manifested their hostility by sending assistance to the Lo'crians against the Pho'cians, then in alliance with the Lacedæmonians. With their usual haughty rashness, the Lacedæmonian senate, without even condescending to remonstrate, sent Lysan'der to invade Boo'tia, and assembled a second army under king Pausa'nias to ensure the complete subjugation of the country. 14. Lysan'der having taken some of the smaller towns, laid siege to Haliar'tus, but perceiving the strength of its fortifications, he sent a trusty messenger to hasten the arrival of Pausa'nias. The letter was intercepted by the Thebans, who immediately prepared an ambush, and then by exhibiting every sign of fear, induced Lysan'der to attack the town without waiting for his sovereign. The artifice succeeded : Lysander on his approach to the town was surprised by a sudden and vigorous sally of the garrison; he was slain in the very first onset, and before his followers could recover from their confusion, their rear was assaulted by those who had been placed in ambush, and they fell or fled without resistance. Late in the day Pausa'nias arrived on the field of action; but finding the calamity irremediable, he sent to the Thebans for permission to bury the dead, thus according to the Grecian form acknowledging their claim to victory. 15. Their defeat at Haliar'tus induced the Spartans to recal Agesila'us from Asia, at the very moment when he seemed likely to humble the Persian empire in the dust. (B. C. 395.) He did not, however, hesitate, but assembled the deputies of the Asiatic Greeks, and bade them a final farewell; many of their soldiers accompanied him as volunteers, and he was thus enabled, after crossing the Hel'lespont, to pursue the route which Xerxes had taken in his invasion cf Greece, without any fear of being stopped by a superior force. 16. But the news of an unexpected calamity, which he had himself in some measure caused, reached him on his march, and made him sensible of the imminent danger that threatened the Spartan power. It has been already mentioned, that Co'non, after the battle of 'gos Po'tamos, had fled to the court of Evag'oras in Cyprus; by that monarch he had been recommended to the satrap Pharnaba zus, who employed the illustrious Athenian in collecting and preparing a fleet in the harbours of Phoenicia and Cili'cia. While Pha'rax was at the head of the Spartan navy, he prevented the union of the detached squadrons, but the ignorance of Pei'sander enabled Co'non to execute all his projects. 17. Having obtained a large sum of money from Artaxerxes, he hired the best sailors in the Greek islands, and soon after putting to sea, he united his squadron with that of Pharnaba zus, and sailed in search of the Lacedæmonians. The hostile fleets met off Cnei'dus, between the Sporades and the Asiatic coast; Pei'sander with his usual imprudence precipitated an engagement, in which he was defeated and slain, and the Spartans lost their supremacy by sea for ever. 18. The splendid victory which Agesila'us gained over the Thebans at Coronei'a, soon after the news reached him, could not compensate for the loss of the navy. 19. The Athe'nians, who had in some measure recovered their strength, began again to triumph on their favourite element, and Lacedæmon had no admiral able to compete with Co'non, Thrasybulus, and Cha'brias. The war continued eight years longer, but was principally confined to petty inroads and trifling skirmishes in the north of the Peloponne'sus, the Thebans issuing from Corinth, and the Spartans from Sicyon. 20. The Corinthian nobility would gladly have made a separate peace, but their leaders were treacherously murdered by the popular party, during the solemnity of a religious festival. (B. C. 394.) This treachery exposed Corinth to the mingled evils of foreign dominion and civil war; for the Argives embraced the side of the populace, the Spartans that of the nobles, and each alternately ruled Corinth as their respective parties prevailed. 21. Co'non, following up his victory, deprived the Spartans of all their cities in Lesser Asia, except Aby'dus, which Dercyl'lidas rendered impregnable. The only reward he asked from the Persians for his valuable services, was their assistance in rebuilding the walls of Athens, which Pharnaba'zus, moved as much by policy as gratitude, readily granted. (B. C. 393.) The Persian fleet, being entrusted to Co'non, reduced the islands of the Cyclades and Cythe'ra, ravaged the coasts of Laco'nia, and at length sailed to the long deserted harbours of Athens. 22. Immediately on their arrival, they proceeded to repair the ancient fortifications; the soldiers and sailors of the fleet, the neighbouring Boo'tians, but above all the inhabitants of Athens, laboured with such extraordinary diligence, that the city was restored to its former strength before the Spartans could take any measures for its prevention. Co'non then employed the Persian fleet in restoring the ancient supremacy of the Athenians over the islands in the Ægean Sea, a measure so alarming to the Spartans, that they resolved to purchase peace from Persia on any terms, however humiliating. 23. They employed as their agent Antal'cidas, a Spartan, who had long resided in the East, and who added to his native cunning an intimate acquaintance with Asiatic habits. The use made of the Persian fleet by Co'non, furnished him with a pretence for rousing the jealousy of the satraps; and he procured the arrest, and probably the murder of that admiral. 24. Still Artaxerxes had been too deeply injured by the Spartans to listen to terms of accommodation, and Antal'cidas might probably have failed, had not the Athenians provoked the resentment of the Persian monarch, by a rash incursion into Pamphy'lia, in which Thrasybu'lus was slain, and by aiding Evag'oras in an attempt to secure the independence of Cyprus. 25. The terms of the peace were at length settled, and never was any treaty signed that reflected more disgrace on a nation than this did on the Spartans. (B. C. 387.) All the Greek cities in Asia, with the peninsula of Clazome'næ, and the island of Cyprus, were given up to the Persians; all the republics of Greece, small and great, declared independent of each other, and the Spartans under the Persian monarch were charged with securing the observance of these articles. Thus did Sparta, in order to secure her own pre-eminence at home, sacrifice the liberty of the Asiatic Greeks, and make the ancient enemy of Hellas the supreme arbiter of her destiny. 26. After many vain remonstrances, Athens, Argos, Corinth, and Thebes, unable to resist the united forces of Sparta and Persia, reluctantly assented to the inglorious conditions; but Evagoras still determined to maintain Cyprus independent. After a gallant resistance, however, he was obliged to submit, but such was the respect inspired by his valour, that he was permitted to retain his original dominions on condition of paying the former tribute. Questions. 1. What were the consequences of the defeat of Cyrus? 2. To whom did the Spartans entrust the command of the troops in Asia? 3. What became of the relics of the Ten Thousand? 4. How did Thimbron behave in Asia? 5. Why were the Grecian and Persian generals equally unwilling to come to an engagement? 6. For what reason was Dercyllidas removed from the command? 7. How was Agesilaus raised to the Spartan throne ? 8. Why did Lysander assist Agesilaus ? 9. What was the character of the new Spartan king? 10. How did Agesilaus treat Lysander? 11. To whom was the Spartan navy entrusted? 12. Why did Artaxerxes easily succeed in exciting war against the Spartans in Greece? N 13. Whom did the Spartans send against the Thebans? 14. What were the circumstances of the battle of Haliartus? 15. How did Agesilaus return from Asia? 16. In what manner was Conon employed? 17. How was Sparta deprived of her supremacy by sea? 18. Did any victory by land compensate for the defeat at Cneidus? 19. How long did this war continue? 20. To what misfortunes was Corinth subjected? 21. Did Conon follow up his victories? 22. What benefit did Conon confer on his native country? 23. Whom did the Spartans employ to negotiate a peace? 24. How did the Athenians incur the resentment of Artaxerxes? 25. What were the conditions of the peace of Antalcidas? 26. Did any person refuse for a time to submit to these conditions? CHAPTER XI. The Third Peloponnesian War. Even now His spirit rose; the sense of power, the sight Of his brave people, ready where he led To fight their country's battles, and the thought From Sparta's yoke-revived his heart and gave SOUTHEY. 2. Overwhelm'ing, part. overcoming | 19. Contemp'orary, adj. living at the all resistance. same time. 4. Occupation, s. taking possession. 20. Importun'ities, s. vehement re6. Strat'agem, s. cunning artifice. 18. Invin'cible, adj. not to be conquered. quests. 1. THE supremacy which Sparta had so disgracefully purchased by the peace of Antal'cidas was exercised with great severity. They declared war against the little state of Mantinei'a, under the pretence that its inhabitants had furnished corn to their enemies during the late war, and after encountering a fierce, but ineffectual resistance, levelled the city to the ground. They sent an army to regulate the internal condition of Phli'us, and cruelly massacred all those whom they suspected of hostility to their interests. (B. C. 383.) 2. Finally they proclaimed war against |