Heræum, and thence transport his army in boats to Sicyon, which would take up a great deal of time, and be very chargeable. The same time, about evening, some of Aratus's friends came from Argos by sea, and invited him to return; for the Argives would revolt from Cleomenes. Aristotle was the man that wrought the revolt, and he had no hard task to persuade the common people; for they were all angry with Cleomenes for not releasing them from their debts, as they expected. Upon this advertisement, Aratus, with fifteen hundred of Antigonus's soldiers, sailed to Epidaurus; but Aristotle, not staying for his coming, drew out the citizens, and fought against the garrison of the castle; and Timoxenus, with the Achæans from Sicyon, came to his assistance. Cleomenes heard the news about the second watch of the night, and, sending for Megistones, angrily commanded him to go and set things right at Argos. This Megistones was the man who passed his word for the Argives' loyalty, and persuaded him not to banish the suspected. This Megistones he dispatched with two thousand soldiers, and observed Antigonus himself, and encouraged the Corinthians; pretending, that there was no great matter in the stirs at Argos, but only a little disturbance raised by a few inconsiderable persons. But when Megistones, entering Argos, was slain, and the garrison could scarce hold out, and frequent messengers came to Cleomenes for succours, he,--fearing lest the enemy, having taken Argos, should shut up the passes, and securely waste Laconia, and besiege Sparta itself, which he had left without forces,--he dislodged from Corinth, and presently lost that city, for Antigonus entered it, and garrisoned the town. He turned aside from his direct march, and, assaulting the wall of Argos, endeavoured to break in; and having cleared a way under the quarter called Aspis, he joined the garrison, which still held out against the Achæans; some parts of the city he scaled and took, and his Cretan archers cleared the streets. But, when he saw Antigonus, with his phalanx, descending from the mountains into the plain, and the horse on all sides entering the city, he thought it impossible to maintain his post; and therefore, with all his men, made a safe retreat behind the wall; having in a short time raised himself to a considerable height, and, in one march, made himself master of almost all Peloponnesus, and lost all again in as short a time: for some of his allies presently forsook him, and others not long after put themselves under Antigonus's protection. His army thus defeated, as he was leading back the relicks of his forces, some from Lacedæmon met him in the evening at Tegea, and brought him news of as great a misfortune as that which he had lately suffered; and that was the death of his wife, whom he doated on so much, that when he was most prosperous, he would ever now and then make a step to Sparta to visit his beloved Ægiatis.