nd the best."

Plato himself carried on much of the teaching of his master, and became
the founder of a sect of philosophy which taught that, come what may,
virtue is that which should, above all, be sought for as making man
noblest, and that no pain, loss, or grief should be shunned for virtue's
sake. His followers were called Stoics, from their fashion of teaching
in the porticos or porches, which in Greek were named _stoai_. Their
great opponents were the Epicureans, or followers of a philosopher by
name Epicurus, who held that as man's life is short, and as he knew not
whence he came, nor whither he went, he had better make himself as happy
as possible, and care for nothing else. Epicurus, indeed, declared that
only virtue did make men happy; but there was nothing in his teaching to
make them do anything but what pleased themselves, so his philosophy did
harm, while that of the Stoics did good. A few Pythagoreans, who
believed in the harmony of the universe, still remained; but as long as
the world remained in darkness, thinking men were generally either Stoics
or Epicureans.

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CHAP. XXIV.--THE SUPREMACY OF SPARTA. B.C. 396.

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The ablest man just at this time in Greece was Agesilaus, one of the
kings of Sparta. He was small, weakly, and lame, but full of courage,
and an excellent general; and though he was as plain and hardy as suited
with Spartan discipline, he had a warm, kind, tender heart, and was not
ashamed to show it, as some of the Spartans were. So that, when some
ambassadors came to see him, they found him riding on a stick to please
his children; and again, when a trial of a distinguished man was going on
in his absence, he wrote, "If he be not guilty, spare him for his own
sake; if he be guilty, spare him for mine."

He was young, and full of fire and spirit, when the Spartans resolved to
try to free the Greek colonies in Asia Minor from the Persians, by an
army under his command. Xenophon had been so much grieved by his master
Socrates' death that he would not remain at Athens, but joined his old
friends once more, and was a great friend of Agesilaus. The Athenians,
Corinthians, and Thebans were all asked to send troops, but they refused,
and Agesilaus set sail with 8000 men, meaning to meet and take with him
the remains of the 10,000, who were well used to warfare with the
Persian