, would his tale have found credence, since it was not the
habit of the king, when abroad, to lodge apart in private houses. He
always lay up in some sacred place, where behaviour of the sort was
out of the question, or else in public, with the eyes of all men
liable to be called as witnesses to his sobriety. For myself, if I
make these statements falsely against the knowledge of Hellas, this
were not in any sense to praise my hero, but to dispraise myself.

(8) Or, "than the seductions in question."

VI

Nor, in my opinion, were those obscure proofs of courage and true
manliness which he furnished by his readiness ever to wage war against
the strongest enemies, whether of Sparta or of Hellas, placing himself
in the forefront of the contests decided on. If the enemy cared to
join issue in fair field he would not chance upon a victory won by
panic, but in stubborn battle, blow for blow, he mastered him; and set
up trophies worthy of the name, seeing that he left behind him
imperishable monuments of prowess, and bore away on his own body
indelible marks of the fury with which he fought; (1) so that, apart
from hearsay, by the evidence of men's eyes his valour stood approved.

(1) Or, "visible signs of the spirit," etc. See Plut. "Ages." xxxvi.

And amongst these we must not deem them trophies alone which he
actually set up, but reckon the many campaigns which he undertook,
since they were victories truly, even when the enemy refused to
encounter him, victories devoid of danger, yet fraught with even more
solid advantage to the state of Sparta and her fellow-combatants; just
as in our games we crown as victor him who walks over the field (2) no
less than him who conquers by dint of battle.

(2) Or, "without striking a blow." Lit. "without the dust of the
arena, 'sine pulvere.'" See Thuc. iv. 73, {akoniti}.

And to speak next of his wisdom, (3) I suppose there is not one of all
his doings but must illustrate it;--this man whose bearing towards his
fatherland was such that by dint of implicit obedience (he grew to so
greate a height of power), (4) whose zeal in the service of his
comrades won for him the unhesitating attachment of his friends, who
infused into the hearts of his soldiers a spirit, not of discipline
only, but of self-devotion to their chief. And yet surely that is the
strongest of all battle-lines (5) in which obedience creates tactical
efficiency, and alacrity in the field springs out of