In midsummer the Spartans decided to act with greater vigour. Under Agis II they assembled a very large army (including Corinthians and Boeotians) at Phlius (northwest Argolis) and proceeded to invade Argolis in three divisions. Agis succeeded in surrounding the Argive army and might have cut it to pieces, but before an engagement could commence two of the Argive leaders came to Agis and persuaded him to grant a truce for four months.
Shortly after this truce had been concluded the Athenians came to the assistance of the Argives with a force of one thousand hoplites and four hundred cavalry. They were accompanied by Alcibiades, apparently in a civil capacity, who now persuaded the Argives and her allies to march against the town of Orchomenus in east Arcadia. Having captured Orchomenus they decided to attack Tegea, a key Spartan ally, and in preparation moved to Mantinea.
At Sparta Agis was severely censured for his actions at Argos, but when the news came that Tegea was soon to fall the Spartans put him in charge of one of the largest armies ever to leave the city. He marched into the territory of Mantinea and began to ravage the local countryside. The Argives and their allies marched south from Mantinea and adopted a strong defensive position with a difficult uphill approach.
Agis advanced to within javelin range as if he was going to attack, but then seeing the ground was unfavourable he withdrew. On the following day the Argive army, which included nearly ten thousand hoplites, descended into the plain. They caught the enemy marching in column and off guard, but Agis issued orders and his column swung immediately into battle.
As the two armies advanced towards each other, both right wings became over-extended. According to Thucydides this was because in battles between hoplites there was a natural tendency for the men to drift to the right as they attempted to keep their left or shielded side towards the enemy. Agis tried to strengthen his line by ordering the Sciritae on his left to break off contact and match the length of the Argive right; and detached two companies on his right to fill the resulting gap in the centre, but the manoeuvre was not completed.
The Mantineans and the Argives entered the gap and routed the Sciritae left wing. At the same time the Spartans and Tegeans routed the Athenians and Arcadians that formed the left wing of the Argive army. Agis then wheeled his whole line to attack the victorious Mantineans and Argives on his left. Most of them fled as the Spartans approached. The allies had lost eleven hundred men, among whom were two hundred Athenians and both their generals, Laches and Nicostratus; Spartan losses were rather lower at just over three hundred.
With its victory ‘in the greatest battle that had taken place for a very long time among Greek states’, Sparta had re-established its hegemony of the Peloponnese. Argos sued for peace and got a fifty-year truce; Mantinea on condition that it relinquished its gains was also granted a treaty. Perdiccas of Macedonia and the Chalcidian states accepted the invitation of Sparta and Argos and joined the coalition. In the winter the Spartans intervened and successfully strengthened the grip of oligarchs in Achaea, Sicyon and Tegea. Then with a thousand Spartans and as many Argives they overthrew the democracy at Argos and replaced it with an oligarchy.
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