Page:Plutarch's Lives (Clough, v.4, 1865).djvu/476

 4C8 CLEOMENES. tie. There was something of heat and passion always goading him on, and an impetuosity and violence in his eagerness to pursue any thing which he thought good and just. To have men obey him of their own freewill, he conceived to be the best discipline ; but, likewise, to sub- due resistance, and force them to the better course, was, in his opinion, commendable and brave. This disposition made him dislike the management of the city. The citizens lay dissolved in supine idleness and pleasures ; the king let every thing take its own way, thankful if nobody gave him any disturbance, nor called him away from the enjoyment of his wealth and luxury. The public interest was neglected, and each man intent upon his private gain. It was dangerous, now Agis was killed, so much as to name such a thing as the exercising and training of their youth ; and to speak of the ancient temperance, endurance, and equality, was a sort of trea- son against the state. It is said also that Cleomenes, whilst a boy, studied philosophy under Sphgerus, the Bory- sthenite, who crossed over to Sparta, and spent some time and trouble in instructing the youth. Sphaerus was one of the first of Zeno the Citiean's scholars, and it is likely enough that he admired the manly temper of Cleomenes, and inflamed his generous ambition. The ancient Leoni- das, as story tells, being asked what manner of poet he thought Tyrtaeus, replied, "Good to whet young men's courage ; " for being filled with a divine fury by his poems, they rushed into any danger. And so the stoic philosophy is a dangerous incentive to strong and fiery dispositions, but where it combines with a grave and gen- tle temper, is most successful in leading it to its proper good. Upon the death of his father Leonidas, he succeeded, and observing the citizens of all sorts to be debauched, the rich neglecting the public good, and intent on their