Apophthegmata Laconica

Plutarch

Plutarch. Moralia, Vol. III. Babbitt, Frank Cole, translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1931 (printing).

Desiring to bring about the war against the Persian for the sake of setting free the Greeks living in Asia, he consulted the oracle of Zeus at Dodona, and when the god bade him to go on, he reported the answer to the Ephors. And they bade him go to Delphi and ask the same question. Accordingly he proceeded to the prophetic shrine and put his question in this form: Apollo, are you of the same opinion as your father? And Apollo concurring, Agesilaus was chosen, and began the campaign. [*](Cf.Moralia, 191 B, supra, and the note.)

Tissaphernes, at the outset, in fear of Agesilaus, made a treaty, agreeing that the king should leave him the Greek cities free and independent, but, after sending for a great army from the king, he

declared war on Agesilaus unless he should depart from Asia. Agesilaus gladly welcomed the transgression, and set forth as if he were intending to advance into Cari a; and when Tissaphernes had concentrated his forces there, Agesilaus, by a rapid movement thence, invaded Phrygia; and having taken very many cities and a wealth of spoil, he said to his friends, To do wrong after making a treaty is impious, but to outwit the enemy is not only right and reputable, but also pleasant and profitable. [*](Cf. Plutarch’s Life of Agesilaus, chap. ix. (600 C): Xenophon, Hellenica, iii. 4. 5 ff., Agesilaus, 1. 10; Diodorus, xiv. 79; Polyaenus, Strategemata, ii. 1. 8-9; Cornelius Nepos, xvii., Agesilaus 2 and 3; Frontinus, Strategemata, i. 8. 12. )

Finding himself inferior in horsemen, he retreated to Ephesus, and there made proclamation to the men of means that they should each provide a horse and a man, and thus gain their own release from service. As a result there were collected, in a very short time, both horses and capable men in place of wealthy cowards.[*](Cf. Plutarch’s Life of Agesilaus, chap. ix. (600 D); Xenophon, Hellenica, iii. 4. 15, and Agesilaus, 1. 24.) Agesilaus said he was emulating Agamemnon; for Agamemnon accepted a good mare and released from service a base man of wealth. [*](Cf.Moralia, 32 F. The reference is to Homer, Il. xxiii. 296 ff.)