f his weakness, raised himself into a
sitting posture. He then took the cup into his hand, and inquired
whether he knew anything about the knights, especially about one
Lykortas. When the slave answered that most of them had escaped, he
nodded his head, looked kindly upon him, and answered, "You tell me
good news, if we are not all unfortunate." He uttered no other word,
but drank the poison and laid down again. In his weak condition he was
unable to offer any resistance to the operations of the drug, and died
immediately.

XXI. When the Achaean cities heard of his death, they went into a
general mourning for him. The men of military age assembled at
Megalopolis without delay, chose Lykortas as their leader, invaded the
Messenian territory, and ravaged it until the Messenians came to their
senses and made terms with the Achaeans. Deinokrates escaped his
merited fate by suicide, as did those who had advised that Philopoemen
should be put to death, while those who had advised that he should be
tortured were themselves reserved for a death of torture by Lykortas.
They burned his body and collected the ashes into an urn, not
carelessly, but mingling a sort of triumphal pomp with his funeral
procession. There one might see men crowned with garlands but weeping
at the same time, and leading along his enemies in chains. The urn
itself, which was scarcely to be seen for the garlands and ribbons
with which it was covered, was carried by Polybius, the son of the
Achaean commander-in-chief, accompanied by the noblest of the Achaeans.
The soldiers followed in complete armour, with caparisoned horses, not
cast down, but yet too sad to feel any pride in their victory. As they
passed through the towns and villages on their way the inhabitants
came out as if to welcome him on his return from a successful
campaign, laid their hands on his urn, and joined in the procession to
Megalopolis. When here the old men, women, and children joined them, a
wail of distress ran through the whole army for the unhappy city which
was mourning for its hero, and which thought itself to have lost, by
his death, the first place in Greece. He was buried with great honour,
as we may well believe, and round his tomb the Messenian captives wore
stoned to death. Many statues were made of him, and many honours voted
to him by the Greek cities, which afterwards during that unfortunate
time for Greece when Corinth was destroyed, a Roman proposed to
destroy, accus