Stand at Ease

King Agesilaus of Sparta sent an army against Thebes to conquer it. His force consisted of about 1,500 cavalry and 28,000 infantry. Athens was an ally of Thebes so they immediately sent help under the command of Chabrias, but the combined forces of Thebes and Athens only amounted to about 1,700 cavalry and 17,000 infantry. Sparta outnumbered them by about 30,000 to 20,000.

The Theban and Athenian forces occupied a small hill which gave them a small tactical advantage. King Agesilaus wanted to either intimidate them into fleeing or taunt them into charging. If they fled, Sparta would conquer Thebes without any more fighting. If they charged, the allied forces would have lost their tactical advantage on the hill. That strategy had worked for the Spartans in several previous engagements. He commanded the entire Spartan army to advance.

It was at this time that Chabrias gave his most famous command. With only 200 m (660 ft) separating the two armies, Agesilaus was expecting the Theban and Athenian forces to charge at any moment. Instead, Chabrias ordered his men to stand at ease. In unison, his soldiers immediately assumed the resting posture - with the spear remaining pointing upwards instead of towards the enemy, and the shield propped against the left knee. The Theban commander ordered his soldiers to do the same, which they did with the same precision and confidence.

The audacity of the maneuver and the discipline of the execution was such that Agesilaus halted the Spartan advance. Seeing that his attempts to provoke the Theban and Athenian forces to flee or fight on lower ground were unsuccessful, Agesilaus eventually thought it wiser to withdraw his forces.

The allied forces of Athens and Thebes were victorious I believe for two very important reasons.
1. They refused to be intimidated, bullied, or otherwise manipulated by the Spartan army.
2. They had courage and confidence.

Sparta did not really want to fight the battle that was presented to them and they tried to manipulate the allies. The Athenian commander called their bluff.

As I read about this story I thought about bullying in general. What are some of our best tools when dealing with bullies? First, we need to be confident in who we are. This does not mean that we need to be more talented than anyone else. We need to know our strengths and limitations. But we do not let our weaknesses define who we are.

And second, we need to refuse to allow ourselves to be manipulated by others. When I was in 3rd grade my teacher told me, "We control our own interior weather." She was talking about keeping control of our emotions and not allowing the actions of others to dictate our own happiness, sadness, or anger. That saying has always stuck with me. If we can control our interior weather it will be much easier for us to ignore the threats and negativity of others who may be dragging us down (intentionally or unintentionally).

If we are confident of who we are and in control of our own emotions we will be able to "stand at ease" in the face of trials and difficulties.

Source: Wikipedia