Page:History of Greece Vol IX.djvu/409

 TREATMENT OF CORINTH. 387 Thebes from her federal headship, and isolated her from the Boeo- tian cities. 1 The unmeasured and impatient miso-Theban bitterness of Agesi- laus, attested here by his friend and panegyrist, deserves especial notice ; for it will be found to explain much of the misconduct of Sparta and her officers during the ensuing years. There yet remained one compliance for Agesilaus to exact. The Argeian auxiliaries were not yet -withdrawn from Corinth ; and the Corinthian government might probably think that the terms of the peace, leaving their city autonomous, permitted them to retain or dismiss these auxiliaries at their own discretion. But it was not so that Agesilaus construed the peace ; and his construc- tion, right or wrong, was backed by the power of enforcement. He sent to inform both Argeians and Corinthians, that if the aux- iliaries were not withdrawn, he would march his army forthwith into both territories. No resistance could be offered to his peremptory mandate. The Argeians retired from Corinth ; and the vehement philo- Argeian Corinthians, especially those who had been concerned in the massacre at the festival of the Eukleia, retired at the same time into voluntary exile, thinking them- selves no longer safe in the town. They found a home partly at Argos, partly at Athens, 2 where they were most hospitably received. Those Corinthians who had before been in exile, and who, in con- cert with the Lacedaemonian garrison at Lechasum and Sikyon. had been engaged in bitter hostility against their countrymen in Corinth, were immediately readmitted into the city. According to Xenophon, their readmission was pronounced by the spontane- ous voice of the Corinthian citizens. 3 But we shall be more cor- rect in affirming, that it was procured by the same intimidating summons from Agesilaus which had extorted the dismissal of the Argeians. 4 The restoration of the exiles from Lechasum on the 1 Xen. Hcllen. v, 1, 32, 33. 8 Xen. Hellen. v, 1, 34; Demosthen. adv. Leptin. c. 13, p. 473. ifftoffdev ev-yovT(if. Agesilans (ii, 21), where it is made a matter of honor to the latter, that he would not consent to peace, except with a compulsory clause (ijvaynaae) that the Corinthian and Theban exiles should be restored. The Corinthiar
 * Xen, Hellen. v, 1, 34. Ol 6' uAAoi TtoTiiTai eKovref Karedexovro roitf
 * Such is in fact the version of the story in Xenophon's Encomium upon