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[7] This city had been refounded in B.C. 386 (Isocr. "Plat." 20, 21).
See Freeman, op. cit. ch. iv. p. 170: "Its restoration implied not
only a loss of Theban supremacy, but the actual loss of that
portion of the existing Theban territory which had formerly formed
the Plataian district."

B.C. 378. When the news of these proceedings reached Sparta the first
thing the Lacedaemonians did was to put to death the governor, who had
abandoned the Cadmeia instead of awaiting reinforcements, and the next
was to call out the ban against Thebes. Agesilaus had little taste to
head the expedition; he pointed out that he had seen more than forty
years' service,[8] and that the exemption from foreign duty applicable
to others at that age was applicable on the same principle to the
king. Such were the ostensible grounds on which he excused himself
from the present expedition, but his real objections lay deeper. He
felt certain that if he led the expedition his fellow-citizens would
say: "Agesilaus caused all this trouble to the state in order to aid
and abet tyrants." Therefore he preferred to leave his countrymen to
settle the matter themselves as they liked. Accordingly the ephors,
instructed by the Theban exiles who had escaped the late massacres,
despatched Cleombrotus. He had not commanded before, and it was the
depth of winter.

[8] And was therefore more than fifty-eight years old at this date.
See "Ages." i. 6.

Now while Chabrias, with a body of Athenian peltasts, kept watch and
ward over the road through Eleutherae, Cleombrotus made his way up by
the direct route to Plataeae. His column of light infantry, pushing
forward in advance, fell upon the men who had been released from the
Theban prison, guarding the summit, to the number of about one hundred
and fifty. These, with the exception of one or two who escaped, were
cut down by the peltasts, and Cleombrotus descended in person upon
Plataeae, which was still friendly to Sparta. Presently he reached
Thespiae, and that was the base for an advance upon Cynoscephalae,
where he encamped on Theban territory. Here he halted sixteen days,
and then again fell back upon Thespiae. At this latter place he now
left Sphodrias as governor, with a third portion of each of the
contingents of the allies, handing over to him all the moneys he had
brought with him from home, with directions to supplement his force
with a contingent of mercenaries.

While Sphodrias was so employed, Cleombrotus himself commenced his
homeward march, following the road through Creusis at the head of his
own moiety of the troops, who indeed were in considerable perplexity
to discover whether they were at war with the Thebans or at peace,
seeing that the general had led his army into Theban territory, had
inflicted the minimum of mischief, and again retired. No sooner,
however, was his back turned than a violent wind storm assailed him in
his rear, which some construed as an omen clearly significant of what
was about to take place. Many a blow this assailant dealt them, and as
the general and his army, crossing from Creusis, scaled that face of
the mountain[9] which stretches seaward, the blast hurled headlong
from the precipices a string of asses, baggage and all: countless arms
were wrested from the bearers' grasp and whirled into the sea;
finally, numbers of the men, unable to march with their arms,
deposited them at different points of the pass, first filling the
hollow of their shields with stones. For the moment, then, they halted
at Aegosthena, on Megarian soil, and supped as best they could. Next
day they returned and recovered their arms. After this adventure the
contingents lost no time in returning to their several homes, as
Cleombrotus disbanded them.

[9] I.e. "Cithaeron."

Meanwhile at Athens and Thebes alike fear reigned. To the Athenians
the strength of the Lacedaemonians was unmistakable: the war was
plainly no longer confined to Corinth; on the contrary, the
Lacedaemonians had ventured to skirt Athenian territory and to invade
Thebes. They were so worked upon by their alarm that the two generals
who had been privy to the insurrection of Melon against Leontiades and
his party had to suffer: the one was formally tried and put to death;
the other, refusing to abide his trial, was banished.

The apprehensions of the Thebans were of a different sort: their fear
was rather lest they should find themselves in single-handed war with
Lacedaemon. To prevent this they hit upon the following expedient.
They worked upon Sphodrias,[10] the Spartan governor left in Thespiae,
by offering him, as at least was suspected, a substantial sum, in
return for which he was to make an incursion into Attica; their great
object being to involve Athens and Lacedaemon in hostilities.
Sphodrias lent a willing ear, and, pretending that he could easily
capture Piraeus in its present gateless condition, gave his troops an
early evening meal and marched out of Thespiae, saying that he would
reach Piraeus before daybreak. As a matter of fact day overtook him at
Thria, nor did he take any pains even to draw a veil over his
intentions; on the contrary, being forced to turn aside, he amused
himself by recklessly lifting cattle and sacking houses. Meanwhile
some who chanced upon him in the night had fled to the city and
brought news to the men of Athens that a large body of troops was
approaching. It needs no saying with what speed the cavalry and heavy
infantry armed themselves and stood on guard to protect the city. As
chance befell, there were some Lacedaemonian ambassadors in Athens at
the moment, at the house of Callias their proxenos; their names were
Etymocles, Aristolochus, and Ocyllus. Immediately on receipt of the
news the Athenians seized these three and imprisoned them, as not
improbably concerned in the plot. Utterly taken aback by the affair
themselves, the ambassadors pleaded that, had they been aware of an
attempt to seize Piraeus, they would hardly have been so foolish as to
put themselves into the power of the Athenians, or have selected the
house of their proxenos for protection, where they were so easily to
be found. It would, they further urged, soon be plain to the Athenians
themselves that the state of Lacedaemon was quite as little cognisant
of these proceedings as they. "You will hear before long"--such was
their confident prediction--"that Sphodrias has paid for his behaviour
by his life." On this wise the ambassadors were acquitted of all
concern in the matter and dismissed. Sphodrias himself was recalled
and indicted by the ephors on the capital charge, and, in spite of his
refusal to face the trial, he was acquitted. This miscarriage of
justice, as it seemed to many, who described it as unprecedented in
Lacedaemon, has an explanation.

[10] See Plut. "Pel." xiv. (Clough, ii. p. 214).

Sphodrias had a son named Cleonymus. He was just at the age when youth
emerges from boyhood, very handsome and of high repute among his
fellows. To this youth Archidamus, the son of Agesilaus, was
passionately attached. Now the friends of Cleombrotus, as comrades of
Sphodrias, were disposed to acquit him; but they feared Agesilaus and
his friends, not to mention the intermediate party, for the enormity
of his proceeding was clear. So when Sphodrias addressed his son
Cleonymus: "You have it in your power, my son, to save your father, if
you will, by begging Archidamus to dispose Agesilaus favourably to me
at my trial." Thus instructed, the youth did not shrink from visiting
Archidamus, and implored him for his sake to save his father. Now when
Archidamus saw how Cleonymus wept, he too was melted to tears as he
stood beside him, but to his petition he made answer thus: "Nay,
Cleonymus, it is the bare truth I tell you, I cannot so much as look
my father in the face;[11] if I wished anything transacted for me in
the city I would beg assistance from the whole world sooner than from
my father. Still, since it is you who bid me, rest assured I will do
my best to bring this about for you as you desire." He then left the
common hall[12] and retired home to rest, but with dawn he arose and
kept watch that his father might not go out without his knowledge.
Presently, when he saw him ready to go forth, first some citizen was
present, and then another and another; and in each case he stepped
aside, while they held his father in conversation. By and by a
stranger would come, and then another; and so it went on until he even
found himself making way for a string of petitioning attendants. At
last, when his father had turned his back on the Eurotas, and was
entering his house again, he was fain to turn his back also and be
gone without so much as accosting him. The next day he fared no
better: all happened as on the previous day. Now Agesilaus, although
he had his suspicions why his son went to and fro in this way, asked
no questions, but left him to take his own course. Archidamus, on his
side, was longing, as was natural, to see his friend Cleonymus; but
how he was to visit him, without having held the desired conversation
with his father, he knew not. The friends of Sphodrias, observing that
he who was once so frequent a visitor had ceased coming, were in
agony; he must surely have been deterred by the reproaches of his
father. At last, however, Archidamus dared to go to his father, and
said, "Father, Cleonymus bids me ask you to save his father; grant me
this boon, if possible, I beg you." He answered: "For yourself, my
son, I can make excuse, but how shall my city make excuse for me if I
fail to condemn that man who, for his own base purpose, traffics to
the injury of the state?" For the moment the other made no reply, but
retired crestfallen before the verdict of justice. Afterwards, whether
the thought was his own or that he was prompted by some other, he came
and said, "Father, if Sphodrias had done no wrong you would have
released him, that I know; but now, if he has done something wrong,
may he not be excused by you for our sakes?" And the father answered:
"If it can be done without loss of honour on our parts, so shall it
be." At that word the young man, in deep despondency, turned and went.
Now one of the friends of Sphodrias, conversing with Etymocles,
remarked to him: "You are all bent on putting Sphodrias to death, I
take it, you friends of Agesilaus?" And Etymocles replied: "If that be
so, we all are bent on one thing, and Agesilaus on another, since in
all his conversations he still harps upon one string: that Sphodrias
has done a wrong there is no denying, yet Sphodrias is a man who, from
boyhood to ripe manhood,[13] was ever constant to the call of honour.
To put such a man as that to death is hard; nay, Sparta needs such
soldiers." The other accordingly went off and reported what he had
just heard to Cleonymus; and he in the joy of his heart went
straightway to Archidamus and said: "Now we know that you care for us;
rest assured, Archidamus, that we in turn will take great pains that
you shall never have cause to blush for our friendship." Nor did his
acts belie his words; but so long as he lived he was ever faithful to
the code of Spartan chivalry; and at Leuctra, fighting in front of the
king side by side with Deinon the polemarch, thrice fell or ever he
yielded up his breath--foremost of the citizens amidst the foe. And
so, albeit he caused his friend the bitterest sorrow, yet to that
which he had promised he was faithful, seeing he wrought Archidamus no
shame, but contrariwise shed lustre on him.[14] In this way Sphodrias
obtained his acquittal.

[11] See "Cyrop." I. iv. 12.

[12] Lit. "the Philition." See "Pol. Lac." iii. 6.

[13] Lit. "who, whether as child, boy, or young man"; and for the
three stages of growth, see "Pol. Lac." ii. iii. iv.

[14] I.e. both in life and in death.

At Athens the friends of Boeotia were not slow to instruct the people
that his countrymen, so far from punishing Sphodrias, had even
applauded him for his designs on Athens; and in consequence of this
the Athenians not only furnished Piraeus with gates, but set to work
to build a fleet, and displayed great zeal in sending aid to the
Boeotians.[15] The Lacedaemonians, on their side, called out the ban
against the Thebans; and being persuaded that in Agesilaus they would
find a more prudent general than Cleombrotus had proved, they begged
the former to undertake the expedition.[16] He, replying that the wish
of the state was for him law, began making preparations to take the
field.

[15] For the new Athenian confederacy of Delos of this year, B.C. 378,
see "Pol. Lac." xiv. 6; "Rev." v. 6; Diod. xv. 28-30; Plut.
"Pelop." xv.; Hicks, 78, 81; and for an alliance between Athens
and Chalcis in Euboea, see Hicks, 79; and for a treaty with Chios,
Hicks, 80.

[16] See "Ages." ii. 22.

Now he had come to the conclusion that without the occupation of Mount
Cithaeron any attack on Thebes would be difficult. Learning then that
the men of Cleitor were just now at war with the men of
Orchomenus,[17] and were maintaing a foreign brigade, he came to an
understanding with the Cleitorians that in the event of his needing
it, this force would be at his service; and as soon as the sacrifices
for crossing the frontier proved favourable, he sent to the commander
of the Cleitorian mercenaries, and handing him a month's pay, ordered
him to occupy Cithaeron with his men. This was before he himself
reached Tegea. Meanwhile he sent a message to the men of Orchomenus
that so long as the campaign lasted they must cease from war. If any
city during his campaign abroad took on itself to march against
another city, his first duty, he declared, would be to march against
such offending city in accordance with a decree of the allies.

[17] In Arcadia. See Busolt, "Die Lak." 120 foll.

Thus crossing Cithaeron he reached Thespiae,[18] and from that base
made the territory of Thebes his objective. Finding the great plain
fenced round with ditch and palisade, as also the most valuable
portions of the country, he adopted the plan of shifting his
encampment from one place to another. Regularly each day, after the
morning meal, he marched out his troops and ravaged the territory,
confining himself to his own side of the palisadings and trench. The
appearance of Agesilaus at any point whatever was a signal to the
enemy, who within the circuit of his entrenchment kept moving in
parallel line to the invader, and was ever ready to defend the
threatened point. On one occasion, the Spartan king having retired and
being well on the road back to camp, the Theban cavalry, hitherto
invisible, suddenly dashed out, following one of the regularly
constructed roads out of the entrenchment. Taking advantage of the
enemy's position--his light troops breaking off to supper or busily
preparing the meal, and the cavalry, some of them on their legs
just[19] dismounted, and others in the act of mounting--on they rode,
pressing the charge home. Man after man of the light troops was cut
down; and three cavalry troopers besides--two Spartans, Cleas and
Epicydidas by name, and the third a provincial[20] named Eudicus, who
had not had time to mount their horses, and whose fate was shared by
some Theban[21] exiles. But presently Agesilaus wheeled about and
advanced with his heavy infantry to the succour; his cavalry dashed at
the enemy's cavalry, and the flower of the heavy infantry, the ten-
years-service men, charged by their side. The Theban cavalry at that
instant looked like men who had been imbibing too freely in the
noontide heat--that is to say, they awaited the charge long enough to
hurl their spears; but the volley sped without effect, and wheeling
about within that distance they left twelve of their number dead upon
the field.

[18] By Cynoscephalae. See "Ages." ii. 22.

[19] Read, after Courier, {arti} for the vulg. {eti}; or, better
still, adopt Hartman's emendation (op. cit. p. 379), {ton men ede
katabebekoton ton de katabainonton}, and translate "some--already
dismounted, and others dismounting."

[20] Lit. "one of the perioeci."

[21] Reading {Thebaion} after Dind. for {'Athenaion}.

Agesilaus had not failed to note with what regularity the enemy
presented himself after the morning meal. Turning the observation to
account, he offered sacrifice with day's dawn, and marched with all
possible speed, and so crossed within the palisadings, through what
might have been a desert, as far as defence or sign of living being
went. Once well inside, he proceeded to cut down and set on fire
everything up to the city gates. After this exploit he beat a retreat,
retiring into Thespiae, where he fortified their citadel for them.
Here he left Phoebidas as governor, while he himself crossed the
passes back into Megara. Arrived here he disbanded the allies, and led
the city troops homewards.

After the departure of Agesilaus, Phoebidas devoted himself to
harrying the Thebans by sending out robber bands, and laid waste their
land by a system of regular incursions. The Thebans, on their side,
desiring to retaliate, marched out with their whole force into the
territory of Thespiae. But once well inside the district they found
themselves closely beset by Phoebidas and his light troops, who would
not give them the slightest chance to scatter from their main body, so
that the Thebans, heartily vexed at the turn their foray had taken,
beat a retreat quicker than they had come. The muleteers threw away
with their own hands the fruits they had captured, in their anxiety to
get home as quickly as possible; so dire a dread had fallen upon the
invading army. This was the chance for the Spartan to press home his
attack boldly, keeping his light division in close attendance on
himself, and leaving the heavy infantry under orders to follow him in
battle order. He was in hopes even that he might put the enemy to
complete rout, so valiantly did he lead the advance, encouraging the
light troops to "come to a close grip with the invadors," or summoning
the heavy infantry of the Thespiaeans to "bring up their supports."
Presently the Theban cavalry as they retired found themselves face to
face with an impassable glen or ravine, where in the first instance
they collected in a mob, and next wheeled right-about-face in sheer
resourcelessness where to cross. The handful of light troops who
formed the Spartan vanguard took fright at the Thebans and fled, and
the Theban horsemen seeing this put in practice the lesson of attack
which the fugitives taught them. As for Phoebidas himself, he and two
or three with him fell sword in hand, whereupon his mercenary troops
all took to their heels.

When the stream of fugitives reached the Thespiaean heavy infantry
reserves, they too, in spite of much boasting beforehand that they
would never yield to Thebans, took to flight, though there was now
absolutely no pursuit whatever, for it was now late. The number slain
was not large, but, for all that, the men of Thespiae did not come to
a standstill until they found themselves safe inside their walls. As a
sequel, the hopes and spirits of the Thebans were again kindled into
new life, and they made campaigns against Thespiae and the other
provincial cities of Boeotia.[22] It must be admitted that in each
case the democratical party retired from these cities to Thebes; since
absolute governments had been established in all of them on the
pattern previously adopted at Thebes; and the result was that the
friends of Lacedaemon in these cities also needed her assistance.[23]
After the death of Phoebidas the Lacedaemonians despatched a polemarch
with a division by sea to form the garrison of Thespiae.

[22] Lit. "their other perioecid cities." For the significance of this
title as applied by the Thebans (and perhaps commonly) to the
other cities of Boeotia, see Freeman, op. cit. ch. iv. pp. 157,
173 foll.

[23] See Grote, "H. G." x. 174; Freeman, op. cit. iv. 171, 172.

B.C. 377. With the advent of spring[24] the ephors again called out
the ban against Thebes, and requested Agesilaus to lead the
expedition, as on the former campaign. He, holding to his former
theory with regard to the invasion, even before sacrificing the
customary frontier sacrifice, sent a despatch to the polemarch at
Thespiae, with orders to seize the pass which commands the road over
Cithaeron, and to guard it against his arrival. Then, having once more
crossed the pass and reached Plataeae, he again made a feint of
marching first into Thespiae, and so sent a despatch ordering supplies
to be in readiness, and all embassies to be waiting his arrival there;
so that the Thebans concentrated their attention on the approaches
from Thespiae, which they strongly guarded. Next morning, however,
Agesilaus sacrificed at daybreak and set out on the road to
Erythrae,[25] and completing in one day what was a good two days'
march for an army, gave the Thebans the slip, and crossed their
palisade-work at Scolus before the enemy had arrived from the closely-
guarded point at which he had effected his entrance formerly. This
done he proceeded to ravage the eastward-facing districts of the city
of Thebes as far as the territory of Tanagra, for at that date Tanagra
was still in the hands of Hypatodorus and his party, who were friends
of the Lacedaemonians. After that he turned to retire, keeping the
walls of Thebes on his left. But the Thebans, who had stolen, as it
were, upon the scene, drew up at the spot called "The Old Wife's
Breast,"[26] keeping the trench and palisading in their rear: they
were persuaded that here, if anywhere, lay their chance to risk a
decisive engagement, the ground at this point being somewhat narrow
and difficult to traverse. Agesilaus, however, in view of the
situation, refused to accept the challenge. Instead of marching upon
them he turned sharp off in the direction of the city; and the
Thebans, in alarm for the city in its undefended state, abandoned the
favourable ground on which they were drawn up in battle line, and
retired at the double towards the city along the road to Potniae,
which seemed the safer route. This last move of Agesilaus may be
described as a stroke of genius:[27] while it allowed him to retire to
a distance, it forced the enemy themselves to retreat at the double.
In spite of this, however, one or two of the polemarchs, with their
divisions, charged the foe as he raced past. But again the Thebans,
from the vantage-ground of their heights, sent volleys of spears upon
the assailants, which cost one of the polemarchs, Alypetus, his life.
He fell pierced by a spear. But again from this particular crest the
Thebans on their side were forced to turn in flight; so much so that
the Sciritae, with some of the cavalry, scaled up and speedily cut
down the rearmost ranks of the Thebans as they galloped past into the
city. When, however, they were close under cover of their walls the
Thebans turned, and the Sciritae seeing them retreated at more than a
steady walking pace. No one, it is true, was slain; but the Thebans
all the same set up a trophy in record of the incident at the point
where the scaling party had been forced to retreat.

[24] See for affairs of Delos, never actually named by Xenophon,
between B.C. 377 and 374, the Sandwich Marble in Trinity College,
Cambridge; Boeckh, "C. I. G" 158, and "P. E. A." ii. p. 78 foll.;
Hicks, 82.

[25] Erythrae (Redlands) stands between Hysiae and Scolus, east of
Katzula.--Leake, "N. Gr." ii. 329. See Herod. ix. 15, 25; Thuc.
iii. 24; Paus. IX. ii. 1; Strab. IX. ii.

[26] Lit. "Graos Stethos."

[27] Or, "and this move of Agesilaus was regarded as a very pretty
one."

And now, since the hour was come, Agesilaus fell back and encamped on
the very site on which he had seen the enemy drawn up in battle array.
Next day he retired by the road to Thespiae. The light troops, who
formed a free corps in the pay of the Thebans, hung audaciously at his
heels. Their shouts could be heard calling out to Chabrias[28] for not
bringing up his supports; when the cavalry of the Olynthians (who now
contributed a contingent in accordance with their oaths)[29] wheeled
round on them, caught the pursuers in the heat of their pursuit, and
drove them uphill, putting large numbers of them to the sword--so
quickly are infantry overhauled by cavalry on steep ground which can
be ridden over. Being arrived within the walls of Thespiae, Agesilaus
found the citizens in a state of party feud, the men of Lacedaemonian
proclivities desiring to put their political opponents, one of whom
was Menon, to death[30]--a proceeding which Agesilaus would not
sanction. After having healed their differences and bound them over by
solemn oath to keep the peace with one another, he at once retired,
taking his old route across Cithaeron to Megara. Here once more he
disbanded the allies, and at the head of the city troops himself
marched back to Sparta.

[28] For the exploits of Chabrias, who commanded a division of mixed
Athenians and mercenaries (see above, S. 14), see Dem. "c. Lept."
479; Polyaen. ii. 1, 2; Diod. xv. 32, 33, who gives interesting
details; Grote, "H. G." x. 172 foll.

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