er to their old encampment by the
temple of Heracles, suddenly saw their adversaries close in front of
them, all in complete order, and advanced from the hill. A shock like
that of the present moment the Lacedaemonians do not ever remember
to have experienced: there was scant time for preparation, as they
instantly and hastily fell into their ranks, Agis, their king, directing
everything, agreeably to the law. For when a king is in the field all
commands proceed from him: he gives the word to the Polemarchs; they to
the Lochages; these to the Pentecostyes; these again to the Enomotarchs,
and these last to the Enomoties. In short all orders required pass
in the same way and quickly reach the troops; as almost the whole
Lacedaemonian army, save for a small part, consists of officers under
officers, and the care of what is to be done falls upon many.

In this battle the left wing was composed of the Sciritae, who in a
Lacedaemonian army have always that post to themselves alone; next to
these were the soldiers of Brasidas from Thrace, and the Neodamodes with
them; then came the Lacedaemonians themselves, company after company,
with the Arcadians of Heraea at their side. After these were the
Maenalians, and on the right wing the Tegeans with a few of the
Lacedaemonians at the extremity; their cavalry being posted upon the two
wings. Such was the Lacedaemonian formation. That of their opponents was
as follows: On the right were the Mantineans, the action taking place in
their country; next to them the allies from Arcadia; after whom came the
thousand picked men of the Argives, to whom the state had given a long
course of military training at the public expense; next to them the rest
of the Argives, and after them their allies, the Cleonaeans and Orneans,
and lastly the Athenians on the extreme left, and lastly the Athenians
on the extreme left, and their own cavalry with them.

Such were the order and the forces of the two combatants. The
Lacedaemonian army looked the largest; though as to putting down the
numbers of either host, or of the contingents composing it, I could not
do so with any accuracy. Owing to the secrecy of their government the
number of the Lacedaemonians was not known, and men are so apt to brag
about the forces of their country that the estimate of their opponents
was not trusted. The following calculation, however, makes it possible
to estimate the numbers of the Lacedaemonians present upon this
occasi