Book 7
5.10
And had not a Cretan by a kind of providential chance come and reported to Agesilaus that the army was advancing, he would have captured the city, like a nest entirely empty of its defenders. But when Agesilaus, having received word of this in time, had got back to the city ahead of the enemy, the Spartiatae posted themselves at various points and kept guard, although they were extremely few. For all their horsemen were away in Arcadia and likewise the mercenary force and three of the battalions,cp. iv. 20.362 B.C. which numbered twelve.
5.11
Now when Epaminondas had arrived within the cityi.e., the outlying portion of the city. Sparta had no walls. of the Spartiatae, he did not attempt to enter at the point where his troops would be likely to have to fight on the ground-level and be pelted from the house-tops, nor where they would fight with no advantage over the few, although they were many; but after gaining the precise position from which he believed that he would enjoy an advantage, he undertook to descend (instead of ascending) into the city.
