Agesilaus   

Archidamus, the son of Zeuxidamus, having reigned gloriously over
the Lacedaemonians, left behind him two sons, Agis the elder, begotten
of Lampido, a noble lady, Agesilaus, much the younger, born of Eupolia,
the daughter of Melesippidas. Now the succession belonging to Agis
by law, Agesilaus, who in all probability was to be but a private
man, was educated according to the usual discipline of the country,
hard and severe, and meant to teach young men to obey their superiors.
Whence it was that, men say, Simonides called Sparta "the tamer of
men," because by early strictness of education they, more than any
nation, trained the citizens to obedience to the laws, and made them
tractable and patient of subjection, as horses that are broken in
while colts. The law did not impose this harsh rule on the heirs apparent
of the kingdom. But Agesilaus, whose good fortune it was to be born
a younger brother, was consequently bred to all the arts of obedience,
and so the better fitted for the government, when it fell to his share;
hence it was that he proved the most popular-tempered of the Spartan
kings, his early life having added to his natural kingly and commanding
qualities the gentle and humane feelings of a citizen.
While he was yet a boy, bred up in one of what are called the flocks,
or classes, he attracted the attachment of Lysander, who was particularly
struck with the orderly temper that he manifested. For though he was
one of the highest spirits, emulous above any of his companions, ambitious
of pre-eminence in everything, and showed an impetuosity and fervour
of mind which irresistibly carried him through all opposition or difficulty
he could meet with; yet, on the other side, he was so easy and gentle
in his nature, and so apt to yield to authority, that though he would
do nothing on compulsion, upon ingenuous motives he would obey any
commands, and was more hurt by the least rebuke or disgrace than he
was distressed by any toil or hardship.
He had one leg shorter than the other, but this deformity was little
observed in the general beauty of his person in youth. And the easy
way in which he bore (he being the first always to pass a jest upon
himself) went far to make it disregarded. And indeed his high spirit
and eagerness to distinguish himself were all the more conspicuous
by it, since he never let his lameness withhold him from any toil
or any brave action. Neither his statue nor picture are extant, he
never allowing them in his life, and utterly forbidding them to be
made after his death. He is said to have been a little man, of a contemptible
presence; but the goodness of his humour, and his constant cheerfulness
and playfulness of temper, always free from anything of moroseness
or haughtiness, made him more attractive, even to his old age, than
the most beautiful and youthful men of the nation. Theophrastus writes
that the Ephors laid a fine upon Archidamus for marrying a little
wife, "For," said they, "she will bring us a race of kinglets, instead
of kings."
Whilst Agis, the elder brother, reigned, Alcibiades, being then an
exile from Athens, came from Sicily to Sparta; nor had he stayed long
there before his familiarity with Timaea, the king's wife, grew suspected,
insomuch that Agis refused to own a child of hers, which, he said,
was Alcibiades's, not his. Nor, if we may believe Duris, the historian,
was Timaea much concerned at it, being herself forward enough to whisper
among her helot maid-servants that the infant's true name was Alcibiades,
not Leotychides. Meanwhile it was believed that the amour he had with
her was not the effect of his love but of his ambition, that he might
have Spartan kings of his posterity. This affair being grown public,
it became needful for Alcibiades to withdraw from Sparta. But the
child Leotychides had not the honours due to a legitimate son paid
him, nor was he ever owned by Agis, till by his prayers and tears
he prevailed with him to declare him his son before several witnesses
upon his deathbed. But this did not avail to fix him in the throne
of Agis, after whose death Lysander, who had lately achieved his conquest
of Athens by sea, and was of the greatest power in Sparta, promoted
Agesilaus, urging Leotychides's bastardy as a bar to his pretensions.