258 HISTORICAL TALES.

Thebes was free! The news spread like an elec-
tric shock through the Grecian world. A few men,
taking a desperate risk, had in an hour overthrown
a government that seemed beyond assault. The
empire of Sparta, the day before undisputed and
nearly universal over Greece, had received a serious
blow. Throughout all Greece men breathed easier,
while the spirit of patriotism suddenly flamed again.
The first blow in a coming revolution had been
struck,