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[3] The Arcadians, in spite of their victory, felt a prudent respect for the strength of Sparta and believed that they would not be able by themselves to cope with the Lacedaemonians. Accordingly, associating Argives and Eleians with themselves, they first sent envoys to Athens requesting them to join in an alliance against the Spartans, but as no one heeded them, they sent an embassy to the Thebans and persuaded them to join an alliance against the Lacedaemonians.1

1 See Dem. 16.12, 19, and Xen. Hell. 6.5.19. For the policy of Athens in this period see Cloché, La Politique étrangère d' Athènes, 97-99. Cloché thinks Athens had a chance to expand her confederacy at the expense of her former ally Thebes and her former enemy Sparta, but her refusal to help (owing especially to Elis' recalcitrancy) at this time gave Thebes the opportunity to step in.

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