pounds sterling) and armed two thousand of these Helots after the Macedonian manner, in order to oppose them to the Leucaspides of Antigonus; he then formed an enterprise, which certainly no one could have expected from him. The city of Megalopolis was very considerable at that time, and even not inferior to Sparta in power and extent. Cleomenes concerted measures for surprising this city, and to take it without any opposition; and as Antigonus had sent most of his troops into winter-quarters in Macedonia, while he himself continued at Egium, to assist in the assembly of the Achæans, the king of Sparta justly supposed, that the garrison of the city could not be very strong at that time, nor much upon their guard, as not being apprehensive of any insult from an enemy so weak as himself; and, consequently, that if he proceeded with expedition in his design, Antigonus, who was then at the distance of three days' march from the place, would be incapable of affording it any assistance. The event succeeded according to the plan he had projected; for he arrived at the city by night, scaled the walls, and made himself master of the place without any opposition. Most of the inhabitants retired to Messene, with their wives and children, before their enemies had any thoughts of pur suing them; and Antigonus was not informed of this accident, till it was too late to retrieve it.

Cleomenes, out of a generosity of mind which has few examples in history, sent a herald to Messene to acquaint the people of Megalopolis, that he would restore them their city, provided they would renounce the Achæan league, and enter into a friendship and confederacy with Sparta; but advantageous as this offer seemed, they could not prevail on themselves to accept it, but rather chose to be deprived of their estates, as well as of the monuments of their ancestors, and the temples of their gods; in a word, to see themselves divested of all that was most dear and valuable to them, than to violate the faith they had sworn to their allies. The famous Philopomen, whom we shall frequently have occasion to mention in the sequel of this history, and who was then at Messene, contributed not a little to this generous resolution. Who could ever expect to discover so much greatness of soul, and such noble sentiments, in the very dregs of Greece, for by that name the times of which we now treat may justly be described, when we compare them with the glorious ages of Greece united and triumphant, when even the lustre of its victories was surpassed in the splendour of its virtues!

This refusal of the Megalopolitans highly enraged Cleomenes, who, till the moment he received their answer, had not only spared the city, but had even been careful to pres

vent the soldiers from committing the least disorder; but his anger was then inflamed to such a degree, that he abandoned the place to pillage, and sent all the statues and pictures to his own city. He also demolished the greatest part of the walls, with the strongest quarters in the place, and then marched his troops back to Sparta. The desolation of the city extremely afflicted the Achæans, who considered their inability to assist such faithful allies, as a crime for which they ought to reproach themselves.

This people was soon sensible, that by imploring the aid of Antigonus, they had subjected themselves to an imperious master, who made their liberties the price of his aid. He compelled them to pass a decree, which prohibited them from writing to any king, or sending an embassy without his permission; and he obliged them to furnish provisions and pay for the garrison he had put into the citadel of Corinth, which, in reality, was making them pay for their own chains,for this citadel was the very place which kept them in subjection. They had abandoned themselves to slavery in so abject a manner, as even to offer sacrifices and libations, and exhibit public games in honour of Antigonus; and Aratus was no longer regarded by them. Antigonus set up in Argos all the statues of those tyrants which Aratus had thrown down, and destroyed all those which had been erected in honour of the persons who surprised the citadel of Corinth except one, which was that of Aratus himself; and all the intreaties of this general could not prevail upon the king to desist from such a proceeding, The sight of these transactions gave him the utmost anxiety; but he was no longer master, and suffered a just punishment for subjecting himself and his country to a foreign yoke. After Antigonus had taken the city of Mantinea, and most inhumanly murdered a great number of the citizens, and sold the rest into captivity, he abandoned the place to the Argives, in order to its being repeopled by them, and even charged Aratus with that commission, who had the meanness to call this new inhabited city by the name of him who had shown himself its most cruel enemy. Assad, and, at the same time, a salutary example, which shows that when once a person has consented to stoop to a state of servitude, he sees himself daily compelled to descend lower, without knowing where or how to stop.

a

Aratus, by having himself contributed to load his republic with shackles, was guilty of an unpardonable crime, the enor mity of which no great quality, nor any shining action, can ever extenuate. He acted thus merely through jealousy his rival Cleomenes, whose glory, and the superiority that young prince had obtained over him by the success of his arms,

a Antigonia.

of

were insupportable to him. What, says Plutarch, did Cleomenes demand of the Achæans, as the sole preliminary to the peace he offered them, but merely their election of him as their general? And even that was with a view to the welfare of their cities, and to secure to them the enjoyment of their liberties, as a testimony of his gratitude for so signal an honour, and so glorious a title? If, therefore, continues Plutarch, it had been absolutely necessary for them to have chosen either Cleomenes or Antigonus, or in other words, a Greek, or a Barbarian, for the Macedonians were considered as such; in a word, if they were obliged to have a master, would not the meanest citizen of Sparta have been preferable to the greatest of the Macedonians; at least, in the opinion of those who had any regard to the honour and reputation of Greece? Jealousy, however, extinguished all those sentiments in the mind of Aratus; so difficult is it to behold superior merit with an eye of satisfaction and tranquillity.

Aratus, therefore, that he might not seem to submit to Cleomenes, nor consent that a king of Sparta descended from Hercules, and a king who had lately re-established the ancient discipline of that city, should add to his other titles that of captain-general of the Achæans, called in a stranger, to whom he had formerly professed himself a mortal enemy; in consequence of which he filled Peloponnesus with those very Macedonians whom he had made it his glory to expel from thence in his youth. He even threw himself at their feet, and all Achaia, by his example, fell prostrate before them, as an indication of their promptitude to accomplish the commands of their imperious masters. In a word, from a man accustomed to liberty, he became an abject and servile flatterer; he had the baseness to offer sacrifices to Antigonus, and placed himself at the head of a procession crowned with chaplets of flowers, joining at the same time in hymns to the honour of that prince, and rendering by these low adulations that homage to a mortal man, which none but the Divinity can claim, to a man who then carried death in his bosom, and was ready to sink into putrefaction; for he at that time was reduced to the last extremity by a slow consumption. Aratus was, however, a man of great merit in other respects, and had shown himself to be an extraordinary person, and well worthy of Greece. In him, says Plutarch, we see a deplorable instance of human frailty; which, amidst the lustre of so many rare and excellent qualities, cannot form the model of virtue exempt from all blame.

B

We have already observed, that Antigonus had sent his a Plut, in Cleɔm. p. 816, 817. Polyb. l. i1. p. 149.

troops into winter-quarters in Macedonia. Cleomenes, at the return of spring, formed an enterprise, which in the opinion of the vulgar, was the result of temerity and folly; but, according to Polybius, a competent judge in affairs of that nature, it was concerted with all imaginable prudence and sagacity. As he was sensible that the Macedonians were dispersed in their quarters, and that Antigonus passed the winter season with his friends at Argos, without any other guard than an inconsiderable number of foreign troops; he made an irruption into the territories of Argos in order to lay them waste. He conceived, at the same time, that either Antigonus would be so much affected with the apprehensions of ignominy as to hazard a battle, when he would certainly be defeated; or that, on the other hand, if he should decline fighting, he would lose all his reputation with the Achæans, while the Spartans, on the contrary, would be rendered more daring and intrepid. The event succeeded according to his expectations; for as the whole country was ruined by the devastations of his troops, the people of Argos, in their rage and impatience, assembled in a tumultuous manner at the palace gate, and with a murmuring tone pressed the king either to give their enemies battle, or resign the command of his troops to those who were less timorous than himself. Antigonus, on the other hand, who had so much of the prudence and presence of mind essential to a great general, as to be sensible that the dishonourable part of one in his station, did not consist in hearing himself reproached, but in exposing himself rashly, and without reason, and in quitting certainties for chance, refused to take the field, and persisted in his resolution not to fight. Cleomenes therefore led up his troops to the walls of Argos, and when he had laid the open country waste, marched his army back to Sparta.

This expedition redounded very much to his honour, and obliged even his enemies to confess that he was an excellent general, and a person of the highest merit and capacity in the conduct of the most arduous affairs. In a word, they could never sufficiently admire his manner of opposing the forces of a single city to the whole power of the Macedonians, united with that of all Peloponnesus, notwithstanding the immense supplies which had been furnished by the king; and especially when they considered that he had not only preserved Laconia free from all insults, but had even penetrated into the territories of his enemies, where he ravaged the country, and made himself master of several great cities. This they were persuaded could not be the effect of any ordinary abilities in the art of war, nor of any common magnanimity. A misfortune however unhappily prevented him

from reinstating Sparta in her ancient power, as will be evident in the sequel.

SECT. V.

Battle of Selasia, wherein Antigonus defeats Cleomenes. A great earthquake at Rhodes.

a The Macedonians and Achæans having quitted their quarters on the approach of summer, Antigonus put himself at the head of them, and advanced into Laconia. His army was composed of twenty-eight thousand foot, and twelve hundred horse; but that of Cleomenes did not amount to more than twenty thousand men. As the latter of these two princes expected an irruption from the enemy, he had fortified all the passes, by posting detachments of his troops in them, and by throwing up intrenchments, and cutting down trees, after which he formed his camp at Selasia. He imagined, and with good reason, that the enemies would endeavour to force a passage into the country through this avenue, in which he was not deceived. This defile was formed by two mountains, one of which had the name of Eva, and the other that of Olympus. The river Oeneus ran between them, on the banks of which was the road to Sparta. Cleomenes having thrown up a strong intrenchment at the foot of these mountains, posted his brother Euclidas on the eminence of Eva, at the head of the allies, and planted himself on Olympus, with the Lacedæmonians, and a party of the foreign troops, placing, at the same time, along each bank of the river, a detachment of the cavalry, and foreign auxiliaries.

Antigonus, when he arrived there, saw all the passes fortified, and was sensible, by the manner in which Cleomenes had posted his troops, that he had neglected no precaution either for defending himself or attacking his enemies, and that he had formed his camp into such an advantageous disposition, as rendered all approaches to it extremely difficult. All this abated his ardour for a battle, and caused him to encamp at a small distance, where he had an opportunity of covering his troops with a rivulet. He continued there for several days, in order to view the situation of the different posts, and sound the disposition of the nations who composed the enemy's army. Sometimes he seemed to be forming designs, which kept the enemy in suspense how to act. They however were always upon their guard, and their situation secured them from insults in any quarter. At last both sides resolved upon a decisive battle.

A. M. 3781. Ant. J. C. 223. Polyb. 1. ii p. 150-154. Plut. in Cleom. p 318,819. Ibid. in Philop. p. 358.