History of the Peloponnesian War

their interests. And now the popular party at Argos, gradually consolidating its strength and recovering boldness, waited for the celebration of the Gymnopaediae[*](A festival in which boys and men danced naked. While it lasted the Lacedaemonians (as at the Carneia, cf. chs. liv. and lxxv.) abstained from war.) by the Lacedaemonians and attacked the oligarchs. A battle occurred in the city and the popular party got the better of it, slaying some of their enemies and

expelling others. The Lacedaemonians, although their friends kept sending for them, did not come for a long time; but at last they put off the Gymnopaediae and went to their aid. But hearing at Tegea that the oligarchs had been conquered, they refused to go further, in spite of the entreaties of the oligarchs who had escaped, and returning home proceeded with the celebration of

the Gymnopaediae. Later, when envoys had come from the Argives in the city and messengers from those who had been driven out, and their allies were present, and much had been said on either side, they decided that those in the city[*](The popular party.) were in the wrong and determined to make an expedition