Page:History of Greece Vol IX.djvu/306

 284 HISTORY OF GREECE. CHAPTER LXXIV. FROM THE BATTLE OF KNIDUS TO THE BEBUIIDISG OF THB LONG WALLS OF ATHENS. HAVING in my last chapter carried the series of Asiatic events down to the battle of Knidus, hi the beginning of August, B. c. 394, at which period war was already raging on the other side of the -ZEgean, in Greece Proper, I now take up the thread of events from a period somewhat earlier, to show how this last-mentioned war, commonly called the Corinthian war, began. At the accession of Agesilaus to the throne, hi 398 B. c., the power of Sparta throughout all Greece from Laconia to Thessaly, was greater than it had ever been, and greater than any Grecian state had ever enjoyed before. The burden of the long war against Athens she had borne hi far less proportion than her allies ; its fruits she had reaped exclusively for herself. There prevailed consequently among her allies a general discontent, which Thebes as well as Corinth manifested by refusing to take part in the recent expeditions ; either of Pausanias against Thrasybulus and the Athenian exiles in Peiraeus, or of Agis against the Eleians, or of Agesilaus against the Persians in Asia Minor. The Eleians were completely humbled by the in asions of Agis ; all the other cities in Peloponnesus, from appreuemion, from ancient habit, and from being governed by oligarchies who leaned on Sparta for sup- port, were obedient to her authority, with the single exception of Argos, which remained, as before, neutral and quiet, though in sentiment unfriendly. Athens was a simple unit in the catalogue of Spartan allies, furnishing her contingent, like the rest, to be commanded by the xenagus, or officer sent from Sparta for the special purpose of commanding such foreign contingents. In the northern regions of Greece, the advance of Spartan power is yet more remarkable. Looking back to the year 419 B. C. (about two years after th3 peace of Nikias), fcfparta had bct>.a so unable to protect her col my of Herakleia, in Trachis on the Ma- liac Gulf, near the strait of Thermopyla?, that the FirMuuw