Messene and Philip V. in B. C. 215
Democracy being established at Messene, and the men
note
of rank having been banished, while those who
had received allotments on their lands obtained
the chief influence in the government, those of
the old citizens who remained found it very hard to put up
with the equality which these men had obtained. . . .
Gorgus of Messene, in wealth and extraction, was inferior note
to no one in the town; and had been a famous
athlete in his time, far surpassing all rivals in
that pursuit. In fact he was not behind any
man of his day in physical beauty, or the
general dignity of his manner of life, or the
number of prizes he had won. Again, when he gave up
athletics and devoted himself to politics and the service of his
country, he gained no less reputation in this department than
in his former pursuit. For he was removed from the
Philistinism that usually characterises athletes, and was
looked upon as in the highest degree an able and clear-headed
politician. . . .
