Page:History of Greece Vol X.djvu/85

ISMENIAU PUT TO DEATH. 63 to the assembled ephors and Senate, he first reminded them how hostile Thebes had hitherto been to them, under Ismenias and the party just put down, and how constantly they had been in jeal ous alarm, lest Thebes should reconstitute by force the Boeotian federation. " Now (added he) your fears may be at an end ; only take as good care to uphold our government, as we shall take to obey your orders. For the future, you will have nothing to do but to send us a short despatch, to get every service which you require. 1 " It was resolved by the Lacedasmonians, at the instance of Agesilaus, to retain their garrison now in the Kadmeia, to up- hold Leontiades with his colleagues in the government of Thebes, and to put Ismenias upon his trial. Yet they at the same time, as a sort of atonement to the opinion of Greece, passed a vote of censure on Phoebidas, dismissed him from his command, and even condemned him to a fine. The fine, however, most probably was never exacted ; for we shall see by the conduct of Sphodrias after- wards that the displeasure against Phoebidas, if at first genuine, was certainly of no long continuance. That the Lacedaemonians should at the same time condemn Phoebidas and retain the Kadmeia has been noted as a gross contradiction. Nevertheless, we ought not to forget, that had they evacuated the Kadmeia, the party of Leontiades at Thebes, which had compromised itself for Sparta as well as for its own aggran- dizement, would have been irretrievably sacrificed. The like ex- cuse, if excuse it be, cannot be urged in respect to their treatment of Ismenias ; whom they put upon his trial at Thebes, before a court consisting of three Lacedaemonian commissioners, and one from each allied city. He was accused, probably by Leontiades and his other enemies, of having entered into friendship and con- 1 Xen. Hellen. v, 2, 34. Kai v/j.et(; yt (says Leontiades to the Lacedaemonian ephors) Tore (J.EV ael Trpoffei%Te rbv vovv, nrore uKovaeafts /3ia&[ievov(; avroDf TTJV BoiaiTiav i>0* avToif elvai' vvv 6 ETTEI rude ireirpaKrat, oiidev vfj.cir 6el QjjjBaiovf <j>of$ela- dai aMC apKEaei vfilv [tiKpti. aKvruTii], CJOTE eneldev navTa TrparrEatfat, 5jwv uv deTja&e iav, uairep 7j/j.if vfiuv, oitru /cat vfieif 7jfj.tiv, e~i l ue?i.i}a'&e. Xenophon mentions the displeasure of the ephors and the Spartans gene- rally against Phoebidas (^-aXeTrwf e^cwraf r<p <bot(3i6<p) but not the fine, which is certified by Diodorus (xv, 20), by Plutarch (Pelopidas, c. 6, and De Ge nio Socratis, p. 576 A), And Cornelius Nepos (Pelopifl. c. 1)