εἶχεν οὖν υἱὸν ὁ Σφοδρίας Κλεώνυμον, οὗ παιδὸς ὄντος ἔτι καὶ καλοῦ τὴν ὄψιν Ἀρχίδαμος ὁ Ἀγησιλάου τοῦ βασιλέως υἱὸς ἤρα. καὶ τότε συνηγωνία μὲν ὡς εἰκὸς αὐτῷ κινδυνεύοντι περὶ τὸν πατρός, συμπράττειν δὲ φανερῶς καὶ βοηθεῖν οὐκ εἶχεν ἦν γὰρ ὁ Σφοδρίας ἐκ τῶν διαφόρων τοῦ Ἀγησιλάου.
Now Sphodrias had a son, Cleonymus, who was still a boy and fair to look upon, and of whom Archidamus, the son of King Agesilaüs, was enamoured. In this crisis Archidamus naturally sympathized with his favourite because of the peril in which his father stood, but he was unable to aid and assist him openly, since Sphodrias was one of the opponents of Agesilaüs.
τοῦ δὲ Κλεωνύμου προσελθόντος αὐτῷ καὶ μετὰ δεήσεως καὶ δακρύων ἐντυχόντος, ὅπως τὸν Ἀγησίλαον εὔνουν παράσχῃ, μάλιστα γὰρ ἐκεῖνον αὐτοῖς φοβερὸν εἶναι, τρεῖς μὲν ἢ τέσσαρας ἡμέρας αἰδούμενος τὸν πατέρα καὶ δεδιὼς σιωπῇ παρηκολούθει· τέλος δὲ τῆς κρίσεως ἐγγὺς οὔσης ἐτόλμησεν εἰπεῖν πρὸς τὸν Ἀγησίλαον ὅτι Κλεώνυμος αὐτοῦ δεηθείη περὶ τοῦ πατρός·
But when Cleonymus came to him in tears and begged him to mollify Agesilaüs, from whom he and his father had most to fear, for three or four days he was restrained by awe and fear from saying anything to Agesilaüs as he followed him about; but finally, when the trial was near at hand, he plucked up courage to tell him that Cleonymus had begged him to intercede for his father.
ὁ δὲ Ἀγησίλαος εἰδὼς ἐρῶντα τὸν Ἀρχίδαμον οὐκ ἔπαυσεν ἦν γὰρ ὁ Κλεώνυμος εὐθὺς ἐκ παίδων ἐπίδοξος, εἴ τις καὶ ἄλλος, ἀνὴρ ἔσεσθαι σπουδαῖος. οὐ μὴν ἐνέδωκέ τι τότε χρηστὸν ἢ φιλάνθρωπον ἐλπίσαι δεομένῳ τῷ παιδί, σκέψεσθαι δὲ φήσας ὅ τι καλῶς ἔχοι καὶ πρεπόντως, ἀπῆλθεν.
Now Agesilaüs, although he knew of the love of Archidamus, had not put a stop to it, since Cleonymus, from his early boyhood, had given special promise of becoming an earnest and worthy man. At this time, however, he did not permit his son to expect any advantage or kindness in answer to his prayer; he merely said, as he went away, that he would consider what was the honourable and fitting course in the matter.
αἰδούμενος οὖν ὁ Ἀρχίδαμος ἐξέλειπε τὸ προσιέναι τῷ Κλεωνύμῳ, καίπερ εἰωθὼς πολλάκις τοῦτο τῆς ἡμέρας ποιεῖν πρότερον. ἐκ δὲ τούτου κἀκεῖνοι τὰ κατὰ τὸν Σφοδρίαν μᾶλλον ἀπέγνωσαν, ἄχρι οὗ τῶν Ἀγησιλάου φίλων Ἐτυμοκλῆς ἔν τινι κοινολογίᾳ πρὸς αὐτοὺς ἀπεγύμνωσε τὴν γνώμην τοῦ Ἀγησιλάου· τὸ μὲν γὰρ ἔργον ὡς ἔνι μάλιστα ψέγειν αὐτόν, ἄλλως γε μὴν ἄνδρα τὸν Σφοδρίαν ἀγαθὸν ἡγεῖσθαι καὶ τὴν πόλιν ὁρᾶν τοιούτων στρατιωτῶν δεομένην.
Archidamus was therefore mortified, and ceased to visit Cleonymus, although before this he had done so many times a day. As a consequence, the friends of Sphodrias also were more in despair of his case, until Etymocles, one of the friends of Agesilaüs, conferred with them and disclosed the mind of the king, namely, that he blamed to the utmost what Sphodrias had done, but yet thought him a brave man, and saw that the city needed just such soldiers.
τούτους γὰρ ὁ Ἀγησίλαος ἑκάστοτε τοὺς λόγους ἐποιεῖτο περὶ τῆς δίκης, τῷ παιδὶ χαρίζεσθαι βουλόμενος, ὥστε καὶ τὸν Κλεώνυμον εὐθὺς αἰσθάνεσθαι τὴν σπουδὴν τοῦ Ἀρχιδάμου καὶ τοὺς φίλους τοὺς τοῦ Σφοδρίου θαρροῦντας ἤδη βοηθεῖν. ἦν δὲ καὶ φιλότεκνος ὁ Ἀγησίλαος διαφερόντως· καὶ περὶ ἐκείνου τὸ τῆς παιδιᾶς λέγουσιν, ὅτι μικροῖς τοῖς παιδίοις οὖσι κάλαμον περιβεβηκὼς ὥσπερ ἵππον οἴκοι συνέπαιζεν, ὀφθεὶς δὲ ὑπό τινος τῶν φίλων παρεκάλει μηδενὶ φράσαι, πρὶν ἂν καὶ αὐτὸς πατὴρ παίδων γένηται.
For this was the way in which Agesilaüs always spoke about the trial, in his desire to gratify his son, so that Cleonymus was at once aware of the zealous efforts of Archidamus in his behalf, and the friends of Sphodrias had courage at last to come to his help. It is a fact also that Agesilaüs was excessively fond of his children, and a story is told of his joining in their childish play. Once, when they were very small, he bestrode a stick, and was playing horse with them in the house, and when he was spied doing this by one of his friends, he entreated him not to tell any one, until he himself should be a father of children.
ἀπολυθέντος δὲ τοῦ Σφοδρίου, καὶ τῶν Ἀθηναίων, ὡς ἐπύθοντο, πρὸς πόλεμον τραπομένων, σφόδρα κακῶς ὁ Ἀγησίλαος ἤκουσε, διʼ ἐπιθυμίαν ἄτοπον καὶ παιδαριώδη δοκῶν ἐμποδὼν γεγονέναι κρίσει δικαίᾳ, καὶ τὴν πόλιν παραίτιον ἀπειργάσθαι παρανομημάτων τηλικούτων εἰς τοὺς Ἕλληνας.
But after Sphodrias was acquitted, and the Athenians, on learning of it, were inclined to go to war, Agesilaüs was very harshly criticized. It was thought that, to gratify an absurd and childish desire, he had opposed the course of justice in a trial, and made the city accessory to great crimes against the Greeks.
ἐπεὶ δὲ τὸν Κλεόμβροτον οὐχ ἑώρα πρόθυμον ὄντα πολεμεῖν τοῖς Θηβαίοις, οὕτω δὴ χαίρειν τὸν νόμον ἐάσας ᾧ πρόσθεν ἐχρῆτο περὶ τῆς στρατείας, αὐτὸς εἰς Βοιωτίαν ἐνέβαλεν ἤδη καὶ κακῶς ἐποίει τοὺς Θηβαίους καὶ πάλιν ἀντέπασχεν, ὥστε καὶ τρωθέντος αὐτοῦ ποτε τὸν Ἀνταλκίδαν εἰπεῖν· ἦ καλὰ τὰ διδασκάλια παρὰ Θηβαίων ἀπολαμβάνεις, μὴ βουλομένους μηδὲ ἐπισταμένους μάχεσθαι διδάξας.
Besides, when he saw that his colleague Cleombrotus was little inclined to make war upon the Thebans, he waived the exemption by law which he had formerly claimed in the matter of the expedition, and presently led an incursion into Boeotia himself, where he inflicted damage upon the Thebans, and in his turn met with reverses, so that one day when he was wounded, Antalcidas said to him: Indeed, this is a fine tuition-fee which thou art getting from the Thebans, for teaching them how to fight when they did not wish to do it, and did not even know how.
τῷ γὰρ ὄντι Θηβαίους αὐτοὺς ἑαυτῶν πολεμικωτάτους τότε γενέσθαι φασί, ταῖς πολλαῖς στρατείαις τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων ἐπʼ αὐτοὺς ὥσπερ ἐγγυμνασαμένους, διὸ καὶ Λυκοῦργος ὁ παλαιὸς ἐν ταῖς καλουμέναις τρισὶ ῥήτραις ἀπεῖπε μὴ πολλάκις ἐπὶ τοὺς αὐτοὺς στρατεύειν, ὅπως μὴ πολεμεῖν μανθάνωσιν. ἦν δὲ καὶ τοῖς συμμάχοις τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων ἐπαχθὴς ὁ Ἀγησίλαος, ὡς διʼ οὐδὲν ἔγκλημα δημόσιον, ἀλλὰ θυμῷ τινι καὶ φιλονεικίᾳ τοὺς Θηβαίους ἀπολέσαι ζητῶν.
For the Thebans are said to have been really more warlike at this time than ever before, owing to the many expeditions which the Lacedaemonians made against them, by which they were virtually schooled in arms. And Lycurgus of old, in one of his three so-called rhetras, forbade his people to make frequent expeditions against the same foes, in order that those foes might not learn how to make war. Moreover, the allies of the Lacedaemonians were offended at Agesilaüs, because, as they said, it was not upon any public ground of complaint, but by reason of some passionate resentment of his own, that he sought to destroy the Thebans.
οὐδὲν οὖν ἔλεγον δεόμενοι φθείρεσθαι δεῦρο κἀκεῖσε καθʼ ἕκαστον ἐνιαυτόν, ὀλίγοις τοσοῦτοι συνακολουθοῦντες· ἔνθα δὲ δὴ λέγεται τὸν Ἀγησίλαον, ἐξελέγξαι βουλόμενον αὐτῶν τὸ πλῆθος, τόδε μηχανήσασθαι. πάντας ἐκέλευσε καθίσαι τοὺς συμμάχους μετʼ ἀλλήλων ἀναμεμιγμένους, ἰδίᾳ δὲ τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους ἐφʼ ἑαυτῶν.
Accordingly, they said they had no wish to be dragged hither and thither to destruction every year, they themselves so many, and the Lacedaemonians, with whom they followed, so few. It was at this time, we are told, that Agesilaüs, wishing to refute their argument from numbers, devised the following scheme. He ordered all the allies to sit down by themselves promiscuously, and the Lacedaemonians apart by themselves.
εἶτα ἐκήρυττε τοὺς κεραμεῖς ἀνίστασθαι πρῶτον ὡς δὲ ἀνέστησαν οὗτοι, δεύτερον ἐκήρυττε τοὺς χαλκεῖς, εἶτα τέκτονας ἐφεξῆς καὶ οἰκοδόμους καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τεχνῶν ἑκάστην. πάντες οὖν ὀλίγου δεῖν ἀνέστησαν οἱ σύμμαχοι, τῶν δὲ Λακεδαιμονίων οὐδείς· ἀπείρητο γὰρ αὐτοῖς τέχνην ἐργάζεσθαι καὶ μανθάνειν βάναυσον. οὕτω δὴ γελάσας ὁ Ἀγησίλαος, ὁρᾶτε, εἶπεν, ὦ ἄνδρες, ὅσῳ πλείονας ὑμῶν στρατιώτας ἐκπέμπομεν ἡμεῖς.
Then his herald called upon the potters to stand up first, and after them the smiths, next, the carpenters in their turn, and the builders, and so on through all the handicrafts. In response, almost all the allies rose up, but not a man of the Lacedaemonians; for they were forbidden to learn or practise a manual art. Then Agesilaüs said with a laugh: You see, O men, how many more soldiers than you we are sending out.
Cite This Text