and being so impeded he dropt on his knees and was constrained to fall forwards, so that by the motion of his feet the spear snapped off. And when Cleomenes and the Lacedæmonians were defeated, and Philopœmen returned to the camp, then the doctors cut out of his thighs the spearpoint and the spear itself. And Antigonus, hearing and seeing his courage, was anxious to invite him over to Macedonia. But he paid little heed to Antigonus, and crossed over by ship to Crete, where a civil war was raging, and became a captain of mercenaries. And on his return to Megalopolis he was at once chosen by the Achæans commander of their cavalry, and he made them the best cavalry in Greece. And when the Achæans and all their allies fought at the river Larisus against the men of Elis and the Ætolian force that aided the people of Elis from kinsmanship, Philopœmen first slew with his own hands Demophantus the commander of the enemy’s cavalry, and then put to flight all the cavalry of the Ætolians and men of Elis. CHAPTER L. And as the Achæans left everything to him and made him everybody, he changed the arms of the infantry, for, whereas before they bore short spears and oblong shields like those in use among the Celts and Persians (called _thyrei_ and _gerrha_), he persuaded them to wear breastplates and greaves, and also to use the shields in use in Argolis and long spears. And when Machanidas rose to power in Lacedæmon, and war again broke out between the Achæans and the Lacedæmonians under him, Philopœmen was commander in chief of the Achæan force, and in the battle of Mantinea the light-armed Lacedæmonians beat the light-armed troops of the Achæans, and Machanidas pressed upon them in their flight, but Philopœmen forming his infantry into a square routed the Lacedæmonian hoplites, and fell in with Machanidas as he was returning from the pursuit and slew him. Thus the Lacedæmonians, though they lost the battle, were more fortunate from their reverse than one would have anticipated, for they were freed from their tyrant. And not long after, when the Argives were celebrating the Nemean games, Philopœmen happened to be present at the contest of the harpers: and Pylades a native of Megalopolis (one of the most noted harpers of the day who had carried off the victory at the Pythian games), at that moment striking up the tune of the Milesian Timotheus called Persæ, and commencing at the words “Winning for Hellas the noble grace of freedom,”