Page:History of Greece Vol X.djvu/329

EPAMINONDA3 AS ADMIRAL. 307 and Timotheus appear to have been in these seas, if not at the same time, at least with no great interval of time between. Both were solicited by the oligarchy of the Pontic Herakleia against the people ; and both declined to furnish aid. 1 Timotheus is said to have liberated the besieged town of Kyzikus : by whom it was be- sieged, we do not certainly know, but probably by the Theban fleet. 9 Epaminondas brought back his fleet at the end of the year, without having gained any splendid victory or acquired any tenable pos- session for Thebes ; yet not without weakening Athens, unsettling her hold upon her dependencies, and seconding indirectly the hos- tilities carried on by Kotys ; insomuch that the Athenian affairs in the Chersonese and Thrace were much less prosperous in 362 B.C. than they had been in 364 B. c. Probably Epaminondas intended to return with his fleet in the next year (362 B. c.), and to push his maritime enterprises still farther ; 3 but we shall find him im- peratively called elsewhere, to another and a fatal battle-field. And thus the first naval expedition of Thebes was likewise the last. Meanwhile his friend and colleague Pelopidas had marched into Thessaly against the despot Alexander ; who was now at the height of his power, holding in dependence a large portion of Thessaly together with the Phthiot Achaeans and the Magnetes, and having Athens as his ally. Nevertheless, so revolting had been his cruel- ties, and so numerous were the malcontents who had sent to invite aid from Thebes, that Pelopidas did not despair of overpowering him. Nor was he daunted even by an eclipse of the sun, which is said to have occurred just as he was commencing his march, nor by the gloomy warnings which the prophets founded upon it; though this event intimidated many of his fellow-citizens, so that his force was rendered less numerous as well as less confident. Arriving at Pharsalus, and strengthening himself by the junction of his Thessalian allies, he found Alexander approaching to meet him at the head of a well-appointed mercenary force, greatly supe- rior in number. The two chiefs contended who should occupy first the hills called Kynos Kephalas, or the Dog's Heads. Pelopidas uiliBaiotf eTTo'iTjoEv. I do not feel assured that these general words apply to Chios, Khodes, and Byzantium, which had before been mentioned. 1 Justin, xvi, 4. 8 Diodor. xv, 81 ; Cornel. Nepos, Tiruotheus, c. 1. Diodor. xv, 79.