CHAPTER LXXVIII.

BATTLE OF LEUKTRA AND ITS CONSEQUENCES.

Measures for executing the stipulations made at the congress of Sparta.—Violent impulse of the Spartans against Thebes.—King Kleombrotus is ordered to march into Bœotia, and encamps at Leuktra.—New order of battle adopted by Epaminondas.—Confidence of the Spartans and of Kleombrotus.—Battle of Leuktra.—Defeat of the Spartans and death of Kleombrotus.—Faint adherence of the Spartan allies.—Spartan camp after the defeat—confession of defeat by sending to solicit the burial-truce.—Great surprise, and immense alteration of feeling, produced throughout Greece by the Theban victory.—Effect of the news at Sparta—heroic self-command.—Reinforcements sent from Sparta.—Proceedings in Bœotia after the battle of Leuktra. The Theban victory not well received at Athens.—Jason of Pheræ arrives at Leuktra—the Spartan army retires from Bœotia under capitulation.—Treatment of the defeated citizens on reaching Sparta—suspension of the law.—Lowered estimation of Sparta in Greece—prestige of military superiority lost.—Extension of the power of Thebes. Treatment of Orchomenus and Thespiæ.—Power and ambition of Jason.—Plans of Jason—Pythian festival.—Assassination of Jason at Pheræ.—Relief to Thebes by the death of Jason—satisfaction in Greece.—Proceedings in Peloponnesus after the defeat of Leuktra. Expulsion of the Spartan harmosts and dekarchies.—Skytalism at Argos—violent intestine feud.—Discouragement and helplessness of Sparta.—Athens places herself at the head of a new Peloponnesian land-confederacy.—Accusation preferred in the Amphyctionic assembly, by Thebes against Sparta.—The Spartans are condemned to a fine—importance of this fact as an indication.—Proceedings in Arcadia.—Reëstablishment of the city of Mantinea by its own citizens.—Humiliating refusal experienced by Agesilaus from the Mantineans—keenly painful to a Spartan.—Feeling against Agesilaus at Sparta.—Impulse among the Arcadians towards Pan-Arcadian union. Opposition from Orchomenus and Tegea.—Revolution at Tegea—the philo-Spartan party are put down or expelled.—Tegea becomes anti-Spartan, and favorable to the Pan-Arcadian union.—Pan-Arcadian union is formed.—March of Agesilaus against Mantinea. Evidence of lowered sentiment in Sparta.—Application by the Arcadians to Athens for aid against Sparta; it is refused: they then apply to the Thebans.—Proceedings and views of Epaminondas since the battle of Leuktra.—Plans of Epaminondas for restoring the Messenians in Peloponnesus.—Also, for consolidating the Arcadians against Sparta.—Epaminondas and the Theban army arrive in Arcadia. Great allied force assembled there. The allies entreat him to invade Laconia.—Reluctance of Epaminondas to invade Laconia—reasonable grounds for it.—He marches into Laconia—four lines of invasion.—He crosses the Eurotas and approaches close to Sparta.—Alarm at Sparta—arrival of various allies to her aid by sea.—Discontent in Laconia among the Periœki and Helots—danger to Sparta from that cause.—Vigilant defence of Sparta by Agesilaus.—Violent emotion of the Spartans, especially the women. Partial attack upon Sparta by Epaminondas.—He retires without attempting to storm Sparta: ravages Laconia down to Gythium. He returns into Arcadia.—Great effect of this invasion upon Grecian opinion—Epaminondas is exalted, and Sparta farther lowered.—Foundation of the Arcadian Megalopolis.—Foundation of Messênê.—Abstraction of Western Laconia from Sparta.—Periœki and Helots established as freemen along with the Messenians on the Lacedæmonian border.—The details of this reorganizing process unhappily unknown.—Megalopolis—the Pan-Arcadian Ten Thousand.—Epaminondas and his army evacuate Peloponnesus.—The Spartans solicit aid from Athens—language of their envoys, as well as those from Corinth and Phlius, at Athens.—Reception of the envoys—the Athenians grant the prayer.—Vote passed to aid Sparta—Iphikrates is named general.—March of Iphikrates and his army to the Isthmus.—Trial of Epaminondas at Thebes for retaining his command beyond the legal time—his honorable and easy acquittal. 174-241