The point of departure, then, which I have taken for my whole discussion is, I believe,
 the one which is proper for those who urge an expedition against Asia. Cf. Isoc. 4.15 . For one
 must undertake nothing until he finds the Hellenes doing one of two things: either
 actually supporting the undertaking or according it their entire approval. It was this
 which Agesilaus, for all that he was looked upon as the most sagacious of the
 Lacedaemonians, disregarded, not because of incapacity but because of ambition. For he had two aims, which, though laudable, were not consistent, and could not he
 carried out at the same time, since he was resolved both to make war against the King and
 to restore his friends to their cities and put them in control of affairs. The same explanation of Agesilaus’s failure is given in Isoc. Letter 9.13 . Naturally the result of his efforts
 in behalf of his friends was that the Hellenes were involved in troubles and perils, and,
 owing to the confusion which arose at home, had neither the time nor the power to make war
 upon the barbarians. So from the mistakes of inadvertence at that time it is easy to draw the lesson that
 those who would take sane counsel must not begin a war against the King until someone has
 composed the quarrels of the Hellenes and has cured them of the madness which now afflicts
 them. And this is just what I have advised you to do. On these points no man of intelligence would venture to contradict me. But I think that
 if any of the others should be prompted to advise you in favor of the expedition against
 Asia, they would resort to a plea of this kind: that it has been the fortune of all who
 have undertaken a war against the King, without exception, to rise from obscurity to
 brilliant distinction, from poverty to wealth, and from low estate to be masters of many
 lands and cities. I, however, am not going to urge you on such grounds, but by the example of men who were
 looked upon as failures: I mean those who took the field with Cyrus and Clearchus. See Isoc. 4.145-149 , where
 the same episode is used to the same point in similar language. Every one agrees
 that these won as complete a victory in battle over all the forces of the King as if they
 had come to blows with their womenfolk, but that at the very moment when they seemed to be
 masters of the field they failed of success, owing to the impetuosity of Cyrus. For he in
 his exultation rushed in pursuit far in advance of the others; and, being caught in the
 midst of the enemy, was killed.