Page:History of Greece Vol IX.djvu/369

ARRIS AL OF BAD NEWS. 347 banks of the lake, adjoining the Heraeum, 1 with his eyes fixed on the long train of captives brought out under the guard of armed Lacedaemonian hoplites, themselves the object of admiration to a crowd of spectators, 2 when news arrived, as if under the special intervention of retributive Nemesis, which changed unexpectedly the prospect of affairs. 3 A horseman was seen galloping up, hia horse foaming with sweat. To the many inquiries addressed, hts returned no answer, nor did he stop until he sprang from his horse at the feet of Agesilaus ; to whom, with sorrowful tone and fea- tures, he made his communication. Immediately Agesilaus started up, seized his spear, and desired the herald to summon his princi- pal officers. On their coming near, he directed them, together with the guards around, to accompany him without a moment's delay ; leaving orders with the general body of the troops to follow as soon as they should have snatched some rapid refreshment. He then immediately put himself in march ; but he had not gone far when three fresh horsemen met and informed him, that the task which he was hastening to perform had already been accomplished. Upon this he ordered a halt and returned to the Heraeum ; where on the ensuing day, to countervail the bad news, he sold all his captives by auction. 4 This bad news, the arrival of which has been so graphically 1 This Lake is now called Lake Vuliasmeni. Considerable ruins were noticed by M. Dutroyat, in the recent French survey, near its western ex tremity ; on which side it adjoins the temple of Here Akraea, or the Herae um. See M. Boblaye, Recherches Geographiques sur les Ruines de ! Moree, p. 36; and Colonel Leake's Peloponnesiaca, p. 399. 2 Xen. Hellen. iv, 5, 6. Tuv 6e AaKEftaifioviuv U.KO TUV dirhuv am> roif 66pa.cn irapi]Kokov-&ovv <f>v- TUV alxnakuTuv, fiuka vrcb TUV TrapovTuv &upovfJLEVot,' oi yup KOI Kpa-ovvTEf uEi 7rwf ut;io$F.aTot. doKovaiv elvai. "En 6e TOV 'Ay9<7i/laot>, nal EOIKOTOS aya^nfiEvu Tolg TrEirpay/Lievoif, Imrevs Tif irpo- mfkavve, /cat yuu/la la^vpuf itipovvTi r<j tmry- virb TToMuv 6e ipuTUfievof, 6,Ti ayye? k /lof, ovdsvl uTTEKpivaTO, etc. It is interesting to mark in Xenophon the mixture of Philo-Laconias complacency, of philosophical reflection, and of that care in bringing out the contrast of good fortune, with sudden reverse instantly following upon it, which forms so constant a point of effect with Grecian poets and historians. 3 Plutarch, Agesil. c. 22. tirade de 7rpd}yza veueoqTov, etc. 4 Xen. Hellen. iv, 5, 7-9.