Hellenica

But when an outcry reached the city and the citizens came to the rescue, at first the enemy issued forth from the Acropolis and fought in the space in front of the gates which lead to the city; afterwards, being beset on all sides by those who came against them, they withdrew again to the Acropolis; and the citizens poured in with them. Now the space within the Acropolis was cleared at once, but the enemy mounted upon the wall and the towers and showered blows and missiles upon the people who were within. Meanwhile the latter defended themselves from the ground and attacked the enemy by the steps which led up to the wall.

When, however, the citizens gained possession of some of the towers on this side and on that, they closed in desperate battle with those who had[*](369 B.C.) mounted upon their walls. And the enemy, as they were forced back by them — by their courage as well as by their fighting — were being crowded together into an ever smaller space. At this critical moment the Arcadians and Argives were circling around the city and beginning to dig through the wall of the Acropolis from its upper side;[*]( The wall of the Acropolis on one side made part of the city wall, while on the other side it separated the Acropolis from the lower city. The Arcadians and Argives are manifestly attacking the first mentioned, i.e., outer, part of the wall of the Acropolis; but the precise meaning of κατὰ κεφαλήν is uncertain.) and as for the citizens within, some were dealing blows upon the people on the wall, others upon those who were still climbing up from the outside and were on the ladders, and still others were fighting against those among the enemy who had mounted upon the towers; they also found fire in the tents and began to set the towers ablaze from below, bringing up some sheaves which chanced to have been harvested on the Acropolis itself. Then the people upon the towers, in fear of the flames, jumped off one after another, while those upon the walls, under the blows of their human adversaries, kept falling off.

And when they had once begun to give way, speedily the whole Acropolis had become bare of the enemy. Thereupon the horsemen straightway sallied forth from the city; and the enemy upon seeing them retired, leaving behind their ladders, their dead, and likewise some of the living who had been badly lamed. And the number of the enemy who were killed, both in the fighting within and by leaping down without, was not less than eighty. Then one might have beheld the men congratulating one another with handclasps on their preservation, and the women bringing them drink and at the same time crying for joy. Indeed,[*](369 B.C.) laughter mingled with tears[*]( An allusion to Iliad vi. 484,) did on that occasion really possess all who were present.

In the following year likewise the Argives and all[*](368 B.C.) the Arcadians invaded the territory of Phlius. The reason for their continually besetting the Phliasians was partly that they were angry with them, and partly that they had the country of the Phliasians between them, and were always in hope that through want of provisions they would bring them to terms. But on this invasion also the horsemen and the picked troops of the Phliasians, along with the horsemen of the Athenians who were present, attacked them at the crossing of the river; and having won the victory, they made the enemy retire under the heights for the rest of the day, just as if they were keeping carefully away from the corn in the plain as the property of friends, so as not to trample it down.

On another occasion the Theban governor at Sicyon[*](366 B.C.) marched upon Phlius at the head of the garrison which he had under his own command, and of the Sicyonians and Pelleneans — for at that time they were already following the Thebans; and Euphron also took part in the expedition with his mercenaries, about two thousand in number. Now the main body of the troops descended along Tricaranum toward the Heraeum with the intention of laying waste the plain; but the commander left the Sicyonians and Pelleneans behind upon the height over against the gates leading to Corinth, so that the Phliasians should not go around by that way and get above his men at the Heraeum.

When, however, the people in the city perceived that the enemy had set out[*](366 B.C.) for the plain, the horsemen and the picked troops of the Phliasians sallied forth against them, gave battle, and did not allow them to make their way to the plain. And they spent most of the day there in fighting at long range, the troops of Euphron pursuing up to the point where the country was suited for cavalry, and the men from the city as far as the Heraeum.