7.8.4
All that the Achaeans did against the Macedonians or the host of the Syrians they did because of their friendship to the Romans; but against the Aetolians they had a long standing private quarrel to settle. When the tyranny of Nabis in Sparta was put down, a tyranny marked by extreme ferocity, the affairs of Lacedaemon at once caught the attention of the Achaeans.
7.8.5
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 So the Achaeans destroyed the walls of Sparta, and also repealed the laws of Lycurgus that dealt with the training of the youths, at the same time ordering the youths to be trained after the Achaean method.
7.8.6
I shall treat of this more fully in my account of Arcadia. note 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.
7.8.7
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 Heads note, 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.
7.8.8
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:—
7.8.9
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.
ch. 9
7.9.1
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.
7.9.2
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.
7.9.3
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.
7.9.4
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.
