Page:History of Greece Vol X.djvu/293

EFFORTS OF THE PHLIASIANS. 271 with his own mercenaries to the number of two thousand, the armed force of Sikyon and Pellene, and the Theban harmost and garrison from the acropolis of Sikyon. On arriving near Phlius, the Sikyonians and Pelleneans were posted near the gate of the city which looked towards Corinth, in order to resist any sally from within ; while the remaining invaders made a circuit round, over an elevated line of ground called the Trikaranum (which had been fortified by the Argeians and was held by their garrison), to approach and ravage the Phliasian plain. But the Phliasian cavalry and hoplites so bravely resisted them, as to pre- vent them from spreading over the plain to do damage, until at the end of the day they retreated to rejoin the Sikyonians and Pellenians. From these last, however, they happened to be sep- arated by a ravine which forced them to take a long circuit; while the Phliasians, passing by a shorter road close under their own walls, were beforehand in reaching the Sikyonians and Pellenians, whom they vigorously attacked and defeated with loss. Euphron with his mercenaries, and the Theban division, arrived too late to prevent the calamity, which they made no effort to repair. 1 An eminent Pellenian citizen, named Proxenus having been here made prisoner, the Phliasians, in spite of all their sufferings, re- leased him without ransom. This act of generosity coupled with the loss sustained by the Pellenians in the recent engage- ment, as well as with the recent oligarchical counter-revolutions which had disjoined the other Achaean cities from Thebes altered the politics of Pellene, bringing about a peace be- tween that city and Phlius. 2 Such an accession afforded sensible 1 Xen. Hellen. vii, 2, 11-15. 2 This change of politics at Pellene is not mentioned hy Xenophon, at the time, though it is noticed afterwards (vii, 4, 17) as a fact accomplished; but we must suppose it to have occurred now, in order to reconcile sections 11-14 with sections 18-20 of vii, 2. The strong Laconian partialities of Xenophon induce him to allot not only warm admiration, but a space disproportionate compared with other parts of his history, to the exploits of the brave little Phliasian community. Unfortunately, here, as elsewhere, he is obscure in the description of parti- cular events, and still more perplexing when we try to draw from him a clear idea of the general series. With all the defects and partiality of Xenophon's narrative, however, we must recollect that it is a description of real events by a contemporary au- thor who had reasonable means of information. This is a precious ingre