At this time the Achaeans brought the Lacedaemonians into the Achaean confederacy, exacted from them the strictest justice, and razed the walls of Sparta to the ground. These had been built at haphazard at the time of the invasion of Demetrius, and afterwards of the Epeirots under Pyrrhus, but under the tyranny of Nabis they had been strengthened to the greatest possible degree of safety. So the Achaeans destroyed the walls of Sparta, and also repealed the laws of Lycurgus that dealt with the training of the youths, at the same time ordering the youths to be trained after the Achaean method.

I shall treat of this more fully in my account of Arcadia.See Paus. 8.51. The Lacedaemonians, deeply offended by the ordinances of the Achaeans, fled to Metellus and the other commissioners who had come from Rome. They had come, not at all to bring war upon Philip and the Macedonians, as peace had already been made between Philip and the Romans, but to judge the charges brought against Philip by the Thessalians and certain Epeirots.

In actual fact Philip himself and the Macedonian ascendancy had been put down by the Romans; Philip fighting against the Romans under Flamininus was worsted at the place called Dog's Heads197 B.C., where in spite of his desperate efforts Philip was so severely defeated in the encounter that he lost the greater part of his army and agreed with the Romans to evacuate all the cities in Greece that he had captured and forced to submit.

By prayers of all sorts, however, and by vast expenditure he secured from the Romans a nominal peace. The history of Macedonia, the power she won under Philip the son of Amyntas, and her fall under the later Philip, were foretold by the inspired Sibyl. This was her oracle:—

Ye Macedonians, boasting of your Argive kings,To you the reign of a Philip will be both good and evil.The first will make you kings over cities and peoples;The younger will lose all the honor,Defeated by men from west and east.Now those who destroyed the Macedonian empire were the Romans, dwelling in the west of Europe, and among the allies fighting on their side was Attalus . . . who also commanded the army from Mysia, a land lying under the rising sun.

On the occasion to which I referred Metellus and the other commissioners resolved not to overlook the Lacedaemonians and the Achaeans, and asked the officers of the League to summon the Achaeans to a meeting, so that they might receive all together instructions to be gentler in their treatment of Lacedaemon. The officers replied that they would call a meeting of the Achaeans neither for them nor for anyone else who had not a decree of the Roman senate approving the proposal for which the assembly was to be held. Metellus and his colleagues, thinking that the conduct of the Achaeans was very insolent, on their arrival at Rome made before the senate many accusations against the Achaeans, not all of which were true.

More accusations still against the Achaeans were made by Areus and Alcibiadas, Lacedaemonians of great distinction at Sparta but ungrateful to the Achaeans. For the Achaeans gave them a welcome when exiled by Nabis, and on the tyrant's death restored them to Sparta against the will of the Lacedaemonian people. On this occasion, therefore, they too arose and attacked the Achaeans with great vehemence before the senate; accordingly, the Achaeans, at a meeting of their League, passed sentence of death upon them.

The Roman senate sent Appius and other commissioners to arbitrate between the Lacedaemonians and the Achaeans. The mere sight of Appius and his colleagues was sure to be displeasing to the Achaeans, for they brought with them Areus and Alcibiadas, detested by the Achaeans at that time beyond all other men. The commissioners vexed the Achaeans yet more when they came to the assembly and delivered speeches more angry than conciliatory.

But Lycortas of Megalopolis, than whom no man was more highly esteemed among the Arcadians, and whose friendship with Philopoemen had given him something of his spirit, set forth the case for the Achaeans in a speech suggesting that the Romans were somewhat to blame. But Appius and his colleagues greeted the speech of Lycortas with jeers, acquitted Areus and Alcibiadas of any offence against the Achaeans, and permitted the Lacedaemonians to send an embassy to Rome. Such permission was a contravention of the agreement between the Romans and the Achaeans, which allowed the Achaeans as a body to send a deputation to the Roman senate but forbade any city of the Achaean League to send a deputation privately.

A deputation of the Achaeans was sent to oppose the Lacedaemonians, and after speeches had been delivered by both sides before the senate, the Romans again despatched the same commissioners, Appius and his former colleagues in Greece, to arbitrate between the Lacedaemonians and the Achaeans. This commission restored to Sparta those whom the Achaeans had exiled, and they remitted the penalties inflicted by the Achaeans on those who had fled before their trial and had been condemned in their absence. The Lacedaemonian connection with the Achaean League was not broken, but foreign courts were established to deal with capital charges; all other charges were to be submitted for judgment to the Achaean League. The circuit of the city walls was restored by the Spartans right from the foundations.

The restored Lacedaemonian exiles carried on various intrigues against the Achaeans, hoping to vex them most by the following plot. They persuaded to go up to Rome the exiles of the Achaeans, along with the Messenians who had been held to be involved in the death of Philopoemen and banished on that account by the Achaeans. Going up with them to Rome they intrigued for the restoration of the exiles. As Appius was a zealous supporter of the Lacedaemonians and opposed the Achaeans in everything, the plans of the Messenian and Achaean exiles were bound to enjoy an easy success. Despatches were at once sent by the senate to Athens and Aetolia, with instructions to bring back the Messenians and Achaeans to their homes.

This caused the greatest vexation to the Achaeans. They bethought themselves of the injustice they had suffered at the hands of the Romans, and how all their services had proved of no avail; to please the Romans they had made war against Philip, against the Aetolians and afterwards against Antiochus, and after all there was preferred before them a band of exiles, whose hands were stained with blood. Nevertheless, they decided to give way.

Such were the events that took place on this occasion. The most impious of all crimes, the betrayal for private gain of fatherland and fellow-citizens, was destined to be the beginning of woes for the Achaeans as for others, for it has never been absent from Greece since the birth of time. In the reign of Dareius, the son of Hystaspes, the king of Persia494 B.C., the cause of the Ionians was ruined because all the Samian captains except eleven betrayed the Ionian fleet.

After reducing Ionia the Persians enslaved Eretria also, the most famous citizens turning traitors, Philagrus, the son of Cyneas, and Euphorbus, the son of Alcimachua. When Xerxes invaded Greece480 B.C., Thessaly was betrayed by Aleuades,Sylburg would read Ἀλευαδῶν, “by the Aleuads.” and Thebes by Attaginus and Timegenidas, who were the foremost citizen of Thebes. After the Peloponnesian war, Xenias of Elis attempted to betray Elis to the Lacedaemonians under Agis,

and the so-called “friends” of Lysander at no time relaxed their efforts to hand over their countries to him. In the reign of Philip, the son of Amyntas, Lacedaemon is the only Greek city to be found that was not betrayed; the other cities in Greece were ruined more by treachery than they had been previously by the plague. Alexander, the son of Philip, was so favoured by fortune that he had little need worth mentioning of traitors.