§8.1Atque hic tantus vir ut naturam fautricem habuerat in tribuendis animi virtutibus, sic maleficam nactus est in corpore fingendo: nam et statura fuit humili et corpore exiguo et claudus altero pede.
And just as this great man had found nature a favorable patroness in bestowing the virtues of the mind, so he found her a malevolent fashioner in shaping his body; for he was both of low stature and small body, and lame in one foot.
quae res etiam nonnullam afferebat deformitatem, atque ignoti, faciem eius cum intuerentur, contemnebant; qui autem virtutes noverant, non poterant admirari satis.
This circumstance even brought some deformity, and strangers, when they looked upon his face, despised him; but those who knew his virtues could not admire him enough.
§8.2quod ei usu venit, cum annorum octoginta subsidio Tacho in Aegyptum missus esset et in acta cum suis accubuisset sine ullo tecto stratumque haberet tale, ut terra tecta esset stramentis neque huc amplius quam pellis esset iniecta, eodem quo comites omnes vestitu humili atque obsoleto, ut eorum ornatus non modo in eis regem neminem significaret, sed homines esse non beatissimos suspicionem praeberet.
This happened to him when, at the age of eighty, he had been sent to Egypt to the assistance of Tachos, and had lain down with his men on the shore without any shelter, having such a bed that the ground was covered with straw, and nothing more than a skin was thrown over it, in the same mean and worn-out clothing as all his companions, so that their attire not only indicated no king among them, but gave rise to the suspicion that they were not very wealthy men.
§8.3huius de adventu fama cum ad regios esset perlata, celeriter munera eo cuiusque generis sunt allata.
When the report of his arrival had been brought to the king's officers, gifts of every kind were quickly brought to that place.
his quaerentibus Agesilaum vix fides facta est, unum esse ex iis qui tum accubabant.
When these asked for Agesilaus, they could scarcely believe that he was one of those who were then lying on the ground.
§8.4qui cum regis verbis quae attulerant dedissent, ille praeter vitulinam et eius modi genera obsonii, quae praesens tempus desiderabat, nihil accepit: unguenta, coronas secundamque mensam servis dispertiit, cetera referri iussit.
When they had delivered what they had brought with words from the king, he accepted nothing except veal and such kinds of food as the present occasion required; the ointments, crowns, and dessert he distributed to his slaves, and ordered the rest to be carried back.
§8.5quo facto eum barbari magis etiam contempserunt, quod eum ignorantia bonarum rerum vilia potissimum sumpsisse arbitrabantur.
By this action, the barbarians despised him even more, because they thought that he, through ignorance of good things, had chosen the cheapest things by preference.
§8.6Hic cum ex Aegypto reverteretur, donatus a rege Nectanabide ducentis viginti talentis, quae ille muneri populo suo daret, venissetque in portum, qui Menelai vocatur, iacens inter Cyrenas et Aegyptum, in morbum implicitus decessit.
When he was returning from Egypt, having been presented by King Nectanabis with two hundred and twenty talents, which he might give as a gift to his people, and had come into the harbor which is called Menelaus, lying between Cyrene and Egypt, he fell into a disease and died.
§8.7ibi eum amici, quo Spartam facilius perferre possent, quod mel non habebant, cera circumfuderunt atque ita domum rettulerunt.
There his friends, so that they might carry him to Sparta more easily, since they did not have honey, poured wax around him and thus carried him home.