Nepos: LIBER DE EXCELLENTIBUS DVCIBUS EXTERARVM GENTIVM

PELOPIDAS Thebanus, magis historicis quam vulgo notus. Cuius de virtutibus dubito, quemadmodum exponam, quod vereor; si res explicare incipiam, ne non vitam eius enarrare, sed historiam videar scribere; si 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.

PELOPIDAS, a Theban, is more known to historians than to the common crowd. Concerning his virtues I hesitate how I should expound them, because I fear; if I begin to explicate the matters, I may seem not to narrate his life, but to write a history; if I touch only the main points, I fear that to those untutored in Greek letters it may appear less clearly how great that man was. Therefore I will anticipate both concerns, as far as I am able, and I will remedy both the surfeit and the ignorance of the readers.

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. 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 resistere auderent.

2 Phoebidas the Lacedaemonian, when he was leading an army to Olynthus and was making the march through Thebes, seized the citadel of the town, which is called the Cadmea, at the instigation of a few Thebans who, that they might more easily withstand the rival faction, were favoring the interests of the Laconians; and he did this by his own private, not public, counsel. After this deed the Lacedaemonians removed him from the army and fined him with money, nor for that did they any the more return the citadel to the Thebans, because, hostilities having been undertaken, they considered it better that they be besieged than set free. For after the Peloponnesian War and Athens conquered, they thought that their concern was with the Thebans, and that they alone were those who would dare to resist against them.

Hac mente amicis suis summas potestates dederant alteriusque factionis principes partim interfecerant, alios in exsilium eiecerant; in quibus Pelopidas hic, de quo scribere exorsi sumus, pulsus patria carebat.

With this intention they had granted to their friends the supreme powers and had partly slain the leaders of the other faction, and had cast others into exile; among whom was this Pelopidas, about whom we have begun to write, expelled from his fatherland and without 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. Itaque cum tempus est visum rei gerendae, communiter cum iis, qui Thebis idem sentiebant, diem delegerunt ad inimicos opprimendos civitatemque liberandam eum, quo maximi magistratus simul consuerant epulari.

[2] Almost all these had betaken themselves to Athens, not in order to pursue leisure, but so that, from whatever place close at hand fortune might offer, from there they might strive to recover their fatherland. And so, when the time seemed right for the affair to be carried out, together with those who in Thebes felt the same, they chose a day for oppressing their enemies and for freeing the city—the very one on which the highest magistrates were accustomed to feast together.

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 exsilio erant multati, cum omnino non essent amplius centum, qui tanto se offerrent periculo.

3 Great affairs have often been conducted with not so great forces; but surely never from so slender a beginning have such great resources been overthrown. For twelve very young men came together from among those who had been penalized with exile, when altogether there were not more than a hundred who would offer themselves to so great a peril.

4 Qua paucitate percussa est Lacedaemoniorum potentia. Hi 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.

4 By this paucity the power of the Lacedaemonians was struck. For they at that time brought war not so much against the faction of their adversaries as against the Spartans, who were the leaders of all Greece; the majesty of whose dominion, not much later, from this beginning, was smitten and collapsed in the battle of Leuctra.

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.

5 Those twelve therefore, whose leader was Pelopidas, when they had set out from Athens by day, so that, with the sky toward evening, they might be able to reach Thebes, went out with hunting dogs, carrying nets, in rustic dress, in order that they might make the journey with less suspicion. And when they had arrived at the very time which they had aimed at, they turned aside to the house of Charon, by whom both the time and the day had been appointed.

[3] Hoc loco libet interponere, etsi seiunctum ab re proposita est, nimia fiducia quantae calamitati soleat esse. Nam magistratuum Thebanorum statim ad auris pervenit exules in urbem venisse. Id illi vino epulisque dediti usque eo despexerunt, ut ne quaerere quidem de tanta re laborarint.

[3] At this point I am pleased to interpose—though it is separated from the proposed matter—how great a calamity excessive confidence is wont to be. For it straightway came to the ears of the Theban magistrates that the exiles had come into the city. They, given over to wine and banquets, so despised this that they did not even take pains to inquire about so great a matter.

2 Accessit etiam quod magis aperiret eorum dementiam. Allata est enim epistula Athenis ab Archino uni ex his 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 severas.'

2 Something was also added that would make their madness more evident. For a letter was brought from Athens by Archinus to Archias, one of these men, who at that time was holding the highest magistracy at Thebes, in which everything about their departure had been written out. When it had been handed to him as he was already reclining at a banquet, just as it was sealed, slipping it under his cushion, `For tomorrow' he says `I defer serious matters.'

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 exsilium eiecerunt.

3 But all of them, when night had already advanced, being drunk, were slain by the exiles under Pelopidas as leader. With these things accomplished, the populace having been called to arms and to liberty, not only those who were in the city, but also from all sides out of the fields flocked together; they drove the Lacedaemonian garrison from the citadel, freed their fatherland from siege, and the authors of the occupation of the Cadmea they partly killed, partly cast into exile.

[4] Hoc tam turbido tempore, sicut supra docuimus, Epaminondas quoad cum civibus dimicatum est, domi quietus fuit. Itaque haec liberandarum Thebarum propria laus est Pelopidae: ceterae fere communes cum Epaminonda.

[4] In this so turbulent a time, as we have shown above, Epaminondas, so long as there was fighting with his fellow citizens, remained quiet at home. Therefore this credit for the liberation of Thebes is proper to Pelopidas; the rest are for the most part common with Epaminondas.

2 Namque in Leuctrica pugna imperatore Epaminonda hic fuit dux delectae manus, quae prima phalangem prostravit Laconum.

2 For indeed, in the battle of Leuctra, Epaminondas being commander, he was leader of a chosen band, which was the first to prostrate the Laconian phalanx.

3 Omnibus praeterea periculis adfuit - 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.

3 Moreover, he was present at all the other dangers — as, when he attacked Sparta, he held the other wing —, and also, in order that Messenia might be restored more quickly, he set out as legate to the Persians. Finally, he was the other personage at Thebes, yet second in such a way as to be next to Epaminondas.

[5] Conflictatus autem est cum 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.

[5] Moreover, he was buffeted by adverse fortune. For at the beginning, as we have shown, as an exile he was deprived of his fatherland; and when he wished to reduce Thessaly into the power of the Thebans and thought himself sufficiently covered by the right of legation, which had been accustomed to be sacred among all nations, he was seized by the tyrant Alexander of Pherae together with Ismenias and cast into chains.

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.

2 This man Epaminondas recovered, pursuing Alexander by war. After this deed he could never in mind be appeased toward him by whom he had been violated. Therefore he persuaded the Thebans to set out as a succor to Thessaly and to drive out its tyrants.

3 Cuius belli cum ei summa esset data eoque cum exercitu profectus esset, non dubitavit, simulac conspexit hostem, confligere.

3 When the supreme command of this war had been given to him and he had set out with the army, he did not hesitate, as soon as he caught sight of the enemy, to join battle.

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.

4 In that battle, when he noticed Alexander, inflamed with anger he urged his horse against him, and, having gone far from his own, pierced through by a volley of missiles, he fell. And this happened in a favorable victory: for the forces of the tyrants were already inclined to give way.

5 Quo facto omnes Thessaliae civitates interfectum Pelopidam coronis aureis et statuis aeneis liberosque eius multo agro donarunt.

5 With this done, all the cities of Thessaly donated to the slain Pelopidas golden crowns and brazen statues, and to his children much land.