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Philopoemen roseHe was ill with fever. Plutarch, Phil. 18. and proceeded on his way, though he The death of Philopoemen, B.C. 183, or perhaps early in B.C. 182. was oppressed at once by illness and the weight of years, being now in the seventieth year of his age. Conquering his weakness, however, by the force of his previous habits he reached Megalopolis, from Argos, in one day’s journey. . . .
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He was captured, when Achaean Strategus, by the Messenians Philopoemen was murdered by the Messenians, who had abandoned the league and were at war with it. See Livy, 39, 49-50. and poisoned. Thus, though second to none that ever lived before him in excellence, his fortune was less happy; yet in his previous life he seemed ever to have enjoyed her favour and assistance. But it was, I suppose, a case of the common proverb, a man may have a stroke of luck, but no man can be lucky always. We must, therefore, call our predecessors fortunate, without pretending that they were so invariably—for what need is there to flatter Fortune by a meaningless and false compliment? It is those who have enjoyed Fortune’s smiles in their life for the longest time, and who, when she changes her mind, meet with only moderate mishaps, that we must speak of as fortunate. . . .
