Plutarch: Lives of the noble Grecians and Romans
nor wanting in energy, were solid, and tempered with a
steadiness of judgment beyond his years. For which reason the
exiles had their eyes most upon him, nor did Nicocles less
observe his motions, but secretly spied and watched him, not out
of apprehension of any such considerable or utterly audacious
attempt, but suspecting he held correspondence with the kings,
who were his father's friends and acquaintance. And, indeed,
Aratus first attempted this way; but finding that Antigonus, who
had promised fair, neglected him and delayed the time, and that
his hopes from Egypt and Ptolemy were long to wait for, he
determined to cut off the tyrant by himself.
And first he broke his mind to Aristomachus and Ecdelus, the one
an exile of Sicyon, the other, Ecdelus, an Arcadian of
Megalopolis, a philosopher, and a man of action, having been the
familiar friend of Arcesilaus the Academic at Athens. These
readily consenting, he communicated with the other exiles,
whereof some few, being ashamed to seem to despair of success,
engaged in the design; but most of them endeavored to divert him
from his purpose, as one that for want of experience was too
rash and daring.
Whilst he was consulting to seize upon some post in Sicyonia,
from whence he might make war upon the tyrant, there came to
Argos a certain Sicyonian, newly escaped out of prison, brother
to Xenocles, one of the exiles, who being by him presented to
Aratus informed him, that that part of the wall over which he
escaped was, inside, almost level with the ground, adjoining a
rocky and elevated place, and that from the outside it might be
scaled with ladders. Aratus, hearing this, dispatches away
Xenocles with two of his own servants, Seuthas and Technon, to
view the wall, resolving, if possible, secretly and with one
risk to hazard all on a single trial, rather than carry on a
contest as a private man against a tyrant by long war and open
force. Xenocles, therefore, with his companions, returning
having taken the height of the wall, and declaring the place not
to be impossible or indeed difficult to get over, but that it
was not easy to approach it undiscovered, by reason of some
small but uncommonly savage and noisy dogs belonging to a
gardener hard by, he immediately undertook the business.
Now the preparation of arms gave no jealousy, because robberies
and petty forays were at that time common everywhere between one
set of people and another; and for the ladders, Euphranor, the
machine-maker, made them openly, his trade rendering him
unsuspected, though one of the exiles. As for men, each of his
friends in Argos furnished him with ten apiece out of those few
they had, and he armed thirty of his own servants, and hired
some few soldiers of Xenophilus, the chief of the robber
captains, to whom it was given out that they were to march into
the territory of Sicyon to seize the king's stud; most of them
were sent before, in small parties, to the tower of Polygnotus,
with orders to wait there; Caphisias also was dispatched
beforehand lightly armed, with four others, who were, as soon as
it was dark, to come to the gardener's house, pretending to be
travelers, and, procuring their lodging there, to shut up him
and his dogs; for there was no other way of getting past. And
for the ladders, they had been made to take in pieces, and were
put into chests, and sent before hidden upon wagons. In the
meantime, some of the spies of Nicocles appearing in Argos, and
being said to go privately about watching Aratus, he came early
in the morning into the market-place, showing him self openly
and conversing with his friends; then he anointed himself in the
exercise ground, and, taking with him thence some of the young
men that used to drink and spend their time with him, he went
home; and presently after several of his servants were seen
about the marketplace, one carrying garlands, another buying
flambeaus, and a third speaking to the women that used to sing
and play at banquets, all which things the spies observing were
deceived, and said laughing to one another, "Certainly nothing
can be more timorous than a tyrant, if Nicocles, being master of
so great a city and so numerous a force, stands in fear of a
youth that spends what he has to subsist upon in his banishment
in pleasures and day-debauches;" and, being thus imposed upon,
they returned home.
But Aratus, departing immediately after his morning meal, and
coming to his soldiers at Polygnotus's tower, led them to Nemea;
where he disclosed, to most of them for the first time; his true
design, making them large promises and fair speeches, and
marched towards the city, giving for the word Apollo victorious,
proportioning his march to the motion of the moon, so as to have
the benefit of her light upon the way, and to be in the garden,
which was close to the wall, just as she was setting. Here
Caphisias came to him, who had not secured the dogs, which had
run away before he could catch them, but had only made sure of
the gardener. Upon which most of the company being out of heart
and desiring to retreat, Aratus encouraged them to go on,
promising to retire in case the dogs were too troublesome;
and at the same time sending forward those that carried the
ladders, conducted by Ecdelus and Mnasitheus, he followed them
himself leisurely, the dogs already barking very loud and
following, the steps of Ecdelus and his companions. However,
they got to the wall, and reared the ladders with safety. But
as the foremost men were mounting them, the captain of the watch
that was to be relieved by the morning guard passed on his way
with the bell, and there were many lights, and a noise of people
coming up. Hearing which, they clapped themselves close to the
ladders, and so were unobserved; but as the other watch also was
coming up to meet this, they were in extreme danger of being
discovered. But when this also went by without observing them,
immediately Mnasitheus and Ecdelus got upon the wall, and,
possessing themselves of the approaches inside and out, sent
away Technon to Aratus, desiring him to make all the haste he
could.
Now there was no great distance from the garden to the wall and
to the tower, in which latter a large hound was kept. The hound
did not hear their steps of himself, whether that he were
naturally drowsy, or overwearied the day before, but, the
gardener's curs awaking him, he first began to growl and grumble
in response, and then as they passed by to bark out aloud. And
the barking was now so great, that the sentinel opposite shouted
out to the dog's keeper to know why the dog kept such a barking,
and whether anything was the matter; who answered, that it was
nothing, but only that his dog had been set barking by the
lights of the watch and the noise of the bell. This reply much
encouraged Aratus's soldiers, who thought the dog's keeper was
privy to their design, and wished to conceal what was passing,
and that many others in the city were of the conspiracy. But
when they came to scale the wall, the attempt then appeared both
to require time and to be full of danger, for the ladders shook
and tottered extremely unless they mounted them leisurely and
one by one, and time pressed, for the cocks began to crow, and
the country people that used to bring things to the market would
be coming to the town directly. Therefore Aratus made haste to
get up himself, forty only of the company being already upon the
wall, and, staying but for a few more of those that were below,
he made straight to the tyrant's house and the general's office,
where the mercenary soldiers passed the night, and, coming
suddenly upon them, and taking them prisoners without killing
any one of them, he immediately sent to all his friends in their
houses to desire them to come to him, which they did from all
quarters. By this time the day began to break, and the theater
was filled with a multitude that were held in suspense by
uncertain reports and knew nothing distinctly of what had
happened, until a public crier came forward and proclaimed that
Aratus, the son of Clinias, invited the citizens to recover
their liberty.
Then at last assured that what they so long looked for was come
to pass, they pressed in throngs to the tyrant's gates to set
them on fire. And such a flame was kindled, the whole house
catching fire, that it was seen as far as Corinth; so that the
Corinthians, wondering what the matter could be, were upon the
point of coming to their assistance. Nicocles fled away
secretly out of the city by means of certain underground
passages, and the soldiers, helping the Sicyonians to quench the
fire, plundered the house. This Aratus hindered not, but
divided also the rest of the riches of the tyrants amongst the
citizens. In this exploit, not one of those engaged in it was
slain, nor any of the contrary party, fortune so ordering the
action as to be clear and free from civil bloodshed. He
restored eighty exiles who had been expelled by Nicocles, and no
less than five hundred who had been driven out by former tyrants
and had endured a long banishment, pretty nearly, by this time,
of fifty years' duration. These returning, most of them very
poor, were impatient to enter upon their former possessions,
and, proceeding to their several farms and houses, gave great
perplexity to Aratus, who considered that the city without was
envied for its liberty and aimed at by Antigonus, and within was
full of disorder and sedition. Wherefore, as things stood, he
thought it best to associate it to the Achaean community, and
so, although Dorians, they of their own will took upon them the
name and citizenship of the Achaeans, who at that time had
neither great repute nor much power. For the most of them lived
in small towns, and their territory was neither large nor
fruitful, and the neighboring sea was almost wholly without a
harbor, breaking direct upon a rocky shore. But yet these above
others made it appear that the Grecian courage was invincible,
whensoever it could only have order and concord within itself
and a prudent general to direct it. For though they had
scarcely been counted as any part of the ancient Grecian power,
and at this time did not equal the strength of one ordinary
city, yet by prudence and unanimity, and because they knew how
not to envy and malign, but to obey and follow him amongst them
that was most eminent for virtue, they not only preserved their
own liberty in the midst of so many great cities, military
powers, and monarchies, but went on steadily saving and
delivering from slavery great numbers of the Greeks.
As for Aratus, he was in his behavior a true statesman,
high-minded, and more intent upon the public than his private
concerns, a bitter hater of tyrants, making the common good the
rule and law of his friendships and enmities. So that indeed he
seems not to have been so faithful a friend, as he was a
reasonable and gentle enemy, ready, according to the needs of
the state, to suit himself on occasion to either side; concord
between nations, brotherhood between cities, the council and the
assembly unanimous in their votes, being the objects above all
other blessings to which he was passionately devoted; backward,
indeed, and diffident in the use of arms and open force, but in
effecting a purpose underhand, and outwitting cities and
potentates without observation, most politic and dexterous.
Therefore, though he succeeded beyond hope in many enterprises
which he undertook, yet he seems to have left quite as many
unattempted, though feasible enough, for want of assurance. For
it should seem, that, as the sight of certain beasts is strong
in the night but dim by day, the tenderness of the humors of
their eyes not bearing the contact of the light, so there is