XXVII. However, he who first called money the sinews of war must have had this war in his mind. So also Demades, when the Athenians wished to man a fleet at a time when they had no money, observed that they must make bread before they could make a voyage. Archidamus, too, who was king of Sparta at the opening of the Peloponnesian war, when his allies asked him to fix the limit of their several contributions, answered that the consumption of war is unlimited. For just as trained athletes in time overpower their antagonist in spite of his strength and skill, so Antigonus, having vast resources to draw upon, wearied out and overpowered Kleomenes, who had the greatest difficulty in paying his mercenary troops and feeding his countrymen. In other respects the long duration of the contest was in Kleomenes's favour, as Antigonus had troubles at home which made the contest a more equal one. The barbarians, in his absence, always overran and plundered the outskirts of the kingdom of Macedonia, and at this period an army of Illyrians had invaded the country from the north, against whose depredations the Macedonians besought Antigonus to return and protect them. The letter calling upon him to return was very nearly delivered to him before the decisive battle of the war; and had he received it, he would no doubt have returned home at once and taken a long farewell of the Achæans. However, fortune, who delights to show that the most important events are decided by the merest trifles, caused the embassy with the letters for the recall of Antigonus to reach him just after the battle of Sellasia, in which Kleomenes lost his army and his country. This makes the misfortune of Kleomenes yet more pitiable; for if he had avoided a battle for two days longer, he never need have fought at all, as the Macedonians would have retreated, and left him to make what terms he pleased with the Achæans: whereas, as has been explained, his want of money forced him to fight, and that too when, according to Polybius, he had only twenty thousand men to oppose to thirty thousand.