"liberal of his benefactions, and after him, Seleucus: that, as the interest of kings differed widely from those of republics, and as, in the latter, their most important delibe"rations generally related to their differences with crowned heads, one of these two things would inevitably happen: "either the Achæans would transact all things to the advantage of those princes, and to the prejudice of their own country; or else they must behave with the blackest ingratitude towards their benefactors." He concluded his speech with exhorting the Achæans to refuse the present which was offered; and added, "That it was their duty to "be displeased with Eumenes, for attempting to bribe their "fidelity by such an offer." The whole assembly with shouts rejected unanimously the proposal of the king of Pergamus, however dazzling the offer of so large a sum of money might be.

t

After this, Lycortas, and the rest of the ambassadors who had been sent to Ptolemy, were called in; and the decree made by that prince for renewing the alliance was read. Aristenes, who presided in the assembly, having asked what treaty the king of Egypt desired to renew (several having been concluded with Ptolemy upon very different conditions) and nobody being able to answer that question, the decision of that affair was referred to another time.

At last the ambassadors of Seleucus were admitted to audience. The Achæans renewed the alliance which had been concluded with him: but it was not judged expedient to accept, at that juncture, of the ships he offered.

Greece was far from enjoying a calm at this time; and complaints were carried, from all quarters, to Rome against Philip. The senate thereupon nominated three commissioners, of whom Q. Cecilius was the chief, to go and take cognizance of those affairs upon the spot.

Philip still retained the strongest resentment against the Romans, with whom he believed he had just reason to be dissatisfied on many accounts; but particularly, because by the articles of peace, he had not been allowed the liberty of taking vengeance on such of his subjects as had abandoned him during the war. The Romans, however, had endeavoured to console him, by permitting him to invade Athamania, and Amynander the king of that country; by giving up to him some cities of Thessaly, which the Ætolians had seized; by leaving him the possession of Demetrias and all Magnesia; and by not opposing him in his attempts upon Thrace; all which circumstances had somewhat appeased his anger. He continually meditated, however, to take atlvantage of the repose which the peace afforded him, in order to prepare for war, whenever a proper opportunity should

a As M. 3819. Ant. J. C, 185.

b Liv. l. xxxix. n. 2329.

present itself. But the complaints that were made against him at Rome, having been listened to there, revived all his former disgusts.

The three commissioners being arrived at Tempe in Thessaly, an assembly was called there, to which came, on one side, the ambassadors of the Thessalians, of the Perrhœbians and Athamanians; and, on the other, Philip king of Macedon, a circumstance that could not but greatly mortify the pride of so powerful a prince. The ambassadors explained their various complaints against Philip, with greater or less force, according to their different characters and abilities. Some, after excusing themselves for being obliged to plead against him, in favour of their liberty, entreated him to act in regard to them rather as a friend than a master, and to imitate the Romans in that particular, who endeavoured to win over their allies rather by friendship than fear. The rest of the ambassadors, with less reserve and moderation, reproached him to his face, for his injustice, oppression, and usurpation; assuring the commissioners, that in case they did not apply a speedy remedy, the triumphs they had obtained over Philip, and their restoration of liberty to the Grecians inhabiting the countries near Macedonia, would all be rendered ineffectual: that this prince, a like a fiery courser, would never be kept in and restrained, without a very tight rein, and a sharp curb. Philip, that he might assume the air of an accuser rather than of one accused, inveighed heavily against those who had harangued on this occasion, and particularly against the Thessalians. He said, that like slaves, who being made free on a sudden, contrary to all expectations, break into the most injurious exclamations against their masters and benefactors, so they abused, with the ut most insolence, the indulgence of the Romans; being incapable, after enduring a long servitude, of making a prudent and moderate use of the liberty which had been granted them. The commissioners, after hearing the accusations and answers, the circumstances of which I shall omit as little important, and making some particular regulations, did not judge proper at that time to pronounce definitely upon their respective demands.

From thence they went to Thessalonica, to inquire into the affairs relating to the cities of Thrace; and the king, who was very much disgusted, followed them thither. Eumenes's ambassadors said to the commissioners, that if the Romans were resolved to restore the cities of Ænea and a Ut equum sternacem non parentem, frenis asperioribus castigandum esse. Liv. Insolenter et immodice abuti Thessalos indulgentia populi Romani; velut px dințina siti nimis avide meram haurientes libertatem. Ita, servorum modo, præter spem repente manumissorum, licentiam vocis et linguæ experiri, et jac tare sese insectatione et conviciis dominorum. Liv.

Maronea to their liberty, their sovereign was far from having a design to oppose it; but that, if they did not concern themselves in regard to the condition of the cities which had been conquered from Antiochus; in that case, the service which Eumenes and Attalus his father had done Rome seemed to require that they should rather be given up to their master than to Philip, who had no manner of right to them, but had usurped them by open force; that, besides, these cities had been given to Eumenes, by a decree of the ten commissioners whom the Romans had appointed to determine these differences. The Maroneans, who were afterwards heard, inveighed in the strongest terms against the injustice and oppression which Philip's garrison exercised in their city.

Here Philip delivered himself in quite different terms from what he had done before; and directing himself personally to the Romans, declared, that he had long perceived they were fully determined never to do him justice on any occasion. He made a long enumeration of the grievous injurics he pretended to have received from them; the services he had done the Romans on different occasions; and the zeal with which he had always adhered to their interest, so far as to refuse three thousand talents, fifty ships of war completely equipped, and a great number of cities, which Antiochus offered him, upon condition that he would conclude an alliance with him. That, notwithstanding this, he had the mortification to see Eumenes preferred on all occasions, with whom it was too great a condescension to compare himself; and that the Romans, so far from enlarging his dominions, as he thought his services merited, had even dispossessed him, as well of those cities to which he had a lawful claim, as of such as they had bestowed upon him. "You, O Romans," says he, concluding his speech, "are to consider upon what terms 66 you intend to have me be with you. If you are determin"ed to treat me as an enemy, and to urge me to extremities, "in that case, you need only use me as you have hitherto "done: but, if you still revere in my person the title and quality of king, ally, and friend, spare me, I beseech you, the "shame of being treated any longer with so much indignity." The commissioners were moved with this speech of the king. For this reason, they thought it incumbent on them to leave the affair in suspense, by making no decisive answer; and accordingly they declared, that if the cities in question had been given to Eumenes, by the decree of the ten commissioners, as he pretended they were, in that case, it was not in their power to reverse it; that if Philip had acquired them by right of conquest, it was but just that he should be suffered to continue in possession of them: that if neither of these

a About 450,000 sterling,

things should be proved, then the cognizance of this affair should be left to the judgment of the senate; and, in the mean time, the garrisons be drawn out of the cities, each party retaining its pretensions as before.

This regulation, by which Philip was commanded, provisionally, to withdraw his garrisons out of the respective cities, far from satisfying that prince, so entirely discontented and enraged him, that the consequence would certainly have been an open war, if he had lived long enough to prepare for it.

a The commissioners, at their leaving Macedonia, went to Achaia. Aristenes, who was the chief magistrate, assembled immediately all the chiefs of the republic in Argos. Cecilius coming into this council, after having applauded the zeal of the Achæans, and the wisdom of their government on all other occasions, added, that he could not forbear telling them, that their injurious treatment of the Lacedæmonians had been very much censured at Rome; and therefore he exhorted them to amend, as much as lay in their power, what had been done imprudently against them on that occasion. The silence of Aristenes, who did not reply a single word, showed that he was of the same opinion with Cecilius, and that they acted in concert. Diophanes of Megalopolis, a man better skilled in war than politics, and who hated Philopomen, without mentioning the affair of Sparta, made other complaints against him. Upon this, Philopomen, Lycortas, and Archon, began to speak with the utmost vigour in defence of the republic. They showed, that the whole transaction at Sparta had been conducted with prudence, and even to the advantage of the Lacedæmonians: and that no alteration could take place, without violating human laws, as well as the reverence due to the gods. When Cecilius quitted the assembly, the members of it, moved with Philopomen's discourse, came to a resolution, that nothing should be changed in what had been decreed, and that this answer should be made the Roman ambassador.

When it was told Cecilius, he desired that the general assembly of the country might be convened. To this the magistrates replied, that he must first produce a letter from the senate of Rome, by which the Achæans should be desired to meet. As Cecilius had no such letter, they told him plainly, that they would not assemble; which exasperated him to such a degree, that he left Achaia, and would not hear what the magistrates had to say. It was believed that this ambassador (and before him Marcus Fulvius) would not have delivered themselves with so much freedom, had they not been sure that Aristenes and Diophanes were in their inter

a Polyb. in Leg. & xli..p. 853, 854.

est. And, indeed, they were accused of having invited those Romans into that country, purely out of hatred to Philopomen; and accordingly were greatly suspected by the populace. • Cecilius, at his return to Rome, acquainted the senate with whatever had been transacted by him in Greece. After this, the ambassadors of Macedonia and Peloponnesus were brought in. Those of Philip and Eumenes were introduced first, and then the exiles of Enea and Maronea; who all repeated what they had before said in the presence of Cecilius in Thessalonica. The senate after hearing them, sent to Philip other ambassadors, of whom Appius Claudius was the principal, to examine on the spot whether he was withdrawn as he had promised Cecilius) from the cities of Perrhobia; to command him, at the same time, to evacuate Enea and Maronea; and to draw off his troops from all the castles, territories, and cities, which he possessed on the seacoast of Thrace.

They next admitted to audience Apollonidas, the ambassador whom the Achæans had sent to justify their having refused to give an answer to Cecilius; and to inform the senate of all that had been transacted with regard to the Spartans, who on their side had deputed to Rome Areus and Alcibiades, who both were of the number of the first exiles whom Philopomen and the Achæans had restored to their country. The circumstance which most exasperated the Achæans was, to see that, notwithstanding the valuable and recent obligation conferred upon them, they had, however, charged themselves with the odious commission of accusing those who had saved them so unexpectedly, and had procured them the invaluable blessing of returning to their houses and families. Apollonidas endeavoured to prove, that it would be impossible to settle the affairs of Sparta with greater prudence than Philopomen and the rest of the Achæans had done; and they likewise exculpated themselves, for having refused to call a general assembly. On the other side, Areus and Alcibiades represented, in the most affecting manner, the lamentable condition to which Sparta was reduced; its walls were demolished; its citizens dragged into Achaia, and reduced to a state of captivity; the sacred laws of Lycurgus, which had made it subsist during so long a series of years, and with so much glory, had been entirely abolished.

The senate, after weighing and comparing the reasons on both sides, ordered the same ambassadors to inquire into this affair as had been nominated to inspect those of Macedon;

a A. M. 3820. Ant. J. C. 184. Polyb. in Legat. c. xlii Liv. 1. xxxix. n. 33. bBy the decree of the Achæans, it had been enacted, that such slaves as had been adopted among the citizens of Sparta, should leave the city and all Laconia; in default of which, the Acheans were empowered to seize and sell them as slaves, which had accordingly been executed.