Xenophon, "Hellenika"
The rise and fall of Spartan hegemony, and the collapse of Classical Greece.
Index
Book I: The Final Years of the Peloponnesian War, 411 BC - 406 BC
Socrates' Integrity During the Trial of the Generals - [The obstinate dissentient was Socrates, who insisted that he would do nothing except in accordance with law]
Book II: Aigospotamoi; the Thirty at Athens, 406 BC - 403 BC
The Strong Are Never Strong Forever - [The evils they were about to suffer, the like of which they themselves had inflicted upon the men of Melos]
The Athenians Learn That There Is No Victory In Politics - [They must now, in their turn, suffer what they had themselves inflicted upon others]
The Tyranny of the Thirty Commences - [needed a bodyguard only until they had got the malignant out of the way in a purge]
The Thirty Confiscates Weapons Then Brutalizes the Athenian People - [The ground being thus cleared, and feeling they had it in their power to do what they pleased]
Tyranny Against Fellow Citizens Weakens the Governing Body's Ability to Defend Itself - [These are they who cause our adversaries to grow and multiply]
Theramenes' Defense Against Ideological Extremes - [But what of the man who pleases neither side?]
Kritias Removes Theramenes’ Name From the List & Sentences Him to Death - [the name of every one of you is as easily erased as mine]
The Death of Theramenes - ["Keep quiet or you will be sorry" | "And if I keep silent, will I not be just as sorry?"]
The Thirty Reap The Harvest That They Have Sewn - [let us with one accord wreak vengeance on yonder men]
Kleocritus Calls for Peace and Unity - [Cease from doing wrong to your country]
Thrasyboulos Restores the Democracy, Admonishes the Oligarchs but Does Not Kill Them - [there was no need for anarchy or disorder, seeing that there were the ancient laws ready for use]
Book IV: Spartan Victories on Land, Defeat at Sea, 395-388
Timolaus of Corinth Presents a Strategy to Defeat Corinth - [best to bring about the battle within the hive itself, or, short of that, as close to Lacedaemon as possible]
Brutality of the Corinthian Revolution - Chaos Destroys the Old Order - [honest, law-abiding folk—were filled with sore amazement at the sight of such impiety]
Young Generation Goes Into the Chaos Aiming for the Highest And Most Honorable Goals - [Restore the freedom of their city; the enjoyment of good government; aiming for the highest and most honorable goal]
Xenophon Praises the Spartan Disposition Towards Death - [Glorying in their domestic sorrow]
Book V: Sparta at the Height of Its Power, 388-375
Telutias' Generalship - [Just as we gladly toil together, so, too, we will gladly enjoy prosperity together]
Pride Runs In Parallel To Power - [Akanthians warn Sparta of Olynthian threat]
Telutias' Dies and Xenophon Lectures Against Anger in Generals - [You will incur more evil in wrath yourself than what you intend to inflict on others]
Xenophon Uses the Sparta Capture of the Theban Acropolis to Show the Justice of the Gods - [Justice of the gods in that Thebes, which Sparta had wronged, should be the state that conquers her]
Book VI: Thebes Defeats Sparta and Invades Laconia, 375-369
Friendship Must Surmount Error - [No man can go very far without a slip]
Spirit of the Spartans After Defeat at Leuctra - [striking spectacle to see those who had relations among the slain moving in public with bright and radiant looks]
Jason of Pherae Arrives to Dissuade the Thebans From Pursuing the Spartans into the Peloponnese - [Providence, as it seems, ofttimes delights to make the little ones great and the great ones small]
Prokles Argues Why the Athenians Should Aid the Spartans Against the Thebans - [ it is not the potential greatness of those we benefit, but of those we injure, which causes apprehension]
Book I: The Final Years of the Peloponnesian War, 411 BC - 406 BC
Socrates' Integrity During the Trial of the Generals
[The obstinate dissentient was Socrates, who insisted that he would do nothing except in accordance with law]
Now there came forward in the assembly a man, who said that he had escaped drowning by clinging to a meal tub. The poor fellows perishing around him had commissioned him, if he succeeded in saving himself, to tell the people of Athens how bravely they had fought for their fatherland, and how the generals had left them there to drown.
Presently Euryptolemus, the son of Peisianax, and others served a notice of indictment on Callixenus, insisting that his proposal was unconstitutional, and this view of the case was applauded by some members of the assembly. But the majority kept crying out that it was monstrous if the people were to be hindered by any stray individual from doing what seemed to them right. And when Lysicus, embodying the spirit of those cries, formally proposed that if these persons would not abandon their action, they should be tried by the same vote along with the generals: a proposition to which the mob gave vociferous assent; and so these were compelled to abandon their summonses. Again, when some of the Prytanes (7) objected to put a resolution to the vote which was in itself unconstitutional, Callixenus again got up and accused them in the same terms, and the shouting began again. "Yes, summons all who refuse," until the Prytanes, in alarm, all agreed with one exception to permit the voting. This obstinate dissentient was Socrates, the son of Sophroniscus, who insisted that he would do nothing except in accordance with the law.
(406, Athens, Socrates refuses to put the matter to the vote, 34)
Theramenes and his followers wear black cloaks and cut their hair short. They persuade the council and Assembly to vote immediately on whether or not the generals are guilty of failing to rescue their shipwrecked compatriots and to condemn them to death if found guilty.
Those who try to defend the generals are shouted down by the crowd, determined that the people should have their way. Of the presiding committee, only Socrates objects to putting the matter to a vote.
Book II: Aigospotamoi; the Thirty at Athens, 406 BC - 403 BC
The Strong Are Never Strong Forever
[The evils they were about to suffer, the like of which they themselves had inflicted upon the men of Melos]
It was night when the "Paralus" reached Athens with her evil tidings, on receipt of which a bitter wail of woe broke forth. From Piraeus, following the line of the long walls up to the heart of the city, it swept and swelled, as each man to his neighbour passed on the news. On that night no man slept. There was mourning and sorrow for those that were lost, but the lamentation for the dead was merged in even deeper sorrow for themselves, as they pictured the evils they were about to suffer, the like of which they themselves had inflicted upon the men of Melos, who were colonists of the Lacedaemonians, when they mastered them by siege. Or on the men of Histiaea; on Scione and Torone; on the Aeginetans, and many another Hellene city. On the following day the public assembly met, and, after debate, it was resolved to block up all the harbors save one, to put the walls in a state of defence, to post guards at various points, and to make all other necessary preparations for a siege. Such were the concerns of the men of Athens.
(405, Lampsacus, Spartans decide to execute Athenian poisoners, 47-48)
The Paralos brings the news of Aigospotamoi to Athens. There is much grief for the losses and fear for the future. The Athenians vote to prepare the city for a siege
The Athenians Learn That There Is No Victory In Politics
[They must now, in their turn, suffer what they had themselves inflicted upon others]
The Athenians, finding themselves besieged by land and sea, were in sore perplexity what to do. Without ships, without allies, without provisions, the belief gained hold upon them that there was no way of escape. They must now, in their turn, suffer what they had themselves inflicted upon others; not in retaliation, indeed, for ills received, but out of sheer insolence, overriding the citizens of petty states, and for no better reason than that these were allies of the very men now at their gates.
(405, Athens, Starving Athenians ask Agis for terms -- he rebuffs them, 50)
The Athenians, lacking any means to resist, finally send to Agis to ask if they can become allies of the Spartans, if only they can retain their Long Walls and the fortifications of the Piraeus. Agis refers them to Sparta to discuss the issue of alliance.
The Tyranny of the Thirty Commences
[needed a bodyguard only until they had got the malignant out of the way in a purge]
The Thirty had been chosen almost immediately after the long walls and the fortifications round Piraeus had been razed. They were chosen for the express purpose of compiling a code of laws for the future constitution of the State. The laws were always on the point of being published, yet they were never forthcoming; and the thirty compilers contented themselves meanwhile with appointing a senate and the other magistracies as suited their fancy best. That done, they turned their attention, in the first instance, to such persons as were well known to have made their living as informers under the democracy, and to be thorns in the side of all respectable people.
These they laid hold on and prosecuted on the capital charge. The new senate gladly recorded its vote of condemnation against them; and the rest of the world, conscious of bearing no resemblance to them, seemed scarcely vexed. But the Thirty did not stop there. Presently they began to deliberate by what means they could get the city under their absolute control, in order that they might work their will upon it. Here again they proceeded tentatively; in the first instance, they sent (two of their number), Aeschines and Aristoteles, to Lacedaemon, and persuaded Lysander to support them in getting a Lacedaemonian garrison despatched to Athens. They only needed it until they had got the "malignants" out of the way, and had established the constitution; and they would undertake to maintain these troops at their own cost. Lysander was not deaf to their persuasions, and by his co-operation their request was granted. A bodyguard, with Callibius as governor, was sent.
And now that they had got the garrison, they fell to flattering Callibius with all servile flattery, in order that he might give countenance to their doings. Thus they prevailed on him to allow some of the guards, whom they selected, to accompany them, while they proceeded to lay hands on whom they would; no longer confining themselves to base folk and people of no account, but boldly laying hands on those who they felt sure would least easily brook being thrust aside, or, if a spirit of opposition seized them, could command the largest number of partisans.
(404, Athens, The Thirty don't publish laws, they set up a regime, 55)
The Thirty delay publication of news laws and set up their own interim regime. They ask for and are given a Spartan garrison by Lysander. With this protection, they begin to seize not just the obvious criminals but men of stature who might successfully oppose them.
The Thirty Confiscates Weapons Then Brutalizes the Athenian People
[The ground being thus cleared, and feeling they had it in their power to do what they pleased]
The Three Thousand were drawn up in the Agora, and the rest of the citizens, who were not included in the list, elsewhere in various quarters of the city. The order to take arms was given; but while the men's backs were turned, at the bidding of the Thirty, the Laconian guards, with those of the citizens who shared their views, appeared on the scene and took away the arms of all except the Three Thousand, carried them up to the Acropolis, and safely deposited them in the temple.
The ground being thus cleared, as it were, and feeling that they had it in their power to do what they pleased, they embarked on a course of wholesale butchery, to which many were sacrificed to the merest hatred, many to the accident of possessing riches. Presently the question rose, How they were to get money to pay their guards? and to meet this difficulty a resolution was passed empowering each of the committee to seize on one of the resident aliens apiece, to put his victim to death, and to confiscate his property. Theramenes was invited, or rather told to seize some one or other.
"Choose whom you will, only let it be done." To which he made answer, it hardly seemed to him a noble or worthy course on the part of those who claimed to be the elite of society to go beyond the informers in injustice. "Yesterday they, to-day we; with this difference, the victim of the informer must live as a source of income; our innocents must die that we may get their wealth. Surely their method was innocent in comparison with ours."
(404, Athens, Kritias' list of 3,000 is denounced by Theramenes, 56)
The Thirty disarms the citizenry except for their chosen body of three thousand citizens. In order to raise money to pay the garrison, each of the Thirty is required to select one resident alien and have him put to death so that his property could be confiscated. Theramenes objects to this policy, and the rest of the Thirty begin to plot against him.
Tyranny Against Fellow Citizens Weakens the Governing Body's Ability to Defend Itself
[These are they who cause our adversaries to grow and multiply]
I ask then is the man who tenders such advice in the full light of day justly to be regarded as a traitor, and not as a benefactor? Surely Critias, the peacemaker, the man who hinders the creation of many enemies, whose counsels tend to the acquistion of yet more friends, (17) cannot be accused of strengthening the hands of the enemy. Much more truly may the imputation be retorted on those who wrongfully appropriate their neighbours' goods and put to death those who have done no wrong. These are they who cause our adversaries to grow and multiply, and who in very truth are traitors, not to their friends only, but to themselves, spurred on by sordid love of gain.
I might prove the truth of what I say in many ways, but I beg you to look at the matter thus. With which condition of affairs here in Athens do you think will Thrasybulus and Anytus and the other exiles be the better pleased? That which I have pictured as desirable, or that which my colleagues yonder are producing? For my part I cannot doubt but that, as things now are, they are saying to themselves, 'Our allies muster thick and fast.' But were the real strength, the pith and fibre of this city, kindly disposed to us, they would find it an uphill task even to get a foothold anywhere in the country.
(404, Athens, Theramenes' defense continues, 60-61)
Theramenes' Defense Against Ideological Extremes
[But what of the man who pleases neither side?]
Then he threw in my teeth the nickname 'Buskin,' as descriptive of an endeavour on my part to fit both parties. But what of the man who pleases neither? What in heaven's name are we to call him? Yes! you—Critias? Under the democracy you were looked upon as the most arrant hater of the people, and under the aristocracy you have proved yourself the bitterest foe of everything respectable. Yes! Critias, I am, and ever have been, a foe of those who think that a democracy cannot reach perfection until slaves and those who, from poverty, would sell the city for a drachma, can get their drachma a day. (20) But not less am I, and ever have been, a pronounced opponent of those who do not think there can possibly exist a perfect oligarchy until the State is subjected to the despotism of a few. On the contrary, my own ambition has been to combine with those who are rich enough to possess a horse and shield, and to use them for the benefit of the State. (21) That was my ideal in the old days, and I hold to it without a shadow of turning still. If you can imagine when and where, in conjunction with despots or demagogues, I have set to my hand to deprive honest gentlefolk of their citizenship, pray speak. If you can convict me of such crimes at present, or can prove my perpetration of them in the past, I admit that I deserve to die, and by the worst of deaths.
(404, Athens, Theramenes' defense continues, 61)
Kritias Removes Theramenes' Name From the List & Sentences Him to Death
[the name of every one of you is as easily erased as mine]
Hearing these words Theramenes sprang upon the altar of Hestia, exclaiming: "And I, sirs, supplicate you for the barest forms of law and justice. Let it not be in the power of Kritias to strike off either me, or any one of you whom he will. But in my case, in what may be your case, if we are tried, let our trial be in accordance with the law they have made concerning those on the list. I know," he added, "but too well, that this altar will not protect me; but I will make it plain that these men are as impious towards the gods as they are nefarious towards men. Yet I do marvel, good sirs and honest gentlemen, for so you are, that you will not help yourselves, and that too when you must see that the name of every one of you is as easily erased as mine.
(404, Athens, Kritias and the Council condemn Theramenes, 62)
Seeing that the Council might acquit Theramenes, Kritias brings in his toughs with daggers and, by having the Thirty strike Theramenes' name from the list of three thousand, renders him vulnerable to the actions of the Thirty, who then immediately vote to condemn him to death. Theramenes calls on the Council for justice in order to protect themselves from Kritias.
The Death of Theramenes
["Keep quiet or you will be sorry" | "And if I keep silent, will I not be just as sorry?"]
But when he had got so far, the voice of the herald was heard giving the order to the Eleven to seize Theramenes. They at that instant entered with their satellites—at their head Satyrus, the boldest and most shameless of the body—and Critias exclaimed, addressing the Eleven, "We deliver over to you Theramenes yonder, who has been condemned according to the law. Do you take him and lead him away to the proper place, and do there with him what remains to do." As Critias uttered the words, Satyrus laid hold upon Theramenes to drag him from the altar, and the attendants lent their aid. But he, as was natural, called upon gods and men to witness what was happening. The senators the while kept silence, seeing the companions of Satyrus at the bar, and the whole front of the senate house crowded with the foreign guards, nor did they need to be told that there were daggers in reserve among those present.And so Theramenes was dragged through the Agora, in vehement and loud tones proclaiming the wrongs that he was suffering. One word, which is said to have fallen from his lips, I cite. It is this: Satyrus, bade him "Be silent, or he would rue the day;" to which he made answer, "And if I be silent, shall I not rue it?" Also, when they brought him the hemlock, and the time was come to drink the fatal draught, they tell how he playfully jerked out the dregs from the bottom of the cup, like one who plays "Cottabos," with the words, "This to the lovely Critias." These are but "apophthegms" too trivial, it may be thought, to find a place in history. Yet I must deem it an admirable trait in this man's character, if at such a moment, when death confronted him, neither his wits forsook him, nor could the childlike sportiveness vanish from his soul.
(404, Athens, Theramenes is dragged away and executed, 63)
Xenophon justifies repeating Theramenes' last remarks as indicating his admirable spirit
The Thirty Reap The Harvest That They Have Sewn
[let us with one accord wreak vengeance on yonder men]
But, O sirs! let me call upon you so to bear yourselves that each shall be conscious to himself that victory was won by him and him alone. Victory—which, God willing, shall this day restore to us the land of our fathers, our homes, our freedom, and the rewards of civic life, our children, if children we have, our darlings, and our wives! Thrice happy those among us who as conquerors shall look upon this gladdest of all days. Nor less fortunate the man who falls to-day. Not all the wealth in the world shall purchase him a monument so glorious. At the right instant I will strike the keynote of the paean; then, with an invocation to the God of battle, and in return for the wanton insults they put upon us, let us with one accord wreak vengeance on yonder men."
(404, Athens, Thrasyboulos' speech encourages his men, 67-68)
Thrasyboulos speaks to his men, reminding them of what they had suffered at the hands of the Thirty, of their past miraculous victories, and of their strong tactical position on the Hill of Mounichia.
Kleocritus Calls for Peace and Unity
[Cease from doing wrong to your country]
Then Kleocritos (he was the Herald of the Initiated, a truly "sweet-voiced herald," if ever there was), caused a deep silence to reign, and addressed their late combatants as follows: "Fellow-citizens—Why do you drive us forth? why would you slay us? what evil have we wrought you at any time? or is it a crime that we have shared with you in the most solemn rites and sacrifices, and in festivals of the fairest: we have been companions in the chorus, the school, the army. We have braved a thousand dangers with you by land and sea in behalf of our common safety, our common liberty. By the gods of our fathers, by the gods of our mothers, by the hallowed names of kinship, intermarriage, comradeship, those three bonds which knit the hearts of so many of us, bow in reverence before God and man, and cease to sin against the land of our fathers: cease to obey these most unhallowed Thirty, who for the sake of private gain have in eight months slain almost more men than the Peloponnesians together in ten years of warfare. See, we have it in our power to live as citizens in peace; it is only these men, who lay upon us this most foul burthen, this hideous horror of fratricidal war, loathed of God and man. Ah! be well assured, for these men slain by our hands this day, ye are not the sole mourners. There are among them some whose deaths have wrung from us also many a bitter tear."
(404, Athens, Kleokritos calls the Thirty guilty and shameful, 70)
Kleokritos implores the other side to see the guilt and shamefulness of the Thirty
Thrasyboulos Restores the Democracy, Admonishes the Oligarchs but Does Not Kill Them
[there was no need for anarchy or disorder, seeing that there were the ancient laws ready for use]
And now that everything was happily concluded, Pausanias disbanded his army, and the men from Piraeus marched up under arms into the acropolis and offered sacrifice to Athena. When they were come down, the generals called a meeting of the Ecclesia, and Thrasybulus made a speech in which, addressing the city party, he said: "Men of the city! I have one piece of advice I would tender to you; it is that you should learn to know yourselves, and towards the attainment of that self-knowledge I would have you make a careful computation of your good qualities and satisfy yourselves on the strength of which of these it is that you claim to rule over us.
Is it that you are more just than ourselves? Yet the people, who are poorer—have never wronged you for the purposes of plunder; but you, whose wealth would outweigh the whole of ours, have wrought many a shameful deed for the sake of gain. If, then, you have no monopoly of justice, can it be on the score of courage that you are warranted to hold your heads so high? If so, what fairer test of courage will you propose than the arbitrament of war—the war just ended? Or do you claim superiority of intelligence?—you, who with all your wealth of arms and walls, money and Peloponnesian allies, have been paralyzed by men who had none of these things to aid them! Or is it on these Laconian friends of yours that you pride yourselves? What! when these same friends have dealt by you as men deal by vicious dogs. You know how that is. They put a heavy collar round the neck of the brutes and hand them over muzzled to their masters. So too have the Lacedaemonians handed you over to the people, this very people whom you have injured; and now they have turned their backs and are gone.
But" (turning to the mass) "do not misconceive me. It is not for me, sirs, coldly to beg of you, in no respect to violate your solemn undertakings. I go further; I beg you, to crown your list of exploits by one final display of virtue. Show the world that you can be faithful to your oaths, and flawless in your conduct." By these and other kindred arguments he impressed upon them that there was no need for anarchy or disorder, seeing that there were the ancient laws ready for use. And so he broke up (22) the assembly.
Book IV: Spartan Victories on Land, Defeat at Sea, 395-388
Timolaus of Corinth Presents a Strategy to Defeat Corinth
[best to bring about the battle within the hive itself, or, short of that, as close to Lacedaemon as possible]
Timolaus of Corinth spoke: "Soldiers of the allied forces," he said, "the growth of Lacedaemon seems to me just like that of some mighty river—at its sources small and easily crossed, but as it farther and farther advances, other rivers discharge themselves into its channel, and its stream grows ever more formidable. So is it with the Lacedaemonians. Take them at the starting-point and they are but a single community, but as they advance and attach city after city they grow more numerous and more resistless. I observe that when people wish to take wasps' nests—if they try to capture the creatures on the wing, they are liable to be attacked by half the hive; whereas, if they apply fire to them ere they leave their homes, they will master them without scathe themselves. On this principle I think it best to bring about the battle within the hive itself, or, short of that, as close to Lacedaemon as possible."
(394, Hellespont, Agesilaos crosses Hellespont to return to Greece, 128)
The Spartans mobilize their army and march to Sicyon, joined along the way by the forces of Tegea and Mantineia. The allies decided to meet the Spartans as early as possible and debate how deep their phalanx should be.
Brutality of the Corinthian Revolution - Chaos Destroys the Old Order
[honest, law-abiding folk—were filled with sore amazement at the sight of such impiety]
Their agents were supplied with the names of those to be gotten rid of, the signal was given, and then, drawing their daggers, they fell to work. Here a man was struck down standing in the centre of a group of talkers, and there another seated; a third while peaceably enjoying himself at the play; a fourth actually whilst officiating as a judge at some dramatic contest. (4) When what was taking place became known, there was a general flight on the part of the better classes. Some fled to the images of the gods in the market-place, others to the altars; and here these unhallowed miscreants, ringleaders and followers alike, utterly regardless of duty and law, fell to butchering their victims even within the sacred precincts of the gods; so that even some of those against whom no hand was lifted—honest, law-abiding folk—were filled with sore amazement at sight of such impiety. In this way many of the elder citizens, as mustering more thickly in the market-place, were done to death.
So they retired, in the first instance prepared to go into exile beyond the territory of Corinth. It was only upon the persuasion of their friends and the earnest entreaties of their mothers and sisters who came out to them, supported by the solemn assurance of the men in power themselves, who swore to guarantee them against evil consequences, that some of them finally consented to return home. Presented to their eyes was the spectacle of a tyranny in full exercise, and to their minds the consciousness of the obliteration of their city, seeing that boundaries were plucked up and the land of their fathers had come to be re-entitled by the name of Argos instead of Corinth; and furthermore, compulsion was put upon them to share in the constitution in vogue at Argos, for which they had little appetite, while in their own city they wielded less power than the resident aliens.
(393, Corinth, Massacre of the Corinthians'' peace faction, 139-140)
The conspirators carry out the massacre in the agora, even going so far as to impiously slay victims at the very altars of the gods, which causes good men to recoil in horror.
Young Generation Goes Into the Chaos Aiming for the Highest And Most Honorable Goals
[Restore the freedom of their city; the enjoyment of good government; aiming for the highest and most honorable goal]
So that a party sprang up among them whose creed was, that life was not worth living on such terms: their endeavour must be to make their fatherland once more the Corinth of old days—to restore freedom to their city, purified from the murderer and his pollution and fairly rooted in good order and legality. (6) It was a design worth the venture: if they succeeded they would become the saviors of their country; if not—why, in the effort to grasp the fairest flower of happiness, they would but overreach, and find instead a glorious termination to existence.
Yet when they went home, they saw things that made some of them feel that their life was not worth living: the rulers of the city were acting like tyrants, and their city was disappearing, since its boundary stones had been removed, and it was now being called Argos instead of Corinth; in addition, they found themselves compelled to share in Argive citizenship, although they did not want it at all, and they realized that they themselves had less influence in the city than did mere metics. They decided then that it would be a worthy accomplishment to try to make their city Corinth once again - as it had been from the beginning - to make it free and purified of murderers, and to allow it to enjoy good government; and they thought that if they could accomplish these objectives, they would be the saviors of their city, but that even if they failed, they would obtain a death most worthy of praise, since they would have died striving for the highest and most honorable goals.
(392, Corinth, Many young Corinthians go into exile, 140)
Those young men who do return find life in Corinth intolerable, and some decide to overthrow the current regime or die honorably in the attempt.
Xenophon Praises the Spartan Disposition Towards Death
[Glorying in their domestic sorrow]
But in proportion to the unwontedness of such a calamity befalling Lacedaemonians, a widespread mourning fell upon the whole Laconian army, those alone excepted whose sons or fathers or brothers had died at their post. The bearing of these resembled that of conquerors, as with bright faces they moved freely to and fro, glorying in their domestic sorrow.
(390, Corinth, Agesilaos cuts down trees to taunt the allies, 151)
The Spartan regiment from Lechaion accompanies the Amyklaians past the city of Corinth. After leaving them, they return, marching by Corinth.
Book V: Sparta at the Height of Its Power, 388-375
Telutias' Generalship
[Just as we gladly toil together, so, too, we will gladly enjoy prosperity together]
Soldiers, let Lacedaemon, our own mother-city, be to you an example. Her good fortune is reputed to stand high. That you know; and you know too, that she purchased her glory and her greatness not by faint-heartedness, but by choosing to suffer pain and incur dangers in the day of need. 'Like city,' I say, 'like citizens.' You, too, as I can bear you witness, have been in times past brave; but to-day must we strive to be better than ourselves. So shall we share our pains without repining, and when fortune smiles, mingle our joys; for indeed the sweetest thing of all surely is to flatter no man, Hellene or Barbarian, for the sake of hire; we will suffice to ourselves, and from a source to which honour pre-eminently invites us; since, I need not remind you, abundance won from the enemy in war furnishes forth not bodily nutrition only, but a feast of glory the wide world over.
(388, Aegina, When its sailors rebel, Sparta sends Telutias, 178)
The Paralos brings the news of Aigospotamoi to Athens. There is much grief for the losses and fear for the future. The Athenians vote to prepare the city for a siege
Pride Runs In Parallel To Power
[Akanthians warn Sparta of Olynthian threat]
God, I suppose, ordained it such that as a people's power increases, so too does their pride.
(382, Sparta, Akanthians warn Sparta of Olynthian, 178)
The envoys ask Sparta to help them maintain their independence from Olynthos, pointing out the many ways that Olynthos can and may increase its power, and the inconsistency of allowing Olynthos to absorb other cities while preventing Thebes from doing so in Boeotia and Arcadia. They add that Olynthos is not yet formidable but might soon become so.
Telutias' Dies and Xenophon Lectures Against Anger in Generals
[You will incur more evil in wrath yourself than what you intend to inflict on others]
Such calamities are not indeed without a moral. The lesson they are meant to teach mankind, I think, is plain. If in a general sense one ought not to punish any one, even one's own slave, in anger—since the master in his wrath may easily incur worse evil himself than he inflicts—so, in the case of antagonists in war, to attack an enemy under the influence of passion rather than of judgment is an absolute error. For wrath is but a blind impulse devoid of foresight, whereas to the penetrating eye of reason a blow parried may be better than a wound inflicted.
(381, Olynthos, Teleutias is killed battling the Olynthians, 197)
Xenophon Uses the Sparta Capture of the Theban Acropolis to Show the Justice of the Gods
[Justice of the gods in that Thebes, which Sparta had wronged, should be the state that conquers her]
Abundant examples might be found, alike in Hellenic and in foreign history, to prove that the Divine powers mark what is done amiss, winking neither at impiety nor at the commission of unhallowed acts; but at present I confine myself to the facts before me. (1) The Lacedaemonians, who had pledged themselves by oath to leave the states independent, had laid violent hands on the acropolis of Thebes, and were eventually punished by the victims of that iniquity single-handed—the Lacedaemonians, be it noted, who had never before been mastered by living man; and not they alone, but those citizens of Thebes who introduced them to their acropolis, and who wished to enslave their city to Lacedaemon, that they might play the tyrant themselves—how fared it with them? A bare score of the fugitives were sufficient to destroy their government. How this happened I will now narrate in detail.
(379/8, Thebes, Two Thebans plot to kill the polemarchs, 203)
Book VI: Thebes Defeats Sparta and Invades Laconia, 375-369
Friendship Must Surmount Error
[No man can go very far without a slip]
After Antalkidas spoke Kallistratos: "Trespasses, men of Lacedaemon, have been committed on both sides, yours and ours, I am free to confess; but still it is not my view that because a man has done wrong we can never again have dealings with him. Experience tells me that no man can go very far without a slip, and it seems to me that sometimes the transgressor by reason of his transgression becomes more tractable, especially if he be chastened through the error he has committed, as has been the case with us. And so on your own case I see that ungenerous acts have sometimes reaped their own proper reward: blow has been met by counter-blow; and as a specimen I take the seizure of the Cadmeia in Thebes. To-day, at any rate, the very cities whose independence you strove for have, since your unrighteous treatment of Thebes, fallen one and all of them again into her power. (10) We are schooled now, both of us, to know that grasping brings not gain. We are prepared, I hope, to be once more moderate under the influence of a mutual friendship.
(371, Sparta, Kallistratos points out that both sides have erred, 237)
Kallistratos, the popular Athenian orator, then speaks, saying that both sides have made mistakes but that friendship must surmount error, from which no one in Immune. Nor it is true he says, that the Athenians have come to Sparta out of concern for Antalkidas and the Persian King, for on the issue of independence for the cities Athens is in agreement with the king.
Spirit of the Spartans After Defeat at Leuctra
[striking spectacle to see those who had relations among the slain moving in public with bright and radiant looks]
After these events, a messenger was dispatched to Lacedaemon with news of the calamity. He reached his destination on the last day of the gymnopaediae, just when the chorus of grown men had entered the theatre. The ephors heard the mournful tidings not without grief and pain, as needs they must, I take it; but for all that they did not dismiss the chorus, but allowed the contest to run out its natural course. What they did was to deliver the names of those who had fallen to their friends and families, with a word of warning to the women not to make any loud lamentations but to bear their sorrow in silence; and the next day it was a striking spectacle to see those who had relations among the slain moving to and fro in public with bright and radiant looks, whilst of those whose friends were reported to be living barely a man was to be seen, and these flitted by with lowered heads and scowling brows, as if in humiliation.
(371, Leuctra, Sparta's polemarchs decide to ask for a truce, 245-246)
News of the defeat arrives during a festival. The ephors, though upset, permit the chorus to finish and give out the names of the dead. They order relatives of the dead to bear it cheerfully. They do.
Jason of Pherae Arrives to Dissuade the Thebans From Pursuing the Spartans into the Peloponnese
[Providence, as it seems, ofttimes delights to make the little ones great and the great ones small]
When he arrived in Boeotia the Thebans urged upon him that now was the right moment to attack the Lacedaemonians: he with his foreign brigade from the upper ground, they face to face in front; but Jason dissuaded them from their intention. He reminded them that after a noble achievement won it was not worth their while to play for so high a stake, involving a still greater achievement or else the loss of victory already gained. "Do you not see," he urged, "that your success followed close on the heels of necessity? You ought then to reflect that the Lacedaemonians in their distress, with a choice between life and death, will fight it out with reckless desperation. Providence, as it seems, ofttimes delights to make the little ones great and the great ones small."
By such arguments he diverted the Thebans from the desperate adventure.
(371, Boeotia, Thebans asks for help from Jason of Pherai, 247)
Although the Thebans are eager for another battle with the Spartans, Jason advises them against it, noting that the Spartans would now be desperate.
Prokles Argues Why the Athenians Should Aid the Spartans Against the Thebans
[ it is not the potential greatness of those we benefit, but of those we injure, which causes apprehension]
He sat down, and then Procles of Phlius got up and spoke as follows: "What would happen, men of Athens, if the Lacedaemonians were well out of the way? The answer to that question is obvious. You would be the first object of Theban invasion. Clearly; for they must feel that you and you alone stand in the path between them and empire over Hellas. If this be so, I do not consider that you are more supporting Lacedaemon by a campaign in her behalf than you are helping yourselves.
For imagine the Thebans, your own sworn foes and next-door neighbours, masters of Hellas! You will find it a painful and onerous exchange indeed for the distant antagonism of Sparta. As a mere matter of self-interest, now is the time to help yourselves, while you may still reckon upon allies, instead of waiting until they are lost, and you are forced to fight a life-and-death battle with the Thebans single-handed. But the fear suggests itself, that should the Lacedaemonians escape now, they will live to cause you trouble at some future date. Lay this maxim to heart, then, that it is not the potential greatness of those we benefit, but of those we injure, which causes apprehension.
And this other also, that it behoves individuals and states alike so to better their position while yet in the zenith of their strength that, in the day of weakness, when it comes, they may find some succour and support in what their former labours have achieved. To you now, at this time, a heaven-sent opportunity is presented. In return for assistance to the Lacedaemonians in their need, you may win their sincere, unhesitating friendship for all time.
(370, Athens, Prokles argues that Athens should help Sparta, 263)