Pelopidas (25.5-25.6)

Moreover, for the victory which the Theban cavalry won at Plataea, before the battle of Leuctra, under the command of Charon, he attempted to make the following public dedication. Androcydes of Cyzicus had received a commission from the city to make a picture of another battle, and was finishing the work at Thebes; but the city revolted from Sparta, and the war came on, before the picture was quite completed, and the Thebans now had it on their hands.

This picture, then, Menecleidas persuaded them to dedicate with Charon’s name inscribed thereon, hoping in this way to obscure the fame of Pelopidas and Epaminondas. But the ambitious scheme was a foolish one, when there were so many and such great conflicts, to bestow approval on one action and one victory, in which, we are told, a certain Gerandas, an obscure Spartan, and forty others were killed, but nothing else of importance was accomplished.