Diodorus Siculus, Library

Contents of the Fourteenth Book of Diodorus

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LXXXIV. Agesilaus enlisted more soldiers from the Peloponnesus and then advanced with his army against Boeotia, whereupon the Boeotians, together with their allies, at once set out to Coroneia to meet him. In the battle which followed the Thebans defeated the forces opposed to them and pursued them as far as their camp, but the others held out only a short time and then were forced by Agesilaus and his troops to take to flight. [2] Therefore the Lacedaemonians, looking upon themselves as conquerors, set up a trophy and gave back the dead to the enemy under a truce. There fell of the Boeotians and their allies more than six hundred, but of the Lacedaemonians and their associates three hundred and fifty. Agesilaus, who had suffered many wounds, was taken to Delphi, where he looked after his physical needs.¹

[3] After the sea-fight Pharnabazus and Conon put out to sea with all their ships against the allies of the Lacedaemonians. First of all they induced the people of Cos to secede, and then those of Nisyros and of Teos. After this the Chians expelled their garrison and joined Conon, and similarly the Mitylenaeans and Ephesians and Erythraeans changed sides. [4] Something like the same eagerness for change infected all the cities, of which some expelled their Lacedaemonian garrisons and maintained their freedom, while others attached themselves to Conon. As for the Lacedaemonians, from this time they lost the sovereignty of the sea. Conon, having decided to sail with the entire fleet to Attica, put out to sea, and after bringing over to his cause the islands of the Cyclades, he sailed against the island of Cythera. [5] Mastering it at once on the first assault, he sent the Cytherians under a truce to Laconia, left an adequate garrison for the city, and sailed for Corinth. After putting in there he discussed with the members of the Council such points as they wished, made an alliance with them, left them money, and then sailed off to Asia.²

[6] At this time Aeropus, the king of the Macedonians, died of illness after a reign of six years, and was succeeded in the sovereignty by his son Pausanias, who ruled for one year. [7] Theopompus of Chios ended with this year and the battle of Cnidus his Hellenic History, which he wrote in twelve books. This historian began with the battle of Cynossema,³ with which Thucydides ended his work, and covered in his account a period of seventeen years.⁴

¹ A more adequate account of the battle of Coroneia is given in Xen. Hell. 4.3.15-20; Plut. Agesilaus 18.

² These negotiations were in fact the work of Pharnabazus, who was in supreme command of the fleet (Xen. Hell. 4.8.6 ff.) and who alone could speak for the King of Persia.

³ See Book 13.40.5 f. and note.

⁴ 410-394 B.C.

This text is based on the following book(s):
Diodorus Siculus. Diodorus of Sicily in Twelve Volumes with an English Translation by C. H. Oldfather. Vol. 4-8. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1989.
OCLC: 24758311
ISBN: 0674994132, 0674994221, 0674994396, 0674994280, 0674994647

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