Philopoemen

Philopoemen, however, did not yield or give way to them. He went round to the different cities and roused the spirit of ambition in each young man individually, punished those who needed compulsion, introduced drills, parades, and competitive contests in places where there would be large bodies of spectators and thus in a short time inspired them all with an astonishing vigour and zeal,

and, what is of the greatest importance in tactics, rendered them agile and swift in wheeling and deploying by squadrons, and in wheeling and turning by single trooper, making the dexterity shown by the whole mass in its evolutions to be like that of a single person moved by an impulse from within.

Moreover, in the fierce battle which they fought at the river Larissus against Aetolians and Eleians, the commander of the Eleian cavalry, Damophantus, rode out from the ranks and charged upon Philopoemen. But Philopoemen received his onset, was first to drive home a spear-thrust, and threw Damophantus to the ground.

Their leader fallen, the enemy at once took to flight, and Philopoemen was in high renown, as one who yielded to none of the young men in personal prowess, and to none of the elder men in sagacity, but both in fighting and in commanding was most capable.

The commonwealth of the Achaeans was first raised to dignity and power by Aratus, who consolidated it when it was feeble and disrupted, and inaugurated an Hellenic and humane form of government. Then, just as in running waters, after a few small particles have begun to take a fixed position, others presently are swept against the first, adhere and cling to them, and thus form a fixed and solid mass by mutual support,

so the Achaeans, at a time when Greece was weak and easily dissolved and drifting along by individual cities, first united themselves together, and then, by receiving into their number some of the cities round about which they had aided and assisted in shaking off their tyrants, and by uniting others with themselves in a harmonious civil polity, they purposed to form the Peloponnesus into a single political body and one power.

As long, however, as Aratus lived, they were dependent for the most part on Macedonian armies, paying court to Ptolemy, and then again to Antigonus and Philip, all of whom busied themselves in the affairs of Greece. But when Philopoemen was advanced to leadership among them,[*](In 207 B.C.; Aratus had died in 213.) they were at last capable of contending alone with their most powerful neighbours, and ceased to rely upon foreign protectors.

Aratus, indeed, who was thought to be too sluggish for warlike contests, accomplished most of his undertakings by conference, urbanity, and royal friendships, as I have written in his Life[*](See the Aratus, x. ) whereas Philopoemen, who was a good warrior and effective with his weapons, besides proving himself fortunate and successful in his very first battles, increased not only the power but also the courage of the Achaeans, who were accustomed to be victorious under him and to win success in most of their contests.