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Epaminondas, a Theban general, managed a war
against the Spartans. He went from the army to Thebes,
to be present there at a public election of magistrates;
but first enjoined his son Stesimbrotus that he should not
fight the enemy in his absence upon any terms. The
Spartans being informed that Epaminondas was not with
the army, reproached the young man with want of courage,
and so far provoked him, that without any regard to his
father's command he gave the Spartans battle, and overcame them. His father was so incensed against him for
this action, that though he crowned him for the victory,
he cut off his head for his disobedience.—Ctesiphon, in
his Third Book of the Boeotian History.
In a war that the Romans had against the Samnites,
[p. 459]
they gave the command to Manlius, surnamed Imperiosus.
He had occasion to go to Rome, to be present there at the
choice of consuls, and gave his son in charge not to engage the enemy in the mean time. The Samnites, understanding this, irritated the young man with opprobrious
words, as if he declined fighting out of cowardice, and in
the end provoked him to a battle; upon which action he
carried the day; but his father caused his head to be
struck off for breaking his order.—This is in Aristides
Miesius.
Plutarch. Plutarch's Morals. Translated from the Greek by several hands. Corrected and revised by. William W. Goodwin, PH. D. Boston. Little, Brown, and Company. Cambridge. Press Of John Wilson and son. 1874. 5.
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