Kitap 5
106
Directly the Achaeans had put an end to the war, Timoxenus Achaean Strategus, B. C. 216. they elected Timoxenus Strategus for the next yearThis language is so vague that we might suppose from it that the Achaeans elected Timoxenus in the summer of B. C. 217 to come into office in the following spring. But there is nowhere else any indication of such an interval at this period, and we must suppose Polybius to be speaking in general terms of the result of the peace during the next ten months. Agelaus was elected Aetolian Strategus in the autumn of B. C. 217. and departed to take up once more their regular ways and habits. Along with the Achaeans the other Peloponnesian communities also set to work to repair the losses they had sustained; recommenced the cultivation of the land; and re-established their national sacrifices, games, and other religious observances peculiar to their several states. For these things had all but sunk into oblivion in most of the states through the persistent continuance of the late wars. It has ever somehow been the case that the Peloponnesians, who of all men are the most inclined to a peaceful and civilised way of life, have hitherto enjoyed it less than any other nation in the world; but have been rather as EuripidesEuripides, fr. 529. Ed. Nauck. says still worn with toil and war’s unrest. But to me it seems clear that they bring this upon themselves in the natural course of events: for their universal desire of supremacy, and their obstinate love of freedom, involve them in perpetual wars with each other, all alike being resolutely set upon occupying the first place. The Athenians on the contrary had by this time freed themselves from fear of Macedonia, and considered that they had now permanently secured their independence.Isolation of Athens. They accordingly adopted Eurycleidas and Micion as their representatives, and took no part whatever in the politics of the rest of Greece; but following the lead and instigation of these statesmen, they laid themselves out to flatter all the kings, and Ptolemy most of all; nor was there any kind of decree or proclamation too fulsome for their digestion: any consideration of dignity being little regarded, under the guidance of these vain and frivolous leaders.
