Page:History of Greece Vol X.djvu/115

 LOSS TO SPARTA. 93 tures of this memorable deed, Now an aneient Greek not only had no such repugnance, but sympathized with the complete re- venge for the seizure of the Kadmeia and the death of Ismenias ; while he admired, besides, the extraordinary personal daring of Pelopidas and Mellon, the skilful forecast of the plot, arid the sudden overthrow, by a force so contemptibly small, of a gov- ernment which the day before seemed unassailable. 1 It deserves note that we here see the richest men in Thebes undertaking a risk, single-handed and with their own persons, which must have ap- peared on a reasonable estimate little less than desperate. From the Homeric Odysseus and Achilles down to the end of free Hel- lenism, the rich Greek strips in the Palaestra, 2 and exposes his person in the ranks as a soldier like the poorest citizens ; being generally superior to them in strength and bodily efficiency. As the revolution in Thebes acted forcibly on the Grecian mind from the manner in which it was accomplished, so by its positive effects it altered forthwith the balance of power in Greece. The empire of Sparta, far from being undisputed and nearly universal asserts to have aided in the storming of the Kadmeia. See Plutarch (De Gen. Socrat. ad fin. Agesil. c. 23 ; Pelopid. 12, 13). He intimates only, as Xenophon does, that there were some Athenian volunteers who assisted the exiles. M. Behdantz (Vitas Iphicratis, Chabriae, etc. p. 38-43) discusses this dis- crepancy at considerable length, and cites the opinion of various German authors in respect to it, with none of whom I altogether concur. In my judgment, the proper solntion is, to reject altogether (as belonging to a later time) the statement of Diodorus, respecting the public vote at Athens, and the army said to have been sent to Thebes under Demophon ; and to accept the more credible narrative of Xenophon ; which ascribes to Athens a reasonable prudence, and great fear of Sparta, qualities such as Athenian orators would not be disposed to boast of. According to that narrative, the question about sending Athenians to aid in storming the Kad- meia could hardly have been submitted for public discussion, since that cit- adel was surrendered t onoe by the intimidated garrison. 1 The daring coup de main of Pelopidas and Mellon, against the govern- ment of Thebes, bears a remarkable analogy to that by which Evagoras got into Salamis and overthrew the previous despot (Isokrates, Or. ix, Evagor, B. 34).
 * See, in illustration of Greek sentiment on this point, Xenophon. Hellen
 * >', 4, 19; and Xenophon, Enc. Ages, i, 28