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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[39] 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;[40] 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[41]
and did him damage.
For some while he marched his troops in a hollow square,[42] 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.[43] 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,[44] 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,[45] 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.
Here, at the entrance of that territory, the sun (in partial
eclipse)[46] 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.
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,[47] 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.
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[48] of Lacedaemonians, which had crossed from Corinth, also
half the division from Orchomenus; besides which there were the
neodamodes[49] from Lacedaemon, on service with him already; and in
addition to these the foreign contingent under Herippidas;[50] 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[51] on both sides were fairly balanced.
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 own right in person, with the men of Orchomenus on his
extreme left. The Thebans formed their own right, while the Argives
held their left. As they drew together, for a while deep silence
reigned on either side; but when they were not more than a furlong[52]
apart, with the loud hurrah[53] the Thebans, quickening to a run,
rushed furiously[54] to close quarters; and now there was barely a
hundred yards[55] breadth between the two armies, when Herippidas with
his foreign brigade, and with them the Ionians, Aeolians, and
Hellespontines, darted out from the Spartans' battle-lines to greet
their onset. One and all of the above played their part in the first
rush forward; in another instant they were[56] within spear-thrust of
the enemy, and had routed the section immediately before them. As to
the Argives, they actually declined to receive the attack of
Agesilaus, and betook themselves in flight to Helicon. At this moment
some of the foreign division were already in the act of crowning
Agesilaus with the wreath of victory, when some one brought him word
that the Thebans had cut through the Orchomenians and were in among
the baggage train. At this the Spartan general immediately turned his
army right about and advanced against them. The Thebans, on their
side, catching sight of their allies withdrawn in flight to the base
of the Helicon, and anxious to get across to their own friends, formed
in close order and tramped forward stoutly.
At this point no one will dispute the valour of Agesilaus, but he
certainly did not choose the safest course. It was open to him to make
way for the enemy to pass, which done, he might have hung upon his
heels and mastered his rear. This, however, he refused to do,
preferring to crash full front against the Thebans. Thereupon, with
close interlock of shield wedged in with shield, they shoved, they
fought, they dealt death,[57] they breathed out life, till at last a
portion of the Thebans broke their way through towards Helicon, but
paid for that departure by the loss of many lives. And now the victory
of Agesilaus was fairly won, and he himself, wounded, had been carried
back to the main line, when a party of horse came galloping up to tell
him that something like eighty of the enemy, under arms, were
sheltering under the temple, and they asked what they ought to do.
Agesilaus, though he was covered with wounds, did not, for all that,
forget his duty to God. He gave orders to let them retire unscathed,
and would not suffer any injury to be done to them. And now, seeing it
was already late, they took their suppers and retired to rest.
But with the morning Gylis the polemarch received orders to draw up
the troops in battle order, and to set up a trophy, every man crowned
with a wreath in honour of the god, and all the pipers piping. Thus
they busied themselves in the Spartan camp. On their side the Thebans
sent heralds asking to bury their dead, under a truce; and in this
wise a truce was made. Agesilaus withdrew to Delphi, where on arrival
he offered to the god a tithe of the produce of his spoils--no less
than a hundred talents.[58] Gylis the polemarch meanwhile withdrew
into Phocis at the head of his troops, and from that district made a
hostile advance into Locris. Here nearly a whole day was spent by the
men in freely helping themselves to goods and chattels out of the
villages and pillaging the corn;[59] but as it drew towards evening
the troops began to retire, with the Lacedaemonians in the rear. The
Locrians hung upon their heels with a heavy pelt of stones and
javelins. Thereupon the Lacedaemonians turned short round and gave
chase, laying some of their assailants low. Then the Locrians ceased
clinging to their rear, but continued their volleys from the vantage-
ground above. The Lacedaemonians again made efforts to pursue their
persistent foes even up the slope. At last darkness descended on them,
and as they retired man after man dropped, succumbing to the sheer
difficulty of the ground; some in their inability to see what lay in
front, or else shot down by the enemy's missiles. It was then that
Gylis the polemarch met his end, as also Pelles, who was on his
personal staff, and the whole of the Spartans present without
exception--eighteen or thereabouts--perished, either crushed by stones
or succumbing to other wounds. Indeed, except for timely aid brought
from the camp where the men were supping, the chances are that not a
man would have escaped to tell the tale.
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