§3.8.1Ἀρχιδάμου δὲ ὡς ἐτελεύτα καταλιπόντος παῖδας Ἆγίς τε πρεσβύτερος ἦν ἡλικίᾳ καὶ παρέλαβεν ἀντὶ Ἀγησιλάου τὴν ἀρχήν.
When Archidamus died, leaving children behind, Agis was older in age and succeeded to the rule instead of Agesilaus.
ἐγένετο δὲ Ἀρχιδάμῳ καὶ θυγάτηρ, ὄνομα μὲν Κυνίσκα, φιλοτιμότατα δὲ ἐς τὸν ἀγῶνα ἔσχε τὸν Ὀλυμπικόν καὶ πρώτη τε ἱπποτρόφησε γυναικῶν καὶ νίκην ἀνείλετο Ὀλυμπικὴν πρώτη.
Archidamus had also a daughter, whose name was Cynisca; she was extremely ambitious for the Olympic games, and was the first of women to breed horses and the first to win an Olympic victory.
Κυνίσκας δὲ ὕστερον γυναιξὶ καὶ ἄλλαις καὶ μάλιστα ταῖς ἐκ Λακεδαίμονος γεγόνασιν Ὀλυμπικαὶ νῖκαι, ὧν ἐπιφανεστέρα ἐς τὰς νίκας οὐδεμία ἐστὶν αὐτῆς.
After Cynisca, other women also, and especially those from Lacedaemon, have won Olympic victories, but none of them is more famous for her victories than she.
§3.8.2δοκοῦσι δὲ οἱ Σπαρτιᾶταί μοι ποίησιν καὶ ἔπαινον τὸν ἀπʼ αὐτῆς ἥκιστα ἀνθρώπων θαυμάσαι· ὅτι γὰρ μὴ τῇ Κυνίσκᾳ τὸ ἐπίγραμμα ἐποίησεν ὅστις δή, καὶ ἔτι πρότερον Παυσανίᾳ τὸ ἐπὶ τῷ τρίποδι Σιμωνίδης τῷ ἀνατεθέντι ἐς Δελφούς, ἄλλο γε παρὰ ἀνδρὸς ποιητοῦ Λακεδαιμονίων τοῖς βασιλεῦσιν οὐδέν ἐστιν ἐς μνήμην.
But the Spartans seem to me to have admired poetry and the praise that comes from it least of all men; for except for the epigram which someone or other composed for Cynisca, and still earlier that by Simonides for Pausanias on the tripod dedicated at Delphi, there is nothing else from the hand of a poet for the kings of the Lacedaemonians as a memorial.
§3.8.3ἐπὶ δὲ Ἄγιδος τοῦ Ἀρχιδάμου βασιλεύοντος Λακεδαιμονίοις ἄλλα τε ἐγένετο ἐς Ἠλείους ἐγκλήματα καὶ τοῦ ἀγῶνος τοῦ Ὀλυμπικοῦ καὶ ἱεροῦ τοῦ Ὀλυμπίασιν ὑπʼ αὐτῶν εἰργόμενοι μάλιστα ἤχθοντο.
During the reign of Agis the son of Archidamus, other grievances also arose for the Lacedaemonians against the Elisans, and they were especially vexed at being excluded by them from the Olympic games and from the temple at Olympia.
ἀποστέλλουσιν οὖν κήρυκα ἐπίταγμα φέροντα Ἠλείοις Λεπρεάτας τε αὐτονόμους ἀφιέναι καὶ ὅσοι τῶν περιοίκων ἄλλοι σφίσιν ἦσαν ὑπήκοοι.
They therefore sent a herald carrying a demand to the Elisans to let the Lepreans be independent, and as many of the other periokoi as were subject to them.
ἀποκριναμένων δὲ Ἠλείων ὡς ἐπειδὰν τὰς περιοικίδας τῆς Σπάρτης πόλεις ἴδωσιν ἐλευθέρας, οὐδὲ αὐτοὶ μελλήσουσιν ἔτι ἀφιέναι τὰς ἑαυτῶν, οὕτω Λακεδαιμόνιοι καὶ ὁ βασιλεὺς Ἆγις ἐσβάλλουσιν ἐς τὴν Ἠλείαν.
But when the Elisans answered that when they should see the periokoi cities of Sparta free, they themselves would not hesitate any longer to release their own, thereupon the Lacedaemonians and King Agis invaded Elis.
§3.8.4τότε μὲν δὴ τοῦ θεοῦ σείσαντος ὀπίσω τὸ στράτευμα ἀπεχώρησεν ἄχρι Ὀλυμπίας καὶ τοῦ Ἀλφειοῦ προελθόντες· τῷ δὲ ἐφεξῆς ἔτει τήν τε χώραν ἐδῄωσεν ὁ Ἆγις καὶ ἤλασε τῆς λείας τὴν πολλήν.
At that time, indeed, because the god sent an earthquake, the army retreated backward after advancing as far as Olympia and the Alpheus; but in the following year Agis ravaged the country and drove off most of the booty.
Ξενίας δὲ ἀνὴρ Ἠλεῖος Ἄγιδί τε ἰδίᾳ ξένος καὶ Λακεδαιμονίων τοῦ κοινοῦ πρόξενος ἐπανέστη τῷ δήμῳ σὺν τοῖς τὰ χρήματα ἔχουσι· πρὶν δὲ Ἆγιν καὶ τὸν στρατὸν ἀφῖχθαί σφισιν ἀμύνοντας, Θρασυδαῖος προεστηκὼς τότε τοῦ Ἠλείων δήμου μάχῃ Ξενίαν καὶ τοὺς σὺν αὐτῷ κρατήσας ἐξέβαλεν ἐκ τῆς πόλεως.
Xenias, an Elisan who was personally a guest-friend of Agis and a proxenos of the Lacedaemonian state, rose up against the people with those who possessed wealth; but before Agis and the army could arrive to assist them, Thrasydaeus, who was then presiding over the Elisan democracy, defeated Xenias and his faction in battle and expelled them from the city.
§3.8.5Ἆγις δὲ ὡς ἀπήγαγεν ὀπίσω τὴν στρατιάν, Λυσίστρατον Σπαρτιάτην καὶ μοῖράν τε τῆς δυνάμεως καὶ Ἠλείων καταλείπει τοὺς φυγάδας, κακουργεῖν σφᾶς ὁμοῦ Λεπρεάταις τὴν χώραν.
When Agis led the army back, he left Lysistratus, a Spartan, with a portion of the force and the Elisan exiles, so that they, together with the Lepreans, might ravage the country.
τρίτῳ δὲ ἔτει τοῦ πολέμου Λακεδαιμόνιοι μὲν καὶ Ἆγις παρεσκευάζοντο ὡς ἐς τὴν Ἠλείαν καὶ τότε ἐσβαλοῦντες· οἱ δὲ Ἠλεῖοι καὶ Θρασυδαῖος—κεκακωμένοι γὰρ ἐς τὸ ἔσχατον ἦσαν— συγχωροῦσι μήτε τῶν περιοίκων ἔτι ἄρχειν καὶ τοῦ ἄστεως κατερεῖψαι τὸ τεῖχος, Λακεδαιμονίους τε ἐν Ὀλυμπίᾳ καὶ θύειν τῷ θεῷ καὶ τὸν ἀγῶνα ἐξεῖναί σφισιν ἀγωνίζεσθαι.
In the third year of the war, the Lacedaemonians and Agis were preparing to invade Elis then as well; but the Elisans and Thrasydaeus—for they had been damaged to the utmost—agreed to rule no longer over their periokoi, to demolish the wall of the city, and to allow the Lacedaemonians to sacrifice to the god in Olympia and to compete in the games.
§3.8.6ἐνέβαλλε δὲ καὶ ἐς τὴν Ἀττικὴν συνεχῶς ὁ Ἆγις στρατιᾷ καὶ ἐπετείχισε φρούριον Ἀθηναίοις τὸ ἐν Δεκελείᾳ·
Agis also invaded Attica continuously with an army and fortified the fort at Decelea against the Athenians.
καταλυθέντος δὲ ἐν Αἰγὸς ποταμοῖς τοῦ Ἀθηναίων ναυτικοῦ Λύσανδρος ὁ Ἀριστοκρίτου καὶ Ἆγις ὅρκους μὲν θεῶν ὑπερέβησαν, οὓς ὤμοσαν Ἀθηναίοις ἐν κοινῷ Λακεδαιμόνιοι, κατὰ σφᾶς δὲ αὐτοὶ καὶ οὐ μετὰ Σπαρτιατῶν τοῦ κοινοῦ τὸ βούλευμα ἐς τοὺς συμμάχους ἐξήνεγκαν ἐκκόψαι προρρίζους τὰς Ἀθήνας.
When the Athenian navy was destroyed at Aegospotami, Lysander the son of Aristocritus and Agis transgressed the oaths of the gods, which the Lacedaemonians had sworn in common to the Athenians, and by themselves, and not with the common assembly of the Spartans, carried to the allies the proposal to extirpate Athens root and branch.
§3.8.7τὰ μὲν οὖν ἐς πόλεμον μάλιστα ἐπίσημα τοιαῦτα ὑπῆρχε τῷ Ἄγιδι·
Such, then, were the most notable achievements of Agis in war.
προπέτειαν δὲ τὴν Ἀρίστωνος ἐς Δημάρατον καὶ Ἆγις ἐς τὸν παῖδα ἔσχε Λεωτυχίδην, καί οἱ κατά τινα οὐκ ἀγαθὸν δαίμονα ἐσῆλθεν ἐς ἐπήκοον τῶν ἐφόρων εἰπεῖν ὡς οὐχ αὑτοῦ νομίζοι Λεωτυχίδην.
But Agis also committed the same thoughtlessness that Ariston committed against Demaratus, in respect to his son Leotychides, and by some evil genius it entered his mind to say in the hearing of the ephors that he did not believe Leotychides to be his own.
ἐπέλαβε μέντοι καὶ Ἆγιν μετάνοια ὕστερον, καὶ—ἔφερον γὰρ τηνικαῦτα οἴκαδε ἐξ Ἀρκαδίας αὐτὸν νοσοῦντα—ὡς ἐγίνετο ἐν Ἡραίᾳ, καὶ τὸ πλῆθος μάρτυρας ἐποιεῖτο ἦ μὴν Λεωτυχίδην ἑαυτοῦ παῖδα ἡγεῖσθαι καί σφισι σὺν ἱκεσίᾳ τε καὶ δακρύοις ἐπέσκηπτε πρὸς Λακεδαιμονίους ταῦτα ἀπαγγέλλειν.
However, repentance overtook Agis later; and—for they were carrying him home sick from Arcadia at that time—when he arrived at Heraea, he made the people witnesses that he indeed considered Leotychides to be his own son, and with supplication and tears he charged them to report these things to the Lacedaemonians.
§3.8.8μετὰ δὲ Ἆγιν ἀποθανόντα ἀπήλαυνεν Ἀγησίλαος τῆς βασιλείας Λεωτυχίδην, ἐς μνήμην ἄγων Λακεδαιμονίοις τὰ ὑπὸ Ἄγιδός ποτε λεχθέντα ἐς τὸν Λεωτυχίδην.
After Agis died, Agesilaus excluded Leotychides from the kingship, bringing to the remembrance of the Lacedaemonians the things once said by Agis concerning Leotychides.
ἀφίκοντο δὲ καὶ οἱ ἐξ Ἡραίας Ἀρκάδες καὶ ἦσαν τῷ Λεωτυχίδῃ μάρτυρες ὁπόσα Ἄγιδος τελευτῶντος ἤκουσαν.
The Arcadians from Heraea also arrived and were witnesses for Leotychides of all the things they had heard from Agis as he was dying.
§3.8.9τῷ δὲ Ἀγησιλάῳ καὶ Λεωτυχίδῃ παρέσχεν ἐς πλέον τὸ μάντευμα ἀντιλογίαν τὸ ἐκ Δελφῶν, γεγονὸς μὲν ἐκεῖ, ἔχον δὲ οὕτω· "
φράζεο δή, Σπάρτη, καίπερ μεγάλαυχος ἐοῦσα,
μὴ σέθεν ἀρτίποδος βλάστῃ χωλὴ βασιλεία. δηρὸν γὰρ μόχθοι σε κατασχήσουσιν ἄελπτοι
φθερσιβρότου τʼ ἐπὶ κῦμα κυκωόμενον πολέμοιο.
But the oracle from Delphi, which had been given there and was as follows, supplied further contention for Agesilaus and Leotychides: "Consider now, Sparta, though you are very proud, lest from you, sound of foot as you are, a lame kingship should spring.
" §3.8.10τότε οὖν Λεωτυχίδης μὲν ἐς Ἀγησίλαον ταῦτα ἔφασκεν εἰρῆσθαι, τὸν γὰρ δὴ ἕτερον τῶν ποδῶν ἐπεπήρωτο ὁ Ἀγησίλαος· Ἀγησίλαος δὲ ἐς Λεωτυχίδην αὐτὰ ἔτρεπεν οὐ γνήσιον ὄντα Ἄγιδος.
For a long time unexpected troubles will hold you, under the rising wave of man-destroying war." At that time, then, Leotychides said that this was spoken of Agesilaus, for Agesilaus was indeed lame in one of his feet; but Agesilaus turned it against Leotychides, as not being the legitimate son of Agis.
Λακεδαιμόνιοι δέ, καίπερ ἐπὶ σφίσιν ὄν, οὐκ ἐπανήγαγον τὸ ἀμφισβήτημα ἐς Δελφούς· αἴτιος δʼ ἐμοὶ δοκεῖν Λύσανδρος ἐγένετο ὁ Ἀριστοκρίτου Ἀγησιλάῳ συσπεύδων ἐξ ἅπαντος τὴν βασιλείαν γενέσθαι.
The Lacedaemonians, although it was in their power, did not refer the dispute back to Delphi; and the cause, in my opinion, was Lysander the son of Aristocritus, who was working by all means for the kingship to come to Agesilaus.