those which can endear a king to his people; such as a lively genius, an happy memory, easy elocution, and an unaffected grace in all his actions; a beautiful aspect, heightened by a noble and majestic air, which struck the beholders with awe and respect; a sweetness of temper, affability, and a desire to please universally; to finish the picture, a valour, an intrepidity, and an experience in war, which far exceeded his years: So that one can hardly conceive the strange alteration that afterwards appeared in his morals and behaviour.

Philip having possessed himself of Aliphera, a very strong city, the greatest part of the people of that country, astonished at the rapidity of his conquests, and weary of the Etolian tyranny, submitted to his arms. Thus he soon made himself master of all Triphylia.

2 At this time, Chilo the Lacedæmonian, pretending he had a better right to the crown than Lycurgus, on whose head they had placed it, resolved to dispossess him of it and set it on his own. Having engaged in his party about two hundred citizens, he entered the city ina forcible manner, killed the Ephori who were at table together, and marched directly towards Lycurgus's house, intending to kill him; but hearing the tumult, he had made his escape. Chilo then went into the great square of the city, exhorted the citizens to recover their liberty; making them, at the same time the greatest promises. Seeing, however, that he could make no impression on them, and that he had failed of his blow, he sentenced himself to banishment, and retired to Achaia. It is surprising to see Sparta, formerly so jealous of its liberty, and mistress of all Greece till the battle of Leuctra, now filled with tumults and insurrections, and ignominiously subjected to a kind of tyrants, that before could not so much as suffer the name. Such were the effects of their having violated Ly. z Idem. p. 343, 344

7 Polyb. 1. iv. p. 339-3428

275

curgus's laws; and especially their introducing gold and silver into Sparta, which drew after them, by insensible degrees, the lust of power, avarice, pride, luxury, effeminacy, immorality, and all those vices which are generally inseparable from riches,

Philip, being arrived at Argos, spent the rest of the winter there. Apelles had not yet laid aside the design he meditated of enslaving the Achæans. But Aratus, for whom the king had a very particular regard, and in whom he reposed the highest confidence, was an invincible obstacle to his project. He therefore resolved, if possible, to get rid of him; for this purpose he sent privately for all those who were his secret enemies, and used his utmost endeavours to gain them the prince's favour. After this, in all his discourses with him, he hinted, that so long as Aratus should enjoy any authority in the republic of the Achæans, he (Philip) would have no power; and would be as much subject to their laws and usages as the meanest of their citizens; whereas, were he to raise to the chief administration of affairs some person who might be entirely dependent on him, he then might act as sovereign, and govern others, instead of being himself governed. The new friends inforced these reflections, and refined on the arguments of Apelles. This idea of despotic power pleased the young king; and indeed it is the strongest temptation that can be laid in the way of princes. Accordingly he went for that purpose to Ægium, where the assembly of the states was held for the election of a new general; and prevailed so far by his promises and menaces, that he got Philoxenus, whom Aratus had declared duly elected, excluded; and obliged them to make choice of Eperatus, who was his direct enemy. Implicitly devoted to the will of his prime minister, he did not perceive that he degraded himself in the most ignominious manner; nothing being more ahhorrent to free assemblies,

Polyb. 1. iv. p. 344-349.

such as those of Greece, than to make the least attempt in violation of the freedom of elections.

A person being chosen entirely unworthy of the post, as is commonly the case in all forced elections, Eperatus, having neither merit nor experience, was universally despised. As Aratus intermeddled no longer in public affairs, nothing was well done, and all things were hastening to their ruin. Philip, who was blamed for all miscarriages, became sensible that very pernicious counsels had been given him. Upon this, he again had recourse to Aratus, and re-instated him entirely in his friendship and confidence; and perceiving that after this step his affairs flourished visibly, and that his reputation and power increased daily, he would not make use of any counsel, but that of Aratus, as the only man to whom he owed all his grandeur and glory. Who would not imagine, after such evident and repeated proofs, on one side of Aratus's innocence, and on the other of Apelles's black malice, that Philip would have been undeceived for ever; and have been fully sensible which of the two had the most sincere zeal to his service? The sequel, however, will shew, that jealousy never dies but with the object that excited it; and that princes seldom overcome prejudices grateful to their authority.

A new proof of this soon appeared. As the inhabitants of Elis refused the advantageous conditions which Philip offered them by one Amphidamus, Apelles hinted to him, that so unreasonable a refusal was owing to the ill services which Aratus did him clandestinely, though outwardly he pretended to have his interest very much at heart: That he alone had kept Amphidamus from enforcing as he ought to have done, and as he had engaged to do, to the inhabitants of Elis, the offers which the king made them: And on this foundation he invented a long story, and named several witnesses. however, was so just, as to insist upon his prime minister's repeating these accusations in presence of

The king,

he man whom he charged with them: and this Apelles did not scruple to do, and that with such an air of assurance or rather impudence, as might have disconcerted the most virtuous man. He even added, that the king would lay this affair before the council of the Achæans, and leave to them the decision of it. This was what he wanted; firmly persuaded, that by the authority he had there, he should not fail to get him condemned. Aratus, in making his defence, began by beseeching the king, not to give too much credit to the several things laid to his charge. That a justice which a king, more than any other man, owed to a person accused, was to command that a strict inquiry be made into the several articles of the accusation, and till then to suspend his judgment. In consequence of this he required, that Apelles should be obliged to produce his witnesses; him, especially from whom he pretended to have heard the several particulars laid to his charge; and that they should omit none of the methods used and prescribed in stating a fact before it was laid before the public council. The king thought Aratus's demand very just and reasonable, and promised it should be complied with. However, the time passed on, and Apelles did not prepare to give in his proofs: But how would it have been possible for him to do that? An unforeseen accident brought Amphidamus, by a kind of chance, to the city of Dyma, whither Philip was come to settle some affairs. Aratus snatched the opportunity; and begged the king himself to take cognizance of this matter. He complied with Aratus's request, and found that there was not the least grounds for the charge. Accordingly Aratus was pronounced innocent, but without any punishment being inflicted on the calumniator.

This impunity emboldened him the more; so that he continued his secret intrigues, in order to remove those who gave him the least umbrage. Besides Apelles, there were four other persons who divided the chief offices of the crown among them, and at

An

the same time enjoyed the king's confidence. tigonus had appointed them by his will, and assigned each of them his employment. His principal view in this choice was, to prevent those cabals which are almost inseparable from the minority of an infant prince. Two of these noblemen, Leontius and Megaleas, were entirely at the devotion of Apelles; but as to the two other, Taurion and Alexander, he had not the same ascendant over them; the former of the two last presided over the affairs of Peloponnesus, and the second had the command of the guards. Now the prime minister wanted to give their employments to noblemen on whom he could entirely rely, and who would be as much devoted to his views as he could wish them. However, he behaved in a different manner toward them: For, says Polybius, courtiers have the art of moulding themselves into all shapes, and employ either praise or slander to gain their ends. Whenever Taurion was mentioned, Apelles would applaud his merit, his courage, his experience; and speak of him as a man worthy of the king's more intimate confidence: He did this in the view of detaining him at court, and procuring the government of Peloponnesus (a place of great importance, and which required the presence of the person invested with it) for one of his creatures. Whenever Alexander was the subject of the discourse, he represented him in the most odious colours to the king, and even endeavoured to render his fidelity suspected; in order to remove him from court, that his post might be given to some person who might depend entirely on him. Polybius will show hereafter, what was the result of all these secret machinations. He only hints in this place, that Apelles was at last taken in his own snare, and met with the treatment he was preparing for others. But we shall firft see him commit the blackest and most abominable injustice in the person of Aratus, and even extend his criminal designs to the king himself,