Nevertheless, Agesilaus was so
powerful in the state, and so renowned for wisdom and courage, that
they gladly made use of him as their leader in the war, and also
employed him to settle a certain constitutional difficulty which arose
about the political rights of the survivors of the battle. They were
unwilling to disfranchise all these men, who were so numerous and
powerful, because they feared that if so they would raise a revolution
in the city. For the usual rule at Sparta about those who survive a
defeat is, that they are incapable of holding any office in the state;
nor will any one give them his daughter in marriage; but all who meet
them strike them, and treat them with contempt. They hang about the
city in a squalid and degraded condition, wearing a cloak patched with
pieces of a different colour, and they shave one half of their beards,
and let the other half grow. Now, at the present crisis it was thought
that to reduce so many citizens to this condition, especially when the
state sorely required soldiers, would be an absurd proceeding; and
consequently, Agesilaus was appointed lawgiver, to decide upon what
was to be done. He neither altered the laws, nor proposed any new
ones, but laid down his office of lawgiver at once, with the remark,
that the laws must be allowed to sleep for that one day, and
afterwards resume their force. By this means he both preserved the
laws, retained the services of the citizens for the state, and saved
them from infamy.
Pages:
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283