of his duties as a general, rushed far beyond the
rest, shouting and challenging the tyrant to fight. He would not await
the attack, but took refuge in the ranks of his body-guard. Pelopidas
attacked these troops and cut them down, wounding several mortally,
but they from a distance struck him through his armour with their
spears, till the Thessalians in great anxiety charged down the hill to
the rescue. But he had by this time fallen.

The cavalry now charged and routed the whole body, and pursuing them
to a great distance, strewed the country with corpses, for they cut
down more than three thousand of them.

XXXIII. It was no wonder that the Thebans who were there grieved at
the death of Pelopidas, and called him their father, their saviour,
their teacher in all that was best and noblest; but the Thessalians
and their allies, who decreed greater honours than had ever been shown
to any brave man, proved their gratitude to him, even more by their
sorrow. It is said that the men who were at the fight did not lay
aside their armour, nor unbridle their horses, nor even bind up their
wounds, when they heard of his death, but warm as they were from
victory, in their arms, flocked round the corpse, piling up near it,
as a trophy, the arms of their slain enemies. They cut off the manes
of their horses, and their own hair, and many went off to their tents,
lit no fire, and ate no supper, but there was such silence and
despondency in the whole camp as would have befitted men who had been
defeated and enslaved by the tyrant, not who had just won a great and
glorious victory over him.

As soon as the sad news reached the cities of Thessaly, the chief men,
youths, children and priests came forth in procession to receive his
body, and carried trophies and wreaths and golden armour in its
honour. When the body was about to be brought home, the chiefs of the
Thessalians begged the Thebans to allow them to bury him, and one of
them spoke as follows: "Allies, we beg of you a favour which will
prove to be an honour and a comfort to us in this our great
misfortune. We Thessalians shall never again escort Pelopidas, nor
render him the honours which he deserved; but if we may have his body
to touch, and ourselves adorn it and bury it, we shall then be able to
show you that we Thessalians truly feel this misfortune more than even
you Thebans. For you have only lost a good general, while we have lost
that, and our liberty too, since how c