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Now the Lacedaemonians, who for five hundred years had preserved Laconia undevastated, could not then bear to see it being sacked by the enemy, but hot-headedly were ready to rush forth from the city; but being restrained by the elders from advancing too far from their native land, lest some one attack it, they were finally prevailed upon to wait quietly and keep the city safe. [2] Now Epameinondas descended through the Taygetus1 into the Eurotas valley and was engaged in crossing the river, whose current was swift since it was the winter season, when the Lacedaemonians, seeing their opponents' army thrown into confusion by the difficulty of the crossing, seized the opportunity favourable for attack. Leaving the women, children, and the old men as well in the city to guard Sparta, they marshalled in full force the men of military age, streamed forth against the enemy, fell upon them suddenly as they crossed, and wrought heavy slaughter. [3] But as the Boeotians and Arcadians fought back and began to encircle the enemy with their superior numbers, the Spartans, having slain many, withdrew to the city, for they had clearly displayed their own courage. [4] Following this, as Epameinondas in full force made a formidable assault on the city, the Spartans with the aid of their strong natural defences slew many of those who pressed rashly forward, but finally the besiegers applied great pressure and thought at first they had overcome Sparta by force; but as those who tried to force their way were some slain, some wounded, Epameinondas recalled the soldiers with the trumpet, but the men of their own accord would approach the city, and would challenge the Spartans to a pitched battle, bidding them otherwise admit their inferiority to the enemy. [5] When the Spartans replied to the effect that when they found a suitable occasion they would stake everything on one battle, they departed from the city. And when they had devastated all Laconia and amassed countless spoils, they withdrew to Arcadia. [6]

Thereupon the Athenians,2who had arrived on the scene too late for action, returned to Attica without accomplishing anything of note; but others of their allies, to the number of four thousand men, came to reinforce the Lacedaemonians. Besides these they attached to their numbers the Helots who had been newly emancipated, a thousand, and two hundred of the Boeotian fugitives, and summoned no small number from the neighbouring cities, so that they created an army comparable to that of the enemy. As they maintained these in one body and trained them, they gained more and more confidence and made themselves ready for the decisive contest.

1 Mountain range immediately above Sparta bordering the Eurotas River.

2 See chap. 63.2. Xenophon places the request for help from Athens after the attack on Sparta (Xen. Hell. 6.5.33-52).

Diodorus Siculus. Diodorus of Sicily in Twelve Volumes with an English Translation by C. H. Oldfather. Vol. 4-8. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1989.

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