12
The Spartans had been deprived of their strength by the battle of LeuctraCf. Din. 1.73, note., and the Eurotas, which had never yet heard an enemy trumpet, saw Boeotians camping in Laconia. For the Theban had cut off the bloom of Sparta, enveloping in ashes the flower of her young men, the established boundaries of Laconia. Our own resources were spent with war and the hopes of the survivors were oppressed by the fate of the dead.
13
The Thebans were suffering the closest restriction in the Macedonian garrisoni.e. the garrison established in the Cadmea by Philip after Chaeronea. which bound their hands together and had even deprived them of their freedom of speech. Time buried the power of Thebes with the body of Epaminonidas. The Macedonians had reached their full strength, and in their aspirations Fortune was already leading them across the sea against the throne and treasuries of Persia.
