Page:History of Greece Vol X.djvu/275

 ALLIANCE BETWEEN ATHENS AND SPARTA. 25S before we advert to the achievements of Timotheus (36G-365 B. C.) in these regions, we must notice the main course of political conflict in Greece Proper, down to the partial pacification of 366 B. c. Though the Athenians had sent Iphikrates (in the winter of 370-369 B. c.) to rescue Sparta from the grasp of Epaminondas, the terms of a permanent alliance had not yet been settled between them ; envoys from Sparta and her allies visited Athens shortly afterwards for that purpose- All pretensions to exclusive head- 1 Xen. Hellcn. vii, 1,1. The words TG> iorepu ere* must denote the year beginning in the spring of 369 B.C. On this point I agree with Dr. Thirlwall (Hist. Gr. vol. v, ch. 40, p. 145 note) ; differing from him however (p. 146 note), as well as from Mr. Clinton, in this, that I place the second expedition of Epaminondas into Peloponnesus (as Sievers places it, p. 278) in 369 B.C.; not in 368 B.C. The narrative of Xenophon carries to my mind conviction that this is what he meant to affirm. In the beginning of Book VII, he says, T 6' iiarepu erst A.aKe6ai/j.oviuv Kal TUV avp/ua%av 7rpe avroxpaTopef a&' o,rt # av(j.fj.ax'ia eowro Now the words rip cT vorepu em denote the spring of 369 B. c. Xenophon goes on to describe the assembly and the discussion at Athens, respecting the terms of alliance. This description occupies, from vii, 1, 1 to vii, 1, 14, where the final vote and agreement is announced. Immediately after this vote, Xenophon goes on to say, ZTparevofievuv ff afifyoripuv aiiruv Kal TUV avfifiu^uv (Lacedaemonians, Athenians, and al- lies) elf Kopivdov, edoSs noivfj tivhuTTeiv rb 'Ovetov. Kal end e-nopevovro ol Qr/f3aloi Kal ol avfj,/^a^ot, Trapara^afiEvoi tyvXarrov a/l/lof aXhodev TOV 'Ovsiov. I conceive that the decision of the Athenian assembly, the march of the Athenians and Lacedaemonians to guard the lines of Oneion, and the march of the Thebans to enter Peloponnesus, are here placed by Xenophon as events in immediate sequence, with no long interval of time between them. I see no ground to admit the interval of a year between the vote of the assembly and the march of the Thebans : the more so, as Epaminondas might reasonably presume that the building of Megalopolis and Messene, recently begun, would need to be supported by another The- ban army in Peloponnesus during 369 B. c. It is indeed contended (and admitted even by Sievers) that Epaminondas could not have been reflected Bceotarch in 369 3. c. But in this point I do not concur. It appears to me that the issue of the trial at Thebes was triumphant for him ; thus making it more probable, not less probable, that he and Pelopidas were reeleeted Boectarcbs immediately.