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 can we ever have the heart to ask
you for another general, after not giving you your Pelopidas back."

This proposal the Thebans agreed to.

XXXIV. No funeral was more splendid than this, not indeed in the
estimation of those who think that splendour lies in ivory and gold
and purple, as Philistius celebrates and praises the funeral of