Page:History of Greece Vol VII.djvu/39

21 SPARTAN INTERVENTION IN ARCADIA 21 Meanwhile the Lacedaemonians were not unmindful of the affront which they had sustained by the revolt of Mantineia and Elis. At the request of a party among the Parrhasii, the Arca- dian subjects of Mantineia, they marched under king Pleistoanax into that territory, and compelled the Mantineians to evacuate the fort which they had erected within it ; which the latter were unable to defend, though they received a body of Argeian troops to guard their city, and were thus enabled to march their whole force to the threatened spot. Besides liberating the Arcadian subjects of Mantineia, the Lacedaemonians also planted an addi- tional body of Helots and Neodamodes at Lepreum, as a defence and means of observation on the frontiers of Elis. 1 These were the Brasidean soldiers, whom Klearidas had now brought back from Thrace. The Helots among them had been manumitted as a reward, and allowed to reside where they chose. But as they had imbibed lessons of bravery under their distinguished com- mander, their presence would undoubtedly be dangerous among the serfs of Laconia : hence the disposition of the Lacedaemo- nians to plant them out. We may recollect that not very long before, they had caused two thousand of the most soldierly Helots to be secretly assassinated, without any ground of suspicion agains' these victims personally, but simply from fear of the whole body and of course greater fear of the bravest. 2 Upon which Dr. Arnold remarks : " By (ianovdoc is meant a mere agree- ment in words, not ratified by the solemnities of religion. And the Greeks, as we have seen, considered the breach of their word very different from the breach of their oath." Not so much is here meant even as that which Dr. Arnold suppose;. There was no agreement at all, either in words or by oath. There was a simple absence of hostilities, de facto, not arising out of any recognized pledge. Such is the meaning of uvaKux^h i> 66 ; iii, 25, 26. The answer here made by the Athenians to the application of Corinth is not easy to understand. They might, with much better reason, have de- clined to conclude the ten day's armistice with the Boeotians, because these latter still remained allies of Sparta, though refusing to accede to the gen eral peace ; whereas the Corinthians, having joined Argos, had less right to be considered allies of Sparta. Nevertheless, we shall still find them attend irig the meetings at Sparta, and acting as allies of the latter. 1 Thucyd. v, 33, 34. The Neodamodes were Helots previously enfrau ?hised, o> the sons of such. * Thucyd. iv, 80.