Plutarch's Lives, Volume II eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 680 pages of information about Plutarch's Lives, Volume II.

Plutarch's Lives, Volume II eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 680 pages of information about Plutarch's Lives, Volume II.

XXVII.  Before Agesilaus returned from Asia Lysander perished in a Boeotian war in which he had become involved, or rather had involved Greece; for various accounts are given of it, some laying the blame upon him, some upon the Thebans, and some upon both.  It was urged against the Thebans that they overturned the altar at Aulis and scattered the sacrifice,[156] and also that Androkleides and Amphitheus, having been bribed by Persia to induce all the Greek states to attack the Lacedaemonians, had invaded the Phokian territory and laid it waste.  On the other hand Lysander is said to have been angry that the Thebans alone should claim their right to a tenth part of the plunder obtained in the war, though the other allies made no such demand, and that they should have expressed indignation at Lysander’s sending such large sums of money to Sparta.  He was especially wroth with them for having afforded the Athenians the means of freeing themselves from the domination of the Thirty, which he had himself established, and which the Lacedaemonians had endeavoured to support by decreeing that all exiled Athenians of the popular party might be brought back to Athens from whatever place they might be found in, and that those who protected them against being forcibly brought back should be treated as outlaws.  In answer to this the Thebans passed a decree worthy of themselves, and deserving of comparison with the great acts of Herakles and Dionysus, the benefactors of mankind.  Its provisions were, that every city and every house in Boeotia should be open to those Athenians who required shelter, that whoever did not assist an Athenian exile against any one who tried to force him away should be fined a talent, and that if any marched under arms through Boeotia to attack the despots at Athens, no Theban should either see or hear them.  Not only did they make this kindly and truly Hellenic decree, but they also acted up to the spirit of it; for when Thrasybulus and his party seized Phyle, they started from Thebes, supplied with arms and necessaries by the Thebans, who also assisted them to keep their enterprise secret and to begin it successfully.  These were the charges brought against the Thebans by Lysander.

XXVIII.  His naturally harsh temper was now soured by age, and he urged on the Ephors into declaring war against the Thebans, and appointing him their general to carry it on.  Subsequently, however, they sent the king, Pausanias, with an army, to co-operate with him.  Pausanias marched in a circuitous course over Mount Kithaeron, meaning to invade Boeotia on that side, while Lysander with a large force came to meet him through Phokis.  He took the city of Orchomenus, which voluntarily came over to his side, and he took Lebadeia by storm and plundered it.  He now sent a letter to Pausanias bidding him march through the territory of Plataea and join him at Haliartus, promising that at daybreak he would be before the walls of Haliartus.  The messenger who carried

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Plutarch's Lives, Volume II from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.