Page:History of Greece Vol IX.djvu/247

 INVASION OF THE ELEIAN TERRITORY. 225 The Eleians refused compliance with the demand thus sent; alleging that their dependent cities were held by the right of con- quest. They even retorted upon the Lacedaemonians the charge of enslaving Greeks ; l upon which Agis marched with an army to invade their territory, entering it from the north side where it joined Achaia. Hardly had he crossed the frontier river Larissus and begun his ravages, when an earthquake occurred. Such an event, usually construed in Greece as a divine warning, acted on this occasion so strongly on the religious susceptibilities of Agis, that he not only withdrew from the Eleian territory, but disbanded his army. His retreat gave so much additional courage to the Eleians, that they sent envoys and tried to establish alliances among those cities which they knew to be alienated from Sparta. Not even Thebes and Corinth, however, could be induced to assist them ; nor did they obtain any other aid except one thousand men from ^Etolia. In the next summer Agis undertook a second expedition, accom- panied on this occasion by all the allies of Sparta ; even by the Athenians, now enrolled upon the list. Thebes and Corinth alone etood aloof. On this occasion he approached from the opposite or southern side, that of the territory once called Messenia ; passing through Aulon, and crossing the river Neda. He marched through Triphylia to the river Alpheius, which he crossed, and then pro- ceeded to Olympia, where he consummated the sacrifice from which the Eleians had before excluded him. In his march he was joined by the inhabitants of Lepreum, Makistus, and other dependent towns, which now threw off their subjection to Elis. Thus rein- forced, Agis proceeded onward towards the city of Elis, through a productive country under flourishing agriculture, enriched by the crowds and sacrifices at the neighboring Olympic temple, and for 1 Diodor. xiv, 17. Diodorus introduces in these transactions King Pausanias, not King Agis, as the acting person. Pausanias states (iii, 8, 2) that the Eleians, in returning a negative answei to the requisition of Sparta, added that they would enfranchise their Peri- ceki, when they saw Sparta enfranchise her own. This answer appears to me highly improhable, under the existing circumstances of Sparta and het relations to the other Grecian states. Allusion to the relations between Sparta and her Periceki was a novelty, even in 371 B.C., at the congress which preceded the battle of Leuktra. VOL. IX. 10* 150C.