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                                      75 AD
                                    LYSANDER
                                 445?-395 B.C.
                                  by Plutarch
                           translated by John Dryden
LYSANDER

  THE treasure-chamber of the Acanthians at Delphi has this
inscription: "The spoils which Brasidas and the Acanthians took from
the Athenians." And, accordingly, many take the marble statue, which
stands within the building by the gates, to be Brasidas's; but,
indeed, it is Lysander's, representing him with his hair at full
length, after the old fashion, and with an ample beard. Neither is
it true, as some give out, that because the Argives, after their great
defeat, shaved themselves for sorrow, that the Spartans contrariwise
triumphing in their achievements, suffered their hair to grow; neither
did the Spartans come to be ambitious of wearing long hair, because
the Bacchiadae, who fled from Corinth to Lacedaemon, looked mean and
unsightly, having their heads all close cut. But this, also, is indeed
one of the ordinances of Lycurgus, who, as it is reported, was used to
say, that long hair made good-looking men more beautiful, and
ill-looking men more terrible.
  Lysander's father is said to have been Aristoclitus, who was not
indeed of the royal family but yet of the stock of the Heraclidae.
He was brought up in poverty, and showed himself obedient and
conformable, as ever any one did, to the customs of his country; of
a manly spirit, also, and superior to all pleasures, excepting only
that which their good actions bring to those who are honoured and
successful; and it is accounted no base thing in Sparta for their
young men to be overcome with this kind of pleasure. For they are
desirous, from the very first, to have their youth susceptible to good
and bad repute, to feel pain at disgrace, and exultation at being
commended; and any one who is insensible and unaffected in these
respects is thought poor-spirited and of no capacity for virtue.
Ambition and the passion for distinction were thus implanted in his
character by his Laconian education, nor, if they continued there,
must we blame his natural disposition much for this. But he was
submissive to great men, beyond what seems agreeable to the Spartan
temper, and could easily bear the haughtiness of those who were in
power, when it was any way for his advantage, which some are of
opinion is no small part of political discretion. Aristotle, who
says all great characters are more or less atrabilious, as Socrates
and Plato and Hercules were, writes that Lysander, not indeed early in
life, but when he was old, became thus affected. What is singular in
his character is that he endured poverty very well and that he was not
at all enslaved or corrupted by wealth, and yet he filled his
country with riches and the love of them, and took away from them
the glory of not admiring money; importing amongst them an abundance
of gold and silver after the Athenian war, though keeping not one
drachma for himself. When Dionysius, the tyrant, sent his daughters
some costly gowns of Sicilian manufacture, he would not receive
them, saying he was afraid they would make them look more
unhandsome. But a while after, being sent ambassador from the same
city to the same tyrant, when he had sent him a couple of robes, and
bade him choose which of them he would, and carry to his daughter:
"She," said he, "will be able to choose best for herself," and
taking both of them, went his way.
  The Peloponnesian war having now been carried on a long time, and it
being expected, after the disaster of the Athenians in Sicily, that
they would at once lose the mastery of the sea, and ere long be routed
everywhere, Alcibiades, returning from banishment, and taking the
command, produced a great change, and made the Athenians again a match
for their opponents by sea; and the Lacedaemonians, in great alarm
at this, and calling up fresh courage and zeal for the conflict,
feeling the want of an able commander and of a powerful armament, sent
out Lysander to be admiral of the seas. Being at Ephesus, and
finding the city well affected towards him, and favourable to the
Lacedaemonian party, but in ill condition, and in danger to become
barbarized by adopting the manners of the Persians, who were much
mingled among them, the country of Lydia bordering upon them, and
the king's generals being quartered there for a long time, he
pitched his camp there, and commanded the merchant ships all about
to put in thither, and proceeded to build ships of war there; and thus
restored their ports by the traffic he created, and their market by
the employment he gave, and filled their private houses and their
workshops with wealth, so that from that time the city began, first of
all, by Lysander's means, to have some hopes of growing to that
stateliness and grandeur which now it is at.
  Understanding that Cyrus, the king's son, was come to Sardis, he
went up to talk with him, and to accuse Tisaphernes, who, receiving
a command to help the Lacedaemonians, and to drive the Athenians
from the sea, was thought, on account of Alcibiades, to have become
remiss and unwilling, and by paying the seamen slenderly to be ruining
the fleet. Now Cyrus was willing that Tisaphernes might be found in
blame, and be ill reported of, as being, indeed, a dishonest man,
and privately at feud with himself. By these means, and by their daily
intercourse together, Lysander, especially by the submissiveness of
his conversation, won the affection of the young prince, and greatly
roused him to carry on and when he would depart, Cyrus gave him a
banquet, and desired him not to refuse his goodwill, but to speak
and ask whatever he had a mind to, and that he should not be refused
anything whatsoever: "Since you are so very kind," replied Lysander,
"I earnestly request you to add one penny to the seamen's pay, that
instead of three pence, they may now receive four pence." Cyrus,
delighted with his public spirit, gave him ten thousand darics, out of
which he added the penny to the seamen's pay, and by the renown of
this in a short time emptied the ships of the enemies, as many would
come over to that side which gave the most pay, and those who
remained, being disheartened and mutinous, daily created trouble to
the captains. Yet for all Lysander had so distracted and weakened
his enemies, he was afraid to engage by sea, Alcibiades being an
energetic commander, and having the superior number of ships, and
having been hitherto, in all battles, unconquered both by sea and
land.
  But afterwards, when Alcibiades sailed from Samos to Phocaea,
leaving Antiochus, the pilot, in command of all his forces, this
Antiochus, to insult Lysander, sailed with two galleys into the port
of the Ephesians, and with mocking and laughter proudly rowed along
before the place where the ships lay drawn up. Lysander, in
indignation, launched at first a few ships only and pursued him, but
as soon as he saw the Athenians come to his help, he added some
other ships, and, at last, they fell to a set battle together; and
Lysander won the victory, and taking fifteen of their ships, erected a
trophy. For this, the people in the city being angry, put Alcibiades
out of command, and finding himself despised by the soldiers in Samos,
and ill spoken of, he sailed from the army into the Chersonese. And
this battle, although not important in itself, was made remarkable
by its consequences to Alcibiades.
  Lysander, meanwhile, invited to Ephesus such persons in the
various cities as he saw to be bolder and haughtier-spirited than
the rest, proceeded to lay the foundations of that government by
bodies of ten, and those revolutions which afterwards came to pass,
stirring up and urging them to unite in clubs and apply themselves
to public affairs, since as soon as ever the Athenians should be put
down, the popular government, he said, should be suppressed and they
should become supreme in their several countries. And he made them
believe these things by present deeds, promoting those who were his
friends already to great employments, honours, and offices, and, to
gratify their covetousness, making himself a partner in injustice
and wickedness. So much so, that all flocked to him, and courted and
desired him, hoping, if be remained in power, that the highest
wishes they could form would all be gratified. And therefore, from the
very beginning, they could not look pleasantly upon Callicratidas,
when he came to succeed Lysander as admiral; nor, afterwards, when
he had given them experience that he was a most noble and just person,
were they pleased with the manner of his government, and its
straightforward, Dorian, honest character. They did, indeed, admire
his virtue, as they might the beauty of some hero's image; but their
wishes were for Lysander's zealous and profitable support of the
interests of his friends and partisans, and they shed tears, and
were much disheartened when he sailed from them. He himself made
them yet more disaffected to Callicratidas; for what remained of the
money which had been given him to pay the navy, he sent back again
to Sardis, bidding them, if they would, apply to Callicratidas
himself, and see how he was able to maintain the soldiers. And, at the
last, sailing away, he declared to him that he delivered up the
fleet in possession and command of the sea. But Callicratidas, to
expose the emptiness of these high pretensions, said, "In that case,
leave Samos on the left hand, and sailing to Miletus, there deliver up
the ships to me; for if we are masters of the sea, we need not fear
sailing by our enemies in Samos." To which Lysander answering, that
not himself but he commanded the ships, sailed to Peloponnesus,
leaving Callicratidas in great perplexity. For neither had he
brought any money from home with him, nor could he endure to tax the
towns or force them, being in hardship enough. Therefore, the only
course that was to be taken was to go and beg at the doors of the
king's commanders, as Lysander had done; for which he was most unfit
of any man, being of a generous and great spirit, and one who
thought it more becoming for the Greeks to suffer any damage from
one another than to flatter and wait at the gates of barbarians,
who, indeed, had gold enough, but nothing else that was commendable.
But being compelled by necessity, he proceeded to Lydia, and went at
once to Cyrus's house, and sent in word that Callicratidas, the
admiral, was there to speak with him; one of those who kept the
gates replied, "Cyrus, O stranger, is not now at leisure, for he is
drinking." To which Callicratidas answered, most innocently, "Very
well, I will wait till he has done his draught." This time, therefore,
they took him for some clownish fellow, and he withdrew, merely
laughed at by the barbarians; but when, afterwards, he came a second
time to the gate, and was not admitted, he took it hardly and set
off for Ephesus, wishing a great many evils to those who first let
themselves be insulted over by these barbarians, and taught them to be
insolent because of their riches; and added vows to those who were
present, that as soon as ever he came back to Sparta, he would do
all he could to reconcile the Greeks, that they might be formidable to
barbarians, and that they should cease henceforth to need their aid
against one another. But Callicratidas, who entertained purposes
worthy a Lacedaemonian, and showed himself worthy to compete with
the very best of Greece, for his justice, his greatness of mind and
courage, not long after, having been beaten in a sea fight at
Arginusae, died.
  And now, affairs going backwards, the associates in the war sent
an embassy to Sparta, requiring Lysander to be their admiral,
professing themselves ready to undertake the business much more
zealously if he was commander; and Cyrus also sent to request the same
thing. But because they had a law which would not suffer any one to be
admiral twice, and wished, nevertheless, to gratify their allies, they
gave the title of admiral to one Aracus, and sent Lysander nominally
as vice-admiral, but, indeed, with full powers. So he came out, long
wished for by the greatest part of the chief persons and leaders in
the towns, who hoped to grow to greater power still by his means, when
the popular governments should be everywhere destroyed.
  But to those who loved honest and noble behaviour in their
commanders, Lysander, compared with Callicratidas, seemed cunning
and subtle, managing most things in the war by deceit, extolling
what was just when it was profitable, and when it was not, using
that which was convenient, instead of that which, was good; and not
judging truth to be in nature better than falsehood, but setting a
value upon both according to interest. He would laugh at those who
thought Hercules's posterity ought not to use deceit in war: "For
where the lion's skin will not reach, you must patch it out with the
fox's." Such is the conduct recorded of him in the business about
Miletus when his friends and connections, whom he had promised, raised
to assist in suppressing popular government, and expelling their
political opponents, had altered their minds, and were reconciled to
their enemies, he pretended openly as if he was pleased with it, and
was desirous to further the reconciliation, but privately he railed at
and abused them, and provoked them to set upon the multitude. And as
soon as ever he perceived a new attempt to be commencing, he at once
came up, and entered into the city, and the first of the
conspirators he lit upon, he pretended to rebuke, and spoke roughly,
as if he would punish them; but the others, meantime, he bade be
courageous, and to fear nothing, now he was with them. And all this
acting and dissembling was with the object that the most
considerable men of the popular party might not fly away, but might
stay in the city and be killed; which so fell out, for all who
believed him were put to death.
  There is a saying also, recorded by Androclides, which makes him
guilty of great indifference to the obligations of an oath. His
recommendation, according to this account, was to "cheat boys with
dice, and men with oaths," an imitation of Polycrates of Samos, not
very honourable to a lawful commander, to take example, namely, from a
tyrant; nor in character with Laconian usages, to treat gods as ill as
enemies, or, indeed, even more injuriously since he who overreaches by
an oath admits that he fears his enemy, while he despises his God.
  Cyrus now sent for Lysander to Sardis, and gave him some money,
and promised him some more, youthfully protesting in favour to him,
that if his father gave him nothing, he would supply him of his own;
and if he himself should be destitute of all, he would cut up, he
said, to make money, the very throne upon which he sat to do
justice, it being made of gold and silver; and, at last on going up
into Media to his father, he ordered that he should receive the
tribute of the towns, and committed his government to him, and so
taking his leave, and desiring him not to fight by sea before he
returned, for he would come back with a great many ships out of
Phoenicia and Cilicia, departed to visit the king.
  Lysander's ships were too few for him to venture to fight, and yet
too many to allow of his remaining idle; he set out, therefore, and
reduced some of the islands, and wasted Aegina and Salamis; and from
thence landing in Attica, and saluting Agis, who came from Decelea
to meet him, he made a display to the land-forces of the strength of
the fleet as though he could sail where he pleased, and were
absolute master by sea. But hearing the Athenians pursued him, he fled
another way through the island into Asia. And finding the Hellespont
without any defence, he attacked Lampsacus with his ships by sea;
while Thorax, acting in concert with him with the land army, made an
assault on the walls; and so having taken the city by storm, he gave
it up to his soldiers to plunder. The fleet of the Athenians, a
hundred and eighty ships, had just arrived at Elaeus in the
Chersonese; and hearing the news, that Lampsacus was destroyed, they
presently sailed to Sestos; where, taking in victuals, they advanced
to Aegos Potami, over against their enemies, who were still
stationed about Lampsacus. Amongst other Athenian captains who were
now in command was Philocles, he who persuaded the people to pass a
decree to cut off the right thumb of the captives in the war, that
they should not be able to hold the spear, though they might the oar.
  Then they all rested themselves, hoping they should have battle
the next morning. But Lysander had other things in his head; he
commanded the mariners and pilots to go on board at dawn, as if
there should be a battle as soon as it was day, and to sit there in
order, and without any noise, excepting what should be commanded,
and in like manner that the land army should remain quietly in their
ranks by the sea. But the sun rising, and the Athenians sailing up
with their whole fleet in line, and challenging them to battle, though
he had had his ships all drawn up and manned before daybreak,
nevertheless did not stir. He merely sent some boats to those who
lay foremost, and bade them keep still and stay in their order; not to
be disturbed, and none of them to sail out and offer battle. So
about evening, the Athenians sailing back, he would not let the seamen
go out of the ships before two or three, which he had sent to espy,
were returned, after seeing the enemies disembark. And thus they did
the next day, and the third, and so to the fourth. So that the
Athenians grew extremely confident, and disdained their enemies as
if they had been afraid and daunted. At this time, Alcibiades, who was
in his castle in the Chersonese, came on horseback to the Athenian
army, and found fault with their captains, first of all that they
had pitched their camp neither well nor safely on an exposed and
open beach, a very bad landing for the ships, and secondly, that where
they were they had to fetch all they wanted from Sestos, some
considerable way off; whereas if they sailed round a little way to the
town and harbour of Sestos, they would be at a safer distance from
an enemy, who lay watching their movements, at the command of a single
general, terror of whom made every order rapidly executed. This
advice, however, they would not listen to; and Tydeus answered
disdainfully, that not he, but others, were in office now. So
Alcibiades, who even suspected there must be treachery, departed.
  But on the fifth day, the Athenians having sailed towards them,
and gone back again as they were used to do, very proudly and full
of contempt, Lysander sending some ships, as usual, to look out,
commanded the masters of them that when they saw the Athenians go to
land, they should row back again with all their speed, and that when
they were about half-way across, they should lift up a brazen shield
from the fore-deck, as the sign of battle. And he himself sailing
round, encouraged the pilots and masters of the ships, and exhorted
them to keep all their men to their places, seamen and soldiers alike,
and as soon as ever the sign should be given, to row boldly to their
enemies. Accordingly, when the shield had been lifted up from the
ships, and the trumpet from the admiral's vessel had sounded for the
battle, the ships rowed up, and the foot soldiers strove to get
along by the shore to the promontory. The distance there between the
two continents is fifteen furlongs, which, by zeal and eagerness of
the rowers, was quickly traversed. Conon, one of the Athenian
commanders, was the first who saw from the land the fleet advancing,
and shouted out to embark, and in the greatest distress bade some
and entreated others, and some he forced to man the ships. But all his
diligence signified nothing, because the men were scattered about; for
as soon as they came out of the ships, expecting no such matter,
some went to market, others walked about the country, or went to sleep
in their tents, or got their dinners ready, being, through their
commanders' want of skill, as far as possible from any thought of what
was to happen; and the enemy now coming up with shouts and noise,
Conon, with eight ships, sailed out, and making his escape, passed
from thence to Cyprus, to Evagoras. The Peloponnesians falling upon
the rest, some they took quite empty, and some they destroyed while
they were filling; the men, meantime coming unarmed and scattered to
help, died at their ships, or, flying by land, were slain, their
enemies disembarking and pursuing them. Lysander took three thousand
prisoners, with the generals, and the whole fleet, excepting the
sacred ship Paralus, and those which fled with Conon. So taking
their ships in tow, and having plundered their tents, with pipe and
songs of victory, he sailed back to Lampsacus, having accomplished a
great work with small pains, and having finished in one hour a war
which had been protracted in its continuance, and diversified in its
incidents and in its fortunes, to a degree exceeding belief,
compared with all before it. After altering its shape and character
a thousand times, and after having been the destruction of more
commanders than all the previous wars of Greece put together, it was
now put an end to by the good counsel and ready conduct of one man.
  Some, therefore, looked upon the result as a divine intervention,
and there were certain who affirmed that the stars of Castor and
Pollux were seen on each side of Lysander's ship, when he first set
sail from the haven toward his enemies, shining about the helm; and
some say the stone which fell down was a sign of this slaughter. For a
stone of a great size did fall, according to the common belief, from
heaven, at Aegos Potami, which is shown to this day, and held in great
esteem by the Chersonites. And it is said that Anaxagoras foretold
that the occurrence of a slip or shake among the bodies fixed in the
heavens, dislodging any one of them, would be followed by the fall
of the whole of them. For no one of the stars is now in the same place
in which it was at first; for they, being, according to him, like
stones and heavy, shine by the refraction of the upper air round about
them, and are carried along forcibly by the violence of the circular
motion by which they were originally withheld from falling, when
cold and heavy bodies were first separated from the general
universe. But there is a more probable opinion than this maintained by
some, who say that falling stars are no effluxes, nor discharges of
ethereal fire, extinguished almost at the instant of its igniting by
the lower air; neither are they the sudden combustion and blazing up
of a quantity of the lower air let loose in great abundance into the
upper region; but the heavenly bodies, by a relaxation of the force of
their circular movement, are carried by an irregular course, not in
general into the inhabited part of the earth, but for the most part
into the wide sea; which is the cause of their not being observed.
Daimachus, in his treatise on Religion, supports the view of
Anaxagoras. He says, that before this stone fell, for seventy-five
days continually, there was seen in the heavens a vast fiery body,
as if it had been a flaming cloud, not resting, but carried about with
several intricate and broken movements, so that the flaming pieces,
which were broken off by this commotion and running about, were
carried in all directions, shining as falling stars do. But when it
afterwards came down to the ground in this district, and the people of
the place recovering from their fear and astonishment came together,
there was no fire to be seen, neither any sign of it; there was only a
stone lying, big indeed, but which bore no proportion, to speak of, to
that fiery compass. It is manifest that Daimachus needs to have
indulgent hearers; but if what he says be true, he altogether proves
those to be wrong who say that a rock broken off from the top of
some mountain, by winds and tempests, and caught and whirled about
like a top, as soon as this impetus began to slacken and cease, was
precipitated and fell to the ground. Unless, indeed, we choose to
say that the phenomenon which was observed for so many days was really
fire, and that the change in the atmosphere ensuing on its
extinction was attended with violent winds and agitations, which might
be the cause of this stone being carried off. The exacter treatment of
this subject belongs, however, to a different kind of writing.
  Lysander, after the three thousand Athenians whom he had taken
prisoners were condemned by the commissioners to die, called Philocles
the general, and asked him what punishment he considered himself to
deserve, for having advised the citizens, as he had done, against
the Greeks; but he, being nothing cast down at his calamity, bade
him not to accuse him of matters of which nobody was a judge, but to
do to him, now he was a conqueror, as he would have suffered, had he
been overcome. Then washing himself, and putting on a fine cloak, he
led the citizens the way to the slaughter, as Theophrastus writes in
his history. After this Lysander, sailing about to the various cities,
bade all the Athenians he met go into Athens, declaring that he
would spare none, but kill every man whom he found out of the city,
intending thus to cause immediate famine and scarcity there, that they
might not make the siege laborious to him, having provisions
sufficient to endure it. And suppressing the popular governments and
all other constitutions, he left one Lacedaemonian chief officer in
every city, with ten rulers to act with him, selected out of the
societies which he had previously formed in the different towns. And
doing thus as well in the cities of his enemies as of his
associates, he sailed leisurely on, establishing, in a manner, for
himself supremacy over the whole of Greece. Neither did he make choice
of rulers by birth or by wealth, but bestowed the offices on his own
friends and partisans, doing everything to please them, and putting
absolute power of reward and punishment into their hands. And thus,
personally appearing on many occasions of blood-shed and massacre, and
aiding his friends to expel their opponents, he did not give the
Greeks a favourable specimen of the Lacedaemonian government; and
the expression of Theopompus, the comic poet, seemed but poor, when he
compared the Lacedaemonians to tavern women, because when the Greeks
had first tasted the sweet wine of liberty, they then poured vinegar
into the cup; for from the very first it had a rough and bitter taste,
all government by the people being suppressed by Lysander, and the
boldest and least scrupulous of the oligarchical party selected to
rule the cities.
  Having spent some little time about these things, and sent some
before to Lacedaemon to tell them he was arriving with two hundred
ships, he united his forces in Attica with those of the two kings Agis
and Pausanias, hoping to take the city without delay. But when the
Athenians defended themselves, he with his fleet passed again to Asia,
and in like manner destroyed the forms of government in all the
other cities, and placed them under the rule of ten chief persons,
many in every one being killed, and many driven into exile; and in
Samos he expelled the whole people, and gave their cities to the
exiles whom he brought back. And the Athenians still possessing
Sestos, he took it from them, and suffered not the Sestians themselves
to dwell in it, but gave the city and country to be divided out
among the pilots and masters of the ships under him; which was his
first act that was disallowed by the Lacedaemonians, who brought the
Sestians, back again into their country. All Greece, however, rejoiced
to see the Aeginetans, by Lysander's aid, now again, after a long
time, receiving back their cities, and the Melians and Scionaeans
restored, while the Athenians were driven out, and delivered up the
cities.
  But when he now understood they were in bad case in the city because
of the famine, he sailed to Piraeus, and reduced the city, which was
compelled to surrender on what conditions he demanded. One hears it
said by Lacedaemonians that Lysander wrote to the Ephors thus: "Athens
is taken;" and that these magistrates wrote back to Lysander, "Taken
is enough." But this saying was invented for its neatness' sake; for
the true decree of the magistrates was on this manner: "The government
of the Lacedaemonians has made these orders; pull down the Piraeus and
the long walls; quit all the towns, and keep to your own land; if
you do these things, you shall have peace, if you wish it, restoring
also your exiles. As concerning the number of the ships, whatsoever
there be judged necessary to appoint, that do." This scroll of
conditions the Athenians accepted, Theramenes, son of Hagnon,
supporting it. At which time, too, they say that when Cleomenes, one
of the young orators, asked him how he durst act and speak contrary to
Themistocles, delivering up the walls to the Lacedaemonians, which
he had built against the will of the Lacedaemonians, he said, "O young
man, I do nothing contrary to Themistocles; for he raised these
walls for the safety of the citizens, and we pull them down for
their safety; and if walls make a city happy, then Sparta must be
the most wretched of all, as it has none."
  Lysander, as soon as he had taken all the ships except twelve, and
the walls of the Athenians, on the sixteenth day of the month
Munychion, the same on which they had overcome the barbarians at
Salamis, then proceeded to take measures for altering the
government. But the Athenians taking that very unwillingly, and
resisting, he sent to the people and informed them that he found
that the city had broken the terms, for the walls were standing when
the days were past within which they should have been pulled down.
He should, therefore, consider their case anew, they having broken
their first articles. And some state, in fact, the proposal was made
in the congress of the allies, that the Athenians should all be sold
as slaves; on which occasion, Erianthus, the Theban, gave his vote
to pull down the city, and turn the country into sheep-pasture; yet
afterwards, when there was a meeting of the captains together, a man
of Phocis, singing the first chorus in Euripides's Electra, which
begins-

         "Electra, Agamemnon's child, I come
          Unto thy desert home,"

they were all melted with compassion, and it seemed to be a cruel deed
to destroy and pull down a city which had been so famous, and produced
such men.
  Accordingly Lysander, the Athenians yielding up everything, sent for
a number of flute-women out of the city, and collected together all
that were in the camp, and pulled down the walls, and burnt the
ships to the sound of the flute, the allies being crowned with
garlands, and making merry together, as counting that day the
beginning of their liberty. He proceeded also at once to alter the
government, placing thirty rulers in the city and ten in the
Piraeus: he put, also, a garrison into the Acropolis, and made
Callibius, a Spartan, the governor of it; who afterwards taking up his
staff to strike Autolycus, the athlete, about whom Xenophon wrote
his "Banquet," on his tripping up his heels and throwing him to the
ground, Lysander was not vexed at it, but chid Callibius, telling
him he did not know how to govern freemen. The thirty rulers, however,
to gain Callibius's favour, a little after killed Autolycus.
  Lysander, after this, sails out to Thrace, and what remained of
the public money, and the gifts and crowns which he had himself
received, numbers of people, as might be expected, being anxious to
make presents to a man of such great power, who was, in a manner,
the lord of Greece, he sends to Lacedaemon by Gylippus, who had
commanded formerly in Sicily. But he, it is reported, unsewed the
sacks at the bottom, took a considerable amount of silver out of every
one of them, and sewed them up again, not knowing there was a
writing in every one stating how much there was. And coming into
Sparta, what he had thus stolen away he hid under the tiles of his
house, and delivered up the sacks to the magistrates, and showed the
seals were upon them. But afterwards, on their opening the sacks and
counting it, the quantity of the silver differed from what the writing
expressed; and the matter causing some perplexity to the
magistrates, Gylippus's servant tells them in a riddle, that under the
tiles lay many owls; for, as it seems, the greatest part of the
money then current bore the Athenian stamp of the owl. Gylippus having
committed so foul and base a deed, after such great and
distinguished exploits before, removed himself from Lacedaemon.
  But the wisest of the Spartans, very much on account of this
occurrence, dreading the influence of money, as being what had
corrupted the greatest citizens, exclaimed against Lysander's conduct,
and declared to the Ephors that all the silver and gold should be sent
away, as mere "alien mischiefs." These consulted about it; and
Theopompus says it was Sciraphidas, but Ephorus that it was Phlogidas,
who declared they ought not to receive any gold or silver into the
city; but to use their own country coin, which was iron, and was first
of all dipped in vinegar when it was red-hot, that it might not be
worked up anew, but because of the dipping might be hard and
unpliable. It was also, of course, very heavy and troublesome to
carry, and a great deal of it in quantity and weight was but a
little in value. And perhaps all the old money was so, coin consisting
of iron, or, in some countries, copper skewers, whence it comes that
we still find a great number of small pieces of money retain the
name of obolus, and the drachma is six of these, because so much may
be grasped in one's hand. But Lysander's friends being against it, and
endeavouring to keep the money in the city, it was resolved to bring
in this sort of money to be used publicly, enacting, at the same time,
that if any one was found in possession of any privately, he should be
put to death, as if Lycurgus had feared the coin, and not the
covetousness resulting from it, which they did not repress by
letting no private man keep any, so much as they encouraged it, by
allowing the state to possess it; attaching thereby a sort of
dignity to it, over and above its ordinary utility. Neither was it
possible, that what they saw so much esteemed publicly they should
privately despise as unprofitable; and that every one should think
that thing could be nothing worth for his own personal use, which
was so extremely valued and desired for the use of the state. And
moral habits, induced by public practices, are far quicker in making
their way into men's private lives, than the failings and faults of
individuals are in infecting the city at large. For it is probable
that the parts will be rather corrupted by the whole if that grows
bad; while the vices which flow from a part into the whole find many
correctives and remedies from that which remains sound. Terror and the
law were now to keep guard over the citizens' houses, to prevent any
money entering into them: but their minds could no longer be
expected to remain superior to the desire of it when wealth in general
was thus set up to be striven after, as a high and noble object. On
this point, however, we have given our censure of the Lacedaemonians
in one of our other writings.
  Lysander erected out of the spoils brazen statues at Delphi of
himself, and of every one of the masters of the ships, as also figures
of the golden stars of Castor and Pollux, which vanished before the
battle at Leuctra. In the treasury of Brasidas and the Acanthians
there was a trireme made of gold and ivory, of two cubits, which Cyrus
sent Lysander in honour of his victory. But Alexandrides of Delphi
write's, in his history, that there was also a deposit of
Lysander's, a talent of silver, and fifty-two minas, besides eleven
staters; a statement not consistent with the generally received
account of his poverty. And at that time, Lysander, being in fact of
greater power than any Greek before, was yet thought to show a
pride, and to affect a superiority greater even than his power
warranted. He was the first, as Duris says in his history, among the
Greeks to whom the cities reared altars as to a god, and sacrificed;
to him were songs of triumph first sung, the beginning of one of which
still remains recorded:-

         "Great Greece's general from spacious Sparta we
          Will celebrate with songs of victory."

And the Samians decreed that their solemnities of Juno should be
called the Lysandria; and out of the poets he had Choerilus always
with him, to extol his achievements in verse; and to Antilochus, who
had made some verses in his commendation, being pleased with them,
he gave a hat full of silver; and when Antimachus of Colophon, and one
Niceratus of Heraclea competed with each other in a poem on the
deeds of Lysander, he gave the garland to Niceratus; at which
Antimachus, in vexation, suppressed his poem; but Plato, being then
a young man and admiring Antimachus for his poetry, consoled him for
his defeat by telling him that it is the ignorant who are the
sufferers by ignorance, as truly as the blind by want of sight.
Afterwards, when Aristonus, the musician, who had been a conqueror six
times at the Pythian games, told him as a piece of flattery, that if
he were successful again, he would proclaim himself in the name of
Lysander, "that is," he answered," as his slave?"
  This ambitious temper was indeed only burdensome to the highest
personages and to his equals, but through having so many people
devoted to serve him, an extreme haughtiness and contemptuousness grew
up, together with ambition, in his character. He observed no sort of
moderation, such as befitted a private man, either in rewarding or
in punishing; the recompense of his friends and guests was absolute
power over cities, and irresponsible authority and the only
satisfaction of his wrath was the destruction of his enemy; banishment
would not suffice. As for example, at a later period, fearing lest the
popular leaders of the Milesians should fly, and desiring also to
discover those who lay hid, he swore he would do them no harm, and
on their believing him coming forth, he delivered them up to the
oligarchical leaders to be slain, being in all no less than eight
hundred. And, indeed, the slaughter in general of those of the popular
party in the towns exceeded all computation as he did not kill only
for offences against himself, but granted these favours without
sparing, and joined in the execution of them, to gratify the many
hatreds and the much cupidity of his friends everywhere round about
him. From whence the saying of Eteocles, the Lacedaemonian, came to be
famous, that "Greece could not have borne two Lysanders." Theophrastus
says, that Archestratus said the same thing concerning Alcibiades. But
in his case what had given most offence was a certain licentious and
wanton self-will; Lysander's power was, feared and hated because of
his unmerciful disposition. The Lacedaemonians did not at all
concern themselves for any other accusers; but afterwards, when
Pharnabazus, having been injured by him, he having pillaged and wasted
his country, sent some to Sparta to inform against him, the Ephors
taking it very ill, put one of his friends and fellow-captains,
Thorax, to death, taking him with some silver privately in his
possession; and they sent him a scroll, commanding him to return home.
This scroll is made up thus: When the Ephors send an admiral or
general on his way, they take two round pieces of wood, both exactly
of a length and thickness, and cut even to one another; they keep
one themselves, and the other they give to the person they send forth;
and these pieces of wood they call Scytales. When, therefore, they
have occasion to communicate any secret or important matter, making
a scroll of parchment long and narrow like a leathern thong, they roll
it about their own staff of wood, leaving no space void between, but
covering the surface of the staff with the scroll all over. When
they have done this, they write what they please on the scroll, as
it is wrapped about the staff; and when they have written, they take
off the scroll, and send it to the general without the wood. He,
when he has received it, can read nothing of the writing, because
the words and letters are not connected, but all broken up; but taking
his own staff, he winds the slip of the scroll about it, so that
this folding, restoring all the parts into the same order that they
were in before, and putting what comes first into connection with what
follows, brings the whole consecutive contents to view round the
outside. And this scroll is called a staff, after the name of the
wood, as a thing measured is by the name of the measure.
  But Lysander, when the staff came to him to the Hellespont, was
troubled, and fearing Pharnabazus's accusations most, made haste to
confer with him, hoping to end the difference by a meeting together.
When they met, he desired him to write another letter to the
magistrates, stating that he had not been wronged, and had no
complaint to prefer. But he was ignorant that Pharnabazus, as it is in
the proverb, played Cretan against Cretan; for pretending to do all
that was desired, openly he wrote such a letter as Lysander wanted,
but kept by him another, written privately; and when they came to
put on the seals, changed the tablets, which differed not at all to
look upon, and gave him the letter which had been written privately.
Lysander, accordingly, coming to Lacedaemon, and going, as the
custom is, to the magistrates' office, gave Pharnabazus's letter to
the Ephors, being persuaded that the greatest accusation against him
was now withdrawn; for Pharnabazus was beloved by the
Lacedaemonians, having been the most zealous on their side in the
war of all the king's captains. But after the magistrates had read the
letter they showed it him, and he understanding now that-

         "Others beside Ulysses deep can be,
          Not the one wise man of the world is he,"

in extreme confusion, left them at the time. But a few days after,
meeting the Ephors, he said he must go to the temple of Ammon, and
offer the god the sacrifices which he had vowed in war. For some state
it as a truth, that when he was besieging the city of Aphytae in
Thrace, Ammon stood by him in his sleep; whereupon raising the
siege, supposing the god had commanded it, he bade the Aphytaeans
sacrifice to Ammon, and resolved to make a journey into Libya to
propitiate the god. But most were of opinion that the god was but
the pretence, and that in reality he was afraid of the Ephors, and
that impatience of the yoke at home, and dislike of living under
authority, made him long for some travel and wandering, like a horse
just brought in from open feeding and pasture to the stable, and put
again to his ordinary work. For that which Ephorus states to have been
the cause of this travelling about, I shall relate by and by.
  And having hardly and with difficulty obtained leave of the
magistrates to depart, he set sail. But the kings, while he was on his
voyage, considering that keeping, as he did, the cities in
possession by his own friends and partisans, he was in fact their
sovereign and the lord of Greece, took measures for restoring the
power to the people, and for throwing his friends out. Disturbances
commencing again about these things, and, first of all, the
Athenians from Phyle setting upon their thirty rulers and overpowering
them, Lysander, coming home in haste, persuaded the Lacedaemonians
to support the oligarchies and to put down the popular governments,
and to the thirty in Athens, first of all, they sent a hundred talents
for the war, and Lysander himself, as general, to assist them. But the
kings envying him, and fearing lest he should take Athens again,
resolved that one of themselves should take the command. Accordingly
Pausanias went, and in words, indeed, professed as if he had been
for the tyrant against the people, but in reality exerted himself
for peace, that Lysander might not by the means of his friends
become lord of Athens again. This he brought easily to pass; for,
reconciling the Athenians, and quieting the tumults, he defeated the
ambitious hope of Lysander, though shortly after, on the Athenians
rebelling again, he was censured for having thus taken, as it were,
the bit out of the mouth of the people, which, being freed from the
oligarchy, would now break out again into affronts and insolence;
and Lysander regained the reputation of a person who employed his
command not in gratification of others, not for applause, but strictly
for the good of Sparta.
  His speech, also, was bold and daunting to such as opposed him.
The Argives, for example, contended about the bounds of their land,
and thought they brought juster pleas than the Lacedaemonians; holding
out his sword, "He," said Lysander, "that is master of this, brings
the best argument about the bounds of territory." A man of Megara,
at some conference, taking freedom with him, "This language, my
friend," said he, "should come from a city." To the Boeotians, who
were acting a doubtful part, he put the question, whether he should
pass through their country with spears upright or levelled. After
the revolt of the Corinthians, when, on coming to their walls, he
perceived the Lacedaemonians hesitating to make the assault, and a
hare was seen to leap through the ditch: "Are you not ashamed," he
said, "to fear an enemy, for whose laziness the very hares sleep
upon their walls?"
  When King Agis died, leaving a brother Agesilaus, and
Leontychides, who was supposed his son, Lysander, being attached to
Agesilaus, persuaded him to lay claim to the kingdom, as being a
true descendant of Hercules; Leontychides lying under the suspicion of
being the soil of Alcibiades, who lived privately in familiarity
with Timaea, the wife of Agis, at the time he was a fugitive in
Sparta. Agis, they say, computing the time, satisfied himself that she
could not have conceived by him, and had hitherto always neglected and
manifestly disowned Leontychides; but now when he was carried sick
to Heraea, being ready to die, what by importunities of the young
man himself, and of his friends, in the presence of many he declared
Leontychides to be his; and desiring those who were present to bear
witness to this to the Lacedaemonians, died. They accordingly did so
testify in favour of Leontychides. And Agesilaus, being otherwise
highly reputed of and strong in the support of Lysander, was, on the
other hand, prejudiced by Diopithes, a man famous for his knowledge of
oracles, who adduced this prophecy in reference to Agesilaus's
lameness:-

         "Beware, great Sparta, lest there come of thee,
          Though sound thyself, an halting sovereignty;
          Troubles, both long and unexpected too,
          And storms of deadly warfare shall ensue."

When many, therefore, yielded to the oracle, and inclined to
Leontychides, Lysander said that Diopithes did not take the prophecy
rightly; for it was not that the god would be offended if any lame
person ruled over the Lacedaemonians, but that the kingdom would be
a lame one if bastards and false-born should govern with the posterity
of Hercules. By this argument, and by his great influence among
them, he prevailed, and Agesilaus was made king.
  Immediately, therefore, Lysander spurred him on to make an
expedition into Asia, putting him in hopes that he might destroy the
Persians, and attain the height of greatness. And he wrote to his
friends in Asia, bidding them request to have Agesilaus appointed to
command them in the war against the barbarians; which they were
persuaded to, and sent ambassadors to Lacedaemon to entreat it. And
this would seem to be a second favour done Agesilaus by Lysander,
not inferior to his first in obtaining him the kingdom. But with
ambitious natures, otherwise not ill qualified for command, the
feeling of jealousy of those near them in reputation continually
stands in the way of the performance of noble actions; they make those
their rivals in virtue, whom they ought to use as their helpers to it.
Agesilaus took Lysander, among the thirty counsellors that accompanied
him, with intentions of using him as his especial friend; but when
they were come into Asia, the inhabitants there, to whom he was but
little known, addressed themselves to him but little and seldom;
whereas Lysander, because of their frequent previous intercourse,
was visited and attended by large numbers, by his friends out of
observance, and by others out of fear; and just as in tragedies it not
uncommonly is the case with the actors, the person who represents a
messenger or servant is much taken notice of, and plays the chief
part, while he who wears the crown and scepter is hardly heard to
speak, even so was it about the counsellor, he had all the real
honours of the government, and to the king was left the empty name
of power. This disproportionate ambition ought very likely to have
been in some way softened down, and Lysander should have been
reduced to his proper second place, but wholly to cast off and to
insult and affront for glory's sake one who was his benefactor and
friend was not worthy Agesilaus to allow in himself. For, first of
all, he gave him no opportunity for any action, and never set him in
any place of command; then, for whomsoever he perceived him exerting
his interest, these persons he always sent away with a refusal, and
with less attention than any ordinary suitors, thus silently undoing
and weakening his influence.
  Lysander, miscarrying in everything, and perceiving that his
diligence for his friends was but a hindrance to them, forbore to help
them, entreating them that they would not address themselves to, nor
observe him, but that they would speak to the king, and to those who
could be of more service to friends than at present he could; most, on
hearing this forbore to trouble him about their concerns, but
continued their observances to him, waiting upon him in the walks
and places of exercise; at which Agesilaus was more annoyed than ever,
envying him the honour; and, finally, when he gave many of the
officers places of command and the governments of cities, he appointed
Lysander carver at his table, adding, by way of insult to the Ionians,
"Let them go now, and pay their court to my carver." Upon this,
Lysander thought fit to come and speak with him; and a brief laconic
dialogue passed between them as follows: "Truly, you know very well, O
Agesilaus, how to depress your friends;" "Those friends," replied
he, "who would be greater than myself; but those who increase my
power, it is just should share in it." "Possibly, O Agesilaus,"
answered Lysander, "in all this there may be more said on your part
than done on mine, but I request you, for the sake of observers from
without, to place me in any command under you where you may judge I
shall be the least offensive, and most useful."
  Upon this he was sent ambassador to the Hellespont; and though angry
with Agesilaus, yet did not neglect to perform his duty, and having
induced Spithridates the Persian, being offended with Pharnabazus, a
gallant man, and in command of some forces, to revolt, he brought
him to Agesilaus. He was not, however, employed in any other
service, but having completed his time returned to Sparta, without
honour, angry with Agesilaus, and hating more than ever the whole
Spartan government, and resolved to delay no longer, but while there
was yet time, to put into execution the plans which he appears some
time before to have concerted for a revolution and change in the
constitution. These were as follows. The Heraclidae who joined with
the Dorians, and came into Peloponnesus, became a numerous and
glorious race in Sparta, but not every family belonging to it had
the right of succession in the kingdom, but the kings were chosen
out of two only, called the Eurypontidae and the Agiadae; the rest had
no privilege in the government by their nobility of birth, and the
honours which followed from merit lay open to all who could obtain
them. Lysander who was born of one of these families, when he had
risen into great renown for his exploits, and had gained great friends
and power, was vexed to see the city, which had increased to what it
was by him, ruled by others not at all better descended than
himself, and formed a design to remove the government from the two
families, and to give it in common to all the Heraclidae; or, as
some say, not to the Heraclidae only, but to all Spartans; that the
reward might not belong to the posterity of Hercules, but to those who
were like Hercules, judging by that personal merit which raised even
him to the honour of the Godhead; and he hoped that when the kingdom
was thus to be competed for, no Spartan would be chosen before
himself.
  Accordingly he first attempted and prepared to persuade the citizens
privately, and studied an oration composed for this purpose by
Cleon, the Halicarnassian. Afterwards perceiving so unexpected and
great an innovation required bolder means of support, he proceeded, as
it might be on the stage, to avail himself of machinery, and to try
the effects of divine agency upon his countrymen. He collected and
arranged for his purpose answers and oracles from Apollo, not
expecting to get any benefit from Cleon's rhetoric, unless he should
first alarm and overpower the minds of his fellow-citizens by
religious and superstitious terrors, before bringing them to the
consideration of his arguments. Ephorus relates, after he had
endeavoured to corrupt the oracle of Apollo, and had again failed to
persuade the priestess of Dodona by means of Pherecles, that he went
to Ammon, and discoursed with the guardians of the oracle there,
proffering them a great deal of gold, and that they, taking this
ill, sent some to Sparta to accuse Lysander; and on his acquittal
the Libyans, going away, said, "You will find us, O Spartans, better
judges, when you come to dwell with us in Libya," there being a
certain ancient oracle that the Lacedaemonians should dwell in
Libya. But as the whole intrigue and the course of the contrivance was
no ordinary one, nor lightly undertaken, but depended as it went on,
like some mathematical proposition, on a variety of important
admissions, and proceeded through a series of intricate and
difficult steps to its conclusion, we will go into it at length,
following the account of one who was at once an historian and a
philosopher.
  There was a woman in Pontus who professed to be pregnant by
Apollo, which many, as was natural, disbelieved, and many also gave
credit to, and when she had brought forth a man-child, several, not
unimportant persons, took an interest in its rearing and bringing
up. The name given the boy was Silenus, for some reason or other.
Lysander, taking this for the groundwork, frames and devises the
rest himself, making use of not a few, nor these insignificant
champions of his story, who brought the report of the child's birth
into credit without any suspicion. Another report, also, was
procured from Delphi and circulated in Sparta, that there were some
very old oracles which were kept by the priests in private writings;
and they were not to be meddled with, neither was it lawful to read
them, till one in aftertimes should come, descended from Apollo,
and, on giving some known token to the keepers, should take the
books in which the oracles were. Things being thus ordered beforehand,
Silenus, it was intended, should come and ask for the oracles, as
being the child of Apollo, and those priests who were privy to the
design were to profess to search narrowly into all particulars, and to
question him concerning his birth; and finally, were to be
convinced, and, as to Apollo's son, to deliver up to him the writings.
Then he, in the presence of many witnesses, should read, amongst other
prophecies, that which was the object of the whole contrivance,
relating to the office of the kings, that it would be better and
more desirable to the Spartans to choose their kings out of the best
citizens. And now, Silenus being grown up to a youth, and being
ready for the action, Lysander miscarried in his drama through the
timidity of one of his actors, or assistants, who just as he came to
the point lost heart and drew back. Yet nothing was found out while
Lysander lived, but only after his death.
  He died before Agesilaus came back from Asia, being involved, or
perhaps more truly having himself involved Greece, in the Boeotian
war. For it is stated both ways; and the cause of it some make to be
himself, others the Thebans, and some both together; the Thebans, on
the one hand, being charged with casting away the sacrifices at Aulis,
and that being bribed with the king's money brought by Androclides and
Amphitheus, they had, with the object of entangling the Lacedaemonians
in a Grecian war, set upon the Phocians, and wasted their country;
it being said, on the other hand, that Lysander was angry that the
Thebans had preferred a claim to the tenth part of the spoils of the
war, while the rest of the confederates submitted without complaint;
and because they expressed indignation about the money which
Lysander sent to Sparta, but more especially, because from them the
Athenians had obtained the first opportunity of freeing themselves
from the thirty tyrants, whom Lysander had made, and to support whom
the Lacedaemonians issued a decree that political refugees from Athens
might be arrested in whatever country they were found, and that
those who impeded their arrest should be excluded from the
confederacy. In reply to this the Thebans issued counter decrees of
their own, truly in the spirit and temper of the actions of Hercules
and Bacchus, that every house and city in Boeotia should be opened
to the Athenians who required it, and that he who did not help a
fugitive who was seized should be fined a talent for damages, and if
any one should bear arms through Boeotia to Attica against the
tyrants, that none of the Thebans should either see or hear of it. Nor
did they pass these humane and truly Greek decrees without at the same
time making their acts conformable to their words. For Thrasybulus,
and those who with him occupied Phyle, set out upon that enterprise
from Thebes, with arms and money, and secrecy and a point to start
from, provided for them by the Thebans. Such were the causes of
complaint Lysander had against Thebes. And being now grown violent
in his temper through the atrabilious tendency which increased upon
him in his old age, he urged the Ephors and persuaded them to place
a garrison in Thebes, and taking the commander's place, he marched
forth with a body of troops. Pausanias, also, the king, was sent
shortly after with an army. Now Pausanias, going round by Cithaeron,
was to invade Boeotia; Lysander, meantime, advanced through Phocis
to meet him, with a numerous body of soldiers. He took the city of the
Orchomenians, who came over to him of their own accord, and
plundered Lebadea. He despatched also letters to Pausanias, ordering
him to move from Plataea to meet him at Haliartus, and that himself
would be at the walls of Haliartus by break of day. These letters were
brought to the Thebans, the carrier of them falling into the hands
of some Theban scouts. They, having received aid from Athens,
committed their city to the charge of the Athenian troops, and
sallying out about the first sleep, succeeded in reaching Haliartus
a little before Lysander, and part of them entered into the city. He
upon this first of all resolved, posting his army upon a hill, to stay
for Pausanias; then as the day advanced, not being able to rest, he
bade his men take up their arms, and encouraging the allies, led
them in a column along the road to the walls. But those Thebans who
had remained outside, taking the city on the left hand, advanced
against the rear of their enemies, by the fountain which is called
Cissusa; here they tell the story that the nurses washed the infant
Bacchus after birth; the water of it is of a bright wine-colour,
clear, and most pleasant to drink; and not far off the Cretan storax
grows all about which the Haliartians adduce in token of
Rhadamanthus having dwelt there, and they show his sepulchre,
calling it Alea. And the monument also of Alcmena is hard by; for
there, as they say, she was buried, having married Rhadamanthus
after Amphitryon's death. But the Thebans inside the city, forming
in order of battle with the Haliartians, stood still for some time,
but on seeing Lysander with a party of those who were foremost
approaching, on a sudden opening the gates and falling on, they killed
him with the soothsayer at his side, and a few others; for the greater
part immediately fled back to the main force. But the Thebans not
slackening, but closely pursuing them, the whole body turned to fly
towards the hills. There were one thousand of them slain; there
died, also, of the Thebans three hundred, who were killed with their
enemies, while chasing them into craggy and difficult places. These
had been under suspicion of favouring the Lacedaemonians, and in their
eagerness to clear themselves in the eyes of their fellow-citizens,
exposed themselves in the pursuit, and so met their death. News of the
disaster reached Pausanias as he was on the way from Plataea to
Thespiae, and having set his army in order he came to Haliartus;
Thrasybulus, also, came from Thebes, leading the Athenians.
  Pausanias proposing to request the bodies of the dead under truce,
the elders of the Spartans took it ill, and were angry among
themselves, and coming to the king, declared that Lysander should
not be taken away upon any conditions; if they fought it out by arms
about his body, and conquered, then they might bury him; if they
were overcome, it was glorious to die upon the spot with their
commander. When the elders had spoken these things, Pausanias saw it
would be a difficult business to vanquish the Thebans, who had but
just been conquerors; that Lysander's body also lay near the walls, so
that it would be hard for them, though they overcame, to take it
away without a truce; he therefore sent a herald, obtained a truce,
and withdrew his forces, and carrying away the body of Lysander,
they buried it in the first friendly soil they reached on crossing the
Boeotian frontier, in the country the Panopaeans; where the monument
still stands as you go on the road from Delphi to Chaeronea. Now the
army quartering there, it is said that a person of Phocis, relating
the battle to one who was not in it, said, the enemies fell upon
them just after Lysander had passed over the Hoplites; surprised at
which a Spartan, a friend of Lysander, asked what Hoplites he meant,
for he did not know the name. "It was there," answered the Phocian,
"that the enemy killed the first of us; the rivulet by the city is
called Hoplites." On hearing which the Spartan shed tears and observed
how impossible it is for any man to avoid his appointed lot; Lysander,
it appears, having received an oracle as follows:-

         "Sounding Hoplites see thou bear in mind,
          And the earthborn dragon following behind."

Some, however, say that Hoplites does not run by Haliartus, but is a
watercourse near Coronea, falling into the river Philarus, not far
from the town in former times called Hoplias, and now Isomantus.
  The man of Haliartus who killed Lysander, by name Neochorus, bore on
his shield the device of a dragon; and this, it was supposed, the
oracle signified. It is said also that at the time of the
Peloponnesian war, the Thebans received an oracle from the sanctuary
of Ismenus, referring at once to the battle at Delium, and to this
which thirty years after took solace at Haliartus. It ran thus:-

         "Hunting the wolf, observe the utmost bound,
          And the hill Orchalides where foxes most are found."

By the words, "the utmost bound," Delium being intended, where Boeotia
touches Attica, and by Orchalides, the hill now called Alopecus, which
lies in the parts of Haliartus towards Helicon.
  But such a death befalling Lysander, the Spartans took it so
grievously at the time, that they put the king to a trial for his
life, which he not daring to await, fled to Tegea, and there lived out
his life in the sanctuary of Minerva. The poverty also of Lysander
being discovered by his death made his merit more manifest, since from
so much wealth and power, from all the homage of the cities, and of
the Persian kingdom, he had not in the least degree, so far as money
goes, sought any private aggrandizement, as Theopompus in his
history relates, whom any one may rather give credit to when he
commends than when he finds fault, as it is more agreeable to him to
blame than to praise. But subsequently, Ephorus says, some controversy
arising among the allies at Sparta, which made it necessary to consult
the writings which Lysander had kept by him, Agesilaus came to his
house, and finding the book in which the oration on the Spartan
constitution was written at length, to the effect that the kingdom
ought to be taken from the Eurypontidae and Agiadae, and to be offered
in common, and a choice made out of the best citizens, at first he was
eager to make it public, and to show his countrymen the real character
of Lysander. But Lacratidas, a wise man, and at that time chief of the
Ephors, hindered Agesilaus, and said they ought not to dig up Lysander
again, but rather to bury with him a discourse, composed so
plausibly and subtilely. Other honours, also, were paid him, after his
death; and amongst these they imposed a fine upon those who had
engaged themselves to marry his daughters, and then when Lysander
was found to be poor, after his decease, refused them; because when
they thought him rich they had been observant of him, but now his
poverty had proved him just and good, they forsook him. For there was,
it seems, in Sparta, a punishment for not marrying, for a late, and
for a bad marriage; and to the last penalty those were most especially
liable who sought alliances with the rich instead of with the good and
with their friends. Such is the account we have found given of
Lysander.


                             THE END