+54.+ On his entering the council chamber the king was the first to
state the accusation against him, which he did briefly. He was followed
by Polycrates lately arrived from Cyprus; and he again by Aristomenes.
The charges made by them all were much to the same effect as what I
have just stated; but there was now added to them the seditious meeting
with his friends, and his refusal to obey the summons of the king. On
these charges he was unanimously condemned, not only by the members
of the council, but also by the envoys of foreign nations who were
present. And when Aristomenes was about to commence his accusation
he brought in a large number of other Greeks of rank also to support
him, as well as the Aetolian ambassadors who had come to negotiate
a peace, among whom was Dorimachus son of Nicostratus. When these
speeches had been delivered, Scopas endeavoured to put forward certain
pleas in his defence: but gaining no attention from any one, owing to
the senseless nature of his proceedings, he was taken along with his
friends to prison. There after nightfall Aristomenes caused Scopas and
his family to be put to death by poison; but did not allow Dicaearchus
to die until he had had him racked and scourged, thus inflicting on him
a punishment which he thoroughly deserved in the name of all Greece.
For this was the Dicaearchus whom Philip, when he resolved upon his
treacherous attack on the Cyclades and the cities of the Hellespont,
appointed leader of the whole fleet and the entire enterprise: who
being thus sent out to perform an act of flagrant wickedness, not only
thought that he was doing nothing wrong, but in the extravagance of
his infatuation imagined that he would strike terror into the gods as
well as man. For wherever he anchored he used to build two altars, to
Impiety and Lawlessness, and, offering sacrifice upon these altars,
worshipped them as his gods. Therefore in my opinion he met with a just
retribution both from gods and men: for as his life had been spent
in defiance to the laws of nature, his end was properly also one of
unnatural horror. All the other Aetolians who wished to depart were
allowed by the king to go in possession of their property.
[Sidenote: Enormous wealth collected by Scopas.]
+55.+ As in the lifetime of Scopas his love of money had been
notorious, for his avarice did in fact surpass that of any man in the
world, so after his death was it made still more conspicuous by the
enormous amount of gold and other property found in his house; for by
the assistance of the coarse manners and drunken habits of Charimortus
he had absolutely pillaged the kingdom.
[Sidenote: The anacleteria of Ptolemy Epiphanes, B.C. 176. Aet. 12.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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