§2.1εἰ δὲ καὶ τύχην τινὰ τῶν ἀνδρῶν ἑκατέρου τοῖς σφάλμασι προσοιστέον, ἀνέλπιστος μὲν ἡ Πομπηΐου Ῥωμαίοις, Ἀγησίλαος δὲ Λακεδαιμονίους ἀκούοντας καὶ προειδότας οὐκ εἴασε φυλάξασθαι τὴν χωλὴν βασιλείαν.
If, moreover, some element of fortune must be attributed to the failures of each of these two men, Pompey’s fortune was indeed unexpected for the Romans; but Agesilaus did not allow the Lacedaemonians to guard against the "lame kingship," even though they had heard and foreknown the warning.
καὶ γὰρ εἰ μυριάκις ἠλέγχθη Λεωτυχίδης ἀλλότριος εἶναι καὶ νόθος, οὐκ ἂν ἠπόρησαν Εὐρυπωντίδαι γνήσιον καὶ ἀρτίποδα τῇ Σπάρτῃ βασιλέα παρασχεῖν, εἰ μὴ διʼ Ἀγησίλαον ἐπεσκότησε τῷ χρησμῷ Λύσανδρος.
For even if Leotychides had been proved ten thousand times to be an alien and a bastard, the Eurypontidae would not have been at a loss to provide Sparta with a legitimate and sound-footed king, had not Lysander, for the sake of Agesilaus, obscured the oracle.
§2.2οἷον μέντοι τῇ περὶ τῶν τρεσάντων ἀπορίᾳ προσήγαγεν ὁ Ἀγησίλαος ἴαμα μετὰ τὴν ἐν Λεύκτροις ἀτυχίαν, κελεύσας τοὺς νόμους ἐκείνην τὴν ἡμέραν καθεύδειν, οὐ γέγονεν ἄλλο σόφισμα πολιτικόν, οὐδʼ ἔχομέν τι τοῦ Πομπηΐου παραπλήσιον, ἀλλὰ τοὐναντίον οὐδʼ οἷς αὐτὸς ἐτίθει νόμοις ᾤετο δεῖν ἐμμένειν, τὸ δύνασθαι μέγα τοῖς φίλοις ἐνδεικνύμενος, ὁ δὲ εἰς ἀνάγκην καταστὰς τοῦ λῦσαι τοὺς νόμους ἐπὶ τῷ σῶσαι τοὺς πολίτας, ἐξεῦρε τρόπον ᾧ μήτε ἐκείνους βλάψουσι μήτε ὅπως οὐ βλάψωσι λυθήσονται.
However, such as was the remedy which Agesilaus applied to the difficulty concerning those who had flinched in battle after the disaster at Leuctra, by commanding that the laws should sleep for that day, there has been no other such political masterpiece, nor do we have anything comparable on the part of Pompey. On the contrary, Pompey did not think he ought to abide even by the laws he himself had established, wishing to display his great power to his friends; whereas Agesilaus, when reduced to the necessity of suspending the laws for the salvation of the citizens, devised a way whereby they would neither harm the citizens nor be abolished in order not to harm them.
§2.3τίθεμαι δὲ κἀκεῖνο τὸ ἀμιμητον ἔργον εἰς πολιτικὴν ἀρετὴν τοῦ Ἀγησιλάου, τὸ δεξάμενον τὴν σκυτάλην ἀπολιπεῖν τὰς ἐν Ἀσίᾳ πράξεις, οὐ γάρ, ὡς Πομπήϊος, ἀφʼ ὧν ἑαυτὸν ἐποίει μέγαν ὠφέλει τὸ κοινόν, ἀλλὰ τὸ τῆς πατρίδος σκοπῶν τηλικαύτην ἀφῆκε δύναμιν καὶ δόξαν ἡλίκην οὐδεὶς πρότερον οὐδὲ ὕστερον πλὴν Ἀλέξανδρος ἔσχεν.
And I also reckon as an inimitable deed of political virtue on the part of Agesilaus his abandoning of his operations in Asia upon receiving the dispatch-staff (scytale). For he did not, like Pompey, benefit the public commonwealth by the very means through which he made himself great, but, looking to the interest of his country, he abandoned so great power and glory as no one before or after him possessed, except Alexander.