FROM THE DEATH OF PELOPIDAS TO THE BATTLE OF MANTINEA.
It was during this period,—while Epaminondas was absent with the
fleet, and while Pelopidas was engaged in that Thessalian campaign
from whence he never returned,—that the Thebans destroyed Orchomenus.
That city, the second in the Bœotian federation, had always been
disaffected towards Thebes; and the absence of the two great leaders,
as well as of a large Theban force in Thessaly, seems to have been
regarded by the Orchomenian Knights or Horsemen (the first and
richest among the citizens, three hundred in number) as a favorable
moment for attack. Some Theban exiles took part in this scheme, with
a view to overthrow the existing government; and a day, appointed
for a military review near Thebes, was fixed for execution. A large
number of conspirators joined, with apparent ardor. But before the
day arrived, several of them repented and betrayed the plot to the
Bœotarchs; upon which the Orchomenian horsemen were seized, brought
before the Theban assembly, condemned to death, and executed.
But besides this, the resolution was taken to destroy the town,
to kill the male adults, and to sell the women and children into
slavery.[670] This barbarous decree was executed, though probably a
certain fraction found means to escape, forming the kernel of that
population which was afterwards restored. The full measure of ancient
Theban hatred was thus satiated; a hatred, tracing its origin even
to those mythical times when Thebes was said to have paid tribute to
Orchomenus. But the erasure of this venerable city from the list of
autonomous units in Hellas, with the wholesale execution and sale of
so many free kinsmen into slavery, excited strong sympathy throughout
the neighbors, as well as repugnance against Theban cruelty;[671] a
sentiment probably aggravated by the fact, which we must presume to
have been concurrent,—that the Thebans appropriated the territory
among their own citizens. It would seem that the neighboring town of
Koroneia shared the same fate; at least the two are afterwards spoken
of together in such manner as to make us suppose so.[672] Thebes thus
absorbed into herself these two towns and territories to the north of
her own city, as well as Platæa and Thespiæ to the south.
[670] Diodor. xv, 79.
[671] See the sentiment expressed by Demosthenes cont. Leptinem,
p. 489, s. 121,—an oration delivered in 355 B.C.; eight years
after the destruction of Orchomenus.
[672] Demosth. De Pace, p. 62, s. 21; Philippic. II, p. 69, s.
13; s. 15; Fals. Leg. p. 375, s. 122; p. 387, s. 162; p. 445, s.
373.
We must recollect that during the supremacy of Sparta and the
period of Theban struggle and humiliation, before the battle of
Leuktra, Orchomenus had actively embraced the Spartan cause.
Shortly after that victory, the Thebans had been anxious under
their first impulse of resentment to destroy the city, but had been
restrained by the lenient recommendations of Epaminondas.[673] All
their half-suppressed wrath was revived by the conspiracy of the
Orchomenian Knights; yet the extreme severity of the proceeding would
never have been consummated, but for the absence of Epaminondas, who
was deeply chagrined on his return.[674] He well knew the bitter
censures which Thebes would draw upon herself by punishing the entire
city for the conspiracy of the wealthy Knights, and in a manner even
more rigorous than Platæa and Thespiæ; since the inhabitants of these
two latter were expelled with their families out of Bœotia, while the
Orchomenian male adults were slain, and the women and children sold
into slavery.
[673] Diodor. xv, 57.
[674] Pausan. ix, 15, 2.
Diodorus places in the same year all the three facts:—1. The
maritime expedition of Epaminondas. 2. The expedition of
Pelopidas into Thessaly, his death, and the following Theban
victories over Alexander of Pheræ. 3. The conspiracy of the
Orchomenian Knights, and the destruction of Orchomenus.
The year in which he places them is, the archonship of
Timokrates,—from Midsummer 364 to Midsummer 363 B.C.
That the destruction of Orchomenus occurred during the absence
of Epaminondas, and that he was greatly distressed at it on
his return,—is distinctly stated by Pausanias; who however is
(in my judgment) so far mistaken, that he refers the absence
of Epaminondas to that previous occasion when he had gone into
Thessaly to rescue Pelopidas from the dungeon of Alexander, 366
B.C.
This date is not so probable as the date assigned by Diodorus;
nor do the chronological conceptions of Pausanias seem to me
exact.
On returning from his maritime expedition at the end of 363 B.C.,
Epaminondas was reëlected one of the Bœotarchs. He had probably
intended to renew his cruise during the coming year. But his
chagrin for the Orchomenian affair, and his grief for the death of
Pelopidas,—an intimate friend, as well as a political colleague whom
he could trust,—might deter him from a second absence; while the
affairs of Peloponnesus also were now becoming so complicated, as to
render the necessity of renewed Theban interference again probable.
Since the peace concluded in 366 B.C. with Corinth, Phlius, etc.,
Thebes had sent no army into that peninsula; though her harmost
and garrison still continued at Tegea, perhaps at Megalopolis and
Messênê also. The Arcadians, jealous of her as well as disunited
among themselves, had even gone so far as to contract an alliance
with her enemy Athens. The main conflict however now was, between the
Arcadians and the Eleians, respecting the possession of Triphylia
and the Pisatid. The Eleians about this time (365 B.C.) came into
alliance again with Sparta,[675] relinquishing their alliance with
Thebes; while the Achæans, having come into vigorous coöperation with
Sparta[676] ever since 367 B.C. (by reaction against the Thebans,
who, reserving the judicious and moderate policy of Epaminondas,
violently changed the Achæan governments), allied themselves with
Elis also, in or before 365 B.C.[677] And thus Sparta, though
robbed by the pacification of 366 B.C. of the aid of Corinth,
Phlius, Epidaurus, etc., had now acquired in exchange Elis and
Achaia,—confederates not less valuable.
[675] Xen. Hellen. vii, 4, 19.
[676] Xen. Hellen. vii, 1, 43.
[677] Xen. Hellen. vii, 4, 17.
Triphylia, the territory touching the western coast of Peloponnesus,
immediately north of the river Neda,—and the Pisatid (including
the lower course of the river Alpheius and the plain of Olympia),
immediately north of Triphylia,—both of them between Messenia and
Elis,—had been in former times conquered and long held by the
Eleians, but always as discontented subjects. Sparta, in the days of
her unquestioned supremacy, had found it politic to vindicate their
independence, and had compelled the Eleians, after a war of two or
three years, to renounce formally all dominion over them.[678] No
sooner, however, had the battle of Leuktra disarmed Sparta, than
the Eleians reclaimed their lost dominion;[679] while the subjects
on their side found new protectors in the Arcadians, and were even
admitted, under pretence of kindred race, into the Pan-Arcadian
confederacy.[680] The Persian rescript brought down by Pelopidas
(367-366 B.C.) seems to have reversed this arrangement, recognizing
the imperial rights of the Eleians.[681] But as the Arcadians had
repudiated the rescript, it remained for the Eleians to enforce their
imperial rights by arms, if they could. They found Sparta in the same
interest as themselves; not only equally hostile to the Arcadians,
but also complaining that she had been robbed of Messênê, as they
complained of the loss of Triphylia. Sparta had just gained a slight
advantage over the Arcadians, in the recapture of Sellasia; chiefly
through the aid of a Syracusan reinforcement of twelve triremes,
sent to them by the younger Dionysius, but with orders speedily to
return.[682]
[678] Xen. Hellen. iii, 3, 30, 31.
[679] Xen. Hellen. vi, 5, 2.
[680] Xen. Hellen. vii, 2, 26.
[681] Xen. Hellen. vii, 1, 38.
[682] Xen. Hellen. vii, 4, 12.
Besides the imperial claims over Triphylia and the Pisatid, which
thus placed Elis in alliance with Sparta and in conflict with
Arcadia,—there was also a territory lying north of the Alpheius
(on the hilly ground forming the western or Eleian side of Mount
Erymanthus, between Elis and the north-western portion of Arcadia),
which included Lasion and the highland townships called Akroreii, and
which was disputed between Elis and Arcadia. At this moment, it was
included as a portion of the Pan-Arcadian aggregate;[683] but the
Eleians, claiming it as their own and suddenly marching in along with
a body of Arcadian exiles, seized and occupied Lasion as well as some
of the neighboring Akroreii. The Arcadians were not slow in avenging
the affront. A body of their Pan-Arcadian militia called the epariti,
collected from the various cities and districts, marched to Lasion,
defeated the Eleian hoplites with considerable loss both of men and
arms, and drove them out of the district. The victors recovered
both Lasion and all the Akroreii, except Thraustus; after which they
proceeded to the sacred ground of Olympia, and took formal possession
of it, planting a garrison, protected by a regular stockaded circle,
on the hill called Kronion. Having made good this position, they
marched on even to the city of Elis itself, which was unfortified
(though it had a tenable acropolis), so that they were enabled to
enter it, finding no resistance until they reached the agora. Here
they found mustered the Eleian horsemen and the chosen hoplites, who
repulsed them with some loss. But Elis was in great consternation;
while a democratical opposition now manifested itself against the
ruling oligarchy,—seizing the acropolis in hopes of admitting the
Arcadians. The bravery of the horsemen and hoplites, however, put
down this internal movement, recovered the acropolis, and forced the
malcontents, to the number of four hundred, to evacuate the city.
Thus expelled, the latter seized and established themselves at Pylus
(in the Eleian territory, about nine miles from Elis towards the
Arcadian border[684]), where they were reinforced not only by a body
of Arcadians, but also by many of their partisans who came from the
city to join them. From this fortified post, planted in the country
like Dekeleia in Attica, they carried on harassing war against the
Eleians in the city, and reduced them after some time to great
straits. There were even hopes of compelling the city to surrender,
and a fresh invasion of the Arcadians was invited to complete the
enterprise. The Eleians were only rescued by a reinforcement from
their allies in Achaia, who came in large force and placed the city
in safety; so that the Arcadians could do nothing more than lay waste
the territory around.[685]
[683] It had been taken from Elis by Agis, at the peace of 399
B.C. after his victorious war (Xen. Hellen. iii, 2, 31).
[684] Pausanias, vi, 22, 3.
[685] Xen. Hellen. vii, 4, 13-18; Diodor. xv, 77.
Retiring on this occasion, the Arcadians renewed their invasion not
long afterwards; their garrison still occupying Olympia, and the
exiles continuing at Pylus. They now marched all across the country,
even approaching Kyllênê, the harbor of Elis on the western sea.
Between the harbor and the city, the Eleians ventured to attack them,
but were defeated with such loss, that their general Andromachus (who
had prompted the attack) fell upon his sword in despair. The distress
of the Eleians became greater than ever. In hopes of drawing off
the Arcadian invaders, they sent an envoy to Sparta, entreating that
the Lacedæmonians would make a diversion on their side of Arcadia.
Accordingly, the Spartan prince Archidamus (son of king Agesilaus),
invading the south-western portion of Arcadia, occupied a hill-town
or post called Kromnus (seemingly in the territory of Megalopolis,
and cutting off the communication between that city and Messênê),
which he fortified and garrisoned with about two hundred Spartans and
Periœki. The effect which the Eleians contemplated was produced. The
Arcadian army (except the garrison of Olympia) being withdrawn home,
they had leisure to act against Pylus. The Pylian exiles had recently
made an abortive attempt upon Thalamæ, on their return from which
they were overtaken and worsted by the Eleians, with severe loss in
killed, and two hundred of their number ultimately made prisoners.
Among these latter, all the Eleian exiles were at once put to death;
all the remainder sold for slaves.[686]
[686] Xen. Hellen. vii, 4, 26.
Meanwhile the main Arcadian force, which had returned from Elis,
was joined by allies,—Thebans,[687] Argeians, and Messenians,—and
marched at once to Kromnus. They there blocked up the Lacedæmonian
garrison by a double palisade carried all around, which they kept
a numerous force to occupy. In vain did Archidamus attempt to draw
them off, by carrying his devastations into the Skiritis and other
portions of Arcadia; for the Skiritæ, in former days dependents of
Sparta and among the most valuable constituents of the Lacedæmonian
armies,[688] had now become independent Arcadians. The blockade was
still continued without interruption. Archidamus next tried to get
possession of a hill-top which commanded the Arcadian position. But
in marching along the road up, he encountered the enemy in great
force, and was repulsed with some loss; himself being thrust through
the thigh with a spear, and his relatives Polyænidas and Chilon
slain.[689] The Lacedæmonian troops retreated for some space into
a wider breadth of ground, where they were again formed in battle
order, yet greatly discouraged both by the repulse and by the
communication of the names of the slain, who were among the most
distinguished soldiers of Sparta. The Arcadians on the contrary were
advancing to the charge in high spirits, when an ancient Spartan,
stepping forth from the ranks, shouted with a loud voice “What
need to fight, gentlemen? Is it not better to conclude a truce and
separate?” Both armies accepted the proposition joyfully. The truce
was concluded; the Lacedæmonians took up their dead and retired: the
Arcadians also retreated to the spot where they had gained their
advantage, and there erected their trophy.[690]
[687] Xen. Hellen. vii, 4, 27.
The Thebans who are here mentioned must have been soldiers in
garrison at Tegea, Megalopolis, or Messênê. No fresh Theban
troops had come into Peloponnesus.
[688] Thucyd. v, 68; Xen. Rep. Laced, xii, 3; xiii, 6.
[689] The seizure of Kromnus by the Lacedæmonians, and the wound
received by Archidamus, are alluded to by Justin, vi, 6.
[690] Xen. Hellen. vii, 4, 20-25. Ὡς δὲ, πλησίον ὄντων, ἀναβοήσας
τις τῶν πρεσβυτέρων εἶπε—Τί δεῖ ἡμᾶς, ὦ ἄνδρες, μάχεσθαι, ἀλλ’
οὐ σπεισαμένους διαλυθῆναι; ἄσμενοι δὴ ἀμφότεροι ἀκούσαντες,
ἐσπείσαντο.
Under the graphic description here given by Xenophon, seems to be
concealed a defeat of the Lacedæmonians more serious than he likes to
enunciate. The Arcadians completely gained their point, by continuing
the blockade without interruption. One more attempt was made by the
Lacedæmonians for the relief of their countrymen. Suddenly assailing
the palisade at night, they succeeded in mastering the portion
of it guarded by the Argeians.[691] They broke down an opening,
and called to the besieged to hasten out. But the relief had come
unexpected, so that only a few of those near at hand could profit by
it to escape. The Arcadians, hurrying to the spot in large force,
drove off the assailants and reënclosed the besieged, who were soon
compelled to surrender for want of provisions. More than a hundred
prisoners, Spartans and Periœki together, were distributed among the
captors,—Argeians, Thebans, Arcadians, and Messenians,—one share to
each.[692] Sixty years before, the capture of two hundred and twenty
Spartans and Lacedæmonians in Sphakteria, by Kleon and Demosthenes,
had excited the extreme of incredulous wonder throughout all Greece;
emphatically noted by the impartial Thucydides.[693] Now, not a trace
of such sentiment appears, even in the philo-Laconian Xenophon. So
sadly had Spartan glory declined!
[691] Xen. Hellen. vii, 4, 27. The conjecture of Palmerius,—τοῦ
κατὰ τοὺς Ἀργείους,—seems here just and necessary.
[692] Xen. Hellen. vii, 4, 27.
[693] Thucyd. iv, 40.
Having thus put an end to the Spartan attack, the Arcadians resumed
their aggression against Elis, in conjunction with a new project of
considerable moment. It was now the spring immediately preceding the
celebration of the great quadrennial Olympic festival, which came
about midsummer. The presidency over this sacred ceremony had long
been the cherished privilege of the Eleians, who had acquired it when
they conquered the Pisatans—the inhabitants of the region immediately
around Olympia, and the first curators of the festival in its most
primitive state. These Pisatans, always reluctant subjects of Elis,
had never lost the conviction that the presidency of the festival
belonged to them of right; and had entreated Sparta to restore to
them their right, thirty-five years before, when Agis as conqueror
imposed terms of peace upon the Eleians.[694] Their request had
been then declined, on the ground that they were too poor and rude
to do worthy honor to the ceremony. But on now renewing it, they
found the Arcadians more compliant than the Spartans had been. The
Arcadian garrison, which had occupied the sacred plain of Olympia
for more than a year, being strongly reinforced, preparation was
made for celebrating the festival by the Pisatans under Arcadian
protection.[695] The Grecian states would receive with surprise, on
this occasion, two distinct notices from official heralds, announcing
to them the commencement of the hieromenia or sacred season, and
the precise day when the ceremonies would begin: for doubtless the
Eleians, though expelled by force from Olympia, still asserted their
rights and sent round their notices as usual.
[694] Xen. Hellen. iii, 2, 31.
[695] Xen. Hellen. vii, 2, 29. Compare Pausanias, vi, 22, 2.
It was evident that this memorable plain, consecrated as it was to
Hellenic brotherhood and communion, would on the present occasion be
dishonored by dispute and perhaps by bloodshed: for the Arcadians
summoned to the spot, besides their own military strength, a
considerable body of allies: two thousand hoplites from Argos,
and four hundred horsemen from Athens. So imposing a force being
considered sufficient to deter the unwarlike Eleians from any idea of
asserting their rights by arms, the Arcadians and Pisatans began the
festival with its ordinary routine of sacrifice and matches. Having
gone through the chariot-race, they entered upon the pentathlon, or
quintuple contest, wherein the running match and the wrestling-match
came first in order. The running-match had already been completed,
and those who had been successful enough in it to go on contending
for the prize in the other four points, had begun to wrestle in the
space between the stadium and the great altar,[696]—when suddenly the
Eleians were seen entering the sacred ground in arms, accompanied
by their allies the Achæans, and marching up to the opposite bank
of the little river Kladeus,—which flowed at a little distance to
the westward of the Altis, or interior enclosed precinct of Zeus,
falling afterwards into the Alpheius. Upon this the Arcadians drew
up in armed order, on their own side of the Kladeus, to resist the
farther approach of the Eleians.[697] The latter, with a boldness
for which no one gave them credit, forded the rivulet, headed by
Stratolas with his chosen band of three hundred, and vigorously
charged first the Arcadians, next the Argeians; both of whom were
defeated and driven back. The victorious Eleians forced their way
into the Altis, and pressed forward to reach the great altar. But at
every step of their advance the resistance became stronger, aided as
it was by numerous buildings,—the senate-house, the temple of Zeus,
and various porticos,—which both deranged their ranks, and furnished
excellent positions of defence for darters and archers on the roofs.
Stratolas was here slain; while his troops, driven out of the sacred
ground, were compelled to recross the Kladeus. The festival was then
resumed and prosecuted in its usual order. But the Arcadians were so
afraid of a renewed attack on the following day, that they not only
occupied the roofs of all the buildings more completely than before,
but passed the night in erecting a palisade of defence; tearing down
for that purpose the temporary booths which had been carefully put up
to accommodate the crowd of visitors.[698] Such precautions rendered
the place unassailable, so that the Eleians were obliged to return
home on the next day; not without sympathy and admiration among many
of the Greeks, for the unwonted boldness which they had displayed.
They revenged themselves by pronouncing the 104th Olympiad to be no
Olympiad at all, and by registering it as such in their catalogue,
when they regained power; preserving however the names of those who
had been proclaimed victors, which appeared in the lists like the
rest.[699]
[696] Xen. Hellen. vii, 4, 29. Καὶ τὴν μὲν ἱπποδρομίαν ἤδη
ἐπεποιήκεσαν, καὶ τὰ δρομικὰ τοῦ πεντάθλου· οἱ δ’ εἰς πάλην
ἀφικόμενοι ~οὐκέτι ἐν τῷ δρόμῳ~, ἀλλὰ μεταξὺ τοῦ δρόμου καὶ τοῦ
βωμοῦ ἐπάλαιον. ~Οἱ γὰρ Ἠλεῖοι~ παρῆσαν ἤδη, etc.
Diodorus erroneously represents (xv, 78) the occurrence as if the
Eleians had been engaged in celebrating the festival, and as if
the Pisatans and Arcadians had marched up and attacked them while
doing so. The Eleians were really the assailants.
[697] Xen. Hellen. _l. c._ Οἱ γὰρ Ἠλεῖοι παρῆσαν σὺν τοῖς ὅπλοις
~εἰς τὸ τέμενος~. Οἱ δὲ Ἀρκάδες ποῤῥωτέρω μὲν οὐκ ἀπήντησαν, ἐπὶ
δὲ τοῦ Κλαδάου ποτάμου παρετάξαντο, ὃς παρὰ τὴν Ἄλτιν καταῤῥέων
εἰς τὸν Ἄλφειον ἐμβάλλει. Καὶ μὴν ~οἱ Ἠλεῖοι τἀπὶ θάτερα τοῦ
ποτάμου παρετάξαντο~, σφαγιασάμενοι δὲ εὐθὺς ἐχώρουν.
The τέμενος must here be distinguished from the Altis; as meaning
the entire breadth of consecrated ground at Olympia, of which the
Altis formed a smaller interior portion enclosed with a wall. The
Eleians entered into the τέμενος before they crossed the river
Kladeus, which flowed _through_ the τέμενος, but _alongside_ of
the Altis. The tomb of Œnomaus, which was doubtless included in
the τέμενος, was on the right bank of the Kladeus (Pausan. vi,
21, 3); while the Altis was on the left bank of the river.
Colonel Leake (in his Peloponnesiaca, pp. 6, 107) has given a
copious and instructive exposition of the ground of Olympia,
as well as of the notices left by Pausanias respecting it.
Unfortunately, little can be made out certainly, except the
position of the great temple of Zeus in the Altis. Neither the
positions assigned to the various buildings, the Stadion, or
the Hippodrome, by Colonel Leake,—nor those proposed by Kiepert
in the plan comprised in his maps—nor by Ernst Curtius, in
the Plan annexed to his recent Dissertation called _Olympia_
(Berlin, 1852)—rest upon very sufficient evidence. Perhaps future
excavations may hereafter reveal much that is now unknown.
I cannot agree with Colonel Leake however in supposing that Pisa
was at any time a _city_, and afterwards deserted.
[698] Xen. Hellen. vii, 4. 32. ὥστε οὐδ’ ἀνεπαύσαντο τῆς νυκτὸς
ἐκκόπτοντες τὰ διαπεπονημένα σκηνώματα, etc.
[699] Diodor. xv, 78; Pausanias, vi, 8, 2.
Such was the unholy combat which dishonored the sanctuary of
Pan-hellenic brotherhood, and in which the great temple, with its
enthroned inmate the majestic Zeus of Pheidias, was for the first
time turned into a fortress against its habitual presidents the
Eleians. It was a combat wherein, though both Thebes and Sparta, the
competing leaders of Greece, stand clear, Athens as well as most of
the Peloponnesian chief states were implicated. It had been brought
on by the rapacious ambition of the Arcadians, and its result seemed
to confirm them, under color of Pisatan presidency, in the permanent
mastery of Olympia. But in spite of such apparent promise, it was
an event which carried in itself the seeds of violent reaction. We
cannot doubt that the crowd of Grecian spectators present were not
merely annoyed by the interruption of the proceedings and by the
demolition of their tents, but also deeply shocked by the outrage
to the sacred ground,—“imminentium templorum religio.”[700] Most of
them probably believed the Eleians to be the rightful presidents,
having never either seen or heard of any one else in that capacity.
And they could hardly help feeling strong sympathy for the unexpected
courage of these dispossessed presidents; which appeared so striking
to Xenophon (himself perhaps a spectator) that he ascribes it to a
special inspiration of the gods.[701]
[700] Tacitus, Hist. i, 40. He is describing the murder of Galba
in the Forum at Rome, by the Othonian soldiers:—
“Igitur milites Romani, quasi Vologesen aut Pacorum avito
Arsacidarum solio depulsuri, ac non Imperatorem suum, inermem et
senem, trucidare pergerent—disjectâ plebe, proculcato Senatu,
truces armis, rapidis equis, forum irrumpunt: nec illos Capitolii
aspectus, et imminentium templorum religio, et priores et futuri
Principes, terruere, quominus facerent scelus, cujus ultor est
quisquis successit.”
[701] Xen. Hellen. vii, 4, 32.
If they disapproved of the conduct of the Arcadians and Pisatans
as an unjust intrusion, they would disapprove yet more of that
spoliation of the rich temples at Olympia, whereby the intruders
rewarded themselves. The Arcadians, always on the look-out for
plunder and pay as mercenary soldiers, found themselves supplied with
both, in abundant measure, from this war: the one from the farms, the
stock, and the field-laborers, of the Eleian neighborhood generally,
more plentiful than in any part of Peloponnesus;[702] the other from
the ample accumulation, both of money and of precious offerings,
distributed over the numerous temples at Olympia. The Pisatans, now
installed as administrators, would readily consent to appropriate
these treasures to the pay of their own defenders, whom they
doubtless considered as acting in the service of the Olympian Zeus.
Accordingly the Epariti, the militia of joint Arcadia, were better
paid than ever they had been before so that the service attracted
numerous volunteers of the poorer class.[703]
[702] Xen. Hellen. iii, 2, 20; Polybius, iv, 73.
[703] Xen. Hellen. vii, 4, 33, 34.
At the outset of the Peloponnesian war, the Corinthians and Spartans
had talked of prosecuting it in part by borrowed money from the
treasuries of Delphi and Olympia.[704] How far the project had
ever been executed, we have no information. But at least, it had
not been realized in any such way as to form a precedent for the
large sums now appropriated by the Pisatans and Arcadians; which
appropriation accordingly excited much outcry, as flagrant rapacity
and sacrilege. This sentiment was felt with peculiar force among
many even of the Arcadians themselves, the guilty parties. Moreover
some of the leaders employed had made important private acquisitions
for themselves, so as to provoke both resentment and jealousy among
their rivals. The Pan-Arcadian communion, recently brought together
and ill-cemented, was little calculated to resist the effect of any
strong special cause of dissension. It was composed of cities which
had before been accustomed to act apart and even in hostility to each
other; especially Mantinea and Tegea. These two cities now resumed
their ancient rivalry.[705] The Mantineans, jealous both of Tegea
and Megalopolis, began to labor underhand against Arcadian unity
and the Theban alliance,—with a view to renewed connection with
Sparta; though only five years before, they had owed to Thebes the
reëstablishment of their own city, after it had been broken up into
villages by Spartan force. The appropriation of the sacred funds,
offensive as it was to much of sincere sentiment, supplied them with
a convenient ground for commencing opposition. In the Mantinean
assembly, a resolution was passed, renouncing all participation in
the Olympic treasures; while at the same time an adequate sum was
raised among the citizens, to furnish pay for all members of the
Epariti who came from their city. This sum was forwarded to the
officers in command; who however not only refused to receive it;
but even summoned the authors of the proceeding to take their trial
before the Pan-Arcadian assembly,—the Ten Thousand at Megalopolis,—on
the charge of breaking up the integrity of Arcadia.[706] The
Mantinean leaders thus summoned, having refused to appear, and
being condemned in their absence by the Ten Thousand,—a detachment
of the epariti was sent to Mantinea to secure their persons. But the
gates were found shut, and the order was set at defiance. So much
sympathy was manifested in Arcadia towards the Mantineans, that many
other towns copied their protest. Nay, even the majority of the Ten
Thousand themselves, moved by repeated appeals made to them in the
name of the offended gods, were gradually induced to adopt it also,
publicly renouncing and interdicting all farther participation in the
Olympian treasures.
[704] Thucyd. i, 121.
Perikles in his speech at Athens alludes to this understood
purpose of the Spartans and their confederacy (Thucyd. i, 143).
[705] Xen. Hellen. vii, 4, 33, 34; Diodor. xv, 82; Pausanias,
vii, 8, 6.
[706] Xen. Hellen. vii, 4, 33. φάσκοντες αὐτοὺς λυμαίνεσθαι τὸ
Ἀρκαδικὸν, ἀνεκαλοῦντο εἰς τοὺς μυρίους τοὺς προστάτας αὐτῶν, etc.
Here was a just point carried, and an important advantage gained,
in desisting from a scandalous misappropriation. The party which
had gained it immediately sought to push it farther. Beginning as
the advocates of justice and of the Olympian Zeus, the Mantineans
speedily pronounced themselves more clearly as the champions of
oligarchy; friendly to Sparta and adverse to Thebes. Supplies from
Olympia being no longer obtained, the means presently failed, of
paying the epariti or public militia. Accordingly, such members
of that corps as were too poor to continue without pay, gradually
relinquished the service; while on the other hand, the more wealthy
and powerful citizens, by preconcerted understanding with each other,
enrolled themselves in large numbers, for the purpose of getting
the national force out of the hands of the opposite party and into
their own.[707] The leaders of that opposite party saw plainly,
that this oligarchical movement would not only bring them to severe
account for the appropriation of the sacred treasure, but would also
throw Arcadia again into alliance with Sparta. Accordingly they sent
intimation to the Thebans of the impending change of policy, inviting
them to prevent it by an immediate expedition into Arcadia. Informed
of this proceeding,[708] the opposite leaders brought it before the
Pan-Arcadian assembly; in which they obtained a resolution, that
envoys should be despatched to Thebes, desiring that no Theban army
might enter into Arcadia until formally summoned,—and cancelling the
preceding invitation as unauthorized. At the same time, the assembly
determined to conclude peace with the Eleians, and to restore to them
the locality of Olympia with all their previous rights. The Eleians
gladly consented, and peace was accordingly concluded.[709]
[707] Xen. Hellen. vii, 4, 34.
[708] Xen. Hellen. vii, 4, 34. ~Οἱ δὲ τὰ κράτιστα τῇ Πελοποννήσῳ
βουλευόμενοι~ ἔπεισαν τὸ κοινὸν τῶν Ἀρκάδων, πέμψαντας πρέσβεις
εἰπεῖν τοῖς Θηβαίοις, etc.
The phrase here used by Xenophon, to describe the oligarchical
party, marks his philo-Laconian sentiment. Compare vii, 5, 1. οἱ
κηδόμενοι τῆς Πελοποννήσου, etc.
[709] Xen. Hellen. _l. c._
The transactions just recounted occupied about one year and nine
or ten months, from Midsummer 364 B.C. (the time of the battle at
Olympia) to about April 362 B.C. The peace was generally popular
throughout Arcadia, seemingly even among the cities which adhered to
Thebes, though it had been concluded without consulting the Thebans.
Even at Tegea, the centre of Theban influence, satisfaction was felt
at the abandonment of the mischievous aggression and spoliation of
Olympia, wherein the Thebans had had no concern. Accordingly when the
peace, having been first probably sworn in other Arcadian cities,
came to be sworn also at Tegea,—not only the city authorities, but
also the Theban harmost, who occupied the town with a garrison of
three hundred Bœotians, were present and took part in the ceremony.
After it had been finished, most of the Mantineans went home; their
city being both unfriendly to Tegea and not far distant. But many
other Arcadians passed the evening in the town, celebrating the
peace by libations, pæans, and feasting. On a sudden the gates were
shut by order, and the most prominent of the oligarchical party
were arrested as they sat at the feast, by the Bœotian garrison and
the Arcadian Epariti of the opposite party. The leaders seized were
in such considerable number, as to fill both the prison and the
government-house; though there were few Mantineans among them, since
most of these last had gone home. Among the rest the consternation
was extreme. Some let themselves down from the walls, others escaped
surreptitiously by the gates. Great was the indignation excited at
Mantinea on the following morning, when the news of this violent
arrest was brought thither. The authorities,—while they sent
round the intelligence to the remaining Arcadian cities, inviting
them at once to arms,—despatched heralds to Tegea, demanding all
the Mantinean prisoners there detained. They at the same time
protested emphatically against the arrest or the execution of any
Arcadian, without previous trial before the Pan-Arcadian community;
and they pledged themselves in the name of Mantinea, to answer
for the appearance of any Arcadian against whom charges might be
preferred.[710]
[710] Xen. Hellen. vii, 4, 37, 38.
Upon receiving this requisition, the Theban harmost forthwith
released all his prisoners. He then called together an
assembly,—seemingly attended by only a few persons, from feelings of
mistrust,[711]—wherein he explained that he had been misled, and that
he had ordered the arrest upon a false report that a Lacedæmonian
force was on the borders, prepared to seize the city in concert with
treacherous correspondents within. A vote was passed accepting the
explanation, though (according to Xenophon) no one believed it. Yet
envoys were immediately sent to Thebes probably from the Mantineans
and other Arcadians, complaining loudly of his conduct, and insisting
that he should be punished with death.
[711] Xen. Hellen. vii, 4, 39. συγκαλέσας τῶν Ἀρκάδων ὁπόσοι γε
δὴ συνελθεῖν ἠθέλησαν, ἀπελογεῖτο, ὡς ἐξαπατηθείη.
On a review of the circumstances, there seems reason for believing
that the Theban officer gave a true explanation of the motives
under which he had acted. The fact of his releasing the prisoners
at the first summons, is more consistent with this supposition than
with any other. Xenophon indeed says that his main object was to
get possession of the Mantineans, and that, when he found but few
of the latter among the persons seized, he was indifferent to the
detention of the rest. But if such had been his purpose, he would
hardly have set about it in so blind and clumsy a manner. He would
have done it while the Mantineans were still in the town, instead of
waiting until after their departure. He would not have perpetrated
an act offensive as well as iniquitous, without assuring himself
that it was done at a time when the determining purpose was yet
attainable. On the other hand, nothing can be more natural than the
supposition that the more violent among the Arcadian epariti believed
in the existence of a plot to betray Tegea to the Lacedæmonians, and
impressed the Theban with a persuasion of the like impending danger.
To cause a revolution in Tegea, would be a great point gained for the
oligarchical party, and would be rendered comparatively practicable
by the congregation of a miscellaneous body of Arcadians in the
town. It is indeed not impossible, that the idea of such a plot may
really have been conceived; but it is at least highly probable, that
the likelihood of such an occurrence was sincerely believed in by
opponents.[712]
[712] The representation of Diodorus (xv, 82), though very loose
and vague, gives us to understand that the two opposing parties
at Tegea came to an actual conflict of arms, on occasion of the
peace.
The explanation of the Theban governor, affirming that his order for
arrest had either really averted, or appeared to him indispensable
to avert, a projected treacherous betrayal,—reached Thebes at the
same time as the complaints against him. It was not only received
as perfectly satisfactory, but Epaminondas even replied to the
complainants by counter-complaints of his own,—“The arrest (he said)
was an act more justifiable than the release of those arrested.
You Arcadians have already committed treason against us. It was on
your account, and at your request, that we carried the war into
Peloponnesus,—and you now conclude peace without consulting us! Be
assured that we shall presently come in arms into Arcadia, and make
war to support our partisans in the country.”[713]
[713] Xen. Hellen. vii, 4, 40.
Such was the peremptory reply which the Arcadian envoy brought
back from Thebes, announcing to his countrymen that they must
prepare for war forthwith. They accordingly concerted measures for
resistance with the Eleians and Achæans. They sent an invitation to
the Lacedæmonians to march into Arcadia, and assist in repelling
any enemy who should approach for the purpose of subjugating
Peloponnesus,—yet with the proviso, as to headship, that each state
should take the lead when the war was in its own territory; and they
farther sent to solicit aid from Athens. Such were the measures taken
by the Mantineans and their partisans, now forming the majority in
the Pan-Arcadian aggregate, who (to use the language of Xenophon)
“were really solicitous for Peloponnesus.”[714] “Why do these Thebans
(said they) march into our country when we desire them not to come?
For what other purpose, except to do us mischief? to make us do
mischief to each other, in order that both parties may stand in need
of _them_? to enfeeble Peloponnesus as much as possible, in order
that they may hold it the more easily in slavery?”[715] Such is the
language which Xenophon repeats, with a sympathy plainly evincing
his philo-Laconian bias. For when we follow the facts as he himself
narrates them, we shall find them much more in harmony with the
reproaches which he puts into the mouth of Epaminondas. Epaminondas
had first marched into Peloponnesus (in 369 B.C.) at the request
of both Arcadians and Eleians, for the purpose of protecting them
against Sparta. He had been the first to give strength and dignity
to the Arcadians, by organizing them into a political aggregate, and
by forming a strong frontier for them against Sparta, in Messênê and
Megalopolis. When thus organized, the Arcadians had manifested both
jealousy of Thebes, and incompetence to act wisely for themselves.
They had caused the reversal of the gentle and politic measures
adopted by Epaminondas towards the Achæan cities, whom they had thus
thrown again into the arms of Sparta. They had, of their own accord,
taken up the war against Elis and the mischievous encroachment
at Olympia. On the other hand, the Thebans had not marched into
Peloponnesus since 367 B.C.—an interval now of nearly five years.
They had tried to persuade the Arcadians to accept the Persian
rescript, and to desist from the idea of alliance with Athens; but
when refused, they had made no attempt to carry either of these
points by force. Epaminondas had a fair right now to complain of them
for having made peace with Elis and Achaia, the friends and allies of
Sparta, without any consultation with Thebes. He probably believed
that there had been a real plot to betray Tegea to the Lacedæmonians,
as one fruit of this treacherous peace; and he saw plainly that the
maintenance of the frontier line against Sparta,—Tegea, Megalopolis,
and Messênê,—could no longer be assured without a new Theban invasion.
[714] Xen. Hellen. vii, 5, 1. Οἱ κηδόμενοι τῆς Πελοποννήσου.
[715] Xen. Hellen. vii, 5, 2, 3.
This appears to me the reasonable estimate of the situation in
Peloponnesus, in June 362 B.C.—immediately before the last invasion
of Epaminondas. We cannot trust the unfavorable judgment of Xenophon
with regard either to this great man or to the Thebans. It will not
stand good, even if compared with the facts related by himself; still
less probably would it stand, if we had the facts from an impartial
witness.
I have already recounted as much as can be made out of the
proceedings of the Thebans, between the return of Pelopidas from
Persia with the rescript (in the winter 367-366 B.C.) to the close
of 363 B.C. In 366-365 B.C., they had experienced great loss and
humiliation in Thessaly connected with the detention of Pelopidas,
whom they had with difficulty rescued from the dungeon of Pheræ. In
364-363 B.C., Pelopidas had been invested with a fresh command in
Thessaly, and though he was slain, the Theban arms had been eminently
successful, acquiring more complete mastery of the country than
ever they possessed before; while Epaminondas, having persuaded his
countrymen to aim at naval supremacy, had spent the summer of 363
B.C. as admiral of a powerful Theban fleet on the coast of Asia.
Returning to Thebes at the close of 363 B.C., he found his friend
Pelopidas slain; while the relations of Thebes, both in Peloponnesus
and in Thessaly, were becoming sufficiently complicated to absorb
his whole attention on land, without admitting farther aspirations
towards maritime empire. He had doubtless watched, as it went on,
the gradual change of politics in Arcadia (in the winter and spring
of 363-362 B.C.), whereby the Mantinean and oligarchical party,
profiting by the reaction of sentiment against the proceedings at
Olympia, had made itself a majority in the Pan-Arcadian assembly
and militia, so as to conclude peace with Elis, and to present the
prospect of probable alliance with Sparta, Elis, and Achaia. This
political tendency was doubtless kept before Epaminondas by the
Tegean party in Arcadia, opposed to the party of Mantinea; being
communicated to him with partisan exaggerations even beyond the
reality. The danger, actual or presumed, of Tegea, with the arrest
which had been there operated, satisfied him that a powerful Theban
intervention could be no longer deferred. As Bœotarch, he obtained
the consent of his countrymen to assemble a Bœotian force, to summon
the allied contingents, and to conduct this joint expedition into
Peloponnesus.
The army with which he began his march was numerous and imposing.
It comprised all the Bœotians and Eubœans, with a large number
of Thessalians (some even sent by Alexander of Pheræ, who had now
become a dependent ally of Thebes), the Lokrians, Malians, Ænianes,
and probably various other allies from Northern Greece; though the
Phokians declined to join, alleging that their agreement with Thebes
was for alliance purely defensive.[716] Having passed the line of
Mount Oneium,—which was no longer defended, as it had been at his
former entrance,—he reached Nemea, where he was probably joined
by the Sikyonian contingent,[717] and where he halted, in hopes
of intercepting the Athenian contingent in their way to join his
enemies. He probably had information which induced him to expect
them;[718] but the information turned out false. The Athenians never
appeared, and it was understood that they were preparing to cross
by sea to the eastern coast of Laconia. After a fruitless halt,
he proceeded onward to Tegea, where his Peloponnesian allies all
presently joined him: the Arcadians of Tegea, Pallantium, Asea, and
Megalopolis, the Messenians—(all these forming the line of frontier
against Laconia)—and the Argeians.
[716] Xen. Hellen. vii, 5, 5; Diodor. xv, 85.
[717] Diodor. xv, 85.
[718] The explanation which Xenophon gives of this halt at
Nemea,—as if Epaminondas was determined to it by a peculiar
hatred of Athens (Hellen. vii, 5, 6)—seems alike fanciful and
ill-tempered.
The halt at Nemea, since Epaminondas missed its direct purpose,
was injurious in another way, as it enabled the main body of his
Peloponnesian enemies to concentrate at Mantinea; which junction
might probably have been prevented, had he entered Arcadia without
delay. A powerful Peloponnesian army was there united, consisting
of the Mantineans with the major part of the other Arcadians,—the
Eleians,—and the Achæans. Invitation had been sent to the Spartans;
and old Agesilaus, now in his eightieth year, was in full march with
the Lacedæmonian forces to Mantinea. Besides this, the Athenian
contingent was immediately expected; especially valuable from its
cavalry, since the Peloponnesians were not strong in that description
of force,—some of them indeed having none at all.
Epaminondas established his camp and place of arms within the walls
of Tegea; a precaution which Xenophon praises, as making his troops
more secure and comfortable, and his motions less observable by the
enemy.[719] He next marched to Mantinea, to provoke the enemy to
an action before the Spartans and Athenians joined; but they kept
carefully on their guard, close to Mantinea, too strongly posted to
be forced.[720] On returning to his camp in Tegea, he was apprised
that Agesilaus with the Spartan force, having quitted Sparta on
the march to Mantinea, had already made some progress and reached
Pellênê. Upon this he resolved to attempt the surprise of Sparta
by a sudden night-march from Tegea, which lay in the direct road
from Sparta to Mantinea, while Agesilaus in getting from Sparta to
Mantinea had to pursue a more circuitous route to the westward.
Moving shortly after the evening meal, Epaminondas led the Theban
force with all speed towards Sparta; and he had well-nigh come upon
that town, “like a nest of unprotected young birds,” at a moment
when no resistance could have been made. Neither Agesilaus, nor any
one else, expected so daring and well-aimed a blow, the success of
which would have changed the face of Greece. Nothing saved Sparta
except the providential interposition of the gods,[721] signified
by the accident that a Kretan runner hurried to Agesilaus, with the
news that the Thebans were in full march southward from Tegea, and
happened to arrest in time his farther progress towards Mantinea.
Agesilaus instantly returned back with the troops around him to
Sparta, which was thus put in a sufficient posture of defence before
the Thebans arrived. Though sufficient for the emergency, however,
his troops were not numerous; for the Spartan cavalry and mercenary
forces were still absent, having been sent forward to Mantinea.
Orders were sent for the main army at that city to hasten immediately
to the relief of Sparta.[722]
[719] Xen. Hellen. vii, 5, 8.
[720] Plutarch, De Gloriâ Athen. p. 346 B.
[721] Xen. Hellen. vii, 5, 10. Καὶ εἰ μὴ Κρὴς, θείᾳ τινὶ μοίρᾳ
προσελθὼν, ἐξήγγειλε τῷ Ἀγησιλάῳ προσιὸν τὸ στράτευμα, ἔλαβεν ἂν
τὴν πόλιν ὥσπερ νεοττιὰν, παντάπασιν ἔρημον τῶν ἀμυνουμένων.
Diodorus coincides in the main fact (xv, 82, 83), though with
many inaccuracies of detail. He gives a very imperfect idea
of this narrow escape of Sparta, which is fully attested by
Xenophon, even against his own partialities.
Kallisthenes asserted that the critical intelligence had been
conveyed to Agesilaus by a Thespian named Euthynus (Plutarch,
Agesilaus, c. 34).
[722] Xenophon (Hellen. vii, 5, 10, 11) describes these facts
in a manner different on several points from Polybius (ix, 8),
and from Diodorus (xv, 83). Xenophon’s authority appears to me
better in itself, while his narrative is also more probable. He
states distinctly that Agesilaus heard the news of the Theban
march while he was yet at Pellênê (on the road to Mantinea, to
which place a large portion of the Spartan troops had already
gone forward),—that he turned back forthwith, and reached Sparta
before Epaminondas, with a division not numerous, yet sufficient
to put the town in a state of defence. Whereas Polybius affirms,
that Agesilaus heard the news when he was at Mantinea,—that he
marched from thence with the whole army to Sparta, but that
Epaminondas reached Sparta before him, had already attacked the
town and penetrated into the market-place, when Agesilaus arrived
and drove him back. Diodorus relates that Agesilaus never left
Sparta, but that the other king Agis, who had been sent with the
army to Mantinea, divining the plans of Epaminondas, sent word by
some swift Kretan runners to Agesilaus and put him upon his guard.
Wesseling remarks justly, that the mention of Agis must be a
mistake; that the second king of Sparta at that time was named
Kleomenes.
Polyænus (ii, 3, 10) states correctly that Agesilaus reached
Sparta before Epaminondas; but he adds many other details which
are too uncertain to copy.
The march of Epaminondas had been undertaken only on the probability,
well-nigh realized, of finding Sparta undefended. He was in no
condition to assault the city, if tolerably occupied,—still less
to spend time before it; for he knew that the enemy from Mantinea
would immediately follow him into Laconia, within which he did not
choose to hazard a general action. He found it impracticable to take
this unfortified, yet unassailable city, Sparta, even at his former
invasion of 370-369 B.C.; when he had most part of Peloponnesus in
active coöperation with him, and when the Lacedæmonians had no army
in the field. Accordingly, though he crossed the Eurotas and actually
entered into the city of Sparta[723] (which had no walls to keep him
out), yet as soon as he perceived the roofs manned with soldiers and
other preparations for resistance, he advanced with great caution,
not adventuring into the streets and amidst the occupied houses.
He only tried to get possession of various points of high ground
commanding the city, from whence it might be possible to charge down
upon the defenders with advantage. But even here, though inferior in
number they prevented him from making any impression. And Archidamus
son of Agesilaus, sallying forth unexpectedly beyond the line of
defence, with a small company of one hundred hoplites, scrambled over
some difficult ground in his front, and charged the Thebans even up
the hill, with such gallantry, that he actually beat them back with
some loss; pursuing them for a space, until he was himself repulsed
and forced to retreat.[724] The bravery of the Spartan Isidas, too,
son of Phœbidas the captor of the Theban Kadmeia, did signal honor
to Sparta, in this day of her comparative decline. Distinguished for
beauty and stature, this youth sallied forth naked and unshielded,
with his body oiled as in the palæstra. Wielding in his right hand
a spear and in his left a sword, he rushed among the enemy, dealing
death and destruction; in spite of which he was suffered to come back
unwounded: so great was the awe inspired by his singular appearance
and desperate hardihood. The ephors decorated him afterwards with a
wreath of honor, but at the same time fined him for exposing himself
without defensive armor.[725]
[723] Xen. Hellen. vii, 5, 11. Ἐπεὶ δὲ ἐγένετο Ἐπαμινώνδας ~ἐν τῇ
πόλει~ τῶν Σπαρτιατῶν, etc.
[724] Xen. Hellen. vii, 5, 12, 13.
Justin (vi, 7) greatly exaggerates the magnitude and violence of
the contest. He erroneously represents that Agesilaus did not
reach Sparta till after Epaminondas.
[725] Plutarch, Agesilaus, c. 34.
Though the Spartans displayed here an honorable gallantry, yet these
successes, in themselves trifling, are magnified into importance only
by the partiality of Xenophon. The capital fact was, that Agesilaus
had been accidentally forewarned so as to get back to Sparta and put
it in defence before the Thebans arrived. As soon as Epaminondas
ascertained this, he saw that his project was no longer practicable;
nor did he do more than try the city round, to see if he could detect
any vulnerable point, without involving himself in a hazardous
assault. Baffled in his first scheme, he applied himself, with equal
readiness of resource and celerity of motion, to the execution of
a second. He knew that the hostile army from Mantinea would be
immediately put in march for Sparta, to ward off all danger from that
city. Now the straight road from Mantinea to Sparta (a course nearly
due south all the way) lying through Tegea, was open to Epaminondas,
but not to the enemy, who would be forced to take another and more
circuitous route, probably by Asea and Pallantion; so that he was
actually nearer to Mantinea than they. He determined to return to
Tegea forthwith, while they were on their march towards Sparta, and
before they could be apprised of his change of purpose. Breaking
up accordingly, with scarce any interval of rest, he marched back
to Tegea; where it became absolutely indispensable to give repose
to his hoplites, after such severe fatigue. But he sent forward
his cavalry without any delay, to surprise Mantinea, which would
be now (he well knew) unprepared and undefended; with its military
force absent on the march to Sparta, and its remaining population,
free as well as slave, largely engaged in the fields upon the
carrying of harvest. Nothing less than the extraordinary ascendency
of Epaminondas,—coupled with his earnestness in setting forth the
importance of the purpose, as well as the probable plunder,—could
have prevailed upon the tired horsemen to submit to such additional
toil, while their comrades were enjoying refreshment and repose at
Tegea.[726]
[726] Xen. Hellen. vii, 5, 14. Πάλιν δὲ πορευθεὶς ὡς ἐδύνατο
τάχιστα εἰς τὴν Τεγέαν, τοὺς μὲν ὁπλίτας ἀνέπαυσε, τοὺς δὲ ἱππέας
ἔπεμψεν εἰς τὴν Μαντίνειαν, δεηθεὶς αὐτῶν προσκαρτερῆσαι, καὶ
διδάσκων ὡς πάντα μὲν εἰκὸς ἔξω εἶναι τὰ τῶν Μαντινέων βοσκήματα,
πάντας δὲ τοὺς ἀνθρώπους, ἄλλως τε καὶ σίτου συγκομιδῆς οὔσης.
Everything near Mantinea was found in the state which Epaminondas
anticipated. Yet the town was preserved, and his well-laid scheme
defeated, by an unexpected contingency which the Mantineans doubtless
ascribed to the providence of the gods,—as Xenophon regards the
previous warning given to Agesilaus. The Athenian cavalry had
arrived, not an hour before, and had just dismounted from their
horses within the walls of Mantinea. Having departed from Eleusis
(probably after ascertaining that Epaminondas no longer occupied
Nemea), they took their evening meal and rested at the isthmus
of Corinth, where they seem to have experienced some loss or
annoyance.[727] They then passed forward through Kleonæ to Mantinea,
arriving thither without having broken fast, either themselves or
their horses, on that day. It was just after they reached Mantinea,
and when they had yet taken no refreshment,—that the Theban and
Thessalian cavalry suddenly made their appearance, having advanced
even to the temple of Poseidon, within less than a mile of the
gates.[728]
[727] Xen. Hellen. vii, 5, 15, 16.
The words—δυστυχήματος γεγενημένου ἐν Κορίνθῳ τοῖς
ἱππεῦσιν—allude to something which we have no means of making
out. It is possible that the Corinthians, who were at peace with
Thebes and had been ill-used by Athens (vii, 4, 6-10), may have
seen with displeasure, and even molested, the Athenian horsemen
while resting on their territory.
[728] Polybius, ix, 8.
The Mantineans were terror-struck at this event. Their military
citizens were absent on the march to Sparta, while the remainder
were dispersed about the fields. In this helpless condition, they
implored aid from the newly-arrived Athenian cavalry; who, though
hungry and tired, immediately went forth,—and indeed were obliged
to do so, since their own safety depended upon it. The assailants
were excellent cavalry, Thebans and Thessalians, and more numerous
than the Athenians. Yet such was the gallantry with which the
latter fought, in a close and bloody action, that on the whole they
gained the advantage, forced the assailants to retire, and had
the satisfaction to preserve Mantinea with all its citizens and
property. Xenophon extols[729] (and doubtless with good reason) the
generous energy of the Athenians, in going forth hungry and fatigued.
But we must recollect that the Theban cavalry had undergone yet
more severe hunger and fatigue,—that Epaminondas would never have
sent them forward in such condition, had he expected any serious
resistance; and that they probably dispersed to some extent, for
the purpose of plundering and seizing subsistence in the fields
through which they passed, so that they were found in disorder when
the Athenians sallied out upon them. The Athenian cavalry-commander
Kephisodôrus,[730] together with Gryllus (son of the historian
Xenophon), then serving with his brother Diodorus among the Athenian
horse, were both slain in the battle. A memorable picture at Athens
by the contemporary painter Euphranor, commemorated both the battle
and the personal gallantry of Gryllus, to whose memory the Mantineans
also paid distinguished honors.
[729] Xen. Hellen. vii, 5, 15, 16, 17.
Plutarch (De Gloriâ Athen. p. 346 D.—E.) recounts the general
fact of this battle and the rescue of Mantinea; yet with several
inaccuracies which we refute by means of Xenophon.
Diodor. (xv, 84) mentions the rescue of Mantinea by the
unexpected arrival of the Athenians; but he states them as being
six thousand soldiers, that is hoplites, under Hegelochus; and
he says nothing about the cavalry battle. Hegesilaus is named by
Ephorus (ap. Diog. Laert. ii, 54,—compare Xenoph. De Vectigal.
iii, 7) as the general of the entire force sent out by Athens on
this occasion, consisting of infantry as well as cavalry. The
infantry must have come up somewhat later.
Polybius also (ix, 8), though concurring in the main with
Xenophon, differs in several details. I follow the narrative of
Xenophon.
[730] Harpokration v, Κηφισόδωρος, Ephorus ap. Diogen. Laert. ii,
53; Pausan. 1, 3, 4; viii, 9, 8; viii, 11, 5.
There is a confusion, on several points, between this cavalry
battle near Mantinea,—and the great or general battle, which
speedily followed it, wherein Epaminondas was slain. Gryllus is
sometimes said to have been slain in the battle of Mantinea, and
even to have killed Epaminondas with his own hand. It would seem
as if the picture of Euphranor represented Gryllus in the act
of killing the Theban commander; and as if the latter tradition
of Athens as well as of Thebes, erroneously bestowed upon that
Theban commander the name of Epaminondas.
See this confusion discussed and cleared up, in a good article
on the Battle of Mantinea, by Arnold Schäfer, p. 58, 59, in the
Rheinisches Museum für Philologie (1846—Fünfter Jahrgang, Erstes
Heft).
Here were two successive movements of Epaminondas, both
well-conceived, yet both disappointed by accident, without any
omission of his own. He had his forces concentrated at Tegea, while
his enemies on their side, returning from Sparta, formed a united
camp in the neighborhood of Mantinea. They comprised Lacedæmonians,
Eleians, Arcadians, Achæans, and Athenians; to the number, in all, of
twenty thousand foot and two thousand horse, if we could trust the
assertion of Diodorus;[731] who also gives the numbers of Epaminondas
as thirty thousand foot and three thousand horse. Little value can be
assigned to either of these estimates; nor is it certain which of the
two armies was the more numerous. But Epaminondas saw that he had now
no chance left for striking a blow except through a pitched battle,
nor did he at all despair of the result.[732] He had brought out his
northern allies for a limited time; which time they were probably not
disposed to prolong, as the season of harvest was now approaching.
Moreover, his stock of provisions was barely sufficient;[733] the new
crop being not yet gathered in, while the crop of the former year was
probably almost exhausted. He took his resolution therefore to attack
the enemy forthwith.
[731] Diodor. xv, 84.
[732] Xen. Hellen. vii, 5, 8. καὶ μὴν οἰόμενος κρείττων τῶν
ἀντιπάλων εἶναι, etc.
[733] Xen. Hellen. vii, 5, 19. σπάνια δὲ τὰ ἐπιτήδεια ἔχοντας
ὅμως πείθεσθαι ἐθέλειν, etc.
But I cannot adopt the view of Xenophon, that such resolution was
forced upon Epaminondas, against his own will, by a desperate
position, rendering it impossible for him to get away without
fighting,—by the disappointment of finding so few allies on his
own side, and so many assembled against him,—and by the necessity
of wiping off the shame of his two recent failures (at Sparta and
at Mantinea) or perishing in the attempt.[734] This is an estimate
of the position of Epaminondas, not consistent with the facts
narrated by Xenophon himself. It could have been no surprise to the
Theban general that the time had arrived for ordering a battle.
With what other view had he come into Peloponnesus? Or for what
other purpose could he have brought so numerous an army? Granting
that he expected greater support in Peloponnesus than he actually
found, we cannot imagine him to have hoped that his mere presence,
without fighting, would suffice to put down enemies courageous as
well as powerful. Xenophon exaggerates the importance of the recent
defeats (as he terms them) before Sparta and Mantinea. These were
checks or disappointments rather than defeats. On arriving at Tegea,
Epaminondas had found it practicable (which he could not have known
beforehand) to attempt a _coup de main_, first against Sparta, next
against Mantinea. Here were accidental opportunities which his
genius discerned and turned to account. Their success, so near to
actual attainment, would have been a prodigious point gained;[735]
but their accidental failure left him not worse off than he was
before. It remained for him then, having the enemy before him in the
field, and no farther opportunities of striking at them unawares by
side-blows, to fight them openly; which he and all around him must
have contemplated, from their first entrance into Peloponnesus, as
the only probable way of deciding the contest.
[734] Xen. Hellen. vii, 5, 18. αὐτὸς δὲ λελυμασμένος παντάπασι
τῇ ἑαυτοῦ δόξῃ ἔσοιτο, ἡττημένος μὲν ἐν Λακεδαιμόνι σὺν πολλῷ
ὁπλιτικῷ ὑπ’ ὀλίγων, ἡττημένος δὲ ἐν Μαντινείᾳ ἱππομαχίᾳ, αἴτιος
δὲ γεγενημένος διὰ τὴν ἐς Πελοπόννησον στράτειαν τοῦ συνεστάναι
Λακεδαιμονίους καὶ Ἀρκάδας καὶ Ἠλείους καὶ Ἀθηναίους· ὥστε οὐκ
ἐδόκει δυνατὸν εἶναι ἀμαχεὶ παρελθεῖν, etc.
[735] Polybius, ix. 8, 2.
The army of Epaminondas, far from feeling that sentiment of
disappointed hope and stern necessity which Xenophon ascribes to
their commander, were impatient to fight under his orders, and full
of enthusiastic alacrity when he at last proclaimed his intention.
He had kept them within the walls of Tegea, thus not only giving
them better quarters and fuller repose, but also concealing his
proceedings from the enemy; who on their side were encamped on the
border of the Mantinean territory. Rejoicing in the prospect of
going forth to battle, the horsemen and hoplites of Epaminondas all
put themselves in their best equipment. The horsemen whitened their
helmets,—the hoplites burnished up their shields, and sharpened
their spears and swords. Even the rustic and half-armed Arcadian
villagers, who had nothing but clubs in place of sword or spear, were
eager to share the dangers of the Thebans, and inscribed upon their
shields (probably nothing but miserable squares of wood) the Theban
ensign.[736] The best spirit and confidence animated all the allies,
as they quitted the gates of Tegea, and disposed themselves in the
order of march commanded by Epaminondas.
[736] Xen. Hellen. vii, 5, 20. Προθύμως μὲν ἐλευκοῦντο οἱ ἱππεῖς
τὰ κράνη, κελεύοντος ἐκείνου· ἐπεγράφοντο δὲ καὶ οἱ τῶν Ἀρκάδων
ὁπλῖται, ῥόπαλα ἔχοντες, ὡς Θηβαῖοι ὄντες· πάντες δὲ ἠκονῶντο καὶ
λόγχας καὶ μαχαίρας, καὶ ἐλαμπρύνοντο τὰς ἀσπίδας.
There seems a sort of sneer in these latter words, both at the
Arcadians and Thebans. The Arcadian club-men are called ὁπλῖται;
and are represented as passing themselves off to be as good as
Thebans.
Sievers (Geschicht. p. 342) and Dr. Thirlwall (Hist. Gr. c. 40,
p. 200) follow Eckhel in translating this passage to mean that
“the Arcadian hoplites inscribed upon their shields the figure
of a club, that being the ensign of the Thebans.” I cannot think
this interpretation is the best,—at least until some evidence
is produced, that the Theban symbol on the shield was a club.
Xenophon does not disdain on other occasions to speak sneeringly
of the Theban hoplites,—see vii, 5, 12. The mention of λόγχας καὶ
μαχαίρας, immediately afterwards, sustains the belief that ῥόπαλα
ἔχοντες, immediately before, means “men armed with clubs”; the
natural sense of the words.
The horsemen are said to have “whitened their helmets (or
head-pieces).” Hence I presume that these head-pieces were not
made of metal, but of wood or wicker-work. Compare Xen. Hellen.
ii, 4, 25.
The lofty Mantinico-Tegeatic plain, two thousand feet above the level
of the sea (now known as the plain of Tripolitza)—“is the greatest
of that cluster of valleys in the centre of Peloponnesus, each of
which is so closely shut in by the intersecting mountains that no
outlet is afforded to the waters except through the mountains
themselves.”[737] Its length stretches from north to south, bordered
by the mountain range of Mænalus on the west, and of Artemisium and
Parthenion on the east. It has a breadth of about eight miles in the
broadest part, and of one mile in the narrowest. Mantinea is situated
near its northern extremity, Tegea near its southern; the direct
distance between the two cities, in a line not much different from
north and south, being about ten English miles. The frontier line
between their two domains was formed by a peculiarly narrow part of
the valley, where a low ridge projecting from the range of Mænalus on
the one side, and another from Artemisium on the opposite, contract
the space and make a sort of defensible pass near four miles south
of Mantinea;[738] thus about six miles distant from Tegea. It was at
this position, covering the whole Mantinean territory, that the army
opposed to Epaminondas was concentrated; the main Lacedæmonian force
as well as the rest having now returned from Sparta.[739]
[737] See Colonel Leake’s Travels in the Morea, vol. iii, ch. 24,
p. 45.
[738] Three miles from Mantinea (Leake, ib. p. 51-94) “a low
ridge of rocks, which, advancing into the plain from a projecting
part of the Mænalium, formed a natural division between the
districts of Tegea and Mantineia.”
Compare the same work, vol. i, ch. 3, p. 100, 112, 114, and the
recent valuable work of Ernst Curtius, Peloponnesos (Gotha,
1851), pp. 232-247. Gell says that a wall has once been carried
across the plain at this boundary (Itinerary of the Morea, p.
141-143).
[739] See the indications of the locality of the battle in
Pausanias, viii, 11, 4, 5; and Colonel Leake—as above referred to.
Epaminondas, having marched out from Tegea by the northern gate,
arrayed his army in columns proper for advancing towards the enemy;
himself with the Theban columns forming the van. His array being
completed, he at first began his forward march in a direction
straight towards the enemy. But presently he changed his course,
turning to the left towards the Mænalian range of mountains which
forms the western border of the plain, and which he probably reached
somewhere near the site of the present Tripolitza. From thence he
pursued his march northward, skirting the flank of the mountain on
the side which lies over against or fronts towards Tegea;[740] until
at length he neared the enemy’s position, upon their right flank.
He here halted, and caused his columns to face to the right; thus
forming a line, or phalanx of moderate depth, fronting towards the
enemy. During the march, each lochus or company had marched in single
file with the lochage or captain (usually the strongest and best
soldier in it), at the head; though we do not know how many of these
lochages marched abreast, or what was the breadth of the column. When
the phalanx or front towards the enemy was formed, each lochage was
of course in line with his company, and at its left hand; while the
Thebans and Epaminondas himself were at the left of the whole line.
In this position, Epaminondas gave the order to ground arms.[741]
[740] Xen. Hellen. vii, 5, 21.
Tripolitza is reckoned by Colonel Leake as about three miles and
a half from the site of Tegea; Mr. Dodwell states it as about
four miles, and Gell’s Itinerary of the Morea much the same.
Colonel Leake reckons about eight miles from Tripolitza to
Mantinea. Gell states it as two hours and three minutes, Dodwell
as two hours and five minutes,—or seven miles.
Colonel Leake, Travels in Morea, vol. i, p. 88-100; Gell’s
Itinerary, p. 141; Dodwell’s Travels, vol. ii, p. 418-422.
It would seem that Epaminondas, in this latter half of his march,
must have followed nearly the road from Mantinea to Pallantium.
Pallantium was situated west by south from Tegea.
[741] Xen. Hellen. vii, 5, 22.
The enemy, having watched him ever since he had left Tegea and formed
his marching array, had supposed at first that he was coming straight
up to the front of their position, and thus expected speedy battle.
But when he turned to the left towards the mountains, so that for
some time he did not approach sensibly nearer to their position, they
began to fancy that he had no intention of fighting on that day.
Such belief, having been once raised, still continued, even though,
by advancing along the skirts of the mountain, he gradually arrived
very close upon their right flank. They were farther confirmed in the
same supposition, when they saw his phalanx ground arms; which they
construed as an indication that he was about to encamp on the spot
where he stood. It is probable that Epaminondas may have designedly
simulated some other preliminaries of encampment, since his march
from Tegea seems to have been arranged for the purpose partly of
raising such false impression in his enemies, partly of getting upon
their right flank instead of their front. He completely succeeded
in his object. The soldiers on the Lacedæmonian side, believing
that there would be no battle until the next day, suffered their
ranks to fall into disorder, and scattered about the field. Many
of the horsemen even took off their breast-plates and unbridled
their horses. And what was of hardly less consequence,—that mental
preparation of the soldier, whereby he was wound up for the moment of
action, and which provident commanders never omitted, if possible, to
inflame by a special harangue at the moment,—was allowed to slacken
and run down.[742] So strongly was the whole army persuaded of the
intention of Epaminondas to encamp, that they suffered him not only
without hindrance, but even without suspicion, to make all his
movements and dispositions preparatory to immediate attack.
[742] Xen. Hellen. vii, 5, 22. Καὶ γὰρ δὴ, ὡς πρὸς τῷ ὄρει
ἐγένετο, ἐπεὶ ἐξετάθη αὐτῷ ἡ φάλαγξ, ὑπὸ τοῖς ὑψηλοῖς ἔθετο τὰ
ὅπλα· ὥστε εἰκάσθη στρατοπεδευομένῳ. Τοῦτο δὲ ποιήσας, ἔλυσε μὲν
τῶν πλείστων πολεμίων τὴν ἐν ταῖς ψυχαῖς πρὸς μάχην παρασκευήν,
ἔλυσε δὲ τὴν ἐν ταῖς συντάξεσιν.
Such improvidence is surprising, when we recollect that the ablest
commander and the best troops in Greece were so close upon the right
of their position. It is to be in part explained, probably, by the
fact that the Spartan headship was now at an end, and that there was
no supreme chief to whom the whole body of Lacedæmonian allies paid
deference. If either of the kings of Sparta was present,—a point
not distinctly ascertainable,—he would have no command except over
the Lacedæmonian troops. In the entire allied army, the Mantineans
occupied the extreme right (as on a former occasion, because the
battle was in their territory,[743] and because the Lacedæmonians
had lost their once-recognized privilege), together with the other
Arcadians. On the right-centre and centre were the Lacedæmonians,
Eleians, and Achæans; on the extreme left, the Athenians.[744] There
was cavalry on both the wings; Athenian on the left,—Eleian on the
right; spread out with no more than the ordinary depth, and without
any intermixture of light infantry along with the horsemen.[745]
[743] Thucyd. v, 67; Pausanias, viii, 9, 5; viii. 10, 4.
[744] Diodor. xv. 85.
That the Athenians were on the left, we also know from Xenophon
(Hell. vii, 5, 24), though he gives no complete description of
the arrangement of the allies on either side.
[745] Xen. Hellen. vii, 5, 23.
In the phalanx of Epaminondas, he himself with the Thebans and
Bœotians was on the left; the Argeians on the right; the Arcadians,
Messenians, Eubœans, Sikyonians and other allies in the centre.[746]
It was his purpose to repeat the same general plan of attack
which had succeeded so perfectly at Leuktra; to head the charge
himself with his Bœotians on the left against the opposing right
or right-centre, and to bear down the enemy on that side with
irresistible force, both of infantry and cavalry; while he kept
back his right and centre, composed of less trustworthy troops,
until the battle should have been thus wholly or partially decided.
Accordingly, he caused the Bœotian hoplites,—occupying the left of
his line in lochi or companies, with the lochage or captain at the
left extremity of each,—to wheel to the right and form in column
fronting the enemy, in advance of his remaining line. The Theban
lochages thus became placed immediately in face of the enemy, as
the heads of a column of extraordinary depth; all the hoplites of
each lochus, and perhaps of more than one lochus, being ranged in
file behind them.[747] What the actual depth was, or what was the
exact number of the lochus, we do not know. At Leuktra, Epaminondas
had attacked with fifty shields of depth; at Mantinea, the depth of
his column was probably not less. Himself, with the chosen Theban
warriors, were at the head of it, and he relied upon breaking through
the enemy’s phalanx at whatever point he charged; since their files
would hardly be more than eight deep, and very inadequate to resist
so overwhelming a shock. His column would cut through the phalanx of
the enemy, like the prow of a trireme impelled in sea-fight against
the midships of her antagonist.
[746] Here again, we know from Xenophon that the Thebans were on
the left; but the general arrangement of the other contingents we
obtain only from Diodorus (xv, 85).
The Tactica of Arrian, also (xi, 2) inform us that Epaminondas
formed his attacking column, at Leuktra, of the Thebans—at
Mantinea, of all the Bœotians.
About the practice of the Thebans, both at and after the battle
of Leuktra, to make their attack with the left, see Plutarch.
Quæst. Roman. p. 282 D.
[747] Xen. Hellen. vii, 5, 22. Ἐπεί γε μὴν, παραγαγὼν τοὺς ἐπὶ
κέρως πορευομένους λόχους εἰς μέτωπον, ἰσχυρὸν ἐποιήσατο τὸ περὶ
ἑαυτὸν ἔμβολον, τότε δὴ ἀναλαβεῖν παραγγείλας τὰ ὅπλα, ἡγεῖτο·
οἱ δ’ ἠκολούθουν ... Ὁ δὲ τὸ στράτευμα ἀντίπρωρον ὥσπερ τριήρη
προσῆγε, νομίζων, ὅπη ἐμβαλὼν διακόψειε, διαφθερεῖν ὅλον τὸ τῶν
ἐναντίων στράτευμα, etc.
It was apparently only the Bœotian hoplites who were thus formed in
column, projecting forward in advance; while the remaining allies
were still left in their ordinary phalanx or lines.[748] Epaminondas
calculated, that when he should have once broken through the enemy’s
phalanx at a single point, the rest would either take flight, or
become so dispirited, that his allies coming up in phalanx could
easily deal with them.
[748] I agree with Folard (Traité de la Colonne, p. lv-lxi,
prefixed to the translation of Polybius) in considering
ἔμβολον to be a column,—rather than a wedge tapering towards
the front. And I dissent from Schneider’s explanation, who
says,—“Epaminondas phalangem contrahit sensim et colligit in
frontem, ut cunei seu rostri navalis formam efficeret. Copiæ
igitur ex utroque latere explicatæ transeunt in frontem; hoc
est, παράγειν εἰς μέτωπον.” It appears to me that the troops
which Epaminondas caused to wheel into the front and to form the
advancing column, consisted only of the left or Theban division,
the best troops in the army,—τῷ μὲν ἰσχυροτάτῳ παρεσκευάζετο
ἀγωνίζεσθαι, τὸ δὲ ἀσθενέστατον πόῤῥω ἀπέστησεν. Moreover,
the whole account of Xenophon implies that Epaminondas made
the attack from his own left against the enemy’s right, or
right-centre. He was afraid that the Athenians would take him in
flank from their own left.
Against the cavalry on the enemy’s right, which was marshaled only
with the ordinary depth of a phalanx of hoplites (four, six, or
perhaps eight deep),[749] and without any light infantry intermingled
with the ranks—the Theban general opposed on his left his own
excellent cavalry, Theban and Thessalian, but in strong and deep
column, so as to ensure to them also a superior weight of attack.
He farther mingled in their ranks some active footmen, darters and
slingers, of whom he had many from Thessaly and the Maliac Gulf.[750]
[749] Compare a similar case in Xen. Hellen. iii, 4, 13, where
the Grecian cavalry, in the Asiatic army of Agesilaus, is said to
be drawn up ὥσπερ φάλαγξ ἐπὶ τεσσάρων, etc.
[750] These πέζοι ἅμιπποι—light-armed footmen, intermingled with
the ranks of the cavalry,—are numbered as an important item
in the military establishment of the Syracusan despot Gelon
(Herodot. vii. 158).
There remained one other precaution to take. His deep Theban and
Bœotian column, in advancing to the charge, would be exposed on its
right or unshielded side to the attack of the Athenians, especially
the Athenian cavalry, from the enemy’s left. To guard against any
such movement, he posted, upon some rising ground near his right, a
special body of reserve, both horse and foot, in order to take the
Athenians in the rear if they should attempt it.
All these fresh dispositions for attack, made on the spot, must have
occupied time, and caused much apparent movement. To constitute
both the column of infantry, and the column of cavalry, for attack
on his left—and to post the body of reserve on the rising ground at
his right against the Athenians—were operations which the enemy from
their neighboring position could not help seeing. Yet they either did
not heed, or did not understand, what was going on.[751] Nor was it
until Epaminondas, perceiving all to be completed, actually gave the
word of command to “take up arms,” that they had any suspicion of
the impending danger. As soon as they saw him in full march moving
rapidly towards them, surprise and tumultuous movement pervaded
their body. The scattered hoplites ran to their places; the officers
exerted every effort to establish regular array; the horsemen
hastened to bridle their horses and resume their breast-plates.[752]
And though the space dividing the two armies was large enough to
allow such mischief to be partially corrected,—yet soldiers thus
taken unawares, hurried, and troubled, were not in condition to stand
the terrific shock of chosen Theban hoplites in deep column.
[751] Perhaps Epaminondas may have contrived in part to conceal
what was going on by means of cavalry-movements in his front.
Something of the kind seems alluded to by Polyænus (ii, 3, 14).
[752] Xen. Hellen. vii, 5, 22.
The grand force of attack, both of cavalry and infantry, which
Epaminondas organized on his left, was triumphant in both its
portions. His cavalry, powerfully aided by the intermingled darters
and light troops from Thessaly, broke and routed the enemy’s cavalry
opposed to them, and then restraining themselves from pursuit,
turned to fall upon the phalanx of infantry. Epaminondas, on his
part, with his Theban column, came into close conflict with the
Mantinean and Lacedæmonian line of infantry, whom, after a desperate
struggle of shield, spear, and sword, he bore down by superior force
and weight. He broke through the enemy’s line of infantry at this
point, compelling the Lacedæmonians opposed to him, after a brave
and murderous resistance, to turn their backs and take to flight.
The remaining troops of the enemy’s line, seeing the best portion of
their army defeated and in flight, turned and fled also. The centre
and right of Epaminondas, being on a less advanced front, hardly came
into conflict with the enemy until the impression of his charge had
been felt, and therefore found the troops opposed to them already
wavering and disheartened. The Achæan, Eleian, and other infantry on
that side, gave way after a short resistance; chiefly as it would
appear, from contagion and alarm, when they saw the Lacedæmonians
broken. The Athenians however, especially the cavalry, on the
left wing of their own army, seem to have been engaged in serious
encounter with the cavalry opposite to them. Diodorus affirms them
to have been beaten, after a gallant fight,[753] until the Eleian
cavalry from the right came to their aid. Here, as on many other
points, it is difficult to reconcile his narrative with Xenophon, who
plainly intimates that the stress of the action fell on the Theban
left and Lacedæmonian right and centre,—and from whose narrative we
should rather have gathered, that the Eleian cavalry, beaten on their
own right, may have been aided by the Athenian cavalry from the left;
reversing the statement of Diodorus.
[753] Diodor. xv, 85.
The orator Æschines fought among the Athenian hoplites on this
occasion (Æschines, Fals. Leg. p. 300. c. 53.)
In regard to this important battle, however, we cannot grasp with
confidence anything beyond the capital determining feature and
the ultimate result.[754] The calculations of Epaminondas were
completely realized. The irresistible charge, both of infantry and
cavalry, made by himself with his left wing, not only defeated the
troops immediately opposed, but caused the enemy’s whole army to
take flight. It was under these victorious circumstances, and while
he was pressing on the retiring enemy at the head of his Theban
column of infantry, that he received a mortal wound with a spear in
the breast. He was by habit and temper, always foremost in braving
danger, and on this day probably exposed himself preëminently, as
a means of encouraging those around him, and ensuring the success
of his own charge, on which so much depended; moreover, a Grecian
general fought on foot in the ranks, and carried the same arms
(spear, shield, etc.) as a private soldier. Diodorus tells us that
the Lacedæmonian infantry were making a prolonged resistance, when
Epaminondas put himself at the head of the Thebans for a fresh and
desperate effort; that he stepped forward, darted his javelin,
and slew the Lacedæmonian commander; that having killed several
warriors, and intimidated others, he forced them to give way; that
the Lacedæmonians, seeing him in advance of his comrades, turned upon
him and overwhelmed him with darts, some of which he avoided, others
he turned off with his shield, while others, after they had actually
entered his body and wounded him, he plucked out and employed them
in repelling the enemy. At length he received a mortal wound in his
breast with a spear.[755] I cannot altogether admit to notice these
details; which once passed as a portion of Grecian history, though
they seem rather the offspring of an imagination fresh from the
perusal of the Iliad than a recital of an actual combat of Thebans
and Lacedæmonians, both eminent for close-rank fighting, with long
spear and heavy shield. The mortal wound of Epaminondas, with a
spear in the breast, is the only part of the case which we really
know. The handle of the spear broke, and the point was left sticking
in his breast. He immediately fell, and as the enemy were at that
moment in retreat, fell into the arms of his own comrades. There was
no dispute for the possession of his body, as there had been for
Kleombrotus at Leuktra.
[754] The remark made by Polybius upon this battle deserves
notice. He states that the description given of the battle
by Ephorus was extremely incorrect and absurd, arguing great
ignorance both of the ground where it was fought and of
the possible movements of the armies. He says that Ephorus
had displayed the like incompetence also in describing the
battle of Leuktra; in which case, however, his narrative was
less misleading, because that battle was simple and easily
intelligible, involving movements only of one wing of each
army. But in regard to the battle of Mantinea (he says), the
misdescription of Ephorus was of far more deplorable effect;
because that battle exhibited much complication and generalship,
which Ephorus did not at all comprehend, as might be seen by any
one who measured the ground and studied the movements reported in
his narrative (Polybius, xii, 25).
Polybius adds that Theopompus and Timæus were as little to be
trusted in the description of land-battles as Ephorus. Whether
this remark has special application to the battle of Mantinea,
I do not clearly make out. He gives credit however to Ephorus
for greater judgment and accuracy, in the description of naval
battles.
Unfortunately, Polybius has not given us his own description of
this battle of Mantinea. He only says enough to make us feel how
imperfectly we know its details. There is too much reason to fear
that the account which we now read in Diodorus may be borrowed in
large proportion from that very narrative of Ephorus here so much
disparaged.
[755] Diodor. xv, 87. Cornelius Nepos (Epam. c. 9) seems to copy
the same authority as Diodorus, though more sparing of details.
He does not seem to have read Xenophon.
I commend the reader again to an excellent note of Dr. Arnold, on
Thucydides, iv, 11; animadverting upon similar exaggerations and
embellishments of Diodorus, in the description of the conduct of
Brasidas at Pylus.
The news of his mortal wound spread like wild-fire through his
army; and the effect produced is among the most extraordinary
phenomena in all Grecian military history. I give it in the words
of the contemporary historian. “It was thus (says Xenophon) that
Epaminondas arranged his order of attack; and he was not disappointed
in his expectation. For having been victorious, on the point where
he himself charged, he caused the whole army of the enemy to take
flight. But so soon as he fell, those who remained had no longer
any power even of rightly using the victory. Though the phalanx
of the enemy’s infantry was in full flight, the Theban hoplites
neither killed a single man more, nor advanced a step beyond the
actual ground of conflict. Though the enemy’s cavalry was also in
full flight, yet neither did the Theban horsemen continue their
pursuit, nor kill any more either of horsemen or of hoplites, but
fell back through the receding enemies with the timidity of beaten
men. The light troops and peltasts, who had been mingled with the
Theban cavalry and had aided in their victory, spread themselves over
towards the enemy’s left with the security of conquerors; but there
(being unsupported by their own horsemen) they were mostly cut to
pieces by the Athenians.”[756]
[756] Xen. Hellen. vii, 5, 25. Τὴν μὲν δὴ συμβολὴν οὕτως
ἐποιήσατο, καὶ οὐκ ἐψεύσθη τῆς ἐλπίδος· ~κρατήσας γὰρ ἧ
προσέβαλεν, ὅλον ἐποίησε~ φεύγειν τὸ τῶν ἐναντίων. Ἐπεί γε μὴν
ἐκεῖνος ἔπεσεν, οἱ λοιποὶ οὐδὲ τῇ νίκῃ ὀρθῶς ἔτι ἐδυνάσθησαν
χρήσασθαι, ἀλλὰ φυγούσης μὲν αὐτοῖς τῆς ἐναντίας φάλαγγος, οὐδένα
ἀπέκτειναν οἱ ὁπλῖται, οὐδὲ προῆλθον ἐκ τοῦ χωρίου ἔνθα ἡ συμβολὴ
ἐγένετο· φυγόντων δ’ αὐτοῖς καὶ τῶν ἱππέων, ἀπέκτειναν μὲν οὐδὲ
οἱ ἱππεῖς διώκοντες οὔτε ἱππέας οὔθ’ ὁπλίτας, ὥσπερ δὲ ἡττώμενοι
πεφοβημένως διὰ τῶν φευγόντων πολεμίων διέπεσον. Καὶ μὴν οἱ
ἅμιπποι καὶ οἱ πελτασταὶ, συννενικηκότες τοῖς ἱππεῦσιν, ἀφίκοντο
μὲν ἐπὶ τοῦ εὐωνύμου, ὡς κρατοῦντες· ἐκεῖ δὲ ὑπὸ τῶν Ἀθηναίων οἱ
πλεῖστοι αὐτῶν ἀπέθανον.