to any of the other allies. The Lacedaemonians and allies followed
their general out of respect for the law, but amongst themselves
loudly blamed Agis for going away from so fair a field (the enemy
being hemmed in on every side by infantry and cavalry) without
having done anything worthy of their strength. Indeed this was by
far the finest Hellenic army ever yet brought together; and it
should have been seen while it was still united at Nemea, with the
Lacedaemonians in full force, the Arcadians, Boeotians, Corinthians,
Sicyonians, Pellenians, Phliasians and Megarians, and all these the
flower of their respective populations, thinking themselves a match
not merely for the Argive confederacy, but for another such added to
it. The army thus retired blaming Agis, and returned every man to
his home. The Argives however blamed still more loudly the persons who
had concluded the truce without consulting the people, themselves
thinking that they had let escape with the Lacedaemonians an
opportunity such as they should never see again; as the struggle would
have been under the walls of their city, and by the side of many and
brave allies. On their return accordingly they began to stone
Thrasylus in the bed of the Charadrus, where they try all military
causes before entering the city. Thrasylus fled to the altar, and so
saved his life; his property however they confiscated.
After this arrived a thousand Athenian heavy infantry and three
hundred horse, under the command of Laches and Nicostratus; whom the
Argives, being nevertheless loath to break the truce with the
Lacedaemonians, begged to depart, and refused to bring before the
people, to whom they had a communication to make, until compelled to
do so by the entreaties of the Mantineans and Eleans, who were still
at Argos. The Athenians, by the mouth of Alcibiades their ambassador
there present, told the Argives and the allies that they had no
right to make a truce at all without the consent of their fellow
confederates, and now that the Athenians had arrived so opportunely
the war ought to be resumed. These arguments proving successful with
the allies, they immediately marched upon Orchomenos, all except the
Argives, who, although they had consented like the rest, stayed behind
at first, but eventually joined the others. They now all sat down
and besieged Orchomenos, and made assaults upon it; one of their
reasons for desiring to gain this place being that hostages from
Arcadia had been lodged there by the Lacedaemonians. The Orchomenians,
alarmed at the weakness of their wall and the numbers of the enemy,
and at the risk they ran of perishing before relief arrived,
capitulated upon condition of joining the league, of giving hostages
of their own to the Mantineans, and giving up those lodged with them
by the Lacedaemonians. Orchomenos thus secured, the allies now
consulted as to which of the remaining places they should attack next.
The Eleans were urgent for Lepreum; the Mantineans for Tegea; and
the Argives and Athenians giving their support to the Mantineans,
the Eleans went home in a rage at their not having voted for
Lepreum; while the rest of the allies made ready at Mantinea for going
against Tegea, which a party inside had arranged to put into their
hands.
Meanwhile the Lacedaemonians, upon their return from Argos after
concluding the four months' truce, vehemently blamed Agis for not
having subdued Argos, after an opportunity such as they thought they
had never had before; for it was no easy matter to bring so many and
so good allies together. But when the news arrived of the capture of
Orchomenos, they became more angry than ever, and, departing from
all precedent, in the heat of the moment had almost decided to raze
his house, and to fine him ten thousand drachmae. Agis however
entreated them to do none of these things, promising to atone for
his fault by good service in the field, failing which they might
then do to him whatever they pleased; and they accordingly abstained
from razing his house or fining him as they had threatened to do,
and now made a law, hitherto unknown at Lacedaemon, attaching to him
ten Spartans as counsellors, without whose consent he should have no