<head>Respect for Philopoemen</head>Owing to the popular reverence for the memory of Philopoemen, they did not take down the statues of him in the various cities. So true is it, as it seems to me, that every genuine act of virtue produces in the mind of those who benefit by it an affection which it is difficult to efface. . . .One might fairly, therefore, use the common saying: "He has been foiled not at the door, but in the road." . . .<note anchored="yes" place="unspecified" id="note34">Seems to mean "he lost before he began," before he got even at the threshold of his enterprise. There is nothing to show to what the fragment refers.</note>There were many statues of Philopoemen, and many<note anchored="yes" place="marg" id="note35">Statues of Philopoemen.</note>erections in his honour, voted by the several cities; and a Roman at the time of the disaster which befell Greece at <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Corinth&groupId=493&placeId=928">Corinth</a>, wished to abolish them all and to formally indict him, laying an information against him, as though he were still alive, as an enemy and illwisher to <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Rome&groupId=935&placeId=1669">Rome</a>. But after a discussion, in which Polybius spoke against this sycophant, neither Mummius nor the commissioners would consent to abolish the honours of an illustrious man. . . .Polybius, in an elaborate speech, conceived in the spirit of<note anchored="yes" place="marg" id="note36">Speech of Polybius defending the memory of Philopoemen.</note>what has just been said, maintained the cause of Philopoemen. His arguments were that "This<pb n="538" />man had indeed been frequently at variance with the Romans on the matter of their injunctions, but he only maintained his opposition so far as to inform and persuade them on the points in dispute; and even that he did not do without serious cause. He gave a genuine proof of his loyal policy and gratitude, by a test as it were of fire, in the periods of the wars with Philip and Antiochus. For, possessing at those times the greatest influence of any one in Greece, from his personal power as well as that of the Achaeans, he preserved his friendship for <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Rome&groupId=935&placeId=1669">Rome</a> with the most absolute fidelity, having joined in the vote of the Achaeans in virtue of which, four months before the Romans crossed from <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Italy&groupId=656&placeId=1199">Italy</a>, they levied a war from their own territory upon Antiochus and the Aetolians, when nearly all the other Greeks had become estranged from the Roman friendship." Having listened to this speech and approved of the speaker's view, the ten commissioners granted that the complimentary erections to Philopoemen in the several cities should be allowed to remain. Acting on this pretext, Polybius begged of the Consul the statues of Achaeus, Aratus, and Philopoemen, though they had already been transported to <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Acarnania&groupId=270&placeId=527">Acarnania</a> from the <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Peloponnese&groupId=861&placeId=1552">Peloponnese</a>: in gratitude for which action people set up a marble statue of Polybius himself.<note anchored="yes" place="unspecified" id="note37">The base of a statue of Polybius has been discovered at <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Olympia&groupId=809&placeId=1462">Olympia</a> with the inscription<foreign lang="greek">ἡ πόλις ἡ τῶν Ἡλείων Πολύβιον Δυκόρτα Μεγαλοπολείτην.</foreign>But the statue mentioned in the text seems to be one set up by the Achaeans. For the statues of Polybius, see Introduction, pp. xxxi. xxxii.</note>. . .
Walbank Commentary