been appointed their general, in conjunction with king Attalus, advanced to meet him as far as Lamia 4. Pyrrhias had been joined by the troops which Attalus and Sulpitius had sent him. Philip defeated him twice; and the Ætolians were obliged to shut themselves up in Lamia. As to Philip, he retired to Phalara with his army.

During his stay there, ambassadors came from Ptolemy king of Egypt, from the Rhodians, the Athenians, and the inhabitants of Chios; all with instructions to use their utmost endeavours for re-establishing a lasting peace between Philip and the Ætolians. It was not so much out of good will towards the latter, as from the uneasiness they were under in seeing Philip engage so strenuously in the affairs of Greece, which might render him more powerful than suited their interests. For his conquests over the Etolians, and their confederates, paved the way for his subjecting all Greece, to which his predecessors had always aspired, and even gave him access to those cities (out of Egypt) which Ptolemy possessed. Philip, however, suspended the debates on the peace, till the next assembly of the Achæans; and in the mean time granted the Ætolians a truce for thirty days. Being come into the assembly, the Ætolians made such very unreasonable proposals, as took away all hopes of an accommodation. Philip, offended that the vanquished should take upon them to prescribe laws to him, declared, that in coming to the assembly, he had not depended in any manner on the justice and sincerity of the Ætolians, but that he was very glad to convince his allies, that he himself was sincerely desirous of peace; and that the Ætolians were the only people who opposed it. He set out from thence, after having left four thousand troops to defend the Achæans, and went to Argos, where the Nemean games were going to be exhibited, the splendour of which he was desirous of augmenting by his presence.

While he was busied in solemnizing these games, Sulpitius having set out from Naupactum, and landed between Sicyon and Corinth, laid waste all the open country. Philip > upon this news left the games, marched with speed against the enemy, and meeting them laden with spoils, put them to flight, and pursued them to their ships. Being returned to the games, he was received with universal applause; and particularly, because he had laid down his diadem and robes of state, and mixed indiscriminately with the rest of the spectators; a very pleasing as well as soothing sight to the inhabitants of free cities. But as his unaffected and popular behaviour had gained him the love of all, so his enormous excesses soon made him odious. It was now his custom to b A city of Thessaly.

a A city of Thessaly in Phthiotis. VOE. VI.

V

go at night into people's houses in a plebeian dress, and there practise every kind of licentiousness. It was not safe for fathers and husbands to oppose him on these occasions, for fear of being murdered.

Some days after the solemnization of the games, Philip, with the Achæans, whose captain-general was Cycliadus, having crossed the river of Larissa, advances as far as the eity of Elis, which had received an Ætolian garrison. The first day he laid waste the neighbouring lands; afterwards he drew near the city in battle array, and caused some bodies of horse to advance to the gates, to induce the Etolians to make a sally. Accordingly they came out; but Philip was greatly surprised to find some Roman soldiers among them. Sulpitius having left Naupactum with fifteen gallies, and landed four thousand men, had entered the city of Elis in the night. a The fight was very bloody. Demophantes, general of the cavalry of Elis, seeing Philopomen, who commanded that of the Achæans, advanced out of the ranks, and spurred toward him with great impetuosity. The lat ter waited for him with the utmost resolution; and preventing his blow, laid him dead, with a thrust of his pike, at his horse's feet. Demophantes being thus fallen, his cavalry fled. I mentioned Philopomen before, and shall have occasion to speak more particularly of him hereafter. On the other side, the infantry of Elis had fought with advantage. And now the king, perceiving that his troops began to give way, spurred his horse into the midst of the Roman foot. His horse being wounded with a javelin, threw him. It was then the battle grew furious, both sides making extraordinary efforts; the Romans to take Philip prisoner, and the Macedonians to save him. The king signalized his courage on this occasion, having been obliged to fight a long time on foot, in the midst of the cavalry, and a great slaughter was made in this engagement. At last, being carried off by his soldiers, and remounted on another horse, he retired. The king encamped about five miles from that place; and the next day, having attacked a castle, in which a great number of peasants, with all their flocks, were retired, he took four thousand prisoners, and twenty thousand head of cattle of all sorts; an advantage which might console him for the affront he had lately received at Elis.

That instant advice was brought him, that the Barbarians had made an incursion into Macedonia; upon which he immediately set out, to defend his country, having left with the allies a detachment from his army of two thousand five hundred men, Sulpitius retired with his fleet to Ægina, where he joined king Attalus, and passed the winter. Some time after

a Plut. in Philop p. 360.

the Achæans gave the Etolians and the people of Elis battle near Messene, in which they had the advantage. SECT. V.-Education and great qualities of Philopamen.

Philopomen, of whom large mention will be made hereafter, was of Megalopolis, a city of Arcadia, in Peloponnesus. He was nobly educated by Cassander of Mantinea, who, after his father's death, out of gratitude for the important services he had received from him, undertook to be guardian and governor to his son Philopomen.

Being come to years of discretion, he was put under the care of Ecdemus and Demophanes, citizens of Megalopolis, who had been scholars to Arcesilaus, founder of the New Academy. The scope of philosophy in those days was, to prompt mankind to serve their country; and by its precepts, to enable them to govern republics, and transact the greatest affairs of state. This was the inestimable advantage the two philosophers in question procured Philopomen, and rendered him the common blessing of Greece. And, indeed, as it is said that mothers love those children best which they bring forth when advanced in years, Greece, as having given birth to Philopomen in her old age, and after having produced so many illustrious personages, had a singular affection for him, and took a pleasure in enlarging his power, in proportion as his fame increased. He was called the last of the Greeks, as Brutus was afterwards called the last of the Romans. Undoubtedly to imply, that Greece, after Philopomen, had produced no great man worthy of her ancient glory.

Having formed himself upon the model of Epaminondas, he copied admirably his prudence in debating and resolving upon affairs; his activity and boldness in executing; and his perfect disinterestedness; but as to his gentleness, patience, and moderation, with regard to the feuds and divisions which usually break out in a state, these he could never imitate. A certain spirit of contention, which resulted naturally from his head-strong and fiery temper, had qualified him better for the military than political virtues.

And, indeed, from his infancy, the only class of people he loved was soldiers; and he took a delight only in such exercises as were necessary to qualify him for the profession of arms; such as fighting in armour, riding, and throwing the javelin. And as he seemed, by his muscles and stature, to be very well made for wrestling, and some particular friends advising him to apply himself to it, he asked them, whether this exercise of the athlete contributed to the making a man the better soldier? His friends could not help answering, that the life of the athlete, who were obliged to observe a

a Plut. in Philop. p. 356-36r.

fixed and regular regimen; to eat a certain food, and that always at stated hours; and to devote a certain number of hours to sleep, in order to preserve their robustness, in which the greatest part of their merit consisted; that this way of life, I say, differed entirely from that of soldiers, who frequently are obliged to submit to hunger and thirst, cold and heat; and have not always fixed hours either for eating or sleeping. From thenceforth he conceived the highest contempt for the athletic exercises; looking upon them as of no service to the public, and considering them, from that instant, as unworthy a man of any elevation of soul, happiness of talents, or love for his country.

The moment he quitted his governors and masters, he entered among the troops which the city of Megalopolis sent to make incursions into Laconia, in order to plunder and bring off from thence cattle and slaves. And in all these inroads, he was ever the first that marched out, and the last who came in.

During the intervals in which there were no troops in the field, he used to employ his leisure in hunting, to make himself robust and nimble: or else used to spend his hours in cultivating the ground, having a fine estate three miles from the city, whither he used to retire very frequently after dinner or supper. At night he would throw himself on a bed of straw, like one of his slaves, and thus pass the night. The next morning, by day-break, he used to go with his winedressers, and work in the vineyard, or follow the plough with his peasants. After this, it was his custom to return to the city, and employ himself in public affairs with his friends and the magistrates.

Whatever he got in war, he expended either in horses and arms, or employed it in ransoming the citizens who had been taken prisoners. He endeavoured to increase his estate, by improving his lands, which of all profits is the most lawful; and was not satisfied with barely visiting it now and then, and merely for diversion, but devoted his whole care to it; persuaded that nothing is more worthy of a man of probity and honour, than to improve his own fortune, provided he does not injure that of his neighbour.

I must intreat my readers, in order for them to form a right judgment of Philopomen, to convey themselves in imagination back to the ages I am speaking of, and to call to mind with what industry all well-governed nations, as the Hebrews, Persians, Greeks, and Romans, applied themselves to the tilling of land and manual labour; and the high esteem in which such exercises were had in those ages. It was universally known that the Romans, after having gained signal victories, and alighted from the triumphal car,

crowned with laurels and glory, returned immediately to their farms, whence they had been elected to command armies; and went to guide the plough and oxen with the same hands which had just before vanquished and defeated their enemies. According to our customs and way of thinking, the exercises above mentioned are very low and contemptible; but it is our misfortune that they should be thought so. Luxury, by corrupting our manners, has vitiated our judg ments. It makes us consider as great and valuable, what really in itself deserves nothing but contempt; and it affixes, on the contrary, an idea of contempt and meanness to things of solid beauty and real greatness.

Philopomen was very fond of the conversation of philosophers, and read their works with the greatest satisfaction; however, he did not read them all without distinction, but such only as could contribute to his improvement in virtue. Of all the great ideas in Homer, he sought and retained such only as exalt the courage, and excite to great exploits; and that poet abounds with ideas of this kind, no writer having ever painted valour in such strong and lively colours. But the other works in which Philopamen delighted most, were those of Evangelus, called the Tactics, that is, the art of drawing up troops in battle array; and the histories of Alexander the Great: for it was his opinion, that words should always have reference to actions, and theory to practice; and he had very little regard for those books that are written merely to satisfy a vain curiosity, or furnish a rapid and transient amusement.

After he had read the precepts and rules of the Tactics, he did not value the seeing demonstrations of them in plans drawn upon paper, but used to make the application on the spot, in the several places he came to: for in his marches he used to observe exactly the position of the hills and vallies; all the irregularities of the ground; the several different forms and figures which battalions and squadrons are obliged to take by rivulets, floods, and defiles in their way, which oblige them to close or extend themselves; and after having reflected seriously on these particulars, he would discourse on them with those in his company.

He was in his thirtieth year when Cleomenes, king of Sparta, attacked Megalopolis. We have seen what courage and greatness of soul he displayed on that occasion. He signalised himself no less, some months after, in the battle of Selasia, where Antigonus gained a famous victory over the same Cleomenes. The king of Macedon, charmed with such exalted merit, to which he himself had been witness, made him very advantageous offers, to attach him to his service. However, so great was his love for his country