§15.81.1οἱ δὲ Θηβαῖοι περιβόητον νίκην ἀπενηνεγμένοι, πρὸς ἅπαντας ἔφασαν ἑαυτοὺς ἡττᾶσθαι διὰ τὴν Πελοπίδου τελευτήν· ἀξιόλογον γὰρ ἀπολωλεκότες ἄνδρα, κατὰ λόγον ἔκρινον τὴν νίκην ἥττονα ὑπάρχειν τῆς Πελοπίδου ζωῆς.
The Thebans, although they had won a celebrated victory, declared to everyone that they had been defeated because of the death of Pelopidas; for having lost an outstanding man, they reasonably judged that the victory was of less value than the life of Pelopidas.
πολλὰς γὰρ καὶ μεγάλας χρείας παρέσχετο τῇ πατρίδι, πλεῖστον δὲ συνεβάλετο πρὸς τὴν τῶν Θηβαίων αὔξησιν.
For he had rendered many great services to his fatherland, and had contributed most of all to the growth of the Thebans.
ἐν γὰρ τῇ τῶν φυγάδων κατηλύσει, καθʼ ἣν ἀνεκτήσαντο τὴν Καδμείαν, ὡμολογημένως ἅπαντες τούτῳ τὸ πρωτεῖον τοῦ κατορθώματος ἀπονέμουσιν.
For in the return of the exiles, by which they recovered the Cadmea, everyone by common consent assigns to him the first place in the achievement.
τὴν δʼ εὐημερίαν ταύτην συνέβη πάντων τῶν ὕστερον γενομένων ἀγαθῶν αἰτίαν γενέσθαι.
And it happened that this success became the cause of all the good things that came after.
§15.81.2ἐν δὲ τῇ περὶ Τεγύραν μάχῃ μόνος Πελοπίδας τῶν βοιωταρχῶν ἐνίκησε τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους, πλεῖστον ἰσχύοντας τῶν Ἑλλήνων, ὅτε διὰ τὸ μέγεθος τῆς νίκης πρῶτον ἔστησαν Θηβαῖοι τρόπαιον κατὰ Λακεδαιμονίων.
In the battle of Tegyra, Pelopidas alone of the boeotarchs defeated the Lacedaemonians, who were the most powerful of the Greeks, on which occasion, because of the greatness of the victory, the Thebans for the first time set up a trophy over the Lacedaemonians.
κατὰ δὲ τὴν ἐν Λεύκτροις μάχην ἡγήσατο τοῦ ἱεροῦ λόχου, μεθʼ οὗ προεμβαλὼν τοῖς Σπαρτιάταις ἀρχηγὸς ἐγένετο τῆς νίκης.
And in the battle of Leuctra, he led the Sacred Band, with whom he charged the Spartans first and became the author of the victory.
ἐν δὲ ταῖς ἐπὶ Λακεδαίμονα στρατείαις ἑπτὰ μὲν ἡγήσατο μυριάδων, πρὸς αὐτῇ δὲ τῇ Σπάρτῃ τρόπαιον ἔστησε κατὰ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων τῶν πάντα τὸν πρὸ τοῦ χρόνον ἀπορθήτων γεγενημένων.
And in the campaigns against Lacedaemon, he led seventy thousand men, and at Sparta itself set up a trophy over the Lacedaemonians, who in all the time before that had remained unravaged.
§15.81.3πρὸς δὲ τὸν Περσῶν βασιλέα πρεσβεύσας ἐν ταῖς κοιναῖς ὁμολογίαις τὴν Μεσσήνην κατʼ ἰδίαν παρέλαβεν, ἣν ἀνάστατον οὖσαν ἔτη τριακόσια Θηβαῖοι πάλιν ἀποκατέστησαν.
And having gone as ambassador to the king of the Persians, he secured Messene individually in the common treaty, which, though it had been desolate for three hundred years, the Thebans restored again.
ἐπὶ τελευτῆς δὲ διαγωνισάμενος πρὸς Ἀλέξανδρον ἔχοντα πολλαπλασίονα δύναμιν οὐ μόνον ἐπιφανῶς ἐνίκησεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸν θάνατον ἔσχεν ἐπʼ ἀρετῇ περιβόητον.
And finally, contending against Alexander who had a force many times larger, he not only won a brilliant victory, but also met a death that was celebrated for his valor.
§15.81.4πρὸς δὲ τοὺς πολίτας οὕτω καλῶς διετέθη, ὥστε ἀπὸ τῆς εἰς τὰς Θήβας καθόδου τῶν φυγάδων μέχρι τῆς ἑαυτοῦ τελευτῆς βοιωταρχῶν πάντα τὸν χρόνον διετέλεσε, μηδενὸς ἄλλου τῶν πολιτῶν ταύτης ἠξιωμένου τῆς τιμῆς.
And he was so well disposed toward the citizens that from the return of the exiles to Thebes until his death he continued to serve as boeotarch all the time, no other citizen having been deemed worthy of this honor.
Πελοπίδας μὲν οὖν, διὰ τὴν ἰδίαν ἀρετὴν ὑπὸ πάντων ἀποδοχῆς ἠξιωμένος, ἐχέτω καὶ παρʼ ἡμῶν τὸν διὰ τῆς ἱστορίας ἔπαινον.
So Pelopidas, having been deemed worthy of acceptance by all because of his own valor, let him have also from us the praise through history.
§15.81.5κατὰ δὲ τοὺς αὐτοὺς χρόνους Κλέαρχος, τὸ γένος ὢν ἐξ Ἡρακλείας τῆς ἐν τῷ Πόντῳ, ἐπέθετο τυραννίδι· κρατήσας δὲ τῆς ἐπιβολῆς ἐζήλωσε μὲν τὴν διαγωγὴν τὴν Διονυσίου τοῦ Συρακοσίων τυράννου, τυραννεύσας δὲ τῶν Ἡρακλεωτῶν ἐπιφανῶς ἦρξεν ἔτη δώδεκα.
At about the same time, Clearchus, who was by birth from Heracleia on the Pontus, attempted a tyranny; and having succeeded in his attempt, he emulated the lifestyle of Dionysius, the tyrant of the Syracusans, and ruling as tyrant over the Heracleots, he held power conspicuously for twelve years.
§15.81.6ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις Τιμόθεος ὁ Ἀθηναίων στρατηγὸς ἔχων δύναμιν πεζήν τε καὶ ναυτικὴν Τορώνην μὲν καὶ Ποτίδαιαν πολιορκήσας εἷλε, Κυζικηνοῖς δὲ πολιορκουμένοις ἐβοήθησεν.
While these things were being done, Timotheus the Athenian general, having both a land and a naval force, besieged and captured Torone and Potidaea, and came to the aid of the Cyzicenes who were being besieged.