29 The townsmen omitted nothing by which the works or the motions of the besiegers could be obstructed. But they resisted in two ways in particular; one of which was to raise constantly, instead of the part of the wall knocked down, a new wall of equal strength on the inside; and the other was to make sudden sallies, at one time against the enemy’s works, at another against his advanced guards; and in those attacks, they generally got the better. The only plan that was invented to confine them within the walls, though ineffectual, deserves to be recorded. One hundred slingers were brought from Ægium, Patras, and Dymæ. These men, according to the customary practice of that nation, were exercised from their childhood in throwing with a sling, into the open sea, the round pebbles, with which, mixed with sand, the shores were generally strewn; therefore they cast weapons of that sort to a greater distance, with surer aim, and more powerful effect, than even the Balearian slingers. Besides, their sling does not consist merely of a single strap, like the Balearic and that of other nations, but the thong of the sling is three-fold, and made firm by several seams, that the bullet may not, by the yielding of the strap in the act of throwing, be let fly at random, but after sticking fast while whirled about, it may be discharged as if sent from the string of a bow. Being accustomed to drive their bullets through circular marks of small circumference, placed at a great distance, they not only hit the enemy’s heads, but any part of their face that they aimed at. These slings checked the Samæans from sallying either so frequently or so boldly; insomuch that they would, sometimes, from the walls, beseech the Achæans to retire for a while, and be quiet spectators of their fight with the Roman guards. Same supported a siege of four months. When some of their small number were daily killed or wounded, and the survivors were, through continual fatigues, greatly reduced both in strength and spirits, the Romans, one night scaling the wall of the citadel, which they call Cyatides, (for the city sloping towards the sea verges towards the west,) made their way into the forum. The Samæans, on discovering that a part of the city was taken, fled, with their wives and children, into the greater citadel; but submitting next day, they were all sold as slaves, their city being plundered.
30 As soon as he had settled the affairs of Cephallenia, the consul, leaving a garrison in Same, sailed over to Peloponnesus, where the Ægians and Lacedæmonians, chiefly, solicited his presence for a long time. From the first institution of the Achæan council, the assemblies of the nation had been held at Ægium, whether that was conceded to the dignity of the city, or the commodiousness of its situation. This usage Philopœmen first attempted to subvert in that year, and determined to introduce an ordinance, that these should be held in rotation in every one of the cities, which were members of the Achæan union; and a little before the arrival of the consul, when the Demiurguses, who are the chief magistrates in the states, summoned the representatives to Ægium, Philopœmen, then prætor, by proclamation, appointed their meeting at Argos. To which place when it was apparent that all would come, the consul likewise, though he favoured the cause of the Ægians, went to Argos, but, after there had been a debate, and he saw the scale turning against the Ægians, he desisted from his undertaking. The Lacedæmonians then drew his attention to their disputes. The exiles especially kept that state in alarm: of whom great numbers resided in the maritime forts on the coast of Laconia, all which had been taken from the Lacedæmonians. At this the Lacedæmonians were deeply chagrined, and in order that they might have some where a free access to the sea, if they should have occasion to send ambassadors to Rome, or any other place, and at the same time possess some mart and repository for foreign merchandise, for their necessary demands, attacked in the night a maritime village called Las, and seized it by surprise. The inhabitants, and the exiles residing in the place, were terrified, at first, by the sudden assault; but afterwards collecting in a body before day, after a slight contest, they drove back the Lacedæmonians. A general alarm, nevertheless, spread over the whole coast, and all the forts and villages, with the exiles whose homes were there, united in sending a common embassy to the Achæans.
31 The prætor, Philopœmen—(who, from the beginning, had ever been a friend to the cause of the exiles, and had always advised the Achæans to reduce the power and influence of the Lacedæmonians,)—gave an audience of the council to the ambassadors while making their complaints. There, on a motion made by him, a decree was passed, that, “whereas Titus Quintius and the Romans had committed their forts and villages, on the coast of Laconia, to the protection and guardianship of the Achæans; and whereas the Lacedæmonians, according to the treaty, ought to leave them unmolested; notwithstanding which, the village of Las has been attacked by them and bloodshed committed therein; therefore, unless the authors and abettors of this outrage were delivered up to the Achæans, the treaty would be considered as violated.” To demand those persons, ambassadors were instantly despatched to Lacedæmon. This authoritative injunction appeared to the Lacedæmonians so haughty and insolent, that if their state had been in its ancient condition, they would undoubtedly have taken to arms. But they were principally alarmed by apprehensions, lest, if by obeying the first mandates they once received the yoke, Philopœmen should put the exiles in possession of Lacedæmon, a design which he had been a long time planning. Maddened therefore with anger, they put to death thirty men of the faction which had held some correspondence with Philopœmen and the exiles, and passed a decree, that the alliance with the Achæans should be renounced, and that ambassadors should be sent immediately to Cephallenia, to surrender Lacedæmon to the consul Marcus Fulvius and the Romans, and beseech him to come into Peloponnesus, and to receive Lacedæmon under the protection and dominion of the Roman people.
32 When the Achæan ambassadors returned with an account of these proceedings, war was declared against the Lacedæmonians, by a unanimous vote of all the states of the confederacy; but the winter prevented its being commenced immediately. However, the confines of the Lacedæmonians were laid waste by small expeditions, more like freebooting than a regular war, made not only by land, but also by ships at sea. This commotion brought the consul into Peloponnesus, and, by his order, a council being summoned at Elis, the Lacedæmonians were called on to plead their own cause. There were not only violent debates then, but even altercation. To which, the consul, although his answer had been indecisive in other respects, since he encouraged both parties through a very eager desire to please, put an end, by one decisive order, that they should desist from hostilities, until they sent ambassadors to Rome, to the senate. An embassy was despatched by both parties to Rome. The Lacedæmonian exiles intrusted their cause and embassy to the Achæans. Diophanes and Lycortas, both of them Megalopolitans, were at the head of the Achæan embassy, who, being at variance in their own republic, there also delivered speeches by no means in unison. Diophanes was for leaving the determination of every point to the senate—that they would best decide the controversies between the Achæans and Lacedæmonians; while Lycortas, according to the instructions of Philopœmen, required, that the senate should permit the Achæans to execute their own decrees, made conformable to the treaty, and their own laws; and that they should concede to them, uninfringed, the liberty which they themselves had bestowed. The Achæan nation was, at that time, in high esteem with the Romans; yet it was resolved, that no alteration should be made respecting the Lacedæmonians; but the answer given was so confused, that, while the Achæans understood it as full permission given to them in relation to Lacedæmon, the Lacedæmonians construed it, that unlimited power was not conceded to them.
33 The Achæans used this power in an immoderate and tyrannical manner. Philopœmen is continued in office, and he, in the beginning of spring, collecting an army, encamped in the territory of the Lacedæmonians, and thence sent ambassadors to insist on their delivering up the authors of the insurrection; promising, that if they complied, their state should remain in peace, and that those persons should not suffer any punishment, without having pleaded their cause. There was silence among the rest through fear; but the persons demanded by name, declared that they would voluntarily go, if their faith was pledged by the ambassadors, that violence would not be resorted to, until their cause were heard. Several other men, of illustrious characters, went along with them, both as supporters of those private individuals, and because they thought their cause concerned the public interest. The Achæans had never before