disposition, more careful of the interests of the state than of his own.
He regarded all despots with a peculiarly rancorous hatred, but in
respect to other persons, made his personal likes and dislikes
subordinate to the good of his country. For this reason his zeal for his
friends does not appear to have been so remarkable as his mild and
forgiving treatment of his enemies; for he regulated his private
feelings entirely by considerations of public expediency. He loved to
form alliances between states, to connect cities into confederations,
and to teach the leaders and the people alike to act together with
unanimity. Singularly timid and faint-hearted in open war and in battles
fought by daylight, he nevertheless was most dexterous at planning
surprises, winning cities, and overthrowing despots. For this reason he
often succeeded in his rashest enterprises, and often, through excessive
caution, failed when success would have been comparatively easy. Some
wild animals see best in the dark, and are nearly blind during the
daytime, because the moist nature of their eyes cannot endure the dry
and searching rays of the sun; and so, too, it appears that some men
lose their courage and are easily disconcerted when they are fighting
openly in broad daylight, but yet recover all their bravery as soon as
they engage in secret stratagems and midnight surprises. These anomalies
must be attributed to a want of philosophic reflection in noble minds,
which effect great things naturally, and without acting by rule or
method, just as we see good fruit produced by wild and uncultivated
trees. I will now proceed to prove this by examples.
XI. Aratus, after he had joined himself and his native city to the
Achæan league, served in the cavalry force, and made himself generally
beloved by the ready obedience which he showed to his commanders; for
he, although he had rendered the league such important services in
putting his own illustrious name and the power of the city of Sikyon at
its disposal, yet, as if he were a mere private man, obeyed whoever
might be in command, even though he were a citizen of Dyme, or of
Tritæa, or even some more insignificant city. Aratus was now presented
with the sum of five-and-twenty talents by the king.[588] This he
received, but spent it all on relieving his destitute fellow-countrymen,
and in ransoming them from slavery.
XII. As the returned exiles could not be withheld from attacking those
whom they found in possession of their property, and by doing so seemed
likely to bring the state to ruin, Aratus, thinking that nothing but the
kindness of Ptolemy could save his country, started upon a voyage to
Egypt, to beg the king to furnish him with a sum of money, by means of
which he might persuade the contending parties to come to an amicable
agreement. He started from the port of Mothone, and sailed beyond Cape
Millea, meaning to cross directly over the sea to Egypt. However, the
sea was very rough, and the wind contrary, which, caused the captain of
the ship to bear up, and run along the coast until, with great
difficulty, he reached Adria,[589] which was an enemy's country, for it
was in the possession of Antigonus, who had placed a Macedonian garrison
in it. Aratus contrived to keep out of the way of the garrison, and,
leaving the ship, proceeded a long way inland, accompanied by one single
friend, named Timanthes. They concealed themselves in a thick wood, and
passed the night as best they could. Shortly afterwards the Macedonian
officer in charge appeared, and endeavoured to find Aratus, but was put
off the scent by the slaves of Aratus, who had been instructed to say
that their master, as soon as he left them, had sailed in another vessel
bound to Euboea. However, the Macedonian declared the cargo, the vessel,
and the slaves to be a lawful prize, as being enemy's property, and
detained them as such. A few days after this, when Aratus was almost at
his wit's end, by good fortune a Roman ship touched at the place where
he was spending his time in looking out for means of escape by sea, and
in trying to conceal himself from his enemies on land. The ship was
bound for Syria, but Aratus would not sail in it until he had persuaded
the captain to land him in Karia. On his voyage thither he again
encountered great dangers: but at length he succeeded in obtaining a
passage from Karia to Egypt, where he was warmly received by the king,
who had always had a favourable opinion of him, and who had lately
received from him many drawings and paintings by Greek artists. Aratus,
who had considerable taste in these matters, constantly purchased and
collected the works of the most skilful and famous painters, especially
those of Pamphilus and Melanthus, and used to send them as presents to
King Ptolemy.
XIII. At that time the Sikyonian school of painting was still celebrated
throughout Greece, and was thought more than any other to have preserved
the purity of the ancient style. Even the great Apelles, when already
famous, had come to Sikyon and paid a talent for some lessons from the
masters there, although by doing so he hoped to increase his reputation
rather than to improve his art. When Aratus set the city free, he at
once destroyed all the portraits[590] of the despots, except that of
Aristratus, who flourished in the time of Philip,[591] about which he
hesitated for a long time; for the picture in which Aristratus was
represented standing beside the chariot which won him a prize in the
games, was the joint work of all the pupils of Melanthus, and we are
told by Polemon the geographer, that some parts of it were painted by
Apelles himself. The execution was so admirable that Aratus for a moment
relented, but soon afterwards his fierce hatred of all the despots made
him order it to be destroyed. However, Nealkes the painter, who was a
friend of Aratus, interceded for the picture with tears, and as he could
not move Aratus, at last said, "We ought to make war against despots
themselves, but not against their surroundings. Let us leave the chariot
and the figure of Victory, and I will deliver up Aristratus to you, by
wiping him out of the picture." Aratus allowed Nealkes to do this, and
he effaced the figure of Aristratus, and painted a palm tree in its
place, without venturing to add anything else. It is said that after
destroying the figure of Aristratus, the painter forgot his feet, and
that they were still to be seen under the chariot. By presents of such
paintings as these Aratus had already disposed Ptolemy to regard him
with favour; and when they met, Aratus so charmed the king by his
conversation that he received from him a present of one hundred and
fifty talents for the use of his native city. Aratus carried forty
talents home with him at once to Peloponnesus, and afterwards received
the rest of the sum in instalments from the king.
XIV. It was a truly great action for Aratus to bestow so much money upon
his fellow-countrymen, especially at a time when for much smaller sums
the kings were usually able to bribe the other chiefs and popular
leaders to betray their native cities and sacrifice their constitutional
liberties; but it was even more admirable that by means of this money he
reconciled the rich and the poor, and saved the state from all the
danger of revolution, while his own conduct was marked by the greatest
moderation in spite of his enormous power. When he was appointed as sole
arbitrator with unlimited authority, to decide upon the claims of the
exiled families to their inheritances, he refused to act alone, and
associated fifteen of the other citizens with himself, with whose help,
after much labour and difficulty, he restored peace and union amongst
his countrymen. For these services the state bestowed upon him fitting
honours, but in addition to these the exiles gave him a special mark of
their regard by erecting a brazen statue, upon which was inscribed the
following verses:--
"For wisdom, valour, and great deeds in war
Thy fame, Aratus, has been noised afar.
We, that unhappy exiles were of late,
Brought home by thee, this statute dedicate
To all the gods who helped thee to restore
Peace and goodwill amongst us as before."
XV. By this important measure Aratus so thoroughly earned the gratitude
of his countrymen as to be placed above the reach of party jealousy; but
King Antigonus was much displeased at his success, and with the object
either of making him his friend, or of causing him to be distrusted by
Ptolemy, bestowed upon him several marks of favour, and when sacrificing
to the gods at Corinth even sent some of the meat of the victim to
Sikyon as a present for him. At dinner that evening he said aloud in the
hearing of many guests: "I thought this young Sikyonian was merely a
well-bred and patriotic youth; but it seems that he is a very shrewd
judge of the lives and politics of us kings. At first he used to despise
me, and looked beyond me to Egypt, because he had heard so much about
the elephants and fleets of Ptolemy, and about the splendour of his
court, but now that he has been admitted behind the scenes there and has
discovered it to be all empty show and parade, he has thrown himself
into my arms without reserve. So now I receive the youth into my own
service, and shall employ him in all my affairs; and I beg you all to
treat him as a friend."
All those who were jealous of Aratus and who wished him ill, as soon as
they heard these words, vied with one another in sending letters to
Ptolemy, full of abuse of Aratus, until at length Ptolemy himself wrote
to Aratus and reproached him for his disloyalty. So much jealousy and
ill-feeling does the friendship of kings produce among those who most
eagerly struggle to gain it.
XVI. Aratus, who was now for the first time elected general of the
Achæans, invaded and plundered the countries of Kalydonia and Lokris on
the other side of the Corinthian gulf, but though he marched with ten
thousand men to help the Boeotians he came too late to take part in the
battle, in which they were defeated near Chæronea by the Ætolians. In
this battle a thousand Boeotians perished, amongst whom was Aboeokritus
the Boeotarch himself. Next year Aratus was again chosen general, and
began to arrange his plot for the capture of the Akrocorinthus, or
citadel of Corinth. He made this attempt not to benefit the Achæans, or
his own city of Sikyon, but solely with the object of driving out the
Macedonian garrison, which was established there as the common despot
over all Greece. The Athenian Chares, after gaining some success in
battle over the generals of the King of Persia, sent home a despatch to
the Athenian people in which he declared that he had won the sister
victory to that of Marathon: and this exploit of Aratus may be most
truly described as sister to those of Pelopidas the Theban and of
Thrasybulus the Athenian, in which they each killed the despots of their
respective cities; except that this assault was not delivered against
Greeks, but against a foreign and alien sovereignty. Now the isthmus,
which bars out the two seas, connects together the two parts of our
continent; but the Acrocorinthus, which is a lofty mountain placed in
the middle of Greece, if it be held by an armed force, cuts off the land
beyond the isthmus from all intercourse with the rest of Greece, whether
for warlike or commercial purposes, and places the whole country at the
mercy of the commander of its garrison; so that the younger Philip was
not in jest but in earnest when he called the city of Corinth the "key
of Greece."
XVII. The possession of this place was always coveted by all princes and
rulers, but the desire of Antigonus for it became a frantic passion, and
his whole thoughts were occupied with plots to obtain it by stratagem,
since it was hopeless to attempt to take it by force. After the death of
Alexander,[592] who originally held it, and who, it is said, was
poisoned by Antigonus, his wife Nikæa succeeded to his kingdom, and held
the Acrocorinthus. Antigonus now at once sent his son Demetrius to her,
and by holding out the dazzling prospect of a royal alliance and a
handsome young husband to a woman somewhat past her prime, made a
conquest of her by means of his son, whom he employed without scruple to
tempt his victim. As, however, she would not give up the citadel, but
kept it strongly guarded, Antigonus pretended to be indifferent to it,
and prepared a wedding feast in Corinth, spending the whole day in
attendance at spectacles and in wine-drinking, as if he had entirely
given himself up to pleasure and enjoyment. When the time drew near for
the attempt, he himself accompanied Nikæa to the theatre to hear Amoebeus
sing. They were carried together in royal state in a splendidly
ornamented litter, and she was delighted at the respect which he showed
her, and was as far as possible from guessing his real purpose. When
they arrived at the point where the road turned off towards the citadel,
he begged her to proceed alone to the theatre, and without troubling
himself further about Amoebeus or the marriage, ran up to the
Acrocorinthus faster than one would have expected in a man of his age.
Finding the gate shut, he knocked at it with his stick, bidding the
garrison open it; and they, astounded at his audacity, threw it open.
When he had thus obtained possession of the place he could no longer
restrain himself, but although he was now an old man, and had
experienced great vicissitudes of fortune, he drank wine and jumped for
joy in the streets, and swaggered riotously across the market-place,
crowned with flowers, and accompanied by singing-girls, greeting and
shaking hands with every one whom he met. So true it is that unexpected
joy disturbs the right balance of the mind more than either grief or
terror.
XVIII. Now Antigonus, having, as above related, gained possession of the
Acrocorinthus, entrusted the place to some of his most faithful
officers, among whom was Persæus the philosopher. Aratus, during the
life of Alexander, had begun to form a plan for surprising the citadel,
but desisted from his plot when Alexander became an ally of the Achæans.
He now began to form fresh schemes, in the following manner:--There were
in Corinth four brothers, Syrians by birth, one of whom, named Diokles,
was serving in the garrison, and quartered in the citadel. The other
three, having robbed the king's treasury, came to Sikyon to dispose of
the plunder to a banker named Ægias, who was well known to Aratus from
having had dealings with him. They disposed of a considerable part of
their plunder at first, and afterwards, one of them, named Erginus, came
quietly over from time to time with the remainder. In this way he became
intimate with Ægias, and, being led on by him to talk about the citadel,
said that when going up the hill to visit his brother, he had noticed a
narrow path on one side, which led to the lowest part of the wall of the
fortress. On hearing this, Ægias laughingly said to him, "My good sir,
why do you rob the king's treasury to gain such pitiful sums of money,
when you might gain great riches in a single hour? Do you not know that
burglary and treachery are alike punished with death?" Erginus smiled at
this, and agreed to sound his brother Diokles upon this point; for he
could not, he said, place much confidence in the other two.
In a few days he returned, undertook to lead Aratus to a part of the
wall which was not more than fifteen feet high, and arranged that both
he and his brother Diokles would do all in their power to assist him.
XIX. Aratus promised that he would give them sixty talents if
successful, and that, in case of failure, if he and they survived, he
would give each of them a house and a talent. As the money had to be
deposited with Ægias for the satisfaction of Erginus, Aratus, who did
not possess the sum necessary, and who did not wish to lead others to
suspect his design by borrowing, took the greater part of his own plate
and his wife's jewels, and pledged them with Ægias for the money.
Indeed, he was of so lofty a soul, and so passionately desirous of
glory, that although he knew that Phokion and Epameinondas had gained
the reputation of being the most just and noble of the Greeks, by
refusing large bribes and not sacrificing honour to money, he preferred
to expend his fortune secretly in enterprises in which he alone risked
his life on behalf of the many, who did not even know what he was doing.
Who, even in our own day, could refrain from admiring and longing to
share the fortunes of a man who bought for himself so great a danger at
so high a price, and who pawned the most valuable of his possessions in
order that he might make his way into the fortress of his enemies by
night and fight for his life there, gaining by his deposit the hope of
glory, but nothing else?
XX. The plot, dangerous enough in itself, was rendered even more so at
its very outset by a blunder. Technon, the servant of Aratus, was sent
to examine the wall together with Diokles. He had never before met
Diokles, but imagining that he knew his appearance from Erginus's
description of him as a man with close curly hair, a dark complexion,
and no beard, went to the rendezvous, and waited outside the city, near
the place called Ornis, for Erginus, who was to meet him there with his
brother Diokles. In the meantime the brother of Erginus and Diokles,
named Dionysius, who was not in the plot, and knew nothing of what was
going on, happened to come up. He was very like Diokles, and Technon,
influenced by the likeness, inquired of him if he were in any way
connected with Erginus. As he answered that he was his brother, Technon
was quite certain that he was addressing Diokles; and without asking his
name or waiting for any further proof of identity he gave him his hand,
spoke of the compact with Erginus, and asked him questions about it. He
cleverly encouraged Technon in his error, agreed to everything that he
said, and, turning round, walked with him towards the city without
exciting his suspicions. When he was close to the gate, and had all but
inveigled Technon through it, it chanced that Erginus met them.
Perceiving the trick which his brother had played, and the danger in
which Technon was placed, he warned him by a sign to make his escape,
and both of them, running away at full speed, got safe back to Aratus.
Yet he did not despair, but at once sent Erginus to take some money to
Dionysius, and to beg him to hold his tongue. Erginus accomplished his
commission, and brought Dionysius back with him to Aratus. When he
arrived there they would not let him go again, but kept him a close
prisoner, while they themselves prepared to make the attempt.
XXI. When all was ready, Aratus ordered the greater part of his force to
pass the night under arms, and himself with a chosen body of four
hundred men, few of whom were in the secret, proceeded towards the gates
of Corinth, near the temple of Hera. The time was the height of summer.
The moon was at the full, and as the night was clear and cloudless, they
began to fear that the light gleaming from their arms would betray them
to the sentinels. However, when the leading men were near to the wall a
fog came up from the sea, and enveloped the whole city and its
neighbourhood. Now, the men all sat down and took off their shoes; for
men who mount ladders with naked feet make very little noise and are not
so liable to slip. Meanwhile Erginus, with seven youths dressed as
wayfaring men, made his way up to the gate unsuspected. They killed the
keeper of the gate, and the guard: while at the same time the
scaling-ladders were placed against the walls. Aratus hastily crossed
the walls with a hundred men. Bidding the remainder follow as fast as
they could, he ordered the ladders to be drawn up, and, followed by his
hundred men, ran through the town to the citadel, overjoyed at having
got so far without raising an alarm, and already certain of success.
While they were still some distance off, they met a patrol of four men
carrying a light. These men could not see them because they were in the
shadow of the moon, but the four men were clearly visible as they
marched straight towards them. Aratus now drew his force a little aside
among some ruins and low walls, so as to form an ambush, and set upon
the men. Three were killed on the spot, but the fourth, though wounded
in the head by a blow from a sword, ran away shouting that the enemy
were within the walls. Soon after this trumpets were sounded, the whole
city was disturbed, and all the streets became thronged with men running
to and fro, while many lights appeared, some in the lower town, and some
in the citadel above, and a confused murmur of voices was heard on every
side.
XXII. While this was going on, Aratus persevered in his march, and was
toiling laboriously up the cliff. At first he proceeded slowly and with
difficulty, without making any real progress, because he had entirely
missed the path, which wound about under the shadow of the precipitous
rocks by many turnings and windings up to the citadel. At this moment it
is said that the moon shone through the clouds and threw her light upon
the most difficult part of the ascent in a wonderful manner, until
Aratus reached the part of the wall of the citadel which he wished to
attack. When he was there, she again concealed and shaded her rays
behind a barrier of clouds. While this was being done, the three hundred
men of Aratus's force, who had been left outside the gate near the
temple of Hera, when they made their way into the city, which was now
full of confusion and lights, were not able to find the same path which
had been followed by the others, or any trace of the way by which they
had gone, and so in a body crouched down in a dark corner in the shade
of a cliff, and waited there in great anxiety and alarm: for now the
party led by Aratus was being shot at by the garrison of the citadel,
and was fighting with them hand to hand, and the shouts of the battle
could be plainly heard below, though the echoes of the mountains made it
impossible to tell from what quarter the noise proceeded. While they
were at a loss to know which way to turn, Archelaus, the leader of the
Macedonian troops, marched out with a large force, with loud shouts and
trumpets sounding, to attack the party under Aratus, and marched past
where the three hundred lay as it were in ambush. They rushed out,
charged the Macedonians, killed the first of them, and drove Archelaus
and the remainder before them panic-stricken, until they dispersed
themselves about the city. No sooner had this victory been won, than
Erginus arrived from the citadel, announcing that Aratus was engaged
with the enemy, who were offering a stubborn resistance, that a great
battle was going on at the wall itself, and that immediate assistance
was required. They at once bade him lead them, and mounted the hill,
shouting to their friends to let them know who they were, and to
encourage them. The full moon, too, as it shone upon their arms, made
their numbers appear greater to the enemy on account of the length of
the path, and the midnight echoes made their shouts appear to come from
a much larger party of men. At last they joined their friends above, and
by a united effort drove out the enemy, won the heights, and gained
possession of the citadel just as day was dawning. Soon the sun rose
upon their victory, and the remainder of Aratus's force from Sikyon came
up, and was welcomed by the Corinthians, who opened their gates to them,
and assisted them to capture the soldiers of the Macedonian garrison.
XXIII. When all appeared to be safe, Aratus descended from the citadel
to the theatre, where an enormous multitude of persons was collected,
eager to see him and to hear the speech which he was about to address to
the Corinthians. He placed a guard of Achæans on each side of the stage,
and himself appeared in the middle, still wearing his corslet, and pale
with the labours of a sleepless night, so that the triumph and delight
which he felt were weighed down by sheer bodily lassitude. His
appearance was greeted with enthusiastic applause, and, shifting his
spear into his right hand, and slightly leaning his body against it, he
stood for a long time silent, receiving the plaudits and shouts of those
who praised his courage and congratulated him on his good fortune. When
they had ceased and resumed their seats, he drew himself up and made
them a speech worthy of the occasion, on behalf of the Achæan league, in
which he prevailed upon the Corinthians to join the league, and gave up
to them the keys of their gates which now came into their possession for
the first time since the days of king Philip. He dismissed Archelaus,
who had been taken prisoner, but put Theophrastus to death because he
refused to leave his post. Persæus, when the citadel was taken, escaped
to Kenchreæ. Afterwards it is said that in philosophic conversation,
when some one said that he thought that the philosopher was the only
true general, he answered, "By heaven, this once used to please me more
than any other of Zeno's aphorisms, but I have changed my mind since the
refutation of it which I received from a young man of Sikyon." This
anecdote of Persæus is related by most historians.