Hellenistic Lives (Oxford World's Classics) by Plutarch

Author:Plutarch [Plutarch]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Published: 2016-01-14T05:00:00+00:00

[9] Then, convinced that the long-anticipated moment had arrived, they ran en masse to the tyrant’s house to set it on fire. The towering flames that arose from the burning building were visible in Corinth,* to the astonishment of people there, who came very close to setting out to see if help was needed. Nicocles escaped unnoticed through drains and fled the city, while Aratus’ soldiers enlisted the help of the Sicyonians to extinguish the flames and then plundered the tyrant’s mansion. Aratus did nothing to stop them, and he also donated the rest of the wealth accumulated by the tyrants to the public treasury. Not a single man from either the attackers or their enemies was killed or even scratched; Fortune kept the operation unsullied and free from the taint of kindred blood.

Aratus allowed back to Sicyon eighty exiles who had been banished by Nicocles and at least five hundred from the time of the previous tyrants, who had been uprooted for a long while—not far off fifty years, in fact. Most of these men came back impoverished and tried to reclaim their former possessions, but by going back to their farms and houses they made it very difficult for Aratus to know what to do. The city was threatened from outside, with Antigonus begrudging it its restored freedom, and now he could see that it was also tearing itself apart with internecine strife.*

Under the circumstances, then, he decided that the best course would be to incorporate the city into the Achaean League,* and that is what he did.* And despite being Dorians,* the Sicyonians had no objection to being called Achaeans and willingly accepted the Achaean political system, even though at the time the league was rather undistinguished and weak. Most of the member states were small, with farmland that was neither good nor extensive, and a coastline that lacked harbours and was washed by a sea that reached land for the most part in the form of breakers. Despite this, no one did more than the Achaeans to prove that the Greeks are invincible on those occasions when they organize themselves, work harmoniously together, and are guided by an intelligent leader. Although Greece’s ancient heyday had more or less entirely passed them by, and although at the time in question the total resources available to all of the Achaean communities together did not amount to those of a single decent-sized city, nevertheless, thanks to their receptiveness to good advice and their capacity for cooperation, and thanks to their ability not to resent the appearance of a leader of unrivalled excellence, but to submit obediently to him, they not only managed to preserve their own freedom when they were surrounded by powerful cities, formidable armies, and aggressive tyrannies, but were also on very many occasions the liberators and saviours of fellow Greeks.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.