[33]
The man, then, upon hearing this, reported it to Cleonymus. And he, filled with joy, went at once to Archidamus and said: “We know now that you have a care for us; and be well assured, Archidamus, that we in our turn shall strive to take care that you may never have cause to be ashamed on account of our friendship.” And he did not prove false to his words, for not only did he act in all ways as it is deemed honourable for a citizen of Sparta to act while he lived, but at Leuctra,1 fighting in defence of his king with Deinon the polemarch, he fell three times and was the first of the citizens to lose his life in the midst of the enemy. And while his death caused extreme grief to Archidamus, still, as he promised, he did not bring shame upon him, but rather honour. It was in this way, then, that Sphodrias was acquitted.
1 Seven years later;cp. VI. iv. 14.
Xenophon. Xenophon in Seven Volumes, 1 and 2. Carleton L. Brownson. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA; William Heinemann, Ltd., London. vol. 1:1918; vol. 2: 1921.
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