sited the houses of the poor, that he might know of them how to want. He should be ashamed, he said, of spending more at his table or on his dress than the meanest Theban. And he was only thus severe upon himself, that he might have wherewithal to maintain a greater number of honest men, who wanted assistance.

They were both equally designed by nature for great things, but with this difference, that Pelopidas applied himself most to the exercise of the body, and Epaminondas to the cultivation of the mind. The one employed all his leisure in wrestling and hunting, and the other in conversation and study of philosophy.

But what has most of all been admired in them by men of judgment is, that strict friendship and unalterable union in which they lived during the whole course of their lives, though almost always employed together either in the command of the army, or the government of the commonwealth; an union founded upon the mutual esteem they had for each other, and increased by the love of their country, which made each of them look upon the success of the other, as his own. This good understanding and agreement,

so seldom or almost never found amongst ministers of state, as may be seen in the case of the great men of Athens, could arise only from a real greatness of soul, and a solid virtue, which not consulting glory, or riches, the fatal sources of dissention and envy, and considering only the interest and happiness of their country, was far superior to the little weakness of that mean jealousy, which feels uneasiness at the merit of others.

The first and most glorious proof Pelopidas gave of his courage and prudence was the bold design he

laid

cotia vit conspiracy against the tyrants. Dut

though this affair had been carried on with all possible secrecy, within a moment before the execution, a messenger, who had made all imaginable speed, enquired for Archias the chief of the tyrants, who were then feasting together, and gave a letter into his hands, which he said required immediate dispatch, and was about serious affairs. And indeed it was afterwards known, that it contained a circumstantial account of the whole conspiracy. [a] Archias smiling, To-morrow then, says he, for serious business; and put the letter under the cushion on which he lolled. But there was no to-morrow for him; for he was killed that night with all the tyrants, and the citadel recovered. The change which soon after happened in their affairs, and the war which humbled the pride of Sparta, and deprived them of their empire by sea and land, might properly be said to be the work of that night, in which Pelopidas, without either taking castle or fort, with an handful of men, unloosed, to use that expression, and broke the bonds of the Lacedæmonian sway, which seemed morally impossible to have been either broken or unloosed.

He had afterwards a share in all the victories which Thebes gained over the Lacedæmonians. After such happy and successful expeditions, all the towns in Thessaly apply to Pelopidas for assistance against the tyrant that oppressed them. He immediately sets forward on his march, and gives them liberty by his presence. The two competitors for the crown of Macedon made choice of him to decide their quarrel. He prescribes them conditions of peace, and takes hostages of them for the security of their engagements; so great was then the fame of the power of Thebes, and

the confidence they placed in his justice. He afterwards went ambassador to the king of Persia, and was received with the greatest marks of distinction and respect; and whilst the deputies of the other republics were employed in serving their private advantage, he was engaged solely in promoting the general interest of Greece; and without asking any thing for his country, studied only to procure the liberty of all the Greeks, and their entire independency. Contented with having obtained that, and little affected with the magnificent presents offered him by the king, he accepted only of such as, without enriching him, barely expressed the good-will and favour of the prince,

So many great actions ter ninated in a very glorious death indeed, but not altogether such as might be desired for so great a man; for Pelopidas pursuing too briskly the tyrant of Phere, who fled before him, and had covered himself behind the company of his guards, was at last overpowered by numbers, after having acted prodigies of valour. He should have remembered that great men are accountable to their country. for their lives, and ought to die for that alone, and not for themselves.

As to Epaminondas [b], he has deservedly been considered as the greatest man Greece ever produced, or perhaps the world. [c] It would be hard to say, whether he was a better general or man. He had all the great qualities of the most famous captains, as Diodorus Siculus observes, and none of their vices. He was alike averse to ambition and avarice. He sought to procure his country the command, and not to command himself. Riches were so far from being a temptation, that he never suffered them to approach him ; it seems as if he should have thought himself disho

[b] Thebanum Epaminondam, haud scio an summum virum Græ ciæ. Cic. 1. 2. de Orat. n. 139.

sibi semper, sed patriæ quæsivit: & pecuniæ adeo parcus fuit, ut sumptus funeri defuerit. Justin. 1. 6. [c] Fuit incertum, vir melior an c. 8. dux esset. Nam & imperium non

noured

OF PROFANE HISTORY.

noured by growing rich; and his poverty attended
him to his grave, whither he was carried at the ex-
pence of the public. As he was born poor, he re-
solved to continue so; and his friend Pelopidas could
never prevail upon him to think otherwise. "I am
not ashamed, said he to him, of a poverty that has
not prevented me from deserving the first employ-
ments in the commonwealth, and the command of
"her armies. Poverty has brought no shame upon
me, nor will I bring any upon poverty, by quit-
ting it."

[d] He was as little solicitous about glory as mo-
ney. He never made any interest for offices: digni-
ties courted him, and often did violence to his mo-
desty in obliging him to accept them; though he al-
ways discharged them in such a manner as did more
honour to them than they to him.

His integrity, sincerity, and invincible love of justice, procured him the entire confidence of his citizens, and even of his enemies. Nobody could avoid loving and admiring him for his good nature and affability, which nothing could alter; nor did they in the least take away from the high esteem and veneration, which his great qualities had gained him. [e] It is in virtues of this social kind that Plutarch places the real grandeur of Epaminondas. Nor indeed is any thing more extraordinary than such qualities with an almost absolute power in the midst of wars, and victories, and at the head of the greatest affairs; nor can any thing more necessary be proposed for the imitation of persons of quality, who are often tempted to substitute artifice, dissimulation, airs of haugh-' tiness and pride, instead of them.

[d] Gloriæ quoque non cupidior. quàm pecuniæ; quippe recusanti omnia imperia ingesta sunt; honoresque ita gessit, ut ornamentum non accipere, sed dare ipsi dignitati videretur. Jam literarum studium

mirabile videretur, unde tam insig
nis militiæ scientia homini inter li-
teras nato. Just. ibid,

[e] Ἦν ἀληθῶς μέγας ἐγκρατεία,
καὶ δικαιοσύνη, καὶ μεγαλοψυχία,
garn. Plut, in Pelop.

37

His elevation of mind made him always bear with mildness and patience the jealousy of his equals, the ill humour of his citizens, the calumnies of his enemies, and the ingratitude of his country after his great services. [f] He was fully of opinion, that greatness of soul consisted principally in suffering these trials without concern, complaining, or abating any thing of his zeal for the public good; [g] because the ill usage of our country, like that of our parents, should be borne with submission.

There never was a greater master in the art of war. In him intrepid valour was united with the most consummate prudence. And all these virtues were no less the effect of his excellent education, than of his happy genius From his infancy he had expressed such a wonderful taste for study and labour, that one would wonder how a man born in the midst of letters, and brought up in the bosom of philosophy, could have possibly acquired so perfect a knowledge in the art of war. Thus great men are formed; which we cannot inculcate too much into youth designed for the army, the service of the state, or any employment in general whatsoever, as several of them are apt to look upon study as useless, and almost dishonourable. [h] Tully, in his third book de Oratore, gives a long list of the most illustrious officers in Greece, who were all very industrious to improve their minds by the study of the sciences, and philosophy in particular. Among these were Pisistratus, Pericles, Alcibiades, Dion of Syracuse, whom we shall speak of by and by, Timotheus the son of Conon, Agesilaus, and Epaminondas. It is a great misfortune for persons raised to preferments and the administration of public affairs to enter upon them, as Tully expresses it, naked and unarmed, i. e. without knowledge, understanding, or

[9] Τὸ δὲ (υκοφάνημα καὶ τὴν πείρην "Επαμεινώνδας ἤνεγκε πράως μέγα μέρος ανδρείας και μεγαλοψυχίας τὴν ἐν τοῖς πολιτικοῖς ανεξικακίαν wolper. Plut, in Pelop.

[g] Ut parentum sævitiam, si patria, patiendo ac ferendo leni endam esse. Liv. 1. 37. n. 34.

[b] Lib. 3. de Oratore, n. 137

141.

almos