Pausanias Analysis

Once again the Romans sent a member of their senate into Greece; the name of this man was Gallus, and he was dispatched to act as an arbitrator between the Lacedaemonians and the Argives concerning disputed territory. This Gallus spoke and acted in numerous ways with arrogance towards the Greeks, and treated the Lacedaemonians and Argives entirely with mockery.

For these cities, having reached such a level of renown and having previously even gone beyond their territorial borders into wars well-known and deeds exceedingly lavish, and having later consented to arbitration by Philip, son of Amyntas, as the common judge: the Gaul himself declined to serve as their arbitrator, but entrusted the judgment to Callicrates, a man who was a scourge upon all Greece.

Those who dwelt in Pleuron approached Gallus along with the rest of the Aetolians, wishing to obtain release from their contribution to the Achaean League. Gallus permitted them privately to send their own embassy to the Romans, and the Romans allowed them to withdraw from the Achaean League's assembly. Furthermore, the Senate instructed Gallus to exempt as many cities as possible from membership in the Achaean confederation.

He accordingly did what had been commanded him, but the Athenians, more from necessity than willingly, proceeded to plunder Oropus, although it was subject to them. For at that time the Athenians had reached the utmost degree of poverty, having suffered more severely than any other Greek people from the war against the Macedonians. Therefore the Oropians appealed to the senate of the Romans. The senate judged that they had suffered an unjust treatment and sent instructions to the Sicyonians, ordering them to impose upon the Athenians a penalty toward the Oropians in proportion to the damage they had originated.

The Sicyonians, therefore, imposed a fine of five hundred talents upon the Athenians, who had failed to arrive on time for the trial. However, the Roman senate, after an appeal from the Athenians, remitted all but one hundred talents of this penalty. Yet even this amount the Athenians did not pay; instead, by means of assurances and gifts, they secretly induced the Oropians to enter into an agreement whereby an Athenian garrison was introduced into Oropus and hostages from the Oropians were given to Athens. The arrangement further provided that, should the Athenians again bring charges against the Oropians, they were then immediately to withdraw their garrison and return the hostages.

Indeed, not much time passed before the guards wronged certain men of Oropus. The Oropians therefore sent envoys to Athens, demanding hostages and requesting that the garrison be withdrawn in accordance with the agreement. But the Athenians refused to do either, saying the wrongdoing was the fault of the men serving as guards, and not of the Athenian people as a whole; nevertheless, they promised to bring those responsible to justice.

The people of Oropus, fleeing to the Achaeans, urged them to exact vengeance on their behalf. But the Achaeans preferred not to take action, out of friendship and respect towards the Athenians. Then the people of Oropus offered Menalcidas—who was of Spartan descent, but at that time was serving as general of the Achaeans—a sum of ten talents if he would bring the Achaeans to their aid. Menalcidas promised to give half this money to Callicrates, who, because of his close friendship with the Romans, held the greatest influence among the Achaeans.

When Callicrates had added his support to the counsel of Menalcidas, it was decreed that the Achaeans should come to the aid of the Oropians against the Athenians. But someone brought news of this to the Athenians, and they, each setting forth as quickly as he could, hastened to Oropus, seized immediately whatever had been overlooked in their former raid, and carried off the garrison. After the Achaeans failed to arrive in time to provide assistance, Menalcidas and Callicrates urged them to invade Attica. However, encountering opposition from others and especially from the men of Lacedaemon, the army withdrew and turned back.