the royal tent, and Cleonymus, his son, were killed, and
the horse-guard, those who are called supporters of the polemarch,
and the rest, being overpowered by the mass of the enemy, were forced
to fall back, the Lacedaemonians on the left, seeing the right wing
thus repulsed, also gave way; yet, tho many were killed, and they were
quite defeated, they were able, when they had repassed the trench
which was in front of the camp, to form themselves under arms in the
place from which they had set out. Their camp was nevertheless not on
level ground, but rather somewhat on an acclivity.

Some of the Lacedaemonians, at the time, who thought their disaster an
insupportable disgrace, exclaimed that they ought to prevent the enemy
from erecting a trophy, and endeavor to recover the dead, not by
making a truce, but by fighting another battle. However, the
polemarchs, seeing that of the Lacedaemonians in all nearly a thousand
had lost their lives; and that of the Spartans, who were in the field
to the number of about seven hundred, about four hundred had fallen;
and observing, also, that all the auxiliaries were too dispirited to
renew the combat, and some of them not even concerned at what had
happened, called a council of the chief officers, and deliberated what
course they ought to pursue; and as all were of opinion that "they
ought to fetch off the dead by truce," they accordingly despatched a
herald to treat respecting a truce. The Thebans soon afterward erected
a trophy, and gave up the dead under truce.

After these occurrences, the messenger who was sent with the news of
the calamity to Lacedaemon arrived there on the last day of the
gymnopaediae and after the chorus of men had made their entry. The
ephors, when they heard of the calamity, were greatly concerned, as, I
think, they naturally must have been; yet they did not order that
chorus to withdraw, but allowed them to finish the entertainment. They
then sent the names of the dead to their several relatives, and gave
notice to the women to make no lamentations, but to bear their
affliction in silence. The day after, a person might have seen those
whose relatives had died appearing in public with looks of
cheerfulness and joy; however, of those whose relatives were said to
be alive, he would have seen but few, and those going about with
gloomy and dejected countenances.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 52: From Book VI of the "Hellenica." At Leuctra, which lies
near Thebes i