ia.

(M632) The Spartan power was now obviously humbled, and one of the
greatest evidences of this was the decline of Sparta to give aid to the
cities of Thessaly, in danger of being conquered by Jason, the despot of
Pherae, whose formidable strength was now alarming Northern Greece.

(M633) The peace which Sparta had concluded with Athens was of very short
duration. The Lacedaemonians resolved to attack Corcyra, which had joined
the Athenian confederation. An armament collected from the allies, under
Mnasippus, in the spring of B.C. 373, proceeded against Corcyra. The
inhabitants, driven within the walls of the city, were in danger of
famine, and invoked Athenian aid. Before it arrived, however, the
Corcyraeans made a successful sally upon the Spartan troops, over-confident
of victory, in which Mnasippus was slain, and the city became supplied
with provisions. After the victory, Iphicrates, in command of the Athenian
fleet, which had been delayed, arrived and captured the ships which
Dionysius of Syracuse had sent to the aid of the Lacedaemonians. These
reverses induced the Spartans to send Antalcidas again to Persia to sue
for fresh intervention, but the satraps, having nothing more to gain from
Sparta, refused aid. But Athens was not averse to peace, since she no
longer was jealous of Sparta, and was jealous of Thebes. In the mean time
Thebes seized Plataea, a town of Boeotia, unfriendly to her ascendency, and
expelled the inhabitants who sought shelter in Athens, and increased the
feeling of disaffection toward the rising power. This event led to renewed
negotiations for peace between Athens and Sparta, which was effected at a
congress held in the latter city. The Athenian orator Callistratus, one of
the envoys, proposed that Sparta and Athens should divide the headship of
Greece between them, the former having the supremacy on land, the latter
on the sea. Peace was concluded on the basis of the autonomy of each city.

(M634) Epaminondas was the Theban deputy to this congress. He insisted on
taking the oath in behalf of the Boeotian confederation, even as Sparta had
done for herself and allies. But Agesilaus required he should take the
oath for Thebes alone, as Athens had done for herself alone. He refused,
and made himself memorable for his eloquent speeches, in which he
protested against the pretensions of Sparta. "Why," he maintained, "should
not Thebes respond for Boeotia, as well as Sparta for Laconia, since Th