[24]
With such words, then, he endeavoured to dissuade the Thebans from making the final venture; to the Lacedaemonians, on the other hand, he pointed out what manner of thing a defeated army was, and what an army victorious. “And if you wish,” he said, “to forget the disaster which has befallen you, I advise you first to recover your breath and rest yourselves, and then, after you have become stronger, go into battle against men who are unconquered. But now,” he said, “be well assured that even among your allies there are those who are holding converse1 with the enemy about a treaty of friendship with them; by all means, then, try to obtain a truce. And I am myself eager for this,” he said, “out of a desire to save you, both because of my father's friendship with you and because I am your diplomatic agent.”
1 371 B.C.
Xenophon. Xenophon in Seven Volumes, 1 and 2. Carleton L. Brownson. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA; William Heinemann, Ltd., London. vol. 1:1918; vol. 2: 1921.
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