When he reached Thebes, he gave the
citizens an opportunity to repent of their conduct, only demanding
Phoenix and Prothytes to be given up to him, and offering the rest a
free pardon if they would join him. When, however, the Thebans in
answer to this, demanded that he should give up Philotas and Antipater
to them, and called upon all who were willing to assist in the
liberation of Greece to come and join them, he bade his Macedonians
prepare for battle.
The Thebans, although greatly outnumbered, fought with superhuman
valour; but they were taken in the rear by the Macedonian garrison,
who suddenly made a sally from the Kadmeia, and the greater part of
them were surrounded and fell fighting. The city was captured,
plundered and destroyed. Alexander hoped by this terrible example to
strike terror into the other Grecian states, although he put forward
the specious pretext that he was avenging the wrongs of his allies;
for the Plataeans and Phokians had made some complaints of the conduct
of the Thebans towards them. With the exception of the priests, the
personal friends and guests of the Macedonians, the descendants of the
poet Pindar, and those who had opposed the revolt, he sold for slaves
all the rest of the inhabitants, thirty thousand in number. More than
six thousand men perished in the battle.
XII. Amidst the fearful scene of misery and disorder which followed
the capture of the city, certain Thracians broke into the house of one
Timoklea, a lady of noble birth and irreproachable character.
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