The King of Sparta, Archidamos, joined the Syracusans with his own force, and began a campaign against the Arcadians. As he was attacking Parrasia, the Arcadians and Argives started to apply pressure and he retreated to the hills above Melea. At this point, the Syracusan commander, Kissides, said that his appointed time had expired and he departed with his army. As he marched south, The Messenians blocked him so he sent to Archidamos for help. Then, while the Spartan Army was marching to join him, they were cut off by the Arcadians and Argives, who had inserted themselves between the two allies.
Archidamos placed the Spartan Army in battle formation and exhorted his troops to fight saying,
“Let us no longer feel shame before our children and wives, elders and
foreigners, those very people in whose eyes we were in past time the
most renowned of all Greeks.”