Not long after this the Lacedaemonians again
1 took the field against Thebes in the same strength as
before, but the Thebans, by occupying certain new obstacles, prevented the enemy from
devastating the country, though they did not venture to offer battle in the plains face to face
against the whole army of the enemy.
[
2]
As Agesilaus advanced to
the attack, they came out to meet him gradually. A bitter battle raged for a long time, in
which at first Agesilaus' men prevailed, but later, as the Thebans poured forth in full force
from the city, Agesilaus, beholding the multitude of men streaming down upon him, summoned his
soldiers by trumpet to withdraw from the battle. The Thebans, who found themselves now for the
first time not inferior to the Lacedaemonians, erected a trophy of victory and thereafter faced
the army of the Spartans with confidence.
[
3]
With regard to the fighting of the land forces, such was the issue. At sea
about the same time occurred a great naval battle between Naxos and Paros, of which the cause
was as follows. Pollis, the admiral of the Lacedaemonians, learning that a large shipment of
grain was on its way to Athens in freighters, lay in wait watching for the grain fleet as it
put in to port, intending to attack the freighters. The Athenian people, being informed of
this, sent out a convoy to guard the grain in transit, which in fact brought it safe to the
Peiraeus.
[
4]
Later Chabrias, the Athenian admiral, with the whole
navy sailed to Naxos and laid it under siege. Bringing his siege-engines to bear against the
walls, when he had shaken them, he then bent every effort to take the city by storm. While
these things were going on, Pollis, the admiral of the Lacedaemonians, sailed into port to
assist the Naxians. In eager rivalry both sides engaged in a sea-battle, and forming in line of
battle charged each other.
2
[
5]
Pollis had sixty-five triremes; Chabrias eighty-three. As the
ships bore down on one another, Pollis, leading the right wing, was first to attack the
opposing triremes on the left wing, which Cedon the Athenian commanded. In a brilliant contest
he slew Cedon himself and sank his ship; and, in similar fashion engaging the other ships of
Cedon and tearing them open with the beaks of his ships, he destroyed some and others he forced
to flee. When Chabrias beheld what was happening, he dispatched a squadron of the ships under
his command and brought support to the men who were hard pressed and so retrieved the defeat of
his own side. He himself with the strongest part of the fleet in a valiant struggle destroyed
many triremes and took a large number captive.