by Polybius
Having thus settled the Aetolian business to their liking, the courtiers turned their attention to the ceremony of instituting the king into the management of his office, called the Anacleteria. His age was not indeed yet so far advanced as to make this necessary; but they thought that the kingdom would gain a certain degree of firmness and a fresh impulse towards prosperity, if it were known that the king had assumed the independent direction of the government. They then made the preparations for the ceremony with great splendour, and carried it out in a manner worthy of the greatness of the kingdom, Polycrates being considered to have contributed very largely to the accomplishment of their efforts. For this man had enjoyed even during his youth, in the reign of the late king, a reputation second to no one in the court for fidelity and practical ability; and this reputation he had maintained during the present reign also. For having been entrusted with the management of Cyprus and its revenues, when its affairs were in a critical and complicate state, he not only preserved the island for the young king, but collected a very considerable sum of money, with which he had just arrived and had paid to the king, after handing over the government of Cyprus to Ptolemy of Megalopolis. But though he obtained great applause by this, and a large fortune immediately afterwards, yet, as he grew older, he drifted into extravagant debauchery and scandalous indulgence. Nor was the reputation of Ptolemy, son of Agesarchus very different in the later part of his life. But in regard to these men, when we come to the proper time, I shall not shrink from stating the circumstances which disgraced their official life....
BOOK XIX
The only fragment we possess of the nineteenth book of Polybius is a statement quoted by Plutarch as to M. Porcius Cato, to the effect that by his orders the walls of all the numerous Spanish cities north of the Baetis were dismantled on the same day. Cato was in Spain B.C. 195. The means taken by him to secure this simultaneous destruction of fortifications are told by Frontinus, Strateg. 1, 1, 1.
We thus lose the history of the years B.C. 195, 194, 193; as well as the greater part of that of B.C. 192, 191, contained in the early part of book 20, of which only a few fragments remain. Livy, however, has evidently translated from Polybius in his history of these years, and a brief abstract of events in Greece may help the reader in following the fragmentary book which follows with more interest. B.C. 195.
Lucius Valerius Flaccus, } Coss.
M. Porcius Cato, }
Flamininus’s imperium is extended for this year, because of the danger from Antiochus and Nabis. The Aetolians, still discontented, push their demand for Pharsalus and Leucas, and are referred by the Senate back to Flamininus. The latter summons a conference of Greek states at Corinth, and a war is decreed against Nabis, the Aetolians still expressing their dislike of Roman interference. The levies are collected; Argos is freed from Nabis; Sparta all but taken; and Nabis forced to submit to most humiliating terms: the Aetolians again objecting to his being allowed to remain at Sparta on any terms at all. In this year also legates from Antiochus visit Flamininus, but are referred to the Senate. B.C. 194. Publius Cornelius Scipio II., } Coss. Tiberius Sempronius Longus, }
Flamininus leaves Greece after a speech at Corinth to the assembled league advising internal peace and loyalty to Rome, and enters Rome in triumph. There is a time of comparative tranquillity in Greece. B.C. 193. L. Cornelius Merula, } Coss. Q. Minucius Thermus, } The legates from Antiochus are sent back with the final answer that, unless the king abstains from entering Europe in arms, the Romans will free the Asiatic Greek cities from him. Roman legates, P. Sulpicius, P. Villius, P. Aelius, are sent to him. Hannibal arrives at the court of Antiochus, and urges him to resist; and the Aetolians urge the same course, trying also to stir up Nabis and Philip of Macedon. Antiochus accordingly will give the Roman envoys no satisfactory answer. B.C. 192. L. Quintius Flamininus, } Coss. Cn. Domitius Ahenobarbus, } The Romans therefore prepare for war. A fleet under the praetor Atilius is sent against Nabis: commissioners are sent into Greece — T. Quintius Flamininus, C. Octavius, Cn. Servilius, P. Villius — early in the year: M. Baebius is ordered to hold his army in readiness at Brundisium. Then news is brought to Rome by Attalus of Pergamum (brother of king Eumenes) that Antiochus has crossed the Hellespont, and the Aetolians on the point of joining him. Therefore Baebius is ordered to transport his army to Apollonia.
Meanwhile Nabis takes advantage of the alarm caused by Antiochus to move. He besieges Gythium, and ravages the Achaean territory. The league, under Philopoemen, proclaim war against him, and, after losing an unimportant naval battle, decisively defeat him on land and shut him up in Sparta.
The Aetolians now formally vote to call in Antiochus, “to liberate Greece and arbitrate between them and Rome.” They occupy Demetrias; and kill Nabis by a stratagem. “Whereupon Philopoemen annexes Sparta to the Achaean league. Later in the year Antiochus meets the assembly of the Aetolians at Lamia in Thessaly, is proclaimed “Strategus”; and after a vain attempt to conciliate the Achaeans seizes Chalcis, where he winters, and marries a young wife. B.C. 191. P. Cornelius Scipio Nasica, } Coss. M. Acilius Glabrio, } The Romans declare war with Antiochus. Manius Acilius is selected to go to Greece, where he takes over the army of Baebius, and after taking many towns in Thessaly meets and defeats Antiochus at Thermopylae; where the Aetolian league did after all little service to the king, who retires to Ephesus.
See Livy, 34, 43 —— 36, 21. See also Plutarch, Philopoemen, and Flamininus; Appian, Syriacae, 6-21.
BOOK XX
GREECE
1. The Aetolians chose thirty of the Apocleti to confer with King Antiochus....
He accordingly summoned a meeting of the Apocleti and consulted them on the state of affairs....
2. When Antiochus sent an embassy to the Boeotians, they answered that they would not consider his proposals until the king came in person....
3. As Antiochus was staying at Chalcis, just as the winter was beginning, two ambassadors came to visit him, Charops from Epirus, and Callistratus from Elis. The prayer of the Epirotes was that “The king would not involve them in the war with Rome for they dwelt on the side of Greece immediately opposite Italy; but that, if he could, he would secure their safety by defending the frontier of Epirus: in that case he should be admitted into all their towns and harbours: but if he decided not to do so at present, they asked his indulgence if they shrank from a war with Rome.” The Eleans, in their turn, begged him “To send a reinforcement to their town; for as the Achaeans had voted war against them, they were in terror of an attack from the troops of the league.” The king answered the Epirotes by saying that he would send envoys to confer with them on their mutual interests; but to Elis he despatched a thousand foot soldiers under the command of Euphanes of Crete....
4. The Boeotians had long been in a very depressed state, which offered a strong contrast to the former prosperity and reputation of their country. They had acquired great glory as well as great material prosperity at the time of the battle of Leuctra; but by some means or another from that time forward they steadily diminished both the one and the other under the leadership of Amaeocritus; and subsequently not only diminished them, but underwent a complete change of character, and did all that was possible to wipe out their previous reputation. For having been incited by the Achaeans to go to war with the Aetolians, they adopted the policy of the former and made an alliance with them, and thenceforth maintained a steady war with the Aetolians. But on the Aetolians invading Boeotia, they marched out with their full available force, and without waiting for the arrival of the Achaeans, who had mustered their men and were on the point of marching to their assistance, they attacked the Aetolians; and being worsted in the battle were so completely demoralised, that, from the time of that campaign, they never plucked up spirit to claim any position of honour whatever, and never shared in any enterprise or contest undertaken by the common consent of the Greeks. They devoted themselves entirely to eating and drinking, and thus became effeminate in their souls as well as
in their bodies.
5. Such were, briefly, the steps in the degeneracy of Boeotia. Immediately after the battle just mentioned they abandoned the Achaeans and joined the Aetolians. But on the latter presently going to war with Philip’s father Demetrius, they once more abandoned the Aetolians; and upon Demetrius entering Boeotia with an army, without attempting resistance they submitted completely to the Macedonians. But as a spark of their ancestral glory still survived, there were found some who disliked the existing settlement and the complete subservience to Macedonia: and they accordingly maintained a violent opposition to the policy of Ascondas and Neon, the ancestors of Brachylles, who were the most prominent in the party which favoured Macedonia. However, the party of Ascondas eventually prevailed, owing to the following circumstance. Antigonus (Doson), who, after the death of Demetrius, was Philip’s guardian, happened to be sailing on some business along the coast of Boeotia; when off Larymna he was surprised by a sudden ebb of the tide, and his ships were left high and dry. Now just at that time a rumour had been spread that Antigonus meant to make a raid upon the country; and therefore Neon, who was Hipparch at the time, was patrolling the country at the head of all the Boeotian cavalry to protect it, and came upon Antigonus in this helpless and embarrassed position: and having it thus in his power to inflict a serious blow upon the Macedonians, much to their surprise he resolved to spare them. His conduct in so doing was approved by the other Boeotians, but was not at all pleasing to the Thebans. Antigonus, however, when the tide flowed again and his ships floated, proceeded to complete the voyage to Asia on which he was bound, with deep gratitude to Neon for having abstained from attacking him in his awkward position. Accordingly, when at a subsequent period he conquered the Spartan Cleomenes and became master of Lacedaemon, he left Brachylles in charge of the town, by way of paying him for the kindness done him by his father Neon. This proved to be the beginning of a great rise in importance of the family of Brachylles. But this was not all that Antigonus did for him: from that time forward either he personally, or king Philip, continually supported him with money and influence; so that before long this family entirely overpowered the political party opposed to them in Thebes, and forced all the citizens, with very few exceptions, to join the party of Macedonia. Such was the origin of the political adherence to Macedonia of the family of Neon, and of its rise to prosperity.
6. But Boeotia as a nation had come to such a low pitch, that for nearly twenty-five years the administration of justice had been suspended in private and public suits alike. Their magistrates were engaged in despatching bodies of men to guard the country or in proclaiming national expeditions, and thus continually postponed their attendance at courts of law. Some of the Strategi also dispensed allowances to the needy from the public treasury; whereby the common people learnt to support and invest with office those who would help them to escape the penalties of their crimes and undischarged liabilities, and to be enriched from time to time with some portion of the public property obtained by official favour. No one contributed to this lamentable state of things more than Opheltas, who was always inventing some plan calculated to benefit the masses for the moment, while perfectly certain to ruin them in the future. To these evils was added another unfortunate fashion. It became the practice for those who died childless not to leave their property to the members of their family, as had been the custom of the country formerly, but to assign it for the maintenance of feasts and convivial entertainments to be shared in by the testator’s friends in common; and even many who did possess children left the larger part of their property to the members of their own club. The result was that there were many Boeotians who had more feasts to attend in the month than there were days in it. The people of Megara therefore, disliking this habit, and remembering their old connexion with the Achaean league, were inclined once more to renew their political alliance with it. For the Megarians had been members of the Achaean league since the time of Antigonus Gonatas; but upon Cleomenes blockading the Isthmus, finding themselves cut off from the Achaeans they joined the Boeotians, with the consent of the former. But a little before the time of which we are now speaking, becoming dissatisfied with the Boeotian constitution, they again joined the Achaeans. The Boeotians, incensed at what they considered acts of contempt, sallied out in full force to attack Megara; and on the Megarians declining to listen to them, they determined in their anger to besiege and assault their city. But being attacked by a panic, on a report spreading that Philopoemen was at hand at the head of a force of Achaeans, they left their scaling ladders against the walls and fled back precipitately to their own country.
7. Such being the state of Boeotian politics, it was only by extraordinary good fortune that they evaded destruction in the dangerous periods of the wars of Philip and Antiochus. But in the succeeding period they did not escape in the same way. Fortune, on the contrary, seemed determined to make them pay for their former good luck by a specially severe retribution, as I shall relate hereafter....
Many of the Boeotians defended their alienation from the Romans by alleging the assassination of Brachylles, and the expedition made by Flamininus upon Coronea owing to the murders of Romans on the roads. But the real reason was their moral degeneracy, brought about by the causes I have mentioned. For as soon as the king approached, the Boeotian magistrates went out to meet him, and after holding a friendly conversation with him conducted him into Thebes....
8. Antiochus the Great came to Chalcis in Euboea, and there completed his marriage, when he was fifty years old, and had already undertaken his two most important labours, the liberation of Greece — as he called it — and the war with Rome. However, having fallen in love with a young lady of Chalcis, he was bent on marrying her, though the war was still going on; for he was much addicted to wine and delighted in excesses. The lady was a daughter of Cleoptolemus, a man of rank, and was possessed of extraordinary beauty. He remained in Chalcis all the winter occupied in marriage festivities, utterly regardless of the pressing business of the time. He gave the girl the name of Euboea, and after his defeat fled with his bride to Ephesus....
9. When the Romans took Heracleia, Phaeneas the Aetolian Strategus, in view of the danger threatening Aetolia, and seeing what would happen to the other towns, determined to send an embassy to Manius Acilius to demand a truce and treaty of peace. With this purpose he despatched Archidamus, Pantaleon and Chalesus, who on meeting the Roman consul were intending to enter upon a long argument, but were interrupted in the middle of their speech and prevented from finishing it. For Acilius remarked that “For the present he had no leisure to attend to them, being much engaged with the distribution of the spoils of Heracleia: he would, however, grant a ten days’ truce and send Lucius Valerius Flaccus with them, with instructions as to what he was to say.” The truce being thus made, and Valerius having come to Hypata, a lengthened discussion took place on the state of affairs. The Aetolians sought to establish their case by referring to their previous services to Rome. But Valerius cut this line of argument short by saying that “Such justification did not apply to the present circumstances; for as these old friendly relations had been broken off by them, and the existing hostility was owing entirely to the Aetolians themselves, the services of the past could be of no assistance to them in the present. They must therefore abandon all idea of justification, and adopt a tone of supplication, and beseech the consul’s pardon for their transgressions.” After a long discussion on various details, the Aetolians eventually decided to leave the whole matter to Acilius, and commit themselves without reserve to the good faith of the Romans. They had no comprehension of what this really involved; but they were misled by the word “faith” into supposing that the Romans would thereby be more inclined to grant them terms. But with the Romans for a man “to commit himself to their good faith” is held to be equivalent to “surrendering unconditionally.”
10. Having come to this resolution, Phaeneas despatched legates with Valerius to announce the decision of the Aetolians to
Acilius. On being admitted to the presence of the Consul, these legates, after once more entering upon a plea of self-justification, ended by announcing that the Aetolians had decided to commit themselves to the good faith of the Romans. Hereupon Acilius interrupted them by saying, “Is this really the case, men of Aetolia?” And upon their answering in the affirmative, he said: “Well then, the first condition is that none of you, individually or collectively, must cross to Asia; the second is that you must surrender Menestratus the Epirote” (who happened at that time to be at Naupactus, where he had come to the assistance of the Aetolians), “and also King Amynander, with such of the Athamanians as accompanied him in his desertion to your side.” Here Phaeneas interrupted him by saying: “But it is neither just nor consonant with Greek customs, O Consul, to do what you order.” To which Acilius replied, — not so much because he was angry, as because he wished to show him the dangerous position in which he stood, and to thoroughly frighten him,— “Do you still presume to talk to me about Greek customs, and about honour and duty, after having committed yourselves to my good faith? Why, I might if I chose put you all in chains and commit you to prison!” With these words he ordered his men to bring a chain and an iron collar and put it on the neck of each of them. Thereupon Phaeneas and his companions stood in speechless amazement, as though bereft of all power of thought or motion, at this unexpected turn of affairs. But Valerius and some others who were present besought Acilius not to inflict any severity upon the Aetolians then before him, as they were in the position of ambassadors. And on his yielding to these representations, Phaeneas broke silence by saying that “He and the Apocleti were ready to obey the injunctions, but they must consult the general assembly if they were to be confirmed.” Upon Acilius agreeing to this, he demanded a truce often days to be granted. This also having been conceded, they departed with these terms, and on arrival at Hypata told the Apocleti what had been done and the speeches that had been made. This report was the first thing which made their error, and the compulsion under which they were placed, clear to the Aetolians. It was therefore decided to write round to the various cities and call the Aetolians together, to consult on the injunctions imposed upon them. When the news of the reception Phaeneas had met with was noised abroad, the Aetolian people were so infuriated that no one would even attend the meeting to discuss the matter at all. It was thus impossible to hold the discussion. They were further encouraged by the arrival of Nicander, who just at that time sailed into Phalara, on the Malian gulf, from Asia, bringing news of the warm reception given him by Antiochus, and the promises for the future which the king had made; they therefore became quite indifferent as to the non-completion of the peace. Thus when the days of the truce had elapsed the Aetolians found themselves still at war with Rome.