The Spartans accordingly advanced till they came to Coroneia,
where they encamped and waited for such of their allies as were tardy. The Thebans, in view of
the presence of the enemy, first voted to remove their wives and children to safety in Athens,
then chose Epameinondas general and turned over to him the command in the war, giving him as
his advisers six boeotarchs.
[2]
Epameinondas, having conscripted
for the battle all Thebans of military age and the other Boeotians who were willing and
qualified, led forth from Thebes his army, numbering in all not more than six thousand.
[3]
As the soldiers were marching out from the city it seemed to
many that unfavourable omens appeared to the armament. For by the gates Epameinondas was met by
a blind herald, who, seeking recovery of runaway slaves, just as was usual,1 cried his warning not to take them
from Thebes nor to spirit them away, but to bring them home and keep them secure.
[4]
Now the older people amongst those who heard the herald considered it an
omen for the future; but the younger folk kept quiet so as not to appear through cowardice to
hold Epameinondas back from the expedition. But Epameinondas replied to those who told him that
he must observe the omens:“
One only omen is best, to fight for the land that is ours.
”Hom. Il. 12.243
[5]
Though Epameinondas astounded
the cautious by his forthright answer, a second omen appeared more unfavourable than the
previous one. For as the clerk advanced with a spear and a ribbon attached to it and signalled
the orders from headquarters, a breeze came up and, as it happened, the ribbon was torn from
the spear and wrapped itself around a slab that stood over a grave, and there were buried in
this spot some Lacedaemonians and Peloponnesians who had died in the expedition under
Agesilaus.
[6]
Some of the older folk who again chanced to be
there protested earnestly against leading the force out in the face of the patent opposition of
the gods; but Epameinondas, deigning them no reply, led forth his army, thinking that
considerations of nobility and regard for justice should be preferred as motives to the omens
in question.
[7]
Epameinondas accordingly, who was trained in
philosophy and applied sensibly the principles of his training, was at the moment widely
criticized, but later in the light of his successes was considered to have excelled in military
shrewdness and did contribute the greatest benefits to his country. For he immediately led
forth his army, seized in advance the pass at Coroneia, and encamped there.
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1 The Thebans had recently been slaves to Sparta, so the proclamation portended their destruction if they were led forth from the city. This translation is based on the assumption that the crier was reporting names and descriptions of slaves who had run away and whom the owners sought to recover, coupled with the warning not to export or conceal them but to arrest them and keep them safe for the owner.
Diodorus Siculus. Diodorus of Sicily in Twelve Volumes with an English Translation by C. H. Oldfather. Vol. 4-8. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1989.
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References (5 total)
- Cross-references to this page
(2):
- A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890), BOEOTARCHES
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), MEGALO´POLIS
- Cross-references from this page
(1):
- Homer, Iliad, 12.243
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