Quinctius and the other legates returned to Corinth. The Aetolians, who were continually receiving intelligence about Antiochus' movements, wished to make it appear that they were doing nothing themselves and simply waiting for his arrival; consequently they did not hold a council of the whole league after the Romans had left. [2] Through their "Apokleti," however-the designation they give to their inner council-they were discussing the best means of effecting a revolution in Greece. [3] It was everywhere understood that the leading men and the aristocracy in the various States were partisans of Rome and perfectly contented with things as they were, whilst the mass of the populations and all whose circumstances were not what they wished them to be were eager for change. [4] On the day of their meeting the Aetolians decided upon a project alike audacious and impudent, namely the occupation of Demetrias, Chalcis and Lacedaemon. One of their leaders was sent to each of these cities: Thoas went to Chalcis, Alexamenus to Lacedaemon, Diocles to Demetrias. [5] Eurylochus, whose flight and the reason for it have been already described, [6??] came to the assistance of Diocles, as in no other way did he see any prospect of returning home. He wrote to his friends and relatives and the members of his party, and they brought his wife and children dressed in mourning and carrying suppliant emblems into the assembly, which was crowded. [7] They appealed to those present individually and implored the assembly as a whole not to allow a man innocent and uncondemned to waste his life in exile. The simple and unsuspecting were moved by pity, the evil-minded and seditious by the prospect of profiting by the confusion which the Aetolian agitation would cause. [8] Everyone voted for his recall. This preparatory step having been taken, Diocles, who was at that time in command of the cavalry, started with the whole of his force, ostensibly to escort the exile home. [9] He covered an immense distance, marching through the day and the night, and when he was six miles from the city he went on in advance at daybreak with three picked troops, the rest being under orders to follow. [10] As they approached the gate he bade his men dismount and lead their horses as though they were accompanying their commander on his journey instead of acting as a military force. Leaving one troop at the gate to prevent the cavalry who were coming up from being shut out, he took Eurylochus, holding [11??] him by the hand, through the heart of the city and the forum to his house amidst the congratulations of many who came to meet them. In a short time the city was filled with cavalry-and the commanding positions were seized. [12] Then parties were told off to go to the houses of the leaders of the opposition and put them to death. In this way Demetrias was gained by the Aetolians.
Livy. History of Rome. English Translation by. Rev. Canon Roberts. New York, New York. E. P. Dutton and Co. 1912. 1. Livy. History of Rome. English Translation. Rev. Canon Roberts. New York, New York. E. P. Dutton and Co. 1912. 2.
The National Endowment for the Humanities provided support for entering this text.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.