ἐκ δὲ τούτου βοιωτάρχης αἱρεθεὶς μετὰ Μέλωνος καὶ Χάρωνος ὁ Πελοπίδας εὐθὺς ἀπετείχιζε τὴν ἀκρόπολιν καὶ προσβολὰς ἐποιεῖτο πανταχόθεν, ἐξελεῖν σπουδάζων τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους καὶ τὴν Καδμείαν ἐλευθερῶσαι πρὶν ἐκ Σπάρτης στρατὸν ἐπελθεῖν.
After this, having be en elected boeotarch, or governor of Boeotia, together with Melon and Charon, Pelopidas at once blockaded the acropolis and assaulted it on every side, being anxious to drive out the Lacedaemonians and free the Cadmeia before an army came up from Sparta.
καὶ παρὰ τοσοῦτον ἔφθασεν ἀφεὶς ὑποσπόνδους τοὺς ἄνδρας ὅσον ἐν Μεγάροις οὖσιν αὐτοῖς ἀπαντῆσαι Κλεόμβροτον ἐπὶ τὰς Θήβας ἐλαύνοντα μετὰ μεγάλης δυνάμεως, οἱ δὲ Σπαρτιᾶται, τριῶν ἁρμοστῶν γενομένων ἐν Θήβαις, Ἡριππίδαν μὲν καὶ Ἄρκισσον ἀπέκτειναν κρίναντες, ὁ δὲ τρίτος Λυσανορίδας χρήμασι πολλοῖς ζημιωθεὶς αὑτὸν ἐκ τῆς Πελοποννήσου μετέστησε.
And he succeeded by so narrow a margin that, when the men had surrendered conditionally and had been allowed to depart, they got no further than Megara before they were met by Cleombrotus marching against Thebes with a great force. Of the three men who had been harmosts, or governors, in Thebes, the Spartans condemned and executed Herippidas and Arcissus, and the third, Lysanoridas, was heavily fined and forsook the Peloponnesus.
ταύτην τὴν πρᾶξιν ἀρεταῖς μὲν ἀνδρῶν καὶ κινδύνοις καὶ ἀγῶσι παραπλησίαν τῇ Θρασυβούλου γενομένην, καὶ βραβευθεῖσαν ὁμοίως ὑπὸ τῆς τύχης, ἀδελφὴν ἐκείνης προσηγόρευον οἱ Ἕλληνες, οὐ γὰρ ἔστι ῥᾳδίως ἑτέρους εἰπεῖν οἳ πλειόνων ἐλάττους καὶ δυνατωτέρων ἐρημότεροι τόλμῃ καὶ δεινότητι κρατήσαντες αἴτιοι μειζόνων ἀγαθῶν ταῖς πατρίσι κατέστησαν.
This exploit, so like that of Thrasybulus in the valour, the perils, and the struggles of its heroes, and, like that, crowned with success by fortune, the Greeks were wont to call a sister to it. For it is not easy to mention other cases where men so few in number and so destitute have overcome enemies so much more numerous and powerful by the exercise of courage and sagacity, and have thereby become the authors of so great blessings for their countries.
ἐνδοξοτέραν δὲ ταύτην ἐποίησεν ἡ μεταβολὴ τῶν πραγμάτων, ὁ γὰρ καταλύσας τὸ τῆς Σπάρτης ἀξίωμα καὶ παύσας ἄρχοντας αὐτοὺς γῆς τε καὶ θαλάττης πόλεμος ἐξ ἐκείνης ἐγένετο τῆς νυκτός, ἐν ᾗ Πελοπίδας οὐ φρούριον, οὐ τεῖχος, οὐκ ἀκρόπολιν καταλαβών, ἀλλʼ εἰς οἰκίαν δωδέκατος κατελθών, εἰ δεῖ μεταφορᾷ τὸ ἀληθὲς εἰπεῖν, ἔλυσε καὶ διέκοψε τοὺς δεσμοὺς τῆς Λακεδαιμονίων ἡγεμονίας, ἀλύτους καὶ ἀρρήκτους εἶναι δοκοῦντας.
And yet the subsequent change in the political situation made this exploit the more glorious. For the war which broke down the pretensions of Sparta and put an end to her supremacy by land and sea, began from that night, in which Pelopidas, not by surprising any fort or castle or citadel, but by coming back into a private house with eleven others, loosed and broke in pieces, if the truth may be expressed in a metaphor, the fetters of the Lacedaemonian supremacy, which were thought indissoluble and not to be broken.
ἐπεὶ τοίνυν στρατῷ μεγάλῳ Λακεδαιμονίων εἰς τήν Βοιωτίαν ἐμβαλόντων οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι περίφοβοι γενόμενοι τήν τε συμμαχίαν ἀπείπαντο τοῖς Θηβαίοις καὶ τῶν βοιωτιαζόντων εἰς τὸ δικαστήριον παραγαγόντες τοὺς μὲν ἀπέκτειναν, τοὺς δʼ ἐφυγάδευσαν, τοὺς δὲ χρήμασιν ἐζημίωσαν, ἐδόκει δὲ κακῶς ἔχειν τὰ τῶν Θηβαίων πράγματα μηδενὸς αὐτοῖς βοηθοῦντος, ἔτυχε μὲν ὁ Πελοπίδας μετὰ Γοργίδου βοιωταρχῶν, ἐπιβουλεύοντες δὲ συγκροῦσαι πάλιν τοὺς Ἀθηναίους τοῖς Λακεδαιμονίοις τοιόνδε τι μηχανῶνται.
The Lacedaemonians now invaded Boeotia with a large army, and the Athenians, having become fearful, renounced their alliance with the Thebans, and prosecuting those in their city who favoured the Boeotian cause, put some of them to death, banished others, and others still they fined, so that the Thebans seemed to be in a desperate case with none to aid them. But Pelopidas and Gorgidas, who were boeotarchs, plotted to embroil the Athenians again with the Lacedaemonians, and devised the following scheme.
Σφοδρίας, ἀνὴρ Σπαρτιάτης, εὐδόκιμος μὲν ἐν τοῖς πολεμικοῖς καὶ λαμπρός, ὑπόκουφος δὲ τήν γνώμην καὶ κενῶν ἐλπίδων καὶ φιλοτιμίας ἀνοήτου μεστός, ἀπελείφθη περὶ Θεσπιὰς μετὰ δυνάμεως τοὺς ἀφισταμένους τῶν Θηβαίων δέχεσθαι καὶ βοηθεῖν. πρὸς τοῦτον ὑποπέμπουσιν οἱ περὶ τὸν Πελοπίδαν ἰδίᾳ ἔμπορόν τινα τῶν φίλων, χρήματα κομίζοντα καὶ λόγους, οἳ τῶν χρημάτων μᾶλλον ἀνέπεισαν αὐτόν ὡς χρὴ πραγμάτων ἅψασθαι μεγάλων καὶ τὸν Πειραιᾶ καταλαβεῖν, ἀπροσδόκητον ἐπιπεσόντα μὴ φυλαττομένοις τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις·
Sphodrias, a Spartan, who had a splendid reputation as a soldier, but was rather weak in judgement and full of vain hopes and senseless ambition, had been left at Thespiae with an armed force to receive and succour the renegade Thebans. To this man Pelopidas and Gorgidas privately sent one of their friends who was a merchant, with money, and, what proved more persuasive than money with Sphodrias, this advice. He ought to put his hand to a large enterprise and seize the Piraeus, attacking it unexpectedly when the Athenians were off their guard;
Λακεδαιμονίοις τε γὰρ οὐδὲν οὕτως ἔσεσθαι κεχαρισμένον ὡς λαβεῖν τὰς Ἀθήνας, Θηβαίους τε χαλεπῶς ἔχοντας αὐτοῖς καὶ προδότας νομίζοντας οὐκ ἐπιβοηθήσειν. τέλος δὲ συμπεισθεὶς ὁ Σφοδρίας καὶ τοὺς στρατιώτας ἀναλαβών, νυκτὸς εἰς τήν Ἀττικὴν ἐνέβαλε. καὶ μέχρι μὲν Ἐλευσῖνος προῆλθεν, ἐκεῖ δὲ τῶν στρατιωτῶν ἀποδειλιασάντων φανερὸς γενόμενος, καὶ συνταράξας οὐ φαῦλον οὐδὲ ῥᾴδιον τοῖς Σπαρτιάταις πόλεμον, ἀνεχώρησεν εἰς Θεσπιάς.
for nothing would gratify the Lacedaemonians so much as the capture of Athens, and the Thebans, who were now angry with the Athenians and held them to be traitors, would give them no aid. Sphodrias was finally persuaded, and taking his soldiers, invaded Attica by night. He advanced as far as Eleusis, but there the hearts of his soldiers failed them and his design was exposed, and after having thus stirred up a serious and difficult war against the Spartans, he withdrew to Thespiae.
ἐκ τούτου πάλιν προθυμότατα Ἀθηναῖοι τοῖς Θηβαίοις συνεμάχουν, καί τῆς θαλάττης ἀντελαμβάνοντο, καί περιϊόντες ἐδέχοντο καί προσήγοντο τοὺς ἀποστατικῶς τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἔχοντας. οἱ δὲ Θηβαῖοι καθʼ αὑτοὺς ἐν τῇ Βοιωτίᾳ συμπλεκόμενοι τοῖς Λακεδαιμονίοις ἑκάστοτε, καί μαχόμενοι μάχας αὐτὰς μὲν οὐ μεγάλας, μεγάλην δὲ τὴν μελέτην ἐχούσας καί τὴν ἄσκησιν.
After this, the Athenians with the greatest eagerness renewed their alliance with the Thebans, and began hostile operations against Sparta by sea, sailing about and inviting and receiving the allegiance of those Greeks who were inclined to revolt. The Thebans, too, by always engaging singly in Boeotia with the Lacedaemonians, and by fighting battles which, though not important in themselves, nevertheless afforded them much practice and training,
ἐξερριπίζοντο τοῖς θυμοῖς καί διεπονοῦντο τοῖς σώμασιν, ἐμπειρίαν ἅμα τῇ συνηθείᾳ καὶ φρόνημα προσλαμβάνοντες ἐκ τῶν ἀγώνων. διὸ καί φασιν Ἀνταλκίδαν τὸν Σπαρτιάτην, ὡς Ἀγησίλαος ἐπανῆλθεν ἐκ Βοιωτίας τετρωμένος, εἰπεῖν πρὸς αὐτόν ἦ καλὰ διδασκάλια παρὰ Θηβαίων ἀπολαμβάνεις, μὴ βουλομένους αὑτοὺς πολεμεῖν καί μάχεσθαι διδάξας.
had their spirits roused and their bodies thoroughly inured to hardships, and gained experience and courage from their constant struggles. For this reason Antalcidas the Spartan, we are told, when Agesilaüs came back from Boeotia with a wound, said to him: Indeed, this is a fine tuition-fee which thou art getting from the Thebans, for teaching them how to war and fight when they did not wish to do it.
ἦν δὲ ὡς ἀληθῶς διδάσκαλος οὐκ Ἀγησίλαος, ἀλλʼ οἱ σὺν καιρῷ καί μετὰ λογισμοῦ τοὺς Θηβαίους ὥσπερ σκύλακας ἐμπείρως προσβάλλοντες τοῖς πολεμίοις, εἶτα γευσαμένους νίκης καί φρονήματος ἀσφαλῶς ἀπάγοντες ὧν μεγίστην δόξαν εἶχεν ὁ Πελοπίδας, ἀφʼ ἧς γὰρ εἵλοντο πρῶτον ἡγεμόνα τῶν ὅπλων, οὐκ ἐπαύσαντο καθʼ ἕκαστον ἐνιαυτὸν ἄρχοντα χειροτονοῦντες, ἀλλʼ ἢ τὸν ἱερὸν λόχον ἄγων ἢ τὰ πλεῖστα βοιωταρχῶν ἄχρι τῆς τελευτῆς ἔπραττεν.
But, to tell the truth, it was not Agesilaüs who was their teacher, but those leaders of theirs who, at the right time and place, gave the Thebans, like young dogs in training, experience in attacking their enemies, and then, when they had got a taste of victory and its ardours, brought them safely off; and of these leaders Pelopidas was in greatest esteem. For after his countrymen had once chosen him their leader in arms, there was not a single year when they did not elect him to office, but either as leader of the sacred band, or, for the most part, as boeotarch, he continued active until his death.
ἐγένοντο μὲν οὖν καί περὶ Πλαταιὰς καί Θεσπιὰς ἧτται καί φυγαὶ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων, ὅπου καί Φοιβίδας ὁ τὴν Καδμείαν καταλαβὼν ἀπέθανε, πολλοὺς δὲ καί πρὸς Τανάγρᾳ τρεψάμενος αὐτῶν καί Πανθοίδαν τὸν ἁρμοστὴν ἀνεῖλεν. ἀλλʼ οὗτοι μὲν οἱ ἀγῶνες ὥσπερ τοὺς κρατοῦντας εἰς φρόνημα καί θάρσος προῆγον, οὕτως τῶν ἡσσωμένων οὐ παντάπασιν ἐδουλοῦντο τὴν γνώμην·
Well, then, at Plataea the Lacedaemonians were defeated and put to flight, and at Thespiae, where, too, Phoebidas, who had seized the Cadmeia, was slain; and at Tanagra a large body of them was routed and Panthoidas the harmost was killed. But these combats, though they gave ardour and boldness to the victors, did not altogether break the spirits of the vanquished;
οὐ γὰρ ἐκ παρατάξεως ἦσαν οὐδὲ μάχης ἐμφανῆ κατάστασιν ἐχούσης καί νόμιμον, ἐκδρομὰς δὲ προσκαίρους τιθέμενοι, καί φυγὰς ἢ διώξεις ἐπιχειροῦντες αὐτοῖς καί συμπλεκόμενοι κατώρθουν.
for they were not pitched battles, nor was the fighting in open and regular array, but it was by making well-timed sallies, and by either retreating before the enemy or by pursuing and coming to close quarters with them that the Thebans won their successes.
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