Maximilian Otto Bismarck Caspari

“ PELOPIDAS (d. 364 B.C.) , Theban statesman and general. He was a member of a distinguished family, and possessed great wealth which he expended on his friends, while content to lead the life of an athlete. In 385 B.C. he served in a Theban contingent sent to the support of the Spartans at Mantineia, where he was saved, when dangerously wounded, by Epaminondas (q.v.) . Upon the seizure of the Theban citadel by the Spartans (383 or 382) he fled to Athens, and took the lead in a conspiracy to liberate Thebes. ”

“ At the battle of Leuctra (371) he contributed greatly to the success of Epaminondas's new tactics by the rapidity with which he made the Sacred Band close with the Spartans. In 370 he accompanied his friend Epaminondas as boeotarch into Peloponnesus. ”