Page:History of Greece Vol X.djvu/370

84S HISTORY OF GREECE. hill of Kynoskephalse. But all direct and deliberate testimonies of attachment to a dead or dying chief (and doubtless these too were abundant on the field of Mantinea) fall short of the invol- untary suspension of arms in the tempting hour of victory. That the real victory, the honors of the day, belonged to Epami- nondas and the Thebans, we know from the conclusive evidence of Xenophon. But as the vanquished, being allowed to retire tmpursued, were only separated by a short distance from the walls of Mantinea, and perhaps rallied even before reaching the town, as the Athenian cavalry had cut to pieces some of the strag- gling light troops, they too pretended to have gained a victory. Trophies were erected on both sides. Nevertheless the Thebans were masters of the fisld of battle ; so that the Lacedaemonians, after some hesitation, were forced to send a herald to solicit truce for the burial of the slain, and to grant for burial such Theban bodies as they had in their possession. 1 This was the understood confession of defeat. The surgeons, on examining the wound of Epaminondas, with the spear-head yet sticking in it, pronounced that he must die as soon as that was withdrawn. He first inquired whether his shield was safe ; and his shield-bearer, answering in the affirmative, pro duced it before his eyes. He next asked about the issue of the battle, and was informed that his own army was victorious. 2 He then desired to see lolaidas and Daiphantus, whom he intended to succeed him as commanders ; but received the mournful reply, that both of them had been slain.3 Then (said he) you must make 1 The statement of Diodorus (xv, 87) on this point appears to me more probable than that of Xenophon (vii, 5, 26). The Athenians boasted much of this slight success with their cavalry, enhancing its value by acknowledging that all their allies had been defeated around them (Plutarch, De Gloria Athen. p. 350 A.). 8 Diodor. xv, 88 ; Cicero, De Finibus, ii, 30, 97 ; Epistol. ad Familiares, v, 12, 5. 3 Plutarch, Apophthegm. Eegum, p. 194 C.; JElian, V. H. xii, 3. Beth Plutarch and Diodorus taLv of Epaminondas being carried back to the camp. But it seems that there could hardly have been any camp. Epaminondas had marched out only a few hours before from Tegea. A tent may have been erected on the field to receive him. Five centuries afterwards, the Mantineans showed to the traveller Pansanias a spot called Skiope near the field of battle, to w'rich (they affirmed) the wounded EpamJ-