+41.+ For the Danube discharging itself into the Pontus by several

mouths, we find opposite it a bank formed by the mud discharged from

these mouths extending for nearly a thousand stades, at a distance of

a day’s sail from the shore as it now exists; upon which ships sailing

to the Pontus run, while apparently still in deep water, and find

themselves unexpectedly stranded on the sandbanks which the sailors

call the Breasts. That this deposit is not close to the shore, but

projected to some distance, must be accounted for thus: exactly as far

as the currents of the rivers retain their force from the strength of

the descending stream, and overpower that of the sea, it must of course

follow that to that distance the earth, and whatever else is carried

down by the rivers, would be projected, and neither settle nor become

fixed until it is reached. But when the force of the currents has

become quite spent by the depth and bulk of the sea, it is but natural

that the soil held in solution should settle down and assume a fixed

position. This is the explanation of the fact, that, in the case of

large and rapid rivers, such embankments are at considerable distances,

and the sea close in shore deep; while in the case of smaller and more

sluggish streams, these sandbanks are at their mouths. The strongest

proof of this is furnished by the case of heavy rains; for when they

occur, rivers of inferior size, overpowering the waves at their mouths,

project the alluvial deposit out to sea, to a distance exactly in

proportion to the force of the streams thus discharging themselves.

It would be mere foolish scepticism to disbelieve in the enormous

size of this sandbank, and in the mass of stones, timber, and earth

carried down by the rivers; when we often see with our own eyes an

insignificant stream suddenly swell into a torrent, and force its way

over lofty rocks, sweeping along with it every kind of timber, soil,

and stones, and making such huge moraines, that at times the appearance

of a locality becomes in a brief period difficult to recognise.[222]

+42.+ This should prevent any surprise that rivers of such magnitude

and rapidity, flowing perpetually instead of intermittently, should

produce these effects and end by filling up the Pontus. For it is not

a mere probability, but a logical certainty, that this must happen.

And a proof of what is going to take place is this, that in the same

proportion as the Maeotic lake is less salt than the Pontus, the

Pontus is less so than the Mediterranean. From which it is manifest

that, when the time which it has taken for the Maeotic lake to fill

up shall have been extended in proportion to the excess of the Pontic

over the Maeotic basin, then the Pontus will also become like a marsh

and lake, and filled with fresh water like the Maeotic lake: nay, we

must suppose that the process will be somewhat more rapid, insomuch

as the rivers falling into it are more numerous and more rapid. I

have said thus much in answer to the incredulity of those who cannot

believe that the Pontus is actually being silted up, and will some day

be filled; and that so vast a sea will ever become a lake or marsh.

But I have another and higher object also in thus speaking: which is

to prevent our ignorance from forcing us to give a childish credence

to every traveller’s tale and marvel related by voyagers; and that,

by possessing certain indications of the truth, we may be enabled by

them to test the truth or falsehood of anything alleged by this or that

person.

[Sidenote: Site of Byzantium.]

[Sidenote: B.C. 512.]

+43.+ I must now return to the discussion of the excellence of the

site of Byzantium. The length of the channel connecting the Pontus

and Propontis being, as I have said, a hundred and twenty stades, and

Hieron marking its termination towards the Pontus, and the Strait

of Byzantium that towards the Propontis,—half-way between these, on

the European side, stands Hermaeum, on a headland jutting out into

the channel, about five stades from the Asiatic coast, just at the

narrowest point of the whole channel; where Darius is said to have

made his bridge of ships across the strait, when he crossed to invade

Scythia. In the rest of the channel the running of the current from the

Pontus is much the same, owing to the similarity of the coast formation

on either side of it; but when it reaches Hermaeum on the European

side, which I said was the narrowest point, the stream flowing from the

Pontus, and being thus confined, strikes the European coast with great

violence, and then, as though by a rebound from a blow, dashes against

the opposite Asiatic coast, and thence again sweeps back and strikes

the European shore near some headlands called the Hearths: thence it

runs rapidly once more to the spot on the Asiatic side called the Cow,

the place on which the myth declares Io to have first stood after

swimming the channel. Finally the current runs from the Cow right up to

Byzantium, and dividing into two streams on either side of the city,

the lesser part of it forms the gulf called the Horn, while the greater

part swerves once more across. But it has no longer sufficient way on

it to reach the opposite shore on which Calchedon stands: for after

its several counter-blows the current, finding at this point a wider

channel, slackens; and no longer makes short rebounds at right angles

from one shore to the other, but more and more at an obtuse angle, and

accordingly, falling short of Calchedon, runs down the middle of the

channel.

[Sidenote: B.C. 410.]

+44.+ What then makes Byzantium a most excellent site, and Calchedon

the reverse, is just this: and although at first sight both positions

seem equally convenient, the practical fact is that it is difficult to

sail up to the latter, even if you wish to do so; while the current

carries you to the former, whether you will or no, as I have just

now shown. And a proof of my assertion is this: those who want to

cross from Calchedon to Byzantium cannot sail straight across the

channel, but coast up to the Cow and Chrysopolis,—which the Athenians

formerly seized, by the advice of Alcibiades, when they for the first

time levied customs on ships sailing into the Pontus,[223]—and then

drift down the current, which carries them as a matter of course to

Byzantium. And the same is the case with a voyage on either side

of Byzantium. For if a man is running before a south wind from the

Hellespont, or to the Hellespont from the Pontus before the Etesian

winds, if he keeps to the European shore, he has a direct and easy

course to the narrow part of the Hellespont between Abydos and Sestos,

and thence also back again to Byzantium: but if he goes from Calchedon

along the Asiatic coast, the case is exactly the reverse, from the fact

that the coast is broken up by deep bays, and that the territory of

Cyzicus projects to a considerable distance. Nor can a man coming from

the Hellespont to Calchedon obviate this by keeping to the European

coast as far as Byzantium, and then striking across to Calchedon;

for the current and other circumstances which I have mentioned make

it difficult. Similarly, for one sailing out from Calchedon it is

absolutely impossible to make straight for Thrace, owing to the

intervening current, and to the fact that both winds are unfavourable

to both voyages; for as the south wind blows into the Pontus, and the

north wind from it, the one or the other of these must be encountered

in both these voyages. These, then, are the advantages enjoyed by

Byzantium in regard to the sea: I must now describe its disadvantages

on shore.

[Sidenote: Disadvantages of Byzantium.]

+45.+ They consist in the fact that its territory is so completely

hemmed in by Thrace from shore to shore, that the Byzantines have a

perpetual and dangerous war continually on hand with the Thracians. For

they are unable once for all to arm and repel them by a single decisive

battle, owing to the number of their people and chiefs. For if they

conquer one chief, three others still more formidable invade their

territory. Nor again do they gain anything by consenting to pay tribute

and make terms; for a concession of any sort to one brings at once five

times as many enemies upon them. Therefore, as I say, they are burdened

by a perpetual and dangerous war: for what can be more hazardous or

more formidable than a war with barbarians living on your borders? Nay,

it is not only this perpetual struggle with danger on land, but, apart

from the evils that always accompany war, they have to endure a misery

like that ascribed by the poets to Tantalus: for being in possession

of an extremely fertile district, no sooner have they expended their

labour upon it and been rewarded by crops of the finest quality, than

the barbarians sweep down, and either destroy them, or collect and

carry them off; and then, to say nothing of the loss of their labour

and expense, the very excellence of the crops enhances the misery and

distress of seeing them destroyed before their eyes. Still, habit

making them able to endure the war with the Thracians, they maintained

their original connexions with the other Greeks; but when to their

other misfortunes was added the attack of the Gauls under Comontorius,

they were reduced to a sad state of distress indeed.

[Sidenote: The Gauls, B.C. 279.]

+46.+ These Gauls had left their country with Brennus, and having

survived the battle at Delphi and made their way to the Hellespont,

instead of crossing to Asia, were captivated by the beauty of the

district round Byzantium, and settled there. Then, having conquered

the Thracians and erected Tyle[224] into a capital, they placed the

Byzantines in extreme danger. In their earlier attacks, made under the

command of Comontorius their first king, the Byzantines always bought

them off by presents amounting to three, or five, or sometimes even

ten thousand gold pieces, on condition of their not devastating their

territory: and at last were compelled to agree to pay them a yearly

tribute of eighty talents, until the time of Cavarus, in whose reign

their kingdom came to an end; and their whole tribe, being in their

turn conquered by the Thracians, were entirely annihilated. It was in

these times, then, that being hard pressed by the payment of these

exactions, the Byzantines first sent embassies to the Greek states with

a prayer for aid and support in their dangerous situation: but being

disregarded by the greater number, they, under pressure of necessity,

attempted to levy dues upon ships sailing into the Pontus.

[Sidenote: The Byzantines levy a toll.]

+47.+ Now this exaction by the Byzantines of a duty upon goods brought

from the Pontus, being a heavy loss and burden to everybody, was

universally regarded as a grievance; and accordingly an appeal from all

those engaged in the trade was made to the Rhodians, as acknowledged

masters of the sea: and it was from this circumstance that the war

originated of which I am about to speak.

[Sidenote: The Rhodians declare war, B.C. 220.]

For the Rhodians, roused to action by the loss incurred by themselves,

as well as that of their neighbours, at first joined their allies in

an embassy to Byzantium, and demanded the abolition of the impost. The

Byzantines refused compliance, being persuaded that they were in the

right by the arguments advanced by their chief magistrates, Hecatorus

and Olympidorus, in their interview with the ambassadors. The Rhodian

envoys accordingly departed without effecting their object. But upon

their return home, war was at once voted against Byzantium on these

grounds; and messengers were immediately despatched to Prusias inviting

his co-operation in the war: for they knew that Prusias was from

various causes incensed with the Byzantines.

[Sidenote: Achaeus.]

[Sidenote: B.C. 226.]

+48.+ The Byzantines took steps of a similar nature, by sending to

Attalus and Achaeus begging for their assistance. For his part Attalus

was ready enough to give it: but his importance was small, because

he had been reduced within the limits of his ancestral dominions by

Achaeus. But Achaeus who exercised dominion throughout Asia on this

side Taurus, and had recently established his regal power, promised

assistance; and his attitude roused high hopes in the minds of the

Byzantines, and corresponding depression in those of the Rhodians and

Prusias. Achaeus was a relation of the Antiochus who had just succeeded

to the kingdom of Syria; and he became possessed of the dominion I

have mentioned through the following circumstances. After the death of

Seleucus, father of the above-named Antiochus, and the succession of

his eldest son Seleucus to the throne, Achaeus accompanied the latter

in an expedition over Mount Taurus, about two years before the period

of which we are speaking.[225] For as soon as Seleucus the younger had

succeeded to the kingdom he learnt that Attalus had already reduced

all Asia on this side of Taurus under his power; and being accordingly

eager to support his own rights, he crossed Taurus with a large army.

There he was treacherously assassinated by Apaturius the Gaul, and

Nicanor. Achaeus, in right of his relationship, promptly revenged his

murder by killing Nicanor and Apaturius; and taking supreme command of

the army and administration, conducted it with wisdom and integrity.

For the opportunity was a convenient one, and the feeling of the common

soldiers was all in favour of his assuming the crown; yet he refused to

do so, and preserving the royal title for Antiochus the younger, son of

Seleucus, went on energetically with the expedition, and the recovery

of the whole of the territory this side Taurus. Meeting however with

unexpected success,—for he shut up Attalus within the walls of Pergamus

and became master of all the rest of the country,—he was puffed up by

his good fortune, and at once swerved from his straightforward course

of policy. He assumed the diadem, adopted the title of king, and was at

this time the most powerful and formidable of all the kings and princes

this side Taurus. This was the man on whose help the Byzantines relied

when they undertook the war against the Rhodians and Prusias.

[Sidenote: Prusias.]

+49.+ As to the provocations given before this to Prusias by the

Byzantines they were various. In the first place he complained that,

having voted to put up certain statues of him, they had not done so,

but had delayed or forgotten it. In the second place he was annoyed

with them for taking great pains to compose the hostility, and put an

end to the war, between Achaeus and Attalus; because he looked upon a

friendship between these two as in many ways detrimental to his own

interests. He was provoked also because it appeared that when Attalus

was keeping the festival of Athene, the Byzantines had sent a mission

to join in the celebration; but had sent no one to him when he was

celebrating the Soteria. Nursing therefore a secret resentment for

these various offences, he gladly snatched at the pretext offered him

by the Rhodians; and arranged with their ambassadors that they were to

carry on the war by sea, while he would undertake to inflict no less

damage on the enemy by land.

Such were the causes and origin of the war between Rhodes and Byzantium.

[Sidenote: Hostilities commence, B.C. 220.]

+50.+ At first the Byzantines entered upon the war with energy, in full

confidence of receiving the assistance of Achaeus; and of being able

to cause Prusias as much alarm and danger by fetching Tiboetes from

Macedonia as he had done to them. For Prusias, entering upon the war

with all the animosity which I have described, had seized the place

called Hieron at the entrance of the channel, which the Byzantines not

long before had purchased for a considerable sum of money, because of

its convenient situation; and because they did not wish to leave in

any one else’s hands a point of vantage to be used against merchants

sailing into the Pontus, or one which commanded the slave trade, or the

fishing. Besides this, Prusias had seized in Asia a district of Mysia,

which had been in the possession of Byzantium for many years past.

Meanwhile the Rhodians manned six ships and received four from their

allies; and, having elected Xenophantus to command them, they sailed

with this squadron of ten ships to the Hellespont. Nine of them dropped

anchor near Sestos, and stopped ships sailing into the Pontus; with

the tenth the admiral sailed to Byzantium, to test the spirit of the

people, and see whether they were already sufficiently alarmed to

change their minds about the war. Finding them resolved not to listen

he sailed away, and, taking up his other nine ships, returned to Rhodes

with the whole squadron.

Meanwhile the Byzantines sent a message to Achaeus asking for aid, and

an escort to conduct Tiboetes from Macedonia. For it was believed that

Tiboetes had as good a claim to the kingdom of Bithynia as Prusias, who

was his nephew.

[Sidenote: The Rhodians secure the friendship of Achaeus.]

+51.+ But seeing the confident spirit of the Byzantines, the Rhodians

adopted an exceedingly able plan to obtain their object. They perceived

that the resolution of the Byzantines in venturing on the war rested

mainly on their hopes of the support of Achaeus. Now they knew that

the father of Achaeus was detained at Alexandria, and that Achaeus was

exceedingly anxious for his father’s safety: they therefore hit upon

the idea of sending an embassy to Ptolemy, and asking him to deliver

this Andromachus to them. This request, indeed, they had before made,

but without laying any great stress upon it: now, however, they were

genuinely anxious for it; that, by doing this favour to Achaeus,

they might lay him under such an obligation to them, that he would

be unable to refuse any request they might make to him. When the

ambassadors arrived, Ptolemy at first deliberated as to detaining

Andromachus; because there still remained some points of dispute

between himself and Antiochus unsettled; and Achaeus, who had recently

declared himself king, could exercise a decisive influence in several

important particulars. For Andromachus was not only father of Achaeus,

but brother also of Laodice, the wife of Seleucus.[226] However, on a

review of the whole situation, Ptolemy inclined to the Rhodians; and

being anxious to show them every favour, he yielded to their request,

and handed over Andromachus to them to conduct to his son. Having

accordingly done this, and having conferred some additional marks of

honour on Achaeus, they deprived the Byzantines of their most important

hope. And this was not the only disappointment which the Byzantines

had to encounter; for as Tiboetes was being escorted from Macedonia,

he entirely defeated their plans by dying. This misfortune damped the

ardour of the Byzantines, while it encouraged Prusias to push on the

war. On the Asiatic side he carried it on in person, and with great

energy; while on the European side he hired Thracians who prevented the

Byzantines from leaving their gates. For their party being thus baulked

of their hopes, and surrounded on every side by enemies, the Byzantines

began to look about then for some decent pretext for withdrawing from

the war.

[Sidenote: The Gallic king, Cavarus, negotiates a peace, B.C. 220.]

+52.+ So when the Gallic king, Cavarus, came to Byzantium, and showed

himself eager to put an end to the war, and earnestly offered his

friendly intervention, both Prusias and the Byzantines consented to his

proposals. And when the Rhodians were informed of the interference of

Cavarus and the consent of Prusias, being very anxious to secure their

own object also, they elected Aridices as ambassador to Byzantium, and

sent Polemocles with him in command of three triremes, wishing, as the

saying is, to send the Byzantines “spear and herald’s staff at once.”

Upon their appearance a pacification was arranged, in the year of

Cothon, son of Callisthenes, Hieromnemon in Byzantium.[227] The treaty

with the Rhodians was simple: “The Byzantines will not collect toll

from any ship sailing into the Pontus; and in that case the Rhodians

and their allies are at peace with the Byzantines.” But that with

Prusias contained the following provisions: “There shall be peace and

amity for ever between Prusias and the Byzantines; the Byzantines shall

in no way attack Prusias, nor Prusias the Byzantines. Prusias shall

restore to Byzantines all lands, forts, populations, and prisoners

of war, without ransom; and besides these things, the ships taken at

the beginning of the war, and the arms seized in the fortresses; and

also the timbers, stone-work, and roofing belonging to the fort called

Hieron” (for Prusias, in his terror of the approach of Tiboetes, had

pulled down every fort which seemed to lie conveniently for him):

“finally, Prusias shall compel such of the Bithynians as have any

property taken from the Byzantine district of Mysia to restore it to

the farmers.”

Such were the beginning and end of the war of Rhodes and Prusias with

Byzantium.

[Sidenote: War between Rhodes and Crete.]

+53.+ At the same time the Cnossians sent an embassy to the Rhodians,

and persuaded them to send them the ships that were under the command

of Polemocles, and to launch three undecked vessels besides and send

them also to Crete. The Rhodians having complied, and the vessels

having arrived at Crete, the people of Eleutherna suspecting that one

of their citizens named Timarchus had been put to death by Polemocles

to please the Cnossians, first proclaimed a right of reprisal against

the Rhodians, and then went to open war with them.

[Sidenote: The destruction of Lyttos.]

The people of Lyttos,[228] too, a short time before this, met with an

irretrievable disaster. At that time the political state of Crete as

a whole was this. The Cnossians, in league with the people of Gortyn,

had a short time previously reduced the whole island under their power,

with the exception of the city of Lyttos; and this being the only city

which refused obedience, they resolved to go to war with it, being

bent upon removing its inhabitants from their homes, as an example and

terror to the rest of Crete. Accordingly at first the whole of the

other Cretan cities were united in war against Lyttos: but presently

when some jealousy arose from certain trifling causes, as is the way

with the Cretans, they separated into hostile parties, the peoples of

Polyrrhen, Cere, and Lappa, along with the Horii and Arcades,[229]

forming one party and separating themselves from connexion with the

Cnossians, resolved to make common cause with the Lyttians. Among the

people of Gortyn, again, the elder men espoused the side of Cnossus,

the younger that of Lyttos, and so were in opposition to each other.

Taken by surprise by this disintegration of their allies, the Cnossians

fetched over a thousand men from Aetolia in virtue of their alliance:

upon which the party of the elders in Gortyn immediately seized the

citadel; introduced the Cnossians and Aetolians; and either expelled

or put to death the young men, and delivered the city into the hands

of the Cnossians. And at the same time, the Lyttians having gone out

with their full forces on an expedition into the enemy’s territory, the

Cnossians got information of the fact, and seized Lyttos while thus

denuded of its defenders. The children and women they sent to Cnossus;

and having set fire to the town, thrown down its buildings, and damaged

it in every possible way, returned. When the Lyttians reached home from

their expedition, and saw what had happened, they were struck with

such violent grief that not a man of the whole host had the heart to

enter his native city; but one and all having marched round its walls,

with frequent cries and lamentations over their misfortune and that of

their country, turned back again towards the city of Lappa. The people

of Lappa gave them a kind and entirely cordial reception; and having

thus in one day become cityless and aliens, they joined these allies in

their war against the Cnossians. Thus at one fell swoop was Lyttos, a

colony of Sparta and allied with the Lacedaemonians in blood, the most

ancient of the cities in Crete, and by common consent the mother of the

bravest men in the island, utterly cut off.

[Sidenote: Appeal to the Achaeans and Philip.]

+55.+ But the peoples of Polyrrhen and Lappa and all their allies,

seeing that the Cnossians clung to the alliance of the Aetolians, and

that the Aetolians were at war with King Philip and the Achaeans,

sent ambassadors to the two latter asking for their help and to be

admitted to alliance with them. Both requests were granted: they

were admitted into the roll of allies, and assistance was sent to

them, consisting of four hundred Illyrians under Plator, two hundred

Achaeans, and a hundred Phocians; whose arrival was of the utmost

advantage to the interest of Polyrrhenia and her allies: for in a brief

space of time they shut the Eleuthernaeans and Cydonians within their

walls, and compelled the people of Aptera to forsake the alliance of

the Cnossians and share their fortunes. When these results had been

obtained, the Polyrrhenians and their allies joined in sending to the

aid of Philip and the Achaeans five hundred Cretans, the Cnossians

having sent a thousand to the Aetolians a short time before; both of

which contingents took part in the existing war on their respective

sides. Nay more, the exiled party of Gortyn seized the harbour of

Phaestus,[230] and also by a sudden and bold attack occupied the port

of Gortyn itself; and from these two places as bases of operation they

carried on the war with the party in the town. Such was the state of

Crete.

[Sidenote: Mithridates IV., king of Pontus, declares war against

Sinope.]

+56.+ About the same time Mithridates also declared war against the

people of Sinope; which proved to be the beginning and occasion of the

disaster which ultimately befell the Sinopeans. Upon their sending

an embassy with a view to this war to beg for assistance from the

Rhodians, the latter decided to elect three men, and to grant them a

hundred and forty thousand drachmae with which to procure supplies

needed by the Sinopeans. The men so appointed got ready ten thousand

jars of wine, three hundred talents[231] of prepared hair, a hundred

talents of made-up bowstring, a thousand suits of armour, three

thousand gold pieces, and four catapults with engineers to work them.

The Sinopean envoys took these presents and departed; for the people

of Sinope, being in great anxiety lest Mithridates should attempt

to besiege them both by land and sea, were making all manner of

preparations with this view. Sinope lies on the right-hand shore of the

Pontus as one sails to Phasis, and is built upon a peninsula jutting

out into the sea: it is on the neck of this peninsula, connecting it

with Asia, which is not more than two stades wide, that the city is

so placed as to entirely close it up from sea to sea; the rest of

the peninsula stretches out into the open sea,—a piece of flat land

from which the town is easily accessible, but surrounded by a steep

coast offering very bad harbourage, and having exceedingly few spots

admitting of disembarkation. The Sinopeans then were dreadfully alarmed

lest Mithridates should blockade them, by throwing up works against

their town on the side towards Asia, and by making a descent on the

opposite side upon the low ground in front of the town: and they

accordingly determined to strengthen the line of the peninsula, where

it was washed by the sea, by putting up wooden defences and erecting

palisades round the places accessible from the sea; and at the same

time by storing weapons and stationing guards at all points open to

attack: for the whole area is not large, but is capable of being easily

defended and by a moderate force.

Such was the situation at Sinope at the time of the commencement of the

Social war,—to which I must now return.

[Sidenote: The History of the Social war resumed from ch. 37. Philip

starts for Aetolia, B.C. 219. Night surprise of Aegira.]

+57.+ King Philip started from Macedonia with his army for Thessaly and

Epirus, being bent on taking that route in his invasion of Aetolia.

And at the same time Alexander and Dorimachus, having succeeded in

establishing an intrigue for the betrayal of Aegira, had collected

about twelve hundred Aetolians into Oeanthe, which is in Aetolia,

exactly opposite the above-named town; and, having prepared vessels

to convey them across the gulf, were waiting for favourable weather

for making the voyage in fulfilment of their design. For a deserter

from Aetolia, who had spent a long time at Aegira, and had had full

opportunity of observing that the guards of the gate towards Aegium

were in the habit of getting drunk, and keeping their watch with great

slackness, had again and again crossed over to Dorimachus; and, laying

this fact before him, had invited him to make the attempt, well knowing

that he was thoroughly accustomed to such practices. The city of Aegira

lies on the Peloponnesian coast of the Corinthian gulf, between the

cities of Aegium and Sicyon, upon some strong and inaccessible heights,

facing towards Parnassus and that district of the opposite coast, and

standing about seven stades back from the sea. At the mouth of the

river which flows past this town Dorimachus dropped anchor under cover

of night, having at length obtained favourable weather for crossing.

He and Alexander, accompanied by Archidamus the son of Pantaleon and

the main body of the Aetolians, then advanced towards the city along

the road leading from Aegium. But the deserter, with twenty of the

most active men, having made his way by a shorter cut than the others

over the cliffs where there was no road, owing to his knowledge of the

locality, got into the city through a certain water-course and found

the guards of the gate still asleep. Having killed them while actually

in their beds, and cut the bolts of the gates with their axes, they

opened them to the Aetolians. Having thus surprised the town, they

behaved with a conspicuous want of caution, which eventually saved

the people of Aegira, and proved the destruction of the Aetolians

themselves. They seemed to imagine that to get within the gates was all

there was to do in occupying an enemy’s town; and accordingly acted as

I shall now describe.

[Sidenote: Alexander killed.]

+58.+ They kept together for a very brief space of time near the

market-place, and then scattering in every direction, in their passion

for plunder, rushed into the houses and began carrying off the wealth

they contained. But it was now broad daylight: and the attack being

wholly unexpected and sudden, those of the Aegiratans whose houses

were actually entered by the enemy, in the utmost terror and alarm,

all took to flight and made their way out of the town, believing it

to be completely in the power of the enemy; but those of them whose

houses were untouched, and who, hearing the shouting, sallied out to

the rescue, all rushed with one accord to the citadel. These last

continually increased in number and confidence; while the Aetolians on

the contrary kept continually becoming less closely united, and less

subject to discipline, from the causes above mentioned. But Dorimachus,

becoming conscious of his danger, rallied his men and charged the

citizens who were occupying the citadel: imagining that, by acting

with decision and boldness, he would terrify and turn to flight those

who had rallied to defend the town. But the Aegiratans, cheering each

other on, offered a strenuous resistance, and grappled gallantly with

the Aetolians. The citadel being unwalled, and the struggle being at

close quarters and man to man, the battle was at first as desperate

as might be expected between two sides, of which one was fighting for

country and children, the other for bare life. Finally the invading

Aetolians were repulsed: and the Aegiratans, taking advantage of their

higher position, made a fierce and vigorous charge down the slope upon

the enemy; which struck such terror in them, that in the confusion

that followed the fugitives trampled each other to death at the gates.

Alexander himself fell fighting in the actual battle; but Archidamus

was killed in the struggle and crush at the gates. Of the main body of

Aetolians, some were trampled to death; others flying over the pathless

hills fell over precipices and broke their necks; while such as escaped

in safety to the ships managed, after shamefully throwing away their

arms, to sail away and escape from what seemed a desperate danger.

Thus it came about that the Aegiratans having lost their city by their

carelessness, unexpectedly regained it by their valour and gallantry.

[Sidenote: Euripidas.]

+59.+ About the same time Euripidas, who had been sent out to act

as general to the Eleans, after overrunning the districts of Dyme,

Pharae, and Tritaea, and collecting a considerable amount of booty, was

marching back to Elis. But Miccus of Dyme, who happened at the time to

be Sub-strategus of the Achaean league, went out to the rescue with a

body of Dymaeans, Pharaeans, and Tritaeans, and attacked him as he was

returning. But proceeding too precipitately, he fell into an ambush

and lost a large number of his men: for forty of his infantry were

killed and about two hundred taken prisoners. Elated by this success,

Euripidas a few days afterwards made another expedition, and seized

a fort belonging to the Dymaeans on the river Araxus, standing in an

excellent situation, and called the Wall, which the myths affirm to

have been anciently built by Hercules, when at war with the Eleans, as

a base of operations against them.

[Sidenote: Inactivity of Aratus. Dyme, Pharae, and Tritaea separate

from the league.]

+60.+ The peoples of Dyme, Pharae, and Tritaea having been worsted in

their attempt to relieve the country, and afraid of what would happen

from this capture of the fort, first sent messengers to the Strategus,

Aratus, to inform him of what had happened and to ask for aid, and

afterwards a formal embassy with the same request. But Aratus was

unable to get the mercenaries together, because in the Cleomenic war

the Achaeans had failed to pay some of the wages of the hired troops:

and his entire policy and management of the whole war was in a word

without spirit or nerve. Accordingly Lycurgus seized the Athenaeum of

Megalopolis, and Euripidas followed up his former successes by taking

Gortyna[232] in the territory of Telphusa. But the people of Dyme,

Pharae, and Tritaea, despairing of assistance from the Strategus,

came to a mutual agreement to cease paying the common contribution

to the Achaean league, and to collect a mercenary army on their own

account, three hundred infantry and fifty horse; and to secure the

country by their means. In this action they were considered to have

shown a prudent regard for their own interests, but not for those of

the community at large; for they were thought to have set an evil

example, and supplied a precedent to those whose wish it was to break

up the league. But in fact the chief blame for their proceeding must

rightfully be assigned to the Strategus, who pursued such a dilatory

policy, and slighted or wholly rejected the prayers for help which

reached him from time to time. For as long as he has any hope, from

relations and allies, any man who is in danger will cling to them; but

when in his distress he has to give up that hope, he is forced to help

himself the best way he can. Wherefore we must not find fault with the

people of Tritaea, Pharae, and Dyme for having mercenaries on their own

account, when the chief magistrate of the league hesitated to act: but

some blame does attach to them for renouncing the joint contribution.

They certainly were not bound to neglect to secure their own safety by

every opportunity and means in their power; but they were bound at the

same time to keep up their just dues to the league: especially as the

recovery of such payment was perfectly secured to them by the common

laws; and most of all because they had been the originators of the

Achaean confederacy.[233]

[Sidenote: Philip V. at Ambracia, B.C. 219.]

+61.+ Such was the state of things in the Peloponnese when King

Philip, after crossing Thessaly, arrived in Epirus. Reinforcing his

Macedonians by a full levy of Epirotes, and being joined by three

hundred slingers from Achaia, and the five hundred Cretans sent him by

the Polyrrhenians, he continued his march through Epirus and arrived

in the territory of the Ambracians. Now, if he had continued his march

without interruption, and thrown himself into the interior of Aetolia,

by the sudden and unlooked-for attack of so formidable an army he

would have put an end to the whole campaign: but as it was, he was

over-persuaded by the Epirotes to take Ambracus first; and so gave the

Aetolians an interval in which to make a stand, to take precautionary

measures, and to prepare for the future. For the Epirotes, thinking

more of their own advantage than of that of the confederacy, and being

very anxious to get Ambracus[234] into their power, begged Philip to

invest the town and take it before doing anything else: the fact being

that they regarded it as a matter of the utmost importance to recover

Ambracia from the Aetolians; and thought that the only way of doing

this was to become masters of this place, Ambracus, and besiege the

town of Ambracia from it. For Ambracus is a place strongly fortified by

walls and out-works, standing in the midst of marshes, and approached

from the land by only one narrow raised causeway; and commanding by its

situation both the district and town of Ambracia.

[Sidenote: Scopas tries to effect a diversion by invading Macedonia. On

his return he destroys Dium.]

+62.+ While Philip, then, by the persuasion of the Epirotes, pitching

his camp near Ambracus, was engaged in making his preparations for

the siege, Scopas raised a general levy of Aetolians, and marching

through Thessaly crossed the frontiers of Macedonia; traversed the

plain of Plena, and laid it waste; and after securing considerable

booty, returned by the road leading to Dium. The inhabitants of that

town abandoning the place, he entered it and threw down its walls,

houses, and gymnasium; set fire to the covered walks round the sacred

enclosure, and destroyed all the other offerings which had been placed

in it, either for ornament, or for the use of visitors to the public

assemblies, and threw down all the statues of the kings. And this

man, who, at the very beginning and first action of the war, had thus

turned his arms against the gods as well as men, was not treated on his

return to Aetolia as guilty of impiety, but was honoured and looked

up to. For he had indeed filled the Aetolians with empty hopes and

irrational conceit. From this time they indulged the idea that no one

would venture to set foot in Aetolia, while they would be able without

resistance not only to plunder the Peloponnese, which they were quite

accustomed to do, but Thessaly and Macedonia also.

[Sidenote: Ambracus taken.]

[Sidenote: Philip enters Aetolia; takes Phoeteiae.]

+63.+ When he heard what had happened in Macedonia, and had thus paid

on the spot for the selfishness and folly of the Epirotes, Philip

proceeded to besiege Ambracus. By an energetic use of earthworks,

and other siege operations, he quickly terrified the people into

submission, and the place surrendered after a delay of forty days in

all. He let the garrison, consisting of five hundred Aetolians, depart

on fixed conditions, and gratified the cupidity of the Epirotes by

handing over Ambracus to them, while he himself set his army in motion,

and marched by way of Charadra, being anxious to cross the Ambracian

gulf where it is narrowest, that is to say, near the Acarnanian temple

called Actium. For this gulf is a branch of the Sicilian sea between

Epirus and Acarnania, with a very narrow opening of less than five

stades, but expanding as it extends inland to a breadth of a hundred

stades; while the length of the whole arm from the open sea is about

three hundred stades. It forms the boundary between Epirus on the north

and Acarnania on the south. Philip, therefore, having got his army

across this entrance of the gulf, and advanced through Acarnania, came

to the city of Phoeteiae, which belonged to the Aetolians;[235] having,

during his march, been joined by an Acarnanian force of two thousand

foot and two hundred horse. Encamping under the walls of this town,

and making energetic and formidable assaults upon it during two days,

it was surrendered to him on terms, and the Aetolian garrison were

dismissed on parole. Next night, however, five hundred other Aetolians,

believing the town still untaken, came to its relief; whose arrival

being ascertained beforehand by the king, he stationed some men in

ambush at certain convenient spots, and slew most of the new-comers

and captured all but a very few of the rest. After these events, he

distributed a month’s rations of corn among his men from what had been

captured, for a large store was found collected at Phoeteiae, and

then continued his advance into the territory of Stratus. At about

ten stades from that town he pitched his camp on the banks of the

river Achelous; and from that began laying waste the country without

resistance, none of the enemy venturing out to attack him.

[Sidenote: Metropolis and Conope.]

[Sidenote: Skirmish on the Achelous.]

[Sidenote: Ithoria.]

+64.+ Meanwhile the Achaeans, being hard pressed by the war, and

ascertaining that the king was not far off, sent ambassadors to him

begging for help. They found Philip still in his camp near Stratus,

and there delivered their commission: and besides the message with

which they were charged, they pointed out to him the richness of the

booty which his army would get from the enemy’s country, and tried to

persuade him to cross to Rhium and invade Elis. The king listened to

what they had to say, and kept the ambassadors with him, alleging that

he must consider of their request; and meanwhile broke up his camp,

and marched in the direction of Metropolis and Conope. The Aetolians

kept possession of the citadel of Metropolis but abandoned the town:

whereupon Philip set fire to Metropolis, and continued his advance

against Conope. But when the Aetolian horse rallied and ventured to

meet him at the ford of the Achelous, which is about twenty stades

before you reach the town, believing that they would either stop his

advance altogether, or inflict much damage on the Macedonians while

crossing the river; the king, fully understanding their tactics,

ordered his light-armed troops to enter the river first and to cross it

in close order, keeping to their regular companies, and with shields

interlocked. His orders were obeyed: and as soon as the first company

had effected the crossing, the Aetolian cavalry attacked it; but

they could make no impression upon it, standing as it did in close

order, and being joined in similar close order, shield to shield, by

a second and a third company as they crossed. Therefore they wheeled

off discomfited and retired to the city. From this time forth the

proud gallantry of the Aetolians was fain to confine itself to the

protection of the towns, and keep quiet; while Philip crossed with his

army, and after wasting this district also without resistance, arrived

at Ithoria. This is a position completely commanding the road, and of

extraordinary strength, natural as well as artificial. On his approach,

however, the garrison occupying the place abandoned it in a panic; and

the king, taking possession, levelled it to the ground: and gave orders

to his skirmishing parties to treat all forts in the district in the

same way.

[Sidenote: Paeanium.]

[Sidenote: Fortifies Oeniadae.]

+65.+ Having thus passed the narrow part of the road, he proceeded

at a slow and deliberate pace, giving his army time to collect booty

from the country; and by the time he reached Oeniadae his army was

richly provided with every kind of goods. But he resolved first to

take Paeanium: and having pitched his camp under its walls, by a

series of assaults carried the place by force,—a town not large in

circumference, for that was less than seven stades, but second to none

in the construction of its houses, walls, and towers. The wall of this

town he levelled with its foundation, and, breaking down its houses,

he packed their timbers and tiles with great care upon rafts, and sent

them down the river to Oeniadae. At first the Aetolians resolved to

hold the citadel in Oeniadae, which they had strengthened with walls

and other fortifications; but upon Philip’s approach they evacuated it

in a panic. The king therefore having taken this city also, advanced

from it and encamped on a certain secure position in Calydonia, called

Elaeus, which had been rendered extraordinarily strong with walls

and other fortifications by Attalus, who undertook the work for the

Aetolians. Having carried this also by assault, and plundered the whole

of Calydonia, the Macedonians returned to Oeniadae. And observing the

convenient position of this place for all purposes, and especially as

providing a place of embarkation for the Peloponnese, Philip resolved

to build a wall round the town. For Oeniadae lies on the sea-coast,

at the juncture of the Acarnanian and Aetolian frontiers, just at the

entrance of the Corinthian gulf; and the town faces the sea-coast of

Dyme in the Peloponnesus, and is the nearest point to the promontory of

Araxus in it; for the intervening sea is not more than a hundred stades

across. Looking to these facts he fortified the citadel by itself;

and, building a wall round the harbour and dockyards, was intending

to connect them with the citadel, employing for the construction the

materials brought from Paeanium.

[Sidenote: Philip recalled to Macedonia by a threatened invasion of

Dardani.]

[Sidenote: Late summer of B.C. 219.]

+66.+ But whilst he was still engaged on this work, news was brought

to the king that the Dardani, suspecting his intention of invading

the Peloponnese, were collecting forces and making great preparations

with the determination of invading Macedonia. When he heard this,

Philip made up his mind that he was bound to go with all speed to the

protection of Macedonia: and accordingly he dismissed the Achaean

envoys with the answer, which he now gave them, that when he had taken

effectual measures with regard to the circumstances that had just been

announced to him, he would look upon it as his first business to bring

them aid to the best of his ability. Thereupon he broke up his camp,

and began his return march with all speed, by the same route as that by

which he had come. When he was on the point of recrossing the Ambracian

gulf from Acarnania into Epirus, Demetrius of Pharos presented himself,

sailing with a single galley, having just been banished from Illyria by

the Romans,—as I have stated in the previous book.[236] Philip received

him with kindness and bade him sail to Corinth, and go thence through

Thessaly to Macedonia; while he himself crossed into Epirus and pushed

on without a halt. When he had reached Pella in Macedonia, the Dardani

learnt from some Thracian deserters that he was in the country, and

they at once in a panic broke up their army, though they were close to

the Macedonian frontier. And Philip, being informed of their change of

purpose, dismissed his Macedonian soldiers to gather in their harvest:

while he himself went to Thessaly, and spent the rest of the summer at

Larisa.

[Sidenote: Contemporary events in Spain and Italy.]

It was at this season that Aemilius celebrated a splendid triumph at

Rome for his Illyrian victories; and Hannibal after the capture of

Saguntum dismissed his troops into winter quarters; while the Romans,

on hearing of the capture of Saguntum, were sending ambassadors to

Carthage to demand the surrender of Hannibal, and at the same time were

making preparations for the war after electing Publius Cornelius Scipio

and Tiberius Sempronius Longus Consuls for the following year, as I

have stated in detail in the previous book. My object in recalling the

facts here is to carry out my original plan of showing what events in

various parts of the world were contemporaneous.

[Sidenote: Midsummer B.C. 217. Dorimachus Aetolian Strategus, Sept.

B.C. 119.]

[Sidenote: Destroys Dodona.]

+67.+ And so the first year of this Olympiad was drawing to a close.

In Aetolia, the time of the elections having come round, Dorimachus

was elected Strategus. He was no sooner invested with his office,

than, summoning the Aetolian forces, he made an armed foray upon

the highlands of Epirus, and began wasting the country with an even

stronger passion for destruction than usual; for his object in

everything he did was not so much to secure booty for himself, as

to damage the Epirotes. And having come to Dodona[237] he burnt the

colonnades, destroyed the sacred offerings, and even demolished the

sacred building; so that we may say that the Aetolians had no regard

for the laws of peace or war, but in the one as well as in the other,

acted in defiance of the customs and principles of mankind. After

those, and other similar achievements, Dorimachus returned home.

[Sidenote: Philip starts again.]

[Sidenote: Dec. B.C. 219.]

But the winter being now considerably advanced, and all idea of the

king coming being given up owing to the time of the year, Philip

suddenly started from Larisa with an army of three thousand hoplites

armed with brass shields, two thousand light-armed, three hundred

Cretans, and four hundred horse of the royal guard; and having

transported them into Euboea and thence to Cynos he came through

Boeotia and the Megarid to Corinth, about the time of the winter

solstice; having conducted his arrival with such promptitude and

secrecy, that not a single Peloponnesian suspected it. He at once

closed the gates of Corinth and secured the roads by guards; and on the

very next day sent for Aratus the elder to come to him from Sicyon,

and issued despatches to the Strategus of the Achaean league and the

cities, in which he named a time and place for them all to meet him in

arms. Having made these arrangements, he again started, and pitched his

camp near the temple of the Dioscuri in Phliasia.

[Sidenote: B.C. 218, Jan.-Feb. Destruction of a marauding army of

Eleans under Euripidas.]

+68.+ Meanwhile Euripidas, with two companies of Eleans,—who combined

with the pirates and mercenaries made up an army of two thousand two

hundred men, besides a hundred horse,—started from Psophis and began

marching by way of Pheneus and Stymphalus, knowing nothing about

Philip’s arrival, with the purpose of wasting the territory of Sicyon.

The very night in which it chanced that Philip had pitched his camp

near the temple of the Dioscuri, he passed the royal quarters, and

succeeded in entering the territory of Sicyon, about the time of the

morning watch. But some Cretans of Philip’s army who had left their

ranks, and were prowling about on the track of prey, fell into the

hands of Euripidas, and being questioned by him informed him of the

arrival of the Macedonians. Without saying a word of his discovery to

any one, he at once caused his army to face about, and marched back

by the same road as that by which he had come; with the intention and

hope of getting through Stymphalia, and reaching the difficult ground

beyond it, before the Macedonians could catch him. But the king knowing

nothing at all about the proceedings of the enemy, at daybreak broke

up his camp and began his advance in pursuance of his original plan,

determining to march by way of Stymphalus itself to Caphyae: for it was

at that town that he had written to the Achaeans to meet him.

[Sidenote: The Eleans come across the Macedonians at the junction of

the two roads above Stymphalus.]

+69.+ Now it happened that, just as the Macedonian advanced guard

came to the top of the hill, near a place called Apelaurus, about

ten stades before you come to Stymphalus, the advanced guard of

the Eleans converged upon it also. Understanding from his previous

information what had happened, Euripidas took some horsemen with him

and avoided the danger by flight, making his way across country to

Psophis. The rest of the Eleans being thus deserted by their leader,

and panic-struck at what had happened, remained stationary on the

road, not knowing what to do, or which way to turn. For at first their

officers imagined that the troops they saw were some Achaeans come

out to resist them. What favoured this mistake more than anything

else were the brass shields of the hoplites: for they imagined that

they were Megalopolitans, because the soldiers of that town had borne

shields of that sort at the battle of Sellasia against Cleomenes, King

Antigonus having furnished them for the occasion. Under this idea, they

retired in good order to some rising ground, by no means despairing of

getting off safely: but as soon as the Macedonians had advanced close

up to them, grasping the true state of the case, they threw down their

shields and fled. About twelve hundred of them were taken prisoners;

but the rest perished utterly, some at the hands of the Macedonians,

and others by falling down precipices: and finally not more than a

hundred altogether escaped. Having despatched the spoils and the

prisoners to Corinth, Philip continued his expedition. But a great

impression was made upon the Peloponnesians: for they had not heard of

the king’s arrival until they heard of his victory.

[Sidenote: Philip advances to Psophis.]

[Sidenote: A description of Psophis.]

+70.+ Continuing his march through Arcadia, and encountering heavy snow

storms and much fatigue in the pass over Mount Oligyrtus, he arrived on

the third day at Caphyae. There he rested his army for two days, and

was joined by Aratus the younger, and the Achaean soldiers whom he had

collected; so that, with an army now amounting to ten thousand men,

he advanced by way of Clitoria towards Psophis, collecting missiles

and scaling ladders from the towns through which he passed. Psophis is

a place of acknowledged antiquity, and a colony of the Arcadian town

of Azanis. Taking the Peloponnesus as a whole, it occupies a central

position in the country; but in regard to Arcadia it is on its western

frontier, and is close also to the western borderland of Achaia: its

position also commands the territory of the Eleans, with whom at that

time it was politically united. Philip reached this town on the third

day after leaving Caphyae, and pitched his camp on some rising ground

overhanging the city, from which he could in perfect security command

a view both of the whole town and the country round it. But when the

king saw the great strength of the place, he was at a loss what to do.

Along the left side of it rushes a violent winter torrent, which for

the greater part of the winter is impassable, and in any case renders

the city secure and difficult of approach, owing to the size of the

bed which its waters have worn out for themselves by slow degrees, in

the course of ages, as it comes rushing down from the higher ground.

On the east again there is a broad and rapid river, the Erymanthus,

about which so many tales are told. This river is joined by the

winter torrent at a point south of the town, which is thus defended

on three sides by these streams; while the fourth, or northern, side

is commanded by a hill, which has been fortified, and serves as a

convenient and efficient citadel. The town has walls also of unusual

size and construction; and besides all this, a reinforcement of Eleans

happened to have just come in, and Euripidas himself was in the town

after his escape from Stymphalus.

[Sidenote: Capture of Psophis.]

+71.+ The sight of these things caused Philip much anxious thought.

Sometimes he was for giving up his plan of attacking and besieging

the place: at others the excellence of its situation made him eager

to accomplish this. For just as it was then a source of danger to the

Achaeans and Arcadians, and a safe place of arms for the Eleans; so

would it on the other hand, if captured, become a source of safety

to the Arcadians, and a most convenient base of operations for the

allies against the Eleans. These considerations finally decided him to

make the attempt: and he therefore issued orders to the Macedonians

to get their breakfasts at daybreak, and be ready for service with

all preparations completed. Everything being done as he ordered, the

king led his army over the bridge across the Erymanthus; and no one

having offered him resistance, owing to the unexpectedness of the

movement, he arrived under the walls of the town in gallant style and

with formidable show. Euripidas and the garrison were overpowered

with astonishment; because they had felt certain that the enemy would

not venture on an assault, or try to carry a town of such strength;

and that a siege could not last long either, owing to the severity of

the season. This calculation of chances made them begin to entertain

suspicions of each other, from a misgiving that Philip must have

established a secret intrigue with some persons in the town against

it. But finding that nothing of the sort existed among themselves, the

greater number hurried to the walls to defend them, while the mercenary

Elean soldiers sallied out of a gate in the upper part of the town

to attack the enemy. The king stationed his men who had ladders at

three different spots, and divided the other Macedonians among these

three parties; this being arranged, he gave the signal by the sound

of trumpet, and began the assault on the walls at once. At first the

garrison offered a spirited resistance and hurled many of the enemy

from their ladders; but when the supply of weapons inside the town, as

well as other necessary materials, began to run short,—as was to be

expected from the hasty nature of the preparations for defence,—and the

Macedonians showed no sign of terror, the next man filling up the place

of each who was hurled from the scaling-ladder, the garrison at length

turned to flight, and made their escape one and all into the citadel.

In the king’s army the Macedonians then made good their footing on

the wall, while the Cretans went against the party of mercenaries who

had sallied from the upper gate, and forced them to throw away their

shields and fly in disorder. Following the fugitives with slaughter,

they forced their way along with them through the gate: so that the

town was captured at all points at once. The Psophidians with their

wives and children retreated into the citadel, and Euripidas with them,

as well as all the soldiers who had escaped destruction.

[Sidenote: Surrender of the citadel of Psophis.]

+72.+ Having thus carried the place, the Macedonians at once plundered

all the furniture of the houses; and then, setting up their quarters

in the houses, took regular possession of the town. But the people

who had taken refuge in a body in the citadel, having no provisions

with them, and well foreseeing what must happen, made up their minds

to give themselves up to Philip. They accordingly sent a herald to

the king; and having received a safe-conduct for an embassy, they

despatched their magistrates and Euripidas with them on this mission,

who made terms with the king by which the lives and liberties of all

who were on the citadel, whether citizens or foreigners, were secured.

The ambassadors then returned whence they came, carrying an order to

the people to remain where they were until the army had marched out,

for fear any of the soldiers should disobey orders and plunder them. A

fall of snow however compelled the king to remain where he was for some

days; in the course of which he summoned a meeting of such Achaeans

as were in the army, and after pointing out to them the strength and

excellent position of the town for the purposes of the present war,

he spoke also of his own friendly disposition towards their nation:

and ended by saying, “We hereby yield up and present this town to

the Achaeans; for it is our purpose to show them all the favour in

our power, and to omit nothing that may testify to our zeal.” After

receiving the thanks of Aratus and the meeting, Philip dismissed the

assembly, and getting his army in motion, marched towards Lasion. The

Psophidians descending from the citadel received back the possession of

the town, each man recovering his own house; while Euripidas departed

to Corinth, and thence to Aetolia. Those of the Achaean magistrates who

were present put Prolaus of Sicyon in command of the citadel, with an

adequate garrison; and Pythias of Pallene in command of the town. Such

was the end of the incident of Psophis.

[Sidenote: Lasion and Stratus.]

[Sidenote: Philip at Olympia.]

[Sidenote: Prosperity of Elis.]

+73.+ But when the Elean garrison of Lasion heard of the coming of the

Macedonians, and were informed of what had taken place at Psophis, they

at once abandoned the town; so that upon his arrival the king took it

immediately, and by way of enhancing his favours to the Achaeans handed

Lasion also over to them; and in a similar spirit restored Stratus

to the Telphusians, which was also evacuated by the Eleans. On the

fifth day after settling these matters he arrived at Olympia. There he

offered a sacrifice to Zeus and entertained his officers at a banquet;

and, having given his army three days’ rest, commenced his return

march. After advancing some way into Elis, he allowed foraging parties

to scour the country while he himself lay encamped near Artemisium, as

it is called; and after receiving the booty there, he removed to the

Dioscurium.[238] In the course of this devastation of the country the

number of the captives was indeed great, but a still greater number

made their escape to the neighbouring villages and strongholds. For

Elis is more populous, as well as more richly furnished with slaves

and other property, than the rest of the Peloponnese: and some of the

Eleans are so enamoured of a country life, that there are cases of

families who, being in enjoyment of considerable wealth, have for two

or three generations never entered a public law-court at all.[239]

And this result is brought about by the great care and attention

bestowed upon the agricultural class by the government, to see that

their law-suits should be settled on the spot, and every necessary of

life abundantly supplied them. To me it seems that they owed these

laws and customs originally to the wide extent of their arable land,

and still more to the fact that their lives were under the protection

of religion; for, owing to the Olympic assembly, their territory

was especially exempted by the Greeks from pillage; and they had

accordingly been free from all injury and hostile invasion.

[Sidenote: The ancient privileges of Elis lost.]

+74.+ But in the course of time, when the Arcadians advanced a claim

for Lasion and the whole district of Pisa, being forced to defend

their territory and change their habits of life, they no longer

troubled themselves in the least about recovering from the Greeks

their ancient and ancestral immunity from pillage, but were content to

remain exactly as they were. This in my opinion was a short-sighted

policy. For peace is a thing we all desire, and are willing to submit

to anything to obtain: it is the only one of our so-called blessings

that no one questions. If then there are people who, having the

opportunity of obtaining it, with justice and honour, from the Greeks,

without question and for perpetuity, neglect to do so, or regard other

objects as of superior importance to it, must we not look upon them

as undoubtedly blind to their true interests? But if it be objected

that, by adopting such a mode of life, they would become easily open

to attack and exposed to treachery: I answer that such an event would

be rare, and if it did happen, would be a claim on the aid of united

Greece; but that for minor injuries, having all the wealth which

unbroken peace would be sure to bring them, they would never have

been at a loss for foreign soldiers or mercenaries to protect them at

certain places and times. As it is, from dread of what is occasional

and unlikely, they involve their country and property in perpetual wars

and losses.

My object in thus speaking is to admonish the Eleans: for they have

never had a more favourable time than the present to get back their

ancient privilege of exemption from pillage, which is universally

acknowledged to belong to them. Even now, some sparks, so to speak, of

their old habit remaining, Elis is more thickly populated than other

districts.

[Sidenote: Capture of Thalamae.]

+75.+ And therefore during Philip’s occupation of the country the

number of prisoners taken was immense; and the number of those who

escaped by flight still greater. An enormous amount of movable

property, and an enormous crowd of slaves and cattle, were collected at

a place called Thalamae; which was selected for the purpose, because

the approach to it was narrow and difficult, and the place itself

was retired and not easy to enter. But when the king was informed

of the number of those who had taken refuge in this place, resolved

to leave nothing unattempted or incomplete, he occupied certain

spots which commanded the approach to it, with his mercenaries:

while leaving his baggage and main army in his entrenched camp, he

himself led his peltasts and light-armed troops through the gorge,

and, without meeting with any resistance, came directly under the

fortress. The fugitives were panic-stricken at his approach: for

they were utterly inexperienced in war and unprovided with means of

defence,—a mere rabble hurriedly collected together; they therefore

at once surrendered, and among them two hundred mercenary soldiers,

of various nationalities, who had been brought there by Amphidamas

the Elean Strategus. Having thus become master of an immense booty in

goods, and of more than five thousand slaves, and having in addition

to these driven off an incalculable number of cattle, Philip now

returned to his camp; but finding his army overburdened with spoils of

every description, and rendered by that means cumbrous and useless for

service, he retraced his steps, and once more marched to Olympia.

[Sidenote: Oppressive conduct of Apelles to the Achaeans.]

+76.+ But now a difficulty arose which was created by Apelles. Apelles

was one of those who had been left by Antigonus as guardians of his

son, and had, as it happened, more influence than any one else with

the king. He conceived the wish to bring the Achaeans into the same

position as the Thessalians; and adopted for that purpose a very

offensive line of conduct. The Thessalians were supposed to enjoy

their own constitution, and to have quite a different status to the

Macedonians; but in fact they had exactly the same, and obeyed every

order of the royal ministers. It was with the purpose of bringing about

the same state of things, that this officer now set himself to test the

subservience of the Achaean contingent. At first he confined himself

to giving the Macedonian soldiers leave to eject Achaeans from their

quarters, who on any occasion had taken possession of them first, as

well as to wrest from them any booty they might have taken; but he

afterwards treated them with actual violence, through the agency of

his subordinates, on any trifling pretext; while such as complained of

this treatment, or took the part of those who were being beaten, he

personally arrested and put into confinement: being convinced that by

this method he would gradually and imperceptibly bring them into the

habit of submitting, without remonstrance, to any thing which the king

might choose to inflict. And this opinion he deduced from his previous

experience in the army of Antigonus, when he had seen the Achaeans

willing to endure any hardship, on the one condition of escaping from

the yoke of Cleomenes. However, certain young Achaeans held a meeting,

and going to Aratus explained to him the policy which was being pursued

by Apelles: whereupon Aratus at once went to Philip, feeling that a

stand must be made on this point at once and without delay. He made his

statement to the king; who, being informed of the facts, first of all

encouraged the young men by a promise that nothing of the sort should

happen to them again; and then commanded Apelles not to impose any

orders upon the Achaeans without consulting their own Strategus.

[Sidenote: Character of Philip V.]

+77.+ Philip, then, was acquiring a great reputation, not only among

those actually in his army, but among the other Peloponnesians also,

for his behaviour to the allies serving with him, as well as for his

ability and courage in the field. Indeed it would not be easy to find a

king endowed with more natural qualities requisite for the acquisition

of power. He had in an eminent degree a quick understanding, a

retentive memory, and a winning grace of manner, joined to a look of

royal dignity and authority; and most important of all, ability and

courage as a general. What neutralised all these excellent qualities,

and made a cruel tyrant of a naturally well-disposed king, it is not

easy to say in a few words: and therefore that inquiry must be reserved

for a more suitable time than the present.

[Sidenote: Philip continues his campaign.]

Starting from Olympia by the road leading to Pharae, Philip came first

to Telphusa, and thence to Heraea. There he had the booty sold by

auction, and repaired the bridge over the Alpheus, with the view of

passing over it to the invasion of Triphylia.

[Sidenote: Arrival of Aetolian troops under Phillidas, B.C. 218.]

[Sidenote: Triphylia.]

Just at that time the Aetolian Strategus, Dorimachus, in answer to

a request of the Eleans for protection against the devastation they

were enduring, despatched six hundred Aetolians, under the command

of Phillidas, to their aid. Having arrived in Elis, and taken over

the Elean mercenaries, who were five hundred in number, as well as a

thousand citizen soldiers and the Tarentine cavalry,[240] he marched to

the relief of Triphylia. This district is so called from Triphylus, one

of the sons of Arcas, and lies on the coast of the Peloponnese between

Elis and Messenia, facing the Libyan Sea, and touching the south-west

frontier of Arcadia. It contains the following towns, Samicum, Lepreum,

Hypana, Typaneae, Pyrgos, Aepium, Bolax, Stylangium, Phrixa; all of

which, shortly before this, the Eleans had conquered and annexed, as

well as the city of Alipheira, which had originally been subject to

Arcadia and Megalopolis, but had been exchanged with the Eleans, for

some private object of his own, by Lydiadas when tyrant of Megalopolis.

+78.+ Phillidas, then, sent his Elean troops to Lepreum, and his

mercenaries to Aliphera; while he himself went with the Aetolian troops

to Typaneae, and waited to see what would happen. Meanwhile the king,

having got rid of his heavy baggage, and crossed the bridge over the

river Alpheus, which flows right under Heraea, came to Alipheira, which

lies on a hill precipitous on every side, and the ascent of which is

more than ten stades. The citadel is on the very summit of this hill,

adorned with a colossal statue of Athene, of extraordinary size and

beauty. The origin and purpose of this statue, and at whose expense it

was set up, are doubtful questions even among the natives; for it has

never been clearly discovered why or by whom it was dedicated: yet it

is universally allowed that its skilful workmanship classes it among

the most splendid and artistic productions of Hecatodorus[241] and

Sostratus.

[Sidenote: Capture of Alipheira.]

The next morning being fine and bright, the king made his dispositions

at daybreak. He placed parties of men with scaling ladders at several

points, and supported each of them with bodies of mercenaries, and

detachments of Macedonian hoplites, on the rear of these several

parties. His orders being fulfilled with enthusiasm and a formidable

display of power, the garrison of Alipheira were kept continually

rushing and rallying to the particular spots to which they saw the

Macedonians approaching: and while this was going on, the king himself

took some picked men, and mounted unobserved over some steep hills up

to the suburb of the citadel; and then, at a given signal, all at once

put the scaling ladders to the walls and began attempting the town.

The king was the first to take the suburb of the acropolis, which had

been abandoned by the garrison; and when this was set on fire, those

who were defending the town walls, foreseeing what must happen, and

afraid that by the fall of the citadel they would be deprived of their

last hope, abandoned the town walls, and fled into it: whereupon the

Macedonians at once took the walls and the town. Subsequently the

garrison on the citadel sent an embassy to Philip, who granted them

their lives, and received possession of it also by formal surrender.

[Sidenote: Typanae and Phigalia surrender to Philip.]

+79.+ These achievements of the king alarmed the whole people of

Triphylia, and made them take counsel severally for the safety of

themselves and their respective cities: while Phillidas left Typaneae,

after plundering some of the houses there, and retired to Lepreum.

This was the reward which the allies of the Aetolians at that time

usually got: not only to be deserted at the hour of utmost need in the

most barefaced way, but, by being plundered as well as betrayed, to

suffer at the hands of their allies exactly what they had a right to

expect from a victorious enemy. But the people of Typaneae surrendered

their city to Philip; as also did the inhabitants of Hypana. And the

people of Phigalia, hearing of what had taken place in Triphylia, and

disliking the alliance with the Aetolians, rose in arms and seized

the space round the Polemarchium.[242] The Aetolian pirates who were

residing in this city, for the purpose of plundering Messene, were

able at first to keep down and overawe the people; but when they saw

that the whole town was mustering to the rescue, they desisted from

the attempt. Having made terms with them, they took their baggage

and evacuated the town; whereupon the inhabitants sent an embassy to

Philip, and delivered themselves and their town into his hands.

[Sidenote: Lepreum.]

[Sidenote: Samicum,]

[Sidenote: and other towns.]

+80.+ While these things were going on, the people of Lepreum, having

seized a certain quarter of their town, demanded that the Elean,

Aetolian, and Lacedaemonian garrisons (for a reinforcement had come

from Sparta also) should all alike evacuate the citadel and city.

At first Phillidas refused, and stayed on, hoping to overawe the

citizens; but when the king, despatching Taurion with a guard of

soldiers to Phigalia, advanced in person towards Lepreum, and was

now close to the town, Phillidas lowered his tone, and the Lepreates

were encouraged in their determination. It was indeed a glorious act

of gallantry on their part. Though there was a garrison within their

walls of a thousand Eleans, a thousand Aetolians with the pirates,

five hundred mercenaries, and two hundred Lacedaemonians, and though

too their citadel was in the occupation of these troops, yet they

ventured to make a stand for the freedom of their native city, and

would not give up hope of deliverance. Phillidas therefore, seeing

that the Lepreates were prepared to offer a stout resistance, and that

the Macedonians were approaching, evacuated the town with the Eleans

and Lacedaemonians. The Cretans, who had been sent by the Spartans,

made their way home through Messenia; but Phillidas departed for

Samicum. The people of Lepreum, having thus got control of their own

town, sent ambassadors to place it in the power of Philip. Hearing the

news, Philip sent all his army, except the peltasts and light-armed

troops, to Lepreum; and taking the latter with him, he made all the

haste he could to catch Phillidas. He succeeded so far as to capture

all his baggage; but Phillidas himself managed to outstrip him and

throw himself into Samicum. The king therefore sat down before this

place: and having sent for the rest of his army from Lepreum, made the

garrison believe that he meant to besiege the town. But the Aetolians

and Eleans within it, having nothing ready for sustaining a siege

beyond their bare hands, alarmed at their situation, held a parley

with Philip to secure their lives; and having obtained leave from

him to march out with their arms, they departed into Elis. Thus the

king became master of Samicum on the spot: and this was followed by

deputations from other towns to him, with entreaties for protection;

in virtue of which he took over Phrixa, Stylangium, Aepium, Bolax,

Pyrgos, and Epitalium. Having settled these things, and reduced all

Triphylia into his power in six days, he returned to Lepreum; and

having addressed the necessary warnings to the Lepreates, and put a

garrison into the citadel, he departed with his army towards Heraea,

leaving Ladicus of Acarnania in command of Triphylia. When he arrived

at Heraea, he made a distribution of all the booty; and taking up again

his baggage from Heraea, arrived about the middle of the winter at

Megalopolis.

[Sidenote: Chilon tries to seize the crown of Sparta, B.C. 218.]

+81.+ While Philip was thus engaged in Triphylia, Chilon the

Lacedaemonian, holding that the kingship belonged to him in virtue

of birth, and annoyed at the neglect of his claims by the Ephors in

selecting Lycurgus, determined to stir up a revolution: and believing

that if he took the same course as Cleomenes had done, and gave the

common people hopes of land allotments and redivision of property,

the masses would quickly follow him, he addressed himself to carrying

out this policy. Having therefore agreed with his friends on this

subject, and got as many as two hundred people to join his conspiracy,

he entered upon the execution of his project. But perceiving that the

chief obstacles in the way of the accomplishment of his design were

Lycurgus, and those Ephors who had invested him with the crown, he

directed his first efforts against them. The Ephors he seized while at

dinner, and put them all to death on the spot,—chance thus inflicting

upon them the punishment they deserved: for whether we regard the

person at whose hands, or the person for whose sake they were thus

destroyed, we cannot but say that they richly merited their fate.

After the successful accomplishment of this deed, Chilon went to the

house of Lycurgus, whom he found at home, but failed to seize. Assisted

by slaves and neighbours Lycurgus was smuggled out of the house, and

effected a secret escape; and thence got away by a cross-country route

to the town of Pellene in Tripolis. Thus baffled in the most important

point of his enterprise, Chilon was greatly discouraged; but was forced

all the same to go on with what he had begun. Accordingly he made

a descent upon the market-place, and laid violent hands upon those

opposed to him; tried to rouse his relations and friends; and declared

to the rest of the people there what hopes of success he had. But when

nobody seemed inclined to join him, but on the contrary a mob began to

collect with threatening looks, he saw how it was, and found a secret

way of leaving the town; and, making his way across Laconia, arrived

in Achaia alone and an exile. But the Lacedaemonians who were in the

territory of Megalopolis, terrified by the arrival of Philip, stowed

away all the goods they had got from the country, and first demolished

and then abandoned the Athenaeum.

[Sidenote: Decline of Sparta.]

[Sidenote: B.C. 800(?)-B.C. 371.]

[Sidenote: B.C. 236-222.]

The fact is that the Lacedaemonians enjoyed a most excellent

constitution, and had a most extensive power, from the time of the

legislation of Lycurgus to that of the battle of Leuctra. But after

that event their fortune took an unfavourable turn; and their political

state continued ever growing worse and worse, until they finally

suffered from a long succession of internal struggles and partisan

warfare; were repeatedly agitated by schemes for the redivision of

lands and the banishment of one party or another; and were subjected to

the severest possible slavery, culminating in the tyrannical government

of Nabis: though the word “tyrant” was one which they had in old times

scarcely endured to hear mentioned. However, the ancient history of

Sparta as well as the great part of it since, has been recorded by

many in terms of eulogy or the reverse; but the part of that history

which admits of the least controversy is that which followed the entire

destruction of the ancient constitution by Cleomenes;[243] and that

shall be narrated by me in the order of events as they occur.

[Sidenote: Apelles opposes Aratus, Jan.-May, B.C. 218.]

[Sidenote: May, B.C. 218.]

[Sidenote: Election of Eperatus as Achaean Strategus.]

+82.+ Meanwhile Philip left Megalopolis, and marching by way of Tegea

arrived at Argos, and there spent the rest of the winter, having gained

in this campaign an admiration beyond his years for his general conduct

and his brilliant achievements. But, in spite of all that had happened,

Apelles was by no means inclined to desist from the policy on which he

had entered; but was resolved little by little to bring the Achaeans

under the yoke. He saw that the most determined opponents of his

scheme were the elder and younger Aratus; and that Philip was inclined

to listen to them, and especially to the elder, both on account of

his former intimacy with Antigonus, and his pre-eminent influence in

Achaia, and, most of all, because of his readiness of resource and

practical ability: he therefore determined to devote his attention to

them, and enter upon the intrigue against them which I shall proceed to

describe. He sought out in the several cities all such as were opposed

to Aratus, and invited them to visit him: and having got them into his

hands he tried all he could to win their affections, encouraged them to

look upon him as a friend, and introduced them to Philip. To the king

he was always pointing out that, if he listened to Aratus, he would

have to treat the Achaeans according to the letter of the treaty of

alliance; but that, if he would listen to him, and take men like those

which he had introduced to him into favour, he would have the whole of

the Peloponnese at his own unfettered disposal. But what he was most

anxious about was the election; being desirous to secure the office

of Strategus for one of this party, and to oust Aratus in accordance

with his settled plan. With this purpose, he persuaded Philip to be at

Aegium at the time of the Achaean election, on the pretext of being on

his way to Elis. The king’s consent to this enabled Apelles himself

to be there at the right time; and though he found great difficulty,

in spite of entreaties and threats, in carrying his point; yet he did

eventually succeed in getting Eperatus of Pharae elected Strategus, and

Timoxenus, the candidate proposed by Aratus, rejected.

[Sidenote: Capture of the Wall, and expedition into Elis.]

+83.+ This over, the king departed by way of Patrae and Dyme, and

arrived with his army before the fortress called the Wall, which is

situated on the frontier of the territory of Dyme, and had a short

time before, as I mentioned above,[244] been occupied by Euripidas.

The king, being anxious at all hazards to recover this place for the

Dymaeans, encamped under its walls with his full force: and thereupon

the Elean garrison in alarm surrendered the place to Philip, which,

though not large, had been fortified with extraordinary care. For

though the circumference of its walls was not more than a stade and a

half, its height was nowhere less than thirty cubits. Having handed the

place over to the Dymaeans, Philip continued his advance, plundering

the territory of Elis: and when he had thoroughly devastated it, and

acquired a large booty, he returned with his army to Dyme.

[Sidenote: The intrigue of Apelles.]

+84.+ Meanwhile Apelles, thinking that, by the election of the Achaean

Strategus through his influence, he had partly succeeded in his policy,

began once more attacking Aratus, with the view of entirely detaching

Philip from his friendship: and he accordingly determined to make up

an accusation against him grounded on the following circumstance: When

Amphidamus, the Elean Strategus, had been, with the other refugees,

made prisoner at Thalamae, and had been brought among other captives to

Olympia, he made earnest efforts by the agency of certain individuals

to be allowed an interview with the king. This favour having been

accorded him, he made a statement to the effect that it was in his

power to bring over the Eleans to the king’s side, and induce them to

enter into alliance with him. Philip believed him; and accordingly

dismissed Amphidamus without ransom, with instructions to promise the

Eleans, that, if they would join the king, he would restore their

captive citizens without ransom, and would himself secure their

territory safely from all outside attacks: and besides this would

maintain them in freedom, without impost or foreign garrison, and in

enjoyment of their several constitutions.

But the Eleans refused to listen to the proposal, although the offer

was thought attractive and substantial. Apelles therefore used this

circumstance to found the false accusation which he now brought before

Philip, alleging that Aratus was not a loyal friend to the Macedonians,

nor sincere in his feelings towards them: “He was responsible for this

alienation of the Eleans; for when the king despatched Amphidamus from

Olympia into Elis, Aratus took him aside and talked to him, asserting

that it was by no means to the interest of the Peloponnesians that

Philip should become supreme in Elis: and this was the reason of the

Eleans despising the king’s offers, and clinging to the friendship of

the Aetolians, and persisting in war against the Macedonians.”

[Sidenote: The king investigates the charge against Aratus.]

+85.+ Regarding the matter as important, the first step the king took

was to summon the elder and younger Aratus, and order Apelles to repeat

these assertions in their presence: which he thereupon did in a bold

and threatening tone. And upon the king still not saying a word, he

added: “Since his Majesty finds you, Aratus, so ungrateful and so

exceedingly adverse to his interests, he is determined to summon a

meeting of the Achaeans, and, after making a statement of his reasons,

forthwith to return to Macedonia.” Aratus the elder answered him with a

general exhortation to Philip, never to give a hasty or inconsiderate

credit to any thing which might be alleged before him against his

friends and allies: but when any such allegation were made, to test

its truth before accepting it; for that was the conduct which became

a king, and was in every way to his interest. Wherefore he said, “I

claim that you should, in the present instance of these accusations of

Apelles, summon those who heard my words; and openly produce the man

that informed Apelles of them, and omit no means of ascertaining the

real truth, before making any statement in regard to these matters to

the Achaeans.”

[Sidenote: Aratus is cleared.]

+86.+ The king approved of this speech, and said that he would not

neglect the matter, but would thoroughly investigate it. And so for

the present the audience was dissolved. But during the following days,

while Apelles failed to bring any proof of his allegations, Aratus was

favoured by the following combination of circumstances. While Philip

was laying waste their territory, the Eleans, suspecting Amphidamus of

treachery, determined to arrest him and send him in chains to Aetolia.

But getting intelligence of their purpose, he escaped first to Olympia;

and there, hearing that Philip was at Dyme engaged in the division

of his spoils, he followed him to that town in great haste. When

Aratus heard that Amphidamus had been driven from Elis and was come to

Dyme, he was delighted, because his conscience was quite clear in the

matter; and going to the king demanded that he should summon Amphidamus

to his presence; on the ground that the man to whom the words were

alleged to have been spoken would best know about the accusations,

and would declare the truth; for he had become an exile from his home

from Philip’s sake, and had now no hope of safety except in him.

These arguments satisfied the king, who thereupon sent for Amphidamus

and ascertained that the accusation was false. The result was that

from that day forward his liking and respect for Aratus continually

increased, while he began to regard Apelles with suspicion; though

being still under the influence of his old ascendency, he was compelled

to connive at many of his actions.

+87.+ Apelles however by no means abandoned his policy. He began

undermining the position of Taurion also, who had been placed in

command of the Peloponnese by Antigonus, not indeed openly attacking

him, but rather praising his character, and asserting that he was a

proper person to be with the king on a campaign; his object being

to get some one else appointed to conduct the government of the

Peloponnese. This was indeed a novel method of defamation,—to damage

one’s neighbours, not by attacking, but by praising their characters;

and this method of wreaking one’s malice, envy, and treachery may be

regarded as primarily and specially the invention of the jealousy and

selfish ambition of courtiers. In the same spirit he began making

covert attacks upon Alexander, the captain of the bodyguard, whenever

he got an opportunity; being bent on reconstituting by his own

authority even the personal attendants of the king, and on making a

clean sweep of all arrangements left existing by Antigonus. For as in

his life Antigonus had managed his kingdom and his son with wisdom, so

at his death he made wise provisions for every department of the State.

For in his will he explained to the Macedonians the nature of these

arrangements; and also gave definite instructions for the future, how

and by whom each of these arrangements was to be carried out: being

desirous of leaving no vantage-ground to the courtiers for mutual

rivalry and strife. Among these arrangements was one selecting Apelles

from among his companions in arms to be one of the guardians of his

son; Leontius to command the peltasts; Megaleas to be chief secretary;

Taurion to be governor of the Peloponnese; and Alexander to be captain

of the bodyguard. Apelles had already got Leontius and Megaleas

completely under his influence: and he was now desirous to remove

Alexander and Taurion from their offices, and so to control these, as

well as all other departments of the government, by the agency of his

own friends. And he would have easily succeeded in doing so, had he not

raised up an opponent in the person of Aratus. As it was, he quickly

reaped the fruits of his own blind selfishness and ambition; for

that which he purposed inflicting on his neighbours he had to endure

himself, and that within a very brief space. How and by what means this

was brought about, I must forbear to tell for the present, and must

bring this book to an end: but in subsequent parts of my work I will

endeavour to make every detail of these transactions clear.

For the present, after concluding the business which I have described,

Philip returned to Argos, and there spent the rest of the winter season

with his friends, while he sent back his forces to Macedonia.