ὁ Ἀκανθίων θησαυρὸς ἐν Δελφοῖς ἐπιγραφὴν ἔχει τοιαύτην· Βρασίδας καὶ Ἀκάνθιοι ἀπʼ Ἀθηναίων· διὸ καὶ πολλοὶ τὸν ἐντὸς ἑστῶτα τοῦ οἴκου παρὰ ταῖς θύραις λίθινον ἀνδριάντα Βρασίδου νομίζουσιν εἶναι. Λυσάνδρου δέ ἐστιν εἰκονικός, εὖ μάλα κομῶντος ἔθει τῷ παλαιῷ καὶ πώγωνα καθειμένου γενναῖον.
The treasury of the Acanthians at Delphi bears this inscription: Brasidas and the Acanthians, with spoil from the Athenians. For this reason many think that the marble figure standing within the edifice, by the door, is a statue of Brasidas. But it really represents Lysander, with his hair very long, after the ancient custom, and growing a generous beard.
οὐ γάρ, ὡς ἔνιοί φασιν, Ἀργείων μετὰ τὴν μεγάλην ἧτταν ἐπὶ πένθει καρέντων οἱ Σπαρτιᾶται πρὸς τὸ ἀντίπαλον αὐτοῖς τὰς κόμας ἀγαλλόμενοι τοῖς πεπραγμένοις ἀνῆκαν, οὐδὲ Βακχιαδῶν τῶν ἐκ Κορίνθου φυγόντων εἰς Λακεδαίμονα ταπεινῶν καὶ ἀμόρφων διὰ τὸ κείρασθαι τὰς κεφαλὰς φανέντων εἰς ζῆλον αὐτοὶ τοῦ κομᾶν ἦλθον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῦτο Λυκούργειόν ἐστι. καί φασιν αὐτὸν εἰπεῖν ὡς ἡ κόμη τοὺς μὲν καλοὺς εὐπρεπεστέρους ὁρᾶσθαι ποιεῖ, τοὺς δὲ αἰσχροὺς φοβερωτέρους.
For it is not true, as some state, that because the Argives, after their great defeat, shaved their heads for sorrow, the Spartans, in contrary fashion, let their hair grow long in exultation over their victory; nor was it because the Bacchiadae, when they fled from Corinth to Lacedaemon, looked mean and unsightly from having shaved their heads, that the Spartans, on their part, became eager to wear their hair long; but this custom also goes back to Lycurgus. And he is reported to have said that a fine head of hair makes the handsome more comely to look upon, and the ugly more terrible.
λέγεται δὲ ὁ Λυσάνδρου πατὴρ Ἀριστόκλειτος οἰκίας μὲν οὐ γενέσθαι βασιλικῆς, ἄλλως δὲ γένους εἶναι τοῦ τῶν Ἡρακλειδῶν. ἐτράφη δὲ ὁ Λύσανδρος ἐν πενίᾳ, καὶ παρέσχεν ἑαυτὸν εὔτακτον, ὡς εἴ τις ἄλλος, πρὸς τοὺς ἐθισμοὺς καὶ ἀνδρώδη καὶ κρείττονα πάσης ἡδονῆς, πλὴν εἴ τινα τιμωμένοις καὶ κατορθοῦσιν αἱ καλαὶ πράξεις ἐπιφέρουσι. ταύτης δὲ οὐκ αἰσχρόν ἐστιν ἡττᾶσθαι τοὺς νέους ἐν Σπάρτῃ.
The father of Lysander, Aristocleitus, is said to have been of the lineage of the Heracleidae, though not of the royal family. But Lysander was reared in poverty, and showed himself as much as any man conformable to the customs of his people; of a manly spirit, too, and superior to every pleasure, excepting only that which their good deeds bring to those who are successful and honored. To this pleasure it is no disgrace for the youth in Sparta to succumb.
βούλονται γὰρ εὐθὺς ἐξ ἀρχῆς πάσχειν τι τοὺς παῖδας αὐτῶν πρὸς δόξαν, ἀλγυνομένους τε τοῖς ψόγοις καὶ μεγαλυνομένους ὑπὸ τῶν ἐπαίνων· ὁ δὲ ἀπαθὴς καὶ ἀκίνητος ἐν τούτοις ὡς ἀφιλότιμος πρὸς ἀρετὴν καὶ ἀργὸς καταφρονεῖται. τὸ μὲν οὖν φιλότιμον αὐτῷ καὶ φιλόνεικον ἐκ τῆς Λακωνικῆς παρέμεινε παιδείας ἐγγενόμενον, καὶ οὐδέν τι μέγα χρὴ τὴν φύσιν ἐν τούτοις αἰτιᾶσθαι·
Indeed, from the very first they wish their boys to be sensitive toward public opinion, distressed by censure, and exalted by praise; and he who is insensible and stolid in these matters, is looked down upon as without ambition for excellence, and a cumberer of the ground. Ambition, then, and the spirit of emulation, were firmly implanted in him by his Laconian training and no great fault should be found with his natural disposition on this account.
θεραπευτικὸς δὲ τῶν δυνατῶν μᾶλλον ἢ κατὰ Σπαρτιάτην φύσει δοκεῖ γενέσθαι, καὶ βάρος ἐξουσίας διὰ χρείαν ἐνεγκεῖν εὔκολος· ὃ πολιτικῆς δεινότητος οὐ μικρὸν ἔνιοι ποιοῦνται μέρος. Ἀριστοτέλης δὲ τὰς μεγάλας φύσεις ἀποφαίνων μελαγχολικάς, ὡς τὴν Σωκράτους καὶ Πλάτωνος καὶ Ἡρακλέους, ἱστορεῖ καὶ Λύσανδρον οὐκ εὐθύς, ἀλλὰ πρεσβύτερον ὄντα τῇ μελαγχολίᾳ περιπεσεῖν.
But he seems to have been naturally subservient to men of power and influence, beyond what was usual in a Spartan, and content to endure an arrogant authority for the sake of gaining his ends, a trait which some hold to be no small part of political ability. And Aristotle, when he sets forth that great natures, like those of Socrates and Plato and Heracles, have a tendency to melancholy, writes also that Lysander, not immediately, but when well on in years, was a prey to melancholy.
ἴδιον δὲ αὐτοῦ μάλιστα τὸ καλῶς πενίαν φέροντα, καὶ μηδαμοῦ κρατηθέντα μηδὲ διαφθαρέντα χρήμασιν αὐτόν, ἐμπλῆσαι τὴν πατρίδα πλούτου καὶ φιλοπλουτίας καὶ παῦσαι θαυμαζομένην ἐπὶ τῷ μὴ θαυμάζειν πλοῦτον, εἰσάγοντα χρυσίου καὶ ἀργυρίου πλῆθος μετὰ τὸν Ἀττικὸν πόλεμον, ἑαυτῷ δὲ μηδεμίαν δραχμὴν ὑπολειπόμενον.
But what is most peculiar in him is that, though he bore poverty well, and though he was never mastered nor even corrupted by money, yet he filled his country full of wealth and the love of wealth, and made her cease to be admired for not admiring wealth, importing as he did an abundance of gold and silver after the war with Athens, although he kept not a single drachma for himself.
Διονυσίου δὲ τοῦ τυράννου πέμψαντος αὐτοῦ ταῖς θυγατράσι πολυτελῆ χιτώνια τῶν Σικελῶν, οὐκ ἔλαβεν, εἰπὼν φοβεῖσθαι μὴ διὰ ταῦτα μᾶλλον αἰσχραὶ φανῶσιν. ἀλλʼ ὀλίγον ὕστερον πρὸς τὸν αὐτὸν τύραννον ἐκ τῆς αὐτῆς πόλεως ἀποσταλεὶς πρεσβευτής, προσπέμψαντος αὐτῷ δύο στολὰς ἐκείνου καὶ κελεύσαντος ἣν βούλεται τούτων ἑλόμενον τῇ θυγατρὶ κομίζειν, αὐτὴν ἐκείνην ἔφη βέλτιον αἱρήσεσθαι, καὶ λαβὼν ἀμφοτέρας ἀπῆλθεν.
And when Dionysius the tyrant sent his daughters some costly tunics of Sicilian make, he would not receive them, saying he was afraid they would make his daughters look more ugly. But a little later, when he was sent as ambassador to the same tyrant from the same city, and was presented by him with two robes, and ordered to choose which of them he would, and carry it to his daughter, he said that she could choose better herself, and went off with both of them.
ἐπεὶ δὲ τοῦ Πελοποννησιακοῦ πολέμου μῆκος λαμβάνοντος, καὶ μετὰ τὴν ἐν Σικελία τῶν Ἀθηναίων κακοπραγίαν αὐτίκα μὲν ἐπιδόξων ὄντων ἐκπεσεῖσθαι τῆς θαλάττης, οὐ πολλῷ δὲ ὕστερον ἀπαγορεύσειν παντάπασιν, Ἀλκιβιάδης ἀπὸ τῆς φυγῆς ἐπιστὰς τοῖς πράγμασι μεγάλην μεταβολὴν ἐποίησε καὶ κατέστησε τοὺς ναυτικοὺς ἀγῶνας εἰς ἀντίπαλον αὐτοῖς,
The Peloponnesian war had now been carried on for a long time, and after their disaster in Sicily it was expected that the Athenians would straightway lose their control of the sea, and presently give up the struggle altogether. But Alcibiades, returning from exile and taking the command, wrought a great change, and made his countrymen again a match for their enemies by sea.
δείσαντες οὖν οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι πάλιν καὶ γενόμενοι ταῖς προθυμίαις καινοὶ πρὸς τὸν πόλεμον, ὡς ἡγεμόνος τε δεινοῦ καὶ παρασκευῆς ἐρρωμενεστέρας δεόμενον, ἐκπέμπουσιν ἐπὶ τὴν τῆς θαλάττης ἡγεμονίαν Λύσανδρον. γενόμενος δʼ ἐν Ἐφέσῳ, καὶ τὴν πόλιν εὑρὼν εὔνουν μὲν αὑτῷ καὶ λακωνίζουσαν προθυμότατα, πράττουσαν δὲ τότε λυπρῶς καὶ κινδυνεύουσαν ἐκβαρβαρωθῆναι τοῖς Περσικοῖς ἔθεσι διὰ τὰς ἐπιμιξίας, ἅτε δὴ τῆς Λυδίας περικεχυμένης καὶ τῶν βασιλικῶν στρατηγῶν αὐτόθι τὰ πολλὰ διατριβόντων,
The Lacedaemonians, accordingly, were frightened again, and summoning up fresh zeal for the war, which required, as they thought, an able leader and a more powerful armament, sent out Lysander to take command upon the sea. When he came to Ephesus, he found the city well disposed to him and very zealous in the Spartan cause, although it was then in a low state of prosperity and in danger of becoming utterly barbarized by the admixture of Persian customs, since it was enveloped by Lydia, and the King’s generals made it their headquarters.
στρατόπεδον βαλόμενος καὶ τὰ πλοῖα πανταχόθεν ἕλκεσθαι κελεύσας ἐκεῖ τὰ φορτηγά, καὶ ναυπηγίαν τριήρων ἐκεῖ κατασκευασάμενος, ταῖς μὲν ἐμπορίαις τοὺς λιμένας αὐτῶν ἀνέλαβεν, ἐργασίαις δὲ τὴν ἀγοράν, χρηματισμῶν δὲ τοὺς οἴκους καὶ τὰς τέχνας ἐνέπλησεν, ὥστε πρῶτον ἀπʼ ἐκείνου τοῦ χρόνου τὴν πόλιν ἐν ἐλπίδι τοῦ περὶ αὐτὴν νῦν ὄντος ὄγκου καὶ μεγέθους διὰ Λύσανδρον γενέσθαι.
He therefore pitched his camp there, and ordered the merchant vessels from every quarter to land their cargoes there, and made preparations for the building of triremes. Thus he revived the traffic of their harbors, and the business of their market, and filled their houses and workshops with profits, so that from that time on, and through his efforts, the city had hopes of achieving the stateliness and grandeur which it now enjoys.
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