Agesilaus
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Etext prepared by John Bickers, jbickers@templar.actrix.gen.nz.
AGESILAUS
By Xenophon
Translation by H. G. Dakyns
Dedicated To
Rev. B. Jowett, M.A.
Master of Balliol College
Regius Professor of Greek in the University of Oxford
Xenophon the Athenian was born 431 B.C. He was a
pupil of Socrates. He marched with the Spartans,
and was exiled from Athens. Sparta gave him land
and property in Scillus, where he lived for many
years before having to move once more, to settle
in Corinth. He died in 354 B.C.
The Agesilaus summarises the life of his Spartan
friend and king, whom he met after the events of
the Anabasis.
PREPARER'S NOTE
This was typed from Dakyns' series, "The Works of Xenophon," a
four-volume set. The complete list of Xenophon's works (though
there is doubt about some of these) is:
Work Number of books
The Anabasis 7
The Hellenica 7
The Cyropaedia 8
The Memorabilia 4
The Symposium 1
The Economist 1
On Horsemanship 1
The Sportsman 1
The Cavalry General 1
The Apology 1
On Revenues 1
The Hiero 1
The Agesilaus 1
The Polity of the Athenians and the Lacedaemonians 2
Text in brackets "{}" is my transliteration of Greek text into
English using an Oxford English Dictionary alphabet table. The
diacritical marks have been lost.
AGESILAUS
An Encomium
The date of Agesilaus's death is uncertain--360 B.C. (Grote,
"H. G." ix. 336); 358 B.C. (Curt. iv. 196, Eng. tr.)
I
To write the praises of Agesilaus in language equalling his virtue and
renown is, I know, no easy task; yet must it be essayed; since it were
but an ill requital of pre-eminence, that, on the ground of his
perfection, a good man should forfeit the tribute even of imperfect
praise.
As touching, therefore, the excellency of his birth, what weightier,
what nobler testimony can be adduced than this one fact? To the
commemorative list of famous ancestry is added to-day the name[1]
Agesilaus as holding this or that numerical descent from Heracles, and
these ancestors no private persons, but kings sprung from the loins of
kings. Nor is it open to the gainsayer to contend that they were kings
indeed but of some chance city. Not so, but even as their family holds
highest honour in their fatherland, so too is their city the most
glorious in Hellas, whereby they hold, not primacy over the second
best, but among leaders they have leadership.
[1] Or, "even to-day, in the proud bead-roll of his ancestry he stands
commemorated, in numerical descent from Heracles."
And herein it is open to us to praise both his fatherland and his
family. It is notable that never throughout these ages has Lacedaemon,
out of envy of the privilege accorded to her kings, tried to dissolve
their rule; nor ever yet throughout these ages have her kings strained
after greater powers than those which limited their heritage of
kingship from the first. Wherefore, while all other forms of
government, democracies and oligarchies, tyrannies and monarchies,
alike have failed to maintain their continuity unbroken, here, as the
sole exception, endures indissolubly their kingship.[2]
[2] See "Cyrop." I. i. 1.
And next in token of an aptitude for kingship seen in Agesilaus,
before even he entered upon office, I note these signs. On the death
of Agis, king of Lacedaemon, there were rival claimants to the throne.
Leotychides claimed the succession as being the son of Agis, and
Agesilaus as the son of Archidamus. But the verdict of Lacedaemon
favoured Agesilaus as being in point of family and virtue
unimpeachable,[3] and so they set him on the throne. And yet, in this
princeliest of cities so to be selected by the noblest citizens as
worthy of highest privilege, argues, methinks conclusively, an
excellence forerunning exercise of rule.[4]
[3] For this matter see "Hell." III. iii. 1-6; V. iv. 13; Plut.
"Ages." iii. 3 (Cloigh, iv. 3 foll.); Paus. iii. 3.
[4] See Aristides ("Rhet." 776), who quotes the passage for its
measured cadence.
And so I pass on at once to narrate the chief achievements of his
reign, since by the light of deeds the character of him who wrought
them will, if I mistake not, best shine forth.
Agesilaus was still a youth[5] when he obtained the kingdom, and he
was still but a novice in his office when the news came that the king
of Persia was collecting a mighty armament by sea and land for the
invasion of Hellas. The Lacedaemonians and their allies sat debating
these matters, when Agesilaus undertook to cross over into Asia. He
only asked for thirty Spartans and two thousand New Citizens,[6]
besides a contingent of the allies six thousand strong; with these he
would cross over into Asia and endeavour to effect a peace; or, if the
barbarian preferred war, he would leave him little leisure to invade
Hellas.
[5] B.C. 399; according to Plut. ("Ages." ad fin.) he was forty-three,
and therefore still "not old." See "Hell." III. iv. 1 for the
startling news, B.C. 396.
[6] For the class of Neodamodes, see Arnold's note to Thuc. v. 34
(Jowett, "Thuc." ii. 307); also Thuc. vii. 58; "Hell." I. iii. 15.
The proposal was welcomed with enthusiasm on the part of many. They
could not but admire the eagerness of their king to retaliate upon the
Persian for his former invasions of Hellas by counter-invasion on his
own soil. They liked the preference also which he showed for attacking
rather than awaiting his enemy's attack, and his intention to carry on
the war at the expense of Persia rather than that of Hellas; but it
was the perfection of policy, they felt, so to change the arena of
battle, with Asia as the prize of victory instead of Hellas. If we
pass on to the moment when he had received his army and set sail, I
can conceive no clearer exposition of his generalship than the bare
narration of his exploits.
The scene is Asia, and this his first achievement. Tissaphernes had
sworn an oath to Agesilaus on this wise: if Agesilaus would grant him
an armistice until the return of certain ambassadors whom he would
send to the king, he (Tissaphernes) would do his utmost to procure the
independence of the Hellenic cities in Asia. And Agesilaus took a
counter oath: without fraud or covin to observe the armistice during
the three months[7] necessary to that transaction. But the compact was
scarcely made when Tissaphernes gave the lie to the solemn undertaking
he had sworn to. So far from effecting peace, he begged the King to
send him a large armament in addition to that which he already had. As
to Agesilaus, though he was well aware of these proceedings, he
adhered loyally to the armistice.
[7] See Grote, "H. G." x. 359; "Hell." III. iv. 5.
And for myself, I look upon this as the first glorious achievement of
the Spartan. By displaying the perjury of Tissaphernes he robbed him
of his credit with all the world; by the exhibition of himself in
contrast as a man who ratified his oath and would not gainsay an
article of his agreement, he gave all men, Hellenes and barbarians
alike, encouragement to make covenant with him to the full extent of
his desire.
When Tissaphernes, priding himself on the strength of that army which
had come down to aid him, bade Agesilaus to be gone from Asia or to
prepare for war,[8] deep was the vexation depicted on the faces of the
Lacedaemonians there present and their allies, as they realised that
the scanty force of Agesilaus was all too small to cope with the
armaments of Persia. But the brow of their general was lit with joy as
gaily he bade the ambassadors take back this answer to Tissaphernes:
"I hold myself indebted to your master for the perjury whereby he has
obtained to himself the hostility of heaven, and made the gods
themselves allies of Hellas." And so without further pause he
published a general order to his soldiers to pack their baggage and
prepare for active service; and to the several cities which lay on the
line of march to Caria, the order sped to have their markets in
readiness; while to the men of Ionia and the Aeolid and the Hellespont
he sent despatches bidding them send their contingents to Ephesus to
join in the campaign.
[8] Lit. "When Tissaphernes, priding himself . . . bade Agesilaus be
gone . . . deep was the annoyance felt."
Tissaphernes meanwhile was influenced by the fact that Agesilaus had
no cavalry, and that Caria was a hilly district unsuited for that arm.
Moreover, as he further bethought him, Agesilaus must needs be wroth
with him for his deceit. What could be clearer, therefore, than that
he was about to make a dash at the satrap's home in Caria? Accordingly
he transported the whole of his infantry into Caria and marched his
cavalry round the while into the plain of the Maeander, persuaded that
he would trample the Hellenes under the hoofs of his horses long
before they reached the district where no cavalry could operate.
But Agesilaus, instead of advancing upon Caria, turned right about and
marched in the direction of Phrygia. Picking up the various forces
that met him on his progress, he passed onwards, laying city after
city at his feet, and by the suddenness of his incursion capturing
enormous wealth.
Here was an achievement which showed the genius of a general, as all
agreed. When once war as declared, and the arts of circumvention and
deceit were thereby justified, he had proved Tissaphernes to be a very
bade in subtlety;[9] and with what sagacity again did he turn the
circumstances to account for the enrichment of his friends. Owing to
the quantity of wealth captured, precious things were selling for a
mere song. Thereupon he gave his friends warning to make their
purchases, adding that he should at once march down to the sea-coast
at the head of his troops. The quartermasters meanwhile received
orders to make a note of the purchasers with the prices of the
articles, and to consign the goods. The result was that, without prior
disbursement on their part, or detriment to the public treasury, his
friends reaped an enormous harvest. Moreover, when deserters came with
offers to disclose hidden treasures, and naturally enough laid their
proposal before the king himself, he took care to have the capture of
these treasures effected by his friends, which would enable them to do
a stroke of business, and at the same time redound to their prestige.
For this reason he was not long in discovering many an eager aspirant
to his friendship.
[9] See below, xi. 4; "Mem." III. i. 6; IV. ii. 15; "Cyrop." I. vi.
31; Plut. "Ages." xi. (Clough, iv. 10).
But a country pillaged and denuded of inhabitants would not long
support an army. That he felt. A more perennial source of supply was
surely to be found in waving cornfields and thickly clustering
homesteads. So with infinite pains he set himself not merely to crush
his foes by force, but also to win them to his side by gentleness. In
this spirit he often enjoined upon his soldiers to guard their
captives as fellow-men rather than take vengeance upon them as
evildoers;[10] or, on a change of quarters, if aware of little
children left behind by the dealers (since the men often sold them in
the belief that it would be impossible to carry them away and rear
them), he would show concern in behalf of these poor waifs and have
them conveyed to some place of safety; or he would entrust them to the
care of fellow-prisoners also left behind on account of old age; in no
case must they be left to ravening dogs and wolves. In this way he won
the goodwill not only of those who heard tell of these doings but of
the prisoners themselves. And whenever he brought over a city to his
side, he set the citizens free from the harsher service of a bondsman
to his lord, imposing the gentler obedience of a freeman to his ruler.
Indeed, there were fortresses impregnable to assault which he brought
under his power by the subtler force of human kindness.
[10] See Grote, vol. ix. p. 365 foll.
But when, in Phrygia even, the freedom of his march along the flats
was hampered by the cavalry of Pharnabazus, he saw that if he wished
to avoid a skulking warfare under cover, a force of cavalry was
indispensable. Accordingly he enlisted the wealthiest members of every
city in those parts to breed and furnish horses; with this saving
clause, however: that the individual who furnished a horse and arms
with a good rider should be exempt from service himself. By this means
he engendered an eagerness to discharge the obligation, not unlike
that of the condemned man, casting about to discover some one to die
in his place.[11] He further ordered some of the states themselves to
furnish contingents of mounted troopers, and this in the conviction
that from such training-centres he would presently get a pick of
cavaliers proud of their horsemanship. And thus once more he won
golden opinions by the skill with which he provided himself with a
body of cavalry in the plenitude of strength and ripe for active
service.
[11] Instead of the plain {zetoie} of the parallel passage ("Hell."
III. iv. 15) the encomiast prefers the poetical {masteuoi}.
On the approach of early spring[12] he collected his whole armament at
Ephesus, and set himself to the work of training it. With that object
he proposed a series of prizes: one set for the cavalry squadron which
rode best, another for the heavy infantry divisions which presented
the best physique, another again for various light troops, peltasts,
and bowmen, which showed themselves most efficient in their respective
duties.
[12] B.C. 395; see "Hell." III. iv. 16; Plut. "Marcel." (Clough, ii.
262); Polyb. xii. 20, 7.
Thereupon it was a sight to see the gymnasiums thronged with warriors
going through their exercises, the racecourses crowded with troopers
on prancing steeds, the archers and the javelin men shooting at the
butts. Nay, the whole city in which he lay was transformed into a
spectacle itself, so filled to overflowing was the market-place with
arms and armour of every sort, and horses, all for sale. Here were
coppersmiths and carpenters, ironfounders and cobblers, painters and
decorators--one and all busily engaged in fabricating the implements
of war; so that an onlooker might have thought the city of Ephesus
itself a gigantic arsenal. It would have kindled courage in the breast
of a coward to see the long lines of soldiers, with Agesilaus at their
head, all garlanded as they marched in proud procession from the
gymnasiums and dedicated their wreaths to our Lady Artemis. Since,
where these three elements exist--reverence towards heaven, practice
in military affairs, and obedience to command--all else must needs be
full of happy promise.
But seeing that contempt for the foe is calculated to infuse a certain
strength in face of battle, he ordered his criers to strip naked the
barbarians captured by his foraging parties, and so to sell them. The
soldiers who saw the white skins of these folk, unused to strip for
toil, soft and sleek and lazy-looking, as of people who could only
stir abroad in carriages, concluded that a war with women would
scarcely be more formidable. Then he published a further order to the
soldiers: "I shall lead you at once by the shortest route to the
stronghold[13] of the enemy's territory. Your general asks you to keep
yourselves on the alert in mind and body, as men about to enter the
lists of battle on the instant."
[13] Or, "the richest parts of the country," viz. Lydia; Plut. "Ages."
x.
But Tissaphernes was persuaded that this was all talk on his part for
the purpose of outwitting him a second time: now certainly Agesilaus
would make an incursion into Caria. So once again the satrap
transported his infantry over into that country just has he had done
before, and as before he posted his cavalry in the plain of the
Maeander.
This time, however, Agesilaus was true to his word. In accordance with
his published order he advanced straight upon the region of Sardis,
and, during a three days' march through a country where not an enemy
was to be seen, provided his army with abundant supplies. On the
fourth day the enemy's cavalry came up. The Persian general ordered
the commandant of his baggage train to cross the Pactolus and encamp,
whilst his troopers, who had caught sight of the camp followers of the
Hellenes scattered in search of booty, put many of them to the sword.
Agesilaus, aware how matters were going, ordered his cavalry to the
rescue, and the Persians on their side, seeing the enemy's supports
approaching, collected and formed up in line to receive them with the
serried squadrons of their cavalry. And now Agesilaus, conscious that
his enemy's infantry had not as yet arrived, whilst on his side no
element in his preparation was lacking, felt that the moment was come
to join battle if he could. Accordingly he sacrificed and advanced
against the opposing lines of cavalry. A detachment of heavy infantry,
the ten-years-service men, had orders to close with them at the run,
while the light infantry division were told to show them the way at a
swinging pace. At the same time he passed the order along the line of
his cavalry to charge in reliance of the support of himself and the
main body in their rear. Charge they did, these troopers, and the pick
of Persian cavalry received them bravely, but in face of the conjoint
horror of the attack they swerved, and some were cut down at once in
the river-bed, while others sought safety in flight. The Hellenes
followed close on the heels of the flying foe, and captured his camp.
Here the peltasts, not unnaturally, fell to pillaging, whereupon
Agesilaus formed a cordon of troops, round the property of friends and
foes alike, and so encamped.
Presently hearing that the enemy were in a state of disorder, the
result of every one holding his fellow responsible for what had
happened, he advanced without further stay on Sardis. Having arrived,
he fell to burning and ravaging the suburbs, while at the same time he
did not fail to make it known by proclamation that those who asked for
freedom should join his standard; or if there were any who claimed a
right of property in Asia he challenged them to come out and meet her
liberators in fair fight and let the sword decide between them.
Finding that no one ventured to come out to meet him, his march became
for the future a peaceful progress. All around him he beheld Hellenes
who formerly were forced to bow the knee to brutal governors now
honoured by their former tyrants, while those who had claimed to enjoy
divine honours were so humbled by him that they scarce dared to look a
Hellene in the face. Everywhere he saved the territory of his friends
from devastation, and reaped the fruits of the enemy's soil to such
good effect that within two years he was able to dedicate as a tithe
to the god at Delphi more than one hundred talents.[14]
[14] = 25,000 pounds nearly.
It was then that the Persian king, believing that Tissaphernes was to
blame for the ill success of his affairs, sent down Tithraustes and
cut off the satrap's head. After this the fortunes of the barbarians
grew still more desperate, whilst those of Agesilaus assumed a bolder
front. On all side embassies from the surrounding nations came to make
terms of friendship, and numbers even came over to him, stretching out
eager arms to grasp at freedom. So that Agesilaus was now no longer
the chosen captain of the Hellenes only, but of many Asiatics.
And here we may pause and consider what a weight of admiration is due
to one who, being now ruler over countless cities of the continent,
and islands also (since the state had further entrusted the navy to
his hands), just when he had reached this pinnacle of renown and
power, and might look to turn to account his thronging fortunes; when,
too, which overtops all else, he was cherishing fond hopes to dissolve
that empire which in former days had dared to march on Hellas;--at
such a moment suffered himself not to be overmastered by these
promptings, but on receipt of a summons of the home authorities to
come to the assistance of the fatherland, obeyed the mandate of his
state as readily[15] as though he stood confronted face to face with
the Five in the hall of ephors; and thus gave clear proof that he
would not accept the whole earth in exchange for the land of his
fathers, nor newly-acquired in place of ancient friends, nor base
gains ingloriously purchased rather than the perilous pursuit of
honour and uprightness.[16]
[15] Cf. Hor. "Od." III. v. 50.
[16] See Pindar, "Olymp." vi. 14.
And, indeed, glancing back at the whole period during which he
remained in the exercise of his authority, no act of deeper
significance in proof of his kingly qualities need be named than this.
He found the cities which he was sent out to govern each and all a
prey to factions, the result of constitutional disturbances consequent
on the cessation of the Athenian empire, and without resort to exile
or sanguinary measures he so disposed them by his healing presence
that civil concord and material prosperity were permanently
maintained. Therefore it was that the Hellenes in Asia deplored his
departure,[17] as though they had lost, not simply a ruler, but a
father or bosom friend, and in the end they showed that their
friendship was of no fictitious character. At any rate, they
voluntarily helped him to succour Lacedaemon, though it involved, as
they knew, the need of doing battle with combatants of equal prowess
with themselves. So the tale of his achievements in Asia has an end.
[17] See Plut. "Ages." xv.
II
He crossed the Hellespont and made his way through the very tribes
traversed by the Persian[1] with his multitudinous equipment in former
days, and the march which cost the barbarian a year was accomplished
by Agesilaus in less than a single month. He did not want to arrive a
day too late to serve his fatherland. And so passing through Macedonia
he arrived in Thessaly, and here the men of Larissa, Crannon,
Scotussa, and Pharsalus, who were allies of the Boeotians, and indeed
all the Thessalians, with the exception of those who were in exile at
the time, combined to dog his steps and do him damage. For a while he
led his troops in a hollow square, posting one half of his cavalry in
the van and the other half on his rear, but finding his march hindered
by frequent attacks of the Thessalians on his hindmost divisions, he
sent round the mass of his cavalry from the vanguard to support his
rear, reserving only his personal escort.[2] And now in battle order
the rival squadrons faced each other; when the Thessalians, not liking
a cavalry engagement in face of heavy infantry, wheeled and step by
step retreated; their opponents with much demureness following. Then
Agesilaus, detecting the common error under which both parties
laboured, sent round his own bodyguard of stalwart troopers with
orders to their predecessors (an order they would act upon themselves)
to charge the enemy at full gallop and not give him a chance to rally.
The Thessalians, in face of this unexpected charge, either could not
so much as rally, or in the attempt to do so were caught with their
horses' flanks exposed to the enemy's attack. Polycharmus, the
Pharsalian, a commandant of cavalry, did indeed succeed in wheeling,
but was cut down with those about him sword in hand. This was the
signal for a flight so extraordinary that dead and dying lined the
road, and the living were captured wholesale, nor was a halt made
until the pursuers reached Mount Narthacius. Here, midway between Pras
and Narthacius, Agesilaus erected a trophy, and here for the moment he
halted in unfeigned satisfaction at his exploit, since it was from an
antagonist boasting the finest cavalry in the world that he had
wrested victory with a body of cavalry organised by himself.
[1] I.e. "Xerxes."
[2] I.e. "the Three hundred." See Thuc. v. 72; "Pol. Lac." xiii. 6.
Next day, crossing the mountain barrier of Achaea Phthiotis, his march
lay through friendly territory for the rest of the way as far as the
frontiers of Boeotia. Here he found the confederates drawn up in
battle line. They consisted of the Thebans, the Athenians, the
Argives, the Corinthians, the Aenianians, the Euboeans, and both
divisions of the Locrians.[3] He did not hesitate, but openly before
their eyes drew out his lines to give them battle. He had with him a
division[4] and a half of Lacedaemonians, and from the seat of war
itself the allied troops of the Phocians and the men of Orchomenus
only, besides the armament which he had brought with him from Asia.