the ancient discipline...

from the Life of Agis...

" Agis, on the contrary, far surpassed in native excellence and in loftiness of spirit not only Leonidas, but almost all the kings who had followed the great Agesilaüs. Therefore, even before he had reached his twentieth year, and although he had been reared amid the wealth and luxury of women, namely, his mother Agesistrata and his grandmother Archidamia (who were the richest people in Sparta), he at once set his face against pleasures. He put away from his person the adornments which were thought to p13befit the grace of his figure, laid aside and avoided every extravagance, prided himself on his short Spartan cloak, observed sedulously the Spartan customs in his meals and baths and general ways of living, and declared that he did not want the royal power at all unless by means of it he could restore the ancient laws and discipline."

virtue and honor...

from the Life of Demetrius (on his death)...

" But Demetrius, who in the beginning bore up under the misfortune that had come upon him, and presently grew accustomed to it and endured his situation with a better grace, at first, in one way or another, exercised his body, resorting to hunting, so far as he could, or riding; then, little by little, he came to have the greatest indifference and aversion to these sports, took eagerly to drinking and dice, and spent most of his time at these. 2 This was either because he thought escape from the thoughts on his present condition which tormented him when he was sober, and tried to smother his reflections in drunkenness; or because he had convinced himself that this was the real life, which he had long desired and striven to attain, but had foolishly missed it through folly and empty ambition, thereby bringing many troubles upon himself, and many upon others; 915he had sought in arms and fleets and armies to find the highest good, but now, to his surprise, had discovered p133it in idleness and leisure and repose. 3 For what other end than this can worthless kings seek to attain by their wars and perils? Wicked and foolish indeed are they, not only because they seek after luxury and pleasure instead of virtue and honour, but also because they do not even know how to enjoy real pleasure or true luxury.

So, then, Demetrius, after an imprisonment of three years53 in the Syrian Chersonese, through inactivity and surfeit of food and wine, fell sick and died, in the fifty-fifth year of his life. 4 Seleucus was in ill repute for this, and repented him bitterly for having cherished such suspicions against Demetrius, and for allowing himself to be outdone even by Dromichaetes, a barbarous Thracian, who had given Lysimachus,54 his captive, a treatment so humane and royal.

53 Moreover, there was something dramatic and theatrical even in the funeral ceremonies of Demetrius. For his son Antigonus, when he learned that his remains had been sent home, put to sea with his entire fleet and met them off the islands. They were given to him in a golden urn, and he placed them in the largest of his admiral's ships. 2 Of the cities where the fleet touched in its passage, some brought garlands to adorn the urn, others sent men in funeral attire to assist in escorting it home and burying it. When the fleet put in at Corinth, the cinerary vase was conspicuous on the vessel's poop, adorned with royal purple and a king's diadem, and young men stood about it in arms as a bodyguard. Moreover, the most celebrated flute-player then living, Xenophantus, sat near, and with the p135most solemn melody upon his flute accompanied the rowers; 3 to this melody the oars kept perfect time, and their splashing, like funereal beatings of the breast, answered to the cadences of the flute-tones. But the most pity and lamentation among those who had come in throngs to the sea-shore was awakened by the sight of Antigonus himself, who was bowed down and in tears. After garlands and other honours had been bestowed upon the remains at Corinth, they were brought by Antigonus to Demetrias for burial, a city named after his father, who had settled it from the small villages about Iolcus."

inordinate desires...

from the Life of Demetrius...

"So far all was courtesy on the part of Seleucus. But presently he asked Demetrius to cede Cilicia to him for a sum of money, and when Demetrius would not consent, angrily demanded Tyre and Sidon from him. It seemed a violent and outrageous proceeding that one who had possessed himself of the whole domain from India to the Syrian sea should be so needy still and so beggarly in spirit as for the sake of two cities to harass a man who was his relative by marriage and had suffered a reverse of fortune. 5 Moreover, he bore splendid testimony to the wisdom of Plato29 in urging the man who would be truly rich, not to make his possessions greater, but his inordinate desires fewer; since he who puts no end to his greed, this man is never rid of poverty and want."

such a king...

From the Life of Alexander...

"Now, however, he marched out against Dareius, expecting to fight another battle; but when he heard that Dareius had been seized by Bessus, he sent his Thessalians home, after distributing among them a largess of two thousand talents over and above their pay. In consequence of the pursuit of Dareius, which was long and arduous (for in eleven days he rode thirty-three hundred furlongs), most of his horsemen gave out, and chiefly for lack of water. At this point some Macedonians met him who were carrying water from the river in skins upon their mules. And when they beheld Alexander, it being now midday, in a wretched plight from thirst, they quickly filled a helmet and brought it to him. To his enquiry for whom they were carrying the water, they replied: "For our own sons; but if thou livest, we can get other sons, even if we lose these." On hearing this he took the helmet into his hands, but when he looked around and saw the horsemen about him all stretching out their heads and gazing at the water, he handed it back without drinking any, but with praises for the men who had brought it; "For," said he, "if I should drink of it alone, these horsemen of mine will be out of heart." But they beheld his self-control and loftiness of spirit, and began to goad their horses on, declaring that they would not regard themselves as weary, or thirsty, or as mortals at all, so long as they had such a king."

he was mortal...

From the Life of Alexander...

"In this letter he also wrote expressly concerning himself: "As for me, indeed, it will be found not only that I have not seen the wife of Dareius or desired to see her, but that I have not even allowed people to speak to me of her beauty." And he used to say that sleep and sexual intercourse, more than any thing else, made him conscious that he was mortal, implying that both weariness and pleasure arise from one and the same natural weakness.

7 He had also the most complete mastery over his appetite, and showed this both in many other ways, and especially by what he said to Ada, whom he honoured with the title of Mother and made queen of Caria. When, namely, in the kindness of her heart, she used to send him day by day many viands and sweetmeats, and finally offered him bakers and cooks reputed to be very skilful, he said he wanted none of them, for he had better cooks which had been given him by his tutor, Leonidas; for his breakfast, namely, a night march, and for his supper, a light breakfast. "And this same Leonidas," he said, "used to come and open my chests of bedding and clothing, to see that my mother did not hide there for me some luxury or superfluity."