CHAPTER XIII

.

Epaminondas was of illustrious descent, but his father was very poor even for an average Theban, and he learnt very carefully the national education, and when he was quite a stripling went to school to Lysis the Tarentine, who had been a pupil of Pythagoras of Samos. And, when the Lacedæmonians were at war with the Mantineans, Epaminondas is said to have been sent amongst others from Thebes to aid the Lacedæmonians. And when Pelopidas was wounded in the battle, he ran great risks to bring him out of it safe. And afterwards when Epaminondas went on an embassy to Sparta, when the Lacedæmonians agreed to ratify with the Greeks the peace known as the peace of Antalcidas, and Agesilaus asked him if the Thebans would allow the various towns in Bœotia to subscribe to the peace separately, “Not,” he answered, “O Spartans, until we see your neighbouring towns setting us the example.” And when war at last broke out between the Lacedæmonians and the Thebans, and the Lacedæmonians attacked the Thebans with their own forces and those of their allies, Epaminondas with part of his army stationed himself near the marsh Cephisis, as the Peloponnesians were going to make their attack in that quarter, but Cleombrotus the king of the Lacedæmonians turned aside to Ambrosus in Phocis, and after slaying Chæreas, who had been ordered to guard the by-roads, and the men who were with him, passed by and got to Leuctra in Bœotia. There Cleombrotus and the Lacedæmonians generally had portents from the gods. The Spartan kings when they went out to war used to be accompanied by flocks of sheep, to sacrifice to the gods and to give them good omens before battles. These flocks were led by a particular kind of goat that the shepherds called _catoiades_. And on this occasion some wolves attacked the flocks but did no harm to the sheep, only slew the goats. Vengeance is said to have come upon the Lacedæmonians in consequence of the daughters of Scedasus. Scedasus lived at Leuctra and had two daughters Molpia and Hippo. They were very beautiful and two Lacedæmonians, Phrurarchidas and Parthenius, iniquitously violated them, and they forthwith hung themselves, for this outrage was more than they could bear: and Scedasus, when he could get no reparation at Lacedæmon for this outrage, returned to Leuctra and committed suicide. Then Epaminondas offered funeral rites to Scedasus and his daughters, and vowed that a battle should take place there, as much for their vengeance as for the safety of Thebes. But the Bœotarchs were not all of the same view, but differed in their opinions. Epaminondas and Malgis and Xenocrates were for engaging the Lacedæmonians without delay, whereas Damoclidas and Damophilus and Simangelus were against an engagement, and recommended the withdrawal of the women and children into Attica, and that they should themselves prepare for a siege. Thus the votes of the six were equally divided, but the vote of the 7th Bœotarch on his return to the camp, (he had been on the look-out at Cithæron, and his name was Bacchylides), being given on the side of Epaminondas, it was agreed to stake everything on a battle. Now Epaminondas had suspicions about the fidelity of several of the Bœotians especially the Thespians, fearing therefore that they would desert in the battle, he gave leave to whoever would to go home, and the Thespians went off in full force, and any other Bœotians who had ill-will to the Thebans. And when the engagement came on, the allies of the Lacedæmonians, who had previously not been overwell pleased with them, openly showed their hostility by not standing their ground, but giving way wherever the enemy attacked. But the battle between the Lacedæmonians and the Thebans was well contested, the former relying on their long military experience and ashamed to impair the old prestige of Sparta, while the latter saw that the fate of their country their wives and children was staked on the result of this fight. But after many Lacedæmonians of high rank had fallen as also their king Cleombrotus, then the Spartans though hard pressed felt obliged to continue the combat, for amongst the Lacedæmonians it was considered most disgraceful to allow the dead body of one of their kings to remain in the hands of the enemy.

This victory of the Thebans was the most notable of all victories won by Greeks over Greeks: for the Lacedæmonians on the next day _instead of renewing the battle_ purposed burying their dead, and sent a herald to the Thebans to ask leave to do so. And Epaminondas knowing that it was always the custom of the Lacedæmonians to conceal their losses, said that their allies must first bury their dead, and afterwards he would permit the Lacedæmonians to bury theirs. And as some of the allies had none to bury, (as none of them were killed), and others had lost only a few, the Lacedæmonians buried their dead, and thus it was clear that most of the dead were Spartans. Of the Thebans and Bœotians who remained to share in the battle there fell only 47 men, while the Lacedæmonians lost more than 1,000.

##