After the death of Glos and Tachos the Lacedaemonians
renounced their undertakings in Asia, but they went on organizing affairs in Greece for their
own interest, winning over some of the cities by persuasion and getting others into their hands
by force through the return of the exiles. From this point they began openly to bring into
their own hands the supremacy of Greece, contrary to the common agreements adopted in the time
of Antalcidas after intervention by the King of the Persians.
[
2]
In Macedonia Amyntas the king had been defeated by the Illyrians and had relinquished his
authority; he had furthermore made a grant to the people of the Olynthians of a large part of
the borderland because of his abandonment of political power. At first the people of the
Olynthians enjoyed the revenues from the land given them, and when later the king unexpectedly
recovered strength and got back his entire kingdom, the Olynthians were not inclined to return
the land when he asked for it.
[
3]
Consequently Amyntas gathered
an army from his own people, and forming an alliance with the Lacedaemonians persuaded them to
send out a general and a strong force against the Olynthians. The Lacedaemonians, having
decided to extend their control to the regions about Thrace, enrolled soldiers both from their
citizens and from their allies, more than ten thousand in all; the army they turned over to
Phoebidas the Spartan with orders to join forces with Amyntas and to make war together with him
upon the Olynthians. They also sent out another army against the people of Phlius, defeated
them in battle, and compelled them to accept the rule of the Lacedaemonians.
[
4]
At this time the kings of the
Lacedaemonians were at variance with each other on matters of policy. Agesipolis, who was a
peaceful and just man and, furthermore, excelled in wisdom, declared that they should abide by
their oaths and not enslave the Greeks contrary to the common agreements. He pointed out that
Sparta was in ill repute for having surrendered the Greeks of Asia to the Persians and for
organizing the cities of Greece in her own interest, although she had sworn in the common
agreement that she would preserve their autonomy. But Agesilaus, who was by nature a man of
action, was fond of war and yearned for dominance over the Greeks.