Aratus

For he considered that the Greek states which were weak would be preserved by mutual support when once they had been bound as it were by the common interest, and that just as the members of the body have a common life and breath because they cleave together in a common growth, but when they are drawn apart and become separate they wither away and decay, in like manner the several states are ruined by those who dissever their common bonds, but are augmented by mutual support, when they become parts of a great whole and enjoy a common foresight.

And so, since he saw that the best of the neighbouring peoples were autonomous, and was distressed at the servitude of the Argives, he plotted to kill Aristomachus the tyrant of Argos, being ambitious to restore its freedom to the city as a reward for the rearing it had given him, as well as to attach it to the Achaean League.

Accordingly, men were found to dare the deed, of whom Aeschylus and Charimenes the seer were the chief. They had no swords, however, the tyrant having prohibited the possession of them under heavy penalties. Aratus, therefore, ordered small daggers to be made for them in Corinth and sewed them up in pack-saddles; these he put upon beasts of burden carrying ordinary wares and sent them into Argos.

But Charimenes the seer took on a partner in the enterprise, at which Aeschylus and his friends were incensed and proceeded to act on their own account, ignoring Charimenes. When Charimenes was aware of this, he was angry and informed against the men just as they were setting out to attack the tyrant; most of them, however, succeeded in escaping from the market-place and fled to Corinth.