38.34
Having thus terrorised the
Lacedaemonians, they sent them peremptory orders: first, that they must
destroy their walls; secondly, that all the foreign mercenaries who had served
under the tyrants must depart from the land of Laconia; thirdly, that all the
slaves whom the tyrants had set free, and of whom there was a large number,
must leave by a certain day; any who remained the Achaeans would have the
right to carry off and sell; lastly, they must abrogate the laws and customs of
Lycurgus and accustom themselves to the laws and institutions of the
Achaeans, as in this way they would form one body and unite more easily in
a common policy. With none of these demands did they comply more readily
than with that demanding the destruction of their walls, and none roused
such bitter feeling as that demanding the restoration of the exiles. A decree
for their restoration was passed in the Council of the Achaeans at Tegea, and
it was stated that the foreign mercenaries had been disbanded, and that the
"naturalised Lacedaemonians," for so they designated the slaves set free by
the tyrants, had left the city and dispersed into the surrounding country. On
receiving this intelligence it was decided that before the army was
demobilised the captain-general should go with a light force and arrest those
people and sell them as lawfully acquired booty. Many were thus caught and
sold. With the money thus raised the colonnade at Megalopolis, which the
Lacedaemonians had destroyed, was at the suggestion of the Achaeans
restored. This city also won back the territory of Belbina, which the tyrants
of Lacedaemon had wrongfully taken possession of; this was in pursuance of
an old decree made by the Achaeans during the reign of Philip the son of
Amyntas. Through these measures the city of Lacedaemon lost the sinews of
her strength, and was for a long time at the mercy of the Achaeans. No loss,
however, affected her more deeply than the loss of the discipline of
Lycurgus, which they had maintained for 800 years.