[53]
And as for the condition of the Thebans, surely you have not failed to note that also. They won a splendid victory1 and covered themselves with glory, but because they did not make good use of their success they are now in no better case than those who have suffered defeat and failure. For no sooner had they triumphed over their foes than, neglecting everything else, they began to annoy the cities of the Peloponnese;2 they made bold to reduce Thessaly to subjection;3 they threatened their neighbors, the Megarians;4 they robbed our city of a portion of its territory;5 they ravaged Euboea;6 they sent men-of-war to Byzantium,7 as if they purposed to rule both land and sea;
1 Battle of Leuctra, 371 B.C.
2 Epaminondas invaded the Peloponnese in 369, 368, 366, 362, stirring up the cities there against Sparta. Dio. Sic. 15.62-75.
3 By conquering Alexander of Pherae. Dio. Sic. 15.67.
4 The Megarians sided with Sparta when Agesilaus invaded Boeotia in 378. Xen. Hell. 5.4.41.
5 The border town of Oropus, 366 B.C. Xen. Hell. 7.4.1.
6 See Dem. 18.99.
7 One hundred ships under Epaminondas, 364 B.C. Dio. Sic. 15.78-79.
Isocrates. Isocrates with an English Translation in three volumes, by George Norlin, Ph.D., LL.D. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1980.
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