Pausanias Analysis

Epaminondas inherited from his ancestors renown of lineage, though his father's limited financial means placed him within the middle rank of Theban society. His education included meticulous mastery of the customary native subjects, and when he was already a youth he studied under Lysis, a man who was by birth from Tarentum and knowledgeable in the doctrines of Pythagoras of Samos. It is said that when the Lacedaemonians were at war with the Mantineans, Epaminondas was sent along with other men from Thebes to assist the Lacedaemonians. During the battle, he himself sustained wounds, yet saved Pelopidas, who had been injured, rescuing him at the utmost risk to his own life.

Some time afterward, Epaminondas arrived in Sparta on an embassy, when the Lacedaemonians said that they were ready to make peace with the Greeks on terms known as the peace of Antalcidas. At this time Agesilaus asked Epaminondas whether the Thebans would allow the oath concerning the peace to be sworn on a city-by-city basis. Epaminondas replied, "We will certainly not consent to that, Spartans, until we see your own perioikoi likewise swearing their oaths city by city."

When war now had broken out between the Lacedaemonians and Thebans, the Lacedaemonians advanced against the Thebans with the full force of themselves and their allies. Epaminondas, having a part of the army, took up a position by Lake Cephisis, in the expectation that the Peloponnesians would invade through that region. Cleombrotus, the Lacedaemonian king, however, turned towards Ambrossus, a city belonging to the Phocians. After killing Chaereas, who had been assigned to guard the passes, along with the other Thebans who were with him, he passed through and arrived in Leuctra, in the territory of Boeotia.

At this place, signs from the god appeared both to Cleombrotus himself and to the Spartan people in common. It was customary for their kings, whenever they set out on expeditions, to have sheep accompany them for sacrifices to the gods and divination before battles; yet in these flocks goats served as leaders on the march, which the shepherds call "katoiades." At that time, wolves attacked the flock, but no harm befell the sheep; instead, the wolves killed only the goats called "katoiades."

And it was said that resentment towards the Lacedaemonians came also from the daughters of Skedasos. For Skedasos, who lived near Leuktra, had two daughters, Molpia and Hippo; and when they reached youthful maturity, they were outrageously violated by two Spartans, Phrurarchidas and Parthenios. Immediately afterward, the maidens—since they could not bear the shame of their violation—hanged themselves. Skedasos, traveling to Lacedaemon, could obtain no redress whatsoever; then returning thus to Leuktra, he ended his own life.

Then Epaminondas offered sacrifices and prayed to Skedasos and his daughters, declaring that the battle would be fought no less for vengeance upon their murderers than for the safety of Thebes. But among the Boeotarchs opinions did not coincide, and their views differed considerably from one another. Epaminondas, along with Malgis and Xenokrates, preferred to engage the Spartans swiftly, whereas Damokleidas, Damophilos and Simangelos opposed giving battle, advising instead to send away their women and children to Attica and to prepare themselves to endure a siege.

The votes of the six commanders had thus far been equally divided. However, when the vote of the seventh Boeotarch, who was stationed to guard the passage by Cithaeron—his name was Brachyllides—was added to the side of Epaminondas upon his return to the camp, all agreed at last to decide the issue through battle.

Epaminondas had suspected the loyalty of other Boeotians as well, but his suspicion was even greater against the Thespians. Therefore, fearing they might betray him in the midst of action, he gave leave to depart openly from the camp to whoever wished to go home. As a consequence, the Thespians departed altogether, along with any other Boeotians who harbored disaffection toward the Thebans.

But when they had come to close combat, at this point the allies of the Lacedaemonians, never having previously been satisfied with them, showed their animosity most clearly: unwilling to hold their ground, they yielded wherever the enemy attacked them. But the Lacedaemonians themselves and the Thebans were equally matched in battle, the former relying upon their previous military experience and at the same time motivated by a sense of shame lest they undermine the prestige of Sparta, while the Thebans saw the danger ahead as a struggle for their homeland, their women, and their children.

But when Cleombrotus, the king, as well as other high-ranking Lacedaemonians had fallen, then even in their distress necessity compelled the Spartans not to yield; for among the Lacedaemonians, it was considered most shameful that the body of a king who had fallen among enemy forces should be left abandoned to them.

For the Thebans, the victory was the most glorious of any ever won by Greeks against Greeks. The Spartans the following day decided to bury their dead and sent a herald to the Thebans. Epaminondas, aware that the Spartans were always accustomed to concealing their misfortunes, told them he would grant permission to recover their dead only after they had first given leave for their allies to do so; and once the allies had recovered their dead, then he judged it right that the Spartans should bury their own.

Since some of their allies entirely denied having casualties, claiming that none of their men had fallen, and others appeared to have suffered only slight losses, the Lacedaemonians buried their own dead, and it had by this time become clear that those lying there were Spartans. Of the Thebans and those of the Boeotians who had remained with them, forty-seven men perished, while of the Lacedaemonians themselves more than a thousand were killed.