Towards the conclusion of the Peloponnesian war, con siderable changes took place in the spirit and administra tion of the Spartan government. Its kings, always more exalted in war than in peace, became interested in hold ing commands on distant stations, but found a constant check upon their schemes in the poverty of the state. Agis, while commanding at Derceleia, a port which the Lacedxmonians had occupied in Attica, availed himself of a concurrence of favourable circumstances, to accomplish he establishment of a public revenue in Sparta ; and, for the better support of this powerful arm of war, the Lace dxmonians, departing- still farther from the system of Ly curgus, were persuaded, first by Alcibiades, and finally by Lysander, to solicit pecuniary aid from Persia, and to allow the introduction of gold and silver coin into the re public. This stream of foreign wealth speedily sapped the rigid integrity which had hitherto distinguished the Spartan character, and smoothed the way for those alli ances with the Persian court, which were too often con structed on principles hostile to the general liberties of Greece.
After the conclusion of the Peloponnesian war, the power of Sparta reigned paramount in Greece ; and its leaders acted a distinguished part in the assistance ren dered to Cyrus in the expedition against his brother Ar taxerxes. By the exploits of the ten thousand on that occasion, they had both learned to despise the Persian armies, and had exposed themselves to the vengeance of the Persian monarch. The Asiatic Greeks, who were more immediately obnoxious to the apprehended retalia tion, and who had formerly paid allegiance to the Athe nian state, now solicited the more powerful protection of and a war with Persia, famed for wealth more than for warlike spirit, found a ready support among the needy stares of Peloponnesus. The allied forces were conducted by the Spartan general Dereyllidas, who, with out the splendour of any memorable victory, and there fore with less renown than his talents appear to have merited, accomplished the emancipation of the Ionian Greeks from the Persian dominion.
That modesty in command, united with dignity of man ners. tat contempt for wealth, and superiority in military and political knowledge, to which the institutions of Ly eurgus had formed his countrymen, had, in former times, raised so high the character of the Spartans, that the Grecian republics readily acknowledged them as their head ; yielded a willing obedience to their generals in united warfare ; regarded an individual of their nation at the public games with more curiosity and admiration than even the victors in the contests ; and manifested a respect for their character, as was never perhaps paid to that of any other people. But in the long course of the Peloponne
sian wars, and the extensive communication with strangers to which it led, and the necessity of raising a larger public revenue which it imposed, the Spartan man was become altered and corrupted, and their high fortune gave rise to a haughty tyranny in their conduct, which gradually alienat ed the most ancient and attached of their Peloponnesian allies. Their implacable punishment of Elis (to whom a kind of religious supremacy was admitted among the Gre cian states, but whose decrees against Sparta were aveng ed by the terror of the sword,) produced a strong sensa tion against them among the Grecian people. A very considerable alteration had taken place also in their own civil arrangements; though little information exists of the particular steps, and regular progress, by which these en croachments were produced. But, contrary to the system of Lycurgus, (which allowed no distinction of rank or pri vileges except what arose from age and merit,) the families in the capital, peculiarly named Spartans, had engrossed the whole power of the commonwealth ; and the rest of the people, under the general designation of Lacedxmonians or Lacenians, was excluded from the higher offices. Those Spartan families, who appropriated to themselves the supe rior dignities of the state, were distinguished by the name of Peers, though now greatly reduced in number, began to widen the distinction between themselves and other classes, and to exercise their authority with less reserve and discretion. This overbearing conduct produced a dan gerous plot, a short time after the accession of Agesilaus to the throne, for effecting a complete change of govern ment, by assassinating kings, ephori, and senate ; but its leader Cinadon and his accomplices being discovered and executed, the spirit of sedition was checked, and the ex clusive privileges of the peers preserved. The unanimity and stability of the state were at the same time more con firmed, than had been the case for a long period, by the talents and manners of king Agesilaus, who possessed much of the genuine Spartan character, and paid equal respect to the ephori, senate, and people ; but an event, which at first extended the power and fame of the Lacedxmoixan king and commonwealth, prepared the way for the final downfal of Spartan pre-eminence.