No More Learning

Since
that time, the innocence and merit of the play have raised it several
eminent advocates, who have prevailed to have it acted; and you need
not doubt but it has been with great applause. "]

[Footnote 29: Cibber has thus described Mrs Barry at the time when she
was honoured by this high compliment from Dryden:

"Mrs Barry was then (in 1690) in possession of almost all the chief
parts in tragedy: With what skill she gave life to them, you may judge
from the words of Dryden in his preface to "Cleomenes. " I perfectly
remember her acting that part; and, however unnecessary it may seem
to give my judgement after Dryden's, I cannot help saying, I do not
only close with his opinion, but will venture to add, that though
Dryden has been dead these thirty-eight years, the same compliment to
this hour may be due to her excellence. And though she was then not a
little past her youth, she was not till that time fully arrived to her
maturity of power and judgment. From whence I would observe, that the
short life of beauty is not long enough to form a complete actress.
In men, the delicacy of person is not so absolutely necessary, nor
the decline of it so soon taken notice of. The fame Mrs Barry arrived
at, is a particular proof of the difficulty there is in judging with
certainty from their first trials, whether young people will ever make
any great figure in a theatre. There was, it seems, so little hope of
Mrs Barry at her first setting out, that she was at the end of the
first year discharged the company, among others that were thought to
be a useless expence to it. I take it for granted, that the objection
to Mrs Barry at that time must have been a defective ear, or some
unskilful dissonance in her manner of pronouncing. But where there is
a proper voice and person, with the addition of a good understanding,
experience tells us, that such defect is not always invincible; of
which not only Mrs Barry, but the late Mrs Oldfield, are eminent
instances,--Mrs Barry, in characters of greatness, had a presence of
elevated dignity; her mien and motion superb, and gracefully majestic;
her voice full, clear, and strong, so that no violence of passion
could be too much for her; and when distress or tenderness possessed
her, she subsided into the most affecting melody and softness. In
the art of exciting pity, she had a power beyond all the actresses I
have yet seen, or what your imagination can conceive. Of the former
of these two great excellencies, she gave the most delightful proofs
in almost all the heroic plays of Dryden and Lee; and of the latter,
in the softer passions of Otway's Monimia and Belvidera. In scenes of
anger, defiance, or resentment, while she was impetuous and terrible,
she poured out the sentiment with an enchanting harmony; and it was
this particular excellence for which Dryden made her the above-recited
compliment upon her acting Cassandra in his "Cleomenes. " But here I
am apt to think his partiality for that character may have tempted
his judgment to let it pass for her master-piece, when he could not
but know there are several other characters in which her action might
have given her a fairer pretence to the praise he has bestowed upon
her for Cassandra: for in no part of that is there the least ground
for compassion, as in Monimia; nor equal cause for admiration, as in
the nobler love of Cleopatra, or the tempestuous jealousy of Roxana.
'Twas in these lights I thought Mrs Barry shone with a much brighter
excellence than in Cassandra. She was the first person whose merit
was distinguished by the indulgence of having an annual benefit-play,
which was granted to her alone, if I mistake not, first in King James's
time; and which became not common to others, till the division of
this company after the death of King William's Queen Mary. This great
actress died of a fever towards the latter end of Queen Anne; the year
I have forgot, but perhaps you will recollect it by an expression
that fell from her in blank verse, in her last hours, when she was
delirious, viz.

Ha, ha! and so they make us lords by dozens! "

"And yet (says Antony Aston, in his curious 'Supplement to Cibber's
work,') this fine creature was not handsome, her mouth opening most
on the right side, which she strove to draw t'other way, and at times
composing her face, as if sitting to have her picture drawn. Mrs Barry
was middle-sized, and had darkish hair, light eyes, dark eye-brows, and
was indifferently plump. She had a manner of drawing out her words,
which became her, but not Mrs Bradshaw and Mrs Porter, her successors.
Neither she, nor any of the actresses of those times, had any tone in
their speech, so much lately in use. In tragedy she was solemn and
august; in free comedy, alert, easy, and genteel; pleasant in her face
and action; filling the stage with variety of gesture. She was woman to
Lady Shelton, of Norfolk, (my godmother,) when Lord Rochester took her
on the stage, where for some time they could make nothing of her. She
could neither sing nor dance, no not in a country-dance. "--MALONE, Vol.
III. p. 227. ]




TO

THE RIGHT HONOURABLE

THE EARL OF ROCHESTER,

KNIGHT OF THE MOST NOBLE ORDER OF THE GARTER, &c[30].


It is enough for your lordship to be conscious to yourself of having
performed a just and honourable action, in redeeming this play from
the persecution of my enemies; but it would be ingratitude in me, not
to publish it to the world. That it has appeared on the stage, is
principally owing to you: that it has succeeded, is the approbation of
your judgment by that of the public. It is just the inversion of an act
of parliament: Your lordship first signed it, and then it was passed
amongst the Lords and Commons. The children of old men are generally
observed to be short-lived, and of a weakly constitution. How this may
prove, I know not, but hitherto it has promised well; and if it survive
to posterity, it will carry the noble fame of its patron along with
it; or, rather, it will be carried by yours to after-ages. Ariosto, in
his Voyage of Astolpho to the Moon, has given us a fine allegory of
two swans; who, when Time had thrown the writings of many poets into
the river of oblivion, were ever in a readiness to secure the best,
and bear them aloft into the temple of immortality. [31] Whether this
poem be of that number, is left to the judgment of the swan who has
preserved it; and, though I can claim little from his justice, I may
presume to value myself upon his charity. It will be told me, that I
have mistaken the Italian poet, who means only, that some excellent
writers, almost as few in number as the swans, have rescued the memory
of their patrons from forgetfulness and time; when a vast multitude of
crows and vultures, that is, bad scribblers, parasites, and flatterers,
oppressed by the weight of the names which they endeavoured to redeem,
were forced to let them fall into Lethe, where they were lost for ever.
If it be thus, my lord, the table would be turned upon me; but I should
only fail in my vain attempt; for, either some immortal swan will be
more capable of sustaining such a weight, or you, who have so long been
conversant in the management of great affairs, are able with your pen
to do justice to yourself, and, at the same time, to give the nation
a clearer and more faithful insight into those transactions, wherein
you have worthily sustained so great a part; for, to your experience
in state affairs, you have also joined no vulgar erudition, which all
your modesty is not able to conceal: for, to understand critically the
delicacies of Horace, is a height to which few of our noblemen have
arrived; and that this is your deserved commendation, I am a living
evidence, as far, at least, as I can be allowed a competent judge on
that subject. Your affection to that admirable Ode, which Horace writes
to his Mecænas, and which I had the honour to inscribe to you, is not
the only proof of this assertion[32]. You may please to remember that,
in the late happy conversation which I had with your lordship at a
noble relation's of yours, you took me aside, and pleased yourself
with repeating to me one of the most beautiful pieces in that author.
It was the Ode to Barine, wherein you were so particularly affected
with that elegant expression, _Juvenumque prodis publica cura_. There
is indeed the virtue of a whole poem in those words; that _curiosa
felicitas_, which Petronius so justly ascribes to our author. The
barbarity of our language is not able to reach it; yet, when I have
leisure, I mean to try how near I can raise my English to his Latin;
though, in the mean time, I cannot but imagine to myself, with what
scorn his sacred _manes_ would look on so lame a translation as I could
make. His _recalcitrat undique tutus_ might more easily be applied to
me, than he himself applied it to Augustus Cæsar. I ought to reckon
that day as very fortunate to me, and distinguish it, as the ancients
did, with a whiter stone; because it furnished me with an occasion
of reading my Cleomenes to a beautiful assembly of ladies, where
your lordship's three fair daughters were pleased to grace it with
their presence[33]; and, if I may have leave to single out any one in
particular, there was your admirable daughter-in-law, shining, not
like a star, but a constellation of herself, a more true and brighter
Berenice. Then it was, that, whether out of your own partiality, and
indulgence to my writings, or out of complaisance to the fair company,
who gave the first good omen to my success by their approbation, your
lordship was pleased to add your own, and afterwards to represent
it to the queen, as wholly innocent of those crimes which were laid
unjustly to its charge. Neither am I to forget my charming patroness,
though she will not allow my public address to her in a dedication, but
protects me unseen, like my guardian-angel, and shuns my gratitude,
like a fairy, who is bountiful by stealth, and conceals the giver when
she bestows the gift; but, my Lady Silvius[34] has been juster to me,
and pointed out the goddess at whose altar I was to pay my sacrifice
and thanks-offering; and, had she been silent, yet my Lord Chamberlain
himself, in restoring my play without any alteration, avowed to me,
that I had the most earnest solicitress, as well as the fairest, and
that nothing could be refused to my Lady Hyde.

These favours, my lord, received from yourself, and your noble family,
have encouraged me to this dedication; wherein I not only give you
back a play, which, had you not redeemed it, had not been mine; but
also, at the same time, dedicate to you the unworthy author, with my
inviolable faith, and (how mean soever) my utmost service; and I shall
be proud to hold my dependance on you in chief, as I do part of my
small fortune in Wiltshire. Your goodness has not been wanting to me
during the reign of my two masters; and, even from a bare treasury, my
success has been contrary to that of Mr Cowley; and Gideon's fleece has
then been moistened, when all the ground has been dry about it[35].
Such and so many provocations of this nature have concurred to my
invading of your modesty with this address. I am sensible that it is
in a manner forced upon you; but your lordship has been the aggressor
in this quarrel, by so many favours, which you were not weary of
conferring on me, though, at the same time, I own the ambition on my
side, to be ever esteemed,

Your Lordship's most thankful,

And most obedient Servant,

JOHN DRYDEN.


FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 30: Dryden had already distinguished Hyde, Earl of Rochester,
by inscribing "The Duke of Guise" to him. As he was son of the famous
Lord Clarendon, he was, of course, uncle to Queen Mary, by the mother's
side, and his protection continued therefore to be respectable,
although his political tenets were strongly Jacobitical. ]

[Footnote 31: See the end of the 34th and beginning of the 35th canto
of the "Orlando Furioso. "]

[Footnote 32: The 29th Ode of the First Book. See it among our author's
translations from Horace. ]

[Footnote 33: These ladies, Mr Malone supposes to be Lord Rochester's
two daughters, Henrietta Lady Dalkeith, and Mary Lady Conway, with his
daughter-in-law Lady Hyde, the Berenice who is mentioned presently
afterward. The Duchess of Ormond, eldest daughter of the Earl, died in
1685, and therefore could not be of the number. ]

[Footnote 34: Lady Silvius was the wife of Sir Gabriel Silvius,
employed upon various occasions as an English envoy on the Continent. ]

[Footnote 35:

"As a fair morning of the blessed spring,
After a tedious stormy night,
Such was the glorious entry of our King;
Enriching moisture dropp'd on every thing;
Plenty he sow'd below, and cast about him light.
But then, alas! to thee alone
One of old Gideon's miracles was shewn,
For every tree and every herb around
With pearly dew was crown'd;
And upon all the quicken'd ground
The fruitful seed of heaven did brooding lie,
And nothing but the Muses' fleece was dry. "]




PREFACE.


It is now seven or eight years since I designed to write this play of
"Cleomenes;" and my Lord Falkland[36], (whose name I cannot mention
without honour, for the many favours I have received from him) is
pleased to witness for me, that, in a French book which I presented
him about that time, there were the names of many subjects that I had
thought on for the stage, amongst which this tragedy was one. This
was out of my remembrance; but my lord, on the occasion of stopping
my play, took the opportunity of doing me a good office at court, by
representing it as it was, a piece long ago designed; which being
judiciously treated, I thought was capable of moving compassion on the
stage. The success has justified my opinion; and that at a time when
the world is running mad after Farce, the extremity of bad poetry, or
rather the judgment that is fallen upon dramatic writing. Were I in the
humour, I have sufficient cause to expose it in its true colours; but,
having for once escaped, I will forbear my satire, and only be thankful
for my deliverance. A great part of my good fortune, I must confess,
is owing to the justice which was done me in the performance. I can
scarcely refrain from giving every one of the actors their particular
commendations; but none of them will be offended, if I say what the
town has generally granted, that Mrs Barry, always excellent, has, in
this tragedy, excelled herself, and gained a reputation beyond any
woman whom I have ever seen on the theatre. After all, it was a bold
attempt of mine, to write upon a single plot, unmixed with comedy;
which, though it be the natural and true way, yet is not to the genius
of the nation. Yet, to gratify the barbarous party of my audience, I
gave them a short rabble-scene, because the mob (as they call them)
are represented by Plutarch and Polybius, with the same character of
baseness and cowardice, which are here described in the last attempt of
"Cleomenes. " They may thank me, if they please, for this indulgence;
for no French poet would have allowed them any more than a bare
relation of that scene, which debases a tragedy to show upon the stage.

For the rest, some of the mechanic rules of unity are observed, and
others are neglected. The action is but one, which is the death of
Cleomenes; and every scene in the play is tending to the accomplishment
of the main design. The place is likewise one; for, it is all in the
compass of Alexandria, and the port of that city. The time might easily
have been reduced into the space of twenty-four hours, if I would have
omitted the scene of famine in the fifth act; but it pleased me to try
how Spartans could endure it; and, besides, gave me the occasion of
writing that other scene, betwixt Cleomenes and his suspected friend;
and, in such a case, it is better to trespass on a rule, than leave out
a beauty.

As for other objections, I never heard any worth answering; and, least
of all, that foolish one which is raised against me by the sparks, for
Cleomenes not accepting the favours of Cassandra. They would not have
refused a fair lady! I grant they would not; but, let them grant me,
that they are not heroes; and so much for the point of honour[37]. A
man might have pleaded an excuse for himself, if he had been false
to an old wife, for the sake of a young mistress; but Cleora was in
the flower of her age, and it was yet but honey-moon with Cleomenes;
and so much for nature. Some have told me, that many of the fair sex
complain for want of tender scenes, and soft expressions of love. I
will endeavour to make them some amends, if I write again, and my next
hero shall be no Spartan.

I know it will be here expected, that I should write somewhat
concerning the forbidding of my play; but, the less I say of it, the
better. And, besides, I was so little concerned at it, that, had it not
been on consideration of the actors, who were to suffer on my account,
I should not have been at all solicitous whether it were played or
no. Nobody can imagine that, in my declining age, I write willingly,
or that I am desirous of exposing, at this time of day, the small
reputation which I have gotten on the theatre. The subsistence which I
had from the former government is lost; and the reward I have from the
stage is so little, that it is not worth my labour.

As for the reasons which were given for suspending the play, it seems
they were so ill-founded, that my Lord Chamberlain no sooner took the
pains to read it, but they vanished; and my copy was restored to me,
without the least alteration by his lordship. It is printed as it was
acted; and, I dare assure you, that here is no parallel to be found:
it is neither compliment, nor satire; but a plain story, more strictly
followed than any which has appeared upon the stage. It is true, it had
been garbled before by the superiors of the play-house; and I cannot
reasonably blame them for their caution, because they are answerable
for any thing that is publicly represented; and their zeal for the
government is such, that they had rather lose the best poetry in the
world, than give the least suspicion of their loyalty. The short is,
that they were diligent enough to make sure work, and to geld it so
clearly in some places, that they took away the very manhood of it. I
can only apply to them, what Cassandra says somewhere in the play to
Ptolemy;

To be so nice in my concerns for you;
To doubt where doubts are not; to be too fearful;
To raise a bug-bear shadow of a danger;
And then be frighted, though it cannot reach you.

But, since it concerns me to be as circumspect as they are, I have
given leave to my bookseller to print the life of Cleomenes, as
it is elegantly and faithfully translated out of Plutarch, by my
learned friend, Mr Creech, to whom the world has been indebted for
his excellent version of Lucretius, and I particularly obliged in his
translation of Horace[38]. We daily expect Manilius from him, an author
worthy only of such hands; which, having formerly revealed the secrets
of nature to us here on earth, is now discovering to us her palace in
the skies, and, if I might be allowed to say it, giving light to the
stars of heaven:

_Ergò vivida vis animi pervicit, et extra
Processit longè flammantia moenia mundi. _[39]


But, to return to Plutarch: you will find him particularly fond of
Cleomenes his character; who, as he was the last of the Spartan heroes,
so he was, in my opinion, the greatest. Even his enemy, Polybius,
though engaged in the contrary faction, yet speaks honourably of him,
and especially of his last action in Egypt. This author is also made
English, and will shortly be published for the common benefit[40].

What I have added to the story, is chiefly the love of Agathoclea, the
king's mistress, whose name I have changed into Cassandra, only for
the better sound; as I have also the name of Nicagoras, into that of
Cœnus, for the same reason. Cratesiclæa, Pantheus, and Sosybius, are to
be found in the story, with the same characters which they have in the
tragedy. There is likewise mention made of the son of Cleomenes, who
had resolution enough to throw himself headlong from a tower, when he
had heard of his father's ill success. And for Cleora, whom I make the
second wife of Cleomenes, (for Ægiatis was dead before) you will find a
hint of her in Plutarch; for, he tells us, that after the loss of the
battle at Sellasia, he returned to Sparta, and, entering his own house,
was there attended by a free-born woman of Megalopolis.

The picture of Ptolemy Philopater is given by the fore-mentioned
authors to the full. Both agree that he was an original of his kind; a
lazy, effeminate, cowardly, cruel, and luxurious prince, managed by his
favourite, and imposed on by his mistress. The son of Sosybius, whom I
call Cleanthes, was a friend to Cleomenes; but, Plutarch says, he at
length forsook him. I have given him a fairer character, and made it
only a seeming treachery, which he practised. If any be so curious to
enquire what became of Cassandra, whose fortune was left in suspence at
the conclusion of the play, I must first inform them, that, after the
death of Cleomenes, (the hero of my poem) I was obliged by the laws of
the drama, to let fall the curtain immediately, because the action was
then concluded. But Polybius tells us, that she survived Ptolemy, who
reigned about twenty-seven years; that, with her brother Agathocles,
she governed Egypt in the minority of his son Ptolemy Epiphanes; and
that, finally, for oppressing of the people, both the brother and
sister were slain in a popular insurrection.

There is nothing remaining, but my thanks to the town in general,
and to the fair ladies in particular, for their kind reception of my
play. And, though I cannot retract what I said before, that I was not
much concerned, in my own particular, for the embargo which was laid
upon it, yet I think myself obliged, at the same time, to render my
acknowledgments to those honourable persons, who were instrumental
in the freeing it; for, as it was from a principle of nobleness in
them, that they would not suffer one to want, who was grown old in
their service, so, it is from a principle of another sort, that I have
learned to possess my soul in patience, and not to be much disquieted
with any disappointment of this nature.

[_The following verses were sent me by a young gentleman, under
twenty years of age, whose modesty would have concealed his name;
but I learned it from another hand, and have taken the boldness
to subscribe it without his leave. I presume that, on the reading
of them, nobody can blame me for making Cleonidas speak above his
youth, when you see an Englishman so far surpassing my Spartan. _]


TO MR DRYDEN ON HIS CLEOMENES.

Has youth then lost its great prerogative?
And does the soul alone for age survive?
Like embryos sleeping in their seeds, seem nought,
'Till friendly time does ripen it to thought?
Judgment, experience, that before was theirs:
But fancy wantons still in younger spheres;
Played with some loose and scattered beams of light,
And revelled in an anarchy of wit.
Both youth and age unequally did charm;
As much too cold was this, as that too warm.
But you have reconciled their differing praise,
By fixing both to your immortal bays;
Where Fancy mounts, but Judgment holds the reins,
Not checks, but guides you to harmonious strains.
'Tis harmony indeed, 'tis all unite,
Like finished nature, and divided light:
Like the vast order, and its numerous throng, }
Crowded to their Almighty Maker's song; }
Where heaven and earth seem but one single tongue. }
O wond'rous man! where have you learned the art,
To charm our reason, while you wound the heart?
Far more than Spartan morals to inspire,
While your great accents kindle Spartan fire?
Thus metals, heated to the artist's will,
Receive the impression of a nobler skill.
Your hero formed so regularly good,
So nicely patient in his want of food,
That it no more _th' undress_ of death appears,
While the rich garment of your sense it wears,
So just a husband, father, son, and friend,
Great in his life, but greater in his end;
That sure, like Xenophon, you meant to shew }
Not what they are, but what they ought to do; }
At once a poet, and instructor too. }
The parts so managed, as if each were thine; }
Thou draw'st both ore and metal from the mine; }
And, to be seen, thou mak'st even vice to shine: }
As if, like Siam's transmigrating god,
A single life in each you made abode;
And the whole business of the tedious round,
To copy patterns which in each you found.
Sure you have gained from heaven Promethean fire,
To form, then kindle souls into desire:
Else why successive starts of hopes and fears,
A martial warmth first raised, then quenched with tears?
Unless this truth shines clearly through the whole,
Sense rules the world, but you command the soul.

THEOPHILUS PARSONS.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 36: Anthony, fourth Lord Viscount Falkland, succeeded to
that title by the death of his father in 1664. He was a person of wit
and honour, as the phrase then was; a character which he maintained by
writing prologues, and occasional verses, as well as by keeping company
with men of more genius than his own. He died in 1694. ]

[Footnote 37: This objection and answer are stated by Steele to have
taken place in an extempore conversation betwixt Dryden and a young
beau just come from the representation of "Cleomenes. "--See the
_Guardian_, No. 45. The retort may doubtless have been first made by
the poet in this manner; but it is more probable that Steele either had
an inaccurate recollection of the passage, or thought it had a more
lively effect when thrown into dialogue. ]

[Footnote 38: The enemies of Dryden, imputing to him the pitiful
jealousy of which they were probably themselves conscious, pretended,
that, envious of the reputation which Creech acquired by his
translation of Lucretius, Dryden insidiously pushed him on to attempt
a version of Horace, a task for which he was totally unfit, and by
which he forfeited all the credit he had gained. The accusation is thus
stated by Tom Brown, and may serve for a specimen of the under-bred
petulance in which he indulges.

_Bays. _ "I have a certain profound stratagem still behind, my _Sacra
Anchora_ I call it, which is only to be made use of upon extraordinary
occasions, and which I was never forced to employ but once in my time,
and is as follows: When any young author has been so fortunate in his
first undertaking, as to win himself the applause of all the world, so
that 'tis impossible for one to ruin his reputation, without running
the hazard of having his throat cut by all sort of company, I am as
forward as the best of them all to commend his ingenuity, to extol his
parts, and promise him a copy of verses before his book, if he honours
the world with a second edition.

_Crites. _ "Very good.

_Bays. _ "At the same time I privately feel his pulse, and examine the
nature, and inclination of the beast. If he chances to be a little
saturnine like myself, I set him upon a gay undertaking, where 'tis
the devil and all of ill luck if he does not ship-wreck all his former
credit. But, if he proves a man of a brisk and jolly temper, I persuade
him of all loves to make an experiment of his abilities upon some
serious solemn subject; tell him, if ever he expects to be saved, he
must out of hand do justice to the Psalms and Canticles, which work
he's as incapable to manage, egad, as little David was to fight in
Saul's armour. Thus, gentlemen, by engaging the author in a province,
where he has not stock enough to carry on the plantation, I never fail
one way or other to compass my designs, and, at long-run, to defeat my
competitor.

_Crites. _ "Why, Mr Bays, this is like enjoining a painter, that has a
good fancy at drawing of Saracens' heads, and grotesque figures only,
to draw you a Venus or an Adonis, where he must certainly miscarry.
Now, I am apt to fancy you trepanned the honest translator of Lucretius
with this profound piece of policy: Come, confess the truth, man; did
you not?

_Bays. _ "You could not have guessed better, Mr Crites, if you had dived
into my diaphragma for the secret. It was not in my power, you must
know, either to suppress the work, or to discommend it; because, to
give the gentleman his due, it was performed beyond all expectation,
and, what was a mighty matter, it suited as pat as might be with the
philosophy of the town that was then in fashion. Now, to undermine
and ruin him to all intents and purposes, I took these measures. I
flatter, hug, and caress him, like an Achitophel as I was; after the
strangest manner imaginable, profess all the respect and friendship in
the world for him; tell him that providence had certainly reserved him
for working miracles in poetry; and that I had some ancient prophecies
by me at home, which declared him to be the very person that was to
deliver the immortal writers of former ages out of that Algerine
captivity they had so long laboured under--

_Crites. _ "Well, for daubing and wheedling, I'll let thee loose to any
poet in Christendom. "

_Bays. _ "That, if by his mighty feat he could form those Irish atoms
of Lucretius into so regular, and well-disciplined an army, could
raise such harmony out of a dull unmusical philosopher, how glorious
and exalted would his attempts be upon Horace, or what might we not
expect from so advantageous, so promising an undertaking. And so,
gentlemen, with the help of a little incense and flattery, I so cajoled
this Æsop's crow, that he presently dropt his Epicurean cheese out of
his mouth, to sing one of his unmusical ill-turned Odes of Horace.
I persuaded this Welch courser to leave his ragged unaccessible
precipices, where there was no coming after him, to try his strength
and feet upon good plain ground, where an English vinegar horse, I
knew, would easily distance him. " _The Reasons of Mr Bayes changing his
Religion considered in a Dialogue. _

Shields, or whoever wrote Creech's Life, in the collection to which
Theophilus Cibber gave his name, has not only adopted this tale of
scandal, but has added, that the great contempt expressed by Dryden for
the translation of Horace, gave the author a shock, from which he never
recovered, and, in short, occasioned his falling into low-spirits, and
finally committing suicide. The passage, to which this note refers, is
sufficient to clear our author from so gross and scandalous a reproach.
It shews that after the publication of Creech's Horace he continued,
in the most public manner, not only to speak kindly and respectfully
of the translator, but to stimulate him to new exertions. It is hence
evident, that no breach of friendship took place between them on this
occasion; far less could Dryden have driven him to despair by harshness
or contempt. The inference, that Dryden urged Creech to attempt Horace,
because he foresaw his failure, seems the unfounded deduction of
calumny and envy. In the dedication to the Translation of Horace, which
is addressed to our author, Creech himself bears the following strong
testimony to the liberality of Dryden's sentiments.

"'Tis you, sir, that have advanced our dramatic to its height, and
showed that epic poetry is not confined to Italy and Greece. That you
are honoured by the best, and envied by others, proclaims excellency
and worth; for, true honour is built only upon perfection; and envy, as
it is as sharp sighted, so 'tis as soaring as an eagle; and who ever
saw it stoop at a sparrow or a wren? and that candour and goodness have
the greatest share in your composition, I dare appeal to every one whom
you have any way favoured with your conversation; these so fill your
mind, that there is no room left for pride, or any disobliging quality.
This appears from the encouragement you are ready to give any tolerable
attempts, and reach out a helping hand to all those who endeavour to
climb that height where you are already seated. Even this owes its
completion to those smiles which you condescended to bestow upon some
parts of it, and now ventures to appear a _second_ time, where at first
it found a favourable entertainment. "

The reader will observe that this dedication is prefixed to the
_second_ edition of the Translation of Horace; a circumstance which
confutes the assertion that Dryden ridiculed the work, and indeed the
whole of a tale, so malignantly invented by slander, and repeated by
credulity. ]

[Footnote 39: Marcus Manilius, a poet of the Augustan age, wrote the
poem on astronomy, to which Dryden refers. ]

[Footnote 40: Sir Henry Shere published his Translation of Polybius in
1692-3, in two volumes, 8vo. , to which there was prefixed a character
of the author, and of his writings, by Dryden. ]




THE

LIFE OF CLEOMENES,

TRANSLATED FROM PLUTARCH

BY

MR THOMAS CREECH.


Thus fell Agis. His brother Archidamus was too quick for Leonidas, and
saved himself by a timely retreat. But his wife then newly brought to
bed, the tyrant forced her from her own house, and compelled her to
marry his son Cleomenes, though at that time too young for a wife; for
he was unwilling that any one else should have her, she being heiress
to her father Gylippus's great estate; for person, the finest woman in
all Greece, very good-natured, of an exemplary life; and therefore,
they say, she did all she could, that she might not be compelled to
this match.

Being thus married to Cleomenes, she hated Leonidas; but to the youth
she showed herself a kind and obliging wife. He, as soon as they came
together, began to love her very much; and the constant kindness
that she still retained for the memory of Agis, wrought somewhat of
concern in the young man for him; so that he would often enquire of
her concerning what had passed, and attentively listen to the story of
Agis's designs. Now Cleomenes had a generous and great soul: he was
as temperate and moderate in his pleasures as Agis, but not so very
cautious, circumspect, and gentle; a spur of passion always galled him,
and his eagerness to pursue that which he thought good and just, was
violent and heady. To make men willing to obey, he conceived to be the
best discipline; but likewise to break the stubborn, and force them to
be better, was, in his opinion, commendable and brave. This disposition
made him dislike the management of the city. The citizens lay
dissolved in supine idleness and pleasures; the king minded nothing,
designing, if nobody gave him any disturbance, to waste his time in
ease and riot; the public was neglected, and each man intent upon his
private gain. It was dangerous, now Agis was killed, to mention the
exercising and training of their youth; and to set up for the ancient
bravery and equality, was treason against the state. It is said also,
that Cleomenes, whilst a boy, studied philosophy under Sphærus the
Borysthenite, who, coming to Sparta, was very diligent in instructing
the youth. Sphærus was one of the chief of Zeno the Citiean's scholars;
and it is likely that he admired the manly temper of Cleomenes, and
inflamed his generous ambition. The ancient Leonidas, as story saith,
being asked, What manner of poet he thought Tyrtæus? replied, An
excellent one to whet the courages of youth; for, being filled with
fury by his poems, they daringly ventured on any danger. Now the Stoic
philosophy is a dangerous incentive to hot and fiery dispositions; but
being mixed with a grave and cautious temper, is very good to fix and
settle the resolutions.

Upon the death of his father Leonidas, he succeeded; and, observing
the citizens of all sorts to be debauched, the rich neglecting the
public, and intent on their own gain and pleasure, and the poor being
cramped in their private fortunes, grown inactive, cowards, and not
inclinable to the Spartan institution and way of breeding, that he
had only the name of King, and the Ephori all the power, was resolved
to change the present posture of affairs. He had a friend, whose name
was Xenares, his lover, (such an affection the Spartans express by the
word empneithai,) him he sounded; and of him he would commonly enquire,
What manner of king Agis was, by what means, and by what assistance
he began and pursued his designs. Xenares at first willingly complied
with his request, and told him the whole story, with all the particular
circumstances of the actions. But when he observed Cleomenes to be
extremely affected at the relation, and more than ordinarily moved at
Agis's new model of the government, and begging a repetition of the
story, he at first severely chid him, told him he was frantic, and at
last left off all sort of familiarity and conversation with him; yet he
never told any man the cause of their disagreement, but would only say,
"Cleomenes knew very well. " Cleomenes finding Xenares averse to his
designs, and thinking all others to be of the same opinion, consulted
with none, but contrived the whole business by himself. And considering
that it would be easier to bring about an alteration when the city was
at war than when in peace, he engaged the commonwealth in a quarrel
with the Achæans, who had given them fair occasions to complain; for
Aratus, a man of the greatest power amongst all the Achæans, designed,
from the very beginning, to bring all the Peloponnesians into one
common body. And to effect this, he undertook many expeditions, and ran
through a long course of policy; for he thought this the only means to
make them an equal match for their foreign enemies. All the rest agreed
to his proposals; only the Lacedæmonians, the Eleans, and as many of
the Arcadians as inclined to the Spartan interest, refused.
Therefore,
as soon as Leonidas was dead, he fell upon the Arcadians, and wasted
those especially that bordered on Achaia; by this means designing to
try the inclinations of the Spartans, and despising Cleomenes as a
youth, and of no experience in affairs of state or war. Upon this the
Ephori sent Cleomenes to surprise the Athenæum, dedicated to Minerva,
near Belbina, which is a pass of Laconia, and was then under the
jurisdiction of the Megalopolitans. Cleomenes possessed himself of
the place, and fortified it; at which action Aratus shewed no public
resentment, but marched by night to surprise Tegea and Orchomenium. The
design failed; for those that were to betray the cities into his hands,
doubted the success; so Aratus retreated, imagining that his design
had been undiscovered. But Cleomenes wrote a jeering letter to him,
and desired to know, as from a friend, whither he intended to march
at night? And Aratus answering, That having understood his design to
fortify Belbina, he resolved to march thither to oppose him; Cleomenes
returned, That he believed it, but desired him to give an account, if
it stood with his convenience, why he carried those torches and ladders
with him.

Aratus laughing at the jeer, and asking what manner of youth this was?
Democrites, a Spartan exile, replied, "If you have any designs upon
the Lacedæmonians, begin before this young eagle's talons are grown. "
Presently after this, Cleomenes being in Arcadia with a few horse, and
300 foot, the Ephori, fearing to engage in the war, commanded him
home; but upon his retreat, Aratus taking Caphuæ, they commissioned him
again. In this expedition he took Methudrium, and spoiled the country
of the Argives; and the Achæans, to stop his victory, and secure
their friends, sent 20,000 foot and 1000 horse against him, under the
command of Aristomachus. Cleomenes faced them at Palantium, and offered
battle; but Aratus being dashed at his bravery, would not suffer the
general to engage, but retreated; being cursed by the Achæans, and
hooted at, and scorned by the Spartans, who were not above 5000, for
a coward. Cleomenes, encouraged by this success, began to vaunt among
the citizens, a sentence of one of their ancient kings, who said, "The
Spartans seldom enquired how many their enemies were, but where they
were. " After this, marching to the assistance of the Eleans, upon
whom the Achæans warred, and about Lycæum falling upon the enemy in
their retreat, he routed their whole army, taking a great number of
captives, and leaving many dead upon the place; so that it was commonly
reported amongst the Greeks, that Aratus was slain. But Aratus making
the best advantage of the opportunity presently after the defeat,
marched to Mantinæa and, before any body suspected it, took the city,
and put a new garrison into it. Upon this the Lacedæmonians being quite
discouraged, and opposing Cleomenes's design of carrying on the war, he
was eager to send for Archidamus, Agis's brother, from Messena; for he
of the other family had a right to the kingdom: and, beside, Cleomenes
thought, that the power of the Ephori would be abated, when the kingly
state was filled up, and equally poised between the two families. But
those that were concerned in the murder of Agis, understanding the
design, and fearing that upon Archidamus's return they should be
called to an account, received him coming privately into town, waited
on him, and presently after murdered him; but whether Cleomenes was
against it, as Phylarchus imagines or whether he was persuaded by his
friends, and winked at the contrivance, is uncertain; however, they
were most blamed, as having forced his consent. But he still resolving
to new-model the state, bribed the Ephori to make him general; and won
the affections of many others by means of his mother Cratesiclea, who
spared no cost, and was very zealous to promote the same interest; and
though of herself she had no inclination to marry, yet for her son's
sake she wedded one of the chiefest citizens for wealth and power.
Cleomenes marching forth with the army now under his command, took
Leuctra, a place belonging to Megalopolis; and the Achæans quickly
facing him with a good body of men commanded by Aratus, in a battle
under the very walls of the city, some part of his army was routed; but
Aratus commanding the Achæans not to pass a deep hollow, and stopping
the pursuit, Lydiadas the Megalopolitan, fretting at the orders,
encouraging the horse which he led, and pursuing the routed enemy, fell
into a place full of vines, hedges, and ditches; and being forced to
break his ranks, was put into a great disorder. Cleomenes observing the
advantage, commanded the Tarentines and Cretans to engage him, by whom,
after a brave dispute, he was routed and slain. The Lacedæmonians,
thus encouraged, with a great shout fell upon the Achæans, and routed
their whole army. Of the slain, which were very many, some Cleomenes
delivered upon articles; but the body of Lydiadas he commanded to be
brought to him; and then putting on it a purple robe, and a crown upon
its head, sent a convoy with it to the gates of Megalopolis. This
Lydiadas was the man that resigned his crown, restored liberty to the
citizens, and joined the city to the Achæan interest. Cleomenes being
very much raised by this success, and persuaded, that if matters were
wholly at his disposal, he should quickly be too hard for the Achæans;
he taught Megistones, his mother's husband, that it was expedient for
the state to shake off the power of the Ephori, and to put all their
wealth into one common stock for the whole body; that Sparta, being
restored to its old equality, might be raised up to be mistress of all
Greece. Megistones liked the design, and engaged two or three more of
his friends. About that time one of the Ephori, sleeping in Pasiphae's
temple, dreamed a very surprising dream; for he thought he saw the
four chairs removed out of the place where the Ephori used to sit and
hear causes, and one only set there; and whilst he wondered, he heard
a voice out of the temple, saying, "This is best for Sparta. " The
person telling Cleomenes this dream, he was a little troubled at first,
fearing that he used this as a trick to sift him, upon some suspicion
of his design; but when he was satisfied that the relater spoke truth,
he took heart again; and taking with him those whom he thought would be
against his model, he took Eræa and Alcæa, two cities of the Achæans,
furnished Orchomenium with provisions, besieged Mantinæa, and with long
marches so harassed the Lacedæmonians, that many of them desired to be
left in Arcadia; and he satisfied their request. With the mercenaries
he marched to Sparta; and by the way communicated his design to those,
whom he thought fittest for his purpose, and marched slowly, that he
might catch the Ephori at supper. When he was come near the city, he
sent Eurycleidas to the Sussitium, the eating place of the Ephori,
under pretence of carrying some message from him from the army;
Threicion, Phæbis, and two of those who were bred with Cleomenes,
whom they call Samothracæ followed with a few soldiers; and whilst
Eurycleidas was delivering his message to the Ephori, they ran upon
them with their drawn swords, and slew them. Agesilaus, as soon as he
was run through, fell, and lay as dead; but in a little time he rose,
silently conveyed himself out of the room, and crept undiscovered into
a little house, which was the temple of Fear, and which always used
to be shut, but was then by chance open; being got in, he shut the
door, and lay close: the other four were killed, and above ten more
that came to their assistance. To those that were quiet, they did no
harm, stopt none that fled the city, and spared Agesilaus, who came out
of the temple the next day. The Lacedæmonians have not only temples
dedicated to Fear, but also to Death, Laughter, and the like passions.
Now they worship Fear, not as they do those deities which they dread,
esteeming it hurtful, but thinking their policy is chiefly kept up by
law; and therefore the Ephori, (Aristotle is my author,) when they
enter upon their government, make proclamation to the people, that they
should shave their whiskers, and be obedient to the laws, that they
might not be forced to be severe; using this trivial particular, in my
opinion, to accustom their youth to obedience, even in the smallest
matters. And the ancients, I think, did not imagine fortitude to be
plain fearlessness, but a cautious fear of infamy and disgrace: for
those that shew most fear towards the laws, are most bold against their
enemies; and those are least afraid of any danger, who are most afraid
of a just reproach. Therefore he said well,

A reverence still attends on fear.

And Homer,

Feared you shall be, dear uncle, and revered.

And again,

In silence fearing those that bore the sway.

For it is very commonly seen, that men reverence those whom they fear;
and therefore the Lacedæmonians placed the temple of Fear by the
Sussitium of the Ephori, having raised their power to almost absolute
monarchy.

The next day Cleomenes proscribed eighty of the citizens, whom he
thought necessary to banish, and removed all the seats of the Ephori,
except one, in which he himself designed to sit, and hear causes; and
calling the citizens together, he made an apology for his proceedings;
saying, "That by Lycurgus the senate was joined to the kings, and that
that model of government had continued a long time, and needed no other
sort of magistrates to give it perfection. But afterward, in the long
war with the Messenians, when the kings, being to command the army,
had no time to attend civil causes, they chose some of their friends,
and left them to determine the suits of the citizens in their stead.
These were called Ephori, and at first behaved themselves as servants
to the kings; but afterward, by degrees, they appropriated the power to
themselves, and erected a distinct sort of magistracy. An evidence of
the truth of this may be taken from the usual behaviour of the kings,
who, upon the first and second message of the Ephori, refuse to go;
but upon the third, readily attend them: and Asteropus, the first that
raised the Ephori to that height of power, lived a great many years
after their institution; therefore, whilst they modestly contained
themselves within their own proper sphere, it was better to bear with
them than to make a disturbance. But that an upstart introduced power
should so far destroy the old model of government, as to banish some
kings, murder others without hearing their defence, and threaten those
who desired to see the best and most divine constitution restored in
Sparta, was insufferable; therefore if it had been possible for him,
without bloodshed, to have freed Lacedæmon from those foreign plagues,
luxury, vanity, debts, and usury, and from those more ancient evils,
poverty and riches, he should have thought himself the happiest king in
the world; having, like an expert physician, cured the diseases of his
country without pain. But now, in this necessity, Lycurgus's example
favoured his proceedings, who, being neither king nor magistrate,
but a private man, and aiming at the kingdom, came armed into the
market-place, and, for fear of the king Carileus, fled to the altar;
but he being a good man, and a lover of his country, readily consented
to Lycurgus's project, and admitted an alteration in the state.
Thus, by his own actions, Lycurgus showed, that it was difficult to
correct the government without force and fear; in using which, he
said, he would be so moderate, as never to desire their assistance,
but either to terrify or ruin the enemies of Sparta's happiness and
safety. " He commanded, that all the land should be left in common,
and private claims laid aside; that debtors should be discharged of
their debts, and a strict search made, who were foreigners, and who
not; that the true Spartans, recovering their courage, might defend
the city by their arms; and that we may no longer see Laconia, for
want of a sufficient number to secure it, wasted by the Ætolians and
Illyrians. Then he himself first, with his father-in-law Megistones,
and his friends, brought all their wealth into one public stock, and
all the other citizens followed the example. The land was divided,
and every one that he had banished had a share assigned him; for
he promised to restore all, as soon as things were settled, and in
quiet: and compleating the common number of citizens, out of the best
and most agreeable of the neighbouring inhabitants, he raised a body
of four thousand men; and, instead of a spear, taught them to use a
sarissa (a long pike) with both hands, and to carry their shields by
a string fastened round their arms, and not by a handle, as before.
After this he began to consult about the exercising and breeding of
the youth, many particulars of which, Sphærus, being then at Sparta,
directed; and in a short time the schools of exercise, and their
_Sussitia_, (common eating places,) recovered their ancient decency
and order; a few out of necessity, but the most voluntarily applying
themselves to that generous and Laconic way of living. Besides, that
the name of monarch might give them no jealousy, he made Eucleidas,
his brother, partner in the throne; and that was the only time that
Sparta had two kings of the same family. Then understanding that the
Achæans and Aratus imagined that this change had disturbed and shaken
his affairs, and that he would not venture out of Sparta, and leave
the city, now unsettled by so great an alteration, he thought it great
and serviceable to his designs, to convince his enemies that he was
eagerly desirous of a war; and therefore making an incursion into
the territories of Megalopolis, he wasted the country very much, and
got a considerable booty. And at last taking those that used to act
in the public solemnities travelling from Messena, and building a
theatre in the enemy's country, and setting a prize of L. 40 value,
he sat spectator a whole day; not that he either desired or needed
such a divertisement, but as it were insulting over his enemies; and
that by thus manifestly despising them, he might show, that he had
more than conquered the Achæans. For that alone, of all the Greek
or kings' armies, had no stage-players, no jugglers, no dancing or
singing women attending it, but was free from all sorts of looseness,
wantonness, and foppery; the young men being for the most part upon
duty, and the old men teaching them at leisure time to apply themselves
to their usual drollery, and to rally one another facetiously after
the Laconic fashion; the advantages of which I have discovered in the
life of Lycurgus. He himself instructed all by his example: he was a
living pattern of temperance before every body's eyes, and his course
of living was neither more stately nor more expensive than any of the
commons. And this was a considerable advantage to him in his designs
on Greece; for men, when they waited upon other kings, did not so
much admire their wealth, costly furniture, and numerous attendance,
as they hated their pride and state, their difficulty of access, and
scornful commanding answers to their petitions. But when they came to
Cleomenes, who was both really a king, and bore that title, and saw
no purple, no robes of state upon him, no chairs and couches about
him for his ease, and that he did not receive petitions, and return
answers, after a long delay, by a number of messengers, waiters, or by
bills, but that he rose and came forward to meet those that came to
wait upon him, stayed, talked freely and graciously with all that had
business; they were extremely taken, won to his service, and professed
that he alone was the true son of Hercules. His common every-day's
meal was in a mean room, very sparing, and after the Laconic manner;
and when he entertained ambassadors, or strangers, two more beds were
added, and a little better dinner provided by his servants; but no
fricasees, no dainties, only the dishes were larger, and the wine
more plentiful; for he reproved one of his friends for entertaining
some strangers with nothing but pulse and black broth, such diet as
they usually had in their Phiditia; saying, that upon such occasions,
and when they treat strangers, it was not requisite to be too exact
Laconians. After supper, a stand was brought in with a brass vessel
full of wine, two silver pots, which held almost a quart a piece, a
few silver cups, of which he that pleased might drink, but no liquor
was forced on any of the guests. There was no music, nor was any
required; for he entertained the company, sometimes asking questions,
sometimes telling stories: and his discourse was neither too grave,
and unpleasantly serious, nor vain and abusive, but merrily facetious;
for he thought those ways of catching men by gifts and presents, which
other kings use, to be mean and inartificial; and it seemed to him to
be the most glorious method, and most suitable to a king, to win the
affections of those that came near him, by pleasant discourse, and
unaffected conversation; for a friend and mercenary differ only in
this, that the one is made by conversation and agreeableness of humour,
and the other by reward. The Mantinæans were the first that obliged
him; for, getting by night into the city, and driving out the Achæan
garrison, they put themselves under his protection; he restored them
their polity and laws, and the same day marched to Tegea; and a little
while after, fetching a compass through Arcadia, he made a descent upon
Pheræ, in Achaia, intending to force Aratus to a battle, or bring him
into disrepute, for refusing to engage, and suffering him to waste the
country. Hyperbatus at that time commanded the army, but Aratus had all
the power amongst the Achæans. The Achæans marching forth with their
whole strength, and encamping in Dumeæ, about Hecatombæum, Cleomenes
came up, and thinking it not advisable to pitch between Dumeæ, a city
of the enemy's, and the camp of the Achæans, he boldly dared the
Achæans, and forced them to a battle; and routing the phalanx, slew
a great many in the fight, and took many prisoners; thence marching
to Lagon, and driving out the Achæan garrison, he restored the city
to the Elæans. The affairs of the Achæans being in this desperate
condition, Aratus, who was wont to continue in his government above
a year, refused the command, though they entreated and urged him to
accept it; and this was ill done, when the storm was high, to put the
power out of his own hands, and set another to the helm. Cleomenes
at first proposed fair and easy conditions by his ambassadors to the
Achæans; but afterwards he sent others, and required the chief command
to be settled upon him; and in other matters he promised to agree to
reasonable terms, and to restore their captives and their country.
The Achæans were willing to come to an agreement upon those terms,
and invited Cleomenes to Lerna, where an assembly was to be held;
but it happened that Cleomenes hastily marching on, and unseasonably
drinking water, brought up abundance of blood, and lost his voice;
therefore, being unable to continue his march, he sent the chiefest
of the captives to the Achæans, and putting off the meeting for some
time, retired to Lacedæmon. This ruined the affairs of Greece, which
was just then ready to recover itself out of its disasters, and avoid
the insulting and covetousness of the Macedonians: for Aratus, whether
fearing or distrusting Cleomenes, or envying his unlooked-for success,
or thinking it a disgrace for him, who had commanded thirty-three
years, to have a young man succeed to all his glory and his power, and
be head of that government which he had been raising and settling so
many years: he first endeavoured to keep the Achæans from closing with
Cleomenes; but when they would not hearken to him, fearing Cleomenes's
daring spirit, and thinking the Lacedæmonians' proposals to be very
reasonable, who designed only to reduce Peloponnesus to its old model,
he took his last refuge, in an action which was unbecoming any of
the Greeks, most dishonourable to him, and most unworthy his former
bravery and exploits; for he called Antigonus into Greece, and filled
Peloponnesus with Macedonians, whom he himself, when a youth, having
beaten their garrison out of the castle of Corinth, had driven from the
same country; beside he declared himself an enemy to all kings, and
hath left many dishonourable stories of this same Antigonus, in those
commentaries which he wrote: and though he declares that he suffered
considerable losses, and underwent great dangers, that he might free
Athens from the power of the Macedonians, yet afterward he brought
the very same men armed into his own country, and his own house, even
to the women's apartment. He would not endure, that one of the family
of Hercules, and king of Sparta, and one that had reformed the polity
of his country, as it were a disordered harmony, and tuned it to the
plain Doric measure of Lycurgus, to be stiled, head of the Triccæans
and Sicyonians; and whilst he fled the pulse and short coat, and,
which were his chief accusations against Cleomenes, the extirpation
of wealth, and reformation of poverty, he basely subjected himself,
together with Achaia, to the diadem and purple, to the imperious
commands of the Macedonians and their Satrapæ. That he might not
seem to be under Cleomenes, he sacrificed the Antigonea, (sacrifices
in honour of Antigonus,) and sung Pæans himself with a garland on his
head, to the honour of a rotten, consumptive Macedonian. I write this
not out of any design to disgrace Aratus, (for in many things he shewed
himself vigorous for the Grecian interest, and a great man;) but out
of pity to the weakness of human nature, which, in such a person, so
excellent, and so many ways disposed to virtue, cannot attain to a
state irreprehensible.

The Achæans meeting again at Argos, and Cleomenes descending from
Tegea, there were great hopes that all differences would be composed.
But Aratus (Antigonus and he having already agreed upon the chief
articles of their league) fearing that Cleomenes would carry all before
him, and either win or force the multitude to comply with his demands,
proposed that, having three hundred hostages put into his hands, he
should come alone into the town, or bring his army to the place of
exercise, called Cillarabion, without the city, and treat there.

Cleomenes hearing this, said, that he was unjustly dealt with; for they
ought to have told him so plainly at first, and not, now he was come
even to their doors, show their jealousy, and deny him admission. And
writing an epistle to the Achæans about the same subject, the greatest
part of which was an accusation of Aratus; and Aratus, on the other
side, ripping up his faults to the assembly, he hastily dislodged,
and sent a trumpeter to denounce war against the Achæans, but not
to Argos, but to Ægium, as Aratus delivers, that he might not give
them notice enough to make provision for their defence. Upon this,
the Achæans were mightily disturbed; the common people expecting a
division of the land, and a release from their debts: and the chief
men being on many accounts displeased with Aratus, and some angry,
and at odds with him, as the occasion of the Macedonians' descent
on Peloponnesus. Encouraged by these misunderstandings, Cleomenes
invades Achæa; and first took Pellene by surprise, and beat out the
Achæan garrison; and afterwards brought over Pheneon and Pentelæon
to his side. Now the Achæans suspecting some treacherous designs at
Corinth and Sicyon, sent their horse and mercenaries out of Argos to
have an eye upon those cities; and they themselves went to Argos to
celebrate the Nemean games. Cleomenes advertised of this march, and
hoping (as it afterwards fell out) that upon an unexpected advance
to the city, now busied in the solemnity of the games, and thronged
with numerous spectators, he should raise a considerable terror and
confusion amongst them; by night, he marched with his army to the
walls, and taking the quarter of the town called Aspis, which lies
above the theatre, a place well fortified, and hard to be approached,
he so terrified them, that none offered to resist, but agreed to accept
a garrison, to give twenty citizens for hostages, and to assist the
Lacedæmonians, and that he should have the chief command. This action
considerably increased his reputation, and his power; for the antient
Spartan kings, though they many ways endeavoured to effect it, could
never bring Argos to be stedfastly and sincerely theirs. And Pyrrhus,
a most experienced captain, and brave soldier, though he entered the
city by force, could not keep possession, but was slain himself with
a considerable part of his army. Therefore they admired the dispatch
and contrivance of Cleomenes; and those that before derided him for
saying that he imitated Solon and Lycurgus in releasing the people
from their debts, and in equally dividing the wealth of the citizens,
were now persuaded, that he was the cause of the desirable alterations
in the Spartan commonwealth. For, before, they were very low in the
world, and so unable to secure their own, that the Ætolians invading
Laconia, brought away fifty thousand slaves; so that one of the elder
Spartans is reported to have said, that "they had done Laconia a
kindness by unburdening it;" and yet, a little while after, applying
themselves to their own customs, and antient institutions, they gave
notable instances of courage and obedience, as if they had been under
the eye of Lycurgus himself, and quickly raised Sparta to be head of
all Greece, and recovered Peloponnesus to themselves. Whilst Argos
was taken, and Cleonæ and Philius sided with Cleomenes, Aratus was at
Corinth searching after some, who were reported to favour the Spartan
interest. The news being brought to him, disturbed him very much;
for he perceived the city inclining to Cleomenes, and the Achæans
willing to be at ease; therefore he called all the citizens into the
common hall, and, as it were undesignedly retreating to the gate, he
mounted his horse that stood ready there, and fled to Sicyon; and the
Corinthians made such haste to Cleomenes at Argos, that, (as Aratus
says) striving who should be first there, they spoiled all their
horses: and Cleomenes was very angry with the Corinthians for letting
Aratus escape. And Megistones came from Cleomenes to him, desiring
him to deliver up the castle of Corinth, which was then garrisoned
by the Achæans, and offered him a considerable sum of money; and
that he answered, that "matters were not now in his power, but he
in theirs. " Thus Aratus himself writes. But Cleomenes marching from
Argos, and taking in the Træzenians, Epidaurians, and Hermioneans, came
to Corinth, and blocked up the castle, which the Achæans would not
surrender; and sending for Aratus's friends and stewards, committed
his house and estate to their care and management and sent Tritimallus
the Messenian to him a second time, desiring that the castle might
be equally garrisoned by the Spartans and Achæans, and promising to
Aratus himself double the pension that he received from king Ptolemy;
but Aratus refusing the conditions, and sending his own son with other
hostages to Antigonus, and persuading the Achæans to make a decree
for delivering the castle into Antigonus's hands, Cleomenes invaded
the territory of the Sicyonians, and, by a decree of the Corinthians,
seized on all Aratus's estate. In the mean time, Antigonus, with a
great army, passed Gerania; and Cleomenes thinking it more advisable
to fortify and garrison, not the Isthmus, but the mountains called
Onia, and by a long siege and skirmishes to weary the Macedonians,
than to venture a set battle, put his design in execution, which very
much distressed Antigonus; for he had not brought victuals sufficient
for his army, nor was it easy to force a way through, whilst Cleomenes
guarded the pass. He attempted by night to pass through Lechæum, but
failed, and lost some men; so that Cleomenes and his army were mightily
encouraged, and so flushed with the victory, that they went merrily to
supper; and Antigonus was very much dejected, being reduced to those
miserable straits. At last he designed to march to the promontory
Heræum, and thence transport his army in boats to Sicyon, which would
take up a great deal of time, and be very chargeable. The same time,
about evening, some of Aratus's friends came from Argos by sea, and
invited him to return; for the Argives would revolt from Cleomenes.
Aristotle was the man that wrought the revolt, and he had no hard task
to persuade the common people; for they were all angry with Cleomenes
for not releasing them from their debts, as they expected. Upon this
advertisement, Aratus, with fifteen hundred of Antigonus's soldiers,
sailed to Epidaurus; but Aristotle, not staying for his coming, drew
out the citizens, and fought against the garrison of the castle; and
Timoxenus, with the Achæans from Sicyon, came to his assistance.
Cleomenes heard the news about the second watch of the night, and,
sending for Megistones, angrily commanded him to go and set things
right at Argos. This Megistones was the man who passed his word for
the Argives' loyalty, and persuaded him not to banish the suspected.
This Megistones he dispatched with two thousand soldiers, and observed
Antigonus himself, and encouraged the Corinthians; pretending,
that there was no great matter in the stirs at Argos, but only a
little disturbance raised by a few inconsiderable persons. But when
Megistones, entering Argos, was slain, and the garrison could scarce
hold out, and frequent messengers came to Cleomenes for succours,
he,--fearing lest the enemy, having taken Argos, should shut up the
passes, and securely waste Laconia, and besiege Sparta itself, which
he had left without forces,--he dislodged from Corinth, and presently
lost that city, for Antigonus entered it, and garrisoned the town. He
turned aside from his direct march, and, assaulting the wall of Argos,
endeavoured to break in; and having cleared a way under the quarter
called Aspis, he joined the garrison, which still held out against the
Achæans; some parts of the city he scaled and took, and his Cretan
archers cleared the streets. But, when he saw Antigonus, with his
phalanx, descending from the mountains into the plain, and the horse on
all sides entering the city, he thought it impossible to maintain his
post; and therefore, with all his men, made a safe retreat behind the
wall; having in a short time raised himself to a considerable height,
and, in one march, made himself master of almost all Peloponnesus, and
lost all again in as short a time: for some of his allies presently
forsook him, and others not long after put themselves under Antigonus's
protection. His army thus defeated, as he was leading back the relicks
of his forces, some from Lacedæmon met him in the evening at Tegea, and
brought him news of as great a misfortune as that which he had lately
suffered; and that was the death of his wife, whom he doated on so
much, that when he was most prosperous, he would ever now and then make
a step to Sparta to visit his beloved Ægiatis.

This news afflicted him extremely; and he grieved as a young man would
do for the loss of a very beautiful and excellent wife; yet his passion
did not debase the greatness of his mind, but, keeping his usual
voice, his countenance, and his habit, he gave necessary orders to his
captains, and took care to secure the Tegeans. The next day he retired
to Sparta; and having at home, with his mother and children, bewailed
the loss, and finished his mourning, he presently appeared about the
public affairs of the state. Now Ptolemy, the king of Egypt, promised
him assistance, but demanded his mother and children for hostages.
This, for some considerable time, he was ashamed to discover to his
mother; and though he often went to her on purpose, and was just upon
the discourse, yet still refrained, and kept it to himself; so that she
began to suspect somewhat, and asked his friends, Whether Cleomenes
had somewhat to say to her, which he was afraid to speak? At last
Cleomenes venturing to tell her, she laughed heartily, and said, "Was
this the thing that you had often a mind to tell me, and was afraid?
Why do you not put me on shipboard, and send this carcase where it
may be most serviceable to Sparta, before age wastes it unprofitably
here? " Therefore, all things being provided for the voyage, they went
to Tænarus on foot, and the army waited on them. Cratesiclea, when
she was ready to go on board, took Cleomenes aside into Neptune's
temple, and embracing him, who was very much dejected, and extremely
discomposed, she said thus: "Go to, king of Sparta; when we are without
door, let none see us weep, or show any passion below the honour and
dignity of Sparta, for that alone is in our own power; as for success
or disappointments, those wait on us as the Deity decrees. " Having
said thus, and composed her countenance, she went to the ship with her
little grandson, and bade the pilot put presently out to sea. When
she came to Egypt, and understood that Ptolemy entertained proposals
and overtures of peace from Antigonus, and that Cleomenes, though the
Achæans invited and urged him to an agreement, was afraid, for her
sake, to come to any, without Ptolemy's consent; she wrote to him,
advising him to do that which was most becoming and most profitable
for Sparta, and not, for the sake of an old woman and a little child,
always stand in fear of Ptolemy. This character she maintained in her
misfortunes. Antigonus having taken Tegea, and plundered Orchomenum and
Mantinæa, Cleomenes was shut up within the narrow bounds of Laconia,
and made such of the Helots, as could pay five Attick pounds, free of
Sparta, and by that means got together 500 talents; and arming 2000
after the Macedonian fashion, that he might make a body fit to oppose
Antigonus's Leucaspidæ, (white shields,) he undertook a very surprising
enterprize. Megalopolis was at that time a city of itself, as big and
as powerful as Sparta, and had the forces of the Achæans and Antigonus
encamping on its sides; and it was chiefly the Megalopolitans' doing,
that Antigonus was called in to assist the Achæans. Cleomenes having
a design upon this city, (no action was ever more sudden and more
unexpected) ordered his men to take five days provision, and so marched
to Sellasia, as if he intended to spoil the country of the Argives; but
from thence making a descent into the territories of Megalopolis, and
refreshing his army about Rhætium, he marched through Helicon, directly
to the city. When he was not far off the town, he sent Pantheus with
two regiments to surprise the Mesopyrgion, (the quarter between the
two towers,) which he understood to be the most unguarded quarter of
the Megalopolitans' fortifications; and with the rest of his forces
he followed leisurely. Pantheus not only surprised that place, but,
finding a great part of the wall without guards, he pulled down some
places, and demolished others, and killed all the defenders that he
found. Whilst he was thus busied, Cleomenes came up to him, and was got
with his army within the city, before the Megalopolitans knew of the
surprise. At last, as soon as it was discovered, some left the town
immediately, taking with them what money they had ready; some armed,
and engaged the enemy; and though they were not able to beat them out,
yet they gave their citizens time and opportunity safely to retire:
so that there were not above 1000 persons left in the town, all the
rest flying with their wives and children, and escaping to Messena.
A great number of those that armed and fought the enemy were saved,
and very few taken, amongst whom were Lysandridas and Thearidas, two
men of great power and reputation amongst the Megalopolitans; and
therefore the soldiers, as soon as they were taken, brought them to
Cleomenes. And Lysandridas, as soon as he saw Cleomenes afar off,
cried out,--"Now, king of Sparta, it is in your power, by doing a
most kingly and braver action than you have already performed, to
purchase a considerable glory. " And Cleomenes guessing at his meaning,
replied,--"What do you say, Lysandridas? sure you will not advise me to
restore your city to you again? " "It is that which I mean," Lysandridas
replied; "and I advise you not to ruin so brave a city, but to fill
it with faithful and stedfast friends and allies, by restoring their
country to the Megalopolitans, and being the saviour of so considerable
a people. " Cleomenes paused a while, and then said,--"It is very hard
to trust so far in these matters; but with us let profit always yield
to glory. " Having said this, he sent the two men to Messena with a
trumpeter from himself, offering the Megalopolitans their city again,
if they would forsake the Achæan interest, and be on his side. Though
Cleomenes made these kind and obliging proposals, yet Philopæmen would
not suffer them to break their league with the Achæans; and accusing
Cleomenes to the people, as if his design was not to restore the city,
but to take the citizens too, he forced Thearidas and Lysandridas to
leave Messena.

This was that Philopæmen, who was afterward chief of the Achæans, and
a man of the greatest reputation amongst the Greeks, as I have made it
appear in his own Life. This news coming to Cleomenes though he had
before taken such strict care that the city should not be plundered,
yet then being in a fury, and put out of all patience, he rifled
them of all their coin, plate, and jewels, and sent their statues
and pictures to Sparta; and demolishing a great part of the city, he
marched away for fear of Antigonus and the Achæans; but they never
stirred, for they were in Ægium at a council of war. Aratus mounted
the desk, wept a long while, and held his mantle before his face; and
at last, the company being amazed, and commanding him to speak, he
said,--"Megalopolis is ruined by Cleomenes. " The assembly was presently
dissolved; the Achæans being extremely surprised at the suddenness
and greatness of the loss; and Antigonus intending to send speedy
succours, when he found his army to gather very slowly out of their
winter-quarters, he sent them orders to continue there still; and he
himself marched to Argos with a considerable body of men. The second
enterprize of Cleomenes seemed to be carried on by extreme boldness,
and unaccountable madness; but yet, in Polybius's opinion, was done
upon mature deliberation, and exact foresight; for, knowing very well,
that the Macedonians were dispersed into their winter quarters, and
that Antigonus, with his friends and a few mercenaries about him,
wintered in Argos; upon these considerations, he invaded the country of
the Argives, hoping to shame Antigonus to a battle upon unequal terms;
or else, if he did not dare to fight, to bring him into disrepute with
the Achæans. And this accordingly happened; for Cleomenes wasting,
plundering, and spoiling the whole country, the Argives, vexed at the
loss, run in troops to the palace of the king, and clamoured, that he
should either fight, or surrender his command to better and braver
men. But Antigonus, as became an experienced captain, accounting it
dishonourable foolishly to hazard his army, and quit his security,
not to be abused and railed at by the rabble, would not march out
against Cleomenes, but stood fixed to the designs which he had laid.
Cleomenes, in the mean time, brought his army up to the very walls,
and having uncontrouledly spoiled the country, and insulted over his
enemies, drew off again. A little while after, being advertised that
Antigonus designed for Tegea, and thence to make an incursion into
Laconia, he hastily marched with his army another way, and appeared
early in the morning before Argos, and wasted the fields about it:
the corn he did not cut down with reaping-hooks and scythes, as men
usually do, but beat it down with staves made like scymeters; and with
a great deal of contempt and wanton scorn he spoiled the fields, and
wasted the country in his march; yet when his soldiers would have set
Cyllabris, the school of exercise, on fire, he hindered the attempt,
reflecting, upon serious consideration, that the outrages committed at
Megalopolis were the effects of his passion rather than his wisdom.
He pretended to make such little account of, and so much to despise
Antigonus, who first retired to Argos, and afterward placed garrisons
on all the mountains round about, that he sent a trumpeter to desire
the keys of Heræum, (Juno's temple,) that he might sacrifice to the
goddess. Thus with a scoff, and bitter reflection on Antigonus, and
having sacrificed to the goddess, under the walls of the temple, that
was shut, he marched to Phlius; and from thence driving out those
that garrisoned Hologountum, he marched down to Orchomenum. And these
enterprizes not only encouraged the citizens, but made him appear to
the very enemies to be an experienced captain, and very worthy of
command; for, with the strength of one city, not only to fight the
power of the Macedonians, and all the Peloponnesians; not only to
preserve Laconia from being spoiled, but to waste the enemy's country,
and to take so many and such considerable cities, is an argument of
no common bravery. He that first said, "That money was the sinews of
affairs," seemed chiefly in that saying to respect war: and Demades,
when the Athenians voted that a navy should be made ready, but had no
money, said, "They should make bread before they thought of sailing:"
and the old Archidamus, in the beginning of the Peloponnesian war,
when the allies desired, that each party's share of contributions for
the war should be determined, is reported to have said, "War cannot be
kept to a set diet. " For, as well-breathed wrestlers do in time weary
and tire out the most active and skilful combatant; so Antigonus,
coming to the war with a great stock of wealth, wearied out Cleomenes,
whose poverty made it difficult for him either to provide pay for the
mercenaries, or provisions for the citizens. For in all other respects
the time favoured Cleomenes; for Antigonus's affairs at home began
to be disturbed: for the Barbarians wasted and over-ran Macedonia
whilst he was absent; and at that time a vast army of the Illyrians
came down, to be freed from whose outrages, the Macedonians sent for
Antigonus, and the letters had almost been brought to him before the
battle was fought, upon the receipt of which he presently dislodged,
and left the Achæans' affairs to themselves. But fortune that loves to
determine the greatest affairs by a minute, in this conjuncture showed
such an exact niceness of time, that immediately after the battle in
Sellasia was over, and Cleomenes had lost his army and his city, the
messengers reached Antigonus. And this made Cleomenes's misfortune
more to be pitied; for, if he had forborne fighting two days longer,
there had been no need of hazarding a battle, since, upon the departure
of the Macedonians he might have had what conditions he pleased from
the Achæans. But now (as I hinted before) for want of money, being
necessitated to rely wholly on his arms, he was forced, with 20,000
(this is Polybius's account) to engage 30,000; and approving himself
an excellent commander in this difficulty, his citizens showing an
extraordinary courage, and his mercenaries bravery enough, he was
overborne by the different way of fighting, and the weight of the armed
phalanx. Besides, Phylarchus affirms, that the treachery of some about
him was the chief cause of Cleomenes's ruin. For Antigonus gave orders,
that the Illyrians and Acharnanians should march round by a secret way,
and encompass the other wing, which Eucleidas, Cleomenes's brother,
commanded; and then drew out the rest of his forces to the battle. And
Cleomenes, from a convenient rising, viewing his order, and not seeing
any of the Illyrians and Acharnanians, began to suspect that Antigonus
had sent them upon some such design; and calling for Damoteles, who was
to inspect and to provide against ambushes, commanded him carefully to
look after, and discover the enemy's designs upon his rear.

But Damoteles (for some say Antigonus had bribed him) telling him, that
he should not be solicitous about that matter, for all was well enough,
but mind and fight those that met him in the front; he was satisfied,
and advanced against Antigonus; and, by the vigorous charge of his
Spartans, made the Macedonian phalanx give ground, and pressed upon
them with great advantage about half a mile; but then making a stand,
and seeing the danger which the surrounded wing, commanded by his
brother Eucleidas, was in, he cried out, "Thou art lost, dear brother!
thou art lost, thou brave example to our Spartan youth, and theme of
our matrons' songs! "

Eucleidas's wing being thus cut in pieces, and the conquerors from
that part falling upon his battle, he perceived his soldiers to be
disordered, and unable to maintain the fight, and therefore provided
for his own safety. When he came into the city, he advised those
citizens that he met, to receive Antigonus; and as for himself, he
said, which should appear most advantageous to Sparta, whether his life
or death, that he would chuse. Seeing the women running out to those
that fled with him, taking their arms, and bringing drink to them, he
entered into his own house, and his servant, who was a free-born woman,
taken from Megalopolis after his wife's death, offering, as she used
to do, to make necessary provision for him returning from the battle;
though he was very thirsty, he refused to drink, and though very weary,
to sit down; but, armed as he was, he clapped his arm side-way to a
pillar, and leaning his forehead upon his elbow, he rested his body a
little while, and ran over in his thoughts what course he should take;
and then with his friends went presently to Gythium, where, finding
ships fitted for the purpose, they embarked. Antigonus, taking the
city, treated the Lacedæmonians courteously; and, neither affronting,
nor ruining the dignity of Sparta, but permitting them to enjoy their
own laws and polity, and sacrificing to the gods, dislodged the third
day; for he heard that there was a great war kindled in Macedonia, and
that the country was spoiled by the Barbarians; besides, he grew sick
of a consumption, and continual defluxion on the lungs; yet he still
kept up, that he might return and free his own country, and fall more
gloriously upon an heap of slaughtered barbarians. As Phylarchus says,
and it is probable, he broke a vein by shouting in the battle. In the
plays, it was said, that after the victory he cried out for joy, "O
fine day! " and presently bringing up abundance of blood, fell into a
fever, and died in a short time. And thus much concerning Antigonus.

Cleomenes sailing from Cytheræ, touched at another island called
Ægialia, whence, as he was about to depart from Cyrene, one of
his friends, Therycion by name, a man of an haughty spirit in all
enterprizes, and high and boasting in his talk, came privately to him,
and said thus: "Sir, death in battle, which is the most glorious, we
have let go, though all heard us say, that Antigonus should never tread
over the king of Sparta, unless dead; and now, that which is next in
bravery and glory, is presented to us. Whither do we madly sail, flying
that which is near, and seeking that which is far removed? For, if it
is not dishonourable for the race of Hercules to serve the successors
of Philip and Alexander, we shall save a long voyage, by delivering
ourselves up to Antigonus, who probably surpasseth Ptolemy, as much as
the Macedonians do the Egyptians: but if we think it mean to submit to
those whose arms have conquered us, why should we choose him for our
lord, by whom we have not yet been beaten? Is it, that instead of one,
we might appear meaner than two, whilst we fly Antigonus, and flatter
Ptolemy? Or, is it for your mother's sake that you retreat to Egypt?
It will indeed be a very fine, and very desirable sight for her to be
shown her son by Ptolemy's women, now changed from a prince into an
exile and a slave! Are we not still masters of our own swords? And
whilst we have Laconia in view, shall we not here free ourselves from
this disgraceful misery, and clear ourselves to those, who at Sellasia
died for the honour and defence of Sparta? Or shall we sit lazily in
Egypt, enquiring, what news from Sparta? and whom Antigonus hath been
pleased to make governor of Lacedæmon:"--Thus spoke Therycion; and this
was Cleomenes's reply:--"By seeking death, you coward, the most easy,
and most ready refuge, you fancy that you shall appear courageous and
brave, though this flight is baser than thy former. Better men than we
have given way to their enemies, having been betrayed by fortune, or
oppressed by multitudes; but he that sinks under labour or afflictions,
the opinions or reproaches of men, is overcome by his own effeminacy
and softness: for a voluntary death ought not to be chosen as a relief
from action, but as an exemplary action itself; and it is base either
to live or die only to ourselves. That death, to which you now invite
us, is proposed only as a release from our present miseries, but
carries nothing of bravery or profit in it. And I think it becomes
both me and you not to despair of our country; but when there are
no hopes of that left, those that have an inclination may quickly
die. "--To this Therycion returned no answer; but, as soon as he could
get out of Cleomenes's company, went toward the shore, and ran himself
through. But Cleomenes sailed from Ægialia, landed in Lybia, and, being
honourably conducted through the king's country, came to Alexandria.
When he was first brought to Ptolemy, no more than common civilities,
and usual ceremonies, were paid him; but when, upon trial, he found
him a man of deep sense and great reason, and that his plain laconic
way of conversation carried a free pleasantness with it; that he did
nothing unbecoming the greatness of his birth, nor bent under fortune,
and appeared a more faithful counsellor, than those who made it their
business to please and flatter; he was ashamed, and repented that he
had neglected so great a man, and suffered Antigonus to get so much
power and reputation by ruining him. Therefore he heaped up honours and
kindnesses on Cleomenes, and gave him hopes that he would furnish him
with an army and a navy to recover Greece, and reinstate him in his
throne. Besides, he allowed him a yearly pension of four-and-twenty
talents; a little part of which sum supplied his and his friends'
thrifty temperance; and the rest was employed in doing good offices to,
and in relieving the necessities of those that fled Greece, and retired
into Egypt.

But the elder Ptolemy, dying before Cleomenes's affairs had received
a full dispatch, and the successor being a loose, voluptuous, and
effeminate prince, under the power of his pleasures and his women, his
business was neglected: for the king was so besotted with his women and
his wine, that balls, music, and dancing, were the only employments
of his most busy and serious hours; and the greatest affairs of state
were managed by Agathoclea, the king's mistress, her mother, and the
pimp Oinanthes. Therefore, at the first, they seemed to stand in need
of Cleomenes; for Ptolemy, being afraid of his brother Magas, who,
by his mother's means, had a great interest among the soldiers, took
Cleomenes into his cabinet council, and acquainted him with the design
of taking off his brother. He, though all were for it, declared his
opinion to the contrary, saying, "The king, if it were possible, should
have more brothers, for the better security and management of his
affairs. " And Sosibius, the greatest favourite, replying, "That they
were not secure of the mercenaries whilst Magas was alive;" Cleomenes
returned, "That he need not trouble himself about that matter; for
amongst the mercenaries there were above three thousand Peloponnesians,
who were his fast friends, and whom he could command at any time
with his nod. " This discourse made Cleomenes for the present to be
looked upon as a man of integrity and power; but afterwards (Ptolemy's
weakness increasing his fear, as it usually happens, where there is
no judgment and wisdom at the bottom, placing his security in jealousy
and suspicion) rendered Cleomenes suspected to the courtiers, as having
too much interest with the mercenaries; and many had this saying in
their mouths, "That he was a lion amidst a flock of sheep;" for such
he seemed to be in the court, slily overlooking and taking notice of
the management of affairs; therefore, when he desired a navy and an
army from the king, his petition was rejected. But when he understood
that Antigonus was dead, that the Achæans were engaged in a war with
the Ætolians, and that the affairs of Peloponnessus, being now in very
great distraction and distress, required and invited his assistance,
he desired leave to depart only with his friends; but could not obtain
that, the king not so much as hearing his petition, being shut up
amongst his women, and wasting his hours in debauchery and frolics. But
Sosibius, the chief minister of state, thought that Cleomenes, being
detained against his will, would grow ungovernable and dangerous, and
yet it was not safe to let him go, being an aspiring, daring man, and
well acquainted with the diseases and weakness of the kingdom; for no
presents, no gifts, could win him to compliance. But as the ox Apis,
though revelling in all possible plenty and delight, yet desires to
live as nature would provide for him, to be at liberty and frisk about
the fields, and can scarce endure to be under the priests' keeping; so
he could not brook their courtship, and tender entertainment, but, like
Achilles,

Whilst there, his heart did waste with secret grief, And he was eager
for the noisy wars.

His affairs standing in this condition, Nicagoras, the Messenian,
came to Alexandria: a man that deeply hated Cleomenes, yet pretended
to be his friend; for he had formerly sold Cleomenes a fair estate,
but never received the money, because Cleomenes was either unable,
(as it may be) or else, by reason of his engagement in the wars and
other distractions, had no time to pay him. Cleomenes, seeing him
landing, (for he was then walking upon the key) kindly saluted him,
and asked, "What business brought him to Egypt? " Nicagoras returned
his compliment, and told him, "That he came to bring some excellent
war-horses to the king. " And Cleomenes, with a smile, subjoined, "I
wish you had rather brought pimps, whores, and pathics; for those now
are the king's chief delight. " Nicagoras at the present smiled at
the conceit; but, a few days after, he put Cleomenes in mind of the
estate that he had bought of him, and desired his money, protesting,
that he would not have troubled him, if his merchandize had turned
to that account, which he thought it would. Cleomenes replied, "That
he had not a penny left of all that had been given him;" at which
answer Nicagoras being nettled, told Sosibius Cleomenes' scoff upon
the king. He caressed him for the discovery; but desiring to have
some greater reason to excite the king against Cleomenes, persuaded
Nicagoras to leave a letter written against Cleomenes, importing,
that he had a design, if he could have gotten ships and soldiers,
to surprise Cyrene. Nicagoras wrote such a letter, and left Egypt.
Four days after, Sosibius brought the letter to Ptolemy, pretending
it was just then delivered him, and with a bitter invective excited
the fury of the youth. Upon this it was agreed, that Cleomenes should
be invited into a large apartment, and treated as formerly, but not
suffered to go out again. This usage was grievous to Cleomenes; and by
this unlucky accident, his hopes, for the future, seemed to be quite
dashed. Ptolemy, the son of Chrysermas, a favourite of the king's,
always carried himself fairly towards Cleomenes: they contracted a near
acquaintance, and would talk freely together about the state. He, at
Cleomenes's desire, came to him, had some discourse with him upon a few
and inconsiderable subjects, to avoid suspicion, and made some excuses
for the king; but as he went out again, not knowing that Cleomenes
followed him to the door, he very severely reprimanded the keepers,
for their carelessness in looking after so great and so furious a
wild beast. This Cleomenes himself heard; and retiring before Ptolemy
perceived it, told his friends what he had heard. Upon this they cast
off all their former hopes, and determined for violent proceedings,
resolving to be revenged on Ptolemy for his base and unjust dealing, to
have satisfaction for the affronts, to die as it became Spartans, and
not stay till, like fatted sacrifices, they were butchered; for it was
both grievous and dishonourable for Cleomenes, who had scorned to come
to terms with Antigonus, a brave warrior, and a man of action, to wait
an effeminate king's leisure, till he should lay aside his fiddle, and
end his dance, and then kill him. These courses being resolved on, and
Ptolemy happening at the same time to make a progress to Canopus, they
first spread abroad a report, that his freedom was ordered by the king;
and it being the king's custom to send presents and an entertainment
to those whom he would free, Cleomenes's friends made that provision,
and sent it into the prison, thereby deceiving the keepers, who thought
it had been sent by the king; for he sacrificed, and gave them large
portions, and with a crown upon his head feasted and made merry with
his friends. It is said, that he began the action sooner than he
designed, having understood that a servant of one of the accomplices
lay abroad with a mistress that he loved. This made him afraid of a
discovery; and therefore, as soon as it was full noon, and all the
keepers drunk and fast asleep, he put on his coat, and opening the seam
on his right shoulder, with his sword drawn in his hand, he issued
forth, together with his friends, provided in the same manner, making
thirteen in all. One of them, by name Hippotas, was lame; he followed
the first onset very well; but when afterwards he perceived that they
were more slow in their advances for his sake, he desired them to run
him through, and not ruin their enterprise, by staying for an useless,
unprofitable man.