the moment.

When, however, Deinon the polemarch and Sphodrias, a member of the
king's council, with his son Cleonymus, (12) had fallen, then it was
that the cavalry and the polemarch's adjutants, (13) as they are
called, with the rest, under pressure of the mass against them, began
retreating; and the left wing of the Lacedaemonians, seeing the right
borne down in this way, also swerved. Still, in spite of the numbers
slain, and broken as they were, as soon as they had crossed the trench
which protected their camp in front, they grounded arms on the spot (14)
whence they had rushed to battle. This camp, it must be borne in mind,
did not lie at all on the level, but was pitched on a somewhat steep
incline. At this juncture there were some of the Lacedaemonians who,
looking upon such a disaster as intolerable, maintained that they ought
to prevent the enemy from erecting a trophy, and try to recover the
dead not under a flag of truce but by another battle. The polemarchs,
however, seeing that nearly a thousand men of the total Lacedaemonian
troops were slain; seeing also that of the seven hundred Spartans
themselves who were on the field something like four hundred lay dead;
(15) aware, further, of the despondency which reigned among the allies,
and the general disinclination on their parts to fight longer (a frame
of mind not far removed in some instances from positive satisfaction at
what had taken place)--under the circumstances, I say, the polemarchs
called a council of the ablest representatives of the shattered army
(16) and deliberated as to what should be done. Finally the unanimous
opinion was to pick up the dead under a flag of truce, and they sent a
herald to treat for terms. The Thebans after that set up a trophy and
gave back the bodies under a truce.

(12) See above, V. iv. 33.

(13) {sumphoreis}. For the readings of this corrupt passage see Otto
Keller.

(14) Or, "in orderly way." See Curt. "H. G." iv. 400.

(15) See "Ages." ii. 24.

(16) {tous epikairiotatous}. See above, III. iii. 10; "Cyrop." VII.
iv. 4; VIII. iv. 32, vi. 2.

After these events, a messenger was despatched to Lacedaemon with news
of the calamity. He reached his destination on the last day of the
gymnopaediae, (17) just when the chorus of grown men had entered the
theatre. The ephors heard the mournful tidings not without grief and
pain, as needs they must, I take it; but for all that they did not
dismiss the chorus,