Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/177

FLAMININUS. opposed by two tribunes, who maintained that he ought first to go through the offices of aedile and praetor, before aiming at the consulship ; but as he had reached the legitimate age, the senate declared that he was entitled to offer himself as a candidate. The tribunes yielded, and T. Quintius Flamininus was elected consul for B. c. 198, together with Sex. Aelius Paetus. When the two consuls drew lots for their provinces, T. Flamininus obtained Macedonia. According to a resolution of the senate, he levied an army of 3000 foot and 300 horse, as a supplement for the army engaged against Philip of Macedonia, and he selected such men as had already distinguished themselves in Spain and Africa. Some prodigies detained him for a short time in Rome, as the gods had to be propitiated by a supplication ; but he then has- tened without delay to his province, instead of spending the first months of his consulship at Rome, as had been the custom with his predeces- sors. He sailed from Brundusium to Corcyra, where he left his troops to follow him, for he him- self sailed to Epeirus, and thence hastened to the Roman camp. After having dismissed his prede- cessor, he waited a few days, till the troops from Corcyra arrived in the camp ; he then held a council, to deliberate by what route he should invade Macedonia. He there showed at once that he was animated by a bold and heroic spirit : he did not despair of what appeared impossible to every one else, for he resolved to storm the pass of Antigoneia, which was occupied by the enemy, instead of going a round-about way. He trusted, however, in this undertaking to the assistance of the Roman party in Epeirus, which was headed by Charops ; and he further hoped to pave his way into Greece, where he wished to detach one state after another from the cause of Macedonia, and thus to crush Philip more effectually. For forty days he faced the enemy, without a fiivonrable opportunity of attacking the enemy being offered. Philip had from the first conceived the hope of concluding a favourable treaty with the Romans, and, through the mediation of the Elpeirots, he began to negotiate, but Flamininus demanded first of all the liberation of Greece and Thessaly. This bold demand of the young hero, before he had gained an inch of ground, was equivalent to a call upon the Greeks to throw off the yoke of Mace- donia. An event, however, soon occurred which en- abled Flamininus to rise from his inactivity: there was a path across the mountains, by which the pass of Antigoneia could be evaded, as at Thermopylae, and this path was either unknown to Philip, or neg- lected by him, because he did not fear any danger from that quarter. Charops informed Flamininus of the existence of the path, and sent a man well acquainted with it as his guide. The consul then sent 4300 men, accompanied by the guide, across the mountain, and in a few days they arrived in the rear of the Macedonians. The latter, being thus pressed on both sides, made a short resist- ance, and then fled in great consternation towards Thessaly : 2000 men were lost, and their camp fell into the hands of the Romans. Epeirus im- mediately submitted to Flamininus, and was mildly treated, for his ambition was to appear every where as the deliverer from the Macedonians. The consul and his army now marched through the passes into Thessaly. Here Philip, in order to leave nothing for the enemy to take, had ravaged FLAMININUS. 163 the country and destroyed the towns. Flamininus laid siege to Phaloria, the first Thessalian town to which he came, and, after a brave resistance of its garrison, it was taken by storm, and reduced to a heap of ashes, as a warning to the other Greeks. But this severity did not produce the desired effect, nor did it facilitate his progress, for the principal towns were strongly garrisoned, and the Macedonian army was encamped in Tempe, whence the king could easily send succours to his allies. Flamininus next besieged Charax, on the Peneius; but in spite of his most extraordinary exertions, and even partial success, the heroic defence of its inhabitants thwarted all his attempts, and in the end he was obliged to raise the siege. He fear- fully ravaged the country, and marched into Phocis, where several places and maritime towns, which enabled him to communicate with the fleet under the command of his brother Lucius, opened their gates to him; but Elateia, the principal place, which was strongly fortified, offered a brave re- sistance, and for a time checked his progress. While he was yet engaged there, his brother Lucius, at his request, contrived to draw the Achaean league into an alliance with the Romans, which was effected the more easily, as Aristaene- tus, then strategus of the Achaean^ was well dis- posed towards Rome. Megalopolis, however, Dyme, and Argos, remained faithful to Macedonia. After capturing Elateia, Flamininus took up his winter-quarters in Phocis and Locris ; but he had not been there long when an insurrection broke out at Opus, in Avhich the Macedonian gar- rison was compelled to withdraw to the acropolis. Some of the citizens called in the assistance of the Aetolians, and others that of the Romans. The former came, but the gates were not opened till Flamininus arrived, and took possession of the town. This seems to have been the first cause of the ill feeling of the Aetolians towards the Romans. The Macedonian garrison remained in the acro- polis, and Flamininus for the present abstained from besieging them, as king Philip had just made proposals of peace. Flamininus accepted the pro- posals, but only with the view of employing them as a means of satisfying his own ambition ; for as he did not yet know whether he was to be left in his province for another year, his object was to give matters such a turn as to have it in his own power to decide upon war or peace. A congress was held at the Malean gulf, in the neighbourhood of Nicaea, which lasted for three days. Flamininus and his allies, among whom the Aetolians distin- guished themselves by their invectives against Philip, who was present, drew up a long list of demands, and the conditions of a peace : the prin- cipal demand, however, was, that Philip should withdraw his garrisons from all the towns of Greece. The allies of the Romans were of opinion that the negotiations should be broken off at once, unless Philip would consent to this fundamental condition ; but the consul, whose object it was to defer giving any decision, acted with very great diplomatic skill. At last a truce of two months was concluded, during which ambassadors of both parties were sent to Rome. The condition, how- ever, on which Philip was permitted to send his ambassadors was, the evacuation of the towns in Phocis and Locris which were still in his possession. When the ambassadors arrived at Rome, those of Flamininus and his allies acted m2