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[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.

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.

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