—— 'Tis his desire
Not to appear, but be the great and good,
the whole audience rose up, and unanimously applied it to Aristides.[212] The same thing happened to Philopœmen at the Nemæan games. At the instant he entered the theatre, these verses were singing upon the stage:
—— He comes, to whom we owe
Our liberty, the noblest good below.
All the Greeks cast their eyes upon Philopœmen,[213] and with clapping of hands and acclamations of joy expressed their veneration for the hero.
In the same manner at Rome, during the banishment of Cicero,[214] when some verses of Accius,[215] which reproached the Greeks with their ingratitude in suffering the banishment of Telamon, were repeated by Æsop, the best actor of his time, they drew tears from the eyes of the whole assembly.
Upon another, though very different, occasion, the Roman people applied to Pompey the Great some verses to this effect:
'Tis our unhappiness has made thee great;[216]
and then addressing the people;