. He had long lived in
exile at Argos, whilst his native city groaned under the dominion of a
succession of tyrants. Having collected a band of exiles, he surprised
Sicyon in the night time, and drove out the last and most unpopular of
these tyrants. Instead of seizing the tyranny for himself, as he might
easily have done, Aratus consulted only the advantage of his country,
and with this view united Sicyon with the Achaean league. The
accession of so important a town does not appear to have altered the
constitution of the confederacy. The league was governed by a
STRATEGUS, or general, whose functions were both military and civil; a
GRAMMATEUS, or secretary; and a council of ten DEMIURGI. The
sovereignty, however, resided in the general assembly, which met twice
a year in a sacred grove near AEgium. It was composed of every Achaean
who had attained the age of thirty, and possessed the right of electing
the officers of the league, and of deciding all questions of war,
peace, foreign alliances, and the like. In the year 245 B.C. Aratus
was elected STRATEGUS of the league, and again in 243. In the latter
of these years he succeeded in wresting Corinth from the Macedonians by
another nocturnal surprise, and uniting it to the league. The
confederacy now spread with wonderful rapidity. It was soon joined by
Troezen, Epidaurus, Hermione and other cities; and ultimately embraced
Athens, Megara, AEgina, Salamis, and the whole Peloponnesus, with the
exception of Sparta, Elis, and some of the Arcadian towns.

Sparta, it is true, still continued to retain her independence, but
without a shadow of her former greatness and power. The primitive
simplicity of Spartan manners had been completely destroyed by the
collection of wealth into a few hands, and by the consequent progress
of luxury. The number of Spartan citizens had been reduced to 700; but
even of these there were not above a hundred who possessed a sufficient
quantity of land to maintain themselves in independence. The young
king, Agis IV., who succeeded to the crown in 244, attempted to revive
the ancient Spartan virtue, by restoring the institutions of Lycurgus,
by cancelling all debts, and by making a new distribution of lands; and
with this view he relinquished all his own property, as well as that of
his family, for the public good. But Agis perished in this attempt, and
was put to death as a traitor to his order. A few years afterwards,
however, Cleomenes