these are the memorable things i have found in historians concerningmarcellus and pelopidas. betwixt which two great men, though in naturalcharacter and manners they nearly resemble each other, because bothwere valiant and diligent, daring and high-spirited, there was yetsome diversity in the one point, that marcellus in many cities whichhe reduced under his power committed great slaughter； but epaminondasand pelopidas never after any victory put men to death, or reducedcitizens to slavery. and we are told, too, that the thebans wouldnot, had these been present, have taken the measures they did againstthe orchomenians. marcellus's exploits against the gauls are admirableand ample； when, accompanied by a few horse, he defeated and put toflight a vast number of horse and foot together （an action you cannoteasily in historians find to have been done by any other captain）,and took their king prisoner. to which honour pelopidas aspired, butdid not attain； he was killed by the tyrant in the attempt. but tothese you may perhaps oppose those two most glorious battles at leuctraand tegyrae； and we have no statement of any achievement of marcellus,by stealth or ambuscade, such as were those of pelopidas, when hereturned from exile, and killed the tyrants at thebes； which, indeed,may claim to be called the first in rank of all achievements everperformed by secrecy and cunning. hannibal was, indeed, a most formidableenemy for the romans； but so for that matter were the lacedaemoniansfor the thebans. and that these were, in the fights of leuctra andtegyrae, beaten and put to flight by pelopidas is confessed； whereaspolybius writes that hannibal was never so much as once vanquishedby marcellus, but remained invincible in all encounters till scipiocame. i myself, indeed, have followed rather livy, caesar, corneliusnepos and among the greeks, king juba, in stating that the troopsof hannibal were in some encounters routed and put to flight by marcellus；but certainly these defeats conducted little to the sum of the war.it would seem as if they had been merely feints of some sort on thepart of the carthaginians. what was indeed truly and really admirablewas, that the romans, after the defeat of so many armies, the slaughterof so many captains, and, in fine, the confusion of almost the wholeroman empire, still showed a courage equal to their losses, and wereas willing as their enemies to engage in new battles. and marcelluswas the one man who overcame the great and inveterate fear and dread,and revived, raised, and confirmed the spirits of the soldiers tothat degree of emulation and bravery that would not let them easilyyield the victory, but made them contend for it to the last. for the same men, whom continual defeats had accustomed to think themselveshappy, if they could but save themselves by running from hannibal,were by him taught to esteem it base and ignominious to return safebut unsuccessful； to be ashamed to confess that they had yielded onestep in the terrors of the fight and to grieve to extremity if theywere not victorious.
in short, as pelopidas was never overcome in any battle, where himselfwas present and commanded in chief, and as marcellus gained more victoriesthan any of his contemporaries, truly he that could not be easilyovercome, considering his many successes, may fairly be compared withhim who was undefeated. marcellus took syracuse； whereas pelopidaswas frustrated of his hope of capturing sparta. but in my judgmentit was more difficult to advance his standard even to the walls ofsparta, and to be the first of mortals that ever passed the rivereurotas in arms, than it was to reduce sicily； unless, indeed, wesay that that adventure is with more of right to be attributed toepaminondas, as was also the leuctrian battle； whereas marcellus'srenown, and the glory of his brave actions, came entire and undiminishedto him alone. for he alone took syracuse； and without his colleague'shelp defeated the gauls, and, when all others declined, alone, withoutone companion, ventured to engage with hannibal； and changing theaspect of the war first showed the example of daring to attack him.
i cannot commend the death of either of these great men； the suddennessand strangeness of their ends gives me a feeling rather of pain anddistress. hannibal has my admiration who, in so many severe conflicts,more than can be reckoned in one day, never received so much as onewound. i honour chrysantes also （in xenophon's cyropaedia）, who, havingraised his sword in the act of striking his enemy, so soon as a retreatwas sounded, left him, and retired sedately and modestly. yet theanger which provoked pelopidas to pursue revenge in the heat of fightmay excuse him.
"the first thing for a captain is to gain safe victory； the next to be with honour slain," as euripides says.for then he cannot be said to suffer death； it is rather to be calledan action. the very object, too, of pelopidas's victory, which consistedin the slaughter of the tyrant, presenting itself to his eyes, did not wholly carry him away unadvisedly： he could not easily expectagain to have another equally glorious occasion for the exercise ofhis courage in a noble and honourable cause. but marcellus, when itmade little to his advantage, and when no such violent ardour as presentdanger naturally calls out transported him to passion, throwing himselfinto danger, fell to an unexplored ambush； he, namely, who had bornefive consulates, led three triumphs, won the spoils and glories ofkings and victories, to act the part of a mere scout, or sentinel,and to expose all his achievements to be trod under foot by the mercenaryspaniards and numidians, who sold themselves and their lives to thecarthaginians, so that even they themselves felt unworthy, and almostgrudged themselves the unhoped-for success of having cut off, amonga few fregellan scouts, the most valiant, the most potent, and mostrenowned of the romans. let no man think that we have thus spokenout of a design to accuse these noble men； it is merely an expressionof frank indignation in their own behalf, at seeing them thus wastingall their other virtues upon that of bravery, and throwing away theirlives, as if the loss would be only felt by themselves, and not bytheir country, allies, and friends.
after pelopidas's death, his friends, for whom he died, made a funeralfor him； the enemies, by whom he had been killed, made one for marcellus.a noble and happy lot indeed the former； yet there is something higherand greater in the admiration rendered by enemies to the virtue thathad been their own obstacle, than in the grateful acknowledgmentsof friends. since, in the one case, it is virtue alone that challengesitself the honour； while, in the other, it may be rather men's personalprofit and advantage that is the real origin of what they do.
the end