great reputation which these
men enjoyed made the rest follow them without any formal vote or
decree to do so; for the first and most fundamental law is that which
makes men in need of help follow him who can save them; and even if,
like men sailing on a calm sea or anchored close to port, they
sometimes murmur at and brave their pilot, yet in time of danger and
storm they look up to him and place all their hopes in him, so the
Argives and Eleans and Arcadians would at the council-board dispute
the Theban claims to supremacy, but in war and at critical moments
they of their own accord obeyed the Theban generals. In this campaign,
Arcadia was consolidated into one state; they also separated Messenia,
which had been annexed by the Spartans, and bringing back the
Messenian exiles established them in the old capital, Ithome. On their
homeward march through Kenchreae they gained a victory over the
Athenians, who attempted to harass them and hinder their march through
the narrow isthmus of Corinth.

XXV. After these exploits all men were full of admiration and wonder
at their courage and success, but at home the envious feelings of
their countrymen and political opponents, which grew along with the
growth of their renown, prepared a most scurvy reception for them. On
their return they were both tried for their lives, on the ground that
whereas the law is that during the first month of the year, which they
call Boukation, the Boeotarchs must lay down their office, they had
held it for four additional months, during which they had been
settling the affairs of Messenia, Laconia, and Arcadia. Pelopidas was
tried first, and so incurred the greater danger, but both were
acquitted.

Epameinondas, who thought that true courage and magnanimity was best
shown by forbearance in political strife, bore this contemptible
attack with patience, but Pelopidas, who was of a hotter temper, and
whose friends encouraged him to revenge, chose this for its
opportunity. Menekleides the orator had been one of the conspirators
who came with Pelopidas and Mellon to Charon's house. As, after the
revolution, he did not obtain equal rights with the rest, being a man
of great ability in speaking, but reckless and ill-conditioned, he
took to using his powers to slander and assail the men in power, and
was not silenced even by the result of that trial. He got Epameinondas
turned out of his office of Boeotarch, and for a long time succeeded in
lessening h