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And they became so addicted to war and the perils of war that, whereas in times past they had been more cautious in this regardAn example of this caution is the advice of King Archidamus at the beginning of the Peloponnesian War. See Thuc. 1.80. than the rest of the world, they did not refrain from attacking even their own allies and their own benefactors; on the contrary, although the great King had furnished them with more than five thousand talentsSo also Andocides, Isoc. 8.29. for the war against us, and although the ChiansChios revolted from Athens in 412 B. C. and supported Sparta with her fleet until the end of the Peloponnesian War. had supported them more zealously than any of their other allies by means of their fleet
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and the ThebansThebes was one of Sparta’s strongest allies against Athens. See Thuc. 4.93. had contributed a great number of troops to their land forces, the Lacedaemonians no sooner gained the supremacy than they straightway plotted against the Thebans,Instanced by the treacherous seizure of the Theban citadel (the Cadmea) by the Spartan Phoebidas. See Xen. Hell. 5.2.25 ff. dispatched Clearchus with an army against the King,Cf. Isoc. 12.104. The “ten thousand” mercenaries led by the Spartan Clearchus to support Cyrus against King Artaxerxes were not officially dispatched, although sanctioned, by Sparta. For the fortunes of this army see Isoc. 4.145-149; Isoc. 5.90 ff.; and Xen. Anab. and in the case of the Chians drove into exileAn oligarchy was established there and 600 of the democratic faction were driven into exile. See Dio. Sic. 13.65. the foremost of their citizens and launched their battle-ships from their docks and made off with their whole navy.This was done by Lysander in 404 B.C. See Dio. Sic. 13.70.
