Delphi Complete Works of Cornelius Nepos

by Cornelius Nepos

  VII. That he was of a patient disposition, and ready to endure wrongs from his countrymen, because he thought it species of impiety to show resentment towards his country, there are the following proofs. When the Thebans, from some feeling of displeasure towards him, refused to place him at the head of the army, and a leader was chosen that was ignorant of war, by whose mismanagement that great multitude of soldiers was brought to such a condition that all were alarmed for their safety, as they were confined within a narrow space and blocked up by the enemy, the energy of Epaminondas began to be in request (for he was there as a private among the soldiers), and when they desired aid from him, he showed no recollection of the affront that had been put upon him, but brought the army, after releasing it from the blockade, safely home. Nor did he act in this manner once only, but often; but the most remarkable instance was, when he had led an army into the Peloponnesus against the Lacedaemonians, and had two joined in command with him, of whom one was Pelopidas, a man of valour and activity; on this occasion, when, through the accusations of their enemies, they had all fallen under the displeasure of their countrymen, and their commission was in consequence taken from them, and other commanders came to take their place, Epaminondas did not obey the order of the people, and persuaded his colleagues to follow his example, continuing to prosecute the war which he had undertaken, for he saw that, unless he did so, the whole army would be lost through the incautiousness and ignorance of its leaders. But there was a law at Thebes, which punished any one with death who retained his command longer than was legally appointed. Epaminondas, however, as he saw that this law had been made for the purpose of preserving the state, was unwilling to make it contribute to its ruin, and continued to exercise his command four months longer than the people had prescribed.

  8. Postquam domum reditum est, collegae eius hoc crimine accusabantur. quibus ille permisit, ut omnem causam in se transferrent suaque opera factum contenderent, ut legi non oboedirent. qua defensioue illis periculo liberatis nemo Epaminondam responsurum putabat, quod quid diceret non haberet. [2] at ille in iudicium venit, nihil eorum negavit, quae adversarii crimini dabant, omniaque, quae collegae dixerant, confessus est neque recusavit quominus legis poenam subiret, sed unum ab iis petivit, ut in sepulcro suo inscriberent: [3] ‘Epaminondas a Thebanis morte multatus est, quod eos coegit apud Leuctra superare Lacedaemonios, quos ante se imperatorem nemo Boeotorum ausus sit aspicere in acie, [4] quodque uno proelio non solum Thebas ab interitu retraxit, sed etiam universam Graeciam in libertatem vindicavit eoque res utrorumque perduxit, ut Thebani Spartam oppugnarent, Lacedaemonii satis haberent, si salvi esse possent, neque prius bellare destitit, quam Messene restituta urbem eorum obsidione clausit.’ [5] haec cum dixisset, risus omnium cum hilaritate coortus est, neque quisquam iudex ausus est de eo ferre suffragium. sic a iudicio capitis maxima discessit gloria.

  VIII. When they returned home, his colleagues were impeached for this offence, and he gave them leave to lay all the blame upon him, and to maintain that it was through his means that they did not obey the law. They being freed from danger by this defence, nobody thought that Epaminondas would make any reply, because, as was supposed, he would have nothing to say. But he stood forward on the trial, denied nothing of what his adversaries laid to his charge, and admitted the truth of all that his colleagues had stated; nor did he refuse to submit to the penalty of the law; but he requested of his countrymen one favour, namely, that they would inscribe in their judicial record of the sentence passed upon him, “Epaminondas was punished by the Thebans with death, because he obliged them to overthrow the Lacedaemonians at Leuctra, whom, before he was general, none of the Boeotians durst look upon in the field, and because he not only, by one battle, rescued Thebes from destruction, but also secured liberty for all Greece, and brought the power of both people to such a condition, that the Thebans attacked Sparta, and the Lacedaemonians were content if they could save their lives; nor did he cease to prosecute the war, till, after settling Messene, he shut up Sparta with a close siege.” When he had said this, there burst forth a laugh from all present, with much merriment, and no one of the judges ventured to pass sentence upon him. Thus he came off from this trial for life with the greatest glory.

  9. Hic extremo tempore imperator apud Mantineam cum acie instructa audacius instaret hostes, cognitus a Lacedaemoniis, quod in unius pernicie eius patriae sitam putabant salutem, universi in unum impetum fecerunt neque prius abscesserunt, quam magna caede edita multisque occisis fortissime ipsum Epaminondam pugnantem, sparo eminus percussum, concidere viderunt. [2] huius casu aliquantum retardati sunt Boeoti, neque tamen prius pugna excesserunt, quam repugnantes profligarunt. [3] at Epaminondas, cum animadverteret mortiferum se vulnus accepisse simulque, si ferrum, quod ex hastili in corpore remanserat, extraxisset, animam statim emissurum, usque eo retinuit, quoad renuntiatum est vicisse Boeotos. [4] id postquam audivit, satis’ inquit ‘vixi: invictus enim morior.’ tum ferro extracto confestim exanimatus est.

  IX. When, towards the close of his career, he was commander at Mantinea, and, pressing very boldly upon the enemy with his army in full array, was recognized by the Lacedaemonians, they directed their efforts in a body against him alone, because they thought the salvation of their country depended upon his destruction, nor did they fall back, until, after shedding much blood, and killing many of the enemy, they saw Epaminondas himself, while fighting most valiantly, fall wounded with a spear hurled from a distance. By his fall the Boeotians were somewhat disheartened; yet they did not quit the field till they had put to flight those opposed to them. As for Epaminondas himself, when he found that he had received a mortal wound, and also that if he drew out the iron head of the dart, which had stuck in his body, he would instantly die, he kept it in until it was told him that “the Boeotians were victorious.” When he heard these words, he said “I have lived long enough; for I die unconquered.” The iron head being then extracted, he immediately died.

  10. Hic uxorem numquam duxit. in quo cum reprehenderetur a Pelopida, qui filium habebat infamem, maleque eum in eo patriae consulere diceret, quod liberos non relinqueret, ‘vide’ inquit ‘ne tu peius consulas, qui talem ex te natum relicturus sis. [2] neque vero stirps potest mihi deesse: namque ex me natam relinquo pugnam Leuctricam, quae non modo mihi superstes, sed etiam immortalis sit necesse est.’ [3] quo tempore duce Pelopida exules Thebas occuparunt et praesidium Lacedaemoniorum ex arce expulerunt, Epaminondas, quamdiu facta est caedes civium, domo se tenuit, quod neque defendere malos volebat neque impugnare, ne manus suorum sanguine cruentaret: namque omnem civilem victoriam funestam putabat. idem, postquam apud Cadmeam cum Lacedaemoniis pugnari coeptum est, in primis stetit. [4]

  Huius de virtutibus vitaque satis erit dictum, si hoc unum adiunxero, quod nemo ibit infitias, Thebas et ante Epaminondam natum et post eiusdem interitum perpetuo alieno paruisse imperio, contra ea, quamdiu ille praefuerit rei publicae, caput fuisse totius Graeciae. ex quo intellegi potest unum hominem pluris quam civitatem fuisse.

  X. He was never married; and when he was blamed on this account (as he would leave no children ) by Pelopidas, who had a son of bad character, and who said that he, in this respect, but ill consulted the interest of his country, “Beware,” he replied, “lest you should consult it worse, in being about to leave behind you a son of such a reputation. But neither can I,” he added, “want issue; for I leave behind me a daughter, the battle of Leuctra, that must of necessity not only survive me, but must be immortal.”

  At the time when the Theban exiles, under the leadership of Pelopidas, possessed themselves of Thebes, and expelled the garrison of the Lacedaemonians from the citadel, Epaminondas, as long as the slaughter of the citizens continued, confined himself to his own house, for he would neither defend the unworthy, nor attack them, that he might not stain his hands with the blood of his own countrymen. But when the struggle began at the Cadmea with the Lacedaemonians, he took his stand among the foremost.

  Of his merits and his life enough will have bee
n said, if I add but this one remark, of which none can deny the truth; that Thebes, as well before Epaminondas was born, as after his death, was always subject to some foreign power, but that, as long as he held the reigns of government, it was the head of all Greece. Hence it may be understood, that one man was of more efficacy than the whole people.

  XVI. PELOPIDAS.

  Phoebidas seizes on the citadel of Thebes; Pelopidas banished, I. Pelopidas, with twelve followers, effects a return to Thebes, II. He delivers his country from the Lacedaemonians, expelling their garrison, III. His acts in conjunction with Epaminondas, IV. His contest with Alexander of Pherae; his death, V.

  1. Pelopidas Thebanus, magis historicis quam vulgo notus. cuius de virtutibus dubito quem ad modum exponam, quod vereor, si res explicare incipiam, ne non vitam eius enarrare, sed historiam videar scribere, sin tantummodo summas attigero, ne rudibus Graecarum litterarum minus dilucide appareat, quantus fuerit ille vir. itaque utrique rei occurram, quantum potuero, et medebor cum satietati tum ignorantiae lectorum. [2]

  Phoebidas Lacedaemonius cum exercitum Olynthum duceret iterque per Thebas faceret, arcem oppidi, quae Cadmea nominatur, occupavit impulsu paucorum Thebanorum, qui adversariae factioni quo facilius resisterent, Laconum rebus studebant, idque suo privato, non publico fecit consilio. [3] quo facto eum Lacedaemonii ab exercitu removerunt pecuniaque multarunt, neque eo magis arcem Thebanis reddiderunt, quod susceptis inimicitiis satius ducebant eos obsideri quam liberari. nam post Peloponnesium bellum Athenasque devictas cum Thebanis sibi rem esse existimabant et eos esse solos, qui adversus se sistere auderent. [4] hac mente amicis suis summas potestates dederant alteriusque factionis principes partim interfecerant, alios in exilium eiecerant: in quibus Pelopidas hic, de quo scribere exorsi sumus, pulsus patria carebat.

  I. PELOPIDAS, of Thebes, is better known to those acquainted with history than to the multitude. As to his merits, I am in doubt how I shall speak of them; for I fear that, if I begin to give a full account of his actions, I may seem, not to be relating his life, but to be writing a history, or that, if I touch only on his principal exploits, it may not clearly appear to those ignorant of Grecian literature how great a man he was, I will therefore, as far as I can, meet both difficulties, and provide against the satiety, as well as for the imperfect knowledge, of my readers.

  Phoebidas, the Lacedaemonian, when he was leading an army to Olynthus, and marching through the territory of Thebes, possessed himself (at the instigation of a few of the Thebans, who, the better to withstand the opposite faction, favoured the interest of the Lacedaemonians,) of the citadel of Thebes, which is called the Cadmea, and this he did of his own private determination, not from any public resolution of his countrymen. For this act the Lacedaemonians removed him from his command of the army, and fined him a sum of money, but did not show the more inclination, on that account, to restore the citadel to the Thebans, because, as enmity had arisen between them, they thought it better that they should be under a check than left at liberty; for, after the Peloponnesian war was ended, and Athens subdued, they supposed that the contest must be between them and the Thebans, and that they were the only people who would venture to make head against them. With this belief they committed the chief posts to their own friends, while they partly put to death, and partly banished, the leading men of the opposite party; and amongst them Pelopidas, of whom we have begun to write, was expelled from his country.

  2. Hi omnes fere Athenas se contulerant, non quo sequerentur otium, sed ut, quem ex proximo locum fors obtulisset, eo patriam recuperare niterentur. [2] itaque cum tempus esset visum rei gerendae, communiter cum iis, qui Thebis idem sentiebant, diem delegerunt ad inimicos opprimendos civitatemque liberandam eum, quo maximi magistratus simul consuerant epulari. [3] magnae saepe res non ita magnis copiis sunt gestae, sed profecto numquam tam ab tenui initio tantae opes sunt profligatae. nam duodecim adulescentuli coierunt ex iis, qui exilio erant multati, cum omnino non essent amplius centum, qui tanto se offerrent periculo. qua paucitate perculsa est Lacedaemoniorum potentia. [4] ii enim non magis adversariorum factioni quam Spartanis eo tempore bellum intulerunt, qui principes erant totius Graeciae: quorum imperii maiestas, neque ita multo post, Leuctrica pugna ab hoc initio perculsa concidit. [5] illi igitur duodecim, quorum dux erat Pelopidas, cum Athenis interdiu exissent, ut vesperascente caelo Thebas possent pervenire, cum canibus venaticis exierunt, retia ferentes, vestitu agresti, quo minore suspicione facerent iter. qui cum tempore ipso, quo studuerant, pervenissent, domum Charonis deverterunt, a quo et tempus et dies erat datus.

  II. Almost all these exiles had betaken themselves to Athens, not that they might live in idleness, but that, whatever opportunity chance should first offer, they might avail themselves of it to regain their country. As soon, therefore, as it seemed time for action, they, in concert with those who held similar views at Thebes, fixed on a day for cutting off their enemies and delivering their country, and made choice of that very day on which the chief magistrates were accustomed to meet at a banquet together. Great exploits have been often achieved with no very numerous forces, but assuredly never before was so great a power overthrown from so small a beginning. For, out of those who had been banished, twelve young men (there not being in all more than a hundred who were willing to encounter so great a danger,) agreed to attempt the enterprise; and by this small number the power of the Lacedaemonians was overcome; for these youths made war on that occasion, not more upon the faction of their adversaries than upon the Spartans, who were lords of Greece, and whose imperious domination, shaken by this commencement, was humbled not long after in the battle of Leuctra.

  These twelve, then, whose leader was Pelopidas, quitting Athens in the day-time, with a view to reach Thebes when the sky was obscured by evening, set out with hunting dogs, carrying nets in their hands, and in the dress of countrymen, in order that they might accomplish their journey with less suspicion. Having arrived at the very time that they had desired, they proceeded to the house of Charon, by whom the hour and day had been fixed.

  3. Hoc loco libet interponere, etsi seiunctum ab re proposita est, nimia fiducia quantae calamitati soleat esse. nam magistratuum Thebanorum statim ad aures pervenit exules in urbem venisse. id illi vino epulisque dediti usque eo despexerunt, ut ne quaerere quidem de tanta re laborarint. [2] accessit quod etiam magis aperiret eorum dementiam. allata est enim epistula Athenis ab Archia, uno ex iis qui sacris praeerant Eleusinius, Archiae, qui tum maximum magistratum Thebis obtinebat, in qua omnia de profectione eorum perscripta erant. quae cum iam accubanti in convivio esset data, sicut erat signata, sub pulvinum subiciens ‘in crastinum’ inquit ‘differo res serias.’ [3] at illi omnes, cum iam nox processisset, vinolenti ab exulibus duce Pelopida sunt interfecti. quibus rebus confectis, vulgo ad arma libertatemque vocato, non solum qui in urbe erant, sed etiam undique ex agris concurrerunt, praesidium Lacedaemoniorum ex arce pepulerunt, patriam obsidione liberarunt, auctores Cadmeae occupandae partim occiderunt, partim in exilium eiecerunt.

  III. Here I would observe in passing, although the remark be unconnected with the subject before us, how great mischief excessive confidence is wont to produce; for it soon came to the ears of the Theban magistrates that some of the exiles had entered the city, but this intelligence, being intent upon their wine and luxuries, they so utterly disregarded, that they did not take the trouble even to inquire about so important a matter. Another circumstance was added, too, which may show their folly in a more remarkable light. A letter was brought from Athens by Archias the hierophant, to Archias, who then held the chief post at Thebes, in which a full account had been written concerning the expedition of the exiles. This letter being delivered to Archias as he was reclining at the banquet, he, thrusting it under the bolster, sealed as it was, said, “I put off serious matters till to-morrow.” But those revellers, when the night was far advanced, and they were overcome with wine, were all put to death by the exiles under the command of Pelopidas. Their object being thus effected, and the common pe
ople being summoned to take arms and secure their liberty, not only those who were in the city, but also others from all parts out of the country, flocked together to join them; they then expelled the garrison of the Lacedaemonians from the citadel, and delivered their country from thraldom. The promoters of the seizure of the Cadmea they partly put to death, and partly sent into exile.

  4. Hoc tam turbido tempore, sicut supra docuimus, Epaminondas, quoad cum civibus dimicatum est, domi quietus fuit. itaque haec liberatarum Thebarum propria laus est Pelopidae, ceterae fere communes cum Epaminonda. [2] namque in Leuctrica pugna imperatore Epaminonda hic fuit dux delectae manus, quae prima phalangem prostravit Laconum. [3] omnibus praeterea periculis eius affuit (sicut, Spartam cum oppugnavit, alterum tenuit cornu), quoque Messena celerius restitueretur, legatus in Persas est profectus. denique haec fuit altera persona Thebis, sed tamen secunda ita, ut proxima esset Epaminondae.

  IV. During this period of turbulence, Epaminondas, as we have already observed, remained quiet, so long as the struggle was between fellow-citizens, in his own house. The glory of delivering Thebes, therefore, belongs wholly to Pelopidas; almost all his other honours were gained in conjunction with, Epaminondas. In the battle of Leuctra, where Epaminondas was commander-in-chief, Pelopidas was leader of a select body of troops, which were the first to bear down the phalanx of the Spartans. He was present with him, too, in all his dangers. When he attacked Sparta, he commanded one wing of the army; and, in order that Messene might be sooner restored, he went ambassador to Persia. He was, indeed, the second of the two great personages at Thebes, but second only in such a way that he approached very near to Epaminondas.

  5. Conflictatus autem est etiam adversa fortuna. nam et initio, sicut ostendimus, exul patria caruit et, cum Thessaliam in potestatem Thebanorum cuperet redigere legationisque iure satis tectum se arbitraretur, quod apud omnes gentes sanctum esse consuesset, a tyranno Alexandro Pheraeo simul cum Ismenia comprehensus in vincla coniectus est. [2] hunc Epaminondas recuperavit, bello persequens Alexandrum. post id factum numquam animo placari potuit in eum, a quo erat violatus. itaque persuasit Thebanis ut subsidio Thessaliae proficiscerentur tyrannosque eius expellerent. [3] cuius belli cum ei summa esset data eoque cum exercitu profectus esset, non dubitavit, simulac conspexit hostem, confligere. [4] in quo proelio Alexandrum ut animadvertit, incensus ira equum in eum concitavit proculque digressus a suis coniectu telorum confossus concidit. atque hoc secunda victoria accidit: nam iam inclinatae erant tyrannorum copiae. [5] quo facto omnes Thessaliae civitates interfectum Pelopidam coronis aureis et statuis aeneis liberosque eius multo agro donarunt.