Agesilaus | Page 8

by frequent
attacks of the Thessalians on his hindmost divisions, he sent round the
mass of his cavalry from the vanguard to support his rear, reserving
only his personal escort.[2] And now in battle order the rival squadrons
faced each other; when the Thessalians, not liking a cavalry
engagement in face of heavy infantry, wheeled and step by step
retreated; their opponents with much demureness following. Then
Agesilaus, detecting the common error under which both parties
laboured, sent round his own bodyguard of stalwart troopers with
orders to their predecessors (an order they would act upon themselves)
to charge the enemy at full gallop and not give him a chance to rally.
The Thessalians, in face of this unexpected charge, either could not so
much as rally, or in the attempt to do so were caught with their horses'
flanks exposed to the enemy's attack. Polycharmus, the Pharsalian, a
commandant of cavalry, did indeed succeed in wheeling, but was cut
down with those about him sword in hand. This was the signal for a
flight so extraordinary that dead and dying lined the road, and the
living were captured wholesale, nor was a halt made until the pursuers
reached Mount Narthacius. Here, midway between Pras and Narthacius,
Agesilaus erected a trophy, and here for the moment he halted in
unfeigned satisfaction at his exploit, since it was from an antagonist
boasting the finest cavalry in the world that he had wrested victory with
a body of cavalry organised by himself.
[1] I.e. "Xerxes."
[2] I.e. "the Three hundred." See Thuc. v. 72; "Pol. Lac." xiii. 6.
Next day, crossing the mountain barrier of Achaea Phthiotis, his march
lay through friendly territory for the rest of the way as far as the
frontiers of Boeotia. Here he found the confederates drawn up in battle
line. They consisted of the Thebans, the Athenians, the Argives, the
Corinthians, the Aenianians, the Euboeans, and both divisions of the
Locrians.[3] He did not hesitate, but openly before their eyes drew out
his lines to give them battle. He had with him a division[4] and a half

of Lacedaemonians, and from the seat of war itself the allied troops of
the Phocians and the men of Orchomenus only, besides the armament
which he had brought with him from Asia.
[3] See "Hell." IV. ii. 7.
[4] Lit. "mora."
I am not going to maintain that he ventured on the engagement in spite
of having far fewer and inferior forces. Such an assertion would only
reveal the senselessness of the general[5] and the folly of the writer
who should select as praiseworthy the reckless imperilling of mighty
interests. On the contrary, what I admire is the fact that he had taken
care to provide himself with an army not inferior to that of his enemy,
and had so equipped them that his cohorts literally gleamed with purple
and bronze.[6] He had taken pains to enable his soldiers to undergo the
fatigue of war, he had filled their breasts with a proud consciousness
that they were equal to do battle with any combatants in the world, and
what was more, he had infused a wholesome rivalry in those about him
to prove themselves each better than the rest. He had filled all hearts
with sanguine expectation of great blessings to descend on all, if they
proved themselves good men. Such incentives, he thought, were best
calculated to arouse enthusiasm in men's souls to engage in battle with
the enemy. And in this expectation he was not deceived.
[5] Lit. "Agesilaus."
[6] See "Cyrop." VI. iv. 1.
I proceed to describe the battle, for in certain distinctive features it
differed from all the battles of our day. The contending forces met on
the plain of Coronea, Agesilaus and his troops approaching from the
Cephisus, the Thebans and their allies from the slopes of the Helicon.
These masses of infantry, as any eye might see, were of duly balanced
strength, while as near as could be the cavalry on either side was
numerically the same. Agesilaus held the right of his own army, and on
his extreme left lay the men of Orchomenus. On the opposite side the
Thebans themselves formed their own right and the Argives held their
left. While the two armies approached a deep silence prevailed on
either side, but when they were now a single furlong's[7] space apart
the Thebans quickened to a run, and, with a loud hurrah, dashed
forward to close quarters. And now there was barely a hundred yards[8]
between them, when Herippidas, with his foreign brigade, rushed

forward from the Spartan's battle lines to meet them. This brigade
consisted partly of troops which had served with Agesilaus ever since
he left home, with a portion of the Cyreians, besides Ionians, Aeolians,
and their neighbours