2. Polybius, Histories, 5.77-5.79, 5.81, 5.104-5.106 (2nd cent. BCE - 2nd cent. BCE)
| 5.77. 1. Achaeus, now, after subjecting Milyas and the greater part of Pamphylia, departed, and on reaching Sardis continued to make war on Attalus, began to menace Prusias, and made himself a serious object of dread to all the inhabitants on this side of the Taurus.,2. At the time when Achaeus was engaged in his expedition against Selge, Attalus with the Gaulish tribe of the Aegosagae visited the cities in Aeolis and on its borders, which had formerly adhered to Achaeus out of fear.,3. Most of them joined him willingly and gladly, but in some cases force was necessary.,4. The ones which went over to his side on this occasion were firstly Cyme, Smyrna, and Phocaea, Aegae and Temnus subsequently adhering to him in fear of his attack.,5. The Teians and Colophonians also sent embassies delivering up themselves and their cities.,6. Accepting their adhesion on the same terms as formerly and taking hostages, he showed especial consideration to the envoys from Smyrna, as this city had been most constant in its loyalty to him.,7. Continuing his progress and crossing the river Lycus he advanced on the Mysian communities, and after having dealt with them reached Carseae.,8. Overawing the people of this city and also the garrison of Didymateiche he took possession of these places likewise, when Themistocles, the general left in charge of the district by Achaeus, surrendered them to him.,9. Starting thence and laying waste the plain of Apia he crossed Mount Pelecas and encamped near the river Megistus. 5.78. 1. While he was here, an eclipse of the moon took place, and the Gauls, who had all along been aggrieved by the hardships of the march â since they made the campaign accompanied by their wives and children, who followed them in wagons â,2. considering this a bad omen, refused to advance further.,3. King Attalus, to whom they rendered no service of vital importance, and who noticed that they detached themselves from the column on the march and encamped by themselves and were altogether most insubordinate and self-assertive, found himself in no little perplexity.,4. On the one hand he feared lest they should desert to Achaeus and join him in attacking himself, and on the other he was apprehensive of the reputation he would gain if he ordered his soldiers to surround and destroy all these men who were thought to have crossed to Asia relying on pledges he had given them.,5. Accordingly, availing himself of the pretext of this refusal, he promised for the present to take them back to the place where they had crossed and give them suitable land in which to settle and afterwards to attend as far as lay in his power to all reasonable requests they made.,6. Attalus, then, after taking the Aegosagae back to the Hellespont and entering into friendly negotiations with the people of Lampsacus, Alexander Troas, and Ilium, who had all remained loyal to him, returned with his army to Pergamum. 5.79. 1. By the beginning of spring Antiochus and Ptolemy had completed their preparations and were determined on deciding the fate of the Syrian expedition by a battle.,2. Now Ptolemy started from Alexandria with an army of seventy thousand foot, five thousand horse, and seventy-three elephants,,3. and Antiochus, on learning of his advance, concentrated his forces. These consisted first of Daae, Carmanians, and Cilicians, light-armed troops about five thousand in number organized and commanded by Byttacus the Macedonian.,4. Under Theodotus the Aetolian, who had played the traitor to Ptolemy, was a force of ten thousand selected from every part of the kingdom and armed in the Macedonian manner, most of them with silver shields.,5. The phalanx was about twenty thousand strong and was under the command of Nicarchus and Theodotus surnamed Hemiolius.,6. There were Agrianian and Persian bowmen and slingers to the number of two thousand, and with them two thousand Thracians, all under the command of Menedemus of Alabanda.,7. Aspasianus the Mede had under him a force of about five thousand Medes, Cissians, Cadusians, and Carmanians.,8. The Arabs and neighbouring tribes numbered about ten thousand and were commanded by Zabdibelus.,9. Hippolochus the Thessalian commanded the mercenaries from Greece, five thousand in number.,10. Antiochus had also fifteen hundred Cretans under Eurylochus and a thousand Neocretans under Zelys of Gortyna.,11. With these were five hundred Lydian javelineers and a thousand Cardaces under Lysimachus the Gaul.,12. The cavalry numbered six thousand in all, four thousand of them being commanded by Antipater the king's nephew and the rest by Themison.,13. The whole army of Antiochus consisted of sixty-two thousand foot, six thousand horse, and a hundred and two elephants. 5.81. 1. During this time Theodotus made a daring attempt, which, though characteristic of an Aetolian, showed no lack of courage.,2. As from his former intimacy with Ptolemy he was familiar with his tastes and habits, he entered the camp at early dawn with two others.,3. It was too dark for his face to be recognized, and there was nothing to attract attention in his dress and general appearance, as their army also was mixed.,4. He had noticed on previous days the position of the king's tent, as the skirmishes had come up quite near to the camp, and making boldly for it, he passed all the first guards without being noticed and,,5. bursting into the tent in which the king used to dine and transact business, searched everywhere. He failed indeed to find the king, who was in the habit of retiring to rest outside the principal and official tent,,6. but after wounding two of those who slept there and killing the king's physician Andreas, he returned in safety to his own camp, although slightly molested as he was leaving that of the enemy,,7. and thus as far as daring went accomplished his enterprise, but was foiled only by his lack of foresight in omitting to ascertain exactly where the king was in the habit of sleeping. 5.104. 1. "It would be best of all if the Greeks never made war on each other, but regarded it as the highest favour in the gift of the gods could they speak ever with one heart and voice, and marching arm in arm like men fording a river, repel barbarian invaders and unite in preserving themselves and their cities.,2. And if such a union is indeed unattainable as a whole, I would counsel you at the present moment at least to agree together and to take due precautions for your safety, in view of the vast armaments now in the field and the greatness of this war in the west.,3. For it is evident even to those of us who give but scanty attention to affairs of state, that whether the Carthaginians beat the Romans or the Romans the Carthaginians in this war, it is not in the least likely that the victors will be content with the sovereignty of Italy and Sicily, but they are sure to come here and extend their ambitions beyond the bounds of justice.,4. Therefore I implore you all to secure yourselves against this danger, and I address myself especially to King Philip.,5. For you, Sire, the best security is, instead of exhausting the Greeks and making them an easy prey to the invader, on the contrary to take thought for them as for your own body, and to attend to the safety of every province of Greece as if it were part and parcel of your own dominions.,6. For if such be your policy the Greeks will bear you affection and render sure help to you in case of attack, while foreigners will be less disposed to plot against your throne, impressed as they will be by the loyalty of the Greeks to you.,7. If you desire a field of action, turn to the west and keep your eyes on the war in Italy, so that, wisely biding your time, you may some day at the proper moment compete for the sovereignty of the world.,8. And the present times are by no means such as to exclude any hope of the kind.,9. But defer your differences with the Greeks and your wars here until you have repose enough for such matters, and give your whole attention now to the more urgent question, so that the power may still be yours of making war or peace with them at your pleasure.,10. For if once you wait for these clouds that loom in the west to settle on Greece, I very much fear lest we may all of us find these truces and wars and games at which we now play, so rudely interrupted,11. that we shall be fain to pray to the gods to give us still the power of fighting in general with each other and making peace when we will, the power, in a word, of deciding our differences for ourselves. 5.105. 1. Agelaus by this speech made all the allies disposed for peace and especially Philip, as the words in which he addressed him accorded well with his present inclination, Demetrius having previously prepared the ground by his advice.,2. So that they came to an agreement on all the points of detail, and after ratifying the peace the conference broke up, each carrying back to his home peace instead of war.,3. All these events took place in the third year of the 140th Olympiad, â I mean the battle of the Romans in Etruria, that of Antiochus in Coele-Syria and the treaty of the Achaeans and Philip with the Aetolians.,4. It was at this time and at this conference that the affairs of Greece, Italy, and Africa were first brought into contact.,5. For Philip and the leading statesmen of Greece ceased henceforth, in making war and peace with each other, to base their action on events in Greece, but the eyes of all were turned to the issues in Italy.,6. And very soon the same thing happened to the islanders and the inhabitants of Asia Minor.,7. For those who had grievances against Philip and some of the adversaries of Attalus no longer turned to the south and east, to Antiochus and Ptolemy, but henceforth looked to the west, some sending embassies to Carthage and others to Rome,,8. and the Romans also sending embassies to the Greeks, afraid as they were of Philip's venturesome character and guarding themselves against an attack by him now they were in difficulties.,9. Now that I have, as I promised, shown, I think clearly, how, when, and for what reason Greek affairs became involved with those of Italy and Africa,,10. I shall continue my narrative of Greek history up to the date of the battle at Cannae in which the Romans were defeated by the Carthaginians, the decisive event with which I broke off my account of the war in Italy and will thus bring this book to a close, not overstepping the above date. 5.106. 1. As soon as the Achaeans had the war off their shoulders, electing Timoxenus as their strategus and resuming their normal customs and mode of life,,2. they set themselves, like the rest of the Peloponnesian towns, to re-establishing their private fortunes, to repairing the damage done to their lands, and to reviving their traditional sacrifices and festivals and various local religious rites.,3. Such matters had indeed almost sunk into oblivion owing to the late uninterrupted state of war.,4. For somehow or other the Peloponnesians, who are above all men disposed to a quiet and sociable life, have enjoyed less of it in former times at least than any other people, having been rather as Euripides expresses it "aye vexed with toil, their spears never at rest.",5. It is only natural that this should be so, for as they are all naturally both ambitious of supremacy and fond of liberty, they are in a state of constant warfare, none being disposed to yield the first place to his neighbour.,6. The Athenians were now delivered from the fear of Macedonia and regarded their liberty as securely established.,7. Following the policy and inclination of their leading statesmen Eurycleidas and Micion, they took no part in the affairs of the rest of Greece, but were profuse in their adulation of all the kings, and chiefly of Ptolemy,,8. consenting to every variety of decree and proclamation however humiliating, and paid little heed to decency in this respect owing to the lack of judgement of their leaders. |
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