Page:Thucydides, translated into English Vol 1.djvu/188

 72 BATTLES OF TANAGRA AND OENOPHYTA [l Crisaean Gulf, in which case the Athenian fleet would be sure to sail round and intercept them, or they might march over Mount Geraneia ; but this seemed dangerous when the Athenians were holding Megara and Pegae. The pass was not easy, and was always guarded by the Athenians, who were obviously intending to stop them by that route also. So they determined to remain in Boeotia and con- sider how they could best get home. They had another motive : — Certain Athenians were privately making over- tures to them, in the hope that they would put an end to the democracy and the building of the Long Walls. But the Athenians were aware of their embarrassment, and they also suspected their design against the democracy. So they went out to meet them with their whole force, together with a thousand Argives and contingents from the other allies ; they numbered in all fourteen thousand men. Among them were some Thessalian cavalry, who came to their aid in accordance with the treaty^, but these deserted to the Lacedaemonians during the engagement. io8 The battle was fought at Tanagra in Boeotia, and the Battle of Oenophyta. Lacedaemonians and their allies, after Surrender of Aegina. gj-gat slaughter on both sides, gained the victory. They then marched into the Megarian terri- tory, and, cutting down the fruit-trees, returned home by B.C. 456, way of Geraneia and the Isthmus. But on the sixty- ^'' second day after the battle, the Athenians made another expedition into Boeotia under the command of Myronides, and there was a battle at Oenophyta, in which they defeated the Boeotians and became masters of Boeotia and Phocis. They pulled down the walls of Tanagra and took as hostages from the Opuntian Locrians a hundred of their richest citizens. They then completed their own Long Walls. Soon afterwards the Aeginetans came to terms with the Athenians, dismantling their walls, sur- rendering their ships, and agreeing to pay tribute for the future. The Athenians, under the command of Tolmides ' Cp. i. 102