Pelopidas and Marcellus were fighting generals who died because they rode too close to the enemy. Pelopidas fell against Alexander of Pherae. Marcellus fell in an ambush in Italy while he was still pressing Hannibal.

Plutarch sets their courage side by side and then names the same fault in both. A commander, he says, owes his city his life as well as his daring. Each man spent himself in a fight a subordinate could have led.