Page:History of Greece Vol X.djvu/309

ATHENS LOSES OROPUS. 287 mots of the neighboring Deme Graea. 1 So recently before as the period immediately preceding the battle of Leuktra, angry remonstrances had been exchanged between Athens and Thebes respecting a portion of the Oropian territory. At that time, it ap- pears, the Thebans were forced to yield, and their partisans in Oropus were banished. 2 It was these partisans who, through the aid of Themison and the Eretrians, now effected their return, so as to repossess themselves of Oropus, and doubtless to banish the principal citizens friendly to Athens. 3 So great was the sensation produced among the Athenians, that they not only marched with all their force to recover the place, but also recalled their general, Chares, with that mercenary force which he commanded in the territories of Corinth and Phlius. They farther requested aid from the Corinthians and their other allies in Peloponnesus. These allies did not obey the summons ; but the Athenian force alone would have sufficed to retake Oropus, had not the Thebans occupied it so as to place it beyond their attack. Athens was obliged to acquiesce in their occupation of it ; though under pro- test, and with the understanding that the disputed right should be referred to impartial arbitration. 4 This seizure of Oropus produced more than one material conse- quence. Owing to the recall of Chares from Corinth, the harbor of Sikyon could no longer be maintained against the Sikyonians in the town ; who, with the aid of the Arcadians, recaptured it, so 1 See the instructive Inscription and comments published by Professoi Ross, in which the Deme Tpaijf, near Oropus, was first distinctly made known (Ross, Die Demon von Attika, p. 6, 7 Halle, 1846). 2 Isokrates, Orat. xiv, (Plataic.) s. 22-40. 3 Xen. Hellen. vii, 4, 1 ; Diodor. xv, 76. The previous capture of Oropus, when Athens lost it in 411 B. c., WSB accomplished under circumstances yery analogous (Thucyd. viii, 60). 4 Xen. Hellen. vii, 4, 1 ; Diodor. xv, 76. Compare Demosthen. De Coron&, p. 259, s. 123 ; ^Eschines cont. Ktesi- phont. p. 397, s. 85. It would seem that we are to refer to this loss of Oropus the trial of Cha- brias and Kallistratus in Athens, together with the memorable harangue of the latter which Demosthenes heard as a youth with such strong admiration. But our information is so vague and scanty, that we can make out nothing certainly on the point. Rehdantz (Vitse Iphicratis, Chabrise, et Timotliei, p. 109-114) brings together all the scattered testimonies in an in t-h. 11 1 tor.