If line and rule are a noble discovery of man as aids to the production of
 good work, I think that the virtue of Agesilaus may well stand as a noble
 example for those to follow who wish to make moral goodness a habit. For who
 that imitates a pious, a just, a sober, a self-controlled man, can come to
 be unrighteous, unjust, violent, wanton? In point of fact, Agesilaus prided
 himself less on reigning over others than on ruling himself, less on leading
 the people against their enemies than on guiding them to all virtue. However, let it not be thought, because one
 whose life is ended is the theme of my praise, that these words are
 meant for a funeral dirge. The
 reference is to the ceremonial hymns sung at or after funerals,
 which of course contained much that would not have been said or sung
 in the hero’s life-time. They are far more truly the language
 of eulogy. In the first place the words now applied to him are the very
 same that he heard in his lifetime. And, in the second place, what theme
 is less appropriate to a dirge than a life of fame and a death
 well-timed? What more worthy of eulogies than victories most glorious
 and deeds of sovereign worth?