Argive Politics and Policy after the Peace of Nicias

Abstract

IN THE summer of 418 B.C. the Spartans in full force, accompanied by their Helots, and the Tegeans with all their Arcadian allies marched out to attack the territory of the Argives. At the same time their allies from Boeotia and Corinth along with those from the rest of the Peloponnese gathered at Phlius to take part in the campaign. The magnitude of the force was well justified by the seriousness of Sparta's grievances against Argos. The Argives had seized upon the weakened condition of Sparta after the Archidamian war to try to recover the hegemony of the Peloponnese. They had allied themselves with Elis and Mantinea to form a league which powerfully threatened the Spartan position. More recently they had made a treaty with Athens and were engaged in besieging Epidaurus. The prestige of Sparta was at low ebb; some Peloponnesian states had already revolted and others were restive. With the Spartan position deteriorating daily King Agis set out against the Argives to destroy a serious threat to the hegemony of Lacedaemon. After some preliminary maneuvers to achieve a favorable position (these will be discussed later) Agis moved into the Argive plain and prepared for battle. The Argives were arrayed to meet him and all was in readiness for a great conflict; the armies had all but made contact when a remarkable event took place. Two Argives, Thrasyllus, one of the five strategoi, and Alciphron, proxenos of the Spartans, came forward to Agis asking him to avoid battle. They offered, as Thucydides tells us, to put to arbitration any grievances the Spartans might have against them and to make a treaty as well. Agis accepted the offer, struck a four months' truce with the Argives, and led his army homeward. The battle never took place. The decision of Agis is very surprising; the battlefield and his position on it had been of his choosing and he had at his disposal a formidable army. Thucydides tells us, moreover, that the Argives were hemmed in on all sides and that they were without cavalry to face the Boeotian horse. Why, then, did Agis agree to a truce ? Some have suspected that the decision was founded on political rather than military considerations without giving a fully satisfactory account of the political situation involved.' Others have rejected politics and explained the incident in purely military terms.2 It is the purpose of this paper to show that the military interpretation is inadequate and to suggest an explanation based on political factors. Thucydides tells us plainly that during the Peace of Nicias there were