Page:History of Greece Vol X.djvu/388

 366 HISTORY OF GREECE. out as the prominent spokesman. In the days of Spartan rnisfor- tune-which followed, we find his conduct creditable and energetic, so far as the defensive position, ji which Sparta then found her- self, allowed ; and though Plutarch seems displeased with him 1 for obstinacy in refusing to acknowledge the autonomy of Messene (at the peace concluded after the battle of Man tinea), when acknowl- edged by all the other Greeks, yet it cannot be shown that this refusal brought any actual mischief to Sparta ; and circumstances might well have so turned out, that it would have been a gain. On the whole, in spite of the many military and personal merits of Agesilaus, as an adviser and politician he deserves little esteem. We are compelled to remark the melancholy contrast between the state in which he found Sparta at his accession, and that wherein he left her at his death " Marmoream invenit, lateritiam reliquit." Nothing but the death of Epaminondas at Mantinea saved her from something yet worse ; though it would be unfair to Agesilaus, while we are considering the misfortunes of Sparta during his reign, not to recollect that Epaminondas was an enemy more formidable than she had ever before encountered. The efficient service rendered by Agesilaus during his last expedition to Egypt, had the effect of establishing firmly the dominion of Nektanebis the native king, and of protecting that country for the time from being re-conquered by the Persians; an event that did not happen until a few years afterwards, during the reign of the next Persian king. Of the extensive revolt, however, which at one time threatened to wrest from the Persian crown Asia Minor as well as Egypt, no permanent consequence remained. The treachery of Orontes and Rheomithres so com- pletely broke up the schemes of the revolters, that Artaxerxes Mnemon still maintained the Persian empire (with the exception of Egypt), unimpaired. He died not long after the suppression of the revolt (apparently about a year after it, in 359358 u. c.), having reigned forty-five or forty-six years. 2 His death was preceded by one of those 1 Plutarch, Agesil. c. 35. 8 Diodor. xv, 93. There is a difference between Diodorus and the Astronomical Canon, in the statements about th e length of reign, and date of death, of Artaxcrxea Mnemon, of about two years 361 or o59 u. c. See Mr. Clinton's Fasti