the well-known
discipline of the Spartan troops, the Thebans again won a splendid
victory over their foes. Their joy, however, was turned to mourning when
they heard that Epaminondas had been mortally wounded just as the battle
was drawing to an end.

A spear had pierced his breast; and as he sank to the ground, some of
his followers caught him, bore him away tenderly in their arms, and
carefully laid him down under a tree on a neighboring hillside. As soon
as he opened his eyes, he eagerly asked how the army was getting along.

Gently raising him so that he could see the battlefield, his friends
pointed out the Spartan army in full flight, and the Thebans masters of
the field. Epaminondas sank back with a sigh of relief, but soon roused
himself again to ask whether his shield were safe.

It was only when he had seen it that he would allow the doctors to
examine his wound. They found the head of a barbed spear sunk deep into
his breast, and said that it must be pulled out. Still they hesitated to
draw it out, for they feared that the rush of blood would kill him.

Epaminondas, therefore, bade them leave it alone, although he was
suffering greatly; and then he called for his assistant generals, to
give them a few important orders. The friends standing around him sadly
told him that both had fallen in the battle, and could no longer execute
his commands. When Epaminondas heard this unwelcome news, he realized
that there was no one left who could replace him, and maintain the
Theban supremacy: so he advised his fellow-countrymen to seize the
favorable opportunity to make peace with the Spartans.

When he had thus done all in his power to provide for the future welfare
of his native city, Epaminondas drew out the spear from his wound with
his own hand, for he saw that his friends were afraid to touch it.

As the doctors had foreseen, there was a great rush of blood, and they
soon saw that Epaminondas had only a few minutes to live. His friends
wept over him, and one of them openly expressed his regret that
Epaminondas left no children.

These words were heard by the dying hero, who opened his eyes once more,
and gently said, "Leuctra and Mantinea are daughters enough to keep my
name alive!"

This saying has proved true; for these two great victories are put down
in every Greek history, and are never spoken of except in connection
with the noble general who won them in behalf of his country, and died
on the field w