opaedic festival at Lacedaemon, and then fell upon the oligarchs.
After a fight in the city, victory declared for the commons, who slew
some of their opponents and banished others. The Lacedaemonians for a
long while let the messages of their friends at Argos remain without
effect. At last they put off the Gymnopaediae and marched to their
succour, but learning at Tegea the defeat of the oligarchs, refused to
go any further in spite of the entreaties of those who had escaped,
and returned home and kept the festival. Later on, envoys arrived with
messages from the Argives in the town and from the exiles, when the
allies were also at Sparta; and after much had been said on both sides,
the Lacedaemonians decided that the party in the town had done wrong,
and resolved to march against Argos, but kept delaying and putting
off the matter. Meanwhile the commons at Argos, in fear of the
Lacedaemonians, began again to court the Athenian alliance, which they
were convinced would be of the greatest service to them; and accordingly
proceeded to build long walls to the sea, in order that in case of a
blockade by land; with the help of the Athenians they might have the
advantage of importing what they wanted by sea. Some of the cities in
Peloponnese were also privy to the building of these walls; and the
Argives with all their people, women and slaves not excepted, addressed
themselves to the work, while carpenters and masons came to them from
Athens.

Summer was now over. The winter following the Lacedaemonians, hearing of
the walls that were building, marched against Argos with their allies,
the Corinthians excepted, being also not without intelligence in the
city itself; Agis, son of Archidamus, their king, was in command. The
intelligence which they counted upon within the town came to nothing;
they however took and razed the walls which were being built, and after
capturing the Argive town Hysiae and killing all the freemen that fell
into their hands, went back and dispersed every man to his city. After
this the Argives marched into Phlius and plundered it for harbouring
their exiles, most of whom had settled there, and so returned home.
The same winter the Athenians blockaded Macedonia, on the score of the
league entered into by Perdiccas with the Argives and Lacedaemonians,
and also of his breach of his engagements on the occasion of the
expedition prepared by Athens against the Chalcidians in the direction
of Thrace and again