Chapter 454: Spartas Mediation
Agesilaus only invited a few close friends as his distinguished guest on his return to his motherland after a long absence, including Xenophon.
While healing his body, Agesilaus paid attention to the Battle of Corinth and the reports from Magna Graecia.
On this day, Xenophon came to visit Agesilaus at his house.
Agesilaus enthusiastically invited him to the living room.
As soon as he sat down, Xenophon expressed his heartfelt gratitude to him, “King Agesilaus, the Gerousia had informed me today that they would accept me as a guest of honour in Sparta and given a piece of land in Scillus. I thank you for your selfless support to me so that I, an exile, can finally have a home!”
“Scillus is a good place! The land is fertile, and as it is close to the forest, you can often see herds of wild deer. Furthermore, it’s near Olympia in Elis, so it will be much easier for you to watch the Olympic Games in the future.” Agesilaus smiled and congratulated him. Then, he said with seriousness, “Xenophon, this is Sparta’s compensation to you. If you didn’t help us, Sparta, how could Athens expel you?! Therefore, Sparta will not disappoint any friend who has sincerely helped us!”
Although Agesilaus was sincere, Xenophon didn’t want to discuss the charge of “treason” by Athens. Hence he changed the subject and said, “I wonder how is our war progress in Corinth is going now?”
“From the latest report, many Corinthians had gotten tired of the war due to the numerous casualties and the land becoming barren. Some had even quietly contacted Praxitas to discuss a truce…” Said Agesilaus.
“That’s wonderful! As long as we continue to intensify our attack, I believe those pro-peace factions in the city would definitely grow, which would cause Corinth to fall to Sparta eventually.” Xenophon said happily.
“But there is also an unpleasant news.” Agesilaus then said with a grim expression, “The Corinthians and Argosians have quietly formed an alliance!”
“An alliance? What kind?!” Xenophon asked curiously. After all, Corinth and Argos were already members of the anti-Spartan alliance, so it seemed unnecessary to establish a separate alliance.
“Just like what your good friend did in Magna Graecia, Corinth and Argos removed the boundary marker between the two cities and merged, giving the citizens of both city-states the same rights…” Agesilaus said in a heavy tone.
It must be known that Sparta and Argos have a centuries-old feud. When Sparta defeated Athens in the Peloponnesian War, Sparta destroyed their hegemony but still gave them a way to live. But if Argos was the one that lost the war, Sparta would skin it alive because Argos has always been against Sparta. Even as far back as the Greco-Persian war where all the Peloponnesian city-states joined the anti-Persian coalition and made Sparta the leader to fight against the Persians. But not Argos, as it preferred to be the insider of Persia due to Sparta. Hence Sparta doesn’t want to see Argos getting even slightly stronger.
Xenophon was well aware of their complex relationship. He thought about it and said with a smile, “In fact, there is nothing for you to worry about. It might even be a good thing for Sparta if these two city-states united instead.”
“Oh? Let me hear it.” Agesilaus’ mind stirred as he leaned forward in a posture to listen attentively.
“Currently, the anti-Spartan Alliance are working together against Sparta. Thebes, Corinth, Athens, Megara and Argos had all sent troops to fight, but the merger of Corinth and Argos only made Argos more enthusiastic in aiding Corinth. However, since Argos was already a mortal enemy of Sparta, its pressure on Sparta wouldn’t increase much. On the contrary-” Xenophon organised his words and said, “As two city-states with a long history, Corinth and Argos have deep-rooted political traditions, customs and interests, which are very different. For example, Corinth is by nobility while Argos is more like Sparta-”
Agesilaus nodded, understanding that Xenophon was referring to the oligarchy.
“Corinth believed in Poseidon while Argos revered Zeus and Agamemnon(the ancient city of Mycenae was within the territory of Argos, and the Argosians often boasted that they had ancient Greek royal blood and were nobler than the Spartans); Corinth dominates through commerce while Argos lived by agriculture; The Corinthians are shrewd and sleek while the Argosians are conservative and straightforward…which just show that these are two completely different city-states. The two city-states rulers must have hastily decided to merge under the pressure of our attack. However, these might instead lead to conflicts and contradictions between the two city-states, which would make those resentful Corinthians lean more towards Sparta…”
Agesilaus’ eyes brighten up, “Xenophon, what you say makes sense! At tomorrow’s meeting, I will tell your opinion to the other elders.”
He then stood up excitedly, paced back and forth, and added, “Also, I will write a letter to Praxitas, telling him not to attack Corinth too quickly. Instead, to send more people to make contact and sow discord to those dissenters.”
Xenophon nodded discreetly. There was no shortage of power struggles between the two kings of Sparta, none more famous than the struggle between Cleomens and Demaratos before the Greco-Persian War. And the reason why Pausanias laid his hands on Lysander, besides the fear that he threatened Sparta’s kingship, the other reason was that Lysander fully supported the other Spartan king, Agesilaus. And even this time, the Gerousia used the excuse to “recuperate” to call back Agesilaus, who was leading the war on the front line and replaced him by the confidant of the new king, Agesipolis. Perhaps the reason is worthy of further investigation, but Agesilaus disregarded his grievance and still gave Praxitas advice, which shows his broadmindedness. And that is the reason why Xenophon was willing to follow Agesilaus.
Thus Xenophon said with sincerity, “King Agesilaus, your advice would be of great help to Sparta’s capture of Corinth!”
Agesilaus smiled, “Xenophon, you are right. How could the integration of city-states be that easy? It even took several decades for Sparta and Messene to become one, but-” with a puzzled look, he continued, “How did that old friend of yours manage to not only merge the different Greek city-states of Thurii, Amendolara and Krimisa together, but also merge the Lucanians and Bruttians, and still remain stable over the years?”
After the rise of Theonia, Xenophon, due to Davos, had naturally thought briefly about the reasons for the rapid growth of the city-state union through the information he learned. However, there were some things he could not say because the Helots were the foundation of Sparta. Thus he did not answer positively but sighed, “The Theonia City-State Union’s establishment was just too short. And now, this rash war with Syracuse had given them trouble!”
“I’m afraid that it’s not just a ‘trouble’ as it is already a disaster for Theonia!” Agesilaus said seriously. He then briefly told Xenophon about the series of battles that took place after Syracuse invaded Magna Graecia.
After Xenophon returned to mainland Greece, he was first busy leading the mercenaries to fight the anti-Spartan Alliance. Afterwards, he followed Agesilaus to Sparta and was busy settling down, so he neither had the energy nor channels to understand the war situation in Magna Graecia. After learning about it, he did not expect that in just a month, the situation in Magna Graecia would have undergone ups and downs with Theonia having enemies on all sides and is already in danger.
Agesilaus continued, “In fact, we did not expect the war in Magna Graecia to progress so quickly. We originally planned of mediating this war when both sides were caught in a stalemate so that Syracuse could dispatch reinforcements as soon as possible to join our war against Corinth, especially its fleet that could ease the blockade of Athens at sea. But judging from the current situation, Dionysius, who holds an absolute advantage, would never stop the war. Hence I am wondering whether we could get Theonia to surrender voluntarily…”
Xenophon really thought that Agesilaus wanted Magna Graecia to end the war early so that Syracuse could aid Sparta. But what he did not know was that Agesilaus had another important reason: A stronger Syracuse was not what Sparta wanted because it was very likely that it would no longer want to cooperate with them. So preserving a Theonia that could pose a threat to Syracuse would be good for balancing the power in the western Mediterranean and preventing the situation from falling out of Sparta’s control.
Xenophon thought about the days when he fought and fled with the young mercenary leader a few years ago in Persia. The more difficult the time was, the more Davos was encouraged and often thought of good ways to help the mercenaries get out of trouble. Xenophon, therefore, reminded Agesilaus, “From what I know about Davos, he would rather fight to the death than accept the proposal of Theonia surrendering to Syracuse.”
Agesilaus sighed and said, “Anyway, we must still give it a try. What do you think of sending Cheirisophus to Thurii?”
‘Cheirisophus!’ Xenophon no longer had a clear image of this Spartan inspector who once fought with them together in Persia. Since Cheirisophus returned to Sparta with Thimbron, three or four years have already passed, and Xenophon had not seen him again. He then said, “While in Persia, Cheirisophus was on good terms with Davos.”
“Yes, he had even proposed to the Gerousia that Davos be absorbed as an important guest of Sparta!” Agesilaus lamented as well, “Cheirisophus would indeed be a good envoy for that young commander of Theonia.”