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 Minerva Itoniensis, 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 Delphos, where the Pythian games were then celebrated. He made there a solemn procession, which was followed by a sacrifice, and consecrated the tenth part of the booty taken in Asia to the god, which amounted to one 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 for their victories to their protection.

• 100,000 crowns, about 22,500L

SECTION V.

AGESILAUS RETURNS VICTORIOUS TO SPARTA. A PEACE, SHAMEFUL TO THE GREEKS, CONCLUDED.

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 frugality and temperance of his life. At his return from foreign countries, where pomp, luxury, sloth, and the love of pleasures entirely 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. midst of so shining 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 only king, to be the brighter example of those virtues to others.

In the

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 me, unless he be more virtuous."

There were at Sparta some citizens, who, vitiated by the prevailing taste of Greece, made their merit and

P Plut. in Agesil. p. 606.

9 Plut. de sui laud. p. 555. · Τι δεμε γε μείζον εκείνος, ει μη και δικαιότερος.

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, where not the effects of valor 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 contributed 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.

Some time 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, for 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, and president of the Ephori, interposed, by telling him, that it was highly improper to raise Lysan, der from the dead; on the contrary, that it was necessary to bury his harangue in the same grave with him,

as of dangerous tendency, from the great art with which it was composed, and the force of persuasion that universally prevailed in it, against 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.

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 any 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 argue indeed the valor 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 of Laconia. That satrap, returning to his government 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

A. M. 3611. Ant. J. C. 393. Xenoph. Hist. Græc. L. iv. p. 534-537Diod. I. xiv. p. 303. Justin. 1. vi. c. 5.

grief, than he felt joy in seeing his beloved country again, after 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 who 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 Lacedemonians, 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, which had formerly been its most violent enemies, and for enemies, those with whom before it had contracted the most strict and most confirmed union. Conon, seconded by the zeal of the Thebans, soon rebuilt the walls of Athens, restored the city to its ancient splendor, 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 one 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, which made the Lacedemonians 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

Athen. 1. i. p. 3.

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