[1] See "Hell." III. iv. 10; Plut. "Ages." xi. (Clough, iv. 9).

[2] See "Hell." IV. i. 3; Plut. "Ages." xi. (Clough, iv. 13).

[3] Diod. xvi. 34.

[4] See "Hell." IV. i. 37.




IV

To speak next of his justice[1] in affairs of money. As to this, what
testimony can be more conclusive than the following? During the whole
of his career no charge of fraudulent dealing was ever lodged against
Agesilaus; against which set the many-voiced acknowledgmment of
countless benefits received from him. A man who found pleasure in
giving away his own for the benefit of others was not the man to rob
another of his goods at the price of infamy. Had he suffered from this
thirst for riches it would have been easier to cling to what belonged
to him than to take that to which he had no just title. This man, who
was so careful to repay debts of gratitude, where[2] the law knows no
remedy against defaulters, was not likely to commit acts of robbery
which the law regards as criminal. And as a matter of act Agesilaus
judged it not only wrong to forgo repayment of a deed of kindness,
but, where the means were ample, wrong also not to repay such debts
with ample interest.