Agesilaus II, King of Sparta; Classical literature; Greece -- History -- Spartan and Theban Supremacies, 404-362 B.C.
(9) I.e. "for the games."
(10) I.e. "at Olympia." Cynisca, according to Pausanias (iii. 8), was
the first woman who won a prize at Olympia. See also Plut. "Ages."
xx. (Clough, iv. p. 23).
X
It is as possessiong qualities such as these that I praise Agesilaus.
And in these matters he was not like a man who chances upon a treasure
and thereby becomes wealthier, albeit none the more skilful in
economy; nor yet like him who, when a plague has fallen upon an enemy,
wrests a victory, whereby he may add to his reputation for success,
but not for strategy. Rather was his example that of one who in each
emergency will take the lead; at a crisis where toil is needful, by
endurance; or in the battle-lists of bravery by prowess; or when the
function of the counsellor is uppermost, by the soundness of his
judgment. Of such a man I say, he has obtained by warrant indefeasible
the title peerless.
And if, as a means towards good workmanship, we count among the noble
inventions of mankind the rule and the plummet, (1) no less happily
shall we, who desire to attain a manly excellence, find in the virtue
of Agesilaus a pattern and example. He was God-fearing, he was just in
all his dealings, sound of soul and self-controlled. How then shall we
who imitate him become his opposite, unholy, unjust, tyrannical,
licentious? And, truth to say, this man prided himself, not so much on
being a king over others as on ruling himself, (2) not so much on
leading his citizens to attack the enemy as on guiding them to embrace
all virtue.
(1) See Aeschin. "c. Ctes." p. 52, 25; Plat. "Phileb." 56 B.
(2) See Plut. "Apophth. Lac." p. 104.
Yet let it not be supposed, because he whom we praise has finished
life, that our discourse must therefore be regarded as a funeral
hymn. (3) Far rather let it be named a hymn of praise, since in the
first place it is only the repetition, now that he is dead, of a tale
familiar to his ears when living. And in the next place, what is more
remote from dirge and lamentation than a life of glory crowned by
seasonable death? What more deserving of song and eulogy than
resplendent victories and deeds of highest note? Surely if one man
rather than another may be accounted truly blest, it is he who, from
his boyhood upwards, thirsted for glory, and beyond all contemporary
names won what he desired; who, being gifted with a nature most
emulous of honour, remained from the moment he was king unconquered;
who attained the fullest term of mortal life and died without
offence (4) committed, whether as concerning those at whose head he
marched, or as towards those others against whom he fought in war.
(3) See Symonds' "Greek Poets," ch. v.
(4) As to the word {anamartetos} so translated, see Breitenbach, Exc.
ad x. 4 of his edition.
XI
It only remains for me, under the form of headings, (1) to review the
topic of this great man's virtue, in hopes that thus his eulogy may
cling to the memory more lastingly.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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