Book 4
5.1
After this the Lacedaemonians, upon hearing390 B.C. from the Corinthian exiles that the people in the city had all their cattle in PiraeumA mountainous peninsula of considerable extent on the north-western side of the isthmus of Corinth (see note 2, below). At its western extremity was the Heraeum, or temple of Hera (see 5, below), near which was a small lake (6). In the north-eastern part of the peninsula was the fortress of Oenoe (5). and there kept them safe, and that many were being maintained from this supply, made another expedition to the territory of Corinth, Agesilaus being in command this time also. And first he came to the IsthmusThe term was used by the Greeks, not (as in the preceding note) of the entire neck of land connecting Peloponnesus with northern Greece, but only of its narrowest part, some three or four miles north-east of the city of Corinth. Toward the eastern side of this Isthmus proper was the famous sanctuary of Poseidon where, every two years, the Isthmian games were celebrated.; for it was the month during which the Isthmian games are celebrated, and the Argives chanced at the time to be offering the sacrifice there to Poseidon, as though Argos were Corinth. But when they learned that Agesilaus was approaching, they left behind both the victims that had been offered and the breakfast that was being made ready and retired to the city in very great fear, along the road leading to Cenchreae.
5.2
Agesilaus, however, did not pursue them, even though he saw them, but encamping in the sacred precinct offered sacrifice himself to the god and waited until the Corinthian exiles had conducted390 B.C. the sacrifice and the games in honour of Poseidon. But when Agesilaus had left the Isthmus, the Argives celebrated the Isthmian games all over again. In that year, accordingly, in some of the contests individual competitors were beaten twice, while in others the same competitors were twice proclaimed victors.
