Note 425 — Chapter LXXVIII · BATTLE OF LEUKTRA AND ITS CONSEQUENCES.
Reading edition
Diodor. xv, 39, 40.
Diodorus mentions these commotions as if they had taken place after the peace concluded in 374 B.C., and not after the peace of 371 B.C. But it is impossible that they can have taken place after the former, which in point of fact, was broken off almost as soon as sworn,—was never carried into effect,—and comprised no one but Athens and Sparta. I have before remarked that Diodorus seems to have confounded, both in his mind and in his history, these two treaties of peace together, and has predicated of the former what really belongs to the latter. The commotions which he mentions come in, most naturally and properly, immediately after the battle of Leuktra.
He affirms the like reaction against Lacedæmonian supremacy and its local representatives in the various cities, to have taken place even after the peace of Antalkidas in 387 B.C. (xv, 5). But if such reaction began at that time, it must have been promptly repressed by Sparta, then in undiminished and even advancing power.
Another occurrence, alleged to have happened after the battle of Leuktra, may be properly noticed here. Polybius (ii, 39), and Strabo seemingly copying him (viii, p. 384), assert that both Sparta and Thebes agreed to leave their disputed questions of power to the arbitration of the Achæans, and to abide by their decision. Though I greatly respect the authority of Polybius, I am unable here to reconcile his assertion either with the facts which unquestionably occurred, or with general probability. If any such arbitration was ever consented to, it must have come to nothing; for the war went on without interruption. But I cannot bring myself to believe that it was even consented to, either by Thebes or by Sparta. The exuberant confidence of the former, the sense of dignity on the part of the latter, must have indisposed both to such a proceeding; especially to the acknowledgment of umpires like the Achæan cities, who enjoyed little estimation in 370 B.C., though they acquired a good deal a century and a half afterwards.