Aratus

As for Aratus, he at once made himself master of the temple of Hera and the harbour of Lechaeum; he also seized five-and-twenty of the king’s ships, and sold five hundred horses and four hundred Syrians; Acrocorinthus, too, was garrisoned by the Achaeans with four hundred men-at-arms, and fifty dogs with as many keepers were maintained in the citadel.

Now the Romans, in their admiration of Philopoemen, call him the last of the Greeks, implying that no great man arose among the Greeks after him; but I should say that this capture of Acrocorinthus was the very last and latest achievement of the Greeks, and that it rivalled their best, not only in daring, but also in happy results, as events at once showed.

For Megara seceded from Antigonus and attached herself to Aratus; Troezen and Epidaurus were enrolled in the Achaean League; and Aratus, making a distant expedition for the first time, invaded Attica, and crossing the strait plundered Salamis, his Achaean forces, as though released from prison, obeying his every wish. But the freemen among his prisoners he sent back to the Athenians without ransom, thus laying a foundation for their revolt from Antigonus.

He also made Ptolemy an ally of the Achaeans, with the leadership in war on land and sea. And he was so influential among the Achaeans that, since it was not permissible every year, they chose him general every other year, though, in fact, his wisdom made him their leader all the time. For they saw that he put first and foremost, not wealth, not fame, not friendship with kings, not his own native city’s advantage, but only the growth in power of the Achaean League.