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When these things had been accomplished, they chose another polemarch in place of Ismenias, but Leontiades proceeded at once to Lacedaemon. There he found the ephors and the majority of the citizens angry with Phoebidas because he had acted in this matter without authorization by the state. Agesilaus, however, said that if what he had done was harmful to Lacedaemon, he deserved to be punished, but if advantageous, it was a time-honoured custom that a commander, in such cases, had the right to act on his own initiative. It is precisely this point, therefore, he said, which should be considered, whether what has been done is good or bad for the state.
When these things had been accomplished, they chose another polemarch in place of Ismenias, but Leontiades proceeded at once to Lacedaemon. There he found the ephors and the majority of the citizens angry with Phoebidas because he had acted in this matter without authorization by the state. Agesilaus, however, said that if what he had done was harmful to Lacedaemon, he deserved to be punished, but if advantageous, it was a time-honoured custom that a commander, in such cases, had the right to act on his own initiative. It is precisely this point, therefore, he said, which should be considered, whether what has been done is good or bad for the state.
Hellenica. Xenophon. Carleton L. Brownson (Translator). Cambridge, MA. 1918-1921.
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