5. Why did the Lacedæmonians oppose the Achæans 6. What caused the civil wars in Sparta ? 7. How did Pyrrhus die? 8. What effort of king Agis renewed the civil wars? 9. What enterprise did Cleomenes undertake? 10. Did the death of Antigonus strengthen the Achæans? 11. What changes did the ambition of Cleomenes produce? 12. How did the war terminate? 13. By what people was the war renewed? 14. By whom were the Etolians subdued? 15. Why did Philip grant them favourable conditions of peace? 18.. What enemies now harassed Philip? 20. Who was Philopomen? 21. What great victory did Philopomen obtain over the Spartans? 22. What were the consequences of this victory? 23. How did the Etolians act under these circumstances? CHAPTER XVII. THE WARS BETWEEN THE ROMANS AND MACEDONIANS. 1. THE several revolutions which had taken place at Athens, joined to the superior power of the Macedonian kings, had completely destroyed all the former power of that city; its colonies were subject to other masters, its commerce was destroyed, and its harbours deserted. But the memory of its former fame, and still more the successful cultivation of literature and the fine arts, made it still respected, and induced the successors of Alexander to court the favour of a people, whose monopoly of literature made them the sole arbiters of fame. The kings of Egypt, Syria, and Thrace sent frequent donations of money and corn to the Athenian people, for which they were repaid by the most extravagant flattery; and thus a state which had once ruled Greece, now became dependent almost for subsistence on the vanity of the neighbouring princes. 2. At'talus, king of Per'gamus, particularly distinguished himself by the iiberality of his donations, and the honours lavished on him in return provoked the resentment of Philip, too avaricious to purchase similar praise for himself, but too envious to view it given to another with patience. 3. The ambitious desire of Pru'sias, king of Bithynia, the ally of Philip, to acquire some naval stations in the 'gean, had already provoked the hostility of Attalus and the Rho'dians, and as he was notoriously aided by Philip, the war with Macedon was renewed. About the same time the Athenians, having put to death two Acarna'nian youths for violating the mysteries of Ce'res, were exposed to a fierce attack from their countrymen, who being aided by the Macedonians, spread ruin through the entire of At'tica. 4. The Athenians in their distress applied to the Romans for assistance, and that people having just gloriously terminated the second Punic war, eagerly embraced an opportunity for ex tending their influence in Greece. Philip was not daunted B.C. by such a formidable confederacy; he opened the 200. Scampaign by the siege of Aby'dos in Thrace, but met with most obstinate resistance. Though deserted by their allies, the Abydenes did not propose a capitulation until their walls lay in ruins, and when they could not obtain favourable terms, they preferred death to a surrender. 5. The Roman auxiliaries did not arrive until the end of the autumn, but on their landing they vigorously commenced operations. Their first enterprise was the storming of Chal'sis in the island of Eube'a, where Philip had deposited the greater part of his military stores. By the negligence of the garrison and the treachery of some of the townsmen, this important conquest was effected with little loss; but the Romans sullied their victory by cruelly destroying the town and slaughtering the inhabitants. 6. Philip in revenge made an unsuccessful attempt to surprise Athens; when this failed he vented his rage on the villages of Attica, which he totally ruined, not even sparing the tombs and temples. mon. 7. During the winter Philip in vain attempted to secure the assistance of the Achæans, by offering to assist them in subduing Na'bis, the successor of Machan'idas at Lacedæ But though Na'bis was as cruel and as formidable as his predecessor, the murder of Ara'tus and the dread of the Roman power induced the Achæans to reject the proffers of their former ally. 8. The Romans were at first equally unsuccessful in procuring the assistance the Ætolians, who believed that they had been deserted in the former war; but the successes of the consul Flamin'ius, to whom the 197. conduct of the ensuing campaigns was intrusted, soon induced them to change their minds, and the Ætolians fearfully devastated Thessaly, The battle which decided the fate of the war was fought at Cynosceph'alæ, a place SB.c. named from the fancied resemblance of the hills by which it is surrounded to the heads of dogs.* The engagement began by the accidental meeting of the outposts in a thick fog; the skirmish grew momentarily more warm, as each party sent up reinforcements to the assistance of their yan. The Macedonians were unfortunately in their order of march, while the Romans were drawn out in regular order of battle. Philip's right wing was at first successful, but his left and centre broke at the very first onset; the victorious wing was attacked in the rear before it had time to change its front, and a total rout ensued; of the Macedonians, eight thousand were slain, and five thousand taken prisoners; the loss of the Romans did not exceed seven hundred men. 11. This decisive victory led to a peace, to the great indignation of the Etolians, who ardently desired the total destruction of Philip, and were besides anxious to continue their plundering expeditions; but Flaminius was now able to do without their assistance, and disregarded all their protestations. Several circumstances made it expedient to put an end to the war; the Macedonians, though defeated, could still have continued formidable resistance; the Achæans could scarcely be expected to view with patience the total destruction of their ancient ally, and above all, the rapidly increasing power of Anti'ochus, king of Syria, threatened the Romans with a more formidable competitor for empire than Philip had been in the days of his greatest prosperity. 12. At the ensuing Isthmian games, the Roman commissioners, who had been appointed to regulate the affairs of Greece, caused a proclamation to be made, that "the Romans having subdued Philip, restored to liberty all the states which had been hitherto tributary to the Macedonians." The voice of the herald was drowned by the applauses of the multitude; the games passed over unheeded, while the spectators indulged in dreams of returning liberty and happiness. They had yet to learn that the freedom which is held by the uncertain tenure of another's will, is scarcely worth having. B.C. 196. 13. Flaminius appears to have been sincere in his pro * Κυνος κεφάλι. fessions of attachment to Greece; he wrested Argos from the tyranny of Na'bis, and endeavoured, though ineffectually, to drive him from Lacedæmon; but all his efforts to conciliate the Ætolians failed; they thought that their interests had been neglected in the late treaty, and were enraged at the ingratitude of their ancient ally. 14. Their ' own strength was insufficient to cope with the power of Rome, but they hoped to unite Antiochus, Philip, and the Spartans in a confederacy for the independence of Greece, and they would probably have succeeded but for the base treachery which characterized all their proceedings. 15. As Na'bis, at their persuasion, had engaged in an unsuccessful war with the Achæans, he made frequent applications to the Ætolians for assistance; a body of troops was accordingly sent to Sparta with secret orders to join in any enterprise that their commander should dictate, even though it should be apparently inconsistent with the professed object of their expedition. The enterprise was the murder of Na'bis, which was put in execution while the tyrant was reviewing his army; but the Ætolian general, instead of conciliating the Spartans by proclaiming freedom, proceeded to plunder the royal treasures. 16. This was too much for the citizens to bear; they took up arms, and slaughtered the Ætolians without mercy. In the mean time Philopomen, on the first B.C. news of the event, marched to Lacedæmon, and 191. partly by threats, partly by promises, persuaded the citizens to join the Achæ'an league. Thus the treachery of the Etolians had no other effect than to strengthen the power of their enemies. 17. Anti'ochus had not forgotten the insulting manner in which the Romans had interfered to check his career of conquest, but the defeat of Philip terrified him into the concealment of his resentment. While he was yet deliberating on the propriety of war, An'nibal, whom his ungrateful country had driven into exile, arrived at his court, and finally persuaded him to commence war. 18. Instead of adopting the judicious advice of Annibal, and attacking the Romans in Italy, he wasted precious time in endeavouring to procure the assistance of some minor Grecian states. He gained abundance of promises from the Thessalians, Bœotians, and Ætolians, but on the approach of a Roman army under the command of the consul Gla'brio, he found that his allies either would or could not send him the promised contingents, while his alliance with them had induced the Macedonians and Achæans to join his enemies. 19. After a series of manoeuvres, which showed him to be as deficient in military as political skill, he posted himself at the straits of Thermopylæ, and was there totally defeated. He immediately fled from Greece, leaving the Romans to treat his allies as they thought proper. In the following year he was defeated in Asia by Corne'lius Scip'io, and compelled to beg peace on the most humiliating conditions. 20. The Etolians, being thus left alone, sought pardon from the irritated Romans, which after much difficulty and delay was granted; the terms B.C.. that they obtained were, however, less severe than 190 might have been expected, but they were sufficiently harsi, to show that the Romans were resolved to retain the supremacy of Greece, and to punish all who ventured to resist their sway. 21. The Lacedæmonians, though nominally united to the Achæan league, still retained a deep sense of their degradation, and resolved to take the first opportunity of restoring to Sparta the supremacy of the Laconian cities. They made an attack by night on one of the towns on the seacoast, and though they were defeated, the attempt created such alarm in Laco'nia, that an appeal was made to the Achæans. The consul Ful'vius endeavoured to prevent the war, by advising both parties to refer the arbitration of their disputes to the senate at Rome; but the answer of the senate was couched in such ambiguous terms that the Achæans thought themselves at liberty to act as they pleased, and forthwith sent a numerous army against Sparta under the command of Philopo'men. 22. The Lacedæmonians were |