tus and the Achaean
League refused to obey him, so he marched down from Macedon to restore
order.

To prevent his advance, and to hinder his getting even as much as a
foothold in the peninsula, Aratus wanted to capture the fortress of
Ac-ro-co-rin'thus, which barred the Isthmus of Corinth.

This undertaking was very difficult, because the fortress was perched
upon a rock so high and steep that it was almost impossible to climb it.

A traitor, Di'o-cles, however, offered to show Aratus a way to climb
this rock, provided that he should receive a certain reward. Although
general of the Achaean League, and one of the greatest men of his day,
Aratus was far from being rich; and, in order to obtain the required
sum, he had to sell all he had, and even pawn his wife's few jewels.

Then, in the midst of the darkness, one rainy night, Diocles led the
Achaean soldiers along a steep path, which they had to climb in Indian
file.

He brought them safely and unseen into the fortress, where they killed
most of the Macedonian sentinels, and put the guards to flight. As soon
as the key of the Peloponnesus had been thus daringly won, most of the
other towns in the peninsula joined the league, and the Achaeans gained
such victories, that Antigonus Gonatus fell ill, and died of grief.

The Achaean League became stronger and stronger; and, although Sparta and
a few other cities remained neutral, most of the small towns were freed
from their tyrants. Such was the importance of the league, that the
Roman ambassadors once came to ask for its aid to suppress the pirates
who infested the neighboring seas.

This help was cheerfully given, and the Achaeans entered into a treaty
with the Romans. They little suspected, however, that the city whose
name was then almost unknown would in less than a hundred years become
strong enough to subdue them, and be mistress over all Greece.

CXI. DIVISION IN SPARTA.

While the Achaean League was doing its best to restore Greece to its
former power, Sparta had remained inactive. The Spartans had changed
greatly since the days of Lycurgus. They no longer obeyed his wise laws,
and, instead of being brave and frugal, they were greedy, lazy, and
wicked.

One of their kings was named Leonidas; but he was in no way like his
great namesake, the king who had fallen at Thermopylae. Indeed, he
married an Eastern wife, and to please her assumed all the pomp and led
the idle life of an Eastern king.

H