ld be before the walls of Haliartus. The messenger who
carried this letter fell into the hands of the enemy, and the letter
was taken to Thebes. Hereupon the Thebans entrusted their city to the
care of the Athenians, who had come to their aid, and themselves
started early in the evening, reached Haliartus a little before
Lysander, and threw a body of troops into the town. Lysander, on
discovering this, at first determined to halt his army on a hill in
the neighbourhood and await the arrival of Pausanias: but as the day
went on he could remain quiet no longer, but got his men under arms,
harangued the allied troops, and led them in a close column down the
road directly towards the city. Upon this those of the Thebans who had
remained outside the walls, leaving the city on their left hand,
marched to attack the extreme rear of the Lacedaemonians, near the
fountain which is called Kissousa,[157] in which there is a legend
that Dionysus was washed by his nurses after his birth; for the water
is wine-coloured and clear, and very sweet-tasted. Round the fountain
is a grove of the Cretan Storax-trees,[158] which the people of
Haliartus point to as a proof of Rhadamanthus having lived there. They
also show his tomb, which they call Alea. The sepulchre of Alkmena too
is close by: for the story goes that she married Rhadamanthus here
after the death of Amphitryon. Meanwhile the Thebans in the city,
together with the citizens of Haliartus themselves, remained quiet
until Lysander and the first ranks of the enemy came close to the
walls, and then suddenly opening the gates they charged and slew him
together with his soothsayer and some few more: for most of them fled
quickly back to the main body. However as the Thebans did not desist
but pressed on, the whole mass took to flight, and escaped to the
neighbouring hills with a loss of about one thousand men. Three
hundred of the Thebans also fell in an attack which they made on the
enemy in rough and difficult ground. These men had been accused of
favouring the Lacedaemonians, and it was to wipe out this unjust
imputation before the eyes of their fellow citizens that they showed
themselves so reckless of their lives.

XXIX. When Pausanias heard of this disaster, he was marching from
Plataea towards Thespiae. He at once put his troops in array and
proceeded to Haliartus. Here likewise arrived Thrasybulus from Thebes,
with an Athenian force. On his arrival, Pausanias proposed to apply