μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ἐν Θεσσαλίᾳ δυναστεύων Ἀλέξανδρος Πελοπίδαν ἐλθόντα—ἀφίκετο δὲ ὡς παρὰ ἄνδρα ἰδίᾳ τε εὔνουν αὑτῷ καὶ Θηβαίων φίλον τῷ κοινῷ— παραγενόμενον δὴ τὸν Πελοπίδαν ὁ Ἀλέξανδρος δήσας εἶχεν ὑπὸ ἀπιστίας τε καὶ ὕβρεως· Θηβαῖοι δὲ ἐπεξιέναι παραυτίκα ἐπὶ τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον ὥρμηντο. ἡγεμόνας μὲν οὖν τῆς ἐξόδου Κλεομένην καὶ Ὕπατον ἐποιήσαντο βοιωταρχοῦντας ἐν τῷ τότε· Ἐπαμινώνδᾳ δὲ συνέβαινεν ἐν τοῖς στρατευομένοις τετάχθαι.
γεγονυίας δὲ ἐκτὸς Πυλῶν οἱ τῆς δυνάμεως ἐπιτίθεταί σφισιν ἐν δυσχωρίαις λοχήσας ὁ Ἀλέξανδρος· ὡς δὲ ἐφαίνετο ἄπορα εἶναι τὰ τῆς σωτηρίας, οὕτω δὴ ὅ τε λοιπὸς στρατὸς ἡγεμόνα ποιοῦνται τὸν Ἐπαμινώνδαν καὶ οἱ Βοιωτάρχαι παραχωροῦσιν ἑκουσίως τῆς ἀρχῆς· Ἀλέξανδρος δὲ οὔτε ἔτι ἐθάρρει τὸν πόλεμον στρατηγοῦντα ὁρῶν τοῖς ἐναντίοις Ἐπαμινώνδαν καὶ ἑκὼν Πελοπίδαν ἀφίησιν.
ἐν ὅσῳ δὲ ἀπῆν ὁ Ἐπαμινώνδας, Ὀρχομενίους Θηβαῖοι ποιοῦσιν ἀναστάτους ἐκ τῆς χώρας· συμφορὰν δὲ τὴν ἀνάστασιν τὴν Ὀρχομενίων ἐνόμιζεν ὁ Ἐπαμινώνδας καὶ οὔ ποτʼ ἂν ἐξεργασθῆναι τόλμημα τοιοῦτον αὐτοῦ γε παρόντος ἔφασκεν ὑπὸ Θηβαίων.
ὡς δὲ βοιωταρχεῖν αὖθις ᾕρητο καὶ στρατῷ Βοιωτῶν ἀφίκετο αὖθις ἐς Πελοπόννησον, ἐκράτησε μὲν περὶ Λέχαιον Λακεδαιμονίους μάχῃ, σὺν δέ σφισιν Ἀχαιῶν Πελληνέας καὶ Ἀθηναίων οὓς Χαβρίας ἦγεν ἐξ Ἀθηνῶν. Θηβαίοις δὲ ἦν καθεστηκὸς τοὺς μὲν ἄλλους, ὁπόσους αἰχμαλώτους ἕλοιεν, ἀφιέναι χρημάτων, τοὺς δὲ ἐκ Βοιωτῶν φεύγοντας ζημιοῦν θανάτῳ· πόλισμα οὖν ἑλὼν Σικυωνίων Φοιβίαν, ἔνθα ἦσαν τὸ πολὺ οἱ Βοιώτιοι φυγάδες συνηγμένοι, ἀφίησι τοὺς ἐγκαταληφθέντας, ἄλλην σφίσιν ἣν ἔτυχε πατρίδα ἐπονομάζων ἑκάστῳ.
ὡς δὲ ἀφίκετο πρὸς Μαντίνειαν τῇ στρατιᾷ, νικῶν καὶ τότε ὑπὸ ἀνδρὸς ἀπέθανεν Ἀθηναίου· καὶ Ἀθήνῃσιν ἐν ἱππέων μάχῃ τὸν Ἐπαμινώνδαν ὁ ἀνὴρ οὗτος γέγραπται φονεύων Γρύλος ὁ Ξενοφῶντος, Ξενοφῶντος δὴ τοῦ Κύρῳ ὁδοῦ μετασχόντος ἐπὶ βασιλέα Ἀρταξέρξην καὶ ὀπίσω τοῖς Ἕλλησιν ἐπὶ θάλασσαν ἡγησαμένου.
τῷ δὲ ἀνδριάντι τοῦ Ἐπαμινώνδου καὶ ἐλεγεῖα ἔπεστιν ἄλλα τε ἐς αὐτὸν λέγοντα καὶ ὅτι Μεσσήνης γένοιτο οἰκιστὴς καὶ τοῖς Ἕλλησιν ὑπάρξειεν ἐλευθερία διʼ αὐτοῦ. καὶ οὕτως ἔχει τὰ ἐλεγεῖα· ἡμετέραις βουλαῖς Σπάρτη μὲν ἐκείρατο δόξαν, / Μεσσήνη δʼ ἱερὴ τέκνα χρόνῳ δέχεται· / Θήβης δʼ ὅπλοισιν Μεγάλη πόλις ἐστεφάνωται, / αὐτόνομος δʼ Ἑλλὰς πᾶσʼ ἐν ἐλευθερίῃ. / τούτῳ μὲν τοσαῦτα ἦν ἐς δόξαν·
After this it happened that Pelopidas, paying a visit at the court of Alexander in Thessaly, in the belief that the prince was friendly to Thebes and well disposed to himself, was by that prince faithlessly and wantonly detained in bonds. The Thebans immediately prepared to march against Alexander. Cleomenes and Hypatus, the Boeotarchs for the time being, were appointed to command the expedition; and Epaminondas chanced to serve in the ranks. When the force had advanced beyond Thermopylae, Alexander surprised it in difficult ground. The situation seeming desperate, the army made Epaminondas general, and the Boeotarchs voluntarily resigned the command. But when Alexander saw Epaminondas in command of the enemy, he lost all stomach for fighting, and voluntarily released Pelopidas.
In the absence of Epaminondas the Thebans expelled the Orchomenians from their land. Their expulsion was regarded as a calamity by Epaminondas, and he declared that such an outrage would never have been perpetrated by the Thebans if he had been present. Being again elected Boeotarch, he again marched with a Boeotian army into Peloponnese and defeated the Lacedaemonians at Lechaeum, in a battle in which the Lacedaemonians were supported by the Achaeans of Pellene and an Athenian contingent under Chabrias. It was a rule with the Thebans to hold their prisoners to ransom, but to put to death all Boeotian fugitives who fell into their hands. So when Epaminondas had captured a Sicyonian town named Phoebia, where most of the Boeotian fugitives were assembled, he nominally assigned to each of the men he caught in it a different nationality and let them go.
When he led his army to Mantinea he was still victorious, but even in the hour of victory he fell by the hand of an Athenian. In the picture of the cavalry fight at Athens this man is depicted in the act of killing Epaminondas: he was Grylus, son of that Xenophon who marched with Cyrus against King Artaxerxes, and led the Greeks back to the sea.
On the statue of Epaminondas is an inscription in elegiac verse in which, among other things, it is mentioned that he was the founder of Messene, and that Greece attained freedom through him. The verses run thus :— By my counsels Sparta was shorn of her glory, And sacred Messene received her children at last, And, thanks to Thebe’s weapons, Megalopolis was girt with walls, And all Greece became independent and free. So many were his titles to fame.
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