THE HISTORY OF THE UNITED PROVINCES OF ACHAIA Collected in Latine by the Learned JACOBUS GOTHOFREDUS And rendred into English with some Additions By HENRY STVBBE LONDON Printed by Andrew Clark for Jonathan Edwin at the Three Roses in Ludgate-street 1673. TO THE READER THE late Revolutions in the United Netherlands brought into my memory the Republick of Achaia this being the Original from whence the Dutch framed their Common-wealth Vpon this account I retain in the Translation those terms of State-holder and States-General c. The subject was thought heretofore so considerable as to employ the Pens of Polybius and Jac. Gothofredus and I believe the Reader may find as much of delight and benefit in the perusal of the ensuing Treatise as of most Pamphlets which are obtruded on the world each Term. THE HISTORY OF THE UNITED PROVINCES OF ACHAIA THE Peninsula of Peloponnesus now called Morea was at first ruled by certain Kings until the Sons of Ogygus came to the Government they happening to practise such a tyranny as rendered them insupportable to their Subjects several of the Cities determined to free themselves and associate into one Republick thus twelve of them united into one Democracy This Vnion continued until the times of Philip of Macedon and his Son Alexander then the puissance of Macedonia growing great and terrible this Vnion began to dissolve the Macedonians by sundry artifices sowing divisions betwixt the Cities whereupon some of them submitted to the prevailing Macedonians others fell under the dominion of sundry Tyrants But they were soon sensible of the miseries which their dissensions had brought upon them and the departure of Pyrrhus into Italy having given them an opportunity to revolt they ejected the several Tyrants and re-established their Liberty and Ten of them formed such a Republick with so great Vnanimity and Friendship that nothing could seem more firm or better regulated Though their Cities were separate yet they had but one Government and each did heartily contribute to the support of the rest They were renowned for their Great Justice and Moderation several Commonwealths borrowed from them the Model of their Government and upon emergent Controversies their Neighbours would remit the decision thereof unto the Achaeans not by reason of their Great Power for they were hardly considerable thereupon amongst the Greeks but for their singular Justice and Probity the which procured them an universal Reverence and made others desirous to contract Amity with a People famed for all those Vertues which beget Esteem but not Terrour in their Neighbours There was a perfect Equality betwixt all the Vnited Cities all were equally capable of Honours and Employments in the State They sought not to enlarge their Territories by the oppression of their Neighbours The Aids they gave at any time were un-interessed and all the Advantages they derived thence was to have relieved the Distressed and to have restored the General Peace These Maxims made several upon sundry occasions to seek Their Friendship as the Kings of Macedon Pergamus Egypt and Syria and at length the Romans courted them into a Confederacy which proved in the issue destructive to their Republick The Principal Authority at first was fixed in Two Captains and a Secretary of State But after some time they thought it more expedient for the Administration of Affairs that the Executive Power should be lodged in one State-holder or General whom they termed Strategus who was chosen indifferently from out of any of the Cities according to his Extraordinary Worth and his Government continued but one year unless it were anew confirmed unto him They held a General Assembly of the States twice each year in the Spring and Autumn at a certain place in the middle of their Territories called Aeglum the most populous and rich of all the Confederate Cities The States assembled in a certain Grove dedicated to Jupiter all matters appertaining to War and Peace all Laws and Alliances were dispatched there the State-holder with Ten Adsessors called Demiurgi presiding therein Amongst their Laws these not to name others were esteemed to be very prudential That no Assembly should continue above three days but the States should come to their final Resolution within that time Whereby all long Debates and Quarrels were prevented and all opportunities cut off whereby their Counsels might be retarded or Factions introduced Another was That no Foreign Embassador could have Audience in the States without communicating his Message first to the end that the States might know wherefore they were assembled Whereby they secured themselves against all such Projects as might tend to the overthrow of the State and had time to weigh things maturely and dis-passtonately before the Session Also That none of the Vnited Cities should send abroad any Publick Embassies but with the participation of the rest They did think it fundamental to their preservation that all things should be managed by Joynt Consent and no room be left for separate Counsels That all the Cities should have the same Alliances and move by the same Maxims So tender were they of this Law that they expresly provided for it in their Treaties with the Romans cautioning that the Romans should not make any Addresses to any of their Cities privately but to the Publick And the Authority of the Republick seemed ruined when Appius Claudius did by his Artifices prevail with the Lacedemonians to give him a private and separate Audience whence arose Dissentions betwixt the Confederates and many began to pursue their proper Interests and Respects to the overthrow of the Republick Against Bribes they had this most Renowned Constitution That none should receive any Gifts or Pensions from any Foreign Prince And this was so rigorously observed and such a sense imprinted in the Achaeans thereof that when King Eumenes offered them one hundred and twenty Talents with the Interest whereof the charges of such as came to the General Assembly should be defrayed they generously refused it and were inclined to renounce all Amity with him for making such an Overture Apollonius the Sicyonian thus argued against the Proposition The money which is frankly offered by the King of Pergamus is so considerable in it self that it may deserve the Regards of the Achaean Republick but if we look upon the Intention of the Donor to accept thereof is Bribery and Corruption repugnant to the Law Single Persons were prohibited to take any Bribe or Present and should the Whole Republick at once make it self obnoxious It would be a perpetual shame and most ignominious to be said That the States General of Achaia were maintained by the King of Pergamus and that the Councils of the Vnited Cities were managed by such as eat the Bread of a Foreign Potentate If this President were admitted of others would imitate his Example and the Liberty of the Republick would be exposed to sale That Controversies were apt to arise betwixt States and their Ends and Interests might in time prove opposite to those
were onely to be found in the Discourses of Philosophers being more spoken of than practised by the generous Roman They had not met with those Oracles which the Lawyers and Politicians suggested unto Queen Elizabeth upon another occasion viz. All Contracts with a Prince are understood to admit an interpretation of sincere Fidelity neither is a Prince bound by his Contract when for just cause the Contract turneth to the Publick Detriment The Peace is not broken if a Prince go back from his Contract when it is done by accident of a new Case or when the matter cometh to a new Case concerning which other provision would have been made if it had been thought upon Leagues and Contracts of Princes ought not to be cavilled neither ought to be observed to them that break Contracts A Prince is not bound to a Contract solemnly made in a cause respecting his State if it tend to the prejudice and detriment of his Subjects Every Contract though sworn is understood if matters continue in the same state but not if they be changed A man is bound more strongly to the Commonwealth than to his own Promise And out of the Authority of Seneca A wise man doth not change his determination all things continuiug which were when he took it therefore he never repenteth him because no better thing at that time could be done than was done no better thing ordained than was ordained The State-holder of Achaia had not such of his Council as were of the Cabinet to Henry IV. when he violated his Faith given to Q. Elizabeth A. D. 1598. There had been a Contract made betwixt those two Princes at Millan A. D. 1592. under their Hands and Seals bona fide and in the word of Princes that with joynt forces they should make a war offensive and defensive against the Spaniard as long as he should make war with either of them and should enter into no peace with him without mutual consent betwixt them and both of them to be comprehended in the Peace The same League was renewed betwixt them in 1596. and it was expresly covenanted again that neither the King nor Queen shall treat of any Peace or Truce without the consent of each other The Dutch were comprehended as Allyes in the same League yet Henry the fourth having attained the Kingdom dissipated those of the League and reduced almost all places appertaining to the Crown under his obedience he determined to treat alone with the Spaniard and if he might have the remaining Towns surrendred up to him to purchase those advantages with ease and to establish the affairs of his Kingdom by infringing his royal word The Dutch and English sent their Embassadors to disswade him from those purposes Oldenbarnevelt remonstrated That the Estates case was by Gods mercy and the Queens favour and assistance brought to that pass that they had been able not only to defend themselves but also to aid France in her extremities Then how earnestly the French King had desired the League of offensice and defence with them which they had willingly contracted for the Queen's sake not once thinking that so great a King would ever have a thought of breaking the same League He appealed to the French Kings conscience before God whether it were honorable for the King to separate his cause from them to whom He had joyned himself with so great obtestations when they had given no cause of separation He concluded after many reasons why they could not embrace peace with the Spaniard that some Kings to attain power had neglected Leagues but for the most part with sad event For the State of Kings unless it stand in fidelity cannot subsist in power Sir Robert Cecil put the King in mind with what vows he had bound himself lately before the Earl of Shrewsbury after the ratification of the League and before by many Letters signed with his own hand And he stuck not to affirm that the Queen had not offended at all against the Conditions of the League yea that she had performed more but the King had observed nothing and withall he drew forth the Instruments of the League He also modestly put Him in mind that some course might be taken whereby those great sums of money formerly lent might be paid unto the Queen who being now forsaken had learned too late to provide more carefully for her own State in time to come and not bestow her Benefits on ill Deservers King Henry the Fourth dismissed them with gentle Answers and acknowledged the Queens most ample Benefits towards Him promising that there was nothing which for her sake he would not most affectionately do But yet He concluded the Peace She and the Dutch being excluded and excused himself in words to this effect Although the Queen have begun a War against the Spaniard and that with Honour and hath hitherto continued it with happy success yet if she will not enter into another manner of War the lesser Wealth must of necessity at the length yield to the greater For my part though having been bred up in Arms I am taken with the love of Wars above all others Yet seeing I am a King and have People under my Government there is a Conscience to be made of exposing my people to the fury of the Wars and it were a foul sin if in an irreligious ambition I should to mine own detriment and the detriment of my Confederates refuse peace when it is offered when it cannot be redeemed without Blood and grosly neglect the People committed unto me The whole Story is too long to be transcribed out of Cambden Grotius and Reidanus c. but if the Acheans had been so fortunate as to have prognosticated what Posterity would think to be equitable prudent and consonant to the Law of Nations or had for their Counsellors those which understood as much Sully Villeroy and Jannin they had never faln so ignominiously under the power of the Romans They would have moved in that juncture by so flexible Maxims of State that they could not have been fooled into their ruine by the Romans nor have been obnoxious to the inconstancy revenge or ambition of Perseus K. of Macedonia But they moving by such Principles as their potent Allies did not admit of except it were upon prospect of greater advantages the issue of their demeanour hath left unto this Age a durable monument of State-folly and to the Virtuosi a Noble and Luciferous Experiment how to make Corinthian Brass whensoever there shall be another Achaia another Corinth and another Rome I might adde to this History of Achaia another of Rhodes which was parallel thereunto 't was briefly thus The Commonwealth of Rhodes being situated in an Island had derived those Advantages from the frequent Troubles and Revolutions of Greece to acquire a great Trade and Naval Strength they were very expert in Navigation and were in a manner Lords of the Neighbouring Seas Such was their
know the pleasure of the Senate Hereupon both sides sent their Embassadors to Rome but the Achaeans had this disadvantage that their Commissioners did not well agree in their Negotiation or Sentiments concerning Affairs The Romans seemed to have a very great esteem and honour for the Republick of Achaia yet they did not think it suitable to their ends that the Government of Lacedemon should be changed again and the General Vnion consolidated Wherefore they returned so intricate an Answer that the Achaeans thought the whole matter to be remitted unto them and yet the Lacedemonians were perswaded that there was much in reserve The Achaeans formed an Army and having encamped on the Borders of Lacedemon they sent to demand those which had occasioned their Revolt from the Vnion giving assurance that they should suffer no punishment but accordingly as upon a fair Trial they should be found culpable But whilst they delayed their Answer several of the Exiles who were in the Camp of the Achaeans exasperated through former injuries fell upon the Lacedemonians and slew seventeen of them and afterwards sixty three of them being taken were sentenced judicially to death by the State-holder After this the Achaeans drove away the Authors of the late Revolt took many Slaves and sold them pull'd down the Walls of Sparta restored the exiled Persons and abrogated the Laws of Lycurgus Though this Action of the Achaeans cannot be condemned of Injustice yet it falls under the censure of much imprudence The Lacedemonians had so great a Veneration for the Laws of Lycurgus that they esteemed nothing more sacred They were sensible that all their ancient glory and felicity proceeded from the observance of those Constitutions and all their hopes of recovering their pristine Honour or retaining their present Dignity depended thereon Their high Spirits could not endure this alteration the calamity whereof was aggravated in that it was done by the Achaeans a Republick over which their Ancestors had formerly triumphed and given a Government unto and from whom as their late Confederates they did not expect so rigorous usage None are so impatient of Adversity as those which have known great Prosperity Great Souls cannot endure Servitude especially when they suffer under those whom they contemn and they prefer a subjection to Foreigners before even an equality of living with such persons 'T was true the Achaeans needed not to fear any Insurrections from the Spartans alone nor had they any other State in Greece to combine with for their support But since the Romans were so suspicious an Ally and did usually sacrifice all regards to those of Empire Since they did already enterprize upon the Soveraignty of Achaia and drew the Cognizance of their actions to the Consuls and Senate of Rome they ought to have demeaned themselves with more caution and rather have abandoned Sparta to it self though it had remained a continual and vexatious but weak Enemy then have driven them to have recourse to Rome for protection The Lacedemonians were not less sensible of their own Condition than they were of that of the Achaeans they knew that the Romans contracted Alliance with that Republick out of Interest to facilitate the overthrow of the Macedonians their sole Competitors for the Dominion of Greece that Leagues so founded vary according as Interests do that the services which the Achaeans had rendred unto Rome had lost their Merit and Obligation when the Macedonian was totally overthrown and whatever Honours the Senate had conferred on the Achaeans since whatsoever amity was professed unto them yet 't was incident to all power to fear rather than love those from whom it may receive a shock That they had just reason to apprehend lest the Achaeans should at some time or other assume a concern for the Honour and Liberty of Greece and make themselves head of a League to that purpose against Rome That 't was not consistent with the Roman Grandeur to persevere in an Alliance whereby the petty Republick of Achaia should treat on equal terms with Rome and be intreated in such a manner as much more potent Kings did not pretend unto Upon these infallible Maxims of State the Lacedemonians presumed upon a kind reception at Rome and dispatched their Deputies thither they remonstrated there that the Majesty and Authority of the Roman Senate was contemned by the Achaeans that they acted what they pleased and arrogated what power they would over their weak Neighbours and Confederates they represented the disasters of the Spartans into what they were fallen and from what estate they made use of all Arguments that might work upon the Pride Jealousie or Compassion of the Romans And the Senate who was ready to seek lesser causes of Quarrels listened hereunto with attention The Achaeans were necessitated to oppose an Embassy of theirs to that of the Lacedemonians but they could not agree upon the Instructions Some were for the Deputies to insist upon the Liberties of Achaia that the Republick was Soveraign over its Members that such Controversies as these ought to be determined by the States General that when they embraced the Alliance of Rome they did not subject themselves thereunto that the Freedom of Achaia and of all Greece in general would be ruined if they tamely submitted the actions of their Republick to be examined debated and reversed by an Appeal to Rome This was the opinion of such as were zealous for the Honour and Liberty of their Country but others were so terrified with the Glory and Puissance of Rome that they proposed more mild and submissive Counsels that the Achaeans ought by all possible deference to preserve a good correspondence with Rome whose amity though it were not substantial or intire yet the shew thereof was of great advantage to support the Honour and Interest of Achaia in Greece that the Neighbouring States would despise and affront their small Republick if once they saw that Friendship to decrease that such opportunity ought not be given to those that envied their condition nor ought they to incense the ambitious and proud Romans in this juncture and draw upon themselves that power which they could not resist that the poor and barren Country of Lacedemon was not worth the dispute the accessional of Territory to the Republick did not countervail the Expence Trouble and Danger with which it must be kept that a moderate Greatness was most suitable to their Government and to their present Interest for by enlarging their Territories and keeping Armies on foot they vvould but multiply the fears of the Romans and so accelerate their destruction that ' t vvas inconsistent vvith the peaceable Maxims of their State to retain these litigious Spartans vvithin the Vnion vvhence vvould arise a perpetual distraction in their Counsels and divisions in their Assemblies that the name of Liberty vvas sweet and Soveraignty a most agreeable thing therefore their Counsels aimed at its preservation which was best to be done now by condescension that such an
expedient might be found that the whole might seem an Act of their State and not of the Roman Senate and that if the Achaeans acquainted the Romans with the full Nature of their Vnion and the Justness of their proceedings in conformity thereunto and then left the Lacedemonians to the entire disposal of the Romans Thus were the Achaeans divided in their opinions and these their Resentments being known at Rome made the Senate jealous of the Achaeans lest they might take some seasonable occasion to become Enemies of the Roman Greatness whereupon they fomented the Animosities betwixt the Lacedemonians and Achaeans till they became implacable against each other they protracted the Debate sometimes commiserating the Oppressed very much sometimes gently arguing for the authority of the General Assembly and State-holder of Achaia They blamed the factiousness and obstinacy of the Spartans then they reprehended the passion and severity of the Achaeans and at length plainly undertook the defence of the Spartans against their good Allies of Achaia sending them word sometimes that the Senate did not approve their actions sometimes that they ought to make amends for their defaults And finding that a great Party of the Achaeans some out of love some out of fear did adhere to the Romans they thought it necessary to nourish those dissentions by sending frequent Embassies into the Country whereupon they tell them That they ought to take care that the Embassadors of Rome might always have free access to their States General as the Achaeans should have to their Senate It is true that the Achaeans did retain still some generous thoughts and had the boldness to deny Caecilius the freedom of coming to the General Assembly because he did not communicate his Message to the State-holder first It is true Lycortas the State-holder told the Roman Embassador Appius Claudius who was sent to examine things That the Achaeans had indeed the Romans in great veneration and if they please to have it so stood in great fear of them but they did more reverenee and fear the Immortal Gods Also That the Achaeans were indeed the Allies of Rome but they did not by the Confederacy surrender up the Soveraignty of their Republick they were still free and were no more obliged to render an account of their actions unto the Romans than the Romans were unto them In fine the amity was contracted upon equal terms neither were they thereby become the Subjects of Rome But Appius Claudius being a fierce Man replied confidently That he should advise his good Friends of Achaia that they would by a ready compliance make a courtesie of their Obedience that they should do ill to deny the Requests of such as were able to compel them These last vvords extorted an universal sigh from the Hearers but withal imprinted such a terror in them that they determined to obey the Resolves of the Senate and such Decrees were passed as favoured the Spartans in general and in particular those of them whom the Achaeans had banished the Countrey The Spartans were continued as a part of the Republick of Achaia but with some Immunities which were repugnant to the Laws of the Vnion the Exiles were restored to their Possessions the which Obligations they derived from the Romans not Achaeans And upon pretence of avoiding future Contests the cognizance of the most important Cases emerging was reserved unto the Romans ordinary matters might be transacted by the Spartans and Assembly of the Achaeans And further to weaken the Republick the Romans declared it to be at the choice of any of the Confederates to persist in or relinquish the Vnion Whereupon some of the Vnited Cities began to design a Revolt and to dread a Confederacy whereunto the Romans appeared no longer Friends The Mâ—ssenians began first to fall off and renounced the General Assembly of Achaia slaying the State holder and though the Romans were obliged by their League to assist the Common-wealth of Achaia against all its Enemies at least not to aid them with Ammunition and Corn out of Italy yet did they no ways interest themselves in the War nor would they seem to condemn the Revolt of the Messenians Behold to what a degree of misery this Republick brought it self by its intestine dissentions and animosites When fear had once seized their minds they apprehending nothing so much as the Puissance of the victorious Roman and all relief was impossible unto them who had abandoned their old Friends of Macedonia to contract this pernicious Alliance with the most powerful State of Rome Such were now their Resentments that every man strove to shew his devotion to the prevailing Roman If there were any Patriots left they did but exasperate the Senate and add to the domestick Discord by their unseasonable refractoriness It now seemed prudential for them to expedite their Slavery that they might procure the better conditions The Romans understood the artifice and made use of it to compleat their ruine Thus that deportment which obligeth a generous Vertue doth work contrary effects in the Ambitious All great Cases were decided at Rome thither were frequent Appeals made thence came very imperious Answers oftentimes So that there remained onely a shadow of the Supreme Power in the States General and the State-holder the Substance was in the Roman Senate And when the people saw to whom the most effectual applications were made they ran into Parties and when there was any competition betwixt the Interests of their Native Country and those of Rome those that could best reward and punish had the preference in their affections The perpetual dissentions at home the terrours from abroad the helpless condition of a broken Government made every man indifferent or despair thereof The Supreme Officers of State even the State-holders were no longer chosen for their Merits and Fidelity to their Country but accordingly as they were devoted unto the Romans and were recommended by them None that were faithful to the Republick were to be elected lest the Romans should grow jealous thereat The Romans could menace them and say They knew very well who were well-affected unto them and were well pleased to see their Adherents signally to distinguish themselves from the adverse party There is no greater or more sure prognostick of approaching destruction than when the Subjects of one State dare avow their concernments for another and the Foreigner can boast of and number his Creatures there Whilst the Affairs of Achaia were in this troublesome and dangerous posture there happened an occasion for them to regain their former Liberty but the State-holder and too many others were so devoted to their Great Allies of Rome and did so magnifie the advantages of their friendship and the dangers imminent from their enmity that they lost this last and happy opportunity Perseus King of Macedonia had recollected the Spirits of the Macedonians which the Romans had broken by vanquishing his Father Philip and having formed such a strength as might alone