292 HISTORY OF GREECE. men, in the name of all their ancient dignity, to spurn the mandates of Thebes ; to shrink neither from effort nor from peril for the re- Jonquest of Messene, even if they had to fight alone against all Greece ; and to convert their military population into a perma- nent camp, sending away their women and children to an asylum in friendly foreign cities. Though the Spartans were not inclined to adopt the desperate suggestions of Archidamus, yet this important congress ended by a scission between them and their allies. The Corinthians, Phliasi- ans, Epidaurians, and others, went to Thebes, and concluded peace ; recognizing the independence of Messene, and affirming the inde- pendence of each separate city within its own territory, without either obligatory alliance, or headship on the part of any city. Yet when the Thebans invited them to contract an alliance, they de- clined, saying that this would be only embarking in war on the other side ; whereas that which they sighed for was peace. Peace was accordingly sworn, upon the terms indicated in the Persian rescript, so far as regarded the general autonomy of each separate town, and specially that of Messene ; but not including any sanc- tion, direct or indirect, of Theban headship. 1 This treaty removed out of the war, and placed in a position of neutrality, a considerable number of Grecian states ; chiefly those near the Isthmus, Corinth, Phlius, Epidaurus ; probably Trcezen and Hermione, since we do not find them again mentioned among the contending parties. But it left the more powerful states, Thebes and Argos, Sparta and Athens, 2 still at war ; as well as Arcadia, Achaia, and Elis. The relations between these states, however, were now somewhat complicated ; for Thebes was at war with Sparta, and in alliance, though not altogether hearty alliance, 1 Diodorus (xv, 76) states that the Persian king sent envoys to Greece who caused this peace to be concluded. But there seems no ground for be- lieving that any Persian envoys had visited Greece since the return of Pc- lopidas, whose return with the rescript did in fact constitute a Persian inter- vention. The peace now concluded was upon the general 1 asis of that rescript; so far, but no farther (as I conceive), the assertion of Diodorna about Persian intervention is exact.
- Diodorus (xv. 76) is farther inaccurate in stating the peace as univer-
sally accepted, and as being a conclusion of the Boeotian and Lacedaemo- nian war, which had begun with the battle of Leuktra.
