Agesilaus | Page 5

clearer, therefore, than that he
was about to make a dash at the satrap's home in Caria? Accordingly he
transported the whole of his infantry into Caria and marched his cavalry
round the while into the plain of the Maeander, persuaded that he
would trample the Hellenes under the hoofs of his horses long before
they reached the district where no cavalry could operate.
But Agesilaus, instead of advancing upon Caria, turned right about and
marched in the direction of Phrygia. Picking up the various forces that
met him on his progress, he passed onwards, laying city after city at his
feet, and by the suddenness of his incursion capturing enormous
wealth.
Here was an achievement which showed the genius of a general, as all
agreed. When once war as declared, and the arts of circumvention and
deceit were thereby justified, he had proved Tissaphernes to be a very
bade in subtlety;[9] and with what sagacity again did he turn the
circumstances to account for the enrichment of his friends. Owing to
the quantity of wealth captured, precious things were selling for a mere
song. Thereupon he gave his friends warning to make their purchases,
adding that he should at once march down to the sea-coast at the head
of his troops. The quartermasters meanwhile received orders to make a

note of the purchasers with the prices of the articles, and to consign the
goods. The result was that, without prior disbursement on their part, or
detriment to the public treasury, his friends reaped an enormous harvest.
Moreover, when deserters came with offers to disclose hidden treasures,
and naturally enough laid their proposal before the king himself, he
took care to have the capture of these treasures effected by his friends,
which would enable them to do a stroke of business, and at the same
time redound to their prestige. For this reason he was not long in
discovering many an eager aspirant to his friendship.
[9] See below, xi. 4; "Mem." III. i. 6; IV. ii. 15; "Cyrop." I. vi. 31; Plut.
"Ages." xi. (Clough, iv. 10).
But a country pillaged and denuded of inhabitants would not long
support an army. That he felt. A more perennial source of supply was
surely to be found in waving cornfields and thickly clustering
homesteads. So with infinite pains he set himself not merely to crush
his foes by force, but also to win them to his side by gentleness. In this
spirit he often enjoined upon his soldiers to guard their captives as
fellow-men rather than take vengeance upon them as evildoers;[10] or,
on a change of quarters, if aware of little children left behind by the
dealers (since the men often sold them in the belief that it would be
impossible to carry them away and rear them), he would show concern
in behalf of these poor waifs and have them conveyed to some place of
safety; or he would entrust them to the care of fellow-prisoners also left
behind on account of old age; in no case must they be left to ravening
dogs and wolves. In this way he won the goodwill not only of those
who heard tell of these doings but of the prisoners themselves. And
whenever he brought over a city to his side, he set the citizens free from
the harsher service of a bondsman to his lord, imposing the gentler
obedience of a freeman to his ruler. Indeed, there were fortresses
impregnable to assault which he brought under his power by the subtler
force of human kindness.
[10] See Grote, vol. ix. p. 365 foll.
But when, in Phrygia even, the freedom of his march along the flats
was hampered by the cavalry of Pharnabazus, he saw that if he wished
to avoid a skulking warfare under cover, a force of cavalry was
indispensable. Accordingly he enlisted the wealthiest members of every
city in those parts to breed and furnish horses; with this saving clause,

however: that the individual who furnished a horse and arms with a
good rider should be exempt from service himself. By this means he
engendered an eagerness to discharge the obligation, not unlike that of
the condemned man, casting about to discover some one to die in his
place.[11] He further ordered some of the states themselves to furnish
contingents of mounted troopers, and this in the conviction that from
such training-centres he would presently get a pick of cavaliers proud
of their horsemanship. And thus once more he won golden opinions by
the skill with which he provided himself with a body of cavalry in the
plenitude of strength and ripe for active service.
[11] Instead of the plain {zetoie} of the parallel passage ("Hell." III. iv.
15) the encomiast prefers the poetical {masteuoi}.
On the approach of early