284 HISTORY OF GREECE. ander, aided by the Athenians, and placed under the command of Autokles, was found exceedingly formidable, especially in cavalry The Thessalian allies of Thebe& ; acting with their habitual treach- ery, deserted in the hour of danger ; and the enterprise, thus diffi- cult and perilous, was rendered impracticable by the incompetence of the Boeotarchs. Unable to make head against Alexander and the Athenians, they were forced to retreat homeward. But their generalship was so unskilful, and the enemy's cavalry so active, that the whole army was in imminent danger of being starved or destroyed. Nothing saved them now, but tha presence of Epami- nondas as a common soldier in the ranks. Indignant as well as dismayed, the whole army united to depose their generals, and with one voice called upon him to extricate them from their perils. Epaminondas accepted the duty, marshalled the retreat in con- summate order, took for himself the command of the rear-guard, beating off all the attacks of the enemy, and conducted the army safely back to Thebes. 1 This memorable exploit, while it disgraced the unsuccessful Boeo- tarchs, who were condemned to fine and deposition from their office, raised higher than ever the reputation of Epaminondas among his countrymen. But the failure of the expedition was for the time a fatal blow to the influence of Thebes in Thessaly ; where Alexan der now reigned victorious and irresistible, with Pelopidas still in his dungeon. The cruelties and oppressions, at all times habitual to the despot of Pherae, were pushed to an excess beyond all for- mer parallel. Besides other brutal deeds of which we read with horror, he is said to have surrounded by his military force the un- armed citizens of Meliboea and Skotussa, and slaughtered them all in mass. In such hands, the life of Pelopidas hung by a thread ; yet he himself, with that personal courage which never forsook him, held the language of unsubdued defiance and provocation against the tyrant. Great sympathy was manifested by many Thessalians, and even by Thebe the wife of Alexander, for so illustrious a pris- oner ; and Alexander, fearful of incurring the implacable enmity of Thebes, was induced to spare his life, though retaining him aa a prisoner. His confinement, too, appears to have lasted some tune before the Thebans, discouraged by their late ill-success, were prepared to undertake a second expedition. 1 Diodnr. xv, 71 ; Plutarch, Pelop. c. 28; Pausanius ix, 15, 1. .
