Plutarch, Agis and Cleomenes, ed. Bernadotte Perrin, Agis.3

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[1] ἐπεὶ παρεισέδυ πρῶτον εἰς τὴν πόλιν ἀργύρου καὶ χρυσοῦ ζῆλος, καὶ συνηκολούθησε τοῦ πλούτου τῇ μὲν κτήσει πλεονεξία καὶ μικρολογία τῇ δὲ χρήσει καὶ ἀπολαύσει τρυφὴ καὶ μαλακία καὶ πολυτέλεια, τῶν πλείστων ἐξέπεσεν ἡ Σπάρτη καλῶν, καὶ ταπεινὰ πράττουσα παρʼ ἀξίαν διετέλει μέχρι τῶν χρόνων ἐκείνων ἐν οἷς Ἆγις καὶ Λεωνίδας ἐβασίλευον,

[2] Ἆγις μὲν Εὐρυπωντίδης καὶ Εὐδαμίδα παῖς, ἕκτος ἀπὸ Ἀγησιλάου τοῦ διαβάντος εἰς τὴν Ἀσίαν καὶ μέγιστον Ἑλλήνων δυνηθέντος· ἦν γὰρ Ἀγησιλάου μὲν Ἀρχίδαμος ὁ περὶ Μανδύριον τῆς Ἰταλίας ὑπὸ Μεσσαπίων ἀποθανών, Ἀρχιδάμου δὲ πρεσβύτερος μὲν υἱὸς Ἆγις, Εὐδαμίδας δὲ νεώτερος, ὅς, Ἄγιδος ὑπὸ Ἀντιπάτρου περὶ Μεγάλην πόλιν ἀναιρεθέντος ἀτέκνου, τὴν βασιλείαν ἔσχε, τούτου δὲ Ἀρχίδαμος, Ἀρχιδάμου δὲ ἕτερος Εὐδαμίδας, Εὐδαμίδα δὲ Ἆγις, περὶ οὗ τάδε γέγραπται·

[3] Λεωνίδας δὲ ὁ Κλεωνύμου τῆς μὲν ἑτέρας οἰκίας ἦν Ἀγιάδης, ὄγδοος δὲ ἀπὸ Παυσανίου τοῦ νικήσαντος ἐν Πλαταιαῖς μάχῃ Μαρδόνιον. Παυσανίας γὰρ υἱὸν ἔσχε Πλειστώνακτα, Πλειστῶναξ δὲ Παυσανίαν, οὗ φυγόντος εἰς Τεγέαν ἐκ Λακεδαίμονος ὅ τε πρεσβύτερος υἱὸς Ἀγησίπολις ἐβασίλευσε καὶ τούτου τελευτήσαντος ἀτέκνου Κλεόμβροτος ὁ νεώτερος.

[4] ἐκ δὲ Κλεομβρότου πάλιν ἄλλος Ἀγησίπολις ἦν καὶ Κλεομένης, ὧν Ἀγησίπολις μὲν οὔτε ἦρξε πολὺν χρόνον οὔτε παῖδας ἔσχε, Κλεομένης δὲ βασιλεύσας μετὰ Ἀγησίπολιν τὸν μὲν πρεσβύτερον τῶν υἱῶν Ἀκρότατον ἔτι ζῶν ἀπέβαλε, νεώτερον δὲ Κλεώνυμον κατέλιπεν, ὃς οὐκ ἐβασίλευσεν, ἀλλʼ Ἄρευς υἱωνὸς ὢν Κλεομένους, Ἀκροτάτου δʼ υἱός· Ἄρεως δὲ πεσόντος περὶ Κόρινθον υἱὸς ὦν Ἀκρότατος τὴν βασιλείαν κατέσχεν.

[5] ἀπέθανε δὲ καὶ οὗτος ἡττηθεὶς μάχῃ περὶ Μεγάλην πόλιν ὑπὸ Ἀριστοδήμου τοῦ τυράννου, καταλιπὼν ἐγκύμονα τὴν γυναῖκα. παιδίου δὲ ἄρρενος γενομένου Λεωνίδας ὁ Κλεωνύμου τὴν ἐπιτροπὴν ἔσχεν, εἶτα πρὶν ἐν ἡλικίᾳ γενέσθαι τελευτήσαντος, οὕτως εἰς αὐτὸν ἡ βασιλεία περιῆλθεν οὐ πάνυ τοῖς πολίταις εὐάρμοστον ὄντα.

[6] καίπερ γὰρ ἐγκεκλικότων ἤδη τῇ διαφθορᾷ τοῦ πολιτεύματος ὁμαλῶς ἁπάντων, ἦν τις ἐν τῷ Λεωνίδᾳ τῶν πατρῴων ἐπιφανὴς ἐκδιαίτησις, ἅτε δὴ χρόνον ἠλινδημένῳ πολὺν ἐν αὐλαῖς σατραπικαῖς καὶ τεθεραπευκότι Σέλευκον, εἶτα τὸν ἐκεῖθεν ὄγκον εἰς Ἑλληνικὰ πράγματα καὶ νόμιμον ἀρχὴν οὐκ ἐμμελῶς μεταφέροντι.

Agis and Cleomenes. Plutarch. ed. Bernadotte Perrin. Cambridge, MA. 1921.

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Ἄγις καὶ Κλεομένης (Greek) (Plutarch. Plutarch's Lives, Vol. X. Perrin, Bernadotte, editor. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1921.)

Translations (1)

Agis and Cleomenes Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarch's Lives, Vol. X. Perrin, Bernadotte, translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1921.) — Agis.3 focus

[1] When once the love of silver and gold had crept into the city, closely followed by greed and parsimony in the acquisition of wealth and by luxury, effeminacy, and extravagance in the use and enjoyment of it, Sparta fell away from most of her noble traits, and continued in a low estate that was unworthy of her down to the times when Agis and Leonidas were kings.

[2] Agis was of the Eurypontid royal house, a son of Eudamidas, and the sixth in descent from the Agesilaüs who crossed into Asia and became the most powerful Greek of his time. For Agesilaüs had a son Archidamus, who was slain by the Messapians at Mandurium in Italy¹; Archidamus had an elder son Agis, and a younger son Eudamidas, who, after Agis was slain by Antipater at Megalopolis² leaving no issue, became king; Eudamidas was succeeded by Archidamus, Archidamus by another Eudamidas, and Eudamidas by Agis,³ the subject of this Life.

[3] Leonidas, on the other hand, the son of Cleonymus, was of the other royal house, the Agiad, and was eighth in descent from the Pausanias who defeated Mardonius at Plataea. For Pausanias had a son Pleistoanax, and Pleistoanax a son Pausanias, upon whose exile and flight from Sparta to Tegea⁴ his elder son Agesipolis became king; Agesipolis, dying without issue, was succeeded by a younger brother Cleombrotus,

[4] and Cleombrotus, in turn, had two sons, Agesipolis and Cleomenes, of whom Agesipolis reigned only a short time and left no sons, while Cleomenes, who became king after him, lived to lose his elder son Acrotatus, but left behind him a younger son Cleonymus Cleonymus, however, did not come to the throne, but Areus,⁵ who was a grandson of Cleomenes and son of Acrotatus; Areus fell in battle at Corinth,⁶ and his son Acrotatus came to the throne;

[5] Acrotatus also was defeated and slain at Megalopolis, by the tyrant Aristodemus, leaving his wife with child; and after she had given birth to a son, Leonidas the son of Cleonymus was made the child’s guardian. But the young king died before reaching manhood, and the kingship therefore devolved upon Leonidas,⁷ who was altogether unacceptable to the people.

[6] For although the destruction of the constitution had already led to a general decline in manners, there was in Leonidas a very marked departure from the traditions of his country, since for a long time he had frequented oriental courts and had been a servile follower of Seleucus, and now sought to transfer the pride and pomp which prevailed abroad into Hellenic relations and a constitutional government, where they were out of place.

[1] But at the death of Leonidas⁸ Cleomenes came to the throne, and saw that the citizens were by that time altogether degenerate. The rich neglected the common interests for their own private pleasure and aggrandizement; the common people, because of their wretched state at home, had lost all readiness for war and all ambition to maintain the ancient Spartan discipline; and he himself, Cleomenes, was king only in name, while the whole power was in the hands of the ephors.

[2] He therefore at once determined to stir up and change the existing order of things, and as he had a friend, Xenares, who had been his lover (or inspirer, as the Spartans say), he would make trial of his sentiments by inquiring in detail what sort of a king Agis had been, and in what way and with what assistants he had entered upon the course of action so fatal to him. At first Xenares was quite glad to recall those matters, and rehearsed the events at length and in detail;

[3] but when it was apparent that Cleomenes took an unusual interest in the story, and was profoundly stirred by the innovations of Agis, and wished to hear about him over and over again, Xenares rebuked him angrily, calling him unsound in mind, and finally stopped visiting and conversing with him. To no one, however, did he tell the reason of their variance, but merely said that Cleomenes understood it.

[4]
And so Cleomenes, finding Xenares averse, and thinking that everybody else was of like mind with him, began to arrange his project all by himself. And because he thought that he could better bring about his reforms in time of war than in the midst of peace, he embroiled the state with the Achaeans, who were themselves giving grounds for complaint. For Aratus, the most powerful man among the Achaeans, was from the outset desirous of bringing all the Peloponnesians into one confederation, and this was the end pursued by him during his many generalships and his long political activity,

[5] since he was of the opinion that in this way alone would they be safe from the attacks of their enemies without. Nearly all the other Peloponnesians adopted his views, but the Lacedaemonians, the Eleians, and the Arcadians who sided with the Lacedaemonians held aloof. Therefore, as soon as Leonidas was dead, Aratus began to harass the Arcadians, and ravaged the territories of those especially who were adjacent to Achaea. His object was to put the Lacedaemonians to the test, and he despised Cleomenes as a young and inexperienced man.

Plutarch Agis and Cleomenes Agis.3

ed. Bernadotte Perrin

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