II.  Agesilaus was an early and intimate friend of Lysander, as they were both placed as boys in the same herd or troop for the purposes of discipline.  It was then that Lysander learned to admire the moderation and self-restraint of Agesilaus, who, although he was ambitious and high-spirited, with a most vehement and passionate desire to be first in every kind of competition, was yet of a manageable and easily ruled disposition, very sensitive to reproach, and far more afraid of blame than of toils or dangers.  The misfortune of his lame leg was almost unnoticed, partly from the robust vigour of his frame, and also from his own cheerful acknowledgment of this defect, being always the first to joke about it.  He sought by these means to remedy his lameness, while his daring spirit never allowed it to prevent his undertaking the most dangerous and laborious adventures.  We have no record of his appearance, for he himself never would consent to have his portrait taken, and even when dying begged that no statue or painting of him should be taken.  We are, however, told that he was of small and mean stature, but that his lively and cheerful temper, even in the most trying situations, and the absence of anything harsh and overbearing in his manners, made him more popular than many younger and handsomer men even in extreme old age.  The historian Theophrastus informs us that the mother of Agesilaus was a very small woman, and that the Ephors had fined Archidamus, on that special ground, for marrying her.  “She will not bring forth kings to rule us,” said they, “but kinglets.”

III.  During the reign of Agis, Alkibiades arrived in Lacedaemon as an exile, having made his escape from the army in Sicily, and, after a short sojourn, was universally believed to be carrying on an intrigue with the king’s wife, Timaea, insomuch that Agis refused to recognize her child as his own, but declared that Alkibiades was its father.  The historian Douris tells us that Timaea was not altogether displeased at this imputation, and that when nursing the child among her attendants she was wont to call it Alkibiades instead of Leotychides.  The same authority states that Alkibiades himself declared that he seduced Timaea, not out of wantonness, but with the ambitious design of placing his own family upon the throne of Sparta.  In consequence of this, Alkibiades, fearing the wrath of Agis, left Sparta, and the child was always viewed with suspicion by Agis, and never treated as his own son, until in his last illness the boy by tears and entreaties prevailed upon him to bear public witness to his legitimacy.  But after the death of Agis, Lysander, the conqueror of Athens, who was the most important man in Sparta, began to urge the claims of Agesilaus to the throne, on the ground that Leotychides was a bastard, and therefore excluded from the succession.  Many of the other citizens eagerly espoused the cause of Agesilaus, because they had been brought up in his company, and had become his intimate friends.  There was, however, one Diopeithes, a soothsayer, who was learned in prophetic lore, and enjoyed a great reputation for wisdom and sanctity.  This man declared that it was wrong for a lame man to become king of Lacedaemon, and quoted the following oracle:—­