After this bold stroke, all opposition sunk before them, and every thing succeeded to their wishes; when the single avarice of Agesilaus, that most baneful pest, as Plutarch terms it, which had subverted a constitution the most excellent, and the most worthy of Sparta that had ever yet been established, overset the whole enterprise. By the character which Plutarch gives of Agesilaus, he appears to have been artful and eloquent, but at the same time effeminate, corrupt in his manners, avaricious, and so bad a man, that he engaged in this projected revolution with no other view but that of extricating himself from an immense load of debt, which he had most probably contracted to support his luxury.[31] As soon therefore as the two kings, who were both young men, agreed to proceed upon the abolition of debts, and the partition of lands, Agesilaus artfully persuaded them not to attempt both at once, for fear of exciting some terrible commotion in the city. He assured them farther that if the rich should once be reconciled to the law for cancelling the debts, the law for dividing the lands would go down with them quietly and without the least obstruction. The kings assented to his opinion, and Lysander himself was brought over to it, deceived by the same specious, though pernicious reasoning: calling in therefore all the bills, bonds, and pecuniary obligations, they piled them up, and burnt them all publickly in the forum, to the great mortification of the moneyed men, and the usurers. But Agesilaus in the joy of his heart could not refrain from joking upon the occasion, and told them with a sneer, that whatever they might think of the matter, it was the brightest and most cheerful flame, and the purest bonfire, he had ever beheld in his lifetime.[32] Agesilaus had now carried his point, and his conduct proves, that the Spartans had learned the art of turning publick measures into private jobs, as well as their politer neighbours. For though the people called loudly for the partition of lands, and the kings gave orders for it to be done immediately, Agesilaus contrived to throw new obstacles in the way, and protracted the time by various pretences, until Agis was obliged to march with the Spartan auxiliaries to assist their allies the Achæans. For he was in possession of a most fertile and extensive landed estate at the very time when he owed more than he was worth; and as he had got rid of all his incumbrances at once by the first decree, and never intended to part with a single foot of his land, it was by no means his interest to promote the execution of the second.