Page:History of Greece Vol IX.djvu/326

 304 HISTORY OF GREECE. inth ; six thousand Athenian hoplites. seven thousand Argejan, five thousand Boeotian, those from Orchomenus being absent, three thousand Corinthian, three thousand from the different towns of Eubcea ; making twenty-four thousand in all. The total of cavalry was fifteen hundred and fifty ; composed of eight hun- dred Boeotian, six hundred Athenian, one hundred from Chalkis in Eubcea, and fifty from the Lokrians. The light troops also were numerous, partly Corinthian, drawn probably from the serf-population which tilled the fields, 1 partly Lokrians, Malians, and Akarnanians. The allied leaders, holding a council of war to arrange their plans, came to a resolution that the hoplites should not be drawn up hi deeper files than sixteen men, 2 hi order that there might be no chance of their being surrounded ; and that the right wing, carrying with it command for the time, should be alternated from day to day between the different cities. The confidence which the events of the last few months had infused into these leaders, now for the first time acting against their old leader Sparta, is surpris- ing. " There is nothing like marching to Sparta (said the Corin- thian Timolaus) and fighting the Lacedaemonians at or near their own home. We must burn out the wasps hi their nest, without letting them come forth to sting us. The Lacedaemonian force is like that of a river ; small at its source, and becoming formidable only by the affluents which it receives, in proportion to the length of its course." 3 The wisdom of this advice was remarkable ; but its boldness was yet more remarkable, when viewed in conjunction with the established feeling of awe towards Sparta. It was adopted by the general council of the allies ; but unfortunately the time for executing it had already passed ; for the Lacedaemonians were already in march and had crossed their own border. They took the line of road by Tegea and Mantineia (whose troops joined the 1 Xen. Hellen. iv, 2, 17. Kal ipiXbv <5e, i>j> rotf TUV Kopw&iuv, f>v, etc. Compare Hesychius, v, Kvvotfa/loi ; Welcker, Prafat. ad. Thcog nidem, p. xxxv ; K. 0. Mtiller, History of the Dorians, iii, 4, 3. 2 Xen. Hellen. iv, 2, 13 ; compare iv, 2, 18, where he says of the The bans a. it~kr) aavref roi> kf ticKo'iSsna, /3a$ai> Travre/laif iiroirjaavT-i rrjv tiu'kayya, etc., which implies an 1 alludes to the resolution previously taken. 1 Xen. Hellen. iv, 2, 11, 12.