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he routed such a multitude of horse and foot with the few horsemen in his following (an action not easily found recorded of any other general), and slew the enemies’ chieftain; whereas in this regard Pelopidas failed, for he set out to do the same thing, but suffered what he meant to inflict, and was slain first by the tyrant. However, with these exploits of Marcellus one may compare the battles of Leuctra and Tegyra, greatest and most illustrious of actions; and we have no exploit of Marcellus accomplished by stealth and ambuscade which we can compare with what Pelopidas did in coming back from exile and slaying the tyrants in Thebes, nay, that seems to rank far higher than any other achievement of secrecy and cunning. Hannibal was, it is true, a most formidable enemy for the Romans, but so, assuredly, were the Lacedaemonians in the time of Pelopidas for the Thebans, and that they were defeated by Pelopidas at Tegyra and Leuctra is an established fact; whereas Hannibal, according to Polybius,¹ was not even once defeated by Marcellus, but continued to be invincible until Scipio came. However, I believe, with Livy, Caesar, and Nepos, and, among Greek writers, with King Juba, that sundry defeats and routs were inflicted by Marcellus upon the troops of Hannibal, although these had no great influence upon the war; indeed, the Carthaginian would seem to have practised some ruse in these engagements. But that which reasonably and fittingly called for admiration was the fact that the Romans, after the rout of so many armies, the slaughter of so many generals, and the utter confusion of the whole empire, still had