Pausanias' description of Greece, Volume I.

by active approximately 150-175 Pausanias

CHAPTER XXIX.

And no long time after this action at Elis the Macedonians under Demetrius, the son of Philip the son of Demetrius, attacked Messene. Most of the audacity displayed by Perseus against Philip and his son Demetrius I have already described in my account about Sicyon: and the capture of Messene took place as follows. Philip was in need of money, and, as he must have it by hook or by crook, sent Demetrius with a fleet to the Peloponnese. And Demetrius chanced to put in at one of the least frequented harbours of Argolis: and without losing time he led his army by the shortest cuts through the country to Messene. And having posted in the van all his light-armed troops, as he was well acquainted with the road to Ithome, he got stealthily into the town a little before dawn, and took up his position between the town and the citadel. And when day broke and those in the town perceived their imminent peril, their first thought was that the Lacedæmonians had got into the town, so they rushed against them with the greatest alacrity owing to their ancient animosity. But when both from their arms and language they discovered that they were Macedonians under Demetrius the son of Philip, a panic came over them, when they considered the military renown of the Macedonians, and the good fortune which they had invariably had. However the magnitude of the impending danger suggested to them an almost supernatural bravery, and at the same time the hope to see better days supported them: for they could not but think their return to the Peloponnese after so long an exile was not against the will of the Deity. The Messenians therefore in the town rushed against the Macedonians with impetuosity, and the garrison in the citadel galled them from their higher position. The Macedonians from their courage and tactical skill fought at first like lions: but at last spent with their long march, and not only pressed hard by men, but pelted with tiles and stones by the women, fled in disorder. And most of them perished miserably, being pushed down the rocks, for Ithome was very precipitous here, but a few threw away their arms and got off safe.

What prevented the Messenians from joining at first the Achæan League was as follows. They had of their own accord gone to the aid of the Lacedæmonians when they were attacked by Pyrrhus the son of Æacus, and for this good service there were already friendlier relations between themselves and Sparta. They did not therefore wish to revive the old feud by going to the Achæan League, as the Achæans were most openly hostile to the Lacedæmonians. And what has not escaped my notice, and cannot have escaped the notice of the Messenians is that, even had there been no Achæan League, the Achæans would have been hostile to the Lacedæmonians, for among the Achæans the Argives and Arcadians were no small element. In process of time however the Messenians joined the Achæan League. And not long afterwards Cleomenes, the son of Leonidas and grandson of Cleonymus, took Megalopolis the chief town of the Arcadians in truce time. In the capture of the town about a third of the inhabitants were captured or slain, but Philopœmen the son of Craugis and those who escaped with him (and they say that rather more than two thirds of the people of Megalopolis got away) were kindly received by the Messenians, partly on account of the ancient friendliness which the Arcadians had first exhibited in the days of Aristomenes, and partly in consequence of the part they had taken in the rebuilding of Messene. The Messenians even went so far as to assign to the Arcadians equal rights to themselves. Such vicissitudes and changes are there in all human affairs, that the deity put it into the power of the Messenians to preserve in turn the Arcadians, and (what was still less to be expected) one day to capture Sparta. For when they fought against Cleomenes at Sellasia they joined Aratus and the Achæans in taking Sparta. And when the Lacedæmonians had got rid of Cleomenes, there rose up against them the tyrant Machanidas: and after his death Nabis sprang up as tyrant over them. And, as he not only plundered men but also sacrilegiously robbed the holy places, in no long time he amassed considerable sums of money, and got together with this money an army. And when he occupied Messene Philopœmen and the people of Megalopolis made a sally by night, and the Spartan tyrant departed on conditions. And the Achæans after this, in consequence of some difference with the Messenians, marched out against them in full force, and ravaged their territory. And again about harvest time they collected a force for the purpose of attacking Messenia, but Dinocrates a prominent man among the people, who had been recently elected ruler of the Messenians, forced Lycortas and the army with him to retire without effecting their object, and having occupied the byroads between Messenia and Arcadia he protected[58] the Messenians in their town and in all the neighbouring districts. And when Philopœmen with a few cavalry came a little later than the army of Lycortas, not having been able to gather any tidings about them, the Messenians having the advantage of ground beat them in battle, and took Philopœmen alive. And the manner of his capture and his death I shall relate hereafter in my account of Arcadia. Suffice it here to state that those Messenians who were guilty of the death of Philopœmen were punished, and Messene again joined the Achæan League.

Hitherto I have had to deal with the many sufferings of the Messenians, and to describe how the Deity, having scattered them to the ends of the earth, and to places most remote from the Peloponnese, restored them to their own country a long time afterwards. And now let us turn to a description of the country and its towns.