Pausanias' description of Greece, Volume II.

by active approximately 150-175 Pausanias

CHAPTER X.

But the most impious of all crimes, the betrayal of one’s country and fellow citizens for gain, was destined to bring about the destruction of the Achæans, a crime that has ever troubled Greece. For in the days of Darius (the son of Hystaspes) king of the Persians the Ionian affairs were ruined by all the Samian captains but eleven treacherously surrendering their ships. And after the subjugation of the Ionians the Medes enslaved Eretria; when those held in highest repute in Eretria played the traitor, as Philagras, the son of Cyneus, and Euphorbus, the son of Alcimachus. And when Xerxes went on his expedition to Greece, Thessaly was betrayed by the Aleuadæ, and Thebes was betrayed by Attaginus and Timegenidas, its foremost men. And during the Peloponnesian war Xenias, a native of Elis, endeavoured to betray Elis to the Lacedæmonians and Agis. And those who were called Lysander’s friends never ceased the attempt to betray their countries to Lysander. And in the reign of Philip, the son of Amyntas, one will find that Lacedæmon was not the only one of the Greek cities that were betrayed: the cities of Greece were more ruined through treason than they had been formerly by the plague. But Alexander the son of Philip had very little success indeed by treason. And after the reverse to the Greeks at Lamia Antipater, wishing to cross over with all despatch to the war in Asia Minor, was content to patch up a peace speedily, as it mattered nothing to him whether he left Athens or indeed all Greece free. But Demades and other traitors at Athens persuaded Antipater not to act friendly to the Greeks, and, by frightening the commonalty of the Athenians, they were the means of the introduction into Athens and most other towns of the Macedonian garrisons. What confirms my account is that the Athenians after the reverse in Bœotia did not become subject to Philip, though 1,000 were killed in the action, and 2,000 taken prisoners after: but at Lamia, although only 200 fell, they became slaves of the Macedonians. Thus at no time were wanting to Greece people afflicted with this itch for treason. And the Achæans at this time were made subject to the Romans entirely through the Achæan Callicrates. But the beginning of their troubles was the overthrow of Perseus and the Macedonian Empire by the Romans.

Perseus the son of Philip was originally at peace with the Romans according to the terms of agreement between them and his father Philip, but he violated these conditions when he led an army against Abrupolis, the king of the Sapæans, (who are mentioned by Archilochus in one of his Iambic verses) and dispossessed them, though they were allies of the Romans. And Perseus and the Macedonians having been beaten in war on account of this outrage upon the Sapæans, ten Roman Senators were sent to settle affairs in Macedonia according to the interests of the Romans. And when they came to Greece Callicrates insinuated himself among them, letting slip no occasion of flattering them either in word or deed. And one of them, who was by no means remarkable for justice, was so won over by Callicrates that he was persuaded by him to enter the Achæan League. And he went to one of their general meetings, and said that when Perseus was at war with the Romans the most influential Achæans had furnished him with money, and assisted him in other respects. He bade the Achæans therefore pass a sentence of death against these men: and he said if they would do so, then he would give them their names. This seemed an altogether unfair way of putting it, and those present at the general meeting said that, if any of the Achæans had acted with Perseus, their names must be mentioned first, for it was not fair to condemn them before. And when the Roman was thus confuted, he was so confident as to affirm that all the Achæan Generals were implicated in the charge, for all were friendly to Perseus and the Macedonians. This he said at the instigation of Callicrates. And Xeno rose up next, a man of no small renown among the Achæans, and spoke as follows. “As to this charge, I am a General of the Achæans, and have neither acted against the Romans, nor shewn any good will to Perseus. And I am ready to be tried on this charge before either the Achæan League or the Romans.” This he said in the boldness of a good conscience. But the Roman Senator at once seized the opportunity his words suggested, and sent all whom Callicrates accused of being friendly to Perseus to stand their trial at Rome. Nothing of the kind had ever previously happened to the Greeks. For the Macedonians in the zenith of their power, as under Philip, the son of Amyntas, and Alexander, had never forced any Greeks who opposed them to be sent into Macedonia, but had allowed them to be tried by the Amphictyonic Council. But now every Achæan, however innocent, who was accused by Callicrates, had to go to Rome, so it was decreed, and more than 1,000 so went. And the Romans, treating them as if they had been already condemned by the Achæans, imprisoned them in various towns in Etruria, and, although the Achæans sent various embassies and supplications about them, returned no answer. But 17 years afterwards they released some 300 or even fewer, (who were all that remained in Italy of the 1,000 and more Achæans), thinking they had been punished sufficiently. And all those who escaped either on the journey to Rome in the first instance, or afterwards from the towns to which they had been sent by the Romans, were, if captured, capitally punished at once and no excuse received.

CHAPTER XI.

And the Romans sent another Senator to Greece, Gallus by name, who was sent to arbitrate on the disputes between the Lacedæmonians and the Argives. This Gallus both spoke and acted with much hauteur to the Greeks, and treated the Lacedæmonians and Argives with the greatest contempt possible. For he disdained himself to arbitrate for cities which had attained such great renown, and had fought for their fatherland bravely and lavishly, and had previously submitted their claims to no less an arbitrator than Philip the son of Amyntas, and submitted the decision to Callicrates, the plague of all Greece. And when the Ætolians who inhabit Pleuron came to Gallus, desiring release from the Achæan League, they were allowed by him to send a private embassy to Rome, and the Romans gave their consent to what they asked. The Roman Senate also despatched to Gallus a decree, that he was at liberty to release from the Achæan League as many towns as he liked.

And he carried out his orders, and meantime the Athenian people from necessity rather than choice plundered Oropus which was a town subject to them, for the Athenians had been reduced to a greater state of poverty than any of the Greeks by the war with the Macedonians. The Oropians appealed to the Senate at Rome, and they, thinking they had not been treated well, ordered the Sicyonians to levy upon the Athenians a fine proportionate to the harm they had done to the Oropians. The Sicyonians, as the Athenians did not come into court at the time of trial, fined them in their absence 500 talents, but the Roman Senate at the request of the Athenians remitted all the fine but 100 talents. And the Athenians did not pay even this, but by promises and gifts prevailed upon the Oropians to agree, that an Athenian garrison should occupy Oropus, and that the Athenians should have hostages from the Oropians, and if the Oropians should bring any further charges against the Athenians, then the Athenians were to withdraw their garrison, and return their hostages. And no long time elapsed when some of the garrison insulted some of the townsmen of Oropus. They sent therefore envoys to Athens to demand back their hostages, and at the same time to ask the Athenians to take away their garrison according to their agreement. But the Athenians flatly refused, on the plea that the outrage was committed by the garrison and not the Athenian people, they promised however that those in fault should be punished. And the Oropians appealed to the Achæans to help them, but the Achæans refused out of friendship and respect to the Athenians. Then the Oropians promised ten talents to Menalcidas, a Lacedæmonian by birth but serving at this time as General of the Achæans, if he would make the Achæans help them. And he promised half the money to Callicrates, who because of his friendship with the Romans had the greatest influence over the Achæans. And Callicrates responding to the wishes of Menalcidas, it was determined to help the Oropians against the Athenians. And some one announced news of this to the Athenians, and they with all speed went to Oropus, and after plundering whatever they had spared in former raids, withdrew their garrison. And Menalcidas and Callicrates tried to persuade the Achæans who came up too late for help, to make an inroad into Attica: but as they were against it, especially those who had come from Lacedæmon, the army went back again.

CHAPTER XII.

And the Oropians, though no help had come from the Achæans, yet had to pay the money promised to Menalcidas. And he, when he had received his bribe, thought it a misfortune that he would have to share any part of it with Callicrates. So at first he practised putting off the payment of the gift and other wiles, but soon afterwards he was so bold as to deprive him of it altogether. My statement is confirmed by the proverb, “One fire burns fiercer than another fire, and one wolf is fiercer than other wolves, and one hawk flies swifter than another hawk, since the most unscrupulous of all men, Callicrates, is outdone in treachery by Menalcidas.” And Callicrates, who was never superior to any bribe, and had got nothing out of his hatred to Athens, was so vexed with Menalcidas that he deprived him of his office, and prosecuted him on a capital charge before the Achæans, viz. that he had tried to undermine the Achæans on his embassy to Rome, and that he had endeavoured to withdraw Sparta from the Achæan league. Menalcidas in this crisis gave 3 of the talents from Oropus to Diæus of Megalopolis, who had been his successor as General of the Achæans, and now, being zealous in his interest on account of his bribe, was bent on saving Menalcidas in spite of the Achæans. But the Achæans both privately and publicly were vexed with Diæus for the acquittal of Menalcidas. But Diæus turned away their charges against him to the hope of greater gain, by using the following wile as a pretext. The Lacedæmonians had gone to the Senate at Rome about some debateable land, and the Senate had told them to try all but capital cases before the Achæan League. Such was their answer. But Diæus told the Achæans what was not the truth, and deluded them by saying that the Roman Senate allowed them to pass sentence of death upon a Spartan. They therefore thought the Lacedæmonians could also pass sentence of life and death on themselves: but the Lacedæmonians did not believe that Diæus was speaking the truth, and wished to refer the matter to the Senate at Rome. But the Achæans objected to this, that the cities in the Achæan League had no right without common consent to send an embassy privately to Rome. In consequence of these disputes war broke out between the Achæans and the Lacedæmonians, and the Lacedæmonians, knowing they were not able to fight the Achæans, sent embassies to their cities and spoke privately to Diæus. All the cities returned the same answer, that if their general ordered them to take the field they could not disobey. For Diæus was in command, and he said that he intended to fight not against Sparta but against all that troubled her. And when the Spartan Senate asked who he thought were the criminals, he gave them a list of 24 men who were prominent in Sparta. Thereupon the opinion of Agasisthenes prevailed, a man previously held in good repute, and who for the following advice got still more highly thought of. He persuaded all those men whose names were mentioned to exile themselves from Lacedæmon, and not by remaining there to bring on a war on Sparta, and if they fled to Rome he said they would be soon restored by the Romans. So they departed and were nominally tried in their absence in the Spartan law-courts and condemned to death: but Callicrates and Diæus were sent by the Achæans to Rome to plead against these Spartan exiles before the Senate. And Callicrates died on the road of some illness, nor do I know whether if he had gone on to Rome he would have done the Achæans any good, or been to them the source of greater evils. But Diæus carried on a bitter controversy with Menalcidas before the Senate, not in the most decorous manner. And the Senate returned answer that they would send Ambassadors, who should arbitrate upon the differences between the Lacedæmonians and Achæans. And the journey of these ambassadors from Rome was somehow taken so leisurely, that Diæus had full time to deceive the Achæans, and Menalcidas the Lacedæmonians. The Achæans were persuaded by Diæus that the Lacedæmonians were directed by the Roman Senate to obey them in all things. While Menalcidas deceived the Lacedæmonians altogether, saying that they had been put by the Romans out of the jurisdiction of the Achæan League altogether.

CHAPTER XIII.

In consequence of these differences with the Lacedæmonians the Achæans made preparations again to go to war with them, and an army was collected against Sparta by Damocritus, who was chosen General of the Achæans at that time. And about the same time an army of Romans under Metellus went into Macedonia, to fight against Andriscus, the son of Perseus and grandson of Philip, who had revolted from the Romans. And the war in Macedonia was finished by the Romans with the greatest despatch. And Metellus gave his orders to the envoys, who had been sent by the Roman Senate to see after affairs in Asia Minor, to have a conference with the leaders of the Achæans before they passed over into Asia Minor, and to forbid them to war against Sparta, and to tell them they were to wait for the arrival from Rome of the envoys who were despatched to arbitrate between them and the Lacedæmonians. They gave these orders to Damocritus and the Achæans, who were beforehand with them and had already marched to Lacedæmon, but when they saw that the Achæans were not likely to pay any attention to their orders, they crossed over into Asia Minor. And the Lacedæmonians, out of spirit rather than from strength, took up arms and went out to meet the enemy in defence of their country, but were in a short time repulsed with the loss in the battle of about 1,000 who were in their prime both in respect to age and bravery, and the rest of the army fled pell mell into the town. And had Damocritus exhibited energy, the Achæans might have pursued those who fled from the battle up to the walls of Sparta: but he called them back from the pursuit at once, and rather went in for raids and plundering than sat down to a regular siege. He was therefore fined 50 talents by the Achæans as a traitor for not following up his victory, and as he could not pay he fled from the Peloponnese. And Diæus, who was chosen to succeed him as General, agreed when Metellus sent a second message not to carry on the war against the Lacedæmonians, but to wait for the arrival of the arbitrators from Rome. After this he contrived another stratagem against the Lacedæmonians: he won over all the towns round Sparta to friendship with the Achæans, and introduced garrisons into them, so as to make them points d’appui against Sparta. And Menalcidas was chosen by the Lacedæmonians as General against Diæus, and, as they were badly off for all supplies of war and not least for money, and as their soil had lain uncultivated, he persuaded them to violate the truce, and took by storm and sacked the town Iasus, which was on the borders of Laconia, but was at this time subject to the Achæans. And having thus stirred up strife again between the Lacedæmonians and the Achæans he was accused by the citizens, and, as he saw no hope of safety from the danger that seemed imminent for the Lacedæmonians, he voluntarily committed suicide by poison. Such was the end of Menalcidas, the most imprudent General of the Lacedæmonians at this crisis, and earlier still the most iniquitous person to the Achæans.