                                      75 AD
                                     ARATUS
                                  271-213 B.C.
                                  by Plutarch
                           translated by John Dryden
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 fathers but the generous sons?"

But Dionysodorus the Troezenian proves him to be wrong, and restores
the true reading, which is thus:-

         "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 made 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 ancestors, give them
honour 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 concerning 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 market-place 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
endeavoured 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, despatches 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 despatched beforehand lightly armed, with four
others, who were, as soon as it was dark, to come to the gardener's
house, pretending to be travellers, and procuring their lodging there,
to shut up him and his dogs; for there was no other way to 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 himself 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 market-place, one carrying
garlands, another buying flambeaux, and a third speaking to the
women that used to sing and play at banquets, all of 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 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; 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
companion. 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 clapt 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
over-wearied 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 theatre 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 had 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 tyrant
amongst the citizens. In this exploit, not one of these 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 neighbouring sea was almost wholly without a
harbour, 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
it did not equal the strength of one ordinary city, yet by prudence
and unanimity, and because they knew not how 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 behaviour 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 often 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 humours 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 Dynae, 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 ship, 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 colours 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 Neacles 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, Neacles 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 favour 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 instalments, 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 honours 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 favour 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 every day, as one that had
nothing else in his mind but to give himself up for a while to
indulgence in pleasure and mirth. But when the moment came, and
Amoebeus began to sing in the theatre, he waited himself upon Nicaea
to the play, she being carried in a royally decorated chair, extremely
pleased with her new honour, 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 theatre, 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 any one 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 travellers, 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, commanded 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
broken 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, 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 theatre, 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
corselet 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 valour 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 Achaeans' 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 province and counsel that govern the whole.
  Now being distressed to see that, whereas the chief neighbouring
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 market-place, 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 trap-door, 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 body-guards,
who made all this use of arms and gates and bolts to protect their
lives, in some few cases perhaps escaped like the bare 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 endeavoured to take Argos, though without
success; once, particularly, clapping scaling ladders in the night
to the walls, 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 favour, 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 provisions 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 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 colour 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 in time
of battle.
  Having thus despatched 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 honour, 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 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 laboured 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 honour 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 true common advantage, and
suffered the enemy to pass over Geranea into Peloponnesus without a
battle. But when, after they 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, quarrelling 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 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
saying 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 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 Thrasian 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 to their
assistance; 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 neighbours, 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 honour, 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 favour, 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 of 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,
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 water-course 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
stepfather 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 citizens of which deserved to be
preferred to the generalship before the best of the Macedonians by
those that had any regard to the honour of Grecian birth. Besides,
Cleomenes sued for that command over the Achaeans as one that would
return the honour 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 Philiasians received a garrison, and in short
nothing among all their new acquisitions held firm to the Achaeans.
Aratus was encompassed on every side with clamour and confusion; he
saw the whole of Peloponnesus shaking hands around him, and the cities
everywhere set in revolt by men desirous of innovations.
  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
consign 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, 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 succour 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
endeavoured 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 seaside, 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 honour, 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 inclosed 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 him, 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 toward the enemy, with whom they had
frequent engagements near the city, Cleomenes maintaining a strong
position, and the Corinthians making a very brisk defence. 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 honour 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 master 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 honourable part in the affairs of
Greece.
  When Antigonus was dead, the Aetolians, despising the sloth and
negligence of the Achaeans, who having learnt to be defended by
other men's valour 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 endeavoured 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 favourably 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 colour 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. 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 succours, 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 theatre, 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 a 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 strongholds 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
then, 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 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 opprest,
          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 saviour 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 councillors 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 mild 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 dependencies; 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
honour 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 sempstress 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.
                               THE END
