ies
of the Lacedaemonians took fresh heart.

(15) And took (apparently); see below; Diod. xv. 69.

(16) See "Anab." III. iv. 43; and above, "Hell." V. iii. 23.

(17) Lit. "four plethra."

(18) LIt. "three or four stades."

At the date of the above transactions the Lacedeamonians were cheered by
the arrival of a naval reinforcement from Dionysius, consisting of more
than twenty warships, which conveyed a body of Celts and Iberians and
about fifty cavalry. The day following, the Thebans and the rest of the
allies, posted, at intervals, in battle order, and completely filling
the flat land down to the sea on one side, and up to the knolls on
the other which form the buttresses of the city, proceeded to destroy
everything precious they could lay their hands on in the plain. The
Athenian and Corinthian cavalry, eyeing the strength, physical and
numerical, of their antagonists, kept at a safe distance from their
armament. But the little body of cavalry lately arrived from Dionysius
spread out in a long thin line, and one at one point and one at another
galloped along the front, discharging their missiles as they dashed
forward, and when the enemy rushed against them, retired, and again
wheeling about, showered another volley. Even while so engaged they
would dismount from their horses and take breath; and if their foemen
galloped up while they were so dismounted, in an instant they had leapt
on their horses' backs and were in full retreat. Or if, again, a party
pursued them some distance from the main body, as soon as they turned to
retire, they would press upon them, and discharging volleys of missiles,
made terrible work, forcing the whole army to advance and retire, merely
to keep pace with the movements of fifty horsemen.

B.C. 369-368. After this the Thebans remained only a few more days
and then turned back homewards; and the rest likewise to their several
homes. Thereupon the troops sent by Dionysius attacked Sicyon. Engaging
the Sicyonians in the flat country, they defeated them, killing about
seventy men and capturing by assault the fortres of Derae. (19) After
these achievements this first reinforcement from Dionysius re-embarked
and set sail for Syracuse.

(19) "East of Sicyon was Epieiceia (see above, "Hell." IV. ii. 14, iv.
13) on the river Nemea. In the same direction was the fortress
Derae." ("Dict. Anct. Geog." "Topography of Sicyonia"), al. Gerae.
So Leake ("Morea," iii. 376), who con