Page:History of Greece Vol X.djvu/279

. - PHLIUS. 257 Bis politics and went along with the stronger tide. 1 W<? cannot doubt also that Epaminondas went into Arcadia to encourage and regulate the progress of his two great enterprises, the founda- tion of Messene and Megalopolis ; nor does the silence of Xeno- phon on such a matter amount to any disproof. These new towns having been commenced less than a year before, cannot have been yet finished, and may probably have required the reap- pearance of his victorious army. The little town of Phlius, situated south of Sikyon and west of Corinth, which was one of the most faithful allies of Sparta, was also in great hazard of being captured by the Phliasian exiles. When the Arcadians and Eleians were marching through Nemea to join Epaminondas at Oneium, these exiles entreated them only to show themselves near Phlius ; with the assurance that such demonstration would suffice to bring about the capture of the town. The exiles then stole by night to the foot of the town walls with scaling-ladders, and there lay hid, until, as day began to break, the scouts from the neighboring hill Trikaranum announced that the allied ene- mies were in sight. While the attention of the citizens within was thus engaged on the other side, the concealed exiles planted their ladders, overpowered the few unprepared guards, and got possession of the acropolis. Instead of contenting themselves with this position until the allied force came up, they strove also to capture the town ; but in this they were defeated by the citi- zens, who, by desperate efforts of bravery, repulsed both the in- truders within and the enemy without; thus preserving their town. 2 The fidelity of the Phliasians to Sparta entailed upon them severe hardships through the superiority of their enemies in the field, and through perpetual ravage of their territory from multiplied hostile neighbors (Argos, Arcadia, and Sikyon), who had established fortified posts on their borders ; for it was only 1 Xen. Hellen. vii, 1,18, 22, 44 ; vii, 3, 2-8. 2 Xen. Hellen. vii, 2, 5-9. This incident may have happened in 369 B. c., just about the time when Epaminondas surprised and broke through the defensive lines of Mount Oneium, In the second chapter of the seventh Book, Xenophon takes up tho history of Phlius, and carries it on from the winter of 370-369 B. o., when Epaminondas invaded Laconia, through 369, 38, 367 B. c. VOL. X. 170C.