[The following is in regards to the capture of Philopoemen by the Messenians, and it is important as the people of the city, who were at first so excited at the news of his capture, became distraught at seeing such a great man then brought so low.]
The Messenians, wonderfully elated with the news, thronged in swarms to the city gates. But when they saw Philopoemen in a posture so unsuitable to the glory of his great actions and famous victories, most of them, struck with grief and cursing the deceitful vanity of human fortune, even shed tears of compassion at the spectacle. Such tears by little and little turned to kind words, and it was almost in everybody’s mouth that they ought to remember what he had done for them, and how he had preserved the common liberty, by driving away Nabis.
Source:
Plutarch, John Dryden, and Arthur Hugh Clough. "Philopoemen." Plutarch's Lives. New York: Modern Library, 2001. 497. Print.
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