atness by
their own exertions, though it was the peculiar glory of Lysander that
all his commands were bestowed upon him by his countrymen of their own
free will and by their deliberate choice, and that he never opposed
their wishes or acted in opposition to the laws of his country. Now,--

"In revolutions, villains rise to fame,"

and at Rome, at the period of which we are treating, the people were
utterly corrupt and degraded, and frequently changed their masters. We
need not wonder at Sulla's becoming supreme in Rome when such men as
Glaucia and Saturninus drove the Metelli into exile, when the sons of
consuls were butchered in the senate-house, when silver and gold
purchased soldiers and arms, and laws were enacted by men who silenced
their opponents by fire and the sword. I cannot blame a man who rises
to power at such a time as this, but I cannot regard it as any proof
of his being the best man in the state, if the state itself be in such
a condition of disorder. Now Lysander was sent out to undertake the
most important commands at a time when Sparta was well and orderly
governed, and proved himself the greatest of all the foremost men of
his age, the best man of the best regulated state. For this reason
Lysander, though he often laid down his office, was always re-elected
by his countrymen, for the renown of his abilities naturally pointed
him out as the fittest man to command: whereas Sulla, after being once
elected to lead an army, remained the chief man in Rome for ten
years, calling himself sometimes consul and sometimes dictator, but
always remaining a mere military despot.

II. We have related an attempt of Lysander to subvert the constitution
of Sparta; but he proceeded by a much more moderate and law-abiding
means than Sulla, for he meant to gain his point by persuasion, not by
armed force; and besides this he did not intend to destroy the
constitution utterly, but merely to reform the succession to the
throne. And it does not seem contrary to justice, that he who is best
among his peers should govern a city, which ruled in Greece by virtue,
not by nobility of blood.

A huntsman tries to obtain a good hound, and a horseman a good horse,
but does not trouble himself with their offspring, for the offspring
of his horse might turn out to be a mule. Just so in politics, the
important point is, what sort of man a ruler is, not from what family
he is descended. Even the Spartans in some cases dethroned