ἐπεὶ παρεισέδυ πρῶτον εἰς τὴν πόλιν ἀργύρου καὶ χρυσοῦ ζῆλος, καὶ συνηκολούθησε τοῦ πλούτου τῇ μὲν κτήσει πλεονεξία καὶ μικρολογία τῇ δὲ χρήσει καὶ ἀπολαύσει τρυφὴ καὶ μαλακία καὶ πολυτέλεια, τῶν πλείστων ἐξέπεσεν ἡ Σπάρτη καλῶν, καὶ ταπεινὰ πράττουσα παρʼ ἀξίαν διετέλει μέχρι τῶν χρόνων ἐκείνων ἐν οἷς Ἆγις καὶ Λεωνίδας ἐβασίλευον,
When once the love of silver and gold had crept into the city, closely followed by greed and parsimony in the acquisition of wealth and by luxury, effeminacy, and extravagance in the use and enjoyment of it, Sparta fell away from most of her noble traits, and continued in a low estate that was unworthy of her down to the times when Agis and Leonidas were kings.
Ἆγις μὲν Εὐρυπωντίδης καὶ Εὐδαμίδα παῖς, ἕκτος ἀπὸ Ἀγησιλάου τοῦ διαβάντος εἰς τὴν Ἀσίαν καὶ μέγιστον Ἑλλήνων δυνηθέντος· ἦν γὰρ Ἀγησιλάου μὲν Ἀρχίδαμος ὁ περὶ Μανδύριον τῆς Ἰταλίας ὑπὸ Μεσσαπίων ἀποθανών, Ἀρχιδάμου δὲ πρεσβύτερος μὲν υἱὸς Ἆγις, Εὐδαμίδας δὲ νεώτερος, ὅς, Ἄγιδος ὑπὸ Ἀντιπάτρου περὶ Μεγάλην πόλιν ἀναιρεθέντος ἀτέκνου, τὴν βασιλείαν ἔσχε, τούτου δὲ Ἀρχίδαμος, Ἀρχιδάμου δὲ ἕτερος Εὐδαμίδας, Εὐδαμίδα δὲ Ἆγις, περὶ οὗ τάδε γέγραπται·
Agis was of the Eurypontid royal house, a son of Eudamidas, and the sixth in descent from the Agesilaüs who crossed into Asia and became the most powerful Greek of his time. For Agesilaüs had a son Archidamus, who was slain by the Messapians at Mandurium in Italy; Archidamus had an elder son Agis, and a younger son Eudamidas, who, after Agis was slain by Antipater at Megalopolis leaving no issue, became king; Eudamidas was succeeded by Archidamus, Archidamus by another Eudamidas, and Eudamidas by Agis, the subject of this Life.
Λεωνίδας δὲ ὁ Κλεωνύμου τῆς μὲν ἑτέρας οἰκίας ἦν Ἀγιάδης, ὄγδοος δὲ ἀπὸ Παυσανίου τοῦ νικήσαντος ἐν Πλαταιαῖς μάχῃ Μαρδόνιον. Παυσανίας γὰρ υἱὸν ἔσχε Πλειστώνακτα, Πλειστῶναξ δὲ Παυσανίαν, οὗ φυγόντος εἰς Τεγέαν ἐκ Λακεδαίμονος ὅ τε πρεσβύτερος υἱὸς Ἀγησίπολις ἐβασίλευσε καὶ τούτου τελευτήσαντος ἀτέκνου Κλεόμβροτος ὁ νεώτερος.
Leonidas, on the other hand, the son of Cleonymus, was of the other royal house, the Agiad, and was eighth in descent from the Pausanias who defeated Mardonius at Plataea. For Pausanias had a son Pleistoanax, and Pleistoanax a son Pausanias, upon whose exile and flight from Sparta to Tegea his elder son Agesipolis became king; Agesipolis, dying without issue, was succeeded by a younger brother Cleombrotus,
ἐκ δὲ Κλεομβρότου πάλιν ἄλλος Ἀγησίπολις ἦν καὶ Κλεομένης, ὧν Ἀγησίπολις μὲν οὔτε ἦρξε πολὺν χρόνον οὔτε παῖδας ἔσχε, Κλεομένης δὲ βασιλεύσας μετὰ Ἀγησίπολιν τὸν μὲν πρεσβύτερον τῶν υἱῶν Ἀκρότατον ἔτι ζῶν ἀπέβαλε, νεώτερον δὲ Κλεώνυμον κατέλιπεν, ὃς οὐκ ἐβασίλευσεν, ἀλλʼ Ἄρευς υἱωνὸς ὢν Κλεομένους, Ἀκροτάτου δʼ υἱός· Ἄρεως δὲ πεσόντος περὶ Κόρινθον υἱὸς ὦν Ἀκρότατος τὴν βασιλείαν κατέσχεν.
and Cleombrotus, in turn, had two sons, Agesipolis and Cleomenes, of whom Agesipolis reigned only a short time and left no sons, while Cleomenes, who became king after him, lived to lose his elder son Acrotatus, but left behind him a younger son Cleonymus Cleonymus, however, did not come to the throne, but Areus, who was a grandson of Cleomenes and son of Acrotatus; Areus fell in battle at Corinth, and his son Acrotatus came to the throne;
ἀπέθανε δὲ καὶ οὗτος ἡττηθεὶς μάχῃ περὶ Μεγάλην πόλιν ὑπὸ Ἀριστοδήμου τοῦ τυράννου, καταλιπὼν ἐγκύμονα τὴν γυναῖκα. παιδίου δὲ ἄρρενος γενομένου Λεωνίδας ὁ Κλεωνύμου τὴν ἐπιτροπὴν ἔσχεν, εἶτα πρὶν ἐν ἡλικίᾳ γενέσθαι τελευτήσαντος, οὕτως εἰς αὐτὸν ἡ βασιλεία περιῆλθεν οὐ πάνυ τοῖς πολίταις εὐάρμοστον ὄντα.
Acrotatus also was defeated and slain at Megalopolis, by the tyrant Aristodemus, leaving his wife with child; and after she had given birth to a son, Leonidas the son of Cleonymus was made the child’s guardian. But the young king died before reaching manhood, and the kingship therefore devolved upon Leonidas, who was altogether unacceptable to the people.
καίπερ γὰρ ἐγκεκλικότων ἤδη τῇ διαφθορᾷ τοῦ πολιτεύματος ὁμαλῶς ἁπάντων, ἦν τις ἐν τῷ Λεωνίδᾳ τῶν πατρῴων ἐπιφανὴς ἐκδιαίτησις, ἅτε δὴ χρόνον ἠλινδημένῳ πολὺν ἐν αὐλαῖς σατραπικαῖς καὶ τεθεραπευκότι Σέλευκον, εἶτα τὸν ἐκεῖθεν ὄγκον εἰς Ἑλληνικὰ πράγματα καὶ νόμιμον ἀρχὴν οὐκ ἐμμελῶς μεταφέροντι.
For although the destruction of the constitution had already led to a general decline in manners, there was in Leonidas a very marked departure from the traditions of his country, since for a long time he had frequented oriental courts and had been a servile follower of Seleucus, and now sought to transfer the pride and pomp which prevailed abroad into Hellenic relations and a constitutional government, where they were out of place.
ὁ δὲ Ἆγις οὕτω πολὺ παρήλλαττεν εὐφυΐᾳ καὶ φρονήματι ψυχῆς οὐ μόνον τοῦτον, ἀλλὰ σχεδὸν ἅπαντας ὅσοι μετʼ Ἀγησίλαον τὸν μέγαν ἐβασίλευσαν, ὥστε μηδέπω γεγονὼς εἰκοστὸν ἔτος, ἐντεθραμμένος δὲ πλούτοις καὶ τρυφαῖς γυναικῶν, τῆς τε μητρὸς Ἀγησιστράτας καὶ τῆς μάμμης Ἀρχιδαμίας, αἳ πλεῖστα χρήματα Λακεδαιμονίων ἐκέκτηντο, πρός τε τὰς ἡδονὰς εὐθὺς ἀπισχυρίσασθαι, καὶ τὸν ἐπιπρέψαι μάλιστα τῇ χάριτι τῆς μορφῆς ὡραϊσμὸν δοκοῦντα περισπάσας τοῦ σώματος, καὶ πᾶσαν ἐκδὺς καὶ διαφυγὼν πολυτέλειαν, ἐγκαλλωπίζεσθαι τῷ τριβωνίῳ, καὶ δεῖπνα καὶ λουτρὰ καὶ διαίτας Λακωνικὰς ζητεῖν, καὶ λέγειν ὡς οὐδὲν δέοιτο τῆς βασιλείας, εἰ μὴ διʼ αὐτὴν ἀναλήψοιτο τοὺς νόμους καὶ τὴν πάτριον ἀγωγήν.
Agis, on the contrary, far surpassed in native excellence and in loftiness of spirit not only Leonidas, but almost all the kings who had followed the great Agesilaüs. Therefore, even before he had reached his twentieth year, and although he had been reared amid the wealth and luxury of women, namely, his mother Agesistrata and his grandmother Archidamia (who were the richest people in Sparta), he at once set his face against pleasures. He put away from his person the adornments which were thought to befit the grace of his figure, laid aside and avoided every extravagance, prided himself on his short Spartan cloak, observed sedulously the Spartan customs in his meals and baths and general ways of living, and declared that he did not want the royal power at all unless by means of it he could restore the ancient laws and discipline.
ἀρχὴν μὲν οὖν διαφθορᾶς καὶ τοῦ νοσεῖν ἔσχε τὰ πράγματα τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων σχεδὸν ἀφʼ οὗ τὴν Ἀθηναίων καταλύσαντες ἡγεμονίαν χρυσίου τε καὶ ἀργυρίου κατέπλησαν ἑαυτούς· οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν οἴκων ὃν ὁ Λυκοῦργος ὥρισε φυλαττόντων ἀριθμὸν ἐν ταῖς διαδοχαῖς, καὶ πατρὸς παιδὶ τὸν κλῆρον ἀπολείποντος, ἁμῶς γέ πως ἡ τάξις αὕτη καὶ ἰσότης διαμένουσα τὴν πόλιν ἐκ τῶν ἄλλων ἀνέφερεν ἁμαρτημάτων.
And here I may say that the Lacedaemonian state began to suffer distemper and corruption soon after its subversion of the Athenian supremacy filled it with gold and silver. However, since the number of families instituted by Lycurgus was still preserved in the transmission of estates, and father left to son his inheritance, to some extent the continuance of this order and equality sustained the state in spite of its errors in other respects.
ἐφορεύσας δέ τις ἀνὴρ δυνατός, αὐθάδης δὲ καὶ χαλεπὸς τὸν τρόπον, Ἐπιτάδευς ὄνομα, πρὸς τὸν υἱὸν αὐτῷ γενομένης διαφορᾶς ῥήτραν ἔγραψεν ἐξεῖναι τὸν οἶκον αὑτοῦ καὶ τὸν κλῆρον ᾧ τις ἐθέλοι καὶ ζῶντα δοῦναι καὶ καταλιπεῖν διατιθέμενον.
But when a certain powerful man came to be ephor who was headstrong and of a violent temper, Epitadeus by name, he had a quarrel with his son, and introduced a law permitting a man during his lifetime to give his estate and allotment to any one he wished, or in his will and testament so to leave it.
οὗτος μὲν οὖν αὑτοῦ τινα θυμὸν ἀποπιμπλὰς ἴδιον εἰσήνεγκε τὸν νόμον· οἱ δὲ ἄλλοι πλεονεξίας ἕνεκα δεξάμενοι καὶ κυρώσαντες ἀπώλεσαν τὴν ἀρίστην κατάστασιν. ἐκτῶντο γὰρ ἀφειδῶς ἤδη παρωθοῦντες οἱ δυνατοὶ τοὺς προσήκοντας ἐκ τῶν διαδοχῶν καὶ ταχὺ τῆς εὐπορίας εἰς ὀλίγους συρρυείσης πενία τὴν πόλιν κατέσχεν, ἀσχολίαν τῶν καλῶν καὶ ἀνελευθερίαν ἐπιφέρουσα μετὰ φθόνου καὶ δυσμενείας πρὸς τοὺς ἔχοντας.
This man, then, satisfied a private grudge of his own in introducing the law; but his fellow citizens welcomed the law out of greed, made it valid, and so destroyed the most excellent of institutions. For the men of power and influence at once began to acquire estates without scruple, ejecting the rightful heirs from their inheritances; and speedily the wealth of the state streamed into the hands of a few men, and poverty became the general rule, bringing in its train lack of leisure for noble pursuits and occupations unworthy of freemen, along with envy and hatred towards the men of property.
ἀπελείφθησαν οὖν ἑπτακοσίων οὐ πλείονες Σπαρτιᾶται, καὶ τούτων ἴσως ἑκατὸν ἦσαν οἱ γῆν κεκτημένοι καὶ κλῆρον ὁ δʼ ἄλλος ὄχλος ἄπορος καὶ ἄτιμος ἐν τῇ πόλει παρεκάθητο, τοὺς μὲν ἔξωθεν πολέμους ἀργῶς καὶ ἀπροθύμως ἀμυνόμενος, ἀεὶ δέ τινα καιρὸν ἐπιτηρῶν μεταβολῆς καὶ μεταστάσεως τῶν παρόντων,
Thus there were left of the old Spartan families not more than seven hundred, and of these there were perhaps a hundred who possessed land and allotment; while the ordinary throng, without resources and without civic rights, lived in enforced idleness, showing no zeal or energy in warding off foreign wars, but ever watching for some opportunity to subvert and change affairs at home.
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