Chapter 121 Sparta's Good Offices

Agesilaus only invited a few friends as his VIPs to return to his home country after a long absence, including Xenophon.

While healing his body, Agesilaus also kept an eye on the war in Corinth and the news from Greater Greece.

On this day, Xenophon paid a visit to Agesilaus' house.

Agsilaus enthusiastically introduced it into the living room.

As soon as he sat down, Xenophon expressed his heartfelt thanks to him: "King Agesilaus, today the council of elders informs me that they will accept me as a guest of Sparta, and give me Sicilus ( A piece of land in Scillus. Thank you so much for your selfless help in giving me a home in exile at last!"

"Sicilus, that's a good place! The land is fertile, and it's close to the forest. You can often see herds of wild deer, and it's near Olympia in Alice. It will be much more convenient for you to watch the games in the future." Agesilaus smiled and congratulated, and then said seriously: "Xenophon, this is Sparta's compensation for you, if you didn't help us Sparta with all your strength, how could Athens expel you. Sparta will not fail any friend who has truly helped it!"

Although Agesilaus was sincere, Xenophon didn't want to talk about being accused of "treason" by Athens. He changed the subject and said: "I don't know how our war in Corinth is going now. How about it?"

"According to the latest information, the Corinthians have become tired of war because of too many casualties and desolate land. Some people even contact Praxitas quietly in an attempt to discuss a truce..." Agsilaus said.

"This is a good thing! As long as we continue to strengthen the offensive, I believe that the Lord and factions in Corinth City will definitely grow, and Corinth will eventually fall to Sparta." Xenophon said happily.

"But there is also bad news." Agesilaus said grimly: "The Corinthians and the Argos have quietly formed an alliance!"

"Alliance? What kind of alliance?!" Xenophon asked curiously. Corinth and Argos were already members of the Anti-Spartan Alliance, and the two of them formed a separate alliance, which seemed to be superfluous.

"Just as your good friend did in Greater Greece, Corinth and Argos removed the boundary between the two cities, giving the citizens of the two city-states the same citizenship, and they merged..." Agsilau Sis said in a heavy voice.

You must know that Sparta and Argos were dead enemies for hundreds of years, unlike Athens. Even if the Peloponnesian War was defeated, Sparta only destroyed the hegemony of Athens and still gave it a way to live. If Argos is defeated, he will also peel off his skin if he does not die, because Argos has always fought against Sparta.

Even as far away as the Hippo War, all the city-states in the Peloponnesian Peninsula joined the anti-Persian coalition, took Sparta as their leader, and fought against Persia, but Argos did not. sparta. Therefore, Sparta also does not want to see a slight increase in the strength of Argos.

Xenophon was very aware of the complex relationship, he thought for a while, then smiled: "Actually, you don't have to worry. The alliance between these two city-states may be a good thing for Sparta."

"Oh, talk about it." Agesilaus moved in his heart, leaned forward, and took a posture of listening carefully.

"Now the anti-Spartan alliance is working together to fight against our Sparta. Thebes, Corinth, Athens, Megara, and Argos all sent troops to fight. Corinth and Argos merged, but let Argos help Corinth's enthusiasm. Higher, but Argos was already a mortal enemy with Sparta, so its pressure on Sparta did not increase much. On the contrary-" Xenophon organized the language and said: "Corinth and Argos As two city-states with a long history of statehood, their respective political traditions, customs, and interests have been deeply rooted, and they are quite different. For example, Corinth is aristocratic in power, while Argos is more like Sparta—”

Agesilaus nodded, he understood that he was talking about "oligarchy".

"Corinth believed in Poseidon, and Argos respected Zeus and Agamemnon (the ancient city of Mycenae was in the territory of Argos, and the Argos often boasted that they had the blood of ancient Greek royal families, which was nobler than the Spartans) ; Corinth is dominated by commerce, while Argos is based on farming and animal husbandry; Corinthians are shrewd and slick, while Argos are conservative and straightforward... These are two completely different city-states. Decisions made by those in power, under the pressure of our Spartan army's attack, may have resulted in more conflict and conflict between the people of the two city-states, and the resentful Corinthians would turn to Sparta even more. …”

Agesilaus' eyes lit up: "Xenophon, what you said makes sense! I will tell the other elders your opinion at tomorrow's council of elders."

He stood up excitedly, paced back and forth, and added: "In addition, I will write a letter to Prolasitak, telling him not to attack Corinth too quickly, but to send more people to alienate and contact Corinth's opponents... …”

Xenophon nodded secretly, which was why he was willing to follow Agesilaus. There was no shortage of power struggles between the two kings of Sparta, the most famous being the one between Cleomenes and Demaratos before the Hippo War. In addition to worrying that he threatened the kingship, the reason Paulsonius attacked Lysander was because Lysander fully supported another Spartan king, Agesilaus. This time, the council of elders transferred back Agesilaus, who was leading the army on the front line, on the grounds of "recovering from illness" and replaced him with the confidant of the new king, Agesypolis. However, Agesilaus still gave Prolassitako advice regardless of his previous suspicions, which shows his open-mindedness.

Therefore, Xenophon said sincerely: "King Agesilaus, your advice will be of great help to Sparta in conquering Corinth!"

Agesilaus smiled: "Xenophon, you are right, how can the integration of city-state and city-state be so easy. Sparta and Messenia also took decades to become one, but——" He said The color of doubt: "Dionia can not only merge the different Greek city-states of Turii, Amendolara, and Crimea, but also the Lucanians and Brutians. Come in, and it has remained basically stable in the past few years, how did your old friend do it?"

After the rise of Dionia, because of Davos, Xenophon also briefly thought about the reasons for the rapid growth of this city-state alliance through the information he learned. He couldn't say it, so he didn't answer directly, but sighed: "The establishment of the Dionysian city-state alliance is still too short, and the war with Syracuse will make it more troublesome! "

"I'm afraid it's not just trouble, it's already a disaster for Dionia!" Agesilaus said sternly, and then briefly told Xenophon of the series of battles that took place after Syracuse invaded Greater Greece .

After Xenophon returned to mainland Greece, he was busy leading mercenaries to fight against the anti-Spartan coalition, and then followed Agesilaus to Sparta, busy settling down, and had neither the energy nor the channels to go. Knowing the war in Great Greece, he did not expect that the situation in Great Greece had undergone earth-shaking changes in just one month. Dionia was surrounded by enemies on all sides and was already in jeopardy.

Agsilaus continued: "In fact, we did not expect the war in Greater Greece to progress so quickly. We originally thought that when the two sides were confronted, we would mediate the war so that Syracuse could send troops as soon as possible. Reinforcement, put into our war against Corinth, especially its fleet can ease our blockade by Athens at sea. But judging from the current war situation, Dionysius, who has an absolute advantage, will never stop the war , so I was wondering if I could get Dionia to surrender..."

Xenophon really thought that Agesilaus wanted Great Greece to end the war as soon as possible so that Syracuse could aid Sparta. Of course he didn't know that there was another important reason in Agesilaus' mind: a stronger Syracuse was not what Sparta wanted, because it was very likely that it would not want to be with Sparta anymore. Cooperation. Therefore, retaining a Dionia that can pose a threat to Syracuse is beneficial to the balance of power in the Western Mediterranean, and it can also prevent the situation in the Western Mediterranean from breaking away from Sparta's control.

Xenophon recalled the days when he fought and fled in Persia with the young mercenary leader a few years ago. The more difficult it was, the stronger his fighting spirit, and he was often able to think of good ways to help the mercenaries out of trouble. Therefore, he reminded Agesilaus: "From what I know about Davos, he will not accept the suggestion of 'Dionia surrendering to Syracuse', and he will definitely fight to the end!"

Agesilaus sighed. "Anyway, it's got to be a try. What do you think of sending Kerisopes to Turii?"

Kerethorpes! Xenophon could no longer draw a clear image of the Spartan inspector who had fought together in Persia. Since Kelishorpes returned to Sparta with Tiburon, it took three or four years for Xenophon. He never saw him again, and he said with emotion: "In Persia, Kerisopes had a good relationship with Davos."

"Yeah, he also proposed to the council of elders to include Davos as a guest of Sparta!" Agesilaus also sighed: "So for the young commander of Dionia, the guest Lysops would be a good messenger."