by Polybius
39. And first: When the burning of the Pythagorean clubs in Magna Grecia was followed by great constitutional disturbances, as was natural on the sudden disappearance of the leading men in each state; and the Greek cities in that part of Italy became the scene of murder, revolutionary warfare, and every kind of confusion; deputations were sent from most parts of Greece to endeavour to bring about some settlement of these disorders. But the disturbed states preferred the intervention of the Achaeans above all others, and showed the greatest confidence in them, in regard to the measures to be adopted for removing the evils that oppressed them. Nor was this the only occasion on which they displayed this preference. For shortly afterwards there was a general movement among them to adopt the model of the Achaean constitution. The first states to move in the matter were Croton, Sybaris, and Caulonia, who began by erecting a common temple to Zeus Homorios, and a place in which to hold their meetings and common councils. They then adopted the laws and customs of the Achaeans, and determined to conduct their constitution according to their principles; but finding themselves hampered by the tyranny of Dionysius of Syracuse, and also by the encroachment of the neighbouring barbarians, they were forced much against their will to abandon them. Again, later on, when the Lacedaemonians met with their unexpected reverse at Leuctra, and the Thebans as unexpectedly claimed the hegemony in Greece, a feeling of uncertainty prevailed throughout the country, and especially among the Lacedaemonians and Thebans themselves, because the former refused to allow that they were beaten, the latter felt hardly certain that they had conquered. On this occasion, once more, the Achaeans were the people selected by the two parties, out of all Greece, to act as arbitrators on the points in dispute. And this could not have been from any special view of their power, for at that time they were perhaps the weakest state in Greece; it was rather from a conviction of their good faith and high principles, in regard to which there was but one opinion universally entertained. At that period of their history, however, they possessed only the elements of success; success itself, and material increase, were barred by the fact that they had not yet been able to produce a leader worthy of the occasion. Whenever any man had given indications of such ability, he was systematically thrust into the background and hampered, at one time by the Lacedaemonian government, and at another, still more effectually, by that of Macedonia.
[1] τῆς Μακεδόνων. ἐπεὶ δέ ποτε σὺν καιρῷ προστάτας ἀξιόχρεως εὗρεν, ταχέως τὴν αὑτῆς δύναμιν ἐποίησε φανεράν, ἐπιτελεσαμένη τὸ κάλλιστον ἔργον, τὴν Πελοποννησίων ὁμόνοιαν. [2] ἧς ἀρχηγὸν μὲν καὶ καθηγεμόνα τῆς ὅλης ἐπιβολῆς Ἄρατον νομιστέον τὸν Σικυώνιον, ἀγωνιστὴν δὲ καὶ τελεσιουργὸν τῆς πράξεως Φιλοποίμενα τὸν Μεγαλοπολίτην, βεβαιωτὴν δὲ τοῦ μόνιμον αὐτὴν ἐπὶ ποσὸν γενέσθαι Λυκόρταν καὶ τοὺς ταὐτὰ τούτῳ προελομένους ἄνδρας. [3] τίνα δ᾽ ἦν ἑκάστοις τὰ πραχθέντα καὶ πῶς καὶ κατὰ ποίους καιροὺς πειρασόμεθα δηλοῦν, ἀεὶ κατὰ τὸ πρέπον τῇ γραφῇ ποιούμενοι τὴν ἐπίστασιν. [4] τῶν μέντοι γ᾽ Ἀράτῳ διῳκημένων καὶ νῦν καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα πάλιν ἐπικεφαλαιούμενοι μνησθησόμεθα διὰ τὸ καὶ λίαν ἀληθινοὺς καὶ σαφεῖς ἐκεῖνον περὶ τῶν ἰδίων συντεταχέναι πράξεων ὑπομνηματισμούς, [5] τῶν δὲ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἀκριβεστέραν καὶ μετὰ διαστολῆς ποιησόμεθα τὴν ἐξήγησιν. ὑπολαμβάνω δὲ ῥᾴστην ἐμοί τ᾽ ἂν γενέσθαι τὴν διήγησιν καὶ τοῖς ἐντυγχάνουσιν εὐπαρακολούθητον τὴν μάθησιν, εἰ ποιησαίμεθα τὴν ἐπίστασιν ἀπὸ τούτων τῶν καιρῶν, ἐν οἷς κατὰ πόλιν διαλυθέντος τοῦ τῶν Ἀχαιῶν ἔθνους ὑπὸ τῶν ἐκ Μακεδονίας βασιλέων ἀρχὴ πάλιν ἐγένετο καὶ σύννευσις τῶν πόλεων πρὸς ἀλλήλας. [6] ἀφ᾽ ἧς αὐξανόμενον κατὰ τὸ συνεχὲς τὸ ἔθνος εἰς ταύτην ἦλθε τὴν συντέλειαν, ἐν ᾗ καθ᾽ ἡμᾶς ἦν, ὑπὲρ ἧς κατὰ μέρος ἀρτίως εἶπον.
40. When at length, however, the country did obtain leaders of sufficient ability, it quickly manifested its intrinsic excellence by the accomplishment of that most glorious achievement, — the union of the Peloponnese. The originator of this policy in the first instance was Aratus of Sicyon; its active promotion and consummation was due to Philopoemen of Megalopolis; while Lycortas and his party must be looked upon as the authors of the permanence which it enjoyed. The actual achievements of these several statesmen I shall narrate in their proper places: but while deferring a more detailed account of the other two, I think it will be right to briefly record here, as well as in a future portion of my work, the political measures of Aratus, because he has left a record of them himself in an admirably honest and lucid book of commentaries.
I think the easiest method for myself, and most intelligible to my readers, will be to start from the period of the restoration of the Achaean league and federation, after its disintegration into separate states by the Macedonian kings: from which time it has enjoyed an unbroken progress towards the state of completion which now exists, and of which I have already spoken at some length.
[1] Ὀλυμπιὰς μὲν ἦν εἰκοστὴ καὶ τετάρτη πρὸς ταῖς ἑκατόν, ὅτε Πατρεῖς ἤρξαντο συμφρονεῖν καὶ Δυμαῖοι, [2] καιροὶ δὲ καθ᾽ οὓς Πτολεμαῖος ὁ Λάγου καὶ Λυσίμαχος, ἔτι δὲ Σέλευκος καὶ Πτολεμαῖος ὁ Κεραυνὸς μετήλλαξαν τὸν βίον. πάντες γὰρ οὗτοι περὶ τὴν προειρημένην ὀλυμπιάδα τὸ ζῆν ἐξέλιπον. [3] τοὺς μὲν οὖν ἀνώτερον τούτων χρόνους τοιαύτη τις ἦν ἡ περὶ τὸ προειρημένον ἔθνος διάθεσις. [4] ἀπὸ γὰρ Τισαμενοῦ βασιλευθέντες, ὃς ἦν Ὀρέστου μὲν υἱός, κατὰ δὲ τὴν τῶν Ἡρακλειδῶν κάθοδον ἐκπεσὼν τῆς Σπάρτης κατέσχε τοὺς περὶ Ἀχαΐαν τόπους, [5] ἀπὸ τούτου κατὰ τὸ συνεχὲς καὶ κατὰ τὸ γένος ἕως Ὠγύγου βασιλευθέντες, μετὰ ταῦτα δυσαρεστήσαντες τοῖς τοῦ προειρημένου παισὶν ἐπὶ τῷ μὴ νομίμως ἀλλὰ δεσποτικῶς αὐτῶν ἄρχειν, μετέστησαν εἰς δημοκρατίαν τὴν πολιτείαν. [6] λοιπὸν ἤδη τοὺς ἑξῆς χρόνους μέχρι τῆς Ἀλεξάνδρου καὶ Φιλίππου δυναστείας ἄλλοτε μὲν ἄλλως ἐχώρει τὰ πράγματ᾽ αὐτοῖς κατὰ τὰς περιστάσεις, τό γε μὴν κοινὸν πολίτευμα, καθάπερ εἰρήκαμεν, ἐν δημοκρατίᾳ συνέχειν ἐπειρῶντο. [7] τοῦτο δ᾽ ἦν ἐκ δώδεκα πόλεων, ἃς ἔτι καὶ νῦν συμβαίνει διαμένειν, πλὴν Ὠλένου καὶ Ἑλίκης τῆς πρὸ τῶν Λευκτρικῶν ὑπὸ τῆς θαλάττης καταποθείσης: [8] αὗται δ᾽ εἰσὶν Πάτραι, Δύμη, Φαραί, Τριταία, Λεόντιον, Αἴγιον, Αἴγειρα, Πελλήνη, Βοῦρα, Καρύνεια. [9] κατὰ δὲ τοὺς ὑστέρους μὲν τῶν κατ᾽ Ἀλέξανδρον καιρῶν, προτέρους δὲ τῆς ἄρτι ῥηθείσης ὀλυμπιάδος, ε�
��ς τοιαύτην διαφορὰν καὶ καχεξίαν ἐνέπεσον, καὶ μάλιστα διὰ τῶν ἐκ Μακεδονίας βασιλέων, ἐν ᾗ συνέβη πάσας τὰς πόλεις χωρισθείσας ἀφ᾽ αὑτῶν ἐναντίως τὸ συμφέρον ἄγειν ἀλλήλαις. [10] ἐξ οὗ συνέπεσε τὰς μὲν ἐμφρούρους αὐτῶν γενέσθαι διά τε Δημητρίου καὶ Κασσάνδρου καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα δι᾽ Ἀντιγόνου τοῦ Γονατᾶ, τὰς δὲ καὶ τυραννεῖσθαι: πλείστους γὰρ δὴ μονάρχους οὗτος ἐμφυτεῦσαι δοκεῖ τοῖς Ἕλλησι. [11] περὶ δὲ τὴν εἰκοστὴν καὶ τετάρτην ὀλυμπιάδα πρὸς ταῖς ἑκατόν, καθάπερ ἐπάνω προεῖπον, αὖθις ἤρξαντο μετανοήσαντες συμφρονεῖν. ταῦτα δ᾽ ἦν κατὰ τὴν Πύρρου διάβασιν εἰς Ἰταλίαν. [12] καὶ πρῶτοι μὲν συνέστησαν Δυμαῖοι, Πατρεῖς, Τριταιεῖς, Φαραιεῖς: διόπερ οὐδὲ στήλην ὑπάρχειν συμβαίνει τῶν πόλεων τούτων περὶ τῆς συμπολιτείας. [13] μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα μάλιστά πως ἔτει πέμπτῳ τὴν φρουρὰν ἐκβαλόντες Αἰγιεῖς μετέσχον τῆς συμπολιτείας: ἑξῆς δὲ τούτοις Βούριοι, τὸν τύραννον ἀποκτείναντες. [14] ἅμα δὲ τούτοις Καρυνεῖς ἀποκατέστησαν. συνιδὼν γὰρ Ἰσέας ὁ τῆς Καρυνείας τότε τυραννεύων ἐκπεπτωκυῖαν μὲν ἐξ Αἰγίου τὴν φρουράν, ἀπολωλότα δὲ τὸν ἐν τῇ Βούρᾳ μόναρχον διὰ Μάργου καὶ τῶν Ἀχαιῶν, ἑαυτὸν δὲ πανταχόθεν ὁρῶν ὅσον οὐκ ἤδη πολεμηθησόμενον, [15] ἀποθέμενος τὴν ἀρχὴν καὶ λαβὼν τὰ πιστὰ παρὰ τῶν Ἀχαιῶν ὑπὲρ τῆς ἀσφαλείας προσέθηκε τὴν πόλιν πρὸς τὸ τῶν Ἀχαιῶν σύστημα.
41. The period I mean is the 124th Olympiad. In this occurred the first league of Patrae and Dyme, and the deaths of Ptolemy son of Lagus, Lysimachus, Seleucus, Ptolemy Ceraunus. In the period before this the state of Achaia was as follows. It was ruled by kings from the time of Tisamenus, son of Orestes, who, being expelled from Sparta on the return of the Heraclidae, formed a kingdom in Achaia. The last of this royal line to maintain his power was Ogyges, whose sons so alienated the people by their unconstitutional and tyrannical government, that a revolution took place and a democracy was established. In the period subsequent to this, up to the time of the establishment of the supreme authority of Alexander and Philip, their fortunes were subject to various fluctuations, but they always endeavoured to maintain intact in their league a democratical form of government, as I have already stated. This league consisted of twelve cities, all of them still surviving, with the exception of Olenus, and Helice which was engulfed by the sea before the battle of Leuctra. The other ten were Patrae, Dyme, Pharae, Tritaea, Leontium, Aegium, Aegeira, Pellene, Bura, Caryneia. In the period immediately succeeding Alexander, and before the above-named 124th Olympiad, these cities, chiefly through the instrumentality of the Macedonian kings, became so estranged and ill-disposed to each other, and so divided and opposed in their interests, that some of them had to submit to the presence of foreign garrisons, sent first by Demetrius and Cassander, and afterwards by Antigonus Gonatas, while others even fell under the power of Tyrants; for no one set up more of such absolute rulers in the Greek states than this last-named king.
But about the 124th Olympiad, as I have said, a change of sentiment prevailed among the Achaean cities, and they began again to form a league. This was just at the time of Pyrrhus’s invasion of Italy. The first to take this step were the peoples of Dyme, Patrae, Tritaea, and Pharae. And as they thus formed the nucleus of the league, we find no column extant recording the compact between these cities. But about five years afterwards the people of Aegium expelled their foreign garrison and joined the league; next, the people of Bura put their tyrant to death and did the same; simultaneously, the state of Caryneia was restored to the league. For Iseas, the then tyrant of Caryneia, when he saw the expulsion of the garrison from Aegium, and the death of the despot in Bura at the hands of Margos and the Achaeans, and when he saw that he was himself on the point of being attacked on all sides, voluntarily laid down his office; and having obtained a guarantee for his personal safety from the Achaeans, formally gave in the adhesion of his city to the league.
[1] τίνος οὖν χάριν ἐπὶ τοὺς χρόνους τούτους ἀνέδραμον; ἵνα πρῶτον μὲν γένηται συμφανὲς πῶς καὶ κατὰ ποίους καιροὺς καὶ τίνες πρῶτοι τῶν ἐξ ἀρχῆς Ἀχαιῶν αὖθις ἐποιήσαντο τὴν ἐπιβολὴν τῆς νῦν συστάσεως, [2] δεύτερον δ᾽ ἵνα καὶ τὰ τῆς προαιρέσεως μὴ μόνον διὰ τῆς ἡμετέρας ἀποφάσεως, ἀλλὰ καὶ δι᾽ αὐτῶν τῶν πραγμάτων πίστεως τυγχάνῃ, διότι μία τις ἀεὶ τῶν Ἀχαιῶν αἵρεσις ὑπῆρχε, [3] καθ᾽ ἣν προτείνοντες μὲν τὴν παρ᾽ αὑτοῖς ἰσηγορίαν καὶ παρρησίαν, πολεμοῦντες δὲ καὶ καταγωνιζόμενοι συνεχῶς τοὺς ἢ δι᾽ αὑτῶν ἢ διὰ τῶν βασιλέων τὰς σφετέρας πατρίδας καταδουλουμένους, τούτῳ τῷ τρόπῳ καὶ ταύτῃ τῇ προθέσει τοῦτο τοὔργον ἐπετέλεσαν, τὰ μὲν δι᾽ αὑτῶν, τὰ δὲ καὶ διὰ τῶν συμμάχων. [4] καὶ γὰρ τὰ δι᾽ ἐκείνων συνεργήματα γεγονότα πρὸς τοῦτο τὸ μέρος ἐν τοῖς ἑξῆς χρόνοις ἐπὶ τὴν τῶν Ἀχαιῶν προαίρεσιν ἀνοιστέον. [5] πολλοῖς γὰρ κοινωνήσαντες πραγμάτων, πλείστων δὲ καὶ καλλίστων Ῥωμαίοις οὐδέποτε τὸ παράπαν ἐπεθύμησαν ἐκ τῶν κατορθωμάτων οὐδενὸς ἰδίᾳ λυσιτελοῦς, [6] ἀλλ᾽ ἀντὶ πάσης τῆς ἑαυτῶν φιλοτιμίας, ἣν παρείχοντο τοῖς συμμάχοις, ἀντικατηλλάττοντο τὴν ἑκάστων ἐλευθερίαν καὶ τὴν κοινὴν ὁμόνοιαν Πελοποννησίων. [7] σαφέστερον δ᾽ ὑπὲρ τούτων ἔσται διαλαμβάνειν ἐξ αὐτῶν τῶν περὶ τὰς πράξεις ἐνεργημάτων.
42. My object in thus going back in point of time was, first, to show clearly at what epoch the Achaeans entered into the second league, which exists at this day, and which were the first members of the original league to do so; and, secondly, that the continuity of the policy pursued by the Achaeans might rest, not on my word only, but on the evidence of the actual facts. It was in virtue of this policy, — by holding out the bait of equality and freedom, and by invariably making war upon and crushing those who on their own account, or with the support of the kings, enslaved any of the states within their borders, that they finally accomplished the design which they had deliberately adopted, in some cases by their own unaided efforts, and in others by the help of their allies. For in fact whatever was effected in this direction, by the help of these allies in after times, must be put down to the credit of the deliberately adopted policy of the Achaeans themselves. They acted indeed jointly with others in many honourable undertakings, and in none more so than with the Romans: yet in no instance can they be said to have aimed at obtaining from their success any advantage for a particular state. In return for the zealous assistance rendered by them to their allies, they bargained for nothing but the freedom of each state and the unio
n of the Peloponnese. But this will be more clearly seen from the record of their actual proceedings.
[1] εἴκοσι μὲν οὖν ἔτη τὰ πρῶτα καὶ πέντε συνεπολιτεύσαντο μεθ᾽ ἑαυτῶν αἱ προειρημέναι πόλεις, γραμματέα κοινὸν ἐκ περιόδου προχειριζόμεναι καὶ δύο στρατηγούς. [2] μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα πάλιν ἔδοξεν αὐτοῖς ἕνα καθιστάνειν καὶ τούτῳ πιστεύειν ὑπὲρ τῶν ὅλων. καὶ πρῶτος ἔτυχε τῆς τιμῆς ταύτης Μάργος ὁ Καρυνεύς. [3] τετάρτῳ δ᾽ ὕστερον ἔτει τοῦ προειρημένου στρατηγοῦντος Ἄρατος ὁ Σικυώνιος, ἔτη μὲν ἔχων εἴκοσι, τυραννουμένην δ᾽ ἐλευθερώσας τὴν πατρίδα διὰ τῆς ἀρετῆς τῆς ἑαυτοῦ καὶ τόλμης προσένειμε πρὸς τὴν τῶν Ἀχαιῶν πολιτείαν, ἀρχῆθεν εὐθὺς ἐραστὴς γενόμενος τῆς προαιρέσεως αὐτῶν. [4] ὀγδόῳ δὲ πάλιν ἔτει στρατηγὸς αἱρεθεὶς τὸ δεύτερον καὶ πραξικοπήσας τὸν Ἀκροκόρινθον, Ἀντιγόνου κυριεύοντος, καὶ γενόμενος ἐγκρατὴς μεγάλου μὲν ἀπέλυσε φόβου τοὺς τὴν Πελοπόννησον κατοικοῦντας, ἐλευθερώσας δὲ Κορινθίους προσηγάγετο πρὸς τὴν τῶν Ἀχαιῶν πολιτείαν. [5] ἐπὶ δὲ τῆς αὐτῆς ἀρχῆς καὶ τὴν τῶν Μεγαρέων πόλιν διαπραξάμενος προσένειμε τοῖς Ἀχαιοῖς. [6] ταῦτά τ᾽ ἐγίνετο τῷ πρότερον ἔτει τῆς Καρχηδονίων ἥττης, ἐν ᾗ καθόλου Σικελίας ἐκχωρήσαντες πρῶτον ὑπέμειναν τότε φόρους ἐνεγκεῖν Ῥωμαίοις. [7] μεγάλην δὲ προκοπὴν ποιήσας τῆς ἐπιβολῆς ἐν ὀλίγῳ χρόνῳ λοιπὸν ἤδη διετέλει προστατῶν μὲν τοῦ τῶν Ἀχαιῶν ἔθνους, πάσας δὲ τὰς ἐπιβολὰς καὶ πράξεις πρὸς ἓν τέλος ἀναφέρων: [8] τοῦτο δ᾽ ἦν τὸ Μακεδόνας μὲν ἐκβαλεῖν ἐκ Πελοποννήσου, τὰς δὲ μοναρχίας καταλῦσαι, βεβαιῶσαι δ᾽ ἑκάστοις τὴν κοινὴν καὶ πάτριον ἐλευθερίαν. [9] μέχρι μὲν οὖν ἦν Ἀντίγονος ὁ Γονατᾶς, πρός τε τὴν ἐκείνου πολυπραγμοσύνην καὶ πρὸς τὴν Αἰτωλῶν πλεονεξίαν ἀντιταττόμενος διετέλει, [10] πραγματικῶς ἕκαστα χειρίζων, καίπερ εἰς τοῦτο προβάντων ἀμφοτέρων ἀδικίας καὶ τόλμης ὥστε ποιήσασθαι συνθήκας πρὸς ἀλλήλους ὑπὲρ