THE HISTORY OF GREECE. CHAP. XI. From the death of Socrates, to the death of Epa minondas. AFTER the destruction of the Athenian power by Lysander, the Spartans were the next state that took the lead in the affairs of Greece, and the Eleans were the first that felt the weight of their resentment, for having refused to admit them to the Olympic games in common with the rest of the Greeks. About the same time, Agesilaus, being chosen king of Sparta, was sent into Asia with an army, under pretence of freeing the Grecian cities in that quarter. He gained a signal victory over Tissaphernes, near the river Pactolus, where he forced the enemy's camp, and found considerable plun der. The Persian monarch, afraid to oppose him openly in the field, endeavoured to subvert his in terest among the Grecian states by power of nioney; and in this he was but too successful. The first whom he gained over to his side, were the Thebans, and these were soon after followed by the Athenians, who gladly seized this opportunity of throwing off the Spartan yoke. In a little time, the Argives, Corinthians, Eubœans, and other states, acceded to the confederacy; so that the Spartans were obliged to recall Agesilaus out of Persia, where he was carrying on the war, in order to oppose the powerful combination that was now forming against them. But before his arrival, they were forced to come to an engagement with the enemy near Sicyon, where, though the Spartan allies were at first routed, yet they themselves, by their single valour, in the end gained the victory, with the loss of no more than eight men. This advantage, however, was in some measure counterbalanced by a loss at sea, which the Spartans sustained near Cnidus. Conon, the Athenian general, being appointed to command the Persian fleet against them, took fifty of their ships, and pursued the rest into port. Agesilaus, on the other hand, obtained a considerable victory over the Athenians, and their allies, upon the plains of Coronea. Thus was the war carried on by furious but undecisive engagements, till at length all parties growing |