ARATUS

The philosopher Chrysippus, O Polycrates, quotes an ancient

proverb, not as really it should be, apprehending, I suppose,

that it sounded too harshly, but so as he thought it would run

best, in these words,

Who praise their father but the generous sons?

But Dionysodorus the Troezenian proves him to be wrong, and

restores the true reading, which is this, --

Who praise their fathers but degenerate sons?

telling us that the proverb is meant to stop the mouth of those

who, having no merit of their own, take refuge in the virtues of

their ancestors, and make their advantage of praising them.

But, as Pindar hath it,

He that by nature doth inherit

From ancestors a noble spirit,

as you do, who make your life the copy of the fairest originals

of your family, -- such, I say, may take great satisfaction in

being reminded, both by hearing others speak and speaking

themselves, of the best of their progenitors. For they assume

not the glory of praises earned by others out of any want of

worth of their own, but, affiliating their own deeds to those of

their ancestor, give them honor as the authors both of their

descent and manners.

Therefore I have sent to you the life which I have written of

your fellow-citizen and forefather Aratus, to whom you are no

discredit in point either of reputation or of authority, not as

though you had not been most diligently careful to inform

yourself from the beginning concerning his actions, but that

your sons, Polycrates and Pythocles, may both by hearing and

reading become familiar with those family examples which it

behooves them to follow and imitate. It is a piece of

self-love, and not of the love of virtue, to imagine one has

already attained to what is best.

The city of Sicyon, from the time that it first fell off from

the pure and Doric aristocracy (its harmony being destroyed, and

a mere series of seditions and personal contests of popular

leaders ensuing), continued to be distempered and unsettled,

changing from one tyrant to another, until, Cleon being slain,

Timoclides and Clinias, men of the most repute and power amongst

the citizens, were chosen to the magistracy. And the

commonwealth now seeming to be in a pretty settled condition,

Timoclides died, and Abantidas, the son of Paseas, to possess

himself of the tyranny, killed Clinias, and, of his kindred and

friends, slew some and banished others. He sought also to kill

his son Aratus, whom he left behind him, being but seven years

old. This boy in the general disorder getting out of the house

with those that fled, and wandering about the city helpless and

in great fear, by chance got undiscovered into the house of a

woman who was Abantidas's sister, but married to Prophantus, the

brother of Clinias, her name being Soso. She, being of a

generous temper, and believing the boy had by some supernatural

guidance fled to her for shelter, hid him in the house, and at

night sent him away to Argos.

Aratus, being thus delivered and secured from this danger,

conceived from the first and ever after nourished a vehement and

burning hatred against tyrants, which strengthened with his

years. Being therefore bred up amongst his father's

acquaintance and friends at Argos with a liberal education, and

perceiving his body to promise good health and stature, he

addicted himself to the exercises of the palaestra, to that

degree that he competed in the five games, and gained some

crowns; and indeed in his statues one may observe a certain kind

of athletic cast, and the sagacity and majesty of his

countenance does not dissemble his full diet and the use of the

hoe. Whence it came to pass that he less studied eloquence than

perhaps became a statesman, and yet he was more accomplished in

speaking than many believe, judging by the commentaries which he

left behind him, written carelessly and by the way, as fast as

he could do it, and in such words as first came to his mind.

In the course of time, Dinias and Aristoteles the logician

killed Abantidas, who used to be present in the marketplace at

their discussions, and to make one in them; till they, taking

the occasion, insensibly accustomed him to the practice, and so

had opportunity to contrive and execute a plot against him.

After him Paseas, the father of Abantidas, taking upon him the

government, was assassinated by Nicocles, who himself set up for

tyrant. Of him it is related that he was strikingly like

Periander the son of Cypselus, just as it is said that Orontes

the Persian bore a great resemblance to Alcmaeon the son of

Amphiaraus, and that Lacedaemonian youth, whom Myrsilus relates

to have been trodden to pieces by the crowd of those that came

to see him upon that report, to Hector.

This Nicocles governed four months, in which, after he had done

all kinds of mischief to the city, he very nearly let it fall

into the hands of the Aetolians. By this time Aratus, being

grown a youth, was in much esteem, both for his noble birth and

his spirit and disposition, which, while neither insignificant

nor wanting in energy, were solid, and tempered with a

steadiness of judgment beyond his years. For which reason the

exiles had their eyes most upon him, nor did Nicocles less

observe his motions, but secretly spied and watched him, not out

of apprehension of any such considerable or utterly audacious

attempt, but suspecting he held correspondence with the kings,

who were his father's friends and acquaintance. And, indeed,

Aratus first attempted this way; but finding that Antigonus, who

had promised fair, neglected him and delayed the time, and that

his hopes from Egypt and Ptolemy were long to wait for, he

determined to cut off the tyrant by himself.

And first he broke his mind to Aristomachus and Ecdelus, the one

an exile of Sicyon, the other, Ecdelus, an Arcadian of

Megalopolis, a philosopher, and a man of action, having been the

familiar friend of Arcesilaus the Academic at Athens. These

readily consenting, he communicated with the other exiles,

whereof some few, being ashamed to seem to despair of success,

engaged in the design; but most of them endeavored to divert him

from his purpose, as one that for want of experience was too

rash and daring.

Whilst he was consulting to seize upon some post in Sicyonia,

from whence he might make war upon the tyrant, there came to

Argos a certain Sicyonian, newly escaped out of prison, brother

to Xenocles, one of the exiles, who being by him presented to

Aratus informed him, that that part of the wall over which he

escaped was, inside, almost level with the ground, adjoining a

rocky and elevated place, and that from the outside it might be

scaled with ladders. Aratus, hearing this, dispatches away

Xenocles with two of his own servants, Seuthas and Technon, to

view the wall, resolving, if possible, secretly and with one

risk to hazard all on a single trial, rather than carry on a

contest as a private man against a tyrant by long war and open

force. Xenocles, therefore, with his companions, returning

having taken the height of the wall, and declaring the place not

to be impossible or indeed difficult to get over, but that it

was not easy to approach it undiscovered, by reason of some

small but uncommonly savage and noisy dogs belonging to a

gardener hard by, he immediately undertook the business.

Now the preparation of arms gave no jealousy, because robberies

and petty forays were at that time common everywhere between one

set of people and another; and for the ladders, Euphranor, the

machine-maker, made them openly, his trade rendering him

unsuspected, though one of the exiles. As for men, each of his

friends in Argos furnished him with ten apiece out of those few

they had, and he armed thirty of his own servants, and hired

some few soldiers of Xenophilus, the chief of the robber

captains, to whom it was given out that they were to march into

the territory of Sicyon to seize the king's stud; most of them

were sent before, in small parties, to the tower of Polygnotus,

with orders to wait there; Caphisias also was dispatched

beforehand lightly armed, with four others, who were, as soon as

it was dark, to come to the gardener's house, pretending to be

travelers, and, procuring their lodging there, to shut up him

and his dogs; for there was no other way of getting past. And

for the ladders, they had been made to take in pieces, and were

put into chests, and sent before hidden upon wagons. In the

meantime, some of the spies of Nicocles appearing in Argos, and

being said to go privately about watching Aratus, he came early

in the morning into the market-place, showing him self openly

and conversing with his friends; then he anointed himself in the

exercise ground, and, taking with him thence some of the young

men that used to drink and spend their time with him, he went

home; and presently after several of his servants were seen

about the marketplace, one carrying garlands, another buying

flambeaus, and a third speaking to the women that used to sing

and play at banquets, all which things the spies observing were

deceived, and said laughing to one another, "Certainly nothing

can be more timorous than a tyrant, if Nicocles, being master of

so great a city and so numerous a force, stands in fear of a

youth that spends what he has to subsist upon in his banishment

in pleasures and day-debauches;" and, being thus imposed upon,

they returned home.

But Aratus, departing immediately after his morning meal, and

coming to his soldiers at Polygnotus's tower, led them to Nemea;

where he disclosed, to most of them for the first time; his true

design, making them large promises and fair speeches, and

marched towards the city, giving for the word Apollo victorious,

proportioning his march to the motion of the moon, so as to have

the benefit of her light upon the way, and to be in the garden,

which was close to the wall, just as she was setting. Here

Caphisias came to him, who had not secured the dogs, which had

run away before he could catch them, but had only made sure of

the gardener. Upon which most of the company being out of heart

and desiring to retreat, Aratus encouraged them to go on,

promising to retire in case the dogs were too troublesome;

and at the same time sending forward those that carried the

ladders, conducted by Ecdelus and Mnasitheus, he followed them

himself leisurely, the dogs already barking very loud and

following, the steps of Ecdelus and his companions. However,

they got to the wall, and reared the ladders with safety. But

as the foremost men were mounting them, the captain of the watch

that was to be relieved by the morning guard passed on his way

with the bell, and there were many lights, and a noise of people

coming up. Hearing which, they clapped themselves close to the

ladders, and so were unobserved; but as the other watch also was

coming up to meet this, they were in extreme danger of being

discovered. But when this also went by without observing them,

immediately Mnasitheus and Ecdelus got upon the wall, and,

possessing themselves of the approaches inside and out, sent

away Technon to Aratus, desiring him to make all the haste he

could.

Now there was no great distance from the garden to the wall and

to the tower, in which latter a large hound was kept. The hound

did not hear their steps of himself, whether that he were

naturally drowsy, or overwearied the day before, but, the

gardener's curs awaking him, he first began to growl and grumble

in response, and then as they passed by to bark out aloud. And

the barking was now so great, that the sentinel opposite shouted

out to the dog's keeper to know why the dog kept such a barking,

and whether anything was the matter; who answered, that it was

nothing, but only that his dog had been set barking by the

lights of the watch and the noise of the bell. This reply much

encouraged Aratus's soldiers, who thought the dog's keeper was

privy to their design, and wished to conceal what was passing,

and that many others in the city were of the conspiracy. But

when they came to scale the wall, the attempt then appeared both

to require time and to be full of danger, for the ladders shook

and tottered extremely unless they mounted them leisurely and

one by one, and time pressed, for the cocks began to crow, and

the country people that used to bring things to the market would

be coming to the town directly. Therefore Aratus made haste to

get up himself, forty only of the company being already upon the

wall, and, staying but for a few more of those that were below,

he made straight to the tyrant's house and the general's office,

where the mercenary soldiers passed the night, and, coming

suddenly upon them, and taking them prisoners without killing

any one of them, he immediately sent to all his friends in their

houses to desire them to come to him, which they did from all

quarters. By this time the day began to break, and the theater

was filled with a multitude that were held in suspense by

uncertain reports and knew nothing distinctly of what had

happened, until a public crier came forward and proclaimed that

Aratus, the son of Clinias, invited the citizens to recover

their liberty.

Then at last assured that what they so long looked for was come

to pass, they pressed in throngs to the tyrant's gates to set

them on fire. And such a flame was kindled, the whole house

catching fire, that it was seen as far as Corinth; so that the

Corinthians, wondering what the matter could be, were upon the

point of coming to their assistance. Nicocles fled away

secretly out of the city by means of certain underground

passages, and the soldiers, helping the Sicyonians to quench the

fire, plundered the house. This Aratus hindered not, but

divided also the rest of the riches of the tyrants amongst the

citizens. In this exploit, not one of those engaged in it was

slain, nor any of the contrary party, fortune so ordering the

action as to be clear and free from civil bloodshed. He

restored eighty exiles who had been expelled by Nicocles, and no

less than five hundred who had been driven out by former tyrants

and had endured a long banishment, pretty nearly, by this time,

of fifty years' duration. These returning, most of them very

poor, were impatient to enter upon their former possessions,

and, proceeding to their several farms and houses, gave great

perplexity to Aratus, who considered that the city without was

envied for its liberty and aimed at by Antigonus, and within was

full of disorder and sedition. Wherefore, as things stood, he

thought it best to associate it to the Achaean community, and

so, although Dorians, they of their own will took upon them the

name and citizenship of the Achaeans, who at that time had

neither great repute nor much power. For the most of them lived

in small towns, and their territory was neither large nor

fruitful, and the neighboring sea was almost wholly without a

harbor, breaking direct upon a rocky shore. But yet these above

others made it appear that the Grecian courage was invincible,

whensoever it could only have order and concord within itself

and a prudent general to direct it. For though they had

scarcely been counted as any part of the ancient Grecian power,

and at this time did not equal the strength of one ordinary

city, yet by prudence and unanimity, and because they knew how

not to envy and malign, but to obey and follow him amongst them

that was most eminent for virtue, they not only preserved their

own liberty in the midst of so many great cities, military

powers, and monarchies, but went on steadily saving and

delivering from slavery great numbers of the Greeks.

As for Aratus, he was in his behavior a true statesman,

high-minded, and more intent upon the public than his private

concerns, a bitter hater of tyrants, making the common good the

rule and law of his friendships and enmities. So that indeed he

seems not to have been so faithful a friend, as he was a

reasonable and gentle enemy, ready, according to the needs of

the state, to suit himself on occasion to either side; concord

between nations, brotherhood between cities, the council and the

assembly unanimous in their votes, being the objects above all

other blessings to which he was passionately devoted; backward,

indeed, and diffident in the use of arms and open force, but in

effecting a purpose underhand, and outwitting cities and

potentates without observation, most politic and dexterous.

Therefore, though he succeeded beyond hope in many enterprises

which he undertook, yet he seems to have left quite as many

unattempted, though feasible enough, for want of assurance. For

it should seem, that, as the sight of certain beasts is strong

in the night but dim by day, the tenderness of the humors of

their eyes not bearing the contact of the light, so there is

also one kind of human skill and sagacity which is easily

daunted and disturbed in actions done in the open day and before

the world, and recovers all its self-possession in secret and

covert enterprises; which inequality is occasioned in noble

minds for want of philosophy, a mere wild and uncultivated fruit

of a virtue without true knowledge coming up; as might be made

out by examples.

Aratus, therefore, having associated himself and his city to the

Achaeans, served in the cavalry, and made himself much beloved

by his commanding officers for his exact obedience; for though

he had made so large an addition to the common strength as that

of his own credit and the power of his country, yet he was as

ready as the most ordinary person to be commanded by the Achaean

general of the time being, whether he were a man of Dymae, or of

Tritaea, or any yet meaner town than these. Having also a

present of five and twenty talents sent him from the king, he

took them, but gave them all to his fellow-citizens, who wanted

money, amongst other purposes, for the redemption of those who

had been taken prisoners.

But the exiles being by no means to be satisfied, disturbing

continually those that were in possession of their estates,

Sicyon was in great danger of falling into perfect desolation;

so that, having no hope left but in the kindness of Ptolemy, he

resolved to sail to him, and to beg so much money of him as

might reconcile all parties. So he set sail from Mothone beyond

Malea, designing to make the direct passage. But the pilot not

being able to keep the vessel up against a strong wind and high

waves that came in from the open sea, he was driven from his

course, and with much ado got to shore in Andros, an enemy's

land, possessed by Antigonus, who had a garrison there. To

avoid which he immediately landed, and, leaving the ship, went

up into the country a good way from the sea, having along with

him only one friend, called Timanthes; and throwing themselves

into some ground thickly covered with wood, they had but an ill

night's rest of it. Not long after, the commander of the troops

came, and, inquiring for Aratus, was deceived by his servants,

who had been instructed to say that he had fled at once over

into the island of Euboea. However, he declared the chip, the

property on board of her, and the servants, to be lawful prize,

and detained them accordingly. As for Aratus, after some few

days, in his extremity by good fortune a Roman ship happened to

put in just at the spot in which he made his abode, sometimes

peeping out to seek his opportunity, sometimes keeping close.

She was bound for Syria; but going aboard, he agreed with the

master to land him in Caria. In which voyage he met with no

less danger on the sea than before. From Caria being after much

time arrived in Egypt, he immediately went to the king, who had

a great kindness for him, and had received from him many

presents of drawings and paintings out of Greece. Aratus had a

very good judgment in them, and always took care to collect and

send him the most curious and finished works, especially those

of Pamphilus and Melanthus.

For the Sicyonian pieces were still in the height of their

reputation, as being the only ones whose colors were lasting; so

that Apelles himself, even after he had become well known and

admired, went thither, and gave a talent to be admitted into the

society of the painters there, not so much to partake of their

skill, which he wanted not, but of their credit. And

accordingly Aratus, when he freed the city, immediately took

down the representations of the rest of the tyrants, but

demurred a long time about that of Aristratus, who flourished in

the time of Philip. For this Aristratus was painted by

Melanthus and his scholars, standing by a chariot, in which a

figure of Victory was carried, Apelles himself having had a

hand in it, as Polemon the geographer reports. It was an

extraordinary piece, and therefore Aratus was fain to spare it

for the workmanship, and yet, instigated by the hatred he bore

the tyrants, commanded it to be taken down. But Nealces the

painter, one of Aratus's friends, entreated him, it is said,

with tears in his eyes, to spare it, and, finding he did not

prevail with him, told him at last he should carry on his war

with the tyrants, but with the tyrants alone: "Let therefore the

chariot and the Victory stand, and I will take means for the

removal of Aristratus;" to which Aratus consenting, Nealces

blotted out Aristratus, and in his place painted a palm-tree,

not daring to add anything else of his own invention. The feet

of the defaced figure of Aristratus are said to have escaped

notice, and to be hid under the chariot. By these means Aratus

got favor with the king, who, after he was more fully acquainted

with him, loved him so much the more, and gave him for the

relief of his city one hundred and fifty talents; forty of which

he immediately carried away with him, when he sailed to

Peloponnesus, but the rest the king divided into installments,

and sent them to him afterwards at different times.

Assuredly it was a great thing to procure for his

fellow-citizens a sum of money, a small portion of which had

been sufficient, when presented by a king to other captains and

popular leaders, to induce them to turn dishonest, and betray

and give away their native countries to him. But it was a much

greater, that by means of this money he effected a

reconciliation and good understanding between the rich and poor,

and created quiet and security for the whole people. His

moderation, also, amidst so great power was very admirable. For

being declared sole arbitrator and plenipotentiary for settling

the questions of property in the case of the exiles, he would

not accept the commission alone, but, associating with himself

fifteen of the citizens, with great pains and trouble he

succeeded in adjusting matters, and established peace and

good-will in the city, for which good service, not only all the

citizens in general bestowed extraordinary honors upon him, but

the exiles, apart by themselves, erecting his statue in brass,

inscribed on it these elegiac verses: --

Your counsels, deeds, and skill for Greece in war

Known beyond Hercules's pillars are;

But we this image, O Aratus, gave

Of you who saved us, to the gods who save,

By you from exile to our homes restored,

That virtue and that justice to record,

To which the blessing Sicyon owes this day

Of wealth that's shared alike, and laws that all obey.

By his success in effecting these things, Aratus secured himself

from the envy of his fellow-citizens, on account of the benefits

they felt he had done them; but king Antigonus being troubled in

his mind about him, and designing either wholly to bring him

over to his party, or else to make him suspected by Ptolemy,

besides other marks of his favor shown to him, who had little

mind to receive them, added this too, that, sacrificing to the

gods in Corinth, he sent portions to Aratus at Sicyon, and at

the feast, where were many guests, he said openly, "I thought

this Sicyonian youth had been only a lover of liberty and of his

fellow-citizens, but now I look upon him as a good judge of the

manners and actions of kings. For formerly he despised us, and,

placing his hopes further off, admired the Egyptian riches,

hearing so much of their elephants, fleets, and palaces. But

after seeing all these at a nearer distance, perceiving them to

be but mere stage show and pageantry, he is now come over to us.

And for my part I willingly receive him, and, resolving to make

great use of him myself, command you to look upon him as a

friend." These words were soon taken hold of by those that

envied and maligned him, who strove which of them should, in

their letters to Ptolemy, attack him with the worst calumnies,

so that Ptolemy sent to expostulate the matter with him; so much

envy and ill-will did there always attend the so much contended

for, and so ardently and passionately aspired to, friendships of

princes and great men.

But Aratus, being now for the first time chosen general of the

Achaeans, ravaged the country of Locris and Calydon, just over

against Achaea, and then went to assist the Boeotians with ten

thousand soldiers, but came not up to them until after the

battle near Chaeronea had been fought, in which they were beaten

by the Aetolians, with the loss of Aboeocritus the Boeotarch,

and a thousand men besides. A year after, being again elected

general, he resolved to attempt the capture of the

Acro-Corinthus, not so much for the advantage of the Sicyonians

or Achaeans, as considering that by expelling the Macedonian

garrison he should free all Greece alike from a tyranny which

oppressed every part of her. Chares the Athenian, having the

good fortune to get the better, in a certain battle, of the

king's generals, wrote to the people of Athens that this victory

was "sister to that at Marathon." And so may this action be

very safely termed sister to those of Pelopidas the Theban and

Thrasybulus the Athenian, in which they slew the tyrants;

except, perhaps, it exceed them upon this account, that it was

not against natural Grecians, but against a foreign and stranger

domination. The Isthmus, rising like a bank between the seas,

collects into a single spot and compresses together the whole

continent of Greece; and Acro-Corinthus, being a high mountain

springing up out of the very middle of what here is Greece,

whensoever it is held with a garrison, stands in the way and

cuts off all Peloponnesus from intercourse of every kind, free

passage of men and arms, and all traffic by sea and land, and

makes him lord of all, that is master of it. Wherefore the

younger Philip did not jest, but said very true, when he called

the city of Corinth "the fetters of Greece." So that this post

was always much contended for, especially by the kings and

tyrants; and so vehemently was it longed for by Antigonus, that

his passion for it came little short of that of frantic love; he

was continually occupied with devising how to take it by

surprise from those that were then masters of it, since he

despaired to do it by open force.

Therefore Alexander, who held the place, being dead, poisoned by

him, as is reported, and his wife Nicaea succeeding in the

government and the possession of Acro-Corinthus, he immediately

made use of his son, Demetrius, and, giving her pleasing hopes

of a royal marriage and of a happy life with a youth, whom a

woman now growing old might well find agreeable, with this lure

of his son he succeeded in taking her; but the place itself she

did not deliver up, but continued to hold it with a very strong

garrison, of which he seeming to take no notice, celebrated the

wedding in Corinth, entertaining them with shows and banquets

everyday, as one that has nothing else in his mind but to give

himself up for awhile to indulgence in pleasure and mirth. But

when the moment came, and Amoebeus began to sing in the theater,

he waited himself upon Nicaea to the play, she being carried in

a royally-decorated chair, extremely pleased with her new honor,

not dreaming of what was intended. As soon, therefore, as they

were come to the turning which led up to the citadel, he desired

her to go on before him to the theater, but for himself, bidding

farewell to the music, farewell to the wedding, he went on

faster than one would have thought his age would have admitted

to the Acro-Corinthus, and, finding the gate shut, knocked with

his staff, commanding them to open, which they within, being

amazed, did. And having thus made himself master of the place,

he could not contain himself for joy; but, though an old man,

and one that had seen so many turns of fortune, he must needs

revel it in the open streets and the midst of the market-place,

crowned with garlands and attended with flute-women, inviting

everybody he met to partake in his festivity. So much more does

joy without discretion transport and agitate the mind than

either fear or sorrow. Antigonus, therefore, having in this

manner possessed himself of Acro-Corinthus, put a garrison into

it of those he trusted most, making Persaeus the philosopher

governor.

Now Aratus, even in the lifetime of Alexander, had made an

attempt, but, a confederacy being made between Alexander and the

Achaeans, he desisted. But now he started afresh, with a new

plan of effecting the thing, which was this: there were in

Corinth four brothers, Syrians born, one of whom, called

Diocles, served as a soldier in the garrison, but the three

others, having stolen some gold of the king's, came to Sicyon,

to one Aegias, a banker, whom Aratus made use of in his

business. To him they immediately sold part of their gold, and

the rest one of them, called Erginus, coming often thither,

exchanged by parcels. Becoming, by this means, familiarly

acquainted with Aegias, and being by him led into discourses

concerning the fortress, he told him that in going up to his

brother he had observed, in the face of the rock, a side-cleft,

leading to that part of the wall of the castle which was lower

than the rest. At which Aegias joking with him and saying, "So,

you wise man, for the sake of a little gold you have broken into

the king's treasure; when you might, if you chose, get money in

abundance for a single hour's work, burglary, you know, and

treason being punished with the same death," Erginus laughed and

told him then, he would break the thing to Diocles (for he did

not altogether trust his other brothers), and, returning within

a few days, he bargained to conduct Aratus to that part of the

wall where it was no more than fifteen feet high, and to do what

else should be necessary, together with his brother Diocles.

Aratus, therefore, agreed to give them sixty talents if he

succeeded, but if he failed in his enterprise, and yet he and

they came off safe, then he would give each of them a house and

a talent. Now the threescore talents being to be deposited in

the hands of Aegias for Erginus and his partners, and Aratus

neither having so much by him, nor willing, by borrowing it from

others, to give anyone a suspicion of his design, he pawned his

plate and his wife's golden ornaments to Aegias for the money.

For so high was his temper, and so strong his passion for noble

actions, that, even as he had heard that Phocion and Epaminondas

were the best and justest of the Greeks, because they refused

the greatest presents and would not surrender their duty for

money, so he now chose to be at the expense of this enterprise

privately, and to advance all the cost out of his own property,

taking the whole hazard on himself for the sake of the rest that

did not so much as know what was doing. And who indeed can

withhold, even now, his admiration for and his sympathy with the

generous mind of one, who paid so largely to purchase so great a

risk, and lent out his richest possessions to have an

opportunity to expose his own life, by entering among his

enemies in the dead of the night, without desiring any other

security for them than the hope of a noble success.

Now the enterprise, though dangerous enough in itself, was made

much more so by an error happening through mistake in the very

beginning. For Technon, one of Aratus's servants, was sent away

to Diocles, that they might together view the wall. Now he had

never seen Diocles, but made no question of knowing him by the

marks Erginus had given him of him; namely, that he had curly

hair, a swarthy complexion, and no beard. Being come,

therefore, to the appointed place, he stayed waiting for Erginus

and Diocles outside the town, in front of the place called

Ornis. In the meantime, Dionysius, elder brother to Erginus and

Diocles, who knew nothing at all of the matter, but much

resembled Diocles, happened to pass by. Technon, upon this

likeness, all being in accordance with what he had been told,

asked him if he knew Erginus; and on his replying that he was

his brother, taking it for granted that he was speaking with

Diocles, not so much as asking his name or staying for any other

token, he gave him his hand, and began to discourse with him and

ask him questions about matters agreed upon with Erginus.

Dionysius, cunningly taking the advantage of his mistake, seemed

to understand him very well, and returning towards the city, led

him on, still talking, without any suspicion. And being now

near the gate, he was just about to seize on him, when by chance

again Erginus met them, and, apprehending the cheat and the

danger, beckoned to Technon to make his escape, and immediately

both of them, betaking themselves to their heels, ran away as

fast as they could to Aratus, who for all this despaired not,

but immediately sent away Erginus to Dionysius to bribe him to

hold his tongue. And he not only effected that, but also

brought him along with him to Aratus. But, when they had him,

they no longer left him at liberty, but binding him, they kept

him close shut up in a room, whilst they prepared for executing

their design.

All things being now ready, he commanded the rest of his forces

to pass the night by their arms, and taking with him four

hundred chosen men, few of whom knew what they were going about,

he led them to the gates by the temple of Juno. It was the

midst of summer, and the moon was at full, and the night so

clear without any clouds, that there was danger lest the arms

glistening in the moonlight should discover them. But as the

foremost of them came near the city, a mist came off from the

sea, and darkened the city itself and the outskirts about it.

Then the rest of them, sitting down, put off their shoes,

because men both make less noise and also climb surer, if they

go up ladders barefooted, but Erginus, taking with him seven

young men dressed like travelers, got unobserved to the gate,

and killed the sentry with the other guards. And at the same

time the ladders were clapped to the walls, and Aratus, having

in great haste got up a hundred men, commended the rest to

follow as they could, and immediately drawing up his ladders

after him, he marched through the city with his hundred men

towards the castle, being already overjoyed that he was

undiscovered, and not doubting of the success. But while still

they were some way off, a watch of four men came with a light,

who did not see them, because they were still in the shade of

the moon, but were seen plainly enough themselves as they came

on directly towards them. So withdrawing a little way amongst

some walls and plots for houses, they lay in wait for them; and

three of them they killed. But the fourth, being wounded in the

head with a sword, fled, crying out that the enemy was in the

city. And immediately the trumpets sounded, and all the city

was in an uproar at what had happened, and the streets were full

of people running up and down, and many lights were seen shining

both below in the town, and above in the castle, and a confused

noise was to be heard in all parts.

In the meantime, Aratus was hard at work struggling to get up

the rocks, at first slowly and with much difficulty, straying

continually from the path, which lay deep, and was overshadowed

with the crags, leading to the wall with many windings and

turnings; but the moon immediately and as if by miracle, it is

said, dispersing the clouds, shone out and gave light to the

most difficult part of the way, until he got to that part of the

wall he desired, and there she overshadowed and hid him, the

clouds coming together again. Those soldiers whom Aratus had

left outside the gate, near Juno's temple, to the number of

three hundred, entering the town, now full of tumult and lights,

and not knowing the way by which the former had gone, and

finding no track of them, slunk aside, and crowded together in

one body under a flank of the cliff that cast a strong shadow,

and there stood and waited in great distress and perplexity.

For, by this time, those that had gone with Aratus were attacked

with missiles from the citadel, and were busy fighting, and a

sound of cries of battle came down from above, and a loud noise,

echoed back and back from the mountain sides, and therefore

confused and uncertain whence it proceeded, was heard on all

sides. They being thus in doubt which way to turn themselves,

Archelaus, the commander of Antigonus's troops, having a great

number of soldiers with him, made up towards the castle with

great shouts and noise of trumpets to fall upon Aratus's people,

and passed by the three hundred, who, as if they had risen out

of an ambush, immediately charged him, killing the first they

encountered, and so affrighted the rest, together with

Archelaus, that they put them to flight and pursued them until

they had quite broke and dispersed them about the city. No

sooner were these defeated, but Erginus came to them from those

that were fighting above, to acquaint them that Aratus was

engaged with the enemy, who defended themselves very stoutly,

and there was a fierce conflict at the very wall, and need of

speedy help. They therefore desired him to lead them on without

delay, and, marching up, they by their shouts made their friends

understand who they were, and encouraged them; and the full

moon, shining on their arms, made them, in the long line by

which they advanced, appear more in number to the enemy than

they were; and the echo of the night multiplied their shouts.

In short, falling on with the rest, they made the enemy give

way, and were masters of the castle and garrison, day now

beginning to be bright, and the rising sun shining out upon

their success. By this time, also, the rest of his army came up

to Aratus from Sicyon, the Corinthians joyfully receiving them

at the gates and helping them to secure the king's party.

And now, having put all things into a safe posture, he came down

from the castle to the theater, an infinite number of people

crowding thither to see him and to hear what he would say to the

Corinthians. Therefore drawing up the Achaeans on each side of

the stage-passages, he came forward himself upon the stage, with

his corslet still on, and his face showing the effects of all

his hard work and want of sleep, so that his natural exultation

and joyfulness of mind were overborne by the weariness of his

body. The people, as soon as he came forth, breaking out into

great applauses and congratulations, he took his spear in his

right hand, and, resting his body upon it with his knee a little

bent, stood a good while in that posture, silently receiving

their shouts and acclamations, while they extolled his valor and

wondered at his fortune; which being over, standing up, he

began an oration in the name of the Achaeans, suitable to the

late action, persuading the Corinthians to associate themselves

to the Achaeans, and withal delivered up to them the keys of

their gates, which had never been in their power since the time

of king Philip. Of the captains of Antigonus, he dismissed

Archelaus, whom he had taken prisoner, and Theophrastus, who

refused to quit his post, he put to death. As for Persaeus,

when he saw the castle was lost, he had got away to Cenchreae,

where, some time after, discoursing with one that said to him

that the wise man only is a true general, "Indeed," he replied,

"none of Zeno's maxims once pleased me better than this, but I

have been converted to another opinion by the young man of

Sicyon." This is told by many of Persaeus. Aratus, immediately

after, made himself master of the temple of Juno and haven of

Lechaeum, seized upon five and twenty of the king's ships,

together with five hundred horses and four hundred Syrians;

these he sold. The Achaeans kept guard in the Acro-Corinthus

with a body of four hundred soldiers, and fifty dogs with as

many keepers.

The Romans, extolling Philopoemen, called him the last of the

Grecians, as if no great man had ever since his time been bred

amongst them. But I should call this capture of the

Acro-Corinthus the last of the Grecian exploits, being

comparable to the best of them, both for the daringness of it,

and the success, as was presently seen by the consequences. For

the Megarians, revolting from Antigonus, joined Aratus, and the

Troezenians and Epidaurians enrolled themselves in the Achaean

community, and issuing forth for the first time, he entered

Attica, and passing over into Salamis, he plundered the island,

turning the Achaean force every way, as if it were just let

loose out of prison and set at liberty. All freemen whom he

took he sent back to the Athenians without ransom, as a sort of

first invitation to them to come over to the league. He made

Ptolemy become a confederate of the Achaeans, with the privilege

of command both by sea and land. And so great was his power

with them, that since he could not by law be chosen their

general every year, yet every other year he was, and by his

counsels and actions was in effect always so. For they

perceived that neither riches nor reputation, nor the friendship

of kings, nor the private interest of his own country, nor

anything else was so dear to him as the increase of the Achaean

power and greatness. For he believed that the cities, weak

individually, could be preserved by nothing else but a mutual

assistance under the closest bond of the common interest; and,

as the members of the body live and breathe by the union of all

in a single natural growth, and on the dissolution of this, when

once they separate, pine away and putrefy, in the same manner

are cities ruined by being dissevered, as well as preserved

when, as the members of one great body they enjoy the benefit of

that providence and counsel that govern the whole.

Now being distressed to see that, whereas the chief neighboring

cities enjoyed their own laws and liberties, the Argives were in

bondage, he took counsel for destroying their tyrant

Aristomachus, being very desirous both to pay his debt of

gratitude to the city where he had been bred up, by restoring it

its liberty, and to add so considerable a town to the Achaeans.

Nor were there some wanting who had the courage to undertake the

thing, of whom Aeschylus and Charimenes the soothsayer were the

chief. But they wanted swords; for the tyrant had prohibited

the keeping of any under a great penalty. Therefore Aratus,

having provided some small daggers at Corinth and hidden them in

the pack-saddles of some pack-horses that carried ordinary ware,

sent them to Argos. But Charimenes letting another person into

the design, Aeschylus and his partners were angry at it, and

henceforth would have no more to do with him, and took their

measures by themselves, and Charimenes, on finding this, went,

out of anger, and informed against them, just as they were on

their way to attack the tyrant; however, the most of them made a

shift to escape out of the marketplace, and fled to Corinth.

Not long after, Aristomachus was slain by some slaves, and

Aristippus, a worse tyrant than he, seized the government.

Upon this, Aratus, mustering all the Achaeans present that were

of age, hurried away to the aid of the city, believing that he

should find the people ready to join with him. But the greater

number being by this time habituated to slavery and content to

submit, and no one coming to join him, he was obliged to retire,

having moreover exposed the Achaeans to the charge of committing

acts of hostility in the midst of peace; upon which account they

were sued before the Mantineans, and, Aratus not making his

appearance, Aristippus gained the cause, and had damages allowed

him to the value of thirty minae. And now hating and fearing

Aratus, he sought means to kill him, having the assistance

herein of king Antigonus; so that Aratus was perpetually dogged

and watched by those that waited for an opportunity to do this

service. But there is no such safeguard of a ruler as the

sincere and steady good-will of his subjects, for, where both

the common people and the principal citizens have their fears

not of but for their governor, he sees with many eyes and hears

with many ears whatsoever is doing. Therefore I cannot but here

stop short a little in the course of my narrative, to describe

the manner of life which the so much envied arbitrary power and

the so much celebrated and admired pomp and pride of absolute

government obliged Aristippus to lead.

For though Antigonus was his friend and ally, and though he

maintained numerous soldiers to act as his body-guard, and had

not left one enemy of his alive in the city, yet he was forced

to make his guards encamp in the colonnade about his house; and

for his servants, he turned them all out immediately after

supper, and then shutting the doors upon them, he crept up into

a small upper chamber, together with his mistress, through a

trapdoor, upon which he placed his bed, and there slept after:

such a fashion, as one in his condition can be supposed to

sleep, that is, interruptedly and in fear. The ladder was taken

away by the woman's mother, and locked up in another room; in

the morning she brought it again, and putting it to, called up

this brave and wonderful tyrant, who came crawling out like some

creeping thing out of its hole. Whereas Aratus, not by force of

arms, but lawfully and by his virtue, lived in possession of a

firmly settled command, wearing the ordinary coat and cloak,

being the common and declared enemy of all tyrants, and has left

behind him a noble race of descendants surviving among the

Grecians to this day; while those occupiers of citadels and

maintainers of bodyguards, who made all this use of arms and

gates and bolts to protect their lives, in some few cases

perhaps escaped, like the hare from the hunters; but in no

instance have we either house or family, or so much as a tomb to

which any respect is shown, remaining to preserve the memory of

any one of them.

Against this Aristippus, therefore, Aratus made many open and

many secret attempts, whilst he endeavored to take Argos, though

without success; once, particularly, clapping scaling ladders in

the night to the wall, he desperately got up upon it with a few

of his soldiers, and killed the guards that opposed him. But

the day appearing, the tyrant set upon him on all hands, whilst

the Argives, as if it had not been their liberty that was

contended for, but some Nemean game going on for which it was

their privilege to assign the prize, like fair and impartial

judges, sat looking on in great quietness. Aratus, fighting

bravely, was run through the thigh with a lance, yet he

maintained his ground against the enemy till night, and, had he

been able to go on and hold out that night also, he had gained

his point; for the tyrant thought of nothing but flying, and had

already shipped most of his goods. But Aratus, having no

intelligence of this, and wanting water, being disabled himself

by his wound, retreated with his soldiers.

Despairing henceforth to do any good this way, he fell openly

with his army into Argolis, and plundered it, and, in a fierce

battle with Aristippus near the river Chares, he was accused of

having withdrawn out of the fight, and thereby abandoned the

victory. For whereas one part of his army had unmistakably got

the better, and was pursuing the enemy at a good distance from

him, he yet retreated in confusion into his camp, not so much

because he was overpressed by those with whom he was engaged, as

out of mistrust of success and through a panic fear. But when the

other wing, returning from the pursuit, showed themselves

extremely vexed, that though they had put the enemy to flight

and killed many more of his men than they had lost, yet those

that were in a manner conquered should erect a trophy as

conquerors, being much ashamed he resolved to fight them again

about the trophy, and the next day but one drew up his army to

give them battle. But, perceiving that they were reinforced

with fresh troops, and came on with better courage than before,

he durst not hazard a fight, but retired, and sent to request a

truce to bury his dead. However, by his dexterity in dealing

personally with men and managing political affairs, and by his

general favor, he excused and obliterated this fault, and

brought in Cleonae to the Achaean association, and celebrated

the Nemean games at Cleonae, as the proper and more ancient

place for them. The games were also celebrated by the Argives at

the same time, which gave the first occasion to the violation of

the privilege of safe conduct and immunity always granted to

those that came to compete for the prizes, the Achaeans at that

time selling as enemies all those they caught going through

their country after joining in the games at Argos. So vehement

and implacable a hater was he of the tyrants.

Not long after, having notice that Aristippus had a design upon

Cleonae, but was afraid of him, because he then was staying in

Corinth, he assembled an army by public proclamation, and,

commanding them to take along with them provision for several

days, he marched to Cenchreae, hoping by this stratagem to

entice Aristippus to fall upon Cleonae, when he supposed him far

enough off. And so it happened, for he immediately brought his

forces against it from Argos. But Aratus, returning from

Cenchreae to Corinth in the dusk of the evening, and setting

posts of his troops in all the roads, led on the Achaeans, who

followed him in such good order and with so much speed and

alacrity, that they were undiscovered by Aristippus, not only

whilst upon their march, but even when they got, still in the

night, into Cleonae, and drew up in order of battle. As soon as

it was morning, the gates being opened and the trumpets

sounding, he fell upon the enemy with great cries and fury,

routed them at once, and kept close in pursuit, following the

course which he most imagined Aristippus would choose, there

being many turns that might be taken. And so the chase lasted

as far as Mycenae, where the tyrant was slain by a certain

Cretan called Tragiscus, as Dinias reports. Of the common

soldiers, there fell above fifteen hundred. Yet though Aratus

had obtained so great a victory, and that too without the loss

of a man, he could not make himself master of Argos nor set it

at liberty, because Agias and the younger Aristomachus got into

the town with some of the king's forces, and seized upon the

government. However, by this exploit he spoiled the scoffs and

jests of those that flattered the tyrants, and in their raillery

would say that the Achaean general was usually troubled with a

looseness when he was to fight a battle, that the sound of a

trumpet struck him with a drowsiness and a giddiness, and that,

when he had drawn up his army and given the word, he used to ask

his lieutenants and officers whether there was any further need

of his presence now the die was cast, and then went aloof, to

await the result at a distance. For indeed these stories were

so generally listened to, that, when the philosophers disputed

whether to have one's heart beat and to change color upon any

apparent danger be an argument of fear, or rather of some

distemperature and chilliness of bodily constitution, Aratus was

always quoted as a good general, who was always thus affected

ill time of battle.

Having thus dispatched Aristippus, he advised with himself how

to overthrow Lydiades, the Megalopolitan, who held usurped power

over his country. This person was naturally of a generous

temper, and not insensible of true honor, and had been led into

this wickedness, not by the ordinary motives of other tyrants,

licentiousness and rapacity, but being young, and stimulated

with the desire of glory, he had let his mind be unwarily

prepossessed with the vain and false applauses given to tyranny,

as some happy and glorious thing. But he no sooner seized the

government, than he grew weary of the pomp and burden of it.

And at once emulating the tranquillity and fearing the policy of

Aratus, he took the best of resolutions, first, to free himself

from hatred and fear, from soldiers and guards, and, secondly,

to be the public benefactor of his country. And sending for

Aratus, he resigned the government, and incorporated his city

into the Achaean community. The Achaeans, applauding this

generous action, chose him their general; upon which, desiring

to outdo Aratus in glory, amongst many other uncalled-for

things, he declared war against the Lacedaemonians; which Aratus

opposing was thought to do it out of envy; and Lydiades was the

second time chosen general, though Aratus acted openly against

him, and labored to have the office conferred upon another. For

Aratus himself had the command every other year, as has been

said. Lydiades, however, succeeded so well in his pretensions,

that he was thrice chosen general, governing alternately, as did

Aratus; but at last, declaring himself his professed enemy, and

accusing him frequently to the Achaeans, he was rejected, and

fell into contempt, people now seeing that it was a contest

between a counterfeit and a true, unadulterated virtue, and, as

Aesop tells us that the cuckoo once, asking the little birds why

they flew away from her, was answered, because they feared she

would one day prove a hawk, so Lydiades's former tyranny still

cast a doubt upon the reality of his change.

But Aratus gained new honor in the Aetolian war. For the

Achaeans resolving to fall upon the Aetolians on the Megarian

confines, and Agis also, the Lacedaemonian king, who came to

their assistance with an army, encouraging them to fight, Aratus

opposed this determination. And patiently enduring many

reproaches, many scoffs and jeerings at his soft and cowardly

temper, he would not, for any appearance of disgrace, abandon

what he judged to be the true common advantage, and suffered the

enemy to pass over Geranea into Peloponnesus without a battle.

But when, after they had passed by, news came that they had

suddenly captured Pellene, he was no longer the same man, nor

would he hear of any delay, or wait to draw together his whole

force, but marched towards the enemy with such as he had about

him to fall upon them, as they were indeed now much less

formidable through the intemperances and disorders committed in

their success. For as soon as they entered the city, the common

soldiers dispersed and went hither and thither into the houses,

quarreling and fighting with one another about the plunder; and

the officers and commanders were running about after the wives

and daughters of the Pellenians, on whose heads they put their

own helmets, to mark each man his prize, and prevent another

from seizing it. And in this posture were they when news came

that Aratus was ready to fall upon them. And in the midst of

the consternation likely to ensue in the confusion they were in,

before all of them heard of the danger, the outmost of them,

engaging at the gates and in the suburbs with the Achaeans, were

already beaten and put to flight, and, as they came headlong

back, filled with their panic those who were collecting and

advancing to their assistance.

In this confusion, one of the captives, daughter of Epigethes, a

citizen of repute, being extremely handsome and tall, happened

to be sitting in the temple of Diana, placed there by the

commander of the band of chosen men, who had taken her and put

his crested helmet upon her. She, hearing the noise, and

running out to see what was the matter, stood in the temple

gates, looking down from above upon those that fought, having

the helmet upon her head; in which posture she seemed to the

citizens to be something more than human, and struck fear and

dread into the enemy, who believed it to be a divine apparition;

so that they lost all courage to defend themselves. But the

Pellenians tell us that the image of Diana stands usually

untouched, and when the priestess happens at any time to remove

it to some other place, nobody dares look upon it, but all turn

their faces from it; for not only is the sight of it terrible

and hurtful to mankind, but it makes even the trees, by which it

happens to be carried, become barren and cast their fruit. This

image, therefore, they say, the priestess produced at that time,

and, holding it directly in the faces of the Aetolians, made

them lose their reason and judgment. But Aratus mentions no

such thing in his commentaries, but says, that, having put to

flight the Aetolians, and falling in pell-mell with them into

the city, he drove them out by main force, and killed seven

hundred of them. And the action was extolled as one of the most

famous exploits, and Timanthes the painter made a picture of the

battle, giving by his composition a most lively representation

of it.

But many great nations and potentates combining against the

Achaeans, Aratus immediately treated for friendly arrangements

with the Aetolians, and, making use of the assistance of

Pantaleon, the most powerful man amongst them, he not only made

a peace, but an alliance between them and the Achaeans. But

being desirous to free the Athenians, he got into disgrace and

ill-repute among the Achaeans, because, notwithstanding the

truce and suspension of arms made between them and the

Macedonians, he had attempted to take the Piraeus. He denies

this fact in his commentaries, and lays the blame on Erginus, by

whose assistance he took Acro-Corinthus, alleging that he upon

his own private account attacked the Piraeus, and, his ladders

happening to break, being hotly pursued, he called out upon

Aratus as if present, by which means deceiving the enemy, he got

safely off. This excuse, however, sounds very improbable; for it

is not in any way likely that Erginus, a private man and a

Syrian stranger, should conceive in his mind so great an

attempt, without Aratus at his back, to tell him how and when to

make it, and to supply him with the means. Nor was it twice or

thrice, but very often, that, like an obstinate lover, he

repeated his attempts on the Piraeus, and was so far from being

discouraged by his disappointments, that his missing his hopes

but narrowly was an incentive to him to proceed the more boldly

in a new trial. One time amongst the rest, in making his escape

through the Thriasian plain, he put his leg out of joint, and

was forced to submit to many operations with the knife before he

was cured, so that for a long time he was carried in a litter to

the wars.

And when Antigonus was dead, and Demetrius succeeded him in the

kingdom, he was more bent than ever upon Athens, and in general

quite despised the Macedonians. And so, being overthrown in

battle near Phylacia by Bithys, Demetrius's general, and there

being a very strong report that he was either taken or slain,

Diogenes, the governor of the Piraeus, sent letters to Corinth,

commanding the Achaeans to quit that city, seeing Aratus was

dead. When these letters came to Corinth, Aratus happened to be

there in person, so that Diogenes's messengers, being

sufficiently mocked and derided, were forced to return to their

master. King Demetrius himself also sent a ship, wherein

Aratus was to be brought to him in chains. And the Athenians,

exceeding all possible fickleness of flattery to the

Macedonians, crowned themselves with garlands upon the first

news of his death. And so in anger he went at once and invaded

Attica, and penetrated as far as the Academy, but then suffering

himself to be pacified, he did no further act of hostility. And

the Athenians afterwards, coming to a due sense of his virtue,

when upon the death of Demetrius they attempted to recover their

liberty, called him in to their assistance; and although at that

time another person was general of the Achaeans, and he himself

had long kept his bed with a sickness, yet, rather than fail the

city in a time of need, he was carried thither in a litter, and

helped to persuade Diogenes the governor to deliver up the

Piraeus, Munychia, Salamis, and Sunium to the Athenians in

consideration of a hundred and fifty talents, of which Aratus

himself contributed twenty to the city. Upon this, the

Aeginetans and the Hermionians immediately joined the Achaeans,

and the greatest part of Arcadia entered their confederacy; and

the Macedonians being occupied with various wars upon their own

confines and with their neighbors, the Achaean power, the

Aetolians also being in alliance with them, rose to great

height.

But Aratus, still bent on effecting his old project, and

impatient that tyranny should maintain itself in so near a city

as Argos, sent to Aristomachus to persuade him to restore

liberty to that city, and to associate it to the Achaeans, and

that, following Lydiades's example, he should rather choose to

be the general of a great nation, with esteem and honor, than

the tyrant of one city, with continual hatred and danger.

Aristomachus slighted not the message, but desired Aratus to

send him fifty talents, with which he might pay off the

soldiers. In the meantime, whilst the money was providing,

Lydiades, being then general, and extremely ambitious that this

advantage might seem to be of his procuring for the Achaeans,

accused Aratus to Aristomachus, as one that bore an

irreconcilable hatred to the tyrants, and, persuading him to

commit the affair to his management, he presented him to the

Achaeans. But there the Achaean council gave a manifest proof

of the great credit Aratus had with them and the good-will they

bore him. For when he, in anger, spoke against Aristomachus's

being admitted into the association, they rejected the proposal,

but when he was afterwards pacified and came himself and spoke

in its favor, they voted everything cheerfully and readily, and

decreed that the Argives and Phliasians should be incorporated

into their commonwealth, and the next year they chose

Aristomachus general. He, being in good credit with the

Achaeans, was very desirous to invade Laconia, and for that

purpose sent for Aratus from Athens. Aratus wrote to him to

dissuade him as far as he could from that expedition, being very

unwilling the Achaeans should be engaged in a quarrel with

Cleomenes, who was a daring man, and making extraordinary

advances to power. But Aristomachus resolving to go on, he

obeyed and served in person, on which occasion he hindered

Aristomachus from fighting a battle, when Cleomenes came upon

them at Pallantium; and for this act was accused by Lydiades,

and, coming to an open conflict with him in a contest for the

office of general, he carried it by the show of hands, and was

chosen general the twelfth time.

This year, being routed by Cleomenes near the Lycaeum, he fled,

and, wandering out of the way in the night, was believed to be

slain; and once more it was confidently reported so throughout

all Greece. He, however, having escaped this danger and rallied

his forces, was not content to march off in safety, but, making

a happy use of the present conjuncture, when nobody dreamed any

such thing, he fell suddenly upon the Mantineans, allies of

Cleomenes, and, taking the city, put a garrison into it, and

made the stranger inhabitants free of the city; procuring, by

this means, those advantages for the beaten Achaeans, which,

being conquerors, they would not easily have obtained. The

Lacedaemonians again invading the Megalopolitan territories, he

marched to the assistance of the city, but refused to give

Cleomenes, who did all he could to provoke him to it, any

opportunity of engaging him in a battle, nor could be prevailed

upon by the Megalopolitans, who urged him to it extremely. For

besides that by nature he was ill-suited for set battles, he was

then much inferior in numbers, and was to deal with a daring

leader, still in the heat of youth, while he himself, now past

the prime of courage and come to a chastised ambition, felt it

his business to maintain by prudence the glory, which he had

obtained, and the other was only aspiring to by forwardness and

daring.

So that though the light-armed soldiers had sallied out and

driven the Lacedaemonians as far as their camp, and had come

even to their tents, yet would not Aratus lead his men forward,

but, posting himself in a hollow watercourse in the way thither,

stopped and prevented the citizens from crossing this.

Lydiades, extremely vexed at what was going on, and loading

Aratus with reproaches, entreated the horse that together with

him they would second them that had the enemy in chase, and not

let a certain victory slip out of their hands, nor forsake him

that was going to venture his life for his country. And being

reinforced with many brave men that turned after him, he charged

the enemy's right wing, and routing it, followed the pursuit

without measure or discretion, letting his eagerness and hopes

of glory tempt him on into broken ground, full of planted fruit

trees and cut up with broad ditches, where, being engaged by

Cleomenes, he fell, fighting gallantly the noblest of battles,

at the gate of his country. The rest, flying back to their main

body and troubling the ranks of the full-armed infantry, put the

whole army to the rout. Aratus was extremely blamed, being

suspected to have betrayed Lydiades, and was constrained by the

Achaeans, who withdrew in great anger, to accompany them to

Aegium, where they called a council, and decreed that he should

no longer be furnished with money, nor have any more soldiers

hired for him, but that, if he would make war, he should pay

them himself.

This affront he resented so far as to resolve to give up the

seal and lay down the office of general; but upon second

thoughts he found it best to have patience, and presently

marched with the Achaeans to Orchomenus and fought a battle with

Megistonus, the step-father of Cleomenes, where he got the

victory, killing three hundred men and taking Megistonus

prisoner. But whereas he used to be chosen general every other

year, when his turn came and he was called to take upon him that

charge, he declined it, and Timoxenus was chosen in his stead.

The true cause of which was not the pique he was alleged to have

taken at the people, but the ill circumstances of the Achaean

affairs. For Cleomenes did not now invade them gently and

tenderly as hitherto, as one controlled by the civil

authorities, but having killed the Ephors, divided the lands,

and made many of the stranger residents free of the city, he was

responsible to no one in his government; and therefore fell in

good earnest upon the Achaeans, and put forward his claim to the

supreme military command. Wherefore Aratus is much blamed, that

in a stormy and tempestuous time, like a cowardly pilot, he

should forsake the helm, when it was even perhaps his duty to

have insisted, whether they would or no, on saving them; or if

he thought the Achaean affairs desperate, to have yielded all up

to Cleomenes, and not to have let Peloponnesus fall once again

into barbarism with Macedonian garrisons, and Acro-Corinthus be

occupied with Illyric and Gaulish soldiers, and, under the

specious name of Confederates, to have made those masters of the

cities whom he had held it his business by arms and by policy to

baffle and defeat, and, in the memoirs he left behind him,

loaded with reproaches and insults. And say that Cleomenes was

arbitrary and tyrannical, yet was he descended from the

Heraclidae, and Sparta was his country, the obscurest citizen of

which deserved to be preferred to the generalship before the

best of the Macedonians by those that had any regard to the

honor of Grecian birth. Besides, Cleomenes sued for that

command over the Achaeans as one that would return the honor of

that title with real kindnesses to the cities; whereas

Antigonus, being declared absolute general by sea and land,

would not accept the office unless Acro-Corinthus were by

special agreement put into his hands, following the example of

Aesop's hunter; for he would not get up and ride the Achaeans,

who desired him so to do, and offered their backs to him by

embassies and popular decrees, till, by a garrison and hostages,

they had allowed him to bit and bridle them. Aratus exhausts

all his powers of speech to show the necessity that was upon

him. But Polybius writes, that long before this, and before

there was any necessity, apprehending the daring temper of

Cleomenes, he communicated secretly with Antigonus, and that he

had beforehand prevailed with the Megalopolitans to press the

Achaeans to crave aid from Antigonus. For they were the most

harassed by the war, Cleomenes continually plundering and

ransacking their country. And so writes also Phylarchus, who,

unless seconded by the testimony of Polybius, would not be

altogether credited; for he is seized with enthusiasm when he so

much as speaks a word of Cleomenes, and as if he were pleading,

not writing a history, goes on throughout defending the one and

accusing the other.

The Achaeans, therefore, lost Mantinea, which was recovered by

Cleomenes, and being beaten in a great fight near Hecatombaeum,

so general was the consternation, that they immediately sent to

Cleomenes to desire him to come to Argos and take the command

upon him. But Aratus, as soon as he understood that he was

coming, and was got as far as Lerna with his troops, fearing

the result, sent ambassadors to him, to request him to come

accompanied with three hundred only, as to friends and

confederates, and, if he mistrusted anything, he should receive

hostages. Upon which Cleomenes, saying this was mere mockery

and affront, went away, sending a letter to the Achaeans full of

reproaches and accusation against Aratus. And Aratus also wrote

letters against Cleomenes; and bitter revilings and railleries

were current on both hands, not sparing even their marriages and

wives. Hereupon Cleomenes sent a herald to declare war against

the Achaeans, and in the meantime missed very narrowly of

taking Sicyon by treachery. Turning off at a little distance,

he attacked and took Pellene, which the Achaean general

abandoned, and not long after took also Pheneus and Penteleum.

Then immediately the Argives voluntarily joined with him, and

the Phliasians received a garrison, and in short nothing among

all their new acquisitions held firm to the Achaeans. Aratus

was encompassed on every side with clamor and confusion; he saw

the whole of Peloponnesus shaking around him, and the cities

everywhere set in revolt by men desirous of innovations.

For indeed no place remained quiet or satisfied with the present

condition; even amongst the Sicyonians and Corinthians

themselves, many were well known to have had private conferences

with Cleomenes, who long since, out of desire to make themselves

masters of their several cities, had been discontented with the

present order of things. Aratus, having absolute power given

him to bring these to condign punishment, executed as many of

them as he could find at Sicyon, but going about to find them

out and punish them at Corinth also, he irritated the people,

already unsound in feeling and weary of the Achaean government.

So collecting tumultuously in the temple of Apollo, they sent

for Aratus, having determined to take or kill him before they

broke out into open revolt. He came accordingly, leading his

horse in his hand, as if he suspected nothing. Then several

leaping up and accusing and reproaching him, with mild words and

a settled countenance he bade them sit down, and not stand

crying out upon him in a disorderly manner, desiring, also, that

those that were about the door might be let in, and saying so,

he stepped out quietly, as if he would give his horse to

somebody. Clearing himself thus of the crowd, and speaking

without discomposure to the Corinthians that he met, commanding

them to go to Apollo's temple, and being now, before they were

aware, got near to the citadel, he leaped upon his horse, and

commanding Cleopater, the governor of the garrison, to have a

special care of his charge, he galloped to Sicyon, followed by

thirty of his soldiers, the rest leaving him and shifting for

themselves. And not long after, it being known that he was

fled, the Corinthians pursued him, but not overtaking him, they

immediately sent for Cleomenes and delivered up the city to him,

who, however, thought nothing they could give was so great a

gain, as was the loss of their having let Aratus get away.

Nevertheless, being strengthened by the accession of the people

of the Acte, as it is called, who put their towns into his

hands, he proceeded to carry a palisade and lines of

circumvallation around the Acro-Corinthus.

But Aratus being arrived at Sicyon, the body of the Achaeans

there flocked to him, and, in an assembly there held, he was

chosen general with absolute power, and he took about him a

guard of his own citizens, it being now three and thirty years

since he first took a part in public affairs among the Achaeans,

having in that time been the chief man in credit and power of

all Greece; but he was now deserted on all hands, helpless and

overpowered, drifting about amidst the waves and danger on the

shattered hulk of his native city. For the Aetolians, affected

whom he applied to, declined to assist him in his distress, and

the Athenians, who were well affected to him, were diverted from

lending him any succor by the authority of Euclides and Micion.

Now whereas he had a house and property in Corinth, Cleomenes

meddled not with it, nor suffered anybody else to do so, but

calling for his friends and agents, he bade them hold themselves

responsible to Aratus for everything, as to him they would have

to render their account; and privately he sent to him Tripylus,

and afterwards Megistonus, his own stepfather, to offer him,

besides several other things, a yearly pension of twelve

talents, which was twice as much as Ptolemy allowed him, for he

gave him six; and all that he demanded was to be declared

commander of the Achaeans, and together with them to have the

keeping of the citadel of Corinth. To which Aratus returning

answer that affairs were not so properly in his power as he was

in the power of them, Cleomenes, believing this a mere evasion,

immediately entered the country of Sicyon, destroying all with

fire and sword, and besieged the city three months, whilst

Aratus held firm, and was in dispute with himself whether he

should call in Antigonus upon condition of delivering up the

citadel of Corinth to him; for he would not lend him assistance

upon any other terms.

In the meantime the Achaeans assembled at Aegium, and called for

Aratus; but it was very hazardous for him to pass thither, while

Cleomenes was encamped before Sicyon; besides, the citizens

endeavored to stop him by their entreaties, protesting that they

would not suffer him to expose himself to so evident danger, the

enemy being so near; the women, also, and children hung about

him, weeping and embracing him as their common father and

defender. But he, having comforted and encouraged them as well

as he could, got on horseback, and being accompanied with ten

of his friends and his son, then a youth, got away to the

sea-side, and finding vessels there waiting off the shore, went

on board of them and sailed to Aegium to the assembly; in which

it was decreed that Antigonus should be called in to their aid,

and should have the Acro-Corinthus delivered to him. Aratus

also sent his son to him with the other hostages. The

Corinthians, extremely angry at this proceeding, now plundered

his property, and gave his house as a present to Cleomenes.

Antigonus being now near at hand with his army, consisting of

twenty thousand Macedonian foot and one thousand three hundred

horse, Aratus, with the Members of Council, went to meet him by

sea, and got, unobserved by the enemy, to Pegae, having no great

confidence either in Antigonus or the Macedonians. For he was

very sensible that his own greatness had been made out of the

losses he had caused them, and that the first great principle of

his public conduct had been hostility to the former Antigonus.

But perceiving the necessity that was now upon him, and the

pressure of the time, that lord and master of those we call

rulers, to be inexorable, he resolved to put all to the venture.

So soon, therefore, as Antigonus was told that Aratus was coming

up to him, he saluted the rest of the company after the ordinary

manner, but him he received at the very first approach with

especial honor, and finding him afterwards to be both good and

wise, admitted him to his nearer familiarity. For Aratus was

not only useful to him in the management of great affairs, but

singularly agreeable also as the private companion of a king in

his recreations. And therefore, though Antigonus was young,

yet as soon as he observed the temper of the man to be proper

for a prince's friendship, he made more use of him than of any

other, not only of the Achaeans, but also of the Macedonians

that were about him. So that the thing fell out to him just as

the god had foreshown in a sacrifice. For it is related that,

as Aratus was not long before offering sacrifice, there were

found in the liver two gall-bags enclosed in the same caul of

fat; whereupon the soothsayer told him that there should very

soon be the strictest friendship imaginable between him and his

greatest and most mortal enemies; which prediction he at that

time slighted, having in general no great faith in soothsayings

and prognostications, but depending most upon rational

deliberation. At an after time, however, when, things

succeeding well in the war, Antigonus made a great feast at

Corinth, to which he invited a great number of guests, and

placed Aratus next above himself, and presently calling for a

coverlet, asked him if he did not find it cold, and on Aratus's

answering "Yes, extremely cold," bade him come nearer, so that

when the servants brought the coverlet, they threw it over them

both, then Aratus remembering the sacrifice, fell a laughing,

and told the king the sign which had happened to him, and the

interpretation of it. But this fell out a good while after.

So Aratus and the king, plighting their faith to each other at

Pegae, immediately marched towards the enemy, with whom they had

frequent engagements near the city, Cleomenes maintaining a

strong position, and the Corinthians making a very brisk

defense. In the meantime, Aristoteles the Argive, Aratus's

friend, sent privately to him to let him know, that he would

cause Argos to revolt, if he would come thither in person with

some soldiers. Aratus acquainted Antigonus, and, taking fifteen

hundred men with him, sailed in boats along the shore as quickly

as he could from the Isthmus to Epidaurus. But the Argives had

not patience till he could arrive, but, making a sudden

insurrection, fell upon Cleomenes's soldiers, and drove them

into the citadel. Cleomenes having news of this, and fearing

lest, if the enemy should possess themselves of Argos, they

might cut off his retreat home, leaves the Acro-Corinthus and

marches away by night to help his men. He got thither first,

and beat off the enemy, but Aratus appearing not long after, and

the king approaching with his forces, he retreated to Mantinea,

upon which all the cities again came over to the Achaeans, and

Antigonus took possession of the Acro-Corinthus. Aratus, being

chosen general by the Argives, persuaded them to make a present

to Antigonus of the property of the tyrants and the traitors.

As for Aristomachus, after having put him to the rack in the

town of Cenchreae, they drowned him in the sea; for which, more

than anything else, Aratus was reproached, that he could suffer

a man to be so lawlessly put to death, who was no bad man, had

been one of his long acquaintance, and at his persuasion had

abdicated his power, and annexed the city to the Achaeans.

And already the blame of the other things that were done began

to be laid to his account; as that they so lightly gave up

Corinth to Antigonus, as if it had been an inconsiderable

village; that they had suffered him, after first sacking

Orchomenus, then to put into it a Macedonian garrison; that they

made a decree that no letters nor embassy should be sent to any

other king without the consent of Antigonus, that they were

forced to furnish pay and provision for the Macedonian soldiers,

and celebrated sacrifices, processions, and games in honor of

Antigonus, Aratus's citizens setting the example and receiving

Antigonus, who was lodged and entertained at Aratus's house.

All these things they treated as his fault, not knowing that

having once put the reins into Antigonus's hands, and let

himself be borne by the impetus of regal power, he was no longer

master of anything but one single voice, the liberty of which

it was not so very safe for him to use. For it was very plain

that Aratus was much troubled at several things, as appeared by

the business about the statues. For Antigonus replaced the

statues of the tyrants of Argos that had been thrown down, and

on the contrary threw down the statues of all those that had

taken the Acro-Corinthus, except that of Aratus, nor could

Aratus, by all his entreaties, dissuade him. Also, the usage of

the Mantineans by the Achaeans seemed not in accordance with the

Grecian feelings and manners. For being masters of their city

by the help of Antigonus, they put to death the chief and most

noted men amongst them; and of the rest, some they sold, others

they sent, bound in fetters, into Macedonia, and made slaves of

their wives and children; and of the money thus raised, a third

part they divided among themselves, and the other two thirds

were distributed among the Macedonians. And this might seem to

have been justified by the law of retaliation; for although it

be a barbarous thing for men of the same nation and blood thus

to deal with one another in their fury, yet necessity makes it,

as Simonides says, sweet and something excusable, being the

proper thing, in the mind's painful and inflamed condition, to

give alleviation and relief. But for what was afterwards done

to that city, Aratus cannot be defended on any ground either of

reason or necessity. For the Argives having had the city

bestowed on them by Antigonus, and resolving to people it, he

being then chosen as the new founder, and being general at that

time, decreed that it should no longer be called Mantinea, but

Antigonea, which name it still bears. So that he may be said to

have been the cause that the old memory of the "beautiful

Mantinea" has been wholly extinguished, and the city to this

day has the name of the destroyer and slayer of its citizens.

After this, Cleomenes, being overthrown in a great battle near

Sellasia, forsook Sparta and fled into Egypt, and Antigonus,

having shown all manner of kindness and fair-dealing to Aratus,

retired into Macedonia. There, falling sick, he sent Philip,

the heir of the kingdom, into Peloponnesus, being yet scarce a

youth, commanding him to follow above all the counsel of Aratus,

to communicate with the cities through him, and through him to

make acquaintance with the Achaeans; and Aratus, receiving him

accordingly, so managed him as to send him back to Macedon both

well affected to himself and full of desire and ambition to take

an honorable part in the affairs of Greece.

When Antigonus was dead, the Aetolians, despising the sloth and

negligence of the Achaeans, who, having learned to be defended by

other men's valor and to shelter themselves under the Macedonian

arms, lived in ease and without any discipline, now attempted to

interfere in Peloponnesus. And plundering the land of Patrae

and Dyme in their way, they invaded Messene and ravaged it; at

which Aratus being indignant, and finding that Timoxenus, then

general, was hesitating and letting the time go by, being now on

the point of laying down his office, in which he himself was

chosen to succeed him, he anticipated the proper term by five

days, that he might bring relief to the Messenians. And

mustering the Achaeans, who were both in their persons

unexercised in arms and in their minds relaxed and averse to

war, he met with a defeat at Caphyae. Having thus begun the

war, as it seemed, with too much heat and passion, he then ran

into the other extreme, cooling again and desponding so much,

that he let pass and overlooked many fair opportunities of

advantage given by the Aetolians, and allowed them to run riot,

as it were, throughout all Peloponnesus, with all manner of

insolence and licentiousness. Wherefore, holding forth their

hands once more to the Macedonians, they invited and drew in

Philip to intermeddle in the affairs of Greece, chiefly hoping,

because of his affection and trust that he felt for Aratus, they

should find him easy-tempered, and ready to be managed as they

pleased.

But the king, being now persuaded by Apelles, Megaleas, and

other courtiers, that endeavored to ruin the credit Aratus had

with him, took the side of the contrary faction, and joined them

in canvassing to have Eperatus chosen general by the Achaeans.

But he being altogether scorned by the Achaeans, and, for the

want of Aratus to help, all things going wrong, Philip saw he

had quite mistaken his part, and, turning about and reconciling

himself to Aratus, he was wholly his; and his affairs now going

on favorably both for his power and reputation, he depended upon

him altogether as the author of all his gains in both respects;

Aratus hereby giving a proof to the world that he was as good a

nursing father of a kingdom as he had been of a democracy, for

the actions of the king had in them the touch and color of his

judgment and character. The moderation which the young man

showed to the Lacedaemonians, who had incurred his displeasure,

and his affability to the Cretans, by which in a few days he

brought over the whole island to his obedience, and his

expedition against the Aetolians, so wonderfully successful,

brought Philip reputation for hearkening to good advice, and to

Aratus for giving it; for which things the king's followers

envying him more than ever and finding they could not prevail

against him by their secret practices, began openly to abuse and

affront him at the banquets and over their wine, with every kind

of petulance and impudence; so that once they threw stones at

him as he was going back from supper to his tent. At which

Philip being much offended, immediately fined them twenty

talents; and finding afterwards that they still went on

disturbing matters and doing mischief in his affairs, he put

them to death.

But with his run of good success, prosperity began to puff him

up, and various extravagant desires began to spring and show

themselves in his mind; and his natural bad inclinations,

breaking through the artificial restraints he had put upon them,

in a little time laid open and discovered his true and proper

character. And in the first place, he privately injured the

younger Aratus in his wife, which was not known of a good while,

because he was lodged and entertained at their house; then he

began to be more rough and untractable in the domestic politics

of Greece, and showed plainly that he was wishing to shake

himself loose of Aratus. This the Messenian affairs first gave

occasion to suspect. For they falling into sedition, and Aratus

being just too late with his succors, Philip, who got into the

city one day before him, at once blew up the flame of contention

amongst them, asking privately, on the one hand, the Messenian

generals, if they had not laws whereby to suppress the insolence

of the common people, and on the other, the leaders of the

people, whether they had not hands to help themselves against

their oppressors. Upon which gathering courage, the officers

attempted to lay hands on the heads of the people, and they on

the other side, coming upon the officers with the multitude,

killed them, and very near two hundred persons with them.

Philip having committed this wickedness, and doing his best to

set the Messenians by the ears together more than before, Aratus

arrived there, and both showed plainly that he took it ill

himself, and also he suffered his son bitterly to reproach and

revile him. It should seem that the young man had an attachment

for Philip, and so at this time one of his expressions to him

was, that he no longer appeared to him the handsomest, but the

most deformed of all men, after so foul an action. To all which

Philip gave him no answer, though he seemed so angry as to make

it expected he would, and though several times he cried out

aloud, while the young man was speaking. But as for the elder

Aratus, seeming to take all that he said in good part, and as if

he were by nature a politic character and had a good command of

himself, he gave him his hand and led him out of the theater,

and carried him with him to the Ithomatas, to sacrifice there

to Jupiter, and take a view of the place, for it is a post as

fortifiable as the Acro-Corinthus, and, with a garrison in it,

quite as strong and as impregnable to the attacks of all around

it. Philip therefore went up hither, and having offered

sacrifice, receiving the entrails of the ox with both his hands

from the priest, he showed them to Aratus and Demetrius the

Pharian, presenting them sometimes to the one and sometimes to

the other, asking them what they judged, by the tokens in the

sacrifice, was to be done with the fort; was he to keep it for

himself, or restore it to the Messenians. Demetrius laughed and

answered, "If you have in you the soul of soothsayer, you will

restore it, but if of a prince, you will hold the ox by both the

horns," meaning to refer to Peloponnesus, which would be wholly

in his power and at his disposal if he added the Ithomatas to

the Acro-Corinthus. Aratus said not a word for a good while;

but Philip entreating him to declare his opinion, he said "Many

and great hills are there in Crete, and many rocks in Boeotia

and Phocis, and many remarkable strong-holds both near the sea

and in the midland in Acarnania, and yet all these people obey

your orders, though you have not possessed yourself of any one

of those places. Robbers nest themselves in rocks and

precipices; but the strongest fort a king can have is confidence

and affection. These have opened to you the Cretan sea; these

make you master of Peloponnesus, and by the help of these, young

as you are, are you become captain of the one, and lord of the

other." While he was still speaking, Philip returned the

entrails to the priest, and drawing Aratus to him by the hand,

"Come, then," said he, "let us follow the same course;" as if he

felt himself forced by him, and obliged to give up the town.

From this time Aratus began to withdraw from court, and retired

by degrees from Philip's company; when he was preparing to march

into Epirus, and desired him that he would accompany him

thither, he excused himself and stayed at home, apprehending

that he should get nothing but discredit by having anything to

do with his actions. But when, afterwards, having shamefully

lost his fleet against the Romans and miscarried in all his

designs, he returned into Peloponnesus, where he tried once more

to beguile the Messenians by his artifices, and failing in this,

began openly to attack them and to ravage their country, then

Aratus fell out with him downright, and utterly renounced his

friendship; for he had begun then to be fully aware of the

injuries done to his son in his wife, which vexed him greatly,

though he concealed them from his son, as he could but know he

had been abused, without having any means to revenge himself.

For, indeed, Philip seems to have been an instance of the

greatest and strangest alteration of character; after being a

mild king and modest and chaste youth, he became a lascivious

man and most cruel tyrant; though in reality this was not a

change of his nature, but a bold unmasking, when safe

opportunity came, of the evil inclinations which his fear had

for a long time made him dissemble.

For that the respect he at the beginning bore to Aratus had a

great alloy of fear and awe appears evidently from what he did

to him at last. For being desirous to put him to death, not

thinking himself, whilst he was alive, to be properly free as a

man, much less at liberty to do his pleasure as a king or

tyrant, he durst not attempt to do it by open force, but

commanded Taurion, one of his captains and familiars, to make

him away secretly by poison, if possible, in his absence.

Taurion, therefore, made himself intimate with Aratus, and gave

him a dose, not of your strong and violent poisons, but such as

cause gentle, feverish heats at first, and a dull cough, and so

by degrees bring on certain death. Aratus perceived what was

done to him, but, knowing that it was in vain to make any words

of it, bore it patiently and with silence, as if it had been

some common and usual distemper. Only once, a friend of his

being with him in his chamber, he spat some blood, which his

friend observing and wondering at, "These, O Cephalon," said he,

"are the wages of a king's love."

Thus died he in Aegium, in his seventeenth generalship. The

Achaeans were very desirous that he should be buried there with

a funeral and monument suitable to his life, but the Sicyonians

treated it as a calamity to them if he were interred anywhere

but in their city, and prevailed with the Achaeans to grant them

the disposal of the body.

But there being an ancient law that no person should be buried

within the walls of their city, and besides the law also a

strong religious feeling about it, they sent to Delphi to ask

counsel of the Pythoness, who returned this answer: --

Sicyon, whom oft he rescued, "Where," you say,

"Shall we the relics of Aratus lay?"

The soil that would not lightly o'er him rest,

Or to be under him would feel oppressed,

Were in the sight of earth and seas and skies unblest.

This oracle being brought, all the Achaeans were well pleased at

it, but especially the Sicyonians, who, changing their mourning

into public joy, immediately fetched the body from Aegium, and

in a kind of solemn procession brought it into the city, being

crowned with garlands, and arrayed in white garments, with

singing and dancing, and, choosing a conspicuous place, they

buried him there, as the founder and savior of their city. The

place is to this day called Aratium, and there they yearly make

two solemn sacrifices to him, the one on the day he delivered

the city from tyranny, being the fifth of the month Daesius,

which the Athenians call Anthesterion, and this sacrifice they

call Soteria; the other in the month of his birth, which is

still remembered. Now the first of these was performed by the

priest of Jupiter Soter, the second by the priest of Aratus,

wearing a band around his head, not pure white, but mingled with

purple. Hymns were sung to the harp by the singers of the

feasts of Bacchus; the procession was led up by the president of

the public exercises, with the boys and young men; these were

followed by the councilors wearing garlands, and other citizens

such as pleased. Of these observances, some small traces, it is

still made a point of religion not to omit, on the appointed

days; but the greatest part of the ceremonies have through time

and other intervening accidents been disused.

And such, as history tells us, was the life and manners of the

elder Aratus. And for the younger, his son, Philip, abominably

wicked by nature and a savage abuser of his power, gave him such

poisonous medicines, as though they did not kill him indeed, yet

made him lose his senses, and run into wild and absurd attempts

and desire to do actions and satisfy appetites that were

ridiculous and shameful. So that his death, which happened to

him while he was yet young and in the flower of his age, cannot

be so much esteemed a misfortune as a deliverance and end of his

misery. However, Philip paid dearly, all through the rest of

his life, for these impious violations of friendship and

hospitality. For, being overcome by the Romans, he was forced

to put himself wholly into their hands, and, being deprived of

his other dominions and surrendering all his ships except five,

he had also to pay a fine of a thousand talents, and to give his

son for hostage, and only out of mere pity he was suffered to

keep Macedonia and its dependences; where continually putting to

death the noblest of his subjects and the nearest relations he

had, he filled the whole kingdom with horror and hatred of him.

And whereas amidst so many misfortunes he had but one good

chance, which was the having a son of great virtue and merit,

him, through jealousy and envy at the honor the Romans had for

him, he caused to be murdered, and left his kingdom to Perseus,

who, as some say, was not his own child, but supposititious,

born of a seamstress called Gnathaenion. This was he whom

Paulus Aemilius led in triumph, and in whom ended the succession

of Antigonus's line and kingdom. But the posterity of Aratus

continued still in our days at Sicyon and Pellene.