15
Let no one fancy that I disregard the other citizens and keep my eulogy for him alone. The praise bestowed upon Leosthenes for these engagements is in fact a tribute to the rest. For though sound strategy depends upon the leader, success in battle is ensured by those who are prepared to risk their lives; and therefore, in the praise that I bestow upon the victory gained, I shall be commending not merely the leadership of Leosthenes but the courage of his comrades too.
16
For who could rightly grudge his praise to those of our citizens who fell in this campaign, who gave their lives for the freedom of the Greeks, convinced that the surest proof of their desire to guarantee the liberty of Greece was to die in battle for her?
17
One circumstance did much to reinforce their purpose as champions of Greece: the fact that the earlier battle was fought in Boeotia.The points which Hyperides makes in this and in the following section will not bear examination. For (1) the first victory was gained in the territory of Plataea, not within sight of Thebes; (2) the second battle was probably fought near Heraclea in Trachis, and its site could not be seen from Anthela where the Amphictyonic council met. Moreover, the council met there only once a year and could hardly be called representative of the whole of Greece. They saw that the city of Thebes had been tragically annihilated from the face of the earth, that its citadel was garrisoned by the Macedonians, and that the persons of its inhabitants were in slavery, while others parcelled out the land among themselves. And so these threats, revealed before their eyes, gave them an undaunted courage to meet danger gladly.
