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The Death of Turgesius 53
were killed, while others say that Melon and his followers came
in as though they were revellers and killed them.P
Xenophon does not mention the name of Pelopidas in
his account of this conspiracy.v! In Plutarch's version,
Pelopidas plays a prominent role. As Plutarch's account
is rather circumstantial I restrict quotation to the
relevant part of the climax:
Now that the fitting time for their undertaking seemed to
have come, they sallied forth in two bands; one, under the lead
of Pelopidas and Damocleidas, against Leontidas and Hypates,
who lived near together; the other against Archias and Philip,
under Charon and Melon, who had put on women's apparel over
their breastplates, and wore thick garlands of pine and fir which
shaded their faces. For this reason, when they stood at the
door of the banquet-room, at first the company shouted and
clapped their hands, supposing that the women whom they had
been long expecting were come.
But then, after surveying the banquet and carefully marking
each of the reclining guests, the visitors drew their swords and
rushing through the midst of the tables at Archias and Philip,
revealed who they were. A few of the guests were persuaded
by Phillidas to remain quiet, but the rest, who with the polemarchs
offered resistance and tried to defend themselves, were
dispatched without any trouble, since they were drunk.P
A similar episode occurs in Plutarch's Life of Solon.
Here is his description of how Solon enabled the Athenians
to capture Salamis from the Megarians:
The popular account of his campaign is as follows. Having
sailed to Cape Colias with Peisistratus, he found all the women
of the city there, performing the customary sacrifice to Demeter.
He therefore sent a trusty man to Salamis, who pretended to be
a deserter, and bade the Megarians, if they wished to capture the
principal women of Athens, to sail to Colias with him as fast as
they could. The Megarians were persuaded by him, and sent
off some men in his ship. But when Solon saw the vessel sailing
back from the island, he ordered the women to withdraw, and
directed those of the younger men who were still beardless,
arraying themselves in the garments, head-bands, and sandals
which the women had worn, and carrying concealed daggers, to
11 Xenophon, Hellenica v, iv, 4-6 (translated by Carleton L. Brownson,
1918).
.. Cf. George Grote, History of Greece, VIII (new ed. 1888), 78, and
R. W. Macan, Herodotus, The Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Books (1895), 162-3.
16 Plutarch's Lives (with an English translation by Bernadotte Perrin, 1917),
Pelopidas, XI. As described in Plutarch's essay 'On the Genius of Socrates',
the conspiracy lacks the element of disguise.