§3.1ἔτι δὲ μᾶλλον ἡ περὶ τὰς ἡδονὰς καὶ τὰ χρήματα σπουδὴ δείκνυσι τὸν μὲν ἡγεμονικήν, τοῦ δὲ τυραννικὴν τὴν προαίρεσιν οὖσαν.
Still more, however, does their attitude toward pleasures and money show that the character of the one was fit for a leader, while that of the other was fit for a tyrant.
ὁ μὲν γὰρ οὐδὲν ἀκόλαστον οὐδὲ μειρακιῶδες ἐν ἐξουσίᾳ καὶ δυνάμει τηλικαύτῃ φαίνεται διαπεπραγμένος, ἀλλʼ, εἰ δή τις ἄλλος, ἐκπεφευγὼς τουτὶ τὸ περίακτον
οἴκοι λέοντες, ἐν ὑπαίθρῳ δὲ ἀλώπεκες. οὕτω σώφρονα καὶ Λακωνικὴν καὶ κεκολασμένην ἐπεδείκνυτο πανταχοῦ τὴν δίαιταν.
For the former is seen to have committed nothing licentious or boyish in the midst of such great authority and power, but rather, if anyone else ever did, to have escaped this notorious saying: 'Lions at home, but in the field foxes.' So temperate, Spartan, and disciplined a way of life did he display everywhere.
§3.2ὁ δὲ οὔτε νέος ὢν περὶ τὰς ἐπιθυμίας ἐμετρίαζε διὰ τὴν πενίαν οὔτε γηράσας διὰ τὴν ἡλικίαν, ἀλλὰ τοὺς περὶ γάμων καὶ σωφροσύνης εἰσηγεῖτο νόμους τοῖς πολίταις αὐτὸς ἐρῶν καὶ μοιχεύων, ὥς φησι Σαλούστιος.
But the other, neither when he was young did he moderate his desires on account of poverty, nor when he grew old did he do so on account of his age, but introduced laws concerning marriage and temperance to the citizens, while he himself was in love and committing adultery, as Sallust says.
ὅθεν οὕτω τὴν πόλιν πτωχὴν καὶ κενὴν ἐποίησε χρημάτων ὥστε ταῖς συμμαχίσι καὶ φίλαις πόλεσιν ἀργυρίου πωλεῖν τὴν ἐλευθερίαν καὶ τὴν αὐτονομίαν, καίτοι τοὺς πολυαργυρωτάτους οἴκους καὶ μεγίστους ὁσημέραι δημεύοντος αὑτοῦ καὶ ἀποκηρύττοντος.
Whereby he made the city so poor and empty of money that he sold freedom and autonomy to allied and friendly cities for money, although he was daily confiscating and selling by public auction the wealthiest and largest estates.
§3.3ἀλλὰ μέτρον οὐδὲν ἦν τῶν ῥιπτουμένων καὶ καταχορηγουμένων εἰς τοὺς κόλακας, τίνα γὰρ εἰκὸς εἶναι λογισμὸν ἢ φειδὼ πρὸς τὰς παρʼ οἶνον συνουσίας αὑτοῦ καὶ χάριτας, ὃς ἐν φανερῷ ποτε τοῦ δήμου περιεστῶτος οὐσίαν μεγάλην διαπιπράσκων τιμῆς τῆς τυχούσης εἰς ἕνα τῶν φίλων ἐκέλευε κατακηρύσσειν, ἑτέρου δὲ τὴν τιμὴν ὑπερβαλομένου καὶ τοῦ κήρυκος τὸ προστεθὲν ἀγορεύσαντος διηγανάκτησε,
δεινά γε, ὦ φίλοι πολῖται, καὶ τυραννικὰ πάσχω,
φάμενος,
εἰ τὰ ἐμά μοι λάφυρα διαθέσθαι μὴ ἔξεστιν ὡς βούλομαι. §3.4Λύσανδρος δὲ καὶ τὰς αὐτῷ δοθείσας δωρεὰς μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων ἀπέπεμψε τοῖς πολίταις.
But there was no limit to what was squandered and lavished upon his flatterers; for what calculation or thrift was likely to exist in his wine-drinking gatherings and acts of favor, he who once in public, with the people standing around, when putting up a large estate for sale, ordered it to be knocked down to one of his friends at a trivial price; and when another raised the bid and the herald announced the increased price, he was highly indignant, saying: 'Terrible indeed, O fellow citizens, and tyrannical are the things I suffer, if it is not permitted for me to dispose of my own spoils as I wish.' Lysander, on the other hand, sent back even the gifts given to himself, along with the other spoils, to the citizens.
καὶ οὐκ ἐπαινῶ τὸ ἔργον· ἴσως γὰρ ἔβλαψε τῇ κτήσει τῶν χρημάτων τὴν Σπάρτην οὗτος ὅσον οὐκ ἔβλαψε τῇ ἀφαιρέσει τὴν Ῥώμην ἐκεῖνος· ἀλλὰ τεκμήριον τοῦτο ποιοῦμαι τῆς ἀφιλοπλουτίας τοῦ ἀνδρός.
And I do not praise this deed; for perhaps this man harmed Sparta by the acquisition of money as much as that man did not harm Rome by the deprivation of it; but I make this a proof of the man's freedom from the love of money.
§3.5ἴδιον δέ τι πρὸς τὴν ἑαυτοῦ πόλιν ἑκάτερος ἔπαθε.
But each of them experienced a peculiar thing in relation to his own city.
Σύλλας μὲν γὰρ ἀκόλαστος ὢν καὶ πολυτελὴς ἐσωφρόνιζε τοὺς πολίτας, Λύσανδρος δʼ ὧν αὐτὸς ἀπείχετο παθῶν ἐνέπλησε τὴν πόλιν, ὥστε ἁμαρτάνειν τὸν μὲν αὐτὸν ὄντα χείρονα τῶν ἰδίων νόμων, τὸν δὲ αὑτοῦ χείρονας ἀπεργαζόμενον τοὺς πολίτας· δεῖσθαι γὰρ ἐδίδαξε τὴν Σπάρτην ὧν αὐτὸς ἔμαθε μὴ προσδεῖσθαι.
For Sulla, though being licentious and extravagant himself, made the citizens temperate, while Lysander filled his city with the passions from which he himself abstained, so that they erred, the one by being himself worse than his own laws, and the other by rendering the citizens worse than himself; for he taught Sparta to stand in need of those things which he himself had learned to do without.
καὶ τὰ μὲν πολιτικὰ ταῦτα.
And such are their political careers.