Epaminondas
(
Ἐπαμεινώνδας). A Theban statesman and soldier, son of
Polymnis, and in whose praise, for both talents and rectitude, there is a remarkable
concurrence of ancient writers. Nepos observes that before Epaminondas was born and after his
death Thebes was always in subjection to some other power; while he directed her councils she
was at the head of Greece. His public life extends from the restoration of democracy by
Pelopidas and the other exiles, B.C. 379, to the battle of Mantinea, B.C. 362. In the
conspiracy by which that revolution was effected he took no part, but thenceforward he became
the prime mover of the Theban State. His policy was first directed to assert the right and to
secure the power to Thebes of controlling the other cities of Boeotia, several of which
claimed to be independent. In this cause he ventured to engage his country, single-handed, in
war with the Spartans, who marched into Boeotia, B.C. 371, with a force superior to any which
could be brought against them. The Theban generals were divided in opinion whether a battle
should be risked, for to encounter the Lacedaemonians with inferior numbers was universally
esteemed hopeless. Epaminondas prevailed upon his colleagues to venture it, and devised on
this occasion a new method of attack. Instead of joining battle along the whole line he
concentrated an overwhelming force on one point, directing the weaker part of his line to keep
back. The Spartan right being broken and their king slain, the rest of the army found it
necessary to abandon the field. This memorable battle was fought at Leuctra (B.C. 371). The
moral effect of it was much more important than the mere loss inflicted upon Sparta, for it
overthrew the prescriptive superiority in arms claimed by that State ever since its
reformation by Lycurgus.
This brilliant success led Epaminondas to the second object of his policy, the overthrow of
the supremacy of Sparta and the substitution of Thebes as the leader of Greece in the
democratic interest. In this hope a Theban army, under his command, marched into the
Peloponnesus early in the winter, B.C. 369, and, in conjunction with the Eleans, Arcadians,
and Argives, invaded and laid waste a large part of Laconia. Numbers of the Helots took that
opportunity to shake off a most oppressive slavery; and Epaminondas struck a deadly blow
at the power of Sparta by establishing these descendants of the old Messenians on Mount
Ithomé in Messenia, as an independent State, and inviting their countrymen,
scattered through Italy and Sicily, to return to their ancient patrimony. Numbers obeyed the
call. This memorable event is known in history as the return of the Messenians, and two
hundred years had elapsed since their expulsion. In B.C. 368, Epaminondas again led an army
into the Peloponnesus; but, not fulfilling the expectations of the people, he was disgraced
and, according to Diodorus (xv. 71), was ordered to serve in the ranks: In that capacity he is
said to have saved the army in Thessaly when entangled in dangers which threatened it with
destruction, being required by the general voice to assume the command. He is not again heard
of in a public capacity till B.C. 366, when he was sent to support the democratic interest in
Achaia, and by his moderation and judgment brought that whole confederation over to the Theban
alliance without bloodshed or banishment. It soon became plain, however, that a mere change of
masters—Thebes instead of Sparta—would be of no service to the Grecian
States. Achaia first, then Elis, then Mantinea and a great part of Arcadia, returned to the
Lacedaemonian alliance. To check this defection, Epaminondas led an army into the Peloponnesus
for the fourth time, in B.C. 362. Joined by the Argives, Messenians, and part of the
Arcadians, he entered Laconia and endeavoured to take Sparta by surprise; but the vigilance of
Agesilaüs just frustrated his scheme. Epaminondas then marched against Mantinea, near
which was fought the celebrated battle in which he fell. The disposition of his troops on this
occasion was an improvement on that by which he had gained the battle of Leuctra, and would
have had the same decisive success, but that, in the critical moment, when the Lacedaemonian
line was just broken, he received a mortal wound, said to have been inflicted by Gryllus, the
son of Xenophon. The Theban army was paralyzed by this misfortune; nothing was done to profit
by a victory which might have been made certain; and this battle, on which the expectation of
all Greece waited, led to no important result.
Whether Epaminondas could much longer have upheld Thebes in the rank to which he had raised
her is very doubtful; without him she fell at once to her former obscurity. His character is
certainly one of the noblest recorded in Greek history. His private life was moral and
refined, his public conduct uninfluenced by personal ambition or by personal hatred. He was a
sincere lover of his country; and if, in his schemes for her advancement, he was indifferent
to the injury done to other members of the Grecian family, this is a fault from which,
perhaps, no Greek statesman except Aristides was free. His life was written in Latin by
Cornelius Nepos; and in recent times in German by Bauch
(1834) and Pomtow
(1870). See also Sankey,
Spartan and Theban Supremacies
(London, 1877).