person
Epaminondas
also: Epaminondas, the Theban general
Theban general; his refusal to surrender his command is De Inventione's running letter-versus-intent example.
Reading notes
- On the Ends of Good and Evil §2.97 having defeated the Lacedaemonians at Mantinea
Epaminondas, the great Theban general, won the battle of Mantinea (362 BC) against Sparta but was mortally wounded; he is said to have ordered the fatal spear withdrawn only after learning the victory was secure. Cicero holds his death up as nobler than Epicurus's.
- Tusculan Disputations §1.4 Epaminondas
The Theban general and statesman (d. 362 BC) who broke Spartan power at Leuctra. Cicero cites his skill on the lyre as proof that the Greeks prized musical education even in their greatest men.
- Tusculan Disputations §2.59 Do you suppose Epaminondas groaned
Epaminondas, the Theban general who broke Spartan power at Leuctra (371 BC); mortally wounded at Mantinea (362 BC), he died serenely once told his army had won. Cicero notes that he left his country in command over the Spartans whom it had once served.
- Tusculan Disputations §5.49 as in Epaminondas: \textit{by our counsels the glory of the Spartans was shorn;}
Epaminondas, the Theban general who broke Spartan supremacy at Leuctra (371 BC). The verse, from an unknown Latin tragedy or epigram, boasts of having shorn away the glory of Sparta (the Laconians).