THE SUPREMACY OF THEBES, B.C. 371-361.
In pursuance of the treaty, the Lacedaemonians withdrew their harmosts
and garrisons, whilst the Athenians recalled their fleet from the
Ionian sea. Only one feeling prevailed at Sparta--a desire to crush
Thebes. This city was regarded as doomed to destruction; and it was
not for a moment imagined that, single-handed, she would be able to
resist the might of Sparta. At the time when the peace was concluded
Cleombrotus happened to be in Phocis at the head of a Lacedaemonian
army; and he now received orders to invade Boeotia without delay. The
Thebans on their side, were equally determined on resistance. The two
armies met on the memorable plain of Leuctra, near Thespiae. The
forces on each side are not accurately known, but it seems probable
that the Thebans were outnumbered by the Lacedaemonians. The military
genius of Epaminondas, however, compensated any inferiority of numbers
by novelty of tactics. Up to this time Grecian battles had been
uniformly conducted by a general attack in line. Epaminondas now first
adopted the manoeuvre, used with such success by Napoleon in modern
times, of concentrating heavy masses on a given point of the enemy's
array. Having formed his left wing into a dense column of 50 deep, so
that its depth was greater than its front, he directed it against the
Lacedaemonian right, containing the best troops in their army, drawn up
12 deep, and led by Cleombrotus in person. The shock was terrible.
Cleombrotus himself was mortally wounded in the onset, and with
difficulty carried off by his comrades. Numbers of his officers, as
well as of his men, were slain, and the whole wing was broken and
driven back to their camp. The loss of the Thebans was small compared
with that of the Lacedaemonians. Out of 700 Spartans in the army of
the latter, 400 had fallen; and their king also had been slain, an
event which had not occurred since the fatal day of Thermopylae.
The victory of Leuctra was gained within three weeks after the
exclusion of the Thebans from the peace of Callias. The effect of it
throughout Greece was electrical. It was everywhere felt that a new
military power had arisen--that the prestige of the old Spartan
discipline and tactics had departed. Yet at Sparta itself though the
reverse was the greatest that her arms had ever sustained, the news of
it was received with an assumption of indifference characteristic of
the people. The Ephors forbade the chorus of men, who were celebrating
in the theatre the festival of the Gymnopaedia, to be interrupted.
They contented themselves with directing the names of the slain to be
communicated to their relatives, and with issuing an order forbidding
the women to wail and mourn. Those whose friends had fallen appeared
abroad on the morrow with joyful countenances, whilst the relatives of
the survivors seemed overwhelmed with grief and shame.
Immediately after the battle the Thebans had sent to Jason of Pherae in
Thessaly to solicit his aid against the Lacedaemonians. This despot was
one of the most remarkable men of the period. He was Tagus, or
Generalissimo, of all Thessaly; and Macedonia was partially dependent
on him. He was a man of boundless ambition, and meditated nothing less
than extending his dominion over the whole of Greece, for which his
central situation seemed to offer many facilities. Upon receiving the
invitation of the Thebans, Jason immediately resolved to join them.
When he arrived the Thebans were anxious that he should unite with them
in an attack upon the Lacedaemonian camp; but Jason dissuaded them from
the enterprise, advising them not to drive the Lacedaemonians to
despair, and offering his mediation. He accordingly succeeded in
effecting a truce, by which the Lacedaemonians were allowed to depart
from Boeotia unmolested.
According to Spartan custom, the survivors of a defeat were looked upon
as degraded men, and subjected to the penalties of civil infamy. No
allowance was made for circumstances. But those who had fled at
Leuctra were three hundred in number; all attempt to enforce against
them the usual penalties might prove not only inconvenient, but even
dangerous; and on the proposal of Agesilaus, they were, for this
occasion only, suspended. The loss of material power which Sparta
sustained by the defeat was great. The ascendency she had hitherto
enjoyed in parts north of the Corinthian gulf fell from her at once,
and was divided between Jason of Pherae and the Thebans. Jason was
shortly afterwards assassinated. His death was felt as a relief by
Greece, and especially by Thebes. He was succeeded by his two
brothers, Polyphron and Polydorus; but they possessed neither his
ability nor his power.
The Athenians stood aloof from the contending parties. They had not
received the news of the battle of Leuctra with any pleasure, for they
now dreaded Thebes more than Sparta. But instead of helping the
latter, they endeavoured to prevent either from obtaining the supremacy
in Greece, and for this purpose called upon the other states to form a
new alliance upon the terms of the peace of Antalcidas. Most of the
Peloponnesian states joined this new league. Thus even the
Peloponnesian cities became independent of Sparta. But this was not
all. Never did any state fall with greater rapidity. She not only
lost the dominion over states which she had exercised for centuries;
but two new political powers sprang up in the peninsula, which
threatened her own independence.
In the following year (B.C. 370) Epaminondas marched into Laconia, and
threatened Sparta itself. The city, which was wholly unfortified, was
filled with confusion and alarm. The women, who had never yet seen the
face of an enemy, gave vent to their fears in wailing and lamentation.
Agesilaus, however, was undismayed, and saved the state by his
vigilance and energy. He repulsed the cavalry of Epaminondas as they
advanced towards Sparta; and so vigorous were his measures of defence,
that the Theban general abandoned all further attempt upon the city,
and proceeded southwards as far as Helos and Gythium on the coast, the
latter the port and arsenal of Sparta after laying waste with fire and
sword the valley of the Eurotas, he retraced his steps to the frontiers
of Arcadia.
Epaminondas now proceeded to carry out the two objects for which his
march had been undertaken; namely, the consolidation of the Arcadian
confederation, and the establishment of the Messenians as an
independent community. In the prosecution of the former of these
designs the mutual jealousy of the various Arcadian cities rendered it
necessary that a new one should be founded, which should be regarded as
the capital of the confederation. Consequently, a new city was built on
the banks of the Helisson, called Megalopolis, and peopled by the
inhabitants of forty distinct Arcadian townships. Here a synod of
deputies from the towns composing the confederation, called "The Ten
Thousand" was to meet periodically for the despatch of business.
Epaminondas next proceeded to re-establish the Messenian state. The
Messenians had formerly lived under a dynasty of their own kings; but
for the last three centuries their land had been in the possession of
the Lacedaemonians, and they had been fugitives upon the face of the
earth. The restoration of these exiles, dispersed in various Hellenic
colonies, to their former rights, would plant a bitterly hostile
neighbour on the very borders of Laconia. Epaminondas accordingly
opened communications with them, and numbers of them flocked to his
standard during his march into Peloponnesus. He now founded the town
of Messene. Its citadel was placed on the summit of Mount Ithome, which
had three centuries before been so bravely defended by the Messenians
against the Spartans. The strength of its fortifications was long
afterwards a subject of admiration. The territory attached to the new
city extended southwards to the Messenian gulf, and northwards to the
borders of Arcadia, comprising some of the most fertile land in
Peloponnesus.
So low had Sparta sunk, that she was fain to send envoys to beg the
assistance of the Athenians. This request was acceded to; and shortly
afterwards an alliance was formed between the two states, in which
Sparta waived all her claims to superiority and headship. During the
next two years the Thebans continued steadily to increase their power
and influence in Greece, though no great battle was fought. In B.C.
368 Pelopidas conducted a Theban force into Thessaly and Macedonia. In
Thessaly he compelled Alexander, who, by the murder of his two
brothers, had become despot of Pherae and Tagus of Thessaly, to
relinquish his designs against the independence of Larissa and other
Thessalian cities, and to solicit peace. In Macedonia he formed an
alliance with the regent Ptolemy: and amongst the hostages given for
the observance of this treaty was the youthful Philip, son of Amyntas,
afterwards the celebrated king of Macedon, who remained for some years
at Thebes.
In the following year Pelopidas and Ismenias proceeded on an embassy to
Persia. Ever since the peace of Antalcidas the Great King had become
the recognised mediator between the states of Greece; and his fiat
seemed indispensable to stamp the claims of that city which pretended
to the headship. The recent achievements of Thebes might entitle her
to aspire to that position: and at all events the alterations which
she had produced in the internal state, of Greece, by the establishment
of Megalopolis and Messene, seemed to require for their stability the
sanction of a Persian rescript. This was obtained without difficulty,
as Thebes was now the strongest state in Greece; and it was evidently
easier to exercise Persian ascendency there by her means, than through
a weaker power. The Persian rescript pronounced the independence of
Messene and Amphipolis; the Athenians were directed to lay up their
ships of war in ordinary; and Thebes was declared the head of Greece.
It was, in all probability, during a mission undertaken by Pelopidas
and Ismonias, for the purpose of procuring the acknowledgment of the
rescript in Thessaly and the northern parts of Greece, that they were
seized and imprisoned by Alexander of Pherae. The Thebans immediately
despatched an army of 8000 hoplites and 600 cavalry to recover or
avenge their favourite citizen. Unfortunately, however, they were no
longer commanded by Epaminondas. Their present commanders were utterly
incompetent. They were beaten and forced to retreat, and the army was
in such danger from the active pursuit of the Thessalians and
Athenians, that its destruction seemed inevitable. Luckily, however,
Epaminondas was serving as a hoplite in the ranks. By the unanimous
voice of the troops he was now called to the command, and succeeded in
conducting the army safely back to Thebes. Here the unsuccessful
Boeotarchs were disgraced; Epaminondas was restored to the command, and
placed at the head of a second Theban army destined to attempt the
release of Pelopidas. Directed by his superior skill the enterprise
proved successful, and Pelopidas (B.C. 367) returned in safety to
Thebes.
In B.C. 364 Pelopidas again marched into Thessaly against Alexander of
Pherae. Strong complaints of the tyranny of that despot arrived at
Thebes, and Pelopidas, who probably also burned to avenge his private
wrongs, prevailed upon the Thebans to send him into Thessaly to punish
the tyrant. The battle was fought on the hills of Cynoscephalae; the
troops of Alexander were routed: and Pelopidas, observing his hated
enemy endeavouring to rally them, was seized with such a transport of
rage that, regardless of his duties as a general, he rushed impetuously
forwards and challenged him to single combat. Alexander shrunk back
within the ranks of his guards, followed impetuously by Pelopidas, who
was soon slain, fighting with desperate bravery. Although the army of
Alexander was defeated with severe loss, the news of the death of
Pelopidas deprived the Thebans and their Thessalian allies of all the
joy which they would otherwise have felt at their victory.
Meantime a war had been carried on between Elis and Arcadia which had
led to disunion among the Arcadians themselves. The Mantineans
supported the Eleans, who were also assisted by the Spartans; whilst
the rest of the Arcadians, and especially the Tegeans, favoured Thebes.
In B.C. 362 Epaminondas marched into Peloponnesus to support the Theban
party in Arcadia, The Spartans sent a powerful force to the assistance
of the Mantineans in whose territory the hostile armies met. In the
battle which ensued Epaminondas formed his Boeotian troops into a
column of extraordinary depth, with which he bore down all before them.
The Mantineans and Lacedaemonians turned and fled, and the rest
followed their example. The day was won; but Epaminondas, who fought
in the foremost ranks, fell pierced with a mortal wound. His fall
occasioned such consternation among his troops, that, although the
enemy were in full flight, they did not know how to use their
advantage, and remained rooted to the spot. Epaminondas was carried off
the field with the spear-head still fixed in his breast. Having
satisfied himself that his shield was safe, and that the victory was
gained, he inquired for Iolaidas and Daiphantus, whom he intended to
succeed him in the command. Being informed that both were slain:
"Then" he observed "you must make peace." After this he ordered the
spear-head to be withdrawn; when the gush of blood which followed soon
terminated his life. Thus died this truly great man; and never was
there one whose title to that epithet has been less disputed. Antiquity
is unanimous in his praise, and some of the first men of Greece
subsequently took him for their model. With him the commanding
influence of Thebes began and ended. His last advice was adopted, and
peace was concluded probably before the Theban army quitted
Peloponnesus. Its basis was a recognition of the STATUS QUO--to leave
everything as it was, to acknowledge the Arcadian constitution and the
independence of Messene. Sparta alone refused to join it on account of
the last article, but she was not supported by her allies.
Agesilaus had lived to see the empire of Sparta extinguished by her
hated rival. Thus curiously had the prophecy been fulfilled which
warned Sparta of the evils awaiting her under a "lame sovereignty."
But Agesilaus had not yet abandoned all hope; and he now directed his
views towards the east as the quarter from which Spartan power might
still be resuscitated. At the age of 80 the indomitable old man
proceeded with a force of 1000 hoplites to assist Tachos, king of
Egypt, in his revolt against Persia. He died at Cyrene on his return
to Greece. His body was embalmed in wax and splendidly buried in
Sparta.