King Agis saw that to assail the allies upon this vantage-ground would be to court defeat, and yet he must do something. There were ugly rumours about him in the camp, as well as at Sparta. He was threatened with a prosecution. It was said against him that the truce he had made was in itself an act of treason, that he had the Argives in his power then, and had spared them for some purpose of his own, and had, by letting them go, enabled them to get help from Athens. However, for all that they might say of him, he was firm, and led his army away till he came to a stream on the boundaries of Tegea and Mantineia, about which the inhabitants of those places were continually quarrelling. On to whichever territory it might be turned, it would do considerable damage. Agis began to divert this stream on to the land of Mantineia, thinking that this would bring the Mantineians, and perhaps the whole Argive force, down from their place of vantage to stop the flow of water. Upon the other side there were murmurs too. ‘Are we to stay here like pigeons in a rock for ever? See how the Spartans leave their ground! Will you let them escape us now as you did before? It seems to us there must be treason amongst our generals. Are they not of the aristocrats, and oligarchs in secret? For aught we know they may be in correspondence with the oligarchs of Sparta.’ The Argive generals were weak and frightened, and knew not how to act. They had no doubt as to the tactics of the Spartan king, and yet they dare not keep their army waiting in its present mood. If Alkibiades had but been there, his firm command would soon have made itself respected, as it will be seen in this story to have often done. He could do anything with the Argive people, who had greater faith in him than in their own generals. But he was away in Argos acting as ambassador, and had no authority to interfere in the military operations, or the future course of Greek affairs in this portion of Arkadia might have gone differently for Athens and for Sparta. So on that night in June the Argive force, with their allies, descended from their strong position, whence they could defy the enemy, and bivouacked upon the plain, ready next day to meet or to pursue him. The enemy soon returned in marching order, and took up their former post by the temple of Herakles, determined, if their strategy had not succeeded, to try to take the Argive position by assault. The strategy, they found, had succeeded but too well, and, as they descended the Tegean defile, they discovered their opponents, drawn up in full array, in the open plain before them. To change from column into line was with the well-drilled Spartans the work only of minutes, and their adroitness called forth admiration from Alkibiades, who, unable to get up to them, was watching from a distance.