Hellenica

And when the two men, partly by[*](392 B.C.) accident and partly by contrivance, had been made sentinels at the very gate where the trophy stands, then Praxitas came with his regiment, the Sicyonians, and all the Corinthians who chanced to be exiles. But when he was at the gate, being afraid to make the entry, he wished to send in one of his trusted men to examine the situation inside. Then the two Corinthians led him in and showed him everything in so straightforward a manner that the man who went in reported that all was truly just as they said. Thereupon Praxitas entered.

The walls, however, are a long distance from each other; his troops, in consequence, when they formed in line for battle, thought themselves to be few in number, and therefore made a stockade and as good a trench as they could in front of them, to protect them until their allies should come to their aid. Besides, there was a garrison of Thebans in their rear, at the port.Now the day after the night on which they entered they passed without a battle; but on the following day came the Argives, hurrying with all speed to the rescue; and finding the Lacedaemonians stationed on the right of their own line, the Sicyonians next to them, and the Corinthian exiles, about one hundred and fifty in number, by the eastern wall, the enemy formed in line against them with the mercenaries under Iphicrates close to the eastern wall, and next to them the Argives; while the Corinthians from the city occupied their left wing.

Then the Argives, filled with overweening confidence on account of their numbers, advanced at once; and they defeated the Sicyonians, and breaking through the stockade pursued them to the sea and there killed many of them. But Pasimachus, the Lacedaemonian[*](392 B.C.) commander of horse, at the head of a few horsemen, when he saw the Sicyonians hard pressed, tied his horses to trees, took from the Sicyonians their shields, and advanced with a volunteer force against the Argives. The Argives, however, seeing the Sigmas upon the shields, did not fear these opponents at all, thinking that they were Sicyonians. Then, as the story goes, Pasimachus said: By the twin gods,[*](Castor and Pollux.) Argives, these Sigmas will deceive you, and came to close quarters with them; and fighting thus with a few against many he was slain, and likewise others of his party.