party, headed till his death by Philopoemen, equally admitting that the
Roman government could not be safely defied, were yet for aiming at
preserving their country’s independence by strictly carrying out the
terms of the Roman alliance, and respectfully but firmly resisting any
encroachment upon those terms by the officers representing the Roman
government. On Philopoemen’s death (B.C. 183) Lycortas, who had been
his most devoted follower, took, along with Archon, the lead of the
party which were for carrying out his policy; while Callicrates became
the most prominent of the Romanising party. Lycortas was supported
by his son Polybius when about B.C. 181 he began to take part in
politics. Polybius seems always to have consistently maintained this
policy. His view seems to have been that Rome, having crushed Philip
and Antiochus, was necessarily the supreme power. The Greeks must
recognise facts; must avoid offending Rome; but must do so by keeping
to a position of strict legality, maintaining their rights, and neither
flattering nor defying the victorious Commonwealth. He believed that
the Romans meant fairly by Greece, and that Greek freedom was safe
in their hands[14]. But the straightforward policy of the Senate, if
it was ever sincere, was altered by the traitor Callicrates in B.C.
179; who, being sent to Rome to oppose what the league thought the
unconstitutional restitution of certain Spartan exiles, advised the
Senate to use the Romanising party in each state to secure a direct
control in Achaia[15]. Acting on this insidious advice, the Roman
government began to view with suspicion the legal and independent
attitude of the other party, and to believe or affect to believe
that they were enemies of the Roman supremacy. Lycortas, Archon,
and Polybius, finding themselves the objects of suspicion, not less
dangerous because undeserved, to the Roman government, appear to have
adopted an attitude of reserve, abstaining from taking an active or
prominent part in the business of the assemblies. This, however, did
not succeed in averting Roman jealousy; and the commissioners, Gaius
Popilius and Gnaeus Octavius, who visited the Peloponnese in B.C. 169,
gave out that those who held aloof were as displeasing to the Senate
as those who openly opposed it. They were said to have resolved on
formally impeaching the three statesmen before the Achaean assembly
as being enemies of Rome; but when the assembly met at Aegium, they
had failed to obtain any reasonable handle against them, and contented
themselves with a speech of general exhortation.[16] This was during
the war with Perseus, when the Romans kept a vigilant eye on all parts
of Greece, and closely inquired which politicians in the several
states ventured to display the least sympathy with the Macedonian
king, or were believed to secretly nourish any wish for his success.
It speaks strongly both for the independent spirit still surviving in
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