2.7
Now I am not going to say that his forces were far inferior in numbers and in quality, and that nevertheless he accepted battle. That statement, I think, would but show a want of common sense in Agesilaus and my own folly in praising a leader who wantonly jeopardised interests of vital moment. On the contrary — and this is what I do admire him for — he brought into the field an army not a whit inferior to the enemy’s; he so armed it that it looked one solid mass of bronze and scarlet; he took care to render his men
2.8
capable of meeting all calls on their endurance; he filled their hearts with confidence that they were able to withstand any and every enemy; he inspired them all with an eager determination to out-do one another in valour; and lastly he filled all with anticipation that many good things would befall them, if only they proved good men. For he believed that men so prepared fight with all their might; nor in point of fact did he deceive himself.
2.9
I will describe the battle, for there has been none like it in our time. The two armies met in the plain of Coronea, Agesilaus advancing from the Cephisus, the Thebans and their allies from Helicon. Their eyes told them that the opposing lines of battle were exactly matched in strength, and the number of cavalry on both sides was about the same. Agesilaus was on the right wing of his army and had the Orchomenians on his extreme left. On the other side the Thebans themselves were on the right wing and the Argives held the left.
2.10
As they approached both sides for a time maintained complete silence, but when they were about a furlong apart, the Thebans raised the battle-cry and rushed forward at the double. The distance between them was still about one hundred yards when the mercenary troops under Herippidas, consisting of the
