Pausanias · Description of Greece Ἑλλάδος Περιήγησις

Pausanias, Description of Greece 7.10.1–12: Achaia: Callicrates and betrayal as the ruin of Greece

Pausanias opens with a list of Greek betrayals from the Ionian revolt to Alexander's successors, to show that treachery has always plagued Greece. He then tells how Callicrates completed the subjection of the Achaeans to Rome after the fall of Perseus of Macedon. A Roman commissioner, prompted by Callicrates, claimed that the Achaean generals had favoured Perseus, and over a thousand Achaeans were sent to Rome without trial. They were distributed among the cities of Etruria, and in the seventeenth year about three hundred survivors were released.

Sections 7.10.1–12 · 987 words · click a number to copy its link

τότε μὲν δὴ ἐς τοσοῦτο ἐπράχθη· τολμημάτων δὲ τὸ ἀνοσιώτατον, τὴν πατρίδα καὶ ἄνδρας προδιδόναι πολίτας ἐπὶ οἰκείοις κέρδεσιν, ἔμελλε καὶ Ἀχαιοῖς κακῶν ἄρξειν, οὔποτε ἐκ τοῦ χρόνου παντὸς τὴν Ἑλλάδα ἐκλιπόν. ἐπὶ μέν γε Δαρείου τοῦ Ὑστάσπου βασιλεύοντος Περσῶν Ἴωσι τὰ πράγματα ἐφθάρη Σαμίων πλὴν ἑνός τε καὶ δέκα ἀνδρῶν τῶν ἄλλων τριηράρχων τὸ ναυτικὸν τὸ Ἰώνων προδόντων·

μετὰ δὲ Ἴωνας κεχειρωμένους ἠνδραποδίσαντο καὶ Ἐρέτριαν Μῆδοι, προδόται δὲ ἐγένοντο οἱ εὐδοκιμοῦντες μάλιστα ἐν Ἐρετρίᾳ Φίλαγρος Κυνέου καὶ Εὔφορβος Ἀλκιμάχου. Ξέρξῃ δὲ ἐπὶ τὴν Ἑλλάδα ἐλαύνοντι Θεσσαλία τε διʼ Ἀλευάδου προεδόθη, Θήβας δὲ Ἀτταγῖνος καὶ Τιμηγενίδας προδιδόασι φερόμενοι τὰ πρῶτα ἐν Θήβαις. Πελοποννησίων δὲ καὶ Ἀθηναίων πολεμησάντων Ξενίας Ἠλεῖος ἐπεχείρησεν Ἦλιν Λακεδαιμονίοις καὶ Ἄγιδι προδοῦναι, οἵ τε Λυσάνδρου καλούμενοι ξένοι χρόνον

οὐδένα ἀνίεσαν πατρίδας ἐγχειρίζοντες Λυσάνδρῳ τὰς ἑαυτῶν. κατὰ δὲ τὴν Φιλίππου βασιλείαν τοῦ Ἀμύντου Λακεδαίμονα πόλεων μόνην οὐ προδοθεῖσαν τῶν ἐν Ἕλλησιν εὕροι τις ἄν· αἱ δὲ ἄλλαι πόλεις αἱ ἐν τῇ Ἑλλάδι ὑπὸ προδοσίας μᾶλλον ἢ ὑπὸ νόσου πρότερον τῆς λοιμώδους ἐφθάρησαν. Ἀλεξάνδρῳ δὲ τῷ Φιλίππου παρέσχεν ἡ εὐτυχία μικρὰ ἀνδρῶν προδοτῶν καὶ οὐκ ἄξια λόγου προσδεηθῆναι.

ἐπεὶ δὲ τὸ ἐν Λαμίᾳ πταῖσμα ἐγένετο Ἕλλησιν, Ἀντίπατρος μέν, ἅτε διαβῆναι ποιούμενος σπουδὴν πρὸς τὸν ἐν τῇ Ἀσίᾳ πόλεμον, ἐβούλετο εἰρήνην ἐν τάχει συντίθεσθαι, καί οἱ διέφερεν οὐδὲν εἰ Ἀθήνας τε ἐλευθέραν καὶ τὴν πᾶσαν Ἑλλάδα ἀφήσει· Δημάδης δὲ καὶ ὅσον προδοτῶν Ἀθήνῃσιν ἄλλο ἦν, ἀναπείθουσιν Ἀντίπατρον μηδὲν ἐς Ἕλληνας φρονῆσαι φιλάνθρωπον, ἐκφοβήσαντες δὲ Ἀθηναίων τὸν δῆμον ἔς τε Ἀθήνας καὶ πόλεων τῶν ἄλλων τὰς πολλὰς ἐγένοντο αἴτιοι Μακεδόνων ἐσαχθῆναι φρουράς.

βεβαιοῖ δέ μοι καὶ τόδε τὸν λόγον· Ἀθηναῖοι γὰρ μετὰ τὸ ἀτύχημα τὸ ἐν Βοιωτοῖς οὐκ ἐγένοντο Φιλίππου κατήκοοι, ἁλόντων μέν σφισι δισχιλίων, ὡς ἐκρατήθησαν, παρὰ τὸ ἔργον, χιλίων δὲ φονευθέντων· ἐν Λαμίᾳ δὲ περὶ διακοσίους πεσόντων καὶ οὐ πλέον τι, Μακεδόσιν ἐδουλώθησαν. οὕτω μὲν οὔποτε τὴν Ἑλλάδα ἐπέλειπον οἱ ἐπὶ προδοσίᾳ νοσήσαντες· Ἀχαιοὺς δὲ ἀνὴρ Ἀχαιὸς Καλλικράτης τηνικαῦτα ἐς ἅπαν ἐποίει Ῥωμαίοις ὑποχειρίους. ἀρχὴ δέ σφισιν ἐγίνετο κακῶν Περσεὺς καὶ ἡ Μακεδόνων ἀρχὴ καταλυθεῖσα ὑπὸ Ῥωμαίων.

Περσεῖ τῷ Φιλίππου πρὸς Ῥωμαίους ἄγοντι εἰρήνην κατὰ συνθήκας, ἃς ὁ πατήρ οἱ Φίλιππος ἐποιήσατο, ἐπῆλθεν ὑπερβῆναι τοὺς ὅρκους καὶ ἐπί τε Σαπαίους καὶ Σαπαίων τὸν βασιλέα Ἀβρούπολιν στράτευμα ἀγαγὼν ἐποίησεν ἀναστάτους Ῥωμαίων συμμάχους ὄντας· Σαπαίων δὲ τούτων καὶ Ἀρχίλοχος ἐν ἰάμβῳ μνήμην ἔσχε.

Μακεδόνων δὲ καὶ Περσέως κεχειρωμένων πολέμῳ διὰ τὸ ἐς Σαπαίους ἀδίκημα, ἄνδρες τῆς Ῥωμαίων βουλῆς δέκα ἐπέμφθησαν καταστησόμενοι πρὸς τὸ ἐπιτηδειότατον Ῥωμαίοις τὰ ἐν Μακεδονίᾳ. ἥκοντας δὲ ἐς τὴν Ἑλλάδα ὑπήρχετο ὁ Καλλικράτης οὔτε ἔργον τῶν ἐς τὴν κολακείαν οὔτε λόγον οὐδένα ἐς αὐτοὺς παριείς· ἕνα δέ τινα ἐξ αὐτῶν ἄνδρα οὐδαμῶς ἐς δικαιοσύνην πρόθυμον, τοῦτον τὸν ἄνδρα προσεποιήσατο ὁ Καλλικράτης ἐς τοσοῦτον ὥστε αὐτὸν καὶ ἐς τὸ συνέδριον ἐσελθεῖν τὸ Ἀχαιῶν ἔπεισεν.

ὁ δὲ ὡς ἐς τὸν σύλλογον ἐσῆλθεν, ἔλεγεν ὡς πολεμοῦντι πρὸς Ῥωμαίους Περσεῖ χρήματα οἱ δυνατώτατοι τῶν Ἀχαιῶν παράσχοιεν, συνάραιντο δὲ καὶ ἐς τὰ ἄλλα· ἐκέλευσεν οὖν καταγνῶναι τοὺς Ἀχαιοὺς θάνατον· εἰ δὲ ἐκεῖνοι καταγνοῖεν, τότε καὶ αὐτὸς τὰ ὀνόματα ἐρεῖν ἔφασκε τῶν ἀνδρῶν. λέγειν τε δὴ ἐδόκει παντάπασιν ἄδικα καὶ αὐτὸν ἠξίουν οἱ ἐς τὸν σύλλογον ἐληλυθότες ἤδη, εἰ Περσεῖ τὰ αὐτὰ Ἀχαιῶν τινες ἔπραξαν, ὀνομαστὶ αὐτῶν ἑκάστου μνησθῆναι, πρότερον δὲ οὐ σφᾶς καταγινώσκειν εἰκὸς εἶναι.

ἔνθα δὴ ὡς ἠλέγχετο ὁ Ῥωμαῖος, ἀπετόλμησεν εἰπεῖν ὡς οἱ ἐστρατηγηκότες Ἀχαιῶν ἐνέχονται πάντες τῇ αἰτίᾳ· πάντας γὰρ φρονῆσαι τὰ Μακεδόνων τε καὶ Περσέως. ὁ μὲν δὴ ταῦτα ἔλεγεν ὑπὸ διδασκαλίᾳ Καλλικράτους· ἀναστὰς δὲ μετʼ αὐτὸν Ξένων—ἦν δὲ ὁ Ξένων οὗτος οὐκ ἐλαχίστου λόγου παρὰ Ἀχαιοῖς— “οὕτωσ” ἔφη “κατὰ τὴν αἰτίαν ἔχει ταύτην· ἐστρατήγησα μὲν Ἀχαιῶν καὶ ἐγώ, ἀδικίας δὲ οὐδὲν ἐς Ῥωμαίους οὔτε εὐνοίας μοι μέτεστιν ἐς Περσέα· καὶ τοῦδε ἕνεκα ἐθέλω μὲν ἐν συνεδρίῳ τῷ Ἀχαιῶν, ἐθέλω δὲ καὶ ἐν αὐτοῖς Ῥωμαίοις ὑπέχειν κρίσιν.” ὁ μὲν δὴ ὑπὸ συνειδότος ἐπαρρησιάζετο ἀγαθοῦ·

ὁ δὲ ἐπελάβετο αὐτίκα ὁ Ῥωμαῖος τῆς προφάσεως, καὶ ὁπόσοις Καλλικράτης ἐπῆγεν αἰτίαν Περσεῖ σφᾶς φρονῆσαι τὰ αὐτά, ἀνέπεμπεν ἐν δικαστηρίῳ κρίσιν τῷ Ῥωμαίων ὑφέξοντας. ὃ μή πω κατειλήφει πρότερον Ἕλληνας· οὐδὲ γὰρ Μακεδόνων οἱ ἰσχύσαντες μέγιστον, Φίλιππος Ἀμύντου καὶ Ἀλέξανδρος, τοὺς ἀνθεστηκότας σφίσιν Ἑλλήνων ἐς Μακεδονίαν ἐβιάσαντο ἀποσταλῆναι, διδόναι δὲ αὐτοὺς ἐν Ἀμφικτύοσιν εἴων λόγον.

τότε δὲ ἐκ τοῦ Ἀχαιῶν ἔθνους ὅντινα καὶ ἀναίτιον Καλλικράτης ἐθελήσειεν αἰτιάσασθαι, ἀνάγεσθαι πάντα τινὰ ἐκεκύρωτο ἐς Ῥώμην· καὶ ἐγένοντο ὑπὲρ χιλίους οἱ ἀναχθέντες. τούτους ὑπὸ Ἀχαιῶν οἱ Ῥωμαῖοι προκατεγνῶσθαι νομίζοντες ἔς τε Τυρσηνίαν καὶ ἐς τὰς ἐκεῖ διέπεμψαν πόλεις, καὶ Ἀχαιῶν ἄλλοτε ἄλλας ὑπὲρ τῶν ἀνδρῶν πρεσβείας τε καὶ ἱκεσίας ἐπιπεμπόντων λόγον ἐποιοῦντο οὐδένα.

ἑπτακαιδεκάτῳ δὲ ὕστερον ἔτει τριακοσίους ἢ καὶ ἐλάσσονας, οἳ μόνοι περὶ Ἰταλίαν Ἀχαιῶν ἔτι ἐλείποντο, ἀφιᾶσιν, ἀποχρώντως κολασθῆναι σφᾶς ἡγούμενοι. ὅσοι δὲ ἀποδράντες ᾤχοντο ἢ εὐθὺς ἡνίκα ἀνήγοντο ἐς Ῥώμην ἢ ὕστερον ἐκ τῶν πόλεων ἐς ἃς ὑπὸ Ῥωμαίων ἐπέμφθησαν, πρόφασις οὐδεμία ἦν τούτους ἁλόντας μὴ ὑποσχεῖν δίκην.

That foulest of all crimes, the betrayal of native land and fellow-countrymen for personal gain, was fated to be the source of a series of disasters to the Achaeans as it has been to others. Indeed the crime has never been unknown in Greece since time began. In the reign of Darius, son of Hystaspes, king of Persia, the cause of Ionia was lost because all the Samian captains save eleven deserted the Ionian fleet. After the subjugation of Ionia, the Medes enslaved Eretria, the place being betrayed by Philagrus, son of Cyneas, and Euphorbus, son of Alcimachus, the two men of fairest fame in the city. When Xerxes marched against Greece, Thessaly was betrayed into his hands by the Aleuads, and Thebes by Attaginus and Timegenidas, men of the first rank in that city. After the Peloponnesian war, Xenias, an Elean, tried to betray Elis to the Lacedaemonians under Agis. The friends of Lysander, as they were called, never ceased intriguing to hand over their respective countries to Lysander. In the reign of Philip, son of Amyntas, you will find that Lacedaemon was the only city in Greece that was not betrayed. All the rest suffered more from treachery than they had formerly done from the plague. On the other hand, the good fortune of Alexander, son of Philip, enabled him to dispense almost wholly with the services of traitors. After the defeat of the Greeks at Lamia, Antipater, burning to carry the war into Asia, was fain to patch up a hasty peace, and it mattered nothing to him whether he left Athens and the whole of Greece free. But Demades and the gang of traitors at Athens brought him round to a policy of inflexible rigour, and by creating a panic at Athens, they were instrumental in bringing Macedonian garrisons both into that city and into most others. The following consideration confirms this view. The Athenians were not reduced to subjection by Philip after their discomfiture in Boeotia, although they lost a thousand killed in the battle and two thousand prisoners; whereas after Lamia they were actually enslaved by the Macedonians, though not more than two hundred of them perished in the field. Thus the plague of treachery never died out in Greece.

It was Callicrates, an Achaean, who, at the time I speak of, completed the subjection of his countrymen to Rome. But their troubles began with the overthrow of Perseus and the Macedonian empire by the Romans. Peace reigned between Perseus and the Romans under the treaty concluded by his father Philip, till Perseus took it into his head to break his oaths. So he led an army against . . . Abrupolis, king of the Sapaeans, and drove them from house and home, though they were allies of the Romans. These Sapaeans are mentioned by Archilochus in an iambic line. For this wrong done to the Sapaeans, Perseus and the Macedonians were conquered, and after the conquest ten Roman senators were sent to settle the affairs of Macedonia in the interests of Rome. When they were come to Greece, Callicrates left no means untried to worm himself into their good graces by fair speeches and flattering attentions. One of the commissioners, a man of little honesty, he attached so completely to himself that he even induced him to attend the Achaean diet. On appearing before the assembly this person averred that in his war with Rome Perseus had received supplies of money and other assistance from the most influential men among the Achaeans. He therefore desired the diet to sentence them to death; if sentence were passed, he would then, he said, disclose their names. The proposal seemed monstrous, and the members present demanded that he should name the Achaeans who had sided with Perseus, if there were any such ; until he did so, it was unreasonable, they said, that they should condemn them. Thus put to it, the Roman had the effrontery to declare that the Achaean generals, one and all, were implicated in the charge ; ‘ For all of them,’ said he, ‘ favoured the cause of Macedonia and Perseus.’ It was Callicrates who prompted him to say this. But when he had sat down, up got Xenon, a man much esteemed by the Achaeans, who said, ‘‘ Touching this charge, the facts are these. I was one of the Achaean generals, but neither was I a traitor to Rome nor a friend to Perseus. And on this charge I am willing to be tried either in the diet or before the Romans.’ He spoke frankly out of a good conscience. The Roman at once seized the pretext, and sent all whom Callicrates accused of having favoured Perseus to be tried by a Roman court. Never before had this been done to Greeks. Even the most powerful sovereigns of Macedonia, Philip, son of Amyntas, and Alexander, had not obliged their Greek opponents to be sent to Macedonia, but had allowed them to be brought to account by the Amphictyons. But on this occasion it was decided that every man of the Achaean nation whom Callicrates chose to accuse, innocent though he might be, should be taken to Rome ; and the number of those who were thus taken was over a thousand. The Romans, believing that these men had been already condemned by the Achaeans, distributed them among the cities of Etruria, and though the Achaeans sent embassy after embassy, and petition after petition, on behalf of the prisoners, no heed was paid to them. However, in the seventeenth year of their captivity, three hundred prisoners or less—the remnant of the Achaeans in Italy—were released, it being thought that they had been punished enough. But as for such as had escaped, either on the way to Rome or from the cities to which they had been sent by the Romans, there was no help for them, but, if retaken, they must pay the forfeit.

People and places in this passage

English translation by Sir James George Frazer (1898). Original text: Friedrich Spiro (ed.), Pausaniae Graeciae descriptio, 3 vols., Leipzig: Teubner, 1903 (Greek text as digitised by Perseus).

Greek text and translation from the Perseus Digital Library, Tufts University, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Perseus Digital Library, Greek text); translation public domain (OCR from the Internet Archive scan). Introductions, summaries and notes © GreekMythology.com.