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75. Just before the battle, Pleistoanax, the other king, led out of Sparta a reinforcement composed1 of the elder and younger citizens2; he had proceeded as far as Tegea when he heard of the victory, and returned. [2] The Lacedaemonians sent and countermanded the reinforcements from Corinth and beyond the Isthmus; they then went home themselves and, dismissing the allies, celebrated the festival of the Carnea, for which this happened to be the season. [3] Thus, by a single action, they wiped out the charge of cowardice, which was due to their misfortune at Sphacteria, and of general stupidity and sluggishness, then current against them in Hellas. They were now thought3 to have been hardly used by fortune4, but in character to be the same as ever.

The very day before the battle, the Epidaurians with their whole force invaded the territory of Argos, expecting to find it deserted; [4] they killed many of the men who had been left to protect the country when the main army took the field5. [5] After the battle three thousand Elean hoplites came to the aid of the Mantineans, and a second detachment of a thousand from Athens. While the Lacedaemonians were still celebrating the Carnea they marched all together against Epidaurus, and began to surround the city with a wall, dividing the task among them. [6] The other allies did not persevere, but the Athenians soon completed their own portion, the fortification of the promontory on which the temple of Here stood. In this part of the works a garrison was left, to which all furnished a contingent; they then returned to their several cities. So the summer ended.

1 The Lacedaemonians go home and celebrate the Carnea. Great moral effect of the battle.

2 Cp. 5.64 med.

3 Or, 'to have incurred disgrace through a mishap.'

4 Or, 'to have incurred disgrace through a mishap.'

5 Reading ἐξελθόντων αὐτῶν.

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