Page:History of Greece Vol X.djvu/217

 JASON OF FHERJi. 195 doned upon submission, and re-admitted as members of the Boeo- tian confederacy. To the Thespians, however, the same lenity wag not extended. They were expelled from Boeotia, and their terri- tory annexed to Thebes. It will be recollected, that immediately before the battle of Leuktra, when Epaminondas caused proclama- tion to be made that such of the Boeotians as were disaffected to the Theban cause might march away, the Thespians had availed themselves of the permission and departed. 1 The fugitive Thes- pians found shelter, like the Platseans, at Athens. 2 While Thebes was commemorating her recent victory by the erection of a treasury chamber, 3 and the dedication of pious offer- ings at Delphi, while the military organization of Boeotia was receiving such marked improvement, and the cluster of dependent states attached to Thebes was thus becoming larger, under the able management of Epaminondas, Jason in Thessaly was also growing more powerful every day. He was tagus of all Thessaly ; with its tributary neighbors under complete obedience, with Macedonia partly dependent on him, and with a mercenary force, well paid and trained, greater than had ever been assembled in Greece. By dismantling Heraklea, in his return home from Boeotia, he had laid open the strait of Thermopylae, so as to be sure of access into southern Greece whenever he chose. His per- sonal ability and ambition, combined with his great power, inspired universal alarm ; for no man knew whither he would direct his arms ; whether to Asia, against the Persian king, as he was fond of boasting, 4 or northward against the cities in Chalkidike or southward against Greece. The last-mentioned plan seemed the most probable, at the be- ginning of 370 B. c., half a year after the battle of Leuktra : for Jason proclaimed distinctly his intention of being present at the Pythian festival (the season for which was about August 1, 370 B. c., near Delphi), not only with splendid presents and sacrifices to Apollo, but also at the head of a numerous army. Orders had 1 Pausan. ix, 13, 3 ; ix, 14, 1. s Xen. Hellen.vi, 3, 1. I have already given my reasons (in a note on the preceding chapter) for believing that the Thespians were not enroll Jef before the battl"** Leuktra. 3 Pausanias, x, 11, 4.
 * Isokrates, Or. v, (Philipp.) B. 141.