Book 6
5.2
And when they had come together, they passed a resolution to take the following oath, in company with such as desired to share in the peace: I will abide by the treaty which the King sent down, and by the decrees of the Athenians and their allies. And if anybody takes the field against any one of the cities which have sworn this oath, I will come to her aid with all my strength. Now all the others were pleased with the oath; the Eleans only opposed it, saying that it was not right to make either the Marganians, Scilluntians, or Triphylians independent, for these cities were theirs.
5.3
But the Athenians and the others, after voting that both small and great cities alike should be independent, even as the King wrote, sent out the officers charged with administering the oath and directed them to administer it to the highest authorities in each city.371 B.C. And all took the oath except the Eleans.As a natural result of these proceedings the Mantineans, feeling that they were now entirely independent, all came together and voted to make Mantinea a singlecp. v. ii. 7. city and to put a wall about it.
5.4
But the Lacedaemonians, on the other hand, thought that it would be a grievous thing if this were done without their approval. They accordingly sent Agesilaus as ambassador to the Mantineans, because he was regarded as an ancestral friend of theirs.cp. v. ii. 3. Now when he had come to them, the officials refused to assemble for him the Mantinean people, but bade him tell them what he desired. He then offered them his promise that, if they would desist from their wall-building for the present, he would arrange matters so that the wall should be constructed with the approval of Lacedaemon and without great expense.
