with the men of Tegea. And now when they were less than a furlong[16] apart, the Lacedaemonians sacrificed in customary fashion a kid to the huntress goddess,[17] and advanced upon their opponents, wheeling round their overlapping columns to outflank his left. As the two armies closed, the allies of Lacedaemon were as a rule fairly borne down by their opponents. The men of Pellene alone, steadily confronting the Thespiaeans, held their ground, and the dead of either side strewed the position.[18] As to the Lacedaemonians themselves: crushing that portion of the Athenian troops which lay immediately in front of them, and at the same time encircling them with their overlapping right, they slew man after man of them; and, absolutely unscathed themselves, their unbroken columns continued their march, and so passed behind the four remaining divisions[19] of the Athenians before these latter had returned from their own victorious pursuit. Whereby the four divisions in question also emerged from battle intact, except for the casualties inflicted by the Tegeans in the first clash of the engagement. The troops next encountered by the Lacedaemonians were the Argives retiring. These they fell foul of, and the senior polemarch was just on the point of closing with them 'breast to breast' when some one, it is said, shouted, 'Let their front ranks pass.' This was done, and as the Argives raced past, their enemies thrust at their unprotected[20] sides and killed many of them. The Corinthians were caught in the same way as they retired, and when their turn had passed, once more the Lacedaemonians lit upon a portion of the Theban division retiring from the pursuit, and strewed the field with their dead. The end of it all was that the defeated troops in the first instance made for safety to the walls of their city, but the Corinthians within closed the gates, whereupon the troops took up quarters once again in their old encampment. The Lacedaemonians on their side withdrew to the point at which they first closed with the enemy, and there set up a trophy of victory. So the battle ended.
[14] Or, 'then they lost no time in discovering that the victims proved favourable.'
[15] See Grote, 'H. G.' ix. 428; cf. Lys. 'pro Mant.' 20.
[16] Lit. 'a stade.'
[17] Lit. 'our Lady of the Chase.' See 'Pol. Lac.' xiii. 8.
[18] Lit. 'men on either side kept dropping at their post.'
[19] Lit. 'tribes.'
[20] I.e. 'right.'
III
Meanwhile Agesilaus was rapidly hastening with his reinforcements from Asia. He had reached Amphipolis when Dercylidas brought the news of this fresh victory of the Lacedaemonians; their own loss had been eight men, that of the enemy considerable. It was his business at the same time to explain that not a few of the allies had fallen also. Agesilaus asked, 'Would it not be opportune, Dercylidas, if the cities that have furnished us with contingents could hear of this victory as soon as possible?' And Dercylidas replied: 'The news at any rate is likely to put them in better heart.' Then said the king: 'As you were an eye-witness there could hardly be a better bearer of the news than yourself.' To this proposal Dercylidas lent a willing ear--to travel abroad[1] was his special delight--and he replied, 'Yes, under your orders.' 'Then you have my orders,' the king said. 'And you may further inform the states from myself that we have not forgotten our promise; if all goes well over here we shall be with them again ere long.' So Dercylidas set off on his travels, in the first instance to the Hellespont;[2] while Agesilaus crossed Macedonia, and arrived in Thessaly. And now the men of Larissa, Crannon, Scotussa, and Pharsalus, who were allies of the Boeotians--and in fact all the Thessalians except the exiles for the time being--hung on his heels [3] and did him damage.
[1] See 'Pol. Lac.' xiv. 4.
[2] See below, 'Hell.' IV. viii. 3.
[3] See 'Ages.' ii. 2; Grote, 'H. G.' ix. 420, note 2.
For some while he marched his troops in a hollow square,[4] posting half his cavalry in front and half on his rear; but finding that the Thessalians checked his passage by repeated charges from behind, he strengthened his rearguard by sending round the cavalry from his van, with the exception of his own personal escort.[5] The two armies stood confronted in battle order; but the Thessalians, not liking the notion of a cavalry engagement with heavy infantry, turned, and step by step retreated, while the others followed them with considerable caution. Agesilaus, perceiving the error under which both alike laboured, now sent his own personal guard of stalwart troopers with orders that both they and the rest of the horsemen should charge at full gallop,[6] and not give the enemy the chance to recoil. The Thessalians were taken aback by this unexpected onslaught, and half of them never thought of wheeling about, whilst those who did essay to do so presented the flanks of their horses to the charge,[7] and were made prisoners. Still Polymarchus of Pharsalus, the general in command of their cavalry, rallied his men for an instant, and fell, sword in hand, with his immediate followers. This was the signal for a flight so precipitate on the part of the Thessalians, that their dead and dying lined the road, and prisoners were taken; nor was any halt made until they reached Mount Narthacius. Here, then, midway between Pras and Narthacius, Agesilaus set up a trophy, halting for the moment, in unfeigned satisfaction at the exploit. It was from antagonists who prided themselves on their cavalry beyond everything that he had wrested victory, with a body of cavalry of his own mustering. Next day he crossed the mountains of Achaea Phthiotis, and for the future continued his march through friendly territory until he reached the confines of Boeotia.
[4] See Rustow and Kochly, S. 187 foll.
[5] See Thuc. v. 72; Herod. vi. 56, viii. 124.
[6] Lit. 'and bids them pass the order to the others and themselves to charge,' etc.
[7] See 'Horsemanship,' vii. 16; Polyb. iv. 8.
Here, at the entrance of that territory, the sun (in partial eclipse)[8] seemed to appear in a crescent shape, and the news reached him of the defeat of the Lacedaemonians in a naval engagement, and the death of the admiral Peisander. Details of the disaster were not wanting. The engagement of the hostile fleets took place off Cnidus. Pharnabazus, the Persian admiral, was present with the Phoenician fleet, and in front of him were ranged the ships of the Hellenic squadron under Conon. Peisander had ventured to draw out his squadron to meet the combined fleets, though the numerical inferiority of his fleet to that of the Hellenic navy under Conon was conspicuous, and he had the mortification of seeing the allies who formed his left wing take to flight immediately. He himself came to close quarters with the enemy, and was driven on shore, on board his trireme, under pressure of the hostile rams. The rest, as many as were driven to shore, deserted their ships and sought safety as best they could in the territory of Cnidus. The admiral alone stuck to his ship, and fell sword in hand.
[8] B.C. 394, August 14.
It was impossible for Agesilaus not to feel depressed by those tidings at first; on further reflection, however, it seemed to him that the moral quality of more than half his troops well entitled them to share in the sunshine of success, but in the day of trouble, when things looked black, he was not bound to take them into his confidence. Accordingly he turned round and gave out that he had received news that Peisander was dead, but that he had fallen in the arms of victory in a sea-fight; and suiting his action to the word, he proceeded to offer sacrifice in return for good tidings,[9] distributing portions of the victims to a large number of recipients. So it befell that in the first skirmish with the enemy the troops of Agesilaus gained the upper hand, in consequence of the report that the Lacedaemonians had won a victory by sea.
[9] 'Splendide mendax.' For the ethics of the matter, see 'Mem.' IV. ii. 17; 'Cyrop.' I. vi. 31.
To confront Agesilaus stood an army composed of the Boeotians, Athenians, Argives, Corinthians, Aenianians, Euboeans, and both divisions of the Locrians. Agesilaus on his side had with him a division[10] of Lacedaemonians, which had crossed from Corinth, also half the division from Orchomenus; besides which there were the neodamodes[11] from Lacedaemon, on service with him already; and in addition to these the foreign contingent under Herippidas;[12] and again the quota furnished by the Hellenic cities in Asia, with others from the cities in Europe which he had brought over during his progress; and lastly, there were additional levies from the spot-- Orchomenian and Phocian heavy infantry. In light-armed troops, it must be admitted, the numbers told heavily in favour of Agesilaus, but the cavalry[13] on both sides were fairly balanced.
[10] Lit. 'a mora'; for the numbers, see 'Ages.' ii. 6; Plut. 'Ages.' 17; Grote, 'H. G.' ix. 433.
[11] I.e. 'enfranchised helots.'
[12] See 'Ages.' ii. 10, 11; and above, 'Hell.' III. iv. 20.
[13] See Hicks, op. cit. 68.
Such were the forces of either party. I will describe the battle itself, if only on account of certain features which distinguish it from the battles of our time. The two armies met on the plain of Coronea--the troops of Agesilaus advancing from the Cephisus, the Thebans and their allies from the slopes of Helicon. Agesilaus commanded his
