of self-defence. But Rome already had
her hand on the throat of Greece, and political wisdom came to that land
too late to avail.

[Illustration: REMAINS OF THE TEMPLE OF MINERVA, CORINTH.]

We have come, indeed, to the end of the story of Grecian liberty. Twice
Greece rose in arms against the power of Rome, but in the end she fell
hopelessly into the fetters forged for the world by that lord of
conquest. Of the celebrated cities of Greece two had already fallen.
Thebes had been swept from the face of the earth in the wind of
Alexander's wrath. Sparta had been reduced to a feeble village by the
anger of Philopoemen. Corinth, now the largest and richest city of
Greece, was to be razed to the ground for daring to defy Rome; and
Athens was to be plundered and humiliated by a conquering Roman army.

It will not take long to tell how all this came about. The story is a
short one, but full of vital consequences. Philopoemen, the great
general of the Achaean League, died of poison 183 B.C. In the same year
died in exile Hannibal, the greatest foe Rome ever knew, and Scipio, one
of its ablest generals. Rome was already master of Greece. But the Roman
senate feared trouble from the growth of the Achaean League, and, to
weaken it, took a thousand of its noblest citizens, under various
charges, and sent them as hostages to Rome. Among them was the
celebrated historian Polybius, who wrote the history of Hannibal's wars.

These exiles were not brought to trial on the weak charges made against
them, but they were detained in Italy for seventeen years. By the end of
that time many of them had died, and Rome at last did what it was not in
the habit of doing, it took pity on those who were left and let them
return home.

Roman pity in this case proved disastrous to Greece. Many of the exiles
were exasperated by their treatment, and were no sooner at home than
they began to stir up the people to revolt. Polybius held them back for
a time, but during his absence the spirit of sedition grew. It was
intensified by the action of Rome, which, to weaken Greece, resolved to
dissolve the Achaean League, or to take from it its strongest cities.
Roman ambassadors carried this edict to Corinth, the great city of the
League. When their errand become known the people rose in riot, insulted
the ambassadors, and vowed that they were not and would not be the
slaves of Rome.

If they had shown the strength and spirit to sustain their vow they
mig