34.24
This
pretentious harangue called up Aristaenus, the captain-general of the
Achaean League. "I pray," he began, "that Jupiter Optimus Maximus and
Queen Juno, the tutelary deities of Argos, may never allow that city to be a
bone of contention between the tyrant of Lacedaemon and the robbers of
Aetolia, or suffer more after you have recovered it than it did when he
captured it. No intervening sea protects us from these brigands. What, then,
will be our fate, T. Quinctius, if they make a stronghold for themselves in the
very heart of Greece? They have nothing Greek about them but the
language, any more than they have anything human about them but the form
and appearance of men; their customs and rites are more horrid than those of
any barbarians, nay, even than those of savage beasts. We ask you therefore,
Romans, to rescue Argos from Nabis and settle the affairs of Greece in such
a way that you may leave this country at peace and security even against the
robber practices of the Aetolians." A general outcry against the Aetolians
arose, and the Roman commander said that he would have replied to their
charges had he not seen that the delegates were all so incensed against them
that they needed to be calmed rather than excited further. He should now put
the question, "What do you decide as to war with Nabis, if he does not
restore Argos to the Achaeans?" There was a unanimous decision in favour
of war, and he impressed upon them the duty of each city sending a
contingent in proportion to their strength. He also sent an envoy to the
Aetolians, not so much in the expectation of compliance with his demands as
to make them disclose their real sentiments, and in this he succeeded.
