Book 7
1.36
Pelopidas was therefore asked by the King what he desired to have written for him; he replied, that Messene should be independent of the Lacedaemonians and that the Athenians should draw up their ships on the land; that if they refused obedience in these points, the contracting parties were to make an expedition against them; and that if any city refused to join in such expedition, they were to proceed first of all against that city.
1.37
When these things had been written and read to the ambassadors, Leon said in the King’s hearing, By Zeus, Athenians, it is time for you, it seems, to be seeking some other friend instead of the King. And when the secretary had interpreted to the King what the Athenian had said, he again brought out a further writing: And if the Athenians367 B.C. are aware of anything juster than these provisions, let them come to the King and inform him.
1.38
Now when the ambassadors had returned to their several homes, Timagoras was put to death by the Athenians on the complaint of Leon that he had refused to share quarters with him and had taken counsel in all matters with Pelopidas. As for the other ambassadors, Archidamus, the Elean, praised the doings of the King, because he had honoured Elis above the Arcadians; but Antiochus, because the Arcadian League was less regarded, did not accept the royal gifts, and reported back to the Ten Thousand i.e., the Arcadian assembly. that the King had bakers, and cooks, and wine-pourers, and doorkeepers in vast numbers, but as for men who could fight with Greeks, he said that though he sought diligently he could not see any. Besides this, he said that for his part he thought that the King’s wealth of money was also mere pretence, for he said that even the golden plane-tree, that was forever harped upon, was not large enough to afford shade for a grasshopper.
