Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/273

Rh —Troezon, Epldaunis, Argos, Ifermione, Pellenc, Caphyae, Phlius, Pheneus, and Corinth, in which the Achaeian garrison kept only the citadel. — It was now necessary to call on Antigonus for the promised aid. Permission to pass through Aetolia having been refused, he embarked his army in transports, and, sailing by Euboea, land- ed his army near the isthmus, while Cleomenes was occupied with the siege of Sicyon. (Polyb. ii. 52.) The latter immediately raised the siege, and hastened to defend Corinth ; but no sooner was he engaged there, than Aratus, by a master- stroke of policy, gained the assistance of a party in Argos to place the Lacedaemonian garrison in a state of siege. Cleomenes hastened thither, leaving Corinth in the hands of Antigonus ; but arriving too late to take effectual measures against Aratus, while Antigonus was in his rear, he retreated to Mantineia and thence home. Antigonus mean- while was by Aratus' influence elected general of the league, and made Corinth and Sicj'^on his winter quarters. What hope was there now left that the great design of Aratus' life could be ac- complished, — to unite all the Greek governments into one Greek nation ? Henceforward the caprice of the Macedonian monarch was to regulate the relations of the powers of Greece. The career of Antigonus, in which Aratus seems henceforward to have been no further engaged than as his adviser and guide, ended in the great battle of Sellasia (b. c. 22 2), in which the Spartan power was for ever put down. Philip succeeded Anti- gonus in the throne of Macedon (b. c. 221), and it was his policy during the next two years (from 221 to 219 B. c.) to make the Achaeans feel how dependent they were on him. This period is ac- cordingly taken up with incursions of the Aetolians, the unsuccessful opposition of Aratus, and the trial which followed. The Aetolians seized Clarium, a fortress near Megalopolis (Polyb. iv. 6.), and thence made their plundering excursions, till Timoxenus, general of the league, took the place and drove out the garrison. As the time for the ex- piration of Aratus' office arrived, the Aetolian gene- rals Dorimachus and Scopas made an attack on Pharae and Patrae, and carried on their ravages up to the borders of Messene, in the hope that no active measures would be taken against them till the commander for the following year was chosen. To remedy this, Aratus anticipated his command five days, and ordered the troops of the league to assemble at Megalopolis. The Aeto- lians, finding his force superior, prepared to quit the country, when Aratus, thinking his object sufficiently accomplished, disbanded the chief part of his army, and marched with about 4000 to Patrae. The Aetolians turned round in pursuit, arid encamped at Methydrium, upon which Aratus changed his position to Caphyae, and in a battle, which began in a skirmish of cavalry to gain some high ground advantageous to both positions, was entirely defeated and his army nearly destroyed. The Aetolians marched home in triumph, and Anitus was recalled to take his trial on several charges, — assuming the command before his legal time, disbanding his troops, unskilful conduct in choosing the time and place of action, and careless- ness in the action itself. He was acquitted, not on the ground that the charges were untnie, but in consideration of his past services. For some time after this the Aetolians continued thcii- invasions, and Aratus was unable effectually to check them, till at last Philip took the field as commander of the allied army. The six remaining years of Aratua* life are a mere history of intrigues, by which at dif- ferent times his influence was more or less shaken with the king. At first he was entirely set aside ; and this cannot be wondered at, when his object was to unite Greece as an independent nation, while Philip wished to unite it as subject to him- self. In B. c. 218, it appears that Aratus re- gained his influence by an exposure of the treachery of his opponents ; and the effects of his presence were shewn in a victory gained over the combined forces of the Aetolians, Eleans, and Lacedaemo- nians, In B.C. 217 Aratus was the 17th time chosen general, and every thing, so far as the security of the leagued states was concerned, prospered ; but the feelings and objects of the two men were so different, that no unity was to be looked for, so soon as the immediate object of subduing certain states was effected. The story told by Plutarch, of his advice to Philip about the garrisoning of Ithome, would probably represent well the general tendency of the feeling of these two men. In b. c. 213 ha died, as Plutarch and Polybius both say (Polyb. viii, 14; Plut. Arat. 52), from the effect of poison administered by the king's order. Divine honours were paid to him by his countrymen, and annual solemnities established. {Diet of Ant s. v. 'Apd- Teia.) Aratus wrote Commentaries, being a his- tory of his own times down to b. c. 220 (Polyb. iv. 2), which Polybius characterises as clearly written and faithful records, (ii. 40.) The great- ness of Aratus lay in the steadiness with which he pursued a noble purpose, — of uniting the Greeks as one nation ; the consummate ability with which he guided the elements of the storm which raged about him ; and the zeal which kept him true to his object to the end, when a different conduct would have secured to him the greatest personal advantage. As a gene- ral, he was unsuccessful in the open field ; but for success in stratagem, which required calculation and dexterity of the first order, unrivalled. The leading object of his life was noble in its concep- tion, and, considering the state of Macedon and of Egj-pt, and more especially the existence of a con- temporary with the virtues and abilities of Cleo- menes, ably conducted. Had he been supported in his attempt to raise Greece by vigour and purity, such as that of Cleomenes in the cause of Sparta, his fate might have been different. As it was, he left his country surrounded by difficulty and dan- ger to the guiding hand of Philopoemen and Lycor- tas. (Plut. Aratus and A(/i^ ; Polyb. ii. iv. vii. viii.)  ARA′TUS, author of two Greek astronomical poems. The date of his birth is not known; but it seems that he lived about B. C. 270; it is probable, therefore, that the death of Euclid and the birth of Apollonius Pergaeus happened during his life, and that he was contemporary with Aristarchus of Samos, and Theocritus, who mentions him. (Idyll. vi. and vii.)

There are several accounts of his life by anonymous Greek writers: three of them are printed in the 2nd vol. of Buhle's Aratus, and one of the same in the Uranologium of Petavius. Suidas and Eudocia also mention him. From these it appears that he was a native of Soli (afterwards Pompeiopolis) in Cilicia, or (according to one authority) of 