Summer [V 57–75]

In the middle of the following summer the Spartans made a move. They were aware that their Epidaurian allies were suffering badly and that the rest of the Peloponnese was either in revolt against them or not well disposed. Thinking, therefore, that if they did not act quickly to arrest the situation things would go from bad to worse, they and the helots launched a full-scale attack on Argos, led by Agis, son of Archidamus and king of the Spartans. They were joined in the campaign by the Tegeans and by all the rest of the Arcadians who were Spartan allies. Meanwhile, their allies from other parts of the Peloponnese and from outside it mustered at Phlius: 5,000 Boeotian hoplites, and as many light-armed soldiers; 5,000 cavalrymen and an equal number of supporting foot-soldiers; 2,000 Corinthian hoplites; and from other states what each could manage, but the full force of Phliasians – since it was in their territory that the army was gathering.

The Argives had advance knowledge of the military preparations the Spartans were making from the start, and when the Spartans moved to Phlius where they wanted to make contact with the others, the Argives took the field themselves. They were supported by the Mantineans, who came with their own allies, and by 3,000 Elean hoplites. They advanced and confronted the Spartans at Methydrium in Arcadia. Each side took up a position on a hill, and the Argives prepared to engage the Spartans in battle while they were on their own; but Agis moved his army by night and eluded them as he made his way to join the other allies at Phlius. At first light the Argives realised this and set out, first to Argos and then on the road to Nemea, where they expected the Spartans would be making their way down with their allies.