had scarce entered the town, when the Thebans were seen passing the Eurotas, and coming on against the city. Epaminondas, who perceived that his design was discovered, thought it incumbent on him not to retire without some attempt. He therefore made his troops advance; and making use of valour instead of stratagem, he attacked the city at several quarters, penetrated as far as the public place, and seized that part of Sparta which lay upon the hither side of the river. Agesilaus made head every where, and defended himself with much more valour than could be expected from his years. He saw well that it was not now a time, as before, to spare himself, and to act only upon the defensive; but that he had need of all his courage and daring, and to fight with all the vigour of despair. His son Archidamus, at the head of the Spartan youth, behaved with incredible valour wherever the danger was greatest; and, with his small troop, stopped the enemy, and made head against them on all sides. ; A young Spartan named Isadas, the son of Phæbidas, distinguished himself particularly in this action. He had a very handsome countenance, perfectly well shaped, of an advantageous stature, and in the flower of his youth; he had neither armour nor clothes upon's body, which shone with oil; he held a spear in one hand, and a sword in the other. In this condition he quitted his house with the utmost eargerness; and, breaking through the press of the Spartans that fought, he threw himself upon the enemy, gave mortal wounds at every blow, ́and laid all at his feet who opposed him, without receiving any hurt himself. Whether the enemy were dismayed at so astonishing a sight, or, says Plutarch, the gods took pleasure in preserving him upon account of his extraordinary valour; it is said, the Ephori decreed him a crown after the battle, in honour of his exploits; but afterwards fined him a thousand drachmas, for having exposed himself to so great a danger without arms. Epaminondas, thus failing in his design, was resolved, before he laid down his command, which was near expiring, to give the Lacedæmonians and Athenians battle, as they followed him close in the rear. The Greeks had never fought among themselves with more numerous armies. The Lacedæmonians consisted of more than twenty, thousand foot, and two thousand horse; the Thebans of thirty thousand foot, and three thousand horse. Upon the right wing of the former, the Mantineans, Arcadians, and Lacedæmonians, were posted in one line; the Eleans, Acheans, who were the weakest of their troops, had the centre; and the Athenians alone composed the left wing. In the other army the Thebans and Arcadians were on the left, the Argives on the right, and the other allies in the centre: the cavalry on each side were disposed in the wings. The Theban general marched in the same order of battle in which he intended to fight, that he might not be obliged, when he came up with the enemy, to lose, in the disposition of his army, a time which cannot be recovered when lost in great enterprizes. He did not march directly, and with his front to the enemy, but in a column upon the hills, with his left wing foremost; as if he did not intend to fight that day. When he was over against them, at a quarter of a league's distance, he made the troops halt, and lay down their arms, as if he designed to encamp there. The enemy, in effect, were deceived by his stand; and reckoning no longer upon a battle, they quitted their arms, dispersed themselves about the camp, and suffered that ardour to be extinguished which a near approach of a battle is wont to kindle in the hearts of the soldiers. Epaminondas, however, by suddenly wheeling his troops to the right, having changed his column into a line, and having drawn out the choice troops, whom he had expressly posted in front upon his march, he made them double their files upon the front of his left wing, to add to his strength, and to put it into a condition to attack in a point the Lacedæmonian phalanx, which, by the movement he had made, faced it directly. He ordered the centre and right wing of his army to move very slow, and to halt before they came up with the enemy, that he might not hazard the event of the battle upon the troops of which he had no great opinion. He expected to decide the victory by that body of chosen troops which he commanded in person, and which he had formed into a column to attack the enemy in a wedge-like point. He assured himself, that if he could penetrate the Lacedæmonian phalanx, in which the enemy's principal force consisted, he should not find it difficult to rout the rest of the army, by charging upon the right and left with his victorious troops. But that he might prevent the Athenians in the left wing from coming to the support of their right against his intended attack, he made *This was the order of battle which was found successful at Delium against the Athenians; and Epaminondas himself adopted the same disposition of his forces at Leuctra.-MITFORD. a detachment of his horse and foot advance out of the line, and posted them upon a rising ground, in readiness to flank the Athenians, as well to cover his right as to alarm them, and give them reason to apprehend being taken in flank and rear themselves, if they advanced to sustain their right. After having disposed his whole army in this manner, he moved on to charge the enemy with the whole weight of his column. They were strangely surprised when they saw Epaminondas advanced towards them in this order; and resumed their arms, bridled their horses, and made all the haste they could to their ranks. Whilst Epaminondas marched against the enemy, the cavalry that covered his flank on the left, the best at that time in Greece, entirely composed of Thebans and Thessalians, had orders to attack the enemy's horse. The Theban General, whom nothing escaped, had artfully bestowed bow-men, slingers, and dart-men in the intervals of his horse, in order to begin the disorders of the enemy's cavalry, by a previous discharge of a shower of arrows, stones, and javelins upon them. The other army had neglected to take the same precaution; and bad made another fault not less considerable, in giving as much depth to the squadrons as if they had been a phalanx. By this means they were incapable of supporting long the charge of the Thebans. After having made several ineffectual attacks with great loss, they were obliged to retire behind their infantry. In the mean time Epaminondas, with his body of foot, had charged the Lacedæmonian phalanx. The troops fought on both sides with incredible ardour, both the Thebans and LaceAemonians being resolved to perish rather than yield the glory of arms to their rivals. They began by fighting with the spear; and those first arms being soon broken in the fury of the combat, they charged each other sword in hand. The resistance was equally obstinate; and the slaughter very great on both sides. The troops despising danger, and desiring only to distinguish themselves by the greatness of their actions, chose rather to die in their ranks, than to lose a step of their ground. The furious slaughter on both sides having continued a great while, without the victory inclining to either, Epaminondas, to force it to declare for him, thought it his duty to make an extraordinary effort in person, without regard to the danger of his own life. He formed, therefore, a troop of the bravest and most determinate about him; and putting himself at the head of them, made a vigorous charge upon the enemy where the battle was most warm, and wounded the general of the Lacedæmonians with the first javelin he threw. This troop, by his example, having wounded or killed all that stood in their way, broke and penetrated the phalanx. The Lacedæmonians, dismayed by the presence of Epaminondas, and overpowered by the weight of that intrepid party, were reduced to give ground. The gross of the Theban troops, animated by their general's example and success, drove back the enemy upon his right and left, and made great slaughter of them. But some troops of the Spartans, perceiving that Epaminondas abandoned himself too much to his ardour, suddenly rallied, and, returning to the fight, charged him with a shower of javelins. Whilst he kept off part of those darts, shunned some of them, fenced off others and was fighting with the most heroic valour, |