n the main body, but they
were opposed by Agesilaus and his troops. The shock of the conflicting
masses which ensued was one of the most terrible recorded in the annals
of Grecian warfare. The shields of the foremost ranks were shattered,
and their spears broken, so that daggers became the only available arm.
Agesilaus, who was in the front ranks, unequal by his size and strength
to sustain so furious an onset, was flung down, trodden on, and covered
with wounds; but the devoted courage of the 50 Spartans forming his
body-guard rescued him from death. The Thebans finally forced their
may through, but not without severe loss. The victory of Agesilaus was
not very decisive; but the Thebans tacitly acknowledged their defeat by
soliciting the customary truce for the burial of their dead.

Agesilaus, on his arrival at Sparta, was received with the most lively
demonstrations of gratitude and esteem, and became hence-forward the
sole director of Spartan policy.

Thus in less than two months the Lacedaemonians had fought two battles
on land, and one at sea; namely, those of Corinth, Coronea, and Cnidus.
But, though they had been victorious in the land engagements, they were
so little decisive as to lead to no important result; whilst their
defeat at Cnidus produced the most disastrous consequences. It was
followed by the loss of nearly all their maritime empire, even faster
than they had acquired it after the battle of AEgospotami. For as
Conon and Pharnabazus sailed with their victorious fleet from island to
island, and from port to port, their approach was everywhere the signal
for the flight or expulsion of the Spartan harmosts.

In the spring of the following year (B.C. 393) Conon and Pharnabazus
sailed to the isthmus of Corinth, then occupied as a central post by
the allies. The appearance of a Persian fleet in the Saronic gulf was
a strange sight to Grecian eyes, and one which might have served as a
severe comment on the effect of their suicidal wars. Conon dexterously
availed himself of the hatred of Pharnabazus towards Sparta to procure
a boon for his native city. As the satrap was on the point of
proceeding homewards, Conon obtained leave to employ the seamen in
rebuilding the fortifications of Piraeus and the long walls of Athens.
Pharnabazus also granted a large sum for the same purpose; and Conon
had thus the glory of appearing, like a second Themistocles, the
deliverer and restorer of his country. Befor