Page:History of Greece Vol II.djvu/464

 448 HISTORY OF GREECE. was the " stroke and counter-stroke," in his hammer and anvil, as well as the " destruction upon destruction," in the murderous weapons which he was forging. Lichas said nothing, but re- turned to Sparta with his discovery, which he communicated to the authorities, who, by a concerted scheme, banished him under a pretended criminal accusation. He then returned again to Tegea, under the guise of an exile, prevailed upon the black- smith to let to him the premises, and when he found himself in possession, dug up and carried off to Sparta the bones of the venerated hero. 1 From and after this fortunate acquisition, the character of the contest was changed ; the Spartans found themselves constantly victorious over the Tegeans. But it does not seem that these victories led to any positive result, though they might perhaps serve to enforce the practical conviction of Spartan superiority ; for the territory of Tegea remained unimpaired, and its auto- nomy noway restrained. During the Persian invasion, Tegea appears as the willing ally of Lacedaemon, and as the second military power in the Peloponnesus ; 2 and we may fairly pre- sume that it was chiefly the strenuous resistance of the Tegeans which prevented the Lacedaemonians from extending their em- pire over the larger portion of the Arcadian communities. These latter always maintained their independence, though acknowledg- ing Sparta as the presiding power in Peloponnesus, and obeying her orders implicitly as to the disposal of their military force. And the influence which Sparta thus possessed over all Arcadia was one main item in her power, never seriously shaken until the battle of Leuktra; which took away her previous means of insuring success and plunder to her minor followers. 3 Having thus related the extension of the power of Sparta on her northern or Arcadian frontier, it remains to mention her acquisitions on the eastern and north-eastern side, towards Argos. Originally, as has been before stated, not merely the province of Kynuria and the Thyreatis, but also the whole coast down to the 1 Herod, i. 69-70. * Herod, ix. 26. 3 Xenoph. Hcllcn. T. 2, 19. 'QsTcep 'Apudtitf, orav /*&' i'/iiiJv lum, rd n ai>TtJv au&vai /cat r<i u^Aorpta apTruovffi, etc. This was said to the Lacedaemonians about ten years before the battle of Lenktra. .