Agesilaus, though very much weakened by the great number of his wounds, and the quantity of blood he had lost, would not retire to his tent till he had been carried to the place where his phalanx was drawn up, and had seen all the dead bodies removed even upon their own arms. He was informed there, that many of the enemy had taken refuge in the temple of the Itonian Minerva, which was not very distant from the field of battle, and asked what he would have done with them. As he was full of veneration for the gods, he gave orders to let them go, and even sent them a guard to escort them in safety wherever they thought fit.

The next morning, Agesilaus, to try whether the Thebans would have the courage to renew the battle, commanded his troops to crown themselves with flowers, and the music of the army to play, whilst a trophy was erected and adorned in honour of his victory. At the same instant the enemy sent heralds to demand his permission to bury their dead; which he granted, with a truce; and having confirmed his victory by that act of a conqueror, he caused himself to be carried to Delphi, where the Pythian games were then celebrated. He made there a solemn procession, which was followed by a sacrifice, and consecrated to the god the tenth part of the booty taken in Asia, which amounted to a hundred talents.* These great men, no less religious than brave, never failed to express by presents their gratitude to the gods for their successes in arms; declaring, by that public homage, that they believed themselves indebted to their protection for their victories.

SECT. V. AGESILAUS RETURNS VICTORIOUS TO SPARTA. He always retains HIS SIMPLICITY AND ANCIENT MANNERS. CONON REBUILDS THE WALLS OF ATHENS. A PEACE, DISGRACEFUL TO THE GREEKS, CONCLUDED BY ANTALCIDAS THE LACEDEMONIAN. After the festival, Agesilaus returned to Sparta. His citizens received him with all the marks of the most real joy, and beheld him with admiration, when they observed the simplicity of his manners and the constant Plut. in Agesil. p. 606.

VOL. III.

A hundred thousand crowns, or about 22,500/. sterting.

frugality and temperance of his life. At his return from foreign countries, where pomp, luxury, sloth, and the love of pleasures prevailed, he was not infected with the manners of the barbarians, as most of the other generals had been: he made no alteration in his diet, baths, equipage of his wife, ornaments of his arms, or furniture of his house. In the midst of so brilliant a reputation, and the universal applause, always the same, or rather more modest than before, he distinguished himself from the rest of the citizens, only by a greater submission to the laws, and a more inviolable attachment to the customs of his country; convinced, that he was king, only to be the brighter example of those virtues to others.

He made greatness consist in virtue only. Hearing the Great King (so the kings of Persia used to call themselves) spoken of in magnificent terms, and his power extremely extolled; * I cannot conceive,' said he, wherein he is greater than I, unless he be more virtuous.'

There were at Sparta some citizens, who, vitiated by the prevailing taste of Greece, made their merit and glory consist in keeping a great number of horses for the race. He persuaded his sister Cynisca to dispute the prize in the Olympic games, in order to show the Greeks that those victories, on which they set so high a value, were not the effects of valour and bravery, but of riches and expense. She was the first of her sex who shared in this honour. He had not the same opinion of the exercises which contribute to render the body more robust, and inure it to labour and fatigue; and, to place them in greater estimation, would often honour them with his presence.

Sometime after Lysander's death, he discovered the conspiracy formed by that captain against the two kings, which till then had not been heard of, and came to light by a kind of accident, in the following manner: Upon some affairs which related to the government, it was necessary to consult Lysander's papers, and Agesilaus went to his house for that purpose. In running them over, he fell upon the sheets which contained at large the harangue of Cleon, which had been prepared to b Id. in Agesil. p. 606. * Τί δ' ἐμᾶ γε μείζον ἐκεῖνος, εἰ μὴ καὶ δικαιότερος.

Plut. de sui laud. P 555.

recommend the new method of proceeding in the election of kings. Surprised at perusing it, he gave over his search, and went away abruptly, to communicate that oration to the citizens, and to let them see what manner of man Lysander was, and how much they had been deceived in regard to him. But Lacratidas, a wise and prudent person, who was president of the Ephori, interposed, by telling him, that it was highly improper to raise Lysander from the dead, on the contrary, that it was necessary to bury his harangue in the same grave with him, as a production of dangerous tendency, from the great art with which it was composed, and the force of persuasion that universally prevailed in it, which it might prove no easy matter to resist. Agesilaus was of the same opinion; and the piece was consigned to silence and oblivion, as the best use that could be made of it.

с

As his credit was very high in the city, he caused Teleutias, his brother by the mother's side, to be declared admiral of the fleet. It were to be wished, that history, to justify this choice, had mentioned some other qualities in that commander than his nearness of blood to the king. Agesilaus soon after set out with his land-army to besiege Corinth, and took the long walls, as they were called, whilst his brother Teleutias attacked it by sea. He did several other exploits against the people of Greece at war with Sparta, which always indeed evince the valour and experience of the general, but are neither very important nor decisive, and which we thought, for that reason, might be omitted.

At the same time Pharnabasus and Conon, having made themselves masters at sea, ravaged the whole coast

A. M. 3611.

393.

of Laconia. That satrap, returning to his govern- Ant. J. C. ment of Phrygia, left Conon the command of the naval army, with very considerable sums for the reestablishment of Athens. Conon, victorious and crowned with glory, repaired thither, where he was received with universal applause. The sad prospect of a city, formerly so flourishing, and at that time reduced to so melancholy a condition, gave him more grief than he felt joy in seeing his beloved country again, after c Plut. in Agesil. p. 607.

d Xenoph. Hist. Græc. 1. iv. p. 534-537. Diod. 1. xiv. p. 303. Justin, 1. vi. c. 5.

so many years' absence. He lost no time, but fell immediately to work, employing, besides masons and the usual artisans, the soldiers, mariners, citizens, allies, in a word, all that were well inclined to Athens; Providence decreeing, that this city, formerly destroyed by the Persians, should be rebuilt by their own hands; and that having been dismantled and demolished by the Lacedæmonians, it should be reinstated at their own cost, and by the spoils taken from them. What a vicissitude and alteration was this! Athens at this time had those for its allies, who had formerly been its most violent enemies; and for enemies, those with whom before it had contracted the most strict and closest union. Conon, seconded by the zeal of the Thebans, soon rebuilt the walls of Athens, restored the city to its ancient splendour, and rendered it more formidable than ever to its enemies. After having offered to the gods a whole hecatomb, that is to say, a sacrifice of a hundred oxen, as a thanksgiving for the happy reestablishment of Athens, he made a feast, to which all the citizens, without exception, were invited.

'Sparta could not see without extreme affliction so glorious a revolution. It looked upon the grandeur and power of a city, its ancient rival and almost continual enemy, as its own ruin. This made the Lacedæmonians take the mean resolution of avenging themselves at once upon Athens, and Conon its restorer, by making peace with the king of Persia. With this view they despatched Antalcidas to Tiribasus. His commission consisted of two principal articles. The first was, to accuse Conon to that satrap of having defrauded the king of the money which he had employed in the reestablishment of Athens; and of having formed the design of depriving the Persians of Æolia and Ionia, in order to subject them anew to the republic of Athens, upon which they had formerly depended. By the second, he had orders to make the most advantageous proposals to Tiribasus that his master could desire. Without giving himself any manner of trouble in regard to Asia, he stipulated only, that all the islands, and other cities, should enjoy their laws and liberty. The Lacedæmonians thus gave

• Athen. 1. i. p.

3.

· Xenoph Hist. Græc. 1. iv. p. 537, 538. Plut. in Agesil. p. 608.

up to the king, with the greatest injustice and the utmost baseness, all the Greeks settled in Asia, for whose liberty Agesilaus had so long fought. It is true, he had no share in this most infamous negotiation; the whole reproach of which ought to fall on Antalcidas, who, being the sworn enemy of the king of Sparta, hastened the peace by all manner of means, because the war augmented the authority, glory, and reputation of Agesilaus.

The most considerable cities of Greece had sent deputies at the same time to Tiribasus, and Conon was at the head of those from Athens. All of them were unanimous in rejecting such proposals. Without speaking of the interest of the Greeks of Asia, with which they were extremely affected, they saw themselves exposed by this treaty; the Athenians, to the loss of the isles of Lemnos, Imbros, and Scyros; the Thebans, to abandon the cities of Boeotia of which they were in possession, and which would thereby regain their independence; and the Argives, to renounce Corinth, with the loss of which that of Argos itself would soon, in all probability, be attended. The deputies therefore withdrew without concluding any thing.

Tiribasus seized Conon, and put him in prison. Not daring to declare openly for the Lacedæmonians without an express order to that purpose, he contented himself with supplying them underhand with considerable sums of money for fitting out a fleet, in order that the other cities of Greece might not be in a condition to oppose them. After having taken these precautions, he set out directly for the court, to give the king an account of the state of his negotiation. That prince was well satisfied with it, and directed him in the strongest terms to put the last hand to it. Tiribasus also laid before him the Lacedæmonians' accusation of Conon. Some authors, according to Cornelius Nepos, have affirmed that he was carried to Susa, and there executed by the king's order. The silence of Xenophon, who was his contemporary, in regard to his death, makes it doubtful, whether he escaped from prison, or suffered as has been said.

Whilst this treaty was negotiating, several actions of little consequence passed between the Athenians and Lacedæmonians. It was also at the same time that Evagoras extended