Regum et imperatorum apophthegmata

It was his habit to appear at all times with a well-groomed body and a cheerful countenance, but on the day after that battle he went forth unwashed and with a look of dejection. When his friends asked if anything distressing had befallen him, he said, Nothing; but yesterday I found myself feeling a pride greater than is well. Therefore to-day I am chastising my immoderate indulgence in rejoicing.

Knowing that the Spartans were wont to conceal such calamities as this, and wishing to bring out clearly the magnitude of their disaster, he did not grant them leave to remove their dead all together, but separately by cities, so that it was seen that the Spartan dead numbered over a thousand. [*](The story is told with slightly more details by Pausanias, ix. 13. 11 and 12.)

When Jason, monarch of Thessaly, arrived at Thebes as an ally, he sent two thousand pieces of gold to Epameinondas, who was then sadly in want. Epameinondas did not take the money, but with a

On a later occasion, when the king of the Persians sent twenty-five thousand pounds to him, he assailed Diomedon bitterly because he had made such a long voyage to corrupt Epameinondas; and he bade him say to the king that if the king should hold views conducive to the good of the Thebans, he should have Epameinondas as his friend for nothing; but if the reverse, then as his enemy. [*](Cf. Cornelius Nepos, Epaminondas, xv. 4, where the same story is told in more words, and Aelian, Varia Historia, v. 5, where the fact is recorded in very few words.)

When the Argives entered the Theban alliance, [*](In 370 B.C.) ambassadors of the Athenians arrived at Arcadia and accused both nations; and when Callistratus, the chief speaker, held up Orestes and Oedipus as a reproach to their respective cities, Epameinondas, rising to reply, said, We admit that we have had a parricide among us, and the Argives a matricide; but we expelled from our land those who did these deeds, and the Athenians received them ί [*](Cf. Moralia, 810 F, and Cornelius Nepos, Epaminondas, xv. 6. 1-3.)

When the Spartans accused the Thebans of a long list of serious offences, he retorted, These Thebans, however, have put a stop to your brevity of speech ! [*](Cf. Moralia, 545 A.)

When the Athenians took as a friend Alexander, the despot of Pherae, who was an enemy of the Thebans, and he promised to supply the Athenians with meat to be sold at a penny a pound, Epameinondas said, But we will supply them with

The Boeotians, relaxed by leisure, he was always desirous of keeping continually under arms, and whenever he was chosen Governor of Boeotia he used to urge his advice upon the people, saying, Bethink yourselves once more, men, for, if I am general, you will have to serve in my army. And he used to call their country, which was flat and exposed, the dancing-floor of War, [*](Cf. Plutarch’s Life of Marcellus, chap. xxi. (310 B), where two other picturesque expressions of similar meaning are quoted.) intimating that they could not hold their power over it if they did not keep a grip on the handles of their shields.

Chabrias, in the vicinity of Corinth, having struck down some few Thebans whose eagerness led them to carry the fighting to the foot of the walls, set up a trophy. [*](Cf. Diodorus, xv. 69.) Epameinondas, ridiculing it, said, In that place should stand, not a trophy, but a Hecate; for it was in keeping to set up an image of Hecate, as they used to do, at the meeting of three ways in front of the gates.

When somebody reported that the Athenians had sent an army, decked out with novel equipment, into the Peloponnesus, he said, Why should Antigenidas cry if Tellen has a new flute or two ? (Tellen was the worst of flute-players, and Antigenidas the best. [*](There are many references to the skill of Antigenidas; it must suffice here to refer only to Moralia, 335 A.))

Learning that his shield-bearer had received a great deal of money from a man who had been taken

Being asked whether he regarded himself or Chabrias or Iphicrates as the better general, he said, It is hard to decide while we are alive.

Upon his return from Laconia he was put on trial for his life, together with his fellow-generals, for having added, contrary to the law, four months to his term of office as Governor of Boeotia. [*](WHen the Thebans invaded the Peloponnesus, 370-369 B.C.) He bade his fellow-officers to put the responsibility on him, as if their action had been dictated by him, and said that he himself had not any words to speak better than his deeds; but if he absolutely must make a statement to the judges, he required from them as his just due, if they put him to death, to inscribe their sentence upon his tombstone, so that the Greeks might know that Epameinondas had compelled the Thebans against their will to lay waste Laconia with fire and sword, which for five hundred years [*](Plutarch in his Life of Agesilaus, chap. xxxi. (613 B), says not less than six hundred; one is probably as correct as the other.) had been unravaged; and that he had repopulated Messene after a space of two hundred and thirty years, and had organized the Arcadians and united them in a league, and had restored selfgovernment to the Greeks. As a matter of fact, all these things had been accomplished in that campaign.

When in his last battle [*](At Mantineia, in 362 B.C.) he had been wounded and carried into a tent, he called for Daiphantus, and next after him for Iolai’das, and, learning that the men were dead, he bade the Thebans to make terms with the enemy, since no general was left to them. And the facts bore out his words, for he best knew his fellow-citizens. [*](Cf. Aelian, Varia Historia, xii. 3. Other authors lay stress on the fortitude with which he met his end. Cf. Diodorus, xv. 87; Cornelius Nepos, Epaminondas, xv. 9; Valerius Maximus, iii. 2, ext. 5; Justin, Historiae Philippicae, vi. 8.)

Pelopidas, the associate of Epameinondas in command, in reply to his friends who told him that he was neglecting a very necessary business, the amassing of money, said, Yes, on my word, money is necessary—for Nicodemus here ! [*](Cf. Plutarch’s Life of Pelopidas, chap. iii. (279 C) Aelian, Varia Historia, xi. 9.) as he pointed to a lame and crippled man.

As he was leaving home for the field of battle, his wife begged him to have a care for his life. This advice, said he, should be kept for others, but for a commander and general the advice should be to have a care for the lives of the citizens. [*](Cf. the Life of Pelopidas, chap. xix. (288 C).)

When one of his soldiers said, We have fallen among the enemy, he said, Why any more than they among us ? [*](Repeated in the Life of Pelopidas, chap. xvii. (286 D). A similar remark is attributed to Leonidas, Moralia, 225 B, infra, and to an unnamed Spartan, 234 B, infra. )

When he fell a victim to the treachery of Alexander, despot of Pherae, and was put in bonds, he upbraided Alexander; and when the despot said, Are you so eager to die, he replied, Yes, I certainly am, so that the Thebans may become the more exasperated, and you may get your deserts the sooner. [*](Cf. Plutarch’s Life of Pelopidas, chap. xxviii. (293 A).)

Thebe, the despot’s wife, carne to Pelopidas and said that she was amazed because he was so cheerful in his bonds. Pelopidas replied that he was even more amazed at her because she without being in bonds could abide Alexander. [*](Ibid. (293 B).)

After Epameinondas had obtained his general’s release, Pelopidas said that he felt grateful to Alexander; for by actual test he had now found himself more than ever to be of good courage not only in facing war but also in facing death.