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Contents of the Fifteenth Book of Diodorus
chapter 1chapter 2chapter 3chapter 4chapter 5chapter 6chapter 7chapter 8chapter 9chapter 10chapter 11chapter 12chapter 13chapter 14chapter 15chapter 16chapter 17chapter 18chapter 19chapter 20chapter 21chapter 22chapter 23chapter 24chapter 25chapter 26chapter 27chapter 28chapter 29chapter 30chapter 31chapter 32chapter 33chapter 34chapter 35chapter 36chapter 37chapter 38chapter 39chapter 40chapter 41chapter 42chapter 43chapter 44chapter 45chapter 46chapter 47chapter 48chapter 49chapter 50chapter 51chapter 52chapter 53chapter 54chapter 55chapter 56chapter 57chapter 58chapter 59chapter 60chapter 61chapter 62chapter 63chapter 64chapter 65chapter 66chapter 67chapter 68chapter 69chapter 70chapter 71chapter 72chapter 73chapter 74chapter 75chapter 76chapter 77chapter 78chapter 79chapter 80chapter 81chapter 82chapter 83chapter 84chapter 85chapter 86chapter 87chapter 88chapter 89chapter 90chapter 91chapter 92chapter 93chapter 94chapter 95
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Agesilaus led forth his army
and reached Boeotia accompanied by all the soldiers, amounting to more than eighteen thousand,
in which were the five divisions of Lacedaemonians. Each division contained five hundred men.
The company known as Sciritae1 amongst the Spartans is not drawn up with the rest, but has its own
station with the king and it goes to the support of the sections that from time to time are in
distress; and since it is composed of picked men, it is an important factor in turning the
scale in pitched battles, and generally determines the victory. Agesilaus also had fifteen
hundred cavalry.
[2]
Passing on then to the city of Thespiae,
which was garrisoned by the Lacedaemonians, he encamped near it and for several days rested his
men from the hardships of the march. The Athenians, having become aware of the arrival of the
Lacedaemonians in Boeotia, immediately went to the assistance of Thebes with five thousand
foot-soldiers and two hundred cavalry.
[3]
When these forces had
assembled, the Thebans occupied an oblong crest about twenty stades from the city and, having
transformed the obstacle into a bastion, awaited the attack of the enemy; for the reputation of
Agesilaus so overawed them that they were too timid to await his attack on equal terms in the
level country.
[4]
As for Agesilaus,2 he led out
his army in battle array against the Boeotians, and, when he had drawn near, in the first place
launched his light-armed troops against his opponents, thus testing their disposition to fight
him. But when the Thebans had easily from their higher position thrust his men back, he led the
whole army against them closely arrayed to strike them with terror.
[5]
Chabrias3 the Athenian, however, leading his mercenary
troops, ordered his men to receive the enemy with a show of contempt, maintaining all the while
their battle lines, and, leaning their shields against their knees, to wait with upraised
spear.
[6]
Since they did what they were ordered as at a single
word of command, Agesilaus, marvelling at the fine discipline of the enemy and their posture of
contempt, judged it inadvisable to force a way against the higher ground and compel his
opponents to show their valour in a hand-to-hand contest, and, having learned by trial that
they would dare, if forced, to dispute the victory, he challenged them in the plain. But when
the Thebans would not come down to meet him, he withdrew the phalanx of infantry, dispatched
the cavalry and light-armed ranks to plunder the countryside unhampered, and so took a great
quantity of spoil.
1 A people who lived on the mountainous northern frontier of Laconia. This special corps, considered apparently the cream of the army, formed the vanguard of an advance and the rearguard of a retreat. Thought by some to be lightarmed, though this is doubted by Kromayer-Veith on the strength of this and other passages (p. 39, Heerwesen und Kriegsführung der Griechen und Römer, Munich, 1928). (See Thuc. 5.67.1).
2 For the campaign of this year (actually 378) see Xen. Hell. 5.4.35-41, Xen. Ages. 26.
3 For the role of Chabrias see Polyaenus 2.1.2;Nepos Chabrias 1; Dem. 20.76.
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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References (12 total)
- Cross-references to this page
(3):
- A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890), EXE´RCITUS
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), SCIRI´TIS
- Smith's Bio, Cha'brias
- Cross-references in notes from this page (4):
- Cross-references in general dictionaries to this page
(5):
- LSJ, Σκι_ρῖται
- LSJ, κρίνω
- LSJ, παρα-κέλευμα
- LSJ, παραμήκ-ης
- LSJ, ψι_λ-ι^κός
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