Note 34 — Chapter VIII
Reading edition
Plutarch, himself a Bœotian, is highly indignant at this statement, and also at the former, that the Thebans were detained as hostages. It must be owned that there is something wanting in explanation, since it is not clear how they could have been made to fight, if disinclined; but it seems equally clear that they were very deficient in that ardour which animated the Spartans and Thespians, and therefore cannot be supposed to have remained quite voluntarily.