Book 3
8.10
Leotychides on this occasion said that these words pointed to Agesilaus, who was lame in one of his feet, while Agesilaus interpreted them as alluding to the illegitimacy of Leotychides. Although they might have done so, the Lacedaemonians did not refer the disputed point to Delphi; the reason was in my opinion that Lysander, the son of Aristocritus, an active supporter of Agesilaus, would have him king at all costs.
9.1
So Agesilaus, son of Archidamus, became king, and the Lacedaemonians resolved to cross with a fleet to Asia in order to put down Artaxerxes, son of Dareius.398 B.C. For they were informed by several of their magistrates, especially by Lysander, that it was not Artaxerxes but Cyrus who had been supplying the pay for the fleet during the war with Athens. Agesilaus, who was appointed to lead the expedition across to Asia and to be in command of the land forces, sent round to all parts of the Peloponnesus, except Argos, and to the Greeks north of the Isthmus, asking for allies.
9.2
Now the Corinthians were most eager to take part in the expedition to Asia, but considering it a bad omen that their temple of Zeus surnamed Olympian had been suddenly burnt down, they reluctantly remained behind. The Athenians excused themselves on the ground that their city was returning to its former state of prosperity after the Peloponnesian war and the epidemic of plague, and the news brought by messengers, that Conon, son of Timotheus, had gone up to the Persian king, strongly confirmed them in their policy of inactivity.
