks to the confederates for their
readiness, he dismissed them. And Agis, not without having
gained a great deal of honor, returned to Sparta, where he found
the people in disorder, and a new revolution imminent, owing to
the ill government of Agesilaus.
For he, being now one of the ephors, and freed from the fear
which formerly kept him in some restraint, forbore no kind of
oppression which might bring in gain. Among other things, he
exacted a thirteenth month's tax, whereas the usual cycle
required at this time no such addition to the year. For these
and other reasons fearing those whom he injured, and knowing how
he was hated by the people, he thought it necessary to maintain
a guard, which always accompanied him to the magistrate's
office. And presuming now on his power, he was grown so
insolent, that of the two kings, the one he openly contemned,
and if he showed any respect towards Agis, would have it thought
rather an effect of his near relationship, than any duty or
submission to the royal authority. He gave it out also, that he
was to continue ephor the ensuing year.
His enemies, therefore, alarmed by this report, lost no time in
risking an attempt against him; and openly bringing hack
Leonidas from Tegea, reestablished him in the kingdom, to which
even the people, highly incensed for having been defrauded in
the promised division of lands, willingly consented. Agesilaus
himself would hardly have escaped their fury, if his son,
Hippomedon, whose manly virtues made him dear to all, had not
saved him out of their hands, and then privately conveyed him
from the city.
During this commotion, the two kings fled, Agis to the temple of
the Brazen House, and Cleombrotus to that of Neptune. For
Leonidas was more incensed against his son-in-law; and leaving
Agis alone, went with his soldiers to Cleombrotus's sanctuary,
and there with great passion reproached him for having, though
he was his son-in-law, conspired with his enemies, usurped his
throne, and forced him from his country. Cleombrotus, having
little to say for himself, sat silent. His wife, Chilonis, the
daughter of Leonidas, had chosen to follow her father in his
sufferings; for when Cleombrotus usurped the kingdom, she
forsook him, and wholly devoted herself to comfort her father in
his affliction; whilst he still remained in Sparta, she remained
also, as a suppliant, with him, and when he fled, she fled with
him, bewailing his misfortune, and extremely displeased with
Cleombrotus. But now, upon this turn of fortune, she changed in
like manner, and was seen sitting now, as a suppliant, with her
husband, embracing him with her arms, and having her two little
children beside her. All men were full of wonder at the piety
and tender affection of the young woman, who, pointing to her
robes and her hair, both alike neglected and unattended to, said
to Leonidas, "I am not brought, my father, to this condition you
see me in, on account of the present misfortunes of Cleombrotus;
my mourning habit is long since familiar to me. It was put on
to condole with you in your banishment; and now you are restored
to your country, and to your kingdom, must I still remain in
grief and misery? Or would you have me attired in my royal
ornaments, that I may rejoice with you, when you have killed,
within my arms, the man to whom you gave me for a wife? Either
Cleombrotus must appease you by mine and my children's tears, or
he must suffer a punishment greater than you propose for his
faults, and shall see me, whom he loves so well, die before him.
To what end should I live, or how shall I appear among the
Spartan women, when it shall so manifestly be seen, that I have
not been able to move to compassion either a husband or a
father? I was born, it seems, to participate in the ill fortune
and in the disgrace, both as a wife and a daughter, of those
nearest and dearest to me. As for Cleombrotus, I sufficiently
surrendered any honorable plea on his behalf, when I forsook him
to follow you; but you yourself offer the fairest excuse for his
proceedings, by showing to the world that for the sake of a
kingdom, it is just to kill a son-in-law, and be regardless of a
daughter." Chilonis, having ended this lamentation, rested her
face on her husband's head, and looked round with her weeping
and woebegone eyes upon those who stood be fore her.
Leonidas, touched with compassion, withdrew a while to advise
with his friends; then returning, bade Cleombrotus leave the
sanctuary and go into banishment; Chilonis, he said, ought to
stay with him, it not being just she should forsake a father
whose affection had granted to her intercession the life of her
husband. But all he could say would not prevail. She rose up
immediately, and taking one of her children in her arms, gave
the other to her husband; and making her reverence to the altar
of the goddess, went out and followed him. So that, in a word,
if Cleombrotus were not utterly blinded by ambition, he must
surely choose to be banished with so excellent a woman rather
than without her to possess a kingdom.
Cleombrotus thus removed, Leonidas proceeded also to displace
the ephors, and to choose others in their room; then he began to
consider how he might entrap Agis. At first, he endeavored by
fair means to persuade him to leave the sanctuary, and partake
with him in the kingdom. The people, he said, would easily
pardon the errors of a young man, ambitious of glory, and
deceived by the craft of Agesilaus. But finding Agis was
suspicious, and not to be prevailed with to quit his sanctuary,
he gave up that design; yet what could not then be effected by