Hellenica

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[7] For this corrupt passage, see Hartman, "Anal. Xen." p. 332; also
Otto Keller's critical edition of the "Hellenica" (Lips,
MDCCCLXXX.)

Tissaphernes at once gave the lie to what he had sworn. Instead of
adhering to peace he sent up to demand a large army from the king, in
addition to what he already had. But Agesilaus, though he was fully
alive to these proceedings, adhered as rigidly as ever to the truce.

To keep quiet and enjoy leisure was his duty, in the exercise of which
he wore away the time at Ephesus. But in reference to the organisation
of the several states it was a season of vehement constitutional
disturbance in the several cities; that is to say, there were neither
democracies as in the old days of the Athenians, nor yet were there
decarchies as in the days of Lysander. But here was Lysander back
again. Every one recognised him, and flocked to him with petitions for
one favour or another, which he was to obtain for them from Agesilaus.
A crowd of suitors danced attendance on his heels, and formed so
conspicuous a retinue that Agesilaus, any one would have supposed, was
the private person and Lysander the king. All this was maddening to
Agesilaus, as was presently plain. As to the rest of the Thirty,
jealousy did not suffer them to keep silence, and they put it plainly
to Agesilaus that the super-regal splendour in which Lysander lived
was a violation of the constitution. So when Lysander took upon
himself to introduce some of his petitioners to Agesilaus, the latter
turned them a deaf ear. Their being aided and abetted by Lysander was
sufficient; he sent them away discomfited. At length, as time after
time things turned out contrary to his wishes, Lysander himself
perceived the position of affairs. He now no longer suffered that
crowd to follow him, and gave those who asked him help in anything
plainly to understand that they would gain nothing, but rather be
losers, by his intervention. But being bitterly annoyed at the
degradation put upon him, he came to the king and said to him: "Ah,
Agesilaus, how well you know the art of humbling your friends!" "Ay,
indeed," the king replied; "those of them whose one idea it is to
appear greater than myself; if I did not know how also to requite with
honour those who work for my good, I should be ashamed." And Lysander
said: "maybe there is more reason in your doings than ever guided my
conduct;" adding, "Grant me for the rest one favour, so shall I cease
to blush at the loss of my influence with you, and you will cease to
be embarrassed by my presence. Send me off on a mission somewhere;
wherever I am I will strive to be of service to you." Such was the
proposal of Lysander. Agesilaus resolved to act upon it, and
despatched Lysander to the Hellespont. And this is what befell.[8]
Lysander, being made aware of a slight which had been put upon
Spithridates the Persian by Pharnabazus, got into conversation with
the injured man, and so worked upon him that he was persuaded to bring
his children and his personal belongings, and with a couple of hundred
troops to revolt. The next step was to deposit all the goods safely in
Cyzicus, and the last to get on shipboard with Spithridates and his
son, and so to present himself with his Persian friends to Agesilaus.
Agesilaus, on his side, was delighted at the transaction, and set
himself at once to get information about Pharnabazus, his territory
and his government.

[8] See "Ages." iii. 3; "Anab." VI. v. 7.

Meanwhile Tissaphernes had waxed bolder. A large body of troops had
been sent down by the king. On the strength of that he declared war
against Agesilaus, if he did not instantly withdraw his troops from
Asia. The Lacedaemonians there[9] present, no less than the allies,
received the news with profound vexation, persuaded as they were that
Agesilaus had no force capable of competing with the king's grand
armament. But a smile lit up the face of Agesilaus as he bade the
ambassadors return to Tissaphernes and tell him that he was much in
his debt for the perjury by which he had won the enmity of Heaven and
made the very gods themselves allies of Hellas. He at once issued a
general order to the troops to equip themselves for a forward
movement. He warned the cities through which he must pass in an
advance upon Caria, to have markets in readiness, and lastly, he
despatched a message to the Ionian, Aeolian, and Hellespontine
communities to send their contingents to join him at Ephesus.

[9] I.e. at Ephesus.

Tissaphernes, putting together the facts that Agesilaus had no cavalry
and that Caria was a region unadapted to that arm, and persuaded in
his own mind also that the Spartan could not but cherish wrath against
himself personally for his chicanery, felt convinced that he was
really intending to invade Caria, and that the satrap's palace was his
final goal. Accordingly he transferred the whole of his infantry to
that province, and proceeded to lead his cavalry round into the plain
of the Maeander. Here he conceived himself capable of trampling the
Hellenes under foot with his horsemen before they could reach the
craggy districts where no cavalry could operate.

But, instead of marching straight into Caria, Agesilaus turned sharp
off in the opposite direction towards Phrygia. Picking up various
detachments of troops which met him on his march, he steadily
advanced, laying cities prostrate before him, and by the
unexpectedness of his attack reaping a golden harvest of spoil. As a
rule the march was prosecuted safely; but not far from Dascylium his
advanced guard of cavalry were pushing on towards a knoll to take a
survery of the state of things in front, when, as chance would have
it, a detachment of cavalry sent forward by Pharnabazus--the corps, in
fact, of Rhathines and his natural brother Bagaeus--just about equal
to the Hellenes in number, also came galloping up to the very knoll in
question. The two bodies found themselves face to face not one hundred
and fifty yards[10] apart, and for the first moment or two stood stock
still. The Hellenic horse were drawn up like an ordinary phalanx four
deep, the barbarians presenting a narrow front of twelve or
thereabouts, and a very disproportionate depth. There was a moment's
pause, and then the barbarians, taking the initiative, charged. There
was a hand-to-hand tussle, in which any Hellene who succeeded in
striking his man shivered his lance with the blow, while the Persian
troopers, armed with cornel-wood javelins, speedly despatched a dozen
men and a couple of horses.[11] At this point the Hellenic cavalry
turned and fled. But as Agesilaus came up to the rescue with his heavy
infantry, the Asiatics were forced in their turn to withdraw, with the
loss of one man slain. This cavalry engagement gave them pause.
Agesilaus on the day following it offered sacrifice. "Was he to
continue his advance?" But the victims proved hopeless.[12] There was
nothing for it after this manifestation but to turn and march towards
the sea. It was clear enough to his mind that without a proper cavalry
force it would be impossible to conduct a campaign in the flat
country. Cavalry, therefore, he must get, or be driven to mere
guerilla warfare. With this view he drew up a list of all the
wealthiest inhabitants belonging to the several cities of those parts.
Their duty would be to support a body of cavalry, with the proviso,
however, that any one contributing a horse, arms, and rider, up to the
standard, would be exempted from personal service. The effect was
instantaneous. The zeal with which the recipients of these orders
responded could hardly have been greater if they had been seeking
substitutes to die for them.

[10] Lit. "four plethra."

[11] See Xenophon's treatise "On Horsemanship," xii. 12.

[12] Lit. "lobeless," i.e. with a lobe of the liver wanting--a bad
sign.

B.C. 395. After this, at the first indication of spring, he collected
the whole of his army at Ephesus. But the army needed training. With
that object he proposed a series of prizes--prizes to the heavy
infantry regiments, to be won by those who presented their men in the
best condition; prizes for the cavalry regiments which could ride
best; prizes for those divisions of peltasts and archers which proved
most efficient in their respective duties. And now the gymnasiums were
a sight to see, thronged as they were, one and all, with warriors
stripping for exercise; or again, the hippodrome crowded with horses
and riders performing their evolutions; or the javelin men and archers
going through their peculiar drill. In fact, the whole city where he
lay presented under his hands a spectacle not to be forgotten. The
market-place literally teemed with horses, arms, and accoutrements of
all sorts for sale. The bronze-worker, the carpenter, the smith, the
leather-cutter, the painter and embosser, were all busily engaged in
fabricating the implements of war; so that the city of Ephesus itself
was fairly converted into a military workshop.[13] It would have done
a man's heart good to see those long lines of soldiers with Agesilaus
at their head, as they stepped gaily be-garlanded from the gymnasiums
to dedicate their wreaths to the goddess Artemis. Nor can I well
conceive of elements more fraught with hope than were here combined.
Here were reverence and piety towards Heaven; here practice in war and
military training; here discipline with habitual obedience to
authority. But contempt for one's enemy will infuse a kind of strength
in battle. So the Spartan leader argued; and with a view to its
production he ordered the quartermasters to put up the prisoners who
had been captured by his foraging bands for auction, stripped naked;
so that his Hellenic soldiery, as they looked at the white skins which
had never been bared to sun and wind, the soft limbs unused to toil
through constant riding in carriages, came to the conclusion that war
with such adversaries would differ little from a fight with women.

[13] See Plut. "Marc." (Clough, ii. 262); Polyb. "Hist." x. 20.

By this date a full year had elapsed since the embarkation of
Agesilaus, and the time had come for the Thirty with Lysander to sail
back home, and for their successors, with Herippidas, to arrive. Among
these Agesilaus appointed Xenocles and another to the command of the
cavalry, Scythes to that of the heavy infantry of the
enfranchised,[14] Herippidas to that of the Cyreians, and Migdon to
that of the contingents from the states. Agesilaus gave them to
understand that he intended to lead them forthwith by the most
expeditious route against the stronghold of the country,[15] so that
without further ceremony they might prepare their minds and bodies for
the tug of battle. Tissaphernes, however, was firmly persuaded that
this was only talk intended to deceive him; Agesilaus would this time
certainly invade Caria. Accordingly he repeated his former tactics,
transporting his infantry bodily into Caria and posting his cavalry in
the valley of the Maeander. But Agesilaus was as good as his word, and
at once invaded the district of Sardis. A three days' march through a
region denuded of the enemy threw large supplies into his hands. On
the fourth day the cavalry of the enemy approached. Their general
ordered the officer in charge of his baggage-train to cross the
Pactolus and encamp, while his troopers, catching sight of stragglers
from the Hellenic force scattered in pursuit of booty, put several of
them to the sword. Perceiving which, Agesilaus ordered his cavalry to
the rescue; and the Persians on their side, seeing their advance,
collected together in battle order to receive them, with dense
squadrons of horse, troop upon troop. The Spartan, reflecting that the
enemy had as yet no infantry to support him, whilst he had all
branches of the service to depend upon, concluded that the critical
moment had arrived at which to risk an engagement. In this mood he
sacrificed, and began advancing his main line of battle against the
serried lines of cavalry in front of him, at the same time ordering
the flower of his heavy infantry--the ten-years-service men[16]--to
close with them at a run, and the peltasts to bring up their supports
at the double. The order passed to his cavalry was to charge in
confidence that he and the whole body of his troops were close behind
them. The cavalry charge was received by the Persians without
flinching, but presently finding themselves environed by the full tide
of war they swerved. Some found a speedy grave within the river, but
the mass of them gradually made good their escape. The Hellenes
followed close on the heels of the flying foe and captured his camp.
here the peltasts not unnaturally fell to pillaging; whereupon
Agesilaus planted his troops so as to form a cordon enclosing the
property of friends and foes alike. The spoil taken was considerable;
it fetched more than seventy talents,[17] not to mention the famous
camels, subsequently brought over by Agesilaus into Hellas, which were
captured here. At the moment of the battle Tissaphernes lay in Sardis.
Hence the Persians argued that they had been betrayed by the satrap.
And the king of Persia, coming to a like conclusion himself that
Tissaphernes was to blame for the evil turn of his affairs, sent down
Tithraustes and beheaded him.[18]

[14] The neodamodes.

[15] I.e. Lydia. See Plut. "Ages." x. (Clough, iv. 11).

[16] See note to "Hell." II. iv. 32.

[17] = 17,062 pounds: 10 shillings.

[18] See Diod. xiv. 80.

This done, Tithraustes sent an embassy to Agesilaus with a message as
follows: "The author of all our trouble, yours and ours, Agesilaus,
has paid the penalty of his misdoings; the king therefore asks of you
first that you should sail back home in peace; secondly, that the
cities in Asia secured in their autonomy should continue to render him
the ancient tribute." To this proposition Agesilaus made answer that
"without the authorities at home he could do nothing in the matter."
"Then do you, at least," replied Tithraustes, "while awaiting advice
from Lacedaemon, withdraw into the territory of Pharnabazus. Have I
not avenged you of your enemy?" "While, then, I am on my way thither,"
rejoined Agesilaus, "will you support my army with provisions?" On
this wise Tithraustes handed him thirty talents,[19] which the other
took, and forthwith began his march into Phrygia (the Phrygia of
Pharnabazus). He lay in the plain district above Cyme,[20] when a
message reached him from the home authorities, giving him absolute
disposal of the naval forces,[21] with the right to appoint the
admiral of his choice. This course the Lacedaemonians were led to
adopt by the following considerations: If, they argued, the same man
were in command of both services, the land force would be greatly
strengthened through the concentration of the double force at any
point necessary; and the navy likewise would be far more useful
through the immediate presence and co-operation of the land force
where needed. Apprised of these measures, Agesilaus in the first
instance sent an order to the cities on the islands and the seaboard
to fit out as many ships of war as they severally might deem
desirable. The result was a new navy, consisting of the vessels thus
voluntarily furnished by the states, with others presented by private
persons out of courtesy to their commander, and amounting in all to a
fleet of one hundred and twenty sail. The admiral whom he selected was
Peisander, his wife's brother, a man of genuine ambition and of a
vigorous spirit, but not sufficiently expert in the details of
equipment to achieve a great naval success. Thus while Peisander set
off to attend to naval matters, Agesilaus continued his march whither
he was bound to Phrygia.

[19] = 7,312 pounds: 10 shillings.

[20] See "Cyrop." VII. i. 45.

[21] See Grote, "H. G." ix. 327, note 3; Arist. "Pol." ii. 9, 33.

V

But now Tithraustes seemed to have discovered in Agesilaus a
disposition to despise the fortunes of the Persian monarch--he
evidently had no intention to withdraw from Asia; on the contrary, he
was cherishing hopes vast enough to include the capture of the king
himself. Being at his wits' end how to manage matters, he resolved to
send Timocrates the Rhodian to Hellas with a gift of gold worthy fifty
silver talents,[1] and enjoined upon him to endeavour to exchange
solemn pledges with the leading men in the several states, binding
them to undertake a war against Lacedaemon. Timocrates arrived and
began to dole out his presents. In Thebes he gave gifts to
Androcleidas, Ismenias, and Galaxidorus; in Corinth to Timolaus and
Polyanthes; in Argos to Cylon and his party. The Athenians,[2] though
they took no share of the gold, were none the less eager for the war,
being of opinion that empire was theirs by right.[3] The recipients of
the moneys forthwith began covertly to attack the Lacedaemonians in
their respective states, and, when they had brought these to a
sufficient pitch of hatred, bound together the most important of them
in a confederacy.

[1] = 12,187 pounds: 10 shillings.

[2] See Paus. III. ix. 8; Plut. "Ages." xv.

[3] Reading {nomizontes auton to arkhein} with Sauppe; or if, as
Breitinbach suggests, {enomizon de oukh outon to arkhesthai},
translate "but thought it was not for them to take the
initiative."

But it was clear to the leaders in Thebes that, unless some one struck
the first blow, the Lacedaemonians would never be brought to break the
truce with their allies. They therefore persuaded the Opuntian
Locrians[4] to levy moneys on a debatable district,[5] jointly claimed
by the Phocians and themselves, when the Phocians would be sure to
retaliate by an attack on Locris. These expectations were fulfilled.
The Phocians immediately invaded Locris and seized moneys on their
side with ample interest. Then Androcleidas and his friends lost no
time in persuading the Thebans to assist the Locrians, on the ground
that it was no debatable district which had been entered by the
Phocians, but the admittedly friendly and allied territory of Locris
itself. The counter-invasion of Phocis and pillage of their country by
the Thebans promptly induced the Phocians to send an embassy to
Lacedaemon. In claiming assistance they explained that the war was not
of their own seeking, but that they had attacked the Locrians in self-
defence. On their side the Lacedaemonians were glad enough to seize a
pretext for marching upon the Thebans, against whom they cherished a
long-standing bitterness. They had not forgotten the claim which the
Thebans had set up to a tithe for Apollo in Deceleia,[6] nor yet their
refusal to support Lacedaemon in the attack on Piraeus;[7] and they
accused them further of having persuaded the Corinthians not to join
that expedition. Nor did they fail to call to mind some later
proceedings of the Thebans--their refusal to allow Agesilaus to
sacrifice in Aulis;[8] their snatching the victims already offered and
hurling them from the altars; their refusal to join the same general
in a campaign directed even against Asia.[9] The Lacedaemonians
further reasoned that now, if ever, was the favourable moment to
conduct an expedition against the Thebans, and once for all to put a
stop to their insolent behaviour towards them. Affairs in Asia were
prospering under the strong arm of Agesilaus, and in Hellas they had
no other war on hand to trammel their movements. Such, therefore,
being the general view of the situation adopted at Lacedaemon, the
ephors proceeded to call out the ban. Meanwhile they despatched
Lysander to Phocis with orders to put himself at the head of the
Phocians along with the Oetaeans, Heracleotes, Melians, and
Aenianians, and to march upon Haliartus; before the walls of which
place Pausanias, the destined leader of the expedition, undertook to
present himself at the head of the Lacedaemonians and other
Peloponnesian forces by a specified date. Lysander not only carried
out his instructions to the letter, but going a little beyond them,
succeeded in detaching Orchomenus from Thebes.[10] Pausanias, on the
other hand, after finding the sacrifice for crossing the frontier
favourable, sat down at Tegea and set about despatching to and fro the
commandants of allied troops whilst contentedly awaiting the soldiers
from the provincial[11] districts of Laconia.

[4] For an alliance between Athens and the Locrians, B.C. 395, see
Hicks, 67; and below, IV. ii. 17.

[5] Lit. "the." See Paus. III. ix. 9.

[6] See Grote, "H. G." ix. 309, 403; viii. 355.

[7] "Hell." II. iv. 30, B.C. 403.

[8] See above, III. iv. 3; and below, VII. i. 34.

[9] See Paus. III. ix. 1-3.

[10] See Freeman, op. cit. p. 167, "Ill feeling between Thebes and
other towns."--"Against Thebes, backed by Sparta, resistance was
hopeless. It was not till long after that, at last [in 395 B.C.],
on a favourable opportunity during the Corinthian war, Orchomenos
openly seceded." And for the prior "state of disaffection towards
Thebes on the part of the smaller cities," see "Mem." III. v. 2,
in reference to B.C. 407.

[11] Lit. "perioecid."

And now that it was fully plain to the Thebans that the Lacedaemonians
would invade their territory, they sent ambassadors to Athens, who
spoke as follows:--

"Men of Athens, it is a mistake on your part to blame us for certain
harsh resolutions concerning Athens at the conclusion of the war.[12]
That vote was not authorised by the state of Thebes. It was the
utterance merely of one man,[13] who was at that time seated in the
congress of the allies. A more important fact is that when the
Lacedaemonians summoned us to attack Piraeus[14] the collective state
of Thebes passed a resolution refusing to join in the campaign. As
then you are to a large extent the cause of the resentment which the
Lacedaemonians feel towards us, we consider it only fair that you in
your turn should render us assistance. Still more do we demand of you,
sirs, who were of the city party at that date, to enter heart and soul
into war with the Lacedaemonians. For what were their services to you?
They first deliberately converted you into an oligarchy and placed you
in hostility to the democracy, and then they came with a great force
under guise of being your allies, and delivered you over to the
majority, so that, for any service they rendered you, you were all
dead men; and you owe your lives to our friends here, the people of
Athens.[15]

[12] See "Hell." II. ii. 19; and below, VI. v. 35.

[13] Plut. "Lys." xv. "Erianthus the Theban gave his vote to pull down
the city, and turn the country into sheep-pasture."--Clough, iii.
121.

[14] See "Hell." II. iv. 30.

[15] See "Hell." II. iv. 38, 40, 41.

"But to pass on--we all know, men of Athens, that you would like to
recover the empire which you formerly possessed; and how can you
compass your object better than by coming to the aid yourselves of the
victims of Lacedaemonian injustice? Is it their wide empire of which
you are afraid? Let not that make cowards of you--much rather let it
embolden you as you lay to heart and ponder your own case. When your
empire was widest then the crop of your enemies was thickest. Only so
long as they found no opportunity to revolt did they keep their hatred
of you dark; but no sooner had they found a champion in Lacedaemon
than they at once showed what they really felt towards you. So too to-
day. Let us show plainly that we mean to stand shoulder to
shoulder[16] embattled against the Lacedaemonians; and haters enough
of them--whole armies--never fear, will be forthcoming. To prove the
truth of this assertion you need only to count upon your fingers. How
many friends have they left to them to-day? The Argives have been,
are, and ever will be, hostile to them. Of course. But the Eleians?
Why, the Eleians have quite lately[17] been robbed of so much
territory and so many cities that their friendship is converted into
hatred. And what shall we say of the Corinthians? the Arcadians? the
Achaeans? In the war which Sparta waged against you, there was no
toil, no danger, no expense, which those peoples did not share, in
obedience to the dulcet coaxings[18] and persuasions of that power.
The Lacedaemonians gained what they wanted, and then not one
fractional portion of empire, honour, or wealth did these faithful
followers come in for. That is not all. They have no scruple in
appointing their helots[19] as governors, and on the free necks of
their alies, in the day of their good fortune, they have planted the
tyrant's heel.

[16] Lit. "shield to shield."

[17] Lit. "to-day," "nowadays."

[18] {mala liparoumenoi}. See Thuc. i. 66 foll.; vi. 88.

[19] See "Pol. Lac." xiv.

"Then again take the case of those whom they have detached from
yourselves. In the most patent way they have cajoled and cheated them;
in place of freedom they have presented them with a twofold slavery.
The allies are tyrannised over by the governor and tyrannised over by
the ten commissioners set up by Lysander over every city.[20] And to
come lastly to the great king. In spite of all the enormous
contributions with which he aided them to gain a mastery over you, is
the lord of Asia one whit better off to-day than if he had taken
exactly the opposite course and joined you in reducing them?

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