A eulogy for the Spartan king Agesilaus, whom Xenophon knew personally. The virtues of a soldier-king described by a soldier-writer.
Start ReadingAgesilaus' accession to the Spartan throne and his campaign in Asia Minor against the Persians. His early character: pious, disciplined, just.
The Persian campaign continues. Agesilaus defeats the satrap Tissaphernes and wins the admiration of the Greek cities of Asia.
Recalled to Greece by the outbreak of the Corinthian War. Agesilaus marches overland from Asia — the reverse of Xerxes' journey.
The battle of Coronea (394 BC). A brutal, close-fought engagement. Agesilaus is wounded but victorious.
The years of Spartan hegemony. Agesilaus enforces the King's Peace and maintains Spartan dominance through a combination of force and diplomacy.
Agesilaus' later campaigns and the decline of Spartan power. Thebes rises; Messenia is liberated. The old king fights on.
Agesilaus in Egypt, fighting as a mercenary in his eighties. He dies on the voyage home. The final campaign of the last great Spartan king.
Xenophon catalogues Agesilaus' virtues: piety, justice, self-control, courage. Each is illustrated with specific anecdotes.
Agesilaus' frugality and simplicity. He dressed no better than his soldiers and lived in the same conditions. His house was the oldest in Sparta.
Agesilaus' treatment of friends and enemies. Loyal to allies, magnanimous to the defeated, relentless against oath-breakers.
Xenophon's peroration. Agesilaus deserves the highest honour: he lived entirely for his city, and his city was the greatest in Greece.