Delphi Complete Works of Pausanias

by Pausanias

  [7.9.6] The restored Lacedaemonian exiles carried on various intrigues against the Achaeans, hoping to vex them most by the following plot. They persuaded to go up to Rome the exiles of the Achaeans, along with the Messenians who had been held to be involved in the death of Philopoemen and banished on that account by the Achaeans. Going up with them to Rome they intrigued for the restoration of the exiles. As Appius was a zealous supporter of the Lacedaemonians and opposed the Achaeans in everything, the plans of the Messenian and Achaean exiles were bound to enjoy an easy success. Despatches were at once sent by the senate to Athens and Aetolia, with instructions to bring back the Messenians and Achaeans to their homes.

  [7.9.7] This caused the greatest vexation to the Achaeans. They bethought themselves of the injustice they had suffered at the hands of the Romans, and how all their services had proved of no avail; to please the Romans they had made war against Philip, against the Aetolians and afterwards against Antiochus, and after all there was preferred before them a band of exiles, whose hands were stained with blood. Nevertheless, they decided to give way.

  [7.10.1] X. Such were the events that took place on this occasion. The most impious of all crimes, the betrayal for private gain of fatherland and fellow-citizens, was destined to be the beginning of woes for the Achaeans as for others, for it has never been absent from Greece since the birth of time. In the reign of Dareius, the son of Hystaspes, the king of Persia, the cause of the Ionians was ruined because all the Samian captains except eleven betrayed the Ionian fleet.

  [7.10.2] After reducing Ionia the Persians enslaved Eretria also, the most famous citizens turning traitors, Philagrus, the son of Cyneas, and Euphorbus, the son of Alcimachua. When Xerxes invaded Greece, Thessaly was betrayed by Aleuades, and Thebes by Attaginus and Timegenidas, who were the foremost citizen of Thebes. After the Peloponnesian war, Xenias of Elis attempted to betray Elis to the Lacedaemonians under Agis,

  [7.10.3] and the so-called “friends” of Lysander at no time relaxed their efforts to hand over their countries to him. In the reign of Philip, the son of Amyntas, Lacedaemon is the only Greek city to be found that was not betrayed; the other cities in Greece were ruined more by treachery than they had been previously by the plague. Alexander, the son of Philip, was so favoured by fortune that he had little need worth mentioning of traitors.

  [7.10.4] But when the Greeks suffered defeat at Lamia, Antipater, in his eagerness to cross over to the war in Asia, wished to patch up a peace quickly, and it mattered nothing to him if he left free Athens and the whole of Greece. But Demades and the other traitors at Athens persuaded Antipater to have no kindly thoughts towards the Greeks, and by frightening the Athenian people were the cause of Macedonian garrisons being brought into Athens and most other cities.

  [7.10.5] My statement is confirmed by the following fact. The Athenians after the disaster in Boeotia did not become subjects of Philip, although they lost two thousand prisoners in the action and one thousand killed. But when about two hundred at most fell at Lamia they were enslaved by the Lacedaemonians. So the plague of treachery never failed to afflict Greece, and it was an Achaean, Callicrates, who at the time I speak of made the Achaeans completely subject to Rome. But the beginning of their troubles proved to be Perseus and the destruction by the Romans of the Macedonian empire.

  [7.10.6] Perseus, the son of Philip, who was at peace with Rome in accordance with a treaty his father Philip had made, resolved to break the oaths, and leading an army against the Sapaeans and their king Abrupolis, allies of the Romans, made their country desolate. These Sapaeans Archilochus mentions in an iambic line.

  [7.10.7] The Macedonians and Perseus were conquered because of this wrong done to the Sapaeans, and afterwards ten Roman senators were sent to arrange the affairs of Macedonia in the best interests of the Romans. When they came to Greece, Callicrates curried favour with them, no form of flattery, whether in word or in deed, being too gross for him to use. One member of the commission, a most dishonorable man, Callicrates so captivated that he actually persuaded him to attend the meeting of the Achaean League.

  [7.10.8] When he entered the assembly he declared that while Perseus was at war with Rome the most influential Achaeans, besides helping him generally, had supplied him with money. So he required the Achaeans to condemn them to death. After their condemnation, he said, he would himself disclose the names of the culprits. His words were regarded as absolutely unfair, and the members present demanded that, if certain Achaeans had sided with Perseus, their individual names should be mentioned, it being unreasonable to condemn them before this was done.

  [7.10.9] Thereupon the Roman, as he was getting the worst of the argument, brazenly asserted that every Achaean who had held the office of general was included in his accusation, since one and all had favoured the cause of the Macedonians and Perseus. This he said at the bidding of Callicrates. After him rose Xenon, a man of great repute among the Achaeans, and said “The truth about this accusation is as follows. I myself have served the Achaeans as their general, but I am guilty neither of treachery to Rome nor of friendship to Perseus. I am therefore ready to submit to trial either before the Achaean diet or before the Romans themselves.” This frank speech was prompted by a clear conscience,

  [7.10.10] but the Roman at once grasped the pretext, and sent for trial before the Roman court all those whom Callicrates accused of supporting Perseus. Never before had Greeks been so treated, for not even the most powerful of the Macedonians, Philip, the son of Amyntas, and Alexander, despatched by force to Macedonia the Greeks who were opposed to them, but allowed them to plead their case before the Amphictyons.

  [7.10.11] But on this occasion it was decided to send up to Rome every one of the Achaean people, however innocent, whom Callicrates chose to accuse. They amounted to over a thousand men. The Romans, holding that all these had already been condemned by the Achaeans, distributed them throughout Etruria and its cities, and though the Achaeans sent embassy after embassy to plead on behalf of the men, no notice was taken of the petitions.

  [7.10.12] Sixteen years later, when the number of Achaeans in Italy was reduced to three hundred at most, the Romans set them free, considering that their punishment was sufficient. But those who ran away, either at once when they were being brought up to Rome, or later on from the cities to which the Romans sent them, were saved from punishment by no defence if they were recaptured.

  [7.11.1] XI. The Romans again despatched a senator to Greece. His name was Gallus, and his instructions were to arbitrate between the Lacedaemonians and the Argives in the case of a disputed piece of territory. This Gallus on many occasions behaved towards the Greek race with great arrogance, both in word and deed, while he made a complete mock of the Lacedaemonians and Argives.

  [7.11.2] These states had reached the highest degree of renown, and in a famous war of old had poured out their blood like water because of a dispute about boundaries, while later Philip, the son of Amyntas, had acted as arbitrator to settle their differences; yet now Gallus disdained to arbitrate in person, and entrusted the decision to Callicrates, the most abominable wretch in all Greece.

  [7.11.3] There also came to Gallus the Aetolians living at Pleuron, who wished to detach themselves from the Achaean confederacy. Gallus allowed them to send on their own an embassy to Rome, and the Romans allowed them to secede from the Achaean League. The senate also commissioned Gallus to separate from the Achaean confederacy as many states as he could.

  [7.11.4] While he was carrying out his instructions, the Athenian populace sacked Oropus, a state subject to them. The act was one of necessity rather than of free-will, as the Athenians at the time suffered the direst poverty, because the Macedonian war had crushed them more than any other Greeks. So the Oropians appealed to the Roman senate. It decided that an injustice had been committed, and instructed the Sicyonians to inflict a fine on the Athenians commensurate with the unprovoked harm done by them to Oropus.

  [7.11.5] When the Athenians did not
appear in time for the trial, the Sicyonians inflicted on them a fine of five hundred talents, which the Roman senate on the appeal of the Athenians remitted with the exception of one hundred talents. Not even this reduced fine did the Athenians pay, but by promises and bribes they beguiled the Oropians into an agreement that an Athenian garrison should enter Oropus, and that the Athenians should take hostages from the Oropians. If in the future the Oropians should have any complaint to make against the Athenians, then the Athenians were to withdraw their garrison from Oropus and give the hostages back again.

  [7.11.6] After no long interval the Oropians were wronged by certain of the garrison. They accordingly despatched envoys to Athens to ask for the restoration of their hostages and to request that the garrison be withdrawn according to the agreement. The Athenians refused to do either of these things, saying that the blame lay, not with the Athenian people, but with the men of the garrison. They promised, however, that the culprits should he brought to account.

  [7.11.7] The Oropians then appealed to the Achaeans for aid, but these refused to give it out of friendship and respect for the Athenians. Thereupon the Oropians promised Menalcidas, a Lacedaemonian who was then general of the Achaeans, a gift of ten talents if he would induce the Achaeans to help them. Menalcidas promised half of the money to Callicrates, who on account of his friendship with the Romans had most influence among the Achaeans.

  [7.11.8] Callicrates was persuaded to adopt the plan of Menalcidas, and it was decided to help the Oropians against the Athenians. News of this was brought to the Athenians, who, with all the speed each could, came to Oropus, again dragged away anything they had overlooked in the previous raids, and brought away the garrison. As the Achaeans were too late to render help, Menalcidas and Callicrates urged them to invade Attica. But they met with opposition, especially from Lacedaemon, and the army withdrew.

  [7.12.1] XII. Though the Oropians had received no help from the Achaeans, nevertheless Menalcidas extorted the money from them. But when he had the bribe in his hands, he began to think it hard luck that he had to share his gains with Callicrates. At first he had recourse to procrastination and deceit about payment, but shortly he plucked up courage and flatly refused to give anything.

  [7.12.2] It confirms the truth of the proverb that one fire burns more fiercely than another, one wolf is more savage than other wolves, one hawk swifter than another, that Menalcidas outdid in treachery Callicrates, the worst rascal of his time, one who could never resist a bribe of any kind. He fell foul of the Athenians without gaining anything, and, when Menalcidas laid down his office, accused him before the Achaeans on a capital charge. He said that Menalcidas, when on an embassy to Rome, had worked against the Achaeans and had done all he could to separate Sparta from the Achaean League.

  [7.12.3] Thereupon, as the danger he ran was extreme, Menalcidas gave three of the talents he received from Oropus to Diaeus of Megalopolis, who had succeeded him as general of the Achaeans, and on this occasion was so active, because of the bribe, that he succeeded in saving Menalcidas in spite of the opposition of the Achaeans. The Achaeans, individually and as a body, held Diaeus responsible for the acquittal of Menalcidas, but he distracted their attention from the charges made against him by directing it towards more ambitious hopes, using to deceive them the following pretext.

  [7.12.4] The Lacedaemonians appealed to the Roman senate about a disputed territory, and the senate replied to the appeal by decreeing that all except capital cases should be under the jurisdiction of the Achaean League. Such was the senate’s answer, but Diaeus did not tell the Achaeans the truth, but cajoled them by the declaration that the Roman senate had committed to them the right to condemn a Spartan to death.

  [7.12.5] So the Achaeans claimed the right to try a Lacedaemonian on a capital charge, but the Lacedaemonians would not admit that Diaeus spoke the truth, and wished to refer the point to the Roman senate. But the Achaeans seized another pretext, that no state belonging to the Achaean League had the right to send an embassy on its own to the Roman senate, but only in conjunction with the rest of the League.

  [7.12.6] These disputes were the cause of a war between the Lacedaemonians and the Achaeans, and the former, realizing that they were not a match for their opponents, sent envoys to their cities and entered into personal negotiations with Diaeus. The cities all made the same reply, that it was unlawful to turn a deaf ear to their general when he proclaimed a campaign; for Diaeus, who was in command of the Achaeans, declared that he would march to make war, not on Sparta but on those that were troubling her.

  [7.12.7] When the Spartan senate inquired how many he considered were guilty, he reported to them the names of twenty-four citizens of the very front rank in Sparta. Thereupon was carried a motion of Agasisthenes, whose advice on this occasion enhanced the already great reputation he enjoyed. He bade the twenty-four to go into voluntary exile from Lacedaemon, instead of bringing war upon Sparta by remaining where they were; if they exiled themselves to Rome, he declared, they would before long be restored to their country by the Romans.

  [7.12.8] So they departed, underwent a nominal trial at Sparta, and were condemned to death. The Achaeans on their side despatched to Rome Callicrates and Diaeus to oppose the exiles from Sparta before the senate. Callicrates died of disease on the journey, and even if he had reached Rome I do not know that he would have been of any assistance to the Achaeans – perhaps he would have been the cause of greater troubles. The debate between Diaeus and Menalcidas before the senate was marked by fluency rather than by decency on either side.

  [7.12.9] The answer of the senate to their remarks was that they were sending envoys to settle the disputes between the Lacedaemonians and the Achaeans. The journey of the envoys from Rome proved rather slow, giving Diaeus a fresh opportunity of deceiving the Achaeans and Menalcidas of deceiving the Lacedaemonians. Diaeus misled the Achaeans into the belief that the Roman senate had decreed the complete subjection to them of the Lacedaemonians; Menalcidas deceived the Lacedaemonians into thinking that the Romans had entirely freed them from the Achaean League.

  [7.13.1] XIII. So the result of the debate was that the Achaeans again came near to actual war with the Lacedaemonians, and Damocritus, who had been elected general of the Achaeans at this time, proceeded to mobilize an army against Sparta. But about this time there arrived in Macedonia a Roman force under Metellus, whose object was to put down the rebellion of Andriscus, the son of Perseus, the son of Philip. The war in Macedonia, it turned out, was easily decided in favour of the Romans,

  [7.13.2] but Metellus urged the envoys, sent by the Roman senate to settle the affairs of Asia, to parley with the chiefs of the Achaeans before making the crossing. They were to order them not to attack Sparta, but to await the arrival from Rome of the envoys sent for the purpose of arbitrating between the Lacedaemonians and the Achaeans.

  [7.13.3] They delivered their instructions to the Achaeans under Damocritus when these had already begun a campaign against Lacedaemon, and so, realizing that the Achaeans were set against their advice, proceeded on their way to Asia. The Lacedaemonians, with a spirit greater than their strength, took up arms, and sallied forth to defend their country. But they were soon crushed; a thousand of their bravest youths fell in the battle, and the rest of the soldiery fled towards the city with all the haste they could.

  [7.13.4] If Damocritus had made a vigorous effort, the Achaeans could have dashed into the walls of Sparta along with the fugitives from the field of battle. As it was, he at once recalled the Achaeans from the pursuit, and confined his future operations to raids and plunder, instead of prosecuting the siege with energy.

  [7.13.5] So Damocritus withdrew his army, and the Achaeans sentenced him to pay a fine of fifty talents for his treachery. Being unable to pay, he left the Peloponnesus and went into exile. Diaeus, who was elected general after Damocritus, agreed, when Metellus sent another embassy, to involve the Lacedaemonians in no war, but to await the arrival of the arbitrators from R
ome.

  [7.13.6] But he invented another trick to embarrass the Lacedaemonians. He induced the towns around Sparta to be friendly to the Achaeans, and even introduced garrisons into them, to be Achaean bases against Sparta.

  [7.13.7] The Lacedaemonians elected Menalcidas to be their general against Diaeus, and although they were utterly unprepared for war, being especially ill-provided with money, while in addition their land had remained unsown, he nevertheless dared to break the truce, and took by assault and sacked Iasus, a town on the borders of Laconia, but at that time subject to the Achaeans.

  [7.13.8] Having again stirred up war between Lacedaemonians and Achaeans he incurred blame at the hands of his countrymen, and, failing to find a way of escape for the Lacedaemonians from the peril that threatened them, he took his own life by poison. Such was the end of Menalcidas. At the time he was in command of the Lacedaemonians, and previously he had commanded the Achaeans. In the former office he proved a most stupid general, in the latter an unparalleled villain.

  [7.14.1] XIV. There also arrived in Greece the envoys despatched from Rome to arbitrate between the Lacedaemonians and the Achaeans, among them being Orestes. He invited to visit him the magistrates in each of the Greek cities, along with Diaeus. When they arrived at his lodging, he proceeded to disclose to them the whole story, that the Roman senate decreed that neither the Lacedaemonians nor yet Corinth itself should belong to the Achaean League, and that Argos, Heracleia by Mount Oeta and the Arcadian Orchomenus should be released from the Achaean confederacy. For they were not, he said, related at all to the Achaeans, and but late-comers to the League.