Page:History of Greece Vol X.djvu/294

 272 HISTORY OF GREECE. relief, it might almost be said, salvation, to the Phliasians, in the midst of cruel impoverishment; since even their necessary subsistence, except what was obtained by marauding excursions from the enemy, being derived by purchase from Corinth, was found difficult to pay for, and still more difficult to bring home, in the face ol an enemy. They were now enabled, by the aid of the Athenian general Chares and his mercenary troops from Corinth, to escort their families and their non-military population to Pel- lene, where a kindly shelter was provided by the citizens. The military Phliasians, while escorting back a stock of supplies to Phlius, broke through and defeated an ambuscade of the enemy in their way ; and afterwards, in conjunction with Chares, surprised the fort of Thyamia, which the Sikyonians were fortifying as an aggressive post on their borders. The fort became not only a de- fence for Phlius, but a means of aggression against the enemy, affording also great facility for the introduction of provisions from Corinth.i Another cause, both of these successes and of general relief to the Phliasians, arose out of the distracted state of affairs in Sikyon. So intolerable had the tyranny of Euphron become, that the Arcadians, who had helped to raise him up, became disgusted. ./Eneas of Stymphalus, general of the collective Arcadian force, marched with a body of troops to Sikyon, joined the Theban liar- most in the Acropolis, and there summoned the Sikyonian notables to an assembly. Under his protection, the intense sentiment against Euphron was freely manifested, and it was resolved to re- call the numerous exiles, whom he had banished without either trial or public sentence. Dreading the wrath of these numerous and bitter enemies, Euphron thought it prudent to retire with his mercenaries to the harbor ; where he invited Pasimelus the Lace- dasmonian to come, with a portion of the garrison of Corinth, and dient, which gives value to all that he says ; inasmuch as we are so con- stantly obliged to borrow our knowledge of Grecian history either from authors who write at second-hand and after the time, or from orators whose purposes are usually different from those of the historian. Hence I have given a short abridgment of these Phliasian ev(nts as described bj Xenophon, though they were too sligh lo axercise i ifluencc on the main eourse of the war. 1 Xen. Hellen. vii. 2, 18-23.