§ 4. _Plataeae_ (which had been overthrown by the enemies of Athens in
the course of the Peloponnesian War, but rebuilt, with the aid of
Sparta, in 378) was destroyed by Thebes in 373-372. About the same time
Thebes destroyed Thespiae, which, like Plataeae, was well-disposed
towards Athens; and in 370 the Thebans massacred the male population of
Orchomenus, and sold the women and children into slavery.
§ 11. _Oropus_ had sometimes belonged to Thebes and sometimes to
Athens. In 366 it was taken from Athens by Themison, tyrant of Eretria
(exactly opposite Oropus, on the coast of Euboea), and placed in the
hands of Thebes until the ownership should be decided. Thebes retained
it until it was restored to Athens by Philip in 338.
§ 12. _when all the Peloponnesians, &c_. The reference seems to be to
the year 370, shortly after the battle of Leuctra, when the
Peloponnesian States sought the protection of Athens against Sparta,
and, being refused, became allies of Thebes (Diodorus xv. 62). In 369
Athens made an alliance with Sparta.
§ 14. _saved the Spartans_. See last note. Athens also assisted the
Spartans at Mantineia in 362.
_the Thebans_. In 378 and the following years Athens assisted Thebes
against the Spartans under Agesilaus and Cleombrotus.
_the Euboeans_. In 358 or 357 Euboea succeeded in obtaining freedom
from the domination of Thebes by the aid of Athenian troops under
Timotheus.
§ 16. _Triphylia_, a district between Elis and Messenia, was the
subject of a long-standing dispute between the Eleans and the
Arcadians, and seems to have been in the hands of the latter since
(about) 368.
_Tricaranum_, a fortress in the territory of Phlius, had been seized by
the Argives in 369, and used as a centre from which incursions were
made into Phliasian territory.
§ 20. _allies of Thebes_: in order to preserve the balance of power
between Thebes and Sparta.
§ 21. _the Theban confederacy_. The reference is particularly to the
Arcadian allies of Thebes, but the wider expression perhaps suggests a
general policy of a more ambitious kind.
§ 22. _you, I think, know_. He refers to the older members of the
Assembly, who would remember the tyrannical conduct of Sparta during
the period of her supremacy (the first quarter of the fourth century
B.C.).
§ 27. _pillars_. The terms of an alliance were usually recorded upon
pillars erected by each State on some site fixed by agreement or custom.
§ 28. _in the war_: i.e. the 'Sacred War', against the Phocians.