ors, and ceasing to look henceforth for victory and plunder in the
service of Sparta, became hostile, and sought their political
independence. A Pan-Arcadian union was formed.

(M640) Sparta undertook to recover her supremacy over Arcadia, and
Agesilaus was sent to Mantinea with a considerable force, for the city had
rebuilt its walls, and resumed its former consolidation, which was a great
offense in the eyes of Sparta. The Arcadians, invaded by Spartans, first
invoked the aid of Athens, which being refused, they turned to Thebes, and
Epaminondas came to their relief with a great army of
auxiliaries--Argeians, Elians, Phocians, Locrians, as well as Thebans, for
his fame now drew adventurers from every quarter to his standard. These
forces urged him to invade Laconia itself, and his great army, in four
divisions, penetrated the country through different passes. He crossed the
Eurotas and advanced to Sparta, which was in the greatest consternation,
not merely from the near presence of Epaminondas with a powerful army of
seventy thousand men, but from the discontent of the Helots. But Agesilaus
put the city in the best possible defense, while every means were used to
secure auxiliaries from other cities. Epaminondas dared not to attempt to
take the city by storm, and after ravaging Laconia, returned into Arcadia.
This insult to Sparta was of great moral force, and was an intense
humiliation, greater even than that felt after the battle of Leuctra.

(M641) This expedition, though powerless against Sparta herself, prepared
Epaminondas to execute the real object which led to the assistance of the
Arcadians. This was the re-establishment of Messenia, which had been
conquered by Sparta two hundred years before. The new city of Messenia was
built on the site of Mount Ithome, where the Messenians had defended
themselves in their long war against the Laconians, and the best masons
and architects were invited from all Greece to lay out the streets, and
erect the public edifices, while Epaminondas superintended the
fortifications. All the territory westward and south of Ithome--the
southwestern corner of the Peloponnesus, richest on the peninsula, was now
subtracted from Sparta, while the country to the east was protected by the
new city in Arcadia, Megalopolis, which the Arcadians built. This wide
area, the best half of the Spartan territory, was thus severed from
Sparta, and was settled by Helots, who became free men, with
inexti