permission to return; but, when Polybius was anxious to obtain from the
Senate restoration to their former honors, Cato bade him, with a smile,
beware of returning to the Cyclops' den to fetch away any trifles he had
left behind him.

The Achaean exiles, whose numbers were now reduced from 1000 to 300,
landed in Greece (B.C. 151) with feelings exasperated by their long
confinement, and ready to indulge in any rash enterprise against Rome.
Polybius, who had returned with the other exiles, in vain exhorted them
to peace and unanimity, and to avoid a hopeless struggle with the Roman
power. Shortly afterward an adventurer laid claim to the throne of
Macedonia (B.C. 149). He was a man of low origin called Andriscus, but
he pretended to be the son of Perseus, and assumed the name of
Philippus. At first he met with some success, and defeated the Roman
Praetor Juventius, but, after reigning scarcely a year, he was conquered
and taken prisoner by Q. Metellus.

The temporary success of Andriscus had encouraged the war-party in the
Achaean League. Polybius had quitted the country to join his friend
Scipio in Africa; and Diaeus and Critolaues, the most violent enemies of
Rome, had now undisputed sway in the League. Diaeus incited the Achaeans
to attack Sparta, on the ground that, instead of appealing to the League
respecting a boundary question, as they ought to have done, they had
violated its laws by sending a private embassy to Rome. The Spartans,
feeling themselves incompetent to resist this attack, appealed to the
Romans for assistance; and in B.C. 147 two Roman commissioners were sent
to Greece to settle these disputes. The commissioners decided that not
only Sparta, but Corinth, and all the other cities, except those of
Achaia, should be restored to independence. Their decision occasioned
serious riots at Corinth. All the Spartans in the town were seized, and
even the Roman commissioners narrowly escaped violence. On their return
to Rome a fresh embassy was dispatched to demand satisfaction for these
outrages. But the violent and impolitic conduct of Critolaues, then
Strategus of the League, rendered all attempts at accommodation
fruitless, and, after the return of the embassadors, the Senate declared
war against the League. The cowardice and incompetence of Critolaues as a
general were only equaled by his previous insolence. On the approach of
the Romans from Macedonia under Metellus he did not even venture to make
a sta