of which elected one Boeotarch or
minister of war and foreign affairs, contributed sixty delegates to the
federal council at Thebes, and supplied a contingent of about a thousand
foot and a hundred horse to the federal army. A safeguard against undue
encroachment on the part of the central government was provided in the
councils of the individual cities, to which all important questions of
policy had to be submitted for ratification. These local councils, to
which the propertied classes alone were eligible, were subdivided into
four sections, resembling the _prytaneis_ of the Athenian council, which
took it in turns to take previous cognizance of all new measures.[1]

Boeotia took a prominent part in the war of the Corinthian League
against Sparta, especially at Haliartus and Coronea (395-394). This
change of policy seems due mainly to the national resentment against
foreign interference. Yet disaffection against Thebes was now growing
rife, and Sparta fostered this feeling by stipulating for the complete
independence of all the cities in the peace of Antalcidas (387). In 374
Pelopidas restored the Theban dominion. Boeotian contingents fought in
all the campaigns of Epaminondas, and in the later wars against Phocis
(356-346); while in the dealings with Philip of Macedon the federal
cities appear merely as the tools of Thebes. The federal constitution
was also brought into accord with the democratic governments now
prevalent throughout the land. The sovereign power was vested in the
popular assembly, which elected the Boeotarchs (between seven and twelve
in number), and sanctioned all laws. After the battle of Chaeroneia, in
which the Boeotian heavy infantry once again distinguished itself, the
land never rose again to prosperity. The destruction of Thebes by
Alexander (335) seems to have paralysed the political energy of the
Boeotians, though it led to an improvement in the federal constitution,
by which each city received an equal vote. Henceforth they never pursued
an independent policy, but followed the lead of protecting powers.
Though the old military training and organization continued, the people
proved unable to defend the frontiers, and the land became more than
ever the "dancing-ground of Ares." Though enrolled for a short time in
the Aetolian League (about 245 B.C.) Boeotia was generally loyal to
Macedonia, and supported its later kings against Rome. In return for the
excesses of the democracies Rome dissolve