XXIX. But in the reign of Agis money found its way into Sparta, and,
after money, selfishness and greed for gain came in, on account of
Lysander, who, though himself incorruptible, yet filled his country with
luxury and love of gold, as he brought back gold and silver from the
wars, and disregarded the laws of Lykurgus. Before this, when those laws
were in force, Sparta was like a wise and practised warrior more than a
city, or rather, she with her simple staff and cloak, like Herakles with
his lion-skin and club, ruled over a willing Greece, deposed bad kings
or factions, decided wars, and crushed revolutions; and that, too, often
without moving a single soldier, but merely by sending a commissioner,
who was at once obeyed, even as bees collect and rank themselves in
order when their queen appears. Sparta then had so much order and
justice as to be able to supply her neighbours; and I cannot understand
those who say that the Lacedaemonians "knew how to obey, but not how to
rule;" nor that story of some one who said to king Theopompus that the
safety of Sparta lay in her kings knowing how to rule. "Rather," he
answered, "in her citizens knowing how to obey."
They would not brook an incapable commander: their very obedience is a
lesson in the art of command; for a good leader makes good followers,
and just as it is the object of the horse-breaker to turn out a gentle
and tractable horse, so it is the object of rulers to implant in men the
spirit of obedience.
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