who procured him the means of studying architecture both in Italy and France. He attained a great proficiency in that art—witness the palaces of Schönhausen and of Charlottenburg, the first of which he entirely designed and constructed; the second, only completed. He had also a chance of showing his talents on the occasion of the coronation of Friedrich I., who invested him with the military title of quartermaster-general. Eosander was twice employed on diplomatic missions to Charles XII. of Sweden; and on the death of his Prussian patron he entered the service of that king as major-general. In 1715 he was employed at the defence of Stralsund, on the fall of which fortress he was made a prisoner of war, but soon after released on parole. He retired then to Frankfort-on-the-Maine, where he wasted all his fortune in alchemical experiments. He ultimately entered the service of Saxony, in which he obtained the degree of lieutenant-general.—R. M.
* EÖTVÖS, Joseph de Vásáros Namény, Baron, the brilliant and versatile Hungarian poet, novel-writer, editor, and statesman, was born on September 3, 1813, at Buda in Hungary. Though his father and grandfather held high offices under the Austrian government, he, from the outset of his career, joined the fortunes of the opposition. Having graduated at the university of Pesth, he travelled extensively in Europe, and, at his return in 1837, became soon popular by his few but beautiful lyrics, though his dramatic attempts were failures. In 1838 he wrote first an excellent essay on "Prison Reform;" then a novel, "The Carthusian," which had great success. His noble conduct in 1841—when his father, at that time imperial president of the stadtholderate of Hungary, had failed in consequence of extensive land speculations—made the young author still more popular. About the same time Count Széchenyi, the great political economist, made a savage attack upon Kossuth just freed from prison, and editing his celebrated paper, the Pesti Hirlap. The liberal party in Hungary became now divided in two sections, and Baron Eötvös took Kossuth's defence upon himself in a masterly pamphlet against Count Széchenyi. Shortly afterwards, however, he broke loose from both factions of the opposition, and tried to establish a third party upon the French principles of centralization. In 1848, when all the talents of Hungary were united in the administration of Count Louis Bathyanyi, he became minister of public worship and education, but proved unequal to his task. Frightened by the serious turn of events, he resigned his office, and fled from Hungary at the approach of Ban Jellachich. He remained for two years at Munich in Bavaria, taking no part in the struggle for independence. After his return he was appointed vice-president of the Hungarian Academy by the Austrian government. His novels are very popular in Hungary—one of these, "The Village Notary," has been translated into English: Longman, 1850; his later political publications had less success in his own country, where he is considered a trimmer, than in Germany. The most important is his essay "On the Influence of the Ideas of the Nineteenth Century on the State and on Society."—F. P., L.
EPAMINONDAS, the great soldier and statesman of Thebes, lived from the latter part of the fifth century b.c. to near the middle of the fourth. The son of Polymnis, of a poor but ancient family, which claimed kindred with the race that sprung from the dragon's teeth, he was long loved and honoured by the best and bravest of his countrymen before his powers were evoked in the public service. Like Pericles, assiduous in self-cultivation, he was distinguished among his contemporaries by the splendour and variety of his accomplishments. Thebes was hardly behind Sparta in the devotion of its citizens to the exercises of the gymnasium; and these, with flute-playing, were considered the essentials of a good education. To a narrow discipline, suited to the most unintellectual people in Greece, Epaminondas added the high intellectual training which had been almost the peculiar boast of Athens. Two of the disciples of Socrates, Simmias and Spintharus, are named among his teachers. It was his connection with Lysis, a Pythagorean exile of Tarentum, whose old age he tended with filial affection, that exercised the most lasting influence upon him. Unlike the great men of the great age of Athens, he stood almost alone. Even Pelopidas and his closest friends were men who confined themselves to the dull round of Theban drilling. In his passion for philosophy, Epaminondas was almost as singular as in his liberality, in his moderation and humanity, and in his massive and novel political conceptions. "I never knew a man," said his master Spintharus, "who understood so much and talked so little." This unobtrusiveness is eminently characteristic. " A strong, still man," averse from display, he remained a private citizen, in spite of the solicitation and reproaches of his friends, till he was forced into fame, after he had reached middle age, by the revolution of 379 b.c., which delivered Thebes from Spartan occupation. One of the leaders was Pelopidas, a rich young citizen, the dearest friend of Epaminondas. But he himself refused to take part in a plot which involved assassination and bloodshed. After its accomplishment, he appears for a short while as the organizing spirit of Thebes, saving it from the vengeance of Sparta. We next meet him in 371, pleading the cause of Thebes with boldness and ability in the assembly of the Athenian confederates, and afterwards in the peace-congress at Sparta. From that date to his death on the field of Mantinea, nine years later, he towers predominant over Greece; and the history of the period, so far as it is important or instructive, is little else than his biography. In the peace-congress at Sparta, the base of negotiations was the same as at the peace of Antalcidas—the dissolution of the confederacies, the withdrawal of garrisons of occupation, the perfect independence of the several states. It was agreed that each commissioner should sign only for his own people. When Agesilaus insisted that the Thebans should not sign for Bœotia, Epaminondas rejoined that the Spartans should not sign for Laconia.
It is said that the Theban envoys returned home in dejection; and their prospects were such as made dejection not unreasonable. No doubt was felt through Greece of the imminent destruction of Thebes; and the passionate hatred of Sparta against it promised a terrible overthrow. The face of things was changed when three weeks had passed away. The strength of Sparta was crushed beyond recovery by the genius of Epaminondas, The army of Cleombrotus was ruined at Leuctra by the Theban phalanx, and the king himself slain. The most fatal loss was three hundred citizens of Sparta. "Its numbers were so small," says Aristotle, "that it sunk under one blow." Before many days the strong fabric of its empire was dissolved, hardly leaving traces "indistinct as water is in water." Cnidus had ruined its empire by sea; Leuctra ruined its empire on land. The awe with which her power had filled Greece changed in an instant into contempt for her weakness. "Epaminondas fancies himself an Agamemnon," said Meneclides bitterly, when the general was urging the expedition to Asia. "Agamemnon," replied Epaminondas, "with Sparta and all Greece to aid him, was ten years in taking Troy; with the forces of Thebes alone I destroyed Sparta in one day." For some months Epaminondas remained in Bœotia, drilling his soldiers, and consolidating the Theban power. Thespiæ was reduced to the state of Platæa. By the wise humanity of their leader the Thebans received Orchomenus uninjured into the restored confederary of Bœotia. He watched with anxiety the motions of Jason of Thessaly, whose vaulting ambition aspired even to the overthrow of the Persian empire. The assassination of the tyrant in 370 left Epaminondas free to turn his mind to the affairs of the Peloponnesus. The Arcadians were attempting to organize a common government and invited him to cross the isthmus. When he arrived they urged him to invade Laconia and attack Sparta. He complied unwillingly; but, except as deepening the humiliation of Sparta, this expedition was without effect. On his return he proceeded to carry out two grand measures for the perpetual depression of Sparta, by planting the Messenians in the fertile lands of western Laconia, and by completing the organization of the Arcadians. The new city of Megalopolis (Great city) was created in Arcadia to allay the jealousy of Tegea and Mantinea, neither of which would yield place to the other. And Messene was erected on Mount Ithomè to be the capital of Messenia.
In the next year Epaminondas was again in the Peloponnesus for a short while, and garrisoned Sicyon. In 368 he was called thither a third time by the "tearless victory" of Archidamus over the Arcadians. He confined himself chiefly to Achaia, which he brought into alliance with Thebes without disturbing the oligarchical constitutions in the cities. The Arcadians and a party in Achaia itself, complained that he had left the power with the friends of Sparta. It may have added force to these complaints that he had humanely dismissed some Bœotian exiles, who fell into his hands. At any rate his arrangements were at once overthrown; and his countrymen showed their displeasure against him by not re-electing him Bœotarch. It is said that
