39.49
There
was one incident worth recording. Though the Achaeans proved superior in
the war, their captain-general Philopoemen was taken prisoner. He was on
his way to occupy Corone, against which place the enemy were advancing,
and whilst he was traversing a valley over difficult and broken ground with a
small cavalry escort, he was surprised by the enemy. It is said that with the
help of the Thracians and Cretans he could have effected his escape, but
honour forbade him to desert his cavalry, men of good family whom he had
himself selected. Whilst he was closing up his rear to meet the enemy's onset,
and so give his cavalry a chance of escaping through the narrow pass, his
horse fell, and what with his own fall and the weight of the horse rolling over
him, he was very nearly killed on the spot. He was now seventy years old
and his strength was greatly impaired by a long illness from which he was
just recovering. The enemy, closing round him as he lay, made him their
prisoner. As soon as he was recognised, the enemy, out of personal regard
for him and recalling his great services, treated him just as if he had been
their own general, lifted him up carefully, gave him restoratives, and carried
him out of the entangled ravine into the high road, hardly believing the good
fortune which had befallen them. Some of them at once dispatched
messengers to Messene to announce that the war was over, and
Philopoemen was being brought in as a prisoner. The affair seemed at first so
incredible that the messenger was regarded as not only false but out of his
senses. As one after another arrived, all bringing the same story, it was at
last believed, and before they really knew that he was anywhere near the city,
the whole population, citizens and slaves, even boys and women, poured out
to see him. The crowd had blocked the gate, it looked as though each must
have the evidence of his own eyes before he could believe that such a great
event had really happened. Those who were bringing Philopoemen in had the
greatest difficulty in forcing an entrance into the city through the crowd. An
equally dense crowd blocked the rest of the route and, as the great majority
were prevented from seeing, they rushed to the theatre which was near the
road and all with one voice demanded that he should be brought where the
people could see him. The magistrates and principal citizens were afraid that
the compassion evoked by the sight of so great a man might lead to a
disturbance, for whilst some would contrast his former greatness with his
present position, others would be moved by the memory of all he had done
for them. They placed him where he could be seen at a distance, and then
hurriedly removed him from men's eyes. Dinocrates, the governor, gave out
that there were certain questions connected with the conduct of the war
which the magistrates wished to put to him. He was then led away to the
senate house and on the assembling of the senate they commenced their
deliberations.
