The Last of the Greeks

When Aratus died, Philopoemen led the Achaean army—brave, virtuous, and so plain that people mistook him for a servant. Once invited to dinner, the hostess told him to split wood. He did so without complaint. The host was mortified; Philopoemen laughed. He freed Sparta from Nabis, confiscating the tyrant's treasure. When Spartans revolted, he treated them severely and razed their walls—never rebuilt. Philopoemen saw from the beginning that Rome intended to conquer Greece by making Greeks quarrel. He worked for peace. Rome bribed the Messenians to revolt. Philopoemen was trapped in an ambush and taken in chains to Messenia, where crowds jeered his gray hair. When told his army had escaped, he cried: "I die happy, since the Achaeans are safe." He was tortured and killed. The Achaeans later took Messenia, stoned his murderers on his tomb, and buried his ashes at Megalopolis. He was called "the Last of the Greeks" because he was the last to fight for independence.