my from the top of the hills, which, though it was not yet actually put to flight, began to break, and was in great disorder, he stopped for some time, looking about every where for Alexander.

As soon as he perceived him upon his right wing, rallying and encouraging his mercenary soldiers, he could contain himself no longer: but fired with that view, and abandoning to his sole resentment the care of his life, and the conduct of the battle, he got a great way before his battalions, and ran forwards with all his force, calling upon and defying Alexander. The tyrant made no answer to his defiance, and not daring to wait his coming up, withdrew to hide himself amongst his guards. The battalion standing firm for some time, Pelopidas broke the first ranks, and killed the greatest part of the guards upon the spot. The rest continuing the fight at a distance, pierced his arms and breast at length with their javelins. The Thessalians, alarmed at the danger in which they saw him, made all the haste they could from the tops of the hills to his assistance: but he was fallen dead when they arrived. The infantry and the Theban horse, returning to the fight against the enemy's main body, put them to flight, and pursued them a great way. The plain was covered with dead; for more than three thousand of the ty rant's troops were killed.

This action of Pelopidas, though it appears the effect of a consummate valour, is inexcusable, and has been generally condemned, because there is no true valour without wisdom and prudence. The greatest courage is cool and sedate. It spares itself where it ought, and exposes itself when occasion makes it necessary. A general ought to see every thing, and to have every thing in his thoughts. To be in a condition to apply the proper remedy on all occasions, he must not precipitate himself, to the danger of be ing cut off, and of causing the loss of his army by his death.

(1)Euripides, after having said in one of his pieces, that it is highly glorious for the general of an army to obtain the victory by taking care of his own life, adds, "that if it be necessary for him to die, it must be when he resigns his life into the hands of virtue;" to signify, that only virtue, not passion, anger, or revenge, has a right over the life of a general, and that the first duty of valour is to preserve him who preserves others.

(2)It is in this sense the saying of Timotheus is so just and amiable. When Chares shewed the Athenians the wounds he had received whilst he was their general, and his shield pierced through with a pike, "And for "me," said Timotheus, "when I besieged Samos, I was much ashamed to "to see a dart fall very near me, as having exposed myself like a young man "without necessity, and more than was consistent for the general of so great an army." Hannibal certainly cannot be suspected of fear; and yet it has been observed, that in the great number of battles which he fought, he never received any wound, except only at the siege of Saguntum.

It is therefore not without reason, that Pelopidas is reproached with having sacrificed all his other virtues to his valour, by such a prodigality of his life, and with having died rather for himself than his country.

Never was a captain more lamented than him. His death changed the victory so lately gained into mourning. A profound silence and universal affliction reigned throughout the whole army, as if it had been entirely defeated. When his body was carried to Thebes, from every city by which it passed, the people of all ages and sexes, the magistrates and priests, came out to meet the bier, and to march in procession before it, carrying crowns, trophies, and armour of gold. The Thessalians, who were at the same time highly afflicted for his death, and equally sensible of their obligations to him, made it their request, that they might be permitted to celebrate, at their sole expense, the obsequies of a general who had devoted himself for their preservation; and that honourable privilege could not be refused to their grateful zeal.

His funeral was magnificent, especially in the sincere affliction of the Thebans and Thessalians: for, says Plutarch, the external pomp of mourn

(1) Plut. in Pelop. p. 317.

(2) Plut. in Pelop. p. 276.

ing, and those marks of sorrow which may be imposed by the public authority upon the people, are not always certain proofs of their real sentiments. The tears which flow in private as well as public, the regret expressed equally by great and small, the praises given by the general and unanimous voice to a person who is no more, and from whom nothing further is expected, are an evidence not to be questioned, and an homage never paid but to virtue. Such were the obsequies of Pelopidas, and, in my opinion, nothing more great and magnificent could be imagined.

Thebes was not contented with lamenting Pelopidas, but resolved to avenge him. A small army of seven thousand foot and seven hundred horse were immediately sent against Alexander. The tyrant, who had not yet recovered the terror of his defeat, was in no condition to defend himself. He was obliged to restore to the Thessalians the cities he had taken from them, and to give the Magnesians, Pthians, and Archæans, their liberty, to withdraw his garrisons from their country, and to swear that he would always obey the Thebans, and march at their orders against all their enemies.

Such a punishment was very gentle. Nor, says Plutarch, did it appear sufficient to the gods, or proportioned to his crimes: they had reserved one for him worthy of a tyrant. Thebé his wife, who saw with horror and detestation the cruelty and perfidy of her husband, and had not forgot the lessons and advice which Pelopidas had given her, whilst in prison, entered into a conspiracy with her three brothers to kill him. The tyrant's whole palace was full of guards, who kept watch in the night; but he placed little confidence in them: as his life was in some sort in their hands, he feared them the most of all men. He lay in a high chamber, to which he ascended by a ladder that was drawn up after his entrance. Near this chamber a great dog was chained to guard it. He was exceeding fierce, and knew nobody but his master, Thebé, and the slave who fed him.

The time pitched upon for the execution of the plot being arrived, Thebé shut up her brothers during the day-time, in an apartment near the tyrant's. When he entered it at night, as he was full of meat and wine, he fell into a deep sleep immediately. Thebé went out presently after, and ordered the slave to take away the dog, that he might not disturb her husband's repose; and lest the ladder should make a noise when her brothers came up by it, she covered the steps of it with wool. All things being thus prepared, she made her brothers ascend, armed with daggers; who when they came to the door, were seized with terror, and would go no farther. Thebé, quite out of her wits, threatened to awake the tyrant if they did not proceed immediately, and discover the plot to him. Their shame and fear re-animated them: she made them enter, led them to the bed, and held the lamp herself whilst they killed him with repeated wounds. The news of his death was immediately spread through the city.. His dead body was exposed to all sorts of outrages, trampled under foot by the people, and given for a prey to the dogs and vultures: a just reward for his violent oppressions and detestable cruelties.

SECTION VII.

EPAMINONDAS CHOSEN GENERAL OF THE THEBANS. HIS DEATH AND CHARACTER.

THE extraordinary prosperity of Thebes(1)was no small subject of alarm to the neighbouring states. Every thing was at that time in motion in Greece. A new war had sprung up between the Arcadians and the Eleans, which had occasioned another between the Arcadians themselves. The people of Tegea had called in the Thebans to their aid; and those of Mantinea, the Spartans and Athenians. There were besides several other allies on each side. The former gave Epaminondas the command of their troops, who immediately en

(1) A. M. 3641. Ant. J. C. 363. Xenoph. 1. vii. p. 642.-644. Plut. in Agesil, p. 615. Diod. p. 39. 392.

tered Arcadia, and encamped at Tegea with design to attack the Mantineans, who had quitted their alliance with Thebes to attach themselves to Sparta. Being informed that Agesilaus had begun his march with his army, and advanced towards Mantinea, he formed the enterprise, which he believed would immortalise his name, and entirely reduce the power of the enemy. He left Tegea in the night with his army, unknown to the Mantineans, and marched directly to Sparta by a different route from that of Agesilaus. He would undoubtedly have taken the city by surprise, as it had neither walls, defence, nor troops: but happily for Sparta, a Cretan having made all possible haste to apprise Agesilaus of his design, he immediately dispatched one of his horse to advise the city of the danger that threatened it and arrived there soon after in person.

He had scarce entered the town, when the Thebans were seen passing the Eurotas, and coming on against the city. Epaminondas, who perceived that his design was discovered, thought it incumbent on him not to retire without some attempt.(1) He therefore made his troops advance, and making use of valour instead of stratagem, he attacked the city at several quarters, penetrated as far as the public place, and seized that part of Sparta which lay upon the side of the river. Agesilaus made head every where, and defended himself with much more valour than could be expected from his years. He saw well, that it was not now a time, as before to spare himself, and to act only upon the defensive; but that he had need of all his courage and daring, and to fight with all the vigour of despair; means which he had never used, nor placed his confidence in before, but which he employed with great success in the present dangerous emergency. For by this happy despair and prudent audacity, he in a manner snatched the city out of the hands of Epaminondas. His son Archidamus, at the head of the Spartan youth, behaved with incredible valour wherever the danger was greatest, and with his small troop stopped the enemy, and made head against them on all sides.

A young Spartan named Isadas, distinguished himself particularly in this action. He was very handsome in the face, perfectly well shaped, of an advantageous stature, and in the flower of his youth. He had neither armour nor clothes upon his body, which shone with oil, and held a spear in one hand, and a sword in the other. In this condition he quitted his house with the utmost eagerness, and breaking through the press of the Spartans that fought, he threw himself upon the enemy, gave mortal wounds at every blow, and laid all at his feet who opposed him, without receiving any hurt himself. Whether the enemy were dismayed at so astonishing a sight, or, says Plutarch, the gods took pleasure in preserving him upon account of his extraordinary valour, it is said the Ephori decreed him a crown after the battle in honour of his exploits, but afterwards fined him a thousand drachms(2) for having exposed himself to so great a danger without arms.

Epaminondas having failed of his aim, foreseeing that the Arcadians would certainly hasten to the relief of Sparta, and not being willing to have them, with all the Lacedæmonian forces, upon his hands at the same time, he returned with expedition to Tegea. The Lacedæmonians and Athenians, with their allies, followed him close in the rear.

(3)The general, considering his command was upon the point of expiring; that if he did not fight, his reputation might suffer extremely; and that immediately after his retreat, the enemy would fall upon the Theban allies, and entirely ruin them; gave orders to his troops to hold themselves in readiness for battle.

The Greeks had never fought amongst themselves with more numerous armies. The Lacedæmonians consisted of more than twenty thousand foot, and two thousand horse; the Thebans of thirty thousand foot and three thousand horse. Upon the right wing of the former, the Mantineans, Arcadians, and Lacedæmonians, were posted on one line; the Eleans and Achæans, who were the weakest of thoir troops, had the centre, and the Athenians alone composed the left wing. In the other army, the Thebans and Arcadians

41) Polyb. I. ix. p. 547. (2) Five hundred livres.

(3) Xenoph. l. vii p. 645.-647.

were on the left, the Argives on the right, and the other allies in the centre. The cavalry on each side were disposed in the wings.

The Theban general marched in the same order of battle in which he intended to fight, that he might not be obliged, when he came up with the enemy, to lose, in the disposition of his army, a time which cannot be too much saved in great enterprises.

He did not march directly, and with his front to the enemy, but in a column upon the hills, with his left wing foremost, as if he did not intend to fight that day. When he was over-against them at a quarter of a league's distance, he made his troops halt and lay down their arms, as if he designed to encamp there. The enemy in effect were deceived by that stand, and reckoning no longer upon a battle, they quitted their arms, dispersed themselves about the camp and suffered that ardour to extinguish, which the near approach of a battle is wont to kindle in the hearts of soldiers.

Epaminondas, however, by suddenly wheeling his troops to the right, having changed his column into a line, and having drawn out the choicest troops, whom he had expressly posted in front upon his march, he made them double their files upon the front of his left wing, to add to its strength, and to put it into a condition to attack in a point the Lacedæmonian phalanx, which, by the movement he had made, faced it directly. He ordered the centre and right wing of his army to move very slowly, and to halt before they came up with the enemy, that he might not hazard the event of the battle upon troops of which he had no great opinion.

He expected to decide the victory by that body of chosen troops which he commanded in person, and which he had formed in a column to attack the enemy in a point like a galley, says Xenophon. He assured himself, that if he could penetrate the Lacedæmonian phalanx, in which the enemy's principal force consisted, he should not find it difficult to rout the rest of their army, by charging upon the right and left with his victorious army.

But that he might prevent the Athenians in the left wing from coming to the support of their right against his intended attack, he made a detachment of his horse and foot advance out of the line, and posted them upon the rising ground, in readiness to flank the Athenians; as well to cover his right as to alarm them, and give them reason to apprehend being taken in flank and rear themselves, if they advanced to sustain their right.

After having disposed his whole army in this manner, he moved on to charge the enemy with the whole weight of his column. They were strangely surprised when they saw Epaminondas advance towards them in this order, and resumed their arms, bridled their horses, and made all the haste they could to their ranks.

Whilst Epaminondas marched against the enemy, the cavalry that covered his flank on the left, the best at that time in Greece, entirely composed of Thebans and Thessalians, had orders to attack the enemy's horse. The Theban general, whom nothing escaped, had artfully bestowed bowmen, slingers, and dartmen, in the intervals of his horse, in order to begin the disorder of the enemy's cavalry, by a previous discharge of a shower of arrows, stones, and javelins, upon them. The other army had neglected to take the same precaution, and had made another fault, not less considerable, in giving as much depth to the squadrons, as if they had been a phalanx. By this means their horse were incapable of supporting long the charge of the Thebans. After having made several ineffectual attacks with great loss, they were obliged to retire behind their infantry.

In the mean time, Epaminondas, with his body of foot, had charged the Lacedæmonian phalanx. The troops fought on both sides with incredible ardour; both the Thebans and Lacedæmonians being resolved to perish rather than yield the glory of arms to their rivals. They began by fighting with the spear; and these first arms being soon broken in the fury of the combat, they charged each other sword in hand. The resistance was equally obstinate, and the slaughter very great on both sides. The troops, despising danger, and desiring only to distinguish themselves by the greatness of their ac tions, chose rather to die in their ranks, than to lose a step of their ground.

The furious slaughter on both sides having continued a great while without the victory's inclining to either, Epaminondas, to force it to declare for him, thought it his duty to make an extraordinary effort in person, without regard to the danger of his own life. He formed therefore a troop of the brav est and most determined about him, and putting himself at the head of them, he made a vigorous charge upon the enemy, where the battle was most warm, and wounded the general of the Lacedæmonians with the first javelin he threw. His troop by his example, having wounded or killed all that stood in their way, broke and penetrated the phalanx. The Lacedæmonians, dismayed by the presence of Epaminondas, and overpowered by the weight of that intrepid party, were forced to give ground. The gross of the Theban troops, animated by their general's example and success drove back the enemy upon his right and left, and made a great slaughter of them. But some troops of the Spartans, perceiving that Epaminondas abandoned himself too much to his ardour, suddenly rallied, and returning to the fight, charged him with a shower of javelins. Whilst he kept off part of those darts, shunned some of them, fenced off others, and was fighting with the most heroic valour, to assure the victory to his army, a Spartan named Callicrates, gave him a mortal wound with a javelin in the breast across the cuirass. The wood of the javelin being broke off, and the iron head continuing in the wound, the torment was insupportable and he fell immediately. The battle began around him with new fury; the one side using their utmost endeavours to take him alive, and the other to save him. The Thebans gained their point at last, and carried him off, after having put the enemy to flight. They did not pursue them far; and returning immediately, contented themselves with remaining masters of the field and of the dead, without making any advantage of their victory, or undertaking any thing further, as if they waited for the orders of their general. The cavalry, dismayed by the accident of Epaminondas, whom they believed to be dead, and seeming rather vanquished than victorious, neglected to pursue their success in the same manner, and returned to their former post. Whilst this passed on the left wing of the Thebans, the Athenian horse attacked their cavalry on the right. But as the latter, besides the superiority of number, had the advantage of being seconded by the light infantry posted in their intervals, they charged the Athenians rudely, and having galled them extremely with their darts, they were broken and obliged to fly. After having dispersed and repulsed them in this manner, instead of pursuing them, they thought proper to turn their arms against the Athenian foot, which they took in flank, put into disorder, and pushed with great vigour. Just as they were ready to turn tail, the general of the Elean cavalry, who commanded a body of reserve, seeing the danger of that phalanx, came upon the spur to its relief, charged the Theban horse, who expected nothing so little, forced them to retreat, and regained from them their advantage. At the same time the Athenian cavalry, which had been routed at first, finding they were not pursued, rallied themselves; and instead of going to the assistance of their foot, which was roughly handled, they attacked the detachment posted by the Thebans upon the heights within the line, and put it to the sword.

After these different movements, and this alternation of losses and advantages, the troops on both sides stood still, and rested upon their arms, and the trumpets of the two armies, as if by consent, sounded the retreat at the same time. Each party pretended to the victory, and erected a trophy; the Thebans, because they had defeated the right wing, and remained masters of the field of battle; the Athenians, because they had cut the detachment in pieces. And from this point of honour, both sides refused at first to ask leave to bury their dead, which, with the ancients, was confessing their defeat. The Lacedæmonians, however, sent first to demand that permission; after which, the rest had no thoughts but of paying the last duties to the slain. Such was the event of the famous battle of Mantinea. Xenophon, in his relation of it, recommends the disposition of the Theban troops and the order of battle to the reader's attention, which he describes as a man of knowledge and experience in the art of war. And Monsieur Follard, who justly looks upon Epaminondas as one of the greatest generals Greece ever pro