Proclamation At the Isthmian Games
When these decisions had been come to, the time for
The Isthmian games, July B. C. 196. |
the celebration of the Isthmian games arrived.
The expectation of what would happen there
drew the men of highest rank from nearly every
quarter of the world; and there was a great deal of talk on the
subject from one end of the assembled multitude to the
other, and expressed in varied language. Some said that
from certain of the places and towns it was impossible that
the Romans could withdraw; while others asserted that they
would withdraw from those considered most important, but
would retain others that were less prominent, though capable
of being quite as serviceable. And such persons even took
upon themselves in their ingenuity to designate the precise
places which would be thus treated. While people were still
in this state of uncertainty, all the world being assembled on
the stadium to watch the games, the herald came forward,
and having proclaimed silence by the sound of a trumpet,
delivered the following proclamation: "The senate of Rome
and Titus Quintus, proconsul and imperator,
having conquered King Philip and the Macedonians in war, declare the following peoples
free, without garrison, or tribute, in full enjoyment of the laws
of their respective countries: namely, Corinthians, Phocians,
Locrians, Euboeans, Achaeans of Phiotis, Magnesians, Thessalians, Perrhaebians."
Proclamation of the freedom of the Greek cities. |
Now as the first words of the proclamation were the signal
for a tremendous outburst of clapping, some of
the people could not hear it at all, and some
wanted to hear it again; but the majority feeling incredulous,
and thinking that they heard the words in a kind of dream, so
utterly unexpected was it, another impulse induced every one
to shout to the herald and trumpeter to come into the middle
of the stadium and repeat the words: I suppose because the
people wished not only to hear but to see the speaker, in their
inability to credit the announcement. But when the herald,
having advanced into the middle of the crowd, once more, by
his trumpeter, hushed the clamour, and repeated exactly the
same proclamation as before, there was such an outbreak of clapping as is difficult to convey to the imagination of my readers
at this time. When at length the clapping ceased, no one paid
any attention whatever to the athletes, but all were talking to
themselves or each other, and seemed like people bereft of
their senses. Nay, after the games were over, in the extravagance of their joy,
they nearly killed Flamininus by the exhibition of their gratitude. Some wanted to look him in
the face and call him their preserver; others were eager
to touch his hand; most threw garlands and fillets upon him;
until between them they nearly crushed him to death. But
though this expression of popular gratitude was thought to
have been extravagant, one might say with confidence that it fell
short of the importance of the actual event. For that the Romans
and their leader Flamininus should have deliberately incurred
unlimited expense and danger, for the sole purpose of freeing
Greece, deserved their admiration; and it was also a great thing
that their power was equal to their intention. But the greatest
thing of all is that Fortune foiled their attempt by none of her
usual caprices, but that every single thing came to a successful issue at the same time: so that all Greeks, Asiatic and
European alike, were by a single proclamation become "free,
without garrison or tribute, and enjoying their own laws."