Page:History of Greece Vol X.djvu/387

 AGESILAUS. 365 II was liere employed in a Pan-hellenic purpose, to protect the Asiatic Greeks against that subjection to Persia which Sparta- her- self had imposed upon them a few years before, as the price of Persian aid against Athens. The Persians presently succeeded in applying the lessons of Spar- ta againat herself, and in finding Grecian allies to make war upon her near home. Here was an end of the Pan-hellenic sentiment, and of the truly honorable ambition, in the bosom of Agesilaus. He was recalled to make war nearer home. His obedience to the order of recall is greatly praised by Plutarch and Xenophon in my judgment, with little reason, since he had no choice but to come back. But he came back an altered man. His miso-Per- sian feeling had disappeared, and had been exchanged for a miso- Theban sentiment which gradually acquired the force of a passion. As principal conductor of the war between 394r-387 B. c., he displayed that vigor and ability which never forsook him in mili- tary operations. But when he found that the empire of Sparta near home could not be enforced except by making her the ally of Persia and the executor of a Persian rescript, he was content to purchase such aid, in itself dishonorable, by tlie still greater dishonor of sacrificing the Asiatic Greeks. For the time, his policy seemed to succeed. From 387-379 B. c. (that is, down to the time of the revolution at Thebes, effected by Pelopidas and his small band), the ascendency of Sparta on land, in Central Greece, was contin- ually rising. But her injustice and oppression stand confessed even by her panegyrist Xenophon ; and this is just the period when the influence of Agesilaus was at its maximum. Afterwards we find him personally forward in sheltering Sphodrias from pun- ishment, and thus bringing upon his countrymen a war with Athens as well as with Thebes. In the conduct of that war his military operations were, as usual, strenuous and able, with a certain meas- ure of success. But on the whole, the war turns out unfavorably for Sparta. In 371 B. c., she is obliged to accept peace on terms very humiliating, as compared with her position in 387 B. c. ; and the only compensation which she receives, is, the opportunity of striking the Thebans out of the treaty, thus leaving them to con- tend single-handed against what seemed overwhelming odds. Of this intense miso-Theban impulse, which so speedily brought about the unexpected and crushing disaster a* Leuktra, Agesilaus stands