Page:General History of Europe 1921.djvu/140

92 General History of Europe and in Persia, and the best young blood of Greece was being spent to strengthen foreign states instead of building up the power of the Greeks. During the Peloponnesian Wars military leadership had also become a profession. Athens produced a whole group of pro- fessional military leaders; the most talented among these was Xenophon. About 400 B.C. he took service in Asia Minor with a young Persian prince who was planning to overthrow his brother, the Persian king. The attempt was unsuccessful and in the re- treat from Babylon Xenophon led ten thousand Greek merce- naries up the Tigris past the ruins of Nineveh and through the mountains until they reached the Black Sea and finally returned home in safety. Of this extraordinary raid into the Persian Em- pire Xenophon has left a history called the Anabasis (" up- going"), one of the great books which have descended to us from ancient times. Just as in our own day there has been a great development of warlike devices, such as submarines, tanks, and poisonous gases, so the Greeks now began to introduce new war machinery from the East, such as movable towers and battering-rams for attacking cities. At the same time the size of the war- ships was increased. The newer ones had five banks of oars instead of three, and the older triremes could no longer face these improved and powerful vessels. Fighting continued, in spite of all the disasters it caused, to be one of the chief preoccupations of the Greeks. 138. Final Humiliation of Sparta. Sparta managed to main- tain her leadership for over thirty years. But she had to face frequent revolts on the part of the cities which resented her overlordship. The city of Thebes finally combined with Athens to crush Sparta. After a long war the distinguished Theban gen- eral and statesman Epaminondas decisively defeated the Spartans in the battle of Leuctra (371 B.C.). Over half of the Spartans engaged were slain and with them their king. It became clear that Sparta was not invincible, and she lost the repute which she had so long enjoyed on account of her military prowess.