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PLUTARCH'S LIVES.
Translated from the Greek.
WITH
_NOTES AND A LIFE OF PLUTARCH_.
BY
AUBREY STEWART, M.A.,
_Late Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge_;
AND THE LATE
GEORGE LONG, M.A.,
_Formerly Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge_.
IN FOUR VOLUMES.
VOL. IV.
LONDON:
GEORGE BELL & SONS, YORK ST., COVENT GARDEN,
AND NEW YORK.
1892.
LONDON:
PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED,
STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS.
CONTENTS
PAGE
LIFE OF AGIS 1
LIFE OF KLEOMENES 19
LIFE OF TIBERIUS GRACCHUS (_by G. Long _) 53
LIFE OF CAIUS GRACCHUS (_by G. Long _) 90
COMPARISON OF TIBERIUS AND CAIUS GRACCHUS WITH AGIS AND
KLEOMENES 115
LIFE OF DEMOSTHENES 119
LIFE OF CICERO (_by G. Long_) 146
COMPARISON OF DEMOSTHENES AND CICERO 211
LIFE OF DEMETRIUS 215
LIFE OF ANTONIUS (_by G. Long_) 263
COMPARISON OF DEMETRIUS AND ANTONIUS 348
LIFE OF DION 352
LIFE OF BRUTUS (_by G. Long_) 398
COMPARISON OF DION AND BRUTUS 454
LIFE OF ARTAXERXES 458
LIFE OF ARATUS 485
LIFE OF GALBA 530
LIFE OF OTHO 556
INDEX 573
PLUTARCH'S LIVES.
LIFE OF AGIS.
I. Many writers have very naturally conceived that the myth of Ixion,
who is fabled to have embraced a cloud instead of Hera, and so to have
begotten the centaurs, is really typical of ambitious men; for, although
they aim at obtaining glory, and set before themselves a lofty ideal of
virtue, yet they never succeed in producing any very distinct result,
because all their actions are coloured by various human passions and
prejudices, just as the herdsmen with their flocks say in Sophokles's
play:--
"We needs must serve them, though their lords we be,
And to their mute commands obedience pay."
These verses really represent the state of those who, in order to obtain
the empty title of statesmen and popular leaders, govern a country by
following the caprices and impulses of the people. Just as the men
stationed in the bows of a ship see what is coming before the steersmen,
but yet look up to them as their chiefs and execute their orders; so
they who govern with a view solely to their own popularity, although
they may be called rulers, are, in truth, nothing more than slaves of
the people.
II. An absolutely perfect man would not even wish for popularity, except
so far as it enabled him to take part in politics, and caused him to be
trusted by the people; yet a young and ambitious man must be excused if
he feels pride in the glory and reputation which he gains by brilliant
exploits. For, as Theophrastus says, the virtue which buds and sprouts
in youthful minds is confirmed by praise, and the high spirit thus
formed leads it to attempt greater things. On the other hand, an
excessive love of praise is dangerous in all cases, but, in statesmen,
utterly ruinous; for when it takes hold of men in the possession of
great power it drives them to commit acts of sheer madness, because they
forget that honourable conduct must increase their popularity, and think
that any measure that increases their popularity must necessarily be a
good one. We ought to tell the people that they cannot have the same man
to lead them and to follow them, just as Phokion is said to have replied
to Antipater, when he demanded some disgraceful service from him, "I
cannot be Antipater's friend and his toady at the same time." One might
also quote the fable of the serpent's tail which murmured against the
head and desired sometimes to take the lead, and not always follow the
head, but which when allowed to lead the way took the wrong path and
caused the head to be miserably crushed, because it allowed itself to be
guided by that which could neither see nor hear. This has been the fate
of many of those politicians who court the favour of the people; for,
after they have once shared their blind impulses, they lose the power of
checking their folly, and of restoring good discipline and order. These
reflections upon the favour of the people occurred to me when I thought
of its power, as shown in the case of Tiberius and Caius Gracchus, men
who were well born, well educated, and began their political career with
great promise, and yet were ruined, not so much by an excessive craving
for popular applause as by a very pardonable fear of disgrace. They both
received at the outset great proofs of their countrymen's goodwill, but
felt ashamed to remain as it were in their debt, and they ever strove to
wipe out their obligations to the people by legislation on their behalf,
and by their beneficent measures continually increased their popularity,
until, in the heat of the rivalry thus created, they found themselves
pledged to a line of policy in which they could not even pause with
honour, and which they could not desist from without disgrace. The
reader, however, will be able to form his own opinion about them from
their history, and I shall now write, as a parallel to them, the lives
of that pair of Laconian reformers, Agis and Kleomenes, kings of Sparta,
who, like the Gracchi, increased the power of the people, and
endeavoured to restore an admirable and just constitution which had
fallen into desuetude; but who, like them, incurred the hatred of the
governing class, who were unwilling to relinquish their encroachments
and privileges. These Lacedæmonians were not indeed brothers, yet they
pursued a kindred policy, with the same objects in view.
III. After the desire for silver and gold had penetrated into Sparta,
the acquisition of wealth produced greed and meanness, while the use and
enjoyment of riches was followed by luxury, effeminacy, and
extravagance. Thus it fell out that Sparta lost her high and honoured
position in Greece, and remained in obscurity and disgrace until the
reign of Agis and Leonidas. Agis was of the Eurypontid line, the son of
Eudamidas, and the sixth in descent from king Agesilaus, who invaded
Asia, and became the most powerful man in Greece. This Agesilaus had a
son named Archidamus, who fell in battle against the Messapians at the
battle of Mandurium[1] in Italy. He was succeeded by his eldest son
Agis, who, being killed by Antipater near Megalopolis, and leaving no
issue, was succeeded by his brother, Eudamidas; he, by a son named
Archidamus; and Archidamus by another Eudamidas, the father of Agis, the
subject of this memoir.
Leonidas, the son of Kleonymus, was of the other royal family, that of
the Agiadæ, and was eighth in descent from Pausanias who conquered
Mardonius at the battle of Plataea. Pausanias had a son named
Pleistoanax, whose son was again named Pausanias. This Pausanias[2]
fled for his life from Sparta to Tegea, and was succeeded by his eldest
son Agesipolis; and he, dying childless, by his younger brother
Kleombrotus. Kleombrotus left two sons, Agesipolis and Kleomenes, of
whom Agesipolis reigned but a short time, and left no children.
Kleomenes succeeded his brother Agesipolis on the throne. Of his two
sons, the elder, Akrotatus, died during his father's lifetime, and the
younger, Kleonymus, never reigned, as the throne was occupied by
Areus[3] the grandson of Kleomenes, and the son of Akrotatus. Areus
perished in battle before Corinth, and was succeeded by his son
Akrotatus. This Akrotatus was defeated and slain near the city of
Megalopolis by the despot Aristodemus, leaving his wife pregnant. When
she bore a son, Leonidas the son of Kleonymus was appointed his
guardian, and, as the child died before reaching manhood, he succeeded
to the throne although he was far from being an acceptable personage to
his countrymen; for, though the Spartans at this period had all
abandoned their original severe simplicity of living, yet they found the
manners of Leonidas in offensive contrast to their own. Indeed,
Leonidas, who had spent much of his life at the courts of Asiatic
potentates, and had been especially attached to that of Seleukus, seemed
inclined to outrage the political feeling of the Greeks by introducing
the arrogant tone of an Oriental despot into the constitutional monarchy
of Sparta.
IV. On the other hand, the goodness of heart and intellectual power of
Agis proved so greatly superior not only to that of Leonidas, but of
every king since Agesilaus the Great, that before he arrived at his
twentieth year, in spite of his having been brought up in the greatest
luxury by his mother Agesistrata and his grandmother Archidamia, the two
richest women in Sparta, he abjured all frivolous indulgence, laid aside
all personal ornament, avoided extravagance of every kind, prided
himself on practising the old Laconian habits of dress, food, and
bathing, and was wont to say that he would not care to be king unless
he could use his position to restore the ancient customs and discipline
of his country.
V. The corruption of the Lacedæmonians began at the time when, after
having overthrown the Athenian empire, they were able to satiate
themselves with the possession of gold and silver. Nevertheless, as the
number of houses instituted by Lykurgus was still maintained, and each
father still transmitted his estate to his son, the original equal
division of property continued to exist and preserved the state from
disorder. But a certain powerful and self-willed man, named Epitadeus,
who was one of the Ephors, having quarrelled with his son, proposed a
rhetra permitting a man to give his house and land to whomsoever he
pleased, either during his life, or by his will after his death. This
man proposed the law in order to gratify his own private grudge; but the
other Spartans through covetousness eagerly confirmed it, and ruined the
admirable constitution of Lykurgus. They now began to acquire land
without limit, as the powerful men kept their relatives out of their
rightful inheritance; and as the wealth of the country soon got into the
hands of a few, the city became impoverished, and the rich began to be
viewed with dislike and hatred. There were left at that time no more
than seven hundred Spartans, and of these about one hundred possessed an
inheritance in land, while the rest, without money, and excluded from
all the privileges of citizenship, fought in a languid and spiritless
fashion in the wars, and were ever on the watch for some opportunity to
subvert the existing condition of affairs at home.
VI. Agis, therefore, thinking that it would be an honourable enterprise,
as indeed it was, to restore these citizens to the state and to
re-establish equality for all, began to sound the people themselves as
to their opinion about such a measure. The younger men quickly rallied
round him, and, with an enthusiasm which he had hardly counted upon,
began to make ready for the contest; but most of the elder men, who had
become more thoroughly tainted by the prevailing corruption, feared to
be brought back to the discipline of Lykurgus as much as a runaway slave
fears to be brought back to his master, and they bitterly reviled Agis
when he lamented over the condition of affairs and sighed for the
ancient glories of Sparta. His enthusiastic aspirations, however, were
sympathised with by Lysander the son of Libys, Mandrokleidas the son of
Ekphanes, and Agesilaus. Lysander was the most influential of all the
Spartans, while Mandrokleidas was thought to be the ablest politician in
Greece, as he could both plot with subtlety and execute with boldness.
Agesilaus was the uncle of King Agis and a fluent speaker, but of a weak
and covetous disposition. It was commonly supposed that he was stirred
to action by the influence of his son Hippomedon, who had gained great
glory in the wars and was exceedingly popular among the younger
citizens; but what really determined him to join the reformers was the
amount of his debts, which he hoped would be wiped out by a revolution.
As soon as Agis had won over this important adherent, he began to try to
bring over his mother to his views, who was Agesilaus's sister, and who,
from the number of her friends, debtors, and dependants, was very
powerful in the state, and took a large share in the management of
public affairs.
VII. When she first heard of Agis's designs she was much startled, and
dissuaded the youth from an enterprise which she thought neither
practicable nor desirable. However, when Agesilaus pointed out to her
what a notable design it was, and how greatly to the advantage of all,
while the young king himself besought his mother to part with her wealth
in order to gain him glory, arguing that he could not vie with other
kings in riches, as the servants of Persian satraps, and the very slaves
of the intendants of Ptolemy and Seleukus possessed more money than all
the kings that ever reigned in Sparta; but that, if he could prove
himself superior to those vanities by his temperance, simplicity of
life, and true greatness of mind, and could succeed in restoring
equality among his fellow-countrymen, he would be honoured and renowned
as a truly great king. By this means the youth entirely changed his
mother's mind, and so fired her with his own ambition, as if by an
inspiration from heaven, that she began to encourage Agis and urge him
on, and invited her friends to join them, while she also communicated
their design to the other women, because she knew that the Lacedæmonians
were in all things ruled by their women, and that they had more power in
the state than the men possessed in their private households. Most of
the wealth of Lacedæmon had fallen into female hands at this time, and
this fact proved a great hindrance to the accomplishment of Agis's
schemes of reform; for the women offered a vehement opposition to him,
not merely through a vulgar love for their idolised luxury, but also
because they saw that they would lose all the influence and power which
they derived from their wealth. They betook themselves to Leonidas, and
besought him, as being the elder man, to restrain Agis, and check the
development of his designs. Leonidas was willing enough to assist the
richer class, but he feared the people, who were eager for reform, and
would not openly oppose Agis, although he endeavoured secretly to ruin
his scheme, and to prejudice the Ephors against him, by imputing to him
the design of hiring the poor to make him despot with the plunder of the
rich, and insinuating that by his redistribution of lands and remission
of debts he meant to obtain more adherents for himself instead of more
citizens for Sparta.
VIII. In spite of all this, Agis contrived to get Lysander appointed one
of the Ephors, and immediately brought him to propose a rhetra before
the Gerusia, or Senate, the main points of which were that all debts
should be cancelled; that the land[4] should be divided, that between
the valley of Pellene and Mount Taygetus, Malea, and Sellasia into four
thousand five hundred lots, and the outlying districts into fifteen
thousand: that the latter district should be distributed among the
Perioeki of military age, and the former among the pure Spartans: that
the number of these should be made up by an extension of the franchise
to Perioeki or even foreigners of free birth, liberal education, and
fitting personal qualifications: and that these citizens should be
divided into fifteen companies some of four hundred, and some of two
hundred, for the public meals, and should conform in every respect to
the discipline of their forefathers.
IX. When this rhetra was proposed, as the Senate could not agree
whether it should become law, Lysander convoked a popular assembly and
himself addressed the people. Mandrokleidas and Agesilaus also besought
them not to allow a few selfish voluptuaries to destroy the glorious
name of Sparta, but to remember the ancient oracles, warning them
against the sin of covetousness, which would prove the ruin of Sparta,
and also of the responses which they had recently received from the
oracle of Pasiphae. The temple and oracle of Pasiphae at Thalamae was of
peculiar sanctity. Pasiphae is said by some writers to have been one of
the daughters of Atlas, and to have become the mother of Ammon by Zeus,
while others say that Kassandra the daughter of Priam died there, and
was called Pasiphae because her prophecies were plain to all men.
Phylarchus again tells us that Daphne the daughter of Amyklas, while
endeavouring to escape from the violence of Apollo, was transformed into
the laurel,[5] which bears her name, and was honoured by the god and
endowed by him with the gift of prophecy. Be this as it may, the
oracular responses which were brought from this shrine bade the Spartans
all become equal according as Lykurgus had originally ordained. After
these speeches had been delivered, King Agis himself came forward, and,
after a few introductory words, said that he was giving the strongest
possible pledges of his loyalty to the new constitution; for he declared
his intention of surrendering to the state, before any one else, his own
property, consisting of a vast extent of land, both arable and pasture,
besides six thousand talents of money; and he assured the people that
his mother and her friends, the richest people in Sparta, would do the
same.
X. The people were astounded at the magnanimity of the youth, and were
filled with joy, thinking that at last, after an interval of three
hundred years, there had appeared a king worthy of Sparta. Leonidas, on
the other hand, opposed him as vigorously as he could, reflecting that
he would be forced to follow his example, and divest himself of all his
property, and that Agis, not he, would get the credit of the act. He
therefore inquired of Agis whether he thought Lykurgus to have been a
just and well-meaning man. Receiving an affirmative reply, he again
demanded, "Where, then, do we find that Lykurgus approved of the
cancelling of debts, or of the admission of foreigners to the franchise,
seeing that he did not think that the state could prosper without a
periodical expulsion of foreigners?" To this Agis answered, that it was
not to be wondered at if Leonidas, who had lived in a foreign country,
and had a family by the daughter of a Persian satrap, should be ignorant
that Lykurgus, together with coined money, had banished borrowing and
lending from Sparta, and that he had no hatred for foreigners, but only
for those whose profession and mode of life made them unfit to associate
with his countrymen. These men Lykurgus expelled, not from any hatred of
their persons, but because he feared that their manners and habits would
infect the citizens with a love of luxury, effeminacy, and avarice.
Terpander, Thales, and Pherekydes were all foreigners, but, since they
sang and taught what Lykurgus approved, they lived in Sparta, and were
treated with especial honour. "Do you," asked he, "praise Ekprepus, who
when Ephor cut off with a hatchet the two additional strings which
Phrynis the musician had added to the original seven strings of the
lyre, and those who cut the same strings off the harp of Timotheus, and
yet do you blame us when we are endeavouring to get rid of luxury,
extravagance, and frivolity, just as if those great men did not merely
mean thereby to guard against vain refinements of music, which would
lead to the introduction of extravagant and licentious manners, and
cause the city to be at discord and variance with itself?"
XI. After this the people espoused the cause of Agis, while the rich
begged Leonidas not to desert them, and by their entreaties prevailed
upon the senators, who had the power of originating all laws, to throw
out the rhetra by a majority of only one vote. Lysander, who was still
one of the Ephors, now proceeded to attack Leonidas, by means of a
certain ancient law, which forbade any descendant of Herakles to beget
children by a foreign wife, and which bade the Spartans put to death any
citizen who left his country to dwell in a foreign land. He instructed
his adherents to revive the memory of this law, and threaten Leonidas
with its penalties, while he himself with the other Ephors watched for
the sign from heaven. This ceremony is conducted as follows:--Every ninth
year the Ephors choose a clear moonless night, and sit in silence
watching the heavens. If a star shoots across the sky, they conclude
that the kings must have committed some act of impiety, and they suspend
them from their office, until they were absolved by a favourable oracle
from Delphi or Olympia. Lysander now declared that he had beheld this
sign, and impeached Leonidas, bringing forward witnesses to prove that
he had two children born to him by an Asiatic wife, the daughter of one
of the lieutenants of Seleukus, and that having quarrelled with his wife
and become hated by her he had unexpectedly returned home, and in
default of a direct heir, had succeeded to the throne. At the same time
Lysander urged Kleombrotus, the son-in-law of Leonidas, who was also of
the royal family, to claim the throne for himself. Leonidas, terrified
at this, took sanctuary in the temple of Athena of the Brazen House, and
was joined there by his daughter, who left her husband Kleombrotus. When
the trial came on, Leonidas did not appear in court, he was removed from
the throne, and Kleombrotus was appointed in his stead.
XII. At this crisis Lysander was forced to lay down his office, as the
year for which he had been elected had expired. The Ephors at once took
Leonidas under their protection, restored him to the throne, and
impeached Lysander and Mandrokleidas as the authors of illegal measures
in the cancelling of debts and the redistribution of the land. As these
men were now in danger of their lives, they prevailed upon the two kings
to act together and overrule the decision of the Ephors; for this, they
declared, was the ancient rule of the constitution, that if the kings
were at variance, the Ephors were entitled to support the one whom they
judged to be in the right against the other, but their function was
merely to act as arbitrators and judges between the kings when they
disagreed, and not to interfere with them when they were of one mind.
Both the kings agreed to act upon this advice, and came with their
friends into the assembly, turned the Ephors out of their chairs of
office, and elected others in their room, one of whom was Agesilaus.
They now armed many of the younger citizens, released the prisoners, and
terrified their opponents by threatening a general massacre. No one,
however, was killed by them; for although Agesilaus desired to kill
Leonidas, and when he withdrew from Sparta to Tegea, sent men to waylay
and murder him on the road, Agis, hearing of his intention, sent others
on whom he could rely, who escorted Leonidas safely as far as Tegea.
XIII. Thus far all had gone well, and no one remained to hinder the
accomplishment of the reforms; but now Agesilaus alone upset and ruined
the whole of this noble and truly Spartan scheme by his detestable vice
of covetousness. He possessed a large quantity of the best land in the
country, and also owed a great sum of money, and as he desired neither
to pay his debts nor to part with his land, he persuaded Agis that it
would be too revolutionary a proceeding to carry both measures at once,
and that, if the moneyed class were first propitiated by the cancelling
of debts, they would afterwards be inclined to submit quietly to the
redistribution of lands. Lysander and the rest were deceived by
Agesilaus into consenting to this, and they brought all the written
securities for money which had been given by debtors, which are called
by them _klaria_, into the market-place, collected them into one heap,
and burned them. As the flames rose up, the rich and those who had lent
money went away in great distress, but Agesilaus, as if exulting at
their misfortune, declared that he had never seen a brighter blaze or a
purer fire. As the people at once demanded the division of the land, and
called upon the kings to distribute it among them, Agesilaus put them
off with various excuses, and managed to spin out the time till Agis was
sent out of the country on military service, as the Achæans, who were
allies, had demanded a reinforcement from Sparta, because the Ætolians
threatened to invade Peloponnesus through the territory of Megara, and
Aratus, the general of the Achæans, who was collecting an army to resist
them, sent to Sparta demanding assistance.
XIV. The Spartans at once despatched Agis at the head of an army, whose
high spirits and devotion to his person filled him with delight. The men
were nearly all young and poor; and as they were now relieved from the
pressure of their debts, and expected that on their return the land
would be distributed amongst them, they behaved with the most admirable
discipline. They marched through Peloponnesus without doing the least
damage, without offending any one, almost without noise; so that all the
cities were astonished at the spectacle thus afforded them, and men
began to wonder what a Lacedæmonian army must have been like when led by
Agesilaus or Lysander the Great, or by the ancient hero Leonidas, if
such awe and reverence was paid by the soldiers to one who was nearly
the youngest of them all. Their youthful leader himself was worthy of
admiration, and was looked up to by the men because of his simple
hard-working habits, and the pride which he took in wearing the same
dress and using the same arms as the common soldiers. The revolution
which he had effected, however, was very distasteful to the rich, who
feared lest it might be taken as an example by the people in other
states and lead to further disturbances.
XV. Agis joined Aratus at Corinth, while the question of how to repel
the invasion was still being debated. His advice was spirited, without
being rash or foolhardy. He gave it as his opinion that it was their
duty to fight, and not abandon the gate of Peloponnesus and let the
enemy into the country, but that he would defer to the decision of
Aratus, who was an older man than himself, and was the general of the
Achæans, and that he had not come to give them advice or to take the
command of them, but to reinforce them and serve as their ally. The
historian Baton of Sinope declares that Agis declined to fight although
Aratus wished him to do so; but he is mistaken, and clearly has not read
the justification which Aratus has written of his conduct, namely, that
as the farmers had nearly all finished gathering in their harvest, he
thought it better to allow the enemy to enter the country than to hazard
everything upon the issue of a single battle. As Aratus decided not to
fight, and dismissed his allies with thanks, Agis returned home,
greatly honoured by those under his orders, and found the internal
affairs of Sparta in great turmoil and confusion.
XVI. Agesilaus, who was now Ephor, and who was no longer restrained by
the presence of those of whom he had formerly stood in awe, was using
the most disgraceful expedients to extort money from the people, and had
even intercalated a thirteenth month in the year, although the state of
the calendar did not require it, and caused taxes to be paid for it. As
he feared those whom he had wronged, and was an object of universal
hatred, he had taken a bodyguard of swordsmen into his pay, and walked
through the city accompanied by them. As for the kings, he regarded
Kleombrotus with contempt, and though he still paid some respect to
Agis, he wished it to be thought that he did so because he was nearly
related to himself, not because he was king. He also gave out that he
intended to remain in office as Ephor for the next year as well. In
consequence of this his enemies determined to bring matters to a crisis.
They assembled in force, brought back Leonidas publicly from Tegea, and
reinstated him as king, to the great joy of most of the citizens, who
were angry with the other party because they had been deceived by them
about the redistribution of the land. Agesilaus was able to leave the
country in safety, owing to the intercession of his son Hippomedon, who
was very popular with all classes on account of his bravery. Of the two
kings, Agis fled to the temple of Athena of the Brazen House, while
Kleombrotus took sanctuary in the temple of Poseidon.[6] It appeared
that Leonidas hated Kleombrotus most of the two; for he passed by Agis,
but marched in pursuit of Kleombrotus with an armed force, and angrily
reproached him that being his own son-in-law he had conspired against
him, dethroned him, and driven him into exile.
XVII. Kleombrotus could find nothing to say in his defence, and sat
silent and helpless; but Chilonis, the daughter of Leonidas, who
formerly had taken offence at her father's injurious treatment, and when
Kleombrotus usurped the throne had left him, and showed her sympathy
with Leonidas in his misfortune by accompanying him in the temple where
he took sanctuary, and after he left the country by mourning for him and
remaining at variance with her husband Kleombrotus, now changed sides
with his changing fortunes, and appeared sitting by her husband's side
as a suppliant to the god with him, with her arms cast round him, and
her two children on each side of her. All stood amazed and were moved to
tears by her noble and affectionate conduct, and she, pointing to her
mean dress and dishevelled hair, said, "Father, I have not adopted this
posture and this dress out of pity for Kleombrotus, but I have so long
been in mourning for your misfortunes and your banishment that it has
become customary with me. Am I now to remain in mourning while you are
victorious and reign in Sparta, or am I to dress myself in fine clothes
as becomes a princess, while I see my husband murdered by your hand?
Unless he can move you to compassion, and obtain your pity by the tears
of his wife and children, he will suffer a more terrible penalty for his
misconduct than you wish to impose, by seeing me his dearest wife die
before him; for how can I endure to live among other women, if I prove
unable to move either my husband or my father to compassion? Both as a
wife and as a daughter I have been fated to suffer with my own kin and
to be despised with them. If there is anything which can be urged on
behalf of my husband's conduct, I have made it impossible to plead it
for him by the part which I have taken in protesting against his conduct
to you; but you yourself suggest a sufficient apology for his crime, by
showing that you think royalty so great and precious a thing, that to
obtain it you are willing to murder your son-in-law and neglect your own
child."
XVIII. Chilonis, after speaking thus, nestled her face against that of
her husband, and glanced round at the spectators with red and tearful
eyes. Leonidas, after a short consultation with his friends, bade
Kleombrotus rise and leave the country, but besought his daughter to
remain with him, and not to leave him who loved her so dearly, and had
just spared her husband's life in consequence of her entreaties. He
could not, however, prevail upon her to stay, but she rose up with her
husband, took one child in her arms, and led the other, and so, after
kneeling before the altar, followed her husband, who, if his mind was
not entirely corrupted by vain ambition, must have thought exile with
such a wife preferable to royalty. After driving Kleombrotus from the
throne, ejecting the Ephors from office and substituting others chosen
by himself, Leonidas addressed himself to Agis. At first he tried to
persuade him to come out of sanctuary and reign as his colleague, saying
that the citizens had forgiven him, because they knew that he was young
and impetuous, and had been deceived by Agesilaus. However, as Agis saw
through these devices and remained where he was, Leonidas left off
making these hypocritical offers. Amphares, Damochares, and Arkesilaus
were in the habit of going to the temple and conversing with him; and
once he came out of the temple in their company to take a bath, and
after bathing was conducted back again by them in safety. All three were
on intimate terms with him, but Amphares, who had lately borrowed some
rich clothing and valuable plate from Agesistrata, was inclined to plot
against the king and the royal ladies, that he might not be obliged to
restore them. He, therefore, we are told, lent a ready ear to Leonidas's
plans, and excited the zeal of the Ephors, one of whom he was.
XIX. Since Agis lived entirely in the temple, and only left it in order
to bathe, they determined to seize him when he came out for this
purpose. Having one day watched him bathing they came up and greeted him
in a friendly way, and walked along with him talking and jesting as
young men who are on intimate terms are wont to do. When they reached
the place where a road branches off to the public prison, Amphares, in
virtue of his Ephorship, laid hold of Agis and said: "Agis, I must lead
you before the Ephors to give an account of your conduct." At the same
time Damochares, a tall and strong man, threw his cloak round Agis's
neck and dragged him along by it. Others now appeared by previous
arrangement, and pushed him from behind, and as no one came to help
him, he was forced into the prison. Hereupon, Leonidas appeared with a
band of mercenaries, and surrounded the prison. The Ephors now went in
to Agis, and sent for all the senators of their way of thinking to come
to the prison in order to go through the form of a trial. Agis laughed
at their hypocrisy, but Amphares told him that it was no laughing
matter, and that he would soon pay a bitter penalty for his rashness.
Another of the Ephors, wishing to offer a means of escape to Agis,
inquired of him whether he had acted on his own responsibility, or had
been compelled to do so by Agesilaus and Lysander. Agis answered that no
man had compelled him, but that he admired and imitated Lykurgus, and
had aimed at reviving his institutions. Upon this the same Ephor asked
him whether he repented of what he had done. When the brave youth
answered that he never would repent of his glorious designs, whatever
tortures he might have to suffer for them, the assembly at once
condemned him to death, and bade the prison officials at once remove him
to the place called Dechas, which is a part of the prison in which
criminals are strangled. Seeing that the servants would not lay hands
upon Agis, and that even those mercenaries who were present shrunk from
such work, because it was held to be unlawful and impious to lay hands
upon the person of the king, Damochares, after threatening and abusing
them, dragged Agis with his own hands to the place of execution. Many of
the citizens had by this time heard of his arrest, and many men had
assembled with torches in their hands and were clamouring at the gate of
the prison. The mother and grandmother of Agis were also present, and
loudly demanded that the king of Sparta should have a fair trial in the
presence of his countrymen. For this reason they within hurried on the
execution, as they feared that if a larger crowd collected Agis would be
rescued during the night.
XX. While Agis was being led to execution, he saw one of the servants of
the prison weeping and in great distress. "My man," said he, "do not
weep for me, for I am a better man than those who are murdering me in
this cruel and illegal fashion." With these words he, of his own
accord, put the noose round his neck. Meanwhile Amphares proceeded to
the prison gate. Here Agesistrata fell at his feet, believing him still
to be her friend. Amphares raised her, saying that Agis would suffer no
violent treatment, and bade her, if she wished, go in and see her son.
As she asked to be accompanied by her mother, Amphares said that there
was no objection to that, and after receiving them both within the
walls, ordered the prison gates to be closed. He first sent Archidamia,
who was now very old, and greatly respected by her countrywomen, to the
place of execution, and when she was dead, bade Agesistrata enter. When
she saw the corpse of her son lying on the ground, and her mother
hanging by a halter, she herself assisted the servants to take her down,
laid her body beside that of Agis, and arranged and covered up the two
corpses. She then knelt and kissed the face of her son, saying, "My
child, thy great piety, goodness, and clemency has brought thee and us
to this death." Upon this Amphares, who was watching and listening at
the door, came into the room, and said angrily to Agesistrata, "If you
approve of your son's deeds, you shall suffer with him." At these words
Agesistrata rose and offered her neck to the halter, saying, "I only
pray that this may be for the good of Sparta."
XXI. When the sad news was known throughout the city, and the three
corpses brought out of the prison, the terror which was inspired did not
prevent the citizens from manifesting their sorrow at the deed, and
their hatred of Leonidas and Amphares. No such wicked or cruel deed,
they declared, had been committed in Sparta since the Dorians settled in
Peloponnesus. The very enemies of the Lacedæmonians generally seemed
unwilling to lay violent hands on their kings when they met them in
battle, and turned aside through reverence of their exalted position.
For this reason, in all the battles which the Lacedæmonians had fought
against the Greeks before the era of Philip of Macedon, only one king,
Kleombrotus, had fallen on the field of Leuktra; for though the
Messenians aver that Theopompus, a king of Lacedæmon, was slain by
Aristomenes, the Lacedæmonians deny it, and say that he was only
wounded. This matter is doubtful, but Agis was the first king who was
put to death by the Ephors in Lacedæmon, because he had conceived a
noble design and one which was worthy of Sparta. He was of an age when
men's shortcomings deserve to be pardoned; and deserves to be blamed by
his friends more than by his enemies, because with an ill-judged
clemency he spared the life of Leonidas, and trusted in the professions
of the rest of his political enemies.
LIFE OF KLEOMENES.
I. After the death of Agis, as has been related, Leonidas was not able
to seize the person of his brother Archidamus, who at once fled out of
the country, but he brought the wife of Agis with her newly-born child
out of her house, and forcibly married her to his own son Kleomenes, who
was scarcely come to an age for marriage, because he was unwilling for
her to marry any one else. Indeed Agiatis was the daughter of Gylippus,
and heiress to a great estate. She was thought to be the most beautiful
woman of her time in all Greece, and was of a noble disposition. It is
said that she made many entreaties not to be forced into a second
marriage, but that after her union with Kleomenes, although she
continued to hate his father Leonidas, she made a good and affectionate
wife to the young man, who became passionately fond of her, and
sympathised with her loving remembrance of Agis, so that he would often
ask her to tell him about her late husband, and used to listen with rapt
attention while she explained the designs and projects of Agis. For
Kleomenes was as eager for honour, and had as noble a mind as Agis
himself, and was equally moderate and simple in his way of life; but he
lacked the other's discreet and gentle temper, and was of a stirring and
vehement nature, eager to embark on any honourable enterprise. He
thought it the most glorious position of all to rule over an obedient
people; but he took pride also in bending disobedient subjects to his
will, and forcibly compelling them to move in the path of honour.
II. He was far from satisfied with the state of things at Sparta, where
the citizens had given themselves up to luxurious repose, while the king
Leonidas cared nothing for public affairs, so long as he was able to
gratify his own love of extravagance and self-indulgence. Public virtue
was entirely gone, and no man cared to profit his country, but only
himself. As for discipline, orderly training of the young, hardiness of
body, and equality, all these things had perished with Agis, and it was
not safe even to speak of them. We are told that while yet a lad
Kleomenes was instructed in the principles of the Stoic philosophy by
Sphærus of Borysthenes,[7] who visited Lacedæmon and gave excellent
instruction there to the young. This Sphærus was one of the aptest
pupils of Zeno of Kitium,[8] and he seems to have admired the manly
spirit of Kleomenes and to have encouraged him in the pursuit of honour.
The ancient hero Leonidas, when asked what he thought of Tyrtæus, is
said to have answered, "He is good at exciting the minds of the youth."
Indeed they became filled with enthusiasm by the poems of Tyrtæus, and
fought with reckless daring in battle: and so also the Stoic philosophy
often renders brave and fiery natures over-daring and venturesome, and
yields the best fruit when applied to a grave and gentle nature.
III. When after the death of Leonidas, Kleomenes succeeded to the
throne, he found the state utterly disorganised, for the rich took no
part in politics, and cared for nothing but their own pleasure and
profit, while the miserable condition of the poor caused them to fight
without spirit in the wars, and to neglect the proper training of their
children. He himself was a king only in name, as the Ephors had
engrossed all real power. Under these circumstances he at once began to
revolve schemes of reform in his mind, and began to sound the opinion of
his intimate friend Xenares, by enquiring of him what sort of a king
Agis had been, and in what manner, and with what associates he had made
his attempts at reform. Xenares at first very willingly gave him a
complete narrative of the whole transaction; but as he saw that
Kleomenes listened with intense interest, and was deeply excited by the
recital of Agis's designs, to which he was never weary of listening,
Xenares at last angrily reproached him with not being in his right mind,
and at last broke off all intercourse with him. He did not, however,
tell any one the reason of their being at variance, but declared that
Kleomenes knew well what it was. Kleomenes, after meeting with this
rebuff from Xenares, imagining that every one else would be of the same
mind, determined to concert his own measures alone. As he thought that
there was more chance of effecting reforms during war than in time of
peace, he involved Sparta in a war with the Achæans, for which they
themselves furnished the pretext. Aratus, the chief of the Achæans, had
always desired to unite the whole of the Peloponnesus in one
confederacy, and in all his long political career had steadily kept this
object in view, as he thought that thus, and thus alone, the people of
Peloponnesus would be able to defend themselves against external foes.
Nearly all the tribes of Peloponnesus joined his confederacy except the
Lacedæmonians, the people of Elis, and such of the Arcadians as were
under Lacedæmonian influence. On the death of Leonidas, Aratus began to
make plundering expeditions into the territory of the Arcadians,
especially those near the Achæan frontier, in order to see what steps
the Lacedæmonians would take; for he despised Kleomenes as a young and
inexperienced man.
IV. Upon this the Ephors first sent Kleomenes to occupy the temple of
Athena, near Belbina. This place was situated in a mountain pass leading
into Laconia, and it was claimed by the citizens of Megalopolis as
belonging to their territory. Kleomenes seized the pass and fortified
it, to which Aratus offered no objection, but endeavoured by a night
march to surprise the cities of Tegea and Orchomenes. However, the
hearts of the traitors within the walls failed them, and so Aratus led
his army back, hoping that his object had not been discovered.
Kleomenes, by way of jest, now wrote him a letter affecting to enquire
of him in the most friendly terms where he had been to in the night. He
answered that he had heard that Kleomenes was about to erect
fortifications at Belbina, and had marched to prevent his doing so. To
this Kleomenes answered that he was satisfied that this had been
Aratus's intention. "But," he continued, "if you do not mind, please
tell me why you brought scaling ladders and torches with you." Aratus
laughed at this home-thrust, and enquired what sort of a youth Kleomenes
might be. Damochares, the Lacedæmonian exile, answered, "If you mean to
do anything against the Lacedæmonians, you must make haste and do it
before this young gamecock's spurs are grown." After this the Ephors
ordered Kleomenes, who was encamped in Arcadia with a few horsemen and
three hundred foot, to retire, as they feared to go to war. But since,
as soon as he had withdrawn, Aratus captured the city of Kaphyæ, they
sent him back again. He captured Methydrium, and overran Argolis, upon
which the Achæans sent an army of twenty thousand foot and a thousand
horse, under the command of Aristomachus, to attack him. Kleomenes met
them near Pallantium, and was eager to fight, but Aratus, alarmed at his
daring, would not permit the Achæan general to fight, and drew off his
forces, incurring thereby the anger of the Achæans, and the ridicule and
contempt of the Lacedæmonians, who only amounted to one-fifth of the
enemy's numbers. This affair gave Kleomenes great self-confidence, and
parodying a saying of one of the ancient kings, he said to his
countrymen that it was useless nowadays for the Lacedæmonians to ask
either how many their enemies were, or where they were.[9]
V. Shortly after, as the Achæans were making war against the Eleans,
Kleomenes was sent to aid the latter, and met with the army of the
Achæans returning home, near the mountain called Lykæum. He attacked
their forces, and utterly routed them, killing many and capturing
numbers of prisoners, so that a report spread throughout Greece that
Aratus himself had perished. But Aratus, turning the disaster to good
account, immediately after the defeat marched to Mantinea, and as no
one expected him, captured the city and placed a strong garrison in it.
This completely disheartened the Lacedæmonians, who desired to recall
Kleomenes and put an end to the war. Kleomenes now sent to Messene and
invited back Archidamus, the brother of Agis, who ought to have been on
the throne as the representative of the other royal family, imagining
that if there were two kings reigning at Sparta at the same time, the
power of the Ephors would be weakened. However, the party who had
previously murdered Agis perceived this, and as they feared that if
Archidamus returned to Sparta he would make them pay the penalty of
their crimes, they welcomed him back and assisted him to make a secret
entry into the city, but immediately afterwards assassinated him, either
against the will of Kleomenes, as we are told by Phylarchus, or else
with his connivance, in consequence of the representations of his
friends. They indeed bore the chief blame in the matter, as they were
thought to have forced Kleomenes into consenting to the murder.
VI. Kleomenes, determined to carry out his designs of reform, now
proceeded to bribe the Ephors into sending him out on a new military
expedition. He also won over a considerable number of supporters among
the citizens by means of the lavish expenditure and influence of his
mother Kratesiklea, who, though averse to a second marriage, is said to
have married one of the leading men in Sparta in order to further her
son's interests.