Page:History of Greece Vol IX.djvu/264

 242 HISTORY OF GREECE. a youth about fifteen years of age. 1 But the legitimacy of this youth had always been suspected by Agis, who had pronounced, when the birth of the child was first made known to him, that it could not be his. He had been frightened out of his wift.'s bed by the shock of an earthquake, which was construed as a warning from Poseidon, and was held to be a prohibition of intercourse for a cer- tain time ; during which interval Leotychides was born. This was one story ; another was, that the young prince was the son of Al- kibiades, born during the absence of Agis in his command at Dekeleia. On the other hand, it was alleged that Agis, though originally doubtful of the legitimacy of Leotychides, had after- wards retracted his suspicions, and fully recognized him ; especially, and with peculiar solemnity, during his last illness. 2 As in the case of Demaratus about a century earlier, 3 advantage wai taken of these doubts by Agesilaus, the younger brother of Agii, powerfully seconded by Lysander, to exclude Leotychides, and occupy the throne himself. Agesilaus was the son of king Archidamus, not by Lampito the mother of Agis, but by a second wife named Eupolia. He was now at the mature age of forty, 4 and having been brought up without any prospect of becoming king, at least until very recent times, had passed through the unmitigated rigor of Spartan drill and training. He was distinguished for all Spartan virtues ; exemplary obedience to authority, in the performance of his trying exercises, military as well as civil, intense emulation, in trying to surpass every competitor, extraordinary courage, unremitting energy, as well as facility in enduring hardship, perfect simplicity and frugality in all his personal habits, extreme sensibility to the opinion of his fellow-citizens. Towards his personal friends or 1 The age of Leotychides is approximately marked by the date of the presence of Alkibiades at Sparta 414-413 B. c. The mere rumor, true or false, that this young man was the son of Alkibiades, may be held sufficient as chronological evidence to certify his age. -, 6, 'Ayj/ffi^aof roivvv In [*ev veof uv ITV% TJJ{ jSamAeiat;. For he himself says (ii, 28), and it seems well established, that Agesilaus died at the age of above 80 (Plutarch, Agesil. c. 40) ; and his death must hare been about 360 B.C.
 * Xen. Hellen. iii, 3, 2 ; Pausanias, iii, 8, 4 ; Plutarch, Agesilaris, c. 3.
 * Herodot. v, 66.
 * I confess I do not understand how Xenophon can say, in his Agcsilaus,