Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/294

Rh 282 PHILIPPUS. The next summer (b. c. 209)*, the arms of Phi- lip were directed to the support of his allies, the Achaeans, who were unable to make head against the Lacedaemonians, Messenians, and Eleans. Marching through Thessal)^, he defeated the Aeto- lian general Pyrrhias, though supported by some Roman troops furnished him by Galba, in two successive actions, forced the pass of Thermopylae, and made his way successfully to the Peloponnese, where he celebrated the Heraean games at Argos. The Rhodians and Chians, as well as the Athenians and Ptolemy, king of Egypt, now again interposed their good offices, to bring about a peace between the contending parties, and negotiations were opened at Aegium, but these proved abortive in consequence of the arrogant demands of the Aeto- lians, in whom the arrival of Attalus at this junc- ture had excited fresh hopes. Philip now invaded Elis in conjunction with the Achaean praetor Cycliadas, but was worsted in an engagement under the walls of the city, in which, however, the king greatly distinguished himself by his per- sonal bravery ; and the inroads of the Dardanians, and other Barbarian tribes now compelled him to return to Macedonia. (Liv, xxvii. 29 — 33 ; Justin, xxix. 4.) At the opening of the campaign of 208, Philip found himself assailed on all sides by the formidable confederacy now organized against him. Sulpicius with the Roman fleet, in conjunction with the king Attalus, commenced their attacks by sea, while the lUyrian princes, Scerdilaidas and Pleuratus, and the Thnvcian tribe of the Maedi threatened his northern frontiers, and his allies, the Achaeans, Acarnanians, and Boeotians, were clamorous for support and assistance against the Aetolians and Lacedaemonians. The energy and activity dis- played by the king under these trying circum- stances, is justly praised by Polybius : while he sent such support as his means enabled him to his various allies, he himself took up his post at De- metrias in Thossaly, to watch the proceedings of Sulpicius and Attalus ; and though he was unable to prevent the fail of Oreus, which was betrayed into their hands [Plator], he not only saved Chalcis from a similar fate, but narrowly missed surprising Attalus himself in the neighbourhood of Opus. The king of Pergamus was soon after re- called to the defence of his own dominions against Prusias, king of Bithynia, and Sulpicius, unable to keep the sea single-handed, withdrew to Aegina. Philip was thus left at liberty to act against the Aetolians, and to support his own allies in the Peloponnese, where Machanidas, the Lacedaemo- nian tyrant, retired on his approach. The king was content with this success ; and after taking part in the general assembly of the Achaeans at Aegium, and ravaging the coasts of Aetolia, re- turned once more into his own dominions. (Polyb. X. 4 I, 42 ; Liv. xxviii. 5 — 8 ; Justin, xxix. 4.) The events of the succeeding years of the war are very imperfectly known to us, but it is evident that matters took a turn decidedly favourable to Philip and his allies. Attalus continued in Asia, and the error committed by Livy, who assigns this campaign to the year 208, see Schorn {Gesck Grieclienl. p. 186, not.), and Thirl wall {Hist, of Greece^ vol. viii. p. 268, not.). Crinton ( F. H. vol. iii. p. 48) has followed Livy without comment. PHILIPPUS. and the Romans, whose attention was directed wholly towards affairs in Spain and Africa, lent no support to their Grecian allies. Meanwhile, the Achaeans, under Philopoemen, were victorious in the Peloponnese over Machanidas, and the Aetolians, finding themselves abandoned by their allies, and unable to cope single-handed with the power of Philip, who had a second time carried his ravages into the heart of their countr)--, and plundered their capital city of Thermus, at length consented to peace upon the conditions dictated by the conqueror. What these were we know not, but the treaty had hardly been concluded, when a Roman fleet and army, under P. Sem- pronius Tuditanus, arrived at Dyrrhachium. Philip hastened to oppose him, and offered him battle, but the Roman general shut himself up within the walls of ApoUonia ; and meanwhile the Epei- rots, by their intervention, succeeded in bringing about a peace between the two parties. A pre- liminary treaty was concluded between Philip and Sempronius at Phoenice in Epeirus, B. c. 205, and was readily ratified by the Roman people, Avho were desirous to give their undivided attention to the war in Africa. (Liv. xxix. 12 ; Polyb. xi. 4, 7 ; Appian. Mac. Exc. 2.) It is probable that both parties looked upon the peace thus concluded as little more than a sus- pension of hostilities. Such was clearly the view with which the Romans had accepted it, and Philip was evidently well aware of their senti- ments in this respect. Hence he not only pro- ceeded to carry out his views for his own aggran- dizement and the humiliation of his rivals in Greece, without any regard to the Roman alliances in that country, but he even went so far as to send a strong body of auxiliaries to the Carthaginians in Africa, who fought at Zama under the standard of Hannibal. (Liv. xxx. 26, 33, 42, xxxi. 1.) Meanwhile, his proceedings in Greece were stained by acts of the darkest perfidy and the most wanton aggression. The death of Ptolemy Philopator, king of Egypt (b. c. 205), and the infancy of his successor, at this time opened a new field to the ambition of Philip, who concluded a league with Antiochus against the Egyptian monarch, accord- ing to which the Cyclades, as well as the cities and islands in Ionia subject to Ptolemy, were to fall to the share of the Macedonian king. (Polyb. iii. 2, XV. 20 ; Appian. Mac. Exc. 3 ; Justin, xxx. 2.) In order to carry out this scheme, it was neces- sary for Philip to establish his naval power firmly in the Aegaean, and to humble that of Attalus and the Rhodians, and the latter object he endeavoured to effect by the most nefarious means, for which he found reiidy instruments in Dicaearchus, an Aetolian pirate, and Heracleides, an exile from Tarentum, who seems at this period to have held the same place in the king's confidence previously enjoyed by Demetrius of Pharos. While Dicae- archus, with a squadron of twenty ships, cruised in the Aegaean, and made himself master of the principal islands of the Cyclades, Heracleides con- trived to ingratiate himself with the Rliodians, and then took an opportunity to set fire to their arsenal, and burn great part of their fleet. (Polyb. xiii. 4, 5, XV. 20, xviii. 37 ; Diod. xxviii. Exc Vales, pp. 572, 573 ; Polyaen. v. Yt. § 2.) Mean- while, Philip himself had reduced under his domi- nion the cities of Lysimachia and Chalcedon, notwithstanding they were in a state of alliance
 * Concerning the chronology of tliese events,