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[2] Indeed in those times the oligarchs had exercised authoritative control over their fellow citizens, and later as the democratic mob recovered its freedom it harboured a grudge. First, however, the exiles of Phialeia,1 rallying their forces, recovered Heraea,2 as it is called, a stronghold. And setting out from there, they swooped down upon Phialeia,3 and at a time when, as it happened, the festival of Dionysus was being celebrated, they fell unexpectedly upon the spectators in the theatre, killed many, persuaded not a few to participate in their folly, and retreated to Sparta.

1 Phialeia, in the south-western corner of Arcadia. The more ancient name was Phigaleia, which later came back into use.

2 Heraea, an Arcadian town, near the frontier of Elis, on the road from Arcadia to Olympia.

3 Beloch (Griechische Geschichte （2）, 3.1.174, notes 2, 4) would assign these instances of party strife to the period after Leuctra. Glotz (3.151, note 22) likewise. See Isoc. 6.64-69.

Diodorus Siculus. Diodorus of Sicily in Twelve Volumes with an English Translation by C. H. Oldfather. Vol. 4-8. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1989.

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