Note 229 — Chapter VI · THE KING.
Reading edition
The rule, reges ex nobilitate, duces ex virtute, ἀγαθοῦ τινος ὑπεροχὴ, applies in strictness to this case. Agis or Agesilaus might be generals, but Brasidas could not have been a king. Descent from Heracles was to the Spartiate what descent from Wóden was to the Saxon,—the condition of royalty.