XXXIII. I cannot tell, however, how it was that Theopompus discovered
this fact, and that no other historian mentions it. All writers agree,
nevertheless, in declaring that at this crisis Sparta was saved by
Agesilaus, who proved himself superior to party-spirit and desire of
personal distinction, and steadily refused to risk an engagement. Yet
he never was able to restore the city to the glorious and powerful
condition which it had previously held, for Sparta, like an athlete
who has been carefully trained throughout his life, suddenly broke
down, and never recovered her former strength and prosperity. It is
very natural that this should have happened, for the Spartan
constitution was an excellent one for promoting courage, good order,
and peace within the city itself; but when Sparta became the head of a
great empire to be maintained by the sword, which Lykurgus would have
thought a totally useless appendage to a well-governed and prosperous
city, it utterly failed.
Agesilaus was now too old for active service in the field, but his
son, Archidamus, with some Sicilian mercenary troops which had been
sent to the aid of the Spartans by the despot Dionysius, defeated the
Arcadians in what was known as the 'Tearless Battle,' where he did not
lose one of his own men, but slew many of the enemy. This battle
strikingly proved the weakness of the city, for in former times the
Spartans used to regard it as such a natural and commonplace event for
them to conquer their enemies, that they only sacrificed a cock to the
gods, while those who had won a victory never boasted of it, and those
who heard of it expressed no extravagant delight at the news.
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