DANGER OF TEGEA. 75 safety at the altar ; upon which the soldiers tried him, and he was condemned to have his property confiscated. 1 Very shortly afterwards the expected Athenian contingent arrived, which probably ought to have come earlier : one thousand hoplites, with three hundred horsemen, under Laches and Nikostratus. Alkibiades came as ambassador, probably serving as a soldier also among the horsemen. The Argeians, notwith- standing their displeasure against Thrasyllus, nevertheless felt themselves pledged to observe the truce which he had concluded, and their magistrates accordingly desired the newly-arrived Athenians to depart. Nor was Alkibiades even permitted to approach and address the public assembly, until the Mantineian and Eleian allies insisted that thus much at least should not be refused. An assembly was therefore convened, in which these allies took part, along with the Argeians. Alkibiades contended strenuously that the recent truce with the Lacedaemonians was null and void ; since it had been contracted without the privity of all the allies, distinctly at variance with the terms of the alliance. He therefore called upon them to resume military operations forthwith, in conjunction with the reinforcement now seasonably arrived. His speech so persuaded the assembly, that the Mantineians and Eleians consented at once to join him in an expedition against the Arcadian town of Orchomenus ; the Argeians, also, though at first reluctant, very speedily followed them thither. Orchomenus was a place important to acquire, not merely because its territory joined that of Mantineia on the northward, but because the Lacedaemonians had deposited therein the hostages which they had taken from Arcadian townships and Tillages as guarantee for fidelity. Its walls were however in bad condition, and its inhabitants, after a short resistance, capitulated. They agreed to become allies of Mantineia, to furnish hostages for faithful adhesion to such alliance, and to deliver up the hostages deposited with them by Sparta.- Encouraged by first success, the allies debated what they should next undertake ; the Eleians contending strenuously for a march against Lepreum, while the Mantineians were anxious to attack their enemy and neighbor Tegea. The Argeians and Athenians
1 Tlmcyd. v. CO. * Tlmi-
