90.] [Footnote 2: The more minutely we examine the history of the decline and fall of Lacedaemon, the more reason we shall find to admire the sagacity of Somers.

The first great humiliation which befel the Lacedaemonians was the affair of Sphacteria.

It is remarkable that on this occasion they were vanquished by men who made a trade of war.

The force which Cleon carried out with him from Athens to the Bay of Pyles, and to which the event of the conflict is to be chiefly ascribed, consisted entirely of mercenaries, archers from Scythia and light infantry from Thrace.

The victory gained by the Lacedaemonians over a great confederate army at Tegea retrieved that military reputation which the disaster of Sphacteria had impaired.