o Mantinea; he begged them to "have courage and
hold on," instructing them that in all likelihood they would find the
flocks and herds of the Mantineans and the entire population itself
outside their walls, especially as it was the moment for carrying the
corn. So they set off.

The Athenian cavalry, started from Eleusis, had made their evening
meal at the Isthmus, and passing through Cleonae, as chance befell, had
arrived at Mantinea and had encamped within the walls in the houses. As
soon as the enemy were seen galloping up with evidently hostile intent,
the Mantineans fell to praying the Athenian knights to lend them all the
succour they could, and they showed them all their cattle outside, and
all their labourers, and among them were many children and graybeards
who were free-born citizens. The Athenians were touched by this appeal,
and, though they had not yet broken fast, neither the men themselves
nor their horses, went out eagerly to the rescue. And here we must needs
pause to admire the valour of these men also. The enemy whom they had
to cope with far outnumbered them, as was plain to see, and the former
misadventure of the cavalry in Corinth was not forgotten. (10) But none
of these things entered into their calculations now--nor yet the fact
that they were on the point of engaging Thebans and Thessalians, the
finest cavalry in the world by all repute. The only thing they thought
of was the shame and the dishonour, if, being there, they did not lend a
helping hand to their allies. In this mood, so soon as they caught sight
of the enemy, they fell with a crash upon him in passionate longing to
recover the old ancestral glory. Nor did they fight in vain--the
blows they struck enabled the Mantineans to recover all their property
outside, but among those who dealt them died some brave heroes; (11)
brave heroes also, it is evident, were those whom they slew, since on
either side the weapons wielded were not so short but that they could
lunge at one another with effect. The dead bodies of their own men they
refused to abandon; and there were some of the enemy's slain whom they
restored to him under a flag of truce.

(10) Or, "and in Corinth an untoward incident had been experienced by
the cavalry." See Grote, "H. G." x. 458, note 2. Possibly in
reference to "Hell." VI. v. 51, 52.

(11) Probably Xenophon's own son Gryllus was among them.

The thoughts now working in the mind of Epaminondas were such as