Page:History of Greece Vol X.djvu/339

 LACEDAEMONIAN PRISONERS. 317 The Lacedaemonian troops retreated for some space into a wider breadth of ground, where they were again formed in battle order, yet greatly discouraged both by the repulse and by the communi- cation of the names of the slain, who were among the most dis- tinguished soldiers of Sparta. The Arcadians on the contrary were advancing to the charge in high spirits, when an ancient Spartan, stepping forth from the ranks, shouted with a loud voice " What need to fight, gentlemen ? Is it not better to conclude a truce and separate?" Both armies accepted the proposition joy- fully. The truce was concluded; the Lacedaemonians took up their dead and retired : the Arcadians also retreated to the spot where they had gained their advantage, and there erected their trophy. 1 Under the graphic description here given by Xenophon, seems to be concealed a defeat of the Lacedaemonians more serious than he likes to enunciate. The Arcadians completely gained their point, by continuing the blockade without interruption. One more attempt was made by the Lacedaemonians for the relief of their countrymen. Suddenly assailing the palisade at night, they succeeded in mas- tering the portion of it guarded by the Argeians. 2 They broke down an opening, and called to the besieged to hasten out. But the relief had come unexpected, so that only a few of those near at hand could profit by it to escape. The Arcadians, hurrying to the spot in large force, drove off the assailants and reenclosed the besieged, who were soon compelled to surrender for want of provisions. More than a hundred prisoners, Spartans and Perireki together, were distributed among the captors, Argeians, Thebans, Arcadians, and Messe- nians, one share to each. 3 Sixty years before, the capture of two hundred and twenty Spartans and Lacedaemonians in Sphak- teria, by Kleon and Demosthenes, had excited the extreme of in- credulous wonder throughout all Greece ; emphatically noted by the impartial Thucydides. 4 Now, not a trace of such sentiment appears, even in the philo-Laconian Xenophon. So sadly had Spartan glory declined ! 1 Xcn. Hellcn. vii, 4, 2025. '12f 6s, TrTiijcnov bvruv, uvafiorjaas n; TUI n-pea/Bvrgpuv elne Ti 6el f/fj.iif, w uvtipee, fiuxeadai, (AT? ov (nreiaa/iEvovi Siakv&Tivai ; uafievoi drj aft$OTepoi aKOvaavrec, eairsLaavTO. 'ApyetoDf, seems here just and necessary. 3 Xen. Hellen. vii, 4, 27. 4 TLucyd, iv, 40
 * Xcn. Hellen. vii, 4, 27. The conjecture of Palmerius, rov Kara rbt){