Regum et imperatorum apophthegmata

Pelopidas, the associate of Epameinondas in command, in reply to his friends who told him that he was neglecting a very necessary business, the amassing of money, said, Yes, on my word, money is necessary—for Nicodemus here ! [*](Cf. Plutarch’s Life of Pelopidas, chap. iii. (279 C) Aelian, Varia Historia, xi. 9.) as he pointed to a lame and crippled man.

As he was leaving home for the field of battle, his wife begged him to have a care for his life. This advice, said he, should be kept for others, but for a commander and general the advice should be to have a care for the lives of the citizens. [*](Cf. the Life of Pelopidas, chap. xix. (288 C).)

When one of his soldiers said, We have fallen among the enemy, he said, Why any more than they among us ? [*](Repeated in the Life of Pelopidas, chap. xvii. (286 D). A similar remark is attributed to Leonidas, Moralia, 225 B, infra, and to an unnamed Spartan, 234 B, infra. )

When he fell a victim to the treachery of Alexander, despot of Pherae, and was put in bonds, he upbraided Alexander; and when the despot said, Are you so eager to die, he replied, Yes, I certainly am, so that the Thebans may become the more exasperated, and you may get your deserts the sooner. [*](Cf. Plutarch’s Life of Pelopidas, chap. xxviii. (293 A).)