Epaminondas
an ancient Greek hero, who, for a time, raised his country, Thebes, to the summit of power and prosperity. He was born about 418 в. c. He led in the struggle during which Spartan supremacy in Greece was destroyed, and the supremacy of Thebes temporarily secured. Four times he successfully invaded the Peloponnesus, at the head of the Thebans, but after his death Thebes soon sank to her former secondary condition. He was distinguished for the friendship subsisting between him and Pelopidas, with whom he served in the Spartan campaign 385 B. C. His virtues have been praised by both Xenophon and Plutarch. He was killed at the battle of Mantineia 362 B. C.
ÉPÉE (e-pā'), CHARLES MICHEL, ABBÉ DE L', instructor of the deaf and dumb; born in Versailles, France, Nov. 25, 1712. Taking orders, he became a preacher and canon at Troyes, but later ÉPERNAY lived in retirement in Paris. In 1765 he first began to occupy himself with the education of two deaf and dumb sisters; and invented a language of signs, by which persons thus afflicted might be enabled to hold intercourse with their fellow-creatures. At his own expense he founded an institution for the deaf and EPICURUS but soon after it rose from its ruins with greater splendor and magnificence.