Regum et imperatorum apophthegmata

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.