Chapter LXXIX (4)

Meanwhile his friend and colleague Pelopidas had marched into Thessaly against the despot Alexander; who was now at the height of his power, holding in dependence a large portion of Thessaly together with the Phthiot Achæans and the Magnetes, and having Athens as his ally. Nevertheless, so revolting had been his cruelties, and so numerous were the malcontents who had sent to invite aid from Thebes, that Pelopidas did not despair of overpowering him. Nor was he daunted even by an eclipse of the sun, which is said to have occurred just as he was commencing his march, nor by the gloomy warnings which the prophets founded upon it; though this event intimidated many of his fellow-citizens, so that his force was rendered less numerous as well as less confident. Arriving at Pharsalus, and strengthening himself by the junction of his Thessalian allies, he found Alexander approaching to meet him at the head of a well-appointed mercenary force, greatly superior in number. The two chiefs contended who should occupy first the hills called Kynos Kephalæ, or the Dog’s Heads. Pelopidas arrived there first with his cavalry, beat the cavalry of the enemy, and pursued them to some distance; but he thus left the hills open to be occupied by the numerous infantry of the enemy, while his own infantry, coming up later, were repulsed with loss in their attempt to carry the position. Thus unpromising did the battle appear, when Pelopidas returned from the pursuit. Ordering his victorious cavalry to charge the infantry on the hill in flank, he immediately dismounted, seized his shield, and put himself at the head of his own discouraged infantry, whom he again led up the hill to attack the position. His presence infused so much fresh ardor, that his troops, in spite of being twice repulsed, succeeded in a third attempt to drive the enemy from the summit of the hill. Thus master of the hill, Pelopidas saw before him the whole army of the enemy, retiring in some disorder, though not yet beaten; while Alexander in person was on the right wing, exerting himself to rally and encourage them. When Pelopidas beheld, as it were within his reach, this detested enemy,—whose treacherous arrest and dungeon he had himself experienced, and whose cruelties filled every one’s mouth,—he was seized with a transport of rage and madness, like Cyrus the younger on the field of Kunaxa at the sight of his brother Artaxerxes. Without thinking of his duties as a general, or even looking to see by whom he was followed, he rushed impetuously forward, with loud cries and challenges to Alexander to come forth and fight. The latter, declining the challenge, retired among his guards, into the midst of whom Pelopidas plunged, with the few who followed him; and there, while fighting with desperate bravery, met his death. So rapidly had this rash proceeding been consummated, that his army behind did not at first perceive it. But they presently hastened forward to rescue or avenge him, vigorously charged the troops of Alexander, and put them to flight with severe loss.[665]

[665] For the description of this memorable scene, see Plutarch,
Pelopidas, c. 31, 32; Diodor. xv, 80, 81; Cornel. Nepos. Pelopid.
c. 5.

Yet this victory, though important to the Thebans, and still more important to the Thessalians, was to both of them robbed of all its sensible value by the death of Pelopidas. The demonstrations of grief throughout the army were unbounded and universal. The soldiers yet warm from their victory, the wounded men with wounds yet untended, flocked around the corpse, piling up near to it as a trophy the arms of the slain enemies. Many, refusing either to kindle fire, or to touch their evening meal, testified their affliction by cutting off their own hair as well as the manes of their horses. The Thessalian cities vied with each other in tokens of affectionate respect, and obtained from the Thebans permission to take the chief share in his funeral, as their lost guardian and protector. At Thebes, the emotion was no less strikingly manifested. Endeared to his countrymen first as the head of that devoted handful of exiles who braved every peril to rescue the city from the Lacedæmonians, Pelopidas had been reëlected without interruption to the annual office of Bœotarch during all the years that had since elapsed[666] (378-364 B.C.). He had taken a leading part in all their struggles, and all their glories; he had been foremost to cheer them in the hour of despondency; he had lent himself, with the wisdom of a patriot and the generosity of a friend, to second the guiding ascendency of Epaminondas, and his moderation of dealing towards conquered enemies.[667]

[666] Diodor. xv, 81. Plutarch (Pelop. c. 34) states
substantially the same.

[667] Plutarch, Compar. Pelopid. and Marcell. c. 1.

All that Thebes could do, was, to avenge the death of Pelopidas. The Theban generals, Malkitas and Diogeiton,[668] conducted a powerful force of seven thousand hoplites into Thessaly, and put themselves at the head of their partisans in that country. With this united army, they pressed Alexander hard, completely worsted him, and reduced him to submit to their own terms. He was compelled to relinquish all his dependencies in Thessaly; to confine himself to Pheræ, with its territory near the Gulf of Pagasæ; and to swear adherence to Thebes as a leader. All Thessaly, together with the Phthiot Achæans and the Magnêtes, became annexed to the headship of the Thebans, who thus acquired greater ascendency in Northern Greece than they had ever enjoyed before.[669] The power of Alexander was effectually put down on land; but he still continued both powerful and predatory at sea, as will be seen in the ensuing year.

[668] Diodor. (xv, 78) places in one and the same year both,—1.
The maritime project of Epaminondas, including his recommendation
of it, the equipment of the fleet, and the actual expedition. 2.
The expedition of Pelopidas into Thessaly, with its immediate
consequences.—He mentions the former of the two first, but he
places both in the first year of Olympiad 104, the year in which
Timokrates was archon at Athens; that is, from Midsummer 364
to Midsummer 363 B.C. He passes immediately from the maritime
expedition into an allusion to the battle of Mantinea, which (he
says) proved fatal to Epaminondas and hindered him from following
up his ideas of maritime activity.

The battle of Mantinea took place in June or July 362 B.C. The
maritime expedition, immediately preceding that battle, would
therefore naturally take place in the summer of 363 B.C.; the
year 364 B.C. having been occupied in the requisite naval
equipments.

I incline to think that the march of Pelopidas into Thessaly also
took place during 363 B.C., and that his death thus occurred
while Epaminondas was absent on shipboard. A probable reason is
thus supplied why the second Theban army which went to avenge
Pelopidas, was commanded, not by his friend and colleague
Epaminondas, but by other generals. Had Epaminondas been then at
home, this would hardly have been.

The eclipse of the sun, which both Plutarch and Diodorus mention
to have immediately preceded the out-march of Pelopidas, does
not seem to have been as yet certainly identified. Dodwell, on
the authority of an astronomical friend, places it on the 13th
of June, 364 B.C., at five o’clock in the morning. On the other
hand, Calvisius places it on the 13th of July in the same Julian
year, at a quarter before eleven o’clock in the day (see L’Art de
Vérifier les Dates, tom. i, p. 257). We may remark, that the day
named by Dodwell (as he himself admits) would not fall within the
Olympic year 364-363 B.C., but during the months preceding the
commencement of that year. Moreover Dodwell speaks as if there
were no other months in the year, except June, July, and August,
fit for military expeditions; an hypothesis not reasonable to
admit.

Sievers and Dr. Thirlwall both accept the eclipse mentioned by
Dodwell, as marking the time when the expedition of Pelopidas
commenced—June 364 B.C. But against this, Mr. Clinton takes
no notice of it in his tables; which seems to show that he was
not satisfied as to the exactness of Dodwell’s statement or
the chronological identity. If it should turn out, on farther
astronomical calculations, that there occurred no eclipse of
the sun in the year 363 B.C., visible at Thebes,—I should then
fix upon the eclipse mentioned by Calvisius (13 July 364 B.C.)
as identifying the time of the expedition of Pelopidas; which
would, on that supposition, precede by eight or nine months
the commencement of the transmarine cruise of Epaminondas. The
eclipse mentioned by Calvisius is preferable to that mentioned by
Dodwell, because it falls within the Olympic year indicated by
Diodorus.

But it appears to me that farther astronomical information is
here required.

[669] Plutarch, Pelopid. c. 35.