[Sidenote: Embassies at Rome from the Achaeans, the Spartan exiles,
Eumenes of Pergamus, Ariarathes, king of Cappadocia, and Pharnaces,
king of Pontus, B.C. 182.]
+1.+ The ambassadors from the Spartan exiles and from the Achaeans
arrived in Rome simultaneously with those of Eumenes, king Ariarathes,
and Pharnaces; and the Senate attended to these latter first. A short
time previously a report had been made to the Senate by Marcus,[134]
who had been despatched on a mission respecting the war that had broken
out between Eumenes and Pharnaces, speaking highly of the moderation
of Eumenes in every particular, and the grasping temper and insolence
of Pharnaces. The Senate accordingly did not require any lengthened
arguments; but, after listening to the ambassadors, answered that they
would once more send legates to examine more minutely into the points
in dispute between the kings. Then came in the ambassadors from the
Lacedaemonian exiles, and with them the ambassadors from the citizens
actually in the city; and after giving them a long hearing, the Senate
expressed no disapproval of what had been done, but promised the exiles
to write to the Achaeans on the subject of their restoration to their
country. Some days afterwards, Bippus of Argos and his colleagues,
sent by the Achaeans, entered the Senate with a statement as to the
restoration of order in Messene; and the Senate, without showing
displeasure at any part of the arrangement, gave the ambassadors a
cordial reception....
[Sidenote: Terms granted to the Messenians.]
[Sidenote: The request of the Spartan exiles refused.]
+2.+ When the ambassadors of the Spartan exiles arrived in the
Peloponnese from Rome with a letter from the Senate to the Achaeans,
desiring that measures should be taken for their recall and restoration
to their country, the Achaeans resolved to postpone the consideration
of the question until their own ambassadors should return. After
making this answer, they caused the agreement between themselves and
the Messenians to be engraved on a tablet: granting them, among other
favours, a three years’ remission of taxes, in order that the damage
done to their territory should fall upon the Achaeans equally with the
Messenians. But when Bippus and his colleagues arrived from Rome, and
reported that the letter in regard to the exiles was not due to any
strong feeling on the part of the Senate, but to the importunity of the
exiles themselves, the Achaeans voted to make no change....
[Sidenote: M. Haemus. Livy, 46, 21.]
+3.+ Mount Haemus is close to the Pontus, the most extensive and
loftiest of the ranges in Thrace, which it divides into two nearly
equal parts, from which a view of both seas may be obtained....[135]
[Sidenote: Crete in B.C. 182. See bk. 22, ch. 19.]
+4.+ In Crete there was the beginning of great troubles set in motion,
if one should speak of “a beginning of troubles” in Crete: for owing
to the persistency of civil wars and the acts of savagery practised
against each other, beginning and end are much the same in Crete; and
what appears to some people to be an incredible story is a spectacle of
everyday occurrence there....
[Sidenote: End of the war between Eumenes and Pharnaces, which the
former had undertaken to support his father-in-law Ariarathes. See
Livy, 38, 39, B.C. 182-181.]
+5.+ Having come to terms with each other, Pharnaces, Attalus, and the
rest returned home. While this was going on, Eumenes had recovered
from his illness, and was staying at Pergamus; and when his brother
arrived to announce the arrangements that had been made, he approved of
what had been done, and resolved to send his brothers to Rome: partly
because he hoped to put and end to the war with Pharnaces by means of
their mission, and partly because he wished to introduce his brothers
to his own private friends at Rome, and officially to the Senate.
Attalus and his brother were eager for this tour; and when they arrived
in Rome the young men met with a cordial reception from everybody in
private society, owing to the intimacies which they had formed during
the Roman wars in Asia, and a still more honourable welcome from the
Senate, which made liberal provision for their entertainment and
maintenance, and treated them with marked respect in such conferences
as it had with them. Thus, when the young men came formally before
the Senate, and, after speaking at considerable length of the renewal
of their ancient ties of friendship with Rome and inveighing against
Pharnaces, begged the Senate to adopt some active measures to inflict
on him the punishment he deserved, the Senate gave them a favourable
hearing, and promised in reply to send legates to use every possible
means of putting an end to the war....
[Sidenote: Ptolemy Epiphanes sends a present to the Achaeans. Lycortas,
Polybius, and Aratus sent to return thanks, B.C. 181.]
[Sidenote: Bk. 22, ch. 12.]
[Sidenote: Ptolemy Epiphanes poisoned in B.C. 181.]
+6.+ About the same time king Ptolemy, wishing to make friends with the
Achaean league, sent an ambassador to them with an offer of a fleet of
ten penteconters fully equipped; and the Achaeans, thinking the present
worthy of their thanks, for the cost could not be much less than ten
talents, gladly accepted the offer. Having come to this resolution,
they selected Lycortas, Polybius, and Aratus, son of Aratus of Sicyon,
to go on a mission to the king, partly to thank him for the arms which
he had sent on a former occasion, and partly to receive the ships and
make arrangements for bringing them across. They appointed Lycortas,
because, as Strategus at the time that Ptolemy renewed the alliance, he
had worked energetically on the king’s side; and Polybius, though below
the legal age for acting as ambassador,[136] because his father has
been ambassador at the renewal of the alliance with Ptolemy, and had
brought the present of arms and of money to the Achaeans; and Aratus,
similarly, on account of his former intercourse with the king. However,
this mission never went after all as Ptolemy died just at this time....
[Sidenote: Chaeron’s malversations at Sparta.]
[Sidenote: Assassination of Apollonides.]
+7.+ There was at this time in Sparta a man named Chaeron, who in the
previous year had been on an embassy to Rome, a man of ready wit and
great ability in affairs, but still young, in a humble position of
life, and without the advantages of a liberal education. By flattering
the mob, and starting questions which no one else had the assurance to
move, he soon acquired a certain notoriety with the people. The first
use he made of his power was to confiscate the land granted by the
tyrants to the sisters, wives, mothers, and children of the exiles,
and to distribute it on his own authority among the poor without any
fixed rule or regard to equality. He next squandered the revenue, using
the public money as though it were his own, without the authority
of law, public decree, or magistrate. Annoyed at these proceedings,
certain men managed to get themselves appointed auditors of the
treasury in accordance with the laws. Seeing this, and conscious of his
maladministration of the government, Chaeron sent some men to attack
Apollonides, the most illustrious of the auditors, and the most able to
expose his embezzlements, who stabbed him to death in broad daylight as
he was coming from the bath. Upon this being reported to the Achaeans,
and the people expressing great indignation at what had been done,
the Strategus at once started for Sparta; and when he arrived there
he brought Chaeron to trial for the murder of Apollonides, and having
condemned him, threw him into prison. He then incited the remaining
auditors to make a real investigation into the public funds, and to see
that the relations of the exiles got back the property of which Chaeron
had shortly before deprived them....
[Sidenote: Winter of B.C. 181-180.]
[Sidenote: Spring of B.C. 180.]
[Sidenote: Eumenes enters Cappadocia.]
[Sidenote: Two Galatian chiefs.]
[Sidenote: Calpitus in Galatia (?). Parnassus, a town on the Halys.]
[Sidenote: Mocissus, N. of the Halys.]
+8.+ In Asia king Pharnaces, once more treating the reference to Rome
with contempt, sent Leocritus in the course of the winter with ten
thousand men to ravage Galatia, while he himself at the beginning of
spring collected his forces and invaded Cappadocia. When Eumenes heard
of it, he was much enraged at Pharnaces thus breaking through the
terms of the agreement to which he was pledged, but was compelled to
retaliate by acting in the same way. When he had already collected his
forces, Attalus and his brother landed from their voyage from Rome, and
the three brothers, after meeting and interchanging views, marched out
at once with the army. But on reaching Galatia they found Leocritus
no longer there; and when Carsignatus and Gaesotorius, who had before
embraced the cause of Pharnaces, sent them a message desiring that
their lives might be spared, and promising that they would do anything
that might be required of them, they refused the request on the ground
of the treachery of which they had been guilty, and advanced with
their full force against Pharnaces; and having performed the distance
from Calpitus to the river Halys in five days, they reached Parnassus
in six more, and being there joined by Ariarathes, the king of the
Cappadocians, with his own army, they entered the territory of the
Mocissians. Just as they had pitched their camp, news came that the
ambassadors from Rome had arrived to effect a pacification. When the
heard this, Eumenes sent his brother Attalus to receive them; while he
devoted himself to doubling the number of his troops, and improving
them to the utmost: partly with a view to prepare them for actual
service, and partly to impress the Romans with the belief that he was
able to defend himself against Pharnaces, and beat him in war.
[Sidenote: The Roman legates arrive and undertake to negotiate.]
[Sidenote: The negotiation fails.]
[Sidenote: The Rhodians engaged in putting down a rising of the
Lycians. See Bk. 22, ch. 5.]
+9.+ When the Roman legates arrived and urged the putting an end to the
war, Eumenes and Ariarathes professed to be ready to obey; but begged
the Romans to bring them, if possible, to an interview with Pharnaces,
that they might see fully from what was said in their own presence how
faithless and cruel a man Pharnaces was; and, if this proved to be
impossible, to take a fair and impartial view of the controversy and
decide it themselves. The legates replied that they would do everything
that was in their power and was consistent with honour; but they
required the kings to remove their army from the country: for it was
inconsistent that, when they were there with proposals for a peace,
operations of war should be going on and mutual acts of hostility be
committed. Eumenes and his ally yielded to this representation, and
immediately marched off in the direction of Galatia. The Roman legates
then visited Pharnaces, and first demanded that he should meet Eumenes
and Ariarathes in a conference, as that would be the surest way of
settling the affair; but when he expressed repugnance to that measure,
and absolutely refused to do so, the Romans at once perceived that he
plainly thought himself in the wrong, and distrusted his own cause;
but, being anxious in any and every way to put an end to the war, they
continued to press him until he consented to send plenipotentiaries
to the coast, to conclude a peace on such terms as the legates might
command. When these plenipotentiaries, the Roman legates, and Eumenes
and Ariarathes met, the latter showed themselves ready to consent to
any proposal for the sake of concluding a peace. But the envoys of
Pharnaces disputed every point, and did not hold even to what they
had once accepted, but continually brought forward some fresh demand,
and altered their mind again and again. The Roman legates, therefore,
quickly came to the conclusion that they were wasting their labour,
as Pharnaces could not be induced to consent to the pacification. The
conference accordingly having come to nothing, and the Roman legates
having left Pergamum, and the envoys of Pharnaces having gone home, the
war went on, Eumenes and his allies proceeding in their preparations
for it. Meanwhile, however, the Rhodians earnestly requested Eumenes to
help them; and he accordingly set out in great haste to carry on a war
against the Lycians....
[Sidenote: B.C. 180. Debate in the Achaean assembly on the Roman
despatch.]
+10.+ This year the Achaean Strategus Hyperbatus brought before the
assembly the question of the letter from Rome as to the recall of the
Lacedaemonian exiles. Lycortas and his party recommended that no change
should be made, on the ground that “The Romans had only acted as they
were bound to do in listening to the petition of men who, on the face
of it, were deprived of their rights, so far as that petition seemed
reasonable; but when they were convinced that of a petition some points
were impossible, and others such as to inflict great disgrace and
damage upon their friends, it had never been their custom to insist
upon them peremptorily, or force their adoption. So in this case also,
if it were shown to them that the Achaeans by obeying their letter
would be breaking their oaths, their laws, and the provisions engraved
on the tablets, the very bonds of our league, they will retract their
orders, and will admit that we are right to hesitate and to ask to
be excused from carrying out its injunctions.” Such was the speech
of Lycortas. But Hyperbatus and Callicrates advised submission to
the letter, and that they should hold its authority superior to law
or tablet or anything else. Such being the division of opinion, the
Achaeans voted to send ambassadors to the Senate, to put before it the
points contained in the speech of Lycortas. Callicrates of Leontium,
Lydiades of Megalopolis, and Aratus of Sicyon were forthwith nominated
for this mission, and were despatched with instructions to this effect.
But on their arrival at Rome Callicrates went before the Senate, and,
so far from addressing it in accordance with his instructions, he on
the contrary entered upon an elaborate denunciation of his political
opponents; and, not contented with that, he undertook to rebuke the
Senate itself.
[Sidenote: Callicrates, instead of obeying his instructions, denounces
his opponents, and persuades the Senate that their interference is
necessary.]
+11.+ For he said that “The Romans were themselves responsible for the
Greeks neglecting their letters and orders instead of obeying them. For
in all the democratic states of the day there were two parties,—one
recommending obedience to the Roman rescripts, and holding neither law
nor tablet nor anything else to be superior to the will of Rome; the
other always quoting oaths and tablets, and exhorting the people to
be careful about breaking them. Now the latter policy was by far the
most popular in Achaia, and the most influential with the multitude;
consequently the Romanisers were discredited and denounced among the
populace—their opponents glorified. If then the Senate would give some
sign of their interest in the matter, the leaders, in the first place,
would quickly change to the Romanising party, and, in the next place,
would be followed by the populace from fear. But if this were neglected
by the Senate, the tendency towards the latter of the two parties would
be universal, as the more creditable and honourable in the eyes of the
populace. Thus it came about that at that very time certain statesmen,
without any other claims whatever, had obtained the highest offices
in their own cities, merely from coming forward to speak against the
rescripts of the Senate, with the view of maintaining the validity
of the laws and decrees made in the country. If then the Senate was
indifferent about having their rescripts obeyed by the Greeks, by all
means let it go on as it is now doing. But if the Senate wished that
its orders should be carried out, and its rescripts be despised by no
one, it must give serious attention to that subject. If it did not
do so, he knew only too well that the exact opposite of the Senate’s
wishes would come about, as in fact had already been the case. For but
lately, in the Messenian disturbance, though Quintus Marcius had taken
many precautions to prevent the Achaeans adopting any measures with
regard to the Messenians without the consent of the Romans, they had
disobeyed that order; had voted the war on their own authority; had not
only wasted the whole country in defiance of justice, but had in some
cases driven its noblest citizens into exile, and in others put them
to death with every extremity of torture, though they had surrendered,
and were guilty of no crime but that of appealing to Rome on the points
in dispute. Again, too, though the Senate had repeatedly written to
order the restoration of the Lacedaemonian exiles, the Achaeans were
so far from obeying, that they had actually set up an engraved tablet,
and made a sworn agreement with the men actually in possession of the
city that these exiles should never return. With these instances before
their eyes, the Romans should take measures of precaution for the
future.”
[Sidenote: The Romans adopt the policy of raising a party in Greece
against the Achaean league.]
+12.+ After delivering a speech in these words, or to this effect,
Callicrates left the Senate-house. He was followed by the envoys of
the exiles, who retired after delivering a short address, stating
their case, and containing some of the ordinary appeals to pity. The
Senate was persuaded that much of what Callicrates had said touched
the interests of Rome, and that it was incumbent upon it to exalt
those who supported its own decrees, and to humble those who resisted
them. It was with this conviction, therefore, and at this time that
it first adopted the policy of depressing those who in their several
states took the patriotic and honourable side, and promoting those
who were for appealing to its authority on every occasion, right or
wrong. The result of which was that gradually, as time went on,the
Senate had abundance of flatterers, but a great scarcity of genuine
friends. However, on this occasion the Senate did not write about
the restoration of the exiles to the Achaeans only, but also to the
Aetolians, Epirotes, Athenians, Boeotians, and Acarnanians, calling
them all as it were to witness, in order to break down the power of the
Achaeans. Moreover, they added to their answer, without saying a word
to his colleagues, a remark confined entirely to Callicrates himself,
that “everybody in the various states should be as Callicrates.” This
man accordingly arrived in Greece with his answer, in a great state of
exultation, little thinking that he had become the initiator of great
miseries to all the Greeks, but especially to the Achaeans. This nation
had still at that time the privilege of dealing on something like equal
terms with Rome, because it had kept faith with her from the time that
it had elected to maintain the Roman cause, in the hour of her greatest
danger—I mean during the wars with Philip and Antiochus.... The league,
too, had made progress in material strength and in every direction
from the period from which my history commences; but the audacious
proceeding of Callicrates proved the beginning of a change for the
worse....
[Sidenote: B.C. 180-179.]
The Romans having the feelings of men, with a noble spirit and generous
principles, commiserate all who have met with misfortunes, and show
favour to all who fly to them for protection; but directly any one
claims anything as of right, on the ground of having been faithful to
their alliance, they at once draw in and correct their error to the
best of their ability. Thus then Calibrates, who had been sent to Rome
to plead for the rights of the Achaeans, acted in exactly the opposite
spirit; and dragging in the subject of the Messenian war, on which
the Romans themselves had made no complaint, returned to Achaia to
overawe the people with the threat of the hostility of Rome. Having
therefore by his official report frightened and dismayed the spirits of
the populace, who were of course ignorant of what he had really said
in the Senate, he was first of all elected Strategus, and, to make
matters worse, proved to be open to bribery; and then, having got the
office, carried out the restoration of the Lacedaemonian and Messenian
exiles.[137]...
[Sidenote: Comparison between the characters of Philopoemen and
Aristaenus.]
+13.+ Philopoemen and Aristaenus, the Achaeans, were unlike both in
character and policy. Philopoemen was formed by nature in body and mind
for the life of a soldier, Aristaenus for a statesman and debater. In
politics they differed in this, that whereas during the periods of the
wars with Philip and Antiochus, Roman influence had become supreme in
Greece, Aristaenus directed his policy with the idea of carrying out
with alacrity every order from Rome, and sometimes even of anticipating
it. Still he endeavoured to keep up the appearance of abiding by the
laws, and did, in fact, maintain the reputation of doing so, only
giving way when any one of them proved to plainly militate against the
rescripts from Rome. But Philopoemen accepted, and loyally performed,
all Roman orders which were in harmony with the laws and the terms of
their alliance; but when such orders exceeded these limits, he could
not make up his mind to yield a willing obedience, but was wont first
to demand an arbitration, and to repeat the demand a second time; and
if this proved unavailing, to give in at length under protest, and so
finally carry out the order....
[Sidenote: The view of Aristaenus on the right attitude towards Rome.]
+14.+ Aristaenus used to defend his policy before the Achaeans by some
such arguments as these: “It was impossible to maintain the Roman
friendship by holding out the spear and the herald’s staff together.
If we have the resolution to withstand them face to face, and can do
so, well and good. But if Philopoemen himself does not venture to
assert this,[138]... why should we lose what is possible in striving
for the impossible? There are but two marks that every policy must aim
at—honour and expediency. Those to whom honour is a possible attainment
should stick to that, if they have political wisdom; those to whom
it is not must take refuge in expediency. To miss both is the surest
proof of unwisdom: and the men to do that are clearly those who, while
ostensibly consenting to obey orders, carry them out with reluctance
and hesitation. Therefore we must either show that we are strong enough
to refuse obedience, or, if we dare not venture even to suggest that,
we must give a ready submission to orders.”
[Sidenote: Philopoemen’s answer in defence of his policy.]
+15.+ Philopoemen, however, said that “People should not suppose him
so stupid as not to be able to estimate the difference between the
Achaean and Roman states, or the superiority of the power of the
latter. But as it is the inevitable tendency of the stronger to oppress
the weaker, can it be expedient to assist the designs of the superior
power, and to put no obstacle in their way, so as to experience as soon
as possible the utmost of their tyranny? Is it not, on the contrary,
better to resist and struggle to the utmost of our power?... And
if they persist in forcing their injunctions upon us,[138]... and
if, by reminding them of the facts we do something to soften their
resolution, we shall at any rate mitigate the harshness of their rule
to a certain extent; especially as up to this time the Romans, as you
yourself say, Aristaenus, have always made a great point of fidelity
to oaths, treaties, and promises to allies. But if we at once condemn
the justice of our own cause, and, like captives of the spear, offer an
unquestioning submission to every order, what will be the difference
between the Achaeans and the Sicilians or Capuans, who have been
notoriously slaves this long time past? Therefore it must either be
admitted that the justice of a cause has no weight with the Romans, or,
if we do not venture to say that, we must stand by our rights, and not
abandon our own cause, especially as our position in regard to Rome is
exceedingly strong and honourable. That the time will come when the
Greeks will be forced to give unlimited obedience, I know full well.
But would one wish to see this time as soon or as late as possible?
Surely as late as possible! In this, then, my policy differs from that
of Aristaenus. He wishes to see the inevitable arrive as quickly as
possible, and even to help it to come: I wish to the best of my power
to resist and ward it off.”
From these speeches it was made clear that while the policy of the
one was honourable, of the other undignified, both were founded on
considerations of safety. Wherefore while both Romans and Greeks were
at that time threatened with serious dangers from Philip and Antiochus,
yet both these statesmen maintained the rights of the Achaeans in
regard to the Romans undiminished; though a report found its way about
that Aristaenus was better affected to the Romans than Philopoemen....