Book 6
4.24
With such words, then, he endeavoured to dissuade the Thebans from making the final venture; to the Lacedaemonians, on the other hand, he pointed out what manner of thing a defeated army was, and what an army victorious. And if you wish, he said, to forget the disaster which has befallen you, I advise you first to recover your breath and rest yourselves, and then, after you have become stronger, go into battle against men who are unconquered. But now, he said, be well assured that even among your allies there are those who are holding converse371 B.C. with the enemy about a treaty of friendship with them; by all means, then, try to obtain a truce. And I am myself eager for this, he said, out of a desire to save you, both because of my father’s friendship with you and because I am your diplomatic agent.
4.25
Such, then, were the arguments he urged, but he was acting perhaps with the purpose that these two parties, at variance as they were with one another, might both alike be in need of him. The Lacedaemonians, however, after hearing his words bade him negotiate for the truce; and when the report came that the truce had been made, the polemarchs gave orders that after dining all should have their baggage packed and ready with the purpose of setting out during the night, in order that at daybreak they might be climbing Cithaeron. But when the men had dined and before they went to rest, the polemarchs gave the order to follow, and led the way immediately upon the fall of evening by the road through Creusis, trusting to secrecy more than to the truce.
4.26
And proceeding with very great difficulty, since they were withdrawing at night and in fear and by a hard road, they arrived at Aegosthena in the territory of Megara. There they fell in with the army under Archidamus. And after waiting there until all the allies had joined him, Archidamus led back the whole army together as far as Corinth; from there he dismissed the allies and led the citizen troops back home.
