kindness by unburdening it;" and yet, a little while after, applying themselves to their own customs, and antient institutions, they gave notable instances of courage and obedience, as if they had been under the eye of Lycurgus himself, and quickly raised Sparta to be head of all Greece, and recovered Peloponnesus to themselves. Whilst Argos was taken, and Cleonæ and Philius sided with Cleomenes, Aratus was at Corinth searching after some, who were reported to favour the Spartan interest. The news being brought to him, disturbed him very much; for he perceived the city inclining to Cleomenes, and the Achæans willing to be at ease; therefore he called all the citizens into the common hall, and, as it were undesignedly retreating to the gate, he mounted his horse that stood ready there, and fled to Sicyon; and the Corinthians made such haste to Cleomenes at Argos, that, (as Aratus says) striving who should be first there, they spoiled all their horses: and Cleomenes was very angry with the Corinthians for letting Aratus escape. And Megistones came from Cleomenes to him, desiring him to deliver up the castle of Corinth, which was then garrisoned by the Achæans, and offered him a considerable sum of money; and that he answered, that "matters were not now in his power, but he in theirs." Thus Aratus himself writes. But Cleomenes marching from Argos, and taking in the Træzenians, Epidaurians, and Hermioneans, came to Corinth, and blocked up the castle, which the Achæans would not surrender; and sending for Aratus's friends and stewards, committed his house and estate to their care and management and sent Tritimallus the Messenian to him a second time, desiring that the castle might be equally garrisoned by the Spartans and Achæans, and promising to Aratus himself double the pension that he received from king Ptolemy; but Aratus refusing the conditions, and sending his own son with other hostages to Antigonus, and persuading the Achæans to make a decree for delivering the castle into Antigonus's hands, Cleomenes invaded the territory of the Sicyonians, and, by a decree of the Corinthians, seized on all Aratus's estate. In the mean time, Antigonus, with a great army, passed Gerania; and Cleomenes thinking it more advisable to fortify and garrison, not the Isthmus, but the mountains called Onia, and by a long siege and skirmishes to weary the Macedonians, than to venture a set battle, put his design in execution, which very much distressed Antigonus; for he had not brought victuals sufficient for his army, nor was it easy to force a way through, whilst Cleomenes guarded the pass. He attempted by night to pass through Lechæum, but failed, and lost some men; so that Cleomenes and his army were mightily encouraged, and so flushed with the victory, that they went merrily to supper; and Antigonus was very much dejected, being reduced to those miserable straits. At last he designed to march to the promontory