A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

FLAMININUS. FLAMININUS. 165
thither. Flamininus accompanied by the ten corn- fore rejected. The Argives, who had heard of the
missioners entered the assembly, and, at his cor- probable reduction of Sparta, had expelled their
mand, a herald, in the name of the Roman senate, Spartan garrison. Flamininus now went to Argos,
proclaimed the freedom and independence of Greece. attended the celebration of the Nemean games, and
The joy and enthusiasm at this unexpected decla- proclaimed the freedom of Argos, which was made
ration was beyond all description: the throngs of over to the Achaeans.
people that crowded around Flamininus to catch a In the winter following Flamininus exerted himsight of their liberator or touch his garment were self, as he had done hitherto, in restoring the inso enormous, that even his life was endangered. ternal peace and welfare of Greece, for there can be
When the festive days were over, Flamininus no doubt that he loved the Greeks, and it was his
and the ten commissioners set about settling the noble ambition to be their benefactor, and wherever
hffairs of Greece, especially of those districts and his actions appear at variance with this object, he
towns which had till then been occupied by the was under the influence of the policy of his counMacedonians. Thessaly was divided into four try. The wisdom of several of his arrangements is
separate states, — Magnesia, Perrhaebia, Dolopia, attested by their long duration. In order to refute
and Thessaliotis: the Aetolians received back Am- the malignant insinuations of the Aetolians, Flabracia, Phocis, and Locris; they claimed more, but mininus prevailed upon the Roman senate to withthey were referred to the Roman senate, and the draw the Roman garrisons from Acrocorinthus,
senate again referred them to Flamininus, so that Chalcis, Demetrias, and the other Greek towns, bethey were obliged to acquiesce in his decision. The fore his departure from the country. When the
Achaeans received all the Macedonian possessions affairs of Greece were thus satisfactorily settled, he
in Peloponnesus, and, as aparticular favour towards convoked, in the spring of B. c. 194, an assembly
Athens, Flamininus extended her dominions also. of the Greeks at Corinth, to take leave of his beThe peace thus established in Greece by the vic- loved people. He parted from them like a father
tory over Macedonia did not last long, for the al- from his children, exhorting them to use their freeliance of the Romans with Nabis was as disagree- dom wisely, and to remain faithful to Rome. Beable to the Romans as it was disgraceful, and in fore he left he performed another act of humanity
the spring of B. C. 195 Flamininus was invested which history ought not to pass over. During the
with full power by the Roman senate to act towards Hannibalian war a number of Romans had been
Nabis as he might think proper. He forthwith con- taken prisoners, and, as the republic refused to
voked a meeting of the Greeks at Corinth. All were ransom them, they were sold as slaves, and many
delighted at the hope of getting rid of this monster of them had been bought by the Greeks. Flamiof a tyrant, and it was only the Aetolians who again ninus now prevailed on the Roman senate to grant
gave vent to their hostile feelings towards the Ro- him a sum of money for the purpose of purchasing
nmans. But the war against Nabis was decreed, and the liberty of those men. On his return to Rome,
after receiving reinforcements from' the Achaeans, he celebrated a magnificent triumph which lasted
Philip, Eumenes of Pergamus, and the Rhodians, for three days.
Flamininus marched to Argos, the Lacedaemoniain Soon after the Romans had quitted Greece, Angarrison of which was commanded by Pythagoras, tiochus of Syria, and Nabis of Sparta, were instithe.brother-in-law of Nabis. As the people of gated by the Aetolians to take up arms against
Argos, being kept down by the strong garrison, did Rome. Nabis did not require much persuasion.
not rise in a body against their oppressors, Flami- He besieged Gythium, which was occupied by the
ninus resolved to leave Argos and march into Achaeans. The Roman senate, which was inLaconia. Nabis, although his army was inferior formed of every thing that was going on in Greece,
to that of his opponents, made preparations for a sent a fleet -under C. Atilius, B. C. 192, and an
most vigorous defence. Two battles were fought embassy, headed by Flamininus, who had more
under the walls of Sparta, in which Nabis was influence there than any one else, and who was to
beaten; but Flamnininus abstained from besieging exercise it, partly to keep up the good understandthe tyrant in his own capital; he ravaged the ing with the allies of Rome, and partly to make
country and endeavoured to cut off the supplies. new friends. lie arrived in Greece before Atilius,
With the assistance of his brother Lucius he took and advised the Greeks not to undertake any
the populous and strongly fortified town of Gythium. thing before the arrival of the Roman fleet, But
The unexpected fall of this place convinced Nabis as the danger which threatened Gythium required
that he could not hold out much longer, and he quick action, the war against Nabis was decreed.
sued for peace. Flamininus, who feared lest a The tyrant was reduced to the last extremity, and
successor should be sent into his province, was not Philopoemen had it in his power to decide his
disinclined to come to some arrangement with Nabis. downfall by one more blow, but it was prevented
Hlis allies, on the other hand, urged the necessity by Flamininus, partly from the same political moof exterminating his tyranny completely; but the tives which had before induced him to spare
Romans looked at the state of things in a different Nabis, and partly because his ambition was
light, and probably thought Nabis an useful check wounded by the dislike with which the Greeks
upon the Achaeans; Flamininus, therefore, with- had regarded and still regarded the peace which
out openly opposing his allies, brought them round he had concluded with Nabis. Flamininus was
to his views by various considerations. But the invested with full power; and he might have determs on which peace was offered to Nabis.were stroyed the evil at once at its root, but he prerejected, -and Flamininus now advanced against ferred carrying out the scheme of the Roman poSparta and tried to take the place by assault; ahd, licy: Philopoemen was checked in his progress,
as he was on the point of making a second attempt, and obliged to conclude a truce with Nabis. Anin which Sparta would probably have fallen into tiochus was now making serious preparations to
his hands, Nabis again began to negotiate for. peace, cross over. into Greece; and FlaininiIus, by vaand was glad to obtain it on the terms he had be- rious favourable promisies,jaduced Phidlip of MaceM 3