<head>Messene and Philip V</head>Democracy being established at Messene, the principal men having been banished and the government being in the hands of those to whom their property had been allotted, those of the old citizens who remained found it difficult to brook the equality which these men had assumed. . . .
Gorgus of Messene was second to none at Messene in wealth and birth, and by his athletic achievements in the season of his prime had become the most famous of all competitors in gymnastic contests.
Indeed in personal beauty, in general dignity of bearing, and in the number of the prizes he had won he was inferior to none of his contemporaries.
And when he had given up athletics and taken to politics and the service of his country, he gained in this sphere a reputation in no way beneath his former one, being very far removed from that boorishness which is apt to characterize athletes and being looked upon as a most able and level-headed politician. . . .
Walbank Commentary