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When he sent his officers to receive the Spartan king who had achieved the greatest fame of any man then living, they absolutely burst out laughing at the sight of the little, lame man, now more than eighty years old, and as simply clad as ever; and he was much vexed and angered that he was not made commander of the army, but only of the foreign allies; and when Tachos went against his advice, and chose to march into Phœnicia, he went over to the cause of another Egyptian prince, a cousin to Tachos, named Nectanebes, whom he helped to gain the crown of Egypt, thus breaking his promises in a way which we are sorry should have been the last action of his long life.
At the age of 80 the indomitable old man proceeded with a force of 1000 hoplites to assist Tachos, king of Egypt, in his revolt against Persia. He died at Cyrene on his return to Greece. His body was embalmed in wax and splendidly buried in Sparta. The affairs of the Sicilian Greeks, an important branch of the Hellenic race, deserve a passing notice.
When Tachos, native king of Egypt, in B.C. 361, having secured the services of Agesilaus and Chabrias, advanced boldly into Syria, with the object of enlarging his own dominions at the expense of Persia, he was received with favour by the Phoenicians, who were quite willing to form a portion of his empire.
The only other great Bœotian was the poet Pindar, who was living at this time. The fifteen years of Theban power had weakened Sparta; but Agesilaus persuaded the Ephors to send him to assist Tachos, who had revolted from the Persians and made himself king of Egypt, and who promised to pay the Spartans well for their aid.
However, the Lacedæmonians regard that course as the most honourable which is the most advantageous to their country, and know nothing of right or wrong, but only how to make Sparta great. XXXVIII. Tachos, deserted by the mercenaries, now fled for his life; but another claimant of the throne arose in the district of Mendes, and made war against Nektanebis with an army of one hundred thousand men.
And all this to recover the one poor town of Messene, after he had lost so great an empire both by sea and land, as the Spartans were possessed of, when he began to reign. But it added still more to his ill-repute when he put himself into the service of Tachos, the Egyptian.
He raised a body of mercenary troops with the money furnished by Tachos, and set sail, accompanied, as in his former expedition, by thirty Spartan counsellors. When he landed in Egypt, the chief generals and ministers of King Tachos at once came to pay their court to him. The other Egyptians also eagerly crowded to see Agesilaus, of whom they had heard so much.
This being said, he dispatched messengers to Sparta, who were sufficiently supplied with matter both for dispraise of Tachos, and commendation of Nectanabis. The two Egyptians also sent their ambassadors to Lacedaemon, the one to claim continuance of the league already made, the other to make great offers for the breaking of it, and making a new one.
Tachos, hearing of this, also began to supplicate them to stand by him, and Chabrias besought Agesilaus to remain in the service of Tachos, and to act as his friend. To this, however, Agesilaus answered, "You, Chabrias, have come here on your own responsibility, and are able to act as you please. I was given by Sparta to the Egyptians as their general.
Nektanebis, the cousin of Tachos, and the commander of a large portion of his force, revolted, and caused himself to be proclaimed King of Egypt. He at once sent to Agesilaus begging for his assistance, and he also made the same proposals to Chabrias, offering them great rewards if they would join him.
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