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 PELOPIDAS PELOPONNESUS 239 imperial rescript the sentence was commuted to 15 .years of severe imprisonment (career e duro). In April, 1822, he was taken to the prison of the Spielberg near Brtinn in Mora- via, where, through the kindness of his jailer, he was treated with comparative indulgence for about 18 months. But the jailer was re- moved, and his treatment during the remain- ing years of his imprisonment was exceedingly rigorous. When nearly at the point of death, he was freed by an imperial order on Aug. 1, 1830. He was taken to the Piedinontese fron- tier, and spent the rest of his life at Turin. In 1831 he published an account of his ten years' suffering in a work entitled Le mie prigioni ("My Prisons"), which at once be- came widely celebrated, and was translated into many languages. His "Works" were published in Padua in 2 vols. (1831) ; and at Turin, under the title of Tre nuove tragedie, appeared in 1832 a volume containing his Gis- monda da Mendrisio, Leoniero da Dertona, and Erodiade. In 1833 he published the tra- gedy of Tommaso Moro. In 1837 a collection of his " Inedited Works " appeared in 2 vols. One of his last productions was a religious treatise in prose entitled Dei doveri degli uomini ("The Duties of Man"). His life was written by Chiala (Turin, 1852), and also by Bourdon (Paris, 1868). PELOPIDAS, a Theban general, killed at the battle of Cynoscephala3, in Thessaly, in 364 (according to Grote probably in 363) B. C. He inherited great possessions from his father Hippoclus, of which he made a liberal use. In a battle his life was saved by Epaminondas at great risk; and from this began a friend- ship which lasted until the death of Pelopi- das. His wealth and his, devotion to public affairs made Pelopidas a prominent member of the popular party, so that, upon the seizure of the Cadmea by the Spartan general Phce- bidas in 382, he with 300 others took refuge at Athens. There he remained three years, and finally projected the enterprise which restored democracy to Thebes. With six others he en- tered that city at nightfall, put to death the philo-Laconian polemarchs, slew Leontiades, the leader of the Spartan party, with his own hand, and gained possession of the citadel by the garrison's capitulating. From that time until his death he was every year elected one of the Bceotarchs, and in 378-'6 he bore a conspicuous part in the war against the Lace- demonians. In 875, while returning from an attempt to surprise Orchomenus, he fell in at Tegyra with a Spartan force superior to his in number, but in the battle which followed was completely victorious. At Leuctra in 371 he commanded the sacred band, defeated the enemy's right wing, and decided the day. Af- terward he seconded Epaminondas in persua- ding their colleagues in the army to march into the Spartan territory, although by so do- ing they would exceed their terms of office, an offence which according to law was punishable 646 VOL. xiii. 16 with death ; yet on their return they were ac- quitted. In 368 Pelopidas was sent to succor the inhabitants of Thessaly, oppressed by Alex- ander of Phera3 ; he occupied Larissa, and com- pelled the tyrant to acknowledge his authority. Advancing into Macedonia, he composed the differences between Alexander II. and Ptolemy of Alorus, and took as hostages 30 boys, among whom was Philip of Macedon. In 367 he went as envoy to the Persian court at Susa, where he obtained a rescript that Messene and Am- phipolis should be autonomous cities, that Athens should order home all the ships in ac- tive service, and that Thebes should be deemed the head city of Greece. Shortly after his re- turn Pelopidas was treacherously seized as a prisoner by Alexander of Pherse, while on a mission to him. Plutarch places the seizure before the time of the embassy to Persia, and Diodorus puts it at 368-'7, but several rea- sons are adduced by Grote for supposing it to have occurred after that embassy. A The- ban force under Epaminondas released Pelo- pidas. Despatched in 364 (or 363) to Thes- saly at the head of an army, although the por- tents were unfavorable, and his troops were terrified by an eclipse of the sun, he pressed on. At Pharsalus he encountered Alexander at the head of a superior force, and a con- test for the hills called Cynoscephalee imme- diately ensued. After a severe struggle, the tyrant was defeated ; but Pelopidas, seeing Alexander himself, rushed to the spot where he was standing, attended by a few soldiers only, and was slain. PELOPONNESUS (Gr. " the island of Pelops," so called by the Greeks because King Pelops was supposed to have settled a colony there), a peninsula forming the southern division of Greece ; area, 8,288 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 645,- 389. It lies between lat. 36 23' and 38 20' N., and Ion. 21 5' and 23 33' E., and is^about 140 m. in length and nearly the same in ex- treme breadth. The ancient Greeks compared its shape to that of the leaf of a vine or a plane tree, and the Italians gave it its modern name Morea from moro, a mulberry tree. The coast is much indented, on the south by the gulfs of Kolokythia and Kalamata (the Laconian and Messenian gulfs of the ancients), and on the east by the gulf of Nauplia or Argolis. It is connected with central Greece by the isthmus of Corinth, which is 5 m. wide at the narrow- est part, and separates the gulf of Lepanto (or the Corinthian) from that of ^Egina (the Sa- ronic). The surface of the peninsula is gen- erally mountainous. In the centre a long and lofty ridge bent into a circular form encloses an elevated basin, the famous vale of Arcadia, the largest of the ancient states. Five other ranges, running from the different sides of the central one to the five prominent points on the coast of the peninsula, enclose plains or valleys which were formerly the seats of five states : Achaia in the north, Argolis in the east, La- conia and Messenia in the southland Elis in