Plutarch: Lives of the noble Grecians and Romans
rouse to a fresh attempt those whose hatred made them enemies to the
last. And what really happened afterwards does to a certain extent
tend yet further to the exculpation of Titus. Aristonicus, of the
family of a common musician, upon the reputation of being the son of
Eumenes, filled all Asia with tumults and rebellion. Then again,
Mithridates, after his defeats by Sylla and Fimbria, and vast
slaughter, as well among his prime officers as common soldiers, made
head again, and proved a most dangerous enemy, against Lucullus, both
by sea and land. Hannibal was never reduced to so contemptible a
state as Caius Marius; he had the friendship of a king, and the free
exercise of his faculties, employment and charge in the navy, and
over the horse and foot, of Prusias; whereas those who but now were
laughing to hear of Marius wandering about Africa, destitute and
begging, in no long time after were seen entreating his mercy in
Rome, with his rods at their backs, and his axes at their necks. So
true it is, that looking to the possible future, we can call nothing
that we see either great or small; as nothing puts an end to the
mutability and vicissitude of things, but what puts an end to their
very being. Some authors accordingly tell us, that Titus did not do
this of his own head, but that he was joined in commission with
Lucius Scipio, and that the whole object of the embassy was, to
effect Hannibal's death. And now, as we find no further mention in
history of anything done by Titus, either in war or in the
administration of the government, but simply that he died in peace;
it is time to look upon him as he stands in comparison with
Philopoemen.
COMPARISON OF PHILOPOEMEN WITH FLAMININUS
First, then, as for the greatness of the benefits which Titus
conferred on Greece, neither Philopoemen, nor many braver men than
he, can make good the parallel. They were Greeks fighting against
Greeks, but Titus, a stranger to Greece, fought for her. And at the
very time when Philopoemen went over into Crete, destitute of means
to succor his besieged countrymen, Titus, by a defeat given to Philip
in the heart of Greece, set them and their cities free. Again, if we
examine the battles they fought, Philopoemen, whilst he was the
Achaeans' general, slew more Greeks than Titus, in aiding the Greeks,
slew Macedonians. As to their failings, ambition was Titus's weak
side, and obstinacy Philopoemen's; in the former, anger was easily
kindled, in the latter, it was as hardly quenched. Titus reserved to
Philip the royal dignity; he pardoned the Aetolians, and stood their
friend; but Philopoemen, exasperated against his country, deprived it
of its supremacy over the adjacent villages. Titus was ever constant
to those he had once befriended, the other, upon any offense, as
prone to cancel kindnesses. He who had once been a benefactor to the
Lacedaemonians, afterwards laid their walls level with the ground,
wasted their country, and in the end changed and destroyed the whole
frame of their government. He seems, in truth, to have prodigalled
away his own life, through passion and perverseness; for he fell upon
the Messenians, not with that conduct and caution that characterized
the movements of Titus, but with unnecessary and unreasonable haste.
The many battles he fought, and the many trophies he won, may make
us ascribe to Philopoemen the more thorough knowledge of war. Titus
decided the matter betwixt Philip and himself in two engagements; but
Philopoemen came off victorious in ten thousand encounters, to all
which fortune had scarcely any presence, so much were they owing to
his skill. Besides, Titus got his renown, assisted by the power of a
flourishing Rome; the other flourished under a declined Greece, so
that his successes may be accounted his own; in Titus's glory Rome
claims a share. The one had brave men under him, the other made his
brave, by being over them. And though Philopoemen was unfortunate
certainly, in always being opposed to his countrymen, yet this
misfortune is at the same time a proof of his merit. Where the
circumstances are the same, superior success can only be ascribed to
superior merit. And he had, indeed, to do with the two most warlike
nations of all Greece, the Cretans on the one hand, and the
Lacedaemonians on the other, and he mastered the craftiest of them by
art and the bravest of them by valor. It may also be said that
Titus, having his men armed and disciplined to his hand, had in a
manner his victories made for him; whereas Philopoemen was forced to
introduce a discipline and tactics of his own, and to new-mold and
model his soldiers; so that what is of greatest import towards
insuring a victory was in his case his own creation, while the other
had it ready provided for his benefit. Philopoemen effected many
gallant things with his own hand, but Titus none; so much so that one
Archedemus, an Aetolian, made it a jest against him that while he,
the Aetolian, was running with his drawn sword, where he saw the
Macedonians drawn up closest and fighting hardest, Titus was standing
still, and with hands stretched out to heaven, praying to the gods
for aid.
It is true, Titus acquitted himself admirably, both as a governor,
and as an ambassador; but Philopoemen was no less serviceable and
useful to the Achaeans in the capacity of a private man, than in that
of a commander. He was a private citizen when he restored the
Messenians to their liberty, and delivered their city from Nabis; he
was also a private citizen when he rescued the Lacedaemonians, and
shut the gates of Sparta against the General Diophanes, and Titus.
He had a nature so truly formed for command that he could govern even
the laws themselves for the public good; he did not need to wait for
the formality of being elected into command by the governed, but
employed their service, if occasion required, at his own discretion;
judging that he who understood their real interests, was more truly
their supreme magistrate, than he whom they had elected to the
office. The equity, clemency, and humanity of Titus towards the
Greeks, display a great and generous nature; but the actions of
Philopoemen, full of courage, and forward to assert his country's
liberty against the Romans, have something yet greater and nobler in
them. For it is not as hard a task to gratify the indigent and
distressed, as to bear up against, and to dare to incur the anger of
the powerful. To conclude, since it does not appear to be easy, by
any review or discussion, to establish the true difference of their
merits, and decide to which a preference is due, will it be an unfair
award in the case, if we let the Greek bear away the crown for
military conduct and warlike skill, and the Roman for justice and
clemency?
PYRRHUS
Of the Thesprotians and Molossians after the great inundation, the
first king, according to some historians, was Phaethon, one of those
who came into Epirus with Pelasgus. Others tell us that Deucalion
and Pyrrha, having set up the worship of Jupiter at Dodona, settled
there among the Molossians. In after time, Neoptolemus, Achilles's
son, planting a colony, possessed these parts himself, and left a
succession of kings, who, after him, were named Pyrrhidae; as he in
his youth was called Pyrrhus, and of his legitimate children, one
born of Lanassa, daughter of Cleodaeus, Hyllus's son, had also that
name. From him, Achilles came to have divine honors in Epirus, under
the name of Aspetus, in the language of the country. After these
first kings, those of the following intervening times becoming
barbarous, and insignificant both in their power and their lives,
Tharrhypas is said to have been the first, who by introducing Greek
manners and learning, and humane laws into his cities, left any fame
of himself. Alcetas was the son of Tharrhypas, Arybas of Alcetas,
and of Arybas and Troas his queen, Aeacides: he married Phthia, the
daughter of Menon, the Thessalian, a man of note at the time off the
Lamiac war, and of highest command in the confederate army next to
Leosthenes. To Aeacides were born of Phthia, Deidamia and Troas
daughters, and Pyrrhus a son.
The Molossians, afterwards falling into factions, and expelling
Aeacides, brought in the sons of Neoptolemus, and such friends of
Aeacides as they could take were all cut off; Pyrrhus, yet an infant,
and searched for by the enemy, had been stolen away and carried off
by Androclides end Angelus; who, however, being obliged to take with
them a few servants, and women to nurse the child, were much impeded
and retarded in their flight, and when they were now overtaken, they
delivered the infant to Androcleon, Hippias, and Neander, faithful
and able young fellows, giving them in charge to make for Megara, a
town of Macedon, with all their might, while they themselves, partly
by entreaty, and partly by force, stopped the course of the pursuers
till late in the evening. At last, having hardly forced them back,
they joined those who had the care of Pyrrhus; but the sun being
already set, at the point of attaining their object they suddenly
found themselves cut off from it. For on reaching the river that
runs by the city they found it looking formidable and rough, and
endeavoring to pass over, they discovered it was not fordable; late
rains having heightened the water, and made the current violent. The
darkness of the night added to the horror of all, so that they durst
not venture of themselves to carry over the child and the women that
attended it; but, perceiving some of the country people on the other
side, they desired them to assist their passage, and showed them
Pyrrhus, calling out aloud, and importuning them. They, however,
could not hear for the noise and roaring of the water. Thus time was
spent while those called out, and the others did not understand what
was said, till one recollecting himself, stripped off a piece of bark
from an oak, and wrote on it with the tongue of a buckle, stating the
necessities and the fortunes of the child, and then rolling it about
a stone, which was made use of to give force to the motion, threw it
over to the other side, or, as some say, fastened it to the end of a
javelin, and darted it over. When the men on the other shore read
what was on the bark, and saw how time pressed, without delay they
cut down some trees, and lashing them together, came over to them.
And it so fell out, that he who first got ashore, and took Pyrrhus in
his arms, was named Achilles, the rest being helped over by others as
they came to hand.
Thus being safe, and out of the reach of pursuit, they addressed
themselves to Glaucias, then king of the Illyrians, and finding him
sitting at home with his wife, they laid down the child before them.
The king began to weigh the matter, fearing Cassander, who was a
mortal enemy of Aeacides, and, being in deep consideration, said
nothing for a long time; while Pyrrhus, crawling about on the ground,
gradually got near and laid hold with his hand upon the king's robe,
and so helping himself upon his feet against the knees of Glaucias,
first moved laughter, and then pity, as a little humble, crying
petitioner. Some say he did not throw himself before Glaucias, but
catching hold of an altar of the gods, and spreading his hands about
it, raised himself up by that; and that Glaucias took the act as an
omen. At present, therefore, he gave Pyrrhus into the charge of his
wife, commanding he should be brought up with his own children; and a
little after, the enemies sending to demand him, and Cassander
himself offering two hundred talents, he would not deliver him up;
but when he was twelve years old, bringing him with an army into
Epirus, made him king. Pyrrhus in the air of his face had something