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31. At the same time too Messene in the Peloponnesus began to be besieged by the Achaeans because it refused to join their league. [2] Two cities, Messene and Elis, were outside the Achaean council; their sympathies were with the Aetolians. [3] The Eleans, however, after Antiochus was driven from Greece,1 responded more moderately to the [p. 247]ambassadors of the Achaeans:2 if the royal garrison3 were withdrawn they would consider what they should do; [4] the Messenians,4 on the other hand, had dismissed the ambassadors unanswered and had begun war, but fearful for their cause [5??] when their crops were being burned everywhere by a wide-ranging army and they saw the camp established near the city, they sent ambassadors to Chalcis to Titus Quinctius, the source of their liberty, to say that the Messenians were ready to open their gates and surrender their city to the Romans, not the Achaeans. [6] Having listened to the ambassadors Quinctius, setting out at once from Megalopolis, sent a messenger to Diophanes, praetor of the Achaeans,5 to order him to withdraw his army at once from Messene and to report to him. [7] Diophanes obeyed the summons, and raising the siege and himself travelling light, preceded the column and near Andania, a little town located between Megalopolis and Messene, met Quinctius; and when he had explained the reason for the siege, Quinctius reproached him gently because he had undertaken so important a matter [8??] without his authorization,6 and ordered him to disband his army and not to disturb the peace secured to the advantage of everyone. [9] He instructed the Messenians to recall their exiles and join the council of the Achaeans; if they had any matters about which they wished to raise objections or to take precautions for themselves against future contingencies, they should come to him at Corinth; Diophanes he directed to give him an immediate opportunity to meet the Achaean [p. 249]council. [10] There he complained about the island of7 Zacynthos,8 which had been wrongfully occupied, and demanded that it be restored to the Romans. [11] Zacynthos had formerly belonged to Philip, king of the Macedonians; he had ceded it to Amynander as a bribe to induce him to permit Philip to lead his army through Athamania into the upper part of Aetolia, on the expedition9 by which he had broken the spirits of the Aetolians and forced them to seek peace. [12] Amynander had appointed Philip of Megalopolis governor of the island; later, during the war in which he joined Antiochus against the Romans, he had recalled Philip for military duties and sent Hierocles of Agrigentum to succeed him.

1 For their embassy to Antiochus and their anticipations of trouble with the Achaeans, see v. 1-2 above.

2 The Achaeans were trying to induce these two cities voluntarily to join them or, if necessary, to coerce them.

3 B.C. 191

4 Livy does not mention it, but a short time before Philopoemen had released Messene from the domination of Nabis (Pausanias IV. xxix. 4); it had probably favoured Antiochus. Cities within Achaean territory but not members of the League were of course constant menaces to the League.

5 Diophanes had succeeded Philopoemen as Achaean strategus in the fall of 191 B.C.

6 Quinctius had no authority from any source, Roman or Greek, to issue orders to the Greeks. He based his actions on his prestige and his peculiar position as the liberator of Greece, and they were rarely challenged by the Greek states.

7 B.C. 191

8 Now that Rome was permanently involved in the east, Zacynthos had a certain strategic value, since it was important to have all possible naval bases closed to foreign powers. Rome had occupied it in 211 B.C. (XXVI. xxiv. 15), but in some manner it had passed into Philip's possession. Livy relates its subsequent history in the following sections. For some reason Quinctius makes no mention of Rome's earlier interest.

9 In 207 B.C. (XXVIII. vii. 14) or 205 B.C. (XXIX. xii. 1).

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load focus Summary (Latin, Evan T. Sage, PhD professor of latin and head of the department of classics in the University of Pittsburgh, 1935)
load focus Latin (W. Weissenborn, H. J. Müller, 1911)
load focus Latin (Evan T. Sage, PhD professor of latin and head of the department of classics in the University of Pittsburgh, 1935)
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  • Commentary references to this page (11):
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 31-32, commentary, 32.5
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 35-38, commentary, 35.36
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 35-38, commentary, 37.2
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 35-38, commentary, 37.5
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 35-38, commentary, 38.18
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 35-38, commentary, 38.30
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 39-40, commentary, 39.49
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 39-40, commentary, 40.19
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 41-42, commentary, 42.65
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, book 45, commentary, 45.28
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, book 45, commentary, 45.31
  • Cross-references to this page (15):
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita, Index, Megalopolis
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita, Index, Messene.
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita, Index, Messenii
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita, Index, Philippus
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita, Index, T. Quinctius Flamininus
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita, Index, Achaei
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita, Index, Amynander
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita, Index, Andania
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita, Index, Diophanes.
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita, Index, Elis
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita, Index, Hierocles
    • A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890), CONCIL´IUM
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), ANDA´NIA
    • Smith's Bio, Philippus
    • Smith's Bio, Philippus
  • Cross-references in general dictionaries to this page (9):
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