The Fall of the Athenian Empire-(A New History of the Peloponnesian War) Donald Kagan - (1987)

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THE FALL OF THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE
the point of naivete, for "he was not yet experienced in the ways of
foreigners." He was thought to be "the justest of the Spartans.""
As we have seen in the case of Lysander, no mothox, whatever his
personal qualities, could rise to the important office of navarch without
powerful friends in the highest Spartan circles. We have no direct
testimony about Callicratidas' sponsors and supporters, but the evidence
strongly suggests that he represented the views of the faction
surrounding the Agiad kings, the late Pleistoanax, who had died in
408, and his son Pausanias." The father, throughout his long reign,
had been a supporter of peace and friendship with Athens and was
one of the keenest advocates of the Peace of Nicias. 13 The son would
show himself to be a deadly enemy of Lysander and the leader of a
political faction in Sparta that has been characterized as a "moderate,
traditionalist group which objected to the erection of the Spartan Empire."
They wanted to limit Sparta's activities to the Peloponnesus,
"stressing diplomacy rather than force." At home, "they feared the
corrupting influence of the introduction of wealth and luxury which
imperialism would bring, and they wanted a return to the austere
principles of the Lycurgan constitution. " 14 Pausanias' conservatism is
underscored by a saying attributed to him in which he explained why
the Spartans did not allow any laws to be changed: "Because the laws
ought to be the masters over men, not men over the laws. " 15 The
natural and usual rivalry between Sparta's two royal houses made it
likely that Pausanias would not favor the protege of the Eurypontids.
In addition, however, men who held such views could not fail to fear
and oppose Lysander's policies and the man himself, whose sudden
success had made him more powerful than any previous navarch. Since
Callicratidas would soon show himself to be against the entire direction
of Lysander's policy, it is easy to believe that he had risen to office
with the support of the Agiads and the faction surrounding them. The
election of Callicratidas shows that the behavior of Lysander in Asia,
his close relationship with Cyrus, and his organization of political clubs
11
lbid. Plut. Lys. 5·5 offers a similar encomium, which he attributes to the friends
of Lysander, Callicratidas' opponents.
12
For the death of Pleistoanax and the succession of Pausanias, see Diod. IJ-75·
1J5-I].I; Kagan, Archidamian War, ns-n6.
11
C. D. Hamilton, Sparta's Bitter Victories (lthaca, N. Y., and London, 1979), 8:z-8J.
15
Plut. Mor. 230F. If the attribution is not authentic, the sentiment, at least, must
have been thought characteristic.