The war which destroyed the prestige of Sparta, and put an end to her empire by sea and land, began in that night, in which Pelopidas, without having made himself master of any fort, stronghold, or citadel, but merely coming to a private house with eleven others, loosed and broke to pieces, if we may use a true metaphor, the chains of Lacedæmonian supremacy, which seemed fixed and immovable.
