Page:History of Greece Vol X.djvu/259

 tPHIKRATES AT CORINTH. 237 daemonians ; while the adverse speakers were badly listened to, aa pleading in favor of Thebes, whom no one wished to aggrandize farther. A vote, decisive and enthusiastic, was passed for assisting the Spartans with the full force of Athens ; under the command of Iphikrates, then residing as a private citizen 1 at Athens, since the peace of the preceding year, which had caused him to be re- called from Korkyra. As soon as the sacrifices, offered in contemplation of this enter- prise were announced to be favorable, Iphikrates made proclama- tion that the citizens destined for service should equip themselves and muster in arms in the grove of Akademus (outside the gates), there to take their evening meal, and to march the next morning at daybreak. Such was the general ardor, that many citizens went forth from the gates even in advance of Iphikrates himself; and the total force which followed him is said to have been twelve thou- sand men, not named under conscription by the general, but volunteers. 2 He first marched to Corinth, where he halted some days ; much to the discontent of his soldiers, who were impatient to accomplish their project of carrying rescue to Sparta. But Iphi- krates was well aware that all beyond Corinth was hostile ground, and that he had formidable enemies to deal with. After having established his position at Corinth, and obtained information re- garding the enemy, he marched into Arcadia, and there made war without any important result. Epaminondas and his army had quit- ted Laconia, while many of the Arcadians and Eleians had gone home with the plunder acquired ; so that Sparta was, for the time, out of danger. Impelled in part by the recent manifestation of Athens, 3 the Theban general himself soon commenced his march of return into Boaotia, in which it was necessary for him to pass the line of Mount Oneium between Corinth and Kenchreae. This line was composed of difficult ground, and afforded good means of resistance to the passage of an army ; nevertheless Iphikrates, though he occupied its two extremities, did not attempt directly to Xenokleides, a poet, spoke in opposition to the vote for supporting Spar- ta (ib.). 1 Xen. Hellen. vi, 5, 49; Dionys. Hal. Jadic. de LysiS, p. 479. 2 This number is stated by Diodorus (xv, 63). 3 To this extent we may believe what is said by Cornelius Ncpos (Iphi crates, c. 2