that
time. The imputations cast upon them by the Hellenes at the time,
whether of cowardice on account of the disaster in the island, or of
mismanagement and slowness generally, were all wiped out by this single
action: fortune, it was thought, might have humbled them, but the men
themselves were the same as ever.

The day before this battle, the Epidaurians with all their forces
invaded the deserted Argive territory, and cut off many of the guards
left there in the absence of the Argive army. After the battle three
thousand Elean heavy infantry arriving to aid the Mantineans, and a
reinforcement of one thousand Athenians, all these allies marched
at once against Epidaurus, while the Lacedaemonians were keeping the
Carnea, and dividing the work among them began to build a wall round
the city. The rest left off; but the Athenians finished at once the part
assigned to them round Cape Heraeum; and having all joined in leaving
a garrison in the fortification in question, they returned to their
respective cities.

Summer now came to an end. In the first days of the next winter, when
the Carnean holidays were over, the Lacedaemonians took the field, and
arriving at Tegea sent on to Argos proposals of accommodation. They had
before had a party in the town desirous of overthrowing the democracy;
and after the battle that had been fought, these were now far more in a
position to persuade the people to listen to terms. Their plan was first
to make a treaty with the Lacedaemonians, to be followed by an alliance,
and after this to fall upon the commons. Lichas, son of Arcesilaus, the
Argive proxenus, accordingly arrived at Argos with two proposals from
Lacedaemon, to regulate the conditions of war or peace, according as
they preferred the one or the other. After much discussion, Alcibiades
happening to be in the town, the Lacedaemonian party, who now ventured
to act openly, persuaded the Argives to accept the proposal for
accommodation; which ran as follows:

The assembly of the Lacedaemonians agrees to treat with the Argives upon
the terms following:

1. The Argives shall restore to the Orchomenians their children, and
to the Maenalians their men, and shall restore the men they have in
Mantinea to the Lacedaemonians.

2. They shall evacuate Epidaurus, and raze the fortification there. If
the Athenians refuse to withdraw from Epidaurus, they shall be declared
enemies of the Argives and of the Lacedaemonians, and of the allies