Page:History of Greece Vol X.djvu/333

 CONSPIRACY AGAINST THEBES. 311 CHAPTEK LXXX. FROM THE DEATH OF PELOPIDAS TO THE BATTLE OF MANTINEA. IT was during this period, while Epaminondas was absent with the fleet, and while Pelopidas was engaged in that Thessalian campaign from whence he never returned, that the Thebans destroyed Orchomenus. That city, the second in the Boeotian federation, had always been disaffected towards Thebes ; and the absence of the two great leaders, as well as of a large Theban force in Thessaly, seems to have been regarded by the Orchomenian Knights or Horsemen (the first and richest among the citizens, three hundred in number) as a favorable moment for attack. Some Theban exiles took part in this scheme, with a view to over- throw the existing government ; and a day, appointed for a mili- tary review near Thebes, was fixed for execution. A large num- ber of conspirators joined, with apparent ardor. But before the day arrived, several of them repented and betrayed the plot to the Bce- otarchs ; upon which the Orchomenian horsemen were seized, brought before the Theban assembly, condemned to death, and executed. But besides this, the resolution was taken to destroy the town, to kill the male adults, and to sell the women and chil- dren into slavery. 1 This barbarous decree was executed, though probably a certain fraction found means to escape, forming the ker- nel of that population which was afterwards restored. The fuL- measure of ancient Theban hatred was thus satiated ; a hatred, tracing its origin even to those mythical times when Thebes was said to have paid tribute to Orchomenus. But the erasure of this venerable city from the list of autonomous units in Hellas, with the wholesale execution and sale of so many free kinsmen into slavery, excited strong sympathy throughout the neighbors, as well as re- pugnance against Theban cruelty ; 2 a sentiment probably aggra* 1 Diodor. xv, 79. 121, an oration delivered in 355 B. c. ; eight years after the destruction 01 Orchomenus.
 * See the sentiment expressed by Demosthenes cont. Leptinem, p. 489, s