Agesilaus is said to have been a little man, of a contemptible presence;
but the goodness of his humor, and his constant cheerfulness and
playfulness of temper, always free from anything of moroseness or
haughtiness, made him more attractive, even to his old age, than the
most beautiful and youthful men of the nation. Theophrastus writes,
that the Ephors laid a fine upon Archidamus for marrying a little wife,
"For," said they, "she will bring us a race of kinglets, instead of
kings."
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 should be the
father of children.
When the Mantineans revolted from Thebes to Sparta, and Epaminondas
understood that Agesilaus had come to their assistance with a powerful
army, he privately in the night quitted his quarters at Tegea, and
unknown to the Mantineans, passing by Agesilaus, marched toward Sparta,
insomuch that he failed very little of taking it empty and unarmed.
Agesilaus had intelligence sent him by Euthynus, the Thespian, as
Callisthenes says, but Xenophon says by a Cretan, and immediately
despatched a horseman to Lacedaemon, to apprise them of it, and to let
them know that he was hastening to them. Shortly after his arrival the
Thebans crossed the Eurotas. They made an assault upon the town, and
were received by Agesilaus with great courage, and with exertions beyond
what was to be expected at his years. For he did not now fight with that
caution and cunning which he formerly made use of, but put all upon a
desperate push; which, though not his usual method, succeeded so well,
that he rescued the city out of the very hands of Epaminondas, and
forced him to retire, and, at the erection of a trophy, was able, in the
presence of their wives and children, to declare that the Lacedaemonians
had nobly paid their debt to their country, and particularly his son
Archidamus, who had that day made himself illustrious, both by his
courage and agility of body, rapidly passing about by the short lanes to
every endangered point, and everywhere maintaining the town against the
enemy with but few to help him. Isadas, too, the son of Phoebidas,
must have been, I think, the admiration of the enemy as well as of his
friends. He was a youth of remarkable beauty and stature, in the very
flower of the most attractive time of life, when the boy is just rising
into the man. He had no arms upon him, and scarcely clothes; he had just
anointed himself at home, when, upon the alarm, without further waiting,
in that undress, he snatched a spear in one hand, and a sword in the
other, and broke his way through the combatants to the enemies, striking
at all he met. He received no wound, whether it were that a special
divine care rewarded his valor with an extraordinary protection,
or whether his shape being so large and beautiful, and his dress
so unusual, they thought him more than a man. The Ephors gave him a
garland; but as soon as they had done so, they fined him a thousand
drachma, for going out to battle unarmed.