History of the Peloponnesian War

When the army of the Argives and their allies had given way on this side, [*]( i. e. by one part of it having advanced beyond it to pursue the enemy and by another part having been beaten back behind it. —Arnold.) their line was now broken off both ways; while at the same time the right wing of the Lacedaemonians and Tegeans was surrounding the Athenians with the troops which outflanked them, and they were encompassed with danger on both sides, as they were being surrounded on one, and were already beaten on the other. Indeed they would have suffered most severely of all the army, if the presence of their cavalry had not been of service to them.

It happened too, that Agis, on perceiving the Lacedaemonian left wing, which was opposed to the Montineans and the thousand Argives, to be hard pressed, gave orders for the whole army to advance to the support of the division which was being defeated.

And when this was done, the Athenians meanwhile, as the enemy's forces passed on and withdrew from them, escaped at their leisure, and with them the beaten division of the Argives. The Mantineans and their allies, on the other hand, and the picked men of the Argives, were no longer disposed to press on their adversaries; but seeing their own side defeated, and the Lacedaemonians advancing against them, they took to flight.

And of the Mantineans many were slain, but of the picked Argives the great majority escaped. However, the flight and retreat were not hard pressed, nor to any great distance; for though the Lacedaemonians, until they have routed their enemies, fight for a long time, and stubbornly, as regards standing their ground; yet when they have routed them, they pursue but for a short time and for a little distance.