Philip fulfiled his mentor’s Epaminondas dream to unite Greece

Taken from the book of Lewis Vance Cummings “Alexander the Great” 

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Philip had been a boy of thirteen when he was taken as a hostage to Thebes. He had been well treated, and placed in charge of Epaminondas, perhaps the greatest Greek of that day. The Thcban was a man of culture, an orator of the first caliber, a politician of consummate shrewdness and ability, a strategist and general with the driving power of a Spartan. By sheer force of domineering will power he had won from the people of Thebes their blind obedience and made himself supreme in the city. He had tried, fruitlessly, largely by diplomatic chicane, even to the extent of intriguing with the Persian king and even sending Pelopidas to dance attendance upon the foreign monarch, to force Theban ascendancy in matters pertaining to the policies of all Greece. It was later said that Epaminondas’ intentions were the same as those of Jason, ultimately to use his ascendancy to force unity of Greece for the purpose of attacking the Persian Empire. But he had run into the stone wall of insular hatred that kept all Greeks in constant bitter turmoil. The Greek city-states, jealous of their individual prerogatives and governed by frequently changed personalities, would never agree to genuine co-operation, or, having agreed, would break any agreement to gain an advantage or upon the slightest fancied insult. They had become politically incapable of forming a lasting confederation for mutual defense or betterment, and were individually too weak to defend themselves in the face of any logical combination or alliance. Epaminondas had failed in his dream, but the scope of his vision, mental resources, military prowess, and diplomatic cleverness had fired young Philip’s imagination

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