the natural result of Spartan aggressiveness and selfishness. CONTEST OF THEBES AND SPARTA.--The Spartans had fallen away from the old rules of life ascribed to Lycurgus. They were possessed by a greed for gold. There were extremes of wealth and poverty among them. After the treaty of Antalcidas, they still lorded it over other states, and were bent on governing in Peloponnesus. At length they were involved in a contest with _Thebes_. This was caused by the seizure of the _Cadmeia_, the Theban citadel, by the Spartan _Phoebidas_ acting in conjunction with an aristocratic party in Thebes (383 B.C.). The Theban democrats, who, under _Pelopidas_, made Athens their place of rendezvous, liberated Thebes, and expelled the Spartans from the Cadmeia. Hostile attempts of Sparta against Athens induced the Athenians to form a new confederacy (or symmachy) composed of seventy communities (378 B.C.); and, after they had gained repeated successes on the sea, the two states concluded peace. Athens had become alarmed at the increased power of Thebes, and was ready to go over to the side of Sparta, her old enemy. It was a feeling in favor of a balance of power like that which had prompted Sparta at the close of the Peloponnesian war, to refuse to consent to the destruction of Athens, which Thebes and Corinth had desired. _Cleombrotus_, king of Sparta, again invaded Boeotia. The principal Boeotian leader was _Epaminondas_, one of the noblest patriots in all Grecian history,--in his disinterested spirit and self-government resembling Washington. The Spartan king was defeated by him in the great battle of _Leuctra_ (371 B.C.), and was there slain. At this time the rage of party knew no bounds. The wholesale massacre of political antagonists in a city was no uncommon occurrence. THEBAN HEGEMONY.--The victory of Leuctra gave the hegemony to Thebes. Three times the Boeotians invaded the Spartan territory. They founded _Megalopolis_ in Arcadia, to strengthen the Arcadians against their Lacedæmonian assailants (370 B.C.). They also revived the _Messenian_ power, recalled the Messenians who had long been in exile, and founded the city of _Messene_. In the battle of _Mantinea_ (362 B.C.), _Epaminondas_, though victorious against the Spartans and their allies, was slain. Peace followed among the Grecian states, Sparta alone refusing to be a party to it. In the course of this intestine war, the Thebans had broken up the new maritime sway gained by them. PERIOD III. THE MACEDONIAN ERA. CHAPTER I. PHILIP AND ALEXANDER.