I cannot agree with the Corinthian, Demaratus, when he says
that those Greeks who did not see Alexander seated upon the throne of
Darius lost one of the most delightful spectacles in the world. I
think they would have been more likely to weep when they reflected
that this conquest was left for Alexander and the Macedonians to
effect, by those Greek generals who wasted the resources of their
country in the battles of Leuktra and Koronea, Corinth and Mantinea.
Still, nothing is more honourable to Agesilaus than the promptitude
with which he withdrew from Asia, nor can we easily find another
example of straightforward obedience and self-sacrifice in a general.
Hannibal was in great difficulties and straits in Italy, and yet
yielded a very unwilling obedience when summoned home to protect
Carthage, while Alexander merely sneered at the news of the battle
between Agis and Antipater, observing, "It appears, my friends, that
while we have been conquering Darius here, there has been a battle of
mice in Arcadia."
Well then does Sparta deserve to be congratulated on the love for her
and the respect for her laws which Agesilaus showed on this occasion,
when, as soon as the despatch reached him, he at once stopped his
prosperous and victorious career, gave up his soaring hopes of
conquest, and marched home, leaving his work unfinished, regretted
greatly by all his allies, and having signally confuted the saying of
Phaeax the son of Erasistratus, that the Lacedaemonians act best as a
state, and the Athenians as individuals.
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