Page:History of Greece Vol X.djvu/303

THE RESCRIPT NOT ACCEPTED. 281 made report of his mission to the Pan- Arcadian synod, called the Ten Thousand, at Megalopolis. He spoke in the most contempt- uous terms of all that he had seen at the Persian court. There were (he said) plenty of bakers, cooks, wine-pourers, porters, etc., but as for men competent to fight against Greeks, though he looked out for them with care, he could see none ; and even the vaunted golden plane-tree was not large enough to furnish shade for a grasshopper. 1 On the other hand, the Eleian envoy returned with feelings of satisfaction, and the Thebans with triumph. Deputies from each of their allied cities were invited to Thebes, to hear the Persian rescript. It was produced by a native Persian, their official com- panion from Susa, the first Persian probably ever seen in Thebes since the times immediately preceding the battle of Pla- tsea, who, after exhibiting publicly the regal seal, read the doc- ument aloud ; as the satrap Tiribazus had done on the occasion of the peace of Antalkidas. 3 But though the Theban leaders thus closely copied the conduct of Sparta both as to means and as to end, they by no means found the like ready acquiescence, when they called on the deputies present to take an oath to the rescript, to the Great King, and to Thebes. All replied that they had come with instructions, author- izing them to hear and report, but no more ; and that acceptance or rejection must be decided in their respective cities. Nor was this the worst. Lykomedes and the other deputies from Arcadia, already jealous of Thebes, and doubtless farther alienated by the angry report of their envoy Antiochus, went yet farther, and entered a general protest against the headship of Thebes ; affirm- ing that the synod ought not to be held constantly in that city, but in the seat of war, wherever that might be. Incensed at such language, the Thebans accused Lykomedes of violating the cardi- nal principle of the confederacy ; upon which he and his Arca- dian comrades forthwith retired and went home, declaring that they would no longer sit in the synod. The other deputies appear to have followed his example. Indeed, as they had refused to p. 383), besides other presents and conveniences Compare also Plutarch, Artaxerxes, c. 22. Xen Hellen. vii, 1, 38. 2 Xsn. Hellen. v, 1, 30.