HIS JOURNEY TO AMMON.

207

bazus was beloved by the Lacedæmonians, having been in the war the most zealous on their side of all the king's generals. But after the magistrates had read the letter they showed it him, and he understanding now that

Others beside Ulysses deep can be,

Not the one wise man of the world is he,

But a few

left them at the time in extreme confusion. days after, meeting the Ephors, he said he must go to the temple of Ammon, and offer the god the sacrifices which he had vowed in the war. For some state it as a truth, that when he was besieging the town of Aphyte in Thrace, Ammon stood by him in his sleep; whereupon raising the siege, supposing the god had commanded it, he bade the Aphytæans sacrifice to Ammon, and resolved to make a journey into Libya to propitiate the god. But most were of opinion that the god was but the pretence, and that in reality he was afraid of the Ephors, and that impatience of the yoke at home, and dislike of living under authority, made him long for some travel and wandering, like a horse just brought in from open feeding and pasture to the stable, and put again to his ordinary work. For what Ephorus states to have been the cause of this travelling about I shall relate by and by.

And having hardly and with difficulty obtained leave 21 of the magistrates to depart, he set sail. But the kings, while he was on his voyage, considering that keeping, as he did, the cities in possession by his own friends and partisans, he was in fact their sovereign and the lord of Greece, took measures for restoring the power

to the people and for throwing his friends out.*
A new
movement now commencing in this direction, and, first
of all, the Athenians from Phyle setting upon their
Thirty rulers and overpowering them, Lysander, coming

sion of

Thirty

Expul home in haste, persuaded the Lacedæmonians to support the the oligarchies and to put down the popular governTyrants ments; and to the Thirty in Athens, first of all, they sent a hundred talents for the war, and Lysander himself, as general, to assist them. But the kings, envying him and fearing lest he should take Athens again, re

B.C. 403.

*This, however, was pretty certainly before the recall of Lysander by the scytala. The kings may have taken measures of the same kind also afterwards when he was away on his voyage. But the movement at Athens took place very early; the Thirty were only in power for a few months, and were ex

EXPULSION OF THE THIRTY.

209

solved that one of themselves should take the command. Accordingly Pausanias went, and in words indeed professed as if he had been for the tyrants against the people, but in reality exerted himself for peace, that Lysander might not, by means of his friends, become lord of Athens again. This he brought easily to pass; and reconciling the Athenians and quieting the tumults, he defeated the ambitious hopes of Lysander. Though shortly after, on the Athenians renouncing the Spartan supremacy, he was censured for having thus taken, as were, the bit out of the mouth of the people, which, being freed from the oligarchy, could now break out again into affronts and insolence; and Lysander regained the reputation of a person who employed his command not in gratification of others, nor for vain show, but strictly for the good of Sparta.

it

His speech also was high and daunting to such as 22 opposed him. The Argives, for example, contended about the bounds of their land, and thought they brought juster pleas than the Lacedæmonians; holding out his sword, "He," said Lysander, "that is master of this, brings the best argument about the bounds of territory." A man of Megara at some conference taking freedom with him, "This language, my friend," said he, "is that of a city."* To the Baotians, who were acting

pelled before midsummer, 403 B.C., the beginning of the archonship of Euclides. Lysander, after failing in his endeavours to maintain them, appears to have gone to Asia again; was recalled; and then went to Ammon; returning some time before the death of Agis, B.C. 399.

* Literally, "Your words require a city," are those of a man representing a place of political importance; "You speak as if any one cared about Megara's opinion."

P

a doubtful part, he put the question, whether he should pass through their country with spears upright, or levelled. After the revolt of the Corinthians, when, on coming to their walls, he perceived the Lacedæmonians hesitating to make the assault, and a hare was seen to leap through the ditch: "Are you not ashamed," he said, "to fear an enemy, for whose laziness the very hares Death sleep upon their walls?" But when king Agis died, of Agis, B.C.399. leaving a brother, Agesilaus, and a son, so reputed,

Leotychides, Lysander, being attached to Agesilaus,
persuaded him to lay claim to the kingdom, as being
a true descendant of Hercules; Leotychides lying under
the suspicion of being the son of Alcibiades, who had
lived privately in familiarity with Timea, the wife of
Agis, when he was an exile in Sparta. Agis, they say,
computing the time, satisfied himself that she could not
have conceived by him, and had hitherto always neg-
lected and manifestly disowned Leotychides. But now
when he was carried sick to Heræa, being ready to die,
what with the importunities of the young man himself,
and with those of his friends, in the presence of several
persons he declared Leotychides to be his; and desiring
those who were present to bear witness of this to the
Lacedæmonians, died. They accordingly did so testify in
favour of Leotychides. And Agesilaus, being in general
highly regarded, and strong in the support of Lysander,
was on the other hand prejudiced by Diopithes, a man
famous for his knowledge of oracles, who adduced this
prophecy in reference to Agesilaus's lameness :-

Beware, great Sparta, lest there come of thee,
Though whole thyself, an halting sovereignty;
Troubles, both long and unexpected too,
With waves of deadly warfare shall ensue.

ACCESSION OF AGESILAUS.

211

When many therefore yielded to the oracle and inclined to Leotychides, Lysander said that Diopithes did not take the prophecy rightly; for it was not that the god would be offended if any lame person ruled over the Lacedæmonians, but that the kingdom would be a lame one, if bastards and false-born should govern with the posterity of Hercules. By this argument, and by his great influence among them, he prevailed, and Agesilaus was made king.

Agesi

sent to

Asia,

Immediately, therefore, Lysander spurred him on to 23 make an expedition into Asia, putting him in hopes laus that he might destroy the Persians and attain the height of greatness. And he wrote to his friends in B.C.396. Asia, bidding them request to have Agesilaus appointed to command them in the war against the barbarians; which directions they obeyed, and sent ambassadors to Lacedæmon to entreat it. And this would seem to be a second favour done Agesilaus by Lysander, not inferior to his first in obtaining him the kingdom. But with ambitious natures, which otherwise are not illqualified for command, the feeling of jealousy of those near them in reputation sadly stands in the way of the performance of noble actions; they make those their rivals in virtue, whom they ought to use as their helpers to it. Agesilaus took Lysander among the thirty counsellors that accompanied him, with intentions of using him as his especial friend. But when they were come into Asia, the people there, to whom he was but little known, addressed themselves to him briefly and seldom; whereas Lysander, because of their frequent previous intercourse, was visited and attended by large numbers, by his friends out of observance and