Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/191

Rh PELOPIDAS. ethers, Philomache, the daughter of Amphion, by •whom he became the father of Acastus, Peisidice, Pelopeia, Hippothoe and Alcestis. (ApoUod. i. 9. § 8. &c.) Besides these daughters of Pelias (Pe- liadfcs), several others are mentioned, such as Me- dusa (Hygin. Fab. 24), Amphinome, Evadne (Diod. iv. 53), Asteropaea and Antinoe. (Paus. viii. 11. §2.) The Peliades were represented on tlie chest of Cypselus, where however the name of Alcestis alone was written. (Paus. v. 17. § 4 ; comp. Hom. II. ii. 715 ; Ov. Tiist. v. 5. 55.) After the murder of their father, they are said to have fled from lolcus to Mantineia in Arcadia, where their tombs also were shown. (Paus. viii. 11. §2.) Jason, after his return from Colchis, gave Alcestis in marriage to Adraetus, Amphinome to Andraemon, and Evadne to Canes (Diod. iv. 53), though according to the common story, Pelias himself gave Alcestis to Admetus. [Alcestis.] After Pelias had taken possession of the kingdom of lolcus, he sent Jason, the son of his step-brother Aeson, to Colchis to fetch the golden fleece, and as he did not anticipate his return, he despatched Aeson and his son Promachus. After the return of Jason, Pelias was cut to pieces and boiled by his own daughters, who had been told by Medeia that in this manner they might restore their father to vigour and youth. His son, Acastus, held solemn funeral games in his honour at lolcus, and expelled Jason and Medeia from the country. (ApoUod. i. 9. § 27, &c. ; Tzetz. ad Lye. 175 ; Ov. Met. vii. 297, &c. ; comp. Jason, Medkia, Argonautae.) Pelias is further mentioned as one of the first who celebrated the Olympian games. (Paus. v. 8. § 1 .) 2. A son of Aeginetes and a descendant of La- cedaemonius, is mentioned by Pausanias (vii. 18. § 4). [L. S.] PELIGNUS, JU'LIUS, procurator of Cappa- docia in the reign of Claudius, a. d. 52. (Tac. Ann. xii. 49.) PELLEN (ne'AArjy), a son of Phorbas and grandson of Triopas, of Argos, was believed by the Argives to have founded the town of Pellene in Achaia. (Paus. vii. 26. § 5.) [L. S.] PELLO'NIA, a Roman divinity, who was be- lieved to assist mortals in warding off" their enemies. (August. De Civ. Dei., iv. 21 ; Arnob. Adv. Gent. iv. 4.) [L.S.] PELOPEIA. (neAoVeia.) 1. A daughter of Pelias. (Apollod. i. 9. § 10 ; Apollon. Rhod. i. 326.) 2. A daughter of Amphion and Niobe. (Apol- lod. iii. 5. ^ 6. ; Schol. ad Earip. Phueii. 15'^.) 3. A daughter of Thyestes. (Schol. ad Eurip. Orest. 14 ; Hygin. Fab. 88 ; Aelian, V. II. xii. 42.) 4. The mother of Cycnus and Ares. (Apollod. ii. 7. § 7 ; comp. Cycnus.) [L. S.] PELO'PIDAS (neAoTTiSas), the Theban gene- ral and statesman, son of Hippoclus, was descended from a noble family and inherited a large estate, of which, according to Plutarch, he made a liberal use, applying his money to the relief of such as were at once indigent and deserving. He lived always in the closest friendship with Epaminondas, to whose simple frugality, as he could not persuade him to share his riches, he is said to have assimi- lated his own mode of life. The disinterested ardour which marked his friendship was conspi- cuous also in his zealous attention to public afikirs. This he even carried so far as to neglect and impair PELOPIDAS. 179 his property, remarking, in answer to the remon- strances of some of his friends, that money was cer- tainly useful to such as were lame and blind. Hence, of course, he could not fail to be a marked mar in any political commotion, and, accordingly, on the seizure of the Cadmeia by Phoebidas, in B. c. 382, he was obliged to flee from Thebes, and took refuge, with his fellow-exiles, at Athens. Here he was the chief instigator and counsellor of the enterprise by which democracy was restored to Thebes, and which Plutarch tells us the Greeks called " sister to that of Thrasybulus."' In the exe- cution of it also he bore a prominent part : it was by his hand that Leontiades fell ; and, being made Boeotarch with Mellon and Charon, he suc- ceeded in gaining possession of the Cadmeia before the arrival of succours from Spaita (b. c. 379). From this period until his death there was not a year in which he was not entrusted with some im- portant command. In B.C. 378, he and Gorgidas, his fellow-Boeotarch, induced Sphodrias, the Spartan harmost at Thespiae, to invade Attica, and thus succeeded in embroiling Athens with Lacedaemon [GoRGinAs] ; and in the campaigns against the Lacedaemonians in that and the two following years he was actively occupied, gradually teaching his coun- trymen to cope fearlessly with the forces of Sparta, which had ever been deemed so formidable. The successes occasionally gained by the Thebans during this period (slight in themselves, but not unimpor- tant in the spirit which they engendered) Pelopi- das shared with others ; but the glory of the battle of Tegyra, in B. c. 375, was all his own. The town of Orchomenus in Boeotia, hostile to Thebes, had admitted a Spartan garrison of two moras, and during the absence of this force on an expedition into Locris, Pelopidas formed the design of surprising the place, taking with him for the purpose only the Sacred Band and a small body of cavalry. When he arrived, however, he found that the absent garrison had been replaced by fresh troops from Sparta, and he saw, therefore, the necessity of retreating. On his march back, he fell in, near Tegyra, with the two moras which formed the garrison at Orchomenus, re- turning from Locris under the polemarchs Gorgoleon and Theopompus. In spite of the inferiority of his numbers, Pelopidas exhibited great coolness and presence of mind ; and when one, running up to him, exclaimed, " We have fallen into the midst of the enemy," his answer was, " Why so, more than they into the midst of us ? " In the battle which ensued, the two Spartan commanders fell at the first charge, and the Thebans gained a complete victory. Plutarch might well call this the prelude of Leuctra, proving as it did that Sparta was not invincible, even in a pitched battle and with the advantage of numbers on her side. At Leuctra (b.c. 371) Pelopidas joined Epaminondas in urging tha expediency of immediate action ; he raised the courage of his countrymen by the dream with which he professed to have been favoured, and by the propitiatory sacrifice which he otfered in obe- dience to it [ScEDASUSJ, and the success of the dav was due in a great measure to him and to the Sacred Band, which he commanded. In B. c. 369, he was one of the generals of the Theban force which invaded the Peloponnesus, and he united with Epaminondas in persuading their colleagues not to return home till they had carried their arms into the territory of Sparta itself, though they would thus be exceeding their legal term of office. N 2