Complete Works of Xenophon (Illustrated) (Delphi Ancient Classics) (108 page)

By these words he caused silence on the part of all, while at the same time he gave pleasure to those who were angry with the Lacedaemonians. After him Callistratus said: “Men of Lacedaemon, that mistakes have not been made, both on our side and on yours, I for one do not think I could assert; but I do not hold to the opinion that one ought never again to have any dealings with people who make mistakes. For I see that no one in the world remains always free from error. And it seems to me that through making mistakes men sometimes become even easier to deal with, especially if they have incurred punishment in consequence of their mistakes, as we have.
[11]
In your own case, also, I see that sometimes many reverses result from the things you have done with too little judgment, among which was, in fact, the seizure of the Cadmea in Thebes; now, at any rate, the cities which you were eager to make independent have all, in consequence of the wrong done to the Thebans, fallen again under their power. Hence I hope that now, when we have been taught that to seek selfish advantage is unprofitable, we shall again be reasonable in our friendship with each other.
[12]
Now touching the slanderous allegations of certain people who wish to defeat the peace, to the effect that we have come here, not because we desire friendship, but rather because we fear that Antalcidas may arrive with money from the King, consider how foolishly they are talking. For the King directed, as you know, that all the cities in Greece were to be independent; why then should we, who agree with the King in both word and deed, be afraid of him? Or does anyone imagine that the King prefers to spend money and make others great, rather than, without expense, to have those things accomplished for him which he judged to be best?
[13]

“So much for that. Why, then, have we come? That it surely is not because we are in straits, you could discover, if you please, by looking at the situation by sea or, if you please, at the situation by land at the present time. What, then, is the reason? Manifestly that some of our allies are doing what is not pleasing to us. And perhaps we also should like to show you the gratitude we rightly conceived toward you because you preserved us.
[14]
Furthermore, to mention also the matter of expediency, there are, of course, among all the cities of Greece, some that take your side and others that take ours, and in each single city some people favour the Lacedaemonians and others the Athenians. If, therefore, we should become friends, from what quarter could we with reason expect any trouble? For who could prove strong enough to vex us by land if you were our friends? And who could do you any harm by sea if we were favourably inclined toward you?
[15]
Moreover, we all know that wars are forever breaking out and being concluded, and that we — if not now, still at some future time — shall desire peace again. Why, then, should we wait for the time when we shall have become exhausted by a multitude of ills, and not rather conclude peace as quickly as possible before anything irremediable happens?
[16]
Again, I for my part do not commend those men who, when they have become competitors in the games and have already been victorious many times and enjoy fame, are so fond of contest that they do not stop until they are defeated and so end their athletic training; nor on the other hand do I commend those dicers who, if they win one success, throw for double stakes, for I see that the majority of such people become utterly impoverished.
[17]
We, then, seeing these things, ought never to engage in a contest of such a sort that we shall either win all or lose all, but ought rather to become friends of one another while we are still strong and successful. For thus we through you, and you through us, could play even a greater part in Greece than in times gone by.”
[18]

Since these men were adjudged to have spoken rightly, the Lacedaemonians voted to accept the peace, with the provision that all should withdraw their governors from the cities, disband their armaments both on sea and on land, and leave the cities independent. And if any state should act in violation of this agreement, it was provided that any which so desired might aid the injured cities, but that any which did not so desire was not under oath to be the ally of those who were injured.
[19]
On these terms the Lacedaemonians took the oath for themselves and their allies, while the Athenians and their allies took the oath severally, city by city. The Thebans also signed their names among the cities which had sworn, but on the following day their ambassadors came in again and demanded that the writing be changed to read that “the Boeotians” instead of “the Thebans” had sworn. Agesilaus, however, replied that he would change no part of what they had sworn to and signed in the first place; but if they did not wish to be included in the treaty, he said that he would strike out their names if they so directed.
[20]
When, accordingly, under these circumstances the others had concluded peace, while the only controversy was with the Thebans, the Athenians were of the opinion that now there was hope that the Thebans would be decimated, as the common saying puts it, and as for the Thebans themselves, they went home utterly despondent.

4.

After this the Athenians, on their side, proceeded to withdraw their garrisons from the cities and to send after Iphicrates and his ships, and they compelled him to give back everything which he had captured after the time when the oaths were taken at Lacedaemon.
[2]
But the Lacedaemonians, on the other hand, while they withdrew both their governors and their garrisons from all the other cities, did not follow this course in the case of Cleombrotus, who was at the head of the army in Phocis and now asked the authorities at home what he should do. Prothous did indeed say that it seemed to him they ought first to disband the army in accordance with their oaths and send round word to the various cities to make contributions, as large as each city chose to make, to the temple of Apollo, and afterwards, in case anyone tried to prevent the cities from being independent, to call together again at that time all who wished to support the cause of independence and lead them against those who opposed it; for he thought, he continued, that in this way the gods would be most favourably inclined toward them and the cities would be least annoyed.
[3]
The Lacedaemonian assembly, however, upon hearing these words, came to the conclusion that he was talking nonsense; for at this moment, as it seems, Fate was leading them on; and they sent orders to Cleombrotus not to disband his army, but to lead it at once against the Thebans if they did not leave the cities independent. When, therefore, he learned that, so far from leaving the cities independent, the Thebans were not even disbanding their army, in order that they might marshal themselves against him, under these circumstances he undertook to lead his troops into Boeotia.

Now Cleombrotus did not enter Boeotia from Phocis at the point where the Thebans expected him to enter and where they were keeping guard at a narrow pass; but proceeding by way of Thisbae along a mountainous and unexpected route, he arrived at Creusis, captured its wall, and took twelve triremes belonging to the Thebans.
[4]
After accomplishing this exploit and marching up from the sea-coast, he encamped at Leuctra, in the territory of Thespiae. And the Thebans encamped on the opposite hill not very far away, with no allies except the Boeotians. Then his friends went to Cleombrotus and said:
[5]
“Cleombrotus, if you let the Thebans escape without a battle, you will be in danger of suffering the uttermost penalty at the hands of your state. For they will remember against you not only the time when you reached Cynoscephalae and laid waste no part of the country of the Thebans, but also the time when, on your later expedition, you were beaten back from effecting your entrace, although Agesilaus always made his entrance by way of Cithaeron. Therefore if you really have a care for yourself or a desire to see your fatherland again, you must lead against these men.” Such were the words of his friends; but his opponents said: “Now is the time when the man will make it clear whether he is in truth partial to the Thebans, as rumour has it.”
[6]

Cleombrotus, then, as he heard these things was spurred on to join battle. The leaders of the Thebans, on the other hand, calculated that if they did not fight, the cities round about would revolt from them and they would themselves be besieged; further, that if the people of Thebes were thus cut off from provisions, the city itself would be in danger of turning against them. And since many of them had been in exile before, they estimated that it was better to die fighting than to be exiled again.
[7]
Besides this, they were also somewhat encouraged by the oracle which was reported — that the Lacedaemonians were destined to be defeated at the spot where stood the monument of the virgins, who are said to have killed themselves because they had been violated by certain Lacedaemonians. The Thebans accordingly decorated this monument before the battle. Furthermore, reports were brought to them from the city that all the temples were opening of themselves, and that the priestesses said that the gods revealed victory. And the messengers reported that from the Heracleium the arms also had disappeared, indicating that Heracles had gone forth to the battle. Some, to be sure, say that all these things were but devices of the leaders.
[8]
But in the battle, at any rate, everything turned out adversely for the Lacedaemonians, while for the other side everything went prosperously, even to the gifts of fortune. For it was after the morning meal that Cleombrotus held his last council over the battle, and drinking a little, as they did, at the middle of the day, it was said that the wine helped somewhat to excite them.
[9]
Again, when both sides were arming themselves and it was already evident that there would be a battle, in the first place, after those who had provided the market and some baggage-carriers and such as did not wish to fight had set out to withdraw from the Boeotian army, the Lacedaemonian mercenaries under Hieron, the peltasts of the Phocians, and, among the horsemen, the Heracleots and Phliasians made a circuit and fell upon these people as they were departing, and not only turned them about but chased them back to the camp of the Boeotians. Thereby they made the Boeotian army much larger and more densely massed than it had been before.
[10]
In the second place, since the space between the armies was a plain, the Lacedaemonians posted their horsemen in front of their phalanx, and the Thebans in like manner posted theirs over against them. Now the cavalry of the Thebans was in good training as a result of the war with the Orchomenians and the war with the Thespians, while the cavalry of the Lacedaemonians was exceedingly poor at that time.
[11]
For the richest men kept the horses, and it was only when the ban was called out that the appointed trooper presented himself; then he would get his horse and such arms as were given him, and take the field on the moment’s notice. As for the men, on the other hand, it was those who were least strong of body and least ambitious who were mounted on the horses.
[12]
Such, then, was the cavalry on either side. Coming now to the infantry, it was said that the Lacedaemonians led each half-company three files abreast, and that this resulted in the phalanx being not more than twelve men deep. The Thebans, however, were massed not less than fifty shields deep, calculating that if they conquered that part of the army which was around the king, all the rest of it would be easy to overcome.
[13]

Now when Cleombrotus began to lead his army against the enemy, in the first place, before the troops under him so much as perceived that he was advancing, the horsemen had already joined battle and those of the Lacedaemonians had speedily been worsted; then in their flight they had fallen foul of their own hoplites, and, besides, the companies of the Thebans were now charging upon them. Nevertheless, the fact that Cleombrotus and his men were at first victorious in the battle may be known from this clear indication: they would not have been able to take him up and carry him off still living, had not those who were fighting in front of him been holding the advantage at that time.
[14]
But when Deinon, the polemarch, Sphodrias, one of the king’s tent-companions, and Cleonymus, the son of Sphodrias, had been killed, then the royal bodyguard, the so-called aides of the polemarch, and the others fell back under the pressure of the Theban mass, while those who were on the left wing of the Lacedaemonians, when they saw that the right wing was being pushed back, gave way. Yet despite the fact that many had fallen and that they were defeated, after they had crossed the trench which chanced to be in front of their camp they grounded their arms at the spot from which they had set forth. The camp, to be sure, was not on ground which was altogether level, but rather on the slope of a hill. After the disaster some of the Lacedaemonians, thinking it unendurable, said that they ought to prevent the enemy from setting up their trophy and to try to recover the bodies of the dead, not by means of a truce, but by fighting.
[15]
The polemarchs, however, seeing that of the whole number of the Lacedaemonians almost a thousand had been killed; seeing, further, that among the Spartiatae themselves, of whom there were some seven hundred there, about four hundred had fallen; and perceiving that the allies were one and all without heart for fighting, while some of them were not even displeased at what had taken place, gathered together the most important personages and deliberated about what they should do. And as all thought it best to recover the bodies of the dead by a truce, they finally sent a herald to ask for a truce. After this, then, the Thebans set up a trophy and gave back the bodies under a truce.
[16]

After these things had happened, the messenger who was sent to carry the news of the calamity to Lacedaemon arrived there on the last day of the festival of the Gymnopaediae, when the chorus of men was in the theatre. And when the ephors heard of the disaster, they were indeed distressed, as, I conceive, was inevitable; yet they did not withdraw the chorus, but suffered it to finish its performance. Further, although they duly gave the names of the dead to their several kinsmen, they gave orders to the women not to make any outcry, but to bear the calamity in silence. And on the following day one could see those whose relatives had been killed going about in public with bright and cheerful faces, while of those whose relatives had been reported as living you would have seen but few, and these few walking about gloomy and downcast.
[17]