AID fO PELOPIDAS. 283 rescript ; for we see by the example of Corinth, that t aey had tried their powers of persuasion on enemies as well as friends. But the Corinthians, while refusing the application, had neverthe- less respected the public morality held sacred even between ene- mies in Greece, and had dismissed the envoys (whether Pelopidas was among them, we cannot assert) inviolate. Not so the tyrant of Phene. Perceiving that Pelopidas and Ismenias were unac- companied by any military force, he seized their persons, and car- ried them off to Pherae as prisoners. Treacherous as this proceeding was, it proved highly profitable to Alexander. Such was the personal importance of Pelopidas, that his imprisonment struck terror among the partisans of Thebes in Thessaly, and induced several of them to submit to the despot of Pherse ; who moreover sent to apprise the Athenians of his capture, and to solicit their aid against the impending vengeance of Thebes. Greatly impressed with the news, the Athenians looked upon Alexander as a second Jason, likely to arrest the menacing ascendency of their neighbor and rival. 1 They imme- diately despatched to his aid thirty triremes and one thousand hoplites under Autokles ; who, unable to get through the Euripus, when Boeotia and Eubrea were both hostile to Athens, were forced to circumnavigate the latter island. He reached Pheras just in time ; for the Thebans, incensed beyond measure at the seizure of Pelopidas, had despatched without delay eight thousand hop- lites and six hundred cavalry to recover or avenge him. Unfor- tunately for them, Epaminondas had not been rechosen com- mander since his last year's proceedings in Achaia. He was now serving as an hoplite in the ranks, while Kleomenes with other Breotarchs had the command. On entering Thessaly, they were joined by various allies in the country. But the army of Alex- 1 The strong expressions of Demosthenes show what a remarkable effect was produced by the news at Athens (cont. Aristokrat. p. 660, s. 142). Ti (V ; 'ATietjavSpov iK.ei.vov TOV Gcrra/lor, TJVIK' el%e /J.EV alxfJ-dTiurov 6?/aaf IleAoTridav, Q-$pof d' uf ovdelf fyv Qr](3aioif, v/ilv 6' o'lKeiuf die/ceiTo, ovTuf UIJTE Trap 1 v/iuv arpaTTjybv aiTelv, [3oi]&elT 6' avru Kal TTUVT' rjv 'A/le<zi>- tpof, etc. Alexander is said to have promised to the Athenians so ample a supply of cattle as should keep the nrice of meat very low at Athens (Plutarch, Apophtheg. lleg. p. 193 E.),
