Agis and Cleomenes

To begin with, then, the Mantineians invited him to help them, and after he had made his way into the city by night, they expelled the Achaean garrison and put themselves in his hands. Cleomenes restored to them their laws and constitution, and on the same day marched away to Tegea. Then, shortly afterwards, he fetched a compass through Arcadia and marched down upon the Achaean city of Pherae. His desire was either to fight a battle with the Achaeans, or to bring Aratus into disrepute for running away and abandoning the country to him. For although Hyperbatas was general at that time, Aratus had the entire power in the Achaean league.

Moreover, after the Achaeans had marched out with all their forces and pitched their camp at Dymae, near the Hecatombaeum, Cleomenes came up against them. He did not think it well, however, to pitch his own camp between the city of Dymae, which was hostile, and the army of the Achaeans, and therefore boldly challenged the Achaeans and forced them to engage. He was completely victorious, routed their phalanx, slew many of them in the battle, and took many prisoners also. Then he went up against Langon, drove out the Achaean garrison, and restored the city to the Eleians.

The Achaeans having been thus utterly overwhelmed, Aratus, who was wont to be their general every other year, refused the office and declined to listen to their invitations and prayers; thus unwisely, when the ship of state was in a heavy storm, handing over the helm to another and abandoning the post of authority. Cleomenes, on the other hand, at the first was thought to impose moderate terms upon the Achaean embassy, but afterwards he sent other envoys and bade them hand over to him the leadership among the Greeks, assuring them that on other points he would not quarrel with them, but would at once restore to them their captives and their strongholds.[*](Cf. the Aratus, xxxviii. 5f. )

The Achaeans were willing to settle matters on these terms, and invited Cleomenes to come to Lerna, where they were about to hold their assembly. But it fell out that Cleomenes, who had made a strenuous march and then too soon had drunk water, brought up a great quantity of blood and lost his speech. For this reason he sent back to the Achaeans the most prominent men among their captives, but postponed the conference and went back home to Sparta.

This ruined the cause of Greece, at a time when she was still able in some way or other to recover from her grievous plight and escape Macedonian greed and insolence. For Aratus (whether it was through distrust and fear of Cleomenes, or because he envied the king his unlooked for success, and thought it a terrible thing after three and thirty years of leadership to have his own fame and power stripped from him by an upstart of a young man,