_Of Agasicles._
Agasicles the Spartan king, when one wondered why, since he was a great
lover of instruction, he would not admit Philophanes the Sophist,
freely said, I ought to be their scholar whose son I am. And to one
enquiring how a governor should be secure without guards, he replied,
If he rules his subjects as fathers do their sons.
_Of Agesilaus the Great._
Agesilaus the Great, being once chosen steward of a feast, and asked by
the butler how much wine he allowed every guest, returned: If you have
a great deal provided, as much as every one calls for; if but a little,
give them all an equal share. When he saw a malefactor resolutely
endure his torments, How great a rascal is this fellow, he cried out,
that uses patience, bravery, and courage, in such an impious and
dishonest case! To one commending an orator for his skill in amplifying
petty matters he said, I don’t think that shoemaker a good workman
that makes a great shoe for a little foot. When one in discourse said
to him, Sir, you have assented to such a thing already, and repeated
it very often, he replied, Yes, if it is right; but if not, I said so
indeed but never assented. And the other rejoining, But, sir, a king is
obliged to perform whatever he hath granted by his nod;[177] No more,
he returned, than those that petition him are bound to make none but
good and just requests, and to consider all circumstances of time and
what befits a king. When he heard any praise or censure, he thought it
as necessary to enquire into the character of those that spake as of
those of whom they spake. While he was a boy, at a certain solemnity
of naked dancing, the person that ordered that affair put him in a
dishonorable place; and he, though already declared king, endured it,
saying, I’ll show that it is not the places that grace men, but men
the places. To a physician prescribing him a nice and tedious course
of physic, he said, By Castor and Pollux, unless I am destined to live
at any rate, I surely shall not if I take all this. Whilst he stood by
the altar of Minerva Chalcioecus sacrificing an ox, a louse bit him.
At this he never blushed, but cracked him before the whole company,
adding these words, By all the Gods, it is pleasant to kill a plotter
at the very altar. Another time seeing a boy pull a mouse by the tail
out of his hole, and the mouse turn and bite the boy’s fingers and so
escape; he bade his companions take notice of it, saying, If so little
a creature will oppose injurious violence, what think ye that men ought
to do?
Being eager for war against the Persians to free the Asiatic Greeks,
he consulted the oracle of Jupiter at Dodona; and that telling him to
go on as he designed, he brought the answer to the Ephors, upon which
they ordered him to go to Delphi and put the same question. He went,
and put it in this form: Apollo, are you of the same mind with your
father? And the oracle agreeing, he was chosen general and the war
began. Now Tissaphernes, at first being afraid of Agesilaus, came to
articles, and agreed that the Greek cities should be free and left to
their own laws; but afterward procuring a great army from the king, he
declared war against him unless he should presently leave Asia. Glad
of this treachery of Tissaphernes, he marched as if his design was
to make an inroad upon Caria; but when Tissaphernes had brought his
troops thither, he turned upon Phrygia, and took a great many cities
and abundance of rich spoil, saying to his friend: To break one’s
promise is indeed impious; but to outwit an enemy is not only just and
glorious, but profitable and sweet. Being inferior to the enemy in
horse, he retreated to Ephesus, and ordered all the wealthy to provide
each a man and horse, which should excuse them from personal service
in his wars. By which means, in the room of rich cowards, he was soon
furnished with stout men and able horses; and this he said he did in
imitation of Agamemnon, who agreed for a serviceable mare to discharge
a wealthy coward. When he ordered the captives to be sold naked and the
chapmen came, a thousand bid money for the clothes, but all derided
the bodies of the men, which were tender and white by reason of their
delicate breeding, as useless and worth nothing. He said to his
soldiers, Look, those are the things for which ye fight, and these are
the things with whom ye fight. Having beaten Tissaphernes in Lydia and
killed many of his men, he wasted the territories of the king; and the
king sending money and desiring a peace, Agesilaus replied: To grant
peace is in the power only of the commonwealth. I delight to enrich my
soldiers rather than myself, and think it agreeable to the honor of the
Greeks not to receive gifts from their enemies but to take spoils.
Megabates the son of Spithridates, a very pretty boy, who thought
himself very well beloved, coming to him to offer a kiss and an
embrace, he turned away his head. But when the boy had not appeared a
long time, Agesilaus enquired after him; and his friends replied, that
it was his own fault, since he derided the kiss of the pretty boy, and
the youth was afraid to come again. Agesilaus, standing silent and
musing a pretty while, said: Well, I will use no persuasions, for
methinks I had rather conquer such desires than take the most popular
city of my enemies; for it is better to preserve our own than rob
others of their liberty. In all things else he was very exact, and a
strict observer of the law; but in his friends’ concerns he thought
that to be too scrupulous was a bare pretence to cloak unwillingness to
use his interest. And agreeable to this, there is extant a small note
of his, interceding for a friend to one Idrieus a Carian: If Nicias is
not guilty, discharge him; if he is, discharge him for my sake; but by
all means pray let him be discharged. This was his usual humor in his
friends’ concerns, yet sometimes profit and convenience was preferred;
for once breaking up his camp in disorder, and leaving one that he
loved behind him sick, when he begged and beseeched him with tears to
have compassion, he turned and said, How hard it is to be pitiful and
wise at once! His diet was the same with that of his attendants; he
never fed to satisfy, nor drank himself drunk; he used sleep not as a
master, but as a servant to his affairs; and was so fitted to endure
heat or cold, that he alone was undisturbed at the change of seasons.
He lodged amongst his soldiers, and his bed was as mean as any; and
this he had always in his mouth: It befits a governor to excel private
men not in delicacy and softness, but in bravery and courage. And
therefore when one asked him what good Lycurgus’s laws had brought to
Sparta, he replied, Contempt of pleasure. And to one that wondered at
his and the other Lacedaemonians’ mean fare and poor attire, he said,
From this course of life, sir, we reap liberty. And to one advising
him to indulge more, saying, Chance is uncertain, and you may never
have the opportunity again, he replied, I accustom myself so that, let
whatever change happen, I shall need no change. When he was grown old,
he continued the same course; and to one asking him why at his age in
very cold weather he would not wear a coat, he replied, that the youth
may imitate, having the old men and governors for example.
The Thasians, when he marched through their country, presented him with
corn, geese, sweetmeats, honey-cakes, and all sorts of delicacies,
both of meat and drink; he accepted the corn, but commanded them to
carry back the rest, as useless and unprofitable to him. But they
importunately pressing him to take all, he ordered them to be given
to the Helots; and when some asked the reason, he replied, They that
profess bravery ought not to meddle with such delicacies; and whatever
takes with slaves cannot be agreeable to the free. Another time the
Thasians, after considerable benefits received, made him a God and
dedicated temples to his honor, and sent an embassy to compliment him
on that occasion. When he had read over the honors the ambassadors had
brought him, Well, said he, and can your country make men Gods? And
they affirming, Go to, he rejoined, make yourselves all Gods first;
and when that is done, I’ll believe you can make me one. The Greeks
in Asia decreeing him statues, he wrote thus to them: Let there be no
representation of me, either painted, founded, or engraved. In Asia,
seeing a house roofed with square beams, he asked the master whether
trees in their country were grown square. And he replying, No, but
round; What then, said he, if they grew square, would you make them
round? Being asked how far Sparta’s bounds extended, shaking a spear he
replied, As far as this will reach. And to another enquiring why Sparta
was without walls, he showed the citizens in arms, saying, Look, these
are the walls of Sparta. And to another that put the same question he
replied, Cities should be walled not with stones and timber, but with
the courage of the inhabitants; and his friends he advised to strive to
be rich not in money, but in bravery and virtue. When he would have his
soldiers do any thing quickly, he before them all put the first hand
to it; he was proud that he wrought as much as any, and valued himself
more upon ruling his own desires than upon being king. When one saw a
lame Spartan marching to the war, and endeavored to procure a horse for
him, How, said he, don’t you know that war needs those that will stay,
not those that will fly? Being asked how he got this great reputation,
he replied, By contemning death. And another time, one enquiring why
the Spartans used pipes and music when they fought, he said, When all
move in measure, it may be known who is brave and who a coward. When he
heard one magnifying the king of Persia’s happiness, who was but young,
Yes, said he, Priam himself was not unhappy at that age.
When he had conquered a great part of Asia, he designed to march
against the King himself, to break his quiet and hinder him from
corrupting the popular men amongst the Greeks; but being recalled by
the Ephors to oppose the designs which the other Greek states, bought
with the King’s gold, were forming against Sparta, he said, A good
ruler should be governed by the laws,—and sailed away from Asia,
leaving the Greeks there extremely sorry at his departure. And because
the stamp of the Persian money was an archer, he said, when he broke
up his camp, that he was driven out of Asia by thirty thousand of the
King’s archers. For so many pieces of gold being carried to Thebes and
Athens by Timocrates, and distributed amongst the popular men, the
people were excited to war upon the Spartans. And this epistle he sent
to the Ephors:—