I. Cato the elder, speaking to some persons who were praising a man of
reckless daring and audacity in war, observed that there is a
difference between a man's setting a high value on courage, and
setting a low value on his own life--and rightly. For a daring soldier
in the army of Antigonus, but of broken and ill health, being asked by
the king the reason of his paleness, confessed that he was suffering
from some secret disorder. When then the king, anxious for him,
charged his physicians to use the greatest care in their treatment, if
a cure were possible, at length this brave fellow, being restored to
health, was no longer fond of peril and furious in battle, so that
Antigonus reproved him, and expressed surprise at the change. The man
made no secret of his reason, but answered: "My, king, you have made
me less warlike by freeing me from those miseries on account of which
I used to hold my life cheap." And the Sybarite seems to have spoken
to the same effect about the Spartans, when he said that "they do no
great thing by dying in the wars in order to escape from such labours
and such a mode of life as theirs." However, no wonder if the
Sybarites, effete with luxurious debauchery, thought men mad who
despised death for love of honour and noble emulation; whereas the
Lacedæmonians were enabled by their valour both to live and to die
with pleasure, as the elegy shows, which runs thus:
"'Twas not that life or death itself was good,
That these heroic spirits shed their blood:
This was their aim, and this their latest cry,
'Let us preserve our honour, live or die.'"
For neither is avoidance of death blameable, if a man does not cling
to his life from dishonourable motives; nor is exposure to peril
honourable, if it springs from carelessness of life. For this reason
Homer always brings the most daring and warlike heroes into battle
well and beautifully armed, and the Greek lawgivers punish the man who
throws away his shield, but not him who throws away his sword or
spear, showing that it is each man's duty to take more care that he
does not receive hurt himself, than to hurt the enemy, especially if
he be the chief of an army or city.
II. For if, as Iphikrates defined it, the light troops resemble the
hands, the cavalry the feet, the main body the breast and trunk, and
the general the head, then it would appear that he, if he runs into
danger and shows personal daring, risks not only his own life, but
that of all those whose safety depends upon him; and _vice versâ_.
Wherefore Kallikratidas, although otherwise a great man, yet did not
make a good answer to the soothsayer; for when he begged him to beware
of death, which was presaged by the sacrifices, he replied that Sparta
had more men besides himself. No doubt, in fighting either by sea or
land[1] Kallikratidas only counted for one, but as a general, he
combined in his own person the strength of all the rest, so that he by
whose death so many perished, was indeed more than one. A better
answer was that of old Antigonus, who, as he was about to begin a
sea-fight off Andros, some one having said that the enemy's fleet was
the more numerous, asked, "And for how many do you count
_me_?"--setting a high value, as is due, upon a skilful and brave
leader, whose first duty is to keep safe him who preserves all the
rest.
So Timotheus said well, when Chares was displaying to the Athenians
the wounds on his body, and his shield pierced by a dart. "Now I,"
said he, "when I was besieging Samos, was quite ashamed if an arrow
fell near me, thinking that I was exposing myself more boyishly than
was fitting for the general and leader of so important a force." In
cases where the personal risk of the general is of great moment to
his army, then he must fight and expose himself without stint, and
disregard those who say that a general should die of old age, or at
any rate, when an old man. But where the gain is small in case of
success, while failure ruins everything, no one demands that the work
of the common soldier be performed at the risk of the general's life.
These prefatory remarks occurred to me in writing the Lives of
Pelopidas and Marcellus, great men who fell in a manner scarce worthy
of themselves: for being both of them most stout in battle, and having
each illustrated his country by splendid campaigns, against, too, the
most terrible antagonists--the one, as we read, having routed
Hannibal, who before was invincible, and the other having in a pitched
battle conquered the Lacedæmonians, the ruling state by sea and
land--yet they without any consideration endangered themselves and
flung away their lives just at the time when there was special need
for such men to live and command. And on this account I have drawn a
parallel between their lives, tracing out the points of resemblance
between them.
III. The family of Pelopidas, the son of Hippokles, was an honourable
one at Thebes, as likewise was that of Epameinondas. Bred in great
affluence, and having early succeeded to a splendid inheritance, he
showed eagerness to relieve the deserving poor, that he might prove
that he had become the master, not the servant of his riches. In most
cases, Aristotle observes, men either do not use their wealth through
narrow-mindedness, or else abuse it through extravagance, and the one
class are always the slaves of their pleasures, the other of their
gains.
Now, while all other persons gratefully made use of Pelopidas's
liberality and kindness, Epameinondas alone could not be induced to
share his wealth; he thereupon shared the other's poverty, priding
himself on simplicity of dress and plainness of food, endurance of
fatigue, and thoroughness in the performance of military service; like
Kapaneus, in Euripides, who "had plenty of wealth, but was far from
proud on account of his wealth," for he felt ashamed to be seen using
more bodily luxuries than the poorest Theban citizen. Epameinondas,
whose poverty was hereditary, made it lighter and more easily borne
by the practice of philosophy, and by choosing from the beginning a
single life; while Pelopidas made a brilliant marriage and had
children born to him, yet, in spite of this, diminished his fortune by
disregard of money-making and by giving up all his time to the service
of his country. And when his friends blamed him, and said that he was
treating lightly a necessary of life, the possession of money,
"Necessary, indeed," he answered, "for Nikodemus here," pointing to a
man who was a cripple and blind.
IV. They were both alike in nobleness of spirit, save that Pelopidas
took more pleasure in bodily exercise, and Epameinondas in learning,
and that the one in his leisure time frequented the palæstra and the
hunting field, while the other would listen to and discuss philosophy.
And though they have both many titles to glory, yet judicious persons
think nothing so much to their credit as that their friendship should
have remained from beginning to end unimpaired through so many
important crises, campaigns, and administrations. For any one who
considers the administrations of Aristeides and Themistokles, and
Kimon and Perikles, and Nikias and Alkibiades, how full they were of
mutual enmity, distrust, and jealousy, and then contrasts them with
the kindness and respect shown by Pelopidas to Epameinondas, will
pronounce with truth these men to have really been colleagues in
government and war rather than those who were constantly struggling to
get the better of one another instead of the enemy. The true cause of
this was their virtue, guided by which they sought no glory or gain
for themselves from their deeds, from which envious rivalry always
results, but both, inflamed by a noble desire to see their country
reach its climax of power and renown in their own time, used one
another's successes for this purpose as if they were their own. Not
but what most people think that their closest friendship arose from
the campaign of Mantinea, which they made with a contingent sent from
Thebes to serve with the Lacedæmonians, who were then their friends
and allies. Stationed together in the ranks,[2] and fighting against
the Arcadians, when the wing of the Lacedæmonian army in which they
were gave way, and many took to flight, they closed up together and
beat off their assailants. Pelopidas, having received seven wounds in
front, fell down upon a heap of slain, friends and enemies together;
but Epameinondas, though he thought him desperately[3] hurt, ran
forward and stood in defence of his body and arms, risking his life
alone against a multitude, determined to die rather than leave
Pelopidas lying there. He too was in evil plight, with a spear wound
in the breast, and a sword-cut on the arm, when Agesipolis, the
Spartan king, came to the rescue from the other wing, and most
unexpectedly saved the lives of both.
V. After this, the Spartans behaved towards Thebes outwardly as
friends and allies, but really viewed with suspicion the spirit and
strength of that state. They especially disliked the club presided
over by Ismenias and Androkleides, of which Pelopidas was a member, as
being of democratic and revolutionary principles. Consequently Archias
and Leontidas[4] and Philippus, men of the aristocratic party, wealthy
and unscrupulous, persuaded Phœbidas, a Laconian who was passing
through the town with an armed force, to seize the Kadmeia[5] by
surprise, and, banishing the party that opposed them, establish an
aristocratic oligarchy which would be subservient to Sparta.
He was persuaded to do this, and attacked the unsuspecting Thebans
during the feast of Thesmophoria. When he gained possession of the
height, Ismenias was seized and conveyed to Lacedæmon, and there not
long afterwards made away with. Pelopidas, Pherenikus, and
Androkleides, with many others, went into exile and were outlawed by
proclamation. Epameinondas stayed at home disregarded, not being
thought to be a man of action, because of his philosophical habits,
nor a man of any power, because of his poverty.
VI. When the Lacedæmonians removed Phœbidas from his command and fined
him a hundred thousand drachmas, but nevertheless held the Kadmeia
with a garrison, all the other Greeks wondered at their inconsistency,
in punishing the doer but approving of the deed; but the Thebans, who
had lost their old constitution and were now held in bondage by the
party of Archias and Leontidas, had lost all hope of release from
their tyrants, who they perceived were merely acting as a guard to the
Spartan supremacy in Greece, and therefore could not be put a stop to,
unless their enterprise by sea and land could also be checked.
However, Leontidas and his party, learning that the exiles were living
at Athens, and were popular with the people there, and respected by
the upper classes, began to plot against them, and by sending thither
men who were unknown to the exiles, they killed Androkleides by
stratagem, but failed with the others. There came also despatches from
Lacedæmon to the Athenians, ordering them not to take them in nor to
meddle in the matter, but to banish the exiles, on the ground that
they had been proclaimed to be public enemies by their allies. But the
Athenians, who besides their natural and innate kindness were
returning a debt of gratitude to the Thebans, who had been main
instruments in the re-establishment of their government, and had
decreed that if an Athenian should march in arms against the tyrants
through Bœotia, no Bœotian should see or hear him, did the Theban
exiles no harm.
VII. Now Pelopidas, although one of the youngest of the exiles, yet
used to encourage each of them separately, and would make speeches to
them all, pointing out that it was both dishonourable and wicked for
them to endure to see their country enslaved and garrisoned by
foreigners, and, caring only to save their own lives, to shelter
themselves behind decrees of the Athenians, and to pay servile court
to the orators who had influence with the people. Rather was it, he
urged, their duty to run the greatest risk, taking pattern by the
courage and patriotism of Thrasybulus, so that, as he once, starting
from Thebes, drove out the thirty tyrants from Athens, they also in
their turn, starting from Athens, might set Thebes free. When then he
prevailed with these arguments, they sent secretly to Thebes to
communicate their determination to such of their friends as were left
there. They agreed, and Charon, who was the leading man among them,
offered his house for their reception, and Phillidas proceeded to act
as secretary to the polemarchs, Archias and Philippus. Epameinondas
had long been instilling feelings of patriotism into the youth of
Thebes; for in the gymnasia he would bid them lay hold of the
Lacedæmonians and wrestle with them, and then seeing them pluming
themselves on their success, he would upbraid them, telling them that
they ought rather to feel ashamed at being, through their own
cowardice, in bondage to men whom they so greatly excelled in
strength.
VIII. When a day was fixed on for the attempt, the exiles determined
that Pherenikus, with the main body, should remain in the Thriasian[6]
plain, while a few of the youngest men ran the risk of entering the
city; and if anything were to befall these men, the others would take
care that neither their parents nor their children should want for
necessaries. First Pelopidas volunteered for the attempt, then Mellon
and Damokleides and Theopompus, men of the first families, faithful
friends to one another, and ever rivals in glory and bravery. Having
made up a party of twelve in all, and embraced those who were to stay,
and sent a messenger before them to Charon, they set out, dressed in
short cloaks, with hounds and carrying stakes for hunting nets, so
that no one whom they met on the road might suspect them, but that
they might seem to be merely ranging about the country and hunting.
When their messenger reached Charon, and told him that they were on
their way, Charon did not, even now that the danger was close to him,
falter in his determination, but acted like an honourable man, and
received them into his house. But one Hipposthenides, not a bad man,
but one who loved his country and favoured the exiles, yet proved
wanting in that audacity which this emergency, a hazardous one indeed,
and the attempt they had in hand, required.
Apparently the importance of the issue with which he was dealing
turned him dizzy; he with difficulty grasped the idea that, trusting
in the desperate hopes of exiles, these men were in some fashion
about to attempt to overthrow the Lacedæmonian government in Thebes,
and the power of Sparta. He went quietly home, and sent one of his
friends to Mellon and Pelopidas, bidding them put off their design for
the present, to go back to Athens, and await a better opportunity.
Chlidon was the name of the messenger, and he hurriedly went to his
own house, and, leading out his horse, asked for his bridle. His wife
was at her wit's end, as she had it not to give him, but she said that
she had lent it to a neighbour. Hereupon there was a quarrel, and
words of ill omen were used, for his wife said that she wished it
might be a bad journey for him, and for those that sent him; so that
Chlidon, having wasted a great part of the day in this squabble, and
also drawing a bad augury from what had happened, gave up his journey
altogether, and betook himself to something else. So near was this
greatest and most glorious of his adventures of missing its
opportunity at its very outset.
IX. Now Pelopidas and his party changed their clothes with country
people, and separating, came into the city by different ways while it
was still daylight. There was a strong wind, and the weather was
snowy, so that they were the less noticed, as most people had betaken
themselves to their houses on account of the storm; but those who were
in the plot met them as they entered, and brought them to Charon's
house. With the exiles, they amounted to forty-eight in all.
As to their oppressors, Phillidas the secretary, who had been working
with the exiles and knew all their plans, having long before invited
Archias and his friends to a wine party to meet certain courtesans,
intended to endeavour to hand them over to their assailants in as
enervated and intoxicated a condition as possible. However before they
were very far gone in liquor a rumour was brought to their ears,
which, although true, was without confirmation and very vague, to the
effect that the exiles were concealed in the city. Though Phillidas
endeavoured to change the subject, still Archias sent one of his
servants to Charon, ordering him to come instantly. Now it was
evening, and Pelopidas and his party were preparing themselves, in the
house, and had already got their corslets on, and had girt on their
swords. Suddenly, a knock was heard at the door. One of them ran out,
and hearing the servant say that Charon had been sent for by the
polemarchs, he in great trepidation brought the news to the rest. At
once it occurred to all that the plot had been betrayed, and that they
all were lost, without even having done anything worthy of their
courage. Yet they agreed that Charon should comply with the summons
and that he should unsuspiciously present himself before the Spartan
chiefs. He was a man of courage, and slow to lose heart, but now he
was panic-stricken and terrified lest when so many brave citizens lost
their lives, some suspicion of treachery might rest on himself. So,
just when he was going, he brought his son from the women's
apartments, a boy still, but in beauty and strength surpassing all of
his own age, and handed him over to Pelopidas's party, bidding them
treat him as an enemy and show no mercy, if they should find _him_
guilty of any deceit or treachery. Many of them shed tears at the
feeling shown by Charon, and his noble spirit, and all felt shame,
that he should think any of them so base and so affected by their
present danger, as to suspect him or even to blame him, and they
begged him not to mix up his son with them, but put him out of the way
of the coming stroke, that he might be saved and escape from the
tyrants, and some day return and avenge his father and his friends.
But Charon refused to take away his son, for what life, he asked, or
what place of safety could be more honourable to him than an easy
death with his father and so many friends? After praying and embracing
them all, and bidding them be of good cheer, he went away, taking
great pains to adopt a look and tone of voice as different as possible
to that of a conspirator.
X. When he came to the door, Archias and Philippus met him and said,
"Charon, I have heard that some people have come here, and are
concealed in the city, and that some of the citizens are in league
with them." Charon was at first disconcerted, but then enquired who
these persons might be, and who they were that gave them shelter.
Seeing then that Archias knew nothing for certain, he perceived that
the news did not come from any one who knew the truth. "Take care,"
said he, "that this be not a mere idle rumour that is alarming you.
However, I will make due enquiries; for we ought not to disregard
anything." Phillidas, who was present, expressed his approval of this,
and carrying Archias back again plied him with liquor, prolonging his
debauch by holding out the expectation of the women.
Now when Charon returned to his house, he found the conspirators there
prepared to fight, not expecting to survive or to win the day, but to
die gloriously and kill as many of their enemies as possible. He told
Pelopidas's party the truth, and made up some story about Archias to
satisfy the others. This storm was just blown over when Fortune sent a
second upon them. A messenger came from Athens, from Archias the
hierophant[7] to his namesake Archias the Spartan, whose guest and
friend he was, bearing a letter which contained no vague and
conjectural suspicion, but a detailed account of all that was being
done, as was afterwards discovered. Now the messenger, when brought
before Archias who was drunk, gave him the letter, and said, "He who
sent you this letter bade you read it instantly, for he said it was
written about most serious matters." Archias laughing, said, "Serious
matters to-morrow." He took the letter and placed it under the pillow
on which he rested, and again listened to Phillidas about what they
were talking of before. This story, handed down in the form of a
proverb, is current among the Greeks even now.
XI. As the hour for the attempt seemed now to have arrived, they
sallied forth, in two bodies: the one, under Pelopidas and
Damokleides, to attack Leontidas and Hypates, who lived near one
another, while the other, under Charon and Mellon, went to Archias and
Philippus, with women's gowns over their steel corslets, and their
faces concealed by thick wreaths of fir and pine wood; and so when
first they entered the door of the dining-room they caused great
applause and disturbance, as the guests imagined that the
long-expected ladies had at length come. They looked carefully round
the party, and having ascertained who each of the guests were, they
drew their swords, and made for Archias and Philippus. When they thus
betrayed themselves, Phillidas persuaded some few of the guests to
remain quiet, but the rest, who rose and tried to assist the
polemarchs, were easily disposed of on account of their drunken
condition.
The task of Pelopidas and his party was a harder one; for they went to
attack Leontidas, a sober and brave man, and, finding his house shut
up, for he was already asleep, they knocked for some time without
rousing any one. At length the servant heard them and came and drew
back the bolt of the door; then, as soon as the leaves of the door
yielded they burst in in a body, and upsetting the servant made for
the bedchamber. Leontidas, guessing from the noise and confusion what
was going on, started up and seized his dagger, but he forgot to put
out the light, and make the men fall upon each other in the darkness.
In full view of them, in a blaze of light, he met them at his chamber
door, and with a blow of his dagger struck down Kephisodorus, the
first man who entered. As he fell dead Leontidas grappled with the
next, Pelopidas. The struggle was a fierce one and rendered difficult
by the narrow passage and the corpse of Kephisodorus lying in it, but
at length Pelopidas gained the upper hand, and having despatched him,
immediately went with his party to attack Hypates. And in the same way
they broke into his house, but he heard them sooner, and fled away to
the neighbours, but was pursued and slain.
XII. Having accomplished this, and joined Mellon's party, they sent
word to the remaining exiles in Attica, and called together the
citizens to complete their deliverance, and as they came, gave them
arms, taking down the trophies which hung in the public colonnades,
and breaking into the workshops of spear-makers and sword-cutlers. And
Epameinondas and Gorgidas, with their party, came to help them, armed;
for they had collected together no small number of the younger men and
the strongest of the elder ones. By this time the whole city was
roused, and there was great confusion, lights flitting about, and
people running to one another's houses, but the people had not yet
assembled, but being alarmed at what had happened, and knowing nothing
for certain, they waited for daylight. And here the generals of the
Lacedæmonian garrison seem to have missed an opportunity in not at
once sallying out and attacking them, for the garrison itself
consisted of 1500 men, and many people kept running to them for refuge
from the city; however, alarmed at the shouts and fires and mass of
people assembling from all parts, they remained quiet, holding the
Kadmeia only. At daybreak arrived the exiles from Attica, fully armed,
and the public assembly met. Epameinondas and Gorgidas led forward the
band of Pelopidas, surrounded by the priests, who crowned them with
wreaths, and called upon the citizens to fight for their country and
their gods. The whole assembly, with shouts and applause, rose at the
sight, and received them as their benefactors and saviours.
XIII. After this, Pelopidas, who was chosen Bœotarch,[8] with Mellon
and Charon as colleagues, at once blockaded the citadel, and made
assaults upon it on all sides, being eager to drive out the
Lacedæmonians and recover the Kadmeia before an army should come upon
them from Sparta. And so little time had he to spare, that the
garrison, when going home after their capitulation, met at Megara
Kleombrotus, marching with a great force against Thebes. Of the three
men who had been governors of Thebes, the Spartans condemned two,
Herippidas and Arkissus, to death, and the third, Lysanorides, was
heavily fined and banished.
This adventure was called by the Greeks the "sister" of that of
Thrasybulus, as it resembled it in the bravery and personal risk of
its chief actors, and was, like the other, favoured by fortune. It is
difficult to mention any other persons, who with fewer numbers and
scantier means than these, conquered men more numerous and powerful
than themselves, by sheer daring and ability, or who conferred greater
blessings on their own countries; and that which made this more
remarkable was the change which it effected. The war which destroyed
the prestige of Sparta, and put an end to her empire by sea and land,
began in that night, in which Pelopidas, without having made himself
master of any fort, stronghold, or citadel, but merely coming to a
private house with eleven others, loosed and broke to pieces, if we
may use a true metaphor, the chains of Lacedæmonian supremacy, which
seemed fixed and immovable.
XIV. Now when a great Lacedæmonian army invaded Bœotia, the Athenians
manifested great alarm. They repudiated their alliance with the
Thebans, and impeached those who had shown Bœotian sympathies; some of
these men were put to death, others fined and banished. The case of
the Thebans seemed desperate, as no one offered to help them; but
Pelopidas, who with Gorgidas was Bœotarch, contrived to alienate the
Athenians from Sparta by the following plot. Sphodrias, a Spartan, of
great renown in the wars, but somewhat flighty and prone to wild
enterprises and reckless ambition, had been left near Thespiæ with an
army, to receive and assist those Thebans[9] who were now sent into
exile because they favoured the Lacedæmonians. Pelopidas sent secretly
to this man a merchant, a friend of his own, who gave him a bribe, and
also made proposals which fascinated him more than the money, that he
should attempt some enterprise on a great scale, and surprise Peiræus
by a sudden attack when the Athenians were off their guard: for the
Lacedæmonians would be better pleased with the capture of Athens than
with anything else, and the Thebans would not assist them, for they
were at variance with them and regarded them as traitors. At length
Sphodrias was prevailed upon to agree to this, and, with his soldiery,
invaded Attica by night. He got as far as Eleusis, but there the
soldiers lost heart, and the attempt was detected. So, having involved
the Spartans in a war of no slight importance, he retired to Thespiæ.
XV. Upon this the Athenians again most eagerly allied themselves with
the Thebans, and, aspiring to supremacy at sea, sent embassies round
to the other maritime states, and brought over to their own side
those who were willing to revolt from the Spartans. Meanwhile the
Thebans, alone in their country of Bœotia, constantly skirmishing with
the Lacedæmonians, and not fighting any great battles with them, but
organising themselves with the greatest care and discipline, began to
pluck up spirit, gaining skill from practice, and becoming confident
from the result of these encounters. This was why they say that
Antalkidas the Spartan, when King Agesilaus was being carried home
wounded from Bœotia, said to him, "Indeed, you are receiving nice
lessons from the Thebans, now that you have taught them how to fight
against their will." But their real teacher was not Agesilaus, but
those who, seizing fit opportunities, and with due management,
skilfully used to let them loose upon their enemies, as men train
young mastiffs, and then when they had tasted victory and
self-confidence brought them safely back. Of these leaders Pelopidas
received the chief credit. From the year in which he was first elected
general they never ceased to re-elect him, and he was always either in
command of the Sacred Band or most commonly acting as Bœotarch until
his death. There took place also about Platæa and Thespiæ defeats and
routs of the Lacedæmonians, in which Phœbidas, who seized the Kadmeia,
perished; and Pelopidas routed a number of them near Tanagra, and slew
Panthoides the governor. Still, although these skirmishes raised the
spirits and confidence of the victors, yet they did not cast down the
pride of the vanquished; for they were not regular battles, but the
Thebans won their successes by well-timed charges and harassing the
enemy by alternate retreat and advance.
However, the affair at Tegyra, which in a manner was preliminary to
that at Leuktra, won Pelopidas a great reputation; for there was no
question of any other general having assisted in the design of the
battle, nor of the enemy being thoroughly routed. The city of
Orchomenus had taken the Spartan side, and had received two moras[10]
of Spartan troops for its protection. He always had his eye upon this
place, and watched his opportunity. Hearing that the garrison had made
an expedition into Lokris, he marched, hoping to catch Orchomenus
defenceless, taking with him the Sacred Band and a few cavalry. When
he came to the city he found that the garrison had been relieved by
fresh troops from Sparta, and so he led off his men homewards through
Tegyra, the only way that he could, by a circuitous route at the foot
of the mountains; for the river Melas, which from its very source
spreads into morasses and quagmires, made the direct way impassable.
Near the marshes stands a temple of Apollo of Tegyra and an oracle,
which is now forsaken; it has not been long so, but flourished up to
the Persian War, when Echekrates was priest. There the myths say that
the god was born; and the neighbouring mountain is called Delos, and
there the overflowings of the river Melas cease, while behind the
temple there flow two springs remarkable for the sweetness, coldness,
and volume of their waters, which we up to this day call, the one "The
Palm," and the other "The Olive," as though the goddess had not been
delivered between two trees, but two fountains. Indeed, close by is
the Ptoüm, whence they say that she was driven in terror by the sudden
apparition of a wild boar, and with regard to the legends of Tityos
and Pytho, the localities are in like manner associated with the birth
of the god. I omit the greater part of these proofs, for our ancestral
religion tells us that this god is not to be ranked among those
divinities who were born as men, like Herakles and Dionysus, and by
their merits were translated from this earthly and suffering body, but
he is one of the eternal ones who know no birth, if one may form any
conjecture upon such matters from the writings of our wisest and most
ancient writers.
XVII. At Tegyra, then, Pelopidas and the Thebans retiring from
Orchomenus met the Lacedæmonians marching back from Lokris, in the
opposite direction. When they were first descried coming out from the
narrow gorges of the hills, some one ran to Pelopidas, and cried out,
"We have fallen into the midst of the enemy!" "Why so," asked he,
"more than they into the midst of us?" He at once ordered his cavalry
to the front to charge the enemy first, and closed up his infantry,
three hundred in number, into a compact body, trusting that wherever
he attacked the enemy he should break through, although they
outnumbered him. They consisted of two moras of Lacedæmonians: now
Ephorus says that a mora consists of 500 men, but Kallisthenes says
700, and some other authorities, and amongst them Polybius, put it at
900.
Gorgoleon and Theopompus, the polemarchs in command of the Spartans,
moved confidently to the attack of the Thebans; and the onset was
directed on both sides, with great fury, specially at the persons of
the leaders. The two polemarchs dashed against Pelopidas, and both
fell; then the slaughter of their immediate followers produced a panic
in the whole force, and it gave way to the Thebans, opening a lane
through the centre as if for them to pass through. But when Pelopidas
led his men into the passage thus offered, and assailed those who
stood their ground, passing through it with great slaughter, then all
fled in hopeless rout.
The pursuit was not pressed far, for the Thebans feared the vicinity
of Orchomenus and of the Spartan reinforcement there; but as far as
winning the victory, and forcing their way through the beaten enemy,
they were completely successful; so after setting up a trophy and
spoiling the dead they returned home in high spirits. For in all the
wars which had previously taken place, both with Greeks and
barbarians, it never before had happened that Lacedæmonians should be
conquered by an inferior force, nor yet even when the numbers on each
side were equal. Wherefore they were invincible in their own
estimation, and established an ascendant over the minds of their
opponents, for they were wont to engage with men who did not
themselves think that with equal force they could be a match for the
same number of Spartans. But this battle first proved to the rest of
Greece that it is not only the Eurotas, and the country between Babuke
and Knacion[11] that nurtures brave and warlike men, but that wherever
the youth of a nation fears disgrace and is willing to risk life for
honour, and shrinks from shame more than from danger, these form the
troops most terrible to their foes.
XVIII. The Sacred Band, they say, was first formed by Gorgidas, of 300
picked men, whom the city drilled and lodged in the Kadmeia when on
service, wherefore they were called the "city" regiment; for people
then generally called the citadel the "city." Some say that this force
was composed of intimate friends, and indeed there is current a saying
of Pammenes, that Homer's Nestor is not a good general when he bids
the Greeks assemble by their tribes and clans:
"That tribe to tribe, and clan to clan give aid,"
whereas he ought to have placed side by side men who loved each other,
for men care little in time of danger for men of the same tribe or
clan, whereas the bond of affection is one that cannot be broken, as
men will stand fast in battle from the strength of their affection for
others, and from feeling shame at showing themselves cowards before
them. Nor is this to be wondered at, seeing that men stand more in awe
of the objects of their love when they are absent than they do of
others when present, as was the case with that man who begged and
entreated one of the enemy to stab him in the breast as he lay
wounded, "in order," said he, "that my friend may not see me lying
dead with a wound in the back, and be ashamed of me." And Iolaus, the
favourite of Herakles, is said to have taken part in his labours and
to have accompanied him; and Aristotle says that even in his own time
lovers would make their vows at the tomb of Iolaus.
It is probable, therefore, that the Sacred Band was so named, because
Plato also speaks of a lover as a friend inspired from Heaven. Up to
the battle of Chæronea it is said to have continued invincible, and
when Philip stood after the battle viewing the slain, in that part of
the field where the Three Hundred lay dead in their armour, heaped
upon one another, having met the spears of his phalanx face to face,
he wondered at the sight, and learning that it was the Band of Lovers,
burst into tears, and said, "Perish those who suspect those men of
doing or enduring anything base."
XIX. As to these intimacies between friends, it was not, as the poets
say, the disaster of Laius which first introduced the custom into
Thebes, but their lawgivers, wishing to soften and improve the natural
violence and ferocity of their passions, used music largely in their
education, both in sport and earnest, giving the flute especial
honour, and by mixing the youth together in the palæstra, produced
many glorious examples of mutual affection. Rightly too did they
establish in their city that goddess who is said to be the daughter of
Ares and Aphrodite, Harmonia; since, wherever warlike power is duly
blended with eloquence and refinement, there all things tend to the
formation of a harmonious and perfect commonwealth.
Now, as to the Sacred Band, Gorgidas originally placed them in the
first rank, and so spread them all along the first line of battle, and
did not by this means render their valour so conspicuous, nor did he
use them in a mass for any attack, but their courage was weakened by
so large an infusion of inferior soldiery; but Pelopidas, after the
splendid display of their valour under his own eye at Tegyra, never
separated or scattered them, but would stand the brunt of battle,
using them as one body. For as horses driven in a chariot go faster
than those going loose, not because they more easily cleave the air
when galloping in a solid body, but because their rivalry and racing
with one another kindles, their spirit, so he imagined that brave men,
inciting each other to an emulation in adventure, would prove most
useful and forward when acting in one body.
XX. When the Lacedæmonians made peace with all the other Greeks and
attacked the Thebans alone, and Kleombrotus, their king, invaded
Bœotia with ten thousand hoplites and a thousand cavalry, the danger
was not that they should be reduced to their former condition, but
absolute destruction plainly threatened their city, and such terror
prevailed as never before had been in Bœotia. Pelopidas, when leaving
his house, as his wife wept at parting with him and begged him to be
careful of his life, answered, "My dear, this is very good advice for
private soldiers, but we who are commanders must think about saving
the lives of others." When he reached the camp, he found the Bœotarchs
differing in opinion, and he at once gave his voice for the plan of
Epameinondas, who voted for battle. He was not named Bœotarch, but he
was in command of the Sacred Band, and enjoyed great confidence, as
was only just a man should who had given such proofs of patriotism.
When, then, they had determined to face the enemy, and taken up a
position at Leuktra opposite to the Spartan army, Pelopidas saw a
vision in his sleep which greatly disturbed him. In the plain of
Leuktra there are the tombs of the daughters of Skedasus, whom they
call Leuktridæ because of the place of their burial; for there it was
that they were buried after they had been violated by some Spartan
strangers. When this base and impious deed was done, their father, as
he could get no satisfaction from the Lacedæmonians, invoked curses
upon the Spartan race, and slew himself at the tombs of his daughters.
Oracles and legends always had warned the Spartans to beware of the
vengeance of Leuktra, though most of them did not understand it, and
were not clear as to the place, since a small sea-side town in Laconia
is also called Leuktron, and there is a place of the same name near
Megalopolis in Arcadia, and, also, this crime was committed a long
time before the battle.
XXI. So now Pelopidas, when asleep in the camp, seemed to see the
maidens weeping over their tombs and invoking curses on the Spartans,
and Skedasus, who bade him sacrifice a red virgin to the maidens, if
he wished to conquer his enemies. And as this command seemed to him
shocking and impious, he started up and consulted the prophets and the
generals. Some of them forbade him to neglect or disobey the warning,
quoting the famous old instances of Menækeus the son of Kreon and
Makaria the daughter of Herakles, and, in later times, Pherekydes the
philosopher, who was killed by the Lacedæmonians, and whose skin,
according to some oracle, is still kept by their kings, and Leonidas,
who following the oracle did in some sort offer himself as a victim on
behalf of Greece; and futhermore they spoke of those persons whom
Themistokles sacrificed to Dionysus before the sea-fight at Salamis.
All these are verified by the success which followed them. And again,
Agesilaus when starting from the same place that Agamemnon did to
fight the same enemies, was asked by the god, during a vision at
Aulis, to give him his daughter as a sacrifice; but he did not give
her, but by his softheartedness ruined the expedition, which
ingloriously failed. Others spoke on the other side, urging that so
barbarous and impious a sacrifice could not be pleasing to any of the
powers above, for, they said, it is not the Typhons and giants of
legend that rule in heaven, but the father of all gods and men. To
believe that there are deities that delight in the blood and slaughter
of mankind is probably a foolish fancy; but if there be such, it is
our duty to disregard them and treat them as powerless, for these
strange and shocking desires can only take their origin and exist in
feeble and depraved minds.
XXII. While the chiefs of the army were engaged in this discussion,
and Pelopidas especially was at a loss what to do, a filly escaped
from some horses at pasture, and running through the ranks stopped
opposite them. They admired her coat shining with the brightest red,
and the mettled courage of her neigh, but Theokritus the prophet,
comprehending what was meant, called to Pelopidas: "Happy man! Here is
your victim; let us not expect any other virgin, but take the gift the
gods provide you." Hereupon they caught the filly and led it to the
tombs of the maidens. Here, after prayer, they hung garlands on the
tombs, and made the sacrifice with joy, explaining to the whole army
the vision of Pelopidas and their reasons for the sacrifice.
XXIII. In the battle, Epameinondas brought his main body slantingly
towards the left, in order that the Spartan right might be drawn as
far as possible away from the other Greeks, and that by falling
violently on Kleombrotus with his whole force on that wing, he might
overpower and crush him. The enemy, perceiving what was being done,
began to alter their own formation, extending their right, with the
intention of outflanking and enveloping Epameinondas. At this moment
Pelopidas charged with the Three Hundred in serried ranks. He caught
the Lacedæmonians in a moment of confusion, when they were not
standing ready to make an attack, for Kleombrotus had not time either
to extend his right, or to bring the troops back again and close up
the ranks. Yet the Spartans, skilled as they were to the highest
pitch in war, had been specially educated and practised in changing
their formation without disorder or confusion; each man used any other
as his right-hand or rear-rank man, and wherever danger threatened
they would meet it, forming and fighting simultaneously. But now, when
the main Theban phalanx under Epameinondas, projecting before all the
rest of the line, bore down upon them, and when Pelopidas, by a charge
of inconceivable speed and daring was already amongst their ranks,
their spirit and discipline was so shaken that the rout and slaughter
of the Spartans was such as had never been before. In this victory and
success as much glory belonged to Pelopidas, though not one of the
generals, and only in command of a few men, as to Epameinondas, who
was Bœotarch and leader of the whole force.
XXIV. In the invasion of Peloponnesus they were both Bœotarchs, and
they brought over to their side most of the nations there, for they
detached from the Lacedæmonian alliance Elis, Argos, the whole of
Arcadia, and most part of Laconia itself. It was mid-winter, a few
days only remained of the last month, and with the new year the law
was that the commands should be delivered up and new generals chosen.
Death was the penalty in case of disobedience, and all the other
Bœotarchs, fearing this law and wishing to avoid the severe weather,
wished to withdraw the army homewards, but Pelopidas first, supported
by Epameinondas, encouraged his fellow citizens, and crossed the
Eurotas. He took many of their towns and wasted all their country up
to the sea-coast, with an army of 70,000 Greeks, of whom the Thebans
formed less than a twelfth part. But the great reputation which these
men enjoyed made the rest follow them without any formal vote or
decree to do so; for the first and most fundamental law is that which
makes men in need of help follow him who can save them; and even if,
like men sailing on a calm sea or anchored close to port, they
sometimes murmur at and brave their pilot, yet in time of danger and
storm they look up to him and place all their hopes in him, so the
Argives and Eleans and Arcadians would at the council-board dispute
the Theban claims to supremacy, but in war and at critical moments
they of their own accord obeyed the Theban generals. In this campaign,
Arcadia was consolidated into one state; they also separated Messenia,
which had been annexed by the Spartans, and bringing back the
Messenian exiles established them in the old capital, Ithome. On their
homeward march through Kenchreæ they gained a victory over the
Athenians, who attempted to harass them and hinder their march through
the narrow isthmus of Corinth.
XXV. After these exploits all men were full of admiration and wonder
at their courage and success, but at home the envious feelings of
their countrymen and political opponents, which grew along with the
growth of their renown, prepared a most scurvy reception for them. On
their return they were both tried for their lives, on the ground that
whereas the law is that during the first month of the year, which they
call Boukation, the Bœotarchs must lay down their office, they had
held it for four additional months, during which they had been
settling the affairs of Messenia, Laconia, and Arcadia. Pelopidas was
tried first, and so incurred the greater danger, but both were
acquitted.
Epameinondas, who thought that true courage and magnanimity was best
shown by forbearance in political strife, bore this contemptible
attack with patience, but Pelopidas, who was of a hotter temper, and
whose friends encouraged him to revenge, chose this for its
opportunity. Menekleides the orator had been one of the conspirators
who came with Pelopidas and Mellon to Charon's house. As, after the
revolution, he did not obtain equal rights with the rest, being a man
of great ability in speaking, but reckless and ill-conditioned, he
took to using his powers to slander and assail the men in power, and
was not silenced even by the result of that trial. He got Epameinondas
turned out of his office of Bœotarch, and for a long time succeeded in
lessening his influence in the state; but Pelopidas he could not
misrepresent to the people, so he endeavoured to make a quarrel
between him and Charon. He used the usual method of detractors, who if
they themselves be inferior to the object of their spite, try at any
rate to prove that he is inferior to some one else; and having the ear
of the people, he was ever singing the praises of Charon, and uttering
panegyrics on his skill and his success. He endeavoured to set up a
memorial of the cavalry battle at Platæa, before the battle of
Leuktra, in which the Thebans under Charon were victorious, in the
following manner. Androkydes of Kyzikus had been entrusted by the
state with the task of painting a picture of some other battle, and
had been engaged on it at Thebes. When the war broke out, this
picture, nearly completed, was left in the hands of the Thebans; and
Menekleides persuaded them to put it up publicly and to write on it
the name of Charon, in order to throw the glory of Pelopidas and
Epameinondas into the shade; a silly exhibition of ill-feeling indeed,
to compare one poor skirmish, in which Gerandas, an obscure Spartan,
and some forty men fell, with the great and important services of the
others.
Pelopidas indicted this proposal as illegal, arguing that it was not
the custom of the Thebans to show honour to individuals, but to keep
alive the name of a victory for the glory of the country at large. He
bestowed unmeasured praise upon Charon throughout the trial, and
proved Menekleides to be a malignant slanderer. He was fined a large
sum, and not being able to pay it, subsequently endeavoured to bring
about a revolution in the state; by which one gains some insight into
his character.
XXVI. Alexander, the tyrant of Pheræ, was at this time at open war
with many states of Thessaly, and threatened the independence of all.
Ambassadors from these states were sent to Thebes, begging for a
military force and a general to be despatched to their assistance.
Pelopidas, since Epameinondas was busy settling the affairs of
Peloponnesus, offered himself to the Thessalians, as he could not bear
that his talents and skill should lie idle, and he thought that where
Epameinondas was, no second general could be needed. So he marched
with a sufficient army into Thessaly, took Larissa, and, when
Alexander begged for terms of peace, endeavoured to convert him into a
mild and law-abiding ruler. But he, a wild, desperate, cruel
barbarian, when he was accused of insolent and grasping practices,
and Pelopidas used harsh and angry language, went off in a rage, with
his body-guard. Pelopidas, having relieved the Thessalians from fear
of the tyrant, and reconciled them one to another, proceeded to
Macedonia. Here Ptolemy was at war with Alexander the king of
Macedonia, and each of them had sent for him to act as arbitrator and
judge between them, thinking that he would right whichever of them
should prove to have been wronged. He came, and settled their dispute,
and after bringing back the exiled party, took Philip, the king's
brother, and thirty other sons of the noblest families as hostages,
and kept them at Thebes, to show the Greeks how far the Theban policy
extended, merely through its reputation for power and for justice.
This was that Philip who afterwards endeavoured to enslave Greece; at
that time he was but a lad, and lived in the house of Pammenes. On
this account he was thought to be an imitator of Epameinondas, and
perhaps he did take to heart that great man's energy in war, which was
one of his virtues, but as to the spirit of self-restraint, justice,
magnanimity and mildness, which formed the true greatness of his
character, of this Philip neither by nature or education had the least
idea.
XXVII. After these events, the Thessalians again complained of
Alexander of Pheræ for attacking their cities, and Pelopidas and
Ismenias were sent as ambassadors to them. Pelopidas, however, brought
no army with him, as no war was expected, and was forced to make use
of the native Thessalians in this emergency. As affairs in Macedonia
had again fallen into disorder (for Ptolemy had assassinated the king,
and was in possession of the sovereignty, while the friends of the
deceased invited Pelopidas to interfere), he wished to do something;
and having no troops of his own, he hired some local mercenaries and
marched off at once against Ptolemy. When they drew near to each
other, Ptolemy by bribes induced the mercenaries to desert to himself,
but, fearing the mere name and prestige of Pelopidas, he went out to
him as though he were the more powerful of the two, and after greeting
him and begging him to be his friend, he agreed to hold the kingdom in
trust for the brothers of the deceased king, and to form a defensive
and offensive alliance with Thebes. For the fulfilment of these
conditions he gave as hostages his own son Philoxenus and fifty of his
companions, whom Pelopidas sent to Thebes, but as he was angry at the
desertion of his mercenaries, and learned that their property, wives
and children were for the most part placed in Pharsalus, so that by
capturing that place he could make them pay the penalty of their
crime, he got together a force of Thessalians and came to Pharsalus.
When he was just arrived, Alexander the tyrant appeared with his army.
Pelopidas and his friends supposed that he had come to establish his
innocence, and went to meet him, knowing him to be profligate and
bloodthirsty, yet fearing no harm, because of the name of Thebes and
their own personal prestige. But he, when he saw them approaching him
unarmed and alone, at once secured them and took Pharsalus, striking
fear and terror into all his subjects; for they expected that after an
act of such daring lawlessness he would spare no one, but treat them
as one who had made up his mind to lose his own life.
XXVIII. The Thebans when they heard of this were greatly moved, and at
once despatched an army to the rescue, but on account of some quarrel
with Epameinondas they appointed others to the command. The tyrant
took Pelopidas to Pheræ, and at first allowed any who chose to
converse with him, supposing that he would be cast down and humbled by
his misfortunes; but when the people of Pheræ came to lament over him,
Pelopidas bade them be of good courage, as now if ever the tyrant
would have to pay the penalty of his crimes: and he sent a message to
the tyrant himself, saving that he was a strange man, to torture and
murder his wretched and innocent citizens every day, and to spare him,
who he knew would be sure to wreak vengeance on him if he should
escape. The tyrant, admiring his spirit and fearlessness, said, "What!
does Pelopidas wish to die?" The other, hearing of this answered,
"Yes, that you may become even more hateful to heaven than you are
now, and so may die sooner."
Hereupon he prevented the people from having access to him, but Thêbê,
the daughter of Jason, and Alexander's wife, having heard from the
guards of Pelopidas of his daring and nobleness, desired to see the
man and converse with him. When she was come she did not, woman-like,
at once perceive the greatness of his mind in the position in which he
was, but judging from his short-cut hair, his dress and his food, that
he was treated ill and not as became such a man, she wept. Pelopidas,
not knowing at first who she was, was surprised at this, but, when he
knew her, addressed her by her father's name, for he was a companion
and friend of Jason. When she said, "I pity your wife," "So do I pity
you," answered he, "that without being a prisoner you stay with
Alexander." This speech somehow touched the lady, for she was grieved
at the ferocity and licentiousness of the tyrant, who, besides his
other atrocities, had debauched her youngest brother. She constantly
visited Pelopidas, and, talking to him of her sufferings, became
filled with courage, and with hatred of Alexander.
XXIX. The Theban generals invaded Thessaly, but through incompetence
or misfortune effected nothing, and had to retreat in disgrace. The
state fined them ten thousand drachmas, but sent Epameinondas with the
army. There was at once a great fluttering of hope among the cities of
Thessaly at the reputation of that general, and the cause of the
tyrant tottered to its fall, such fear fell upon his officers and
friends, and such a longing to subvert his government upon his
subjects, who viewed the future with hope, as now they expected to see
the tyrant meet with his deserts. However, Epameinondas, disregarding
his own glory in comparison with the safety of Pelopidas, and fearing
that if Alexander were driven to despair by seeing his kingdom falling
to pieces, he might turn upon him like a wild beast, conducted the war
remissly. By degrees and after slow preparation he surrounded the
tyrant and confined him to one spot, so as to be able to check any
attack that he might venture on, and yet not to excite his savage and
ferocious nature; for he had heard of his cruelty and disregard of
what is right, and how he would bury men alive, and dress them in the
skins of wild boars and bears and then set dogs at them and hunt them
with spears, making this his sport, and how he surrounded two
peaceful cities, Melibœa and Skottusa, with his body-guard when the
inhabitants were at their public assembly, and slew them all from the
youth upwards, and how he had consecrated and crowned the spear with
which he killed his uncle Polyphron, and used to address prayers to it
and call it the Slayer. Once when he saw a tragedian performing
Euripides' tragedy, the 'Troades,' he went suddenly out of the
theatre, and sent a message to him to be of good courage, and not act
worse for this, for he had not left the house because he disliked his
acting, but because he felt ashamed that the citizens should see him
weeping at the woes of Hekuba and Andromache, though he never had
pitied any of the people whom he had put to death himself. But he,
terrified by the prestige and reputation of Epameinondas for strategy,
"Let fall his feathers like a craven cock,"
and quickly sent an embassy to him to make peace. Epameinondas scorned
to make a treaty of peace and friendship between the Thebans and such
a man, but agreed to an armistice for thirty days, and taking
Pelopidas and Ismenias returned home.
XXX. When the Thebans heard that ambassadors were being sent from
Athens and Sparta to the Great King to make an alliance with him, they
also sent Pelopidas, a step most advantageous to his reputation. As he
went on his journey through the Persian provinces he excited the
greatest admiration, for the fame of his victories over the
Lacedæmonians had spread trumpet-tongued through Asia, and from the
time of his first success at Leuktra it had begun to reach far and
wide, some new exploit being ever added to it, till it reached to the
furthest peoples. Next, when he reached the court, he was an object of
wonder and interest to the satraps, generals, and officers there.
"This is the man," they said, "who destroyed the Lacedæmonian dominion
over sea and land, and who reduced to the little state at the foot of
Taygetus by the Eurotas, that Sparta which a little while before went
to war under Agesilaus with the Great King himself about Susa and
Ecbatana." At this Artaxerxes himself was pleased, and admired
Pelopidas and showed him great honour, as he wished it to appear that
he was courted and sought after by the most powerful Greeks. After an
interview, in which he found that he spoke with sounder sense than the
Athenians, and greater simplicity than the Spartans, he esteemed him
still more, and after the fashion of monarchs, did not conceal his
regard, but let the other ambassadors see plainly that he was highest
in favour. Of all the Greeks he showed Antalkidas the greatest honour,
when he took off his own wreath of flowers at table and dipping it in
scent, gave it him to put on. He attempted no such refinements with
Pelopidas, but gave him presents, more splendid and valuable than was
customary, and assented to his proposals that all Greek states should
be independent, that Messenia should be reconstituted, and that the
Thebans should be accounted the king's old friends.
With these answers, and none of the presents except such as were
pledges of friendship and good will, he returned, to the great
discredit of the other ambassadors. The Athenians condemned and
executed Timagoras, and if it was for the amount of presents which he
received, rightly enough; for he not only took silver and gold, but a
costly bed and slaves to make it, as if Greeks did not know how, and
also eighty cows and their herdsmen, on the pretence of wanting cow's
milk for some weakness that he suffered from; and at last he went down
to the sea-coast carried in a palanquin, and four talents were given
by the king to his bearers--still, it does not seem to have been his
venality which especially disgusted the Athenians. At any rate,
Epikrates, called the "Bearded," once brought a motion before the
assembly that instead of electing nine archons yearly they should send
nine poor citizens as ambassadors to the Great King, that they might
be enriched by him, at which there was great laughter. But it was
because of the success of the Thebans that they were so vexed, not
reflecting on the power of Pelopidas's name, and how far it outweighed
all their rhetoric in the estimation of one who always inclined to the
stronger side.
XXXI. On his return, Pelopidas was welcomed with no little gratitude
because he had re-established Messenia, and obtained freedom for all
other Greeks. But Alexander of Pheræ had relapsed into his old
courses, and had ravaged the territory of many cities of Thessaly. The
Phthiot Achæans and Magnetes formed a league to oppose him, and
hearing of Pelopidas's return, these cities sent to Thebes begging for
a force to help them and for him as its general. The Thebans willingly
decreed this, but when all was ready and the general was about to
march, the sun was eclipsed and darkness fell upon the city.
Pelopidas, seeing that all men were disheartened at this, thought that
it was useless to force frightened men full of presage of evil, to
march with him, nor did he like to risk the lives of six thousand
citizens, but he offered his own services to the Thessalians, and took
with him three hundred horsemen, volunteers and men of other states.
With this force he started, though forbidden by the prophets and
against the will of his fellow citizens, who all held that a great
portent had been shown in heaven about some celebrated man. However,
he was all the fiercer against Alexander, remembering his own
sufferings, and hoping from his conversations with Thêbê, that by this
time his own family would have turned against him. He was also much
encouraged by the glory of the action, that, at a time when the
Lacedæmonians were sending out generals and governors to help
Dionysius the Sicilian tyrant, and when the Athenians had Alexander in
their pay, and had even set up a bronze statue of him as a public
benefactor, he might show the Greeks that it was the Thebans alone who
took up arms in defence of the oppressed, and who put an end to the
violent and illegal rule of despots in Greece.
XXXII. When he had come to Pharsalus and collected his army there, he
marched straight to attack Alexander. But he, seeing that Pelopidas's
force of Thebans was small, while he had more than double his numbers
of Thessalian hoplites, met him near the shrine of Thetis. When some
one said to Pelopidas that the tyrant was coming on with a great
force, he answered. "So much the better, for we shall conquer more."
Between the two armies, near the place called Kynoskephalæ, or the
Dog's Heads, were some high and isolated hills. Each party tried to
occupy these with their infantry, but Pelopidas, knowing his cavalry
to be numerous and good, sent it to charge that of the enemy. The
enemy's horse was routed, and pursued over the plain, but meanwhile
Alexander had secured the hills, and when the Thessalian infantry came
afterwards, and tried to force their way up the hill into that strong
position, he was able to cut down the foremost, while the rest
suffered from his missiles and could do nothing. Pelopidas now
recalled the cavalry, and sent it to attack the enemy's position in
flank, while he himself took his shield and ran to join the infantry
in their fight on the hill. Pushing his way through their ranks till
he reached the front he infused such strength and ardour into them,
that the enemy thought that they attacked with new bodies as well as
new spirit. They repulsed one or two assaults, but seeing that the
infantry resolutely came on, and also that the cavalry had returned
from its pursuit and was threatening their flank, they made an orderly
retreat. Pelopidas, when he gained the height, saw below him the whole
of the enemy not yet beaten, but confused and shaken. He stood still
and looked around him, seeking Alexander himself. When he saw him, on
the right, rallying and encouraging his mercenaries, he could no
longer restrain his rage, but kindling at the sight, and, reckless of
his own person and of his duties as a general, rushed far beyond the
rest, shouting and challenging the tyrant to fight. He would not await
the attack, but took refuge in the ranks of his body-guard. Pelopidas
attacked these troops and cut them down, wounding several mortally,
but they from a distance struck him through his armour with their
spears, till the Thessalians in great anxiety charged down the hill to
the rescue. But he had by this time fallen.
The cavalry now charged and routed the whole body, and pursuing them
to a great distance, strewed the country with corpses, for they cut
down more than three thousand of them.
XXXIII. It was no wonder that the Thebans who were there grieved at
the death of Pelopidas, and called him their father, their saviour,
their teacher in all that was best and noblest; but the Thessalians
and their allies, who decreed greater honours than had ever been shown
to any brave man, proved their gratitude to him, even more by their
sorrow. It is said that the men who were at the fight did not lay
aside their armour, nor unbridle their horses, nor even bind up their
wounds, when they heard of his death, but warm as they were from
victory, in their arms, flocked round the corpse, piling up near it,
as a trophy, the arms of their slain enemies. They cut off the manes
of their horses, and their own hair, and many went off to their tents,
lit no fire, and ate no supper, but there was such silence and
despondency in the whole camp as would have befitted men who had been
defeated and enslaved by the tyrant, not who had just won a great and
glorious victory over him.
As soon as the sad news reached the cities of Thessaly, the chief men,
youths, children and priests came forth in procession to receive his
body, and carried trophies and wreaths and golden armour in its
honour. When the body was about to be brought home, the chiefs of the
Thessalians begged the Thebans to allow them to bury him, and one of
them spoke as follows: "Allies, we beg of you a favour which will
prove to be an honour and a comfort to us in this our great
misfortune. We Thessalians shall never again escort Pelopidas, nor
render him the honours which he deserved; but if we may have his body
to touch, and ourselves adorn it and bury it, we shall then be able to
show you that we Thessalians truly feel this misfortune more than even
you Thebans. For you have only lost a good general, while we have lost
that, and our liberty too, since how can we ever have the heart to ask
you for another general, after not giving you your Pelopidas back."
This proposal the Thebans agreed to.
XXXIV. No funeral was more splendid than this, not indeed in the
estimation of those who think that splendour lies in ivory and gold
and purple, as Philistius celebrates and praises the funeral of
Dionysius, where his tyranny concluded like the pompous finale of some
great tragedy. Alexander the Great, when Hephæstion died, not only cut
off the manes of the horses and mules, but actually took down the
battlements from the walls, that cities might seem in mourning,
presenting a shorn and woeful look in contrast to their former
appearance.
But these were the commands of tyrants; they were done under
compulsion, and caused a feeling of dislike to the person honoured,
and of absolute hatred against those who enforced them, but showed no
gratitude or desire to honour the dead. They were mere displays of
barbaric pride and boastful extravagance, which wastes its superfluity
on vain and useless objects; whereas, here was a private citizen who
died in a foreign land, without his wife, his children or his friends,
and, without any one asking for it or compelling them to it, he was
escorted to his grave, buried and crowned with garlands by so many
provinces and cities, vying with one another in showing him honour,
that he seems to have enjoyed the most blessed fate possible. For as
Æsop says, the death of the fortunate is not grievous, but blessed,
since it secures their felicity, and puts it out of Fortune's power.
That Spartan spoke well, who, when Diagoras, the Olympic victor, was
looking at his sons being in their turn crowned as victors at Olympia,
with his grandchildren about him, embraced him and said, "Die,
Diagoras; for you cannot rise to Olympus and be a god there." Yet I do
not suppose that any one would compare all the Olympian and Pythian
prizes together with one of Pelopidas's achievements, of which he
performed many, and lived the most part of his life esteemed and
looked up to, and at last, in his thirteenth Bœotarchy, when fighting
gloriously against a tyrant, he died in defence of the liberties of
Thessaly.
XXXV. His death caused great sorrow to his allies, but likewise
benefited them; for the Thebans as soon as they heard of the death of
Pelopidas did not delay for a moment to avenge his fall, but hastily
marched with an army of seven thousand hoplites and seven hundred
cavalry, under Malkitus and Diogeiton, against Alexander. Finding that
he was weakened and shorn of much of his power, they compelled him to
restore to the Thessalians their cities, which he held, to liberate
the Achæans in Magnesia and Phthiotis, to withdraw his garrisons from
those countries, and to swear to the Thebans, that he would attack,
and assist them to attack, any enemy they might choose.
The Thebans were satisfied with these terms; but I will now recount
how, shortly afterwards, Heaven exacted retribution from him for the
death of Pelopidas. Thêbê his wife, as we have said before, had been
taught by Pelopidas not to fear the outward pomp and body-guard of the
tyrant, since she was within all his defences. She, dreading his
suspicious nature, and hating his cruelty, made a plot with her three
brothers, Tisiphonus, Pytholaus, and Lykophron, which she carried out
in the following manner. The night patrol of the guard watched in the
house, but their bedchamber was upstairs, and before the door there
was a dog chained as a guard, very savage with every one except
themselves and one of their servants who fed it. Now when Thêbê
determined to make the attempt, she got her brothers concealed near at
hand during the day in one of the rooms, and when she came, as usual,
alone to Alexander's chamber, she found him asleep. In a little time
she came out again, and ordered the servant to take away the dog, as
the despot wished to sleep undisturbed. Fearing that the stairs would
make a noise when the young men mounted, she covered them with wool,
and then brought up her brothers, with their swords drawn. Leaving
them outside she herself went in, and taking down the sword that hung
over his head, showed it to them as a proof that he was in their power
and asleep. The young men now were terrified, and hesitated to act;
but she reproached them bitterly, and swore that she would herself
awaken Alexander and tell him the whole plot. Between shame and terror
she got them in and placed them round the bed, herself holding the
light. One of them seized his feet, another held his head back by the
hair, and the third despatched him with a stab of his sword, a death,
perhaps, easier than he deserved. He was the first, or perhaps the
only despot ever assassinated by his own wife. His body after death
was dragged about and trodden under foot by the people of Pheræ, a
recompense which his villanies deserved.