part I

think that history does not contain the record of a more admirable service than that which Antigonus performed for you: indeed it appears to me to be unsurpassable. And the following facts will show this. Antigonus went to war with you and conquered you in a pitched battle. By force of arms he became master of your territory and city at once. He might have exercised all the rights of war upon you: but he was so far from inflicting any hardships upon you, that, besides other benefits, he expelled your tyrant and restored your laws and ancestral constitution. In return for which, in the national assemblies, calling the Greeks to witness your words, you proclaimed Antigonus your benefactor and preserver.

“What then ought to have been your policy? I will speak what I really think, gentlemen of Sparta: and you will I am sure bear with me. For I shall do this now from no wish to go out of my way to bring railing accusations against you, but under the pressure of circumstances, and for the common good. What then am I to say? This: that both in the late war you ought to have allied yourselves not with Aetolians but with Macedonians; and now again, in answer to these invitations, you ought to join Philip rather than the former people. But, it may be objected, you will be breaking a treaty. Which will be the graver breach of right on your part,—to neglect a private arrangement made with Aetolians, or one that has been inscribed on a column and solemnly consecrated in the sight of all Greece? On what ground are you so careful of breaking faith with this people, from whom you have never received any favour, while you pay no heed to Philip and the Macedonians, to whom you owe even the very power of deliberating to-day? Do you regard it as a duty to keep faith with friends? Yet it is not so much a point of conscience to confirm written pledges of faith, as it is a violation of conscience to go to war with those who preserved you: and this is what, in the present instance, the Aetolians are come to demand of you.

+37.+ “Let it, however, be granted that what I have now said may in the eyes of severe critics be regarded as beside the subject. I will now return to the main point at issue, as they state it. It was this: 'If the circumstances are the same now as at the time when you made alliance with the Aetolians, then your policy ought to remain on the same lines.’ That was their first proposition. 'But if they have been entirely changed, then it is fair that you should now deliberate on the demands made to you as on a matter entirely new and unprejudiced.' I ask you therefore, Cleonicus and Chlaeneas, who were your allies on the former occasion when you invited this people to join you? Were they not all the Greeks? But with whom are you now united, or to what kind of federation are you now inviting this people? Is it not to one with the foreigner? A mighty similarity exists, no doubt, in your minds, and no diversity at all! _Then_ you were contending for glory and supremacy with Achaeans and Macedonians, men of kindred blood with yourselves, and with Philip their leader; _now_ a war of slavery is threatening Greece against men of another race, whom you think to bring against Philip, but have really unconsciously brought against yourselves and all Greece. For just as men in the stress of war, by introducing into their cities garrisons superior in strength to their own forces, while successfully repelling all danger from the enemy, put themselves at the mercy of their friends,—just so are the Aetolians acting in the present case. For in their desire to conquer Philip and humble Macedonia, they have unconsciously brought such a mighty cloud from the west, as for the present perhaps will overshadow Macedonia first, but which in the sequel will be the origin of heavy evils to all Greece.

[Sidenote: B.C. 492. Herod. 6, 48; 7, 133.]

[Sidenote: B.C. 480]

+38.+ “All Greeks indeed have need to be on the alert for the crisis which is coming on: but Lacedaemonians above all. For why was it, do you suppose, men of Sparta, that your ancestors, when Xerxes sent an ambassador to your town demanding earth and water, thrust the man into a well, and, throwing earth upon him, bade him take back word to Xerxes that he had got from the Lacedaemonians what he had demanded from them,—earth and water? Why was it again, do you suppose, that Leonidas and his men started forth to a voluntary and certain death? Was it not that they might have the glory of being the forlorn hope, not only of their own freedom, but of that of all Greece also? And it would indeed be a worthy action for descendants of such heroes as these to make a league with the barbarians now, and to serve with them; and to war against Epirotes, Achaeans, Acarnanians, Boeotians, Thessalians, and in fact against nearly every Greek state except Aetolians! To these last it is habitual to act thus: and to regard nothing as disgraceful, so long only as it is accompanied by an opportunity of plunder. It is not so, however, with you. And what must we expect these people to do, now that they have obtained the support of the Roman alliance? For when they obtained an accession of strength and support from the Illyrians, they at once set about acts of piracy at sea, and treacherously seized Pylus; while by land they stormed the city of Cleitor, and sold the Cynethans into slavery. Once before they made a treaty with Antigonus, as I said just now, for the destruction of the Achaean and Acarnanian races; and now they have done the same with Rome for the destruction of all Greece.

[Sidenote: Herod. 7, 132.]

+39.+ “With a knowledge of such transactions before his eyes who could help suspecting an attack from Rome, and feeling abhorrence at the abandoned conduct of the Aetolians in daring to make such a treaty? They have already wrested Oeniadae and Nesus from the Acarnanians, and recently seized the city of the unfortunate Anticyreans, whom, in conjunction with the Romans, they have sold into slavery.[334] Their children and women are led off by the Romans to suffer all the miseries which those must expect who fall into the hands of aliens; while the houses of the unhappy inhabitants are allotted among the Aetolians. Surely a noble alliance this to join deliberately! Especially for Lacedaemonians: who, after conquering the barbarians, decreed that the Thebans, for being the only Greeks that resolved to remain neutral during the Persian invasion, should pay a tenth of their goods to the gods.

“The honourable course then, men of Sparta, and the one becoming your character, is to remember from what ancestors you are sprung; to be on your guard against an attack from Rome; to suspect the treachery of the Aetolians. Above all to recall the services of Antigonus: and so once more show your loathing for dishonest men; and, rejecting the friendship of the Aetolians, unite your hopes for the future with those of Achaia and Macedonia. If, however, any of your own influential citizens are intriguing against this policy, then at least remain neutral, and do not take part in the iniquities of these Aetolians....”

* * * * *

_In the autumn of B.C. 211, Philip being in Thrace, Scopas made a levy of Aetolians to invade Acarnania. The Acarnanians sent their wives, children, and old men to Epirus, while the rest of them bound themselves by a solemn execration never to rejoin their friends except as conquerors of the invading Aetolians. Livy, 26, 25._

+40.+ When the Acarnanians heard of the intended invasion of the Aetolians, in a tumult of despair and fury they adopted a measure of almost frantic violence....

If any one of them survived the battle and fled from the danger, they begged that no one should receive him in any city or give him a light for a fire. And this they enjoined on all with a solemn execration, and especially on the Epirotes, to the end that they should offer none of those who fled an asylum in their territory....

* * * * *

_When Philip was informed of the invasion he advanced promptly to the relief of Acarnania; hearing of which the Aetolians returned home._ _Livy_, l. c.

* * * * *

Zeal on the part of friends, if shown in time, is of great service; but if it is dilatory and late, it renders the assistance nugatory,—supposing, of course, that they wish to keep the terms of their alliance, not merely on paper, but by actual deeds.[335]...

INVESTMENT OF ECHINUS BY PHILIP

[Sidenote: In the campaigns of Philip, during the time that Publius Sulpicius Galba as Proconsul commanded a Roman fleet in Greek waters, _i.e._ from B.C. 209 to B.C. 206. See Livy, 26, 22, 28; 28, 5-7; 29, 12.]

+41.+ Having determined to make his approach upon the town at the two towers, he erected opposite to them diggers’ sheds and rams; and opposite the space between the towers he erected a covered way between the rams, parallel to the wall. And when the plan was complete, the appearance of the works was very like the style of the wall. For the super-structures on the pent-houses had the appearance and style of towers, owing to the placing of the wattles side by side; and the space between looked like a wall, because the row of wattles at the top of the covered way were divided into battlements by the fashion in which they were woven. In the lowest division of these besieging towers the diggers employed in levelling inequalities, to allow the stands of the battering-rams to be brought up, kept throwing on earth, and the ram was propelled forward: in the second story were water vessels and other appliances for quenching fires, and along with them the catapults: and on the third a considerable body of men were placed to fight with all who tried to damage the rams; and they were on a level with the city towers. From the covered way between the besieging towers a double trench was to be dug towards the wall, between the city towers. There were also three batteries for stone-throwing machines, one of which carried stones of a talent weight, and the other two half that weight. From the camp to the pent-houses and diggers’ sheds underground tunnels had been constructed, to prevent men, going to the works from the camp or returning from the works, being wounded in any way by missiles from the town. These works were completed in a very few days, because the district round produced what was wanted for this service in abundance. For Echinus is situated on the Melian Gulf, facing south, exactly opposite the territory of Thronium, and enjoys a soil rich in every kind of produce; thanks to which circumstance Philip had no scarcity of anything he required for his purpose. Accordingly, as I said, as soon as the works were completed, they begun at once pushing the trenches and the siege machinery towards the walls....

[Sidenote: Spring of B.C. 209.[336]

+42.+ While Philip was investing Echinus, and had secured his position excellently on the side of the town, and had strengthened the outer line of his camp with a trench and wall, Publius Sulpicius, the Roman proconsul, ] and Dorimachus, Strategus of the Aetolians, arrived in person,—Publius with a fleet, and Dorimachus with an army of infantry and cavalry,—and assaulted Philip’s entrenchment. Their repulse led to greater exertions on Philip’s part in his attack upon the Echinaeans, who in despair surrendered to him. For Dorimachus was not able to reduce Philip by cutting off his supplies, as he got them by sea....

* * * * *

[Sidenote: Aegina taken before the end of 208 B.C., for Sulpicius wintered there between 208-207 B.C. See Livy, 27, 32.]

When Aegina was taken by the Romans, such of the inhabitants as had not escaped crowded together at the ships, and begged the proconsul to allow them to send ambassadors to cities of their kinsmen to obtain ransom. Publius at first returned a harsh answer, saying, that “When they were their own masters was the time that they ought to have sent ambassadors to their betters to ask for mercy, not now when they were slaves. A little while ago they had not thought an ambassador from him worthy of even a word; now that they were captives they expected to be allowed to send ambassadors to their kinsfolk: was that not sheer folly?” So at the time he dismissed those who came to him with these words. But next morning he called all the captives together and said that, as to the Aeginetans, he owed them no favour; but for the sake of the rest of the Greeks he would allow them to send ambassadors to get ransom, since that was the custom of their country....

ASIA

[Sidenote: July 26.]

[Sidenote: The transport of the army of Antiochus in his eastern campaigns. See _supra_, 8, 25.]

+43.+ The Euphrates rises in Armenia and flows through Syria and the country beyond to Babylonia. It seems to discharge itself into the Red Sea; but in point of fact it does not do so: for its waters are dissipated among the ditches dug across the fields before it reaches the sea. Accordingly the nature of this river is the reverse of that of others. For in other rivers the volume of water is increased in proportion to the greater distance traversed, and they are at their highest in winter and lowest in midsummer; but this river is fullest of water at the rising of the dog-star, and has the largest volume of water in Syria, which continually decreases as it advances. The reason of this is that the increase is not caused by the collection of winter rains, but by the melting of the snows; and its decrease by the diversion of its stream into the land, and its subdivision for the purposes of irrigation. It was this which on this occasion made the transport of the army slow, because as the boats were heavily laden, and the stream very low, the forces of the current did exceedingly little to help them down.

EMBASSY FROM ROME TO PTOLEMY

[Sidenote: M. Atilius and Manius Glabrio sent to Alexandria with presents to Ptolemy Philopator and Queen Cleopatra. Livy, 27, 4, B.C. 210.]

+44.+ The Romans sent ambassadors to Ptolemy, wishing to be supplied with corn, as they were suffering from a great scarcity of it at home; and, moreover, when all Italy had been laid waste by the enemy’s troops up to the gates of Rome, and when all supplies from abroad were stopped by the fact that war was raging, and armies encamped, in all parts of the world except in Egypt. In fact the scarcity at Rome had come to such a pitch, that a Sicilian medimnus was sold for fifteen drachmae.[337] But in spite of this distress the Romans did not relax in their attention to the war.

END OF VOL. I

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Vita Nicolai V. a _Dominico Georgio_, Rome, 1742, p. 206.

[2] Casaubon mentions in his preface several partial editions and translations which had appeared by Greeks, Spaniards, Italians, and Belgians. But he says all such translations were founded on the faulty Latin translation of Perotti; and none were of any value. The only fairly good one was a German translation.

[3] Unless the avoidance of the hiatus be counted one, which has been pointed out by Hultsch. I cannot forbear from quoting here the admirable words of Casaubon on the style of Polybius:—_Non deest sed non eminet in Polybio facundia. Nihil vero est iniquius illis, qui nullam putant esse eloquentiam, nisi uti nihil est præter eloquentiam. Semper mihi apprime placuit Diodori Siculi sententia, vehementius in historico eloquentiae studium improbantis. Verborum enim curam nimiam veri fere par sequitur incuria. Oratio vultus animi est: ut hic fuerit gravis aut solutus, ita etiam illa vel severa erit vel mollis._ The nearest Greek to that of Polybius is II. Maccabees.

[4] Livy, 38, 30-34.

[5] Polyb. 23, 1, 7, 9.

[6] Polyb. 24, 6.

[7] Polyb. 29, 24.

[8] Plutarch, _Timol._ ch. 39; Plato, _Laws_, 947.

[9] Cicero, _Ep. ad Fam._ 5, 12

[10] Lucian, _Macrobii_, § 22.

[11] Livy, 36, 31.

[12] Pausan. 7, 9, 4.

[13] As Callicrates in B.C. 179; Polyb. 36, 2.

[14] 25, 9.

[15] 26, 3. Callicrates at the same time secured a party in his favour, during his year of office B.C. 179, by restoring the Spartan and Messenian exiles; in return for which the former set up his statue at Olympia, the base of which is preserved. Hicks’s _Greek Inscriptions_, p. 330.

[16] 28, 3.

[17] 28, 6.

[18] See 11, 8.

[19] 28, 12.

[20] The decree was brought into the Peloponnese by C. Popilius and Cn. Octavius in B.C. 171. See Livy, 43, 17, _ne quis ullam rem in bellum magistratibus Romanis conferret præter quam quod Senatus censuisset_. Cp. Polyb. 28, 3.

[21] 28, 13-14.

[22] 28, 7.

[23] 29, 23.

[24] 29, 25, 26.

[25] Thus Appius Claudius Cento would be hostile from the rejection of his illegal demand for 5000 men. One of the common grounds of offence had long been the refusal of Philopoemen and other Strategi to summon an assembly to meet a Roman officer unless he came duly authorised with a definite communication from the Senate. On this ground Quintus Caecilius was refused in B.C. 185 (Polyb. 23, 19) and also Titus Flamininus in B.C. 183 (Polyb. 24, 5). See Freeman’s _Federal Government_, pp. 652-655. And no doubt other cases of a similar nature would occur, generally leading to an unfavourable report at Rome.

[26] Polyb. 30, 13. Thirlwall, vol. viii. p. 419.

[27] Pausanias, 7, 10, 7-12.

[28] Some few, it appears, had managed to escape, though at the risk of certain execution if caught.

[29] Polyb. 29, 21. Plutarch, _Aemilius_, ch. 28.

[30] Diodorus Sic. _fr. lib._ 31; Plutarch, _Apophth. Scip. min._ 2.

[31] 32, 8-16.

[32] Thus he seems to have searched the Archives of the Pontifices. Dionys. Halicarn. 1, 73. And he observed and criticised all Roman customs, as, for instance, the provision for boys’ education at Rome. Cic. _de Rep._ 4, 3.

[33] 31, 19-21.

[34] 35, 6.

[35] Livy, _Ep._ 49; Appian, _Pun._ 74-77.

[36] I infer this, not very confidently, from 9, 25.

[37] 37, 3.

[38] Scipio was born B.C. 185.

[39] 9, 25.

[40] 39, 3.

[41] Pliny, _N. H._ 5, § 9.

[42] Pausanias, 7, 11-12.

[43] _Ib._ 13.

[44] _Ib._ 14; Polyb. 38, 7-8.

[45] 38, 7-10.

[46] Thucyd. 3. 92.

[47] Livy says the battle was at Thermopylae. This was near enough for a general statement, but Scarpheia is some miles to the south. Livy, _Ep._ 52, Pausan. 7. 15.

[48] 39, 8 _sq._ Pausan. 7, 12 _sq._

[49] This has been much disputed. See Thirlwall’s note, vol. viii. p. 455. If the fragment, 29, 13 (40, 7) is given correctly by Strabo, it seems certain that he must have arrived either before or immediately after the fall of Corinth.

[50] 39, 13-14.

[51] 39. 15.

[52] Livy, _Ep._ 52.

[53] Pausan. 7, 16, 9. Polyb. 39, 16.

[54] Thus in B.C. 44 Brutus going out as propraetor to take the province of Macedonia, goes first to Athens, and there, as well as in the rest of Greece, collects troops and money. See the note in Mommsen’s _History of Rome_, vol. III. p. 50 (