(Πολύβιος), literary.
1. The historian, was the son of Lycortas, and a native of Megalopolis, a city in Arcadia. The year in which he was born is uncertain. Suidas (s. v.) places his birth in the reign of Ptolemy Euergetes, who died in B. C. 222. It is certain, however, that Polybius could not have been born so early as that year; for he tells us himself (25.7) that he was appointed ambassador to Egypt along with his father and the younger Aratus in B. C. 181, at which time he had not yet attained the legal age, which he himself tells us (29.9), was thirty among the Achaeans. But if he was born, according to Suidas, before the death of Ptolemy Euergetes, he must then have been forty years of age. In addition to which, if any other proof were needed, it is impossible to believe that he could have taken the active part in public affairs which he did after the fall of Corinth in B. C. 146, if he was born so early as Suidas alleges. We may therefore, without much improbability, suppose with Casaubon that he was born about B. C. 204, since he would in that case have been about twenty-five at the time of his appointment to the Egyptian embassy.
Lycortas, the father of Polybius, was one of the most distinguished men of the Achaean league ; and his son therefore received the advantages of his training in political knowledge and the military art. He must also have reaped great benefit from his intercourse with Philopoemen, who was a friend of his father's, and on whose death, in B. C. 182, Lycortas was appointed general of the league. At the funeral of Philopoemen in this year Polybius carried the urn in which his ashes were deposited. (Plut. Philpoem. 21, An seni gerunda sit respubl. p. 790, &c.) In the following year, as we have already seen, Polybius was appointed one of the ambassadors to Egypt, but he did not leave Greece, as the intention of sending an embassy was abandoned. From this time he probably began to take part in public affairs, and he appears to have soon obtained great influence among his countrymen. When the war broke out between the Romans and Perseus king of Macedonia, it became a grave question with the Achaeans what line of policy they should adopt. The Roman party in the league was headed by Callicrates, an unprincipled timeserving sycophant, who recognized no law but the will of Rome. He was opposed by Lycortas and his friends : and the Roman ambassadors, Popillius and Octavius, who came into Peloponnesus at the beginning of B. C. 169, had complained that some of the most influential men in the league were unfaivourable to the Roman cause and had denounced by name Lycortas, Archon, and Polybius. The more moderate party, who did not wish to sacrifice their national independence, and who yet dreaded a contest with the Romans from the consciousness of their inability to resist the power of the latter, were divided in opinion as to the course of action. Lycortas strongly recommended them to preserve a strict neutrality, since they could hope to gain nothing from either party; but Archon and Polybius thought it more advisable not to adopt such a resolution, but to be guided by circumstances, and if necessary to offer assistance to the Romans. These views met with the approval of the majority of the party; and accordingly, in B. C. 169, Archon was appointed strategus of the league, and Polybius commander of the cavalry, to carry these views into execution. The Achaeans shortly after passed a decree, placing all their forces at the disposal of the Roman consul, Q. Marcius Philippus ; and Polybius was sent into Macedonia to learn the pleasure of the consul. Marcius, however, declined their assistance for the present. (Plb. 28.3, 6.) In the following year, B. C. 168, the
After the fall of Perseus and the conquest of Macedonia, two Roman commissioners, C. Claudius and Cn. Dolabella, visited Peloponnesus, for the purpose of advancing the Roman interests in the south of Greece. At the instigation of Callicrates, they commanded that 1000 Achaeans should be carried to Rome, to answer the charge of not having assisted the Romans against Perseus. This number included all the best and noblest part of the nation, and among them was Polybius. They arrived in Italy in B. C. 167, but, instead of being put upon their trial, they were distributed among the Etruscan towns. Polybiiis was more fortunate than his other companions in misfortune. He had probably become acquainted in Macedonia with Aemilius Paulus, or his sons Fabius and Scipio, and the two young men now obtained permission from the praetor for Polybius to reside at Rome in the house of their father Paulus. Scipio was then eighteen years of age, and soon became warmly attached to the illustrious exile, and availed himself of his advice and assistance, both in his private studies and his public life. The friendship thus formed between the young Roman noble and the Greek exile was of great advantage to both parties ; Scipio was accompanied by his friend in all his military expeditions, and received much advantage tage from the experience and knowledge of the latter; while Polybius, besides finding a liberal patron and protector in his exile, was able by his means to obtain access to public documents, and accumulate materials for his great historical work (Plb. 32.9, &c.; Paus. 7.10).
The Achaean exiles remained in Italy seventeen years. The Achaeans had frequently sent embassies to the senate supplicating the trial or release of their countrymen, but always without success. Even their earnest entreaty, that Polybius and Stratius alone might be set at liberty, had been refused. At length, in B. C. 151, Scipio exerted his influence with Cato the Censor to get him to support the restoration of the exiles, and the authority of the latter carried the point, though not without a hard struggle and a protracted debate in the senate. After their restoration had been decreed, Polybius was anxious to obtain from the senate on behalf of himself and his countrymen the additional favour of being reinstated in the honours which they had formerly enjoyed; but upon consulting Cato, the old man bade him, with a smile, beware of returning, like Ulysses, to the Cyclop's den, to fetch away any trifles he had left behind him. (Plb. 35.6; Plut. Cat. Ma. 9; Paus. 7.10.) Polybius returned to Peloponnesus in this year with the other Achaean exiles, who had been reduced during their banishment from 1000 to 300. During his stay in Greece, which was, however, not long, he exhorted his countrymen to peace and unanimity, and endeavoured to counteract the mad projects of the party who were using every effort to hurry the Achacans into a hopeless struggle with the Roman power. When it was too late, the Achaeans saw and recognised the wisdom of his advice; and a statue erected to his honour bore on its pedestal the inscription, "that Hellas would have been saved, if the advice of Polybius had been followed" (Paus. 8.37.2). In the first year of the third Punic war, B. C. 149, the consul M'. Manilius sent for Polybius to attend him at Lilybaeum, but upon reaching Corcyra, he heard from the consuls that the Carthaginians had given hostages, tages, and thinking, therefore, that the war was at an end, and that his presence was no longer needed, he returned to Peloponnesus (Polyb. Exc. Vatican. p. 447). But he soon left it again in order to join Scipio. His Roman connections probably made him an object of suspicion with what was called the independent party; and his residence in his native country may therefore have been not very pleasant to him. In addition to which he was no doubt anxious to be a spectator of the final struggle which was now going on between Rome and Carthage, and the history of which he intended to write.
Polybius was present with Scipio at the destruction of Carthage, B. C. 146 (Appian, App. Pun. 132) ; and immediately after that event he hurried to Greece, where the Achaeans were waging a mad and hopeless war against the Romans. Whether he was present at the capture of Corinth may well be questioned, and it is probable, as Thirlwall (Hist. of Grecce, vol. viii. p. 455, note 3) has remarked, that he would not have hastened to Peloponnesus till the struggle was over. He must, however, have arrived there soon afterwards; and he exerted all his influence to alleviate the misfortunes of his countrymen, and to procure favourable terms for them. As a friend of Scipio, the conqueror of Carthage, he was received with marked distinction; and the want of patriotism with which his enemies had charged him, enabled him now to render his country far more effectual service than he could otherwise have done. The statues of Philopoemen and Aratus, which the Roman commissioners had ordered to be conveyed to Italy, were allowed, at his intercession, to remain in Peloponnesus. So much respect did the commissioners pay him, that when they quitted the country in the spring of B. C. 145, after arranging its affairs, and reducing it to the form of a Roman province, they ordered him to visit the various cities, and explain the new laws and constitution. In the execution of this duty, Polybius spared no pains or trouble. He traversed the whole country, and with indefatigable zeal he drew up laws and political institutions for the different cities, and decided disputes that had arisen between them. He further obtained from the Romans a relaxatio n of some of the most severe enactments which had been made against the conquered Achaeans. His grateful fellow-countrymen acknowledged the great services he had rendered them, and statues were erected to his honour at Megalopolis, Mantineia, Pallantium, Tegea, and other places. (Plb. 40.8_10; Paus. 8.9, 30, 37, 44, 48.)