31.
After the proclamation of the charter for Macedonia, Paulus declared that he would also lay down a law-code,
1 and then proceeded to summon the Aetolians.
[
2]
In this investigation, the question was more which side had favoured the king and which the Romans, than which had done wrong or had been wronged; the assassins were acquitted of guilt; the exile of the expelled was confirmed quite as definitely as the death of the slain; only Aulus Baebius was condemned for furnishing Roman soldiers to help carry out the slaughter.
[
3]
This outcome of the case of the Aetolians raised to an unbearable pitch of pride the spirits of those in all the states and peoples of Greece who sided with the Romans, and crushed helplessly under their feet any who were in some respect tainted by suspicion of having favoured the king.
[
4]
There were three sorts of
[p. 355]leaders in the states, two groups who by fawning
2 upon the Roman power and the friendship of kings respectively gained personal wealth for themselves by tyrannizing over their cities; the middle group alone, opposing both the others, strove to guard independence and constitutionality.
3
[
5]
Their reward was greater affection from their own people, and less favour in foreign quarters. Carried along on the tide of Roman success, the members of the pro- Roman party were then alone occupying all magistracies and serving as envoys.
[
6]
These gathered in great numbers both from the Peloponnesus and Boeotia and the other leagues of Greece, and filled the ears of the ten commissioners, saying that not only those who out
[
7??]
of vanity openly boasted themselves guests and friends of Perseus, but many more who kept under cover, had sided with the king, and under the guise of preserving independence they had turned the whole organization of the league meetings against the Roman interest;
[
8]
these peoples, said their representatives, would not maintain loyalty unless the spirit of the opposition was crushed and the prestige sustained and strengthened of those who had no object in view but the power of Rome.
[
9]
Names were furnished by these men, and their opponents from Aetolia, Acarnania, Epirus, and Boeotia were summoned by dispatches from the general to follow him to Rome to stand trial.
4 Two
[p. 357]of the board of commissioners, Gaius Claudius and
5 Gnaeus Domitius, set out for Achaia in order to summon men by proclamation on the spot.
[
10]
This they did for two reasons, first because they thought the Achaeans had more confidence and more pride to make them refuse obedience and perhaps also Callicrates and the other informers and purveyors of charges might be endangered;
[
11]
the second reason for the personal summons was that from the other leagues they had letters of the leaders that had been seized in the royal archives, but no letters from the Achaeans had been found and the charge against them was blind.
When the Aetolians had been dismissed, the Acarnanian League was called up. No changes were made concerning them, except that Leucas was removed from the Acarnanian federation.
6
[
12]
In the course of more sweeping inquiries as to support of the king, either individual or by political
[
13??]
units, the investigation was extended to Asia, and Labeo was sent to destroy Antissa on the island of Lesbos and to move its inhabitants to Methymna, because when Antenor, the king's admiral, had been roaming about Lesbos with his scout-ships, the people of Antissa had received him into their harbour and aided him with provisions.
[
14]
Two men of distinction were beheaded by the consul, Andronicus, son of Andronicus, an Aetolian, because following his father
[
15??]
he had borne arms against the Roman People, and Neon of Thebes, who had induced his people to make an alliance with Perseus.