Kitap 34
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These men assured Quinctius that if the Roman army had been at their gates the movement would have succeeded, and if he moved his camp nearer to the city the Argives would rise. He sent forward some light troops, cavalry and infantry, and the Lacedaemonians sallied out to meet them. They met near the Cylarabis, a gymnasium not three hundred paces from the city, and the Lacedaemonians were without much trouble driven back behind their walls. The Roman general then fixed his camp at the spot where the battle had taken place and remained there for a day on the watch in case any fresh movement was started. When he saw that the citizens were paralysed by fear, he summoned a council of war to consider the question of attacking Argos. All with the exception of Aristaenus were agreed that as Argos was the sole cause of the war, so it ought certainly to be the starting-point. This was very far from what Quinctius wanted, and when Aristaenus spoke in opposition to the unanimous sense of the council he listened to him with unmistakable signs of approval. He wound up the discussion by stating that it was on behalf of the Argives that war had been begun, and he could not imagine anything less consistent than to leave the real enemy alone and attack Argos. As far as he was concerned he should direct all his efforts against Lacedaemon and its tyrant, the head and front of the war.
