§4.1Hic cum iam animo meditaretur proficisci in Persas et ipsum regem adoriri, nuntius ei domo venit ephororum missu, bellum Athenienses et Boeotos indixisse Lacedaemoniis: quare venire ne dubitaret. §4.2in hoc non minus eius pietas suspicienda est quam virtus bellica: qui cum victori praeesset exercitui maximamque haberet fiduciam regni Persarum potiundi, tanta modestia dicto audiens fuit iussis absentium magistratuum, ut si privatus in comitio esset Spartae.
When he was already contemplating in his mind to march against the Persians and attack the king himself, a messenger came to him from home, sent by the ephors, announcing that the Athenians and Boeotians had declared war on the Lacedaemonians; wherefore he should not hesitate to return. In this matter his sense of duty is no less to be admired than his military valor; for, although he was in command of a victorious army and had the greatest confidence of making himself master of the Persian empire, he was obedient to the commands of the absent magistrates with such great humility, as if he were a private citizen in the assembly-place at Sparta.
cuius exemplum utinam imperatores nostri sequi voluissent! sed illuc redeamus. §4.3Agesilaus opulentissimo regno praeposuit bonam existimationem multoque gloriosius duxit, si institutis patriae paruisset, quam si bello superasset Asiam. §4.4hac igitur mente Hellespontum copias traiecit tantaque usus est celeritate, ut, quod iter Xerxes anno vertente confecerat, hic transierit triginta diebus. §4.5cum iam haud ita longe abesset a Peloponneso, obsistere ei conati sunt Athenienses et Boeoti ceterique eorum socii apud Coroneam: quos omnes gravi proelio vicit. §4.6huius victoriae vel maxima fuit laus, quod, cum plerique ex fuga se in templum Minervae coniecissent quaerereturque ab eo, quid iis vellet fieri, etsi aliquot vulnera acceperat eo proelio et iratus videbatur omnibus, qui adversus arma tulerant, tamen antetulit irae religionem et eos vetuit violari. §4.7neque vero hoc solum in Graecia fecit, ut templa deorum sancta haberet, sed etiam apud barbaros summa religione omnia simulacra arasque conservavit. §4.8itaque praedicabat mirari se, non sacrilegorum numero haberi, qui supplicibus deorum nocuissent, aut non gravioribus poenis affici, qui religionem minuerent, quam qui fana spoliarent.
Would that our commanders had wished to follow his example! But let us return to our subject. Agesilaus preferred a good reputation to a most wealthy kingdom, and deemed it far more glorious if he should obey the institutions of his country than if he should conquer Asia in war. With this resolution, therefore, he threw his forces across the Hellespont and used such great speed that he accomplished in thirty days the journey which Xerxes had completed in a whole year. When he was now not so far distant from the Peloponnese, the Athenians and Boeotians and their other allies attempted to oppose him at Coronea; all of whom he defeated in a severe battle. The greatest praise indeed of this victory was that, when very many after their flight had thrown themselves into the temple of Minerva and he was asked what he wished to be done to them, although he had received several wounds in that battle and seemed angry at all who had borne arms against him, nevertheless he preferred religious scruple to his anger and forbade them to be harmed. Nor indeed did he do this only in Greece, namely, to keep the temples of the gods sacred, but even among the barbarians he preserved all images and altars with the greatest reverence. And so he used to declare that he wondered why those who had harmed the suppliants of the gods were not held in the number of the sacrilegious, or why those who diminished respect for religion were not punished with heavier penalties than those who despoiled temples.