<head>I. Affairs of Greece</head><head>Philopoemen and Sparta</head>After the slaughter of the men at <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Compasium&groupId=488&placeId=917">Compasium</a>, some of the Lacedaemonians, dissatisfied with what had taken place and thinking that the power and dignity of <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Sparta&groupId=660&placeId=1208">Sparta</a> had been destroyed by Philopoemen, came to <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Rome&groupId=935&placeId=1669">Rome</a> and accused Philopoemen for the measures he had taken.
They finally procured a letter from Marcus Lepidus, the future pontifex maximus, who was then consul, in which he wrote to the Achaeans saying that they had not acted rightly in <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Sparta&groupId=660&placeId=1208">Sparta</a>.
While this embassy was still in <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Rome&groupId=935&placeId=1669">Rome</a>, Philopoemen, losing no time, sent Nicodemus of <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Elis&groupId=560&placeId=1048">Elis</a> to represent him there.
At about the same time Demetrius of <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Athens&groupId=379&placeId=715">Athens</a>, the representative of Ptolemy, also came to renew that king\'s existing alliance with the Achaean League.
They readily consented to this, and Lycortas my father, and Theodoridas and Rositeles and Sicyon were appointed envoys to Ptolemy to take the oath on behalf of the Achaeans and receive that of the king.
At this time there occurred something of minor importance perhaps, but worth mentioning. For after the renewal of the alliance had been duly accomplished, Philopoemen entertained the king's envoy on behalf of the Achaeans.
When mention was made of the king at the banquet the envoy was profuse in his praises of him, and cited some instances of his skill and daring in the chase, and afterwards spoke of his expertness and training in horsemanship and the use of arms, the last proof he adduced of this being that he once in hunting hit a bull from horseback with a javelin.
Walbank Commentary