occupied in laying these on a secure foundation, he made it a
ceaseless task to baffle the projects of the national foe.

The epithets applied to him are significant. His relatives found in
him a kinsman who was more than kind. To his intimates he appeared as
a friend in need who is a friend indeed. To the man who had done him
some service, of tenacious memory. To the victim of injustice, a
knight-errant. And to those who had incurred danger by his side, a
saviour second only to the gods.

It was given to this man, as it appears to me, to prove exceptionally
that though strength of body may wax old the vigour of a man's soul is
exempt from eld. Of him, at any rate, it is true that he never shrank
from the pursuit of great and noble objects, so long as[11] his body
was able to support the vigour of his soul. Therefore his old age
appeared mightier than the youth of other people. It would be hard to
discover, I imagine, any one who in the prime of manhood was as
formidable to his foes as Agesilaus when he had reached the limit of
mortal life. Never, I suppose, was there a foeman whose removal came
with a greater sense of relief to the enemy than that of Agesilaus,
though a veteran when he died. Never was there a leader who inspired
stouter courage in the hearts of fellow-combatants than this man with
one foot planted in the grave. Never was a young man snatched from a
circle of loving friends with tenderer regret than this old graybeard.

[11] Reading, {megalon kai kalon ephiemenos, eos kai to soma, k.t.l.}
See Breitenbach.

The benefactor of his fatherland, absolutely to the very end; with
bounteous hand, even in the arms of death, dealing out largesse[12] to