Delphi Complete Works of Polybius

by Polybius

  34. In the matter of the commissioners from the allies, to go back to my story, the behaviour of the Lacedaemonians was very characteristic. For their own ill-considered and tortuous policy had placed them in such a difficulty, that they finally dismissed them without an answer: thus illustrating, as it seems to me, the truth of the saying, that, “boldness pushed to extremes amounts to want of sense, and comes to nothing.” Subsequently, however, on the appointment of new Ephors, the party who had originally promoted the outbreak, and had been the causes of the massacre, sent to the Aetolians to induce them to despatch an ambassador to Sparta. The Aetolians gladly consented, and in a short time Machatas arrived there in that capacity. Pressure was at once put upon the Ephors to allow Machatas to address the people, and to re-establish royalty in accordance with the ancient constitution, and not to allow the Heraclid dynasty to be any longer suppressed, contrary to the laws. The Ephors were annoyed at the proposal, but were unable to withstand the pressure, and afraid of a rising of the younger men: they therefore answered that the question of restoring the kings must be reserved for future consideration; but they consented to grant Machatas an opportunity of addressing a public assembly. When the people accordingly were met, Machatas came forward, and in a long speech urged them to embrace the alliance with Aetolia; inveighing in reckless and audacious terms against the Macedonians, while he went beyond all reason and truth in his commendations of the Aetolians. Upon his retirement, there was a long and animated debate between those who supported the Aetolians and advised the adoption of their alliance, and those who took the opposite side. When, however, some of the elders reminded the people of the good services rendered them by Antigonus and the Macedonians, and the injuries inflicted on them by Charixenus and Timaeus, — when the Aetolians invaded them with their full force and ravaged their territory, enslaved the neighbouring villages, and laid a plot for attacking Sparta itself by a fraudulent and forcible restoration of exiles, — these words produced a great revulsion of feeling, and the people finally decided to maintain the alliance with Philip and the Macedonians. Machatas accordingly had to go home without attaining the object of his mission.

  [1] εἰς τὴν οἰκείαν, οἱ δ᾽ ἐξ ἀρχῆς αἴτιοι γεγονότες τῆς κινήσεως, οὐδαμῶς εἶξαι δυνάμενοι τοῖς παροῦσιν, αὖτις ἐπεβάλοντο πρᾶγμα ποιεῖν πάντων ἀσεβέστατον, φθείραντές τινας τῶν νέων. [2] κατὰ γάρ τινα θυσίαν πάτριον ἔδει τοὺς μὲν ἐν ταῖς ἡλικίαις μετὰ τῶν ὅπλων πομπεύειν ἐπὶ τὸν τῆς Ἀθηνᾶς τῆς Χαλκιοίκου νεών, τοὺς δ᾽ ἐφόρους συντελεῖν τὰ περὶ τὴν θυσίαν, αὐτοῦ περὶ τὸ τέμενος διατρίβοντας. [3] ἐν τούτῳ τῷ καιρῷ τῶν πομπευόντων ἐν τοῖς ὅπλοις τινὲς νεανίσκων ἄφνω προσπεσόντες θύουσι τοῖς ἐφόροις ἀπέσφαξαν αὐτούς. καίτοι πᾶσι τοῖς καταφυγοῦσι τὴν ἀσφάλειαν παρεσκεύαζε τὸ ἱερόν, κἂν θανάτου τις ᾖ κατακεκριμένος: [4] τότε δὲ διὰ τὴν ὠμότητα τῶν τολμώντων εἰς τοῦτ᾽ ἦλθε καταφρονήσεως ὥστε περὶ τὸν βωμὸν καὶ τὴν τράπεζαν τῆς θεοῦ κατασφαγῆναι τοὺς ἐφόρους ἅπαντας. [5] ἑξῆς δὲ τούτου τἀκόλουθον τῇ προθέσει ποιοῦντες ἀνεῖλον μὲν τοὺς περὶ Γυρίδαν τῶν γερόντων, ἐφυγάδευσαν δὲ τοὺς ἀντειπόντας τοῖς Αἰτωλοῖς, εἵλοντο δ᾽ ἐξ αὑτῶν ἐφόρους, συνέθεντο δὲ πρὸς τοὺς Αἰτωλοὺς τὴν συμμαχίαν. [6] ἐποίουν δὲ ταῦτα, καὶ τήν τε πρὸς Ἀχαιοὺς ἀπέχθειαν καὶ τὴν πρὸς Μακεδόνας ἀχαριστίαν καὶ καθόλου τὴν πρὸς πάντας ἀλογίαν ὑπέμενον — οὐχ ἥκιστα δὲ διὰ Κλεομένη καὶ τὴν πρὸς ἐκεῖνον εὔνοιαν — ἐπελπίζοντες ἀεὶ καὶ προσδοκίαν ἔχοντες τῆς ἐκείνου παρουσίας ἅμα καὶ σωτηρίας. [7] οὕτως οἱ δυνάμενοι τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐπιδεξίως ὁμιλεῖν τοῖς συμπεριφερομένοις οὐ μόνον παρόντες, ἀλλὰ καὶ μακρὰν ἀφεστῶτες ἐγκαταλείπουσί τινα καὶ λίαν ἰσχυρὰ τῆς πρὸς αὑτοὺς εὐνοίας αἰθύγματα. [8] οἵ γε χωρὶς τῶν ἄλλων καὶ τότε, πολιτευόμενοι κατὰ τὰ πάτρια σχεδὸν ἤδη τρεῖς ἐνιαυτοὺς μετὰ τὴν Κλεομένους ἔκπτωσιν, οὐδ᾽ ἐπενόησαν οὐδέποτε βασιλεῖς καταστῆσαι τῆς Σπάρτης: [9] ἅμα δὲ τῷ τὴν φήμην ἀφικέσθαι περὶ τῆς Κλεομένους τελευτῆς εὐθέως ὥρμησαν ἐπὶ τὸ βασιλεῖς καθιστάναι τά τε πλήθη καὶ τὸ τῶν ἐφόρων ἀρχεῖον. [10] καὶ κατέστησαν οἱ κοινωνοῦντες ἔφοροι τῆς αἱρέσεως τοῖς στασιώταις, οἱ καὶ τὴν πρὸς Αἰτωλοὺς συνθέμενοι συμμαχίαν, ὑπὲρ ὧν τὸν ἄρτι λόγον ἐποιησάμην, τὸν μὲν ἕνα νομίμως καὶ καθηκόντως, Ἀγησίπολιν, ὄντα μὲν παῖδα τὴν ἡλικίαν, υἱὸν δ᾽ Ἀγησιπόλιδος τοῦ Κλεομβρότου: [11] τὸν δὲ συνέβαινε βεβασιλευκέναι καθ᾽ οὓς καιροὺς ἐξέπεσε Λεωνίδης ἐκ τῆς ἀρχῆς, διὰ τὸ κατὰ γένος ὑπάρχειν ἔγγιστα τῆς οἰκίας ταύτης. [12] ἐπίτροπον δὲ τοῦ παιδὸς εἵλοντο Κλεομένη, Κλεομβρότου μὲν υἱόν, Ἀγησιπόλιδος δ᾽ ἀδελφόν. [13] ἀπὸ δὲ τῆς ἑτέρας οἰκίας, ὄντων ἐκ τῆς Ἱππομέδοντος θυγατρὸς Ἀρχιδάμῳ δυεῖν παίδων, ὃς ἦν υἱὸς Εὐδαμίδου, ζῶντος δὲ καὶ Ἱππομέδοντος ἀκμήν, ὃς ἦν υἱὸς Ἀγησιλάου τοῦ Εὐδαμίδου, καὶ ἑτέρων δὲ πλειόνων ἀπὸ τῆς οἰκίας ὑπαρχόντων, ἀπωτέρω μὲν τῶν προειρημένων, προσηκόντων δὲ κατὰ γένος, [14] τούτους μὲν ἅπαντας ὑπερεῖδον, Λυκοῦργον δὲ βασιλέα κατέστησαν, οὗ τῶν προγόνων οὐδεὶς ἐτετεύχει τῆς προσηγορίας: ὃς δοὺς ἑκάστῳ τῶν ἐφόρων τάλαντον Ἡρακλέους ἀπόγονος καὶ βασιλεὺς ἐγεγόνει τῆς Σπάρτης. [15] οὕτως εὔωνα πανταχῇ τὰ καλὰ γέγονε. τοιγαροῦν οὐ παῖδες παίδων, ἀλλ᾽ αὐτοὶ πρῶτοι τῆς ἀνοίας ἀπέτισαν τοὺς μισθοὺς οἱ καταστήσαντες.

  35. The party, however, at Sparta who were the original of the instigators of the outbreak could not make up their minds to give way. They once more therefore determined to commit a crime of the most impious description, having first corrupted some of the younger men. It was an ancestral custom that, at a certain sacrifice, all citizens of military age should join fully armed in a procession to the temple of Athene of the Brazen-house, while the Ephors remained in the sacred precinct and completed the sacrifice. As the young men therefore were conducting the procession, some of them suddenly fell upon the Ephors, while they were engaged with the sacrifice, and slew them. The enormity of this crime will be made apparent by remembering that the sanctity of this temple was such, that it gave a safe asylum even to criminals condemned to death; whereas its privileges wer
e now by the cruelty of these audacious men treated with such contempt, that the whole of the Ephors were butchered round the altar and the table of the goddess. In pursuance of their purpose they next killed one of the elders, Gyridas, and drove into exile those who had spoken against the Aetolians. They then chose some of their own body as Ephors, and made an alliance with the Aetolians. Their motives for doing all this, for incurring the enmity of the Achaeans, for their ingratitude to the Macedonians, and generally for their unjustifiable conduct towards all, was before everything else their devotion to Cleomenes, and the hopes and expectations they continued to cherish that he would return to Sparta in safety. So true it is that men who have the tact to ingratiate themselves with those who surround them can, even when far removed, leave in their hearts very effective materials for kindling the flame of a renewed popularity. This people for instance, to say nothing of other examples, after nearly three years of constitutional government, following the banishment of Cleomenes, without once thinking of appointing kings at Sparta, no sooner heard of the death of Cleomenes than they were eager — populace and Ephors alike — to restore kingly rule. Accordingly the Ephors who were in sympathy with the conspirators, and who had made the alliance with Aetolia which I just now mentioned, did so. One of these kings so restored they appointed in accordance with the regular and legal succession, namely Agesipolis. He was a child at the time, a son of Agesipolis, and grandson of that Cleombrotus who had become king, as the next of kin to this family, when Leonidas was driven from office. As guardian of the young king they elected Cleomenes, son of Cleombrotus and brother of Agesipolis.

  Of the other royal house there were surviving two sons of Archidamus, son of Eudamidas, by the daughter of Hippodemon; as well as Hippodemon himself, the son of Agesilaus, and several other members of the same branch, though somewhat less closely connected than those I have mentioned. But these were all passed over, and Lycurgus was appointed king, none of whose ancestors had ever enjoyed that title. A present of a talent to each of the Ephors made him “descendant of Hercules” and king of Sparta. So true is it all the world over that such nobility is a mere question of a little money.

  The result was that the penalty for their folly had to be paid, not by the third generation, but by the very authors of this royalist restoration.

  [1] ὁ δὲ Μαχατᾶς, πυθόμενος τὰ γεγονότα περὶ τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους, ἧκε πάλιν ὑποστρέψας εἰς τὴν Σπάρτην, καὶ παρεκάλει τοὺς ἐφόρους καὶ τοὺς βασιλέας ἐξανεγκεῖν τοῖς Ἀχαιοῖς τὸν πόλεμον: [2] μόνως γὰρ οὕτως ἔφη λῆξαι τὴν τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων φιλονεικίαν τῶν ἐκ παντὸς τρόπου διακοπτόντων τὴν πρὸς Αἰτωλοὺς συμμαχίαν τήν τε τῶν ἐν Αἰτωλίᾳ τὰ παραπλήσια τούτοις πραττόντων. [3] πεισθέντων δὲ τῶν ἐφόρων καὶ τῶν βασιλέων, ὁ μὲν Μαχατᾶς ἐπανῆλθε, συντετελεσμένος τὴν πρόθεσιν διὰ τὴν ἄγνοιαν τῶν συμπραττόντων, [4] ὁ δὲ Λυκοῦργος ἀναλαβὼν τοὺς στρατιώτας καί τινας τῶν πολιτικῶν ἐνέβαλεν εἰς τὴν Ἀργείαν, ἀφυλάκτως διακειμένων εἰς τέλος τῶν Ἀργείων διὰ τὴν προϋπάρχουσαν κατάστασιν. [5] καὶ Πολίχναν μὲν καὶ Πρασίας καὶ Λεύκας καὶ Κύφαντα προσπεσὼν ἄφνω κατέσχε: Γλυμπέσι δὲ καὶ Ζάρακι προσπεσὼν ἀπέπεσε. [6] τούτου δὲ ταῦτα πράξαντος, ἐπεκήρυξαν τὸ λάφυρον οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι κατὰ τῶν Ἀχαιῶν. ἔπεισαν δὲ καὶ τοὺς Ἠλείους οἱ περὶ τὸν Μαχατᾶν, παραπλήσια λέγοντες ἅπερ καὶ πρὸς τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους, ἐξενεγκεῖν τοῖς Ἀχαιοῖς τὸν πόλεμον. [7] παραδόξως δὲ καὶ κατὰ νοῦν τοῖς Αἰτωλοῖς τῶν πραγμάτων προκεχωρηκότων, οὗτοι μὲν εὐθαρσῶς ἐνέβαινον εἰς τὸν πόλεμον, οἱ δ᾽ Ἀχαιοὶ τἀναντία: Φίλιππος μὲν γάρ, [8] ἐφ᾽ ᾧ τὰς ἐλπίδας εἶχον, ἀκμὴν ἐγίνετο περὶ παρασκευήν, Ἠπειρῶται δ᾽ ἔμελλον πολεμεῖν, [9] Μεσσήνιοι δ᾽ ἡσυχίαν εἶχον, Αἰτωλοὶ δέ, προσειληφότες τὴν Ἠλείων καὶ Λακεδαιμονίων ἄγνοιαν, πανταχόθεν περιεῖχον αὐτοὺς τῷ πολέμῳ.

  36. When Machatas heard what had happened at Sparta, he returned thither and urged the Ephors and kings to go to war with the Achaeans;

  arguing that that was the only way of stopping the ambition of the party in Sparta who were doing all they could to break up the alliance with the Aetolians, or of the party in Aetolia who were co-operating with them. Having obtained the consent of the Ephors and kings, Machatas returned home with a success secured him by the blindness of his partisans in Sparta; while Lycurgus with the army and certain others of the citizens invaded the Argive territory, the inhabitants being quite unprepared for an attack, owing to the existing settlement. By a sudden assault he seized Polichna, Prasiae, Leucae, and Cyphanta, but was repulsed at Glympes and Zarax. After these achievements of their king, the Lacedaemonians proclaimed a licence of reprisal against the Achaeans. With the Eleans also Machatas was successful in persuading them, by the same arguments as he had used at Sparta, to go to war with the Achaeans.

  The unexpected success of these intrigues caused the Aetolians to enter upon the war with high spirits. But it was quite the contrary with the Achaeans: for Philip, on whom their hopes rested, was still busy with his preparations; the Epirotes were hesitating about going to war, and the Messenians were entirely passive; and meantime the Aetolians, aided by the blind policy of the Eleans and Lacedaemonians, were threatening them with actual war on every side.

  [1] Ἀράτῳ μὲν οὖν συνέβαινε κατὰ τὸν καιρὸν τοῦτον ἤδη λήγειν τὴν ἀρχήν, Ἄρατον δὲ τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ καθεσταμένον ὑπὸ τῶν Ἀχαιῶν παραλαμβάνειν τὴν στρατηγίαν. [2] Αἰτωλῶν δ᾽ ἐστρατήγει Σκόπας: ὁ δὲ χρόνος αὐτῷ τῆς ἀρχῆς μάλιστα τότε πως διῄρητο: τὰς γὰρ ἀρχαιρεσίας Αἰτωλοὶ μὲν ἐποίουν μετὰ τὴν φθινοπωρινὴν ἰσημερίαν εὐθέως, Ἀχαιοὶ δὲ τότε περὶ τὴν τῆς Πλειάδος ἐπιτολήν. [3] ἤδη δὲ τῆς θερείας ἐνισταμένης, καὶ μετειληφότος Ἀράτου τοῦ νεωτέρου τὴν στρατηγίαν, ἅμα πάντα τὰ πράγματα τὰς ἐπιβολὰς ἐλάμβανε καὶ τὰς ἀρχάς. [4] Ἀννίβας μὲν γὰρ ἐνεχείρει κατὰ τοὺς καιροὺς τούτους Ζάκανθαν πολιορκεῖν, Ῥωμαῖοι δὲ Λεύκιον Αἰμίλιον εἰς τὴν Ἰλλυρίδα μετὰ δυνάμεως ἐξαπέστελλον ἐπὶ Δημήτριον τὸν Φάριον: ὑπὲρ ὧν ἐν τῇ προτέρᾳ βύβλῳ δεδηλώκαμεν. [5] Ἀντίοχος δέ, Πτολεμαΐδα καὶ Τύρον παραδόντος αὐτῷ Θεοδότου, τοῖς κατὰ Κοίλην Συρίαν ἐγχειρεῖν ἐπεβάλλετο: Πτολεμαῖος δὲ περὶ παρασκευὴν ἐγίνετο τοῦ πρὸς Ἀντίοχον πολέμου. [6] Λυκοῦργος δ᾽ ἀπὸ τῶν ὁμοίων βουλόμενος ἄρχεσθαι Κλεομένει, τὸ τῶν Μεγαλοπολιτῶν Ἀθήναιον ἐπολιόρκει προσεστρατοπεδευκώς. Ἀχαιοὶ δὲ μισθοφόρους ἱππεῖς καὶ π
εζοὺς ἥθροιζον εἰς τὸν περιεστῶτα πόλεμον: [7] Φίλιππος δ᾽ ἐκ Μακεδονίας ἐκίνει μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως, ἔχων Μακεδόνων φαλαγγίτας μὲν μυρίους, πελταστὰς δὲ πεντακισχιλίους, ἅμα δὲ τούτοις ἱππεῖς ὀκτακοσίους. [8] ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἅπαντ᾽ ἦν ἐν τοιαύταις ἐπιβολαῖς καὶ παρασκευαῖς. κατὰ δὲ τοὺς αὐτοὺς καιροὺς ἐξήνεγκαν Ῥόδιοι Βυζαντίοις πόλεμον διά τινας

  37. The year of Aratus’s office was just expiring, and his son Aratus the younger had been elected to succeed him as Strategus, and was on the point of taking over the office. Scopas was still Strategus of the Aetolians, and in fact it was just about the middle of his year. For the Aetolians hold their elections immediately after the autumn equinox, while the Achaeans hold theirs about the time of the rising of the Pleiads. As soon therefore as summer had well set in, and Aratus the younger had taken over his office, all these wars at once began simultaneously. Hannibal began besieging Saguntum; the Romans sent Lucius Aemilius with an army to Illyria against Demetrius of Pharos, — of both which I spoke in the last book; Antiochus, having had Ptolemais and Tyre betrayed to him by Theodotus, meditated attacking Coele-Syria; and Ptolemy was engaged in preparing for the war with Antiochus. While Lycurgus, wishing to make a beginning after the pattern of Cleomenes, pitched his camp near the Athenaeum of Megalopolis and was laying siege to it: the Achaeans were collecting mercenary horse and foot for the war which was upon them: and Philip, finally, was starting from Macedonia with an army consisting of ten thousand heavy-armed soldiers of the phalanx, five thousand light-armed, and eight hundred cavalry. Such was the universal state of war or preparation for war.