Plutarchus, Agesilaus 21. 1-3: Agesilaus attending unknown contests for maidens

Plutarchus, Agesilaus 21. 1-3: Agesilaus attending unknown contests for maidens

46- after 120 CE

Biography

Literary source

Having thus obtained very great influence in the city, he effected the appointment of Teleutias, his half-brother on his mother's side, as admiral. Then he led an army to Corinth, and himself, by land, captured the long walls, while Teleutias, with his fleet, seized the enemy's ships and dockyards. Then coming suddenly upon the Argives​ who at that time held Corinth, and were celebrating the Isthmian games, he drove them away just as they had sacrificed to the god, and made them abandon all their equipment for the festival. At this, the exiles from Corinth who were in his army begged him to hold the games. This, however, he would not do, but remained at hand while they held the games from beginning to end, and afforded them security. Afterwards, when he had departed, the Isthmian games were held afresh by the Argives, and some contestants won their victories a second time, while some were entered in the lists as victors in the first contests, but as vanquished in the second. In this matter Agesilaus declared that the Argives had brought down upon themselves the charge of great cowardice, since they regarded the conduct of the games as so great and august a privilege, and yet had not the courage to fight for it. He himself thought that moderation ought to be observed in all these matters, and sought to improve the local choirs and games. These he always attended, full of ambitious ardour, and was absent from no contest in which either boys or girls competed. Those things, however, for which he saw the rest of the world filled with admiration, he appeared not even to recognize.

Bernadotte Perrin, Plutarch's Lives, vol. 5 (= Loeb Classical Library; 87), Cambridge, MA/London 1917.

μέγιστον οὖν δυνάμενος ἐν τῇ πόλει διαπράττεται Τελευτίαν τὸν ὁμομήτριον ἀδελφὸν ἐπὶ τοῦ ναυτικοῦ γενέσθαι, καί στρατευσάμενος εἰς Κόρινθον αὐτὸς μὲν ᾕρει κατὰ γῆν τὰ μακρὰ τείχη, ταῖς δὲ ναυσὶν ὁ Τελευτίας ... Ἀργείων δὲ τὴν Κόρινθον ἐχόντων τότε καί τὰ Ἴσθμια συντελούντων, ἐπιφανεὶς ἐκείνους μὲν ἐξήλασεν ἄρτι τῷ θεῷ τεθυκότας, τὴν παρα σκευὴν ἅπασαν ἀπολιπόντας: ἐπεὶ δὲ τῶν Κορινθίων ὅσοι φυγάδες ἔτυχον παρόντες ἐδεήθησαν αὐτοῦ τὸν ἀγῶνα διαθεῖναι, τοῦτο μὲν Οὐκ ἐποίησεν, αὐτῶν δὲ ἐκείνων διατιθέντων καί συντελούντων παρέμεινε καί παρέσχεν ἀσφάλειαν. ὕστερον δὲ ἀπελθόντος αὐτοῦ πάλιν ὑπ᾽ Ἀργείων ἤχθη τὰ Ἴσθμια, καί τινες μὲν ἐνίκησαν πάλιν, εἰσὶ δὲ οἳ νενικηκότες πρότερον, ἡττημένοι δὲ ὕστερον, ἀνεγράφησαν. ἐπὶ τούτῳ δὲ πολλὴν ἀπέφηνε δειλίαν κατηγορεῖν ἑαυτῶν τοὺς Ἀργείους ὁ Ἀγησίλαος, εἰ σεμνὸν οὕτω καί μέγα τὴν ἀγωνοθεσίαν ἡγούμενοι μάχεσθαι περὶ αὐτῆς Οὐκ ἐτόλμησαν. αὐτὸς δὲ πρὸς ταῦτα πάντα μετρίως ᾤετο δεῖν ἔχειν, καί τοὺς μὲν οἴκοι χοροὺς καί ἀγῶνας ἐπεκόσμει καί συμπαρῆν ἀεὶ φιλοτιμίας καί σπουδῆς μεστὸς ὢν καί οὔτε παίδων οὔτε παρθένων ἁμίλλης ἀπολειπόμενος, ἃ δὲ τοὺς ἄλλους ἑώρα θαυμάζοντας ἐδόκει μηδὲ γινώσκειν.

Bernadotte Perrin (ed.), Plutarch's Lives, vol. 5 (= Loeb Classical Library; 87) Cambridge, MA/London 1917.