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Such, they say, was the reply made by the council, in spite of the
oracle which forbade them to enter into a league with the Greeks.
For, while not without fear of disobeying the oracle, they were
greatly desirous of obtaining a thirty years' truce, to give time for
their sons to grow to man's estate. They reflected, that if no such
truce were concluded, and it should be their lot to suffer a second
calamity at the hands of the Persians, it was likely they would fall
hopelessly under the power of Sparta. But to the demands of the
Argive council the Lacedaemonian envoys made answer - "They would
bring before the people the question of concluding a truce. With
regard to the leadership, they had received orders what to say, and
the reply was that Sparta had two kings, Argos but one - it was not
possible that either of the two Spartans should be stripped of his
dignity - but they did not oppose the Argive king having one vote like
each of them." The Argives say that they could not brook this
arrogance on the part of Sparta, and rather than yield one jot to it,
they preferred to be under the rule of the barbarians. So they told
the envoys to be gone, before sunset, from their territory, or they
should be treated as enemies.
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